RTHK: US lawmakers to demand documents in Trump probe

US lawmakers will demand documents from Donald Trump's eldest son and a lifelong business associate as part of a wide-ranging investigation into claims of obstruction of justice and other abuses by the president, a leading Democrat said on Sunday.

US House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler told ABC political show "This Week" that Donald Trump Jr and Allen Weisselberg, the sole trustees of The Trump Organization, were among 60 people and organisations being targeted by the probe.

The New York congressman said the requests would go out on Monday "to begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power."

Trump's campaign is being investigated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller for alleged collusion with Russia to influence the 2016 election, and for possible obstruction of that probe.

Many observers believe, however, his biggest legal exposure will come with the various federal and state-level investigations into his finances and the running of his charity foundation and business.

Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen testified on Capitol Hill on Wednesday that authorities in New York were probing crimes allegedly involving the president beyond those that have been made public.

Nadler said it was "very clear" that Trump had obstructed justice, by repeatedly calling the Mueller probe a "witch hunt," and by trying to halt an investigation into his first national security advisor Mike Flynn, who subsequently admitted lying to the FBI over Russian contacts.

Trump set off a political firestorm by firing FBI chief James Comey on May 27 - and then admitting to NBC he had taken the decision after becoming frustrated with the Russia probe.

Nadler, like Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been reticent about pushing for the president's impeachment, and told ABC such action would be "a long way down the road."

Trump was implicated by Cohen in numerous crimes as the president's former fixer gave evidence to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, accusing his old boss of being "a racist," "conman" and "cheat."

Cohen, who has been convicted of lying to Congress, said Trump knew ahead of time that WikiLeaks would release material damaging to election rival Hillary Clinton, which turned out to be emails stolen by Russian spies.

He added that he believed Trump knew in advance about a June 9, 2016 meeting between campaign chiefs and a Russian lawyer touting dirt on Clinton.

Cohen pleaded guilty last year to violating campaign finance laws when he paid off adult film star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet before the 2016 election about an affair Cohen said she had with Trump.

Cohen said Trump ordered the hush payment. He also alleged that the Trump Organization regularly and illegally inflated the value of its assets to obtain bank loans, and accused his former boss of misusing charity funds.

"What we learned from the Cohen testimony is that he directly implicated the president in - in various crimes, both while seeking the office of president and while in the White House," Nadler said on "This Week."

"We don't have the facts yet. But we're going to initiate proper investigations." (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-03-03. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Promising new pancreatic cancer treatment moves forward

SALT LAKE CITY - Even among cancers, pancreatic cancer is an especially sinister form of disease. The one-year survival rate is extremely low, and treatment progress has lagged behind that of many other malignancies.

A study published today in the journal Nature Medicine led by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) describes a new therapeutic approach with potential for patients with pancreatic cancer. These researchers discovered a combination drug therapy that may effectively combat the disease. HCI researchers first observed anti-cancer impacts in a laboratory setting and, subsequently, in its first use in a human patient.

The study has already progressed to a clinical trial that is now open at HCI and will soon be open at other sites in the United States. Details about the clinical trial, called THREAD, are available under National Clinical Trial Number 03825289. The combination therapy uses two drugs already approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration for other diseases, including cancer. The new drug combination is administered through pills taken orally.

Pancreatic tumors are characterized by mutations in a gene called KRAS. When KRAS is mutated in this way, it sends constant signals that promote abnormal cell division and growth in cancer cells. As a result, tumors grow out of control. At the same time, like all cells, pancreatic cancer cells must recycle their components to provide building blocks for new growth in an essential cell function known as autophagy. Previous studies to combat pancreatic cancer that were focused either on the role of KRAS or on impacting autophagy were not effective.

The new HCI study, using an approach that simultaneously targets both abnormal KRAS signaling and the autophagy process, shows a strong response in mouse models and may be a promising therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Conan Kinsey, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Department of Internal Medicine at the U of U and Martin McMahon, PhD, a cancer researcher at HCI and Professor of Dermatology at the U of U, led the study.

"We were able to observe that the combination of these two drugs - which, when used individually, don't have much of an impact on the disease - appears to have a very potent impact on the growth of pancreatic cancer," says McMahon. "We have observed this in the lab in petri dishes, then in mouse models, and now in a pancreatic cancer patient on a compassionate use basis. Indeed, we proceeded from a petri dish to a patient in less than two years - a timeline that is rarely seen in medical science."

The HCI-led research is bolstered by a separate study published in the same issue of the journal. This study outlines complementary findings regarding the effects of autophagy in pancreatic cancer in the laboratory setting and was led by Channing Der, PhD, Sarah Graham Kenan, PhD, and Kirsten Bryant, PhD, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. McMahon and Der learned about the parallel nature of their research programs at a scientific meeting one year ago. Given the critical need for advances in pancreatic cancer therapies and the promise of their collective findings, they worked together to push their studies forward on a companion basis.

"In our paper, we show the response of a pancreatic cancer patient who had received surgery and multiple lines of chemotherapy prior to this combination," said Kinsey, who was also the patient's physician. "This patient, who has since succumbed to the disease, nevertheless had a remarkable response to these drugs for several months. We need to carefully evaluate this new combination therapy in the context of clinical trials to better understand if good responses might be seen in multiple patients. We also need to identify the specific features of any patient who may benefit, before any recommendation can be made about use on a larger scale."

These preliminary findings are being rigorously scrutinized in clinical trials to observe and understand whether the combination of these drugs is safe and effective for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial is underway at HCI and is underway or planned at the University of California, San Francisco, and Columbia University in New York.

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The HCI-led study was supported by the National Cancer Institute, including grant P30 CA042014; the Melanoma Research Alliance; 5 For The Fight; and Huntsman Cancer Foundation. A grant recently awarded to McMahon at HCI, in collaboration with Eric Collisson, MD (UC San Francisco), by the Pancreatic Cancer Collective, a partnership between the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C), will carry forward future laboratory work on this project and also support the THREAD clinical trial. The UNC-led study was supported by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) and included collaborating partners from The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is the official cancer center of Utah. The cancer campus includes a state-of-the-art cancer specialty hospital as well as two buildings dedicated to cancer research. HCI treats patients with all forms of cancer and is recognized among the best cancer hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report. As the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, HCI serves the largest geographic region in the country, drawing patients from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at HCI than at any other cancer center in the world, including genes responsible for hereditary breast, ovarian, colon, head, and neck cancers, along with melanoma. HCI manages the Utah Population Database, the largest genetic database in the world, with information on more than 11 million people linked to genealogies, health records, and vital statistics. HCI was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
President Yoweri Museveni has asked Indian film-makers from Bollywood to promote Ugandas beauty and investment potential through films adding that government is willing to support them.

Museveni was this afternoon meeting the Bollywood actors led by Bharat Dabholkar who called on him at State Lodge in Nakasero. He urged them to bring more tourists from India to Uganda where they can enjoy Ugandas beautiful culture, nature and beautiful weather.

The President said linkages between Uganda and India has the potential to boost trade and investment.

Stories Continues after ad

He also said that the huge population of Africa, China and India is a huge potential for the future economic development of the world.

Mr. Bharat Dabholkar who is also a movie director, actor, writer and advertising expert informed the President that they want to promote Uganda as the tourist destination for Indians. He said that they also want to promote Uganda as a location for filming Bollywood movies where Ugandans will participate.

Hindi cinema commonly known as Bollywood is the Indian Hindi language film industry based in Mumbai, Maharashtra India. It is one of the worlds largest centres of film production.

Bharat said they have plans to bring big film tourists to Uganda saying that film tourism will be a big deal. Uganda has featured in several movies including the more recent Black Panther that has won numerous awards.

Ugandas High Commissioner to India Grace Akello who accompanied the delegation said Ugandas beauty is great potential for film-makers and will open up opportunities for many Ugandans in terms of jobs creation.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Bare Life of Kashmiris

There are diverse ways of remembering a tragic event. The aftermath of recent deaths of more than 40 CRPF men in terrorist attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019 bears testimony to it. In the wake of the tragedy, peaceful candle light processions were organised in different parts of the country to pay tribute to the soldiers. This marks the sane way of mourning the tragic deaths. But, violent ways of responding to the event, targeting Kashmiris, are also rampant.

Curfew was imposed in Jammu as a precautionary measure following violent reactions to the terror attack in Pulwama. The agitators, mostly youth, put up barricades on roads demanding revenge. It is reported that people, led by the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena and the Dogra Front, took out candlelight marches in the city and held anti-Pakistan protests. A Dogri anti-Islam sloganWe will not let anyone say Allahs name. We will not let the Muslims remainwas also being chanted. It may be mentioned in this connection that the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries called for a shutdown in Jammu, and the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jammu, suspended work in all the courts in Jammu in protest against the Pulwama attack. (See The Wire, February 15, 2019) Kashmiris living in Jammu communicated to the media that they were targeted at several places and some of their vehicles were torched. Reportedly, near 30 vehicles were torched and another 30 damaged in Gujjar Nagar on February 15. Many State Government employees from Kashmir, facing sporadic attacks in Jammu since the terror attack in Pulwama, refused to attend office on February 18, in protest. One of their representatives said: We want the Governors administration to ensure foolproof security to the Kashmiri employees and their families in Jammu. If it cannot do so, it should close the Civil Secretariat for a week and send us back to the Valley. We will return to Jammu and resume our duties once the situation is normal. (The Indian Express, February 19, 2019)

The attacks on Kashmiris are happening in other States also. In Dehradun, at least two institutes have publicly stated that they will not admit any student from Kashmir in the new academic session. The fear and threats also prompted several Kashmiri students to leave the city temporarily. The Principal of an institute in the city reportedly gave an undertaking to the students union, which along with members of the ABVP, VHP and Bajrang Dal had led protests against the Pulwama attack and beat Kashmiri students, that no new Kashmiri student will be admitted in the upcoming session. (The Indian Express, February 18, 2019)

Following reports of attacks on and harassment of Kashmiri students outside Kashmir, the National Conference leader, Omar Abdullah, tweeted: ...By attacking them, terrorising them and forcing them to find the shelter they are being told there is no place for them outside the Valley and no future in the mainland.

In the light of the petition filed by advocate Tariq Adeeb, the Supreme Court Bench of the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, and Justice Sanjiv Khanna ordered (February 22): The Chief Secretaries, Directors General of Police of all the States and Union Territories including the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, are directed to take prompt and necessary action to prevent incidents of assault, threat, social boycott and such other egregious acts against the Kashmiris, including students enrolled with the institutions in the respondent States and Union Territories, and other minorities in the wake of the terrorist attack dated 14.2.2019. (Cited in The Indian Express, February 23, 2019).

We do not know how the administrative officials in different States will respond to the directive of the Supreme Court. A day after the Supreme Court order, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Rajasthan, said: ...brothers and sisters, our fight is against terrorism, against the enemies of humanity. Our fight is for Kashmir, not against Kashmir, not against Kashmiris. Interestingly, on the same day, additional security forces started arriving in Jammu and Kashmir after the Union Home Ministry approved the deployment of another 100 companies of paramilitary personnel in the State. The top officers reportedly characterised the movement of the forces as a routine exercise ahead of the elections. (See The Indian Express, February 24, 2019)

The Kashmiris are living bare lives in their home State with perennial interventions of military and paramilitary personnel. To put it in the words of an insider, Najwa Shabir: What is normal for a person who has lived her entire life in a conflict zone? Is it the perpetual bloodshed that has rendered our green chinars red, or is it the constant sense of threat that has prevailed in this valley for too long? As someone who was born and raised in a valley ravaged by conflict since decades, the word normal has become synonymous with all kinds of violence and hardships. My day, unlike yours, begins and ends with uncertainty. (Outlook, March 4, 2019)

They are now facing blatant violence, threats, and harassment outside the State. The predicament of the Kashmiris reminds us of the figure of the Homo Sacer: ...his entire existence is reduced to a bare life stripped of every right by virtue of the fact that anyone can kill him without committing homicide...1

Note
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Kashmiris Hounded and Attacked

MUSINGS

This entire week I have been sitting and recollecting those words and phrases from Prime Minister Narendra Modis lengthy speeches where he had spoken of kashmiriyat,insaniyat, jamhooriyat, in the context of the Kashmir crisis. Not to forget his assurances; that he and his government would reach out to the Kashmiris.

I wonder what happened to those promises and assurances, when last week hundreds of the young and even the not-so-young Muslim Kashmiris were targeted in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra and in several other States of India. Well, hounded and harassed to such an extent that they had to rush back home; travel back to the Kashmir Valley from where they had stepped out, to either pursue academics or else to earn a living. Mind you, a large percentage of these hounded and targeted Kashmiris are from modest middle-class backgrounds, so now what happens to their livelihoods and lives? Disrupted if not ruined, on not just the academic front but also on the very survival front. Where do these Kashmiri students go now in the midst of the academic term? Which college or university in the country will give them admission? What happens on their fees and travel expenditure front? Who will take the responsibility of their safety and well-being? Who will ensure that they are not lynched or killed in this atmosphere of hate and hatred getting whipped up by the political hawks? Who will tell us the exact reasons why the Right-Wing outfits, who were responsible for the blatant hounding of the Kashmiri Muslims, are not banned and banished? Why are these Hindutva outfits and the men manning them left untouched and not labelled terrorists and charged under any of the terror actsafter all, they terrorised these hapless Kashmiris?

The tragedy for the Kashmiri Muslims gets compounded, as even in the Valley the situation has been deteriorating. Leaving the Valley residents apprehensive and unsure of what lies ahead, what with ongoing arrests and detentions. To quote CPI-M leader from the Valley, M.Y. Tarigami, from the statement, which he issued in Srinagar very recently, on February 23, 2019The crackdown and arrests of separatist leaders without any solid legal grounds does not augur well for the State. It has been done before as well in the State, but it has never yielded anything. On the other hand, it just exacerbates the anger and gives rise to further uncertainty. We have always maintained that dissent should always have a place in a democratic society. Curbing the dissent and those holding a contradictory viewpoint is not democratic at all. On the other hand, such sections should be engaged. Moreover, from the last couple of days, rumour-mongering and chaos-type situation is being created in the State which is causing anxiety among the people. The State administration has failed to assure the people on this. The way it has sought paramilitary reinforcements and started issuing advisories to the various departments without giving reasonable answers has caused further panic among the people. The State cannot afford more chaos and uncertainty at this juncture.

It is a grim situation, getting complicated and compounded on a daily basis. On one hand, the Valley Muslims are finding the going very tough in their home State and on the other hand, shifting to other States of the country would be riddled with trauma and tension, in this surcharged atmosphere dripping with the obvious strains of communal poisoning.

In fact, for the last several years Kashmiri Muslims coming to the different cities and towns were not just looked with suspicion but even faced severe hurdles in finding jobs, school admissions, rooms on rent. They faced hostility and humiliation; hit that they were by snide comments and communal unleash. Why? Because we, the masses of this country, have been rather too steadily fed with all sorts of prejudices and lopsided propaganda about the Indian Muslims and more so about the Kashmiri Muslims. And now with the Right-wing government at the Centre the situation has only aggravated. Worsened to such an alarming extent that even a Kashmiri student or a shawl-seller or a shawl-buyer is not spared...becomes a victim of severe hatred unleashed by the Hindutva brigades going about scot free; several of these hate-brigades even enjoying state patronage! And not to overlook the absolutely provocative comments of the Meghalaya Governor, Tathagata Roy, calling for the economic boycott of the Kashmiris. What action has been taken against him! None, so far. He still continues as the Governor of Meghalaya.

Today we seem hell-bent to sit like mute spectators, seeing the mess getting messier. After all, in the last over thirty long years we have been witnessing uncontrolled violence and counter-violence in the Kashmir Valley. Kashmiris have been severely affected by the unending killings and counter-killings.

Innocent Kashmiri civilians have been killed, if not grievously injured, in these recent years. They have witnessed the deaths of their children in firings and cross-firing, crackdowns, searches...they have witnessed their young sons picked up for interrogation by the security forces, never to return...they have seen decay and destruction spread out on varying fronts. Trapped they sit, sieged, at the mercy of the state might.

Amidst this grim situation the only little ray of hope stands out in the fact that the Supreme Court on Friday (February 22) issued a notice to the Central Government and 11 States, seeking their response on a plea for its intervention to prevent the alleged attacks on Kashmiri students after last weeks terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama. The notice has been issued to Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Meghalaya, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The Court said the Union Home Ministry will issue advisories to all the State governments to ensure the protection of Kashmiris in their respective States. It asked the chiefs of the State Police to ensure the safety of Kashmiris.

I cannot end this column without focusing on the efforts of the Khalsa Aid volunteers in reaching out to the hounded Kashmiri students; rescuing and helping them in all possible ways in this crisis time. After all, the basic aim of the Khalsa Aid volunteers is to treat each and every human being as a human being, irrespective of the caste and creed and region and religion factors.

My salaams to the Khalsa Aid volunteers. May their mission and outreach grow steadily, so that we human beings can live in a better and safer world, where Right-wing hawks terrifying and terrorising tactics dont manage to tear us apart.

As I end this column, I wonder what long term measures will be taken to ensure that the Kashmiris are not hounded and targeted. What happens to the academic future of the Kashmiri students who were forced to vacate hostels and class rooms? What happens to their survival? What happens to all those Kashmiris who dare to venture out of their State and also to those who have no choice but to sit in home confines, tense and apprehensive of what lies ahead.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Threat to Constitutional Structure

From N.C.s Writings

A situation of unprecedented confusion synchronising with the onset of serious crisis for the entire constitutional structure of the Indian state presents before the nation today.

On the one side is the outright challenge of the BJP, the most aggressive of political parties, threatening to defy the entire administration in a manner never seen before; and on the other, the ruling party at the Centre presents a picture of utter disunity with factions not only squabbling but at times taking recourse to physical violence to settle scores with each other. The prospect of a total breakdown of the system is no longer a matter of mere academic disputations but frighteningly an emerging reality. One wonders whether this premonition bothers those at the helm of public affairs in our country today.

With the imposition of the ban on the mammoth protest rally of 15 lakhs that the BJP leadership has threatened to stage in the Capital on February 25, it is clear that the overwhelming mass of public opinion in the country wants that such a confrontation should be avoided in view of the tense communal situation prevailing in many parts of North India. Most of the political parties outside the ruling Congress have disfavoured the imposition of the executive ban as suchsensitive as they are to the imperative of upholding civil liberties particularly in troubled times such as thesebut at the same time have openly warned against such a massive rally that may touch off an explosion of communal violence which nobodyneither the BJP nor the governmentwould be in a position to control. In fact, such an assurance from the BJP has largely lost its validity after what happened on December 6 when the Babri Masjid was demolished in the face of the BJP Governments assurance to protect it.

Defying all appeals for forbearance, even by those usually friendly to it, the BJP leadership has taken up the ban itself as a challenge, and has unleashed a campaign of such venom that it openly undermines its claims to be a responsible party wedded to constitutional politics. A noteworthy feature of this latest round of BJP campaign is the open diatribe against the minority community, with its more aggressive supporters openly questioning if tolerance has at all been an axiom of Hindu faith. In other words, in contrast to the former style of BJP campaigning, which tried to project Hindutva as a way of life in which tolerance towards other communities was constantly claimed, the latest model of the BJP Raj promises no such approach of tolerance towards the non-Hindu minority communities.

The contours of the Hindutva that one can discern from the latest phase of propaganda by different members of the Sangh Parivar are thus one of an aggressive, bigoted approach. The opening that Vajpayees reasoned stand offered on the morrow of the demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6, seems to have been abandoned by the Sangh Parivar, whose present stand hardly takes into account the need for the BJP to abjure an aggressive Hindu communal posture.

In this context, one has to note that Advani during his recent visit to Bombay made no effort at demarcating the BJP from the Shiv Sena with its avowed campaign for calculated and systematic pogrom of the Muslim community. One recalls the suicidal phase of Akali politics when even its moderate leaders did not care to demarcate themselves from the militants with the result that today they have been reduced to the status of prisoners of the militant elements. Such a retreat from the moderate constitutional line can hardly enhance the position of the BJP in the national scene.

With all its lampooning of what it calls pseudo-secularism and of its opponents bid to capture the Muslim vote-bank, it is time for the BJP leadership to understand that any party aspiring to govern this country has to convince a good section of the minority community about its serious concern for its life and living as citizens of this country. This is precisely what in the eyes of the public demarcates Gandhijis Ram Rajya from the prevailing Ram cult of the militant battalions of the Sangh Parivar.

Here is the real test for the BJP leadership in its bid to be the future rulers of this republic. The controversy over the proposed February 25 rally has to be judged against this background, and not as a mere law-and-order issue. In dealing with this forbidding phenomenon of aggressive communalism, political parties ranged against it have to make a common cause in defence of constitutional politics of the parliamentary pattern. Inevitably, the task of forging such a common stand falls on the largest among the political parties, which happens to be the Congress party.

As the ruling party without majority support in Parliament, the Congress has all the more the responsibility of conducting itself as a unified political formation which would not permit factional politics to debilitate its strength and influence before the public. What is amazing is that at the very moment when unity is the need of the hour, the Congress party has succeeded in emerging as a house divided against itself.

(Mainstream, February 20, 1993)
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Pulwama: A Wake-up Call for Peace in the Region

by Ram Puniyani

The suicidal terrorist, Adil Ahmad Dar, rammed his explosive laden car into two trucks of a CRPF convoy on February 14, 2019. The blast led to the brutal murder of 44 jawans, a big national tragedy, most heinous and condemnable. In terms of scale and casualties, it exceeds even the Uri attack of September 18, 2016, in which four heavily armed terrorists targeted an Army brigade headquarters, killing 19 soldiers. The Pulwama attack is even more serious than the car-bombing at the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly complex in Srinagar on October 1, 2001, that killed 38 people. Both the Uri and Legislative Assembly terrorist attacks are said to have been carried out by the Pakistan-based terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed (J-e-M). The same organisation has also taken responsibility for the Pulwama attack now.

In the aftermath of the Uri attack, India undertook a surgical strike on Pakistan, with the assumption that it was a fitting response to the Uri terror attack. Pakistan denied any such attack having taken place on its soil. One recalls that even when demonetisation was undertaken, the claim was that it will curtail militancy in Kashmir as terrorists are able to operate with counterfeit currency, and demonetisation will render this currency useless. It is, however, clear that there is no let up in militancy there.

Following the attack, the Modi Government is trying to flex its muscles. Prime Minister Modi has declared that the Army has been given a green signal to take suitable steps to counter the situation. Meanwhile, other developments taking place on the ground across the country are disturbing. There are reports that Kashmiri students have been threatened in various cities in several States. Tathagata Roy, the Governor of Meghalaya, has given the call to boycott Kashmiris. A deliberate attempt is being made by the Hindutva groups like Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters to whip up nationalistic passions with chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai, waving of the tricolour, giving slogans against Pakistan, and associating Pakistan with Muslims. The likes of Anupam Kher and Sonu Nigam are spewing anger against secular and liberal people. At several places, vigilante groups are threatening Muslims. The situation in Jammu required the imposition of curfew as the threat to the Muslims was palpable in the area. The BJPs State chief of J&K, Ravindra Raina, and MP Jugal Kishore took part in the protests targeting the Muslims. The BJP has distanced itself from the violence without giving any statement condemning the participation of its leaders in these vicious protests.

The violence has left Kashmiri Muslims living in Jammu and other parts of India fearful.

It is another matter that in different places, many Muslim groups have come on the streets to denounce Pakistan and have strongly condemned the terror attack. The Chief of Ajmer Dargah, Syed Zainul Abedin, went to the extent of saying that people from Pakistan will be barred from visiting the Ajmer shrine. On one hand, activists and groups wanting peace have issued appeals for sheltering the targeted Kashmiris, while many local level leaders have threatened that those sheltering Kashmiris will be attacked. The speeches of communal elements are charging up the atmosphere in a very negative and divisive way.

How do we deal with this situation and bring peace to Kashmir? First, we have to identify as to why the region is gripped in such a terror. There are multiple components, which have got mixed up. The militancy in Kashmir began in the decades of the 1960s and assumed horrendous proportions since the 1980s. The core issue was the feeling of alienation in Kashmir. The feeling is that their autonomy has been curtailed over a period of time. This autonomy was a part of the treaty through which Kashmir acceded to India. As per Article 370, the Kashmir Assembly has all powers barring the areas of defence, communications, currency and external affairs. The abolition of this clause has been an important part of the Hindutva agenda of the RSSBJP.

After the accession of Kashmir to India, the communal groups started the campaign that Kashmir should be totally merged into India. This sowed the seeds of the process of alienation of the Kashmiri people right from the 1950s onwards. As this alienation increased, it led to many elements becoming disgruntled and eventually resulted in the birth of militancy, which was given full support from across the border by Pakistan. Another development which has fuelled the growth of terrorism in the region is related to the politics for the control of oil resources. This process was initiated by America which helped the grooming of the Al-Qaeda-type elements in Pakistani madrassas. This process of grooming terrorist elements was not only encouraged but also totally funded by America in the 1980s (America spent 8000 million dollars and supplied armaments to the tune of 7000 tonnes). These terrorist groups, after winning the war against the Soviet/Russian occupation of Afghanistan, became jobless and so entered Kashmir, taking advantage of the dissatisfaction that was already there. They trampled upon the unique culture of Kashmir, known as Kashmiriyat, a cultural synthesising of Buddhist values, Vedanta and Sufi tradition. This was one of the major factors which started the communalisation of the Kashmir problem and led to the exodus of Kashmiri Pundits from the Valley.

The Al-Qaeda-type terror groups, funded by America and housed in Pakistan, have now assumed the form of a Frankenstein monster. Pakistan has lost over seventy thousand people in terror attacks, including the ex-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto. These terror groups do indeed get patronage from a section of the Pakistani Army. The response to the situation of turmoil in the Kashmir region requires a comprehensive understanding of the genesis and growth of terrorism in Kashmir. Adil Ahmad Dar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad recruit, is a local boy from Kashmir, who took to the path of terror after being thrashed by the Army. So far, most foot soldiers of the terror outfits have been from across the border. Now agitated local boys have also started joining these organisations. It is to be noted that during the last four-and-a-half years of Modi rule, the number of terror acts, recruits for terrorism and the Army personnel killed in such incidents has gone up several times. An IndiaSpend analysis (a non-profit data portal) based on government data shows that over 800 terror incidents have been reported in J&K over the three years ending 2017, increasing from 208 in 2015 to 342 in 2017. As many as 744 people have died in these three years: 471 terrorists, 201 security forces and 72 civilians. While one can say that Pakistan-based terror groups have played a major role in increasing the terror acts, it is equally true that this increase is the result of the policies of the Modi regime, where dialogue has been replaced by bullets and pellet guns. Can terrorism be wiped out by bullets alone?

We of course need to improve our intelligence and security and prevent recurrence of such attacks. Surely the Pakistan-based terror groups need to be punished and brought to book. At the same time, it also needs to be realised that a surgical strike and aggressive words cannot save the region from the present tormenting situation. War is no solution, war itself is the problem. It is the soldiers again who will have to bear the brunt of the damages of war. Along with that, the whole region will sink into an abyss from which recovery will take years. While pursuing a firm policy in Kashmir and with our neighbour, we need to initiate a solid process of dialogue with the disgruntled elements and with our neighbour to bring peace to the region. A lasting peace is what we need; temporary aggressive measures will not eliminate the seeds of terror in the region. We need to introspect and realise that while Pakistani support and housing of terror groups worsens the situation, unless we address the grievances of the local people, the outsiders will keep making merry by instigating and supporting the local dissident elements.

The creation of an atmosphere of retaliation is worsening the situation. It is a short-sighted response, and inadequate to eliminate the problem of terrorism in the region. The present atmosphere where Muslims are feeling insecure and Kashmiris are being targeted is worsening the situation. We do need to give an atmosphere of security and amity to all our citizens. An appeal of harmony from the top may restrain the communal elements who in their display of hyper-nationalism are creating a situation which violates the principle of fraternity, the foundation of our nation and the base of our Constitution.

The author, a retired Professor at the IIT-Bombay, is currently associated with the Centre for the Study of Secularism and Society, Mumbai.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2019 > Hashtags for War between India and Pakistan

by Fatima Bhutto

Pakistan and India, two nuclear armed states, have fought many wars since our partition in 1947. Our militaries have faced off in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. Between those wars, there have been numerous skirmishes, cross-border strikes and accusations of covert support for terrorism.

I have never seen my country at peace with its neighbour. But never before have I seen a war played out between two nuclear-armed states with Twitter accounts. On February 14, a suicide bomber hit a convoy of paramilitary forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Jaish-e-Mohammad, a militant group based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. India accused Pakistan of orchestrating the bombing. Pakistan denied the allegation and maintained that it would act on intelligence shared but that none had been given.

On Tuesday (February 26), India flew fighter planes across Pakistani territory, engaging the Indian and Pakistani Air Forces in dogfights for the first time since 1971. Prime Minister Narendra Modis government, up for re-election in two months time, claimed to have hit a terrorist training camp in the Balakot area in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, killing 300 militants. Pakistans military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, denied the claims, saying that Indian war planes dropped their payloads without causing any casualties or damage to infrastructure.

On social media, Indian journalists celebrated the strike with glee; Bollywood stars, who have only play-acted in wars, sent their Twitter congratulations. Mess with the best, die like the rest, tweeted Ajay Devgn. What an explosive morning! Raveena Tandon cheered. Kangana Ranaut, promoting a film, weighed in that barring Pakistani artists from Bollywood is not the focus, Pakistans destruction is, and any voices calling for peace and restraint were immediately labelled anti-national traitors. Hashtags were thrown in the air like confetti: #indiastrikesback, #terroristanpakistan, #pakapologist.

In Pakistan, for once, there was more sober reflection. While some called for revenge, many Pakistanis, myself included, refused to cheerlead for war. There were, of course, odd voices in between. Hamid Mir, a Pakistani journalist, visited Jabba village in the Balakot area the next day and standing in a lush, leafy forest reported that there was no infrastructural damage visible, no funerals, no blood and no bodies. He found only one body on the spot, he corrected himself, and pointed to a dead black crow.

Today we stand on the precipice of further violence and escalation. Pakistan claims to have shot down two Indian jets that flew over its airspace, and it is confirmed that it has one Indian Air Force pilot in custody. Right-wing trolls who proliferate across the border quickly trended #pakfakeclaim before the Indian Government confirmed the capture of Wing Commander Abhinandan.

While some Pakistani commentators rushed to match their Indian counterparts gloating#Pakistanstrikesback (no points for originality)and shared video clips of cheering and slogan-shouting, many of us continue to refuse to hashtag our country down the path of nuclear war.

Pakistans recent history has been bloody, and no one has suffered that violence more than its own citizens. But our long history with military dictatorships and experience of terrorism and uncertainty means that my generation of Pakistanis have no tolerance, no appetite, for jingoism or war. In the afternoon, #saynotowar began to trend in Pakistan, before hitting the worldwide No. 1 spot on Twitter.

Even Prime Minister Imran Khan, of whom I have long been a vocal critic, surprised me when he appeared on television in the afternoon and called for peace. My question to the Indian Government is that with the weapons we both have, can we afford a miscalculation? If it escalates, where will it go? Mr Khan asked. It is the only moral stand that either country can take.

Both India and Pakistan have a duty to maintain that profoundly moral stand at a time when hysteria is at a high. A 2007 report, written by a co-founder of an anti-nuclear organisation, Physicians for Social Responsibility, found that a nuclear war between India and Pakistan could result in the deaths of one to two billion people around the world from starvation. The ozone layer would be irreparably damaged, and hundreds of millions more would perish as a result of disease, food shortages and crop damage.

I and many other young Pakistanis have called upon our country to release the captured Indian pilot as a gesture of our commitment to peace, humanity and dignity. We have spent a lifetime at war. I do not want to see Pakistani soldiers die. I do not want to see Indian soldiers die. We cannot be a subcontinent of orphans.

My generation of Pakistanis have fought for the right to speak, and we are not afraid to lend our voices to that most righteous cause: peace.

(Courtesy: The New York Times, February 27, 2019)

Fatima Bhutto, a well-known Pakistani writer, is an advocate of peace in South Asia. She is the author, most recently, of the novel The Runaways.
Kollam : Shajahan, the prime accused in the murder of a CPM activist in Chithara has confessed personal vengeance as the reason behind the murder.

There were disputes between the deceased, Muhammad Basheer and the accused Shajahan, police said. As per the reports, the duo had a fallout regarding the sale of tapioca and later Basheer stabbed Basheer.

However, the CPM had alleged that the incident was a political killing. CPM claimed that Congress intentionally murdered the CPM activist.
Lahore : A Pakistani media report on Sunday said that Jaish-e-Mohammad Chief Masood Azhar is alive, quoting unnamed sources close to his family.

The media reports claiming that JeM leader is dead are false, Geo Urdu News reported. Quoting unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief, the channel said Azhar is alive, without elaborating on his health condition. However, there was no word on Azhar's fate from the Pakistan government.

Azhar, who was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange of the hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines, was the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, Pathankot attack and latest Pulwama terror strike.
President Rodrigo Duterte had asked a court to allow, despite pending graft cases against him. Misuari came to my office the other night because he wanted to go out, he was not allowed because he has a case. I talked to the police, the military, and the court to allow him to leave. I guaranteed that he will come back, the President said during a campaign rally of the ruling PDP-Laban in Zamboanga City Sunday night. On Feb. 25, Duterte held a 15-minute meeting with Misuari. A day afterward, the Sandiganbayans Third Division granted Misuaris request to travel to attend several assemblies in the United Arab Emirates. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President was not interfering in an independent branch of government, but merely using his persuasive powers to fulfill his mandate to protect and serve the people. Panelo said the President merely sought to inform the court that. If the problem of Mindanao lies in the hands of a person like Misuari who has a large influential group that can create discord, then its the duty of the President to use his persuasive powers to tell the courts to give him temporary freedom because Misuari will help achieve peace, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. He said this could not be seen as interference because the President did not order the court to grant the request. I dont think the courts will allow itself to be coerced or intimidated by any person, he added. Whats important is that its for the interest of the country. You dont meddle with the decisions of the judiciary. You just let them do their job, you provide them with information or inputs then let them evaluate. And I think given that consideration, they allowed Misuari to go out. But he will come back, without a doubt.Misuari was allowed to travel to attend the 46th session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperations (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates on March 1 and 2. He will then stay in the UAE until March 11 and attend the 14th session of the Parliamentary Union of OIC Member States in Rabat, Morocco on March 13 and 14. Senator Franklin Drilon said seeking court permission to leave the country is part of the legal process for one facing criminal charges, and that there was nothing irregular with Duterte calling on the authorities to allow Misuari to leave. What is important is for the court to get a guarantee that Misuari will come back to face the charges, Drilon said. READ: Rody, Nur hold talks as MNLF criticizes BTA Senator Gregorio Honasan II also defended Dutertes move, saying that it is covered by presidential prerogative and discretion as long as it helps achieve national objectives of unity, lasting peace, and economic development. Duterte has guaranteed that Misuari would return home to discuss the new deal the government is crafting with the MNLF to attain lasting peace in Mindanao. READ: Palace slams MNLF poseurs
On 1 March, the Exit Theatre group in Tehran, Iran organised a very successful conference on the relevance of Marxism in the modern era as a part of their Exit discussion series. The meeting, which was focused around Alan Woods book, The Ideas of Karl Marx, was opened by screening the teledrama Marx in Soho, a 2018 production by Exit Theatre, written by American historian Howard Zinn.

This was followed by a message from Alan Woods for the audience. Afterwards, an introduction was made by Shirin Mirzanejad, translator of Alan Woodss works to Persian and chief editor of Exit Theatre, accompanied by a Q&A and group discussion on the subject.

On 1 March, the Exit Theatre group in Tehran, Iran organised a very successful conference on the relevance of Marxism in the modern era / Image: Exit Theatre

Exit discussion is a series of biweekly events organised by the Exit Theatre group in Tehran and other cities in Iran, such as Mashhad and Ramsar, addressing social and political issues. Exit Theater, led by Editor Shirin Mirzanejad and Director Mehrdad Khamenei also publishes an impressive range of theoretical material on art, philosophy, politics and social matters around their thought-provoking theatrical productions. Their series of discussions is an addition to these activities.
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhayly (Source: VNA)



Chhayly said after more than 10 years, the project to plant 100,000 hectares of rubber trees in Cambodia has contributed remarkably to the countrys economic growth.

With nearly 90,000 hectares of rubber trees grown so far, the project has generated jobs for locals and helped build infrastructure such as schools, medical stations, clean water systems and roads in target areas.

He affirmed that the Cambodian government continues making adjustments to create a favourable business and investment environment for investors.

Within the framework of the conference, Cambodian offices such as the Ministry of Finance and the General Department of Customs and Excise held open and straightforward dialogues with representatives from Vietnamese companies involved in the project to help them deal with difficulties related to rubber export procedures, tax incentives and tax declaration./.
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National flags of the DPRK, the US and Vietnam attached to a plaque with a friendship symbol of handshake are decorating many streets downtown Hanoi. (Photo: VNA)



In their coverage, both Nikkei Asian Review and Japan Today websites quoted US President Donald Trump as saying on his Twitter: "Vietnam is thriving like few places on earth."

Meanwhile, in its highlight column, Japanese Sankei website said that with its unbiased stand, the hosting of the summit by Vietnam has affirmed that the country's wishes to contribute to peace and stability of the world.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Nikkei newspaper described the hosting of the summit as a good chance for Vietnam to promote its tourism as the event drew over 3,000 foreign journalists.

The Czech media gave wide coverage of the second DPRK-USA Summit, with praises for Vietnams role in organising the event.

Major news outlet such as the Czech News Agency (CTK), the Blesk newspaper, the iDnes.cz and Novinky.cz news websites noted that the selection of the venue for the summit was very important which must be acceptable for both sides.

According to Alex Svamberk, a journalist and analyst of international affairs, the role and position of Vietnam have become known worldwide as the meeting between the DPRK Chairman Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump attracts special international attention. The organization of the meeting proves that Vietnam is capable of making active contributions to major international issues, of which the Korean peninsula is among the most complicated and prolonged ones.

In a statement released after the summit concluded on February 28th, the the Republic of Koreas Presidential Office (Blue House) said the RoK regretted that the two sides were unable to reach an agreement, however they have made the most meaningful progress of their talks so far.

That the US President expressed his willingness to continue talks will brighten the prospects for another summit, the statement said.

The same day, the RoKs Democratic Party (DP) expressed the hope that the two leaders could meet again soon after the second summit in Hanoi.

The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) expressed its regret that the two sides could not reach an agreement, but hoped that talks on denuclearisation in the Korean Peninsula will be resumed at the earliest time./.
By MOAA Staff

The Military Officers Association of America will present awards to seven recipients for their contributions to the military community April 9 on Capitol Hill.

This year's recipients represent the very best military community support from legislators, their staff, and industry leaders, said retired Air Force Col. Dan Merry, vice president of MOAA's Government Relations. We're excited to see their continued support of those who are currently in service or have served.

MOAA's Arthur T. Marix Congressional Leadership Award is given annually to lawmakers who distinguish themselves in protecting the rights and interests of servicemembers, their families, and their survivors. The award is named for the retired Marine Corps colonel who founded MOAA in 1929; past recipients include Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim Webb and the late Sen. John McCain. This year's recipients represent both chambers and both major political parties:

Rep. Phil Roe , ranking member and former chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, began his sixth term in Congress in 2019. Dr. Roe, a Tennessee Republican and Army Medical Corps veteran, sponsored the VA MISSION Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in June 2018. The act includes a number of VA reforms designed to improve care and access to benefits.

, ranking member and former chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, began his sixth term in Congress in 2019. Dr. Roe, a Tennessee Republican and Army Medical Corps veteran, sponsored the VA MISSION Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in June 2018. The act includes a number of VA reforms designed to improve care and access to benefits. Sen. Jon Tester, ranking Democrat on the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, was a key player in Senate passage of the VA MISSION Act as the only Democrat among the legislation's initial cosponsors. The Montana lawmaker began his third Senate term in January.

MOAA's Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to organizations that support servicemembers and the wider military community. Past recipients include Toby Keith, retired Army Gen. Colin Powell, Starbucks Coffee Co., and Vantage Mobility International. This year, MOAA's recipients represent corporate and nonprofit industries:

Three congressional staffers will receive MOAA's Colonel Paul W. Arcari Meritorious Service Award for their advocacy and support of issues affecting servicemembers, veterans, and military families:

The Arcari award was first given out in 2000.
An airplane heading to Moscow of Russia takes off from the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport in Zhengding, north China's Hebei Province, March 3, 2019. A passenger flight was launched from the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport to Moscow of Russia on Sunday. The flight operates once every Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaofeng)

SHIJIAZHUANG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- North China's Hebei Province on Sunday opened its first direct passenger flight to Russia.

The flight linking Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, and the Russian capital Moscow, will be operated each Sunday by Russia's Ikar Airlines, according to Hebei Airport Management Holding Co., Ltd.

The returning flight takes off from Shijiazhuang at 6:45 a.m. local time Monday and arrives in Moscow at 3:35 p.m. local time.

The company said the new air route will improve the province's air links with the Belt and Road countries while promoting its economic and cultural interactions with Moscow.

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Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Pennsylvania Horticulture Societys Harvest program ends season with almost 19,000 pounds of produce donated and $30K raised to fight food insecurity
A voter casts a ballot at a polling station at a shopping center in Tallinn, Estonia, on March 3, 2019. Voting of Estonian parliamentary election at polling stations of local culture centers, schools, shopping centers and Tallinn city office went on smoothly on Sunday. (Xinhua/Guo Chunju)

TALLINN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Voting of Estonian parliamentary election at polling stations of local culture centers, schools, shopping centers and Tallinn city office went on smoothly on Sunday.

Working staff of the polling stations were seen checking the identity cards of the voters and guiding them to cast their ballots.

In an international visitors program organized by the State Electoral Office of Estonia, participants were taken to a culture center in Keila, a town and an urban municipality in northwest Estonia, and Paldiski, a town and Baltic Sea port about 45 km west to Tallinn, as well as Laulasmaa School and Muraste School in the small villages of Harju County, while another two separate trips went to Rakvere, 100 km southeast to Tallinn, and Haapsalu, about 101 km southwest to Tallinn.

Voters were required to write down the number of their preferred candidate or the name of the candidate on the paper ballot comprehensively, the working staff told Xinhua.

The 451 polling stations from 12 voting districts open from 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) till 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) Sunday for voters to cast ballots for their regional candidates from 1,099 candidates from 10 political parties and 15 independent candidates.

During the advance voting period from Feb. 21 to Feb. 27 in Estonia, a total of 247,232 voters chose internet voting, rising from just over 186,000 in the 2017 local elections, while advance overseas voting was held at Estonian foreign representations from Feb. 16 to Feb. 20, according to the State Electoral Office.

Out of the total 1.32 million Estonian population, altogether 958,571 people including 77,881 Estonian citizens living abroad can vote in the general election, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior confirmed.

The 13th Estonian parliament Riigikogu was elected in 2015, with Estonian Reform Party winning 27.7 percent votes, followed by Estonian Center Party's 24.8 percent. The turnout was 64.2 percent.

In November 2016, current Estonian Prime Minister Yuri Ratas took over from then prime minister Taavi Roivas from the Estonian Reform Party after the latter lost a confidence vote in parliament, forming a new coalition government.

5

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 22 people including children were dead in a southern U.S. town worst hit by apparent tornadoes moving through states of Alabama and Georgia on Sunday, according to local media reports.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones on Sunday night confirmed to the Associated Press the latest death toll in the town of Beauregard, some 96 km east of Montgomery, the capital city of the state of Alabama.

However, a report from CBS affiliate WRBL-TV put the death toll at 23, also quoting the sheriff.

Some people are still believed to be missing, Jones told WRBL-TV, calling the damage "catastrophic."

"I cannot recall, at least in the last 50 years, and longer than that, a situation where we have had this type, this loss of life that we experienced today," Jones told WRBL-TV.

Photos issued by multiple media outlets showed debris from strong wind gusts and heavy rain knocking down power lines.

The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) issued tornado emergencies in Alabama and Georgia on Sunday afternoon.

At least six people were in rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 129 km south of Atlanta, were injured amid the terrible weather, Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency, told local media.

[ Editor: WPY ]
By Express News Service

In a major boost to the Adani Group, the Central government has approved a Rs 14,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project of Adani Power in Jharkhand.

Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd had sought approval for setting up of sector-specific SEZ for power at Gaighat, Mali, Motia and adjacent villages in Godda district of Jharkhand, covering 425 hectares.

It has received formal approval for the land in possession of 222.68 hectare area and in principle approval for remaining 202.32 hectare, said an official. According to sources, the project was approved by Board of Approval, the highest decision making body on SEZ, chaired by the commerce secretary, in a meeting on February 25.

Adani Power will set up two supercritical units of 800 MW each with an investment of Rs 14,000 crore, which would include a water pipeline and a power evacuation system. It is expected to be ready by 2022.

The company is planning to export the entire power generated to Bangladesh, an official said. It has already signed power purchase agreement for supply of 100 per cent power generated from this plant to that country.

SEZs are major export hubs in India as the government provides several incentives including tax benefits and single window clearance system to them. The developers and units of these zones do not require licence for import, have full freedom for subcontracting, and no routine examination of cargo by customs authorities.

The Cabinet last week approved the promulgation of an Ordinance for amendment to the SEZ Act, 2005. With this, trusts can now approach the government to set up units in SEZs.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The Finance Ministry, staring a target of raising Rs 90,000 crore via divestment next year, has asked all loss-making Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) to come up with a list of their non-core assets, which can be hived off immediately.

The CPSEs will work with NITI Aayog on (preparing) the list. While the complete exercise is likely to take four-five months of time, for the sick CPSEs, it has to be completed by March 31, a senior official from the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) told TMS.

The non-core assets of CPSEs will include land parcels, buildings, non-functional warehouses and other assets that are not directly linked with business. The DIPAM official said that this will also help the government to revaluate the valuations of these assets.

Many of these assets are valued at a rate that is not in sync with the current market price. NITI Aayogs role will also be to get consultants to do proper valuation of these assets, so that it will be convenient for the government during the divestment, the official explained.

The NITI Aayog report will be taken up by an alternative mechanism on disinvestment, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, following which the CPSE and the respective administrative ministry will further proceed with the monetisation process, he said.

DIPAM, after consulting with ministries and CPSEs, has already identified a huge tract of land and other assets of nine state-owned companies, which will be hived off before they are put on the block for strategic sale.

The nine CPSEs whose non-core assets have been identified for hiving off are Pawan Hans, Scooters India, Air India, Bharat Pumps & Compressors, Project & Development India, Hindustan Prefab, Hindustan Newsprint, Bridge & Roof Co and Hindustan Fluorocarbons.

This financial year, the government had set a disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore, which includes strategic and minority stake sale in CPSEs. The government has already given in-principle approval for the strategic sale of 24 state-owned firms.
By Express News Service

They say every action has an equal and opposite reaction. It rings true for the latest Ordinance on Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes (UDS) 2019, notified on February 21.

While experts cheer the move considering the governments broad objective of banning illicit deposits that hurt small investors and preventing all transactions that dont have a formal audit trail, inadvertently, it could have an adverse impact on Indias scores of small and medium businesses. The move also flies in the face of the NDA government, which has been making concerted efforts to prop up MSMEs, the latest being bank loan approvals in as little as 59 minutes.

At the core of the issue are Sections 2(4) and 2(17), which in essence prevents small businesses from borrowing from friends, family and partners for business purposes.

For MSMEs, getting formal credit is still a distant dream. If anything, loans from friends and family should be encouraged. Instead, the latest Ordinance prevents that. Theres a need to re-frame the two sections (mentioned above), said Buchibabu Gorantla, Senior Partner, Gorantla & Associates LLP, based in Hyderabad. He added that the architecture of the Ordinance as such was good, though it needs to be re-looked to make necessary amendments. It was introduced in a hurry, without proper thinking and without a consultative approach. Proper research wasnt undertaken, he opined.

There have been similar concerns from several quarters in the past few days, and sensing the need, the Ministry of Finance, in a series of tweets, clarified that individuals can borrow money from relatives or friends for any purpose  business or personal. However, unless the necessary amendments are carried out, there wont be any sanctity to the clarifications.

Importantly, the industry also sought clarity on capital received from partners in a partnership firm, which as per the Ordinance is excluded from the definition of a deposit. But ironically, partnership firm is entitled to receive a loan from relatives of any of the partners and its this asymmetry under the same Section 2(4)(f) that the industry is seeking clarity on. On its part, the Ministry of Finance has maintained silence so far and it remains to be seen how swiftly the uncertainty will be ironed out.

Meanwhile, following the ban on unregulated deposits, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending is expected to gain traction from small investors as SMEs are heavily dependent on informal resources, where transparency has always been an issue. All unregulated deposits would now have regulated route that will not only help in boosting digital economy, but will also help in increasing the taxable income. Needless to say, P2P lending industry is poised to be a $5 billion industry by 2023 and can play a key role in financial inclusion and building a corruption-free nation, said Rajiv M Ranjan, founder & CMD, PaisaDukan.

Sanjay Darbha, founder & CEO, PeerLend, said the Ordinance will help P2P lending sector in multiple ways. Firstly, all transactions carried out on NBFC-P2P lending platforms are regulated by RBIs P2P master guidelines. This will increase demand for formal credit and should be an upside for the P2P lending sector. NBFC-P2P lending platforms can become a formal route for many of the small-ticket informal transactions that are normally ridden with high transaction costs and significant collateral needs. P2P lending can finally emerge fully as a new asset-class for individual lenders in India, he said.


By PTI

NEW DELHI: Auto LPG industry in the country has sought a reduction in GST rates on LPG conversion kits for automobiles from current 28 per cent to 5 per cent to boost vehicle conversions to the environment-friendly fuel.

Indian Auto LPG Coalition, the apex industry body for auto LPG in India, said that high GST rates were hampering conversion to LPG, which is much cleaner transport fuel as compared to petrol.

In a statement, the association said putting an efficient and non-polluting fuel under the highest GST slab is counter-productive to the government's focus on cleaning India's urban air quality.

The high GST rates are proving detrimental to the conversion industry and hampering the growth of the clean and environment-friendly transport fuel.

"An auto LPG conversion kit is not a luxury item which is placed under the highest GST slab.

At a time, when our cities have been reeling under the impact of harmful vehicular emissions, all efforts must be initiated to push consumers towards using cleaner fuels.

Conversion of vehicles to auto LPG has to be promoted by making them more affordable and easily available," said Suyash Gupta, Director General of Indian Auto LPG Coalition.

He said such a prohibitively high GST rate is driving up the costs of conversion kits and discouraging consumers.

"Auto LPG is a very clean transport fuel with almost negligible particulate material emissions, and can bring about immediate improvements in air quality," he said.

The association said auto LPG has become a major draw in several countries and has helped clean up their urban environments, thanks to favourable policy measures.

A prominent example is South Korea which records 4 million tonnes in sales of this fuel annually.

Turkey runs almost 40 per cent of all private vehicles on auto LPG.

"Another detrimental policy that is hindering the growth of auto LPG is the archaic Type Approval norms governing vehicle conversions to gaseous fuels.

The Type Approval norms of the Ministry of Road Transport in India require companies to renew extremely cost prohibitive Type Approvals for Auto LPG and CNG conversions every three years.

This has resulted in a rapid dwindling of players in the retro-fitment market," the statement said.

With a little policy support, auto LPG can become a viable alternative transport fuel for both four-wheelers as well as 2 wheelers.

"Even as we work on making electric vehicles a reality on Indian roads in the long term, we must not ignore more readily available options and lose sight of more easily do things to fight environmental pollution.

Encouraging auto LPG conversion is one of the most viable and easy solutions to our air quality concerns in the short term, Gupta said.

Auto LPG emits almost negligible particulate matter than either diesel or petrol vehicles; 96 per cent lesser nitrogen dioxides (NOx) than diesel; 68 per cent lesser NOx than petrol.

NOx is hugely responsible for respiratory ailments among urban dwellers.

Auto LPG also emits about 22 per cent lower carbon dioxide (CO2) than petrol which is comparable to the CO2 emissions of CNG.

With rising crude prices becoming a major headache for the Indian economy, increasing usage of Auto LPG in the short run can also help cut India's import bill, the statement said, adding Auto LPG is more than 40 per cent cheaper than petrol.
Madhumitha Viswanath By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: For Peter, owner of a small food stall near Chepauk, buying drinking water is a major expense. He shells out around Rs 1,500 on 40 water cans every day. Though this is heavy on his pocket, he cannot limit this expense because a reduction in the quantity of water used in cooking food would mean a drop in quality. Now, Peter is spending sleepless nights because water can prices are likely to go up by Rs 2- Rs 3 in the coming months.

Priced possession

With most borewells in neighbouring districts going dry, water can manufacturers said the price per can is most likely to increase by a maximum of Rs 3. Though the hike looks like a small amount to pay for water, almost all small-scale businesses like Peters and other medium-scale eateries in Chennai, which are heavily dependent on water cans will face a severe backlash. I will have to pay an extra Rs 5,000 every month if prices shoot up. I cannot increase the prices on the menu as my customers are students and daily wage labourers. Summer is going to be a struggle for hotel owners like me, said the 45-year-old.

READ | Chennai: Solutions to save water not a pipe dream

As such eateries and hotels do not get Metro Water, most depend on water from private tankers, can services, and on borewells in some areas. Such businesses, on an average, shell out around Rs 35,000-Rs 50,000 per month on water alone.

For example, a medium-scale biryani shop in T Nagar spends Rs 22,000 on water every month. Even if they attempt to use water judiciously, their basic requirement on alternate days is 10 water cans and 12,000 litres of water. To reduce water usage, we use plantain leaves on plates and use water from tumblers and not big jugs while cleaning tables. But whatever we do, we require at least 7,000 litres of water a day. We have no choice but to pay more from next month if the price goes up, said Surendran, manager of the eatery at Panagal Park.

Borewells running dry

Ezhumalai, the owner of a juice shop at Usman Road said that most customers refuse to drink juices made with borewell or tanker water. Even at small shops like ours, people want food or beverages made with can water only. They do not trust the quality of any other water. Also, we cannot increase the price just because we use can water, which is more expensive. So, we try to use milk instead of water for most juices, said Ezhumalai.

In most places across the city, except for the ones located near the coast, water levels in borewells are rapidly decreasing. Hence, dependence on private water sources will be at an all-time high this summer. We use close to ten buckets of water from the borewell every day to clean the vessels and the floor. But the borewell is almost dry now. It looks like we have to buy extra can of water for cleaning purposes as well from next month, said Raviraj, owner of a hotel at Kodambakkam.

Reasons for hike

As existing borewells located at Poonamallee, Avadi, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram  which act as primary water sources for private players  are drying up, water managers said good quality will cost more from March end onwards. In core areas of the city, water cans that are sold at Rs 30-Rs 35 now may be sold at Rs 32-Rs 40, and cans sold for Rs 25 at peripheral areas may be sold at Rs 27-Rs 30 in peak summer.

Borewells from where we usually source water have already dried up. So, water tankers will have to travel to faraway places in search of water.

As the distance increases, transportation charges will go up directly resulting in a price hike of water cans. Companies that process raw water will not change their rates as the competition among them is high. Only the distributor and transporter will hike their prices, said Ananthanarayanan, president of Greater Tamil Nadu Packaged Drinking Water Manufacturers Association. He also warned that as demand increases when water sources become sparse, quality gets compromised the most. Some distributors will start selling water cans even at Rs 15 to make a profit., he added.

Venkada Subbu, president of TN Hotel Association said, The government has to regulate groundwater extraction so that all parties benefit.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: A five-member Lithuanian delegation, which reached the city as a part of implementing the European Union-backed International Urban Cooperation project, agreed to work with the civic body to tackle the waste management issue.

The delegation headed by Dr Panangiotis Karamanos held talks with Mayor Soumini Jain and various standing committee chairpersons on Monday.

Weve decided to work on three sectors  waste management, transportation and tourism. Waste management will be the top priority as its a major problem were facing now, said the Mayor.

A five-member Kochi Corporation delegation headed by Deputy Mayor T J Vinod had met Mayor of Vilnius Remigijus Simasius in Lithuania. An SPV was included in the recent budget.

The team will also convene a meeting with the officers of KMRL, Kochi Smart City and Kerala Water Authority.

Compared to other cities, were at the forefront of Ayurveda treatment. If we can further explore its possibilities, itll benefit both countries, said the Mayor.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lack of public spaces? Taking this into consideration, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has converted a poramboke land in Kazhakoottam into a beautiful mini-park for nearby residents. The park has been named Ayyankali park in memory of the social reformer and Dalit icon Mahatma Ayyankali and will be dedicated to the public on Wednesday. The project is part of the Corporation's plans to renovate neglected areas into parks and ponds.

The Ayyankali park and statue which awaits the inauguration on Wednesday

The park has been constructed near the Kumizhikkara pond in Kazhakootam. The pond which contained stagnant and dirty water had become a haven for anti-social elements. However, as part of the renovation, the pond has been cleaned. Four cemented benches, well-lit spots is expected to attract the public to the park.

"The local body has spent an amount of A 16 lakh for the pond renovation and construction of the park. An open auditorium has also been set up there. An Ayyankali statue was already in place which is why we decided to name the park after the social reformer. The corporation has revived the present statue of Ayyankali and set up a lawn in the premises," said Mayor V K Prasanth.

Maintenance

Ever since the statue was unveiled in 1980 by late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the Corporation had been involved in the maintenance of the Ayyankali square. The civic body has set aside an amount of Rs 20 lakh in 2019-20 budget for the maintenance of the Ayyankali square at Vellayambalam. "We have received complaints from residents regarding lack of lights in the area. So we are planning to renovate the park by setting up a garden and light facilities," the Mayor said.
"The ministers recalled the Leaders' determination to conclude a modern, comprehensive, high quality, and mutually beneficial RCEP in 2019, and resolved to exert utmost effort to achieve this target," said the statement released after the 7th RCEP Intersessional Ministerial Meeting (7th RCEP ISSL MM) in Cambodia's Siem Reap province.

The one-day meeting was opened by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen, it said.

The ministers commended the RCEP Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC) for the good progress made to date on both market access and text-based negotiations, but at the same time recognized that more work still needs to be done to advance both aspects of the negotiations, the statement said.

It added that the ministers urged all RCEP participating countries to address specific sensitivities while working towards achieving commercially meaningful and balanced outcomes.

"The ministers remained confident that with collective commitment and pragmatism, the chapters and annexes that would comprise the RCEP Agreement can be concluded soon," the statement said.

It added that the ministers reiterated that it is the collective responsibility of all RCEP participating countries to ensure progress by overcoming negotiation challenges and finding solutions to the remaining issues through constructive engagement.

"To ensure that progress is made towards meeting the Leaders' mandate for conclusion in 2019, the ministers agreed to intensify engagement for the remainder of the year, including by convening more intersessional meetings," the statement said.

The ministers agreed to meet next at the 8th RCEP ISSL MM to be held in August after the 27th RCEP TNC meeting and related meetings, it said.

The RCEP, a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between the 10 ASEAN member states and six of their FTA partners -- China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India, is expected to be one of the world's largest trading blocs, accounting for 45 percent of the world population, 40 percent of global trade and one third of the world's GDP. The talks on RCEP was launched in 2012.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
By Express News Service

VIJAYAWADA: A three-day grooming session for children by DLa Valentina at Hotel Aira in city concluded here on Sunday.

On the occasion, various competitions were conducted in which kids, trained by Valentina Mishra ( who is the national director of International Kids Pageants) took part. Along with training on personality development and communication skills, the children were introduced to concepts of oral care and hygiene by Dr Kavya and Dr Madhu.

In an audition conducted in February, eight students--Parineeta Sinha (8), Darsh Joshi (7), Taufiq Mansoor Ansari (9), Sanvi Kongra, (11), Gagana K (6), N Yashasvi Sai (8), Safin (10), Aditya Vasudev (12)--were selected for this three-day grooming session. Among them, Yashasvi Sai from Vijayawada was selected to represent India in the little category at the Little Miss Galaxy Contest to be held from March 16 to 23 in Bulgaria. Aditya Vasudev from Visakhapatnam was selected to represent the country in the pre-teen category at the Best Prince of the World contest in Georgia from April 23 to 28.

A photo shoot was organised for them to showcase their style quotient, and mementoes and participation certificates were distributed.

Speaking on the occasion, Mishra said: Learning to groom oneself at such a tender age will help a child improve his/her self-confidence. It also boosts public speaking and leadership skills.

Recently, Yamini Patibandla (6), who was groomed by the organisation, won the World Rising Stars contest in Georgia.
By Express News Service

Vicky Kaushal will portray freedom fighter Sardar Udham Singh in Shoojit Sircars next. The film is a biopic on the revolutionary who assassinated Michael ODwyer, the former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in British India in 1940, to avenge the 1919 Jallianwala massacre.

ALSO READ: From now I can't take things for granted, says Vicky Kaushal

Talking about casting Vicky, Shoojit said, If you look at Vickys track record, he is taking brave steps and making some really fabulous choices. I wanted an actor who is ready to give his heart and soul to the film. Plus, he is a Punjabi boy and my film is a story of a Punjabi man. So, in many ways, he turned to be the obvious choice.

An absolute honour to be roped in to play Shaheed Udham Singh, in his biopic to be directed by @shoojitsircar sir... Cant wait for this journey to start next month. Produced by Ronnie Lahiri.

 pic.twitter.com/ub1aUy9HwS  Vicky Kaushal (@vickykaushal09) March 4, 2019

Vicky, who wanted to work with the Piku director for a long time, added, Its a surreal feeling because its like a dream come true as I am finally getting to work with him. I have always been a big admirer of how Shoojit sir looks at his stories. The way he is looking at the character (Udham Singh) and the world is extraordinary as well as beautiful. Plus, its also a big honour for me that finally, I am going to be directed by him. Honestly, thats something that will take time to sink in

The film goes on floors next month and will release next year. Vicky Kaushals last release was Uri: The Surgical Strike. His other releases of 2018 include Manmarziyan, Raazi,Sanju and Love Per Square Foot.

Vicky is also a part of Karan Johars upcoming period drama Takht.
By IANS

ZEE5's web series "Abhay" with Kunal Kemmu in the title role as an unsmiling cop from the Special Task Force who investigates impossibly complicated crime cases, is a thriller that throws away its potential by indulging in excessive gore. The makers almost seem to enjoy describing depravity in detail.

The first episode was a takeoff on the notorious Pandher case where a businessman and his househelp kidnapped scores of children, brutalised them and, hold on to your stomachs, cut them up and ate them.

This level of depravity is, according to me, not filmable. And the first episode where the cannibalistic criminal's (played by Deepak Tijori) man Friday (Gopal Singh) sat chopping up the child's corpse had me filled with revulsion, not so much at the savage act of violence as the screen delineation of it.

Producer B.P. Singh is a crime specialist of sorts on Indian television. His "CID", said to be the longest-running show on Indian television, was avidly watched by families.

From the two episodes I've seen of Singh's web series "Abhay" seems like a celebration of depravity. Little children being tortured and killed, a woman chained to a bed and tongue-licked like a cat by a maniac, parents getting their heads bashed with a pressure cooker by their son while a 'Bhajan' plays in the background (a better choice would have been the song "Tujhe suraj kahun ya chanda mera naam karega roshan").

In addition, the protagonist Abhay who constantly scowls as though he ate something that didn't agree with him in the morning, has his own demon (played by Iranian actress Elnaaz Norouzi) to deal with.

The second episode again based on a true-crime, has the talented Anshuman Jha as the above-mentioned 'honhaar beta' who batters his parents to death and holds a girl, befriended on social media, captive in the house.

Anshuman is chilling in his sociopath's avatar. The evil glint in his eye serves as ample warning that something is not right here. Maybe he knows what we don't.

Though the denouement in both the episodes was not convincing, and the marginal characters came and delivered their lines as though auditioning for episodes of "The X Files", the overall presentation is tightly wound and engrossing.

But the violent content must be toned down, as it borders on brutal insensitivity.

While interrogative the cowering child abuser who says, "Main toh bachon ko pyar karta hoon", Kunan blurts out, "Mader..rape karta hain bachchon ka".

Watch out for the misuse of the freedom provided by the digital space. Freedom comes with great responsibility. Producer B.P. Singh, who now heads the FTII, should know that.
Gopinath Rajendran By

Express News Service

Press conversations hardly get as lively as the one concerning '90ml'. About a dozen journalists bombarded Oviyaa and the films director, Anita Udeep (who prefers being addressed as Azhagiya Asura  the famous song from Whistle she had sung), with questions about Tamil culture, feminism, and mostly centered on their outrage that women were shown to be drinking and smoking.

This conversation occurred just before the films release, and so was based only on the trailer and the sneak peek from the film that featured Oviyaa and her girlfriends discussing their bodies, intimate relations, while casually smoking and drinking. One reporter asked if Oviyaa appears nude in the film, another expressed surprise at his own assumption that the director was from an orthodox family. Heres the circus as it happened.

Oviyaa began talking about how she landed the role: After Bigg Boss Tamil, I received a lot of roles. I opted for 90ml because of how female-centric the subject is. When one eager reporter wondered if she acts nude in the film, she retorted, Im not a porn star. The film has a lot of kissing scenes though, and plenty of sequences that show us smoking and drinking. People should understand that these are scenes that show who Rita (the character she plays) is, and not who I am in real life.

Another reporter wondered if this would affect the fan-following she has amassed after Bigg Boss Tamil. Thats why Im saying that Rita should be seen for being a character in this film. We obviously didnt drink in the scenes and used apple juice instead, she said. Though Ive quit smoking, I had to do it for this film, as the script demanded it. I drink too, by the way, but know my limits. If fans do want to follow someone, it should be for who the actor is in their real life, not for who they pretend to be in films.

Oviyaa proceeded to shed more light on the film that has become a topic of much debate. Its a film about a beautician named Rita, who meets four women with their issues and inhibitions. The film will offer a peek into the world of friendship between women and break typical expectations on how women should keep their feelings to themselves. Director Anita stepped in to elaborate: The film is inspired by women Ive seen in my life and we are not here to deliver a message. 90ml will be a fun entertainer that also points out that women empowerment begins when we really empower our selves first.

The topic naturally veered to the films A-certificate. Oviyaa said, The content in the film deserves the certification and in a way, we sought it. On a big group of people being up in arms against the vulgarity in the films teaser, she said, Those are all comments from male chauvinists and I would like to advise them not to watch the film. There will be scenes that they wont really like. So let them take this as a warning (laughs).

On all the double entendres, the actor retorted, Hows it any different from the headlines you see on newspaper stories and YouTube videos? Once you go through them, you will realise that the actual content has nothing to do with the titles. Similarly, Im sure the opinions of people would change after they see the film. We have done whats necessary for the film and my characterisation here is quite different from what youll see me do in my upcoming films like Kalavani 2 and Muni 4.

Yet another reporter seemed not to take kindly to women wearing skimpy clothes in the film, and this got Anita fuming. Tell me how you define skimpy clothes! she thundered. Oviyaa interjected, We know the difference between glamour and vulgarity. We, women, have the freedom to wear what we want and no one should actually have any qualms over that. Even kissing, for example, is a beautiful act, as long as theres consent, of course, even if its ones spouse. Thats what intrigued me about the #MeToo movement. I think those who faced such issues should have reacted instantly and taken it up legally.

The usual questions concerning romantic relationships ensued and in the case of Oviyaa, it centered on her fellow Bigg Boss Tamil contestant, Arav. Im single now and Im even doing a cameo in Aravs upcoming film, Raja Bheema, Oviyaa clarified. After a rather uncomfortable session, Oviyaa concluded, Were ready to face backlash if theres any. We know we have a successful project in our hand and Im ready to be a part of its sequel too, if we decide to go with one.
Harpeet Bajwa By

Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: In the run-up to the parliamentary elections around Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday performed Kar Sewa at the sacred pool (Sarovar) in the holy Durgiana Temple in Amritsar on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri.

Congress national president Rahul Gandhi too had earlier visited the temples during assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

Notably, this is the third Kar Sewa to clean the Sarovar, in which lakhs of devotees from around the world are expected to participate. The earlier ones were held in 1975 and 1999.

Addressing the devotees who had gathered at his holy shrine to participate in the Kar Sewa, Amarinder announced a grant of Rs One crore for the temples development and assured the management that their demand for additional land for expansion of the holy precincts would be looked into by his government.

He expressed himself to be happy to be part of this pious task.

ALSO READ | Punjab CM Amarinder Singh asks Pakistan to release POWs of 1971 war

Recalling that his government had waived off its 50 per cent share in Langar GST at the temple immediately on taking over the states reins, which led the Centre also to follow suit, Amarinder hoped the temple continues to bless more and more people with Langar at Durgiana.

Expressing concern over the divisive forces rearing their heads in a bid to destroy the states hard-earned peace and harmony, he said his government would not allow such forces to be nurtured, but would continue to work towards universal brotherhood and tolerance.

IN PHOTOS | Lord Shiva devotees celebrate Maha Shivratri across India

Earlier, Amarinder paid obeisance at the sanctum-sanctorum of Shree Durgiana Temple and offered prayers for the peace, harmony and overall development of the state, besides the welfare of all sections of the society. The Durgiana Temple was built in 1921 in the architectural style of the Golden Temple for which funds were raised by Guru Harsai Mal Kapoor.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya laid the foundation of the temple on the occasion of Dussehra in 1925. The chief deity is Goddess Durga and the temple complex also has other historic subsidiary temples such as Sita Mata and Bara Hanuman. The Temple is managed by Shree Durgiana Committee (SDC) headed by Ramesh Chandra.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Stepping up its offensive, Congress on Monday asked what was the basis for BJP chief Amit Shah's claim of 250 terrorists getting killed in Indian Air Force's air strike in Pakistan's Balakot and why was Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his government not giving the details of casualties.

Congress spokesperson R P N Singh also accused the prime minister and BJP leadership of politicising the air strikes and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the Indian Force as being weaker without Rafale.

He counter-accused the BJP and its leaders of spreading misinformation and "false propaganda" over the air strikes ahead of elections and said the people of the country would give them a befitting reply.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also said that if Amit Shah is claiming 250 casualties of terrorists in the air strike, why is the prime minister not providing details of the number of deaths.

ALSO READ: Don't play politics with terror keeping Lok Sabha elections in mind: Kapil Sibal to PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah

Singh said, "It is extremely shocking and tragic that the prime minister of this country is pointing fingers at opposition parties for questioning the Army or the Air Force.

"It is completely false, everybody knows that after the tragic Pulwama attack (in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide bomb attack) the Congress President and the Congress Party clearly said that we stand with the Government, we stand with the armed forces and with the people of this country to fight against terrorism."

Referring to BJP chief Shah's statement that 250 people were killed in the air strikes, Singh asked, "Where is this number coming from and who is politicising this whole incident. Why is the prime minister not giving details and saying how many people have died in air strikes. Why is the government not confirming this."

He also said that a minister in the prime minister's council of ministers is claiming that the prime minister or the BJP leader have not claimed the number of deaths being 300.

"Then where is the number coming from?" Singh asked.

Amid a raging debate on the number of casualties in the strike, IAF chief B S Dhanoa on Monday said in Coimbatore that the Air Force doesn't count human casualties and it was for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed.

While there has been no official statement on the number of deaths, the government sources had earlier said up to 350 terrorists were killed, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday put the toll at 250 and some media reports have said damage has been minimal, prompting opposition leaders to clamour for clarity.

The Congress leader said the prime minister has repeatedly pointed fingers at the Congress party and the BJP is repeatedly attacking the Congress and opposition for trivialising the bravery of our armed forces.

"Here is the Prime Minister, who says that the Air Force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologize for saying that. The prime minister has tried to show that the Air Force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," he said.

"We have seen posters of the BJP, which has a small photograph of Wing Commander Abhinandan (who was captured by Pakistan and later released) and a big photograph of Prime Minister Modi. Are we politicising it or is it the BJP which is politicising it? The people of this country will give them a befitting reply," Singh said.

The Congress leader said his party has continuously supported the bravery of armed forces and the Air Force pilots and will continue to do so.

He alleged the BJP and prime minister Modi were rather spreading "false propaganda" and disinformation against the opposition party.

To a question on Congress leaders Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu demanding proof and evidence about the Balakot air strike, Singh, "We have very clearly articulated what the Congress stand is.

We are asking, from where this figure of 250-300-350 is coming out (about casualties), including which Amit Shah is announcing.

We have seen people of the BJP campaigning in army fatigues.

Are they politicising it or we are politicising it?" On Rafale comments by the prime minister, Singh said, "Even when he is sleeping, when he is eating, when he is speaking, he thinks about only Rafale, the Chowkidar (watchman), you know, what he has done. Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa very clearly stated that the MIG-21 Bison had the latest technology and can give a befitting reply to any aero plane of Pakistan and it actually did so."

Speaking in Gujarat on Monday, Modi hit out at the Opposition for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the IAF and said, "I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference, but they say Modi is questioning our air force strike."

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time, then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he said.

He also lashed out at those demanding proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot and said his objective was to end terror while that of the Opposition was to remove him.
By PTI

CHENNAI/TUTICORIN: As the debate over India's February 26 air strikes in Pakistan rages on in the country, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Monday asked the Centre to avoid "opposition-bashing" and convince the world on its stand.

Chidambaram said he was prepared to "believe the government" as a "proud citizen", but the Centre has to "make efforts for the world to also believe" its stand.

He recalled party chief Rahul Gandhi was the first to laud the Indian Air Force after the strikes.

Chidambaram faced sharp rebuke from Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his comments, with the senior BJP leader charging the Congress with believing in "Pakistan propaganda," but not the Indian armed forces.

"As a proud citizen, I am prepared to believe my government. But if we want the world to believe, the government must make the effort (to explain), not indulge in Opposition-bashing," Chidambaram said in a tweet.

Chidambaram's response came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the opposition for doubting the IAF air strikes in Pakistan amidst a debate in the country over the casualty inflicted by the IAF.

Incidentally, on Monday, IAF Chief BS Dhanoa said the figure on casualty will be given by the government, even as Union Minister SS Ahluwalia had said the purpose of the strike was not to cause human casualty but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.

Neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of air strikes.

Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorists killed were being circulated, he had said.

ALSO READ: We hit the target, government will clarify on casualties: IAF chief on Balakot air strikes

Last Tuesday's air strikes were seen as retaliation to the February 14 attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama in Kashmir, in which 40 personnel were killed.

At a political rally in Patna on Sunday, Modi had said the opposition parties were speaking a language that "suits" Pakistan.

"Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully," the PM had said.

On Monday, without taking any names, in another tweet, Chidambaram said, "IAF Vice Air Marshal declined to comment on casualties."

"The MEA statement said there were no civilian or military casualties. So, who put out the number of casualties at 300-350," he asked.

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi was the first to salute the Indian Air Force for its splendid achievement. Why has Mr Modi forgotten that," Chidambaram, former Union Minister, said.

Goyal responded sharply to Chidambaram's attack, saying it was "condemnable and shameful."

The railway minister said it was "shameful" that the Indian opposition was raising questions about our armed forces.

"It is an insult to the Air Force, an insult for our jawans who are willing to lay down their lives to protect the country," he told reporters at Tuticorin.

"And this shows Congress party believes in Pakistan propaganda and not in our own armed forces and what our Army, Navy and Air force said."

"It is thoroughly condemnable and I am ashamed that we have such leaders like P Chidambaram in this wonderful state of Tamil Nadu," Goyal said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet on Monday said, "Modi-ji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country."

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday had demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force.

She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Citing international media reports of "no proof of militants being killed at Balakot", Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday questioned BJP leaders how they could zero down on specific number of terrorists killed there and asked them not play politics with terror keeping Lok Sabha elections in mind.

"Your (BJP) ministers are saying '300 people have been killed', '400 people have been killed'. Where did they get this information from or is it with a particular thought in mind that the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, so they have to say that 'x' number of people have been killed?" said Sibal while speaking to ANI.

Sibal's statement comes a day after Amit Shah said that over 250 terrorists were killed in the air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) against a terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot, Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"Who told Amit Shah this (number of terrorists killed)? Did the Defence services tell him that 250 people have been killed? Did the Government of India tell him? He is president of a political party only. If the government and the Defence services have shared this information with him, why doesn't the government share this information with the Opposition leaders of the country? Amit Shah, let's not play politics with terror. Both you and the Prime Minister are doing the same thing and we know why. You are doing it because the Lok Sabha election is around the corner," Sibal stated.

Sibal said, "How is it that the international media is saying there is no proof of militants being killed at Balakot? Is it that the international media pro-Pakistan? Is the Prime Minister now going to call the international media pro-Pakistan and anti-India?"

That very international media, however, publically calls Pakistan the hotbed of terrorism and when that happens, "you lap it up and say the international media is right", said Sibal while pointing out the double standard attitude of the government.

"It is surprising Prime Minister that you pat yourself on the back and say that because of you Abhinandan was brought back... The nation is delighted and the nation embraces Abhinandan on his return. But you should also then accept accountability that there was a huge intelligence failure. Why don't you accept that?" he further said.

He added, "Don't play politics with terror Mr Prime Minister and don't play politics with terror with the Lok Sabha elections in mind. The people of India have seen through you of the promises (you) made and the failures of your government."

Besides Sibal, Congress leader Ajay Singh has also raised questions over the claims made. "A few days ago, bombs were dropped on Pakistan. He (Prime Minister Modi) said that everything in Balakot was destroyed. New York Times reported that there was no damage due to air strikes. If not today, in the next 10 days, the whole sequence of events will be exposed," Singh said while addressing a rally in Satna, Madhya Pradesh.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also questioned Amit Shah. In a tweet, Kejriwal said that the armed forces have till now not released any number of terrorists killed in the air strike. Yet, Shah has come out with a specific number. Kejriwal questioned whether Amit Shah and BJP were trying to call the armed forces "liar" for their political benefits.
By PTI

SRINAGAR: The Election Commission of India (ECI) Monday began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls simultaneously.

The ECI team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said. They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.

The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there Tuesday. The state has been under the President's Rule since December 20, 2018. Prior to that, it was under the Governor's Rule for six months.

The PDP-BJP government in the state fell in June 2018 after the national party pulled out of the coalition.

Almost all political parties in Kashmir have advocated holding state assembly polls simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections but the ECI wants to assess the ground situation in the wake of the current state of heightened tension between India and Pakistan.
By Associated Press

MUZAFFARABAD: Residents near the disputed boundary in the divided Kashmir region on Sunday experienced their first lull since a dangerous escalation between Pakistan and India erupted last week, bringing the two nuclear-armed rivals close to war.

Many villagers used the calm in Pakistani-held Kashmir to leave their homes in the Chakoti area along the so-called Line of Control  the demarcation line that divides the troubled Himalayan region into an Indian and a Pakistani sector  and move to safety.

Nazakat Hussain said his family and others lack underground shelters and had to leave. He said cold weather and snow, along with cross-border shooting, prevented them from leaving earlier.

Pakistani government official Moazzam Zafar said some 200 families have already taken shelter in three large government buildings in the territory. Zafar said the authorities were providing warm clothing, bedding, food and medicines, and would establish more shelters.

ALSO READ: OIC condemns India over Kashmir, J&K our internal matter, says MEA

At least eight civilians and two soldiers have been killed in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir since tensions soared following India's airstrike last Tuesday inside Pakistan. India said the strike targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed more than 40 Indian troops.

Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a fighter jet on Wednesday and detaining its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday. India, in turn, on Saturday handed over the body of a Pakistani civilian prisoner beaten to death by inmates in a jail in India last week. The man, Skahir Ullah, was buried Sunday in his home village of Sialkot in Punjab province.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan practically since their independence from British rule in 1947. The two countries each claim Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of the three wars between them over it.

The rivals struck a cease-fire deal in 2003 but regularly trade cross-border fire.

ALSO READ: IED blast in Jammu & Kadhmir's Awantipora

On Sunday, British Prime Minister Theresa May spoke by phone with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, welcoming the return of the captured Indian pilot and reduction in tensions.

But she also urged Khan to crack down on terrorist groups operating in Pakistan, according to a Downing Street statement.

"The Prime Minister emphasized the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups, in support of global efforts to combat terrorism," the statement said.
Several Chinese cities used drones to monitor traffic, which they believe could improve law enforcement. However, the practice has also raised privacy and safety concerns.

Traffic police in many Chinese cities, including Jinan in East China's Shandong Province and Baoji in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, have started to use drones to inspect road conditions, detecting traffic violations and accident site investigations.

Traffic police in Nanning, capital of South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region recently formed a team of drone detection to record the illegal behavior of drivers, such as illegal parking, making a phone call while driving, not wearing a seat belt, or running a red light. The police used the drones to investigate and deal with 438 traffic violations in Nanning in February, Nanning TV station reported Thursday.

The drones' use improved law enforcement, said Wu Qiang, deputy chief engineer of the Development Research Center of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, told the Global Times on Sunday.

"Through high-tech means, insufficient police enforcement has been solved to some degree," a traffic police surnamed Li was quoted by The Beijing News as saying. He added that they are still looking into other uses for the drone. "We are planning to apply the drone to assist police at accident scenes and for future remote monitoring."

However, some people online asked if using drones could cover the entire traffic area, how to safeguard the privacy of residents and how to ensure the safety of the drone.

"Under such a monitor, I feel I'm exposed to the public," a netizen said. "Is the tech mature enough? What if the drone falls and hits someone?" another netizen said.

Li said only after they check the video taken by drones and take screenshots would they use the pictures as evidence, noting that the evidence chain is complete and has not received any complaints from drivers, The Beijing News reported.
Mayank Singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) shot down a Pakistan-origin drone on Monday near Bikaner, Rajasthan, according IAF officers privy to details.

At 11:30 am, an unidentified flying object from the Pakistan side violated Indias airspace near Bikaner. IAF jets scrambled and fired air-to-air missiles. The debris landed on the other side, said an officer, refusing to be named.

The neighbour issued a statement denying any airspace violation, but it did admit that a blast had occurred in the area which it attributed to jettisoning (dumping) of extra fuel tanks by Pakistan Air Force fighter jets.

Meanwhile, according to Pakistani media reports, PAF Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan visited the forward operating bases (FOB) and hinted at more encounters with the IAF in the coming days. He cautioned personnel saying they should keep their guards up, the media reports said. The challenges are not over yet and we should keep our guards up and always be ready to respond to any aggression from the enemy, he is quoted by news outlets to have said.
By IANS

AGARTALA: After the western front, laser walls and other hi-tech surveillance systems would be put in place in India's eastern border with Bangladesh to bolster security, top BSF official said.

"Under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), laser walls, sensors, closed circuit television, high-power camera among other hi-tech surveillance system would be introduced along India-Bangladesh borders," Hemant Kumar Lohia, who till recently was the Inspector General of BSF's Tripura Frontier and is currently with the Eastern Command of the force in Kolkata, told IANS

"The signals from the various elements of the CIBMS would reach a Unified Command and Control Centre to enable the BSF monitor the border on real-time basis. The CIBMS enables round-the-clock surveillance in different weather conditions or even in duststorms, fog or rain," Lohia added.

Lohia said that the CIBMS, also known as a virtual fence, would create an invisible electronic barrier on land, water and in the air.

"The CIBMS is designed to guard stretches where physical surveillance is extremely hard either due to inhospitable terrain or riverine stretches," he pointed out.

"Initially, the system would be set up in critical areas of Assam's Dhubri district and some portion of Tripura," he said, adding this would help control infiltration and other incidents on the border.

Lohia said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had on September 17 last year launched two pilot projects of the CIBMS, each covering a 5.5 km stretch along the India-Pakistan border in Jammu.

The use of high-tech solutions for border security is being considered by the Home Ministry since 2012. The BSF had also submitted a detailed report on CIBMS to the ministry.

"But after the discovery of several cross-border tunnels on the western frontier, the ministry swiftly approved two pilot projects," another BSF officer told IANS, declining to be quoted as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

According to the officer, BSF troopers, during their patrolling, now use night vision goggles, weapon sights and hand-held searchlights, among other equipment.

"With the increase of the cross-border threats, the BSF was forced to embark on a high-tech modernisation process," the officer pointed out.

According to the official, besides employing high-tech technologies, the BSF continues to deploy its sniffer dogs for surveillance.

BSF sources say 89 of its battalions have been posted along the country's eastern frontier and 78 battalions along the western frontier.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammads audacious terrorist strikes, part of its Ghazwa-e-Hind Holy War Against India, have brought India and Pakistan on the brink of war twice in two decades, officials said. JeM has been behind some of the deadliest terror attacks that have taken place in India, including the attack on the Pathankot airbase, the Army brigade headquarters in Uri and the Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar.

India and Pakistan were almost on the brink of war in 2001 when the JeM attacked the Indian Parliament, and again now after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF bus in Pulwama, which killed 40 jawans, a security official said.

ALSO READ: Jaish militant killed in Kulgam had plans for Pulwama-like suicide attack, shows video

The terrorist group had resolved at a conference held in Okara in Pakistan on November 27, 2017, that it would continue its Ghazwa-e-Hind irrespective of the India-Pakistan ties, said sources citing intelligence reports.

The terror group bombed the J&K Assembly on October 1, 2001 in which 31 people died, and attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001 in which nine security personnel and officials were killed. The Parliament attack happened a week after bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan.

ALSO READ: Jaish-e-Mohammad resolved to continue 'holy war against India': Intelligence report

When bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora and the Pakistani army was forced to hold one side of the cordon of these vast caves, the JeM became the conduit to bring fighters and their families from Afghanistan into safe havens in Pakistan, run by JeM and the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the official said.

It is widely believed that to help bin Laden flee Tora Bora, JeM carried out the Parliament attack, leading to a war-like situation between India and Pakistan after Indian forces were mobilised on the western border, said an official, requesting anonymity.

On this pretext, the Pakistani army withdrew much of its forces from its western border, which was in cordon of the Tora Bora caves, thus helping the escape of bin Laden to Pakistan.
By PTI

MUMBAI: A large quantity of detonators and explosives primarily meant for under-water blasting and illegal sand mining were seized from neighbouring Palghar district, police said Monday.

Acting on a tip-off, Palghar police raided the banks of Vaitarna river in Chandip village of the district's Vasai taluka on Sunday and seized 24 electronic detonators and 8.4 kilogrammes of explosives kept in a denim bag, an official said.

Several people at the raided spot were engaged in illegal sand mining and police also confiscated an excavator and a truck, he added.

Though the explosives were possibly meant for blasting the river bed to mine sand illegally, various angles, including its use for crime and terror-related activities, were being explored, he said.

A case has been registered against the owner of the truck and excavator under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Explosives Act for illegal sand mining and using explosives, the official informed.
By PTI

JAMNAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday got 'Kochi' in Kerala and 'Karachi' in Pakistan mixed up in a slip of the tongue but quickly covered it up by saying that his mind these days is preoccupied with the neighbouring country.

Extolling the virtues of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, Modi said it allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country, be it 'Kolkata' or 'Karachi'.

Almost in the same breath, the PM set things right by telling the gathering he meant 'Kochi' and not 'Karachi'.

"Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if a resident of Jamangar has gone to Bhopal and falls sick, he need not come back to Jamnagar for treatment. If he shows his (Ayushman Bharat) beneficiary card, he will get free treatment even in Kolkata and even in Karachi," Modi told a gathering here.

He, however, added, "Not Karachi but Kochi. Nowadays my mind is preoccupied with the thoughts of the neighbouring country. But that (air strike in Pakistan) was also necessary. Should that be done or not?" he posed to the crowd which replied its assent with a round of applause.

Modi was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe building of Guru Govind Singh Hospital here.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: Just before Indian Air Force jets struck the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Balakot on February 26, technical surveillance by Indian intelligence agencies had found 300 mobile phones active at the facility, giving a clear indication of the total number of inmates housed there, sources said here on Monday.

The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) had started surveillance of the facility after the Indian Air Force (IAF) was given clearance to target the camp in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.

On February 26, 12 Mirage 2000 IAF jets penetrated deep inside the Pakistani air space and launched 1,000 kg Spice 2000 bombs at the camp in Balakot, which housed terrorists, including commanders, and an ammunition dump.

ALSO READ | We hit the target, government will clarify on casualties: IAF chief on Balakot air strikes

During technical surveillance, it emerged that there was a presence of around 300 mobile phones with active signal strength inside the facility in the days leading up to the strike. The facility was destroyed by the IAF fighters, added the sources who wished to remain anonymous due to first-hand involvement in operational matters.

The sources added that other Indian intelligence agencies had also corroborated NTROs assessment of active targets with inputs of a similar number of Jaish operatives in the Balkot facility. No official number of terrorists killed in the strike have been announced by the government.

However, IAF chief BS Dhanoa, at a press conference in Coimbatore on Monday, confirmed that the target had been destroyed by Indian fighter jets and the exact number was something that the government would release.

Top government leadership gave approval for the air strikes on the Jaish training camp after the Pakistan-based terror outfit carried out the deadliest suicide attack in Kashmir when a CRPF convoy in Pulwama was targeted by a car bomb driven by a JeM terrorist that killed 40 security personnel on February 14.

Hours after the air raid, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media here that the IAF fighters hit the largest militant camp of JeM in Balakot and a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated in it.

In an intelligence-led operation, Indian fighter planes struck at the Jaish facility, Gokhale had said, calling the raids pre-preemptive action against the terrorists who were planning further attacks in India.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: With an MBA degree from the Sikkim Manipal University, Eliyas Rahman could have easily taken up a plum job in a metro and enjoyed a cushy life.

But he chose to wage a battle against child marriage and is bravely fighting against the social malaise despite receiving threats to his life.

A native of South Tokrerchora village in Assams Dhubri district, which borders Bangladesh, the 32-year-old Rahman visits remote villages to create awareness about the ills of child marriage, which is rampant in the regions inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants, especially those on the sandbars, in Lower Assams Goalpara, Barpeta, Chirang and Dhubri districts.

The parents, who are mostly illiterate and poor, consider daughters a burden on the family and marry them off at an early age. Rahmans approach is two-pronged. He tries to prevent such marriages either by counselling the families or by alerting the police.

I started working against child marriage in 2015. That year, a man in my village had fixed the marriage of his 13-year-old daughter. When I learnt about it, I took to Facebook to mobilise public opinion against it. When that didnt work, I visited the local police station and intimated them about the minor girl being married off, says Rahman. However, the police failed to stop it.

Days later, Rahman says he learnt about another impending wedding of a 14-year-old boy with a 12-year-old girl. I visited the houses of both families, but they were hostile. They said it was an issue between their families and I had no business to interfere. I took the resistance as a challenge and thats how my fight began, he says.

Rahman created Facebook and WhatsApp groups, writing extensively on the ills of child marriage and requesting users to inform him whenever they learn about a marriage involving a minor, assuring he would not reveal their identity.

It paid off. People started coordinating with me. Today, I get at least three to four phone calls from people every day. I work in coordination with the police and Childline (a helpline service for children in distress). Every time I am informed of an impending wedding of a minor, I pass on the information to the police and Childline.

Sometimes, I send my people to homes of such minors to try and convince their parents that what they are doing is wrong. Some are convinced, others need police intervention, Rahman says. The social crusader attributes the practice to lack of education. He says many children drop out of school as their poor parents want them to work. There are others do not study due to a dearth of schools and colleges in their areas and their parents marry them off.

Child marriage causes health hazards. It also leads to married minor girls having a discord with their in-laws. How will a girl aged 12 or 13 years take up the responsibilities of marital life and bringing up children As a result, divorce is common. I have stopped more than 500 such marriages.

Noor Alom, an officer of the Dhubri District Child Protection Unit, says he has prevented around 10 child marriages after being tipped off by Rahman. Despite death threats, he is virtually spearheading a movement against child marriage, Alom says.
By PTI

AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday indicated that last week's air strike in Pakistan won't be India's last such action against terrorism emanating from the neighbouring country.

Addressing a gathering here, Modi said he will target them (terrorists) "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

"If one work gets over, our government doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another," Modi said, in a veiled reference to the February 26 air strike on a terror camp in Pakistan.

ALSO READ | PM Modi lashes out at Opposition over Balakot and Rafale, asks them to use common sense

The remark elicited a loud roar of approval from the crowd.

"We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and bitter decisions," he said.

Modi asked opposition leaders not to malign India's armed forces and desist from giving statements which may hog limelight in the Pakistani media.

"What our opposition leaders say become headlines in Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said.

Taking a tough stance on terrorism, the PM asserted that he will find out those responsible for such acts in India "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

"It is our principle to kill them by barging into their houses," Modi said.

The PM said the IAF's air attack on the Balakot terror camp, carried out in response to the Pulwama suicide bombing, should not be linked with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"If this is done for elections, were there elections when we carried out the first surgical strikes (in 2016)," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Modi said, "Should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."

After his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India as a "gesture of peace", Modi had said; Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi.

In his remarks on Thursday, Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice.
By PTI

JAMNAGAR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday hit out the opposition for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

Modi said India would not sit quietly in the fight against terrorism and would do all to cure it from the root, which lies in Pakistan.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they say Modi is questioning our air force strike," he said, addressing a gathering here.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added.

ALSO READ: Don't play politics with terror keeping Lok Sabha elections in mind: Kapil Sibal to PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah

Lashing out at statements from opposition party leaders who demanded proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, Modi said his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him.

"The root of terrorism disease is in neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its root," he said.

"Even if mentors of those seeking to destroy India are outside, this country won't sit quietly," he said, addressing a gathering after inaugurating an annexe building of Guru Govind Singh hospital and various other development works here.

Modi also flagged off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express and launched development projects, including the 51-km pipeline from Aaji-3 to Khijadia.

He said structural and long-term measures are required to overcome the challenges faced by the country, instead of poorly thought out short term ones.

Hospitals that have come up in the past few years in Gujarat will greatly benefit the poor, he said.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme rolled out by the Union Government will ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the poor, he added.

Modi lauded water conservation measures adopted by the Gujarat government.

The government has big plans to provide water to people by establishing big desalination plants, he said.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said the party's programme was to announce farm loan wavier every ten years and collect votes by fooling people.

"Our government will give direct financial assistance to farmers every year. When Rs 75,000 crore will go to rural economy every year it will have a positive impact," Modi said.
Rajesh K Thakur and Namita Bajpai By

Express News Service

PATNA/LUCKNOW: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hit out at the Opposition, accusing it of speaking the language of Pakistan and doubting the recent anti-terror strikes by the Indian armed forces across the border to lower its morale.

In Congress president Rahul Gandhis constituency, Amethi, he charged the previous Congress-led UPA government of having ignored the countrys basic defence needs.

Lauding Indias forces and its strike capability at the Sankalp Rally at Gandhi Maidan in Patna, Modi said, This is the new India which does not remain silent over killings of its jawans but the action of the Congress and its allies, a mahamilawat, only made Pakistan happy. We will not sit back if there is terror. We have the power to hit back, anywhere, anytime, he said.

Without naming Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Modi said, Those who run their political shops in the name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynasties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job. The people of the country have made up their mind. They are going to punish these parties once again, he added.

Modi also lauded ally JD-U leader and Bihar CM Nitish Kumars development initiative, taking an oblique jibe at the Lalu Prasad-led RJD saying, Nitish has provided power in every home. Now there is no use for the lantern. Lantern is the RJDs poll symbol.

Tearing into Rahul in his own pocket borough, Modi said at the time of foundation laying of the ordinance factory in Amethi, the Congress leader had promised jobs to 1,500 youths but ended up benefiting just 200.

Mentioning the stalemate during the UPA over procurement of Rafale jets and bullet proof jackets, the PM attacked the Congress chief, accusing him of neglecting the forces and breaking his promises made to the people of Amethi.

They sat on Rafale fighter jet deal for years and then put it on the back burner deliberately as they could not extract their share of kickbacks from it, claimed the Prime Minister, accusing the Congress chief of now spearheading a baseless campaign against the deal even as the first aircraft was set to arrive in a few months.

He said, people should be reminded how the UPA government also delayed acquisition of bulletproof jackets for the forces between 2009 to 2014. It was the NDA which finally purchased 2.30 lakh bulletproof jackets, he stated.

Modi credited Union textile Minister Smriti Irani with bringing a number of development projects to Amethi.
Russia will continue to assist Venezuela in resolving its socio-economic problems, including providing humanitarian assistance, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Sunday.

Matviyenko, during talks with visiting Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, stressed the need to increase bilateral economic cooperation and for agreements to be reached at the Russian-Venezuelan Intergovernmental High Level Commission in early April.

"We oppose outside interference in the affairs of sovereign states. Resolving the artificially created crisis in Venezuela is possible only through the establishment of inclusive national dialogue," she said.

She welcomed the position repeatedly expressed by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that his government is ready for such dialogue.

Rodriguez said Venezuela intends to strengthen ties with Russia in every possible way in energy, trade, and finance.

"This will contribute to the emergence of new cooperation mechanisms. We see huge potential," she said.

On Friday, Rodriguez met State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.
By Online Desk

Despite conducting air strikes against terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed at Balakot in the early hours of 26th February, the Modi government hasn't come out with any information on the number of casualties or the extent of damage caused by the mission undertaken by the IAF's Mirage-2000 jets.

IAF chief BS Dhanoa on Monday declined to comment on the death toll, saying the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

On Friday, during the security forces' joint briefing in Delhi, IAF Air Vice Marshal RGK Kapoor had said there was "fairly credible evidence" to prove that the Jaish camps were hit.

"The weapons hit the intended target and they caused damage that was intended. However, it will be premature to estimate the number of casualties we have been able to inflict on those camps and the number of those killed," Kapoor said.

The Air Chief's statement comes after West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee demanded information on how many terrorists were killed. Both PM Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had accused the opposition of speaking against the country's interests and demoralizing the security forces.

While the Air Chief refused to speculate, sources told NDTV that satellite images of the air strikes, treated as highly confidential by government officials, are likely to reveal the impact of the Israeli Spice-2000 glide bombs used by the Mirage-2000 fighters during the mission.

The satellite imagery is likely to reveal that the bombs hit five separate structures along a ridge-line to the west of the town of Bisian near Balakot.

Spice-2000 bombs, described as a "decapitating weapon", are designed to penetrate enemy buildings, bunkers or makeshift shelters, before exploding inside at the point of contact.

The sources also said that the entire structure may not have been destroyed in the aerial raid.

How the attack happened

The flight path which the aircraft used started from Gwalior and reached Kashmir before the bombs were offloaded at the JeM camp.

Balakot is in Mansehra District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan and is about 60 kilometres from the LoC.

In order to reach the target as early as 2:55 am on 26th February, the Mirages, armed with Crystal Maze Mk2 and Spice-2000 glide bombs, took off from the Gwalior airbase.

The jets flew over Hindon in Uttar Pradesh, passed from Sirsa in Haryana, crossed Himachal Pradesh and entered Jammu and Kashmir. From there, they took a U-turn and entered PoK in alignment with the target. They followed an air path deep inside Indian territory to remain away from the Pakistani radars.

The aircraft then reached an optimal launch point just across the LoC, from where onboard systems electronically permitted the release of the Spice-2000 glide bombs, guided by the laser. However, one jet returned without launching its weapon because the onboard computer did not clear the bomb's release.

The glide bombs coasted dozens of kilometres following pre-fed GPS coordinates and hit the targets.

During the whole operation, IAF's own Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&CS) system Netra and Israel-configured Phalcons were in Indian airspace, keeping a watch on Pakistans reaction in order to warn the attacking aircraft to take retaliatory action if required.

Also, Multirole Aircraft SU-30 MKIs were flying on the Indian side to provide support to Mirages, if needed, while long-range UAV Herons were airborne for monitoring purposes.

Australian thinktank questions government's claim

Earlier, Australia's International Cyber Policy Centre questioned the government's claim that the strikes were successful after analysing commercially available satellite imagery.

Nathan Ruser, the author of the report, 'Satellite imagery, acquired by Planet Labs Inc. on the morning of February 27 and accessed by ASPI', said, "No evidence of damage to the facility or nearby areas is visible on the images."

He also mentioned that Pakistani media had reported "multiple small craters in the vicinity", indicating that the fighter jets missed their targets.

Jaish admitted it was attacked: Pak journalist

Award-winning Pakistani journalist Taha Siddiqui though reported in an article in The Print that the Jaish had admitted to being attacked in a February 28 audio clip, two days after the Balakot air strikes.

The clip emerged at a Jaish-e-Mohammed event in Peshawar, where the terror group acknowledged that India did carry out an airstrike and dropped bombs on their markaz (centre) in Balakot where students were learning about the duty of jihad.

However, the terror group claimed there were no casualties in the attack.

40-50 deaths in the air strike: Scribe

Italian journalist Francesca Marino had told WION that 40 to 50 people were killed in the IAF strike.

The scribe quoted a source to validate her claims and also said that there were 35 to 40 wounded.

Marino said that ambulances arrived at the site after the air strikes. While the medical staff's cellphones were taken away, at least 35 bodies were removed from the spot.

The journalist also added that the dead included 12 young Jaish trainees.

A retired Pakistani Army colonel and another defence official were killed too, she said.

(With ENS Inputs)
By PTI

BENGALURU: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his purported political potshot at Congress president Rahul Gandhi while answering a question by a student on dyslexia.

Targeting Modi, Siddaramaiah tweeted: "Just came across a video of our @narendramodi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people. Shame on you Modi!! You just can't go below this.Your insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you." Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao also hit out at Modi for the reported jibe.

Posting a video of the prime minister making that comment, Rao tweeted Sunday, "If there was ever a classless crude Prime Minister India has seen, here's one. Yuck!" During a video interaction, a girl Sunday sought to know from Modi the measures taken by the government to benefit dyslexic children.

Before she even finished her question, the prime minister made a comment purported to be a political jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Modi asked the student whether the scheme for dyslexic people she was talking about would benefit a 40 or 50-year-old child.

He then said the mother of such children would be very much happy.
By Online Desk

India, as a nation, stands out for one reason - unity in diversity. Living amidst a variety of languages, religions and cultures, we Indians have learned to celebrate our differences and stand as one.

In a heartwarming story, a Muslim family has been taking care of a Shiva temple near Guwahati for the past 500 years, generation after generation.

Situated in Assam's Rangamahal village, the 500-year-old temple stands as a symbol of secularism in India.

Speaking to ANI, Matibar Rehman, the caretaker of the temple, said, "It's a 500-year-old temple, our family looks after it." Matibar's family has been taking care of the temple for generations. Draped in red clothes, the idols of Lord Shiva are worshipped under a huge banyan tree.

Assam: A Muslim family looks after a Shiva temple for last 500-year in Rangamahal village, Guwahati. The caretaker Matibar Rehman says,' It's a 500-year-old temple, our family looks after the temple. People from both the religions- Hindu and Muslim- come here to offer prayers.' pic.twitter.com/6HZTGtPhAy  ANI (@ANI) March 2, 2019

The significance of the temple doesn't end there. People practising different faiths come here to offer their prayers to Lord Shiva.

"People from both religions, Hindu and Muslim, come here to offer prayers," said Rehman.

Whatever it is that people pray for, the temple is a testimony to the harmony and brotherhood observed in our nation.

It is not the first time that Muslims offered prayers at a Hindu temple. Muslim families in Karnataka's Gadag district celebrate Eid with Hindu families by performing pooja in temples.

Indians have always upheld their spirit of secularism even in the past. Recently, a Muslim man in Karnataka donated a portion of his retirement benefits for the construction of a Ganesha temple. He said he had a dream in which he was asked to install a Ganesha idol.

Incidents like these make us believe that future generations would live in peace despite the differences. Yes, prayers can change the world!
By PTI

COIMBATORE: IAF chief B S Dhanoa on Monday declined to comment on the death toll in the Balakot strike, saying it was for the government to provide details on the number of terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan on February 27 and released on March 1, would fly a fighter jet if he was fit, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference in his first comments since the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Paktunkhwa province.

The Air Force, he said, is not in a position to clarify how many people were inside.

#WATCH Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Mig-21 Bison, says, "One is a planned operation in which you plan & carry out.But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy" pic.twitter.com/B2mZQTLBRd  ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," he said.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise."

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan.

If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement.

" India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed."

"Obviously, I think they have lost a F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us," he added.

#WATCH Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Mig-21 Bison, says, "One is a planned operation in which you plan & carry out.But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy" pic.twitter.com/B2mZQTLBRd  ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

According to him, had the Indian Air Force dropped bombs in a jungle at Balakot there would have been no need for Pakistan to respond.

"The target has been clearly amplified by the foreign secretary in his statement. And, of course, if we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded," he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief said.

In response to a question regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference, he said, "Honourable Prime Minister has made the statement. I will not comment on that."

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG-21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?. I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded. It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles. Whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," Dhanoa told reporters.

Though he could not comment on the politics, he was happy Abhinandan was home, he said.

"Whether he flies again or not depends on his medical fitness. That is why post ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Thereafter, whatever treatment is required, we have given to him. Once he gets his medical fitness, then only he will get into a fighter cockpit," Dhanoa said.

The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.
Fayaz Wani By

Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Security forces have faced a spike in the number of casualties post the February 14 suicide attack in the Valley.

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In contrast, during the first 13 days of February, only one security man was killed in gunfights with militants. During the period, nine militants and two civilians were killed in militancy-related violence.

The forces confronted Pakistani and local militants of Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba in the encounters.

A police official said, All the Pakistani militants killed in five encounters were well trained.

He said security officials are assessing the situation and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) may be reviewed to minimise losses to security forces.

It may force a rethink on the overall strategy and security officials may give a green signal to the use of NSG commandos during encounters with militants trapped in congested areas and concrete houses.

Sources said the Pakistani militants of Jaish, who have infiltrated from across the LoC, were well trained in use and handling of weapons and hand-to-hand gunfights.

Four days after the Pulwama attack, a major encounter in Pinglana claimed the lives of four soldiers and three Jaish militants.

On February 24, Deputy Superintendent of J&K police Aman Thakur and another army man were killed in an encounter in Kulgam along with three Jaish militants.

In the last three-day-long encounter in Kupwara from March 1-3, three CRPF men were killed and eight security personnel were injured.
Michel Danino By

The previous article in this series (Dharma, Generator of Indian Ethics, 31 January 2019) attempted to circumscribe the central yet elusive notion of dharma, which bundles together law, truth, duty, right thinking and right action, virtue, honour and a few more values.

In many ways, it may be viewed as the foundation of Indian culture and civilisation. As Kapil Kapoor, a fine scholar of Indian knowledge systems, once remarked pithily, Dharma is the one-word unwritten constitution of India.

In other words, it would be a serious mistake to equate dharma with religion. Indias two epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, whose central purpose is to expound and discuss dharma, are not, in that sense, religious texts.

Sharing the same purpose are texts on governance, warfare, administration, the collections of wise sayings called Subhashitas, or even historical chronicles such as Rajatarangini, as the historian of Kashmir Shonaleeka Kaul brilliantly demonstrated in a recent work. So is it with traditional historical or semi-historical ballads still sung across India, such as the rasas of Gujarat and Rajasthan, which do not stop at praising a noble ruler or narrating some military campaign or heroic deed, but go on to draw moral lessons that reaffirm dharma as the one cement of society.

From this mass of literature in all languages of India, it would appear that dharma is the be-all and end-all of our human quest. Yet Indias search for meaning, if I may adapt the title of Viktor Frankls celebrated and poignant psychological study on Nazi concentration camps, refused to stop anywhere.

The Bhagavad Gita is a case in point; at the start of the Great War, Arjuna, asking what purpose will be served by all the impending bloodshed, in effect preaches ahimsa, albeit without the word. His charioteer, Krishna, at first reminds him of his swadharma (or specific duty) as a warrior, then proceeds with his sublime teaching on the nature of the human soul and the need to renounce all attachmentsnot to action, but to its fruits, to ego and its whole pathology.

Chapter after chapter, concisely yet systematically, the Teacher explains the means of self-exploration and self-fulfilment, erecting in turn each of themself-knowledge, devotion and actionas the supreme method of realisation. The last chapter is an appropriate climax, when he destroys the very argument he started from: the warriors dharma. Now that Arjuna has been enlightened, Krishna asks him to abandon all dharmas (in the plural) and take refuge in Me alone.

The supremacy of spiritual knowledge is perhaps the most significant master idea of Indian civilisation and will remain one of its most enduring legacies. That knowledgeparavidyais beyond all dharmas, all human conventions, all moral codes.

So are its seekers, in principle at least, although one might argue that they should be so only after attaining their goal. Be that as it may, this explains Indias God-mad men and women, sadhus, sannyasins, Bauls and renunciates of all ilk, and their often unconventional behaviour; perhaps it also explains some apparently offensive Tantric practices designed to radically decondition the mind.

All that is the outward, often exotic side of Indias spiritual quest, which has delighted all manners of less-than-genuine seekers. Behind it, however, lies one of the most important statements humanity could ever make: the supreme consciousness or truth is beyond the mind and its grasp; therefore, mind cannot arrive at truth, in Sri Aurobindos words, and Yoga is not a field for intellectual argument or dissertation.

It does not mean that India shunned intellectual life; quite the contrary, she built theories for every field of life, including the philosophical, while recognising their limitations as part of aparavidya (non-supreme knowledge). And whether it is polity, art, architecture or Ayurveda, even astronomy at times, the spiritual (for lack of a better word) influence perceptibly works behind them.

In the old system of the purushartha or four-fold objectives of a well-ordered human life (Indias Take on Individual vs. Collective  , 4 October 2018), moksha is the last, after artha, kama and dharma. The word is not to be understood as the cessation of reincarnation, rather as the liberation from ignorance, much like the Buddhas goal.

The mind cannot work out that liberation; it is too much in love with itself and its endless somersaults, and too convinced that it is the sole judge and arbiter of the truth. It is Indias greatness to have shown the mind its place and allowed full expression to other regions of consciousness and to practical means to access thosethe many systems of yoga. Indeed, realisation of the truth beyond mind and dharmas even broke through rigid caste barriers, producing enlightened beings from all social layers, even today. If social freedom was curtailed, spiritual freedom was not.

All human life ultimately seeks meaning. Indias answer, or rather answers, do not claim finality and are not dogmatic; they effectively reject all exclusive claim to the truth, since no text, no teaching, no prophet can do more than imperfectly grasp and express a small portion of the truth. They are for the unblinkered, unfettered mind. If humanity journeys on, they will remain part of the journey.

(Michel Danino is a French-born Indian author, scholar of ancient India, and visiting professor at IIT Gandhinagar. Email: micheldanino@gmail.com.)

This is the tenth part in a series on Master Ideas of Indian Civilisation; earlier articles in this series:
By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court on Sunday directed the State police to produce four IT Grid employees - Regonda Bhaskar, Phani Kaduluri, Gurudu Chandra Sekhar and Vikram Goud Rebbala - before the court on Monday. The bench also directed them to hand over the case diary to court.

The bench comprising Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Shameem Akther passed the order following a habeas corpus petition moved in the form of house motion by D Ashok, director of IT Grid. Ashok sought an inquiry into alleged physical and mental torture of the employees. The petitioner named the State Principal Secretary, Home, DGP, SHOs of Cybercrime wing, Gachibowli, Cybercrime police station and Madhapur police station as respondents.

Petitioners counsel Krishna Prakash told the court that the families of the four detained employees accused six police personnel from the cyber crime wing of barging into their houses and forcibly taking them on Saturday at about 7 am in the name of investigation into a case.

If they were investigating a case, the police should have come in uniform and kept the subjects informed of the details of the crime, FIR number and so on. Instead, they treated the family members in a high-handed manner.

On the other hand, TS counsel Santosh denied the petitioners allegation and told the court that nobody from the IT firm were in the police custody. He, however, admitted that an FIR was registered against IT Grid. The police only issued notices to the said four persons. After perusing the case diary, the bench found fault with the police for issuing notices to the four persons under Section 160 CrPC. Even the case diary did not have full particulars, the bench pointed out and said that the police had no authority to take any citizen into custody illegally.

The bench directed Telangana police to produce the four persons before it on Monday. It also directed the family members of the four to file affidavits regarding the information passed on to the petitioner on the issue. While adjourning the case hearing to Monday, the bench directed the court registry to preserve the case diary.
MG Chetan By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: In an effort to tackle terrorism in the state, police have decided to set up an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in each of the five police commissionerates in Karnataka. Soon, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Belagavi, Mangaluru and Hubballi-Dharwad police commissionerates will have one ATS unit each to crack down on sleeper cells and other terrorism-related activities.

Director General & Inspector General of Police Neelmani N Raju has issued directions to the commissionerates concerned to take immediate steps to set up the ATS at the earliest. The DG & IGP has also directed that the ATS should be headed by an officer not below the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police, and there should be a dedicated number of staff in each team.

Following the direction, senior police officers have initiated the process and it is likely that the ATS will be ready by the end of this month to operate. Intelligence gathering and operations will be the two important aspects of the ATS. All the ATSs will exchange information with the State Intelligence and Internal Security Division (ISD) on a regular basis, an official said.

In Bengaluru, the ATS will operate under the Central Crime Branch (CCB). We are discussing to bring the ATS under ACP (Special Enquiry) of the CCB, and there will be an exclusive team of 8-10 staff, including a police inspector, under him, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Alok Kumar said.

All these days, at the state level, the Centre for Counter Terrorism attached to the ISD was dealing with issues related to terrorism. At city and district levels, there was no exclusive staff for the job and other officers were given additional charge. But now, a full-fledged team will work in the ATS in commissionerates and it will be much more effective as the focus is clear and there will be proper flow of information, a senior official in the CCB said.

It is said inputs from intelligence agencies about probable terrorism related activities and presence of sleeper cells have prompted the state police to act swiftly in setting up the ATS.
Bansy Kalappa By

Express News Service

BANGALORE: Actor Nikhil Kumaraswamy is all set to take the plunge into electoral politics. On Sunday, both his father HD Kumaraswamy and grandfather HD Deve Gowda hinted that Nikhil will be the JD(S) candidate from Mandya for the Lok Sabha polls. The actor, who is at the centre stage of Mandya politics, shared his views on local politics, rival candidates, his relations with family members and a lot more. Excerpts:

What are the chances of your win?

There are several factors in favour of JD(S). All eight assembly segments have our party MLAs. Since we are in a coalition government, there is additional Congress support for my candidature. My fathers connect with the people of Mandya is also good.

Sumalatha Ambareesh has already started campaigning in Mandya. Your views.

Anyone can contest in a democracy. In India, everyone has a right to contest, and I will not dissuade her.

Do you think Sumalatha will get sympathy votes?

People of Mandya are emotional. But there are several factors that will go in my favour.

ALSO READ | Deve Gowda's grandsons Nikhil Gowda, Prajwal Revanna to contest Lok Sabha polls?

How do you feel when someone criticizes your father?

In politics, one can have many enemies. A politician can be criticised despite doing a good job. I dont focus on such negative remarks. I only concentrate on what I need to do.

One thing each that you have learnt from your father and your grandfather...

My grandfather is someone who never gives up; he is a fighter. From my father, I learnt to mix with the common man.



Do you get to spend time with them?

With dad, yes. With granddad, there is a great connect. Family is very important and they make sure that we spend time together.

What if you win?

I have plans for the youth of Mandya. Unemployment is a serious issue, and that needs to be tackled first. The state government has allocated Rs 9,000 crore in the budget for Mandyas development. I also want to focus on education. Developing government schools here will be my priority.

Do you have any special strategies in mind?

Yes, we do have strategies to reach out to the local people. I cannot discuss them before the media at this juncture.
Jadhav met the speaker at his residence in Addakal of Srinivasapura Taluk, the day of Maha Shivarathri around 9:45.A.M and submitted his resignation, sources said. The speaker also offered him breakfast at his residence.

Jadhav also took blessings from Ramesh Kumar's wife by touching her feet. It may be recalled that Jadhav had even not attended the Congress Legisaltive Party Meeting chaired by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah citing health reasons.

Jadhav, who appears to have sided with the rebel faction led by Ramesh Jarkiholi which threatened to topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state, is a two-time MLA from Chincholi in Kalbyrgi district, a bastion of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

Jadhav was reportedly unhappy with the "autocratic" style of Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge.

Sources close to Jadhav told PTI he intends to join the BJP on Wednesday.

Commenting on the legislator's exit, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao said Jadhav was doing "drama" by promising to remain loyal to the party.

"He shouldn't forget that whatever he's today is because of Congress. Anyone can come and go but the party will remain forever," Rao told reporters.

He asserted that the other Congress MLAs will remain with the party.

The Congress previously urged the Speaker to take action against Jadhav and three other rebels after they failed to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting last month.

The speaker is yet to take a call on that.

KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre said Jadhav had ruined his career by quitting the party as the speaker is yet to take a decision on his disqualification.

"Once disqualified, he cannot contest elections," Khandre said.

(With Inputs from PTI)
Neurodegenerative diseases identified using artificial intelligence

Researchers have developed an artificial intelligence platform to detect a range of neurodegenerative disease in human brain tissue samples, including Alzheimer's disease and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published in the Nature medical journal Laboratory Investigation. Their discovery will help scientists develop targeted biomarkers and therapeutics, resulting in a more accurate diagnosis of complex brain diseases that improve patient outcomes.

The buildup of abnormal tau proteins in the brain in neurofibrillary tangles is a feature of Alzheimer's disease, but it also accumulates in other neurodegenerative diseases, such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy and additional age-related conditions. Accurate diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases is challenging and requires a highly-trained specialist.

Researchers at the Center for Computational and Systems Pathology at Mount Sinai developed and used the Precise Informatics Platform to apply powerful machine learning approaches to digitized microscopic slides prepared using tissue samples from patients with a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases. Applying deep learning, these images were used to create a convolutional neural network capable of identifying neurofibrillary tangles with a high degree of accuracy directly from digitized images.

"Utilizing artificial intelligence has great potential to improve our ability to detect and quantify neurodegenerative diseases, representing a major advance over existing labor-intensive and poorly reproducible approaches," said lead investigator John Crary, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. "Ultimately, this project will lead to more efficient and accurate diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases."

This is the first framework available for evaluating deep learning algorithms using large-scale image data in neuropathology. The Precise Informatics Platform allows for data managements, visual exploration, object outlining, multi-user review, and evaluation of deep learning algorithm results.

Researchers at the Center for Computational and Systems Pathology at Mount Sinai have used use advanced computer science and mathematical techniques coupled with cutting-edge microscope technology, computer vision, and artificial intelligence to more accurately classify a broad array of diseases.

"Mount Sinai is the largest academic pathology department in the country and processes more than 80 million tests a year, which offers researchers access to a broad set of data that can be used to improve testing and diagnostics, ultimately leading to better diagnosis and patient outcomes," said author Carlos Cordon-Cardo, MD, PhD, Chair of the Department of Pathology at the Mount Sinai Health System and Professor of Pathology, Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and Oncological Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine.

###

Boston University School of Medicine, VA Boston Healthcare System, and UT Southwestern Medical Center contributed to this study.

The research was supported by grants from the Department of Defense, the National Institutes of Health, Alzheimer's Association and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

The Mount Sinai Health System is New York City's largest integrated delivery system, encompassing eight hospitals, a leading medical school, and a vast network of ambulatory practices throughout the greater New York region. Mount Sinai's vision is to produce the safest care, the highest quality, the highest satisfaction, the best access and the best value of any health system in the nation. The Health System includes approximately 7,480 primary and specialty care physicians; 11 joint-venture ambulatory surgery centers; more than 410 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and 31 affiliated community health centers. The Icahn School of Medicine is one of three medical schools that have earned distinction by multiple indicators: ranked in the top 20 by U.S. News & World Report's "Best Medical Schools", aligned with a U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" Hospital, No. 12 in the nation for National Institutes of Health funding, and among the top 10 most innovative research institutions as ranked by the journal Nature in its Nature Innovation Index. This reflects a special level of excellence in education, clinical practice, and research. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 18 on U.S. News & World Report's "Honor Roll" of top U.S. hospitals; it is one of the nation's top 20 hospitals in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Geriatrics, Nephrology, and Neurology/Neurosurgery, and in the top 50 in six other specialties in the 2018-2019 "Best Hospitals" issue. Mount Sinai's Kravis Children's Hospital also is ranked nationally in five out of ten pediatric specialties by U.S. News & World Report. The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked 11th nationally for Ophthalmology and 44th for Ear, Nose, and Throat. Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, Mount Sinai West, and South Nassau Communities Hospital are ranked regionally.

For more information, visit http://www. mountsinai. org/ , or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Attendees look at books on display during the release ceremony of the Myanmar edition of the first volume of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, July 9, 2018. (Xinhua/U Aung)

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Translating the book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" into Urdu offered Farrukh Sohail Goindi a rare glimpse into the thoughts of the Chinese president.

"He is not a mere orator, but a well-versed person who gives references to history, culture, Chinese wisdom and global politics in his book," said Goindi, the managing director of Pakistan's book publisher Jumhoori Publications.

The book is seen as key to understanding China since its first volume was published in September 2014. By January 2018, it had been translated into 24 languages.

The second volume had its Chinese and English versions hit the market on Nov. 7, 2017, and is being translated into multiple languages.

By converting the book into various languages, translators from dozens of other countries are spreading the ideas that shed light on this visionary Chinese leader and China's future.

FAITHFUL EFFORT

Miriam Castorina, a translator for the Italian version of the book, found difficulty grappling with the metaphors frequently used by President Xi, who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

A knotty expression, the "nail" spirit, caught out the young researcher of languages, literature and intercultural studies at University of Florence during her translation work. She found no equivalent in Italian of the expression, which means one should focus and persist rather than squander efforts. When using a hammer to drive in a nail, a single knock may often not be enough to root it firmly in place.

"In (the) Italian version, I choose a literary translation because it conveys the idea that if you make the best of the time and work persistently you can achieve your purposes," she said.

The richness of the Chinese language was another challenge. Translator for the Cambodian version Chea Munyrith spent a great amount of time selecting the right terms in Cambodian for China's neighborhood diplomacy, characterized by friendship, sincerity, reciprocity and inclusiveness, which is expressed in a mere four-character phrase in Chinese.

"The translation was a bit difficult because in Chinese, a word can have many meanings," said Munyrith, former director of the Confucius Institute of the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

MAN OF THE PEOPLE

Castorina said she was impressed when translating the appendix of the first volume of the book, "Man of the People -- Profile of Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC."

She used "strong-willed" and "far-sighted" to describe the Chinese leader, whom she has never met.

"I find it interesting that he started from a very low position" and was engaged with everyday, ordinary people, Castorina said. "I think this kind of experience can help politicians really understand the lives of the people in his country," she said.

Castorina was inspired by Xi's speeches about rejuvenation. She said she especially likes the expression "the Chinese dream," describing it as full of "color and power."

"Hard work will overcome difficulties and make one's dreams come true." Xi's words also reminded Goindi of the founder of his own country, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and his famous saying, "work, work, and work."

"Governing a big country is as delicate as frying a small fish," said Munyrith, quoting ancient Chinese philosopher Laozi who was also quoted by Xi. He said the Cambodian people are familiar with ancient Chinese philosophy because his country is deeply influenced by Taoism as well as the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, two other ancient Chinese philosophers.

CHINESE WISDOM

In August 2018, the Italian version of the book received a special Pavese Prize literary award for its congruence with Pavese's own love and passion for his motherland and its social progress. The Pavese Prize is named after the great Italian writer Cesare Pavese.

A number of translators told Xinhua that countries with different social systems and in different stages of development can get inspiration from the book.

"Pakistan has an urge for change ... I want Pakistanis to learn from the experience ... which he (President Xi) has shared in his book ... The book can help Pakistan in a big way," said Goindi, adding that he really wants every Pakistani to read it.

Castorina also said she has recommended the book to scholars and journalists who have an interest in contemporary China.

"We can learn from China's ability to make long-term plans and not only think about today's problems," she said. "It will be useful for Italy."
Arun M and P Ramdas By

Express News Service

KOCHI: On February 2, the Kalady police arrested a 23-year-old woman on charges of sexually abusing a minor boy. According to the officers, Raji, a resident of Kadappara near Malayattoor, was booked following a complaint filed by the victims mother, who is an acquaintance of the accused. In her complaint registered on January 12, the nine-year-old boys mother told officers that the accused sexually abused her son multiple times.

In Malappuram last month, mother of a minor girl provided assistance to her friend to sexually abuse her daughter.

While cases against men for sexually abusing minors are dime a dozen, it seems women are also now involved in similar crimes. As per the data available with the states Home Department, 163 women have figured as accused in POCSO Act cases from May 25 to December 4, 2018. As many as 6,924 cases were registered during this period.

According to officers, two per cent of the total accused for abuse of minors are women. In the Kalady incident, case was registered against the accused under sections 7, 8, 9 (m) and 10 of the POCSO Act. A medical examination of the boy at the government hospital in Thiruvananthapuram and then at Kalady confirmed he was sexually abused. Subsequently, the accused was remanded in judicial custody.

The POCSO Act does not look at the gender of the person responsible for causing sexual harassment. Legal experts say cases involving women as accused keep escalating. In Kochi too, more similar cases are being reported. Apart from sexual abuse, majority of the women are accused mainly for concealing the incidents or providing aid to the accused for sexual assault, said Sandhya Rani, Special Prosecutor, the Additional District and Sessions Court for POCSO cases.

As per the figures, during the above period, women were named accused in 33 cases in Ernakulam district, with Kochi City police and Ernakulam Rural police registering 18 and 15 cases respectively. Thiruvananthapuram Rural police registered 30 cases and city 11.

The backward social and economic circumstances is the major reason behind this kind of cases, Sandhya added.

Pariyaram Medical College Psychiatry professor Dr A V Druhin echoed the view citing that many times the parents, especially mothers, may not reveal this sort of cases, due to the fear of being victimised by the society or stigma.

Threat from criminals involved in the case is another reason. In certain other cases, they hide things due to poverty. Druhin said security aspect of the victim and the family has to be given primary importance. If its ensured, more revelations will be made. Social awareness about respecting victims privacy should be made.

High Court lawyer Unni Sebastian Kappen said the increase of women accused in POCSO cases can be attributed to the rise in matrimonial disputes and monetary issues between litigating parties.

Several disputes are pending in Family Courts where a minor childs father has registered complaints against the mother and her relatives for physically and sexually abusing the child. Though such cases may not see the light of the day, the damage might have already been done.

A child below the age of 10 cant be expected to differentiate between a good and bad touch, that too inside the four corners of the court hall, he said.
By Express News Service

BARGARH: Senior BJP leader Vinay Katiyar on Sunday appealed to people to remove Naveen Patnaik-led BJD Government from Odisha and bring the saffron party to power for all-round development of the State.

Addressing the gathering during Vijay Sankalp Samavesh held at Thuapali under Attabira Assembly segment here, Katiyar said the State will flourish only after BJP comes to power. The BJD Government has failed to provide basic amenities to people of the State, he said.

The BJP leader said Indian security forces gave a befitting reply and attacked terrorist camps inside Pakistan following the attack on the convoy of CRPF jawans at Pulwama. If Manmohan Singh were the prime minister during such a situation, he would have chosen to remain silent, he said.

Katiyar also spoke about various welfare schemes including PM-KISAN and Ujjwala Yojana launched by

Narendra Modi-led Government at the Centre for betterment and development of people across the country.

Among others, State BJP president Basanta Panda and senior leader KV Singhdeo were present. On the day, Katiyar also addressed a similar public meeting in Rairakhol town in the district.
By Express News Service

TIRUNELVELI: Secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC) Sanjay Dutt who is also the in-charge for its Tamil Nadu unit, on Sunday, expressed hope that his party would win the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as the people are looking for a change.

After chairing a preparedness meeting for functionaries and cadre at Thatchanallur here, Sanjay Dutt addressed them. Later, speaking to reporters, Sanjay Dutt said that the meeting was intended to devise the election strategy and review the preparedness of the cadre and party functionaries (to face election).

Taking a dig at the BJP government, he said that the Narendra Modi-led Union government had failed in all fronts. It (BJP) has not fulfiled the promises made during last general elections, he alleged. Sanjay Dutt added that BJP was pursuing political mileage from the sacrifice of CRPF jawans.

People need a change as it had been proven in the Assembly elections held in five States. The results will reflect in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections too. We (Congress) are confident that the people of Tamil Nadu will give a historic win for the DMK-Congress alliance. Our alliance will win in all the 39 Lok Sabha constituencies in the State, he said.

He said that Rahul Gandhi was working for the interest of common man. Asked about the constituencies allotted to Congress in the State, Sanjay said that it would be decided by the party higher-ups.

TN Congress Committee working presidents H Vasantha Kumar, Mayura Jayakumar, general secretary S Vanamamalai, district presidents -- KM Sivakumar (Tirunelveli east district), K Sankarapandian (Tirunelveli city district), S Palani Nadar (Tirunelveli west district), and former minister Dhanushkodi Adithan among others took part.
Ajay Moses By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: In an attempt to prevent any violent attack on three Pakistani prisoners lodged in Cherlapally and Chanchalguda Central prisons in Hyderabad, State prisons department officials have separated them from other prisoners by putting them into secluded cells.

One of them is lodged in Cherlapally prison, the other two are in Chanchalguda. They are in prison for overstaying in the country, visa fraud and espionage.The officials actions can be connected to the recent death of a Pakistani prisoner in Jaipur Central jail - he was reportedly stoned to death by inmates. It had happened a couple of days after terrorists attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, killing over 40 paramilitary personnel in the process.

VK Singh, Director General of Prisons and Correction Services, said, We feel there is a possibility of attacks on Pakistani prisoners in view of cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.

The three prisoners will be kept away from regular prison barracks. They will not be allowed to meet fellow inmates and their movements will be closely monitored.

Akula Narasimha, Inspector General, State Prisons Department, said, Just like civilians, inmates are likely to become hostile towards Pakistani prisoners when Indian security personnel are attacked by terrorists. There is the possibility of these prisoners being stoned.

However, hostility against Pakistani prisoners cannot be ruled out. Also, when inmates in other jails listen to or read about these incidents, they tend to get similar ideas, explained Singh.It may be mentioned that there have been instances of inmates going on a hunger strike, asking prison officials to contribute money towards relief of families injured or dead in cross-border conflicts. Currently, as per government statistics, there are 97 Pakistanis lodged in Indian prisons, convicted for various crimes.
By Associated Press

BEIJING: China says the US is using a double standard in claiming Chinese law requires telecoms giant Huawei to violate other countries' information security.

The spokesman for the national legislature, Zhang Yesui, told reporters Monday that some US officials were taking China's national security law out of context and "playing up the so-called security risks" associated with Chinese companies.

ALSO READ | Canada allows extradition case against Huawei CFO to proceed

He said the 2017 law borrows from other countries' experiences and is designed explicitly to "protect human rights and the lawful rights of individuals and organizations."

The US has been lobbying its allies to shun Huawei's products on national security grounds.

Canada arrested Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou at the request of the US on December 1.

She is wanted on charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: The New York Times said in a report that migrant women were victims of sexual assaults on the US-Mexico border that most often go "unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted".

According to the report on Sunday, undocumented women making their way into American border towns have been beaten for disobeying smugglers, impregnated by strangers, coerced into prostitution, shackled to beds and trees and, in at least a handful of cases, bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs.

The New York Times found dozens of documented cases through interviews with law enforcement officials, prosecutors, federal judges and immigrant advocates around the country, and a review of police reports and court records in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The report showed over 100 documented reports of sexual assault of undocumented women along the border in the past two decades, a number that most likely only skims the surface, law enforcement officials and advocates have said.

The New York Times report said that last July, a 23-year-old Honduran woman told the authorities that she was sexually assaulted in a bedroom closet by a smuggler who had helped her and her sister cross into the South Texas city of Mission.

The following month, a sheriff's deputy in San Antonio was charged with sexually assaulting the four-year-old daughter of an undocumented Guatemalan woman and threatening to have her deported if she reported the abuse.

In 2017, a guide leading a group of migrants through the Tohono O'odham Nation's reservation in Arizona raped a woman from El Salvador twice during a seven-day desert hike, threatening to leave her stranded if she resisted.

In 2016, a migrant woman fled a stash house in the South Texas city of Edinburg, where she said she had been raped by a smuggler who brandished a machete.

At least five of the women who were assaulted were attacked not by migrant smugglers, who are often the perpetrators, but by on-duty Border Patrol agents and Customs officers, the report said.

Meanwhile, the federal government over a recent four-year period has received more than 4,500 complaints about the sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention facilities.

But experts told The New York Times that the actual number of sexual assaults was almost certainly much higher because most attacks are never reported.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations, amid mounting pressure from the global community to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil and curb their financing.

The Foreign Office said that the government issued the UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 in accordance with the provisions of Pakistan's United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Act, 1948.

"The objective of the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order 2019 is to streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities," it said in a statement.

Interpreting the order, Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said it means that the government has taken over the control of assets and properties of all banned outfits operating in the country, Dawn reported.

"(From now onwards), all kinds of assets and properties of all (banned) organisations will be in the government's control," he said.

He added that the government will now also seize the charity wings and ambulances of such banned outfits.

The crackdown on banned groups came amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

India handed over a dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists.

ALSO READ | Pakistan government yet to ban Hafiz Saeed's JuD, FIF; announcements on freezing assets an eyewash

On Sunday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government has taken action against the proscribed organisations including JeM in the past and any future action against them will be taken in the light of the National Action Plan (NAP) and Pakistan's commitments in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

However, a top government source said that the Pakistan government has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfits, including Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, in order to de-escalate tensions with India.

The official had said the action against JeM is "expected any time soon".

The new law is expected to help Pakistan government to fulfill its obligations towards the UNSC by expediting seizure of properties of banned groups and individuals.

The US last month asked Pakistan to "freeze without delay" the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders.

Pakistan is also under pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing.

The FATF in June last year placed Pakistan onto its watch list in a bid to push the country to halt support for militant groups.

In June 2018, Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorism financing-related deficiencies by implementing a 10-point action plan to accomplish these objectives.

The successful implementation of the action plan and its physical verification by the APG will lead the FATF to clear Pakistan out of its greylist or else move into the blacklist by September 2019.

In its statement, the Foreign Office said that it may be recalled that the Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter authorises the (UNSC), acting under Article 41, to decide measures, not involving the use of armed force, to give effect to its decisions for the maintenance of international peace and security.

In Pakistan, such decisions of the Security Council are implemented through the UN Security Council Act (UNSC), 1948, it said.

The FO said over the years the sanctions regime of the United Nations Security Council have evolved.

"A key measure of these sanctions regimes is 'assets freeze' under which States are required to freeze/seize the assets of designated entities and individuals as soon as they are designated by the relevant UNSC Sanctions Committee," it said.

The UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 has been formulated in line with UNSC and the FATF standards, according to FO.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said the person who solves the Kashmir issue will be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, days after a resolution was submitted in Parliament endorsing him for the prestigious award, citing his "efforts to de-escalate" tensions with India.

"I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent," the premier tweeted.

On March 2, a resolution was submitted in Pakistan's National Assembly Secretariat stating that Khan's decision of releasing Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has de-escalated the hostility between Pakistan and India.

According to the resolution, Khan "acted responsibly" in the current tension and "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize".

After the Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26.

The next day, Pakistan retaliated with a large air formation, comprising 24 fighter jets, including F-16s.

Varthaman, who was in one of the eight MiG-21s that took on the invading Pakistan Air Force jets and shot down an F-16, was captured by Pakistan.

Khan during a joint session of Parliament on February 28 announced to release the IAF pilot as a "gesture of peace" and the "first step" to open negotiations with India.

Varthaman was released at the Wagah border on Friday.
By PTI

DOHA: Qatar on Monday told rival Saudi Arabia not to meddle in its potential arms purchases from Russia, as the Gulf state weighs the controversial purchase of an air defence system.

"Regarding the arms sales that Qatar has with Russia, we believe that Saudi Arabia, or any other countries, it is none of their business," Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at a news conference in Doha with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"It's a sovereign decision that should be taken by the state of Qatar," said Sheikh Mohammed when asked about a possible purchase of the S-400, a sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft weapon system.

He said talks on the purchase were ongoing, while Lavrov also confirmed that talks on "bilateral" military cooperation with gas-rich Qatar were taking place.

The possible arms deal first surfaced last year, sparking backlash by Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia -- which along with the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017 over allegations of support for Islamist extremists and Shiite Iran.

Qatar denies the allegations and says its rivals want regime change in Doha.

Saudi King Salman last year expressed Riyadh's concern over the potential deal to buy S-400s in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, threatening military action if Qatar went ahead with the purchase.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: India has refused to grant visas to around 500 Pakistani devotees intending to travel to Ajmer Sharif, Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs Pir Noor-ul-Haq Qadri said on Monday.

The minister said five hundred Pakistani devotees were to leave for the neighbouring country on Thursday India has denied visa to them, according to Radio Pakistan.

Qadri said said the Ministry has sent an intimation to all the devotees via SMS after it received information of cancellation from the Indian embassy.

ALSO READ | Ajmer Sharif chief asks Centre to not allow Pakistani devotees to visit shrine

The Indian embassy is yet to return the passports of these devotees, he said.

Qadri said Pakistan has granted visas to 5,600 Sikh pilgrims during a year, while visas were also granted to 312 Hindu devotees, reported Radio Pakistan.
The 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, and the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislative body, are slated to kick off their annual meetings - collectively known as the two sessions - on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively.

As thousands of Chinese lawmakers and political advisors start to arrive in Beijing for the annual legislative and political consultative sessions, the most important political event in the country, there will be major tasks to be fulfilled and abundant issues to be discussed.

Apart from standard orders of business - reviewing work reports from top government branches and setting the national budget for the year - they are expected to pass or introduce legislation and proposals covering topics such as environment policies and poverty alleviation efforts.

In the wake of profound challenges in the economy, however, economic topics will likely take center stage, with at least one key piece of legislation and numerous proposals expected, observers said.

"Economic topics are usually the hottest topics during the two sessions each year, but given the tremendous internal and external challenge we face, there will be even greater focus on economic policies this year," Li Daxiao, chief economist at Shenzhen-based Yingda Securities, told the Global Times on Friday.

Hot issues

The backdrop of this year's two sessions reveals challenges, as the economy faces persistent downward pressure and a deteriorating international environment marked by a trade war with the US. In 2018, the Chinese economy grew 6.6 percent, the slowest pace in 28 years. And there are even tougher issues regarding employment and private companies.

"I think the hottest topic will be the business environment for private companies," Wang Jun, an expert at the China Center for International Economic Exchange, told the Global Times on Friday. "It is an issue that has attracted a great deal of debate in the past year and touches on deeper, broader issues in the country from employment to the reform of state-owned enterprises."

Amid the adversity, an uneasy debate about the role of the private sector in the economy and society broke out last year, prompting reassurance from top leadership that the government cares and supports the private sector.

"We will probably see more assurances and even specific measures to help private companies," Li said.

Stabilize growth

"I think the most important topic will be how to stabilize growth," Liu Ying, a research fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China in Beijing ,told the Global Times.

"Without stable growth, all the other topics such as financial reform are not immediately relevant," Li noted.

Through numerous meetings and policy directives prior to the two sessions, Chinese officials have made clear that they will focus on stabilizing growth this year, while also pursuing structural reforms and further opening-up.

China will work to ensure stability in jobs, financial markets, foreign trade, foreign investment, and improve conditions for the private sector and foreign companies, according to a statement from the Central Economic Work Conference in December.

The annual Government Work Report, which is scheduled to be delivered by Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday, will also further highlight the government's plan to stabilize overall growth, while tackling specific issues.

"The broad direction is set, but how specifically we can move forward still needs much work," Liu said.

And that's where the NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members come in, according to Wang. "A very important purpose of the two sessions is to draw on the collective wisdom of the representatives of the country and come up with a better plan," he said.

While the government has taken a slew of measures to stabilize growth, including adopting more proactive fiscal policies to increase spending, prudent but more flexible monetary policies to ensure sufficient liquidity, measures to cut taxes and reduce burden on companies, expand access for foreign companies, the representatives will also weigh these policies, Wang said.

NPC deputies will vote on a draft law on foreign investment, which if passed, will ensure greater market access to foreign companies and provide equal protection.

"This could be one of the most significant legislative efforts from this year's two sessions," Li said.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

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Cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. Low 21F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Reporter/Columnist

Julie Wurth is a reporter covering the University of Illinois at The News-Gazette. Her email is jwurth@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@jawurth).
The 2019-20 Budget shows the Government is willing to invest in Hong Kongs future, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said.

Speaking to the media at the airport before departing for Bangkok today, Mrs Lam said the Budget will provide $150 billion in new resources, about double the combined amount of the revised surplus this year and the surplus estimated for the coming year.

Public expenditure for the five-year period up to 2023-24 in the Medium Range Forecast is expected to exceed 20% of the citys GDP.

Mrs Lam said this shows the current term Government is willing to invest for the future and relieve peoples burden.

The Chief Executive said a range of measures in the Budget are in line with the key points listed in her Policy Address, such as innovation and technology development.

Mrs Lam added Hong Kong should keep investing in I&T.

She also said the measures outlined in the Budget will prepare Hong Kong in facing economic downside risks and external headwinds this year.
The Government today announced the appointment of Pang Yiu-kai to succeed Peter Lam as Tourism Board Chairman.

Mr Pang will serve for three years from April 1.

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau said Mr Pang is suitable to chair the Tourism Board due to his rich experience in business management and public services.

I am confident that he would steer the board in promoting Hong Kong worldwide as a world-class premier tourist destination," he added.

Mr Yau also expressed gratitude to Mr Lam for his contribution.
Foreign visitor receives instant departure tax refund service at a pilot shopping mall in Shanghai. (Photo: Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Administration of Taxation)

The instant departure tax refund service introduced by Shanghai on a trial basis has won applause from the overseas tourists.

Tax can be refunded by stores in cash when shopping in Shanghai. The service is so nice, lauded Japanese shopper Yanagi Soichiro, who is also the first beneficiary of the pilot service.

As a new effort the city made to improve its departure tax refund service, the policy rolled out a month ago allows international and interregional travelers who shop in the eastern Chinese megacity be rebated at the pilot stores with the value-added tax they are entitled to for products they buy. Those eligible will be paid in the Chinese currency.

Those who get a tax refund under the plan still need to have their eligible goods checked at customs and then submit the required documents to the agent in the quarantine area of the departure port to fill in the necessary paperwork, while the procedure is simplified and convenient.

The citys first three pilot stores have issued 12 instant tax refund applications to visitors from Japan, Australia and other places in the first month, involving 71,000-yuan ($10,587.39) worth of goods and refunding around 6,500 yuan to them.

Since introducing the departure tax refund service in 2015, Shanghai has topped the country for three years in a row in terms of both the tax rebates and the sales volume of relevant goods where the refund was applied.

A foreign visitor deals with the procedures of departure tax refund business during the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in November 2018. The departure tax refund business of the eastern city soared thanks to the expo. (Photo: Shanghai Municipal Tax Service of the State Administration of Taxation)

It is more convenient to get instant tax refund in stores than dealing with the rebate at the airport, Australian tourist Jennifer L. said after getting the cash payback, adding that the service not only facilitates travelers, but also keeps abreast with the global trend.

China began its departure tax refund service in southern Hainan province in 2011 on a trial basis, and extended the policy to nationwide in 2015. A total of 26 provinces, autonomous regions and cities have echoed the policy so far.

Based on the policy, foreign visitors who shop at designated shops will be able to apply for a refund equivalent to 11 percent of the amount spent.

Figures from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism indicated that China received 141.2 million inbound visitors in 2018.

Analysts believe that China will be a more attractive destination for travelers as the country further optimizes its departure tax refund policy by offering more convenient and diversified services.
Government has not engaged any foreign company to manufacture vehicle registration number plates following a shortage caused by the lack of foreign currency to import raw materials required to produce the plates, Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister Joel Biggie Matiza has said.



Minister Matiza said the current arrangement in terms of producing number plates had not changed.

His remarks followed media reports last week insinuating that Government had engaged a Germany company Erich Utsch AG under a US$20 million deal to manufacture number plates at various plants to be set up in various provinces.



In an interview with The Herald, Minister Matiza said the media claims were unfounded.



He said Government was pinning its hopes on increased foreign currency inflows to procure the needed raw materials and continue the manufacture of number plates locally under the existing arrangements.





We have not engaged any foreign company to manufacture number plates for us. Such media claims are bent on misleading the public.





We are hoping that the recently announced monetary measures are going to result in increased foreign currency inflows and that will also allow us to import the raw materials we require to manufacture the number plates, said Minister Matiza





We also expect the new policy that we introduced on the use of old number plates to ease pressure on the demand for number plates.





Minister Matiza said the German firm just came with its proposals that were not adopted by Government and any suggestions that there was an agreement were misleading.

An official from the Ministry of Transport, who refused to be named, said there was no need to engage a foreigner to manufacture number plates.





He said Zimbabwe was among countries in Africa with low vehicle theft cases and there was no need to burden motorists with number plates with some unnecessary sophistications.





Zimbabwe has the lowest vehicle theft rate in the region if not the entire African continent and close to 50 percent of all the vehicles are recovered through various methods most of all being the difficulty in cloning vehicle registration plates.





Some African countries record as high as 50 000 vehicle thefts yearly but in Zimbabwe latest statistics show that Zimbabwe has under 200 vehicle thefts annually out of a vehicle population of one million. This shows we may not need to burden our motorists with some of these highly mechanised plates which call for the use of huge amounts of the scarce foreign currency. Herald
Biden Has One of His

Biggest Meetings Yet
The opinion of Chinese diaspora can be heard in two sessions

Xu Jingbo, head of the Japan bureau of the Asian News Agency, attended the first session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in 2018. (Photo: Courtesy of Xu Jingbo)

At the opening ceremony of the annual session of China's top political advisory body which will kick off on Sunday, attended by more than 2,000 national political advisors, there will be a special group of attendees who are not political advisors, but will sit at the front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

It is a group of overseas Chinese who have been invited to attend the second annual session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as observers.

Since 2001, the CPPCC National Committee had invited 550 overseas Chinese from 79 countries to attend the meeting as of 2018. The observers were recommended by several government departments in China and enjoy considerable reputation and influence in their countries of residence. Some of these overseas Chinese have already obtained the residing countries' passports.

They are not guests, but participants of one of the country's most important political meetings. During the annual two sessions, they are engaged in discussions of pivotal issues related to China's economic and social development, and voice the opinions of the Chinese diaspora - about 60 million people - and provide their suggestions from different perspectives.

Ahead of this year's annual meeting, the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee which will begin on Sunday, the Global Times interviewed some observers who attended the first session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in 2018.

As a part of the 35 overseas Chinese observers who came from 25 countries, they described the attendance as an honor and a great opportunity once in their lifetime. In their eyes, the two sessions are down to earth and show a more open and confident China.

Zhu Yiyuan, Chairman for African Chinese Woman Association and Consultant for Consular Protection Affairs of the Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg, attended the first session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee in 2018. Photo: Courtesy of Zhu Yiyuan

Xu Jingbo, head of the Japan bureau of the Asian News Agency, has been covering the two sessions as a reporter with a foreign media outlet since 1997. Xu recalled how he felt at last year's annual session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee. Sitting at the observer's desk, Xu felt he could understand China's policies and goals in a deeper way.

Xu still remembers the first time he covered the two sessions. At that time, few foreign media reporters came to Beijing to report the meetings and most of them were Beijing-based correspondents.

"Nowadays, there are so many foreign reporters and the two sessions are open to foreign media and offer them many opportunities for questions. China has become more open and confident," Xu told the Global Times.

Xu said that after attending the two sessions in 2018, he received invitations from Japanese federations and media interview requests.

The most important mission for me is to "interpret the topics of the two sessions to the Japanese people, to elaborate the new ideas and strategies of the reform and opening-up in China's new era, and let Japanese society better understand China," Xu noted.

Liu Hongyou, head of the Union of Chinese Residing in Japan, said the invitation to the two sessions is an honor and also a reward for his devotion to the overseas Chinese work.

The Press Center for the Second Session of the 13th NPC and the Second Session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee officially went into service at the Beijing Media Center Hotel on Feb. 27, 2019. (Photo by Weng Qiyu, Peoples Daily Online)

After hearing voices from all walks of life, Liu said what impressed him most at last year's two sessions was that the proposals were not only set in the domestic market, but also showed solicitude for the common development of mankind.

"China has displayed the demeanor and responsibility of a big country," Liu said.

Zhu Yiyuan, Chairman for African Chinese Woman Association and Consultant for Consular Protection Affairs of the Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg, was surprised to see the changes in the two sessions.

The meetings are more down-to-earth. There are discussions on livelihood policies such as poverty alleviation and specific measures are brought up to develop the country, Zhu said.

For this year's two sessions, Zhu hopes to see the progress and implementation of the proposals discussed at last year's sessions.

Fred Teng, President of the America China Public Affairs Institute, said during last year's two sessions, he not only attended ceremonies and meetings, but also gained an opportunity to meet with officials from the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to learn about the new developments of China.

"It is a rare opportunity to observe how the National People's Congress (NPC) and CPPCC National Committee summarized their work, to see what they have done for the whole year and to feel how they diligently perform their duties," Teng told the Global Times.

Under current international context, Teng said for this year's two sessions, China will have continuous long-term issues to tackle such as poverty elimination, and how to promote international projects, especially those along the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative.
(Newser)  More than seven months after residents first noticed a fire at an illegal dumping site in northwest Arkansas, it's still smoldering, sending noxious smoke throughout the town and seeping into homes, with costs to extinguish the fire estimated at tens of millions of dollars. Chris Nelson, 40, lives with his wife and 4-year-old son in a house that's a little more than 1,000 feet from the shuttered dumping site. He says his family has experienced a persistent cough since the blaze started, his wife has been diagnosed with bronchitis, and his son has been on multiple rounds of antibiotics. "I'm a veteran and this is probably one of the worst, most stressful situations to live in," Nelson says. "It's been hell."

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State officials say the site should never have been used as a dump of any kind, especially not for non-organic items like car batteries and swimming pool liners. The fire burning at least 70 feet underground in this community of about 28,500 people some 170 miles northwest of Little Rock has raised questions about how and why the dump operated without a state license for several years, the AP reports. The exact cost to put out the fire and get rid of the waste is unknown. Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality spokeswoman Donnally Davis says estimates so far have ranged from $15 million to $37 million. She says air pockets and vents are interspersed between layers of dumped material, meaning extinguishing the blaze will be more complicated than just dumping water on it. State lawmakers are considering a $20 million appropriation to help.

(Read more Arkansas stories.)
(Newser)  President Trump slammed what he called "perhaps a new low in American politics" on Sunday: The congressional testimony of his former lawyer while he was in Vietnam for a summit with Kim Jong Un. Trump suggested Michael Cohen's testimony may have contributed to the collapse of the summit, which he earlier blamed on North Korean demands to completely lift sanctions, reports Reuters. "For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk,'" Trump tweeted.

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"Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!" added Trump, who denounced "presidential harassment by 'crazed' Democrats" in an earlier tweet. The House Oversight Committee hearing, in which Cohen delivered explosive testimony against his former boss, was scheduled after Trump announced the date for the Vietnam summit, the Washington Post reports. It was rescheduled from Feb. 7 after Cohen said he had received threats. Trump allies including Sen. Lindsey Graham also criticized the timing. The Republican accused Democrats of undermining the summit through "hatred of Trump." (Trump said he didn't watch much of Cohen's testimony, but one thing impressed him.)
(Newser)  The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the US Embassy to Israel. For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy. The symbolic shift hands authority over US diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to Ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership, the AP reports.

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The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in Jerusalem. "This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements," spokesman Robert Palladino said. "It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip." When first announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the US was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move "the final nail in the coffin" for the US role in peacemaking. Last year, Palestinians cut many ties with the administration after the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocated its embassy there.

(Read more Jerusalem stories.)
(Newser)  When Ethan Lindenberger turned 18 and started receiving vaccinations over the objections of his anti-vaxxer mom, she said it felt as if he were "spitting on me." It's a safe bet, then, that she won't like this new development: Lindenberger tweeted that he will be testifying before Congress on Tuesday about his experience, reports USA Today. The teen from Norwalk, Ohio, will answer questions from the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Last month, the teen's story went viral, thanks to Reddit, after he posted about his predicament. "My parents think vaccines are some kind of government scheme ... God knows how I'm still alive," he wrote. "Where do I go to get vaccinated? Can I get vaccinated at my age?" Commenters showed him the way. (Read more anti-vaccination stories.)
(Newser)  The World Wildlife Fund, well-known for its work saving animals from the slaughter of poachers, is now facing allegations of abuse itself. BuzzFeed is out with the start of an investigative series alleging that the charityone of the world's biggestbankrolls forces who torture and kill humans in their efforts to protect animals. "In national parks across Asia and Africa, the beloved nonprofit with the cuddly panda logo funds, equips, and works directly with paramilitary forces that have been accused of beating, torturing, sexually assaulting, and murdering scores of people," write Tom Warren and Katie JM Baker. Generally, they're referring to park rangers, employed by their own governments, but whose work is mostly funded by the WWF.

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The reporters conducted more than 100 interviews over six countries and examined thousands of documents, confidential and otherwise. Among other things, they found that "villagers have been whipped with belts, attacked with machetes, beaten unconscious with bamboo sticks, sexually assaulted, shot, and murdered by WWF-supported anti-poaching units." The piece begins with the story of Shikharam Chaudhary in Nepal, who was accused of burying a rhino horn in his yard. The horn was never found, but his family and witnesses says Chaudhary was waterboarded and brutally beaten in jail. When he died nine days later, an autopsy showed broken ribs and bruises all over his body. Three rangers were charged with murder, but the case was dropped after a lobbying campaign by WWF, which celebrated the decision. (Click to read the full story.)
(Newser)  Three of the four popes who followed Pope Pius XII have since been named saints. The effort to attach the same designation to Pius has stalled, but a big move by Pope Francis could soon change that. Saying "the church is not afraid of history," the pope on Monday announced that the secret archives on Pius' papacy would be opened March 2, 2020, something Jewish groups have spent more than three decades clamoring for. That's because his papacy ran from 1939 to 1958, a period that spanned World War II. The Washington Post reports the Vatican stayed neutral during the war and didn't publicly condemn Nazism. What remains unclear, however, was whether Pius quietly tried to help the Jews or ignored their plight.

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The head of the Holy See's archives division suggested in a Vatican newspaper article on Monday that it could be the former, saying the archives tell of "an almost superhuman work of Christian 'humanism' that was active in the stormy disorder of those events that ... seemed determined to annihilate the very notion of human civilization." Francis, for his part, described Pius as "criticized, one can say, with some prejudice and exaggeration." The move has the potential to speed or stymie Pius' path to sainthood. Reuters reports that after Pius was declared "venerable" in 2009, Catholic scholars implored Pope Benedict to take no further steps until Pius' Holocaust actions were thoroughly understood. The AP reports the Vatican typically opens a pope's archives 70 years after his papacy ends, which in Pius' case would be 2028. (A 2013 book described alleged secret efforts on Pius' part to aid the Jews.)
(Newser)  Luke Perry, the beloved star of Beverly Hills, 90210, and Riverdale, is dead at age 52. TMZ reports the actor never recovered after suffering a massive stroke at his Sherman Oaks, Calif., home Wednesday morning. He died Monday morning surrounded by family and friends including his children, his fiancee, his ex-wife, his mother and stepfather, and his brother and sister, the actor's rep confirms to USA Today. "The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning," the rep says.

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Perry came to Hollywood from Ohio, and after his breakout role as Dylan McKay on 90210, he played varied roles from a preacher on HBO's Oz to the titular character in Showtime's dystopian Jeremiah to voicing various cartoon characters. Shannen Doherty, who played his 90210 love interest Brenda Walsh, got emotional while discussing Perry's condition with ETOnline Sunday. "I can't talk about it 'cause I will literally start crying but I love him and he knows I love him. And I'm in contact, and ... it's Luke, and he's my Dylan." (Many celebs had showered Perry with support.)
(Newser)  China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada on Friday announced it will proceed with a US extradition request for Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou. China arrested the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei's founder and was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of US authorities. The US is seeking her extradition to face charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran; she's due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said the new allegations against Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are a response to that action, reports the AP.

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China's official Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Spavor. It was the first time the two men's cases have been linked. It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visa, and acquired information from Spavor, his "main contact." No other details were given. Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank. Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un. Kovrig and Spavor haven't had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested. (Meng is suing the Canadian government.)
The photo shows the ornamental stone slab of Ming Dynasty returned to China by the US in 2011. It was the first time for the US to repatriate cultural relics to China (Photo by Ma Xiaoning/Peoples Daily)

361 pieces (sets) of cultural relics and artifacts were returned to China by the US at a repatriation ceremony held in Indianapolis on Feb.28, local time. At the ceremony, representatives from Chinas National Cultural Heritage Administration (SACH) and US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) signed and exchanged certificate of transfer.

These cultural relics and artifacts, mainly funerary objects, include stoneware, jade, bronze ware, potteries, coins and wood carvings. They date from the Neolithic Age (3900-1700BC) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). More than 20 pieces (sets) of cultural relics and artifacts were exhibited at the ceremony.

These repatriated relics and artifacts were found by the FBI's Indianapolis office in April 2014. It aroused highly attention from the SACH. According to relevant international conventions, the SACH requested the US side to return these cultural relics and artifacts.

Finally, the US agreed the request under the joint efforts of the US Department of State, FBI, SACH, Chinese embassies and consul-generals in the US.

It is the third-time such effort made by the two countries, and by far the largest repatriation of cultural relics from the US to China. It showcased cooperation outcomes between the law enforcement departments of the two countries.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to restrict importation of Chinese relics to the US in Jan, 2009. Two years later, 14 pieces of cultural relics captured in 2010 were returned to China for the first time by the US Department of Homeland Security, the majority of which have a history of 1500 to 2000 years.In Jan, 2019, China and the US re-signed the MOU.

The SACH has brought back more than 4,000 pieces (sets) of lost Chinese cultural relics in over 30 batches through diplomatic and legislative cooperation, as well as friendly consultation over the years, including the bronze animal heads of the Old Summer Palace, the golden ornaments of Dabaozi Mountain, the bronze tiger Ying and those returned by the US government in the previous three repatriations.
(Newser)  Declaring he knows he is at risk, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido returned Monday to his homeland to renew his campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido landed at the country's main airport, about 25 miles from Caracas, the capital, the AP reports. He said in a tweet that he successfully passed through immigration checks. "We know the risks that we face, that's never stopped us," the 35-year-old leader of Venezuela's National Assembly said as he moved through a crowd that included several Western ambassadors. The United States and about 50 other countries have recognized Guaido, who has declared himself interim president of Venezuela, as the country's legitimate leader, arguing that last year's re-election of Maduro was illegitimate because popular opposition candidates were barred from running.

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"The regime must understand, the dictatorship must understand ... that we're stronger than ever. We'll continue protesting, we'll continue mobilizing," said Guaido, who had ignored an official ban on foreign travel to leave Venezuela, first for Colombia and then Brazil, Argentina, and Ecuador, all countries that support him. Guaido has called for nationwide demonstrations coinciding with his arrival. Thousands of supporters heeded the call, peacefully gathering at a Caracas plaza and in other locations around the country. Some people carried national flags. Guaido said the goal of his return is to intensify internal pressure on Maduro. US National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted that threats or action by Maduro's government against Guaido "will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community."

(Read more Venezuela stories.)
(Newser)  California and several other Democratic-led states announced they were challenging the Trump administration's effort to set up obstacles for women seeking abortions, including barring taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring patients to abortion providers. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Monday that the state filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco that aims to block a new family planning rule from the US Health and Human Services Department, the AP reports. The rule shifts millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood to faith-based family planning organizations. Washington, DC, and a coalition of 20 states said separately that they will file a lawsuit in US District Court in Eugene, Oregon, Tuesday, the Washington Post reports.

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Washington's Democratic attorney general also previously said the state would challenge the rule. Trump administration officials have told abortion opponents that they expected a number of legal challenges to the new family planning rule, which also prohibits federally funded family planning clinics from being housed in the same place as abortion providers. The changes to the federal family planning program are scheduled to go into effect in May unless blocked in court. California's attorney general said the new rule affects 4 million mostly low-income women nationwide and 1 million women in California. "The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women's health," Becerra said. The lawsuit in California is the latest of dozens of legal challenges that it and other states led by Democrats have filed in a bid to block Trump administration policies. (More on the new abortion roadblocks here.)
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 New treatments mean AIDS is seen as chronic disease just like diabetes

 China has come a long way in overcoming initial stigma of treating AIDS patients

 A polyclinical treatment network is being constructed to provide HIV-infected people better lives

In 2017, an 80-year-old HIV-positive man underwent successful cardiac surgery at the Beijing-based Peking University People's Hospital, under the recommendation of Professor Li Taisheng, the Director of the Infectious Diseases Department in the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH).

As one of China's leading researchers and a renowned clinical specialist in HIV, Li told the Global Times that HIV-positive people's long term survival has become an important issue in China, now that the disease can be controlled and regulated as a chronic disease. "Now that HIV-infected people's lives have been largely prolonged, we're in a dilemma with regards to the treatment of its complications, since specialized infection hospitals are not capable of doing surgeries and patients with infectious diseases have to be treated in specialized infection hospitals," said Li.

From lethal to chronic

In 2017, more than 610,000 HIV-positive people received anti-viral treatment, compared to 171,000 in 2012, with a coverage rate of 80.4 percent and a success rate of above 90 percent, according to China's Health Commission.

Li announced proudly at a China-French medical seminar that AIDS has now become a chronic disease like high blood pressure and diabetes. An HIV patient can now survive for decades if he or she keeps taking medication.

Li worked at PUMCH as an intern in 1983 and became a doctor at the hospital the next year. In July 1985, PUMCH accepted China's first HIV-positive patient. "A batch of patients died every couple of months, since there was no medicine for the disease in the world," Li said. "Our hands were tied. We could only watch our patients die."

At that time, fear of the fatal disease was overwhelming. "The fear came from the lack of medicine, ignorance of the disease and its 100 percent fatality rate," Li explained.

Fu Yan, the head nurse at Beijing YouAn Hospital, recalled the fear that hung over the hospital when the first AIDS patient was admitted in 1990.

"Doctors and nurses never entered the patient's ward, and a small window in the wall next to the door was used to take blood samples and pass food and daily supplies," Fu said to the China Pictorial.

After the patient died, a pyre was built in an open space to incinerate every item the patient had used. "The inflammable things were wiped with disinfectant fluid and the isolated ward was steamed with peracetic acid," Fu recalled.

On top of the harsh living conditions faced by HIV patients, medicine back then was hard to come by and expensive.

"A bottle of medicine cost as much as 10,000 yuan ($1,450) at that time, which was unaffordable for most families," Li told the Global Times.

In 1998, Beijing YouAn Hospital introduced Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART), also known as cocktail therapy, a combination of three or more anti-viral drugs to restore the damaged immune systems of HIV-positive people in order to prolong their lives.

The five patients who made up the first group of HIV-positive patients to receive the therapy in 1998 are now leading normal lives.

However, the therapy was not accessible to everyone due to its high price and the scarcity of anti-viral drugs.

Li said that there was no free medicine for HIV-positive people in China until 2004, when China started to provide free testing, treatment and medicine for them.

In 2005, a nationwide AIDS clinic treatment network was established and Li became its president. Based on pilot tests across the country, Li discovered the most effective two medicine combinations that suited Chinese people's constitutions and minimized their side effects.

"Over the past decade, I have been focusing on the effect of these free medicines on Chinese patients, including combinations and volume," said Li. "Gradually, patients realized that China's free medicine had the same effects as the imported medicines, and became willing to take them."

Li also compiled the treatment experience and plans he obtained from the research into books, distributing to counties across the country via the network.

Along with the establishment of the network, a highly professional HIV clinical treatment and research team was also set up. Li said that "with the growing number of HIV-positive people in China, the team will play a more significant role."

Chinese standard

China began its research into generic anti-AIDS drugs in 2002. However, its homemade generic drugs caused severe side effects.

Li decided to do what he could to optimize China's HIV treatment.

Li found that due to Chinese people's different constitutions, the volume suggested in other countries was too much. Additionally, in China, Hepatitis C tends to appear along with AIDS, something that rarely occurred in other countries.

In the international community, Favirenz (EFV) was designed to contain 600 milligrams in a pill, and that standard had been used in European and American countries for the last few decades. However, Chinese people tended to suffer dizziness and hyperlipidemia after taking the medicine.

In 2015, Li found that the volume was too much for Chinese people, and that a more suitable content was 400mg. However, there were only existing production lines available for 50mg, 200mg and 600mg pills.

In 2017, a pharmaceutical factory based in Shanghai, East China, decided to help solve the problem by introducing a production line of 400mg EFV, and the medicine was approved at the beginning of 2018.

The discovery made it into the top 10 medical science reports in China in 2018. So far in 2019, more than 50,000 people have taken the medicine.

"There will be tens thousands of patients taking the medicine in the near future unless new medicine is developed," Li said.

Zidovudine was found to prevent bone marrow formation six months after taking it, and Stavudine causes lipoatrophy up to one and a half years later.

A "shifting therapy" was then proposed, in which patients are given Zidovudine for five months before the side effects kick in, then shift to Stavudine. Six months later, they go back to the previous medicine.

While the treatment had the same positive effect, the side effects were dramatically reduced.

The therapy was then made available in the whole country, benefiting more than 20,000 people.

"With the side effects being minimized, patients are more willing to take the therapy, which helps to prolong their lives and improve quality of life," said Li.

New model

"Now that the survival problem of HIV-positive people has been solved, medical workers should now focus on how to give them better lives," said Li. "AIDS patients should be treated like normal patients."

In the clinic of PUMCH's infections department, a growing number of AIDS patients come to treat their complications.

"One AIDS patient needed a coronary artery bypass grafting surgery, otherwise, he would have died soon. He turned to the specialized infections hospital only to be told they were not capable of doing the surgery," Li told the Global Times.

"I begged the other department to do the surgery for my first patient," said Li. The surgeon was scared the first time, and after accepting more patients, they became used to it, treating AIDS patients like normal ones.

In order to bring about normalized management for HIV patients, preparations are being made to set up a nationwide AIDS complication alliance. The alliance will serve as a platform for training, cooperation and clinical research.

The headline on Global Times newspaper: Lease of Life (Source: Global Times/Peoples Daily)
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 19 persons, who allegedly attempted to burn down the Ejigbo Police Station around 11.15pm on...

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 19 persons, who allegedly attempted to burn down the Ejigbo Police Station around 11.15pm on Saturday.









A resident of the area, identified simply as Tunde, told our correspondent that he was lounging outside his apartment when he suddenly saw hundreds of commercial motorcyclists armed with dangerous weapons racing towards the police station.









According to him, he did not understand what they were saying until one of his friends told him that a police vehicle allegedly knocked down two of their colleagues.









He noted that a few minutes after, the motorcyclists started hurling missiles at the police station and threatened to bring it down.









He added that in the process, the mob damaged some police vehicles.









Tunde explained that by the time the police mobilised and repelled the attack on the station, some of the motorcyclists had sustained varying degrees of injuries.









He said, I was lounging outside when I suddenly saw hundreds of youths running towards the Ejigbo Police Station. They were chanting in Hausa. I did not understand what they were saying.









I asked one of them, who is my friend, what had happened. He told me that some policemen knocked two motorcyclists down. He said they were going to retaliate.









The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, condemned the attack on the police station, adding that nobody was knocked down.









According to him, the Lagos State Traffic Law prohibits the movement of motorcycles after 10pm.









He stated that the motorcyclists attempted to burn down the Ejigbo Police Station, but for quick reinforcement.









Oti added that the police repelled the irate youths by firing tear gas canisters at the mob and that nobody was shot.









The PPRO stated, The motorcyclists wilfully damaged two operational vehicles belonging to the Rapid Response Squad, Ikeja. The police did not shoot at any of them; they only fired tear gas canisters to disperse them. The police arrested 19 of them over attempts to burn down the station.









The police on night guard saw some people approaching and became alert, wondering what such number of people was coming to do at the station.









Few metres away, the mob started throwing missiles at the police station. The police resisted them from entering the compound by closing the gate. If the police had allowed them to overwhelm them, they would have burned down the station.









In the process, they damaged two of our patrol vehicles parked outside the station. The DPO was able to organise a security team that repelled them using tear gas to avoid killing anybody.








The Forum of Nigerian Leaders and Elders has reviewed last Saturdays Presidential and National Assembly elections, saying the polls...

The Forum of Nigerian Leaders and Elders has reviewed last Saturdays Presidential and National Assembly elections, saying the polls revealed massive irregularities and outright abuse of the electoral laws, the rules and regulations of INEC.









It also said security forces failed to maintain neutrality and operate within the highest standards of their calling.









In the wake of its review, it has backed the move by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar to challenge the outcome of the elections in court, saying Buharis victory was illegitimate.









This was contained in a statement issued by the forum and endorsed by Chief Edwin Clark, PANDEF Leader; Prof. Ango Abdullahi, convener, Northern Elders Forum (NEF); Chief Ayo Adebanjo, Afenifere leader; Chief John Nwodo, President General Ohanaeze and Dr Pogu Bitrus, President, Middle Belt Forum.









The forum endorsed the candidature of Atiku in the build-up to the elections.









It said it saw Atikus decision as patriotic, responsible and ultimately the highest contribution to the democratic system. Some other person would by now be soaking baboons and dogs in blood,









The forum noted that the Peace Accord signed by the Presidential candidates was ridiculed by deliberate and open abuse of organs of the state, the denial of rights of many citizens to vote and blatant abuse of all the commitments made by the administration.








The police on Monday arraigned Joachim Oni and Momoh Abdulrahman, accused of taking pictures and recording the electoral process on vide...

The police on Monday arraigned Joachim Oni and Momoh Abdulrahman, accused of taking pictures and recording the electoral process on video during the Presidential and National Assembly elections, at an Ilorin Chief Magistrates Court.









The police charged Oni, who lives at Offa garage, Ilorin and Abdulrahman of Ello, Emirs road, Ilorin , with criminal conspiracy and misconduct during the elections.









The Prosecutor, Mr A.A Aladejore, told the court that on February 28, one Lt. N. Shehu of the 22 Armoured Brigade, Sobi Barracks, Ilorin, transferred the two defendants to the Department of Public Prosecution for further investigation.









Aladejore said that based on the report by the Nigeria Army Operation Safe Conduct 2019on February 23, the defendants were arrested at Baruten Local Government area of the state.









He said that the two defendants were caught taking pictures and making a video recording of the electoral process during the Presidential and National Assembly elections at Gure town.









The act is aimed at causing disorderly conduct during the election within the area, the prosecutor said.









He said that discreet investigation conducted by the department revealed that the defendants were allegedly employed by one Zakari Mohammed, a senatorial candidate in Kwara North senatorial district.









The defendants did video recording and took photographs of the electoral processes without being accredited by the appropriate authorities to do so.









One Sony HDV 10801 Video camera with two Panasonic Mini cassettes, One Nikon camera and one Mini HP Laptop being used by the defendants to illegally record the electoral process were recovered from them, Aladejore said.









He said that the offence contravened the provisions of section 97 of Penal Code and Section 128 of the Electoral Act 2010.









The prosecutor said that investigation was still ongoing.









The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the offences.









The Chief Magistrate, Mr A.I Dasuki, admitted the defendants to bail in the sum of N200, 000 with two sureties each in like sum.









Dasuki ordered that one of the sureties must be a civil servant of not below Grade Level 06.









He adjourned the case until April 1, for mention.












The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it is thinking of embarking on another strike. The union said this via its of...

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says it is thinking of embarking on another strike.





The union said this via its official Twitter handle, in reply to a question.





It had called of its three-month strike in February after reaching an agreement with the federal government over issues bothering on staff welfare among others.







Thinking of going on another 3 months strike action, it wrote.

Thinking of going on another 3 months strike action.. https://t.co/wiF05MBEdu March 3, 2019

It is not yet clear if the union was joking but the tweet did not go down well with many Nigerians.





While some said the post was useless, others used some unprintable words while attacking the union.





Below are some of the reactions to the tweets:

What if Thunder strikes ASUU before they strike ?  SmartDreamer (@dreaming_smart) March 3, 2019

Dear ASUU, is there no other way to manipulating FG to adhere to your demands than going on strike ? This incessant strike is having effect on the students.

Honestly you are there for your interests only.Find another way to get your demand not strike all time  Ganikale Abdulwasih Ola's (Kunle/Tunde) (@GanikaleAbdulw1) March 3, 2019

I don't think you guys are alright   Osas girl  (@its_osasy) March 3, 2019

I swear... Now when school don manage resume... Dey are thinking of going for another 3months strike... Make thunder  dem  Osas girl  (@its_osasy) March 3, 2019

Lol.

my own sch came n said they want to renovate hostel that they wee extend resumption  JAC (@OcholiJason) March 3, 2019

The person handling this account must be a lady, always looking for attention.  OMOTOLA (@_Tolexy) March 3, 2019
Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the tough decisions President Muhammadu Buhari will take duri...





Boss Mustapha, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), says the tough decisions President Muhammadu Buhari will take during his second term, will be in the interest of Nigeria.





Speaking with reporters in Yola, capital of Adamawa, Mustapha allayed fears that the second term of Buhari would be tough on Nigerians.





Buhari had said his second term would be tough, sparking tension in some quarters.





But the SGF described the president as a good man, who had the trust of ordinary Nigerians and would like to see improvement in their lives, while the nation moved to the next level.





Mustapha also identified the ban on rice and fertilizer importation as one of the tough decisions taken by the government and which yielded positive results by boosting local production, among other things.





When we came to power in 2015 about 27 states couldnt pay salaries; we had to take tough decisions like giving them bail-out and Paris Club refund. These are tough decisions, Mustapha said.





By such tough decisions we are able to raise the number of rice farmers from 4 million to 12 million and we are about 98 per cent self-sufficient in rice.





Due to the establishment of many fertilizer blending plants after we banned the importation of fertilizer, the product is now available and the prize is going down.





The SGF said anti-graft institutions such as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) as well as the Code of Conduct Bureau were being strengthened to tackle corruption.





He said the strengthening of such institutions, corruption would be nipped in the bud.





Its better to prevent it (corruption) instead of spending a lot of money prosecuting corruption cases, Mustapha said.




The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to run a...





The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) in the 19 northern states has congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari, urging him to run an inclusive government this time.





Buhari was re-elected in the February 23 election, defeating Atiku Abubakar, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had since rejected the outcome of the election.





In a letter to the president dated March 1, 2019, the northern CAN said Buharis victory at the poll was evidence of his uprightness and transparency in governance.





Run an inclusive government as you promised under the new dispensation to unite the diverse of people of Nigeria now, more than ever before, read part of the statement signed by Yakubu Pam, chairman of the association.





Mr President sir, the Bible says to whom much is given, much is expected. We wish to appeal that you continue to be father to all in Nigeria as we look forward to seeing prosperous nation in the next 4 years of your second term in office





Aware of this victory at a time the people of Nigeria are looking up to you for quality leadership, we urge you double your effort in the fight against insurgency, internal security and corruption in the country.





In a similar manner, Muhammad Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto and leader of the Jamatu Nasril Islam (JNI), also congratulated Buhari, calling on the opposition to sheath their swords.





Although, JNI did not mention the name of Atiku in the statement signed by Khalid Abubakar, its secretary-general, the PDP presidential candidate falls into that category since he is the only one among all the presidential candidates, who has headed to the court to challenge the outcome of the election.





Atiku inaugurated his legal team on Saturday, directing the lawyers to retrieve his stolen mandate.





However, we call on all the political contenders in Nigeria to, in the name Allah, take it easy and sheath their swords as in every contest there will always be a winner and a loser.





But in this case, all the contestants are the winners, because Nigerians are now beginning to understand the dynamics of politics and democracy.





Moreover, Nigerians must be in peace with one another before anybody will think of governing the entity called Nigeria, except if he/she thinks otherwise.





Peace must be embraced by all as Nigeria clearly needs peace for its growth and development and considering that the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections are coming up on Saturday.




The federal high court in Abuja has terminated the charges against Alex Badeh, former chief of defence staff. Since 2015, Badeh ha...





The federal high court in Abuja has terminated the charges against Alex Badeh, former chief of defence staff.





Since 2015, Badeh has been standing trial on a 10-count charge bordering on criminal breach of trust, abuse of office and money laundering to the tune of N3.9 billion.





But in December, Badeh was shot dead while returning from his farm in Nasarawa state.





At the court on Monday, Okon Abang, the judge, said since Badeh has been reported dead, the charges levelled against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have been terminated.





In view of the fact that the first defendant in the original charge is reported dead, all charges against the first defendant are hereby terminated, Abang ruled.





However, the judge found Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, a company which is standing trial alongside Badeh, guilty of the charges.





Having regard to the plea bargain and plea duly taken, I hereby find the defendant Iyalikam Nigeria limited guilty, the judge held.





The defendant is hereby wound up and this judgement shall be served on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for necessary action.




Representatives from foreign political parties watch pictures at a photo exhibition showcasing Xinjiangs sceneries in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, February 27, 2019. (Photo by Wang Hailin, Peoples Daily)

The ethnic harmony, economic progress, and respect to culture of ethnic minority groups in northwestern Chinas Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have impressed representatives from foreign political parties after they had an on-site visit to learn about the region.

Around 200 representatives of 50 political parties from nearly 30 countries attended a seminar themed with China's ethnic policy in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang on February 27. Before the meeting, they observed the regions economic and social development through a series of tours and visits.

Dogu Perincek, Chairman of Patriotic Party of Turkey, said that this is his fourth visit to Xinjiang, and he could see changes every time.

When visiting Urumqi-based firm Rival Tech, the first deputy speaker of the Egyptian parliament Elsayed Mahmoud Elsherif invited the company to set up factory in his country, saying that the raw materials the company needed to produce functional high-polymer thin films were also available in Egypt.

Elsherif wrote down his phone number on a business card and extended it to companys chief Liu Shengrong, repeatedly asking the latter to contact him for cooperation.

Statistics indicated that the per capita disposable income of Xinjiangs urban and rural residents respectively grew by 6.5 and 8.5 percent in 2018.

A representative of foreign political parties practices Chinese calligraphy with local children at a community in Urumqi, capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, February 26, 2019. (Photo by Wang Hailin, Peoples Daily)

Citing an Arabic proverb that reality is the clearest mirror, Marwan Sudah, a Jordanian expert on China, dismissed some foreign media reports that discredited Xinjiang and Chinas ethnic policy.

I saw people from ethnic minority groups wearing their respective traditional costumes and speaking their own languages with smile on their faces, he said, adding that is quite different from the description by some western media.

Ethnic unity is the lifeline of people of all ethnic groups, the fundamental cornerstone for Xinjiang's development and progress, and the common will of over 1.3 billion Chinese people.

Aizaz Asif, deputy secretary general of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said that ethnic minority groups have benefited from Chinas social progress, instead of being excluded out of the process.

Asif found that local Uygurs usually communicate with each other in Uygur language, while they are also fluent in mandarin. Muslims worshipping inside tidy mosques and Islamic institutes also impressed him.

Respect to ethnic diversity and commitment to protecting ethnic tradition are the key to China's successful ethnic policy, he added.

After watching an art show staged by a dozen of people from ethnic minority groups together at the International Grand Bazaar, Asif hailed that Chinese people take ethnic unity as important as their lives, and hold together like pomegranate seeds.

The metaphor struck a chord with Aleksei Leskin, Member of the Central Committee and First Secretary of Samara Oblast Regional Committee, Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).

It reminded Leskin of a story he learnt in middle school. A father tells his sons to break off a broom, but the boys fail. However, it would have been an easy task if they dismantle the stiff fibers.

Only through unity and solidarity can we become stronger, he said.
Gunmen suspected to be cultists have shot dead a lady, who reportedly refused to hand over her phone to them. Our correspondent ga...

Gunmen suspected to be cultists have shot dead a lady, who reportedly refused to hand over her phone to them.









Our correspondent gathered that the lady, who was identified as Janet Okoro, was shot dead on Saturday on Edede Street, Owerri, the Imo State capital.









She was reportedly going home when some cult boys, who were said to be operating in the area, accosted her and demanded her phone.









The victim, who hailed from Ebonyi State, refused to surrender her phone to her killers.









A source said, The lady was stopped by some cult boys on Edede Street, who demanded her phone; the victim refused and the boys shot her and made away with the phone.









She was later rushed to the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, where she was confirmed dead by medical doctors on duty.









When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Orlando Ikeokwu, said the investigation had commenced into the killing.








Women leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State have protested against the suspension of Rochas Okorocha, Governor o...





Women leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State have protested against the suspension of Rochas Okorocha, Governor of Imo State, from the party by the APC National Working Committee (NWC)





The women led by Theresa Ohanuha warned National Chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole against visiting the state, going forward.





This was disclosed in a communique issued after their protest on a Sunday.





The women stated that Oshiomholes actions were among reasons President Buhari recorded low votes in Imo State during the recent presidential election.





They insisted that the National Chairman does not have moral justification to remain the party chairman after failing to deliver APC in his council.





The communique read: These actions of Oshiomhole negatively affected the outcome of the recent presidential election in Imo.





The suspension of the Imo West senator-elect, Governor Rochas Okorocha, on the basis of anti-party activities is unacceptable.





We are sure that Mr. President is not aware of these events.





We, the APC women in Imo State, respectfully appeal to Mr. President to call Oshiomhole to order.




The police on Monday arraigned a fake native doctor, Stanley Igbinigie, 53, in court for allegedly defrauding a man of N1.5 million in ...

The police on Monday arraigned a fake native doctor, Stanley Igbinigie, 53, in court for allegedly defrauding a man of N1.5 million in an Ota Magistrates  Court in Ogun.









The police charged Igbinigie, whose address was not provided, with conspiracy, fraud and obtaining money under false pretence.









The prosecutor, Sgt. Chudu Gbesi, told the court that the accused committed the offence on July 23, 2018, at Sango-Ota.









Gbesi alleged that the accused collected N1.5 million from the complainant, Eze Ebuka, with a promise to assist him to cure an illness.









The accused, he said, converted the money to his personal use instead of fulfilling his promise of healing the complainant.









Gbesi said that the offence contravened the provisions of sections 390(9), 419 and 516 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.









The accused, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.









Magistrate S.S. Shotayo, admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N500,000 with two sureties in like sum.









Shotayo ordered that the sureties must reside within the courts jurisdiction and be gainfully employed with evidence of tax payment to Ogun Government.









The magistrate adjourned the case until March 20, for further hearing.
















The Nigerian government has asked the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to proceed on leave ahead of exp...





The Nigerian government has asked the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, to proceed on leave ahead of expiration of his tenure.





Emefiele was said to have received a letter to the effect on Monday.





The financial expert has been Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria since June 3, 2014.





He was Chief Executive officer and Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc and previously the Deputy Managing Director of Zenith Bank Plc.





Emefiele served as Executive Director in charge of Corporate Banking, Treasury, Financial Control and Strategic Planning of Zenith Bank Plc and has been on the Management team since inception.





Emefiele was one time a director at Zenith Bank Plc and Zenith Bank (Gambia) Limited.





Before commencing his banking career, he lectured Finance and Insurance at the University of Nigeria Nsukka, and University of Port Harcourt, respectively.





He is an alumnus of Executive Education at Stanford University, Harvard University (2004) and Wharton School of Business (2005).




The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to the suspension of Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha and Ogun state...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reacted to the suspension of Imo state Governor, Rochas Okorocha and Ogun state Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC).





We had reported last week Friday that the National Working Committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) suspended Okorocha and Amosu for anti-party activities.





A statement by APC spokesman, Lanre Issa-Onilu said the NWC would also issue a query to the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu over his glaring anti-party activities, which greatly affected the fortunes of our candidates in the recently-conducted Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state.





But reacting, INECs Commissioner for Information and Voters Education, Festus Okoye, said Okorocha and Amosuns suspension by APC was an internal party affair.





According to Okoye, the governors suspension has no bearing on their fresh status as senators-elect.





Speaking on the suspension and possible expulsion of Okorocha and Amosun by their party, Okoye told Thisday on Sunday: The validity of the returns made are within the purview of the commission and the Election Petitions Tribunals.




Actress, Foluke Daramola has not been discreet about her support for President Muhammadu Buhari who was recently re-elected for a second...

Actress, Foluke Daramola has not been discreet about her support for President Muhammadu Buhari who was recently re-elected for a second term in office.





Reacting to the views expressed by some, including actress Georgina Onuoha, that celebrities should be non-partisan, Foluke said, I am first a Nigerian before being an actress, and we are all entitled to our ideologies. It is very stupid and myopic for anybody to say that I supported President Buhari because I collected money. Meanwhile, a candidate can decide to pay me for endorsement or advert but the most important thing is the ideology. Before I support any candidate, I have to believe in him.








The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has decried the detention of his son in law and lawyer by the ...

The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential candidate Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has decried the detention of his son in law and lawyer by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).





Atiku in a Tweet on his Twitter handle on Monday said : My son in law and lawyer have been detained, one for 3 weeks and the other recently. They are paying the price for supporting me. I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a governments mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them.





My son in law and lawyer have been detained, one for 3 weeks and the other recently. They are paying the price for supporting me. I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a governments mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them.  Atiku Abubakar (@atiku) March 4, 2019

Atikus son in law, Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi was allegedly arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) according to the Media Adviser to the PDP candidate, Paul Ibe.





Ibe in a statement on Saturday said : Babaleles ordeal was part of moves to cajole Atiku into congratulating President Muhammadu Buhari who was declared re-elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC of the presidential election.





The statement by Ibe added that operatives of the anti-graft agency were not given access into the house until Babaleles lawyers arrived. The EFCC agents numbering about two dozen came in 2 regular vehicles, an 18-seater Toyota bus (registration Abuja CS 522 RSH) and a hilux van.





They came with a search warrant to search the house and office of Babalele and found nothing incriminating They then proceeded to his office at Oakland Centre in Maitama and found nothing incriminating there.





However, they took away some documents of landed property. Not done, the EFCC officials stormed his Wuse residence where they again found nothing incriminating after the search Afterwards, Babalele was taken away to the EFCC office in Wuse to make a statement alongside Mr. Lawan Ayuba, the statement read.





The statement added that Atiku recognizes the constitutional role of the EFCC and indeed any other agency of the government to carry out investigations, but will not be cowed by any attempt to blackmail him into mortgaging his mandate.
Indications emerged weekend that the presidency may have launched a probe into the loss by the All Progressives Congress, APC of Oyo...





by the All Progressives Congress, APC of Oyo and Ondo States in penultimate saturdays presidential and National Assembly elections. Indications emerged weekend that the presidency may have launched a probe into the lossby the All Progressives Congress, APC of Oyo and Ondo States in penultimate saturdays presidential and National Assembly elections.





given the ill-fortune of the party at the polls. This is coming after the partys National Working Committee NWC said that Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State would be queried for alleged anti party activitygiven the ill-fortune of the party at the polls.





The partys NWC has since suspended governors lbikunle Amosun and Rochas Okorocha of Ogun and Imo States.





In Ondo State, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar won with a margin of 34,132 votes while he won with 1,461 difference in Oyo State.

President Buhari won in the four other Southwest states of Ogun, Lagos, Ekiti, and Osun.





particularly piqued by the outcome of the election in the two states, especially Ondo state where the governor had assured him that all was well. A source in the Presidency confirmed that the president wasparticularly piqued by the outcome of the election in the two states, especially Ondo state where the governor had assured him that all was well.





He said the circumstances leading to the below the belt performance would be investigated.





Aside from the two governors, the Southwest coordinator of the APC Presidential Campaign, Chief Olusola Oke (SAN) lost both his senatorial district as well as Federal Constituency to the opposition PDP.





But to stave off possible backlash arising from the woeful performance in Ondo South and Ilaje Ese-Odo Federal Constituency, Oke is said to be making moves to bring on board to APC, a prominent PDP leader in the state, Hon. Kingsley Kuku as well as the re-elected House of Representatives candidate, Kolade Aklnjo immediately after his inauguration in June.





Kuku who was the Presidential Adviser on Niger Delta Affairs to former president Goodluck Jonathan had hinged his return to Nigeria from self-exile, on the possible victory of Atiku.





It was unclear as at press time if both leaders have considered the overtures from Oke.





The source Some of us saw this coming many months back when the governors of the two states were behaving as if they own the party.





But as a government, we decided to lie low to see if the issues involved could be amicably resolved.





But from all indications, it has been shown to all that both Governors Akeredolu and Ajimobi, rather than strengthening the party, are busy destroying it with their ego problems and the results have so established this fact.





Nothing can be more disappointing than what Mr. President got from the two states, especially Ondo state where both the governor and the Southwest coordinator of the presidential campaign, Olusola Oke ought to have worked together as a team.





Contacted, the media aide to Chief Oke, Rotimi Ogunleye said he would not like to be specific but that it was true that Chief Oke is  talking to all concerned across the board to join the APC.





Chief Oke will be glad to have such personalities on board. I cant rule it out. Generally, he would do that, but I am not specific on who he has talked with or not. That is part of his role.





Meanwhile, the Zonal Director, APC presidential campaign Council, Southwest, Chief Oke yesterday said that President Buhari  victory is a clear testimony to the effect that the majority of Nigerians appreciate the stoic attributes, altruism, and integrity in the leadership of President Buhari.





In a congratulatory message to the president, Oke said I thank Nigerians especially the people who believe in the next level agenda of APC and voted for continuity.








Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who fled as a result of the violence in Nembe Bassambiri, Bayelsa state, on the eve of ...





Some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who fled as a result of the violence in Nembe Bassambiri, Bayelsa state, on the eve of the presidential election, have alleged that soldiers are preventing them from returning home.





Moses Cleopas, chairman of the PDP in Bayelsa, made the allegation on Sunday.





He called on the federal government and security agencies to intervene, alleging that thugs backed by soldiers attacked PDP members and seized electoral materials last week.





Cleopas called on the army authorities to deploy a fresh set of soldiers to Nembe and Brass local government areas.

The PDP chairman expressed shock that the army had not arrested any of the thugs who have been shooting and harassing innocent people in Nembe Bassambiri.





He said it was rather shocking that the men of the Nigeria army had commenced a process of harassing innocent members of the PDP with a view to perpetrating low voters turn out to the detriment of the party in the area.





Cleopas said soldiers were seen discussing with those who broke into the residence of Kuroghofa Benwari, a PDP stakeholder in the state.





He called on the security agencies to ensure that the PDP members who fled Nembe Bassambiri are allowed to their residences without harassment.





during the election. However, Cleopas commended the police for boldly arresting the masterminds of the abduction of Kola Okunola, deputy commissioner of police in charge of federal special anti-robbery squad,during the election.




A Lagos High Lagos in Igbosere has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of popular actress and producer, Monalisa Chinda Coker, over a ...

A Lagos High Lagos in Igbosere has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of popular actress and producer, Monalisa Chinda Coker, over a tax evasion charge.









Justice Adedayo Akintoye made the order on January 21, following an application by the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, alleging that Coker had repeatedly failed to honour a court summons.









The application flowed from a two-count charge accusing Coker of a six-year failure to file annual tax returns and failure to pay income tax in respect of her company, Monalisa Code Productions.









Monalisa Code Productions carries on its business from Lekki in Lagos.









Prosecution counsel, Y. A. Pitan told Justice Akintoye that Coker had not appeared in court since 2017 when the charge was filed against her.









The defendant has been served with hearing notice. The proof of service is in the courts file, Pitan said while making an application for the bench warrant.









Granting the application, Justice Akintoye adjourned further proceedings till February 2.









But on February 2, the court heard that the bench warrant had yet to be effected.









It ordered that the warrant should continue and adjourned till April 1.









Count one of the charge marked LD/5712c/2017, reads in part:









Failure to furnish and file annual tax returns for the purpose of personal income taxation with the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) contrary to Section 94(1) of the Personal Income Tax Act 2004 (as amended).









The particulars of the count stated that Coker of Monalisa Code Productions, being a taxable person in Nigeria and carrying on business at Lekki failed to furnish and file tax returns on your personal income for the years 2011 to 2016.








Visitors experience 5G cloud game on OPPO in 2019 Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona on Feb. 26. (Photo: Chen Xiaohang, Peoples Daily)

Southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region's first three 5G base stations have been installed, with equipment provided by Chinese technology giant Huawei.

China Mobiles Tibet branch announced last Friday that one of the 5G base stations, with a peak download speed of 530 megabytes per second (Mbps), became operational in Lhasa last Wednesday, news site chinanews.com reported.

China Mobile installed the 5G base stations at the companys building, the Lhasa posts and telecommunications school and at the office of the Tibet Post Group in Lhasa. The base station at the Lhasa posts and telecommunications school is now operational, according to news site tibet.cn.

Xiang Ligang, chief executive of telecom industry news site cctime.com, told the Global Times on Friday that construction of the 5G network in the remote areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau faces challenges from cold weather and high altitude.

Electricity supply alone is a complex process, Xiang noted, adding that optical fiber tends to lack stability in cold weather, but the obstacles will be overcome. It is important to realize synchronous development of 5G service between Tibet and other regions in China, which is a move we've been talking about since 4G kicked in, said Xiang.

The next step for China Mobile's Tibet office will be to accelerate the testing of the 5G application and promote the development of the big data industry and innovation of the Internet of Things based on 5G technology in Tibet, which will enable residents living in farming areas in Tibet to enjoy advanced modern communication services, the tibet.cn reported.

Transport, communications, and energy are equally important in driving a region's economic development, Xiang said.
Many days after raging furore over the arrest of Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, who is the son-in-law to the defeated presidential candida...





Many days after raging furore over the arrest of Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, who is the son-in-law to the defeated presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday owned up picking up the man.









The Commission while admitting for the first time that its operatives arrested Babalele, who is also the Finance Director of Atikus group of companies, justified the arrest of the man, saying that he was engaged in money laundering to the tune of150 million.

The anti-graft agency did not however specify how the huge sum was laundered or where it originated and where it terminated.





But a source revealed that Atikus son-in-law was taken away by security agents on the suspicion that he could use hard currency to unduly influence the outcome of many polls taking place in the country.

Although the EFCC had initially kept mute over the arrest of Babalele, the agency on Monday tried to douse rising tension over the detention of the man, admitting that he was in its custody but did not indicate the exact location where the man was being kept.





A source in the commission said: Yes, he Babalele is being investigated over alleged case of money laundering and the sum involved is 150 million.





Let it be known that investigation into the matter is ongoing and we can confirm that Babalele is in our custody. But he will be released soon, the source hinted on Monday.





However when contacted, the acting spokesman for EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade, who confirmed the detention of Babalele, however declined further comments on the matter, insisting that the commission does not conduct its investigation in the media.





I do not have details for now but we shall speak at the appropriate time, Orilade stated.









The development followed complaint by Atiku that his son-in-law had been arrested by the EFCC without any justification.

According to a statement by Atikus Media Adviser, Mr. Paul Ibe, the EFCC officials were, however, not given access into the house until Abdullahis lawyers arrived.





He said, In a desperate move to have Atiku Abubakar concede and congratulate Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, officials of EFCC at about 8.30am today (Saturday) invaded the Maitama residence of Babalele. They were, however, not given access into the house until his lawyers arrived.





The EFCC agents numbering about two dozen came in two regular vehicles, an 18-seater Toyota bus (registration Abuja CS 522 RSH) and a Hilux van.





They came with a search warrant to search the house and office of Babalele and found nothing incriminating.





They then proceeded to his office at Oakland Centre in Maitama and found nothing incriminating there. However, they took away some documents of landed property.









Not done, the EFCC officials stormed his Wuse residence where they again found nothing incriminating after the search.

Afterwards, Babalele was taken away to the EFCC office in Wuse to make a statement alongside Mr. Lawan Ayuba. It was gathered that the petition relied upon to invade the residence and office of Babalele was authored by a brother of the wife of President Buhari.






Eco-Friendly transportation in Shanxi is popular to people, and becomes a part of the daily life. Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi is the first city of China with all BEV (Blade Electric Vehicles) taxis. (Photo: Courtesy of the Provincial government of Shanxi)

What Shanxi impressed me most is, it used to have less than 1% of land-covered forests, but 50% of Shanxis land is covered by forests now! Clemens von Goetze, German Ambassador to China said the above at a promotional event for Northern Chinas Shanxi province, which was hosted at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 25.

More than 500 people, including diplomats from over 130 countries, representatives from international organizations, business people and journalists, attended the event. The event was themed "China in the New Era: Shanxi, New Transformation for a Shared New Future."

The coals delivered from here have lighted up half of Chinas electric lamps, and backed up the development of Chinas modern industrial system for 70 years.  said Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "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," Wang added that Shanxi is vigorously promoting a greener economy and forging new industrial clusters.

Shanxi is Chinas only province-wide, all-dimensional and systematic National Comprehensive Reform Demonstration Zone in the Transformation of Resource-based Economy. Shanxi has been giving priority to ecological conservation and embarked onto a new phase.

Youyu, a good example of Shanxi's sustained commitment to ecological improvement. This combined picture shows Youyu of 0.26% forest coverage in 1949 (upper) and over 54% forest coverage in 2018 (bottom ). (Photo: Courtesy of the Provincial government of Shanxi)

Eco-Friendly transportation in Shanxi is popular to people here, and becomes a part of their daily life. Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi is the first city of China with all BEV (Blade Electric Vehicles) taxis

88.41 million tonnes of coal overcapacity was phased out in the Past Three Years. Advanced capacity now accounts for 57% of the production, and the emission of coal-fired power-generating units is among the lowest in the world. Wind, PV and other alternative energy-based power generation accounts for over 30% of the total installed capacity in Shanxi. Transformation ignites new drivers of growth is leading innovation-driven development in Shanxi.

Shanxi is turning away from the tag of the "giant coal producer" and is striving to be a pioneer in energy revolution. Coalbed Methane Output exceeding 5.6 billion cubic meters according to the statistics. The new energy vehicle industry clusters in Shanxi. The manufacturing and coal industries are marching towards a historic structural inversion. Shanxi is keeping up with the global trends of technological and industrial revolutions.

The environment over the past few years has become cleaner and inspiring, said Sutton, business development director with Johnson Matthey, a Britain-based global energy and chemical company. He added 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."

Now significant progress has been made in industry transformation, ecological restoration, urban and rural overall planning and people's livelihood has also greatly improved. 100 million trees have been planted during the past years. Shanxi has also made big stride in developing holistic tourism.

The MFA hosted the series of provincial promotional event in order to serve national development, facilitate regional opening-up and offer foreigners a platform to learn more about China. Shanxis promotion is the 17th presentation of the MFA's Chinese provinces initiative, and is the starting one in this year.

As part of Shanxi continued efforts to implement reform and opening-up, the province has 49 sister cities and 86 cooperation partners across the globe. The province has so far dispatched 21 cargo trains to Europe since the China Railway Express began operations in the province in February 2017. Since the State Council approved Shanxi as a national pilot zone for comprehensive economic transformation, it has embarked on a journey to build a "new Shanxi".
Second Vice President Seif Ali Iddi of Zanzibar, Tanzannia (second from the right in the front) visits the Tanzanian exhibition booth at the 15th China-ASEAN Expo and the concurrent China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit. The event was held in Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from September 12 to 15, 2018. (Photo by Peng Huan, Peoples Daily Online)

Chinas exports rose 7.1 percent year on year in 2018, while imports grew 12.9 percent, resulting in a substantially narrowed trade surplus, according to a statistical communique issued by the countrys National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday February 28th. Expert said that the country has opened wider to the global market and injected new energy into worlds economic growth.

Excluding the banking, securities and insurance fields, a total of 60,533 foreign-funded enterprises were set up in China in 2018, up 69.8 percent year on year, added the communique on the economic and social development in 2018.

Of those newly-established foreign firms, 4,479 were from the countries along the Belt and Road, 16.1 percent more than the previous year.

Facing the instabilities and uncertainties of the global economic growth, China has unswervingly engaged itself in cooperation for win-win results and stayed committed to openness and mutual benefits, remarked Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the NBS.

China has devoted to protecting the multilateral trading system, opposing protectionism and unilateralism, promoting the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and optimizing the pattern of regional cooperation, he added.

Chinese and African business representatives negotiate under B2B mode at an investment promotion conference between China and Africa held in Yiwu, Zhejiang province on February 28, 2019. (Photo by Gong Xianming, Peoples Daily Online)

As a result, mutually beneficial cooperation for common development has been deepened, and the building of comprehensive opening up accelerated, Sheng said.

The total value of goods imported from and exported to countries along the Belt and Road was 8,365.7 billion yuan ($1,247.34 billion) in 2018, an increase of 13.3 percent over the previous year. Of the total, the value of goods exported grew 7.9 percent, and that of goods imported 20.9 percent.

Such progress was made thanks to Chinas steps in further opening up and deepening reform, said Yang Changyong, an associate researcher from Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

A truck transfers imported cargos offloaded from freighters at a container terminal of Lianyungang Port, Jiangsu province on February 14, 2019. (Photo by Wang Chun, Peoples Daily Online)

The country launched frequent major measures of reform and opening up last year against the twists and turns of economic globalization, Yang noted, adding that the frequency, coverage and intensity of these measures were rarely seen in recent years.

China has withstood the challenge of protectionism and fulfilled its foreign trade task with effective measures, he said.
Dr. Scheibye-Knudsen to present at the 6th Aging Research for Drug Discovery Forum Basel

Monday, March 4, 2019 - Insilico Medicine, a Rockville-based company developing the end-to-end drug discovery pipeline utilizing the next generation artificial intelligence, announces the presentation of Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, PhD, MD, University of Copenhagen, at 6th Aging Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum during the Basel Life Congress, September 10-12, 2019, Basel, Switzerland.

Morten Scheibye-Knudsen will give a talk titled "Protecting the Aging Genome" covering the physiological consequences of age and disease associated DNA damage at the 6th Aging Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum.

"Aging is arguably the most complex of phenotypes, however, the nature of the events leading to age-associated pathologies is largely unknown. In my talk, I will highlight the physiological consequences of DNA damage and possible interventions against genotoxicity. Our goal: to allow everyone to live healthier and longer lives," said Dr. Morten Scheibye-Knudsen, University of Copenhagen.

"Over the last 5 years, the "Aging & Drug Discovery" and "AI for Healthcare" forums have been leading events at BaselLife, attracting hundreds of delegates from over 50 countries. This year, we are combining the 2 platforms into a 3 day-event titled "the 6th Aging, AI and Drug Discovery Forum" to explore the convergence of these 2 cutting edge disciplines. Under the program leadership of Professor Morten Scheibye-Knudsen and Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, with distinguished scientists and industry experts in the field, we look forward to exploring breakthroughs for this great healthcare need for the planet," said Dr. Bhupinder Bhullar, Chair, Innovation Forum program committee, Basel Life 2019.

"The 6th annual Aging Research, Drug Discovery, and AI Forum at Basel Life will have a fresh program featuring some of the most prominent scientists and industry players in aging and longevity research covering the theory, applications and convergence of these three exciting areas", - said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder, and CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc.

The 6th Aging Research for Drug Discovery Forum Basel will bring together leaders in the aging, longevity, and drug discovery field, to describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of aging and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: aging. The Forum will be held in Basel, Switzerland, September 9-12, 2019.

###

Contact: Ola Popova

ola@pharma.ai

Website: http://insilico. com/

About Insilico Medicine, Inc

Insilico Medicine is an artificial intelligence company headquartered in Rockville, with R&D and management resources in Belgium, Russia, UK, Taiwan, and Korea sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company and its scientists are dedicated to extending human productive longevity and transforming every step of the drug discovery and drug development process through excellence in biomarker discovery, drug development, digital medicine, and aging research.

Insilico pioneered the applications of the generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning for generation of novel molecular structures for the diseases with a known target and with no known targets. In addition to working collaborations with the large pharmaceutical companies, the company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, dermatological diseases, fibrosis, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and aging. Through a partnership with LifeExtension.com, the company launched a range of nutraceutical products compounded using the advanced bioinformatics techniques and deep learning approaches. It also provides a range of consumer-facing applications including Young.AI.

In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of the Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. In 2018, the company was named one of the global top 100 AI companies by CB Insights. In 2018 it received the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Aging Research and Drug Development Award accompanied with the industry brief. Brief company video: https:/ / www. youtube. com/ watch?v= l62jlwgL3v8 . http://www. insilico. com

About Basel Life 2019

Forum description:

In this symposium, leaders in the aging, longevity, and drug discovery field will describe the latest progress in the molecular, cellular and organismal basis of aging and the search for interventions. Furthermore, the forum will include opinion leaders in AI to discuss the latest advances of this technology in the biopharmaceutical sector and how this can be applied to interventions. This event intends to bridge academic and commercial research and foster collaborations that will result in practical solutions to one of humanity's most challenging problems: aging. A panel of thought-leaders will give us their cutting edge reports on the latest progress in our quest to extend the healthy lifespan of everyone on the planet.

Conference Official Website:

https:/ / www. basellife. org/ 2019. html

About the Scheibye-Knudsen Laboratory

The growing proportion of the elderly population represents an increasing socioeconomic challenge, not least because of age-associated diseases. It is therefore increasingly pertinent to find interventions for age-associated diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cardiovascular diseases. Although the cause of aging is currently unknown accumulation of damage to our genome, the DNA, may be a contributing factor.

In the Scheibye-Knudsen lab we try to understand the cellular and organismal consequences of DNA damage with the aim of developing interventions. We have discovered that DNA damage leads to changes in certain metabolites and that replenishment of these molecules may alter the rate of aging in model organisms. These findings suggest that normal aging and age-associated diseases may be malleable to similar interventions. The hope is to develop interventions that will allow everyone to live healthier, happier and more productive lives.

Laboratory website: http://scheibye-knudsen. com/

About the University of Copenhagen

With over 40,000 students and more than 9,000 employees, the University of Copenhagen is the largest institution of research and education in Denmark and among the highest ranked universities in Europe. The purpose of the University - to quote the University Statute - is to 'conduct research and provide further education to the highest academic level'. Approximately one hundred different institutes, departments, laboratories, centres, museums, etc., form the nucleus of the University.

University website: http://introduction. ku. dk/ presentation/

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Palace Museum. (Photo provided to China Daily)

The role of museums as cultural heritage institutions tasked with securing and preserving cultural relics cannot be weakened, an official said.

Liu Yuzhu, director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration and a national political adviser, stressed on Sunday that Chinese museums, especially those built on ruins or around ancient architecture, should stay the course.

Liu also pointed out that museums should maintain a level of elegance and not devolve into vulgar market fairs and commonplace entertainment venues so as to elevate the cultural IQ of the general public.

Visiting museums is an increasingly popular activity in China.

There has been an annual increase of about 100 million people visiting museums nationwide over the past three years, Liu said.

Over 40 percent of the 415 million people who traveled in China during the Spring Festival holiday this year stepped into museums, according to China Tourism Academy.

He described Chinese museums as currently enduring "growing pains", adding that the country's museums are tackling capacity limitations amid booming demand.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the National Cultural Heritage Administration have been working to implement two top-level suggestions separately concerning revolutionary cultural relics conservation and strengthening reform of cultural relics preservation, Liu said.

Liu added that a dozen provincial government bodies and institutions are studying ways to improve cultural heritage preservation, and more talent should be recruited to join efforts in this field at the municipal and county levels.

Earlier on Sunday afternoon, Song Jirong, a national political adviser and deputy director of the Palace Museum in Beijing, said that the museum is working with universities to build China's first "medical school of cultural relics" and develop talent to protect and restore national treasures.
Unofficial exports over the border to China will face technical barriers since the two nations have agreed to limit them and increase official exports, heard a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City.

Vietnamese agricultural exports to China are unsustainable because they are mostly dependent on unofficial exports on a small scale and without legal contracts between sellers and buyers, Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, deputy head of the international affairs sub-department at the Ministry of Industry and Trades trade promotion department told the March 1 seminar on updating market information and developing official agricultural export (fruits and grocery) to China.

Chinese importers are tightening quality norms and demanding origin traceability.

The two nations had agreed Vietnam would export eight kinds of fruits to China - dragon fruit, watermelon, litchi, longan, mango, banana, rambutan, and jackfruit  she said.

Vietnam is negotiating to export custard apple, pomelo, mangosteen, and rose apple to China. Besides, coffee should be brought into their supermarket system instead of exporting to Chinese provinces close to Vietnam by road.

E-commerce websites like Alibaba and Taobao are good places for Vietnamese exporters to advertise themselves.

Shi Xinbiao, a Chinese trade expert and importer, spoke about his countrys latest policies on fruit and vegetable imports.

This year Chinese customs has stepped up inspection of Vietnamese agricultural products by requiring approval certificates and origin traceability.

Vietnam should set up facilities to preserve farm produce and apply new technology in cultivation, to improve quality and yields and for tracing of origin.

China is an open and lucrative market for Vietnamese exporters. Meeting its import criteria will help Vietnam capture a larger market share.

China is the biggest importer of agricultural products, accounting for 10 percent of global imports, and its imports are growing at 8.8 percent annually. It accounted for 70 percent of Vietnams agricultural exports last year.

Last year, Vietnam exported 8.64 billion USD worth of agricultural products to China and imported 2.47 billion USD worth.  VNS/VNA
Distance is no longer a problem for property investors in and around Ho Chi Minh City thanks to improved transport infrastructure.

The southern property market is seeing an increasing trend of investors looking to the southern hubs neighbouring provinces.

With land running out for property development in the city, investors are eyeing markets like Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Vung Tau, Long An and Binh Phuoc where prices are more reasonable and have significant potential for property development.

This was creating an investment wave in emerging real estate markets while traditional markets were reaching saturation point, general director of real estate services firm DKRA Vietnam Pham Lam said.

With the development of transport infrastructure, Lam forecast emerging real estate markets would boom.

Tran Duc Vinh, general director of real estate firm Tran Anh Long An, said the first thing property developers considered was the development or planning for transport infrastructure.

HCM City was working with neighbouring provinces and cities to develop transport projects aimed at promoting regional links, such as the belt road connecting Dong Nai provinces Nhon Trach district and HCM City and Cat Lai Bridge connecting Nhon Trach and HCM Citys District 2.

The southern city also planned to invest 96 trillion VND (4 billion USD) in transport infrastructure this year.

The opportunities are there for emerging real estate markets when transport connectivity with HCM City improves, Vinh said, adding that property developers were gearing up to tap these opportunities.

Vietnam ranks fourth in East Asia in urbanisation growth rate. It was forecast that more than 45 percent of the countrys population would live in urban areas in 2030 from the current 37.5 percent.

Nguyen Nhat Cuong from VietinBank Securities Company said rapid urbanisation suggested something for property developers. Instead of focusing on markets like Hanoi and HCM City, they were moving to neighbouring markets to tap the potential from rapid urbanisation and many projects had seen good sales results.

In Long An province, developer Hoang Quan is preparing to implement a commercial housing project with 713 units covering 4.9 hectares in Ben Luc district.

According to the Dong Nai provincial Peoples Committee, a sum of more than 33 trillion VND will be invested in transport infrastructure projects from 2018-20 to ensure connectivity with Long Thanh International Airport. In addition, the province was working on the Bien Hoa  Vung Tau highway and metro line to HCM City.

Distance was no longer a problem for property developers, said Le Hoang Chau, president of the HCM City Real Estate Association. Transport infrastructure would be the catalyst for an investment wave in emerging real estate markets, he added.  VNS/VNA
Like all the best watch brands, Mauron Musy is a fusion of two surnames, those of Eric Mauron and his son-in-law Christophe Musy, who work together at the small mechanical workshop, Atelier Regis Mauron S.A., which Eric Mauron took over from his father. The two workaholics often discuss ideas after hours and one day considered the idea of producing a watch. Unlike most such ventures, however, the idea was not for a ground-breaking movement, since the companys strengths lie elsewhere. Having decided that their watch had to offer something completely different, Eric Mauron found inspiration in the clamp braces he produces for customers. These mechanical clamps need to remain perfectly sealed on pipes that transport molten plastics at around 300 Celsius. All Mr Mauron had to do was downsize the principle of such a clamp brace to the size of a watch case and, bingo, the patented nO-ring waterproof watch case was born.

nO-Rings technology  Mauron Musy

The delicious pun refers to the rubber O-ring gaskets used for water resistance in all other watches, which Mauron Musys design replaces. There is no O-ring, thus nO-Rings. Instead of the gaskets inside the case, it is the hinged watch case itself that ensures the watertight seal. Closing the hinge and screwing the case shut provides a perfect water-resistant seal. In fact, the greater the pressure on the seal, the better the water-resistance.

Christophe Musy, together with the brands solitary watchmaker, found himself assembling 110 of these cases in just one week (working 20-hour days) in the run-up to their presentation. This was because the brand had taken an unusual approach to launching these new timepieces. Encouraged by a friend, the duo had decided to offer the first watches to members of the local community, with an appealing discount. Having grouped together 110 such ambassadors, the brand decided to issue every single ambassador with their new, 100% Swiss crafted MU03 Armure watch on the same evening.

MU03 Armure  Mauron Musy

Over a period of just two hours, members of the local community of the Broye valley came to the Chateau de St. Aubin, in the village where Mauron Musy is based, to collect their timepieces. The vast majority of new owners were male but covered a broad range of ages. There were a number of local entrepreneurs, with 80% of the new ambassadors coming from the region of La Broye (on the southern side of Lake Neuchatel) and the rest coming from the Lake Geneva region and a few further flung areas of Switzerland like Basel. One of them was Edwin Stucky, who own the biggest collection of Dodge Vipers in Europe, which explained why a pristine model of that very car was parked at the entrance to the chateau. Could we see special Dodge Viper edition soon?

Evening reception in the attic of the Chateau de St. Aubin  WorldTempus / Paul O'Neil
Egypt is keen on maximising the benefits of coordination and consultation with Kenya during Egypt's chairmanship of the African Union, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Sunday.



The president gave his remarks during his meeting with a Kenyan delegation led by Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Monica Juma.



The delegation included the Kenyan attorney general and the director of the National Intelligence Service.



Welcoming the delegation members, the president conveyed his greetings to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.



El-Sisi stressed Egypt's keen interest in promoting bilateral relations between the sisterly African countries in various fields.



For her part, Juma praised the success of the last African summit in Addis Ababa, during which El-Sisi took over as chair of the body for 2019, adding that it reflects Egypts pivotal role within the African Union.



The meeting covered several regional issues of mutual concern, the latest developments in the Horn of Africa and means of bolstering mutual cooperation to combat terrorism and extremism, El-Sisis spokesman Bassam Rady said.



Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Director of General Intelligence Abbas Kamel attended the meeting.

Juma also held a separate meeting with Shoukry where they discussed the latest regional developments in Africa and ways to boost cooperation between the two countries.

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Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, known as Shawkan, and 213 others who have served five-year prison terms for their involvement in a Muslim Brotherhood sit-in in Cairo's Rabaa El-Adawiya in 2013 were all released on Monday.

Shawkan, 32, is a freelance photojournalist who was arrested in August 2013 while covering the dispersal of the sit-in, where supporters of ex-president Mohamed Morsi had gathered to protest his ouster.

The 214 defendants were convicted in 2018 on charges including murder, attempted murder, assault on police and citizens, vandalism and the burning and destruction of public and private property.

Shawkan and the other defendants were released as the jail time they spent in pre-trial detention goes towards time served.

Shawkan will be on probation for five years.

Since his detention in 2013, many local and international human rights organisations have criticised Shawkan's imprisonment, saying he was merely doing his job as a freelance photojournalist when covering the sit-in.

In April 2018, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) announced that Shawkan was selected to receive the 2018 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize.

The choice of Mahmoud Abu Zeid pays tribute to his courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression, said Maria Ressa, president of the jury, in a media statement.

Egypt's foreign ministry in a statement at the time said that it regretted UNESCO's decision to award the prize to Shawkan.

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Arrested For WHAT?: Don't Dip Your Balls In Other People's Salsa

By Tori Preston | Miscellaneous | March 4, 2019 |

You know what I like? Dips. If its kinda gooey and edible, Ill find something to stick into it and eat it. Queso, hummus, hell  Ill dip crackers into a jar of jam if Im desperate enough, which is always, because who doesnt love jam? Anyway, no list of dippy dip dips is complete without salsa, that miracle sauce that can be chunky or smooth, green or red, spicy or mild. Salsa is so versatile precisely because you can put anything in it, and itll still be a salsa.

via GIPHY

Well, almost anything. Because you know what doesnt belong in salsa? YOUR GODDAMN TESTICLES.

But tell that to Howard Webb, the Tennessee man who was recently jailed on felony charges of food adulteration for  yup, you guessed it  dropping his junk in someone elses poor, defenseless salsa. The saga of the man Im dubbing the Salsa-Ball Bandito began with a delivery order from the El Jimador restaurant in Maryville, TN. Chaneese Booker, a driver working for the Dinner Delivered online food delivery service, was the one who picked up the order  and for whatever reason, Webb was riding along with her because, I dunno, he was bored? Anyway, apparently, the person who placed the order only tacked on a tiny tip, which incited Webb to, ya know, teabag the salsa container while Booker filmed it.

That video was then posted to Facebook, where it was noticed by another Dinner Delivered employee, who then notified the police. In the video, Booker can reportedly be heard saying, This is what you get when you give an 89 cents tip for an almost 30-minute drive, while Webb allegedly announced, Oh, oh, it feels good on my balls.

The Smoking Gun has links to the police reports and a still from the Facebook video, in case you doubt the veracity of any of this. In the end, Webb was arrested and is being held on $45,000 bail, while Booker has been fired from Dinner Delivered and is also a co-defendant in this case.

So, what have we learned?

 Tipping less than a dollar on ANYTHING is a dick move. Dont do that. Dont be that person.

 However, NOTHING justifies sticking your genitals into someone elses food (unless its a consensual act, and if it is then hey, who am I to judge? You do you.)

 Adulterating food is a crime, and not only when the adulteration comes from genitals

 If youre going to do something gross and illegal, dont film it!

 If youre going to film yourself doing something gross and illegal, dont let that shit get posted to social media!

 And now we know that salsa feels pretty nice on testicles, all thanks to the pioneering efforts of Mr. Howard The Salsa-Ball Bandito Webb.

via GIPHY

Note: As you can imagine, finding salsa/testicle images for this post was hard, so I settled for a salsa/Jean-Claude Van Damme screenshot. I aint sorry.

 Kevin Smith's 'Jay and Silent Bob' Sequel Is Happening, and Here's Your First Look | Kris Jenner Made a 'Captain Marvel' Ad, It's Not Helping 

Tori Preston is deputy editor of Pajiba. She rarely tweets here but she promises she reads all the submissions for the "Ask Pajiba (Almost) Anything" column at [email protected]. You can also listen to her weekly TV podcast, Podjiba

Header Image Source: Tostitos (via YouTube)
Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Congo will hold a nationwide vaccination campaign against measles and rubella, targeting more than 800,000 children, aged between 9 months and 5 years, for measles, and between 9 months and 14 years, for rubella, sources at the Congolese ministry of Health and Population told PANA on Monday
Brussels, Belgium (PANA) - The Council of the Member States of the European Union (EU) on Monday approved the partnership agreement in the field of sustainable fisheries between Morocco and the European Union, as well as the protocol for its implementation, says an official EU statement
Egyptian and French naval forces carried out a maritime training exercise on Sunday in Egyptian waters, according to a statement by the Egyptian military.

The training comes in the framework of bolstering military relations, enhancing cooperation, and exchanging experiences between the Egyptian armed forces and their French counterparts, military spokesman Tamer El-Refai said.

The training began with the participation of two Egyptian helicopters (Anwar Sadat and Gamal Abdel-Nasser), the French Mistral (Tuner) helicopter, a number of frigates, and Egyptian and French missile launchers.

The training includes the planning and implementation of a number of maritime training activities, which come within the framework of military cooperation relations and exchange of experiences between the Egyptian and French navies.

The exercise aims to enhance the combat efficiency of the naval forces of both countries to achieve the highest levels of readiness to carry out any joint tasks.

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Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A Kenyan commercial helicopter crashed near Lake Turkana, killing all the five people on board, including four Americans, Police said Monday
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - In collaboration with UN Women and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Tunisian Government will host a Forum on Gender Equality from 24 to 26 March in Tunis
Lindenmeyr Munroe's Bill Meany to Receive NPTA's 2019 Stanley O. Styles Industry Excellence Award at Paper2019 in Chicago Bill Meany March 4, 2019 - The National Paper Trade Association (NPTA) recently announced that William Bill Meany, President of Lindenmeyr Munroe, is the 2019 Stanley O. Styles Industry Excellence Award winner. The presentation of the prestigious award will take place at Paper2019 in Chicago, March 24-26. Mr. Meany's 40 years in the industry are marked by a standard of expertise, creative strategy, professionalism, leadership and dedication, all of which make him more than deserving of NPTA's highest honor, NPTA said in a written statement. Mr. Meany began his career with the same company he serves today. After joining the sales team at Lindenmeyr Munroe in 1978, he held several decision-making roles before being appointed President in 2013. He's credited with the instrumental growth and success of Lindenmeyr Munroe, and is known as one to go the extra mile for the company and his colleagues. Mr. Meany has devoted his life to the paper industry, serving in leadership and advisory positions for several paper-related organizations, including Chairman of NPTA's Paper Distribution Conference, Vice-Chairman of Two Sides North America and Chairman of the Merchant Advisory for both Sappi and Domtar. He currently serves as the Chairman of NPTA. I have had the pleasure of working with Bill for just over ten years. The combination of his business insights and straightforward yet social approach made him someone from which I've learned a great deal. Bill manages his business with the highest level of integrity, open and honest conversations, transparency and high energy to make things happen.  Julie Schertell, President, Fine Paper & Packaging, Neenah Inc. In addition to the contributions Bill has made to his own company, he has been a good steward of the paper industry. For many years he has been an active member of NPTA, serving the association in a variety of capacities such as aligning the initiatives of NPTA with the changing needs of the industry and breathing new life into the Emerging Leaders Network. His contributions have been truly exemplary.  Mike Graves, President and CEO, Midland Paper Packaging + Supplies Through all of the years, Bill has been a constant  professional, engaging, approachable and a true leader at Lindenmeyr Munroe. The employees have great admiration and respect for Bill, from the divisional managers to truck drivers and warehouse employees. He knows everybody's name and is greeted with a smile from employees that is genuine.  Ray Rabbitt, Director, Merchant & Printing Sales, International Paper Donations to honor Mr. Meany can be made to the Paper and Plastics Education Research (PAPER) Foundation 2019 Scholarship Program. For more information on the annual scholarship program or NPTA, visit www.gonpta.com/paperscholarship. To learn more the Paper2019 paper industry convention, please visit: www.Paper2019.com The National Paper Trade Association, founded in 1903, is the association for the $50-plus billion paper distribution industry. The mission of NPTA is to actively support the success of member firms through the delivery of networking, education, advocacy and industry trends focused on the health of the paper distribution channel. To learn more, please visit www.goNPTA.com . SOURCE: NPTA
Everywhere you look, it seems like cowboy hats and boots are back with a vengeance. From Solange to Kacey Musgraves to Balenciaga's cowboy boots, the American West is being drastically reimagined for the Internet age via an online movement that can only really be described by its rallying cry: Yeehaw.

But where exactly did our fascination with Yeehaw come from? Was it the success of Red Dead Redemption 2? Was it the mainstream success of progressive country artists like Maren Morris and Musgraves? Was it the memeability of the littlest yodeler, Mason Ramsey? Was it early aughts nostalgia for the looks sported by Mary J. Blige and Lil' Kim? Are we secretly living in some yee yee-happy, Westworld-esque simulation experiment?

The answer, while entirely speculative, is likely a combination of all of the above  though it all seems to be fueled by a desire to subvert the most conservative, traditional American tropes. After all, according to NYLON Social Director (and lifelong Yeehaw adherent) Annalise Domenighini, Trump's presidency has likely played a role in the rise of Yeehaw.

"Culturally, Yeehaw's always been kind of looked down upon, but the cultural privilege of the Trump voter has made people a little more aware of what those people are doing," she speculates. "It made more people aware of that lifestyle, [whether it be] people hearing in music or seeing it reflected in coverage they've been seeing. It brought it all back into memory."

It could also be argued that the modern flipping of the hypermasculine, All-American cowboy trope likely has something to do with the Internet's seemingly sudden fascination with Yeehaw. Take the critical and commercial success of everyone from Mitski and her subversively titled Be The Cowboy release to forward-thinking country artists like the aforementioned Musgraves and Morris, whose genre-spanning work has quickly wormed its way to the top of the charts. The result? A wide-spectrum of listeners who have embraced the trend with vigor, not to mention earnest admiration tinged with a hint of self-aware irony.

As for where this embrace of Americana came from though, well, it's kind of always been there. Unsurprisingly, Black artists have long had a prominent hand in furthering Yeehaw as the cultural force it is today, and we'd be remiss to forget the long-standing connection between their contributions and the resurgence of these trends. As noted by writer-critic Antwaun Sargent (who launched a viral thread on the Black Yeehaw aesthetic), 25 percent of the cowboys working on the Western Frontier in the late 1800s were Black  something that's been whitewashed in the collective American cultural memory thanks to Hollywood and history textbooks.

"I think what people are responding to is the fact that the Black cowboy and cowgirl have been erased from the pop imagination," Sargent says. "This has kind of been in the culture for a long time, but now people are celebrating it. It had been something had been purposefully erased from African-American culture."

"I think what people are responding too are the fact that the Black cowboy and cowgirl have been erased from the pop imagination."

Not only that, but as Sargent notes, the ideals the American cowboy represents  freedom, self-presentation, self-fashioning  are also concepts that many Black creatives are responding to. After all, as noted by journalist Carla Aurelie in her essay "The Black Yeehaw Agenda Is Chic And Thriving," cowboy aesthetics and Western dress have long been an integral part of R&B and hip-hop since the early 2000s. Just think back to icons like Mary J. Blige, Lil' Kim, and Beyonce, who proudly donned chaps and cowboy hats long before the articulation of Yeehaw culture. And it's an aesthetic statement that's slowly been trickling back into high fashion as of late with Sargent name-checking Black designers like Pyer Moss and Telfar Clemens, who were "really thinking about America and Blackness' relationship to it," as well as artists like Kelela who have brought the bedazzled cowboy hat trend back.

And it's an aesthetic legacy that continues into today. Just look at that viral clip of Cardi B dressed to the nines at the Houston Rodeo or Solange's When I Come Home, an album whose promotional aesthetic is an overt homage to her Texan rodeo roots. As Sargent  who recently hosted a livestream conversation with Solange about the album  says, Solange's embrace of this is "kind of a full-circle moment."

"We're talking about the spirit of her hometown, which is Houston, and how that aesthetic plays into identity formation for Black people in the South, particularly," he notes, though Sargent also is careful to also mention the legacy of Black cowboy communities located on the urban East Coast, as captured by photographers like Ron Tarver and Brad Trent.

And as Domenighini notes, contrary to popular imagery, Black people have always been a huge part of Yeehaw culture, which at its core has also always been rooted in class struggle. To that end, there's also a question of appropriation to address.

"I think this will definitely spur a lot of conversations about appropriating poor culture as an idealized, romanticized way of living," she hypothesizes. "It's always been this push-and-pull... Definitely, the upper classes will always pick parts of culture they also push down classwise." However, she also hopes that the conversation surrounding the resurgence of Yeehaw will spur a discussion about "how the West, at least from white perspective, has always been so focused on colonizing and taking from poor people."

Welcome to "Internet Explorer," a column by Sandra Song about everything Internet. From meme histories to joke format explainers to collections of some of Twitter's finest roasts, "Internet Explorer" is here to keep you up-to-date with the web's current obsessions  no matter how nonsensical or nihilistic.
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IAEA head Yukiya Amano reaffirms Iran's compliance with nuclear deal

03/04/19

Source: Press TV

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has once again reaffirmed Iran's compliance with its nuclear-related commitments under a 2015 deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

IAEA Director General's Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors https://t.co/gqwHLu7mOq pic.twitter.com/M7HICDHgsT  enercal (@enercal_es) March 4, 2019

"Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in his introductory statement to the IAEA's Board of Governors in Vienna on Monday.

"It is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments," he added.

The IAEA chief noted that his report on verification and monitoring in Iran in light of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231 (2015) covers relevant activities of the IAEA in the country in the last few months.

US President Donald Trump withdrew Washington in May from the landmark Iran nuclear agreement, reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015, and decided to re-impose unilateral sanctions against Tehran.

Under the deal, Iran undertook to put limits on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

Amano further said in his statement that the IAEA would continue to verify the "non-diversion of nuclear material" declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement.

"Evaluations regarding the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran continue," he noted.

Amano also said the IAEA carefully examines all safeguards-relevant information about implementing verification activities in Iran, but emphasized that this analysis "normally takes time, and takes action when appropriate."

"The agency undertakes analysis and takes action in an impartial, independent and objective manner, within the existing safeguards framework and in line with established safeguards practice," he added.

In a quarterly report on Friday, the IAEA said Iran continues to observe the restrictions on its nuclear activities under the deal it signed with global powers.

Iran remained within caps on the level to which it can enrich uranium and its stock of enriched uranium in accordance with the JCPOA, the report by the UN nuclear agency said, even as the US re-imposed sanctions against Tehran.

Trump's administration announced re-imposition of the "toughest" sanctions ever against Iran's banking and energy sectors with the aim of cutting off the country's oil sales and crucial exports.

Despite Washington's withdrawal, Iran has not left the deal yet, but stressed that the remaining signatories to the agreement have to work to offset the negative impacts of the US pullout for Iran if they want Tehran to remain in it.
New Photo Of Detained Iranian Opposition Figures Emerges On Social Media

03/04/19

Source: RFE/RL

A new photo of prominent Iranian opposition figures Mir Hossein Musavi and his wife, Zahra Rahnavard -- who have been held under house arrest for the past eight years -- has emerged on social media in the country. The photo was reportedly first published on March 3 on the messaging app Telegram by the opposition Kalameh website.

It was widely shared on social media, including by the reformist Etemadonline news site, which posted the photo on its Twitter account without an explanation.



The photo was not published on the Etemadonline website.

Many journalists and activists inside the country also shared the photo, as well as a video where Mir Hossein is seen praying.

                      . pic.twitter.com/JTCVzFagm3  Nahid Molavi (@NahidMolavi) March 2, 2019

The video was reported to have been recorded at the house of Musavi's sister.



Reports say authorities have in past months allowed Musavi and his wife to meet with close relatives.



Authorities have banned media from publishing their images after they were put under house arrest in 2011. Musavi and reformist cleric Mehdi Karrubi emerged as opposition leaders during Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election.



Musavi, 77, and Karrubi, 81, as well as Rahnavard, 73, a university professor, were placed under house arrest in February 2011 after repeatedly challenging Iranian authorities over the disputed vote and human rights abuses.



Iranian President Hassan Rohani has faced criticism from reformists over failing to free the three despite 2013 and 2017 campaign promises.



The U.S. State Department condemned the continued arrest of Musavi, Rahnavard, and Karrubi last month on the anniversary of their house arrests, while calling for their release.



"We demand their immediate release and the release of all prisoners of conscience," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a February 14 statement.



With reporting by AP
Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament Ali Abdel Aal said on Monday that Egypt backs the Jordanian government's reforms especially the economic ones.

In a meeting with Jordan's Prime Minister Omar Al Razzaz on the fringe of the 29th edition of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union conference, currently being held in Amman, Abdel Aal stressed the importance of holding meetings of the Egyptian-Jordanian committee periodically, pointing to the need to hold the next session of the joint committee in Cairo as soon as possible.

The Egyptian speaker congratulated Razzaz on rendering the Arab meeting successful, a matter which reflects Amman's important regional standing.

The get-together touched on the positive developments in bilateral relations over the past period and continuing coordination at all levels in light of the challenges faced by the region.

The Jordanian premier, for his part, hailed ties with Egypt, affirming the importance of boosting trade exchange and joint investments.

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5 die in rescue helicopter crash in western Iran

03/04/19

Source: Iran's Red Crescent (IRCS)

Iranian Red Crescent dispatched relief teams to the spot of a crashed helicopter of Iran's Emergency Medical Services in Kiar County, Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, on Monday March 4th. All of the 5 staff on-board the chopper were reported dead after the helicopter plummeted.



photo by Islamic Republic News Agency

"The helicopter with 5 people (3 flight forces, 2 EMS technicians) had been dispatched to render relief to a pregnant woman in the impassable village of Dehdeli, Ardal County but it crashed before arriving to the mission region." said Ahmad Mortazavi, managing director of the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provincial Red Crescent branch. "Following the incident, the Red Crescent dispatched 5 relief teams and one rapid response team to assess the incident and transfer the dead bodies."

Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province lies in the southwestern part of the country. Its capital is Shahr-e Kord.
General Manager of Legal Affairs at the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA), Sandra Opoku has been appointed the acting Director of Tema Port.



DGN Online understands that she is taking over from lawyer Edward Osei.



According to information available to DGN Online, the Director-General of GPHA informed management of Tema Port on Sunday, March 3, 2019, about the new order.



The announcement was said to have been made by the Director-General during a meeting held around 4:00 pm on the aforementioned date.



She was employed in 2003 as a lawyer. GPHA sponsored her to do maritime law at the world maritime university in Sweden in 2004.

Source: Daily Guide









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A top-level delegation from the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce in Ethiopia has paid a courtesy call on the businesses community in Ghana ahead of the Africa International Conference on Trade and Finance.



The conference in Ethiopia seeks to enhance intra-Africa trade, strengthen regional integration, and promote trade liberalisation across the African continent.



The two-day program scheduled for April 11 and 12 at the African Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa, would attract business entities, executives, policy makers and experts from the sub-Saharan Africa.



The delegation made up of the president (President of the Addis Chamber Mrs Mesenbert Shenkute), the Secretary-General (Mr Getachew Regassa) and his deputy (Mr Shibeshi) and the CEO of Rescue Shipping & GITFIC paid a courtesy call on the Director General of the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA).



It was led by the Ethiopian Ambassador His Excellency, Kefale Regassa Ere.



The courtesy call was to familiarize with the Port Authorities for a first-hand briefing on the Port Operations especially now that Ethiopia seeks to up its trade relationship with Ghana.



The visit was also to confirm the Director General's participation in the upcoming Conference on Trade and Finance.



Director General of the GPHA, Michael Luguje, congratulated the organizers of the conference for the apt initiative they undertake each year.



He emphasized on the operational vision of GPHA and assured of GPHA's readiness to do business with Ethiopia.



M Luguje further confirmed the full participation at the conference, Expect a full delegation and support from the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authorities, .



The delegation was taken around the port to see the 18 berths.



The visiting delegation also paid courtesy calls on the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry in charge of Trade, the MD of the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Director of Shippers of Ghana Shippers Authority and a factory visit to three of Jospong's factories.



The Ghana Stock Exchange pledged commitment to attend the conference to share their vast experience to the business community in Ethiopia and also to assist their regulators.



This was disclosed at a meeting hosted by Deputy Minister for Trade and Industries in charge of Trade; Carlos Ahenkorah.



The minister pledged his support and proposed to assist the conference anyway the ministry can to help to achieve its objectives.



The Ethiopian Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Kefale Regassa Ere, and the delegation from the Addis Chamber were equally grateful for his assurances.



Apparently, Ethiopia helped Ghana to set up the Commodity Exchange but the irony is that Ethiopia is now in the process of establishing its Stock Exchange.



The team also paid a courtesy call on the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), visited the ACARP Compost plant and the Sewage Processing Plant of the Jospong Group of Companies.



The group commended Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong for his Green Revolution projects on the Africa Continent and officially invited Jospong to come and do business in Ethiopia.



Jospong Group has strongly expressed interest to do business in Ethiopia and he has also confirmed his participation at this year's conference as Speaker.



Ghana International Conference on Trade and Finance (GITIC) is partnering with the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and the Ethiopian Embassy in Ghana to organize the conference in Addis.



Chief Executive Officer of GITIC, Selasi Koffi Ackom, explained that the two-day conference would provide a platform for industry players to present realistic solutions to trade, investment, and funding opportunities.



He assured that trade policies and practices, in general, would be reformed to enhance feasible trends in businesses.



Local businesses including Adonko Bitters will also be part of the conference to explore the Ethiopian market with over 105 million population.



Entranced Pharmaceutical has also expressed interest to do business in Ethiopia.



Organisers will also sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Kessben Travel and Tours limited to coordinate the business community from Kumasi to the conference.





Source: Myjoyonline.com









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The National Teachers Standards (NTS) which will guide teacher training and practice in the country was launched at the Accra College of Education today to help give school children in the country the best possible education for a brighter future.



The NTS was developed by the National Teaching Council (NTC) with support from UK aid through the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T- TEL) program and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).



Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Evelyn Owusu Oduro, Acting Executive Secretary of the National Teaching Council described the role of teachers in training students to realise their potentials in life as very critical.



In this regard, she said teachers must be highly skilled, prepared and motivated to meet the highest possible standards to excel in the classroom.



Dr Every Owusu Oduro said the NTS will help teachers measure themselves against global standards of excellence in Teaching.



She said about 68, 000 copies of the NTS have been printed for distribution to all students and tutors of the 46 public Colleges of Education, newly qualified teachers and Universities which engage in initial teacher training.



In developing the standards, she said apart from the National Teaching Council (NTC), key stakeholders such as the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), National Accreditation Board (NAB ), Ghana Education Service (GES ), National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), National Inspectorate Board (NIB), Principals of Colleges of Education, Teacher Unions, Teacher Education Universities and JICA were involved.



The Principal of Accra College of Education Dr Samuel Atintono said the launch/handing over of the copies of the NTS to the Colleges of Education constitutes a major step by government and its development partners in education such as T-TEL to transform Teacher education in the country to meet modern standards.



Dr Atintono also commended government for its efforts to develop policy guidelines as well as provide support aimed at making the teaching profession a true profession.



Prof Jonathan Fletcher Dean of the School of Education and Leadership University of Ghana Legon described the development of the NTS as a milestone in efforts to promote education in the country .

Source: Emmanuel Akorli/ Peace FM Parliamentary Correspondent









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Head of Local Government Service, Dr Ing. Nana Ato Arthur, has been conferred an Honorary Membership by the Chartered Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants-Ghana, (CIAMC).



The former Central Region Minister and Member of Parliament for KEEA received the honour at a colourful ceremony held in Accra on February 23, 2019.



This honorary award was given in "recognition of Dr Arthurs distinguished leadership and innovation in the area of Local Governance and Expert in Development Planning in both the public and private sectors across the country and beyond," said a statement released by CIAMC.



Dr Arthur was honoured together with other eminent personalities, including Mr Eson-Benjamin an outstanding Administrator, currently managing COMPACT2 Project in both academia and practice.



The Chairman of the occasion used the opportunity to appeal to other government appointees to emulate the footsteps of the former Central Regional Minister in transforming the Local Government service in Ghana.



Ing Dr Nana Ato Arthur who is currently the Vice President of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (CAPAM), in the United Kingdon, said: Ghanaians should expect more transformation in the Local Government Service this year which will act as a catalyst for the development of other sectors in government.



CAPAM is committed to providing opportunities for learning and knowledge exchange to all members of the Association and creates several instruments for knowledge exchange in order to promote good governance from the Commonwealth and beyond.



The Chartered Institute of Administrators and Management Consultants Ghana has the mandate to promote excellence in the practice of professional administration and management consultancy by examining, chartering, and regulating its members.



The Institute is a corporate body with perpetual succession capable of suing and being sued in its own name and of performing such acts as are necessary for and incidental to the achievement of its objects, the exercise of its powers and the performance of its functions and duties under this Constitution or under any statute of the Republic of Ghana.



CIAMC has the vision of becoming Africas leading institution by promoting and ensuring professionalism in the practice of administration and management consultancy through life-long learning, hence awarding one of Africas finest Local Governance experts.



According to Richmond Bosompem Ababio, Hon. Dr Ing. Nana Ato Arthur holds a PhD in Development Studies from University of Bonn, Germany and MSc. in Development Planning and Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Students Representative Council [SRC] of the Ghana School of Law will send a formal written request to the Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, tomorrow urging him to institute investigations into the mass failure in a recent examination the school conducted.



The student body is also considering a number of possibilities, including boycotting classes, to register its displeasure regarding the current Legal Profession Regulations 2018 (LI 2355) which covers professional and post-call law courses.



At a student forum in Accra last Friday, the students complained and expressed their displeasure with the LI 2355, particularly the section that states that a student would be repeated if he or she fails in three out of 10 papers.



The forum was organised by the SRC to solicit the views of students following the release of the 2018 professional law examination results which revealed a mass failure.



Background



Per the results released, a total of 284 students are set to repeat and rewrite all the 10 courses or programmes they have registered.



Additionally, 177 students who were referred to in various papers will have to take a resit in those papers.



According to the results released by the Independent Examinations Committee of the General Legal Council, only 64 students passed in all the papers.



The examination papers included criminal procedure, civil procedure, company and commercial practice, law practice management, legal accountancy, evidence and interpretation, conveyancing and drafting.



Reports suggest that the majority of the referred students failed in family law, evidence and advocacy.



This is in stark contrast to the outcome of last years professional law exams, where 279 students passed and were called to the Bar.



Why petition



At the forum, a number of students called for radical changes in the entire examination procedure at the law school, indicating that the way the examination was being conducted currently was harsh and unfair.



The students also urged their leaders to be more radical in their approach since all efforts to get their concerns addressed were not yielding any results.



The President of the SRC, Mr Emmanuel Kobby Amoah, said the leadership of the student body was using every avenue possible to get the concerns of the students addressed.



He said the council had already spoken to some members of the schools management and was also in the process of getting more office bearers involved before taking a final decision.



Explaining why the SRC intended to petition Parliament, Mr Amoah said it was unfair for students to spend all their time learning and to write examinations only to be told they failed.



He said failing students en masse was becoming a big issue among the students and called for something to be done to save both the present and future students from the debacle.



With regard to the LI 2355, Mr Amoah said the section which states that students who fail in three out of 10 papers are required to repeat the course must be looked at again.



It cannot be that all the students are not learning. Something must be done, he added.





Source: Graphic.com









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Saudi Arabia announced that the counry has stripped Osama bin Laden's son Hamza of his citizenship, one day after the United States offered a $1 million reward for information that could lead to his capture.



The son of the late al-Qaeda leader, who was killed in a U.S. military raid in Pakistan in 2011, has reportedly become an increasingly prominent figure in the terror network. Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced that they had revoked his citizenship via a royal decree in November, however it is not known why it was only made public yesterday.



Hamza bin Laden was named a 'specially designated global terrorist' in January 2017. The junior bin Laden has released audio and video messages on the internet calling for attacks against the West and has threatened revenge for his father's 2011 killing by U.S. forces, the department said in a statement.



Osama bin Laden was killed in a covert operation carried out in Abbottabad, Pakistan at a compound where the al-Qaeda leader was holed up. In addition, Hamza allegedly married the daughter of Mohammed Atta, the 'lead hijacker and a mastermind' of the 9/11 attacks.



Bin Laden and al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and other notorious actions.









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An earth tremor has been recorded in parts of the capital, Accra.



People living around Gbawe, Sowutuom, Old Kasoa Barrier, New Bortianor, Awoshie, Abelemkpe and McCarthy Hill have all complained that they experienced the tremor.



They claimed it occurred between a few minutes after 11:30 pm on Saturday.



Accra recorded a similar shake in December 2018 around Weija and Gbawe in the Ga South Municipality.



The tremor, which occurred at about 7:50 a.m. on Sunday, December 9, 2018, shook buildings, creating some panic among the residents.



Some of them took to social media to make the announcement.

Source: citi









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A newborn baby has been nicknamed "Baby Strong" by social media users after he grabbed the doctor's shirt seconds after he was born and refused to let go.mThe baby boy was born in Ph??ng Chau International Hospital in Vietnam. As the doctor attending to the baby was about to leave and get changed, the crying baby grabbed a string in his robe and held onto it.



The doctor stood confused as he watched the baby crying while holding on to him with a grip that was unnaturally firm for a newborn baby.



Ph??ng Chau International Hospital shared the adorable photos to show the bond between the newborn baby and his first care giver and social media users loved the photos.



Reacting to the photos on the hospital's Facebook page, some social media users suggested the baby was complaining to the doctor that he did not want to be born. Other joked that the baby was hungry and was refusing to let go until he was fed.



The baby has been nicknamed as "Baby Strong", "Boss Baby" by web users.









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The Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) has entreated citizens to drink tap water since it is safe.



At a media launch of World Water Day celebration, slated for March 22, 2019, in Accra last week, the company stated that GWCL-treated water from the taps is more wholesome compared to sachet water, water from unprotected well, as well as surface water, among others.

The Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) is crystal clear about water for all by 2030, which means leaving no one behind.



Director of WaterAid, Mr Abdul-Nashiru Mohammed appealed to citizens to impress on government to make water accessible.

There is absolutely nothing in our constitution that talks about right to water.



Until we have it as part of our human rights enshrined under chapter 5 of the 1992 Constitution, we would only be telling stories since no one can compel government to provide water, he added.



Madam Adwoa Paintsil, Director of the Environmental Quality Department of the Water Resources Commission, has advised the public to desist from indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste.



She said challenges with water quality in relation to rivers were worrying due to the improper disposal of liquid and solid waste.

So when it rains, it carries all waste substances into the river. Some farming practices, especially with the application of fertilisers, dissolved pesticides and agrochemicals destroy water bodies when washed into water bodies, she said.



Madam Paintsil stated at a media launch of the celebration of the World Water Day 2019, on the theme Leaving No One Behind, in Accra.

She called on concerned institutions, including the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and other Non-governmental organisations to sensitise the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies on better ways of waste disposal and the need to discourage others from indiscriminately discarding waste.



The contamination of water used in homes, she said, was usually not from the source, but how water was handled and stored by individuals in their homes.



Sometimes the contamination comes from the households and not the sources of the water. Our storing buckets and collectors we use to fetch the water could be unclean, she said.



She advised the public not to purchase lands close to water bodies as it could put their lives and property in danger.





Source: The Finder









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Egypt's Health Minister Hala Zayed said on Monday the total number of those examined since the 100 million healthy lives initiative was launched is estimated at 32.5 million citizens covering 27 governorates till now.

Zayed, in press statements on Monday, said 1.6 million citizens were screened in the seven governorates included in the third stage till yesterday.

The initiative aims at eliminating Hepatitis C in Egypt.

Zayed lauded performance of all medical teams taking part in the initiative.

Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Megahed said the third phase was launched on March 1 in the governorates of Giza, Gharbia, Sharqia, Dakahlia, El Wadi El Gadid, Qena, and Menya, targeting around 23.4 million citizens.

The spokesman said Dakahlia governorate is the most active in the campaign with 456,741 citizens, followed by Sharqiya with 343,227 citizens.

The first stage of the initiative was launched in October 2018 under the auspices of President Abdel Fatah El Sisi.

The initiative's final stage is set to to end in April 2019 after targeting more than 45 million citizens.

The Health Ministry has vowed to completely eliminate the disease from Egypt 2022.

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National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has disclosed the party has no intention in winning election 2020 through violence. According to him, he will not kill, insult or kidnap anybody in the quest to win power in 2020.



He made this known during former President Mahamas victory walk on March 2, 2019 in Accra. These comments of Mr Ofosu follows a leaked tape purported to be his voice recording of a meeting with the partys communicators in which he was heard inciting members for violence.



However after a long silence on the leaked tape, Mr Ofosu in his first remarks, stated that he is a man for peace and will remain focus ahead of the general election. I am confident the NDC will win the election through a free and fair means so there is no need to be violent.



Mr Ampofo added he is prepared and willing to help in investigating the issue to get to the bottom of it.



I am prepared to the polices invitation on Monday and willing to answer every question to help the process.













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Former President John Mahama has explained that the Chairman of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo did not say the Chairman of the National Peace Council, Prof Emmanuel Asante, should be beaten up by the NDC but rather that he should be "criticised" for, according to the newly-elected flag bearer of the party, not condemning the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence before demanding an apology from him (Mr Mahama) over his 'match the NPP boot-for-boot' comment after the violence.



"... In the circumstances, I mean, of course, for our Chairman, who had witnessed the violence  the guy whose leg was shot, the bone had shattered and the bone fragments were lying on the ground  anybody who saw it will be traumatised. And, so, if a few days after he [Ofosu-Ampofo] was talking and said: 'we should attack the Peace Council Chairman', he didnt mean we should go and beat the Peace Council Chairman, he meant that we should criticise him  verbally", Mr Mahama explained at the party's post-flag bearer election thanksgiving service at Perez Chapel International, Accra on Sunday, 3 March 2019.



Mr Mahama said the party had a problem with the Chairman of the National Peace Council for not condemning the violence first before turning his guns on him over his 'boot-for-boot' comment.





On 1 February 2019, Prof Asante called on former President Mahama to apologise to the nation for saying the opposition party will match the governing New Patriotic Party boot-for-boot with violence in the 2020 polls.



While addressing NDC delegates in the Adaklu Constituency of the Volta Region on Thursday, 31 January 2019, Mr Mahama said the NDC would in dishing out violence in the 2020 elections if the government attempts to intimidate and harass NDC supporters with violence.



The former president's comment followed the shooting incident which happened in the course of the by-election when National Security operatives fired at and injured 16 NDC supporters barely an hour into the by-poll around the private residence of the NDC's parliamentary candidate, Kwesi Delali Bbrempong, at La-Bawaleshie. The NDC accused the NPP of being behind the shooting.



Mr Mahama said on that day that: "We are not going to joke in 2020, and Im sounding a warning to the NPP  we are going to match them boot for boot"



"I want to sound a caution that NDC has a revolutionary root and when it comes to unleashing violence, no one can beat us to that. It is just that we are mindful of this countrys democracy and that is why we must be the first to respect it. That is why we are acting as a party that is docile and respecting the rule of law. But if we believe that the government cannot protect our people and we believe that the government is using its vigilante groups and illegal forces to intimidate and harass and injure our people, then we may have to advise ourselves."



He added: "We respect the Constitution of this country and the NDC is a democratic party and that's why we abide by the rules of the Constitution. But the same Constitution says that Ghanaians should resist anybody who attempts to subvert the Constitution. When you go rampaging with forces and intimidating people when they should come out and vote, you are subverting the Constitution. And we have a right to resist you."



Reacting to Mr Mahama's warning to the NPP, Rev Asante told Class FM on Friday, 1 February 2019, that the former president ought to be circumspect in his speech.



Rev. Asante said: "If President John Mahama did say what he said, then it is very unfortunate because he has been a head of state, he has been the president of the nation, he is vying for his party to make him the presidential candidate, and if the people of Ghana want him again, he could become the president of this nation. And if it is going to be 'boot-for-boot' for the nation to be on fire, then there is no mercy for anybody. And I think it is unfortunate that in anger, such things should be said.



"I pray and I want to believe that he didn't mean it, he did it out of anger. We have to be very circumspect and under such circumstances watch the things that we say.



"If he said that, I would want to say that President Mahama, with all humility, I will plead with him to apologise to the nation. In making that statement, he has really created fear in the hearts of people and its not just President Mahama I will say this to, I want to say this to all our leaders, people we are looking up to in this nation; that under such circumstances one would expect that they will be the voice of wisdom, a voice that will calm tension, a voice that will help Ghanaians to be able to say: Indeed, we have leaders. So, please let's be very careful about these things that we say".



Before his condemnation of Mr Mahama's 'boot-for-boot' comment, Prof Asante, in the same interview with Benjamin Akakpo on the same day, condemned the violence that marred the by-election by saying: "It is the right of citizens to choose who to represent them in parliament, and it is for that reason that in a democratic era, we conduct elections and citizens have the right to go and select the person they want to select and nobody should intimidate them, and nobody should try to resist people from doing what they need to do.



"Therefore, it's very unfortunate and sad and I must condemn with no reservation what happened yesterday as a result of the by-election. I'm told it didn't happen in a polling station but in an area, there were skirmishes that led to the firing of arms and about seven people got injured and some got beaten. Whatever the situation, whoever did that, whatever led to that, it is uncalled for, it is not necessary, it's unfortunate and it must be condemned."



Rev Prof Asante noted that: "It's about time we grow in our political culture, that we begin to know that we've got to live and let others also live and that we do things in a very peaceful manner."









Source: Class News









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Audio Attachment: Listen to an interview Akwesi Aboagye had with Kwaku Boahen on Neat FM.

Deputy Communications Officer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwaku Boahen, has made a rather dramatic volte-face on comments earlier made reagrding the contents of the infamous Ofosu-Ampofo leaked viral audio.



The NDC activist now says he was not present at the meeting where their Chairman, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo is said to have made some unfortunate comments.



Leaked Tape



A leaked audio, which purportedly captures the voice of the NDC National Chairman, calling for a 'relentless war' against Jean Mensa, Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), went viral last week.



Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, in a purported leaked audio recording circulating could be heard telling some party members of the NDC that  . . the EC Chair, we must wage a relentless war against this EC Chair.



The recording is believed to have been done at a meeting after the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency by-election held on January 31, 2019.



Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo could be heard also complaining about the treatment of the NDCs parliamentary candidate for the by-election, Delali Kwasi Brempong, whose La Bawaleshie residence on the day of voting became the centre for gun battle between National Security operatives and supporters of the NDC.



We Applauded Ofosu At NDC Meeting



Kwaku Boahen, had in an earlier interview with Akwasi Aboagye on NEAT FMs morning show, Ghana Montie, asserted boldly that We the party [NDC communication] members are very happy of what our Chairman said and we will do exactly that. What he said is dear to our hearts that is why we clapped for him during the meeting which was recorded and leaked.



Backing his National Chair, Kweku Boahen further stated "so dont you know the EC boss is a member of the NPP, she wears their T-shirt at secret meetings. She does their [NPP] works for them as EC boss. We wont sit unconcerned. We have issues with her before her appointment as EC boss. She is not even fit for the position.



Just as our Chairman said, we will unleash war against her. She is a member of the NPP. Nobody can shut us up, he angrily said.



Dramatic U-turn



But in sharp turnaround in an interview with Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, Kweku Boahen completely changed his narrative saying he was not even present at the said meeting.



According to him, he had been admitted at a hospital in Kumasi and had sought permission from some executives of the party to seek medical attention in Kumasi.



"I was taken ill and was at a Kumasi based hospital receiving treatment on that day."



"So how can I record my Chairman?" he asked rhetorically.



When his attention was drawn to his earlier remarks on NeatFM, he offered this response: "I was trying to act on my responsibility as a deputy Communication Officer when the media called, but the media twisted the news for their own gain".



He maintained that he was not at the meeting and therefore cannot be held responsible by the rank and file of the party for recording and leakage of the tape.



"They should stop pointing accusing fingers at me, because I am saying it emphatically that I am innocent and therefore did not record my Chairman," he said.

Audio Attachment: Listen to Kwaku Boahen in an interview on Okay FM.

Source: Josephine Acheampomaa / [email protected]









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The NPP Loyal Ladies, a vibrant female group in the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has describe the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) as a terrorist organisation over the recent leaked tape of the party's Chairman, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo.



According to them they were shock to the bone for a Chairman of an opposition political party to advocate vigilantism, kidnapping, murder, threaten women, children and clergy which speaks volumes about the morality of a party that wishes to regain power by any means necessary.



In a statement they call on Ghanaians and the world to reclassify the National Democratic Congress as a terrorist organization.



Read Full Statement below;



The recent leak of a tape recording in which the NDC Chairman, Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, advocates violence against perceived enemies, underlines the true nature of his political party. Violence is in the NDCs DNA; it is their tradition. A cursory examination of our nations history would make manifest its violent roots, as evidenced by its penchant for staging coups, kidnappings, executions and numerous other human rights abuses. It was a movement born in violence and one that meted out violence to whoever opposed it. This modus operandi continues this day.



That a Chairman of the opposition political party can advocate vigilantism, kidnapping, murder, threaten women, children and clergy speaks volumes about the morality of a party that wishes to regain power by any means necessary. As an organisation, the NDC is violent from the top down  from the Chairman to its foot soldiers. It is rather telling that the Chairman, someone who sits at the top of its political hierarchy, can commandeer hooligans to travel from Tamale to Accra, to mete out acts of downright thuggery. It is a matter that should concern all right-thinking and peace-loving Ghanaians.



However, in the eyes of the NDC, the controversy resulting from the tape is a storm in a teacup, a trifle. Even the NDCs Deputy-Director of Communication, Kwaku Boahen, retorted, Ofosu Ampofo was addressing NDC members so what did you expect?.



It appears that the gravity of the situation is beyond the grasp of the NDC. Even the former president, John Mahama, invoked supporters to dismiss it [the tape] with the contempt it deserves. Indeed the NDC flagbearer has also said on video that "no one can beat the NDC when it comes to unleashing violence The fact that the they can treat use of violence with such levity, tells one all that is needed to know about the NDC. They are incorrigibly violent. It is a problem that they should deal with, both with urgency and alacrity. Yet they chose to bury their heads in the sand publicly and endorse violence privately. That Samuel Ofosu Ampofo can claim, The NDC believes in the rule of law and we are Democrats, is most galling indeed. The gumption to make such a claim is most startling in light of the contents of the tape.



Ofosu-Ampofos comments were recorded at an internal party meeting with party bigwigs present. It is rather instructive that said comments received applause from the attendees. This goes to show that violence is, indeed, entrenched right at the top of the party. The fact that threats to the safety of the EC Chairwoman, Jean Mensa, are met with approval is an eye-opener into the violent, misogynistic and murky world of the NDC. Only a weak and insecure man would make threats against a woman. It appears that the NDC hierarchy is full of such weak men.



The contents of the tape were only made public by chance. It makes one wonder what is the full extent of the nefarious activities? What do the Ghanaian public not know about?



The NDC would like to pass itself off as respectable political organisation. However, the fact that it is prepared to use violence to achieve its aims, in order to intimidate and coerce, indicates it is nothing but a hotbed of thugs, reprobates and vigilantes. In fact, their methods, by the strictest definition of the term, are tantamount to terrorism. Ghanaians would be right to conclude that the NDC as an entity is an insidious, malignant menace to society.



We therefore call on Ghanaians and indeed the world to reclassify the National Democratic Congress as a terrorist organization.



Signed:

Doris Dzifa Kaledzi

Commander, Volta

0243125305



Rhodalyn Efua Eshun

Captain, Western

0246701359



Ruth Yayra Agbeehia

Captain, Greater Accra

0540532832



Jackline Ofosua Frimpong

Commander, Abuakwa North

0244704327

Source: Josephine Acheampomaa / [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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Audio Attachment: Listen to Ofosu-Ampofo's leaked tape.

National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has been charged by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service.



Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has formally been slapped with four charges over an explosive audio recording leaked last week.



Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo is facing charges of "threat of harm, conspiracy to commit harm, rioting and assaulting a public officer".



Earlier, supporters of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC) blocked the main road in front of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to demand the release of National Chairman of the party, Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo.

The NDC National Chairman on Monday, March 4, 2019 reported himself to the CID after failing to honor their invite days ago.



The charges slapped on Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo are as a result of a leaked tape purportedly containing his voice inciting some NDC members to wage war against the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission (EC), Jean Mensa and also make "life uncomfortable" for the ruling New Patriotic Party.



The meeting between the NDC National Chairman and the party members was held after the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.



Though the NDC has debunked claims that the leaked audio is that of Mr. Ofosu-Ampofo, hence alleging it has been doctored; the NDC National Chairman was invited by the CID for interrogation.



He has been granted bail with two sureties, namely; the NDC General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia and the party's Greater Accra Regional Chairman Joseph Ade Coker.



However, Counsel for Mr. Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Victor Kwadwogah Adawudu has indicated that the legal team will appeal the charges and also added their client will return to the CID on Thursday, March 7, 2019.

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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Although he has been missing in action and would need a big song for his comeback like Tic did with his Kwani Kwani remix which featured Kuami Eugene, Hiplife artiste, Okomfo Kwadee, says he won't be collaborating with the new crop of musicians because he is still the best.



I know Ghanaians will say the likes of Kuami Eugene, King Promise, KiDi and Kwesi Arthur are the ones trending but I dont see myself doing any collaboration with them. Rather they should come to me, he told Showbiz at his Ashongman Estates base recently.



According to Kwadee, he does not see the impact the likes of Kuami Eugene and KiDi will add to his music career.



Kwadee has paid his dues in the music industry and anyone who knows music can tell that I dont need hype from anyone to do good songs. Chiefs and prominent people listen to my music, hence the reason why everyone loves Kwadees music, he said.



On what he is up to this year, Kwadee said he had just released two new singles, Gye Wani and Fa Wo Nsa Gu Wuti and is planning to release more songs before the year ends.



He revealed that people had been telling him he needed to change his style because he was irrelevant now.



I have had people telling me to change my style but that is not going to happen because I am unique. Other artistes have tried to copy my style because I made a great impact with my music. I dont follow trends and that is why I have massive support, he said.



With songs like Ofie Nipa, Yeko Mmaa Pe, Abrantie, Wotaataa Me, Obiara Ba Nnye, Ahwedee Abena, Meba Mo Nkyen, Obaa No, Boys Boys and Wo Ky3, Kwadee said as long as his target audience loved his style of music, he would keep doing that.



The current trend of music is not my style and those who know Kwadee know what I stand for, quality music is what I do, he said.



Kwadee also told Showbiz he has not been treated fairly by Ghanaians especially when he had issues with his health.



I dont want to go into details what happened to me but the comments I heard were very bad. Although a few people showed appreciation, the majority said unpleasant things about me, he said.

Source: Graphic Showbiz









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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Egyptian Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad suggested on Monday that Egypt follow the example of several European countries in dealing with the issue of stray dogs by adopting strict regulations.

These regulations include amending laws, providing funds and coordinating the roles of the government and animal rights societies, she said.

Fouad made the comments at a House of Representatives session attended by the ministers of agriculture and local development and representatives of animal care associations to discuss the issue.

The environment ministry is ready to participate and offer necessary studies to confront the crisis, she added.

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By Theogene Rudasingwa

Despite denials, Rwanda has now closed the border with Uganda and restricted the movement of Rwandans, signalling an escalation that could easily be sparked into a full border conflict.

For those who pay only superficial attention to Rwanda-Uganda relations, it may come as a surprise little inconvenience.

For General Yoweri Museveni and General Paul Kagame, and the African nations they rule with iron fists, the stakes are much higher and grievances much deeper.

In thinking aloud, I have pondered on three anecdotes that cast some light on the clash of outlooks, personalities and interests between the two generals.

In 2000, General Kagame sought to remove then President of Rwanda, Pasteur Bizimungu, and formally occupy the Presidency that he had hitherto controlled from behind.

He sent me as an envoy to explain the impending action to General Museveni.

When I conveyed the message to General Museveni in the presence of the late James Wapakabulo and Kale Kayihura, he was opposed to the idea.

He asked me, if not Pasteur Bizimungu which other Hutu do you have to replace him, for you still need them?.

Being the loyal cadre of RPF I was at the time, I argued that General Kagame had enough credentials to become the President of Rwanda.

When I reported back, General Kagame and the exclusively Tutsi military officers and RPF angrily charged that President Museveni wanted to control Rwanda.

During the Kisangani clashes (1999-2000) in the Democratic Republic of Congo between Rwanda Defence Forces (RDF) and Uganda Peoples Defence Forces (UPDF), President Mkapa of Tanzania tried to mediate between the two generals to find an amicable solution to the conflict.

In one encounter, General Museveni explained to President Mkapa that enzigo lies at the heart of the conflict. President Mkapa lightly commented in Kiswahili that whatever it is, iyi mambo ya enzigo is serious.

I have no space to explain to non-Runyakole, non-Kinyarwanda speakers the deep meaning of enzigo or inzigo. Paraphrased, the term simply means that if you kill one of my own, there will be pay-back time.

In a few encounters I had as General Kagames envoy to General Museveni during and after the Kisangani crisis, I soon realized that neither had the patience to listen to each other points of view, and both reacted angrily when I (the messenger) delivered the message from the other side.

The three anecdotes by themselves may not mean much. In the context of convoluted life histories of both generals, a patient and engaged observer will note some striking differences and similarities.

Both generals are descended from humble beginnings among minority ethnic groups; came to power by force of arms; have overstayed in power by coercive means and manipulating constitutions and electoral processes; court Western allies (notably United States and United Kingdom) by offering the services of their militaries in the regional war on terror and peacekeeping; have overextended their reach beyond their national boundaries; and above all, they both possess big egos, and predominantly rely on military means to solve political problems.

Kagame different

General Kagame is very different from General Museveni in fundamental ways.

There was a time in his early years before, during, and after the capture of state power when General Museveni was the intellectual who inspired his followers.

Rwandans like the late General Fred Rwigyema, General Paul Kagame, and many others who now dominate state structures in Uganda and Rwanda then found in him the revolutionary and visionary.

General Kagame despises ideology. Once in a while, he may make Pan Africanist and nationalist pronouncements, but at every opportunity, he has betrayed Rwandas and African interests.

His maxim is the end justifies the means, and I define the ends. He is the efficient operational man who hardly inspires and executes his ambitions through fear and naked brutality.

General Kagame has deep insecurity that he compensates through aggressive behaviour and taking big and highly risky bets.

General Kagame has fought armies of former Zaire and toppled dictator Mobutu; he installed President Laurent Kabila in DRC; he has fought armies of Angola, Zimbabwe, and Namibia; he has fought Ugandas UPDF in DRC; he has quarrelled with Tanzania, Burundi, and South Africa; he has thrown temper tantrums at France, and even to his benefactors USA and United Kingdom when they shyly question the assassination of opponents and absolute closure of political space.

General Kagame and the all-Tutsi cast of military officers are proud of this record and have cultivated an aura of invincibility, extreme arrogance, and a propensity to take ever-increasing and bigger risks.

General Kagame rules through the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) that he personally supervises and which sits at the apex of the entire security establishment and Rwandan society.

It is an enterprise that has grown regional, continental and global through a seamless web of businesses, media outlets, financial networks, webs, Diaspora citizen groups, prominent personalities like former President Bill Clinton, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, evangelicals like Pastor Rick Warren, shadowy consultants from an array of retired military and intelligence officers from across the world.

DMI is constantly in a state of flux, deploying formally and informally, absorbing and rejecting operatives and co-opting many in its ranks.

The whole of Rwandan society stands in awe and fear of DMI because DMI is General Kagame who has been its only constant since 1990.

Uganda is yet to fully grasp the full extent of DMIs infiltration of Ugandan society. Until and unless it does, its interests will always be in harms way.

This is the machinery that General Kagame has deployed in Uganda for a long time, leading to the Kale Kayihura-MTN-border closure saga.

Plan against Uganda

From the much, I know about General Kagame and Rwandas secrets, the closure of the Rwanda-Uganda border is a deliberate escalation to find pretext to execute a plan that exists in Kigali.

The plan includes a surprise quick pre-emptive strike, capture of territory deep in Uganda to avoid fighting in Rwanda which lacks depth, creating and linking up with anti-Museveni forces, creating chaos in Uganda, and familiar extreme measures like assassinating prominent political leaders, including General Museveni himself.

The border-closure is also vintage General Kagame, trying to attract attention from his benefactors, to extract some concessions from regional and international stakeholders, and masking internal contradictions within Rwanda.

RNC

General Kagames allegation that he is fighting General Nyamwasas Rwanda National Congress (RNC) and its so-called P5 supported by Uganda, and FDLR (both allegedly supported by Burundi) is an absurdity, like flogging dead horses.

I co-created and led RNC from 2010, and later the P5 until I abandoned them in 2016 due to irreconcilable ideological differences.

General Kagame knows that RNC, P5, and FDLR do not pose any serious threat to his rule; they all are a lose amalgam of extremist individuals or groups full of militaristic wishful thinking, lacking ideological depth and coherence, with no operational capability even to remove him from power and replace him with another brutal dictatorship like his. General Kagame needs FDLR, RNC, and P5 as scapegoats to justify his aggression as he continues to keep Rwandan citizens as hostages under fear.

What is to be done?

1. Everything must be done to de-escalate the build-up of tension between the two countries. A war between the two countries, even one of limited objectives, will have unintended consequences of far-reaching social, political, economic and military implications. The first victims of such a war may be the generals themselves.

2. Uganda should prepare but ignore General Kagames provocations, and deny him any pretext of starting a conflict that neither country will be able to stop.

3. Uganda and Rwanda should stop relying on the relationship between General Museveni and General Kagame as the defining element of the relationship between the Ugandan and Rwandan peoples.

These nations and their peoples have always been there long before the generals were born, and will be there long after they are gone.

4. The East African Community is sailing in perilous waters, doomed to failure or useless existence when it is led by people like General Kagame, who serves neither interests of Rwandan citizens nor those of East Africans. The free movement of peoples, goods, and capital must be allowed without hindrance. Perhaps President Magufuli of Tanzania and President Kenyatta of Kenya should take initiative to bring to the attention of the East African Community the matter of closing the Rwanda-Uganda border.

The East African Community may seek the wisdom of elder statesmen like former Presidents Moi, Kibaki, Mwinyi, Mkapa, and Kikwete in de-escalating the Rwanda-Burundi, and Rwanda-Uganda tensions.

5. General Kagames aggressive external behaviour is conditioned by his domestic dictatorial policies that deny basic freedoms to the Rwandan people, Ultimately, East Africa should only hope to have sustained peace and prosperity if it supports peaceful and democratic change in Rwanda. That will entail confronting General Kagames regional belligerence head-on as an indispensable component.

General Kagame, presiding over landlocked Rwanda, is endangering the lives of Rwandans and East Africans by projecting hostility towards all his East African neighbours of Burundi, Uganda, DRC, and Tanzania.

It is suicidal, foolishness, despair, and dangerous adventurism to cultivate your own encirclement. It is time for Rwandans, Ugandans, and East Africans to unite to prevent another catastrophic war in the Great Lakes region.

It is time to resist Generals Kagames aggression, violent schemes, and war-mongering in the interest of peace, security and prosperity for all East Africans.

======================================================================

The writer, Mr. Theogene Rudasingwa is a former Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States. He also worked as Secretary-General of the Rwandese Patriotic Front, and is former Chief of Staff  Office of President of Rwanda. He currently lives in exile in Washington DC, after falling out with President Kagame

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UCF research laying groundwork for off-world colonies

Before civilization can move off world it must make sure its structures work on the extraterrestrial foundations upon which they will be built.

University of Central Florida researchers are already laying the groundwork for the off-world jump by creating standards for extraterrestrial surfaces. Their work was detailed recently in a study published in the journal Icarus.

"I'm firmly convinced that by the end of the century there will be more economic activity off planet Earth than on planet Earth," says Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF and lead author of the study.

According to the wealth management company, Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy will be worth more than $1.1 trillion by 2040.

"With economics moving in that direction, it's important for us to get a head start trying to create the regulatory and engineering environments to make sure everything is done safely and justly," Metzger says.

In the study, Metzger and the team of researchers outlined standards for simulated extraterrestrial surface material and then applied the standards to a simulated extraterrestrial surface material created in the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science's Exolith Lab housed at UCF.

While extraterrestrial surface material can range from lunar soil to Martian dirt, Metzger and the researchers created standards specifically for asteroid surfaces in this study.

The team measured mineralogical composition; elemental composition; densities of rocks and crushed rocks known as regolith; mechanical strength; magnetic susceptibility; volatile release pattern; and particle size destruction.

This standardization is highly needed, Metzger said, as previous attempts at creating simulated extraterrestrial surface material have used everything from floral foam to beach sand.

If tests are performed on simulant that isn't similar to the real thing or is not suited for that test, then it makes the test results invalid, Metzger said.

"We have to communicate what the properties are so everyone knows its limitations so they won't use it for a test it wasn't designed to simulate," Metzger said.

Standardization will also allow researchers to more accurately compare test results across studies as standardized simulants will have properties that will not vary test to test.

The researchers also applied their standards to a simulant created in UCF's Exolith Lab called UCF/DSI-CI-2. They compared the results to measures of Orgueil, a meteorite that fell in France in 1864.

Meteorites are meteors that survive entry through Earth's atmosphere and land on the surface. Meteorites are often correlated to certain asteroid types and may be used as reference material for creating asteroid simulant in lieu of having access to an actual asteroid for comparison.

The simulant UCF/DSI-CI-2 received a magnetic susceptibility score, or figure of merit, of .96, which means it is a 96 percent match with Orgueil. Similarly, it received an elemental score of .94 and a mineralogical score of .83. The other five properties the researchers measured also had high scores.

"We're delighted we could get such a high-fidelity simulant," Metzger said. "The fact that we were able to replicate those eight properties with such high fidelity tells us that these simulants will be very valuable for companies doing asteroid mining, doing tests of constructions of facilities and landing pads, metal extraction and more."

UCF researchers were able to create the simulant using particle-size data from the meteorite while also creating the grading standard, said Dan Britt, a Pegasus professor of astronomy and planetary sciences in UCF's Department of Physics. Britt is head of the Exolith lab and a co-author of the study.

"I think we did a good job of producing a simulant that mimics the parent asteroidal material pretty well," Britt said. "The limitations are really expense and safety, as some components can be toxic, so we use a lower-fidelity alternative. This gives the meteorite and space resources communities material that they can experiment on with some assurance that it is close to the real thing. That way they are not constrained by the scarcity of meteorite material or its high price."

Metzger said the research team will continue to grade simulants created in the Exolith Lab as well as offer their grading system to simulants created in other labs. They will also be receiving feedback from the community about improvements in the grading system and will work with the American Society of Civil Engineers for consensus on having the grading standards adopted.

###

Co-authors of the study included Stephen Covey, retired director of research and development with Deep Space Industries (now Bradford Space); Cody Schultz, a UCF mechanical engineering graduate; Kevin M. Cannon, a postdoctoral scholar working with the Exolith Lab; Kevin D. Grossman, a materials science and engineering scientist with NASA; James G. Mantovani, a planetary scientist with NASA; and Robert P. Mueller, a senior technologist with NASA.

Founded in 1963 with a commitment to expanding opportunity and demanding excellence, the University of Central Florida develops the talent needed to advance the prosperity and welfare of our society. With more than 68,000 students, UCF is one of the nation's largest universities, offering more than 220 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations in Central Florida and online. For more information, visit ucf.edu.

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Following a stormy three-hour meeting Monday, the Egyptian parliament's local administration committee recommended that a government committee be formed to stem the growing phenomenon of stray dogs on the streets.

MPs said that a committee, to be headed by deputy agriculture minister Mona Mehrez, will be formed to tackle the crisis of stray dogs and issue recommendations in this respect.

Head of the local administration committee Ahmed El-Sigini said that the government committee will include representatives from the ministries of local development, environment, health, agriculture and interior.

"It will also include representatives from human rights organisations and animal care societies," said El-Sigini, indicating that "the recommendations of the proposed committee should be issued within 45 days."

El-Sigini said "the proliferation of the bad phenomenon of stray dogs on Egyptian streets has become very dangerous.

"Not only are these dogs a danger to public health, but they have also become a threat to the lives of many citizens, particularly children," said El-Signi, adding that "as the government does not have any plan on fighting this phenomenon, it was important that we recommend a committee be formed to tackle the crisis."

El-Sigini revealed that parliament's local administration committee has received thousands of messages from citizens, all complaining that stray and wild dogs on the streets have become a threat to their lives.

MP Salah Hassaballah claimed that stray and wild dogs have caused harm to around 2 million citizens in 2018 and that this means that we are facing a very bad phenomenon that should be tackled as soon as possible."

MP Magdi Morshed said many citizens get scared when they see on television screens how some children were savagely bitten by stray dogs. Morshed recommended that "wild dogs be culled because they are a big danger."

Mohamed El-Husseini, an MP from Giza's Boulaq El-Dakrour district, said there are a lot of stray dogs in densely populated communities, and that children can't go to their schools alone because they fear these dogs.

Alaa Eid, head of the Ministry of Health's Preventive Medicine Department, said that "as many as 303,000 citizens were bitten by stray and wild dogs in 2018."

"The ministry has the vaccination necessary to treat citizens from dog bites, but it does not have control over the phenomenon of stray dogs," said Eid.

Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said that some European countries were able to contain the phenomenon of stray dogs.

"There should be greater cooperation between the government and civil society organisations in the coming stage to stem the phenomenon of stray dogs in an orderly way," Fouad said

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Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadek issued on Monday a report summing up the results of the investigation into last week's deadly train crash in Cairo, which killed 22 people and injured dozens more.

The investigations revealed that no traces of explosive materials were found at the scene, while a train maneuvering operator detained for suspected involvement in the crash tested positive for the potent narcotic strox.

The report also revealed that the runaway locomotive was set to its maximum speed of 120km per hour.

According to the report, the prosecution summoned 38 railways officials, including the head of the Railways Authority, engineers, supervisors, maintenance workers, industrial safety officials, and CCTV supervisors to hear their testimonies on the crash.

The prosecution said that it will continue to issue updates as the investigation progresses.

On Saturday, a Cairo criminal court renewed the detention of six railway workers who were detained pending investigation into their alleged responsibility in the fatal train crash last week.

The defendants include the drivers and assistants of the two trains involved in the crash, as well as a worker tasked with switching junctions and a maneuvering operator on one of the trains.

According to the prosecution, the crash and subsequent blaze took place when a runaway locomotive crashed into the concrete barriers at Cairos busiest railway station on Wednesday morning.

Prior to the crash, the driver of the locomotive dismounted, without turning off the engine, to speak with the driver of another second train that had rammed the locomotive from an adjacent line.

When the two trains disengaged, the unattended locomotive moved at maximum speed towards the station until it collided with a concrete barrier at the end of the line and burst into flames.

Transport minister Hisham Arafat resigned hours after the accident.

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Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido arrived at Caracas' airport on Monday after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

A crowd of cheering supporters swarmed Guaido and his wife as they stepped into Maiquetia international airport's arrivals hall. He then climbed onto a car roof and gave a thumbs up to people clustered in the road outside before leaving for Caracas where several thousand supporters had gathered to welcome him.

Guaido had vowed to return to lead protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period. He kept details of his trip under wraps and he arrived without prior notice, meeting ambassadors for European countries at the airport, according to witnesses.

"Back in our beloved country! Venezuela, we just passed through immigration and we will now head to where our people are," he said on Twitter just after arriving.

His return could become the next flashpoint in his duel with Maduro as he seeks to keep up momentum and spur his international backers to further isolate the socialist government. Most Western countries recognize Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate head of state.

His possible arrest could allow the opposition to highlight how the Maduro administration represses political foes, and prompt the United States to impose even harsher sanctions. But it could also strip the opposition of a public figurehead who has brought unity after years of infighting.

Guaido calls Maduro a usurper and says his presidency is illegitimate after he secured re-election last year in a vote widely considered a sham. But Maduro retains control of state institutions and the apparent loyalty of senior figures in the armed forces.

"Upon my arrival, whatever path the dictator takes, we are going to continue," Guaido said earlier on Monday in a recorded voice message posted on his Twitter account.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb. 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

From Colombia, he traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but had not appeared publicly since. Venezuelan media outlets reported that he flew from Panama City to Caracas.

"Face Justice"

Maduro, who has called Guaido a coup-mongering US puppet and denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said his arrest depends on the justice system.

"He can't just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country," he told ABC News last week.

Protesters in Caracas, many wearing white and carrying Venezuelan flags, said Guaido's arrest would spark new demonstrations. "If the regime has even a little bit of conscience, they should not arrest Guaido because people truly would not put up with it," said Franklin Lopez, a 60-year-old administrator.

The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the US Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that "all options be kept open" to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.

"Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community," US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Twitter on Sunday.

The government has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaido's mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest.

Turning away from previous hopes of a swift end to Maduro's government, Guaido said on Sunday it would be a "long and difficult process."

He has offered future amnesties to state officials and solders who recognize Guaido, though the military has largely remained loyal to Maduro despite Colombia's migration agency reporting several hundred desertions since Feb 23.

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Foreign Minister meets Director of Office of UN Envoy [04/March/2019] ANAA, March 4 (Saba) - Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf on Sunday met with the Director of the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen, Nicolas Davies.



The meeting touched on the latest developments in the framework of the Stockholm Agreement, the follow-up of the implementation of the Hodeidah Agreement and the efforts of the national authorities in Sanaa to make the agreement a success as a first step towards building confidence towards achieving comprehensive peace.



The Foreign Minister stressed the keenness of the national leadership in Sanaa to be fully committed to the Hodeidah deal, which was confirmed by announcing its readiness to implement the first phase of the agreement unilaterally if requested by the United Nations.



For her part, Davis stressed the continued efforts to make the implementation of the Hodeidah agreement successful, according to the agreement signed in Sweden.





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Sayyed Houthi: Hostility toward our people is caused by rejection of normalization with Israel backing Saudi-led war [04/March/2019] ANAA, March 4 (Saba) - Leader of the Yemeni Revolution, Sayyed Abdulmalik Bin Badr al-Deen al-Houthi on Sunday delivered a televised speech during the extended gathering of the tribes and sages of Yemen for the year 2019.



He said "I salute you and greet all the free and loyal people in this country, all the noble and steadfast tribes that their positions, words, martyrs, sacrifices and sacrifices have reflected the true principles of faith and wisdom enjoyed by our people."



At the beginning of his speech, he referred to the conspiracies of the scandalous Warsaw conference, which was attended by some of the delegates and officials of some Arab regimes and Arab governments.



He said that meeting also included traitors and mercenaries who betrayed our people Yemen and participated with foreign US-backed invaders and enemies in their aggression against this country.



In this context, He pointed out that the reason for the hostility toward the Yemeni people is due to their rejection to adopt that shameful stance adding that they took their co-operator and traitor and put him beside Netanyahu so that our people adopt this position.



He said that we are concerned with the fortification of our internal arena, and that we act and move in all that will strengthen the steadfastness in dealing with the unjust, criminal and brutal aggression launched by the enemies.



"Israel is a partner in this aggression against our people through its recognition and their attitude is clear to be against the Yemeni people, and the Israeli media have revealed the nature of partnership in this aggression," he said.



"We today as tribes have an honorable, great and fundamental position in the steadfastness of this country and in the cohesion of this people concerned with everything that would strengthen the steadfastness and fortify the internal situation, he said, adding " The tribal honor document is aimed at fortifying the internal arena and giving the tribe its proper role, great sacrifice and honorable attitude."



He said in the end, "We hope, God willing, to continue the paragraphs and participation in this expanded meeting to reach to required outputs, God willing, and so this expanded meeting a strong starting point to fortify the internal arena."





AA

Saba
Two militants, five security men and a civilian were killed in the 48-hour-long gunfight that ended on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara border district.

Police said two militants were killed today in this encounter which started on Friday.



Three CRPF troopers, including an inspector, two local policemen and a civilian were killed during the 48-hour encounter in Babagund village of Handwara in Kupwara district.



Paracommandos of the Army were called out on Saturday to help other security forces carry on with the operation.



Security forces had started a cordon-and-search operation in Babagund village of Handwara area following information about the presence of militants there.





On Friday, security forces were carrying out searches after firing exchanges had stopped at the encounter site when a militant, presumed to be dead, rose from the debris of a blasted house and fired indiscriminately at security forces.



"Fatalities and injuries to security men were caused in this incident. While two CRPF troopers and two policemen were killed on Friday, an injured CRPF trooper succumbed to his injuries in the hospital today," police said.



"A civilian was killed on Friday in clashes between the security forces and protesters when protesters tried to disrupt the operation," the police added.



Bodies of both the terrorists were recovered from the site of encounter. Their identities and affiliations are being ascertained, sources said.



"This operation posed considerable difficulties to the security forces due to the topography of the area. The place where the terrorists were hiding was very congested and civilians in the adjoining houses had to be evacuated to safer places," police said.



"Incriminating material and arms and ammunition were recovered from the site of the encounter. The police have registered a case and the incriminating material retrieved from the site of the encounter have been taken in the case records for further investigation and to probe their complicity in other terror cases," police said.



Residents living near the encounter site have been repeatedly told to stay away as such an area can be dangerous due to the presence of stray explosive material.



"People are requested to cooperate with the police till the area is completely sanitized and cleared of all the explosives material, if any," police said.
Karnataka's "rebel" Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav resigned from the state Assembly on Monday.

Jadhav, a two-time MLA from Chincholi constituency in Kalaburagi district, submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker

K.R. Ramesh Kumar without giving any explanation.



"Jadhav submitted his resignation letter to Kumar earlier in the day at the latter's house in Kolar town near Bengaluru," a

party official told here.



Jadhav is one of the four "rebel" party MLAs against whom Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah sought

legal action last month for defying the party whip to attend the CLP meetings on January 18 and February 8 and participate

in the 10-day budget session of the Assembly from February 6-15.



Although former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to the Speaker on February 11 to disqualify Jadhav along with three

other rebels -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, B. Nagendra and Mahesh Kumatalli -- under the anti-defection law, the latter did not act

on it, as they attended the budget session from February 13 till it adjourned sine die on February 15.





"The Congress has done everything it could with Jadhav. He was power hungry and has been dissenting against the party's leadership. He is an opportunist. We are disappointed with him," the party's state unit president Dinesh Gunu Rao told the media here following the resignation.



If Jadhav's resignation is accepted, the ruling ally's strength in the Assembly will come down to 78, excluding the Speaker,

who got elected on a Congress ticket.



In the 225-member House, including one nominated, the Congress currently has 80 members, its ruling ally Janata Dal-

Secular 37, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party 104, one independent, and one each from the BSP and regional outfit KPJP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the defence situation in the country would have been different if the Indian Air Force had Rafale fighter jets. "Not one this side would have gone and no one on the other would have survived," he added.

Addressing a rally here, the prime minister called upon the Opposition, without naming it, to use "common sense" when it speaks about the Rafale jets.



"If the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, but some people do not have it in them to understand this," Modi said, adding "When I say this, they question the Air Force strikes."



The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, went on, "The nation agrees that the disease of terrorism has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say?



"Should or should not everyone, including me, believe in our armed forces without raising questions? We should be proud of our armed forces."





Modi was addressing the rally after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe and PG hostel of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital here.



He also laid the foundation stones of various development projects in the Saurashtra region.



The prime minister will reach Ahmedabad later in the day to inaugurate the first phase of the six-km-long Metro rail service.



He will also lay the foundation stone of the Patidar community's Umiya Mata Temple Complex in the city.
In the first show of strength in Bihar ruled by BJP in alliance with JD-U, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday attacked Congress and its allies for demoralising security forces by asking for proof of air strikes against terror camps in Pakistan and for "making the enemies smile" by issuing statements.

"I want to know from Congress and its allies why they are demoralizing security forces by asking for proof of the air strikes against terror camps. Why are they issuing such statements that benefit our enemies?" Modi asked addressing NDA's Sankalp rally in Patna where he formally launched NDA's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.



"Congress and its allies are doing things which are enough for making the enemies smile. At a time when there was a need to speak as one against terror factories, 21 parties in Delhi came together to speak against the NDA. People won't forgive them," Modi said.





Modi reminded thousands of people gathered to hear him at Gandhi Maidan here that when the entire country is rejoicing over the IAF's successful airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot, "a few of our own people have raised suspicion on such a strikes".



Modi cautioned people against opposition's 'Mahagathbandhan' agenda, which was "personal and for their own family." "Had the Mahamilavat government been there, there wouldn't have been any decision or development because they have a habit of developing themselves," Modi said.



The Opposition, he said, has a one-point agenda -- eliminate or remove Modi, who is a 'chowkidar' and 'pradhan sewak' of the country and its people.



"Instead of considering the good work done by the Modi government, the Opposition nowadays is in a competition to abuse the 'chowkidaar', but rest assured, this 'chowkidaar' of yours is as alert as ever," he added.



Since early Sunday thousands of NDA leaders, workers and supporters gathered in the Bihar capital -- with hundreds thronging the venue since Saturday night -- to hear the Prime Minister at the Sankalp rally.



Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shared dais at the political rally after a decade. Both had come together last time at a rally in 2009 in Ludhiana in Punjab.



Security was tight at the Sankalp rally in Gandhi Maidan. It was on October 27, 2013 when Gandhi Maidan was rocked by serial bomb blasts. Modi was then the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. At least six people had been killed and around 100 injured in the blasts.



On Sunday, all roads virtually led to the Gandhi Maidan as participants marched to the venue waving saffron and green flags of BJP, JD-U and LJP of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan.



Hundreds of vehicles carrying thousands of people were stuck in the outskirts of Patna and Gandhi Setu that connects north Bihar to Patna.



The NDA had hired 18 trains and nearly 5,000 buses to ferry supporters to the Sankalp rally.



Senior Superintendent of Police Garima Malik said nearly 4,000 police personnel had been deployed in and around the sprawling ground.



Police also set up dozens of watch towers and 60 door-frame metal detectors. Bomb disposal and anti-terrorist squads too have been deployed, he said.
Several people, mostly BJP members, were injured as clashes broke out in various parts of West Bengal on Sunday when police sought to stop party activists from taking out 'Vijay Sankalp' bike rallies.

Launched by Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah on Friday, the bike rallies are a part of the party's nationwide outreach campaign ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.



However, in West Bengal, the rallies were denied permission because of board examinations and traffic issues, a senior police officer said.



In Kolkata, police intercepted rally participants on Central Avenue, Jorabagan, Kakurgachi and other important points.



In West Medinipur's Goaltore area, BJP activists tried to break police barricades, leading to a baton charge by police and a scuffle, which left several people injured.





The BJP, in a statement, claimed that 40 workers were injured, 22 arrested and 200 bikes vandalised in West Medinipur. In South Dinjapur, 10 were injured, while as many as 176 workers were arrested in Asansol, with two of them seriously injured.



In north Kolkata, 35 workers were taken into custody and 10 workers were badly injured, the statement said.



BJP state unit President Dilip Ghosh said if the police and the administration continued to create hindrances to their party programmes, the party would retaliate.



"The workers were deliberately attacked and instigated to retaliate, leading to disruptions on the streets. Police wanted us to resist, so that Trinamool could make it an issue and that is what exactly happened," Ghosh said.



However, Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee warned the administration would strongly oppose all such efforts to spread communal violence. He said as a political party, the Trinamool would ensure peace and harmony in the state.



"Sometimes, BJP takes out a bike rally, sometimes they spread tension and they only create a ruckus. Today in the name of 'Vijay Sankalp', they planned to create communal tension, against which we are urging the people to remain united,"
The former Land Transport Authority (L.T.A.) Chief Executive Officer, Leasi John Galuvao, has refused to take up a controversial $121,000 six-month contract.

The contract was awarded to him by the L.T.A. Board and the Chief Executive Officer, Galumalemana Ta'atialeoitiiti A. Tutuvanu-Schwalger.

Leasi, who is currently in New Zealand, refused to confirm if he had decided not to honor the contract when contacted by the Samoa Observer.

I have no comment, please contact the L.T.A. Chief Executive

Officer, he said.

Galumalemana, when contacted by this newspaper, couldnt confirm or deny her predecessors exit.

At this point in time, I can neither confirm nor deny therefore I have no comment, she said.

An L.T.A. Board member, who didnt want to be identified, confirmed that Leasi will not take on the job as a consultant with the authority.

The contract was awarded on February 15, 2018 and is for Leasis consultancy for road works and major projects such as the reconstruction of the Vaisigano Bridge and the upgrading of the west coast road.

At the time when this newspaper broke the story, Galumalemana rubbished claims that there was favoritism in the hiring of her former boss as a consultant.

She told this newspaper that his hiring was important, due to a significant number of urgent road works that the Authority is implementing as the organisation currently has capacity issues.

Leasi served as the CEO for the L.T.A. for three consecutive terms, before Galumalemana was appointed his successor last year. He did not reapply for the position of CEO after his exit from the organisation.

Even the Minister for Land Transport Authority, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, questioned the $121,000 six-month contract. He said the contract should have been put out on public tender and the L.T.A. Board and the CEO bypassed procurement processes by awarding it to Leasi.

Papalii said he wasnt aware of the decision at that time and the contract had only been brought to his attention, after it was already signed and went before Cabinet for discussion.

So the Prime Minister wanted me to ask the Attorney General of a way to have it cancelled. But to me it is already signed and both parties have agreed. It would be another civil case at Court for us, he said.
Members of the public can expect less pot holes and better roads over the years with the regulating Ministry stepping up to closely monitor road contractors work.

This was confirmed by Minister of Works Transport and Infrastructure, Papalii Niko Lee Hang, who has issued a stern warning to road contractors.

He was particularly concern about the repair and maintenance contractors who continue to fill up potholes with rocks  which get washed away days after by the rain.

There are some contractors that dont fix the roads properly, they just take the money to make more profits but the road work is not good, he told Samoa Observer in an interview.

So I have decided whichever contractor doesnt do a good job (with roads) we will no longer award them any works. I have noticed that some contractors just want to bid low, so they can win the tender but they struggle to do work properly.

There will be no more variation  they have to bid from terms and conditions provided  and the Land and Transport Authority (L.T.A.) is strengthening their monitoring works to ensure that Government money is well spent.

When he was asked to identify the reckless contractors, Papalii declined, saying he feels sorry for them but confirmed there are about five.

He recalled an inspection he did at Leulumoega, where he stopped and was told by a family, that the machine operator was going to get some diesel for the machine.

Contractors like that are delaying works for Government and quality of work is not good, he said.

It wastes the Government money and we will make sure they will not be rewarded with any more works. What we have told the repair and maintenance contractors is  if they see that the road requires a lot of work  then they should give advise to reconstruct the whole road, but not just fill up the pot holesit is more costly doing that.

According to Papalii, the budget set aside for road repair is $8 million and capital works is $10 million.

He maintained that it is still not enough to cater for the needs of constructing better roads.

When he was asked about losses in terms of road works that are not properly done, the Minister said there are certainly losses but he was unable to give an estimate.

Papalii also blamed the monitoring agency, L.T.A. for not following up and monitoring the work of the contractors.

He said if the authority leaves road works to the contractors  with the hope they will do what they are required to do  it will not turn out well.

Part of ensuring the contractors are on track and fixing the roads properly is for them to keep a performance record.

At the moment, Papalii said works are underway to fix roads at Aleisa going to Leulumoega route as a shortcut to Faleolo airport, while road works are continuing at the west coast of Upolu.

So eventually we will have better roads but works will also depend on the funds we get.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi echoed similar concern over pot holes and the need for contractors to do a better job.

Speaking recently during the commissioning of two Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) candidates for the Faasaleleaga No.2 by-election, Tuilaepa said there are contractors to fix roads yet they are still in bad condition.

It means this (road works) needs to be changed too, he said.

This is the case when it rains - the roads have potholes and they (road contractors) just fill it up with stones but they are paid money to fix it and the Government needs to look into this and change it.
The University of the South Pacific (U.S.P.) Vice-Chancellor, Professor Pal Ahluwalia has expressed concern at the condition of buildings at the U.S.P. Alafua Campus.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer in a recent interview, he said that some of the buildings need to be maintained and renovated.

Since I took over on January 2 my most concern is the state of the campus. I think some of the buildings have been left and not repaired  our accommodation is not up to standard.

We have a very good global brand USP, and these things hurt our brand. Our vice president for regional campuses (states and infrastructure) has already been here, we sent a senior member from Fiji two weeks ago here, who has been looking at the whole campus, and told me serious things to be attended too.

I have asked for a budget to be prepared in presented to my senior management team so that we can start addressing the places where things are not going right, and substantially invest in making things right, he said.

Prof. Pal also said that they hope to fix the campus this year.

But the academic provision in USP is very good right up to our doctorate students, and I have a fairly good confidence in the standard.

Our students are doing well, if you enroll at this campus, not only do you get the benefit of the academic staff here, but of course our campuses are in 12 different countries.

And our students have the opportunity to study wherever courses are taught, sometimes they are taught online, there is always support online, because at the end of the day we want to make sure that our students succeed, he added.

Prof. Pal also added that it is not an easy programme, but the university cannot compromise on quality, and they had to make sure that the necessary remedial skills for students who are finding it difficult are provided.

I also acknowledge the tremendous support from the Government of Samoa; theyve been supportive in what we are doing. Theyve been supportive of my leadership.

USP is putting more effort into student support to make sure that when students come to study here they dont fail.

Thats one of our priorities and we have to revise our strategic plan, which will really emphasize support for students and regional campuses.
A powerful US congressional panel on Monday demanded documents from a whos who of President Donald Trumps turbulent world, targeting 81 people, government agencies and other groups as part of an investigation into possible obstruction of justice or abuse of power.

Family members, current and former business employees, Republican campaign staffers and former White House aides, as well as the FBI, White House and WikiLeaks were listed as recipients of documents requests by the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee.

The House of Representatives panel also named the presidents sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, White House aide and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, former US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former White House counsel Don McGahn.

We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight, said US Representative Jerrold Nadler, Judiciary Committee chairman. Congress must provide a check on abuses of power.

The Republican president faces investigations from several congressional committees, as well as the 22-month-long federal special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to sway the outcome.

At the White House, Trump was asked if he would cooperate with Nadlers probe. I cooperate all the time with everybody, he said before adding: You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. Its all a hoax. You get to learn about that as you grow older. Its a political hoax.

A committee lawyer told reporters the immediate aim is to amass a large trove of evidence to guide the investigation and help decide which witnesses to approach. The panel is prepared to use its subpoena power if needed, the lawyer said.

Among the committees aims is determining whether Trump obstructed justice by ousting perceived enemies at the Justice Department, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and abused his presidential power by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses.

Comey was leading an investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 US presidential election and possible collusion with Trumps campaign when the president fired him in May 2017.

The investigation was subsequently taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to end his investigation and report his findings to Attorney General William Barr in coming weeks.

White House Response Pending

The Judiciary Committee also is looking at whether Trump has used the White House for personal enrichment in violation of the Constitutions emoluments clause.

The White House has received the committees letter and will respond at the appropriate time, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the department is evaluating the request.

Republicans in Congress accuse Democrats of pursuing an impeachment agenda against Trump as part of a political strategy to reclaim the White House in the 2020 election.

Democrats say talk of impeachment is premature. They say the first step is to initiate proper investigations, which were missing in the first two years of Trumps presidency, when his fellow Republicans controlled the House of Representatives.

Nadler said Mueller and the US Attorneys Office in Manhattan are aware of the committees action.

The US Attorneys Office in the Southern District of New York led the investigation into hush money payments that Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen said he helped facilitate to keep stories about Trumps alleged sexual affairs under wraps. In congressional testimony last week, Cohen said the office was still investigating other possible illegal acts involving Trump.

We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people, Nadler said.

Some of those the committee is seeking documents from are among the dozens charged by Mueller. They include former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump adviser Roger Stone and Cohen.

Also on the committees list are others who worked on Trumps 2016 campaign or in the White House, such as Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer; Rhona Graff, a long-time executive assistant at the Trump Organization; and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc, which publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.

Trump maintains that his campaign did not collude with Russia and has repeatedly attacked the investigation on Twitter.

Democrats say Cohens testimony before the House Oversight Committee last week directly implicated Trump in various crimes including campaign finance violations.

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It remains unknown if action has been taken by the relevant authorities following the findings of an audit report, which revealed alleged malpractice and violations of the terms of a grant in a US$16.16 million (WST40 million) World Bank-funded project.

The Auditors Report into the Samoa Agriculture Competitiveness Enhancement Project for the period July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018 uncovered what the auditors have described as high risk practices.

The audit report categorised the project high risk, noting that from their review and analysis of the matching grant program, they found some highly important misleading information where a payout was made under this project.

This misleading information was verified and confirmed by our site visit in Savaii. The monitoring of this project is extremely terrible, conveyed for releasing of last tranche, but the project is incomplete or it does not exist.

Misleading information of photos on the files to release payments is very unacceptable practice and a direct violation of grant terms, stated the audit report.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) Chief Executive Officer, Tilafono David Hunter, has not responded to telephone calls or emails that were made and sent by the Samoa Observer seeking his comment. Attempts to get a comment from the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Lopaoo Natanielu, were also unsuccessful.

According to the project details  which are provided on the World Bank website  the aim of the project was to support Samoan fruit and vegetable growers and livestock producers to improve their productivity and take advantage of market opportunities. It was approved in March 2012 and was scheduled to close in December last year. The total cost of the project was US$16.16 million with the World Bank committing US$8 million. The project had three components: livestock production and marketing; fruit and vegetable production and marketing and; institutional strengthening.

It is not known if the balance of the projects total cost was to be met by the Samoa Government.

Checks by this newspaper showed that a MAF opened a Facebook page in 2014, which appeared to be dedicated to providing updates on the project. However, the page only had five photographs uploaded with the last post dated March 12, 2014. The photographs showed consultations with villagers and presentations by officials, but no further information was provided.
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi is in Israel, meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday in Jerusalem.

Prime Minister Tuilaepa, this is your first visit to Israel and Im sure it wont be the last because theres an abiding friendship between Samoa and Israel, and we greet you here as a friend, Netanyahu is quoted as saying by The Algemeiner.

Were going to sign an agreement to remove visa requirements for Israelis and Samoans.

We appreciate your friendship. We appreciate your support in international forums and your support for Israel joining the Asian Development Bank. Equally we are cooperating in many areas in agriculture, IT, health and energy and we are prepared to do a lot more.

You are being welcomed as a friend, the Israeli leader stated. I know that youve had time to visit some of the sites here. I hope you take some more time. Youll see an ancient land with deep roots in our history, yet with a striving to seize the future for the betterment of our people and all mankind. In that sense we welcome you as part of our common civilization. Welcome friend, to Jerusalem.

Tuilaepa was also hosted for a meeting by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Monday.

Our countries are on different sides of the globe but the friendship between us is deep and real, Rivlin said. I know that you are deeply worried about climate change. We live on the same planet, breathe the same air and drink the same water and it is our shared responsibility to ensure that climate change does not destroy our world. Our researchers develop new ideas into that are changing the world. We believe these developments can benefit us all and we are happy to share them, as we are doing with you in agriculture and water.

The Samoan leader told Rivlin, Mr President, thank you for welcoming me and my delegation to your beautiful country. Israels knowledge economy is well-known around the world and we want to make use of your achievements in many fields. The world is getting smaller and smaller and we look forward to greater interaction with you, and between Israel and the members of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).

Israel and Samoa established diplomatic relations in the 1970s. According to the Israeli Embassy in New Zealand, the Jewish state and Samoa have endeavored to address challenges in the areas of sustainable development, human rights, poverty, terrorism, transnational crime and indeed, climate change and sea level rise, which is an issue of importance and urgency in the Pacific region.

Two years ago, a member of the Samoan Parliament, Alaiasa Sepulona Moananu, called on his nation to unequivocally back Israel in the face of growing hostility against Gods people from other countries in the world.
MOSCOW (AP)  President Vladimir Putin on Monday suspended Russia's participation in a key nuclear arms treaty, in response to Washington's decision to withdraw.

In a decree, Putin suspended Russia's obligations under the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty and said it will continue to do so "until the U.S. ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates."

Putin's order came as Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military's General Staff, met in Vienna with U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for talks on strategic stability. The INF treaty was one of the issues discussed in what the Russia's Defense Ministry described as "constructive" talks.

The U.S. gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the INF a month ago, setting the stage for it to terminate in six months unless Moscow returns to compliance. Russia has denied any breaches, and accused the U.S. of violating the pact.

The U.S. has accused Russia of developing and deploying a cruise missile that violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,410 miles).

The move also reflected President Donald Trump's administration's view that the treaty was an obstacle to efforts needed to counter intermediate-range missiles deployed by China, which isn't part of the treaty.

Russia has charged that the U.S. has breached the pact by deploying missile defense facilities in eastern Europe that could fire cruise missiles instead of interceptors  a claim rejected by the U.S.

The collapse of the INF Treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era Europe missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent during the 1980s.

Such weapons take shorter time to reach their targets compared to intercontinental ballistic missiles, and their deployment was seen as particularly destabilizing, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

Putin has warned the U.S. against deploying new missiles in Europe, saying that Russia will retaliate by fielding new fast weapons that will take just as little time to reach their targets.

At the United Nations, spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres holds a strong hope that Moscow and Washington could resolve their differences over the treaty in the coming months.

"The INF is a very important part of the international arms control architecture," Dujarric said.

"It has contributed tangibly to the maintenance of peace and stability, notably in Europe."
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Declaring that the church "isn't afraid of history," Pope Francis said Monday he has decided to open up the Vatican archives on World War II-era Pope Pius XII, who has been criticized by Jews of staying silent on the Holocaust.

Francis told officials and personnel of the Vatican Secret Archives that the archive would be open to researchers starting March 2, 2020.

Pius was elected pontiff on March 2, 1939, six months before World War II erupted in Europe. Pius died on Oct. 9, 1958, at the Vatican summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

The Vatican usually waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open up the relevant archives. But the Holy See has been under pressure to make the Pius XII documentation available sooner and while Holocaust survivors are still alive. The Catholic church has been widely criticized for not doing enough to stand up to the Nazi regime.

Vatican archivists had already started preparing the documentation for consultation back in 2006, at the behest of Francis' German-born predecessor, Benedict XVI.

The Vatican has defended Pius, saying he used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save lives. Francis indicated he, too, embraced that interpretation.

Pius' actions will be scrutinized as part of efforts underway to decide if he should be declared a saint. Francis indicated that the church was confident that the papacy would withstand the findings by historians' studying the archives, saying Pius was "criticized, one can say, with some prejudice and exaggeration."

In Jerusalem, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial commended the decision and expressed the expectation that "researchers will be granted full access to all the documents stored in the archives."

It noted that it had for years called for the opening of the archives, saying that will "enable objective and open research as well as comprehensive discourse on issues related to the conduct of the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic church in general, during the Holocaust."

Israel's foreign ministry also expressed hopes that there would be "free access to all relevant archives."

Francis expressed confidence it was the right move.

"The church isn't afraid of history, on the contrary, it loves it, and would like to love it even more, like it loves God," Francis told staff at the archive.

"Thus, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open, and entrust to researchers, this patrimony of documentation."

Francis expressed certainty that historical research would properly evaluate Pius' legacy "with appropriate criticism."

He said the Pius papacy included "moments of grave difficulties, tormented decisions of human and Christian prudence, that to some could appear as reticence." Instead, he said they could be seen as attempts "to keep lit, in the darkest and cruelest periods, the flame of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy" aimed at possibly "opening hearts."

Monday's announcement followed decades of lobbying by Jewish advocates for access to the documentation to help answer the long-standing question of whether Pius did all he could to save lives during World War II.

In New York, Rabbi David Rosen, the international director for interreligious affairs at the American Jewish Committee called Francis' decision "enormously important to Catholic-Jewish relations."

He noted in a statement that he had raised the issue with Francis and his predecessors in meetings.

"It is particularly important that experts from the leading Holocaust memorial institutes in Israel and the United States objectively evaluate as best as possible the historical record of that most terrible of times  to acknowledge both the failures as well as the valiant efforts made during the period of the systematic murder of six million Jews," Rosen said.

Later this week, it said a delegation of the Committee's leadership will be given an audience with the pope at the Vatican. The organization has lobbied for more than 30 years for full access to the archives.

Historians will also be keen on examining documents from Pius XII's papacy in the years after the war ended in 1945.

In 1983, the Vatican dismissed as "absolutely absurd" a claim in a Jewish magazine that the Vatican aided Klaus Barbie and other high-ranking Nazi war criminals in their escape from Europe, along with legitimate refugees, after the war.

Defenders of Pius' wartime actions have noted that some convents and other religious institutes in Italy helped hide Jews, including during the Nazi occupation of Rome.
Southwest Airlines began selling tickets Monday for its long-awaited nonstop flights from the West Coast to Hawaii, starting with Oakland as the first departure city. The launch date for San Diego flights will be revealed in the coming weeks.

The debut of the new service came with heavily discounted one-way fares to Oahu and Maui for as low as $49. It is likely that a similarly low promotional fare could be offered once the San Diego flights begin. The discounted tickets, part of a two-day fare sale for travel through June 19, sold out within two hours following Southwests morning announcement.

The airline reached out on Twitter to respond to frustrated customers unable to nab the sale fares, noting that demand for those first seats at our two-day launch fare has thousands of our customers already booked on new flights between California and the Islands.

The new flights from Oakland to Oahu start March 17, followed by an inaugural flight to Maui on April 7. The once daily flights will quickly transition to two flights a day. Service out of San Jose to Honolulu is up next, with the once daily flights starting May 5, followed by nonstop flights to Maui on May 26.

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The airline was more vague about its plans for San Diego, although connecting service will be available via Oakland, starting March 24 for Honolulu flights, followed by service to Maui on April 28.

Were just getting started with our build-out of Hawaii service and intentionally offer our San Diego customers connections to (Hawaii) from day one, said Andrew Watterson, Southwest Airlines executive vice president and chief revenue officer. We worked hard to publish this schedule and get these initial flights launching here in the next couple of weeks. Well have news on San Diegos initial nonstop service to Hawaii in the coming weeks.

Contributing to the Monday morning frenzy for low-priced fares were people from other parts of the country trying to purchase tickets for flights connecting through Oakland. A number of those bookings came from San Diego, said Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins.

Discounted one-way fares for San Diego flights going through Oakland were initially available for as low as $88 one way. By comparison, nonstop flights to Honolulu from San Diego on rival air carrier Alaska Airlines were as low as $179 one way on Monday.

The newly scheduled service comes on the heels of Southwests announcement last week that it had received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate the longer trans-Pacific flights. The airline had been pursuing the Hawaii itinerary for years and let it be known back in 2017 that it was hoping to start service by late last year, but the federal government shutdown delayed those plans.

In addition to the new nonstops, Southwest also is offering inter-island flights beginning April 28 between Honolulu and Maui, and starting May 12, service will begin between Honolulu and Kona. The fare sale advertised those flights for as low as $29 one way.

Southwests foray into the Hawaiian islands market is likely to spur lower fare offerings from its competitors well into the future, said airline analyst Henry Harteveldt. He noticed that other airlines, including Alaska, American and United, either matched or lowered their fares on Monday to be more competitive with Southwest.

He said that in his 30 years in the airline business, he had never seen a one-way fare as low as $49 for service between the West Coast and Hawaii.

Southwest for 47 years has built its brand on offering low airfares, he said. Theyre not always the lowest but Southwest often uses price to attract and keep its customers, and its too big of an airline for other airlines to ignore.

Southwest rival Alaska Airlines already flies nonstop between San Diego and Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the island of Hawaii. And Hawaiian Airlines flies to Oahu and Maui from San Diego.

Harteveldt offered advice for San Diego consumers eagerly awaiting the announcement of the start of Southwest service locally to Hawaii.

Once Southwest publishes its Hawaii schedules from San Diego, he said, watch for other airlines to match either nonstop flights from San Diego or connecting fights from San Diego through one of their hubs to Hawaii.

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lori.weisberg@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-2251

Twitter: @loriweisberg
The Grossmont Healthcare District, which is moving from at-large to district elections for its five-member board, has unveiled the maps showing the proposed boundaries for the new districts.

The tentative maps are now available for review at grossmonthealthcare.org/about-ghd/zone-based-elections.

The maps will also be shown at a March 4 public hearing at the districts conference center in La Mesa. The hearing will allow time for community review and comments.

The presentation will include the rationale behind the composition of the proposed maps by representatives from National Demographics Corp., the company hired by the district for its work in demographics and mapping.

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The hearing will be part of the board meeting at 7:30 a.m. at 9001 Wakarusa St. Another public hearing, expected to be held during a future Grossmont Healthcare District board meeting, has not yet been scheduled.

Three previous public hearings on the transition process have been held. The board made the decision to move away from at-large elections last October.

Ensuring weve been as diligent as possible in our community outreach appears to have worked, as weve had solid turnouts for the public hearings, District CEO Barry Jantz said. Nothing appears to be controversial. Most of the speakers have simply asked questions about the process rather than weigh in with strong opinions about the composition of the new boundaries. I look forward to now hearing input on the proposed maps.

The district is also taking written input on the process. Emails can be sent to Jantz at bjantz@grossmonthealthcare.org.

Final maps could be adopted by the healthcare district board as soon as April, according to a schedule approved by the board last year.

If final maps are approved per the schedule, the first zone-based election with board members elected only by voters residing within a specific election district or zone would be held in November 2020.

The districts decision to go to zone-based elections is related to the 2001 California Voting Rights Act.

Statewide, hundreds of local public agencies, including healthcare, water and school districts, as well as cities and other governmental jurisdictions have transitioned. Locally, Grossmont Union High School District, Cajon Valley Union School District and the cities of El Cajon and Santee have all gone to by-district elections.

karen.pearlman@sduniontribune.com
Surf, sand and sun salutations converged this weekend at the third annual San Diego Yoga Festival at Imperial Beach.

At an event that combined holistic health and San Diego beach culture, some 5,000 guests turned out to perfect their poses, sample vegan food booths and get namastoked, a play on the Sanskrit greeting, namaste.

I am happy, I am confident, I am the great spirit, a teacher chanted to guitar music by the Conscious Groove on Sunday, as 200 participants spread out mats on the sand for one of several dozen yoga sessions offered between Friday and Monday.

The classes spanned numerous styles and disciplines, from Vinyasa and Kundalini, to kid-friendly family yoga, senior yoga, anti-aging face yoga, and even yoga with chocolate pairings or on skateboards.

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Im really big on making it accessible to everybody, founder Shawna Schenk said.

1 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in morning yoga session held Sunday morning on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 2 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 3 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 4 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 5 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 6 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 7 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 8 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 9 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 10 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in the morning yoga session held Sunday on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 11 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in morning yoga session held Sunday morning on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune) 12 / 12 At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in morning yoga session held Sunday morning on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Schenk started the festival three years ago as an offshoot to the yoga studio she ran out of her home. She made enough profit last year to open a separate studio, where she offers classes on a donation basis.

Schenk had taught at a number of other festivals in the seven years since she became a yoga instructor and figured San Diego was an idyllic site to host her own.

Still, the city known for its perfect weather threw a curveball Saturday when Schenk aimed to break the Guinness World Record for the largest partner yoga class. To achieve that, she needed to draw more than 2,457 participants. Amid the downpour, 350 people showed up, but to Schenk, that was still a win.

I feel like 350 people doing yoga in the rain is better than breaking a world record, she said.

There were other perks to that event, including the choice of partners, said participant Joyce Sisson.

I got paired up with a cute man, she said. He was gorgeous. Its amazing when you feel that heartbeat. It was awesome.

On Sunday, the climate cooperated with the festivals schedule, despite forecasts of rain.

We got the sun, Schenk said. Im really happy. I think its all the vibes and good intentions. We changed the weather.

The festival also offered a virtual one-stop shop for the holistically attuned, with yoga clothing and gear available for sale, along with crystals, herbs and aromatherapy oil. The board game Yogaland challenges players to pull cards from four categories, including mind, body, spirit and third eye, and then complete tasks such as drawing yoga poses or reciting their Sanskrit names.

Guests could snack on acai bowls, gluten-free cakes and cookies, avocado bagels or Mozambique-inspired comfort food, consisting of various veggie stews in savory curry sauce.

For a dollar a minute, participants could try out a session of Reiki, a touchless stress reduction and relaxation technique that Schenk referred to as a massage for the unseen part of the body.

They could also get a quick acupuncture session, and sample new styles of yoga.

My favorite part of the festival is all the different types of yoga, and how it brings all these different people in the community together, said yoga instructor Mandy Van Buren. I just tried Kundalini and the way it gets your energy moving, theres something just so metamorphic about it.

Instructor Karla Rodas invited military members and their families to join a session of trauma-conscious yoga, which offers free classes for the military population. For Marine veteran Nathan Lynch, who suffered severe burns during his service, yoga has offered a way to cope with pain and distress without drugs. He attended the festival to reach other people struggling with those problems.

Ive been in those times when youre popping pills and drinking copious amounts of alcohol, and sinking into the shadows until you pull yourself out, he said. So if I see somebody who needs help, I give a helping hand.

At the San Diego Yoga Festival held in Imperial Beach, several participants took part in morning yoga session held Sunday morning on the sand near the Imperial Beach Pier. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune)

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
More than a year after Coronado was threatened with possible legal action, the city on Friday replaced a church directory sign that had been displayed on public property for decades.

The directory, which prominently featured names of 10 Christian churches, was replaced with a larger sign that lists the same churches alongside civic organizations, such as the Rotary Club and Girl Scouts San Diego, and at least one non-Christian group, Chabad of Coronado.

The sign maintains the characteristics of the former sign with the wood frame, but accommodates more names and blends well with the parks surroundings, City Manager Blair King said in a message to residents.

Coronado decided to remove the sign in February 2018 after getting a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the countrys largest non-theist advocacy organization. The group promotes the separation of church and state and has sued multiple cities for having religious displays on public property.

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The letter stated that the public church directory raises serious constitutional concerns under the Establishment Clause. Specifically, the group was concerned the sign could give someone the impression that Coronado was promoting Christianity over other faiths.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent Coronado the letter after a resident reached out to the organization. The resident, Ryan Meoni, had sent Coronado an email about the sign and reached out to FFRF when he didnt hear back from the city.

Meoni told the Union-Tribune that he never pushed for the sign to be removed and would have been happy if the city simply made the sign more inclusive by removing the word church.

Meoni declined an interview request about the signs removal Friday.

Last year, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey said the city would remove the sign to avoid potential First Amendment legal challenges and in the interest of efficient use of public resources.

Bailey did not respond to an interview request Friday.

News of last years letter caught the attention of Charles LiMandri, the attorney who represented San Diego in the Mount Soledad lawsuit. LiMandri offered to represent Coronado pro-bono if the city decided to fight the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

However, Coronado declined the offer and chose to remove the sign.

The city first tried to have another organization take the sign. The Coronado Resurrection Lutheran Church and the Masonic Lodge No. 441 both declined.

With no place to call home, the city paid a design firm $6,900 to come up with a new sign that features 36 different organizations.

Contact Gustavo Solis via Email or Twitter
The 10 candidates running to fill a vacancy on the Los Angeles Board of Education all want increased funding for local schools, but they differ strongly on other issues, including the growth of charter schools and the leadership of L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner.

The special election, which takes place Tuesday, will fill the seat left open last July when Ref Rodriguez resigned after pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws.

No candidate claims to be against charter schools, but perspectives vary on these privately operated campuses, which are mostly non-union. Charters compete with district-run schools for students  and their growing numbers in a school system with declining enrollment have been a flashpoint issue. Some candidates favor a moratorium on new charters. The most critical of charters is Jackie Goldberg; the most supportive is Allison Bajracharya.

All the candidates have ties to children in local public schools  in Goldbergs case, her grandchildren. But the parents of school-age children  Bajracharya, Cynthia Gonzalez, Nestor Enrique Valencia and Heather Repenning  assert this as a particular qualification.

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Allison Bajracharya, 40

Allison Bajracharya (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Former chief operations and strategy officer for Camino Nuevo Charter Academy

A Los Feliz resident, Bajracharya has worked in recent years in leadership positions in charter schools or pro-charter organizations. Her children attend a district-run neighborhood elementary school. L.A. Unified, she says, has failed to create a culture of excellence and high expectations for all students. She wants the district to move as quickly as possible to require students to earn a C or better in courses required for admission to a four-year state college. She strongly opposed the teachers strike but also says it helped galvanize support for better funding for public education.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district: She says the low number of district students who graduate from college is outrageous and says she would give the district a grade of C- at best. But she also says that L.A. Unified is recognizing the need to be more responsive to the community by adding new magnet schools and thinking in a more innovative way about the progression of students from kindergarten through 12th grade. She believes the district makes it far too hard for parents to have input.

She says the low number of district students who graduate from college is outrageous and says she would give the district a grade of C- at best. But she also says that L.A. Unified is recognizing the need to be more responsive to the community by adding new magnet schools and thinking in a more innovative way about the progression of students from kindergarten through 12th grade. She believes the district makes it far too hard for parents to have input. Charter schools: She opposes a moratorium but also doesnt think the solution for the school system is to charterize it.

She opposes a moratorium but also doesnt think the solution for the school system is to charterize it. Austin Beutner and the school board: Beutner, she says, came in to make some really tough financial decisions, but I think he has not demonstrated an ability to build trust in the public with parents and teachers and also with the school board.

Endorsements and funding: Her campaign has raised $229,514, as of the most recent filing date. She also has benefited from outside spending  about $139,000 by the New York-based Students for Education Reform Action Network, which is associated with charter-school backers.

Ana Cubas, 48

Ana Cubas (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Instructor, East L.A. College, teaching citizenship classes

The former senior L.A. City Council aide, who once finished second in a race for the council, also heads a nonprofit that organizes an annual three-day leadership training program for young Latinas. She emphasizes the needs of low-income Latino students: The fundamental issue is social justice and equity. Until you address needs of Latino students, the school district will continue to have some failures. She supports higher teacher salaries and better education funding, but believes in holding problem teachers accountable.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district: Lack of budget transparency has contributed to distrust and budget problems, she says. She wants to set up a special budget committee that would enlist outside experts to provide the school board with advice on a regular basis.

Lack of budget transparency has contributed to distrust and budget problems, she says. She wants to set up a special budget committee that would enlist outside experts to provide the school board with advice on a regular basis. Charter schools: She supports a pause in approving new charters while state law on charters is updated.

She supports a pause in approving new charters while state law on charters is updated. Austin Beutner and the school board: She says Beutner hasnt successfully provided fiscal oversight. She wants a new superintendent with education experience as well as management skills.

Endorsements and funding: She has raised $62,362. Her website lists endorsements from at least nine local elected officials.

Jackie Goldberg, 74

Jackie Goldberg (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Chairwoman of the citys local hiring working group

After establishing herself as a teacher in the Compton school district, Goldberg, who lives in Echo Park, served two terms on the L.A. school board, ending in 1991. She later served on the L.A. City Council and in the state Legislature. In her current job, she oversees efforts to help former inmates and the formerly homeless find city jobs. Goldberg says the district should do much more to raise revenue but also can find ways to make change without more funding, such as by moving more authority to parents, teachers and administrators at schools. She also says that more thoughtful effort is needed for the reform of student discipline policies  which emphasize counseling over punishment  to be successful.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district: She believes it is reasonably strong given that it is so underfunded and that the districts budget is further challenged by declining enrollment, for which she holds charters substantially responsible. She says more work needs to be done to ensure that all children graduate from school knowing at least two languages.

She believes it is reasonably strong given that it is so underfunded and that the districts budget is further challenged by declining enrollment, for which she holds charters substantially responsible. She says more work needs to be done to ensure that all children graduate from school knowing at least two languages. Charter schools : She supports a moratorium on new charters and says existing charters need more stringent monitoring  fiscally and educationally  at the state and local level.

: She supports a moratorium on new charters and says existing charters need more stringent monitoring  fiscally and educationally  at the state and local level. Austin Beutner and the school board: She opposed hiring Beutner: Im old-fashioned. I think educators should run school districts, not finance managers. She also says that hes been too secretive and did not do a good job managing events leading up to the teachers strike. All the same, she says, Im not coming on the board to fire him. My goal is to see if we can all work together.

Endorsements and funding: The teachers union and its parent organizations have poured more than $640,000 into an outside campaign on her behalf. Her own campaign has raised about $200,000. Many other unions and a long list of current and former public officials and activists have endorsed her.

Cynthia Gonzalez, 40

Cynthia Gonzalez (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

L.A. Unified principal

A principal at the Communications and Technology School in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood, Gonzalez wants schools to have more autonomy in how to spend their budgets. She says Board District 5 is a microcosm of the inequity throughout the school system: Students in affluent areas, like the districts northern portion, attend schools that function better than those in communities with more poverty, like in the districts southern section. Such solutions as converting schools to magnets are not enough, she says, to address the core issue of what resources are needed on campuses.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district: The school district needs to better prioritize its spending, she says, and reduce the bureaucracy that makes it hard for schools to use the money allocated to them.

The school district needs to better prioritize its spending, she says, and reduce the bureaucracy that makes it hard for schools to use the money allocated to them. Charter schools: Gonzalez supports a moratorium on new charters. When she was a principal at Roosevelt High School, she says, she saw the negative effect on campus resources when students began leaving for charters.

Gonzalez supports a moratorium on new charters. When she was a principal at Roosevelt High School, she says, she saw the negative effect on campus resources when students began leaving for charters. Austin Beutner and the school board: Beutner does not appear to have a strong or inspiring vision for the district, she says, and comes with too much baggage. If elected, she would evaluate his ability to create and execute such a vision, with input from community members. On the school board, she says, she would be a strong middle, balancing different points of view.

Endorsements and funding: Gonzalez has raised about $36,000. She has been endorsed by the L.A. Times editorial board and by Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, the union that represents district administrators. That union also has endorsed Goldberg.

Graciela Ortiz, 38

Graciela Ortiz (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

LAUSD counselor, Huntington Park councilwoman

Ortiz would focus on developing a consistent discipline policy and increasing safety  not just with school police officers but with mental health professionals and other key staff. Ortiz is a member of the teachers union and went out on strike with her colleagues, but says the gains from the strike were not worth students losing six days of instruction.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district: Although its good that the district is focused on increasing attendance, she says, too many students are entering high school without necessary math and English skills. She says communities in the Southeast  including Huntington Park, where she was raised and now lives  are not kept up to date on projects at their schools.

Although its good that the district is focused on increasing attendance, she says, too many students are entering high school without necessary math and English skills. She says communities in the Southeast  including Huntington Park, where she was raised and now lives  are not kept up to date on projects at their schools. Charter schools: If a school is performing well for families, she says, it should be allowed to continue to do so. Community members dont care about the distinctions between charters and district-run schools, she says. They only care about whether a school is working for them.

If a school is performing well for families, she says, it should be allowed to continue to do so. Community members dont care about the distinctions between charters and district-run schools, she says. They only care about whether a school is working for them. Austin Beutner and the school board: Ortiz did not want to evaluate Beutner or school board members since she has not worked with them: I am ready to work with every single one of them.

Endorsements and funding: Ortiz has raised about $130,000 from individual donors. Its less clear whos behind the more than $80,000 in spending on her behalf by a group called Building Community Through Education in Support of Graciela Ortiz for School Board 2019. Much of that funding appears to have been collected by political allies in southeast L.A. County. She has been endorsed by L.A. City Councilman Gil Cedillo, unions representing school police officers and their managers and some council members in the Southeast cities that are part of District 5.

Heather Repenning, 44

Heather Repenning (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Consultant for the Getty House Foundation; former vice president, L.A. Board of Public Works

Repenning, who lives in Silver Lake, positions herself as a candidate with relevant local government experience. She says financial transparency was key at her recent job with the citys Board of Public Works. Her priorities on the school board would be to identify more funding sources, get more state funding for early education and bring in partners to provide more services to students.

What she thinks about:

The state of the district : Repenning give good marks to L.A. Unified for providing innovation and flexibility for parents by adding more magnet schools and dual-language programs. She wants to increase partnerships with outside agencies to bring in more programs and funding. Like her key political ally, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, she thinks the recent contract with teachers struck a good balance between financial restraint and spending to help schools now: The strike agreement probably found that middle ground, but certainly theres more to be done.

: Repenning give good marks to L.A. Unified for providing innovation and flexibility for parents by adding more magnet schools and dual-language programs. She wants to increase partnerships with outside agencies to bring in more programs and funding. Like her key political ally, L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, she thinks the recent contract with teachers struck a good balance between financial restraint and spending to help schools now: The strike agreement probably found that middle ground, but certainly theres more to be done. Charter schools : Repenning opposes an immediate cap on new charter schools, but favors a study of their effects on the district. Given the school systems declining enrollment, she says, I think its appropriate to have a discussion about how many new schools we should be opening.

: Repenning opposes an immediate cap on new charter schools, but favors a study of their effects on the district. Given the school systems declining enrollment, she says, I think its appropriate to have a discussion about how many new schools we should be opening. Beutner and the school board: Beutner has focused more on the districts finances than on building trust and communicating with families, when in reality he needs to do both, she says. She would evaluate him based on graduation rates and his ability to improve the most underperforming schools.

Endorsements and funding: Her campaign has reported raising about $287,000. Separately, Local 99 of Service Employees International Union, which represents most of the districts non-teaching employees, has poured nearly $920,000 into getting Repenning elected, more than any other group for any candidate. Garcettis endorsement has helped pull in other backers.

Rocio Rivas, 45

Rocio Rivas (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Freelance researcher

A Highland Park resident and a neighborhood council leader, Rivas will appear on the ballot, but she announced this week that she is dropping out of the race and endorsing Goldberg.

Salvador Chamba Sanchez (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Instructor at East L.A. College and L.A. Trade-Technical College, teaching social sciences

A Silver Lake resident, Sanchez has been a neighborhood council leader and was an organizer in the Justice for Janitors union campaign. He wants all district parents to be able to vote in school board elections, even if they are not citizens. He supports raising taxes to increase school funding, and hed also explore whether the district could benefit by selling off some of its real estate. He offers to serve as a voice of reason: There is this war between charters and the district that gets in way of instruction.

What he thinks about:

The state of the district: L.A. Unified, he says, is on the brink of insolvency and students cannot even read their diplomas. He also recognizes that poverty is a major problem and it has a lot to do with education.

L.A. Unified, he says, is on the brink of insolvency and students cannot even read their diplomas. He also recognizes that poverty is a major problem and it has a lot to do with education. Charter schools: The school boards recent resolution calling for a moratorium is pointless because it is nonbinding, he says. Besides, he says, charter schools should play a role in public education, although they also should be held accountable for their performance: Parents should have choices. I dont think charters can replace public schools.

The school boards recent resolution calling for a moratorium is pointless because it is nonbinding, he says. Besides, he says, charter schools should play a role in public education, although they also should be held accountable for their performance: Parents should have choices. I dont think charters can replace public schools. Austin Beutner and the school board: Beutner deserves a B+, Sanchez says: He is attacked for his background. That is a distraction. I think he has great ideas. I want people with ideas. I think hes doing very well.

Endorsements and funding: Sanchez has raised nearly $20,000.

David Valdez, 40

David Valdez (Howard Blume / Los Angeles Times)

Former L.A. County arts commissioner

Valdez is a Silver Lake neighborhood councilman who stepped down from the L.A. County Arts Commission in December to run for this seat. He works at NBC Universal as a training and development manager. He grew up in East L.A. and has family members who are LAUSD teachers. He wants class sizes to decrease beyond what was negotiated in the teachers contract, and wants to work to increase state education spending. Valdez talked more than any other candidate about increasing arts options for students.

What he thinks about:

The state of the district: He says it is unacceptable for California to spend so little on schools compared with other states, and he wants to reverse that trend.

He says it is unacceptable for California to spend so little on schools compared with other states, and he wants to reverse that trend. Charter schools: Valdez supports a moratorium on new charters but thinks the conversation in LAUSD needs to move away from charter schools versus traditional schools, to focus on gaps in opportunity and learning.

Valdez supports a moratorium on new charters but thinks the conversation in LAUSD needs to move away from charter schools versus traditional schools, to focus on gaps in opportunity and learning. Austin Beutner and the school board: Beutner needs to do a better job connecting with the community, Valdez says, but he would work to build a partnership with the schools chief if elected.

Endorsements and funding: He has raised about $24,000 and spent about $22,000 in support of his campaign.

Nestor Enrique Valencia, 53

Nestor Enrique Valencia (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Councilman, city of Bell

Valencia emphasizes that he grew up in the district he now wants to represent. He says he wants to delve deeper into why schools are not performing well. He also wants more done to increase attendance as a means of increasing revenue: We cannot be passive about not having a kid in school for two days.

What he thinks about:

The state of the district: Valencia gives the district a 7 out of 10. He notes that the graduation rate is improving but says schools need to perform better academically and give students more guidance about life after high school. Valencia says he has doubts about both extremes in the debate over district finances. Hes not sure the district faces insolvency, but he also questions how much money is available for new spending. He wants to send the right people to Sacramento to advocate for funding.

Valencia gives the district a 7 out of 10. He notes that the graduation rate is improving but says schools need to perform better academically and give students more guidance about life after high school. Valencia says he has doubts about both extremes in the debate over district finances. Hes not sure the district faces insolvency, but he also questions how much money is available for new spending. He wants to send the right people to Sacramento to advocate for funding. Charter schools: Im not for charter schools. Im not for UTLA, he says. He would support a moratorium on new charter schools if necessary. He wants charter schools to serve their original purpose, which was to try new ideas and bring them back to neighborhood schools.

Im not for charter schools. Im not for UTLA, he says. He would support a moratorium on new charter schools if necessary. He wants charter schools to serve their original purpose, which was to try new ideas and bring them back to neighborhood schools. Austin Beutner and the school board: Valencia has been critical of Beutner since his hiring, saying he did not have adequate experience, but he thinks the superintendents office did a good job of communicating with him as a parent and city councilman during the strike.

Endorsements and funding: Valencia has raised $2,664 and spent $5,286 in support of his campaign.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.
Los Angeles teachers drew widespread support when they went on strike in January, but public commitment to their cause will be tested Tuesday in an important school board election.

Ten people are vying to fill the open District 5 seat, and the teachers union is walking neighborhoods and mailing flyers for Jackie Goldberg  a veteran elected official who came out of political retirement to run. A victory for Goldberg  a front-runner  could tilt the direction of the Board of Education toward United Teachers Los Angeles.

Other candidates also have powerful endorsements and financial backing. Former charter-school leader Allison Bajracharya has gotten help from charter-school supporters and Heather Repenning, who has spent years in city government, has the backing of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the union that represents most non-teaching school district employees. Graciela Ortiz has raised the most campaign funds of the Latino candidates vying to represent a district that was carved out to help elect a Latino.

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Meet the candidates running for District 5 of the L.A. school board.

The winner will join a board that is split on how to deal with the growing number of privately operated charter schools  which compete with district schools for students  and on how to address low achievement and declining enrollment in the district. The nations second-largest school system also faces serious long-term financial challenges.

Board members also should soon see the long-awaited strategic plan of Supt. Austin Beutner, who was hired last May largely with the support of those helped into office by charter-school enthusiasts. Beutner has insisted that his primary focus is on making public schools more successful for all students. He says his plan will give schools more control over decisions and resources. Critics have expressed concerns that consultants brought in to advise him have favored aggressive measures in other school systems  such as converting low-performing traditional schools into charters.

The candidates are divided on Beutner, though most express little enthusiasm for his performance to date.

District 5 includes neighborhoods north of downtown and then cuts a narrow path east of downtown to the cities of southeast L.A. County. The seat opened up when Ref Rodriguez resigned last July after pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws. The winner will serve the remainder of Rodriguezs term, through 2020. If no candidate claims a majority, the two top finishers will compete in a May 14 runoff.

Although Goldberg would be just one of seven members, she would add to an ideologically divided board a strong voice in favor of containing charter-school growth. Like the teachers union, she supports a moratorium on new charters in the district  which would require a change to state law. (Rodriguez, by contrast, was co-founder of a charter-school organization.)

Bajracharya, a Los Feliz resident, must compete for voters from the same areas of the district where Goldberg is best known: the pro-union, voter-rich enclaves of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Eagle Rock.

Until she began her campaign, Bajracharya, a Los Feliz resident, was a senior executive at Camino Nuevo Public Schools, a well-regarded charter school network. Her two children attend Franklin Elementary, a traditional public school campus. It would be an oversimplification to cast her as focused on charters, but she opposes a moratorium on new charters. Separately, she sides with those who believe that the district is in serious financial trouble  which the teachers union disputes.

Goldberg says the districts financial perils are overstated but that much more money is needed to provide adequate services to students. The other candidates also want more money for schools.

Goldberg previously served two terms on the school board and is known to be pragmatic despite her strong opinions. In 1987, the teachers union declined to endorse her for reelection, Goldberg recalled, after she was willing to support mandatory transfers of teachers if nothing else worked to fill vacancies at less desirable schools.

The transfers were not ultimately needed and Goldberg won anyway. Local voters subsequently sent her to the City Council and state Legislature.

Repenning is from the same part of the district as Goldberg and Bajracharya. A former public works commissioner, a longtime aide to Garcetti and a district parent, Repenning positions herself as the middle-ground candidate between the charters and teachers union.

The mayors support has helped her win other endorsements. She is endorsed by Local 99 of Services Employees International, which represents bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians and teaching assistants. (Many city employees belong to a sister SEIU chapter.)

Local 99 has emerged as the surprising big spender, kicking in about $850,000 through Sunday  for Repenning and against Goldberg and Ortiz. The teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has spent more than $570,000 on Goldberg.

Unlike in other recent races, charter-school supporters are not the biggest spenders. They dont want Goldberg but they dont have an obvious pro-charter candidate who is likely to win more votes.

Support from the California Charter Schools Assn. could be a mixed blessing for a candidate because the groups political wing pulled out all the stops to elect Rodriguez in 2015. The teachers union also effectively spread the message during the strike that traditional public schools are undermined as more and more charter schools come in  though charter supporters argue that this increased competition is good for students.

Still, Bajracharya has raised significant money from charter-school backers. Through Sunday, her campaign had collected nearly $230,000  compared to about $200,000 for Goldberg and $287,000 for Repenning.

A New York-based political action committee called Students for Education Reform Action Network, which is associated with charter-school backers, has funded a separate outside campaign for Bajracharya, spending about $117,000.

Ortiz, a school counselor and Huntington Park Council member, has raised about $130,000, far more than other Latino candidates vying for the districts Latino majority. She unsuccessfully tried to get the backing of the teachers union and charters, but her political allies within the Southeast cities have come through in an additional independent campaign with more than $80,000 in spending on her behalf. She also won endorsements from two unions representing school police.

The union that represents principals and other administrators has co-endorsed Goldberg and district principal Cynthia Gonzalez.

The other candidates for the seat are Bell City Council member Nestor Enrique Valencia, college instructors Ana Cubas and Salvador Chamba Sanchez, former county Arts Commission member David Valdez and Rocio Rivas, a neighborhood council leader.

Times staff writer Sonali Kohli contributed to this report.
Police seized more than 100 pounds of crystal meth worth $1 million in South Los Angeles over the weekend, authorities said.

Two people were arrested Sunday in the case, and officers recovered a loaded gun, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

Capt. Lee Sands of the LAPDs Southwest Division posted a tweet that included a photograph of the drugs, which appear to be wrapped in several dozen plastic bags, on a long table.

Sands said narcotics officers surprised drug traffickers when they interrupted the transportation of the drugs.

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Additional information about the case was not immediately available.

Southwest narcotics officers surprised drug traffickers when they interrupted the transportation of over 100lbs of Crystal Meth with a street value of approximately $1Million dollars, earmarked for our streets. Two suspects arrested and a loaded firearm was recovered.@LAPDHQ pic.twitter.com/Q3GORkNs7l  Captain Lee Sands (@LAPDCaptainLS) March 4, 2019

alejandra.reyesvelarde@latimes.com

Twitter: @r_valejandra
Newport Beach school officials on Sunday said they are investigating images posted on social media appearing to show a group of partying students  arms outstretched in a Nazi salute  gathered around red plastic cups arranged in the shape of a swastika.

Some of the people in the images are believed to be students or recent graduates of Newport Harbor High School, one official said. The other high schools in the district are Costa Mesa, Estancia, Early College and Corona del Mar.

The photos were allegedly taken this weekend at a party not affiliated with the school system.

Newport-Mesa Unified School District officials said they sent a letter to parents on Sunday.

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We were recently made aware of social media postings involving some students who created inappropriate anti-semitic symbols, and possible underage drinking, the letter said. While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-semitism and hate in all their forms.

Martha Fluor, vice president of the school board, said Supt. Fred Navarro first alerted district officials about the incident Sunday morning. Many of them received messages and emails from concerned parents and community members soon after, she said.

I find it just reprehensible that we still have pockets of our community that still think this is OK, Fluor said. This is unacceptable behavior both from a health standpoint with potential underage drinking as well as from a moral and ethical position.

She added that school and district officials met Sunday to discuss the incident and are working with law enforcement officials and others to determine appropriate disciplinary action.

We remain focused on educating students on all aspects of lifes challenges and are committed to holding students accountable, educating them on the consequences of their choices, and the impact these actions have on our schools and community at large, the district said.

We are asking that parents please partner with us in helping students make good decisions, be respectful of others, and to always use good judgment.

Students expressed outrage over the images.

Bianca Lutz, a 16-year-old Newport Harbor student, said she was extremely disturbed by the ignorance of those at the party and said some of her Jewish friends felt threatened.

Some students from Newport Harbor have asked their classmates to wear blue  the schools color  on Monday in a united stand against hate, according to a report from ABC 7.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, said that the images shouldnt be taken lightly and that all students involved should be suspended.

This is an insult to the 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust, Cooper said. Its also an insult to the many thousands of families in Southern California whose loved ones in the Greatest Generation fought, bled and died to defeat the Nazis and defeat the swastika.

The incident is a reminder that educating younger generations about the historical oppression of marginalized communities is still of great importance, Cooper said.

The Anti-Defamation League runs several educational programs in Orange County schools, but not at Newport Harbor High School, said Rabbi Peter Levi, regional director of the organizations Orange County chapter.

The goal is not to be reactionary when a school has such a horrific incident, but to be constantly talking with young people about hatred, about bias, so that the students themselves wouldve never let this happen, Levi said.

Nazi salutes are never jokes, Levi added, and treating them as such normalizes bigotry and helps lay the foundation for much bigger problems, like violence against Jewish people.

The number of documented acts of anti-Semitism in the U.S. has been on the rise in recent years. The Anti-Defamation League noted a 58% jump in such incidents from 2016-17. The sharp rise was due, in part, to a significant increase in incidents at schools and on college campuses, the organization said.

A high school outside Minneapolis made national news in mid-January after a photo surfaced of two students throwing Nazi salutes over a Hitler-themed invitation to a school dance. This came two months after a group of Wisconsin students appeared to give a Nazi salute in a viral prom photo.

Cooper said these incidents could signify a dangerous cultural shift in America.

If there was once upon a time a taboo associated with Nazi imagery and insignias, he said, I think that era is, unfortunately, long past.

As jarring as the photos were, Jocelyn Navarro, a junior at Newport Harbor, said she wasnt surprised when they surfaced on Snapchat and Twitter Sunday morning. Not by the red cups arranged in a swastika. Not by the arms outstretched in Nazi salutes. Not even by the gleeful expressions worn by the high school students hoisting them.

Every one of them was laughing, said Jocelyn, 16. They all had smiles on their faces.

At Newport Harbor, she said, students group themselves along racial lines: Hispanic students with other hispanics, whites with whites. It is less intentional than unconscious, she said: White people stay together, Mexicans stay together. We naturally just do it because we know thats the way it is.

Josdel Hernandez, a junior at Newport Harbor, said shes seen incidents of more casual racism at school: A student doodling a swastika on a desk, for example, or cracking a joke about Nazism.

Josdel, 16, said ignorance is no excuse for the anti-Semitism displayed at the weekend party. The students depicted in the photos are juniors like herself, she said, and just last month they studied the Holocaust in history class.

They showed us graphic videos of the concentration camps, she said. Its not like our teachers need to show us anymore about the Holocaust. They knew what it means.

carlos.lozano@latimes.com
A minor was arrested Monday after authorities said the person threatened at least one student at San Marino High School in an incident that forced the school to go on lockdown for several hours.

San Marino police officials called the schools principal early Monday to inform him about a violent threat against a male student and possibly the students friends. School officials and police did not specify how the threat was discovered, but law enforcement said it was a shooting threat.

There are incorrect rumors going around that there is an active shooter at the high school. The high school is on lockdown only as a precaution, the school wrote on its website.

The minor, whose name was not released, was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats, police said.

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The lockdown was lifted about 10 a.m. Classes are expected to resume shortly after 11 a.m., according to school officials.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
The recovery of a destroyed battery and bits of wire led federal investigators to charge a 59-year-old Long Beach man in a deadly bombing that claimed the life of his ex-girlfriend last year, authorities said Monday.

Stephen Beal, 59, was charged late last week with making a device that exploded inside the Magyar Kozmetika spa in Aliso Viejo in May, killing 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak and injuring two others, authorities said during a news conference Monday.

Beal was arrested without incident by FBI agents late Sunday morning. He and Krajnyak had dated for about two years, but their relationship collapsed months before the deadly explosion.

The two had opened the spa together during their relationship and decided to remain business partners despite the end of their romantic pairing. Beal was still paying monthly rent on the property where the spa operated at the time of the bombing, records show.

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The surviving victims told investigators they saw Krajnyak opening a cardboard box shortly before the explosion, according to an affidavit charging Beal with one count of malicious destruction of a building causing death.

This was a horrific intentional attack that killed an innocent woman and severely injured two others who will live with the physical and emotional scars for the rest of their lives, U.S. Atty. Nick Hanna said in a statement. We will do everything we can to obtain justice for these victims and hold the perpetrator accountable.

Beal had been a person of interest since the outset of the investigation. A search of his home and vehicle in May turned up two complete improvised explosive devices, two cardboard tubes, batteries, a nine-volt battery connector, 130 pounds of explosives and precursors, two handguns and a shotgun. He was charged with one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device at the time, but the charge was ultimately dropped. At the time, he told investigators that he built model rockets, court records show.

Authorities said Monday that they recovered parts of the explosive device, including a destroyed battery and pieces of wire. A forensic analysis showed there were no meaningful differences between those bits of wire and wiring found in a homemade explosive device recovered at Beals home. In the days before the explosion, Beal also purchased a battery and several cardboard boxes consistent with those used in creating and shipping the device that exploded at the spa, authorities said.

Hanna, who described the device as a very powerful bomb, also said investigators linked traces of chemicals found in Beals car to the explosion. Residue found in the car was consistent with chemical compounds that would have been found if Beals vehicle was used to transport an explosive device, according to the affidavit.

Krajnyak and Beal broke off their relationship in early 2018. During a trip to Portugal, she told Beal that she was in a relationship with another man, and Beal later told investigators he was left feeling hurt and betrayed, according to the affidavit.

Beal spoke with investigators at least three times in the wake of the blast, once driving to an Orange County Sheriffs Department building without being prompted, the affidavit said.

Several of Krajnyaks friends also told investigators that she had been threatened by her boyfriend, whom they described as jealous, controlling and possessive. None of them named Beal, but identified him in a picture, authorities said.

Beal is expected to appear in federal court in Santa Ana on Monday afternoon. It was not immediately clear who was acting as his defense attorney.

Beals wife, Christine, died in 2008. The Los Angeles County coroners office listed the manner of her death as undetermined but pointed to pancreatitis, electrolyte imbalance and chronic lead intoxication as factors. She was 48.

Court records show Beal filed a claim to obtain a $21,225 payout from his wifes life insurance policy, which was denied at least once. Its unclear whether Beals claim was ever processed, though court records show he declared bankruptcy in 2009.

After the Aliso Viejo explosion, the Long Beach Police Department reviewed Christine Beals death. On Monday, department spokeswoman Arantxa Chavarria said detectives could not find any evidence of foul play.

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

james.queally@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.
The Sweetwater Union High School Board voted unanimously during a closed-door meeting Saturday to release up to 87 administrators from their positions  including potentially all of the districts assistant principals  to help narrow the school districts budget shortfalls.

The boards vote doesnt necessarily mean it will lay off all those administrators, though the board now has the ability to do so. The vote also gives the district the ability to re-assign those employees to different administrative positions or to non-administrative jobs.



For the record: This story has been updated to reflect that the Sweetwater Union High School District employs about 30 psychologists, staff said Tuesday.

In addition to all of the districts 69 assistant principals, the board voted to potentially release five school psychologists and 13 central office administrators.

Generally, each of Sweetwaters 13 high schools have four assistant principals, while its 11 middle schools typically each have two. Assistant principals help with a schools daily operations including student discipline, school spending and communications between students, parents and teachers.

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Sweetwater has at least 64 central office staff positions, according to the districts organization chart.

The district currently has roughly 30 psychologists, who work with students with disabilities and oversee the planning and implementation of special services for those students. Sweetwater has roughly 5,000 students with disabilities.

In a statement, the district said it is working to keep budget cuts from directly affecting students.

It is our intent to keep reductions away from the classroom and from programs that directly impact students, the district said in a statement Friday ahead of Saturdays meeting.

Management will individually notify the affected employees by the end of next week.

The district does not yet know how much money it expects to save because it hasnt yet finalized how it will move around the administrators.

Sweetwater has said it needs to make at least $42 million in budget cuts for next school year and $25 million more in cuts the following year to make ends meet.

The cuts for next school year represent 14 percent of expected spending for Sweetwater, which is Californias largest middle and high school district and enrolls roughly 39,000 students.

A state fiscal agency reported in December that the district has been presenting incorrect information about its finances, underestimating expenditures and relying on cash borrowing to pay its bills.

Sweetwater also faces a state audit for potential fraud and an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, after the state fiscal agency found reason to believe that Sweetwater staff may have deliberately covered up district shortfalls.

State law gives a March 15 deadline for school districts to notify employees who could be released from their positions the following school year. Districts have until May 15 to tell teachers and other certificated employees whether they will be laid off.

Sweetwaters list of employees who could be released from their positions does not include any teachers because the district promised in December not to lay off certificated, non-adult education teachers for next school year.

The district made that promise as part of its early retirement incentive program, a budget strategy that was negotiated with the teachers union.

Meanwhile, none of the employees on the latest list slated for potential release are represented by a union.

About 300 employees agreed in December to take a retirement incentive, and the district estimated then that it would save about $3 million immediately and $22 million over the next five years.

In addition to early retirements, the district also laid off 34 adult education teachers in December, which helped to approximately halve the adult schools teaching staff.

The school board will vote on a more complete fiscal stabilization plan at its next meeting on Monday, March 11.

Sweetwater officials say they are collecting community input for the fiscal stabilization plan. The district currently has a link on its website for people to submit thoughts about a plan through a Google form.

The district has not yet published a schedule of community input meetings, which it has promised to hold.

Previously

Kristen Taketa

Email: kristen.taketa@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @Kristen_Taketa
Following the lead of cities such as Encinitas and Carlsbad, the Vista City Council recently decided to pursue reducing or eliminating development fees for those who want to build smaller secondary homes on large residential lots.

The council last week directed staff to return with a comprehensive presentation targeting the $14,700 in fees currently necessary to build a 1,000-square-foot secondary residence often called an accessory dwelling unit or granny flat.

That figure came from Councilman Joe Green, who is so passionate about the idea that he made his own presentation to his colleagues. His Power Point presentation made the case that Vista is losing out on opportunities to organically grow housing stock at a time when most large chunks of buildable land are already occupied.

According to state law, accessory dwelling units are allowed on residential properties with certain zoning classifications and allow such structures in much of Vista north of state Highway 78. However, planned communities such as Shadowridge in south Vista are exempt because they were built under a specific plan.

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Green made the case that development fees, which largely fund parks and traffic improvements, are an unnecessary impediment when building on large-lot properties in areas such as Vistas northern neighborhoods, that already paid such fees when they were built.

In my opinion, $14,700 in impact fees, when the primary residents have already paid these fees, seems excessive, and its deterring our residents from building actual second units, Green said.

To illustrate his point, Green said his research found that, in 2018, just 11 secondary units built in Vista paid the fee while there were 17 granny flats constructed. Because granny flats dont have kitchens, they dont count as a second dwelling and can avoid paying development fees. But they also dont add to the citys total number of affordable housing units, an inventory that state law requires communities to increase.

Newly-elected Councilwoman Corinna Contreras said those requirements put her behind the idea of fee reductions 100 percent.

The state is going to be breathing down our neck and making sure we are creating more affordable housing units and not just market rate or above market rate, Contreras said. As council member Green said, every unit counts.

Looking at the San Diego Association of Governments housing plan, its clear that Vista, like most cities across the region, has had difficulty meeting the states expectations where affordable housing is concerned.

A SANDAG regional plan indicates that, from 2003 through 2009, Vista added 64 units affordable to low-income and very-low-income residents, just 7 percent of the 898 units that regional planners estimated were necessary.

Current requirements call for Vista to add 603 low- or very-low-income units by 2020. According to city records, Vista has built just 134 of those units, leaving 469 still to be built. Though the state calculated that Vista should add 530 above moderate units by 2020, it has already allowed the construction of 1,381.

Though they ultimately agreed to ask city staff to return with a formal proposal on secondary units, council members were somewhat skeptical of reducing or eliminating development fees.

Councilwoman Amanda Young Rigby said she was willing to discuss the matter, but had concerns about what would happen to services that development fees support if fees are waived. She asked for more information on specifically how units designated for lower-income residents will be maintained as such over time.

These are families and these are people that are going to be driving on our roads, they are going to be wanting the amenities, so I would be really hesitant to reduce by much, Rigby said.

Councilman John Franklin agreed, adding that fee waivers for lower-income people, especially older residents who might want to move closer to family members, made sense if doing so could help the city meet the states affordable housing demands.

Im OK with waiving, completely, for low income, Franklin said.

Mayor Judy Ritter, like her colleagues, said the idea needs a full vetting from all relevant city departments.

We just have to look at the whole thing, I think, and Im willing to do that, so lets bring it back, Ritter said.

Staffers will return with a presentation that explores whether or not to eliminate or reduce development fees for some or all types of secondary developments. They also will research the pros and cons of capping the number of units or the number of years that waivers would be in place.

In January, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted to waive developer fees for accessory dwelling units. The San Diego City Council cut its accessory dwelling unit fees in half in early 2018. Other cities, such as Encinitas and Poway, have been very active in promoting granny flats as a way of taking the edge off the regions housing crisis.

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paul.sisson@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1850

Twitter: @paulsisson
Asylum-seeker Hector Javier Torres didnt know where he could find a dentist.

San Diego native Edwin Gwin didnt know where to get help finding a home.

Both men, and dozens of other homeless people, may have found what they were looking for at a table in the parking lot of The Center, 3909 Centre St. in Hillcrest, which is staffed twice a week with San Diego County employees.

These ladies helped me a lot, said Torres, 40, who has been in San Diego four years.

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The women at the table outside The Center were with the multi-pronged Connect Hillcrest project, which launched Feb. 11. The month-long pilot program wraps up after next week and includes teams of county workers, the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team, San Diego Police homeless outreach teams and other outreach teams from the Alpha Project, Father Joes Villages, the McAlister Institute, PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), the Union of Pan Asian Communities and Veterans Villages of San Diego.

When its over, the San Diego Housing Commission and San Diego Regional Task Force on the Homeless will crunch numbers and access the programs effectiveness. Depending on its results, it could be replicated in other neighborhoods.

While homeless outreach itself is not new, Connect Hillcrest is a much more concentrated effort. Teams from various agencies approach homeless people to learn about their needs and help connect them to services that may help.

A lot of times theyre afraid to ask for help, said Shalissa Olmeda, a social worker with the county Health and Human Services Agency. The homeless outreach teams break that barrier. I want to say, a smile goes a long way.

Olmeda was among several county workers at The Center on Friday morning. The station was not bustling with activity at the time, but Olmeda said people typically begin trickling in after outreach teams direct them to The Center.

Dijana Beck, chief of agency operations with Health and Human Services Agencys central and southern regions, said about 20 people had received flu and hepatitis A vaccinations each Friday since the program kicked off Feb. 11.

Vaccinations are only offered on Fridays, but a small team is at The Center on Wednesdays to help people connect to benefits, services and housing.

We try to make it as easy as possible for people to access benefits, Beck said, adding that sometimes workers help people transfer benefits from another county or sign up on the spot for CalFresh food assistance or other programs.

Olmeda said the information also is available at county Family Resource Centers, but sometimes homeless people dont want to go to them because they have anxiety, claustrophobia or other issues. Having the information available on a table outside can relieve those anxieties, she said.

Edwin Gwin, 68, walked up to the table Friday and left with a stack of papers he hoped would help him find a new affordable place to live.

It seems like every time I ask for information, I get turned down or ignored, said Gwin, who has lived in his van for a year after moving out of his apartment because of a dispute with a violent roommate. Today, I got some booklets and information, and maybe I can do it myself.

Torres got a flu shot and information about where to get dental work. Originally from Durango, Mexico, Torres said he is waiting to get a green card that will allow him to work legally, and in the meantime he recycles cans for money and sleeps outside.

I try to be around positive people and positive places, he said about why he doesnt stay in a shelter.

Torres wears his love for his new city and country on his sleeve, with an American flag on his left and a San Diego logo on his right. Even his emotional support Shar Pei, Thamara, has a stars and stripes bandana.

I ask for people to give me a chance, he said about his plans for finding work.

Barbara Jimenez, director of Health and Human Services central and southern regions, said its too early to tell how many people like Gwin and Torres may have been reached in the outreach program.

Weve received some positive feedback, but we dont have any numbers, she said.

That feedback includes anecdotes of homeless people cautiously approaching the tables at The Center or talking with outreach workers, and slowly learning to trust them.

There are some individuals who just want to check things out, she said. Every time they encounter one of our partners, theyre getting more information. Weve heard from one or two who said, Im getting ready to move forward, and I appreciate that I know where I can go to do that.

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gary.warth@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @GaryWarthUT

760-529-4939
The story of a woman who was fatally stabbed in December after reportedly giving money to a panhandler  a case that drew national attention and spread fear through Baltimore  was actually a ruse by her husband and stepdaughter, who have been charged in her death, police announced Sunday night.

Keith Smith, 52, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, were arrested by Texas State Police, near the U.S.-Mexico border while trying to flee the country earlier Sunday, acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.

The latest: Documents allege Keith Smith asked brother to get rid of his wife 

Warrants charging them with first-degree murder in death of Keith Smiths wife, Jacquelyn Smith, were issued, Harrison said.

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The information and evidence points it wasnt a panhandler, Harrison said. People take advantage of Baltimore. We want to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done.

Jacquelyn Smith, 54, an electrical engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, was stabbed to death about 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 at North Valley and East Chase streets, according to police.

1 / 19 A 1981 picture of Jacquelyn Smith, who was killed in December, 2018. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with murdering her and is being held in a Texas jail. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 2 / 19 Jacquelyn Smith, who was killed in December 2018. She is pictured with her oldest son, Kendall. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with her murder and is being held in a Texas jail. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 3 / 19 The gas station where Keith and Valeria Smith were arrested Sunday, March 3, in Combes, Texas. (Tim Prudente / Baltimore Sun) 4 / 19 Cameron County (Texas) Sheriff Omar Lucio runs the two jails where alleged Baltimore murderers Keith and Valeria Smith are being held for extradition. The sheriff says his peaceful community rarely jails people who attract such attention. (Tim Prudente / Baltimore Sun) 5 / 19 Keith Smith, 52 and Jacquelyn Smith, 54. This photo was taken the day she was killed; the husband and wife had been enjoying an evening at the American Legion. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Handout) 6 / 19 Keith and Jacquelyn Smith pose for a photo in the Inner Harbor. Jacquelyn was fatally stabbed after her husband said she rolled down her car window to give money to a panhandler, which police say was actually a ruse. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been charged in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Handout) 7 / 19 Booking photo of Keith Smith and Valeria Smith, charged in the death of Jacquelyn Smith. (Courtesy of Cameron County Sheriffs Office) 8 / 19 Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria, also known as Shavon, Smith speak to the media about Jacquelyn Smith, who was fatally stabbed in Baltimore. Interim police commissioner Gary Tuggle stands near them. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 9 / 19 Marcel Trisvan, bother of Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death in December. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with murdering her. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 10 / 19 Marcel Trisvan, bother of Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death in December. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with murdering her. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 11 / 19 Marcel Trisvan, bother of Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death in December. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with murdering her. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 12 / 19 Marcel Trisvan, bother of Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death in December. Jacquelyns husband, Keith Smith, has been charged with murdering her. (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun) 13 / 19 Keith Smith, 52, and Jacquelyn Smith, 54. Jacquelyn was a Department of Defense engineer who worked at Aberdeen Proving Ground. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Handout) 14 / 19 Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria, also known as Shavon, Smith speak to the media in December about Jacquelyn Smith, who was fatally stabbed in Baltimore. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 15 / 19 Interim Baltimore Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle with Keith Smith, the husband of Jacquelyn Smith, who was fatally stabbed in Baltimore in December. Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in Jacquelyn Smiths killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 16 / 19 Baltimore police officer trainees canvass the area where Jacquelyn Smith was killed. Her husband, Keith Smith, 52, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, were arrested in her killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 17 / 19 Baltimore police trainees canvass the area where Jacquelyn Smith was killed. Her husband, Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in the killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 18 / 19 Baltimore police trainees canvass the area where Jacquelyn Smith was killed. Her husband, Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in the killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun) 19 / 19 Baltimore police trainees canvass the area where Jacquelyn Smith was killed. Her husband, Kevin Smith, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, have been arrested in the killing. (Kevin Richardson / Baltimore Sun)

Just days after the stabbing, Keith Smith and Valeria Smith, who also identified herself as Shavon, appeared at a tearful news conference at the scene. They blamed Jacquelyn Smiths death on a man who approached their car after she reached out the window to give money to a woman begging in the rain with a baby. They said the man came up to the car under the guise of thanking Jacquelyn Smith, then reached into the car and snatched her necklace and pocketbook, stabbing her in the process.

This girl actually said, God bless you after the man stabbed Jacquelyn, Keith Smith said to the media in December.

Rodricks; Story of Good Samaritans death in Baltimore was traumatic. Now that police call it false, its even worse. 

Booking photos of Keith Smith and Valeria Smith, both charged in the death of Jacquelyn Smith. (Cameron County Sheriffs Office)

Several members of Jacquelyn Smiths family had doubted that story from the beginning, said her brother Marcel Trisvan of Havre de Grace.

I already know its Keith, he said. Trisvan said police provided no information to the family, but detectives had increasingly been asking the family about his sisters relationship with her husband.

All the questioning has been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it right there, he said. It never made sense. I told [detectives] from the very beginning there are no suspects out there.

To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy. Mayor Catherine Pugh

Trisvan said Keith Smith moved out of his sisters Aberdeen house two weeks ago. He handed the keys over to Trisvan, and told the family he was moving to Florida. Trisvan said his sister owned the home.

He said Keith Smith removed all the appliances from the home.

Lt. Johnny Hernandez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety highway patrol, said the department received information from Baltimore Police about the Smiths and their vehicle. Around 10 a.m. Sunday, a trooper spotted the rental Toyota Camry leaving the parking lot of a small grocery store in Combes, Texas, just north of Harlingen  where Harrison said the Smiths had been arrested.

Hernandez said the trooper stopped the car and arrested the Smiths on the warrants from Baltimore. Hernandez said they were taken into custody without incident and are being held at the Cameron County jail.

A member of the Cameron County Sheriffs Office said the Smiths were still being processed Sunday night.

The case drew national attention, causing some  including Oprah Winfrey  to express concern about giving money to panhandlers in the future. In the days after Smiths killing, some of Baltimores homeless citizens said they noticed a decrease in the number of people willing to roll down their windows and help.

Some from the Johnston Square neighborhood had questions from the beginning about the husbands account of the killing, said one longtime neighbor who asked not to be identified to speak candidly about the killing.

Smiths story of the family encountering a woman panhandling with a baby raised suspicions, the neighbor said, because the block is usually empty by that time and none of the neighbors had ever seen such a woman.

Everybody in the neighborhood said somethings wrong with it, the neighbor said. I dont know what happened. Nobody around here knew her.

Furthermore, the husband told police  and, later, the public in a press conference  that the killing happened at East Valley and North Chase streets, when the word on the street was that it had happened on Eager Street, a block away, the neighbor said.

 Keith Smith, 52, and his daughter talk about the death of Smiths wife, Jacquelyn Smith. Keith Smith initially said she was stabbed after rolling down the window to give money to a panhandler. But Baltimore Police have now charged Keith Smith and hi

The whole thing is so messed up, the neighbor said. Youd spend a long time trying to straighten that story out.

Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the Smiths exploited the city and its violence. Smiths death was one of more than 300 in Baltimore in 2018.

Often times, we have these negative depictions of our city and its rather unfortunate when people take advantages of these negative perceptions, she said at the news conference.

Mayor Catherine Pugh also criticized the killing and cover-up.

Like everyone in our city, state and across this nation, we mourned the senseless killing of Jacquelyn Smith. To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy, Pugh said in a statement Sunday. They were responsible for taking Jacquelyns life with unconscionable cruelty and contrived to do so in our city under the guise of random violence, exploiting the legitimate fears of our residents.

Mosby praised the collaborative efforts by police and prosecutors who pursued the case to get justice for Jacquelyn Smith.

This case, like all of these cases, certainly is a terrible tragedy, Harrison said. Jacquelyn Smith is an innocent victim, so I hope you keep her in your thoughts and in your prayers.

After months of little to no updates in the case, Trisvan said hes pleased there were arrests, but they did not bring him closure.

Im hopeful this person never sees the light of day, but I mean, to me, thats not closure, he said, noting the violent way in which his sister was killed.

My sister was robbed from this world. This didnt need to happen, he said.

Baltimore Sun reporter Christina Tkacik contributed to this article.

cmcampbell@baltsun.com

twitter.com/cmcampbell6
Pope Francis said Monday that the Vatican would open its archives on the World War II papacy of Pius XII, long viewed by many as having failed to speak out against the atrocities of Nazi Germany.

The move, coming after 13 years of work by Vatican archivists, is intended to shed light on the actions and thoughts of a pontiff whose still-contested reputation has made it difficult for the Catholic Church to come to terms with its role during the war.

Francis said the archives on Pius 1939-1958 papacy will be opened to researchers March 2, 2020. The Vatican typically waits about 70 years after a pontificate to open the relevant archives, according to The Associated Press, and in this case is moving slightly faster - while some Holocaust survivors are still alive.

He may be the most controversial pope in modern church history, said David Kertzer, a Brown University professor who wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning book on Pius XIIs predecessor, Pius XI, and is researching for a book on Pius XIIs relationship with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

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Kertzer, in a phone interview, described Pius XII as a cautious person who calibrated his actions early in the war with the assessment that the Nazis might win - and even occupy the Vatican. Kertzer said the pontiff bemoaned the loss of life in a general way but never did speak out directly about the Holocaust.

He was an intelligent person, but he was also a product of his times, Kertzer said. And I think well see how that played out.

Pius XII has been the subject of controversy for decades, beginning with a 1963 play that depicted him as a moral coward in the face of the Holocaust. More than three decades later, a British journalist wrote a well-known book about Pius XII, Hitlers Pope.

But his supporters say that those portrayals are unjust and that he worked behind the scenes to help Jews. The Rev. Peter Gumpel, a Vatican official who has advocated for Pius XIIs sainthood and explored portions of the Vaticans paperwork on the pontiff, said Pius XIIs actions to help Jews may have been kept off the books.

Jewish organizations applauded Francis announcement, and Rabbi David Rosen, the American Jewish Committees director of interreligious affairs, said the move to open the archives was enormously important to Catholic-Jewish relations.

During the war, the Vatican hewed to a strict policy of neutrality and did not denounce Nazism.

Pius XII was declared venerable in 2009, part of the process toward sainthood. But he has not moved closer to canonization. Three of the four popes who succeeded him have already been sainted, including Paul VI last year.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the head of the Vatican office that scrutinizes the cases for possible sainthood, said in an interview Monday that the archive opening was not a prerequisite for Pius XIIs sainthood to move forward. But he did say historical facts can dictate whether it is appropriate or not to do a canonization.

He was accused of silence - that he didnt speak enough against the slaughter of the Jews, Becciu said. So we hope that all of this helps instead reveal the truth and fairness of his behaviors.

In his remarks Monday, Francis said the archivists have been working for 13 years to prepare the documents, based on the wishes of Pope Benedict XVI.

Francis said the church is not afraid of history but also noted that Pius XIIs actions had been viewed with some bias or exaggerations.

In an article published in the Vaticans newspaper, Bishop Sergio Pagano, prefect of the Vatican Secret Archives, wrote that the papers being made available will attest to an almost superhuman work of Christian humanism that was active in the stormy disorder of those events that in the mid-twentieth century seemed determined to annihilate the very notion of human civilization.

Already, much is known about Pius XIIs pontificate. Decades ago, the Vatican released volumes of documents. And many nations that have diplomatic relations with the Holy See have opened their archives from the time - including Italy, where Mussolini was notorious for his spying capabilities.

Daniele Menozzi, a professor emeritus of contemporary history at Pisas Normale University, said the greatest revelations could stem from the aftermath of World War II - when the dynamics of the Cold War first took hold.

My feeling is that the big picture on World War II wont change much, Menozzi said. Its another matter entirely for the other period, right after the war, with the choices that Pius XII made at that time, both for Italy and for Europe and in the global geopolitical, anti-communist strategy.
For Fabio Alberto Alves, discussing feelings was something only women did.

But the judge had sentenced the 53-year-old machinist to group therapy for men convicted of domestic violence, so he didnt have much choice. It was either that or prison.

During the first two of 20 weekly sessions, he didnt say a word. He shouldnt even be here, he thought. His wife of 25 years had blown the situation out of proportion. He was drunk when he grabbed her and caused a scene at her church. The cops should have never been involved.

Then, on his third night as part of the group, he opened up.

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Being here for me now is like being with family, he said. I realized that what I did was wrong, but that no one is here to judge me. When Im here, I feel like I can talk, express myself.

Fabio Alberto Alves takes the elevator to a meeting of E Agora, Jose?, a therapy group for men serving alternative sentences for domestic violence convictions. (Flavio Forner / For The Times)

The shift in attitude  from indignant and detached to temperate and open  is what groups like the one Alves participates in are after. As Brazil continues to register startling rates of domestic violence and femicide, therapists, prosecutors, judges and womens right activists all agree on one thing: If saving women from becoming victims is the goal, working on men is the answer.

Brazils 2006 domestic violence law, supported by then-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and named for Maria da Penha  a pharmacist who became the voice for women suffering domestic abuse when two attacks by her husband left her a paraplegic  is considered one of the best in the world.

Properly implementing it, however, is still a struggle.

In an annual report this year, Human Rights Watch notes that police in Brazil do not properly investigate thousands of domestic violence cases each year and that many are never prosecuted. The countrys court system is clogged, with more than 1.2 million cases of domestic violence pending as of December 2017. Left unchecked, domestic violence often escalates, with serious injuries or death the result.

A 2015 study conducted by the Latin American Social Sciences Institute showed that more than half the homicides in Brazil where women were killed happened at home. And more than 1 in 3 were committed by partners or former partners.

Between 2003 and 2013, the number of female homicide victims in the country increased 21%.

In January, 126 more women were killed in Brazil, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, a figure the organization referred to as alarming, particularly as most of the women had previously denounced their aggressors, faced serious acts of domestic violence, or suffered previous attacks or attempted homicides.

In 2015, Brazil criminalized femicide  the killing of women or girls, usually by men, because of their gender  and started imposing sentences of up to 30 years on those who commit the crime. In 2017, 4,539 women were killed, a 6.1% increase over the previous year, the Brazilian Forum on Public Security reported. The number of killings police registered as femicides was 1,113, which the nonprofit believes is low because the motives behind many of the killings were initially unknown.

The killing of women and girls is part of a larger violence epidemic in Brazil. In 2017, according to the Brazilian Forum on Public Security, there were 63,880 homicides, a rate of 30.8 per 100,000 residents. That compared with the rate of 6.2 per 100,000 in the U.S. that year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At Alves group in Santo Andre, a city in the greater Sao Paulo area, men break off into smaller groups depending on how long theyve been part of the program. Named E Agora, Jose?, or What now, Jose?, after a poem by Brazilian poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade about loneliness, the feeling of abandonment and a lack of hope or path in life, it takes the men, who are serving alternative sentences under Brazils domestic violence law, through discussions on misogynistic, sexist and patriarchal ideologies by way of their everyday experiences.

Womens rights, masculinity and how one becomes a man are some of the broader topics the participants debate with one another and group facilitators, who are often psychologists, sociologists, social workers and lawyers. Questions like whether they would allow their sons to play with dolls, help them examine how they view the world and where their views come from.

Ricardo Serafine talks about what he has learned during his time in E Agora, Jose? and how he has already brought that education into his everyday life. (Flavio Forner / Los Angeles Times)

For men like Ricardo Serafine, its the first time theyve reflected on these issues and found ways to deal with the ensuing anger to which they react violently.

Coming here has changed my way of thinking, said the 51-year-old, who works in an auto body shop and just completed his last session at E Agora, Jose?. I used to blow up over the smallest things. Now I stop, take a breath, reflect and then act. I was so angry when they first told me I had to come here. Now Im grateful for it all.

Serafines and Alves gratitude is not the only evidence that groups like E Agora, Jose? work. While cross-country statistics arent available its rare that any group sees a participant return.

According to Flavio Urra, the psychologist and sociologist who started and coordinates E Agora, Jose?, no man who participated in his group has re-offended since it became a form of alternative sentencing in 2014.

Groups started by prosecutor Erica Canuto in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte also have a 0% return rate. Prosecutor Gabriela Manssurs program Tempo de Despertar, or Time to Wake Up, which operates in Sao Paulo and a handful of other cities in the area, has a rate of 2%. Before she started the groups, it was 65%.

Even with the group therapy models obvious success  both as alternative sentencing and for men who participate voluntarily before theyre sentenced  a misogynistic and patriarchal culture isnt something easily reversed. Perspectives on the best way to put an end to it are also difficult to change.

Flavio Urra, founder and coordinator of E Agora, Jose?, a therapy group for men serving alternative sentences for domestic violence convictions, welcomes a new participant and walks him through how the group works. (Flavio Forner / For The Times)

Theres often the thought that everything related to stopping domestic violence should be directed at the woman who is already a victim, said Conceicao de Maria, co-founder of the Maria da Penha Institute. But the protagonist of domestic violence is the man. Hes the one who commits it. Even if the woman is able to escape that relationship with an order of protection and build a better life, that man will continue on with that same model of toxic masculinity. Hell end up in a new relationship and another woman will become a victim of domestic violence.

If we want to stop this from happening, we have to start by looking at the men involved. Changing the way they think means well have fewer victims who need help or who dont survive. Preventing the violence is much better than dealing with it afterward.

Specialists realize they still have a long way to go for their efforts to make a significant dent in Brazils ongoing domestic violence problem. While the groups they run are making changes in their communities, there arent yet enough to reach every corner of the country. The ones that do exist are standalone operations and there is no one place or organization that helps them streamline things like training and research.

Alves still has most of his group sessions to attend, but says he already knows hell never repeat the behavior that landed him there. He has even suggested to group facilitators that they run classes with these same types of discussions in schools, so that boys can learn to talk about their feelings and to respect women and girls from a young age.

Serafine finished the program, but still plans to attend the Wednesday night group when he can. He wants to be able to catch up with the friends he made and continue discussing whats going on in his life. He knows he still has work to do.

Im not 100% fixed, but Im halfway there, he said. Im better than I was before. If I keep talking, Ill get there.

Langlois is a special correspondent.
The event will feature experimental film Spin by German artist Ginan Seidl and a sound art performance by Egyptian sound artist Yara Mekawei

The Goethe Institute in Cairo will host an event exploring the connection between Islam and contemporary art on Saturday, part of a series of such events being held internationally.

The Forgotten Enlightenments: Unknown Stories about Islam in Contemporary Art event will feature the experimental film Spin by German artist Ginan Seidl and a sound art performance by Egyptian sound artist Yara Mekawei.

The screening and performance will be preceded by a keynote addressed from Michael Arzt, artistic director HALLE 14 Center for Contemporary Art and Heba Nayel Barakat, head of curatorial affairs at the Islam Art Museum in Malaysia (IAMM).

The "Forgotten Enlightenments project will culminate in an exhibition in HALLE14 in Leipzig, from 27 April to 4 August.

The Cairo event will also conclude a four-day exchange workshop comprising discussions and excursions between the Egyptian and international artists, scheduled to take place in Cairo between 6 and 9 March.

The artists have been visiting famous Cairo landmarks and museums, as well as some of the citys art galleries.

The evening aims to explore the fusion of Islamic heritage and contemporary life in Muslim-majority countries, tackling questions such as: can classical forms such as mosaics, shadow theatre or miniatures be interpreted in a contemporary way and expanded with new technologies such as video, computer and sound art? How do spiritualities such as those of Sufism connect with current aesthetic, societal and social issues? How do young artists defend themselves against despotism and the rhetoric of war, as well as against stereotypical role models of gender, origin and faith?

Programme:

Saturday 9 March at 7pm

Goethe Institute, Dokki, Cairo

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When 35-year-old Indian fighter pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, wearing a sport coat and rakish gunslinger mustache, walked across the heavily armed Pakistani border into India on Friday, it calmed nerves across the subcontinent and beyond.

For three days, India and Pakistan, nuclear-armed rivals that have fought three wars and come close to several more, had engaged in their most serious military dust-up in nearly two decades over the disputed Kashmir territory.

An Indian airstrike aimed at militants deep inside Pakistan, followed by Pakistani forces shooting down Varthamans Russian-made MiG jet and capturing him, risked escalating into a full-blown war  a terrifying prospect given that the countries have nearly 300 nuclear warheads aimed at each other.

Varthamans release, hailed as a diplomatic victory in India and a magnanimous gesture in Pakistan, was the palliative the crisis needed. Although both countries continue to accuse the other of firing artillery shells across their contested boundary, including on Monday, train service between the two has resumed, schoolchildren in Kashmir are returning to classes and the immediate threat of war has receded.

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But analysts say the skirmish points to a changing security dynamic in South Asia, where India appears more willing to take military action against its neighbor, and Pakistan faces growing isolation internationally for failing to rein in militant groups based on its soil.

I dont think well be back to business as usual for India, said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi. I see this as a potential game-changer.

Its possible that in the next confrontation that may be coming, we might see a military conflict rather than tit-for-tat aerial raids. Brahma Chellaney, Center for Policy Research

Indias airstrike Tuesday was a response to a Valentines Day suicide bombing that killed 40 paramilitary troops inside the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. Jaish-e-Muhammad, a terrorist organization that plots and carries out attacks against India from bases in Pakistan, claimed responsibility.

Pakistans powerful military and intelligence establishment has long cultivated militant groups that foment chaos in India and Afghanistan. In recent decades, India has typically responded to such attacks with restraint.

In 2008, after Pakistani militants killed 160 civilians in the commercial hub of Mumbai, India did not strike back militarily, wagering that retaliation would embolden Pakistani hard-liners while failing to make a dent in a shadowy and extensive militant network.

The U.S., which was heavily reliant on Pakistan to support its military campaign in Afghanistan, backed Indias diplomatic push that got Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group that claimed responsibility, placed on a State Department blacklist and focused international attention on Pakistans ties to militants.

But India continued to be hit by smaller attacks from Pakistan, while Lashkars leader, Hafiz Saeed, remained free despite a $10-million U.S. reward being offered for his capture. Over the years, Indias strategic restraint in effect vindicated Pakistans strategy of developing nuclear weapons as a deterrent against attacks by its larger neighbor.

Even as New Delhis strategic restraint allowed it to focus on building its booming economy while Pakistans languished, hawks in India have pushed for a tougher response worthy of an aspiring global power. In 2008, a rising politician at the time, Narendra Modi, said Pakistan needed to be dealt with in a language it understands.

Now Modi is Indias prime minister, the head of an ascendant Hindu nationalist party that has sought to seem tougher on Muslim-majority Pakistan. In 2016, following raids on Indian forces at Uri and Pathankot, India launched what it called surgical strikes against militant targets a short distance across the border in Pakistan-held Kashmir.

Last weeks airstrike reached beyond the disputed territory and into the Pakistani heartland, hitting an area 60 miles north of the capital, Islamabad  the first publicly acknowledged incursion by Indian warplanes into Pakistan since a 1971 war.

It was an embarrassment for Pakistan, stirring memories of the secret 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden outside Islamabad while escaping detection by Pakistani forces. And it indicated that Indias policy of restraint could be ending.

Nuclear deterrence works but it doesnt make limited war impossible, said Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistani author and expert on military affairs. In the Uri and Pathankot times, what the Pakistani military learned was that India would not respond due to deterrence. In this attack, India has shifted the red line.

At least two factors are believed to have influenced Indias change in posture. One is an election scheduled for May, in which Modis failure to avenge the deaths of Indian soldiers could have cost him at the polls. The cacophonous bloodlust of Indian TV and social media networks may have nudged the government toward decisive action.

The second is the growing isolation of Pakistan. President Trump has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance over Pakistans failure to rein in militant groups attacking U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

But some analysts say the picture is muddier.

For one thing, the impact of the Indian strike isnt known. Indian officials have suggested that it hit its target, believed to be training facilities used by Jaish-e-Muhammad; Pakistan claims the strike landed in an uninhabited grove of pine trees.

The next day, Pakistani warplanes attacked Indian jets over Kashmir, and in the dogfight each side claimed to have shot down the others aircraft. (The U.S. government has asked Pakistan whether U.S.-made F-16s were used in the incident, a possible violation of trade agreements governing how the aircraft can be used.)

Varthamans capture illustrated the risks of military action  and then allowed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to play statesman, saying the pilot would be released as a peace gesture.

As soon as the pilot was shot down, the Indian side looked as if it had been caught by surprise, said Happymon Jacob, a security expert and professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. This therefore looks more like an action that was undertaken ahead of a general election, and was demanded by political circumstances rather than as the result of military planning.

While no country criticized the Indian strikes, Jacob said that New Delhi would be wrong to view Pakistan as totally isolated. The Trump administrations effort to make peace with the Taliban demands Pakistani cooperation in bringing militant leaders to the negotiating table, and its only a matter of time before the Americans will come back to court Pakistan again, he said.

With anti-Indian sentiment running high in Muslim-majority Kashmir, it is not a question of whether Indian forces will be attacked again, but when. The message sent last week is that Indias response cannot be predicted.

Its possible that in the next confrontation that may be coming, we might see a military conflict rather than tit-for-tat aerial raids, Chellaney said. Itll be limited, itll be short  maybe a week or less  but that scenario cant be ruled out.

Special correspondent Sahi reported from Islamabad and Times staff writer Bengali from Singapore.
Before making a wave of cutbacks across his department, Martin County Sheriff John Kirk delivered a grim warning to residents of this hardscrabble Appalachian community.

Law enforcement as we have known for the last four years will not exist, he posted on Facebook last month. WE ARE BROKE LOCK YOUR DOORS, LOAD YOUR GUNS AND GET YOU A BARKING, BITING DOG. If the Sheriffs office cant protect you, WHO WILL?

In a sense, it was political bluster. When he can, Kirk still patrols this remote former coal mining region on the eastern edge of Kentucky, responding to traffic accidents and break-ins, knocking on the doors of suspected drug dealers, serving papers and transporting prisoners.

But with only one other paid law enforcement officer on staff now to help him monitor a 231-square-mile area day and night, his department is stretched to its limit.

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(Jon Schleuss/Los Angeles Times)

I have to be straight up with my citizens, the 50-year-old said one morning as he squeezed into his Dodge Durango, switched on his blue lights and siren, and bolted down a winding two-lane road to a house fire 20 miles away. We cant be everywhere. We dont have time to do the job the way it needs to be done.

This ailing county is one of a swath of rural mountain communities struggling to maintain essential public services as coal mines shutter, leaving them with dwindling jobs, residents and taxes.

In the last decade, Martin Countys population has dropped from about 13,000 to 11,500 as the number of workers employed by coal companies has fallen from 866 to 57. County funding from severance taxes companies pay on coal removal has plunged from $931,800 to $83,900 a year.

Kirk was forced to make cuts across his already bare-bones department last month after county officials informed him they did not have enough funds to make good on a $75,000 payment, half the annual amount promised by the previous administration for fiscal 2018.

We love our sheriff, but we just aint got the money, said Roger Preece, 57, a county magistrate who took office at the beginning of this year. If you aint got it, you aint got it.

The county has accumulated $1.4 million in debt  a surprise to many of its new officials.

I dont sleep well, said Susan Hale, the countys new treasurer, who is sifting through the bills left by the previous administration: $230,000 to a regional jail that houses its inmates, $140,000 to a state association that provides liability insurance, plus dribs and drabs for mundane items such as office supplies and toilet paper.

In the sheriffs office, Kirk has laid off his bookkeeper and slashed public office hours in half to 20 a week. Initially, he pulled his deputy, Aaron Blevins, from the night shift so he could help catch up on paperwork. But within days, they got more calls about break-ins and drug trafficking. Now Blevins is back working nights while Kirk racks up 16-hour shifts.

A third deputy, who is training at the academy, will not join the department for four months.

Martin County Sheriff John Kirk catches a quick nap 14 hours into his shift. Kirk often works 16-hour shifts. (Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)

Its just me, said Kirk, who grew up just north of Inez, the county seat. If Im the only one working day shift, how am I going to prepare paperwork to take cases to the grand jury and respond to calls and serve papers?

Kirk has felt shorthanded for much of his four years as sheriff. He has rationed gas. He has cut back on patrols. He has stopped providing security at ballgames. At times, his deputies have worn uniforms with holes in them and driven cruisers with tires worn through to the steel belts.

But the latest cuts particularly rankle Kirk, a Republican who was elected on a platform of ridding the county of opioids.

I put the drug dealers on notice, but were handicapped, he said. If youre a drug dealer and you want to transport drugs in this county, right now is when you want to do it. They know weve only got one police officer working.

The sheriff is not the only public servant feeling the pinch.

Key county roads are rife with potholes as the road and bridges department tries to make do with rusty excavators, dump trucks and salt trucks. Six months ago, an axle fell off the countys only grader and the heavy-duty machine now languishes in a parking lot, in pieces. The county cannot afford the $10,000 to fix it.

The axle on Martin Countys only road grader fell off six months ago; the county cant afford to fix it. (Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)

Water pipes across the county are crumbling, causing the district to lose more than two-thirds of treated water to leaks and allowing untreated groundwater to seep into the water supply. After countless boil water advisoriesand warnings on the backs of their bills, many residents limit their use of tap water to flushing toilets; most buy bottled water for drinking and cooking.

Some elected officials who represent the region are calling on the state and federal government to deliver more assistance. More than half a century after President Lyndon Johnson came to Martin County to promote his just-declared war on poverty, the per capita income here is $14,900 and more than a third of residents live below the poverty line.

These communities fueled the industrial revolution and powered our country through two world wars, but now theyre struggling, there doesnt appear to be any help on the horizon said State Rep. Chris Harris, a Democrat who represents Martin and neighboring Pike County.

If the nation is going to put regulations on our only industry, to make it impossible or unprofitable, shouldnt it also offer new opportunities?

Many locals blame former county officials for being slow to react to the sharp drop in tax revenue and exacerbating the problems withpoor financial decisions. In 2013, the county took out a 25-year loan to erect a massive government building that requires a monthly payment of $55,000.

Teresa Burke, the office manager at the Martin County Sheriffs Office, lowers a blind over the front door at noon on a recent weekday. (Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)

While coals steep decline is largely a result of less expensive natural gas, many residents are critical of the Obama administration for imposing federal regulations on coal-fired power plants in an effort to cut pollution and move toward cleaner energy sources like wind and solar power.

Our entire economy was decimated by federal policies, said Hale, the treasurer. Now we have to live with it.

For Kirk, the lack of funds and personnel limit his ability to do his job.

Responding to a burglary at a single-wide trailer on a muddy lot strewn with soda cans, Kirk did not get out of his Dodge to inspect the damage or take notes as the victim, a woman in fleecy pajama pants, ran through a long list of possible suspects.

Instead, he handed a sheet of lined paper out the SUV window and asked her to detail what had been stolen.

Wanna come in and take a picture of the door handle? she asked.

He shook his head.

Probably, he admitted after he drove away, he would not have time to visit pawnshops to look for her flat-screen TV, Nikes, propane heater or generator.

If someone breaks into your house, it should be more than filing a report, he said as he moved on to check out a vandalized pickup truck. Its doing the people an injustice.

Some residents who came to the local government center last week to pay tax bills and get car inspections said they worried about how the law enforcement cuts would affect vulnerable members of the community, particularly the elderly who lived in far-flung hills and hollows.

A retired coal miner, who refused to give his name, said the lack of full-time law enforcement was a black mark on the community. But he wasnt too worried about his own safety.

I got plenty of guns, he said. You wouldnt be an eastern Kentucky mountaineer if you didnt.

Billie Jean Stacey, 72, a former janitor, said she did not know if the sheriffs warning to stock up on guns and dogs was a good thing.

Its sort of like the Old Wild West, she chuckled.

Still, the sheriff has some help. A small band of volunteer deputies  many retirees  acts as back-up in the evenings and offers court security.

The Kentucky State Police, which has eight troopers assigned to an area that includes Martin and several other counties, picks up some of the slack by taking emergency phone calls that the sheriff cannot handle.

Regina Kirk, who is married to the Martin County sheriff, does payroll one evening. She has a full-time job elsewhere, but manages payroll and files financial reports for the sheriffs office free of charge in the evenings and on weekends. (Jenny Jarvie / Los Angeles Times)

Kirk also relies on his wife, Regina, who manages payroll and files financial reports for the office free of charge in the evenings and on weekends.

As news of the sheriffs financial strain has spread, residents have also pitched in. A gas station owner donated $1,000 to fill up police SUVs and cruisers. A church raised $500. People have even donated paper for the office copy machine.

When Kirk pulled up at a convenience store one Saturday, a man handed him a $20 bill.

Here, he said, I want to help you.

Man, I dont want your money, Kirk said. Thats why we pay taxes!

The man threw the bill in Kirks lap and walked away.

A few days later, the $20 bill was still in his vehicle, wedged between his radio and siren box. The sheriff had not found time to deliver it to his office.
San Diego Councilman Chris Ward plans to propose a cannabis equity program this spring that would aim to give low-income residents in neighborhoods affected by the war on drugs a leg up in opening marijuana businesses in the city.

Ward said last week he will introduce the proposal at the councils economic development committee, which he chairs. It will be modeled after similar programs launched in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento.

Individuals most likely to gain from this burgeoning industry are those who already have money to invest, Ward said. A cannabis equity program would provide small business support, mentoring and technical assistance to individuals in disadvantaged neighborhoods to allow them to participate and prosper.

In addition to helping level the playing field, Ward said he plans to propose using revenue from the citys cannabis tax for youth programs in neighborhoods that were disproportionately affected by the previous criminalization of marijuana.

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Their lives were impacted by family members getting arrested and going to jail, and we have to ask ourselves how we can make up for that injustice, he said.

Councilwoman Barbara Bry said last week that she supports the concept but is exploring a different approach, based on concerns that cannabis equity programs in other California cities have so far yielded disappointing results.

Bry said shed like to see the city encourage marijuana businesses to be at least partly employee-owned, possibly by giving workers stock options, similar to high-tech companies.

If you give somebody a permit to open a marijuana facility, youve made them a millionaire -- you really have, Bry said. But youve only made one person a millionaire. You havent really helped a whole community improve their economic well-being.

Bry, who was a high-tech entrepreneur herself before joining the council in 201,6 said shes researching how the city could legally encourage marijuana entrepreneurs to use the high-tech model when launching their businesses.

Its not fully baked, she said. Im at the beginning of exploring it.

In addition to typical compensation, employees would receive stock options that would eventually become valuable when the company is either sold or becomes publicly traded.

It worked in the tech and biotech world really well for a long time, Bry said. I dont know what were allowed to legislate and what were not.

Because the marijuana industry is expected to become unionized across the state, Bry said, the stock options could be negotiated through collective bargaining by labor unions.

San Diego has limited immediate opportunities to help low-income residents participate in the cannabis industry because the city already awarded nearly all the permits available to operate dispensaries and marijuana production facilities.

But those permits expire after five years, creating opportunities in coming years.

It would be illegal to have a cannabis equity program based on race or ethnicity, but programs based on income are legal under state law.

For example, low-income people are eligible for the Los Angeles cannabis equity program if they were convicted of a marijuana crime in California, an immediate family member was convicted, or they live in an area where there were many marijuana arrests before the drug was legalized by voters in November 2016.

Los Angeles provides fee waivers, application help and the use of vacant city properties to eligible people.

The program has been criticized for moving too slowly, as city officials refine details and hire staff.

Critics say Los Angeles is trying too hard to make the program perfect, at the expense of low-income entrepreneurs who can least afford the delays. Los Angeles city officials say they are trying to avoid allowing predatory entrepreneurs to take advantage of marijuana investors with less money.

Critics of Oaklands cannabis equity program say that has been a significant problem there. Low-income marijuana entrepreneurs have had to partner with wealthier counterparts because they lack access to bank loans and venture capital.

Ward said he remains optimistic San Diego can create a successful program. To launch its efforts, he said the city should fund a cannabis opportunity study to review existing disparities in the ability of disadvantaged community members to participate and invest in the industry.

The likely funding source for that study and a cannabis equity program would be the citys marijuana tax, which city voters approved in 2016. The 5 percent tax, which will increase to 8 percent on July 1, is expected to generate more than $6 million in revenue for the city during the ongoing budget year.

San Diego also is trying to boost tax revenue from the citys dozen legal marijuana dispensaries by auditing them and tightening restrictions on sales to medical cannabis patients. Those sales are tax-exempt.

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A 54-year-old driver died after he was partially thrown from his pickup truck, which landed on him during a rollover crash in a heavily traveled Escondido intersection, police said.

Witnesses teamed to lift the pickup off the driver and an Escondido police officer pulled him from the wreckage, police said.

The driver was badly injured. He was taken to a hospital, where he later died, police Lt. Michael Kearney said.

The crash happened just after 9:30 a.m., at the intersection of Valley Parkway and North Quince Street, Sgt. Craig Miller said.

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The pickup, a white 1996 Toyota Tacoma, was headed south on Quince when it collided with a blue 2003 Mercedes sedan headed west on Valley Parkway.

The Tacoma rolled multiple times, Kearney said. The driver  who was not wearing a seat belt  was partially thrown from the vehicle and was pinned between the truck and the sidewalk, Kearney said.

When the first police officer arrived, bystanders heaved the truck off the Escondido man so the officer could free him.

Police said the driver was rushed to a hospital, but later died.

The drivers 54-year-old wife, who had been wearing a seat belt, had to be cut from the pickup by Escondido firefighters. She sustained minor injuries, police said.

The Mercedes struck a retaining wall and stopped. Its driver, a 41-year-old woman, was not injured, Kearney said.

Kearney said investigators do not believe alcohol played a role in the crash.

Officer Russ Gay of the Traffic Division is leading the investigation. The department asked witnesses to the crash to call Gay at (760) 839-4470.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT

UPDATES:

6 p.m.: This story was updated to include information from Escondido police that the driver pulled from the wreckage later died.
A fire that broke out at a house in Lakeside Monday morning damaged a shed and possibly a garage before it was extinguished, officials said.

The blaze was reported shortly after 11 a.m. at a home on Hi Ridge Road off Johnson Lake Road, a spokeswoman for the Lakeside Fire Protection District said.

Video by10News showed a smouldering building in a hilly area accessible by dirt roads.

The fire initially was reported as a garage on fire but sheriffs officials were later told it had damaged a shed and a tree, said sheriffs Lt. David Buether. He said there were no reports of anyone being injured.

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The fire was reported contained shortly after 11:20 a.m., he said.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A person died outside a Potrero home that caught fire early Monday, authorities said.

The fire was reported in the single-family home on Coyote Holler Road near Round Potrero Road around 6:25 a.m.

When crews arrived, they found a person down on a lawn in front of the house, which was fully engulfed in flames, said Cal Fire spokesman Issac Sanchez.

Paramedics initiated life-saving efforts but were unsuccessful, Sanchez said.

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He said he did not know if the person who died was a man or a woman.

Crews were able to knock down the flames in about an hour. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

It was unclear whether any other people were in the home at the time the fire started.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
A man was turned over to Border Patrol agents Sunday morning after he was rescued from a small island in the Tijuana River Valley by San Diego firefighters, authorities said.

Border Patrol agents came across the man standing on a piece of land in the middle of the river near the bridge on Dairy Mart Road around 8:30 a.m. Sunday. The agents were unable to get the man out of the river and called firefighters for help.

We dont know how he got there, somewhere he had to wade through the water to get there, San Diego Fire-Rescue Battalion Chief Steve Salaz told OnSceneTV. Salaz said the man wasnt in an immediate danger but he refused to get back into the water, telling Border Patrol agents he didnt know how to swim.

Rescuers considered several options, including using a helicopter or a lifeguard boat, before deciding to use a ladder truck and a rope-pulley system to pull the man up onto the bridge.

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We sent the rescuer down, attached the victim to the rescuer (and), used the ladder as a crane to bring the victim out of the riverbed to the bridge, he said.

The man and the rescuer were both hosed off because of concerns about being in polluted river water. Equipment used in the rescue also was bagged up to the thoroughly cleaned later, Salaz said.

The man was medically evaluated before being turned over to Border Patrol agents.

Twitter: @karenkucher

(619) 293-1350

karen.kucher@sduniontribune.com
Excerpts of recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:

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The Akron Beacon Journal, March 1

Americans feel like chumps. That was one conclusion to draw from the series of yes-or-no questions posed by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to executives from major drug manufacturers appearing before the Senate Finance Committee this week. The Cleveland Democrat elicited responses that established two things: No other country matches the funding American taxpayers pour into the research and development of pharmaceuticals.

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And for their investment, benefiting countries around the world? Americans face the highest prices for drugs.

...

What can be done, realistically and soon, to ease the cost burden?

...

The least Congress could do is take steps to promote generic drugs and bring to public attention the process behind drug pricing. Those in need of expensive medication and struggling to make ends meet deserve better than lawmakers in gridlock or drug company executives insisting that others in the industry are the real problem. As with so much about the high cost of health care in this country, the driving factor is price.

Online: https://bit.ly/2ThB3Vp

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The Columbus Dispatch, March 3

...

Ohioans should be alarmed by suggestions from both Republican and Democratic leaders in the General Assembly that any vote to raise the gas tax should be tied to income tax rates or deductions or loophole-closing or any other tax policies. That would be a recipe for mischief, both now and in the future.

...

For many decades, and for good reason, the transportation budget has been considered separate and apart from the main operating budget. In 1947, Ohioans approved a state constitutional amendment to guarantee that motor vehicle and license taxes would be reserved for roads, highways and bridges. Prior to that, some tax receipts from the sale of liquid fuels supported the school foundation fund.

Ever since, lawmakers have honored the complete separation of the main operating budget and the transportation budget, including the tax rates and policies specific to each. Obhofs suggestion that DeWines proposed gas-tax issue could be kicked into the operating budget and considered as part of a broader tax package could not be more imprudent.

...

Once lawmakers begin making tax trade-offs between budgets that have nothing to do with each other, political point-scoring trumps rational budgeting. Thats a Pandoras box that should never be opened.

...

Online: https://bit.ly/2TzEAhe

___

The Star-Beacon, March 1

Recent news reports show Ohio is fourth in the nation when it comes to sex trafficking cases, trailing just California, Texas and Florida.

... Ohio ranks fourth because task forces were developed in Columbus to deal with the issue.

...

In most cases, it is not children or young women kidnapped by force from their homes. Usually it is those who come from broken homes without strong family attachments, or those who are already addicted to drugs, making it easier to manipulate them into the sex trade. In many cases traffickers are also drug dealers who feed sex workers addictions, and even use the twisted nature of the situation to convince their victims they are the only people who truly care for them.

...

It is why authorities can and should go after the johns, as well as the traffickers. Setting aside any arguments about whether prostitution should be legalized, there is large demand for the illegal sex trade and, given that many sex workers are themselves victims, it is important to put legitimate fear of prosecution into those who would engage is such acts.

...

Online: https://bit.ly/2Tu1SER

___

The Marietta Times, March 1

There is much debate about the merits of medically assisted treatment for those attempting to break the bonds of drug addiction. While some call it trading one drug for another, others believe it is one tool in the its-time-to-throw-everything-at-this-problem toolkit, and can be helpful to some truly ready to take steps to defeat the monster.

There are options available for help those trying to turn their lives around and away from opioid addiction. But as local law enforcement has pointed out, opioids are falling out of fashion, and methamphetamines are again rearing their ugly head.

Because there is no medically assisted treatment for meth, that makes it a much more difficult problem than opioids, said Dr. Michael Bardo, research partner for Dr. Linda Dwoskin of the University of Kentucky. We dont yet have anything equivalent to that, so those individuals are much more difficult to treat. Theres nothing available for stimulants.

...

It is a shame we must wonder whether there are other researchers out there working toward a foil for whatever substance comes in the next wave, replacing meth at the top; but in the meantime, we are grateful researchers like Dwoskin and Bardo are on the case.

Online: https://bit.ly/2ELQGeA

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has left the Justice Department.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec says Whitakers last day was Saturday.

Whitaker was replaced last month when William Barr was confirmed as attorney general. He became a counselor in the associate attorney generals office.

Whitaker was elevated to acting attorney general in November after President Donald Trump ousted then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Whitaker was chief of staff to Sessions, who angered the Republican president by recusing himself from the Russia investigation.

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Democrats criticized Whitaker for past negative comments about the special counsels Russia probe.

The House Judiciary Committees chairman said Whitaker didnt offer clear responses about his communications with the White House when he testified last month. Whitaker agreed to return to clarify his testimony.

The Los Angeles Times first reported Whitakers departure.
Opponents of President Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border appear to have enough Senate votes to reject his move, now that Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he cant go along with the White House.

The House has voted to derail the action, and if the Senate follows later this month, the measure would go to Trump for his promised veto.

Three other Republican senators have announced theyll vote no  Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Paul makes it four, and assuming that all 47 Democrats and their independent allies go against Trump, that would give opponents 51 votes  just past the majority needed.

Congress is unlikely to have the votes to override.

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I cant vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasnt been appropriated by Congress, Paul said at a GOP dinner Saturday night at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News.

We may want more money for border security, but Congress didnt authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, its a dangerous thing.

Many lawmakers opposed to the emergency declaration say it tramples Congress constitutional power to control spending and would set a precedent for future Democratic presidents to make such a declaration for their own purposes. They also are concerned Trump would siphon money from home-state projects to barrier construction.

Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. Hes invoking other powers to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer, was in part responsible for the collapse in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program last week - continuing to vent about the investigations encircling him and his associates.

During seven hours of testimony Wednesday, Cohen said that Trump manipulated financial records and that Trump knew in advance about WikiLeaks efforts to release damaging information about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign, among other allegations.

The testimony unfolded as Trump had traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, to try to forge a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over curbing the North Korean nuclear program.

While in Vietnam, the president said he walked away from the summit with Kim because of a disagreement about economic sanctions on North Korea. But he gave another explanation for the failure of the talks on Twitter on Sunday evening.

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For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk,  he tweeted. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!

Lanny Davis, Cohens attorney, declined to comment on Trumps tweet Sunday night.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., had gone through multiple dates for its highly anticipated hearing with Cohen, who has been called to appear before several congressional panels and is scheduled to go to prison in May.

Cohen had been slated to appear publicly before the Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 but canceled, citing potential threats against his family. On Feb. 20, the committee said that it had rescheduled Cohens testimony for Wednesday. The president had announced the dates for his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.

Some of Trumps closest allies similarly criticized Democrats for holding a hearing with Cohen while the president was overseas. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called the scheduling a new low and accused Democrats hatred of Trump of undercutting the nuclear talks.

A spokeswoman for the Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

Trump has repeatedly complained about the Cohen testimony and the escalating investigations of him since he returned from Hanoi without an agreement with Kim. He derided bull----" investigations and mocked the collusion delusion in a long-winded speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday evening, he tweeted - as he has done many times before - about Presidential Harassment from crazed Democrats, calling it at the highest level in the history of our Country.

Published by the Washington Post.
Coroners officials were responding to the Beverly Center shopping mall on Sunday afternoon after an apparent suicide, Los Angeles police said.

Police received a report of shots fired inside the mall on La Cienega Boulevard near Beverly Hills shortly after 12 p.m., according to LAPD Officer Mike Lopez. Upon arriving, Lopez said, they found a deceased male and determined it was an apparent suicide.

It was just an isolated incident, Lopez said.

Coroners officials are en route.

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A person answering the phone at the mall security desk said the eighth floor of the shopping center remained closed but that the rest of the mall was open.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.
President Trumps relations with Congress took a sharp turn for the worse Sunday as his emergency declaration for a border wall hit a roadblock in the GOP-controlled Senate, and House Democrats signaled a sweeping new probe of whether the president obstructed justice and abused his power.

Taken together, the restiveness in both chambers signals a rocky two years ahead for Trump, even as he seeks to move past a bruising week. He returned home empty-handed from a summit with North Koreas leader, and his former personal lawyer, testifying before Congress, painted a devastating portrait of criminality and bad character on the presidents part.

The setback to Trumps emergency declaration, which the House has already voted to challenge, came in the form of a reported decision by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul to become the fourth senator on his side of the aisle to commit to voting for a Democratic-backed resolution to rescind Trumps declaration. That would be enough to allow the resolution to pass the Senate, assuming all Democrats support it.

Trump, angry that Congress refused to provide him with border wall money, said he will veto the measure. He says the emergency declaration will enable him to divert money from the military and other government programs to build a wall.

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While neither chamber appears to have mustered a veto-proof majority, the show of opposition to Trumps solution for fulfilling his signature campaign promise to build a border wall would represent a stinging rebuke from his own party.

The report of the latest GOP defection on Trumps controversial emergency declaration came Sunday from the Bowling Green (Ky.) Daily News, which said Paul  a staunch Trump backer in many key battles  planned to join three other Republicans who have already pledged to block the declaration.

If Paul and the others follow through, it would force Trump to wield the first veto of his presidency and represent a rare break with his party on a key issue.

The newly empowered Democratic House, meanwhile, signaled Trump faces new scrutiny on several fronts. The head of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), said his panel would open a probe into whether the president obstructed justice and abused his power.

Nadler, interviewed on ABCs This Week, sketched the broad outlines of a sweeping investigation that would seek documents from dozens of organizations and individuals, including the presidents eldest son and his closest business associates.

Tomorrow, we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice, Donald Trump, Jr., to [Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer] Allen Weisselberg, to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power, Nadler said.

On impeachment, however, the New York Democrat cautioned against any rush to judgment. Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen, Nadler said on the ABC show.

Trump tweeted Sunday that he was an innocent man being persecuted, and renewed his attacks against investigators, the news media and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who last week publicly implicated the president in an array of wrongdoing.

In dramatic televised testimony on Capitol Hill, Cohen said Trump ordered a hush-money payment to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels in an effort to prevent details of their alleged affair from emerging before the 2016 vote. He also said he believed Trump knew in advance of a WikiLeaks dump of emails damaging to Hillary Clinton.

Cohens high-profile appearance before the House Oversight Committee coincided with Trumps trip to Vietnam for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, from which he returned empty-handed.

On Sunday, Trumps national security advisor, John Bolton, painted the summit as a success and defended Trump for saying he took Kim at his word that the North Korean leader was unaware of the maltreatment that left captive U.S. student Otto Warmbier with irreparable brain damage.

Warmbier, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student, died days after being returned home in 2017 in a comatose state.

When he says, Im going to take him at his word, it doesnt mean that he accepts it as reality  it means that he accepts that was what Kim Jong Un said, Bolton said on Fox News Sunday.

In a separate TV appearance, though, the national security advisor carefully sidestepped his own views on Kims culpability. Critics, including Warmbiers parents, Fred and Cindy, said after the summit that they hold the North Korean leader responsible, because almost nothing of import happens in North Korea without his assent.

My opinion doesnt matter, Bolton said on CNNs State of the Union when pressed by host Jake Tapper on whether he thought Kim bore the blame.

While Bolton was defending Trumps performance in Hanoi, the presidents allies pushed back hard against accusers who say Trump improperly interfered in the Russia investigation being carried out by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

One of Muellers areas of investigation is whether the president obstructed justice. Its very clear that the president obstructed justice, Nadler said on ABC.

That prompted an angry outburst from the House minority leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who appeared on the same show.

I think Congressman Nadler decided to impeach the president the day the president won the election, the Bakersfield Republican said.

But McCarthy appeared to break ranks with Trump when asked during the interview whether North Korea had murdered Warmbier with its leaders knowledge.

I think Kim knew what happened, which was wrong, he said.

Another public rebuke of Trump from within GOP ranks on Sunday came from Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who disputed Trumps wall emergency. I think the president is violating our constitutional system, he told CNNs State of the Union.

In the Senate, Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have also said they would vote for the Democrats measure to rescind the emergency order. Several other GOP senators have voiced serious concerns.

Congressional Republicans, though, have largely marched in lockstep with Trump over the Russia-related investigations by Mueller and congressional Democrats, even as another key Democratic committee chairman pledged heightened efforts to determine whether Russia had gained leverage over Trump through his web of financial interests.

Rep. Adam B. Schiff, the Burbank Democrat who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said his panel would be looking into how Trump managed to secure bank loans at a time when he was being shunned by Wall Street. Schiff also said his committee would follow up on Cohens assertion that Trump continued his efforts throughout the campaign to secure a deal to build a tower in Moscow, and lied about doing so.

Well need to talk to some of the banks that have been doing business with Mr. Trumplike Deutsche Bank, which has had a history of laundering Russian money, Schiff said on CBS Face the Nation.

The committee would soon be calling in Trump Organization officials and longtime Trump associate Felix Sater to ask them about the Moscow project and related matters, he said.

There are any number of witnesses that can shed light on whether Americas national security is compromised because the president has been pursuing financial interests with the Russians, Schiff said.

But Republicans insisted nothing Cohen had said gave them pause about Trumps business entanglements, or about his campaigns knowledge of Russias activities in the run-up to the election.

I dont think the president has lied about Russia at all, said Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee, who played a prominent role in attacking Cohen as a liar during last weeks hearing. Cohen has pleaded guilty to lying previously to Congress.
The idea of transforming an old elementary school into a cultural arts center is excellent, but the business plan needs more details, city planning commissioners said as they debated project permit requests last month.

After an extended discussion and many questions, the commissioners ultimately continued the item to their April 4 meeting rather than reaching a decision that night. They asked project supporters to rethink the number of monthly events theyre proposing to hold, suggested they revise their permit paperwork, and requested a lighting study in the coming weeks.

I want this to be successful, but I dont think were there yet, Commission Chairman Glenn OGrady said as he listed the questions he had with the proposal.

Commissioner Bruce Ehlers concurred, saying, I would generally agree with everything you just said.

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Commissioners Kevin Doyle and Brett Farrow both said they wanted to approve the first phase of the art center plans, but agreed they, too, had questions about the plans. Commissioner Al Apuzzo was absent.

The Encinitas Arts, Culture and Ecology Alliance -- a coalition of more than 50 Encinitas arts enthusiasts and nonprofits -- is proposing to transform the old Pacific View School site on Third Street into an art and ecology center with classes, gallery spaces, artists workshops and cultural events. Fruit trees, vegetable beds, solar power panels, rainwater collection devices and a gray water filtration system also are planned for the site.

The Encinitas Union School District closed the school in 2003 and the city reached a deal with the school district to buy the 2.8-acre property in 2014. The alliance now has a right of entry agreement with the city, allowing it to make repairs and host some small events at the site. Members are in negotiations with the city over a long-term lease agreement.

In order to proceed with their plans, they also need a major-use permit, a design-review permit and a coastal development permit from the city, as well as state Coastal Commission support.

During the meeting, John DeWald, president of the alliances board of directors and manager of the center development process, told commissioners that its challenging to put together a long-term plan for the site. Alliance members want to answer all the questions about their plans now, so they dont have to keep coming back to the city to change their permits later, but they arent certain right now what events they may want to hold in the future, he said.

The expectation is this is going to evolve over time, he said.

For example, theyve requested the ability to host two farmers markets on the site a week, but theyre likely to only need one initially, he said.

Commissioners said they thought the alliance members were asking for too much, saying it looked to them like the alliance was proposing to host more than 40 events a month. They said they didnt need exact details on every likely event, but they did need to know how many there will be in total and how many of them will be outdoors. Outdoor events, particularly ones at night, could have a significant adverse impact on the surrounding residential neighborhood, they said.

Neighbors already are raising concerns about potential noise, parking and traffic issues. At last months meeting, commissioners heard from one neighbor, a property owner and the property owners attorney.

Attorney Felix Tinkov told the commissioners that he thought the alliances plans were admirable, but a little nebulous and said he thought the organization ought to be required to produce a full-scale environmental assessment.
(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Jonathan S. Jones, Binghamton University, State University of New York

(THE CONVERSATION) Newly unsealed documents from a lawsuit by the state of Massachusetts allege that Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin and other addictive opioids, actively sniffed out new, sinister ways to cash in on the opioid crisis.

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Despite years of negative press coverage, unwanted attention from regulators, multi-million dollar fines and several major lawsuits, Purdue staff and owners sought to expand the companys sights beyond its usual array of opioid painkillers. Purdue planned to become an end-to-end pain provider, by branching into the market for opioid addiction and overdose medicines, looking to peddle these medicines even while the company continued to aggressively market its addictive opioids. Internal research materials coldly explained the rationale behind this plan: Pain treatment and addiction are naturally linked.

As thousands of Americans continue to overdose on opioids annually, Purdues secret marketing research predicted that sales of naloxone, the overdose reversal drug, and buprenorphine, a medicine used to treat opioid addiction, would increase exponentially. Addiction to Purdues opioids would thus drive the sale of the companys opioid addiction and overdose medicines. Purdue even planned to target as customers patients already taking the companys opioids and doctors who prescribed opioids excessively, according to the Massachusetts lawsuit filing. To keep the plan quiet, Purdue staff dubbed the scheme Project Tango.

The audacity of Project Tango enraged many observers. But considered in historical context, the news that Purdue sought to peddle opioid addiction medicines while continuing to sell opioids seems less surprising. In fact, there is clear historical precedent for Purdues business plan. Over a century ago, patent medicine sellers pioneered this strategy during the U.S.'s Gilded Age opiate addiction epidemic.

Opiate addiction in the Gilded Age

Opiates were some of the most commonly prescribed medicines in American history until the 20th century. Pills containing opium, hypodermic morphine injections and laudanum, a drinkable liquid concoction of opium and alcohol, constituted half or more of all medicines prescribed in American hospitals during most of the 19th century, according to research by the historian John Harley Warner. Opiates were also present in countless patent medicines, over-the-counter panaceas made of secret ingredients, often sold under catchy brand names like Mrs. Winslows Soothing Syrup. Americans could choose from 5,000 brands of patent medicines marketed for all manner of ailments by the 1880s. In 1904, just before federal oversight began, patent medicines had matured into an astonishingly profitable industry, with estimated sales at US$74 million dollars annually  equivalent to about $2.1 billion dollars today.

Opiate-laced prescriptions and patent medicines often caused addiction. The historian David T. Courtwright estimates that opiate addiction rates in the U.S. skyrocketed to 4.59 per thousand Americans by the 1890s  a high rate, although lower than the rate of fatal opioid overdoses in recent years. Most individuals developed addictions through medicines, rather than the infamous smoking variety of opium. Victims of the habit cut across demographic lines, encompassing middle-class housewives suffering from menstrual pain, Civil War veterans reeling from amputations and many others in between.

Yet even for those who became addicted to prescription opiates, the condition was socially stigmatized and physically dangerous. Like today, addiction to opiates often led to fatal overdose, condemnation and sometimes even involuntary commitment to mental asylums. As one doctor reported to the Iowa Board of Health in 1885, addicted people lived truly in a veritable hell.

To avoid these frightful outcomes, desperate, opiate-addicted Americans frequently sought out medical treatment for their condition.

Gilded Age Americans could choose from a range of therapies for opiate addiction. Wealthy patients frequented plush private clinics, where they could receive inpatient treatment for opiate addiction. The most popular were the Keeley Institutes, which offered patients injections of the Bichloride of Gold remedy, invented by the doctor Leslie Keeley.

Scores of Keeley Institutes sprang up around the country in the late 19th century, a testament to the popularity of Keeleys Gold Cure, which he marketed for alcoholism and drug addiction. No up-and-coming Gilded Age city was complete without a Keeley Institute. At the height of the Gold Cure craze, there were 118 institutes serving 500,000 Americans between 1880 and 1920. Even the federal government had a contract with Keeley to provide the Gold Cure to addicted veterans. Although injections of the Gold Cure had little intrinsic medical value, historians believe that socializing with other like-minded patients in the Keeley Institutes may have helped some patients recover from addiction.

Keeley faced stiff competition, however. Other popular therapies for opiate addiction included patent medicine cures and antidotes, which were cheaper than inpatient care. These could be ordered by mail without a prescription, and consumed in the privacy of ones home, away from prying eyes.

Fueled by high demand, during its heyday at the turn of the 20th century, addiction cures bloomed into a multimillion-dollar sector of the patent medicine industry. Dozens of pharmaceutical companies peddled their cures to willing, opiate-addicted customers, which they marketed through pamphlets, postcards, and newspaper and magazine classifieds.

Ironically, these cures for opiate addiction almost universally contained opiates, unbeknownst to hopeful customers, who received little therapeutic benefit by todays standards. But in an era before federal regulation of medicines and narcotics, there were no effective safeguards to protect addiction patients from medical fraud.

Pharmaceutical fraud

Much like Purdue Pharma, which famously marketed Oxycontin as non-addictive precipitating the opioid crisis, Gilded Age patent medicine companies also fraudulently marketed their addiction treatments as non-addictive, targeting and intentionally deceiving addicted customers. For their part, Gilded Age doctors were deeply skeptical of such products, and they often accused proprietors of fraud in medical journals and newspapers.

Samuel B. Collins of La Porte, Indiana, inventor of the Painless Opium Antidote, one of the eras most popular brands, insisted that his product was not addictive. Collins was proven a fraud, however, by a skeptical Maine doctor, who in 1876 sent off a sample of Collins product to several chemists for analysis. Their tests indicated that the Painless Opium Antidote contained enough morphine to perpetuate opiate addiction, actually fueling demand for Collinss product, rather than curing the underlying addiction.

Despite the overwhelming evidence, however, without any effective medical regulation or oversight, Collins maintained his fraud for decades. His business strategy presaged Purdues Project Tango by targeting vulnerable opiate-addicted individuals.

After decades of exposes by doctors and journalists, however, the opiate addiction cure trade collapsed during the Progressive Era under mounting public pressure and new federal legislation. One famous muckraking expose, The Great American Fraud by the journalist Samuel Hopkins Adams, pulled back the curtain on the industry of opiate addiction cures for millions of appalled readers.

Hopkins painted such a scathing portrait of opiate addiction cures, whose proprietors the writer dismissed as scavengers, that the American Medical Association paid to disseminate Adamss reporting as part of a lobbying campaign for the regulation of patent medicines. This strategy paid off. Although far from perfect solutions, the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914 regulated the ingredients and sale of patent medicines and narcotics, including opiate addiction medicines. These measures ultimately ensured that Collins, Keeley and other patent medicine sellers could no longer prey upon opiate-addicted customers.

Like its Gilded Age predecessors, todays Big Pharma actively schemes to profit off of vulnerable, addicted customers, even while taking steps to ensure that opioid addiction persists. I believe that only sustained, vigilant oversight can prevent the reemergence of a medical Gilded Age, one in which companies like Purdue Pharma can manufacture an addiction crisis and charge customers for curing it.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/purdue-pharma-taps-a-gilded-age-history-of-pharmaceutical-fraud-112363.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Uxbridge, UK -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Birkdale, the UK's leading wholesaler of fencing materials, offers a wide range of door and gate furniture with screws, fixings and fitting instructions. They offer door and gate furniture under the brand of Gatemate. The Gatemate is Birkdale's own brand that covers a huge range of pre-packed door and gate furniture. All of their Gatemate products are manufactured using the highest grade materials to withstand adverse conditions. Birkdale offers door and gate furniture in numerous specifications in different materials, designs and sizes to meet the varied needs of their customers. Moreover, all of their Gatemate products are highly reliable and efficient and are supplied with clear, easy-to-understand fitting instructions.



A representative from Birkdale further talked about their Gatemate products, "We offer a wide range of gage and furniture under our brand name 'Gatemate' that is quality approved and can be easily installed without any hassle. All of our products are manufactured with the best materials available and ensure longer service life. These products are built to meet the high demands of professionals, while offering precision engineering. Best-in-class, our products require little to no maintenance."



Birkdale is one of the most recognised suppliers of a variety of gate and fencing hardware, accessories, fixings and tools across the UK and Ireland. They have a team of experienced professionals who strive hard to meet the wide needs of their clients. The company offers same day dispatch on all orders placed before 5 PM. They have a huge network of stockists and they sell the largest range of gate and fencing accessories on the market today. They are highly appreciated nationwide for their unbeatable quality and unrivalled customer service. Besides UK and Ireland, the company also sell their products to distributors and stockists in Continental Europe.



About Birkdale

Established in the mid-1980s as a fencing contractor, with supply to trade outlets commencing 10 years later, Birkdale has become the leading UK wholesale supplier of gate and fencing accessories. Known nationwide for their unbeatable quality and unrivalled customer service, Birkdale have a huge network of stockists and sell the largest range of gate and fencing accessories on the market today.



For more information, please visit: https://www.birkdalesales.com



Contact Details:

Birkdale Sales, Granville House, Wallingford Road,

Uxbridge UB8 2RW

T: 0345 450 9000

F: 0345 450 9085

E: mail@birkdalesales.com
Edison, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- HTF MI recently Announced Global Cloud Computing Services study with 100+ market data Tables and Figures spread through Pages and easy to understand detailed TOC on "Cloud Computing Services. Global Cloud Computing Services research allows you to get different methods for maximizing your profit. The research study provides estimates for Global Cloud Computing Services Forecast till 2025*. Some of the Leading key Company's Covered for this Research are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, IBM, Aliyun, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce, Rackspace, SAP, Oracle, Vmware, DELL & EMC.



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Cloud Computing is the practice of sharing a network of remote servers which are hosted on the Internet to store, process, and manage data rather than on a local server or a personal computer. It specifically refers to a common storage space through which all the devices in the network can access data simultaneously. The use of Cloud computing technology not only gives cost benefits but also makes applications accessible to all devices in the network at any time and from any location.

The major services provided by cloud computing technology are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). IaaS is most basic cloud computing model which provides physical or virtual machines and other resources. PaaS cloud providers deliver a computing platform such as operating system. Finally, SaaS cloud provides access to application software and databases.

In 2017, the global Cloud Computing Services market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2018-2025.



Global Cloud Computing Services Research for a Leading company is an intelligent process of gathering and analyzing the numerical data related to services and products. This Research Give idea to aims at your targeted customer's understanding, needs and wants. Also, reveals how effectively a company can meet their requirements. The market research collects data about the customers, marketing strategy, competitors. The Cloud Computing Services Manufacturing industry is becoming increasingly dynamic and innovative, with more number of private players entering the industry.



Important Features that are under offering & key highlights of the report:



1) Who are the Leading Key Company in Global Cloud Computing Services market space?



Following are list of players that are currently profiled in the report "Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, IBM, Aliyun, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce, Rackspace, SAP, Oracle, Vmware, DELL & EMC"



** List of companies mentioned may vary in the final report subject to Name Change / Merger etc.

2) What will the market size be in 2025 and what will the growth rate be?

In 2019, the Global Cloud Computing Services market size was xx million USD and it is expected to reach USD xx million by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025.



3) What are the Market Applications & Types:



The study is segmented by following Product Type: , Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) & Everything as a Service (XaaS)



Major applications/end-users industry are: Cloud IoT Services & Carrier Cloud Services



**The market is valued based on weighted average selling price (WASP) and includes any applicable taxes on manufacturers. All currency conversions used in the creation of this report have been calculated using constant annual average 2018 currency rates.



To comprehend Global Cloud Computing Services market dynamics in the world mainly, the worldwide Cloud Computing Services market is analyzed across major regions. HTF MI also provides customized specific regional and country-level reports for the following areas.



- North America: United States, Canada, and Mexico.

- South & Central America: Argentina, Chile, and Brazil.

- Middle East & Africa: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Egypt and South Africa.

- Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Russia.

- Asia-Pacific: India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia.

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Competitive Analysis:

The key players are highly focusing innovation in production technologies to improve efficiency and shelf life. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies. Company profile section of players such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft, IBM, Aliyun, Google Cloud Platform, Salesforce, Rackspace, SAP, Oracle, Vmware, DELL & EMC includes its basic information like legal name, website, headquarters, its market position, historical background and top 5 closest competitors by Market capitalization / revenue along with contact information. Each player/ manufacturer revenue figures, growth rate and gross profit margin is provided in easy to understand tabular format for past 5 years and a separate section on recent development like mergers, acquisition or any new product/service launch etc.

Research Parameter/ Research Methodology



Primary Research:

The primary sources involves the industry experts from the Global Cloud Computing Services industry including the management organizations, processing organizations, analytics service providers of the industry's value chain. All primary sources were interviewed to gather and authenticate qualitative & quantitative information and determine the future prospects.



In the extensive primary research process undertaken for this study, the primary sources  industry experts such as CEOs, vice presidents, marketing director, technology & innovation directors, founders and related key executives from various key companies and organizations in the Global Cloud Computing Services in the industry have been interviewed to obtain and verify both qualitative and quantitative aspects of this research study.



Secondary Research:

In the Secondary research crucial information about the industries value chain, total pool of key players, and application areas. It also assisted in market segmentation according to industry trends to the bottom-most level, geographical markets and key developments from both market and technology oriented perspectives.



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In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Global Cloud Computing Services are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2018

Base Year: 2018

Estimated Year: 2019

Forecast Year 2019 to 2025



Key Stakeholders in Global Cloud Computing Services Market:

Global Cloud Computing Services Manufacturers

Global Cloud Computing Services Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers

Global Cloud Computing Services Subcomponent Manufacturers

Industry Association

Downstream Vendors



**Actual Numbers & In-Depth Analysis, Business opportunities, Market Size Estimation Available in Full Report.



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Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.



About HTF Market Report

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".
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research, the global conditional access system market was valued at US$ 2,694.9 Mn in 2016 and is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.9% from 2018 to 2026 to reach US$ 5,381.2 Mn by the end of the forecast period. According to the report, North America was a significant contributor, in terms of revenue, to the conditional access systems market in 2016. With high adoption of advanced services such as high definition (HD) television, internet protocol television (IPTV), and others, North America is expected to maintain its dominant position in the market throughout the forecast period.



Read Report Overview - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/conditional-access-system-market.html



Increase in penetration of digital television worldwide is a major factor expected to fuel the expansion of the conditional access system market across the globe. The conditional access systems market is primarily dominated by pay television (TV) subscribers, who account for more than 70% of the total market revenue. Conditional access systems are used to provide content security for digital television service providers and are located within receivers at consumers' end. This makes digital television a prominent factor responsible for the expansion of the conditional access systems market. Thus, the demand for conditional access solutions is expected to rise substantially with an increase in penetration of digital television worldwide. Furthermore, the transition from analog to digital television services is a significant factor boosting the penetration of digital television globally. With a transition to digital television across the globe, the demand for interoperable set-top boxes (iSTB) is expected to increase substantially in the coming years, thereby fueling the conditional access systems market.



The global conditional access systems market is segmented based on solution, application, and geographic regions. Based on solution, the global conditional access systems market is classified into smartcard-based CAS and card-less CAS. In 2017, the smartcard-based CAS segment accounted for a significant market share, in terms of revenue, of the global conditional access systems market. Smartcard-based CAS is the traditional solution based on smartcards, which are installed on consumers' receiver devices. Card-less CAS accounted for a lower share of the market in 2017. However, due to low operational costs and enhanced security offered by these solutions, the demand for card-less CAS is anticipated to rise at a rapid pace during the forecast period. Furthermore, in terms of application, the global conditional access systems market is categorized into television broadcasting services, Internet services, and digital radio broadcasting services. In 2017, the television broadcasting services segment accounted for a prominent share of the global conditional access systems market. This was primarily due to high penetration of digital television in North America, Western Europe, and other developed regions across the world. The television broadcasting services segment is estimated to maintain its dominant position with a healthy expansion rate. This is primarily due to increase in adoption of digital television in Asia Pacific, South America, Europe, and other developing regions.



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Furthermore, among the television broadcasting services segments covered in the report, the conditional access module segment is expected to expand at a significant rate during the forecast period. The expansion of this segment is mainly driven by a rise in applications of conditional access systems in smart or advanced televisions across the world. Moreover, in-built conditional access systems in a set-top box are also expected to contribute to market expansion during the forecast period. The conditional access systems market is likely to expand at a rapid pace in the coming years due to rise in demand for digital television set-top boxes.



Players in the conditional access system market are partnering with other technology companies in order to expand their market presence. Apart from partnerships, vendors are also enhancing conditional access system capabilities by integrating software with legacy conditional access systems in order to provide better content protection services to their customers.



Key players in the global conditional access systems market include Cisco Systems, Inc., Kudelski Group (Nagravision SA), China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd., Verimatrix, Inc., Irdeto, Inc., Viaccess-Orca (Orange Group), Austrian Broadcasting Services GmbH & Co. KG (ORS Group), Coretrust, Inc., Wellav Technologies Ltd., Alticast Corporation, ABV International Pte. Ltd., Sumavision Technologies Co., Ltd., Sumavision Technologies Co., Ltd., and ARRIS Group, Inc..



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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- The U.S. cryogenic equipment market is predicted to exceed USD 4 million by 2024. Increasing industrial natural gas consumption coupled with sizeable investments in new E&P ventures will fuel the industry growth. As per the Energy Information Administration, in 2017, the U.S. witnessed consumption of 7.9 million cubic feet of natural gas across the industrial sector. Moreover, increasing natural gas liquefaction capacity in the country will stimulate the business growth.



Ongoing efforts to reduce GHG emissions driven by increasingly stringent legislative requirements will fuel the global market growth. For instance, the European Union has set a target to reduce GHG emissions by 40% compared to the 1990 levels by 2030, thereby leading to an increased use of cryogenics from natural gas. In addition, rising number of projects of integrated gasification combined cycle, clean coal and gas to liquids processes are contributing to the industry growth.



Request for a sample Copy @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2918



Cryogenic storage equipment market share will expand over 7% by 2024. The industry growth is attributed to rising demand for sourcing, stocking, handling and transfer of liquefied gases. The ability of these equipment to store liquefied gases at extremely low temperatures represents one of the major factors which will drive the product adoption.



Natural gas based cryogenic equipment market is set to expand over 7% by 2024. Abundant Availability of natural gas, majorly across Argentina, China, and the U.S. favored by abundant untapped reservoirs will fuel the industry growth. Moreover, the increasing demand of LNG on account of its widespread requirement across the power and oil & gas sector as a feedstock, will foster the product adoption.



Healthcare cryogenic equipment market will witness strong growth owing to the ongoing investments toward renovation and modernization of existing hospitals along with improving service portfolio. In the U.S., healthcare spending witnessed a substantial growth of 17% from 2013 to 2016 amounting for around USD 3 trillion.



To elaborate, storing cells, such as baby stem cells for later use avoids a situation of crisis for patients of the family and eliminates the time wasted in finding donors. The cryogenic equipment industry has been able to assist medical companies and professionals to implement long-term storage solutions for human cells, plasma and tissues for future use. Ongoing research activities are focusing on utilizing human cells for curing terminal illnesses, while many studies are concentrating on preserving endangered species through cryogenic storage of their bio samples. Development of effective vaccines & drugs to counter fatal diseases and epidemics also require ideal storage conditions to hold deadly viruses needed for research purposes. Statistics show that in 2016, the overall amount spent on health and medical research and development was around USD 171.8 billion and will keep increasing.



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All in all, initiatives taken by the companies to expand their footprints across the globe by providing broader set of solutions is poised to improve the product demand. The shifting focus of the companies to target prominent consumers of cryogenic equipment by providing optimized technology services will also have a significant influence on the industry trends. Driven by the surging industrialization and transforming healthcare services, cryogenic equipment market will surpass a revenue collection of USD 25 billion by the end of 2024.



Key players in the cryogenic equipment market Chart Industries, Inc., Emerson, The Linde Group, Air Liquide, SKF Group, Flowserve Corporation, INOXCVA, Cryostar, BTIC Beijing Tianhai Industry Co., Ltd., Cryoquip, Helac Corporation - Parker Hannifin, CryoPacific, Inc. & Technifab Products.
Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Cushion Case Liner Market: Introduction and Need of the Product



Cushion case liner is a protective packaging product used to protect fruits, vegetables, food, and other consumer products and equipment from bruising or any other physical damage. It is noticed that the demand for protective packaging solutions is increasing at a good CAGR value in the emerging as well as developed economies to protect fragile products during shipping and transportation. Cushion case liners are used inside packaging products such as corrugated boxes, for protective packaging. The product is widely used in packaging applications of fresh produce such as meat, fruits, vegetables, and other food products. It is primarily made up of polystyrene material which gives it a soft-finish and shock-proof design. Case liners are helpful in preventing product slippage and maintain cleanliness of the packaging product. They are available in a roll format, and can be easily cut with scissors for quick use.



Cushion Case Liner Market: Market Dynamics



The cushion case liner market is expected to witness high demand during the forecast period due to the growing need for protective packaging products during shipping and transportation. Cushion case liners are widely used for the packaging of food, fruits, and vegetables to avoid any damage to the product. They are shock-proof and protect products during transit. It is expected that the high demand for cushion case liners will be generated from the major fruits and vegetables producing countries such as India. The demand for cushion case liners is expected to decline due to the introduction of new and innovative alternative packaging products. Other protective packaging products such as bubble wraps, foam peanuts, etc. might hamper the growth prospects of the global cushion case liner market. However, it is noticed that the current demand for cushion case liner is met through imports from developed countries. Therefore, there are enormous opportunities for the regional and global manufacturers to expand their market presence to leverage opportunities generated through the high demand.



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Cushion Case Liner Market: Market Segmentation



Cushion Case Liner Market Segmentation: By Material Type



Polypropylene

Polystyrene

Polyethylene

Others

Cushion Case Liner Market Segmentation: By End Use



Meat, Poultry, and Seafood

Fresh Produce

Food

Fruits

Vegetables

Electrical & Electronics

Dairy Products

Others

Cushion Case Liner Market Segmentation: By Sales Channel



B2B

B2C

Cushion Case Liner Market: Regional Overview



On the basis of region, the cushion case liner market is segmented as North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, APEJ (Asia-Pacific Excluding Japan), Middle East & Africa, and Japan. The demand for cushion case liners is generated primarily from North America and Europe due to the high emphasis on the use of packaging products that protect consumer products during shipping and transportation. Also, the number of manufacturers present in the region is quite large. These companies are planning to expand their presence to leverage the opportunities generated through the growing demand for cushion case liners in the region. It is expected that the cushion case liner market will continue to grow in the developed as well as developing countries. In the Asia-Pacific region, India and China dominate the cushion case liner market with the highest market share during the forecast period. In Latin America, Mexico is expected to witness strong growth due to the growing dairy industry in the country. In the MEA region, Saudi Arabia and UAE offer the highest incremental growth opportunities in the market due to the rapid expansion of the food industry. Japan also offers untapped growth opportunities in the global cushion case liner market.



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Cushion Case Liner Market: Market Players



Some of the key players in the cushion case liner market are Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc., Protective Packaging Ltd., Outlet Bags, and Victoria Box & Paper among others.



The cushion case liner market report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, and inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The cushion case liner market report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators, and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The cushion case liner market report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.



Regional Analysis Includes:



North America Cushion Case Liner Market

Latin America Cushion Case Liner Market

Western Europe Cushion Case Liner Market

Eastern Europe Cushion Case Liner Market

Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) Cushion Case Liner Market

Japan Cushion Case Liner Market

Middle East & Africa (MEA) Cushion Case Liner Market

Cushion Case Liner Market Report Highlights:



A detailed overview of parent market

Changing cushion case liner market dynamics in the industry

In-depth cushion case liner market segmentation

Historical, current, and projected market size regarding volume and value

Recent industry trends and developments

Competitive landscape

Strategies for key players and products offered

Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth

A neutral perspective on cushion case liner market performance

Must-have information for cushion case liner market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint



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Shangyu, China -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/03/2019 -- Morewin, industry leaders in custom packaging of cosmetics, makeup products and health care products are pleased to present a range of packaging solutions for their clients. The packaging solutions include compact containers, lotion bottles, cream jars, perfume bottles, roll-on bottles, hair care and skin care packaging, cosmetic dropper bottles and many more. The company is known for their customized packaging solutions where brands can personalize their cosmetics and makeup products with private labels. Morewin offers packaging services for makeup brands, health care brands and cosmetic companies from across the world including Japan, Korea, UK, USA, France and many others.



One of the most important factors that influence the marketing strategy is the packaging of the product. Customers are often attracted to products which are packed beautifully and are easy to use. Many brands compete with their counterparts in terms of packaging as well among other things. There are so many kinds of materials available today ranging from glass to plastic. Here at Morewin, clients can be assured that their packages are not just attractive and unique but functional as well. The most essential aspects of makeup packaging are the shape, material, color and durability. The company uses state-of-the art equipment and machinery to design and manufacture bottles that fit the clients' description by all means.



Cosmetics and makeup products have become every day essentials and customers love to purchase products that are not just effective but innovative too. The custom cosmetic packaging solutions offered here are unique, affordable and creative. The company also specializes in sustainable cosmetics packaging in order to reduce the environmental impact. They also offer packages that are biodegradable thereby helping the companies contribute towards environmental sustainability. Companies that are looking for innovative packaging options can always get in touch with the representatives here. With an amazing range of innovative choices, the company's aim is to expand their designs from time to time so as to cater to all the future packaging needs of their existing clients as well as new clients.



To know more about custom cosmetic packaging visit https://packagebottles.com/cosmetic-packaging/



About Packagebottles.com

Morewin, Packagebottles.com based at Zhejiang Province, China is a company that offers packaging solutions for cosmetics and health care products. With over 300 employees and 10 production lines, the company manufactures all packaging products in their own factory.



Media Contact

Name: Morewin

Address: No.29 Baifeng Road, Lianghu Industrial Zone, Shangyu District, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, China 312300

Phone: +86-13967506363

Email: Info@Packagebottles.com

Website: https://packagebottles.com/
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Research, the global data center infrastructure management (DCIM) market is expected to reach a value of US$ 6,862.1 Mn by 2026 on account of growing adoption of DCIM software and solutions such as IT asset management and facility management across various industries. The market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 18.1% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to experience healthy growth during the forecast period which is expected to be followed by Middle East & Africa.The data center infrastructure management (DCIM) solution segment is expected to see flourishing growth, owing to rising demand for data center infrastructure management (DCIM) in various industries such as IT, telecom, banking, retail, etc.



Read Report Overview - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/data-center-infrastructure-management-market.html



Due to the increasing usage of internet globally, the amount of data being generated is expected to drive the growth of data centers or server farms in the coming years. Most of the data centers have 24x7 operations which generate huge consumption of energy for cooling, lighting, IT equipment and others. The energy consumption also varies depending on the data center load which triggers better cooling needs. According to the National Resources Defence Council (NRDC), an environmental action organization, U.S. data centers in 2013 alone consumed 91 billion kilowatt-hours of electrical energy, which is expected to reach 139 billion kilowatt-hours by 2020. This is expected to put stress on data center companies in order to reduce their energy consumption and optimize data center efficiency. The usage of DCIM solutions is expected to fulfil this demand in the near future.



The data center infrastructure management (DCIM) market is segmented based on solutions, software component, industry vertical, and geography. Based on solutions, IT asset management is estimated to have the largest share of around 48.5% in 2018. The combined growth of IT assets and DCIM software is expected to contribute to the growth of IT asset management solutions over the forecast period. On the basis of software component, the IT asset software solution segment is expected to contribute the largest market share. However, the DCIM software segment is expected to expand at the highest CAGR during the forecast period from 2018 to 2026. In terms of industry, the market is subdivided as BFSI, IT, telecom, healthcare, retail, and others. IT, telecom, and other segments are expected to account for a considerable market share in the coming years. Rising demand for better energy efficiency in data centers and favorable regulations, boosting the adoption of green data centers is expected to drive the growth of the market in the coming years.



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North America is expected to be the largest geographical market in terms of revenue in 2018. The presence of a large number of DCIM players and the existing data centers is expected to support the demand for DCIM in North America in the coming years. The U.S. is expected to be a significant contributor to the DCIM market in North America. Europe is anticipated to contribute a consistent market share during the forecast period owing to growing awareness and demand for additional green data centers over the forecast period. The Europe DCIM market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 16.2%.



In terms of new opportunities, the market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness healthy growth during the forecast period. Increasing awareness of data center infrastructure management (DCIM) as well as adoption of advance and technological solutions in data centers across countries such as India, South Korea, and Taiwan is expected to offer prominent opportunities to the data center infrastructure management (DCIM) market.



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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- The North American digital banking market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 2.5% during the forecast period. The market is driven by the early adoption of digital solutions among the banking institutes. The high penetration of internet and smartphone users is also augmenting the demand for digital banking solutions. Large volumes of credit card and debit card transactions in the region also promote the digital banking market.



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The increasing venture capital investment in fintech sector is propelling the digital banking market. Over the past five years, fintech has emerged as the most lucrative sector and the venture capitalists are investing billions in the sector to make profits. In 2017, approximately USD 16.5 billion investment was witnessed in the fintech companies, increasing from USD 3.7 billion in 2013. Acknowledging the rise of fintech players, banks are looking to boost their investments in technology. While some banks are collaborating or investing in the fintech companies to develop more customer-centric products, others are acquiring the fintech players to acquire technical expertise and expand their product portfolio.



Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis:

- Appway

- Backbase

- BNY Mellon

- CREALOGIX

- ebanklT

- ETRONIKA

- Fidor Solutions

- Finastra

- Fiserv

- Halcom D.D.

- ieDigital

- Intellect Design Arena

- Kony

- NETinfo

- NF Innova

- Oracle

- SAB

- SAP SE

- Sopra

- TCS

- Technisys

- Temenos

- Worldline



The supportive government initiatives & policies for the promotion of digital banking services is also driving the digital banking market. Governments across the globe are constantly working on accelerating the adoption of digital banking services. The demonetization activities and digitalization policies adopted by the government are encouraging the adoption of digital payment solutions. Moreover, governments are also offering tax incentives and subsidies to the fintech players to encourage the adoption of digital solutions.



Corporate banking held over 13% share in the digital banking market in 2017. The emergence of the fintech players is the primary factor accelerating the adoption of digitalization among the corporate banks. The corporate banks are experiencing tough competition from the fintech companies that are offering standalone products at low costs. This is encouraging corporate banks to embrace the technologies to provide a better experience to their customers. Moreover, the integration of the advanced technologies into the banking platforms, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, is also augmenting the demand for digital solutions among the corporate banking sector to analyze the customer behavior and meet their requirements.



Non-transaction services in the digital banking market are anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 14% during the projected timeline. The increasing need to provide enhanced customer experience is driving the adoption of non-transaction digital services among the banking institutes. The digital disruption and generational shift cause fundamental changes in customer behavior that are rapidly influencing customer expectations from banks. Over a third of the millennials (population aged between 16 to 34) believe they will be able to live a bank-free existence in the future. Customers, especially the younger population who are digitally savvy, hyper-connected, and choice conscious have an inclination toward tech-oriented services as their preferences are changing. These customers are accustomed to digital experiences offered by online retailers and expect the same or perhaps a richer experience from the banks.



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The key players in the digital banking market space are Appway, Backbase, BNY Mellon, Crealogix, ebanklT, EdgeVerve Systems, ETRONIKA, Fidor, Finastra, Fiserv, Halcom, IE Digital, Intellect Design Arena, Kony, NETinfo, NF Innova, Oracle, SAB, SAP, Sopra, Tagit, TCS, Technisys, Temenos, and Worldline.



Browse Related Report:

Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024



https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/dynamic-application-security-testing-dast-market



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.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Favorable regulatory regime supported by a multitude of fiscal support schemes and policies will stimulate the Europe Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) market. For instance, the 2009 EU Directive on renewable energy sets ambitious target for all the Member States, to attain a 20 % energy share from renewable sources by 2020. The EU directive includes ASHPs within its definition of renewable sources of energy, provided they meet minimum performance standards. Increased demand for space heating across countries with extreme climatic conditions will further augment the business growth in the region.



Europe Air Source Heat Pump Market is predicted to exceed USD 7 Billion by 2024. Rising demand for space heating and hot water across polar climate regions along with government efforts toward renovation and modernization of existing infrastructures will boost the industry growth. In addition, financial support for the construction of sustainable buildings will complement the business landscape. For instance, the European Investment Bank, in 2018, approved funds of over USD 100 million toward development of zero emission buildings.



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Commercial ASHP market is projected to expand over 4% by 2024. Rising demand for HVAC systems having easy integrability with traditional heating units coupled with growing investments toward infrastructure development will augment the product deployment. For instance, the European Investment Bank entered in a contract with Infranode toward sustainable development of local infrastructure.



The UK air source heat pump market is anticipated to exceed an annual installation of 30 thousand units by 2024. The industry will witness robust growth on account of recent extensions in Renewable Heat Incentive tariff coupled with strengthening efforts by utility companies toward nationwide expansion of heat pump business. Additionally, the EU in collaboration with respective government introduced energy efficiency measures which will encourage the replacement of traditional heating systems.



Norway is another prominent regional contender in Europe air source heat pump industry & predicted to exceed USD 600 million by 2024. Initially, the Norwegian government had given importance for the implementation of heat pumps mainly across industrial and commercial sectors, but later on, with the increasing need for energy efficiency, a considerable proportion of the regional populace installed air heat pumps on large scale.



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Europe Air to Air (ATA) heat pump market is projected to grow over 3% by 2024. Cost effectiveness, high energy efficiency, ability to purify air, ease of installation and zero ground work expense are some of the key features which will make the product a more preferable option over its available counterparts.



Eminent players operating across Europe air source heat pump market Carrier Corporation, Vaillant Group, Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating, Toshiba, Danfoss, Daikin Applied Americas, Climaveneta, Glen Dimplex, Systemair AB, Trane, Samsung HVAC.
Anchorage, AK -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Travelling by air is still one of the safest forms of transportation and as a result it has become the most common forms of transportation used. Because air travel has become the most common form of transportation throughout the world, no one really likes to think about being involved in a plane crash when they are travelling. However, the reality is plane crashes happen and people should know what to expect in the event that this occurs.



While airplane crashes are extremely rare when there is a major airline disaster the federal government provides support services to the families of victims and survivors. A Crowson Law Group attorney commented regarding aircraft accidents, "Families and survivors are able to bring various legal claims against a number of parties including the airline, aircraft and parts manufacturers as well as others, however, this is dependent on what caused the accident. The same is true if the accident occurred in a smaller plane; a survivor or victim may have claims similar to those of an auto accident." The key in all of this is determining the cause of the airplane accident or near accident which causes injuries such as an emergency landing in freezing water.



One article stated, "According to studies made regarding airplane accidents, most airplane crashes are caused by pilot error, defective equipment, defective design or structural problems with the airplane, errors made by federal air traffic controllers, faulty maintenance or repair of the airline or fuel problems. As a result, it is likely that there is more than one factor that contributed to the accident. Therefore, determining what caused an airplane crash can be extremely difficult and is often done by a number federal agencies. One expert noted, "If you want to see how difficult it is to conduct an aircraft accident investigation take the time to watch the TV series Aircraft Investigations. It basically shows the intricate measures and lines of investigation taken when an aircraft accident seems to have an obvious cause. Investigators are not influenced by the media or the assumptions associated with the accident, rather they piece together the evidence they have found and come up with a conclusion after taking into consideration a number of factors as well as information provided by the black box, the point of impact and data provided by flight traffic controllers."



The Crowson Law Group attorney mentioned that if an individual is considering legal action in respect of Alaska aircraft accidents it is necessary for that individual to have their attorney investigate the findings of the investigative agencies as well as verify the accuracy of such investigation results. In addition, the attorney stated that the type of claims an individual may bring in any legal action largely depend on the cause of the accident. For example, a negligence claim is made whereby the crash is as a result of pilot error or other human mistakes. By making such a claim the individual is basically alleging that 'their injuries or the death of a loved one was a direct result of the carelessness of the pilot, air traffic controller or mechanic who serviced the plane'.



About Crowson Law Group

Crowson Law Group is a law firm of renowned professionals who focus exclusively on personal injury matters. For legal advice and representation by Anchorage Alaska attorneys with experience handling aircraft accidents, contact Crowson Law Group today.



Contact Information:

Company :Crowson Law Group

Address: 637 A St. Anchorage, AK 99501

Email:james@crowsonlaw.com

Phone: (907) 677-9393
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Friability is the tendency of a solid matter to break into fine pieces under pressure or contact, especially by abrasion. Compressed powders in uncoated tablets can easily shed minute particles during transit; this breakdown of tablets into tiny pieces is friability. It can be caused because of the number of factors like poor tablet design, insufficient binder, low moisture content, and others.



Friability testing is a laboratory technique broadly practiced by the pharmaceutical industry to test the strength of tablets during transit. Friability tester tests the amount to which compressed powder tablets will be reduced to fine particles when affected by vibration, pressure or friction. In friability testing, the sample tablets are placed into a rotating drum; before selecting test parameters based on the time, rotations, or starting and ending sample weights. Friability testing involves repetitively dropping sample tablets for a fixed period, using a baffling rotating wheel. The result is examined for damaged tablets, and the percent quantity of tablet mass lost through fragmenting.



Technological advancements in the friability tester are further driving the market. As the uncoated tablets tend to shed the particles on friction during the handling, packaging, and transit; affects the effectiveness of the medicine on the consumer.



Market Dynamics- Global Friability Tester Market



The global market for friability tester is highly dependent upon the demand from the pharmaceutical industry. Being the primary end use for the friability testers, the pharmaceutical sector drives the growth of friability tester market. The pharmaceutical companies always try to improve their quality testing processes to ensure the desired hardness of the uncoated pills and tablets to be delivered. It is necessary for all the pharmaceutical manufacturers to continuously improvise their physical testing process by adopting the advanced technology and provide equipments with upgraded features. The continuous technological advancements in the friability tester for optimum results and effective testing process is further generating the demand for friability tester across the globe.



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Wireless technology and automation mark recent trends in the global friability tester market



The technological features like touchscreen interface, wireless connectivity, USB connection, test result printing, auto-recording the test results, fully automatic tablet loading, automatic discharge, self-validation, and pre-programmed test parameters, etc. are recent trends in the friability tester which are boosting the demand for global friability tester market. For instance, ERWEKA GmbH, the German manufacturer and leading player in global friability tester market, recently launched their TAR-series of the friability testers offering the features like LED display, USP/EP/JP compliance, symbol style keypad for easy programming, and USB interface for connecting to computer or printer.



Difference in safety regulations across various regions is acting as a restraint for the growth of the market



The precaution and safety measures vary according to the multiple countries; hence the product designed and manufactured for one country's market may or may not be competent for introducing in the other country's market. There are different views and regulations of the various governments across the globe.



For instance, the safety measures stated in North American Safety Requirements differ from the rules of British Pharmacopoeia (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency of the United Kingdom)



Also for new entrants, these products might need high capital cost and investments which could act as a barrier or restraint for the growth of the market.



Segmentation- Global Friability Tester Market



The global market for friability tester can be segmented on the basis of test type, equipment type, application, and region.

Segmentation of Friability Tester Market by Test Type:

Conventional Test

Granule and Spheroids Test

Others



Segmentation of Friability Tester Market by Equipment Type:

Single Drum Tester

Double Drum Tester

Triple Drum Tester

Others



Segmentation of Friability Testers by End Use:

Academic Laboratories

Pharmaceutical Testing Laboratories

Research and Development Laboratories

Others.



KEY PLAYERS- Global Friability Tester Market



The key players operating in the global friability tester market are-

ERWEKA GmbH

Panomex Inc

Copley Scientific

Electrolab

Agilent Technologies, Inc

SOTAX AG

Others



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Regional Outlook- Global Friability Tester Market

Being technologically most advanced region, the North America region has a significant share of the friability tester market. Expanding pharmaceutical industries in the North America region is one of the factors that boost the market for friability tester significantly. Another factor supporting the growth of friability tester market is the supportive safety regulations related to testing equipment for various applications in the region. This is followed by Europe where many of the pharmaceutical giants are located creating the demand for friability testers. The Asia Pacific excluding Japan stands third in the global friability test market owing to significant growth in chemical as well as pharmaceutical industries. MEA region is also expected to show decent growth in demand for friability tester.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/03/2019 -- The Gas Chromatographs Market is further segmented in terms of applications, end-user, end-use, geographic presence, by-products as well as services. In addition, the subject matter experts evaluating the industry provide an all-inclusive category-specific industry outlook. A comprehensive collection of data on major companies occupying a strong foothold in the industry adds immense value to the overall research.



Importantly, the research sheds a lot of light on their winning strategies to help stakeholders, business owners, and field marketing executives stay ahead in the competition. Besides, the industry is thoroughly weighed upon on the basis of the total revenue generated as well as the output/volume produced year after year. Other aspects including but not limited to the market drivers, key opportunities and probable restraints are thoroughly assessed during the study.



To get Free Sample Report Copy click here @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/31510



The major manufacturers covered in this report:

ABB, PerkinElmer, Endress+Hauser, Hach Company, Yokogawa Electric Corporation, Aneolia, Teledyne Analytical Instruments, Honeywell, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Siemens, Emerson, BioTector Analytical Systems



Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Gas Chromatographs in these regions, from 2013 to 2026 (forecast), covering

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Southeast Asia

- India



The assessment of the wining strategies followed by these companies can help business owners not only strategize but also execute business operations by referring the statistics about competitor analysis. Careful assessment of the industry analysis across different regions along with vital information on the market size, share and growth rate makes this report a wonderful resource for business evangelists.



Most widely used downstream fields of Gas Chromatographs market covered in this report are:

- Industry

- Experiment

- Chemical



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In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Bearing Steel are as follows:

History Year: 2014-2019

Base Year: 2019

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year: 2019 to 2026



The study objectives of this report are:

- To analyse and study the global Gas Chromatographs capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2019-2026);

- Focuses on the key Gas Chromatographs manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

- Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyse the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

- To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

- To analyse the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

- To analyse the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

- To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyse their growth strategies.



There are 13 Chapters to thoroughly display the Gas Chromatographs market. This report included the analysis of market overview, market characteristics, industry chain, competition landscape, historical and future data by types, applications and regions.

Chapter 1: Gas Chromatographs Market Overview, Product Overview, Market Segmentation, Market Overview of Regions, Market Dynamics, Limitations, Opportunities and Industry News and Policies.

Chapter 2: Gas Chromatographs Industry Chain Analysis, Upstream Raw Material Suppliers, Major Players, Production Process Analysis, Cost Analysis, Market Channels and Major Downstream Buyers.

Chapter 3: Value Analysis, Production, Growth Rate and Price Analysis by Type of Gas Chromatographs.

Chapter 4: Downstream Characteristics, Consumption and Market Share by Application of Gas Chromatographs.

Chapter 5: Production Volume, Price, Gross Margin, and Revenue ($) of Gas Chromatographs by Regions (2014-2019).

Continue



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Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- The Infrastructure Monitoring Market in the Americas is anticipated to grow at a high rate owing to the tendency of early adoption of the latest advanced technologies in the region. Increasing government investments in the U.S., Brazil, and Canada to renovate the existing structures and undertake new construction projects are expected to boost the infrastructure monitoring market growth in the region. Asia Pacific is also projected to witness a high growth due to the rapid urbanization in economies including Japan, China, and India. The Cross-Ministerial Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP) is undertaken by the government of Japan, which includes infrastructure maintenance, renovation, and management program. The program aims at incorporating these systems to ensure predictive maintenance of infrastructure.



Declining costs of sensors that are used for construction management have led to the overall reduction in the total expenditure, also boosting the infrastructure monitoring market. Sensors are deployed for measuring the vibration & distortion in pillars, power conservation, and maintaining the structure health through remote assessment. These components are manufactured in large numbers and at very low costs so that these can be embedded into concrete structures. These sensors provide the required data wirelessly. The use of sensors reduces the overall costs incurred from the manual inspection of structures. The advantages offered by sensors and the availability of low-cost sensors are fueling the industry growth.



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High investments for the structure health assessment across various countries drive the infrastructure monitoring market. Governments in various emerging economies are passing stringent regulations related to the sustainability of structures. For instance, the Building Control Act enforced in Singapore authorizes an accredited checker to inspect the sustainability of a building or a structure.



Growing trend toward building smart cities and refurbishing the existing IT & telecommunication structure is anticipated to drive the infrastructure monitoring market over the forecast timespan. Rising labor costs in countries including China have led to an increase in the demand for automated inspection and scrutinizing systems. Government initiatives, such as Digital India, are further providing a boost to the industry.



Infrastructure monitoring market is segmented into wired and wireless. The wireless segment is projected to grow significantly owing to the ease of maintenance offered by wireless systems. Wired systems are susceptible to wear & tear and climatic changes. They also increase the overall maintenance costs owing to the amount of hardware used. The wired segment is predicted to grow at a steady rate over the forecast timespan. Wired systems are already implemented in many existing structures and replacing them with entirely new wireless systems can be technically difficult, thus propelling the demand for wired systems.



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The infrastructure monitoring market is segmented into hardware, software, and services. The software segment is projected to a higher rate over the coming years. The industry is characterized by the generation of large amount of data, which must be efficiently processed, stored and analyzed. Sophisticated software platforms enable efficient data processing with increased immunity to security breaches. The hardware segment is expected to grow owing to the involvement of hardware components in the system to measure the physical properties of the structure.



Key players in the infrastructure monitoring market include Structural Monitoring Systems Ltd., Sixense, Geomotion Singapore, RST Instruments Ltd., Campbell Scientific, Inc., Acellent Technologies, Inc., Cowi, Geocomp Corporation, and Digitexx Data Systems, Inc.



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.
Allentown, NJ -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Technology is ever-changing and advancing. This means businesses and homeowners will need to keep up with the times to have access to this evolving technology on their computers. New wiring systems are frequently being created and installed in homes and businesses to ensure speed and the efficiency of tech devices. For years, residents of New Jersey and Pennsylvania have trusted Network Drops for structured cabling services that will prepare them for the future.



Business owners have expressed a need and increased interest in low-voltage wiring systems, which is also known as structured wiring or structured cabling. With this technology developing at such a rapid pace, business owners need quality contractors to meet growing demands. At Network Drops, their expert technicians proudly offer advanced and reliable structured cabling solutions to New Jersey residents.



With 30 years of expertise in structured cabling and a variety of other wiring services, including voice and data services, network infrastructure and more, businesses depend on Network Drops to design a wiring system that is ideal for them. Network Drops is PA and NJ's one-stop solution for structured wiring installation or repair. Additionally, customer service is the company's highest priority, which is why their specialists listen carefully to their requirements and provide superior solutions that will live up to the customer's standards for success.



Those interested in structured cabling solutions in South Jersey or PA, or any of the other services that Networks Drops offers, are encouraged to contact their team today. Call 609-551-9763 for more information or visit https://www.networkdrops.com/.



About Network Drops

Network Drops is a Central New Jersey-based network cabling service that provides and installs various cables to clients across the State. They specialize in cat 5/5e, cat 6, fiber optic, voice, commercial wireless and security services and installation. The company, which has been in existence since 1986, is equipped to handle jobs of any size, large or small, and is happy to provide their potential clients with complimentary, no obligation quotes.



To learn more about Network Drops, or to get in touch, please visit their website at https://www.networkdrops.com/.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) delivers key insights on the global security labels market in its published report, titled "Security Labels Market: Global Industry Analysis 2013-2017 and Opportunity Assessment 2018-2027." Globally, the revenue generated from the sales of security labels is estimated to be around US$ 23.4 Bn in 2018, and is projected to expand at a CAGR of 5.3%, during the forecast period 2018-2027. This can be attributed to numerous factors, about which Future Market Insights offers thorough insights and forecast in the security labels market report.



According to the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC), counterfeited goods account for about 5-7% of the global trade, which amounts to approximately $600 Bn. Counterfeiting results in ruining consumer confidence for the brand and can pose serious health risks in many cases. To avoid all this hassle, manufacturers are incorporating security labels in packaging. Security labels address the need for anti-counterfeiting and brand protection in various end-use industries including food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care & cosmetics, electrical & electronics, and more. Security labels include a variety of labels including barcode labels, holographic labels, RFID labels, and NFC tags among others.



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Manufacturers in the North American region are employing security labels such as RIFD labels in the packaging of medicines, owing to the emphasis of Food & Drug Administration (FDA) towards the adoption of RFID in pharmaceutical packaging to curb counterfeiting occurring throughout the supply chain. Beverage manufacturers are incorporating security labels on the bottles. Manufacturers of alcoholic beverages in Europe are integrating their bottles with security labels such as QR code labels to oversee production, distribution, and sales of alcoholic beverages. This initiative is expected to curb counterfeiting in beverage packaging as the consumer will be able to detect whether the product is authentic or forged.



Security Labels Market: FMI Key Findings



Among the various product types, the barcode segment is witnessing higher growth and is projected to have a positive outlook during the forecast period. It is one of the most commonly used security labels for everyday labeling needs in various packaging applications.



Plastic security labels hold a significant share in the security labels market, but with the rising environmental concerns, manufacturers are inclining towards paper labels for manufacturing security labels.



The food & beverages segment is projected to be the most attractive segment during the forecast period. The demand generated from the food & beverages sector is expected to experience high growth, which can be attributed to the growing demand for packaged food and rising concerns about tamper-evident and counterfeited products. Manufacturers involved in beverage packaging are also employing security labels such as barcodes and holograms to incorporate security features in their packaging solutions.



The boxes & cartons segment in the global security labels market is the most attractive application type of security labels, followed by the bags & pouches segment.



Emerging Economies Expected to Fuel Demand for Security Labels



The Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) region is exhibiting immense growth opportunities for the security labels market. This can be attributed to the increasing penetration of a variety of retail packaging formats. Manufacturers are now more concerned about creating packaging solutions which cannot be replicated by their competitors. This has led to the increased usage of security labels which have unique distinguishing features, in the FMCG sector particularly. With the increased consumer spending on lifestyle products, the overall demand for labeling solutions is expected to propel, which is expected to fuel the growth of the security labels market. Overall, the Asia security labels market is anticipated to show a positive outlook throughout the decade. Latin America, as well as the Middle East & Africa, also represent attractive opportunities for growth.



Security Labels Market: Key Players



The key players in the global security labels market are 3M Company, Avery Dennison Corporation, CCL Industries Inc., Honeywell International Inc., UPM Raflatac, Inc., OpSec Security, Inc., Tesa SE, Brady Corporation, Covectra, Inc., and Mega Fortris (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. Many local and unorganized players are anticipated to contribute to the global security labels market during the forecast period.



For more insights, Future Market Insights analysts are available at press@futuremarketinsights.com



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Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- The global robot operating system market is anticipated to grow at an exponential rate, according to a report by Transparency Market Research. Top six vendors in the market are ABB Ltd., Clearpath Robotics, Omron Adept Technologies Inc, iRobot Corporation, Kuka AG, and Stanley Innovation, who are continuously investing in research and development activities, thus balancing the supply-demand chain. Companies like ABB and Faunc Corporation are looking forward to invest more on research and innovation, in order to make quality robots and a better ROS. These organizations are expanding geographical footprints by collaborating or acquiring local company in order to reach to the target customers. These expansion of these major players are providing a lucrative demand for ROS market.



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It is anticipated that the healthcare industry to boost the growth of the ROI market under the commercial and industrial sectors. Healthcare sector is expected to push the growth of the market. Geographically, Asia Pacific has shown an impressive growth in robots, both in volume and robots. Countries such as Japan, Thailand, and The republic of Korea manufacturing commercial and industrial robots both in high volume and is expected to show in years to come. The global robot operating system is anticipated to rise with a CAGR of 8.8% during the forecast period which is from 2018 to 2026. During this period the market is envisaged to reach US$402.7 mn.



Factors such as adoption and funding in research and development activities is expected to drive the global ROS market. Rise in need of hardware and software which are easily adopted in research work and at considerable low amount is trying to boost the growth of the market. ROS helps in reducing the complexities of while developing robotics projects. Other factors such as the increase in speed during the software development process by ROS is considered as one of the major reason behind the upswing of the market. These days, healthcare facilities are showing interest in robotics, by bringing robots in operation theatre. Robots have already gained the trust of patients and doctors, and is expected to continue growing in future.



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Commercial robots have seen a surge in the inflow of funds, in order to develop a user-friendly operating system. The ROS market is witnessing a surge in installation and deployment of commercial and industrial robots throughout the world, is pushing the market growth during the forecast period. It is anticipated due to these factors, that there will be more than 1.9 million of robots all around the world, due to its flexibility and user friendly nature. The market is known to see a rise in the demand for customized order. Robot making organization can easily pull out the required code from the web and can provide with the customized robots or ROS.



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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- In the last few years, stem cells therapy has been gaining traction worldwide. A significant rise in the number of clinical application of stem cells and the advent of new treatments for chronic diseases are estimated to enhance the growth of the global stem cells market in the next few years. In addition to this, the rising investment by public as well as private organizations for research activities are likely to supplement the overall market growth in the near future.



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As per the market report by Transparency Market Research, the global market for stem cells is projected to reach a value of US$270.5 bn by the end of 2025. The market is likely to exhibit a strong 13.80% CAGR between 2017 and 2025



The rapid development of the infrastructure that is required for the stem cell banking and processing, especially in developing economies is predicted to encourage the growth of the global stem cells market in the coming years. Moreover, the favorable regulation for stem cells is likely to support the market growth in the near future. In addition to this, the rise in the awareness among people about the therapeutic potency of stem cells in the management of the effective diseases, which is projected to encourage the growth of the market in the near future. On the flip side, the technical limitation and the unclear regulatory guidelines for the development of the product are estimated to restrict the market growth across the globe.



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In terms of geography, North America led the global stem cells market in the last few years and is projected to retain its position in the next few years. The strong growth of North America can be attributed to the rising investments for research activities and the growing cases of target chronic diseases. In addition to this, the rise in the economy and the technological advancements are further predicted to support the market growth across North America in the next few years. Europe is expected to hold the second-leading position in the market, with a rising contribution from Germany. Furthermore, with the development of the infrastructure and the increasing disposable income among consumers are likely to encourage the growth of the stem cells market in Asia Pacific in the near future and register a healthy growth rate in the near future.



The global market for stem cells is developing at a rapid rate from the last few years and is projected to witness a high level of competition in the near future. At present, the market is moderated fragmented in nature and is projected to witness an entry of several new players in the coming few years. The rising focus of the leading players on advertising and marketing and the ardent efforts being taken by them to create an awareness among people concerning the benefits of stem cells are likely to enhance the overall development of the market and help the players in market penetration in the coming years. The main players engaged in the stem cells market across the globe are BioTime Inc., Cytori Therapeutics, Inc., STEMCELL Technologies Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc., U.S. Stem Cell, Inc., Osiris Therapeutics, Inc., Takara Bio Inc., Caladrius Biosciences, Inc., Cellular Engineering Technologies Inc., and BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.



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About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research is a global 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. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.



Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- Tar is produced from a variety of natural materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be extracted from petroleum, coal, peat and wood. Tar is a mixture of free carbons and hydrocarbons. Products bearing a resemblance to tar can be extracted from hydrocarbons. Coal tar is produced during the process of coke production as a byproduct from coal. Tar is generally used in carbon black and deep processing. Tar sand deposits contain mixtures of heavy crude and mixture of sand.



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https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/tar-market.html



The tar market can be fragmented on the product type and geography. On the basis of product type, the global market for tar can be segmented as birch tar, coal tar, pine tar and pitch among others. Coal tar produced during the process of coal carbonization during the coke. This is generally a high viscous black or brown liquid. The coal tar is a variable and complex mixture of phenols, heterocyclic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. The end-user application of coal tar includes: pavement sealcoats, industries and medical sector. Birch tar is derived through the process of dry distillation of the bark of the birch tree. It is composed of a mixture of phenols such as xyleno, creasol, guaiacol and cresol. The end-user application of birch tree includes: disinfectant in medicine and leather dressing.



Pine tar is produced through a process of carbonization of pine wood. The process occurs in anoxic conditions at high temperatures. Pine tar consists of tar acids, tar bases and aromatic hydrocarbons. Constituents of tar differ according to the method, temperature and duration of production. Generally, pine roots and stumps are used in the traditional pine production process.

The end-user application of pine tar includes: used as a wood preservative, used in manufacturing of water proof ropes and also used for skin treatment and in veterinary medicine. Pitch tar is a solid polymer extracted from petroleum coal tar and plants. Different forms of pitch tar are called as bitumen, asphalt or tar. Pitch tar produced from plants are also called resin. Pitch tar is usually used in sealing the joints of wooden sailing vessels and is the manufacturing of waterproof wooden containers and torches.



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The increasing demand for tar in the industrial use, medical sector and sealing of roads are the major market growth's drivers for the tar industry. The major constraint for the tar industry is that tar cannot be used in the extracted state, as it is generally in solid form. It is generally heated at high temperature to make it suitable for the use. The cost of heating furnace puts extra burden on the consumer side and seems to be a major constraint for the tar market. However, growing application in industrial use such as production of diesel and gasoline oil via high pressure hydrogenation and in power generation for heating boilers is expected to augment the global demand for tar in the near future.



North America is expected to be a key market for the tar industry. Canada is likely to be a major contributor to the growth of the tar market in the North American region. Canada is a major producer of tar with 1.7 trillion of crude bitumen. In the Asia Pacific region, China is the major producer of tar with a capacity of 11 million tons of tar.

Some of the key players in the tar market are Crowley Chemical Company, Jalan Carbons & Chemicals Ltd., Baoshun Chemicals and Aminco Resources LLC. among others.
Black Rock, Australia -- (SBWIRE) -- 03/04/2019 -- The Spice People is an online store founded by Liz, who is a dreamer and a passionate spice evangelist. With a penchant to add an extra bit of spice to the life of people and connect Australians with flavoursome and aromatic spices, she conceptualized this coveted store. The online store today has grown beyond one person but its passion about enriching lives with extraordinary herbs and spices is just the same. The Spice People has earned a reputation for making eating fun, interesting and wholesome with its wide range of quality backed natural premium grade herbs and spices.



Answering a query related to The Spice People, its spokesperson in an interview stated, "The Spice People is proudly Australian-owned and has a profound experience of over 23 years in the business. We believe that we can create an enriching experience of aroma and flavour using the best ingredients. This is the reason why our entire team goes overboard to bring flavoursome and aromatic spices found across the globe for our esteemed customers. To no surprise, our online store as a whole and the team members individually are referred to as 'The Spice People.' We strive to provide Australians with an experience that opens up cultures of the world at their dinner tables."



The Spice People welcomes all to its feature-rich and user-friendly online store for buying quality backed, natural and premium grade herbs and spices. It boasts a fantastic collection comprising over 175 different spices, salts, botanicals, blends and native spices, together with herbal and chai teas. With customer satisfaction as its top priority, the online store keeps extending and improving its offerings with each passing day. To meet customer expectations of best practices and cater to customers who demand organic, The Spice People is converting some of its regular spices into organic spices.



The spokesperson added, "In our efforts to enable people easily make true authentic dishes from around the world, we are adding hard to find condiments to our inventory like pomegranate molasses. Our herbs and spices are sourced from all over the world; however, we try to source home-grown Australian ingredients where possible. Our products are natural, preservative free, additive free and filler free and we list the country of origin for each product on both our website and the product. To ensure that our products reach their respective destinations in the best condition possible, we use special packaging. It is a high barrier film with a resealable zip that retains maximum freshness and enhances the shelf life of our products."



Besides selling at its online spice shop in Melbourne, The Spice People now stocks products in over 150 stores both nationally and internationally. To find its nearest stockist, people can click at the Stockist page on its website. Not just spices but The Spice People also uploads a wide assortment of recipes on its website belonging to worldwide cuisines, including the Malaysian beef curry recipe.



About The Spice People

The Spice People is an online store dedicated to making high-quality and unique spices and herbs available to its clientele. The wide range of spices on offer enables people to make authentic dishes in the best ways possible. Of late, The Spice People has emerged as a reliable option for those looking for Hario in Australia.



Contact Details

Company Name: The Spice People

by Sheoak Trading Pty Ltd

Address: PO Box 439, Black Rock VIC 3193

Number: 03 95872598

Website: https://thespicepeople.com.au/
A multinational team of researchers has successfully sequenced the genome of the Antarctic blackfin icefish (Chaenocephalus aceratus), opening a genetic window on fish that evolved over the last 77 million years to survive in extreme Antarctic temperatures.

Antarctic icefishes are members of the family Channichthyidae.

These white blooded creatures inhabit the Earths coldest marine environment and are the only vertebrates that lack functional red blood cells and functional hemoglobin genes.

Icefish blood carries oxygen solely in physical solution, resulting in an oxygen-carrying capacity per unit of blood volume of less than 10% of that in closely related red-blooded Antarctic notothenioid fishes.

The blackfin icefish, along with 5 other species among the 16 recognized species of icefishes, also lack oxygen-binding proteins called myoglobins.

Icefishes evolved mechanisms that appear to compensate for loss of these oxygen-binding proteins, including enormous hearts with increased stroke volume relative to body size, enhanced vascular systems, and changes in mitochondrial density and morphology.

In a human, such traits would normally signal disease. These adaptations, however, help the fish survive, said University of Oregons Professor John Postlethwait, co-lead author of the study.

The icefishes are examples of what Charles Darwin called the wrecks of ancient life. They diverged from the ancestors of stickleback, losing many of the features common to their ancestral forms as they evolved. Among genes that disappeared amid the months of night and months of sunlight in the polar region were those tied to circadian rhythms.

Ice fish populations first appeared at the end of the Pliocene after Antarcticas surface temperatures dropped by 2.5 degrees Celsius. About 77 million years ago, they had diverged from the line of their common ancestors with the stickleback  and then developed phenotypes that were better adapted to the cold, said co-author Professor Manfred Schartl, a researcher at the Julius Maximilians University of Wurzburg and Texas A&M University.

To help investigate the genomic basis for these extreme evolutionary adaptations, Professor Postlethwait, Professor Schartl and their colleagues sequenced the genome of the blackfin icefish.

They collected blackfin icefish, which average about 12 inches (30.5 cm) in length, from various depths near King Sejong Station and the Western Bransfield Strait along the Antarctic Peninsula.

Along with genomic DNA taken from the female, RNA was extracted from 12 tissues  brain, eye, gill, heart, intestine, kidney, liver, muscle, ovary, skin, spleen and stomach  to help understand what genes each organ uses.

The scientists mapped 30,773 protein-coding genes and how they localize along chromosomes.

Icefish and other notothenioid fishes experienced gene changes that produced antifreeze proteins to help them survive  an adaptation discovered in the 1970s. The completed mapping helps place this discovery into a genomic context, they said.

The genome assembly and linkage map reveal remarkable stability of contents of the 24 chromosomes among bony fish, including medaka (Japanese rice fish), European sea bass and blackfin icefish spanning 110 million years, especially when compared with chromosome changes in mammals over the same time period.

The biggest divergence involved the genes of icefish and sea bass, suggesting changes in the cold.

Our results show that the number of genes involved in the protection against ice damage, including the genes coding for anti-freeze glycoproteins, is strongly expanded in the icefish genome, Professor Schartl said.

Icefish evolved from fish that lived on the bottom and had no swim bladder, an organ that develops like our lungs but then loses the attachment to the pharynx and fills with gas. Most fish, except for bottom feeders, have one and it helps them maintain position in the water column, Professor Postlethwait said.

When most fish species became extinct around Antarctica as the waters cooled, icefishes evolved to occupy the Southern Ocean water column. One of the biggest challenges they faced was getting off the bottom without a swim bladder.

They likely limited the mineralization of their bones, the most dense part of our bodies, and accumulated lipids, which are lighter than water  think of olive oil that floats on the top of the water in a pan about to cook spaghetti.

The results appear in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

_____

Bo-Mi Kim et al. 2019. Antarctic blackfin icefish genome reveals adaptations to extreme environments. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 469-478; doi: 10.1038/s41559-019-0812-7
A new approach to an old question: How do we actually cooperate?

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4, 2019 -- In the animal kingdom, birds band together to ward off predators, and honeybees work collectively to benefit the entire hive. Animals of the human persuasion can act cooperatively too, at times, though this behavior is not completely understood.

Princeton doctoral student Olivia Chu and her advisor Corina Tarnita, a theoretical biologist, investigate how cooperation among people is affected by population structure.

Chu will present their work this week at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, and she will also participate in a press conference describing the work. Information for logging on to watch and ask questions remotely is included at the end of this news release.

Humans tend to cluster into groups -- political, religious, familial, professional and so forth -- rather than being homogenously mixed. Group memberships affect our decisions to cooperate -- or not -- with others. So, how does cooperation emerge under such circumstances?

"Group memberships affect the structure of social interactions, determining to a large extent who meets with whom. They also set the context and frequency under which those interactions take place," Chu said. Chu and Tarnita built upon the "evolutionary set theory" modeling framework that Tarnita and colleagues introduced in 2009, which assumes that people belong to groups and interact only with others who are in the same groups.

Interactions in their study take place within the setting of the "donation game" (a modified version of the "prisoner's dilemma") in which a cooperator offers a benefit to another player at a personal cost, whereas a "defector" selfishly offers nothing. Chu and Tarnita consider this framework to be more realistic for studying human dynamics than previous network-based approaches because it allows for people to simultaneously have multiple group affiliations. "From these local, group-level pair-wise interactions, can we see the emergence of cooperation on a large scale across the population?" Chu asked.

The answer given by Tarnita and colleagues in 2009 was "yes." However, that model had an unrealistic premise -- group entry was free to anyone who wanted to join. In real life, this is clearly not the case as there are often barriers to group entry. In the current model, Chu and Tarnita incorporate one type of barrier to group entry that is determined by group size: The larger the group, they reasoned, the less likely it is to accept new members. To refine their model, the team investigated whether this barrier changes the outcome with respect to cooperation.

Chu and Tarnita found that cooperation still emerges, but that it is most favored when they allow for the existence of "loners" in the population -- people who, due to barriers, are temporarily not members of any group. Loners are essential, Chu explained, "because they keep group sizes lower than they would have been without barriers to group entry."

Smaller groups allow cooperation to thrive, while making the system as a whole more resilient, by limiting the destructive influence of a defector exploiting a group of cooperators. Chu cautions against drawing too much from one model amid a sea of evolutionary game theory models. Nevertheless, their recent work shows, reassuringly, that there may be hope for maintaining cooperation in our world.

###

The 2019 APS March Meeting presentation "Evolutionary Dynamics in a Group Population Structure with Barriers to Group Entry," by Olivia Chu, Vitor V. Vasconcelos and Corina E. Tarnita, will take place Monday, March 4, at 1:03 p.m. in room 259A of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. ABSTRACT: http://meetings. aps. org/ Meeting/ MAR19/ Session/ B63. 8

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

The American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting is a major international conference and the largest physics meeting of the year. In 2019, the APS March Meeting will convene March 4-8 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

USEFUL LINKS

Register as Press: https:/ / goo. gl/ forms/ ur9dE24zCO1IVsLu2

Press Site: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ march/ press. cfm

Meeting Abstracts: http://meetings. aps. org/ Meeting/ MAR19/ APS_epitome

Main Meeting Page: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ march/

Hotel and Travel: https:/ / www. aps. org/ meetings/ march/ hotel-travel. cfm

PRESS REGISTRATION

APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. For press related questions about the APS March Meeting, email media@aps.org.

PRESS CONFERENCES

A series of press conferences on newsworthy research will be webcast live from the conference on Monday, March 4 through Thursday, March 7. A schedule will be released the week before the conference. Members of the media should register in advance at https:/ / webcast. apswebcasting. com/ go/ aps-march-19 .

ABOUT APS

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. Read more: https:/ / www. aps. org/

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the U.S. latest decision to conclude its military exercises with South Korea aims to save money and reduce tensions with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The Pentagon said on Saturday that the United States and South Korea have decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises, which the DPRK had denounced a dress rehearsal for northward invasion, and have been "very expensive" and "provocative" "war games" in Trump's view.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that "the reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed."

"That was my position long before I became President," he noted. "Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!"

The combined forces of the United States and South Korea have annually staged springtime war games from March to April, including the Key Resolve command post exercise and the Foal Eagle field training drill.

Trump and DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un concluded their second summit in Hanoi last week without reaching an agreement. Nevertheless, the White House said the two leaders had "very good and constructive meetings" and discussed various ways to "advance denuclearization and economic driven concepts."

Trump and Kim had their first summit in Singapore last June, when they promised to build new bilateral relations and work toward a "complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

After the second summit, Trump said the United States would stop war games with South Korea "unless and until we see the future negotiation is not going along like it should."
MedCruise president, Airam Diaz Pastor, and MedCruise director for North Africa, Cherifa Ben Salem, together with the Tunisian Minster for Transport, Hichem Ben Ahmed, Tunisian Minister for Tourism, Renee Trabelsi, the ceo of the Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports(OMMP), Sami Battikh, the gm of Al Karama Holding, Adel Grar, and Port La Goulette director, Mohamed Omrane, met last week in Tunis to discuss the new initiative.

The Working Group includes regional MedCruise members - Port of Tangier, Port of Ceuta, Tunisian Ports and Egyptian Ports - as well as associate members such as La Goulette Shipping Cruise, Mercantile Marine Shipping, Algeria Cruise Services and Ceuta Tourism Board.

MedCruise director for events and Port of Gibraltar representative, Nicky Guerrero, and MedCruise ambassador, Lotfi El Ajmi, also attended the meeting during which a road map was drawn up listing actions to be implemented in the coming months.

Outlook for North Africa optimistic

MedCruise's president highlighted the potential of the region due to the increase in tourism in Northern African countries and the optimistic forecast for the coming years.

The launching of this Working Group will have a positive impact at the cruise industry in the whole Mediterranean region and bring new opportunities to cruise-related companies that operate here, he added.

Salem stressed the necessity of working together and sharing best practices among the Working Group members, which will lead to a common strategy for promotion.

The group will meet next in Kusadasi, during the upcoming MedCruise General Assembly taking place May 7-10, 2019 and hold another meeting later this year in the Port of Alexandria, Egypt.

Last October, MedCruise launched a Working Group to promote cruising in the Black Sea at a meeting in Odessa.
Despite ongoing volatility in the oil and gas sector globally, the Middle East  specifically the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  has remained a bright spot with sustained exploration and production activity by the likes of energy majors including Saudi Aramco. Recognising the potential for offshore marine players, Singapore-listed PACC Offshore Holdings (POSH) partnered Hmood Al-Khalaf Group in 2016 to form a joint venture, POSH Saudi, to capture these opportunities.

The two partners are no strangers to the maritime industry. With more than 60 years of operating experience and expertise, POSH is a leading international operator of offshore support vessels with a modern, diverse fleet of more than 100 vessels servicing multiple segments of the offshore energy value chain. POSH works across Asia, Africa, Middle East, North and Latin America, supporting many of the worlds major oil and gas companies and international offshore contractors.

As a subsidiary of Kuok (Singapore) Limited, a conglomerate with operations spanning six continents in sectors ranging from logistics and maritime to properties and hospitality, POSH can also leverage on the extensive networks both within and beyond the Kuok Group.

The Hmood Al-Khalaf Group is one of Saudi Arabias largest agribusiness and marine transportation players, with extensive business interests and investments across the country, the Middle East and in Australasia. It is also a leading owner, operator and charterer of livestock carriers to serve its expansive geographical footprint.

Going from strength to strength in Saudi Arabia

Three years on, it is clear that POSH Saudi has grown to much success. With a strong pipeline of charter contracts, it now employs more than 30 onshore staff to support its commercial and operations functions through a local office.

Within months of its formation in 2016, POSH Saudi won 12 long-term contracts to perform work for a National Oil Company in the local market. The initial contracts were for four new utility vessels to support its offshore maintenance work in the Arabian Gulf. This was then followed up by charters for eight Anchor-Handling, Supply and Safety Standby vessels for work in the same region. In 2018, POSH Saudi secured another contract to provide offshore accommodation support through one of its light construction vessels.

All 13 vessels have since been deployed for work. The strong results that POSH Saudi delivered within such a short timeframe speaks to the trust it has earned from clients.

Through the years, POSH has built an impressive track record by successfully executing some of the most complex projects for its clients globally that pushed the boundaries of human ingenuity and challenged the limits of engineering. These included the Shell Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) facility, Ichthys Explorer Central Processing Facility (CPF), Ichthys Venturer Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Egina FPSO, each the worlds largest in their class.

The company has applied this same rigour towards service and safety excellence in Saudi Arabia. In 2017, POSH Saudi also opened a local office close to Tanajib Port area, in order to be proximate to the oilfields in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.

Nurturing local talent and creating value in Saudi Arabia

Yet, companies  however well-run  cannot succeed without their most important asset: human capital. One of the challenges POSH Saudi identified was a lack of local crew within the Kingdom. Working in the maritime sector is traditionally a career path less taken in Saudi Arabia, largely due to a lack of knowledge about the industry.

To tackle this, POSH embarked on various initiatives in 2018 to build up and train a robust pipeline of local maritime talent. This is aligned with the Kingdoms Total Value Add ("IKTVA") programme to increase localisation levels across key industries in Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Joseph Assaf, Director of POSH Saudi, said, As a leading offshore marine services provider, POSH recognises the importance of generating mutual value to all stakeholders. Naturally, we are committed to making a difference to the local communities wherever we operate  including in Saudi Arabia where we are strongly supporting the IKTVA programme.

To date, we have groomed a sizeable pool of local crew and will continue to do so as we expand and grow our business.

One of the outreach programmes saw POSH Saudi contribute to local institutions, including the National Marine Academy, to increase awareness of the industry. This saw POSH personnel being invited to share insights on the offshore marine business as well as career opportunities with POSH Saudi.

POSH Saudi also launched an exchange programme with King Abdul Aziz University. This will grant POSH crew opportunities to attend maritime-related courses at the university during their off-hire season. Students from the university, in turn, will get opportunities for shipboard attachment with POSH; suitable candidates will be assessed for employment with POSH at the end of the attachment.

Within the company, POSH Saudi places high priority on creating meaningful employment and advancement opportunities regardless of age, background and gender. As an advocate of diversity in the workplace, the company supports female empowerment and approximately 25% of its staff in the local office are women.

Saudi Arabia: a springboard to the Middle East

With its central location within the Middle East, as well as ongoing offshore energy commitments, Saudi Arabia remains a key market for many offshore players including POSH Saudi.

As the POSH Group continues to add on new capabilities as an integrated offshore marine solutions provider, POSH Saudi is excited by the prospects of creating additional value for its clients in the Middle East. Over the past year, POSH entered the subsea space, expanding its suite of services to support subsea Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR), as well as construction and installation work. It also expanded into the offshore renewables sector as alternatives form an increasing part of the energy mix, given its highly transferable expertise to this adjacent sector.

Mr Lee Keng Lin, Deputy CEO at POSH, said, The Kingdom is a key pocket of growth for POSH and our establishment of POSH Saudi has been validated by its strong performance. In 2019, our strategy is to grow closer to our clients, both geographically and in terms of the solutions we provide. Saudi Arabia will be a crucial springboard for us into the wider Middle East region and we look forward to apply our existing and new expertise for clients in the region.

Importantly, we will pursue this expansion in a manner that will see us grow together with our local stakeholders to create long-term, sustainable value for all, wherever we operate.

++++

For more information on POSH and POSH Saudi, please visit http://www.posh.com.sg/ and https://www.poshsaudi.com/
Press Release

March 4, 2019 ANGARA GRATEFUL, OVERWHELMED BY ENDORSEMENT OF FPJ SUPPORTERS Senator Sonny Angara continues to rake in endorsements in his bid for another six-year term in the Senate, the latest of which was from supporters of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. Angara was among the seven senatorial candidates endorsed by the Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM) for the upcoming May elections. The group made the announcement in an event held at Club Filipino in San Juan City on Monday. Formerly FPJ for President Movement, the FPJPM supported Poe when he ran for president but lost to Gloria Arroyo in the 2004 elections. Angara said he was overwhelmed by and grateful for the FPJPM's endorsement, calling it a major boost to his reelection bid. "Marami pa ring nagmamahal kay Da King-kay FPJ at definitely malaking tulong ito sa ating kandidatura," Angara said. The senator, who is running under the platform "Alagang Angara," said he was one with the FPJPM in carrying on Poe's mission of fighting social injustices. "'Nagkakaisa kami sa pakikipaglaban para sa katarungang panlipunan na 'yun talaga ang naging motto ni FPJ noong siya ay nabubuhay pa at 'yun ang ipinagpapatuloy ng FPJPM," Angara said. Angara is also being endorsed by Hugpong ng Pagbabago, a regional political party chaired by presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte. He is also a guest candidate of PDP-Laban, the political party of President Rodrigo Duterte. Also backing his reelection was the Coalition of Services of the Elderly Inc. or COSE, who described the lawmaker as a "true champion" of the rights and welfare of the Filipino elderly in the Senate. COSE is an umbrella organization of 450 groups promoting the interest of senior citizens. Angara was also endorsed by Coop-NATCCO Party-list, the country's largest federation of cooperatives as it represents marginalized and underrepresented farmers and their cooperatives in Congress. Coop-NATCCO claims to have 906 member-cooperatives located in 62 provinces and 42 cities in all 17 regions in the country. Just recently, one of the topnotchers in the 2016 senatorial elections, Senator Joel "Tesdaman" Villanueva, also threw his full support behind Angara's reelection bid. Villanueva, son of evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva, placed second in the 2016 senatorial polls with more than 18 million votes. Angara, on the other hand, was elected to the Senate in 2013 after placing sixth in the midterm elections with over 16 million votes.
Press Release

March 4, 2019 De Lima hopes more women rights advocates get elected in next polls Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima has expressed hope that more national and local candidates who genuinely advocate for the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of women get elected into public office this coming May 13 elections. De Lima, a known human rights and social justice champion, made the call in her message read during the kick-off program to mark the start of this year's celebration of Women's Month at the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Building, Quezon City. "At stake at the polls are key positions in government and the prospective winners can either reinforce the role of women in nation-building and demand accountability for the crimes," she said. "Or (they can) just simply fortify the glass ceilings that subordinate women in the Philippines and throughout the world. Sana naman ay maka-babaeng mga lider ang ating ihalal," she added. In the Senate, there are six women lawmakers, three of whom are seeking a second term this coming May 13 elections. Senators De Lima and Risa Hontiveros will continue to serve the remaining half of their respective six-year term of office until June 2022. Recognizing remarkable women leaders in the country's recent political history, De Lima however pointed out there is more work to be done in elevating the status of women in our society and in protecting them from threat, harassment and intimidation. According to her, Filipino women leaders and rights activists like herself, ousted Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, and Rappler President Maria Ressa have been subjected to attacks, ridicule, and intimidation under the present administration. "Sa kasalukuyan, lubhang mahirap at minsan pa'y delikado ang maging babae, lalo pa kung babaeng aktibista. Saksi tayo sa patuloy na panggigipit, pag-atake at minsan pa'y karahasang ipinapamalas ni Duterte at mga alipores nya," she said. The former justice secretary underscored the need to vote for pro-women leaders as thousands of widows are still crying for justice for the loss of their loved ones under the Duterte administration's war on drugs that killed more than 23,000 in the past years. "Idagdag pa natin ang libu-libong mga balo na madugong 'war on drugs' na patuloy na sumisigaw ng katarungan, mga babaeng nabubuhay sa takot na baka sila at mga anak nila ang maging susunod na biktima ng extrajudicial killings," she said. Despite her unjust detention over trumped-up illegal drug trading charges, the lady Senator from Bicol has remained committed in fulfilling her mandate as she continued to file measures advocating women's rights and promoting their welfare. Among these measures she filed include Senate Bill No. 1438 focusing on the protection of women in state custody and Senate Resolution No. 670 calling for a Senate investigation into the implementation of the GAD plans and programs under the present administration, among others.
Press Release

March 4, 2019 Gatchalian to DOE, NBB: weigh consumer impact of raising coconut biodiesel content Senator Win Gatchalian is urging the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Biofuels Board (NBB) to thoroughly study the proposal of the Department of Agriculture to increase coconut content in biodiesel from two percent to five percent, particularly its impact on the pump price of diesel. Gatchalian, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and co-chair of the Joint Congressional Biofuels Oversight Committee, made the call after Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol announced he will be lobbying for the increase of biofuel content in diesel from B2 to B5 to absorb oversupply in the copra industry. B2 biodiesel is a blend of two percent agricultural products and 98 percent clean diesel, while B5 biodiesel is a blend of five percent agricultural products and 95 percent clean diesel. The lawmaker pointed out that is paramount for the NBB, an advisory body to the DOE, to study whether an increase to five percent blend is warranted and whether the local production of feedstock is sufficient to meet present and future demand. "The DOE and NBB should weigh the impact of increasing the biofuel content from B2 to B5, especially with the recent implementation of the new round of increases in the excise tax on fuel in January. After all, the law requires the recommendation of the NBB before the DOE decides to increase the blend," Gatchalian said. "Sa kanilang gagawing pag-aaral, dapat isaalang-alang ng DOE at ng NBB ang kapakanan ng nakararaming Pilipino na ngayon pa lamang nakabawi sa kaliwa't kanan na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis noong nakaraang taon," he added. Citing the study his office conducted, Gatchalian estimated that increasing the biofuel content in diesel from B2 to B5 may result in a 7.5 percent increase, equivalent to ?2.86, in the pump price of biodiesel. Gatchalian pointed out that an ordinary jeepney driver, who consumes around 15 liters of diesel per day, might need to tighten his belt further since he will be expected to shell out an additional ?1,286.30 per month if the blend is increased; an amount Gatchalian said could instead be used to buy a half sack of rice or additional groceries. Furthermore, the lawmaker recalled that during the last Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Biofuels hearing, there had been concerns of lack of feedstock, which he said prevented the DOE from mandating the increase from the current two percent blend. Data from the DOE shows that for biodiesel, the annual capacity in 2017 was 574.9 million liters but production was only at 39 percent of capacity. Meanwhile, Gatchalian said the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee is set to conduct a hearing on DA's proposal to increase the biodiesel blend in the fuel market from 2 percent to 5 percent to cushion the falling prices of copra. "I hope that we can agree on action steps in order to move the industry forward and attain the goal of energy security and environmental sustainability as envisioned by the authors of the Biofuels Act," the lawmaker said.
Press Release

March 4, 2019 HONTIVEROS TO LAUNCH HEALTH CARAVAN TO PROMOTE EXPANDED MATERNITY LEAVE LAW, VACCINATION Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros is set to launch a national health caravan targeting different workplaces and communities to promote the recently signed Expanded Maternity Leave Law in time for the anticipated release of the measure's implementing rules and regulations (IRR) this May. Dubbed as the "Healthy Pinoy, Healthy 'Pinas Caravan," Hontiveros said that it will be a nationwide information campaign on how the new 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law will benefit women and their families, and even employers. "Through the caravan, we hope to spread awareness and appreciation for this law among the public, and dispel misplaced fears and misconceptions spread by a few about the measure. Adequate information is key to ensure that this landmark law is fully implemented and availed of by all women and our families," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros, who is the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, said that they will also hold dialogues with different employers on how they can fully implement the measure. "The law was carefully crafted to strike a balance between women's rights and the right to be compensated in business. In the final analysis, the measure is also pro-business as it will create a more motivated and productive labor force," Hontiveros explained. "Promoting vaccination, combating pseudo science" Meanwhile, Hontiveros said that her health caravan will also target specific communities to promote vaccination for children, in light of the recent outbreak of preventable diseases such as measles in the country. "We will not allow pseudo science and scaremongering to erode the public's trust in our vaccination programs. Through a strong grassroots information drive, we will rebuild the people's confidence in our vaccination programs and double efforts towards greater vaccination coverage, especially in urban poor localities and far-flung areas where children are prone to preventable diseases," the Senator said. Hontiveros said that her office plans to tap key government agencies such as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Health (DOH) and the Social Security System (SSS) to help in the said health caravan.
League of Provinces supports Villar's reelection bid

The League of Provinces of the Philippines (LPP), with 81 governors as members, has endorsed the reelection bid of Sen. Cynthia Villar.

During its 8th General Assembly held at Century Park, Manila, and presided over by National Chairman Gov. Al Francis Bichara and National President Gov. Ryan Luis Singson, LPP unanimously approved a resolution supporting the candidacy of Villar for a second term in the Senate.

Misamis Oriental Gov. Bambi Emano, filed the motion citing Villar's advocacy for livelihood opportunities in the poor areas.

In a speech, Villar thanked the governors for their support and for welcoming her in their respective provinces not only during the campaign period but also in the course of her term as senator.

Villar also cited the active participation of LGUs which is crucial in fast-tracking national government programs.

The Nacionalista Party senator also gave her commitment to continue providing livelihood opportunities especially in poor communities.

In addition to almost 2,000 livelihood programs established all over the country, Villar is looking to build processing centers for bamboo, coconut water, coconut sugar and dairy products for her second term as senator.

Villar also said she will carry on with the advocacy to provide Filipinos with affordable and adequate food as chairperson of the Committee on Agriculture and Food and hopes to continue working closely with local governments in this endeavour.
According to officials, the guns would replace the existing India-made INSAS assault rifles in the Army, Air Force and Navy.

AK203 is the latest derivative of the legendary AK-47 rifle. India has signed a deal with a Russian firm to manufacture 750,000 of these assault rifles which would be given to the Army's infantry troops.

After the rifles are supplied to the defence forces, the government, in the next phase, would provide them to paramilitary and the state police forces. There is a possibility that 15 to 20 years down the line, all the forces would be using this assault rifle as their standard weapon.

Apart from this, the Defence Ministry has already signed a contract with American Sig Sauer for the supply of 7.69mm 59 calibre advanced assault rifles. These would be given to soldiers directly engaged in counter-insurgency and other operations.

The idea behind having two different assault rifles is that the troops who are engaged regularly in combat with terrorist or Pakistan Army on the Line of Control, should have very advanced weapons while the others can also have an advanced rifle which is lighter and can meet all the requirements.

After a string of complaints on INSAS rifles were received from ground troops deployed across the country on all frontiers, India about 10 years ago had started looking for new rifles for its infantry troops but the efforts could not materialise due to retraction of tenders issued for the purpose over different issues.


Developers in Moldova told BuzzFeed News that it took them three years of reporting to the social networking giant about the menace of misinformation and fake news before the company took some real action.

Moldova, which is considered among the poorest and most corrupt countries in Europe, did not make it to Facebooks list of regions plagued with fake news and misinformation for three years.

The developers used a browser add-on, called Trolless, to generate a database of fake accounts and used Facebooks official reporting tool to draw attention.

It was a chance contact with a Facebook employee in January 2019 that influenced its decision to remove offenders, including 168 fake accounts, 28 pages, and 8 Instagram accounts, in February.

The incident is indicative of how hard it can be to get Facebooks attention on smaller markets for something as alarming as fake news and misinformation. The Moldovan incident is also not the only case.

Guillaume Brossard, the co-founder of Hoaxbuster, a French misinformation hub thats been active since 2000 faced similar issues. Brossard said that it is almost impossible to get Facebooks attention unless you are one of the companys official in-country partners to identify and remove fake news or profiles.


TAIYUAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Gao Aiping finally got his washing machine fully functioning as it was supposed to, as he and his family have moved into a new home with running water.

"We used to only spin wet clothes with it in winter," said the 56-year-old.

The Gaos had lived in a mountain village in north China's Shanxi Province. There was no running water, not to mention central heating or gas supply.

Whenever it snowed, they would get stuck and could not even shop for food.

Last year, Gao's family and 161 other households scattered in five mountain villages were relocated to a newly built community in Linxian County, Lyuliang City.

The Gaos successfully escaped poverty, with an annual income of more than 70,000 yuan (about 10,440 U.S. dollars) from working at the afforestation cooperative and a nearby vegetable greenhouse, and subsidies for relocation.

China has vowed to lift all of its poor out of poverty by 2020. Alleviating poverty through relocation is one of many ways to reach the goal.

Eliminating rural poverty is considered the most difficult in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, one of China's two centenary goals, with 2019 a "key year" to realize this goal.

Topics on poverty alleviation and rural development are expected to come under the spotlight during the annual sessions of China's national legislature and political advisory body.

As this year is essential for winning the tough battle against poverty by 2020, China aimed to reduce the rural poor population by more than 10 million.

China has lifted 82.39 million rural poor out of poverty in the past six years, with the rural poor population down from 98.99 million in 2012 to 16.6 million last year.

INTERNET PLUS

"Wanna get rid of poverty and become better off fast? Try e-commerce!" reads a slogan at an e-commerce startup space in Anjiazhuang township, Linxian County.

Kang Xuping from a poverty-stricken family joined last year. The 30-year-old sold soybeans grown by local villagers.

"Our online sales exceeded 1 million yuan last year, with a net profit of more than 100,000 yuan," he said.

"I'm sure my family will get out of poverty this year with the help of e-commerce," he said.

E-commerce also boosted sales of red dates. Nearly 70 percent of the county's annual red date output of 150 million kg are sold on the Internet.

The county now has 354 such e-commerce startup bases, and plans to increase the number to 1,000 this year, according to Chen Xiaolin, director of the county's poverty alleviation office.

"The Internet Plus model is an eye-catching trend. E-commerce in rural areas has made it possible for local specialties and handicrafts in rural areas to enter the urban market," said Zhao Xiaode, professor at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

"The Internet Plus model helps forge new businesses in China's rural areas and injects new impetus to rural modernization, which is essential to building a moderately prosperous society," he said.

Big data work well, too.

In Minqing County, Fujian Province, Wang Yongyuan no longer has to worry about his farm when he is away.

With a smart phone, he can spread the sunshade net, turn on ventilation fans and spray water when a greenhouse gets too hot.

Sensors in the greenhouses help collect data on temperature, humidity and light, with which he can analyze the relevance among climate, fertilizer, spray and output.

"The future of agriculture lies in smart and customized farming with novel farm machinery," he said.

"BEAUTIFUL VILLAGES"

Shen Jilan, 89, who served all previous 12 terms of the National People's Congress (NPC) since 1954, is ready to attend the second plenary session of the 13th NPC.

Before her trip to Beijing, she knocked on the doors of fellow villagers to find out what their hopes were for a "beautiful village" in Xigou Village, Pingshun County in Shanxi.

"There are many villages such as Xigou in China and the government should invest more to improve the infrastructure and build a pleasant environment there, and turn lucid waters and lush mountains into invaluable assets," she said.

Xigou has more than 1,600 hectares of trees in the mountains. Shen has been considering of making the forest a tourist attraction to help her village prosper.

China unveiled a three-year plan to improve the rural living environment last year, defining it as an important task for the country to accomplish the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It also aims to lift 12 million people out of poverty through tourism during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020).

"I hope to see 'beautiful villages,'" Shen said. "As long as we unite as one and make arduous efforts, a moderately prosperous society will be built on time."
By Lyu Desheng and Li Shurui



Cover of the pre-movie advert "Homeland and Borders"

BEIJING, Mar. 4 (ChinaMil) -- The everyday life of soldiers are also touching without aircraft, tanks or fire. A public service clip, "Homeland and Borders", filmed by the Chinese military has been showing on more than 10,000 movie theaters nationwide as a pre-movie advert since March 1. The 45-seconds promo is based on a video of the same title released by the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in late 2018.

The video clip tells the stories of border troops guarding sentry posts such as Shenxian Bay, Heweitan and Hongqilafu, and showcases their devotion and determination to secure national border and defend homeland.

According to sources from the PLA, the cinema ad of "Homeland and Borders" is a brand-new attempt aiming to implement the important indication of Chinese President Xi Jinping to "make serving in the military honorable in public." This video shows the life of service members from different aspects and perspectives, as part of an effort to send a positive message to our people to understand that the young mans youth itself could be interpreted as not only living in the present but also being responsible for the national security."

The full short film was shown on the regular press conference of the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC on December 27 last year, and was simultaneously released on WeChat, Weibo, and other network platforms.

The people who devote their youth to protect our national security are worthy of our love and admiration." "Pay tribute to the Chinese soldiers who are defending our homeland. They are the most beloved people"... Chinese netizens have expressed their recognition of the video clip on the internet.
The Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) has declared the group D recruitment examination results on March 4, 2019.Candidates who had appeared for the same may check the official websites of their respective RRBs at www.rrbald.gov.in, www.rrbsecunderabad.nic.in, www.rrbmumbai.gov.in, www.rrbcdg.gov.in, www.rrbajmer.gov.in, www.rrbthiruvananthapuram.gov.in

The group D examination was conducted by RRB`s to fill 62,907 vacancies, between September 17 to December 17, 2018.It is estimated that approximately 1.8 crore candidates had registered for the online exam.

Earlier, the recruitment boards had mentioned of releasing the list of candidates on March 4, 2019 who have shortlisted for PET based on their performance in computer based test.

How to check RRB group D exam 2018 results

1) Visit the official website of RRB, from the list given below:

RRB Ahmedabad (www.rrbahmedabad.gov.in)

RRB Ajmer (rrbajmer.gov.in)

RRB Allahabad (rrbald.gov.in)

RRB Bangalore (rrbbnc.gov.in)

RRB Bhopal (www.rrbbpl.nic.in)

RRB Bhubaneshwar (www.rrbbbs.gov.in)

RRB Bilaspur (www.rrbbilaspur.gov.in)

RRB Chandigarh (www.rrbcdg.gov.in)

RRB Chennai (www.rrbchennai.gov.in)

RRB Gorakhpur (www.rrbguwahati.gov.in)

RRB Siliguri (www.rrbsiliguri.org)

RRB Thiruvananthapuram (rrbthiruvananthapuram.gov.in)

RRB Guwahati (www.rrbguwahati.gov.in)

RRB Jammu (www.rrbjammu.nic.in)

RRB Kolkata (www.rrbkolkata.gov.in)

RRB Malda (www.rrbmalda.gov.in)

RRB Mumbai (www.rrbmumbai.gov.in)

RRB Muzaffarpur (www.rrbmuzaffarpur.gov.in)

RRB Patna (www.rrbpatna.gov.in)

RRB Ranchi (rrbranchi.gov.in)

RRB Secunderabad (rrbsecunderabad.nic.in)

2) Click on the link that says CEN No. 02/ 2018 or Group D exam 2018

3) Download the given document to check for the status of candidature.

Those who clear the exam will be shortlisted for the next round  physical endurance test (PET). Here are the pre-requisites:

For males: Candidates should be able to lift and carry 35 kilograms of weight for a distance of 100 metres in two minutes in one chance without putting the weight down. They have to run for a distance of 1000 metres in four minutes and 15 seconds.

For females: Candidates should be able to lift and carry 20 kg of weight for a distance of 100 metres in two minutes in without putting the weight down and they will have to run for 1000 metres in five minutes and 40 seconds.
In one of a round of interviews on news talk shows, Bolton told CNN, "We showed again the potential for North Korea, if they're willing to denuclearize." But he added, "If you can't get a good deal, no deal is better than a bad deal."

"So the president held firm to his view," Bolton said. "He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong-un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected."

National Security Adviser John Bolton told CBS News, "The issue really was whether North Korea was prepared to accept what the president called 'the big deal,' which is denuclearize entirely under a definition the president handed to Kim Jong-un and have the potential for an enormous economic future or try and do something less than that, which was unacceptable to us."

The White House on Sunday defended the collapse of President Donald Trump's summit last week in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, saying American interests were protected by not agreeing to a partial deal on Pyongyang's terms.

Bolton told CBS that North Korea was willing to make "a very limited concession" to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear weapons complex, which he described as "an aging nuclear reactor and some percentage of their uranium enrichment plutonium reprocessing capabilities."

He said that "in exchange, they wanted substantial relief from the sanctions. Now, one thing President Trump has said beginning in the 2016 campaign is that he's not going to make the mistakes of prior administrations and get into this action for action kind of arrangement which benefits the North Koreans."

"Our counter offer was where we have been, where the president has exercised persuasive abilities on Kim Jong-un to take the big deal and they weren't willing to do it," Bolton said.

Bolton said future U.S. negotiations with North Korea are in limbo. "I think the president himself said that he expects they'll want to go back and re-evaluate what happened; certainly we will," Bolton said. "We'll look at continuing the economic sanctions against North Korea which brought them to the table in the first place. We'll see what happens next."

He said "there is no expiration date" on further talks. "As I say, the president is fully prepared to keep negotiating at lower levels or to speak to Kim Jong-un again when it's appropriate." But he conceded that in the meantime North Korea is continuing to produce nuclear fuel. "They have been doing it," Bolton said. "Yes, they have. That's exactly correct."

But he rejected the notion that the U.S. is losing leverage to try to convince Pyongyang to denuclearize. "I think we will keep the maximum pressure campaign in place even before the summit," he said. "We were looking at ways to tighten it up to, to stop for example the ship-to-ship transfers that the North Koreans are using to evade the sanctions, to talk to other countries to make sure they tighten up on North Korea. It was the sanctions that brought the North Koreans to the table. It's the sanctions they want relief from and relief they can get if they denuclearize."

As the summit ended, Trump said he took Kim "at his word," that he knew nothing about the treatment of an American college student, Otto Warmbier, held captive by North Korea before his release in mid-2017 to the U.S., where he died a short time later.

Trump's remarks drew widespread condemnation from U.S. lawmakers, both from Trump's fellow Republicans and opposition Democrats, and Warmbier's parents. Trump later expressed his love for Warmbier and his family, but did not retract his belief that Kim knew nothing of his treatment while he was held in a North Korean prison.

"The president's been very clear he viewed what happened to Otto Warmbier as barbaric and unacceptable and I think the best thing North Korea could do right now would be to come up with a full explanation of exactly what happened to him," Bolton said.
Page Content

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth & Sport is proud to announce the 2nd Caribbean Well-Being Conference (CWBC), which will be held on St. Maarten from August 5 to 6, 2019 under the theme: Fostering Resilience: Creating a culture of well-being in schools. The focus for CWBC 2019 will be on Teacher Well-being, Student Well-being and Family Well-being.

The CWBC is a biennial conference that seeks to promote the positive development and well-being of children, parents, families, schools and communities. The CWBC aims to inform and educate on best practices to promote childrens well-being by looking at the important role that parents, families, teachers, schools, and communities play in the promotion of well-adjusted, socially and emotionally competent youth.

The CWBC will bring educators, school administrators, social workers, counselors, psychologists, therapists, community leaders, practitioners, parents and all those working in promoting student wellness from St. Maarten, the Caribbean and the wider region.

The CWBC is being organized by the Student Support Services Division (SSSD), the St. Maarten Youth Council Association and St. Johns University of New York.
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/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(0x7f3fe61ebc08)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe5df6c90)', '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(0x7f3fe61ebc08)') 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(0x7f3fe5df6c90)') 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(0x7f3fe63278f8)') 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(0x7f3fe5df6c90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe5df6c90)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fc7af2548)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe631dff8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe631dff8)') 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(0x7f3fe5f5d220)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe639d9a0)', '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(0x7f3fe5f5d220)') 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(0x7f3fe639d9a0)') 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(0x7f3fe5f6d2a8)') 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(0x7f3fe639d9a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe639d9a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fc7af2548)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe638aa10)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe638aa10)') 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(0x7f3fe6398a88)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe62e0888)', '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(0x7f3fe6398a88)') 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(0x7f3fe62e0888)') 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(0x7f3fe61fe0f0)') 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(0x7f3fe62e0888)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe62e0888)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe5a05bb0)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe62e1338)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe62e1338)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
French authorities say about 50 migrants attempted to scurry aboard a cross-Channel ferry that had arrived from Dover, England into the northern French port of Calais late Saturday.

Officials say 44 of the refugees were apprehended, dashing their hopes of reaching England on the vessel's return trip.

Two of the migrants fell into the water, but were quickly rescued.
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(0x7f3fe62ee278)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe63d84c0)', '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(0x7f3fe62ee278)') 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(0x7f3fe63d84c0)') 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(0x7f3fe61e7350)') 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(0x7f3fe63d84c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe63d84c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7f3fe5a06838)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe641cfb8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7f3fe641cfb8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
RTHK: US, North Korea never discussed war games: Trump

US President Trump on Monday denied that he ordered an end to major US-South Korean military exercises as a concession to North Korea's totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un.

The previously annual, large-scale manoeuvres -- meant to keep troops ready in case of conflict with North Korea -- were shelved shortly after Trump's summit last week with Kim in Hanoi.

Trump denied there was any link.

"The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un," he tweeted.

"I made that decision long ago because it costs the US far too much money to have those 'games', especially since we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost!" he said in the tweet.

There are close to 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have angered North Korea, which claims they are rehearsals for invasion.

While Trump has ruled out withdrawing US troops, he has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises, describing them at a press conference in Hanoi as "very, very expensive."

Trump's summit with Kim ended with no progress toward Washington's goal of getting the isolated country to give up its nuclear weapons. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The Dutch man who married a British teenager after she ran away to join the Islamic State group says he wants to return home to the Netherlands with Shamima Begum and their newborn son.

Yago Riedijk, 27, told the BBC from a Kurdish-run detention center that he met Begum within days of her arrival in Syria when she was 15. He said in an interview aired Sunday that the marriage was "her own choice."

When asked if marrying a 15-year-old was appropriate, he said: "To be honest, when my friend came and said there was a girl who was interested in marriage, I wasn't that interested because of her age, but I accepted the offer anyway."

Riedijk says that while he fought for IS, he now rejects the group and tried to leave it.

Begum fled east London with two other friends to travel to Syria to marry IS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.
S. Korea's Moon urges new US-North denuclearisation talks



Seoul, March 4 (AFP) Mar 04, 2019



South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the US and North Korea to quickly resume denuclearisation talks after their Hanoi summit last week ended without a deal.

Moon, who has adopted a dovish approach to Pyongyang and brokered the US-North Korea talks process, urged his officials to find out what exactly had gone awry at the high-stakes meeting, and predicted a deal would ultimately be reached.

"We hope that both countries will continue their dialogue and that their leaders meet again quickly to reach an agreement that was held off this time," Moon said during a security meeting in Seoul.

"While I believe the North-US talks will produce an agreement in the end, I ask officials to work hard for the resumption of working-level talks between the US and the North as it is not favourable to have a long absence or stalemate in talks."

The second meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North's Kim Jong Un broke up in disarray Thursday in the Vietnamese capital, without even a joint statement.

Trump said at a press conference after the summit that the North Koreans had wanted sanctions against Pyongyang "lifted in their entirety".

According to a senior US official, Pyongyang in return offered only to close down "a portion of the Yongbyon complex", a sprawling site covering multiple nuclear facilities -- and the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants.

North Korea rebuffed the claims, saying it had only wanted some measures eased, and that its proposal to close "all the nuclear production facilities" at Yongbyon was its best and final offer.

"I ask that we find out the exact gap between the two sides that led to a no-deal at the Hanoi summit and explore ways to narrow down that gap," Moon said.

The UN atomic watchdog said Monday there were indications that Yongbyon's reported centrifuge enrichment facility had been in use as recently as the end of February.

"However, without access, the Agency cannot confirm the nature and purpose of these activities," said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano in Vienna.

The IAEA uses methods including satellite imagery to monitor North Korea's nuclear programme.

About 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, Yongbyon is home to the country's first nuclear reactor, and is the only known source of plutonium for the North's weapons programme.

Yongbyon is not believed to be the North's only uranium enrichment facility and closing it down would not in and of itself signal an end to the country's atomic programme.

However, Moon said that if all Yongbyon facilities were "terminated in entirety, it should be considered the North's denuclearisation has entered an irreversible stage".

The Yongbyon site is "the foundation of North Korean nuclear facilities", he added.
Putin suspends INF arms treaty with US



Moscow, March 4 (AFP) Mar 04, 2019



President Vladimir Putin on Monday officially suspended Russia's participation in a key Cold War-era arms treaty, after the US first moved to ditch the INF deal.

Putin "signed a decree regarding the suspension of Russia's participation in the agreement between the USSR and the US," the Kremlin said in a statement.

The move was taken following "a violation of the United States of its obligations under the treaty," it said.

Moscow and Washington have accused one another of breaching the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces agreement concluded between the US and the former Soviet Union in 1987.

US President Donald Trump said in February that Washington would start a process to withdraw from the deal within six months.

Putin responded soon after that Russia was planning to suspend its involvement.

He said Russia would seek to develop medium-range missiles in response to what he said were similar projects in the US, raising the spectre of a new arms race.

In his state of the nation address last month, Putin threatened to deploy new missiles against Western capitals.

The longtime Russian leader warned Washington against deploying any new missiles in Europe following the collapse of the treaty, saying Moscow would consider it a "serious threat".

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed the threats as "bluster" designed to divide Washington and its allies.

Brokered by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the INF treaty ended a superpower buildup of warheads that had frightened Europe.

It banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (300 to 3,400 miles).

The deal addressed Soviet nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles targeting Western capitals, but put no restrictions on other major military actors such as China.

NATO has said that US allies "fully support" its withdrawal from the pact, insisting that Russia's 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile systems violate the treaty.

European leaders have voiced fears over the consequences of the treaty's demise and called on Russia to address concerns before the US formally leaves in August.

Last week, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that "key components of the international arms control architecture are collapsing".

Moscow has also expressed concern that Washington's decision to withdraw from the INF could jeopardise the extension of the New START treaty.

That agreement, which caps the number of nuclear warheads held by Washington and Moscow, expires in 2021.
Former foes Ethiopia and Eritrea seek to boost S.Sudan peace deal



Juba, March 4 (AFP) Mar 04, 2019



The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea met South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Monday seeking to breathe new life into a flagging peace agreement signed six months ago between his government and rebels.

South Sudan's influential Catholic Church last month warned that the deal agreed in September to quell the country's war was falling apart and all sides were gearing for fresh fighting.

"One of the first issues that they discussed was how to bolster the ongoing peace process," South Sudan's Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told journalists after Kiir met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki at State House in the capital.

Among other things, the leaders discussed bringing on board groups who rejected the deal inked in Addis Ababa, Nhial said.

"The government of the republic of South Sudan has been very supportive of this," he added.

The UN has cautioned that tens of thousands face starvation as fighting continues despite the pact.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 after a long and bloody independence struggle, but just two years later, war broke out again when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

A conflict erupted that split the country along ethnic lines. Nearly 400,000 people are estimated to have died and millions have fled their homes, many of them pushed to the brink of starvation.

Nhial said ambassador Ismail Wais of the IGAD regional trade block monitoring the peace deal signed by Kiir and Machar, will meet separately with rebel chief Thomas Cirillo and ex-army chief-turned opposition figure Paul Malong in Addis Ababa and Nairobi on March 8 and 10.

Cirillo and Malong both rejected the September deal.

Eritrea and Ethiopia, themselves still working on healing ties damaged by years of conflict over their shared border, are part of IGAD. Both have established business investments in South Sudan's hotel industry.

Ethiopia is a key contributor to a 4,000-regional armed protection force deployed to prevent further outbreak of war in South Sudan.
Another Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army in World War II died on Saturday.

With the death of 94-year-old Kwak Ye-nam, who was just 19 when she was forced to serve Japanese troops, only 22 Korean victims remain alive.

Korea and Japan signed an agreement on compensation for the victims in 2015, but the Moon Jae-in administration scrapped the deal, saying that it was struck without the victims' consent and lacked a sincere apology from Japan.
Chad rebel group says 7 killed in border 'ambush'



N'Djamena, March 4 (AFP) Mar 04, 2019



Deserters from a Chadian rebel group based in Libya were ambushed at the border of the two countries leaving seven people dead, their group said Monday.

The attack happened on Saturday at Sossal on the Chadian border where the deserters were supposed to meet and turn themselves over to Chad's army as well as surrender their arms, the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD) said in a statement.

The UFDD rebel group said instead of the army they were met by the Toros-Boros, Sudanese rebels, "who opened fire."

AFP was able to confirm the fighting with local people in the area, but it was not possible Monday to independently confirm the identity of the assailants.

The Chadian government has not commented on the incident.

Several Chadian rebel groups are based in the Sahel desert region of southern Libya.

On Sunday, Chad closed its border with Libya until further notice.

In 2008, the UFDD, with other rebel groups, launched an offensive on the capital N'Djamena to seize power, but they were stopped at the presidential palace by the army with the support of ally and former colonial power France.

In January, another rebel group, the UFR entered northeast Chad from Libya but were stopped by several French air strikes and the Chadian army. French jets intervened at the government's request, France says.

Chad, a vast and mostly desert country with more than 200 ethnic groups, has suffered repeated coups and crises since it gained independence from France in 1960.

Under President Idriss Deby, a former head of the armed forces, the country has taken a leading role in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel region.
Pure efficiency

It is possible to generate near-pure ultraviolet emission from layers of graphene nanosheets, according to a team in China. They explain that near unity charge separation efficiency is key to the pure UV emission in their system.

Xiaoxiao He, Litao Zhao, Zihao Zhou, Sanjun Zhang, Haifeng Pan, Jinquan Chen, and Jianhua Xu of the East China Normal University, in Shanghai, China discuss details of the work in a paper accepted in February 2019 for publication in the Institute of Physics journal Nanotechnology.

Stacked 2D

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, including graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), transition-metal dichalcogenides, black phosphorus, and even antimonene are now fairly well known to materials scientists and others, not least because of their intriguing structures, but more so because of their apparently unique optical, electronic, thermal, and mechanical proprieties. As such, they have become the focus of much enthusiastic research hoping to find applications that are beyond the repertoire of conventional materials.

Moreover, stacking such 2D materials allows them to interact through van der Waals forces as discrete sheet-like systems. This seems to endow them with what the team refers to as "perfect optoelectronic and mechanical proprieties". Such stacked materials have been investigated for photo-voltage devices, photo-detection sensors, and light emitting diodes, they point out. Fine tuning the relationship between layers allows the van der Waals forces to be exploited in different ways, specifically through high efficiency charge separation.

Emissive nanosheets

For example, graphene nanosheets have been shown to emit ultraviolet light through the London dispersion effect. The energy gap of layered graphene nanosheets can be just over 4 electronvolts and this might provide a route to the fabrication of thin, high-energy photoresponsive materials. A heterojunction system might therefore be made to replace conventional semiconductor UV sources that use gallium nitride, aluminium gallium nitride, and zinc oxide at lower cost. Carbon is much cheaper than gallium, readily available, and in many senses more environmentally benign, as well as non-toxic.

Xiaoxiao He and colleagues have now demonstrated that electron transfer between sp2 intrinsic states and surface defect states in stacked graphene nanosheets offers near unity efficiency for UV emission.

Related Links Nanotechnol 2019, online: "Near unity charge separation efficiency leads to pure ultraviolet emission in few layer graphene nanosheets" Article by David Bradley Read more about David and our other columnists >>> The views represented in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.

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Author(s)

David Bradley
Korea's exports dipped for a third consecutive month in February due to the global economic slowdown and the falling prices of semiconductors.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, exports fell almost 12 percent on-year to US$39.5 billion. A ministry official said the decrease was mainly fueled by a 25-percent drop in semiconductor exports amid the global economic slowdown.

But the trade balance was positive at $3.1 billion for an 85th straight month of surplus.
The Myanmar Army has now started clubbing the Arakan Army along with the ARSA to give the impression that the two outfits work together when it is not so!

by S. Chandrasekharan





It looks that both the Myanmar Government and its Army with the tacit support of China are trying make out that the Arakan Army is deeply in cohort with the terrorist outfit- the ARSA in causing depredations in Rakhine State.





The idea appears to be that once the AA is declared a terrorist outfit, it will be easier to deal with them as no support from other countries would be forthcoming and even the UN agencies would stop talking about violation of human rights and intensification of the annihilation campaign begun by the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Army) in the aftermath of the attack of security posts in Rakhine State that is already creating an exodus of thousands of innocent civilians from the conflict area.





The Arakan Army is not fighting for independence of Rakhine State but are seeking a confederal status, just like the UWSA on the China border. While the UWSA is having a cease fire since 1989 and a peace deal since 2013, thus enjoying a de facto confederal status, the Myanmar Army and the its Government appear to be in no mood to consider a cease fire or dialogue with the Arakan Army.





The Arakan Army is led by a popular General Twan Hrat Naing and it is supported by over 95 percent of the population. They are a proud people and are fighting for self- respect.

But what the Myanmar Army Is doing is to club the insurgent outfit- the AA along with the Jihadi terrorist outfit -the ARSA.





It started with the allegation of the Myanmar authorities that the ARSA and the AA are having bases in the Mayu mountains in Bangladesh- to be specific three by ARSA on one side and two by the AA on the other. This has been refuted by the Bangladesh authorities who are aware of the danger of ARSA spreading its influence among the Rohingya refugees in Cox Bazaar. Recently on 22nd December, the RAB of Bangladesh killed the top ARSA commander (from Harakat-Yaman) in a gunfight in the Teknaf sub district of Coxs Bazaar.





The Myanmar Army has now started clubbing the Arakan Army along with the ARSA to give the impression that the two outfits work together when it is not so!





In the third week of January, the Tatmadaw Chief Min Aug Hlaing met Sun Guoxing, Special Envoy of Asian Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in China at Nay Pyi Taw. In the meeting they discussed about the activities of ARSA and AA and strongly criticized the latter for the attack on the security posts of Myanmar.





On 28th February the Army Chief had another meeting with Sun Guoxing along with his top commanders at Nay Pyi Taw. The Chinese Ambassador was present. Both sides exchanged views after Sun had visited Buthidaung and Maungdaw region. The official report said that the talks focused on the following





1. Tasks done in Myanmar to reaccept Bengalis

2.Support of China towards the Myanmar Government and Army in international community.

3.Unstable situation caused by the Arakan Army and the ARSA

4.Endeavour of the Army to achieve eternal peace by 2020 and support and assistance of China for such endeavours.

5.Cooperation of twocountries in ensuring peace and stability in the northern region of Myanmar.





Significantly, the Chinese were concerned only about stability of the northern region on their border and are not concerned about the serious conflict going on the India- Bangladesh border. Though the Arakan Army is part of the Northern Alliance for which China has hosted two meetings in Yunnan between the Myanmar peace mission and the Alliance Representatives, they have not pressed for a cease fire or for a dialogue with the Arakan Army. Clubbing the AA with the Jihadi outfit appears to be a clever ploy to designate the AA at some point as a terrorist outfit though the AA is not one.




NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker comments:

NSA is extremely concerned that sheepmeat is missing within this schedule when most other agri products are included. We are concerned that it could result in other countries able to import sheepmeat to the UK produced to lower environmental and welfare standards than UK sheep farmers are currently working to. This would be unacceptable, and we are appealing to Defra and Parliamentarians to fix this.

NSA has contacted a number of MPs and Lords, and had written to George Eustice MP, recently departed Farming Minister, before his resignation, to request an explanation as to why sheepmeat has been missed from this schedule, and to demand this is rectified. NSA will further write to the new Minister once they are appointed, to ensure this issue is not missed.

This connects with NSAs three crucial themes with regards to Agriculture Bill amendments. Mr Stocker continues:

NSA has assessed all proposed amendments to the Agriculture Bill, (as of 27th February) with three key focuses: ensuring standards for imported food reach equivalent standards to UK food production; ensuring funding commitments to agriculture and as far as possible to active farmers; and keeping food production at the heart of the Bill. NSA is contacting MPs and encouraging them to support amendments that NSA believes meet these values.
Commonly used in Canada and Australia where huge numbers of stock have to be handled for tagging, grooming and treatment the Easy Boss E innovation has been introduced to Northern Ireland by David Morrison of WD Morrison Agriculture, Armoy.

When visiting a former neighbour now farming in the Canadian mid west David Morrison first saw the Easy Boss E in use.

A group of cows had long porcupine quills painfully embedded so to calm these animals an Easy Boss E was used to make a very difficult job much easier, David explained.

The Easy Boss E is widely used in Canada and Australia by cattlemen, contractors and some vets. After making contact with the man behind this very practical piece of kit I thought it would be useful back home.

Dr Don Finlay, a Canadian vet of Ulster descent, is now based 180km south of Perth, Western Australia and not only supplies the Ease Boss E world wide, but uses it working with huge numbers of stock on local cattle stations. Since taking the Easy Boss E. agency the reaction from farmers and contractors has been entirely positive,  added David.

On a tour of the UK Dr Don Finlay visited several farms in Co Antrim with David Morrison to both demonstrate this oral distraction tool and see it already in use on local livestock units.
Home  Lifestyle  Why 25 25-year-old youth gathered in Nepal and what they are going to do next

When Trump assumed office in January 2017, Emma Artley, then 23, was working for the US governments international cooperation agency, USAID, for a short term. Looking forward to some exciting announcements from the new administration, Artley was shocked when the new administration reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule. The presidents order not only forbade the USAID from extending funds to the organisations working on the safe abortion issue, but the staffers were restricted from talking about abortion issues.

It put some kind of ethical pressure on people working there, Artley recalls after around two years in Kathmandu, Many of them were not satisfied because the decision made by one white man hampered the lives of thousands of women across the world.

Recently, Artley and 24 other young people, each of them aged 25, were in Kathmandu for the celebration of what SheDecides, the global movement that emerged as an immediate response to the Gag Rule, achieved in past two years.

Interestingly, these 25 people represent 25 different countries of the world; but they came to Nepal to discuss the common cause that they are fighting for. They concluded the meeting with a common vision.

Different issues, but the same focus

These young people are youth leaders in their respective countries, running different forms of campaigns and activities in the sexual and reproductive health sector. In the recent two-day event, these delegates shared their stories and experiences with each other, with a focus on how they can improve them in the future.

Heather Masimba from Zimbabwe is one of the participants of the event. She says she forgot differences the participants had during the programme because they had one goal: to empower women so that they can take the right decisions about complex issues of sexual and reproductive health rights.

For example, the gender gap is one problem that has affected each of these countries, Masimba explains, In our country, the minimum age for consensual sex is 18 years, but it is not implemented for girls as nearly 20 per cent of them are married before 15.

In the meantime, Artley laments that many people wrongly perceive her country as the one which has eliminated all such problems. But you are wrong, gender gaps exist in the US too, she informs, For example, when an American man earns one dollar, his female counterpart earns only 79 cents at that time. For African women, it is even less: around 60 cents.

While such gaps have resulted in the inability of women to take the right decisions in the US and Zimbabwe, it is lack of information and education in Malawi. Because girls do not know complications, teenage pregnancy is increasing in our country, says Erasmo Mbemba.

In the Philippines, lack of information and education has not only barred women from taking decisions, but thousands of youth are also on the verge of death due to HIV infection. The majority of our population is Catholics who believe that using contraceptives is a sin. As they have sex with multiple partners due to different reasons, it is very difficult for the authorities to identify which people are HIV positive and which are not, explains Neil Lomibao.

For Senegals Christine Keneh Sarr, female genital mutilation has been one of the biggest challenges that block women from exercising their right to enjoy sexual and reproductive health rights. She says she wants to stop this practice through her campaigning.

These people believe that all such issues can be resolved through their advocacy movements, and SheDecides provides a platform for them to empower themselves so that they can empower women around them.

SheDecides introduces itself as a global political movement driving change. It is not an INGO or any time-specific project; but UN agencies, NGOs and INGOs, local communities and individuals have become parts of it globally.

Learning from Nepal

Campaigners of SheDecides, coordinated by the SheDecides Support Unit currently based in London, hosted the meeting of the youth whom they call 25X25 The Generation of Change so that they can learn something from Nepal.

This group consists of people born in 1994, the year of the International Conference in Population and Development, commonly known as the Cairo Conference. The campaigners say they regard the 1994 conference as a milestone of womens sexual and reproductive health rights movement and they want to establish themselves as the next generation of change makers.

They believe Nepal is an appropriate host of the meeting because recently introduced relevant laws are progressive in terms of respect to womens right to self-decision.

We have learned that Nepal has very good laws in the sector. Of course, they are not implemented properly, but having the laws itself is an achievement in itself and we are inspired by the country, Sonam Yangden from Bhutan says as Mbemba of Malawi adds, Having right laws in place suggest that everything is possible anywhere. We just need time and commitment.

Zimbabwean Masimbas understanding is also similar. Consistency is important in any kind of change movement. Nepali activists did not stop their movement despite challenges galore so that they achieved something.

A continuous movement

While Masimba stresses consistency, her other mates are also determined that their movement will not end anytime soon.

Due to the Cairo Conference, a great change took place in the sector of womens reproductive rights. Interestingly my grandma had attended that event. Now, in the 25th year, I am a part of SheDecides, Artley from the US jokes, Maybe after 25 or 50 years, my daughter or granddaughter will become a part of such movements and proudly say that my mama or grandma attended the SheDecides event when she was 25.

While the focus remains the same, manifestations of issues and agendas that they advocate for will inevitably change. The issues differ according to time and place, but it is an ongoing journey and will not stop, Bhutans Yangden is confident.

Therefore, we have to do our best work for now so that our kids can have the best environment to make the right decision. But, at the same time, they will have to do their best to improve the situation for the next generation.

These 25 people will meet again after nine months. We will be meeting for the Nairobi Summit in November, Lomibao informs, In the next nine months before the summit, we will interact with each other through different mediums and come up with one vision on the next course of action.

Many movements of the world have failed because the actors within have different opinions about how do they want to achieve the goal, Yangden claims, But, we have already become friends so that we will reach a consensus. It will make sure we will achieve what we aim.
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.
Prashantha takes part in Global Customer Experience Summit in London View(s):

Sri Lankas telecom expert Prashantha Robertson addressed the Customer Experience Management in Telecoms Summit held from January 29-31 at Novotel West, London. This premier global summit saw a gathering of over 400 attendees from all over the world and from leading global players in the telco industry. Mr. Robertson, the only speaker from South Asia, in his speech focused on the customer experience aspects.

He said the summit gave him the opportunity to network with peers from global giants and share experiences in overcoming difficult situations while managing customer experience. As a panelist, he spoke on how alignment could be achieved between and among different business functions and stakeholders. During the discussions, he touched on operationalising a companys customer experience vision, while tying it to business expectations and outcomes.

A renowned marketer, he serves as the Deputy Chief Customer Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC . He has been in several blue chip companies in Sri Lanka during a career spanning over 25 years. Mr. Robertson is a Chartered Marketer with qualifications from the Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK).
Rotary and Helpage in novel project to uplift vulnerable communities View(s):

The Rotary Club of Colombo Uptown and Helpage Sri Lanka (HASL) recently joined forces in a novel project to support vulnerable communities with a special focus on young children and the elderly in seven plantation estates at Naarthupana Village in the Kalutara District.

Around 150 primary school students received special gift packs consisting of a new school bag, crayons, paints and other stationery items and a years supply of exercise books whilst more than 200 male and female workers and senior citizens were the beneficiaries of a Mobile Medical and Eye Camp.

Communities from the estates of Neuchatel, Forcester, Hill Stream, Kobowella, Mirishena, Millakanda and Halwathura  all managed by Horana Plantation Ltd were assessed by the Helpage medical team.

In addition to medical support provided by Dr Erandi Kularathne, Medical Officer -non communicable diseases, around 60 beneficiaries will receive bifocal spectacles made to the right prescription within a month  free of charge. Another 44 elders were referred to the HelpAge Eye Hospital at Wellawatte for free cataract surgery. The total cost of the joint project of school books, Mobile Medical and Eye Camp is estimated at over 1 million rupees.

The activities then moved the next day to Nikahetikande in the Gampaha District and the Yatawaka Primary School where Rotary once again presented special school gift packs to the children who began their schooling in Grade 1 this year. Joining the Rotary Club of Colombo Uptown in this worthy project was the Rotary Club of Clackamas in Canada who made a generous contribution of USD 550 towards the project.
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A little bit of the UK in the very heart of Malaga. Thats what pupils will find at Phoenix College, the only sixth form college in Andalusia where they can finish off their secondary studies and prepare for entry to the best universities.

Phoenix College opened during the last academic year and benefits from a team of teachers who each have more than 25 years of experience in the sector. James Riley, Kirsty Ridyard and Alex Mitchell, co-founders of the College, are graduates from Durham, Oxford and Trinity College Dublin Universities respectively and have created an academic curriculum which is especially aimed at preparing pupils for entry to the most prestigious universities both in the UK and in Spain or many other parts of the world. As History and Social Sciences teacher Mr. Riley explains, Due to the type of education we offer, our centre is a bridge for the students between a normal secondary school and university. We prepare the pupils on many levels, not just academically. We seek to help them develop skills and abilities that they will find very useful in the future. As well as being an Edexcel approved centre for exams.

Phoenix College is also accredited by UCAS and provides an assessment and orientation service with excellent results. This year some of the youngsters are considering options such as Oxford or Cambridge Universities.

A comprehensive education

In accordance with the centres comprehensive education philosophy, as well as the typical British subjects (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology History, Geography, Politics, Spanish and Further Mathematics) and the optional Spanish PCE (Selectividad) subjects for pupils who may wish to study at a Spanish university (Matematicas cientificas, Fisica, Quimica, Biologia, Matematicas aplicadas a Ciencias Sociales y Economia de empresas), the school offers complementary subjects such as Business, IT and Law.

The aim of all this is to increase students knowledge and provide them with the greatest academic credentials possible with a view to continuing their studies. Phoenix College also has a programme of activities to target the youngsters personal development outside the classroom. Through this project, the pupils take on different challenges (personal, cultural and social) which range from reading books to carrying out volunteering tasks or learning to play a musical instrument, among many other activities. The centre also has its own choir and a debating team that competes in different international competitions and there are frequent outings and trips to places of interest. With all these options we aim to get the boys and girls out of their comfort zones and allow them to test themselves and discover everything theyre capable of achieving in different areas, a school spokesperson explains.

An excellent team for a project of excellence

Part of Phoenix Colleges success is down to its teachers, who as well as the above mentioned extensive and prestigious background in the teaching sector also stand out for their vocation and commitment to education. We believe teaching is a gift. The best part of our job is to be in the classroom with the pupils because they learn from us, but we learn from them too, Chemistry and Biology teacher Kirsty Ridyard explains.

The centre is beside La Plaza de Uncibay, just 20 minutes from the train station and 10 minutes from the bus station. It is also very close to the motorway and there are multiple public carparks nearby. There are a range of classrooms for lessons including a fully equipped laboratory, a patio and common room for breaks and pupils have free use of the kitchen.

To discover more about the College, those interested can get in touch by telephone (952 22 02 75), online (infophoenixcollegemalaga.com) or in person. We encourage parents to come to the College, have a look at the facilities and find out about our academic options, because we believe it is fundamental to match the students needs to what we have to offer, Ridyard points out.

Contact:

Phoenix College

Calle Mendez Nunez, 5, 1D, 29008 Malaga

Telephone: 952 22 02 75.

www.phoenixcollegemalaga.com
Those who turn to aesthetic medicine want to improve their image without making any radical changes or having to undergo therapy. That's the view of the president of the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME), Petra Vega, who spoke to SUR during her organisation's annual congress in Malaga.

More than half of those who want to undergo a procedure don't dislike their image, but want to improve it. "They don't want to look completely different, but rather correct something, whether caused by the effects of ageing or something genetic," said Vega.

"A radical change could cause an identity problem because being prettier doesn't always equate to being happier," she added, explaining that for this reason a lot of procedures are carried out more slowly or over a longer period of time so that the patient can see the gradual changes.

"People want to improve the way that they look without anyone else noticing that they have had any procedures done.

"For some people, this is difficult. There are people for whom, even though the results are good, they decide 'this isn't me'."

Increasingly, says Vega, those undergoing treatments want to reverse the effects of illnesses that are afflicting them. "On the whole, they are people who want to improve their wellbeing by feeling better about their image," she said. However, all treatments must be carried out with the consent of the specialists involved in the treatment.
This is a long story. It begins with a travelling trunk, black with red trim, drawers inside, and looking pretty worn. Paul inherited this trunk together with the mansion in Boisgeloup when his mother died; it had been hers. Olga Khokhlova was Pablo Ruiz Picasso's first wife and the grandmother of Bernard Ruiz-Picasso, who on this bright afternoon is enjoying the sun in the courtyard of the Malaga Picasso Museum (MPM) as he talks about her, about the trunk, and the new exhibition at the museum.

"The trunk was the last thing Olga had, it was even with her in the clinic in the south of France where she died," explains Bernard, who is the president of the executive board at the MPM. "When they buried my grandmother, my father took the trunk to the house at Boisgeloup and there it remained, from the mid-1950s to now. After my father died, my mother told me there were some very important things in the trunk. When I was younger I wasn't particularly interested in that, and it was much later, when we created this museum with my mother, that we thought it would be a good time to see what was inside."

What they found inside the trunk was the start of 'Olga Picasso', the exhibition which is about to open at the MPM and will continue until 2 June. It has already been shown at the Picasso Museum in Paris and the Pushkin Museum, and when it ends in Malaga it will go on to the CaixaForum in Madrid.

"I didn't know much about my grandmother, and this project has helped me to learn more about her," says Bernard Ruiz-Picasso. A great deal of research had to be done before the exhibition could take place. "We have worked for over ten years on knowing more about Olga and her life with Picasso," he explains. The result is a collection of more than 350 pieces, ranging from the intimate to the artistic, the sentimental to the historical. "There is a certain consensus among specialists about calling this period of Picasso's work neoclassical, but I don't think it is exactly that," he says. At his side, the director of the MPM, Jose Lebrero, explains: "This exhibition suggests that some historical-artistic interpretations are, at least, questionable."

This is because 'Olga Picasso' is an exhibition "which can be read in different ways". A sentimental journey which also reflects a tragic part of the history of the 20th century during the couple's life together, as Bernard Ruiz-Picasso recalls: "The tragedy began from the start, because when Picasso met Olga in Rome in 1917 she was a dancer with the Russian ballet. Picasso totally changes focus and the whole artistic community thinks he has gone mad and no longer forms part of the avant-garde in Paris. And at almost the same time, there was the Civil War in Russia. So Olga rose socially beside Picasso and his artist friends, and at the same time she receives letters from her family who are living through the drama of the war. Her father disappeared, her two brothers were fighting on the front, but then they also disappeared."

Between intimacy and history

In this way, the exhibition 'Olga Picasso' is a reflection of European history but it is also an intimate history, especially when Picasso's new companion, Marie-Therese Walter, arrived on the scene at the end of the 1920s. Picasso didn't separate from Olga until 1935. For the last 20 years of her life, Olga resided in one hotel after another.

"Marie-Therese arrived around 1927 or 1928, and that had a direct influence on his work. You can see that in the exhibition. Olga wasn't stupid. She knew what Picasso was like. And in his works, Picasso presents himself as the reason for her pain."

Bernard Ruiz-Picasso picks up the catalogue for the exhibition and looks for the drawing called 'Minotauro cargando una yegua y su potro en un carro', from 5 April 1936: "Picasso is the minotaur pulling the carriage; that dead horse is my mother and the foal, there, is my father". And then Olga and Pablo's grandson spends a few silent minutes contemplating the drawing....

Coming out of his trance, he says: "Picasso kept these works with him until he died. He was never separated from them. I think it was a type of private diary which enabled him to continue his creative introspection."

That open diary can now be seen at the Picasso Museum in Malaga, which almost more than ever before is living up to its vocation as a "family museum".
Tornado kills at least 22 in US state of Alabama: officials



Washington, March 4 (AFP) Mar 04, 2019



A tornado tore through the southern US state of Alabama on Sunday, killing 22 people, uprooting trees and causing "catastrophic" damage to buildings and roads, a local sheriff said.

"Unfortunately, I feel that number may rise yet again but that's going to depend on our search efforts," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told a press conference.

Other people have been hospitalized, some with "very serious injuries," while the search was still ongoing for more who are missing, he had earlier told reporters.

A local NBC affiliate reported that the search for survivors had been called off Sunday night due to dangerous conditions, and would resume on Monday morning.

"There are some children involved," Lee County coroner Bill Harris told MSNBC earlier Sunday, following unconfirmed reports that an eight-year-old girl was among the dead.

Jones described the damage as "catastrophic, based on the destruction of homes that we've seen."



- Wrecked houses, downed trees -



The swath of destruction left by the storm was a quarter mile (0.4 kilometers) wide and stretched for the "several miles that it traveled on the ground," according to Jones.

Still and video images showed trees that had been snapped in two, debris-strewn roads and wrecked houses in the wake of the storm.

More than 6,000 homes were left without power in Alabama, according to PowerOutage.US, while 16,000 suffered outages in neighboring Georgia.

Authorities warned the death toll could rise further as rescuers search through the debris in Beauregard, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) east of the state capital Montgomery.

Television images showed the heavy rain had relented by dusk but many roads in the worst-hit areas were left littered with debris and unpassable.

Residents in the town of Smith Station told local TV news crews of their shock at turning up to work to find their businesses destroyed, and seeing crying co-workers comforting one another.

One bar in the town appeared to have lost its roof and most of its walls, in images screened by MSNBC, while a cell tower was completely destroyed.

"My sister and niece have been under tornado watch and warnings all day in Montgomery... Prayers up for Alabama," Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ava Duvernay tweeted.

Late Sunday, US President Donald Trump expressed his condolences to those affected.

"To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe," he wrote on Twitter.

"Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"



- 'Take cover' -



The National Weather Center had issued a tornado warning for areas including Lee County earlier on Sunday, calling on residents to: "TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows."

It tweeted late Sunday that the southeastern US, struck by a severe storm system, could see "damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes" overnight.

While Jones referred to a single storm, CNN reported that two tornadoes had hit Lee County in quick succession, some of "at least a dozen" it said tore through Alabama and the neighboring state of Georgia on Sunday.

NWS Birmingham suggested that there were multiple twisters in the area, tweeting that the "first tornado to impact Lee County today was at least an EF-3 & at least 1/2 mi wide."

The EF-3 designation -- on a scale of 0 to 5 -- means the tornado had winds of 136 to 165 miles (218 to 266 kilometers) per hour.

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"Depression and anxiety have been with me long before HIV ever entered the picture," says Larry Bryant Jr., 52, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1986 and is a longtime HIV and social justice activist, currently a field organizer at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) branch in Washington, D.C., his hometown. He attempted suicide once in high school and again in college, when he was hospitalized a few times.

"It was largely just emotional swings with some environmental influence," he recalls, "but then once I was diagnosed with HIV in college, it was hell. It felt like I was in a car going 115 miles an hour, but I wasn't driving."

Absolutely the best first-line treatment for depression is talk therapy and/or medications, according to David Guggenheim, Psy.D., chief mental health officer at New York City's LGBTQ-serving Callen-Lorde health center, which sees many HIV-positive patients. "Most of our patients come in and benefit from therapy and the meds, such as Lexapro [escitalopram oxalate] or Abilify [aripiprazole], we're able to prescribe," he says.

He adds that up to 60% of patients find relief solely through individual or group therapy, including cognitive behavioral and trauma-focused therapy.

"But," he adds, "we also have patients with treatment-resistant depression who can make us feel a little bit desperate, so we're always looking for new avenues of treatment."

That's why Guggenheim was among those in the mental health profession who were intrigued to hear that an expert panel in February recommended that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approve a nasal-spray version of ketamine, a longstanding medical anesthetic and popular club drug, sometimes called "Special K," that gives some people hallucinogenic effects. Research dating back more than a decade has found that it often provides dramatic, swift relief to people with major, even suicidal, depression that has been resistant to existing treatments.

The FDA may approve the drug, Johnson & Johnson's Esketamine, a slightly tweaked version of the generic drug ketamine, as soon as sometime this month. That means that most public and private insurers would cover a treatment that, up until now, has only been available to people with depression off-label, at prices as high as $3,000 a visit. The drug also has shown promise for the relief of severe chronic pain.

HIV and Depression

Bryant is not alone among Americans with depression, and he is certainly not alone among those with HIV who also battle the mental illness. While about 6.7% of U.S. adults have depression, about 20% to 40% of the roughly 1.1 million U.S. adults living with HIV have depression, according to a major, multisite study of people living with HIV and depression that came out last year.

The study also found that the amount of time people with HIV were depressed was directly related to how many doctor appointments they missed, how likely they were to be virally suppressed, and their risk of death from any cause.

The relationship between HIV and depression is complicated. People may have contracted HIV in the first place in part due to depression -- which can lead to risky behavior and poor judgment. But then, of course, HIV -- as well as other factors including economic insecurity, stress around being a minority (person of color, sexual minority, gender minority, etc.), and past trauma -- can feed depression due to the stigma, secrecy, and shame sometimes attached to it.

Over the years, says Bryant, his depression has subsided without the need for medication. "It's mild and manageable now," he says, but he admits that sometimes it keeps him in bed the whole weekend. "I can't move, I don't eat, and I don't want to be around people." He says that he's avoided meds because of a fear of side effects "and of the stigmatization that comes with living with a mental illness."

But this kind of treatment could be helpful for people like Bryant, who either cant or wont take antidepressants. If the drug is approved, users "would be snorting a kind of vapor solution [with another medication in pill form] in the doctor's office starting a few times a week, then spacing it out" based on its effect, says Elias Dakwar, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, who has been studying ketamine's ability to help cocaine users disrupt their addictive thinking.

"I've found that with cocaine users who aren't seeking treatment, a ketamine infusion increases their motivation to stop and reduces their cravings," he says, plus cutting the likelihood of picking up cocaine again for at least 72 hours. In a study, he found that over about five weeks, about 50% of cocaine users receiving the ketamine treatment became cocaine abstinent versus about 10% in the study arm without the ketamine. Six months later, he said, the majority of those who'd been in the ketamine arm remained abstinent.

For Bryant and other people with depression, the dissociative (or feeling constantly spaced out) side effects often associated with most psychiatric meds drives them away from maintaining treatment. The research presented by Johnson & Johnson showed that about 11% of people taking Esketamine did have dissociative side effects, but other studies show those side effects seemed to subside within two hours of administering the drug -- and it wont be taken every day.

Dakwar says that he thinks Esketamine for depression will come to market within the year and that it might even take the place of electroconvulsive therapy, also known as shock therapy, which has been long used for treatment-resistant depression but can also have side effects including memory loss. "It's quite robust and quick," he says of the drug's alleviation of depression.

Researchers do not know exactly how or why ketamine seems to alleviate depression. "It seems to involve the NMDA receptor," says Dakwar. That receptor plays a role in the brain's ability to change and adapt to new information.

At any rate, assuming that the FDA approves Esketamine, it could mean a new avenue of relief for people with depression, with or without HIV, for whom existing antidepressants haven't worked and who can't afford to pay for exorbitant ketamine treatments out of pocket.

And that's good news to Bryant, who may one day need treatment but who leans away from antidepressants. (We should note that health plans, or even providers, might make patients try older treatments first before covering or prescribing Esketamine.)

"I remember vividly what was going on in my brain when I felt that suicide was my only option," says Bryant. "Anything that could keep me from seeing that space again? Absolutely."
mdulieu/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a closely-watched New Jersey case in which churches have been barred from receiving tax dollars meant for preservation of historic structures.



Religious rights advocates, who had asked the court to take up the case, argued that excluding houses of worship from the preservation program is unconstitutional discrimination on the basis of religion.



The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which first sued New Jersey's Morris County over the program, says awarding the money amounts to unconstitutional funding of religious worship.



By declining to hear the case, the Supreme Court has put off a question that has sweeping implications for preservation programs nationwide.



In a statement, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained that the high court could not take up the case because precise facts of the New Jersey program are not entirely clear and because case law on the broader issue is generally lacking.



The decision means a Supreme Court of New Jersey ruling against the use of taxpayer funds to repair and restore churches in Morris County will stand.



Kavanaugh, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, nevertheless urged the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the broader issue soon.



At some point, this Court will need to decide whether governments that distribute historic preservation funds may deny funds to religious organizations simple because the organizations are religious, Kavanaugh wrote.



Barring religious organizations because they are religious from a general historic preservation grants program is pure discrimination against religion, he said.



The Historic Preservation Trust Fund in Morris County has awarded more than $5.5 million to churches since 2012, according to the Freedom From Religion Foundation.



The group specifically objects to more than $1 million awarded to a local Presbyterian Church for the stated purpose of continued use by our congregation for worship services and to grants to an Episcopal church in order to allow access to the church for worship and periods of solitude and meditation.



New Jerseys state constitution states nor shall any person be obliged to pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes to be right.



Morris County officials have said the program did not favor religious organizations and was open to all nonprofits with historic structures.



Any nonprofit is eligible if its purposes include historic preservation, the county wrote in court documents. Leaving the issue to further percolate will only place historic buildings across the country at greater risk.



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Minister for Women and Equalities and Secretary of State for International Development, Penny Mordaunt, is today (4 March) launching a campaign against global period poverty.

According to Open Access Government, Ms Mordaunt will make a speech later today where she will formally unveil the new UK government campaign which includes a 2 million fund to end global period poverty by 2030.

The Department for International Development (DIFD) estimates that half of all women and girls in developing countries are forced to use rags, grass and paper when menstruating because they simply cannot afford sanitary products.

Photo: Feminine hygiene products in a supermarket by Stilfehler under GNU Free Documentation License

Whatsmore, according to a UNESCO report, one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their period and in some countries the taboo surrounding menstruation is so great some women and girls are forced to spend their menstrual cycles in period huts.

Earlier this year, a 21-year-old woman became the fourth person to die in Nepal after being banished to sleep in a hut - an outdoor shed - when she was on her period.

The campaign to end period poverty, stigma and taboos not only extends to those in need abroad, it will also focus on issues in the UK.

A 2018 report led by sanitary product brand Always revealed over 137,700 children in the UK have missed school because of period poverty. And when it comes to social stigmas, Girl Guiding UK found that 26% of girls in the UK aged 11-21 feel embarrassed talking to people about their period while 21% had been made to feel ashamed or embarrassed about their period.

Photo of young woman by Thnh Phng from Pexels

Speaking at a conference, Ms Mordaunt said:

Empowerment starts when you are young. Girls should be able to focus on their education and their future without being worried about or embarrassed by their periods.

There are British entrepreneurs and businesses already doing fantastic work to tackle period poverty and I want us to partner and support them to really make a change to the lives of those who need it most.

This is a global issue. Without education, women and girls around the world wont be able to take the steps to reach their true potential.

UK charities have welcomed Ms Mordaunt's announcement.

In a statement given to The National Student, Farah Nazeer, deputy director of advocacy at ActionAid UK, said:

We welcome todays commitment from DIFD to end period poverty globally by 2030, it is a step in the right direction.

Periods are a natural process and a part of nearly every girls life, but social stigma and a lack of access to sanitary pads are holding millions back from getting an education. In some countries period poverty can also prove fatal through banishment to isolated menstrual huts.

Period poverty is just one of several barriers holding women and girls back and so it is vital that aid solutions tackle the root cause of this global problem, which is the deep-rooted gender inequality and social norms that remove women and girls rights to their bodies and lives.

Local grassroots activists have been working closely with entire communities to tackle these norms and empower women and girls to reclaim their rights. UK aid needs to support long-term solutions to achieve sustainable change and focussed on poverty alleviation.
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By Keli Vitaioli

vitaioli@grinnell.edu

As of March 1, the completed SGA all-campus events calendar for spring 2019 has not been released to the College community. The calendar is supposed to mark Harris, Gardner and film events open to students and sponsored by Sudent Governement Association for the semester.

On Feb. 13, a tentative schedule was emailed out to students by the All Campus Events Chair Selah Mystic 19. However, of the 17 Harris and Gardner events listed, 12 were listed as TBD [host needed], an unusual number of blank spots for this late into the semester. Without delineated hosts or themes, it is unclear whether events will be occurring, often until shortly beforehand. The lack of transparency and communication from SGA to the student body regarding the events calendar has resulted in uncertainty, not just for students attempting to plan their weekends, but for All Campus Events Student Safety (ACESS) workers that rely upon working at these events as a source of income.

Assembling the events calendar is the job of the ACE chair in collaboration with student hosts, the SGA cabinet and Michael Sims, the department head of student activities and the director of campus center operations. In the past, the job of ACE chair was shared by two students, however SGA budget cuts led to the collapse of the role into a single position, currently held by Mystic. The ACE chair works alongside the ACESS co-directors, currently Dajon Coleman and Gabby DeRoche, both 19, to discuss scheduled events and what kind of student security ACESS will need to staff.

For Coleman, the uncertainty of the events calendar has created much frustration amongst ACESS workers. Beyond the delay in the release of the calendar, Coleman also said the large decrease in the number of ACE events itself preventing ACESS from being able to fully utilize their staff of 40 students.

Coming into this school year, the ACESS directors increased their staff in order to avoid issues having enough students to staff the anticipated number of all campus events. They based their expectations for the events calendar on past years, where there were often two ACESS-staffed events per weekend.

ACESS workers are required in their roles to work one shift every month. Yet due to events shortages, this has been difficult for many of the 40 employees to maneuver. Its kind of impossible to schedule all that correctly and give everybody the amount of hours that the need, said ACESS worker and staff chief Chavely Calleja 21. Calleja herself has still been able to work her mandated one shift a month, but notes hearing complaints from many of the ACESS staff she works with, including some students who havent been scheduled in three weeks.

Similarly, Coleman said the lack of events and therefore lack of shifts has lead to ACESS not being able to meet the commitments they made regarding shifts to students in the hiring process; when we were promoting, we were like, Yeah, youre going to get at least two shifts a month, now its like you get one a month maybe.

Calleja noted that the ACESS staff is also made up largely of minority students already facing burdensome structural inadequacies at the hands of the institution. She stated many ACESS employees rely upon their security positions for work study, while others need the shifts to finance things like trips home for the upcoming spring break. While the ACESS staff is frustrated and invested in the issue of getting events on the calendar, there is not much they can do.

ACESS isnt in charge of putting on events, theyre just in charge of covering events that need security for students, so we kind of depend on the ACE chair to put on events so we can be employed. Its kind of sad, because we dont really necessarily have that much control over it. We can protest as much as we want, but if nothing is being done then we just dont have jobs for the weekend, Calleja said. There are weeks where we just dont have events, and thats not ok.

In addition to the issues providing ACESS staff with shifts, Coleman also spoke on the impact more broadly on the safety of the student body, as he believes there are now more off-campus parties, which can promote more unsafe behavior without the trained staff there to help if needed.

According to a completed copy of the SGA calendar that Mystic sent in an email to The S&B, there are 10 Harris and Gardner events scheduled for the semester, with Carnival Harris on April 6 being the last. At the time of the interview, Mystic said the email would be sent to students soon, but the all-campus email has not yet been sent.

For Mystic, a large part of the problem in both assembling the calendar and sponsoring all campus events has been restrictions placed upon SGA from administration, specifically from Sims. According to Mystic, Sims informed her that more than one event cannot occur in the same space on the same day. Therefore, if there is a cultural event or concert in a space earlier in the evening, ACE cannot host a Harris or Gardner event that evening. Mystic claims that due to the enforcement of these spacing restrictions, ACE has had half of the events that it would normally have cut off. Sims could not be reached for comment.

Mystic also said that an issue has occurred in attempting to host events the way that the student hosts would like them to be hosted, such as being able to book initially requested times and spaces. She also noted that while there may not be Harris events happening after April 6, there will still be other events occurring such as Drag Show, Spring Waltz and the Tithead film festival.

On the shrinking of the position from two people to one, Mystic does not believe the role is too much for one person to handle. She served in one of the ACE co-chair positions both semesters last year, and said shedefinitely was prepared to get into the position nicely.

SGA President Myles Becker 19 has presided over the shift in the ACE chair from two people to one, and noted that I think perhaps we might have overlooked the transition period of going from two to one, and even through this process I realized how much Selah does in ways that I dont think I understood before. Part of the reason for the position cut was the 60,000 dollar budget cut that SGA faces next year in order to finance the Associate Director of Student Activities position the College announced for the 2019-2020 school year.

Becker said that moving forward, SGA is considering tiering the ACE chair position to alleviate some of the breadth of the position. Both Mystic and Becker emphasized the amount of work that the ACE chair does behind the scenes that can lead to students being frustrated without understanding why things are taking time to be coordinated.

SGA is considering placing the film portion of the role under the auspice of a student at large, but keep the ACE Chair one central role. Mystic said that this tiering and dividing is a good idea moving forward because theres only so much work that one person could do.

Lana Katai 21 has experienced frustration with the ACE chair in both her position as an ACESS employee and as a student attempting to host an event. When she and a group of friends attempted to reach out to Mystic to host an event, they were initially told that they couldnt host on that day, but their emails requesting other times went unanswered. Days later, they were told by Mystic that all the available hosting slots had been filled, despite them having responded to her initial email within five minutes.

In my experiences, my emails havent necessarily been responded to in a timely manner, Katai said. That made it kind of hard to want to host an event, which is something that any student here can do and I feel like that should be a relatively easy process.

Katai said the lack of transparency and coordination on the part of the ACE chair and SGA has been disheartening and affected many areas of the student body.

People need to know about sub free events, people need to know about food events, people in ACESS need to work all-campus events.

This weekend, the CBS showcase scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday was postponed due to scheduling conflicts. Katai said she believes that this is again due to the ACE chair not fulfilling their duty.

As a Black student here, we have so few events that are just for us to have, like as CBS, as just Black people gathering together, and to have one event that is really central and important to the community just fall through because of scheduling events, thats just really frustrating, thats disappointing.

For Katai, Coleman and Calleja, these issues have infringed on the very nature of all-campus events. The lack of communication and transparency has made it impossible for students to properly use the resources that SGA and ACE hold.

On Feb. 28, Amari Brooks 20 began distributing a petition for the replacement of Mystic as the ACE chair. In accordance with the SGA Constitution, Article three section B subsection eight, a petition signed by 200 students for the removal of a cabinet member will go before the Student Senate to vote on for approval. Two-thirds approval is required to remove the cabinet member.

The petition has been converted into the form of a Google Form, and provides a space for students to express their personal concerns with the ACE chair. Student concerns include the lack of timely response from the ACE chair regarding events scheduling, inaccessibility, changing of event dates without explanation and the ACE chair skipping meetings and office hours.

On the issue, Becker said, SGA is aware of the concerns of students and is actively working to create a stronger support infrastructure so as to ensure that student all campus events in the future are able to schedule in a timely fashion.
By Nora Paul

paulnora@grinnell.edu

Between imposition and self-sovereignty, as well as temporary help and long-term development, humanitarian aid treads critical lines in response to international crises. On Monday evening, European Union official Alfred Foehr visited campus to speak about his work in on-the-ground implementation of aid efforts in Afghanistan, a setting of intensifying insecurity and conflict. The Rosenfield Program organized the event as part of Grinnells Humanitarian Aid Symposium.

Since 2003, Foehr has worked with the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the European Commissions department for overseas humanitarian aid and civil protection. He is currently the director of ECHOs operations in Afghanistan. Working closely with NGOs, the U.N. and international partner organizations, ECHO funds and oversees emergency assistance to populations with the most extreme vulnerability. The commission has been one of the largest contributors of aid to Afghanistan since 2002. It is also currently active in sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti, South America and other regions of the Middle East.

Foehr said, We are one of the very few offices in the European Commission which can react really quickly, because if you do humanitarian aid, youre addressing immediate and acute humanitarian needs.

He added, If you have the earthquake coming or you have the sudden influx of migrants from Myanmar to Bangladesh, you have to react quickly. So here we really have this privilege  to [do so]. Its quite unique if you know how big international bodies work.

Much of ECHOs work in Afghanistan has been in response to the enduring drought in the Northwest part of the country, which devastated crop yields and forced thousands to move into cities. Civil conflict is also an ever-present danger to human safety. The commission provides assistance through food, healthcare, shelter, monetary aid to families and basic education for children.

Foehr emphasized, however, the temporary nature of ECHOs emergency assistance: Conceptually, we would not like to stay forever; we would like to help, do the humanitarian work, and then hopefully at a certain stage, [the DirectorateGeneral for International Cooperation and] Development or the national government would take over.

This impermanence is at the core of humanitarian aids complexity. Limited by time-frame and political reach, relief organizations such as ECHO maintain a certain type of distance from the solutions to the human suffering they mitigate. An interesting balance, and topic of public discourse, is how closely involved these organizations can be to the issues which they are on the ground experiencing, and the people whom they directly help.

Mary DaVega 21 said In general they didnt want to get involved in the government and politics at all, which kind of makes sense with how that can cause a lot of chaos and conflict, but at the same time, I feel like both kind of go hand and hand and its hard to make any sort of difference without coordinating with [a countrys] government.

In this way, the talk evoked discussion on the ethicality of humanitarian aid.

[Foehr] demonstrated how humanitarian aid organizations like ECHO that are  insisting on being apolitical and neutral actors as they serve [people] who are bearing the brunt of the failures of political actions or inactions can be ineffective at the least and at worst irresponsible, Farah Omer 19 wrote in an email to The S&B.

Another student, Peony Teo 21, also expressed questions about the connection between emergency aid and broader, more permanent efforts: He said humanitarian organizations are trying to work with development organizations, but how so?

One of the greatest humanitarian concerns presented at the talk was the prevalence of internally displaced populations (IDPs), and refugees from other countries. Today, over 30 percent of Afghanistans population is affected by drought, and four million people are food insecure. The human displacement to which ECHO responded in the Northwest is a sign of a problem which will manifest increasingly markedly in the future; as climate change escalates, food and water insecurity will affect even more people, and climate refugees will constitute a greater percentage of those displaced.

Foehr discussed the need for timely coordination with local organizations, development efforts, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to address human needs in a way which would prevent sustained states of crisis. He also indicated policymaking bodies of the EU which engage with climate policy, for example. Additionally, he stressed the need for governmental action in order to increase stability and safety.

Barbara Trish, director of the Rosenfield Program and professor of political science, wrote in an email to The S&B, International relations and human rights is part of the Rosenfield mission, at it seems that this speaker was able to intersect with those mission areas in a number of different ways.

Foehr discussed the European Commissions role to promote the protection of human rights law between warring parties. He indicated education as an area of increasing priority in these effortsparticularly the education of girls. ECHO has made strides to promote the implementation throughout the international community of basic education in areas of conflict, giving more and more girls access to an opportunity which they likely would not have otherwise. We consider that a success, he said.

Foehr ended by looking to the future of Afghanistan, and the politics upon which it rests.

Much will depend on elections and what will come out of it [which is] very difficult to predict.  One thing is certain: even if we get a peace deal and even if it is a good peace deal, the humanitarian need in Afghanistan will remain for a long period of time. What we need is a rather competent government, an accepted government, which would bring some structure in the country, and  stability and safety, which would bring economic development. That is what we would like to see, and would like to achieve.
By Sarah Licht

lichtsar@grinnell.edu

At the end of this spring semester, Joe Rolon, director of residence life, will leave for a new position at Princeton University. In his new role, Rolon will serve as Director of Student Life.

[Princeton] doesnt have the typical residence life position. It has components of student activities, case management, counseling and conduct, Rolon said. This means that Rolon will have a similar position at Princeton when compared to the one he has here at the College, despite the change in title.

Im looking forward to it because most of my career, prior to this time, has really just been in residence life. I think one of the good things about Grinnell is [that] I got to put my feet in different aspects of student affairs, Rolon said.

Another aspect of the Princeton position that piqued Rolons interest was its location. Im a native New Jerseyan, and so, being in Princeton, Ill only be an hour away from my parents, Rolon said, And, while Iowa is great, I grew up in a very urban area, so Im just excited to be going home.

As for Rolons legacy, he is proud of several accomplishments here at the College. I think my biggest achievement here at Grinnell has been my interactions with the students. I think, with regard to Residence Life, formalizing a lot of things, Rolon said. Rolon was involved in the transition of the Student Advisor position, which had been previously a volunteer and then stipend-supported position, to the more formal role of Community Advisors. With the shift in title and role, Community Advisors now receive free room in exchange for their work.

Looking at the future of the College, Rolon said he hopes that his successor understands the same things that working at the College taught him. Grinnell was the only institution I worked at where I could see myself as an educator, and that, because of working with Grinnellians, the student voice is very important. You can never decide without hearing, truly hearing and listening to, what the students need, Rolon said.

The College is now in the process of finding Rolons replacement. Ben Newhouse, dean of students, is among those in charge of filling the position.

The process when we have an opening is typically to post the position nationally, and then to explore our candidates and see who are good fits for the position, Newhouse said. As the faculty narrows the search for our new Director of Residential Life, student voices will also be heard to ensure that the best-fit person gets the position. Our finalists are brought to campus to get to know our great community at Grinnell and also to connect with students. Our goal is to have these things done before the end of the term so our CAMs [community advisor mentors] can get to meet the different candidates, Newhouse said.

Although the exact finalists have not been selected yet, Newhouse says the College has key attributes it is looking for. The College wants someone with a background in residence life and a clear vision of the way they want the residential community to look, he said. Perhaps most important is finding someone who, can bring everyone on board, Newhouse said. We are excited for Joe. Were sad to see him go, but were proud of the role hes moving into, Newhouse said.


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MBABANE  Jazz music is just diverse! Highly respected in the Southern African jazz fraternity, pianist, composer, producer and musical director Luyanda Madope and his quartet of accomplished musicians proved to jazz lovers that this neat genre is diverse.



They did this play swiftly, playing traditional, contemporary and western jazz with the instruments. They did not sing in their rendition but the songs which they rendered created a serene mood among the intimate crowd.



This happened at The Jazz Gallery at the Swaziland Theatre Club last Friday where they were hosted by Into Music Society. During the performance, Luyanda Madope communicated with the crowd, relating the songs to his personal experiences and dedicating some to his daughter and family. He also engaged the crowd by letting them sing along.



Local saxophonist Zwide Bhembe stole the show when he collaboratged with them and the quartet commended his talent, stating that he has huge potential in the industry.



Madopes musical team, constituted of bass guitarist Thembinkosi Mavimbela, drummer Sphelelo Mazibuko and trumpeter Lwana Gogwana.

Into Music Society has also hosted South Africa jazz vocalist Gabi Motuba, Qadasi and Maqhinga, Yonela Mnana and many others in the country.

It was the first time for the Luyanda Madope Quartet to perform in the country.



Hosting such artists of high calibre is not new with Into Music Society.

The have hosted Argentinas Juana and Ariel, South Africas Thandi Ntuli, recently the Afro Tenors and many other artists. Into Music Societys Nelisa Lawton said she was happy to have them in the country. It was a great performance, she said.




Sir,



My letter is in response to an article that appeared in the Times SUNDAY, dated February 10, 2019; a comment by the Director of Health Services, Dr Nicholas and the registrar of the Swaziland Medical and Dental Council. Firstly, I want to bemoan the level of corruption in our country. It is my sincere hope that the new government will deal decisively with corrupt government officials for the benefit of our poor citizens.



The Ministry of Health (MoH) is one of the ministries that have been infested by the plague of corruption. It is in a serious mess. Apart from the looting of public money from Phalala Fund through evil collusions as previously reported, now comes the issue of doctors. Some officials in the ministry are out to scandalise Eswatini doctors who have been trained outside of Africa, in particular Taiwan.



Through the good relation that our country has with Taiwan, a number of emaSwati have been offered scholarships to further their studies in Taiwan. Included among these is a number of doctors.



Scholarships



Other than Taiwan, there is no other country that has offered so many scholarships to study medicine. It is worth mentioning that the training of doctors is the most expensive than any other field of study. That is why less scholarships are offered in this field. Our country must indeed be grateful to Taiwan for such assistance.



Furthermore, Taiwan has one of the best healthcare systems in the world; surpassing most of the countries in Europe and America. This is evidenced by their higher life expectancy. Taiwan has the best medical technology that you could think of. All major surgeries and treatment modalities are available in Taiwan. No one patient has been referred to be treated outside of Taiwan because their healthcare system is highly efficient, so it is unfathomable how then their medical education can be looked down upon.



Coming back to our country, the healthcare system is in a mess. The ratio of doctor-patient is absurdly high. Our country needs more doctors than ever before; not just doctors, but emaSwati doctors who will provide culturally relevant care. Our country has a lot of foreign doctors, more than 80 per cent. It is really sad when the Ministry of Health prefers foreign doctors over emaSwati. One just wonders what the officials are benefitting by bringing foreign doctors into our country. Due to poor controls and screening, we have seen fake doctors being hired to treat emaSwati. But now that it is emaSwati, it is a struggle to hire them. This is really sad and painful.



Fight



This is a fight against Taiwan trained doctors more than anything as evidenced by our engagement with the Ministry of Health. It is really unclear why they are doing this. To insinuate that graduates trained outside of Africa do not practice on real patients is part of the smear campaign which is based on unfounded truth. I may not be sure about those trained in other countries, but in Taiwan we do practice on real patients and we have all the evidence to prove it.

Because the MoH based their argument on the premise that the disease prevalence is different from those of Africa, the curriculum of medical schools must meet certain minimum standards. That is why there are bodies such as world medical directory that screen all medical schools to see if they meet such requirements. Even though we may meet few cases of diseases prevalent in our country, we have extensively learnt a lot about all diseases. It does not make sense to say we are lacking in terms of knowledge.



Incompetency



Furthermore, all students in Taiwan are post graduates. We all have first degrees in a medically related field. Most of us have been nurses before with vast clinical experience. Therefore, the issue of incompetency is neither here nor there. There is more than it meets the eye in as far as this issue is concerned.

The premise that graduates trained in Africa are better than those trained beyond is invalid.

It is not backed by credible and/or substantive evidence. It is assumption-based. There is no credible tool that has been used to quantify graduates to support the claim mentioned thereof. Even if it turns out to be true, the SDMC ought to develop a programme that will fill such gaps. It is worth noting that diabetes and hypertension in Asia, Africa or anywhere in the world are the same.

The disease prevalence is not that much different so as to suggest that people must only train in Africa to work in Africa. There has been a lot of doctors from countries such as Cuba given licences to practice medicine in our country, and the council didnt have qualms with that. The registrar herself has been trained outside of Africa.We know that she is from India. Just because now it is emaSwati coming back to serve their people, they see a problem.



Tears of a medical student
HLANE  His Majesty the King yesterday held closed-door discussions with President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.



The two leaders met at Hlane Royal Residence following Ramaphosas arrival yesterday morning for a working visit.



The visit coincided with the annual marula (buganu) ceremony, where the women regiment (Lutsango) display their dance skills before Their Majesties.

In his address at the ceremonys dancing arena, Ramaphosa said it was important for the leaders of the two countries to get together from time to time to talk about issues of importance to both nations.



continue



Our two countries are now focusing on how we can continue to grow our economies. How we can make sure that our economies create jobs for the many many, people in our two countries who are unemployed-particularly young people, said Ramaphosa.



He revealed that in the closeddoor talks he had with His Majesty the King, they deliberated on a variety of issues which were of interest to both countries.

As we (also) discussed with the prime minister (of Eswatini) and our ministers, we found that there is a lot we can do together, he said.

He said the two nations could work together on issues of tourism, artificial intelligence and on information, communication and technology (ICT).



indication



Meanwhile, in his address, His Majesty the King stated that the visit by President Ramaphosa was an indication of the good and cordial relations which exist between the two nations.

When we met with the president, we discussed how we can grow our relations and cooperation since we are both members of SADC, SACU and the AU, His Majesty said.

His Majesty further disclosed that they discussed economic issues, among other things.



Nations these days are discusses economic issues because economies are ailing. No nation can prosper in isolation. All nations develop because of cooperation and assistance. These are some of the issues we discussed with the president, His Majesty said.



agreed



His Majesty further stated that they had agreed with President Ramaphosa that the leadership of both nations should meet from time to time and also visit each other.

The King stressed that as neighbours, it was a good thing for the leadership of both countries to visit each other now and again.

President Ramaphosa arrived at King Mswati III International airport at around 10am.



He was welcomed by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini together with cabinet ministers.

Ramaphosa was accompanied by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba.
MBABANE  Government has retained its expenditure in this financial year.



Minister of Finance Neal Rijkenberg was ecstatic that despite the financial challenges experienced by the country, government was able to contain its expenditure.



According to educalingo.com, a recurrent expenditure means all payments other than for capital assets, including on goods and services, (wages and salaries, employer contributions), interest payments, subsidies and transfers.



The politician said: This is a huge success. To contain the expenditure, the minister said the budget committee used actual instead of estimated or projected expenditure. The expenditure anticipated to be shouldered by government has increased by E230 million.

This is the increment of the budget from E21.6 billion to E21.83 billion this year.



The minister further said despite that his budget was not specific, hard decisions were yet to come from government. He said the recovery strategy to be presented by the Prime Minister, Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, would be more detailed on the journey government was being steered to. Rijkenberg said the country was moving into being a high net worth individual country. He said it was governments stance to stand against double taxation but to improve the prospects of increasing the foreign direct investment (FDI).



Attracting investors into the country would also uplift those who are currently unemployed. To date, the unemployment rate in the country is said to be 26.4 per cent.



Lowest



He said the country was striving to be one of the lowest when it came to corporate tax. This, he said, would allow investors to know that their investments were safe  as they moved into the country.



The minister was optimistic that such a move would deal with the high employment rate. He said it would further deal with the disparities in the economy as the country was marked among those with high inequality.



To this, Economics Lecturer from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) Sanele Sibiya, said for almost two decades, the countrys economy had been stagnating at rates less than two per cent of year-on-year-growth.

He said given this state of affairs, decisive action needed to be taken.



We need to grow the economy to an extent that it should begin to create jobs, it is imperative that we are able to transfer jobs from the public sector into the private sector and that can only be done if we have a vibrant and growing private sector that will assimilate those jobs.



Sibiya applauded Rijkenberg on tackling the issue of accumulated arrears against the public sector head-on. He said the minister promised that going forward, government would not allow any accumulation of arrears and was in the process of expediting clearing of arrears



This will release the much required capital into the private sector and ultimately spurring growth in the right direction. Timely payments to vendors going forward will boost operations of the private sector and thereby creating jobs.



Economics



The economics scholar said if the decisions touched upon by the minister in his maiden budget speech were implemented swiftly, the private sector would also be in a position to take advantage of the favourable financial conditions, bolstering credit creation within the financial sector.
MATSAPHA  Are police the holy cows of the economy? The question arises following revelation that when other ministries were ordered to sacrifice several expenditure during the crafting of the fiscal budget, the police budget was not touched.



This was revealed by Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini when addressing police officers during a familiarisation tour of the Matsapha Police Academy.



Dlamini promised the police that government would look into their various challenges and address them, so that they could execute their duties without hindrances.

The PM said one of the passionate pleas he had encountered when touring police stations in the country was the acute shortage of housing. While in Nhlangano, one officer even said to me that police cannot play love games anymore because they share houses, he said, to the laughter of the gallery.



The PM promised that police housing was one of the priorities his ministry would deal with.

Constable Sandile Dludlu, who spoke on behalf of the police officers also appealed to the PM to buy uniform for officers as the ones they wore were now worn-out and portrayed a bad picture of the police officers.

One of the items in the Budget Speech delivered by Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg was the allocation of E30 million for the construction of Buhleni Police Station.



The police are also currently rolling out their Corporate Development Strategy for 2015  2020, which includes effective service delivery, heightened safety and security, and policing through the adoption of science and information technology.

Meanwhile, Bishop Bongani Mbingo from Mhlane Royal Kraal decried the state of the economy that the prime minister had inherited. Ufike lubisi seluphelile, lucedvwe bokati labebakhona itolo, he said, meaning when you came into office you found that there was no longer milk because it was consumed by cats that were here before you.



He said he was pleased that His Majesty had appointed a Prime Minister who was God-fearing.
HLANE  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has suggested that there should be a cultural festival where SADC countries would come together and celebrate their cultures.



He was speaking during the closing ceremony of the marula ceremony at Hlane Royal Residence on Sunday.

Ramaphosa was on a working visit but then took time to watch the last day of ceremony.



In his address, he said he was impressed by the traditional dances of the Lutsango regiment.

We are happy to be among you to see how you dance. Your Majesty, you asked us to come and see how beautiful emaSwati follow culture and we saw that youre indeed people of culture, Ramaphosa said.



invite



After experiencing the marula ceremony, Ramaphosa stated that it would be good to invite the Lutsango regiment to South Africa, so they could show South Africans how they do it.

I would like that one day, there be a day whereby the different SADC countries would come together and dance. It should not be a competition. But as SADC countries, we need to come together and show each other how we follow culture, Ramaphosa said to a loud applause.



He stated that he was aware that the King of the Venda, Thabele Masia, had attended the main event of the ceremony on Saturday.

Im not quite sure if he is still around or he has left. But I hope he saw how emaSwati danced and he learnt something from the experience, Ramaphosa said.

He appreciated Eswatini culture, stating that though there were emaSwati who resided in South Africa, those from Eswatini were the most beautiful.



appreciated



Meanwhile, His Majesty the King appreciated the presence of Ramaphosa, further stating that he was the first sitting president to attend the annual marula ceremony.

The King said Ramaphosa was so impressed by the dance moves displayed by the Lutsango regiment such that he wanted to enter the arena and dance.



However, I cautioned him that in our culture, men are not allowed to dance with Lutsango. We only sit, watch and dance in our hearts, His Majesty said, sending the audience into stitches.

The second leg of the ceremony began on Friday evening when throngs of Lutsango regiment delivered fruits, marula brew (buganu) and other gifts to Her Majesty the Indlovukazi.




HLUTI  A teenager has been arrested for allegedly killing another man after the pair traded insults following a marula drinking spree.



The victim was stabbed about 12 times around the chest area, after allegedly calling his 19-year-old attacker names while he was walking home from a local drinking joint in the company of a female companion.

The horrifying incident happened at Siphambanweni, in the outskirts of Hluti, on Saturday night.



Siphamandla Dlamini (19) was picked up from his homestead around Mgamudze on Sunday morning and taken away to the Hluti Police Station, where he was subsequently charged with the murder of a local resident, Bhuti Madlala the previous night.

During interrogation, the young man recalled that on Saturday, the day started out pretty much like every other, where he did his household chores before he set out to drink marula brew with friends.



Investigators heard that the suspected killer had been with friends, hopping from one drinking hole to another during the day, where they enjoyed the potent brew.



At the last drinking place, he revealed that he met a girl with whom he also enjoyed the brew with. He had been in the company of a friend but at around 7pm, they went their separate ways and he decided to leave with the new female companion.

He said it was already dark when he picked up a fight with another person he came across along the way, just before he reached the turn to Nsalitje at Siphambanweni.

This was allegedly after the man started insulting him without any provocation.



The teenager told the investigators that he perceived this as an affront to his own dignity and confronted the person, who was unknown to him.

During that skirmish, the young lad recalled that he found himself pulling out a knife without warning and allegedly stabbed the stranger several times in his upper chest. He said he really couldnt process what was happening and everything just happened so fast.



I didnt know what I had done to provoke this person but he simply hurled insults at me, narrated the teenager.



Terrible



The teenager said he was trying to make sense of the whole terrible event when one of his friends came to the scene and tried to restrain him.

However, it turned out it was a little too late as the victim was already lying unconscious in a pool of blood.

He said the man just lay there lifeless, with no sign of breath and this frightened him.



Thereafter, he disclosed that he threw away the knife before leaving the scene with the friend.

On the following morning, the boy said he was preparing to go back to the scene of the murder when he heard that police had been to his homestead looking for him. Suddenly, a police van approached his homestead and he was eventually arrested.

He was detained at the Hluti Police Station, before making an appearance at the Nhlangano Magistrates Court, where it is understood he also confessed to committing the crime.

The suspect is currently held in custody pending his committal to the High Court.



This is not an isolated case of violence which has been linked to the in-season marula brew. Just recently, a man who was employed as a herdsman reportedly killed his wife after the couple picked up a fight following a drinking session, where they had been imbibing on the traditional brew.

He has also been arrested by the police.
PIGGS PEAK  Have sex workers around Buhleni found a new home? This is the question being asked by Buhleni residents following concerns that sex workers were now occupying a temporary settlement set up by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.



It is alleged that the sex workers were now sharing accommodation with some civil servants who use the tents while working at different government projects and establishments.



Popular



The place has become so popular that many people around the area know it and refer to it as Emathendeni meaning at the tents because the settlement consists of tents.

The tents are pitched near a place where a baby was recently dumped by an unknown woman.

Noteworthy is that sex work is currently illegal in the country.



In 2018, this publication revealed how some sex workers were charging as little as E30.

According to information obtained yesterday, the charge has since increased to E50 or even more.

About four months ago, civil servants under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport set up some tents near the bus rank.

It is this place that sex workers are alleged to have made it a new home with some of them of them living there.



Speaking on condition of anonymity in fear of victimisation, some of the residents working mainly in the town centre said the number of sex workers had increased.

This is because they no longer have to go to their homesteads but live at the same place with civil servants, alleged a resident.

Another resident said it was easy to spot the sex workers because they often spent the day asleep in the tents but left during the evening for their work.
LOBAMBA  Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg will need a miracle to be able to implement the proposed tax hike on electricity and fuel levy.



This is because one Member of Parliament after another yesterday minced no words when they informed the minister that his budget was offside and it was meant to make the people even poorer.

This was during the Budget Speech Debate in the House of Assembly where MPs spent about five hours finding loopholes in the ministers speech.



First to take the floor was Nkilongo MP Timothy Myeni who wondered why pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) was being increased from 33 to 36 per cent. You have, for a period of three years, not offered the civil servants any cost-of-living adjustment yet you are again calling for an increase in taxes, said Myeni.



The MP said Rijkenbergs speech was surely not made for the ordinary people as they were not considered, especially by also planning to implement the 15 per cent tax hike in electricity. On the same note, Siphofaneni MP Mduduzi Simelane said the hike in electricity and fuel levy would simply raise the cost of living for the people in the rural areas.



Simelane said if government increased the price of fuel by E1.20 per litre, then surely every other commodity would have to be increased because making bread or farming cabbages all needed fuel.

Mahlangatsha MP Musa Ngcobo also said the VAT on electricity was offside, including the proposed 36 per cent PAYE. There are CEOs in the countrys parastatals who earn over E100 000 a month yet you expect that person to be taxed under the same tax bracket as someone who earns about E40 000, submitted Ngcobo.



He made an example of how much petrol he used on his car and said the minister was really driving them to poverty.



complaints



Lugongolweni MP Enos Magongo said the Prime Minister (PM) Ambrose Dlamini, just last year announced that there would be no increase in water and electricity prices, but with the recent developments, it was clearly now a story of the past. He said there were already complaints about the 33 per cent tax before the minister proposed the three per cent increase.

Magongo added that another reason government lost a lot of money was because of the failure to prioritise projects which caused a number of white elephants in the country.



He made an example of the Lubombo Referral Hospital, which he said operated merely as a clinic and, instead patients, were referred to Good Shepherd Hospital.

The MP said the hospital was not completed yet it also had expensive equipment and wondered why a new referral hospital which will be in Elangeni was being budgeted for when government failed to complete other similar structures.

Maphalaleni MP Mabulala Maseko said it was not the right time to raise taxes and increase fuel levy.
MBABANE  If government is left alone to issue a cannabis provisional licence, then it will not be cheap for the ordinary liSwati on the street.



In a proposed or draft cannabis licence, the Ministry of Health has proposed that the figure to be paid in order to gain the licence be E1 million.

The draft provisional licence and the requirements were presented by the Ministry of Health to Members of Parliament (MPs) portfolio committee during a meeting held at Sibane Hotel last week Thursday.



There are about 13 requirements which were presented by the ministry, most of which focus on the security of the field where the dagga could be grown for both medicinal and manufacturing of products from the plant.

The ministry said when a person applied for the cannabis licence, there must be provision of stringent security measures which include the installation of devices to ensure restricted access and the installation of visual monitoring devices at the site.

Monitoring



Another requirement included in the draft provisional licence is provision of full-time monitoring of perimeter site by personnel, and also the provision of a storage facility which is to be approved of by the agency (regulator) and the police.

Those who wish to grow the dagga would also be expected to install an air filtration system to prevent the escape of odours and pollen and further installation of transport security measures including tracing and tracking systems.



The draft also calls for the licence holder to provide evidence of expertise in cannabis cultivation and production, and the submission of a police clearance from criminal activities involving narcotic drugs for all the directors and employees of the company.

Of the many requirements, the licence to cultivate and process dagga for medicinal or scientific use only, is that the persons are expected to submit proof of land ownership or title to cultivation or production premises.



The submission of a certificate of approval of area of cultivation from the Ministry of Agriculture and submission of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) clearance from Eswatini Environmental Authority, are also some of the other requirements proposed by government.



One of the members of the portfolio committee, Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga, was of the view that government needed to consult extensively on the issue.

Mhlanga said he believed that government needed to have nationwide exercises and consult the dagga growers who would have input in the whole issue.

He said it was his opinion that the ministrys draft was rushed into.



Mhlanga also said he was of the view that government could get into partnerships with some of those willing to grow the plant as government had lots of farms and unused land which could be utilised.

Mhlanga said they were informed that the E1million figure was not the final one and it could cost much less once the matter was in motion.



The issue of legalising the growing of dagga in Eswatini for medicinal purposes comes after March 2017, where former Nkilongo MP Hans Steffen moved a motion calling for its legalisation, as such a move would boost the countrys economy.

A select committee which was chaired by former Hhukwini MP Saladin Magagula was then elected to move that the House of Assembly appoints a select committee to look into the conditions of granting a special licence for special cannabis growers for medicinal and industrial use.



The committee further stated that they were aware that in other countries, dagga was profitably used.

Magagula said dagga could also be used to make products like oils, blocks to build houses and clothes which could further boost the countrys economy.

Meanwhile, the draft provisional licence also calls for the potential cannabis growers to declare and have proof of source of the cannabis seed.
MBABANE  Inconclusive This sums up the paternity test results of the minor who is alleged to be the son of slain businessman Victor Gamedze.

A paternity test is a medical test, typically a blood test, to determine whether a man may be the father of a particular child.



The paternity test of the minor child was conducted at Ermelo in the Republic of South Africa.

During the tests, blood samples of one of Gamedzes daughters were used but the outcome was that it was inconclusive.



Inconclusive paternity test results generated by most laboratories typically mean that the probability of paternity was less than 99 per cent.

According to information sourced from paternity experts website, there are two common possibilities that can yield an inconclusive DNA result when testing for paternity.



Possibility



The first possibility is that the collected samples did not yield enough DNA, and the second one being that a conclusive answer cannot be reached without adding the biological mothers DNA to the test.

The inconclusive results of the minor will now require the executor of the estate to seek alternative means to determine the paternity of the child before he (minor) could be included as a beneficiary in the multimillion estate of the slain businessman.

The new executor of the estate is prominent lawyer Derrick Jele, who was appointed by the Master of the High Court after the resignation of senior attorney Sidumo Mdladla.



Gamedzes wife Lungile, said all was now in the hands of the executor. She said the only thing she wanted was the truth and that everything be done according to the law.

It will be up to the executor but I dont think he will make any move without having satisfied himself on the paternity of the minor. The most important thing is the truth and to follow the law, said Lungile.

She emphasised that all she wanted to know was the truth about the paternity of the child.



On the other hand, the executor (Jele) stated that he would not continue with the distribution of the estate up until the issue of the paternity was resolved.

This was after he was asked by this reporter, whether he would proceed with the distribution of the estate before having satisfied himself on the paternity of the minor.

I am of the view that all parties should cooperate so that we can find a common ground to have the matter resolved. The court process will also delay the distribution of the estate, said the executor

The executor further highlighted that he had since written to the attorneys of the minor child, proposing a meeting.



He said in that meeting, they would agree on a way forward in resolving the paternity issue of the child.

We were supposed to meet on March 1, 2019 but the meeting did not take place as one of the attorneys involved was not available, added Jele.

Last year, the mother of the minor, Chantel Littler filed an urgent application seeking an order to change the childs name and surname. She wanted the child to be named after the late Gamedze. The minor was born in Richards Bay Hospital on May 3, 2017. He was named Zayne Wandile Littler.



Chantel informed the court that the child was registered under her surname because the law governing registration of birth certificates required that the father of the child could only be included if the certificate was registered in his presence.

She submitted that the Ministry of Home Affairs officers advised her that the law provided that particulars of the father of the child could be included if the father deposed to an affidavit.



Name



I duly informed Gamedze about the need to alter the name of the child for the completion of the registration. He deposed to an affidavit confirming the minor as his own. However, he died before attesting to the affidavit, she argued.

Chantel averred that she had powers to apply for the change of her childs name and surname so that the minor could benefit from the estate of his late father.



She submitted that if the childs name and surname remained unchanged, he was likely to be excluded during the distribution of the estate. The High Court recently issued a judgment in favour of Nosipho Gamedze, who is also one of Gamedzes daughters.

Lungile and her two children, Tiyandza and Temalungelo had approached the court seeking an order to compel Nosipho to undergo a DNA test, as they were not convinced that she was the daughter of the late Gamedze.

Their application was dismissed by Judge Nkosinathi Maseko
Column: 20 paces from the scaffold: How will we spend our final minutes?
The Economic Development Board of Bahrain (EDB) and fintech leader Beehive have set up a crowdfunding platform, in Bahrain which will open up new funding avenues for SMEs and help drive innovation.



Beehive, launched in Dubai in 2014, is Menas first regulated peer to peer lending platform and uses innovative crowdfunding technology to eliminate the cost and complexity of conventional finance by connecting businesses directly with investors. The result is a more efficient, streamlined process that gives businesses faster access to lower cost loans and investors better returns on their money and diversified risk.



Khalid Hamad, executive director of Banking Supervision at the CBB, commented: We welcome Beehives decision for selecting Bahrain to establish the first financing-based crowdfunding platform operator, which is a step forward in promoting the SMEs and start-ups via facilitating the link to the investors for securing the required financing.



The license, which is the first of its kind in the Kingdom, is a reflection of the CBBs continuous efforts in providing an optimal mix of policies and products to improve the quality and competitiveness of services in the financial sector.



Dalal Buhejji, Business Development, Financial Services, Bahrain EDB, said: We are delighted to welcome Beehive to Bahrain, which has long recognised the importance of entrepreneurship as a high-potential driver of economic diversification and growth.



Access to finance is an essential element of any start-up ecosystem and crowdsourcing has a significant role to play as additional source of funding for businesses that have previously been dependent on bank finance. Beehive will also create a new route for investors to gain exposure to the growth in the Kingdoms SMEs, complementing existing platforms such as the Bahrain Investment Market, which is tailored to fast-growing businesses.



Craig Moore, Beehive CEO added: Were delighted to collaborate with EDB to bring the Bee-hive platform to Bahrain, offering pioneering businesses fast, affordable alternative finance. Our mission aligns with the Kingdoms vision and strategy to assist the growth of SMEs, supporting them through improved access to finance, which is crucial to their development and success.



Beehives launch in Bahrain follows new regulation issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) in 2017 to enable both conventional and Sharia compliant financing-based crowdfunding for small and medium sized businesses. Under the CBB regulation, Bahrain-based Peer-to-Businesses crowdfunding platforms are able to fund startups and SMEs in Bahrain as well as regionally and internationally.  TradeArabia News Service
Bahrains real estate sector will be facing strong competition from overseas developers at the Gulf Property Show, a boutique showcase for the real estate and property development sectors in the Northern Gulf region, said a top official.



A Window to Real Estate event, Gulf Property Show, is being held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain from April 23 to 25 at the Bahrain Exhibition Centre, said the organisers Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE).



"The Gulf Property Show will host international developments in UAE, Kuwait, Jordan, Cyprus, Germany, Turkey, Egypt and the United Kingdom. The properties in Cyprus carry the added advantage of the possibility of EU residency," remarked Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE.



Exhibitons Director Ahmed Suleiman said: "The Gulf Property Show has established a strong reputation as being a platform where investment is actually transacted. The attraction of international developers is a vote of confidence in the Show and Bahrain as a venue for regulated real estate investment."



Gulf Property Show 2019 carries the strategic sponsorship of Diyar Al Muharraq, Manara Developments, Bin Faqeeh Real Estate Investment and Edamah.



Other sponsors include Diamond Sponsors Bahrain Marina and Kooheji Golden Gate and El Mercado as Gold Sponsor



The Gulf Property Show has been merited with the strategic organizational support of Real Estate Regulatory Authority of Bahrain (Rera), Survey and Land Regulatory Bureau (SLRB), Urban Planning and Development Authority of Bahrain and Bahrain Property Developers Association (BaPDA).-TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi-based Turbine Services & Solutions (TS&S) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Honeywell for collaboration on maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) of Honeywell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), T-55 Turboshaft Engine Localization and other engine platforms.



TS&S is a leading MRO provider for aero engines and industrial gas turbines that is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company.



The MoU was signed by Mansoor Janahi, chief executive officer of TS&S and Norm Gilsdorf, president, High Growth Regions, Middle East, Russia and Customs Union at Honeywell, in the presence of Khaled Abdulla Al Qubaisi, chief executive officer, Aerospace, Renewables & ICT, Mubadala; Darius Adamczyk, chief executive officer, Honeywell; Badr Al Olama, chairman, TS&S; Tim Mahoney, president and chief executive officer Aerospace, Honeywell.



Designed to capitalise on the growing demand for APUs and engines, the MoU focuses on:

The family of APUs which power the commercial, single-aisle Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 aircraft.



Honeywell T-55 Turboshaft Engine Localization

The family of military turboshaft engines which power the Boeing CH-47 Chinook transport helicopters, for which Honeywell is the sole provider of engines globally.



Janahi said: This is a very important undertaking by TS&S commercially and operationally. In collaboration with Honeywell, we will widen the spectrum of our service offering; effectively expanding our customer base to new industry segments.



Through our collaboration with Honeywell we aim to localize the MRO capability for these APUs and engines to support the regional market and beyond. Through our partnership with globally leading OEMs we are well positioned to deliver differentiated solutions locally and regionally, he added.



Gilsdorf said: We are committed to providing our customers with the highest level of support.



We are proud to partner with industry leading companies such as TS&S to localise MRO capability in Abu Dhabi to better serve this region, he added.



Established more than three decades ago in Abu Dhabi, TS&S  with its 370 strong international workforce composed of over 30 nationalities - provides high quality service with the latest customized technical support in partnership with major OEMs and global airlines from its state-of-the-art facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport.  TradeArabia News Service
The most interesting and impactful trends and technologies that will influence the future of business 10 years from now will be highlighted at the SME Beyond Borders conference to be held later this week in Dubai, UAE.



The event will take place on March 6, at the JW Marriott Marquis, under the theme 10X.



The event will bring under one roof 10 global keynote speakers who will flesh out the fundamentals to build a global business community that is future ready. The event is focused on generating ideas and visions of the future that will genuinely shape the evolution of the business sector.



With renowned speakers from around the world, the event attempts to chart a conversation on future developments, while focusing on two major themes: where businesses or industries will be 10 years from now and second, what preparations must be done in line with the trends and technologies that are not even present yet in 10 years, against the backdrop of todays disruptive technological advancements.



This years 10 elite speakers will comprise Musthafa PC, chief executive officer and co-founder, iD Fresh Food, a multi-million-dollar food-retail; 12-year-old Jenk Oz, UKs youngest CEO, iCoolKid; Ian Khan, Author and Creator of 7 Axioms of Value Creation, who is also a 3xTEDx Speaker and @Forbes and @ CNN featured futurist; Peter Hinssen, a world -renowned authority on radical innovation, Serial Entrepreneur, Advisor, Keynote Speaker, and Author; and Dr Majid Sultan Al Qassimi, director of Animal Health & Development, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.



Completing the list are Mohamed Hamdy, head of Future Platforms, Dubai Future Foundation; Mustafa Kheriba, chief operating officer, ADFG; Ramit Harsinghani, vice president and head of Middle East, HTC; Charlie Ang, Business Futurist and Chapter Lead, SingularityU Singapore; and Reyhan Camalova, CEO, Rainergy, who is Forbes 30 under 30.



Musthafa PC said: I am really excited to engage with fellow speakers and participants of the event.



The conference will serve as a platform where we can exchange ideas on how next-generation technologies are changing the global business landscape today and how they are going to impact us down the road, he said.



In terms of cost- and operational efficiency, technologies are undoubtedly the key to making these possible. For my part, I will discuss the importance of technology in the supply chain. I aim to highlight during my talk how smart tools are reshaping the supply chain and what this means for all of us in the business community, he added.



Ian Khan said: The only thing that SMEs need to realise is that big buzz words are not what brings change, but it is the execution behind every target they create that facilitates true results.



SMEs have an incredible advantage as compared to large companies in bringing a greater change because of their agility, ability to change fast and resilience to bounce back, he added.



Aligned with the UAEs vision of the future, the annual SME Beyond Borders conference provides a venue for stakeholders from the government and private sectors to present their key strategies as they strive to build a better future for all.



It takes on subjects of national and global importance, including technological innovations that will greatly impact the small and medium enterprise sector.



The latest editions sponsors are Cigna (Official Insurance Partner); Dubai South (Official Freezone Partner); SAP (Official Technology Partner); Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi (Official Airline Partner); Toyota (Exclusive Car Partner); Strategic Partners DIFC Courts, Hawkamah, CRIF and Dun & Bradstreet; and Supporting Partners Launch DXB, happenize, Orient Planet Group, plantshop.ae, Kashwani Law Firm, and the Star Quadrant, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Top-level experts, creative minds from many countries and a number of students from local and international universities took part in the third edition of the Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit held in Bahrain.

Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Bahrains Minister of Oil, inaugurated the tw-day summit on yesterday (March 3), at the Art Rotana Amwaj Hotel.

The event is organised by Falak Consulting in cooperation with the National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) and Tamkeen and supported by a number of national and international companies.

The summit, held in collaboration with EDB (Startup Bahrain), GPIC, Peninsula Farms, Kuwait Finance House, Khaleeji Commercial Bank, Banagas and Bapco, is in line with Falaks aim of building stronger economies and happier societies by unlocking business and human potential.

Shaikh Mohammed highly appreciated the efforts of the Falak Consulting in attracting many creative minds from different countries to present various models of development experiences in diverse fields.

He praised the aim of the conference, which seeks to build stronger economies through the exchange of information, experiences and practices and to transform this information and ideas into successful investment opportunities in Bahrain.

The Minister said that the world today is the world of modern digital technologies, which are rapidly evolving.

The minister added that the innovation is a driving force for global economic growth and it is important to attract and develop creative and innovative human resources capable of applying modern technology to reach innovative solutions in eliminating the many problems faced by different industries. This includes the oil sector, which is one of the most important sectors in the world, he said.

The minister pointed out that Noga is always striving to strengthen its current and future oil projects by training its employees and empowering them in leadership positions through which they can take the appropriate decisions in developing the oil sector.

Expressing his appreciation to Shaikh Mohamed for patronising this summit and believing in the importance of such unconventional events, Falak Consulting founder and CEO Suhail Algosaibi said: We are honoured and excited to host the 3rd Falak Unreasonable Thinking Summit. Our main aim is to educate and inspire startups, students and the business community, by exposing them to new, radical and unconventional methods of thinking and providing them the necessary tools and information to help them innovate in their businesses, and excel in their respective sectors.

Over the past decades, the world had witnessed the creation of giant companies and the failure of others. Falak Consulting recognises the need to communicate with local and international strategic partners to host the best innovative minds in the world here in Bahrain to share their creative ideas and their unique experience with innovation seekers.

The summit saw great response from participants who came to engage with renowned local and international speakers on the topics of innovation, creativity, and unconventional thinking.

The first days agenda included papers, presentations and inspirational speeches by John Sanei, author and strategist - South Africa; Dr. Shashi Tharoor, politician  India; Dr Samer Aljishi, president of BFG International  Bahrain; Victor Ochen, Nobel Peace Prize nominee  Uganda; and Cem Tarek, managing director, Unilever Middle East  UAE; and a panel discussion which covered various topics including the differences on how social challenges are covered in various regions of the world.

The second day saw papers, presentations and inspirational speeches by Kazuhide Sekiyama, founder of Spiber Inc  Japan, and Lucia Valencia Dongo, social entrepreneur  Peru.

In concluding the event, Algosaibi thanked all the sponsors, speakers and participants and emphasised that the summit is a true private-public partnership that has been created for the benefit of Bahrain. We will continue to strive to make it better and bigger year on year so that it can be of maximum benefit to our beloved island kingdom, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
More than 60,000 power industry professionals from around the world are expected to attend Middle East Electricity 2019, the 44th edition of the regions leading event for the power industry, opening in Dubai, UAE, on March 5.



The power battalion are exhibiting, visiting, and speaking at conferences and workshops at the three-day event, which runs until March 7 at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).



When the curtain rises on the show, which spans 14 exhibition halls, industry professionals will discover more than 1,600 leading manufacturers and suppliers from all continents ready to promote a multitude of disparate technology.



From smart grids to bifacial solar panels and everything from generation to transmission, distribution and all touch points in between that are re-energising and recalibrating a sector on the tipping point of total transformation - MEE 2019 has it all, explained Claudia Konieczna, exhibition director of Informa Industrial Group, which organises MEE.



Across all five of Middle East Electricity 2019s dedicated sectors - power generation, transmission and distribution, lighting, solar, and energy storage and management - disruptive forces will be in evidence as supply markets transform, technologies progress, industries converge, consumption patterns alter, environmental concerns grow and prosumers  the new power consumer/producer gain momentum.



The industry is focused on discovering new business practices and technologies to address pressing issues of rising power demand, the need to control critical power costs and hasten the adoption of renewables to progress more sustainable business models. Every aspect of the change scenario is being explored at the exhibition and throughout its expansive knowledge programme- the outputs will be agenda-setting for the industrys future, added Konieczna.

The comprehensive MEE knowledge programme, which offers up to 94 hours of free educational events, includes a diverse range of professional education and training opportunities where attendees can learn about the latest technologies at exhibitor-led Technical Seminars and advance professionally with CPD accredited conferences



Boosting the programme this year is the pioneering, opening day conference focusing on IoT lighting  the first of its kind in the region  when experts from the Middle East, South America, Europe, India and the USA will probe the possible advances from leveraging IoT within the lighting sector and its ability to transform lifestyles. Smart street lighting is emerging as a key theme with speakers predicting widespread impact for the Mena region as the role of lighting evolves from merely illuminating highways to providing social, environmental and operational cost benefits.



The lighting industry is in the midst of an incredible transition from systems with the sole purpose of providing illumination to systems that are at the centre of smart spaces. The industry has the potential to position itself at the centre of the smart spaces revolution as both a component and as a platform (i.e., an infrastructure for sensors and/or wireless connectivity, said Dr Michael Rahaim, principal investigator, Ubiquitous Communications & Networking Lab (UCaN Lab), University of Massachusetts, Boston; assistant professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston.



IoT is changing the way we think of adaptive lighting and the industry is primed to benefit from the growing number of smart devices in dense indoor spaces. The conference on IoT lighting at Middle East Electricity is the ideal platform to set the course for the industry, added Dr Rahaim, who will address the conference on using the lighting infrastructure as a platform for data delivery to end-user devices, and enabling high-speed data transfer using visible light.



Additional conferences include; Intersolar, Electrical Energy Storage and the two-day Revolutionising Power Generation agenda. Speakers from 10 nations are lined up for the highlight power generation platform, which puts operations and maintenance of large-scale utilities, as well as independent power producers, into sharp focus.



Some of the biggest names and emerging players in the business will address the challenges, pinpoint growth opportunities and identify technologies and tactics needed to survive in a rapidly changing industry. The conference will also feature case studies from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and Ghana, as well as the unveiling of new research on preventative maintenance for international combustion engines using AI and big data.

Middle East Electricity is being held against a backdrop of a bullish forecast by the Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp). The multilateral development bank has predicted the Mena regions power capacity will expand by an average of 6.4 per cent per year by 2022, corresponding to additional capacity of 117 gigawatts and requiring $152 billion of investment in generation capacity.  TradeArabia News Service




Dubai-based airline Emirates, Apple and WhatsApp are the top ranked brands by women in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, respectively, according to the 2019 YouGov BrandIndex Womens Choice Rankings.



The rankings were compiled using the Impression score from YouGovs daily brand tracker, BrandIndex, by asking respondents, Which of the following brands do you generally have a positive/negative feeling about? over the past 12 months.



Emirates has dominated the rankings in the UAE since 2017 and continues to appeal to the women in the country.



In Saudi Arabia, Apple replaces Almarai as the top brand among women. The launch of new iPhones and Apple watch last year generated a lot of noise for both Apple and its smartphone brand, and has boosted Impression among female consumers. Almarai, on the other hand, had a more difficult year with the backlash over a price increase, which also seems to have affected its perception among women in Saudi Arabia, pulling it down from first to fifth place this year.



Amongst women in Egypt, the survey saw a strong resonance of chocolate and confectionary brands. Galaxy has improved its score over the past year and has landed in second, Kit Kat has moved up from eighth to sixth and Cadbury has made a re-entry into the rankings at eighth after dropping out of the list last year.



The past year seems to have brought some ups and downs for technology brands in the region. While WhatsApp is the top brand in Egypt and remains second in the UAE, it has slipped down two places this year to fourth in Saudi Arabia.



In the UAE, Google and YouTube have seen a fall in their scores, however, in Egypt they have moved up the list. Meanwhile, iPhone seems to have witnessed a decline in both Egypt and the UAE.



YouGov also revealed the 10 brands that made the largest improvement to their Impression scores over the past 12 months. Coca-Cola is the most improved brand of past year among women in the UAE, with a change in score of +10.1. Mada and Heinz are the most improved brands in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, respectively, with an uplift in their Impression scores of +11.5 and +9.0, respectively.



Netflixs original content seems to be appealing to women in the UAE, driving up scores for the brand. Likewise, fast-food chains like KFC and McDonalds have also registered marked improvement to their Impression scores this year.



Among women in Saudi Arabia, food and beverage brands seem to be resonating well, with six of the leading brands making up the countrys top 10 improvers list. Even in Egypt, the improvers list is largely comprised of food and beverage brands, suggesting a strong year for the overall category among women consumers in these two countries. - TradeArabia News Service
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
The Maldives is enjoying increased tourism popularity in the Middle East as it witnessed a 5.9 per cent increase in traffic from the region in 2018 as compared to 2017, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Tourism.



The Maldives has been consistently rated as the top destination to visit by several Media houses, publications and broadcast channels in the Middle East, the Ministry of Tourism said in a statement.



As a desirable country to visit, travellers from the Middle East are flocking to the island nation and the growth is being fuelled by strong airline connections and the visa on arrival facility that the Maldives offers.



In 2018, the Maldives further confirmed its status as one of the most attractive holiday destinations for Middle East tourists, with the opening of at least 23 new resorts, it said.



Efforts from the Tourism ministry combined with the unparalleled service, luxury and levels of hospitality and privacy that Maldivian resorts offer, will definitely spill over in 2019 as well and ring in unprecedented arrival numbers for the Maldives from the Middle East market in the coming year as well, it said. - TradeArabia News Service


Oman budget carrier SalamAir has launched non-stop flights from Muscat to Alexandria, Egypt.



The first direct flight landed in Borg El Arab International Airport on 20:15 local time on March 2, marking the airlines first destination in Egypt.



SalamAir OV527, operated by an Airbus A320neo, departed Muscat International Airport following a special celebration ceremony commemorating the debut of this route. The ceremony was attended by Mohammed Ahmed Fahmi Ghoneim, ambassador of Egypt to Oman, alongside Captain Mohamed Ahmed, chief executive officer of SalamAir, and other dignitaries. The inaugural flight was also welcomed in Alexandria by Egyptian officials and dignitaries.



Celebrating the first direct flight between both cities, SalamAir also held a special event in Alexandria with the participation of tourism and travel partners, as well as a host of local aviation industry representatives.



Ghoneim said: Connecting Alexandria with Muscat will further grow and strengthen the longstanding and historical relationship between Oman and Egypt. We have enjoyed generations of fruitful collaboration on a multitude of fronts whether political, social, cultural and of course trade between both our countries. This move provides convenience for the Egyptian community living in Oman and travelling back and forth to Egypt, while we also look forward to welcoming Omani tourists to enjoy Egypts well-known charm and hospitality.



Captain Mohamed Ahmed said: The inaugural flight to the historical Mediterranean city of Alexandria is another step forward in our strategy to offer travellers convenience, flexibility and reliability in their travel experience. We are the first Omani carrier to fly directly to Alexandria, our second destination in Africa after Khartoum. This new route will allow travellers the opportunity to either fly directly to Muscat or beyond to any of our growing network of destinations in the region. We promise them competitive prices and consistent levels of customer service on board our top of the line fleet of A320neo aircraft.



Starting March 2, SalamAir will operate direct flights to Alexandria three times a week and daily flights starting May 1. Flights will depart from Muscat at 20:35 and arrive in Alexandria at 23:45. Return flights will depart Alexandria at 00:30, arriving in Muscat at 06:55. Return tickets to Alexandria are now available at special promotional fares. - TradeArabia News Service
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA), in collaboration with leading international travel and tourism company Coral Travel and its representative office in Russia, recently hosted a Russian delegation of 80 representatives from tour operators and travel agencies to attend a series of workshops in the kingdom.



The event, which was attended by approximately 150 people, including representatives from 27 hotels from Bahrain, aimed at developing comprehensive travel packages tailored to the needs of Russian tourists. The event promoted the business aspect of Bahrain in addition to its tourism facilities.



It gives us great pleasure to host the Russian delegation, which comes as a result of our collaboration with Coral Travel. Hosting the delegation comes in line with the BTEAs long-term strategy to target new markets and introduce them to the kingdoms rich history, attractions and all it has to offer, said the chief executive officer of BTEA, Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa.



We aim to attract large tourist groups by developing comprehensive travel packages suitable for visitors of all ages in collaboration with our representative office in Russia. Our representative offices play a major role in increasing the number of visitors from abroad, further contributing to the development of the Kingdoms tourism sector and raising awareness on the Kingdoms diverse offerings that make it an ideal tourist destination, he added.



During the trip, which took place between February 23 and March 1, participants were able to meet with hotel representatives and visit several locations in Bahrain.



Hosting the trip comes as part of the BTEAs long term strategy to further develop the kingdoms tourism sector on a regional and international level under the slogan of Ours.Yours., which contributes towards the kingdoms economy and the 2030 Economic Vision.



Since its launch in 1995, Coral Travel has been a leader in the tourism industry and has become a trusted brand with the best resorts and hotels in 36 countries and is constantly seeking to attract new markets. The company also sells airline tickets online and organises individual and group trips for tourists. - TradeArabia News Service


Weekly Corporate Event Highlights

Staying on top of corporate events is critical for any investment firm. Here are the selected events from Wall Street Horizon impacting the most widely held securities scheduled for this week.



Mon 3/4/2019



Roche Holding (ROG_CH): Shareholder Meeting

Medtronic PLC (MDT): Medtronic Structural Heart Investor & Analyst Briefing from CRT

Baidu, Inc. (BIDU): Presenting at Daiwa 13th Annual Investment Conference Tokyo 2019

Salesforce.com, Inc. (CRM): CONFIRMED Next Earnings Date for Q4 2019

Tue 3/5/2019

BlackRock, Inc. (BLK): Ex Date for Quarterly dividend of $3.300

Chevron Corporation (CVX): Chevron Corp. Security Analyst Meeting 2019

General Electric Co. (GE): Presenting at JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Industrials Conference 2019

Intertek Group (IKTSY): CONFIRMED Next Earnings Date for H2 2018

Wed 3/6/2019

Novartis (NOVN_CH): Pay date for Annual dividend of CHF 2.850

Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM): Ex Date for Quarterly dividend of $0.620

Schlumberger Ltd (SLB): Presenting at Morgan Stanley Global Energy & Power Conference 2019

Thu 3/7/2019



The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC): Ex Date for Quarterly dividend of $0.400

General Electric Co. (GE): GE Insurance teach-in conference call for investors

Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT): Presenting at JP Morgan Aviation, Transportation and Industrials Conference 2019

Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST): CONFIRMED Next Earnings Date for Q2 2019

For more information on related topics, visit the following channels:
Michael Jackson and Wade Robson; courtesy HBOIt's no secret Michael Jackson's estate and family isn't at all pleased with HBO's Leaving Neverland. Now they've gone so far as to give us an alternative to watching the documentary.

Sunday night, a two-hour live concert shot October 1, 1992 in Bucharest, Romania during Michael's Dangerous tour, appeared on his official YouTube channel. It's no coincidence: part one of Leaving Neverland -- in which two now-adult former Jackson friends, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, claim he sexually assaulted them as children -- debuted Sunday night.

Also no coincidence is the timing: Jackson's official Twitter posted the YouTube link just after Leaving Neverland began. The tweet also promises that a second concert -- live from London's Wembley stadium July 16, 1988 -- will drop Monday night at 8:00 ET, just as Leaving Neverland part two debuts.

Michael's estate filed a lawsuit against HBO and its parent company, Time Warner, in late February, claiming Leaving Neverland breaches a non-disparagement clause in a decades-old contract. In response, HBO said, in a statement provided to ABC News: "Despite the desperate lengths taken to undermine the film, our plans remain unchanged. HBO will move forward with the airing of Leaving Neverland...on March 3 and 4th. This will allow everyone the opportunity to assess the film and the claims in it for themselves.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Bangladesh FM meets investors, business leaders in Dubai

Dhaka, Mar 4 (UNI) Bangladesh Foreign Minister MA Momen met an influential congregation of top business, finance and investment leaders in Dubai during his short visit to the city state on March 2, 2019 at Hotel Hyatt Regency.

The Foreign Minister briefed the business leaders about the Vision 2021, Vision 2041 and the Delta Plan 2100 as envisaged by the Hon Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

He recalled the close bonds of friendship and amity that the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had shared with the visionary leader and founding father of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed.
Bern, Mar 4 (UNI) A one-hour cable-car ride between ski stations in Switzerland and Italy has been given the green light.

The highest crossing in the Alps is set to open in 2021, according to a Swissinfo report.

Construction can begin on the Alpine Crossin project between the resorts of Zermatt and Cervinia after the Swiss Foundation for Landscape Protection and Zermatt Mountain Railways signed an agreement which, they said, took due account of the interests of both sides.

The Foundation for Landscape Conservation said it would drop a complaint handed in last May. It had feared a Disneylandisation of Alpine summits, saying there was already a heavy construction density on the Klein Matterhornexternal link, the highest cable-car station in Europe at 3,883 metres (12,740 feet).

In return, Zermatt Mountain Railways committed itself to promoting quality tourism with a respectful approach to nature. It agreed to dismantle the existing railway for transporting goods between the Klein Matterhorn and Cime Bianche Lagi in Italy as well as the existing border lift.

The two sides also agreed on a better landscape integration regarding the external lighting of the mountain station and the colour design of the valley station.

Construction work on the Alpine Crossing project, which will cost around CHF30 million ($30 million), will start immediately.

The tri-cable gondola will run all year, transporting around 2,000 people an hour for not less than CHF150 one way, according to Markus Hasler from Zermatt Mountain Railways. For this price, tourists will enjoy a luxury cabin featuring heated leather seats.

UNi XC-SNU 1559
Haryana CM visits 'Apravasi Ghat' of Mauritius

Chandigarh, Feb 15 (UNI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday visited Apravasi Ghat or the Immigration Depot located in Port Louis in Mauritius, the first British colony to receive indentured or contracted labour workforce from India.

The museum situated here bears memories of labourers coming to Mauritius in the 18th century passed through the Immigration Depot, to be transported to plantations throughout the British Empire.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that people of Mauritius as well as the young generation of India should know the history of hard works and struggles of Indians in Mauritius and take inspiration from it.
India, Sri Lanka to expand cooperation to combat challenges in health sector: Indian envoy

Colombo, Mar 3 (UNI) India and Sri Lanka will significantly step up cooperation to combat the emerging challenges in the health sector, Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu has said, while lauding Sri Lanka's Free Health Policy which has been consistent in its progress since post-Independence era.

The Indian envoy who was addressing at the inauguration ceremony of three-day Medicare 2019 in Colombo, underlined cooperation as need of the hour in healthcare sector and noted that there are several things that both the countries can learn from each other in the domain.

Mr Sandhu said "As diseases know no boundaries, our cooperation in healthcare needs to go beyond frontiers - the only way to combat the emerging challenges in the health sector is to share knowledge, techniques and best practices. For us, collaboration is celebration. Partnership is progress."
American History 1. Native American Society on the Eve of British Colonization a. Diversity of Native American Groups b. The Anasazi c. The Algonkian Tribes d. The Iroquois Tribes 2. Britain in the New World a. Early Ventures Fail b. Joint-Stock Companies c. Jamestown Settlement and the "Starving Time" d. The Growth of the Tobacco Trade e. War and Peace with Powhatan's People f. The House of Burgesses 3. The New England Colonies a. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony b. William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving c. Massachusetts Bay  "The City Upon a Hill" d. Puritan Life e. Dissent in Massachusetts Bay f. Reaching to Connecticut g. Witchcraft in Salem 4. The Middle Colonies a. New Netherland to New York b. Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey c. City of Brotherly Love  Philadelphia d. The Ideas of Benjamin Franklin 5. The Southern Colonies a. Maryland  The Catholic Experiment b. Indentured Servants c. Creating the Carolinas d. Debtors in Georgia e. Life in the Plantation South 6. African Americans in the British New World a. West African Society at the Point of European Contact b. "The Middle Passage" c. The Growth of Slavery d. Slave Life on the Farm and in the Town e. Free African Americans in the Colonial Era f. "Slave Codes" g. A New African-American Culture 7. The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking a. The Impact of Enlightenment in Europe b. The Great Awakening c. The Trial of John Peter Zenger d. Smuggling e. A Tradition of Rebellion f. "What Is the American?" 8. America's Place in the Global Struggle a. New France b. The French and Indian War c. George Washington's Background and Experience d. The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its Impact 9. The Events Leading to Independence a. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 b. The Stamp Act Controversy c. The Boston Patriots d. The Townshend Acts e. The Boston Massacre f. The Tea Act and Tea Parties g. The Intolerable Acts 10. E Pluribus Unum a. Stamp Act Congress b. Sons and Daughters of Liberty c. Committees of Correspondence d. First Continental Congress e. Second Continental Congress f. Thomas Paine's Common Sense g. The Declaration of Independence 11. The American Revolution a. American and British Strengths and Weaknesses b. Loyalists, Fence-sitters, and Patriots c. Lexington and Concord d. Bunker Hill e. The Revolution on the Home Front f. Washington at Valley Forge g. The Battle of Saratoga h. The French Alliance i. Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris 12. Societal Impacts of the American Revolution a. The Impact of Slavery b. A Revolution in Social Law c. Political Experience d. "Republican Motherhood" 13. When Does the Revolution End? a. The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy b. The War Experience: Soldiers, Officers, and Civilians c. The Loyalists d. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Slavery e. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women f. Revolutionary Limits: Native Americans g. Revolutionary Achievement: Yeomen and Artisans h. The Age of Atlantic Revolutions 14. Making Rules a. State Constitutions b. Articles of Confederation c. Evaluating the Congress d. The Economic Crisis of the 1780s 15. Drafting the Constitution a. Shays' Rebellion b. A Cast of National Superstars c. The Tough Issues d. Constitution Through Compromise 16. Ratifying the Constitution a. Federalists b. Antifederalists c. The Ratification Process: State by State d. After the Fact: Virginia, New York, and "The Federalist Papers" e. The Antifederalists' Victory in Defeat 17. George Washington a. Growing up in Colonial Virginia b. The Force of Personality and Military Command c. The First Administration d. Farewell Address e. Mount Vernon and the Dilemma of a Revolutionary Slave Holder 18. Unsettled Domestic Issues a. The Bill of Rights b. Hamilton's Financial Plan c. Growing Opposition d. U.S. Military Defeat; Indian Victory in the West e. Native American Resilience and Violence in the West 19. Politics in Transition: Public Conflict in the 1790s a. Trans-Atlantic Crisis: The French Revolution b. Negotiating with the Superpowers c. Two Parties Emerge d. The Adams Presidency e. The Alien and Sedition Acts f. The Life and Times of John Adams 20. Jeffersonian America: A Second Revolution? a. The Election of 1800 b. Jeffersonian Ideology c. Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase d. A New National Capital: Washington, D.C. e. A Federalist Stronghold: John Marshall's Supreme Court f. Gabriel's Rebellion: Another View of Virginia in 1800 21. The Expanding Republic and the War of 1812 a. The Importance of the West b. Exploration: Lewis and Clark c. Diplomatic Challenges in an Age of European War d. Native American Resistance in the Trans-Appalachian West e. The Second War for American Independence f. Claiming Victory from Defeat 22. Social Change and National Development a. Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution b. Cotton and African-American Life c. Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening d. Institutionalizing Religious Belief: The Benevolent Empire e. New Roles for White Women f. Early National Arts and Cultural Independence 23. Politics and the New Nation a. The Era of Good Feelings and the Two-Party System b. The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man's Democracy c. The Missouri Compromise d. The 1824 Election and the "Corrupt Bargain" e. John Quincy Adams f. Jacksonian Democracy and Modern America 24. The Age of Jackson a. The Rise of the Common Man b. A Strong Presidency c. The South Carolina Nullification Controversy d. The War Against the Bank e. Jackson vs. Clay and Calhoun f. The Trail of Tears  The Indian Removals 25. The Rise of American Industry a. The Canal Era b. Early American Railroads c. Inventors and Inventions d. The First American Factories e. The Emergence of "Women's Sphere" f. Irish and German Immigration 26. An Explosion of New Thought a. Religious Revival b. Experiments with Utopia c. Women's Rights d. Prison and Asylum Reform e. Hudson River School Artists f. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy 27. The Peculiar Institution a. The Crowning of King Cotton b. Slave Life and Slave Codes c. The Plantation & Chivalry d. Free(?) African-Americans e. Rebellions on and off the Plantation f. The Southern Argument for Slavery 28. Abolitionist Sentiment Grows a. William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator b. African-American Abolitionists c. The Underground Railroad d. Harriet Beecher Stowe  Uncle Tom's Cabin 29. Manifest Destiny a. The Lone Star Republic b. 54 40' or Fight c. "American Blood on American Soil" d. The Mexican-American War e. Gold in California 30. An Uneasy Peace a. Wilmot's Proviso b. Popular Sovereignty c. Three Senatorial Giants: Clay, Calhoun and Webster d. The Compromise of 1850 31. "Bloody Kansas" a. The Kansas-Nebraska Act b. Border Ruffians c. The Sack of Lawrence d. The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre e. Canefight! Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner 32. From Uneasy Peace to Bitter Conflict a. The Dred Scott Decision b. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates c. John Brown's Raid d. The Election of 1860 e. The South Secedes 33. A House Divided a. Fort Sumter b. Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South c. First Blood and Its Aftermath d. Sacred Beliefs e. Bloody Antietam f. Of Generals and Soldiers g. Gettysburg: High Watermark of the Confederacy h. Northern Plans to End the War i. The Road to Appomattox 34. The War Behind the Lines a. The Emancipation Proclamation b. Wartime Diplomacy c. The Northern Homefront d. The Southern Homefront e. The Election of 1864 f. The Assassination of the President 35. Reconstruction a. Presidential Reconstruction b. Radical Reconstruction c. A President Impeached d. Rebuilding the Old Order 36. The Gilded Age a. Binding the Nation by Rail b. The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller c. The New Tycoons: Andrew Carnegie d. The New Tycoons: J. Pierpont Morgan e. New Attitudes Toward Wealth f. Politics of the Gilded Age 37. Organized Labor a. The Great Upheaval b. Labor vs. Management c. Early National Organizations d. American Federation of Labor e. Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism 38. From the Countryside to the City a. The Glamour of American Cities b. The Underside of Urban Life c. The Rush of Immigrants d. Corruption Runs Wild e. Religious Revival: The "Social Gospel" f. Artistic and Literary Trends 39. New Dimensions in Everyday Life a. Education b. Sports and Leisure c. Women in the Gilded Age d. Victorian Values in a New Age e. The Print Revolution 40. Closing the Frontier a. The Massacre at Sand Creek b. Custer's Last Stand c. The End of Resistance d. Life on the Reservations e. The Wounded Knee Massacre 41. Western Folkways a. The Mining Boom b. The Ways of the Cowboy c. Life on the Farm d. The Growth of Populism e. The Election of 1896 42. Progressivism Sweeps the Nation a. Roots of the Movement b. Muckrakers c. Women's Suffrage at Last d. Booker T. Washington e. W. E. B. DuBois 43. Progressives in the White House a. Teddy Roosevelt: The Rough Rider in the White House b. The Trust Buster c. A Helping Hand for Labor d. Preserving the Wilderness e. Passing the Torch f. The Election of 1912 g. Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom 44. Seeking Empire a. Early Stirrings b. Hawaiian Annexation c. "Remember the Maine!" d. The Spanish-American War and Its Consequences e. The Roosevelt Corollary and Latin America f. Reaching to Asia g. The Panama Canal 45. America in the First World War a. Farewell to Isolation b. Over There c. Over Here d. The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations 46. The Decade That Roared a. The Age of the Automobile b. The Fight Against "Demon Rum" c. The Invention of the Teenager d. Flappers e. The Harlem Renaissance f. A Consumer Economy g. Radio Fever h. Fads and Heroes 47. Old Values vs. New Values a. The Red Scare b. The Monkey Trial c. Intolerance d. Books and Movies e. Domestic and International Politics 48. The Great Depression a. The Market Crashes b. Sinking Deeper and Deeper: 1929-33 c. The Bonus March d. Hoover's Last Stand e. Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression 49. The New Deal a. A Bank Holiday b. Putting People Back to Work c. The Farming Problem d. Social Security e. FDR's Alphabet Soup f. Roosevelt's Critics g. An Evaluation of the New Deal 50. The Road to Pearl Harbor a. 1930s Isolationism b. Reactions to a Troubled World c. War Breaks Out d. The Arsenal of Democracy e. Pearl Harbor 51. America in the Second World War a. Wartime Strategy b. The American Homefront c. D-Day and the German Surrender d. War in the Pacific e. Japanese-American Internment f. The Manhattan Project g. The Decision to Drop the Bomb 52. Postwar Challenges a. The Cold War Erupts b. The United Nations c. Containment and the Marshall Plan d. The Berlin Airlift and NATO e. The Korean War f. Domestic Challenges 53. The 1950s: Happy Days a. McCarthyism b. Suburban Growth c. Land of Television d. America Rocks and Rolls e. The Cold War Continues f. Voices against Conformity 54. A New Civil Rights Movement a. Separate No Longer? b. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott c. Showdown in Little Rock d. The Sit-In Movement e. Gains and Pains f. Martin Luther King Jr. g. The Long, Hot Summers h. Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam i. Black Power 55. The Vietnam War a. Early Involvement b. Years of Escalation: 1965-68 c. The Tet Offensive d. The Antiwar Movement e. Years of Withdrawal 56. Politics from Camelot to Watergate a. The Election of 1960 b. Kennedy's New Frontier c. Kennedy's Global Challenges d. Kennedy Assassination e. Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" f. 1968: Year of Unraveling g. Triangular Diplomacy: U.S., USSR, and China 57. Shaping a New America a. Modern Feminism b. The Fight for Reproductive Rights c. The Equal Rights Amendment d. Roe v. Wade and Its Impact e. Environmental Reform f. Others Demand Equality g. Student Activism h. Flower Power 58. A Time of Malaise a. Undoing a President b. The Sickened Economy c. Foreign Woes d. Finding Oneself e. The New Right 59. The Reagan Years a. "Morning in America" b. Reaganomics c. Foreign and Domestic Entanglements d. Life in the 1980s e. The End of the Cold War 60. Toward a New Millennium a. Operation Desert Storm b. A Baby Boomer in the White House c. Republicans vs. Democrats d. Living in the Information Age e. The End of the American Century

22b. Cotton and African-American Life



Two-thirds of all ready-made garments, produced with southern cotton in northern cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, were sent back to the South to be worn. Two-thirds of all ready-made garments, produced with southern cotton in northern cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, were sent back to the South to be worn.

The American Industrial Revolution, concentrated in the northeast, would ultimately prove to be the most significant force in the development of the modern United States. This economic innovation sprung primarily from necessity. New England's agricultural economy was the poorest in the country and that helped to spur experimentation there. Meanwhile, the far more fertile southern states remained fully committed to agriculture as the central source of its wealth, here, too, dramatic changes created a wholly new economy that would have been unrecognizable to late-18th century Americans.

The slave-based tobacco economy that sustained the Chesapeake region was in deep crisis in the late-18th century and some Virginia leaders even talked about ending slavery. But technological innovations to process cotton soon gave new life to slavery, which would flourish in the new nation as never before.



"Whereas, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the African race, who ... from a love to the people of their complexion whom they beheld with sorrow ... propose that a society should be formed, without regard to religious tenets, provided, the persons lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children." -Preamble of the Free African Society, 1778 "Whereas, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the African race, who ... from a love to the people of their complexion whom they beheld with sorrow ... propose that a society should be formed, without regard to religious tenets, provided, the persons lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows and fatherless children." -Preamble of the Free African Society, 1778

Eli Whitney was among the first to develop a cotton gin (short for "engine") that separated seeds from short-staple cotton. This hardier cotton variety thrived in the new land of the Old Southwest, and could now be processed far more efficiently than had been possible by hand. Indeed, the gin increased by fifty times what a single person could process in a day. This new cotton production, in turn, provided the raw material for the booming industrial textile mills of the American northeast and Great Britain. Technological innovation and geographic expansion made the south the world's largest producer and exporter of cotton in the 19th century.

This economic triumph, however, was accompanied by an immeasurable human tragedy. By 1820 all of the northern states had outlawed slavery, but the rise of cotton made the enormous profits of the slave system irresistible to most white southerners. Distinctive northern and southern sections of the United States were emerging with the former more urban and industrial and the latter more agricultural, but the new economies of each section were deeply intertwined. Not only did southern cotton feed northern textile mills, but northern insurers and transporters played a major part in the growth of the modern slave economy of the cotton south.

The rise of "King Cotton" as the defining feature of southern life revitalized slavery. The promise of cotton profits encouraged a spectacular rise in the direct importation of African slaves in the years before the trans-Atlantic trade was made illegal in 1808. 250,000 new slaves arrived in the United States from 1787 to 1808, a number equal to the entire slave importation of the colonial period. After 1808, the internal slave trade forced African Americans from the border states and Chesapeake into the new cotton belt, which ultimately stretched from upcountry Georgia to eastern Texas. In fact, more than half of the Americans who moved to the Southwest after 1815 were enslaved blacks.



The cotton gin was not Eli Whitney's only contribution to the Industrial Revolution in America. He also started the first factory which used interchangable parts in manufacturing. The cotton gin was not Eli Whitney's only contribution to the Industrial Revolution in America. He also started the first factory which used interchangable parts in manufacturing.

With a growing free black population in northern and border states, 95 percent of the country's African American population was enslaved in 1820. Generalizing about African American experience under slavery is especially difficult because the oppressive slave system all but entirely eliminated the avenues for slaves to honestly express themselves in public. There can be absolutely no doubt, however, that enslaved people rejected their status and that their constant resistance in small ways and large made white masters resort to terrifying violence in order to make the slave system work.

Enslaved people's greatest act of collective resistance lay in the constant ways that they demonstrated their humanity and challenged the legitimacy of slavery. In the face of abominable conditions, enslaved African Americans created communities that gave meaning and purpose to their lives. At the heart of black communities lay two central institutions: family and religion. Slave marriages were not legally recognized in slave societies and as many as a third of all slave marriages were broken up by masters. In spite of this, enslaved African Americans formed long-term marital bonds.

Furthermore, the severity of slave life encouraged the development of extended kin relations. Since young adults were especially likely to be sold, parents and children were frequently separated leading most slave communities to act collectively by respecting all elders and nurturing all children like one large family.

Religion also provided a major source of support to enslaved African Americans. It was only in the early 19th century that significant numbers of slaves became Christians. Partly this represents an increasing Americanization among African Americans, many of whom had now lived in the New World for several generations.

But to be a black Christian was not necessarily to have the same values as a white Christian. Slaves undoubtedly adjusted Christianity to fit their own life experiences and there is little doubt that Moses' leading the enslaved Israelites to the Promised Land had special resonance among American slaves. Black spirituals like "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel ... and why not every man" had similar subversive messages.




American History 1. Native American Society on the Eve of British Colonization a. Diversity of Native American Groups b. The Anasazi c. The Algonkian Tribes d. The Iroquois Tribes 2. Britain in the New World a. Early Ventures Fail b. Joint-Stock Companies c. Jamestown Settlement and the "Starving Time" d. The Growth of the Tobacco Trade e. War and Peace with Powhatan's People f. The House of Burgesses 3. The New England Colonies a. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony b. William Bradford and the First Thanksgiving c. Massachusetts Bay  "The City Upon a Hill" d. Puritan Life e. Dissent in Massachusetts Bay f. Reaching to Connecticut g. Witchcraft in Salem 4. The Middle Colonies a. New Netherland to New York b. Quakers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey c. City of Brotherly Love  Philadelphia d. The Ideas of Benjamin Franklin 5. The Southern Colonies a. Maryland  The Catholic Experiment b. Indentured Servants c. Creating the Carolinas d. Debtors in Georgia e. Life in the Plantation South 6. African Americans in the British New World a. West African Society at the Point of European Contact b. "The Middle Passage" c. The Growth of Slavery d. Slave Life on the Farm and in the Town e. Free African Americans in the Colonial Era f. "Slave Codes" g. A New African-American Culture 7. The Beginnings of Revolutionary Thinking a. The Impact of Enlightenment in Europe b. The Great Awakening c. The Trial of John Peter Zenger d. Smuggling e. A Tradition of Rebellion f. "What Is the American?" 8. America's Place in the Global Struggle a. New France b. The French and Indian War c. George Washington's Background and Experience d. The Treaty of Paris (1763) and Its Impact 9. The Events Leading to Independence a. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 b. The Stamp Act Controversy c. The Boston Patriots d. The Townshend Acts e. The Boston Massacre f. The Tea Act and Tea Parties g. The Intolerable Acts 10. E Pluribus Unum a. Stamp Act Congress b. Sons and Daughters of Liberty c. Committees of Correspondence d. First Continental Congress e. Second Continental Congress f. Thomas Paine's Common Sense g. The Declaration of Independence 11. The American Revolution a. American and British Strengths and Weaknesses b. Loyalists, Fence-sitters, and Patriots c. Lexington and Concord d. Bunker Hill e. The Revolution on the Home Front f. Washington at Valley Forge g. The Battle of Saratoga h. The French Alliance i. Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris 12. Societal Impacts of the American Revolution a. The Impact of Slavery b. A Revolution in Social Law c. Political Experience d. "Republican Motherhood" 13. When Does the Revolution End? a. The Declaration of Independence and Its Legacy b. The War Experience: Soldiers, Officers, and Civilians c. The Loyalists d. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Slavery e. Revolutionary Changes and Limitations: Women f. Revolutionary Limits: Native Americans g. Revolutionary Achievement: Yeomen and Artisans h. The Age of Atlantic Revolutions 14. Making Rules a. State Constitutions b. Articles of Confederation c. Evaluating the Congress d. The Economic Crisis of the 1780s 15. Drafting the Constitution a. Shays' Rebellion b. A Cast of National Superstars c. The Tough Issues d. Constitution Through Compromise 16. Ratifying the Constitution a. Federalists b. Antifederalists c. The Ratification Process: State by State d. After the Fact: Virginia, New York, and "The Federalist Papers" e. The Antifederalists' Victory in Defeat 17. George Washington a. Growing up in Colonial Virginia b. The Force of Personality and Military Command c. The First Administration d. Farewell Address e. Mount Vernon and the Dilemma of a Revolutionary Slave Holder 18. Unsettled Domestic Issues a. The Bill of Rights b. Hamilton's Financial Plan c. Growing Opposition d. U.S. Military Defeat; Indian Victory in the West e. Native American Resilience and Violence in the West 19. Politics in Transition: Public Conflict in the 1790s a. Trans-Atlantic Crisis: The French Revolution b. Negotiating with the Superpowers c. Two Parties Emerge d. The Adams Presidency e. The Alien and Sedition Acts f. The Life and Times of John Adams 20. Jeffersonian America: A Second Revolution? a. The Election of 1800 b. Jeffersonian Ideology c. Westward Expansion: The Louisiana Purchase d. A New National Capital: Washington, D.C. e. A Federalist Stronghold: John Marshall's Supreme Court f. Gabriel's Rebellion: Another View of Virginia in 1800 21. The Expanding Republic and the War of 1812 a. The Importance of the West b. Exploration: Lewis and Clark c. Diplomatic Challenges in an Age of European War d. Native American Resistance in the Trans-Appalachian West e. The Second War for American Independence f. Claiming Victory from Defeat 22. Social Change and National Development a. Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution b. Cotton and African-American Life c. Religious Transformation and the Second Great Awakening d. Institutionalizing Religious Belief: The Benevolent Empire e. New Roles for White Women f. Early National Arts and Cultural Independence 23. Politics and the New Nation a. The Era of Good Feelings and the Two-Party System b. The Expansion of the Vote: A White Man's Democracy c. The Missouri Compromise d. The 1824 Election and the "Corrupt Bargain" e. John Quincy Adams f. Jacksonian Democracy and Modern America 24. The Age of Jackson a. The Rise of the Common Man b. A Strong Presidency c. The South Carolina Nullification Controversy d. The War Against the Bank e. Jackson vs. Clay and Calhoun f. The Trail of Tears  The Indian Removals 25. The Rise of American Industry a. The Canal Era b. Early American Railroads c. Inventors and Inventions d. The First American Factories e. The Emergence of "Women's Sphere" f. Irish and German Immigration 26. An Explosion of New Thought a. Religious Revival b. Experiments with Utopia c. Women's Rights d. Prison and Asylum Reform e. Hudson River School Artists f. Transcendentalism, An American Philosophy 27. The Peculiar Institution a. The Crowning of King Cotton b. Slave Life and Slave Codes c. The Plantation & Chivalry d. Free(?) African-Americans e. Rebellions on and off the Plantation f. The Southern Argument for Slavery 28. Abolitionist Sentiment Grows a. William Lloyd Garrison and The Liberator b. African-American Abolitionists c. The Underground Railroad d. Harriet Beecher Stowe  Uncle Tom's Cabin 29. Manifest Destiny a. The Lone Star Republic b. 54 40' or Fight c. "American Blood on American Soil" d. The Mexican-American War e. Gold in California 30. An Uneasy Peace a. Wilmot's Proviso b. Popular Sovereignty c. Three Senatorial Giants: Clay, Calhoun and Webster d. The Compromise of 1850 31. "Bloody Kansas" a. The Kansas-Nebraska Act b. Border Ruffians c. The Sack of Lawrence d. The Pottawatomie Creek Massacre e. Canefight! Preston Brooks and Charles Sumner 32. From Uneasy Peace to Bitter Conflict a. The Dred Scott Decision b. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates c. John Brown's Raid d. The Election of 1860 e. The South Secedes 33. A House Divided a. Fort Sumter b. Strengths and Weaknesses: North vs. South c. First Blood and Its Aftermath d. Sacred Beliefs e. Bloody Antietam f. Of Generals and Soldiers g. Gettysburg: High Watermark of the Confederacy h. Northern Plans to End the War i. The Road to Appomattox 34. The War Behind the Lines a. The Emancipation Proclamation b. Wartime Diplomacy c. The Northern Homefront d. The Southern Homefront e. The Election of 1864 f. The Assassination of the President 35. Reconstruction a. Presidential Reconstruction b. Radical Reconstruction c. A President Impeached d. Rebuilding the Old Order 36. The Gilded Age a. Binding the Nation by Rail b. The New Tycoons: John D. Rockefeller c. The New Tycoons: Andrew Carnegie d. The New Tycoons: J. Pierpont Morgan e. New Attitudes Toward Wealth f. Politics of the Gilded Age 37. Organized Labor a. The Great Upheaval b. Labor vs. Management c. Early National Organizations d. American Federation of Labor e. Eugene V. Debs and American Socialism 38. From the Countryside to the City a. The Glamour of American Cities b. The Underside of Urban Life c. The Rush of Immigrants d. Corruption Runs Wild e. Religious Revival: The "Social Gospel" f. Artistic and Literary Trends 39. New Dimensions in Everyday Life a. Education b. Sports and Leisure c. Women in the Gilded Age d. Victorian Values in a New Age e. The Print Revolution 40. Closing the Frontier a. The Massacre at Sand Creek b. Custer's Last Stand c. The End of Resistance d. Life on the Reservations e. The Wounded Knee Massacre 41. Western Folkways a. The Mining Boom b. The Ways of the Cowboy c. Life on the Farm d. The Growth of Populism e. The Election of 1896 42. Progressivism Sweeps the Nation a. Roots of the Movement b. Muckrakers c. Women's Suffrage at Last d. Booker T. Washington e. W. E. B. DuBois 43. Progressives in the White House a. Teddy Roosevelt: The Rough Rider in the White House b. The Trust Buster c. A Helping Hand for Labor d. Preserving the Wilderness e. Passing the Torch f. The Election of 1912 g. Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom 44. Seeking Empire a. Early Stirrings b. Hawaiian Annexation c. "Remember the Maine!" d. The Spanish-American War and Its Consequences e. The Roosevelt Corollary and Latin America f. Reaching to Asia g. The Panama Canal 45. America in the First World War a. Farewell to Isolation b. Over There c. Over Here d. The Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations 46. The Decade That Roared a. The Age of the Automobile b. The Fight Against "Demon Rum" c. The Invention of the Teenager d. Flappers e. The Harlem Renaissance f. A Consumer Economy g. Radio Fever h. Fads and Heroes 47. Old Values vs. New Values a. The Red Scare b. The Monkey Trial c. Intolerance d. Books and Movies e. Domestic and International Politics 48. The Great Depression a. The Market Crashes b. Sinking Deeper and Deeper: 1929-33 c. The Bonus March d. Hoover's Last Stand e. Social and Cultural Effects of the Depression 49. The New Deal a. A Bank Holiday b. Putting People Back to Work c. The Farming Problem d. Social Security e. FDR's Alphabet Soup f. Roosevelt's Critics g. An Evaluation of the New Deal 50. The Road to Pearl Harbor a. 1930s Isolationism b. Reactions to a Troubled World c. War Breaks Out d. The Arsenal of Democracy e. Pearl Harbor 51. America in the Second World War a. Wartime Strategy b. The American Homefront c. D-Day and the German Surrender d. War in the Pacific e. Japanese-American Internment f. The Manhattan Project g. The Decision to Drop the Bomb 52. Postwar Challenges a. The Cold War Erupts b. The United Nations c. Containment and the Marshall Plan d. The Berlin Airlift and NATO e. The Korean War f. Domestic Challenges 53. The 1950s: Happy Days a. McCarthyism b. Suburban Growth c. Land of Television d. America Rocks and Rolls e. The Cold War Continues f. Voices against Conformity 54. A New Civil Rights Movement a. Separate No Longer? b. Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott c. Showdown in Little Rock d. The Sit-In Movement e. Gains and Pains f. Martin Luther King Jr. g. The Long, Hot Summers h. Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam i. Black Power 55. The Vietnam War a. Early Involvement b. Years of Escalation: 1965-68 c. The Tet Offensive d. The Antiwar Movement e. Years of Withdrawal 56. Politics from Camelot to Watergate a. The Election of 1960 b. Kennedy's New Frontier c. Kennedy's Global Challenges d. Kennedy Assassination e. Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" f. 1968: Year of Unraveling g. Triangular Diplomacy: U.S., USSR, and China 57. Shaping a New America a. Modern Feminism b. The Fight for Reproductive Rights c. The Equal Rights Amendment d. Roe v. Wade and Its Impact e. Environmental Reform f. Others Demand Equality g. Student Activism h. Flower Power 58. A Time of Malaise a. Undoing a President b. The Sickened Economy c. Foreign Woes d. Finding Oneself e. The New Right 59. The Reagan Years a. "Morning in America" b. Reaganomics c. Foreign and Domestic Entanglements d. Life in the 1980s e. The End of the Cold War 60. Toward a New Millennium a. Operation Desert Storm b. A Baby Boomer in the White House c. Republicans vs. Democrats d. Living in the Information Age e. The End of the American Century

43g. Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom



President Wilson President Wilson

Progressives did not come only in the Republican flavor. Thomas Woodrow Wilson also saw the need for change.

Born in Staunton, Virginia, Wilson served as president of Princeton University and governor of New Jersey. He combined a southern background with northern sensibilities.

Attacking the Triple Wall of Privilege

His 1912 platform for change was called the New Freedom. Wilson was an admirer of Thomas Jefferson. The agrarian utopia of small, educated farmers envisioned by Jefferson struck a chord with Wilson. Of course, the advent of industry could not be denied, but a nation of small farmers and small businesspeople seemed totally possible. The New Freedom sought to achieve this vision by attacking what Wilson called the Triple Wall of Privilege  the tariff, the banks, and the trusts.

Tariffs protected the large industrialists at the expense of small farmers. Wilson signed the Underwood-Simmons Act into law in 1913, which reduced tariff rates. The banking system also pinched small farmers and entrepreneurs. The gold standard still made currency too tight, and loans were too expensive for the average American. Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, which made the nation's currency more flexible.

Unlike Roosevelt, Wilson did not distinguish between "good" trusts and "bad" trusts. Any trust by virtue of its large size was bad in Wilson's eyes. The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 clarified the Sherman Act by specifically naming certain business tactics illegal. This same act also exempted labor unions from antitrust suits, and declared strikes, boycotts, and peaceful picketing perfectly legal.

In two years, he successfully attacked each "wall of privilege." Now his eyes turned to greater concerns, particularly the outbreak of the First World War in Europe.

Appeasing the Bull Moose

When Wilson's first term expired, he felt he had to do more. The nation was on the brink of entering the bloodiest conflict in human history, and Wilson had definite ideas about how the postwar peace should look. But he would have to survive reelection first.

As an appeal to the Roosevelt progressives, he began to sign many legislative measures suggested by the Bull Moose Campaign. He approved of the creation of a federal trade commission to act as a watchdog over business. A child labor bill and a workers' compensation act became law. Wilson agreed to limit the workday of interstate railroad workers to 8 hours. He signed a federal farm loan act to ease the pains of life on the farm.

Progressive Republicans in the Congress were pleased by Wilson's conversion to their brand of progressivism, and the American people showed their approval by electing him to a second term.




(March 4, 2019) -- For the third year in a row, UTSAs spring enrollment numbers have climbed, according to a census report released today by the universitys Office of Institutional Research (OIR). The new data shows that UTSA is on track to achieve the 2028 enrollment goals outlined in its strategic plan.

The Spring 2019 census report lists UTSAs total enrollment at 29,727. The number of masters and doctoral students earning their degrees at UTSA is also up to more than 4,000, a boost for the third straight year.

As UTSA takes ambitious steps to expand its Downtown Campus, more students are taking classes in the heart of San Antonio. The number of Roadrunners enrolled exclusively at the Downtown Campus grew to more than 2,000. An additional 1,968 students are splitting time at the Main and Downtown Campuses.

Over the past year and a half, we have engaged in a comprehensive strategic enrollment plan with the goal of enrolling 45,000 students by 2028, said Lisa Blazer, UTSA interim vice president for strategic enrollment. We began implementing new initiatives this year aimed at strategically enrolling undergraduate and graduate students and we are seeing those results in our spring enrollment and into future semesters at UTSA.

UTSA student body continues to include diverse populations, with the majority of students identifying as Hispanic (55 percent), White (23 percent), African American (8 percent) or Asian (6 percent). Additionally, 922 international students, who together represent 86 countries, are pursuing their degrees at UTSA.

The diversity of UTSA is comprehensive and welcomed, said Myron Anderson, UTSA vice president for inclusive excellence. As a university that practices inclusive excellence, the diversity of our students links directly to our core values as we prepare our students to be global citizens.

Bexar County remains the largest source of students for UTSA with 14,756 calling San Antonio home, followed by Harris County, which includes Houston, and the Austin-Travis County area. The largest growth of Roadrunners come from Williamson County (13.5 percent growth) north of Austin and Nueces County (11.7 percent growth), which includes Corpus Christi.

More students have also chosen to come to San Antonios urban serving university from out of state this semester. More than 700 Roadrunners hail from U.S. states or territories outside of Texas.

UTSA is multicultural discovery enterprise institution and model public urban serving university specializing in health, cybersecurity, energy, sustainability, and human and social development. UTSA advances knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. The university is ranked among the nations top five young universities, according to Times Higher Education.
American Heritage Center Finalists Interview This Week at UW

Finalists for the position of director of the American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming are scheduled to give public presentations this week.

All presentations will take place in Room 123 of the College of Business Building.

The candidates are Pamela Hackbart-Dean, director of the Morris Library Special Collections Research Center at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; and Kevin Mulroy, formerly the A.J. McFadden dean of the Claremont Colleges Library in Claremont, Calif.

Hackbart-Dean is scheduled to give her public presentation from 9:45-10:45 a.m. Tuesday, March 5. Her presentation will be streamed at https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/724937582. To join by phone, call 1-669-900-6833. The meeting ID is 724937582#.

To learn more about Hackbart-Dean, click here.

Mulroys public presentation will be from 9:45-10:45 a.m. Friday, March 8. His presentation will be streamed online at https://uwyo.zoom.us/j/326642859. To join by phone, call 1-669-900-6833. The meeting ID is 326642859#.

To learn more about Mulroy, click here.

UWs AHC is a major archival repository, holding more than 3,500 manuscript collections. The collections are regional, national and international in scope. The AHC also houses one of the largest archives west of the Mississippi -- its holdings draw scholars from the U.S. and abroad, as well as serving UWs faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, and teachers in Wyoming and the public.
Open Forum on Grand Challenges Research Planning Wednesday at UW

The floor will be open for University of Wyoming faculty, staff and students to learn about and discuss UWs research strategic planning effort during an open forum Wednesday, March 6, at 3:10 p.m. in Room 129 of the Classroom Building.

Vice President for Research and Economic Development Ed Synakowski will start off by discussing the universitys planning activity toward transdisciplinary grand challenges -- difficult problems with societal impact whose resolution requires focused efforts from many disciplines -- and how UW faculty members will be broadly engaged to generate the most compelling research themes. Faculty feedback is sought.

Additionally, he will provide an update on the membership of the activitys Research Planning Council and will introduce its four faculty leaders. He also will discuss the proposed timeline for the process.

The purpose of this planning activity is to deeply engage the campus communities in identifying and planning for UWs pursuit of grand research challenges that span disciplines. Investing in and pursuing such transdisciplinary challenges will enable UW to assert leadership and be among leaders in select areas as it serves the state, region, nation and globe.

A high-level aim is for new research activities surrounding these challenges to serve as a powerful platform for student education and for educational outreach to citizens of Wyoming and the Mountain West.

For more information, including documentation that describes the overarching goals and planning approach, go to www.uwyo.edu/research/advancing-research-and-scholarship/index.html.
UW Research Provides Insight on Survivability of Rare Wyoming Plant

Researchers walk near a desert yellowhead plant in the Beaver Rim area of central Wyoming -- the only place in the world where the plant species is found. (Greg Nickerson Photo)

A rare plant found only at two sites in central Wyoming has persisted, in part, because it can recover from relatively low densities and grows at different rates within each location, according to new research led by a University of Wyoming scientist.

The desert yellowhead, which grows on fewer than 55 acres in the Beaver Rim area of Fremont County, has been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act since 2002. The new research, published by lead author Reilly Dibner, a postdoctoral researcher formerly at UWs Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, provides insights into how the plant has managed to survive in small, stable numbers. But the scientists say its long-term future is difficult to predict because of increasingly variable rainfall patterns and warming.

The research paper appears today in Ecological Monographs, a scientific journal of the Ecological Society of America. Other authors are from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Duke University.

A small, isolated population like this generally is thought to have a high probability for extinction, but several mechanisms have allowed the desert yellowhead to persist so far, says Dibner, who received her Ph.D. from UWs Program in Ecology. While this plant has shown remarkable stability over its short known history, we lack the ability to confidently predict its future chances of survival.

The plant, also known as yermo -- which comes from its scientific name, Yermo xanthocephalus -- was discovered in 1990 by botanist Robert Dorn in the Sand Draw area southeast of Riverton. That population was monitored closely for a decade by Central Wyoming College faculty member Richard Scott and his wife, Beverly, along with other volunteers. In 2010, as a result of extensive searches by UWs Natural Diversity Database and the Bureau of Land Management, a second, smaller population of desert yellowhead was discovered by UW scientists Bonnie Heidel and Joy Handley about five miles away at Cedar Rim.

The desert yellowhead grows in areas where other plants are unable to thrive. (Reilly Dibner Photo)

The desert yellowhead has attracted attention because of its unusual geographic distribution, uniqueness and extreme rarity. Its not known if the desert yellowhead has always had such a limited range or if it once was distributed more broadly.

Dibner and the other researchers used detailed population data collected by the Scotts, along with five years of data from their own study, to assess the factors that allow the desert yellowhead to survive in such small numbers. They concluded that several mechanisms are in place to keep the plant from disappearing.

The research found that despite the low density of the desert yellowhead -- there are fewer than 15,000 individual plants scattered across the 55 acres -- these populations survive partly because of a principle called negative density dependence. This means that the populations tend to grow fastest when at low numbers, allowing them to bounce back from low numbers.

In particular, negative density dependence is an important mechanism allowing subpopulations to recover from unfavorable environmental conditions, the researchers wrote.

Additionally, diversity in the plants responses to precipitation, soils and other environmental factors has served as a stabilizing mechanism for the desert yellowhead. For example, some of the plants growing below steep slopes respond relatively poorly during wet years, while dry years are harder on plants located in flatter areas. That makes the desert yellowhead more likely to persist in a variable climate, the scientists say.

The researchers used computer simulations to attempt to predict the future population of the desert yellowhead. Simulations based on historical numbers estimated a substantially greater chance of long-term survival than simulations based on the more recent five-year study, but the scientists say thats likely because of drier-than-average climate conditions during the more recent study.

We found that longer-term census data gave more realistic, higher estimates of population stability than did our shorter-term demographic study, they wrote.

What remains unclear is whether or not central Wyoming will face wetter or drier conditions with climate change, or how increasing temperatures will mediate effects of moisture for yermo, they added. Thus, as with most other species, we still lack the ability to predict confidently the dynamics with changing abiotic (nonbiological) conditions.
Members of Congress and others watch a play depicting the lives of four girls killed in a 1963 bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday. Dozens of members of Congress are participating in a weekend-long civil rights pilgrimage through the state.
The World Customs Organization (WCO), in collaboration with the Direccion de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales, Colombia (DIAN) and the support of the Korean Customs Cooperation Fund, organized a Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing Workshop for the Customs Department and Tax Administration of Colombia.

The workshop held in Bogota from 18 to 22 February 2019 was attended by about 50 officials, primarily from valuation and post-clearance audit teams. The programme consisted of practical case discussions, including WCO Technical Committee on Customs Valuation (TCCV) instruments and several worldwide judicial disputes. The workshop methodology consisted of presenting practical cases with interactive discussions to exchange views and reflect on the outcomes.

Customs valuation issues such as related party transactions, royalties and high-value intangibles were discussed. From the transfer pricing perspective, the discussion was mainly about the use of transfer pricing documentation for Customs valuation (OECD BEPS Action 13), retroactive adjustments, functional and comparability analysis. The participants also had the opportunity to reflect on the use of transfer pricing databases.

A central part of the workshop was about the interaction between Customs valuation and transfer pricing audit teams. The interest for Customs rests in the examination of the circumstances surrounding the sale when there are doubts that the price has been influenced by the relationship while for Tax officials, the focus is the arms length principle. The auditing of multi-national enterprises (MNEs) presents challenges for both teams.

Representatives from the private sector contributed to the workshop and participants had the opportunity to hear the local practitioners experiences and discuss lawyers main concerns about the topic.

This workshop provided a good platform for Customs and Tax officials to interact and learn each others methodology when addressing related party transactions. Participants were encouraged to read the WCO Guide to Customs Valuation and Transfer Pricing (updated in 2018).
Under the framework of the HMRC-WCO-UNCTAD-Mercator Programme, funded by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) via Her Majestys Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom, the WCO organized a Leadership and Management Development (LMD) workshop from 11 to 22 February 2019 benefitting 19 senior managers of the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA). This two-week workshop was a follow up to the Top Executive Retreat that was held three months earlier with the Commissioner of JCA and her executive team, with the overall objective to strengthen senior management capacity to lead and drive reforms within JCA, based on a more modern management culture.

The focus of the workshop was how to become a modern leader-manager able to drive modernization and change by knowing yourself, managing yourself first and really understanding others before you can start leading and managing others. A wide range of topics was raised under the umbrella of personal and organizational development, including leadership, integrity, capacity to influence, ability to build trust, negotiation skills, people management, strategic and personal communication, and change management.

Senior managers from various departments and different border posts of JCA participated in the workshop, which provided an opportunity for self-examination and in-depth introspection as well as the JCA as a whole. The leadership theories and group work presented during the workshop were geared to the reality within JCA, which sometimes led to lively discussions on current challenges. The dynamic discussions resulted in a firm engagement to fundamentally improve management culture and communication styles.

The Commissioner of JCA, Mrs. Velma Ricketts-Walker attended the workshop for a session to discuss how the new and modern management culture could be sustained within the organization, based on the LMD-philosophy. The workshop concluded in a strong commitment from participants and senior directors to start managing more strategically, focusing on people and real involvement of staff, with the long term objective to become a high performing learning organization.

The WCO looks forward to continued collaboration with the JCA under the framework of the Mercator Programme.
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Tips lead to drug charges for two in Paducah
By West Kentucky Star Staff Mar. 02, 2019 | 08:39 PM | CARLISLE COUNTY

According to the Carlisle County Sheriff's Office, on Friday, at approximately 10:00 pm, a deputy stopped a vehicle on US 62 at 75 mph. The driver was identified as 27-year old Amber Dejarnett.

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The deputy reported a strong smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle. When asked about the smell of marijuana, Dejarnett stated that she had been smoking marijuana previously. She then instructed her passenger, 23-year-old Jewel Thomas, also of Mayfield, to surrender the marijuana to the deputy.





Dejarnett was arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and Thomas was issued a citation for possession of marijuana.



A family member came to the scene and transported Thomas, Dejarnetts grandmother, and three children that were also passengers in the vehicle.



Dejarnett was taken to the Ballard County Jail, where it was discovered that she had hidden another bag of marijuana inside the patrol vehicle. She admitted that she hid the marijuana in an attempt to avoid being caught with it, and was also charged with tampering with physical evidence.



A traffic stop in Carlisle County on Friday resulted in a Mayfield woman being arrested.
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By Kentucky Senator Danny Carroll

Mar. 04, 2019 | FRANKFORT

By Kentucky Senator Danny Carroll Mar. 04, 2019 | 08:40 AM | FRANKFORT

As we approach the latter days of the 2019 Regular Session, the Capitol remains as busy as ever. Countless visitors from across Kentucky advocated important issues in a week that had no shortage of legislative activity.



Significant bills are heading to Governor Bevin's desk with the hope that they will soon be signed into law. As the result of months of discussion and collaboration, Senate Bill 1, the School Safety and Resiliency Act, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House. SB 1, sponsored by Senator Max Wise and one I co-sponsored, would boost school safety by improving the type of personnel, systems and structures, and student culture in Kentucky's schools. While in the House, improvements were added to the language such as creating the position of the state school safety marshal, whose role would be similar to that of a state fire marshal. We are hopeful that this pivotal school safety bill will soon be signed into law.



Senate Bill 4 is also awaiting a signature from the Governor. SB 4, sponsored by Senator Damon Thayer, would require all candidates running for a public office in Kentucky to electronically file their campaign finance reports starting in 2020. This bill eliminates the option of filing a paper report with the exception of candidates whose campaigns raise less than $3,000. As more filing measures move to digital platforms, SB 4 establishes an organized and efficient way to report campaign finances.



The Senate passed two substantial bills this week, which were sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers. Senate Bill 6 addresses executive branch ethics by requiring the disclosure of executive agency lobbyist compensation. Senate Bill 2 would allow a broader representation of elected judges to hear cases which affect the entire Commonwealth and its constituency rather than two circuit judges who are elected by only the residents of Franklin County.



I sponsored several bills that passed out of the Senate this week. Senate Bill 29 would allow cities with a population of less than 20,000 and counties that do not have a city with a population greater than 20,000 to impose a license fee of no more than 5% on the sale of alcoholic beverages. Senate Bill 162 would create the Kentucky State Police School Resource Office (KSPSRO) program and allow KSP officers to contract with schools districts. The bill would also allow school districts to hire retired sworn law enforcement officers as school security officers without the burden of benefit contributions. Senate Bill 246 makes important changes to three incentive programs utilized by the Economic Development Cabinet to assist in attracting business and industry to our state. And, Senate Bill 128 would make conditions safer in our Assisted Living facilities across the state.



Additionally, we passed a pro-life bill commonly known as the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. Senate Bill 227, sponsored by Senator Whitney Westerfield, requires that medical professionals take all appropriate steps necessary to preserve the life and health of an infant who is born alive after a failed abortion. This commonsense bill is another legislative stride to protect life here in Kentucky.



I want to thank Mr. Jack Lawrence, a 6th grader from Carlisle County, for doing such a great job paging for me on Thursday. Jack was accompanied to Frankfort by his mom, Holly. I was also very excited to welcome several Sunny Pages from various counties across the state this week. This page program for students with special needs continues to grow!! Finally, I want to thank Miss Constance Lents, a student at the U.K. College of Medicine from Benton, for coming to speak with me about legislation of concern to her, Captain Nathan Torian, with the Paducah Fire Department, who represented the Kentucky Firefighters Association and teachers Chad Davidson (McCracken County) and Clay Tilford (Carlisle Co.) who stopped by to discuss issues related to education.



Thank you for your continued feedback and support. It is an honor to represent you in Frankfort, and I look forward to continued discussion on a number of issues facing our district and the Commonwealth.



If you have any questions or comments about these issues or any other public policy issue, please call me toll-free at 1-800-372-7181 or email me at danny.carroll@lrc.ky.gov. You can also review the Legislature's work online at www.legislature.ky.gov.



Senator Danny Carroll (R-Paducah) represents the 2nd District encompassing Ballard, Carlisle, Marshall and McCracken counties. Senator Carroll is the chairman of the Senate Economic Development, Tourism, and Labor Committee, as well as the co-chairman of the Program Review and Investigations Committee. He also serves as a member of the Budget Review Subcommittee on Education; the Budget Review Subcommittee on General Government; the Health and Welfare Committee, the Judiciary Committee; the Medicaid Oversight Committee, and the School Safety Working Group.
Domee Shi (R) speaks onstage during the 91st Academy Awards ceremony. [Xinhua]

Chinese-centric Bao claimed Best Animated Short at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony, or the Oscars, held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.

The short is written and directed by Chinese-born Canadian director Domee Shi and produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

Bao explores the life of a Chinese immigrant mom living in Toronto with her inattentive husband and struggling to cope with loneliness after her beloved son flies the nest. Remarkably, the mom's deep, empty-nester angst turns to joy when a cute, leftover dumpling (a bao) comes alive in true Pinocchio fashion.

Shi is the first woman and first Chinese writer and director of a Pixar short.

Bao beat off tough competition from Animal Behaviour, Late Afternoon, One Small Step and Weekends.

When asked why she wanted to tell this particular story, Shi said "Traditionally, Chinese parents don't say 'I love you' to their kids. They say it with food or by fussing over them. I didn't use dialogue in the movie because I wanted it to be a universal story that spoke to everyone."

As the daughter of an over-protective mom herself, Shi also wanted to explore the complex pros and cons of family dynamics.

Shi graduated from the animation program at Sheridan College. She began as a story intern at Pixar Animation Studios in June 2011.

When asked how she felt to be the first female director to direct a short film at Pixar, Shi said, "I'm humbled and honored. I'm very lucky, Pixar has always been supportive to me as a creative storyteller. I hope I am the first of many to follow."

"The fact that I am the first woman and first Chinese writer/director of a Pixar short is the best indication of the impact of the #Timesup movement on motion pictures and Pixar in particular. Things are changing. In some animations schools nowadays, there are 75 percent women and only 25 percent guys."

"The fact that this story got made is the best example of the change and progress Pixar has made to embrace stories from other cultures," she added.

But, to be chosen to break Pixar's glass ceiling did not come overnight. Shi had to pay her dues. Over the last seven years at Pixar, she worked as one of many animators on such classics as The Good Dinosaur, and Incredibles 2, as she developed her creativity and style.

Shi's cross-cultural, female-centric family story struck a chord with the judges and carried her through both rounds of judging to win the top prize. This gave her the opportunity to lead an entire 100-person Pixar production team to bring her story idea to life.

Shi feels she owes much to her parents, from whom she inherited her creativity. "As the child of immigrants, your parents are always reminding you to work extra hard and you are always trying to be worthy of all the sacrifices they made for you."

Born in Chongqing, southwest China, Shi resided in Toronto, Canada most of her life. Her mother is a gifted cook, while her father is an artist and arts professor at Sichuan Fine Arts. It was he who first encouraged her to draw.

In Bao, Shi set out to make a short film that would profile real Chinese culture yet appeal to all audiences. "There are cultural differences, just like with Coco. We had to explain to our American crew why we had to do things a certain way and what a traditional Chinese home would look like."

Now, with the success of Bao, Shi is on the fast-track to animation stardom with a feature of her own in the Pixar pipeline.

Domee Shi [China Daily] A scene from Bao [China Daily]

(Source: Xinhua)
Xi Jinping (C, front), Li Keqiang (3rd R, front), Li Zhanshu (3rd L, front), Wang Huning (2nd R, front), Zhao Leji (2nd L, front), Han Zheng (1st R, front), and Wang Qishan (1st L, front) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

China's top political advisory body started its annual session Sunday afternoon in Beijing, raising the curtain of a key season in the country's political calendar.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Yang, chairman of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivered a work report to more than 2,000 political advisors at the session.

Wang commended the political advisory body's work last year, saying new advances have been made under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.

"We gave full play to the CPPCC's role as a body dedicated to consultation and carried out our dual responsibility of offering suggestions and building consensus," Wang noted.

Over the past year, the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee has focused on the central tasks of the Party and country and fulfilled its duties with commitment to pursuing unity and democracy.

Political advisors have conducted consultations with a focus on fighting the three critical battles against potential risk, poverty, and pollution, and on promoting high-quality development, according to Wang.

With regard to the CPPCC's major tasks in 2019, Wang said top priority will be given to studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

The second task is offering high-quality suggestions on the central tasks of the Party and the country, which include completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening supply-side structural reform.

Making greater efforts for unity and friendly ties is another important task, said Wang.

Other major tasks include contributing wisdom and strength to the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, making solid progress in the self-improvement of the CPPCC, and holding celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the CPPCC's founding.

This year is a critical year in China's bid to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects to reach its first centenary goal.

"Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is a cause that benefits our population of more than one billion people," said Wang, highlighting the importance of harnessing positive energy for securing a decisive victory in this goal.

Wang encouraged political advisors to focus on hotspot and difficult issues, promptly identify potential risks and dangers, and proactively report on social conditions and popular sentiment, so as to provide the Party and government with valuable proposals and suggestions to help resolve issues and defuse risks.

Describing the formidable tasks, the many problems, risks and challenges, and the complex demands involved in decisively securing a moderately prosperous society in all respects as "unprecedented in scale," Wang pinpointed the need to build consensus and promote unity.

It is necessary to strengthen theoretical and political guidance and build consensus on sensitive issues, points of risk, and matters of public concern in view of the fact that the CPPCC features a diversity of sectors, strata, and interests, he noted.

A total of 5,571 proposals had been submitted by the CPPCC National Committee members over the past year, with 41 percent of them focusing on practicing new development concepts, deepening supply-side structural reform, and promoting high-quality economic development.

As of Feb. 20, 99.2 percent of them had been handled, said Su Hui, vice chairperson of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, when delivering a report on proposals.

The second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Yao Dawei]

Wang Yang, chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivers a report on the work of the 13th CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee at the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin]

Members of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. [Xinhua/Rao Aimin]

(Source: Xinhua)
Shan Jixiang (left), director of the Palace Museum, and Ng Chee Siong, head of real estate conglomerate Sino Group, shake hands during a signing ceremony in Beijing on Saturday. It marked an agreement on Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation's donation to the Palace Museum that will enable it to renovate Yanxi Gong, a distinctively exotic courtyard. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Former concubines' residence, once damaged by fire, due for makeover.

In the 720,000-square-meter Forbidden City  the former imperial palace in the heart of Beijing officially known as the Palace Museum  there is a courtyard with a distinctively exotic appearance.

The Palace of Prolonging Happiness, or Yanxi Gong, in the east of the palace complex, was used as the concubines' residence during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It was swallowed by fire in 1845, which almost destroyed the entire courtyard, except for its front gate.

Thanks to a 100 million yuan ($15 million) donation from the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation, based in Hong Kong, the courtyard will soon be renovated.

In 1909, Empress Dowager Longyu, the de facto ruler of China, ordered the construction of an aquarium on the site, which used Western-style architecture plus Chinese patterns as decorations, in the hopes that this sign of water would prevent fire in the future.

If it had been completed, it would probably have been the first modern aquarium in China. But construction was unfinished when the Qing monarchy fell, leaving abandoned stone architecture and iron frames, which can be seen by visitors today.

Cultural relic warehouses were added in the courtyard after 1925, when the Forbidden City became a public museum.

In-depth studies will follow the donation to uncover mysteries, because no original blueprint of the aquarium has been found.

According to Shan Jixiang, director of the Palace Museum, the Yanxi Gong area will be turned into an exhibition space displaying foreign cultural relics among formal royal collections, because the place reflects Sino-foreign cultural exchanges. It is expected to open in 2020.

About 10,000 cultural relics out of the 1.86 million artifacts being housed in the Palace Museum are of foreign origin. The most important collection is 1,500 antique European clocks that were given as gifts or bought by Qing emperors.

"The Belt and Road Initiative, as advocated by our country today, is not only about infrastructure development," said Ng Chee Siong, head of real estate conglomerate Sino Group, who founded the charity foundation. "It will promote international cultural communication as well.

"As a holder of that spirit of ancient Chinese fine arts and thoughts, the Palace Museum is such a key platform to promote Chinese culture for the whole world."

Ng is the eldest son of Ng Teng Fong, the late Singaporean tycoon with a major presence in Hong Kong. The foundation has spent about 1.9 billion yuan on charity programs on healthcare, education, cultural heritage conservation and environmental protection.

Hong Kong philanthropists have long cooperated with the Palace Museum. Chan Chi-chung sponsored the reconstruction of the Palace of Established Happiness (Jianfu Gong) which was completed in 2006. The original architecture was destroyed by a fire in 1923.

Chan bestowed 100 million yuan for the ongoing renovation of the Hall of Mental Cultivation (Yangxin Dian), residence of the last eight emperors in the Forbidden City. Another entrepreneur, Hui Wing Mau, donated 80 million yuan for the same project. Hui also spent 130 million buying a lost Ming Dynasty painting and donated it to the museum in 2017.

These donations also helped to build a closer relationship between the Palace Museum and Hong Kong.

In 2017, a project was launched in West Kowloon, Hong Kong, to build a new museum for displaying collections from the Palace Museum.

According to Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the project is developing smoothly. She said at Saturday's donation ceremony in Beijing that the foundation of the new museum has been completed, and the upper construction is to begin soon.

Lam revealed that part of the donation from the Ng Teng Fong Charitable Foundation will be used to train Hong Kong expertise on the restoration of cultural relics, exhibition management and preservation of ancient architecture in the Palace Museum.

She added that the new contribution will also enable Hong Kong students to participate in renovating Yanxi Gong as summer interns.

"It will pass on traditional craftsmanship to the young generation," Lam said.

(Source: Chinadaily)
China's two sessions, which kicked off on Sunday and will last for about two weeks, are attracting increasing international attention.

The second session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the national political advisory body, and National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, will start their annual sessions in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 3 and 5, respectively.

The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference holds a news conference on March 2, 2019. (Photo: People's Daily)

Aside from focusing on domestic affairs, China's two sessions also features far-reaching influence on world affairs, according to the Guardian.

Economic growth is the primary reason why the world follows China's annual sessions.

Against the backdrop of a transforming global economic landscape and rising protectionism and unilateralism, economic globalization is showing signs of faltering with the multilateralism and trade liberalization system impacted, as risks and challenges increase.

Meanwhile, China has impressed the world with its remarkable economic performance. In 2018, China saw its GDP increase by 6.6 percent to 13.6 trillion U.S. dollars, contributing about 30 percent to global growth.

In view of theses figures, Nikkei Business Daily said that Chinas future path will definitely have profound implications on the Asian and global economy.

The two sessions arouse considerable interest by providing a unique window on China. Matters of public interest including anti-graft activities, ecological protection, targeted poverty alleviation, policies on social security and housing will be thoroughly discussed between heads of government bodies, deputies from all walks of life and the public before plans are revised or rolled out.

All of these may provide the world answers as to why China under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has been maintaining continuous and steady development for years.

Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) from northwest China's Gansu Province arrive in Beijing, capital of China, March 2, 2019. (Photo: Xinhua)

China's two sessions have become the focus after China brought hope to the world with its creative Belt and Road Initiative and proposal to build a community with a shared future for all mankind. When the world is confronted with a shifting global governance system, China remains steadfast in its commitment to closely link its future and destiny with that of the people of all countries and make contributions to the noble cause of world peace and development. China has been widely recognized by the international community as a contributor to global peace, facilitator of global development and proponent of a just and reasonable international order.

(Source: Xinhua)
Wrexham AM praises new temporary accomodation for homeless people

This article is old - Published: Monday, Mar 4th, 2019

Wrexhams Assembly Member has praised the installation of new modular homes which will provide accommodation to homeless people.

Lesley Griffiths am recently visited Ty Nos homeless shelter on Holt Road where Welsh Government funding has enabled the installation of four converted shipping containers to accommodate homeless people in the short to medium-term.

The modular homes were installed in January and contain an open plan proper kitchen and seating space, bathroom and bedroom.

The fourth unit will be used during adverse weather conditions and will act as a drop-in and base for Wrexham Councils Housing Options service, who are responsible for operating the scheme.

As well as providing stable accommodation, homeless individuals will be supported during their transition from rough sleeping to recovery. They will sign an agreement and will engage with a variety of services to help ensure they are ready for longer-term tenancies elsewhere.

Lesley Griffiths AM said: The Welsh Government is determined to address the issues surrounding homelessness and it is pleasing to see a project directly funded by the Government making a difference in Wrexham.

This project is not just about providing a roof over someones head. The team will work to ensure all the necessary support services are in place to help vulnerable individuals turn their lives around.

As the only project of its kind in North Wales, I have invited the Housing Minister, Julie James AM, to Wrexham to see the modular homes for herself and I will encourage the Welsh Government to continue to support these kind of projects moving forward.

Councillor Paul D Jones, whose Maesydre ward is where the new containers are located, organised Lesley Griffiths AMs visit and said: I am pleased to see the pods have been established at Ty Nos. The sector-leading approach will provide an opportunity for people to transition from the streets, to permanent supported accommodation and a new beginning.

It has been a pleasure to help deliver this project. Thank you to all involved.

Funding for the homeless pods project was first announced in September 2017 and tackling homelessness remains a key commitment for the Welsh Government.

Over 30m is being invested this year and next with every local authority in Wales receiving 25,000 to assist with winter pressures and deliver support to rough sleepers before Christmas.

Wrexham has been identified as an area in Wales with more complex rough sleeping issues than most and recently received an additional 100,000 to support local projects such as the Community Care Hub. Wales First Minister, Mark Drakeford AM, visited the initiative based at the Salvation Army in Wrexham last month.

Lesley Griffiths AM added: The installation of the pods at Ty Nos and ongoing work of the Community Care Hub are prime examples of innovative local projects, backed by Welsh Government investment, that are having a positive impact in tackling homelessness and rough sleeping in Wrexham.

You can view our video of the modular homes being installed, below:



(Click for large)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-03 22:12:03|Editor: Liangyu

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An airplane heading to Moscow of Russia takes off from the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport in Zhengding, north China's Hebei Province, March 3, 2019. A passenger flight was launched from the Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport to Moscow of Russia on Sunday. The flight operates once every Sunday. (Xinhua/Zhang Xiaofeng)

SHIJIAZHUANG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- North China's Hebei Province on Sunday opened its first direct passenger flight to Russia.

The flight linking Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, and the Russian capital Moscow, will be operated each Sunday by Russia's Ikar Airlines, according to Hebei Airport Management Holding Co., Ltd.

The returning flight takes off from Shijiazhuang at 6:45 a.m. local time Monday and arrives in Moscow at 3:35 p.m. local time.

The company said the new air route will improve the province's air links with the Belt and Road countries while promoting its economic and cultural interactions with Moscow.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-03 23:42:27|Editor: yan

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KUNMING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's social endowment insurance for rural and urban residents has covered over 523 million people by the end of 2018, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS).

Over 49 million people in poverty have benefited from the insurance program directly, MOHRSS data showed.

The unemployment insurance premium has allocated 1.82 billion yuan (about 272 million U.S. dollars) of living subsidies to 402,000 migrant workers who had lost their jobs, the ministry said.

The social endowment insurance program covers groups including the self-employed, rural migrant workers and farmers, providing pensions for their retirement.

China faces the challenge of building a more sustainable pension system as its population ages.

By 2018, China had 249 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 17.9 percent of its total population, becoming a country with the largest and fastest-growing aged population in the world.
Source: Xinhuanet| 2019-03-04 11:01:16|Editor: Xiaoxia

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South African Ambassador to China Dolana Msimang takes an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 21, 2018. (Xinhuanet photo)

by Wang Xiaoxia, Zhong Yulan

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhuanet) -- No words can describe what has happened in China during the past 70 years, as it is phenomenal and extremely encouraging, South African ambassador to China Dolana Msimang said recently.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Peoples Republic of China, which is one of the highest landmarks of China, also important to the developing countries, the ambassador said during an exclusive interview with Xinhuanet.

Since the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, the country has taken the development cause into its own hands and become the worlds second biggest economy, she added.

For us, its encouraging, the ambassador explained. It shows that with determination, and if you have the interest of your people at heart, you will succeed.

Poverty alleviation is the one among the most impressive programs that China has embarked on.

By targeting poverty alleviation, China makes sure that everyone get to benefit from its development, which is quite exemplary and encouraging, said the ambassador.

Meanwhile, China encourages inclusive growth, the ambassador pointed out, as the Belt and Road Initiative releases a breath of fresh air in the world that is now obsessed with unilateralism.

The initiative tries to spread out the good to the world by improving infrastructures and building facilities, and concentrates people on constructive issues, the ambassador explained.

As it tries to find a common solution that benefits all, the Belt and Road Initiative is connecting the world with positive energy, she said.

In South Africa, added the ambassador, there is a program cooperating with China to develop ocean economy, which also forms part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The ambassador said that she could foresee a lot of good results that would come from the Belt and Road Initiative and a lot of programs that would benefit both countries and strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership.

A major platform for China-Africa cooperation and South-South cooperation is FOCAC, which enables African countries to address issues from a broader point of view and learn from each other, the ambassador added.

On that platform, African countries can engage with China, and come up with strength that affects them all, she explained.

The programs that China is involved in Africa make Africa ready for international programs, said the ambassador.

They contribute very much to Africas own Agenda 2063, as well as the United Nations Development Goals, she added.

Chinas cooperation with Africa has enhanced Africas participation in the international arena, she said.

However, there are voices that blame China-Africa cooperation for African countries debt problems. For this, the ambassador said that "China has done its best, " and it is the African countries that should manage to avoid the potential risks.

"Just like people who get loan from the bank, they have to make sure that they can pay back," she explained, "the bank has no duty to think for them."

The ambassador ruled out the negative aspects in the relationship between China and Africa.

African countries must take responsibilities for the future of the relationship, she stressed.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 02:12:51|Editor: yan

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AMMAN, March 3 (Xinhua) -- King Abdullah II of Jordan on Sunday called for increased coordination among the Arab countries to address common challenges, state-run Petra news agency reported.

The king made his remarks during his meeting in the capital Amman with heads of Arab parliaments, who are gathering in Amman for their 29th meeting themed "Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Palestine."

The Jordanian king stressed the key role the Arab parliaments should play in unifying Arab stances regarding regional challenges, adding that increased cooperation and coordination are required to ensure stability and security in the region.

King Abdullah also called for intensifying efforts to find political solution to the crises facing some Arab countries.

On the Palestinian issue, he reiterated Jordan's consistent position which regards the Palestinian issue as a central issue in the region.

He also commended the Arab parliaments' efforts to defend Jerusalem and support the Palestinian refugees.

Discussions also covered combating terrorism and radicalism.

Meanwhile, heads of Arab parliaments stressed Jordan's key role in the Middle East and the importance of continued cooperation and coordination about various issues facing the Arab nation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 03:33:06|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TUNIS, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The 36th session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council kicked off on Sunday in Tunis to discuss the common interests in strengthening Arab security cooperation.

"The Arab region is facing serious security challenges, especially terrorism crimes, cybercrimes, illegal immigration and human trafficking," said Tunisian Interior Minister Hichem Fourati at the opening.

These crimes threaten Arab security, and further work is needed to develop means of fighting them, Fourati added.

The Interior Minister of Saudi Arabia Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said terrorism and extremism threaten the entire world, calling for further work to dry up the sources of terrorist funding and to fight against money laundering and financial crime.

The Secretary General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers Mohamed Ben Ali Koman said the most serious security challenge facing the Arab countries is the return of terrorist elements from hotbeds of tension following the defeat of terrorist organizations.

Koman called for updating an Arab database on "terrorist fighters" and continuing to feed the base with all available information to confront the terrorist scourge.

This session was attended by ministers of interior of the Arab states, senior security delegations, representatives of various Arab and international organizations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 03:58:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Khaled al-Anany (C), Egypt's minister of antiquities, speaks during an interview in Alexandria, Egypt, on March 3, 2019. Egypt is looking forward to further archaeological cooperation with China after the work of the first Chinese mission in Egypt in 2018, Khaled al-Anany told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Sunday. (Xinhua/Wu Huiwo)

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Egypt is looking forward to further archaeological cooperation with China after the work of the first Chinese mission in Egypt in 2018, an Egyptian minister said Sunday.

"The first Chinese archaeological mission in Egypt worked last year and I hope it is only the beginning for a big number of similar Chinese missions in Egypt," Khaled al-Anany, Egypt's minister of antiquities, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

The minister referred to the Chinese mission from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), which started working on Montu Temple north of the world-famous Karnak Temple Complex in Upper Egypt's province of Luxor last November.

"We have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with CASS and we are very optimistic for a very fruitful cooperation between the two countries in archeology," Anany said.

The Chinese mission has finished its first season of mission in Egypt, which is mainly a preparatory stage in the project, the minister noted.

They are expected, along with Egyptian counterparts, to start the reassembly and restoration works of some of the scattered pieces and ruins of Montu Temple in the coming season, he added.

Describing the Egyptian-Chinese relations as "exceptional," the Egyptian minister expressed hope that they will be equally distinguished in the field of archaeology.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 04:13:10|Editor: yan

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CHICAGO, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Watching a Chinese New Year concert more than half a month ago, Chinese American composer and violinist Yang Gongqian is still in a state of excitement.

"The concert was a success. It inherited Chinese tradition and did a good job in artistic expression," he said.

Yang is also envisioning how he could have done to make the American audience better understand, enjoy and accept this Chinese New Year concert, which was jointly presented by the Hubei Chime Bells National Chinese Orchestra and the China National Peking Opera Company at Chicago Symphony Center, if he were the conductor.

Exotic is what many American audience feel about the concert when they hear traditional Chinese music, Yang told Xinhua. He has been using some modern techniques to hybridize traditional Chinese music, and facilitate more extensive spread and acceptance of Chinese music in the Western world.

"The Butterfly Lovers" violin concerto is a crossover masterpiece, a perfect fusion of China's Huangmei Opera with Western symphonic writing, Yang said. It is one of the most famous piece of Chinese music, as well as a world renowned masterpiece.

Yang has made some efforts in this field by redeveloping and orchestrating Chinese folk music "Kangding Love Song" into a symphonic work. The redevelopment has the original folk music as the main theme, but features a second theme he has created. He used solo violin and piano to express an antiphonal style.

Chicago's Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra premiered the "Fantasy for Violin and Piano with Orchestra", the symphonic work Yang recomposed from "Kangding Love Song" at a local 2018 Chinese New Year concert, drawing enthusiastic applause.

Nurhan Arman, a well-established Canadian conductor and founder of Sinfonia Toronto, praised the music "a lovely piece".

Yang's devotion to music started when he was a child. He entered China's Central Conservatory of Music in 1982, majoring in violin, and then worked for China National Symphony Orchestra after graduation, playing first violin.

Talking about his study and work in China, Yang said the biggest reward he got is "discipline". "It is the basis of all," he stressed.

Recitation of the poems of Tang Dynasty and the verses of Song Dynasty in childhood has left a profound influence on Yang's music composition, endowing him with a unique music style of his own.

"Those poems and verses have melted into my way of creative thinking process, and enabled my mind to travel through time and space. When composing, the artistic image of Li Bai is alive in my mind," Yang told Xinhua.

Li Bai, a Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), pushed traditional Chinese poetic forms to new highs. There are around a thousand poems attributable to him, which are models for celebrating the pleasure of friendship, the depth of nature, solitude, and the joy of drinking.

With the desire to see the world, Yang came to the United States in 1988, and became a student of Dorothy Delay, a legendary violin teacher.

In 2005, Yang had his first original music album "Sonic Poem" published, which was selected one of the "Top 10 Master Albums" on CD Baby in the year.

When China National Symphony Orchestra had its tour of the United States in 2006, it performed the "Nature and Me Symphonic Poem" from the album.

Yang has so far composed some 80 music pieces, some of which are re-orchestrated from traditional Chinese music. Augusta Read Thomas, an American composer as well as a professor of the University of Chicago, praised his music as "song without words".

Listening to Yang's music, one can feel quietness, elegance and comfort in "Morning Lake" and "Wave and Clouds"; or open-mindedness in "Nature and Me Symphonic Poem" and "Dawn Awakening".

Yang said the path to discovering a music language of his own is extremely difficult. Fortunately, he found the music language of his own. "This is the best reward I've got."

Now with both oriental cultural accumulation and Western music composition techniques in hand, Yang dreams of bringing traditional Chinese music into the mainstream society in the Western world.

"Music under different limelight gives people different feelings," Yang said. "Traditional Chinese music just needs a medium." He plans to go on re-orchestrating traditional Chinese music with artistic means of the Western world, making the Western audience understand Chinese music in their way.

"Mutual understanding is essential," Yang stressed. "Only when people understand each other can they accept each other."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 06:33:35|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate is likely to garner enough bipartisan votes to pass a resolution against President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration aimed to fund the U.S.-Mexico border wall, local media reported Sunday.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Republican Senator Rand Paul said at a dinner in Western Kentucky University late Saturday night.

"We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing," he was quoted by local media reports as saying.

"I can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president," he said.

Paul joins three other Senate Republicans - Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina - who have already said they will vote with Democrats in opposition to the president's declaration.

With Republicans holding just 53 Senate seats, these defections mean the resolution will likely pass, said the reports.

On Tuesday, the Democratic-controlled House voted 245-182 to approve the resolution. Thirteen House Republicans joined Democrats to end Trump's emergency declaration.

The Senate is expected to vote later this month on the House resolution and Trump has previously said that he would veto the measure.

Trump made the declaration in February to free up billions of dollars in funding for border wall construction, after Congress allocated just a fraction of what he had asked for.
An investor is seen at a stock market in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, Jan. 2, 2018. (Xinhua/Long Wei)

by Xinhua writers Luo Jingjing, Liu Yanan, Yang Shilong

NEW YORK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- The new stock-trading venue in Shanghai Stock Exchange is a "very good attempt" to optimizing the multi-tiered capital market system and enhancing the capital market's capability to serve the real economy in China, American experts said.

The science and technology innovation board, which pilots registration-based initial public offering (IPO) system, is "a very good attempt," and "it may be adopted by A-share markets in the future," said Henry Huang, professor with Sy Syms School of Business, Yeshiva University.

"If high-tech companies grow and expand in the sci-tech innovation board, maybe they will get listed in the A-share markets later to attract more qualified investors, which makes the sci-tech innovation board an incubator of quality enterprises," Huang said.

Kevin Chen, chief economist with U.S. wealth management firm Horizon Financial, agreed.

The new board will "largely improve" financing environment for high-tech companies, thereby accelerating the progress of sci-tech innovation in China as a whole, he said.

The adoption of registration-based IPO system will "make shell companies meaningless, while real values of listed companies will be shown in their share prices through more appropriate supervision mechanism," Chen said.

In addition, the new major reform will facilitate Shanghai's transformation into an international financial center as well as a science and technology innovation hub, said Allen Tjiong, president and CEO of BOC International (USA) Inc.

"These reforms are essential in making Shanghai a more competitive and attractive capital market for technology companies to raise capital," said Tjiong.

China's top securities regulator on Friday released regulations on the science and technology innovation board, which pilots registration-based IPO system. The regulations took effect on March 1 on a trial basis, according to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).

The new stock-trading venue focuses on companies in high-tech and strategically emerging sectors such as new generation information technology, advanced equipment, new materials and energy, environmental protection, and biomedicine, according to the CSRC.

Under the pilot registration system, eligible companies can become listed by filing required documents. Currently, new shares of the A-share markets are subject to approval from the securities watchdog.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 07:28:43|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TALLINN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Estonian Reform Party won 34 seats in the parliamentary election held on Sunday, against the 26 seats gained by the ruling coalition Centre Party, showed the voting and election results on the official website of State Electoral Office of Estonia early Monday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 07:53:47|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least two people were killed and many more were injured as "large and destructive" tornadoes hit two U.S. southern states of Alabama and Georgia on Sunday, according to local media reports.

A damaging tornado touched down in Lee County, Alabama, on Sunday afternoon amid a severe weather outbreak across the southeast of the United States, said a report from the accuweather.com.

The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) in Birmingham, Alabama, issued a tornado emergency at 2:09 p.m. CST Sunday due to the "confirmed large and destructive tornado."

This was just one of several tornadoes reported across Alabama and Georgia on Sunday afternoon, local media said.

The full scope of the damage is still unknown as severe weather persists across the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 09:56:19|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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A Bangladeshi policeman uses a metal detector to conduct security check at the entrance of the Hazrat Shajalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 3, 2019. Bangladesh has tightened security in and around Hazrat Shajalal International Airport in capital Dhaka after an attempted hijack last week. Bangladeshi commandos stormed a passenger plane of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines at an airport in the southeastern city of Chattogram and shot dead an armed man who tried to hijack the Dubai-bound flight last Sunday. (Xinhua/Stringer)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 09:39:10|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TALLINN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Estonia's liberal opposition party Reform Party won 34 seats in the country's parliamentary election held on Sunday, outperforming the current ruling Centre Party, which gained 26 seats, showed the election results on Monday.

The two small parties in the current ruling coalition Pro Patria and the Social Democrats won 12 seats and 10 seats respectively, while the right-wing Conservative People's Party of Estonia got 19 seats, showed the voting and election results on the official website of State Electoral Office of Estonia.

The final results of the total 101 seats of the Estonian parliament are set to be announced by the Electoral Committee later on Monday.

Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, who is the chairman of the Centre Party, said that he will do his utmost to make the Centre Party a part of the next government, the Estonian Public Broadcasting ETV reported.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 10:44:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TALLINN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Estonia's liberal opposition party Reform Party won 34 seats in the country's parliamentary election held on Sunday, outperforming the current ruling Centre Party, which gained 26 seats, showed the election results on Monday.

The two small parties in the current ruling coalition Pro Patria and the Social Democrats won 12 seats and 10 seats respectively, while the right-wing Conservative People's Party of Estonia got 19 seats, showed the voting and election results on the official website of State Electoral Office of Estonia.

The final results of the total 101 seats of the Estonian parliament are set to be announced by the Electoral Committee later on Monday.

Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas, who is the chairman of the Centre Party, said that he will do his utmost to make the Centre Party a part of the next government, the Estonian Public Broadcasting ETV reported.

The voter turnout was 63.9 percent, showed the preliminary results on the official election website.

A total of 451 polling stations from 12 voting districts opened from 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) till 8 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) Sunday for voters to cast ballots for their regional candidates out of 1,099 candidates from 10 political parties and 15 independents.

Out of the total 1.32 million Estonian population, altogether 958,571 people, including 77,881 Estonian citizens living abroad, can vote in the general election, the Estonian Ministry of the Interior confirmed.

During the advance voting period on Feb. 21-27 in Estonia, 247,232 voters chose internet voting, up from just over 186,000 in the 2017 local elections.

The advance overseas voting was held at Estonian foreign representations from Feb. 16 to Feb. 20, according to the State Electoral Office.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 10:44:25|Editor: Li Xia

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- After seven consecutive gold medals on the previous two days, China kept its winning streak on Sunday at the first leg of the FINA/CNSG Diving World Series in Japan's Sagamihara, claiming the last three golds, according to world swimming governing body FINA.

In the women's 3m springboard, Shi Tingmao, winner in this event at all legs of the 2018 edition, snatched the gold in 382.05 points. Despite some mistakes, Wang Han of China also did solid dives to rank second with 378.90, while Canada's Jennifer Abel was third in 353.40.

After finishing the first leg on a golden note, Shi spoke about her ambitions for the second meet of the Series. "In the next leg in Beijing I would like to have the same result as in Sagamihara", she said.

The men's 10m platform final was quite fierce as many divers got high scores.

Britain's Thomas Daley was the biggest rival for China's Yang Jian in the final. Yang was only two pionts more than Daley before the last dive. In the last combination, Daley got 108.00 points for a perfect 207B, while Yang did even better with a 112.75 for a flawless 109B. It was the decisive key for gold, with an accumulated 586.20 points for Yang.

Daley finished in second in 579.85 points, and Russia's Aleksandr Bondar who struggled for the lead with Daley and Yang had to content with bronze in 545.90.

Also on Sunday, China's pair Chang Yani and Yang Hao won the 3m mixed synchro in 330.63. Canada and Britain took silver and bronze respectively.

The second leg of the FINA/CNSG Diving World Series will take place in Beijing from March 7 to 9.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 10:49:26|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- At least 14 people were killed as apparent "large and destructive" tornadoes hit U.S. southern states of Alabama and Georgia on Sunday, the authorities confirmed.

The 14 deaths were in Lee County, Alabama, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said, adding that there were also "many, many injuries."

The Lee County Emergency Management Agency, or EMA, said the worst of the damage was near the town of Beauregard, where it said earlier Sunday it had confirmed two deaths. The town is about 96 km east of Montgomery, the capital city of the state of Alabama.

More than 42,000 homes and businesses were without power in Alabama and Georgia following the severe thunderstorms, local media reported.

Photos issued by multiple media outlets showed debris from strong wind gusts and heavy rain knocking off power lines.

The U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) in Birmingham, Alabama, issued a tornado emergency at 2:09 p.m. CST (2009 GMT) Sunday due to the "confirmed large and destructive tornado."

A number of tornado warnings were issued on Sunday as powerful storms moved through parts of Georgia, including South Metro Atlanta. The NWS also declared a tornado emergency in Georgia on Sunday.

At least six people in rural Talbotton, about 129 km south of Atlanta, were injured amid the terrible weather, Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency, told local media.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 10:49:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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CANBERRA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) has announced 60 million Australian dollars (42.49 million U.S. dollars) in funding to help victims of domestic abuse rebuild their lives.

ALP leader Bill Shorten made the announcement on Monday, saying the money would fund 20,000 "flexible support packages" to help women fleeing an abusive relationship pay rent and buy furniture.

The money will come from Labor's proposed banking fairness fund, a levy it plans to impose on major banks and financial institutions to fund community improvement schemes.

"We need to invest in more support for women fleeing violence at home, so that financial barriers aren't the reason victims are trapped in a violent relationship," Shorten said in a statement on Monday.

"Instead of asking, 'why did she stay?' we need to ask 'where could she go?'

"These packages are about helping people keep their life together in the most difficult of circumstances, keeping the kids in the school they know, keeping the family doctor, being able to work and study. Dealing with violence is hard enough without the real fear that every other part of your life will fall apart too."

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), one in five Australian women have been sexually assaulted and/or threatened since age 15.

Intimate partner violence causes more illness, disability and deaths than any other risk factor for women aged between 25 and 44, according to AIHW.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 11:14:30|Editor: Liu

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SYDNEY, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Intense bushfires have destroyed up to nine structures, including homes, in the southeast Australian state of Victoria over the weekend.

A number of communities remained under threat on Monday, with authorities warning residents to take shelter if they have not yet evacuated.

"This is a challenging time and it's going to be a very busy time for firefighters and emergency services across the state," Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

Dozens of suburbs spent the day nervously listening for updates informing whether fires would spread their way - while others stood in the devastating wake of the firefront.

Winery operator Andrew Clarke watched his home and entire operation consumed after being forced to flee a ferocious blaze which swept across his property on Sunday.

"It is my life's work and we have lost our cellar door which we built over many years," Clarke told local media.

"I don't have any way of earning any money, I don't know what to do, I have got to support my family, so I'm stuffed pretty much."

Another victim of the fires who went by her first name, Karen, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that she was happy to have made it out safely and is trying to stay positive.

"We've got some beautiful friends and I know we've lost everything but we haven't lost everything, if you know what I mean," she told ABC radio.

Not so lucky were the multitudes of wildlife which unfortunately did not get the evacuation message.

"All that wildlife, that's all dead," she said, "all those echidnas, all those kangaroos, all those deer, all those koalas, all those goannas that we look at all the time."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 12:44:44|Editor: Liangyu

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Zhang Yesui (C), spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), speaks during a press conference on the agenda of the session and the work of the NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. The second session of the 13th NPC will open in Beijing on March 5. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- China hopes the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States will continue talks and stick to political solution which is key to resolving the Korean Peninsular issue, a spokesperson said Monday.

Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress, described the recent meeting between the DPRK and U.S. leaders in Hanoi as "constructive".

Zhang expressed the hope for the DPRK and the United States to keep good faith, remain patient, and continue to engage in talks toward the right direction to seek further progress.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 12:49:46|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has sent a congratulatory message to Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election as Nigerian president.

In the message dated March 1, Xi said he attaches great importance to the development of China-Nigeria relations and would like to work with Buhari to continuously lift Sino-Nigerian strategic partnership to higher levels by implementing the outcomes of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, so as to better benefit the two countries and their people.

Buhari, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, won the presidential election last week securing 55.6 percent of the votes.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 13:24:49|Editor: Liangyu

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Zhang Yesui (C), spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), speaks during a press conference on the agenda of the session and the work of the NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. The second session of the 13th NPC will open in Beijing on March 5. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- China plans to make a personal information protection law, in a bid to fight against improper collection, abuse and leak of citizen's personal information, a spokesperson for the annual session of the country's top legislature said Monday.

Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), said at a press conference that the NPC Standing Committee will also work on a number of laws relevant to artificial intelligence (AI).
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 14:00:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SEOUL, March 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating fell last week to 49.4 percent after the second summit between top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended with no agreement, a weekly poll showed Monday.

According to the Realmeter survey, support for Moon declined 1.6 percentage points over the week to 49.4 percent last week, hovering around 50 percent for the fourth consecutive week.

It came after the second Kim-Trump summit in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi failed to reach an agreement though the two sides agreed to continue talks about peace on and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Support for Moon's ruling Democratic Party shrank 2.1 percentage points to 38.3 percent last week.

The main conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party saw its support score rise to 28.8 percent last week thanks to a so-called convention effect that came from the election of former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as the party chief in the nationwide party convention.

The minor conservative Bareun Future Party won 7.3 percent of support, while the minor progressive Justice Party and the center-left Party for Democracy and Peace garnered 6.9 percent and 2.7 percent each last week.

The results were based on a survey of 2,011 voters conducted from Monday to Thursday. It had plus and minus 2.2 percentage points in margin of error with a 95 percent confidence level.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 14:05:04|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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SYDNEY, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Australia's largest ever aviation project, the Western Sydney Aerotropolis, will be named after the nation's first female pilot to recognize her unique contributions to the country, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Monday.

"Nancy-Bird Walton is an Australian legend, a pioneer whose determination to take to the sky is an inspiration for generations who have followed," he said.

"Nancy-Bird was the first female pilot in Australia, and the Commonwealth, to be licenced to carry passengers and began her career flying nurses to the outback to provide medical services for children and their mothers."

Born in 1915, Walton was granted a class A flying license when she was just 17 and during World War II.

Known as "the First Lady of Aviation," she played a pivotal role in training other female pilots. When the war was over, Walton then founded the Australian Women Pilots' Association.

She died in 2009 and was honored with a State Funeral.

"Nancy was a trailblazer not just for women, but for anyone who thought about the future and who had a vision for helping others," New South Wales State Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

With the construction kicking off at the end of last year, the 5.3 billion Australian dollars (3.7 billion U.S. dollars) airport project is expected to be completed in 2026.

"Western Sydney Airport is a truly visionary project that will transform our city, recognizing the economic powerhouse that is Western Sydney, creating 28,000 jobs within five years of opening, while delivering new tourism and trade opportunities in Sydney and Australia," Morrison said.
Kevin Mazur/WireImageWith HBO's documentary Leaving Neverland again raising allegation of child sexual abuse against Michael Jackson, it's no surprise that fans of the late star are dismissing the expose's credibility altogether.

Following the doc's premiere Sunday night, Jackson's legions of supporters took to Twitter to share their thoughts .

"Crazy how Michael Jackson fans on Twitter are providing more facts and research than the actual HBO documentary," one skeptical viewer observed.

"We know the truth. We won't allow them to deceive us," tweeted another. "We will not sit back and have them lie on an innocent man that's not here to defend himself. We will knock them down with facts. Facts don't lie."

Leaving Neverland centers on the sexual abuse allegations brought by two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck. The former proteges of Jackson share in graphic detail the alleged abuses they said they endured as children at Jackson's hands. Many fans, however, are calling those claims into question.

"Wade Robson admitted in #MichaelJacksons trial that hed never been molested by Michael," a fan tweeted shortly after part one of the doc aired. "He changed his mind and sued his estate in 2013, 4 yrs after Jackson died. He lost. Now were #LeavingNeverland with a one sided story because MJ cant defend himself from the grave."

Robson and Safechuck claim Jackson threatened them if they told the truth during the trial.

Jackson's fans in China are leading protests against the film and calling for a boycott of HBO.

Since the announcement of Leaving Neverland, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last month, the Jackson Family has vigorously denied all sexual abuse claims, and also attempted to block HBO from airing the story.

Leaving Neverland concludes Monday night on HBO.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 14:15:07|Editor: Liangyu

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have identified a protein that causes the proliferation of liver cancer cells, a finding which could assist in the development of a new cancer drug, Monday's China Daily reported.

By studying proteins of patients with early-stage liver cancer, researchers found that the activity of one protein, identified as SOAT1, can affect cholesterol stability in cancer cells - which triggers them to proliferate and migrate.

The study also found that avasimibe, an inhibitor of SOAT1, shows potential as a targeted therapeutic drug.

The paper, co-authored by scientists from the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, and Beijing Cancer Hospital, was recently published in Nature.

"This study explains why very early liver cancer can still spread to the entire body one to three months after surgery. It is of great value for future drug research, and helps explain the biological features of liver cancer so that more effective treatment can be selected." said Fan Jia, dean of Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University.

The study is part of the Chinese Human Proteome Project, launched in 2014 to explore new approaches to treat major endemic diseases by building up human proteome biological profiles and mapping all the proteins in major organs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 14:25:10|Editor: Liangyu

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URUMQI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A new flight from the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to Vienna via Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, will open on June 18.

It will be the first direct flight linking Urumqi and a western European city. The service will be operated by China Southern Airlines on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The new flight will save time for passengers traveling between northwestern China and Vienna, capital of Austria.

A Boeing 787 aircraft is scheduled to depart from Guangzhou at 9:30, arrive in Urumqi at 14:40 for a 90-minute stopover and land in Vienna at 17:30 local time.

The return flight will leave Vienna at 18:55, arrive in Urumqi at 7:55 for a 90-minute stopover and arrive in Guangzhou at 14:35.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 14:55:21|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TALUQAN, Afghanistan, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Taliban militants stormed a major bazaar in the northern Takhar province on Monday and so far three civilians have been killed and seven others injured, a local Afghan official said.

The official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity that the Taliban outfit launched massive offensive on the bazaar of Yangi Qala district around 8:00 a.m. local time to overcome the city, but security forces retaliated, triggering a gun battle which has resulted in the death of three civilians and injury of seven others.

Meantime, provincial police spokesman Abdul Khalil Asir confirmed the Taliban offensive, but said the militants' attack had been repulsed and the situation was under control.

However, the spokesman admitted that two civilians had been killed and seven others sustained injuries during the firefight.

Taliban militants have not commented on the attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 15:15:24|Editor: zh

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SUVA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Fiji has begun to train Litter Prevention Officers (LPO) to work together with the authorities in combating littering and enforcing anti-litter laws.

According to a statement by Fiji's Department of Information on Monday, Fiji's Minister for Agriculture, Rural and Maritime Development, Waterways and Environment Mahendra Reddy said on Monday at the Litter Act 2008 LPO Enforcement Training held in the Fijian capital city of Suva that the one-day training was timely as it had come at a time when waste issues have been at the heart of discussions at all levels and in all sectors of the Fijian government including the private sector.

Reddy said littering is a big problem for Fiji as it not only causes pollution but also causes health problems.

"Litter is also a threat to public health as it attracts vermin and can negatively affect the image of communities. Litter using plastics causes an additional problem of stalling decomposition of materials which could decompose," he said.

In an effort to have a cleaner Fiji, the Fijian government has been installing rubbish bins nationwide, and Fiji's Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has urged Fijians to make good use of rubbish bins.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:00:37|Editor: zh

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CANBERRA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Australia and Indonesia signed a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) on Monday after years of negotiations.

Australia's Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham joined his Indonesian counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita to sign the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Both Australia and Indonesia rank in the world's top 20 economies but are not in each other's top 10 trading partners despite being close neighbors.

"Bolstering economic ties between our nations will create new trade opportunities for Australian and Indonesian businesses, boost two-way investment and increase prosperity in both countries," Birmingham and Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement on Monday.

"With a population of 270 million and high levels of economic growth, Indonesia is on track to become one of the world's largest economies. This makes the strengthening of our ties both strategically and economically important.

"This is a great deal for Australia: it means that 99 percent of Australian goods (by value) will enter Indonesia duty-free or under significantly improved preferential arrangements by 2020."

In addition, the FTA deal will also provide major benefits for Australian universities and healthcare providers, clearing the way for them to set up shop in Indonesia.

On the other side of the equation, the agreement will eliminate all tariffs on Indonesian imports to Australia and the number of Australian work and holiday visas will rise from 1,000 to 5,000 within six years.

The parliaments of both nations must ratify it before it is enacted, a process that could take months given that Indonesia will hold a general election in April and Australia will do so in May.

Australian trade unions on Monday escalated their campaign against IA-CEPA, expressing fears it would increase the number of foreign workers in Australia, a notion that Birmigham described as "blatant scaremongering."

Asked if he would support the deal to ensure it is ratified as soon as possible, Bill Shorten, leader of the Opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) and a former union organizer, said his party is "positively disposed" to the deal.

"We'll have to study the detail, as you always do - we want to make sure that Australian jobs are prioritized - but we're very positive from what we've seen so far," he told reporters in Melbourne.

The landmark FTA has been welcomed by both the Business Council of Australia (BCA), Australia's largest group representing the interests of businesses, and the National Farmers' Federation (NFF).

"This is an important agreement for a large developing country like Indonesia, and it demonstrates both Australia's and Indonesia's commitment to rules-based global trade at a time when the voices against freer and more liberal trade are increasingly loud," BCA chief executive Jennifer Westacott said.

Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews hailed the agreement, saying IA-CEPA would help to further strengthen Australia's economy, as well as ties between the two countries.

"IA-CEPA will help drive more growth for Australian businesses by creating exciting new market opportunities in Indonesia," the minister said in a statement.

"Importantly, Australia's merchandise exports to Indonesia were approximately 7 billion Australian dollars (about 5 billion U.S. dollars) in 2017, making Indonesia Australia's 9th largest export market in 2017."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:10:38|Editor: ZX

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XINING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Ngawang Dawa will never forget the 15-day journey he took ten years ago to bring food and clothes to farmers and herders hit by a snowstorm.

Large amounts of snowfall made rescue effort extremely difficult, said Ngawang Dawa, then deputy county head of Zhidoi County, in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

"We had bulldozers remove the snow so our cars could get through, but it was slow work. Many herders were low on food and fuel by the time we arrived in Sokya," he said. It took him and another cadre 15 days to reach the Sokya Township, the farthest township from the county seat.

In 2019 alone, over ten rounds of heavy snowstorms have hit Yushu, with drifts and snow piles as tall as two meters high, but this time Ngawang Dawa said he and his colleagues were better prepared.

Now the head of the poverty relief bureau in Yushu, Ngawang Dawa said the speed of response was faster, and losses were reduced to a tenth of those ten years ago.

Snowstorms in 2018 left 200,000 cattle dead. In 2019, only 26,000 cattle have died as a result of the snow. No human casualties have been reported.

More than 400,000 people live in the Yushu prefecture on the southwestern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In 2018, 67,300 people in Yushu lived below the poverty line.

Precision and steadfast implementation of poverty relief policies led to better disaster preparedness with marked improvement in health, transportation and emergency shelter infrastructure.

BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE

From 2016 to 2018, a total of 3,806 km of roads were built in Yushu, improving transportation for over 112,000 people.

After the snowstorms hit, excavators were brought in to clean the snow off the road so food and animal feed could be supplied to the disaster-stricken areas, said Ngawang Dawa.

Animal shelters and oat grass reserves that were established using poverty relief funds were enough to sustain the animals through the storms.

Government officials acted promptly to assist the vulnerable communities through the natural disaster, as mandated by the nationwide poverty relief campaign, officials said.

Herder Tsangyu Tsering broke both of his legs right ahead of an intense snowstorm in February. He received timely assistance as local cadres and rescuers lost no time in locating him and bringing him to a nearby clinic.

In the past three years, 189 new clinics were built in Yushu, including the one where Tsangyu Tsering received treatment.

After the snowstorms hit, doctors were sent to make rounds in their communities to offer help to those in need, said Drawasong, head of a township clinic in Zadoi County.

IMPROVED LIVELIHOOD

The resettlement of residents from extremely challenging environments to more hospitable areas puts locals in better positions to deal with disasters.

Tamdrun, a 48-year-old woman, is relieved that her husband is recovering from rheumatism in their new home. A former herder in the mountains, Tamdrun lived far away from the county seat, and a single journey to the nearest pharmacy was 120 km.

In November last year, the family received a government subsidy to move to a new home in the Qingshuihe Township, about 100 km from their old residence.

In Yushu, a total of 7,020 people have been resettled into better living environments. Another 334 million yuan (about 49 million U.S. dollars) was spent on renovating old and dilapidated houses.

Herding is a mainstay industry in Yushu. Compared with individual herders, cooperatives suffered fewer losses from the blizzards.

Jamtsering runs an animal farming cooperative of 45 families in Zhidoi County. His cooperative helps individual herders ward off risks which they could not have dealt with alone, he said.

"With improved facilities and preventive measures, we're in a better position to deal with harsh weather and protect our cattle," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:20:40|Editor: zh

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JERUSALEM, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were shot dead on Monday after they drove car into Israeli soldiers in the West Bank, critically injuring an officer, Israeli military and local media said.

The military issued a statement describing the incident as a Palestinian car-ramming attack, saying that two attackers were "neutralized" and a third man, who was also in the car, was slightly wounded.

Local media reported that the two Palestinians were killed.

The military said an army officer was "severely" injured and a paramilitary Border Police troop was lightly wounded after a Palestinian car ran over them outside the village of Ni'ma, northwest of Ramallah city.

Israeli media reported that the soldiers had stopped their vehicle at the side of the road at night before the attack.

The violence was the latest in a wave of individual Palestinian attacks, carried out mostly by Palestinians without known affiliation with militant groups.

Israel seized the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians wish to establish a state in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians collapsed in 2014.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:25:41|Editor: ZX

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Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, presides over a preparatory meeting for the second session of the 13th NPC at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Deputies to the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) gathered Monday morning at a preparatory meeting to elect the presidium and secretary-general and set the agenda for the second session of the 13th NPC scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

A 176-member presidium was elected, with Wang Chen as the secretary-general of the NPC session, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

All preparation for the annual session is done, according to Chairman of the 13th NPC Standing Committee Li Zhanshu, who presided over the preparatory meeting and expressed his hope that the session will be democratic, united, pragmatic and progressive.

As of Sunday, 2,956 of the 2,975 NPC deputies had registered with the session's secretariat, and 2,932 attended the preparatory meeting.

The meeting also adopted the agenda of the session.

Prior to the preparatory meeting, a meeting of chairman and vice chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee was held, where attendees heard the report on the drafts of the agenda and the presidium and secretary-general name lists of the upcoming annual session, and decided to submit the drafts to the preparatory meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:40:42|Editor: zh

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RAMALLAH, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinians were killed and one was injured on Monday morning by Israeli soldiers' gunfire in the village of Kofr Ni'ma in the suburb of the West Bank city of Ramallah, medical sources and eyewitnesses said.

The eyewitnesses said that Israeli soldiers opened fire at three Palestinians in the village, killing two of them and injuring the third one.

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry in the West Bank said in a statement that the Palestinian liaison office that coordinates security affairs with the Israeli side informed the ministry that the Israeli army holds the bodies of the two Palestinians.

An Israeli army spokesman said in a press statement that Israeli soldiers in the village were attacked by a car that drove over them as they stood at the sideline of the road outside the village, adding that the Israeli army force opened fire at assailants, killing two and wounding a third one.

An Israeli army officer was critically wounded and another border police soldier was slightly wounded, the spokesman added.

There has no no immediate response from the Palestinian Authority and the identity of the three hasn't been known yet. No one claimed responsibility for the attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:45:43|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Passengers traveling with the Samjhota Express, arrive at a railway station in eastern Pakistan's Lahore on March 4, 2019. A key train service, Samjhauta Express between India and Pakistan, was resumed on Monday, officials said. (Xinhua/Jamil Ahmed)

ISLAMABAD, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan and India on Monday resumed cross-border passenger train service that was suspended due to recent tensions over the last month's suicide attack in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing over 40 Indian policemen, officials said.

The "Samjhota Express" train, carrying some 150 passengers, left railway station in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, for India Monday morning, according to local media.

The train normally runs between the two neighboring countries on Monday and Thursday.

The Pakistan Foreign Ministry announced suspension of the train service on Feb. 28 "in view of the prevailing tensions between Pakistan and India."

However, a cross-border bus service between Lahore and New Delhi, the capital of India, was unaffected.

The Pakistan army said Sunday there had been calm along the Line of Control, the de-facto border between the two neighbors in Kashmir, after heavy exchange of shelling on the night of March 1 and 2.

The Indian firing had killed two Pakistani soldiers and two civilians on Sunday, according to Pakistan army.

Skirmishes broke out along the LoC after India claimed its warplanes bombed a camp of militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in northwest Pakistan on Feb. 26. JeM had claimed responsibility for the attack in Pulwama, a town in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14.

In what appears to be a tit-for-tat action, Pakistan army said its air force shot down two Indian fighter jets on Feb. 27 and captured one India pilot. The pilot was later released and handed over to the Indian authorities in what Prime Minister Imran Khan described as a "goodwill for peace."

Reports from the Pakistani side of the LoC said that schools were also reopened on Monday as normalcy returned to the area.

Several countries issued appeals for calm between Pakistan and India, and urged both countries to resolve differences through dialogue.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:50:44|Editor: ZX

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Monday afternoon visited political advisors from the sectors of culture and art, and social sciences who are attending the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, joined them in a joint panel discussion and heard their opinions and suggestions.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 16:55:45|Editor: zh

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PHNOM PENH, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Singapore vowed on Monday to enhance their cooperation in combating terrorism and cross-border crime, said a Cambodian spokesman.

The commitment was made during a meeting here between Cambodian National Police chief Neth Savoeun and visiting Singapore commissioner of police Hoong Wee Teck, said National Police spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun.

"After their talks, both sides agreed to work together to combat terrorism and transnational crime, which are the priority tasks for the two countries as well as for Asia," he told reporters after the meeting.

The two sides also agreed to set up a direct contact mechanism to better protect the two countries' investors, tourists and citizens, the spokesman said.

He added that Singapore also promised to help train Cambodian police officials in the skills of anti-cyber crime and gambling control.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:20:48|Editor: Yurou

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GUIYANG, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A government campaign to train impoverished women in the housekeeping business has helped them dust off poverty in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Wu Limei, a resident of Guizhou's Yuelianghe Township, used to make ends meet in the mountainous area. After graduating from a secondary school, she went to the eastern province of Zhejiang to work as a migrant worker, but her pay was "just so so." Last year, she returned to her hometown and participated in a government-initiated training program specializing in housekeeping.

"I have two kids, and I'm quite interested in taking care of babies," Wu said. In September, she was employed by a government-sponsored housekeeping company, "The Qianlingnyu Housekeeping," where she obtained a certificate as a senior babysitter.

The province launched a campaign in 2010 to help local women find jobs. The Qianlingnyu Housekeeping brand was subsequently launched, with the government and entrepreneurs sharing joint management.

So far, the project covers nine cities and prefectures in Guizhou, with 50 housekeeping stores and two senior-care facilities established. Currently, the project has trained 58,000 people and helped 35,000 women find jobs.

Huang Jun, a manager with Qianlingnyu Housekeeping, said the company has more than 3,000 employees, 65.3 percent of whom are females from rural areas, while 33.6 percent are laid-off female workers.

"We exempted most of the training fees for the workers," Huang said. "So far, we have helped more than 6,000 women find jobs."

"As your experience grows, you can learn to be a senior maternity matron," said Wu Limei. "You can make at least 8,800 yuan (1,315 U.S. dollars) a month, and the highest payment can fetch 16,800 yuan a month."

Wu rakes in 4,000 yuan a month as a babysitter in Guiyang, the provincial capital, well enough to push her above the poverty line. Wu plans to accumulate experience in the Qianlingnyu company, and return to her hometown to become a housekeeping boss herself.

Demand for housekeepers is quite high in Guizhou, according to Wang Dan, with the Women's Federation of Guizhou.

"By 2020, Guizhou will have about 1 million senior citizens above the age of 65, who will need senior care services, and there will also be at least 220,000 job positions for babysitters," Wang said. "By then, we will need more than 1 million housekeepers."

China has set 2020 as the target to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and completely eradicate poverty. Guizhou, a relatively poor province, is at the forefront of the country's anti-poverty campaign. Guizhou lifted 1.2 million people out of poverty in 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:20:49|Editor: Yurou

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MOGADISHU, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Somali security forces have arrested three al-Shabab militants in the Amniyat, al-Shabab's intelligence wing in an operation in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, officials said on Sunday evening.

Mohamed Abdullahi Tulah, deputy mayor for security in the Benadir region told journalists in Mogadishu that three al-Shabab militants were apprehended Sunday in an offensive conducted by Somali national forces in Wadajir district in Somalia's capital.

"Our forces nabbed three al-Shabab extremists as they were trying to assassinate female member of electoral delegation committee," Tulah said.

He noted that they will intensify their operations against the extremists. The militants paraded by the government pleaded guilty and asked the people to forgive them.

The arrest comes as assassinations in Mogadishu increased. On Feb. 20, militants shot Mohamed Mursal, a Somali deputy attorney general, while on Feb. 24, suspected al-Shabab fighters gunned down Osman Elmi Boqore, a member of federal parliament in Mogadishu's Karan district.

On Thursday evening, the al-Qaida linked group al-Shabab launched an attack on Makka Al-Mukarama hotel in the capital, killing at least 36 people and injuring more than 60 others.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:30:51|Editor: Yurou

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Following are the schedules for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) and the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on Tuesday.

NPC:

-- The NPC annual session will open at 9 a.m. at the Great Hall of the People. Premier Li Keqiang will deliver a report on the government work.

NPC deputies will examine a report on the implementation of the 2018 plan for national economic and social development, and on the 2019 draft plan for national economic and social development.

The deputies will also examine a report on the implementation of the central and local budgets for 2018, and on the draft plan of central and local budgets for 2019.

The opening will be broadcast live via the China Media Group. Major news portals will also provide live coverage of the event.

-- In the afternoon, NPC deputies will hold panel discussions on the government work report.

CPPCC:

-- In the morning, members of the CPPCC National Committee will observe the opening of the NPC session.

-- In the afternoon, members of the CPPCC National Committee will hold panel discussions on the government work report.

The newsroom of the second session of the 13th CPPCC National Committee will hold a press conference on winning the three major battles of forestalling and defusing major risks, carrying out targeted poverty alleviation, and preventing and controlling pollution.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:35:53|Editor: Yurou

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by Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan

PHNOM PENH, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, has played a crucial role in promoting multiparty cooperation and socialist democracy in the country, Cambodian politicians have said.

The CPPCC, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), performs a very important role and duty to provide political consultations for the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese government, said Ek Sam Ol, member of the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) Central Committee, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Friday in Phnom Penh.

The CPPCC consists of representatives of the CPC and non-Communist parties, personages without party affiliation, and representatives of people's organizations, ethnic minorities and various social strata.

"Since the CPPCC is comprised of representatives from political parties and various sectors of society, it's no doubt that this body plays a vital role in promoting multiparty cooperation and socialist democracy," he said.

"The body is an invaluable 'brain bank' that provides proposals and insights for the Chinese government on running state affairs," he added.

Sam Ol, also head of the CPP delegates at the Cambodia's Supreme Council for Consultations and Recommendations (SCCR), said the CPPCC is an effective mechanism to improve governance and socio-economic development in China.

"In my view, the CPPCC has also importantly contributed to strengthening the rule of law and to fighting corruption," he said.

During the ongoing CPPCC annual meeting, Sam Ol said he will cast his eyes on China's economic development, anti-corruption drives, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

The CPPCC is neither a body of state power nor a policymaking organ, but an important platform on which various political parties, people's organizations, and people of all ethnic groups and from all sectors of society work together in democratically participating in state affairs.

Sam Ol said the CPPCC has similar roles to Cambodia's SCCR, which was established in September last year.

He said the SCCR is a bi-annual consultation forum between the Cambodian government and political parties. It is made up of 30 leaders or representatives of 16 political parties taking part in the July general election.

He added that the SCCR has duties to provide opinions on government policies, give feedback on draft laws, and report on inaction or violations by government officials.

"I think the CPPCC and the SCCR have similar roles," he said. "The SCCR has duties to provide opinions and report on irregular issues in the society to the prime minister."

Chhim Phal Virun, head of the SCCR Secretariat, said the SCCR plays a vital role in enhancing the culture of dialogue between the Cambodian government and political parties, and in promoting cooperation among political parties.

"With full support from the government, the SCCR has become an effective mechanism to promote democracy, to strengthen the rule of law, to reduce nepotism and to fight against corruption," he told Xinhua.

Phal Virun said the SCCR is not a policymaker, but an input collector for the government. He added that it would be good if the CPPCC and the SCCR could forge cooperation in the future.

"In my capacity as the president of the SCCR Secretariat, I welcome if there is any cooperation between the two bodies because it will be a good opportunity for the exchanges of knowledge, experience and ideas," he said. "Actually, we want to learn about the CPPCC's contributions to supporting China's anti-corruption drive."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 17:55:56|Editor: Yurou

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SEOUL, March 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday that her ministry will seek to hold three-way talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States to help rapidly resume the DPRK-U.S. dialogue.

Kang made the remarks in her report to President Moon Jae-in during a National Security Council (NSC) meeting of the presidential Blue House, chaired by the president in about nine months, according to Moon's office.

The top South Korean diplomat vowed to push for various ways to create a dialogue table between Pyongyang and Washington, including the 1.5-track talks.

The 1.5-track dialogue, involving working-level officials and private experts, was held in Sweden in January, attended by Stephen Biegun, U.S. special representative for DPRK affairs, DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui and Lee Do-hoon, special South Korean representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs.

Kang said her ministry will help rapidly resume the DPRK-U.S. talks via cooperation with relevant countries such as China and Russia.

The NSC meeting was convened to find ways to broker a compromise between Pyongyang and Washington after the second summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without a deal in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi last week.

During the upcoming working-level talks between the DPRK and the United States, a major issue on the negotiating table will be the dismantlement of the DPRK's main nuclear complex plus alpha versus relief from sanctions against Pyongyang, Kang forecast.

She said the two sides seemed to have actually come to an agreement on the establishment of liaison offices and the declaration of an official end to the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told President Moon that his ministry will seek to push for inter-Korean projects without violating international sanctions against the DPRK, saying he will prepare for consultation with the U.S. side on the resumption of Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mount Kumgang tour.

The jointly-run factory park in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong and the South Koreans' tour to the DPRK's scenic resort of Mount Kumgang have been suspended since 2016 and 2008 each.

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said his ministry will seek to hold general-level military talks this month with the DPRK to implement the comprehensive military agreement, signed by defense chiefs of the two Koreas in September last year during the Pyongyang summit between the leaders of South Korea and the DPRK.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 18:31:06|Editor: zh

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SEOUL, March 4 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressed hope on Monday that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States could continue their talks to strike a deal on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula "in the end."

Moon made the remarks during a plenary session of the National Security Council (NSC), according to the presidential Blue House.

The NSC meeting was chaired by Moon in about nine months since he presided it over on June 14 2018, two days after the first summit between top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore.

Kim and Trump ended their second meeting in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi last week without any agreement.

"We wish the two countries continue talks. (We) anticipate the two leaders meet again as soon as possible to strike the delayed deal," said Moon.

Moon said it would never be desirable for Pyongyang and Washington to halt dialogue for long, and he believed that the two sides would reach an agreement "in the end."

He said South Korea could play a significant role in helping the two sides strike a deal, indicating his willingness to broker a compromise between the DPRK and the United States.

The president instructed the NSC to make efforts for the rapid resumption of working-level talks between Pyongyang and Washington, and try their best to find measures contributing to the DPRK-U.S. dialogue resumption through the development of inter-Korean relations without violating international sanctions.

The NSC meeting was attended by prime minister, ministers of foreign affairs, unification and defense, intelligence agency chief, presidential chief of staff, top national security advisor and secretaries for security and foreign affairs.

Moon said the second DPRK-U.S. summit confirmed "very important fruits" that the two sides bore through dialogue, noting that Kim and Trump discussed the dismantlement of the DPRK's Yongbyon nuclear complex.

He said the verifiable dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility, which he said is a core of the DPRK's nuclear program, was within a possible range.

If all the plutonium-reprocessing and uranium-enrichment facilities in Yongbyon are completely dismantled, it will mark an irreversible phase for the peninsula's denuclearization, Moon noted.

Moon said relief from sanctions against Pyongyang was also discussed at the Hanoi summit, which he called a great progress as it meant the two sides entering a phase of trading denuclearization and corresponding measures.

During the Hanoi summit, Kim and Trump discussed the establishment of U.S. liaison office in Pyongyang that has a "great meaning" in the process going toward normalized relations between the DPRK and the United States, the South Korean leader noted.

What is different from the past, Moon said there has been neither condemnation from either side nor tensions raised even after the DPRK and the United States ended their talks without any deal.

Moon said the leaders of the DPRK and the United States expressed their unwavering trust to each other and made clear their willingness to continue talks to strike a deal.

It indicated the second Kim-Trump summit was in the process of going toward a greater agreement, though it takes time, Moon added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 18:31:07|Editor: zh

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CAIRO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi expressed full support for regional integration and efforts to upgrade the infrastructure in Africa, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement late on Sunday.

He made the remarks during discussion with chairman of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) Liu Zhenya, pledging the African efforts to obtain clean energy from renewable resources.

"Egypt expressed full support for regional integration and efforts to upgrade the infrastructure in Africa via investing in cross-border projects," the statement said.

The meeting tackled a possible role Egypt could play to implement an inter-African power connection, Radi added.

"Egypt could very well serve as Africa's gate for Europe and Asia, given its distinguished geographic location," he added.

During the meeting that came in light of Egypt's presidency of the African Union, Sisi welcomed the current cooperation between Egypt and GEIDCO in the field of conducting technological studies and facilitating the planning of energy infrastructure projects.

The president praised the important role played by GEIDCO to establish a global power interconnection project to meet the global demand for electricity, Radi added.

From his part, Liu, praised the mega projects being implemented in Egypt in the field of power transmission and distribution.

The GEIDCO chairman said his company eyes more cooperation with the Egyptian government in the coming period.

The GEIDCO, with its permanent office based in Beijing, China, is an international organization with a goal of establishing a Global Energy Interconnection system to meet the global demand for electricity in a clean and green way.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 18:51:13|Editor: zh

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DHAKA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A last-ditch battle has been mounted to save Bangladeshi ruling party leader Obaidul Quader, also the country's road transport and bridges minister.

Quader was flown on Monday in a special air ambulance to Singapore where will be taken to the Mount Elizabeth hospital, a top-notch critical care medical center.

Quader, general secretary of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's ruling Bangladesh Awami League party, was hospitalized Sunday morning following breathing problems.

Later he was diagnosed with blockages in three coronary arteries at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU)

While undergoing treatment at the BSMMU, Quader reportedly suffered heart a attack.

The influential ruling party leader has also been suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.

BSMMU Director Abdullah Al Harun told journalists that the air ambulance of Mount Elizabeth Hospital left Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport with Quader at 3:50 p.m. local time Monday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 18:56:13|Editor: zh

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Xinhua)-- Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah is set to meet with Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for a bilateral consultation in Putrajaya, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said in a statement that the sultan's visit on Tuesday was in conjunction with the 22nd Malaysia-Negara Brunei Darussalam Annual Leaders Consultation, the highest platform for discussion between the two countries.

"(The) special relationship between both countries are based on a common heritage and culture," the statement said.

"Building on this special relationship, both leaders will take the opportunity of this important visit and annual meeting to appraise the progress of the on-going cooperation and explore new potentials for a more comprehensive partnership that can mutually benefit the peoples of the two countries," it added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 19:11:16|Editor: ZX

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies inked several documents on the purchase of palm oil with Malaysian manufacturers on Monday as the Malaysian government eyes to attract more Chinese investment into the sector.

The agreements signed on Monday involve three Chinese companies and four Malaysian companies and are valued at 891 million U.S. dollars for the export of 1.62 million tons of palm oil

The four purchase intent documents were signed at the Malaysia-China Palm Oil Business Forum, organized by the Malaysian Palm Oil Board, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council and the China Chamber of Commerce of Foodstuffs and Native Produce.

Speaking to the press after the signing, Malaysian Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok said the signing was significant for Malaysia and was a positive indicator for the country's export of commodity this year.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador Bai Tian said there is still room for increased exports of palm oil to China and the country has imposed no ceiling on the amount that could be brought in.

"The prospect of the Chinese market for Malaysia palm oil and palm oil industries is very bright and I have repeatedly said that China imposes no glass ceiling on the import of Malaysian palm oil and palm oil products," he said.

Bai added that palm oil is synonymous with Malaysia, with the crop having been developed in the country for over 100 years and has been recognized as a main driver of the country's economy.

According to the Malaysia's statistics, Malaysia exported 3.07 million tons of palm oil and palm oil products to China, up 7.3 percent increase from 2017.

Malaysian palm biodiesel exports to China have also seen a huge increase in 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 19:26:18|Editor: zh

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KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The wife of a chief executive officer of a prominent Malaysian government-linked start-up fund and her two sons were charged on Monday with the murder over the mysterious death of her husband in a fire at their home last year.

Samirah Muzaffar, 45, and the two teenagers, aged 15 and 17, were detained by police at their home early on Monday before being charged at a Petaling Jaya court for the murder of Cradle Fund CEO Nazrin Hassan last June.

Their maid, who is at large, was also charged with the murder in absentia.

The three suspects had been detained on the instruction of the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC), police said in a statement shortly after their arrest.

This comes after police confirmed receiving the second post-mortem report on Nazrin last week.

Cradle Fund is a Malaysian Finance Ministry company which oversees the development of tech entrepreneurs and the Malaysian start-up ecosystem, having given early funding to companies such as ride-hailing pioneer Grab.

Initially Nazrin was thought to have died of smoke inhalation and shrapnel wounds after his mobile phones were believed to had exploded near his head while he was asleep, as concluded in the first post-mortem examination.

Two months after Nazrin's death, the case was reclassified as murder after investigations by the Fire and Rescue Department showed traces of fuel on his head, bed and mobile phones.

The revelation led to the detention of Samirah and her ex-husband as part of an investigation into the case last September. They were released after being remanded for a week.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 19:31:19|Editor: ZX

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Shanghai Kunqu Opera Troupe will present two operas at the National Center for Performing Arts (NCPA) from March 15 to 16.

This is part of NCPA's 2nd Kunqu Opera Arts Week, ranging from March 1 to 16. Three top Kunqu theaters in China are scheduled to stage a total of four classic operas during this event.

The opera to be staged on March 15 is "Pei Shaojun and Li Qianjun," adapted from a drama by Bai Pu, a famous opera writer active in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).

It describes Pei Shaojun, a minister's son, who rides on a horse through the city of Luoyang and meets Li Qianjun, the daughter of a local official. Falling in love with each other, Li decides to marry Pei and hides her in his backyard.

Pei's father, upon discovering the unapproved marriage, forces him to divorce her and take the imperial exam. Pei later becomes the Number One Scholar in the exam and wins Li back.

The opera to be staged on March 16 is "The Lion's Roar." It tells a story of how a romantic and henpecked scholar Chen Jichang reconciled with his wife through a dream.

Since 2013, the NCPA has organized and hosted "Huangmei Opera Arts Week", "Yue Opera Arts Week", among others, featuring traditional Chinese opera performances. In 2015, NCPA's 1st Kunqu Opera Arts Week greeted audiences with the charm of Kunqu opera.

Kunqu opera combines literary texts, music, costumes and performances and was listed as a world intangible cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 19:36:22|Editor: zh

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TEHRAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed in a helicopter crash in the west of Iran on Monday, state IRIB TV reported.

The helicopter, belonged to Iran's Emergency Organization, faced the accident on the way to help a patient in the mountaineer area in Iran's Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, according to the report.

Jaafar Mardani, the deputy governor of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, told official IRNA news agency that the stroke of power lines was the cause of the accident.

The helicopter wreckage was found in Sartsheniz village, 35 kilometers away from Shahr-e-kord, the capital city of the province.
File photo taken on Dec. 8, 2018 shows Jimma Industrial park in Jima, Ethiopia.(Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

DEBRE BIRHAN, Ethiopia, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta over the weekend inaugurated the Chinese-built Debre Birhan industrial park, constructed in Ethiopia's northern Amhara regional state.

The Debre Birhan industrial park constructed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) at a cost of more than 71 million U.S. dollars is expected to create job opportunities to more than 1,000 Ethiopians.

Stretched on 75 hectares of land, Debre Birhan industrial park has eight industrial sheds ready to accommodate prospective investors.

The Kenyan president applauded the Ethiopian prime minister for spearheading Ethiopia's economic change that has seen Ethiopia inaugurate several development projects including the Debre Birhan industrial park, according to the Office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister's Office.

Speaking to Xinhua recently, Lelise Neme, CEO of Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation (IPDC), said Ethiopia aims to commission six industrial parks, including Debre Birhan industrial park, before the end of the current fiscal year 2018/19, in July.

"Ethiopia has invested around 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in the construction of around a dozen industrial parks, which it sees as a key strategy of achieving Ethiopia's industrial ambitions," said Neme.

"Ethiopia has so far built and commissioned five industrial parks and with the anticipated commissioning of six more industrial parks in 2018/19, Ethiopia's industrialization ambitions will receive a massive boost," Neme told Xinhua.

With Ethiopia attracting large-scale investment in the export-import-oriented manufacturing sector, especially from Chinese firms, the country sees improving the efficiency and speed of the logistics sector as key to meet national manufacturing revenue goals.

Ethiopia plans to increase the number of operational industrial parks from the current five to around 30 by 2025, as part of its efforts to make the country a light manufacturing hub and lower-middle-income economy in the same period.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 20:16:36|Editor: zh

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ULAN BATOR, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Bank of Mongolia announced on Monday that its purchase of gold declined by 81 percent year on year in February.

The central bank has purchased 84.1 kg of gold from legal entities and individuals last month.

The dramatic decline was mainly related to the expiration of the effective period of low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments to the Minerals Law, according to experts from the Bank of Mongolia.

The 2.5-percent of discounted royalty on gold mining ended on Jan. 1. From then on, 5 to 10 percent royalty taxes on gold mining have been imposed on miners.

The Mongolian Minister of Mining and Heavy Industry Dolgorsuren Sumiyabazar has recently submitted a draft bill on extending the low royalty taxes to the country's parliament, according to the bank.

Gold miners in the resource-rich country are highly anticipating the discounted royalty taxes on gold to be extended.

The Mongolian central bank purchased only 12.7 tons of gold in 2014. Thanks to the low royalty taxes on gold with the 2014 amendments, the central bank's annual gold purchase almost doubled to 22 tons in 2018.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 20:36:42|Editor: ZX

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WINDHOEK, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's new container terminal at the coastal town of Walvis Bay which was constructed by a Chinese company will be commissioned on August 1 this year, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Walvis Bay Corridor Group Clive Smith told reporters in the capital Windhoek on Monday.

According to Smith, the container terminal that will position the country as a regional logistic hub and gateway is currently 91 percent completed with construction expected to be fully finalized at the end of June.

"This is a very exciting time for the country...over the last five years, Namibia has made significant progress in logistic performance and I believe, this port will result in even better performance in the coming years," Smith said.

China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. started construction work in 2014 while the African Development Bank provided the 300 million U.S. dollars funding.

The container terminal being constructed on 40 hectares of land reclaimed from the sea is expected to increase the container handling capacity from the current 350,000 containers to 750,000 per annum.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 20:51:50|Editor: zh

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BEIRUT, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin said Monday that Russia is taking concrete measures inside Syria in a bid to facilitate the return of refugees to their homeland.

"Russia is doing reconstruction and rehabilitation work inside Syria in addition to securing the right atmosphere for refugees to be able to return to their homeland," Zasypkin was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

Zasypkin's remarks came during his meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil to discuss the need for increased cooperation between the two countries to find peaceful solutions to conflicts in the region.

"We have also discussed the need by the international community to boost its efforts to help the return of refugees," he said.

Their meeting also covers preparations for the visit of Lebanon's President Michel Aoun to Moscow soon.

"This visit will be a very important turning point for the increase in cooperation between Lebanon and Russia on all levels," the ambassador said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 20:51:50|Editor: ZX

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on writers, artists and theorists to strengthen cultural confidence, serve the people with fine works, and guide the public with high moral standards.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when joining a joint panel discussion attended by political advisors from the sectors of culture and art, and social sciences.

They are here for the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 21:06:56|Editor: Lu Hui

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MADRID, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 wildfires have been affecting various regions in the north of Spain, regional emergency services confirmed on Monday.

Investigations into the causes of the fire are still underway.

Almost 100 fires were active on Monday morning in the region of Asturias, with members of the Spanish Military's Emergency Response Unit (UME) called in to help combat the flames.

Meanwhile, around 20 fires are still burning in the neighboring community of Cantabria, along with a handful in the Basque province of Vizcaya.

So far there are no reports of injuries, although the major A-8 road into Bilbao was cut for traffic for a period of time.

Around 350 firemen and troops are currently combatting the flames in Asturias, where emergency services have received almost 4,000 phone calls advising of fires over the past 48 hours. Meanwhile the Spanish government have sent two specialist firefighting aircraft and a "Kamov" helicopter to the region.

Regional authorities in Cantabria reported they have had to deal with over 60 "intentionally started" fires which began in the area on Sunday afternoon. 40 of those fires have now been extinguished after firefighters worked through the night, but 21 wildfires in 18 areas still remained active on Monday morning.

The most important fire in the Basque region was close to the town of Muskiz, which is close to the city of Bilbao, as well as an important oil refinery.

Borja Llano, mayor of Muskiz, told local radio that some residents had to be temporarily evacuated from their home due to smoke, but there had never been any threat of the flames reaching the refinery.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 21:17:01|Editor: ZX

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- China's dollar-denominated Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) program saw its approved quota continue to rise in February, according to the country's forex regulator.

As of the end of February, the QFII quota stood at 101.45 billion U.S. dollars, up from 101.35 billion dollars a month ago, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

Meanwhile, the quota in the RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (RQFII) program came in at 660.47 billion yuan (about 98.6 billion U.S. dollars).

China's currency, the yuan, is convertible for trade purposes under the current account, while the capital account, which covers portfolio investment and borrowing, is largely run by the state in an effort to manage capital flows in and out of the country.

The QFII and RQFII programs, introduced in 2003 and 2011, respectively, allow overseas institutional investors to move money into China's capital account for investment.

At the end of January, China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country's securities watchdog, started consulting public opinion on new rules that will combine the above two existing schemes.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 21:17:03|Editor: Yurou

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LONDON, March 4 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Theresa May announced on Monday a 1.6 billion pound fund to boost prosperity of deprived towns after Brexit, a move criticized by the opposition Labour Party as a "bribe" to win votes for her Brexit deal.

The Stronger Towns Fund will be targeted at places that have not shared fairly from growth like more prosperous parts of the country have, and to create new jobs, help train local people and boost economic activity.

One billion pound will be allocated using a needs-based formula, with the bulk going to North and Midlands of England, and another 600 million pound will be available through a bidding process to communities in any part of the country.

"For too long in our country prosperity has been unfairly spread. Our economy has worked well for some places but we want it to work for all communities," May said.

"Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change, that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control. These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them," she said.

Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said: "We have listened to people who are concerned by momentous changes to their communities and I am determined to provide the support they need to create a more prosperous future beyond Brexit."

But Britain's main opposition Labour Party described the fund as a "desperate bribe" by May's government to win support from Members of Parliament for her Brexit proposals.

The Labour Party's Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: "This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation."

There is still no clear outcome for Brexit with Brexit day due on March 29.

May promised last week that the members of parliament would be offered a vote on whether they support a no-deal Brexit if her deal is rejected in a meaningful vote in mid-March. If the parliament rejects the no-deal option, another vote will be held on whether to delay Brexit.(One pound=1.32 U.S. dollars)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 21:42:06|Editor: zh

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DAR ES SALAAM, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli on Monday instructed Inspector General of Police (IGP) Simon Sirro to sack police officers who were negligent and those implicated in corruption.

A statement issued by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in the business capital Dar es Salaam said president Magufuli also directed the police chief to propose to him the appointment of diligent police officers.

President Magufuli was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of two new cabinet ministers, an ambassador and five new police commissioners that he appointed last week.

"The police force should do away with its practice of transferring to its headquarters police officers who fail to deliver at their work stations and instead such officers should be sacked outright," said the president.

The head of state, who doubles as commander-in-chief of Tanzania's armed forces, also implored the police to reassess their performance in some incidents that created more questions than answers.

President Magufuli cited such incidents as the kidnap of Tanzania's youngest billionaire Mohammed Dewji last year, and cases where some police officers were implicated in corruption and drug trafficking.

The president swore in Palamagamba Kabudi as new minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation replacing Augustine Mahiga, who was sworn in as new Minister for Legal and Constitutional Affairs.

He also appointed five police commissioners last week in a move that was aimed at making the police force more vibrant in fighting against crime in the face of criminals using advanced technologies.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:27:18|Editor: zh

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DOHA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Monday discussed with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the latest developments in Syria and Libya.

In a joint press conference, the Qatari top diplomat said that a political solution in Syria is the only option for the war-torn country.

On Libya, the Qatari minister called for all parties in the country to unite, Al Jazeera news channel said.

Asked about Russian S-400 missile system, he said that there is a discussion for the procurement of various Russian equipment, without elaborating more details.

The Russian minister is on a regional visit to the Gulf states.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:32:21|Editor: Liangyu

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Yang Jiechi (R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on Monday met with Greek Foreign Minister George Katrougalos in Beijing.

Yang, also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, expressed his hope that the two countries will maintain high-level exchanges, consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen strategic alignment and expand cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Stressing the importance of safeguarding multilateralism and international rules based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, Yang called on the two sides to intensify coordination on international affairs, promote the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries and advance the development of the China-Europe relationship.

Katrougalos said Greece will actively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative and play a constructive role in promote bilateral relations and Europe-China cooperation.

Earlier on Monday, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi also met with Katrougalos.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:37:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WINDHOEK, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Namibian Police Force (NamPol) seized drugs worth some 12,968,248 Namibian dollars (about 913,000 U.S. dollars) in February, arresting 60 suspects on drug related charges, a statement by NamPol said Monday.

The drugs seized included cannabis, cocaine powder, crack cocaine, according to the statement.

56 Namibians, one Mozambican and three Swaziland nationals were arrested.

"Drugs are very destructive especially to the youth of Namibia," said the statement, which added that NamPol would not relent to fight the use, dealing and possession of drugs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:37:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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MANILA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the new governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the Philippine central bank, according to news reports.

Philippine Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed that Diokno's appointment was announced during a meeting in Malacanang presidential palace held on Monday.

Diokno, 70, is currently the secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM). He held the same position under former President Joseph Estrada, from July 1998 until Estrada's ouster in January 2001.

Diokno also served as undersecretary for Budget Operations at the DBM, from 1986 to 1991, during the administration of then President Corazon Aquino.

He was professor emeritus of the School of Economics of the University of the Philippines.

Diokno replaced Nestor Espenilla who passed away on Feb. 23 after a bout with tongue cancer.

He will serve the remaining term of the late Espenilla until 2023.
People watch a TV live broadcast about top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un meeting with U.S. President Donald Trumpin Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb. 27, 2019. (Xinhua/Wu Xiaochu)

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday that the just-concluded meeting between the top leaders of the United States and Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not a "failed summit," adding U.S. sanctions on the Asian nation would continue.

"I don't agree at all that it was a failed summit," he said during an interview with Fox News.

He also made a similar statement in a separate interview with the CBC's "Face the Nation," saying that "I don't consider the summit a failure. I consider it a success defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests."

"There was extensive preparation for this meeting. Extensive discussions between the president and Kim Jong Un," he explained. "So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected."

Saying that the DPRK has offered "a very limited concession" involving the Yongbyon complex in exchange of U.S. "substantial relief from the sanctions," Bolton said that President Donald Trump thinks "he gave nothing away" in talks with the DPRK leader.

"That's - that's what matters, not my view," Bolton noted. "Unless you're prepared to say that it would be better to accept a bad deal than to walk away from no deal, to me that's a success."

He added that Trump is "fully prepared to keep talking" with the DPRK side.

"What President Trump was trying to do was look at what was possible for them overall," he said. "He remains optimistic this is possible. Kim Jong Un himself said in our last meeting, you know, we're going to go through many stations before we achieve this deal. The meeting in Hanoi was one such station. So the president is ready to keep talking."

However, he added that Washington's "program of maximum pressure will continue" on Pyongyang, which had "brought them to the table in the first place."

"We'll see what happens next," he added.

Trump and Kim ended their second summit in Hanoi last week without reaching an agreement. However, both sides have expressed willingness after the meeting for further engagement on key issues that have haunted the Peninsula and both sides for decades, such as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the establishment of lasting peace, and economic options related to the DPRK side.

In response to the U.S. accusation that the DPRK had asked too much in terms of sanction lifting in the meeting, Ri Yong Ho, DPRK's foreign minister, said on March 1 that his nation had only proposed that the United States partially remove its sanctions impeding the livelihood of the DPRK people.

If the United States agrees to the proposal, the DPRK "will permanently and completely dismantle all the nuclear production facilities in Yongbyon area, including plutonium and uranium in the presence of U.S. experts and by the joint work of technicians of both countries," Ri said. "This proposal was the biggest denuclearization measures we can take at the present stage in relation to the current level of confidence between the U.S. and DPRK."

"However, during the meeting, the United States insisted we should take one more step besides the dismantlement of nuclear facilities in Yongbyon area. Therefore, it's crystal clear that the United States was not ready to accept our proposal," he said.

For its part, South Korea's presidential Blue House said that it seemed clear that Trump and Kim have made "more meaningful progress" than ever as they expanded the scope and depth of their understanding of each other's positions through the summit in Vietnam.

Also on March 1, Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that the Korean Peninsula-related issues are complex and cannot be resolved in one stroke.

China hopes that the United States and the DPRK can remain determined and patient, meet each other halfway and stick to peace talks, to achieve new results and new progress, said Yang, adding that China is willing to continue to play a constructive role on matters related to the Peninsula.

The U.S. Pentagon said on Saturday that the United States and South Korea have decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises, which the DPRK had denounced a dress rehearsal for northward invasion, and "very expensive" and "provocative" "war games" in Trump's view.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:47:28|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, joins a panel discussion with political advisors from the China National Democratic Construction Association and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce at the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Senior Chinese leaders on Monday joined political advisors in different panel discussions at the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The leaders -- Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji and Han Zheng -- are all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.

Premier Li Keqiang said facing more complicated and challenging development environment this year, the country should follow the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, stay committed to pursuing progress while ensuring stability, and coordinate the tasks of stabilizing growth, pushing forward reform, adjusting the structure, improving people's lives and preventing risks.

China should rely more on reform and opening up to stimulate market vitality and stand up to the downward pressure on the economy, the premier said.

Stressing that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of both the People's Republic of China and the CPPCC, Li Zhanshu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, called for more efforts to study and implement Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and remain committed to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said that religious issues bear on social harmony, ethnic solidarity and national security. He spoke of the need to raise the awareness of the rule of law to maintain harmony and stability of the religious circles, and ensure religions better adapt themselves to socialist society.

Wang Huning, a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, called on people to take studying, understanding and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the primary political task. He stressed efforts to intensify reform on the social security institutions, solve prominent problems relating to social security, and improve people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security.

Zhao Leji, secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, highlighted the need to carry out strategic arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee, stay committed to advancing full and strict governance over the Party, and consolidate and develop a sweeping victory in the fight against corruption.

Vice Premier Han Zheng called for more efforts to advance the cause of "one country, two systems" and maintain lasting prosperity and stability of Hong Kong and Macao.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:47:30|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A mainland spokesperson on Monday said Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu is scheduled to lead a municipal delegation to visit Hong Kong, Macao, Shenzhen and Xiamen for exchanges and cooperation, between March 22 and 28.

"We welcome and support cross-Strait city-to-city exchanges and cooperation on the basis of upholding the 1992 Consensus, to jointly enhance the interests and wellbeing of people on both sides of the Strait," said An Fengshan, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:52:31|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIRUT, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Parliament member Najib Mikati called upon the United Nations on Monday to stop Israeli violations on Lebanon's maritime borders, said a report by the National News Agency.

"We are concerned about the increasing reports of Israel's attempts to put its hands on the oil wealth in the Lebanese territorial waters, which could cause great tensions," Mikati was quoted as saying.

"Therefore, we count on the role of the United Nations in stopping these violations and preserving Lebanon's right to its wealth and territorial integrity," Mikati said during his meeting with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jan Kubis.

Israel has awarded energy exploration licenses near a disputed maritime boundary in Mediterranean waters which prompted Lebanon's House Speaker Nabih Berri to accuse Tel Aviv last month of violating Lebanon's waters.

"This constitutes a violation of Lebanon's sovereignty and it targets the country's oil wealth and waters," he said.

Lebanon has an unresolved maritime border with Israel that involves a triangular sea area of about 860 square km extending along the edge of three of its 10 offshore energy blocks.

The United States had mediated between Lebanon and Israel to end the dispute over maritime borders but failed to reach any positive results.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:57:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MUMBAI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Festive fervour of Mahashivratri, amid holy chants reverberated across the temples of Mumbai city and across the country amid a public holiday with all financial markets including banks being shut down.

The Hindu festival that falls once in a year during the month of February or March, is observed by chanting prayers, fasting and meditations and offering milk to the iconic representation of the idol.

This year's festival also coincided with the closing day of the mega holy event of Ardh Kumbh held on the banks of the three rivers, Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati in Prayagraj city of the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

In the financial capital of the country, Mumbai, Union Minister for railways and coal, Piyush Goyal offered milk and flowers to the Shivling deity and performed the rituals at Babulnath temple along with his family.

Shivling deity at Babulnath in Mumbai was believed to have consecrated in the 12th century and it was buried and lost over a period of time, till it was re-discovered during the period of 1700 to 1780.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 22:57:32|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ADDIS ABABA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Urbanization in Ethiopia is increasing and projected to triple, with urban population expected to reach 42.3 million by 2037, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) revealed on Monday.

Not only is its population expected to increase, but its big cities are to densify, according to the ECA.

"This level of urbanization and urban development is currently at its infant stage, providing an opportunity to support the growth, industrialization and sustainable development agenda of the country," the statement read.

According to the ECA, the Ethiopian government has put a holistic urban development blueprint in place to guide the sustainable urban development plan, and "has made urban good governance and capacity building a strategic a priority."

Ethiopia, over the past decade, has been implementing two rounds of five-year national Growth and Transformation Plans (GTPs I and II), which were aligned with the 2030 global agenda for sustainable development.

Various UN agencies have been also providing substantive guidance and support so as to contribute to the conceptualization sustainable urban development as the East African country embarked on various activities that aimed to promote inclusive urban development.

UN's joint inter-agency taskforce - which brings together the ECA, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) as well as the UN Development Programme (UNDP) - is currently co-organizing a high-level workshop on Transformational Leadership for Sustainable Urban Development in Ethiopia.

The high-level gathering, organized in partnership with the Ethiopian Urban Development and Construction Ministry, mainly aimed to prepare city officials across Ethiopia to contribute towards the building of democratic and enhanced urban-governance so as to promote active engagement of the urban population.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:02:33|Editor: Liangyu

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, visits political advisors from the sectors of culture and art, and social sciences who are attending the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 4, 2019. Xi joined them in a joint panel discussion and heard their opinions and suggestions. Wang Yang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, also attended the discussion. (Xinhua/Sheng Jiapeng)

BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on writers, artists and theorists to strengthen cultural confidence, serve the people with fine works, and guide the public with high moral standards.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when joining a joint panel discussion attended by political advisors from the sectors of culture and art, and social sciences.

They are here for the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Wang Yang, chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee and a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, also attended the discussion.

Xi made a speech after hearing the opinions and suggestions of eight political advisors.

"A country, or a nation, cannot be devoid of soul," Xi said, adding that the mission of workers in culture, literature, art and philosophy and social sciences is to nurture the root and soul of the nation.

The CPC Central Committee has always attached great importance to the above-mentioned undertakings, he said.

He noted that the quality of cultural, literary and art works have constantly improved, and the development of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics has accelerated with remarkable achievements made.

Xi called for efforts to undertake the mission of recording, writing about and praising the new era.

Stressing the people-centered principle, Xi said the people are the source of creation.

Cultural, literary and artistic workers should participate in practices, carefully observe people's lives and express people's aspirations, Xi said.

He also required philosophy and social sciences workers to conduct more field surveys and research to gain knowledge of people's living conditions.

Xi stressed providing the people with quality products, saying that all valuable and meaningful literary and artistic works and academic research should reflect reality and be conducive to solving real problems and answering real questions.

All practitioners in culture, literature, art, philosophy and social sciences shoulder the important tasks of enlightening thoughts, nurturing sentiments and warming hearts, Xi said, asking them to set an example for society with lofty aspirations, good morals and noble sentiments.

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Xi called on the attendees to profoundly reflect the struggles and practice of the Party and the people over the past 70 years.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:07:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A total of 400 people, including 150 Islamic State (IS) militants, surrendered to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday, a war monitor reported.

The IS members and their families left the farmlands of the Baghouz area in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It said that a total of 6,000 IS militants have so far surrendered from that area in the eastern Euphrates River.

The U.S.-backed SDF started on Friday its last push against remnants of IS militants in eastern Syria, the SDF spokesman said.

After securing the evacuation of civilians and kidnapped SDF fighters, the SDF launched the final push against the IS-held area in the town of Baghouz in the eastern countryside of Deir al-Zour province, said Mustafa Bali, the SDF spokesman.

He said only "terrorists" are remaining in Baghouz.

The SDF fighters had been waiting for the civilians to be fully evacuated from Baghouz to launch the final stage of battle so as to eliminate IS completely from the few areas they control in farmlands of Baghouz.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:07:33|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TOKYO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A newly appointed lawyer for ousted Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn told reporters on Monday that his legal team is seeking to secure bail for Ghosn through new proposals in an effort to end his long detention.

"Mr. Ghosn strongly wishes to be released. We made the request so that he could be bailed as soon as possible," Junichiro Hironaka, Ghosn's new lawyer, said in a press conference held in Tokyo.

Ghosn, who was arrested in November along with his close aide Greg Kelly, has since been kept at a detention facility in Tokyo.

He is facing allegations of under-reporting his earnings in Nissan's financial statements for years, in violation of Japan's Financial Instruments and Exchange Act.

Ghosn's former legal teams had filed two previous bail requests in January but were both rejected by the Tokyo District Court, in fear that he could destroy evidence.

Regarding the latest bail request made last Thursday, Hironaka said that he had added "various means for a convincing" application to prove that Ghosn poses no risk of flight or evidence tampering, adding that he expects Ghosn to be released "in the near future."

Two lawyers who had been working for Ghosn handed in their resignations on Feb. 13, a day before the court was scheduled to hold talks with prosecutors and lawyers to traverse the details of Ghosn's trial. A new legal team was established in mid-February for Ghosn's defense.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:07:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MOSCOW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation between China and Russia is on the fast track and the two countries will expand bilateral ties in various fields, Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui said Monday.

"China-Russia cooperation in the spheres of trade and economy, energy, scientific and technical innovation, finance and investment, as well as agriculture and infrastructure construction are moving along a 'high-speed highway,'" Li told Russia's Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Independent Newspaper).

Both countries have accelerated the pace of building up their potentials and improving the well-being of their peoples by promoting strategic interaction adhering to the spirit of efficiency and practicality, Li said.

He noted that the two presidents have nurtured good working relations and a strong friendship in recent years through reciprocal visits and meetings, which helped to enhance bilateral ties and promote cooperation.

The ambassador said the China-Russia trade volume reached 107.06 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, and Russia ranked first among China's 10 largest trading partners in terms of turnover growth.

Currently, China and Russia are working to find new points of contact in such fields as digital economy, high technology and the development of the Far Eastern region and the Arctic, Li said.

The year 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of China-Russia diplomatic relations, which, according to the ambassador, will be the main event in bilateral relations this year.

To commemorate this occasion, the two countries will organize a number of events that will further boost bilateral cooperation, he added.

"I am confident that this year, China-Russia relations will gain new momentum for development," Li said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:22:38|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NAIROBI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Indigenous seed companies in the sub-Saharan African region have proved more adept at reaching out to small-holder farmers when compared to their multinational peers, says a study launched in Nairobi on Monday.

The Access to Seeds Index 2019 study that covered east and southern African region revealed that home grown companies boosted productivity at smallholder level thanks to timely supply of certified seeds and provision of extension services.

"The index reveals that seed companies are successfully serving smallholder farmers. They stand out because they integrate these small-holders in their business model," said Sanne Helderman, a senior researcher with the index study that is supported by Netherlands Government and Bill & Melinda Foundation.

More than 20 seed companies in east and southern Africa were evaluated during the survey which focused on critical areas like governance, transparency, marketing, research and development, intellectual property and leadership.

Kenyan-based East African Seed Company emerged the top in the survey followed by Seed Company whose headquarters are in South Africa thanks to their large network of extension workers coupled with better understanding of local crops.

"Two African seed companies at the top of the ranking is no surprise, given their deeper understanding of the region and the challenges smallholder farmers face," Helderman said.

She urged African governments to rollout policy and legislative incentives that are key to growth of a vibrant local seed industry that is responsive to the needs of small-scale farmers.

The study revealed that Kenya and South Africa are the leading hubs of production of high quality seeds thanks to advanced infrastructure, abundance of skilled labor and a vibrant agro-processing sector.

Jitu Shah, managing director of East African Seed Company Limited, said that government-industry linkages are crucial to increasing production of hybrid seeds and eliminating hunger and malnutrition affecting small-holder farmers in Africa.

"The private sector can support government funded research on improved varieties that our small-holder farmers require to achieve food security and become resilient to climate change," said Shah.

He said that state funded breeding programs should in the near future focus on tubers, vegetables and orphaned crops as opposed to maize in order to achieve food security and expand revenue streams for African smallholders.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:37:41|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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MOSCOW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree suspending Russia's compliance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with immediate effect, the Kremlin said Monday.

Putin ordered to suspend the implementation of the Treaty "until the United States eliminates the violations of obligations under the treaty or until its expiration," according to the text of the decree published on the Kremlin website.

The decree instructs the Russian Foreign Ministry to inform the United States about the suspension of the treaty by Russia.

Last month, Putin said that Russia would follow the example of the United States and withdraw from the nuclear arms control deal within six months.

The U.S. administration has announced that the United States is withdrawing from the INF Treaty in six months, starting from Feb. 2.

Signed in 1987 between the Soviet Union and the United States, the INF Treaty marked the first-ever pact reached by Washington and Moscow on nuclear disarmament and a major step forward in restricting the arms race.

However, the two sides have been accusing each other of violating the arms control agreement amid increasing tensions in recent years.

Putin said on Feb. 20 in his address to the Russian Federal Assembly that if Washington deploys intermediate range missiles in Europe, Moscow will be forced to create and deploy weapons that can hit "centers making decisions on the use of missile systems that threaten us."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:47:48|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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PRAYAGRAJ, India, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The 49-day spiritual bathing festival called "KUMBH MELA" ended on Monday in India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh, considered as one of the largest religious and spiritual gatherings in the world.

During the festival an estimated 220 million devotees and tourists, including domestic and foreigners, took the holy dip in the confluence of three rivers - Ganga, Yamuna and the mystical Saraswati, called "Sangam" in the Prayagraj district of Uttar Pradesh.

It is believed that one gets rid of all the sins committed in one's lifetime by taking the holy dip at the "Sangam."

Indian government official sources said that the festival found a place in the "Guinness World Records" on three counts, namely largest traffic and crowd management plan, the biggest painting exercise of public sites under paint my city scheme and biggest sanitation and waste disposal mechanism.

An official statement issued by the Indian government on Monday stated that a three-member team from "Guinness World Records" visited the Prayagraj for this purpose. Exercise at large scale were done before the team members for three days from Feb. 28 to March 3. Around 503 shuttle buses were pressed into service in one go for the team on Feb. 28 on the highway, it added.

Several people participated in a painting exercise on March 1 and 10,000 workers engaged in cleaning the area spread over an area of 3,200 hectares, where a tent city had come up to accommodate the visitors.

Monday witnessed the final auspicious day of bathing on the occasion of "Mahashivratri" out of the six royal bathing days during the 49-day event. Out of the previous five royal bathing occasions, three major ones fell on Jan. 15, Feb. 4 and Feb. 10.

An estimated 10 million people gathered for taking the holy dip on Monday alone, claimed local administration officials. Considering heavy rush, elaborate traffic arrangements were made within the city. To avoid traffic snarls, most of the routes were made one-way and the heavy vehicles diverted through nearby cities and towns, said a local traffic cop.

The festival takes places every six years and assumes significance among Indians, particularly the Hindu community. The Grand Finale of the festival is held every 12 years. The next festival falling in 2025 will be the Grand Finale.

Xinhua spoke to several devotees on the occasion. Sivaram Das Vardharajan brought his 65-year old mother all the way from southern state Tamil Nadu to enable her to take the holy dip at the "Sangam."

"Since this festival happens after every six years and the Grand Finale after every 12 years, this holds enough significance for the devotees, especially among the old. My mother had a long wish to come here and take the holy dip, at least once in her life time. I am lucky to have fulfilled her wish," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:47:50|Editor: xuxin

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (L) shakes hands with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani after a joint press conference in Doha, Qatar, on March 4, 2019. The two foreign ministers on Monday discussed the latest developments in Syria and Libya. (Xinhua/Nikku)

MOSCOW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Russia and Qatar, as major natural gas producers, have agreed to coordinate their policies in the energy sector, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday.

"We agreed to continue coordinating steps in the global energy market, including within the Doha Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF)," Lavrov said at a press conference in Doha after talks with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.

The press conference was broadcast live on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.

The GECF is an international governmental organization uniting 12 major natural gas producers, including Qatar and Russia.

Qatar holds proven natural gas reserves of some 25 trillion cubic meters, the third largest after Russia and Iran, and it's also the world's top exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), according to the GECF.

The Arab country also has oil resources. It holds proven crude oil reserves of about 25 billion barrels, compared to some 60 billion barrels in Russia, according to the GECF.

At the press conference, Lavrov said he drew Al-Thani's attention to the interest of Russian oil and gas companies, including Lukoil, Zarubezhneft, Gazprom and Novatek, to develop mutually beneficial projects with Qatari partners.

Lavrov and Al-Thani also gave a positive assessment of the interaction between the Russian Direct Investment Fund and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), as well as the latter's participation in the Russian oil giant Rosneft, Lavrov said.

In 2016, the state-owned Qatari sovereign wealth fund QIA jointly acquired with Swiss trader Glencore a 19.5 percent stake in Rosneft.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-04 23:57:54|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HARARE, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe has since last year secured loans amounting to 985 million U.S. dollars from foreign lenders to prop up its ailing economy, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor John Mangudya said Monday.

He told the parliamentary committee on public accounts that the bulk of the loan amount was from Afreximbank which advanced 641 million dollars to the country.

The Trade and Development Bank chipped in with 152 million U.S. dollars while the Central Bank of Mozambique advanced 25 million dollars.

Other lenders include the African Development Bank and the South African Minting Company.

Mangudya said the tenure of the loan facilities ranged from three to five years, adding that the loan facilities had helped the central bank continue running the economy amid acute foreign currency shortages.

However, the governor was put to task by chair of the committee Tendai Biti who accused the central bank of securing the foreign loans without getting approval from Parliament as is required by law.

Mangudya argued that the bank was guided by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Act in securing the loans, as well as a ministerial consent from the finance minister Mthuli Ncube. The borrowings were also in the national interest, Mangudya said.

Last week, the Botswana government announced that it had agreed to extend a 95 million dollars credit line to Zimbabwe to support the private sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 00:07:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HANGZHOU, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Alibaba founder Jack Ma's newly-launched African entrepreneurs funding program has partnered up with four African organizations, with their service covering 54 African countries, the Jack Ma Foundation said Monday.

The fund, named Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI), has appointed Nailab from Kenya, NINE from Nigeria, RiseUp from Egypt and 22 On Sloane from South Africa as its regional partners.

The four organizations will work together to promote the prize program in 54 African countries.

The ANPI was launched on Feb. 18, aiming to provide 10 million U.S. dollars to outstanding African entrepreneurs in the coming decade.

Ten African entrepreneurs will be awarded each year, with the total funding of one million dollars.

The first contest will be open for enrollment to all Africans on March 27, and the final contest is expected to be held in Africa in November.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 00:22:58|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WARSAW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Warsaw municipality is set to approve a record 300 million zloty (79 million U.S. dollars) budget to combat smog, which was planned to be spent over the next four years, local media reported on Monday.

The budget, which, according to Polish portal Puls Biznesu, is expected to be approved at the next city council meeting, will be dedicated to financing the replacement of old coal-based stoves and connecting homes to district heating.

Rafal Trzaskowski, mayor of Warsaw, has said the city aimed to remove all old stoves in communal houses by 2021.

Money from the budget would also be spent on air quality monitoring including by drone, thermal insulation of buildings and support for poorer families to combat energy poverty. Rules for accessing city financing to replace boilers would be clarified.

The burning of poor quality coal or even trash in old household boilers is considered to be one of the main causes of smog in the Polish capital and elsewhere around the country.

According to the World Health Organisation, 33 out of the most polluted 50 cities in the EU are located in Poland. In many cities, the number of days when the average daily concentration of PM10 is above the limit exceeds one third of the year.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 00:43:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A video clip released on Monday showed that Iran's supreme leader advised the government not to pin its hopes on Europe after the U.S. withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal, Press TV reported.

The video showed a private meeting between Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's cabinet last July.

Khamenei urged the administration not to trust the Europeans with their pledge of incentives to save the Iranian nuclear deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"One day, we tied all of the country's economic issues to the JCPOA but it could not resolve our country's economic issues or help us in any significant way," Khamenei told the cabinet members.

He advised the government to avoid linking people's livelihood to the Europeans' pledges to save Iran's interests under the nuclear deal.

"We have things to do in our country and we have potentials, which need to be materialized," he said. "Follow those potentials, do not tie economic enhancement to something that is not in our control."

On Jan. 31, the European Union announced the setting up of the new institution, Instrument In Support Of Trade Exchanges, to secure trade with Iran and skirt U.S. anti-Iran sanctions after Washington pulled out of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal last May.

Accordingly, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif welcomed the establishment of a payment channel by the European states to help continue trade with Iran.

"The purpose of this mechanism is to bring the whole payments between Iran and Europe and all of our exports and imports into this financial mechanism," Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 00:48:02|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TUNIS, March 4 (Xinhua) -- At the conclusion of the 36th session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, the participants stressed willingness to strengthen Arab cooperation to fight against terrorism and ensure the stability of all Arab peoples, according to a statement released Monday by the council.

During this session, the ministers have adopted a roadmap to combat terrorism. A strategy is also adopted to combat the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, as well as a plan of the Arab civil defense strategy, said the statement.

The session was launched Sunday in Tunis with the participation of interior ministers of the Arab states, senior security delegations, and representatives of various Arab and international organizations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 01:08:06|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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NICOSIA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Irish banker John Patrick Hourican, who pulled the Bank of Cyprus (BoC) out of utter chaos almost six years ago, will leave the Cypriot lender later this year, the BoC board announced on Monday.

It said that Hourican will leave in September, after a six-month notice to the bank's board, in which he said he will pursue a commercial opportunity in the United Kingdom, where he will join his family.

Hourican took over as BoC's CEO in the aftermath of its recapitalization by seizing 47.5 percent of depositors' money in a "bail-in" in 2013, on the instructions of the Eurogroup and the European Central Bank.

The board said in its announcement that Hourican "has guided the bank's restructuring, its recapitalization, a restoration of confidence, and has been instrumental in developing appropriate strategies for dealing with the challenge of coping with large non-performing exposures, shrinking the bank to strength."

It added that Hourican has developed a strong senior executive team that will guide the bank in the period ahead.

Hourican took over the helm of the bank in late 2013 in the most dramatic of the institution's over 100 years of history. He clashed with politicians, accusing them of being populists. He said they made the non-performing loan problem of the banking sector worse with legislation that diluted the law on foreclosures.

Non-performing loans jumped overnight to about 28 billion euros (31.7 billion U.S. dollars), or 52 percent of the bank's total loan portfolio, as a result of the massive economic crisis that hit the eastern Mediterranean island in 2013.

Bad loans at BoC itself exceeded 15 billion euros and currently stand at 4.8 billion euros, a 68 percent drop after continuously being reduced over 15 consecutive quarters, Hourican said in his report to the bank's board.

In a separate report, the bank said it posted a loss of 104 million euros after tax for 2018, adding that it was a significant improvement on the previous year's losses of almost 552 million euros.

The report said that on the plus side, the bank's capital position has been strengthened thanks to an agreement on the sale of 2.7 billion euros worth of non-performing loans through a project aimed at continuously bringing down bad loans. (1 euro = 1.13 U.S. dollars)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 02:03:16|Editor: huaxia

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CHICAGO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures traded higher on Monday morning amid reported progress in U.S.-China trade talks.

The most active soybean contract for May delivery once rose more than 1 percent during the morning trading, following weekend reports from the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News that a U.S.-China trade deal has moved ever nearer.

Also during the weekend, Guo Weimin, spokesperson for China's national political advisory body, told a news conference in Beijing that reaching a mutually beneficial agreement as soon as possible will not only benefit China and the United States, but also be good news for the world economy.

As of 1643 GMT, CBOT May soybeans were up 6.5 cents to 9.18 dollars per bushel, May corn was up 2 cents to 3.655 U.S. dollars per bushel, while May wheat was down 0.75 cent to 4.565 dollars per bushel. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 02:18:18|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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AMMAN, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank will provide 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to Jordan over the next two years to support the country's reforms, state-run Petra news agency reported on Monday.

The support is almost the same amount of money that the World Bank has provided to the country over the last five years, the report cited Kristalina Georgieva, interim president of the World Bank Group and chief executive officer of the World Bank, as saying.

The loans are subject to the approval of the World Bank's board of directors.

Over the next two years, the World Bank, through its private investment arms, seeks to create pipeline projects in Jordan worth 1 billion dollars.

During a conference in London on Feb. 28, several countries and international financing institutions pledged billons of dollars in support for Jordan's reforms.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 02:38:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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OTTAWA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Twenty-six percent of Canadians said the SNC-Lavalin scandal will influence their vote in the 2019 election in October, according to a survey issued by Nanos on Sunday.

Before former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould's shocking public testimony last Wednesday alleging 11 senior government officials' pressure and "veiled threats" in the SNC-Lavalin case, 17 percent of Canadians said the SNC-Lavalin scandal will be a factor when they vote in the 2019 election.

However, two days after the explosive hearing, the number of concerned respondents jumped by nearly 10 percent to 26 percent, while 8 percent said they were unsure if the scandal will influence their votes.

The survey also shows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's personal brand has taken a hit since Wilson-Raybould's testimony.

Before the former justice minister testified, 14 percent said they considered Trudeau the most ethical federal leader. At the time, Trudeau ranked third behind Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, at 23 percent, and Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, at 21 percent.

But by Friday, Trudeau sank to 10 percent support, putting him in the fourth position behind New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh, who had 11 percent.

May appeared to pick up most of Trudeau's eroded support, gaining 5 percentage points to put her at 28 percent by Friday.

The survey also found that Canadians are split over which party, if elected, would be more ethical. Thirty-four percent said Trudeau's Liberals would be more ethical in government, a small drop from 39 percent last Monday.

Scheer's Conservatives earned the same amount of confidence, at 34 percent. That number has not changed since Wilson-Raybould's testimony.

Wilson-Raybould, who resigned from Trudeau's Liberal cabinet earlier last month, said that between September and December last year, she "experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in an inappropriate effort to secure a deferred prosecution agreement with SNC-Lavalin."

The company was charged with fraud and corruption four years ago over allegations that SNC-Lavalin paid nearly 36 million U.S. dollars in bribes to public officials in the former Libyan government of the late Muammar Gadhafi and defrauded Libyan organizations of an estimated 98 million U.S. dollars between 2001 and 2011.

The survey was commissioned by CTV News and was conducted by Nanos Research.

Nanos conducted the first telephone and online random survey among 1,000 Canadians, 18 years of age or older, between Feb. 23-26, 2019. It did a second survey with the same method on 750 Canadians. The sample for the second survey was drawn from the first group of surveyees, to allow for a direct comparability on the impact of the testimony.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 03:38:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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RAMALLAH, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The Executive Committee of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) slammed on Monday the United States for closing its consulate in Jerusalem.

"The closure of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem and merging it with its embassy in Israel is a violation of the resolutions of international legitimacy that Washington contributed to drafting it," an official PLO press statement said.

It added that "the peace process has to be revived throughout an international peace conference attended by the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council."

In the light of the closure of the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem, the PLO decided to carry on with its decision of stopping political ties with the U.S. administration and its representatives.

The PLO warned the Palestinian personalities, institutions and organizations of violating the decision.

The Palestinian Authority is boycotting the U.S. since the declaration of U.S. President Donald Trump in December 2017 which considered Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved his country's embassy to Jerusalem in May last year.

Since Trump's declaration, the Palestinians are calling for a new international mechanism to sponsor the peace talk with Israel, which stopped in 2014 after the U.S. sponsored it for nine months without reaching any breakthrough.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 04:03:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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WARSAW, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Polish President Andrzej Duda and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak kick-started a series of events marking the 20th anniversary of Poland's joining NATO on Monday.

"It's a great joy to be a part of this most important military alliance in the world and at the same time part of the free world," said Duda in the western city of Zagan, where he visited Polish and American troops located in the country.

Poland officially joined NATO in 1999.

In 2016, during a NATO summit in Warsaw, it was decided that NATO troops as well as command structures of both NATO and the U.S. army would be located in Poland.

The Polish military is an important contributor to NATO's Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) on the eastern and southern flank and to NATO's tailored Forward Presence (tFP).

Poland plays a special role in the eFP initiative: it is one of the host countries, it delegates troops to one of the eFP groups, and it hosts a multinational division headquarters in the northern city Elblag, which has the task of coordinating the activities of all eFP groups.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 04:13:44|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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ROME, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Italy and France are the world's two biggest winemaking nations, each responsible for around a fifth of global commercial production by volume. But in China, Italian wine remains a comparative afterthought.

Italy was the world's largest wine producer in 2017 (the latest full-year figures available), producing 49 million of the world's 251 million hectoliters of wine, according to the International Organization of Vine and Wine. France was second, with 47 million hectoliters.

Italian wine exports to China grew by about a third over a two-year span ending last year, according to estimates from Wine Intelligence, a London-based industry data firm. But according to Wine News, an Italian industry website, Italy has since given some of those gains back. France remains a strong leader in the fast-growing imported sector.

MOST APPETIZING EMERGING MARKET

"China is the world's most appetizing emerging wine market, and Italy is making up for lost time there," Francesca Filippone, founder and managing director of L3, a food and wine consultancy focusing on China, told Xinhua. "But France has tremendous advantages in terms of image and familiarity."

One major initiative aimed at increasing visibility of Italian wines in China is a soon-to-be-published dictionary of Italian wine in Chinese, the first book of its kind. The "Italian-Chinese Bilingual Dictionary of Wines and Vines," expected to be on sale in April, is aimed at resolving the ambiguity of wine and grape names when they are translated into Chinese.

"We cover around 600 different grape varieties grown commercially in Italy," Marta Valenti, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Milan and one of the authors of the dictionary, said in an interview.

Bettina Mottura, another dictionary author and a professor of Chinese language and culture at the University of Milan, added: "We want to help Italian wine take its appropriate place in China."

"If you go to an urban supermarket in China, the wine section will have five shelves of French wine, five or six for countries from the 'New World'," she said, using a term that refers to most non-European wine regions. "Perhaps there is half a shelf for Italian wines."

EFFORTS TO WIN CHINESE MARKET

Analysts held diverse opinions on how to help Italian wine gain more market share in China. Filippone, for example, said the Italian government should help negotiate bilateral tax agreements that would include wine exports. Valenti and Mottura said steps should be taken to familiarize Chinese consumers with Italian wine. For example, specific logograms should be developed to refer to specific types of wine. Others talked about latching Italian wine onto the country's fashion industry, where Italy has a strong image.

According to Lorenzo Tersi, a commercial advisor for the wine industry, Italy should look to promote its wines in general terms, rather than having different Italian regions competing against themselves. As it is, promotional efforts are often initiated by single producers or by regional consortia.

Tersi also suggested promoting "wine tourism" for Chinese visitors to Italy, based on the idea that if they see where and how Italian wines are made they would be more likely seek out Italian wines when they return home.

"There's no need to differentiate between wines from Piedmont, Tuscany, Sicily, or wherever," Tersi said in an interview. "If Italian wines are better understood and demand is higher, then all the wine regions will benefit."

Gianni Gagliardo, owner of a wine estate and a frequent visitor to China, predicts great things for the Chinese wine market, and he is convinced Italy will play a central role.

"In another 10 or 15 years, China will be the world's most important market for great red wines," Gagliardo told Xinhua. "There are stages in the development of a market. What is happening now is that consumers are starting to see wine as an important part of a good meal."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 04:33:51|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BAGHDAD, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Eight Islamic State (IS) militants were killed on Monday in an international coalition airstrike on their hideout in Iraq's western province of Anbar, Iraqi Ministry of Defense said.

In coordination with Iraq's joint operations command, U.S.-led coalition fighter jets pounded an IS hideout in the desert of Kubeisa, some 180 km west the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the ministry said in a statement.

"A total of eight IS militants were killed in the airstrike and their hideout was destroyed, along with destroying explosive belts and homemade bombs," the statement added.

The U.S.-led international coalition was formed to support the Iraqi forces in its war against the extremist militant group after the latter took control of large swathes of territories in northern and western Iraq in June 2014.

The international coalition has been conducting air raids against IS targets in both Iraq and Syria.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces declared that they had fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, groups of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban or in deserts and rugged areas, and have been carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians despite operations to hunt them down.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 05:39:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy speaks at a press conference at the UN headquarters in New York, on March 4, 2019. Polyanskiy on Monday reiterated Moscow's call for direct access to former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who allegedly suffered a nerve agent attack in Britain a year ago. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, March 4 (Xinhua) -- A Russian UN envoy on Monday reiterated Moscow's call for direct access to former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, who allegedly suffered a nerve agent attack in Britain a year ago.

London has the obligation to allow Moscow such access under the international convention and bilateral treaties, Russian First Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitry Polyanskiy told a press conference in New York.

He added Russia needs to hear directly from the Skripals whether they wish to deal with the Russian side or not.

On March 4, 2018, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were found unconscious in Salisbury after reportedly being exposed to a military-grade nerve agent. They spent weeks in critical condition but recovered.

London accused Moscow of being behind the attack while Moscow denied the claim.

At Monday's press briefing, Polyanskiy said the Russian side has only seen a video address by Yulia Skripal almost a year ago and some written documents "attributed to them" saying they do not want to speak with Russian authorities.

He stressed the need for "physical contact," asking: "Are they alive? Are they in Britain? Are they elsewhere? We don't know anything."

He further said the Skripals' situation could qualify as "a forced detention or even abduction of two Russian nationals" and Russia will try to use official channels to get access to these people.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-03-05 06:49:11|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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CHICAGO, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean and corn futures closed higher on Monday, boosted by reports about the progress made in U.S.-China trade talks.

The most active soybean contract for May delivery once rose more than 1 percent in the morning trading, following weekend reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News that a U.S.-China trade deal has moved ever nearer.

During the weekend, Guo Weimin, spokesperson for China's national political advisory body, told reporters in Beijing that reaching a mutually beneficial agreement as soon as possible will not only benefit China and the United States, but also be good news for the world economy.

Optimism about a U.S.-China trade deal lured funds into buying. CBOT traders estimated that funds bought 4,800 contracts of soybeans, 4,300 contracts of corn and 1,200 contracts of wheat.

CBOT soybeans posted gains as China is the world's top buyer, and corn was also on the rise amid hopes that China may buy more U.S. agricultural products once an agreement is reached.

"The bullish news that there's a deal on the horizon, that (corn) exports are actually looking well and even the ethanol margins are also on the upswing...this trade deal is really helping the market," said Virginia McGathey, a market analyst with McGathey Commodities.

At the end of the session, the most active soybean contract for May delivery was up 4.5 cents, or 0.49 percent to close at 9.16 dollars per bushel. May corn was up 1.75 cents, or 0.47 percent, to settle at 3.7475 dollars per bushel. May wheat went down 1.75 cents, or 0.38 percent, to close at 4.555 dollars per bushel.
China to foster commodity markets, develop platform economy China will facilitate the development of platform economy by fostering a batch of 100-billion-yuan (15 billion U.S. dollars) commodity markets by 2020.

China to continue improving services for foreign investors China will keep improving legal and market environments for foreign investors to attract more overseas capital inflow, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Bianca Andreescu, cadere linistita in anonimat: Cati bani a castigat dupa un singur sezon stralucit

Lumea tenisului feminin ne tot ofera jucatoare care traiesc un sezon, dupa care, pline de bani si lipsite de motivatie, dispar in anonimat. Bianca, din pacate, pare ca merge pe acest [citeste mai departe]
The enemy landed eight attacks on positions of Ukrainian government troops

Russian occupants continue attacking outposts of the Ukrainian miltary in the Joint Forces Operation zone. The Defense Ministry of Ukraine reported that on Sunday evening.

The enemy used Minsk-banned weapons, in particular, 120 mm mortars.

In Donetsk region, the enemy shelled Vodyane and Hnutove, using mortars of various calibers.

Most of the attacks over the day were observed in Luhansk region. In Novozvanivka, Novooleksandrivka and Zolote-4, the enemy opened fire from 120 mm mortars. In Novoluhanske, the terrorists fired 120 mm mortars and mounted automatic grenade launchers. 82 mm mines hit the vicinities of Popasna, where the occupants also used IFVs and heavy machineguns. In Krymske, the enemy fired the mounted automatic grenade launchers and small arms.

One Ukrainian fighter was wounded in combat over the said period.
The Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko TASS

All the healthy people left Donbas, old people stayed, they can not leave their homes, as the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said at the Minsk press conference.

The problem is that all the healthy people who could leave did so, they moved to Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Who stayed? Old people, who can not leave their homes. You understand what is it for an old person to leave his home. Some women with children stayed, those who dont have men, he stated.

Why should they cry and worry about their children, why shells fall on their heads, why do they die, for what? What is the interest? Try and analyze the human factor, not some international interest or the interests of some states, he added.

But above all  we ourselves presented a gift to the Americans and to those who fight against us, and, primarily, against Russia. We have presented them a gift, he concluded.

Earlier, Lukashenko stated that he would not call Russia a fraternal state anymore but only a partner. Besides, the Belarusian president expressed the opinion that Moscow wants to incorporate Belarus into the composition of Russia on the pretext of deep integration.

Moreover, the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has requested the government to work out the issue of the alternatives of the oil supply through Baltic countries instead of Russia.
The young man, born in 1999 lost his life in the fight on early Monday

One of the attacks of Russian occupants resulted in the death of a Ukrainian fighter. The name of the deceased serviceman was not disclosed.

Maksym Prauta, the spokesman of Ukraine's defense ministry reported this on a briefing on March 4.

'The life of a Ukrainian defender, born in 1999, was lost as a result of an enemy shelling. We express our deepest condolences to the family, those close ones and the brothers in arms of the perished hero', Prauta said.

In Luhansk region, the Russian mercenaries shelled the vicinities of Zaitsevo, using 120 mm mines.

In Lebedynske, Donetsk region, the enemy amassed fire from mortars, 122 mm artillery and the anti-tank missile system. In Vodyane, Ukrainian defenders took fire, as 120 mm mines landed in the area. 122 mm shells exploded in the area of Shyrokyne.

The occupant forces also attacked Pisky, where they opened fire from 82 mm mortars and heavy-caliber machineguns.
Open source

G7 and World Bank called the decision of the Constitutional Court on cancellation of the article on illicit enrichment a serious setback in the fight against corruption in Ukraine, as the joint statement of the organizations reported on Facebook says.

The recent elimination of the illicit enrichment offence from the criminal code is a serious setback in the fight against corruption in Ukraine. This has weakened the impact of the whole anti-corruption architecture, including the soon to be established High-Anti-Corruption Court, which was expected to rule on a significant number of illicit enrichment cases, and the ability of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine to investigate high-level corruption. The ongoing investigations and prosecutions for illicit enrichment held the promise of bringing accountability for those that had used their official position for personal gain, the statement reads.

Ukrainian authority was urged to continue carrying out tens of investigations.

The G7 and the World Bank call on Ukrainian authorities to step up efforts for safeguarding the effectiveness of anti-corruption legal tools and institutions, including by reinstating criminal liability for illicit enrichment in line with UN, OECD and ECHR principles and finding a way to continue the dozens of investigations and prosecutions threatened by this ruling, the statement says.

Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled unconstitutional an article of a Criminal Code on the illicit enrichment of public officials upon the pretext that the provisions of the article violate the presumption of innocence.

The Constitutional Court said that the legislative structure of Article 368-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "permits accusations based on assumptions." In addition, it includes the provisions regulating the process of evidence, although this is related to the criminal procedure law.

In addition, the Constitutional Court said that the legislative definition of "illegal enrichment" as a crime makes it possible to shift this responsibility from the prosecution to the defense.

Later President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed the new draft law on the article on the illicit enrichment and later it was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Related video:
Today Svyatoslav Piskun, Ukrainian political activist, three times General Prosecutor of Ukraine; general lieutenant of the tax police; first State Class Counselor of Justice, Head of the Union of Lawyers of Ukraine, Vice-President of the International Fund of Lawyers Ukraine, member of the High Council of Justice of Ukraine, is the guest of our Big Interview show.

112 Agency

Recently, Ukraine has witnessed a unique historical event. First, we have never judged the president, and, second, the ex-parte court ruling was applied.

I agree it was an unusual case. In order to convict Viktor Yanukovych and his close associates, his criminal group, as the Attorney General said, some special legislation was created. It was decided to introduce an absentee pre-trial investigation, an extramural judicial special examination of the case, an absentee special confiscation. That is, the general rules of law, which today we have in Ukraine, did not work. And the norms of general international law did not work. Our law enforcement agencies hoped that the international investigative mandate provided by the Ukrainian prosecutors office would be carried out. They hoped Yanukovych would be interrogated, and the documents concerning his case would be transferred to the Ukrainian side, to the Ukrainian prosecutors office. But this did not happen.

It was expected that Yanukovych would get a life sentence.

The fact is that there would be a chance for an appeal, cassation. It is difficult to comment on the court decision if you are not familiar with all the case details. But if the court had reason to give 13 years, then what's the difference  15 or 13 years, if the corpus delicti is proven? And indeed, there was no confiscation of property. And this is an additional measure of punishment. Do they think there is nothing to take from Yanukovych?

So what does this sentence really mean to Yanukovych? His fate is completely in the hands of Putin.

Nothing. Yanukovych must now go to church, more often than he usually does, pray for Putins health, and ask God to preserve Putins presidency for many years. If there is no Putin, then another Russian president can simply extradite Yanukovych back to Ukraine, following the court decision and the international law. But our politicians believe that Yanukovychs trial is only the beginning; a reason for launching an investigation into the criminal group headed by Yanukovych.

After voicing the verdict, Yanukovychs lawyers suggested that absentia conviction would now be abolished, because, as they believe, "the current government will be afraid to keep such a prospect for themselves  no one knows what happens to them later."

I dont know whether it is really canceled or not, but as a prosecutor, I dont like the system of absentee investigation. I believe that even if a person is a criminal, he should get the right to defend himself in court publicly. And he should be present at the trial. At least via online services. The only time we saw Yanukovych was when Lutsenko announced his suspicion. And what happened after? Maybe he is dead already  no one knows for sure.

It looks like we are creating some myths now. Yanukovych is like a myth, like a ghost, because, as you say, he might be dead now.

Who knows. The main thing here is that we have sentenced him in absentia. We had the right to do it, and we did it. And then let his lawyers do whatever they want  write appeals, cassations, go to the ECHR.

Why didnt we do it like the foreign intelligence services usually do: a special operation, kidnapping, deportation to Ukraine, putting behind the bars?

It is impossible. Any investigative actions in the territory of another country are prohibited. And it is punishable by criminal law. Only Wiesenthal and Mossad allowed themselves doing this. But they kidnapped the perpetrators of the Second World War and brought them to Israel in court. There were relevant units that issued a court decision in absentia on the death penalty on the spot. This is a special operation of the special services, and it is not legal, because it is the territory of another country. But, given the situation in which the world occurred after the war, they Israel and the Mossad were allowed to do it.

Yanukovychs sentence was a unique precedent, but on March 21, 2011, the Prosecutor Generals Office opened a criminal case against President Leonid Kuchma for abuse of power. The investigation had evidence that Kuchma gave illegal instructions to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which led to the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze (Georgian politician and Ukrainian journalist and film director who was kidnapped and murdered in 2000).

I have been engaged in the Gongadze case, and not like all those young prosecutors  I have been engaged for a long time. We worked and detained, arrested Pukach (Three former officials of Ukrainian Interior Ministry's foreign surveillance department and criminal intelligence unit were accused of his murder; and a fourth one Oleksiy Pukach, the former chief of the unit, was arrested in July 2009, -ed.). As for the charges against Kuchma, we studied all the records, I flew to America, met with the director of the FBI, with the US Attorney General, we all studied and concluded that there is no causal connection between what happened to Gongadze and President Kuchmas actions. Perhaps Kuchma wanted to save his life? It is impossible to build accusations on the recordings (fragments of the Melnychenko recordings were used during in the case, - ed.). Because this is a digital recording. Moreover, Kuchma did not directly say: "kill him."

And what do you think about the criminal lobby of the Savchenkos law (which provides for the admission of one day of pre-trial detention for two days of imprisonment)? Some people believe that Savchenkos law was used in order to lobby this law, taking advantage of the rush around her stay in a Russian prison.

I do not exclude anything, because anything might happen in our country. If they are told to go vote for this law, they will do it.

Voter turnout in the elections is usually very low. What should be done to increase it?

In 2004, and in 2005, when I served as the General Prosecutor of Ukraine as part of the Orange team (Orange revolution took place in 2004  ed.), I filed about 1,000 criminal cases concerning the violation of laws during the election of the President of Ukraine. This was about the forgery of documents, and falsification of the number, and the loss of ballots. About 150 of the 1000 cases that we filed were investigated, sent to court; only five people were sentenced to imprisonment in the Kirovograd district for falsifying documents during elections. It was a case of penetration into the central computer of the CEC. So no one bothered to examine these violations and show us who it depended on, who could get in there and change the results. Ukraines election system is blatant, corrupt, unverifiable, non-transparent, and the whole world says: you are the only world country that abides by XIX century elections rules. Both parliamentary and presidential elections. The whole world has long been doing it online, people vote at home.

Read the original text at 112.ua.
President Poroshenko has more and more frequently begun to focus people's attention on potential opportunities of our economy; sectors, where Ukraine has more competitive advantages than other countries do. That is, these sectors should become the base for creating a better future and increasing the peoples standard of living.

Petro Poroshenko was talking about agro-industrial complex, since in the past in 2018 our farmers harvested more than 70 million tons of grain and, as the president stressed: "This is our absolute record. Ukraine has never harvested such a crop before."

Also, it should be noted that we are among the top ten world producers of grain, among the top three world exporters, we are number one exporter of sunflower oil (more than half of its global exports), and we are in the top ten world dairy products suppliers. However, these successes occurred in spite of - not as a result of.

After all, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance still have nothing but good intentions to stimulate market participants at the expense of credit and borrowed funds of our western partners, thus continuing to increase the government debt of Ukraine.

Only in 2018, Ukraines Ministry of Finance borrowed 10,21 billion USD.

The structure of these foreign borrowings is as follows: 725 million USD was received during placement of short-term Eurobonds, 2 billion from long-term Eurobonds, 500 million EUR as part of the IV program of macro-financial assistance from the European Union, 349 million EUR as a loan guaranteed by the World Bank. Where did this credit money go?

I dare to assert that so far no reform of the Ukrainian economy and national markets has happened. There is still no independent judicial system and the real fight against large-scale corruption, the inviolability of private property is not ensured, and the Supreme Council does not adopt the most important economic laws.

Monopolies and indispensable attraction of administrative resources are rampant in the country. Therefore, the current economic model with the existing monetary policy cannot be effective.

The people are often said that they do not need to think about any socio-economic problems  the market will solve and adjust everything. But the big capital is not going to ensure the effective use of all resources.

Now, this dogma has nothing to do with reality: if everything is a matter of money, the majority of Ukrainians are left out of prosperous life.

Therefore, reducing the influence of corrupt bureaucracy on the social structure and Ukrainian business is simply impossible.

None of them would defend the interests of the totally impoverished electorate, and even if the leaders of the United States and the European Union (in some fantastic way) force them to do so, then the resistance of their own regional teams would be the most severe.

Although President Petro Poroshenko continues to inspire: The profitability of the agro-industrial complex through the mechanism of decentralization would be embodied in weighty social projects in the rural areas. About 500 ambulance stations are being built. And we have already bought cars for them. And this is only part of the large project development of rural healthcare."

At the same time, he emphasizes that this initiative was made possible thanks to the efforts of the General Prosecutor's Office, which confiscated huge funds from the previous government.

Yes, there are successes in the agro-industrial sector and the Prosecutor Generals Office, they are encouraging, but at the same time, we are seeing how industrial production is decreasing, the number of new infrastructure failures is increasing, the number of unemployed is increasing, and real incomes are decreasing.

And yet I think this situation in the country`s economy is fixable. First of all, we need to retain national markets, set peace in the east of the country and reach macroeconomic stabilization. Is it possible to solve this structural crisis in the Ukrainian economy in a simple way? No.

Situation on the market is constantly changing, and some unique opportunities arise. But political leaders either do not notice or do not want to see these opportunities.

At the same time, the current economic model needs to be radically reformed, so I propose three main triggers for launching the country`s economy.

First, we should freeze the tariffs of natural monopolies, as well as transport services of Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukraines railways' company) and large energy holdings, which are able to overcome the crisis by reducing their own costs and abandoning non-core assets.

Secondly, we should strengthen the financial and banking systems, encouraging the consolidation of banks, developing a system of guaranteeing interbank loans to revitalize the lending market of the real sector, abolishing unreasonable preferences for the state banks, and legally limit the margin when lending to businesses and individuals. Favorable investment climate and an international investment hub in Kyiv should be created.

Third, structural economic reforms should be carried out, and reforms mean putting pressure on the government. Perhaps, no other European country has such a primitive monopolistic-oligarchic economy. Domestic demand should be a source of economic recovery and growth. Well, we must constantly talk about the structural reform of the national markets. Of course, this is a very difficult task, and we should realize that it cannot be solved quickly.

Read the original text at 112.ua.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
It is the first time that the political force wins the parliamentary election; according to the official results, the pro-Western Reform Party came first in the voting, leaving pro-Russian Center party behind

Open source

The winner of the parliamentary election in Estonia is Party of Reforms, Eesti Reformierakond. The pro-Western political force claimed 28.8 percent of votes, thus leaving the opposition camp and gaining the majority of seats in the Parliament.

The Republican Electoral Committee reports that Center party, the pro-Russian political force came second and claimed 23.1 percent of votes.

The Conservative People's Party (EKRE), which endorses the ideas of nationalism and limitation of immigration, got 17.8 percent.

The MPs elect the President of the Republic, who is a nominal figure; instead, the full extent of executive power goes to the Prime Minister, the leader of the winning party or the parliamentary coalition.

The leader of Estonian Reform Party Kaja Kallas is considered by most of the analytics as the influential figure that is capable of negotiating with the other political forces so as to shape the coalition government. The 41-year-old politician is the ex-MEP; she chaired the party less than a year ago.
Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus RIA news

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko said that he did not discuss recognition of Crimea as Russian with President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

No, we (with the president of the Russian Federation) did not discuss such issues. I cannot even tell you how we initially discussed the issues of Crimea, Donbas, when they appeared; we had full mutual understanding. I am thankful to Putin for his understanding of my state. I will not reveal the details but I estimated it; however, I should not delve into this issue, he said.

When I was at the inauguration of Poroshenko in the same year; four years agoit was hot weather, over 30 degrees. The western and Ukrainian journalists surrounded me near the Rada and began to ask me, whose Crimea is  Russian or Ukrainian. I did not prepare for this question and did not want to answer it. I asked them: How many Ukrainians died during the seizure of Crimea by Russia?. They were silent. None. How many shots went off? None. It means that you silently agreed that Crimea is not yours, at least. And then I was talking about this issue right there, in Ukraine, and I was asked any question after that, he added.

It was an absolutely unexpected answer for them, namely, if it is yours then die, fight for this piece of land, Lukashenko concluded.

Crimea was annexed by Russia after the illegal referendum held on the peninsula in March 2014. Earlier, the Russian military captured all strategic military objects and buildings of the key authoritative bodies. Neither Ukraine nor the rest of the civilized countries recognized the results of the referendum. A number of the European and the world countries, including Ukraine, imposed the economic sanctions against Russia.
As of Monday noon, there has been no information on any casualties

India-Pakistan hostilities, border area, March 2019 IANS

The hostilities between India and Pakistan resumed, as the two-days-long ceasefire is over. Times of India reported that with the reference to the Indian defense ministry.

The authority states that the night-time attack launched by the Pakistani side lasted for more than three hours; it involved mortar and small arms fire. In turn, the Indian army opened fire, too.

As of Monday noon, there has been no information on any casualties.

The hostilities between India and Pakistan intensified on February 28, after Pakistani troops shot down two planes of the Indian Air Force, as the aircraft entered the Pakistani airspace.

The Ukrainian Embassy in India urged the citizens not to travel to the dangerous districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Open source

President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko stated that the success of the negotiations on Donbas depends on the president of Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but mostly on the Ukrainian president.

I told the one and another president: you should agree together, which way to follow. It is important that they have to agree; it depends on two presidents, but mostly, possibly, from the Ukrainian president, he said.

I told to Petro Poroshenko: the simple thing does the war take place?  on the territory of Ukraine. Who should be more interested to stop it?  the president of Ukraine. Putin, I definitely know, does not want the escalation. He needs to.It is necessary to get out of the situation nicely, for both sides. But the first steps should be done by the president of the country. The fire is in his house. I said to one and another president: you should agree together, which way to follow. It will defiantly take place after the presidential elections, he added.

As we reported earlier, Viktor Medvedchuk, the politician and the head of 'Ukrainsky Vybir' (Ukrainian Choice) political party faces prosecution in Ukraine. Ukraines Prosecutor General's Office opened the case against him in state treason and encroachment on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. The basis for the criminal proceeding is an application of the Ukrainian MP from the Peoples Front political party. The criminal case opened against the politician for his proposals on settlement of the military conflict in Donbas by granting the region with autonomy and capturing that in the Constitution of Ukraine. Medvedchuk voiced the proposals at the All-Ukrainian Congress of the party on January 29.

However, the representatives of Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin and Luhansk Peoples Republic (LPR) Leonid Pasechnik agreed on the direct negotiations with Kyiv on the plan proposed by Head of Political Council of Party Opposition platform  For life Viktor Medvedchuk, facilitated by the European partners on settlement of Donbas Conflict.




The goal is to provide a peaceful transition of power

The U.S. wants to form a coalition to provide peaceful transfer of power in Venezuela, as Presidents Advisor John Bolton said on air of CNN.

We are trying to rally support for the peaceful transition of power from Maduro to Guaido, whom we support as president, Bolton said.

He stressed that he would like to create a broad coalition which could replace Maduro and the entire corruption regime which exists in Venezuela.

Thats what we are trying to do, he added.

In May 2018, presidential elections were held in Venezuela. According to the Central Election Commission of the country, the incumbent president Maduro got around 70% votes, but the opposition blocked the elections.

In January, amid mass protests against Maduro, the Chairman of the National Assembly Juan Guaido declared himself as acting president.

The majority of the EU counties, the U.S., Canada, Australia and a part of Latin America recognized Guaido as acting president of Venezuela.
According to Dmitry Medvedev, the presidential campaign in Ukraine is harsh and dirty

Russian Prime Minister Medvedev TASS

The presidential campaign in Ukraine is harsh and dirty, the Kremlin still does not know who to talk to, as Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview for a Bulgarian news agency Trud.

Harsh, dirty presidential campaign is underway in Ukraine. Here in Russia we still dont understand who can we speak with, the Russian PM noted.

According to Medvedev, Russia was ready for the dialogue with Ukraines new authorities, if it is interested.

Yet its also important that the victory is fair and elections  legitimate. Recent events make us see the worst is coming, Medvedev stated.

He stressed that Ukraine has shut down polling stations in Russia and banned Russian citizens from participating in the elections as observers.

Ukraines Security Service informed about prevention of a large-scale cyber attack at the website of the Central Election Commission.

Earlier we reported that Russia intends to involve all present arsenal, including the cyber means, to influence the upcoming elections in Ukraine.

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.
12 leading samba schools struggle for the victory in the contest, which is considered the main event of the carnival

Daily Mail

The world-renowned Brazilian carnival is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, writes Reuters.

Road traffic in the city's central streets will be paralyzed for the entire week.

Twelve leading samba schools struggle for the victory in the contest, which is considered the main event of the carnival. Each team prepares a giant platform adorned by bright original decorations. Moving across the streets of Rio, they serve as a stage, where the dancers perform for 80 minutes every day.

The jury of 40 judges evaluate the performances of all teams, assessing the costume designs, the dances and the development of the carnival theme. The contest's results will be announced on the day when the carnival ends.

The city hall of Rio de Janeiro assumed that seven million people came to see the dancing procession; that, in particular, includes 1.5 million foreign tourists.
Open source

Natural gas consumption in the Dnipropetrovsk region has decreased by almost a quarter over the past four years. This was stated by the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional state administration Valentyn Reznichenko, reports Interfax.



Gas consumption decreased by 23% - by 917.3 million cubic meters. According to Reznichenko, this has become possible due to the introduction of energy-efficient technologies in the form of installing alternative boiler houses, solar power plants, as well as home insulation. According to his calculations, more than a hundred alternative boiler houses and dozens of solar power stations started working in the region.

Earlier Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman stated that Ukraine can refuse from the imported gas in the next five years because of the opening of the access to the Ukrainian resources as Ukrinform reported.

We begin to develop a very difficult and closed system, the access to the Ukrainian resources. I think that it will open us access in the next five years and will allow us not to purchase gas for currency but produce it in Ukraine, Groysman said.
Maryna Zolotova became the only accused among 15 suspects

Editor-in-Chief of Tut.bu portal Maryna Zolotova TASS

Minsk Court found editor-in-Chief of Tut.bu portal Maryna Zolotova guilty in the BelTA case. She accused of refraining from acting. The court fined her. Zolotova has to pay around $3,600, as TASS reported.

To find guilty of intentional refraining from acting as an official, in compliance with the duties as an official for personal or any other reason, of committing a crime which led to substantial harm of state and public interest. To inflict punishment in a form of a fine amounting 300 basic units, which makes 7650 rubles (around $3,600, - ed.), the presiding judge Aleksander Petrash stated.

It was noted that the sentence might be appealed in Minsk City Court.

Zolotova stated that she has not decided whether to appeal against the decision. She stressed she did not expect acquittal.

I was glad the sentence is lighter, than the prosecutor asked for, she noted.

The public prosecutor asked the court to Impose a fine on Zolotova amounting 1000 basic units, which is around $11,900. The defence in its turn insisted that there was no elements of offence in her actions.

As we reported, searches and detentions in Tut.by and BelTA took place on August 7, 2018.

The detainees were Maryna Zolotova, Chief Editor of online news agency Tut.by, Anna Kaltyhyna, news editor in Tut.by and Tatyana Korovenkova, the journalist in BelaPAN agency. Searches were also conducted in BelaPAN agency.

It should be noted that Tut.by is a big independent Belarusian online-portal covering 42% of all Internet-users in Belarus.
Theres a martial law active on the territory of our country, how should a man act  as a Ukrainian citizen or as a citizen of another country, Tuka says

Open source

Georgy Tuka, Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories, stated that he doesnt support the offer by Ukraines Foreign Minister on double citizenship, 112 Ukraine TV channel reports.

I dont support this thesis. As a citizen, I cant accept, and no one hasnt yet proven me the contrary, whats the practicability or safety of the thesis on double citizenship. This has absolutely nothing to do with the events happening in the country. I have a big number of questions that I havent got the answers yet. For example, theres a martial law active on the territory of our country, how should a man act  as a Ukrainian citizen or as a citizen of another country, Tuka says.

The Deputy Minister added that if a certain part of the citizens get the citizenship of the Russian Federation, then the thesis will be used for protection of avoided criminal responsibility for their actions, using citizenship of other countries. When they literally escape the country, we have no opportunity to bring them to responsibility because the country, whose citizenship they possess, does not have criminal extradition, Tuka noted.

As we reported earlier, Ukraines Foreign Minister announced that the status of dual citizenship should be legitimized in Ukraine.

I think that it is necessary to allow dual citizenship. Yes, we need it. However, there should be no dual citizenship with the country-aggressor under no circumstances. It will be discussed only when they return us Donbas and Crimea, Klimkin stated during his speech near the moored U.S. destroyer Donald Cook in Odesa.
The descendants of North Caucasus and countries of Central Asia were chosen to be militants

There were the attempts to legalize the Russian mercenaries from the descendants of North Caucasus and countries of Central Asia in Ukraine as the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported.

The Russian special services use people, who passed training in the terrorist camps for the provocations and legalization of the militants. They tried to legalize the mercenaries who fought in Syria as part of the ISIS and were involved in the illegal armed formation on the east of the state, in Ukraine.

They carefully prepared the documents of the mercenaries to send the militants to Ukraine for the destabilization of the situation in the country. The people involved in this scheme had to put forged stamps, after the issuance of the passports, to cross the state border of Ukraine at different checkpoints.

Two persons involved in this scheme were detained in Kyiv, when they waited for the pass of a few mercenaries passports. The detainees are the citizens of Russia and Ukraine. The border guards established that one of the passports is issued for the citizen of Russia, who was put on the international wanted list as ISIS militants. Some other confiscated documents concerned persons involved in the commitment of the grave crimes.

The detained Ukrainian was arrested a few years ago by Kherson law enforcers for the illicit handling of firearms, ammunition or explosive substances. Both detainees were passed to the law enforces. They involvement in the terrorist activity to be checked.

Earlier President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko called for to stop attacking the Ukrainian army. Poroshenko stated this while commenting on the Ukrobonprom scandal, at the fortified tactical locality of the 79th separate assault brigade in Pryazovia, located 1800 meters from the enemy trenches.

Besides, it was reported that Russian special services want to damage the communication networks which provide presidential elections in Ukraine.
Oleg Gladkovsky, former First Deputy Chairman of Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council 112 Agency

Oleg Gladkovsky was dismissed from his post of First Deputy Chairman of the National Security and Defence Council, as the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said during his speech in Mykolaiv, broadcasted by 112 Ukraine.

Today in the morning, before the flight I have signed a decree dismissing Oleg Gladkovsky from his post as the First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council. Besides, he was removed from the position of the Chairman of interdepartmental commission on the policy of the military and technical cooperation and export control, Poroshenko said.

He added that his goal is to create conditions which could make people believe in the impartiality of the investigation.

To convince everyone that neither position, nor ties, surnames and long acquaintance with the president help in such situations, the Head of the State explained.

Earlier, State Fiscal Service reported $816,000 damages from corruption during supplying smuggled Russian spare parts to Ukroboronprom plants by OPTIMUMSPECPETAIL LLC. Iron, which was then used to repair military equipment from the area of hostilities, has been delivered to the enterprise.

As we reported earlier, Kremlin commented on the scandal with smuggling of military equipment to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The press secretary of the president of Russian Federation Dmitry Pesov claimed this to be absurd, as such equipment is under special control.

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 Leninska Kuznia company was involved as a straw company.
Market gas prices is one of the main terms of the cooperation with the IMF

Open source

The Government cannot reduce gas prices for Ukrainians despite all the campaign promises as its market price is one of the conditions of Ukraines cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, as Naftogaz CEO Andriy Kobolyev said on air of 5 TV channel on March 2.

Kobolyev explained that despite the promises of the presidential candidates, they cannot lower gas prices, the President does not have such power. It will not happen even after the parliamentary elections, according to Naftogaz CEO.

In my opinion, gas prices reduction is impossible as this (market gas prices, - ed.) is the main condition of the cooperation with the IMF. If someone thinks he can change the terms, renegotiate Tymoshenko also agreed on gas prices with the IMF. Therefore I think there will be no gas prices reduction, it will make our essential cooperation with the international partners impossible. If some parts of the population dont have enough means to pay for gas, the system of monetizes subsidies is the best option, as the experience of all the western states has shown, Kobolyev said.

According to him, it will be more profitable for the people to receive subsidies, save gas and manage the savings.

As it was reported, Naftogaz prolongs a two-million contract with Kobolyev.

In addition, Hague Tribunal made a positive decision in the case Naftogaz against Russia for lost assets as a result of Crimeas annexation.
Viktor Medvedchuk, chairman of the Political Party Opposition Platform - For Life Opposition Platform - For Life

The debt of the Ukrainians on the payment of the public utility (including electricity) increased by $260,9 million and made $2,3 billion during the first month of 2019. The growth of the debt made over 12,6% as Viktor Medvedchuk, the Head of the Political Council of Opposition platform  For life Party reported.

As of the end of January, the debt of the population on the supplies of gas made $1,08 million, for district heating and hot water supply - $745 million, for housing and ground maintenance - $152 million, cold water supply and water disposal systems - $115,5 million, for waste collection - $22,3 million, for electricity supply - $212 million, Medvedchuk said.

To protect the citizens of Ukraine and not allowed the collapse of the housing and communal services system, the Opposition platform  For life Party filed the draft law On debt relief from the population for the supply of the natural gas, district heating and hot water supply, electricity supply. I am sure that the adoption of this law is highly important for Ukraine and its citizens, who became the hostages of the tariff genocide held by the government and its populist policy, which led to the poverty of the population. It is more important than enshrinement of the NATO course into the Constitution or the legislative discrimination of the Russian-speaking population, Medvedchuk noted.

Besides, he thinks that it is necessary to ruin the monopolistic state of Naftogaz-Ukraine and return to the practice of the direct purchase of the gas from Russian Gazprom by getting rid of the intermediaries, who just earn the excessive profits. Moreover, these intermediaries from the government creates the conditions for the corruption schemes and their cynical earnings on the direct looting of the Ukrainians by telling fairytales about Russian gas needle and how they got off from it, Medvedchuk added.

As we reported earlier, Viktor Medvedchuk, the politician and the head of 'Ukrainsky Vybir' (Ukrainian Choice) political party faces prosecution in Ukraine. Ukraines Prosecutor General's Office opened the case against him in state treason and encroachment on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. The basis for the criminal proceeding is an application of the Ukrainian MP from the Peoples Front political party. The criminal case opened against the politician for his proposals on settlement of the military conflict in Donbas by granting the region with autonomy and capturing that in the Constitution of Ukraine. Medvedchuk voiced the proposals at the All-Ukrainian Congress of the party on January 29.

Members of the European Parliament condemned the criminal proceeding against Viktor Medvedchuk, the representative of the "Opposition Platform - For Life" political party.
Thank's for the fish. -- Douglas Adams

Come back again sometime. Thank you for visiting.
" " Visitors enjoy the beauty of Hozomeen, at the northern end of Ross Lake NRA, in North Cascades National Park, Washington, one of the least-visited national parks. NPS Photo/Deby Dixon

Editor's Note: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of these parks are not completely open. Check the park websites before planning any vacation.

At the peak of the summer season, Yellowstone National Park (4.3 million annual visitors) more closely resembles Manhattan gridlock than an oasis of natural solitude. When the autumn leaf colors are at their most vibrant, Great Smoky Mountains National Park (11 million yearly visitors) is jammed with excited peepers, the most visited park in the U.S. But not all of America's 58 national parks are subjected to floods of human beings  in fact, some of them see hardly any visitors at all.

There are varying reasons that the seven least-visited parks see so few visitors. Some are hard to get to. Others have inhospitable climates part of the year. But they all offer majestic solitude for outdoors lovers who prefer fresh air over car fumes. We've listed the seven least-visited national parks in the U.S., using visitation statistics from the 2017 season. Chelsea Sullivan, spokesperson from the park service's office of communications, gave us the lowdown on these parks and what they have to offer.

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7. Dry Tortugas National Park: 54,281 recreational visits

" " An aerial view of Fort Jefferson at the Dry Tortugas National Park, off Key West, Florida. National Parks Service

For a park that has "dry" in the name, it's a bit of misnomer. Dry Tortugas is a park that's totally surrounded by water. Located about 70 miles (112 kilometers) west of Key West, Florida, you can't get there by car or by foot. Instead, it's accessible only by a daily concession ferry, private and charter boats, or by seaplane. Those who make the trip to the seven islands and their coral reefs are rewarded with sightings of abundant wildlife and a chance to explore Fort Jefferson, a massive 19th-century 16-million brick fort that was built to beat back pirates in the Caribbean. The fort is best known as the place of imprisonment for Samuel Mudd, the doctor who set the leg of John Wilkes Booth after he assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

6. Katmai National Park and Preserve: 37,818 recreational visits

Air taxi or boat are really your only options for reaching Alaska's Katmai National Park and Preserve, which is southwest of Anchorage. That's the primary reason that fewer than 38,000 people visited in 2017, along with the fact that once you arrive, there are only 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) of road or trails. The rest is volcanic remains and rough wilderness filled with massive brown bears, wolves and other Alaskan treasures.

5. North Cascades National Park: 30,326 recreational visits

North Cascades National Park is less than 2.5 hours by car from Seattle. But the snows there are so heavy that administrators close a portion of the road between Ross Dam Trailhead and Lone Fir Campground in winter. As those jagged, steep peaks become jammed with snow, avalanches become common, making this 500,000-acre (202,343-hectare) wilderness a no-go zone for most folks until the safety of the summer warmth arrives. Then, it becomes a wonderland of boating and camping and enjoying jaw-dropping beauty (see our main photo).

4. Isle Royale National Park: 28,196 recreational visits

Established during World War II, Isle Royale National Park is on an island smack in the middle of Lake Superior, and it's entirely closed during winter, two reasons that visitor numbers are so low. The park encompasses about 210 square miles (543 square kilometers) of land and also includes 685 square miles (1,665 square kilometers) of surrounding waters. Well-known for its isolated moose and wolf populations, the park is also renowned for a 40-mile trail (along with 36 wilderness campgrounds) that hikers from all over the world travel to see.

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3. Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: 22,755 recreational visits

There are no roads to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve, which, like Katmai National Park, is located in the wild lands of the Alaskan Peninsula. And as with Katmai, you'll need a boat or plane to get here. The visitor center is only open in the summer, so you could conceivably have the entire park to yourself if you're courageous enough to tackle this bear-heavy land in the winter  which is most of the year.

2. Kobuk Valley National Park: 15,500 recreational visits

You can leave the Jeep at home before you head out for Kobuk Valley National Park in Alaska. There are no roads to this park in the virtually deserted north-central part of the state. Instead, you'll need a bush plane pilot to get you to the sprawling sand dunes and caribou migration areas. In winter, the visitor center is shuttered, but you're free to wander the trail-less wilderness on your own. As the website puts it, "Traveling to Kobuk Valley National Park and Kotzebue is very different than visiting a park or town on a road system. This will be a chance to test your moxie and have a great adventure."

1. Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve: 11,177 recreational visits

" " A lone hiker takes in the vast landscape of the Gates of the Arctic, the least-visited national park in the U.S. National Parks Service

Just northeast of Kobuk Valley you'll find Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, a sprawling landscape (8.4 million acres or 3.4 million hectares) free of roads and trails. As America's northernmost national park, it's appropriately the least visited, with an average of 30 visitors per day  and of course, hardly any of them visit in winter. To get here you can hire an air taxi, or if you're truly adventurous, hike in on foot. Because this area is so isolated, you need solid outdoors and survival skills to navigate the area safely, or you can pay for a guided trip and put your life in the hands of truly experienced backcountry types.

NOW THAT'S INTERESTING Gates of the Arctic National Park is home to the Brooks Range, the northernmost stretch of the Rocky Mountains. The area is mostly unoccupied but there is a tiny Eskimo village named Anaktuvuk Pass (population of less than 300), and that's where you'll find the park's equally tiny visitor center. Officials ask that you tread carefully  the brilliantly-colored lichens in this area may take a century and a half to reach full size.
I want to sue my parents  because I was born.

Children often bear the brunt of conflict. Capernaum tells the fictional, yet believable, tale of young Zain, who lives with his siblings and parents in a Beirut slum. Zain has an old head on young shoulders, a keen observer on what is going on  and not going on  around him in his family, his neighbourhood and wider Lebanese society.Senses that his pubescent sister is going to be married off to their landlord, he makes plans for them to escape. Ultimately, he runs away and falls under the care of Rahil, a cleaner originally from Ethiopia whose baby needs to be minded while she works. But when she disappears, the young pair must fend for themselves.Wrapped around what could have been a very watchable Beirut version of The Florida Project is a less believable storyline that jumps forward to Zain being imprisoned for a violent attack, getting access to the media, and film begins with him in court suing his parents for conceiving him and bringing him into the world of neglect to live as a poor and paperless illegal. At one point Zain explains: I want to stop them having children.For me it spoilt the heart-breaking tale of child poverty and loving strangers, though for the screenwriter and director (and Zains on-screen lawyer) Nadine Labaki, the court case gave children a voice: if those children could talk, or could express themselves, what would they say.Theres a sense that the children already have very powerful voices in the film. The films narrative is based on testimony given to Labaki by real refugees. Young Zain is played by a Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeea, who had been living in Lebanon for eight years. Zains shoulders carry a heavy burden; he has seen much in his short life. Yordanos Shiferaw gives Rahil a sense of compassion, taking on an extra mouth to feed while barely able to feed her own baby.Labakis direction generates remarkable performances from the mostly novice cast. The scenes between Zain and baby Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole) feel so natural, at one point making a pram out of a cooking pot and a stolen skateboard to drag the toddler around as he tries to make money and find food.What drives the film forward is the urge to escape to something better. Real-life Zain got papers and his family have been resettled in Norway. Shiferaw was arrested a matter of days after filming Rahils arrest: neither had papers. The baby playing Yonas was deported to Kenya with her mother; her father was deported to Nigeria The roller-skating Cockroach Man mercifully makes a number of appearances, surreal yet not out of the ordinary in a film that exposes the multiple layers of poverty as well as the disparities between local people and refugees, and even among refugees from different countries.is well worth a trip to the cinema. Despite my reservations about the novel plot device, the little boy wearing a blue tracksuit top exists and needs to be heard. And hes fighting to exist amidst the chaos, while others profit from his poverty, and while we do little to help. Capernaum is being screened in the Queens Film Theatre
Released by Boston Police(BOSTON) -- The body of Jassy Correia, a young mom, who police said was killed after leaving a Boston nightclub, was found bound, bruised and naked in her suspected kidnapper's car, according to federal prosecutors.



When suspect Louis Coleman III was pulled over in Delaware on Thursday, police asked if anyone else was in the car, and Coleman allegedly said, "'she's in the trunk,' or words to that effect," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling told reporters on Sunday.



In the trunk was a body wrapped in a sofa cushion cover, that was inside a trash bag placed inside a suitcase, said Lelling. The body was covered with what's believed to be baking soda, Lelling said.



Correia, 23, appeared to die from blunt force trauma and strangulation  there's no indication that she was sexually assaulted, Lelling said.



"It appears she put up a struggle," Lelling said.



Coleman, 32, is charged with federal interstate kidnapping resulting in death, which carries a mandatory life sentence and is also death penalty eligible, Lelling said. He is expected to appear in court on Monday.



Correia, a mother of a two-year-old daughter, was kidnapped early Sunday after leaving Venu Nightclub, where she was celebrating her birthday with friends, authorities said.



Cameras showed Coleman arriving at his Providence, Rhode Island, apartment building Sunday morning and carrying a body from his car to his apartment, Lelling said. Video also showed Coleman leaving his apartment with a suitcase, that he hoisted into the trunk, Lelling said.



Coleman bought duct tape, electrical tape, a mask, surgical gloves, safety goggles and bleach at a Walmart, according to Lelling.



It appears Coleman did not know Correia, Lelling said.



Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins told reporters on Friday that Correia "was right where every woman has every right to be  celebrating her birthday on a night out with friends."



"Let's not fall into a discussion about whether we should walk home alone or how many people we should call when we're leaving the club," Rollins said. "If anything, let's remind the men in our lives that violence against women isn't a women's issue  it's a problem that men take responsibility for in their lives."



Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
DENVER, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Assure Holdings Corp. (the Company or Assure) (TSXV: IOM; OTCQB: ARHH), a provider of intraoperative neuromonitoring services, has entered into a settlement and mutual release agreement (the Settlement Agreement) with Matthew Willer, the former president and director of the Company to compensate the Company for losses incurred as a result of Mr. Willers previously disclosed misconduct.



The Settlement Agreement contains, among other things, the following terms and conditions:

As part of a Stock Grant Agreement dated November 8, 2016, while the Company was still operating privately, Mr. Willer was granted the right to receive 1,000,000 shares of the Company (the Performance Shares) if the Company achieved $7.5 million in EBITDA (the Threshold EBITDA) at the end of the 2017 fiscal year. Although the Company achieved the EBITDA Threshold while Mr. Willer was still with the Company, the Company and Mr. Willer agreed to reduce the issuance of the Performance Shares to Mr. Willer by 250,000 at a deemed price of $1.50 USD per share, to compensate the Company for losses incurred as a result of Mr. Willers misconduct; and

Prior to the Company listing on the TSX Venture Exchange, the Company had issued 500,000 stock options to Mr. Willer exercisable at a price of $0.05 until August 26, 2025. As part of the Settlement Agreement, the Company cancelled the remaining 450,000 stock options still held by Mr. Willer.

About Assure Holdings

Assure Holdings Corp. is a Colorado-based company that works with neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons to provide a turnkey suite of services that support intraoperative neuromonitoring activities during invasive surgeries. Assure employs its own staff of technologists and uses its own state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, handles 100% of intraoperative neuromonitoring scheduling and setup, and bills for all technical services provided. While Assure focuses primarily on supporting spinal and vascular surgeries, plans are in place to support other classes of medicine that rely on the standard of care that intraoperative neuromonitoring provides. For more information, visit the companys website at www.assureneuromonitoring.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Assure anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Such information may involve, but is not limited to, comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations and future actions of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Assure to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors may be based on information currently available to Assure, including information obtained from third-party industry analysts and other third-party sources, and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs regarding future growth, results of operations, future capital (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof) and expenditures. Any and all forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Contacts

John Farlinger, Executive Chairman

Assure Holdings Corp.

(604) 763-7565

John.Farlinger@assureiom.com
BOSTON, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MP Objects , (MPO) a unique cloud platform for supply chain orchestration, today announced that its CEO Martin Verwijmeren has been accepted into the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. One of the founding principles of MPO has been to streamline complex processes and interactions between organizations by creating a single unified customer order object.



Martin was vetted and selected by a review committee based on the depth and diversity of his experience. Criteria for acceptance include a track record of successfully impacting business growth metrics, as well as personal and professional achievements and honors.

We are honored to welcome Martin Verwijmeren into the community, said Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, the collective that includes Forbes Technology Council. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to bring together proven leaders from every industry, creating a curated, social capital-driven network that helps every member grow professionally and make an even greater impact on the business world.

Martin will be sharing his expert insights in a series of original business articles on Forbes.com. You can read Martins first article in Forbes, Supply Chain Revolution: From Internet To Ordernet by clicking here .

About Forbes Councils

Forbes Councils is a collective of invitation-only communities created in partnership with Forbes and the expert community builders who founded Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC). In Forbes Councils, exceptional business owners and leaders come together with the people and resources that can help them thrive.

About MP Objects

With offices in Boston, Rotterdam, Tokyo, and Hyderabad, MPO provides a global SaaS platform for digital order planning and execution that leverages existing enterprise investments in software, such as ERP, logistics, warehouse, and transportation management systems. With MPOs platform for Customer Chain Control solution, companies capture previously unmanaged details within each orders micro supply chain, resulting in higher revenues and better customer experiences at lower costs and reduced risk. For more information, contact info@mp-objects.com, call +1 (646) 520-0841, or visit www.mp-objects.com.

Press Contact:

Victor Cruz

Principal, MediaPR.net

vcruz@mediapr.net
South Africa: SA welcomes improved mining ranking

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has welcomed South Africas latest improved global mining ranking.

This as the Fraser Institute released its annual global survey of mining jurisdictions on Friday.

In the rankings, in terms of the attractiveness of its mining policies, South Africa ranked 56th out of 83 countries surveyed. The country improved its ranking by 25 spots, compared to 2017s 81st spot.

In the survey conducted by the Canadian think tank, South Africa improved its position by moving up five points in terms of investment attractiveness to 43 out of 83 countries.

This shows that working together with stakeholders in the sector, it is possible to realise South Africas potential of being in the top 20 in terms of its attractiveness to the investment community, said Mantashe.

The Minister said the improvements affirm governments efforts made in the last 12 months.

It is essential that all stakeholders in the mining industry and the broader society, come together to realise the call to grow South Africa together.

Mining, as an economic activity, is integral to this task to place our country on a higher growth trajectory, to create much-needed employment, reduce poverty and increase competitiveness and transformation of the industry, said the Minister.

The survey follows hot on the heels of the launch of Vedanta Zinc Internationals Gamsberg Mine near Aggeneys, which was opened by President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Northern Cape.

At the launch on 28 February, the President said investment in the mine is a step in the right direction towards changing the fortunes of the Northern Cape.

The President, who also toured the US$400 million facility, said the sun has yet to set on the mining sector.

The operation that we are opening gives us confidence that the future of mining is bright.

It gives us confidence that we can develop an industry that benefits communities as much as it produces returns for shareholders, the President said, adding that government is committed to working with investors to ensure the growth of the sector.  SAnews.gov.za

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Pattanaphong Khuankaew/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge on Monday denied a request by the father of a woman who left the U.S. to become an 'ISIS bride' that her case should get expedited treatment so she and her young son could return home to Alabama.



Ahmed Muthana, the father of 24-year-old Hoda Muthana, filed suit last month against President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for refusing to let her come back to the U.S. after Pompeo branded her a "terrorist." Pompeo said she was not a citizen despite having been born in the U.S. and Trump said he had ordered Pompeo to bar Muthana.



The lawsuit claims she was denied due process when Trump and Pompeo declared she was not a citizen.



The debate centers over her father's immigration status when she was born in October 1994. He was working in the U.S. as a Yemeni diplomat on a diplomatic visa, and according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the children of foreign diplomats are not given birthright citizenship because they are not under the "jurisdiction of" the U.S., as required by the 14th Amendment.



On Monday, Ahmed Muthana's lawyers argued to the judge that his daughter faces immediate harm while currently in custody of U.S-backed Syrian Defense Forces as they fight against ISIS.



Agreeing with the government's contention that whether she would suffer irreparable harm was speculative, Judge Reggie Watson said he didn't find enough evidence to move the case quickly through the courts. The government argued that Hoda Muthana made the decision to join ISIS herself, willfully going to a foreign country.



The judge did say he finds her position sympathetic but he agreed she put herself in the position she finds herself.



At the same time, he did not rule on the government's request that the case be dismissed.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION TO THE UNITED STATES



BROOKFIELD, News, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (TSX: BEP.UN; NYSE: BEP) (Brookfield Renewable) today announced that it has agreed to issue 6,000,000 Cumulative Minimum Rate Reset Class A Preferred Limited Partnership Units, Series 15 (the Series 15 Preferred Units) on a bought deal basis to a syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC Capital Markets, BMO Capital Markets, RBC Capital Markets, Scotiabank and TD Securities Inc. for distribution to the public. The Series 15 Preferred Units will be issued at a price of $25.00 per unit, for gross proceeds of $150,000,000.

Holders of the Series 15 Preferred Units will be entitled to receive a cumulative quarterly fixed distribution yielding 5.75% annually for the initial period ending April 30, 2024. Thereafter, the distribution rate will be reset every five years at a rate equal to the greater of (i) the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield plus 3.94%, and (ii) 5.75%. The Series 15 Preferred Units are redeemable on April 30, 2024 and on each Series 15 Reclassification Date (as defined below) thereafter.

Holders of the Series 15 Preferred Units will have the right, at their option, to reclassify their Series 15 Preferred Units into Cumulative Floating Rate Reset Class A Preferred Limited Partnership Units, Series 16 (Series 16 Preferred Units), subject to certain conditions, on April 30, 2024 and on April 30 every 5 years thereafter (each a Series 15 Reclassification Date). Holders of Series 16 Preferred Units will be entitled to receive a cumulative quarterly floating distribution at a rate equal to the 90-day Canadian Treasury Bill yield plus 3.94%.

Brookfield Renewable has granted the underwriters an option, exercisable until 48 hours prior to closing, to purchase up to an additional 2,000,000 Series 15 Preferred Units which, if exercised, would increase the gross offering size to $200,000,000.

The Series 15 Preferred Units will be offered in all provinces and territories of Canada by way of a supplement to Brookfield Renewables existing Canadian short form base shelf prospectus. The Series 15 Preferred Units may not be offered or sold in the United States or to U.S. persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements under the U.S. Securities Act.

Brookfield Renewable intends to use the net proceeds of the issue of Series 15 Preferred Units to repay outstanding indebtedness and for general corporate purposes. The offering of Series 15 Preferred Units is expected to close on or about March 11, 2019.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities in any jurisdiction, nor shall there be any offer or sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities being offered have not been approved or disapproved by any regulatory authority nor has any such authority passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of the short form base shelf prospectus or the prospectus supplement. The offer and sale of the securities has not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to United States persons absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws.

Brookfield Renewable Partners

Brookfield Renewable Partners operates one of the worlds largest publicly traded, pure-play renewable power platforms. Our portfolio consists of hydroelectric, wind, solar and storage facilities in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, and totals over 17,000 megawatts of installed capacity and an 8,000 megawatt development pipeline. Brookfield Renewable is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges.

Brookfield Renewable is the flagship listed renewable power company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with over $350 billion of assets under management.

Contact information: Media: Investors: Claire Holland Divya Biyani Vice President  Communications Director  Investor Relations (416) 369-8236 (416) 369-2616 claire.holland@brookfield.com divya.biyani@brookfield.com

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking information



Note: This news release contains forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements may include estimates, plans, expectations, opinions, forecasts, projections, guidance or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as will, expected, intend, or variations of such words and phrases. Forward-looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the closing and use of proceeds of the offering. Although Brookfield Renewable believes that such forward-looking statements and information are based upon reasonable assumptions and expectations, no assurance is given that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The reader should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information as such statements and information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Brookfield Renewable to differ materially from anticipated future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information. Except as required by law, Brookfield Renewable does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information, whether written or oral, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
LONDON, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intelligence technology company Silobreaker was today awarded the Groundbreaking Company Threat Intelligence InfoSec Award for 2019 by Cyber Defense Magazine.



Gary S. Miliefsky, Publisher, Cyber Defense Magazine said: As the scope for cyber threat intelligence is expanding to outside the perimeter of large organizations, context around threats is becoming paramount for obtaining new and strategic insights. Silobreaker has won the Groundbreaking Company Threat Intelligence InfoSec Award from our magazine for being a leader in delivering intelligence from unstructured data and for bridging use-cases between data types and platforms. Silobreaker is one of our award winners after we reviewed nearly 3,000 infosec companies globally.

Silobreaker is a technology company that specialises in analysing and contextualising unstructured data from the open, deep and dark web. The company combines external data with proprietary technology to provide products that support the human analysis and workflow required to detect, predict and respond to threats, risks, incidents and opportunities. Silobreakers focus on making sense of unstructured data offers complementary insights and context to the technical and structured threat data found in traditional threat intelligence platforms.

On receiving the award, Silobreakers CEO, Kristofer Mansson, commented: This recognition by Cyber Defense Magazine and its panel of judges is a great testament to the spirit and hard work of the entire Silobreaker team and our effort to bring innovative technology and value to customers. We are delighted to accept the award.

To watch a recent interview with Silobreakers CEO on Cyber Defense TV, go here.

Silobreaker is an exhibitor at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, 4-7 March 2019, booth #6579 North Expo. Book a demo here.

About CDM InfoSec Awards

This is Cyber Defense Magazines seventh year of honoring InfoSec innovators. Our submission requirements are for any startup, early stage, later stage or public companies in the INFORMATION SECURITY (INFOSEC) space who believe they have a unique and compelling value proposition for their product or service.

About the Judging

The judges are CISSP, FMDHS, CEH, certified security professionals who voted based on their independent review of the company submitted materials on the website of each submission including but not limited to data sheets, white papers, product literature and other market variables. CDM has a flexible philosophy to find more innovative players with new and unique technologies, than the one with the most customers or money in the bank. CDM is always asking Whats Next? so we are looking for Next Generation InfoSec Solutions.

About Cyber Defense Magazine

With over 1.4 Million annual readers and growing, and over 7,000 pages of searchable online infosec content, Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA conferences and our paid subscribers. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit http://www.cyberdefensetv.com and http://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives.

About Silobreaker

Silobreaker helps business, security and intelligence professionals make sense of the overwhelming amount of data on the web. By providing powerful tools and visualisations that cut through noise and analyse data from hundreds of thousands of sources, Silobreaker makes it easy for users to monitor and research companies and industries, threats, compromises, actors, instabilities, geopolitical developments or any other topic, incident or event. Customers save time by working more efficiently through large data-sets and improve their expertise, knowledge and decision-making by examining and interpreting contextually relevant data more easily. www.silobreaker.com Follow us on Twitter at @Silobreaker.
TORONTO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Carpenters District Council of Ontario (CDCO) today brought forward an Application to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act alleging a serious breach of Municipal Conflict of Interest obligations by Waterloo Regional Councillor Michael Harris.



On January 16, 2019, Mr. Harris introduced, spoke to, and voted on a motion in which he has a pecuniary interest but failed to declare that conflict and recuse himself from the issue.

Mr. Harris brought forward a motion in Council to have the Region of Waterloo declare support for Bill 66, legislation currently before the Ontario Legislature, which would, among other things declare that municipalities in Ontario are no longer designated as construction employers, said Mike Yorke, President of CDCO. In the case of Waterloo, should this Bill pass, it would mean the Region would no longer be obligated to recognize the existing bargaining rights of the Carpenters Union and to follow the existing collective agreement with the CDCO.

The Minutes of the January 16th Regional Council meeting clearly show that Mr. Harris failed to disclose that he has a pecuniary interest in the outcome of that vote. Sarah Harris, Mr. Harris spouse, works for the Christian Labour Association of Canada, an organization that would benefit directly if Bill 66 is passed and the Region of Waterloo is allowed to ignore the collective bargaining rights of CDCO and its members.

Under the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act, Mr. Harris should never have introduced his motion at Council given his clear pecuniary interest in its outcome based on his spouses employment with CLAC, added Mr. Yorke. Accordingly, had another Councillor moved the motion, Mr. Harris should have declared a conflict and recused himself from the debate and vote on the motion.

In filing its application with the Ontario Superior Court, the CDCO seeks the court to, among other things:

Declare that Mr. Harris breached the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act

Make multiple declarations about his failure to uphold the law

Declare his council seat vacant

Declare that Mr. Harris can run for no municipal council seat in any municipality for a period of seven years, or a time period as determined by the court

About the Carpenters District Council of Ontario (CDCO)

The Carpenters District Council of Ontario (CDCO) is composed of 16 affiliated Local Unions of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners across the province. In total, we represent over 20.000 women and men working in a wide range of skilled trades, including carpentry, drywall, resilient flooring, concrete formwork, underwater construction, welding, scaffolding, and a long list of other construction-related work.

Media inquiries to:

Mike Yorke

myorke@thecarpentersunion.ca

905-652-4140
Bike messengers, traffic safety advocates, and others wishing to celebrate the life of Aurilla Lawrence took to the streets for a memorial ride on Sunday, three days after the 25-year-old courier was killed by a hit-and-run driver who remains at large. Close to 200 cyclists took part in the processionwhich doubled as a demonstration against reckless motorists and the NYPDculminating with an emotional wake at the site of her death on the corner of Broadway and Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg.

Fellow delivery cyclists remembered Lawrence as a beloved figure in the close-knit community, whose infectious smile and passion for bikes made an immediate impression when she arrived in New York City from Kentucky five years ago.

"She was the glue that held a lot of people togetherjust look at how many people came out for her," said Shardy Nieves, a Bronx-based delivery cyclist of nine years who helped organize the ride. "We wanted to show her family that Aurilla had family out here. Even though she came [to New York] by herself, this is bigger than any family you'll ever have."

The group amassed at Lenox Avenue in Harlem, eventually biking down Fifth Avenue toward Union Square, where Lawrence was once a fixture. Riders dismounted at the parka popular hang-out spot for delivery workers between shiftsand raised their bikes in solidarity. They continued south soon after, traveling over the Williamsburg Bridge and ultimately arriving at Lawrence's ghost bike and makeshift memorial on Broadway.

Kelsey, a bike messenger and close friend of the victim who asked that we not use her last name, said the ride was not only intended as a memorial, but as a show of strength from the grieving cyclist community against careless drivers and a police force seen as overly deferential to motorists.

"We are people that live our lives on bikes. A lot of people don't really understand what's that like," she said. "We're vulnerable...and there's so little justice served, it's like the law forgets about us."

A police spokesperson said Monday that there were no updates on the search for Lawrence's killer, who was believed to be driving a gas tank truck when he ran over her and drove off shortly before midnight on Thursday.

After a record-low of ten cyclist fatalities in all of 2018, the first eight weeks of this year saw five cyclists killed while riding in New York City. None of the drivers involved in the deaths of those cyclistsChaim Joseph, Susan Moses, Hector Ayala Jr., Hugo Garcia and Lawrencehave been arrested, according to a police spokesperson. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, which has jurisdiction over four of the fatalities, would not respond to a request for comment on the record.

In the past, police officers have often reacted to a cyclist's death by targeting other cyclists at the site of the crash, sometimes violently. Keeping with that tradition, witnesses say that the NYPD set up a ticket trap on Saturday at the corner of Broadway and Marcy Avenue, where at least one cyclist was issued a summons for not stopping at a red light. Those who attended the ride on Sunday said they didn't understand the purpose of the crackdown, but that they'd come to expect it nonetheless.

"I've been riding for yearsevery time there's a crash with a cyclist, they start the ticket traps," said Nieves. "It's unfortunate, but that's why we have to do stuff like this."

Emails sent to the Mayor's Office and the NYPD about the reasoning for routinely cracking down on cyclists after fatal crashes were not returned.

In the wake of Lawrence's death, safe streets advocates have also noted that the corridor surrounding the Williamsburg Bridge in Brooklyn has long been a dangerous area for cyclists and pedestrians. While the city has already begun the process of installing a protected bike lane on Grand Street ahead of the L train closure, it remains unclear whether the safety measure will be completed now that the shutdown plans have changed.

Asked to comment on whether Mayor Bill de Blasio supported building out a network of bike lanes in the area, his press secretary, Eric Phillips, replied: "Haven't decided."

Beyond the seething frustration with the NYPD's treatment of cyclists, those who participated in Sunday's ride said they were spurred to act by an unbreakable, often unspoken bond among those who spend their days on a bike. It would have made Lawrence smile, friends said, to see the community riding en masse through the boroughsa group of friends and strangers whose connection had only strengthened by the time they gathered at East River Bar later in the night to raise a glass for one of their own.

"I was told that a fellow bike rider had passed away, so we all came together in memory of her life to ride," Bernard, a Queens-based cyclist, told Gothamist. "We all have the same passion, the same love for one another. We ain't trying to hurt nobody, we're just trying to ride bikes."

Reporting by Scott Heins. A rally will be held in Lawrence's honor at 5:30 p.m. on Monday.


Love in Fragments

70 minutes that will change the way you think about love

How do we fall in and out of love? This luminous new work offers a provocative, evocative look at love in all its aspects and guises through music, movement and art. Inspired by Roland Barthes A Lovers Discourse, and featuring music of Bach, Ravel, Jorg Widmann and others, five extraordinary artists deliver a sensuous and powerful work that will change the way you think about love.

Gergana Gergova, violin  Alban Gerhardt, cello  Sommer Ulrickson, choreographer/dancer  Dan Peleg, dancer  Alexander Polzin, sculptor

Mar 6, 7:30 pm

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Meditations on Wallace Stevens

Brentano String Quartet

The poetry of Wallace Stevens is woven throughout this program from the boldly imaginative Brentano Quartet, pairing Martin Bresnicks new musical meditation on Stevens poem The Planet on the Table with a transcendent late Beethoven Quartet. Music accompanied by readings and projections of Stevens poetry.

Mar 9, 8 pm

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Images of the East

A film and concert experience that will quietly take your breath away

Hear the visionary violinist and musicians from his Kremerata Baltica accompanied by a poetic and provocative film about love amid strife. Music of Schumann and Weinberg is accompanied by Sandro Kanchelis poignant animated film featuring the haunting stone sculptures of Syrian artist Nizar Ali Badr.

What I think is most important is to reach people through the language of art. Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer, violin

Georgijs Osokins, piano

Soloists from Kremerata Baltica

Mar 12, 7:30 pm

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Leonardo

The genius of da Vinci at 500 years

Composer Jonathan Berger brings the premiere of his new chamber operaa modern masterwork that invites us into the mind, observations and boundless curiosity of one of the greatest creative thinkers of all time. Featuring acclaimed baritone Tyler Duncan (Metropolitan Opera), a libretto drawn entirely from da Vincis own notebooks and stunning designs by Gabriel Calatrava, this compelling work draws us into da Vincis universeone in which we never stop questioning, examining, and marveling at the world around us.



Apr 6, 8 pm

This post brought to you by our sponsor, 92nd Street Y
On a cold Monday afternoon last month, Lynne Patton, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development regional administrator, wheeled a black suitcase with her belongings before a phalanx of cameras. She was temporarily moving out of her apartment in Trump Tower and into New York City Housing Authority.

A lot of people on social media have said you don't need to move into NYCHA to fix NYCHA, she said, before moving into the first complex, the Patterson Houses in the Bronx, with a host family. I don't disagree, but it helps.

Patton, who is black, has received national attention after appearing during the Michael Cohen hearing before Congress last week to counter claims that President Donald Trump is racist. She has vehemently denied that she was used as a prop. The HUDs Office of Inspector General has since said that it is reviewing her appearance and has referred the matter to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.

Never played hooky.  Spoke to GCs office, Chief of Staff & WH Comms Tuesday evening to advise of invitation & seek protocol. I was also 100% unpaid on Wednesday & am reimbursing for partial travel, per my own insistence. My participation was on personal time & capacity.    Lynne Patton (@LynnePatton) February 28, 2019

In New York, Pattons month-long stay in NYCHA has drawn media attention not seen since her appointment in 2017 raised questions. Unlike her predecessors, she had no housing experience and came to the position after working as an aide to the Trump family. Public housing advocates and local politicians have dismissed Pattons stay as a publicity stunt. But many public housing residents, who say City Hall has for too long neglected the conditions they struggle with every daylead paint issues, mold, heat and hot water outages, vermin infestationshave welcomed her in the hopes shell facilitate an improvement.

Listen to Mirela Iverac's report on Patton's NYCHA stay for WNYC:

At Patterson Houses in the Bronx, the complex where she spent her first week, Patton slept on an inflatable bed in the familys living room, played Fortnite with her hosts young son, sweated through an aerobics class and visited distressed apartments.

Im glad that she came here to bring some attention to the situation that we living under, said Tyshon Thompson, 45, whos lived all his life in Patterson. If that attention is going to make them regulate and straighten this out, then so be it.



Glady Sanchez points to an issue in the bathroom of her NYCHA apartment in the Patterson Houses (Clarissa Sosin / Gothamist)

One of the main reasons the housing authority is in a state of deep disarray today is because the federal government has been decreasing funding for nearly two decades. In January, the city committed to spending $2.2 billion over the next 10 years to improve conditions, following a federal prosecutors investigation that found NYCHA had failed to provide safe and sanitary housing and its employees lied to federal inspectors to cover up the failures. The federal government didnt promise an increase in funding.

But when a few dozen residents crowded into a room with teal-painted walls at Pattersons community center to hear her talk, Patton suggested it was time to stop looking back.

If your parents reduced your allowance when you were 5, would you still be crying about it when you were 15 or would you be trying to mow lawns or babysit? she said.

To Patton looking into the future meant inspecting what NYCHAs leadership, appointed by the Mayor, does with the funds it already gets from the federal government.

We give NYCHA $30 million dollars per week, she said. Where is that money going?



A banner unfurled at a meeting with Patton at the Frederick Douglass Houses (Mirela Iverac)

Patton said a federal monitor recently appointed by HUD as the result of the January agreement will oversee the citys spending and bring about change in conditions at NYCHA (later on Twitter #ChangeIsComing). But the meeting turned raucous as a few young men challenged her.

What change? one man shouted. Elevator still pissy right here, in the building you in.

The man berated Patton for choosing to stay in a well-maintained apartment, unrepresentative of most.

We went to a ton of shithole apartments, she countered, echoing the language President Trump once reportedly used to describe developing countries.

Pattons foray into public housing has enabled her to get closer to the president. He saw her on Fox & Friendsone of his favorite showstalking about her stay at Patterson. A week later, he praised Pattons performance (great) while dissing Mayor Bill de Blasio ([hes] done a terrible job with public housing).

Some NYCHA residents have begun echoing the sentiment. Jonathan Newkirk, 53, came to the meeting Patton held in a church on the Upper West Side with residents from the Frederick Douglass Houses, where she spent her second week. (Shes moving into the Queensbridge Houses on Monday.) Newkirk described the conditions some of his neighbors live in as inhumane, and put the blame squarely of Mayor de Blasios shoulders.

First and foremost, it's the city's responsibility, he said. It's on nobody, but the mayor right now.

Residents cheered on Pattons catchy one-liners (Less people with white button-down shirts, more people with button up coveralls). A few tenant leaders came up and spoke, identifying themselves as Democrats, but criticized the Mayor. A banner made by a tenant group appeared to show NYCHA buildings undergoing a CT scan. It said Patton and President Trump are the Saviour of public housing.

Update 3/5/19: A previous version of this story was inaccurately headlined: "Lynne Patton Wants To Be The 'Saviour' Of NYC's Public Housing." The headline has been changed to emphasize that a tenant group sees Patton as their "saviour," not Patton.

Mirela Iverac is a reporter for WNYC, where she covers poverty and homelessness. You can follow her on Twitter at @mirelaiverac.
A coating of icy slush did nothing to deter thousands of people from Feeling the Bern, at Brooklyn College on Saturday. In his first campaign rally since announcing his second bid for the White House, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders took the stage before thousands of sign-waving supporters in the borough where he was born and raised.

Sanders enters the race as an immediate front-runner in a crowded Democratic fieldhis campaign raised $10 million in less than a week. This time, the senator is leaning into his Brooklyn origin story not only to appeal to other Democratic voters but also to draw a striking contrast with the current occupant in the White House, who is another New Yorker with a far more privileged upbringing.

Sanders grew up in Midwood, Brooklyn just a few miles away from the campus, in a three-room rent controlled apartment. His father was a Polish immigrant who worked as a paint-salesman. His mother raised him and his brother Larry. Her dream was to move out of the apartment into their own homebut that dream was never realized.

I am not going to tell you that I grew up in a home of desperate poverty. That would not be true. But what I will tell you is that coming from a lower middle class family I will never forget how moneyor really lack of moneywas always a point of stress in our home, Sanders told the crowd.

That experience of economic anxiety informed the values he holds to this day, I know where I came from, Sanders bellowed, and its something I will never forget, he added eliciting a surge of cheers from the crowd.

Then Sanders pivoted to contrast his humble beginnings with those of Donald Trump, whose father gave him millions, he said, to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs. In a series of attacks, Sanders positioned Trump as someone whose wealth and privilege distorted his view of the world, whose signature catch phrase (Youre fired) lacks the awareness of the frightening power employers can have over everyday workers.

Sanders also used the event to reshape his own narrative when it comes to his history with racial justice. In 2016, his campaign was boosted by support among white, progressive men, the so-called Bernie Bros, who also served to alienate the campaign from non-white votersspecifically Black womenwho are a crucial constituency among Democratic voters.

Before taking the stage himself, Sanders was introduced by Shaun King, a political activist and journalist, who is an outspoken advocate for criminal justice reform and the Black Lives Matter movement. King talked about Sanders history fighting school segregation as a college student in Chicago and marching on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

King also invoked the memory of the late Erica Garner, the daughter of Eric Garner, who was choked to death by an NYPD officer in the summer of 2014. As an activist, Erica Garner could, sniff out bullshit a mile away, King said. Before she died of a heart attack in December 2017, King said she loved Sanders because, he was an activist pretending to be a politician.

On policy, Sanders emphasized a litany of progressive proposals that hes long-pushed for and that have increasingly become fodder for mainstream Democratslike Medicare for All, a commitment to fighting climate change, plans to expand good paying jobs through rebuilding the countrys infrastructure, support for tuition-free higher education, and the end to unfettered corporate tax breaks and subsidies.

The campaign estimated 13,000 people in attendance, and the college students in the audience gave the rally a markedly youthful energy. The slickly managed event also featured hundreds of volunteers offering chipper greetings and helpful guidance as people navigated the labyrinthine path from surrounding streets to campus walkways to the East Quad where the stage was set.

The line of people waiting to enter Bernie Sanders rally at Brooklyn College stretches for the blocks pic.twitter.com/xQSkEPNLue  Brigid Bergin (@brigidbergin) March 2, 2019

Among those volunteers was Louis Nunez who was dressed in a banana costume while holding a sign that read, Going Bananas 4 Bernie. Nunez said he just wanted to make people laugh because he feels like the country needs it.

So if this helps people, Im willing to dress up as a banana for it, Nunez said with a chuckle. A Montessori School teacher by day and the father of two, Nunez said in seriousness, his support for Sanders is about his kids future.

I see the way things are going now and I get concerned, especially with climate change. Thats huge, I really support the Green New Deal. I just want my children to have a place to call home where they are not scared for resources, where they have opportunities to grow and become amazing human beings,said Nunez.

Gloriana Xia, 22, a student at Columbia University by way of California stopped to buy a black and pink Feel the Bern t-shirt for $20 as she left the rally. Asked why she came to hear the presidential contender, she also talked about climate change. We only have 11 more years to fix the mess we caused to this planet before an environmental catastrophe becomes inevitable, she Xia, her voice rising with emotion.

Gloriana Xia, 22, is a student at Columbia University who came to hear @SenSanders at BK College. She believes hes the only candidate who can save us from climate catastrophe. pic.twitter.com/6HJOJ6Ib1p  Brigid Bergin (@brigidbergin) March 2, 2019

I figured this would be my one chance to see him live, Xia added, cause there is no way my parents would take me to a rally. They dont like him so much.

Brigid Bergin is the City Hall and politics reporter for WNYC. You can follow her on Twitter at @brigidbergin.
Good morning, New York City has melted into a slush pile and I feel semi-satisfied with the weekend's snowfall: On the one hand, it proved mucky and fleeting; on the other, snow actually happened, and who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth after all my complaining?

In case you somehow missed it, the city enjoyed consecutive dustings on Friday, Saturday, and on Sunday night, more or less as forecast. Dustings may not actually be the right word, as it implies a light and dry consistency this snow lacked entirely. Last night's showing was heavy and very wet, having transformed from a sloshy and obnoxious wintery mix into more respectable flakes within the span of roughly two hours.

After a bit of a disappointment with sleet, back to puking snow here with about 3" including compaction. pic.twitter.com/twd4DE5X28  NYC Storm Watcher (@StrmWatcherNYC) March 4, 2019

NYC has not seen this much accumulation since mid-November: According to the National Weather Service, Central Park charted five inches of accumulation just before 7 a.m. today, while parts of New Jersey saw upwards of 9 inches. Sunday's storm even closed NYC's public schools, so that the children may partake of the slush.

NYC public schools closed today because of snow pic.twitter.com/MYifG7wHCL  MJ Lee (@mj_lee) March 4, 2019

Given the sad, largely snow-less stretch of winter months we've weathered so far, I suppose I can understand last night's panic: After so many snow snubbings, the flakes finally started fallingand fast. I imagine that the educational authorities looked out their windows and found themselves catapulted back in time to four-ish months ago, when everybody scoffed at the possibility of two inches, max, and then a bunch of kids wound up trapped for hours on school buses thanks to a pre-Thanksgiving microblizzard.

Anyway, I hope you wore your grippiest, water-repelling-est shoes today, because warming temps have slicked the sidewalks with snow juice, the runoff creating robust curbside slush lagoons (beware!) that deepen by the minute. Also, I hope you wore your sunglasses, because the sun is starting to come out, with high temperatures expected to approach 40 degrees this afternoon.

Grab your sunglasses as you head out the door this morning, you'll need them for both commutes. Get the full workweek forecast right here: https://t.co/FK5HVHHwLg #NBC4NY pic.twitter.com/8IUrhy21oZ  Storm Team 4 NY (@StormTeam4NY) March 4, 2019

Did your neighborhood see salt spreaders? If not, please direct your complaints to Mayor Bill de Blasio: According to the NY Post, he's hoarding all the salt over at Gracie Mansion, allegedly lording over it like some sort of miserly sodium baron. (The mayor's office denies this.)

Update: More than 2300 pieces of equipment are out tonight across the five boroughs handling snow and ice conditions on NYC's 6300 miles of roads. Please give our crews the right of way so they can keep our city moving during this snowstorm. Thank you.  NYC Sanitation (@NYCSanitation) March 4, 2019

Rising temperatures today should melt whatever snow remains, but don't expect the relative warmth to last: The rest of the week will remain below freezing, dipping down into the teens early Thursday morning, and probably freezing the slush lagoons into icy death rinks. Be careful out there, you don't want to fall into whatever the hell is happening here:



Slush lagoon marked for destruction? (Jen Chung/Gothamist)
In a not-so-surprising twist to an already annoying snow day commute, the MTA says a "temporary Con Ed power failure" between Roosevelt Avenue and 71st Avenue in Queens caused "extensive delays" along the E, F, M, and R lines this morning. It's unclear what caused the power failure, but it knocked out service along multiple subway lines around 6:45 a.m. An MTA spokesperson said the power was out for about an hour.

I want a refund I just lost my job cuz of this  Leeky (@__Leeky__) March 4, 2019

Of course, this morning's problems were not limited to just those four unlucky lines. A signal problem near the 7th Avenue B/D stop in Manhattan also caused delays on those subway lines.

Brighton Beach-bound B and Coney Island-bound D trains are no longer rerouted, but we are still working to correct a signal problem near 7 Av (Manhattan).



Trains continue to run with delays in the area. https://t.co/0E6wRIZuJH  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) March 4, 2019

And there are further delays on the F, B, and D lines as of 9:22 a.m., due to a person struck by a train at Herald Square:

Update: There is no northbound M train service north of Delancey St-Essex St.

Northbound B and D trains are running on the A line from W 4 St-Washington Sq to 59 St-Columbus Circle.  NYCT Subway (@NYCTSubway) March 4, 2019

Abrupt announcement that the F isnt going to Manhattan, fun times pic.twitter.com/Bx4IoMl3cb  Abraham Riesman   (@abrahamjoseph) March 4, 2019

The MTA's snow storm preparations are causing delays on the 6 line, as the MTA "cleared trains that were stored underground, on the express tracks because of the snow." As of 9:12 a.m., the MTA was warning customers about "longer-than-expected waits for Pelham Bay Park-bound 6 trains in upper Manhattan and the Bronx."

The C train was apparently dicey too:

@NYCTSubway site says good service on C train. Lies, uptown train late and no announcement. #mtasucks  Searching4ever (@umfufu13) March 4, 2019

And there were problems on the southbound 1 line because of a train with a malfunctioning door being taken out of service at 72nd Street, where the subway platform was perilously overcrowded:

And melting snow means there are new subway cenotes to contend with...

@mta @nyctsubway once again, flooded staircases that are inaccessible and potentially dangerous at 14th St Station, NW exit. Its been like this for years. When will it finally be fixed? pic.twitter.com/zVTFm3dHMp  Chris Tuttle (@ChrisTuttle) March 4, 2019

Bring your snorkel and be careful out there.


News

UAE Rulers witness the launch of new 50-dirham banknote as part of Golden Jubilee celebrations

Sheikh Mansour added, "We see in this issuance that the UAE has entered a new phase in its history and a renewed pledge to continue the process of economic and social growth. This occasion also allowed us to express our appreciation and gratitude to our founding fathers, by issuing a new 50 dirham banknote to celebrate the passing of Fifty years since the establishment of the UAE.
14:36 | Lima, Mar. 4

"This is a stance we will not accept because pisco is Peruvian ," he expressed.





In this sense, the Adex head indicated the denomination of origin is given to a product whose ingredients come from a specific geographic area, in this case, between Lima and Tacna regions.





He went on to add 7 or 8 kg of grapes are used in average for the preparation of 1 liter of pisco, while the Chilean liquor utilizes around 1 kg per bottle.





"For that reason, our pisco has a greater quality, unique features, and a higher price," Varilias said.





"To continue promoting the quality of our 'Flagship Drink,' we must be more proactive and innovative, participate in international competitions, visit more fairs like Anufood (March 11-14, in Brazil), Expocomer (March 27-30, in Panama), and Peru's Expoalimentaria (September 25-27)," he added.









The main destinations were Chile (US$4.155 million) and the United States, which received 70% of the total shipments. They were followed by Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Colombia, France, Belgium, Brazil, Australia, and Ecuador.





It should be noted Culture Minister Rogers Valencia also told Chile that "it is not possible" to accept a proposal to share the denomination of origin for pisco





The measure has also been supported by Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Edgar Vasquez who affirmed that "there is only one pisco, and it means Peruvianness."




" " Entomologist and bee expert Eli Wyman with the first rediscovered individual of Wallaces giant bee (Megachile pluto) in the Indonesian islands of the North Moluccas. Clay Bolt

Around 285 million years ago, if you had been walking through a Permian floodplain, you might have seen a griffinfly  a dragonfly-like insect the size of a crow. It was huge, partly because atmospheric oxgen during this time was something like 31-35 percent (it's around 21 percent today), and it turns out oxygen is the limiting factor in how big a bug can get.

Although we no longer have dragonflies flying around with 2-foot (0.6-meter) wingspans, there are some standouts among modern insects. Take Wallace's giant bee (Megachile pluto), the world's largest bee, which can grow up to the size of an adult human's thumb  five times the size of the European honeybees you're used to seeing  with large mandibles used for scraping up tree resin to line their nests. It was recently thought to have gone the way of the griffinfly  nobody had seen Wallace's giant bee since 1981, and before that, no scientist had clapped eyes on it since its discovery in 1858 by Alfred Russel Wallace, the English biologist who independently conceived of the theory of evolution through natural selection at the same time as Charles Darwin. Of course, researchers knew this didn't mean it was extinct  it's just very difficult to prove an organism exists if you can't find it alive.

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But in January 2019, a team of researchers traveled to a collection of little islands in Indonesia called the North Moluccas, and they found the bee behemoth nesting in a termite nest on a tree trunk.

"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," said Clay Bolt, a natural history photographer who captured the first photos and video of a live giant bee, in a press release.

Over the years, a few research expeditions have set out to find Wallace's giant bee, but they came up empty-handed until now. In the meantime, however, specimens would show up for sale  a specimen showed up on eBay in 2018 that auctioned for $9,100. In case you were wondering, that's more than what the corpse of an insect usually goes for.

The exact island on which the bee was found is a secret because, as you can imagine from the price tag, if the researchers published that information, the remaining Wallace's giant bees might not be long for this world.

Since the bee has only been viewed a few times in the wild, not much is known about its habits and life history, other than that it seems to like to live in termite nests in lowland forest. Indonesia lost 15 percent of its tree cover between between 2001 and 2017 to make way for agricultural fields, so our rekindled romance with Wallace's giant bee might not last long if conservation efforts aren't put in place soon.

But in the meantime, it's nice to know Megachile pluto is still buzzing through the forest like a tiny helicopter. The giant griffinflies of the Permian would have wanted it that way.

Now That's Interesting Expeditions to search for other lost species are ongoing. For instance, researchers are on the lookout for the Pondicherry shark, the pink-headed duck and the elusive Wellington's solitary coral.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The security level of Armenia and Artsakh cannot decrease at any moment of time, it must rather increase every day, Armenias National Security Service (NSS) Director Artur Vanetsyan said in response to an inquiry of ARMENPRESS regarding his visit to Artsakh.

Mr. Vanetsyan, your statements made in Artsakh have become subject to broad discussion in the press, a reaction from Azerbaijan has also taken place. How would you comment on this?

I am a professional officer and my job is to ensure security and to not allow any encroachment against the security system of Armenia and Artsakh. This is especially important in conditions when nearly every day statements on solving the conflict militarily, using force and the threat of force is being voiced on the highest levels from the neighboring country. Naturally, our security system must be ready to respond to these threats. Armenias and Artsakhs security level cannot decrease at any moment in time, it should every day only increase and this is what our efforts are aimed at.

During a recent trip to Artsakh, Vanetsyan had made the following statement: The program that we call a re-settlement program, at my and everyones assessment will be the main guarantee of our countrys security. Because those speeches, those expressions and those people who always manipulate this subject as if lands will be returned, will be negotiations, conceded etc., as a result of this program we will give a clear message to the entire Armenian people and the whole world that we do not have a goal to surrender not even an inch of land, but on the contrary, our countrymen must live on our lands and build our country.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. An incident has taken place between members of the Re-Start initiative and public activist Narek Malyan (pictured above) in downtown Yerevan on March 4 after midnight.

Malyan has said on Facebook that he was physically assaulted by members of the group.

Police told ARMENPRESS that on-duty officers in the city saw and interfered in the brawl, prevented it and detained 6 participants of the incident. Another citizen has been summoned for questioning. All detainees have been released as police said they are preparing proceedings.

Davit Simonyan from Re-Start said on Facebook they will release a video detailing the incident.

Shortly after the news broke, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan personally made a statement, apparently referring to the incident.

Any attempt of solving issues with violence in Armenia must receive a strict legal counteraction, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook.

All those who act with the logic of violence, distribution of lies and fakes in new Armenia, are acting against Armenia, against democracy, against the people, he added.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The State Revenue Committee (SRC) of Armenia is expanding international cooperation in tax and customs sectors.

The SRC said after joining the World Customs Organizations Mercator Program Armenia will receive assistance for developing customs service capabilities, by ensuring the application of the World Trade Organizations trade facilitation agreement.

SRC International Cooperation Department Director Suren Melik-Israyelyan emphasized that the World Customs Organization has commended Armenias programs regarding the Time Release Study.

The next WCO Information Technology Conference will be held in Armenia.

New projects are under development within the framework of cooperation with neighboring countries aimed at exchange of electronic data regarding shipments and transportation vehicles. The SRC has also recommended having a customs attache under the Armenian Embassy in Russia who will deal with problems surfacing in the Upper Lars checkpoint.

The SRC said that within the framework of partnership with the EU, cooperation will continue in 2019 in the customs sector and directions of services, e-trade and intellectual property right. Armenias tax and customs service will also continue working with IOTA and Chinas One Belt One Road initiative.

As a result of cooperation with international partners, the SRC is expected to have more efficient cooperation with EEU and CIS customs and tax structures.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian today hosted Primate of the Shirak Diocese, Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

The President congratulated the Primate of the Shirak Diocese on receiving an Archbishop degree.

In his turn Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan congratulated the President on the 1st anniversary of his election, stating that its a great honor for him to be hosted by the President. As a resident of Gyumri, Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan thanked the President for constant attention to Gyumri.

President Sarkissian introduced his talk with the UNESCO Secretary General on taking Gyumris historical center under the UNESCO sponsorship. This is a principle for me because it would prevent an encroachment by anyone towards historic buildings, the President said. Secondly, it would allow to attract some programs, international funding for the center of Gyumri. My goal is to help and support Gyumri with small, major and every possible step.

Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan stated that Gyumri needs high-level attention and agreed with the President that the citys historical center should be saved and returned to its previous look especially if there is a desire to develop tourism. He said that in line with this, the remaining issues of the city must also be solved.

The President also highlighted the employment issue of the people. You can give the best apartment to a person, but if he doesnt work and is unable to take care of his family, we all know what this can lead to. If people have sufficient jobs, they can buy an apartment or a house with their work, Armen Sarkissian said.

The sides stated that today there are all favorable conditions and opportunities to solve the existing issues at least in the next two-three years and agreed that Gyumri can greatly contribute to Armenias development with its potential.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The Iran-Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) simplified trade agreement will be a great opportunity for Armenia to expand the trade with Iran, Minister of economic development and investments Tigran Khachatryan told reporters at a briefing in Parliament, reports Armenpress.

The Iran-EAEU simplified trade deal will provide great opportunities for the entry of the currently operating companies in the EAEU, first of all, the Armenian companies to the Iranian market. The ratification of the simplified deal will free nearly 300 types of goods from the non-tariff regulation restriction. The value tariffs will decrease. This is an opportunity to export any goods produced in Armenia to the Iranian market with less restrictions and bans, the minister said.

He informed that Armenia doesnt have privileged trade agreement with Iran. He noted that after ratifying the Iran-EAEU agreement there will be a great opportunity for the expansion of trade.

The Armenian minister stated that this agreement also provides an opportunity for the Iranian producers for which the Russian, Armenian markets and those of the remaining EAEU states are important especially taking into account the current situation of the Iranian economy.

Tigran Khachatryan said the agreements are called free trade deals if the customs duties are reached to zero, but in this case not in all cases they will be reached to zero. They have been reduced, but not reached to zero. Therefore, it is considered as a transitional agreement, I suppose the next stage is the deepening of the trade relations that the next agreement will be called free trade deal, he said.

He informed that the agreement is already signed. 3 out of 5 states have already ratified it, Armenia will also ratify it soon.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Defense minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan on March 4 received Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos, the ministry told Armenpress.

The meeting aimed at discussing the legal and institutional mechanisms of human rights protection in the armed forces, as well as the cooperation with the CoE in this field.

The Armenian defense minister introduced the CoE delegate on various initiatives aimed at strengthening human rights in the armed forces. He drew the attention of the guest on the necessity to maintain the norms and demands of the international humanitarian law in the context of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, urging the international structures to be consistent in the exercise of the right to fair trial of arrested civilians and military officials of the conflicting sides.

During the meeting other issues of the Armenia-CoE cooperation agenda were also discussed.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Artsakhs State Minister Grigory Martirosyan held a meeting with visiting Armenias healthcare minister Arsen Torosyan on March 4 in Stepanakert.

During the meeting Martirosyan praised the current level of partnership between the Armenian and Artsakh healthcare ministries, and attached importance to the continuation of ongoing works.

In this context the State Minister especially underscored the projects of introducing an electronic healthcare system and the pilot program of healthcare insurance. We find the medical insurance to be especially priority and in demand. We believe it must become a social institution, because we view healthcare issues in this framework in the core of the governments policy logic, Martirosyan said.

Thanking for the warm reception, Torosyan also praised the cooperation dynamics and noted that all development programs in Armenia also take into account the issues of Artsakh.

Soon we will provide our colleagues in Artsakh ten new and modern ambulance vehicles. Other assistance programs will also take place. Regarding the introduction of a medical insurance system, we too attach importance to the priority of it having a social direction, and we believe that it should not simply become a priority tool for developing the financial market. I am sure that a government decision that will soon be adopted in Armenia will be within this logic, and our cooperation also in this sector will have important prospect, Torosyan said.

Healthcare minister of Artsakh Arayik Baghryan was also in attendance of the meeting.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 4, ARMENPRESS. The Yerevan prosecution has launched a criminal case regarding the incident that took place between members of the Restart initiative and public activist Narek Malyan, General Prosecution spokesperson Arevik Khachatryan told ARMENPRESS.

She said that the case is launched by the criminal codes article on disorderly conduct committed by a group of people.

Narek Malyan said on Facebook that he was attacked by members of the Restart initiative Sunday night.

On-duty police officers intervened and detained the participants of the brawl.

Footage posted online by members of Restart themselves shows how they are seizing and tackling Maylan and moving him across a street.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan personally weighed in on the incident via Facebook, strongly condemning any kind of violence.

Any attempt of solving issues with violence in Armenia must receive a strict legal counteraction, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on Facebook.

All those who act with the logic of violence, distribution of lies and fakes in new Armenia, are acting against Armenia, against democracy, against the people, he added.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian today had meetings with Vice Speakers of Parliament Lena Nazaryan, Alen Simonyan and Vahe Enfiajyan, the Presidential Office told Armenpress.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on the National Assemblys activities in the parliamentary system of governance, its agenda and works in international platforms. The meeting participants attached importance to the harmonious partnership of the Parliament and the remaining branches of power.

President Sarkissian expressed readiness to cooperate with the Parliament and support its activities within the powers granted him by the Constitution.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan on March 4 received Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe Christos Giakoumopoulos, the Parliament told Armenpress.

At the meeting the Speaker said Armenia attaches great importance to the cooperation with the Council of Europe, as well as the organizations continuous support to the ongoing democratic processes in the country. The Speaker added that there is an active cooperation with the CoE Armenia Office.

Ararat Mirzoyan emphasized that during these years Armenia has constantly implemented the commitments assumed by the membership to the CoE and has recorded a major progress on this direction also thanks to the organizations support.

The Speaker of Parliament added that Armenia has taken significant steps in human rights, democracy and rule of law as a result of the recent peaceful, velvet and democratic revolution. He assured that the new leadership of Armenia is consistent in the constant development and deepening of democracy.

Christos Giakoumopoulos thanked for the reception and highlighted the long-term productive partnership and joint programs with Armenia.

He stated that there is a significant progress in the field of human rights in Armenia and expressed readiness to cooperate and assist on the path of implementation of reforms.

As for the programs carried out within the framework of the Armenia-CoE Action Plan, as well as the recorded results, the Speaker of Parliament reaffirmed that Armenia will be consistent in the complete implementation of the Second Action Plan, and at this stage quite comprehensive and deep reforms are planned to be implemented.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint, one of the most recognizable figures on the British techno scene, has been found dead at his home aged 49, the UKs Press Association news agency reported.

He was found unresponsive at his house in Essex, England, on Monday morning, PA reported.

"We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday," a spokesman for Essex Police said in a statement.

"We attended and, sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed," the statement added.

"The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner."

Shortly after the news was reported, the official Prodigy account of Twitter said that Flint committed suicide.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, 4 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 4 March, USD exchange rate up by 0.50 drams to 490.68 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 0.17 drams to 556.58 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate up by 0.02 drams to 7.46 drams. GBP exchange rate up by 1.06 drams to 649.81 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 92.38 drams to 20696.96 drams. Silver price down by 3.77 drams to 245.47 drams. Platinum price down by 112.21 drams to 13614.45 drams.
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The traffic department of the Georgian ministry of infrastructures told Armenias ministry of transport, communication and information technologies that on March 4, as of 17:30, the Stepanstminda-Lars highway is open for all types of vehicles, the ministry told Armenpress.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan received the delegation of Chinese AVIC holding headed by led by the Corporation's Chief Representative for Eastern Europe and Central Asia Sin Men.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of Tigran Avinyan, Sin Men presented the activities of the holding in road construction and design of infrastructures, as well as the spheres of interest for them in Armenia.

The interlocutors discussed issues referring to the construction of the southern part of North-South highway. Deputy PM Avinyan noted that the implementation of North-South projects remains among the priorities of the Armenian Government.

The representative of the Chinese holding said that given their experience in road construction, including in mountainous areas and in terms of construction of tunnels and bridges in seismic areas, they want to participate in the construction of the southern part of the highway and are ready to attract also Chinese loans on preferential terms and grants.

The sides agreed to continue the discussions and examine the opportunities for cooperation.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MARCH 4, ARMENPRESS. The exploitation of the new TPP the construction of which may soon start in Yerevan can lead to a decrease of electricity tariff by 1.5 AMD, ARMENPRESS reports the acting Minister of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources of Armenia Garegin Baghramyan said during a press conference.

'The exploitation of the new TPP will give an opportunity to save 8 billion AMD annually. Only this factor can lead to a decrease of tariff of 1.5 AMD, Baghramyan said.

The construction of the TPP will last 24-25 months.

'Within 15-20 days the construction works can kick off. 1000-1100 jobs will be created during the construction and after the construction nearly 230 employees will work at the TPP, the acting minister said.

The new TPP will leave behind Hrazdan TTP in terms of power, and will replace it after is put into operation.

In November, 2018 the Cabinet of Armenia approved the amended framework agreement between the Government of Armenia, ArmPower CJSC and RENCO S.p.A. (Italy) on designing, developing, funding, constructing, owning under property right, commissioning and maintaining a 250 MW gas-fueled combined cycle electricity station in Yerevan, Armenia.

In line with the framework agreement, the direct agreement was signed on March 4 which gives an opportunity to start the construction in the near future.

Edited and translated by Tigran Sirekanyan
(Source: AAP)

Scott Morrisons curious decision to skip the signing of a free-trade deal with Indonesia has been called into question by Sydney independent MP Kerryn Phelps.

The prime ministers absence from an official ceremony in Jakarta was very unusual, Dr Phelps said.

Its also curious, I have to say, that the prime minister isnt going there himself to sign that agreement, she told Sky News on Monday.

That is very unusual with a major trading partner of the magnitude of Indonesia.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham insisted there was nothing unusual about Mr Morrisons absence, saying major deals were often signed by ministers without national leaders present.

This is business as normal, he told ABC News.

Indonesia is in campaign mode ahead of its general election on April 17.

Senator Birmingham and his Indonesian counterpart Enggartiasto Lukita will ink the agreement on Monday.

The trade deal was meant to be signed last year, but was delayed when the prime minister floated the idea of moving Australias embassy in Israel.

The thought bubble about moving Australias embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to West Jerusalem didnt please anybody, Dr Phelps said.

It was a very ill-considered foreign policy, it didnt consider any of the security or trade or foreign policy issues that come with such a decision.

Unions fear the trade deal will hurt Australian workers by opening the floodgates to exploited Indonesian workers, and undermine national sovereignty by allowing international rulings on investment disputes.

The ACTU has branded it a dodgy deal that favours unlimited temporary-visa holders, while the head of the manufacturers union says theres no substantive evidence the deal will benefit Australian workers.

Senator Birmingham dismissed the concerns.

Were seeing Australias unions running a predictable scare campaign when the facts speak the opposite, he told the Nine Network.

Weve done trade deals and increased market access to countries right around the world in the last few years, weve actually managed to grow jobs by 1.2 million.

Story continues

The deal will increase trade flows between the two countries, which are both in the worlds top 20 economies, but not in each others top 10 trading partners.

It is Indonesias first major agreement of its type and will allow Australian-owned universities to operate in the country.

Senator Birmingham said Australian frozen meats, live cattle, feed grains, dairy, citrus and rolled steel would receive favourable treatment under the agreement.

Labor frontbencher Michelle Rowland said the opposition welcomed the deal, noting negotiations were started under the previous Labor government.

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* EU eyes defences against China's bid for superpower status

* China on EU leaders summit agenda for first time in years

* Early optimism fades over closer ties in Trump era

By Robin Emmott

BRUSSELS, March 1 (Reuters) - The European Union is seeking to forge a more defensive strategy towards China and is intensifying diplomacy to limit Beijing's ability to buy foreign firms in the bloc, its top trading partner, diplomats and officials say.

Despite an agenda dominated by Britain's imminent departure from the EU, leaders will use a March 21 summit to discuss China policy, a first for many years. It is part of a flurry of high-level meetings before President Xi Jinping travels to Italy and France and the bloc holds a summit with China on April 9.

The acceleration of diplomacy, including special councils of EU envoys, experts and foreign ministers, marks a collective reevaluation of Sino-EU ties after decades of rising trade and a feel-good factor towards Beijing that contrasted with the United States' more aggressive stance.

European optimism has turned to frustration over China's slowness to open up its economy, a surge of Chinese takeovers in critical sectors, U.S. pressure to shun China over espionage fears and an impression in Brussels that Beijing has not kept its promise to stand up for free trade and globalisation.

Four senior EU diplomats and officials in close contact with the Chinese said they were losing hope on business issues that have been limping on for years, including almost a decade of talks on a special treaty to increase investment flows.

"The Chinese say all the right things, but when it comes to taking a decision, they delay and delay," one senior EU official said, citing a missed October deadline for China to finalise a deal to recognise the EU's system of protecting food names.

China has also backed out of an agreement to invest in a multi-billion euro EU infrastructure fund.

Story continues

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters on Friday that China hopes Europe can continue to provide a "fair, just, non-discriminatory environment" for Chinese companies.

With over a billion euros a day in bilateral trade, the EU is China's top trading partner, while China is second only to the United States as a market for European goods and services.

However, Chinese trade restrictions are more severe than EU barriers in almost every economic sector, according to the New York research firm Rhodium Group and Germany's Mercator Institute for China Studies. Chinese investments into the EU far outweigh those of EU companies in China in most industries, they said.

STRATEGIC RIVAL?

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies appeared to push China and Europe together after Xi's defence of open trade at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

But Europeans say the change of style has not translated into less protectionism from Beijing.

The EU says a high-tech industrial development push, dubbed "Made in China 2025", relies on illegal state support and subsidies that threaten European industries including telecoms and aerospace. China has repeatedly denied such allegations.

At this month's summit, EU leaders are likely to discuss whether it might be feasible to effectively ban Huawei Technologies Co. equipment for next-generation mobile networks, although the wider debate in EU capitals is at an early stage.

Europe has become the main battleground in a U.S. campaign to rid Western networks of Chinese telecoms equipment, with Washington accusing Huawei of spying for Beijing, allegations the company has repeatedly denied.

"Nobody in the EU wants to isolate China, but we need to equip ourselves better against a country that in some areas is becoming a strategic rival," a senior EU diplomat said. "We have no clear policy, we are brainstorming on a massive scale."

Chinese officials reject U.S.-led allegations that its technology could be used by Beijing for spying.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is set to attend the April EU summit in Brussels to press his case for fair treatment in trade and investment. Li will also hold a summit in Croatia later that month with 16 central and eastern EU and non-EU states.

SCREENING DEALS

EU leaders will not agree a new strategy on March 21, but the European Commission, the EU executive, is expected to put forward ideas for a European industrial policy on March 6, echoing Franco-German demands to compete with foreign rivals and better protect technologies from overseas takeovers.

One idea is to revive a stalled 2012 proposal known as the International Procurement Instrument that would require foreign countries to open up their public procurement markets in return for access to Europe and restrict access in certain areas.

After a surge of Chinese investments across Europe, from Greece's biggest port to a German robotics maker, the European Parliament in February agreed a system to coordinate scrutiny of foreign takeovers and investments. But officials say the so-called investment screening is not enough.

European Commissioner Julian King said last month that it was "time to discuss whether we want to continue, as now, to see our own cutting-edge technologies sold off one after another."

He also warned of the risks of "allowing one dominant (5G) supplier to emerge across the continent" while the chief of Britain's foreign intelligence service Alex Younger said that Europe needed to be "at least as strategic" as China when it comes to developing future technologies.

"That's a bit of a wake-up call and I think we should heed it," he told reporters at the Munich Security Conference. (Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Carmel Crimmins)
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Huawei Technologies is pictured in front of the German headquarters of the Chinese telecommunications giant in Duesseldorf, Germany, February 18, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

(Reuters) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and two affiliates will be arraigned on March 14 in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, New York, on accusations the company committed bank and wire fraud and violated sanctions against Iran, according to a court filing on Friday.

In a 13-count indictment unsealed in January, the Justice Department said Huawei misled a global bank and U.S. authorities about its relationship with subsidiaries Skycom Tech and Huawei Device USA Inc, in order to conduct business in Iran.

On Thursday, Huawei Device and Huawei Device USA pleaded not guilty in a federal court in Seattle in a separate court case. The companies are charged with fraud, trade secrets conspiracy and other charges alleging that they conspired to steal T-Mobile US Inc trade secrets between 2012 and 2014. A trial date was set for March 2020.

The charges have added to pressure from the U.S. government on Huawei, the worlds biggest telecommunications equipment maker. Washington is trying to prevent American companies from buying Huawei routers and switches and is pressing allies to do the same.

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
On a sloped, cobblestone street in southern Albania sits a small shop, empty except for a dozen framed panels on the walls bearing photos and stories from 500 years of Jewish life. It may be modest but this is Muslim-majority Albania's only Jewish history museum. And the story it tells is exceptional: the Balkan state is the only Nazi-occupied territory whose Jewish population increased during World War II, thanks to the bravery of ordinary families who harboured hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution during the Holocaust. The tiny Solomon Museum, which opened in the city of Berat last year, was a labour of love for local historian Simon Vrusho. But his death last month at age 75 has put its future at risk, with rent only paid through to April. Until now he had covered the museum's costs with his pension and small donations from a box by the door. "Memories need to have their own home," Vrusho, a wiry man with warm eyes, told AFP, shortly before he died following a heart attack in February. He spent years harvesting documents, photos and memories bearing witness to a Jewish community that first arrived in Berat in the 16th century from Spain. At the centre of the collection are the stories of Muslim and Christian Albanians who sheltered Jews in their homes and basements during the Holocaust -- a chapter of history that has only recently become more widely known. When Germans took control of Albania in 1943, local authorities also refused to hand over lists of Jews inside the country. Thanks to these quiet acts of heroism, the country's Jewish population surged from several hundred before the war to more than 2,000 afterwards. And, according to Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, "almost all Jews living within Albanian borders during the German occupation... were saved, except members of a single family", who were deported and all died except for the father. Another family was also deported and survived. - Code of honour - When asked to explain this history, Albanians will say it lies in "Besa" -- a cultural code of honour to "keep the promise" at any cost. There is also a rich history of religious tolerance in a country with a tapestry of different faiths, visible in Berat where a church and mosque face each other on the same square. Inside the museum, Nezir Ago, a 40-year-old artist, points to a faded photo of an elderly man. "This is my grandfather," he says, explaining that the Muslim baker took in a Jewish family of three in the early 1940s. "He did not know them before... or have an obligation to shelter them," he adds. The photo sits alongside several dozen others from the more than 60 families in Berat who rescued Jews, making the city a hub for refugees during the war. A list of some 600 names of those rescued identifies the European countries they hailed from -- many from Balkan cities like Belgrade or Pristina, where Jews were brutally exterminated by Nazi-allied powers. The Albanian families who took them in were "Christian and Muslim, rich and poor," says a caption taped to the wall. They were "deeply, unimaginably humane" people, recalled Vrusho, an Orthodox Christian who spent years interviewing Berat elders for their stories. - Bread, pain and joy - Today, Albania's Jewish population is nearly nonexistent, with fewer than 100 living mostly in Tirana. After World War II, Albania fell into the clutches of a communist dictatorship that barred religion. When the regime collapsed in 1991, many of the remaining Jewish community left for Israel. Marilena Langu Dojaka, 77, is one of those who stayed. "We are not yet free of our fears," she says, of the terror that has stuck with her decades later. She was born in Albania in 1942 after her mother fled there from then-Czechoslovakia. They found refuge with a family in the northern town of Mat. "When the Nazis passed through the village... our host family hid us in the mountains, in a cellar until the danger had passed," she told AFP, welling with emotion. Clutching a framed photo of relatives her mother left behind, she says softly: "They all died in the camps." Dojaka has kept close ties with the Albanian family who protected hers. "They shared everything with us: bread, pain and joy." - Recognition - It wasn't until after the fall of communism that the stories of the role played by Albanians in protecting Jews came to light. Today some 75 Albanians are recognised as part of the Righteous Among The Nations -- those who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust. The history is a growing source of pride in Albania, where the government holds annual events on Holocaust Remembrance Day and devotes an exhibit to the history in Tirana's national museum. But Vrusho's museum is the only standalone centre dedicated to the sweep of Jewish history in that corner of Southeastern Europe. Since it opened in May 2018, there have been several thousand visitors from around the world. If he had more means, Vrusho said he would have opened a museum "double the size". Now, his widow Angjlina says she is "very worried about the museum's fate." "It took him a lifetime," she said through tears. Muslim-majority Albania has just one small Jewish history museum and it tells an exceptional story The small Jewish history museum in Berat explains how Albania was the only Nazi-occupied territory whose Jewish population increased during World War II The tiny Solomon Museum was a labour of love for local historian Simon Vrusho, who died last month leaving a question mark over the future of the centre Many ordinary Albanian families harboured hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution during WWII, including the grandfather of Nezir Ago (pictured) who was a Muslim baker and took in a Jewish family of three in the early 1940s
As Gulzira Auelkhan toiled stitching gloves in a factory in China's troubled Xinjiang region, her managers made no secret of where her production would be sold. "They told us openly that the gloves will be sold abroad, so we should do a good job," Auelkhan recalled of a labour stint she says was enforced by Chinese "re-education" officials. Auelkhan, a 39-year-old Chinese citizen of Kazakh descent, says she was part of a network of mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang who pass from what China calls "vocational training centres" to factories where they are forced to work for far less than the local minimum wage. China says the education centres are part of its efforts to fight terrorism and separatism in Xinjiang -? a region populated by mostly Muslim minority groups -? and denies any use of forced labour. But rights groups, and former workers like Auelkhan, say the practice used against Chinese minorities is widespread and at least one foreign company has dropped its Chinese supplier over the concerns. Auelkhan says she was transferred to the glove factory at the Jiafang industrial estate in Xinjiang's Yining county after spending 15 months in two different "re-education" facilities. More than a million people from Muslim minorities -- mostly ethnic Uighurs, but also Kazakhs like Auelkhan, Kyrgyz and Hui -- are being held in internment centres across Xinjiang, according to a United Nations panel of experts. Auelkhan has residency rights in Kazakhstan but had travelled to China to see family when she was detained and put into a re-education centre. She said life in the camps was brutal, with residents struck over the head with electrified batons for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom. - US firm halts imports - So even though they were not free to leave, it was an improvement when she and hundreds of other camp inmates were transferred to work at the factory, Auelkhan told AFP in Kazakhstan's biggest city Almaty. "Every day we were taken to and from a dormitory three kilometres from the factory," she said, hugging the five-year-old daughter she didn't see for nearly two years. "When we were studying at the camp they told us we would be taught a trade and work for three months," Auelkhan said. Auelkhan said she was paid only 320 yuan ($48/42 euros) for close to two months' work before her time at the factory was curtailed in December and she was allowed to return to her family in Kazakhstan. Xinjiang's average minimum wage ranges between 820 and 1,460 yuan per month, according to official statistics. Beijing and officials in the region have fiercely denied any connection between the camps and under-paid labour. A representative of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Government Press Office told AFP by email that there was "no labour contract between Education and Training Centers and enterprises" and "no enterprise obtains labour from training centres". But rights groups insist the connection exists and some companies have started taking notice. In January, Badger Sportswear, a firm based in the US state of North Carolina, announced it would stop sourcing clothing from its Xinjiang supplier Hetian Taida over concerns it was using forced labour linked to the "re-education" campaign. Auelkhan believes she was only released from forced labour because of a public campaign launched by her husband and supported by a Xinjiang-focused rights group in Almaty. - 'Assigned a job' - Originally, re-education officials had told her and other centre residents that they would be "at (their) disposal" for at least six months, she said. Oil-rich Kazakhstan's government is a Beijing ally that positions itself as "the buckle" in China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road trade and investment agenda, a strategy for infrastructure and development projects throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Kazakh diplomats have entered into a dialogue with Beijing over Xinjiang, without publicly mentioning the re-education centres or criticising China's policies. In December a representative of Kazakhstan's foreign ministry said during a briefing that China had allowed more than 2,000 ethnic Kazakhs to travel to Kazakhstan as "a kind gesture". The ministry refused repeated requests from AFP to clarify the remarks, which lent hope to many in Kazakhstan that they would be able to bring Xinjiang-based relatives over the border to safety. For most, however, this has been a crushing false dawn. During a recent visit to the Almaty office of the Ata Jurt rights group dedicated to supporting relatives of the Xinjiang missing, AFP spoke to several Kazakhs who claim their relatives have merely swapped "re-education" for other forms of confinement. One of them, Aibota Janibek, 34, said her sister Kunikei Janibek telephoned her from Xinjiang in January after months without contact to confirm she had been "assigned a job" by the state at a carpet factory in Shawan county. Aibota Janibek has since lost touch with her sister, but heard from other relatives that she was transferred from the carpet factory to another position. "A relative told me she is now at a factory that makes paper towels for airplanes," Janibek said. Auelkhan, a Chinese citizen of Kazakh descent, says she was part of a network of mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang who pass from what China calls "vocational training centres" to factories where they are forced to work for far less than the local minimum wage Several Kazakhs told rights groups their relatives detained or missing in China's Xinjiang have swapped "re-education" camps for other forms of confinement


WARNING  GRAPHIC CONTENT: A Sydney dad who thought he had a sore throat following a holiday to the Philippines has had his limbs amputated after a serious blood infection left him fighting for his life.

Jason Miller, known by most as Buddy, was admitted to hospital on October 31 and diagnosed with Toxic Shock Syndrome and severe septic shock, caused by bacterial infections streptococcus and aerococcus.

This seems to have started as a sore throat that got out of hand, a GoFundMe page said at the time.

Jason Miller was diagnosed with severe septic shock and toxic shock syndrome after returning from a holiday last year. Source: Supplied

After he was taken to Northern Beaches Hospital, with his hands and feet swollen, the 48-year-old Manly ferry worker was left fighting for his life within an hour.

He was put in an induced coma and his seven-year-old daughter even said her goodbyes to her father.

He miraculously woke up about a week later and in January had his hands amputated and later his legs below the knee after the bacterial infection cut off most of his circulation.

Jason Miller with his seven-year-old daughter Jhayda. Source: Facebook/Buddy Miller Amputee Daddy

Buddy fought and fought. His determination to stay alive rocked the doctors and nurses who couldnt believe he was hanging on, the GoFundMe page said.

Mr Miller told ABCs 7.30 he just thought he had a really strong flu, but he remembers waking from the coma and seeing his hands and feet turned black.

I just went, Oh, thats not good, he said.

Jason Miller knew his condition was serious when he woke up with black feet and hands. Source: Facebook/Buddy Miller Amputee Daddy

Infectious Diseases Specialist Michael Mina told the program the infection Mr Miller was diagnosed with shuts down circulation.

You dont get enough blood going to your tissues and they die, he said.

According to 7.30, doctors shrunk Mr Millers veins to keep his organs alive.

I have to lose my hands and feet, but Im happy with that deal rather than not being here, he said.

Id take that deal any day.

Jason Miller says he would rather lose his hands and feet than his life. Source: Facebook/Buddy Miller Amputee Daddy

Mr Miller will now adjust to life after his operation and will be fitted for prosthetics and go through rehab.

A GoFundMe page set up for the father has raised just over $50,000, with money going towards prosthetics, a wheelchair and physiotherapy.

Do you know more or have a story tip? Email: y7newsroom@yahoo7.com.au.

You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo7s daily newsletter. Sign up here.
India's Kumbh Mela religious megafestival wraps up Monday with some 10 million pilgrims expected to take a final holy plunge, taking the final tally towards 250 million, officials said. "We expect at least 10 million today because it is both the last day and Mahashivratri," one of the biggest Hindu holy days, government official Prabhat Shukla told AFP. "Around 220 million people have visited the Kumbh as per our last calculations. The final tally will only be updated after the end of the festival but it could be around 250 million," Shukla added. The 48-day festival in the northern city of Allahabad, recently renamed Prayagraj after the region's ancient Hindu name by the state's Hindu nationalist government, began in February. Hindus believe bathing at the meeting point of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at the festival -- home to a vast tent city bigger than Manhattan -- brings salvation. According to Hindu mythology, gods and demons fought a war over a sacred pitcher, or Kumbh, containing the nectar of immortality. Drops fell at four locations -- one being Allahabad. The pilgrims including thousands of Naga Sadhus -- a devout, fierce and famously nude sect of followers of the Hindu god Shiva -- rise at dawn for prayers at the Kumbh Mela before immersing themselves in the holy waters. This year's festival was the Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela, which denotes the completion of the six-year half cycle of the even bigger and grander Maha (great) Kumbh festival, held every 12 years. Authorities have spent about $40 million on an operation to block some drains and make sure others undergo cleaning so that waste water pouring into the rivers does not threaten the pilgrims. More than 30,000 police were on duty to manage the huge crowds and prevent deadly stampedes seen at previous gatherings. Special skimmer boats collected waste from the surface of the rivers and more than 40,000 temporary toilets have been installed. Devotees meditate on the banks of the rivers after the dip and collect Ganges water in cans to take home. Many observe complete silence for the rest of the day after their ritual bath. With elections looming, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made the most of the festival to burnish his Hindu credentials, with cutouts and posters of him placed all over the campgrounds. Hindus believe bathing at the meeting point of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati at the festival -- home to a vast tent city bigger than Manhattan -- brings salvation
Indonesia and Australia on Monday signed a long-awaited trade deal after months of diplomatic tension over Canberra's contentious plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem. Indonesian trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham wrapped up the multi-billion-dollar agreement in Jakarta, some nine years after negotiations first started. The pact will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia's 260 million people, while Australian universities, health providers and miners will also benefit from easier entry to Southeast Asia's biggest economy. Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia's automotive and textile industries, and boost exports of timber, electronics and medicinal goods. Bilateral trade was worth US$11.7 billion in 2017, but Indonesia is only Australia's 13th-largest trading partner and the economic relationship has been viewed as underdone. Both ministers touted the deal as indicative of deepening ties between the two countries, which have occasionally butted heads on foreign policy issues, including Australia's hardline policy on asylum seekers. Birmingham said the deal marked a "new chapter of cooperation" between the two neighbours. "The signing of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement brings our two nations closer together than ever before," Birmingham told reporters. Lukita said the signing had the potential to transform the economy of both countries. "Today is definitely the brightest moment of the Indonesia-Australia relationship," he said. The deal has been in negotiation since 2010 and was expected to be signed before the end of last year, but it stalled when Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia's embassy to Jerusalem. Morrison first floated the shift in October, ahead of a critical by-election in a Sydney suburb with a sizeable Jewish population. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was angered by the proposal. Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Most nations have avoided moving embassies there to prevent inflaming peace talks on the city's final status -- until President Donald Trump unilaterally moved the US embassy early last year. In December, Morrison formally recognised west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but said the contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved. The Australian PM stood by his decision despite outcry from neighbouring Muslim countries. Indonesia in response simply said it had noted the decision. - Tariffs gone - The agreement will eventually see the elimination of all Australian trade tariffs, while 94 percent of Indonesian duties will be gradually eliminated. Australian investment in Indonesia totalled $597 million in 2018, but that is expected to increase under the new deal, which also included provisions for greater protection of foreign direct investment. "Indonesia is a good market for Australia because of the large population (and) the increasing movement of the middle class," economist Kresnayana Yahya, from Surabaya's ITS university, told AFP. The less developed eastern reaches of Indonesia could significantly benefit from Australian investment, he added. The trade deal also comes just ahead of national polls in which Indonesian President Joko Widodo is pushing his economic record in the battle for re-election. The multi-billion-dollar trade deal between Indonesia and Australia was signed after months of diplomatic tension The agreement will eventually see the elimination of all Australian trade tariffs, while 94 percent of Indonesian duties will be gradually eliminated
Stella McCartney showed what can be done with upcycled clothes and fabrics in a classy Paris show whose front row was filled with celebrity fans led by Oprah Winfrey. The British designer -- a vegan who used the show to launch a #ThereSheGrows Instagram campaign to save the Sumatran rainforest -- edged her big belted opening space samurai coat with her shiny "vegetarian leather", a trick she repeated with some style throughout the collection. Russian supermodel and philanthrophist Natalia Vodianova -- now a mother of five -- had an "SOS" Earth tattoo inked on her famously high cheekbones with other models carrying similar slogans such as "Green is the new black". McCartney has already recruited Hollywood stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Drew Barrymore and Rooney Mara as well as singer Pink into the #ThereSheGrows campaign, which involves dedicating a tree to someone special with a heartfelt message. The show, in the gilded Belle Epoque splendour of the Opera Garnier in the centre of the French capital, began with a voiceover of people dedicating trees to their loved ones. Winfrey said she felt inspired to plant an oak in honour of her mother, Vernita Lee, who died aged 83 in November. "I already have hundreds in my yard," she added. In a week when the Paris shows have been more attuned to what women actually wear than usual, McCartney used vintage fabric in a whole swathe of highly desirable dresses, although it was impossible to say what was new and what was not. One multi-coloured statement cord dress was made from vintage T-shirts that were stripped, knotted and then knitted. A run of feature earrings were inspired by office paperclips. - 'I worship her' - The co-ed show also featured big burgundy fake fur coats worn with sawn-off Hunter wellington boots, which McCartney claimed were the most sustainable rubber wellies ever made. Her husband Alasdhair Willis is the creative director of the Scottish heritage bootmaker. The designer daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney told reporters backstage the Northern Soul music and dance movement that swept northern England from the late 1960s was also an inspiration for the show. Winfrey told reporters she "loved the show and totally supported" the campaign to save the Leuser Ecosystem in Indonesia, one of the richest in the world where orangutans and the Sumatran elephant, rhinoceros and tiger are threatened by the spread of palm oil plantations. The US television mogul made the trip specially to support McCartney's campaign, having last year admitted that "I worship her". Supermodel Karlie Kloss was also in the front row to lend her backing. The designer also roped in the veteran American artist Sheila Hicks, draping several of her looks in her woven "twisted and wrapped adornments... so they could be worn like badges of honour for valour and bravery. "These adornments act as wearable works of art," McCartney added. As well as the slinky ethnic-tinted glamour, she put 17-year-old catwalk star Kaia Gerber -- the daughter of Cindy Crawford -- in one of her new trenchcoat jumpsuits aimed at "empowering men and women to look and feel their best". It was the kind of garment that might give Formula One racing champion Lewis Hamilton, who now has his own fashion line with US brand Tommy Hilfiger, some ideas. The driver was also on the front row and said he saw McCartney as a role model for sustainable fashion. "My collection is 50 percent recyclable and eco-friendly materials," he told the fashion industry bible Women's Wear Daily, but his goal was to soon go 100 percent. SOS Earth: Russian model Natalia Vodianova wore a SOS Earth tattoo when she walked in the Stella McCartney Paris fashion show Knot your usual fashion show: A dress adorned with a "wearable work of art" by acclaimed American artist Sheila Hicks at Stella McCartney's Paris show British fashion designer Stella McCartney acknowledges the applause at the end of her Paris fashion week show US model Kaia Gerber walks in the Stella McCartney Paris fashion show in one of the designer's new trenchcoat jumpsuits To tie for: A fake fur coat adorned with a belt created by US artist Sheila Hicks at Stella McCartney Paris fashion week show
Kurdish-led forces supported by air strikes from an international coalition evacuated civilians held as "human shields" Monday after smashing their way into the jihadists' last scrap of territory in eastern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies from the US-led coalition unleashed a deluge of fire on the village of Baghouz at the weekend to break the defences of Islamic State group fighters in the final sliver of their "caliphate". But the Kurdish-led force said their offensive had been slowed down Monday due to remaining civilians inside the pocket, and an SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours. "More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today -- IS family members and fighters who surrendered," she said. Through binoculars from an SDF position outside the jihadist holdout, an AFP correspondent saw men kneeling on the ground before boarding trucks, as well as women clad in black and children. The push on IS's last pocket of territory had resumed Friday after days of mass evacuations, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Monday the operation was being hampered by the presence of more civilians in the besieged enclave. "We're slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields," he said. Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of smoke to billow up into the sky. - Suicide attacks - Despite being hugely outnumbered, jihadists making a desperate last stand in the riverside hamlet -- most of them foreigners according to the SDF -- are putting up stiff resistance. They are using snipers, a network of tunnels, and suicide bombers to fight back. On Sunday, eight suicide attackers blew themselves up before reaching SDF positions and three car bombs were detonated at a distance, the Kurdish-led forces said. SDF officers perched on rooftops have been receiving information on IS positions from elite units, and passing them on to the coalition to call in air strikes. IS has lost several of its positions in such strikes since Friday in Baghouz, a village nestled in a palm-lined bend of the Euphrates River. Seven SDF members and 18 jihadists have been killed in the fighting since the final push started, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of IS territorial control in the region and deal a death blow to the "caliphate" proclaimed in 2014, which once covered huge swathes of Syria and Iraq. At its peak more than four years ago, the proto-state created by IS was the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people. It minted its own currency, levied taxes, and designed its own school curricula. The "caliphate" effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost most of its major cities in both countries. The loss of Baghouz, which the SDF says is only days away, would carry mostly symbolic value. - 'No indoors to go to' - The latest military operation has nonetheless sparked a major humanitarian emergency, with thousands of people emerging from the ruins of the "caliphate" and washing up in Kurdish-run camps. After months under heavy bombardment and sometimes with very little to eat, families emerging from Baghouz are often in poor physical and psychological health. The foreigners among them are not wanted in their countries of origin, and locals are filling camps that the Kurdish administration in the region says it needs more international help to run. The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday said tens of thousands of Syrians at the camps needed immediate aid, with several sleeping rough in the cold. "The nights are biting. More than two dozen children are reported to have died due to the cold in recent weeks," said Philip Spoerri, head of the ICRC's delegation in Syria. "People are bundled in clothes, as they have no indoors to go to. Some don't even have tents yet and remain exposed to rain, wind and bitter temperatures," he said. The US and Russian military chiefs were to meet on Monday to discuss operations in Syria. The United States is to keep a residual force in Syria after any declared victory against IS. Almost eight years into a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions, the Russia-backed Damascus regime is back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country. Smoke and fire billow after shelling of the Islamic State group's last holdout of Baghouz, a village in eastern Syria Map locating the last pocket of territory held by the Islamic State group in Syria Members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stand guard on top of a building during shelling of the Islamic State group's last holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria Syrian fighters pass the location of jihadist positions to the US-led coalition to call in air strikes The Syrian Democratic Forces launched a broad operation against the jihadists' last bastion in the Euphrates Valley in September
Britain's royal family on Monday warned trolls on its social media accounts that they will be banned under new guidelines issued following abuse of Kate and Meghan -- the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex. Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace said that they could involve the police if there was a breach of the law. Under the new guidelines, comments must not "be defamatory... obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or promote sexually explicit material or violence. "We reserve the right to hide or delete comments made on our channels, as well as block users who do not follow these guidelines," it added. "We also reserve the right to send any comments we deem appropriate to law enforcement authorities for investigation as we feel necessary or is required by law." Almost 1,000 online posts have already been deleted, according to reports. The royal family have not mentioned any specific online problems, but British gossip magazine Hello! last month reported that royal staff were spending hours every week removing abusive posts sent by 'rival' supporters of each duchess, amid reports that the two had fallen out. Tabloids reported that Meghan made sister-in-law Kate cry during preparations for her wedding last year with Prince Harry. The family denies a rift, and insists that Harry and Meghan's plan to move out from living next door to his brother Prince William and Kate is driven by the imminent arrival of their first child, due next month. It asked users to show "courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities." The royal family's Twitter page has 3.8 million followers, while 4.5 million follow the official Instagram account. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, one of the targets of online trolls
Despite one-party rule in Albany, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on a revenue forecast for the 2019-20 budget  an indication that negotiations for a new spending plan will be challenging over the next few weeks.

The consensus economic and revenue forecast report is an important element of budget negotiations. It represents an agreement between the governor and state Legislature on the revenues available for the budget.

State Budget Director Robert Mujica said in a statement Saturday that experts who participated in the revenue forecasting conference warned the economy is slowing. Other factors, such as the limits on state and local tax deductions, are affecting the state's revenues.

Describing the revenue forecast as "an essential starting point for the state budget," Mujica revealed that the governor's office, Assembly and Senate didn't agree on a revenue estimate. The Senate, he added, insisted on higher revenues than the executive and Assembly.

"While the budget discussion always has differing political priorities and opinions, facts are still facts and numbers are still numbers and the numbers must govern a legitimate budget," Mujica said. "The governor has said getting the budget done on time is important but it is more important to get the budget right. Because of our record of prudent budgeting, we have never had to do a mid-year budget correction, and we are not about to start now."

In February, Cuomo and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli announced that the state was facing a larger budget gap than anticipated due to a $2.3 billion decline in income tax receipts. Cuomo blamed the drop on the 2017 federal tax law that capped state and local tax deductions at $10,000.

Other factors contributed to the decline in tax receipts, including the volatility of the financial markets.

With less revenue for the budget, some funding priorities may need to be scrapped or reduced. In his executive budget proposal, Cuomo called for multi-billion dollar investments in education and health care. He also wants to continue some of his top initiatives, including $750 million for the regional economic development councils.

The Assembly and Senate will release their one-house budget plans this month.

"It is unfortunate that we could not come to an agreement on a revenue consensus with the governor," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. "It remains the intention of both the Assembly and the Senate to reach a fiscally responsible, on-time budget that meets our priorities."

After not reaching an agreement on a revenue forecast, the law requires that the state comptroller formulate a binding revenue estimate for the governor and legislature to use.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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Three sites in Cayuga County benefited from a record-breaking year for New York state parks.

State parks reported an estimated 74.1 million visitors in 2018, up 4 percent from 71.5 million two years ago. Since 2011, state park visitation has increased 28 percent.

Each of the state parks in Cayuga County had more visitors in 2018. The largest of the three, Fair Haven Beach State Park, drew 296,438 visitors last year, up from 262,202 in 2017. It's the highest attendance the park has seen since 2015, when the northern Cayuga County site welcomed 297,945 visitors.

Fillmore Glen State Park in Moravia had 120,731 visitors last year, up from 90,789 in 2017. Long Point State Park in Ledyard reported 51,515 visitors in 2018, up from 33,795 two years ago.

Revitalizing state parks has been a priority of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration. The governor's NY Parks 2020 initiative aims to improve state parks. Fair Haven Beach and Fillmore Glen state parks received funding through NY Parks 2020 for infrastructure projects, including new bathhouses and pavilions.

"State parks are at the heart of New York's tourism economy, attracting visitors from all over the world to discover the history and explore the beauty of our great state," Cuomo said in a statement.

There was a significant increase in visitation at some of New York's largest state parks. Green Lakes State Park in Onondaga County had 33 percent more visitors in 2018 than it did two years ago. Watkins Glen State Park reported an attendance bump of 24 percent.

On Long Island, visitation at Jones Beach State Park rose by 43 percent.

The NY Parks 2020 program will continue this year. Cuomo proposed $110 million in his executive budget plan to fund the initiative.

"New York's parks and historic sites are continuing to invigorate communities across the state by connecting people with their culture and heritage," said Erik Kulleseid, acting state parks commissioner. "Thanks to Governor Cuomo's initiative to transform and promote state parks, we can look forward to welcoming more visitors as we continue to rejuvenate and modernize our state park system."

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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U.S. Rep. John Katko has been ranked as one of the most effective lawmakers for work during his second term in Congress.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking, which is supported by the University of Virginia's Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and the College of Arts and Science at Vanderbilt University, rated Katko, R-Camillus, as the fourth-most effective member of Congress and the most effective from New York.

Katko's legislative effectiveness score was 4.897 for the 115th Congress, which spanned the 2017 and 2018 sessions.

"I've always been committed to working across the aisle to achieve results for central New York. In a time of hyper-partisanship in Washington, I'm proud to be recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking for my efforts to move bipartisan reforms through the House," Katko said in a statement Monday.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking calculated the score based on 15 indicators, including the number of bills sponsored by a member of Congress, the numbers of bills that received committee consideration and how many measures became law.

Katko introduced 29 bills during the 115th Congress, 14 of which the House passed in 2017 or 2018. Three of his bills were signed into law by President Donald Trump.

The Katko-authored bills signed by Trump include the Fort Ontario Study Act, which requires the Department of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine whether Fort Ontario in Oswego should be designated as a national park.

Trump also signed legislation sponsored by Katko to ensure Secret Service agents receive overtime pay.

The Center for Effective Lawmaking noted that Katko sponsored a bill that would delay a biometric screening requirement for workers at U.S. ports. Trump signed the bill in August.

Katko was one of three subcommittee chairs who secured spots in the top 10 of the center's most effective lawmaking ratings. For four years, he chaired what was known as the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Protective Security. As chair of the panel, he provided oversight of the Transportation Security Administration and the U.S. Secret Service.

Katko's effectiveness will be tested in the new Congress. As a Republican, he's now a member of the minority party in the House. The Democrats' top scores calculated by the Center for Effective Lawmaking were lower than Katko and other top Republicans when the GOP held the majority.

Despite being in the minority, Katko hopes he can continue to usher legislation through the House.

"I remain committed to advancing the priorities of our community in Congress, and am encouraged by some of the bipartisan measures we've already begun work on this Congress  including bolstering our nation's infrastructure, improving cyber protections, and providing proper funding to address the heroin and opioid epidemic," he said.

Online producer Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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I'm sorry that I didn't build you a stronger ship, young Rose.

 Thomas Andrews

There are few absolute truths in this world, but one of them is that no one knows what the future holds.

Not me, not you, and certainly not psychics. To me psychics should be taken with the same grain of salt as the daily horoscope  something fun to partake in but not something to be taken seriously. From Miss Cleo to the Long Island Medium people have long since claimed to possess a sixth sense, whether that be talking to the dead or seeing into the future. And for the right amount of money, they'll share their gift with you.

The problem with this phony profession is that at best it gives people false hopes and at worst openly exploits people's trauma in order to rob them of their money. With that being said, I'm having a premonition that I feel might actually come true, and I'm willing to share it for free.

There is an iceberg that is soon to break off the continent of Antarctica that is five times the size of Manhattan  or one Brooklyn depending on how you do the math. To say it's big would be downplaying the obvious. If you're having trouble visualizing just how immense this Popsicle is then try picturing Cayuga Lake. Now freeze it.

So, yeah, that's a rather large ice cube to have randomly floating about the open ocean. But that's not the kicker. The real story is that there is a company called Blue Star Line out of Brisbane, Australia that's currently working on building a really expensive vintage style boat. Mind you it's not just any boat they are building but an exact replica of the R.M.S. Titanic! Maybe you've heard of it. It was a ship that was supposed to be unsinkable yet somehow dipped into the freezing waters of the Atlantic on April 14, 1912 after being tapped by an iceberg.

It was a pretty big story at the time and they even made a Hollywood film about it in 1997 starring that guy that was in the movie "Twister." Spoiler alert: It doesn't involve a twist ending. Well, I don't think you need a crystal ball to see how this updated version is going to play out, because one thing mankind never learns from is the past. Here we have a boat that is going to be toasted as unsinkable in waters that are about to become overcrowded with the one thing it has a weakness to. I don't think you have to be Alanis Morissette to see what's at play here.

Truth be told, I have no idea if this ship is going to sink, and I don't want it to, but if it does and anyone says Who on Earth could have seen it coming you can quickly reply, Brad did. He must be psychic.

Auburn native Bradley Molloys column appears here each Sunday. He can be reached at lovonian@hotmail.com

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They come together, rock the world, break up or take a break, and then, if fans are lucky, they reunite.
In order to maintain this blog I have to pay for its upkeep including a hosting company, support services, virus and other malicious hackers. If you appreciate what I write please make a donation.
Norfolk farm A&J Wilcox has won first place in the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) Wheat Quality Award for the 2018 harvest.

Alex Wilcox, who farms 250 hectares at Stowbridge on the Fens and describes himself as an agronomist as well as a grower, said he was keen to learn about pushing the boundaries of yield.

For me, the key elements for growing quality milling wheat are a healthy, well-structured soil, achieved through organic matter applications and soil management, he explained adding this meant paying attention to detail in agronomy from seed bed conditions and nutrition through to fungicides.

Wilcoxs entry was the highest yielding, with 12.16 tonnes per hectare, and the highest protein yield of 1.35 t/ha.

His winning entry demonstrated great grain quality, good gluten rheology and produced loaves with excellent colour, structure and texture, said Mark Charlton who is chair of the variety working group of the National Association of British and Irish Flour Millers.

The other YEN Wheat Quality Award winners were:

Second Place: Sam Markillie, Arthur Markillie, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire

Third Place: Richard Carr, LE Carr & Sons, Maldon, Essex

The awards were presented at last weeks AHDB Milling Wheat Conference, which highlighted the importance of the supply chain in producing a quality loaf. Meeting specification to ensure consistency was a key theme, along with a focus on the customer and the need to be sustainable and profitable.

We are trying to ensure food supplies for our country, especially in these political times of uncertainty, and we have to be working together to stay in profit and invest in the future, said George Mason, senior executive at Heygates.

The event emphasised the role of quality from variety selection, agronomy management and post-harvest storage, through to milling and baking.

Variety choice and nutrition were key to achieving bread-making quality, according to Sarah Clarke, crop physiologist at environmental consultancy ADAS.
Dawn Foods has launched a new marketing campaign focused on Easter as a sales opportunity for bakers.

The Easter-themed drive will include exclusive recipes and a series of how-to videos, giving bakers step-by-step instructions on creating products such as Easter Bunny Butt Donuts, Chocolate Surprise Cake and Golden Egg Carrot Cake.

Running until 26 April, the campaign is targeted at professional bakers and caterers. Also available will be insights on Easter traditions from chef, author and broadcaster Gerard Baker, who has partnered with Dawn for its 2019 Bakes for All Seasons campaign.

Dawn will also be promoting offers and giveaways on some ingredients, and the chance to enter a competition to win a weekend trip for two to Amsterdam that includes a creative bakery workshop at Dawns new Innovation Centre. Dawn is also running a prize draw to win a bakery course for two to be held in the UK, bakers toolkits and high street shopping vouchers.

Holiday celebrations such as Easter provide bakers with a huge opportunity to get creative and increase sales, said Dawn Foods UK and Ireland marketing manager Jacqui Passmore.

Dawns Easter campaign has been developed to give bakers inspiration, from new and exciting recipe ideas and historical insights from Gerard Baker through to free giveaways.

The activity is part of Dawns year-long Bakes for All Seasons campaign, designed to give bakers and caterers insights into the history and traditions behind the UKs favourite bakes at national celebrations such as Easter, Halloween, Valentines Day and Christmas.
(function() { (function(){function b(g){this.t={};this.tick=function(h,m,f){var n=void 0!=f?f:(new Date).getTime();this.t[h]=[n,m];if(void 0==f)try{window.console.timeStamp("CSI/"+h)}catch(q){}};this.getStartTickTime=function(){return this.t.start[0]};this.tick("start",null,g)}var a;if(window.performance)var e=(a=window.performance.timing)&&a.responseStart;var p=0 =c&&(window.jstiming.srt=e-c)}if(a){var d=window.jstiming.load; 0 =c&&(d.tick("_wtsrt",void 0,c),d.tick("wtsrt_","_wtsrt",e),d.tick("tbsd_","wtsrt_"))}try{a=null,window.chrome&&window.chrome.csi&&(a=Math.floor(window.chrome.csi().pageT),d&&0 =b&&window.jstiming.load.tick("aft")};var k=!1;function l(){k||(k=!0,window.jstiming.load.tick("firstScrollTime"))}window.addEventListener?window.addEventListener("scroll",l,!1):window.attachEvent("onscroll",l); })(); M. Bakri Musa Seeing Malaysia My Way About Me Name: M. Bakri Musa Location: Morgan Hill, California, United States Malaysian-born Bakri Musa writes frequently on issues affecting his native land. His essays have appeared in the Far Eastern Economic Review, Asiaweek, International Herald Tribune, Education Quarterly, SIngapore's Straits Times, and The New Straits Times. His commentary has aired on National Public Radio's Marketplace. His regular column Seeing It My Way appears in Malaysiakini. Bakri is also a regular contributor to th eSun (Malaysia). He has previously written "The Malay Dilemma Revisited: Race Dynamics in Modern Malaysia" as well as "Malaysia in the Era of Globalization," "An Education System Worthy of Malaysia," "Seeing Malaysia My Way," and "With Love, From Malaysia." Bakri's day job (and frequently night time too!) is as a surgeon in private practice in Silicon Valley, California. He and his wife Karen live on a ranch in Morgan Hill. This website is updated twice a week on Sundays and Wednesdays at 5 PM California time. View my complete profile



Exceprt 7: First Day As A Surgeon in Malaysia

Excert #6: Seduced By A Promise Of A Chalet At La...

Excerpt #5: Meeting The Big Chief

A Nation Deceived

Excerpt #3: A Nation Mourns

A Big Letdown For My Parents

A Not-So Welcom Home!

The Agung Owes Malaysians More Than Just A Bland S...

Ministers Do Not Have All The Answers

Hadith And Sunnah Are Like Stars In The Heavenly Sky Courtesy of Syed Azidi Aziz of kickdefella.wordpress.com









Exceprt #8: A Much-Needed Reorganization

Excerpt #8: A Much Needed Reorganization

I have always admired my friend Ramli Ujang. He was smart both book-wise but of more relevance, street-wise. He was also an astute judge of character. He could sniff out a lie or fakery even before you could even think of expressing it. Elsewhere that would be a useful trait; in Malaysia, that would not enhance your career. During our high school he was the first to suspect that one of our teachers helpfulness to some of our female classmates was more than just to help them pass their tests.

Ramli filled me in on the local politics, the hospitals as well as the universitys. Then as I accompanied Ramli out of my office, I was stunned to be greeted by a mob. You have a busy clinic today! he observed.

pasar minggu(weekly flea market) than a hospital clinic. The clinic hours were from 2 to 4 but everyone came in at 1:30 or even earlier. The staff on the other hand staggered in at quarter after the hour, at the earliest; hence the impatient mob. My office was in the surgical out-patient clinic. The scene resembled more a(weekly flea market) than a hospital clinic. The clinic hours were from 2 to 4 but everyone came in at 1:30 or even earlier. The staff on the other hand staggered in at quarter after the hour, at the earliest; hence the impatient mob.

I stood there fascinated by the crowd and wondering of the variety of maladies they would present to challenge my staff and me. Someone must have noticed my surveying the field for soon I saw the staff scurrying to man the counters, like rats disturbed out of the comfort of their nests by the presence of a cat. More than a few were still rubbing their eyes, their siesta having been interrupted.

I used to moonlight as an Emergency Room physician during my residency days. I enjoyed the challenge, and the pay was great! It was so good that the faculty considered prohibiting the practice because we residents ended up earning more than our professors! It was my practice during a busy shift to scout the waiting room every so often to pick out the sickest patients, my informal but very effective personal triage system.

I did that on this, my first day of clinic at GHKL, and soon everyone was clamoring for my attention and I had a crowd control problem. Nonetheless I stuck to my unscientific triage method. It did not take long for everyone to realize that they were more likely to be picked up by me if they were to remain quiet. Everyone was now quiet pretending to be very sick. No more drama queens!

There was nothing magical about my trick. Animal trainers know this; you reward the behaviors you want, and ignore or punish those that you do not desire.

At the clinic I focused on one house officer and one new patient at a time. Part of that was selfish professional reasons; I was eager to learn about Malaysian patients and their maladies. The other was that it would be the best way for me to know my junior doctors individually. That was the system at my old residency program.

It did not take long for those junior doctors to be comfortable with me. Only that morning my presence was cramping their style. By that afternoon we were colleagues, though that might not be the correct term.

At the next mornings ward rounds, I was no longer the silent observer. I intruded often with questions. Out of curiosity on local practice! I assured them over and over. When we finished, I gathered everyone including the nurses and reminded them that I would remain only as an observer for the rest of the week, as I had earlier promised. They were to continue with their usual routine.

Earlier that morning Dr. Mahmud Nur came to make his rounds. That was his usual time. He was head of UKMs Department of Surgery. A graduate of the University of Malaya, he trained and stayed there until his UKM assignment. I introduced myself but he recognized and remembered me from our Malay College days. He was four years my junior there. When I told him about my new position, he congratulated me and expressed how pleased he was to have someone take over the clinical load as he was overwhelmed with his university duties. Underneath the pleasantries however, I could detect his embarrassment. He knew nothing about my appointment, at least not until that morning. It did not help that Sister Fong was now directing her queries and questions towards me instead of at Mahmud.

He and I had much to talk about, so we excused ourselves and retreated to my office downstairs. Before departing I told Sr. Fong where and how to get hold of me. Mahmud was taken aback by my gesture.

uluof the campus. Mahmud reminded me that I had done many evening prep-supervision hours of his class. We talked about our favorite teachers as well as the standout characters in the dorms. I was able to carry on the conversation as if I had known him all along. Back in my office, the first thing we did was, as expected, reminisce about our Malay College days. Mahmud remembered a lot about me but I had no memory of him. During my last year there I was a prefect at prep school, the dorm for first-year students coming in at Form One (Year Seven). Prep school was located in a secluded corner, far away and thus protected from the main dormitory, derisively referred to as theof the campus. Mahmud reminded me that I had done many evening prep-supervision hours of his class. We talked about our favorite teachers as well as the standout characters in the dorms. I was able to carry on the conversation as if I had known him all along.

Mahmud was confused and curious about my status. He was still with the government, only seconded to UKM, he emphasized to me. When he was seconded, he was promoted to Superscale F, whatever that meant. He asked what my civil service classification was and I didnt have a clue.

Then we talked about hospital matters. He too was lost there, not knowing where he stood in the hierarchy of things. I was sure that my appointment to Unit III without his knowledge did not help. Meanwhile the university had pressured him to give up his civil service appointment and be on the fulltime faculty but he treasured his Superscale F status, what with the luxury bungalow in a secluded part of town as a perk. He would have to give all that up if he were to join the university.

Then I remembered the reminder and almost stern warning from Tan Sri Ismail only a few days earlier. My job was to take care of the clinical load so those university boys would have no excuse about being distracted from their academic duties.

By the end of that week Ive had it with the ward routine, what with the mob in our out-patient clinic, the indecisiveness during rounds, blurred lines of authority, and the house officers blaming each other when tests or dressings were not done in time. Sister Fong and the nurses too were now pestering me. Months if not years of problems and issues left unattended, and now somebody coming in to take charge, or presuming to. The more overwhelming the problems, the more they seemed familiar. It was an eerie deja vu to me after hearing of yet another unresolved issue brought to me by the nurses, house officers, or even Mahmud. I had been through this before.

I remembered towards the end of my residency training in Edmonton, there was a massive change in the program. Dr. Robert Macbeth, Professor and Chief of Surgery, with heavy prodding from the Royal College of Surgeons of Canada, expanded the training experience of university residents to include substantial rotations in community hospitals. It was a controversial move, both among the trainees and faculty. We trainees felt we would be wasting our time to be with those less-than-brilliant town surgeons; the faculty, obsessed with maintaining standards.

As luck would have it, I was the first guinea pig in this new learning venture. I remembered how dejected I was. My fellow residents consoled me, more out of relief that they were not selected. Dr. Macbeth assured me that I was the best candidate for this new experiment. I was flexible, he complimented me. Dr. Yakimets, a new faculty member, comforted me by saying that since I would be going back to Malaysia it would be good to be exposed to other than university medicine, to see how real Canadians received their healthcare. He related what a wonderful experience he had when he took a detour in his training and went to New Zealand.

Royal Alexandra Hospital, The Alex to locals, was a major fixture in downtown Edmonton. It was much bigger by bed numbers than the University of Alberta Hospital, and with its own equally distinguished history. It also had its own surgical residency program. To make it worse, I was assigned to a unit notorious for its fractious surgeons and their dysfunctional relationships with each other. Unlike the other units which were staffed by surgeons from the same clinic or group practice, the surgeons in Unit D were all independent practitioners, and very proud of that fact.

Unit D lived up to my worse expectations on the very first day. I remembered how chaotic and exhausted I was, with surgeons yelling about cases being delayed and my house staff paralyzed with calls from the floor, emergency room, and operating suites. As chief resident, I was in the middle of the chaos trying to settle things down.

Even the longest day must end. It did on my first day there. The next day I decided that on subsequent weekdays we would start at 6 AM so as to give us time to see all the patients and be ready for their attending surgeons when they straggled in during the morning. There were grumbling protests from my junior colleagues, of course. What if we had been up all night? one protested. Then continue on as if you were still on the night shift!

To my great surprise the new routine worked well. It helped that being early meant we had no difficulty finding parking spots. We had 90 minutes for our rounds, coffee in hand, and thus could engage in some robust clinical discussions. The best part was that when the attending surgeons arrived, we were ready for them.

The chaos of Unit III of GHKL reminded me of my old Unit D at The Alex, except that now I was the surgeon in charge, not the chief resident. I could now call my own shots!

Next: Exceprt #9: A Leaner, Flatter Organization

From the authors second memoir, The Son has Not Returned. A Surgeon In His Native Malaysia(2018). From the authors second memoir,(2018).
Less Obvious Pacific City: Sandy Wonders of the N Oregon Coast Town, Unique Hikes

Published 03/03/2019 at 5:23 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Pacific City, Oregon)  For over two decades now, Pacific City has a been a glowing destination spot, filled with a variety of aspects for fun and repose crammed into one tiny place. The star attraction of the north Oregon town is Cape Kiwanda, but its sandy stretches are nothing to sneeze at. Just south of the Bob Straub state park access and on the other side of Kiwanda are miles and miles of soft grains and granules.

Sometimes, what you really need is the archetypal long walk on the beach, or perhaps a good, long hike.

Around the Bob Straub access, the sands get sculpted into something rather cool and even extraordinary at times. The slope of the beach here mixed with the wave action causes the breakers to carve interesting tiers into the beach. Its like the beach is multileveled, giving it an unusual look.

From here southward, youre essentially on the Nestucca Spit, which will make for a five-mile loop if you hike the entire thing and then back. Gobs of forestland thats murky, mossy, green and full of ethereal atmosphere accompany you, and youll encounter plenty of wildlife, such as seals and shorebirds.









On the northern side of Kiwanda, the beach runs on for a few miles, through Tierra Del Mar, until it dead-ends at the Sand Lake area. The first beach access after the cape is the killer: a delightful little secret known as McPhillips Beach (above), which is an unmarked gravel road about one mile north of Cape Kiwanda. You can drive on this beach, and admittedly this comes in handy as that lets you get close to the northern face of the headland, which has some of the most remarkable aspects of the entire attraction.

One of the real stars of Pacific City is the Inn at Cape Kiwanda hotel, which really helped fire things up back when it was a sleepy little (and sometimes rather uninteresting) destination, launching it into the hotspot we all know today.

This is a good central spot to stay when playing in these sands, and it comes with excellent oceanfront views in the first place. Aside from the lovely lodgings, theres the Stimulus Espresso Cafe offering Stumptown Coffee and fresh pastries, and heartier grub across the street at the Pelican Brewing Company. 33105 Cape Kiwanda Dr. Pacific City, Oregon. 888-965-7001. www.InnAtCapeKiwanda.com.

For even more sandy wonders on this part of the north Oregon coast, continue up the Three Capes Tour to the Sand Lake dunes area and its miles of massive sand dunes. The beach is also very unique, and the one-mile hike to Cape Lookout yields some awe-inspiring blackened sands. More photos of these spots below:

Lodgings, Hotels in Pacific City - Where to eat - Maps - Virtual Tours

Oregon Beach Vacations. Literally over 260 homes available as vacation rentals all quite distinctive and carefully selected to be special. Available in Yachats, Waldport, Newport, Nye Beach, Otter Rock, Depoe Bay, Gleneden Beach, Lincoln Beach, Lincoln City, Neskowin, Pacific City, Tierra Del Mar, Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, Cannon Beach, Seaside, Florence and Astoria. 1-800-723-2383























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The House approved a bill Wednesday, Feb. 27, asking voters to enshrine eminent domain restrictions in the state constitution. The measure passed easily, by a 94-21 vote. House Bill 3 would restrict eminent domain in the state to "public use" and require just compensation to be decided by a jury. Reps. Destin Hall, R-Caldwell; Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson; David Lewis, R-Harnett; and Ken Goodman, D-Richmond, are the primary sponsors of the bill.If the bill passes, voters would decide whether to include the following phrase into the state constitution: "Private property shall not be taken by eminent domain except for a public use. Just compensation shall be paid and shall be determined by a jury at the request of any party."The proposed amendment would appear on the ballot for the May 2020 primary election.Under the bill, the government could continue using eminent domain to build and maintain railroads, roads, electric power lines, bridges, and other public utility facilities or infrastructure.Hall said.Jon Guze, the director of legal studies at the John Locke Foundation, said the bill is a great start but he hopes to see it go even further to protect against eminent domain abuse.Guze said.While the bill allows eminent domain to be used only to take private property for public use, Guze said it would be nice to see a provision explicitly prohibiting the taking of property for economic development as it was in the case of Kelo v. City of New London The City of New London in Connecticut used eminent domain to take private property and give it to a private developer for commercial development. In Kelo v. City of New London, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the City of New London's use of eminent domain, but left the door open for state and local governments to determine what kinds of public needs justify the use of eminent domain. The court also ruled that states can place restrictions on taking powers.After the landmark ruling in 2005, several states enacted laws restricting eminent domain use, including many in the southeast. North Carolina has yet to do so, but that isn't from want of trying. McGrady and former Rep. Skip Stam, R-Wake, have made multiple attempts to pass eminent domain abuse protections since the Kelo decision.While the House has passed similar legislation, the bills have never survived the Senate. This time may be different, as a companion bill to H.B. 3 is in the Senate. Senate Bill 27 was introduced by Sens. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson; Danny Earl Britt Jr., R-Robeson; and Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico."The heart of this is taking a strict view as to when government can use that power to seize somebody's property," McGrady said. "We are trying to return to our roots with this amendment and limit the use of eminent domain to when government really needs to condemn property or utilities are needed to provide service to the public."After passing the House, H.B. 3 goes to the Senate. Before it can reach the ballot, it will need the support of at least 30 senators, or 60 percent of the membership of that chamber.
Democrats Continue to Devolve the US Into an Evil, Heartless, and Uncivilized Nation

This past Monday, February 25, US Senate Democrats blocked a Republican bill - The BORN-ALIVE ABORTION SURVIVORS PROTECTION ACT - that would have threatened prison time for doctors who don't attempt to save the lives of infants born alive during failed abortions.



Why are Democrats openly embracing infanticide? What demons do they have whispering in their ears? What devil sits on their shoulders? What evil master do they serve?



All prominent Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls in the Senate voted down the measure, including Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. The final vote was 53-44 to end Democratic delaying tactics - seven votes short of the 60 needed.



Three Democrats joined Republicans to support the bill - Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Doug Jones or Alabama. Three Republicans did not vote, apparently because of scheduling issues and plane flight delays - including Kevin Cramer of North Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Tim Scott of South Carolina (a HUGE proponent of Life).



The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would have required that "any health care practitioner present" at the time of a birth "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."



To most people, it is a no-brainer that a doctor or other health-care professional should preserve the life and health of a newborn. Am I wrong to believe that the medical profession still adheres to the historic oath that dates back to Greek times, the Hippocratic Oath, which states that a doctor shall seek to preserve health and preserve life, to endeavor to do no harm? The modern version of the oath includes this statement: "Above all, I must never play God."



Ironically, one classical version of the Hippocratic Oath addresses abortion: "I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy."



Last week, I watched the 2018 movie GOSNELL: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer with members of my Tea Party group. The movie chronicles the investigation by Philadelphia Police and the DEA of Kermit Gosnell, the infamous abortion doctor who operated an abortion clinic in Philadelphia, and his subsequent trial. Initially investigated for overprescribing OxyContin (oxycodone; an opioid derivative of heroin), a raid on his clinic uncovered horrors beyond description. He was charged with eight counts of murder, 24 felony counts of performing illegal abortions beyond the state of Pennsylvania's 24-week time limit ("viability"), and 227 misdemeanor counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law (patients must wait 24 hours after proper consultation by the clinic). The murder charges related to a woman who died following an abortion procedure, and seven newborns who were killed by having their spinal cords severed with scissors after being born alive during attempted abortions. Surprisingly, the defense was able to mount an extraordinary defense of Gosnell and his practices, including an admonition by the judge that nothing asserted in the courtroom would be allowed to contradict a woman's abortion rights. Towards the end of the trial, the prosecution was able to locate a young girl (in her teens) who worked at the clinic and who happened to take pictures of the babies who had their spinal cords severed by Dr. Gosnell. When asked on the stand why she took the pictures, the girl responded to the effect that the babies were so big and so perfect and they looked like they should have been welcomed into a family, with brothers and sisters. She thought there should have been some record, a picture, to acknowledge their existence. Those pictures were shown to the jury, and one by one, their hearts melted and they looked down or began to sob. Why? Because they inherently connected with the humanity in a newborn and even in a full-term fetus. Dr. Gosnell had committed atrocities that shocked their conscience. My suspicion is that they may have been convinced by the defense to overlook the successful abortions of a full-term fetus, but to take that additional step with callousness and without regard to the life on the medical table in front of him, struggling to move and breathe, wanting to be warm and cradled and comforted and kissed and loved, and take its life was an act of pure evil.



Inherently, we value life and we act under the teachings of compassion and care that our religion has impressed on us, even at some point in our lives.



The sad and tragic thing about this law is that it even needed to be introduced at all. Providing medical attention and care to a newborn, even if it is a product of a failed abortion attempt, is the natural, the right, the intuitive thing to do. How can those who would want medical care for themselves have the right to decide to deny it to others? A life is a life. It's not defined by number of years but by DNA and breath and a beating heart. It's defined by an instinct to survive and continue living.



After the vote, President Trump tweeted: "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, it's protecting the lives of innocent babies."



Today the left uses the excuse that a baby inside the womb is the sole property and concern of the mother to justify its extermination. What will tomorrow's excuse be? Usefulness? Competency? Old age?



Here are my questions regarding this vote on this Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act and in fact, regarding the extreme position that Democrats/liberals/progressives take on abortion rights in general:



(1) Why do Democrats/liberals/progressives believe that abortion rights are broad and extensive enough to encompass a right to make sure that the abortion is successful, to the point that it includes infanticide? In other words, why do Democrats/liberals/progressives believe that abortion rights are broad and extensive enough to include the right to condemn a baby born alive to be killed? The one thing the Roe v. Wade opinion seems to be clear on is that as long as the unborn is still inside a woman's womb, it is not a life for which the Constitution or our laws can provide protection. But once that unborn has actually been born, then, as the opinion supports, that baby is now a new "life."



(2) The Fourteenth Amendment reads: "Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." According to the plain language of the Fourteenth Amendment, any baby born, even if it is the result of a failed abortion, is a citizen and therefore a person with recognized liberty rights. If that is the case, then any person who terminates that life after birth, again even if that baby has suffered from an attempted abortion and even if that baby was intended to be condemned by the mother, is guilty not only of murder, but of intentional, premeditated murder.



(3) Democrats/liberals/progressives believe what Roe v. Wade stands for - that as long as the unborn is inside a woman's womb, she has complete control over its destiny. But once it emerges from the womb, even if it is the result of a failed abortion, then don't both parents (mother AND father) have parental rights to that newborn baby? Our child support laws would suggest so.



(4) And if that "unwanted" baby should emerge from the womb, even if it is the result of a failed abortion, then wouldn't that newborn baby become the ward of the state? That is, wouldn't the government (society in general) have the right and duty to care for it?



(5) If all of the above are true, then how could any member of Congress, taking an oath to the Constitution, vote against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.



(6) The proper approach by government would have been to legislatively define LIFE at some point during fetal development. (See my article "RESOLUTION to Define LIFE Through Legislation").



To echo President Trump's words, this vote by the US Senate "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, it's protecting the lives of innocent babies."



References:



"Dems Block 'Born Alive' Bill to Provide Medical Care to Infants Who Survive Failed Abortions," FOX News, February 27, 2019. Referenced at: http://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/us-world-news/dems-block-born-alive-bill-to-provide-medical-care-to-infants-who-survive-failed-abortions#/



Diane Rufino, "RESOLUTION to Define LIFE Through Legislation," For Love of God and Country, February 24, 2019. Referenced: https://forloveofgodandcountry.com/2019/02/24/model-resolution-to-define-life-through-legislation/


When your #GreenNewDeal legislation is so strong that the GOP has to resort to circulating false versions, but the real one nets 70 House cosponsors on Day 1 and all Dem presidential candidates sign on anyway https://t.co/BbHIn8cu0f  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 8, 2019

Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) "Green New Deal" - a massive government takeover of large portions of the U.S. economy - is projected to cost up to $93 trillion.Bloomberg reports that Ocasio-Cortez's far-left plan wouldThe enormous price tag, which amounts to over $650,000 per U.S. household, covers a low-carbon electricity grid, net zero emissions transportation system, guaranteed jobs, universal health care, guaranteed green housing, and food security."The Green New Deal is clearly very expensive," the group noted in its analysis. "Its further expansion of the federal government's role in some of the most basic decisions of daily life, however, would likely have a more lasting and damaging impact than its enormous price tag."The damaging report comes after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told lawmakers earlier this month that the $20 trillion-plus in existing U.S. national debt represents the greatest threat to U.S. national security Ocasio-Cortez's rollout of the Green New Deal was disastrous, as documents posted to her congressional website mentioned the need to reduce cow farts and the need to provide for those who wereCornell University Law School Professor Robert Hockett, an advisor to Ocasio-Cortez, then falsely stated multiple times on Fox News that those statements were not in the Green New Deal. Fox News reports:Saikat Chakrabarti, Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff, later admitted that those statements were real and were made in a(FAQ) document that he claimed wasand wasOcasio-Cortez sought to deflect criticism of her plan by falsely promoting a conspiracy theory that the Republican Party was doctoring her Green New Deal and was injecting doctored versions of it into the media because her plan wasOcasio-Cortez tweeted.Theshe was referring to were parody versions of the Green New Deal that were posted by major Twitter accounts that are known for promoting parody content. The specific example from the parody document that drew Ocasio-Cortez's anger was a section that said people should recycle their own urine.Ocasio-Cortez's climate change hysteria is so intense that she suggested on Sunday that people should consider not having kids because it's a "scientific consensus" that life will be hard for them in the future. She also claimed without evidence that current proposals supported by the Democratic Party to combat climate change are
Last December, human rights advocates and Google employees cheered when they learned that internal dissent at Google had killed the company's secret plan to launch a search tool in China that would censor results to the specifications set out by state censors, and collect detailed histories of search activity that could be turned over to authorities hunting for dissidents.

But a leaked confidential memo written by Caesar Sengupta  a manager on "Project Dragonfly"  reveals that the Chinese search tool has been kept alive by billing its workers to other projects in the organization; and indeed, the code repositories for the Chinese tools have been vigorously updated since then, with 500 check-ins in December and 400 more since then, approximately the same number of commits to those repos while the project was still under active development.

It's not clear what's going on here, and since Google's senior management have refused to publicly commit to canceling the project and staying out of bed with Chinese political censors and secret police, many googlers are worried that they have been hoodwinked  after all, Project Dragonfly was kept secret from the start in order to avoid an employee backlash.

Google sources with knowledge of Dragonfly said that the code changes could possibly be attributed to employees who have continued this year to wrap up aspects of the work they were doing to develop the Chinese search platform. "I still believe the project is dead, but we're still waiting for a declaration from Google that censorship is unacceptable and that they will not collaborate with governments in the oppression of their people," said one source familiar with Dragonfly. The lack of clarity from management has resulted in Google losing skilled engineers and developers. In recent months, several Google employees have resigned in part due to Dragonfly and leadership's handling of the project. The Intercept knows of six staff at the company, including two in senior positions, who have quit since December, and three others who are planning to follow them out the door.

Google Employees Uncover Ongoing Work On Censored China Search [Ryan Gallagher/The Intercept]
In the same week that Democrats announce they'll hold hearings to probe why Trump's Interior Department shrank Bears Ears National Monument by 85%, the internet is abuzz with this image. Archaeologists have identified this artifact as a 2000-year-old tattooing instrument, unearthed from Bears Ears in Utah.

New findings published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports this week show that this tool, found at the ancient Native American site, is a tattoo needle fashioned from cactus spines that was created between years 137215 CE.

The findings reveal new information about how body adornment and tattooing were practiced among indigenous people in this region.

From Redefining the age of tattooing in western North America: A 2000-year-old artifact from Utah, from archaeologist Andrew Gillreath-Brown and colleagues and published on February 28:

"We report the earliest evidence of tattooing technology in western North America through recent work on a legacy collection from the Turkey Pen site, located in southeastern Utah within the Greater Bears Ears Landscape, and curated at the Washington State University (WSU) Museum of Anthropology for 40 years. Based on morphological attributes, we identify this implement as a hafted cactus spine tattoo tool. The artifact was extracted from Layer C-4 of a well-stratified midden. () A date of 1833  31 RCYBP (calibrated to 176 CE [137215 CE]) was returned on a human coprolite from the layer containing the tattoo tool. We describe rigorous and comprehensive analysis of the Turkey Pen tattoo tool, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis, portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and experimental tattooing. This find presents a heretofore-unidentified artifact type from the region during the Basketmaker II period (ca. 500 BCE  500 CE), and thereby provides a valuable comparative example for future collections analysis, while simultaneously extending the antiquity of Native American tattooing in western North America back to the first century CE.

From David Anderson at Forbes:
Cottonelle and Walmart have both recently produced social media video commercials starring gay men. Predictably, social conservatives flipped out, calling for boycotts and for their god to mete out punishment against the evil doers. According to Curtis Sparrer, Bospar PR principal, this is exactly what Cottonelle and Walmart were counting on.



"It looks like the marketers of both Walmart and Cottonelle were counting on social conservatives' outrage to drive their business objectives," said Curtis Sparrer, Bospar PR principal. "Neither video was a traditional broadcast segment, but rather produced for social media. So conservatives didn't simply stumble across these segments, but rather they were alerted to them, likely by the companies themselves."





"There's a method behind the madness: marketers count on public reaction to their campaigns," Sparrer continued. "Conservatives can be reliably counted on to provide an immediate reaction to any pro-LGBT storyline, creating a newsworthy controversy for a journalist to cover. That media coverage will not only feature both sides of the controversy but also provide top-of-mind brand recognition that research has found is more effective than traditional advertising. That means social conservatives have become useful tools for marketers and public relations. As a marketer myself I am loathe to reveal this tactic because social conservatives might get wise and not take the bait the next time a campaign features LGBT people. However since I've been gay longer than I've been in marketing I am eager for the day when LGBT people can be featured in media and people will simply react to the spot on the merits of its content."







The American Family Association (AFA), which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, issued the following statement about the Walmart commercial:
When legendary grifter Elizabeth Holmes was 19 years old, she conceived of a medical device that could perform extensive diagnostics in an eyeblink from only a single drop of blood; she had no idea how such a device would work or whether it was even possible, but that didn't stop her from drawing up a patent application for her "invention" and repeatedly submitting to the patent office until, eventually, she was awarded a patent for what amounted to a piece of uninspiring design fiction.



For Holmes, the patent was key to convincing investors, partners, and patients that her massive, years-long fraud (a company called "Theranos" bilked investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars) was legit; the USPTO helped her out by trumpeting the importance of patents to "inventors" like Holmes, comparing her to Benjamin Franklin in their public communications.

Patents are only supposed to be issued for devices with "utility"  that is, they have to actually work before you can get a patent for them. But it's been decades since the USPTO has paid meaningful attention to this criterion when evaluating applications, handing out patents for imaginary "inventions" to con artists, delusional hucksters, and other "inventors" who are willing to pay the filing fees that keep the lights on at the Patent Office. And since most people only have a vague idea of the rigor used in patent examination, these patents for design fiction can be used as impressive "proof" when crooks set out to deceive their marks.





(Another real problem with these fake patents: allowing con-artists to patent "inventions" that they have no idea how to make means that when someone really does invent that gadget, the con-man can use their bogus patent to threaten and extort real inventors).





Daniel Nazer, my colleague from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, has written a stirring op-ed for Ars Technica connecting the dots between the USPTO's malpractice and crimes like Holmes's.



In early 2014, around the same time that Theranos was beginning to grow its profile, the USPTO was criticized for awarding a patent to a Korean researcher for work that was already known to be fraudulent. The applicant had even been convicted for falsifying the relevant results. A USPTO spokesperson told The New York Times that the agency "operates on an honor code and that patent examiners cannot independently verify claims." In response, Professor James Grimmelmann commented: "The USPTO is an armory handing out legal howitzers on the honor system. What could possibly go wrong?" To answer Professor Grimmelmann's rhetorical questionTheranos is what could go wrong. Holmes' original patent application became a key part of the company's mythology. For example, an infamous Fortune article from 2014 reverently tells the story of Holmes staying up late to write her application and suggests that Theranos was founded on that original vision. And if you had visited Theranos' website in 2014, you would have found an "Our Mission" page that said Holmes left Stanford to "build Theranos around her patents and vision for healthcare." Yet more than a decade after Holmes' first patent application, Theranos had still not managed to build a reliable blood-testing device. By then the USPTO had granted it hundreds of patents. Holmes had been constructing a fantasy world from the minute she started writing her first application, and the agency was perfectly happy to play along.

Theranos: How a broken patent system sustained its decade-long deception [Daniel Nazer/Ars Technica]
A Buzzfeed investigation exposes the World Wildlife Fund's funding of torture, murder and paramilitary violence, which it claims is necessary to stop poaching.

Shikharam was in too much pain to swallow. He crawled toward Hira, his thin body covered in bruises, and told her through sobs that forest rangers were torturing him. "They beat him mercilessly and put saltwater in his nose and mouth," Hira later told police. The rangers believed that Shikharam helped his son bury a rhinoceros horn in his backyard. They couldn't find the horn, but they threw Shikharam in their jail anyway, court documents filed by the prosecution show. Nine days later, he was dead.  WWF's staff on the ground in Nepal leaped into action  not to demand justice, but to lobby for the charges to disappear. When the Nepalese government dropped the case months later, the charity declared it a victory in the fight against poaching. Then WWF Nepal continued to work closely with the rangers and fund the park as if nothing had happened. As for the rangers who were charged in connection with Shikharam's death, WWF Nepal later hired one of them to work for the charity.

The WWF released a press release boasting that Shikhamam Chaudhari's killing sent a message to poachers.

"WWF welcomes the government's decision," said Anil Manandhar, Country Representative of WWF Nepal. "I have every confidence that this move will renew the motivation of park staff and other conservationists to save Nepal's rhinos and root out illegal wildlife trade. WWF will always be there to support this endeavor in any way we can."

People joke, they say "nothing's sacred any more!", but nothing was ever sacredleast of all international NGOs, which live in moral worlds of their own devising. Buzzfeed says it has a lot more coming this week about the WWF "anti-poaching units":
An energy firm linked to uranium mining interests around Bears Ears National Monument in Utah met with a senior Department of Interior official just one month President Donald Trump issued a surprise request to review the monument's boundaries. When the review concluded, Trump shrank the monument by 85%. Some 100 uranium claims that were previously *inside* the monument's protected boundary were suddenly on the outside.

Now, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) says Democrats plan hold a hearing on March 13, to look into that shady review.

They sent an invitation to Ryan Zinke, who led the Department of the Interior under Trump at that time and was forced to resign in disgrace over other corruption charges.

Zinke declined the invitation.

Roll Call reports that documents show that Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc., a United States subsidiary of a Canadian energy and mining firm, met with a top DOI official who knew he'd be personally involved with such a review, before Trump requested it.

The House Natural Resources Committee wants know if the 2017 reassessment "had a predetermined outcome of shrinking Bears Ears to benefit the uranium sector generally and Energy Fuels Resources specifically."

From Roll Call:

When President Barack Obama designated the monument in December 2016, its boundaries encompassed or abutted over 350 uranium claims tied to the company. Its uranium processing mill, the only such facility in the United States, was located mere miles from the monument. Proximity to a national monument can lead to additional regulatory scrutiny. In December 2017, Trump, following recommendations by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke that were developed during the review, significantly reduced the size of Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Trump's revamped boundaries for Bears Ears also likely removed all of more than 100 uranium claims tied to Energy Fuels. The Natural Resources committee is scheduled to hold its first oversight hearing on the monuments review on March 13, said Adam Sarvana, communications director for Democrats on the panel. The committee has invited Zinke, who resigned and left in December 2018 amid corruption charges, to attend. It also invited Interior to send a representative. Both declined.

Grijalva told Roll Call that if anyone involved with the review that led to the reduction of Bears Ears' boundaries met with Energy Fuels before the review commenced, "all my suspicions as to the motivation behind the shrinkage would be validated I think it would make our need to get at the bottom of it  it would make it even more significant."

The Trump administration destroyed Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The American people deserve to know who was in the room when it happened. We're holding a March 13 hearing to get answers. https://t.co/w7F2bPfSpq  Natural Resources (@NRDems) March 4, 2019

Before the revamped boundaries for Bears Ears  more than 100 uranium claims inside the monument. Afterwards, they apparently were outside  https://t.co/HvQkKe69ls via @RollCall  Ed Timms (@EdTimms1) March 4, 2019

Amid this news about the Bears Ears Monument reduction, remember this: @realdonaldtrump acted w/o lawful authority when he purported to reduce the size of the monument. @MyConstitution explained why in this brief on behalf of 100+ Members of Congress: https://t.co/w37p6cjOvU https://t.co/1GaplVbjAG  Brianne Gorod (@BrianneGorod) March 4, 2019

"We are losing our deep connection to the natural world and hastening our own demise in the destruction of places like Bears Ears." David Benjamin Sherry on his arresting cover image on Aperture magazine's spring issue, "Earth." Read the full story at: https://t.co/jHfkFYfVfA pic.twitter.com/jOah6CrYko  Aperture Foundation (@aperturefnd) March 3, 2019

Read the rest: Seeking to shrink Bears Ears, uranium firm met with Interior before review [Jacob Holzman]

IMAGE: Cliff formations at Bears Ears National Monument.
It wasnt very cold, but it should have been. It should have been because it was the second week of December in 1980 and this was Manhattan, where the wind...
- The two nations signed agreements on several regional and continental issues

- Additionally, the agreements will cover trade between the countries

- King Mswati III also invited Cyril Ramaphosa to the upcoming Buganu Festival, suggesting that the meeting went well

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South Africa has entered into over 20 agreements with eSwatini on issues ranging from trade and investment to policing.

This comes in the wake of Cyril Ramaphosa's visit to the country.

The country, formerly known as Swaziland, changed its name last year.

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South Africa engages in more trade with eSwatini than any other country. Total trade between the countries was more than R33 billion in 2017.

South Africa and eSwatini have a close relationship that was strengthened in 2004 with the creation of the Joint Bilateral Commission on Cooperation, which oversees agreements between the two nations.

Additionally, the governments of both countries have ties linked by geographical closeness and their relationship during struggles against colonialism and apartheid.

Today was the last day of Ramaphosa's working visit to the country, during which he met with King Mswati III. The pair discussed regional and continental issues, according to the presidency, as well as international developments.

The president was accompanied on the trip by Lindiwe Sisulu, International Relations and Co-operation Minister, as well as State Security Minister Dipuo Letsatsi-Duba, according to eNCA.

READ ALSO: 2042? No, SA can go broke within the next 5 years says analyst

Following their meetings, King Mswati reportedly invited Ramaphosa to attend the upcoming Buganu Festival, which celebrates the year's first marula harvest.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!

Source: Briefly.co.za
- 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."
This could be you if you want a family vacation (Getty Images)

Canadians love family vacations, the longer the flight the better.

New research from travel site Expedia shows 40 per cent of families with kids ranging from toddlers to teenagers  are willing to spend eight hours or more on a plane or in a car. The lengthiest option was the top pick among survey respondents.

If money was no object, one in five would travel to the other side of the world to check out Australia or New Zealand.

Albertans (50 per cent) and dads (40 per cent) have the highest threshold for long journeys with their kids. Those from Atlantic Canada (30 per cent) were the least willing.

Getting out of the cold and onto a beach ranked as the most popular (81 per cent) vacation choice. Second place went to adventure destinations that offered outdoor activities to places like Kahului, Manila, Costa Rica, Auckland, and Phoenix.

Some must haves for a family vacation include nearby attractions (58%) and access to kid-friendly activities, such as a pool (46%).

Ways to save money

All of this can come at a big cost. Thirty per cent of respondents spend between $3-5K on a family vacation, so managing your budget is an important consideration.

As a parent, I try to book as many elements of our trip together before we leave. This helps to not only manage our itinerary all in one place, but also manage our budget. said Jennifer Callegaro, Senior Manager of marketing for Brand Expedia, in a news release.

Expedia has some tips to save money when booking your next family trip. Travelers can save 20 per cent or more of flight costs by booking on a weekend. The best day to book travel is on a Sunday, and the best day to start a journey is on a Thursday.

You can save 13 per cent when extending a weekday trip to include a Saturday night stay. The sweet spot for saving on flights is by booking at least three weeks ahead of departure and the best day to book a hotel stay is on a Friday night.

Choosing a destination where the loonie goes the farthest is another money-saving strategy. So consider staying within Canada for your next family vacation.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Facebook promised to open a data centre in Canada to create jobs, in exchange for the federal government offering assurances that it would not impose its jurisdiction over the company's non-Canadian data.

Documents show that Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg was negotiating this deal with the previous Conservative government, namely then-industry minister Christian Paradis.

The documents were leaked to journalists in the United Kingom. CBC News has not independently verified the contents.

They show a global lobbying operation carried out by Facebook targeting legislators around the world, including in countries like the U.K., United States, Canada, India and Brazil.

In Canada's case, they threatened to withhold investment and job creation opportunities unless Canada adopted data policies that favoured Facebook.

"They were trying to get Canada to give them what they called a letter of comfort which would take a Canadian data centre out of Canadian regulation," Duncan Campbell, a U.K.-based freelance investigative journalist who helped uncover the story, said.

"So they said, you know, 'if you guys want our data centre you have to make special laws that we are uncovered by a normal Canadian privacy standards.'"

The memos leaked to journalists detail what went on during lobbying efforts in Canada when the government expressed discomfort with the media giant's request.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Marne Levine, Facebook's former vice-president of global public policy wrote in one memo, first reported by Computer Weekly and the Guardian, who have seen the documents: "Sheryl [Sandberg] took a firm approach and outlined that a decision on the datacentre was imminent. She emphasised that if we could not get comfort from the Canadian government on the jurisdiction issue we had other options."

After this pressure, Paradis allegedly agreed to give Facebook a letter guaranteeing the independence of non-Canadian data by the end of that day.

Story continues

The documents also show Levine complaining to her colleagues about an unnamed minister's aide, and explaining how Facebook officials made their way to a government reception to "cut the awful staff person out of the way" and give Levine direct access to Paradis. The dates in question are unknown, but Paradis was a minister from 2007 to 2015.

Paradis and the current government's Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould did not immediately respond to CBC News's requests for comment.

Facebook rejected the notion they held the data centre over the government as leverage.

"Before we commit to opening a data centre anywhere in the world, we want to make sure we fully understand the country's laws and privacy protections. This is not a threat to withhold investment, but part of our duty to protect people's data," a Facebook spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The spokesperson also confirmed the data centre in question was never built.

'A real eye-opener'

The lobbyist registry shows no meetings formally reported between Facebook and federal cabinet ministers during the time Paradis was in the role.

"It's a real insight, a real eye-opener into how they operate," Carole Cadwalladr, one of the authors of the Guardian article, told CBC News on Sunday.

After the letter was promised to Facebook by the Canadian government, Cadwalladr said the documents show Facebook was still debating whether to put the data centre in Canada or Iowa.

She says they don't know who leaked the documents, but they appear to have originated from a release under legal discovery rules from an ongoing U.S. court case against Facebook.

Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said the revelation that Facebook tried to meddle with the government is "unsurprising."

"There have been a number of interactions we've had as a parliamentary committee with Facebook in their early days. They were very clear that they did not want new privacy rules. They even intimated to us in a meeting in Washington when we were studying how some of these privacy rules in Canada ought to be improved."

One media expert said it's time to take a closer look at companies like Facebook.

"This should give us pause to how we address these companies now and how we push for the increased privacy reforms," Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media Ethics and Communication at McGill University, told CBC News.

Facebook has come under fire for its privacy and data policies, especially after it was revealed last year that Cambridge Analytica had harvested the data of millions of users without their consent for political purposes.
Ted Baker has lost its founder. Photo: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA Images

The resignation of Ted Bakers (TED.L) founder Ray Kelvin over harassment allegations brings to an end more than three decades at the helm of the British fashion brand.

The 63-year-old oversaw the rise of the firm from a single store in Glasgow to a global brand with more than 500 shops and concessions worldwide.

The London-born entrepreneur came up with the idea for the store on a fishing trip in his 20s, specialising in shirts when his first shop opened in Scotland in 1988.

Its quirky shirts and suits at high street prices made the firm stand out, as well as the wholly fictional alter ego used by Kelvin for the brand  Ted Baker.

The company launched its first London store in 1990, moved into wholesale supply in 1994 and went public in 1997, becoming a household name.

READ MORE: Ray Kelvin quits over misconduct allegations

By the early 2000s it had gone global, with stores across the USA, Australia and New Zealand, and it earned itself Superbrand status in 2008.

But the company was already facing one of its toughest years yet in 2018 when the scandal first broke which would bring Kelvins reign to an end.

In Kelvins 30th year, it was hit by lower consumer spending and reported lower sales in its wholesale arm. Ted Baker looked unable to avoid the same pressures hitting most high street retailers with bricks-and-mortar stores.

The seismic moment for Kelvin came in December 2018, when an online petition surfaced accusing the charismatic founder of harassment.

The petitions organisers, who said they worked at the firm, accused Kelvin of forced hugging, and said harassment of employees was well documented but wilfully ignored.

READ MORE: Yahoo Finance talks to Me Too founder

Ive seen the CEO ask young female members of staff to sit on his knee, cuddle him, or let him massage their ears, the petition claimed. HR staff are said to have replied that it was just what Rays like.

Kelvin strongly denied the allegations then, and the companys statement today makes clear he still does now.

Story continues

A probe into Kelvins conduct will continue despite his exit, and will shine more light on what really happened when it reports at some point in the first half of this year.

But the announcement of the resignation of the companys founder, with immediate effect, suggests the scale of the damage that has already been done to his reputation as a giant of British retail.

Acting executive chairman David Bernstein said Kelvin had decided it would be in the best interests of the company for him to go.

Only time will tell how the departure will affect Ted Bakers future. The company had a strong Christmas in 2018 despite the allegations, reporting business as usual, and some analysts say sales trends suggest it will ride out the scandal.

But the firm issued a profit warning last week, and as Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, points out: It is not yet clear what lasting damage the episode has done to the Ted Baker brand and, for another, Kelvin himself has been inextricably linked with the development of said brand.

Shareholders may legitimately ask what is Ted Baker without him?
(Bloomberg) -- One of Europes largest e-scooter sharing startups, Voi Technology AB, announced it has closed a $30 million round of funding to help it expand across Europe.

The fundraising comes as the continents swelling number of scooter companies are discussing possible consolidation and mergers in order to remain competitive, with U.S. giants Lime and Bird Rides Inc. also aggressively pushing across the EU.

Eight-month-old Voi has now raised a total of about $80 million and in a statement Monday said most of the Nordic cities its active in, which include Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Gothenburg, will be profitable early this year. Its also active in Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, and a number of other European markets.

The Swedish companys chief executive officer, Fredrik Hjelm, said in an interview that Voi eventually plans to expand outside of the EU.

The European scooter industry has become quickly congested, with a host of startups springing up in quick succession. Stockholm-based Voi launched in August, and Berlins Tier and Wind Mobility followed within weeks. Flash, the company created by Delivery Hero co-founder Lukasz Gadowski and also headquartered in Germany, has small-scale operations in Portugal, Spain and Switzerland, and is planning a wider European roll-out in the spring.

But the arrival in Europe over the past year of U.S. rivals Lime and Bird have caused local players to consider how to deal with competitors that have much deeper pockets. Bloomberg reported in February that Voi had held early-stage talks with Tier Mobility about a possible merger, but decided to remain independent and pursue fresh funding instead.

Vois $30 million of new capital comes from existing investors, including Balderton Capital and LocalGlobe, as well as new investors Project A and Creandum. A valuation wasnt disclosed.

Read next: How Electric Scooters Are Reshaping Cities

To contact the author of this story: Nate Lanxon in London at nlanxon@bloomberg.net

Story continues

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
A historian in the Netherlands is writing a book profiling dozens of people who died in the Second World War  including one man from Prince Edward Island.

Together with his colleagues, Anton Versteeg is hoping to have the book completed ahead of May 2020 to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of Second World War in Europe.

He's a member of the local history group in Ootmarsum  a town nestled on the country's border with Germany  and is looking for the help of Islanders, and other Canadians, to lend whatever knowledge they can to enrich the stories of the men who lost their lives liberating the Dutch.

"People were liberated by these soldiers, and we still owe them a lot," Versteeg said.

"Things we would like to have is really stories about the soldiers from people who knew them, or have heard stories about them. To make things more personal, not just dates and names in the book."

The Island man he's looking for more information on is one of eight Canadian soldiers who died in a Canadian military hospital in Ootmarsum, he said.

'Photographs would be very nice to have'

John Archibald MacLaren is his name, and he was a 24-year-old man from Goose River, P.E.I.

According to the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, he is the son of Andrew and Ida MacLaren, of Annandale, and served with the Cape Breton Highlanders during the war.

Submitted by Anton Versteeg

Other Canadians who died in the military hospital that are profiled on the history group's website include:

Henry Wilfred Boucha (French Narrows Portage, Ont.)

Frank Camolese (Toronto, Ont. Parents are from Montreal, Que.)

Francis Michael Fallon (Whitby, Ont.)

Gerald Edward Ferguson (Campbellton, N.B.)

Murray Albert Hodder (North Sydney, N.S.)

Alan Robert McMillan (Port Arthur, Ont.)

Eugene Allan Warpula (Fort William, Ont.)

Versteeg and his colleagues are looking to speak with anyone who may have known these men, the family, or those who know the family, or essentially anyone who knows anything about them.

Story continues

"Old pictures, old stories, anything will do," Versteeg said.

"Photographs would be very nice to have. When they were young, or with their family. Their house maybe, where they were living. The village or the town they were living. And in your case, the Island. I've never heard of it before, until we went to do these stories."

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

The group has put months of work into the project so far. Along with the eight Canadians they are researching, there are about 70 more victims of war they're profiling from that area.

Most of those victims were Dutch Jews who were killed by the Nazis, Versteeg said.

In speaking with Canadians, he's hoping to not just receive photos and stories, but also to work with the people to provide feedback on how to better the book throughout the process.

To get more information on the soldiers, Versteeg is pointing Canadians to visit the website where there are short profiles on the men.

Versteeg is also available by email.

More P.E.I. news
CORRECTION: IT IS THE UMRA, OR MINOR PILGRIMAGE, NOT THE HAJJ - A Palestinian Muslim pilgrim waits for a bus en route to the Rafah border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt before leaving for the umrah, or minor pilgrimage, to the holy city of Mecca, in Gaza City, Saturday, March 2, 2019. Gazan residents resumed the umrah pilgrimage, that can be undertaken at any time of the year, after nearly five years of an Egyptian ban. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)  Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip resumed a minor pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, known as the "umrah," on Sunday after nearly five years of an Egyptian ban.

The first convoy of 800 Palestinians passed into Egypt through Gaza's Rafah crossing. Airplanes will carry the Palestinians from the Egyptian capital to Mecca, Islam's holiest city.

"It's an incredible feeling, thank God for that. We have waited for this moment since 2014," said Fathia Abu Eita, a passenger on the Cairo-bound bus.

Egypt halted the umrah program for Gazans in 2015 over instability in the northern Sinai that borders the Palestinian enclave, but still allowed transit for the main hajj pilgrimage.

Egypt largely sealed off its border with Gaza when the Hamas militant group forcibly wrested control from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority in a 2007, after winning legislative elections a year earlier. As Cairo's relations improved with Hamas, Egypt started reopening the border more regularly last summer, in part pressured by Hamas' violent demonstrations against the crippling Egyptian-Israeli blockade.

Over the past few years, Egypt's military has ratcheted up its battle against Islamist militants in the northern Sinai. Hamas has also restricted the movement of militants on its side of the border, helping to pacify the restive region and paving the way for the resumption of the umrah.

Palestinian officials said Egypt and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority had reached an agreement to permit the pilgrimage.
ISIS bride Shamima Begums jihadi husband Yago Riedijk says he wants them to live in Netherlands with their baby son

The husband of the teen who fled the UK to join Isis says he wants them to live together as a family.

Shamima Begum left her home in Bethnal Green, east London when she was just 15.

Now 19 Begum has had three children, after recently giving birth to her third child, a baby boy, while at a Syrian refugee camp.

Her Dutch husband, Islamic State fighter Yago Riedijk, 27, says he wants to return to the Netherlands with her and their newborn son.

Riedijk, who married Begum before her 16th birthday, is currently being held in a Kurdish-run detention centre in northern Syria.

Meanwhile Begum has pleaded to come back to the UK. It is believed that she is currently living in a refugee camp near the Iraqi border after her British citizenship was revoked on February 20 earlier this year.

Her wish to come home sparked intense debate, with many declaring Begum a brainwashed victim of grooming, while others insist she is a dangerous member of a terrorist organisation.

It is believed that Begum and Riedijk fled Baghouz, the groups last foothold in eastern Syria, as its territory collapsed in recent months.

ISIS bride Shamima Begums jihadi husband Yago Riedijk says he wants them to live in Netherlands with their baby son

Riedijk, who is said to have rejected IS, was found in the detention centre by the BBC.

When asked if he thought marrying a girl of that age was acceptable, he said: To be honest, when my friend came and said there was a girl who was interested in marriage, I wasnt that interested because of her age, but I accepted the offer anyway.

We sat down and she seemed in a good state of mind. It was her own choice, she was the one who asked to look for a partner for her.

Then I was invited and yeah, she was very young and it might have been better for her to wait a bit. But she didnt, she chose to get married and I chose to marry her.

When denying her an easy route back to the UK, the Home Office pointed out that Begum has dual British-Bangladesh nationality due to her heritage.

Sajid David

That said, Bangladesh were quick to point out that she had never set foot in the country and she was by birth a British citizen.

Said Javid, Home Secretary, has said her newborn son has British citizenship and therefore could be be allowed into the UK without his Isis-sympathising mother.
WASHINGTON  Ivanka Trump joked about her life born into luxury at Saturdays Gridiron Club dinner.

The press seems to think it is ironic that I, born of great privilege, think people want to work for what they are given, she said. As if being Donald Trumps daughter isnt the hardest job in the world.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat and presidential candidate, aimed at one of the more sensational stories of recent weeks: My speech will be shorter than a Robert Kraft visit to Orchids Day Spa.

And Sen. John Kennedy, the Republican from Louisiana, took a turn at the presidents cabinet and the ongoing scrutiny of the Mueller investigation: So far, not a single member has been found to be secretly working for the United States.

It took the ballroom crowd of about 1,000 ultra-formally dressed a few beats to get it.

The annual dinner is one of the few remaining large white tie events in Washington, but it still draws a mix of administration figures, media personalities and Capitol Hill lawmakers. The event, thrown by a group largely made up of D.C. media bureau chiefs, is a throwback to the 19th century, when it started, and culminates in the entire crowd locking arms and singing Auld Lang Syne. But it is still one of the more in-demand tickets of a series of annual media organization fetes, bringing together boldfaced names who otherwise would not mix.

Among the attendees were Amazons Jeff Bezos, Ted Cruz, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, presidential candidate John Delaney and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. One of the few Hollywood figures in attendance was James L. Brooks, who took the chance to get a few photos with administration figures.

Story continues

The evening is filled with jokes and journalists skits, often with targets in the room, but it is not as biting as the better-known White House Correspondents Association dinner in late April. The Gridiron Club motto is singe, not burn. On Saturday, there was some singe.

Judy Woodruff, introducing some of the VIPs in the room, noted the presence of Jared Kushner, and quipped that it was over the objections of John Kelly. The joke was a riff on a New York Times report that President Trump demanded Kushner get a top-secret security clearance, over the objections of his then-chief of staff.

Her husband Al Hunt noted the presidents recent trip to Hanoi, and that he was pleased that he could make it to Vietnam and that his bone spurs had healed.

Trump was not at the event, though he was present last year. Ivanka Trump said that her father asked her to step in at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday. She quipped that there were reports, though, that Chris Christie was saying he was his first choice, but that Jared blocked it.

The dozen or so music skits sought to skewer figures across the spectrum. Yes, there were songs about Trump, the wave of investigations, and other scandals, but there also was plenty of focus on the Democrats lurch left, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs tax proposals and the Green New Deal.

Klobuchar was the target of a few barbs about the New York Times story on how she treats her staff, and an instance in which an aide got her a salad to eat on a plane flight, only to forget to bring a fork. So instead, Klobuchar ate with her comb. She herself took note.

Im telling you. You guys havent lived until youve toasted a bagel with a blow dryer. Or ironed a grilled cheese sandwich on an ironing board. MacGyver!

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AbdukadirSavas/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- The final assault on the last Islamic State enclave in Syria slowed down after the discovery that ISIS was using civilians as human shields.



Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Mustafa Bali acknowledged the operational slowdown in a tweet, but reaffirmed that "the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon."



On Saturday, President Donald Trump reflected U.S. optimism that the ISIS-held town of Baghouz would be retaken quickly telling the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) that by "today or tomorrow, we will have 100 percent of the caliphate defeated."



The SDF resumed the offensive on Baghouz Friday after they had paused for more than a week after an estimated 10,000 civilians and ISIS families fled the town. The SDF screened the civilians as they left Baghouz to ensure that there were no ISIS fighters fleeing with them. The number of civilians in the town was a surprise to the Kurdish fighters and U.S. military officials.



The move was in line with a previous Kurdish decision to slow down the offensive after they were surprised by the large number of civilians in the ISIS-held town. American officials praised the SDF for being deliberate in its offensive to ensure there were no civilian casualties.



Two weeks ago, the Trump administration authorized "roughly 400" U.S. troops should remain in Syria. In December, the White House announced that all 2,000 U.S. troops were to leave Syria.



The force of about 400 will serve as part of an observer force, composed of troops from the U.S. and other partner nations to provide stability in Syria. They will primarily assist with stabilization efforts after an ISIS defeat and also as a check on any Turkish aggression against Syrian Kurds.

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The plan to grow cannabis in Stellarton, N.S., has finally come to fruition, nearly six years after the groundwork was first laid to convert a large former electronics plant into a marijuana production facility.

Zenabis Global Inc. announced Monday the site has received its cultivation licence from Health Canada.

"We are incredibly excited about the fact we've now achieved our licence," said company CEO Andrew Grieve. "We are happy to be growing here."

Grieve said $20 million has been spent to date on transforming the old Clairtone plant in Stellarton. One of Zenabis's investors is Millbrook First Nation, which has poured $5 million into the venture.

The huge building where stereos were once built will now have 255,000 square feet dedicated to cannabis cultivation. It will also become a hub for many new jobs.

"They're going to be a major employer here in town in what is still a new industry, so we are very excited to have them here," said Stellarton Mayor Danny MacGillivray.

Daniel St. Louis/Zenabis Global Inc.

There are currently 20 employees, but once production ramps up to full capacity there will be 200 workers at the Stellarton plant by the end of 2019.

Some marijuana plants have already been started and the first crop will be ready in about two months. The facility does not yet have a licence to sell out of Stellarton, so product will be shipped to another Zenabis operation, in Atholville, N.B.

"We can be cultivating as much as we want here in Stellarton now," said Grieve. "We'll be shipping it off to Atholville where we will complete the processing and packaging process, and then from there we will be selling it off to our provincial customers."

Zenabis also has operations in Delta, B.C.

Only two companies operating in Nova Scotia currently have a licence to sell their cannabis products at NSLC cannabis stores.

Breathing Green Solutions in the Wentworth Valley became the first in October 2018, while Highland Grow Inc. in Ohio, Antigonish County, got the green light to sell two months later.

Story continues

Millbrook Chief Bob Gloade said Monday the First Nation had been looking at different options before meeting with Zenabis. He said the company invited them to become partners and "we willingly accepted."

"We said we are not going to miss out on any opportunities in this venture going forward," he said.

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The mayor of the northern Italian city of Bologna wants you to know that what you probably think is spaghetti Bolognese is nothing like the pasta and meat sauce made famous by the city.

Does your recipe include garlic or cream? How about oregano, basil or parsley? And what about spaghetti itself?

Guess what? You're not eating spaghetti Bolognese  or at least not the original recipe known in Italy simply as pasta al ragu or pasta with meat sauce.

The real thing is a slow-cooked sauce made with small chunks of beef and pork, bits of celery, carrots and onions with a dash of tomato sauce and a long simmer in wine. And it does not go with slippery smooth spaghetti, but a rougher, flatter noodle  tagliatelle or pappardelle  that the sauce can adhere to.

"Dear citizens," Mayor Virginio Merola recently tweeted in Italian. "Regarding fake news, I am collecting photos of spaghetti Bolognese from around the world," urging followers to share images with him.

Geoff Howe/Canadian Press

Italians living in countries from Slovenia to Ireland posted bastardized versions of the Italian recipe, along with their amused comments.

One Italian woman in England posted photos of plastic-wrapped Bolognese with mushrooms and seasonings, declaring, "Someone has to do something!"

Another Italian from Ireland ironically said of a microwavable version with the sauce on top, "Can't wait to eat this."

Other versions included dehydrated packages with ingredients of zucchinis, mushrooms and what looked like asparagus.

"Spaghetti Bolognese doesn't actually exist; yet, it's famous the world over," Mayor Merola complained to Italian public radio RAI, referring to the fact that no one in Italy has heard of a dish by that name.

"What we'd prefer the world to know is that Bologna invented tagliatelle, tortellini and lasagna," he said. "We did not invent [these versions of] so-called spaghetti Bolognese. Sure, these versions have brought us attention, but in terms of gastronomy, there are a lot better dishes here than that."

Story continues

How to make the real stuff

Ragu alla bolognese is one of the most famous dishes of the central Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. While slight variations exist, the official recipe for the sauce was deposited at Bologna's Chamber of Commerce by a local delegation of the Academy of Italian Cuisine in October 1982. This recipe recommends using a rather fat cut of meat locally called cartella or folder located on the belly of the cow. For a less fatty sauce, leaner meats are often used, with bacon replacing the sausage.

Ingredients for recipe from the Academy of Italian Cuisine

250 ml of meat broth

50 g of butter

250 g of ground beef

250 g of ground pork shoulder

100 g of ground bacon

100 g of carrots (1 carrot)

1 medium onion

50 g of celery

3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 glass of wine

500 g of tomato pulp

100 g of tomato paste

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Finely chop onions, peeled carrots and celery; saute with olive oil and butter.

When the butter is melted and the ingredients browned, add the pork and brown it, stirring occasionally. Then add the bacon (or sausage) and beef. Pour in the glass of wine and let it evaporate. Dissolve the tomato paste in a little beef stock; add it to the meat and mix well.

Add salt, pepper, tomato pulp and some water. Stir well and cook the sauce for about two hours, gradually adding the remaining stock.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Charlottetown Monday for a Liberal Party fundraiser at the Delta Prince Edward.

According to the Liberal Party website, new Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan will also be in attendance.

The website says individuals who are registered to lobby the Prime Minister's Office and Ministry of Agriculture and Agri-Food are not permitted to attend the fundraising event.

Regular tickets are $150 and include a breakfast reception from 7:30-9:30 a.m. Tickets are $100 for Victory Fund donors and $75 for people 25 or younger.

The visit comes at a time of turmoil for the Liberal government.

Jody Wilson-Raybould, the former justice minister and attorney general, testified before a Commons justice committee last week that she was pressured last fall by the PMO to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement with the engineering firm SNC-Lavalin instead of pursuing a criminal prosecution.

The Quebec-based firm faces fraud and corruption charges stemming from business deals in Libya.

Denied they acted inappropriately

Trudeau and the Liberals have denied they acted inappropriately in conversations with Wilson-Raybould about SNC-Lavalin.

Gerald Butts, who resigned as the prime minister's principal secretary amid the allegations, is scheduled to testify before the committee on Wednesday.

In a cabinet shuffle on Jan. 14, Wilson-Rayboult was moved from her position as minister of justice and given the lesser cabinet position of minister of veterans affairs.

On Feb. 12, she resigned from cabinet but has remained a Liberal MP.

MacAulay, the MP for Cardigan, P.E.I., and former minister of agriculture and agri-food, was named minister of veterans affairs on Friday.

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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..04 March '19..The BDS group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) has launched several campaigns in recent years targeting the legitimacy of the Jewish state. Among them has been its Deadly Exchange program, which seeks to end police exchange programs between the United States and Israel.A closer look at JVPs Deadly Exchange program reveals the close ties between the campaign and the BDS National Council (BNC), a group that serves as the Palestinian arm of the BDS movement and helps coordinate international BDS efforts. The BNC operates the website Bdsmovement.net, which serves to educate and update readers on the BDS movement.Two employees of the BNC have had ties with the advisory council for the Deadly Exchange campaign: Garik Ruiz, the North America advocacy adviser for the Palestinian BNC (Ruiz stopped working for the BNC in August 2018); and BNC founding member Omar Barghouti.Given these international ties, there are those who have been asking whether JVP should register as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)?If you look at the facts of prior FARA prosecutions and how the law was applied to those facts, then the JVP Deadly Exchange campaign fits squarely within the scope of FARA, Marc Greendorfer, founder of the Zachor Legal Institute, told JNS.
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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..Abu Yehuda..03 March '19..Demonization, double standard, and delegitimization: the famous Three Ds proposed by Natan Sharansky in 2004 have proven to be a powerful tool to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel, and new antisemitism, in which the Jewish state replaces the individual Jew as a target.What these criteria do is reveal the irrational basis of the exaggerated charges against Israel, and help show how they are part of an emotional propaganda attack aimed at creating a strong antipathy in the listener which is not justified by facts.These same propaganda techniques can be deployed in other venues for other purposes, such as in an attempt to damage a democratically elected political leader and influence an election. In a situation like this, the Three Ds can help us distinguish between legitimate criticism of policies and behavior  even alleged criminal behavior  and a witch hunt.Of course I am talking about the witch hunt against PM Binyamin Netanyahu.***The major complaint against Netanyahu today is that he is corrupt, as is charged in the three cases in which the Attorney General has said he will attempt to indict Netanyahu: accepting gifts of cigars and champagne in return for political favors, conspiring to obtain positive coverage from a newspaper in return for suppressing a competitor, and  most damaging  promoting regulatory actions that provided financial benefits for a media mogul in return for positive coverage on a website he controlled. There are some serious problems for the prosecution in these cases . The first case is both trivial and vague (how many cigars is too many?) In the second, Netanyahu is supposed to have traded support for legislation to ban the free distribution of newspapers  a bill aimed at Israel Hayom  for positive coverage from the publisher of its competitor, Yediot Aharonot. But Netanyahu opposed the legislation, and Yediot didnt support him anyway. In the third, the website that allegedly provided positive coverage did publish several favorable articles, but overall did not change its slant.In addition, all three accusations are based to some extent on the testimony of states witnesses  people who have been given immunity from prosecution for their own illegal actions in return for their testimony against the Prime Minister. Testify the way we want, they are told, or you will go to jail! Could there be a greater conflict of interest?But what I find the most egregious is the way the media  with the cooperation of the police and the prosecutors office  has been trying Netanyahu in public for at least the last three or four years, in order toandhim as Prime Minister. Netanyahu has been interrogated by the police at least twelve times for hours at a time in various cases, and each time there were sensational leaks that were gleefully reported on the evening TV news or in the next days papers. Naturally, the reports stressed the most incriminating material. As far as I know, no one has been disciplined for these leaks.There is also evidence of. Arnon Milchan, who gave Netanyahu cigars and champagne was also friends with many other Israeli politicians, including Yair Lapid, one of the principals in the Blue and White party that is Netanyahus main rival in the coming election. Lapid also supported legislation that would have benefited Milchan. But he was not investigated.Further, 43 members of the Knesset  led by MK Eitan Kabel of the Labor Party  voted to ban the free distribution of newspapers, but none of them were investigated.Politicians everywhere have always tried to trade favors for media coverage. The legal doctrine that treats this as bribery, however, is something new which seems to have been created just for Netanyahu. Alan Dershowitz argues that interference by law enforcement in the relationship between politicians and media, except in cases of clear and unambiguous financial corruption is extremely dangerous to democracy, because almost every contact between them would be open to legal scrutiny. These questions are highly political, and therefore should be decided by the political process  in other words, the voters. Avi Bell notes that there is a new understanding of the traditional crimes of bribery and breach of public trust in which media coverage is equivalent to a monetary payoff. This either implies that there will have to be police oversight of nearly all interactions between media and public officials, or it is a one-time application of special rules to Netanyahu  obviously a serious injustice. Either way, it is a severe crisis in Israels democratic governance. Indeed.These are not the first allegations against Netanyahu and his family that have been splashed across the media. There was a bribery scandal in connection with the procurement of submarines; it turned out that Netanyahu had no connection with the affair. There was the ludicrous deposit bottle scandal in which Sara Netanyahu was accused of keeping the money for bottles that had been returned after their purchase for public functions (she was not charged). She was indicted for misuse of public funds for ordering out for expensive meals when she had a government-paid cook ( she is on trial now ). There have been lawsuits concerning her alleged ill-treatment of employees and bad temper. And on and on and on.The Attorney General has announced his intention to hold a hearing on the charges against the PM, after which a formal indictment can be issued. The hearing would take place after the election. The announcement has no other legal significance, but it certainly will affect the vote and the coalition negotiations after the election. It is very unlikely that the timing of this announcement was accidental!The American Founding Fathers understood that the removal of a chief executive would be highly charged politically, and they created amethod for dealing with malfeasance or criminal behavior in office: impeachment by the House and conviction by the Senate. They did not leave it to policemen or lawyers, or even the Supreme Court. This has proven to be the right path, and its unfortunate that Israel does not have something similar.Netanyahu has been Prime Minister since 2009, and his opposition is frustrated to the point of hysteria. They have been unable to defeat him by the normal political processes, so it seems that they have chosen to tie him down with multiple legal threads, as the Lilliputians did to Gulliver, and stone him to death with innuendos. Bibi claims, and I think he is essentially correct in this, that pressure from media and the legal establishment  groups that are largely opposed to him  forced the hand of the Attorney General in deciding to move forward toward indictment.Just as Israels enemies wish to destroy international sympathy for Israel by demonization and delegitimization, Netanyahus enemies hope to fracture his political support before the election.Will they succeed? Well find out after the 9th of April.
* The 4th International Competition of Cartoons Aleksandar Klas 2017, Serbia: All cartoonists whose cartoons are selected in the catalog and the exhibition will receive a free copy of the catalog ( Regulation ).

* International Cartoon Contest in Memory of Cartoonist Prof. Atila Ozer 2016, Turkey: The selected cartoons will be published in a catalog. These will be sent at no cost to the participants whose works are : The selected cartoons will be published in a catalog. These will be sent at no cost to the participants whose works are exhibited and published ( Regulation ).
I think the call of God on my life means I am in constant distress. This is not an uncommon condition in the Bible. Moses and Elijah became so disturbed by the spiritual state of Israel that they asked God to kill them (Numbers chapter 11, verses 14-15; 1 Kings chapter 19, verse 4). Or, who can forget Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus and pouring out grief over the coming destruction of Jerusalem (John chapter 11, verse 35; Luke chapter 19, verses 41-44).

Such struggles have not been removed by the death and resurrection of Jesus; we have the graphic portrait of the souls of the slain martyrs under the altar crying out to God, how long (Revelation chapter 6, verses 9-11). Scriptural examples could be multiplied (Galatians chapter 4, verse19), and extra-biblical illustrations spring to mind.

The great English preacher George Whitefield always cried when he spoke of hell and judgement. Beyond Christianity, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) has become a fashion of the day, it embraces the need for mourning. And just a few hours ago a friend sent me a video clip of Jordan Peterson weeping in meetings. Lament, grief, sadness, depression, woe etc. are all part of life, but not so much in public church life.

Does knowing Jesus abolish stress? When our tour guide in Myanmar said, Buddha saves us from our suffering., should I have replied, Jesus takes away our suffering, not in Nirvana, but now?

Where have all the tears gone?

Some of these reflections began when I was reading an article in Eternity magazine. Its writer proclaimed that contemporary Pentecostals have left behind the obsessions with the end-times (eschatology) of an earlier generation. This is true, and to an extreme that came across when the Planet Shakers band performed at the Franklin Graham event in Perth recently.

Their tone was exclusively positive, upbeat and triumphalist. So different from my experiences in Pentecostal prayer meetings in the 70s where the full spectrum of emotions was on display. If Christ showed the complete array of emotions, shouldnt we?

Dont think Im picking on Pentecostals only. The whole Western Church seems to have lost a gut moving functional eschatology (Matthew chapter 20, verse 34). Its hard to find any Christian congregation that takes seriously Pauls words about distress being a condition of life.

This present distress

in view of the present distress. let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. (1 Corinthians chapter 7, verses 26, 29-31).

According to the whole New Testament, a follower of Jesus must not become attached to material-temporal things. If we think our health and houses are really important, we are idolaters living as if Jesus isnt coming back soon. A major paradigm shift is needed.

Beyond this world

The early Christians did have spouses and houses, but they still stood out as light and salt in a perishing society (Matthew chapter 5, verses 13-16). Their eschatology didnt move them to escape the world, but to live with a set of values reflecting the coming new creation. Tragically, most contemporary Christians are not seeing things through the lens of eternity.

Two eyes are better than one

All Christians are called to share in prophetic vision (Revelation chapter 19, verse 10). Semi-technically this is a matter of bisociation, seeing two realities at the same time. We are called to be those who by natural sight see the broken world as it is before us and by spiritual sight see the world as it will become when Jesus returns.

In such a two-eyed state it is impossible to be other than distressed by the dreadful state of things and full of confidence for the ultimate future. The spiritually two-eyed are neither depressive nor escapist because Jesus is far bigger than all than all. It is his Spirit (Isaiah chapter 63, verse 9) that stirs up godly distress in us moving us to prayer that God might act with power to bring healing to this world. Prayers like that are surely answered. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation chapter 22, verse 20)

The Rev. Dr John Yates is an Anglican minister in Perth and has 5 children and 7 grandchildren. He spends time in praying, mentoring and writing.

John Yatess previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/john-yates.html
As an RSL Sub-Branch funeral officer, I get to visit many churches and chapels to do the ex-servicemen and womens rites.

At the older and more traditional churches, the paintings and statues draw my attention.

Crucifixion Statue

Im interested in those of Jesus on the cross during his crucifixion. One of the Catholic churches has a larger-than-life statue of Jesus hanging on the cross along with the crown of thorns, a spear wound in his side and nails in his feet.

What it doesnt show is the terrible wounds He suffered during the scourging or flagellation before He was returned to Pilot for final sentence.

I grew up believing Pilot ordered Jesus to be scourged but not too badly because I have found in him no crime deserving death. (Luke chapter 23, verse 22). The opposite seems to be the truth because Pilot wanted to appease the mob so he ordered Jesus be scourged in an extreme manner.

Flagellation

Roman flagellation was one of the most feared of all punishments. It was a form of brutal, inhumane punishment generally executed by Roman soldiers using the most dreaded instrument of the time, called a flagrum.

This was a whip consisting of three or more leather tails which had plumbatae, small metal balls or sheep bones at the end of each tail.

These plumbatae tore the skin to pieces, inflicted internal injuries to kidneys, liver and lungs and even broke ribs.

The victim was stripped of all clothing and chained to a pillar, low down so he was in a kneeling position which allowed the torturer to gain greater weight with the flagrum. The torturer would change sides so as to ensure all parts of the body were equally dealt with.

Then came the Crown of Thorns

Dr. Michael Evanari, Professor of Botany at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has opined the Syrian Christ Thorn, which was available in Jerusalem, was the plant most likely to be used for the crown of thorns.

It wasnt for show.

The thorns were meant to drive deep into the scalp, damaging nerves and blood vessels and causing severe facial pain.

According to Dr Evanari, they could also cause spasmodic episodes of stabbing, lancinating and explosive pain.

Passover in Jerusalem was a flashpoint. The men who executed Jesus had been recruited to suppress recurrent rebellion in Palestine. Their job was to maintain public order, and maintain it they would.

As we know, this scourging did not appease the mob, nor would the mob allow Jesus to be swapped for the terrorist, Barabbas, so Pilot, again intimidated by the mob at the time of the Passover, ordered His Crucifixion.

The Short Cross

The cross itself was the ultimate torture where many victims suffered for several hours before dying.

Heres something else I learned about the cross and crucifixion when reading what Dr Evanari and others had to say.

How could a humiliated, weakened, beaten, bleeding, mangled mess of a man already suffering from breathing difficulties, as well as hypovolemic and traumatic shock, carry a T-shaped cross which weighed between 175 and 200 pounds? The short answer is that He did not.

The cross used in Roman crucifixions consisted of two parts: the upright or mortise, referred to as the stipes, or staticulum, and the tenon or crosspiece, which is called the patibulum or antenna.

Jesus carried the crosspiece. At Calvary He was nailed to the crosspiece on the ground through the palms of his hands, not his wrists. The crosspiece was then placed into a rectangular notch or mortice carved into the tip of the stipes.

Dr Evanari said roman crosses stood about seven to seven-and-a-half feet in height because from a practical point of view, it was easier to lift the crosspiece and victim into position on a shorter cross

It was also easier to remove the victim from a short cross after death. Shorter crosses also made it easier for wild animals to finish off victims.

They then bent His knees until His feet were flush to the cross and nailed His feet to the upright, Dr Evanari wrote.

It is difficult to imagine the pain our Lord was in but He knew from the start this had to happen for Him to pay the price for mans sins. We have the chance of life everlasting because of what Jesus did.

Personally, I prefer paintings and statues of the Risen Christ.

John Skinner is a retired journalist who has written nine biographies on famous campdrafting competitors. He was an Australian infantry soldier wounded in Vietnam, served six years as a Police Officer, was CEO of the then Australian Rough Riders Assoc (Pro-Rodeo based in Warwick, Qld). He and his wife Marion retired to a small farm 25km south of Warwick 20 years ago. They have three children and now seven grandchildren.
Sometimes we read stories in the Bible that we understand in theory but struggle to apply to our lives today  this has always been the case with Leviticus chapter 23, verse 22 for me. It tells us:

When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God.

An admission

Let me level with you; I live in the Northern Suburbs of Brisbane, Australia, where there are few fields, and not a lot of foreigners looking to glean the edges of said fields. Whilst I understand the sentiment here (dont be greedy, share with the poor etc.) I have often asked myself, How do I apply this agrarian metaphor to my life in a concrete way?

The pastor and the loco pilot

Recently, I read of a family who were living out this metaphor in a way that I could understand. A woman had become a train driver seeking to release her husband (a pastor) to practice his ministry without the need of a fulltime stipend.

Thea and Ben Pratt (you can read their story here) live mostly off Theas income, with Ben earning a part time wage but working (flexible) full time hours for the church. Ben, in explaining their motives, says:

I want to show (the church) what it means to live within our means and accept less than we may be entitled to.

Thats a pertinent application of Leviticus chapter 23 verse 22. What it teaches us is summed up in Bens own words: live within your means and accept less than you may be entitled to.

Live within your means

Of all the markers of faith seen in a believer, I think contentment is one of the most potent in our society. In a world that tells us to seek more, more, more! The scriptures tell us, Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have (Hebrews chapter 13, verse 5).

For the first year of our marriage, my wife and I did a woeful job of following this command. She was working fulltime, I was working part-time and studying fulltime, and we were stressing about money almost constantly. About 9 months into this we realised for people who talk a lot about not seeking after worldly things (as Christians and proponents of generosity and missional living) we were doing a fantastic job of seeking after worldly things.

So, in our second year of marriage, we chose to simplify our life such that we were practicing what we preached, that we were being content with what we have. Now, I work fulltime, Jane works casually, and looks after our son very fulltime (its more of a fulltime job than I could ever manage!)

We effectively live on one income, and we live within our means.

Accept less than you are entitled to

But the Pratts take this command a (necessary) step further: they accept less than they are entitled to. Not only are they living within their means, they are living within their needs.

In 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verses 6 to 8, the Apostle Paul talks of how we should give generously to those in need, trusting that God will provide all that we need. The difference between need and want is often quite huge  and so for some (I recognise that the Pratts and Jane and I make more from one income than many people make with two) its necessary to not only live off our own field, but to avoid reaping to the edges of our own field.

Accept less than you are entitled to seems like an apt, contemporary rendering of do not reap to the edge of your field.

Give the rest to those who are without

The way this is applied for one couple is going to be different for another.

The Pratts, by not accepting the income that they are entitled to, free the church up to give more money to the poor, the widow, and the orphan (which sounds like a Cat Stevens album when you put it like that) but thats not the case for many of us.

For some people, not accepting what they are owed will just mean giving more to their boss or their company, not the poor, the widow, and the orphan. In this case, the application might be Live within your means, taking all that you need, and give the rest to those who are without.

Rely on your field to take care of you and save the edges for those who dont have an adequate field. Continually consider (in prayer) whether you are living according to your means (taking all you can get) or according to your needs (reflecting on needs vs. wants) and increase how much you give from the edges depending on the results of this.

In our world of more, more, more, money has the power to be a mighty witness for Christ in the way a Christian lives and gives. It also has the power to render our witness impotent if we choose to live just as those who do not know Christ.

Brent Van Mourik is the Queensland State Representative for Baptist World Aid Australia and is a registered pastor with the Baptist Union of Queensland. He completed a Bachelor of Theology with honours in New Testament through Malyon College in Brisbane, where he now lives with his wife, Jane, and his young son, Joshua. In his down time, he enjoys making and drinking good coffee, and developing his theology of disappointment, whilst putting into practice Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26 (In your anger do not sin) on the golf course.
March 9th is Jas Sum Kfarl (JSK) Cigars founder Riste Ristevskis annual Ristefari event and for the third year in a row, a special salomon will be released exclusively for the occasion. This years Salomon will come from JSKs Connecticut Broadleaf line, the Crna Nok. The event will take place at Golden Leaf in Hobart, Indiana.

The Crna Nok Salomon will be in a 7 x 56 format. It will be available in ten-count boxes with each priced at $150.00 per box. A total of 99 boxes are available (one box was damaged at U.S. customs). The initial sales will take place at Golden Leaf, and any remaining boxes will be available via phone order beginning March 11th.

While details of the Crna Nok blend have not been released, this will be the first release of the Crna Nok blend since JSK shifted production of its lines to Tabacalera de Aragon S.A. in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Previous Ristefari event cigars have included the Red Knight Salomon (2017) and the Zlatno Since Salomon (2018). These event cigars have been one and done releases.
Andy Parrishs Letter to the Editor, The Whole Playhouse Structure Should Be Saved , inspired me to recognize a pattern. Ellen Uguccioni was the Citys Preservation Officer who dropped the wrecking ball on Saint Stephens illegally demolished 1912 Chapel. We need to start holding the people we rely on accountable. Shes chagrined at herself? Well Im chagrined for her! Her Playhouse testimony is so wishy-washy, it leads me to believe that she intended it to be that way to leave a few possible loopholes for the usual Grove pirates and scavengers.



On the one hand she says that her intent was to include the entire building in the historic designation report, and that designation recognizes the entire history of what happens INSIDE the building, and not just the south and east facades. On the other hand, she says that the designation report does not address the interior as having historic significance because, its been changed by a very prominent architect who belongs to the modernist movement, and she recommends the building footprint for designation.

The work of the architect who did the Playhouse interior renovations, Alfred Browning Parker, is representative of Miamis MiMo style. The entire Playhouse is a living, breathing historic record of the evolution from Miamis Mediterranean Revival style to MiMo, Miami Modern  South Floridas regionalist response to the International Style. Any honest architect or preservationist will acknowledge that this clearly makes the entire building  footprint, exterior AND interior  MORE significant, not less!



Making the entire Playhouse EVEN MORE significant is the fact that it is a THEATER, a building typology that by default encompasses the evolution of Miamis social, cultural and fashion scene. It is the quintessential ZEITGEIST of Coconut Grove! If you destroy that, you destroy the very soul of the Grove. If you destroy it, and try to reinvent it, as Arquitectonica is proposing, you will fail because its impossible to reinvent something that took nearly a century to evolve.



After I heard rumors that the building is "too far gone," I called Tim Parsons, Director of the State of Florida Division of Historical Resources on February 13th. I took notes. He told me that he was on the State Historic Review Board that voted unanimously to nominate the entire Playhouse, including the interior, for the National Register. He told me that, "The significant architectural elements within the historic theater are intact and in very good condition, underneath removable layers of plywood, drywall and plaster that were installed during multiple renovations over the years  and that's why the building, including the interior, made it onto the National Register." In this letter from Tim Parsons, Spring is denied grant funding for his project because Arquitectonica's design demolishes the entire historic theater, violating the U.S. Department of the Interiors Standards for Restoration of a building that is on the National Register  https://tinyurl.com/yxsya97q



Even if a blunder by the Historic and Environmental Preservation Board led to the designation report citing only the building footprint and the exterior walls as significant, and not the interior, the Coconut Grove Playhouse is a single building. It's ONE building. There is not, and there never has been, a front and a back building as Michael Spring, Arquitectonica and alleged preservation architect Jorge Hernandez contend. You cannot reinvent an historic building footprint and the corresponding building envelope to create two separate buildings that never existed. But at tomorrows HEPB meeting they will try to argue that you can.



It appears that the 2005 HEPB is telling the 2019 HEPB that they may have botched the local designation report. The HEPBs 2005 vote was 8-0. BOTH ANDY AND CHAGRINED ELLEN HAVE CLARIFIED THAT THEIR INTENT WAS TO INCLUDE THE ENTIRE BUILDING ON THE DESIGNATION REPORT. The State Historic Review Board voted unanimously to nominate the entire Playhouse, including the interior, for the National Register. The ENTIRE Playhouse made it onto the National Register because the significant interior features are intact.



The Historic and Environmental Preservation Board only has TWO mandates  to promote the preservation of our City's heritage by identifying and designating properties of major significance, and closely monitoring alterations to them. Adherence to the standards for restoration established by The National Park Service for the restoration of buildings that are on the National Register of Historic Places, such as the Coconut Grove Playhouse, should not be not negotiable. They are why the HEPB exists! The board members need not concern themselves with anything else.



If you want to know the REAL story on the "renovation" of the Coconut Grove Playhouse and the plan to demolish the entire 1926 theater, and how we got into this mess, click here: http://www.melissameyerarchitecture.com/in-the-news.html




MONDAY, March 4, 2019 (American Heart Association News) -- The fastest roller coasters exceed 100 mph. A race car driver can double that speed within seconds.

Either activity can exhilarate, but could they also harm the heart? Could someone literally die from the excitement?

Probably not, according to one study that surveyed thrill-seekers with serious heart conditions.

Despite all the warning notices posted on adrenaline-pumping amusement park rides, or from friends trying to discourage that skydiving trip, very little science has explored the question.

"I can't think of a single major replicated study connecting thrill-seeking personalities and actual thrill-seeking behavior to health. That is, one that does the full cardiovascular workup," said Frank Farley, a psychologist at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Farley has studied thrill-seekers for decades, even chasing a few Mount Everest climbers in Nepal and hopping in hot air balloons over China and Russia just to see what makes them tick. But, he said, "health stuff rarely comes up."

It's for that reason a group of researchers led by two Yale scientists took on the topic.

The group looked at a survey of thrill-seeking enthusiasts diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition characterized by the thickening of the heart walls and a common cause of cardiac arrest.

The survey recorded online responses from 571 adult thrill-seekers at high risk for irregular heartbeats, or arrhythmias. About 40 percent of the group had implantable defibrillators.

The group participated in more than 8,000 total thrill-seeking activities that included rafting, bungee jumping, rappelling, paragliding and skydiving. While about a third of them experienced minor symptoms including dizziness, nausea and chest palpitations, only nine had a severe response like fainting or cardiac arrest within an hour of the event. Four of those nine cases occurred after riding roller coasters.

The findings, presented last fall at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions conference, suggest little evidence linking health dangers to such thrill-seeking behavior, even among those diagnosed with a serious heart condition, said Dr. Dan Jacoby, senior author of the study and director of the comprehensive heart failure program at Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut.

"What the study shows is that the risk of participation is very low -- extraordinarily low -- per ride," he said.

Jacoby noted a past study that looked at roller coaster fatalities over a recent 10-year span found very few linked to heart problems. Most were from traumatic injuries.

"So, if you go on a roller coaster with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, you're at greater risk of getting ejected from the roller coaster and have an injury, or there'll be a crash that will injure you," he said. "Overall, in the population we looked at, that seems to be what's going on."

Farley said health-related problems rarely bubble up among the thrill-seekers he has studied. They often have a different mindset than most when it comes to heart-racing adventures.

"Jumping out of a plane for skydiving would stress out most people. I mean, what if the parachute doesn't open? But my sense is that these thrill-seekers reframe the situation as a thrill, not stress," Farley said.

Dr. Nikolaos Papoutsidakis, an instructor at the Yale School of Medicine and co-author of the recent study, said few of the cardiomyopathy patients surveyed said they received any counsel from doctors when it came to thrill-seeking activities. Often, they provided conflicting advice.

"Some doctors claimed it was safe, some claimed it was dangerous, and only a minority actually told the patient there's not much data on the subject," he said.

Jacoby cautioned thrill-seekers, particularly those with heart conditions, to still consult with their doctors before engaging in anything potentially dangerous.

"What we don't want to have happen is for people to look at a newspaper article, a blog or even at our paper and say to themselves, 'Well, that's great news! Let me rush out and do that,'" he said.

"We really want to encourage people to use this as a jumping off point to discuss with their physicians about whether they think it's appropriate for them in particular."
MONDAY, March 4, 2019 (HealthDay News) -- Amid ongoing U.S. measles outbreaks, one of the largest studies to date provides fresh evidence that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine does not cause autism.

Danish researchers found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, even when they focused on children at greater risk for developing autism.

"In a study of more than 650,000 Danish children, there was no difference in the risk of autism in vaccinated and unvaccinated children," said lead researcher Anders Hviid. He is a senior investigator of epidemiology with the Statens Serum Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark.

But Hviid is skeptical the new findings will make much difference among anti-vaccine activists.

"I do not think we can convince the so-called anti-vaxxers," Hviid said. "I am more concerned about the perhaps larger group of parents who encounter anti-vaccine pseudoscience and propaganda on the internet, and become concerned and uncertain."

Six measles outbreaks have been reported across the United States in the first two months of 2019, infecting 159 people with the highly contagious virus, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The largest outbreak, taking place in the Portland, Oregon region, has sickened 68 people, the CDC said.

The discredited link between the MMR vaccine and autism dates back two decades to a study published in The Lancet that claimed a handful of children had been diagnosed with autism within four weeks of receiving the vaccination.

That study received wide publicity, but was subsequently retracted by the medical journal after discovery that the research was fraudulent.

Despite repeated studies demonstrating no link between the MMR vaccine and autism, anti-vaccine advocates continue to cite that concern as one basis for their opposition.

Hviid and his colleagues decided to take another large-scale stab at testing the alleged link. They tracked 657,461 children born in Denmark between 1999 and 2010, following them from 1 year old through August 2013.

During that period, just over 6,500 of the children were diagnosed with autism.

The researchers found no increased autism risk among kids who received the MMR vaccine, compared with those who did not.

In addition, the study found no increased risk for autism even in subgroups of kids who naturally are more likely to develop autism, the researchers said. These included children whose siblings have autism, or who scored high on an autism risk assessment.

This addressed one critique of previous studies of the MMR vaccine and autism. Critics had complained that earlier efforts had failed to focus on the effects of the vaccine on kids at increased risk of autism, according to an editorial accompanying the new study.

The new study was published March 4 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Infectious diseases expert Dr. Amesh Adalja called the new study "a very powerful piece of evidence." He was not involved with the new report.

"This study, which includes over a decade of data on more than half a million children, goes further than prior studies by looking in high-autism risk subgroups," said Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, in Baltimore.

"That no increased autism risk was found -- even in high-risk subgroups -- is not surprising," Adalja continued. "However, the anti-vaccine movement is not influenced by facts, by science or by logic, so I fear that another study demonstrating the safety of MMR vaccination will not sway those whose allegiance is not to reality, but to irrational arbitrary beliefs."

Hviid noted that the World Health Organization has declared vaccine hesitancy one of the 10 greatest threats to public health.

"Hopefully, our study can play a small part in turning the anti-vaccine tide," Hviid said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about measles cases and outbreaks.
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Washington, D.C., March 4, 2019Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, also known as Shawkan, was today released from prison after spending over five years in detention on anti-state charges, according to a post from his Twitter account. According to news reports, Shawkan said he was officially approved for release on Sunday night but held by police until Monday morning. Authorities released Shawkan under police observation for five years, meaning he will have to appear at a police station every day at sunset. The journalist will also be prohibited from managing his financial assets and properties for the duration of those five years, according to news reports. Shawkan and his lawyer will appeal the verdict in Egypts court of cassation, his brother Mohamed told CPJ in late 2018. CPJ honored Shawkan with its International Press Freedom Award in 2016.

We are relieved to hear that Shawkan is finally free after spending over five years in jail and call on authorities to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release, said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour. The Egyptian government should take steps immediately to improve its image, which has been badly tarnished by this unjust imprisonmentand it can start by releasing all journalists jailed in relation to their work.

Shawkan had been imprisoned since August 14, 2013, when he was arrested while covering clashes between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi for the U.K.-based photo agency Demotix. At the time of CPJs last prison census, Shawkan was one of 25 journalists jailed for their work in Egypt.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) created a new Guinness World Record for the longest single moving line bicycle parade at the Yamuna Expressway.

New World Record

The world record was attempted to commemorate the 50 years of the paramilitary force CISF.

For creating the World Record the personnel of the central force rode 1,327 bicycles non-stop with a uniform distance between bicycles in a single line.

The bicycle parade covered 3.2 km distance non-stop.

The CISF personnel displayed a high degree of discipline as entire formation had to keep moving, keeping in mind that the distance between two cycles should not exceed the length of three, for the world record to be broken

The CISF broke the earlier record of Hubballi bicycle club of India which had 1,235 bicycles in a single chain.

Central Industrial Security Force

The CISF came into existence in 1969 with a modest three battalions, to provide integrated security cover to the Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) which had occupied the commanding heights of the economy in those days.

In a span of five decades, the Force has grown several folds to reach one lakh forty-eight thousand and three hundred seventy-one personnel.

With India embracing Globalization and liberalization, CISF is no longer a PSU-centric organization. Instead, it now a premier multi-skilled security agency of the country, mandated to provide security to major critical infrastructure installations of the country in diverse areas.

CISF is currently providing security cover to nuclear installations, space establishments, airports, seaports, power plants, sensitive Government buildings heritage monuments and even Private entities.
Sampriti 2019, eight edition of India Bangladesh joint military exercise began on 3rd March 2019. The joint exercise is aimed to increase mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the armies of India and Bangladesh.

Sampriti 2019

Sampriti 2019 is hosted by Bangladesh at Tangail will be held till March 15.

Bangladesh is represented by 36 East Bengal Battalion and India side is represented by 9th Battalion the Rajputana Rifles.

The Sampriti 2019 will see contingents from both sides honing their tactical and technical skills in countering the insurgency, counter-terrorism and aiding civil authorities for disaster management in the UN Peacekeeping scenarios involving a combined deployment at a battalion level.

The exercise is aimed at increasing mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies through interoperability and joint tactical exercises.

The military exercise Sampriti began in 2009 as a platoon-level exercise and graduated to a company-level exercise in 2015 onwards. During the exercise, both sides will jointly train, plan and execute a series of well developed tactical drills for neutralisation of likely threats that may be encountered during simulated UN peace keeping operations.

During the joint military exercise experts from both sides also hold discussions to share each others experiences in varied topics for mutual benefits.


Sri Lanka: Maldivian authorities arrest 25 Sri Lankan fishermen for violating maritime boundaries

March 04,2019 | Source: Colombo Page

Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF) has captured four Sri Lankan fishing boats trespassing in the Maldives' Industrial Zone and arrested 25 Sri Lankan fishermen onboard. The Maldivian Coast Guard has informed Sri Lankan authorities that the fishermen were arrested on charges of violating the Maldives' maritime boundaries.



The Sri Lankan government has taken steps to get the fisherman and the boats released, a spokesman for the Fisheries Department said. The Sri Lankan fishermen in the four boats have set sail from Chilaw. It has been reported that two of the boats have caught a large amount of fish and were in the process of transferring them to another two boats in the Maldivian waters when they were arrested.



According to Maldivian media reports, the first two boats were captured on Thursday at 11:30 pm local time 103 nautical miles off Kelaa of Haa Alif Atoll, and while they were being escorted by the Coast Guard to HDh. Kulhudhuffushi, the other two were spotted at 2:30 am local time. Maldivian Coast Guard ship Huravee has escorted the boats to the Kulhudhuffushi harbor on Friday night.



Sri Lankan fishermen have used two routes to enter the West Asian International Maritime Zone and the fishermen deviating from those routes due to various reasons have caused problems, the Fisheries Department said.
Sri Lanka: Banned fishing nets captured by the Navy in Batticaloa

March 04,2019 | Source: News First LK

A group of navy personnel attached to the Eastern Naval Command, on a routine patrol, found 188 banned fishing nets used for illegal fishing practices in the lagoon area of Batticaloa last morning (March 2nd).



Nine 150-foot-long fishing nets and 179, 150-foot-long fishing nets were found. They were subsequently handed over to the Assistant Director of Fisheries in Batticaloa for further action.
India: WTO: India insists on flexibilities in negotiations on fisheries subsidies

by Amiti Sen

March 04,2019 | Source: The Hindu Business Line

India has insisted that larger developing countries should also be extended flexibilities at the fisheries negotiations of the World Trade Organisation that would allow them to retain some subsidy programmes important for small-scale fishers. At a recent meeting on fisheries subsidies, India said it was getting a sense that the rhetoric that larger developing countries should give more commitments was having a bearing on the fisheries subsidies negotiation and should be avoided, according to a government official.



Some developed countries have been insisting at the WTO that larger developing countries like India and China should not continue to get special & differential treatment but India and many others have said it would go against the bodys original mandate. At the fisheries meeting, India said members should be true to the mandate and ensure that special and differential treatment be built into the fisheries subsidies agreement.



Overcapacity, overfishing



WTO members are working on disciplines that prohibit subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, and eliminate subsidies that contribute to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing. At the WTOs Ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December 2017, members agreed to try and adopt the agreement on fisheries subsidies at the next meeting in 2020.



While India supports curbing subsidies that lead to over-fishing and depletion of marine resources, it has to continue to provide subsidies for boats, gear and fuel essential for its small-scale fishers, a government official said. It, therefore, needs carve-outs in the form of special & differential treatment for developing countries. The European Union, said while it supported the principle of special and differential treatment it would be better to tailor exemptions and flexibilities to a countrys fishing capacity. Argentina responded to this, saying it was more appropriate to consider the size of countrys subsidy programme rather than its fish output.
Bangladesh: Government undertakes initiatives to boost dried fish exports

March 04,2019 | Source: Dhaka Tribune

The government is interested in increasing dried fish exports to other countries. According to sources at the Dried Fish Packaging Traders Association, dried fish is now a Tk500 crore industry, with Tk300 crore worth sold domestically and the remaining Tk200 crore in exports. Hence the government is keen to set up a dried fish industrial zone with the latest machinery and technology to bolster the industry further.



Sources at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock said a dried fish industrial zone is underway on a 45 acre stretch of land in Khurushkul union of Coxs Bazar. Bangladesh Fisheries Development Corporation (BFDC) is supervising the construction process which is slated to finish by December 2021.



The government is also planning to integrate the zone with the Asrayan 2 Project of the Prime Ministers Office. Dried fish production is reported active for most of the year on the Coxs Bazar coast. This is why it is possible to meet domestic demand for the product and to export the excess to other countries as well.



But traders cite inadequate infrastructure as well as police harassment in the countrywide distribution process as major reasons why the sector is not developing. They are continuously urging the authorities to take care of the problem. A local semi-industrial zone for dried fish has already been set up by private entrepreneurs in the Coxs Bazar Nazirarhat area, considered to be the largest dried fish production hub in the country.



Business in this area picks up in winter when various kinds of fishes are done drying and are ready to be packaged and distributed for sales. But business there shuts down in the monsoon season, traders said. Union parishad chairman of Coxs Bazar Sadar upazilas PM Khali union, Md Shahid Ullah, said they are trying to modernize the dried fish trade and organize it, which is only possible if the government supports their endeavours.



Md Masudur Rahman Mollah, additional deputy commissioner of the district, said various initiatives are being taken to strengthen the dried fish industry and they are talking to local chamber of commerce members to invest in the sector, which can enable the construction of an industrial factory. Sources at the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock also said the dried fish industrial zone is being constructed at a budget of Tk1,868 crore, under the Fisheries Departments Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project initiative, which will also set up a landing station for fish.



State Minister for Fisheries and Livestock, Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, told the Bangla Tribune that development of the dried fish industry is now a priority for them, which will benefit the economy as an export prospect once it evolves.
A condemned killer of Saudi embassy official Khalaf Al Ali was hanged at Kashimpur High Security Central Jail here on Sunday night.





Saiful Islam Mamun was hanged at 10:01pm, said jail super M Shajahan Ahmed.





Later, an ambulance carrying his body started for his village home in Bagerhat, he said.





Earlier, Mamun's relatives met him at the jail, the jail super said.





On October 7, 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed a review petition filed against its judgment that upheld Mamun's death penalty in the murder case.





The SC upheld the High Court verdict that gave death sentence to Mamun, and life term to 3 others -- Md Al Amin, Akbar Ali Lalu and Rafiqul Islam -- for killing the Saudi embassy official.





Khalaf Al Ali, 45, a non-diplomatic official with the consular section of the embassy, was shot to death near his Gulshan residence on the night of March 5, 2012.





A murder case was filed with Gulshan Police Station against 5 people, 2 days after the killing.





On December 30, 2012, a Dhaka court sentenced all the 5 accused of the case to death.





However, the decision was overturned when the convicts' appeal and death sentence were sent to the HC.





In 2013, the High Court acquitted fugitive Selim Chowdhury, commuted the sentences of Md Al Amin, Akbar Ali Lalu and Rafiqul Islam to life in prison and upheld the death sentence of Saiful Islam Mamun.





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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

The state then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in 2014.Dhaka Tribune, March 3, 2019
The Colorado legislature has debated getting rid of capital punishment four times since 2000. The bill being brought this year wouldnt send the question to voters, as proponents of lethal injection want.





Democrats are pushing to abolish the death penalty in Colorado for the 5th time in a dozen years, reviving a conversation that has ebbed and flowed for more than a decade at the Capitol but which now appears to have more momentum toward passage than ever before.





Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, supports abolition and his party controls the states House and Senate. Those 3 factors, which have not lined up for at least the past 2 decades, give the measure an open lane toward becoming law.





But capital punishment is a moral question on which public opinion is ever-shifting and crosses party lines. 2 prominent Democrats in the Colorado General Assembly this year are the closest in the statehouse to the issue and are also among the death penaltys most compelling advocates.





Of the 3 men on Colorados death row, 2 were convicted of killing state Sen. Rhonda Fields son and his fiancee in 2005. State Rep. Tom Sullivans son was killed in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, a case that led to the gunmans conviction, but no death sentence.





So even with the wind at their backs, proponents of abolishing the death penalty in Colorado should still expect their bill to lead to an emotional and complex debate. Theres also disagreement about whether repealing the death penalty is something state lawmakers should decide or whether it should go to a vote of the people.





Even one prominent opponent of capital punishment, Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty, would like to see citizens make the decision.





I dont want to pretend that I have any of the solutions to address what has happened, what has been done or what has taken place in the past, said state Sen. Julie Gonzales, a Denver Democrat who is among those leading the repeal effort. What I am asking for is an opportunity to think about: What are we going to do as a state moving forward, in terms of whether or not we still believe that the state of Colorado should be allowed to punish people by death? Thats the question on the table.





Year after year, the Colorado legislature has answered that question with a yes. Efforts to abolish the law failed in 2007, 2009, 2013 and 2017.





In that span, however, Colorado juries have repeatedly rejected sentencing murderers to death. And, the one man who was slated to die by lethal injection, Nathan Dunlap, was indefinitely spared in 2013 by then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, who called for a statewide conversation on the issue. Dunlap remains on death row.





Whether the debate Hickenlooper called for has really happened is a matter of opinion, but capital punishment likely will be forced back into the spotlight in Colorado once more in the coming days and weeks.





The history of capital punishment in Colorado





The bill to take the death penalty off the table as a form of punishment in Colorado is expected to be introduced at the legislature as soon as this week.





Whether the measure would be retroactive to the date a crime is committed or when charges are filed has not been announced, but it appears the repeal would go into effect some time over the summer.





What the legislation would not do is impact the pending death penalty cases in Colorado  there are at least three  or the three men who are currently on the states death row.





Those 3 waiting to die by lethal injection include Dunlap, who shot and killed 4 people at an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese in 1993, and Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray, who in 2005 killed Javad Marshall Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. The appellate hearings for Owens and Ray are still ongoing.





Prosecutors have tried in recent years to seek capital punishment in a handful of cases, but juries rejected their efforts. Not since June 2009, when Ray was sentenced, has a Colorado jury signed off on death.





Three cases since then have made it to a death penalty sentencing hearing: James Holmes, who in July 2012 killed 12 people and injured 70 more in an attack on a movie theater in Aurora; Dexter Lewis, who in October 2012 killed five people in a robbery of Feros Bar & Grill in Denver; and Glen Galloway, who killed his ex-girlfriend in Colorado Springs in May 2016 the day after murdering his friend.





But juries could not unanimously decide on death sentences in those cases, meaning the defendants received life in prison, instead.





There are questions, as well, about whether Colorado could even carry out the death penalty since it appears to lack the combination of drugs needed to complete lethal injection as prescribed in state law. Unlike other states, Colorado does not allow for capital punishment to be carried out in any way other than lethal injection.





The last execution in Colorado was in 1997, when Gary Lee Davis died by lethal injection for the 1986 kidnapping, rape and murder of Virginia Ginny May in Arapahoe County.





Before Davis, the last person to be executed in Colorado was Luis Jose Monge in 1967. He was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and three of his 10 children. There have been 103 people executed by legal order in Colorado, dating back to before it was even a state.





So fundamentally wrong





If lawmakers decide to abolish the death penalty this year, they would follow five other state legislatures that have repealed their capital punishment laws in recent years. Altogether, there are 19 states in the U.S. that dont allow the death penalty.





Polis declined an interview with The Colorado Sun through a spokeswoman, but in a statement he said hes been clear that if the legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty, I would sign it. In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, he suggested that if a bill abolishing capital punishment were to pass he certainly take that as a strong indication that those who are currently on death row should have their sentences commuted to life in prison.





The arguments against the death penalty fall along the lines of race, judicial mistakes, morality and cost.





To me, the entire criminal justice system has been built on a legacy of controlling too often the lives of people of color, Gonzales said. The entire criminal justice system is so intertwined with the issues of racism and the legacies of racism. The issue that has been, to me, sort of the most concrete demonstration of that control of the criminal justice system: Whether the system itself can actually take your life. Not just your liberty, not just your opportunity, but life itself.





She added: Ive just been struck by that as so fundamentally wrong, particularly when you zoom out from an individual case and you start to look at systematically  the fact that so many of the people who are actually sentenced to the death penalty are more often than not black men.





All 3 men on Colorados death row are black. A University of Denver law school study in 2015 found that Colorado prosecutors were more likely to seek the death penalty against minority defendants than against white defendants. Studies in other states have also shown defendants of color are more likely to be sentenced to death.





More than 150 death row inmates across the nation have also been released from prison after new evidence showed their innocence since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. None of those were in Colorado, however, though there are people in the states history who have been removed from death row upon appeal.





I think the death penalty is an absolutely permanent determination, said Rep. Adrienne Benavidez, an Adams County Democrat who is also leading the repeal charge. Judges and juries can make mistakes.





Shes also bothered by the morality of the state putting someone to death.





Were one of the few more industrialized countries that have the death penalty, which I think is a statement in and of itself, she said. To me, life imprisonment is sufficient punishment. I dont believe in an eye for an eye because its never an eye for an eye.





And then there is the cost. The Aurora theater shooting trial, alone, cost at least $3 million and likely more. According to various fiscal analyses, the estimated cost of the death penalty on Colorado taxpayers  for lawyers prosecuting and defending cases and litigating appeals  is $700,000 to $1 million per year.





Proponents of repealing capital punishment in Colorado point to those numbers, which mount up over years of appeals, as clear economic reasons against the practice.





The death penalty is costly. It is applied unevenly and it is basically immoral, said state Sen. Lois Court, a Denver Democrat who cast 1 of the votes preventing a repeal bill from passing in 2013. She said her decision then came after then-Gov. Hickenlooper indicated he would veto the measure, but that as public opinion has changed so have her beliefs.





She will be a yes vote for repealing the death penalty this year.





Is it right for the state to do what we would be punishing the individual for having done? No, she said. To me thats a very basic equation. Its not the right thing to do.





Republican Sen. Kevin Priola, of Henderson, says he will support the repeal for all of the reasons others oppose it. But he says primarily his opposition is faith-based. He is Catholic.





I think theres a lot of arguments to repeal it and theres not many really good arguments, in my opinion, to keep it, he said.





Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, and some of the states top prosecutors also support abolishing the death penalty. Among them are Denver District Attorney Beth McCann and Dougherty, the Boulder County district attorney.





Dougherty wants the death penalty repeal to go to a vote of the people and be placed into Colorados constitution. That would mean it couldnt be undone by state lawmakers should political circumstances change at the Capitol.





Ive seen horrific things in my career, Dougherty said, but Ive never been a supporter of the death penalty.





And that belief has never really been in question, he says, even through witnessing carnage  in-person  like after the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York City. Ive certainly given it a lot of thought, Dougherty said. But I would not say Ive wavered, no.





It is truly saved for the worst of the worst kind of cases





The 18th Judicial District is where all 3 men on Colorados death row were sentenced to die by lethal injection. Its also where Holmes was prosecuted and a handful of other potential death penalty cases were heard in recent years.





Ask District Attorney George Brauchler, a Republican whose term has been dominated by his support for capital punishment, why he supports its use and he produces a list of reasons. Among them: It saves taxpayers money because it drives plea agreements in first-degree murder cases, helping victims avoid reliving their experiences during grueling trials.





Thats real cost savings, he said. Thats real savings to victims.





Brauchler is also chief among those who think the issue should be sent to the ballot for voters to decide. Anything less, he says, sends a message that Colorado lawmakers dont trust the people to decide. After all, theyve been given tough decisions before: marijuana, taxes, and oil and gas regulation.





Why can they be trusted with all of these issues, none of which are more complicated or more serious? he said.





Brauchler predicted if the repeal passes in the legislature, a ballot initiative will be brought to reinstate it. Thats what happened in Nebraska, where the state legislature abolished capital punishment in 2015 but voters brought it back in a statewide vote the next year.





Recent polling on capital punishment in Colorado is sparse. But in 2015, a Quinnipiac University poll showed that 67 % of the states voters thought the death penalty should continue to be law, while 26 % said it should be abolished.





Colorado voters rejected a ballot measure to repeal the death penalty in 1966.





Jim Bullock, the district attorney for several counties in southeast Colorado, agrees that the people should make the determination. The Republican points out that capital punishment is used sparingly in the state because of the strict rules governing when its allowed.





In Colorado, the death penalty can only be sought in a first-degree murder case against someone who has killed in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner. The penalty also is available in cases where the victim is a police officer or other first responder, a judge, an elected official or a witness to a crime. If a defendant kills a pregnant woman, multiple people at once, or more than one person in multiple criminal episodes they are also eligible for capital punishment.





It is truly saved for the worst of the worst kind of cases, Bullock said. The morality issue  thats for each and every individual to determine. You cannot legislate morality, its what the overall sense of justice is for all of the community and all of the citizens.





Bullocks office is pursuing a death penalty case against Miguel Contreras-Perez, who is accused of killing Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility corrections officer Mary Ricard in 2012. At the time of the attack, Contreras-Perez was serving 35 years to life in prison for the kidnapping and rape of a teenage girl.





Cases like that one are why Sen. Bob Gardner, a Colorado Springs Republican, has voted again and again to keep the death penalty.





I believe that the death penalty is appropriate for the most heinous sorts of crimes, and I believe it is a deterrent for certain types of crime when there is no other deterrent, in particular those who are already incarcerated for lengthy sentences really have no deterrent for committing a murder of a corrections officer, he said.





Gardner says he has asked himself if a Colorado jury would ever sentence a defendant to death given the number of recent cases where theyve refused to do so. But thats not the point, he said, the possibility of the death penalty is as important as the imposition of the death penalty.





It was within the first month that I was in the General Assembly that I debated this issue, said Gardner, who first became a state lawmaker in 2007 and is the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary committee. Its 2019 and this issue is still being debated. I think the debate is fair enough. We should always ask ourselves as a society: Does it continue to be right? Does it continue to be appropriate? For me, that answer will always be yes.





Democratic Sen. Nancy Todd, of Aurora, is among those who have also been part of the debate at the Capitol for many years. Shes voted for and against bills to repeal the death penalty. She hasnt made up her mind about this years version.





As a Christian, its troubling to say that we will make that final call, she said. At the same time, I also live in Aurora and lived through the Chuck E. Cheese massacre and I do believe there are consequences for your actions. All of those different angles are the things that I take into consideration.





The parents at the legislature





In January, Sen. Fields took to the podium on the Senate floor and began a speech that immediately captured the attention of everyone in the room.





Today my heart is heavy, she began. On this day, Jan. 29, 1983, I gave birth to my only son. He turns 36 years old in heaven. I can tell you that living without him has been a very lonely journey. I can still remember what it was like to carry him for nine months. I can remember what it was like when I saw him and met him for the first time.





Fields son, Javad, was 22 when he and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were gunned down on June 20, 2005, in Aurora. Javad was assisting police as a witness in the murder of his best friend, who had been killed by Sir Mario Owens.





Owens later opened fire on the couple, targeting Javad for his cooperation.





Since then, Fields has entered politics and risen to a top position in the Colorado Senate as Democrats assistant majority leader. She is against repealing the death penalty and said she plans to be vocal about her opposition.





Its going to be a difficult conversation, but its one that we have to have, she said. I think thats how we get at good public policy, when we talk through it and we dont push through it without having a full debate. Im looking forward to having that debate and that discussion on the floor if it makes it that far. Im not afraid of it. Its not hurtful for me because its something that we have to talk about. For me to shy away from it or to shrink from it is just not something that I can do. Im going to speaking out and address the issue as its confronted to me with.





Fields, who is black, rejects arguments made against the death penalty on the basis of race and cost.





What price do you put on justice? she said. What value do you want to put on my sons life and his fiancee life? I dont know if there is a price tag that you can put on justice. Justice is very expensive. I know how much we spend down here on the Department of Corrections and our judicial branch.





She is joined in her opposition by Sullivan, a fellow Democrat who is in the House. His son, Alex, was murdered in the Aurora theater shooting. Sullivan spent roughly three months watching the death penalty prosecution of his sons killer unfold in an Arapahoe County courtroom.





Sullivan says he understands the problem with the death penalty, but still feels that as a society, we should be able to do that. He says he would rather fix capital punishment in Colorado this year rather than do away with it.





Im not going to be counting votes against it. Im not going to do that, he said. I will tell my story and leave it at that. But I have some very poignant stories to tell. I mean, it is very vivid in my memory  several instances during that trial that I will relay to the people that are sitting here that they have not heard from anyone else. And that they wouldnt hear from anybody else.





One conversation with prosecutors in particular stands out for Sullivan, the one when he had to say aloud that he wanted them to seek the death penalty for the gunman. He compared it to the questions flight attendants ask those who sit in an exit row on an airplane about being willing to assist in an emergency. Federal rules mandate that passengers have to verbally respond.





The only thing even comparable, that maybe you can understand, is if you get in those three (exit) rows of seats in the middle of the airplane where you get the extra legroom and they come and ask you those questions, Sullivan said. When they look at you, you actually have to say to them that you understand the questions that they asked. This was exactly the same type of thing. You couldnt nod your head, you couldnt, you know, mumble or just give them a head shake. No, you actually had to say the words across from them. Yes, I want that person put to death."

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
An Australian woman has been ordered by a US court to hand over her DNA to prosecutors who allege she murdered her young stepdaughter.





Former Adelaide resident Lisa Cunningham faces the death penalty in Phoenix, Arizona, after being charged with the first-degree murder and neglect of seven-year-old stepdaughter Sanaa, who died in February, 2017.





The 44-year-old's husband, Germayne Cunningham  a former police detective and the father of Sanaa  is also charged with her murder.





The couple have pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges.





Overnight, they appeared in the Maricopa County Court, which ordered the couple provide prosecutors with DNA, despite their objection to the application.





The court was told prosecutors had planned to have the case agent at court to obtain the DNA evidence from the accused, but he was involved in a car crash on the way to court.





"He's trying to send someone else from the Goodyear Police Department in case the court does grant our request to obtain a buccal [oral] swab," prosecutors said.





"We're hoping they will be here today.





"If not, Your Honour, and assuming you grant our request, we'll have to coordinate with defence counsel in order to take that sample."





Judge Michael Kemp said he had reviewed the submissions on the application for the DNA evidence.





"I am going to grant the motion to take the sample," Judge Kemp said.





He confirmed the 2020 trial date before setting another trial management conference for May.





An autopsy found that Sanaa's cause of death was sepsis related to a chest infection, an abscess in her right foot and multiple skin ulcers.





It was also noted that she had an unspecific schizophrenia spectrum disorder.





Court documents allege the couple shut Sanaa in their backyard, laundry and garage, forced her to sleep outside, restrained her with cable ties and failed to seek medical care.





Last December, Ms Cunningham's lawyer, Eric Kessler told the media that his client was trying to get clarification about exactly what she did that "constitutes the child abuse that is at issue with respect to the homicide charge".





He also said he would meet with the Australian consulate to try and secure funding for her defence.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

abc.net.au, March 3, 2019
HONG KONG  Before she went on holiday with her boyfriend, the young woman from Hong Kong told friends about his pledge to her. He said I am his first and last girlfriend, the woman, Poon Hiu-wing, 20, wrote on Facebook. It would be her last Facebook post.





After their trip to Taiwan in February 2018, the boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, returned alone. Her family grew worried and called the police. One week later, investigators found her body in the bushes near a light rail station in northern Taiwan. An autopsy determined that she had been four to five months pregnant.





The police in Hong Kong arrested Mr. Chan, and last year he was charged over possession of his girlfriends cellphone, digital camera and $3,000 in cash.





But he was not charged with killing Ms. Poon.





Under Hong Kong law, Mr. Chan must face charges related to her death where it happened, in Taiwan. But Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement with Taiwan, so Mr. Chan has remained in Hong Kong.





To break the logjam, Hong Kong has proposed easing renditions to and from Taiwan  and also to mainland China, touching off concerns that Hong Kong residents would be exposed to Chinas harsh legal system while losing the singular legal protections they enjoy at home.





Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to China under a framework of one country, two systems, which allowed the territory to maintain its own political, legal and economic systems. Opposition lawmakers have accused the Hong Kong government of taking advantage of the desire for justice for Ms. Poon to push a broader agenda of promoting Hong Kongs integration with the rest of China.





I think the whole thing is a political maneuver more than anything else, said Claudia Mo, a lawmaker who leads the pro-democracy camp in Hong Kongs legislature. Ever since the handover, its been stipulated in the law that we do not hand over fugitives to mainland China. Now they are taking advantage of this particular Taiwan case and pretend it is for compassion and humanity.





Hong Kong officials say the suspect may avoid more serious charges if the government does not act quickly. Ms. Poons mother publicly implored lawmakers to help bring her daughters accused killer to trial.





We must do everything to help, Carrie Lam, Hong Kongs chief executive, said last month. But if we argue with each other, slowly consult the public or issue some consultation documents, I fear we will not be able to help in this particular case.





The proposed changes to Hong Kongs extradition law set up a mechanism for handling jurisdictions with which the territory does not have formal agreements. The most significant among those are Taiwan, mainland China and Macau, a former Portuguese territory that returned to Chinese rule in 1999. The proposal considers all three parts of the Peoples Republic of China, although the Communist Party-run central government has never controlled Taiwan.





The obstacles to formal extradition agreements differ. With Taiwan, the issue has primarily been political, legal experts say. China considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of its territory, and does not recognize its government.





In 2009, when Taiwan had a president who sought closer ties with China, the two sides reached an agreement on transferring criminal suspects. But Taiwans present administration is much more wary of Beijing. An official with Taiwans Ministry of Justice said it would not agree to any extradition deal that considered Taiwan as part of China.





Although Taiwan has been seeking mutual judicial assistance with different jurisdictions, including Hong Kong, the government will not accept an extradition agreement that erodes Taiwans dignity and sovereignty, the official, Liu Yi-chun, said last week, according to Taiwans state-owned Central News Agency.





In Hong Kong, the chief concern about an agreement with mainland China is doubts about the quality of justice in a place where defendants have little access to legal representation and courts are subordinate to the Communist Party.





If we now extend this arrangement to allow in particular the mainland to make requests for rendition, then the simple point is we are accepting that currently mainland Chinas criminal justice system meet basic requirements for fair trials, said Eric Chueng, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong.





If we are not satisfied with that, he added, why are we introducing an amendment of such far-reaching effect?





In 2017, Australia backed out of a proposed extradition treaty with China after lawmakers expressed concerns about Chinas legal system.





In recent years, several people from Hong Kong have been ensnared in the mainland legal system by questionable means. Five Hong Kong booksellers involved in the publication of gossipy books about Chinas political leadership disappeared into mainland custody in late 2015. They were later shown on state-run television broadcasts giving confessions that one later said was coerced.



In 2017, Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese billionaire, was taken out of a Hong Kong luxury hotel in a wheelchair and transported back to the mainland without passing through border controls. His abduction has not been officially explained, but he is believed to be assisting investigations into the financial industry.

The opening of a new train station in Hong Kong last year has also caused worries about encroachment of the mainlands legal system. The station, in Hong Kongs West Kowloon district, is the terminus of a high-speed line to the neighboring mainland province of Guangdong, and was built to hold border-crossing facilities as well. So once travelers cross through immigration, they are under mainland jurisdiction.

A Hong Kong resident was detained in the mainland side of the terminal in October because he was wanted by a court in the neighboring mainland city of Shenzhen for owing money in a home sale, the mainland news outlet Nanfang Plus reported.

John Lee, Hong Kongs secretary for security, said the proposed changes to the law would leave in place protections for human rights, including assurances that those extradited will not face the death penalty. But suspects could be extradited for political crimes or other matters that are not considered crimes in Hong Kong, he said.

The possible political intentions behind charges like corruption and tax evasion could be hard to sort out, Hong Kong legal experts say. And legislators representing pro-business parties in Hong Kong have expressed concern about executives becoming ensnared in mainland criminal cases over commercial disputes that would be civil matters in Hong Kong.

Pro-government lawmakers have the vote to push through the proposed changes, Ms. Mo acknowledged. But her side is still looking toward a more limited proposal that would exclude renditions to the mainland.

The legislature could also approve Mr. Chans extradition to Taiwan under the existing framework, undermining the need for new rules, Mr. Cheung said.

Mr. Lee has said that the Taiwan case exposed weaknesses in the current system, under which Hong Kong lacks long-term agreements with more than 100 countries.

This is a loophole that we must address, he said. If I only deal with a single case now, this loophole will continue to exist. That would mean we will repeat the same problem.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
South Sudan authorities executed at least 7 people in February 2019 alone, 3 of whom were from the same family. This is as many as were executed in the whole of 2018 and represents a shocking spike in the use of the death penalty in the country, Amnesty International said today.





This confirms our fears that South Sudan authorities have absolutely no respect for the right to life as they continue to totally disregard the fact that the world is moving away from use of the death penalty, said Seif Magango, Amnesty Internationals Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.





In December 2018, Amnesty International raised the alarm that the eastern African country had in that year executed more people than in any other year since its independence in 2011.





The executions in 2018 followed the transfer of at least 135 death row prisoners from county and state prisons to Wau Central Prison and Juba Central Prison, which are equipped with gallows to carry out executions.





6 of this years victims were executed in Juba Central Prison, while at least 1 was executed in Wau Central Prison. All the victims were men. The country executes people by hanging.





We are shocked and dismayed that executions have become the order of the day in South Sudan. Rather than execute people, the authorities should rehabilitate prisoners and make them well-adjusted individuals that can contribute positively to society, said Seif Magango.





Amnesty International has established that at least three of the executions undertaken in February 2019 were shrouded in secrecy; the family of the 3 related men was not informed of their impending execution and only learnt of the death of their loved ones after they had been executed.





These reports are extremely concerning, and we cannot even begin to imagine how the families must be feeling. South Sudan must immediately commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment, establish an official moratorium on executions and take steps, without delay, to abolish the death penalty, said Seif Magango.





Amnesty International established that at least four of the seven executed men had been convicted of murder. The countrys Penal Code also allows for the use of the death penalty for bearing false witness resulting in an innocent persons execution, terrorism (or banditry, insurgency or sabotage) resulting in death, aggravated drug trafficking and treason.





Background





Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception regardless of the nature of the crime, the characteristics of the offender, or the method used by the state to execute the prisoner.





The death penalty - the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice - is the most fundamental denial of human rights. It violates the right to life as proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment.

Executions Stepped Up in War-Ravaged South Sudan, Amnesty Says

South Sudan is stepping up its use of executions, hanging seven people in the first 2 months of 2019, the same number subjected to the death penalty all of last year, Amnesty International said.





6 were executed at a prison in the capital, Juba, and at least 1 other was in Wau, in the countrys northwest, the London-based advocacy group said Friday in a statement. 4 had been convicted of murder, while 3 belonged to the same family and their executions were shrouded in secrecy, with relatives only being informed after their deaths.





This confirms our fears that South Sudan authorities have absolutely no respect for the right to life as they continue to totally disregard the fact that the world is moving away from use of the death penalty, said Seif Magango, Amnestys deputy director for East Africa.





South Sudan, Africas youngest country, is trying to emerge from a 5-year civil war that may have claimed almost 400,000 lives. Amnesty declined to give more information about the executions. Government spokesmen didnt answer multiple calls seeking comment.

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,

but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Amnesty International, March 3, 2019: Bloomberg News, March 3, 2019
The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue...

5 weeks ago




Wall Street Journal poll had The new NBC News/poll had a little good news for Trump : strong party loyalty. The rest of the news was bad and adds up to... no second term for you, Bozo. When asked if they will definitely or probably vote for Trump in 2020 or definitely or probably vote for his Democratic opponent, respondents divided like this:

 Definitely vote for Trump- 27%

 Probably vote for Trump- 14%

 Probably vote for the Democrat- 15%

 Definitely vote for the Democrat- 33%

That's 48% for a Democrat and 41% for Trump. In 2016 Hillary won the popular vote (65,853,514 to 62,984,828) that same 48% to Trump's 46%. As people have gotten to know Trump better, they've decided he shouldn't have a second term.





Who likes Trump most?

 Republicans- 88%

 rural residents- 60%

 whites without college degrees- 60%

 men- 54%

 whites- 54%

Who dislikes Trump most?

 African Americans- 88%

 Latinos- 64%

 women- 61%

 those between 18-34- 57%

 whites with college degrees- 55%

 INDEPENDENTS- 51%

The word "independents" is capitalized for a reason. They're the ones who decide the election. Republicans vote for Republicans. Democrats vote for Democrats. Independents decide the winners.





NY Times' Trip Gabriel warned that Sounds good, right? But not to The Establishment--which is more worried that a genuine progressive win than seeing Trump reelected. Yesterday, the' Trip Gabriel warned that Democrats will lose unless they stick to the Republican wing of their party for messaging and candidates. He puked out the corporatist/Establishment line (lie) that "there are widespread worries that the momentum in Pennsylvania, and in other key Rust Belt states, could screech to a halt if the issues in the 2020 presidential primaries and the partys eventual nominee stray too far left for the regions many centrist voters." Really, like in Michigan, Wisconsin and downstate Illinois, where Bernie won the 2016 primaries and is, if anything, even more popular today?





Cue: corporate whore and Pennsylvania's most corrupt Democrat, Ed Rendell: "The more we have presidential candidates or newly elected congresspeople talking about the Green New Deal, talking about Medicare for all, talking about socialism, the more that plays into the Trump campaigns hands." Here's what the Blue Dogs, New Dems, Problem Solvers, No Labels folks who are desperate to push Status Quo Joe Biden into the nomination have to say:

He mentioned issues that are tantalizing to some primary voters and candidates but which risk alienating general election voters, such as reparations for descendants of slaves and a rapid, costly transition to carbon-free energy. Reparations? What are we talking about? Mr. Rendell scoffed. Having only renewable energy by 2030? Its not possible to achieve that.



Mr. Trump is in the White House in large part because of the crumbling in 2016 of three so-called blue-wall states, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate in more than two decades.



In 2020, if the rest of the electoral map is unchanged, with Mr. Trump winning the swing states of Florida and Ohio, Democrats understand that their most promising path back to the presidency is to resurrect the blue wall. Mr. Trump carried the three states by less than 80,000 total votes, so small fluctuations in his support or opposition would be pivotal.



Christopher Borick, a political scientist and pollster at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, called 2016 a lightning-in-a-bottle victory that will be hard for the president to duplicate.



But, he said, Democrats are in danger of creating the conditions in which it could happen.



A more left-leaning candidate opens the door for Trump, Mr. Borick said. If you want to lock up Pennsylvania for a Democrat, the more moderate Democrats are the key.



Some Democratic strategists said it is much too early to rule out any of the 2020 hopefuls as unable to defeat Mr. Trump in Pennsylvania, where disapproval of his job performance is 54 percent, with 42 percent approval, according to Gallup.



Im not going to sit here and say theres a Democratic nominee that cant win Pennsylvania, said Jason OMalley, a party strategist in Lancaster County, a Republican-leaning region.



Coleman Lamb, a senior adviser to his brother Conor, said a candidates personal qualities mattered more to voters than ideology. I dont think the only way to win is someone who proactively goes to the middle, he said. I think its more someone who is authentic, whos saying what they actually believe and think.



In 2018, Conor Lamb flipped many precincts that had voted for Mr. Trump, especially in the North Hills suburbs of Pittsburgh. Recent interviews with two dozen voters there, a mix of blue- and white-collar workers, revealed the full Democratic spectrum, from progressives eager for a nominee who leans hard left, to party apostates who voted for Mr. Trump and remain solidly behind him.

Gabriel then dug up some a retired postal worker and Trump voter to call Bernie a communist-- "He wants to take everything off the rich and give it to the poor: Thats communism"-- and say he'd never vote for him, the line of propaganda that is being spread by the Biden campaign. Next a claim that Scott Wallace, "one progressive who made it to the general election in a competitive district," lost to Brian Fitzpatrick, without mentioning that Fitzpatrick is the most left-leaning Republican in Congress and is actually voting more frequently for progressive legislation than several conservative Democrats. Also unmentioned is that the DCCC worked against progressives in the primaries but that of the 4 challengers who did win, two (Mary Gay Scanlon and Madeleine Dean) joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus and that the 3 Blue Dog/New Dem candidates Ron DiNicola, George Scott and Denny Wolff who made it to the general election were defeated. But what do facts means for the NY Times these days?





The "leading Democratic and Republican strategists" Gabriel interviewed say the best bets in Pennsylvania are Status Quo Joe and Ms Middle of the Road/Means Nothing candidate Amy Klobuchar.





Quartz did a funny " Meet The Dems " post that included "Who will like this candidate and "Who will hate this candidate" sections on each one:

 Bernie- 8.1 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Loyal Bernie Bros who still think he would have won in 2016, new converts to the idea of universal healthcare and higher taxes for the wealthy.

 Who will hate: Democrats who see Sanders as a spoiler who siphons votes away from defeating Trump, Clinton fans still smarting over her loss, people of color alienated by Sanders last campaign.



 Elizabeth Warren- 4.8 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Detail-oriented voters who like her mix of east coast academic know-how and midwest roots.

 Who will hate: Voters who distrust the intellectual elite, people who doubt she has enough personal appeal and can lure centrists.



 Cory Booker- 4.18 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Voters looking for an optimistic message to contrast Trumps negativity, northeastern city dwellers.

 Who will hate: White rural voters who dont want to focus on race and inequality, liberals concerned about his Wall Street and Silicon Valley enthusiasts.



 Status Quo Joe- 3.31 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Democrats who think a safe pair of hands is a tested white man, independents nostalgic for the Obama administration, Republicans Trump has lost.

 Who will hate: Progressive millennials eager for a new generation of leaders, far-right conservatives who hated Obama.



 Marianne Williamson- 2.6 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Some woke white liberals, coastal elites.

 Who will hate: Pragmatic voters, nationalists, centrists, people who want the party to stay away from identity politics, those wary of modern spiritual movements.



 Kamala Harris- 2.37 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Fans of Obamas progressive pragmatism looking for a candidate who can combine a compelling personal biography with the promise to unite the partys multi-ethnic coalition.

 Who will hate: Progressives who thought Obama was a sellout, particularly those who question her mixed record on reforming the justice system.





 Michael Bloomberg- 2.29 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Other centrists who think a steady hand means an older billionaire; gun-control supporters.

 Who will hate: Anyone hungry to see a younger, less white, less male, non-billionaire be the face of the Democratic party.



 Kirsten Gillibrand- 1.36 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Establishment-oriented voters and party supporters closely tied to the Democratic National Committee, where Gillibrand has deep support, and still-with-Hillary folks.

 Who will hate: Progressive voters-- Gillibrands work defending the tobacco industry and her anti-immigrant platform a decade ago raise questions about where her loyalties lie.



 Beto- 1.23 million Twitter followers



 Who will like: Democrats disillusioned with party leadership (especially millennials), immigrants, veterans.

 Who will hate: Voters hungry for nitty-gritty details on what his policies would be, Democrats who want the party to stay away from divisive, culture-war issues.



 Amy Klobuchar- 631,000 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Folks looking for a Goldilocks candidate-- neither too left nor too right, and a woman who appeals to midwestern voters.

 Who will hate: Democrats to her left may be opposed to Klobuchars centrist appeal.



 Tulsi Gabbard- 279,000 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Veterans, some progressives, voters looking to reduce military spending.

 Who will hate: People who are concerned about Islamophobia, supporters of global trade.



 Julian Castro- 179,000 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Democrats looking for a fresh face, Latino voters, free traders.

 Who will hate: Democrats dismissive of identity politics, opponents of affirmative action (which Castro supports).



 Jay Inslee- 158,000 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Inslees long history of sounding the alarm on climate change will endear him to anyone worried about looming environmental disaster; his tech-focused solutions for the countrys woes are likely to appeal to that industry.

 Who will hate: Climate science deniers, fossil fuel industry executives, wealthier individuals opposed to his capital gains tax proposals in Washington state.



 Pete Buttigieg- 135,000 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Millennials, LGBTQ voters, voters from flyover states, social progressives.

 Who will hate: Voters looking for a more experienced candidate, conservative Christians.



 Andrew Yang- 62,400 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Silicon Valley types, promoters of universal basic income (UBI).

 Who will hate: Anyone against higher taxes: Yang wants to fund his UBI proposal through value-added taxes.



 John Delaney- 14,400 Twitter followers



 Who will like: Centrists drawn by his nuts-and-bolts pitch to improve workers rights, education, and infrastructure.

 Who will hate: Democrats who dont think that reaching out to Donald Trump voters is the way to win in 2020.

I put them in order of Twitter followers because-- unlike journalists-- Twitter followers seem to gravitate to candidates based on substantive proposals. Remember this:

UPDATE: There's A Rat In The Valley




A DHG Pharma factory in Tan Phu Thanh industrial park in the southern province of Hau Giang. Photo by VnExpress.

Japans Taisho wants control of the DHG Pharmaceutical Company by raising its stake to 56.69 percent from 35 percent.

The pharmaceutical giant has announced plans to buy 28.36 million DHG shares, equivalent to 21.7 percent, of DHG Pharma.

The disclosure came a week after Taisho Pharmaceutical purchased 925,200 DHG shares (about 0.7 percent).

The share price Taisho is offering this time is reportedly VND120,000 ($5.17), which would entail an investment of VND3.4 trillion ($129 million) to buy 21.7 percent more shares to increase its stake to 56.69 percent.

In October last year, Taisho had successfully bought 44.8 million shares to own 34.3 percent of Hau Giang's chartered capital.

Taisho has started pouring capital into Hau Giang Pharmaceutical since May 2016, first with a 24.5 percent equity stake. It has since continued buying more shares to raise its stake in the largest pharmaceutical enterprise in the Mekong Delta region.

The State Securities Commission has allowed DHG to increase its foreign ownership to 100 percent since mid-2018, opening up opportunities for foreign investors, especially Taisho Pharmaceutical.

The State Capital Investment Corporation (SCIC) is currently the largest shareholder of DHG Pharma with a 43.31 percent stake. If SCIC does not sell, Taisho needs to buy shares of all other shareholders to reach its goal.

At the end of last week, the DHG price went up by nearly 60 percent over the beginning of the year to VND119,000 ($5) per share.

The estimated capitalization of this enterprise is approximately VND15 trillion ($646 million).

In 2018, DHG Pharma recorded nearly VND3.9 trillion ($168 million) in revenue and VND732 billion ($31.5 million) in pre-tax profits. It gave a 30 percent cash dividend to shareholders.
Motorbikes are seen on a road in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

HCMCs plan to ban motorbikes from the city centre will not work, given inadequate public transport and asynchronous planning.

"The plan to charge cars and remove motorbikes from downtown HCMC by 2025-2030 in order to resolve the citys congestion crisis is not feasible," Ngo Viet Nam Son, traffic expert and CEO of Ngo Viet Design Consultant Company told VnExpress International.

According to the draft proposal, which has just been submitted to the HCMC Fatherland Front Committee by the city's transport department, HCMC plans to limit the number of motorbikes from 2021-2025, and ban them completely in districts 1, 3, 5 and 10 from 2025 onwards.

The city also proposes to charge cars entering its central area, as well as impose technical safety and environmental standards, including imposing an "environmental tax" aimed at limiting the number of cars entering the city centre.

The plan expects to replace 29.3  36.8 percent of the citys traffic needs with public transport by 2030 in three phases over a decade.

"The numbers given by the proposal speak for themselves," said Son. "The only way the ban would work is when public transport can satisfy at least 80 percent of travel demands, given that vast majority of HCMC residents rely on personal vehicles to get to work every day."

Department figures show that by August 2017, HCMC had nearly eight million vehicles, including 7.3 million motorbikes, with the number of vehicles expected to rise by 30,000 a month.

The motorbike ban has been mooted and rehashed several times in the past few years, and has always met with strong opposition from experts and the public, as it targets the countrys most popular means of transport.

Legal and transportation experts have since railed against the ban, calling it "hasty" and "impossible," given the current state of public transport.

Some said the ban has no legal grounds and would put Vietnam at odds with the rest of the world, since people are free to drive motorbikes in most countries.

Motorbike culture

One of the biggest problems, Son said, is the fact that traffic planning needs to go hand in hand with urban planning, while evidence shows there is little coordination between the two.

"Public transport projects are not suitable for every neighborhood. For instance, metro and bus systems will be great in the newer urban areas, where the city has built wide roads and high-rise apartment complexes. However, in older parts of the city interlaced with narrow streets and alleyways that cannot even be accessed by car, motorbikes are the only effective option."

Another issue is that economic efficiency, for both public transport operators and citizens, is not guaranteed at the level of planning the city is seeing now.

Further, the architect added, HCMC already has a large network of buses, but because of poor market research, some are always overcrowded while others have to be perennially subsidised, causing a strain on the city budget.

"If the bus routes do not meet citizens travel demands, people are not going to use public transport, however safe they may be," he warned.

Nguyen Le Ninh, a member of HCMCs Scientific, Technical, and Environmental Advisory Council, noted that 44 percent of people who use 2-3 wheeled vehicles to make a living come from outside HCMC. Of these, 43 percent are street vendors and 55 percent are mobile merchants.

These people will require small motorbikes to move their merchandise, because public transport cannot meet their requirements.

"In order to limit the number of private vehicles in the city, there is no other solution than to reorganise society synchronously, from urban planning, positioning of industrial zones and accommodation, as well as changing the way citizens make a living in ways that adapts to public transport," he told local media.

Son suggested that public transportation should be implemented in newer areas that are suitable, and congestion solutions should be tailored for each individual district of HCMC.

However, it is paramount that these project coordinate closely with urban plans, and that city officials research transport demands and population movements within the city thoroughly before implementation, he said.
Vietnamese pork banned in several countries due to swine fever fears

Passengers carrying pork from Vietnam to Taiwan, Japan and Australia will be fined or imprisoned. Photo by Reuters

Some countries and terriories are banning pork imports from Vietnam following the recent outbreaks of African swine fever in the country.

Violators of the ban face fines and even imprisonment.

Taiwan has announced that Vietnamese people coming in with pork products would be fined about $6,500, according to Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The fine will go up to $33,000 if a passenger is caught for a second time and denied entry if they do not pay the fine in full.

A Vietnamese woman was fined $6,500 for bringing a pork snack into Taichung airport in central Taiwan on February 27.

Vietnam Airlines has been warning passengers against carrying pork items into Japan and Australia.

Passengers carrying raw or processed foods to Japan from Vietnam must have a certificate of safety, failing which they face three years' imprisonment or a fine of JPY1 million ($8,900).

In Australia, passengers must declare all foods made from plant or animal ingredients or face a fine of AUD420,000 ($298,032).

Dubai, the U.K. and the U.S. also prohibit pork products from Vietnam.

Following China and Mongolia, Vietnam has become the third Asian country hit by the incurable African swine fever, which has been detected in the cities of Hanoi and Hai Phong, and four provinces of Thai Binh, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Thanh Hoa and Hai Duong.

The flu is a viral disease that infects all pig species through bodily fluids such as blood and mucus. It causes hemorrhagic fever with a 100 percent mortality rate.

Humans are not affected by the disease.
Two artists have managed to capture the angst, vulnerability and romance of rural-urban migration, and vice versa, in Vietnam.

The exhibition, titled "Em chao cac bac" (Hello everyone), showcases works by Doan Xuan Tung and Nguyen Nghia Cuong on urban and rural migration.

Open February 20-March 12 at the VICAS Art Studio on 32 Hao Nam street, the exhibition captures different facets of migration from rural to urban areas and vice versa.

Doan Xuan Tung is a young artist born in the countryside who now lives in Hanoi, the capital city. His paintings reflect the difficulties, struggle and longings of poor workers in the city. In the bustling city, the migrants have to struggle to maintain their position, whether in a crowded bus or a shared rented accommodation.

The artist depicts their temporary, sketchy shelters with images of tainted toilets or sinks, and the familiar scenes of public buses jam-packed with people.

The feelings of the migrants are also demonstrated in the pictures that reveal their timidity and fear.

"Em chao cac bac" (Hello everyone), depicts different reactions of migrants from the countryside into the city. Photo by VnExpress/Thuy Anh

Talking about one of his paintings Em chao cac bac (Hello everyone), which has four frames, Tung says: "Three people in this set of pictures wear masks to avoid dealing with their real life. One person sits in a reserved posture, showing the shyness and timidity of a person who comes from the countryside to the city."

The paintings also show the poor workers secret aspirations for the sparkling city, symbolized by a beautiful woman they want to approach but cannot.

Tung took five years to compile this collection. Most of his paintings in the exhibition use old newspaper cuttings. The newspaper headlines used mostly convey negative content about urban life.

The newspaper pages used in the paintings spoke of the reality at the time the paintings were being created, said Tung.

A painting by Doan Xuan Tung that uses old newspaper pages for its background. Photo by VnExpress/Thuy Anh

The picture collection of Doan Xuan Tung was painted in five years with acrylic color. Most of his paintings in the exhibition are made from old newspaper pages. The newspaper headlines, which mostly convey negative content about urban life, were carefully cut from the original pages and pasted to the painting.

The newspapers page used in the paintings delivered the reality at the time the paintings were created, said Tung.

Meanwhile, artist Nguyen Nghia Cuong conveys a contrasting scene. Cuong, who spent many years working in the city, has now moved to live in the countryside.

"Lady" by Nguyen Nghia Cuong. Photo by VnExpress/Thuy Anh

Meanwhile, artist Nguyen Nghia Cuong, presents a contrast to Tungs work. Cuong, who spent many years working in the city, has now moved to live in the countryside.

His paintings show the romantic side of a rural lifestyle, while depicting real life in the city with humor and sarcasm.

In several paintings, Cuong includes the image of beautiful women to show the aspirations of men from the countryside. Several paintings show the idyllic landscapes of rural Vietnam.

The name of the exhibition is a greeting phrase, which is either from a person saying hello to the new city, or saying goodbye before they depart to the rural area.

The art works created with different materials, sizes and layouts, together take a journey from the countryside to the city and vice versa.

The exhibition captures the opposite but interwoven, contrasting living environments and cultural clashes that take place, hidden and obvious, in Vietnams rural-urban migration phenomenon.
Local authorities inspect boxes with hundreds of cat carcasses found on a trans-Vietnam bus March 1, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyet Trieu

Hundreds of cat carcasses found on a trans-Vietnam bus in seven styrofoam boxes were meant for local pubs, police believe.

Acting on a tip from locals, police in the southern province of Binh Duong last weekend found the cat carcasses in a bus coming from the northern province of Thai Binh.

The discovery was made when the bus stopped in Di An Town for gasoline.

The carcasses were stored in ice.

The bus driver said he had been hired to carry the seven boxes from Thai Binh to Binh Duong, but did not know what they contained.

Police said they suspect the cat meat was meant for local pubs. They confiscated the boxes and disposed off the meat. They said the driver will be investigated for "transporting goods of unknown origin."

Vietnam does not have laws related to killing, selling and eating cat and dog meat.

Recently, Hanoi authorities called on residents to stop eating cats and dogs, saying this practice is undermining the capital citys image in the eyes of international tourists and expats.

The capital city has also announced plans to ban dog meat from 2021.
Two Vietnamese fishing boats and crew have been seized and detained for illegally fishing in Malaysian waters.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) spotted and intercepted the two boats about 70 nautical miles off the fishing village of Kuala Kemaman in Malaysia's Terengganu State Saturday morning, the Bernama reported.

The crew of 13 fishermen, aged between 14 and 54, failed to show valid travel documents or permits to fish in Malaysian waters, the report said.

"All of them did not exhibit valid work permits from the Immigration Department," Bernama reported, quoting Maritime Commander Rashidilhadi Abd Rashid, director of Kemaman Maritime Zone.

The MMEA also seized a total of 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of squid and fishing equipment worth RM600,000 ($147,208) from the vessels.

The case is being investigated under the Fisheries Act 1985 which levies a fine of not exceeding RM1 million for the skipper and not exceeding RM100,000 for each crew member or a jail term not exceeding two years, upon conviction on the offense of harmful alteration of fish habitat.

Many Vietnamese fishermen have recently been charged with fishing violations in neighboring countries waters.

To prevent illegal fishing, Vietnams Fisheries Resources Surveillance Department has been trying to raise awareness about maritime boundaries and international maritime laws, and conducting frequent patrols to prevent potential violations.
Rising numbers of overstaying Vietnamese students have prompted South Korea to tighten visa rules for applicants, the Korea Herald reports.

The new rules will be implemented starting Monday, the newspaper reported Sunday, citing South Korea's Justice Ministry.

Vietnamese students will now have to deposit at least $10,000 in a Korean commercial bank with a Vietnamese branch, and submit proof thereof. They will also have a withdrawal limit of $4,443 for every six months.

Earlier, international students were only required to submit documentation to verify that they had at least $9,000 in a bank account in their name or that of their parents. However, many students took out loans to get the visa and proceeded to withdraw all the funds right after, the ministry said, explaining the new limit.

The report said that the new policies would only apply to Vietnamese students with D-4 visas attending universities that the Ministry of Education has deemed "poorly equipped to handle foreign students," based on certain criteria including the percentage of students who overstay their visas and the percentage of students who fail to graduate.

Students from 26 countries including Vietnam would also have to submit a TOEFL score of at least 530 and a TOPIK score of at least level 3 when they apply to universities that do not meet the education ministrys criteria.

International students will be permitted to work for "manufacturing" businesses if they have a TOPIK score of at least level 4. This is a measure aimed at preventing them from working illegally in South Korea.

Last year, 13,945 international students overstayed in South Korea, compared to 5,879 in 2015, according to the Ministry of Justice. 66 percent of overstaying students were Vietnamese, it said.

Vietnamese students are the fastest growing group in South Korean universities, second only to China in enrollment numbers, according to figures from the National Institute for International Education under South Korea's Ministry of Education.

Vietnam sent nearly 15,000 students to South Korea last year, three times higher than the number in 2015, making it the fastest growing market for international education in the Northeast Asian country.
A Vietnamese man was arrested in Japan in August 2018 for killing two spot-billed ducks for eating. Photo by Shutterstock/akara

Japanese police have sent prosecutors the results of an investigation into the killing of two spot-billed ducks by a Vietnamese man.

The 32-year-old man, whose name has not been revealed, was arrested last August after Tokyo police officers found him riding with two spot-billed ducks, known as karugamo in Japan, in his bicycle basket, the national broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.

He told the police that he had caught and killed the ducks with bare hands at a park near Shinnaka River in Edogawa District. He said he planned to cook rice porridge with the ducks, because he was not enjoying Japanese food very much.

According to the investigators, the Vietnamese man, who came to Japan under a technical internship program in late 2017, claimed that he was not aware that the killing and eating of wild ducks is illegal and violated the wildlife protection laws in Japan.

Police have handed over the case files to prosecutors for further action, NKH reported.

The Vietnamese expat population in Japan increased four times from 2012-2016 and reached 232,562 last year, making it the fourth biggest minority group in the Northeast Asian country.

However, the reputation of Vietnamese people living in Japan has been tarnished following a Japanese police report last year that said they committed more crimes than any other foreign non-permanent residents in the country.
Tokyo ranks first out of 26 cities in the region for its combination of business and leisure-or bleisure-appeal for travellers, according to a new study by EIU.

Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong and Melbourne join the Japanese capital as "five-star" bleisure destinations, based on a quantitative barometer included in The Economist Intelligence Unit's study.

Shanghai and Beijing rank higher in the bleisure barometer than corresponding liveability measures suggest, propelled by rapidly improving business infrastructure.

Some smaller Australian cities stumble on aspects like opportunity for cultural experiences for business travellers, despite high scores on rankings measuring liveability.

As corporate travel booms across Asia-Pacific, the concept of bleisure is gaining traction, spurring the region's cities to better integrate opportunities for leisure amid busy business trips.

The 2019 bleisure barometer: Asia's best cities for work and recreation, sponsored by All Nippon Airways, reveals that while Asia's best bleisure destinations provide the right balance of business activity, high-quality infrastructure and top-flight leisure experiences, a number of less obvious choices stand out as well.

Asia's top cities for bleisure are Tokyo, Singapore, Sydney, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Shanghai, Beijing, Osaka, Perth and Seoul.

Cities were scored out of five possible points, with scores tabulated from responses of a survey of 1,500 business travellers from around the world, asking them about a variety of factors impacting business travel, such as ease of transportation and availability of consumer goods and services.

Scores were used to determine rankings as well as star groupings, with five-star cities scoring above the average and one-star cities scoring below.

One significant finding from the study is that Asia's best cities for bleisure are not necessarily its most liveable.

Although the specific questions used in the survey were inspired by ourGlobal Liveability Index, some striking differences emerge. For example, wealthy cities such as Auckland, New Zealand, and Adelaide, Australia, sit atop the league tables for liveability, but drastically underperform on bleisure.

Meanwhile, Shanghai and Beijing, while rarely considered highly liveable, show their rising business might in the bleisure study, filling the four-star tier.

The study also assesses specific aspects of the bleisure experience, such as what makes for a successful business trip and what travellers look for in their leisurely diversions.

On the former question, ease of transportation takes the top spot, followed closely by safety and orderliness of streets/urban areas and quality of business facilities.

On the question of leisure activities, dining out won by a large margin, with visiting local historical or heritage sites and going to an art museum/gallery ranking second and third.

According to Naka Kondo, editor of the report: "Cities in Asia-Pacific should take note: facilitating leisure experiences for corporate travellers can be the key to differentiating in a crowded business travel market.

Some of the top cities in our bleisure barometer are already world leaders in this regard, while others can learn from the best in improving access to the intersection of business and leisure travel in the region."
Trump says Cohen grilling may have contributed to summit 'walk'

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands in Hanoi, where they held a summit that was seen as a disappointment. Photo handed out by AFP

President Trump said Sunday that the congressional questioning last week of his former lawyer may have contributed to the failure of his summit with Kim Jong-un.

A high-stakes second summit to strike a disarmament deal with North Korean leader Kim broke up in disarray in Vietnam Thursday, with Trump saying: "Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times."

The summit took place at the same time a Democrat-led congressional committee was grilling Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who labelled his ex-boss a "racist", "conman", and "cheat."

On Sunday, Trump said the hearing may have contributed to the "walk."

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk'," he tweeted.

"Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!"

Still, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday that the summit should be seen as "a success, defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests."

He said the issue was whether North Korea would accept what the president called "the big deal" -- denuclearizing completely -- or something less, "which was unacceptable to us."

"So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong-un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected," Bolton added.

The summit's collapse followed the leaders' historic meeting in Singapore that produced only a vague commitment from Kim to work "toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

According to senior U.S. officials, in the week leading up to the Hanoi summit, the North Koreans had demanded the lifting of effectively all U.N. Security Council economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since March 2016.

'Seat of its pants'

In return, Pyongyang was offering only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a sprawling site covering multiple facilities -- and the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, however, disputed the US account, saying Pyongyang offered to dismantle all "nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area" in exchange for partial sanctions relief.

Bolton's evocation of progress was dismissed by leading Democrats, however, including House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who described the Hanoi meeting as a "spectacular failure."

"The president did give up a great deal, by going to that summit, by enhancing Kim Jong Un's prestige on the world stage, by giving up those military exercises in the last summit and getting nothing for it," Schiff told CBS.

"This is, I think, the result of a president who is not prepared for these kinds of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and is essentially flying by the seat of its pants."

Much of the criticism of the summit was sparked by Trump's remarks on the case of an American student tortured and left in a coma in North Korea.

'Barbaric and unacceptable'

Trump said he believed Kim's claim that he did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier, who died at age 22 days after being sent back to the United States in 2017.

Bolton said Trump had been clear that Warmbier's death was "barbaric and unacceptable," although Schiff countered that the president's "obsequious comments" had compounded the summit's failure.

Bolton was touring the Sunday political shows the morning after the U.S. and South Korea announced an end to key annual large-scale military exercises.

The maneuvers have been a perennial target of North Korean fury -- condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for war.

Trump has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises and -- since 2017's Singapore summit -- the Washington and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint exercises.

Opponents of scrapping the drills warn that it could affect the combat readiness of U.S. and South Korean forces and hand the North a strategic advantage on the divided peninsula.

Bolton sought to play down Saturday's announcement, however, saying the policy remained unchanged since Singapore.
Tymoshenko's party said in a statement the verdict showed the gas price increase, which was introduced in May 2016, was unjustified.

A Ukrainian court's decision to declare a 2016 gas price increase illegal will not affect the government's current cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, a government spokesman said on Monday.

Ukraine raised gas prices for households by almost 25 percent last November to secure a new $3.9 billion IMF stand-by agreement, a deal aimed at keeping the country's economy stable as it holds presidential and parliamentary elections this year, Reuters said.

Read alsoUkrainian gas stocks shrink by almost 44% to over 9.6 bcm since Nov 7

Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, who is challenging incumbent President Petro Poroshenko in the March 31 presidential election, had filed a suit at the Kyiv administrative court against an earlier gas price hike in 2016.

Asked if the court ruling would force the government to reverse the more recent gas price hike, thereby threatening the terms of the IMF deal, Vasyl Riabchuk said: "No, it did not."

He said the verdict related to an earlier decision, from 2016, which no longer had legal force.

"Despite this, the Cabinet of Ministers will appeal and challenge this court decision," he said in a text message to Reuters.

Tymoshenko has made her opposition to the government's decision to raise gas prices a central part of her campaign in the March election. Tymoshenko's party said in a statement the verdict showed the gas price increase, which was introduced in May 2016, was unjustified.
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.
"I am pleased to have Yan step into this important leadership role for our company," said Fearon. "His extensive knowledge of our businesses and markets, and his international experience, uniquely positions him to lead our Investor Relations function."

Jin joined Eaton in 2001 as a financial analyst for the Fluid Power business in Cleveland, Ohio. During his time with the company, he's served as the plant controller for the hydraulics manufacturing facility in Jining, China; the regional finance controller for Hydraulics in Greater China; regional finance controller, Hydraulics Business in Asia-Pacific; vice president, Finance, Asia-Pacific; and most recently as vice president, Investor Relations. Prior to joining Eaton, Jin worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in auditing.

Jin holds a bachelor's degree in economics from The Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, China, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and holds the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation.

Over the next few months, Bullock and Jin will be working to ensure a smooth leadership transition.

"I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to Don for his 21 years of service to Eaton and his 8 years leading our Investor Relations efforts," said Fearon. "He's done an outstanding job communicating our strategy to the investment community and managing relationships with investors."

Eaton is a power management company with 2018 sales of $21.6 billion. We provide energy-efficient solutions that help our customers effectively manage electrical, hydraulic and mechanical power more efficiently, safely and sustainably. Eaton is dedicated to improving the quality of life and the environment through the use of power management technologies and services. Eaton has approximately 99,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countries. For more information, visit Eaton.com.
Kentucky Power's mobile app makes reporting outages like those experienced in the recent windstorms easier. Customers can now report an outage by scanning the bar code on their meters with their phone's camera feature once the app is downloaded. It is free at both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

"The Kentucky Power app makes the most popular online functions, such as bill pay and outage reports, possible with just a few taps on a smart phone," said Cindy Wiseman, Kentucky Power's managing director of external affairs and customer services. "It is easy and convenient for customers who like interacting with Kentucky Power whenever and wherever they want."

About 6 percent of Kentucky Power's 168,000 customers have downloaded the app since it was first introduced in December 2017. The app can be used even by non-customers to report an outage by scanning the bar code on a meter. There is no need to type in a service address, account number or phone number. This feature can be especially useful for first responders, Wiseman said.

Since introducing the app, Kentucky Power has made several updates based upon customer feedback from surveys, app stores, and frontline employees. Recent additions include:

Graphs that help customers monitor how much energy they have used

Fingerprint or facial recognition login

The ability to register and manage multiple accounts with one user ID

The option to view a12-month payment history

Other features allow customers to:

View real-time account balance, balance details, and payment due date

View and download bill

Make a free immediate payment from a bank account

Make immediate, automatic, and scheduled payments

Access other ways to pay (credit or debit card, in-person, by phone)

Switch between multiple accounts

Choose automatic log in

Future updates will include a faster payment process, more in app messaging, historical weather for usage comparison, easy access to outage maps, and precise error messaging. Learn more in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB6fcNlJDtM and at kentuckypower.com/app.

Kentucky Power, with headquarters in Ashland, provides service to nearly 168,000 customers in 20 eastern Kentucky counties. It is an operating company in the American Electric Power (AEP) system, based in Columbus, Ohio, one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S.
Enel S.p.A. ("Enel" or "the Company") announces that the Board of Directors of the Chilean subsidiary Enel Americas S.A. ("Enel Americas"), of which Enel owns 51.8% of the share capital, has called an Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting for April 30th, 2019 to approve a capital increase of up to 3.5 billion US dollars, to be fully subscribed in cash. The increase is expected to be carried out through the issue of new ordinary shares and new American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") to be offered in pre-emption to shareholders in proportion to the number of shares/ADSs they hold.

Through the capital increase Enel Americas, in line with the proposal of its Board of Directors, aims at enhancing its financial position to pursue new opportunities for organic and inorganic growth, both through minority buy-outs and M&As, optimising cash flows and improving its debt level. Moreover, the capital increase will allow for an increase of the free float and capitalisation of Enel Americas.

In its coming meetings, the Enel Board of Directors will assess how the Company intends to participate in this capital increase in view of the Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Enel Americas called to resolve on the matter.

Enel Americas invests in electricity generation and distribution in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. With an installed capacity of over 11 GW and more than 24 million customers, it is the largest private electricity company in South America.
Verity, 60, joined Exxon Chemical in 1980 and held sales, marketing and strategic planning roles in its polyethylene business in Europe. He held various management roles in Fawley, U.K., and moved to the U.S. in 1998 in a planning assignment in the polyethylene business. In 2000, he became the Americas marketing manager for polyethylene. He was appointed president of Univation Technologies, LLC in 2001.

Verity returned to ExxonMobil Chemical in 2005 as vice president of research and development. He later served as vice president of the polyethylene business, vice president of the polyolefins business and vice president of plastics and resins. He became senior vice president for polymers in 2015 and was appointed president in 2018.

Verity was born in Bradford, England. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Oxford University, England.

McKee, 52, joined Exxon Chemical Company in the United Kingdom in 1990, where she held a range of assignments in chemical manufacturing and refining.

Following roles in Brussels, Belgium and Houston, Texas, she was appointed vice president of the Adhesion Industry Global Business Unit in 2007. In 2010, she became vice president of operations for Lubricants & Specialties and subsequently for Fuels, Lubricants & Specialties, based in Fairfax, Virginia.

McKee was appointed executive assistant to the chairman, based in Irving, Texas, in 2013, and became vice president of Basic Chemicals in 2014. She assumed her current position in 2017.

McKee was born in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, and has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Nottingham, England.

About ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world's growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of resources, is one of the largest refiners and marketers of petroleum products and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world. For more information, visit www.exxonmobil.com or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/exxonmobil.
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) reached a contract to supply six SG 3.4-132 wind turbines with a flexible power rating of 3.65 MW to a wind farm project in Inner Mongolia, China. The project is developed by the State Power Investment Corporate (SPIC) of China, and it is the first order SGRE received from SPIC.



The order also marks the first landing of Siemens Gamesa 3.X platform model in China, and commissioning is expected in August 2019. Siemens Gamesa will also be responsible for the operation & maintenance of the turbines for 5 years, and 6-20 years warranty for major components.



The project, located in Holingola, Tongliao city, is designed as a continuation of a circular economy demonstration project with generated electricity to be self-used by an electrolytic aluminum plant of SPIC. The demonstration project maximizes the use of local resources, including wind, coal, water and heating, etc.



The latest wind project is also expected to gather wind farm performance data for a planned 6 GW wind power base of SPIC that has been approved to establish in Inner Mongolia.



"We're delighted to reach this milestone cooperation with SPIC, one of China's top five power producers. Based on our global scale and size, business diversification and technological leadership, SGRE is better positioned than before to support our customers to harness the power of wind in the world's largest wind energy market here and beyond," stated Richard Paul Luijendijk, CEO of SGRE Onshore APAC.



SGRE's history and presence in China can be dated back to 30 years ago, where the company has installed close to 5.2 GW.



*This order forms part of the order intake disclosed by the company in the Q1 FY2019 results.

About Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy

Siemens Gamesa is a global leader in the wind power industry, with a strong presence in offshore, onshore and services. Through its advanced digital capabilities, the company offers one of the broadest product portfolios in the industry as well as industry-leading service solutions, helping to make clean energy more affordable and reliable. With over 90 GW installed worldwide, Siemens Gamesa manufactures, installs and maintains wind turbines, both onshore and offshore. Its backlog stands at 23 billion. The company is headquartered in Spain and listed on the Spanish stock exchange (included in the Ibex-35 index).

Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A., with registered office at Parque Tecnologico de Bizkaia, Edificio 222, 48170 Zamudio (Spain) processes your contact data for the purpose of sending you press releases and invitations to events of interest. You are entitled to exercise your right to access, rectify and erase your data and to restrict or object to the processing of your personal data by sending an email to the following address: dataprotection@siemensgamesa.com.

Contact for journalists:

Veronica Diaz

Tel: +34 616348735

veronica.diaz@siemensgamesa.com
* "Most Popular Intellectual Property Law Blawg" of all time according to Justia rankings , December 2021.

* "Most Popular Copyright Blawg" of all time according to Justia rankings , December 2021.

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020.

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018.

* IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013.

* Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011.

2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100.

* Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010.

* Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010.

* Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010.

* Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll.

Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008.
A view from Gibraltar. A.Carrasco Ragel (EFE)

Spain and Britain have reached a deal on tax matters concerning Gibraltar, the British Overseas Territory located in the south of the Iberian peninsula.

Madrid and London are set to sign an international agreement setting out stricter rules to determine the tax residency of individuals and businesses. Those who are mostly based in Spain, or getting their income from activities on Spanish territory, will have to pay taxes in Spain.

The plans success will depend on the exchange of information

The Spanish government wants to prevent Gibraltar from expanding its competitive advantage once the UK leaves the European Union, a process known as Brexit. Gibraltar offers very attractive tax rates for businesses and capital. Corporate profits are taxed at a top rate of 10% compared with 25% in Spain.

Little is known about what the future relationship between the UK and the EU will look like after the former leaves the bloc on March 29 (unless the departure date is delayed, which seems increasingly likely). But Brussels has warned from the beginning about the risk of unfair practices once the UK stops observing EU rules.

Spains Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and Britains Cabinet Office minister David Lidington on Monday are scheduled to sign an international agreement aimed at containing these potential effects in connection with Gibraltar. Sources at the Spanish Foreign Ministry outlined the guidelines of this document for EL PAIS.

La Linea de la Concepcion with Gibraltar in the background.

Madrid hopes that the plan will go into effect as soon as possible and regardless of whether there is a soft or a hard Brexit. But like all international treaties, the deal will have to go through Spanish Congress first.

New alliances

Until now, London had been unwilling to make any concessions on Gibraltar, but fear about the effects of Brexit on The Rock has served as an incentive to forge alliances with Spain. In November of last year, London and Madrid signed four memorandums of understanding on matters such as the price of tobacco products, which Gibraltar pledged to raise in a bid to contain smuggling activities.

The new international treaty establishes objective criteria to determine who is a tax resident in Gibraltar and who is not. Individuals who spend more than 183 days out of the year in Spain, whose spouse or partner is a Spanish resident, who own a regular home in Spain, or who keep two-thirds of their assets on Spanish territory, will have to pay taxes in Spain. This rule affects some people who are currently considered tax residents in Gibraltar.

Sources consulted by this newspaper said that there is not a large amount of cases in this situation right now, but that the number could grow significantly after Brexit if no limits are placed. But Spanish authorities are more concerned about businesses than private individuals.

We have removed all the incentives for Spanish residents wishing to headquarter their businesses in Gibraltar

Spanish Foreign Ministry source

We have removed all the incentives for Spanish residents wishing to headquarter their businesses in Gibraltar. We are protecting ourselves for the future, said a source.

There are an estimated 55,000 companies registered in Gibraltar even though the population is just around 30,000. The overseas territory is adjacent to one of Spains poorest regions, Campo de Gibraltar. If it were a full-fledged state, it would have the third-largest per capita GDP in the world. The unemployment rate in Gibraltar is 1% compared with 35% in the nearby Spanish city of La Linea de la Concepcion.

According to the new regulations that Spain hopes to implement, unfair business practices would be curbed by forcing companies to pay taxes in Spain if most of their assets are located on Spanish territory, if their revenue comes from Spain, if the company managers are tax residents in Spain, or if most of the capital rights are held by Spanish citizens. A few exceptions are made to accommodate businesses whose activities truly take place outside Spain, such as those registered in Gibraltar before November 16, 2018 and which can prove that 75% of their revenue comes from activities in Gibraltar.

The plans success will depend on the exchange of information. Gibraltar authorities will share tax data with their Spanish counterparts, and some exchanges will be automatic, such as those concerning cross-border workers and vehicles, ships and aircraft registered on either side of the border.

Asked about the deal, a British spokeswoman fell back on a recent statement by Gibraltars Chief Minister Fabian Picardo: I am very satisfied that we have been able to reach a deal on a historically complex matter.

Tax haven status

One of the biggest incentives for the UK to support this international treaty was the pledge by Spain to take Gibraltar out of its list of tax havens if the overseas territory honors the terms of the agreement. Sources at the Foreign Ministry said that a non-binding statement could be made to reflect the new situation.

In May 2017, the Spanish Foreign Ministry outlined in a report that Gibraltar enjoys the four EU freedoms (free movement of people, goods, services and capital), yet it is not part of the customs union or subject to British law, meaning that it has developed its own regime which is extremely permissive in relation to tax, customs and business creation, which in practice has turned it into a tax haven.

Gibraltar was captured from Spain in 1704 and ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 and has remained a diplomatic flashpoint ever since. The Foreign Ministrys 2017 report noted that the special regime The Rock currently enjoys is a condition that Spain had to accept at the time [1986] to be able to join the then European Communities, given that the United Kingdom had become a member back in 1973.

English version by Susana Urra.
Spanish agents in Syria are cooperating with Operation Gallant Phoenix, a U.S.-led effort to identify fighters from Western nations who have joined Islamic State (ISIS) and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups in the region, counter-terrorism sources told EL PAIS.

The Spanish Interior Ministry believes there are 130 jihadists who are either Spanish citizens or residents and who remain in conflict areas, out of a total of 237 who have traveled to the region. The ministry recently launched a new counter-terrorism strategy that underscored the risk posed by returning fighters.

The goal is to collect all kinds of evidence to help identify terrorists who have returned to Europe and the US

Spanish participation in Operation Gallant Phoenix is not new, but its relevance has grown after US President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum in mid-February urging European countries to take back the more than 800 foreign jihadists captured in Syria and held by Kurdish forces.

Europol and secret services from several European countries are cooperating in an operation launched by the US to identify jihadists leaving combat zones. But so far, no European nation had formally admitted to this cooperation.

The goal of the operation is to collect all kinds of evidence  from DNA samples to fingerprints, photographs, documents and electronic files  from territory once held by the so-called Caliphate. This evidence helps identify terrorists who have returned to Europe and the US, and also those who are being held in Syria and Iraq.

According to Europol, at least 5,000 European citizens have traveled to both those countries since 2014, and even though many of them have died in combat or in attacks, the survivors who make it back home tend to be even more radicalized than they were when they left. On the one hand, they have experience handling weapons and explosives; on the other, they are viewed as heroes, and this makes them powerful instruments of radicalization, according to Spanish counter-terrorism experts.

European strategy

Returning fighters have become a major source of concern for European governments. Spain recently approved a new National Counter-Terrorism Strategy that focuses on these individuals. The new guidelines contemplate prison for returning fighters to minimize the risk that they pose. But the only charge that can be brought against them is associating with a terrorist group.

The new strategy proposes incorporating evidence obtained in conflict zones in order to charge these individuals with specific terrorist crimes committed abroad. Although this possibility is contemplated by Spanish legislation, it has not been applied because of the difficulty of obtaining legally acceptable evidence, said sources at the Interior Ministry.

This gives added meaning to the information-gathering effort made by officers on the ground in Syria and relayed to CITCO, the Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime. This agency answers to the Interior Ministry and receives assistance from the National Police, Civil Guard, regional law enforcement agencies and the national intelligence center CNI.

Inmates at a Madrid jail were offered between 500,000 and 1 million to commit suicide attacks after their release

Although the number of fighters leaving Spain for conflict zones is significantly lower than in other European countries, the latest statistics suggest a constant trickle. The latest count by CITCO in mid-January showed that 237 jihadists who are either Spanish nationals or residents had gone to Syria, Iraq, and to a lesser extent Mali and the Philippines. Of these, 130 remain there and 61 are believed to be dead, many of them in suicide attacks. Another 21 have returned to Spain, and 12 of these have been jailed. Another 24 have gone on to different European countries, where eight have been placed behind bars. Authorities have lost track of one individual.

Most of these individuals are men, and 80% are foreign nationals  mainly Moroccans  who were living in Spain before joining ISIS and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups.

A second source of concern for the Interior Ministry are the jailed jihadists. According to prison authorities, there are 139 individuals behind bars for jihadist terrorism. This is three times as many as in 2012. And then there are the petty criminals who are becoming radicalized. The Interior Ministry has identified 49 inmates who are in this category and who additionally perform recruitment work, and another 81 who show signs of harboring increasingly radical ideas.

In the last six months, the Civil Guard and National Police have broken up two networks that were operating inside Spanish prisons, where their job was to radicalize Muslim prisoners in jail for ordinary crimes. The latest raid, conducted in February, brought down a network inside Madrids Valdemoro penitentiary, where the ringleader Suleiman E. M. was offering between 500,000 and 1 million to any prisoner willing to commit suicide attacks after their release from prison. It is the same amount that ISIS gives the families of terrorists who commit suicide in Syria. The funds came from international drug trafficking, according to the investigation.

Counter-terrorism experts also warn that most of the recent attacks on European soil were perpetrated by people who were radicalized in their own home setting. This was the case with the August 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils.

English version by Susana Urra.
Womens hourly earnings are 12.7% lower than mens in Spain. JULIAN ROJAS

The Spanish government has approved a legislative decree that aims to fight against gender discrimination in the workplace.

The decree, passed by the Cabinet of Socialist Party (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Friday, includes the progressive equalization of paternity leave with maternity leave, which will grant new fathers up to 16 weeks of time off work by 2021.

Businesses must complete a gender audit on the average salary of male and female employees

It also demands that Spanish businesses complete a gender audit with the average salary values, salary supplements and non-wage benefits of their staff, separated by sex that can be accessed by worker representatives and union members. The goal of the registry is to highlight whether there is female under representation or a gender wage gap.

To improve representation, a greater number of companies must implement gender equality plans under the decree. At present, companies with 250 or more employees must have a plan, but this will be extended over the next three years. In the first year, the plan must be adopted by companies with 150 or more employees, in the second year by companies with 100 or more employees and in the third year by those with 50 or more. This plan must address issues such as the selection and hiring process, work conditions and preventing sexual harassment.

Pay gap in Spain

Men and women who perform similar tasks in the workplace do not earn the same in Spain. Womens hourly earnings are 12.7% lower than mens, according to a 2017 study that is based on statistically adjusted EU data from 2014.

The gap exists across variables such as age, education, years of service, occupation, type of contract, length of working day, activity and company size. According to the decree, the pay gap has not been reduced in the past years.

The decree adds that public equality policies must remove obstacles that block women from accessing and developing in science, research and technology sectors.

English version by Asia London Palomba.
Former State Secretary for Security Jose Antonio Nieto in the Supreme Court.

Spains former state secretary for security, Jose Antonio Nieto, told the Supreme Court on Monday that there were acts of violence before, during and after the unauthorized independence referendum held in Catalonia on October 1, 2017.

Nieto, who was then the second-highest-ranking official at the Interior Ministry, said that behind many of these acts there seemed to be organized groups that sometimes arrived at the scene of an upcoming police raid even before the Civil Guard did.

Puigdemont told us that the uppermost thing to protect was social harmony; we replied that we had to protect respect for the law

Jose Antonio Nieto, ex-security state secretary

Nieto was one of several high-ranking officials to give witness testimony at the trial of 12 Catalan separatist leaders taking place in Madrid. Last week the court took statements from former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who said that he had refused to negotiate national unity, and from Basque premier Inigo Urkullu, who revealed that he mediated between Madrid and Barcelona.

The defendants have been accused of crimes ranging from disobedience to rebellion in connection with the independence bid. The most serious charge, rebellion, requires proving that violence was used, and Nietos testimony provided the strongest backing to date for the prosecutions claim that violence was employed on September 20, 2017, during a mass protest against a police raid at the Catalan department of economic affairs.

The Catalan separatist movement has cast the proceedings as a political trial while Spanish authorities say all they did was apply the law, which does not allow for unilateral secession.

Street clashes on referendum day, October 1, 2017. J. Sellart

In their own statements at the trial, the defendants said that although the Constitutional Court had warned that the referendum and the supporting breakaway legislation were in violation of Spains highest law, in their view this court had lost its legitimacy and was being used as a political tool.

Referendum day

Nieto also said that the Catalan regional police force, the Mossos dEsquadra, sided with the separatist government and did nothing to prevent the October 1 referendum from taking place, leaving it to the National Police and Civil Guard to enforce a court order to stop the vote.

The former state secretary said that if the Mossos had honored a coordinated police plan to enforce the orders, there would have been no referendum. Nieto said there was surrealist security meeting on September 28 between Madrid and Barcelona officials to talk about a plan to prevent the referendum from happening with the people who were organizing it.

[Then-Catalan premier Carles] Puigdemont told us that the uppermost thing to protect was social harmony; we replied that we had to protect respect for the law, said Nieto.

He also defended the actions of the police, who were criticized after images of people being forcibly removed from polling stations made world headlines. He said that at many centers officers encountered very intense resistance and that this had been premeditated and organized.

If we had prioritized efficiency above everything else, we could have reached 100% efficiency in every polling station with a greater use of force. Our professionals have the training, the material resources, the professional abilities and the legal support to do so. But the priority was preserving the safety of the officers and the people around them, said Nieto.

English version by Susana Urra.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) plans to bring the criteria of determining systemically important banks in line with the recommendations of the European Banking Authority (EBA), according to a posting on the website of the central bank.

The National Bank plans to complete the update of the methodology for assessing the systemic importance of banks during March-April.

The updated criteria, as well as the list of systemically important banks approved in accordance with them for 2020, will be made public on the NBU's website before June 1, 2019.

The National Bank expects that the new criteria will more accurately reflect the importance of banks for the market.

Accordingly, the NBU postponed the term for determining systemically important banks.

This decision was outlined in NBU Board resolution No. 46 amending the rules of determining systematically important banks, which was approved and entered into force on February 28, 2019.

The National Bank recalled that, in accordance with the criteria that had been in force since 2016, the systemically important banks invariably are PrivatBank, Ukreximbank and Oschadbank.
Ukraine should repay the public debt, while maintaining the dynamics of economic growth, Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman has stated.

The prime minister's press service reported that Groysman in an interview with Die Welt said a big public debt accumulated from 2005 to 2013 was a mistake of the past. This debt must be repaid. And at the same time it is necessary to maintain the dynamics of economic growth.

"That's why we need support of the international community in order to maintain our position and continue our reforms. What I personally would like to see is a more active position of our partners on these issues ... We need cheap and efficient financial instruments. With the help of these instruments, we will be able to be more efficient, grow faster, and become a more stable and durable partner," Groysman said.

He noted that the country is changing the management system at different levels, reforming the energy sector, infrastructure, the pension system, health care, and education.

"To facilitate doing business, in particular by foreign companies, we have implemented a larger deregulation of the system over the past three and a half years than in the past 20 years: namely, more than 700 restrictive regulatory acts were canceled," the prime minister added.

Groysman is convinced that Ukraine needs support.
Russia's hybrid military forces mounted nine attacks on Ukraine Joint Forces' positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action, the press centre of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported.

"On March 3, the Russian occupation forces violated the cease-fire nine times, using weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements 10 times and launching 100 mines of various calibers ... As a result of the attacks, one soldier was wounded," the headquarters said on Facebook on Monday morning.

In the action zone of the operational-tactical grouping Sever (North), Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from 82mm and 120mm mortars, weapons installed on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the Ukrainian defenders of Hnutove, Vodiane, Popasna, Novozvanivka, Novo-Oleksandrivka, Khutir Vilny, Novoluhanske, Lobacheve, and Krymske.

According to intelligence reports, two enemy troops were killed in action and another one was wounded. Also, one UAV of the Orlan 10 type of illegal armed forces was shot down.

"Since Monday midnight, Russian-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions twice near the villages of Lebedynske and Vodiane, using 120mm mortars in the action zone of the operational-tactical grouping Vostok (East). No casualties have been reported," the report said.
The case involving son was artificially compiled from false provocative facts, Ukraine's First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky has said. Hladkovsky has been suspended from his position at NSDC.

"Ukraine is a legal state. The case in which my son is involved, which, obviously, was artificially compiled from false provocative facts and sold for 30 pieces of silver, is being used in the election campaign. My opponents, I see, are not interested in the impartial investigation of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU). They have attracted radical organizations to street actions and send them to attack my son's house," Hladkovsky said, commenting on the action of nationalist organizations in front of his son's house.

Oleh Hladkovsky said outcome of such actions would be only a "picture" for media. He said his son, Ihor Hladkovsky, will fully cooperate with the investigation.

"I wrote a letter of dismissal at the time of the investigation, and my son cooperates fully with law enforcement agencies to investigate the information made public. We ask to stop the pressure on our family and the investigation. We support maximum transparency of this matter for society, parliamentary and international control," Oleh Hladkovsky said.

Representatives of National Druzhina (volunteer squad), affiliated with the nationalist National Corps Party headed by Andriy Biletsky, gathered over the weekend in front of Ihor Hladkovsky's house outside Kyiv.

As earlier reported, Ihor Hladkovsky, together with two accomplices, through fictitious firms, reportedly delivered contraband Russian spare parts or parts from Ukrainian military units to Ukrainian defense enterprises at prices inflated two to four times higher than the purchase price, journalists from the Kyiv-based Bihus.info said.

In a video uploaded to the Internet on February 25, investigative journalists from Nashi Groshi said during 2018 they received an anonymous letter with an electronic archive of correspondence between participants in the deals. The journalists checked the information and concluded the leaked information was genuine.

The journalists said the amount of embezzled funds totals at least UAH 250 million, perhaps double that amount.

The investigative journalists say that Oleh Hladkovsky, who formerly was a business partner of incumbent President Petro Poroshenko, the ex-head of Ukrspecexport and head of Ukroboronprom Pavlo Bukin, as well as directors and other officials of the state-owned defense concern were involved.

The investigation says the suspect deals were organized using three main fictitious firms, and that one of them included the Kuznya on Rybalsky Shipbuilding Plant, which was then owned by Poroshenko.

President Poroshenko instructed law enforcement agencies to urgently verify the information made public by the Nashi Groshi program.

On February 27, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) informed that the detectives of the Bureau had entered the information in the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations and started a pretrial investigation on the grounds of misappropriation, waste of property or seizing it by abusing their official position based on the analysis of information set out in the journalistic investigation of corruption in the defense sector.
Parliamentarian from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Volodymyr Ariev emphasizes that the issue of the return of the Russian delegation to PACE is raised again, but does not have full support.

"I've spent the closing days in PACE. The pro-Russian forces are again making plans for the return of the Russian Federation. They do not have unanimous support yet. But many fear that Russia will leave the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights - the only body that can directly influence Russian affairs, - will lose this opportunity," Ariev wrote on his Facebook page on Saturday.

He explains in PACE that Russia is most comfortable with this option: to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the ECHR and humiliate the Council of Europe. "And before the elections to the European Parliament, it would be perfect from the point of view of Russia to destroy the trust in the organization with the hands of the PACE in a hybrid way," Ariev added.

As reported, the PACE in 2014 deprived the Russian delegation of the right to vote, and also introduced a number of other restrictions after the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. In 2017, Moscow suspended the payment of part of the contribution to the budget of the Council of Europe.

In late February, a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE MP Boryslav Bereza wrote on Facebook that the PACE planned to change the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation in order to return its delegation.


The AmeriKat pleading

that someone will bring her

Hatch green chile enchiladas The AmeriKat is a fiend for spicy food. Being born near the border of Mexico makes any Kat yearn for chile (particularly Being born near the border of Mexico makes any Kat yearn for chile (particularly Hatch green chile ) and connections with India gives her a yearning for spicy, fragrant curries. A long desire to travel Thailand has caused her to be a home-cook connoisseur of the incredible mixture of spice, saltiness and citrus that make up the region's diverse cuisine (for those who want some authentic Thai, the AmeriKat suggests Kin+Deum which she tried last week with friends, and is still annoyed that, somehow, another helping of the Claypot Prawns wasn't ordered). What does spicy food have to do with FRAND? Not really anything, save that a majority of the stories in this post come from regions that are not unfamiliar to spicy cuisine and issues which are current "hot" topics in FRAND (that pun made even the AmeriKat cringe...sorry!). First, to Texas:





Texas jury says Ericsson offer is FRAND: After an almost 2 year dispute between Ericsson and HTC, two weeks ago a Texas jury found that Ericsson's offers to HTC were FRAND. One of the key issues between the parties was whether the licence offer was based on the end products or the components, i.e. the smallest saleable patent practising unit (SSPPU) (see Kat friend Richard Vary's comment in the last update



Bloch QC takes on jurisdictional issues in IP disputes: Michael Bloch QC will be speaking on "Jurisdictional issues in IP disputes" at the next Competition Law Association (CLA) event being held on 18 March 2019 at 6PM (for 6:15PM) at the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The event is free for members. The event blurb reads:

"Jurisdictional issues have increasingly come to the fore in IP disputes in recent years, from Lucasfilm v Ainsworth and Actavis v Eli Lilly to FRAND disputes such as Unwired Planet v Huawei, Apple v Qualcomm and Conversant v Huawei & ZTE, as parties clash on forum-shopping and attempts to reach one-stop resolution of their IP disputes." The AmeriKat will be there, so hopes to see you too! To sign up and for more details click t in the Boston University Journal of Science and Technology Law entitled "The New Extraterritoriality: FRAND Royalties, Anti-Suit Injunctions and the Global Race To The Bottom In Disputes Over Standards-Essential Patents". The Kats are looking forward to getting their paws on that one, which will surely be one of many as the global FRAND race heats up. After an almost 2 year dispute between Ericsson and HTC, two weeks ago a Texas jury found that Ericsson's offers to HTC were FRAND. One of the key issues between the parties was whether the licence offer was based on the end products or the components, i.e. the smallest saleable patent practising unit (SSPPU) (see Kat friend Richard Vary's comment in the last update here ). The jury ruled that, to be FRAND, the royalty did not need to be based on the SSPPU (i.e. the chipsets), as opposed to the whole phone. Interestingly, the jury also found that both Ericcson and HTC breached their obligation to negotiate the licence in good faith (see jury form here ).Michael Bloch QC will be speaking on "Jurisdictional issues in IP disputes" at the next Competition Law Association (CLA) event being held on 18 March 2019 at 6PM (for 6:15PM) at the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The event is free for members. The event blurb reads:The AmeriKat will be there, so hopes to see you too! To sign up and for more details click here . Similarly related, is his forthcoming article in theentitled "The New Extraterritoriality: FRAND Royalties, Anti-Suit Injunctions and the Global Race To The Bottom In Disputes Over Standards-Essential Patents". The Kats are looking forward to getting their paws on that one, which will surely be one of many as the global FRAND race heats up.



FRAND in India: Although the focus of FRAND can be drawn to UK, US and China, it is important not to forget that India is the second largest telecommunications market in the world. Despite this, the definition, determination and enforcement of SEPs and FRAND in India is in its early stages. The Indian competition authority - Competition Commission of India (CCI) - has investigated the licensing practices of SEP holders and is in the process of building its "back catagloue" of materials to judge SEP licensing agreements. The CCI has invariably ruled that (i) bundling of patents irrelevant to the implementer's products in the licence agreement is violation of FRAND terms and section 4 of the Competition Act (iBall v Ericsson, Micromax v Ericsson, Intex v Ericsson, here, here and Although the focus of FRAND can be drawn to UK, US and China, it is important not to forget that India is the second largest telecommunications market in the world. Despite this, the definition, determination and enforcement of SEPs and FRAND in India is in its early stages. The Indian competition authority - Competition Commission of India (CCI) - has investigated the licensing practices of SEP holders and is in the process of building its "back catagloue" of materials to judge SEP licensing agreements. The CCI has invariably ruled that (i) bundling of patents irrelevant to the implementer's products in the licence agreement is violation of FRAND terms and section 4 of the Competition Act ( Case No 04 of 2015 ); royalties based on a handset as opposed to a SSPPU was in violation of the Competition Act on the basis of discrimination ( Case No 50/2013 , although the Delhi High Court had a different view holding that the price of the handset may act as a basis to calculate the royalty rate); use (or over use) of NDAs could raise questions as to whether SEP holders were charging different rates ( Case No 76/2013 ). The Delhi High Court has also addressed some of these cases and the issue of the grant of injunctions for SEP holders - the key point being that injunctions are available if certain conditions are met under the Indian Patents Act. Although no FRAND determination has yet been made by an Indian court (as far as the AmeriKat is aware), it can only be a matter of time as the CCI and the judicial bodies keep an eye on the developments in the US and Europe. To get up to speed on India and FRAND, the AmeriKat suggests these articles - here and here





California court dismisses ASUS FRAND summary judgment motion against Interdigital: Although from the end of December, the AmeriKat has just read about the decision of Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the Northern District of California dismissing ASUS' summary judgment motion that Interdigital breached its contractual FRAND obligations in ongoing negotiations between the parties. The Kat's friends over at IPWatchdog (not everyone is a Kat person, after all) published this helpful summary of Judge Labson's decision - TCL v Ericsson decision from the Central District of California (see Kat post Although from the end of December, the AmeriKat has just read aboutof the Northern District of California dismissing ASUS' summary judgment motion that Interdigital breached its contractual FRAND obligations in ongoing negotiations between the parties. The Kat's friends over at IPWatchdog (not everyone is a Kat person, after all) published this helpful summary of Judge Labson's decision - here . In referring to the recentdecision from the Central District of California (see Kat post here ), Judge Labson stated
Verkhovna Rada deputy (Bloc of Petro Poroshenko - BPP) Volodymyr Ariev has said that some $41 million in PrivatBank were transferred to the accounts of Kvartal 95 Studio belonging to Volodymyr Zelensky. Ariev said funds were transferred when businessman Ihor Kolomoisky owned the bank.

"Some $41 million of PrivatBank depositors' funds were transferred to the comedian's Kvartal 95 Studio through lending to Kolomoisky-related companies. Everything happened according to the standard for the oligarch scheme that Kroll investigated after the withdrawal by Kolomoisky and Co. of $6 billion of depositors' funds and funds that were used for refinancing the bank from the reserves of the National Bank of Ukraine, when the bank began to collapse under the weight of the pyramid created by the owners," Ariev wrote on his Facebook page last week.

According to him, in 2012, PrivatBank issued loans worth over UAH 400 million (at the rate of UAH 8/$1) to Realism Oil and Karpatnaftotrade Trade House LLC, which are part of the Privat group of Kolomoisky.

"In few seconds, these funds appear on the account of PJSC Ukrtransnafta, whose management was also controlled by Kolomoisky. The head of Ukrtransnafta at that time was Oleksandr Lazorko  the head of other companies of the Privat group and also known for manipulating pipeline oil and placing it on storage at refineries of the Privat Group," the people's deputy wrote.

He said that within a few days, $38.2 million was pulled from Ukrtransnafta to the accounts of Transit SA in the bank's Cyprus branch. The company is registered in Switzerland by Kolomoisky (32.5%), Hennadiy Boholiubov (32.5%) and Ihor Surkis (25%).

"Further, Transit SA drives these funds through four offshore companies registered by persons who represent Kolomoisky's interests and are only nominal owners of these companies. As a result, $41 million is deposited in the accounts of Godfrey Consulting Limited, registered by Serhiy Melnyk, another representative of nominal holders. He "owns" more than 40 companies that have accounts with PrivatBank in Cyprus, and is a member of the editorial board of the associated company TK Privat TV Dnepr and director of several companies of the Privat Group, Ariev said.

According to the parliamentarian, having passed through offshore companies, the funds reached the companies registered by members of the Kvartal 95 Studio, namely: Andriy Yakovlev, Borys and Serhiy Shefir, Serhiy Trofimov and Volodymyr Zelensky.

Further, according to Ariev, the funds were placed on deposits and then withdrawn from the bank to the accounts of companies outside the bank, which makes it impossible to keep track of them. In 2012-2016, all funds were transferred to the following companies or accounts of individuals: Dr. Robert Walz (DE), Pinehill Investment Holdings Inc., Lacrontra Unitrade LLP (the U.K.), Piper Smith Watton LLP (the U.K.), Candlewood Investments Limited, Triapos Limited (Cyprus), SHSN Limited (Belize), Atrazon Limited LTD (Cyprus), Maintrade Limited (Seychelles), Panevest End Co SA, (Panama), Aldorante Limited (Cyprus), and Film Heritage Inc. (Belize).

"It should be emphasized that all companies are registered in offshore zones. The ultimate beneficial owners of these offshore companies are unknown, except for the last two  Cyprus Aldorante Limited and Film Heritage Inc. (Belize). They are registered by Zelensky, according to the candidate's declaration. Some $41 million was pulled from PrivatBank in parts, since 2012, from the moment of cooperation between Kolomoisky and Zelensky," the people's deputy said.
EU extends sanctions to Yanukovych, his 11 cronies for a year, with one excluded from the list

The European Union has extended the sanctions for another year (until March 6, 2020) in the form of freezing the assets of ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and his eleven cronies. One has been excluded from the list, but his name has not been officially announced yet.

The decision was made at the EU Council meeting without discussion in Brussels on Monday.

The decision will be published in the Official Journal of the EU on Tuesday, where the name of the person in relation to whom the EU decided not to renew the sanctions will be indicated. Earlier, the media reported that the former head of the presidential administration Andriy Kliuyev, who impeached the EU judgment in court, could be excluded from the existing list.

As reported, the term of sanctions for persons from the so-called "Ukrainian list" expires on March 6. Sanctions were imposed in March 2014 against 22 individuals suspected of embezzling public funds. The EU extends these sanctions for a year. The last time restrictive measures were extended in March 2017.

According to the Official Journal of the EU, there were 13 people in the last list, as some were excluded for various reasons, for instance, due to death or in connection with appealing the decision of the EU Council in the EU Court of Justice.
The decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruling unconstitutional Article 268-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illicit enrichment) is a serious setback in the fight against corruption in Ukraine, according to a joint statement of the G7 and the World Bank.

"The recent elimination of the illicit enrichment offence from the criminal code is a serious setback in the fight against corruption in Ukraine. This has weakened the impact of the whole anti-corruption architecture, including the soon to be established High Anti-Corruption Court, which was expected to rule on a significant number of illicit enrichment cases, and the ability of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine to investigate high-level corruption," the G7 ambassadors said in a statement posted on the official Twittter microblog on Monday.

The G7 and the World Bank called on Ukrainian authorities to step up efforts for safeguarding the effectiveness of anti-corruption legal tools and institutions, including by reinstating criminal liability for illicit enrichment in line with the UN, OECD and ECHR principles and finding a way to continues the dozens of investigations and prosecutions threatened by this ruling.

As reported, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine has issued a ruling in the case on a constitutional motion filed by 59 Members of Parliament of Ukraine regarding the compliance (constitutionality) of Article 368-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine with the Constitution of Ukraine. By this ruling, the Court recognized that Article 368-2 of the Criminal Code does not comply with the Constitution of Ukraine, i.e. it is unconstitutional.
Poroshenko spends over UAH 1.2 bln on philanthropy in five years, incl. UAH 550 mln on army  Oleh Medvedev

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has spent more than UAH 1.2 billion on philanthropy over the last five years.

"During the last five years, Poroshenko and structures, of which he is a beneficiary, has spent around UAH 1.2 billion, of which UAH 550 million has gone to the military," spokesman for Poroshenko's presidential campaign Oleh Medvedev said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.

Medvedev said Poroshenko had spent his own money on helping to restore Kyiv's air-defense systems, and transferred his own funds for sniper rifles for air-assault troops.

"In 2017, about a hundred sniper rifles were purchases for the special operation forces," Medvedev said.
The only way forward for Iran is a unified push by all political movements for a direct, democratic referendum on changing the Islamic Republics ruling system, former revolutionary Abolfazl Qadyani said from his prison cell.

73-year-old Qadyani (also spelled as Ghadyani) is a co-founder of the political group Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Organization (MIRO). He helped the clerics consolidate power after the downfall of the monarchy forty years ago. The MIRO strongly supported the Islamic Republics ruling system until 2009, when the group fell out with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the disputed re-election of populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Khamenei will not submit to reform, and the only way out of Irans economic and social turmoil is for the Supreme Leader to step down, Qadyani wrote in a letter smuggled out of prison and published on Kalemeh, a website affiliated with the Green Movement, the political uprising sparked by Ahmadinejads disputed re-election.

Qadyanis comments were in response to a speech Khamenei gave on the fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution February 12.

"The Islamic Revolution has been mighty, but merciful; forgiving and even oppressed since its inception, this Revolution has never been merciless nor has it ever shed blood; it has neither been passive nor hesitant, Khamenei said in his speech.

Comparing Khamenei's statement to the philosophy of the German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany Joseph Goebbels, Qadyani has insisted, "the Supreme Leader believes that if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it, hesitating to question its credibility. The bigger a lie, the better."

In an earlier letter published in November, Qadyani had described lifetime appointments, including that of the Supreme Leader, as the mother of all corruption.

"The power in Iran, as everybody knows, is monopolized by the Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist (the philosophy behind the position of the Supreme Leader). Therefore, since the Supreme Leader is under nobody's supervision and not accountable to any institution, he is responsible for spreading the corrupt products of the concentrated power for life across the land, he wrote.

Qadyani, himself a former pro-reform activist, also criticized Iranian reformists in his most recent communication from behind bars for their steadfast belief that the regime can reform itself.

They [reformists] want to reform a corrupt and flawed structure, he wrote, they are either not reformists or simply cherish an impossible dream.

He called on all political activists, including those in the reform camp, to demand Khamenei step down. Otherwise, he warned, Iranians may face the same sad fate as Libyans and Iraqis, whose dictators were forced from power.

"The current dominant regime will never submit to reform since its legal and real structure is fundamentally against reform," Qadyani argued, adding, "Therefore, it should be forced by resistance and persistence to accept structural amendment through reform or national referendum.

Qadyani is in prison along with many other political activists who publicly challenged the results of the 2009 presidential election. Along with fourteen other activists, he signed a statement in 2017 demanding a referendum on changing Irans cleric-dominated ruling system to one of secular democracy.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) of India with the support of the Embassy of India in Baku is organizing the 2nd Edition of BEST OF INDIA - Biggest Exclusive Indian Product Trade Show in Baku, Azerbaijan, during 07-17 March 2019 from 10 AM to 6 PM at Baku Sport Hall, 26a Neftcilr prospekti, Baku, Azerbaijan. The series of shows held overseas have consistently presented Indian industrys high quality goods, services and technologies in varied industrial sectors to the world.

The Best of India - An Exclusive India Product exhibition will have participation of 75 companies from India showcasing high quality Products and Services including Electrical & Electronics, Bicycle, Rice, Tea, Spices, Packaging, Pharmaceuticals, Gifts & Handicrafts, Stationery, Home Furnishing, Textile & Garments, Jewellery, Cosmetics. This Exhibition is being held in the framework of bilateral business cooperation between India and Azerbaijan and is supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India.

Apart from business and commerce the event will also focus on portraying the rich Indian cultural heritage through cultural events, food &, Bollywood festival etc. all adding to Best of India Experience. Entry to the exhibition is free.

India and Azerbaijan enjoy close friendly relations based on historical links and growing bilateral cooperation. The two countries have increasing business and commercial cooperation in the fields of energy, Pharmaceutical, Agriculture, tourism, IT, science & technology, Textile & Garments and education sectors to name a few. In 2017, Indias export to Azerbaijan has grown by more than 37 million USD and total bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan has reached around 463 million USD. India and Azerbaijan have growing cooperation in capacity building under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme which provides fully paid training programmes for Azerbaijani professionals and students in Indian institutions.

ABOUT PHD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry - one of the leading Industry Chamber of India, and ever since its inception in 1905 has been an active participant in the India growth story through its advocacy role for the policymakers of the country. As a true representative of the Industry with a large membership base of 130,000 direct and indirect members, PHD Chamber has forged ahead leveraging its legacy with the Industry knowledge across sectors. At a Global level the Chamber has been working with the Embassies & High Commissions in India to bring in the International Best Practices and Business Opportunities. Industrial Development, Health, Education & Skill development, Housing, Infrastructure, Agriculture & Agri-business and Digital India are the seven key thrust areas.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend

Azercell Telecom LLC, the leading mobile operator in Azerbaijan, continues to conduct projects aimed at personal and academic growth of students in the country. This time, Azercell joined ADA Career Fair 2019 held at ADA University on March 1.

Representatives of Azercells Human Resource Department answered the questions of students and graduates seeking employment opportunities, gave broad information about the current vacancies, as well as programs for students. The event is a grand tradition at ADA University, which aims to inform the youth about the employment market, give them an opportunity to build direct cooperation with leading companies in the labor market in order to make an important choice in their professional carriers. The Career Fair was organized from February 28th to March 2nd, hosting the companies representing IT and telecom industry on March 1st.

Azercell Telecom LLC annually conducts the Student Bursary Program and Internship Programs with the aim to support young talents in the country. This year, the Student Bursary Program received 1398 applications. Following the review and selection process, 25 students have been honored with the title of Azercell scholar.

The winning students got a chance to receive 200 AZN monthly stipend throughout the remaining period of their university studies, enrich their knowledge on telecommunications, participate in Azercells corporate events and social activities, receive training and information sessions, as well as various courses.

Azercell will continue its contribution towards the successful career development of the youth.

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 49 percent share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 99.1 percent of the territory (excluding the occupied territories) and 99.8 percent of population of the country.

Currently, 4.5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call center service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc.

Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 22 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said March 4, Trend reports.

The Armenian armed forces were using heavy machine guns.

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, March 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

US remains committed to helping sides find a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the US State Department spokesperson told Trend.

As a co-chair of the Minsk Group, the United States remains committed to helping the sides find a peaceful and lasting solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said the spokesperson, referring to the latest statement of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs.

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 the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan considers the poster of a group of Armenians living in Tehran and the slogans they shout out during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as an unauthorized action and an unacceptable step and condemns it, the Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan said, Trend reports on March 4.

Iranian officials did not interfere in the meeting between the Armenian prime minister and a group of Armenians living in Tehran held in Ararat club, the embassy said.

The embassy considers the poster hung at that meeting and slogans which a group of Armenians shout out there as an unauthorized action and an unacceptable step, spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.

"We would like to emphasize that during the first and difficult days of Azerbaijans independence, Iran has always been close to Azerbaijan and its people, supported Azerbaijans territorial integrity and will never change this policy, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said. Iran believes that the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will be resolved between the sides on the basis of the principle of respect for Azerbaijans territorial integrity and through peaceful negotiations. Friendship and fraternity between Iran and Azerbaijan are eternal and no provocation can harm them."

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.
40pc of doctors failed in medical councils special examination

About 40 percent medical doctors, who sat for the special examination conducted by the Nepal Medical Council on Saturday, have failed to score the pass mark.
Details added (first version posted on Feb. 28 at 12:17)

Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation of the Centrist Democrat International led by its President Andres Pastrana and including General Secretary Antonio Lopez-Isturiz and General Coordinator for Asia Pacific Cesar Rossello.

President Ilham Aliyev expressed hope that the visit and the discussions will contribute to the development of cooperation and dialogue between Azerbaijan and the Centrist Democrat International.

Andres Pastrana highlighted issues on the Centrist Democrat International`s agenda and the organization`s activities. He said that during the visit they met with internally displaced persons, describing the Azerbaijani government`s socially-oriented work to improve their living conditions as exemplary.

Noting that the problems of refugees and internally displaced persons are always the focus of attention, President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the consequences of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the settlement process of the dispute.

They also exchanged views on cooperation prospects between the Centrist Democrat International and Azerbaijan, particularly the New Azerbaijan Party.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has signed an order regarding measures to continue renovation work in the city of Ganja, Trend reports referring to the presidential press-service.

Under the presidential order, 11 million manats will be allocated to Ganja City Executive Authority for the continuation of redevelopment and repair work in the city.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

The cultural workers who have made great contributions to the nation and state and who have won the love of the people must be supported by the state, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks March 1 in his closing speech at a meeting with a group of culture and art figures.

Dear friends, I know that there are many people who would like to speak, he said. I suggest that we hold such meetings on a regular basis, so that we could cover all the issues. Todays meeting shows again that such meetings are of great benefit. The questions raised here are very important indeed. I believe that their solution can clarify many issues. I have already instructed the minister of culture and am now instructing the Presidential Administration to analyze all the proposals made here and include them in a program, so that we could consistently address these issues.

On some questions, I want to express my opinion now  in a chronological order, he noted. The process of restoration of the Center of Writers has been launched. Mr. Anar (Anar Rzayev, writer), has expressed his opinion about this and noted that this issue had been resolved in a meeting. The IDPs settled there are being provided with new houses and apartments. The building will be refurbished and handed over to writers. At the same time, a Center for Contemporary Art is being created in Shabran District.

Other proposals, including those related to monuments, will definitely be examined, the Azerbaijani president said.

I accept and support the proposals concerning the monument to Jalil Mammadguluzadeh, he added. Appropriate instructions have been given related to the construction of an apartment building for writers. A land plot has been allocated and this apartment building will be constructed. At the same time, I believe that the government should build a new residential building for prominent cultural figures and young talents. The Baku City Executive Authority, the State Committee for Town Planning and Architecture and the State Committee for Property Issues will receive relevant instructions. They are hearing my instructions as we speak: to allocate a plot of land in a short period of time so that we could build a beautiful building for prominent figures and provide them with apartments.

I also accept the suggestions made by the Union of Composers, he said. Today, the Baku City Executive Authority will be instructed to solve the housing problem of Yashar Imanov. If I had known about this before, the issue would have been resolved long ago. You are well aware that the government has provided apartments to hundreds of prominent cultural figures in recent years. I can say that the absolute majority of requests I have received in this regard have been resolved. We will continue to do so, as I believe that the state should take this responsibility. I do not know how this issue is addressed in other countries, but as far as I know, Azerbaijan is showing an example of leadership in this area. One of the goals of this meeting is to hear your suggestions and make the right decision in the end.

The establishment of artistic councils on television channels is an issue that has long been on the agenda, but unfortunately remains unresolved, Ilham Aliyev stressed.

I believe that the Azerbaijani state television, AzTV, should be the first in this regard, he said. Other TV channels are also encouraged to set up artistic councils. But Mrs. Alizadeh is absolutely right that everything will depend on who will be represented on these artistic councils. Therefore, we should probably take into account the proposals of creative people. The Ministry of Culture, the Presidential Administration and unions should make proposals. There are different opinions and different approaches in connection with television programs - some like them, others don't. Quite often, private television channels compete for advertising. Therefore, they try to show more spectacular shows, which slightly reduces their quality at times. We must address this issue in a comprehensive manner but this area needs a unified approach.

As for the festivals, let me say this: I believe that there should be no problem with state support of the Shaki festival, he noted. Again, this is an issue that can be easily resolved. The Minister of Culture is saying this too  we can resolve this.

As Mr. Babayev has said, the establishment of Mugham centers has gained momentum, Ilham Aliyev added. The latest center was established in the city of Agdam. We celebrated its opening together. Prior to that, centers had been opened in other cities too. Mugham contests are very important. Mugham is our national asset. Our musical culture has a special role in educating young people in the spirit of patriotism. It is no coincidence that live Mugham contests attract a large audience. We watch them and we know that the absolute majority of our people watch them too. I want to highlight the role of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva in the development of Mugham both in the country and abroad.

The inclusion of Azerbaijani Mugham in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage is a historic achievement, he said. We have also held international contests and Mugham festivals. This art lives in several countries, but UNESCOs recognition of Azerbaijani Mugham as an asset of Intangible Cultural Heritage of mankind is, of course, a great achievement. I should also note you that 13 samples of intangible cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people are included in various UNESCO lists.

As always, I welcome the brilliant remarks of Mrs. Zeynab Khanlarova, Ilham Aliyev added. Zeynab Khanlarova is the role model of our people, an outstanding personality, a great master and a prominent public figure. There is no one in Azerbaijan who would not love her. Our family is closely associated with Zeynab Khanlarova. I remember the difficult days for my father when he left his post, retired, had health problems, was in isolation in some sense. Zeynab Khanlarova visited us  I was there too. She cheered him up and provided with moral support. At that time, it had a special meaning for my father. Of course, Zeynab Khanlarova also understood at the time that Heydar Aliyev was perceived as an undesirable person in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the then leaders of Azerbaijan also allowed for this injustice. These courageous and honest steps by Zeynab Khanlarova will always remain in our hearts, in our memory.

A few suggestions have been made regarding theaters, the Azerbaijani president said.

I mentioned the leading theaters in my opening remarks and said that, first of all, we dealt with the refurbishment of theaters  the Academic State Drama Theater, the Russian Drama Theater, the Music Theater, the Theater of Young Spectators, the Puppet Theater, he noted. Therefore, of course, I believe that we should not draw any distinctions here. It is necessary to prepare proposals on the wages of theater workers and significantly increase them. We must do that. Of course, Mr. Haji Ismayilov, thank you for the invitation. I will come with great pleasure and will be glad to see the beautiful performances together with you.

An idea related to taxes was also mentioned here, he said. It is necessary to study it and see what can be done. In parallel with this, I believe that the state should also provide support for our leading theaters. An instruction will be issued. I believe that the private sector should also sponsor theaters. I want to encourage the private sector to support theaters in this, but the state will take on this issue in the first place. This should be addressed in the decisions to be made at the end of our meeting.

I also support the ideas about musical instruments, he noted. In recent years, we have done some work on the acquisition of musical instruments, including those on the proposals from Farhad Badalbayli. At the same time, we must definitely consider buying the musical instruments of great value, including the works of famous masters. Investment in this sphere will remain as investment, but at the same time, it will play an important role in the development of our musical art.

I also approve of the suggestions about architecture, Ilham Aliyev added. I believe that the Baku City Executive Authority and the Union of Architects need to analyze the proposal of Mr. Elbay Gasimzadeh because you are absolutely right. The center of Baku seems to be concentrated in several districts. I dont know why this happened  this was historically the case. There is a lot of logic in this. If the boundaries of the city center are precisely set, then, of course, you can create a unified management system.

For example, by my decision we have created the Boulevard and Icherisheher as separate administrative units, he said. This is exactly why both the Boulevard and Icherisheher are so clean, in order and have wonderful atmosphere now. Therefore, in principle, I support the proposal to create a central district of Baku. We need to analyze this in detail in order to know what steps need to be taken. Therefore, such an instruction is being given.

Of course, we should be very sensitive about the restoration of historical buildings in Baku, he noted. I have always said that it is necessary to preserve the historical appearance of buildings during repairs. This should be the main principle. In recent years, the main historical buildings of our city have been overhauled with preservation of their historical appearance.

You also need to consider, together with the Ministry of Culture, the issue of erecting monuments in honor of outstanding architects and make suggestions, he added. Mrs. Afag Bashirgizi has mentioned the issue of salaries of actors and the division of theaters into categories. I have also expressed my opinion on this matter.

Suggestions have been made related to the shooting of films, he said.

I believe that in the last year or two, this issue was not given due attention, the Azerbaijani president noted. We have to fill this gap. In other words, it is necessary to restore the process of shooting films on state order. The state budget does not envisage that for this year. I know that Abulfas Garayev tried very hard to incorporate this, but for some reason this was not done. Therefore, there is one way to go about that: to allocate sufficient funds from the Presidents contingency fund for the current year. Now you need to make suggestions. The state budget for the next and subsequent years should definitely envisage funds for the restoration of film production.

As for the building of the Union of Cinematographers, Abulfas Garayev tells me that you have a building, Ilham Aliyev added.

Abulfas Garayev noted that the building is rented.

Then the suggestion is to choose a beautiful building in the center of Baku, Ilham Aliyev said. The Baku City Executive Authority, the Committee on Property Issues and the Ministry of Culture are now being instructed. Mrs. Shafiga Mammadova, please make suggestions on this issue. Of course, we must do this because the Union of Cinematographers should have its own building with good conditions.

I do not see any problems with the transformation of the Russian Drama Theater into an academic theater, he noted. I am instructing to resolve this issue today. Steps must be taken to raise the level of other theaters as well. In principle, both salaries and status will be raised. I said that the issue of raising the salaries of theater workers should soon be resolved. You mentioned that although 11 years have passed, it seems to have happened just recently. There is probably a need for repairs. If this is necessary, do let me know. In principle, repairs of our theaters were carried out 10 years ago. If there is a need for repairs, let me know so that we can resolve this.

I would also like to comment on the words of Tahir Imanov, Ilham Aliyev said. I do not know. I have asked Abulfas Garayev  who imposed this ban on you? No-one can impose any bans on you. If someone did, let me know and we will eliminate it.

Tahir Imanov pointed to private TV channels.

Private TV channels? the Azerbaijani president asked. I think they made a mistake. I advise and recommend that they completely lift this ban if it does exist at all. I believe that all television channels should be open to such talented people as you.

Tahir Imanov thanked the Azerbaijani president.

I am glad that you raised this question because apparently there is some misunderstanding here, Ilham Aliyev said. In other words, there can be no prohibitions by the state. I have known you for over 20 years. In previous years, we had good contacts. I still watch your activities today. I am regularly informed about your work. I am pleased that you are expanding the scope of your activities. You are very talented people and the Azerbaijani people love you.

Thank you very much, Tahir Imanov said.

As regards the perpetuation of Suleyman Alasgarov, I am instructing the Baku City Executive Authority to name one of the streets after Suleyman Alasgarov, Ilham Aliyev added. You should contact the head of the Executive Authority because your family should definitely be involved in choosing the street.

Tahir Imanov thanked Ilham Aliyev.

I approve of Bahrams (Bahram Bahirzadeh's) proposal as well, Ilham Aliyev said. Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev was a great man, a great patron. He was a person who did a lot for the people of Azerbaijan. About 20 years ago, the Pir Hasan sanctuary was landscaped on my instruction. Our family also benefited from Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyevs humane activities. At that time, my grandfather Aziz Aliyev wrote him a letter asking for money to study the profession of a doctor. Haji Zeynalabdin, of course, did not know and could not know him. In response to that letter only, he sent him money. With this money, Aziz Aliyev entered the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, became a doctor and entered a new period in his life.

Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev helped thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, and one of my steps as President was to overhaul his house, the Azerbaijani president noted. It currently houses the Museum of History but I perceived this building as his house, and we did that. To erect a monument to him would be the right decision. It would be good if you, Bahram, also took an active part in this. Do prepare suggestions. In general, I watch your activities. You are doing a lot of hard and dedicated work to develop our city and protect our historical heritage. I see and approve of that, and wish you continued success.

I also support the proposals of Tahir Salahov both to establish the post of the main artist and to hold a biennale in Baku, Ilham Aliyev added. I am told that a biennale will be held here this year. This is also a great suggestion. I am pleased to accept the invitation of Mrs. Khuraman Gasimova. It is possible to say that I have expressed my attitude to all the key issues raised here.

Dear friends, I want to say again that such a warm and frank conversation creates excellent opportunities for addressing many issues, the Azerbaijani president noted. I suggest holding such meetings on a regular basis in one format or another, so that our work in this area is more correct and systematic, so that all the problems that concern our creative public are resolved. Thank you. I wish you continued success and a happy upcoming Novruz holiday. Thank you!
Details added (first version posted March 1 at 14:00)

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and first lady Mehriban Aliyeva have today met with a group of culture and art figures.

The head of state made a speech at the event.

Speech of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev

- Dear friends, my warm greetings! I would like to talk about the development of Azerbaijani culture today. I have had numerous meetings with prominent cultural figures of our country, both individually and at various events, ceremonies and openings of cultural institutions. Today we are meeting in a broader format. I think this is necessary because our country is entering a new stage of development. Very serious reforms are under way in all areas. A new stage of reforms was declared after the presidential election last year. In the second half of last year, extensive work was done to prepare serious reforms and large-scale reforms kicked off at the beginning of this year. These reforms will cover all areas. There is a need for that. Even developed countries always carry out reforms. Reforms mean innovation, a new approach and solution to existing problems. From this point of view, 2019 will be a very serious year, a year that will be different from previous years.

The reforms we are implementing in the economic sphere are producing excellent results. The figures for the first month of this year give reason to say this. It is possible to say that our economy is fully restored. I am confident that there will be very serious results in terms of economic development this year. You are well aware that the deep financial and economic crisis that has affected the world did not bypass our country either, and almost all countries experienced an economic recession after 2015. This decline was particularly pronounced in countries linked to the oil and gas sector. Just imagine the country's revenues reduce about fourfold that in a short period of time. What does this mean? This means that we had to reduce our expenses fourfold and take very serious steps in the shortest possible time. No country was ready for that, including us. We recognize this. Of course, this crisis has dealt a big blow to our country. At that time, our main goal was to strengthen the social protection of the population and come out of this economic crisis with smallest possible losses. I think that we succeeded in doing that. Year 2017 was one of economic stabilization. Last year we already embarked on a period of economic development, while this year development already manifests itself in even greater volumes.

The economic reforms have enabled us to take very serious steps in the social sphere. At the beginning of this year, we started the implementation of social projects prepared during the last year. The people of Azerbaijan know this very well. The 40-percent increase of the minimum wage and minimum pension covers up to 830,000 people. The increase in the amount of social benefits by an average of 100 percent covers about 600,000 people. The process of documenting apartment buildings covers approximately 350,000-400,000 people. The solution of problems of martyr families, increase of their benefits and provision of allowances cover thousands of people. Student scholarships have been significantly increased, which improves the financial situation of more than 100,000 students. Other social steps  the Decree I signed yesterday covers 800,000 people  I can say that this decree is unparalleled in the world. This can be confirmed by everyone who has read and analyzed the decree. This is a very serious social initiative. The government shows again that it stands by its citizens. As soon as economic opportunities presented themselves, we first of all decided to resolve the issue of problem loans and we did. I should also note that a fairly large number of countries have suffered at the hands of serious depreciation. There are countries that are faced with even deeper devaluation of their national currencies. But none of these countries have taken such social steps to uphold the interests of their citizens. This entire social package covers up to 3 million people and demonstrates our intentions once again.

Reforms are and should be carried out in other areas too. Reforms are underway in the field of education, and I can say that the number of people choosing the profession of a teacher has dramatically increased. In other words, traditional respect for the teaching profession is returning to society, and this has been possible as a result of reforms. Of course, the strengthening of the material and technical infrastructure of education and the construction of more than 3,200 schools have led to great changes.

Very serious healthcare reforms are also underway. The decision has been made, and I hope that next year we will move to the system of compulsory medical insurance. We have implemented pilot projects in several cities, and these projects have produced very positive results. Both citizens are satisfied and the medical care is provided at a high level. I can say that there is full transparency in the healthcare sector in these cities. The international financial structures, first of all the World Bank - I have recently met with their representatives  speak very highly of that. I do believe that every citizen of Azerbaijan will see the benefits of that. This is a very serious reform, a difficult issue. Some countries have been striving for these reforms for years, but have failed to achieve anything. Meanwhile, we have prepared all the necessary documents in a relatively short time and a very serious turnaround will be achieved in the healthcare sector. Over these years, we have built modern hospitals and diagnostic centers in all our cities, i.e. the infrastructure exists.

There is a serious need for reforms in other areas, for example, in the judicial sphere, and relevant instructions have been given. To the field of town planning. The process of chaotic construction in the city of Baku is now being stopped. The Committee for Town Planning and Architecture has received very serious instructions to put an end to this. Of course, we cannot allow a stagnation to creep in on the construction sector either. Construction is one of the sectors giving an impetus to the economy, a sector that creates tens of thousands of jobs. However, further town planning rules in Baku should be based on the master plan, and the already beautiful appearance of our great city should become even more beautiful. Reforms are also underway in the field of urban transport and urban economy. I believe that we will succeed in carrying out these reforms.

As for the sphere of culture, I would like to exchange views on these issues with you today and talk about the work ahead. A lot of work was done in previous years. As President, I have always tried to pay attention to this area. I believe that the work done should be evaluated. Our main theaters  the National Drama Theater, the Russian Drama Theater, the Theater of Young Spectators and the Music Theater  have been refurbished. We have built or overhauled theaters in the regions and set up new theaters. It is possible to say that our museums, the museums of Baku have been overhauled  the Museum of History, the Museum of Nizami, the Museum Center. Two buildings of the Art Museum and the Carpet Museum have been built. The Museum of Contemporary Art and other museums have begun to operate  I cannot remember everything now. Local history museums have started to operate in every city.

Religious sites have been renovated. Hundreds of mosques have been restored in Baku and the regions. Among them are those of great spiritual significance  the mosques of Tazapir, Bibiheybat, Ajdarbay, the Imamzadeh Historical and Religious Complex in Ganja, the oldest mosque in Azerbaijan  the Juma Mosque in Shamakhi built in 743. The Heydar Mosque has been built. So this is our national heritage.

To other areas now. I remember that one of my first decisions was to publish the works of our classics in the Latin script. There was a somewhat unclear situation. We completely switched to the Latin script and education was conducted in Latin script. However, the books of all our classics were once published in Cyrillic. Therefore, pupils and students could not read them. At that time, we did not have great material possibilities. We made this decision in 2004. Despite the fact that our financial opportunities were quite limited, we did that in a short time. Not only the works of Azerbaijani classics, but also those of world literature were published in Latin script.

The establishment of cinemas and the launch of private cinemas are a welcome phenomenon. The Nizami cinema center has been overhauled. Monuments to outstanding cultural figures have been erected  Gara Garayev, Fikrat Amirov, Bulbul, Niyazi and our other eminent cultural figures were perpetuated. It is difficult to remember all the work done. One of our two conservatories has been overhauled and the other rebuilt.

Such is the work we have done in this area to date. You should now tell me what more needs to be done because I want work in the field of culture to be carried out in a systematic manner. We should pursue a consistent policy on these issues. Of course, the construction and renovation of cultural facilities cannot fully reflect our goals. We need to look at these issues in a wider context. In general, the future development of our culture, the mood of our society, the upbringing of the young generation  all these issues are closely related to each other. A country may develop economically, have a strong international position in the political sphere, but if we disregard the main and fundamental principles of our people, then the successful development of our country cannot be sustainable.

Exactly a month ago, at a meeting with young people, I said that our young generation should be brought up in the national spirit. Only in this case Azerbaijan can walk the path of independence forever. Of course, the main factor for achieving this is our culture, art, literature and national thinking. Therefore, I would like to discuss these and any other issues with you today. I believe I should finish my opening remarks in order to create more opportunities for you to speak.

Thank you.

Culture and art figures then addressed the event.

Giving relevant instructions to address the important issues raised, President Ilham Aliyev made a closing speech at the event.

Closing speech of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev

- Dear friends, I know that there are many more people who would like to speak. I suggest that we hold such meetings on a regular basis, so that we could cover all the issues.

Todays meeting shows again that such meetings are of great benefit. The questions raised here are very important indeed. I believe that their solution can clarify many issues. I have already instructed the Minister of Culture and am now instructing the Presidential Administration to analyze all the proposals made here and include them in a program, so that we could consistently address these issues.

On some questions, I want to express my opinion already now  in a chronological order. The process of restoration of the Center of Writers has been launched. Mr. Anar has expressed his opinion about this and noted that this issue had been resolved in a meeting. The IDPs settled there are being provided with new houses and apartments. The building will be refurbished and handed over to writers. At the same time, a Center for Contemporary Art is being created in Shabran District.

Other proposals, including those related to monuments, will definitely be examined. I accept and support the proposals concerning the monument to Jalil Mammadguluzadeh. Appropriate instructions have been given related to the construction of an apartment building for writers. A land plot has been allocated and this apartment building will be constructed. At the same time, I believe that the government should build a new residential building for prominent cultural figures and young talents. The Baku City Executive Authority, the State Committee for Town Planning and Architecture and the State Committee for Property Issues will receive relevant instructions. They are hearing my instructions as we speak: to allocate a plot of land in a short period of time so that we could build a beautiful apartment building for prominent figures and provide them with apartments.

I also accept the suggestions made by the Union of Composers. Today, the Baku City Executive Authority will be instructed to solve the housing problem of Yashar Imanov. If I had known about this before, the issue would have been resolved long ago. You are well aware that the government has provided apartments to hundreds of prominent cultural figures in recent years. I can say that the absolute majority of requests I have received in this regard have been resolved. We will continue to do so, as I believe that the state should take this responsibility. I do not know how this issue is addressed in other countries, but as far as I know, Azerbaijan is showing an example of leadership in this area. The cultural workers who have made great contributions to the nation and state and who have won the love of the people must be supported by the state. One of the goals of this meeting is to hear your suggestions and make the right decision in the end.

The establishment of artistic councils on television channels is an issue that has long been on the agenda, but unfortunately remains unresolved. I believe that the Azerbaijani state television, AzTV, should be the first in this regard. Other TV channels are also encouraged to set up artistic councils. But Mrs. Alizadeh is absolutely right that everything will depend on who will be represented on these artistic councils. Therefore, we should probably take into account the proposals of creative people. The Ministry of Culture, the Presidential Administration and unions should make proposals. There are different opinions and different approaches in connection with television programs - some like them, others don't. Quite often, private television channels compete for advertising. Therefore, they try to show more spectacular shows, which slightly reduces their quality at times. We must address this issue in a comprehensive manner but this area needs a unified approach.

As for the festivals, let me say this: I believe that there should be no problem with state support of the Shaki festival. Again, this is an issue that can be easily resolved. The Minister of Culture is saying this too  we can resolve this.

As Mr. Babayev has said, the establishment of mugham centers has gained momentum. The latest center was established in the city of Agdam. We celebrated its opening together. Prior to that, centers had been opened in other cities too. Mugham contests are very important. Mugham is our national asset. Our musical culture has a special role in educating young people in the spirit of patriotism. It is no coincidence that live mugham contests attract a large audience. We watch them and we know that the absolute majority of our people watch them too. I want to highlight the role of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and Mrs. Mehriban Aliyeva in the development of mugham both in the country and abroad. The inclusion of Azerbaijani mugham in the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage is a historic achievement. We have also held international contests and mugham festivals. This art lives in several countries, but UNESCOs recognition of Azerbaijani mugham as an asset of Intangible Cultural Heritage of mankind is, of course, a great achievement.

I should also note you that 13 samples of intangible cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people are included in various UNESCO lists.

As always, I welcome the brilliant remarks of Mrs. Zeynab Khanlarova. Zeynab Khanlarova is the role model of our people, an outstanding personality, a great master and a prominent public figure. There is no-one in Azerbaijan who would not love her. Our family is closely associated with Zeynab Khanlarova. I remember the difficult days for my father when he left his post, retired, had health problems, was in isolation in some sense. Zeynab Khanlarova visited us  I was there too. She cheered him up and provided with moral support. At that time, it had a special meaning for my father. Of course, Zeynab Khanlarova also understood at the time that Heydar Aliyev was perceived as an undesirable person in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the then leaders of Azerbaijan also allowed for this injustice. These courageous and honest steps by Zeynab Khanlarova will always remain in our hearts, in our memory.

A few suggestions have been made here regarding theaters. I mentioned the leading theaters in my opening remarks and said that, first of all, we dealt with the refurbishment of theaters  the Academic State Drama Theater, the Russian Drama Theater, the Music Theater, the Theater of Young Spectators, the Puppet Theater. Therefore, of course, I believe that we should not draw any distinctions here. It is necessary to prepare proposals on the wages of theater workers and significantly increase them. We must do that. Of course, Mr. Haji Ismayilov, thank you for the invitation. I will come with great pleasure and will be glad to see the beautiful performances together with you.

An idea related to taxes was also mentioned here. It is necessary to study it and see what can be done. In parallel with this, I believe that the state should also provide support for our leading theaters. An instruction will be issued. I believe that the private sector should also sponsor theaters. I want to encourage the private sector to support theaters in this, but the state will take on this issue in the first place. This should be addressed in the decisions to be made at the end of our meeting.

I also support the ideas about musical instruments. In recent years, we have done some work on the acquisition of musical instruments, including those on the proposals from Farhad Badalbayli. At the same time, we must definitely consider buying the musical instruments of great value, including the works of famous masters. Investment in this sphere will remain as investment, but at the same time, it will play an important role in the development of our musical art.

I also approve of the suggestions about architecture. I believe that the Baku City Executive Authority and the Union of Architects need to analyze the proposal of Mr. Elbay Gasimzadeh because you are absolutely right. The center of Baku seems to be concentrated in several districts. I dont know why this happened  this was historically the case. There is a lot of logic in this. If the boundaries of the city center are precisely set, then, of course, you can create a unified management system. For example, by my decision we have created the Boulevard and Icherisheher as separate administrative units. This is exactly why both the Boulevard and Icherisheher are so clean, in order and have a wonderful atmosphere now. Therefore, in principle, I support the proposal to create a central district of Baku. We need to analyze this in detail in order to know what steps need to be taken. Therefore, such an instruction is being given.

Of course, we should be very sensitive about the restoration of historical buildings in Baku. I have always said that it is necessary to preserve the historical appearance of buildings during repairs. This should be the main principle. In recent years, the main historical buildings of our city have been overhauled with preservation of their historical appearance.

You also need to consider, together with the Ministry of Culture, the issue of erecting monuments in honor of outstanding architects and make suggestions. Mrs. Afag Bashirgizi has mentioned the issue of salaries of actors and the division of theaters into categories. I have also expressed my opinion on this matter.

Suggestions have been made related to the shooting of films. I believe that in the last year or two, this issue was not given due attention. We have to fill this gap. In other words, it is necessary to restore the process of shooting films on state order. The state budget does not envisage that for this year. I know that Abulfas Garayev tried very hard to incorporate this, but for some reason this was not done. Therefore, there is one way to go about that: to allocate sufficient funds from the Presidents contingency fund for the current year. Now you need to make suggestions. The state budget for the next and subsequent years should definitely envisage funds for the restoration of film production.

As for the building of the Union of Cinematographers, Abulfas Garayev tells me that you have a building.

Abulfas Garayev: It is rented.

President Ilham Aliyev: Then the suggestion is to choose a beautiful building in the center of Baku. The Baku City Executive Authority, the Committee on Property Issues and the Ministry of Culture are now being instructed. Mrs. Shafiga Mammadova, please make suggestions on this issue. Of course, we must do this because the Union of Cinematographers should have its own building with good conditions.

I do not see any problems with the transformation of the Russian Drama Theater into an academic theater. I am instructing to resolve this issue today. Steps must be taken to raise the level of other theaters as well. In principle, both salaries and status will be raised. I said that the issue of raising the salaries of theater workers should soon be resolved. You mentioned that although 11 years have passed, it seems to have happened just recently. There is probably a need for repairs. If this is necessary, do let me know. In principle, repairs of our theaters were carried out 10 years ago. If there is a need for repairs, let me know so that we can resolve this issue.

I would also like to comment on the words of Tahir Imanov. I do not know. I have asked Abulfas Garayev  who imposed this ban on you? No-one can impose any bans on you. If someone did, let me know and we will eliminate it.

Tahir Imanov: Private TV channels.

President Ilham Aliyev: Private TV channels? I think they made a mistake. I advise and recommend that they completely lift this ban if it does at all exist. I believe that all television channels should be open to such talented people as you.

Tahir Imanov: Thank you.

President Ilham Aliyev: I am glad that you raised this question because apparently there is some misunderstanding here. In other words, there can be no prohibitions by the state. I have known you for over 20 years. In previous years, we had good contacts. I still watch your activities today. I am regularly informed about your work. I am pleased that you are expanding the scope of your activities. You are very talented people and the Azerbaijani people love you.

Tahir Imanov: Thank you very much.

President Ilham Aliyev: As regards the perpetuation of Suleyman Alasgarov, I am instructing the Baku City Executive Authority to name one of the streets after Suleyman Alasgarov. You should contact the head of the Executive Authority because your family should definitely be involved in choosing the street.

Tahir Imanov: Thank you.

President Ilham Aliyev: I approve of Bahrams proposal as well. Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev was a great man, a great patron. He was a person who did a lot for the people of Azerbaijan. About 20 years ago, the Pir Hasan sanctuary was landscaped on my instruction. Our family also benefited from Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyevs humane activities. At that time, my grandfather Aziz Aliyev wrote him a letter asking for money to study the profession of a doctor. Haji Zeynalabdin, of course, did not know and could not know him. In response to that letter only, he sent him money. With this money, Aziz Aliyev entered the Military Medical Academy in St. Petersburg, became a doctor and entered a new period in his life. Haji Zeynalabdin Tagiyev helped thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of people, and one of my steps as President was to overhaul his house. It currently houses the Museum of History but I perceived this building as his house, and we did that. To erect a monument to him would be the right decision. It would be good if you, Bahram, also took an active part in this. Do prepare suggestions. In general, I watch your activities. You are doing a lot of hard and dedicated work to develop our city and protect our historical heritage. I see and approve that, and wish you continued success.

I also support the proposals of Tahir Salahov both to establish the post of the main artist and to hold a biennale in Baku. I am told that a biennale will be held here this year. This is also a great suggestion.

I am pleased to accept the invitation of Mrs. Khuraman Gasimova. It is possible to say that I have expressed my attitude to all the key issues raised here.

Dear friends, I want to say again that such a warm and frank conversation creates excellent opportunities for addressing many issues. I suggest holding such meetings on a regular basis in one format or another, so that our work in this area is more correct and systematic, so that all the problems that concern our creative public are resolved. Thank you. I wish you continued success and a happy upcoming Novruz holiday. Thank you!
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Azerbaijan reaffirms support to development of Caspian Sea  Black Sea International Transport Route, Trend reports citing Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov.

"I would like to reaffirm Azerbaijans support to the development of the Caspian Sea  Black Sea International Transport Route, said Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov as he addressed a special meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Turkmenistan on Caspian Sea  Black Sea International Transport Route in Bucharest.

The Foreign Minister said: The outcome of the Caspian Sea  Black Sea International Transport Route (CSBS), of which I do believe can contribute to further promotion of cooperation among our countries and other interested parties in the field of transport, transit and logistics.

As it is known, the idea of CSBS put forward by Romania and Turkmenistan was initially discussed by our experts last year in Ashgabat and now we have the chance to exchange views on the matter at the ministerial level here in Bucharest.

The region that the territories of our countries cover is of paramount geostrategic importance: it naturally forms the bridge between Europe and Asia, while at the same time it is a vital transportation hub between North-South and East-West. Today we have gathered here to endorse our intention to build up a new avenue of cooperation between our countries.

Mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of our countries constitutes the basis of our cooperation.

Minister Mammadyarov said: It is obvious that development of economically feasible transport infrastructure always has tremendous role on increase of trade volumes which in its turn has a multiplier effect on promotion of overall bilateral and multilateral relations. Having this in mind, Azerbaijan has always been strongly supportive to building interconnectivity in the region and spared no efforts to enhance the regions transit potential through promoting East-West, North-South and South-West transport corridors.

In this regard, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad commissioned in 2017 will connect not only the participating countries but continents as well. Along with this, the construction of the New International Sea Trade Port in Alat city of Azerbaijan and its International Logistic Centre, as well as Free Economic Zone will significantly increase the competitiveness of the international transport corridors and trade and transit capacity of the region.

We also welcome the EU publication on Indicative TEN-T Investment Action Plan and inclusion of the Azerbaijani part of the East-West corridor, both road and rail, into TEN-T core networks. This can provide a solid platform to further enhance our transport dialogue with EU which was successfully launched in Baku just two weeks ago.

There are some issues that can simply not be overlooked. Romania is one of the geographical gateways to EU market for us, but with realization of the CSBS route I do believe it will be turned into an operational one. When it comes to our immediate neighbors, Turkmenistan provides us with an access to Central Asia and further to the Far East and Georgia is also an important link of East-West, South-West transport corridors and an entry point to the Black Sea.

Citing the above mentioned promising perspectives and geo-economic benefits the said initiative able to yield, I once again would like to reaffirm Azerbaijans support to the development of the Caspian Sea  Black Sea International Transport Route in a quadruple partnership, which intends to be another competitive link in the broader region and express our readiness to be an active contributor to this process.

We have no doubt that establishment of a quadrilateral working group and elaboration of a road map by our experts will ultimately lead us to multilateral agreement with the purpose of ensuring rapid implementation of CSBS and consequently, its effective operation, Elmar Mammadyarov added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Managers of SOCARs Azneft Production Union led by Director General Dashgin Iskenderov visited Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) and met with the Higher School students.

The meeting was attended by BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov and the teachers, Azneft PU Deputy General Managers Adalet Eminov, Mehdi Veliyev and Jalayir Samedov, and the Production Union leading HR specialists and other experts.

In his welcome address, Rector Elmar Gasimov pointed out that all BHOS second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-year students undertake annual internship at the Azneft PU facilities.

Director General Dashgin Iskenderov told about the enterprise's activities, infrastructure, new projects and latest developments. In his words, the BHOS undergraduates have an excellent opportunity to study at the higher educational institution, which meets international quality standards and provides all necessary conditions to the students.

Head of Azneft PU Production Department Parviz Akhmedov and Head of Amirovs Oil-and-Gas Production Department Ramin Guliyev spoke about prospects of the bilateral cooperation development.

BHOS alumni Mustafa Askerov who is currently working as Senior Drilling Engineer at the Drilling department shared his success story and told about career opportunities provided by the Azneft PU management to young specialists. Then the guests answered numerous questions from the students.

In conclusion, Rector Elmar Gasimov expressed his gratitude to Azneft PU Director General Dashgin Iskenderov for creating opportunities for the BHOS students on-the-job training and the Higher School graduates employment and presented him a diploma of the BHOS Honorary Guest.

During their visit, Azneft PU high-ranking officials were acquainted with the Higher School campus and its facilities.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Visiting Azerbaijan will become easier for Chinese tourists, according to the Memorandum of Understanding On simplifying group visits of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan signed between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijans Economy Ministry.

The document was signed during the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation led by Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev to China.

During the visit, a protocol On cultural cooperation for 20192023 between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan was also signed.

Minister Shahin Mustafayev held a number of meetings during his stay in China, and also took part in the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and China.

In particular, during a meeting with President of the China National Electrical Engineering Co. (CNEEC) Zhang Yanfei, the organization of tire manufacturing in Azerbaijan was discussed.

The sides exchanged views on the possibilities for developing cooperation and the companys activities in Azerbaijan. It was noted that CNEEC is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The seventh meeting of the Azerbaijani-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission was also held during the visit. At the meeting, it was noted that the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.3 billion in 2018. It was also noted that Azerbaijan accounts for 43 percent of Chinas trade with the countries of the South Caucasus. However, there is potential for increasing the volume of trade.

Almost 120 companies with Chinese capital operate in Azerbaijan. The total investment value of Chinese companies in Azerbaijan is more than $800 million.

Speaking about the possibilities of cooperation in the field of transport, Mustafayev noted during the meeting that the use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) within the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative opens up broad opportunities for cooperation in the fields of economy, especially investments, trade, transit.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Fakhri Vakilov-Trend:

The Uzbek-Egyptian business forum was held on March 1, 2019 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan during the visit of Egyptian delegation led by Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry of Egypt, Ahmed Taha Boraya, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

The event was attended by representatives of business circles of the two countries: officials of more than 40 Egyptian companies, such as "Techno Marble", "El-Garhy Steel Group", "Delta pharma Bio (Bioneer)", "Ready Made Garments Export Council", "Nile" Agricultural Ind. Co " and others joined the delegation to discuss bilateral cooperation and enhance business ties in various areas, including the production of building materials, pharmaceuticals, food products as well as expanding cooperation in the tourism sector.

In his welcoming speech, the head of the delegation noted that Uzbekistan is a key partner for Egypt in Central Asia.

"Egypt was one of the first Arab countries to recognize the independence of Uzbekistan and was the first state to open its embassy in Tashkent in 1993. We are confident that Egypt can become the gateway of Uzbekistan to Africa, and in turn, Uzbekistan can serve as our exit to the region of Central Asia. "

Taha expressed his sincere appreciation to Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for paying special attention to expanding investment and trade cooperation with Egypt. "We look forward to the visit of the Uzbek President to our country and hope that it can take place in the near future," he stressed.

Egyptian Ambassador Amani Al-Itr praised Uzbekistan for the reforms, for the introduction of market mechanisms for foreign exchange regulation, and the creation of favorable conditions for doing business. She stressed that the past year was a landmark in relations between Egypt and Uzbekistan as visit of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to Uzbekistan in 2018 was historic, opened a new page in bilateral relations and laid a solid foundation for bringing economic cooperation to a new level of strategic partnership.

Within the framework of business forum, bilateral negotiations and cooperation exchange in the format of "B2G" and "B2B" were organized, resulting in agreements in the development of tourism infrastructure and pharmaceuticals. It is also planned to increase the supply of fruits, vegetables, nuts and dried fruits, set up joint ventures for the processing of fruits and vegetables and the production of natural jams and pastes.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

The changes envisaged in the customs system of Azerbaijan are aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but the Agency for Development of SMEs isnt satisfied with the level of use of the mechanism of these changes by entrepreneurs, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Development of SMEs Natig Hasanov told Trend.

He was responding to a question about the problems that SMEs can face when working with customs authorities.

He said that there are no difficulties in the process of working with customs authorities in the field of small and medium business.

"The customs authorities are actively involved in the reforming process, which aims to support SMEs," he noted. "The problem is that entrepreneurs are very poorly informed about the changes in the customs system implemented in order to support them. Therefore, we consider it important to strengthen the information platform, including with the direct participation of the customs authorities."

The Agency for the Development of SMEs of Azerbaijan was established on the basis of the decree on improvement of management in the field of SMEs signed by President Ilham Aliyev in December 2017.

The task of the agency is to ensure the consistency of reforms, as well as the improvement of the business regulation system and the application of effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses in the countrys economy, and the compliance of the management system of this sphere with modern requirements.

As a single structure with special powers, through the Houses of SMEs, the agency will organize, coordinate, evaluate and regulate the services rendered by state agencies and organizations in this area.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran and Switzerland have signed an interest document in the fields of agriculture and agricultural research, Trend reports referring to the website of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Iran.

The two countries highlighted the exchange of experience and knowledge and expanding cooperation in the fields of agriculture, technology, new training methods and climate change.

Kazem Khavazi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Jihad and head of Agricultural Research Education And Extension Organization, said at the signing ceremony that training of specialists, new technologies for seed treatment, research of new methods in the production of goats, animal breeding, recognition of new weeds, and other areas are part of the cooperation between Iran and Switzerland.

Khavazi said that a research facility is currently operating under the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad of Iran.
Check concentrate feeder accuracy

WITH the cost of dairy cow concentrates rising farmers have been urged to check the accuracy of their feeders to ensure they are not overfeeding, or indeed underfeeding, their livestock.
A Nepal Army man injured during parachute jump

A Nepal Army man was injured during a parajump on Monday while participating in the Army day.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Gazprombank and Uzbek Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade may create a joint company that will specialize in providing consulting services in the preparation of investment projects, Gazprombank told Trend in an interview.

This is about developing business plans, marketing research, feasibility studies and other areas, the company told Trend.

Gazprombank said that the experience of the company can also be used to establish cooperation with the Ministry to create a sustainable system of pre-export financing, where the export is carried out in favor of counterparties on acceptable payment risks for the bank.

The bank stressed that it has extensive experience in foreign economic activity and is actively involved in large international projects, speaking, among other things, as a recognized player in the investment bank market. At the same time, the geography of its international presence is constantly expanding.

Gazprombank owns a share in the capital of three foreign banks: OJSC Belgazprombank (Belarus), GPB International S.A. (Luxembourg), Gazprombank (Zurich, Switzerland). In 2014, GPB Financial Services HK Limited, which provides financial services to Russian companies in Hong Kong, and GPB Africa (Pty) Ltd, (Johannesburg, South Africa) were founded. In addition, Gazprombank owns a financial company in Cyprus, the company said.

Gazprombank said that Uzbekistan is a reliable and promising partner, which confirms the recent placement of its debut Eurobonds (organized by Gazprombank).

In particular, high interest from investors allowed Uzbekistan several times to revise indicative prices for issues and close the book with final yields of 4.750 percent and 5.375 percent for five-year and ten-year tranches, respectively, which is significantly lower than the initial target levels.

At the same time, at its peak, the volume of applications amounted to more than $8.5 billion.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:

Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia are interested in expanding air communication, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said at the fifth meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia intergovernmental commission in Baku, Trend reports March 4.

Sharifov reminded that in February 2016, Azerbaijan simplified the procedure of obtaining visas for citizens of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf.

The minister said that 7,500 tourists from Saudi Arabia visited Azerbaijan in 2016, 33,000 tourists visited the country in 2017, and 73,000 tourists from Saudi Arabia visited Azerbaijan in 2018. However, the influx of tourists is observed only in the summer, he noted.

I think it is necessary to establish permanent direct flights, Sharifov said. This will be important not only for tourism, but also for the development of business relations between the two countries.

Further, Sharifov noted that there is mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in many areas.

Despite that political relations between our countries are at the highest level, these relations dont correspond to the potential in other areas, he said. The main task of the intergovernmental commission is to promote the development of these relations.

The minister noted that the trade turnover between the countries isnt very high and increasing it will also be discussed at the meeting.

Over the past 15 years, Azerbaijans economy has been developing rapidly, he said. Azerbaijans GDP grew by 3.3 times, industrial production by 2.6 times, exports by 4.7 times and foreign exchange reserves by 24 times, he added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia signed a protocol on expanding cooperation in economic and trade investments, Trend reports.

The document was signed by the Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Orkhan Mammadov and Ayed bin Hadi Al Otaibi, deputy governor of the general authority for investment and investment development, during the 5th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia Intergovernmental Commission in Baku.

The protocol also provides for the expansion of cooperation in the field of culture and sports.

The 5th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia Intergovernmental Commission is being held on March 4, 2019 in Baku.

Issues of cooperation in such areas as economy, trade, investment, IT, culture, sports, agriculture, food security, employment, health, tourism, and education, among others, will be discussed during the meeting.

The current state of economic relations between the countries, as well as the work carried out after the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental commission will also be among the topics of discussion during the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

China supports the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR), Chinese Transportation Minister Li Xiaopeng said at a meeting with Azerbaijans economy minister, Co-Chair of the Azerbaijan-China Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation Shahin Mustafayev during his visit to China, Trend reports with reference to the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry.

It was noted at the meeting that Azerbaijan attaches special importance to cooperation with China in the transit-transport sphere and is interested in its development. It was noted that thanks to the Silk Road, close trade and humanitarian ties between the countries have an ancient history. It was also stressed that by expanding cooperation with countries as part of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, Azerbaijan is carrying out continuous activities to develop the TITR.

During the meeting, issues of encouraging joint measures to support the TITR, expanding cooperation between the relevant railway structures, the creation of a working group for the development of transport links, etc. were discussed.

As part of the visit, discussions were held with Minister of Industry and Information Technology of China Miao Wei on issues such as the implementation of joint projects in the field of industry and information technologies in Azerbaijan, enhancement of joint efforts for the implementation of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project, etc.

At the meeting, an exchange of views took place on the creation of joint ventures in the fields of machine engineering, metallurgy, pharmaceuticals in the industrial parks of Azerbaijan and the expansion of mutual investment activities.

During the meeting of the Azerbaijani delegation with director of the National Bureau of Statistics of China and Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission Ning Jizhe, the importance of encouraging the TITR in China was noted, and the development of cooperation in transit-transport, industrial, agricultural and other fields was discussed.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

An agreement on customs cooperation should be signed to encourage mutual trade between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia, Governor of the General Investment Authority of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ibrahim bin Abdul Rahman Al-Omar, said.

Al-Omar made the remarks at the fifth meeting of the intergovernmental commission between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia in Baku, Trend reports on March 4.

The mechanisms should be created for the full implementation of agreements signed between the two countries and for the establishment of a platform for a mutually beneficial investment sphere, he said.

Al-Omar stressed that the trade turnover between the two countries did not exceed $20 million in 2018 and investments do not correspond to the potential.

He added that the two countries are doing everything possible to expand the ties in the fields of trade and investment.

The fifth meeting of the intergovernmental commission between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia was held in Baku on March 4. The sides discussed the issues of cooperation in such spheres as economics, trade, investment, IT, culture, sports, agriculture, food security, employment, healthcare, tourism, education, etc.

The meeting participants also exchanged views on the current economic relations between the countries, the work carried out after the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

The Ministry of Finance of Azerbaijan is working on creating a special section on their website to answer questions from citizens in connection with President Ilham Aliyevs decree on additional measures for addressing issues of problem loans of natural persons in Azerbaijan.

This was told to reporters by Azerbaijani Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov at the 5th meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia Intergovernmental Commission in Baku, Trend reports.

The minister noted that citizens may have questions arising from this decree.

According to him, this service will begin to function in the near future, and a hotline will also be opened.

On February 28, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on additional measures for addressing issues of problem loans of natural persons in Azerbaijan.

The decree provides for the payment of compensation to citizens whose credit burden increased as a result of the devaluation of the manat in February and December 2015. The decree also creates opportunities for restructuring on concessional terms of both the US dollar and manat loans with a delay of more than 360 days.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

The next auction of the Azerbaijani State Committee on Property Issues will be held on April 2, 2019, Trend reports referring to the committee on March 4.

Thus, 85 state properties, including 23 joint-stock companies, 29 small state-owned enterprises, 17 non-residential areas, eight unfinished buildings and eight vehicles will be put up for auction.

The joint-stock companies are located in Baku, Yevlakh, Aghjabadi and other cities and districts.

Seven of the non-residential areas that can be used as offices are in Baku, four - in Sumgait, three - in Ganja, the rest - in Agdash, Dashkasan and Barda.

Among the vehicles which will be put up for auction are BMW, Nissan, Rexton cars at the prices ranging from 400 manats to 14,000 manats.

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(1.7 AZN = 1 USD on March 4)
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

By extending the cooperation agreement with Formula 1 until 2023, Azerbaijan will be able to save $50 million, Nigar Arpadarai, head of Marketing and Communications Department of the Baku City Circuit (BCC), said at a round table on Economic and social benefits of holding Formula 1 races", Trend reports March 4.

She noted that the extension of the contract allows Azerbaijan to create new sources of income, while saving $50 million will be possible due to new sources of income, sponsorship, etc.

"Azerbaijans total income from races in Baku in 2016-2017 was $277.3 million. Of this amount, $164.2 million accounted for direct income. At the same time, since early 2016 to date, the amount of indirect income amounted to $14.9 million," Arpadarai said.

She noted that thousands of business structures participated in holding of the races.

Baku hosted the Formula 1 2018 Azerbaijan Grand Prix race on April 27-29, 2018, which was won by the pilot of the Mercedes AMG F1 team Lewis Hamilton.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MatanatNasibova
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

The Uzbek delegation discussed the issues of promoting the process of country's accession to WTO at Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Trend reports via Uzbek media.

The course of implementation of projects included in the intergovernmental program of economic cooperation for 2019-2024 was reviewed. The dialogue was devoted to the possibilities of increasing industrial cooperation between economic entities of the two countries.

The talks also discussed issues of assistance of Russian partners in the process of Uzbekistans accession to the WTO.

Uzbekistan received observer status in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade in June 1994. The working inter-ministerial committee on accession to WTO was formed in 1998.

At the end of November 2017, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the country resumed work on joining WTO.

Earlier it was reported that in 2019 a meeting of the Turkic Business Council and business forum will be held in Tashkent (Uzbekistan).

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Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Sara Israfilbayova, Jeyhun Alakbarov  Trend:

The indicators of trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia testify to a noticeable growth trend, Deputy Director General of Trend news agency Arzu Naghiyev said.

Naghiyev made the remarks in Baku during the Moscow-Baku video conference entitled "Economic and Investment Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Russia: New Points of Growth" at the press-center of Trend news agency on March 4.

The trade turnover volume between the two countries reached $170 million in January 2019, which is four percent more than in January 2018, he said. The trade turnover volume reached $2.5 billion in 2018, which is 19.1 percent more than in 2017.

"This growth trend is felt more every year," Naghiyev added. The trade turnover volume between Azerbaijan and Russia reached 7.3 percent of Azerbaijans total foreign trade turnover in January.

The conference entitled Building a common future, search for a common past and development of a common present was held in Baku in late February in which the Russian and Azerbaijani MPs and experts participated.

Naghiyev added that this is a policy aimed at improving relations between the countries.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Russia three times in 2018, he said, adding that the 9th Azerbaijan-Russia Interregional Forum was held in Baku with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which a number of important issues were discussed.

Naghiyev stressed that 700 joint ventures with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan.

"The countries successfully cooperate in pharmacology, he said. The Russian companies have invested over $4 billion in the Azerbaijani non-oil sector. Azerbaijani companies have invested $1 billion in Russia."

Azerbaijan and Russia are implementing a number of big joint projects, such as the North-South International Transport Corridor, Naghiyev added.

"The foundation of a new automobile plant has been recently laid in Azerbaijans Hajigabul Industrial Site, he said. The amount of investments made in the Hajigabul Industrial Site will reach 14 million manats. At the first stage, 100 people will work here and about 1,000 cars will be produced a year."

The Moscow-Baku video conference entitled "Economic and Investment Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Russia: New Points of Growth" was held at the press-center of Trend news agency on March 4.

The Azerbaijani and Russian experts who discussed the pace and scale of development of the economic projects which are being implemented, the formation of an axis of stable economic interaction by Moscow and Baku were involved in the event. The current level of cooperation between the countries, potential spheres for cooperation and other issues were also considered.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Bardiya police rescue two women from border

Police have rescued two women from the Nepal-India border at Karnalipur of Badhaiyatal Rural Municipality-8 in Bardiya district on Sunday while they were being trafficked to India.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Jeyhun Alakbarov, Azad Hasanli  Trend:

The economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia has reached such a level when both countries may establish joint ventures in third countries, for example, Iran or Turkey, Elkhan Alasgarov, PhD, head of the Expert Council of the Baku Network, said.

Alasgarov made the remarks in Baku during the Moscow-Baku video conference entitled "Economic and Investment Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Russia: New Points of Growth" at the press-center of Trend news agency on March 4.

In particular, the expert stressed that Azerbaijans construction business has been actively developing recently.

Azerbaijani enterprises are looking for the markets outside the country and are already working in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Georgia, implementing road projects in Serbia, Alasgarov added.

"Of course, joint ventures together with the Russian companies could work in the international arena, he said. I think that geography has determined the way through which we must develop our economic relations.

Russia is a powerful country, while Azerbaijan has a lot of routes to rich energy, financial and economic sources, Alasgarov added. The potential of Azerbaijan and Russia may develop, beginning from cooperation in recovering Syria and ending with Afghanistan, Iran, Arab countries."

He stressed that using of Azerbaijan to reach the southern countries will give Russia a lot of benefits.

"I am sure that today's discussions will enable experts to develop relations in the spheres that we have not yet explored, but we must do it," Alasgarov added.

The expert also touched upon the cooperation in the Caspian Sea region.

The Caspian region is not used effectively for the economic development of countries, Alasgarov added.

"In this context, the development of the Volga-Don Canal would be interesting because the only way that connects the Azerbaijani State Maritime Agency with the world is the Volga-Don Canal, he said. The agreements are available in this sphere, but this point of cooperation could give more opportunities for access to the world's oceans because some ships of the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Closed Joint Stock Company are outside the Caspian Sea and are sailing in international waters."

Speaking about Azerbaijans relations in terms of regional development, the expert also stressed Dagestan, which is Russias very rich region in terms of resources, including human resources.

"Dagestan is near Azerbaijan from a geographical point of view, Alasgarov said. Of course, the development of our economic relations would give us great opportunities in this sphere."

The expert also touched upon the cooperation in the field of nanotechnologies and space.

Azerbaijan launched the third satellite, he added. Russia has enormous scientific potential in this sphere. At the same time, Russia has enormous experience in the field of nanotechnologies. We should learn something from Russia."

As for the cooperation in the field of transport, first of all, Alasgarov mentioned the free economic zone which is being created in the Azerbaijani Alat settlement.

"Of course, the free economic zone in the Alat settlement will enable the Russian companies to establish their representative offices in Azerbaijan, he said. Today logistics is a very strong economic tool and it brings huge profit. There are no language barriers in Azerbaijan. I dont think that translators will be required. The Russian language is widespread here.

Speaking about the economic cooperation in the sphere of the military-industrial complex, Alasgarov stressed that so far, the corresponding facilities, the military-industrial complexes, and Azersilah agency have been established in Azerbaijan for ensuring self-sufficiency.

"Russia, which has rich experience in this field, may participate in joint events with Azerbaijan," the expert said. Of course, tourism may develop.

"This is the most feasible sphere in the system of economic relations, Alasgarov added. I think that the development of tourism has many facets, in particular, winter tourism. The Caucasus mountains have enormous opportunities for the development of tourism in winter and summer."

The Moscow-Baku video conference entitled "Economic and Investment Cooperation of Azerbaijan and Russia: New Points of Growth" was held at the press-center of Trend news agency on March 4.

The Azerbaijani and Russian experts who discussed the pace and scale of development of the economic projects which are being implemented, the formation of an axis of stable economic interaction by Moscow and Baku were involved in the event. The current level of cooperation between the countries, potential spheres for cooperation and other issues were also considered.

According to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia amounted to $2.55 billion in 2018, including export of Azerbaijani products worth $665.74 million to Russia.

The Russian companies investments in Azerbaijan exceed $4 billion, while the Azerbaijani companies investments in the Russian Federation stood at $1 billion.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Construction of the first 50 MW phase of the Astana EXPO 2017 wind farm is being completed in Kazakhstan, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

CAPEC Green Energy Director Yedil Saryev made the remarks at the Central Asian states renewable energy summit held in Astana.

He noted that the first phase of the wind farm is planned to be launched in the middle of this year, and the second one  in 2020.

The total capacity of the wind farm will be 100 MW. It will be equipped with 30 wind turbines with a capacity of 3.3 MW each. After commissioning, the wind farm will provide electricity to more than 10,000 homes.

Saryev added that with the commissioning of the two phases of the wind farm, reduction in emissions is expected to be equivalent to the volume of emissions of more than 113,000 cars per year.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Around 90 percent of land along the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) route has been restored in Greece and Albania, Trend reports citing TAP AG consortium.

In Albania and Greece, 90 percent of the land has been restored. In the countryside around Fier, production activities have resumed and, with spring, the trace of the works will be even less visible, said the consortium.

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
OPEC and its partners are unlikely to decide on their output policy in April as it would be too early to get a clear picture of the impact of their supply cuts on the market by then, three OPEC sources said on Monday, Trend refers referring to Reuters.

The sources said the production policy by the so-called OPEC+ alliance is expected to be agreed on in June with an extension of the pact the likely scenario so far, but much depends on the extent of U.S. sanctions on both OPEC members Iran and Venezuela.

So far the likely decision is to extend the agreement in June. Nothing much is planned for April, just to discuss the OPEC and non-OPEC (cooperation pact), one OPEC source said.

OPEC and its allies meet next in Vienna on April 17-18 and delegates say another gathering is scheduled for June 25-26.

Another OPEC source said the most likely outcome of the June meeting was a rollover of the current oil supply cuts.

But production by the exempt countries is already more than 700,000 bpd below the October level. Maybe there will be some adjustment, the second source said.

On Jan. 1, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies began new production cuts to avoid a supply glut that could soften prices. OPEC, Russia and other non-members  the OPEC+ alliance  agreed to reduce supply by 1.2 million barrel per day for six months.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Sara Israfilbayova - Trend:

The ratings assigned by international ranking agencies to Azerbaijan dont reflect the economic situation in the country, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov told reporters in Baku as part of the fifth meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia intergovernmental commission March 4.

We dont agree with this rating, he said. I believe that our rating should be revised and be at 'BBB-'. Azerbaijan should be assigned an investment rating because the country has successfully resolved problems after the economic crisis.

Baku hosted the fifth meeting of the Azerbaijan-Saudi Arabia intergovernmental commission March 4. The parties discussed issues of cooperation in such areas as economy, trade, investments, information technologies, culture, sports, agriculture, food safety, employment, healthcare, tourism, education, etc.

The meeting participants also exchanged views on the current state of economic relations between the countries, as well as the work carried out following the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental commission.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group is to collaborate with Jeddah-based Effat University to organize joint conferences on various aspects of Islamic finance.

Acting Director General of IRTI, Dr. Sami Al-Suwailem, and Effat University President, Dr. Haifa Reda Jamal Allail, signed a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the collaboration, at the universitys campus on 3 March 2019.

The MoU provides a general framework to enable cooperation between the two institutions in implementing programs within their areas of mutual interest, in particular jointly organizing thematic conferences.

IRTI and Effat had previously collaborated to organize the 4th Islamic Finance Conference with the theme Blockchain Smart Contracting and Islamic Financing, held at the universitys premises in Jeddah in December 2018.

The new MoU is expected to strengthen cooperation between the two institutions for the benefit of the communities they both serve.

About IRTI:

The Islamic Research and Training Institute (IRTI) is a Member of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Group responsible for knowledge creation and dissemination in Islamic economics and finance, and fostering the use of Islamic finance to contribute to the sustainable development of IsDB member countries. More information about IRTI is available on www.irti.org. For enquiries about IRTI, please contact Habeeb Idris Pindiga ([email protected]).
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

By 2023, Turkey intends to increase the number of foreign tourists to 70 million people, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey told Trend March 4.

Turkey has great potential to attract tourist flow into the country, according to the ministry.

It was noted that the conditions created in Turkey for tourists are ideal, and, of course, this will lead to an increase in the number of foreign tourists.

In 2018, Turkey was visited by 39.488 million foreign tourists.

In January 2019, 1.539 million tourists visited Turkey, which is 5.33 percent more compared to January 2018.

Over 918,000 tourists visited Istanbul and 116,000 tourists traveled to Antalya in this period.

Most of the tourists, who visited Turkey in January, came from Bulgaria (113,800) and Georgia (112,300).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

Trend:

Bringing various innovations to the sky in order to ensure a perfect travel experience for its guests, Turkish Airlines now offers the new Flow Sleeping Set to the passengers with its wondrous design. The new collection offered in Business Class promises a sleep as comfortable as your home, only above the clouds.

Produced with the successful collaboration of Turkish Airlines and Zorlu Tekstil while carrying the signature of expert designers, collection aims to offer a healthier and higher quality sleep environment.

Combining elegant lines with comfort, all pieces of the new set are developed with the expectations of the passengers who want to enjoy a relaxing sleep in order to finish their flights in a happy and fit state. The design of the collection reflects Turkish Airlines Flow philosophy that represents the airline dynamic brand identity and continuous service concept. Opting for contemporary and minimalist designs, the materials of the collection were all chosen for their comfort and ability to help sleep. The patterns of the collection are also visually compatible with the designs of the new cabin uniforms and cabin interiors.

Chief aspects of the Flow Sleeping Set are its blanket, sleeping pad and pillow. The blanket of the collection possesses a two-sided design along with a soft texture. Thanks to its ability to support air flow, the product also helps maintaining the ideal temperature during all four seasons. In addition to this, the sleeping pad provides an orthopedic surface for sleep and with its dense interior filling, it offers extra comfort and ease. Besides them all, the 'pillow', which can be used during both sitting and sleeping, designed with an ideal size, classical form, and very comfortable materials.

Turkish Airlines Catering & Inflight Products SVP, Zeki Cukur stated; With Istanbul Airport, our new home, we continue to add new innovations to the change we are going through. Our passengers will now experience the quality improvement, brought by these innovations, in their sleep with our Flow Sleeping Set. We prepared our new products after a lengthy R&D and design period as they offer a unique experience with their design and comfort. We are happy to host our Business Class passengers with the comfort of their homes during their intercontinental travels.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

The Civil Aviation Committee of Kazakhstans Industry and Infrastructural Development Ministry has issued a certificate of a foreign carrier to the Iranian airline Mahan Air, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

On Mondays from March 4 to 25, the airline plans to perform direct regular flights on the Tehran-Almaty-Tehran route on Airbus A310, and from April 1 to October 23, Mahan Air intends to increase the number of flights to twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.

"As a result, the resumption of flights will increase passenger traffic and mutually beneficial cooperation between the countries," the Committee noted.

It should be noted that Mahan Air previously operated flights in this direction, but it has stopped them since March 2017 for economic reasons.

Earlier, the Civil Aviation Committee informed that another Iranian airline Pouya Air applied for accreditation of a foreign carrier in Kazakhstan. From the spring-summer 2019 season, the airline plans to start operating direct international flights in the Aktau-Gorgan direction. Flights are expected to be operated twice a week on Embraer-145.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 4

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The delegation of Turkmenistan will attend an inter-ministerial meeting to be held March 3-4 in Bucharest to discuss a project of creation of Caspian Sea-Black Sea international transport corridor, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen government.

Deputy prime minister, Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov will meet with his colleagues from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania. The agenda includes issues related to increasing freight traffic through the ports of Turkmenbashi, Baku, Poti, Batumi and Constanta, encouraging cooperation with all interested parties, including the EU and the creation of a quadrilateral working commission on the implementation of this project.

In order to improve the quality of transport services, it is planned to discuss the possibilities of using digital technologies and establishing information exchange. Following the meeting, it is planned to adopt the Bucharest Declaration, the Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.

Ashgabat is lobbying for the creation of an extensive multimodal infrastructure covering the Caspian basin, continental Eurasia with access to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea terminals, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The initiated important projects include the transport corridor on the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route, which has great prospects for turning into a trade-economic and cultural bridge between Asia and Europe in the future.

Earlier, it was reported that Ashgabat and Bucharest had agreed on intensifying political and diplomatic efforts for potentially inking a political declaration on the creation of a transport and transit corridor connecting the Caspian to the Black Sea.

It is expected that Constanta may become a transshipment point of goods transported from the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi to the EU, as well as from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the context of ensuring the access of goods from Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries to European markets.
Gas bottlers boycott delivery orders to press their case

Gas bottlers stopped receiving purchase delivery orders from Nepal Oil Corporation from Friday to press their case for higher commission.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, March 4

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

The Turkmen parliament has ratified an agreement signed with the Azerbaijani government on the elimination of double taxation on income and property taxes, Trend reports with reference to a published decree of the local parliament.

The agreement itself was signed following the high-level talks in Ashgabat in November 2018. At that time, the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs of Turkmenistan (UIET) and the National Confederation of the Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations of Azerbaijan Republic (AEC) signed a memorandum of understanding.

It is expected that this document will contribute to the intensification of relations between the business structures of the two countries, in particular, in the area of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

In line with the state program of Turkmenistan, the share of the non-state sector of the economy in GDP should reach 70 percent until 2020. Local entrepreneurs are allowed to form joint ventures with foreign partners by raising their investments.
Tehran, Iran, March 4

Trend:

Iran's customs has released some 200 cars held up at the imported cars depot, Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.

The head of Iran Customs Administration Mehdi Mirashrafi has announced that200 vehicles have already been released and its expected that more cars would be released from the customs in the coming days, Trend reported citing Mehr News Agency.

The number of released cars is only 2 percent of the 13,000 imported autos that are kept at customs warehouses.

The cars have recently been released after Iran Customs Administration held talks with Iran's Ministry of Industry.

"The imported cars that discharged at customs before August 10 are currently following the customs procedures to be released," said Mirashrafi.

He went on to add that the customs offices in Iran are obliged to implement certain customs procedures in order to release imported cars.

He further said that if the release procedure takes longer, the remaining cars at the customs would be considered abandoned.

The official has recently indicated that some 10,000 complaints have been filed against customs over held up auto imports.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

The foundation of a pellet plant with a production capacity of 2.5 million tons has been laid in Kharameh County of Irans southern Fars Province, Trend reports referring to the website of the Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation (IMIDRO).

Iran's Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Reza Rahmani also attended the groundbreaking ceremony.

Naser Taghizadeh, Managing Director of Gol Gohar Mining & Industrial Company, said that this plant will be built in collaboration with IMIDRO, Gol Gohar and Farzanegan Fars Niku, adding that 43 percent of the plant's shares belong to Gol Gohar.

He also said that Iran's Fakoor Sanat and China's NFC companies will also have a share in the plant.

"This plant will be constructed in a 100-hectare area in the south of Kharameh County," he said.

Taghizadeh went on to say that the contract for the construction of the plant is 105 million euros and 1.54 trillion rials (about $36.6 million).

He stated that the duration of the contract is 36 months starting from February of this year.
Tehran, Iran, March 4

Trend:

All Iranian airports are beneath the peoples dignity, Irans minister of roads and urban development said.

Even some airports, which carry out 85 percent of flights, do not meet the requirements, Mohammad Eslami said on the sidelines of an inauguration ceremony of the new head of Irans Airports Company on Sunday, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.

On Wednesday, Minister Eslami appointed Siavash Amirmokri as the new head of the Iran Airports Company.

Amirmokri, who was the deputy head of the Airports Company for resource management and development over the past years, replaces Rahmatollah Mahabadi, the companys previous head.
Tehran, Iran, March 4

Trend:

Iran's Minister of Road and Urban Development Mohammad Eslami has discussed the process of railway construction in the country during the 7th meeting of the coordination council of International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC).

Speaking at the meeting he said that the INSTC coordination council meets after five years break with member countries where they would discuss the ways to facilitate the problems facing the corridor, Trend reports.

"One of the important issues is that the North South Corridor has not been using its capacities and the obstacles should be identified, he noted.

He said the member-countries have considerable presence in the project. "The ministerial meeting coincide the inauguration of Qazvin-Rasht railway project on Wednesday that is part of International North South Transport Corridor that would be attended by the ministers in Rasht. The meeting would be a turning point for the corridor."

Speaking about progress achieved in the implementation of the project he said the corridor has three sectors, the infrastructures sector that should be provided by using more capacities, that were also used in the past and transported cargo from Iran to Central Asia and Caucasus, there have been important progress in infrastructures from the Bafgh Bandar Abbas railway to Sarakhs and development of northern ports and Chabahar Port and establishing RashtAstara railway and the newly built roads."

"Iran is accomplishing the Chabahar-Zahedan railway, its connection to the railway network and to north and south neighbors would be an important part of the corridor, he added.

The second part is to create transit capacity for cargo transportation that is currently being transported independently by countries through corridor, he said. "We should create logistic potentials to develop the corridor in all aspects.

Speaking at the meeting Eslami said the experts responsibility is to review the software and hardware issues of the corridor. "I believe the leaders of the countries and members of the corridor would resolve the problems and facilitate the cargo transit that would promote the economic development in the region," he noted.

"Since I would attend the inauguration of the Qazvin  Rasht railway alongside the president on Wednesday I have the chance to welcome you here and ask you to review the issues and obstacles and create organizations that have multiple potentials to operate the transit," he added.

The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is 164 kilometers long, and is further connected to Anzali and Astara. Construction of the Rasht-Qazvin Railway Project has begun in 2006.

The Qazvin-Rasht-Astara railway is part of the North-South Transport Corridor to connect Northern Europe and South Asia, including the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

Iran is hosting the 7th coordination council and the North South Corridor ministerial meeting in Tehran on March 4 -5.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Members of the Iranian parliament have approved the allocation of $14 billion for the provision of essential goods and medicines with dominant currency prices, Trend reports referring to ISNA.

Iranian parliamentarians may use electronic cheques for the provision of essential goods.

According to the decision, the government must ensure that the remaining difference in rials from $14 billion in the budget of the next year (begins March 21, 2019) be covered by revenues from crude oil exports.

The government must take the following steps:

1) Support to domestic production with dominant currency prices, import and supply of essential goods, medicines, medical and agricultural equipment, livestock products.

2) Support to domestic production, import and supply of essential goods, medicines, medical and agricultural equipment, livestock products in rates set by NIMA system (used in Iran for sale of a certain percentage of foreign currency gained from sale of non-essential goods and export), payment of the difference via NIMA system

3) The government will use a dominant currency price, an electronic cheque, or payments in cash for the provision of the essential goods needed by citizens.

4) The government should monitor the implementation of this program and submit a report on its own function to the parliamentary committees of Program and Budget, Economy, Agriculture and Industry once every 3 months.

Dominant currency prices are declared for the purchase of currency when there are two or more foreign currencies with rates exceeding a countrys official exchange rate.

The official exchange rate for $1 in Iran is 42,000 rials. It is possible to import certain products with this amount.

The price of $1 in the Iranian black market today stands at around 135,000 rials.

The price of $1 announced for banks and currency exchange offices is 132,000 rials.

The price of $1 in the NIMA system is 96,000 rials.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

According to the decision of the Iranian parliament, Iranian MPs who have been 3 times consecutively elected are to be banned from the next parliamentary elections, Trend reports referring to ISNA.

Iranian parliamentarians have reviewed and approved the corresponding proposal made by Iranian MP Hossein Amiri Khamkani (himself elected 5 times).

With the new decision, these deputies will not be able to attend a single round of elections and will have to wait for the following election to be able to nominate their candidacy.

Mohammad Reza Tabesh, another 5-time consecutively elected MP, said that this decision will allow to provide young people with more opportunities in the legislative field.

Thus, the following 34 of the current deputies of the Iranian parliament will not be able to run for the next elections: Ali Larijani (Speaker of the Parliament), Mohammad Ashuri Taziani, Esfandiar Ekhtiari, Hossein Amiri Khamkani, Aziz Akbarian, Mehrdad Bauj Lahuti, Yonathan Betkolia, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Masoud Pezeshkian, Mohammad Reza Tabesh, Kazem Jalali, Shahbaz Hasanpour Biglari, Hassan Khastehband, Mohammad Dehghan, Mohammad Rezaei Kuchi, Alireza Salimi, Hossein Ali Shahriari, Hadi Shushtari, Mohammad Qasim Osmani, Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, Hamidreza Fouladgar, Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Nader Ghazipour, Hadi Gavami, Hassan Kamran-Dastjerdi, Jabbar Kuchekinezhad, Javad Karimi-Ghodousi, Mohammad Mehdi Mofatteh, Alireza Mahjoub, Ali Motahari, Siamak Moreh Sedgh, Naser Mousavi Largani, Hossein Naghavi-Hosseini, Ezzatollah Yousefian Molla.

The next parliamentary elections in Iran will be held on Feb. 21, 2020.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iran invites both Iranian and foreign investors to invest in its electricity sector, Reza Ardakanian, Iranian Energy Minister, told Tasnim News Agency, Trend reports.

According to Ardakanian, Iran has vast plains  a very good source for energy production.

Ardakanian added that Iran is even ready to provide the electricity transmission network to investors for transporting the produced electricity to neighboring countries.

"Iran is engaged in energy exchange with all neighboring countries," he said.

According to the Iranian minister, neighboring countries that import electricity from Iran do not have more suitable alternatives.

Regarding the export of electricity to Iraq, Ardakanian said that Iran is trying to play a key role in the repair of Iraq's electrical industry within the 3-year program recently negotiated between the Iraqi and Iranian governments.

Ardakanian also touched upon electricity relations with Turkey, stating that there are great opportunities for electricity and gas exchange between Turkey and Iran. "This issue, of course, requires companies operating in this field to perform their obligations accordingly."
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, located in Irans Bushehr province, has temporarily ceased its activity for repair and fuel replacement, Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Irans Atomic Energy Organization, said.

According to the program, Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant has been recently shut down for about two months, Kamalvandi added, Trend reports referring to Irans iranenergy website.

Kamalvandi added that this work was carried out in coordination with the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization and the Energy Ministry.

It would have been better for the plant to carry out this work in summer. Annual repair usually accounts for March to prevent electricity shortages, he said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

The day Israel's Attorney General announced the indictment against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the US President Donald Trump flattered him, appreciating his contribution to Israel's development: "I can say that he has done a great job as Prime Minister," he said.

Trumps words were very much like farewell.

At first glance, Trump's peace plan is obviously not feasible - the gap between the positions of Palestinians and Israel is too wide.

Trump's plan has been rejected in advance by Fatah leaders, who continue to condemn it as a "conspiracy to eliminate the Palestinian cause and rights."

President of Palestinian authority Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called it the "slap of the century." Abbas has said several times that he does not intend to end his life as a traitor, referring to the adoption of the American plan.

Others say the conflict with Israel will end only when Israel is destroyed. "We will not give an inch of Palestinian land," Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said. In short, Hamas rejects the existence of Israel altogether.

And here is the position of the large part of Israelis, expressed by the coordinator of the Association "Israel  forever" Nili Nauri: "Judea and Samaria - is something more than any Jewish territory, which should remain under Israeli sovereignty in every sense We can't even think that there might be an enemy nest in our country. We must say it loudly and clearly that there is only room for one flag between Jordan and the sea  the flag of Israel!

"He, who does not recognize the state of Israel  he must leave with a small amount of money in his pockets. This applies to those who want to leave the Gaza strip, Judea and Samaria, and those who want to create another Arab state on our territory. The IDF will have to fight it with all the necessary determination.

All these comments are enough to understand the attitude of both sides. Then why do Kushner and his team keep flogging the seemingly dead horse? Is there still any chance?

It would seem that the position of the Palestinians is more irreconcilable, but in fact, all they can settle for is rhetoric, because in practice it is Israel that controls the whole process throughout the entire territory. So, for the implementation of the peace plan, it is necessary, first of all, to move the Israeli leadership to a compromise.

Netanyahu has many times proved that within his premiership one should not expect any concessions, even rational ones. It is neither bad nor good, it is just his position. But at the same time, it means that his position is a hindrance to the deal of the century. So, the decision has to be made by someone else.

Washington intends to remove everything or anyone out of its way, who hinders the implementation of the plan, even if it is "old Bibi" - a long and reliable friend of the Americans. Forces in Israel that can demonstrate a more flexible position in resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict should come to power.

Unknowingly, Israeli education Minister Naftali Bennet voiced the Americans' plan: "the elections will decide whether it will be the right-wingers or Palestine, and only a strong right-wing party will stop the process of creating a Palestinian state in Eretz Israel."

Previously, Washington had doubts about the issue, but now it does not  it chooses Palestine.

The majority in the Knesset should contain those who will support the Trumps plan, that is, not the right-wingers.

The mechanism of removal of the uncompromising Prime Minister from power has been launched.

Last week, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced its decision to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud, and breach of trust in three separate cases pending a hearing.

Condemnation of Netanyahu by AIPAC due to Likuds alliance with the ultra-right is not in the Prime Ministers favor too.

Finally, the US senators went on the attack. Elizabeth Warren attacked Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28, twitting that he was first obsessed with right-wing extremism, and now there is manipulation of the free press and taking bribes. She also wrote that the accusations against Prime Minister Netanyahu are serious and they threaten democracy.

The stakes are very high, and each word has a certain implication.

One example: the rigid position of the right that Judea and Samaria are an integral part of the territory of Israel is well-known.

However, Kushner indirectly confirmed in his comments that Judea and Samaria are the future territory of the state of Palestine, although it would seem that he spoke about ending the differences between the PA administration and Hamas: "Washington would like to see Judea, Samaria and the Gaza strip under the control of one power structure, not two."

As for the Arabs, the main role in the issue will belong to Egypt, the Gulf countries and partially Jordan. As cynical as it may sound, the well-being of these countries depends largely, if not decisively, on the United States. Egyptian Al-Sisi, King Abdella of Jordan or Prince Mohammed bin Salman do not want to lose power. If five or six Arab countries simultaneously declare recognition of the state of Israel, the process of "normalization with the Zionist enemy" will become irreversible.

Then there will remain one common enemy - Iran.
Government allocates extra Rs3 billion for fertiliser imports

The Finance Ministry has agreed to provide Rs3 billion to the Agriculture Ministry to import extra chemical fertiliser to make up for reduced purchases necessitated by a stronger US dollar and price hike in the global market last year. But the exchequer will only give the money if the subsidy is slashed and a distribution plan is submitted.
The U.S.-led coalition on Sunday fired white phosphorus shells on an Islamic State (IS)-held area in eastern Syria, causing deaths including women and children, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

The shelling targeted the farmlands of the town of Baghouz, the last IS-held area in the eastern Euphrates River region in eastern Deir al-Zour Province, state news agency SANA said.

The Syrian government has repeatedly accused the U.S.-led coalition in Syria of targeting civilians in the fight against the IS, calling on the international community to dissolve the coaliton.
Qatars foreign minister said he discussed Syria and Libya with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who is visiting Doha, the first stop in a Gulf tour, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in joint press conference with Lavrov that a political solution in Syria is the only option for the war-torn country and called for unity in Libya.
China supports Russias initiative to act as a diplomatic intermediary between India and Pakistan to de-escalate the situation between the countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said at Mondays briefing, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"We welcome any measures that will help support peace and stability in the region, as well as improve the situation," he said in response to the corresponding question.

"We hope that India and Pakistan will regulate the existing discrepancies through consultations," the diplomat added. That said, Lu Kang did not give a direct answer to the question on whether China will be able to act as an intermediary between India and Pakistan. Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesperson noted that China currently maintains close contacts with both sides and intends to continue to play a constructive role in the settlement.

The escalation of tensions in relations between Pakistan and India was caused by an attack on an Indian military car convoy in the Jammu and Kashmir state on February 14, which killed 45 people. The Jaish-e-Mohammed group, which is located on Pakistani territory, claimed responsibility for the attack. On Tuesday, India carried out an air strike on this groups camp in the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. On Wednesday, the Pakistan Air Force hit Indias military installations in response. New Delhi and Islamabad stated that they downed each others place during the air fight.

On March 1, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in a telephone conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Friday that Moscow is ready to support the de-escalation between Islamabad and New Delhi.

The situation in Jammu and Kashmir - the only Indian state where Muslims constitute a majority - has been tense for years. The territory of the ancient principality of Kashmir has been a matter of dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947, when the British Raj received independence and was split into two states based on religion. To date, there is no state border in Kashmir: its territory is divided by the Line of Control. Groups that favor departure from India are being active in the Indian part. New Delhi blames Islamabad for supporting terrorists, but Pakistan refutes these statements.
The Australian military will join the new space race, as space becomes an increasingly contested domain, Trend reported citing Sputnik.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Chief Marshal Leo Davies said the country's unique geography is ideally suited to play a greater role, while acknowledging that Australia lags behind the world superpowers in the "space game."

"Space is one of those domains that needs to expand  our understanding of what is in the sky above us is important," Davies said. "We have begun modestly  as we begin to understand the part we play, the importance of that is growing very quickly."

Davies predicted that the RAAF will commit a "significant investment" in space in the next twenty years.

The Australian government predicts that by 2030 the national space industry will represent some $12 billion to the economy, the report says. Last year it established a dedicated Australian Space Agency.

Davies commented on rumors that Canberra would launch a "big military satellite," saying that it is unlikely that something like that will "happen imminently."

"As we look at what we are able to do, that would include increased satellite launches, increased sophistication about what's onboard the satellite," he said.

Recently, the Defense Force initiated two projects intended to form the foundation for the nation's military space support.

One project, named DEF-799, seeks to allow the military direct and timely access to commercial imaging satellites. It will also seek to acquire new space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, Radio New Zealand reports. The project cost is estimated at roughly US $355 million.

Another, JP-9102B, will develop next-generation Defence Force satellite communications systems, which will improve the command and control of deployed forces using space assets.

Davis said that the Australian military does not plan to create its own version of a Space Force, like US President Donald Trump recently did.

"I don't think so, not at this point," he said about the idea. "That might be some time off and something that both Defence and successive governments could think about."
Chief Executive officer of Vale Fabio Schvartsman resigned on Saturday as the iron-ore producer came under pressure for the dam collapse in Brazil's southeast Minas Gerais state that killed 166 people, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

His resignation followed an investigation into the disaster. Other 13 staff members of the company, which owns the dam, were also asked to leave.

Schvartsman said in the letter to the company's board that his "temporary removal from office" was "for the benefit of the continuity of the company's operation and support for victims and their families."

Brazilian authorities on Jan. 29 arrested three Vale employees and two subcontracted engineers for licensing the tailings dam or signing documents on its safety. Eight more employees were arrested on Feb. 15.

The dam collapse has left at least 166 dead and 155 missing, besides causing an environmental disaster.
Indonesia and Australia on Monday signed an economic partnership agreement aimed at stepping up trade and investment between them in areas ranging from cattle to education and cars to wheat, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Though neighbors, the two countries are not top trade partners and the deal has been welcomed by Australian farmers looking to ship more agricultural commodities into Southeast Asias biggest economy, as well as by Indonesian companies producing footwear and textiles.

In Jakarta, Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham signed the deal following completion of talks that started early in the decade and occasionally were stalled by diplomatic tension.

Following Mondays signing, the two governments will work on an expedited ratification process toward the entry into force of the agreement, a joint statement said.

The Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) will eliminate all Australian tariffs on imports from Indonesia, while 94 percent of Indonesian tariffs will be gradually removed, it said.

Lukita said he hoped the agreement will be ratified before the end of this year.

Negotiations were concluded in August and the deal had been due to be signed by the end of 2018, but diplomatic friction over Middle East policy delayed the signing.

Australias recognition of West Jerusalem as Israels capital strained relations with Indonesia, which is the worlds biggest Muslim-majority country and supports a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute.

The trade deal is a good step forward for the important bilateral relationship between these G20 nations, which has too often suffered because of political rows, said Ben Bland, director of the Southeast Asia project at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
More Japanese companies could relocate away from Britain in the coming months if the uncertainty around Brexit does not lift, the countrys ambassador to Britain has told Sky News, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Koji Tsuruoka said many of Japans 1,000 or so UK-based companies were now considering how to adapt to life after Brexit, but they needed to know how Britain will trade with the European Union in the future in order to make decisions.

Most of these companies would like to expand their capacity. But they need to know about the UK-EU economic relationship, he said.

These are all global companies and therefore they have other possibilities other than staying.

They may relocate. Or they may combine or consolidate. But you cant make those decisions until you know whats going to happen next. This is very important.
Moscow is ready to consider Dohas requests for weapons delivery, if such requests appear, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated on Monday during a joint press conference with Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"Our military-technical cooperation with Qatar is regulated in a bilateral manner, 18 months ago we signed an intergovernmental agreement on military-technical cooperation," the minister noted. "Today, we reaffirmed the need to follow this agreement."

"When our Qatari partners send us requests for delivery of Russian military products, we will consider them," Lavrov said.

Earlier on Monday, Al-Thani stated that Doha is holding negotiations with Moscow on the purchase of S-400 missile systems, however, the parties have not made a decision so far.
Russia and the United States will continue cooperation in manned and resupply space programs after the launch of the US Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS), spokesman for Russias State Space Corporation Roscosmos Vladimir Ustimenko told TASS on Monday, Trend reports referring to TASS.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft developed by SpaceX was launched to the orbital outpost on March 2 and docked for the first time to the space station on March 3. The spacecraft is expected to undock on March 8 and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean after its descent by the parachute.

If the spacecrafts descent proceeds in a normal regime, it will travel to the orbital outpost with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on its board in July. After that, NASA will make a decision on certifying the Crew Dragon for regular flights to the ISS.

"The negotiations [on cooperation] with NASA are now underway. Both organizations are interested in further cooperation. This cooperation will continue both in manned and resupply programs and on the ISS," the Roscosmos spokesman said.

In the future, cosmonauts and astronauts will be able to fly aboard both Russias Soyuz and US spacecraft. The talks on this issue are currently in their "active phase" but no specific agreement has been reached yet, the spokesman said.

Roscosmos Executive Director for Manned Programs Sergei Krikalyov earlier told TASS that the Crew Dragon should undergo tests and comply with safety and reliability requirements before Russian cosmonauts can travel aboard it.

Only Russian Soyuz spacecraft have been used since 2011 to deliver cosmonauts, astronauts from the United States and other countries to the ISS. In the United States, SpaceX and Boeing are developing new spacecraft for manned flights.
US President Donald Trump extended for one year sanctions introduced earlier against Russia in Executive Orders linked to the crisis in Ukraine, according to the official notice of the White House released on Monday, Trend reports with reference to TASS.

"The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States," the notice signed by the US President says. The regime of national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660 is extended for one year, according to the notice.
Anil Giri is a reporter covering diplomacy, international relations and national politics for The Kathmandu Post. Giri has been working as a journalist for a decade-and-a-half, contributing to numerous national and international media outlets.
Baku, Azerbaijan, March 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

As part of operations carried out in February against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist group, 93 PKK militants were eliminated in Turkey, Trend reports with reference to the press service of the Turkish Interior Ministry.

Among the eliminated militants, there were especially dangerous terrorists who organized attack on military units in Turkey.

The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the creation of an independent Kurdish state, has lasted more than 25 years, claiming more than 40,000 lives. The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the UN and the EU.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
At least 22 people were killed and dozens more were injured Sunday when powerful tornadoes swept through eastern Alabama, authorities said, Trend reported citing WhoTV.

The deaths were in Lee County, on the Georgia border, Sheriff Jay Jones said Sunday night. East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika, the county seat, said that it was treating more than 40 patients and that an undetermined number of others had been sent to hospitals.

Jones said the ages of the dead hadnt been fully determined. We do have some children, unfortunately, he said, adding that the number of deaths was expected to rise overnight.

The Lee County Emergency Management Agency, or EMA, said the worst of the damage was near the town of Beauregard.

This is a day of destruction for Lee County, County Coroner Bill Harris told NBC affiliate WSFA of Montgomery. Weve never had a mass fatality situation, that I can remember, like this in my lifetime.

Gov. Kay Ivey declared a statewide emergency. President Donald Trump urged residents in the region to be careful and safe.

The tornadoes touched down amid a severe weather outbreak across the Southeast, according to the National Weather Service.

Its a widespread storm, Brian Hastings, director of the Alabama Management Agency, said in an interview with WSFA, who said state EMA and transportation officials were already in Lee County to respond.

We have historic flooding to the north and historic flooding on the Tombigbee [River], and now this storm system that just went through, and now were getting reports of significant damage in several neighboring counties, Hastings said.

Opelika Fire Chief Byron Prather said several homes had been destroyed, creating serious fire hazards as propane leaked from damaged tanks.

07:00 (GMT+4) At least fourteen people, some of them children, have died after a tornado swept through Lee County Alabama on Sunday, Sheriff Jay Jones said, Trend reported citing Reuters.

Emergency workers were expected to toil into the night, pulling bodies and the injured out of the rubble of hundreds of homes.

The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located, Jones said in an interview with CNN. Its the most Ive seen that I can recall.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said that the death toll could rise.

Weve still got people being pulled out of rubble, he told the Birmingham News newspaper early on Sunday evening. Were going to be here all night.

Severe weather unleashed one of numerous possible tornadoes that threatened the Southern United States on Sunday afternoon. Tornado warnings and watches were in effect for parts of Georgia and Alabama through Sunday evening.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey warned residents on Twitter that more severe weather might be on the way. She said the state was working to help families who had been impacted.

Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today, Ivey wrote on Twitter.

Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected.

The storm left more than 10,000 customers without power, the Birmingham News said, citing the utility Alabama Power.
Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said that an interim application will be filed in the apex court on Wednesday.
On Shivaratri, all are welcome, none are turned away

It is a cloudy Saturday evening and the skies are as grey as the chillum smoke lazily circling Madanlal Goswami Pandit and Bablu Goswami Pandit. The two sit side-by-side at the Ram Mandir in Pashupatinath, taking long, deep drags from a short stubby chillum that they clutch between their fingers.
A travel blogging couple has been slammed on social media after they shared a picture of themselves dangling dangerously from a moving train in Sri Lanka. Raquel and Miguel are popular influencers on Instagram and their page explorersaurus_ has over 2,40,000 followers on the photo sharing application. However, a picture posted on the page on February 19 has drawn a large number of negative reactions from their followers. Many even called the act irresponsible.

The picture has now gone viral on Twitter and Facebook.

According to reports, the controversial shot was taken by a third person while the couple was travelling on a train through the small town of Ella in Sri Lanka. In the picture, boyfriend Miguel can be seen kissing his girlfriend Raquel on the forehead as she leans her body out of the moving train by clutching the carriage rails. One of Raquels feet is seen hanging from the train while the other is positioned on the footboard.

While the picture has been slammed by many users on social media, the couple said the train was moving very slowly and their stunt was not risky. The photo currently has more than 43,000 likes but the negative comments have also crossed the thousand mark.

One user wrote,  This will inspire more emulators to do this. Dangerous. Irresponsible and all in the name of vanity.

Youd risk your life just for a picture? Just so you can upload it on social media? Or do you do this because this gives you the rush? How is this sensible? wrote another.

After the picture went viral, a large number of users slammed Miguel for putting his girlfriends life at risk but Raquel wrote on Instagram that her life was not in danger and she was pretty comfortable while taking the picture.
New Delhi: On Sunday, officials said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan, conveyed to the IAF brass that he wants to return to the cockpit as soon as possible. For the last two days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here. Varthaman told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest, the officials told PTI. On Wednesday, he became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force. Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dogfight. He returned to India to a hero's welcome on Friday night. His health condition is being monitored by a group of doctors at the Army's Research and Referral hospital, the officials said. "The efforts have been to ensure that he returns to the cockpit soon," said a military official.

also read Last day of Kumbh Bath, security beefed up for expected huge crowd gathering

However, the officials said Varthaman has been in high spirits despite the harassment he suffered in Pakistan. Varthaman arrived in the national capital on an IAF flight around 11:45 PM on Friday, nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed over to India through the Attari-Wagah border. The IAF pilot was first taken to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), a compact and specialised medical evaluation centre for aircrew of all the three services. Later he was brought to the Army's Research and Referral hospital.

After he was captured, Varthaman showed courage and grace in handling the most difficult circumstances for which he was praised by politicians, strategic affairs experts, ex-servicemen, celebrities and people in general. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa met Varthaman separately on Saturday during which he apprised them about the mental trauma he was subjected to during his captivity in Pakistan.

also read JeM release statement about Masood Azhar's death speculations

During the meeting, the defence minister commended him on his valour and expressed the nation's gratitude for his selfless service. Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday. Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on Wednesday. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.

The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 soldiers.
Days After the Indian Air force attack in Balakot, An Italian journalist has told WION in an interview that Pakistani Army carried away at least 35 dead bodies after the Indian Air Force fighter jets bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp.

The air strikes were carried out by 12 Mirage 2000 on February 26, fighter jets of IAF and they dropped bombs to completely decimate a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Balakot, Pakistan.

Ashish Nehra is Biggest Assets of India for upcoming World Cup

The journalist identified as Francesca Marino told WION in an interview that her source had confirmed that the death toll was between 40 and 50, and the wounded between 35 to 40. Talking to WION, Marino claimed that her source was a person living in Balakot. "Yesterday I've got confirmations... 100% reliable confirmations, Said Maino.

The journalist claimed that her source in Pakistan ambulances arrived at the site after the air strikes and Pakistan Army took away the mobile phones of the ambulance staff. The source also told Marino that at least 35 bodies were carried away by Pakistan Army, which had cordoned off the blast site. The Italian journalist said that 12 young trainees of the banned terror group also died in the attack as they were sleeping inside the camp of terrorists.

Pakistan PM Imran Khan finally unleashed his view for Nobel Peace Price demand

Earlier, it was reported by Indian media that the death toll in the pre-dawn operation of IAF may have been as high as 350. For its part, Pakistan had claimed that there had been no deaths at all and Indian fighter jets were forced to retreat after dropping their payload on a jungle.
A furnace gaping beneath overhanging leaves in a paved Istanbul yard could hide a terrifying secret -- the final cruelty meted out to a dissident journalist. A report by Al-Jazeera, a television channel based in Qatar, lays out the ghastly details: After Jamal Khashoggi was killed by Saudi operatives inside Riyadh's consulate in October, his body was likely incinerated in that oven. This disposal, if it happened, is blood-curdling not just because of the fate of its victim but also for its location.

However, for it so happens that the furnace being eyed with suspicion, a beige chimney sitting atop a black-arched maw capable of melting metal, is at the Saudi consulate general's residence. But it gets worse. Al-Jazeera said, quoting authorities, that meat was cooked in the furnace to conceal the three-day burning of Jamal Khashoggi's remains.

also read No one on the other would have survived If we have Rafale jet: PM Modi

Another grisly detail: "Turkish investigators also found traces of Khashoggi's blood on the walls of the Saudi consul's office after removing paint that the assassination team applied after killing the Washington Post columnist on October 2, 2018."

The suspicion that Khashoggi's body was burned is not new. Last month the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu cited a police report to say the cops believed his remains were disposed of in that manner. Quoting the police report, Anadolu said the Saudi consulate where Khashoggi was murdered had two wells and a gas and wood floor furnace that could reach heat of over 1,000 degrees.

also read High court orders Facebook to remove links to video disparaging Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev
New Delhi: As of yesterday, after speculations over Jaish-e-Mohammed chief and terrorist Masood Azhar's death started circulating in media, the terror outfit released a statement saying that he is alive and doing well. Earlier, a few local media outlets had claimed that Azhar was seriously injured during the air strike carried out by the IAF while a minister in Pakistan PM Imran Khan's cabinet had claimed that the terror commander's condition was very critical and was currently undergoing treatment in Pakistan.

However, Speculations about his death had started circulating on Twitter with many claiming that the terror chief had been killed in Balakot air strike conducted by the IAF. However, a few other Twitter users suggested that it's just another diversionary tactics by Pakistan after India's pressure. Masood Azhar is the founder and leader of the terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed which is active mainly in the PoK.

also read JeM Maulana Masood Azhar who took responsibility of Pulwama attack is dead, no confirmation from Pakistan yet

Recently, Pakistans foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi during an interview to CNN had admitted that JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar was in Pakistan but added that he is very unwell and is not in a position to even leave his house. Azhars group JeM was responsible for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were martyred.

After being arrested by the Indian government, terrorists affiliated to Harkat-ul-Mujahideen hijacked the Indian Airlines Flight 814 (IC 814) in 1999 with tacit support from Pakistan's ISI to free Azhar and two other terrorists who were in the Indian custody.

However, the blue-eyed boy of the Pakistani military establishment and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) became highly-active after his release and planned multiple attacks against India. JeM was behind the Parliament House attack in 2001 and he was the mastermind of the 2016 Pathankot attack on IAF base along with his brother.

also read After 72 hours of Pakistan's airspace operation suspended, flights operations resumed at Lahore
On Monday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said he wasn't worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, after a resolution submitted in Pakistan's top law-making body said he deserved the coveted honour. Imran Khan tweeted to over 9 million followers on Monday morning "The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace and human development in the subcontinent,".

also read JeM release statement about Masood Azhar's death speculations

It was Khan's own information minister, Fawad Chaudry, who submitted the resolution in parliament this weekend, saying Pakistan's leader had played a "sagacious role" in reducing tensions between Islamabad and New Delhi. Tweets with #NobelPeaceForImranKhan pointed to the release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, an Indian fighter pilot captured by Pakistan during a dogfight last week. Although Imran Khan called it a "peace gesture", the Indian Air Force said it was "in consonance with the Geneva Conventions". Upon his return, Wing Commander Varthaman said he underwent mental harassment in Pakistan but was not physically tortured, ANI reported citing unnamed sources.

However, India and Pakistan appeared to come to the brink of war last week after India sent Mirage 2000 fighters to bomb a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. New Delhi said the strike was pre-emptive and non-military, but it was widely seen as revenge for the killing of 40 Indian soldiers in southern Kashmir.

also read JeM Maulana Masood Azhar who took responsibility of Pulwama attack is dead, no confirmation from Pakistan yet

Pakistan responded. A day after the counter-terrorism operation, India said it had thwarted an attempt by Pakistani jets to target its military installations. It was in that aerial confrontation that Wing Commander Abhinandan was captured.At the India Today Conclave on Saturday, senior BJP leader Ram Madhav responded to talk of a Nobel Prize for Imran Khan by decrying Islamabad's use of terrorism as a state policy. And when Union Minister Arun Jaitley was asked for his reaction, he said: "I have absolutely no reaction to it." "When you suppress reality and live in a world without complete information, these are the inevitable consequences," he said.
Provinces warn of legal recourse if Centre fails to address their concerns

Confrontation of the provinces and local federal units with the Centre is likely to flare up as provincial governments have warned of seeking a legal recourse to exercise their constitutional rights if Kathmandu fails to address their demands.
Tran Anh maintains losses after merging with MWG

Tran Anh Digital World JSC's net revenue in the first eight months of the fiscal year fell 55 per cent to VND2.273 trillion ($98.8 million).





Tran Anh is step-by-step disappearing after the merger with MWG





A year after merging with Mobile World Group (MWG), Tran Anh (UpCOM: TAG) has just announced financial statement from April 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, showing losses of more than VND4 billion ($174,000).

Specifically, Tran Anh's net revenue in the first eight months were reduced by 55 per cent to VND2.273 trillion ($98.8 million), half of which (about $44.5 millin) came from the parent company.

Particularly, in the last three months of the year, the companys revenue declined sharply to VND37.5 billion ($1.6 million) from VND1.699 trillion ($73.9 million), while gross profit dropped to VND589 million ($25,600) from dozens of millions of dollars. However, costs were cut sharply, so Tran Anhs losses reduced to a little over VND4 billion ($174,000) as of the end 2018.

Tran Anh officially merged with Dien May Xanh (under the management of The Gioi Di Dong  MWG) on January 3, 2018 with the ownership of MWG in Tran Anh at 99.3 per cent. Tran Anh also recorded no inventory at the time of merging with MWG. According to the financial statement, the value of commercial advantages from this well-known deal was more than VND613 billion ($26.7 million), but the total liabilities that Tran Anh transferred to the parent company were around VND1 trillion ($43.5 million).

Meanwhile, Tran Anh has cancelled all advertisement activities for its brand on social media for the last few months, where they ceased posting about the Tran Anh brand and only share recipes, kitchen tips, and instructions for using household appliances. The website of the company also redirects visitors to Dien May Xanh, making the Tran Anh brand disappear step-by-step.

Back in 2005-2006, Tran Anh was one of the leading retailers for computer and electronics equipment in the northern market, with fast-growing annual profit. However, the company lost millions of dollars by constantly expanding its network before being acquired by MWG.

VIR
Relief quota teachers, police clash in New Baneshwor

Tension ran high at New Baneshwor in the Capital on Monday after the agitating government relief quota teachers clashed with police during a protest rally.
Pham Hoang Kham - Head of Department of Dermatology, 103 Military Hospital





The application of AI in the treatment of skin problems helps both doctors and patients as well as customers easily implement at any time. Patients or clients can use their mobile phones or any support tool to take pictures, then send them to doctors. Photos are put in the machine to be analysed, the machine then can diagnose and give recommendations for patients and customers. However, before that, doctors must train and teach the machine by giving it data of images, analysis, and diagnosis. In the process of learning, the machine also contains errors that need to be checked and adjusted by doctors so that the machine can gradually correct and improve itself. When the machine has a huge amount of knowledge, it can examine and diagnose by itself with high accuracy. For example, in China, there was a test to compare efficiency of an AI machine and 15 leading doctors in diagnosing cancer on 225 patients. The results showed that within 15 minutes, the machine gave the accurate diagnosis while the 15 doctors took twice as long.

Cao Minh Duc - Software engineer 4Catalyzer (US)





Applying AI in health has scientific value so its achievements can be used widely. It brings very practical values for examinations and treatment. It is proven that AI allows us to diagnose earlier and more accurately. For example, in case of blood infection, the prescription of medicine is very important. It is calculated that if there is a delay of just one hour in administering the correct medicine, the mortality rate increases by 8 per cent. AI can help read DNA of the bacteria, then diagnose the bacteria and its resistance with up to 99 per cent accuracy. More importantly, with the application of AI, we can get the result of the bacteria in just six to eight hours instead of two days as before with traditional methods. AI is really a leap forward in health. Furthermore, AI effectively helps students and young doctors to enrich their knowledge and skills.

Pham Minh Tuan - General director FPT Software





AI can support the diagnosis of skin diseases, cancer, and chronic diseases. AI can help create virtual nurses and doctors to make interactions with patients and family members closer and friendlier. Process of treatment after being discharged is very important. Patients need communication and suitable advice. AI can also help increase the effectiveness of medicine usage. Currently, the application of AI in Vietnams healthcare is in its initial steps, so we need a mechanism, as well as an open legal framework so that AI machines for the health sector can be piloted, then the products can be improved quickly. Alongside that, there are three important factors when we apply AI in health. These are people who are very good at algorithms, leading doctors, and information technology which make products work fast and efficiently. It is also necessary to involve Big Data and believe to dare to pilot AI.
Student union adrift

The Nepali Congress attended the Council of the Socialist International in Portugal in 2013 as a full member, where Beatriz Talegon, then general secretary of its youth wing International Union of Socialist Youth, urged world leaders to opt for a democratic process while electing leaders of their youth organisations, and warned that the other way brings negative consequences to the future of young people, the youth movement and the party itself.
DARIEN, IL - Several leaders in the field of sleep medicine and a California state senator were selected as recipients of the 2019 American Academy of Sleep Medicine awards, which will be presented Monday, June 10, during the plenary session of SLEEP 2019, the 33rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC (APSS) in San Antonio.

"I congratulate the 2019 award recipients for their contributions to the sleep medicine field through academic research, clinical care, public policy, and education," said AASM President Dr. Douglas Kirsch. "Their accomplishments range from expertly guiding us at the earlier stages of sleep medicine's evolution, to educating today's clinicians and inspiring us to advocate for the students of tomorrow by changing school start times. The board of directors recognizes and appreciates the awardees' hard work and dedication to the field of sleep medicine."

The 2019 AASM award recipients, who were selected by the AASM board of directors, are:

Patrick J. Strollo, Jr., MD

Nathaniel Kleitman Distinguished Service Award for dedication to the sleep field and significant contributions in the areas of administration, public relations and government affairs

Dr. Strollo is a professor of medicine and clinical and translational science and vice chair of medicine for Veterans Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh, and he is chairman of medicine at the VA Pittsburgh Health System. Strollo has made numerous contributions throughout more than 30 years as an AASM member, especially by leading the AASM as the 2010 - 2011 president, serving as the AASM physician representative to the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement, and representing the AASM within the AMA House of Delegates. He also has made a lasting, positive impact on the sleep field as chair of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Sleep Disorders Research Advisory Board and through his research exploring the novel treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and the impact of OSA on cardiovascular risk.

Sonia Ancoli-Israel, PhD

William C. Dement Academic Achievement Award for exceptional initiative and progress in the areas of sleep education and academic research

Dr. Ancoli-Israel is a professor emeritus of psychiatry and professor of research at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. Throughout 35 years as an AASM member, she has made a lasting impact on the sleep field as a clinician and educator, including her service as research and education director at the UC San Diego Sleep Medicine Center. She also has helped advance the field of sleep and circadian science through her research in areas of critical importance, such as aging and cancer, and through her leadership in positions such as deputy director of the UC San Diego Stein Institute for Research on Aging and co-director of the UC San Diego General Clinical Research Center Gillin Laboratory of Sleep and Chronobiology.

Loretta Colvin, ACNP-BC

Excellence in Education Award for outstanding contributions in the teaching of sleep medicine

Ms. Colvin is a clinical assistant professor of nursing at Maryville University and a nurse practitioner at SSM Health in St. Louis. Throughout nearly 10 years as an AASM member, she has served as chair of the AASM APRN/PA Task Force, two-time chair of the Sleep Disorders for the APRN/PA course, and member of both the AASM Education Committee and the AASM Diversity & Inclusion Task Force. Her work has helped advance education for all members of the sleep team, and she has been a leader in advocating for the important role of advanced practice providers in the field of sleep medicine.

Senator Anthony Portantino

Mark O. Hatfield Public Policy or Advocacy Award for developing public policy that positively affects the healthy sleep of all Americans

Senator Anthony Portantino represents California's 25th State Senate District. He recently reintroduced SB-328, "Pupil attendance: school start time," which made it all the way to the governor's desk in 2018 before being vetoed. The bill would require the school day for middle schools and high schools in the state to begin no earlier than 8:30 a.m., which is in agreement with an AASM position statement. The bill demonstrates that legislation promoting healthy sleep for teens can garner bi-partisan support, and it provides a model for other state legislators throughout the country.

A list of previous recipients of the AASM awards is available online.

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Photos are available upon request. For more information, please contact Communications Coordinator Corinne Lederhouse at 630-737-9700, ext. 9366, or clederhouse@aasm.org.

About the American Academy of Sleep Medicine

Established in 1975, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) improves sleep health and promotes high quality, patient-centered care through advocacy, education, strategic research, and practice standards. The AASM has a combined membership of 10,000 accredited member sleep centers and individual members, including physicians, scientists and other health care professionals (aasm.org).
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4, 2019 -- In the animal kingdom, birds band together to ward off predators, and honeybees work collectively to benefit the entire hive. Animals of the human persuasion can act cooperatively too, at times, though this behavior is not completely understood.

Princeton doctoral student Olivia Chu and her advisor Corina Tarnita, a theoretical biologist, investigate how cooperation among people is affected by population structure.

Chu will present their work this week at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, and she will also participate in a press conference describing the work. Information for logging on to watch and ask questions remotely is included at the end of this news release.

Humans tend to cluster into groups -- political, religious, familial, professional and so forth -- rather than being homogenously mixed. Group memberships affect our decisions to cooperate -- or not -- with others. So, how does cooperation emerge under such circumstances?

"Group memberships affect the structure of social interactions, determining to a large extent who meets with whom. They also set the context and frequency under which those interactions take place," Chu said. Chu and Tarnita built upon the "evolutionary set theory" modeling framework that Tarnita and colleagues introduced in 2009, which assumes that people belong to groups and interact only with others who are in the same groups.

Interactions in their study take place within the setting of the "donation game" (a modified version of the "prisoner's dilemma") in which a cooperator offers a benefit to another player at a personal cost, whereas a "defector" selfishly offers nothing. Chu and Tarnita consider this framework to be more realistic for studying human dynamics than previous network-based approaches because it allows for people to simultaneously have multiple group affiliations. "From these local, group-level pair-wise interactions, can we see the emergence of cooperation on a large scale across the population?" Chu asked.

The answer given by Tarnita and colleagues in 2009 was "yes." However, that model had an unrealistic premise -- group entry was free to anyone who wanted to join. In real life, this is clearly not the case as there are often barriers to group entry. In the current model, Chu and Tarnita incorporate one type of barrier to group entry that is determined by group size: The larger the group, they reasoned, the less likely it is to accept new members. To refine their model, the team investigated whether this barrier changes the outcome with respect to cooperation.

Chu and Tarnita found that cooperation still emerges, but that it is most favored when they allow for the existence of "loners" in the population -- people who, due to barriers, are temporarily not members of any group. Loners are essential, Chu explained, "because they keep group sizes lower than they would have been without barriers to group entry."

Smaller groups allow cooperation to thrive, while making the system as a whole more resilient, by limiting the destructive influence of a defector exploiting a group of cooperators. Chu cautions against drawing too much from one model amid a sea of evolutionary game theory models. Nevertheless, their recent work shows, reassuringly, that there may be hope for maintaining cooperation in our world.

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The 2019 APS March Meeting presentation "Evolutionary Dynamics in a Group Population Structure with Barriers to Group Entry," by Olivia Chu, Vitor V. Vasconcelos and Corina E. Tarnita, will take place Monday, March 4, at 1:03 p.m. in room 259A of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. ABSTRACT: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR19/Session/B63.8

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

The American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting is a major international conference and the largest physics meeting of the year. In 2019, the APS March Meeting will convene March 4-8 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

USEFUL LINKS

Register as Press: https://goo.gl/forms/ur9dE24zCO1IVsLu2

Press Site: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/press.cfm

Meeting Abstracts: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR19/APS_epitome

Main Meeting Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/

Hotel and Travel: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/hotel-travel.cfm

PRESS REGISTRATION

APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. For press related questions about the APS March Meeting, email media@aps.org.

PRESS CONFERENCES

A series of press conferences on newsworthy research will be webcast live from the conference on Monday, March 4 through Thursday, March 7. A schedule will be released the week before the conference. Members of the media should register in advance at https://webcast.apswebcasting.com/go/aps-march-19.

ABOUT APS

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. Read more: https://www.aps.org/
Students to file fraud case against Gandaki Medical College

Students pursuing MBBS at Gandaki Medical College, Pokhara, have filed a forgery case against the college administration at the District Police Office, Kaski, saying the institute charged them more than the fee fixed by the government.
The force is strong not only in Star Wars lore but also as a fundamental property in physics. For example, scientists can put two uncharged metal plates close together in a vacuum, and "voila!" ---they will attract each other like Luke Skywalker and his trusted lightsaber.

In 1948, Dutch theoretical physicist Hendrick Casimir first predicted an attractive force responsible for this effect----later dubbed the Casimir effect. A half-century later, in 1996, the Casimir force was experimentally measured for the first time by Steve Lamoreaux at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

But just like the light and dark side of the force in Star Wars, scientists have wondered, can there be an equal yet opposite kind of Casimir force?

"Between two like materials, this force always corresponds to an attractive Casimir force, regardless of the mediating materials," said Arizona State University physicist Frank Wilczek. "Yet in principle the Casimir force can be repulsive."

Wilczek explains that generating a repulsive Casimir force has gained a great deal of interest in practical applications like the semiconductor industry, as chips have grown tinier and tinier with atomic-scale features.

"In recent years, people have devoted substantial efforts to realizing repulsive Casimir forces, especially with a view toward applications to nano-devices and colloids, which can contain nearby parts that one wants to keep separate."

Now, Wilczek, along with colleague Qing-Dong Jiang of Stockholm University, have shown for the first time that the Casimir force can be reversed and made repulsive, tunable or enhanced, depending on the properties of the material inserted in between the plates.

"We find that the Casimir force can, as a function of distance, oscillate between attractive and repulsive, and that it can be tuned by application of an external magnetic field," said

Wilczek, a professor of physics at ASU who also holds faculty appointments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.

Far from being a science about nothing, the "material" within the empty space of vacuums between the two metal plates, because of quantum effects, are actually rivers teeming with an invisible force---electromagnetic waves that contain untapped energy. During the Casimir effect, as the plates are moved together, some of the waves in the vacuum are gradually squeezed out, giving more energy to their surroundings, and causing the attractive force.

The vacuum is filled with quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field--virtual photons that pop in and out of existence---that are assumed to behave in the same way. To make the plates repulsive and tunable, Wilczek and Stockholm University colleague Qing-Dong Jiang inserted a material between the plates that breaks this behavior. This "chiral" material (chiral comes from the Greek word meaning hand) causes two types of photons that differ like your left and right hand, or in this case, right and left-circular polarized photons. The material causes the photons to have different velocities that can each transfer a different amount of momentum to the plates.

Wilczek and Jiang calculated the Casimir force between two plates for two types of intervening chiral materials and at different temperatures. They found that the force could be adjusted by changing the distance between the plates or changing the strength of an applied magnetic field. They found that making these adjustments could yield a repulsive Casimir force more than three times as strong as the attractive force for the same setup in a vacuum.

"The key to realizing repulsive Casimir forces between similar objects is to insert an intermediate chiral material between them," said Wilczek. "The chiral Casimir force has several distinctive features: it can be oscillatory, its magnitude can be large, and it can vary in response to external magnetic fields."

Their hope is that these results will provide physicists and engineers interested in semiconductors and nanodevices with a new way to explore the behaviors and properties of different materials at the quantum level.

"Through the connection of this force to independently measurable material properties, one obtains a wealth of predicted phenomena which directly reflect macroscopic effects of quantum fluctuations."

And perhaps, scientists can even draw a bit of innovational inspiration by tapping into their inner Star Wars geek from one of Darth Vader's most famous movie quotes: "Don't underestimate the force."

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Geneva /Padova, Monday 4 March 2019 - The Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) and Penta, the paediatric infectious diseases research network, have joined forces to tackle drug-resistant infections in children. The strategic collaboration aims to accelerate paediatric development of antibiotic treatments including: clinical trials designed to meet regulatory requirements; and trials with a focus on public health interventions to inform treatment guidelines.

Globally, more than three million childhood deaths result from infectious diseases, such as pneumonia and sepsis (1). Children are also particularly affected by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In Europe, a recent study found that infants under one-year-old bear the highest burden of drug-resistant infections, with a major impact on health, economy and society (2). The impact is expected to be even more severe in many low and middle-income countries.

"Ending unnecessary childhood deaths is a global health priority" said Dr Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, GARDP. "Yet, severe lack of evidence is preventing the development of child-appropriate antibiotics for the treatment of drug-resistant infections. In response to this urgent global public health need, GARDP and Penta have embarked on a joint mission to develop and deliver accessible antibiotic treatments to tackle serious bacterial infections in children."

Tackling AMR and its effects on children is critical to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular the children's health targets under SDG 3, which aims to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all (3). Prioritising the development of child-friendly antibiotics is an essential component of this. Children, particularly babies and infants, need medicines that are adapted to their specific needs. Scarce evidence means child-friendly antibiotic treatment options are often limited, with paediatric evaluation of antibiotics only happening years after treatments are registered for use in adults.

GARDP and Penta's partnership consolidates plans to help overcome this gap through the development of a global children's antibiotic platform. Building on Penta's international network of clinical trial sites and paediatric experts, the platform objectives include to: develop streamlined paediatric development plans acceptable to regulatory authorities; accelerate regulatory approval of treatments by ensuring children's trials are started as early as possible; and incorporate innovative designs to maximise the information that can be gained from each trial.

"Clinical trials in children involve highly complex ethical, regulatory and study-design issues" said Professor Carlo Giaquinto, President, Penta. "This partnership consolidates existing efforts between GARDP and Penta, allowing us to maximise our expertise in the fields of paediatric treatments and AMR, including Penta's strong partnership with the Medical Research Council's Clinical Trial Unit in London.

"The knowledge created can help public health and industry partners to efficiently design and conduct their paediatric plans. This will speed-up access to antibiotics and facilitate the dissemination and routine implementation of global treatment guidelines".

GARDP and Penta have established strong relationships with academic and/or government institutions from across Asia, Africa, Europe and South America. Partnerships with countries including Kenya, Greece, India, South Africa and Thailand underpin recent GARDP and Penta collaborations. These include a pharmacokinetic clinical trial in Kenya, to assess safety and dosing of the antibiotic fosfomycin in new-borns, which recently completed enrolment; and a large-scale global observational study on neonatal sepsis, collecting clinical information in up to 3,000 new-borns in 19 hospitals in 11 countries.

Such engagement from countries worldwide, will be critical to the success of the platform and its trial networks.

"Country partnerships are critical for the children's antibiotic platform to flourish and reach its full potential" concluded Dr Balasegaram "GARDP and Penta call on governments worldwide, as well as academics, donors, maternal child health organizations, public institutions, the private sector, scientists and more, anyone with an interest in overcoming AMR in children - to join us."

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Contacts

Susan Frade, GARDP - +41 79 640 0099, sfrade@dndi.org

Francesca Mazzetto, Penta - +39 348 6151202, francesca.mazzetto@pentafoundation.org

Notes to Editors

A background briefing note on the need for children's antibiotics and the partnership is available here https://www.gardp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/GARDP_Penta_backgroundbrief.pdf

About GARDP

GARDP is a not-for-profit R&D organization that addresses global public health needs by developing and delivering new or improved antibiotic treatments, while endeavouring to ensure their sustainable access. Initiated by the WHO and the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative (DNDi), GARDP is an important element of WHO's Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance that calls for new public-private partnerships to encourage R&D of new antimicrobial agents and diagnostics. GARDP's programmes on sexually-transmitted infections, neonatal sepsis, paediatric antibiotics and antimicrobial memory recovery, evaluation and exploratory research are designed to address global public health priorities. Projects include the sponsoring of a phase III clinical trial for a novel, first-in-class oral antibiotic to treat drug-resistant gonorrhoea.

http://www.gardp.org

About Penta

Penta, a leader in the evaluation of paediatric treatments since 1991, incorporates research centres and hospitals across the world, collaborating with more than 100 clinical centres in 18 countries, with strong training and educational programmes across the world. To date it has sponsored 22 clinical trials involving more than 3,000 children, as well as numerous immunological, pharmacokinetic, microbiological and other epidemiological studies. Penta is co-ordinating the new Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI2) EU funded progamme, connect4children (c4c) to build a pan-European Paediatric Clinical Trial Network for medicine development and research. Penta is also involved with numerous other EU funded projects - including trials aimed at developing optimal dosing regimens for generic antibiotics in neonates.

http://www.penta-id.org

(1) Liu, L. et al (2015) Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality 2000-13- The Lancet 385; 430-40

(2) Cassini, A. et al (2018) Attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years caused by infections with antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the EU and the European Economic Area in 2015, Lancet Infect Dis 19(1):56-66

(3). Sustainable Development Goals - sustainabledevelopment.un.org/SDG3
SALT LAKE CITY - Even among cancers, pancreatic cancer is an especially sinister form of disease. The one-year survival rate is extremely low, and treatment progress has lagged behind that of many other malignancies.

A study published today in the journal Nature Medicine led by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) describes a new therapeutic approach with potential for patients with pancreatic cancer. These researchers discovered a combination drug therapy that may effectively combat the disease. HCI researchers first observed anti-cancer impacts in a laboratory setting and, subsequently, in its first use in a human patient.

The study has already progressed to a clinical trial that is now open at HCI and will soon be open at other sites in the United States. Details about the clinical trial, called THREAD, are available under National Clinical Trial Number 03825289. The combination therapy uses two drugs already approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration for other diseases, including cancer. The new drug combination is administered through pills taken orally.

Pancreatic tumors are characterized by mutations in a gene called KRAS. When KRAS is mutated in this way, it sends constant signals that promote abnormal cell division and growth in cancer cells. As a result, tumors grow out of control. At the same time, like all cells, pancreatic cancer cells must recycle their components to provide building blocks for new growth in an essential cell function known as autophagy. Previous studies to combat pancreatic cancer that were focused either on the role of KRAS or on impacting autophagy were not effective.

The new HCI study, using an approach that simultaneously targets both abnormal KRAS signaling and the autophagy process, shows a strong response in mouse models and may be a promising therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Conan Kinsey, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Department of Internal Medicine at the U of U and Martin McMahon, PhD, a cancer researcher at HCI and Professor of Dermatology at the U of U, led the study.

"We were able to observe that the combination of these two drugs - which, when used individually, don't have much of an impact on the disease - appears to have a very potent impact on the growth of pancreatic cancer," says McMahon. "We have observed this in the lab in petri dishes, then in mouse models, and now in a pancreatic cancer patient on a compassionate use basis. Indeed, we proceeded from a petri dish to a patient in less than two years - a timeline that is rarely seen in medical science."

The HCI-led research is bolstered by a separate study published in the same issue of the journal. This study outlines complementary findings regarding the effects of autophagy in pancreatic cancer in the laboratory setting and was led by Channing Der, PhD, Sarah Graham Kenan, PhD, and Kirsten Bryant, PhD, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. McMahon and Der learned about the parallel nature of their research programs at a scientific meeting one year ago. Given the critical need for advances in pancreatic cancer therapies and the promise of their collective findings, they worked together to push their studies forward on a companion basis.

"In our paper, we show the response of a pancreatic cancer patient who had received surgery and multiple lines of chemotherapy prior to this combination," said Kinsey, who was also the patient's physician. "This patient, who has since succumbed to the disease, nevertheless had a remarkable response to these drugs for several months. We need to carefully evaluate this new combination therapy in the context of clinical trials to better understand if good responses might be seen in multiple patients. We also need to identify the specific features of any patient who may benefit, before any recommendation can be made about use on a larger scale."

These preliminary findings are being rigorously scrutinized in clinical trials to observe and understand whether the combination of these drugs is safe and effective for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial is underway at HCI and is underway or planned at the University of California, San Francisco, and Columbia University in New York.

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The HCI-led study was supported by the National Cancer Institute, including grant P30 CA042014; the Melanoma Research Alliance; 5 For The Fight; and Huntsman Cancer Foundation. A grant recently awarded to McMahon at HCI, in collaboration with Eric Collisson, MD (UC San Francisco), by the Pancreatic Cancer Collective, a partnership between the Lustgarten Foundation and Stand Up 2 Cancer (SU2C), will carry forward future laboratory work on this project and also support the THREAD clinical trial. The UNC-led study was supported by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) and included collaborating partners from The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

About Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah

Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah is the official cancer center of Utah. The cancer campus includes a state-of-the-art cancer specialty hospital as well as two buildings dedicated to cancer research. HCI treats patients with all forms of cancer and is recognized among the best cancer hospitals in the country by U.S. News and World Report. As the only National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the Mountain West, HCI serves the largest geographic region in the country, drawing patients from Utah, Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. More genes for inherited cancers have been discovered at HCI than at any other cancer center in the world, including genes responsible for hereditary breast, ovarian, colon, head, and neck cancers, along with melanoma. HCI manages the Utah Population Database, the largest genetic database in the world, with information on more than 11 million people linked to genealogies, health records, and vital statistics. HCI was founded by Jon M. and Karen Huntsman.
A large multi-centre study of more than 1,200 patients provides important predictors of Parkinson's disease progression, which will allow better candidate selection for clinical trials and more effective therapy development.

The study, led by Dr. Ron Postuma at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital) and the Montreal General Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre, followed 1,280 patients with rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder. This is the largest study ever performed on patients with this disorder, which causes violent acting out of dreams as the normal paralysis during sleep is lost.

REM sleep disorder has been closely correlated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and related diseases such as Lewy body dementia and multiple system atrophy. To test drugs that may prevent PD from occurring, researchers need to identify people who are at high risk of the disease before it develops. The period between development of REM sleep disorder and symptoms of PD is particularly long, making those with the disorder good candidates for clinical trials to test new PD therapies.

To select patients for clinical trials, however, it is important to know as precisely as possible what chances each patient has of developing PD, as there is significant variability among those with REM sleep disorder.

In the present study, patients performed tests that measured their motor, cognitive, autonomic and special sensory abilities over a period of years. Researchers found that 73.5 per cent of the patients had developed PD after 12 years of follow up, and that patients who experienced motor difficulties were three times more likely to develop PD or related diseases. Other significant indicators of future PD development included mild cognitive and olfactory impairment.

Dopamine transporter (DAT) imaging is a technique used to test patients for future PD progression. Interestingly, this relatively complicated and expensive test was not found to be any more effective at predicting PD progression than the motor testing, which is a simple office-based test that takes five minutes to administer.

While previous studies of REM sleep disorder and PD came from single centres, this study was done across multiple centres in North America, Europe and Asia, making the findings more robust. Overall, the findings will improve the selection process for clinical trials and help doctors prioritize patients for therapies that prevent the disease.

"We confirmed a very high risk of PD in people with REM sleep disorder and found several strong predictors of this progression," says Dr. Postuma. "As new disease-modifying treatments are being developed for PD and related diseases, these patients are ideal candidates for neuroprotective trials."

Their findings were published in the March edition of the journal Brain. The research was made possible with funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Fonds de la recherche en sante du Quebec.

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The Neuro

The Neuro - The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - is a world-leading destination for brain research and advanced patient care. Since its founding in 1934 by renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield, The Neuro has grown to be the largest specialized neuroscience research and clinical center in Canada, and one of the largest in the world. The seamless integration of research, patient care, and training of the world's top minds make The Neuro uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of nervous system disorders. In 2016, The Neuro became the first institute in the world to fully embrace the Open Science philosophy, creating the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute. The Montreal Neurological Institute is a McGill University research and teaching institute. The Montreal Neurological Hospital is part of the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. For more information, please visit http://www.theneuro.ca
Future conditions in California may include more rain rather than snow during the wet season, longer fire seasons, and higher temperatures leading to drier fire seasons, according to a team of researchers who looked at the historic patterns of the North Pacific Jet, precipitation and fire.

"Assuming continuation of current fire management practices, thermodynamic warming is expected to override the dynamical influence of the North Pacific Jet on climate-fire relationships controlling fire extremes in California," the researchers report in today's (Mar. 4) issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers suggest that recent widespread fires in California in association with wet jet-stream extremes such as occurred in 2017, may be early evidence of this change.

"We were interested in looking at the mechanism that produces wildfire in California," said Alan H. Taylor, professor of geography, Penn State. "The jet stream controls where moisture goes in California. No one has reconstructed the Pacific jet stream over this long a period of time."

The researchers reconstructed over 400 years of North Pacific Jet variability using paleoclimate data, including tree-ring data, precipitation data and state-of-the-art climate models.

"The method we used to determine the average winter jet stream conditions is a real advance," said Eugene R. Wahl, paleoclimatology team lead and director, World Data Service for Paleoclimatology, at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information. "Coupled with independent precipitation and fire records, this is a state-of-the-art coupling of paleoclimate and paleoecology."

The researchers found that the relationships between the North Pacific Jet, precipitation and wildfires remains the same for the entire period up until about 1900, when wildfire becomes decoupled from wet-season moisture due to fire suppression.

"The wet-season circulation conditions were a strong controller of dry-season fire extremes prior to modern fire suppression," said Wahl.

Generally, in extreme dry years, when the strongest winter-average jet stream winds in California were centered at approximately Redding, California, wildfire rates were generally high. In extreme wet years, when the strongest winter-average jet stream winds in California were centered around Los Angeles, wild-fire rates were low. Predictably, the more moisture, the less fire, and the less moisture, the more fire.

However, that relationship, which was observed for 300 years prior to the 20th century, no longer holds true, as seen in recent years.

"The winter of 2016-17 had a slightly stronger than normal jet, which according to our results, in the past would have reduced fire risk," said Taylor. "Instead, we got a massive fire season in 2017."

In winter of 2017 and 2018, jet conditions were conducive to fire, and subsequent high fire years did occur.

"The last three years may be a harbinger of things to come," said Taylor. "Between 1600 and 1903 there was not a single case of a high-precipitation year coupled with a high-fire year as occurred in 2017," said Taylor.

Future predictions suggest that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will cause temperature increases in California along with decreased snowpack in the mountains and drier summers, whether or not precipitation increases or decreases. According to the researchers, this warming trend is expected to override historic North Pacific Jet conditions and increase fire potential.

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Also contributing to the study were Eduardo Zorita, senior scientist, Helmholz Zentrum Geesthact Centre for Materials and Coastal Research, Germany, and investigator, Climate System Analysis and Prediction Cluster of Excellence at the University of Hamburg; and Valerie Trouet, associate professor of dendrochronology, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, University of Arizona, Tucson.

The National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Interior Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service supported this work.
The Institute of Acoustics and Speech Communication at TU Dresden and the Linguwerk GmbH are jointly developing a technical assistance system, which will allow users to operate computer applications or household appliances using only tongue movements. Saxony's Minister of Health, Barbara Klepsch, presented the funding approval to inaugurate the project on 1st March 2019.

"The Free State of Saxony is consciously focusing on supporting digitalisation in the healthcare sector. The aim of this project is to enable patients to remain in their own living environment for as long as possible by maintaining their everyday skills", says Barbara Klepsch. "Highly innovative projects like this are helping to shape the future of health care".

Many people suffer from sensory and motor function impairments of the hands due to illness or old age, which prevent them from being able to use household appliances independently. In Germany alone, almost 900,000 people suffer from rheumatism, Parkinson's disease or the loss of function of their limbs.

In the "Zungenmaus" (literally tongue mouse) project, researchers at TU Dresden are developing a technical assistance system also operable by the elderly that can be used to control devices using only tongue movements. The "Zungenmaus" involves a small sensor plate that will eventually become a substitute for the hand. It is mounted behind the upper incisors and contains a sensor system on a flexible printed circuit board that precisely measures tongue movements, thus allowing certain types of functions to be carried out. The input movements are converted into control commands and can, for example, control a cursor on a graphical user interface in the same way a mouse is controlled on a computer screen.

Particular emphasis is placed on patient comfort. The sensor plate should be able to be inserted and removed without any problems, and should not be irritating. It must also be straightforward to use the sensor in conjunction with dentures. "The Zungenmaus, which we aim to develop with this project, has only become possible through the more recent developments in the fields of optoelectronics and machine learning", explains Junior Professor Peter Birkholz from the Institute of Acoustics and Speech Communication at TU Dresden. "These developments make it possible to not only produce sensors that are small and comfortable to wear, but also to intuitively control devices using the tongue." After a short familiarisation and training phase, it should be relatively easy to use and - because the tongue muscle does not get tired - be possible to use for extended periods of time.

"What sounds like a toy can in fact be an enormous relief for many people with limited motor functions", says Dr. Rico Petrick, Managing Director of Linguwerk GmbH. People who can no longer operate computers or household appliances independently have to rely on help from others. "Previous operating concepts for the elderly, such as large buttons and input through speech or eye movements, have specific disadvantages such as limited functionality or high costs."

The Zungenmaus" project will receive funding amounting to more than half a million euro until the end of 2020. The funds come from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). A fully functional model is to be created by the end of the funding period as a basis for subsequent product development.

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Perspectives on happiness and mental health differ across the world. While some cultures view suffering and unhappiness as inherent, circumstantial aspects of existence, others view any degree of unhappiness as a personal deficiency and an indication of poor health. Westernized perspectives present happiness as an individualized state of being that can be cultivated and sustained through continuous effort. In areas where these western beliefs are prominent, happiness is established as the norm, and as a result, a global trend has emerged where the absence of happiness is increasingly medicalized and pathologized. When deviation from the norm occurs, it spurs individuals to search out medical and psychological interventions.

In "Struggling to be a 'Happy Self'?: Psychotherapy and the Medicalization of Unhappiness in Uganda," published in Current Anthropology, Julia Vorholter examines the extent to which this trend has spread throughout Uganda. Vorholter expands upon existing anthropological debates about global mental health by analyzing shifting perceptions of happiness and psychotherapy in Uganda. The author asserts that this shift is the result of new developments in psychological practices and increasing awareness of mental health discourses.

"While experiences of suffering or happiness are always, to some extent, individual and subjective, they are shaped by contexts and authoritative voices," the author writes. "Increasingly these are global voices--after all happiness is now being measured and compared across societies. Ideals of what it means to be happy and how to achieve it travel across contexts, as do interventions targeting suffering."

Utilizing ethnographic research, the author analyzes how both views of happiness and participation in psychotherapeutic practices differ across Uganda. By conducting interviews with psychologists and employing qualitative data analysis, the author acquires insights into the personal struggles and stressors that prompt people in Uganda to seek professional help. Findings reveal the motivations behind participating in psychotherapy are heavily influenced by region as well as an individual's age and social class.

The study focuses on two regions of Uganda: Northern Uganda and Kampala, the capital. Both areas have experienced distinct developments in psychotherapy, beginning in the early 2000s. The civil war reached its conclusion after 20 years, and psychological services emerged in rural Northern Uganda to help alleviate complex post-war traumas experienced especially by lower-class people living in the area. While international donors and NGOs provide these services for free and the services have become more organized and more widely accepted over time, critiques remain about whether psychotherapy services offer an adequate approach to assist people who are experiencing ongoing, systemic problems, such as gender-based violence or poverty.

Conversely, upper middle class Kampalans are progressively prioritizing wellness and taking control of their own happiness. As a result, these individuals are using their financial means to seek out private psychology practices to address their concerns about school, relationships, work, and maintaining the expectations associated with living an urban life.

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PHILADELPHIA - Laws that require landlords to disclose bed bug infestations help combat the spread of the insects and protect the health of potential tenants. According to a new study, these laws also lead to cost savings, on average, for landlords within five years. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published their findings today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

When enforced properly, these laws can decrease infestation rates, thereby reducing the need for extermination treatment, which can cost landlords thousands of dollars. Bed bugs can be found in areas of the home other than a bed, but typically reside in areas where humans and animals sleep. Their bites often cause itching, rashes, and anxiety, among other symptoms.

"These laws are critical to ensuring tenants are informed of infestations so they can take precautions to avoid spreading the bugs further," said senior author Michael Z. Levy, PhD, an associate professor of Epidemiology in the department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics. "Our work suggests that while it can be extremely difficult to eliminate bed bugs from homes, it might not be so difficult to eliminate them from cities. The public health impact of proactive legislation that promotes prompt and appropriate treatment of infested homes would be enormously beneficial."

The team developed a mathematical model of the spread of bed bugs and housing turnover in a generalized rental market, drawing on data from the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey and Housing Vacancies and Home Ownership surveys. Though data are limited on how quickly an infested unit is treated, researchers considered cases in which infestation is detected and treated within two months, and cases in which treatment took up to a year. They found that across that broad range, laws requiring landlords to disclose infestations impose immediate cost on those property owners - through greater difficulty renting out affected properties in the short term - but, on average, lead to significant cost savings for landlords within five years of disclosure.

Cities including New York and San Francisco have already implemented laws requiring landlords to disclose any recent bed bug infestations to potential renters. The model created by the Penn team also establishes an evidence-based framework for evaluating a Philadelphia City Council bill introduced in February 2019 aimed at mitigating the spread of bed bugs. Washington DC is also considering a similar bill.

"These policies have the potential to lower rates of bed bug infestation, which saves landlords from spending potentially thousands of dollars on extermination treatments," said the study's lead author Sherrie Xie, a graduate researcher in Epidemiology. "It's important for laws to respect the rights of tenants, landlords, and the general public while minimizing cost to all parties, as well as curbing the stigma faced by those whom are living in a previously infested unit."

While they transmit deadly pathogens in laboratory settings, there is no evidence yet to show that they do so in homes. The study authors note that future research will delve into whether bed bug infestation would cause rent prices to change and how that could affect the housing market.

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Additional authors include Alison L. Hill of Harvard University, and Chris R. Rehmann of Iowa State University.

The research was supported by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center under funding from the National Science Foundation DBI-1639145.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital - the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided $500 million to benefit our community.
Researchers at the West Virginia University Cancer Institute are evaluating a first-of-its-kind blood test for detecting colorectal cancer. Their findings may help propel the test toward inclusion in the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's recommendations for colorectal cancer screening.

The blood test, which the Food and Drug Administration recently approved, looks for an abnormal gene called SEPT9 associated with colorectal cancer. During the study, 300 women across West Virginia will volunteer to have their blood drawn and tested for the gene. If the test detects SEPT9, a healthcare provider will recommend that the patient undergo colonoscopy--a more invasive procedure that can both diagnose and treat colorectal cancers. In that procedure, a gastroenterologist inserts a tube into the colon and can remove precancerous growths or early cancers and take a sample of more advanced cases, explained WVU researcher Richard Goldberg.

"Most of the time, the test will be negative, and those people will be off the hook. They can be reassured that, right now, everything's good," said Goldberg, who directs the Cancer Institute. He and Stephenie Kennedy-Rea, director of Cancer Prevention and Control at WVU, are leading the study.

"We're trying to find the people who have abnormal results," he said. "The research protocol will cover their colonoscopy if they don't have insurance." By comparing the blood test results to the colonoscopy results, the researchers will assess the blood test's accuracy and sensitivity.

A range of screening options already exists for colorectal cancer, but this study will help researchers understand the cost-effectiveness and ease of access that a blood test would offer. Alternative procedures sometimes make people so squeamish that they opt not to get screened.

"People delay or do not screen for a number of reasons, including fear, access to care, lack of insurance that covers the test, travel, time and lack of awareness for the need of colorectal cancer screening," said Kennedy-Rea, who is also the associate director of the WVU Cancer Institute. "We need to shine the light on the need for colorectal cancer screening and the fact that there are a number of evidence-based screening options available to patients."

Living far from a healthcare provider trained and equipped for colorectal cancer screening can be a formidable barrier to care in rural locations. "If there's not a gastroenterologist in your 10-county area in southern West Virginia and you've chosen colonoscopy as your preferred method of screening, you're unlikely to get it done. If you don't even have access to a primary care doctor and your main care is through an emergency room, you're not going to have a stool-based test done," Goldberg said.

Instead of asking patients to travel to a doctor's office, the researchers are bringing the blood test to them. For a decade, WVU has used Bonnie's Bus, a mobile mammography unit, to deliver breast cancer screenings to rural West Virginians. Now WVU can offer the colorectal-cancer blood test study to women coming to Bonnie's Bus for breast cancer screening.

"This study is testing the acceptability of the screening test in our population and the feasibility of offering this alternative colorectal cancer screening on a mobile mammography unit," Kennedy-Rea said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, colorectal cancer screening rates lag behind those for cervical or breast cancer. Although 81 percent of women report being up to date on pap smears, and 72 percent report having a recent mammogram, only 63 percent of women--and 62 percent of men--can say the same about colorectal cancer screening.

Yet early detection of colorectal cancer can mean the difference between life and death. Patients diagnosed with stage 1 colorectal cancer have a 95 percent chance of being cured. That percentage plunges to 10 percent if the cancer has progressed to stage 4.

"There's a lot of interest in blood tests for managing cancer, now that the technology has improved to the point that we can isolate circulating DNA from blood," Goldberg said. "It's not a standard approach yet, but in 10 years--and, I hope, sooner--I project it will be."

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Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years.
New Haven, Conn. - Researchers have found a way to pre-treat a laser beam so that it enters opaque surfaces without dispersing -- like a headlight that's able to cut through heavy fog at full strength.

The discovery from scientists at Yale University and the Missouri University of Science & Technology has potential applications for deep-tissue imaging and optogenetics, in which light is used to probe and manipulate cells in living tissue.

A study announcing the technique appears in the March 4 edition of the journal Nature Photonics.

"Typically, an optical beam propagating through a diffusive medium such as fog will spread laterally, but we have discovered that a special preparation of the laser beam can transmit all incoming light without lateral spread," said principal investigator Hui Cao, the John C. Malone Professor of Applied Physics and of Physics at Yale.

The researchers used a spatial light modulator (SLM) and a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera to analyze an opaque material that is made of a layer of white paint. The SLM tailored the laser beam incident on the front surface of the material, and the CCD camera records intensity profiles behind it. With this information, the laser finds a "route" through the white paint.

The result is a beam that is more concentrated, with more light per volume inside and behind the opaque material. In addition to a layer of white paint, the materials in which the laser would be effective include biological tissue, fog, paper, and milk.

"Our method works for any opaque medium that does not absorb light," Cao said.

The first author of the study is Yale postdoctoral research associate Hasan Y?lmaz. Additional authors are Yale postdoctoral researcher Chia Wei Hsu and Missouri University of Science and Technology associate professor Alexey Yamilov.

"Enhancing optical energy in opaque scattering media is extremely important in optogenetics and deep-tissue imaging," Y?lmaz said. "Currently, penetration depth to probe and stimulate or image neurons inside the brain tissue is limited due to multiple-scattering."

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Financial support from the U.S. Office of Naval Research and the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation helped to fund the research.
On Mar 1, we issued an updated research report on AGCO Corporation AGCO. The company is likely to benefit from its focus on strategic investments and capital-allocation plan. However, lower farm income, rising steel prices and currency fluctuations are concerning.

Lets illustrate these factors.



Strategic Investments Support AGCO



AGCO is consistently making strategic investments to enhance and expand product lines, upgrade system capabilities and improve factory productivity. In a bid to execute its product development plan and meet new emission requirements in Brazil and Europe, the company intends to maintain its level of investment in 2019. As a result, AGCO expects capital expenditures in 2019 to increase approximately above $25 million compared with the 2018 level. Notably, its spending plan for the current year will support long-term business growth.



Upbeat Guidance



AGCO has reaffirmed its net sales 2019 outlook at $9.6 billion owing to improved sales volumes and positive pricing. It anticipates gross and operating margin to improve from the 2018 level backed by positive impact of pricing and cost reduction. Considering these, the company expects 2019 earnings to come in around $4.60 per share.



Additionally, AGCO expects industry demand in South America to improve in 2019 from the 2018 level. Backed by favorable wheat prices and crop production, farm economics are expected to improve modestly across Western Europe in the current year leading to relatively stable demand in European markets.



Acquisitions to Boost Growth



AGCO completed two acquisitions in the last two years. In September 2017, it acquired Precision Planting  a leader in innovative planting technology. In October 2017, AGCO purchased the forage division of the Lely Group, which will significantly enhance hay and forage product line in Europe and drive growth in this market.



AGCOs Solid Capital-Allocation Plan



AGCO is focused on its long-term capital allocation plan by returning cash to its shareholders. Over the past six and a half years, the company executed share repurchases of $1.2 billion, which reduced share count by more than 20%. Last year, it completed share repurchase worth $184 million and expects to continue share repurchases in 2019 as well.



AGCO also aims to generate solid free cash flow during the current year.



Weak Farm Income in the United States to Hurt AGCO



Farm income remains under pressure due to lower commodity prices. In the United States, the USDA estimates a modest decline in farm income during 2019 compared with the 2018 level. Moreover, higher retail sales in Brazil are expected to be offset by lower sales in Argentina during the current year due to the impact of lower crop production.



Higher Steel Prices & Currency Headwind Ail



AGCOs results will be affected by rising steel prices due to tariffs imposed by the U.S. government. The company also expects currency translation to negatively impact sales by 2.5% in 2019.



Share Price Performance



Shares of AGCO have gained 4.90% in a years time, outperforming the S&P 500s 3.04% increase.



Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider



AGCO currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



A few better-ranked stocks in the Industrial Products sector are Mueller Industries, Inc. MLI, Alarm.com Holdings, Inc. ALRM and Albany International Corp. AIN, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Mueller Industries has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.2% for 2019.



Alarm.com has an expected earnings growth rate of 7.8% for the current year.



Albany International has an expected earnings growth rate of 44.7% for 2019.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.



See Stocks Today >>



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AGCO Corporation (AGCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Mueller Industries, Inc. (MLI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
ANN ARBOR, MI / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Amesite, Inc. (the "Company"), an artificial intelligence software company targeting the college course market, announced today its plan to launch additional online undergraduate course offering with its partner, Humphreys University this summer, following successful launches with Humphreys University in California in Fall, 2018 and Winter, 2019. The courses are Math 120 (Statistics), PSY 101 (Introductory Psychology), ECON 101 (Economics I), ECON 102 (Economics II), SOC 101 (Introduction to Sociology), PHIL 101 (Introduction to Philosophy).

Credits for these undergraduate courses are accepted at five California State Universities: Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Long Beach, Northridge and Sacramento and Stanislaus. Students should visit https://www.amesite.com/register to learn more about the courses, credit transfers for specific courses, and course registration. Courses begin July 1, 2019.

The partners are also offering a new, professional certificate program in Logistics. Learners who complete the 12-week professional program will receive a Certificate in Logistics. The Central Valley of California is a major international distribution hub, and this program is targeted at professionals who wish to improve their skills in logistics, inventory, supply chain and warehousing management. The program starts April 8, 2019.

State Senator Cathleen Galgiani (5th District, CA), said "I'm pleased to see this partnership between Amesite and Humphreys University, that will expand educational opportunities throughout the State. This kind of new technology that Amesite is bringing, is vital to education - we need ways of making delivery more engaging, and more affordable."

Mike Ammann, President and CEO of the San Joaquin Partnership said "There has been an incredible boom in manufacturing, e-commerce warehousing and distribution in San Joaquin County and workers who know manufacturing and logistics are essential for our region's growth. This partnership will help educate people to run the automation of industry 4.0 and massive supply chain distributions operations that have located here. This is just the beginning."

Story continues

Humphreys University President Bob Humphreys said, "We are pleased once again to partner with Amesite as we begin to scale our first-year college offerings together, which we are making accessible throughout the State of California. We are also pleased to deliver logistics  a professional program that is so closely tied to our regional economy."

Amesite CEO, Dr. Ann Marie Sastry, said "We are delighed to build the partnership with Humphreys University, with scale for undergraduate courses and new offerings for professionals. Logistics training enables professionals to run distribution operations with greater efficiency  which is better for the economy, and for the environment."

Enrollment will remain open for Logistics until April 15, 2019. Students should visit https://www.amesite.com/products to learn more about the programs and course registration.

Amesite's online learning solutions for colleges, universities, faculty and students utilize artificial intelligence technologies, including machine learning and natural language processing, to deliver cost effective, cloud-based digital versions of lower level courses that greatly enhance and improve the learning experience of students. Amesite's online platform includes customized user messaging and tracking as well as seamless integration of current events into traditional course materials, creating a more meaningful experience for both students and instructors alike.

About Humphreys University

With campuses in Stockton and Modesto, California, Humphreys University is a non-profit, independent California institution of higher education with over 120 years of educational dedication. Humphreys is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), and provides access to higher learning, community, and opportunity with a balance between education and practical life for motivated students who want to reach higher. With 100% of courses taught by faculty, and offerings ranging from Associate, Bachelor, Master's degree programs, to the Drivon School of Law, Humphreys offers a range of options for learning.

About Amesite, Inc.

Amesite is a high tech artificial intelligence software company offering a cloud-based platform for college and university courses to be cost-effectively and conveniently delivered to learners online and in hybrid online/on campus formats. Amesite uses artificial intelligence technologies to provide customized environments for learners, easier-to-manage interfaces for instructors, and greater accessibility for college degree seekers in the US education market and beyond. The Company leverages existing college infrastructures, adding mass customization and cutting-edge technology to provide cost-effective, accessible, scalable and improved learning experiences to students. Founded in 2017, Amesite is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information, visit https://amesite.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of Section21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended) concerning the Company, the Company's online machine learning platform, the Company's business plans, the commercialization of the Company's online learning solutions, existing and potential customers and partners, business objectives and other matters. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "look forward," and other similar expressions among others. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Risks facing the Company and its platform are set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC. Except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:

The Del Mar Consulting Group, Inc.

Robert B. Prag, President

858-794-9500



bprag@delmarconsulting.com

SOURCE: Amesite, Inc.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/537882/Amesite-Inc-Announces-Launch-of-Additional-Undergraduate-and-Professional-Certificate-Offerings-with-Humphreys-University




Tariffs have long weighed on shares of whiskey distiller Brown-Forman (NYSE: BF-A) (NYSE: BF-B), which exports more than half of its spirits to international markets, led by its best-selling Jack Daniel's whiskey. In its most recently-reported quarter, net sales were flat at $910 million due to tariff-related inventory reductions. That followed a big sales increase in the first quarter of fiscal 2019, when customers were racing to stock up ahead of the imposition of retaliatory tariffs by Europe.

Concerns about further near-term tariff increases have eased. That has helped Brown-Forman's stock bounce about 10% off the lows it hit in January. Nevertheless, the damage may already be done for the distiller's fiscal third-quarter earnings, which will be released on Wednesday, March 6.

Here are four things investors should keep an eye out for in the report.

Rocks glass with whiskey and ice cubes in it sitting on a whiskey barrel

Image source: Getty Images.

The tariff toll

U.S. whiskey exports jumped 28% in the first half of 2018 compared to the year before, according to the Distilled Spirits Council, but fell 8% year over year for the July through November period. In all, some $763 million worth of U.S. spirits exports are currently subject to tariffs.

Brown-Forman's then-incoming CEO Lawson Whiting warned in December that tariff-related pressures could hurt profits in the second half of fiscal 2019. The distiller has been "buying time" by not passing the tariffs' costs on to customers, in the hope that they would be short-lived. This will negatively impact gross margin in the short term.

However, it's clear that Brown-Forman will eventually have to take pricing actions that could hurt sales. Europe is among its most important markets, and the EU imposed tariffs of 25% on whiskey imports back in June 2018.

Domestic competition

Although Brown-Forman sells most of its spirits overseas, the U.S. is the distiller's single largest market. In the first half of fiscal 2019, underlying net sales rose 3% year over year in the U.S. Because of the continued growth in popularity of whiskey -- and particularly premium and super-premium spirits -- the company's Woodford Reserve and Old Forrester brands enjoyed particular success. The former was the largest contributor to domestic sales growth during the first half of the year, delivering double-digit underlying net sales growth.

Story continues

Jack Daniel's remains a leader, but it is under more competitive pressure, especially from Japan's Suntory, which has been lowering the price on its Jim Beam whiskey brand to drive sales growth.

Similarly, Diageo and Pernod Ricard are making substantial investments in their brands. The former is spending heavily on marketing its Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky, even opening its first retail store, while the latter is spending some $174 million to upgrade production facilities in Ireland for its leading Irish whiskey brand, Jameson.

The earnings impact

Brown-Forman cut its full-year earnings outlook after the first quarter, lowering its guidance to a range of $1.65 to $1.75 per share from its initial forecast of $1.75 to $1.85 per share, due to the tariffs, as well as foreign currency headwinds. It maintained that outlook after the second quarter.

Keep an eye on whether the ongoing impact of tariffs in foreign markets reduces management's confidence for the rest of the fiscal year.

Dividend should still be solid

Brown-Forman has paid regular quarterly cash dividends for 73 consecutive years and has increased its dividend for 35 consecutive years. Although tariffs and competition are taking a toll on sales and margins, this shouldn't affect the dividend.

Final thoughts

Trade wars have few winners, and the collateral damage from waging such battles often impacts industries far removed from those initially targeted. The current strife is a perfect example. President Trump tried to make a point about steel and aluminum, but the EU retaliated against whiskey and motorcycles to have the greatest impact.

Brown-Forman obviously isn't immune to the repercussions, and investors should watch to see how large the ripples are and whether they'll begin to diminish with time.

More From The Motley Fool

Rich Duprey has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Diageo. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Evidence of the increasing effects of climate change is growing. And the bankruptcy of PG&E might be just the first sign of what coming changes could mean for businesses.

The good news for investors is that there are an increasing number of ways to invest your money while keeping your climate concerns in mind.

In addition to putting your money behind responsible companies and funds, there are ways you can make your voice heard by corporate decision makers.

You've read it in the headlines: Temperatures are rising and icebergs are melting.

And as more evidence points to the growing influence of climate change, one area is sure to be impacted: big business.

As evidence, take PG&E's recent bankruptcy filing following the wildfires that ravaged California over the past two years.

The company's equipment has been blamed for contributing to those disasters. But another factor  the hotter climate and drier terrain in California and broader region  also contributed to the problem.

"Any utility in those regions can be at risk for fires because they have a ton of infrastructure spread across a very fire-prone landscape," said Julie Gorte, senior vice president for sustainable investing at Impax Asset Management and Pax World Funds.

And the potential risks tied to climate change don't end there.

"Any company can face climate risk, and I think that is the 800-pound gorilla," Gorte said.

The good news for individual investors is that there are ways that you can invest with the intention of helping to make a difference and you can still make a profit doing it.

In 2018, money managers had $3 trillion in assets invested with climate change and carbon factors in mind, according to the US SIF: the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.

"We are seeing signals that the climate is changing in ways that we don't like that are affecting us now, not a generation from now," said Meg Voorhes, director of research at US SIF.

Story continues

The good news is that there are ways you can align your investments with companies and funds that are making the environment a priority.

Where to start

There are a number of equity and bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that have been created with preserving the environment in mind.

The US SIF provides a list of its members' funds on its website, where you can track their performance and get details about how their strategies address climate issues.

Before you add any new funds to your portfolio, you should first take a look at what you already own, said Lily Trager, director of impact investing at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Then, start thinking about how you can realistically adjust your portfolio while still keeping your investment goals in mind. That means keeping in mind how much risk you want to take on, the time horizon for your investments, minimum investment requirements and potential tax implications, Trager said.

"[It's] really understanding the traditional tenets of asset allocation, portfolio construction and having a financial partner, an advisor or wealth manager, who can help you navigate this process," Trager said.

Do your research

Before you put your money in a fund and while you're invested in it, you will want to keep tabs on whether the investment managers are fulfilling their promises to keep climate change in mind.

Read up on the fund's analysis and selection techniques. You can also look up a fund proxy voting policy and how the management has voted in its past votes.

Also monitor individual companies in your portfolio by checking to see what, if anything, they report on climate change, Gorte suggested. A good place to start is the company's Form 10-K, which they file with the SEC, to see what on climate change, if anything, they include.

Beyond that, a company may have filed a sustainability report, or what's known as a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure , or TCFD. Those reports, which were first created a couple of years ago, are starting to catch hold with more companies, Gorte said.

Other resources to check include Morningstar, which now rates funds based on their sustainability, or how well they are making environmental, social and corporate governance strategies a priority. That includes a designation for low-carbon funds.

In addition, As You Sow , a non-profit shareholder advocacy group, ranks select publicly-traded companies based on how well they are addressing clean energy.

Use your voice

As you decide where to put your money, keep in mind that all companies are likely to be touched by climate change.

Risks abound in everything from fossil fuels to natural gas, because of the possibility of fugitive emissions with fracking, according to Gorte. Even internet cables that are buried at sea level and carry the backbone of the internet are at risk as waters rise.

"There's nowhere to hide," Gorte said. "You just can't pretend it isn't happening anymore."

Beyond putting your money behind the cause, you can do one more thing: Let your concerns about climate change be heard by contacting a company or fund directly.

"If you're an investor in a mutual fund, you still have a voice," Voorhes said. "You can contact the fund management, the investor relations committee, and say you want to see more thoughtful voting on climate issues."





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FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an AVIVA logo outside the company's head office in the city of London March 5, 2009. REUTERS/Stephen Hird

By Pamela Barbaglia and Carolyn Cohn

LONDON (Reuters) - Aviva Plc on Monday appointed internal candidate Maurice Tulloch as its new chief executive officer after a lengthy selection process, a choice which analysts say could herald change at Britain's second biggest insurer.

Tulloch, who will take over with immediate effect, is expected to sharpen Aviva's focus on the home market and some analysts say he may decide to put some overseas units under review, including some of its Asian businesses.

Other possible changes include the sale of some of its portfolio of life insurance policies closed to new customers, they added.

Aviva, which traces its roots back to 1696, sells everything from life to car insurance, an unwieldy and expensive model which has failed to deliver the same results as more focussed rivals like Prudential and Legal and General.

"We must focus on the fundamentals of insurance and giving our customers the best possible experience," Tulloch, who joined Aviva in 1992, said in a statement, adding that there was "more to do to improve returns for shareholders".

Most recently based in Canada, where he headed Aviva's international business, Tulloch was seen as one of the front runners for the post along with fellow internal candidate Andy Briggs, head of the firm's UK business, its biggest revenue earner.

Aviva's shares were up one percent at 436.6 pence at 1020 GMT, outperforming the broader FTSE 100 index.

UNANIMOUS DECISION

Chairman Adrian Montague, who had temporarily stepped in as CEO following Mark Wilson's ouster last October amid concerns about a struggling share price, will revert to his role as non-executive chairman.

Montague said in a statement that the decision, which an Aviva spokesman said was taken by the board on Sunday night, was unanimous. External and internal candidates were considered, he added.

Possible external candidates included former Old Mutual CEO Bruce Hemphill and ex-Lloyd's of London CEO Inga Beale, Reuters reported last month.

Story continues

"We believe the protracted process of bringing in a new CEO and the rumours of external candidates shows the board's desire to see change within the group," Barclays analysts said in a note, reiterating their overweight rating on the stock.

Meanwhile, Panmure Gordon analyst Barrie Cornes said Tulloch "will make changes where needed and shouldn't be underestimated".

However, one Aviva shareholder said the choice of an internal candidate was unlikely to signal "a radical plan - with more upheaval".

Under Wilson's leadership, Aviva clinched one of the biggest insurance takeovers in a decade by buying Friends Life in 2015.

But despite improving profitability, Wilson failed to turn Aviva's share price performance around, with the company's stock up 25 percent during his tenure against a 61 percent return for the insurance sector within the FTSE-100.

In attempts to stay nimble and competitive, former Anglo-South African financial services business Old Mutual split its business in four last year, while Prudential is preparing to list its UK business separately.

(Additional reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; editing by Jason Neely, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Kirsten Donovan)
A forward-thinking move by the smallest Arab state could snowball into a major global economy relaunching its cryptocurrency market. | Source: Shutterstock

By CCN.com: As per the request of the Reserve Bank of India, the countrys central banking institution, local banks have been disallowed from dealing with crypto businesses such as Bitcoin exchanges since 2018.

With no immediate plans of the Supreme Court of India to reverse the decision of the countrys central bank, crypto companies have been pushed out of the local market.

Consequently, Bitcoin investors have lost access to fiat-enabled exchanges and have resorted to peer-to-peer exchanges to convert cryptocurrencies, which could be impractical and unsafe, especially for face-to-face deals.

However, a recent decision of the government of Bahrain to encourage cryptocurrency firms in India to come into the country and operate their businesses with proper resources could pressure India to potentially legalize and open its cryptocurrency market in the future.

Bahrain is Putting the Pressure on India in Crypto

On March 3, The Economic Times reported that Bahrain has invited cryptocurrency companies in India to relocate to Bahrain as a part of the countrys initiative to establish a fintech hub.

The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) is set to provide crypto businesses with a wide range of resources including proper banking solutions and practical regulatory frameworks to support growth and innovation.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: The corporate logos of the state oil company PDVSA and Citgo Petroleum Corp are seen in Caracas FILE PHOTO: The corporate logos of the state oil company PDVSA and Citgo Petroleum Corp are seen in Caracas, Venezuela April 30, 2018. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File Photo

By Marianna Parraga

(Reuters) - Asdrubal Chavez, chief executive of Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corp, boarded the Venezuelan-owned firm's corporate jet in Caracas on Jan. 30, after meeting with top officials of the embattled administration of socialist President Nicolas Maduro about the latest U.S. oil sanctions.

Upon landing in the Bahamas - where Chavez has worked for about a year after being denied a U.S. visa - he had received word from Houston that it would be his last trip on a company plane and that his Citgo email account had been shut off.

Day-to-day control of the company had passed to Citgo's top U.S. executive, Rick Esser, who with the backing of Venezuela's rising political opposition and the U.S. government would begin clearing the way for a new, anti-Maduro board of directors at Citgo. Esser oversaw the moves to isolate Chavez - a cousin of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - and would soon start ousting other Citgo executives close to the Maduro administration.

The house-cleaning at the prized U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), marked a crucial early victory for the country's rising opposition government - led by self-declared president Juan Guaido - as it struggles to remove Maduro from office and break his grip on the OPEC nation's oil assets. The account of the transition of power at Citgo is based on Reuters interviews with more than a dozen current and former Citgo and PDVSA executives, employees, and U.S. and Latin American advisors.

Guaido, head of the nation's congress, announced he would seize the presidency on Jan. 23 because Maduro's re-election last year was a sham, rendering the socialist leader illegitimate under Venezuela law. Guaido's claim to interim leadership, until fair elections can be held, was quickly backed by the United States and dozens of other nations.

But Maduro remains in control of the nation's military and PDVSA - making Citgo the obvious first target among national asset for Guaido's opposition movement to claim, with the help of the U.S. government. The battle for Citgo could prove pivotal in the effort to unseat Maduro because full control of a major U.S. refiner would provide a crucial source of revenue to a post-Maduro administration.

Citgo, with more than $23 billion in annual sales and operations that supply about 4 percent of U.S. fuels, may be the last remaining asset owned by PDVSA with a healthy balance sheet. As PDVSA's oil production and revenue have plummeted amid crippling debt, mismanagement and international political pressure, Citgo's U.S. location and financial independence have shielded the firm from the worst of its parent company's meltdown.

Story continues

At the end of September, Citgo had net income of about $500 million, according to a creditor with access to financial statements that are not public. The company had almost $500 million in cash and an available credit line of $900 million.

Inside Citgo's Houston headquarters, many employees weary of operating under the control of a failing socialist state eagerly await an expected official announcement of the appointments of new company directors, who were chosen by Venezuela's congress.

The new board met together for the first time in Houston on Thursday and named executives to replace those who were ousted, according to two Citgo employees with knowledge of the board actions, which the company has not publicly disclosed.

"We are not expecting any resistance" to the new board inside the company, said one manager who spoke on condition of anonymity. "On the contrary, we are waiting for directions to lay out the red carpet."

Spokespeople for Citgo and Esser did not respond to requests for comment or declined comment. PDVSA did not respond to requests for comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request Friday morning.

SHIFTING ALLEGIANCES

As U.S. sanctions on Jan. 28 shifted the balance of power to Citgo's anti-Maduro faction of executives, Maduro loyalists scrambled to find their place in the emerging corporate structure.

Two of four senior executives appointed by Chavez openly pledged support for the incoming board of directors in meetings with employees, said two sources who attended the meetings.

But all four - Frank Gygax, Nepmar Escalona, Simon Suarez and Eladio Perez - were escorted out of the building on Monday, according to four people with knowledge of their departures. Gygax declined to comment and the others did not respond to requests.

It's unclear whether Chavez has yet been formally terminated, an action that can only be taken by company directors, but he has been effectively shut out of the firm, Citgo employees said. Chavez did not respond to a request for comment.

Esser has essentially run the company since Chavez' ouster, in close consultation with U.S. government officials, according to three Citgo employees and two people close to the incoming company board.

A Jan. 30 meeting between White House National Security Advisor John Bolton and Citgo executives thrust the low-key Esser into the spotlight after Bolton tweeted a photo of the meeting, calling it "very productive."

U.S. officials have voiced concern that Guaido and his supporters had been too slow in seizing control of Citgo and also have pushed for a say in choosing members of the refiner's new board - a request Guaido's team declined, according to two people familiar with the talks.

Since clearing Citgo's upper ranks of Maduro allies, Esser has focused on securing alternatives to the Venezuelan oil that feeds its refineries. Recent U.S. sanctions prevent the firm from importing Venezuelan crude after April 28, which could cripple the company unless it can ensure it has the cash, credit and contracts for alternate supplies.

Advisors to the incoming Citgo board have separately urged U.S. officials to exempt Citgo from sanctions and protect its assets from creditors once it is officially controlled by Guaidos team.

Esser saw this crisis coming two years ago and put together a group to find new suppliers and test their oils in the event Venezuelan crudes were restricted by sanctions, according to a person familiar with the effort. The firm's efforts to sustain operations face a threat from creditors owed money by Venezuela and PDVSA, who could try to use that leverage to hamstring Citgo's finances, said Carlos Jorda, a former Citgo chairman and now a Houston business consultant. The U.S. government could help the company hold off that threat, he said.

"The U.S. Treasury could say, Hold your horses, youll get paid - but not paid by Citgo, but by Venezuela - when the Maduro regime exits,'" Jorda said.

Esser and Citgo finance executive Curtis Rowe travelled to Washington this week to meet with U.S. government officials for at least the second time in three weeks, according to two Citgo employees.

'FROGS AND SNAKES'

Opposition leaders had difficulty recruiting candidates willing to join the new Citgo board, according to three people familiar with the recruitments.

"There are many risks," one of the people said, "and if these people have family members in Venezuela, they could be putting them at risk, too."

In late 2017, six Citgo executives were called to Caracas and jailed amid a graft probe over a failed debt refinancing. Their detention led to Chavezs appointment as CEO and the arrival of several Maduro loyalists at Citgo's Houston headquarters.

New Citgo Chairwoman Luisa Palacios - appointed by the Venezuelan congress last week - has been huddling with newly appointed directors and legal advisers to guard against the threat of a potential U.S. court challenge by PDVSA to the new board's legitimacy, according to two sources close to her team.

Palacios and other board members, which include former Citgo and PDVSA executives living in the United States, did not respond to requests for comment.

One of their priorities will be to audit the finances of a refinery project in Aruba, said the two people close to Palacios. PDVSA and Citgo agreed to a $685 million overhaul of the idled facility in 2016, causing some Citgo executives to resign in protest, arguing the deal made no business sense.

On Monday, Citgo Aruba Refining officially put the money-losing venture on hold and laid off workers, citing the impact of U.S. sanctions on PDVSA. The project has been clouded by corruption allegations, according to four former and current Citgo employees and two people close to the new Citgo board.

"There is also worry about the audits to come. We are expecting 'frogs and snakes' to come from there," said a Citgo employee, using a Venezuelan figure of speech similar in meaning to the opening of a Pandora's box.

REDECORATING

Since Esser took over Citgo operations, the company has sent clear signals of a return to its century-old American roots.

"We the people of Citgo have a story to tell you" read an advertisement in Tuesday's Washington Post, borrowing language from the U.S. constitution. The text emphasized the firm's 6,000 U.S. workers, fiscal strength and U.S. charity work.

Workers at the company's Houston headquarters also have purged the company website and marketing materials of references to PDVSA and stripped the building of the symbols of Venezuela's socialist government.

For years, the hallways have been decorated with renderings of a controversial painting of Latin American independence leader Simon Bolivar that had been commissioned by former president Hugo Chavez - and looked more like Chavez than any historical Bolivar painting.

The portraits began to disappear, Citgo employees said, soon after Venezuela's congress appointed the company's new board of directors.

(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; additional reporting by Gary McWilliams, Matt Spetalnick and Luc Cohen; writing by Gary McWilliams; editing by Brian Thevenot)
Colorado state Democrats introduce "the most meaningful changes" to oil and gas regulations in 60 years.

Industry groups accuse lawmakers of dropping legislation on a Friday and rushing a state Senate hearing.

The effort to overhaul regulations and the state's oil and gas commission follows the defeat of new restrictions on fossil fuel development last year.

Colorado drillers are gearing up for a fight after Democratic lawmakers proposed overhauling the state's oil and gas commission and reforming regulations that could create new roadblocks to fossil fuel development.

Two of the state's top Democrats introduced the legislation late Friday. They are calling Senate Bill 181  Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operations  "the most meaningful changes to oil and gas regulations Colorado has seen in over 60 years."

The move comes just months after the Colorado oil and gas industry celebrated the defeat of new restrictions on drilling in a referendum in November.

The legislation could curtail drilling in one of the nation's top oil and natural gas producing states, where advanced technology like hydraulic fracturing has sparked a production boom over the last decade. That could affect Colorado-focused frackers and larger drillers with a footprint in the state, like Anadarko Petroleum APC and Noble Energy NBL .

The bill would give cities and counties more influence over regulation, including inspecting oil and gas facilities and imposing fines over spills. It would also change the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from fostering the development of the state's fossil fuels to regulating the industry.

The lawmakers also propose overhauling the powerful commission's makeup, cutting the number of members required to have industry experience from three to one. They would require at least one member of the commission to have training in several fields, including wildlife and environmental protection, soil conservation and public health.

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Another measure would raise the threshold for the number of mineral rights holders that would need to give their approval before drillers can tap a shared pool of oil and gas, making it potentially more difficult to develop some reserves.

"Colorado's communities simply cannot afford to wait any longer," said Colorado State Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, who co-sponsored the bill with House Speaker KC Becker.

"These common-sense reforms will ensure the industry operates in an accountable and cooperative manner," Fenberg said in a statement.

The Colorado Petroleum Council and Colorado Oil and Gas Association accused the lawmakers of dropping legislation late on Friday and rushing a Senate committee hearing on Tuesday. The industry groups urged lawmakers to push back the hearing.

"Senate Bill 181 would impact the livelihoods of Coloradans across the state, including many who live in rural areas and may not be able to make it to the Capitol to testify on such short notice," they said.

The groups successfully lobbied against last year's proposition 112, which would have prohibited oil and gas drilling within about half a mile of homes, schools, businesses and water sources.

Despite the win, Democrats took control of the state Senate in November, giving the party control of both houses of the state legislature and the governor's mansion.





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FORT LAUDERDALE, FL and BOCA RATON, FL / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / BBX Capital Corporation (NYSE: BBX; OTCQX: BBXTB) ("BBX Capital") announced today that it intends to take Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (BXG) ("Bluegreen") private through a statutory short-form merger under Florida law. In the merger, a newly-formed subsidiary of Woodbridge Holdings Corporation ("Woodbridge"), a wholly owned subsidiary of BBX Capital, would merge with and into Bluegreen, with Bluegreen being the surviving company of the merger. As a result of the merger, each share of Bluegreen's common stock outstanding at the effective time of the merger, other than shares beneficially owned by BBX Capital and shareholders who duly exercise and perfect appraisal rights in accordance with Florida law, will be converted into the right to receive $16.00 per share in cash.

BBX Capital currently beneficially owns approximately 90% of Bluegreen's common stock. Under Florida law, the holder of more than 80% of the outstanding shares of Bluegreen's common stock, may effect the merger without the approval of, or action by, the Board of Directors or any other shareholders of Bluegreen. Accordingly, the Board of Directors of Bluegreen has not acted to approve or disapprove the merger, and the shareholders of Bluegreen will not be asked to approve or disapprove the merger or be furnished a proxy in connection with the merger.

If the merger is completed, Bluegreen's common stock will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, will no longer be publicly traded, and will be deregistered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act").

The purpose of the merger is to take Bluegreen private. While Bluegreen went public in November 2017, the anticipated benefits of becoming a public company were not fully realized and the costs and management time associated with being a public company were significant. It was anticipated that there would be sufficient liquidity in the trading of Bluegreen's common stock, but the concentration of public holders of Bluegreen's common stock by a few large shareholders adversely impacted the liquidity of the stock.

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In addition, because BBX Capital is a public company and will, indirectly through Woodbridge, own, among its other holdings, 100% of Bluegreen following the Merger, shareholders of Bluegreen may choose to purchase shares of BBX Capital's Class A Common Stock and/or Class B Common Stock following the transaction if they desire to continue to have an economic interest with respect to Bluegreen's business. BBX Capital's Class A Common Stock is listed on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "BBX." BBX Capital's Class B Common Stock is traded on the OTCQX under the ticker symbol "BBXTB."

It is expected that the merger will be effected 30 days after the Schedule 13E-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") relating to the merger (which is described in further detail below) is first mailed to Bluegreen's shareholders, or as soon as practicable thereafter. The merger is not subject to any financing condition or any other conditions to completing the merger. However, neither BBX Capital nor Woodbridge is under any obligation to cause the merger to be completed, and they could decide to terminate the merger at any time before it becomes effective.

Certain additional information regarding the merger, including additional details regarding the terms of the merger, how the merger will affect Bluegreen's shareholders, and the rights of Bluegreen's shareholders with respect to the merger, including, without limitation, appraisal rights, will be contained in a Schedule 13E-3 to be filed with the SEC by BBX Capital (and certain other filers). Such Schedule 13E-3 and amendments thereto will be available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the final Schedule 13E-3 will be mailed to Bluegreen's shareholders at least 30 days prior to the effective date of the merger. Bluegreen's shareholders should carefully review the entire Schedule 13E-3.

About BBX Capital Corporation: BBX Capital Corporation (BBX) (BBXTB) is a Florida-based diversified holding company whose activities include its 90 percent ownership interest in Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (BXG) as well as its real estate and middle market divisions. For additional information, please visit www.BBXCapital.com .

About Bluegreen Vacations Corporation Bluegreen Vacations Corporation (BXG) is a leading vacation ownership company that markets and sells vacation ownership interests (VOIs) and manages resorts in top leisure and urban destinations. The Bluegreen Vacation Club is a flexible, points-based, deeded vacation ownership plan with approximately 216,000 owners, 69 Club and Club Associate Resorts and access to more than 11,000 other hotels and resorts through partnerships and exchange networks as of December 31, 2018. Bluegreen Vacations also offers a portfolio of comprehensive, fee-based resort management, financial, and sales and marketing services, to or on behalf of third parties. Bluegreen is approximately 90% owned by BBX Capital Corporation (BBX) (BBXTB), a diversified holding company. For further information, visit www.BluegreenVacations.com.

BBX Capital Corporation Contact:

Investor Relations: Leo Hinkley, Managing Director, Investor Relations Officer

954-940-5300, Email: LHinkley@BBXCapital.com.

Media Relations Contacts:

Kip Hunter Marketing, 954-765-1329, Nicole Lewis /Aimee Adler

Email: nicole@kiphuntermarketing.com , aimiee@kiphuntermarketing.com

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. All opinions, forecasts, projections, future plans or other statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words or phrases such as "plans," "believes," "will," "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "estimates," "our view," "we see," "would" and words and phrases of similar import. Actual results, performance, or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed, or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those relating to the proposed merger described in this press release, including that the merger may not be consummated when expected or at all, that BBX Capital may not realize the benefits expected from the merger to the extent anticipated or at all, and risks relating to the exercise of appraisal rights, including that the fair value of Bluegreen's common stock determined in accordance with Florida's appraisal rights statutes may be greater or less than the per share merger consideration that Bluegreen's shareholder would be entitled to receive pursuant to the merger. The reader should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement, which speaks only as of the date made. Reference is also made to the risks and uncertainties regarding the businesses, operations and trading markets of BBX Capital and Bluegreen which are detailed in reports filed by BBX Capital and Bluegreen with the SEC, including the "Risk Factors" sections thereof, and may be viewed on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The companies caution that the foregoing factors are not exclusive.

SOURCE: BBX Capital Corporation





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/537804/BBX-Capital-Corporation-Announces-Its-Intent-to-Take-Bluegreen-Vacations-Corporation-Private-Through-a-Short-Form-Merger




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Shares of Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) turned "red" on a "green" day for the stock market -- and Comcast has only itself to blame for it. As of 1:11 p.m. ET, Comcast stock is down an even 5%. In a business update revealed at UBS' investor conference today, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts advised that the company will be looking at just 7% to 8% growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) when it reports earnings next month, according to StreetInsider.com.
1. Yes. The Schlueter Group has extensive experience and contacts. Its a good investment.

2. Yes. The firms namesake has a background as a legislator and knows Killeen well.

3. No. The expenditure is a waste of money. Our lawmakers should be doing that work.

4. No. The contract should be shorter, incentivized and based on performance benchmarks.

5. Unsure. Its not always easy to quantify the outcomes of lobbying efforts.

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(Bloomberg) -- China is now linking the cases of two Canadians seized after the arrest of a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request, sparking a bitter diplomatic feud.

A news portal run by Chinas Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission said Monday that Michael Kovrig -- on leave from a job in Canadas foreign service -- had severely violated Chinese law by spying and stealing state secrets while working for the International Crisis Group. It also said Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur who ran tours into North Korea, was Kovrigs primary contact and supplied him with intelligence.

The report is an escalation in Chinas case against the two men, both of whom were arrested on Dec. 10 in what analysts see as retaliation for Canadas arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis chief financial officer and daughter of its founder.

While Meng is living under house arrest at one of her luxurious Vancouver homes pending an extradition hearing, the two Canadians remain captive in Chinas opaque legal system. Canadian authorities have been granted only sporadic access to them.

Like the arrests themselves, the timing of Mondays report on Chinapeace.gov.cn suggests Kovrig and Spavors cases are tied to that of the Huawei executive. On Friday, Canadas justice department officially ordered the start of the extradition process, which could take years to complete. Meng sued Canadian authorities the same day, alleging she was wrongfully detained and searched.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is very concerned with this position that China has taken, adding that Canada would continue to follow the rule of law in the case.

We will ensure that that rule of law is fully respected and we will go through those processes in a proper and rigorous way, Trudeau told reporters Monday in Prince Edward Island. It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions. We will continue to stand up for these Canadians.

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The government-run news portal alleges Kovrig stole state secrets through a contact in China since 2017, and entered the country on business visas with an ordinary passport -- an apparent rejection of any claim to diplomatic immunity.

China will handle the case in accordance with law and guarantee the legitimate rights of Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and will arrange for related matters such as consular visits, the report said.

A court appearance on Wednesday in Vancouver is expected to set the date of Mengs first formal extradition hearing.

(Updates with Trudeau comment in 6th and 7th paragraphs.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Ottawa at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net;Crystal Chui in Zurich at tchui4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Stephen Wicary, Chris Fournier

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Chinas $1 trillion online market may not be enough for homegrown giants Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD). The countrys two biggest e-commerce players are now trying to appeal to businesses and customers in the United States.

Both companies, against the backdrop of China-U.S. trade tensions, have been growing their efforts to expand in the U.S. market by partnering with local companies: JD.com quietly started to sell on Google to consumers and Alibaba has partnered with Office Depot to attract small businesses.

Alibaba, the Hangzhou, China-based online marketplace, announced a strategic partnership with Office Depot on Monday, aiming to provide an one-stop solution for U.S. small businesses who shop for office supplies in the U.S. and source their products from China. Small businesses who spend over $200 on Alibaba.com can receive exclusive offers on officedepot.com and in Office Depot stores across the U.S.

To me, this is a huge opportunity for both companies to bring I think a unique value that could compete against the other guys in North America, Office Depot CEO Gerry Smith told Yahoo Finance.

Alibabas head of North America B2B John Caplan believes the partnership will be complementary because Alibaba focuses on customized manufactured good, while Office Depot mainly sells finished goods like printers.

Why can't I have a one stop summation for my customized goods and for the supplies I need to operate my business every day? That's a customer first approach, said Caplan.

Alibabas Chairman Jack Ma vowed to create 1 million jobs in the U.S. by helping small businesses in January 2017, a promise he later backed down from because of the trade tension.

JD.com lists items on Google Express

JD.com sells on Google Express

JD.com, Chinas second largest e-commerce platform, is taking a different approach. Instead of going after enterprise customers in the U.S., JD.com is targeting the average American shopper.

After Google announced a $550 million investment in JD.com in June, the Chinese company quietly began selling products on Googles shopping site Google Express this year. There are currently more than 1,000 products listed on Google Express from Joybuy, a JD.com-owned English shopping website for overseas customers. Among the items listed are electronics and hair extensions, which can be delivered within four days. A JD.com spokesperson confirmed that products were listed on Google Express this year, and said it is still in a testing phase.

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JD.com has pledged to offer a more seamless experience for U.S. customers through the Google partnership. In China, JD.com is known for its ultra-fast delivery and extensive supply chain.

Obviously we dont have that same kind of infrastructure in the U.S., were looking at what we can do to get something close to the kind of shopping experiences we want to have, the JD.com spokesperson told Yahoo Finance.

It remains to be seen how Chinas e-commerce giantss efforts in the U.S. will pan out. Amazon, an e-commerce giant in the U.S., hasnt had much luck in China and is reportedly considering selling its China business to domestic player NetEase. In 2019, China is expected to account for nearly 56% of all online retail sales globally, while the U.S. market is projected to contribute 17%, according to an eMarketer report.

Correction: Jack Ma vowed to create 1 million jobs in the U.S. The previous version of the story incorrectly stated the number. The second paragraph has been updated for clarity.

Share your thoughts with Krystal Hu via krystalh@yahoofinance.com

Read more:

China builds the worlds longest high-speed rail as a rail stalls in the U.S.

Apple cuts iPhone XR price for partner sellers in China

Amazon eyes closed Sears stores for Whole Foods expansion
Transaction Combines Complementary Businesses to Create Scale, Financial Strength and Operating Flexibility to Drive Sustainable Growth and Value



Special Meetings Set for April 17, 2019 to Vote on the Transaction

Shareholders of Both Companies Urged to Vote FOR the Proposals Relating to the Merger

PLANO and HOUSTON, Texas, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Denbury Resources Inc. (DNR) (Denbury) and Penn Virginia Corporation (PVAC) (Penn Virginia) today announced that they have jointly filed a definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in connection with Denburys proposed acquisition of Penn Virginia.

Special meetings of Denbury stockholders and Penn Virginia shareholders have been set for Wednesday, April 17, 2019 to approve the previously announced merger (in the case of Penn Virginia shareholders), issuance of Denbury common stock in connection with the merger (in the case of Denbury stockholders), and other matters related to the merger. All Denbury stockholders and Penn Virginia shareholders of record as of the close of business on February 19, 2019 will be entitled to notice of their respective special meetings, and to vote their shares either in person or by proxy at their respective special meetings. The Denbury special meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. Central Time at the offices of Denbury located at 5320 Legacy Drive, Plano, Texas 75024, and the Penn Virginia special meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. Central Time at the Houston Marriott Energy Corridor, located at 16011 Katy Freeway, Houston, Texas 77094.

Along with other information detailing the benefits of the transaction, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus includes updated preliminary pro forma estimates for the combined company that reflect operating metrics under an assumed oil price environment of $55 to $60 per barrel, including:

5% to 10% compound annual production growth through 2021, prior to considering incremental Eagle Ford enhanced oil recovery upside



Average daily production of 94 to 102 MBOE per day by 2021



Operating cash flow of $750 million to $950 million by 2021  well in excess of planned capital expenditures



Debt to EBITDAX ratio of approximately 2.5x or lower by 2021

Chris Kendall, Denburys President and CEO, commented, Our confidence in the compelling nature of the combination with Penn Virginia has only increased in the current oil market environment. This transaction will create a resilient company with a sustainable operating model and a solid financial profile. By adding scale in the attractive Eagle Ford basin, we are building a platform that is ripe to benefit from our enhanced oil recovery expertise and access to our leading CO 2 resource and capabilities. Combining those assets with Denburys highly resilient set of long-lived, low-decline assets will deliver a lower cost of capital, a strong liquidity position and compelling cash flow profile to deliver significant value to stockholders of both businesses.

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The Boards of Directors of Denbury and Penn Virginia recommend that Denburys stockholders and Penn Virginias shareholders, respectively, vote FOR all proposals relating to the transaction.

The definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus is available through the SECs EDGAR system on www.sec.gov and via Denburys and Penn Virginias respective investor relation websites at www.denbury.com/investor-relations or https://ir.pennvirginia.com/, and is being mailed to Denbury stockholders and Penn Virginia shareholders on or about March 4, 2019.

TRANSACTION DETAILS

As previously announced, under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, shareholders of Penn Virginia will receive, subject to proration, a combination of 12.4 shares of Denbury common stock and $25.86 of cash for each share of Penn Virginia common stock. Penn Virginia shareholders will have the option to receive all stock or all cash, subject to proration such that the overall mix of consideration does not result in more or less than $400 million in cash being paid. The stock portion of the consideration received by Penn Virginias shareholders is expected to be tax-free. Upon closing of the transaction, Denbury stockholders will own approximately 71% of the combined company, and Penn Virginia shareholders will own approximately 29%.

The transaction is subject to the approval of Penn Virginia shareholders and is subject to approval by Denburys stockholders of the issuance of common stock and an amendment to Denburys charter to increase its authorized shares. The transaction is also subject to customary closing conditions.

ADVISORS

Guggenheim Securities, LLC is lead financial advisor to Denbury. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC is providing financial advice to Denbury with respect to capital structure and financial aspects of the transaction and provided a financing commitment letter for a new $1.2 billion bank revolving credit facility and a $400 million senior secured second lien bridge loan. Jefferies LLC is financial advisor to Penn Virginia. Vinson & Elkins LLP is legal counsel to Denbury. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP are legal counsel to Penn Virginia.

DENBURY RESOURCES INC.

Denbury is an independent oil and natural gas company with operations focused in two key operating areas: the Gulf Coast and Rocky Mountain regions. Denburys goal is to increase the value of its properties through a combination of exploitation, drilling and proven engineering extraction practices, with the most significant emphasis relating to CO 2 enhanced oil recovery operations. For more information about Denbury, please visit www.denbury.com. The information on Denburys website is not part of this release.

PENN VIRGINIA CORPORATION

Penn Virginia is a pure-play independent oil and gas company engaged in the development and production of oil, NGLs and natural gas, operating in the Eagle Ford shale in south Texas. For more information about Penn Virginia, please visit www.pennvirginia.com. The information on Penn Virginias website is not part of this release.

NO OFFER OR SOLICITATION

This communication relates to the proposed business combination transaction (the Transaction) between Denbury and Penn Virginia. This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote or approval, in any jurisdiction, pursuant to the Transaction or otherwise, nor shall there be any sale, issuance, exchange or transfer of the securities referred to in this document in any jurisdiction in contravention of applicable law. No offer of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act, as amended (the Securities Act).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND WHERE TO FIND IT

In connection with the proposed Transaction, Denbury filed with the SEC a registration statement on Form S-4 (File No. 333-228935) that was originally filed on December 21, 2018 and amended on January 16, 2019, which includes a joint proxy statement of Denbury and Penn Virginia and a prospectus of Denbury. The registration statement became effective as of the close of business on February 4, 2019. Denbury and Penn Virginia may also file other documents with the SEC regarding the Transaction. The Transaction will be submitted to Denburys stockholders and Penn Virginias shareholders for their consideration. A definitive joint proxy statement/prospectus was sent to the stockholders of Denbury and shareholders of Penn Virginia on or about March 4, 2019. This document is not a substitute for the registration statement and joint proxy statement/prospectus filed with the SEC or any other documents that Denbury or Penn Virginia may file with the SEC or send to stockholders of Denbury or shareholders of Penn Virginia in connection with the Transaction. INVESTORS AND SECURITY HOLDERS OF DENBURY AND PENN VIRGINIA ARE URGED TO READ THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT AND THE JOINT PROXY STATEMENT/PROSPECTUS REGARDING THE TRANSACTION AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT ARE FILED OR WILL BE FILED WITH THE SEC, AS WELL AS ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS TO THESE DOCUMENTS, CAREFULLY AND IN THEIR ENTIRETY BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE TRANSACTION AND RELATED MATTERS.

Investors and security holders will be able to obtain free copies of the registration statement and the joint proxy statement/prospectus and all other documents filed or that will be filed with the SEC by Denbury or Penn Virginia through the website maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. Copies of documents filed with the SEC by Denbury will be made available free of charge on Denburys website at www.denbury.com or by directing a request to John Mayer, Director of Investor Relations, Denbury Resources Inc., 5320 Legacy Drive, Plano, Texas 75024, Tel. No. (972) 673-2000. Copies of documents filed with the SEC by Penn Virginia will be made available free of charge on Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com, under the heading SEC Filings, or by directing a request to Investor Relations, Penn Virginia Corporation, 16285 Park Ten Place, Houston, Texas 77084, Suite 500, Tel. No. (713) 722-6500.

PARTICIPANTS IN SOLICIATION

Denbury, Penn Virginia and their respective directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect to the Transaction.

Information regarding Denburys directors and executive officers is contained in the proxy statement for Denburys 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders filed with the SEC on April 12, 2018, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. You can obtain free copies of these documents at the SECs website at www.sec.gov or by accessing Denburys website at www.denbury.com. Information regarding Penn Virginias executive officers and directors is contained in the proxy statement for Penn Virginias 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders filed with the SEC on March 28, 2018, and certain of its Current Reports on Form 8-K. You can obtain free copies of these documents at the SECs website at www.sec.gov or by accessing Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com.

Investors may obtain additional information regarding the interests of those persons and other persons who may be deemed participants in the Transaction by reading the joint proxy statement/prospectus regarding the Transaction. You may obtain free copies of this document as described above.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The foregoing contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this communication that address activities, events or developments that Denbury or Penn Virginia expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Words such as estimate, project, predict, believe, expect, anticipate, potential, create, intend, could, may, foresee, plan, will, guidance, look, outlook, goal, future, assume, forecast, build, focus, work, continue or the negative of such terms or other variations thereof and words and terms of similar substance used in connection with any discussion of future plans, actions, or events identify forward-looking statements. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Transaction, pro forma descriptions of the combined company and its operations, integration and transition plans, synergies, opportunities and anticipated future performance. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements included in this communication. These include the expected timing and likelihood of completion of the Transaction, including the ability to successfully integrate the businesses, the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the termination of the merger agreement, the possibility that stockholders of Denbury may not approve the issuance of new shares of common stock in the Transaction or the amendment of Denburys charter or that shareholders of Penn Virginia may not approve the merger, the risk that the parties may not be able to satisfy the conditions to the Transaction in a timely manner or at all, the risk that any announcements relating to the Transaction could have adverse effects on the market price of Denburys common stock or Penn Virginias common stock, the risk that the Transaction and its announcement could have an adverse effect on the ability of Denbury and Penn Virginia to retain customers and retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with their suppliers and customers and on their operating results and businesses generally, the risk the pending Transaction could distract management of both entities from ongoing business operations or cause them to incur substantial costs, the risk that problems may arise in successfully integrating the businesses of the companies, which may result in the combined company not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected, the risk that the combined company may be unable to achieve synergies or it may take longer than expected to achieve those synergies and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. All such factors are difficult to predict and are beyond Denburys or Penn Virginias control, including those detailed in Denburys annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that are available on its website at www.denbury.com and on the SECs website at www.sec.gov, and those detailed in Penn Virginias annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that are available on Penn Virginias website at www.pennvirginia.com and on the SECs website at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Denbury or Penn Virginia believe to be reasonable but that may not prove to be accurate. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made, and Denbury and Penn Virginia undertake no obligation to correct or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date hereof.

DENBURY CONTACTS:

Mark C. Allen, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 972.673.2000

John Mayer, Director of Investor Relations, 972.673.2383

PENN VIRGINIA CONTACTS:

Steve Hartman, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, 713.722.6500

Clay Jeansonne, Investor Relations, 713.722.6540
FILE PHOTO: The Google logo is pictured at the entrance to the Google offices in London, Britain January 18, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google has rejected calls by Australia's competition regulator for tougher scrutiny of its operations, denying that it enjoys market power in online searches and advertising, documents published on Monday showed.

The global giant was responding to recommendations made late last year by the watchdog, such as increased scrutiny and a new regulatory body to monitor the dominance of tech giants in online advertising and news markets.

"The preliminary report bases many of its recommendations on the mistaken premise that Google has market power in search, search advertising, and news media referrals," Google wrote in a Feb. 18 statement published by the regulator.

"Google faces fierce competition from other providers, including vertical search sites like Amazon, Expedia, Domain and Carsales.com, many of which users access directly through mobile apps."

The regulator had said the enormous market power of firms such as Google, which has a 94 percent share of web searches in Australia, and their opaque methods for ranking advertisements, gave them the ability and incentive to favour their businesses over advertisers.

In preliminary recommendations that are subject to change, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) also said the new regulator should have powers to investigate how the companies rank advertisements and news articles.

Google rejected such a measure as "unnecessary".

It said the regulator had provided no evidence that regulatory review of Google's algorithms and potential recommendations for more disclosure about its news ranking would lead to higher quality search results.

"We support transparency for our customers and partners in a fragmented space, but we disagree with the appropriateness of price monitoring as a solution," Google said in the statement.

Australia, which has passed laws forcing tech companies to help police access user data amid growing concerns about the distribution of so-called "fake news", ordered the inquiry into their influence as part of wider media reforms in 2017.

(Reporting by Paulina Duran; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
(Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co., no longer content with defending itself against U.S. accusations of espionage and bank fraud, is taking the initiative with a full-blown legal offensive.

The Chinese technology giant intends to file a lawsuit this week claiming the U.S. government is overstepping by banning Huawei equipment from certain networks, according to people familiar with the matter. That complaint would come just days after finance chief Meng Wanzhou sued Canadas government for allegedly trampling her constitutional rights -- an effort to discredit the case against her as she awaits potential extradition to the U.S. for bank fraud.

The long-secretive Huawei began to open up this year with founder Ren Zhengfei giving interviews to foreign media and personally denying accusations his company aids Beijing in espionage. But the legal effort signals a more aggressive assault on its American accusers, who have been trying to persuade other countries to ban Huawei gear from communications networks.

Huaweis lawsuit against the U.S. is aimed at a law that blocks certain government agencies from using equipment from Huawei and its domestic rival ZTE Corp., the people said. Huawei is likely to argue that its unconstitutional to single out a person or a group for a penalty without trial, they said. Huawei declined to comment on the lawsuit, which was first reported by the New York Times.

Mengs complaint is more personal. In a civil suit filed Friday, she claims officers failed to immediately arrest her on Dec. 1 in Vancouver on a U.S. extradition request and instead first detained her under the guise of a routine custom check to unlawfully compel her to provide evidence and information. The suit, filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, is against the Canadian Border Services Agency, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and the Canadian government.

Her action is probably an effort to raise the stakes for the Canadian government, Craig Forcese, a law professor at the University of Ottawa with expertise in international and constitutional law, said by email. One might call it a form of lawfare.

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Canadas Justice Minister David Lametti will ultimately be the one to sign off on any extradition -- Mengs allegations about her arrest could potentially play into that final decision.

According to the complaint, the officers detained Meng on the jetway as she was getting off a flight, took away two phones, an iPad and a computer, then got her to surrender the passwords to those devices. She was formally arrested only about three hours after her initial detention, the claim says.

Huawei is increasingly in the crosshairs of the U.S. government and its allies, just as its pushing for leadership in supplying fifth-generation wireless technology. Countries are preparing to spend billions on the potentially revolutionary equipment aimed at enabling everything from smart highways to self-driving cars.

Huawei is bolstering its own finances with a battle ahead. The company raised 14 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) through a syndicated loan, according to people familiar with the matter. Bank of China Ltd., China Construction Bank Corp., China Development Bank, China Merchants Bank Co. and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. were lenders on the five-year facility, said the people who arent authorized to speak publicly and asked not to be identified

The worlds top provider of networking gear faces the prospect of being shut out of pivotal infrastructure markets, as it faces criminal charges in the U.S. and an American effort to convince allies not to use its equipment. The clash has complicated negotiations between Washington and Beijing as they try to hammer out a trade deal.

Its not clear how effective Huaweis lawsuits will be. The Justice Department has sued Huawei for alleged theft of trade secrets, separate from its case against Meng. The U.S. is seeking Mengs handover to face fraud charges, alleging she lied to banks to trick them into processing transactions for Huawei that potentially violated Iran trade sanctions. The allegations date back years -- a main pillar of the U.S. case is a July 2013 PowerPoint presentation that Meng gave to a HSBC Holdings Plc executive.

In the CFOs suit in Canada, she seeks damages for misfeasance of public office by customs officials, breaches of her constitutional rights, and false imprisonment, according to the suit. Each of these causes of action has distinct elements -- none will be easy to establish, Forcese said.

While Canadas Charter rights attach to all people, regardless of nationality or immigration status, courts have tended to concur with the government that such rights are more attenuated at the border, he said. One Supreme Court ruling, for example, clearly noted that people dont expect to be able to cross international borders free from scrutiny.

Whatever evidence Canadian authorities obtained at the airport is likely irrelevant to the bank fraud case, Forcese said. Furthermore, in Canada, extradition hearings arent trials, and admitting new evidence is difficult.

That said, extradition judges can rule on constitutional issues, says Gary Botting, a Vancouver-based lawyer whos been involved in hundreds of extradition cases.

If the judge finds that the violation of Charter rights negatively impacted the extradition process, including the fairness of the hearing, he or she will be obliged to discharge her, Botting said. "Then the civil proceedings will begin in earnest."

Given Mengs wealth -- shes the daughter of Ren -- few believe that financial compensation is the motivation for the lawsuit. Short of being released, the civil suit could help her defense obtain more disclosure in her extradition case.

The obligation of the parties to provide full disclosure in the civil case may simplify the task of the extradition team, said Botting.

The civil case is unlikely to undermine any key elements of the extradition case but could still affect the outcome, said Carissima Mathen, vice-dean of law at the University of Ottawa. It is possible that this could feed into an abuse of process claim whereby the extradition judge is asked to throw out the entire thing. If so, then that would delay the main proceedings, she wrote in an email.

(Updates with loan details in 10th paragraph.)

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Carol Zhong.

To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Vancouver at npearson7@bloomberg.net;Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Peter Elstrom

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of China's Huawei Technologies shines in the bright sun over the headquarters of the telecommunications giant in Duesseldorf, Germany, February 18, 2019. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/File Photo

By Sijia Jiang

(Reuters) - Chinese telecoms equipment company Huawei plans to announce a lawsuit against the United States government on Thursday on grounds related to a defense bill, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Huawei is preparing to announce that it is suing the U.S. government in a court in Texas by challenging an addition to the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed last year, according to the source.

The new NDAA act, which Beijing had condemned as targeting China, controlled U.S. government contracts with Chinese companies including Huawei and strengthened the role of the panel that reviews foreign investment proposals.

The New York Times first reported Huawei's planned legal move on Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Huawei declined to comment. It had invited Reuters and other international media to a press conference at its Shenzhen headquarters in China on Thursday.

Such a move would be the latest in a series of responses from the Chinese company as Washington tries to persuade allies to ban Huawei from business alleging espionage risks. Huawei has repeatedly denied the claims.

On Sunday, lawyers for Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou sued the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police, alleging their client was detained, searched and interrogated for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights.

That comes after Canada on Friday approved a hearing on a U.S. extradition request for Meng on charges related to breaking Iran sanctions.

The New York Times cited a source as saying Huawei's suit is likely to argue that the NDAA provision is a "bill of attainder," or a legislative act that singles out a person or group for punishment without trial, according to the newspaper report.

Canada arrested Meng in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which has brought sweeping charges against her and Huawei that portray the company as a threat to U.S. national security. The case has strained Canada's relations with China.

(Reporting by Sijia Jiang in HONG KONG and Rishika Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta/Keith Weir)
750,000 AK 203 assualt rifles will be produced at a factory in India. | Source:: kalashnikov

By CCN.com: India is stockpiling an enormous arsenal of weaponry and military equipment.

According to an announcement on Sunday, March 3rd, India will make a quarter of a million new assault rifles for the Indian army. Indias president Narendra Modi opened the new Kalashnikov plant in partnership with Russian.

India is also expected to sign a lease for a Russian nuclear attack submarine this week. The $3 billion deal will see India take control of a fully-customized nuclear vessel.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have simmered down since last months airstrikes. However, India is ramping up its arsenal. Is this a sign of defense or aggression towards Pakistan?

A boost to Make in India and India-Russia friendship. The AK-203, that will be manufactured in Amethi will strengthen our armed forces and help them fight terrorists. pic.twitter.com/l08lQZ4DJz  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 3, 2019

750,000 Russian Assault Rifles in Production

Indias new arms factory will churn out 750,000 AK 203s. The weapon is an upgrade from the AK 100, which itself evolved from the infamous AK 47. While the firepower is much the same, the AK 203 is more accurate and better designed. It can also be equipped with a laser sight.

President Modi thanked his friend Vladimir Putin as he opened the facility in Amethi, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Align Technology, Inc. (ALGN) announced today that on February 27, 2019 the United States International Trade Commission (ITC) voted to institute a third investigation (Inv. No. 337-TA-1144) of alleged patent infringement by 3Shape A/S and 3Shape Trios A/s, of Copenhagen, Denmark and 3Shape Inc. of Warren N.J. (collectively "3Shape.") The ITC's decision is based on a formal complaint filed by Align on December 10, 2018 in which Align asserts that 3Shape violates U.S. trade laws through unfair competition by selling for importation and importing the infringing scanners and related software. Align's complaint requests the ITC institute an immediate investigation and ultimately issue cease and desist orders and an exclusion order prohibiting the importation into the U.S. of 3Shape's infringing products if the Commission determines that 3Shape has infringed even one of the multiple patent claims included in Align's complaint. Within the next two months, an administrative law judge will be assigned and the assigned administrative law judge will set a target date for completion of the investigation.



About Align Technology, Inc.

Align Technology designs and manufactures the Invisalign system, the most advanced clear aligner system in the world, and iTero intraoral scanners and services. Align's products help dental professionals achieve the clinical results they expect and deliver effective, cutting-edge dental options to their patients. Visit www.aligntech.com for more information.

For additional information about the Invisalign system or to find an Invisalign doctor in your area, please visit www.invisalign.com. For additional information about the iTero digital scanning system, please visit www.itero.com.





Align Technology

Madelyn Homick

(408) 470-1180

mhomick@aligntech.com


Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP logged a loss (attributable to the company) of $2.6 million or 13 cents per share for fourth-quarter 2018, narrower than a loss of $14.8 million or 71 cents a year ago.



Barring one-time items, earnings were 60 cents per share for the quarter, up from 40 cents a year ago. The results topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 45 cents.



Koppers recorded revenues of $425.4 million for the quarter, up around 16% year over year, driven by acquisitions. Sales, however, fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $432 million.

Koppers Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Koppers Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Koppers Holdings Inc. Quote

FY18 Results



For 2018, profit was $23.4 million or $1.10 per share, down roughly 20% from $29.1 million or $1.32 per share recorded in 2017. Adjusted earnings per share for the year were $3.50, down from $3.68 a year ago, reflecting higher interest expense and depreciation & amortization costs.



Net sales for the year rose roughly 16% year over year to $1,710.2 million. Barring sales related to acquisitions, sales rose 5%.



Segment Highlights



Revenues from the Railroad and Utility Products and Services segment surged around 50% year over year to $164.2 million in the quarter. The growth was driven by acquisitions, favorable pricing trends for crossties and increased demand for railroad bridge services that more than offset reduced volumes related to utility products in Australia.



The Performance Chemicals unit recorded sales of $99.3 million in the quarter, up around 7% year over year. The increase was aided by a favorable product mix and improved demand in North America.



Revenues from the Carbon Materials and Chemicals division fell around 1% to $161.9 million, impacted by unfavorable currency translation. Barring the currency impact, sales rose roughly 2%, aided by increased demand for carbon pitch in North America and Australia.



Financials



Koppers ended 2018 with cash and cash equivalents of $40.6 million, down around 33% year over year. Long-term debt was $978.8 million, up around 47% year over year.



Capital expenditures for 2018 were $109.7 million, up roughly 63% from $67.5 million a year ago.



Outlook



Moving ahead, Koppers expects sales of around $1.8-$1.9 billion for 2019, based on contributions from the acquisitions made last year and a stronger demand environment in the wood-based technology related businesses, especially Performance Chemicals.



Moreover, Koppers expects adjusted EBITDA to be around $210-$225 million for 2019, compared with roughly $222 million in 2018.



Koppers also expects adjusted earnings for 2019 to be in the range of $2.87 to $3.32 per share factoring in higher interest expenses and depreciation & amortization costs. Effective tax rate for 2019 is projected at around 30%.



As part of its strategic plan, the company is also taking actions to improve profitability by $10 million in 2019. Benefits of around $25-$40 million are also forecast to be realized over the next five years through network optimization, commercial development, and raw materials and other cost savings.



Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider



Koppers currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).



Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. KL, Israel Chemicals Ltd. ICL and Franco-Nevada Corporation FNV.



Kirkland Lake Gold has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.8% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). Its shares have shot up around 125% in the past year. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Israel Chemicals has an expected earnings growth rate of 10.8% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The companys shares have rallied around 27% over the past year.



Franco-Nevada has an expected earnings growth rate of 11.2% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2. Its shares have gained roughly 6% in the past year.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.



See Stocks Today >>



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Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Israel Chemicals Shs (ICL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Franco-Nevada Corporation (FNV) : 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
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Midnight Sun Mining Corp. (the "Company" or "Midnight Sun") (TSX-V: MMA) is pleased to announce initial interpretive results from a 3,889 line-kilometre Versatile Time Domain Electromagnetic airborne geophysics ("VTEM") survey conducted on the Solwezi Licences in Zambia (the "Property").

The VTEM survey has provided anomalous responses in several areas, providing the Company with previously unknown exploration targets as well as expanding the size of known targets.

"This survey and subsequent interpretive work is invaluable in my opinion. Combining the VTEM survey with existing drill and exploration data, we can now: 1) better understand why previous drill holes did or did not encounter mineralization, 2) see that the known mineralized targets are even larger than we had expected, and 3) identify well-defined anomalous zones in previously untested and unexplored sections of the Property. By combining the VTEM interpretations with existing data we can now gain a better understanding of the geology and controls for potential mineralization on the Solwezi Licences", states Al Fabbro, Lead Director & Acting CEO.

The following illustrates and summarizes, by target area, the initial interpretations from the VTEM.

Mitu

To date, drilling and other work at Mitu has encountered what appears to be only one of the anomalous target areas, M1, which was the initial Mitu discovery zone. The identified M1 conductor is approximately 1km in strike and 500m indip. The VTEM interpretation has delineated 5 other (6 in total) discrete conductors which occur near or within the favourable Upper and Lower Roan contacts and 2 of these other anomalous zones appear considerably larger than M1.

"The original discovery at Mitu, which was made based on a subtle geochemical anomaly, is a remarkable testament to the early work of our technical team. Seeing the collection of even stronger anomalies that continue down the Mitu trend has the Midnight Sun team very excited for the next exploration campaign", stated Wayne Moorhouse, COO.

Story continues

Western Flank

Approximately 15km northwest of Mitu, the VTEM survey has identified the largest continuous conductive trend on the Property, with approximate dimensions of 5km strike by 2km dip. This conductive trend represents a potential new discovery and occurs in the same geology as that surrounding the neighbouring Kansanshi Mine.

"We were very surprised to see this prominent anomaly in the VTEM data, as the Western Flank represents a brand new target area on the Solwezi Licences. Very little historical work has been performed here by previous operators, and the massive size and scale shown by this interpretation makes it clear that appropriate investigation and attention is warranted", said Mr. Fabbro.

22 Zone

Two anomalies in the 22 Zone area have been identified by the VTEM survey, neither of which have been directly drill tested. The northern anomaly (A) indicates a strike length of 1.2 - 1.5km and the profile suggests a deeper conductor.

The southern anomaly (B) is within what appears to be a large dome which was previously unmapped and unidentified. The VTEM suggests a thicker anomalous zone, on trend with a major fault.





Late time conductor VTEM response





Early time conductor VTEM response and geology.

The response is indicative of doming in this area, similar to that which is associated with Kansanshi.

Mr. Moorhouse commented, "Anomalies A and B around the 22 Zone represent an important step in the understanding of the mineralization in this area and will play a significant factor in the exploration plan to follow up on thehigh grade oxide intercepts drilled in 2013-2014. Identifying what appears to be a previously unrecognized dome validates speculative theories that the 22 Zone could be a Kansanshi analogue and makes us very eager to get back to work in the area."

Kifubwe

The VTEM survey identified what appears to be a chain of several discrete conductive zones located around the Kifubwe area, all of which appear to be shallow and located in favourable geology. The anomalies in this area correspond well to a 6km geochemical anomaly previously identified by Midnight Sun.

Dumbwa

Despite the fact that this area represents the largest and strongest geochemical copper anomaly reported in the country, it is located in a geological environment unlikely to respond to the VTEM system, and assuch there does not appear to be a correlation between known mineralization and a VTEM conductor or spectrometer response in theDumbwa area. However, the information from the VTEM survey data has helped identify and delineate the complex structures in this area which are believed to be the controls necessary for potential mineralization.

About the VTEM Survey

The helicopter-borne VTEM Plus B-field Horizontal Gradiometer and Radiometric Geophysical surveywas conducted by Geotech Airborne Ltd. of Aurora Ontario. The survey covered 3,889-line kilometres covering the entirety of the Property. The survey was flown using a combination of 100m and 200m spacings between June 20 and July 29, 2018.

As per Geotech Airborne Ltd.'s web site "VTEM generates currents that diffuse into the earth and, similar to water, always take a path of least resistance. Conductive material absorbs the currents and releases a secondary field that the VTEM system measures. A strong conductor absorbs and releases more or all the VTEM signal. A weak conductor absorbs and releases some or none of the VTEM signal."

By analysing the data generated by the VTEM survey a trained technician can identify conductive zones within favourable geology. The VTEM interpretation was prepared by Stephen Balch, P.Geo. of Balch Exploration Consulting Inc. The strong VTEM anomalies are thought to be caused by conductive, graphite-rich shale units that are often the host to the disseminated copper deposits that occur along the Zambia-Congo Copper Belt.

Qualified Person: Stephen Balch, P.Geo. an Independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical data and contents of this release.

About the Property

Midnight Sun has earned a 60% interest in the Solwezi Licences with the potential to acquire the remaining 40%. The Solwezi Licences are comprised of two individual exploration licences totalling 506 square kilometres, situated in the North-Western Province of Zambia, adjacent to First Quantums Kansanshi Mine; Africa's largest copper mining complex, on the prolific Zambia-Congo Copper Belt.

ON BEHALF OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN MINING CORP. BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Al Fabbro - Lead Director & Acting Chief Executive Officer

For Further Information Contact:

Al Fabbro

Tel: +1 604 351 8850

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in commodity prices, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Midnight Sun Mining Corp.





View source version on accesswire.com:

https://www.accesswire.com/537682/Midnight-Sun-Mining-Corp-Announces-Initial-VTEM-Interpretation




(Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc. is putting the value of its patent portfolio on the line in a California courtroom in its hometown to try to make Apple Inc. pay for using technology the chipmaker credits for the iPhones commercial success.

Its the first time a U.S. jury will have a say in the two-year, sprawling global battle between the tech giants. Qualcomm alleges that Apple infringed patents related to technology for graphics processing and battery power conservation, which the San Diego-based company says improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of smartphones.

A major damages award by jurors would help Qualcomm undermine Apples claims that the chipmaker overcharges for its patent portfolio and may give the iPhone and iPad maker an incentive to negotiate a comprehensive settlement to their dispute. The trial started Monday in federal court in San Diego and is scheduled to take two weeks.

"Qualcomm could really use a win to bolster the view that its robust patent portfolio is entitled to protection," said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tamlin Bason. But he added that, because Qualcomm is unlikely to get a court order banning sales of infringing iPhone models, the chipmaker may not gain much leverage against Apple if it wins the trial.

Apple and Regulators Attacks May Put Dent in Qualcomm Licensing

Even if it loses, Apple can shrug off virtually any damage award, according to Bason, but a verdict for the iPhone maker would weaken Qualcomms hand.

We have a dispute, Qualcomm attorney David Nelson told the jury in his opening statement. We cant resolve it.

According to court filings, Qualcomm seeks $1.41 per infringing iPhone sold in the U.S. since July 6, 2017, when it filed the lawsuit. Based on an estimated 91 million units Apple sold in the U.S. in its 2018 fiscal year, the damages could amount to as much as $223 million for iPhones sold through the end of this month.

Apples lawyer, Juanita Brooks, told jurors in her opening statement that it was Qualcomm that stole technological ideas from Apple, not the other way around, and that Apple had a friendly relationship with Qualcomm until Apple began using Intel Corp. chips in the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus models in 2016.

Story continues

"Will Qualcomm be able to prove that we infringed? she said. Maybe in the Qualcomm world but not in the real world."

Qualcomm has lost billions of dollars in revenue after Apple, through its Asian manufacturers, stopped paying patent royalties in 2017. The chipmaker has accused Apple of instigating regulatory actions against it around the world and of lying to government officials.

Their fallout has spawned dozens of court cases on three continents, with neither side so far scoring a decisive victory. Courts in China and Germany in December banned sales of some iPhone models after finding that Apple infringed Qualcomm patents, but neither injunction covers Apples most recent iPhone models.

Those decisions havent forced Apple to settle its numerous disputes with Qualcomm even as the Cupertino, California-based company is facing slowing demand for its iconic phones. The chipmaker is also trying to get the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban imports of iPhones with infringing Intel chips, but a commission judge last year recommended against the request even though he agreed that one of Qualcomms patents in the case was infringed.

Apples Legal Assault on Qualcomm Is Part of Margin Grab

The two ITC cases -- in so far as they theoretically still present a risk of an import ban for Apple -- are among four cases that are most likely to produce a shift in the companies bargaining positions, Bason said. Another is a lawsuit Apple brought in January 2017 challenging Qualcomms licensing practices. That case is scheduled for trial next month with billions of dollars in damages at stake.

The fourth crucial case is the U.S. Federal Trade Commissions antitrust lawsuit against Qualcomm in San Jose, California, that went to a nonjury trial in January. Qualcomm is awaiting a judges ruling on the agencys allegations that it illegally used its position as the biggest provider of chips used in smartphones to extract billions of dollars in licensing fees.

Apple and its manufacturers are unlikely to settle with Qualcomm until they know how the FTC case will affect Qualcomms licensing practices, according to Bason.

The chipmakers strategy in the patent case headed for trial Monday is to demonstrate that its technology has a much broader reach than the iPhone maker has argued. Apple claims that Qualcomm uses its patents for basic mobile telecommunications functionality to demand royalties that far exceed the contribution this technology makes to Apples increasingly sophisticated products.

Qualcomm, which has 130,000 patents and patent applications, maintains that the whole industry benefits from its inventions beyond the standard-essential technology to connect to a telecom network. The company is using the patent litigation to try to prove that its other intellectual property contributes significantly to the iPhone.

"Qualcomms technologies enable the cellular ecosystem that allows smartphones to send and receive vast amounts of data and voice communications at rapid speeds, seamlessly and reliably, from anywhere within reach of a cellular network," the company said in a 2017 court filing. "Qualcomms inventions are necessary for the entire cellular network to function, they are not limited to technologies in modem chipsets or even cell phones."

The case is Qualcomm Inc. v. Apple Inc., 17-cv-01375, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego).

(Updates with Apples opening statement in eighth paragraph.)

--With assistance from Ian King, Susan Decker and Mark Gurman.

To contact the reporters on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.net;Bill Callahan in San Diego at bcallahan18@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Steve Stroth

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
President Trump confidant Roger Stone may be flouting a strict gag order imposed on him in late February by a federal judge.

On Sunday, Stone posted a number of stories to his Instagram accountincluding one suggesting he had been framed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

The potential violation occurred as he posted requests soliciting funds for his defense campaign and selling merchandise, including a Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong t-shirt and a Stone Cold Truth sweatshirt.

Among this flurry, Stone posted an image of himself, below the words Who Framed Roger Stone. The image, which has been shared on social media before, is a reference to the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

New in Instagramland: Roger Stone, using Insta stories (which disappear after 24 hrs), suggests hes being framed. pic.twitter.com/GK0tUsH4jq  Shelby Holliday (@shelbyholliday) March 3, 2019

Stone faces seven charges in connection with Muellers inquiry into possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia before the 2016 U.S. election. The charges include making false statements, witness tampering, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

In Judge Amy Berman Jacksons ruling on Feb. 21, she banned Stone from speaking publicly about his case in any forumincluding on social media. CNBC alleges that Stones Sunday post could have violated this order, which strictly bans Stone from commenting about the case or Muellers investigation indirectly.

According to CNBC, which first noticed the post, the Who Framed Roger Stone image was deleted from his account not long after the outlets reporter contacted the defendants lawyer to determine whether it was in violation of his gag order.

If Stone is found to be in violation of the order, he could be jailed without bail until his trial.




There are several scenarios under which counsel may find themselves in need of trial or deposition testimony in a civil case of a witness that is currently in government custody. In the area of parallel civil and criminal actions, for example, the civil action must often take a back seat to the criminal proceedings, with discovery and trial proceeding only after resolution of the criminal proceedings. In such a case, counsel may find that an important witness for the civil action is in government custody at the time of trial or when the time comes to take that witness deposition. A furtherand perhaps more precariousexample is when counsel is in need of the testimony of a witness who is in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While the deposition of a party witness in government custody can sometimes proceed by way of notice and be held at the facility where the witness is in custody, this is not the case where testimony must be secured by way of a subpoena, as a subpoena is ordinarily ineffective to compel an individual in government custody to testify. See, e.g., Sec. Investor Prot. v. Bernard L. Madoff Inv. Sec., 496 B.R. 713, 722-723 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2013) (citing U.S. v. Gotti, 784 F. Supp. 1011, 1012 (E.D.N.Y. 1992) (The reason for the distinction is that a subpoena commands the prospective witness to attend, whereas the writ ad testificandum commands the custodian of the potential witness to produce him). With regard to both party and non-party depositions, a further wrinkle might be added to the scenario where the witness is in ICE custody, as the whereabouts of that witness may not be readily ascertainable.



In such situations, an effective means for securing the testimony of a witness in government custody is a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum (the Writ). The procedure for seeking the Writ, and availability of such a remedy in state courts, will vary based on jurisdiction. In New York, for example, the Writ is only statutorily available to secure testimony in criminal proceedings, and more generally, the CPLR limits those who can bring a special habeas corpus proceeding to a person illegally imprisoned or otherwise restrained in his liberty within the state, or one acting on his behalf or a party in a child abuse proceeding subsequent to an order of the family court. See CPL 650.30; CPLR 7002. Thus, the most effective way to seek the Writ will often be by way of a petition to a federal district court. The petition does not necessarily need to be made in the court where the action is pending (i.e., it can be sought in an ancillary proceeding), as the Writ is directed toward the custodian of the witness and not the witness him-or herself. Atkins v. City of New York, 856 F. Supp. 755, 757 (E.D.N.Y. 1994) (The purpose of this writ is to direct the custodian of a prisoner to produce such prisoner for appearance in court). In other words, while the Writ would ideally be sought in the federal court within the jurisdiction where the custodian is located, the Writ can be issued by a federal court extraterritorially. ITEL Capital v. Dennis Mining Supply & Equipment, 651 F.2d 405, 407 (5th Cir. 1981); Atkins, 856 F. Supp. at 758 (prevailing view of the appellate courts favors the extraterritorial application of a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum in appropriate circumstances); but see Gabriel Mills v. Fenger, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44061, *9, 2008 WL 2357619 (W.D.N.Y. June 4, 2008) (where Writ was sought for purposes of attendance at a settlement conference, the proper way to obtain this writ (if it is indeed available for the purposes intended by the parties) is to apply to the United States District Court  where the custodian of plaintiff resides, for the writ in an ancillary proceeding).



A federal courts authority to issue the Writ is derived from a reading of 28 U.S.C. 2241(c)(5), which empowers federal courts to grant a writ of habeas corpus where it is necessary to bring an individual in government custody into court to testify or for trial; in tandem with 28 U.S.C. 1651(a), the All Writs Act, which empowers a federal court to issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law. Atkins, 856 F. Supp. at 757. A federal courts power to issue the Writ has specifically been held to apply to pre-trial oral depositions of non-party prisoner witnesses in civil cases. See, e.g., Calvente v. Suffolk Cnty. Corr. Facility, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 75472, *2-3 (E.D.N.Y. May 16, 2017) (court issued a writ to the Superintendent of the Marcy Correctional Facility to have a prisoner delivered to Sing Sing Correctional Facility to sit for a deposition); Waste Mgmt. of La. v. River Birch, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58842, *8-10, 2017 WL 1383710 (E.D. La. April 13, 2017) (The Court may also issue a Writ of Habeas Corpus Ad Testificandum for the purpose of taking an oral deposition); In re Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, P.A., No. 11-61338, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99651, 2011 WL 3903567 (S.D. Fla Sept. 6, 2011) (discussing issuance of such a Writ for pretrial deposition). The Writ has also been used to direct federal immigration officials to produce subject witnesses in their custody. See, e.g., Rangolan v. County of Nassau, 370 F.3d 239, 249 (2d Cir. 2004); United States v. Seijo, 595 F.2d 116, 118 (2d Cir. 1979).



The decision to issue a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum is committed to the sound discretion of the district court. Atkins, 856 F. Supp. at 757. The factors that a court should consider in exercising this discretion include: (1) whether the prisoners presence will substantially further the resolution of the case, (2) the security risks presented by the prisoners transportation and safekeeping, and (3) whether the suit can be stayed until the prisoner is released without prejudice to the cause asserted. Id.



For example, in Atkins v. City of New York, 856 F. Supp. 755 (E.D.N.Y. 1994), a civil rights action brought against the City of New York alleging wrongful arrest and police brutality, the defendants sought a Writ for the production of a non-party witness incarcerated in a state prison in New Jersey to testify at trial. Id. at 756. The witness in that case was believed by the defendants to be an eye witness who could rebut the claimed lack of probable cause for the underlying arrest. The Writ also sought to have the witness temporarily detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in Manhattan until such time as the court directed that the Writ had been satisfied. Id. In granting the petition for the Writ, the court first noted that the witness would be incarcerated for another two years, had not committed an offense involving physical violence, and that defendants would bear all associated costs (thereby satisfying last two considerations). Id. at 757. With regard to the first considerationwhether the prisoners presence will substantially further the resolution of the casethe court opined that the cogent question  is not merely whether the witness expected testimony would be relevant, but rather, whether such testimony is necessary. This determination depends ultimately upon whether the probative value of the testimony justifies the expense and security risk associated with transporting an inmate to court from a correctional facility. Id. at 758. The court held that the testimony of an eye witness of the incident in question would appear to be pivotal and therefore granted the application for the Writ. Id.



Thus, practitioners in need of trial or deposition testimony (in either a state or federal civil case) of a witness in a government custody should consider seeking a Writ in federal court to obtain same. Counsel should be mindful that the Writ will likely only be issued to secure the testimony of key witnesses, and should therefore be guided by their own judgment as to whether the witness is truly necessary to the defense or prosecution of their case. Moreover, counsel should be prepared to bear all costs associated with the transportation, temporary detention and production of the witness. One should, of course, consult the local rules of the jurisdiction where the action is pending to determine if there is an established or streamlined procedure to accomplish this in the court where the action is pending. In the absence of such a procedure, like in New York, the best option will likely be to seek the Writ in an ancillary proceeding in federal district court.



Jack A. Gordon is the managing partner of Kent, Beatty & Gordon, where he also heads the firms litigation and hospitality practices. Alex T. Paradiso is a senior associate in the firms litigation and arbitration practice group.
Shari Klevens and Alanna Clair, Dentons.

Shari Klevens (left) and Alanna Clair, Dentons. (Courtesy photo)



So far, this series of articles about lawyers "Seven Deadly Sins" has covered the risks of falling behind technology and competence requirements (sloth), marketing and self-promotion (pride), improper personal relationships with clients (lust) and overindulging in new matters or harmful vices (gluttony).



This installment of the series covers wraththe emotional instability or anger that is sometimes associated with professionals engaged in the practice of law. Law is a stressful profession. It can involve long hours, pressing deadlines and, sometimes, personal unpleasantness. Lawyers can become too emotionally involved in their matters or may sometimes respond to stressors with anger or frustration. The public at large may even view attorneys as an angry or rude subsection of the populace.



Although attorneys are human and subject to the emotional highs and lows of any other person under stress, it is rarely effective for attorneys to allow their wrath to dictate their legal strategy or engagement with others. Here are some tips for managing the deadly sin of wrath and maintaining professionalism.



Duty of Professionalism



The practice of law is a profession and requires from its practitioners a level of professionalism. In recognition of this, many states are requiring renewed pledges of professionalism or courtesy among lawyers in court settings but also in other communications between counsel.



Too often, attorneys may equate a needlessly aggressive attitude with what is required to be successful. However, as the New York State Bar has recognized, lawyers can disagree without being disagreeable.



Courts and bars are taking action against practitioners who are allowing anger to infect their interactions with others. For example, a court found that an attorney at issue had improperly threatened legal action against nonliable parties and asserted a conspiracy among persons (including a former judge) without any supporting facts. He also was combative, yelling at the court in appearances and insulting to colleagues. In response, the Florida Supreme Court rejected a recommended 90-day suspension and instead suspended the attorney from the practice of law for two years, plus 18 months probation and a public reprimand.



In South Carolina, an attorney (the respondent to the ethics inquiry) represented a mother in a heated domestic dispute. That attorney sent a highly personal email to the attorney representing the father (called Attorney Doe in the ethics opinion), noting that Attorney Does daughter was detained for drug-related charges but never charged. The attorney suggested the event may reflect poorly on Attorney Does parenting and that this incident is far worse than the allegations your client is making. I just thought it was ironic. The respondent went on to write: There is nothing more complicated and serious than having a child grow up in a high class white family with parents who are highly educated and financially successful and their child turning out buying drugs from a crack head at night. The respondent claimed that this email was sent in response to obnoxious and harassing correspondence from Attorney Doe. The South Carolina Supreme Court found that such personal attacks had no place in the judicial system and did a disservice to the client. It sanctioned the attorney with a private letter of caution.



Another way that courts are cracking down on attorney wrath is by more frequently admonishing attorneys for misconduct in a deposition. Although there are rules of procedure that typically govern depositions, in some ways depositions can be the wild west. Attorneys may engage in arguments on the record, acts of intimidation of a witness or opposing counsel or issue speaking objections that indirectly instruct a witness on how to proceed. Courts are taking these issues seriously, sometimes sanctioning attorneys for letting their anger get the better of them at a deposition.



Legal representations are not meant to settle personal scores. But sometimes the legal news reports on stories of attorneys who use their bar licenses to try to intimidate or bully civilians with whom the attorneys have a personal disagreement. Sometimes the stress of practicing law may reveal itself in an attorney who brings suits against many in the attorneys lifefrom the condo board, to their childs school, to the lawn repair service, to the driver in a minor fender bender.



Now, of course, attorneys are entitled to equal access to the courts just as any other citizen. However, an attorney intending to use a bar license for personal matters may benefit from an objective consideration of the motive and to honestly assess whether the claim actually has merit. If the attorney is using the bar license to pressure a party or as a way to displace anger or stress related to the attorneys career, the attorney may want to consider other options. Indeed, lawyers are typically not permitted to bring proceedings unless there is a basis in law and fact for doing so that is not frivolous. Rule 3.1 of the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Bar committees in particular can be harsh to practitioners who are viewed as using their status as lawyers to threaten non-lawyers or to suggest legal ramifications that are not justified.



Separately from what the rules require, practicing law while angry can create risks for the representation. Setting a more congenial tone with opposing counsel can be helpful to the progression of the representation as a whole.



Duty of Honesty and Candor



While wrath sometimes reveals itself as a burst of anger, there also are risks for attorneys who react quickly to developments in a litigation without taking the time to slow down and review their positions. For example, attorneys can sometimes get in trouble with a court for answering a question too quickly or for misleading a court as to a material fact. It can be that the impetus to answer quickly or based on the attorneys gut may create problems. In those situations, some attorneys will be candid with a court about those facts that are not within their knowledge to avoid making any misstatements.



The failure to be honest and candid in court can have wide-ranging impact on the representation. It can be helpful for attorneys who are facing the urge to exaggerate opposing counsels missteps or lash out to a judge to remember Model Rule of Professional Conduct 3.3, which prohibits an attorney from knowingly making a false statement of fact or law to a judge (or fail to correct a previously made false statement of material fact or law), failing to disclose directly adverse legal authority, and offering evidence the attorney knows to be false.



Read the previous "Seven Deadly Sin" articles:





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Per media reports, Sprint Corporation S has entered into an agreement to sell its Overland Park headquarters campus to Wichita-based Occidental Management for an undisclosed amount. The deal is expected to close in the coming months.



The U.S. communications service provider will relocate from 11 buildings it presently occupies to four surrounding buildings on the campus. While the companys employees are likely to be moved to the southern end of the property centered on the 6200 Sprint Parkway building, renovations for the main building are currently underway, which is expected to open in summer. Sprint will utilize the sale proceeds to reinvest in these four buildings for its employees.



Reportedly, T-Mobile US, Inc. TMUS said that it will make the campus a second headquarters for the potential combined company if their impending $26.5 billion merger is completed successfully.



Sprint's strategy of balancing growth and profitability while increasing network investments and adding digital capabilities should drive its financial performance in the coming quarters. It has enhanced its SD-WAN services reach to enable enterprises to more simply and efficiently manage global IT resources and applications across networks throughout Asia-Pacific, Latin America, North America and Europe. Also, the companys multi-year plan to improve cost structure and its "Unlimited for All" plan designed for customers bode well.



The company is coming up with new ideas and solutions to better serve its customers and help business enterprises improve their relationship with employees. It is building a solid 5G device portfolio so that its users can be among the first to experience Sprint 5G next year. Massive MIMO technology is integral to Sprint's 5G strategy and network build. The technology augments the capacity of the companys LTE Advanced network and is software upgradable to 5G. With this, Sprint is likely to meet customers need for unlimited data and high-bandwidth applications. The company intends to launch its mobile 5G network in nine of the largest cities across the country  Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix and Washington, DC  during the first half of 2019 with additional markets to be announced later.



Driven by diligent execution of operational priorities, Sprints shares have recorded an average gain of 18.9% compared with the industrys rise of 12% over the past year.



Sprint currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the broader industry are Harris Corporation HRS and Motorola Solutions, Inc. MSI, both carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Harris has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%.



Motorola has a long-term earnings growth expectation of 8%.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



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Zacks Investment Research
Times have been tough for retail real estate investment trusts (REITs) lately. The normally reliable industry has been hit by twin concerns about the "retail apocalypse" and the rise of e-commerce, which has eroded traffic at malls and shopping centers, especially at downscale class B and C malls.

Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT), one of the biggest outlet center operators in North America, has seen its stock fall 34% over the last three years amid concerns about rising vacancy rates and broader pressures in the industry. Even if brick-and-mortar retail proves to be more durable than some think, there's still the risk that Tanger will struggle to pass along rent hikes as landlords generally like to do.

For income investors, Tanger remains appealing with a 6.6% dividend yield, and the company's occupancy remains high at 96.8% as of its fourth-quarter report. Tanger is also solidly profitable, but its adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) -- the preferred metric in the REIT industry -- fell slightly last year, and the company faces a debt burden of $1.7 billion, which cost it $64.8 million in interest expense last year, eating up more than half of its operating income.

Let's take a closer look at where Tanger stands today and whether or not the stock is a buy.

Three women and one man fashionably dressed smiling and posing.

Image source: Tanger.

Tanger today

Tanger owns 36 outlet centers across the country, mostly focused in the South and Northeast, and has eight other joint ventures around North America. Given the broader pressures on the retail and shopping mall industry, the company has just one new shopping center in development, in Nashville, Tennessee, where it has begun the early due diligence process. With only one new center planned, investors should expect slow growth over the coming years.

In 2018, revenue increased just 1.3% as operating income fell, even excluding a $49.7 million impairment charge. Same-center tenant sales were up 1.9% last year, indicating some ability to pass along rent hikes, and average sales productivity was up from $380 to $385. However, AFFO was down from $245.3 million to $243.3 million, but rose from $2.46 to $2.48 per share due to fewer shares outstanding. Based on that figure, Tanger has a reasonable payout ratio of 57%, though the company may struggle to raise its dividend over the long term if it's unable to grow AFFO.

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Looking ahead, Tanger's guidance for 2019 was uninspiring, as the company sees occupancy falling to 94% to 94.5%, as it projected store closings equivalent to 150,000 to 200,000 square feet, and saw net operating income declining 2% to 2.75%. As a result, it sees funds from operations falling from $2.48 to $2.31-$2.37 this year and adjusted per share slipping from $1.03 to $0.90-$0.96. As a result of the weak outlook, investors pushed Tanger shares down 2% on the earnings report.

Is Tanger a buy?

In addition to Tanger's underwhelming guidance and slow development growth, there are other reasons to be wary of the company's future. Its two biggest tenants, Ascena Retail Group (the parent of apparel chains including Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant) and Gap Inc., have both announced store closures recently, and Ascena, which is struggling to generate a profit, is in the midst of a long-term store optimization plan. A number of Tanger's other retail tenants are also in the process of closing stores, or could be on the verge of doing so.

Besides the threat from tenants closing stores, there's also the risk of recession, which many analysts think could happen within the next two years. Such a downturn could force many of Tanger's retail tenants to shutter stores or even go bankrupt. As an outlet center, which draws consumers with discounted merchandise, Tanger may be at an advantage over some of its landlord competitors, but that makes little difference to the retail tenants its business depends on. And with debt making up three-quarters of its assets, leverage and interest expenses remain risks as well.

Tanger stock isn't about to collapse, as its 6.6% dividend yield should put a floor on the stock, and its model is less macroeconomically sensitive than the retailers it depends on, but its future prospects look modest at best. Even dividend investors should be able to find a better combination of yield and growth elsewhere.

More From The Motley Fool

Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Tanger Factory Outlet Centers. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A large part of the solution to the Korean problem is in Beijing.

Washington will have to unlock that by finding a tolerable peaceful coexistence with China.

The trade deal with China the U.S. wants is not a road in that direction. The degree of control Washington seeks over Chinas economy will most probably be rejected by Beijing.

The bizarre summit meetings between the U.S. and North Korea came to a logical end. Without any security guarantees and relief from debilitating sanctions, Pyongyang refused last Thursday in Hanoi, Vietnam to destroy its nuclear military assets and their delivery vehicles.

Why it took two summits and intensive bilateral consultations over a period of seven months to lead to such a predictable failure is a mystery historians will have to ponder.

The best result of the two top-level meetings is an apparent North Korean commitment to stop nuclear and ballistic tests, and the U.S. decision to discontinue mock-up North Korea invasions in the form of long and massive military exercises on and around the Korean Peninsula.

It seems that Washington-Pyongyang discussions are expected to keep that agreement alive. North Koreans may also wish to use those meetings to avoid the embarrassment of failed summits. But their friends, China in particular, could also have other ideas, such as an initiative within the United Nations Security Council to soften  on humanitarian grounds  the most damaging sanctions affecting the North Korean population.

Beijing holds Korean trump cards

The U.S. would oppose that because those are the sanctions aimed at exerting maximum pressure on Pyongyang to get rid of its nuclear arsenal. Still, a veto-laden impasse at the United Nations Security Council could open doors to more widespread sanctions-busting than is the case now, where the U.S. would have little leverage to intervene.

So, for all practical purposes, the North Korean problem will linger as a ticking time bomb until solutions can be found for security guarantees and an acceptable economic and political arrangement for the Korean Peninsula as a whole.

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A large part of those solutions are in Beijing.

To unlock those solutions, the essential question for the U.S. is to find an acceptable modus vivendi  a sort of tolerable peaceful coexistence  with China. And it is important for Washington to understand that an openly hostile "strategic competition" is a logical opposite of that objective. Especially if that "competitor" is also branded a "revisionist power" keen on upending the American world order.

Looking at the existential economic issues of that relationship, it is enough to read the last Wednesday's Congressional testimony of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to understand that the U.S. and China are on a permanent collision course.

Seeking to balance its trade accounts and reduce China's nearly half-a-trillion-dollar surplus on U.S. goods trade, Washington is hitting Beijing's most sensitive red lines. Indeed, the U.S. is demanding enforceable structural reforms to put an end to intellectual property thefts and forced technology transfers. The U.S. also wants to eliminate China's non-tariff barriers to trade, such as industrial subsidies, as well as regulations, licensing procedures, technical standards and other practices that discriminate against U.S. businesses and give an unfair advantage to their Chinese competitors.

China denies all that, but the U.S. insists on establishing review procedures with tariffs in case Beijing violates any of the trade rules and practices Washington sets.

A deal Beijing cannot accept

If you stop and think about the nature of China's structural reforms, and the enforcement procedures needed to ensure that those reforms are implemented, it is clear that a U.S.-China trade deal would establish an effective American oversight of China's economy  with a permanent threat of trade tariffs.

And then, the U.S. also wants to control China's monetary policy.

How? Claiming that China is manipulating the exchange rate to blunt the impact of trade tariffs and maintain a competitive advantage, the U.S. wants China to report its currency interventions.

That is a control of monetary policy pure and simple, because currency interventions are executed by increasing or withdrawing the quantity of yuan in China's money markets. Currency intervention and monetary policy are one and the same thing.

Apart from that, Washington wants to make sure that China is not manipulating the exchange rate for purposes of deliberately altering its terms of trade.

That is technically impossible. First, China and the U.S. would have to agree on the price index used to conduct that analysis (for example, the consumer price index, the producer price index, export prices and unit labor costs). Second, they would also have to agree on the time period deemed relevant for that investigation.

Can anyone really believe that a great power like China would agree to such a pervasive American control over its economy?

The ongoing trade negotiating process will just reinforce China's conviction that the U.S. is out to disrupt its economy, create dissent within its political system and foment social strife.

Investment thoughts

With an apparent agreement of no further nuclear and ballistic testing, and an indefinite suspension of U.S. military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, Washington wants to leave Pyongyang under maximum sanction pressure. But those sanctions are increasingly porous, and North Korea, supported by its friends and neighbors, won't yield on nuclear disarmament until it gets credible security guarantees and a total lifting of economic isolation.

Washington will also get nowhere with its current trade strategy toward China. Beijing simply cannot accept Washington's control over its economy.

As I have argued all along, the urgency of stopping America's soaring trade deficits with China should have led to a different approach: An immediate and irrevocable limit to Chinese exports to the U.S. to the level of American exports to China. All clear, clean and brutally radical.

Once that balance is reached, the U.S. could have been ready to discuss other bilateral trade issues of its own choosing  but always keeping in mind the overriding objective of balanced U.S.-China trade.

The way things are being done now will lead to trade tariffs, muddling through, hidden agendas and an increasingly hostile relationship  which will not stop America's huge wealth and technology transfers to China.

Commentary by Michael Ivanovitch, an independent analyst focusing on world economy, geopolitics and investment strategy. He served as a senior economist at the OECD in Paris, international economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and taught economics at Columbia Business School.





More From CNBC


U.S. Gamers Are Drawn to and Threatened by China. Trump May Help

(Bloomberg) -- When the American maker of the popular World of Warcraft video game sued a Chinese company for copying designs and storylines, little did anyone know the dispute would come to illustrate one of the biggest sticking points in the U.S.-China trade war.

The case involved Activision Blizzard Inc., a California company that sued Chinas Lilith Games in 2015 for the type of copyright infringement that the Trump administration says is rampant in the Asian nation. The complaint -- which was eventually dismissed -- didnt stop Blizzard from increasing its presence there and extending a partnership this year with Chinas NetEase Inc.

If U.S. tech firms have a moth-to-a-flame dilemma with China, game makers are the classic example. The worlds second-largest economy boasts an online population of 850 million and will remain the worlds largest video-game market through at least 2021, according to industry research firm Newzoo.

President Donald Trumps trade war is designed to protect companies like Blizzard that are caught between accessing massive new markets in China and protecting their secrets.

$250 Billion

An investigation by the U.S. Trade Representatives Office last year that found China continued to violate intellectual property formed the basis for U.S. tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese goods. Chinas treatment of IP is at the center of the current round of negotiations to end the trade war, with Trump suggesting a deal could be reached soon.

Technology is probably our single biggest competitive advantage and why well be number one for a long time if we protect our intellectual property, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a congressional hearing Wednesday. China knows full well that its the key. Technology is whats going to determine who rules the future.

Lighthizer is leading U.S. efforts to negotiate the trade deal with Beijing that would also allow U.S. companies to operate in China without local partners. Its nearly impossible for foreign tech companies to enter China without licensing their games to domestic firms, though no such restriction exists on Chinese companies operating in America.

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Not surprisingly, the licensing deals have been a cash boon to Chinese companies. Chinas Tencent has become the worlds largest gaming firm in terms of revenue, while Chinese firms have been behind 70 percent of industry acquisitions since 2015, according to a May 2018 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which the U.S. Congress created. The study also says piracy of American-made games is widespread.

Publicly Denied

China has publicly denied U.S. charges that its soft on intellectual-property theft, insisting that it has lived up to commitments it made when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, including by establishing special courts. The Chinese Embassys press office in Washington didnt respond to an emailed request for comment.

But the investigation by Lighthizers office alleged that Chinas intellectual-property and joint-venture policies have caused billions of dollars in damage to the U.S. The White House has threatened to raise duties even higher if it cant reach a trade agreement with Beijing.

Lighthizers office has identified the gaming industry as a victim of Chinese infringement practices. Some U.S. gaming companies have subtly applauded the White House efforts.

Our government is focused on the fact that taking care of intellectual property, which is Americas second biggest export after aerospace, is important, Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of New York-based gaming company Take-Two Interactive Software, said in a Feb. 6 earnings call when asked about China.

Some Progress

Youll begin to see some progress there, Zelnick said, adding: If regulations soften, thered be an even greater opportunity. But we understand we have to work within the environment that we find ourselves in there.

That environment may start improving soon. The Chinese government late last year announced new sanctions on companies engaging in intellectual-property theft.

However, Beijing may be reluctant to further tighten laws until it sees its own companies as victims of intellectual-property theft, according to Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The government still views its market as an IP consumer rather than an IP creator, he said. Until this changes, its going to be hard to get China to enforce foreign IP rights.

--With assistance from Shawn Donnan.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chibuike Oguh in Washington at coguh1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, Randall Woods

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Investors should probably exercise caution on stocks moving off news coming out of the trade negotiations until a deal materializes. | Source: AP Photo / Andy Wong, File

By CCN.com: Following a period of economic turmoil caused by trade friction between the U.S. and China, Chinese markets are experiencing an extraordinary recovery driven by indications that Donald Trump may be softening his hard line in trade negotiations between the worlds two largest economies. After Trump announced that he would postpone the March 1 deadline for Chinese import tariff hikes, the CSI 300 Index recorded a 6 percent surge last Monday. The Shanghai Composite Index also recorded its best day since June 2015, after it closed with a 5.6 percent gain.

It will be recalled that over the past few weeks, both Trump and Xi have made a series of overtures toward each other with the aim of staving off the potential escalation of the ongoing tariff war, which would be devastating to both economies. On February 15, CCN reported that the Dow surged 450 points on news that Trumps administration planned to push back the March 1 deadline by 60 days to May 1, giving both countries an extra two months to hammer out a deal instead of embarking on a costly economic war amidst slowing global economic conditions.

Chinese Stock Euphoria

According to Trump, if trade talks continue to progress between both countries, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping will hold a summit with the goal of ending the trade war which has lasted about a year. President Jinping also made similar noises after the meeting over the weekend, expressing hopes that Beijings economy would be rejuvenated through financial reforms and having a better capital market.

Following Trumps address, shares of Citic Securities, Chinas biggest brokerage firm rose by 8.3 percent. Experts have said the presidents speech is indicative that the Chinese government will be focused on financial reforms in the coming years and they expect policymakers to start pushing for reforms that support financial growth in the coming years.

Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, senior analyst at Central China Securities Zhang Gang said:

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I think its a 70:30 split between President Xis remarks and the progress on trade talks when it comes to the impact on the market. Its clear that the government wants a rising stock market to reduce financial risk such as debt.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
Michelle Obama. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg







Her buffed walnut desk. Her view from the 47th floor overlooking Lake Michigan. Recruiting law students. The money.



Thats what Michelle Obama liked about working at Sidley Austin.



What she didnt like: Everything else.



Ive been reading Obamas autobiography Becoming, and have been struck by her dismal depiction of the three years she spent as an associate at the firm from 1988 to 1991.



The National Association for Law Placement puts out a periodic report it calls Keeping the Keepers about associate retention. Sidley for a brief time employed two of the keeping-est keepers you could imagine: Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama, who met in 1989 when he was a summer associate at the firm.



But both got away.



In hindsight, it seems clear that no matter how nice, how appreciative, how flattering Sidley leaders were to Barack (and according to Michelle, they were very), the 44th president was never going to pursue a career in Big Law. That was not his path.





But the future first lady? The way she tells it in her autobiography, practicing law simply wasnt for her.



I hated being a lawyer. I wasnt suited to the work. I felt empty doing it, even if I was plenty good at it, Obama wrote.



But reading more closely, there are a few hints that under different circumstances, it might have been otherwise.



Obama has nothing unkind to say about any individual lawyers at the firm. As for Sidley as a wholewhich through a spokeswoman declined commentmuch of her criticism could apply to virtually any big firm circa 1990.



So what was the problem? And are things much different today?



One of Obamas objections was the isolating nature of the work. I read memos. I wrote memos. I edited other peoples memos. But she said she had almost no contact with clients, and not much with other lawyers either.



I craved interaction of any sort, she wrote. I had friendly professional relationships with some of the senior partners and perked up at any chance I had to chitchat with my fellow associates, but in general, everyone was overloaded with work and careful not to waste one billable minute of the day. Which put me back at my desk, alone with my documents.



Obama was a member of Sidleys marketing and intellectual property group (that the two areas were combined is a reminder of the olden days when big firms mostly ceded IP work to boutiques). The group, she wrote, was considered internally more freewheeling and creative than other groups, I suppose because we dealt at least some of the time with advertising.  I would later be awarded the honor of looking after the legal concerns of Barney the Dinosaur. (Yes, this is what passes for freewheeling at a law firm.)



According to a 2008 story in The National Law Journal, Obama also worked on teams that represented AT&T Corp. in its 1990 hostile takeover bid for NCR Corp.and Union Carbide Corp. in its 1990 legal fight to complete a sale of a chemical business unit to Arco Chemical Co. over Federal Trade Commission opposition."



Her recollection of the Union Carbide work offers a sign that the law could have held her interest. You wouldnt think Id be the type of person to find psychic relief in the intricacies of the urethane polyether polyol trade, but I did, Obama wrote, sounding like any budding litigator diving into a new subject.



But the case settled shortly after trial began, which meant much of my document reviewing had been for nothing, she wrotean experience that she described as irksome.



Sound familiar anyone?



She did attempt to get more engaging work, and thats certainly one area where the firm could have done things differently. I met with the partner in charge of my division, asking to be given more challenging assignments, Obama wrote.



She doesnt say how the partner respondedbut since she subsequently quit to work under Valerie Jarrett for Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, I suspect it didnt happen.



Obama wrote that she also tried to focus on the projects I found most meaningful, including my efforts to recruit a new and more diverse crop of summer associates.



Indeed, Obama was clear that she found the overwhelming white-ness of the place off-putting. She mentions that her assistant Lorraine was a good-humored African American woman several years my senior, but as for the other lawyers?



In our office, which employed more than four hundred lawyers, only about five full-time attorneys were African American, she wrote.



Obama doesnt explicitly say so, but I wonder if some of the isolation she feltboth in the work itself and from her colleaguesmight have had something to do with the fact that almost no other lawyers at the firm looked like her or shared her familiarity with the barbershops, barbeque joints and Bible-thumping black parishes of the far South Side of Chicago.



But she didnt just complainshe tried to do something to change it.



Theres a lengthy passage in her autobiography where Obama describes her ideas to increase law firm diversity, which she made clear was an industry-wide issue, not a Sidley-specific problem.



Obama cited a National Law Journal report that African Americans at big firms in 1990 made up less than 1 percent of partners and not quite 3 percent of associates. (Today, its 2.09 percent of partners and 4.4 percent of associates, according to NALPs 2018 report on diversity.)



My goal was to bring in law students who were not just smart and hard-driving but also something else than male and white, Obama wrote. I argued insistentlyand Im sure brazenly, in some peoples opinionthat the firm cast a wider net when it came to finding young talent.



That meant recruiting at schools other than Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, the University of Chicago and the University of Illinoiswhere most of the firms lawyers earned their J.D.s. Obama described it as a circular process: one generation of lawyers hiring new lawyers whose life experience mirrored their own.



I pushed for us to consider law students coming from other state schools and from historically black colleges like Howard University, she wrote. I objected anytime a student was dismissed for having a B on a transcript or for having gone to a less prestigious undergraduate program. If we were serious about bringing in minority lawyers, I asserted, wed have to look more holistically at candidates. Wed need to think about how theyd used whatever opportunities life had afforded them rather than measuring them simply by how far theyd made it up an elitist academic ladder.



She doesnt say whether Sidleywhich last year was squarely in the middle of the pack on the 2018 Am Law Diversity Scorecard, tied for 51st placeembraced her bold-at-the-time ideas to hire more minority lawyers.



Im guessing the answer is no. In retrospect, it looks like a major missed opportunity.



This passage by Obama strikes me as key: The point wasnt to lower the firms high standards, she wrote. It was to realize that by sticking with the most rigid and old-fashioned way of evaluating a new lawyers potential, we were overlooking all sorts of people who could contribute to the firms success.







We hope you enjoyed this excerpt from Litigation Daily, the exclusive source for sharp commentary on mega court battles, winning strategies and the issues that obsess elite litigators. Click here to subscribe.
For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL March 4, 2019  Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Facebook FB, Alphabet GOOGL, Twitter TWTR and Apple AAPL.

Here are highlights from Fridays Analyst Blog:

Facebook Roundup: Regulatory Concerns, Privacy Issues

As Facebook continues to announce stellar results quarter after quarter, regulators around the world are taking note of where those numbers are coming from, i.e. how much user data the company is lapping up, with how much disclosure it is operating and with what degree of regard for teens and tweens. Theres also a bit of concern in some countries about whether it is paying taxes commensurate with the income it is generating-

U.S. Regulators

Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against Facebook on the basis of a complaint by consumer groups alleging fraud on children.

It appears from the complaint that while the company has dedicated resources to process refund requests related to unauthorized purchases by children, it also uses deceptive practices to lure them into making those extensive unauthorized in-game purchases in the first place. Whats more, the larger spenders are referred to as whales internally, a casino term to describe high-spending gamblers. The details were uncovered last month when the Center for Investigative Reporting requested the unsealing of court documents related to a case settled in 2016.

Separately, New York state authorities have decided to investigate Facebook after a report from the WSJ about its harvesting of sensitive personal data through apps built for the platform. The WSJ found on investigation that 11 popular apps with millions of users between them have been sharing sensitive personal data with Facebook through the software development kit it provides them.

Story continues

Facebook doesnt solicit such data but uses it when app makers tell it to for targeted advertising, according to the company. Moreover, its terms of service for app makers specify that such data shouldnt be shared without consent, and on occasion, it causes that data to be deleted from its records. The data collection is required by app makers to track how their apps are being used and learn more about user behavior, especially as regards what gives rise to an event such as the purchase of an item.

UK Regulation

A non-binding report by a committee of senior lawmakers in the UK recommends that the government pass laws that are up to speed with the Internet age.

The targeted technology companies include not just Facebook, but also other dominant platforms although Facebook was specifically mentioned for bullying the smaller technology companies and developers who rely on this platform to reach their customers.

As a result of a year-long study of the situation, the report identified some key considerations before lawmakers, including Facebooks willingness to override its users privacy settings so a number of app developers could access their data, Facebook executives deliberate misleading of lawmakers/omission to mention Russian interference in foreign elections during the investigation, and strong evidence suggesting foreign state interference in the 2016 Brexit vote. It suggests that the election regulator in the UK should have more power to fine social media companies based on the revenue they generate.

Facebooks response was that it is "open to meaningful regulation" and supports "the committees recommendation for electoral law reform."

EU Regulation

Representatives from a majority of EU countries backed new copyright regulation that seeks to impose restrictions on the way copyrighted materials are shared online. The EU Council approval was tweeted by the current president, Romania.

The new rules will require companies like Facebook and Alphabet to pay publishers for news snippets, enter into specific agreements with copyright holders like publishers, broadcasters and artists, and build upload filters so users are unable to upload copyrighted material.

The goal is to protect the bloc's cultural heritage, but some dissenting countries (Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Poland) and two other abstaining ones feel that the agreement hinder innovation and hurt the bloc's competitiveness: "We regret that the Directive does not strike the right balance between the protection of right holders and the interests of EU citizens and companies.

A committee of lawmakers will vote on the issue next week, followed by a parliamentary vote in March or April when it will be signed into law.

Indian Regulators

After summoning Twitter officials in the prior week, the parliamentary committee investigating Indian citizens rights on social media has summoned Facebook representatives including those from its sister concerns WhatsApp and Instagram. The committee will hear what Facebook representatives have to say on the issue on Mar 6.

The urgency of handling important issues at this time is presumably tied to the national elections in May where Modi is seeking a second term. This is particularly true because fake news circulation, terrorist recruitment, foreign meddling in elections etc. typically assume greater importance when a country is headed to elections.

Facebooks handling of election concerns isnt ideal but there has been some improvement of late.

New Zealand Regulators

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand has said that there are considerable unfair differences in the way domestic and foreign multinational digital companies are taxed. She is therefore seeking to add a 2-3% tax on the revenue these companies generate in New Zealand, in line with other countries attempting the same thing.

Revenue Minister Stuart Nash said that while it would continue to work with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD to determine an international solution, the proceedings could take time. The proposed tax will likely go into effect next year.

New Privacy Controls

Facebook is rolling out a new tool that will help Android users turn off location tracking, something Facebook has unabashedly resorted to, even when you werent using the app. Apples iOS already offers tools so users can allow or partially allow or totally disallow tracking. The new tool applies to people who had turned on location history in the first place perhaps as a part of turning on the location tagging feature.

Meanwhile, location tracking on Instagram has reportedly allowed Facebook to develop artificial intelligence that can predict a users next destination.

But not all people are equally concerned about data sharing. So to deal with those more concerned, the founder CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview with Harvard Law Professor Jonathan Zittrain that he was mulling a decentralized, blockchain-based approach to access, store and manage private data. With the elimination of the intermediary that is the cornerstone of blockchain technology, individuals could be dramatically empowered. The company recently invested in a blockchain focused startup, which could be an indication that Zuck is true to his word.

The Onavo VPN app for Android that was lapping up data shared by teens to support an internal research program is also on its way out. Facebook has stopped recruiting people for the research program and will reportedly close down the app entirely once users have found replacements.

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By Damalie Mukhaye.

The opposition forum for democratic change party has asked government to come out and clearly explain the fall out between the government of Uganda and Rwanda.

Addressing journalists at their party offices in Najjanakumbi, the deputy spokesperson John Kikonyogo said that all the statements from the two governments relating to the standoff are not convincing enough.

The situation he says is making people in both countries to live in fear.

Government has since accused Rwanda of breaking the EAC rules.

Related Stories..

Rwanda breaks silence on restricted border point

Rwanda Uganda officials to meet over closed Border
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country, Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been publicly focused on lowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a February 14 suicide car bomb in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir triggered the first Indian air strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.

Senior U.S. officials told Reuters that as the United States spoke with senior Pakistani officials, emphasizing the need to lower the risk of conflict with India, Islamabad privately offered warnings on Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said their ability to support Afghan peace talks could be in jeopardy in the event of a full-blown crisis, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They'll stop being a facilitator; they will stop the pressure they are applying" on the Taliban, one U.S. official said, recounting Pakistani warnings conveyed to Washington.

Pakistan has publicly denied any role in the suicide bombing. But the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group, which India has long accused Islamabad of supporting, claimed responsibility for the attack.

The United States has likewise accused Pakistan of ties to Taliban militants who are fighting in neighboring Afghanistan against American and U.S.-backed Afghan government forces.

Reuters has previously reported, however, that U.S. officials have recently seen a positive shift in Pakistan's behavior.

Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan, has played a behind-the-scenes role in supporting U.S. peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, including facilitating travel to negotiations.

Current and former U.S. officials caution that Islamabad could again choose to act as a spoiler.

"I don't believe that Pakistan has the capability to straight out make peace happen in Afghanistan, but they definitely have the capability to make peace not (happen)," said Laurel Miller, a former senior State Department official.

Movement of Troops

In recent days, India and Pakistan have appeared to dial down hostilities that brought the arch enemies to the brink of another war. But it's unclear whether the calm will hold.

A Pakistani official in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that unless the tensions were reduced, there was a "very strong likelihood" that Pakistani troops would be moved from the border with Afghanistan to reinforce positions near India.

Pakistans U.N. ambassador, Maleeha Lodhi, told Reuters that Islamabad's focus could completely shift to its eastern border with India.

"If the crisis with India continues, Pakistan will be obliged to keep our entire focus on our Eastern border. That may affect our efforts on our Western front," Lodhi said.

The Pakistani official in Washington said Pakistan had not been focused on Afghanistan since tensions with India increased last month, and it would have implications for peace talks.

Some current and former U.S. officials say Islamabad may be overstating the risks of fallout on Afghan peace talks, which resumed over the weekend in Doha. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they noted that Islamabad has its own self-interests in mind as it seeks to influence the peace process in neighboring Afghanistan.

But other U.S. officials acknowledge a major crisis involving India would be all-consuming for Islamabad, and say it's another reason why lowering tensions is so important.

In Afghanistan, which fears its country is being used as a proxy for tension between India and Pakistan, the Foreign Ministry summoned Pakistan's envoy to Kabul after he made similar warnings.

Veteran diplomats say that if the United States pushes Pakistan too hard on combating militants, Islamabad could diminish its support for the peace process.

Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said many of the Pakistani officials who dealt with India were also responsible for Afghanistan, and that tensions could impact peace talks.

He said a lack of U.S. focus on South Asia was problematic.

"We need much more focus and strategic thinking from the Trump Administration on this region, and an effective way of implementing that strategy," Feldman said.
The Man From Cairo is a 1953 film directed by Ray Enright from a script by Eugene Ling, Philip Stevenson and Janet Stevenson. It's Volume 4 of the Forgotten Noir series from Kit Parker Films and VCI. This disc has two movies on it that were originally produced by Robert Lippert Pictures. It was an Italian co-production with location shooting in Algiers and studio shooting at Palatine Studios in Rome Italy. It was the last film for Ray Enright, he directed over 70 films but I can't remember seeing any others except for Alibi Ike, a Joe E Brown comedy.

George Raft is the main star, he's an ex-serviceman traveling to Algiers who get caught up in the recovery of a gold heist from WW2. There's plenty of backstabbing and murder as people move in on the gold. It's not a bad movie but George is hardly an interesting guy in the role. I'd still watch it again but I like the second movie on the disc better.

Mask Of The Dragon is another Robert Lippert produced film. It came out in 1951 and was directed by Sam Newfield from a script by Orville H Hampton. Both men were terrifically prolific in their careers and they type of films they make are cheaply made and quickly shot. It's said MOTD was shot in 5 days. It's only 55 minutes long. I know I've seen many of their films and TV episodes.

Richard Travis is detective, his partner got called up to service in Korea, now the guy is heading for home. Before he leaves Korea he makes a deal with a Chinese shop keeper to bring back a dragon statue. He'll be paid handsomely to bypass the shipping restrictions because of the war. He gets home and is murdered by Sid Melton and Karl "Killer" Davis. Sid dresses up in Chinese garb and makeup and acts as the barker for a Chinese shop owned by the Chinese guy played by Jack Reitzen. Only Charles Iwamoto is really Asian, he plays the villains judo expert.

Lyle Talbot plays the police Lieutenant on the case and he tells Richard to leave it to the police but Richard doesn't. There's some stabbing, some fighting, some romance and a visit to a TV station.That was kind of fun. It's not a great film or anything, it's barely average but it has some goofy stuff that made me laugh. I'd watch it again. There's a commentary by Joel Blumberg that packs more facts per minute than most commentaries. There are a few other extras on the disc, George Raft Bio, Photo Gallery, Ad Gallery, Trailers and Star Bios.
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Global Strategix, Inc. helps you attain embassy-level security for your home or business
Wallace Wally Erickson, who led Compassion International as the organizations president from 1975 to 1993, died Feb. 17 at the age of 90.
BW Offshore is contemplating to enter into agreements to acquire 100% of the Maromba field offshore Brazil from the present owners Petrobras (70%) and Chevron (30%).

Closing of the acquisition is subject to board approvals and fulfilment or waiver of conditions precedents, including approval by The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) to close the transaction and deem BW Offshore an approved operator in Brazil.

The Maromba field is located off the Brazilian coast in the Campos Basin in 160 metres of water depth, where BW Offshore has extensive operating experience.

The company will provide further information upon signing of the agreements.

For further information, please contact:

Knut R. Sthre, CFO, +47 911 17 876

About BW Offshore:

BW Offshore is a leading provider of floating production services to the oil and gas industry. The company also participates in developing proven offshore hydrocarbon reservoirs. BW Offshore is represented in all major oil and gas regions world-wide with a fleet of 15 owned FPSOs. The company has more than 30 years of production track record, having executed 40 FPSO and FSO projects. BW Offshore is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5 -12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
By Benjamin Jumbe.

Two Vietnamese nationals intercepted over the weekend are set to appear in court any time soon.

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Customs Enforcement Intelligence Officers on Saturday evening intercepted and offloaded two Vietnamese nationals who have been on wanted list over ivory smuggling, from Qatar airways.

Nguyen Van Thanh and Dinh Van Chung are said to be part of an 18-man wanted mafia racket suspected to be behind ivory smuggling in the region.

Now speaking to Kfm the URA Acting Assistant commissioner public and corporate affairs Jamil Ssenyonjo said these will soon be produced in court

The authoritys Customs last month seized the largest ever consignment of ivory and pangolin scales worth over 14 billion and arrested 3 suspects who were prosecuted in court and remanded to Luzira.
Selbyville, Delaware, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



Worldwide Aerial work platform market revenue is expected to grow from USD 9 billion in 2018 to USD 16 billion by 2025, according to a 2019 Global Market Insights, Inc. report. The global AWP units shipment are expected to grow at a CAGR of over 8.5% from 2019 to 2025.

The AWP market is witnessing high popularity due to the integration of advanced technical features, such as CAN bus, sensors, and telematics, as these technologies offer better safety parameters over the conventional platforms. By integration of CAN bus technology, machines leverage a combination of various controllers and sensors, offering new operational features for the workers. The load-sensing technologies deployed in the newly developed MEWPs disable functioning in case of excessive weight, further providing more safety to the platform operators. Moreover, the aerial work platform market is experiencing the emergence of self-propelled access platforms that provide increased flexibility, stability, and security to the users. Easy transportation & operation of the self-propelled machinery is supporting the rising utilization in various application sectors including energy and oil & gas for maintenance purposes.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/689

Personal portable lifts are gaining popularity among in-house maintenance & temporary construction applications for performing low-height operations. Due to technical advancements in machinery sectors, the low-level access platforms are being replaced by conventional ladders & scaffolding to achieve high safety levels. Several companies operating in the AWP market are developing new personal portable lifts offered as safe alternatives to the conventional ladders. For instance, in March 2017, JLG Industries, Inc. announced the launch of its low-level access solutions, LiftPod and EcoLift series.

The engine-powered platforms are anticipated to grow at 8% CAGR from 2019 to 2025 attributed to the increasing utilization in the major application industries including construction, mining, and government. The aerial work platform market customers operating in major regions including North America and Europe have utilized these machines due to high investment capabilities and the need to provide safe working conditions to the labors. The (mobile elevated work platform) MEWP market is also expanding due to low labor availability & high cost of existing labors in these regions. To reduce labor costs, achieve efficiency, and cut operational time, the application industries are deploying aerial work platforms, further developing the market.

Browse key industry insights spread across 300 pages with 423 market data tables & 26 figures & charts from the report, (AWP) Aerial Work Platforms Market Size By Product (Boom Lifts, Scissor Lifts, Vertical Mass Lifts, Personal Portable Lifts), By Type (Electric, Engine Powered), By Platform Height (Below 10 Meters, 10 to 20 Meters, 20 to 25 Meters, Above 25 Meters), By Application (Rental, Construction & Mining, Government, Transportation & Logistics, Utility), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Potential, Price Trend, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2019  2025 in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/aerial-work-platform-awp-truck-market-report

In the AWP market, there is an increase in the demand for machinery with platform height between 20 to 25 meters in the utility, rental, and construction applications. The demand is attributed to high flexibility & stability offered by these platforms at such working heights. Additionally, the machinery ensures operator safety with the telematics & sensor technology integrated into it. The aerial work platforms market products are deployed among various infrastructure development, utility work, building maintenance, security, indoor construction, window washing & repairing, electric line repairs, and sporting events, driving the industry demand.

In the aerial work platform market, construction & mining applications was valued at around USD 3 billion in 2018 and are increasingly deployed in complex building & general infrastructure projects across the globe. Government projects mainly deploy efficient machines & platforms to provide enhanced safety and reduce the load on human workers. The rising awareness in the South-East Asian countries and other developing countries related to machinery & time-saving benefits is further rising the requirement for technically-advanced platforms to address the construction sector demand. Countries including South Africa, India, and Japan are witnessing several infrastructure transformation activities that are expected to procure AWPs in huge amounts, further supporting the market growth prospects.

The North America AWP market is expected to reach over USD 6 billion by 2025 attributed to several building maintenance & construction activities across the commercial & residential sector. The demand is also increasing due to the presence of technically-aware and economically-stable population, supporting the deployment of costly MEWPs. Also, high government support for utilizing newly manufactured products with safety parameters and reduction of upcoming worker accidents is driving high consumption of new products in the industry. Workers obtain certified trainings from the manufacturers and other organizations to ensure safety and reduce workplace fatalities, further adding to the MEWP market development.

Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/689

The key players operating in the aerial work platform market are Niftylift, JLG Industries, Inc., Snorkel, Haulotte, Terex Corporation, Aichi Corporation Skyjack, Tadano, Manitou, Altec, Holland Lift, and Sinoboom. The companies are investing in R&D activities to develop differentiated & eco-friendly machinery compared to their competitors. These companies are also adopting expansion strategies by developing manufacturing & distribution network across various regions to address the growing customer demand. Players are focusing on gaining government contracts and orders owing to huge infrastructure investments going on in the Asian and the Middle East & African countries. Manufacturers in the AWP market are adopting partnership & collaboration strategies to integrate enhanced components & technologies into existing products.





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1. Tower Crane Market Statistics, 2019  2025

Tower Crane Market size was valued at over USD 3 billion in 2018 and will grow at a CAGR of nearly 7% from 2019 to 2025. The global shipments are expected to reach over 40 thousand units by 2025. Increasing construction activities & development of high-rise commercial & residential structures globally are driving the tower crane market growth.

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/tower-crane-market

2. Asia Pacific Material Handling Equipment Market Growth, 2019  2025

Asia Pacific Material Handling Equipment Market size was valued at over USD 50 billion in 2018 and will grow at a CAGR of around 7% from 2019 to 2025. The shipments are expected to reach over 120 million units by 2025. Rapid industrialization in several countries including China, India, and Japan is driving the Asia Pacific material handling equipment market.

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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.
Dublin, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Precision Harvesting Market by Product (Combine, Harvesting Robots, Forage Harvesters), Application (Crop, Horticulture, Greenhouse), Offering (Hardware - Sensors, GPS, Yield Monitors, Software, Services), and Geography - Global Forecast to 2023" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The precision harvesting market was worth USD 10.4 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 17.5 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 10.94% during 2018-2023.

The major factors driving the growth of the precision harvesting market are increasing farm mechanization in developing countries in the Asia Pacific and Africa, increasing adoption of harvesting robots and autonomous combine harvesters, and increasing labor cost owing to shortage of skilled labor.

Precision harvesting has the potential to transform the agriculture sector, making traditional harvesting activities more efficient and economical. The increasing global food demand, extended profitability and crop yield, and minimum wastage of crops during harvesting are the other factors fueling the market's growth. Also, government initiatives in many countries are helping farmers adopt advanced agricultural and technology tools to improve yield.



The market for harvesting robots estimated to grow at highest CAGR during forecast period



The market for harvesting robots is expected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2018 to 2023. The rising demand for harvesting robots is driven by increasing demand for food owing to increasing population, increasing strain on food supply, declining availability of farm workers, the rising cost of farm workers, and broader automation in the agriculture industry.

Harvesting robots is an emerging technology that has gained tremendous popularity in recent years owing to increasing labor cost and the need to increase farm productivity. The gradual reduction in hardware cost and an increase in labor cost are expected to fillip the adoption of harvesting robots in the coming decades.



The market for corn application to grow at highest CAGR from 2018 to 2023



The precision harvesting market for corn application is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Adoption of precision harvesting systems for corn application is comparatively higher as compared to other crops; as a result, this segment held the largest market size in 2018. Innovations in harvesting equipment and a greater need to automate corn, cotton, and soybean farms due to the shortage of skilled labor are the major factors driving the growth of this segment.



Precision harvesting market in Europe to grow at the highest CAGR between 2018 and 2023



The increasing mechanization in Eastern European farms-Poland, Austria, Croatia, and Bulgaria-is a major factor contributing to the high growth of the precision harvesting market in this region. The market's growth and demand for harvesting robots are also driven by increasing strain on food supplies to feed a swelling population, declining availability and the rising cost of farm labor, challenges and complexities of farm labor, climate change, the growth of smart greenhouse and indoor farming, and broader automation in the agriculture industry.



Topics Covered



1 Introduction

1.1 Study Objectives

1.2 Definition

1.3 Study Scope

1.4 Currency

1.5 Limitations

1.6 Stakeholders



2 Research Methodology

2.1 Research Data

2.1.1 Secondary Data

2.1.1.1 Major Secondary Sources

2.1.1.2 Secondary Sources

2.1.2 Primary Data

2.1.2.1 Primary Interviews With Experts

2.1.2.2 Breakdown of Primaries

2.1.2.3 Key Data From Primary Sources

2.1.3 Secondary and Primary Research

2.1.3.1 Key Industry Insights

2.2 Market Size Estimation

2.2.1 Bottom-Up Approach

2.2.1.1 Approach for Capturing Market Size By Bottom-Up Analysis (Demand Side)



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Attractive Opportunities in Precision Harvesting Market

4.2 Precision Harvesting Market in Europe, By Product Type

4.3 Precision Harvesting Market, By Application

4.4 Precision Harvesting Market, By Product Type

4.5 Geographic Analysis of Precision Harvesting Market



5 Market Overview

5.1 Market Dynamics

5.1.1 Drivers

5.1.1.1 Increasing Demand for Mechanized Harvesting Owing to Labor Shortage

5.1.1.2 Increasing Adoption of Harvesting Robots in Greenhouse and Horticulture

5.1.1.3 Substantial Cost Savings

5.1.1.4 Government Support for Adopting Modern Harvesting Techniques

5.1.2 Restraints

5.1.2.1 High Capital Investments

5.1.2.2 Lack of Skills and Technical Awareness Among Farmers

5.1.3 Opportunities

5.1.3.1 Developing Countries to Offer Significant Growth Opportunities

5.1.3.2 Increasing Adoption of Harvesting Robots

5.1.4 Challenges

5.1.4.1 Lack of Standardization in and Safety Issues With Precision Harvesting

5.1.4.2 Large-Scale Commercialization of Autonomous Harvesting Systems is A Time-Taking Process



6 Industry Trends

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Value Chain Analysis

6.2.1 Major Market Players in Precision Harvesting Market

6.3 Industry Trends

6.3.1 Integration of Telematics With Farm Mechanisation

6.3.2 Advent of Intelligent Combine Harvesters to Influence Market Expansion

6.3.3 Agricultural Robotics to Mitigate Labor Shortage



7 Precision Harvesting Market, By Offering

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Hardware

7.2.1 Guidance & Steeering System

7.2.1.1 Guidance & Steering Systems Accounted for Largest Share of Precision Harvesting Hardware Market in 2017

7.2.2 Gps

7.2.2.1 Increasing Adoption of Guidance & Steering Technology to Drive Gps Market

7.2.3 Yield Monitoring System

7.2.3.1 Increasing Demand for Site-Specific Yield Data to Drive Yield Monitoring System Market

7.2.4 Robotic Arm

7.2.4.1 Increasing Adoption of Harvesting Robots in Horticultural Applications to Drive Robotic Arms

7.2.5 Sensors

7.2.5.1 Increasing Adoption of Advanced Farming Techniques and Decline in Asp of Sensors to Propel Growth of Sensors

7.2.6 Cameras

7.2.6.1 Cameras to Witness Highest Growth in Precision Harvesting Hardware Market

7.2.7 Others

7.3 Software

7.4 Services



8 Precision Harvesting Market, By Product Type

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Combine Harvesters

8.3 Self-Propelled Forage Harvesters

8.4 Harvesting Robots



9 Precision Harvesting Market, By Application

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Crops

9.3 Horticulture

9.4 Greenhouse

9.5 Others



10 Geographic Analysis

10.1 Introduction

10.2 Americas

10.2.1 North America

10.2.1.1 US

10.2.1.2 US Accounted for Largest Share of Precision Harvesting Market in North America

10.2.1.3 Canada

10.2.1.4 High Production Cost and Shortage of Skilled Farm Workers Driving Precision Harvesting Market in Canada

10.2.1.5 Mexico

10.2.1.6 Market in Mexico to Witness Highest CAGR in North America

10.2.2 South America

10.2.2.1 Brazil

10.2.2.2 Brazil Accounted for Largest Share of Precision Harvesting Market in South America

10.2.2.3 Argentina

10.2.2.4 Market in Argentina to Witness Highest Growth in South America

10.2.2.5 Rest of South America

10.3 Europe

10.3.1 Germany

10.3.1.1 Germany Held Largest Share of Precision Harvesting Market in Europe

10.3.2 France

10.3.2.1 Demand for Precision Harvesting Equipment in France Increasing Owing to Shortage of Skilled Labor

10.3.3 UK

10.3.3.1 UK to Witness an Increasing Adoption of Precision Harvesting Technologies

10.3.4 Italy

10.3.4.1 Increasing Adoption of Precision Harvesting Equipment to Boost Productivity

10.3.5 Poland

10.3.5.1 Poland's Agriculture Sector Shifting Toward Large-Scale Commercial Farming to Boost Productivity

10.3.6 The Netherlands

10.3.6.1 Market in Netherlands Expected to Witness Highest Growth in Europe

10.3.7 Rest of Europe

10.4 Asia Pacific

10.4.1 Australia

10.4.1.1 Australia Accounted for Largest Market Share in Asia Pacific

10.4.2 China

10.4.2.1 Government Incentives and Investments in Agriculture Sector to Boost Precision Harvesting Market in China

10.4.3 Japan

10.4.3.1 Aging Agrarian Workforce Creating Demand for Harvesting Robots

10.4.4 India

10.4.4.1 Market in India Expected to Witness Highest Growth in Asia Pacific

10.4.5 South Korea

10.4.5.1 Increasing Adoption of Precision Harvesting Technologies to Tackle Labor Shortage

10.4.6 Rest of Asia Pacific

10.5 Rest of World

10.5.1 Africa

10.5.2 Middle East

10.5.2.1 Increasing R&D Investments to Boost Adoption of Harvesting Robots

10.5.3 Others



11 Competitive Landscape

11.1 Introduction

11.2 Ranking Analysis in Precision Harvesting Market, 2018

11.3 Competitive Situation and Trends

11.4 Competitive Leadership Mapping, 2018

11.4.1 Visionary Leaders

11.4.2 Dynamic Differentiators

11.4.3 Innovators

11.4.4 Emerging Companies



12 Company Profiles

12.1 Key Players

12.2 Deere & Company

12.3 Trimble

12.4 Agco

12.5 Agjunction

12.6 Raven Industries

12.7 Claas Group

12.8 AG Leader Technology

12.9 Teejet Technologies

12.10 Topcon Positioning Systems

12.11 Dickey-John Corporation

12.12 CNH Industrial

12.13 Other Important Players

12.14 Start-Up Ecosystem



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/znwzrs/global_precision?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
TORONTO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plateau Energy Metals Inc . (Plateau or the "Company") (TSX-V:PLU) (OTCQB:PLUUF) is pleased to announce an updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Falchani Lithium Project located on the Macusani Plateau in the Puno District of southeastern Peru.



We have nearly doubled the Falchani lithium resource which brings our project into one of the largest hard rock lithium projects in the world, stated Alex Holmes, CEO of Plateau. We have much more room to grow and are in the midst of scoping out a scalable, long life project while keeping capital intensity and margins front of mind.

Key Highlights:

The Falchani project now ranks as the 6 th largest hard rock lithium resource in the world (1)

largest hard rock lithium resource in the world All zones increased by approximately 90% of contained lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) (2)

High grade tuff zone increased by over 40% on a LCE and tonnage basis

Lower breccia zone materially thicker and higher grade at Falchani West with total tonnage increasing by nearly 500% with 50% higher grade

New resource area in Falchani West is all at or near surface, with a minimal anticipated strip ratio

Low strip ratio is anticipated at Falchani East

Open to the north and north-west of Falchani West resource

Tres Hermanas area represents an exploration target of outcropping high-grade tuff immediately west of the new Mineral Resource at surface, and over large surface expression

All conventional process routes tested to date yield a high value, low impurity lithium carbonate or lithium hydroxide product, not a concentrate. Work is ongoing to optimize flow sheet.

(1) Based on the Companys review of publicly available information as at March 4, 2019

(2) Li Conversion Factors as follows: Li:Li 2 O=2.153; Li:Li 2 CO 3 =5.323; Li 2 O:Li 2 CO 3 =2.473

Click here to listen to a 90-second audio of Alex Holmes covering the highlights of this news release.

Summary Lithium Mineral Resource Estimates by Category

The consolidated Mineral Resource estimates, based on a 1,000 ppm lithium (Li) cut-off grade, are as follows:

A. Within the Li-rich tuff sequence, only:

Indicated Mineral Resources: 42.53Mt at 3,500 ppm Li containing 0.79Mt LCE

Inferred Mineral Resources: 123.55Mt at 3,243 ppm Li containing 2.13Mt LCE



B. Within the wider Li-rich package including the upper and lower breccia units:

Indicated Mineral Resources: 60.92Mt at 2,954 ppm Li containing 0.96Mt LCE

Inferred Mineral Resources: 260.07Mt at 2,706 ppm Li containing 3.75Mt LCE

Drilling will continue to define additional Mineral Resources following the Preliminary Economic Assessment targeted for late in the first half of 2019

Mineral Resource Estimate Details

The Mineral Corporation has updated the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Falchani Lithium Project using additional drilling completed to the west, and within the previous resource area announced on July 24, 2018.

Subhorizontal lithium mineralization occurs within a lithium-rich tuff, which varies in thickness from 50m to 140m, and in an upper and lower breccia unit, which occur in the immediate hangingwall and footwall of the tuff, respectively. The lithium-rich volcanic tuff unit, interpreted to be aqualain and the transitional lithium-rich breccias are interpreted to have been deposited in a crater lake volcano-sedimentary environment.

The Mineral Resource estimates are based on the previous 29 drillholes and 20 additional drillholes (see Figure 1). Sampling was carried out at sampling intervals of between 0.5m and 1.0m. Samples used throughout the estimation process were composited to a downhole length of 2.5m.

The Mineral Corporation undertook a site visit to the Falchani Lithium Project in May 2018 during which, outcrops of the tuff and breccia units were visited, and the drilling and sampling operations observed. In addition, The Mineral Corporation visited the Certimin laboratory in Lima, Peru, where all of the lithium analyses for the Falchani Lithium Project have been undertaken.

The exploration and sampling protocols for lithium at this project are well established, and have been published in a previous Mineral Resource Estimate for the Falchani Lithium Project National Instrument (NI) 43-101 technical report. Certified reference materials (standards) are inserted for lithium, and as part of the previous Mineral Resource estimate, The Mineral Corporation requested that the Company undertake a re-sampling and analysis exercise on a set of randomly selected sample rejects. The results of the QA/QC program is considered acceptable for the reporting of mineral resource estimates.

The lithium distribution within the tuffs and breccias has a prominent vertical zonation. The breccias are referred to as the Upper Breccia (UBX) and Lower Breccia (LBX) that are found above, and below the lithium-rich tuff unit, respectively. The tuff was sub-divided into three sub-units (LRT1, LRT2 and LRT3), based on lithium, cesium, rubidium, strontium and barium contents, and the upper and lower bounding surfaces were constructed utilizing Datamine Strat3D modelling software, applying Inverse Distance (ID) interpolation of the zone thicknesses.

Within the zones, well structured horizontal variograms were obtained for lithium abundance. Ordinary Kriging (OK) oriented sub-parallel to the mineralization surfaces was employed for the estimation of lithium grades. Grades were estimated into a block model of 25m x 25m x 5m.

The geological and lithium grade continuity within the units are very consistent.

The Mineral Corporation has assessed that there are reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction for the lithium in these Mineral Resource estimates. This assessment is informed by the metallurgical testwork undertaken by the Company to date, supported by the broad economic assumptions for the mining and marketing of lithium provided in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Macusani Project, published by the Company in January 2016.

The Mineral Corporation has based the Mineral Resource classification on the geostatistical confidence of the lithium estimates, supported by data quality and data spacing considerations.

The updated current Mineral Resource estimates from March 1, 2019 are as follows:

Stratum Tonnes (Mt) Density Li (ppm) Li 2 O (%) Li 2 O (Mt) LCE (%) LCE (Mt) Indicated UBX 6.23 2.4 1510 0.33 0.02 0.80 0.05 LRT1 7.47 2.4 3709 0.80 0.06 1.97 0.15 LRT2 22.03 2.4 3300 0.71 0.16 1.76 0.39 LRT3 13.03 2.4 3690 0.79 0.10 1.96 0.26 LBX 12.16 2.4 1816 0.39 0.05 0.97 0.12 Total 60.92 2.4 2954 0.64 0.39 1.57 0.96 Inferred

Stratum Tonnes (Mt) Density Li (ppm) Li 2 O (%) Li 2 O (Mt) Li 2 CO 3 (%) Li 2 CO 3 (Mt) UBX 13.77 2.4 1730 0.37 0.05 0.92 0.13 LRT1 24.01 2.4 3346 0.72 0.17 1.78 0.43 LRT2 62.30 2.4 3155 0.68 0.42 1.68 1.05 LRT3 37.24 2.4 3324 0.72 0.27 1.77 0.66 LBX 122.75 2.4 2275 0.49 0.60 1.21 1.49 Total 260.07 2.4 2706 0.58 1.52 1.44 3.75 Minor discrepancies due to rounding may occur. Cut-off 1,000 ppm Li Tonnes are Metric Li Conversion Factors as follows: Li:Li 2 O=2.153; Li:Li 2 CO 3 =5.323; Li 2 O:Li 2 CO 3 =2.473 Geological losses of 5% or 10% have been applied, based on geological structure and data density. The average geological loss is 6%.

The original Mineral Resource estimates from July 24, 2018, are as follows:

Stratum Tonnes (Mt) Density Li (ppm) Li 2 O (%) LCE (%) Contained

LCE (Mt) Indicated UBX 5.77 2.4 1259 0.27 0.67 0.04 LRT1 6.89 2.4 3667 0.79 1.95 0.13 LRT2 19.75 2.4 3236 0.70 1.72 0.34 LRT3 8.18 2.4 3611 0.78 1.92 0.16 Total 40.58 2.4 3104 0.67 1.65 0.67 Inferred

Stratum Tonnes (Mt) Density Li (ppm) Li 2 O (%) Li 2 CO 3 (%) Li 2 CO 3 (Mt) UBX 9.44 2.4 1589 0.34 0.85 0.08 LRT1 14.17 2.4 3681 0.79 1.96 0.28 LRT2 43.18 2.4 3254 0.70 1.73 0.75 LRT3 20.45 2.4 3551 0.76 1.89 0.39 LBX 34.46 2.4 1486 0.32 0.79 0.27 Total 121.70 2.4 2724 0.59 1.45 1.76 Minor discrepancies due to rounding may occur. Cut-off 500 ppm Li Tonnes are Metric Li Conversion Factors as follows: Li:Li 2 O=2.153; Li:Li 2 CO 3 =5.323; Li 2 O:Li 2 CO 3 =2.473 No geological losses applied

High Grade Tuff Unit



The overall contained LCE Mineral Resources in the high grade tuff unit has increased by 43%.

The updated Mineral Resource estimate has increased the mineralized material (tonnes) in the tuff sequence by 47%. The initial estimate reported Indicated Mineral Resources of 34.82Mt at 3,409ppm Li (0.73% Li 2 O eq) containing 0.63Mt LCE. Indicated Mineral Resources in the tuff sequence has increased to 42.53Mt at 3,491 ppm Li (0.75% Li 2 O eq) containing 0.79Mt LCE. The initial estimate reported Inferred Mineral Resources in the tuff unit of 77.80Mt at 3,410ppm Li (0.73% Li 2 O eq) containing 1.41Mt LCE has now increased to 123.55Mt at 3,243 ppm Li (0.70% Li 2 O eq) containing 2.13Mt LCE.

All Lithium Mineralized Units

The overall contained LCE Mineral Resources in all lithium mineralized units has increased by 93%.

The initial estimate reported Indicated Mineral Resources of 40.58Mt at 3,104ppm Li (0.67% Li 2 O eq) containing 0.67Mt LCE. Indicated Mineral Resources has increased to 60.92Mt at 2,954 ppm Li (0.64% Li 2 O eq) containing 0.96Mt LCE. The initial estimate reported Inferred Mineral Resources from all units of 121.70Mt at 2,724ppm Li (0.59% Li 2 O eq) containing 1.76Mt LCE, which has increased to 260.07Mt at 2,706ppm Li (0.58 Li 2 O eq) containing 3.75Mt LCE.

At Falchani West, the lower breccia intersected is significantly higher grade and may be thicker than at Falchani East, achieving thicknesses of over 200m in the west. The average grade of the lower breccia unit has increased by 50% from 1,486 ppm Li from the Inferred Mineral Resources category in the original Mineral Resource estimate to 2,275 ppm Li in the Inferred Mineral Resoures category.

The results of the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Falchani Lithium Project will be summarized by The Mineral Corporation in a NI 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) Technical Report that will be filed under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com within 45 days of this news release and on the Companys website.

Falchani Lithium Project Model

The host rocks are volcanic rhyolitic tuff (hardened volcanic ash) and are believed to be similar to the lithium source rocks for brine projects which are formed from groundwater leaching volcanic ash and the lithium rich aqueous solution traveling into salar basins. Falchani volcanic rocks are very young and have not been leached, and being very fine-grained volcanic equivalents to pegmatites, they have no appreciable lithium-bearing minerals. The lithium is interpreted to be locked within the unstable volcanic glass forming the bulk of the tuff matrix.

The upper and lower breccia are hydrothermally altered and comprised of clasts and blocks of the tuff unit. Preliminary leach results from the upper and lower breccia units suggests that the breccia mineralization behaves similar to the better studied, lithium rich tuff unit. Similar extraction, leach and processing routes and low impurity solution are anticipated.

Metallurgical Testwork Details

The Company has completed numerous successful metallurgical tests on the Falchani material with TECMMINE in Peru and at ANSTO Minerals in Australia using a series of conventional process techniques. Work with ANSTO Minerals and DRA Globals processing team continues as we narrow down the preferred processing path based on test results and the incorporation of high-level economic parameters (trade-off studies). Results to date demonstrate a path to a low impurity, battery grade product as opposed to producing a concentrate.

Plateau has commenced a PEA for the Falchani Lithium Project to establish production cost estimates and economics for the project. The PEA is being managed by DRA Global as lead engineer, targeted for completion at the end of the first half of 2019.

Qualified Persons

Mr. Stewart Nupen, B.Sc. (Hons), FGSSA, Pr Sci Nat (No 400174/07) of The Mineral Corporation, South Africa, an independent mining consulting firm to the Company, is a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101, and has prepared or supervised the preparation of, or has reviewed and approved, the scientific and technical data pertaining to the Mineral Resource estimates contained in this release.

Mr. Ted OConnor, P.Geo., a Director of Plateau, and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.

About The Mineral Corporation

The Mineral Corporation is based in Johannesburg, South Africa and is a leading senior advisor to the international minerals business offering a broad range of services related to mineral exploration, mine development, and mine optimization across a diverse range of commodities and geographies. The Mineral Corporation has been working with the Company, and its predecessors for over six years.

Quality Assurance, Quality Control and Data Verification

Drill core samples are cut longitudinally with a diamond saw with one-half of the core placed in sealed bags and shipped to Certimins sample analytical laboratory in Lima, Peru for sample preparation, processing and ICP-MS/OES multi-element analysis. Certimin is an ISO 9000 certified assay laboratory. The Companys Qualified Person for the drill programme, Mr. Stewart Nupen and Mr. Ted OConnor, have verified the data disclosed, including drill core, sampling and analytical data in the field and laboratory. The program is designed to include a comprehensive analytical quality assurance and control routine comprising the systematic use of Company inserted standards, blanks and field duplicate samples, internal laboratory standards and has also included check analyses at other accredited laboratories.

About Plateau Energy Metals

Plateau Energy Metals Inc ., a Canadian exploration and development company, is enabling the new energy paradigm through exploring and developing its Falchani Lithium Project and its Macusani Uranium Project in southeastern Peru. The Company, with 100% control of mineral concessions covering over 93,000 hectares (930 km2), has significant and growing lithium resources and all reported uranium resources known in Peru, all of which are situated near infrastructure.

For further information, please contact: Plateau Energy Metals Inc. Alex Holmes, CEO & Director Facebook: www.facebook.com/pluenergy/ +1-416-628-9600 Twitter: www.twitter.com/pluenergy/ IR@PlateauEnergyMetals.com Website: www.PlateauEnergyMetals.com

Forward Looking Information

This press release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning the Companys plans and expectations related to its properties, including, but not limited to, the merits of the properties, the Companys plans and expectations with respect to the properties, expected exploration drilling, an updated resource estimate, metallurgical test programs and a maiden PEA at Falchani Lithium Project; expected optimization work programs, an updated PEA and exploration drilling at Macusani Uranium; and the timing and expected results related to the foregoing. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", indicate, scheduled, target, goal, potential, subject, efforts, option and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. Although the Company believes that the opinions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since the Company can provide no assurance that such opinions and expectations will prove to be correct. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; the possibility that any future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with our expectations; mining and development risks, including risks related to accidents, equipment breakdowns, labour disputes (including work stoppages and strikes) or other unanticipated difficulties with or interruptions in exploration and development; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; risks related to commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations; risks related to foreign operations; the cyclical nature of the industry in which we operate; risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms or delays in obtaining governmental approvals; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the certainty of title to our properties; risks related to the uncertain global economic environment; and other risks and uncertainties related to our prospects, properties and business strategy, as described in more detail in Plateau Energy Metals recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com . Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and Plateau cautions against placing undue reliance thereon. Except as required by applicable securities laws, neither Plateau nor its management assume any obligation to revise or update these 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 press release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d47dc9cf-9e01-4450-8b03-61484bd70cc4
LEXINGTON, S.C., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avtec Inc., the leading independent provider of technology and services to help clients orchestrate their missions, today announced that Lauren Eastwood and Michael Caston have been named 2019 International Wireless Communications Expo (IWCE) Young Professional Award winners. The awards recognize professionals under 35 who are growing and excelling in the communications technology field.



Avtec President Arjen Maarleveld said, This award acknowledges the significant contributions Lauren and Michael have made to Avtec and the telecommunications industry. We are pleased to honor their professional accomplishments and to celebrate their achievements.

Eastwood earned a Bachelor of Science degree in integrated information technology from the University of South Carolina. She held several technical roles in the railway and health care industries before joining Avtec in 2017 as a systems integration engineer responsible for installing console systems in customer sites across North America.

Caston graduated from the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Science degree in integrated information technology. He joined Avtec in 2016 as a customer support engineer providing technical guidance and resolving issues. He was promoted to the role of senior customer support engineer in 2018.

Lauren and Michael represent Avtec familys next generation of talent, said Vice President, Services and Support Dawn Fisher. They are well-respected among their customers, colleagues, and the Avtec management team for their skill and professionalism, and the technical aptitude they demonstrate when tackling new challenges.

This years IWCE Young Professional Award winners are doing innovative work to shape the future of our industry. We look forward to celebrating them for their impressive accomplishments at IWCE in March, said Stephanie McCall, Show Director, IWCE.

Eastwood and Caston will be formally recognized during a special ceremony in Las Vegas on March 7 at IWCE, the premier annual event for communications technology professionals.

About Avtec

Avtecs technology and services help public safety, business, energy, transportation, and government organizations orchestrate their missions. Dispatchers at major airlines, utilities, railroads, and public safety agencies have been using Avtec products and services to orchestrate their critical missions since 1979, with thousands of systems installed. Visit www.avtecinc.com to learn more.

Contact:

Tiffany Rushton, Director of Marketing Communications

Email: Media@avtecinc.com

Phone: (803) 358-3435
Richland WA, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vivos, Inc . (OTCPINK: RDGL), provides a summary of the previous update on dogs that have been treated to date in the canine soft tissue sarcoma series.

Dr. Mike Korenko, Vivos Inc CEO stated On February 25, 2019 we provided a detailed update on the status of dogs that have been treated to date with Y-90 IsoPet at the University of Missouri Center for Veterinary Medicine. Reporting results on therapies at the University of Missouri requires their review and approval. As a result, the last press release was technically accurate, but included terminology commonly used by veterinary professionals but not generally understood by the general public. For that reason, I believe that it is necessary to provide the following summary observations:

IsoPet  is easily administered in an outpatient setting using the procedures provided in the product labeling.

is easily administered in an outpatient setting using the procedures provided in the product labeling. IsoPet  killed any cancer cells that came within the treatment zone.

killed any cancer cells that came within the treatment zone. Biologically it takes time for the dead tissue to resorb, but the rate and quality of normal tissue regeneration is encouraging.

I am confident that IsoPet extended the duration and quality of life of the patients that were treated.

I was particularly impressed that IsoPet effectively stopped the growth of a half-pound tumor.

IsoPet is a great product and we are looking forward to making it available commercially.

About Vivos Inc. (OTC: RDGL)

Vivos, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company researching and developing minimally invasive treatments to combat cancer in humans and animals. It has developed an Yttrium-90 based brachytherapy injectable device, for the treatment of tumors in animals () and in humans (Radiogel). Brachytherapy uses highly localized radiation to destroy cancerous tumors by placing a radioactive isotope directly inside the treatment area using the companys proprietary hydrogel formulation. The injection delivers therapeutic radiation from within the tumor without the entrance skin dose and associated side effects of treatment that characterize external-beam radiation therapy. This feature allows safe delivery of higher doses needed for treating both non-resectable and radiation-resistant cancers.

IsoPet for treating animals uses the same technology as RadioGel for treating humans. The Food and Drug Administration advised using different product names in order to avoid confusion and cross-use.

IsoPet is a hydrogel liquid containing tiny yttrium-90 phosphate particles that may be administered directly into a tumor. This hydrogel is an yttrium-90 carrier at room temperature that gels within the tumor interstitial space after injection to keep the radiation source safely in place. The short-range beta radiation from yttrium-90 localizes the dose within the treatment area so that normal organs and tissues are not adversely affected.

IsoPet also has a short half-life  delivering more than 90% of its therapeutic radiation within 10 days. This compares favorably to other available treatment options requiring up to six weeks or more to deliver a full course of radiation therapy. Therapy can be safely administered as an out-patient procedure and the patient may return home without subsequent concern for radiation dose to the family.

The IsoPet Solutions division is using university veterinary hospitals to demonstrate the safety and therapeutic effectiveness for different animal cancers. The testing on feline sarcoma at the Washington State University is completed and the testing on canine soft tissue sarcomas at the University of Missouri is currently underway.

The Company recently obtained confirmation from the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine that IsoPet is classified as a device according to its intended use and means by which it achieves its intended purpose. The FDA also reviewed the product labeling which included canine and feline sarcomas as the initial indications for use. FDA does not require pre-market approval for veterinary devices so no additional approval is required for treating skin cancer, which is the largest market sector. Following this demonstration phase, Vivos can begin to generate revenues through the sale of IsoPet to University animal hospitals and private veterinary clinic consortiums.

The Company is also engaging the FDA for premarket clearance to market RadioGel for the treatment of advanced basal and squamous cell skin cancers in humans.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "should," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimates," "projects," "intends," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the Company's ability to successfully execute its expanded business strategy, including by entering into definitive agreements with suppliers, commercial partners and customers; 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 technical advances and delivering technological innovations, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, regulatory requirements and the ability to meet them, government agency rules and changes, and various other factors beyond the Company's control.

CONTACT:
CALGARY, Alberta, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FluroTech Ltd. ( TSX-V: TEST ) ( OTCQB: FLURF ), ( FluroTech or the Company ) recognizes the burgeoning market for the CompleTestTM hemp and cannabis testing device with a notable industry opportunity brought about by the signing of the 2018 United States (U.S.) Farm Bill.



The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018, commonly referred to as the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, removes the long-held legal implications, stigma and ambiguity surrounding the American hemp industry.

Changes to the U.S. Farm Bill included removing hemp from the Controlled Substances Act, means it is no longer an illegal substance under federal law. Despite belonging to the same species as cannabis, hemp has no psychoactive effects. Under the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, a hemp plant must contain less than 0.3 per cent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).

With the U.S. Federal legalization of hemp, FluroTech is able to expand its addressable market in North America to the U.S. and progress its goal to be the preferred in-house precision testing device for hemp and cannabis growers globally, commented Danny Dalla-Longa. Hemp is difficult to distinguish from cannabis with THC from appearance and scent. We anticipate that in addition to growers, law enforcement and other regulators will require devices that can accurately distinguish the two products.

According to industry analysts at Brightfield Group, the hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) market in the U.S. is expected to quickly go mainstream and become a $5.7 billion market by next year and growing to a $22 billion market by 2022. Ensuring high quality hemp is produced with known THC and CBD concentrations, and free of heavy metals, pesticides and mold, will be required by consumers of hemp-based human foods and animal supplements. The Company plans to have its hemp test protocol completed in Q2 2019 and to enter the American market shortly thereafter.

CBD can be found in varieties of the cannabis plant, including hemp plants. CBD does not produce a high or intoxicating effect. However, there is some evidence that CBD may influence some of the effects that THC has on the brain. CBD is also being studied for its possible therapeutic uses; it has received market approval in the U.S. for two severe forms of epilepsy.



About CompleTest

CompleTest is FluroTechs flagship brand and product line. CompleTest is a portable, cost-effective, state-of-the-art hemp and cannabis testing device, able to provide fast, accurate and consistent testing results. It is designed for cultivators, dispensaries and anyone with an interest in optimizing potency yield and consumer safety to test the quality and safety of their cannabis products.

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 U.S. hemp market opportunity for the CompleTestTM, FluroTechs ability to expand the addressable market into the U.S., the ability to develop a hemp testing protocol and the timing of the protocol completion.

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 hemp testing protocol utilizing the CompleTestTM in the U.S., 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 and hemp industry in general, users of the Companys CompleTestTM technology and the CompleTest failing to achieve the anticipated benefits of the product, changes to the anticipated regulatory regime in respect of the cannabis and hemp 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.
English Danish

Company announcement no. 7/2019

Copenhagen, 4 March 2019

Conferize A/S convenes Annual General Meeting 2019

Notice is hereby given of the Annual General Meeting 2019 of Conferize to be held on Tuesday 19 March 2019 at 16:00 at Slvgade 38F, st., 1307 Kbenhavn K.

The agenda and the complete proposals, as well as background material, are attached to this notice - and can also be found at invest.conferize.com. (only in Danish).



In the prospectus from the IPO in June 2017, the company outlined three overall plans:

The launch of the next generation of the company's Event Management Software (EMS). This new platform was launched on 30 November 2018. Creation and validation of marketing channels in order to reach event organizers. Since the listing in June 2017, this core segment achieved a growth of 427%. A capital increase in order to finance operations until realization of a positive cash flow.

Now that the business goals have been realized, the time has come to implement the necessary capital increase, which will support Conferize's journey from being a development company to a commercial operating company with a focus on earnings.

At the general meeting, the Board of Directors of Conferize therefore proposes to approve the investment agreement with the international capital fund Global Emerging Markets (GEM) regarding subscription of shares for up to DKK 75 million, cf. company announcement no. 5/2019.

In order to further strengthen the company's funding, as well as the company's foundation in Denmark, the Board of Directors also proposes to authorize the Board of Directors to conduct a capital increase, giving existing and new shareholders the opportunity to subscribe for new shares with an 8% discount, corresponding to GEM's terms.

About Conferize

Conferize is a digital platform for event organizers and attendees. Too many events and conferences are still planned and realized following a template from the time the world was still analog. This means that the attendees benefit too little in terms of networking, knowledge sharing and participation, and organizers struggle with old-fashioned and incomplete products, ultimately resulting in a bad experience for the attendees.

Conferize solves this fundamental problem by offering a comprehensive solution that makes it easy for the organizer and creates greater value for the attendees  before, during and after the event. At the same time Conferize connects users and content in a global network of events, providing an overview of an otherwise fragmented industry, Conferize has been used by thousands of events in more than 140 countries and has been official partner for TEDx since 2014.

Business registration no. 34472742 | invest.conferize.com

Certified Adviser

The Companys Certified Adviser is Baker Tilly Corporate Finance P/S (Business registration no. 40073310), Gert Mortensen, Poul Bundgaards Vej 1, 1., DK-2500 Valby, +45 30 73 06 67, gmm@bakertilly.dk.

Investor relations

Sren Dalsgaard Hansen, CFO Conferize A/S, +45 31 21 17 26, ir@conferize.com

Attachments
CALGARY, Alberta, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanwha Q CELLS GmbH and Eguana Technologies Inc. (TSX.V:EGT) (OTCQB:EGTYF) are pleased to announce that the companies have entered into an exclusive agreement to market, sell, and distribute the Eguana Enduro Home storage system throughout the European Union, Switzerland, and Norway under the Q CELLS brand. Hanwha Q CELLS GmbH (Q CELLS), the German subsidiary of Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd. (Hanwha Q CELLS), one of the largest solar cell and module manufacturers in the world, is recognized as the market leader in Germanys solar module market in 2018, according to EuPD Research.

Q CELLS is the current European market leader for residential rooftop PV installations, a position that has been achieved through superior products and the development of the Q.PARTNER network, stated Eguana CEO Justin Holland. Home storage systems are included in over 50% of new solar systems currently sold in Germany and standard solar+storage packages support the fastest market penetration potential. This partnership is a natural fit for both companies and we look forward to working closely with the Q CELLS team.

The Enduro is a fully integrated AC-coupled solution for the European self-consumption market, which allows homeowners to use their own PV electricity whenever they need it  night or day  which significantly reduces utility bills, while providing emergency back-up power through an integrated power outlet.

Q CELLS searched the market for an AC-coupled solution that could be incorporated into our Q.HOME package. We believe that the Eguana Enduro is the product that best exemplifies our commitment to best-in-class products, quality, and reliability for our consumers and Q. PARTNERS, said Vincent Lim, Head of Business Development and System Solutions at Q CELLS. Our 2018 residential installations across Europe surpassed 15,000 customers. The addition of the Eguana Enduro to our Q.HOME package will allow us to continue this growth trajectory and maintain our leadership position.

The agreement has an initial order quantity of 500 units, which extends the exclusivity period into the second contract year, with an additional minimum of 1,500 units through the second contract year for Q CELLS to maintain and extend exclusivity into the third year.

This partnership with Q CELLS will put our Enduro product immediately in front of more than 1,000 installers across the region, with over 600 in Germany alone. We are looking forward to helping Q CELLS meet and exceed its sales targets, added Martin Duerr, Director Business Development at Eguana.

About Hanwha Q CELLS

Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Ltd. (Hanwha Q CELLS) and Hanwha Q CELLS & Advanced Materials Corporation (Collectively, Hanwha Q CELLS) is one of the worlds largest and most recognized photovoltaic manufacturers for its high-performance, high-quality solar cells and modules. It is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea (Global Executive HQ) and Thalheim, Germany (Technology & Innovation HQ) with its diverse international manufacturing facilities in the U.S, Malaysia, China, and South Korea. Hanwha Q CELLS offers the full spectrum of photovoltaic products, applications and solutions, from cells and modules to kits to systems to large-scale solar power plants. Through its growing global business network spanning Europe, North America, Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East, Hanwha Q CELLS provides excellent services and long-term partnerships to its customers in the utility, commercial, governmental and residential markets. Hanwha Q CELLS is a flagship company of Hanwha Group, a FORTUNE Global 500 firm and a Top 10 business enterprise in South Korea.



For more information, visit: https://www.q-cells.eu/

About Eguana Technologies Inc.

Based in Calgary, Alberta Canada, Eguana Technologies (EGT: TSX.V) designs and manufactures high performance residential and commercial energy storage systems. Eguana has two decades of experience delivering grid edge power electronics for fuel cell, photovoltaic and battery applications, and delivers proven, durable, high quality solutions from its high capacity manufacturing facilities in Europe and North America.

With thousands of its proprietary energy storage inverters deployed in the European and North American markets, Eguana is the leading supplier of energy storage solutions for solar self-consumption, grid services, and demand charge applications at the grid edge.

To learn more, visit www.EguanaTech.com or follow us on Twitter @EguanaTech .

Company Inquiries Product / EES Inquiries Justin Holland Martin Duerr CEO, Eguana Technologies Inc. Director of Business Development +1.416.728.7635 +1.416.318.6675 Justin.Holland@EguanaTech.com Martin.Duerr@EguanaTech.com

Forward Looking Information

The reader is advised that some of the information herein may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning assigned by National Instruments 51-102 and other relevant securities legislation. In particular, we include: statements pertaining to the value of our power controls to the energy storage market and statements concerning the use of proceeds and the Company's ability to obtain necessary approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and involves a number of risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or future events or developments, to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speaks only as of the date hereof. Readers are also directed to the Risk Factors section of the Companys most recent audited Financial Statements which may be found on its website or at sedar.com. The Company does not undertake any obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking information contained herein to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as may be required under 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.
TORONTO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CB2 Insights (CB2 or the Company), a leading data-driven company focused on bringing real-world evidence driven from the point-of-care to the medical cannabis community, has released its new data report,  Lack of Experience Found Within Large Portion of Medical Cannabis Patients . The report, the second in a series outlining trends and insights found within the medical cannabis industry, focuses on the experience level of patients entering a states medical cannabis program and the frequency of any previous usage. The study looked at more than 1,600 patients over a six-week period across seven states.



According to the study, more than one third (37.59 percent) of patients first entering their states medical cannabis program have little to no previous cannabis experience. The study qualifies little experience as the patient not having used cannabis in at least three years or having used it less than five times, and never for therapeutic purposes. CB2 Insights believes this highlights the continuing need for greater education to the patient community as well as to other stakeholders such as regulatory bodies, government agencies, and healthcare practitioners. The study also finds that certain states have a much higher propensity for naive patients, ones with little to no previous cannabis experience, further bolstering the importance of enhanced education.

Key highlights of the report include:

Across all seven states, the most common experience level among patients was Daily Usage with 46.75 percent, followed by No Experience with 22.35 percent and Little Experience with 15.23 percent

The states with the highest percentage of Naive Patients were Maryland (67 percent), Illinois (64.3 percent) and Pennsylvania (63.3 percent)

Rhode Island (79.3 percent) and Connecticut (76 percent) had the highest level of Experienced Patients

The results of this study prove that it is a complete misnomer that medical cannabis programs are simply a means for recreational users to gain legal access to cannabis, said Dan Thompson, Chief Marketing Officer, CB2 Insights. With some states having two-thirds of patients with very little previous cannabis experience, it highlights the need for comprehensive, medically-driven education for patients when integrating cannabis into their treatment plan.

The study also looks at the incorrect and misleading information that exists online. Unless guided by a trained medical professional, patients are extremely likely to find misinformation as opposed to useful information.

Thompson continued, Cannabis is complex, as are the ailments patients are seeking treatment for and any traditional pharmaceuticals the patients may also be taking. As is the case with any new treatment, patients should be seeking out qualified assistance rather than self-medicating or relying on community blogs for medical information.

CB2 Insights focuses on bringing objective, clinically-validated data to the medical cannabis community and the healthcare industry at-large. The companys sub-brands have amassed more than 300,000 cannabis patient interactions worldwide.

To download a copy of the report Lack of Experience Found Within Large Portion of Medical Cannabis Patients please visit: www.cb2insights.com/naivepatientreport .

About CB2 Insights

CB2 Insights has a mission to mainstream medical cannabis into traditional healthcare. We do so by gathering data and creating objective real-world evidence through our proprietary software and service brands. Using clinical management and data collection software at the point-of-care, CB2 Insights and its group of sub-brands has become a leading force behind bringing traditional healthcare protocols to the rapidly evolving global cannabis industry.

For more information please visit www.cb2insights.com.

For Investor Inquiries

Sophic Capital

1.647.362.8286

investors@cb2insights.com
PHOENIX, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uptick Newswire Stock Day Podcast welcomed HempAmericana, Inc. ( HMPQ ) (HempAmericana or the Company) an emerging leader in the CBD products market. CEO, Salvador Rosillo, joined Stock Day host Everett Jolly.



To begin the interview Jolly asked Rosillo for an update on the Companys projects since he was last on the show in October. Rosillo shared that the Company has been developing its CBD oil extraction method that aids in the development of products for anxiety, pain, and other ailments without the effects of THC. Its not a medicine, its more like a regulator., stated Rosillo.

Rosillo explained that the Company wanted to get into the production side of the industry, however received defective machinery. They currently have technicians working on the distillery machines, which has slowed the Companys progress. However, now the Company is getting back on track towards its goals.

Jolly then asked if the Company has begun processing yet and what the business plan is going forward. Rosillo explained that to really become competitors in the CBD space, they need to be able to process at least 1,200 kilos per day. This is a much larger capacity than the Company is currently able to handle, however they are making strides toward this goal.

Jolly followed by asking what steps the Company will take towards this goal. Rosillo shared that the Company is on the horizon of applying for additional capital to expand, which will allow them to achieve this growth.

In closing, Rosillo shared that the Company is recuperating from previous hardships and is making preparations to expand and become a larger player in the CBD market.

To hear Salvador Rosillos entire interview, follow the link to the podcast here: https://upticknewswire.com/featured-interview-ceo-salvador-rosillo-of-hempamericana-inc-otcpink-hmpq-7/ .

Investors Hangout is a proud sponsor of "Stock Day", and Uptick Newswire encourages listeners to visit the companys message board at https://investorshangout.com/ .

About HempAmericana, Inc.

HempAmericana is an emerging leader in the CBD products market. The Company owns and operates a high-capacity, state-of-the-art CBD extraction and processing facility located in Augusta, Maine. This facility is armed with a supersized supercritical CO2 extraction system, centrifugal partition chromatography refinement technology, and a mechanized fully-automated CBD bottling system. HempAmericana also owns and operates Union Farm, a high-potency CBD strain development facility located in Union, Maine. The Companys CBD oil business uses the brand designation, Weed Got Oil. HempAmericana also researches, develops, and sells products made of industrial hemp, including a popular brand of hemp rolling papers marketed under the brand name, Rolling Thunders. See more at www.hempamericana.com.

Safe Harbor Provision Cautionary statement for purposes of the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Information in this news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If such risks or uncertainties materialize or such assumptions prove incorrect, the results of the Company and its consolidated subsidiaries could differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and assumptions. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions include the execution and performance of contracts by the Company and its customers, suppliers and partners. Please also review Hemp Americana annual and quarterly financials for a more complete discussion of risk factors. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise. This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification of these securities under the laws of any such state.

Contact:

HempAmericana.com

Salvador Rosillo

HempAmericana, Inc.

Phone: (888) 977-7985

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/




LOS ANGELES, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE-- Right on Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: RTON) today has announced Double Eagle Distribution of Deerfield Beach Florida has accepted it's first order of Hemp based ENDO Brands product for distribution through its sales network in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.



Double Eagle Distribution, Inc. has agreed to carry and distribute the entire Hemp based ENDO Brands product line in return for an exclusive distribution agreement for Broward and Palm counties in the state of Florida. Double Eagle has received their first shipment and has begun immediate distribution and will commence sales training of its sales staff so they can be more effective selling the company's first Hemp Extract based product. Vic Morrison and Dana Verrill from the company will be there for training and riding with the sales staff to key accounts.

"We are excited by the opportunity to partner with such well-established distributors and align ourselves with strategic organizations who will further support our momentum and broaden our retail footprint into 2019, said Vic Morrison (Vic) Executive VP of Right on Brands Corporate Development. These collaborations further reinforce our strategy to increase placements of ENDO Brands products where our customers live, work and play, through a diversity of channels and geographic locations, including broadening our retail footprint in high-profile retailers and convenience stores. Our goal will be accomplished by aligned Right on Brands with top national distributors such as Double Eagle Distribution.

Right on Brands sales for this quarter are on target for our biggest quarter ever. by powerhouse distribution companies such as Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) Oklahoma, Belle Pointe Distributors Fort Smith Arkansas, McBride Distribution (Budweiser) Fayetteville Arkansas, Lipari Foods of Warren Michigan, SDK Distribution Seattle Washington and Texas Select Beverage master distributor for Texas. Right on Brands projects second quarter sales to far exceed first quarter sales as the new distributors step up and order larger restocking orders. Look for more distribution channels to open soon.

About Double Eagle Distributing, Inc.:

Double Eagle Distributing, Inc. was formed in 1984 and services portions of Broward and Palm Beach counties. The company distributes over 1,000 alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage SKUs.

Double Eagle has always adhered to the Anheuser-Busch codes of excellence that Somebody Still Cares About Quality and Making Friends Is Our Business. We believe that excellence is the process of constantly achieving more while maintaining our commitment to principle.

In 2014 Double Eagle was recognized as one of Anheuser-Busch InBevs top performers and awarded the Ambassador of Excellence gold distinction. This distinction is awarded to the top 5% of Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in the U.S.

About Right On Brands, Inc.:

Right on Brands, Inc. , a Los Angeles, California based consumer goods company specializing in brand development of health conscious, cannabis-based food and beverage products. Right On Brands consists of four subsidiaries Humbly Hemp, Endo Brands, Humble Water Company and ENDO Labs.

Visit our corporate website at: https://RightOnBrands.com

Endo Water is 9.5 pH balanced, micro-clustered for antioxidant protection and oxygenated for improved performance and energy.

Available in four flavors: Pure, Lemon Lime, Cucumber, Watermelon

Available in four SPARKLING flavors: Pure club soda, Lemon Line, Cucumber and Watermelon

Endo Drops are alcohol free coconut oil-based tinctures that are simply dropped right into your mouth. Tinctures are a discreet method of administration making it a good option for patients who require multiple treatments throughout the day.

Available in two flavors Berry and Mint. Available for Pets with Salmon Oil.

Order Endo Brands products at: https://www.endobrands.com/

For Right on Brands Distribution Contact:

Vic Morrison: (323) 486-1809

Vic@RightOnBrands.Com

Visit us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search/str/endobrands/keywords_search?epa=SEARCH_BOX

Follow us on twitter: https://twitter.com/EndoBrands

Join in on the conversation at Investors Hangout: https://investorshangout.com/Right-On-Brands-Inc-RTON-91651/

Safe Harbor Act: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involves risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic business conditions and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.
EDEN, N.C., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KDH Defense Systems, Inc. (KDH), a leading manufacturer of American-made, high-performance protective solutions, today announced it has been awarded a $29.9 million delivery order from the U.S. Army Contracting Command to produce the Modular Scalable Vest (MSV) Gen II System.



Once again, we thank the U.S. Army for the trust they have placed in us. Keeping our protectors safe with the best protection remains our #1 priority and all of us, both at KDH Defense and Armor Express, stand ready to support all customers and their mission-critical requirements, stated Jim Henderson, Chief Executive Officer. We are continuing to invest in our business, leverage manufacturing capacity at both locations, and expand our partner network to enhance delivery times and improve innovation. 2019 is going to be a great year for our Company and we look forward to exceeding the needs of the U.S. Armed Forces, the various Federal agencies we work with, all First Responders, as well as our distribution partners across the world.

This most recent delivery order is part of the Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) contract the Company previously announced in September 2018  Contract #W91-CRB-15-D-0021. Production will be done at the Companys Eden, North Carolina manufacturing facility.

About KDH Defense Systems

KDH Defense Systems, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of American-made, custom body armor solutions. Building on its heritage of innovative, market-leading ballistic technologies for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Company designs, manufactures and distributes high-performance body armor for military, federal government and law enforcement agencies. KDH Defense and Armor Express, together, have grown to become one of the largest suppliers of soft armor solutions in the world, with an expanded line of hard armor products and related protective gear.

For more information on KDH Defense Systems, please visit www.kdhdefensesystems.com .

For more information on Armor Express, please visit www.armorexpress.com .
LOS ANGELES, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Since the increasing demand for organic and natural gellan elements in the manufacturing of food and beverages industry, the global intake of gellan gum has continued to rise at a greater pace. However, in the report titled, "Global Gellan Gum Industry Professional 2019", QY Research has predicted that the global market will grow at a moderate CAGR of 4.9% over the projected period of 2019-2025. According to this report, the market was valued at US$ 370 Mn in the year 2018 and is expected to reach over US$ 550 Mn by 2025 end.



The worldwide Gellan Gum Market is witnessing significant growth due to growing demand from food additives industry. It is basically used as a substitute to hydrocolloids in dairy products and beverages, thus fuelling its demand in the food industry.

Global Gellan Gum Market: Drivers

The ability of a gellan gum is to maintain the structuring and elasticity of the molecules, thus prevents ingredients from the changing temperature. This particular factor is likely to grow the demand for the product in the market. The gellan gum is also been used as a substitute to gelatin in the production of vegan varieties of gum candies. This lead to fuel the growth of the market. Several international events were organized to promote the use of gellan gum to raise its consumer base across the globe. This factor creates positive impact on the market in the near future.

However, increasing rates of these products is likely to restrain the growth of the worldwide market for gellan gum during the anticipated period.

Global Gellan Gum Market: Segmental analysis

The global market for gellan gum is segmented into application and product type. Based on product type, the market is sub-segmented into High Acyl Gellan Gum and Low Acyl Gellan Gum.

The application segment is further segmented into the Pharmaceutical Industry, Food Additives Industry, and Daily-Chemical Industry. The food additives segment is likely to hold the largest position in the market during the predicted period.

Request Sample Report and Full Report TOC@ https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/964815/global-gellan-gum-industry-professional

Global Gellan Gum Market: Geographical Analysis

North America is likely to hold the major share in the market for gellan gum due to the high demand for food additives applications. Europe is expected to be the leading market for gellan gum due to the increasing popularity of food and beverages sector in the region. The Asia Pacific is also likely to dominate the market due to high production volumes of gellan gums in emerging economies such as China. The percentage of import and export for gellan gum is high in the US. The US supplies the gellan gum in the markets of Japan, Latin America, and Europe. China also supplies the gellan gum in the other Asia Pacific regions.

Fufeng Group Limited (SEHK: 546) Adjusted Slope Reading Hits -18.75528

Fufeng group ltd. is presenting an adjusted average slope of the past 125 and 250 days is -18.75528. Coming down to additional key term indicator, the Capex to PPE ratio of the Fufeng Group Limited stands at 0.249333. In terms of debt ratios, debt-equity ratios are 0.35558 and Free Cash Flow to debt-equity ratios is -0.350239. This ratio offers an insight into the firm's total debt compared to the company's generated Free Cash Flow Statement. In terms of Net Debt to Earnings before Interest and Tax, that ratio stands to1.85469. Lastly, the Fufeng Group Limited's Net Debt to Market Value ratio currently stands at 0.322690.

Global Gellan Gum Market: Key Players

Key players operating in the worldwide market for gellan gum are DSM Zhongken, Teejoy and Hebei Xinhe, Fufeng Group, CP Kelco Tech-way Zhejiang, Dancheng Caixin, and Inner Mongolia Rainbow Biotech.

Global Gellan Gum Market Now, Report delivery time within 24 hours @ https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/a7a847218b0521e058f8a7142a24fcd7,0,1,Global%20Gellan%20Gum%20Industry%20Professional%202019

For Any Special Requirement and Discount Request @ https://www.qyresearch.com/request-discount/form/964815/global-gellan-gum-industry-professional

Sales Contact:

USA Registered Office: QY Research, INC.

17890 Castleton, Suite 218,

City of industry, CA - 91748

USA: +1 6262 952 442

Emails  enquiry@qyresearch.com




Supported by Contract from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

ATLANTA, GA, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE -- GeoVax Labs, Inc. (OTCQB: GOVX), a biotechnology company developing human vaccines, announced today that it has expanded its collaboration activities with Leidos, Inc. to develop malaria vaccine candidates. The work will be supported under a contract to Leidos from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP). Leidos has been tasked by USAID to advance promising vaccine candidates against P. falciparum malaria and selected the GeoVax MVA-VLP platform as part of this development effort.

GeoVaxs vaccine technology is based on its live Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA) platform, which generates vaccine antigens, in the form of multimeric proteins or noninfectious VLPs, in the individual being vaccinated. Gene sequences of target antigens are inserted into the MVA genome which drives their expression and budding from the infected cells. In this way, vaccination strategy mimics a natural viral infection which induces two pools of proteins  virus-infected cells and released multimeric or VLP proteins.

Farshad Guirakhoo, PhD, GeoVaxs Chief Scientific Officer, commented, Currently there is a shortage of malaria vaccine candidates that can offer the high efficacy rates (e.g. >75%) set by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a requirement for the second-generation malaria vaccines. Although protein-derived vaccines can deliver multiple antigens in immunogenic VLP conformation, they hardly produce a balanced functional cellular immune response needed to confer a high protection. In contrast, vectored-derived live vaccines are capable of producing the appropriate balanced immune responses, but they suffer from limitations in delivering the required number of transgenes needed to protect against all stages of malaria parasite. GeoVaxs MVA-VLP platform can overcome both limitations of antigen conformation and transgene capacity by delivering multiple transgenes (e.g. from parasites liver stage, blood stage and mosquito stage) in the form of VLPs delivered in vivo. This new collaboration with Leidos complements our ongoing malaria vaccine development project with Burnet Institute in Australia and offers multiple opportunities for success.

David Dodd, GeoVaxs President and CEO, said, We are delighted to broaden our relationship with Leidos to include malaria vaccines. This remains a significant unmet healthcare need and we believe that this collaboration has the potential to result in a significant improvement in this critical area. Our hope is to successfully proceed through product development and identify promising vaccine candidates that can be taken into clinical development as quickly as possible, demonstrating an effective, safe vaccine for malaria prevention. We are confident that our technology, combined with Leidos' has an excellent chance for success.

About GeoVax

GeoVax Labs, Inc., is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing human vaccines against infectious diseases using its MVA-VLP vaccine platform. GeoVax was the winner of the 2018 Best Biotech Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards, a finalist for the 2018 Best Prophylactic Vaccine Award for its Zika vaccine at the World Vaccine Congress, as well as a finalist for Pipelines of Promise at Buzz of Bio 2018. The Companys development programs are focused on vaccines against HIV, Zika, hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola, Sudan, Marburg, Lassa) and malaria. GeoVax also is evaluating the use of its MVA-VLP platform in cancer immunotherapy, and for therapeutic use in chronic Hepatitis B infections. GeoVaxs vaccine platform supports in vivo production of non-infectious VLPs from the cells of the very person receiving the vaccine. The production of VLPs in the person being vaccinated mimics virus production in a natural infection, stimulating both the humoral and cellular arms of the immune system to recognize, prevent, and control the target infection. For more information, visit www.geovax.com .

About Leidos

Leidos is a Fortune 500 information technology, engineering, and science solutions and services leader working to solve the worlds toughest challenges in the defense, intelligence, homeland security, civil, and health markets. The companys 32,000 employees support vital missions for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, Leidos reported annual revenues of approximately $10.19 billion for the fiscal year ended December 28, 2018. For more information, visit www.Leidos.com.

About the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP)

USAIDs mission is to partner to end extreme poverty and promote resilient, democratic societies while advancing our security and prosperity. The MVDP is housed in the Malaria Division of the Office of Infectious Diseases of USAIDs Bureau for Global Health. Initiated in 1965 in response to the end of the first malaria eradication era, the MVDP has worked with a variety of partners to contribute early research on the circumsporozoite protein, as well as blood-stage and liver-stage vaccine approaches. Its mission is to develop and introduce malaria vaccines to protect vulnerable populations in the developing world. For further information, please visit www.usaid.gov.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax can develop and manufacture its vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax's vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax's vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVaxs vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete vaccine development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax's products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control. GeoVax assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements and does not intend to do so. More information about these factors is contained in GeoVax's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including those set forth at "Risk Factors" in GeoVax's Form 10-K.




VANCOUVER, BC, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NEWMEDIAWIRE  Phyto Pharma Inc. ( www.phytopharma.ca ), a Vancouver, British Columbia based phytopharmaceutical and intellectual property holding company with operations in three United States jurisdictions including Colorado, California, and Puerto Rico, today announced that the Company has sold approximately $500,000 US worth of Hemp raw material to California and Colorado based labs within the month of March before the end of first quarter 2019. The Hemp raw material will be used for isolate based products for nutraceutical grade use.

The Vancouver based Company contracts for the production of specific strains of high CBD biomass through strategic licensed green house and farm tolling operations based in Colorado, incorporates proprietary extraction methods for CBD oil and finally, engages in the formulation, development, and commercialization of cannabinoid-based products.

Phyto Pharma brands including Phytocine and Rehab Rx are manufactured from proprietary strains of whole plant hemp extracts, containing a full spectrum of phytocannabinoids, including CBD, terpenes, flavonoids, and other valuable hemp compounds.

The passage of the US 2018 Farm Bill signed by President Trump at the end of 2018 will now allow Phyto Pharma to expand its hemp biomass cultivation from raw material extraction to consumer products containing specific genetic strains and IP owned by the Company. Phyto Pharma seeks to utilize our genetic specific strains which contain high strains of cannabis derived CBD and aid in the manufacturing process specifically for pharma or nutraceutical based products for the targeted treatment of specific conditions and disease.

We are extremely pleased with the recent increase in revenue and demand for our Hemp based raw material from our Colorado farming operations. The recent orders of close to $500,000 US for the month of March alone demonstrates strong growth and demand for our proprietary extracted Hemp material to both the pharma and nutraceutical sectors. We look forward to completing the review process and recently announced acquisition by Vinergy Resources Ltd. giving us access to the public markets in both the US and Canada, stated Phillip Johnston, Esq., CEO of Phyto Pharma Inc.

Legalization and acceptance of CBD for its health and wellness benefits is accelerating at a rapid pace globally. CBD is presently most commonly being used for anxiety, insomnia, pain and nausea, but is being investigated as a treatment for other conditions. Earlier this year, the U.S. FDA approved the CBD drug, Epidiolex, for the treatment of childhood epilepsy. The World Health Organization has also recommended descheduling CBD as a controlled substance among its 194-member states. The Brightfield Group of Chicago forecasts the market for CBD from hemp could reach US$22 billion by 2022.

Phyto Pharma is not making specific therapeutic claims. The use of the term pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical grade, pharmaceutical dosage forms, etc. are indicative of the process by which new formulation products will be created with the intent of accurately identifying specific strains, the active ingredients and measured amount to be used in each dosage form using best practices associated with traditional pharmacy formulations. Phyto Pharma is seeking to take existing anecdotal evidence and through its own formulation process further identify which cannabis varieties and strains are best suited to aid in a specific disease. The goal is to provide a reliable clinical effect through the use of well-crafted and well-researched oil analytics and dosage forms including oral and transdermal delivery of IP mapped cannabis extracts and nutraceutical and pharma brands.

About Phyto Pharma Inc.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Isodiol International Inc. (CSE: ISOL ) (OTCQB: ISOLF ) (FSE: LB6B.F ) (the Company or Isodiol) announces its financial and operational results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, ended December 31, 2018.1



Isodiol is a global organization with its corporate offices in Canada, multiple operating facilities and retail stores throughout the United States, a pharmaceutical lab in the United Kingdom, pharmaceutical operations in Brazil, and over-the-counter (OTC) product development operations in Mexico. With approximately 200 employees, consultants, and advisors worldwide for the reported period, consolidated operations generated more than $7.1 million in revenue with a gross profit exceeding $3.6 million.

The legalities of hemp-based CBD are becoming more favorable, and consumer awareness of CBD is rapidly rising, said Kevin Swadish, Isodiols Chief Revenue Officer. As a result, we believe the greatest growth opportunities in the industry, and for Isodiol, lie in the consumer packaged goods marketplace. Fortunately, we are poised to execute on these expanding opportunities in ways that the majority of our peers are not.

With the increasing commoditization of hemp and its extracts, management is continuing to shift its core focus to building a portfolio of consumer packaged goods (CPG) and enhancing its bulk offerings of CBD with value-added offerings to increase gross profit margins. Isodiol plans to expand its retail footprint with new distribution contracts and mass retail accounts and will continue to expand its management team with top-tier employees with retail and CPG expertise.

I am confident in the direction of expanding our CPG division and believe the appointment of Kevin Swadish as Chief Revenue Officer and his staff will enhance our market position, said Isodiols CEO Marcos Agramont. One of the issues that comes with being the pioneer in an industry is determining where the best short- and long- term opportunities exist. We cast a wide net exploring various opportunities and hedging against market forces through vertical integration that is no longer necessary as hemp and CBD continue to be commoditized and co-packers are more willing to participate in the manufacture of CBD products. While we have stumbled at times trying to do it all, we now have a clear direction and the right personnel at the helm to make our vision of becoming the preeminent hemp-based CPG company in the world a reality.

Mr. Agramont continued, stating, The Company already is making significant headway in the U.S. CPG market, which is evident from the recent acquisition of additional consumer brands and the launching of our convenience store retail program . We expect that these opportunities are just the tip of the iceberg and look forward to announcing our ongoing initiatives to the public as they come to fruition. We have always known what Isodiol is to the industry. Now we are learning what the Company is not, and we are doing everything in our power to align behind our core strengths.

The unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements and MD&A for the three months ended December 31, 2018 are on file with SEDAR .

Other Updates

Azure Bottling LLC

Isodiol divested its ownership in the Florida-based water bottling company Azure Bottling LLC in 3Q2019, which yielded cash of US$1,000,000 and the extinguishment of over US$500,000 in associated payables. Isodiol retained a three-year reservation of capacity for the production of its water format beverages that the Company intends to distribute on the East Coast. The decision for the divestiture was based on the Companys choice to utilize beverage bottlers and co-packers at strategic geographical locations throughout the country instead of concentrating its resources in a single location that results in high transportation costs in a highly competitive, low-margin, high-volume market segment.

Kure Corp.

By an order of the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted on February 22, 2019, Isodiol was authorized to convene, hold, and conduct a creditors meeting to consider a plan of arrangement for the divestiture of Isodiols wholly owned subsidiary Kure Corp. The creditors meeting will be held at 1500  1055 West Georgia St., Vancouver, BC on March 20, 2019 at 10:00am Pacific Time, to approve the plan of arrangement upon the terms and conditions set forth therein and as previously disclosed by the Company on January 30, 2019. With this divestiture, the Company will avoid an additional short-term cash cost of over US$7,000,000, plus up to US$35,000,000 of stock dilution to our shareholders.

About Isodiol International Inc.

Isodiol International Inc. is focused on the nutritional health benefits derived from hemp and is a product development, sales, marketing and distribution company of hemp-based Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and solutions. Isodiol has commercialized a 99%+ pure, naturally isolated CBD, including micro-encapsulations and nano-technology for quality consumable and topical skin care products. The Company received approval for its CBD as an Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) for use in Finished Pharmaceutical Products (FPPs), as was announced in 2018. Isodiols growth strategy includes the development of over-the-counter and pharmaceutical drugs and continued international expansion into Latin America, Asia and Europe.

Join Us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IsodiolInternationalInc/

Twitter: @Isodiolintlinc

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Marcos Agramont, CEO & Director

INVESTOR RELATIONS:

Ir@isodiol.com

www.isodiol.com

604-409-4409

Forward-Looking Information: This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws relating to statements regarding the Company's business, proposed arrangement with creditors, products and future of the Companys business, its product offerings and plans for sales and marketing. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance and developments to differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the Company's products and plan will vary from those stated in this news release and the Company may not be able to carry out its business plans as expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any obligation and does not intend, to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information in this news release. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and makes no reference to profitability based on sales reported. The statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release.

The CSE has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this press release.

_______________________________

1 Isodiols fiscal year end is March 31.
LAS VEGAS, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nationwide Property Partners, Inc. a subsidiary of Bakken Water Transfer Services Inc. (OTCBB: BWTX), will begin shooting the next episode for its unscripted series titled Just Renting at the end of March 2019.



A combined effort between Gebrael Management, a prominent Flint, MI property management company, and Nationwide Property Partners, Inc. a leading large-scale rental property owner, Just Renting gives a real time and in depth look into the world of extreme property rentals through its own brand of satire and on-screen narrative delivery.

Our investment in the Flint, MI community is a winning strategy, stated Craig Dondero, Nationwide Property Partners, Inc. CEO, and a show cast member. Flint has a thriving real estate market, and through Just Renting we have a chance to share in the citys re-branding on a national stage as it emerges from crisis to a thriving economy, Dondero went on to say.

The show continues to gain national press attention as its story-line focuses on the lives of genuine middle-America people, the efforts to navigate small business ownership, while visually detailing the day to day challenges of property rentals.

Just Renting Productions LLC, the joint venture between Gebrael Management and National Property Partners, has plans for a twelve-episode first season and continues its presentations to major networks in hopes of getting picked up.

For news, media and show clips, you can follow Just Renting at www.facebook.com/justrenting , and on twitter at www.twitter.com/justrentingshow .

Media contact: Rhonda Zippro, 510-367-5990

RDBPublicity@aol.com

About Gebrael Management

Gebrael Management is committed to providing quality homes, apartments, and commercial locations at affordable prices throughout the state of Michigan. Along with being a full-service real estate brokerage, the company specializes in residential and commercial property management. www.miforrent.com/

About Nationwide Property Partners Inc.

Nationwide Property Partners, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bakken Water Transfer Services Inc., purchases and rents residential real estate. Bakken Water Transfer Services Inc. common stock trades on the OTC Pink marketplace under the ticker symbol BWTX.

Safe Harbor Notice

Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Bakken Water Transfer Services, Inc. cautions that statements made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and makes no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. These statements may address issues that involve significant risks, uncertainties, estimates and assumptions made by management. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. Bakken Water Transfer Services, Inc. undertakes no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release.

Phone: 702-904-0475

Email: jack@bakkenwatertransfer.com




RALEIGH, N.C., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The SECU Foundation announced support for St. Gerard House, a non-profit entity located in Henderson County which assists individuals with autism and their family members. Foundation assistance is in the form of a $40,000 Capacity Building grant to help the organization with human resources development, strategic planning, fundraising, and financial sustainability. During a special event held in Asheville NC, representatives from St. Gerard House were presented with a ceremonial check by SECU Foundation Executive Director Jama Campbell.



St. Gerard House is thrilled to have the support of the SECU Foundation Capacity Building grant to hire our first ever human resources director, remarked Caroline Long, Executive Director of St. Gerard House. This was a top goal of ours so that we can position ourselves for necessary growth  we have over 75 children on the waiting list and we are committed to expanding our capacity. SECU members and the folks at SECU Foundation really understand autism and the crisis situation for families looking for help. We are so grateful to be working with them!

St. Gerard House opened in 2010 with a mission to help individuals with autism and their families experience more joy and achieve meaningful life outcomes. The organization offers a wide array of programs and services, including a preschool, treatments and therapies, pre-vocational training and social skills classes. They also provide training and supportive services to family members and others who are caregivers and integral supporters of individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. St. Gerard House serves families from an expanded region of western NC counties and has had families relocate to the community to obtain access to these services.

We are proud to help St. Gerard House further their mission, said Ms. Campbell. High quality services for the treatment of autism, as well as family support, are greatly needed in this region and were here to help them reach the next step  strengthening their organization and broadening their reach to children of all ages in critical need of these services.

About SECU and the SECU Foundation

A not-for-profit financial cooperative owned by its members, SECU has been providing employees of the State of North Carolina and their families with consumer financial services for over 81 years. The Credit Union also offers a diversified line of financial advisory services including retirement and education planning, tax preparation, insurance, trust and estate planning services, and investments through its partners and affiliated entities. SECU serves over 2.3 million members through 265 branch offices, nearly 1,100 ATMs, 24/7 Member Services via phone and a website, www.ncsecu.org. The SECU Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization funded by the contributions of SECU members, promotes local community development in North Carolina primarily through high impact projects in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and human services. Since 2004, SECU Foundation has made a collective financial commitment of more than $154 million for initiatives to benefit North Carolinians statewide.

Contact: Jama Campbell, Executive Director

Office: 919-839-5562 | secufoundation@ncsecu.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/fa002aa6-9c6e-4705-880a-47d4297f0aa0
POINT ROBERTS, Wash. and DELTA, British Columbia, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Investorideas.com , an investor news source covering lithium stocks, issues a snapshot looking at key trends including growing demand due to EV growth, new extraction technology and strong financials from industry leaders, creating renewed investor optimism.

Lithium has been in high discussion following the strong financials recently reported by lithium giant Albemarle Corporation , setting the stage for a bullish mindset for the lithium sector.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. ( NYSE: SQM ) also recently reported their Q4 Earnings call in which Ricardo Ramos, Chief Executive Officer of SQM commented on the companys 2018 year and the state of lithium moving into 2019.

Our high-grade sales volume in ESPN, high-grade iodine and high grade average price of lithium contributed to our 2018 results. The Lithium market is surrounded, as you know, by positive news. Full electric vehicle penetration level reached approximately 2%, and these rates are expected to grow probably in the future. Demand growth in 2018 surprised us again, surpassing 27%, and it's expected to grow rates above 20% in 2019, said Ramos.

As the lithium leaders pave the way for bullish sentiment in the sector, incumbent new sources of lithium are being developed by a select few players in the space advancing lithium brine projects.

E3 METALS CORP. ( TSXV: ETMC ) ( OTC: EEMMF ), a lithium development company with a property containing 6.7 Mt LCE inferred mineral resource in Alberta, announced a major milestone in the development of its proprietary extraction process, a key to their future positioning in the market.

Since its inception in 2017, E3 Metals has quadrupled its permit size, put out a maiden resource and subsequently tripled it, developed proprietary Ion Exchange Lithium Extraction Technology and advanced its lithium process closer to commercialization.

The Company is close to piloting its technology which converts oilfield brine into pure high-grade feedstock to be transformed into valuable lithium products, with optionality for hydroxide or carbonate.

Summarized from the news: E3 has enhanced performance of its proprietary Ion Exchange Lithium Extraction Technology, achieving higher lithium concentrations of up to 5367 mg/L lithium, compared to the previous level of 1498 mg/L. Average recovery was over 90%, confirming very high efficiency and greater than 99% impurity removal.

E3 Metals CEO Chris Doornbos stated, This increase in concentration using our proprietary Extraction Technology is the key to unlocking the value of our vast, yet lower grade, resource. These results move us a significant step toward supporting E3s goal of becoming an industry leading, low-cost producer of battery grade lithium products. We have demonstrated the ability to significantly increase our lithium concentration without using additional energy. The higher concentration means less volume to handle downstream from our lithium Extraction Technology and should reduce the energy, inputs and potentially the capital and operating costs required to generate lithium hydroxide. These results continually demonstrate an innovative and robust process developed by the University of Alberta supported by Green Centre Canada, with funding from Alberta Innovates.

Neo Lithium Corp. ( TSXV: NLC ) ( OTCQX: NTTHF ) says it aims to be known as a prominent new name in lithium brine exploration by virtue of its high quality 3Q Project and experienced team.

The Company recently announced that the lithium carbonate pilot plant built by the Instituto de Investigaciones Tecnologicas from Universidad de Concepcion, Chile has successfully arrived in Fiambala, Catamarca, Argentina. The Companys engineers have started reassembling the Plant and expect to have it fully operational in late February for its Tres Quebradas lithium brine project in Catamarca Province, Argentina.

The Plant was previously successfully tested with synthetic brine in Chile and is going to start using brine from the 3Q Project, concentrated approximately to 4% lithium from 3Q Project pilot evaporation ponds to start pilot scale production of lithium carbonate at the Plant. Currently the designed annual capacity of the pilot ponds is over 500 tonnes of approximate 4% lithium brine per year, and the Plant has a designed capacity of 50 tonnes of lithium carbonate per year.

Lithium Americas Corp. ( TSX: LAC ) ( NYSE: LAC ), advancing its Cauchari-Olaroz lithium brine project in Jujuy, Argentina and Thacker Pass lithium claystone project in Nevada, USA to production just reported temporary disruptions in Argentina due to heavy rainfall.

Also included in the update; Following the release of the Preliminary Feasibility Study in August 2018, through development of a pilot plant in Reno, Nevada, the Company is considering the production of lithium hydroxide directly from lithium sulphate to provide added flexibility. Commissioning of the pilot plant is underway, with testing and optimization expected to commence in the near term.

From pilot plants to full production, the lithium sector is ramping up for long term global demand. Incumbent lithium brine companies will be able to compete if they can keep their costs down and advance their extraction technologies, readying themselves for the EV highways of the future.

Investor Ideas directory of lithium stocks: mining stocks directory and cleantech stock directories , relating to batteries.

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OAKVILLE, Ontario, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Broadway Gold Mining Ltd. (Broadway or the Company) (TSX-V: BRD) (FWB: BGH) (OTCQB: BDWYF) is pleased to announce that it has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement of securities (the Offering). Broadway will file an updated NI 43-101 Report on SEDAR and in the technical section of the Companys website in the next week. The Company is now quoted as BGH on five exchanges in Germany.



Pursuant to the Offering, the Company issued 6,201,000 units at a price of $0.07 per unit for gross proceeds of $434,070. Each unit is comprised of one share and one-half of one share purchase warrant. Each whole share purchase warrant is exercisable at any time during the 12-month period following the issuance thereof to acquire one common share at a price of $0.15 per share. A finders fee of 8% ($22,136) was paid with respect to subscriptions by investors introduced to the Company by finders. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a restricted period of four months and one day following the issuance thereof. The Offering is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company may complete further closings of the Offering; however, there is no assurance it will do so.

Broadways updated NI 43-101 will be released in the next week. It includes the following highlights:

35% Cu and 23 grams per tonne (gpt) Au from mill settlements* of 2,429 tonnes and 1,342 tonnes, respectively;

25% Cu and 17.8 gpt Au, average grades, from mill settlements of a bulk sample of 13,242 tonnes;

62,230 feet of drilling, 150 holes, with Madison mine-related data now modeled in Vulcan 3D;

UG17-05, total length 189 feet, true width approximately 80% of core length, intercepted 24.5 gpt Au + 0.391% Cu over 100 feet, containing 68.6 gpt Au + 0.375% Cu over 15 feet and 82.9 gpt Au + 0.366% Cu over 9 feet;

Alteration zoning from propylitic to phyllic that is typical of porphyry systems moving toward mineralized core, in hole C17-24 drilled to a depth of 1,237 feet, which ended in latite porphyry. Exhibiting similar characteristics to the latite porphyry hosted at Barricks Golden Sunlight Mine the carbonate-latite porphyry contact was intercepted at 988 feet and exhibits pervasive propylitic alteration at the contact. A zone of phyllic alteration was encountered measuring over 41 feet, from 1,014 to 1,055 feet, consisting of closely spaced quartz-pyrite veinlets and pyrite microveinlets. The pyrite disseminations and blebs are surrounded by a fine-grained gray sulfide, either sphalerite or galena. In places within the core of the phyllic alteration zone, narrow micro breccia and hydrothermal streaming textures can be seen. Hole C17-24 was designed to evaluate a chargeability anomaly identified within a highly prospective part of the property;

Interpreted porphyry mineralization at depth given surface-based strontium/yttrium ratios in combination with statistically significant coincident gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, manganese, lead and zinc over a 2.4-kilometer contact zone, which is based on 571 rock chip, 1,468 soil and 231 retrospective soil samples;

Induced polarization and other geophysical surveys that combine data to a depth of 1,680 feet from resistivity, chargeability and magnetics, inclusive of mineralized zones, that identified four resistivity lows, four resistivity highs, seven chargeability highs and two magnetic highs interpreted to be associated with the skarn and porphyry source of the mineralization; and,

The Company is permitted for mining and exploration.

Data Verification

*Mill settlements mean the grade post mill process; it is the amount of copper and gold per tonne that is recovered, which is used to calculate a royalty.

Supervision, organization and splitting of core samples were undertaken by Company personnel. Samples were collected in three-foot intervals from half core samples, catalogued and stored in a secure location. Data verification for this report consisted of taking quarter cuts of core during the QPs site visit between April 23, 2017 and May 2, 2017. All QP cut samples were kept by the QP and shipped independently for assaying to ALS Mineral Laboratories, Vancouver, BC.

Broadways shares are quoted in three currencies (CAD, USD, Euro) and quoted under symbols BRD in Canada, BDWYF in the USA and BGH in Germany.

Qualified Person

Robert S. (Bob) Middleton, P.Eng., Broadways Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Broadway Gold Mining Ltd.

Through its wholly owned Montana-based subsidiary, Broadway Gold Corp., the Company is focused on the exploration and development of its two mines, the Broadway and Madison mines, and the delineation of the porphyry source of their mineralization. The Company owns a 100% interest in the two mines and has staked an area of four-square-miles in the Butte-Anaconda region of Montana, a porphyry-based mining district. The Company is permitted for mining and exploration.

Approximately $20 million has been invested in the exploration, development and bulk sampling of the Madison mine since 2005. Whereas the Broadway mine produced 144,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 0.32 oz/ton Au from 1880 to 1950 to a depth of 750 feet, the Madison is a new mine developed from 2007 to 2012 to a depth of 215 feet. The Madison mine has produced bulk samples of 13,242 tons at an average grade of 25% Cu and 0.32 oz/ton gold.

Currently, Broadway is expanding known copper and gold zones that are open to depth and seeking a senior mining company to drill porphyry targets identified by its soil geochemistry, its geophysics, and its discovery of Latite porphyry in holes C17-24 and C17-C27 (see news release dated January 22, 2018 ) that appear to be of significant size with intercepts to-date measuring up to 234 meters, open in all directions.

For more information:

Thomas Smeenk, BA

President and CEO

Broadway Gold Mining Ltd.

1-800-680-0661

IR@broadwaymining.com

www.broadwaymining.com



Media:

Adam Bello

Primoris Group Inc.

+1 416.489.0092

media@primorisgroup.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release or other future plans, objectives or expectations of Broadway are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Broadway's plans or expectations include risks relating to the actual results of current exploration activities, fluctuating commodity prices, possibility of equipment breakdowns and delays, exploration cost overruns, availability of capital and financing, general economic, market or business conditions, regulatory changes, timeliness of government or regulatory approvals and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Broadway with securities regulators. Broadway expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange Inc. 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.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) filed an emergency rule on March 1, 2019, temporarily raising the medical cannabis plant count limit to 2,500 plants per producer. The temporary limit will expire in 180 days on August 28, 2019.



History was made as the leadership exercised by the Governors office marked the most significant collaboration between the State and the cannabis industry on behalf of New Mexicos 70,000 patients. Continuous cooperation will determine a proper regulation that will provide an adequate supply for current and future medical cannabis patients statewide.

We see meaningful progress in the movement to potentially 87,500 plants statewide, said Duke Rodriguez, CEO and President of Ultra Health. Over the most next 180 days, we pledge to assist the State in crossing the finish line with an even greater commitment to the number of plants grown and the amount patients can individually purchase in the regulated market.

While this is the most significant improvement in the Medical Cannabis Programs eleven-year history, reliable and validated research must be done over the next six months to ensure a final plant count will provide an adequate supply for patients.

Adequate supply, as defined in the Lynn and Erin Compassionate Use Act , means an amount of cannabis, in any form approved by the department, possessed by a qualified patient or collectively possessed by a qualified patient and the qualified patient's primary caregiver that is determined by rule of the department to be no more than reasonably necessary to ensure the uninterrupted availability of cannabis for a period of three months and that is derived solely from an intrastate source. In his November 1, 2018 ruling on the plant count, former District Court Judge David K. Thomson required any plant count limit promulgated by NMDOH to be consistent with this definition.

We recognize that a new regulation must be more sophisticated than a mere multiple of the former inadequate limitation, Rodriguez added. We look forward to working collaboratively with the State to develop a rule consistent with patient needs by providing meaningful data and research from the experience of accessible medical markets in other states.

Contact: Marissa Novel 480-404-6699 marissa@ultrahealth.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e086f0a2-18e2-4e32-8034-715c24154ba7


Not for distribution to U.S. news wire services or dissemination in the United States.

TORONTO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gran Colombia Gold Corp. (TSX: GCM, OTCQX: TPRFF) (the Company or Gran Colombia) announced today it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters co-led by GMP Securities L.P. and Scotiabank (collectively the Underwriters) pursuant to which the Underwriters have agreed to purchase on a bought deal, private placement basis (the Private Placement) C$20,000,000 aggregate principal amount of convertible unsecured subordinated debentures at a price of C$1,000 per C$1,000 principal amount of debentures (the Convertible Debentures). Gran Colombia also announced the termination of its C$25,000,000 best efforts offering of units, previously announced on March 1, 2019.



Serafino Iacono, Executive Co-Chairman of Gran Colombia, commented: We are very pleased to be replacing the previously announced equity offering with the Private Placement. Given the decline in our share price on Friday, we determined that it would not be in the best interests of Gran Colombia to proceed with the equity offering. Over the last couple years, we have significantly improved the Company, reaching mid-tier status by bringing our annual gold production to 218,000 ounces last year and, as previously disclosed, we expect to produce between 210,000 and 225,000 ounces this year. We have also strengthened our balance sheet and our operating cash flow, providing us with the capacity to continue to internally fund our ongoing exploration, development and capital expenditure programs. In 2018, we were pleased to be able to report our maiden mineral reserve for our Segovia gold project. We believe the Private Placement affords us the opportunity to move ahead with our objective of accelerating the drilling program to significantly add reserves, production and mine life at our high-grade Segovia Operations to strengthen our enterprise value. February has proved to be another solid production month for Gran Colombia, and later this week we expect to finalize and release mineral reserve and resource updates for Segovia. Management continues to believe in the opportunities that lie ahead to grow this Company and intends to subscribe for up to 10% of the Private Placement.

The Convertible Debentures will mature five years and one day after the issuance date (the Maturity Date) and will accrue interest at the rate of 8.00% per annum, payable monthly. At the holders option, the Convertible Debentures may be converted into common shares of Gran Colombia at any time and from time to time, up to the Maturity Date, at a conversion rate of approximately 210.53 common shares per C$1,000 principal amount, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances, which equates to an initial conversion price of C$4.75, representing a 33% premium to the closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange on March 1, 2019, for each common share of the Company.

The Convertible Debentures will not be listed and will be convertible unsecured obligations of Gran Colombia, subordinated to senior indebtedness of the Company and ranking equally with all present and future unsecured subordinated indebtedness of the Company.

On and after the first anniversary of the issuance date, Gran Colombia may, at its option, on not more than one occasion during each twelve-month period beginning on each yearly anniversary of the issuance date, redeem up to 10% of the aggregate principal amount of the Convertible Debentures then outstanding, at par plus accrued and unpaid interest, in cash on not less than 30 and not more than 60 days prior written notice (during which period the holders of the Convertible Debentures may, for the avoidance of doubt, convert their Convertible Debentures into Common Shares). The Convertible Debentures are repayable in cash at maturity.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Private Placement solely to accelerate its ongoing exploration programs at its high-grade Segovia gold project, including technical and other studies to be carried out over the next approximately six months to identify and prioritize drilling targets followed by a drilling campaign, over and above what is already planned by the Company in 2019. The objective of the drilling program is to increase mineral reserves for future production growth and to extend the mine life of the Segovia Operations.

Closing of the Offering is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and stock exchange approvals.

The Closing Date will take place on or about March 26, 2019, or such other date agreed upon by the Company and the Underwriters.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

About Gran Colombia Gold Corp.

Gran Colombia is a Canadian-based mid-tier gold producer with its primary focus in Colombia where it is currently the largest underground gold and silver producer with several mines in operation at its Segovia and Marmato Operations. Gran Colombia is continuing to focus on exploration, expansion and modernization activities at its high-grade Segovia Operations.

Additional information on Gran Colombia can be found on its website at www.grancolombiagold.com and by reviewing its profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

Cautionary Statement on Forward-looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to production guidance; exploration programs and mineral resources and reserves; the anticipated Closing Date; anticipated regulatory approval and the use of the net proceeds of the Private Placement; and other statements relating to the financial and business prospects and potential product generation of the Company. 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", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gran Colombia to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements are described under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated as of March 27, 2018 and Managements Discussion and Analysis dated as of November 13, 2018, both of which are available for view on SEDAR at www.sedar.com .

Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and Gran Colombia disclaims, other than as required by law, any obligation to update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, results, future events, circumstances, or if management's estimates or opinions should change, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced today that Carlos Aguayo has been named general manager of the HII San Diego Shipyard. He will replace Daniel Flood, who is retiring after 40 years in the ship repair and defense contracting industry.



Aguayo will be responsible for the overall operation of the shipyard business, including strategy development and execution, customer relations, quality, production, resource management, human capital development, process improvement, and finance/accounting.

Throughout his 35-year career on the San Diego waterfront, Aguayo has held numerous, diversified positions increasing in scope and responsibility. Beginning his path as an apprentice for a subcontractor, Aguayo began as a 23-year-old leadman of one of the production departments at the San Diego Shipyard, formerly known as Continental Maritime of San Diego, in 1989.

Carlos has had an accomplished career with an extensive knowledge base crossing a wide range of disciplines, said Brad Mason, president of HIIs Fleet Support group. Having worked on the frontline and in senior management, Carlos has proven himself as the well-deserved successor for Dan. I am especially pleased that the employees know him well, as he is celebrated for fostering a strong team environment. He also mentors employees for future advancement. We are confident that Carlos exudes the strengths and qualifications that will move our organization forward.

Dan has maintained a record of success in managing HIIs San Diego Shipyard, and the company is grateful for his leadership and innovative thinking, Mason continued. He has led the yard during volatility in the defense market in order to win important contracts. Although we are sad to see Dan retire, his mentorship and employee-focused legacy will continue with Carlos at the helm.

A photo of Aguayo is available in HIIs newsroom: https://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/file?fid=5c7d58762cfac276f16aae45 .

Andy Green, president of HIIs Technical Solutions division said, Carlos has excelled for 15 years in senior leadership positions in business management, finance and contracts, which serves as a fitting segue into his new role as general manager of the HII San Diego Shipyard. His excellent track record in creating positive transformation both within the financial functions and throughout the organization will preserve the organizations core values while paving the way for innovation and future success.

Aguayo has a bachelors degree in legal studies and a masters degree in management, both from National University in San Diego, as well as several industrial, leadership and lean manufacturing certifications.

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

Contact:

Beci Brenton

Beci.brenton@hii-co.com

(202) 264-7143
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Smithfield Foundation , the philanthropic arm of Smithfield Foods, Inc. , announced today a $200,000 donation to North Carolina State Universitys Soldier to Agriculture Program (STAP), an agricultural institute that provides in-depth career introductions and hands-on training to help veterans make the transition from military service to agricultural careers, North Carolinas top industry.



We are so grateful to Smithfield Foods for this generous contribution, said Chris Wessel, director of academic programs at North Carolina State University. The Soldier to Agriculture Program is about stepping up to meet the unique challenges veterans face when leaving military service and, with Smithfields generosity, we can expand our offerings to further support their transition to the civilian sector and continue to ensure our veterans are employed within six months of graduation.

The Universitys Soldier to Agriculture Program is a partnership between North Carolina State University and the Fort Bragg military base career center, near Fayetteville, N.C. Smithfields contribution and partnership with STAP will provide a full year of funding for the program, enabling the build out of a larger facility and upgraded classrooms to recruit veterans and house agricultural courses and studies.

Smithfield Foods is deeply engrained in our North Carolina communities, said Keira Lombardo, executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance for Smithfield Foods and president of the Smithfield Foundation. We are proud to support the North Carolina State Universitys Soldier to Agriculture Program that bolsters our industry and supports our veterans, a cause near and dear to our Foundations efforts.

Smithfields contribution will fund STAP from Mar. 2019 through Mar. 2020 to support its mission to create a positive and fulfilling career path for soldiers transitioning out of military service.

Smithfield has a long history of supporting military families and veterans, especially through initiatives like Operation 4000!, our companys commitment to employ 4,000 veterans by 2020, said Troy Vandenberg, military talent acquisition manager for Smithfield Foods. The agricultural industry provides many opportunities for veterans to leverage their military training, and we are proud to bolster our commitment to our soldiers through this partnership with NC State.

For more information about Smithfields commitment to veterans and its local communities, please 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 North Carolina Solider to Agriculture Program

The Soldier to Agriculture program at NC State Universitys Agricultural Institute is a six-week program  held at the Fort Bragg Career Resource Center in North Carolina  offering an in-depth introduction to the many careers available in agriculture. Veterans exiting the armed forces can receive hands-on training, both in and outside the classroom. They will engage in discussions with industry leaders and farmers about agricultural business, marketing and sales, and various allied industries in need of career-minded individuals.

Media Contacts:

Smithfield Foods, Inc.

Lisa Martin

lvmartin@smithfield.com

(757) 365-1980

North Carolina State University

Robert Elliot

rlellio2@ncsu.edu

(252) 725-4875



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/51f07652-4fff-483a-9946-b5e5ab3fe3f8






SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hitachi Vantara , a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), today highlighted the investments and progress the company has made in its partner business that have netted the company and its partners significant growth over the last year. As Hitachi Vantara continues its transformation to help customers maximize the value of their data, the company has invested significantly in its partner business as a critical component for growth.



Most recently, the new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure demonstrate the steps Hitachi Vantara is taking to address market demand through collaboration with and investment in its strategic relationships. In September 2018, Hitachi Vantara delivered VSP PRO solutions, which are simplified, partner-optimized configurations of Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP). The revamped Hitachi Vantara Partner Program, launched in April 2018, includes new competencies, delivery models, enablement and incentives. These initiatives demonstrate the increased focus Hitachi Vantara is placing on its partner ecosystem to successfully deliver solutions that help customers address their transformation challenges.

Cisco and Hitachi Accelerate Data Center Modernization and Cloud

Cisco and Hitachi are capitalizing on their aligned priorities for data center modernization and cloud to deliver an intelligent converged solution that helps enterprises worldwide meet the challenges of today and position themselves for the future. Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure is a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) that combines the companies best-in-class technologies including Hitachi storage and Cisco compute and networking. Engineered, tested and validated by both Cisco and Hitachi, the new meet-in-the-market solution is designed for partners to address demand for a validated Hitachi and Cisco converged infrastructure that supports high-end, enterprise-grade, multi-use application workloads and delivers an agile, operationally efficient solution for continuous data availability and service-level agreement (SLA) management. It will be supported by both Cisco and Hitachi.

Over the last year, Hitachi Vantara has seen high single-digit growth in its converged business through partners. Sold and delivered by partners, the new Cisco and Hitachi solution is expected to increase opportunity for both companies partner ecosystems in this space.

Hitachi VSP PRO Configurations

Introduced in September 2018, the pre-configured, cost-optimized Hitachi VSP PRO semi-customizable configurations are a prime example of how the company is delivering on its promises to simplify and accelerate sales cycles for partners. Created expressly for the partner community, Hitachi VSP PRO solutions allow partners to quickly and easily quote small, medium, large and extra-large systems with an automated, self-service sales model that reduces the process from several hours to a matter of minutes. Hitachi VSP PRO solutions have also helped partners initiate conversations with customers about VSP solutions more broadly, contributing to year-over-year growth in partner sales of Hitachi VSP storage arrays.

Hitachi Vantara Reimagines Partner Program to Drive Ecosystem Success

When the company launched its new Partner Program in April 2018, Hitachi Vantara introduced new competencies, delivery models and flexibility for partners to choose how they engage with the company. In addition, the company reiterated its commitment to maximize profitability and improve self-service and automation for its partners. Since the program launched, the company has continued to deliver against these promises, resulting in improved overall partner engagement and satisfaction, growth of partner business revenues including double-digit growth among solution providers, and rapid expansion of the companys ecosystem in strategic focus areas such as big data analytics and IoT. The latter has resulted in additional collaboration with several strategic partners, including Tech Data and Computacenter, to improve the recruitment, onboarding, and sales and presales enablement of a growing ecosystem of partners focused on big data analytics and IoT  an ecosystem that has grown nearly 300 percent year over year.

Customer and Partner Quotes:

Cisco and Hitachi Vantara have collaborated to provide customers on a path to digital transformation with an enterprise-class data center modernization solution, said Kaustubh Das, Vice President, Product Development and Strategy, Computing Systems Product Group at Cisco. The new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure will accelerate deployment and simplify operations for our mutual customers.



Since 2004, we have partnered with Hitachi Vantara to help customers get the most from their data. For 15 years, our partnership has been successful for several reasons: the commitment Hitachi Vantara has demonstrated to our business, an aligned strategic focus, and the breadth of innovative offerings we have available to tackle customer challenges. In the last year, weve seen positive developments in these areas  from the new Hitachi Vantara partner program to new strategic solutions that address market demands and accelerate customers transformation  all contributing to Computacenters successes, said Axel Heitmann, Sales Director Datacenter, Computacenter Germany. Today, with the new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure offering, we believe we can do even more, helping more customers adopt a best-in-class modern infrastructure environment that meets their needs for today and tomorrow.



For nearly 20 years, the Tech Data-Hitachi Vantara partnership has driven success for thousands of customers. Over this period, our partnership has continued to expand, weve added exciting new offerings to our portfolio, and weve identified new opportunities available we can address together, said Cheryl Neal, vice president, Data and Networking Solutions, Tech Data. From data center modernization to advanced analytics for business intelligence, our partnership with Hitachi Vantara is enabling us to guide our partners to further transform for the future. Were excited to bring whats next.

Hitachi Executive Quotes:

The new Cisco and Hitachi Adaptive Solutions for Converged Infrastructure build on our global Cisco partnership, paving the way for expanding our collaboration into new areas, said Toshio Nakano, President of IT Platform Products Management Division, Hitachi, Ltd. Together, we will continue innovating to create customer value through data across solutions that address a broad range of customer needs.



Hitachis partners  from solution providers to strategic alliances such as Cisco  have been a cornerstone of our success for many years and continue to become a larger part of Hitachi Vantaras overall business results. Together, we have successfully helped customers realize the power of their data, said Scott Kelly, COO and chief transformation officer at Hitachi Vantara. As Hitachi Vantara continues transforming to deliver innovation, we will continue to invest in an exciting future with our partners.

Additional Resources:

About Hitachi Vantara

Hitachi Vantara, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., helps data-driven leaders find and use the value in their data to innovate intelligently and reach outcomes that matter for business and society. We combine technology, intellectual property and industry knowledge to deliver data-managing solutions that help enterprises improve their customers experiences, develop new revenue streams, and lower the costs of business. Only Hitachi Vantara elevates your innovation advantage by combining deep information technology (IT), operational technology (OT) and domain expertise. We work with organizations everywhere to drive data to meaningful outcomes. Visit us at www.HitachiVantara.com .

About Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, delivers innovations that answer society's challenges, combining its operational technology, information technology, and products/systems. The company's consolidated revenues for fiscal 2017 (ended March 31, 2018) totaled 9,368.6 billion yen ($88.4 billion). The Hitachi Group is an innovation partner for the IoT era, and it has approximately 307,000 employees worldwide. Through collaborative creation with customers, Hitachi is deploying Social Innovation Business using digital technologies in a broad range of sectors, including Power/Energy, Industry/Distribution/Water, Urban Development, and Finance/Social Infrastructure/Healthcare. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com .

HITACHI is a trademark or registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. All other trademarks, service marks, and company names are properties of their respective owners.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Steve MacDonnell

Hitachi Vantara

steve.macdonnell@hitachivantara.com

+1 408-327-3670

Ashley Paula

Weber Shandwick for Hitachi Vantara

apaula@webershandwick.com

+1 415-262-5975
By Julian Ventura





Julian Ventura

Mexico is convinced of the irreplaceable value of diplomacy, with an outstanding multilateral tradition and a demonstrated capacity to engage in dialogue and build consensus. It is in this spirit that we participate in MIKTA, an informal consultation space with Australia, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea and Turkey.

The five countries have our own significant presence in the international stage. We decided to come together, as friends and partners, to promote common priorities and explore innovative strategies to face global challenges.

We are located in different regions, and we possess unique historical identities and cultural richness. We also have shared interests, which motivates us to come closer together, to enhance our mutual understanding, and to expand our economic and social ties.

At the vice-ministerial meeting in mid-February in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, we took over MIKTA's coordination. The agenda proposed by Mexico was adopted, which seeks to directly address the needs and aspirations of our peoples.

With the theme "Social development, global governance and a sustainable future," we will seek to increase MIKTA's collaboration in three main areas. First, economic cooperation for social development. We will promote trade and investment, both among ourselves and in other key markets. We will foster a greater integration of micro, small and medium enterprises into global supply chains. We will also bolster tourism cooperation, by sharing best practices and technical expertise to generate greater benefits for the receiving communities.

The second area is the strengthening of multilateralism and collaboration in international organizations. MIKTA will join efforts to increase efficiency, transparency and equality in international organizations, and to mainstream the gender perspective. We will uphold a strong, open and rules-based international system that contributes to economic and social development, the protection of human rights, international peace and security, and cooperation.

Thirdly, we will promote sustainable development with an emphasis on achieving the 2030 Agenda. Our societies demand greater actions to address climate change and other major global challenges, as well as greater cooperation for the reduction of natural-disaster risks, which we are all exposed to. Furthermore, as maritime countries, we share the interest to protect the oceans and their biodiversity. Social inclusion is also a common goal; we will continue to work in the fields of education and internet access.

An additional innovation of Mexico's MIKTA coordination will be to convene the first meeting of our national agencies for development cooperation. In this context, at the meeting in Yogyakarta we shared the ongoing actions to implement the Comprehensive Development Plan launched by El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, as an example of human-centered cooperation.

The work of MIKTA expands throughout the world. Our embassies and consulates are in constant communication. This year they will undertake activities of public and cultural diplomacy to disseminate our historical richness and our cultural customs and traditions. We have a MIKTA Academic Network that has organized a number of seminars and scholarly publications. We will incorporate other civil society actors into our joint efforts and actions. We will also work together with them to boost economic and tourism promotion.

No country can effectively address international challenges individually. MIKTA continues to evolve as a multilateral space that aims to play a constructive role in a complex international scenario. During 2019, Mexico will strengthen collaboration among MIKTA's five countries, with the ultimate goal of making our societies more inclusive and prosperous.

Julian Ventura is a deputy secretary of Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs.
My names Will Capers. For almost nine years, Ive blogged on various topics. I blogged as Blaque Ink first, and as Brotha Wolf second. The latter had a mu...

2 years ago




IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them.





They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country.





However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia.





"Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination.





Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia.





They should be lovingly helped.





Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948.





To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts:





While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 :

Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell.

The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites.



A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught.



The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers.



Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites."



Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers.









There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks.





This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work.





It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter.





In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam.













In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir.





" The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life."





An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir .





In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance).





Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).





Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance).









Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam.





It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way.





A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah.





Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs).









Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life".





Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology.





Islam is a supremacist ideology.





Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism.





Islam is a civilization.

Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization.





Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life.

It has a say about every conceivable human act .





Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam.

























The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic.





Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111).





A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44)





Muhammad himself said:

I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30)









Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad.




As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ




Since Beatrice Thornton was 13 years old she's been living with a secret that could ruin her family forever. Her parents are the only ones who know, and now, seven years later, they are forced to put on a sham for Beatrice's late first Season. The plan, make Beatrice as mousy and ill-clothed as possible so no suitor would consider her. Then they can all escape back to their country home in Dorset to keep the terrible secret safe. But the unthinkable happens... Beatrice meets a man who gives her hope of a normal life, and Beatrice dares to love with horrible consequences.



Captain Henry Gracechurch has resigned his commission after living through the horrors and waste of war. Recently returned from Spain, he is cajoled by his formidable godmother to make an appearance at one of her famous balls. When he sees a young woman abandoned on the dance floor, honour commands him to save the day. Nothing could have prepared him for meeting the person who is a balm to his soul and gives wings to his heart. But winning Beatrice Thornton will take every ounce of courage he has, and this is a war he will win, no matter the cost.

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions . Keira Dominguez will be awarding $15 in Boroughs Bucks to 2 randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.Beatrice stared dumbstruck at Lord Knowltons back.Lady Sherbourne, her godmama, had introduced them, hissing behind her fan, The only son of an old duke. Nothing like jumping in with both feet. And then she had carted Mama off to the card room, leaving Beatrice to get on as best she could.Lord Knowlton, in turn, had given Beatrice a look like she was a crate of dry goods dropped at the delivery door.Now, after a truly dreadful dance, he wasnt even giving her that. Instead, without so much as a bow, he was chasing after a girl whose tiny bodice had been performing heroic, if ultimately futile, work in aid of public decency.Beatrice looked after him, furrowing her brow, the shock of his rudeness rooting her in place. So little was demanded of the clodlight conversation, a few observations on the weather this time of year and, finally, after theyd both decided they would rather die than be paired off again, he would escort her from the floor and theyd declare it the nicest half-hour either of them had ever spent.But, no. The slithering reptile was completely gone. She stared after him in bewildered outrage until the sound of the room changed. No music for the moment and no sound of footsteps walking on and off the floor, only a low chatter ebbing away.Beatrice looked around, the hairs on her arms standing up. She was suddenly alive to the fact that she was the only person conspicuously still on the vast ballroom flooralmost in the centre. She ground her teeth, incandescent with fear and rage, as her face went a telltale red.How dare London be such a crushing disappointment? How dare it serve up a man who was no better than a a? There were no names she could think of that would not be an insult to idiots, vermin, and bastards.Heads were beginning to swing toward her and Beatrice felt her cheeks turn white, leached of colour. Should she walk backward until she could melt into the crowd or pretend to answer a wave across the room and dash off purposefully? Flying out of the room was hardly possible. The back of her neck prickled and she could feel eyes sweeping around the ballroom, stopping on her lone figure.If Mama and Papa had allowed her even one visit to the local assembly, she might not be so utterly at sea. Still, Mama would charge to her rescue, if only she could be found. Beatrice stretched her neck and raised herself onto her tiptoes, ready to fabricate an acquaintance over near the tea boardthe shame of it making her eyes burn. Blast that man.In the dreadful silence, she heard a scuffing sound and turned to watch as a soldier in a scarlet uniform broke past the wall of bystanders. He walked toward her, his steps unnaturally loud in the silence. Thank you for waiting for me, he called, his voice amused but apologetic, and loud enough to carry to the edge of the floor. Ive been looking forward to this set all evening.He bowed over her hand and whispered a command: Chin up. Smile like youre happy to see me.Beatrice squeezed this strangers fingers, feeling an immediate lightness. Her breath broke as she exhaled, but she was proud of her control. Her lips arranged themselves into the proper shape.Good show, he commended, and the praise warmed her. Captain Gracechurch, at your service. Your name, miss?Keira Dominguez graduated from BYU with a B.A. in Humanities and lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and five children.For the last decade, she has co-authored The Uncrushable Jersey Dress, a blog and Facebook page dedicated to mid-century author, Betty Neels. Cultivating this corner of fandom confirmed the suspicion that people who like sweet romances are as smart, funny, and are as interesting as readers of any other genre.When Keira is not busy avoiding volunteerism at her kids schools like it is the literal plague, she enjoys scoring a deal at Goodwill, repainting her rooms an unnecessary amount of times, and being seized by sudden enthusiasms.Take Tea with Keira -Buy the book at Boroughs Publishing Kobo , or Smashwords
Professional Expectations:

The Teacher Assistant should have the following qualities

Demonstrate skills in promoting the schools philosophy and policy.

Have excellent communication and interpersonal skills.

Have a good understanding of how children learn.

Have an understanding of teaching and learning strategies.

Be professional in approach and set good examples.

Be conscientious, efficient and organized.

Give high regard to Health and Safety.

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Shrewsbury International School is committed to Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children. The successful candidate will be required to

attend in-house Child Safeguarding programmes

promote and safeguard the welfare of all students in the school

report to the Child Protection Officer any concerns they have for the welfare of a student. This may include unsafe practices witnessed within the school as outlined in the schools Speak Out (Whistleblowing) Policy

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- Vice President Leni Robredo criticized a certain Senatorial candidate for not joining Senate debates

- Robredo also slammed Imee Marcos indirectly regarding the controversies about her college degree

- The Vice President insisted that candidates must join public debates for the voters to know where they stand on certain issues

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Vice President Leni Robredo has indirectly called out Senate candidate Imee Marcos for allegedly lying about earning a degree from Princeton University and University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law.

KAMI learned that on the radio program of Robredo, the BISERbisyong Leni that airs weekly on RMN-dzXL, the vice president criticized a certain Senatorial aspirant for not joining senatorial debates. However, she did not mention any names.

Pinakamahirap kasi yung iba talaga nakakasinungaling ng dire-diretsoYung ano na lang pag-aaral sa U.P and Princeton, di ba may kasinungalingan pa, Robredo said, as reported by the Manila Bulletin (author Raymund Antonio).

The vice president also insisted that the Senate slate of regional party Hugpong ng Pagbabago, led by Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, should attend the debates so that the voters will know how they would address certain issues.

Yung mga kandidato natin pumupunta, yung iba kandidato pumupunta pero sila, lalo na yung okay sa (pre-election) survey, hindi na sila pumupunta, Robredo said.

So paano malalaman ng mga tao yung mga issue na either laban sa kanila or mga paniniwala nilang tinatayuan, pakiramdam nila sa mga issue, she added.

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In a previous report by KAMI, The Daily Princetonian, the official student newspaper of Princeton University, has published an article that said Marcos falsely claimed that she actually graduated from the University.

KAMI also reported before that Marcos insisted she earned a degree from UP and Princeton. She also showed the "proof" of her graduation in UP. However, records showed that Marcos entered and studied in both universities but she was not awarded a degree.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Funny Pranks: Messing Around With Filipinos | "We need to break up. I know your mom is 60 years old, but I love her." Weird phone call prank and several others to make your day!  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/
- The Mayor of Kalayaan claimed that Filipino fishermen were blocked from getting near the sandbars close to Thitu Island

- However, it was clarified that there was not harassment that happened

- The official insisted that the presence of the Chinese boats were affecting the fishermen

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Chinese vessels were seen driving away Filipino fishermen from the sandbars close to the Pag-asa Island or internationally known as Thitu Island in the South China Sea.

KAMI learned that a Philippine official claimed that there were about a dozen of Chinese vessels in the Philippine-occupied Pag-Asa Island last January 31 and they increased up until February 2.

When I stayed there from Jan. 11 up to Feb. 2, their number increased. I counted around 50 vessels on the left side of the island," said Mayor Roberto del Mundo of Kalayaan. Kalayaan is a town in Palawan where Pag-asa is administered.

According to a report by the Inquirer, Del Mundo said that the mere presence of the Chinese boats was affecting the Filipino fishermen. He mentioned that unlike before, the Chinese vessel would immediately approach them and deny them access.

However, Del Mundo clarified that there was no harassment that happened. He said that he was just confused why the Chinese won't allow them to go near the sandbars when it is "supposed to be ours."

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Del Mundo shared his frustration because the Philippines won the arbitration case over the countrys sovereign right to fish and explore in the West Philippine Sea.

Its ours. We are the ones supposed to be chasing them away, but its the other way around. We should be the ones driving them away [because] its ours, but we cant do anything about it, Del Mundo insisted.

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

Funny Pranks: Messing Around With Filipinos | "We need to break up. I know your mom is 60 years old, but I love her." Weird phone call prank and several others to make your day!  on KAMI HumanMeter YouTube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
- Pia Wurtzbach expressed how she finds Miss Reina Hispanoamerica 2017 Winwyn Marquez

- This is amid rumors that the latter will be joining the Binibining Pilipinas again

- Winwyn responded to the honest words of Pia

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Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach expressed her observations about Winwyn Marquez now that the latter is urged to join Binibining Pilipinas again.

KAMI learned that this happened after the Miss Reina Hispanoamericana 2017 posted a daring photo of her on social media.

Winwyn captioned her post with "May all of your vibes say: I GOT THIS and Pia immediately aired her words through the comment section.

The third Miss Universe from the Philippines expressed that her former opponent during the Binibining Pilipinas 2015 is really a Miss Universe material.

This, according to some netizens, fuelled the speculations about the possible participation of the now-Kapuso actress in the upcoming national pageant.

With obvious excitement, Winwyn responded to the observations of Pia and she stated that she almost had a mini heart attack because of the fellow beauty queens words.

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She even said that the comment of Pia is worthy to be put in a frame because she has always been looking up to her.

"Can't lie. I had a mini heart attack when I read this.

"Pia is one of my inspirations. I really looked up to her lalo na nung BBP/MU 2015.

"TBH, I was low key kilig (well super kilig) na makasabay ko siya mag perform sa isang stage nung sabay kami nag BBP.

"Pwede ko na pa print and pa frame comment na to... thank you!" Winwyn wrote.

In a previous article by , a former Miss Universe runner-up spoke up about the comparison issue between Pia and Catriona Gray.

Born on September 24, 1989, Pia Wurtzbach is a Filipina actress, model, and beauty queen who was hailed as the third Filipina to win the highly-coveted Miss universe crown.

She won in 2015 and her famous line confidently beautiful with a heart made a mark to a lot of people.

POPULAR: Read more news about Pia Wurtzbach!

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People React To Beggar Giving Them Money. What if a homeless guy gave you money? How would you act? Some reactions were quite unexpected.  on HumanMeter!

Source: Kami.com.ph
Post: #7 RE: Trump can 150 % be indicted on fraud and money laundering charges immediately

Adderall Neurotoxicity: Just How Dangerous Is It?



Adderall is believed to have neurotoxic effects in doses that are higher than the recommended therapeutic dose, so these effects are mainly related to abuse of the drug; however, it may also potentially be neurotoxic in prolonged regular doses over a long period of time.



Quote: Dopamine is directly related to feelings of happiness. For instance, when a person eats something they like, dopamine is released, telling the brain to feel pleasure. This forms a reward pathway. Normally, dopamine is reabsorbed back into receptors in the brain and released again when something pleasurable stimulates that release. Adderall floods the brain with dopamine and prevents it from being reabsorbed quickly.



In high amounts, the drug can be considered neurotoxic, as the dopaminergic system is damaged by the drugs disruption. The journal Molecular Psychiatry warns that prolonged exposure of the brain to the amphetamine contained in Adderall can have neurotoxic effects. This may occur because high levels of dopamine can cause the brain to actually strip itself of dopamine receptors in an effort to balance itself.

Potential Long-Term Effects of Adderall



Regular use of Adderall, even with a prescription and a legitimate medical need for the drug, can cause a person to become dependent on it. Physical dependence occurs when the brain is used to the way the drug interacts with the central nervous system and the way it influences its chemical makeup. Natural levels of norepinephrine, a form of adrenaline, as well as mood-regulating neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine are disrupted by the presence of Adderall. Over time, the brain can come to expect the drug to regulate the levels of these chemical messengers and is no longer be able to keep up normal production, transmission, and reabsorption of them on its own. As a result, withdrawal symptoms and intense cravings can ensue, which may lead to addiction.



Addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an inability to control drug use. A person battling addiction may no longer be able to stop using the drug on their own even if they want to. Social isolation, financial difficulties, mood swings, and troubles at work, school, and home are all possible ramifications of Adderall addiction.



Adderall is a drug that is not recommended to stop taking suddenly or cold turkey, as the withdrawal symptoms can be emotionally difficult.



Over time, the brain may be able to recover from most of the effects of Adderall. However, as is the case for another amphetamine derivative methamphetamine, or meth, some of the neurotoxic effects on the brain may take a year or more to fully repair themselves, NIDA explains.



Long-term damage from meth abuse can include an increased risk for Parkinsons disease (a movement disorder), trouble with verbal learning, memory issues, and other cognitive deficits. Combining Adderall with other drugs can increase the number of possible consequences and dangers associated with both substances as well. For instance, mixing Adderall with other medications that impact serotonin levels, such as MOAIs, SSRIs, and SNRIs, can lead to the potentially life-threatening serotonin syndrome, which can cause psychosis, irregular heart rate and blood pressure, dizziness, hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coma, and seizures.

Additional long-term side effects of Adderall use include:



Significant weight loss

Stunted growth in children

Anxiety

Depression

Suicidal thoughts and actions

Impulse control issues

Difficulties thinking and learning

Sleeping problems

Peripheral vasculopathy (a disorder of blood vessels in the arms and legs)

Cardiovascular complications

Hypertension (heightened blood pressure)

Raised risk for stroke and heart attack

Kidney failure and organ damage from elevated body temperature

Restlessness

Mania

Seizures

Blurred vision

Hyperactivity

Dry mouth

Reynauds syndrome (feelings of numbness or hot and cold in the fingers and toes)

Itching, rash, and skin sores

Teeth clenching

Dizziness

Breathing difficulties



https://www.oxfordtreatment.com/adderall/neurotoxicity/









Nixon: "I am not a crook."

Trump: "Hold my Adderall."







Here's longtime Trump and Apprentice employee Noel Casler talking about Trump's adderall use.

https://twitter.com/joyenlife/status/110...6029170693 Regular use of Adderall, even with a prescription and a legitimate medical need for the drug, can cause a person to become dependent on it. Physical dependence occurs when the brain is used to the way the drug interacts with the central nervous system and the way it influences its chemical makeup. Natural levels of norepinephrine, a form of adrenaline, as well as mood-regulating neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine are disrupted by the presence of Adderall. Over time, the brain can come to expect the drug to regulate the levels of these chemical messengers and is no longer be able to keep up normal production, transmission, and reabsorption of them on its own. As a result, withdrawal symptoms and intense cravings can ensue, which may lead to addiction.Addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease characterized by an inability to control drug use. A person battling addiction may no longer be able to stop using the drug on their own even if they want to. Social isolation, financial difficulties, mood swings, and troubles at work, school, and home are all possible ramifications of Adderall addiction.Adderall is a drug that is not recommended to stop taking suddenly or cold turkey, as the withdrawal symptoms can be emotionally difficult.Over time, the brain may be able to recover from most of the effects of Adderall. However, as is the case for another amphetamine derivative methamphetamine, or meth, some of the neurotoxic effects on the brain may take a year or more to fully repair themselves, NIDA explains.Long-term damage from meth abuse can include an increased risk for Parkinsons disease (a movement disorder), trouble with verbal learning, memory issues, and other cognitive deficits. Combining Adderall with other drugs can increase the number of possible consequences and dangers associated with both substances as well. For instance, mixing Adderall with other medications that impact serotonin levels, such as MOAIs, SSRIs, and SNRIs, can lead to the potentially life-threatening serotonin syndrome, which can cause psychosis, irregular heart rate and blood pressure, dizziness, hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coma, and seizures.
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Updated March 4, 11:45 a.m.

Los Angeles County officials say Sheriff Alex Villanueva had no right to rehire a fired deputy, calling the action unlawful and saying it exceeded the new sheriff's authority.

At the direction of the Board of Supervisors, the county's Auditor-Controller has stopped paying Deputy Carl Mandoyan and ordered him to turn in all county property, including his badge and gun. Mandoyan had previously been terminated in 2016 over allegations of domestic abuse that included claims he stalked a female deputy.

But Mandoyan is refusing to surrender his badge and gun, according to his attorney, Greg Smith, who called Auditor John Naimo's letter "a political play" by the supervisors, whom he accused of "interfering" with Villanueva's "sole and exclusive authority" to run his department.

Smith also told LAist that Villanueva acted with the apparent blessing of the county counsel's office when he agreed to rehire Mandoyan in exchange for Mandoyan dropping two civil lawsuits he had filed against the county.

A representative of the county counsel's office was present when that deal was struck "and didn't disagree to that settlement," said Smith.

The county counsel's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A hearing is scheduled in L.A. Superior Court Tuesday, where the county will ask a judge to force Mandoyan to give up his badge and gun.

The latest conflict, which came to light over the weekend, intensifies a simmering dispute between the board and Villanueva over how much authority the elected sheriff has on personnel matters.

Mandoyan was a prominent backer of Villanueva's successful campaign to oust sitting Sheriff Jim McDonnell. Within weeks of Villanueva taking office, Mandoyan was back on the payroll.

THE LETTER

In his letter to Mandoyan dated Feb. 28, Naimo says Villanueva is "without the authority" to settle legal disputes, so he did not have the power to bring Mandoyan back to active duty in exchange for dismissing his two civil actions. Under the county charter, only the Board of Supervisors has the power to end a legal dispute, the letter says.

In addition, Naimo notes the requirement that "all classified positions be filled from the current eligible civil service list" which Mandoyan was not on.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl, in an interview Sunday, emphasized that Mandoyan's termination was ratified by the county's civil service commission.

"You can't just bring somebody back when that's happened," she said.

A spokesman for Supervisor Kathryn Barger said Sunday she "never believed the sheriff had the authority to reinstate him."

"She is supportive of the action taken by the auditor-controller," said Barger spokesman Tony Bell.

The move sets up a rare showdown between the powerful five-member board and newly elected Villanueva over the sheriff's powers.

Villanueva has argued that his predecessor unfairly fired Mandoyan and dozens of other deputies. He's promised to set up a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to review their cases.

Mandoyan was one of a half dozen "low-hanging fruit," the sheriff said -- people whose termination he believed was so egregiously wrong that they deserved immediate rehiring.

Mandoyan served as a key aide to Villanueva during his campaign, working as the candidate's driver and rallying deputies to support him. The sheriff has said Mandoyan's campaign role had nothing to do with his rehiring.

SHARP CRITICISM

Once Mandoyan's rehiring became public, the Board of Supervisors sharply criticized the decision, saying it sends the wrong message to victims of domestic violence.

Villanueva disagreed, dismissing those concerns and suggesting that because the female deputy refused to show up in court against Mandoyan that her allegations lacked merit.

In a written statement released Sunday night, Villanueva called the dispute a "personnel matter" that "is under review and will be decided through the legal employment process."

"While the specific facts of this case are protected under the Peace Officer Bill of Rights and civil service procedures," Villanueva wrote, "I can assure that an objective, honest, and fair assessment was conducted before reinstatement. We will let the process continue forward as we work to determine the final outcome."

The Auditor Controller's letter to Mandoyan, dated February 28, states the county informed Villanueva on February 20 that it would stop paying Mandoyan on February 22, but the sheriff "declined to communicate this message to you."

"You are instructed to immediately turn in any and all County property, including your weapon and badge," the letter states. "You are not authorized to serve as a Department employee."

If Villanueva tries to keep Mandoyan, "he would be working for nothing," said Kuehl.

"I have a hunch this is going to have to be settled by a court," she said.

UPDATES:

11:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Mandoyan's attorney and additional action planned by the county.

This article was originally published on March 3 at 9:45 p.m.

READ THE LETTER
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Bored? We found the cure(s). Check out a new Filipino pop-up in Century City or a massive celebration of Korean culture at the Hammer. If film's your jam, there's a 3D cinema series, a Q&A about "BLACKkKlansman" and more movie/music mashups at the Hollywood Bowl. For music under the stars, SWIMM plays Levitt Pavilion and there's a jazz fest at Santa's Village at Skyforest.

MONDAY, AUG. 6; 4:30 and 6 p.m.

Brew Tours

Bluebird Brasserie -- 13730 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks

Now you have another reason to hit the Belgian brewpub during happy hour -- intimate brewery tours. Mondays through Wednesdays, groups of six (first come, first served) will get a brief overview of the beer program. The tours last about 20 minutes and include a free 5 oz. taster.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

MONDAY, AUG. 6; 7:30 p.m.

Metalstorm: 'The Destruction Of Jared-syn' & 'Rottweiler'

Egyptian Theatre -- 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

To coincide with LACMA's current exhibition "3D: Double Vision," the museum teams up with American Cinematheque for a 3D film series. The first film of the Cinematic Void double feature is a 1983 knockoff of "Mad Max," directed by Charles Band. It's followed by Worth Keeter's 1983 film about a pack of Rottweilers trained by the U.S. military as killing machines. Spoiler Alert: The dogs escape and the body count escalates.

COST: $15; MORE INFO



TUESDAY, AUG. 7 - SUNDAY, FEB. 3, 2019

'Art of Three Faiths: A Torah, a Bible, and a Qur'an'

The Getty Center -- 1200 Getty Center Dr., Brentwood

The divine words of three faiths -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam -- will be on view through colorful medieval manuscripts on parchment. The religious texts include a ninth-century North African Qur'an, a 15-century Christian Bible and a rare 13th-century Torah from Northern Europe called "The Rothschild Pentateuch."

COST: FREE; MORE INFO



TUESDAY, AUG. 7; 6 p.m.

Cur-ATE

LACMA -- 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Miracle Mile

The ongoing series mixes two of our favorite topics -- art and food -- and includes after-hours tours with curators and culinary experts. It's followed by a dinner at Ray's, inspired by the night's art. With the theme "Exploring Nature," Maite Gomez-Rejon of ArtBites leads a tour through the galleries. Guests then have a chance to meet with Chef Fernando Darin in the Ray & Stark Bar garden before digging into a seasonal vegan prix fixe meal.

COST: $100 - $144; MORE INFO

TUESDAY, AUG. 7, WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8, THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 8 p.m.

Movies in Concert

Hollywood Bowl -- 2301 N Highland Ave., Hollywood

It's movie week at the Bowl. David Newman conducts the LA Phil through John Williams' score as "Star Wars: A New Hope" screens on Tuesday. Thomas Wilkins conducts the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra through Henry Mancini's music for "The Pink Panther" on Wednesday. Newman and the LA Phil return on Thursday for "Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back."

COST: $1 - $199; MORE INFO

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8; 7 - 9 p.m.

Talk Box: Shift

Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center -- 1110 Bates Ave., Silver Lake

The JCC hosts a discussion on gentrification in the eastside. Moderated by KCRW's Saul Gonzalez, the panelists include writer/producer of "Vida" Lindsey Villarreal, historian Dr. Max D. Baumgarten, multimedia journalist Samanta Helou-Hernandez and real estate broker Anselm Clinard. The event provides a safe space for civil conversation and disagreement, examining the causes, consequences and controversy of gentrification.

COST: $10 or pay what you can; MORE INFO

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8; 7 p.m.

"Hope Never Dies"

Book Soup -- 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood

Andrew Shaffer discusses and signs his new mystery-thriller, which follows two amateur detectives -- Joe Biden and Barack Obama (yes, the former VP and President) -- as they traverse Delaware on the trail of murderer. Feeling listless after leaving office, VP Biden investigates when his favorite train conductor dies in a suspicious accident. The buddies hit up biker bars, seedy motels and uncover connections to America's opioid epidemic.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8; 8 p.m. - THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 6 p.m.

KCON West

Hammer Museum -- 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood

To coincide with this weekend's KCON, the largest celebration of Korean culture in L.A., the museum presents two preview programs on the Westside. The first is a K-pop concert with Ailee, Roy Kim and Echae Kang. The following night, there's a screening of the 2017 film, "The Fortress," a historical epic based on China's 1636 invasion of Korea. A Q&A with director Hwang Dong-hyuk takes place after the screening.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

John David Washington stars as Ron Stallworth in the Spike Lee Joint 'BLACKkKLANSMAN.' (Image: 'BlacKkKlansman' via Facebook)

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 8; 3:30 p.m

'BlacKkKlansman' + Q&A

The Dome @ ArcLight Hollywood -- 6360 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood

There's a special pre-show Q&A in the Dome with director Spike Lee and actors John David Washington, Topher Grace, Laura Harrier and Corey Hawkins. They'll talk about the film and the incredible story it's based on: Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, infiltrated the local Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter.

COST: $17 - $18; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 6:30 - 10:30 p.m.

Alamo Drafthouse: 'Die Hard' 30th Anniversary

The Bloc -- 750 W. 7th St., downtown L.A.

Yippee-ki-yay... you know the rest. It's meta-movie night: Watch from atop a downtown high-rise as John McClane (Bruce Willis) face off against Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) and his baddies as they try to take over an L.A. skyscraper. Before the screening, artist and musician Alex Winston performs.

COST: $10 - $15; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 7 - 10 p.m.

SWIMM + Winter

Levitt Pavilion -- Northwest corner of MacArthur Park, near the intersection of W. 6th and S. Park View streets

The indie outfit brings its synth pop-meet-yacht-rock sounds to the outdoor concert venue. Winter -- a project of songwriter Samira Winter -- opens the night.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 6:30 p.m.

'Space Jam'

Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza -- 3650 West Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw

Catch the family flick where Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan share top billing. While the screening starts at dusk at the Sears Bowl, get there early for music, games and food trucks.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 8 - 9:30 p.m.

Vintage Basement With Max & Nicky

Dynasty Typewriter at the Hayworth -- 2511 Wilshire Blvd., Westlake

New York-based twin brothers Max and Nicky Weinbach host a night of stand-up comedy and music with an awesome lineup: Reggie Watts, Brent Weinbach, Aparna Nancherla, DJ Douggpound and Andrew Michaan.

COST: $10 - $15; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 8 p.m.

'Story Collider' Los Angeles: Battles

Lyric Hyperion -- 2106 Hyperion Ave., Silver Lake

The podcast and its live storytelling series stand at the intersection of science and entertainment. Audrey Kearns and Joseph Scrimshaw host the L.A. edition, which features true and personal stories from VFX artist and model maker Fon Davis, actor/writer Colton Dunn, actor/podcaster Jennifer Landa, writer/producer Joey Slamon and biologist Evelyn Valdez-Ward.

COST: $10; MORE INFO

THURSDAYS, AUG. 9, 16, 23

Blue Jay Jazz Festival

SkyPark at Santa's Village -- 28950 California 18, Skyforest

The festival in the mountains opens with Latin jazz legend Poncho Sanchez and his Latin Jazz Band and Billy Mitchell & The Circle of Friends on Aug. 16. Rounding out the season is a night with the Cal State San Bernardino Jazz Band, Rim High Marching Band and the local ensemble 60 Grit. Bring a picnic (beer and wine are allowed) or purchase from one of the restaurants on site.

COST: $19 - $35; MORE INFO



THURSDAYS, AUG. 9, 16, 23, 30; 6 - 9 p.m.

Kain Pop-Up Restaurant

Mari at InterContinental Los Angeles -- 2151 Avenue of the Stars, Century City

"Kain" in Tagalog (the main Filipino dialect) means "to eat," and you definitely will at this pop-up with a prix fixe menu. Inspired by his mother's cooking, chef Brian Bellicourt added a few modern twists on traditional dishes. The menu includes pork belly sisig toast, ube gnocchi, spicy beef cheek kaldereta, chicharron-crusted sea bass, palabok and cornbread bibingka.

COST: $55 per person; MORE INFO

THURSDAY, AUG. 9; 7 p.m.

Gary Leonard conversation with Josh Kun on "Clubs & Halls" Exhibit

Il Caffe, 855 S. Broadway, downtown L.A.

During this week's DTLA Art Walk, the photographer talks about his images of L.A.'s early punk scene, which are currently on view at the coffee bar. With writer and scholar Kun moderating, the night should be both fun and insightful.

COST: FREE; MORE INFO

How are you spending your week? Let us know on Twitter @christineziemba and @LeoHasACat.

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Actor Luke Perry has died after suffering a massive stroke last week, according to NPR, citing his publicist. He was 52 years old.

He made an impact as one of the biggest stars of the '90s in primetime soap opera Beverly Hills, 90210, but was becoming known to a whole new generation of fans as Archie Andrews' dad on Riverdale.

Perry was hospitalized last week. He was surrounded by family and friends when he died, including his children, siblings, fiancee, and ex-wife, according to the AP.

File: Promotional studio portrait of actor Luke Perry from the TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1994. (Fox Broadcasting/Getty Images)

Beverly Hills, 90210 elevated him to the level of go-to heartthrob as bad boy Dylan McKay. Running the entirety of the '90s, the show helped to define the era. Perry left the show in 1995, but returned for the final seasons starting in 1998.

Beyond 90210, he appeared in 1990s films like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Fifth Element, and 8 Seconds. He was one of the biggest stars of the era, even playing himself on The Simpsons.

He continued to perform in less flashy roles throughout the 2000s, including as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed Oz.

Perry's been a central figure on the CW's Riverdale for three seasons as Fred Andrews, a show somehow even soapier than 90210 -- Perry said it was like 90210 on steroids. Based on the classic Archie comics but reimagined as a pulp noir, Andrews offered a guiding hand to his son while being caught up in many of his own dramas.

Season 1 ended (spoiler warning) with the character being shot, but he survived and served as the impetus for the second season as a serial killer stalked the town in season 2. His character remains a key part of the show in the current season 3.

Those who worked closely with him over the years have been sharing their feelings and memories of Perry:

The first time I met Luke Perry we talked about what kind of movie we wanted Buffy to be. I asked if hed ever seen Near Dark and he gave me a look of HOW DARE YOU SIR and I knew wed get along. Funny, committed, and always gracious. He shouldnt be gone.  Joss Whedon (@joss) March 4, 2019

My heart is broken. I will miss you so much Luke Perry. Sending all my love to your family.  #LukePerry  Molly Ringwald (@MollyRingwald) March 4, 2019

Luke Perry... you were a joyful and vibrant soul. You will be missed but most certainly your legacy will be remembered forever. Rest in love and peace, friend. #Riverdale  Riverdale Writers Room (@RiverdaleWriter) March 4, 2019

Dearest Luke,

I will forever bask in the loving memories we've shared over the last thirty years. May your journey forward be enriched by the magnificent souls who have passed before you, just like you have done here, for those you leave behind.  Ian Ziering (@IanZiering) March 4, 2019

A statement from #Riverdale executive producers, Warner Bros. Television and The CW on the passing of Luke Perry. pic.twitter.com/Yx2nvoQtwb  Archie Comics (@ArchieComics) March 4, 2019

A reboot of Beverly Hills, 90210 has been announced to air on Fox this summer, but Perry had not been set to be part of it.

Watch Perry in some of his most well-known performances below:

As Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210:

As Fred Andrews on Riverdale:

As himself on The Simpsons:

As Pike in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie:
Your tax-deductible gift today powers our reporters and keeps us independent. We rely on you, our reader, not paywalls to stay funded because we believe important news and information should be freely accessible to all.

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In August 2018, Los Angeles City Councilman David Ryu proposed an emergency homeless shelter be built at 5161 Sepulveda Blvd. in Sherman Oaks as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti's bridge housing initiative.

The plan led to a petition, an unruly protest at a neighborhood meeting, and threats to recall the District 4 councilman. Then, nothing.

Seven months later, the proposal is "no longer considered a viable option," Ryu wrote in a letter to constituents, because the U.S. Army, which owns and manages the land, has continually refused to allow city staff to set foot on the site.

According to Mark Pampanin, a spokesman for Councilman Ryu, city officials reached out to the Army's 63rd Readiness Division last year and initially had an "amicable and positive" phone conversation, with the Army agreeing to let city staff visit the site in the near future.

"That basically fell through after the phone call," Pampanin said. "They stopped being as responsive and then here we are today."

The leader of the division, which operates an Army Reserve center on the land, later walked back the agreement, citing security protocol concerns.

Then, the Army basically ghosted everyone, despite a letter from Sen. Dianne Feinstein urging division chief Col. Victor R. Green to allow city staff to visit the "underutilized federal property" as Los Angeles grapples with the "humanitarian crisis" of homelessness.

"The Army Reserve's lack of response to both the City of Los Angeles as well as Senator Dianne Feinstein's office is evidence of their unwillingness to help local partners take on serious issues," Ryu wrote in the March 1 letter. "Until the Army Reserve retracts its refusal," 5161 Sepulveda Blvd. is no longer under consideration, he said.

LAist's phone calls and emails to the Army Reserve division were not returned.

Map: Where 'A Bridge Home' Shelters Have Been Proposed, Approved And Opened

This marks the second emergency shelter site in the neighborhood to be sunk. Both the Sepulveda site and a nixed proposal for 15314 Dickens St. were recommended to Ryu by the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and the community homeowner's association.

According to Ron Ziff, president of the neighborhood council, there are no options left to bring homeless housing to the community.

"There is no next move," Ziff told LAist last month, before city officials officially cut their losses for the Army land. "There is no other property that we're aware of. There is nothing else in Sherman Oaks."

But Pampanin was slightly more optimistic that there's more to be done, saying Ryu's office remains "committed to addressing homelessness in Sherman Oaks."

"Finding good locations on city-owned property is tough in L.A., and Sherman Oaks is no exception," he said. "We are looking at our options in Sherman Oaks, not just for bridge housing, but for all types of homeless housing."

One of those options is a recent proposal to build supportive housing for senior citizens at 14534 -14536 Burbank Blvd. in Sherman Oaks.

The nonprofit Mercy Housing has applied for funding from Proposition HHH to build 58 apartments on the quarter-acre property. The L.A. City Council's Homelessness and Poverty Committee is set to vote on the funding this Wednesday.

"This development would have a meaningful impact for our homeless population, and it would provide much-needed housing for the most vulnerable among us," Ryu said in the March 1 letter, adding that while homelessness was down slightly in L.A. County last year, "it surged by 22% for people 62 years and older."

A NEW PLAN IN LOS FELIZ

While emergency shelters under the mayor's plan have fallen through in Sherman Oaks, another such shelter has been proposed in Los Feliz.

Early last month, Ryu filed a motion asking the city to explore the feasibility of bridge housing on what's currently a parking lot and open land owned by the Department of Recreation and Parks on the southeastern edge of Griffith Park.

Last month, Councilman David Ryu filed a motion asking the city to explore the feasibility of a bridge housing site for what's currently a parking lot and open land owned by the Department of Recreation and Parks on the southeastern edge of Griffith Park in Los Feliz. (Courtesy Councilman David Ryu's office via Google Maps)

Several "small group meetings" have been scheduled this month at Ryu's Hollywood district office for local residents to discuss the proposal with the councilman. The proposed site has support from both the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council and Los Feliz Improvement Association, according to Pampanin.

It's also backed by the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, a group of homeless advocates who focus on the region between downtown L.A. and Hollywood.

The location is an ideal spot for homeless services, SELAH President Nithya Raman recently told LAist, because it "can serve unhoused residents in Los Feliz, Atwater Village, and Silver Lake, and is just a few minutes walk from the river where large numbers of people live."

"We do hope that this bridge housing facility can be so much more than just shelter beds," she said. "We hope that it can also be a place where people can drop in to access caseworkers, showers, and food, and a place where community members can volunteer and provide support for their neighbors experiencing homelessness."

The proposal is awaiting approval from the City Council, then a feasibility study can begin.

LA Explained: Homelessness

Elsewhere in Ryu's district, a new homeless housing program broke ground in Hollywood last week. Upgrades to the existing Aviva center at Hollywood Boulevard and Camino Palmero Street will create permanent bridge housing for young women experiencing homelessness. The project is separate from the mayor's bridge housing plan, which aims to create temporary sites.
Controversial Governor Northams Wife Expresses Regret after Complaint of Racist Tour

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)  Virginia first lady Pam Northam has expressed regret after the mother of an African-American teenager complained that a tour of the governors mansion was racially insensitive.

Northam said Wednesday that is she is working to make sure the stories of slaves who worked in the mansions historic kitchen before the Civil War are told properly.

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Northams statement comes amid heightened racial tension in Virginia politics. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have recently apologized for wearing blackface decades ago. The states highest elected black official, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, has compared himself to Jim Crow-era lynching victims after two women accused him of sexual assault.

State employee Leah Walker made the complaint. Her eighth-grade daughter toured the mansion this month as a part of the Senate page program. Walker says Pam Northam singled out African-American students when passing out cotton and discussing the horrors of slavery.

Northams office said the first lady did not single anyone out.

Walkers account differs from an account of the tour written by her daughter. Her daughter did not explicitly say only African-American pages were singled out by the first lady.

Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell and Republican Sen. Bill Stanley said both their daughters, who were also on the tour, said Northam did not single anyone out.
Kamala Harris Says She Became a Prosecutor to Change the System

LAS VEGAS (AP)  Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Friday that she became a prosecutor because she wanted to work from the inside to change a criminal justice system that disproportionately affects people of color.

I said there has to be a role for us in the inside of the room where the decisions are being made. Thats the track that I tried to get on to do what we could to reform the system, the California senator said in Las Vegas.

Harris, who could become the first African-American woman and first person of Asian descent to be president, has tried to strike a balance on the campaign trail between highlighting her law enforcement career while addressing a desire among Democratic voters to reform the criminal justice system.

Addressing an audience of black women entrepreneurs at the Mirage casino-resort on the Las Vegas Strip, Harris said she wanted to be smart on crime rather than tough on crime, and she used her role as prosecutor to create a re-entry program for people convicted of drug crimes to try to prevent them from ending up behind bars again.

Her comments Friday as she was interviewed on stage by lawyer and television personality Star Jones were part of Harris first public appearance in Nevada as a presidential candidate.

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The early Western caucus state is a key test of a candidates message before diverse groups, including a large immigrant population and strong labor unions.

Harris later met with immigrant activists and labor leaders before holding a town hall in a high school gymnasium in North Las Vegas.

To reach out to the states Latino community, the campaign provided headsets to attendees who wanted to listen to a Spanish translation of the event, along with signs that read Kamala Harris for the People in both English and Spanish.

State Democratic Sen. Pat Spearman endorsed Harris, who spoke about the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting and called for a ban on assault weapons.

The senator said theres a false choice that people can only either be in favor of the Second Amendment to bear arms or want to take everyones guns away. She then said the country needs universal background checks.

She also pitched about her tax plan to repeal the 2017 Republican tax cuts for corporations to pay for tax credits for lower and middle-income earners and said she wants to move the country to a Medicare for all health care system.
Last week I reviewed Ginger Rogers in the World War II homefront drama TENDER COMRADE (1943). Tonight I've stepped back a decade and watched Ginger in PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART (1933), a comedy recently released on DVD by the Warner Archive Ginger plays radio star Glory Eden, who represents a washcloth company as "Miss Purity." The Glory the public knows through the radio is a sweet and virginal orphan, epitomizing perfect virtuous womanhood, but behind the scenes Glory is yearning to kick up her heels and go smoking, drinking, and dancing in Harlem like her maid Vera (Theresa Harris). Glory even mourns the fact there's zero possibility she can ever get "in trouble." Fearing Glory won't renew her contract, the show's sponsors decide to tame her by picking a young man from her fan mail to give Glory the excitement of a little (very pure) romance. Jim (Norman Foster) is a simple man from Kentucky, but he's quite taken with Glory and before he knows it he's not only romancing Glory, he's proposing marriage. Glory, seeing Jim as her ticket to freedom, says yes -- then is shocked when instead of taking her on the town Jim takes her to his small cabin in Kentucky.After a rip-roaring fight, Jim and Glory come to a wedding night understanding and Glory thinks she'd like to retire from the radio to keep house for Jim, but when Glory and Jim learn Vera has taken her place on the radio they have second thoughts about living a quiet life in the country. PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART is a fairly nutty film, but it holds the attention thanks to a great cast and its very pre-Code attitudes. Some of the dialogue is quite eye-popping; watching and listening for those unexpected moments, which wouldn't be possible on film just a year later, is part of the movie's fun.The film is also quite undated in its portrayal of a media-created star and how she's packaged and sold to the audience. The medium of radio might be different from TV, movies, YouTube, or Instagram, but the basic concepts are still relevant decades later, including the need to constantly feed the media beast with fresh "news." ZaSu Pitts is particularly amusing as a reporter; a scene where she's happy to find Franklin Pangborn without his pants is one of many jaw-dropping "Did that just happen?" moments. Also in the cast: Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh, Sterling Holloway, Gregory Ratoff, and Edgar Kennedy. Akim Tamiroff shows up briefly as a waiter.With the lovely Theresa Harris playing Vera, the movie left me wondering what happened to her after Glory returned to her show! It was refreshing to see a black woman in this era take over as star of the show, even if just for a week. I also enjoyed Glory's friendship with Vera and wished there were more scenes shared by the two actresses.Curiously, it's clearly not Ginger singing on the radio; she was dubbed by Etta Moten, who also dubbed Joan Blondell in GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933). Some sources indicate that Moten may have also dubbed Harris.PROFESSIONAL SWEETHEART was directed by William A. Seiter and filmed by Edward Cronjager . The running time is 73 minutes.The Warner Archive DVD print is somewhat soft but without major defects. The sound is a bit fuzzy at times, as can be typical of early sound films, but again it's generally fine. There are no extras on the DVD.
Monday, March 4, 2019



Christmas Island, Getty Images, photo via BBC

Australia has quite a history of housing would-be refugees offshore. Many were housed on Christmas Island, just under 1,000 miles across the ocean from Australia's mainland. The facility, operated from 2003-2018, may now re-open.

Why the change?

Australia's parliament passed new legislation allowing migrants to be transferred from other, even further off-shore detention facilities to Australia's mainland if they need medical treatment.

Australia's response? Re-open Christmas Island and hire medical personnel looking to work in a "tropical location."

-Kit

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/03/australia-set-to-re-open-christmas-island-detention.html
Pavel Otdelnov remembers that as a child he saw his mother heating water to clean his parents bedding every day.

His father worked in the factories of Dzerzhinsk, a Russian city about 400 kilometers east of Moscow. That city was the chemical manufacturing center of the former Soviet Union.

The chemicals that made the bedding turn yellow passed through his fathers protective equipment and reached his skin.

Dad was born in a workers camp and gave his entire life to chemical industries around Dzerzhinsk, Otdelnov wrote.

His notes are part of Promzona, an exhibit at Moscows Museum of Modern Art. The new show has both his paintings of industrial ruins and objects from workers lives.

The artists large, architecturally correct paintings of ruined and collapsing factories show what he calls the ruins of a Soviet mythology.

Many of the chemical factories are now empty in a city filled with toxic waste. Yet, they once were an important part of Soviet history.

Otdelnov says the worker mythology never became a reality for all the people.

People who worked in those factories understood a long time ago, in the 1970s, that the Soviet idea, communism, was a myth and would never be realized, he said. They understood that a long time before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Otdelnovs paintings can be seen in the Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery and in the homes of private collectors.

Otdelnov was born in Dzerzhinsk and comes from several generations of chemical workers, starting with his great-grandfather. Just before World War II, his grandmother moved to the city from another village.

The Soviet Union started manufacturing chemical weapons in Dzerzhinsk in 1941. The artists grandmother was a factory worker who put together the bombs.

After the war, she met her husband in the same factory. He was responsible for plexiglass, the clear plastic it produced for military and civilian purposes.

Otdelnovs father and aunt worked in the same factory after they finished school. Otdelnovs cousin works in a Dzerzhinsk factory laboratory now.

It is not clear when the citys factories stopped making chemicals designed to be weapons of war. Some people believe it may have been as late as 1965. Huge amounts of the deadly chemicals were stored away and kept in the citys industrial area. Eventually, they were moved to other areas, where they were destroyed under an international chemical weapons ban in the 2000s.

Dzerzhinsk still has a chemical industry that makes products for military equipment, plastics and fertilizers. Many factories that worked for the military did not survive the collapse of the Soviet Union. Their toxic waste, however, remains buried in underground dumps.

Dzerzhinsk often is listed as one of the worlds most-polluted cities. The Ecology Committee of the lower house of Russias parliament put it among the 10 with the worst pollution in the country.

Last year, Pavel Otdelnov used a drone aircraft to record the industrial ruins from the air. A camera captured images of a huge multicolored lake of chemical waste, open to the sky, nearby.

The Museum of Modern Art exhibit includes a room with everyday objects like factory newsletters and safety films. Gas masks from the old chemical factories are on the floor of another room.

Heard through the show are the voices of the people of Dzerzhinsk. Their stories were recorded by Otdelnovs father and written on the exhibition walls.

Otdelnovs grandmother describes a 1960 factory explosion that killed 24 workers. Soviet officials never spoke about the deaths. The workers were buried in different parts of the citys burial grounds to stop questions about why 24 factory workers died on the same day.

These personal stories often show the humor factory workers used in a toxic environment.

Humor helped themwith their reality but they werent especially heroic. They just got used to it, Otdelnov said.

On a cold February night, many people visiting the exhibit were young people. Anna Kiselyova, a 23-year-old teacher, said the show provides valuable political lessons for Russias younger generation, not just its factory workers.

Our present government tells us this all happened such a long time ago, she said. It may seem like a very different world, but I dont think its just a problem of the past, and we need to be aware of that.

I'm Susan Shand.

The Associated Press 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

architecture  adj.of or related to archeology, the art or science of designing and creating buildings

toxic  adj.poisonous

mythology  n.ideas that are believed by many people but that are not true

plexiglass  n.sheets of strong, clear plastic

drone  n.a small aircraft that flies without a human pilot

mask n.a cover or partial cover worn over the face

multicolor n.many colors

cousin  n.the child of a parents brother or sister

aunt n.the sister of ones mother or father; the wife of a parents brother or sister
The hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico in 2017 destroyed most of the islands forest cover. The storms may have given scientists ideas about how the world will react to climate change and increasingly severe weather.

Puerto Ricos El Yunque is the only tropical rain forest under the direction of the United States Forest Service. Researchers there are running controlled studies on how plants react to higher temperatures combined with severe weather, starting with Hurricane Maria.

Not far away, another group of researchers is looking at how hurricanes affect the forest environment.

Forest Service researcher Tana Wood leads a team testing how plants themselves react to higher temperatures. The 2017 hurricane season, with Maria following another storm -- Hurricane Irma, has given researchers a chance to see how storms affect the recovery of struggling ecosystems. This is a concern on Caribbean islands, where scientists say rising temperatures could lead to more intense storms.

On a recent trip to the Forest Service research center, Wood moved through thick plant life and plant leaves the size of laptop computers. She made her way to three areas surrounded by infrared panels. The devices raise the air and soil temperature by about 4 degrees Celsius.

The plants around the research center were shorter and had more of a brown color than the three unheated control areas. The warmed areas operate on 480 volts of electricity. The power lines are separated from the ground, but the scientists wear special footwear to avoid getting shocked in case of an accident.

Nearby, scientist Rob Tunison put what looked like a small mirror around a dark green plant leaf. He spent 30 minutes to an hour working on each leaf.

Wood said they are looking at how soils react and temperatures affect natural processes. One example is photosynthesis, the process through which plants turn sunlight into energy while taking in carbon dioxide and releasing that gas and oxygen into the atmosphere.

The researchers are also studying nutrients and microorganisms in the warmed areas. They freeze some of the nutrients and organisms and send them to a laboratory in California for examination.

Knowledge about plants and soils in tropical areas could eventually be used in models to identify how larger ecosystems react to changes. Wood added that researchers are able to look at the possibility for tropical plants and soils to react to warmer conditions over time.

Tropical forests are important in recovering and reusing carbon dioxide, one of the gasses that studies have linked to slowly rising temperatures in Earths atmosphere. And such forests store about a third of the worlds carbon, Wood said. They also help produce rainfall across the world by releasing water vapor, which in turn creates clouds.

Anything that happens in these systems can have an effect on the worlds climate, she said.

In February, U.S., British and international climate agencies reported that 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record. Worldwide production of heat-trapping carbon dioxide saw its largest increase in seven years. In all, carbon dioxide emissions worldwide have increased 55 percent in the past 20 years. And the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that Earth has warmed on average about two-thirds of a degree Celsius.

British weather experts noted in February that the world could set record-breaking temperatures over the next five years. Scientists expect the world will produce 37.1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide this year. Studies from the Global Carbon Project show that is up from 36.2 billion metric tons produced in 2018.

Kim Cobb is a climate scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She was not involved in the experiments at El Yunque. Cobb said she did not know of any other long-term warming experiments in tropical rainforests. And what will happen at the U.S. Forest Services site is unclear.

Its not a system that we can model extremely well today, let alone under climate change scenarios, Cobb said. But there is little doubt that these kinds of long-term monitoring sites are extremely valuable in ... our understanding of the water and carbon cycle, and how they might change with climate change.

The $3 million project is now in its fourth year. Wood said she hopes it will continue as long as possible. Scientists halted the project for a year after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. That way they could separate the effect of warming from the effect of the storm, which caused more than $100 billion in damage.

Not far from Woods experiment, scientists are looking at how hurricanes affect the tropical forest. They began by cutting away the highest leaves above parts of the forest to recreate the effects of a storm. They paid workers to cut tree branches and spread them across the forest floor. That helped them study how light and water move through the changed ecosystem and the effect that fallen trees have on soil microbes. They also are measuring cloud base heights to get a sense of how changes could affect rainfall.

Maria suddenly gave them a real-life test.

It poses a lot of challenges but a lot of opportunities to move the science forward, said Grizelle Gonzalez, a project leader.

The experiments are expected to continue for several years. That is unless new storms move into the Caribbean. Another Atlantic Ocean hurricane season starts June 1.

Im Caty Weaver.

And Im Pete Musto.

Danica Coto reported this story for the Associated Press. Pete Musto adapted her story for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. What interesting experiments on the effects of climate are happening in your country? Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.

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Words in This Story

tropical  adj. of, relating to, occurring in, or used in the part of the world that is near the equator where the weather is very warm

ecosystem(s)  n. everything that exists in a particular environment

infrared panel(s)  n. a flat device that produces or uses rays of light that cannot be seen and that are longer than rays that produce red light

volt(s)  n. a unit for measuring the force of an electrical current

mirror  n. a piece of glass that reflects images

vapor  n. a substance that is in the form of a gas or that consists of very small drops or particles mixed with the air

emission(s)  n. the act of producing or sending out something such as energy or gas from a source

scenario(s)  n. a description of what could possibly happen

monitor(ing)  v. to watch, observe, listen to, or check something for a special purpose over a period of time

challenge(s)  n. a difficult task or problem

opportunities  n. an amount of time or a situation in which something can be done
LINGUIST List 30.993

Sun Mar 03 2019

Confs: Applied Linguistics/Spain

Editor for this issue: Everett Green <everettlinguistlist.org>

01-Mar-2019Birgit Strotmann IV International Conference on Applied Linguistics to Language Teaching: Towards PlurilingualismIV International Conference on Applied Linguistics to Language Teaching: Towards PlurilingualismDate: 27-Jun-2019 - 29-Jun-2019Location: Madrid, SpainContact: Birgit StrotmannContact Email: < click here to access email > Meeting URL: http://www.congresolenguasnebrija.es/congreso/presentacion Linguistic Field(s): Applied LinguisticsSubject Language(s): EnglishMeeting Description:The IV International Conference on Applied Linguistics to Language Teaching: Towards Plurilingualism offers an opportunity for researchers and teachers, both experts and novices, to share the results of their studies and teaching experiences.Developing a multilingual competence of citizens is a lifelong learning task, integrating the efforts of the educational system, the scientific community, the experts in language learning and its teaching, the certifying institutions, as well as the personal motivation and effort of each individual. The interdisciplinary nature of applied linguistics can address the multiple challenges of multilingualism.The languages present in the Conference are English, French, German and Spanish, with a specific panel for each of them, composed of the following sections: oral presentations, workshops, posters and junior research projects.In this fourth edition of the International Conference we are proud to receive Arabic and Galician as guest languages. Representatives of the six linguistic communities, will deliver round table discussions on the challenges of the multilingual society and about different aspects of the assessment of communicative language competences in foreign languages. The programme is rounded off with a series of plenary talks given by international leading experts in the most recent aspects of the Conference topics. Those papers selected in a blind peer review process by a group of anonymous experts will be published in a monograph of a scientific nature.Program:Thursday 27 Afternoon15:00-16:00:Registration16:00-16:30:Conference opening session by the Nebrija University academic authorities16:30-17:30:Plenary talks17:30-18:00: Coffee break18:00-19:00:Presentations & workshopsParallel sessions at each language panelFriday 28 Morning9:30-11:30:Presentations & workshopsParallel sessions at each language panel11:30-12:00: Coffee break12:00-13:00: Plenary talks (Parallel sessions)Bieito Silva Valdivia (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela): ''Galego, castelan e lingua estranxeira. A construcion do plurilinguismo desde unha lingua minorada./ '' Gallego, castellano y lengua extranjera. La construccion del plurilinguismo desde una lengua minorizada.''Mohamed El-Madkouri Maataoui (Universidad Autonoma de Madrid): La lengua arabe en Espana, entre la integracion y el rechazo.13:00-14:00:Presentations & posters14:00-15:30: LunchFriday 28 Afternoon15:30-16:30:Presentations & WorkshopsParallel sessions at each language panel16:30-17:30:Publishers presentations and workshops on didactic material (simultaneous) 17:30-19:00: Presentations & workshopsParallel sessions at each language panel19:00-: Spanish wineSaturday 29 Morning10:00-12:00:Presentations & workshopsParallel sessions at each language panel12:00-12:30: Coffee break12:30-13:30:Master lecture13:30-:Conference closing and granting of certificates
Local energy and environment firm CESL Asia has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Bank of China Macau Branch to intermediate investments between China and Lusophone countries, seeking to underpin Macaus role as a platform for trade and cooperation with Portuguese-speaking countries, as designated by Beijing.

The agreement, signed at a ceremony on Friday, is the first such agreement with a local bank designed to develop a financial investment platform between China and the Lusophone world.

We are building a financial platform in Macau to support our project development platform, while expanding our cooperation with financial institutions in China, Portugal and Macau, said CESL Asia President Antonio Trindade on the occasion.

Using its bases in Macau and Portugal, the firm will facilitate deals for Chinese investors looking to do business in Portuguese-speaking countries, helping them to acquire assets and business and produce economic and social value.

The signing ceremony was attended by several high-ranking officials in Macau. Among them was the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, the director general of the economic affairs department of the Liaison Office of the Chinese central government, Liu Bin, the head of Forum Macau, Xu Yingzhen, and the Portuguese Consul General in Macau and Hong Kong, Paulo Cunha Alves.

CESL Asia also finalized an agreement Friday to buy the largest Portuguese cattle-breeding firm, Monte do Pasto, for an investment of about 40 million euros (MOP367 million).

Monte do Pasto, which oversees nine farms in the Alentejo region spanning almost 3,700 hectares, exports around 30,000 live cattle per year, mainly to North Africa and the Levant, but also to neighboring Spain. For comparison, Macau is approximately 3,000 hectares in size.

The cattle exporter, already an established business in the Mediterranean, is an ideal candidate for CESL management, said Trindade. The local firm wants to support Monte do Pasto and bring its operations in line with the Greater Bay Area agenda and the development of ties with Portuguese-speaking countries.

Trindade also said that the investment is not just about cattle exports, but that the land can be used for environmental- and energy-related projects. This is value creation, he told local media referring to the investment, adding that we can use [the land] for solar power production, for energy production or to grow food.

The deal is expected to complete in the coming months, with Portugals Novo Banco as a partner, and the financial support of BNU. Additional reporting by Julie Zhu
CANADA said it will allow a U.S. extradition request for an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei to face charges over possible dealings with Iran to proceed.

The Department of Justice said Friday officials made the decision after a diligent review of the case against Meng Wangzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Ltd., the biggest global maker of network equipment for phone and internet companies. A department statement stressed that Canada was following its laws.

Mengs Dec. 1 arrest at the Vancouver airport set off a diplomatic furor and strained Canadian relations with China. Beijing has accused Washington of a politically motivated attempt to hurt a potential competitor to U.S. technology vendors.

Meng, the daughter of Huaweis founder, is accused of lying to banks about the companys dealings with Iran in violation of U.S. trade sanctions. She is free on bail in Vancouver and is due in court Wednesday, when a date for an extradition hearing will be set. The decision to proceed is a formality and allows a judge to hear arguments on whether to grant the U.S. request.

A decision to extradite ultimately must be approved by Canadas justice minister.

There is sufficient evidence to be put before an extradition judge for decision, the statement said.

The Chinese government on Saturday criticized the decision as a serious violation of Mengs rights and called on Washington to withdraw its extradition request.

The U.S. and Canada have abused their bilateral extradition agreement, said a Foreign Ministry statement.

China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng.

A Chinese court also sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier. Kovrig and Spavor havent had access to a lawyer since being arrested.

Meng is living in one of two Vancouver mansions she owns.

We are disappointed that the Minister of Justice has decided to issue an Authority to Proceed in the face of the political nature of the U.S. charges and where the President of the United States has repeatedly stated that he would interfere in Ms. Mengs case if he thought it would assist the U.S negotiations with China over a trade deal, said her lawyer, David Martin, in a statement.

Martin said the charges against Meng are not crimes in Canada and that his client maintains her innocence.

The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa criticized the case in a statement as a political persecution against a Chinese high-tech enterprise.

Huawei is a focus of U.S. security concerns.

Washington has pressured other countries to limit use of its technology, warning they could be opening themselves up to surveillance and theft of information.

The U.S. and China have tried to keep Mengs case separate from their wider trade dispute, but President Donald Trump has undercut that. Trump said he would consider intervening in the case against Meng if it would be in the interest of U.S. national security or help forge a trade deal with Beijing.

The Chinese embassy statement that due to obvious political interference, Canada should refuse the U.S. extradition request and release Meng.

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Nicole Navas Oxman said the department pursues cases free of any political interference and follows evidence and the law.

Guy Saint-Jacques, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Chinese authorities are not interested in hearing about how Canada is bound by its extradition case with the U.S.

Saint-Jacques said China might apply further pressure on Canada. Rob Gillies, Toronto, AP
Casino magnate and major GOP donor Sheldon Adelson is battling cancer, but industry analysts and his Las Vegas Sands Corp. on Friday said the gambling empire he founded and helms has the personnel to guide it through the health crisis.

Their comments came a day after the company revealed Adelson is receiving treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He has not been at the companys offices in Las Vegas since around Christmas Day.

Las Vegas Sands has one of, if not the, deepest benches amongst the destination regional operators, in our view, analysts with Stifel said in a research note Friday. They added that they believe the company remains in incredibly good hands.

The announcement about Adelsons condition followed comments by a Sands attorney in a court hearing earlier in the week describing the billionaires health as dire. The company said side effects from medication have restricted him from traveling or keeping regular office hours, but not from fulfilling his duties as chairman and CEO.

It is unclear what treatment Adelson, 85, is receiving. Treatment for non-Hodgkins lymphoma can include chemotherapy, radiation therapy and bone marrow transplant.

The Securities and Exchange Commission does not require companies to disclose the health issues of executives. The company on Friday told The Associated Press it is doing everything required of a publicly traded company.

Mr. Adelson himself has said for many years he does not run the day-to-day operations, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese said, adding that those responsibilities fall to the companys president and chief operating officer, Robert Goldstein, and Patrick Dumont, its executive vice president and chief financial officer. Adelson is seen as the companys chief visionary and strategist, Reese said.

Goldstein and Dumont, who is also Adelsons son-in-law, met with the casino mogul as recently as Friday, Reese said.

Sands stock dipped about 1.7 percent in moderate trading Friday.

Most corporate governance experts believe CEOs have a right to privacy, particularly with respects to their health. But some say that coming forward would help end the stigma on workplace illness for other executives and workers. Top executives also must consider their roles as corporate officers when evaluating what personal information they disclose  first to their boards, then to their workers and the wider investing community.

Adelson is Las Vegas Sands largest shareholder and regularly participates in the companys earnings calls, but was absent when it reported results on Jan. 23. Goldstein said at the time that Adelson was a little bit under the weather.

Adelson is one the nations most influential GOP donors, hosting the partys most ambitious candidates at his office on the Las Vegas Strip. The billionaire and his wife, Miriam, gave President Donald Trumps campaign USD30 million in 2016. They followed that by contributing $100 million to the Republican Party for the 2018 midterm elections.

He was photographed in mid-November at the White House, when Trump recognized Miriam Adelson and other Americans with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the nation reserves for a civilian.

He was expected to testify later this year in a civil case in Las Vegas brought by Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen and his company, Round Square Co. He testified in 2013 and 2008 in the cases two previous trials.

The judge in the case ruled Friday that Adelson does not have to testify in court or sit for a deposition.

Suen has been seeking compensation because he said he helped Sands secure business in the Chinese gambling enclave of Macau. Sands has argued Suen didnt help get crucial approval to build casinos in Macau and deserves nothing.

Macau now powers the profits of three of the four largest American casino operators, including Sands. Adelsons company and others will soon be vying for licenses to operate casinos in Japan. Regina Garcia Cano, Las Vegas, AP
A university in Hong Kong expelled a masters degree student and suspended another after a clash over an on-campus news bulletin.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University expelled Gerald Ho and suspended former student-union president Lam Wing- hang for one year after they confronted the school management about interfering with the content on the schools democracy wall bulletin board, the union said on its Facebook page.

Two other students involved were given community service orders. Ho was told that he would never again be admitted to any program offered by the university, according to the announcement.

The university declined to comment on matters related to individual students, citing privacy concerns. The school had previously expelled students who violated rules or broke the law, according to its emailed statement. The schools disciplinary committee made its decisions after hearing from the involved students and considering all the available information, it said.

In September, the student union posted material on the bulletin board to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the so-called Umbrella Movement, a demonstration against Chinas increased political influence in the city. PolyUs management ordered the content to be removed, which the union protested. Internal investigations against the students were subsequently launched.

Protests, and punishments of protesters, have become common on Hong Kong campuses since the 2014 Umbrella Movement, in which the citys students played a big role. Hong Kong Baptist University suspended two students last year after they complained about a compulsory Mandarin exam. Crystal Tse, Bloomberg
Joar Leifseth Ulsom may not be flashy or brash, but he has sled cred.

The quiet, unassuming 32-year-old defending champion of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race leads the field of 52 mushers hoping to be the first to reach Alaskas western coast after a thousand-mile trek across the wilderness.

Most of the contestants are Americans, but the lineup also features international mushers: two from Norway, including Ulsom; four from Canada; and one each from Sweden and France.

Their quest officially begins today [Macau time] as the mushers take off from a frozen lake about 50 miles north of Anchorage. A ceremonial start designed to be a fan-friendly experience was held over the weekend in downtown Anchorage.

The winner is expected in Nome, an old Gold Rush town on Alaskas Bering Sea coast, in about nine days.

The Iditarod seems to go in streaks. Lance Mackey in 2007 won his first of four straight before health problems began to set in. Two years after Mackeys run, the Seavey legacy took hold, with mushers Mitch and his son, Dallas, combining to win the next six races.

Ulsom broke the Seaveys string last year. If that came as a shock to anyone, they werent paying attention to his career.

His worst Iditarod finish was seventh place in 2013, his rookie year. Since then, hes had two sixth place finishes and a couple of fourths.

Its all part of his strategy.

Basically since I came to Alaska, I kind of had a good plan, he said. He tweaks it little by little every year, but he hasnt made any wholesale changes to his training now that hes the defending champion.

What has changed for the musher living in Willow, Alaskas dog-mushing capital, was the instant fame his victor status granted him, not only in Alaska but in his Norway.

Its definitely been a bigger deal winning the race than I thought it was going to be, he said.

Ulsom traveled to Norway twice last summer for dog symposiums where his victory was celebrated alongside those of other winter athletes. Norway won the most medals at last years Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

There is definitely a lot of pride in Norway from the Olympics and for me winning the race because mushing, I think, is second to Alaska in popularity, he said. Its a big deal in Norway, and they have some good races over there.

But he promises it hasnt changed him or gone to his head.

It was a lot of fun, and people are excited and stuff, but nothing crazy, he said. Im still just a normal goofball.

One of Norways big sled dog races is the Finnmarkslopet, which starts about a week after the Iditarod. Ulsom said it draws mushers from across Europe, but for the second year in a row, it has one of the top American mushers.

Four-time Iditarod champion Dallas Seavey took his team to Norway last year in protest after Iditarod officials said some of his dogs tested positive in 2017 for an opioid painkiller, an allegation he adamantly denied. New members were later placed on the Iditarods governing board, and they reversed the decision, clearing Seavey of any wrongdoing.

Yet Seavey chose to race again this year in Norway, telling The Associated Press he had unfinished business there after placing third last year. He said he would eventually return to the Alaska race.

The Iditarod has suffered other recent setbacks, many related to the animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals pressuring national sponsors to drop the race.

When national sponsors drop out, smaller Alaska-based companies fill the void, but the race has been hurt financially. The winning musher will earn about USD50,000 and a new pickup, the same as last year. But its down about $20,000 from the winners purse in 2017. The total purse this year is again $500,000  about $250,000 below the 2017 purse.

Ulsom calls the PETA activism kind of ridiculous when you start looking into it, adding that mushers take exceptional care of the dogs and use them for what theyre meant to be used for.

These dogs have it in them that they want to run, and so thats what theyre bred and meant do, and they love it, he said. Mark Thiessen , Alaska, AP
Beijing rolled out a series of measures that will be implemented this year, including lower taxes and subsidies for those working in Guangdongs nine cities in a bid to advance the development of the Greater Bay Area.

The measures were announced by Chief Executive Chui Sai On, following the second plenary meeting of the leading group for the development of the Greater Bay Area, which he attended in Chinas capital.

Previously, youth in the two special administrative regions of China have shown little enthusiasm for working and living on the mainland side of the Greater Bay Area. For example, at a talk last week at the Macao Polytechnic Institute, just one student from 150 expressed an interest in relocating to the mainland.

But Beijing now pledges that the central government would offer a relaxed tax regime for professionals that travel frequently across the border to work in the bay area cities, amongst seven other measures.

There is no guarantee that this tax measure would be applicable to all professionals; the measure implied that it would only be applicable to specific professions.

This measure guarantees that some professionals living in the two administrative regions and working in the bay area cities would pay a similar tax amount as they would in their home city.

The mainlands top personal income tax rate stands at 47 percent, while Macaus highest personal income tax rate is only 12 percent.

The extra amount will reimbursed by the bay areas provincial government.

Chui pledged that local government departments would step up efforts to put forward policies and pilot schemes to foster coordination with the nine cities.

The central government will also implement support for Guangdong public institutions to hire residents of Hong Kong and Macau.

The Department of Science and Technology offers subsidies to institutions that have introduced overseas talents in Guangdong Province and employers that have introduced overseas talents through human resources service agencies.

Launched in November 2018, the institutions will be granted subsidies ranging from MOP20,000 to MOP200,000 under the Yuehai Zhiqiao Subsidy Scheme.

Meanwhile, Beijing will also allow higher education institutions and science research institutes in Hong Kong and Macau to obtain funding from the provincial and municipal governments in Guangdong.

The central government plans to issue an opinion regarding the implementation of a mechanism whereby these institutions can take part in Guangdong science research schemes.

Other measures that will be rolled out this year include: the launch of an operational guideline regarding a judgment concerning a 183-day stay in relation to individual income tax; the encouragement of young people from the two SARs to establish innovation-linked projects and businesses in the bay area; and the activation of new pilot schemes to facilitate cross-

boundary services within the places making up the Greater Bay Area.

Beijing will also facilitate cross-boundary movement of road vehicles between Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau and extend implementation of a speedy customs clearance program at boundary checkpoints within the Greater Bay Area.

Macau would spare no effort to accommodate and promote these major measures launched by the Central Government that support the advancement of the Greater Bay Area, Chui told the press on the sidelines of the meeting on Friday.

Chui added that the SAR would launch promotional seminars on the new initiatives and that the government would hold internal training sessions and publish articles providing interpretations of Greater Bay Area policies.
Dear Editor,

On February 18, 2019, Beijing laid out its plan for the Greater Bay Area, which named Hong Kong as one of the key cities or thrusters. In this plan, Beijing identifies Hong Kongs lack of sustainable economic growth and limited space for development as the citys major challenges.

Nearly at the same time, the report of the Task Force on Land Supply came out in last year, concluding the land available in Hong Kong is indeed not much for development. The report proposes that Hong Kong is not in urgent need of land, but the rationalized and maximized utilization of the existing area.

Nowadays, only 25 percent of Hong Kongs 1106-square-kilometer territory is built-up, and the other 66 percent is green land for environmental purposes, which is, due to complicated and ingrained political problems, hard to transfer. In this view, all of Hong Kongs civic activities are just performing in 276 square kilometers with nearly 7.5 million population.

Currently, there are six existing land supply options by the government to cope with the soaring need of land: Rezoning, Redevelopment, Resumption, Reclamation, Rock Cavern Development, and Reuse of Ex-quarry Sites. All of these six options may sound reasonable in Hong Kongs situation. However, as the Task Force on Land Supply noted at the beginning of this year, the land shortage dilemma is still hard to resolve.

The Greater Bay Area may provide an alternative to solve the shortage.

The plan asks to develop and establish the cooperation demonstration area and policies to explore the new model for regional cooperation and deepen the comprehensive, coordinated development among Hong Kong, Macau, and the mainland. It also offers specific forms of cooperation in the region, providing more land and facilitating the flow of human resources, capital, and so on.

Such cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland started much earlier than the release of the Greater Bay Area plan.

On January 27, 2018, Chen Huiwei, then secretary of the Huizhou Municipal Party Committee, said in an interview with the media, Huizhou hopes to increase cooperation with Hong Kong through the construction of Greater Bay Are, such as making full use of Hong Kongs innovative resources and the advantages of Huizhou industry and building special cooperation zones to create a highland of innovative industries.

A couple of months later, the representative of the National Peoples Congress of the Hong Kong District, Mr. Zheng Yaoxuan, mentioned in September that he suggested the Hong Kong SAR Government to ask the Central Government to rent 30 square kilometers of land. The leased area should be in the one-hour life circle of the Greater Bay Area to build a new district in Hong Kong. It is expected to accommodate 600,000 Hong Kong residents and implement Hong Kong law, under the jurisdiction of Hong Kong.

Dr. Tang Wenliang, CEO of Gale Well Group Limited and CEO of Jihui Group, also said in an interview that the development of the Greater Bay Area could also alleviate the shortage of land supply in Hong Kong.

On the one hand, mainlanders who want to come to Hong Kong for opportunity can directly settle in the cities of the area, hence dispersing pressure on the population carrying capacity of Hong Kong. On the other hand, those from Hong Kong can also move to other cities in the Greater Bay Area.

Construction of the Greater Bay Area will gradually break the traditional boundary between Hong Kong and the mainland, offering more options for solving the land supply shortage problem.

Tianchu Li

Hong Kong

Undergraduate student

of architecture, HKU
The ground assault into the last area held by the Islamic State group intensified Saturday as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters made remarkable progress amid heavy clashes, including the capture of a hill overlooking a tent encampment for the extremists, officials with the Kurdish-led forces said.

The capture of the last pocket still held by IS fighters in Baghouz village would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist groups hold on territory in Syria and Iraq  their so-called caliphate that at the height of the groups power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

Since the last push by the Syrian Democratic Forces began Friday night, the Kurdish-led force has been advancing slowly on two fronts as the extremists used snipers and booby traps to slow the push on the last area they control, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said. He added that IS tried to detonate a suicide car bomb against advancing fighters but the attempt failed.

Bali tweeted that heavy clashes were taking place in the area on the east bank of the Euphrates River. Later in the day, he tweeted that heavy fighting continued at outskirts of Baghouz, adding that SDF made a remarkable progress since yesterday evening [and] recaptured many positions from ISIS.

Zana Amedi, an SDF commander, told The Associated Press that an active ground force is advancing into IS-held territories as the extremists resort to sniper fire and booby-traps.

Another SDF commander who goes by his nom de guerre, Aram, said the assault into the last IS sliver of land intensified later Saturday.

Two helicopters for the U.S.-led coalition were seen circling the area of fighting around noon Saturday. A loud explosion later was heard from a distance and thick black smoke billowed into the sky, apparently a coalition airstrike.

The SDF on Friday evening resumed military operations to liberate the last piece of territory held by IS in the province of Deir el-Zour after evacuating thousands of civilians and hostages who had been besieged inside.

The military campaign to uproot the militants from the eastern banks of the Euphrates began in September, pushing them down toward this last corner in the village of Baghouz, near the Iraqi border. The military operation was halted on Feb. 12 as the SDF said a large number of civilians and hostages were holed up in the territory, which sits atop caves and tunnels where they had been hiding.

By Friday, more than 10,000 civilians had left the IS held area and the extremists released some SDF fighters they had taken prisoner in earlier battles.

We expect it to be over soon, Bali said.

Another SDF commander, Adnan Afrin, said there are fierce battles with IS fighters firing thermal missiles at advancing troops and using drones. Afrin said eight SDF fighters were wounded, some critically.

Afrin said the buffer area between IS and SDF had been closed after the SDFs advance. He said there have been no suicide attacks but that some land mines went off.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said 10 IS gunmen were killed in fighting in the Baghouz area. It added that Syrian government forces and their allies clashed with IS gunmen who tried to cross to the west bank of the Euphrates river leaving seven IS members dead.

Amedi, the SDF commander, said the Kurdish-led force cannot rely on airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition because IS gunmen are trapped everywhere so if you just rely on airstrikes and then advance on the ground that will cause heavy casualties.

At least now, we are trying to advance on the ground with rare airstrikes, he said. Now its mostly clashes. There are almost no airstrikes this morning. There were few airstrikes in the morning and nothing else after that. Sarah El Deeb, Syria, AP
South Korea and the U.S. are eliminating their massive springtime military drills and replacing them with smaller exercises in what they call an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The decision announced by both countries yesterday came after President Donald Trump complained about the cost of joint drills even as his high-stakes second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed last week.

The drills cancellation is an olive branch to North Korea, which has viewed them as an invasion rehearsal. But some experts say it will likely weaken the allies military readiness amid worries that tensions erupt again in the wake of the failed nuclear summit in Vietnam.

The Pentagon said in a release that the U.S. and South Korean defense chiefs decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises. It said the allies agreed to maintain firm military readiness through newly designed command post exercises and revised field training programs.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo made clear that the alliance decision to adapt our training program reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner, the statement said.

Seouls Defense Ministry released a similar statement.

Jeong expressed his regrets at the lack of agreement at the Trump-Kim summit but still hopes that Washington and Pyongyang will continue negotiations, the South Korean statement said.

The new training, dubbed Dong Maeng, which means alliance in English, starts today and runs through March 12. It will focus on strategic operational and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula, South Koreas military and the U.S.-South Korean combined forces command said in a joint statement.

According to U.S. officials, the new training will be done in smaller drills, tabletop exercises and simulations, and will involve smaller units such as battalions and companies rather than massive formations involving thousands of troops, as they had in the past.

Officials said the Pentagon would focus on smaller exercises and mission essential tasks, which include the ability to integrate airstrikes and the use of other weapons systems, drones, surveillance assets, logistics and communications.

In November, a month before he resigned as defense secretary, Jim Mattis disclosed that the U.S. and South Korea would scale back and tone down the spring exercises. He said the aim was to avoid setting back diplomacy over North Koreas nuclear weapons. He described it as a reorganization of the exercises, not an end to maneuvers on the peninsula.

Trump has long complained about the cost of military drills with South Korea.

After his second summit with Kim ended without any agreement in Hanoi on Thursday, Trump spoke again about the cost of annual military drills. Its a very, very expensive thing and we do have to think about that, too, Trump told reporters.

Following his first summit with Kim in Singapore last June, Trump caught many in the United States and South Korea by surprise by suspending the allies summertime military drills. He called joint drills very provocative and massively expensive.

The United States and South Korea also have since suspended a few other smaller joint drills.

Trump has also pushed South Korea to increase its financial contribution for the cost of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the country as deterrence against North Korea. He previously threatened to withdraw troops from South Korea and Japan if those countries refused to pay more.

The end of the springtime war games will benefit North Korea, which has responded with its own costly military exercises and weapons tests, including firing a new intermediate-range missile over Japan in 2017.

North Koreas state media yesterday didnt immediately comment on the drills cancellation. Hyung-Jin Kim & Lolita C. Baldor, Seoul, AP
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

In his dozen years using heroin, Lucien Izraylov took pains to avoid detection. He was ashamed of what he was doing, so he almost always shot up alone.

It's a risky behavior that can lead to a fatal overdose, especially as drugs are commonly tainted with the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. But Izraylov, who says he now has years of sobriety behind him, thinks he has figured out a way to help.

He has created a smartphone app called Harmredux that will connect drug users with volunteers who will meet them, overdose-reversing medication in hand, to make sure they survive their use. The app recently became available for Android and Apple phones.

"Not everyone will use it, but it's nice to have an option," he said. "It's a foolproof way to stay alive."

Izraylov, 41, joins other tinkerers who have tried to attack overdoses with technology. One app, released in 2016 but apparently no longer available, alerted an emergency contact if users didn't push a button on their smartphones once a timer elapsed.

Another one, still in development, turns a smartphone's microphone and speaker into a mini-sonar system that can detect a person's breathing. If respiration appears to slow significantly or stop altogetherhallmarks of an opioid overdosethe phone alerts emergency responders.

Izraylov, who runs an Evanston, Ill.-based addiction and mental health counseling service, isn't taking such a high-tech approach. His app simply connects drug users with volunteers via phone, email or text chat, and they make arrangements on where to meet (Izraylov said about 90 minutes lead time is necessary).

Izraylov said the app is set up to work like this:

Trained volunteers, who generally will work in pairs, observe the drug consumption, and if the person appears to be in distresssomething that could happen within minutesthey use the overdose-stopping medication naloxone and call 911. If the person seems to be OK after using, the volunteers go on their way, though they can also make a referral if the person wants treatment.

The service is free and users can remain anonymous, Izraylov said. Volunteers have no role in the person acquiring or using the drugs.

"It's strictly to stay there and make sure they don't die," he said. "Just to be within eyesight. If (an overdose) happens, we intervene."

He said that limited involvement should keep volunteers on the right side of the law. The state's drug overdose prevention statute allows non-doctors to administer naloxone in emergencies without risk of civil or criminal liability.

But Chicago defense attorney Shay Allen, a former Cook County prosecutor, suggested caution. He said the interpretation of the law might not cover situations in which volunteers arrange in advance to witness someone's drug use.

"It could put the volunteers in a precarious legal situation," he said.

The app is a new attempt to advance harm reduction, a philosophy aimed at keeping drug users alive and as healthy as possible, without making abstinence the central goal. It's the same rationale behind needle exchanges and easily obtainable naloxone.

But one harm reduction staple in other countries still isn't available in the United States. Safe consumption sitesplaces where trained staffers monitor drug use and take action should an overdose occurare still illegal under federal law, though some cities say they want to open them anyway.

Izraylov said his app could have a similar function until safe consumption sites are legal, but even then, he thinks it could be a valuable alternative.

"From my own experience, I would rather call someone instead of going to a site," he said. "I would be afraid of seeing someone there who I would know, who would tell somebody. I don't want to discourage (safe consumption sites) because I think they're important. But I think we need as much as we can out there to keep people alive so they can recover."

2019 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Researchers at the University of Southampton are set to launch a new study to help improve condom use and tackle sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young men (16-25 years) in the UK.

STI treatment currently costs the NHS 620m a year and young people, particularly men, have been identified by the Department of Health and Social Care as an 'at risk' group for these types of infections.

Psychologists at Southampton, together with academics at the University of Birmingham, the University of Westminster, and Coventry University have been awarded approximately 1.5m over five years from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to investigate the best ways to promote correct and consistent condom use. Clinicians from Solent NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust are also involved.

Professor in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Southampton and lead researcher, Cynthia Graham, comments: "Condoms are our main protection against STIs, but many things can prevent them being used effectively, such as problems with reduced sexual pleasure and the way they fit and feel. We hope to improve people's skills and knowledge of using this type of contraceptive, while in turn helping reduce sexual risk among young people."

The team has already developed a condom promotion programme which gives out condom kits to men and asks them to experiment with using the contents after they have undergone condom use education and training. The researchers now want to go a step further and explore whether men who go on to report enjoyable, correct and consistent condom use, after taking part in the programme, are less likely to contract chlamydia than men who haven't undergone the programme (i.e. standard care). The study will also examine whether the condom promotion programme is delivered most effectively online or via face-to-face education sessions.

Approximately 2,200 men between 16 and 25 years oldwho don't currently use condoms during sex with casual or new partnerswill take part in either the face-to-face or digital programmes, or will receive the normal, standard sexual health advice. Over 12 months, they will periodically be asked about their sexual behaviour, condom use experience and get tested for chlamydiaallowing researchers to compare and contrast the results for the three different groups.

Findings from the study should give health professionals important insight into how best to deliver the information young people need to improve condom use and reduce STI rates.

Professor Kevin Fenton, Deputy Chair of the NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme's Prioritisation Committee, said: "This is an important area of research, following widespread public health concerns that men aged 16-25 are among those most at risk of STIs, with rates remaining consistently high among this age group.

"Interactive online training packages are an emerging way of encouraging condom use and hopefully this study will increase the evidence base in evaluating the effectiveness of public health campaigns delivered in this way."

Explore further Father-son talks about condoms pay health dividends
Credit: IR Stone/Shutterstock.com

I don't know why it took so long to dawn on me  after 20 years of a scientific career  that what we call the "scientific method" really only refers to the second half of any scientific story. It describes how we test and refine the ideas and hypotheses we have about nature through the engagement of experiment or observation and theoretical ideas and models.

But something must happen before this. All of this process rests upon the vital, essential, precious ability to conceive of those ideas in the first place. And, sadly, we talk very little about this creative core of science: the imagining of what the unseen structures in the world might be like.

We need to be more open about it. I have been repeatedly saddened by hearing from school students that they were put off science "because there seemed no room there for my own creativity". What on earth have we done to leave this formulaic impression of how science works?

Science and poetry

The 20th century biologist Peter Medawar was one of the few recent writers to discuss the role of creativity in science at all. He claimed that we are quietly embarrassed about it, because the imaginative phase of science possesses no "method" at all. In his 1982 book Pluto's Republic he points out: "The weakness of the hypothetico-deductive system, in so far as it might profess to cover a complete account of the scientific process, lies in its disclaiming any power to explain how hypotheses come into being."

Medawar is equally critical of glib comparisons of scientific creativity to the sources of artistic inspiration. Because whereas the sources of artistic inspiration are often communicated  they "travel"  scientific creativity is very much private. Scientists, he claims, unlike artists, do not share their tentative imaginings or inspired moments, but only the polished results of complete investigations.

The romantic poet William Wordsworth, on the other hand, two centuries ago, foresaw a future in which: "The remotest discoveries of the Chemist, the Botanist, or Mineralogist, will be as proper objects of the Poet's art as any upon which it can be employed, if the time should ever come when these things shall be familiar to us."

Here is the need for ideas to "travel" again  which, if Medawar is correct, they have still failed to do. By and large poets still don't write about science (with some notable exceptions such as R S Thomas). Nor is science "an object of contemplation", as the historian Jacques Barzun put it. Yet the few scientists who have vocalised their experience of formulating new ideas are in no doubt about its contemplative and creative essence. Einstein, in his book with the physicist Leopold Infeld, The Evolution of Physics, wrote: "I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

You don't need to be a great scientist to know this. In my own experience I have seen mathematical solutions in dreams (one dream of a mathematical solution even coming to me and independently and identically to a collaborator on the same night), and imagined a specific structure of protein dynamics while sitting on a hillside.

There is a large literature on "creativity" in science, but I have found nothing that really speaks to the lack of discussion of scientific inspiration today or to the pain of lingering experiences in education that set sciences and the arts and humanities in conflicting and opposed camps.

Stories of creativity

So I set off to ask scientists I knew to narrate, not just their research findings, but the pathways by which they got there. As a sort of "control experiment", I did the same with poets, composers and artists.

I read past accounts of creation in mathematics (Poincare is very good), novel-writing (Henry James wrote a book about it), art (from Picasso to my Yorkshire friend, the artist late Graeme Willson), and participated in a two day workshop in Cambridge on creativity with physicists and cosmologists. Philosophy, from medieval to 20th century phenomenology, has quite a lot to add.

From all these tales emerged a different way to think about what science achieves and where it lies in our long human story  as not only a route to knowledge, but also as a contemplative practice that meets a human need, in ways complementary to art or music. Above all I could not deny the extraordinary way that personal stories of creating the new mapped closely onto each other, whether these sprung from an attempt to create a series of mixed-media artworks reflecting the sufferings of war, or the desire to know what astronomical event had unleashed unprecedented X-ray and radio signals.

A common narrative contour of a glimpsed and desired end, a struggle to achieve it, the experience of constraint and dead-end, and even the mysterious "aha" moments that speak of hidden and sub-conscious processes of thought choosing their moments to communicate into our consciousness  all this is a story shared among scientists and artists alike.

In my resulting book  The Poetry and Music of Science  I try to make sense of why science's imaginative and creative core is so hidden, and how to bring it into the light. It's not the book I first imagined  it just wouldn't permit a structure of separate accounts of scientific and artistic creativity. Their entanglements run too deep for that.

Instead there emerged three "modes" of imagination that both science and art engage: the visual, the textual and the abstract. We think in pictures, in words, and in the abstract forms that we call mathematics and music. It has become increasingly obvious to me that the "two cultures" division between the humanities and sciences is an artificial invention of the late 19th century. Perhaps the best way to address this is simply to ignore it, and start talking to one another more.

Explore further The secret to creativity  according to science

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Dementia is one of the leading causes of death in Australia, but University of Queensland research has found the disease affects men and women differently.

UQ health biostatistician Dr. Michael Waller said the collaborative study with the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health examined 1.1 million Australian death certificates for any mention of dementia.

"As people live longer the chance of getting dementia increases significantly, especially over the age of 80," Dr. Waller said.

"Our study looked for records where dementia was listed either as the cause of death or as an underlying cause.

"Within the 184,562 certificates, we found that women had 14 per cent higher rates of death from the most common form of dementia  Alzheimer's disease.

"Alzheimer's disease causes dementia by destroying the nerve cells in the brain."

The research revealed men had a 20 per cent higher rate of death from vascular dementia.

Vascular dementia is caused by impaired blood flow to the brain and is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Waller said the findings suggested there could be underlying biological factors driving the different rates of Alzheimers and vascular dementia among men and women.

"These factors might include hormonal changes, particularly during menopause, and even differential risk for other conditions such as cardiovascular disease," he said.

"There's a real need to look at the whole picture when studying how a disease like dementia affects a population.

"Regardless of the gender differences, society needs to consider the implications of people living longer and more people developing dementia."

The study is published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

More information: Rachel F Buckley et al. To What Extent Does Age at Death Account for Sex Differences in Alzheimer's Disease Mortality Rates?, American Journal of Epidemiology (2019). Journal information: American Journal of Epidemiology Rachel F Buckley et al. To What Extent Does Age at Death Account for Sex Differences in Alzheimer's Disease Mortality Rates?,(2019). DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwz048
This schematic figure illustrates the multiple and complex mechanisms leading to HIV-associated atherosclerosis in people living with HIV. While HIV infection is controlled by antiretroviral medication, HIV is not cured and thus persons living with HIV must take antiretroviral medications chronically. Credit: Canadian Journal of Cardiology

Since the advent of effective antiretroviral therapy (ART), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has become more like a chronic illness. Now that patients are able to live longer and remain free of developing AIDS, they have begun to encounter new risks from age-related disorders common in the general population, including cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Who is best suited to treat these patients is not clear, since HIV specialists may not have the expertise to manage CVD, and cardiologists may lack adequate training in understanding HIV-related disease processes or treatments. To address these gaps in clinical care, the latest issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology presents up-to-date guidance for cardiologists and other clinicians who treat this growing and challenging patient population.

"Survivors of the AIDS epidemic face a variety of new threats to their health, including an increased risk of diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer, bone diseases, neurocognitive disorders, and CVD, due to the cumulative effects of exposure to HIV, prolonged immune suppression, chronic inflammation, and the adverse effects of ART," explains David D. Waters, MD, Division of Cardiology at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and the Department of Medicine of the University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 1,122,900 adults and adolescents were living with HIV in the United States by the end of 2015. Of those, 162,500 (15 percent) had not received a diagnosis. Worldwide, an estimated 35 million people have HIV. Although deaths from AIDS-related illnesses have declined dramatically since the 1990s, deaths from CVD in people with HIV have more than doubled over the past two decades. Studies have shown a two-fold greater risk of myocardial infarction (MI) for persons with HIV even after adjusting for CVD risk factors. As more HIV patients age, cardiologists' services will be in even greater demand.

Cardiologist Priscilla Y. Hsue, MD, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Zuckerberg San Francisco Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA, discusses mechanisms of cardiovascular disease in the setting of HIV infection. According to Dr. Hsue, the types of CVD occurring in HIV have shifted over the years from pericardial effusion and dilated cardiomyopathy to conditions such as atherosclerosis, arrhythmic complications, and heart failure. Factors that contribute to the pathogenesis of CVD in HIV include a preponderance of traditional risk factors (such as hypertension, lipid abnormalities, cigarette smoking, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease), leaky gut and microbial translocation, T-cell activation and cytomegalovirus coinfection, chronic inflammation, platelet abnormalities, and side effects from antiretroviral therapy.

Even in the setting of effectively treated HIV infection, HIV-associated factors are strong contributors to CVD; for example, an association exists between chronic inflammation and CVD in both HIV and non-HIV patients. Dr. Hsue discusses evidence regarding the effectiveness of anti-inflammatory medications in reducing CVD events. She also makes the important point that persons living with HIV represent a unique model of chronic inflammation and thus, "findings gleaned from studies in HIV patients can help to identify anti-atherosclerotic targets that may benefit broader populations."

Dr. Hsue believes that the cellular mechanisms that underlie "ordinary" atherosclerosis may be amplified in HIV patients. "On a molecular level, monocytes/macrophages, platelet reactivity, and immune cell activation may be heightened in the setting of HIV and contribute to HIV-associated atherosclerosis." She also cites evidence that HIV-related atherosclerosis is structurally distinct from atherosclerosis in non-HIV individuals.

HDL = high density lipoprotein; IV = intravenous; MI = myocardial infarction, NSTEMI = non-ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction, STEMI = ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Credit: Canadian Journal of Cardiology

Caption: Mechanisms leading to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This schematic figure illustrates the multiple and complex mechanisms leading to HIV-associated atherosclerosis in people living with HIV. While HIV infection is controlled by antiretroviral medication, HIV is not cured and thus persons living with HIV must take antiretroviral medications chronically.

Chronic inflammation and immune activation are also considered the primary drivers of HIV-associated coronary artery disease (CAD). Arjun Sinha, MD, MS, and Matthew Feinstein, MD, MS, examine the clinical features of CAD in HIV patients.

"Inflammation is now recognized as an important factor in cardiovascular disease, however, the reason for increased inflammation in patients who develop heart disease, especially in those living with HIV, remains unclear," notes Dr. Sinha, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA. "Despite treatment with antiretroviral therapy that eradicates the HIV virus from the blood, low levels of the virus remain active in the intestines leading to changes in the intestinal lining and bacteria. How these changes lead to increased inflammation and heart disease is an important area of research as it can have broader implications for the population at large."

Numerous studies have shown increased plaque buildup and heart attacks in people living with HIV. This is despite the fact that the vast majority are well treated with ART. During the initial years of ART, some HIV medications were thought to be the reason behind this increased risk because they would cause weight gain, high cholesterol, and triglycerides. While this was a valid concern, current ARTs do not have those side effects. However, the increased CVD risk remains. "We are learning that even after suppression of the virus in the blood with these newer agents, there is increased inflammation and changes in the immune system that put these individuals at a higher risk of heart attacks. The HIV virus still hides in certain parts of the body such as the intestines likely leading to these problematic changes," notes Dr. Feinstein, Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.

The authors also delve into differences in the presentation and outcomes of CAD and acute coronary syndrome between HIV-infected and non-infected patients, including lower age at presentation, more non-calcified plaque, increased risk of 30-day in-hospital mortality and recurrent MI, and higher risk of ST-segment elevation MIs, and the higher risks observed in women vs. men with HIV.

The authors emphasize the importance of early and continuous ART therapy in reducing CVD risk and find that many risk estimation tools developed from general populations underestimate CVD risk in HIV patients. "We also have to become better at predicting the risk of future cardiovascular events in people living with HIV so that we can identify who will benefit from starting therapies that are already available," comments Dr. Sinha.

This special issue also includes reviews on other cardiovascular concerns for patients with HIV, such as stroke, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, and arrhythmias. Dr. Timothy Ryan and colleagues consider the role of vascular imaging in the risk assessment of people with HIV. Dr. Pierre Gigere provides an in-depth description of potential drug-drug interactions between ART and CV medications, which is especially important when treating patients who take multiple drugs and have several comorbidities. Dr. Bobby Yanagawa discusses cardiac surgery in HIV patients, including protective measures for the surgical staff.

"People with HIV have significantly higher risk for heart disease, including heart attack and heart failure, than people without HIV. This higher risk remains, even after accounting for demographic factors, common heart disease risk factors, and HIV medications. The majority of people with HIV in high income countries are now over 50 years old. This underscores the importance of understanding WHY people with HIV get heart disease and HOW we can curb the HIV-heart disease epidemic," says Dr. Feinstein.

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More information: David D. Waters et al, Introduction to Cardiovascular Issues in HIV, Canadian Journal of Cardiology (2018). Journal information: Canadian Journal of Cardiology David D. Waters et al, Introduction to Cardiovascular Issues in HIV,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.cjca.2018.12.009
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The age-old concept that brains, like bodies, are either female or male is inaccurate and misleading Professor Gina Rippon argues in her book, The Gendered Brain, published by Bodley Head. She points out that we live in a gendered world, bombarded 24/7 with gender stereotypes, arising from deeply ingrained beliefs that our brains and our behaviours are determined by our sex, determining our skills and preferences and everything from toy choice to career choice. It is this, not a fixed biological blueprint, which shapes our brains.

Gina Rippon, Professor Emeritus of Cognitive Neuroimaging, at the Aston Brain Centre, Aston University said:

"People ask me if there are differences in the gendered brain and the short answer is yes, because our brains reflect the lives we have lived, the attitudes and experiences to which we have been exposed. And If we live in a world where there are many gender stereotypes about what girls and boys, women and men can and can't do, where we are constantly bombarded with gendered messages from social media and other sources, those experiences and those messages can change our brains.

Drawing on a wide range of developmental and social psychology research, as well as studies of cognitive and critical neuroscience, Rippon unpacks the stereotypes we endure from our earliest moments and shows how these messages can mould our ideas of ourselves and even shape our brains.

Professor Rippon added: "One of the things people are interested in is what kinds of messages the outside world might have for the developing brain. We know that one of the key things our brains can do is make us social beings, ensuring we are engaged in the right social networks and belong to the right in-group.

"We find that from an early age babies are searching for social messages in the outside world. If these junior 'gender detectives' are exposed to messages that, for example, boys play with Lego and are good at science and systems, whereas girls want to be princesses and are good at caring and empathy, then this can divert their developing brains down different pathways, arriving at different educational, occupational and social destinations."

In her book, Professor Rippon addresses an argument that has been going on for hundreds of years, one where we think of either nature or nurture as determining what our brains are like. She suggests that in the 21st century we need to get away from that debate and "acknowledge that nature is entangled with nurture and that investigating the way in which our worlds change our brains is a much better way of understanding the brains we've got and what they can actually do" says Rippon.

"I think it is important that we move away from the concept that if you're a man you have a male brain and if you're a women you have a female brain. It blinkers our expectations of ourselves and other people, and it even blinkers our brains," added Rippon.

Explore further Neuroscientists stress importance of the study of sex influences on brain function
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A daily aspirin is a commonly used, generally safe therapy for people who need help preventing heart attacks or stroke.

But new Michigan Medicine research finds more reason to reconsider aspirin use when a patient is also taking an anticoagulant.

The study, just published in JAMA Internal Medicine, reveals a significant increase in adverse outcomes for people taking both aspirin and warfarin, a long-popular anticoagulant often prescribed for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolic disease. Both groups of people need to avoid developing blood clots that could lead to stroke or pulmonary embolism.

"Nearly 2,500 patients who were prescribed warfarin were taking aspirin without any clear reason, over a seven-year period," says senior author Geoffrey Barnes, M.D., M.Sc., a vascular cardiologist at the University of Michigan Frankel Cardiovascular Center and an assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School. "No doctors really own the prescribing of aspirin, so it's possible it got overlooked."

Some patients could have been taking aspirin already when they began anticoagulation with warfarin for a new issue like Afib or VTE, and they didn't stop the aspirin. Others may have started aspirin for other reasons while already taking warfarin, which is easy to do because it's over the counter, researchers say.

More bleeding without more benefit

In this study, 5.7 percent of those using combination therapy experienced major bleeding events after one year, compared to 3.3 percent of those on warfarin only. The combination group that was using aspirin without a clear indication also visited the emergency department and/or were hospitalized for bleeding significantly more often.

Yet, there wasn't a difference in stroke or heart attack outcomes that are typical uses for aspirin, Barnes says. The mortality rates at one year were similar between both groups, and 2.3 percent of those on both medications had a thrombotic event at one year compared to 2.7 percent of those on warfarin alone. The study cohort included 6,539 patients who were enrolled at six anticoagulation clinics in Michigan between 2010 and 2017.

"Clinicians should ask their patients who are anticoagulated with warfarin if they're taking aspirin as well," says first author Jordan Schaefer, M.D., a hematologist at Michigan Medicine and assistant professor of internal medicine. "For the patients who are on both therapies, clinicians should review their medical history to determine if it's really necessary to be on both drugs."

Although 37.5 percent of the patients in this study were receiving combination warfarin and aspirin therapy without a clear indication, the combination does make sense for a small number of people. Barnes says patients who may need to be on both medications include those who have had a recent heart attack, recent coronary stent placement or bypass surgery, prior mechanical valve surgery, or known peripheral artery disease.

Part of a larger problem

It's the latest research on the risks of improper anticoagulant use from Barnes, who recently published findings on the use of multiple blood thinners and risk of gastrointestinal bleeding. That Vascular Medicine study, with U-M gastroenterologist Jacob Kurlander, M.D., M.Sc., found more than one-third of patients in a large study could benefit from either stopping one of their multiple blood thinners, or adding another medication (a proton pump inhibitor like Prilosec) to suppress acid production in the stomach and reduce the risk of dangerous GI bleeding.

Based on these findings, researchers are leading the charge for change in Michigan. They're working with anticoagulation clinics to help identify people who are using multiple blood thinners, and then determine if both are truly necessary, or if aspirin should be stopped.

"There's been some hint of this being an issue for a long time," Schaefer says. "Now based on these new findings, we're working to reduce the number of patients on aspirin without a clear reason for both drugs."

"We think this is an important area to address, and we're trying to make a change at the system level," says Barnes, a member of U-M's Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation.

Explore further Aspirin, anticoagulants similarly prevent VTE after TKA

More information: Jordan K. Schaefer et al, Association of Adding Aspirin to Warfarin Therapy Without an Apparent Indication With Bleeding and Other Adverse Events, JAMA Internal Medicine (2019). Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine Jordan K. Schaefer et al, Association of Adding Aspirin to Warfarin Therapy Without an Apparent Indication With Bleeding and Other Adverse Events,(2019). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.7816
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Even among cancers, pancreatic cancer is an especially sinister form of disease. The one-year survival rate is extremely low, and treatment progress has lagged behind that of many other malignancies.

A study published today in the journal Nature Medicine led by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) describes a new therapeutic approach with potential for patients with pancreatic cancer. These researchers discovered a combination drug therapy that may effectively combat the disease. HCI researchers first observed anti-cancer impacts in a laboratory setting and, subsequently, in its first use in a human patient.

The study has already progressed to a clinical trial that is now open at HCI and will soon be open at other sites in the United States. Details about the clinical trial, called THREAD, are available under National Clinical Trial Number 03825289. The combination therapy uses two drugs already approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration for other diseases, including cancer. The new drug combination is administered through pills taken orally.

Pancreatic tumors are characterized by mutations in a gene called KRAS. When KRAS is mutated in this way, it sends constant signals that promote abnormal cell division and growth in cancer cells. As a result, tumors grow out of control. At the same time, like all cells, pancreatic cancer cells must recycle their components to provide building blocks for new growth in an essential cell function known as autophagy. Previous studies to combat pancreatic cancer that were focused either on the role of KRAS or on impacting autophagy were not effective.

The new HCI study, using an approach that simultaneously targets both abnormal KRAS signaling and the autophagy process, shows a strong response in mouse models and may be a promising therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Conan Kinsey, MD, Ph.D., a physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Department of Internal Medicine at the U of U and Martin McMahon, Ph.D., a cancer researcher at HCI and Professor of Dermatology at the U of U, led the study.

"We were able to observe that the combination of these two drugswhich, when used individually, don't have much of an impact on the diseaseappears to have a very potent impact on the growth of pancreatic cancer," says McMahon. "We have observed this in the lab in petri dishes, then in mouse models, and now in a pancreatic cancer patient on a compassionate use basis. Indeed, we proceeded from a petri dish to a patient in less than two yearsa timeline that is rarely seen in medical science."

The HCI-led research is bolstered by a separate study published in the same issue of the journal. This study outlines complementary findings regarding the effects of autophagy in pancreatic cancer in the laboratory setting and was led by Channing Der, Ph.D., Sarah Graham Kenan, Ph.D., and Kirsten Bryant, Ph.D., at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. McMahon and Der learned about the parallel nature of their research programs at a scientific meeting one year ago. Given the critical need for advances in pancreatic cancer therapies and the promise of their collective findings, they worked together to push their studies forward on a companion basis.

"In our paper, we show the response of a pancreatic cancer patient who had received surgery and multiple lines of chemotherapy prior to this combination," said Kinsey, who was also the patient's physician. "This patient, who has since succumbed to the disease, nevertheless had a remarkable response to these drugs for several months. We need to carefully evaluate this new combination therapy in the context of clinical trials to better understand if good responses might be seen in multiple patients. We also need to identify the specific features of any patient who may benefit, before any recommendation can be made about use on a larger scale."

These preliminary findings are being rigorously scrutinized in clinical trials to observe and understand whether the combination of these drugs is safe and effective for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial is underway at HCI and is underway or planned at the University of California, San Francisco, and Columbia University in New York.

Explore further Potential treatment strategy uncovered for pancreatic cancer

More information: Protective autophagy elicited by RAFMEKERK inhibition suggests a treatment strategy for RAS-driven cancers, Nature Medicine (2019). www.nature.com/articles/s41591-019-0367-9 Journal information: Nature Medicine Protective autophagy elicited by RAFMEKERK inhibition suggests a treatment strategy for RAS-driven cancers,(2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41591-019-0367-9

Provided by Huntsman Cancer Institute
Crystals of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) imaged with polarizing microscopy. DMT is the active ingredient in the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca. New studies from UC Davis using a rat model show that 'microdosing' or taking small doses of a psychedelic drug that do not cause hallucinations may have beneficial effects for mental health. Credit: Lindsay Cameron and Lee Dunlap

The growing popularity of microdosingtaking tiny amounts of psychedelic drugs to boost mood and mental acuityis based on anecdotal reports of its benefits. Now, a study in rats by researchers at the University of California, Davis suggests microdosing can provide relief for symptoms of depression and anxiety, but also found potential negative effects. The work is published March 4 in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

"Prior to our study, essentially nothing was known about the effects of psychedelic microdosing on animal behaviors," said David Olson, assistant professor in the UC Davis departments of Chemistry and of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, who leads the research team. "This is the first time anyone has demonstrated in animals that psychedelic microdosing might actually have some beneficial effects, particularly for depression or anxiety. It's exciting, but the potentially adverse changes in neuronal structure and metabolism that we observe emphasize the need for additional studies."

Testing microdosing claims

Olson's group microdosed male and female rats with DMT, short for N,N-dimethyltryptamine. A psychedelic compound found in ayahuasca tea, DMT's molecular structure is embedded within the structures of popular microdosing drugs such as LSD and psilocybin. The researchers administered one-tenth of the estimated hallucinogenic dose in rats (1 milligram per kilogram of body weight) every third day for two months. Although there is no well-established definition of what constitutes a microdose, people who microdose tend to follow a similar schedule, taking one-tenth of a "trip" dose every three days. The rats were treated for two weeks before beginning behavioral tests relevant to mood, anxiety and cognitive function, and tests were completed during the two-day period between doses.

Olson's group found DMT microdosing helped rats to overcome a "fear response" in a test considered to be a model of anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in humans. The researchers also documented reduced immobility in an experiment that measures the effectiveness of antidepressant compounds. Less immobility is associated with antidepressant effects. In tests of cognitive function and sociability, the UC Davis researchers did not find any obvious impairments or improvements, which contrasts with human anecdotal reports.

Microdosing: potential risks

The team documented some potential risks: the dosing regimen significantly increased bodyweight in male rats, for example. It also caused neuronal atrophy in female rats. The latter change was unexpected, as previously Olson's group reported that rats treated with a single high dose of DMT showed increased neuronal growth. The results suggest an acute hallucinogenic dose and chronic, intermittent low doses of DMT produce very different biochemical and structural phenotypes, Olson said.

Despite the potential adverse effects of microdosing, the findings mean that it's possible to decouple the hallucinogenic effects from the therapeutic properties of these compounds.

"Our study demonstrates that psychedelics can produce beneficial behavioral effects without drastically altering perception, which is a critical step towards producing viable medicines inspired by these compounds," Olson said.

Explore further Drug microdosing effects may not measure up to big expectations
Intellectual property filings up 15% in 2018

posted March 04, 2019 at 07:05 pm by Othel V. Campos March 04, 2019 at 07:05 pm

Intellectual property filings in the Philippines rose 15 percent in 2018 to 43,461 applications from 38,801 in 2017, the Intellectual Property Office said Monday. The five-year average growth rate of IP filings has increased to 7 percent. We are now seeing the results of our deliberate move for closer engagement with the academe, businesses and industry in regions outside of Metro Manila. In 2018 alone, we opened three intellectual property satellite offices in Dumaguete, Naga, and Zamboanga to reach out to IP creators there, said IPOPHL director general Josephine Santiago. Increased filings at both the local and global level signaled a rising recognition of the economic added-value of intellectual property in commercial activity and in research and development.This signifies that more and more people are utilizing IP to enhance competitiveness in business, and as an incentive to make commercially-viable technology, Santiago added. Another contributing factor to the growth was IPOPHLs deployment in 2018 of its full suite of online filing systems for trademarks, invention, utility models and industrial design, allowing easier filing for applicants.

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.
A: Brain area affected by hypoxic and ischemic injury. B: Neuropathological analysis demonstrating brain damage in adult mice that as newborns suffered hypoxic and ischemic injuries and did not received sensory stimulation. C: Neuropathological analysis on the same area in adult mice that were stimulated.

Perinatal brain injuries hinder neurological capabilities throughout life, causing fine motor problems and severe cognitive limitations, and therapies currently available are very limited. Researchers are seeking other types of interventions to counter these effects.

A new study by researchers from the Institute of Neuroscience of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (INc-UAB), led by Dr. Lydia Gimenez-Llort, demonstrates that tactile and proprioceptive stimulation related to tactile perception and the body's position, muscle, bone, balance and the coordination of movements improves the effects of perinatal hypoxic and ischemic brain injuries in mice. This improvement mainly benefits male mice, in which the neurological damage is reduced by half.

The study, published in Frontiers of Behavioral Neuroscience, was conducted with mouse models of preterm birth. "We currently know that the immature brain of preterm infants, equivalent to that of mice when born, is at a larger risk for hypoxic-ischemic damage, and male newborns are more susceptible and respond worse to protective and therapeutic interventions," says co-author of the study Mireia Recasens. "Our work provides important information on this serious health problem with a damage of 1-3.5 and 6 of every thousand births in developed and developing countries, respectively."

Sensory stimulation was applied from before the injury occurred until the final stages of infancy, a period in preterm infants equivalent to being born at seven months until two years. The manipulation consisted in tactile and propioceptive stroking and massaging of the mice three times within an eight-minute period, twice a day.

The results revealed that this intervention had a notable neurological protection on both genders throughout their lives, but researchers highlight that the effects were especially positive among males. The histopathological analysis in males demonstrated 50 percent less brain damage compared to the non-stimulated mice. There was a 30 percent decrease among female mice. The neurological protection in both genders was correlated to the improvement of functional capacities, reflexes, and an improvement in memory results.

In relation to brain areas, the region involved with motor control and learning and memory (caudate/putamen) was the one to register the largest difference in males, with 80 percent less damage. In females, the main improvement was a 66 percent reduction in atrophy to the corpus callosum, a nerve tract connecting the left and right brain hemispheres.

"The study illustrates the preventive and therapeutic potential of these types of stimulations in newborns with brain injuries, in a short yet very intense period at levels of brain development and plasticity. It also gives support to the different scientific approaches advocating for the transcendence of perinatal conditions from sensory stimulation to maternal contact and a warm and protective environment, and its role as an adjuvant to current therapies," says Dr. Gimenez-Llort, who is also a member of the International Gender Medicine (IGM) and the ISNA, an international association of sensory stimulation and snoezelen, which studies its effects.

One same injury with different effects according to gender

The research also analysed the impact of perinatal hypoxic and ischemic brain injuries, demonstrating that although the same degree of neuropathological severity exists, the damage affects each gender's functional, neurological, cognitive and emotional capacities differently depending on the stage of life and task undertaken.

"During the infant stage, the damage affects balance, particularly among females, and prehension in males, but both aspects improve as they grow, and only reflexes remain damaged. Male mice exhibited infantile hyperactivity, which normalised as they became adults. In contrast, the anxiety and emotional traits of these injuries lasted throughout their lives. Both genders showed poorer learning processes at short and long terms, but there was more damage to memory among the males," explains Aida Muntsant, Ph.D. student at the INc-UAB and first author of the paper. The functional evaluations were correlated with the degree of severity of the affected brain areas: hippocampus, caudate/putamen, thalamus, neocortex and corpus callosum.

Rehabilitation targets

"As a whole, the study shows the different neuronal substrates needed to satisfy functional demands and points to the most resilient neuroanatomical targets to repair these functions through postnatal stimulation," says Dr. Kalpana Shrisvastava, specialist in neuroimmunology and co-first author of the paper.

"Despite the obvious differences between rodents and humans, the study shows the complex relationship between different regions of the brain, risk factors, vulnerability and resilience, and all dependant on gender and age. It also provides new data on behavioural neuroscience within the field of neonatology and the area of paediatric functional rehabilitation, defining a translational scenario in which to study the underlying mechanisms of the functional and neuropathological correlates found," concludes Dr. Lydia Gimenez-Llort.

Explore further New model mimics persistent interneuron loss seen in prematurity

More information: Severe Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury Induces Long-term Sensorimotor Deficits, Anxiety-like Behaviors and Cognitive Impairment in a Sex-, Age- and Task-Selective Manner in C57BL76 Mice but Can Be Modulated by Neonatal Handling. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (2019). 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00007 , Severe Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Brain Injury Induces Long-term Sensorimotor Deficits, Anxiety-like Behaviors and Cognitive Impairment in a Sex-, Age- and Task-Selective Manner in C57BL76 Mice but Can Be Modulated by Neonatal Handling.(2019). 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00007 , www.frontiersin.org/articles/1  nbeh.2019.00007/full
Principal investigator Thomas Merchant, D.O. Ph.D., consults with an ependymoma patient at St. Jude. Credit: Seth Dixon / St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Radiation immediately following surgery in children with ependymoma, the third most common pediatric brain tumor, can nearly triple survival. The results are part of a Children's Oncology Group (COG) clinical trial led by Thomas E. Merchant, D.O., Ph.D., of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The findings appear as an advance online publication this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Historically, children under the age of 3 with ependymoma have a worse prognosis than older children," said Merchant, principal investigator and corresponding author of the study and chair of the St. Jude Department of Radiation Oncology. "However, results from this clinical trial show that even in young children, survival can be improved when radiation is administered immediately after surgery."

The Phase II clinical trial was sponsored by COG, the world's largest cooperative pediatric cancer research organization. This was the first cooperative group study to give immediate postoperative radiation to children under age 3 with ependymoma. The clinical trial was open at more than 100 locations and enrolled nearly 400 patients.

The study included both infratentorial ependymoma that arises in the lower part of the brain, as well as rarer supratentorial ependymoma, which arises in the upper part of the brain. Participants ranged in age from 1 year to 21 years old and were followed after treatment to evaluate long-term effects of care. Results show that postoperative radiation can help achieve seven-year progression-free survival for more than 75 percent of patients, and overall survival for 85 percent of patients. The findings provide evidence that radiation can improve outcomes for pediatric patients despite age and ependymoma subtype.

"These results are already shifting the standard of care for patients with ependymoma because the clinical trial used standard conformal radiation, which is widely available," said Maryam Fouladi, M.D., chair of the COG Central Nervous System Committee.

Molecular analyses inform the design of future clinical trials

The primary goal of the clinical trial was to evaluate the effectiveness of postoperative radiation for children with ependymoma. However, the researchers also conducted molecular analyses to study the underlying biology of this disease and determine the significance of certain biologic markers regarding patient outcomes.

For rarer, supratentorial patients, a chromosomal abnormality called a RELA fusion was previously linked to high-risk disease. However, this clinical trial showed that when radiation is given immediately after surgery, RELA fusion status is not a significant indicator of outcome.

The researchers also investigated the molecular biology of more common infratentorial ependymoma. For this subtype, patients are classified as posterior fossa group A (PFA) or posterior fossa group B (PFB). These classifications reflect how genes are regulated within the tumor. It was previously held that the PFA subtype, which occurs in very young children, predicted worse outcomes than the PFB subtype. Like the RELA fusion findings, this study suggests that regardless of PFA or PFB classification, patients can do equally well with surgery followed immediately by radiation.

Molecular analyses did reveal that gaining chromosome 1q increases the risk of tumor progression, solidifying the gain of 1q as a poor prognostic biomarker for ependymoma.

"This study is a huge leap forward as it is the first study to incorporate biology into the outcome of children with ependymoma," said Vijay Ramaswamy, M.D., Ph.D., staff neuro-oncologist at The Hospital for Sick Children and assistant professor at the University of Toronto and senior author of the study. "These are important findings because if you're going to design new clinical trials using molecular features to stratify patients according to outcome, you have to understand what those biomarkers mean in the context of currently used therapies."

A history of progress against ependymoma

This clinical trial builds upon a foundation of ependymoma research laid by previous St. Jude studies. Twenty years ago, St. Jude led the first clinical trial to use radiation in children under age 3 with ependymoma. This study overturned the widely held belief that radiation could not be used to treat young children. These results became the foundation on which subsequent studies were developed, leading directly to this newly reported clinical trial testing radiation immediately after surgery.

"These data show that surgery and radiation therapy are the backbone of ependymoma treatment," Merchant said. "Now we can move on to testing new agents and finding other treatments in addition to radiation therapy to further improve outcomes for these children."

Explore further Modeling and simulation help optimize chemotherapy to combat brain tumor

More information: Thomas E. Merchant et al, Conformal Radiation Therapy for Pediatric Ependymoma, Chemotherapy for Incompletely Resected Ependymoma, and Observation for Completely Resected, Supratentorial Ependymoma, Journal of Clinical Oncology (2019). Journal information: Journal of Clinical Oncology Thomas E. Merchant et al, Conformal Radiation Therapy for Pediatric Ependymoma, Chemotherapy for Incompletely Resected Ependymoma, and Observation for Completely Resected, Supratentorial Ependymoma,(2019). DOI: 10.1200/JCO.18.01765
Blaming the victim, usually a female, is common in sexual assault cases, but in some places it's more prevalent than others.

So, when University of Michigan researchers adapted Relationship Remixthe sexual violence prevention program delivered to incoming U-M studentsfor use at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, they tailored it to address the rape myths and other specific issues facing students there.

Researchers hope that the program changes attitudes about assault and victim blaming at Cape Coast, with the goal of adapting and implementing it in other universities in Ghana and worldwide to help curtail sexual violence.

Like the Relationship Remix program here, the Ghanaian version is delivered for students by students, said Michelle Munro-Kramer, U-M assistant professor in nursing and one of the project's principal investigators. But, researchers tweaked the content and message to better address specific issues more prevalent in Ghana.

For instance, while alcohol is a huge factor in campus sexual assaults in the United States, that's not the case in Ghana, Munro-Kramer said. And here, the focus is on assaults by peers, while in Ghana many assaults are committed by people in power, such as professors or graduate instructors.

Preliminary results are positive: feedback from students who've gone through the program suggests they're rethinking aspects of gender relations.

"We are beginning to see initial changes in rape myth acceptance. In Ghana, there are some pretty severe gender equality issues and large endorsement of rape myths," Munro-Kramer said. "Even during the program we could see students starting to think about things and challenge each other and ask questions, even if they didn't wholeheartedly change their attitudes. This is a good sign."

One great thing about adapting Relationship Remix for different locations and cultures is that it avoids reinventing the wheel, Munro-Kramer said. That's important because resources for sexual assault and relationship counseling are scarce.

"We think this can be quickly adapted to partners and universities around the world," she said.

To that end, Munro-Kramer and co-investigator Sarah Rominski, assistant research professor in the U-M Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, took six students from the Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center and Sexperteam to Ghana to train 10 Ghanaian students. Sexperteam is the peer education group housed at University Health Services.

Caitlin Choi, a former nursing student on the team, said it gave her valuable experience in the field.

The U-M students led sessions on the background of sexual violence, talking about sexual health, recognizing biases, self-care, facilitation skills and answering difficult questions. The students then practiced administering the program to one another.

"As a nursing student, it is rare to find experience outside of a clinical setting," Choi said. "During our stay in Cape Coast, I saw how nursing research extends beyond the hospital walls. It has broadened my idea of what it means to be a health care provider and health advocate."

Munro-Kramer said the next step is to formally evaluate attitudes toward sexual violence among students in Ghana who participated in the program, and whether incidents of sexual violence have decreased.

"The are many outcomes for sexual violence," she said. "There are health effects and economic consequences because victims use more health and counseling services. They may even drop out of school. Being able to work as a community to prevent sexual violence is really important."

The research appears in the journal Violence Against Women.

Explore further What predicts teen partner rape?

More information: Michelle L. Munro-Kramer et al, Adapting a Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Program to Ghana Utilizing the ADAPT-ITT Framework, Violence Against Women (2019). Michelle L. Munro-Kramer et al, Adapting a Sexual Violence Primary Prevention Program to Ghana Utilizing the ADAPT-ITT Framework,(2019). DOI: 10.1177/1077801219828533
A screen grab from the ad on Youtube The Legislative session doesnt kick off until Tuesday but its already clear that the education policy debate will be different this year. With a new, conservative state Supreme Court and Gov. Ron DeSantis pushing for allowing tax dollars to subsidize students more going to private schools, many long-time education advocates have said 2019 feels like a big moment for the school choice movement.

One major advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, which is supported by billionaire Charles Koch, launched a TV ad on Monday that will run in Tallahassee for two weeks to convince lawmakers to support universal school vouchers, also called education savings accounts" or education scholarship accounts.

This policy would upend the way public school has been funded for generations. It would mean the state grants vouchers to all Florida families so they can use public money to attend school wherever they choose, whether that be a district, charter or private school, or even homeschooling.

That ambitious goal may not be accomplished this year, but the group is hoping its in the cards for the near future.

The ad strikes a bipartisan note, at a when when Americans for Prosperity is striving to make more alliances in both parties after years of being associated chiefly with Republicans.

The ad uses sound bytes from Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Gov. Jeb Bush and presidents Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump all speaking generally about the need to reform education.

Every student deserves access to educational opportunity, the ads narrator says at the end of the 30-second spot. Ask your legislator to create education scholarship accounts for every student.
After passionate testimony both for and against the bill, the Senate Agriculture Committee postponed a proposal to ban fracking in the state.

The opponents who packed the committee room Monday scorned the bill, citing an enormous loophole in excluding matrix acidizing from the ban.

Matrix acidization is an oil extraction method performed by pumping acidic fluids into a well at a low pressure. Operators use acid to dissolve minerals and bypass formation damage around the well. The House version of the bill also does not include matrix acidizing, and an amendment to add the language didnt pass.

Because Florida is largely a porous plateau of limestone, matrix acidizing could be the most likely fracking technique to be used in the state.

Michelle Allen of Food & Water Watch called the loophole a "failure by leadership."

"It seems legislators have been duped by the oil industrys claim that matrix acidizing is just a simple, routine clean up technique," Allen said. "Matrix acidizing is not used to clean the oil pipes ... matrix acidizing uses toxic acids powerful enough to dissolve rocks deep underground in order to create pathways to oil deposits.

Jennifer Willson, a lobbyist for Conservancy of Southwest Florida in Naples, said it is "not a safe procedure."

In 2013, 20,000 gallons of acid was injected into a well near Naples for matrix acidization.

Theres no benefit to using all the water that can never be returned to our freshwater supply," she said.

Environmentalists say if the bill is in the same shape by the time it hits the House floor, groups like Kanter  which recently won a permit to drill in the Everglades  could technically frack the already vulnerable land.

David Cullen, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said the bill was full of loopholes you could drive a truck through.

Fracking is of concern for a variety of environmental reasons, including water contamination and stress on water supply. Fracking is known to degrade air quality and threatens underground drinking water basins or wells.

The bill does not apply to all types of drilling, which means the rules would not affect drilling for private wells, deep wells or the like.

The first time a similar bill in the Senate was heard  Sen. Bill Montfords SB 314  environmentalists cheered.

It had more inclusive language than the House version of the bill, and included matrix acidizing as a form of fracking.

David Mica, executive director of the Florida Petroleum Council said his organization opposes the bill "for totally different reasons."

"We quietly are able to produce the robust that we need to make us less depending on foreign oil and produce American energy," Mica told the Senate panel. "I wish you would just abandon this effort."

In 2018, the Florida constitution was amended to prohibit drilling for exploration or extraction of oil or natural gas on certain, more vulnerable lands.

Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis went further and announced fracking bans as a priority after he unveiled sweeping measures to protect the states aquifer and clean up the state's water supply.

If a fracking ban passes this legislative session, Floridas Department of Environmental Protection will have revise existing rules to implement the fracking ban.
Cebuana expanding rural bank network

posted March 04, 2019 at 07:10 pm by Othel V. Campos March 04, 2019 at 07:10 pm

The banking unit of Cebuana Lhullier will soon expand its rural bank network from Cavite and Batangas to Northern Luzon and Mindanao. Cebuana Lhullier Rural Bank president Dennis Valdez said the bank was looking to expand to three to five sites nationwide. Expansion will be carried on a small scale. Were looking at Davao, Cebu, General Santos City and up north in Luzon, he said. He noted that the expansion would be based on the population density of an area.However, plans for the banks expansion is dependent in the success of the micro-savings scheme it launched in the last week of February last year. Through the micro-finance scheme, the bank aims to tap the 70 million unbanked Filipinos, giving special focus on some 10 million active clients of Cebuana Lhullier from a total of 24 million clients nationwide.

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.
Recently, the Missus and I have been talking about Japan quite a lot. We're obviously missing Japan; but with how far ahead we plan our trips; it's been hard trying to fit another visit with our timelines.

Recently, after a rather long morning, I just wanted a nice peaceful lunch and maybe something that'd would remind me of Japan. It had been ages since I'd had lunch at Kokoro; a place that was a favorite of the late Ed from Yuma, it seems that he'd eat there at least once on his visits. Having a meeting close by gave me the perfect opportunity to drop in for lunch.

There was only one other table occupied when I arrived. It was three generations of Japanese women having lunch.

This was exactly the kind of atmosphere I wanted. It was easy to find what I wanted for lunch on the menu. It was right on the first page.

You have your choice of Miso Soup or Udon...I've always enjoyed the miso soup here; but decided to try the udon.

Loved the texture of the noodles; which were nice and firm. The broth was really salty. The crisp and fresh greens were dressed with a typical Asian vinaigrette; I loved the tomato which had a good deal of acidity. But enough about that.....

On to the main course; the Chirashi ($20).

I'd recently had a poke bowl in San Diego that nearly cost me this much and was terrible. So, when looking at things that way..... Anyway, the sushi meshi, while perhaps a bit heavy on the vinegar did a nice job, along with the ginger of cleansing; then prepping my palate for each slice of fish. The tako was nicely tender; the maguro standard issue; the Hamachi nice and buttery....but it the shiromi (the whitefish) that made this particularly good....and those nicely prepared slices of saba and kampachi. The piece of hirame hiding in the back had a nice mild sweetness to it.

This was a really nice lunch.

So; I decided to return a week or so later.

And while I was sorely tempted to have the chirashi again, I turned over the menu and ordered something from the other side of it.

This time I started with the miso soup; which was as good as ever; nice miso flavor, with a bit of thickness to it.

I ordered the sashimi and chicken karaage combo ($14.95).

The karaage was straightforward chicken thighs, skin on, seasoned with salt and black pepper, and lightly dusted. It was quite plain and without crisp or crunch, nor with any complex umami flavors.

The sashimi was basic; the Hamachi being the best of the bunch; the tako was again very tender, but did not have the light briney flavor of the previous meal. The maguro was fine; no off flavors.

It wasn't bad by any means; but I'm going to stick with the Chriashi. The older woman who works here is so very gracious and when things are slow I really enjoy the vibe of the place. I've got to have lunch here more often.

Kokoro Restaurant

3298 Greyling Dr

San Diego, CA 92123

Hours

Mon - Tues 1130am - 2pm, 530pm - 10pm

Wed 530pm - 10pm

Thurs - Sat 1130am - 2pm, 530pm - 10pm
A randomly comprehensive survey of extraordinary movie experiences from the art house to the grindhouse, featuring the good, the bad, the ugly, but not the boring or the banal.
FGen LNG Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Gen Corp., will likely receive a notice from the Energy Department to proceed with its liquefied natural gas project in Batangas City. I think so. It will still be presented to the Centralized Review and Evaluation Committee. But the recommendation is that it [proposal] is alive and good, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said when asked about the status of FGens LNG project application. First Gen signed a joint development agreement with Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. on Dec. 5. The JDA is a preliminary agreement between the parties to jointly pursue the development of the FGen Batangas LNG Terminal Project at First Gen Clean Energy Complex in Batangas City. Fuentebella said FGen LNGs application looks positive but it has to be formalized by the CREC. First Gen earlier said it would pursue and develop the import and re-gasification LNG terminal and complete it by 2024. First Gen is one of the biggest independent power producers in the country and the leading gas power generation with 2,000 megawatts in operating gas assets composed of four gas-fired power plantsthe 1,000 MW Santa Rita Power Plant, the 500-MW San Lorenzo Power Plant, the 414-MW San Gabriel Power Plant and the 97-MW Avion Power Plant. Tokyo Gas, headquartered in Tokyo, is a leading LNG player with more than 50 years of experience in the LNG business. Tokyo Gas is one of the largest purchasers of LNG in the world with an annual volume of 14 million tons per annum. It has over 63,000 kilometers of gas pipelines serving more than 11 million customers. Fuentebella said the application for NTP of Excelerate Energy L.P., a US-based LNG company located in Texas, looked insufficient.He said the department was not likely to grant the application of Excelerate. The department earlier issued an NTP to Tanglawan Philippines LNG Inc. for its LNG facility in Batangas. Tanglawan is the joint venture of CNOOC Gas and Power Group Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Offshore Oil Corp., Chinas largest LNG importer and terminal operator and Phoenix Petroleum Philippines led by Davao City-based businessman Dennis Uy. The Energy Department also granted Energy World Gas Operations Philippines Inc. a permit to construct, own and operate a liquefied natural import terminal and regasification facility at Pagbilao Grande Island in Quezon Province. We are preparing for the eventual depletion of Malampaya, Fuentebella said. The Malampaya gas field in northwest Palawan is the largest source of natural gas in the country.
When the American maker of the popular World of Warcraft video game sued a Chinese company for copying designs and storylines, little did anyone know the dispute would come to illustrate one of the biggest sticking points in the U.S.-China trade war.

The case involved Activision Blizzard Inc., a California company that sued Chinas Lilith Games in 2015 for the type of copyright infringement that the Trump administration says is rampant in the Asian nation. The complaint  which was eventually dismissed  didnt stop Blizzard from increasing its presence there and extending a partnership this year with Chinas NetEase Inc.

If U.S. tech firms have a moth-to-a-flame dilemma with China, game makers are the classic example. The worlds second-largest economy boasts an online population of 850 million and will remain the worlds largest video-game market through at least 2021, according to industry research firm Newzoo.

President Donald Trumps trade war is designed to protect companies like Blizzard that are caught between accessing massive new markets in China and protecting their secrets.

$250 Billion

An investigation by the U.S. Trade Representatives Office last year that found China continued to violate intellectual property formed the basis for U.S. tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese goods. Chinas treatment of IP is at the center of the current round of negotiations to end the trade war, with Trump suggesting a deal could be reached soon.

Technology is probably our single biggest competitive advantage and why well be number one for a long time if we protect our intellectual property, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said in a congressional hearing Wednesday. China knows full well that its the key. Technology is whats going to determine who rules the future.

Lighthizer is leading U.S. efforts to negotiate the trade deal with Beijing that would also allow U.S. companies to operate in China without local partners. Its nearly impossible for foreign tech companies to enter China without licensing their games to domestic firms, though no such restriction exists on Chinese companies operating in America.

What Our Analysts Say

Theres no certainty U.S. gaming companies would choose to operate directly in China versus indirectly via partners given they operate indirectly in other regions already where they arent required to. But it still would give greater flexibility and provide a likely larger opportunity if they had a level playing field. Matthew Kanterman, Bloomberg Intelligence

Not surprisingly, the licensing deals have been a cash boon to Chinese companies. Chinas Tencent has become the worlds largest gaming firm in terms of revenue, while Chinese firms have been behind 70 percent of industry acquisitions since 2015, according to a May 2018 report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which the U.S. Congress created. The study also says piracy of American-made games is widespread.

Publicly Denied

China has publicly denied U.S. charges that its soft on intellectual-property theft, insisting that it has lived up to commitments it made when it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, including by establishing special courts. The Chinese Embassys press office in Washington didnt respond to an emailed request for comment.

But the investigation by Lighthizers office alleged that Chinas intellectual-property and joint-venture policies have caused billions of dollars in damage to the U.S. The White House has threatened to raise duties even higher if it cant reach a trade agreement with Beijing.

Lighthizers office has identified the gaming industry as a victim of Chinese infringement practices. Some U.S. gaming companies have subtly applauded the White House efforts.

Our government is focused on the fact that taking care of intellectual property, which is Americas second biggest export after aerospace, is important, Strauss Zelnick, chief executive officer of New York-based gaming company Take-Two Interactive Software, said in a Feb. 6 earnings call when asked about China.

Some Progress

Youll begin to see some progress there, Zelnick said, adding: If regulations soften, thered be an even greater opportunity. But we understand we have to work within the environment that we find ourselves in there.

That environment may start improving soon. The Chinese government late last year announced new sanctions on companies engaging in intellectual-property theft.

However, Beijing may be reluctant to further tighten laws until it sees its own companies as victims of intellectual-property theft, according to Scott Kennedy, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The government still views its market as an IP consumer rather than an IP creator, he said. Until this changes, its going to be hard to get China to enforce foreign IP rights.
Technological advances have allowed society to take great strides in recent years, offering greater connectivity and increased opportunities to nations across the world.

However, technology also brings with it new and more powerful threats to the well-being of the public.

This is why Huawei is focused on providing its extensive, powerful technologies to various national and local safety-focused agencies across the world.

Huaweis Safe Cities

Huaweis Safe City solutions are already used in over 700 cities from over 100 countries, heavily reducing crime levels while increasing workforce efficiency, including crime solving.

Huaweis Global Chief Public Safety Scientist Mr. Hong-Eng Koh recently visited South Africa to explain how Huaweis various Safe City solutions could help South Africa to fight crime and natural disasters alike.

Allaying privacy concerns

Huawei is aware of the privacy concerns surrounding video surveillance and other technologies, which is according to Koh one of the reasons why Huawei doesnt involve itself in the running of Safe Cities nor managing the data; it only provides technology, equipment and training.

While we take privacy very seriously, it is also important for us to provide state-of-the-art solutions to keep people safe, said Koh.

As a responsible city government, or public safety agency, you need to do risk assessment, you need to know public sentiment, and you need to maintain a balance between providing security and upholding privacy.

Solving the silo problem

According to Koh, the biggest issue with most public safety agencies is that their systems are split into silos. For example, when a policeman needs to access video footage of a potential suspect, he will manually have to access footage from each party that has collected it.

Huaweis Safe City solution automatically uploads all surveillance footage to the cloud, which is run by its Intelligent Video Cloud platform, a secure private cloud offering an open platform to run multiple video analytics.

This allows ubiquitous access to video surveillance, big data analytics, and cloud computing to optimise the video surveillance process.

Updating technology

Koh also highlighted that most police use audio communication devices that only offer 2G connectivity. According to Koh, this technology is actually more expensive to run, since it is old technology for which global usage is declining.

Huawei offers eLTE, a secured and superior communications network and devices that offer a host of other powerful features such as video and image capabilities to optimise public safety processes.

Koh used an example of a parking fine to show the benefit of this additional functionality  all a traffic officer would need to do is take a picture of the licence plate and the fine could be processed.

The photo would display the licence plate, while the meta data of the image stores the date, time, and GPS location where the image was taken.

Reliable connectivity

Huaweis eLTE networks are a particular strength of Huaweis, as they not only offer fast speeds, but also form part of its crucial Rapid eLTE devices.

Rapid eLTE allows safety agencies to set up networks in a focus area if it is poorly covered, allowing for up to a few kilometres of instant connectivity.

The devices that provide Rapid eLTE are small enough to transport, meaning theyre quick and easy to set-up in time-sensitive situations.

Koh highlighted how Huaweis Rapid LTE devices assisted the rescue teams communications with those outside the cave in the infamous Tham Luang cave incident in Thailand.

Powered by AI

Koh also highlighted the power of Huaweis AI software in ensuring that Safe City projects provide optimal protection.

An example of AI usage is how if a camera picks up the face of flagged person, it will tell other cameras in the vicinity to focus on the face too.

Huawei is even planning some Safe Cities that dont use human control centre operators at all.

Instead, these control centres use AI-powered interfaces to collect information from those who report it, and automatically dispatch police in the vicinity.

Why Safe Cities will work in South Africa

South Africa suffers from several issues when it comes to widespread technological coverage.

Two of the biggest hurdles are technology theft, and internet and power coverage.

Koh said that solving these problems is easily doable  its just up to your creativity and budget.

You need to look at different situations, said Koh, referring to technology theft. For example, Huawei has 4K cameras that are good enough quality that they can be deployed at the top of a high-rise building.

He added that placing high-quality cameras out of thieves reach would likely be the best solution in Johannesburg.

Huawei also has ways to circumnavigate issues relating to a lack of internet and power coverage, having already worked with various nations who suffer from this problem, including Ghana.

In Ghana, there are areas where there is no power supply, not to mention data connectivity, said Koh. We actually designed a system that uses solar power and our eLTE antenna to connect to the wireless eLTE network to solve the power and data problem in Ghana.

Koh concluded that Huawei is highly interested in implementing Safe Cities in South Africa and hope to help solve more public safety related issues in South Africa.
The Samsung Galaxy S10 is available for pre-order at Dion Wired from R15,599.

Dion Wired is offering the Samsung Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+, which will all be available from 7 March.

Customers who pre-order a Samsung Galaxy S10 from Dion Wired will receive a free pair of Galaxy Buds in addition to a Samsung original accessory voucher.

Dion Wired also offers pre-order customers the following extras on its exclusive pre-order deal:

Free Samsung Care+

Free JBL Bluetooth speaker

Free mini car charger

Samsung Care+ includes two front screen replacements, two black glass replacements, and two battery replacements, in addition to in-store repairs at Dion Wired.

This service is valid for two years after the purchase of the Samsung Galaxy S10.

The Samsung Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ are available for pre-order in either Prism Black or Prism White at the following prices:
The developers at LineageOS have released a new version of the software  LineageOS 16.0  which brings Android 9.0 to smartphones which no longer receive official updates.

LineageOS is a custom ROM for Android devices which is an unofficial version of Android operating systems.

This means that if your device is stuck on an older version of Googles operating system and is compatible with LineageOS 16.0, you can install the software to upgrade your operating system to Android 9.0.

Devices which feature support for LineageOS 16.0 include the Google Nexus 6, Samsung Galaxy S5, Sony Xperia XA2, and the OnePlus One.

LineageOS developers said that support for additional devices would be rolled out soon.

Additional devices will begin receiving builds as they are ready after we make minor changes to our build scripts to better handle the unique features, and resulting complications, of the most modern devices, the team said.

Users can download the latest version of LineageOS for their smartphone from the projects download portal.

Now read: The next version of Android could get rid of the back button
The Court of Appeals has been asked to reverse its recent ruling denying their petition to declare as unconstitutional the profiling of its members and affiliates in public schools by the Philippine National Police. In a motion for reconsideration, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers pleaded the CAs Eleventh Division to overturn its Feb. 4 decision, saying its decision to dismiss their petition was too harsh due to technicalities considering that its petition involves gross violations of the fundamental constitutional rights of its members, which include right to association, right to assembly and right to privacy, freedom of expression, and right to protection of labor. Petitioners submit that while the procedural rules should not be belittled or disregarded, their strict and rigid application must be avoided if the same would result in technicalities that tend, wittingly or unwittingly, to frustrate rather than promote substantial justice, ACT, through the National Union of Peoples Lawyers, said. In its Feb. 4 decision penned by Associate Justice Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, the appellate court dismissed the petition on the ground of technicalities citing the failure of the group to comply with the requirement under Rule 65, Section 2 in relation to Rule 46, Section 3 of the Rules of Court. The CA stressed that petitioner failed submit certified true copies of the assailed memoranda issued by the PNPs intelligence units. The Rule requires that a petition should be accompanied by a certified true copy of the judgment, order or resolution subject thereof, copies of all pleadings and documents relevant and pertinent thereto. Besides, the CA pointed out that ACT, through its national chairperson Joselyn Martirez and secretary general Raymond Basilio, did not state material dates in their petition, specifically the dates when the petitioners received the various assailed PNP Memoranda. The petition also failed to include the current date of issuance of the IBP Membership Number of the petitioners counsel and the current date of issuance of the Professional Tax Number (PTR) of the petitioners counsel in violation to Bar Matter Number 287 dated 26 September 2000 and Bar Matter Number 1132 dated 12 November 2002, respectively. Even the Supreme Court, according to the group, had issued with several rulings that tend to relax procedural rules in order to address substantial issues raised in petitions. Thus, allowing technicalities to deprive petitioners at the outset of the proper and just determination of their case in a judicial forum where they are seeking redress will, we submit, cause a serious miscarriage of justice, the petitioner said. But ACT maintained that there were no serious procedural lapses on its part that would warrant the immediate dismissal of its petitioner.First, it noted that it was unrealistic on their part to obtain and attach certified true copies of the assailed PNP memoranda considering that the PNP itself publicly denied its existence. It was necessary for petitioners to act with dispatch in order to protect their basic right as time was of the essence, Thus the prayers in the petition in fact specifically included an order from the Honorable Court directing the public respondents to produce the assailed PNP memoranda, the motion read. They added that they requested to be given a copy of the memoranda from the office of PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde but their request remains unheeded. Time still remains of the essence as teachers continue to be subjected to nefarious consequences of being profiled as ACT members. The Court, therefore, must heed the relief they are seeking to prevent further and worse harm to their persons and organization brought by the assailed profiling, the group added. In its petition, the group named respondents in the complaint were PNP Chief Director-General Oscar Albayalde, PNP Intelligence Division chief Gregorio Pimentel, Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano, PNP-National Capital Region Police Office chief Director-General Guillermo Eleazar and 12 other police officials in various regional officers of the PNP. The group said it filed the petition after receiving reports of profiling of its members by the PNP of its members from Negros, Baguio, Cebu, Davao late last year. They argued that there was no legal basis for the PNP to conduct profiling of its members since their militant orientation and affinity with progressive groups do not constitute acts that are illegal. The profiling, according to the petitioner, might dissuade both current and prospective members to withdraw membership or join for fear of breaches in their privacy and other rights. The petitioners insisted that the illegal acts of the respondents has already sent a chilling effect on its members as some of its chapter-members have already expressed their fears of being publicly known as ACT members.
Heifer International works to help end world hunger and poverty and care for the earth. As an action to help care for the earth, the group of Napa volunteers will hear speaker Chris Benz, a climate activist with the local group, Napa Climate Now, at Heifer Internationals March meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 9 at the Napa First United Methodist Church. The program is free and open to the public.

Benz will help those attending to understand climate change and how to work locally for effective solutions.

Benz has worked on Napa County watershed and oak woodland protection issues, has held various leadership positions with the Sierra Club, and has participated in many community programs and panels related to climate issues.

The church is located at 625 Randolph St. The meeting will be held in the Kagawa Room (Bonner Building) with an entrance on the Division St. side of the building. For more information on the Napa group of Heifer volunteers or the March 9 program, call 707- 255-3388.

Napa Heifer volunteers will staff tables at Ag Day at the Napa Expo on March 8 and at Napas Earth Day on April 28. See www.heifer.org for more information on the history and work of Heifer International.
A collage of brief biographical sketches about the lives and times of some local women will kick off Memory Lanes 2019 Womens History Month columns. These stories were printed in the Napa newspapers during the first few decades of the 20th century and were warranted due the local young womens noteworthy or even admirable activities and accomplishments.

Ranging in age from late-teens to early-20s, these local daughters were involved in special community programs, such as being official representatives of Napa County or attaining unique vocational achievements by becoming professional trailblazers.

In July 1923, Elizabeth King became a professional role model for local women. After graduation from law school with honors and passing her bar exams, Elizabeth was the first woman to sign the roster of local lawyers. This roster is officially known as the Napa County Attorney Roll.

Elizabeth came by her vocation naturally as she was a member of a family of attorneys. In fact, both her father and brother, Percy King, Sr. and Jr.,served as Napa County judges.

More than a decade earlier, another Elizabeth made her mark, too. In 1909, Elizabeth Grigsby was selected to represent Napa County as a member of a contingent of California ambassadors. They traveled throughout the U.S. by train to promote the state.

Regarding that excursion, an early 1909 Napa Weekly Journal article reported on the importance of her position and mission. It means thousands of dollars worth of free publicity to us to have these young ladies ... singing the praises of our dearly beloved old State and handing out literature for their communities which will interest scores of Easterners to come to California.

As for Napa Countys ambassador, the Journal added, Miss Grigsby is one of Napas most widely known and enterprising young ladies and will make a very satisfactory representative for the occasion.

Another opportunity for the enterprising local young woman presented itself in mid-1927 with the enticing queries:Would you like to be Miss America? Hailed as the most beautiful maid in the whole United States? asked the Napa Weekly Journal.

According to that summertime late-1920s article, the Journal had been selected by the San Francisco Chronicle to choose Miss Napa, who will be the prettiest maid in this city.

Once that young lady was crowned Miss Napa by the Journal staff, she and her chaperone would stay in San Francisco as the guests of the Mark Hopkins hotel. That stay would correspond with Californias Beauty Week, seven days of grooming and rehearsals in preparation for the Miss California pageant as well as the competition for that coveted crown and title. If Miss Napa won that crown and title, as the chosen representative of the state, she would go onto vie for the title of Miss America.

A few days later, the Journal announced, After the most careful of consideration had been given to each of the nine contestants...Miss Jacqueline Bishop, the talented and attractive daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gean Bishop of this city, was selected as the most suitable and most likely to be selected as Miss California and perhaps as Miss America. Although she competed well, Jacqueline did not win the 1927 Miss California title. Regardless of that outcome, she said the pageant was the most unforgettable experience of her life.

The fourth and final notable Napa County young woman was Rose Weiss. In early 1912 the then 21-year-old Napa resident achieved a trailblazing professional accomplishment. Following her graduation from college and passing her California state board exams, she garnered the distinction of becoming the first woman in California to be granted a license to practice optometry, said the Napa Weekly Journal.

Weiss had graduated two years earlier from UC Berkeley. Immediately after that commencement, Weiss began, and then completed, her clinical internship. She, like Elizabeth King, has a familial connection to her chosen vocation as Weiss was the daughter of a well-known Napa optician. With her new professional license in hand, Weiss joined her fathers downtown Napa optometry office.

While these newspaper reports provided only partial accounts of the life stories of these intelligent and successful young women of Napa County, they merited being told. And, in time, more of their stories may be told if additional research yields more in-depth details about these local daughters and their lives.

Email Rebecca Yerger at yegerenterprises@yahoo.com.
The California Supreme Court on Monday released a decision that allows California government agencies to alter secondary retirement benefits offered to public workers while sidestepping a bigger question about whether employers can alter core pension rights in their contracts.

The court held that the retirement perk at issue in the case was different from core pension rights such as how much public workers are paid, and thus not protected by the state constitution.

Therefore the benefit could be altered or eliminated at the discretion of the Legislature, the court ruled.

The case was seen as a test of the so-called California Rule, a set of legal precedents that have protected public worker pensions from being reduced without new benefits to compensate for the loss of income. Both unions and government agencies in court briefs cast the fight as a challenge to the California Rule.

The court said it was not weighing in on the California Rule since it ruled the retirement perk is not protected by the constitution.

We have no occasion in this decision to address, let alone to alter, the continued application of the California Rule, the court said in the decision.

The ruling probably will not have an immediate effect on public employees or government agencies that want to negotiate to lower pension costs. Cities, counties and other agencies would still have to bargain with the unions to change retirement benefits.

The case turned on a challenge to former Gov. Jerry Browns 2012 pension law from the union that represents Cal Fire firefighters. The law, passed in the Great Recession amid concern about mounting pension debts, required public employees hired after Jan. 1, 2013 to kick in more money to fund their pensions. It also capped the amount of money they could earn in retirement.

Aside from those big changes for new employees, Browns law also sought to rein in pension expenses by eliminating some lesser benefits that had been offered to employees.

One of them was known as air time, a perk that allowed public employees to buy up to five years of credit that would boost their pensions as if they had worked that time. Cal Fire Local 2881, the union, sued to reinstate the perk, arguing that the right to purchase air time could not be withdrawn without breaking the California Rule.

Our people get it. They get that everything is not hunky dory. Nobody is putting their heads in the sand. They understand the need to pay more. We get it. The question is we just dont throw out the California Rule because there was a problem in 2008, Gregg McClean Adam, an attorney for the Cal Fire union, told The Sacramento Bee in December.

On Monday, a labor-backed group that supported the Cal Fire union in court briefs said it was reassured that the courts decision did not undo the California Rule.

There was always some question about whether air time was a vested benefit, said Ted Toppin, chairman of Californians for Retirement Security. The decision was not unexpected. More importantly, the Supreme Court leaves intact the California Rule, holding that vested benefits cannot be impaired. Thankfully, the decision protects the retirement security of Californias nurses, teachers, firefighters, school employees and countless other public servants and retirees dependent on their hard-earned pensions.

Attorneys for Brown, who led arguments before the court, said the state may reduce benefits so long as pensions remain reasonable and substantial.

Californias largest public pension funds, CalPERS and CalSTRS, each are considered underfunded because their assets are worth about 70 percent of the benefits they owe to workers and retirees.

Brown argued that government agencies must have flexibility to reconsider benefits.

In order to maintain the defined benefit, there has to be the power of management to make modifications, he told The Sacramento Bee in December. If we do it right, people who have a pension and what theyve earned will never be changed. But you cant say that five minutes after you sign your employment application, for the next 30 or 35 years that not one benefit can be changed. Thats a one-way ratchet to fiscal oblivion.

New Gov. Gavin Newsom told at least one union during his campaign last year that he would uphold the California Rule precedent. However, he has a record as a former San Francisco mayor and University of California regent of supporting policies that allow adjustments to pension plans for new employees.

The state offered air time from 2003 until 2013, and workers had a six-week window to purchase service credit after Browns law took effect.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Editors note: This is the second part of a three-part series.

Christine Loebers sister recalled how her sibling was known for having friends from all walks of life and social groups.

Michelle Loeber described Christine as a bright light  someone with an infectious smile that others were drawn to.

She was very easy to talk to, said Michelle, who is five years younger than Christine.

Thats probably one reason Christine was so good at her career in social work, she said. She just wanted to help people, said Michelle. People connected with her easily.

Christine Loeber was one of the staffers killed at The Pathway Home shooting one year ago. On her day off, she visited The Pathway Home facility in Yountville to attend a goodbye party for coworkers.

A disturbed former patient entered the party and released everyone but Christine, 48, and two staff members.

Soon after, she was killed alongside therapist Jennifer Golick, 42, and psychologist Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, 32, who was pregnant. The gunman then took his own life.

One year later, Pathway Home survivor focuses on healing trauma As a mental health professional, Mackenzie Lovie is dedicated to helping those who have expe

Today, her family, friends and supporters are carrying on Christines drive to help others. This past November, they launched the Christine M. Loeber Foundation. Its mission: to continue Loebers legacy of helping others, with a focus on veterans services, education and wellness.

The foundation aims to honor her life by advancing the causes important to Christine: a scholarship for a graduate of Christines alma mater, Oliver Ames High School in Easton, Massachusetts, and support of the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program and veterans reintegrating into civilian life.

Loeber grew up in Easton, just south of Boston. She got her start in the social work field in 2002, when she took a job at Boston Health Care for the Homeless.

This organizations mission inspired her to pursue a masters in social work and she graduated from Boston College in 2008.

As a therapist, Christine focused on veterans from the start. At the Veterans Affairs (VA) Boston Health Care System, she worked with women suffering from PTSD and substance abuse.

After a divorce, Christine was ready for a change and she moved to California in 2013. She worked at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and later the Santa Rosa VA clinic.

Next, she was recruited for the job as the executive director of a revamped Pathway Home.

She was a little hesitant to take an executive director role, said Michelle. But she wasnt afraid. She took that challenge.

The mission of the program was heartfelt for her. She knew the importance of it from her experience with veterans.

That doesnt mean it was easy. It was a challenge to get a program up and running, Michelle recalled. It took a lot. She put her all into it.

Good days and bad days

On Veterans Day 2018, the day before Christines 49th birthday, the new Christine M. Loeber Foundation held its kickoff event in Easton.

It was an auspicious beginning, with more than $30,000 raised for her memorial scholarship and other causes, the foundation reported.

Michelle said that her sisters death has brought her family closer together.

There are good days and bad days, but were all on the same page.

As for herself, For the most part I think Im doing as best as can be expected, Michelle said. At the same time, this past year has been kind of a blur.

Im really just trying to keep my focus positive and trying to connect as often as I can with family and friends and people who know what (she is) going through. And the work of the foundation.

Just knowing that we can keep her spirit alive helps keep her going, said Michelle.

Others are also keeping Christines spirit alive.

The VA clinic in Santa Rosa plans to dedicate a conference room to her sister, said Michelle.

The New England Center and Home for Veterans in Boston named a medical clinic after Christine.

A photo of a smiling Christine, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and her signature smile, hangs near a reception area at the Boston clinic.

Christine burst open our lives with unbridled joy and irrepressible enthusiasm, inspiring each of us to strive for excellence, reads the note posted below her photo.

This clinic honors the indomitable spirit and magnificent life of Christine Loeber, offering peace and healing to all who enter.

That life is something she remembers every day, said Michelle.

Ill often think, What would Christine do?

If her sister were here today to see the efforts of her friends and family, She would be floored, said Michelle.

She would not believe this.

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Its been an extremely difficult 12 months for Haley Rekdahl.

Rekdahl is a survivor of the mass shooting at The Pathway Home at Veterans Home of California in Yountville last March.

Shes one of the Pathway Home staffers released by the gunman before he killed her co-workers Christine Loeber, Jennifer Golick and Jennifer Gonzalez Shushereba. Shusherebas unborn child also died that day.

March 9, 2018: Gunfire shatters a respite for veterans damaged by war What began as a bucolic respite for veterans damaged by war ended just a decade later in a hail of gunfire, a stark reminder that war and inex

In the days and weeks after the tragedy, Rekdahl tried to cope with the trauma by telling herself that she needed time to heal.

I thought, In a year Ill feel better, she said in an interview Thursday. I expected to be back to normal, she said. I thought Id be working, back at school.

She is not.

Instead, Rekdahl is suffering from severe symptoms of PTSD.

I still dont sleep well. I still struggle with nightmares, she said.

Rekdahl tends to avoid people and places. I am always hyper vigilant and feel jumpy at any movement or sound, she said.

I become angry and defensive when I feel that I am being excluded or invalidated. I battle greatly with irritability and anger issues.

In addition, I have terrible troubles with memory and focus and concentration, Rekdahl said.

I still just feel kind of stuck, she said. And I hope to get more support.

A struggle for help

Before the deadly day in 2018, Rekdahl worked as a residential counselor at the Pathway Home facility.

While not a clinician, she was heavily involved with the daily lives of the residents, she said. She has BA in psychology and took the job to get experience for her ultimate goal to become a social worker.

Rekdahl attributes a large part of her struggle after the shooting to her lack of support as a crime victim and the lack of mental health services available to her.

I feel Ive received very little support as a victim of a crime, she said. As a result, Im angry.

Those feelings started on the day of the shooting, she said.

Even while gathered in the Yountville Town Hall with other Pathway Home survivors and family members during the emergency, she said she received no crisis intervention.

One year later, Pathway Home survivor focuses on healing trauma As a mental health professional, Mackenzie Lovie is dedicated to helping those who have experienced trauma.

After the Town Hall closed, Rekdahl simply went home.

I sat alone in shock until I heard the news on TV of the deaths of her coworkers.

I had just escaped this near-death experience, and yet she was effectively left to absorb this experience on her own.

It goes downhill from there, said Rekdahl.

Because the Pathway Home treatment facility closed, she was also laid off from her job, with little to no information about the next steps, she said.

Rekdahl said she was able to file a workers compensation claim but was left to my own devices to navigate that system at a time when she was at her most vulnerable  and still is.

Eventually, she was approved for up to 12 therapy visits over the past year.

Rekdahl was unable to find a workers comp-approved therapist in Napa, and ended up seeing a therapist in Fairfield, but it was not a good fit, she said. Rekdahl is not currently seeing any therapist.

Part of that is because she doesnt have the money to pay out-of-pocket for a private therapist, Rekdahl said. She has a limited personal support network. Her safety net is smaller than others facing trauma who have more resources readily available to them, she said.

As part of the healing process, Rekdahl and the other survivors asked to be briefed by the California Highway Patrol when its investigative report of the shooting was completed. We were counting on that, she said.

Talking privately about the report with those officials would be an important part in her healing, she said.

The information was likely to be difficult and bring back trauma, she said. It was important to be told about it in a supportive environment.

Learning details would be important to her recovery because it helps fills holes in our memories. It makes the tragedy more clear so our brain can start to process it.

That request was denied.

Instead, District Attorney Allison Haley and others met with several of the survivors to review only the officer-involved shooting part of the attack.

Rekdahl was deeply disappointed.

Because the CHP didnt provide the survivors their own briefing, I feel like I was being told that I was not a victim.

In Rekdahls opinion, No victim should ever have to beg for answers. Especially when getting these answers would greatly impact their ability to heal from the experience.

No victim should be left alone to figure out how to navigate these systems, she added.

Rekdahl said shes speaking out now because I dont want other victims to be treated this way. There have been hundreds of other mass shootings in the U.S. since March 9.

In this past year, one thing that has become extremely clear to me is how poorly our system is designed to provide help to victims, she said. We must provide better care.

The victims of gun violence are only becoming greater and more widespread and we are not prepared to support these victims. Everyone will pay the price if we continue to ignore this epidemic and fail to provide adequate trauma care to our victims, as this untreated trauma will produce multi-generations of people continuing the cycle of substance abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, violent crime, etc., she said.

Steps towards healing

As one step in her healing process, Rekdahl traveled Boston to celebrate the launch of the Christine M. Loeber Foundation.

She also receives temporarily disability benefits from workers comp.

Im so grateful for that. Otherwise I dont know what Id do.

The reality is, I still have a lot of up and downs, said Rekdahl.

I feel grief, guilt and depression, mixed with some feelings of resilience. Its a moment-by-moment experience.

Rekdahl said one thing that is important is that I dont want the families of the women to feel that Im taking the focus off of the women whose lives were lost, said Rekdahl.

I think about them every day. My heart goes out to them every day. I can only imagine what Im experiencing is 100 times worse for them.

In the midst of all of this, something good happened to Rekdahl. She got engaged to her boyfriend Kevin. Their wedding will be held in October 2020.

He has been a huge support though this, she said. Im very lucky to have him.

With the one-year anniversary of the shooting just days away, Rekdahl said shes feeling anxious about how to mark the day.

Ive been searching for something I could do to honor them, she said. Itd be nice if we all were together to do something.

Regardless, her fiance has the day off and well find something to remember them, she said.

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Longtime Napa Valley vintner, philanthropist and winery founder John Shafer died Saturday at age 94, his family announced Monday.

Shafer was part of a groundbreaking generation that came to Napa Valley in the late 1960s and early 1970s and transformed the region into the world-class wine producing area it is today.

Tributes poured in from the wine industry.

John Shafer fully embodied the Napa Valley spirit of cultivating land and community, said Linda Reiff, president and CEO of the Napa Valley Vintners. He worked tirelessly to make Shafer Vineyards and Napa Valley known for the top-quality wines, and he worked just as hard to take care of the workers and community who helped make it so.

He traveled the globe to promote his winery and our wine region, and naturally, he made lots of friends along the way for both. He was like the Energizer Bunny. The man didnt stop. When he was home he was all in, trying to make Napa Valley a healthier and better place, especially for farmworkers, Reiff said.

Catherine Bugue, co-founder of the Napa Valley Wine Academy, said, John Shafer had that magical combination of generosity, compassion, passion, and true grit  never hesitating to put in the hard work to get things accomplished. He inspired other great industry leaders to help create the Stags Leap District AVA, and created a timeless brand that is respected around the world.

Bill Phelps, owner of St. Helenas Joseph Phelps Vineyards, said he was thinking back to the friendship shared by Shafer and his father, Joe Phelps. It was built on deep mutual respect. They understood each other as business people and pioneers in this valley, and shared a like-minded commitment to philanthropy and were always there for each other, Phelps said.

Violet Grgich, president of Grgich Hills Estate of Rutherford, said, John was a great pioneer in the wine industry, who helped transform Napa Valley into the world-famous region it is today. We are deeply grateful for his many contributions to the health and welfare of our community, and for the opportunity to have known such a wonderful man.

Before moving his family to the Napa Valley in 1973 at the age of 48, Shafer had served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, piloting B-24 bombers over German, and achieved distinction in the publishing industry, rising to vice president of long range planning at Scott, Foresman & Co. of Chicago.

In the Napa Valley, he bought land at the base of the Stags Leap palisades that had last been planted with vines in 1922. He replanted the original 30 acres of vineyards, achieving distinction with Cabernet Sauvignon on the sites hillsides.

In 1978, he produced the first Shafer Vineyards wine, a Cabernet Sauvignon. That debut wine was released in 1981 to high praise from critics and consumers alike and set a benchmark for future Shafer hillside Cabernets.

In 1983, Shafers son, Doug, joined the family enterprise as winemaker. A year later, Doug hired Elias Fernandez to become assistant winemaker. With the home team in place, Shafer was able to spearhead the administrative and marketing side of the business, expanding into key markets both domestically and internationally.

The world of wine always inspired Dad and he loved nothing more than to work with the Shafer team to improve quality, enhance everything we do, and to discuss future projects, Doug Shafer, president, Shafer Vineyards, said in a news release.

He loved Napa Valley and worked to make it a better place for everyone, and were receiving amazing messages from a huge number of people whose lives he touched with his generous spirit, the son said.

In 1985, Shafer organized his neighboring vintners and grapegrowers including Nathan Fay, Warren Winiarski, Dick Steltner, and Joseph Phelps to petition the government to designate their region as an official American Viticultural Area (AVA). Four years later, approval was granted, making Stags Leap District Napa Valleys third AVA. Today it is considered one of the worlds top regions for cultivating Cabernet Sauvignon.

In 1994, he initiated a shift in the core team, naming Doug Shafer the winery president and Fernandez winemaker, while carving out a new role for himself as chairman. Stepping out of the presidents position allowed Shafer to become more involved in philanthropy.

Among Shafers chief concerns was ensuring that all Napa County residents have access to quality health care. In 1981, he was among the first vintners to support Auction Napa Valley, which has gone on to raise more than $185 million for health care, affordable housing and youth development. For more than 25 years, he was a member of the board of Clinic Ole, a local nonprofit community health clinic for low-income and uninsured patients.

In 1999, Shafer led an effort to create what became Napa Valley Vintners Community Health Center located on Pear Tree Lane in Napa. This unique facility was designed to house four nonprofit organizations that provide key medical and well-being services to Napas low-income residents. Each organization is guaranteed rent costs at well below market levels allowing them to use more of their budgets to provide critical services.

In more recent years, Shafer has helped raise funds in support of VOICES, a nonprofit that helps foster youth make the transition to successful adulthood. He also supported Wildlife Rescue Center of Napa County and was instrumental in Shafer Vineyards donation of land that today houses a wildlife rehabilitation site.

Over the decades, Shafer received numerous awards for both wine quality and for his work in philanthropy. In 2010, both he and son Doug were invited to the James Beard Foundation Awards in New York, the Oscars of the Food World, where they were honored by being named Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professionals. Shafer was thrilled to join previous Napa Valley recipients: Robert Mondavi (91), Andre Tchelistcheff (92), and Jack and Jamie Davies (96).

Well into his 80s, Shafer continued to travel extensively and pursued new interests such as learning to tango in Argentina and taking up sculpture. Those who visit the winery will see a life-size bronze statue that he made of his beloved companion Tucker, a gentle (but very large) Yellow Lab. Throughout his life, Shafer remained a long-range planner, always more interested in what might be happening five years from now rather than reminiscing about the past, his family said.

John Shafer is predeceased by son Bill Shafer, who died in 2000, his first wife Betty Shafer Wells in 2007, and his second wife Barbara Shafer, who died in 2016. He is survived by daughter Libby Shafer of St. Helena, sons Doug Shafer (Annette) of St. Helena, and Brad Shafer (Carrie) of San Francisco, 13 grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

The family is planning a private memorial service. They have requested that anyone who wishes to celebrate John Shafers life please make a donation to Ole Health, VOICES, or Napa Valley Wildlife Rescue.

St. Helena Star Editor Dave Stoneberg contributed to this story.
As a mental health professional, Mackenzie Lovie is dedicated to helping those who have experienced trauma.

Over this past year, Lovie has also been dedicated to healing the trauma in her own life.

Lovie is one of the survivors of The Pathway Home shooting of March 9, 2018.

March 9, 2018: Gunfire shatters a respite for veterans damaged by war What began as a bucolic respite for veterans damaged by war ended just a decade later in a hail of gunfire, a stark reminder that war and inex

On that day, a former client of the program drove to the facility on the grounds of the Veterans Home in Yountville. The gunman released Lovie and several others from the building, then killed three of her coworkers: Jennifer Golick, Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba (and her unborn baby) and Christine Loeber, before killing himself.

This past year has been the year of healing, said Lovie. This year will be the year of doing.

Lovie said that as the one-year mark of the tragedy approaches, Im doing pretty good.

Im very, very fortunate, said Lovie during an interview in late February. Im alive. I have family and friends and support and a job and a purpose and something to wake up for every day.

That doesnt mean that the past year hasnt been hard, but overall there are more good days than bad.

One thing that helped motivate Lovie over this past year is the desire to grow and learn from the tragedy.

For Lovie, that means carrying on the work and legacy of Golick, Gonzales Shushereba and Loeber. It also means advocating for dialogue about trauma.

As a mental health care professional I have known all about trauma and its impact but it wasnt until tragedy impacted me directly that I really got to see the lasting effects of trauma and the incredible responsibility of caring for it, said Lovie.

Trauma doesnt discriminate, she said. It can touch anyone  even a group of highly trained mental health professionals at the Pathway Home.

Besides this mass shooting, the Napa Valley community has seen its share of trauma in the recent past, such as from the 2017 wildfires and the killing of Napan Alaina Housley in a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks.

The Pathway staff knew the importance of treating trauma, she said. They worked each day to do that knowing that it is hard and at times painful.

For Lovie, every day there is something to do to honor the work of these women and to work on healing.

Its a need that is becoming more and more critical, she said.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in 2011, nearly 60 percent of children and youth were exposed to violence, crime or abuse.

According the Veterans Administration, the number of veterans with PTSD varies by service era but ranges from 11 to 30 percent.

A year after the Veterans Home shooting, questions remain over whether the attack could have been prevented YOUNTVILLE  Outside of Madison Hall at the Veterans Home is a splotchy cream wall, where someone has haphazardly painted over brick red lette

The country has experienced hundreds of mass shootings in 2018, said Lovie. Most researchers define a mass shooting as when more than three people are shot.

Think about how many people were touched by those shootings, she said. That includes parents, siblings, friends, coworkers and neighbors.

This is huge. There are thousands of people impacted by such traumatic events.

For those who are impacted, its important to seek help, whether from personal resources like friends and family or professional sources like mental health care workers, said Lovie.

Dont try to go it alone, she said.

Nobody has the perfect programming to get through trauma solo. Its OK to ask for help.

A journey to Boston

As part of her healing process, this past November, Lovie attended the launch of a foundation created by the family of Christine Loeber in Massachusetts.

I really admire how they are channeling their energy, she said. Its a testament to who she was and what she did.

On her visit she toured the New England Center for Veterans. Loeber had previously worked for it parent agency, the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program.

In September, a medical clinic at the veterans center was named in Loebers honor.

It was really special to see the clinic in person, said Lovie.

We toured it and talked to the staff, she said. It was cool to be on her home turf.

Changing the story

Lovie said that its a shame that so much attention is given to the people who commit these tragedies. Yet, we only get a glimpse into the lives of the people whose lives are lost.

That needs to change, she said.

The real story is about how they lived, she said. If we focused on how they lived, there are lessons all of us could learn.

Lovie said she has many ideas of how to continue her coworkers legacy including joining different advocacy and mental health initiatives.

I want the world to remember that these women had beautiful lives to learn from.

I refuse to let the horrific events of March 9 be where the story ends, she said.

Meanwhile, she still works as a clinical case manager at Mentis, a Napa center for mental health services.

Mentis took over case management care and crisis stabilization for the veterans who were served by Pathway home at the time of the incident.

Rob Weiss, executive director of Mentis, credits Lovie for the progress shes made over the past year.

So often with trauma, the traumatic event is so out of control and unpredictable that regaining a sense of order and control again is a critical part of recovery, he said.

Mackenzie is a good example of that.

Over the past year, Lovie incorporated a therapy dog program for her clients using her own pet, a retired guide dog for the blind named Pandora.

Its an incredible tool for our work and I was really excited by the opportunity to do it, said Lovie.

Such a therapy dog program was something Golick originally proposed when she worked at Mentis, said Weiss.

This is continuing their work in a way, said Lovie.

As for the anniversary of the March 9 attack, Lovies not sure how shell mark the day.

I definitely have the intention to do something upbeat and positive, she said. I know Im not done carrying the torch of those three brave women.

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Southwest Airlines will begin flying people to Hawaii from Oakland later this month and from San Jose in May.

Starting March 17, the airline will launch its first-ever direct flights from Oakland International Airport to Honolulu, Oahu, and starting April 7 it will begin flights from Oakland to Maui.

The airline will fly to the islands twice a day, at least initially.

Oakland was the site of the very first successful trans-Pacific flight from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands 91 years ago, Bryant Francis, director of aviation at the Port of Oakland, said in a news release.

And is again at the forefront by serving as the inaugural mainland U.S. airport for these long-awaited flights.

In announcing the new flights, the airline also offered $49 one-way fares to Hawaii, but those seats appeared to sell out quickly.

Southwest will also soon start flying directly to Honolulu and Maui from Mineta San Jose International Airport. Flights to Honolulu will begin May 5 and to Maui on May 26.

Southwest also has eventual plans to launch Hawaii flights from San Diego and Sacramento, according to airline spokesman Dan Landson.
Overworked mental health nurses would be able to turn down overtime shifts in some of the state's most dangerous institutions if the Legislature adopts a bill sponsored by their union.

The proposal, Assembly Bill 529, aims to address well-documented fatigue among the 3,600 or so psychiatric technicians who care for inmates and patients in state hospitals and prisons. It would eliminate the common practice of forcing psychiatric technicians and technician assistants to work back-to-back eight-hour shifts

In jobs where new employees are taught to keep their backs to walls and their eyes on exits, the extra hours from mandatory overtime can slow alertness and response times, he said.

"It kind of puts in a little more added danger in those work scenarios," said Eric Soto, president of the California Association of Psychiatric Technicians.

Soto said the second shifts, following workdays in which nurses can face attacks from patients or witness attacks on co-workers, often come with no advance warning.

"Sometimes you're at the mercy of a facility," he said.

Understaffed state hospitals have used mandatory overtime to help meet required nurse-to-patient ratios and to compensate for hard-to-fill vacancies in state service, according to a 2016 Little Hoover Commission report on the issue.

The report cited studies that found nurses were three times as likely to make an error when working more than 12 hours and that their health suffered with longer shifts, including increased risks of heart disease and hypertension and increases in the time it takes to become pregnant.

The report recommended the state find ways to reduce all overtime at hospitals, both mandatory and voluntary.

Most of the psychiatric technicians the Assembly bill would protect work for the Department of State Hospitals. A spokesman for the department said it doesn't comment on pending legislation but provided the following statement on how the department uses overtime at its hospitals:

"In accordance with state law, the department must ensure that it provides adequate staffing to meet patient care needs on a 24 hour, 7 day a week basis," spokesman Ken August said in an email. "There are many factors that contribute to the use of mandatory overtime including staffing ratios, fluctuations in patient acuity, and vacancies. The department is currently reviewing its use of mandatory overtime and options for reducing it."

In the second half of 2018, nurses at the department's five hospitals worked a total of about 441,000 hours of overtime, 32,000 of which were involuntary, according to department figures.

Involuntary overtime hours have decreased in the last few years, and union lobbyist Coby Pizzotti said Gov. Gavin Newsom's plans to hire more psychiatric technicians over the next three years will help alleviate overtime needs.

The proposed law would give nurses who work for the state similar protections as those who work in the private sector, where shifts are generally kept below 12 hours. The proposal allows hospitals to use mandatory overtime in emergencies, as does the private sector law.

The union has sought the change for several years but has been unable to eliminate mandatory overtime through collective bargaining, Pizzotti said. An earlier Senate bill to get rid of mandatory overtime passed the Legislature but didn't make it past the governor's desk, Pizzotti said.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has highlighted the importance of infrastructure development in the growth of a community saying it is what brings investments and employment opportunities. The former President made this statement during her weekend trip to Naga City in Cebu in which she visited one of her biggest priority projects for Cebu during her presidencythe Cebu South Road. Arroyo said the P1.2-billion expansion and rehabilitation project of the Cebu South Road project during her time may have spurred growth in the southern part of Cebu specifically in Naga since it became a city two years after the road was expanded during her administration. So I was remembering how all of these things probably helped in the development of this part of Cebu so I was happy that in 2008 Naga became a city. Congratulations to the people of Naga that you have done so much to develop the citythe town before that eventually became a city, Arroyo said. Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. of Cebu agreed with Arroyos pronouncements, saying the road has attracted investments and businesses to Naga. This is the reason why, he mentioned, the Department of Public Works and Highways has been allocating budget for its maintenance and improvement year after year. Actually, the National Government allocates money every year to improve the road. Actually, now, we are in the process of widening these roads and making them better for everyone who uses the roads. Were continuing widening Naga, San Fernando, and Carcar. So thats the reason why a lot of investments and businesses come to Naga, because of the infrastructure thats in place because of these projects, Gullas said. Arroyo narrated that when she visited Cebu in 2004 to thank the Cebuanos for their landslide vote for her presidential bid, she was shocked to see that Cebu South Road, which was built by her maternal grandfather, was in an ugly state. I remember in 2004, my first visit to Cebu to thank the people of Cebu for the one million landslide that you gave me, we passed this way. And that time the road was horrible. I called it the ugly road. Whats the name of this road? Ugly road. I said, my grandfather must be turning in his grave so we have to fix this road. Because it was first built by my grandfather, Juan Macaraeg. He was district engineer of the Visayas during the Commonwealth, she said. She added, (s)o we did fix the road all the way from SRP up to Santander. And then we also did the turning right from here up to Toledo. Yes, going southwest. So next time maybe I come, Ill go and motor to Toledo, and see how that is.The rehabilitation and expansion of the Cebu South Road was inaugurated in 2006. The road has conveniently connected southern Cebu to Cebu City, the central business area of the province, as well as the Mactan Cebu International Airport. Aside from improving the road network system in Metro Cebu for economic and social development, the road improvement project was also a part of then President Arroyos long-term goal of achieving a seamless, efficient and cheaper means of transportation for people and goods through the Strong Republic Nautical Highway. Arroyo has been going on sentimental journey revisiting the priority projects during her presidency to check on their status and determine how she can further provide support and improve their condition before leaving her post as Speaker of the Lower Chamber. Speaker Arroyo has implemented major projects in the province to express her gratitude towards the Cebuanos who gave her a landslide in the 2004 elections. Id like to take this opportunity again to continue, before I end my political life, to see what happened to the things that we did, she stated. Witnessing how the road has improved, she lauded the people of Naga City for their efforts to continuously develop their city, and mentioned that these infrastructure projects may have greatly helped in the progress of that area in Cebu. Its very beautiful. There are some projects that I did when I was President, and when I went back to them, they have been neglected. Not this one, she said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom came close last month to abandoning the states misbegotten bullet train project thats already cost many billions of dollars and demonstrates no signs of becoming viable.

Lets be real, Newsom told legislators in his first State of the State address. The project as currently planned would cost too much and take too long. Theres been too little oversight and not enough transparency. Right now, there simply isnt a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.

The bold  and logical  move would have been to finish whats under construction in the San Joaquin Valley, fold it into existing Amtrak service and then cancel everything else before it gobbles up even more money. But Newsom couldnt bring himself to entirely pull the plug on this hot mess.

Voters were sold a bill of goods by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature in a 2008 ballot measure that authorized $9.95 billion in bonds, pegged the cost of the project at $33 billion and promised that it would operate with no subsidies while whisking passengers from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 160 minutes.

Under successor Jerry Brown, the projected cost more than doubled, the state has been unable to attract investors without promising subsidies, changes in the project, such as merging it with regional commuter rail, make the 2:40 travel time impossible, and public sentiment has turned against it.

State Auditor Elaine Howle told the Legislature in December that the High-Speed Rail Authoritys flawed decision making regarding the start of high-speed rail system construction in the Central Valley and its ongoing poor contract management for a wide range of high-value contracts have contributed to billions of dollars in cost overruns for completing the system.

The Obama administration awarded California a $3.5 billion grant in 2010 for the valley segment.

The grant required completion by 2017. The deadline was later extended to 2022 but Howle says the latter date wont be met unlessconstruction progresses twice as fast as it has to date, adding, Missing the deadline could expose the state to the risk of having to pay back as much as $3.5 billion in federal funds.

After Newsoms address, President Donald Trump declared on Twitter: California has been forced to cancel the massive bullet train project after having spent and wasted many billions of dollars. They owe the Federal Government three and a half billion dollars. We want that money back now. Whole project is a green disaster!

Newsom, of course, rejected the idea, telling legislators, Im not interested in sending $3.5 billion in federal funding that was allocated to this project back to Donald Trump.

However, if a Republican still occupies the White House in 2022 and the San Joaquin portion is still incomplete, as Howle suggests, the state could, indeed, be on the legal hook to repay the grant.

The bullet train also receives 25 percent of proceeds from auctions of greenhouse gas emission allowances on the assumption  fanciful at best  that it would make a major contribution to curbing carbon emissions by diverting travelers from cars and airlines.

However, the High-Speed Rail Authoritys own projection is that when fully built out, including extensions to Sacramento and San Diego, the bullet train would reduce auto travel, now nearly a billion miles a day, by scarcely one percent. That doesnt come close to justifying 25 percent of cap-and-trade funds, which would be much better spent elsewhere.

Its time to derail the train to nowhere.

CALmatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how Californias state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
Socialism in the United States is prominent in a way it hasn't been in decades. High-profile left-leaning politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., hold up socialist policies as solutions to the ills facing the nation, from the growing political influence of the "top 1 percent" to the lack of universal health care. Meanwhile, critics, including President Donald Trump, say socialism leads inexorably to tyranny and poverty. But the important debate is clouded by many misconceptions.

Myth No. 1: Socialism is a single coherent ideology.

Socialist groups may have different names ("democratic socialists" and so on), but the distinctions between them are an illusion, columnist Jenna Ellis wrotein the Washington Examiner last year: All are "precursor[s] to full-blown Marxist-Leninist communism." And according to an editorial in Investor's Business Daily, "All forms of socialism are the same." Many attacks on socialism, as well as polls gauging its surprising popularity,take for granted that it's a unified philosophy amenable to a crisp judgment.

Yet socialism has multiple meanings and interpretations, which have to be disentangled before a discussion about its merits can begin. One distinction centers on whether socialism is a system that must supplant capitalism or one that can harness the market's immense productive capacity for progressive ends. Karl Marx, who predicted that historical forces would inevitably lead to capitalism's demise and to government control of industry, was the most famous proponent of the first type of socialism. An impatient Vladimir Lenin argued instead that rather than waiting for history to run its course, a revolutionary vanguard should destroy capitalism.

Other socialists, however, did not accept the violent, undemocratic nature of that course, although they agreed that capitalism was unjust and unstable. The left's role, in the view of these "democratic socialists" - the Czech-Austrian theorist Karl Kautsky, for instance - was to remind citizens of capitalism's defects and rally popular support for an alternative economic system that would end private ownership and assert popular control over the means of production.

Although Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez embrace the term "democratic socialist," the policies they advocate place them much closer to yet another socialist tradition: social democracy. Social democrats say it is possible and desirable to reform capitalism. This tradition dominated the post-World War II European left and influenced the American Democratic Party, most notably during the Progressive era and the New Deal, inspiring Social Security, unemployment insurance and the eight-hour workday.

Myth No. 2: Socialism and democracy are incompatible.

In a speech last month on the crisis in Venezuela, Trump argued that socialism "must always give rise to tyranny." Socialism is a "pseudo-science . . . enforced by political tyranny," wrote the Heritage Foundation's Lee Edwards in December.

Communists reject democracy, of course, but other socialists have strongly supported it. In many parts of the world, including Europe, they were the most consistent advocates of democratization. Eduard Bernstein, for example, one of the fathers of social democracy, described democracy as "both a means and an end. It is a weapon in the struggle for socialism and it is the form in which socialism will be realized." Conservatives, on the other hand, thought of democracy as "despotism of the multitude," in Edmund Burke's phrase, and liberals like Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill were resistant to expanding the franchise as well, because giving workers too much power would threaten the economic elites necessary for social stability. Only organizing and pressure from parties of the left broke liberal and conservative resistance to democracy in Europe.

After the Russian Revolution, a commitment to democracy became a key distinction dividing socialists from communists. The Bolsheviks split off from the Socialist International in 1919 because socialists would not to commit to overthrowing capitalism by "all available means, including armed force." And after World War II, socialist and social democratic parties became mainstays of democratic systems in Europe.

Myth No. 3: All socialists want to abolish markets and private property.

Cass Sunstein, a liberal law professor,writes that once voters realize socialism means government ownership of "the nation's airlines, hospitals, restaurants and department stores," they will sour on it. Socialism leads to the "seizure of private property, and the dictating of individual behavior,"asserts Charlie Kirk, founder and executive director of Turning Point USA.

But on this question, too, the traditions vary. Communists, when in power, have done away with markets and private property. Democratic socialists say that in principle they hope capitalism will disappear over the long run, but in the meantime they advocate piecemeal changes in the ownership and control of economic resources - bank nationalization, for instance. (Democratic socialists have never fully held power anywhere, so their programs remain largely theoretical.) And social democrats have focused on redistributing the fruits of markets and private enterprise rather than abolishing them. Most of the policies advocated by politicians like Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) - including universal health care, free college education, and higher wealth and income taxes - are clearly achievable within a capitalist system.

Myth No. 4: When socialism is tried, it collapses.

"Socialism . . . will always fail," wrote Mark Perry, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan at Flint and a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, in March 2016. The Hoover Institution's Paul Gregory offered a primer on "Why Socialism Fails"in January 2018.

Communism certainly failed, but social democracy has arguably been the single most successful modern ideology or political movement. Stable European democracies arose after World War II because a social consensus married relatively free markets and private ownership of the means of production with expanded welfare states, progressive taxation and other forms of government intervention in the economy and society. Without the impressive economic results generated by the market, the huge improvements in living standards in the West after the war would not have been possible; the 30 years after 1945 were Europe's fastest period of economic growth ever. But without the welfare state, the benefits of growth would not have been distributed so widely: Inequality declined dramatically during the postwar decades.

Moreover, the parts of the world considered to be the most "social democratic," like the Scandinavian countries, are successful by almost any measure: Growth is strong, unemployment is low, their economies are consistently ranked as highly competitive, and the quality of life is extremely high.

Myth No. 5: Socialism offers a ready-made solution to numerous current problems.

Socialism's advocates today promote it as a near-panacea. It's a possible "answer to the climate catastrophe," writes a commentator in the Guardian. It "would remedy the systemic deprivation of people of color," says Connie M. Razza, director of policy and research at the think tank Demos. It would go far beyond political reform to reshape the "basic structures that disempower people and keep them in wage slavery," says Julia Salazar, a New York state senator and democratic socialist.

But many of today's democratic socialists lack clear plans for what they want to put in capitalism's place and how this new economic order would generate the growth, efficiency and innovation necessary to achieve redistribution and raise living standards. Nor is it clear that democratic socialists have realistic plans for dealing with other vexing social controversies, such as anxieties over immigration. Some argue that many current problems can be solved by new versions of policies that worked during the mid- to late 20th century, like a Green New Deal; more government spending on health care, education and infrastructure; and higher taxes.

Republicans insist that these initiatives would destroy growth and turn the United States into a tyrannical economic basket case like Venezuela. True, conservatives made similar claims in the past about major government initiatives like Social Security and Medicare. But it is surely legitimate to press advocates of increased government spending on how they would pay for these programs. The economist Paul Krugman, for example, who is sympathetic to many social democratic policies, has criticized those on the left who argue that these programs can be subsidized by simply printing or borrowing money.

What distinguished the postwar era was the combination of rising growth and equality. If socialists want to convince Americans, Europeans and others that they have the best solutions to contemporary problems, they need to show that their policies can generate substantial wealth and resources as well as, simultaneously, a more equitable distribution.

Sheri Berman, a professor of political science at Barnard College, is the author of Democracy and Dictatorship in Europe: From the Ancien Regime to the Present Day. She wrote this for The Washington Post.
There is something really powerful when our community of teachers comes together to share ideas.

Having worked in more than one school district, I appreciate the way that Napa Valley Unified School District supports their teachers, as well as the support we get from the larger community.

When I talk to teachers around the United States, they are stunned to learn that we have nonprofit organizations like NapaLearns whose entire focus is to find ways to support and empower teachers so that all students benefit.

Recently, NapaLearns and the Napa County Office of Education provided every teacher in Napa Valley with an invaluable opportunity: time to learn from some of our most innovative teachers.

Teaching is a surprisingly isolated experience. Most of us work alone in our classrooms to create, build, and deliver our lessons. We stand alone with our students as we strive to provide them with the support they need. Connecting with fellow educators is such an informative experience and we had a chance to do just that at the InnovatEd 2019 Conference.

InnovatEd 2019 was a local, teacher-led professional development conference, organized and sponsored by NapaLearns, the Napa County Office of Education, and the Napa Valley Unified School District. It is part of an ongoing series of workshops that provide Napa Valley teachers with training on the use of technology in the classroom. Yet it was more: It was a chance for teachers to gather as a united community focused on the sole aim of building and improving our craft.

Unlike other professional development conferences that Ive attended, these sessions were led by my fellow Napa Valley teachers who live in my own community and teach students just like my own. In fact, as I listened to teachers share their ideas, I realized that these same teachers would someday be my students teachers.

Almost 120 teachers gathered at New Technology High on a February Saturday morning to share ideas, and learn from each other. As the doors opened at 8:30 a.m., a line of teachers had already gathered  excited for the opportunity and eager to participate in hands-on, cooperative learning, which is far more powerful than hearing a sales pitch about the latest edtech trend.

It was amazing to sit together and talk about the best ways to motivate our students and manage our lessons. I learned new ways to use technology to support my students learning; and even more amazing, I listened to all the ways that the students of Napa Valley are supported through their entire academic careers. This collaborative event allowed space for educators to discuss both challenges and solutions. We realized that we have a shared responsibility for our students successes.

It has been said that we are better together, and that is especially true for teachers. When we are given space to share ideas, we become a powerful, united community driven to ensure that every student in the Napa Valley has a rigorous and empowering educational experience.

For teachers, who are given just a few professional development days each year, InnovatEd 2019 was a worthwhile bonus because ultimately, when you empower teachers, you are really transforming students learning experiences.

Jen Ellison is a Napa native who has spent the last five years running the Technology Design Lab at Phillips Magnet Elementary. She has spent over 20 years teaching everything from Kindergarten to high school English. She studied teaching at Chico State University where she earned her multiple subject teaching credential. She was Napa Countys Teacher of the Year in 2017, and recently earned her Masters of Education in innovative technology from Touro University.
Students and residents interested in learning the language and culture of Spain are invited to a free information session on Tuesday, March 5, from 12:30 to 1:20 p.m. at Napa Valley College to learn more about the three-week study abroad program to Salamanca.

Organized by the Colleges International Education program, the program from June 14 to July 6 is open to everyone and all levels of Spanish.

The 2019 program, led by Napa Valley College Spanish professor Mary Shea, will take students to Madrid (Prado Museum and the Palacio Nacional), Segovia (Roman aqueduct), San Ildefonso de la Granja (summer home of the Bourbon Kings of Spain) with a brief stop-over at the walled city of Avila.

All classes will be in Salamanca where participants will stay with local families, attend Spanish language school each day and go on sponsored excursions. They can also earn three units of college credit.

Shea has taken students abroad to Spain (Salamanca and Malaga), Mexico (San Miguel de Allende), and Costa Rica (Alajuela). As an undergrad at UCSB, Shea spent her senior year in Madrid, Spain, as part of UCs Education Abroad Program, becoming a firm believer in education abroad and what it can do for students.

Upon return from her academic year in Spain, Profession Shea completed her MA in Spanish, also at UCSB, and later an MA in English at CSU Sonoma. She has been a faculty member at Napa Valley College for almost 30 years.

Napa Valley Colleges International Education Study Abroad Program has operated for more than 20 years.

Participants have studied in Eastern Europe, China, Costa Rica, Turkey, Italy, Vietnam, Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, France, Japan, England and the Philippines.

The purpose of the program is to encourage the development of intercultural and international understanding.

Course offerings encourage students to participate in summer sessions to appreciate global issues through the lens of another culture or language, and to develop deeper understanding of the world around them, their country and themselves.

The information session will take place in Room 836 (see campus map online) at Napa Valley College.

Hourly parking passes are available.

For information about the Study Abroad trip to Salamanca, Spain, contact Shea at mshea@napavalley.edu or call 707-256-7734, or online at http://www.napavalley.edu/Academics/StudyAbroad/Pages/welcome.aspx
The Indian Journalists Union (IJU) has strongly condemned the manhandling of media persons and vandalising of press vehicles by unruly protestors and security personnel during the recent unrest that broke out in the twin capital cities of Itanagar and Naharlagun over the PRC issue.

In its two-day, National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, held at K L University, Amaravathi, Andhra Pradesh, the IJU executive members, on Sunday, sought from the state authority, to ensure safety and security of media persons, in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Earlier, a two-point resolution, on media atrocities, was placed by the Arunachal Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ), affiliated to IJU, in the 2nd day of the NEC meeting which began on March 2 last.

Several media persons have been subjected to manhandling, heckling, and damage of media equipment and vehicles either by the unruly protesters or the security personnel while covering the recent violence that erupted in protest against proposal of grant of PRC to Non-APSTs by the state government.

Fortunately, none of the scribes sustained grievous injuries, except for the Arunachal Today CEO, who got injured when unruly protesters threw bottle at her, in midst of the chaos, said APUWJ President Amar Sangno, while proposing the resolution, in the NEC meeting.

However, many media persons were subjected to police harassment as well. It was reported that cameras and mobile phones of several media persons were snatched away and damaged by security personnel. They also purportedly deleted all the footages of violence that was captured during the incident by the journalists, said Sangmo.

The IJU and the APUWJ also condoled the death of the three youths, who lost their lives, in the police firing, during the anti-PRC agitation. In its condolence message, the IJU and the APUWJ expressed their solidarity to the bereaved family.

Besides Arunachal, the state units of Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Telengana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab attended the NEC meeting which was hosted by Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists (APUWJ).

Each state unit presented their report cards.

In his report, Sangno highlighted the activities carried out by APUWJ in the past few months in the State of Arunachal. He informed that Arunachal Press Club and APUWJ have acquired 1300 square meters land meant for the construction of club building from the department of Arunachal Pradesh Industrial Financial Development Corporation (APIFDC) through the nodal agency Information and Public Relation department in the heart of Itanagar, with an estimated amount of Rs 1.74 crore.

He further said that the government of Arunachal Pradesh has allocated Rs 5 crore for the press club building construction.

Finding a suitable land for the press club building was onerous task. Now, the remaining amount of Rs 3.25 crore will be used in APC building construction and land development that includes parking lot and protection wall, Sangno informed.

He also informed about the guidelines framed by APC and APUWJ for covering election related news in the state, which was appreciated by the IJU general secretary Sabina Inderjit, who chaired the meet.

Sabina urged other state units to cue from Arunachal unit when it comes to cover election related news sensibly.

In one of the resolutions adopted in the NEC meeting, the IJU demanded uniformity of pension amount for journalists across the states.

IJU advisor S Sreenivas demanded that there should be uniformity in the pension amount. He said that pension amount of Rs 15,000 should be adopted by all the State governments.

He also said that the pension scheme should be extended to all the eligible working journalists, and the eligibility criteria of 58 years, as mentioned in the IJUs constitution, to avail the pension scheme, should be followed accordingly.

The IJU advisor also urged the state units not to confine their union activities to labour rights only, but to give equal importance to welfare measures as well.

He urged the state units to conduct workshops, seminars etc. to develop the journalism profession.

The IJU also condemned the recent Pulwama terror strike at Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Later, IJU president Amar Devullapali and Sabina led the IJU NEC team to address media persons at Vijaywada Press Club and highlighted the important resolutions taken in the meeting.
NEWS.am daily digest: 07.12.21

Kazakhstan First President notes Russias role in resolving Karabakh conflict

Armenia opposition MP: We are launching legal process of National Assembly speaker's resignation

Fight occurs in Armenia legislature

Armenia legislature deputy speaker from opposition: We are at preparatory phase for rallies

Armenia parliament speaker claims video with his remarks on captive Armenian soldiers was edited

MFA: Armenia urges Azerbaijan to refrain from provocative rhetoric and actions

Legislature speaker: Criminal case will be launched against Armenian soldiers who laid down their weapons, surrendered

4 more die of coronavirus in Artsakh

Dejavu: Parliament speaker says Armenian captive soldiers no longer exist for him

National Assembly holding urgent discussion on Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

Armenia legislature majority blocks opposition draft statement on border delimitation

Armenia ex-defense minister on border delimitation: Authorities say 'we negotiate whatever we want'

US embassy of Armenia on local elections: We note reports of pressure against opposition candidates

Ombudsman in Paris, briefs France colleague on Armenian captives in, war crimes of Azerbaijan

Opposition Armenia Faction plans to launch urgent parliamentary debates on POWs in Azerbaijan

Karabakh President pays tribute to 1988 Spitak earthquake victims

Pentagon discusses situation on Russia-Ukraine border

240 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

US Air Force plans to develop 2 new secret combat drones

Wreath laid in Gyumri on behalf of Armenia ex-President Kocharyan

Ombudsman provides details from Azerbaijan shooting at Karmir Shuka village of Artsakh

Armenia parliament session kicks off with minute of silence

Newspaper: As always Armenia citizens chose individuals over ideas in elections

Armenia remembers victims of 1988 earthquake

Newspaper: Armenia gets more than $11M from international organizations, several countries for Covid prevention

Seven die in Zanzibar after eating exotic food

Turkey and Qatar discuss possibility of joint operation of airport in Afghanistan

Development of warm relations between Abu Dhabi and Tehran is one of UAE priorities

Israel tries to convince US to strike Iranian targets

Bayramov and US Assistant Secretary of State discuss normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan

NEWS.am daily digest: 06.12.21

Armenia legislature majority to block opposition draft statement on border delimitation

Vahe Hakobyan underscores effective cooperation with UNDP Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia project

Armenia prosecutor's office files lawsuit demanding confiscation of ex-Police chief, his familys illegal property

One dollar passes AMD 491 threshold in Armenia

Armenia parliament to set up friendship group with Montenegro

India-Eurasian Union free trade zone talks to begin early 2022

Armenia Supreme Judicial Council members receive ECHR judgments execution department delegation

Armenia President, UK envoy discuss regional security

Armenia premier chairs Security Council meeting

Man found dead in downtown Yerevan near garbage cans

Opposition Armenia Faction MP: Premier Pashinyan gave best assessment of local elections

Armenia opposition lawmaker on local election results: Authorities rigged, pressured but still did not win

Kopirkin: Russian-Armenian Center for Humanitarian Response has highly qualified specialists

Russia official: 1988 Armenia earthquakes tragic experience gave impetus to creation of effective warning system

Opposition MP: Nothing officially announced in Armenia about negotiations over return of 10 POWs

Young Russia air force crew kicks off night flights over Armenia mountains

2 people killed in single-engine plane crash in Canada

95 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Yerevan hosting international conference with participation of Armenia, Russia emergency ministries representatives

World oil prices on the rise

Friend of Armenian people, former US Senator, presidential candidate Bob Dole dies aged 98

PM: Practice of election-rigging undermined state resistance system emerging in early 1990s in Armenia

World gold prices going down

Armenia local elections: Ruling party loses by more than 13.5% in Vanadzor

Artsakh soldier, 19, dies from gunshot wound

Armenia local elections: Ruling party suffers crushing defeat in Aparan

Armenia local elections: Lack of alternative, record low voter turnout ensure ruling partys win in Armavir

Armenia local elections: PAP beats ruling party in Abovyan

Armenia local elections: Bloc named after incumbent mayor wins in Sevan

The body of a young man found under a bridge in Yerevan

UAE National Security Advisor to visit Iran

Artsakh registered 31 new coronavirus cases

Voter turnout in local elections in Armenia 3 hours before the end of voting was 33.8%

Naftali Bennett calls on world powers to take a tough stance on Iran

COVID-19 in Armenia: 327 new cases

OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs regret that it was not possible to hold a joint meeting of Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs

Aravot: Special police forces are in Aparan

Head of Ayntap village of Ararat province and his brother apprehended

10 Armenian captives are returned from Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan transfers 10 soldiers to Armenia, media report

Armenia PM attends meeting of Consultative Assembly on Cooperation with Extra-Parliamentary Political Forces

Armenia FM meets with OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media

Identity of Azerbaijani who killed Artsakh resident is known

Turkey intelligence took part in 2020 war against Karabakh, says Turkish vice president

Baku explains why it declined from Stockholm meeting of Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs

FM: Any status within Azerbaijan is unacceptable for Artsakh people, authorities

Opportunities for expanding Armenia-Belarus cooperation in high tech are discussed

Quake hits Armenia-Georgia border zone

Russia peacekeepers in Karabakh ensure safety during replanting of vineyards

Biden says hopes to have long discussion with Putin

54 new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

419 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Blinken: NATO does not seek aggression against Russia

MFA spokesman: Armenia, Azerbaijan FMs did not meet in Stockholm

WHO: Omicron variant could worsen situation in Europe

Newspaper: Opportunity created for change of power in Armenia

Newspaper: Matter of changing Armenias external vector becoming reality?

Psaki: US, Russia considering possibility of Biden-Putin meeting

Armenian FM meets with OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

Putin and Erdogan discuss Azerbaijan, Armenia, Syria, Libya, and Ukraine

Armenia and Poland FMs discuss regional security issues

Erdogan and Putin support coordination of efforts on Karabakh

UN launches campaign against Gender-based violence online

NEWS.am daily digest: 03.12.21

Azerbaijanis kill Nagorno-Karabakh resident captured today

Armenia deputy FM: Azerbaijan blatantly ignores core principles of international law (PHOTOS)

2-day workshop on Inclusive Development kicks off in Armenia

Armenia Prosecutor General to head for Egypt
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and President Rodrigo Duterte will meet on Thursday to discuss economic and political cooperation between the two countries, with the Philippine claim to Sabah possibly on the agenda, Malacanang announced Monday. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the 93-year-old Malaysian leader will pay an official visit to the country from March 6 to 7 upon the Presidents invitation. President Duterte will officially welcome Prime Minister Mahathir at ceremonies in Malacanang Palace on March 7, 2019. The two leaders will then hold a bilateral meeting and discuss cooperation in the political, economic and people-to-people spheres, and exchange views on topics of mutual importance, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing. This is Prime Minister Mahathirs first visit to the Philippines since he assumed his position as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2018. During his previous term as prime minister, he undertook bilateral official visits in 1987 and 1994, he said. Asked if the Philippines claim on the disputed Sabah island would be among the topics discussed by the two leaders, the Palace official said this was a possibility.Everything is possible when you meet a head of state, every issue is open, Panelo said. Since the 1870s, Sabah, or North Borneo has been disputed by the two countries. The territory was originally yielded by the Kingdom of Brunei to the Sultanate of Sulu. The residents, however, voted to become part of Malaysia when it became independent from Great Britain in 1963. The visit of the Malaysian leader reciprocates President Dutertes trip to Malaysia in July 2018 where the Chief Executive watched the world title fight of boxer Senator Manny Pacquiao. During their meeting last year in Putrajaya, Malaysia, the two leaders renewed and reaffirmed the long-standing brotherhood and friendship between the Philippines and Malaysia. The Palace said the country could expect a joint military training and enhanced defense cooperation with Malaysia as the two top leaders weighed in on the issues of security and defense, stressing the need to resolve terrorism, violent extremism, piracy, armed robbery at sea, and the illegal drug trade surrounding the region. 
YEREVAN.  In the Armenian governments 2018 program, it was pledged that Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) shall become a negotiating party; but a year later, there is no progress in the promised steps.

Armen Ashotyan, vice-chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), said about the aforementioned at a press conference on Monday.

In Ashotyans conviction, a second problem has come about over the course of this one year, with respect to resolving the Karabakh conflict.

During the rule of the incumbent [Armenian] powers, no official statement of the [OSCE Minsk Group] co-chairs reflects on the need for fulfillment of the Vienna, Saint Petersburg, and Geneva agreements, he explained. And those obligations were Azerbaijans diplomatic defeat after the [four-day] April [2016] war.

The RPA senior official stressed that not including the fulfillment of these obligations in official statements means contributing to absolving Azerbaijan from the accountability for the April war.

Armen Ashotyan argued that if the incumbent Armenian government is keeping away from placing the emphasis on these obligations and is succumbing to elevator diplomacy, then it should also be expected that this elevator diplomacy will have its descent.
YEREVAN.  The current government of Armenia has not implemented but one reform which it was obligated to implement within the framework of the Armenia-European Union Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

Armen Ashotyan, vice-chairman of the former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), stated about the abovementioned at a press conference on Monday.

Ashotyan noted that, even though last December the government was to approveas a government decisionthe sequence of activities derived from the Armenia-EU cooperation program, there is no such program yet.

The RPA official stressed that the incumbent Armenian government has made no progress in attracting funds from the EU.

In Ashotyans view, the slowing down of the Armenia-EU CEPA ratification process is yet another problem.

He added that time frames are no longer noted in the Armenia-EU visa liberalization discourse.

Also, as per the RPA vice-chairman, it is symbolic that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans visit to Brussels is kicking off these days.

There is no progress in Pashinyans government program in the context of the Armenia-EU relations and agreement, Armen Ashotyan concluded. And according to the preliminary report, no documents of primary political importance will be signed in the education and IT sector.

The Armenia-European Union Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement was signed on November 24, 2017 in Brussels.
Armenias Chamber of Commerce and Industry and GuoMeng have jointly initiated and established the Armenian-Chinese Friendship Development Association, the main purpose of which is to enhance the economic, trade, educational and cultural partnerships between China and Armenia. The co-founder and president of the Association is famous economic figure Robert Harutyunyan. The main areas of activity of the Association are development of economic ties between China and Armenia, implementation of investment programs in China and Armenia, growth of trade turnover between China and Armenia, implementation of joint industrial projects for entering the markets of third countries and implementation of joint programs in the cultural and educational sectors.

To achieve these goals, GuoMeng is actively working with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Armenia and is preparing to implement different investment programs in Armenia that are in line with the goals of Chinas One Zone One Road Program.

To implement the investment programs, it is envisaged to create in Armenia the GuoMeng-Armenia Eurasian Investments Management Company, which will implement the following programs along with the Armenian-Chinese Friendship Association:

1. GuoMeng-Armenia International Trade Company: GuoMeng will establish a trade company in Armenia and deal with the sale of products of both countries in international markets

2. GuoMeng-Armenia Logistics Company: GuoMeng plans to build in Armenia a modern economy for storage that will serve for the trade flows with member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, the European Union and other countries.

3. GuoMeng-Armenia aluminum production zone: GuoMeng will create an industrial zone for aluminum products manufacturers, and the products manufactured by the zones beneficiaries will mainly be exported.

4. Cultural and Educational Center

It is envisaged to create, jointly with the Armenian-Chinese Friendship Development Association, an educational and cultural center for the development of cooperation between both countries in the cultural, educational and economic sectors. The center will be responsible for the implementation of the One Zone, One Road Program in Armenia.

As an investment company providing high-quality services at the global level and closely collaborating with the Ministry of Commerce of China, GuoMeng will closely collaborate with the Armenian government within the scope of the above-mentioned investment programs. Another document on partnership was also signed.
Armenia imports a quarter of products from the Eurasian Union member states, said the Armenian Minister of Economic Development and Investments Tigran Khachatryan on Monday.

His remarks came at the meeting of the standing parliamentary committee on Regional Issues and Eurasian Integration.

According to him, it also includes energy resources, end-use products, and if Armenia had a direct border with the Eurasian Union member states, the movement of goods would be carried out without any restrictions.

We import a quarter of all our imports from the Eurasian Union member states, which is about $1 billion 250 million, the minister noted.

Khachatryan also touched upon the main activities of his department, including trade policy, relations connected with the free movement of goods and services, trade relations with third countries, as well as membership in the World Trade Organization, investment policy and so on.
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is now accepting qualified applicants for nurses and care workers for deployment in Japan under the Framework for the Movement of Natural Persons of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement. The POEA said that Japan International Corporation of Welfare Services needed qualified applicants to fill up another batch of vacancies for 50 nurses or kangoshi and 300 careworkers or kaigofukushishi. Candidates for nursing positions must be a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with PRC Board license, with at least three years hospital experience, and must be motivated and committed to work and study as a candidate for Kangoshi to obtain a National License in Japan. Meanwhile, those who wish to apply as care workers must be a graduate of any four-year course, a certified NCII caregiver by TESDA, and a graduate of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (with or without PRC license).The candidate-nurses to be hired shall first complete a six-month onsite Japanese language training and thereafter undergo on-the-job training at their respective hospitals. They should be able to pass the licensure examination in Japan before they can work as registered nurses. They have three chances to take the nursing licensure examination.
YEREVAN.  The president of World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2019, Alexander Yesayan, and the Eastern-European regional director of German Eastern Business Association, Stefan Kagebein, discussed the format for Germanys participation in the congress. WCIT 2019 program director Syuzanna Azoyan and managing director of the business association, Ute Kochlowski-Kadjaia, also participated in the discussion. The meeting was a follow up to the document signed within the framework of the official visit of the Armenia Prime Minister to Germany.

The World Congress on Information Technologies was established by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA). The local organizer of the event is the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE). WCIT 2019 is organized with the support of the Government of Armenia.

The German guests were interested in topics on Smart Cities, Climate Change, and Digital Trade, and they are put on the agenda of this event.

Among our association members are many representatives from the largest German companies, stated Kagebein. And we are ready to help in inviting targeted speakers and German participants.

We have also discussed the readiness of the two associations to support the creation of new business contacts, investments, and cooperation opportunities between Armenian and German companies noted Yesayan, who is also the president of UATE.
Japan Ground Self Defense Force chief of staff, Gen. Koji Yamazaki, and his party formally called on Philippine Army commander, Lt. Gen. Macairog Alberto, at Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City Monday. The purpose of the visit is to reinforce the two countrys strategic partnership and exchange insights on mutual interests. The Philippines and Japan signed the Memorandum on Defense Cooperation and Exchanges in January 2015. The agreement is meant to provide a framework for defense cooperation between the two defense ministries and their respective armed forces. On June 8, 2015, the Philippine ArmyJapan Ground Self-Defense Force Terms of Reference was signed, strengthening the friendly relations and cooperation while promoting open discussion of subjects of mutual interest for both armies. As a result, the PA-JGSDF Working Group was established as a platform for both armies to plan or develop bilateral engagements that will enhance capabilities, interoperability and promote discussions of topics which are of mutual interest or mutually beneficial. Yamazaki started his military career in 1983 as an army engineer later holding various key positions in the engineer field of specialization of the JGSDF. He served as 9th Division commanding general in 2014 and Northern Army head in 2016 before assuming the position of JGSDF chief of staff in 2017.The two army chiefs expressed both their nations willingness to continue the exchange of information as both countries recognize each others expertise particularly in humanitarian assistance and disaster response. The JGSDF chief also recognized the PAs counterterrorism efforts during the Marawi siege and the leadership decisions that helped resolve the crisis. My visit implies that my country recognizes the Philippines as a significant strategic partner in East Asia, Yamazaki said. Im very honored to be here to strengthen our bilateral relations, he added. For his part, Alberto said he is optimistic that the visit of the JGSDF chief will boost the bilateral cooperation between Japan and the Philippines. Both armies can learn from each others experiences in terms of counterterrorism and humanitarian assistance and disaster response through the conduct of training exchanges. We will continue the cooperation with renewed vigor in order to better tackle the various security challenges that both our countries are facing, he added.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has arrived in Belgium. He is expected to hold high-level meetings with the European Union officials on Tuesday.

On the first day of his tour, Pashinyan visited Leuven city in Flanders, and which is considered a university center in the country.

In his address at KU Leuven university, Pashinyan noted, in particular, that they have started a process of great political and economic changes in Armenia, and that education is a crucial matter in this regard.

eparately, memoranda of understanding were signed between the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia and the Flanders Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as the IMEC scientific research center of Belgium and the Enterprise Incubator Foundation of Armenia.

Karabakh conflict should be resolved based on dialogue and international principles as it is very important for Iran its relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan to be expanded, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry Bahram Qasemi said.

Referring to the recent visit of Armenian prime minister to Tehran, he said Tehran's stand with regards to all its neighbors is very crystal clear, transparent and definite as neighbors are among Iran's first priority in the country's foreign policy.

Tehran is determined to broaden very consolidated relations with its neighbors based on mutual respect and non-interference in each other's affairs, he added.

There is no decision on the date and venue of the meeting of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan with Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev yet, Vladimir Karapetyan, spokesperson for Armenian PM told NEWS.am.

At this moment, there is no decision yet about the place and day of a Pashinyan-Aliyev meeting, he said.

As reported earlier, co-chairs of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group have issued a statement, according to which the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan have accepted the proposal to meet in the near future.

An Armenian student pulled a car with his teeth and set a new record in Armenia and a new world record.

Yuri Sakunts, student of the Crisis Management State Academy of Armenias Ministry of Emergency Situations, is two-time world record-setter and 14-time record-setter in Armenias book of heroic acts.

This comes after Sakunts pulled two 44-ton trains 15.3 meters with his little finger.

In Sao Paulo, Rosas de Ouro (Golden Roses) samba school performed dances within the scope of a program entitled Viva Hayastan! (Long Live Armenia) and dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

The Rosas de Ouro carnival gathered 500 members of the local Armenian community, and the performance was divided into 5 sections, including Heaven, Armenian Heroes, Christianity, Armenian Culture and Square.
Azerbaijan regularly criticizes the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group and the team of the personal representative of the OSCE chairman-in-office, and criticisms are made even by top leadership. This time the criticism was made by by the well-known military expert Abuzer Abilov.

In an interview with Minval.az, the expert stated that there are no benefits for us from conducting such monitorings. "Monitorings are being carried out during the last quarter of a century, but they do not bring either benefit, or result. Personally I consider that monitorings are being carried out formally, and all this is necessary for nobody", Abilov said.

"Armenia occupied territories of Azerbaijan therefore monitoring of a ceasefire regime must to be carried out on the internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan and Armenia,and for this purpose the Armenian invaders must free our territories. If the invaders are still not expelled from our territory,what can be said about the monitoring? " Abilov expressed his thoughts.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that monitorings "are regularly carried out within internationally recognized borders" on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Most likely, this fact was not known to the expert.

Asked about the extension of Ambassador Kasprzyk's mandate, the expert also gave an answer in the spirit of the Azerbaijani propaganda: "It is natural that I have negative attitude towards that decision. Personally, I think we should abandon OSCE MG services. What has been initiated by A. Kasprzyk during these years? No pressure was put on the Armenian leadership, underlining that these territories belong to Azerbaijan and Yerevan illegally controls these territories. No, he did not initiate such a thing, in fact, doing nothing. "
In the 150th year of Gulbenkian's birth, host of the BBC World Service Rajan Datar follows the Istanbul-born Armenian financier, art collector and philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkians life and deal-making with his great grandson Martin Essayan, historian Dr. Jonathan Conlin, author of a new biography of Gulbenkian and Professor of Business History Joost Jonker.

The twenty eighth of June, 1914 is a momentous day in world history. Not just because that was when the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo which soon led to the first World War but also because on that very same day stroke of a pen in Istanbul granted permission for a fledgling international cartel to look for oil in many of the middle eastern territories that the Ottoman Empire then controlled, the host noted.

According to him, an Istanbul born financier of Armenian origin is largely responsible for the way the middle eastern oil industry has operated for decades.

The host and his guests touched upon the influence of Gulbenkians family on oil exports.

According to Joost Jonker, Gulbenkian family belongs to the merchant group in Istanbul.

They are trading just about everything internationally from Istanbul to all over the world, particularly France, Britain, Russia, he said.

The interlocutors touched upon the influence of Nvard Essayan, great grandmother of Martin Essayan on their business issues.

According to Martin Essayan, it was first of all love and patience as they both kept the love letters they were sending to each other, they show very closely that they were very much in love and passionate about each other.

It was very convenient marriage for him because it provided him the entry to the inner circle of the merchant elite with the global connections, he added.

According to the host, sometimes Gulbenkian was obsessive with documentation and checking as check, check, check was his motto.

So it's curious that we know very little about his business in the five years after his wedding when he made and possibly lost his first millions, he added.

According to host, he was also a passionate art collector as his collection totals over thousands of pieces from all over the world, dating from antiquity until the early twentieth century.
A congressman from Mindanao on Monday urged the government to enter into a labor agreement with China after finding out from Philippine labor authorities and the Chinese embassy that the two countries do not yet have a bilateral labor agreement. The time is right and circumstances are ripe for having such an agreement, Rep. Frederick Siao of Iligan City said. There is a crucial need for this because, as President Rodrigo Duterte has pointed out, there are about 300,000 Filipinos in China, said Siao, who was part of the congressional delegation that welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Mindanao last November during his state visit. Many Filipino workers in China are professionals and skilled workers. Some are in the tourism and arts sectors. Many are also undocumented migrants. Having a labor pact with China will protect them and see to their welfare, he added. The congressman said either a bilateral executive pact or a treaty could be crafted.The executive agreement would be easier to do, so we could do that first. The Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment can jointly work on this on our side and while they do, their counterparts in China can do their work as well. When working documents are ready, bilateral meetings can be held, said Siao, vice chairman of the House committee on tourism. Noting that an executive agreement takes time to develop, Siao said, we can learn from how current related agreements with China are working out. We have education, scientific, technical, and business agreements in place and underway through different exchanges and projects. These agreements can be upgraded or expanded. The mechanisms and lessons learned from the existing agreements would be inputs to the bilateral labor pact, he said.
Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan believes that the Karabakh settlement should take into consideration the interests of all three parties; namely, Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan.

I was criticised by the Armenian public and media, since the president of Azerbaijan refused to do the same. Moreover, he repeatedly uses aggressive rhetoric that has a very negative impact on my efforts to prepare people for the peace and damages the mediation efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, he said in an interview with Euractiv website.

He descried it as absolutely necessary to get Karabakh involved in the negotiations, in a process that ultimately will determine the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and ensure the security guarantees for the people who live there.

Two former presidents of Armenia were born, raised, and lived in Artsakh. Unlike them, I do not represent Artsakh, the people living there did not participate in the elections in Armenia, and therefore, I do not have the mandate to represent the population of Artsakh in a peace process.

I represent Armenia and am ready to engage in negotiations on behalf of Armenia. If Azerbaijan also states that the settlement of the conflict should include the interests of all parties involved, it would give a good opportunity to resume the negotiations based on mutual trust, he said.

Asked about Ilham Aliyevs tweet that 2019 would give a new impetus to Karabakh, Pashinyan said it is positive if by giving a new impetus President Aliyev meant recognition of the right of self-determination of people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

If not, then it is simply another bold statement.

Of course, we would like to give new content to the peace process and have already submitted our vision through the mediators to the Azerbaijani side. Peace is in the best interest of all countries of our region, and we are committed to exerting efforts to achieve a lasting and sustained peace, he added.

Pashinyan emphasized that it is important that UN welcomes the peace process.

The mediators represent influential countries that have permanent interests in our region, and we see that all three co-chairing countries are effectively cooperating with each other in the exercise of their mediation mission. All three of them are also permanent members of the UN Security Council.

We highly appreciate the statements made by the high-ranking UN officials, who keep highlighting the OSCE format of the settlement established in 1992, he said.
Story Highlights 77% of Americans say NATO should be maintained

66% say the United Nations plays a necessary role in the world

44% say the U.N. does a good job of trying to solve problems it has faced

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- President Donald Trump, who has questioned U.S. support for international organizations with his "America First" foreign policy, has been particularly skeptical of NATO, openly questioning the need for the alliance and expressing his wish to pull the U.S. out of it. A clear majority of Americans (currently 77%) continue to say the alliance should be maintained.

These latest data come from Gallup's annual World Affairs survey, conducted Feb. 1-10. The survey was conducted less than a month after media reports broke that Trump publicly questioned the relevance of NATO and repeatedly brought up potentially withdrawing the U.S. from the NATO alliance. In response, European leaders and U.S. senators have been critical of Trump's views.

The current 77% of Americans who support maintaining the NATO alliance is little changed from the 80% who said the same the last time Gallup asked the question, in 2017, when Trump began to question its relevance. The current level of support is among the highest Gallup has measured on six occasions since 1989, although the higher support mainly reflects a decline in the percentage not having an opinion rather than a decrease in opposition.

Majority support for NATO is seen across political party groups, though Republicans express the lowest level of support, at 70%. Democrats' support is highest, at 88%, while independents fall in between, at 75%. Republicans' support for NATO is not substantially lower under Trump than it has been under other presidents, since 1990. Democrats' support, however, is much higher now than during the 1980s and 1990s, but off of the 97% peak in 2017. For Democrats, this may be a partisan response to Trump's criticisms of NATO.

Fewer Americans, but Still a Majority, See the Need for the UN

Trump has also been highly critical of another international organization, the United Nations, and in a September address to the U.N. General Assembly, emphasized that he prioritizes maintaining U.S. military strength and sovereignty over expanding global cooperation. A clear majority of Americans, 66%, say the U.N. plays a necessary role in the world. This level of support is unchanged from the past two times Gallup measured this, in 2013 and 2005, but is well below the 85% reading from 1997.

Democrats (86%) are far more likely than independents (66%) and especially Republicans (49%) to believe the organization plays a necessary role in the world today.

More Americans Say the UN Doing a Good Job in 2019

While a majority of Americans say the U.N. plays a necessary role in the world, less than half believe the organization does a good job of addressing the problems the world faces. Forty-four percent now say the U.N. does a good job in trying to solve problems, up from 34% last year. Americans' views of the U.N.'s job performance have ranged from a low of 26% saying it was doing a good job in 2009 to a high of 58% in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The percentage giving positive evaluations of the U.N. had been under 40% from March 2003 until this year.

Similar to their skepticism about the necessity of global organizations, Republicans are the most negative on the U.N.'s job performance, with 28% of GOP supporters saying it does a good job. Democrats, as has traditionally been the case, are the most positive, with 62% saying the U.N. does a good job, and independents fall in between, at 43%. Opinions that the U.N. is doing a good job are up among all party groups by at least eight percentage points since last year.

Bottom Line

Trump's "America First" foreign policy has led many NATO allies to question the future of the alliance. A substantial majority of Americans remain in support of the alliance. Even among his own party, there is clear majority support for NATO, likely complicating any effort Trump might make to withdraw the U.S. from the alliance.

When it comes to the U.N., a clear majority of Americans still see the organization as necessary. Americans' belief that the U.N. is necessary has not shifted much for over a decade, but is less prevalent than in the late 1990s. The continued support for both the U.N. and NATO indicates that even in the era of America First, Americans see the value of multilateral institutions around the globe.

View complete question responses and trends.

Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works.
Story Highlights Global median approval of Chinese leadership rose to 34%

Global median approval of U.S. leadership stuck near record-low, 31%

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the image of U.S. leadership abroad continues to suffer, there are signs that China's leadership is gaining more clout. In 2018, the median approval of China's leadership across 134 countries stood at 34%, a modest increase from 31% in the previous two years.

Approval of U.S. leadership plummeted around the globe during President Donald Trump's first year in office and has yet to recover. Coupled with China's efforts to expand its global influence, some experts warn that U.S. global influence is at risk. In 2017, the U.S. and China were on nearly equal footing for the first time in the decade-long trend. And in 2018, approval of China's leadership topped the rating for the U.S.

Despite these concerns, there is no evidence that China's leadership is considered more attractive because U.S. leadership has declined. At least in the short-term, leadership approval -- a proxy for soft power, the use of economic or cultural tools to gain influence, rather than military force -- is not a zero-sum game.

Attitudes Toward Chinese Leadership in Major Regions

China, like the U.S. and other major global powers, earns its highest ratings in Africa, where the median approval of 53% is one percentage point higher than the median approval for the U.S. Within its own region, Asia, median approval of China's leadership is 34%, and in the Americas and Europe, it gets approval ratings of 30% and 28%, respectively. All these numbers are up modestly since 2017.

On a country level, approval of Chinese leadership increased by 10 percentage points or more in 14 countries between 2017 and 2018. These countries represent a mix of regions -- including some of its own neighbors such as Mongolia. But this list also included U.S. neighbor Mexico, where trade relations warmed in 2018 as the U.S. and Mexico continued to wrangle over NAFTA.

Approval ratings declined by 10+ percentage points in only four countries, including 15- and 16-point drops in Kazakhstan and Cambodia, respectively. The change in Cambodia likely has economic origins. However, for Kazakhstan , the decline in approval is likely related to China's treatment of the country's Uyghur ethnic group living in China.

China's leadership remains a great unknown to many around the world. A median of 30% worldwide report they do not know enough about Chinese leadership to rate it. In the Americas, the percentage of the population without an opinion on Chinese leadership is highest, with 36% saying they don't know enough to form an opinion about the issue.

Chinese Leadership Approval Highs and Lows

Not surprisingly given the high median level of approval for Chinese leadership in Africa, the region plays host to eight of the 10 countries with the highest levels of approval for Chinese leadership. However, China earns the highest marks in neighboring Pakistan, where 73% approve of China's leadership. Pakistanis' affinity for Chinese leadership is likely related to China's extensive economic investment in the country as well as China's traditional support of the country in its past conflicts with neighboring India.

The Ten Countries With the Highest Levels of Approval for Chinese Leadership Approval for Chinese Leadership % Pakistan 73 Guinea 64 Comoros 64 Togo 63 Congo Brazzaville 62 Niger 61 Ghana 60 Mongolia 60 Mauritius 60 Ivory Coast 60 Gallup World Poll, 2018

Again, given the low median approval for Chinese leadership in Europe, it is not surprising that seven of the 10 countries or areas where people are least likely to approve are in this region. However, Vietnam has the lowest approval rating of China's leadership, 6%. China and Vietnam have a historically troubled relationship and are currently involved in a conflict over economic development rights in the South China Sea, likely contributing to low opinions of Chinese leadership among the Vietnamese public.

Additionally, two Asian powers register particularly low levels of approval for Chinese leadership. Sixteen percent in both Japan and India approve of China's leadership. However, in India, a large percentage (43%) of the population has no opinion, while in Japan roughly a quarter, 24%, of the public had no opinion.

The Ten Countries With the Lowest Levels of Approval for Chinese Leadership Approval for Chinese Leadership % Latvia 18 Lithuania 17 Poland 17 Spain 17 Japan 16 Germany 16 India 16 Kosovo 15 Sweden 13 Vietnam 6 Gallup World Poll, 2018

Bottom Line

To complement its rise as a great economic power, the Chinese government has sought in recent years to expand its global influence in other spheres. In addition to massive investment in its military and large-scale economic projects such as One Belt One Road, this approach includes a diplomatic angle that emphasizes national sovereignty and rejects foreign meddling in the name of human rights or democracy.

After years of these efforts, the image of China's leadership is on somewhat firmer footing, while global sentiment toward U.S. leadership remains near a record low. It is currently unclear if this firmer footing will continue to give China's leadership a leg up over U.S. leadership.

For complete methodology and specific survey dates, please review Gallup's Country Data Set details.

Learn more about how the Gallup World Poll works.
23:29

Facing flak for donning military fatigues during a rally in New Delhi, Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Manoj Tiwari on Monday said it was 'not a uniform but a shirt' and wearing army colour is a matter of pride for him.





He said he has '10 shirts' like that and he goes for jogging every morning wearing a camouflage shirt.





He also asserted that soon he would take out a rally in which all participants would be wearing the uniform.





Tiwari was criticised for attending a BJP bike rally on Saturday in his North East Delhi parliamentary constituency wearing an army style camouflage shirt.





"For me, wearing army colours is a matter of pride. Whenever I am happy or I have to felicitate a brave-heart, I put it on," he told reporters on Monday.





He said what he wore was not army uniform.





"It was a shirt. I have 10 shirts like that. I go to jogging wearing it every morning. Which shop or mall does not sell such shirts."





Many social media users and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien had slammed Tiwari accusing him of seeking votes wearing army uniform.





Tiwari said he visits paramilitary and army units on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day where he is gifted caps and other such things.





Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's media advisor Nagendar Sharma said that by wearing the military uniform, Tiwari committed an offence under Section 171 of Indian Penal Code.





'Delhi BJP President & MP Manoj Tiwari has committed a clear offence under section 171 IPC by wearing military uniform. Post 2016 Pathankot attack, Army warned any civlian wearing its uniform will face action,' he tweeted on Sunday.





Tiwari said such people also questioned armed forces of the country and sided with those trying to break the country.





'Those who side with Tukde-Tukde gang, are saying that I have insulted armed forces by wearing the shirt. Such people lower the morale of our soldiers through their talks,' he said.





He affirmed his highest regard for the armed forces and added that wearing the camouflage was his way of showing solidarity with soldiers of the country. -- PTI


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In Final Report on Shurab Airbase Raid, Afghan Taliban Claims 397 Killed Among American and Afghan Troops
Health care organization honors two SIU Health Care Management program students

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Two students in Southern Illinois University Carbondales Health Care Management Program are being honored by the Mid-America Healthcare Executives Forum for the academic excellence, volunteerism, leadership and involvement in health care activities.

Mitchell Dierkes, a senior in Health Care Management (HCM) and Savanah Hopkins, an online graduate student originally from Carterville, who is pursing dual masters degrees in Health Administration (MHA) and Health Informatics (MHI), are the 2019 recipients representing the School of Allied Health.

Dierkes, who is from Marion, and Hopkins, who works for UC Health University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, Colorado, will receive their awards later this semester. Dierkes and Hopkins were chosen by the health care management program faculty.

Longstanding award honoring SIU students

This is the ninth year that Mid-America Healthcare Executives Forum has presented an undergraduate award and the second year for a graduate student award, said Sandra Collins, professor and program director. The organizations involvement in educating and developing future healthcare leaders positively impacts students lives and careers, she said.

Watching our HCM and MHA students flourish from MAHCEFs ongoing support through these awards and recognition is only surpassed by the mentorship and leadership development they provide students in both our programs, Collins said. This ranges from inviting our students and faculty to their educational conferences to facilitating our faculty in attending the American College of Health Care Executives annual conference.

Hopkins earned both SIU degrees online

Ive worked very closely with several members of the HCM faculty and staff and certainly attribute much of my academic and career success to them, Hopkins said.

Hopkins is the human resource manager at UC Health and is responsible for recruitment, selection, hiring, on-boarding policies and procedures, and employee relations. The organization has a large network of hospitals and clinics with more than 17,000 employees.

Hopkins will graduate with her MHA/MHI degree in summer 2020 and said she is honored program faculty would consider her for the award. Having such a great experience with the undergraduate online program, Hopkins said she knew she wanted to pursue the same route for her masters degree.

Hopkins credits her parents ongoing support and her employers in achieving her goals. An advocate for online learning, Hopkins said both online programs she enrolled in at SIU Carbondale were a very valuable learning experience.

Online programs were best option

Online learning requires a lot of self-discipline, time management and commitment and its certainly not for everyone, she said. However, its always been the best option for me, and if it were not for the ability to pursue my masters online, I would not be a graduate student right now.

Earning her bachelors degree in health care management in 2017 while working at Southern Illinois Healthcare, Hopkins didnt have the availability to be a traditional on-campus student. After earning her bachelors degree, Hopkins accepted a position at the UC School of Medicines Anschutz medical campus and was responsible for physician recruitment and coordinating physician credentialing.

Hopkins recounts how her goals changed from when she began the HCM program. Recruitment and talent acquisition never really crossed her mind but fell into my lap during a shortage of staff, she said. As she gains more experience as an HR professional, Hopkins said she would like to move on to something on a smaller scale.

Denver is a rapidly growing city with an increasing amount of start-up organizations that continue to make an impact on the healthcare industry, she said. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am a people person and I thrive in a tight knit, outgoing community. I see myself making a move to a small startup, with a focus on people operations, employment relations, talent acquisition, and strategic initiatives.

Dierkes will earn his bachelors degree in August

The complexity of the nations health care system and Dierkes curiosity and wanting to learn more brought him into the program. The son of Courtney and Kurt Dierkes of Marion, he has a 4.0 GPA. After graduating, he will pursue a dual masters degree in health administration and health informatics this fall at SIU Carbondale.

This program will allow me to further understand the system, serve the community, give back to others and hopefully improve and make a positive impact on our health care system, he said.

Honored and grateful for the award

Dierkes said the honor gives him a chance to reflect on the last two years and will forever connect him with the program, which he emphasized involves a lot of hard work, determination and integrity. He also credits the support, guidance and unwavering quest by program faculty to see students like himself strive for greatness.

He was a member of the C-Suite Saluki Student Research team and he recently submitted a manuscript on physician burnout for possible publication. Dierkes said a study found that one in three physicians experience burnout at any given time. In a 2015 survey of 400 physicians, 67 percent indicated they know of a physician who was likely to stop practicing medicine within the next five years because of burnout, he said.

Burnout puts a huge risk on patient safety, making this topic important as well in health care because the patient comes first, he said. Potential ways to decrease a physicians burnout include allowing a physician to have a more flexible schedule, decreasing their workloads, and helping them to establish a better work-home balance.
PRESIDENTIAL PITCH. President Rodrigo Duterte makes a pitch for this years candidates under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan campaign Sunday at the Mayor Agan Coliseum in Zamboanga City. Presidential Photo

President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday slammed the opposition senatorial slate Otso Diretso , saying they would all go straight to hell for their lack of qualification. READ: Rody bars use of public funds in poll campaign As he continued to tour the country to campaign for his chosen candidates in the May midterm elections, Duterte took time to mock the capabilities of the opposition senatorial candidates. Who will you replace them with? The Otso Diretso that will directly go to hell? the President said in his speech, drawing laughter and applause from the crowd during a campaign rally of the ruling PDP-Laban party in Zamboanga City. Just to be honest, Im not [impressed] with them. Those people did not do anything but criticize. Theyre all doubters, Duterte said. Led by Vice President Leni Robredo, the opposition Otso Diretso senatorial slate is composed of Senator Bam Aquino, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, former Quezon Rep. Erin Tanada, and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas II. Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc, former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, and election lawyer Romulo Macalintal completed the eight-man slate. READ: Makabayan bloc rooting for nine senatorial bets Duterte then hit each opposition candidate for supposedly being supporters of the communist rebels and for their supposed inexperience. Erin Tanada? Left. And theyre proud of the left. They think that its popular. Look, they even have the guts to create a ticket Otso Diretso, the President said. Macalintal is a lawyer. However, hes only a lawyer when he has the money. Duterte also belittled the Senate bid of Hilbay. Im also wondering. Who will be at par with [former Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Francis] Tolentino in terms of qualification? Go on. Name a candidate. Macalintal? Hilbay? Tanada? Go on, he said. Duterte also believed Aquino had underperformed in his duties as a lawmaker, mocking him that he only looked like his uncle, former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. Youre just a look-alike. What significant thing have you done? What have you done that is really impressive? You just oppose, you just rebuke, Duterte said. He said Roxas would not even beat former presidential top aide Christopher Bong Go in the senatorial race. Mar Roxas. Oh, God. Hes arrogant. I told him, Youre done Mar. Just be a helper. I dont know why will you make him a senator. Hes over. If during the [presidential] campaign he already showed his best, then he wont win against Bong, truly.Duterte said Roxas had done nothing despite holding various Cabinet positions in different administrations. What did he do? I ask you. You liberal, I ask you, what did he do? What did he do that left a mark in our country? he said. Roxas was Trade secretary during the Estrada administration, topped the senatorial race in 2004 under the ticket of then-president and now Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He then served as Transportation and Interior secretary under President Benigno Aquino III. He passed over everything, but hes all talk. What did he do? Give me one. Just one, Duterte said. Duterte also reminded the public not to make a mistake by voting Alejano. Alejano, he doesnt have a sense when he talks. He knows English because hes a PMAer [Philippine Military Academy graduate], he said, recalling Alejanos unsuccessful mutinies with then-Navy officer and now Senator Antonio Trillanes IV. Dont make a mistake in voting that Magdalo. Magdalo had revolted in Makati. Trillanes yelled and yelled, but when the police came, he surrendered. Duterte did not spare Diokno from his criticisms, comparing the human rights lawyer to his father, the late former Senator Jose W. Diokno. Especially this Diokno. Hes so far from his father W. Diokno, he said. Look at how he talks. Its nothing. Duterte also mentioned Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc. But he refused to comment on her, the only woman in the opposition slate. Samira is a lady. I dont want to say something against her. The rule is, if your enemy is a woman, you just shut up. Samira Ali Gutoc. So, I have nothing to say to you, maam, he said. This was the first time that the President hit out at the Otso Diretso slate months before the May midterm elections. Sought for a comment, Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said there was nothing wrong with the Presidents criticism of the opposition slate. In fact, the President was being funny again with his remarks, he said. He was just being comical. Yes, when it comes to that, hes just being funny. He criticized, but he was just being funny with the go to hell part, Panelo said in a Palace press briefing Monday. You must remember that the President has his own candidates. Under the law, he can endorse or campaign against. So, there is nothing wrong as far as Im concerned. READ: Senatorial bets kick off campaign candidates


It is a fascinating and intense year to be celebrating Women's History Month. As the US comes to terms with its new president and a White House that includes very few female employees (depending on who you ask, women make up either 23 percent or 31 percent of Trump's top aides), the topic of women in the workplace is front and center. From income disparities to awful harassment allegations (and discrimination reports) to the depressing state of parental leave, we have a long way to go before women are treated fairly in the workplace. But it's a worthy fight because, as one advocate put it, "what's good for women is good for America."

So, what are the biggest issues to tackle in this struggle for a better future? We asked 14 powerful women in a variety of industries what they believe needs to change to level the playing field for women in the workplace.

Support From Male Colleagues and Advisors

"I had many bumps in the road when starting my business. One of which was a lack of support from male advisors. They unfortunately thought that a paint and sip business would never achieve more than one location, but wow . . . did I show them. Wine & Design is now a recognized industry leader as well as one of the best franchise businesses for female entrepreneurs and millennials."

- Harriet Mills, founder and CEO of Wine & Design

Maternity Leave and Flexibility in Balancing Work and Family

"Frequently, women are not given nearly enough maternity leave to adequately bond with their newborn babies. Because this is an issue that is important to Mike and myself, we make sure that Jane provides ample maternity leave for employees. Additionally, once new mothers return to work, we try to make the transition as seamless as possible. Lots of our moms bring their babies to work and make great use of our mother's lounge, which is set up with big-screen televisions, comfy recliners, and a fully stocked shelf of diapers and wipes."

- Megan McEwan, cofounder of Jane.com

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"After just giving birth to a baby boy myself, I am grateful to be in a position to set policies at GoldieBlox that respect the needs of young mothers. Women need ample paid maternity leave (and paid paternity leave for their partners) as well as flexible options to ease back into the workplace. They also need to feel supported by their employer and co-workers that their career trajectory will not have to suffer because they made the decision to have a child."

- Debbie Sterling, founder and CEO of GoldieBlox

"One of the principles of Paradigm for Parity is that employees should be measured on what they produce, not how much time they spend in the office. This is critical for women who are often penalized if they work on a less traditional model (which may be due to family demands or when re-entering the workforce after having children). This is very dear to me since in my investment banking career, I often worked on the computer or on conference calls at home after having dinner with the family."

- Jewelle Bickford, partner at Evercore Wealth Management; co-chair of Paradigm for Parity

"The biggest issue facing women in the workplace is the building pressure that you need to choose between your career trajectory and your personal life. . . . Empowerment and equal opportunity comes when employers set up structures and systems that consider these key differences [between men and women], instead of just expecting women to figure out how to do things like a man would. This can range from tangible policies such as maternity leave policies, flexible schedules, and egg freezing benefits, to mentorship and female empowerment programs that connect women and encourage support for their choices and options. When your female employees feel supported, understood, and considered, you're not only going to get better work out of them, but you're going to see more of them in the C-suite."

- Lauren Nutt Bello, partner at Ready Set Rocket

"I think before having a baby I would have said psychology: women are too often viewed as aggressive instead of assertive, bossy/b*tchy instead of in charge. And while that hasn't changed, after having a baby I'd say a bigger issue, at least for me, is the whole problem of having it all or leaning in. Work-life balance needs to work better regardless of your genitals. But there can be even more pressure as a mom and career woman to somehow perform amazingly at all tasks."

- Michelle Niedziela, neuroscientist, scientific director at HCD Research

A Basic Level of Respect

"Sadly, I think women are still not consistently treated equally as leaders in the business world. The number of female CEOs has increased significantly in my lifetime, and more women are at the highest level of their industries. The dynamic has improved exponentially. The respect issue should be in the past. But I could list many situations when, after having introduced myself, a new potential supplier or business partner will primarily direct conversations to the men in the room, rather than me. It's amazing that there are still professionals out there who respond like that, consciously or not."

- Buffy Simoni, president of Paper Mart

"Problems arise in the workplace when women are seen by themselves or others first as women and second as team members instead of being defined by and respected in their roles as engineers, designers, scientists, marketers, and leaders. Any time a woman is told to dress better, pressured by herself or others to be polite instead of direct, or excluded from an event or opportunity offered to her peers, it chips away at her internal confidence and her external credibility. Ultimately, it chips away at the company's likelihood of success. Keeping a person's workplace identity, versus personal identity, in mind can prevent sexism in the workplace and lead a woman and her organization to achieve beyond imagination."

- Ooshma Garg, CEO of Gobble

"I think it depends on the workplace. What has become clear recently is that there are some workplaces that don't seem to have evolved much beyond 'He-Man Women-Haters Club,' where drastic action on basic gender issues are required. At most, though, it's more well-intentioned efforts that just never seem to get the job quite done. So fixing these means a greater array of actions, such as making the workplace more people-friendly, putting in place generous parental leave policies (and encouraging women and men to take them), having open and frank conversations about gender biases, and connecting women with sponsors in the company. I could go on, but for most companies today it's not 'one thing.' It's many things."

- Sallie Krawcheck, cofounder and CEO of Ellevest

Greater Confidence

"Women find it easy to advocate for someone else, but difficult to advocate for themselves and this becomes a hurdle in the workplace as it pertains to salaries, career growth, and promotions. I would love to see women learn to become their own best advocate and ultimately that is tied to confidence in the workplace. I would encourage all women to be the CEO of their own career and ask for what they deserve. It will take practice and perhaps we'll get turned down a few times, but we all need the confidence to promote ourselves."

- Hillary Kerr, cofounder of CMG

Dissecting and Dismantling Unconscious Bias

"We are happy to see many companies embracing unconscious bias training because unconscious - or implicit - bias holds back women in the workplace. Too often employers don't even realize that they are promoting or privileging one group until they look more closely at patterns over time and their own behavior. Implementing unconscious bias training and tracking metrics internally are key to achieving gender parity by 2030."

- Ellen Kullman, retired chairman and chief executive officer, DuPont; co-chair of Paradigm for Parity

"I believe the biggest hurdle facing women in the workplace today is that bias is deep and innate, and often we - men and women - don't even recognize it in ourselves. When we asked Fairygodboss users where they see inequality in their workplace, 79 percent said it was in promotion. I always think about a finding from McKinsey's Women in the Workplace research that says, 'Women are promoted based on performance. Men are based on potential.' Which means that women have to work harder, be better (and also probably look better, but that's a whole other issue) - just to keep up with men in terms of workplace advancement. No wonder we have fewer women in our leadership ranks!"

- Romy Newman, president and cofounder of Fairygodboss

More Mentorship (and "Sponsorship")

"Currently many companies focus on providing mentors for junior- and mid-level female employees. That's a good start, but to really achieve gender parity corporations need to provide sponsors. Sponsorship is when executives dig down into the corporation to identify women, advocate on their behalf and support them in the pipeline toward corporate leadership."

- Sandra Beach Lin, retired president and chief executive officer, Calisolar Inc.; co-chair of Paradigm for Parity

"A recent LinkedIn study on trends in hiring and leadership among women in the workplace found that while we are seeing significant strides in closing the leadership gap, there is still work to do, with women currently holding only 25 percent of all leadership positions globally. It's going to take commitment from all of us to close the gap and create diverse and inclusive workplaces through dedicated and robust initiatives such as mentorship programs to help create leadership paths for women." - Nicole Isaac, LinkedIn head of US public policy
Photo credit: Joey Capparella - Car and Driver

From Car and Driver

Worldwide, 750 people will have the chance to own this softtop version of the top Mercedes-AMG model.

The important difference from the GT R coupe is, of course, the possibility of open-air motoring, complete with Mercedes-Benz's Airscarf.

A plethora of AMG luxury equipment, from the AMG Performance flat-bottom steering wheel to the AMG Night cosmetic package, sets this car apart.

UPDATE 5/30/19: Pricing for the GT R roadster has been released, and as you would expect it is quite expensive. At $190,745 to start, the roadster carries a $26,850 premium over the GT R coupe. The matte-blue paint seen here is an additional $3950, while other options like the $8950 carbon-ceramic brakes and a $5300 carbon-fiber exterior trim package can push the price up even further. Fully loaded, the GT R roadster costs close to $230,000.

In the roughly six years since the Mercedes-AMG GT debuted, the maker has developed a certain cadence of introducing new GT variants: First comes the new model, generally identified by a single letter affixed to its name, followed by a roadster version within the next 18 months or so. The 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT R roadster is the latest model to arrive under that product timing strategy; its production will be limited to 750 units.



As the softtop version of the GT R coupe, Mercedes-AMG's self-professed "top model," it should come as little surprise that roadster's DNA is a near match for that of the coupe. That includes its 577-hp twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8, coil-over suspension and adjustable dampers, active rear steering, and active aerodynamics. The top is constructed of a triple layer of fabric stretched over a frame made of aluminum, magnesium, and steel.

Photo credit: Joey Capparella - Car and Driver

Although the powertrain is nearly identical to that of the GT R, we'll bring you up to speed: Rated for 577 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque across a broad plateau of 2100 to 5500 rpm, the engine mates to a seven-speed dual clutch transmission. For the record, thats 27 more horsepower than the GT C and GT C roadster versions, 62 more horsepower than the GT S and GT S roadster, and 108 more than the standard GT and GT roadster.

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To make that amount of power, the GT R and GT R roadster engines utilize unique turbochargers, a smaller boost-pressure control valve, specific engine-management software, and 2 psi of additional boost, compared with standard GT models. Additionally, the exhaust ports have been optimized and the compression ratio modified. Intake air is cooled by a separate, two-stage low-temperature water circuit; the first cooler stage is composed of two parallel coolers in the left and right wheel arches, followed by another set of intercoolers downstream. Combined with the AMG Speedshift seven-speed dual clutch transmission and electronic rear axle locker, Mercedes-AMG is calling for 3.5-second zero-to-60-mph runs and a top speed of 197 mph.

Photo credit: Joey Capparella - Car and Driver

Weighing in at approximately 30 pounds, the carbon-fiber torque tube that connects the engine to the transmission is said to be about 40 percent lighter than the unit in the standard GT models. Carbon bracing in the tunnel and carbon-fiber braces in the engine bay also contribute torsional stiffness, always a concern in convertibles. Carbon-fiber front fenders add 1.8 inches of width in front, and aluminum sidewalls add 2.2 inches of width to the rear as compared to standard GT models. Exclusive 10-spoke forged wheels fill the wells, sized 10 x 19 in front and 12 x 20 in the rear. Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires are standard, sized 275/35ZR in front and 325/30ZR at the rear.

The active aerodynamics incorporate a speed-sensitive carbon-fiber element that extends approximately 1.6 inches downward at speed to produce a venturi effect that "pulls" to the road. Mercedes-AMG claims it reduces front axle lift by approximately 88 pounds at 155 mph. The large rear wing can be manually adjusted for pitch to suit different conditions. Brakes measure 15.3 inches in diameter in front and 14.2 inches in the rear; the brake calipers are painted yellow as standard. Ceramic high-performance brakes are available.

Photo credit: Joey Capparella - Car and Driver

Standard interior touches include the new AMG Performance flat-bottom steering wheel and the AMG Night package, which brings high-gloss black shift paddles, steering-wheel spokes, and seat insert. Combined with the traditional AMG carbon-fiber and piano lacquer trim elements gives the roadster a touch of exclusivity. Nappa leather standard sport seats feature Mercedes's Airscarf warm-air vents to add comfort to top-down motoring in cooler environments. A "1 of 750" badge on the center console reminds the occupants of just how special they are.

Mercedes-AMG seems determined to leave no void in the lineup unfilled, no matter how tiny the jump. Although limited in production, the GT R roadster is sure to suit the taste of certain discriminating buyers in addition to ensuring that the GT lineup has enough iterations to go toe to toe in the showroom with its Teutonic nemesis, the Porsche 911 Carrera.

This story was originally published on March 3, 2019.

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The payments industry, which is largely dependent on consumer spending, is set to thrive on the recently reported strong consumer confidence data.

Strong Consumer Confidence

According to the Conference Board, the consumer confidence index for the month of February 2019 climbed to 131.4 from a revised 121.7 in January. The key economic indicator that measures attitude on economic prospects exceeded analysts expectations of a 124.7 reading and has rebounded after three straight months of decline.

Peoples confidence in the present situation improved from 170.2 last month to 173.5 in February, which is an 18-year high. The future expectations index also increased from 89.4 to 103.4, the largest monthly gain since 2011. Consumers optimism was largely driven by strength in the labor market.

Increase in Spending to Boost Online Payment Transactions

Such a record consumer confidence number is significant since the index has been, historically, good at predicting consumer spending over the next three to six months. The more confidence households generate, the more they are likely to spend. Notably, consumer spending accounts for roughly 70% of the U.S. economy.

Given the increased speed, ease, flexibility and popularity of the use of cards and online modes of making payments, the share of e-commerce has been increasing consistently in recent years. Often e-commerce sales include online payments via debit or credit cards, from bank accounts or even contactless methods. The proliferation of technology has led to an increase in e-commerce in the recent years, which in turn has given a boost to digital payments.

The impact and influence of digital payments are expanding rapidly, fueled by the proliferation of smart connected devices, adoption of technology that enables payments in new environments, and growth in under penetrated payment segments.

Per Statista, in 2018, online sales of physical goods amounted to $504.6 billion and are projected to surpass $735 billion in 2023. Apparel and accessories retail e-commerce in the United States is projected to generate over $138.7 billion in revenues by 2022.

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Our Picks

Since the payments industry is positioned to benefit from this promising reading on confidence level, picking stocks from the same will be a smart move.

Global Payments Inc. GPN with a Zacks Rank of 2, is a credit card processor, merchant acquirer and bank credit card issuer. The company provides payment processing, merchant and related payment services to financial and nonfinancial institutions in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico and internationally. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The company witnessed a revenue CAGR of 11% from 2008 to 2018. The top line should see further upside from a strong market position and attractive core business that continues to be driven by new deals, renewed agreements, accretive acquisitions and expansion of service offerings. The stock has risen 16% in a years time, almost the same as its industry.

Euronet Services Inc. EEFT is an industry leader in providing secure electronic financial transaction solutions. The company offers financial payment middleware, financial network gateways, outsourcing and consulting services to financial institutions and mobile operators.

The companys strong position is backed by constant expansion across the globe through strategic acquisitions, strong results of the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) and Money Transfer segments. Its revenues have been growing consistently over the past few years on the back of diversity across products and geographies.

The stock has gained a whopping 58% in a years time against its industrys decline of 13%. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and has witnessed a 0.9% upward revision in 2019 earnings estimates.

Fidelity National Information Servcies, Inc. FIS provides payment solution among a host of other services. It remains well positioned for growth backed by its attractive core business with a recurring revenue model, digitization and several ongoing strategic initiatives. Further, the company's international exposure will support revenue growth. Its strong capital position keeps the company well poised to undertake opportunistic expansion strategies.

The stock has gained 8% in a years time compared with its industrys growth of 16%. It carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and has witnessed 30% upward revision in 2019 earnings estimates over the past 30 days.

Credit Acceptance Corporation CACC with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) has been witnessing consistent revenue growth. Its top line has registered a five-year (2014-2018) CAGR of 15.5%. Growth is primarily attributable to continued rise in finance charges, which is also the main revenue component (accounting for 91.5% of total revenues in 2018). Given the increase in the demand for auto loans, finance charges are likely to continue improving, thereby supporting revenue growth.

The stock has gained 35% in a years time against the industrys decline of 10.5%. It has witnessed a 6.2% upward revision in 2019 earnings estimates over the past 30 days.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.



See Stocks Today >>



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



Credit Acceptance Corporation (CACC) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (EEFT) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Global Payments Inc. (GPN) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (FIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
In the stock game, winning means reaching a higher price. However, striking the right chord each time needs a fair amount of luck.



No matter how disciplined and systematic investors are, equity market volatility will always manage to get the better of them. While a few lucky ones rake in the moolah, others fall victim to ad hoc strategies.



One could resort to commonly used techniques to find beaten down stocks that have the potential to recover faster than others. However, even such investment choices bear the risk of disappointment. Particularly, one could fall into the value trap if the hidden weaknesses in selected stock are not identified.



So, wouldnt it be a safer strategy to look for stocks that are winners currently and have the potential to gain further?



Sounds a good idea? Here is how to execute it:



One should primarily target stocks that have recently been on a bull run. Actually, stocks seeing price strength recently have a high chance of carrying the momentum forward.



If a stock is continuously witnessing an uptrend, there must be a solid reason or else it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks that are capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.



However, recent price strength alone cannot create the magic. Therefore, you need to set other relevant parameters to create a successful investment strategy.



Heres how you should create the screen to shortlist the current as well as the potential winners.



Screening Parameters:



Percentage Change in Price (4 Weeks) greater than zero: This criterion shows that the stock has moved higher in the last four weeks.



Percentage Change Price (12 Weeks) greater than 10: This indicates that the stock has seen momentum over the last three months. This lowers the risk of choosing stocks that may have drawn attention due to the overwhelming performance of the overall market in a very short period.



Zacks Rank 1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven history of outperformance. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Average Broker Rating 1: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the stocks future performance.



Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must all be trading at a minimum of $5.



Current Price/ 52-Week High-Low Range more than 85%: This criterion filters stocks that are trading near their respective 52-week highs. It indicates that these are strong enough in terms of price.



Just these few criteria narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just ten.



Here we present five stocks out of those ten:



Radiant Logistics Inc. RLGT operates as a third-party logistics and multi-modal transportation services company primarily in the United States and Canada. The companys stock price has advanced 29.4% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 62.1% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 6.8% over the last 60 days.



Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. GLDD provides dredging services in the United States and internationally. The companys stock price has surged 24% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 170.6% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 2.2% over the last 60 days.



Clarus Corp. CLAR develops, manufactures, and distributes outdoor equipment and lifestyle products with focus on the climb, ski, mountain, and sport categories. The companys stock price has increased 12.9% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 21.1% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 1.3% over the last 60 days.



Veracyte Inc. VCYT operates as a genomic diagnostics company in the United States and internationally. The companys stock price has risen 9.3% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 30.9% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 15.8% in the last 60 days.



First BanCorp. FBP operates as a bank holding company for FirstBank Puerto Rico that provides a range of financial products and services to retail, commercial, and institutional clients. The companys stock price has advanced 9% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 19.4% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 2.8% in the last 60 days.



You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.



The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.



Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.



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.



Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.



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



First BanCorp. (FBP) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Veracyte, Inc. (VCYT) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Radiant Logistics, Inc. (RLGT) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Clarus Corporation (CLAR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Sen. Cory Booker, middle, and Rev. Jesse Jackson, right, march in downtown Selma, Ala., on Sunday, March 3, 2019.

SELMA, Ala. - Fifty-four years after the brutal beating of black civil rights protesters in Alabama catalyzed the passage of sweeping voting rights legislation, politicians and civic leaders gathered in a Selma church on Sunday morning and once again decried the state of voting rights in America.

The annual church service in Selma's Brown Chapel AME's sanctuary was as much a commemoration of the historical Bloody Sunday march as it was a clarion call for looming Democratic legislative and political battles.

"We can't indulge in a moral amnesia and forget that you honor history not just by reciting it, but by emulating it," said U.S. Sen. and Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker of New Jersey. "Let it challenge you, demand from you. We come together to honor the sacrifices today. The only way we can honor the work done before us is by recommitting ourselves to it."

More: Is voter suppression happening in Georgia? Just ask disenfranchised voters: Today's talker

Last week, Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., introduced a bill seeking to restore key provisions in the Voting Rights Act of 1965  the legislation that was sparked when hundreds of civil rights protesters attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery on March 7, 1965. The non-violent marchers were met with clubs and tear gas from white law enforcement in a brutal clash that shocked the nation.

Rep. Terri Sewell listens as the African American Gospel Choir of the University of Alabama performs at Brown Chapel in Selma, Ala., on Sunday March 3, 2019. Sunday is the 54th commemoration of the 1965 Bloody Sunday bridge crossing.

But a Supreme Court decision in 2013, Shelby County v. Holder, rendered much of the Voting Rights Act ineffective. Sewell's Voting Rights Advancement Act seeks to patch the hole the Holder decision left, where states with a documented history of discrimination were previously required to "preclear" any election law changes with the Justice Department.

Sewell, along with many others gathered in Selma on Sunday, said reestablishing preclearances would discourage forms of voter suppression cropping up across the country.

More: With no polling place in this town, Latinos still vote despite voter suppression concerns

Story continues

"Our work is not done," Sewell said. "We love to say that we stand on the shoulders of greatness, and we do. ...But we all have our work to do. I know my marching orders because I know from by whence I come," Sewell, a Selma native, said. "My marching orders are to restore the full protections of the Voting Rights Act of 1965."

Former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who was honored with the International Unity Award at the Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King Unity Breakfast Sunday, echoed Sewell's call at Brown Chapel, calling the Holder decision "absurd." Clinton said it's impossible to tackle other economic or social issues without first protecting the right to vote.

"Don't just come to Selma once a year," said Clinton. "Don't just walk across the bridge. Don't just join hands and sing. We've got to get to work. That means registering each person and persuading them that their future depends on them showing up to vote."

Thunder resounded through Brown Chapel's stained glass windows and tornado sirens trilled through Booker's keynote address. Booker, raised in the AME church, made as much of a sermon as he did a stump speech. Drawing heavily on the biblical story of Joseph, Booker spoke of Genesis 37:19, which depicts the moment Joseph's brothers, resentful of his ambitions, plot his death.

Booker drew comparisons between the scripture and Jimmie Lee Jackson, the Selma civil rights activist and church deacon who was shot to death by an Alabama state trooper while trying to defend his mother and grandfather. Jackson's death "sparked the ignition point" for the Selma to Montgomery marches, Booker said.

Senator Cory Booker arrives at Brown Chapel in Selma, Ala., on Sunday March 3, 2019. Sunday is the 54th commemoration of the 1965 Bloody Sunday bridge crossing.

"... We are called to love each other. To revive civic grace. Patriotism is love of country, and you cannot love your country unless you love your fellow country men and women. The spiritual cords that tie us together are stronger than the lines that divide us."

Despite the threat of severe weather, hundreds attended the commemorative walk over the iconic bridge.

A longtime attendee, Sheryl Threadgill-Matthews, brought with her young people from the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement. Threadgill-Matthews, of Camden, said it's important for the older generations to educate the younger, as they will have to pass the baton of the civil rights movement on.

"I want to be a model for them," she said. "We hope they will take up the mantle."

More: Alabama tornado kills at least 23, workers searching for missing people

Rain-soaked Selma felt as much a political proving ground as civic tradition, as national presidential campaigns begin a 2020 push ahead of the Democratic primaries where Deep South states like Alabama can play a major role. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., joined Booker in town, while the potential candidate and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown attended the Brown Chapel church service.

But the annual pilgrimage is meeting a different city than the Selma of decades' past. As speeches wrapped outside of the chapel, a local man, frustrated with what he believed to be a delay in the march, asked why locals had to wait on politicians to begin their local tradition. Sunday's march inched by empty storefronts: The city's population has plummeted by more than 11 percent in less than a decade, according to U.S. Census data, as industry has left the area and the city struggles to meet payroll. At $24,223, the city's median income is nearly half of Alabama's median and significantly below the U.S. median at $59,039.

"There were some people who felt understandably frustrated that everybody comes down for this march and doesn't give enough attention to the persistent poverty that is here, the gun violence that is here, the need for infrastructure investment," Booker said in an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser before the march.

"I'm somebody who doesn't want to just come down here to recognize our history," said Booker, whose maternal grandmother hailed from Dora, Alabama. "I want to come down here to make a better future for Selma, for Alabama."

Follow Melissa Brown on Twitter: @itsmelissabrown

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: After 54 years, the fight for voting rights in Selma is ongoing, organizers say
Stephen Waterson twice reversed his chair into his girlfriends young son, Alfie Lamb, on February 1 last year, it is claimed.

The son of an ex-government minister faces a retrial over the death of three-year-old Alfie Lamb, who was allegedly crushed by a car seat.

Stephen Waterson, 25, from Croydon, twice reversed his chair into his girlfriends young son on February 1 last year, it is claimed.

Alfie had been placed in the rear footwell of Watersons Audi convertible on the way back from a shopping trip to Sutton, south London, the Old Bailey had heard.

Stephen Waterson will face a re-trial over the manslaughter of Alfie Lamb after a jury failed to reach a verdict. (PA)

He collapsed by the time the car reached Croydon and he died in hospital three days later.

Last month, a jury failed to reach a verdict on whether Waterson, adopted son of Nigel Waterson, was guilty of Alfies manslaughter.

He was found guilty of intimidating a witness, having earlier admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by telling lies to police about what happened.

Alfies mother Adrian Hoare, 23, was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of child cruelty and assaulting another witness, Emilie Williams, 19.

Read more: Thousands come forward to see if they are stem cell match for young boy

Innocent man left with broken ribs after arrest

More than 1,500 turtles and tortoises found abandoned at airport

Both Hoare, from Gravesend, Kent, and Williams, of Croydon, had also admitted plotting to pervert the course of justice.

Hoare returned to the Old Bailey for a sentencing hearing before Mr Justice Kerr on Monday.

Waterson attended via video link from Belmarsh jail while his lawyer Tana Adkin QC listened in by mobile phone on loud speaker in court due to an administrative oversight.

The judge set a retrial to start on April 23 to be heard before him.

He adjourned sentencing of all the defendants until the conclusion of Watersons retrial.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
Oxygen

An Illinois man has been accused of gunning down his ex-girlfriend on Thanksgiving while she was on a date with another man. Robert Bobby J. Tarr, 48, is now facing three counts of first-degree murder in the death of his ex-girlfriend Leslie Reeveswho had taught self-defense courses in the community and was an outspoken advocate against domestic violence. Tarr is also facing one count of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Christopher J. Smith, 48, who had been on
An Airbnb host has admitted killing a guest over an unpaid bill (Picture: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

An Airbnb host in Australia has admitted killing a guest over an unpaid bill.

Jason Colton attacked Ramis Jonuzi, choking him to death when he didnt pay him what he owed him, the Victoria state Supreme Court heard.

Colton admits the manslaughter of Mr Jonuzi in 2017, but denies murder.

Colton admits manslaughter but denied murder at the Victoria state Supreme Court in Australia (Picture: Getty)

The court heard that Mr Jonuzi had been subletting a room in Melbourne from Colton, who was also a tenant in the same home.

Mr Jonuzi first rented the room for three nights on Airbnb, but agreed to stay another week for 210 dollars (112).

READ MORE

Police granted extra time to question suspected killers of school boy Yousef Makki

But when he didnt pay the rent at the end of the week, Colton threw him against a wall, choked him and punched him unconscious, prosecutor Mark Gibson told the jury.

Colton also forced Mr Jonuzi to show he had less than 10 dollars in his bank account, the court heard.

The defendant told police he had only wanted to make Mr Jonuzi pass out but prosecutors say Colton knew his actions were likely to kill or seriously injure him.

If convicted of murder, Colton faces a possible life sentence. He will face up to 20 years if the jury accepts the death was manslaughter.

In a statement released at the time, Airbnb said it was deeply saddened and outraged by what had happened, and that it had removed the listing from its site.

The trial continues.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
At least 23 people including children have died after a tornado swept through the southern US state of Alabama on Sunday.

Emergency workers were at the scene pulling bodies and the injured out of the rubble of hundreds of homes damaged by the severe weather.

"The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located," Sheriff Jay Jones told CNN. "It's the most I've seen that I can recall."

Tornado warnings were in force across Georgia and Alabama on Sunday evening.

Drones flying overhead equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late on Sunday, Mr Jones said.

An intense ground search would resume Monday morning.

Mr Jones said said the twister travelled straight down a key local artery in Beauregard and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least half a mile wide.

Several people in Lee County were taken to hospitals, some of them with very serious injuries, he added.

The National Weather Service confirmed late on Sunday that a tornado with at least an F3 rating caused the deadly destruction in Alabama.

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2pm, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham, Alabama, office of the National Weather Service.

Kay Ivey, Alabama's governor, warned residents on Twitter that more severe weather might be on the way.

She said the state was working to help families who had been impacted.

"Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today," Ms Ivey wrote.

"Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected."

The storm left more than 10,000 customers without power, the Birmingham News said, citing the utility Alabama Power.

Brian Hastings, director of the Alabama Management Agency, said: "We have historic flooding to the north and historic flooding on the Tombigbee [River], and now this storm system that just went through, and now we're getting reports of significant damage."

Story continues

President Donald Trump tweeted late on Sunday night, urging Alabama residents to take care in the wake of the disaster.

To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming, he wrote.

To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!

Additional reporting by agencies
Commission on Elections spokesman Director James Jimenez on Monday said that even if afor the May 13 midterm elections. We maintain na until there is a final conviction, there should be a presumption of innocence and therefore, hindi sya disqualifying, Jimenez said. The Comelec official said, however, that the list might be useful for law enforcement agencies, but insisted that it would not affect the status of electoral candidacies. Earlier, Department of the Interior and Local Government spokesmanpublic in time for the barangay or village elections in 2016 showed mixed results on the candidacies of those named in the narco-list. Malaya said that despite repeated warnings, some still won, while some also lost. The DILG plans to release a similar document before the May 13 elections and it has again raised concerns that it would violate the right to due process of those on the supposed narco-list. Meanwhile, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Aaron Aquino on Monday said he is. Aquino said hed rather work silently, and build up and file cases against narco-politicians, instead of coming up with a list of politicians who may be involved in the illegal drug trade. Since the very first time, I for one dont want the disclosure of the narco-list. [I would] just work silently and file necessary charges against those involved, he said in an interview. As early as November last year, Aquino had said that he was not in favor of releasing a narco-list months before the midterm elections, saying that based on his experience in the May 2018 barangay polls, the disclosure of politicians allegedly involved in the illegal drugs could only make things more chaotic. Malacanang had stood by its ground that the voters must know who they should vote, and that they should not be deprived of the information about any politicians supposedly involved in the illegal drug trade. Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections said it cannot stop the Department of the Interior and Local Government and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency from releasing the names of candidates on their list of politicians involved in illegal drugs. Call yan ng DILG at PDEA. Wala kaming problema diyan, Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas said. Siguro may basis din sila. May mandato sila, he added. Still, the Comelec official said that a candidates inclusion in the governments narco-list is not a basis for disqualification in running for an elective position. As far as Comelec is concerned, hindi naman ibig sabihin na nandoon ka sa listahan eh talagang accused ka na. Hindi naman siya ground for disqualification. In the Senate, Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Aquilino Pimentel III urged theinstead of releasing the narco-list ahead of the midterm elections. Gatchalian said the Interior Department should file appropriate charges to bar narco-politicians from joining the upcoming polls. Shaming them can only do so much. They have the money and local relationships that will ensure their victory, Gatchalian said. The best strategy is to remove them legally through the proper courts, he added. Pimentel, meanwhile, said that the Comelec cannot prevent those on the list from running for office in May because being on a list, even on a narco-list is not recognized as a legal ground for disqualifying candidates since they are all presumed innocent until proven guilty. If the government has included them in a list because the government is convinced, by evidence, of their involvement in the narco trade, then it is governments duty now to file charges against them using the evidence which made them land in the said list, he said. Senator Nancy Binay echoed Gatchalian and Pimentels stand, as she likewise urged the Interior and Justice departments to file cases against politicians in the narco-list instead of publicly naming them. She added that those in the list should be afforded their Constitutional rights.Binay also reminded the DILG and other government agencies to be careful in validating and vetting the list. Kasi kung hindi pa 100 percent sure ang involvement ay magiging kakatawanan lang ang laban na ito, she said. The reelectionist senator also warned that the list could be used to shame candidates for the May elections. Senator Franklin Drilon, for his part, said that the DILG exposes itself to an administrative complaint for abuse of authority, libel and damages for the release of such list. He also urged the DILG should file cases against these candidates. Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed support for the DILGs proposal to release the narco-list ahead of the May 13 midterm elections. But Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said releasing the list would be unfair as it is a form of negative campaigning. The PDEA said the list currently includes 83 politicians. The campaign period for senatorial candidates and party-list groups started on Feb. 12 while the one for local aspirants will kick off on March 30. Amid the controversy, Davao City Mayor and Hugpong Ng Pagbabago party head Sara Duterte-Carpio said HNP-backed candidates who are included in the list will be given a chance to explain and answer the allegation. I think that is fair doon sa mga tao na nakalista to make sure na meron silang opportunity na sumagot so we will ask them to answer kung ano yung accusation, she told reporters on the sidelines of a campaign caravan in Pasay City. (We will ask candidates that will figure in the narco-list to answer the accusation against them.) The presidential daughter said that there is actually no law that prohibits the release of a narco-list. There is no law na nagbabawal na maglabas ang PDEA ng narco-list of politicians, she said. The Philippine National Police had said that releasing such a list would depend on the Presidents decision. But Hugpong-backed senatorial aspirants former police chief Ronald Bato dela Rosa and former broadcast journalist Jiggy Manicad are in favor of releasing a vetted list to aid national security and public interest. Additional information din yun para sa mga botante just in case hindi nila alam kung sino at ano yung kanilang mga binoboto, Dela Rosa said. (It will serve as additional information to voters just in case they dont know who they are voting for.) Dela Rosa served as PNP chief and led Dutertes war on drugs and later became head of the Bureau of Corrections. Manicad, on the other hand, said the list should be verified before releasing it to guide the public properly. Its a matter of national security. Imagine niyo kung makaboto kayo ng isang drug lord. Its a matter of public interest. Dapat alam natin sino yung tamang leaders para di mapariwara ang bansa natin, he said. (People should know who the right leaders are so that our country will not suffer setbacks.)
Berat (Albania) (AFP) - On a sloped, cobblestone street in southern Albania sits a small shop, empty except for a dozen framed panels on the walls bearing photos and stories from 500 years of Jewish life.

It may be modest but this is Muslim-majority Albania's only Jewish history museum.

And the story it tells is exceptional: the Balkan state is the only Nazi-occupied territory whose Jewish population increased during World War II, thanks to the bravery of ordinary families who harboured hundreds of refugees fleeing persecution during the Holocaust.

The tiny Solomon Museum, which opened in the city of Berat last year, was a labour of love for local historian Simon Vrusho.

But his death last month at age 75 has put its future at risk, with rent only paid through to April.

Until now he had covered the museum's costs with his pension and small donations from a box by the door.

"Memories need to have their own home," Vrusho, a wiry man with warm eyes, told AFP, shortly before he died following a heart attack in February.

He spent years harvesting documents, photos and memories bearing witness to a Jewish community that first arrived in Berat in the 16th century from Spain.

At the centre of the collection are the stories of Muslim and Christian Albanians who sheltered Jews in their homes and basements during the Holocaust -- a chapter of history that has only recently become more widely known.

When Germans took control of Albania in 1943, local authorities also refused to hand over lists of Jews inside the country.

Thanks to these quiet acts of heroism, the country's Jewish population surged from several hundred before the war to more than 2,000 afterwards.

And, according to Israel's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, "almost all Jews living within Albanian borders during the German occupation... were saved, except members of a single family", who were deported and all died except for the father.

Another family was also deported and survived.

Story continues

- Code of honour -

When asked to explain this history, Albanians will say it lies in "Besa" -- a cultural code of honour to "keep the promise" at any cost.

There is also a rich history of religious tolerance in a country with a tapestry of different faiths, visible in Berat where a church and mosque face each other on the same square.

Inside the museum, Nezir Ago, a 40-year-old artist, points to a faded photo of an elderly man.

"This is my grandfather," he says, explaining that the Muslim baker took in a Jewish family of three in the early 1940s.

"He did not know them before... or have an obligation to shelter them," he adds.

The photo sits alongside several dozen others from the more than 60 families in Berat who rescued Jews, making the city a hub for refugees during the war.

A list of some 600 names of those rescued identifies the European countries they hailed from -- many from Balkan cities like Belgrade or Pristina, where Jews were brutally exterminated by Nazi-allied powers.

The Albanian families who took them in were "Christian and Muslim, rich and poor," says a caption taped to the wall.

They were "deeply, unimaginably humane" people, recalled Vrusho, an Orthodox Christian who spent years interviewing Berat elders for their stories.

- Bread, pain and joy -

Today, Albania's Jewish population is nearly nonexistent, with fewer than 100 living mostly in Tirana.

After World War II, Albania fell into the clutches of a communist dictatorship that barred religion.

When the regime collapsed in 1991, many of the remaining Jewish community left for Israel.

Marilena Langu Dojaka, 77, is one of those who stayed.

"We are not yet free of our fears," she says, of the terror that has stuck with her decades later.

She was born in Albania in 1942 after her mother fled there from then-Czechoslovakia.

They found refuge with a family in the northern town of Mat.

"When the Nazis passed through the village... our host family hid us in the mountains, in a cellar until the danger had passed," she told AFP, welling with emotion.

Clutching a framed photo of relatives her mother left behind, she says softly: "They all died in the camps."

Dojaka has kept close ties with the Albanian family who protected hers.

"They shared everything with us: bread, pain and joy."

- Recognition -

It wasn't until after the fall of communism that the stories of the role played by Albanians in protecting Jews came to light.

Today some 75 Albanians are recognised as part of the Righteous Among The Nations -- those who took great risks to save Jews during the Holocaust.

The history is a growing source of pride in Albania, where the government holds annual events on Holocaust Remembrance Day and devotes an exhibit to the history in Tirana's national museum.

But Vrusho's museum is the only standalone centre dedicated to the sweep of Jewish history in that corner of Southeastern Europe.

Since it opened in May 2018, there have been several thousand visitors from around the world.

If he had more means, Vrusho said he would have opened a museum "double the size".

Now, his widow Angjlina says she is "very worried about the museum's fate."

"It took him a lifetime," she said through tears.
Algiers (AFP) - When an Algerian businessman was ruled ineligible to stand in April's presidential election, his cousin and namesake stepped forward to take his place.

In recent weeks Rachid Nekkaz has travelled around Algeria to gather the necessary 60,000 voter signatures to join the race for the presidency, before appearing Sunday at the Constitutional Council to formally register as a candidate.

But despite renouncing his French citizenship, Nekkaz appears to have fallen foul of a law which bans candidates who have ever possessed a nationality other than Algerian.

Two hours after Nekkaz entered the Constitutional Council, another man left the building and introduced himself to the media as: "Rachid Nekkaz, candidate for the presidential (election)".

The well-known businessman was not seen leaving the building, according to an AFP photographer, but an official confirmed the man before the media really was known as Rachid Nekkaz.

"Under that name he presented himself to the Constitutional Council with his application," the official said.

It was not until Monday that the wealthy businessman announced his own candidacy had been rejected, prompting him to put forward his cousin who has the same name.

"(If) my cousin is elected, we will immediately create the post of vice president... which I will assume," following the April 18 election, he wrote on Facebook.

The plan would see Nekkaz the cousin, a mechanic by trade, resign so that the businessman could take over the presidency.

Nekkaz tried to stand in Algeria's last presidential election in 2014, but said the 62,000 signatures gathered were stolen from within the Constitutional Council.

Before renouncing his French citizenship, Nekkaz also tried his luck in France's 2007 presidential elections.

But he was only able to gain the backing of 13 people holding political office, far short of the 500 needed to stand in the race.
Amazons penchant to slash prices and stick it to its retail rivals will wreak havoc on the primary grocery store chains in America such as Kroger and Walmart. Or so says a stock market that has been trained to price in a slow death by Amazon (AMZN) at the mere whisper of the digital beast entering a particular segment.

Shares of Kroger and Walmart dropped 4.5% and 1.1%, respectively, on Friday on a report that Amazon was looking to open grocery stores throughout the country. The knee-jerk reaction of the market was not unlike when Amazon paid $13.4 billion to buy organic grocer Whole Foods in 2017. Nor was it too far removed from the hit some health care stocks received when Amazon bought mail order pharmacy PillPack in July 2018.

Investors instantly assumed the worst for U.S. grocery stores in the latest example of Amazon madness: thousands of physical Amazon grocery stores spanning every state by 2025 that would be selling $0.50 organic lemons to Prime members and $1 almond milk to those that rent five pieces of Amazons original content each month.

But that snap judgement by the market is getting absurd.

Whole Foods has been a colossal failure for Amazon. Sales continue to be under pressure despite the stores being outfitted with yellow Amazon lockers and Prime sign-up stations. Customers still view Whole Foods as Whole Paycheck. And as Yahoo Finance has reported, Amazon is now shuttering Whole Foods value focused 360 locations.

In short, dont be so fast to assume Amazon will conquer the grocery industry.

Amazon getting big into groceries wont be easy

Amazon is reportedly planning to open dozens of grocery stores (separate from Whole Foods) in several major U.S. cities. The stores are said to offer a wider array of products and lower price points compared to Whole Foods. Amazons first store of this kind is expected to open in Los Angeles by year end.

The push into mass market groceries would be quintessential Amazon.

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More grocery stores gives Amazon an important source of household data and shopping frequency, points out Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak. Success in grocery, says Nowak, brings Amazon a greater market share of trade spend budgets (think vendors like PepsiCo) that could boost the company's surging advertising business. And finally, the stores could help propel sales of Amazons high-margin private label goods and spur more Prime accounts.

An Amazon Go concept store, a physical retail store operated by Amazon in which shoppers are able to take items from shelves and exit without a checkout process, having their items automatically charged to their Amazon Prime account, San Francisco, California. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

But it would be asinine to think Amazon could run roughshod over the major grocery chains anytime soon (if at all).

For one, Amazon is up against an army of formidable store networks. Kroger, Walmart and Target almost operate a combined 10,000 stores in the United States. Walmart Sams Club and Costco weigh in with more than 1,100 membership clubs in America. Not only are their stores in some of the best locations, but they have unmatched supply chains in the fresh food business. All also continue to push deeper into online grocery delivery.

Secondarily, opening grocery stores wont be cheap for Amazon. Morgan Stanleys Nowak estimates twelve stores  at 35,000 square feet in size  would cost Amazon a whopping $100 million to build. Barring acquisition, however, we would expect any roll-out to be slow given Amazons mathematical, methodical and ROI-driven manner of investment, Nowak says.

Remember that Amazon isnt just a retailer. It needs a good bit of capital to support its leading Amazon Web Services cloud business and Jeff Bezos vision for grandeur when it comes to original movie content. Amazon further has large capital requirements for Whole Foods and initiatives to build its own fleet of delivery trucks and cargo planes.

All of these businesses have to be nurtured  its not as if Amazon can go full bore into grocery stores without harming one of its crown jewels.

Relax about Amazon

Amazon cant be a master of everything right now, or in the future. And if you keep that in mind, then several profitable investments could probably be made into companies that will stay in front of Amazon for years to come.

The latest: big grocery store chains.

Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance. Follow him on Twitter @BrianSozzi

Read more:
WASHINGTON  A federal court ruled Monday that Hoda Muthana, a woman who fled Alabama in 2014 to marry an Islamic State fighter in Syria, does not deserve special treatment as part of her quest to returnto the United States with her 18-month-old son.

The ruling means her case will not be fast-tracked, something her lawyer had requested.

The Trump administration has barred Muthana, 24, and her son from returning to the U.S., contesting her claim to U.S. citizenship in a move that, if successful, could have serious and far-reaching implications for American citizens all over the world.

Charles Swift, an attorney for the Muthana family, argued in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., that she was in a "precarious position" in Syria and needed to be returned with her son to the U.S. to avoid "dangerous conditions."

Muthana's family wanted her case to be expedited and Swift raised the prospect that she could be "recaptured" or killed by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. However, Judge Reggie Walton said there was no concrete evidence that Muthana would face "irreparable harm" if her case was not fast-tracked.

The case will now proceed at a normal pace, although Walton seemed favorable to the legal arguments made by the Muthana family's attorneys.

"The judges comments certainly foreshadow the ultimate outcome of this case," Swift told reporters after Monday's hearing. He said he was "very encouraged" the case would be resolved in Muthana's favor.

Hoda's father, Ahmed Ali Muthana  a former diplomat at the United Nations for Yemen who is a naturalized U.S. citizen  filed the lawsuit earlier this month seeking to overturn the Trump administration's determination that Muthana was never an American citizen in the first place, thus denying her right to re-enter the country.

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Muthana joined the Islamic State after telling her parents she was going to Atlanta as part of a field trip connected with her studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Instead, she withdrew from college and used her tuition reimbursement to purchase a plane ticket to Turkey. She traveled from there to Syria.

In Syria, she twice married Islamic State fighters who later died in combat. In December of last year, she fled to a refugee camp, as the Islamic State lost control of its territory in Syria and Iraq.

While in Syria, Muthana called for the death of Americans on social media and spread propaganda about the militant group. Now, she says she was brainwashed, has expressed remorse and is willing to face the U.S. justice system and serve jail time.

Swift said her renunciation of the Islamic State has put her in danger within the refugee camp. He said she has already been moved to a new camp but still faces threats.

"Within these camps are ISIS supporters" who now view her as a heretic who must be killed, the attorney said. "So she faces significant danger from them."

But the judge said there was too much speculation  about the situation in Syria and Muthana's status in the refugee camp  to justify speeding up the case.

This undated image provided by attorney Hassan Shibly shows Hoda Muthana, an Alabama woman who left home to join the Islamic State after becoming radicalized online. Muthana realized she was wrong and now wants to return to the United States, Shibly, a lawyer for her family said Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019.

The government now has about two months to respond to the underlying questions presented in the family's lawsuit, which turn on when Ahmed Ali Muthana lost his diplomatic immunity and whether his daughter is a U.S. citizen. Swift said he expects Walton will issue his ruling in a matter of months.

The Trump administration has determined Muthana, who was born in New Jersey, never qualified for U.S. citizenship because her father was a diplomat at the time of her birth. A person born in the U.S. to a foreign diplomat is not subject to U.S. law and is also not automatically a U.S. citizen at birth, according to the Immigration and Nationality Act.

But Swift, director of the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, a Texas-based group representing Ahmed Ali Muthana, says that Hoda Muthana was born after her father left diplomatic service. A family representative shared her birth certificate and an official U.N. document with USA TODAY that seems to substantiate their claim, and their attorneys say U.S. immigration authorities issued Muthana a U.S. passport based on these documents  twice.

The U.S. government now says these passports were issued in error and that it has documentation of its own that proves Muthana's father still enjoyed "diplomatic services" when his daughter was born.

"Shes a terrorist," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told USA TODAY over the weekend. "She put American soldiers lives at risk. You ask the family members, those soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines all across world, who were serving, trying to take down the threat from radical Islamic terrorism. ... Weve lost American life. And this woman, this woman chose to use her life to try and kill those people."

More: Trump: ISIS wife Hoda Muthana won't be allowed to return to United States

More: U.S. and British ISIS brides Hoda Muthana, Shamima Begum plead to go home

During Monday's hearing, Walton seemed to agree that Ahmed Ali Muthana's diplomatic status ended before his daughter was born, but that the U.S. didn't receive notification of his termination until later.

Swift said that under the State Department's argument, ex-foreign diplomats in the U.S. would be free to commit horrific crimes without fear of prosecution as long as their home countries didn't send official notification of their termination.

"The governments position is that a diplomat retains immunity until its country tells the U.S. that theyve been terminated. (So) theyre free to terminate them and then have that individual go out and commit all kinds of criminal acts  such as espionage, sabotage, murder, maiming," Swift told reporters after Monday's hearing.

"The governments position is incredibly shortsighted," he said. "And instead of protecting us from danger, it opens us to almost continuous danger."

Walton said that was a "valid argument" and suggested he shared Swift's concerns about the implications of deciding that Muthana's diplomatic status did not expire until the later date.

Swift also argued that only the courts  not the executive branch  could decide the citizenship question. The plaintiffs earlier blasted the Trump administration's decision as a "unilateral" move designed to bypass the legal process.

"Wish though they might, neither the secretary of state nor even the president of the United States have the power to determine an individuals citizenship by fiat," says Steve Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas.

The case also raises questions about some of the protections American citizens, especially immigrants who become American citizens or U.S. nationals who commit crimes or partake in potentially treasonous activity abroad, enjoy under the law: Should they be entitled to due process? Is there a higher burden to prove their citizenship?

Walton, the judge handling the case, is a George W. Bush administration appointee who has handled high-profile national security cases in the past. He presided over the trial of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. Libby was former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff.

The case mirrors that of Shamima Begum, a woman from London who joined the Islamic State in Syria four years ago at age 15. She, too, has a young son and wants to return home to Britain, but the British government is trying to stop her.

Hassan Shibly, a Florida-based legal representative for the family, said Muthana wants to return to the U.S. to take responsibility for her actions, and for the sake of her son. Muthana has said she realizes she would probably be charged with terrorism-related charges and could go to prison if she's allowed to come back.

More: Pompeo on the failed North Korea talks, Otto Warmbier and his own trip to Iowa

The Trump administration's position on Muthana's status has won plaudits among some residents of the suburban city of Hoover, Alabama, where Muthana went to high school, and where her family still lives.

"Shes not welcome in Hoover as far as Im concerned," said John Lyda, a city councilman. He said city residents were aghast at Muthana's decision to move to Syria.

"It was so against everything this community stands for," he recalled, adding: "We're in the heart of the Bible Belt. ... It's a very patriotic and nationalistic town."

Frank Brocato, Hoover's mayor, said Muthana "posed a threat to Americans."

According to social media posts compiled by the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington-based press monitoring group, Muthana said of Americans in 2015 in a now-suspended Twitter account: "Go on drive-bys and spill all of their blood, or rent a big truck and drive all over them. Veterans, Patriot, Memorial etc Day parade."

The Washington-based Pew Research Center estimates there are about 3.3 million Muslims living in the U.S., which means they make up about 1 percent of the total U.S. population. Hoover has a population of more than 84,000 people. It's about 70 percent white, 17 percent African-American and has smaller Asian and Hispanic populations. In Alabama, less than 1 percent of adults identify as Muslim, according to Pew.

Muthana graduated from Hoover High School, which billed itself as "America's high school," in 2013. Lyda said that he doesn't know Muthana's family personally.

But from what he has heard, he said Hoda seemed to excel at school and did not have problems fitting in socially. Lyda said that Hoda Muthana's remorse does not sway him, although he acknowledged the emotional pull of her circumstances.

"My heart breaks" for her parents, he said. "They're doing something that as a parent, I would do as well. I would be fighting with every ounce of my being to bring either of my children home, even if they made the decision she did."

"She made a choice, when she was 20-years-old, to join one of the worlds foremost enemies of America," he said. "The decision she made is indeed a mistake and one that she will live the consequences of for the rest of her life. Regrettably its (also) one her 18-month-old son is going to have to live with the rest of his life."

Hjelmgaard reporting from London.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hoda Muthana, who married into ISIS, won't get fast-tracked case, federal judge rules
Algiers (AFP) - Algerians on Monday dismissed President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's promise to quit early if re-elected for a fifth time in April and eyed fresh protests to push him from office.

The ailing leader, who suffered a stroke in 2013, vowed in a letter read out on state television late Sunday to organise a "national conference" that would set a date for further polls which he would not contest.

"I pledge not to be a candidate in that election which will ensure I am succeeded in undeniable conditions of serenity, freedom and transparency," the letter read.

"I listened and heard the cry from the hearts of protesters and in particular the thousands of young people who questioned me about the future of our homeland", it said.

His message -- followed by the formal submission of his candidacy for the April 18 poll by his campaign manager Abdelghani Zaalane -- failed to win hearts as new protests hit the capital and other cities.

In central Algiers, hundreds of mostly young demonstrators rallied peacefully overnight and into the early hours of Monday as a helicopter buzzed overhead and police deployed gradually across the city.

Protests were reported in several cities around the country Monday.

In third city Constantine, lawyers announced an indefinite strike and a local journalist told AFP that 1,000 people took to the streets.

In downtown Algiers, dozens of highschool students were quickly surrounded by police when they tried to protest and undergraduates at a university in the city boycotted campus.

Students at several universities told AFP they were weighing up staging a walkout and protests on Tuesday.

Residents of the capital said they were gearing up for demonstrations Friday, the main day for protests so far, as they dismissed Bouteflika's promises as an "insult".

Bouteflika "thinks we're idiots. We said no (to him). And 'we' are a people 42-million strong," said Karim, a 22-year-old unemployed man who declined to give his surname.

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Mohammed, a 69-year-old retiree, insisted he was ready to take part in his "first ever" demonstration on Friday.

"They want us to believe that he (Bouteflika) is the Messiah, a prophet, that there is no one else who can save this country," he said.

- 'Contempt' -

Bouteflika's allies tried to sell his decision to a sceptical public.

The leader "listened attentively to the Algerian people as he committed to meeting their main demand, namely to change the system", said his National Liberation Front (FLN) party.

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia's National Rally for Democracy insisted Bouteflika had made "an exhaustive response to the demands of the citizens" and hoped their would now be a return to "calm".

But newspapers channelled the widespread fury.

The Al-Watan daily said Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term showed "contempt" for the tens of thousands of Algerians who have taken to the streets since February 22 calling for him to resign.

Liberte newspaper said Bouteflika's promises to serve a shorter term were merely a "manoeuvre" to placate the people "until he takes charge again".

The head of state, who has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke nearly six years ago, has been in Switzerland since February 24 for what the presidency has described as "routine medical tests".

There were no legal requirements for him to submit his candidacy in person and it was handed in just before a midnight deadline Sunday.

Campaign manager Zaalane said Bouteflika -- who has ruled since 1999 -- had the backing of 19,700 national and local elected representatives and of 5.86 million voters.

Their signed affidavits of support were brought Sunday night to the Constitutional Council -- where presidential bids are formally lodged -- by the truckloads.

- 'Go away' -

Hours earlier students demonstrating in central Algiers chanted "Bouteflika go away" and police fired water cannon to prevent some from reaching the Constitutional Council.

Similar rallies took place in several cities across the oil-rich North African country and as far as France and Montreal in Canada.

Protesters in Algeria have been mobilised by calls on social media, as many young people struggle to find jobs in a country where half the population is under 30.

Bouteflika was the eighth candidate to be registered Sunday for the April poll.

The others included retired general Ali Ghediri -- an independent who was the first to announce he would run and has promised change, but whose popularity remains unknown.

Bouteflika's former prime minister and key rival Ali Benflis announced Sunday he would not run, describing the upcoming election as no longer relevent because it was void of real competition.

The council has until March 14 to accept or reject the presidential bids.

The foreign ministry in France -- Algeria's former colonial master -- said Monday it was "up to the Algerian people to choose their leaders and decide their future".
After going missing for nearly two days in a rugged wooded area of Northern California, two young sisters were found safe on Sunday.

Boot prints and granola bar wrappers helped a search team find the girls, ages 5 and 8, 1.4 miles south of their home on Sunday morning. Caroline and Leia Carrico were last seen Friday afternoon outside their Benbow home about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento, said Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal.

This has been unbelievable, Honsal said at a press conference. We could not have a better outcome than weve had this morning. This is an absolute miracle.

Although dehydrated and cold, the girls were in good spirits, Honsal said.



Local agencies and the National Guard had searched for the sisters for 44 hours using helicopters and tracking dogs. Medical personnel checked on the girls, the sheriff said, and officials gave them water, food and warm clothes.

Leia Carrico, 8, left, and her sister Caroline Carrico, 5, were found Sunday morning after going missing Friday afternoon. A search team found them in a forested area near their home in Benbow, a small community about 200 miles northwest of Sacramento.

Wilderness survival training the sisters learned at their 4-H club helped them survive uninjured, according to Honsal.



Some community members expressed their amazement in responses to a photo the sheriff's office posted on Facebook. The photo shows a firefighter kneeling and talking with one of the girls clad in pink boots and dirty jeans.

"Those little adventurers will sure have a story to tell!" one user commented.

"She looks like a seasoned outdoor gal she had this," another said.

Officials did not say how the girls went missing, but the sheriff's office said it will give more information later.



Before they reunited, Lt. Mike Fridley of the sheriff's office called the girls' mother with the good news, he said.

She melted on the phone, Fridley said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Absolute miracle': Missing Northern California girls found safe
It Might Not Be Too Late to Spend Your 2018 Flexible Spending Account Money

Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site.

Putting money into a flexible spending account is a smart way to reduce your taxable income. Now more companies are giving workers additional time to spend their 2018 fundsbut the deadline is coming up.

An FSA must be sponsored by an employer, so youll have one only if you have job-based health insurance. In the past, employers commonly had a use-it-or-lose-it policy requiring you to spend the money by Dec. 31.

But in a growing trend, more companies are giving workers a grace period that extends spending deadlines till March 15. Now 37 percent of companies give FSA users that mid-March deadline to spend 2018 FSA money on eligible expenses, up from 32 percent in 2017, according to the Society for Human Resource Managements annual employee benefits report (PDF).

Whether your deadline for FSA spending is Dec. 31 or March 15, you have until Mar. 31 to submit the claims for that spending.

So if your company is giving you more time and you havent spent all your FSA funds from last year, make sure to use the money soon. With an FSA, you put pretax money away to spend on qualifying medical expenses not covered by your health insurance.

That means you never pay taxes on the money from the FSA you spend for eligible healthcare costs. In 2018, you could fund up to $2,650 in an FSA. In 2019 youll be able to put away an additional $50, for a total of $2,700 pretax dollars. If youre in the 24 percent tax bracket, youll avoid $648 per year in taxes if you put away the maximum amount. You can estimate your savings with this calculator offered by WageWorks.

If you have job-based insurance, youre likely to have an FSA option. Half of all firms with 25 or more workers that offer health insurance offer it, and among companies with 200 or more employees, three-quarters provide FSAs, according to the Kaiser Family Foundations 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey.

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Heres what you should know to get the most out of your FSA.

What You Can Spend FSA Money On

People often rush at the end of the calendar year to make doctors appointments (copays are an FSA-eligible expense). Buying eyeglasses and going to the dentist in December are also common ways to use up the funds. But the list of what you can pay for (PDF) with FSA money is long, and if you have extra time to spend the funds but not enough time to get a doctors appointment, you can use the money up by simply making a trip to the drugstore. Items such as arch supports, breast pumps, and other medical devices are eligible. So are lip balm and sunscreen.

And if you have a prescription or a doctors note, there are additional items and treatments that are covered, such as acne medicine and sleep aids.

An easy way to see what qualifies is to go to FSAstore.com. Everything sold on the site is eligible for FSA dollars, and items that need a doctors approval are clearly marked.

FSA vs. HSA

Your employer may also offer a health savings account (HSA), another way to put away pretax money for future healthcare costs.

An HSA is an option only for people with a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), which have an individual deductible of at least $1,350 per year, or $2,700 for a family. A deductible is the amount you must pay before insurance begins to cover some of your healthcare bills. (Some preventive services are covered at 100 percent before the deductible.) You cant have both an HSA and an FSA with employer insurance.

But an HSA is more flexible than an FSA. Unlike an FSA, there is no deadline to spend the money in the account, and if you leave your employer, the account goes with you. You can put more in an HSA, too: up to $3,500 annually for individuals or $7,000 for families in 2019. You can contribute an additional $1,000 per year if you are 55 or older.

Employers dont have to set up HSA accounts for their employees in high-deductible plans, but about half of those that do set them up make a contribution to the account. You can also choose a different HSA if you dont like your employers option. And if you buy your own insurance and have a high-deductible plan, you can always open one on your own.





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Top pick tires for 2016

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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.
British supercar maker Aston Martin Lagonda (LSE: AML) said on Feb. 28 that its adjusted operating profit rose 18% in 2018, to 146.9 million British pounds ($195.4 million). Revenue rose 25% from the company's 2017 result, to 1.096 billion pounds ($1.46 billion), on a 26% increase in wholesale shipments driven by strong demand for the two newest Aston Martins.

The results were in line with Aston Martin's upbeat previous guidance. But the company gave cautious guidance for 2019 on concerns about the potential effects of a British exit from the European Union, and its shares fell sharply after its earnings report was released.

A red Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, a sleek high-performance supercar.

The high-performance DBS Superleggera was one of two new Aston Martin core models introduced in 2018. Image source: Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

Aston Martin Lagonda earnings: The raw numbers

Aston Martin reports its results in British pounds. As of Feb. 28, 1 British pound = about $1.33.

Metric 2018 2017 Change Revenue 1.096 billion pounds 876 million pounds 25% Vehicles shipped 6,441 5,098 26% Adjusted EBITDA 247.3 million pounds 206.5 million pounds 20% Adjusted EBITDA margin 22.6% 23.6% (1.0 ppts) Adjusted EBIT 146.9 million pounds 124.5 million pounds 18% Adjusted EBIT margin 13.4% 14.2% (0.8 ppts) EBIT 72.8 million pounds 148.8 million pounds (51%) Net income (loss) (57.1 million pounds) 76.8 million pounds 133.9 million pounds lower

Data source: Aston Martin Lagonda Holdings Ltd. "EBITDA" is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. "EBIT" is earnings before interest and tax. "Vehicles shipped" are wholesales. "Adjusted" figures exclude one-time items, in this case charges totaling 136 million pounds, all associated with the company's initial public offering in October 2018. Aston Martin had a one-time credit of 24 million pounds in 2017. "Ppts" = percentage points.

How Aston Martin fared in 2018

2018 might have been one of the most important years in Aston Martin's century-plus-long history. Aston Martin generated all-time-record revenue on a big year-over-year increase in sales, it launched two new core models, it brought two new factories closer to completion -- and it went public.

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During the company's earnings presentation, CFO Mark Wilson pointed out more good news. Sales grew year over year in all regions, driving a 20% increase in adjusted EBITDA -- and giving the historically Europe-focused company better global sales balance. In particular, sales were up 31% in China year over year despite that market's slump -- a number that showed the strength of the Aston Martin brand, Wilson said.

A bar chart showing that Aston Martin's 2018 sales in each of its four global regions were higher than in 2017.

Vehicle sales. Dark green = 2018, light green = 2017. Data source: Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. "EMEA" is Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, excluding the U.K.

Wilson also noted that return on invested capital, a new metric for the company, was 12.8% despite heavy spending on future products. Like old rival Ferrari (NYSE: RACE), Aston Martin is using high-priced limited-production special models to help boost margin and returns. (Think production runs in the neighborhood of 20 or 30, with seven-figure price tags.)

But unlike Ferrari, Aston Martin's specials aren't all high-tech wonders. On the contrary: Aston Martin's elaborate factory-restoration facility, called Aston Martin Works, has the ability to build brand-new copies of some of its historic models from the 1960s -- and it has been doing exactly that.

So why did the company's nonadjusted earnings fall sharply year over year? The answer has to do with costs related to Aston Martin's initial public offering in October. The company took 136 million pounds' worth of one-time charges related to the IPO, including a 47-million-pound charge for interest on shares that became due when they converted to publicly traded stock, and 61.2 million pounds related to long-term employee incentives granted before the company went public.

An Aston Martin DB4 GT Continuation, a newly made copy of a 4-passenger sports model from 1960.

Like rival Ferrari, Aston Martin offers high-priced limited-edition models to its most loyal customers. But while Ferraris are high-tech wonders, Aston Martin sometimes goes retro. The DB4 GT Continuation is essentially a brand-new 1960 Aston Martin for track use. Only 25 will be built. Image source: Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd.

What Aston Martin's CEO said about the year

CEO Andy Palmer noted that Aston Martin's sales in China have more than doubled over the past two years and pointed out that there's still an opportunity for significant further growth in the world's largest new-vehicle market.

While there has been some well-publicised recent softness in the Chinese economy, our new product portfolio and frankly the strengthening of both local team and our dealer network in China, has seen us absolutely buck this trend. Our local team has allowed us to homologate our cars under the new China 6 emissions regulations in December, which has meant that we didn't have to build stock in China in the same way that most of our competitors had to. Sales of luxury cars have grown 5%, to 495 billion pounds last year. Chinese consumers contributed 33% to the total global luxury spend, with the luxury car segment in China, including the SUV, seeing a record +26% year on year growth. This shows us how important China is as part of our future, particularly when we're about to launch the DBX.

(The DBX is a new Aston Martin luxury-sports SUV that is expected to launch later this year.)

Looking ahead: Aston Martin Lagonda's guidance for 2019

Aston Martin expects further growth in sales in 2019, but its adjusted EBITDA margin could be lower year over year as it ramps up to launch more new models and deals with the possibility of higher costs if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union. For the full year, it currently expects:

Wholesale shipments of 7,100 to 7,300 vehicles;

Adjusted EBITDA margin of about 24%;

Adjusted EBIT margin of about 13%;

Capital expenditures and research-and-development spending totaling between 320 million pounds and 340 million pounds.

Its medium-term targets are unchanged:

Annual wholesale shipments of about 14,000;

Adjusted EBITDA margin of greater than 30%;

Adjusted EBIT margin of greater than 20%.

More From The Motley Fool

John Rosevear has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
By Lawrence White

LONDON (Reuters) - Top Barclays executives worried that investors in the bank's 2008 emergency fundraising would go "nuts" if Qatar was given a better deal unfairly, a London court heard on Monday.

Richard Boath, one of four former Barclays bosses on trial over fraud charges, told the bank's former Middle East head Roger Jenkins that they had to be careful to ensure the legality of a plan to pay Qatar extra fees it was demanding in the form of a separate advisory agreement.

"We can't do a capital markets transaction in which we give one set of fees to one set of investors, and a different set of economics for another set of investors because if they found out they'd go nuts," Boath said he told Jenkins in a recording of a 2014 interview with Britain's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) played to the jury.

An unfairly preferential deal could also have risked trouble for the executives who planned it, Boath said he told Jenkins.

"He said well fuck that I am not taking a hit to save John and Bob's jobs," Boath reported Jenkins as replying, referring to Barclays' former chief executive John Varley and former investment banking chief Bob Diamond.

The SFO contends that Boath, Jenkins, Varley and former head of wealth management Tom Kalaris misled shareholders and other investors by not disclosing that Barclays paid an extra 322 million pounds ($424 million) to Qatar through so-called "advisory service agreements" (ASAs) at the height of the credit crisis.

All four men, the most senior to face a criminal trial over crisis-era conduct, deny wrongdoing. Qatar has not been accused of any misconduct. Diamond is not involved in the trial.

The agreements were entirely legal and authorized by the bank's internal and external lawyers, board and compliance department, Kalaris said last week in a prepared statement read out to the jury by prosecutors.

Boath likewise on Monday said in recorded statements played to jurors that, after raising concerns about the ASAs, he became comfortable that they were legal and approved by the relevant authorities within the bank.

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The prosecution alleges that concerns about the deal expressed by the defendants show they thought or knew what they were doing was wrong. Whereas the bankers say it just shows they were being careful to remain within the rules.

China Development bank and Singapore's Temasek were among the other investors in the eventual deals in 2008 that meant Barclays avoided a state bailout, unlike rivals Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The trial continues this week.

(Reporting by Lawrence White; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Andrea Shalal BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's latest restrictions on arms exports risk making Berlin a pariah in Europe's defense industry, threatening future collaboration on weapons development and its own ambitions to foster a common European defense policy. Germany's decision to unilaterally halt all shipments of military equipment to Saudi Arabia in November after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi has brought long-standing differences between Berlin and its European partners over arms controls to a tipping point. The move has put a question mark over billions of euros of military orders, including a 10 billion pound deal to sell 48 Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Riyadh, and has prompted some firms such as Airbus to strip German components from some of their products. With British defense contractor BAE Systems, the company behind the Eurofighter Typhoon, warning that the German embargo would weigh on its financial performance, London and Paris are racing to convince Berlin to lift it. The Social Democrats (SPD), junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's government, want to keep the arms freeze against Saudi Arabia in place and reach agreement on a more restrictive export policy, keen to avoid further losses among German voters who are cautious on arms sales. Merkel's conservatives, keen to smooth the rift with France and Britain, are piling pressure on the SPD by accusing them of jeopardizing German industry and jobs. But the SPD notes that the coalition parties agreed last year to halt future arms sales to any countries involved in the Yemen conflict, which includes Saudi Arabia. Paralyzed by domestic political squabbling, Berlin on Friday put off a decision about extending the embargo beyond its current March 9 deadline till the end of the month, fuelling concerns among European allies and industry. "We see no way to resolve the issue at this point," said one European industry official. "There's a complete stalemate." PARTNERSHIP WITH FRANCE Germany, which has tightened controls on arms sales in recent years, accounts for just under 2 percent of total Saudi arms imports. But its role in making components for other countries' exports means that Berlin can still derail lucrative European projects. In addition to the Eurofighter Typhoon contract, Germany's Saudi arms ban is also holding up shipments of Meteor air-to-air missiles to Saudi Arabia by MBDA, which is jointly owned by Airbus, BAE Systems and Italy's Leonardo, since the missiles' propulsion system and warheads are built in Germany. Two sources familiar with coalition discussions said the parties could agree to a partial lifting of the freeze for a number of patrol boats being built for Saudi Arabia by privately-held Luerssen, and the Meteor missiles, since neither system is being used in the Yemen war. However nothing was decided, and the Eurofighter sale was still in question. Agreements covering the Eurofighter and the Meteor missile were meant to prevent any country unilaterally halting exports but they were framed as memorandums of understanding to safeguard confidentiality, not binding formal treaties. Berlin's failure to abide by these agreements and its lack of coordination with France on the Saudi arms embargo have Paris convinced it needs a binding agreement before moving ahead on joint weapons programs with Germany valued at tens of billions of euros over the next decades. Paris and Berlin have drafted a bilateral paper spelling out that the two countries will only block each other's exports when "direct interests or national security are compromised", excluding something like the Khashoggi case. But discord within Germany's ruling coalition has stalled its completion, according to two sources familiar with the issue. It also remains unclear if the bilateral pact needs German parliamentary approval. The SPD had no immediate new comment on the issue, but party leader Andrea Nahles last month said her party would insist on agreement on tighter German export guidelines before moving forward on other issues such as Franco-German defense ties. Eric Trappier, chief executive of Rafale-maker Dassault Aviation, said last week it was watching the process closely. "It is obvious that if we are really going to launch a Franco-German fighter program, the export rules need to be defined as soon as possible," he told reporters. Dirk Hoke, head of Airbus Defence and Space, told Reuters an agreement was imperative before the two countries could move ahead on the new warplane, or sign a contract as expected by year's end for joint work on a new European drone. "This will harm Germany's partnership with France in the longer-term if no serious, long-term solutions are found," he said. The spat over arms also impedes German and French efforts to more closely integrate European defense procurement and programs, and ultimately build a European army. Exports are critical to ensuring the success of any jointly developed programs because they make them more economical. "Germany's export policies are the main reason behind France's decision to develop a successor to the Franco-German anti-tank weapon of the 1970s," said Matthias Wachter, a senior official with the BDI Federation of German Industry. "We in industry have the impression that the German government is paralyzed when it comes to military procurement and export." Asked whether Berlin's policy was isolating it in Europe, Germany government spokesman Steffen Seibert said: "We know that this issue is a topic for several of our most important allies and that a decision is required. That is why we are carrying on intensive discussions inside the German government, and will make decisions in March." "GERMAN-FREE" The issue of how to accommodate differing views on arms controls in Europe is not new. The 1972 Franco-German Debre-Schmidt accord called for consultation over arms exports, preventing one side from banning the exports of the other. But divergent public attitudes strained the compromise over time, and a spate of new projects has prompted calls for a new look. What is different this time round, is the action companies are taking to rid themselves of their German suppliers. While it would be nearly impossible to remove the German content - about a third - from the Eurofighter, Airbus has begun redesigning its C295 military transporter to replace German-built navigational lamps that account for 4 percent of the plane, company sources told Reuters last week. It is also looking for alternatives to German parts that account for about 15 percent of the content on the A330-based MRTT tanker that it has sold to 12 countries including Saudi Arabia, one of the sources said. Similar moves are underway in France, where German curbs on arms exports to other countries have already caused one smaller company, PME Nicolas Industrie, to announce dozens of layoffs. France is also developing on its own a successor to the MILAN anti-tank guided missile it built with Germany in the 1970s, and French truck maker Arquus has begun marketing a truck for export to the Middle East as "German-free", sources said. Germany's credibility and autonomy are at stake, said Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, former adviser to the German president and director of the German Marshall Fund (GMF) in Berlin. "The long-term consequence of the current export policy could be that there will no longer be a defense industry in Germany," he said. Germany's defense industry employs about 80,000 people and generated sales of about 25 billion euros in 2014, a fraction of the 1 million jobs and 370 billion euros in sales reported by the German car industry in the same year, a study commissioned by the German Economy Ministry shows. Any moves to replace German parts in weapons systems could take 2-3 years to implement, and even longer to undo, said one source involved in the issue. "Once you've switched to German-free production, it will take years to go back." The U.S. satellite industry is still feeling the brunt of strict U.S. export rules known as International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), whose implementation fueled the rise of "ITAR-free" satellite production in Europe and cost U.S. firms billions of dollars of potential orders. (Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris and Andreas Rinke and Holger Hansen in Berlin; Editing by Carmel Crimmins)
The countrys oil firms cut pump prices by as much as P0.35 per liter for kerosene and P0.10 per liter for diesel but raised the price of gasoline by P0.10 per liter effective 6am Tuesday to reflect the movement of world oil prices. Demand from China and Japan weakened. Activities of Chinese factories declined, followed by the second biggest economy in Asia, which is Japan. America has ample supply and there is also an impact from the slowdown of India activity, Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, PetroGazz Philippines and Eastern Petroleum Corp. implement the price adjustment while other oil firms are expected to follow. The oil firms implement price adjustments every Tuesday. Year-to-date adjustments now stand at P3.75 per liter for gasoline, P4.35 pe rliter for diesel and P2.70 per liter for kerosene, according to the latest monitoring report of the Department of Energy. Fuentebella, meanwhile, said the DOE will still study the proposal of the Agriculture Department to increase the biodiesel blend from two percent coco-methyl ester to 5 percent CME blend in diesel. We will listen first kung ano proposal of DA the increase ng biodiesel because at the end of the day, its full appreciation is comprehensive analysis. If we sit down together, we will look at the price and the effect on the environment at entire economy, he said. Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, for its part, is urging the DOE and the National Biofuels Board to thoroughly study the proposal of the DA, particularly its impact on the pump price of diesel. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Pinol announced that he would lobby for the increase of biofuel content in diesel from B2 to B5 to absorb oversupply in the copra industry. Gatchalian, chairman of Senate Committee on Energy said the lawmaker pointed out that is paramount for the NBB, an advisory body to the DOE, to study whether an increase to five percent blend is warranted and whether the local production of feedstock is sufficient to meet present and future demand.The DOE and NBB should weigh the impact of increasing the biofuel content from B2 to B5, especially with the recent implementation of the new round of increases in the excise tax on fuel in January. After all, the law requires the recommendation of the NBB before the DOE decides to increase the blend, Gatchalian said. Citing the study his office conducted, Gatchalian estimated that increasing the biofuel content in diesel from B2 to B5 may result in a 7.5-percent increase, equivalent to 2.86, in the pump price of biodiesel. Gatchalian pointed out that an ordinary jeepney driver, who consumes around 15 liters of diesel per day, might need to tighten his belt further since he will be expected to shell out an additional 1,286.30 per month if the blend is increased; an amount Gatchalian said could instead be used to buy a half sack of rice or additional groceries. The lawmaker recalled that during the last Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Biofuels hearing, there had been concerns of lack of feedstock, which he said prevented the DOE from mandating the increase from the current two percent blend. Data from the DOE shows that for biodiesel, the annual capacity in 2017 was 574.9 million liters but production was only at 39 percent of capacity. Gatchalian said the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee is set to conduct a hearing on DAs proposal to increase the biodiesel blend in the fuel market from 2 percent to 5 percent to cushion the falling prices of copra. I hope that we can agree on action steps in order to move the industry forward and attain the goal of energy security and environmental sustainability as envisioned by the authors of the Biofuels Act, the lawmaker said.
Theresa May visits Salisbury on 4 March. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Wire/PA Images

Theresa May will have been hoping for positive headlines after she announced a 1.6bn giveaway aimed mainly at poorer Leave-voting areas.

Many voters will welcome the UK prime ministers desire to restore jobs and pride to neglected areas of England, and her acknowledgement that deeper grievances contributed to the Brexit vote.

But the announcement was immediately shot down by the opposition and the media this morning as a bribe to gain Labour MPs support for her Brexit deal.

That was predictable and probably accurate, given the conspicuous timing and a lack of detail that suggested the announcement may have been drawn up rather quickly.

But there is a much bigger problem, at least as far as the areas themselves are concerned  the government is giving with one hand and taking with another.

READ MORE: UK borrowing drops  but have we paid the price for austerity?

An investigation released today by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism shows more than 12,000 public spaces, from community centres to playgrounds to libraries, have been sold off since 2014 alone.

Many local services across the country have been hammered by austerity for almost a decade, and some will feel it is too little, too late.

Councils will have lost almost 60% of the central government funds many rely on by 2020, with almost half set to receive no government cash at all this year.

The Local Government Association says some are now at risk of financial collapse, with many unable to maintain services, roads, public buildings and provide much-needed care for the young, old and disabled.

READ MORE: Government fears firms and public arent ready for a no-deal Brexit

And that is just the council-run side of government  with almost every other area also affected by cuts, from the legal system to welfare, public transport to emergency services.

Austerity is far from over too, despite the governments rhetoric, with an estimated 1.3bn more council cuts to come this year.

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Around 14 shops on high streets nationwide are also closing every day, adding to widespread public alarm about the future of our towns and cities.

Crucially, studies show many of the poorest northern areas have been hit twice as hard as other places by austerity, often on top of decades of industrial decline.

It is those same areas whose MPs May is now trying to win over, with the north and the midlands set to benefit most from Mays new cash. 281m has been set aside for the north-west of England, compared to just 37m for the southeast.

If the government was hoping to convince voters in such places it is truly interested in turning around their fortunes, todays announcement alone will probably fall on deaf ears.
New York (AFP) - US health authorities on Monday announced new steps to pressure 15 leading retail chains that regularly sell tobacco products to underage consumers.

The US Food and Drug Administration released a list of problem actors among US retailers that includes major gasoline chains such as Exxon and BP, big box giant Walmart, grocery chain Kroger and drugstore brand Walgreens, which was found to have sold tobacco products to underage consumers at 22 percent of 6,350 stores.

The FDA is demanding the companies explain how they will improve compliance and is putting the companies "on notice" of additional possible enforcement, FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb said in a statement.

"Ignoring the law and then paying associated fines and penalties should not simply be viewed as a cost of doing business," Gottlieb said. "The stakes are too high for our young people."

Gottlieb also requested a meeting with a top executive at Walgreens, whose shortcomings were particularly worrisome "since the company positions itself as a health-and-wellness-minded business," Gottlieb said in a letter to the pharmacy.

US health officials have expressed worry in particular over the popularity of e-cigarettes among young consumers, which they say has undermined years of progress in reducing youth smoking.

E-cigarettes can play a positive role in enabling addicted adult smokers to transition to less harmful products than conventional cigarettes but those advantages are undermined by illegal sales of vaping products to kids, Gottlieb said.

"If these trends of youth e-cigarette use persist, we'll be forced to consider regulatory steps that could constrain or even foreclose some of the opportunities for currently addicted adult smokers to have the same level of access to these products in order to protect youth," Gottlieb said.
A sizeable part of portfolio returns can be produced by dividend stocks due to their contribution to compounding returns in the long run. Historically, China Flavors and Fragrances Company Limited (HKG:3318) has paid dividends to shareholders, and these days it yields 1.3%. Should it have a place in your portfolio? Lets take a look at China Flavors and Fragrances in more detail.

See our latest analysis for China Flavors and Fragrances

5 checks you should do on a dividend stock

Whenever I am looking at a potential dividend stock investment, I always check these five metrics:

Is it paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers?

Does it consistently pay out dividends without missing a payment of significantly cutting payout?

Has it increased its dividend per share amount over the past?

Is is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings?

Based on future earnings growth, will it be able to continue to payout dividend at the current rate?

SEHK:3318 Historical Dividend Yield, March 4th 2019

How well does China Flavors and Fragrances fit our criteria?

The current trailing twelve-month payout ratio for the stock is 15%, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Furthermore, analysts have not forecasted a dividends per share for the future, which makes it hard to determine the yield shareholders should expect, and whether the current payout is sustainable, moving forward.

If you want to dive deeper into the sustainability of a certain payout ratio, you may wish to consider the cash flow of the business. A business with strong cash flow can sustain a higher divided payout ratio than a company with weak cash flow.

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, its dividend stocks and their constant income stream. The reality facing 3318 investors is that whilst it has continued to pay shareholders dividend, dividends are lower today, than they were a decade ago. Though this may not be a serious red flag, strong dividend stocks should always strive to increase its payout over time.

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Compared to its peers, China Flavors and Fragrances has a yield of 1.3%, which is on the low-side for Chemicals stocks.

Next Steps:

After digging a little deeper into China Flavors and Fragrancess yield, its easy to see why you should be cautious investing in the company just for the dividend. But if you are not exclusively a dividend investor, the stock could still be an interesting investment opportunity. Given that this is purely a dividend analysis, I urge potential investors to try and get a good understanding of the underlying business and its fundamentals before deciding on an investment. Ive put together three important aspects you should further examine:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for 3318s future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for 3318s outlook. Historical Performance: What has 3318s 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. Dividend Rockstars: Are there better dividend payers with stronger fundamentals out there? Check out 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.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Less than a month after it was signed, the Central African Republic's peace agreement was under strain on Monday after five militia groups either pulled out or rejected the make-up of the new government.

The peace pact, negotiated in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum before being signed in Bangui on February 6, bought together President Faustin-Archange Touadera and the leaders of the 14 armed groups who control most territory in the African nation.

On Monday, one of the main militia groups, the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC), led by Ali Darassa, said the peace deal was "threatened if the government does not show a clear change of attitude".

A UPC representative had been appointed Minister of Livestock in the new government.

Another group, the Democratic Front of the Central African People (FPDC) announced it was walking away in protest at the newly formed government.

The FPDC "is resolved purely and simply to withdraw from the peace process," it said in a statement sent to AFP.

The group, whose stronghold is in the northwest, protested that the new government formed on Sunday was "far from being inclusive".

In a video released on social media on Monday, Prime Minister Firmin Ngrebada said the government would "follow the arrangements" of the peace agreement and criticised militias for demanding too many posts.

"Today we have a government of 36 members, it was not possible to bring five members of each armed group into government, it would be too bloated," the premier said.

Another large militia, the Patriotic Movement for Central Africa (MPC), said it considered the accord "void." One of its founders had been given a minister's post.

Just hours after the ministerial list was unveiled on Sunday, the Popular Front for the Renaissance of the Central African Republic (FPRC), said it was leaving the government.

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The FPRC did not specify whether it planned to remain part of the peace process, but charged the authorities with "bad faith, amateurism and incompetence."

It is the eighth attempt to bring peace to the CAR, one of the world's poorest and most unstable countries, since mainly Muslim rebels ousted president Francois Bozize, a Christian, in 2013.

France, the former colonial ruler, intervened militarily under a UN mandate as fears grew of a Rwandan-style genocide.

The Seleka rebels were forced from power and in February 2016, Touadera, a former prime minister, was elected president.

- Stifled hope -

Under the peace accord's provisions, Touadera agreed to form an "inclusive" government.

But in the team unveiled on Sunday, the ministers in sensitive key posts all kept their jobs, while six of the 14 armed groups obtained no post at all.

One of those left out, the Movement of Central African Freedom Fighters for Justice (MLCJ), a small group in the north of the country, warned the authorities "to look again" at the list.

The armed groups had also demanded that the prime minister be chosen from their ranks.

But the job was handed instead to Ngrebada, Touadera's former cabinet director.

"By playing at 'Let's take the same people and start over', the president of the republic ... has stifled all hope at birth," the FPRC said.

The deal was prepared in 2017 by the African Union and has the support of Bangui's partners, notably France, along with a 12,000-strong UN stabilisation mission, MINUSCA.

But militia groups, often claiming to defend an ethnicity or religious group, still hold sway over four-fifths of the country.

Fighting, typically for control of natural resources, has left thousands dead and forced a quarter of the population of 4.5 million from their homes.

Other provisions in the peace agreement include the launch of a "Truth, Justice, Reparation and Reconciliation Commission" within 90 days and the start of joint patrols by militia members and the security forces.

The agreement does not spell out any amnesty for militia leaders -- something that had been a stumbling block in past agreements. However, the president may exercise a "discretionary right to issue pardons".
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Three Palestinians deliberately drove a car into Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank on Monday and two of the attackers were shot dead after critically injuring an officer, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the two men were shot in cold blood in "a brutal execution".

Describing the incident as a car-ramming, the military said a third Palestinian in the vehicle was wounded after the troops opened fire.

Palestinians, many of them individuals without known associations with militant groups, carried out a wave of car-rammings in the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016, but the frequency of such incidents has since decreased.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Middle East war. Palestinians seek to establish a state there and in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

In Monday's incident, the military said the soldiers were targeted after they had stopped their own vehicle on the roadside at night about 10 km (six miles) northwest of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, the military said. Israeli media reported their car had broken down.

Soldiers fired at the Palestinian car after the ramming, killing two of its occupants, a military spokeswoman said.

In addition to the Israeli officer who was seriously hurt, a soldier was slightly injured, the military said.

Later, the military said in a separate statement that just prior to the attack, Palestinians in the car had thrown firebombs at an Israeli checkpoint and that additional Molotov cocktails had been found in the vehicle.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
A group of children are suing the US government for failing to protect them against climate change, in a case which could force the authorities to rapidly decarbonise the American economy.

The unprecedented lawsuit accuses successive administrations of knowing the science of climate change but not taking enough action to protect US citizens from the damage it causes.

The case, first filed in 2015, was initially dismissed by most legal observers as hopeless, but in 2016 a federal judge, Ann Aiken, stunned the government by refusing its attempt to end the case.

Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at UCLA, said this was a major development as no court had ever previously upheld the idea the government had a duty to provide its citizens a stable and safe environment.

Thats a big stretch for a court, she told CBS News. Theres no constitutional provision that says the environment should be protected.

[But] I think that Judge Aiken actually does a very good job of saying its not radical to ask the government to protect the health, and the lives and the property of this current generation of kids.

In her ruling, Judge Aiken said: Exercising my reasoned judgment, I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to have the case thrown out, forcing the legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court, which last year rule unanimously in the favour of the 21 young plaintiffs and against the government.

The leading plaintiff, Kelsey Juliana, is now a student at the University of Oregon and said her direct experience of wildfires in Oregon showed how dangerous unchecked climate change would be.

This case is everything. This is the climate case. We have everything to lose, if we dont act on climate change right now, my generation and all the generations to come, she told CBS News, which covered the case as part of its 60 Minutes programme.

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Others in the 21-strong group of youths are much younger, including 11-year-old Levi Draheim.

He lives on a barrier island in Florida which is just one mile wide and barely above sea level. He said he fears climate change will soon force his home underwater.

I fear that I wont have a home here in the future, he told the programme.

Julia Olsen, a lawyer from the charity Our Childrens Trust which is co-ordinating the case, said her team had uncovered evidence dating all the way back to the Lyndon Johnson administration in the 1960s which showed the government knew how dangerous greenhouse gas emissions could be on the climate.

But despite every president for 50 years knowing burning fossil fuels was dangerous, the plaintiffs argue the government has failed in its duty to protect their life, liberty and happiness by not taking more drastic action to curb climate change.

Professor Carlson said if the children manage to win their case it could dramatically change the landscape in America.

Itd be massive, particularly if they won what theyre asking for, which is get the federal government out of the business of in any way subsidizing fossil fuels and get them into the business of dramatically curtailing greenhouse gases in order to protect the children who are the plaintiffs in order to create a safe climate.

That would be enormous.

The government denies this, arguing the countrys energy policy cannot be decided by a single judge in Oregon but must instead be governed by elected officials in Congress and the White House.

The case is scheduled to return to court in June for more arguments over whether a trial should go ahead.

However, some legal experts have said that even if Judge Aiken does ultimately rule in favour of the children, the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the judgement, as it has previously ruled it was not for the judiciary to decide what was an acceptable level of pollution.
Montreal (AFP) - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced strong concern Monday that China suspects a detained former Canadian diplomat of spying and stealing state secrets.

The allegations against Michael Kovrig mark a new escalation in the diplomatic row between Beijing and Ottawa stemming from Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

"We are obviously very concerned with the position that China has taken," Trudeau told reporters.

China's official news agency Xinhua had earlier reported the allegations against Kovrig and said that businessman Michael Spavor, another Canadian in Chinese detention, was one of Kovrig's main intelligence sources.

The pair were detained in December in what observers see as retaliation just days after Canada arrested Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei, at the request of the United States.

Chinese authorities had previously said the two Canadian men were under investigation on suspicion of endangering national security, and spying charges could expose them to tough prison sentences.

Trudeau reiterated that Canada considers China to have arbitrarily detained both Kovrig and Spavor.

"The safety and security of Canadians is always first order for this government, and that's why we've been engaging and standing up for the two Canadians who've been arbitrarily detained by China from the very beginning," Trudeau said.

Kovrig, who now works for the International Crisis Group think tank, had often entered China using a non-diplomatic passport and business visas and has been gathering intelligence since 2017, Xinhua said.

The new allegations come three days after Canada launched the extradition process against Meng, angering Beijing, which called the action a "severe political incident."

Meng is set to appear in court in Vancouver on Wednesday to schedule a date for her extradition hearing.

The United States wants to put her on trial on fraud charges for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks.

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- Meng files lawsuit -

Ottawa has said interrogations of Kovrig breached the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations -- allegations Beijing flatly rejected.

A group of Canadian parliamentarians had earlier complained to Chinese authorities that Kovrig and Spavor have been denied access to lawyers and remain in "completely unacceptable" detention conditions.

"China's approach is no different from the rest of the world in dealing with such cases involving national security cases," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular briefing Monday.

China will handle their case in "strict accordance with the law, guarantee the legitimate rights of Kovrig and Spavor," and arrange for consular visits, a Communist Party organ overseeing state and public security said on a news website it operates.

Meanwhile, Meng, 47, has filed suit against Canadian authorities for violating her constitutional rights when she was detained at Vancouver International Airport.

Her lawyers charge impropriety in the conditions under which Meng was interrogated for three hours by the customs officers, officially as part of a routine inspection, before being served with her arrest.

During those three hours, the customs officers searched her phones and computers as well as her luggage in violation of her rights, the lawyers said.

The US Justice Department accuses Huawei and its chief financial officer of circumventing US sanctions against Iran, but also, via two affiliates, stealing trade secrets from US telecommunications group T-Mobile.

The daughter of Huawei's founder, Meng was released on parole in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences, on a bond deposit of C$10 million ($6.6 million), wearing an electronic bracelet and handing over her passports.

The extradition procedure can take months or even years because of the many appeal possibilities.
The Philippine National Police on Monday expressed doubt over the type of questioning used in a recent survey showing that more Filipinos fear being victims of extrajudicial killings. I do not want to dispute the statistics derived by SWS [Social Weather Stations], except that there is something amiss with how the questions were framed in relation to the perception of alleged police involvement in illegal drugs and alleged EJKs, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, told reporters. After a recent survey showed that the majority of Filipinos were fearful of becoming victims of extrajudicial killings, Malacanang on Monday assured the public that the Duterte administration would never tolerate extrajudicial killings. Impunity has no place in the Duterte administration, Malacanang asserted following the survey. Albayalde was referring to the SWS survey conducted Dec. 16 to 19, 2018 showing that 78 percent of the Filipinos it polled were worried that they, or anyone they knew, would be a victim of summary killing. This figure is higher by five points from the 73 percent recorded in June 2017. I take the latest survey results on public perception to alleged extrajudicial killing with a full cup of salt. It shouldnt be surprising that 78 percent are afraid of getting killed. Who isnt afraid to die, anyway? Albayalde told reporters. Albayalde said the kind of questioning being done by SWS in relation to the publics perception on extrajudicial killings was incorrect. Responses to the question How worried are you that you or anyone you know will be a victim of extrajudicial killing or EJK? cannot be validated by respondents without keen awareness or understanding of EJK as we know it from Administrative Order 35 Series of 2012 by President [Benigno] Aquino, Albayalde said. He said the survey missed the crucial point of determining the respondents awareness of EJK before going any further, or at the very least providing a briefer to define EJK for the respondent.Nonetheless, that doesnt change the fact that a large majority continue to support the national crusade against illegal drugs and show appreciation to the improved drug situation in their own communities, Albayalde said. He asked SWS to be responsible in conducting surveys. This is a private corporation, a private agency that we have no control of. We do not know whether they are really being used by somebody or not. We really do not know. What we are asking here is that we humbly ask them to be responsible, Albayalde said. But he expressed hope that SWS would remain impartial and apolitical. Let us all be fair to the Filipino people. They deserve the truth. Lets not let our offices be used by any political party because it will be reflected in the way the people perceive the information we are releasing. We give the public the truth, Albayalde said. He said there were no proven incidents of EJKs since President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016. He said at least 50 percent of the deaths under investigation had already been solved or cleared, which meant that the suspects had been identified or arrested. He said the case folders of deaths under investigation had been submitted to the Office of the Solicitor General, which would be forwarded to the Supreme Court.
The whole state of national political discourse has risen a notch, but not from elevated content, rather from a de-escalation of the tawdriness and vituperation of discredited allegations. As the abysmal, shaming failure of the Russian-collusion fraud reveals itself in the run-up to the production of the Mueller report, the presidents accusers, without even a subliminal hint of embarrassment, regret, or belated moderation, lower their sights.

Let us recall that two years ago, all manner of groups were staging sizeable marches all over the world announcing, in Bruce Springsteens words (from Perth, Australia), the beginning of the Resistance. The New York Times Tom Friedman asserted that the Russian influence on the 2016 election was an infringement of U.S. sovereignty on the same scale as the attacks on Pearl Harbor and the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Hillary Clinton was putting the finishing touches on her book about the 2016 election, which explained that she had lost because of Donald Trumps treasonable collusion with the Russians in the Kremlins tactical interventions in the campaign, and because she was shivved three times by Jim Comey. (Never mind that two of these applications of the shiv were exonerations and another was almost certainly a whitewash of illegal conduct.)

Two years ago, the congressional Republican party was sitting on its hands, waiting to see if the president who had run against them as much as against the Democrats would be impeached. Whole conversations between the president and foreign leaders were being leaked, and personnel were coming and going from important positions in the White House in a blur of constant change magnified by the rabidly hostile media. When President Trump spoke to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) two years ago, he was received politely but tentatively, hopefulness tempered by astonishment and disbelief. At that time, Nathan Silver was predicting that Trumps chances of impeachment were 5050, and even the sober David Gergen said on CNN We are moving into impeachment country. An immense media effort was made to enhance his vulnerability by dragging his approval ratings down into the 30s. His following has been unshakeable.

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When the president returned to CPAC on Saturday, it was clear from beginning to end of his extraordinary appearance, speaking largely extempore for over two hours, that he was the head of a united Republican party and a conservative movement lined up to the last male and female combatant behind him. His leadership of the Republicans is now as unambiguous as that of Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower, an astounding feat in these uproarious circumstances, and given that he is much more of an outsider than Reagan was. (In the case of Eisenhower, the party grandees came caps-in-hand to the general and asked him to run, and Richard Nixon delivered the California delegates to provide the margin of victory in seating the Eisenhower delegates over those pledged to Senate leader Robert A. Taft in a number of contested states, in exchange for the vice presidency.)

Richard Nixon in 1972, on his way to what still stands as the greatest plurality victory in American presidential history (18 million votes in an electorate only about 60 percent the size of the present one), faced a primary challenge, and won only about 68 percent in the New Hampshire primary, though he swept everything after that. At this point, despite obscure audible ruminations in rural church basements by Maryland governor Larry Hogan and John Kasich, former governor of Ohio, not even a mouse is stirring in the Republican party, and the presidents tour de force at CPAC reinforced his position as the head of the entire country to the right of Joe Biden and Michael Bloomberg. If he is not running next year against either of those men, or possibly Amy Klobuchar or Sherrod Brown, that will be his likely percentage of votes cast next year, around 60 percent. If he is running against one of the few plausible centrists in the Democratic scrum, his margin could narrow to about 10 percent, which is still nearly 15 million votes.

As the Democrats take to the lifeboats from their foundering ship of impeachment, the unsinkables who have eschewed life vests are still declaiming on the tilting deck. Jerry Nadler is claiming the presidents 1,100 public references to the Mueller inquiry as a witch-hunt constituted obstruction of justice, and the unstoppable talking head Adam Schiff is still repeating the existence of evidence of TrumpRussian collusion (that he cant identify and no one else has seen). Their fallback position, when they finally take the order to abandon ship on Russian collusion, is to make Trumps entire career their province and try to paw through everything he ever did commercially, back to childhood lemonade stands. Of course, this will be a complete failure. The president can ignore these subpoenas and restrict compliance to specific issues, and endless trips up the court ladder could easily retard the progress of this nonsense until the public has entirely lost interest. These are not the same Nadler and Schiff of two years ago, who had thin lines of foam and saliva at the corners of their mouths as they solemnly announced that they had cornered the president.

The Trump-hating media did their best with Michael Cohen, a man who again lied to Congress last week, claimed to have flipped against Trump after Charlottesville nearly two years ago, and affirmed that there was no TrumpRussian collusion, although, while the president had never told him to pay off the stripper who was trying to blackmail Trump (Stormy Daniels), he had used a coded method of urging him to do so, which Cohen couldnt describe. We have descended from hearsay from a self-confessed liar to hear-intuition from the same majestic source, and the Democrats are so desperate they are having him back in the days immediately preceding his incarceration. We have descended from the drama of the conceivable removal of the worlds premier officeholder to the squalid fabricated evidence of a pathetic plea bargainer, ground to powder by the partisan Mueller meat-grinder.

The Democrats and their media organ monkeys have done their best to sound unctuous and morally outraged and pretend that a credible witness has produced real evidence of a high crime, and that an unadmitted response to attempted blackmail constitutes a campaign-finance violation, which is itself a constitutional high crime. But no one believes any of it, and no one cares. This clunker will take the dead-cat bounce, like all the others, including the weekly bubble of rage about the presidents son-in-law receiving a security clearance. The country is tired of it. Those who detest Trump detest him. Those who like him are no less convinced or numerous than they were. But the modest no-mans land between them is breaking in the presidents favor as he edges slowly up in the polls. There are no more plausible revelations; there is no doubt of the countrys economic performance, and the administration is clearly moving coherently and steadily in foreign policy.

In the absence of any new sensational or substantive anti-Trump argument, of anything to justify the howls of racism and misogyny of two years ago, the Resistance is doomed with their nonsense about Cohen and obstruction, and the Never Trumpers are mercifully silent. And those who merely disapprove of Trump, with sadness and nostalgia for more stylish and chivalrous times, such as Peggy Noonan, are back to the character issue. This is legitimate as a reservation about the president and a reason not to vote for him, but it wont fly as grounds for impeachment, and is not claimed to be by those who articulate it.

The country knew in 2016 that it was gambling on a garish, financially checkered New York development wheeler-dealer television reality-show star and downmarket impresario. They gambled that someone as far out of the familiar mold of the OBushintons as Trump was could be justified to try to reverse the post-Reagan slide in Americas morale, economic competitiveness, and standing in the world. By a hairs breadth, the gamble succeeded, and so far, Trump supporters are reassured. Every conceivable epithet and charge has been hurled at Trump, and there is almost nothing to any of it. Were only 20 months from the next election and the Democrats, with no show-stopper to disqualify Trump, are scrambling to the left like lemmings to mount a radical alternative to the incumbent. If one of the few Democratic moderates cant get control of the runaway bus, it will go over the cliff. If they can, it will still break down on its axles as the long-delayed inquiry into the skullduggery of the politicized Obama Justice Department and intelligence agencies oozes into the publics nostrils. The Democrats have had their long turn at mudslinging. Now professionally and discreetly, it is time to unearth the real scandal from the last election.

More from National Review
Property in the UK. Photo: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

UK estate agent Countrywide (CWD.L) has been fined as part of a crackdown on estate agents suspected of failing to report money laundering.

The company, which describes itself as Britains biggest property services firm, was forced to pay a 215,000 fine for failing to comply with rules aimed at spotting dirty money.

Her Majestys Revenue & Customs (HMRC) revealed the fine after a week of intelligence-led action against 50 estate agents across England.

Officials carried out unannounced inspections of dozens of companies suspected of failing to register under money laundering regulations.

READ MORE: Profits halved at Countrywide estate agent

35 of the estate agents were in London, as well as five in Leicester, four in South Bucks and Berkshire, three in Greater Manchester and one each in Watford, Wakefield and Wolverhampton.

The security and economic crime minister Ben Wallace said: Criminals who seek to use this country as a place to launder money should be in no doubt that they have nowhere to hide.

Estate agents are a crucial line of defence against them and thats why theyre under a legal  and moral  obligation to file a report when they spot something amiss.

He said it was wrong to see money laundering as victimless, with dirty cash often fuelling organised crime.

READ MORE: HMRC tells firms how to prepare for no-deal Brexit

HMRC issued 655 penalties related to money laundering in 2017-18 alone, recovering more than 31m in money obtained through crime.

The announcement of the fine against Countrywide marks a blow for the company, which also saw its profits halve last year amid a weaker housing market.

The company was also forced to issue shares after four profit warnings last year, and blamed its troubles on a significant restructure which had led to the loss of experienced staff.

No further details were given by the government about the reasons for Countrywides fine.

A Countrywide spokeswoman said: Countrywide has conducted a full review of its anti-money laundering controls and has taken thorough measures to strengthen the processes that support and monitor compliance throughout the business.

The action plan implemented includes investment in systems, training and additional colleagues to improve the checks undertaken and to monitor transactions, all of which reinforces our ongoing commitment to ensure full compliance with regulatory requirements. 
There is no denying that there are a lot of cryptocurrency scams. Sometimes these accusations are overblown by people who have little knowledge of the industry, but where there is smoke, there is usually fire. With regulators and lawmakers scrambling to catch up, the industry has attempted to self-police itself, but sometimes without much luck.

The Silk Road

The first attack vector for those who are anti-Bitcoin isnt necessarily a scam, but rather illegal activity. The Silk Road has become infamous in the crypto space, with founder Ross Ulbricht currently serving a life sentence without a chance of parole. The Silk Road was an online marketplace accessible through The Onion Router, an anonymous internet browser. The website was similar to eBay in some senses. There were buyers and sellers with ratings and products that could be bought. The main difference was that these products generally consisted of illegal drugs.

The Silk Road was the catalyst for Bitcoins initial rise in value. For the first time, Bitcoin was being used as a currency to purchase goods. The success of The Silk Road was quite spectacular. During this time, blockchain analysis companies had yet to be created. This meant that despite Bitcoin being pseudonymous, it was extremely difficult for the security agencies to track the buyers and sellers of the illegal goods. The Silk Road was not a scam per se, but it was the first instance of creating a culture of suspicion from the mainstream media that is still prevalent today.

Money laundering

Another cryptocurrency scam that Bitcoin initially made easier was money laundering. Again though, this has become much harder in recent years. But there are still a couple of simple tactics that criminals could use to help ease their money laundering. One is using mixing sites, which help to hide transactions on the public blockchain. Another is using privacy-based cryptocurrencies such as Monero or Zcash, which could further help hide the movement of transactions.

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Even if this stealth movement is achieved, then exchanging the cryptocurrency for fiat remains an issue. One option is to use an OTC counter. This would prove difficult though, as those that broker such a deal would usually follow KYC and AML processes. Using a less-than-reputable exchange could be a possibility as they might not have as strict regulation or follow KYC/AML procedures.

Recent news coming from Japan has shown a 1,000% rise in the use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering, although this still only makes up just 1.7% of all money laundering cases in Japan for the year 2018. Supporters of cryptocurrencies are always quick to point out that money laundering is typically still completed through the usual avenues, such as offshore banks. There are of course major corporations throughout the world who use complicated international tax laws as well to reduce their taxable income. Amazon paid no federal income tax for the year 2018.

Ponzi schemes

Some cryptocurrency scams are more blatant. These take the shape of cryptocurrency coins or tokens. Ponzi Coin (yes, that is the actual name) managed to reach highs of $0.20 despite the whole premise of the coin being a Ponzi scheme. The coin has since obviously died and the creator has left the website highlighting that it was always intended as a joke. Ponzi Coin is just one type of Ponzi scheme that has infected the cryptocurrency space. There are numerous MLM-type schemes that have proven very difficult to shut down.

Pump it and dump it

Pump and dump schemes are one of the oldest cryptocurrency scams, and they still show no signs of slowing down. They are not unique to cryptocurrency though  they were immortalised in Scorseses The Wolf Of Wall Street, which followed the life of Jordan Belfort and Stratton Oakmont. Pumping and dumping with cryptocurrencies is much easier than the extravagant heist pulled off by Belfort. This is due to lax regulation and the illiquidity of many cryptocurrencies, meaning that manipulation is much easier. Belfort has gone on to say that the cryptocurrency industry as a whole is one big scam.

A typical pump and dump chart

Conclusion

Despite the world of finance being riddled with cases of illegality, the cryptocurrency industry still has some way to go in an effort to reduce some of the scams noted above. With improving technology regarding blockchain analysis, being able to scam the authorities and other citizens is becoming harder. As much as many in the industry are adverse to regulation, until we see some in one form or another, cryptocurrency scams will continue. Whilst they can be illegal, the immorality of them is just as big of an issue. Often it is normal citizens who are the ones that suffer most from such endevours.

The post Cryptocurrency scams: The different variations of scams in the industry appeared first on Coin Rivet.
By Daniel Trotta

(Reuters) - A rapidly growing number of counties in at least four states are declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, refusing to enforce gun-control laws that they consider to be infringements on the U.S. constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Organizers of the pro-gun sanctuaries admit they took the idea from liberals who have created immigration sanctuaries across the United States where local officials defy the Trump administration's efforts to enforce tougher immigration laws.

Now local conservatives are rebelling against majority Democratic rule in the states. Elected sheriffs and county commissioners say they might allow some people deemed to be threats under "red flag" laws to keep their firearms. In states where the legal age for gun ownership is raised to 21, authorities in some jurisdictions could refuse to confiscate guns from 18- to 20-year-olds.

Democrats took control of state governments or widened leads in legislative chambers last November, then followed through on promises to enact gun control in response to an epidemic of mass shootings in public spaces, religious sites and schools.

Resistance to those laws is complicating Democratic efforts to enact gun control in Washington, Oregon, New Mexico and Illinois, even though the party holds the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature in all four states.

The sanctuary movement is exposing the rift between rural and urban America as much as the one between the Republican and Democratic parties, as small, conservative counties push back against statewide edicts passed by big-city politicians.

"If they want to have their own laws, that's fine. Don't shove them on us down here," said Dave Campbell, a member of the board of Effingham County, Illinois, about 215 miles (350 km) south of Chicago.

Backers of the sanctuary movement say they want to take it nationwide. Leaders in all four states where it has taken hold have formed a loose alliance, sometimes sharing strategies or texts of resolutions. They also say they are talking with like-minded activists in California, New York, Iowa and Idaho.

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As it grows, the rebellion is setting up a potential clash between state and local officials.

In Washington, nearly 60 percent of the voters in November approved Initiative 1639, which raises the minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle to 21, enhances background checks and increases the waiting period to buy such guns to 10 days.

The law is due to take effect in July, but sheriffs in more than half of Washington's 39 counties have pledged not to enforce it, pro-gun activists say, and five counties have passed resolutions to the same effect.

Governor Jay Inslee has firmly backed I-1639 and Attorney General Bob Ferguson has advised sheriffs "they could be held liable" if they allow a dangerous person to acquire a firearm later used to do harm.

Sheriff Bob Songer of Klickitat County, population 22,000, called Ferguson's warning a "bluff" and said he would not enforce I-1639 because he considered it unconstitutional.

"Unfortunately for the governor and the attorney general, they're not my boss. My only boss is the people that elected me to office," Songer said.

GAINING MOMENTUM

Support for Second Amendment sanctuaries has gained momentum in recent weeks, especially among county boards in New Mexico and Illinois.

Sixty-three counties or municipalities in Illinois have passed some form of a firearms sanctuary resolution and more are likely to, Campbell said.

Twenty-five of New Mexico's 33 counties have passed resolutions to support sheriffs who refuse to enforce any firearms laws that they consider unconstitutional, according to the New Mexico Sheriffs Association. In some cases hundreds of pro-gun activists have packed county commissioner meetings.

In Oregon, voters in eight counties approved Second Amendment Preservation Ordinances last November that allow sheriffs to determine which state gun laws to enforce.

Organizers in Oregon plan to put even more defiant "sanctuary ordinance" measures on county ballots in 2020 that will direct their officials to resist state gun laws.

Such sanctuary resolutions could face legal challenges but backers say they have yet to face a lawsuit, in part because the Washington initiative has yet to take effect and the Illinois and New Mexico legislation has yet to pass.

The chief counsel for a leading U.S. gun-control group questioned the legality of the sanctuary movement, saying state legislatures make laws and courts interpret them, not sheriffs.

"It should not be up to individual sheriffs or police officers deciding which laws they personally like," said Jonathan Lowy of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "This attitude shows a disrespect for the way our system of government is supposed to operate."

In New Mexico, the legislature is moving forward with a slate of gun-control bills. One would enhance background checks and another would create a red-flag law keeping guns out of the hands of people deemed dangerous by a judge.

The New Mexico Sheriffs Association is leading the resistance, saying the red-flag law would violate due process rights and was unnecessary given current statutes.

Tony Mace, sheriff of Cibola County and chairman of the statewide group, said the background check law would impose regulations on hunting buddies or competitive shooters every time they share guns, and he refuses to spend resources investigating such cases.

New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham accused the rebellious sheriffs of falsely promoting the idea that "someone is coming for their firearms," saying none of the proposed laws infringe on Second Amendment rights."It's an exhausting charade," Lujan Grisham said.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in New York; editing by Dina Kyriakidou and Grant McCool)
Generally speaking long term investing is the way to go. But unfortunately, some companies simply dont succeed. Zooming in on an example, the China Resources Medical Holdings Company Limited (HKG:1515) share price dropped 59% in the last half decade. That is extremely sub-optimal, to say the least. And we doubt long term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 44% over the last twelve months. Unhappily, the share price slid 2.1% in the last week.

View our latest analysis for China Resources Medical Holdings

To quote Buffett, Ships will sail around the world but the Flat Earth Society will flourish. There will continue to be wide discrepancies between price and value in the marketplace One way to examine how market sentiment has changed over time is to look at the interaction between a companys share price and its earnings per share (EPS).

During five years of share price growth, China Resources Medical Holdings moved from a loss to profitability. That would generally be considered a positive, so we are surprised to see the share price is down. Other metrics may better explain the share price move.

We dont think that the 1.9% is big factor in the share price, since its quite small, as dividends go. Revenue is actually up 16% over the time period. A more detailed examination of the revenue and earnings may or may not explain why the share price languishes; there could be an opportunity.

The chart below shows how revenue and earnings have changed with time, (if you click on the chart you can see the actual values).

SEHK:1515 Income Statement, March 3rd 2019

We know that China Resources Medical Holdings has improved its bottom line lately, but what does the future have in store? You can see what analysts are predicting for China Resources Medical Holdings in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

We regret to report that China Resources Medical Holdings shareholders are down 43% for the year (even including dividends). Unfortunately, thats worse than the broader market decline of 5.0%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case theres a good opportunity. Unfortunately, last years performance may indicate unresolved challenges, given that it was worse than the annualised loss of 16% over the last half decade. We realise that Buffett has said investors should buy when there is blood on the streets, but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality businesses. Most investors take the time to check the data on insider transactions. You can click here to see if insiders have been buying or selling.

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If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on HK exchanges.

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.
It is not uncommon to see companies perform well in the years after insiders buy shares. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So shareholders might well want to know whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding Limited (HKG:6083).

Do Insider Transactions Matter?

It is perfectly legal for company insiders, including board members, to buy and sell stock in a company. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. As Peter Lynch said, insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.

View our latest analysis for World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding

World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single purchase by an insider was when Compliance Officer and Executive Director Yau Luk bought HK$8.0m worth of shares at a price of HK$0.80 per share. So its clear an insider wanted to buy, even at a higher price. Its very possible they regret the purchase, but its more likely they are bullish about the company. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even above the current price.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 33.14m shares worth HK$32m. On the other hand they divested 10.06m shares, for HK$8.0m. In total, World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. They paid about HK$0.96 on average. This is nice to see since it implies that insiders might see value around current prices (around HK$0.79). You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by individuals) over the last 12 months, below. If you want to know exactly who sold, for how much, and when, simply click on the graph below!

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SEHK:6083 Recent Insider Trading, March 4th 2019

World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding is not the only stock that insiders are buying. For those who like to find winning investments this free list of growing companies with recent insider purchasing, could be just the ticket.

Insiders at World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding Have Bought Stock Recently

At World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding,over the last quarter, we have observed quite a lot more insider buying than insider selling. In total, 6 insiders bought HK$11m worth of shares in that time. But Kwong Fat Yeung sold shares worth HK$8.0m. The buying outweighs the selling, which suggests that insiders may believe the company will do well in the future.

Insider Ownership of World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding

For a common shareholder, it is worth checking how many shares are held by company insiders. A high insider ownership often makes company leadership more mindful of shareholder interests. World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding insiders own about HK$265m worth of shares (which is 69% of the company). Most shareholders would be happy to see this sort of insider ownership, since it suggests that management incentives are well aligned with other shareholders.

So What Does This Data Suggest About World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding Insiders?

It is good to see recent purchasing. We also take confidence from the longer term picture of insider transactions. Along with the high insider ownership, this analysis suggests that insiders are quite bullish about World-Link Logistics (Asia) Holding. One for the watchlist, at least! To put this in context, take a look at how a company has performed in the past. You can access this detailed graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow .

If you would prefer to check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III vowed to block the transmittal of the P3.757-trillion national budget for 2019 to the Palace if it can be proved that some congressmen made pork insertions into the version already ratified by the bicameral conference committee. Reacting to Senator Panfilo Lacsons allegations that such insertions were made, Sotto said this would be a violation of the Constitution and the legislative process. Nobody, he said, could add or subtract or otherwise change the budget approved by the bicameral conference committee and ratified by both houses of Congress. The signatures of the Senate president and the House speaker are needed in all proposed measures approved by Congress before they are sent to Malacanang for the Presidents signature. Earlier, Lacson said some congressmen made insertions into the budget even after it was ratified by both the House and the Senate. He said this is the reason the proposed budget remains in the Senate and has not yet been transmitted to Malacanang.He said these congressmen, whom he did not name, violated the Constitution and described them as shameless. We will not agree. The approved budget by the bicam should stay, Sotto said Monday. The Legislative Budget, Research and Monitoring Office [LBRMO] will kmow if that happened, and I will know what to do. Ill coordinate with Ping [Lacson] and [Senator] Loren [Legarda] on my strategy. In a text message on Monday, Lacson said he was assured by Senate finance committee chairman Legarda that she would present any changes found by the LBRMO to the other senators.
El Pollo Loco, Inc. LOCO has been banking on expansion and menu innovation to fortify its brand presence among consumers. The company has been witnessing revenue growth by launching distinguished menu offerings and providing revamped ambiance in its restaurants.

Recently, the company announced the opening of a restaurant in Concord, CA. The restaurant marks El Pollo Locos second location in Concord, and is supposed to be owned and operated by franchise partners Manuel Perales, Joseph Rubin, and Jesse Villafana at Concord Pollo Inc.

This move is in line with the companys continual efforts to foray into various markets. In the last year, El Pollo Loco launched a restaurant in Eastvale. Prior to that, it was expanding in Texas. Further, the company is expected to have opened eight company-owned and nine to 10 franchised restaurants in 2018.

A unique brand positioning and other sales-building strategies have led El Pollo Locos shares to gain 58.7% in the past year, outperforming the industrys rally of 18.6%.







Vision Design to Aid Sales & Profits

El Pollo Loco is opening all of its restaurants under the Vision Design initiative. Restaurants under this program offer authentic atmosphere inspired by Mexico that includes El Pollo Locos menu and brand identity. Those restaurants also have an open-kitchen layout to display the preparation of the signature dish.

The company believes that its vision model is going to position it better in the quick-service restaurant space. Per El Polo Loco, it is witnessing encouraging results from the implementation of this model in various company-owned and franchised restaurants. It also aims to reduce costs and drive sales through this initiative.

Bottom Line

We believe the addition of the latest restaurant will further strengthen El Pollo Locos hold in California. This will also contribute to the companys revenue growth.

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As it is, El Pollo Loco witnessed year-over-year sales growth of 7.5% in the first nine months of 2018. Moreover, the Zacks Consensus Estimate pegs revenues at $104.6 million for fourth-quarter 2018, suggesting 9.9% growth from the year-ago quarter.

Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

El Pollo Loco currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other top-ranked restaurant stocks are Starbucks SBUX, Brinker EAT and Darden DRI. While Starbucks currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Brinker and Darden carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earnings for Starbucks, Brinker and Darden for 2019 are projected to increase by 12.4%, 10% and 18.3%, respectively.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019

In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?

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By Tarmo Virki TALLINN (Reuters) - Estonia's opposition center-right Reform party pulled off a surprise win over Prime Minister Juri Ratas' governing center-left Centre party in Sunday's parliamentary elections. The results put Reform leader Kaja Kallas in the pole position to become the country's first female prime minister, although she will have to tackle difficult negotiations to form a governing coalition. Most opinion polls since late last year had put Centre in front, although recent surveys indicated a tight race, with some suggesting pro-business Reform could pull ahead. "I have to admit I prepared two speeches," Kallas said near midnight speaking to a cheering crowd of her supporters. "Now starts the real work to form the government and start to govern this country more intelligently." Reform won 28.8 percent of the vote, giving it 34 seats in the new 101-seat parliament. Centre stood at 23.1 percent and the far-right EKRE at 17.8 percent, more than doubling its vote from the previous election, said the State Electoral Office. Kallas, a 41-year-old lawyer and former European Parliament member, took over as Reform leader less than a year ago. The party's founders include her father, Siim Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister and EU commissioner. Estonia's president is due to nominate the candidate for prime minister in coming days, after which the nominee will begin negotiations to form a coalition as all parties fell well short of winning a majority. Kallas looks likely to face a difficult task in hammering out a coalition government in the parliament where all other parties have ruled out governing with the euroskeptic nationalists of EKRE. EKRE's success could lead to a coalition of Estonia's main rivals - Ratas' traditionally pro-Russian Centre and pro-Western Reform  which have not governed together since 2003. "Now it's my duty and goal to work, for our party will be in the coalition," Ratas told Reuters, while admitting defeat. While both are fiscally conservative, Centre has been seeking to make the Baltic country's tax system increasingly progressive along the lines of richer neighbors such as Finland, while Reform has championed business-friendly reforms and the flat tax that was long the hallmark of the Estonian economy. Analysts said Kallas' first option was likely a government with Fatherland and the Social Democrats - Reform's smaller partners in the coalition that ran the country from 2015 to 2017 and will have 56 seats in the new parliament - but she did not rule out a tie-up with Centre either. "We keep all the options open for a coalition," she said. Estonia enjoys strong economic growth and low unemployment, but regional differences in the country of just 1.3 million people are vast. EKRE's heartland consists of the counties farthest from the capital, Tallinn, areas where its promise to shake up politics resonated with many voters. A fiercely anti-immigrant message lifted its support during the European migration crisis in 2015 and it has held on to the gains since then. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Additional reporting by Janis Laizans; Writing by Tarmo Virki and Niklas Pollard; Editing by Susan Fenton and Peter Cooney)
A torch-lit march part-organised by the far-Right EKRE party in Tallinn last week - REUTERS

Estonia's surging far-Right is threatening to bring down the country's liberal government in elections that mark the spread of populism to the furthest corners of the EU.

The country's extremist EKRE party has more than doubled its support ahead of today's election, threatening a significant upset to the country's two main parties.

The party, which is set to increase its share of the parliament's 101 seats from 8 to 20, has previously called for an "Estxit" referendum, with recent successes mirroring the rise of right-wing populism across Europe and the US.

A torch-lit march through the capital city of Tallinn last week, part-organised by EKRE, bore a striking resemblance to the Unite the Right "Tiki torch" marches held by Trump supporters in Charlottesville in 2017. Some 10,000 Estonians are believed to have taken part.

EKRE, whose name stands for The Conservative People's Party of Estonia, is capitalising on growing anti-refugee sentiment and concerns that the tiny nation might be swallowed up into a federalised EU.

The tenure of Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas is under threat from the surging far-Right EKRE party Credit: Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

Tajo Kadajas, 65, from Estonia's second-largest city of Tartu, said he voted for EKRE over fears that the country was losing its identity.

"The EU has forced quotas on us, to attract thousands of migrants. Members of our parliament just push buttons, rubber stamping all the laws that come out of Brussels".

"I voted EKRE because they stand for the preservation of our nation, and our Estonian culture and language".

However, this anti-refugee sentiment stands at odds to official statistics. Of the 550 refugees Estonia was required to take in, it is estimated that only 206 asylum seekers ever arrived in the country and that 80 of those have already left.

EKRE's rise has followed populist Right-wing movements sweeping Europe from north-to-south, Italy Sweden. But while many parties are share sympathetic views towards Russia, EKRE takes a hard line against its neighbour.

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Nationalist sentiment in Estonia is rooted in Russian expansionism and aggression, and among EKRE's promises are to close the Russian-speaking schools that cater for 20 per cent of the country's school-age population.

The upswell in support for EKRE is sweeping away smaller parties that traditionally make up a centrist coalition.

Dr Allan Sikk of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies said "uneasy bedfellows" from across the political spectrum may need to work together in order to keep EKRE out of power.
Brussels (AFP) - Members of the centre-right European People's Party have officially requested the exclusion of Hungary's populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party from the group, a top official said Monday.

Three months from the European Parliament election, the move reflects growing sentiment in the assembly's dominant bloc that Hungary's nationalist leader goes against EU values.

Also infuriating EPP members was a campaign in Hungary targeting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, also of the EPP, who is accused of supporting illegal migration.

Budapest said on Saturday that it would put an end to the controversial campaign.

"Twelve EPP member parties from nine countries have requested the exclusion or suspension of Fidesz," party leader Joseph Daul told AFP, adding that the question will be discussed at a meeting on March 20.

"The decision rests with all EPP members and I cannot anticipate the outcome of the discussion," Daul added.

The EPP is the biggest party in the European Parliament, and comprises the main centre-right movements in Europe, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU and France's Les Republicains, which have not moved against Orban.

The EPP was obliged to launch the process once the threshold of at least seven member parties from five different countries was passed.

"We must give Fidesz the opportunity to express itself. Once again, I cannot prejudge the conduct of the debates," Daul said.

On the list opposing Orban are Belgian parties CD&V and cdH, Finland's Kokoomus, Greece's New Democracy, Lithuanian TS/LKD and Luxembourg's CSV.

Also against the leader are CDA of the Netherlands, the Portuguese parties CDS-PP and PSD, Sweden's Kristdemokraterna and Moderaterna, as well as Norway's Hoyre.

The EPP party assembly will take place on the eve of a two-day summit of EU leaders, which will be dominated by Brexit.

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Any decision to expel Orban will be fraught ahead of the elections to the European Parliament scheduled for May 23-26, in which the Hungarian populists hard stance on migration is seen by some as a vote winner.

If the Fidesz is thrown out, however, some in the EPP fear that Orban will ally with the Northern League of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

But the Hungarian government's direct attack on Juncker's Commission -- with the launch of an anti-immigrant, eurosceptic campaign -- increased the pressure on the EPP to act.

Merkel last month voiced full backing for Juncker in the widening row with Hungary's Orban.

Separately, Manfred Weber, the EPP's leading candidate to take over as head of the Commission later in the year, also took Juncker's side in the rift roiling the conservative group.
Brussels (AFP) - The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will meet Britain's negotiating team on Tuesday, an EU spokesman said, as both sides seek a breakthrough in the thorny Irish border issue.

Barnier "will meet tomorrow afternoon" with the UK attorney general Geoffrey Cox and Britain's Brexit minister Stephen Barclay, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing on Monday.

The meeting, to take place in Brussels, comes after Barnier said on Saturday that the European Union was ready to give Britain further guarantees to help push a troubled divorce deal through the British parliament.

Barnier also suggested European leaders would be amenable to a short "technical" delay in Britain's departure from the EU, scheduled for March 29, to give the British parliament time to formally ratify a final divorce deal.

The small overture to Britain has raised hopes that both sides can find a solution, including to the so-called "backstop" plan for the Irish border, a major sticking point for many MPs in British parliament.

In 2017, Britain invoked Article 50 of EU law, triggering a two-year countdown to Brexit that ends at 11pm (2300 GMT) on March 29.

The country is on course to leave without an agreement if British MPs fail to approve a divorce deal struck by British Prime Minister Theresa May that was overwhelmingly rejected in a first vote in January.

The embattled leader is now seeking changes to the pact which she hopes will be enough to get it through parliament by March 12.
A new crypto exchange for institutional investors is launching this month with an unusual approach to custody.

LGO Markets, based in New Jersey, officially launched Monday with limited functionality, allowing new users to set up and fund their accounts. However, spot trading in bitcoin will start on March 11.

According to CEO Hugo Renaudin, the company has secured 10 institutional clients already a mostly over-the-counter (OTC) trading desks, plus several hedge funds, crypto businesses and market makers. Another 56 clients are in the process of onboarding, he said.

Angry Bitcoin Fans Delete Coinbase Accounts to Protest Neutrino Acquisition

The firm will soon face stiff competition, with large financial players like Fidelity Investments and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange planning to launch institutional crypto trading platforms this year, not to mention the already-live up-and-comer SeedCX. But Renaudin said he sees plenty of potential clients out there.

aThere are roughly 400 institutional clients that are currently trading in the cryptocurrency market,a Renaudin told CoinDesk. aWe estimated this by talking to the crypto-friendly banks. Among these 400, itas mostly hedge funds, proprietary trading firms, OTC brokers, a few family offices, asset managers and purely crypto players like lending providers that consider trading bitcoin as a part of their business.a

The LGO Markets team is a mix of youthful entrepreneurs and seasoned finance professionals. Renaudin, for example, interned at BlackRock and Societe Generale before joining the blockchain startup BitSpread and then LGO. Yet the firm also recruited Bank of Americaas former director of prime brokerage sales, Camilla Churcher, to be the startups head of sales.

To finance development of the platform, LGOs French branch raised 3,600 bitcoin (roughly $32.5 million at the time) through an ICO in February 2018, when it was known as Legolas Exchange, Renaudin said.

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Hacked Exchange Cryptopia Discloses Estimate of Stolen Crypto

The ICO was conducted in compliance with French law and excluded U.S. residents, but sold tokens to 9,000 retail buyers from more than 50 countries. Eventually, the native LGO token will be used to pay trading fees at the exchange, though that wont be the case for some time after the launch.

But what may truly set this exchange apart from other institutional-focused players is that it will not hold clients funds in either bitcoin or fiat.

Threes a trade

To start trading on LGO Markets, a client will need to set up a multi-signature wallet that requires two out of three private keys to move funds.A One key is controlled by the client, the second one is held by LGO Markets and the third by a Swiss company, Altcoinomy, which will serve as a clearinghouse.

Users will also need an account with Signature Bank, which will serve as LGO Markets fiat on-ramp. To send fiat for the bitcoin they buy, they will use Signet, a blockchain-based settlement system the bank launched in December. (Signatures spokesperson said it is the banks policy not to comment on vendor or client relationships.)

To sell their bitcoin, users will need to sign a trade with their own key, then wait for LGO Markets to pass the information to the clearing firm and for the clearing firm to sign the trade with its key and settle it. Its Altcoinomy, not LGO itself, that will be responsible for moving bitcoin and fiat between the usersa accounts.

Renaudin said that if LGO moved funds itself, it would pose a aconflict of interesta and too much risk for big clients. Maintaining their own custody, on the other hand, will mean they are always in control of their funds and donat need to care if the exchange fails in any way.

As he put it:

aEven if, say, we get hacked or I die like the guy from QuadrigaCX, or the office gets burnt down, the clients still can retrieve their funds, because with their own keys and the keys of the clearing firm they can move their funds and go back to their normal life.a

To bolster its credibility with institutional investors, LGO will be audited by PwC a a Big Four auditor that has recently been actively involved with the crypto space and this year announcedA it will audit the Tezos Foundation. (PwC declined to comment on the LGO relationship.)

Semi-decentralized

LGOas model combines elements of centralized and decentralized exchanges (DEXs).

Like on a DEX, clients will store their funds independently, but the order book will run on a central server and the trades will be settled by the clearing firm. At the same time, all orders, once signed by Altcoinomy, will get broadcast to the bitcoin network and recorded on the blockchain, timestamped and visible to everyone. This will eliminate the risk of LGO front-running its own clients, Renaudin says.

Renaudin emphasized that execution, clearing and settlement at LGO will be done separately a the way it is done with traditional securities trading. While someA think the old-fashioned way is too cumbersome and should be streamlined with blockchain technology, Renaudin maintained that mimicking the traditional markets will give institutional clients the level of security they need to trust crypto trading.

aIf youare a large hedge fund or asset manager and you want to trade on Coinbase, you cannot apply the same control as you would use with the traditional trading. And we allow them to apply the same processes as to any other asset class,a he said.

Another advantage compared to existing crypto exchanges, Renaudin said, is that, as only institutional investors will be trading at LGO Markets, big orders wonat move the price as dramatically because all trades will be big. aYou want to have a large trade but you donat want the price to slip because you donat have enough liquidity,a he said.

However, LGO plans to launch a separate trading service for retail investors in the second half of the year, Renaudin said. (The exchange has applied for a New York BitLicense, a FINRA broker-dealer license and a National Futures Association introducing broker license.)

Further, he said he sees this bifurcation of the markets as temporary, concluding:

The promise of the blockchain technology applied to financial markets is a perfectly scalable market infrastructure and direct market access for every participant.  So it makes sense in the short term to create a platform for Fidelity and a platform for John Smith, and potentially join them together in the long term a not just for cryptocurrencies but for any kind of tokenized asset.

Hugo Renaudin image via Anna Baydakova for CoinDesk

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WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to say if he believes that Kim Jong Un did not know about Otto Warmbier's mistreatment while the American college student was imprisoned in North Korea, as President Trump has asserted.

Pompeo also rejected the idea that President Donald Trumps summit with the North Korean dictator had resulted in stalemate and said the Trump administration would not resume joint military exercises with South Korea. The North Koreans would see restarting those war games as a provocation, but some U.S. experts say they are vital to preserving American military readiness.

Pompeo made the remarks in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY, in which he highlighted a series of domestic trips he is taking to pivotal states  starting Sunday with Iowa, which hosts the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses, and then to Kansas, where Pompeo is under pressure from GOP leaders to run for U.S. Senate.

The secretary of state insisted his domestic travel itinerary, which will also include a stop in Houston, was not political or in any way intended to help bolster Trumps 2020 re-election campaign.

Thats a ridiculous statement, Pompeo said.

Incumbent presidents often deploy their Cabinet secretaries to swing states as they crank up their re-election bids, dispatching those high-profile surrogates to tout popular policies at official events that also have political side benefits.

In Iowa, Trumps trade policies  specifically his tit-for-tat tariff war with China  have inflicted serious financial pain on farmers. That economic squeeze could sway critical votes in Iowa and other farm states if Trump does not reach a new trade agreement with China soon.

"Iowa sells about 80 percent of its soybeans to China, but China has cut that off" because of Trump's tariffs, said Nicholas Grossman, an international relations professor at the University of Illinois. "So thats hitting Iowa farmers pretty hard."

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Grossman said Pompeo's trip will allow a top Trump emissary to calm farmers' fears, while also taking attention away from the parade of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls who have been crisscrossing the state.

Pompeo said his "mission" in Iowa is to talk to the states agriculture leaders about Trumps efforts to eliminate trade barriers that restrict American farmers from selling their commodities in China, a huge and growing market.

This administration is determined to knock those down, so that farmers in Kansas, and in places like Iowa where I'll be traveling, will be able to pass on the tradition of farming ... not only to their children but to their grandchildren as well, Pompeo said.

In Texas, Pompeo said, he will talk to American energy companies about the potential of foreign investment in countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines.

I also have an even more sinister goal, which is I want to stop hiring just people from New York and Boston and Washington, D.C., the secretary said. I want to take the message that being an American diplomat is a truly proud profession and that we need a really diverse workforce and that includes people from the heartland, people who grew up with the values that I know so well from my time in Kansas.

The nations top diplomat said that in addition to meeting with Iowa's agriculture leaders and GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, he would also be speaking with young farmers and high school students. I want to introduce them to the idea of public service and working as an American diplomat, he said.

But Pompeos trip will undoubtedly fuel speculation about his own political future. The former congressman from Kansas has long been rumored to have presidential ambitions. In the near term, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has been pressuring the secretary of state to run for Senate  although Pompeo says he has ruled that out.

Pompeo dismissed a question about why he would spend time traveling across the U.S. at a time when the Trump administration faces a broad array of global challenges, most notably the collapse of negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear arsenal. Trump met one on one with Kim in Hanoi last week, but the president ended the talks early after he and Kim failed to reach any agreement.

Pompeo reacted angrily when asked about the North Korean foreign minister's statement, made hours after the talks dissolved, that the offer Kim made in Hanoi was final.

Thats not what the North Koreans said, Pompeo responded. Dont say things that arent true. ... Show me the quote from the North Koreans that said this was their one and only offer. Whered you get that?

After he was read a quote from Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho  in which he said our proposal will never be changed  Pompeo fell silent for about six seconds. Then he countered, What they said is theyre prepared to continue conversations with us and thats what we intend to do.

Pompeo confirmed that Trump did not plan to restart U.S. military exercises with South Korea, which the president halted after his first meeting with Kim last year in June. Some experts have said Americas military readiness will degrade if the Pentagon doesnt begin conducting those war games again soon.

Pompeo said that was not a concern, although he emphasized Trump could change his mind at any time.

At this point, we dont intend to begin having the major war exercises there, but its always up for review by the president, he said. We will also always be prepared to defend American interests everywhere. So the American people need not worry about readiness issues for the United States military.

Pompeo responded irritably when asked about Trumps assertion that Kim didnt know about the mistreatment of American college student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested in North Korea in 2016 and released 15 months later with severe brain damage. Warmbier died a few days after the Kim regime released him back into U.S. custody.

"I don't believe he knew about it," Trump said of Kim at a news conference in Hanoi last week. "He tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word." Trump also said Kim felt very badly about Warmbiers death.

Experts say it's not plausible that Kim didn't know about Warmbier. The North Korean ruler leads a brutally repressive surveillance state, which has forced labor camps and other widespread human-rights abuses.

Asked if he holds Kim responsible, Pompeo said, The North Korean regime is responsible for the death Otto Warmbier and the humanitarian violations that are continuing to take place.

Pressed about Kim's personal responsibility and whether Kim knew about Warmbiers case, Pompeo fell silent again before saying he had answered the question and been very patient with that line of inquiry.

He said Trumps lavish praise for Kim and other despotic leaders did not undercut Americas commitment to human rights.

Human rights around the world (has) been at the forefront of the work that I have done, first as Trump's CIA director and now as his secretary of state, Pompeo said. And Ive had the full range of freedom, given to me by the president, to make sure that human rights were an important part of every engagement that Ive had in both of those roles."

More: With losses mounting, here's why Trump is appealing to farmers angry about Chinese tariffs

More: Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un fail to strike deal, call off nuclear weapons talks early

More: 'I don't believe he knew about it.' Trump defends Kim Jong Un on Otto Warmbier's death

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Exclusive: Pompeo on the failed North Korea talks, Otto Warmbier and his own trip to Iowa
Paris (AFP) - With campaigning for May's European Parliament elections shifting into high gear, security officials are preparing for potential attempts by Russia-linked hackers to sway the vote -- and potentially deepen divisions in the bloc.

"There's a strong likelihood that people will try to manipulate the debates and falsify the European election results," the EU's security commissioner Julian King told France's Alsace newspaper last week.

The vote is shaping up as a continental clash between populist and eurosceptic movements on the one hand, and pro-European internationalists on the other.

"It is already clear this will be the most consequential parliamentary vote in the EU's history," the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote in a recent report.

Moscow has long denied allegations of hacking and meddling in foreign elections through social media disinformation campaigns thought to be piloted by Russia's GRU military intelligence agency.

But suspicions are rife that Russia has much to gain by helping populist and eurosceptic movements, some of which want to end EU sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

The biggest threat, officials say, is a three-pronged attack seen in other high-stake votes: the hacking of a political party; targeted leaks of any sensitive data, either raw or manipulated; and surreptitious social media campaigns to keep the information in the headlines.

That was the scenario that played out in the US presidential election of 2016, when Russian hackers are suspected of trying to tilt the outcome by hacking the Democratic Party.

Russian hands were also seen behind an 11th-hour hacking of Emmanuel Macron's party ahead of the 2017 French presidential elections, when thousands of files were leaked online.

So-called "state actors" are also thought to have been involved in Britain's Brexit vote, and in the hacking of Australian political parties last month.

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"We stand a good chance of being hit with something big" ahead of the May 23-26 election, said a source in the French security services, who requested anonymity to discuss the risks.

- Bogus accounts -

In January the European Commission urged platforms like Google and Twitter, but also advertising firms, to make more progress on their pledge to fight "fake news" by removing bogus accounts and curbing suspect sites.

"Several actions are being taken or already implemented to allow the EU and member states to react quickly, efficiently and in coordination in case of attacks," according to an internal report by a European security service seen by AFP.

"But for now they are mainly declarations of intent that have yet to be tested," it said.

One cyber-spying group in particular -- known as APT28, Pawn Storm, Fancy Bear or other monikers -- is thought to have staged many of the recent attacks targeting European institutions and political groups, including NATO and the German parliament.

The common thread in all these attacks "is the exfiltration of information without being detected," said Loic Guezo of the Japanese IT security firm Trend Micro.

"The group suspected in these operations always targets Western institutions involved in elections or political decision-making in Western countries that could have an impact on Russian government policy," Guezo said.

The stolen data is then strategically leaked to discredit their target.

"The advantage is that because it's intercepted information, it gives people the impression that they have access to the 'truth', to raw, unfiltered information," according to a recent report by the French foreign and defence ministries.

While that may indeed be the case, often the stolen data is first tweaked or manipulated before being leaked and spread by viral social media campaigns.

- 'Information arsenal' -

"Russia has developed an information arsenal, with manipulation strategies that use bots and fake accounts" to propel the disinformation into the mainstream media, said Kevin Limonier, a researcher at the French Geopolitical Institute in Paris.

Media outlets and personalities are then charged with amplifying the leaked data or misinformation into the mainstream.

Limonier described "an ecosystem revolving around a few structures in Russia, hidden behind shell companies, that lead to Yevgeny Prigozhin," a businessman with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Such campaigns could be even more disruptive in an increasingly polarised Europe, where bitter divisions have emerged over the arrival of hundreds of thousands of migrants since 2015.

A recent French study, for example, found that "yellow vest" anti-government protesters are more prone than other citizens to conspiracy theories, including a belief that establishment elites are organising mass immigration to replace native populations.

Given the risks, French authorities in particular plan to move much more aggressively to keep potential interference efforts from crossing "red lines," an intelligence agency source told AFP.

"But you have to be careful, because the more you publicise this war, the more you risk making the threat seem bigger than it is," Limonier said.
By Devjyot Ghoshal NEW DELHI (Reuters) - An air strike by Indian warplanes inside Pakistan last week, and a subsequent retaliatory attack by the Pakistani air force, pushed the nuclear-armed neighbors to the brink of another war, but also triggered a fight over the truth about events. Below is a look at claims and counter claims from both sides. They disagree on most aspects. PULWAMA ATTACK The escalation in tension came after a suicide car bombing killed 40 paramilitary troops in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir, a mountainous region also claimed by Pakistan, on Feb. 14. India blames Pakistan for the attack, which was claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and says it has provided Pakistan with proof. India's foreign ministry said in a statement on Feb. 27 that a dossier was handed over to Pakistan with "specific details of JeM complicity in Pulwama terror attack and the presence of JeM terror camps and its leadership in Pakistan". Pakistan has denied the accusation, saying it had nothing to do with the Pulwama bombing, which came right before a high-profile visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad on Feb. 17. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan told parliament on Feb. 28: "We had such an important visit of the Saudi crown prince coming up. We knew that they would invest, there were contracts. Which country would sabotage such an important event by conducting a terror attack?" AIR STRIKE IMPACT India said its warplanes struck a JeM training camp near the Pakistani town of Balakot in the early hours of Feb. 26, acting on intelligence that the militant group was planning another suicide attack. "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," India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in a briefing after the air strike. Fidayeen is a term used to describe Islamist militants willing to fight to the death. Pakistan acknowledged that Indian jets had crossed into its territory, but denied they had hit anything substantial. Under forced hasty withdrawal, Indian aircraft "released payload which had free fall in open area. No infrastructure got hit, no casualties", the Pakistan military spokesman, Major General Asif Ghafoor, said in a tweet. In New Delhi, a senior government official told reporters that at least 300 militants had been killed, although India's defense forces have since said they are unable to provide any detail on the number of casualties. "We hit our target," the chief of the Indian air force (IAF), B.S. Dhanoa, said on Monday. "The air force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that." F-16 INVOLVEMENT On Feb. 27, Pakistan said its air force had locked on to six targets in Indian-administered Kashmir in retaliation for the Indian air strikes the day before. It said it did this to show it could strike key targets but said its pilots deliberately dropped their bombs in open country without causing damage. It said its aircraft did not enter Indian airspace. Pakistan said it had downed two Indian jets, one of which came down in Pakistani-held territory and the other on the Indian side of the border. It said it had captured two Indian air force pilots. Later, it clarified to say it had only one Indian pilot in its custody. He was later handed over to India. India said it had detected a "large package" of Pakistan air force jets coming towards Indian territory, and sent up its own fighter aircraft to intercept them. In the ensuing engagement, India lost a MiG-21 Bison, the IAF said, adding it also shot down a U.S.-built F-16 jet. India denies that it lost a second jet. On Feb. 28, Indian defense officials displayed what they said were parts of an AMRAAM air-to-air missile that is carried only on the F-16s in the Pakistani air force. India's foreign ministry said that there was a "violation of the Indian air space by Pakistan air force and targeting of Indian military posts". Pakistan's military has denied it used F-16s in the attack on India and says it has not lost any of its aircraft. CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS In the past week, India and Pakistan have accused each other of regularly violating a ceasefire agreement along the 740-km (460-mile) Line of Control (LoC), which serves as a de-facto border between the two countries in the disputed Kashmir region. For example, last Thursday, India said Pakistan had begun firing on at least three occasions, violating the ceasefire, killing one civilian on the Indian side. Pakistani authorities said the ceasefire violations were by India, and four civilians had been killed in Pakistan in what they called a "deliberate" attack by Indian forces. (Reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal; Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in ISLAMABAD; Edited by Martin Howell, Robert Birsel)
Almaty, KazakhstanAs Gulzira Auelkhan toiled stitching gloves in a factory in Chinas troubled Xinjiang region, her managers made no secret of where her production would be sold. They told us openly that the gloves will be sold abroad, so we should do a good job, Auelkhan recalled of a labor stint she says was enforced by Chinese re-education officials. Auelkhan, a 39-year-old Chinese citizen of Kazakh descent, says she was part of a network of mostly Muslim minorities in Xinjiang who pass from what China calls vocational training centers to factories where they are forced to work for far less than the local minimum wage. China says the education centers are part of its efforts to fight terrorism and separatism in Xinjianga region populated by mostly Muslim minority groupsand denies any use of forced labor. But rights groups, and former workers like Auelkhan, say the practice used against Chinese minorities is widespread and at least one foreign company has dropped its Chinese supplier over the concerns. Auelkhan says she was transferred to the glove factory at the Jiafang industrial estate in Xinjiangs Yining county after spending 15 months in two different re-education facilities. More than a million people from Muslim minoritiesmostly ethnic Uighurs, but also Kazakhs like Auelkhan, Kyrgyz and Huiare being held in internment centers across Xinjiang, according to a United Nations panel of experts. Auelkhan has residency rights in Kazakhstan but had traveled to China to see family when she was detained and put into a re-education centre. She said life in the camps was brutal, with residents struck over the head with electrified batons for spending more than two minutes in the bathroom. So even though they were not free to leave, it was an improvement when she and hundreds of other camp inmates were transferred to work at the factory, Auelkhan told AFP in Kazakhstans biggest city Almaty. Every day we were taken to and from a dormitory three kilometres from the factory, she said, hugging the five-year-old daughter she didnt see for nearly two years. When we were studying at the camp they told us we would be taught a trade and work for three months, Auelkhan said. Auelkhan said she was paid only 320 yuan ($48/42 euros) for close to two months work before her time at the factory was curtailed in December and she was allowed to return to her family in Kazakhstan. Xinjiangs average minimum wage ranges between 820 and 1,460 yuan per month, according to official statistics. Beijing and officials in the region have fiercely denied any connection between the camps and under-paid labour.A representative of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Government Press Office told AFP by email that there was no labour contract between Education and Training Centers and enterprises and no enterprise obtains labour from training centres. But rights groups insist the connection exists and some companies have started taking notice. In January, Badger Sportswear, a firm based in the US state of North Carolina, announced it would stop sourcing clothing from its Xinjiang supplier Hetian Taida over concerns it was using forced labour linked to the re-education campaign. Auelkhan believes she was only released from forced labour because of a public campaign launched by her husband and supported by a Xinjiang-focused rights group in Almaty. Originally, re-education officials had told her and other centre residents that they would be at (their) disposal for at least six months, she said. Oil-rich Kazakhstans government is a Beijing ally that positions itself as the buckle in Chinas trillion-dollar Belt and Road trade and investment agenda, a strategy for infrastructure and development projects throughout Asia, Europe and Africa. Kazakh diplomats have entered into a dialogue with Beijing over Xinjiang, without publicly mentioning the re-education centres or criticising Chinas policies. In December a representative of Kazakhstans foreign ministry said during a briefing that China had allowed more than 2,000 ethnic Kazakhs to travel to Kazakhstan as a kind gesture. The ministry refused repeated requests from AFP to clarify the remarks, which lent hope to many in Kazakhstan that they would be able to bring Xinjiang-based relatives over the border to safety. For most, however, this has been a crushing false dawn. During a recent visit to the Almaty office of the Ata Jurt rights group dedicated to supporting relatives of the Xinjiang missing, AFP spoke to several Kazakhs who claim their relatives have merely swapped re-education for other forms of confinement. One of them, Aibota Janibek, 34, said her sister Kunikei Janibek telephoned her from Xinjiang in January after months without contact to confirm she had been assigned a job by the state at a carpet factory in Shawan county. Aibota Janibek has since lost touch with her sister, but heard from other relatives that she was transferred from the carpet factory to another position. A relative told me she is now at a factory that makes paper towels for airplanes, Janibek said.
Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend a conference on political polarization at Arizona State University, sponsored by the School for Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership (SCETL). A lot of big names from Washington, D.C., and major universities were on hand to offer their thoughts on why the country is so angry at itself.

It was an interesting conference, and there were ideas aplenty about what is causing the mutual resentment plaguing our politics  the socioeconomic displacement of working-class whites, the increasing atomization of social life, the increasing diversity of the polity, social media, and so on.

My view is that polarization waxes and wanes through eras, and that this is part of human nature. What we today call tribalism, James Madison in Federalist No.10 called factionalism. It is basically the same thing. Plus ca change, plus cest la meme chose.

Im less interested in the causes of factionalism (Madison gave a comprehensive list in Federalist No. 10) than I am in why it is allowed to flourish in our day. As Madison argued, the purpose of a well constructed Union is to break and control the violence of faction. Our political system is currently less capable of this than Madison wanted.

A case in point happened on Twitter (where else?) this week. By all accounts Joe Biden is getting set to run for president. His pitch will be as an experienced statesman and happy warrior. That was his modus operandi in government; recall in 2011, after the grand bargain on taxes and entitlements broke down between President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner, it was Biden who cut a deal with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to raise the debt ceiling.

Its a good pitch, and one that  Bidens ideological judgments and policy preferences aside  could probably appeal to a wide swath of the country. To that end, Biden recently called Vice President Mike Pence a good guy. Hardly a controversial statement, and certainly in keeping with Bidens style.

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Yet it prompted outrage on the left from Cynthia Nixon  the actress from Sex and the City and unsuccessful challenger to Andrew Cuomo for the New York governorship last year. She blasted Biden for calling Americas most anti-LGBT elected leader a decent guy. Please consider how this falls on the ears of our community, she told Biden.

This is par for the course for the cultural Left. They are not interested in a truce on the difficult intersection of sexuality and faith, or really on any issue for that matter. Live and let live is out, as their ideological opponents must be made persona non grata in politics.

This is a relatively unremarkable symptom of our polarized age. One faction thinks the other is evil, and vice versa. You could point to similar groups on the right that want to deal likewise with their opponents. Read Federalist No. 10, and youll see that this is just the same old, same old. What I found so disconcerting is that Biden agreed with Nixon! Youre right, Cynthia. I was making a point in a foreign-policy context, that under normal circumstances a Vice President wouldnt be given a silent reaction on the world stage, he later Tweeted.

Why would Biden genuflect to Nixon? The show for which she is most famous has been off the air for 15 years, and it is not like she is widely known among moviegoers for any other reason. Cuomo crushed her last September in the New York primary, besting her by 30 percentage points. Why would Biden, whose reputation is built on a combination of niceness and pragmatism, cave so easily to somebody with such a select appeal?

The answer is simple: Nixons faction, though narrow compared to the electorate at large, punches way above its weight class in the Democratic primary. Biden cannot afford to offend such a small, but strategically well-placed group before he launches his candidacy.

That leads to my concern about our current form of polarization. We have allowed the angriest, most strident, least compromising forces within our society to have the best position to decide who wields political power. Sure, swing voters in the middle of the country get to choose between the Democrat and the Republican, but months, even years, before that happens, the eventual nominees have to curry favor with the hardcore ideologues.

This is an especially worrisome quality of the presidency, which should reflect polarization the least. If there is anybody who should be above the fray, who should endeavor to see the merits of both the LGBT and Christian communities, and to find middle ground beyond factionalism for the public interest, it should be the president. He is the one constitutional officer we all elect, and he is the one who occupies the ceremonial role of head of state, both of which make him a kind of tribune for the nation.

We should not have a system of presidential nomination and election that weeds out candidates who can serve this function competently. As the 2016 contest clearly demonstrated, the Republicans have no such system. Since he emerged as a candidate for the White House, Donald Trump has alienated a wide swath of the country, and if he manages to win reelection in 2020, it will only be because the country hates him less than whomever the Democrats nominate. As for the Democrats, their nominees have tended to to be quite factional in the postwar era. And as the BidenNixon interchange illustrates, the eventual Democratic nominee is going to have to win over the angry Left before he or she faces the general electorate.

This analysis moves beyond cultural, social, and economic causes of polarization in the electorate. Because lets be honest, there is probably nothing we can do about that anyway  all of the theorized forces enumerated at the SCETL conference are well outside policymakers ability to influence in a meaningful way. But we do have the power to regulate the power the nastiest among us have in politics, especially by reforming our political parties, which were originally intended to function as mediators between the people and their government. If we are serious about doing something about polarization, I think party reform is where we should start.

More from National Review
Washington (AFP) - Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Monday, joining a crowded field vying to challenge Republican Donald Trump in 2020.

The pool of Democratic candidates for the White House is among the largest and most diverse ever.

It includes female US senators, a current and a former governor, African-Americans, Hispanics and a young gay mayor and is likely to grow before the US primary season gets underway next year.

Here are the main contenders to be the Democratic candidate on the ballot in November 2020.

- Bernie Sanders -

The 77-year-old Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist, was an outsider when the 2016 Democratic primaries began.

But he gave favorite Hillary Clinton a run for her money with his calls for a "political revolution" and battled her down to the wire.

Sanders won passionate support among young liberals with his calls for universal health care, a $15 minimum wage and free public university education.

- Amy Klobuchar -

The 58-year-old granddaughter of an iron miner, Klobuchar is a former prosecutor with an unpretentious demeanor.

She has quietly gained attention in Washington as a centrist. Klobuchar is known for putting partisanship aside to pass legislation, something that has earned her a devoted following in Minnesota.

Klobuchar has promised more stringent gun laws and set a target of universal health care.

- Elizabeth Warren -

At 69, the US Senate's consumer protection champion from Massachusetts is on the party's left flank. She built her reputation by holding Wall Street accountable for its missteps. Warren is considered to have one of the best campaign organizations of any Democrat.

Warren's campaign has been dogged, however, by her past claims of Native American heritage and Trump mockingly refers to her as "Pocahontas."

- Cory Booker -

The 49-year-old US senator from New Jersey announced his candidacy February 1, evoking the civil rights movement as he promised to work to bring together a divided America.

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Often compared to former president Barack Obama, Booker began his career as a community activist and rose to prominence as mayor of Newark, New Jersey.

A talented orator, the former mayor of Newark was elected to the US Senate in 2013, the first African-American senator from the eastern state.

- Kirsten Gillibrand -

The New York senator made a name campaigning against sexual abuse, especially in the military, before the #MeToo movement gained national prominence.

The 52-year-old, a fierce Trump critic, is making gender and women's issues a hallmark of her campaign.

- Kamala Harris -

The barrier-breaking senator from California who aspires to be the nation's first black female president announced her candidacy on a day honoring slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.

The daughter of an Indian immigrant medical researcher mother and a Jamaican economist father, Harris, 54, began her career as a district attorney in San Francisco before serving as California's attorney general.

- Julian Castro -

A cabinet member under Obama and grandson of a Mexican immigrant, Castro announced his candidacy in English and Spanish on January 12 in the heat of the debate on immigration and border security.

At 44, the former mayor of San Antonio, Texas hopes to become the nation's first Hispanic president.

- Tulsi Gabbard -

At just 37, Gabbard, a congresswoman from Hawaii, would be the first Hindu president.

A supporter of Sanders in the 2016 race, military veteran Gabbard was criticized for meeting with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad during that country's civil war, and for anti-gay positions that she has since retracted and apologized for.

- Pete Buttigieg -

The 37-year-old South Bend, Indiana, mayor joined the race with a resolutely future-looking and optimistic message to counter Trump's darker vision.

A Rhodes Scholar, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay nominee of any major party.

A US Navy reserve officer, he put his mayoral duties aside to serve in Afghanistan in 2014.

- Jay Inslee -

Inslee, the governor of Washington state, said he would make climate change the central theme of his campaign, calling it the "most urgent challenge of our time."

The 68-year-old Inslee served in the US House of Representatives before becoming governor of the northwest state in 2013.

- John Hickenlooper -

Hickenlooper, 67, is a former governor of Colorado and mayor of Denver.

A former geologist and self-described "nerd" who became wealthy after opening a string of brewpubs, Hickenlooper is a political moderate.

He is expected to tout his role in strengthening Colorado's economy as he seeks to build national recognition.

- Other candidates -

Also in the race are former Maryland congressman John Delaney, 55, technology executive Andrew Yang, 44, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, 66.

- Waiting in the wings -

Several big Democratic guns have yet to commit, including former vice president Joe Biden and Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown.

Former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke is also considering a run as is billionaire New York ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg.

So are Montana Governor Steve Bullock and former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe.

burs-cl/jm
Fifth Third Bancorps FITB chief executive officer (CEO) Greg D. Carmichael received a whopping 29% hike in his total compensation package for 2018 compared to the prior year. Carmichaels total annual pay increased to $11.2 million in 2018 from $8.7 million, according to the companys proxy statement.



The increase in his compensation was largely driven by more than 100% surge in non-equity incentive plan compensation to $4.1 million from $2 million in 2017, which is based on the companys Variable Compensation Plan related to several metrics. Therefore, these metrics, including earnings per share, return on assets and efficiency ratio exceeded targets in 2018.



Moreover, the rise in his pay was also attributed to stock awards which jumped to $4.9 million from $4.5 million in the prior year. Further, the base salary increased 10% from the previous year to $1.1 million. His stock options were also up from $800,000 to $862,000 in 2018.



Carmichael joined Fifth Third in 2003, as the head of information technology and was promoted as the chief operating officer in 2006. By 2009, his responsibilities broadened and included leading the retail bank, business banking, and all affiliate banks and markets. In 2012, Carmichael was named president. Furthermore, succeeding the former CEO Kevin T. Kabat, Carmichael, took his position as CEO in November 2015.



Fifth Third, with a diversified traditional banking platform, remains well poised to benefit from a recovering economy, along with its Midwest footprints. With solid capital levels, further acquisition activities can be expected. Also, the approval of its 2018 Capital Plan, which includes share buyback up to $1.65 billion and intention to increase quarterly dividend by 33.3%, reflects the companys commitment toward enhancing shareholders value.



Though Fifth Third was steadily active in deploying capital in 2018, investors concerns prevailed on certain macroeconomic factors. Therefore, the company's share price depreciated roughly 21% in the year, following a 14.7% rise in 2017.



Among other banking giants, Bank of America Corp.s BAC chairman and CEO  Brian Moynihan  is expected to receive $27 million as total compensation for 2018, which reflects a rise of 15% year over year. Among others, JPMorgan JPM and Morgan Stanley MS have also increased their CEOs compensation.



Notably, Fifth Third has improved on capital return to shareholders since the financial crisis, investment in core businesses and passed regulatory tests. Carmichael has also been adept in strategically evaluating various facets of the banks major businesses.



We believe Carmichaels pay hike will prove to be a major morale booster. Fifth Thirds fundamentals remain highly promising with a diverse business model and a strong balance sheet.



Currently, Fifth Third holds 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 Pitch: In the summer of 69, three astronauts  Neil Armstrong, Edwin Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins  were sent on an eight-day mission to do what nobody had ever done before in the recorded history of mankind: put a human being on the surface of the moon. The culmination of a promise made by then-President John F. Kennedy to conquer the next nearest corner of the galaxy by the end of the decade, the mission saw hundreds upon hundreds of NASA engineers, scientists, and mathematicians collaborating in perfect tandem to hopefully get them there, and then bring them home. Cameras captured every nail-biting second of it, and Apollo 11 stages the resulting footage as a remarkable historical recreation, an immersive treatise on one of the greatest feats ever accomplished.

In Peace For All Mankind: The footage that director and editor Todd Douglas Miller has restored and assembled here distinguishes Apollo 11 as a transcendent documentary, a reconstruction of not just a mission but an entire moment in history, rendered so immediate that its as though it just took place yesterday.

It couldnt have, however, because one of the things Apollo 11 captures best is the way in which an event as momentous as a trip to the moon was able to unify all people, and draw them to a singular moment of awe, in a way that todays segmented world no longer frequently allows. Some of the most breathtaking footage on display here involves spanning, helicopter-shot tableaux of people crowded onto Florida piers and beaches, waiting to watch a miracle take place right in front of them. People crowd around radios, cars, blankets. The cinematographers on the scene peer into concession stands and bustling crowds, as strangers shy away from cameras instead of posing eagerly before them.

And when the mission begins, both the trio hurtling through the atmosphere and the millions watching at home are left in a suspended state of disbelief and anxiety, waiting to see if somehow, some way, Armstrong and Aldrin and Collins can actually pull it off. Its an illustration of a point in time to which well never return again, one in which the rush of discovery was shared, indisputable, and a force of unification and good. The world viewed in such breathtaking detail throughout Apollo 11 will never exist again, which makes its human portraiture throughout all the more affecting.

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One Small Step For Man: Sure, we know that the Apollo 11 launch ended in something truly incredible. But what Apollo 11 makes clear, early and often, is how many times it came close to not getting off the ground at all. Less than three hours before the launch, a fuel leak was discovered, and the fevered effort to complete it is just one of several tense episodes the documentary captures with shocking clarity. At every phase of the mission was a meticulous, clockwork human effort, with an entire planet bound to their efforts all the while. An early shot lasting over a full minute simply rides an elevator up the side of the space shuttle, following higher and higher along until the horizon line disappears entirely. Its a daunting reminder of not only what an incredible thing the early scientists of the space race were able to create, but just how much was waiting to go wrong at any given second.

Like First Man last year, Apollo 11 does a remarkable job of lending genuine alarm to one of the most famous stories in existence; where that film largely focused on the process leading up to the launch, however, Apollo 11 immerses itself in the particulars of the trip through space itself. One of the most impressive takeaways from the documentary is just how difficult their mission was at every step, how many different things had to be accomplished to perfection, and how close all three men were to being hurtled into the infinite abyss of space at any given second. To that end, Miller deploys some truly astounding footage, including images of the original lunar lander making its initial contact with the surface. (As much as anything, Apollo 11 feels like an incredibly stern rebuke to conspiracy theories about the reality of the moon landing. Miller even provides any remaining skeptics with frame-by-frame photography of Armstrong taking the very first recorded step.)

The miracle of the moon landing was its proof of humankinds ability to push beyond the limitations of the planet, but Apollo 11 paints a deeply humane portrait of what happened before, during, and after they went there. Itll make you reconsider the smaller things about the moon mission, the ones other retellings often sidestep. The way that Collins was left orbiting the surface of the moon by himself, waiting for Armstrong and Aldrin to return. The nights that Armstrong and Aldrin slept on the moons surface, staring back at the Earth all the while. The jokes cracked between ground control and the shuttle at every step. The way that Armstrongs heart rate briefly spiked to 156 when his foot made contact with the powdery surface of the moon. And the way in which, when all three men returned to Earth, each was captured with an unreadable smile on their faces. Apollo 11 might be majestic in its imagery, but it also delivers a welcome focus on what it was for the people involved to experience something so profound that it would never be known that way, in quite the same way, ever again.

Beyond the Infinite: Through Millers clean construction, which mixes frantic split-screen editing with lingering gazes at some of the more memorable footage, Apollo 11 takes on the dramatic momentum of high drama without a single talking-head cutaway or flourish of narration. This is all visual assemblage, lent momentum by its own staggering clarity (much of the footage looks so crisp that it may as well have been shot digitally) and by Matt Mortons triumphant score. Morton builds ominous synths to a triumphant crescendo, lending the real-life voyage the gravity of Keir Dullea crossing the point of no return in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Its a fair comparison, as Apollo 11 lends the moon landing the same air of vivid discovery as any journey into the deepest reaches of the galaxy.

The Verdict: A good documentary offers a comprehensive portrait of its subject, but a great documentary eradicates the disconnect between audience and time period, making the events depicted feel as essential and important as the present. Apollo 11 is a great documentary, and its greatness can largely be attributed to the stunning archival scenes compiled within it. Its impossible for anybody who wasnt there to truly understand what it felt like to see Apollo 11 complete its travels, but for at least 93 endlessly arresting minutes, Apollo 11 does its very best to put you right there.

Wheres It Playing? IMAX theaters nationwide on March 1st for an exclusive week-long engagement; wider release March 8th. Pay the extra bucks for the biggest screen you can find, trust us.

Trailer:
This is the shocking moment an innocent man was left with broken ribs after being arrested.

Geoff Boyson, 40, suffered suspected broken ribs and cuts to the head after being arrested by Northamptonshire Police for a crime he was later cleared of in court.

The incident happened when the father-of-one attempted to mediate between bailiffs and the owners of a convenience store.

But the bailiffs accused him of interfering with their duties and called the police, who arrived and arrested him.

Geoff Boysons claims he was kneed and punched by police as they arrested him in Northamptonshire are being investigated by the Northamptonshire Police Professional Standards Department. (SWNS)

Mr Boyson was charged with assaulting a police officer but was found not guilty after a trial at Wellingborough Magistrates Court, in Northamptonshire, in January.The case is now being investigated by the Northamptonshire Police Professional Standards Department (IOPC).

Mr Boyson, dad to six-year-old Jack, claims A&E doctors at Northampton General Infirmary told him he had suspected broken ribs, but was not given an x-ray.

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Mr Boyson said he was left with broken ribs and a number of minor injuries. (SWNS)

Mr Boyson says he was attempting to act as an intermediary between Indian shop owners and bailiffs. (SWNS)

He says he also suffered cuts and bruises to the head, hands and face during the arrest.

Mr Boyson was found not guilty of one charge of assaulting a police officer at Wellingborough Magistrates Court on January 22 this year.

He lodged a complaint shortly after he was arrested.

Northamptonshire Police said Mr Boyson had lodged a complaint five days after the footage was captured but an internal investigation could not take place until court proceedings had concluded.

A spokesperson said: Now these proceedings are complete, the complaint will be investigated fully by the forces Professional Standards Department, in line with the College of Policings Code of Ethics and relevant statutory guidance.

It would be inappropriate to comment further while a complaint investigation is ongoing.
Juba (AFP) - The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea met South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Monday seeking to breathe new life into a flagging peace agreement signed six months ago between his government and rebels.

South Sudan's influential Catholic Church last month warned that the deal agreed in September to quell the country's war was falling apart and all sides were gearing for fresh fighting.

"One of the first issues that they discussed was how to bolster the ongoing peace process," South Sudan's Foreign Minister Nhial Deng Nhial told journalists after Kiir met Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki at State House in the capital.

Among other things, the leaders discussed bringing on board groups who rejected the deal inked in Addis Ababa, Nhial said.

"The government of the republic of South Sudan has been very supportive of this," he added.

The UN has cautioned that tens of thousands face starvation as fighting continues despite the pact.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 after a long and bloody independence struggle, but just two years later, war broke out again when Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup.

A conflict erupted that split the country along ethnic lines. Nearly 400,000 people are estimated to have died and millions have fled their homes, many of them pushed to the brink of starvation.

Nhial said ambassador Ismail Wais of the IGAD regional trade block monitoring the peace deal signed by Kiir and Machar, will meet separately with rebel chief Thomas Cirillo and ex-army chief-turned opposition figure Paul Malong in Addis Ababa and Nairobi on March 8 and 10.

Cirillo and Malong both rejected the September deal.

Eritrea and Ethiopia, themselves still working on healing ties damaged by years of conflict over their shared border, are part of IGAD. Both have established business investments in South Sudan's hotel industry.

Ethiopia is a key contributor to a 4,000-regional armed protection force deployed to prevent further outbreak of war in South Sudan.
More police are needed to tackle knife crime, a former Met Police chief has said (Picture posed by model: PA)

The former head of the Metropolitan Police says 20,000 more officers are needed on the streets to tackle Britains knife crime.

It comes after the deaths of two teenagers in separate knife attacks in London and Greater Manchester at the weekend.

On Friday, 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park near Romford, east London. A day later, Yousef Ghaleb Makki, also 17, was killed in Hale Barns, near Altrincham.

Former Met Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said the governments efforts to increase the number of police officers will not go far enough.

Policing minister Nick Hurd says an extra 460 million is being invested in the police system this year which will be used to recruit at least 2,500 more officers.

Jodie Chesney, 17, who was stabbed to death in London (Picture: Instagram)

But Lord Hogan-Howe, who has investigated the knife crime issue for Channel 4s Dispatches, told ITVs Good Morning Britain that almost ten times that number are needed.

He said: I asked Nick Hurd, the police minister, well how many more cops are we going to get for the extra money they are putting in?

To be fair, the government are putting more money now into policing. He said about two-and-a-half thousand cops. Thats too few.

And the second question is, when are they going to be here?

Even if you press the button today and, I would argue, get the 20,000 back, youre not going to get them tomorrow.

Youve got to recruit them, youve got to train them. Youve got loads of things to do.

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As well as 20,000 more police officers, Lord Hogan-Howe also called for increased interception of Class A drugs, improving technology and building trust in local communities as part of urgent measures to reduce knife crime.

An investigation by Dispatches found that the number of children and young people linked to murders and manslaughters using knives has risen by more than 75% over three years.

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The Channel 4 programme found the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing homicides using a knife or sharp instrument rose by 77% from 26 to 46 from 2016 to 2018.

Yousef Ghaleb Makki, 17, from Burnage, was stabbed to death on Saturday (Picture: Greater Manchester Police)

The analysis was based on Freedom of Information request responses from 29 out of 43 police forces about the age of offenders recorded as carrying out knife and sharp instrument offences.

It also found that during this period the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing rape and sexual assault with a knife rose from 24 to 33 and robbery with a knife increased from 656 to 999.

The programme said a police recorded offender is where there is an offender linked to the crime resulting in an arrest, caution or community outcome.

Dispatches also found there has been a 93% rise in the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for stab wounds in England.

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe wants more police on Britains streets (Picture: PA)

An analysis of NHS Digital data by the programme found the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for assaults by sharp objects rose from 180 to 347 between 2012-13 and 2017-18.

It said that 76 people were reportedly stabbed to death in the capital out of 306 across the UK as a whole last year, including 23 children.

The programme, Britains Knife Crisis: Young, Armed And Dangerous, is broadcast at 8pm on Monday.

Lord Hogan-Howe called for the appointment of a new knife crime tsar to get a grip on the crisis.

He said: Its important to focus attention on the exploitation of children in socially deprived areas.

We need to increase police numbers in these areas and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution including by county lines.

Something law enforcement and government have failed to do. I just dont see anybody getting a grip of this crisis. The government needs to appoint somebody who is going to lead it day after day.

Call it a knife crime tsar if you like, but somebody who is going to make sure we get knives off the street and save lives.

Mr Hurd added: This is a massive challenge for our policing system and therefore a big priority for me as policing minister to make sure that our police system has the resources to invest in upgrading our technology.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins defended government efforts to tackle knife crime, saying: It may be that we are not talking about it in the press enough, but we are working on this day in and day out.

She told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: On Friday I was at a briefing with the Metropolitan Police and police forces from across the country sharing what they are going to do in a week of national action on tackling knife crime. The last week we had on this scale, we had 9,000 knives taken off the streets of the country and more than 1,000 arrests.

We have also set up the national co-ordination centre to tackle county lines, which is part of the problem with serious violence, and already in the few months that has been operating that has secured more than 1,000 arrests and safeguarded more than 1,000 vulnerable people.
Royal Marines in combat in Afghanistan, April, 2007 - PA

A Former Royal Marine has reached an agreement with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) after suing for hearing loss, in a case that could cost the government millions.

The former serviceman is in line for a damages payout after he reached an agreement on the governments liability for his noise-induced hearing loss, the High Court has heard.

Alistair Inglis, who served for 15 years, says he left the Royal Marines in 2012 to work in maritime security "for the sole reason that he had concerns about his deteriorating levels of hearing".

The 39-year-old had sued the MoD for almost 1.3 million in compensation for alleged loss of future earnings, loss of pension and for the cost of hearing aids.

The MoD admits Mr Inglis' hearing loss and tinnitus arose "as a result of his negligent exposure to noise whilst serving in the Royal Marines", but argues he left voluntarily while still fit for all duties and should only receive damages for his injury and the cost of hearing aids.

At a hearing on Monday, Mr Inglis' barrister, Harry Steinberg QC, told Judge Peter Marquand that issues of liability had been resolved and split 80:20 in the claimant's favour".

Judge Marquand must now determine the amount of compensation to which Mr Inglis is entitled.

Mr Inglis - who now works as a health and safety officer - enlisted in 1997, aged 17, and served in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. He intended to serve a full career, but says his situation changed for the worse as a result of hearing damage.

Mr Steinberg said it was highly unlikely Mr Inglis would not have abandoned his successful military career and the chance of a full pension after 22-years service had it not been for his noise-induced hearing problems.

He said that Mr Inglis' hearing deficit was "equivalent to that of a man in his early 70s" and would "inevitably get worse as he ages".

The MoD argued there had been "no prospect of [Mr Inglis] being medically discharged in the foreseeable future" when he left the Royal Marines.

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The department said Mr Inglis left "to pursue a career in maritime security, at the time a lucrative line of work for Royal Marines looking for a change of career" and that he earned "considerably more" in his maritime security role than as a serviceman.

It is understood the MoD currently faces up to 1,700 similar cases, with 200 other service veterans at present suing over alleged hearing loss.

The hearing continues.
Nairobi (AFP) - Four American tourists and a Kenyan pilot were killed when their helicopter crashed on a remote island in a lake in northwest Kenya, police said Monday.

The accident occurred in the Central Island National Park in Lake Turkana on Sunday evening, police said in a statement.

"There were five people on board, four of them were US citizens and the pilot, Capt Marious Magonga," the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

Magonga was also a pilot for Kenya's deputy president, William Ruto, who owned the crashed helicopter.

The helicopter "lost contact and crashed" shortly after taking off with a second chopper from Lake Turkana's Central Island, the statement said.

Rescuers found the wreckage about seven hours later "with no survivors".

"The cause of the incident is yet to be established and the details of the deceased will be released once the next of kin have been notified," a police statement said.

Known as the Jade Sea, Lake Turkana, is the most saline lake in East Africa, the largest desert lake in the world, and a popular tourist spot.

Its Central Island is made up of three active volcanoes, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service.

The lake is an important stopover for migratory birds and its islands are breeding grounds for the Nile crocodile, hippopotamus and several snake species.

Last year, UNESCO placed the massive expanse of water on its list of endangered World Heritage Sites, in part because it is threatened by Ethiopia's construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Omo River, which replenishes the lake seasonally.
Rome (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a call for reconciliation with Italy following a diplomatic spat between the neighbours that saw Paris briefly recall its ambassador.

Relations between the two countries have fractured due to repeated clashes between centrist Macron and Italy's populist coalition government.

In February, Paris recalled ambassador Christian Masset for a week in protest at "unfounded attacks and outlandish claims" by the Italian government.

"There has been intemperate talk. There have been various twists and turns and I think we owe it to our people, to our history and to Europe, to get past that," Macron said Sunday on Italian television.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Macron said he would host his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella at Amboise, central France, on May 2 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci "with French and Italian youth".

"We will talk about the future and Europe," he added.

The two presidents intend to go "beyond the misunderstandings that can sometimes arise in political or economic life and which are, for me, secondary," Macron said, without mentioning Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte or other Italian leaders.

With the exception of a question about the planned Lyon-Turin rail link -- which he stressed the importance of -- Macron did not mention other divisive subjects such as Italian populist leaders' support of the "yellow vest" protestors in France or the merger between French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (formerly STX France) and Italy's Fincantieri.

- 'Sleepwalkers' -

On the other hand, he spoke at length about his love of Italy and his travels.

"There are so many French people who love Italy and Italians who love France and the French. But suddenly, we almost forgot that we have to keep on learning to understand each other," Macron said.

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"I do not underestimate any of the difficulties of everyday life and the impatience, but I believe that between our countries there is and always has been a lot of heart, that is to say, friendship, love," he said in a final message to camera.

In Italy, the interview provoked controversy even before its release as Macron chose to be interviewed by Fabio Fazio, a nemesis of Italy's deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and nationalists who consider him an archetypal "trendy" journalist.

During his interview, the French president also quoted writer Roberto Saviano, one of Salvini's most virulent critics, and lambasted "the simplification of the message of some nationalists".

"No country, no one in Europe, nor Italy, nor France, will solve its own problems by opposing other European countries and by withdrawing back to the national level," he insisted.

He also felt Europe was like living "on a volcano".

"There are people who think we can continue like sleepwalkers, as if nothing has happened, they will be buried. Me, I'm aware of the tragedy", he said.

"We need some real, complex philosophical thought and to re-inspire our peoples."
Caracas-Opposition supporters in Venezuela were set to take to the streets Monday after leader Juan Guaido called for mass protests against President Nicolas Maduroas the self-declared interim president prepared to return after a week touring Latin American allies. Guaidos reappearance in Venezuela would pose an immediate challenge to the embattled Maduro, who will have to decide whether to arrest him for defying a travel ban-thereby provoking strong international condemnationor allow him to enter unmolested, which would undermine his authority, analyst say. Im announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilize all over the country tomorrow at 11:00 am (1500 GMT), Guaido wrote Sunday on Twitter. Later, in a video with his wife shared on his social networks, he said if Maduros government tries to kidnap us ... it will be one of the last mistakes it makes. Guaido, who has been recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuelas interim president, did not say how or when he would return, though speculation is rife that a flight from the Colombian capital Bogota to Caracas is the most likely route. However, it is possible that he plans to slip across the border with Colombia in the same way he left Venezuela, claiming on that occasion that he had help from Maduros military. Guaido held talks in Salinasa coastal resort town west of Guayaquilon Saturday with President Lenin Moreno, and met with Venezuelan refugees. On Sunday around noon he flew out of Salinas without revealing his destination. Defying a Venezuelan government travel ban, Guaido slipped across the border to Colombia on February 23 in an attempt to escort in truckloads of international humanitarian aid. While in Colombia he met with visiting US Vice President Mike Pence. The 35-year-old political newcomer then traveled to Brazil, where he met the countrys new right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, and on Friday traveled to Paraguay and Argentina. In a poke at Maduro during his trip, he said he was invited to visit Chile later this month. Guaido, who heads the opposition-led National Assembly, stunned the world on January 23 when he proclaimed himself Venezuelas acting president after the legislature declared Maduro a usurper and illegitimate over his May 2017 re-election, which was widely criticized as fraudulent. Maduros new term in office began on January 10. Guaido wants to oust Maduro and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections.Guaido must return to Venezuela and continue to press internally, as the international support is enormous, Eufracio Infante, 64, a Venezuelan lawyer and history teacher, told AFP. We are facing a very delicate situation and every minute we are approaching an outcome we hope will not be catastrophic, he said. Maduro -- who retains the support of Venezuelas powerful military -- enjoys strong support from Russia, which accuses Washington of interventionism, and China, which is concerned over the fate of billions of dollars in loans to Maduros regime. The socialist president warned last week that Guaido should respect the law and would have to face justice if he returns to the country. Guaido said last week he intended to return to Venezuela despite threats to arrest him. The United States and other allies have expressed concern for his safety. The challenge has gone very far, political analyst Luis Salamanca told AFP. If he comes in and they stop him, it will generate strong internal reaction as well as internationally. Maduro is at permanent risk. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned on Saturday that any measure that would put at risk Guaidos freedom, safety or personal integrity would represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of international community. Guaido has grown so much politically that they havent been able to touch him, in the traditional ways ... which is to put him in prison or force him to flee the country, harass him, said Salamanca. Separately, Chiles President Sebastian Pinera sharply criticized UN rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet -- Chiles president 2006-2010 and 2014-2018 -- on Sunday for failing to condemn Maduro for human rights violations. Pinera, a Chilean billionaire elected president for the second time in 2017, is a key supporter of Guaido, and joined the Venezuelan opposition leader in Cucuta, Colombia last weekend in a failed attempt to send international humanitarian aid into Venezuela. Pinera said in an interview published in the El Mercurio newspaper that Bachelets predecessor at the UN, Zeid Raad Al Hussein of Jordan, was much clearer, more categorical in condemning human rights abuses.
President of the International Geneva Motor Show Maurice Turrettini. Photo: Jill Petzinger

Maurice Turrettini, president of the Geneva International Motor Show, says hes not allowed to have a favourite among the cars and supercars that will premiere at Geneva this week.

The Geneva International Motor Show is famous as a place where manufacturers like to bring their newest, most advanced concepts. The main reason for this, according to the president, is that Geneva is an even playing field.

We are not a country that is producing cars and that makes a difference, because we dont give advantages to one brand or the other, Turrettini told Yahoo Finance UK. If you go to Frankfurt, for example, you have the German brands on the first stage in the best building.

Turrettini has been president since 2012 when things were easier, he says, because coming to the show was essential for brands. Increasingly, big car makers are mulling whether they need to commit to expensive car shows; Volvo, Ford, and Jaguar Land Rover are all no-shows at Geneva this year.

We need to get used to cancellations, Turrettini said. For example, three years ago Volvo said Geneva is a must, and two years later they dont come  but they have Polestar, and Polestar took more space than last year. We cannot exclude that next year Volvo may come back or Jaguar may come back, we dont know.

Whether it is the high costs of putting a booth at the car show, or that they sometimes just dont have anything new to show, Turrettini says that marketing departments are simply finding different ways to reach customers, including going to tech shows like CES.

Still, he says, hes happy that the show attracted new brands from Russia and China this year: Its good for us that a new brand, in order to exist, has to start here.

Its a stressful time for the global car industry, of course, with concerns ranging from Brexit, to potential US tariffs on EU cars, tightening EU CO2-emission rules, and slowing demand in China.

Its the slowdown in the Chinese economy that Turrettini views as the biggest threat at the moment. China is a big hope for the automotive brands, they have all developed joint ventures, they have plans and now since China is regressing a bit, its bad for them.

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He notes that if car brands fail to meet the CO2 emissions limits and face huge fines, it is the customers who will ultimately bear the brunt of those costs.

This is certainly the most electric Geneva car show to date, with the majority of brands keen to show off their eco-credentials with battery-electric and hybrid models. But Turrettini says that carmakers might be less than convinced about the future of the technology: What is amazing is that most of them are saying that electric is not the future, they are not officially saying that, but they know its not the best solution, the best solution is hydrogen. At the moment, investment and development in hydrogen-cell vehicles lags battery cars, and charging stations are few and far between.

Turrettini says that for his first Geneva show as president in 2012, they put just a handful of electric cars into a tent outside the building. Now they are the stars of the show. Ultimately, he would like to see the Geneva Motor Show become a mobility show.

I want to attract people who are not interested in cars, but that might come to the show to see electric bikes or electric scooters.
Google has faced accusations of sexism in recent years, including a controversy over how it handles harassment allegations that led to widespread protests last year - AP

Google has compensated many of its male workers after finding they received comparatively fewer bonuses and pay rises than women last year.

The company, which has faced many accusations of failing its female employees, said it had automatically topped up men's pay to address a gender gap within its ranks of software developers.

An analysis of pay across the company revealed that more women software engineers at a certain level had been handed bonuses or raises from managers throughout the year.

Google said it paid $9.7m (7.4m) to 10,667 employees to address last year's pay disparities. It did not disclose how much was spent topping up male software engineer salaries.

The company uses algorithms to define an employees compensation based on the market rate, location, level and performance rating, but managers are given an extra budget which they can use for raises and bonuses if they believe a particular employee has excelled.

The company's review found at a particular lower-level software engineering position - these had been disproportionately handed out to women, although it did not find a reason why.

Google has repeatedly faced accusations of an unfair work environment. In 2017 it fired an employee who had written a viral "anti-diversity" memo arguing that a lack of women in senior positions was partially due to biological reasons. Former employees have sued the company claiming a pay bias against women, while a separate lawsuit claims its video website YouTube stopped hiring white men.

Last year thousands of employees protested the company's alleged failures to deal with sexual harassment.

To keep tabs on salaries, Google has conducted yearly pay equity reviews since 2012. If it finds any discrepancies, it will automatically pay adjustments. It said that it would be undertaking a comprehensive review of the system based on last years results.

Lauren Barbato, Googles human resources analytics chief said: Our pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location and performance. But we know thats only part of the story.

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"Because leveling, performance ratings, and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees.

Liz Fong-Jones, a former Google employee who recently quit the company, said the analysis "failed to control for under-promoting and under-levelling women".

"If you have a group of women who are outperforming at level, of course they'll get given more manager discretion. This is not 'sexism against men'," Fong-Jones added.
Microsoft leads the league table of companies for AI roles. Photo: Horacio Villalobos/Corbis via Getty Images

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping every aspect of our lives, from choosing what we watch on Netflix, to using tech to make tasks easier and quicker at work.

Organisations in every sector are investing in AI tools and techniques to boost their businesses, including the worlds tech giants, which are spending billions of dollars on developing the AI capabilities of their products and services. Some are also recruiting heavily in AI, with AI-related jobs doubling over the past three years and job postings increasing by 119%, according to RS Components .

So who is recruiting for AI roles the most, leaving workers most at risk of being replaced?

Microsoft leads the way with 1,964 AI job openings, equating to 36% of the total jobs they have on offer, according to the analysis by RS Components .

Computer game company Nvidia, which designs graphic processing units for the gaming and professional markets, follows in second place with 369 AI jobs, equating to 33% of their total jobs on offer.

Often referred to as the Amazon of China, retailer JD.com comes in third place, with 19 AI jobs (20% of the total).

Google comes in fourth place with 837 openings, which makes up 18% of the total. Earlier this year, Kai-Fu Lee, a venture capitalist who used to develop artificial intelligence for both Microsoft and Google, told CBS 60 Minutes that AI will displace 40% of the worlds workers within 15 years.

I believe [AI] is going to change the world more than anything in the history of mankind, he said, adding AI would allow entire new industries to be built from the ground up with automation in mind.

Although AI will be cheaper than human employees, it will also create new roles, as well as replace current ones.

Intel is in fifth place with 432 (17% of total jobs), followed by software corporation Sap, which has 320 AI jobs (12% of total jobs)

Accenture comes in seventh place with 34 AI jobs (11% of total jobs), followed by Nokia, which has 76 AI jobs, which make up 6% of total jobs.

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Popular social media platform Facebook and streaming platform Netflix make it into the top 10, with Facebook offering 191 jobs in AI, 6% of the total, and Netflix offering 35, also making up 6% of the total jobs they have on offer.

Both companies are growing rapidly and are having to set new trends to keep up with technology, so its understandable that they are in the top ten companies that are hiring in AI the most.

The largest tech company in the world, Apple, comes in at number 12 with 129 AI jobs on offer, only 3% of their total 4,574 jobs available.

Another innovative company in the technology business is Bezos e-commerce platform, Amazon, which comes in 15th place offering 297 roles in AI, 2% of its total 18,781 jobs on offer.
Google released an internal analysis on Monday that indicates its male employees received less pay than other employees for doing the same work more often than their female counterparts.

As a result of the findings, which were first reported by the New York Times, Google provided an additional $9.7 million to 10,677 employees, the majority of whom are men, to compensate them for unexplained discrepancies between their 2018 pay and that of co-workers who have the same responsibilities.

Google conducts a pay-equity analysis on an annual basis in order to look for unexplained differences in total compensation (salary, bonus, and equity) across demographic groups, according to a blog post published Monday on the company website. The analysis included 91 percent of the companys total workforce, and excluded only those employees who work in a role with fewer than 30 other employees or employees representing fewer than five demographic groups.

The study did not take into account other factors that might result in a gender-pay disparity, such as discrimination that leads to fewer women receiving promotions, or a phenomenon known as leveling, in which women may receive a lower starting salary than equally qualified men.

Our pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location and performance, the blog post read. But we know thats only part of the story. Because leveling, performance ratings and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees.

Google is currently facing a class-action lawsuit in California that alleges widespread discrimination against female employees. The company is also facing a class-action lawsuit initially filed in 2017 by James Damore, a software engineer who was fired for circulating a memo that argued the disparity in gender representation and pay within the company may reflect biological differences between men and women that affect inherent interest levels in various fields.

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The Department of Labor opened an investigation into the company in April 2017 after finding systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce.

More from National Review
Washington says Maduro faces strong and significant response if Guaido is detained or threatened after tour of South America

Juan Guaido in Ecuador on Saturday. Guaido did not say exactly how he would try to enter Venezuela, or at what time. Photograph: Rodrigo Buendia/AFP/Getty Images

Washington has warned Nicolas Maduro he faces a strong and significant response if his rival, Juan Guaido, is detained or threatened as he tries to re-enter Venezuela on Monday before a day of fresh protests.

Guaido sneaked out of Venezuela on the eve of a failed attempt to force humanitarian aid into the economically ravaged country on 23 February and subsequently set off on a five-country tour of South America.

The 35-year-old visited Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay despite a travel ban introduced after his decision to challenge Maduro by declaring himself Venezuelas rightful interim president.

Most western governments now recognise Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate interim president but, beyond widespread popular support, he enjoys little concrete power in Venezuela.

An expected wave of military defections that would force Maduro from power has yet to materialise, although Colombia says more than 600 officials have fled across the border in recent days.

In an online broadcast on Sunday night, Guaido urged followers not to lose hope and called a new round of nationwide street protests for Monday morning to coincide with his attempt to return home. This process is unstoppable, he insisted of the struggle to unseat Maduro. The transition is already under way.

Guaido did not say exactly how he would try to enter Venezuela, or at what time, but warned that if Maduros regime tried to seize him, it would be the last mistake it made.

Donald Trumps hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton, tweeted: Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community.

The British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tweeted: The Maduro regime MUST ensure his freedom and safety. The world is watching.

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The Venezuelan news website El Pitazo reported that security around and in the skies above the Simon Bolivar international airport near Caracas had been stepped up in case Guaido tried to land there.

In an interview with the Guardian in Caracas last month Guaido admitted it was possible his challenge to Maduro could condemn him to exile, or prison  or worse. Doing politics in Venezuela is a risk and you can pay with your life.




The opposition figurehead battling to dislodge Venezuelas president Nicolas Maduro has made an audacious and dramatic homecoming, flying into the countrys main airport as he sought to re-energize his campaign for political change.

Juan Guaido  who secretly left Venezuela last month to conduct a support-seeking tour of South America  landed at the Simon Bolivar international airport on Monday on a commercial flight from Panama.

Some had expected Guaido  who left Venezuela in defiance of a travel ban imposed by Maduros government  to be arrested on arrival, despite warnings from the White House that there would be strong and significant response if that happened.

But the opposition politician, who most western nations now recognize as Venezuelas legitimate interim president, successfully cleared immigration and was mobbed outside by reporters and fans.

We are stronger than ever. We will carry on hitting the streets. We will carry on mobilizing, Guaido vowed, before heading to a rally in the capital, Caracas. We know the risks we are facing but this has never stopped us.

Crowds greeted him at the airport with chants of: Si se puede! (Yes we can!).

Supporters took to the streets of cities across Venezuela to celebrate their leaders safe return from a five-nation tour of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Paraguay during which friendly regional governments rolled out the red carpet for Maduros challenger.

This is a historic moment and I know that change is coming, said Anger Guzman, one of thousands of demonstrators who had gathered in Las Mercedes, an area of eastern Caracas that has witnessed a succession of recent anti-Maduro protests.

As news of Guaidos arrival was announced by opposition leaders, the 38-year-old added: Having him here gives us more energy to carry on taking to the streets.

The US national security adviser, John Bolton, tweeted: President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today to continue his strong push for a democratic future for the people of his country  His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching.

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Harold Trinkunas, a Stanford University Latin America expert, said that by returning to Venezuela through the front door Guaido had dared Hugo Chavezs heir to detain him. It challenges Maduro  and the fact that Maduro didnt take up the challenge makes him appear weak.

Trinkunas said Guaidos ability to enter the country undisturbed might also hint at fading support for Maduro within Venezuelas security services.

Its very clear that the Maduro regime has been consistently on the defensive in recent weeks  which is an unusual position for the government to be in. Traditionally, Maduro and Chavez before him were quite good at wrong-footing the opposition. That seems to have turned around with the arrival of Juan Guaido on the scene.

But for all the opposition optimism, some believe Guaidos challenge to Maduro has floundered.

After the opposition leader declared himself Venezuelas legitimate interim president on 23 January, and was backed by a succession of countries including the US and the UK, many opponents hoped Maduro heir would be gone within days.

Hundreds of thousands of anti-Maduro protesters flocked onto the streets to cheer what they believed was his imminent downfall.

But six weeks later, Maduro remains in power and, beyond widespread popular support, Guaido enjoys little concrete power in Venezuela.

Temir Porras, Maduros former chief of staff, said he believed Guaido and his backers in Washington and Latin America had anticipated a wave of military defections would cause a quick collapse of Maduros administration.

Related: Venezuela: US increasingly isolated as allies warn against use of military force

But it is time to acknowledge that that didnt happen  and there must be reasons for that.

Happily, the Venezuelan military are a united institution because  if we had fire power on both sides we would have the perfect cocktail for a disaster  everything could go wrong, Porras said. Imagine how dangerous it is to fracture a military institution and the risks of this thing becoming a total, catastrophic civil war.

Porras argued that to avoid such a scenario, a negotiated settlement between Maduros Chavista movement and the opposition was now urgently needed.

Addressing a rally in Caracas on Monday afternoon, Guaido urged supporters to continue fighting for political change and called fresh protests for next Saturday.

The time is now. It is now that we must bring change to Venezuela. All of us together, he said.

Borrowing a refrain often used by Maduro supporters, the crowd cheered back: Guaido, amigo! El pueblo esta contigo! Guaido, our friend! The people are with you!

Gloriannys Perez, a 19-year-old student who was among the demonstrators, said she was relieved and encouraged that her leader had returned.

I thought they would arrest him  so it is so exciting to see him up on stage today because to me he symbolizes the hope of a nation and of the change that we are all hoping for.

Perez dismissed the suggestion that efforts to remove Maduro were running out of steam.

I believe it is different this time, people feel hope and they are not prepared to give it up as has happened before, she said.

Trinkunas said: There was a fear that Guaido was losing momentum by being overseas for a prolonged period of time.

Now he has an opportunity to restore momentum. But we have to see now what Maduro does next and also what the armed forces do next. They are still the cornerstone of the regime.
Hate Paying Income Taxes? These 9 States Don't Have Them

The U.S. has always been a nation on the move. Americans are motivated to pack up and start over in search of better jobs, cheaper living costs -- and lower taxes.

A small number of states wave at potential newcomers and shout, "Hey! Over here! We don't have a state income tax!" Since personal income isn't taxed, residents get to hold onto more of their paychecks and potentially bolster their savings -- an undeniable perk.

Here, weve rounded up the states that have no income tax. But when you peel back the layers, youll find that residents arent exactly living tax-free.

1. Alaska

BILD LLC / Shutterstock

Moose near Anchorage, Alaska

Alaskans take great pride in their tax-free status. Not only is there no income tax, but the 49th state has no state sales tax either.

Alaska even goes a step further. Every resident receives an annual payment from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation. Funded by oil revenues, this dividend fluctuates each year and was $1,600 for 2018.

Still, despite the lack of income tax, life can get expensive in Alaska. Because its so remote, everything from gasoline to groceries, clothes and medical care is imported or more expensive than in other states.

Alaska has no income tax BUT

Kyle Waters / Shutterstock

Alaska taxes petroleum production and at the pump

Without an income tax, Alaskas funding depends on petroleum and property taxes.

In fact, Alaska has one of the highest average property taxes in the country, mostly concentrated in its largest cities.

Although theres no state sales tax, local municipalities and boroughs are allowed to collect a general sales tax of up to 7%. Plus, drivers in Anchorage are paying an extra 10 cents per gallon in taxes at the pump as of 2018.

2. Florida

Matthew Ennis / Shutterstock

Floridians are happier when they have more money in their wallets

The Sunshine State is a favorite retirement thanks to its good (if humid!) weather and relaxed lifestyle.

And a part of Florida's allure is its low taxes.

Florida is so anti-income-tax that voters here amended the state constitution in 1924 to bar the state from enacting one.

Florida has no income tax BUT

Kamira / Shutterstock

The Lincoln Road Shopping Mall, Miami Beach

Its not all sunshine and rainbows: Florida does tax corporations, and sales taxes are 6% or higher. When combined with city, county and local taxes, the total sales tax can be as high as 8%. Yikes!

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Floridas average property tax rate is also relatively high at 1.02%.

Florida is an example of how tax burdens can be shuffled from payroll to other areas.

3. Nevada

welcomia / Shutterstock

Nevada collects more than $1 billion in gaming taxes each year

Nevada residents enjoy not having to pay personal income taxes, and the state doesn't have a corporate income tax either.

No state tax is due on income from Social Security, IRAs, 401(k)s and private or public pensions.

Theres also no inheritance or estate tax, so residents' earthly earnings are safe for the long haul.

Nevada has no income tax BUT

Lucky-photographer / Shutterstock

Tourists pay hefty taxes in Las Vegas, Nevada

The state collects hefty taxes on gambling in Las Vegas, Reno and other gaming meccas in Nevada.

In the past few years, Nevada has collected over $1 billion a year through these taxes, which are largely paid by tourists.

Nevada also collects "sin taxes"  on tobacco and alcohol  a high sales tax, and hotel occupancy taxes. But the state's property taxes are said to be among the lowest in the nation.

4. New Hampshire

Jo Ann Snover / Shutterstock

There's no income tax - but property taxes are high in this pretty state

This one is probably no surprise: The state with the license plates that say "Live Free or Die" is all about small government and low, low taxes.

New Hampshire doesnt charge residents a wage-based income tax.

As in other states, New Hampshire's tax break extends to income from Social Security, IRAs, pensions and 401(k)s.

New Hampshire has no income tax BUT

huyenhoang / Shutterstock

Residents pay astronomical property taxes in New Hampshire

To make up its tax deficit, the state taxes investment income  such as stock dividends and the interest earned on bank accounts  at a flat 5%.

But the tax-averse will be glad to hear that these taxes are being phased out by 2020.

New Hampshire also has crazy-high property taxes at 2.19%, considered the third-highest in the country.

5. South Dakota

photo.ua / Shutterstock

The Mount Rushmore state hasn't had income taxes since 1943

Its the home of world-famous Mount Rushmore, but here's something else South Dakota is known for: some of the lowest taxes in America.

Theres been no income tax since it was repealed in 1943  and combined state and local sales taxes are also fairly low at an average of 6.4%, according to the Tax Foundation.

South Dakota has no income tax BUT

Nagel Photography / Shutterstock

You'll pay taxes while shopping in Deadwood, South Dakota

To collect much-needed funds for services, South Dakota collects levies on cigarettes, alcohol and business licenses.

Many services are taxed, and so is food. South Dakota also is cracking down on online shopping: As of the fall 2018, web retailers are now required to charge sales tax, too.

South Dakotans also pay high property taxes, averaging 1.32%.

6. Tennessee

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Music-loving Nashville residents don't care for income taxes

Known for its iconic musical history in Memphis and Nashville, the Volunteer State also is an income-tax-free location.

Tennessee doesnt tax wages, but like New Hampshire, it does tax interest and dividend income. But not for too much longer.

A 2016 law has begun phasing out the investment income tax, and it will disappear in 2020.

Tennessee has no income tax BUT

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Party-loving Tennessee residents pay among the highest sin taxes in the country

To make up the revenue difference, Tennessee charges the third-highest sin taxes in the country, according to The Times of Northwest Indiana.

Theres a 62-cent tax on cigarettes; $4.40 in liquor taxes tacked onto each gallon; a wine tax of $1.21 per gallon; and a $1.29-per-gallon beer tax.

Although residents pay property taxes like everyone else, their average rate is a fantastically low 0.75%, and in one county it's just 0.4%.

7. Texas

Brandon Seidel / Shutterstock

Texas's income tax laws can't be changed unless their constitution is amended

There's no state income tax in Texas, and there never will be! That is, unless the state's constitution is amended or rewritten.

Taking some pressure off local retirees, the states also exempts Social Security benefits and all retirement income from taxes.

Texas has no income tax BUT

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Texan sales taxes raise the cost of shopping

The Lone Star State must provide services and pay its employees  the money has to come from somewhere.

So, Texas has some of the highest sales and property taxes in the nation.

Shoppers pay sales taxes of up to 8.25%, and Texas has an average property tax of 1.86%, the sixth-highest in America.

8. Washington

Galyna Andrushko / Shutterstock

WA residents have access to natural riches and hold on to more of their income

Washington state is a Pacific Northwest beauty  and the home of Amazon, Microsoft and Starbucks. Another fact about Washington is that it has never had a personal income tax.

The state also keeps its hands off income from Social Security, IRAs and pensions, and it doesnt charge an inheritance tax.

Politicians have occasionally tried to implement an income tax, including a failed effort in 2010. It appears Washingtonians arent ready to give up their favorite tax perk just yet.

Washington has no income tax BUT

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In Washington, property taxes are through the roof

Instead of collecting income tax, the state funds services through high sales taxes. The average combined state and local sales tax is a whopping 9.4%, the fourth-highest in the U.S.

Local property taxes are both complex and higher than residents would prefer.

In 2018, residents got a big property tax bill, the proceeds of which would fund public schools  but politicians are promising to prune back this tax in 2019.

9. Wyoming

Martin Castrogiovanni / Shutterstock

Cowboys at work in Wyoming

Nicknamed "The Cowboy State," Wyoming's free-living frontier history is reflected in its lack of a state income tax.

The state doesnt tax corporate income, either.

If you lived in Wyoming, your retirement savings and pension income would be safe from taxation, too  and so would your estate.

Wyoming has no income tax BUT

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Shopping street in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

As a primarily rural state with a small population, Wyoming has fewer public expenditures than other states.

What revenue it needs, it gets from sales taxes, but these are still lower than in most other states. Wyoming's combined average sales tax is just 5.46%.

Residents also pay an average 0.61% in property taxes  one of the lowest in the nation.

Advantages of no state income tax

QualityHD / Shutterstock

The benefits of having no state income tax are easy to identify.

More cash in residents' pockets means more spending money, which stimulates the economy.

But there are clearly some potential downsides to a tax-free state, as you'll see next.

The disadvantages

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Where there's no income tax, states raise other taxes instead

Without income taxes, states may simply shift revenue generation to other areas.

Sales, property and gasoline taxes are typically quite high in these income-tax-friendly states.

Other charges such as vehicle registration fees can be steep, and some government services may be lacking since theres just not enough funding to go around.
"The public deserves better."

Part of the horrible traffic problem in Metro Manila at present, no doubt, are the ubiquitous jeepneys that descended from Willys jeep, the reliable workhorses of American troops during the Second World War. Filipino ingenuity transformed the jeeps left by the Americans into what were known as auto-calesas or ACs. The ACs initially carried two riders on the front seat beside the driver and two to three more in two parallel rows for a total of six to eight passengers. Later, realizing that bigger units could give drivers more daily income, manufacturers lengthened the jeepneys to accommodate as many as 20 or more riders. The jeepneys still ply major streets in Metro Manila and other urban areas even as a few light rail networks are already in operation, with another one under construction. While there have been calls for the total phaseout of jeepneys, the government wants instead to modernize them. The public utility vehicle modernization program of the Department of Transportation wants new jeepneys to conform to certain standards. The ceiling height would allow passengers to enter without stooping, for one thing, just like in minibuses. They will be safer because they feature side doors and front-facing seats with safety belts for each passenger. The modern jeepney would use automated cards for fare payment, similar to the LRT and MRT. They would also be equipped with a speed limiter. The new jeepneys would be airconditioned and equipped with global positioning system (GPS). And they would be powered by bio-ethanol fuel, thus reducing air pollution in the city since jeepneys now using second-hand diesel engines emit toxic fumes and contribute to heavy air pollution. Lawyer Vigor Mendoza of the Kilusan sa Pagbabago ng Industriya ng Transportasyon (KAPIT) was our guest in the Saturday news forum at Annabels. He declared at the outset that his group supports the government move to modernize PUVs, especially jeepneys. He is pushing this advocacy through his Bagong Jeeps (BEEPS) project. Mendoza informed the news forum that every jeepney serves an average of 300 passengers a day. Drivers can rack up between P3,000 to P4,000 gross sales daily, but the higher cost of diesel fuel nowadays brings their take-home pay to around P1,100. In contrast, a modern jeepney can make P10,000 a day, because passengers enjoy airconditioning and comfortable seats. There are roughly 200,000 jeepney units nationwide at present. But each one has two to three drivers. So theres roughly 400,000 to 600,000 jeepney drivers. Most of them have had limited education and therefore are low-skilled. So its important to train the drivers and mechanics in new technologies. The government should evaluate the program and see where change is needed, Mendoza said.The public transport sector consumes about P6 billion worth of fuel every year, and half of that is consumed by jeepneys. They contribute to the national economy P36 billion a year, but not a single centavo goes to modernization, Mendoza lamented. Jeepney drivers cannot afford to buy new vehicles unless the government helps them, he pointed out. Most commuters are workers, but they have no choice but to take old, rickety jeepneys during rush hours, and they are packed like sardines. They have no choice really. The government has set a target of March 2020 for old jeepneys to be taken off the streets and replaced by modern units. But how can that goal be achieved without funding support, Mendoza asked. He said those who wanted to take part in the modernization program were promised a subsidy of P80,000 to purchase new units, but this has not happened. He suggested that part of the excise tax on fuel should be given as assistance to the public transport sector. All we want is fair and equal treatment, he said. Mendozas group supports a fixed-income scheme for jeepney drivers so they do not have to compete among themselves to get riders. Based on their calculation, if drivers work ten hours a day, they earn an average of a little over P1,000 a day. Some drivers even earn an average of P32,000 a month, working 10 hours a day and six days a week. Not bad, as they earn more than entry-level BPO workers. He said theres even a financial analyst who works in Makati on weekdays, but drives a jeepney on weekends to supplement his income. Modernization is meaningless unless it improves the lives and well-being of jeepney drivers, Mendoza says. We must stop the practice of cramming jeepneys with passengers. And there are so many run-down jeepneys plying the roads. We must give passengers a better choice. If we stop modernization, ten years from now, we will still have the same problems, such as overcrowded jeepneys. So lets pursue modernization, lets improve the lives of everybody. We support modernization because the public deserve better.
Brinker International, Inc. EAT relies on expansion and other sales-building initiatives to drive top-line growth while franchising aids the companys bottom line. With a decent share price appreciation and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), Brinker is currently a profitable investment choice.

Shares of Brinker have outperformed its industry in the past year. The stock gained 24.8% compared with the industrys rally of 18.6%.

Moreover, an upward revision in earnings estimates for 2018 reflects analysts confidence in the companys future earnings potential. Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in 2019 has been revised upward by 2.4%. Further, the company delivered positive earnings surprise in two of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 4%.

Moreover, per VGM Score that identifies the most attractive value, growth and momentum characteristics, Brinker has a Score of A, indicating that the stock is most likely to outperform.









Lets delve deeper into other factors that make this stock a solid pick.

Sales-Building Efforts  Key Growth Driver

Brinker remains steadfast in its goal to drive traffic and revenues through a range of sales-building initiatives. Particularly emphasizing on menu innovation to propel revenues, the company started a plan  Vision 2020  in 2016 that would enable it to gain market traction to achieve long-term earnings per share growth target of 10-15%.

Coming to expansion initiatives, Brinker is one of the fast-casual restaurant chains that has been gearing up for international expansion, especially in the faster growing emerging markets. Though it is experiencing some headwinds in the Middle East, the companys Latin American business has been solid.

In fiscal 2018, the company opened 34 restaurants. It has already opened 14 restaurants in fiscal 2019 and expects to open 34-40 restaurants globally in the same year, which will include new markets like Asia, with focus on China and Vietnam.

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Additionally, over the past few quarters, Brinkers remodeling efforts have gained momentum, leading to improvement in sales. In fact, the company continues to invest in a brand-wide reimage program that is likely to drive traffic and comps over the next three years.

Moreover, Brinker effectively uses social media platforms and email database to drive customer awareness and boost traffic. The companys To-Go platform was the fastest growing segment. At Chili's, the companys To-Go business increased 20% in second-quarter fiscal 2019, following 17% gain in the last reported quarter.

Backed by such sales-building initiatives, Brinkers revenues increased 2.6% year over year in the first six months of fiscal 2019. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues in fiscal 2019 is pegged at $3.2 billion, reflecting 2.3% growth from fiscal 2018.

Focus on Franchising Favors Earnings

In order to survive in an industry that is increasingly relying on franchising, Brinker shifted from initial company-owned restaurant model to a franchised one. The company pursues expansion through franchisees and partnerships. Although franchising weighs on near-term revenues as it replaces company-operated sales with franchised sales, it helps reduce the companys capital requirements and drive earnings over time.

Arguably, earnings growth is of utmost importance for determining a stocks potential as surging profit levels often indicate solid prospects (and stock price gains). In fiscal 2019, Brinkers earnings per share are expected to grow 10%.

Dividend Yield

While Brinker is fairly undervalued compared with its own range, a look at the companys dividend yield shows that the stock is a rewarding investment choice for investors right now. Brinkers current dividend yield stands at 3.4% compared with the industrys figure of 0%.





Source: https://www.zacks.com

Other Key Picks

Some other top-ranked restaurant stocks are Starbucks SBUX, El Pollo Loco LOCO and Darden DRI. While Starbucks currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), El Pollo Loco and Darden carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Earnings for Starbucks, El Pollo Loco and Darden for 2019 are projected to increase 12.4%, 10.1% and 18.3%, respectively.

Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019

In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?

From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.

This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.

See Stocks Today >>



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SELMA, Ala.  Speaking Sunday at the historic Brown Chapel AME Church, former secretary of state, first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested a key Supreme Court decision may have cost her the White House.

Clinton was participating in an annual commemoration of the 1965 Selma to Montgomery marches that included the infamous Bloody Sunday, when civil rights activists were viciously beaten by white police and protesters. The church where she spoke was the starting point for the marches, which were organized by a group that was pushing for voting rights and included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. Clinton connected the push for voting rights to her 2016 presidential campaign.

I was the first person who ran for president without the protection of the Voting Rights Act and I will tell you, it makes a really big difference, Clinton said.

Clinton prefaced her comments by discussing the history of the Voting Rights Act, which was passed in 1965. The law required federal oversight of voting in nine southern states and an array of other jurisdictions that were found to have engaged in discriminatory practices. Clinton noted the law was reauthorized by Congress in 2006 while she was in the Senate.

It was based on thousands and thousands of pages of testimony as to why we ... needed the Voting Rights Act. I thought it was a done deal, passed out of the Congress, signed by a Republican president, and then it found its way to the Supreme Court, Clinton recounted.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks at a service marking the anniversary of "Bloody Sunday" at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Ala., on Sunday. (Photo: Julie Bennett/AP)

Clinton said Republicans who wanted to pull back rights were behind the legal challenge that brought the 2013 Supreme Court decision, in which conservative justices struck down the core of the law.

They found a receptive Supreme Court who came up with the most absurd decision, said Clinton, adding, They gutted the Voting Rights Act.

Clinton, who won the popular vote in 2016 but lost the electoral college, specifically pointed to Wisconsin, one of three states where President Trump won just over 75,000 more votes, a slim edge that was crucial to his electoral college victory.

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It doesnt just make a difference in Alabama and Georgia. It made a difference in Wisconsin, where the best studies that have been done said somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 people were turned away from the polls because of the color of their skin, because of their age, because of whatever excuse could be made up to stop a fellow American citizen from voting, Clinton said.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign event at the Taylor Allderdice High School, Oct. 22, 2016, in Pittsburgh, Pa. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Trump defeated Clinton by a little over 22,000 votes in Wisconsin and secured 10 electoral votes with the narrow win. Voters were turned away due to the states voter ID law, but estimates vary about the precise number of those affected.

Clinton concluded by turning to 2020 and arguing Democrats need to make it their mission to fight for voting rights.

So, were looking towards a new presidential election  thank goodness  but its not going to make a difference if we dont bring the lawsuits and win them ... if we dont register everybody, said Clinton.

However, one figure Clinton cited to back up her argument does not appear to match voting records.

Just think about it, between 2012  the prior presidential election where we still had the Voting Rights Act  and 2016  there were fewer voters registered in Georgia than there had been those prior four years, Clinton said.

While Republicans in Georgia purged huge numbers of voters from the rolls following the Supreme Court decision, state records show there were more registered voters in 2016 than in 2012.

The church service was also attended by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., who is running for president in 2020, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, who said he will make a decision by the end of this month about whether to enter the race. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a close ally of Kings who ran for president as a Democrat in 1988, was also at the event.

Following the church service, Clinton, Booker, Brown and Jackson all participated in a march to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where the Bloody Sunday attacks took place. All of the Democratic leaders at the ceremonies stressed throughout the day the need to push for voting rights.

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Read more from Yahoo News:
By David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in Congress unleashed a slew of demands in their investigations of President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking information about his communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin and documents from 81 sources in an obstruction probe.

The chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees wrote to the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking documents and interviews with personnel about Trump's conversations with Putin.

The lawmakers expressed concern about media reports that Trump seized notes on at least one meeting with the Russian leader and tried to destroy records about those talks.

"These allegations, if true, raise profound national security, counterintelligence, and foreign policy concerns, especially in light of Russia's ongoing active measures campaign to improperly influence American elections," Chairmen Adam Schiff, Elliot Engel and Elijah Cummings wrote in their letter.

The request followed the powerful House Judiciary Committee's demand for documents from a whos who of Trumps turbulent world, targeting 81 people, government agencies and other groups in an investigation into possible obstruction of justice or abuse of power.

The Republican president faces investigations from several congressional committees, as well as the 22-month-long federal special counsel probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and whether the Trump campaign worked with Moscow to sway the outcome.

When they took control of the U.S. House of Representatives in January, Democrats promised investigations on multiple fronts involving Trump, saying their Republican counterparts had ignored red flags coming out of the White House.

The Judiciary Committee listed Trump family members, current and former business employees, Republican campaign staffers and former White House aides, as well as the FBI, White House and WikiLeaks were listed as recipients of documents requests.

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The panel also named the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, White House aide and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former White House counsel Don McGahn.

"We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight," said U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, Judiciary Committee chairman. "Congress must provide a check on abuses of power."

TRUMP: IT'S A 'HOAX

At the White House, Trump was asked if he would cooperate with Nadler's probe. "I cooperate all the time with everybody," he said before adding: "You know the beautiful thing? No collusion. It's all a hoax ... It's a political hoax.

A committee lawyer told reporters the immediate aim is to amass a large trove of evidence to guide the investigation and help decide which witnesses to approach. The panel is prepared to use its subpoena power if needed, the lawyer said.

Among the committee's aims is determining whether Trump obstructed justice by ousting perceived enemies at the Justice Department, such as former FBI Director James Comey, and abused his presidential power by possibly offering pardons or tampering with witnesses.

Comey was leading an investigation into Russian activities in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion with Trump's campaign when the president fired him in May 2017.

The investigation was subsequently taken over by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is expected to end his investigation and report his findings in coming weeks.

The Judiciary Committee also is looking at whether Trump has used the White House for personal enrichment in violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause.

Representatives for the White House and Justice Department said the requests are being reviewed.

Republicans in Congress accuse Democrats of pursuing an impeachment agenda against Trump as part of a political strategy to reclaim the White House in the 2020 election.

Democrats say talk of impeachment is premature. They say the first step is to initiate proper investigations, which were missing in the first two years of Trump's presidency, when his fellow Republicans controlled the House of Representatives.

Some of those the committee is seeking documents from are among the dozens charged by Mueller. They include former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, former Trump adviser Roger Stone and Cohen.

Also on the committee's list are others who worked on Trump's 2016 campaign or in the White House, such as Hope Hicks, Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Sean Spicer; Rhona Graff, a long-time executive assistant at the Trump Organization; and David Pecker, chief executive of American Media Inc, which publishes the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer.

Trump maintains that his campaign did not collude with Russia and has repeatedly attacked the investigation on Twitter.

Democrats say Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight Committee last week directly implicated Trump in various crimes including campaign finance violations.

(Reporting by David Morgan and Sarah N. Lynch; Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Bill Trott and Bill Berkrot)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three U.S. House of Representatives committees asked the White House and State Department on Monday for details on President Donald Trump's talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, seeking to interview translators and other staff involved in their conversations. The House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Government Oversight committees said in a statement they wrote to acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking documents and interviews on Trump's communications with Putin. The letters to Pompeo and Mulvaney were part of a widening investigation by the Democratic-controlled House looking at whether the Republican president or those around him abused power or obstructed justice. "According to media reports, President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal details of his communications with President Putin from other administration officials, Congress and the American people," the chairmen of the three committees said in their letter to Mulvaney. The letter asked the White House to make available for interview by the committees any translators, interpreters, linguists or other staff members who listened to conversations between Putin and Trump, either via telephone or in person. The committee chairmen specifically asked to interview any staff who were at Trump's meetings with Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7, 2017, and their summit meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Lisa Lambert and Jonathan Oatis)
Chinas Huawei is preparing to sue the US government for banning federal agencies from using the companys products over security fears, according to a report.

It comes after the Chinese technology firms finance chief, Meng Wanzhou sued the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police on Sunday. Lawyers allege that Huaweis chief financial officer was detained, searched and interrogated for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights.

The US lawsuit will filed in the Eastern District of Texas where Huawei has its American headquarters, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

According to one of the people, the lawsuit is likely to challenge a US law passed last year blocking government agencies from using Huaweis telecoms equipment.

The newspaper reported that Huawei will argue that the provision is unconstitutional because it amounts to a bill of attainder, or a legislative act that singles out a person or group for punishment without trial.

Washington has been leading a campaign against Huawei which officials believe poses a national security threat. The company's equipment could be used for Chinese government spying operations, US officials have said.

The companys executives have strongly rejected the allegations which they say are motivated by political and economic concerns.

However, a number of governments including Australia and New Zealand have since banned Huawei's equipment from the next generation of mobile networks.

In a blow to US efforts, UK security bosses said last month that risks posed by Huawei's involvement in 5G networks can be contained.

Huawei declined to comment on the NYT report.

A hearing is set to begin this week in Canada that will determine whether Ms Meng will be extradited to the US to face charges.

Ms Meng was arrested in Vancouver in December at the request of the US, which argued she posed a threat to national security. Huawei's CFO was charged with bank and wire fraud which she allegedly committed to circumvent American sanctions against Iran.
Huawei chief executive Ren Zhengfei - AP

Huawei is preparing to sue the US government for banning federal agencies from using its technology, according to a new report.

The Chinese firm is said to be readying to file a lawsuit on Thursday which accuses the US of acting unconstitutionally.

The US government has blocked the use of Huawei technology within federal agencies over concerns that the companys close relation with the Chinese government could allow its technology to be used for espionage.

However, Huawei has consistently denied allegations that its technology could be used for spying.

The companys chief executive and founder, Ren Zhengfei, made a rare public appearance in January in which he denied that Huawei would ever accept a request by the Chinese government to hand over customer data.

On Monday, a Chinese government spokesman accused the US of using a double standard in claiming Chinese law requires telecoms giant Huawei to violate other countries' information security.

Some US officials were taking China's national security law out of context and "playing up the so-called security risks" associated with Chinese companies, the spokesman for the national legislature, Zhang Yesui, said.

The New York Times, which first reported the news, said Huaweis lawsuit against the US would argue that the US is singling out the business for punishment without placing it on trial, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The newspaper said that the lawsuit will be filed later this week in the Eastern District of Texas, where Huaweis US headquarters is based.

It follows a separate lawsuit filed by Huawei CFO, Meng Wanzhou, against Canada alleging she was wrongfully detained and searched after she was arrested in Vancouver while on her way to Mexico.

The companys finance head and daughter of its founder was arrested over charges of fraud linked to breaching sanctions against Iran.

The lawsuit accused the Canada Border Services Agency of subjecting Ms Meng "to a detention, search and interrogation to extract evidence from her before she was arrested".

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Following her arrest in December, China detained two Canadians, in a move many saw as a direct attempt by the country to hasten Ms Meng's release.

On Monday, China's official news agency, Xinhua, said authorities were accusing the two Canadians of having worked together to steal state secrets. The two cases have, up until this point, not been linked, and China had not provided detailed allegations.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau responded by saying he was "obviously very concerned by this position that China has taken".

"It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions."

Canadian Department of Justice officials decided last week that proceedings to extradite Ms Meng to the US can proceed. Currently on bail in Vancouver, the executive could face a trial in the US following an extradition case to be heard in the Canadian courts.

A Huawei spokesman declined to comment.
Ilhan Omar has defended herself in the face of criticism after saying she should not need to "have allegiance [or] pledge support" to Israel to serve in the US Congress.

The Minnesota representative was involved in a heated exchange on Twitter with Nita Lowey, a fellow Democratic politician, over her recent comments about the influence of pro-Israel groups in Washington.

"I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country," Ms Omar said, at an event on Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

Her statement was immediately criticised by figures on both sides of the aisle in Congress, for using stereotypes about Jewish people.

"I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel," Ms Lowey said on Twitter.

"I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful."

Ms Omar defended herself in a series of tweets posted on Sunday night.

"Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee," she said.

"I have not mischaracterized our relationship with Israel, I have questioned it and that has been clear from my end.

"I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone.

"I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks."

The Democrat's suggestion that pro-Israel politicians "have allegiance" to the Middle Eastern country has attracted a further backlash, with some politicians claiming that Ms Omar is using antisemitic tropes.

"No member of Congress is asked to swear allegiance to another country," Ms Lowey said.

"Throughout history, Jews have been accused of dual loyalty, leading to discrimination and violence, which is why these accusations are so hurtful."

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz, another Democratic congresswoman, also attacked Ms Omar's remarks.

"Sadly, misunderstandings over anti-Semitic, hurtful comments continue," the Florida representative said on Twitter.

"Dialogue leads to understanding. @IlhanMN, repeated misunderstandings would seem to require dialogue to avoid repetitive harm.

"Communication is the key to understanding. I hope you agree and will engage so tensions do not worsen."
Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia and Australia on Monday signed a long-awaited trade deal after months of diplomatic tension over Canberra's contentious plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Indonesian trade minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham wrapped up the multi-billion-dollar agreement in Jakarta, some nine years after negotiations first started.

The pact will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesia's 260 million people, while Australian universities, health providers and miners will also benefit from easier entry to Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesia's automotive and textile industries, and boost exports of timber, electronics and medicinal goods.

Bilateral trade was worth US$11.7 billion in 2017, but Indonesia is only Australia's 13th-largest trading partner and the economic relationship has been viewed as underdone.

Both ministers touted the deal as indicative of deepening ties between the two countries, which have occasionally butted heads on foreign policy issues, including Australia's hardline policy on asylum seekers.

Birmingham said the deal marked a "new chapter of cooperation" between the two neighbours.

"The signing of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement brings our two nations closer together than ever before," Birmingham told reporters.

Lukita said the signing had the potential to transform the economy of both countries.

"Today is definitely the brightest moment of the Indonesia-Australia relationship," he said.

The deal has been in negotiation since 2010 and was expected to be signed before the end of last year, but it stalled when Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of Australia's embassy to Jerusalem.

Morrison first floated the shift in October, ahead of a critical by-election in a Sydney suburb with a sizeable Jewish population. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, was angered by the proposal.

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Both Israel and the Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital. Most nations have avoided moving embassies there to prevent inflaming peace talks on the city's final status -- until President Donald Trump unilaterally moved the US embassy early last year.

In December, Morrison formally recognised west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, but said the contentious embassy shift from Tel Aviv will not occur until a peace settlement is achieved.

The Australian PM stood by his decision despite outcry from neighbouring Muslim countries. Indonesia in response simply said it had noted the decision.

- Tariffs gone -

The agreement will eventually see the elimination of all Australian trade tariffs, while 94 percent of Indonesian duties will be gradually eliminated.

Australian investment in Indonesia totalled $597 million in 2018, but that is expected to increase under the new deal, which also included provisions for greater protection of foreign direct investment.

"Indonesia is a good market for Australia because of the large population (and) the increasing movement of the middle class," economist Kresnayana Yahya, from Surabaya's ITS university, told AFP.

The less developed eastern reaches of Indonesia could significantly benefit from Australian investment, he added.

The trade deal also comes just ahead of national polls in which Indonesian President Joko Widodo is pushing his economic record in the battle for re-election.
Every investor in Macquarie Telecom Group Limited (ASX:MAQ) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. I generally like to see some degree of insider ownership, even if only a little. As Nassim Nicholas Taleb said, Dont tell me what you think, tell me what you have in your portfolio.

Macquarie Telecom Group is not a large company by global standards. It has a market capitalization of AU$410m, which means it wouldnt have the attention of many institutional investors. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), its seems that institutions dont own many shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about MAQ.

See our latest analysis for Macquarie Telecom Group

ASX:MAQ Ownership Summary, March 3rd 2019

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Macquarie Telecom Group?

Institutional investors commonly compare their own returns to the returns of a commonly followed index. So they generally do consider buying larger companies that are included in the relevant benchmark index.

Since institutions own under 5% of Macquarie Telecom Group, many may not have spent much time considering the stock. But its clear that some have; and they liked it enough to buy in. If the company is growing earnings, that may indicate that it is just beginning to catch the attention of these deep-pocketed investors. It is not uncommon to see a big share price rise if multiple institutional investors are trying to buy into a stock at the same time. So check out the historic earnings trajectory, below, but keep in mind its the future that counts most.

ASX:MAQ Income Statement, March 3rd 2019

Hedge funds dont have many shares in Macquarie Telecom Group. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

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Insider Ownership Of Macquarie Telecom Group

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Management ultimately answers to the board. However, it is not uncommon for managers to be executive board members, especially if they are a founder or the CEO.

Most consider insider ownership a positive because it can indicate the board is well aligned with other shareholders. However, on some occasions too much power is concentrated within this group.

Our information suggests that insiders own more than half of Macquarie Telecom Group Limited. This gives them effective control of the company. Given it has a market cap of AU$410m, that means they have AU$256m worth of shares. 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

The general public holds a 27% stake in MAQ. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Equity Ownership

With an ownership of 7.8%, private equity firms are in a position to play a role in shaping corporate strategy with a focus on value creation. Some investors might be encouraged by this, since private equity are sometimes able to encourage strategies that help the market see the value in the company. Alternatively, those holders might be exiting the investment after taking it public.

Next Steps:

Its always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Macquarie Telecom Group better, we need to consider many other factors.

I like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
"They are ready-made for service to the nation."

Sometimes one comes across a phrase or slogan so creative and so catchy that one is led to say to oneself, I wish I had thought of that first. I found myself saying exactly that when I first read the phrase Otso Diretso, which is the name of the eight-member senatorial slate of the Liberal Party in the May 13 election. How clever, I thoughta play on the Spanish phrase for ready-made, hecho derecho. Seven men and one woman ready-made for election to the Senate. Otso Diretsos eight candidates are made up mostly of currently-serving or former government officials; only two have not held government positions. The six who are either currently serving or have served the government are Bam Aquino, Mar Roxas, Lorenzo Erin Tanada III, Florin Hilbay, Gary Alejano and Samira Gutoc. The two candidates who have come from the private sector are Jose Manuel Diokno and Romulo Macalintal. Bam Aquino, who was formerly chairman of the National Youth Commission, is seeking a second term in the Senate. During his first days in the Senate Bam Aquino was regarded as just another member of the famous clan, but with the passage of time the young senator from Tarlac gained the acceptance and respect of his peers for his dedication, industry and professionalism. Ninoy Aquino would have been proud of his nephew. A former senator, Mar Roxas was a candidate for the presidency in the 2016 election. Mr. Roxas rode to victory in his first senatorial bid as Mr. Palengke, a title he earned from his having been Secretary of Trade and Industry in the administration of President Estrada and President Arroyo. Roxas was also Secretary of Transportation in the Arroyo administration. With his training and broad experience, Roxas is Otsos business point-man. Lorenzo Tanada III, who is better known by his nickname Erin, represented the 4thDistrict of Quezon in the 13th, 14th and 15thCongresses. The grandson of the Grand Old Man of the Senate, the first Lorenzo Tanada, Erin represents the third generation of a family of political activists and human-rights advocates. His father Wigberto completes the Trio Tanada that relentlessly fought martial law and the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos in the streets and in Free Legal Assistance Group-initiated lawsuits.Otso Diretso boasts of something that its opposition does not have: a first-placer in the Bar examinations. That person is Florin Hilbay. Pilo Hilbay rose from humble beginnings in Tondo to become UP College of Law dean and Solicitor General. The most recent of the many feathers in his cap is being part of the government panel that successfully argued the Philippines case against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration. A legal heavyweight Pilo Hilbay truly is. The military is represented in Otso Diretso. Gary Alejano, who represents the party-list Magdalo party, was a captain in the Philippine Marines. Apart from government corruption, Rep. Alejanos interest has centered on assertion of Philippine sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea and Benham Rise and the creation of a Cabinet government to protect and oversee the nations maritime and oceanic affairs. Alejano will double-team with Hilbay in pushing for the assertion of this countrys sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea. The only woman and Muslim in Otso Diretso is Samira Gutoc. Before deciding to join the Senate race, she was a member of the governing assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Smart and articulate, Samira Gutoc is recognized as one of the most competent of this countrys female Muslim professionals. When the history of the human rights movement in this country is written, two of the most prominent names in it will be former Senator Jose Ka Pepe Diokno and his son Jose Manuel. Chel, the nickname of Jose Manuel Diokno, is the dean of the college of law of De La Salle University. The Chel Diokno-Erin Tanada tandem will be in the forefront of the new Senates human-rights promotion activities. Last but by no means least among the Otso Diretso Eight is Romulo Macalintal. Mac Macalintals principal area of expertise may be election law, but by no means can it be said that the formidable election lawyer will be unwilling or unable to participate effectively in Senate discussions of other weighty national matters. Not at all. Romulo Macalintal will in time become one of the new Senates most influential members. The Liberal Party has fielded, for the coming Senate election, eight of the most worthy individuals in this country. They are ready-made for service to the nation.
LONDON (Reuters) - A closed-door speech last year by Iran's Supreme Leader voicing doubt about the Iranian government's diplomatic overtures to Europe was released on Monday in a sign of feuding over foreign policy that led to a short-lived resignation by the foreign minister. The address by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in mid-2018 appeared to forecast difficulties European countries would have in honoring pledges to protect trade with Iran from new U.S. sanctions after Washington abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The speech showed that while President Hassan Rouhani was trying to save the nuclear deal with European powers, who remained committed despite the U.S. exit, Khamenei was not optimistic. The publication of the comments eight months afterward presented Khamenei as viewing the situation as unchanged. Khamenei, an anti-Western hardliner, was quoted as saying by his official website that the Europeans would naturally say they are protecting Iranian interests with their package but the Iranian government "should not make this a main issue". He said the nuclear deal did not resolve any of the economic problems of Iran. He predicted that a mechanism proposed by the EU to shield business with Iran against the U.S. sanctions would also be no panacea for Iran's economic hardship. "(The Europeans) are bad. They are really bad. I have a lot to say about the Europeans; not because of their current policies, but their mischievous nature over the last few centuries," said Khamenei. ZARIF'S RESIGNATION His comments, made in a meeting with the cabinet, were published a week after Rouhani rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a U.S.-educated veteran diplomat who championed the nuclear deal. Khamenei's comments cast doubt on the efficacy of Zarif's past and current efforts to keep the agreement alive. Zarif, who retracted his resignation after Rouhani refused to accept it, said on Monday he had resigned in order to preserve the dignity and credibility of the Foreign Ministry, according to the semi-official Fars news agency. Fars quoted him as saying the ministry is responsible for all of Iran's foreign relations. "It's not that any body inside or outside the government has its own foreign policy, and we're only responsible for the foreign policy of the foreign ministry. In that case, there would be no need for a foreign ministry," he was quoted as saying. Iranian politics has long been riven by factional struggles, especially on fraught relations with the West. While Rouhani and his moderate camp still back the nuclear deal and seek rapprochement with the United States and Europe, hardliners, echoing Khameneis stance, reject any yielding to foreign pressure as inimical to Islamic revolutionary values. Khamenei, who has the final say on all major Iranian domestic and foreign policy and only reluctantly backed the nuclear negotiations, said on Monday Rouhani's government should not be deceived by European countries and their "smiles". Under the nuclear deal struck between Iran and six big powers in 2015, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations were lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear program the West suspected was geared to developing an atom bomb. U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out last year. His administration said that while Iran had met the deal's terms, the accord was too generous, failing to rein in ballistic missile testing or to curb Iranian involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and Yemen. New U.S. sanctions have largely succeeded in persuading European companies to put aside business projects with Iran. France, Germany and Britain opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran in January, although diplomats say it is unlikely to enable the big transactions Tehran says are needed to keep a nuclear deal afloat. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi praised the proposed EU mechanism, known as Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), as a "late but important step". Qasemi said, however, that the Islamic Republic would accept no conditions from the EU. France has called on Iran to stop all activities linked to its ballistic missile program or face sanctions. The Europeans have promised to help companies do business with Iran as long as it abides by the deal. Iran has threatened to pull out of the 2015 deal itself unless EU powers demonstrably protect its economic benefits. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday that Iran is still meeting its commitments under the nuclear deal. "Contrasting the constant lies that Netanyahu, Trump & Associates tell about Iran, the #IAEA once againand for the umpteenth timeaffirms our standing by our word and adhering to the nuclear accord that the US has illegally violated. Our patience, however, is running thin," Zarif tweeted on Monday. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry)
By Crispian Balmer

ROME (Reuters) - Nicola Zingaretti, the governor of the central Lazio region, was elected as head of Italy's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) on Sunday, one year after the group lost power in a humbling national elections defeat.

More than 1.6 million PD supporters cast ballots at makeshift voting booths around the country, the party said, a much higher turnout than expected indicating a renewal of interest in the group following its 2018 rout.

Zingaretti, whose brother Luca plays the lead role in the Italian TV police drama Inspector Montalbano, won more than 60 percent the vote, according to early returns. His two rivals, Maurizio Martina and Roberto Giachetti, swiftly conceded.

He is viewed as a moderate and will be tasked with restoring unity to a party that was torn apart by schisms under its previous leader - former prime minister Matteo Renzi, whose confrontational style made him a highly divisive figure.

Accused of not doing enough to tackle poverty, high unemployment and mass immigration, the PD was trounced last year by populist forces, sparking months of internal feuding and soul-searching ahead of Sunday's primary vote.

"Nicola Zingaretti has won a wonderful and clearcut victory. Now this friendly fire must stop. Our political opponents are not at home but in the government," Renzi said on Twitter.

The PD primary comes at a time of growing tension within Italy's coalition government as the far-right League and anti-system 5-Star Movement struggle to overcome deep policy disputes in the face of an unexpected economic slowdown.

In a heartening sign for the left, tens of thousands took to the streets of the financial capital Milan on Saturday to denounce racism and the anti-migrant policies of the League in the largest such protest since the government took office.

The League has surged in the polls on the back of its anti-immigration stance, with a survey in Corriere della Sera daily at the weekend putting its support at 35.9 percent, more than double the 17.4 percent it won in last March's ballot.

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By contrast, support for 5-Star has dropped to 21.2 percent from 32.7 percent, as the group struggles to adjust from life as a vociferous, opposition force to a ruling government party.

Corriere put backing for the PD at 18.5 percent, little changed from a year ago but up from the 16.1 percent it registered in a similar survey at the start of February.

All three PD leadership contenders had ruled out cutting any coalition deals with 5-Star in the future and say early elections would be needed if the current government fell.

Renzi did not back any of the PD candidates, but has dismissed speculation that he might form a breakaway group.

Zingaretti's first major test will be to lead the party into European parliamentary elections in May. The PD won more than 40 percent of the vote in the last EU ballot in 2014, before falling rapidly out of favour with the electorate.

(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; editing by David Evans and Bill Berkrot)




Another key member of the Liberal team has resigned from cabinet.

Treasury Board president Jane Philpott says shes stepping down from her post amid the SNC-Lavalin controversy. The Markham-Stouffville MP was also the minister of digital government.

I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations, Philpott wrote on Twitter. There can be a cost to acting on ones principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them.

The Ontario politician says evidence that emerged in recent weeks has made it untenable for her to continue as a cabinet minister. Philpott is now the second Liberal minister to resign over the scandal.

Unfortunately, the evidence of efforts by politicians and/or officials to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in the criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin, and the evidence as to the content of those efforts have raised serious concerns for me, Philpott wrote in her resignation letter.

It grieves me to resign from a portfolio where I was at work to deliver an important mandate. I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on ones principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them. pic.twitter.com/EwO5dtdgG6  Jane Philpott (@janephilpott) March 4, 2019

The move is the latest shoe to drop in the SNC-Lavalin controversy. The affair has dogged Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberals since an explosive newspaper report was published on Feb. 7.

The Globe and Mail reported Jody Wilson-Raybould faced pressure from the Prime Ministers Office to intervene in the criminal case against Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin while she was the federal justice minister and attorney general of Canada.

Trudeau denied the allegations, but a lot has happened since then. Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet and Gerald Butts, Trudeaus principal adviser and longtime friend, also called it quits.

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Last Wednesday, Wilson-Raybould testified at the House justice committee, where she claimed she faced veiled threats in an inappropriate effort to sway her into providing the company with a deferred prosecution agreement.





The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system, Philpott said. It is a fundamental doctrine of the rule of law that our Attorney General should not be subjected to political pressure or interference regarding the exercise of her prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases.

Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised.

Before Philpotts resignation was announced, the prime minister was in Prince Edward Island where he told reporters he will always stand up for good jobs and defend the interests of Canadians.

Thats what Canadians expect us to do as a government. Thats what we will always continue to do, Trudeau commented. We will do that, however, in a way that respects our institutions, respects the independence of our judiciary. Canadians expect us to do those two things at the same time and thats what we will always do.

The allegations of political interference have captivated the other major parties. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer held a news conference in wake of Philpotts resignation where he said its time for other Liberal cabinet ministers to ask themselves what they got into politics for.

This corruption scandal has engulfed this government, Scheer said. I believe hes lost the moral authority to govern. The Tory leader also challenged other Liberals to stand up against what Scheer calls an ethical rot that has encompassed the government.

Last week, Scheer called on Trudeau to resign, and he repeated that call Monday. Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wants an independent inquiry into what really happened behind the scenes.

In an online poll on Yahoo Canada, 72 per cent of nearly 30,000 respondents said they believe Trudeau should resign as prime minister over the controversy.

Butts, Trudeaus former top aide, is set to testify before the House justice committee on Wednesday after making a request to do so.

A trained medical doctor, Philpott was the federal health minister from 2015 to 2017 and the minister of Indigenous services from 2017 to 2019.
A job seeker holds a pen with an information booklet at a job fair. Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

A job advert is the very first impression you get of a company and the position on offer  so getting the wording right is important.

But its not as simple as just describing the job, the ideal candidate and the employer. Gender bias and the way we use words in job listings can have a serious impact on the number of women who apply.

Specifically, the inclusion of certain words in job descriptions that are regarded as more masculine can lead to fewer women putting themselves forward for positions  particularly senior roles in male-dominated professions.

Last year, research by TotalJobs found that out of 75,000 job ads, 478,175 words were thought to carry a gender bias, with ads for social care and admin roles most likely to use female-biased language, at 87% and 67% respectively.

Sales and management roles were among the ads most likely to use male-biased language, such as lead, analyse and confident. The most commonly-used female-gendered words in UK job descriptions included support, responsible, understanding and dependable.

In 2016, the company Textio  which detects online bias for companies recruiting  carried out research that analysed how vocabulary can influence who applies for a job.

According to the findings, the average job ad contains twice as many phrases that have a masculine tone, which leads to more men applying for specific roles. While phrases like transparent and in touch with were considered more feminine, words like fearless and enforcement were seen as appealing to male candidates.

The issue is also linked to women feeling they belong at a company, a 2011 study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found. Women reported greater anticipated belongingness within occupations that were femininely than masculinely worded, the researchers stated. Men displayed only a slight preference for masculinely worded advertisements, and gendered wording did not affect mens anticipated feelings of belongingness.

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According to the study, this is because masculine wording primarily serves to keep women out of the areas that men typically occupy  rather than vice versa.

Its not just the wording of the job listing, but what it includes  or rather omits. Research published in 2018 by the job website Indeed found that when job ads for leadership positions omit salary information, the median gender pay gap is typically 7.2% worse.

Employers need to win the trust of potential recruits, and transparency can be one of the most effective ways to achieve this. The data gives us further insight around salary information and how median pay gaps are worse in leadership roles than at other levels when pay is not disclosed, says Paul Wolfe, senior vice-president of human resources at Indeed.

The findings show that choosing words carefully can have a positive impact on inclusive hiring and gender pay equality, but its the words employers omit that can also have an impact  especially when it comes to the pay gap in leadership positions.

Ensuring a fair job description makes business sense, too. Unemployment in the UK is at a record low and competition for staff is increasing, Wolfe adds. Taking gendered language out of postings may help jobseekers to see possibilities they may not have considered before, and so diversify and widen the talent pool.

The impact of gender bias in job adverts is far-reaching. In regards to gender equality, the TotalJobs research shows that there is a distinct male-bias in adverts for senior positions, while supporting roles are described using feminine words. Female employees are discouraged from higher-level positions, widening the gender pay gap.

Gendered wording also affects the type of jobs women apply for. Male-focused industries include science, marketing and sales, while female-biased adverts are common within administration, housekeeping and social care  typically lower paid professions.

Companies are also taking practical steps to address the problem, including using technology to comb through their job ads and detect any bias. The firm Textio, for example, uses artificial intelligence to look over job descriptions and highlight any problematic terms, before suggesting alternatives.

Another recruitment tech company, TalVista, assesses job descriptions and highlights discouraging terms in red and inviting terms in green, before scoring the text with a thumbs up or down.
A 17-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in a park was socialising with friends before she was approached by two males and knifed in the back.

Jodie Chesney, 17, died at the scene in Harold Hill, east London, just over an hour after police were called to the park at 9.25pm on Friday.

The suspect who attacked Jodie is described as a black male aged in his late teens, the Metropolitan Police said on Sunday. He is said to have approached her in silence before stabbing her.

Jodie Chesney, left, 17, was killed on Friday (Pictures: Instagram/PA)

There was no description given of the other male who approached Jodie and her five teenage friends while they were playing music.

The group were aware of the two males being in the park and saw them leave at around 9pm, police said.

Around 30 minutes later the pair returned to the park and walked straight towards the group, where one of the males stabbed Jodie once in the back, a statement from the force said.

People visit a site near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London (Picture: Reuters)

Nothing was said by the two suspects, who ran off in the direction of Retford Road, it added.

A post-mortem carried out on Sunday established that the cause of Jodies death was trauma and haemorrhage, and police released a photograph of the teenager on the same day.

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Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, appealed for witnesses to come forward.

He said: Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene  or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious.

I need those people to call me.

Jodie was a Girl Scout, and the Daily Telegraph reported that friends from Barking & Dagenham Scouts left a scout neckerchief at the base of a tree where the attack happened.

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A charity set up a fundraising page for Jodies family which raised more than 4,000 of the 5,000 goal in a day.

It said: The whole community are still trying to come to terms with this shocking event.

As a local charity we want to support the family as much as we can to alleviate the financial stress on this young ladys funeral.

Jodie was killed in an east London park on Friday (Picture: Facebook)

We are in contact with the immediate family and have agreed to support them with the cost of the funeral arrangements. Once a funeral directors have been chosen we will be writing a cheque to cover the costs.

We are aware that the local community will want to help with this appeal so as well as making a financial donation towards this from our own account we have set this page up for anyone who wishes to support the family further.

Jodies uncle Dave Chesney told ITV News on Sunday that the family had lost a beautiful, lovely and quirky girl.

Jodie Chesney, 17, who was stabbed to death in London (Picture: Instagram)

Floral tributes lie near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London (Picture: Reuters)

Mr Chesney said Jodie was the daughter of his youngest brother Pete, adding: We value your support and prayers at this time especially for our brother Pete, his wife Jo and Jodies sister Lucy.

Also for the friends that were with her at the time.

Posting on Facebook on Saturday, Jodies grandmother Debbie Chesney said too many young people were having their lives cut short by needless violence.

She echoed calls for people to come forward with information.

Home secretary Sajid Javid will meet police chiefs to discuss violent crime amid a series of brutal stabbings around the country.

The home secretary will chair the Chief Constables roundtable following the high-profile deaths of two 17-year-olds.

The event on Wednesday will include police chiefs from the areas most affected by knife crime.

The attack on Jodie was the 18th homicide in the capital in 2019, a total that stood at 20 by the end of the weekend.

A 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in the village of Hale Barns, near Altrincham, in Greater Manchester, on Saturday night was named by police as Yousef Ghaleb Makki.

Home secretary Sajid Javid said it cant go on (Picture: PA)[

Also over the weekend, a man was charged with murder over the fatal stabbing of Che Morrison, 20, outside an east London railway station on Tuesday.

A man was arrested in connection with two stabbings in central London late on Saturday night and early on Sunday that left two people with life-threatening injuries.

And police named a man who is fighting for his life after a horrific attack when he was stabbed in Enfield, north London, on Tuesday.

Mr Javid said: Young people are being murdered across the country and it cant go on.

Were taking action on many fronts and Ill be meeting police chiefs this week to hear what more can be done.

It is vital that we unite to stop this senseless violence.

The Home Office said it set out a range of actions to tackle violent crime in October including a 200 million youth endowment fund.
They were certain he would come. Wrapped in the Venezuelan flag, chanting and dancing to the music floating out from the stage, the thousands of supporters who spilled outwards from Caracass Plaza Alfredo Sadel had no doubt that Juan Guaido would soon appear among them.

It may be a long wait, an announcer shouted, to cheers. But we will be waiting here, for our president!

In the end, they did not have to wait long at all. Less than 90 minutes into the rally, the word came via Twitter.

Already in our beloved country! Mr Guaido posted. Venezuela, we have just passed immigration and we are heading to where our people are!

Even to the faithful, the ease with which the self-declared president had entered Venezuelan territory had a sense of the miraculous. Having violated a travel ban when he left the country to lead the attempted entry of aid from Colombia, Mr Guaido faced the threat of almost certain arrest by Nicolas Maduro's forces on his return.

Jan Guaido greets his supporters outside Simon Bolivar International airport Credit: Fernando Llano/AP

Speculation had been rife as to how he would slip in - perhaps smuggled over a remote border in the boot of a car, or even through one of the notorious trenches used by coyotes and desperate refugees.

In the end, he took a commercial flight from Panama into Caracas's military-controlled Maiquetia airport, had his passport stamped, and walked out unchallenged to an arrivals hall erupting into cries of "Yes we can!"

Speaking to the jubilant crowds in Caracas, Mr Guaido seized on his smooth passage back to the capital as evidence that the chain of command was now broken.

Mr Guaido claimed airport officials greeted him with the words 'welcome, President' Credit: Donaldo Barros/AFP

"Why do you think we are here today?" he said, claiming that when he had arrived at immigration "all of the officials said 'welcome, President'."

Stern warnings from the US and others of consequences for Mr Maduro's government may also have had an effect. So too may have the presence at Maiquetia airport of 13 ambassadors, including those of France, Spain, the United States, Brazil, Chile and Canada.

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But, despite Mr Maduro's insistence on Sunday night that the world would be witness to "a Venezuela that confronts imperialist aggression", his forces were notably absent from the Caracas rally. Nowhere to be seen were the riot police, armoured vehicles or feared "collectivos" that are a constant presence at opposition protests; a lone military helicopter passing once over the crowd the only reminder of the current occupant of Miraflores Palace.

Mr Guaido was met by a crowd of supporters as well as ambassadors representing 13 countries Credit: Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters

Standing in front of a presidential shield, Mr Guaido insisted that Mr Maduro's exit from that office was now unstoppable. "Despite the persecution and the threats, we made it," he said. "We are not going to fail."

The next steps, however, are not entirely clear. Mr Guaido announced meetings with unions for Tuesday and another protest on Saturday. Some of his followers spoke enthusiastically of the prospect of foreign intervention; others hoped for a peaceful transition, perhaps through fresh elections.

Francisco Perez, a 60-year-old lawyer, told The Telegraph the process could be "slow and complicated". But, he said, since January 23 - the day Mr Guaido swore himself in as interim president - "I have had no doubt that this is done".
Caracas (AFP) - Juan Guaido proudly calls himself a "survivor," and he proved just that in defying the threat of arrest to make a triumphant return to Venezuela on Monday.

Since stunning the world on January 23 when issuing a direct challenge to Nicolas Maudro's authority by declaring himself acting president, Guaido has shown ability and ambition in the power struggle with the socialist leader.

He has been bold and decisive, even if he failed 10 days ago in a bid to bring in desperately needed humanitarian aid.

Guaido, head of Venezuela's opposition-controlled legislature, did not set out to supplant Maduro, who has presided over a spiraling political and economic crisis in Venezuela.

But the sometimes reserved 35-year-old was thrust to the front of the Venezuelan opposition when more senior leaders were forced from the scene -- some detained, others banned from politics and more still pushed into exile.

Guaido brazenly called out Maduro as he took a revised oath of office before a crowd of thousands in Caracas, saying, "I swear to formally assume the national executive powers as acting president of Venezuela to end the usurpation, (install) a transitional government and hold free elections."

US President Donald Trump immediately recognized him as Venezuela's interim president, followed by a string of countries across the region.

Maduro, the hand-picked successor to late leftist firebrand Hugo Chavez, calls Guaido "a kid playing at politics."

But Guaido, an industrial engineer by training, has shown no fear in challenging the socialist leader's election to a second term, in a May vote that was boycotted by the opposition and rejected as illegitimate by the United States, European Union and a dozen Latin American countries.

Guaido, who became the youngest person ever to preside over the legislature on January 5, has never been a great public speaker.

But he is known as a talented coalition-builder -- something Venezuela's divided and disorganized opposition badly needs.

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"One of his main virtues is putting together teams. He understands the differing positions and does everything in his power to bring them together," 32-year-old lawmaker Juan Andres Mejia told AFP.

- 'Fresh face' -

In his short tenure as legislative leader, Guaido got the opposition majority to officially declare Maduro a "usurper" and his re-election a fraud, while promising an amnesty for all military and government officials who disavow the president.

He has gained confidence along the way, grinning at rallies and speaking with greater ease.

What he hasn't found a solution to, though, is the support Maduro enjoys from the military high command and the Supreme Court, institutions that have been pivotal to the regime's hold on power.

Guaido has not been shy about reaching out to the armed forces, recognizing that he needs them if he is to take power.

"I'm a survivor, not a victim," he has said, recalling how he survived one of Venezuela's worst natural disasters as a teenager: the Vargas tragedy of December 1999, when mudslides caused by torrential rain killed thousands of people.

Back then, Guaido lived with his mother and five siblings in the coastal state of Vargas.

"I know what it means to be hungry," he said.

His introduction to politics came alongside the generation of students that held mass protests against Chavez in 2007.

That movement inflicted Chavez's only electoral defeat, in a referendum on reforming the constitution to allow his indefinite re-election.

"Guaido is a fresh face, considered a man of consensus by the moderates and also respected by the radicals for having taken part in those protests," Diego Moya-Ocampos, an analyst at London-based IHS Markit consultants, told AFP.

Guaido was a founding member of the Popular Will (VP) party in 2009 and has now become its most recognizable face. Previous leader Leopoldo Lopez is under house arrest for leading anti-Maduro protests in 2014, and his heir apparent, Freddy Guevara, fled to the Chilean embassy after he was accused of inciting violent protests in 2017.

- Living dangerously -

Guaido, who took part in those protests, was elected deputy for his native Vargas in 2015.

He caused ripples by accusing state oil company PDVSA of corruption, but remained a relative unknown until recently.

"To be honest, I didn't know who he was. Hopefully he won't prove to be a fraud," said Jose Hernandez, a 24-year-old administrator, at a recent rally in support of Guaido.

Mejia, his legislative colleague, says Guaido is playing "a difficult game:" Venezuela is "used to personality cults and authoritarian leadership, and that's placing a big burden on Juan. Change doesn't depend only on him, it's down to everyone."

Guaido was briefly detained by intelligence agents on January 13. But he was released after less than an hour.

The government later blamed the incident on rogue agents acting unilaterally, arresting 12 people.

But Guaido has ample reason to be on the lookout. Prison service minister Iris Varela has said of him: "I've already got his jail cell prepared."
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has returned to Caracas after defying a travel ban  telling supporters we are going to celebrate this small victory today.

Ten days after he ignored the ban imposed by Nicolas Maduro and travelled first to Colombia for a series of meetings with leaders to seek international support to help oust him, he returned to Caracas and addressed a rally.

Hope has been born and it will not die  things are going well, the 35-year-old told a crowd at a plaza in the Las Mercedes district.

Urging his supporters to take to the streets once again, he added: Were much stronger than ever.

The leader of the countrys national assembly declared himself Venezuelas legitimate president in January, days after Mr Maduro was sworn in for a second term following elections in 2018.

Many in the international community questioned the legitimacy of the May 2018 elections, which were boycotted by much of the opposition, though they were defended by Mr Maduros supporters and some independent observers.

The conservative Mr Guaido has been recognised as interim president by more than than 50 countries, notably the US, UK, Brazil and Canada. A number of foreign diplomats were present at Caracas Simon Bolivar International Airport on Monday morning, to try and ensure the politician was not arrested as he returned to the country.

Among the countries that still recognise Mr Maduro as leader are Russia, China and Mexico.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stressed the only way the political conflict in Venezuela can be resolved is through political dialogue. Spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday that the UN obviously remain very concerned about the situation in Venezuela.

Its important that all political actors in Venezuela and abroad make all efforts to lower tensions, he said.

Mr Guaido has sought to use aid as a lever with with to put extra pressure on Mr Maduro, who was first elected in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chavez.

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Last week, his supporters tried to transport aid the US had airlifted to Colombia across the border, but were prevented from doing so my troops loyal to Mr Maduro.

Mr Maduro has said he is happy to accept aid and the UN had increased its own distribution as the crisis has played out. He has pointed out, that the US has previously used aid shipments to smuggle weapons to groups seeking to overthrow other governments elsewhere in Latin America.

There was no immediate response from Mr Maduro to the return of Mr Guaido who he has turned coup-supporting US puppet. Last week, he said whether or not he was arrested depended on the the justice system.

He cant just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country, he told ABC News.

As it was, it appeared Mr Maduro calculated that arresting Mr Guaido might create more problems than permitting him to hold several days of rallies. The US  which has threatened that all options are on the table in regard to Venezuela, had warned the authorities not to arrest Mr Guaido.
Washington (AFP) - A US judge on Monday rejected a request for expedited treatment of the case of an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State group in Syria and is seeking to return to the United States.

The Trump administration has declared that Hoda Muthana, 24, is not an American citizen and has barred her from coming home.

Ahmed Ali Muthana, Muthana's father, filed a lawsuit asking a federal court to affirm that his daughter has US nationality and to let her return along with her toddler son, whose father was a Tunisian jihadist killed in battle.

Judge Reggie Walton sided with the government and denied a request for expedited consideration of Muthana's case.

Walton said there was no proof there would be "irreparable harm" if her case is handled in a normal -- rather than an expedited -- fashion.

Arguing in court on Muthana's behalf, attorney Charles Swift said the normal process could take months and "conditions are not secure and safe in the refugee camp" where the young woman is currently being held by US-allied Kurdish fighters.

"She could be recaptured, killed or lose the ability to come back," Swift told the court.

Scott Stewart, a Justice Department lawyer, countered that there is "no indication she's facing any immediate harm."

"The situation of Hoda Muthana is a result of her leaving the US and joining a terrorist organization in Syria," Stewart said.

Swift expressed disappointment with the judge's ruling but said he was hopeful that the court would eventually find that Muthana "is in fact a US citizen."

Muthana has said that she regrets joining the Islamic State group and is willing to face prosecution in the United States over her incendiary propaganda on behalf of the extremists.

- Legal battle -

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.

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The brewing legal battle hinges on a murky timeline of bureaucratic paperwork in 1994 when Muthana was born and her father 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.

In the lawsuit, Ahmed Ali Muthana 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 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.

Muthana went to Syria in 2014 when IS was carrying out a grisly campaign of beheadings and mass rape and turned to social media to praise the killings of Westerners.

Trump tweeted last month that Muthana would not be allowed back even though he is pushing other Western countries to bring back hundreds of jihadists for prosecution.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reiterated on Monday in an interview with WOC Radio that Muthana would not be allowed to return.

"She's a terrorist, and we shouldn't bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America," Pompeo said. "It's not the right thing to do."
"Don't bet on it."

I heard this lament from a parent whose two children migrated to the United States some years ago. They have acquired their US citizenships and are now living there with their families. The father complained to me that he finds it peculiar that Filipinos who have migrated to the US soon acquire the habits and values of Americans. Worse, they lose their filial devotions. He asked: What is it with the United States that makes Filipinos living there act like Americans? They lose their morals. Young people live with their boyfriends or girlfriends outside the sacrament of matrimony. Sympathizing with him, I said its because of peer pressure and the American environment. This is nothing new. Ive heard countless similar stories.There is this debate on the Mutual Defense Treaty between the US and the Philippines, after the US Secretary of State visited last week. He said the US had our back. This supposedly means that if the Philippines is attacked, the US would come to our defense and vice versa. There were earlier moves to have the 1951 MDT reviewed in the wake of a possible confrontation between the US and China, especially so with the continued bullying done by China in the West Philippine Sea. When somebody says Ive got your back, it means I will protect and defend you. While there are those who believe that the US would really come to our defense, there are those who say that the treaty has some vague provisions. This is exactly why Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other experts want the MDT revised. The entire issue gets further muddled because the Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin claims there is no need for review. But when it comes to defense, whom would you rather believeLorenzana or Locsin? I am all for the review of the treaty. Many things have happened since 1951. For instance, does United States President Donald Trump really believe it? I will not bet on it. Trump has disregarded other treaties and agreements, like the one on climate change. Note also that when it comes to China, Trump would rather tiptoe. I cannot see the logic of Locsin and the others who claim there is no need for review in the wake of what is happening now.The only salutary effect of all these scheduled media debates is for people to know who are running for the Senate. There are some 60 candidates vying for 12 slots. This kind of introduction of newbies over television is most welcome. The debates could also reveal where they truly stand on various issues. Sometimes, they expose how candidates are ignorant of the job they are aspiring for. Id like to ask the newbies: Why are they running for an office that demands no less than half a billion pesos for just the hope of winning? Yes, thats how much it costs these days to run for the Senate.I had hoped that when the opposition, meaning the Liberal Party, came out with its list of candidates, it would have had names that are winnable. I was disappointed. The only possible winner in the pack is former Senator Mar Roxas. I think this is tragic. I want the opposition to have a louder voice in providing check and balance to the government. With Mar Roxas in the Senate, the opposition will still be in the Minority. Mar will be with Francis Pangilinan, Frank Drilon, Riza Hontiveros and Leila de Lima. This means the supermajority of either Duterte senators or so-called independent senators, who are actually with the majority, are still in control of the Senate. This means another three years of Duterte having the Senate under his thumb. The Senate should remain as the voice of the opposition! Dont believe Dutertes favorite candidate Bong Go who says he will serve as the link between Duterte and the people.The Philippine Constitution Association wants Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen to inhibit himself from the cases challenging the constitutionality of the Bangsamoro Organic Law. The petitioners say that the Constitution only recognizes two autonomous regionsthe Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and the Cordillera Administrative Region. Obviously, this does not include the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. Leonen had participated in an earlier agreement between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Aquino administration. Will Leonen inhibit himself? If yes, well and good. At least he has some self-respect. If not, that is his problem. Still, the biggest factor in the petitions is that any decision by the Supreme Court will be after the fact. The BOL has already been ratified. Can the Supreme Court nullify the ratification of a plebiscite?
Keith Flint of The Prodigy during the 2009 Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset.

The Prodigy frontman Keith Flint was announced dead on Monday after being found at home in Essex by police. He was 49-years-old.

Tributes poured in for the frontman who was seen as a pioneer on the British music scene, and whose bands music formed an integral part of so many peoples lives.

One story which caught the attention of social media was about Flints work after The Prodigy, as the landlord of Leather Bottle in Pleshey, Essex, near the home he shared with his wife, DJ Mayumi Kai.

One of my favourite Keith Flint stories, from his short-lived spell as a pub landlord. #ripkeithflint pic.twitter.com/skdyoNsR94  Richard Hancock  (@CanaryWorf) March 4, 2019

In the anecdote, taken from a 2015 interview with Flint in FHM magazine. Flint explained how he deals with pub visitors who cant help but reference one of The Prodigys most famous songs when the opportunity presents them.

Weve got an open fire, and Ive got about 60 quid in a pint pot on the mantelpiece because every time I light it, the Firestarter jokes come out, and boom, Im like, thats very funny, you owe me a pound.

Flint assured that all proceeds from the bad jokes went to charity.

Fans of Flint shared the story on Twitter, calling him brilliant and a legend.

The Prodigy rose to fame in the 1990s thanks to tracks like Firestarter and Breathe, and held a prominent place in the UKs popular Big Beat and rave music scenes.

After the news broke on, the band posted a tribute to their frontman, stating via Instagram that Flint had taken his own life, and they were,  shell shocked , f***in angry , confused and heart broken.

The Prodigy were due to tour the US in May, as well as play a number of festivals worldwide.

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Read More: The Prodigy frontman takes his own life aged 49



*For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website
If you want to know who really controls Agricultural Bank of China Limited (HKG:1288), then youll have to look at the makeup of its share registry. Institutions will often hold stock in bigger companies, and we expect to see insiders owning a noticeable percentage of the smaller ones. Companies that have been privatized tend to have low insider ownership.

Agricultural Bank of China is a pretty big company. It has a market capitalization of HK$1.6t. Normally institutions would own a significant portion of a company this size. Taking a look at our data on the ownership groups (below), its seems that institutions own shares in the company. We can zoom in on the different ownership groups, to learn more about 1288.

Check out our latest analysis for Agricultural Bank of China

SEHK:1288 Ownership Summary, March 4th 2019

What Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Agricultural Bank of China?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once its included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Agricultural Bank of China does have institutional investors; and they hold 9.6% of the stock. This suggests some credibility amongst professional investors. But we cant rely on that fact alone, since institutions make bad investments sometimes, just like everyone does. If multiple institutions change their view on a stock at the same time, you could see the share price drop fast. Its therefore worth looking at Agricultural Bank of Chinas earnings history, below. Of course, the future is what really matters.

SEHK:1288 Income Statement, March 4th 2019

Agricultural Bank of China is not owned by hedge funds. Quite a few analysts cover the stock, so you could look into forecast growth quite easily.

Insider Ownership Of Agricultural Bank of China

While the precise definition of an insider can be subjective, almost everyone considers board members to be insiders. 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 data cannot confirm that board members are holding shares personally. It is rare to see such a low level of personal ownership, amongst the board (and it is possible that our data might be incomplete). Concerned investors should check here to see if insiders have been selling or buying.

General Public Ownership

The general public holds a 10% stake in 1288. 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 like to dive deeper into how a company has performed in the past. You can access this interactive graph of past earnings, revenue and cash flow, for free .

If you would prefer discover what analysts are predicting in terms of future growth, do not miss this free report on analyst forecasts.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.



If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
Weve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. The flip side of that is that there are more than a few examples of insiders dumping stock prior to a period of weak performance. So well take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON:RR.).

What Is Insider Buying?

Most investors know that it is quite permissible for company leaders, such as directors of the board, to buy and sell stock on the market. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

We dont think shareholders should simply follow insider transactions. But equally, we would consider it foolish to ignore insider transactions altogether. As Peter Lynch said, insiders might sell their shares for any number of reasons, but they buy them for only one: they think the price will rise.

See our latest analysis for Rolls-Royce Holdings

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At Rolls-Royce Holdings

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by CEO & Executive Director D. Warren East for UK75k worth of shares, at about UK7.90 per share. So its clear an insider wanted to buy, at around the current price. Of course they may have changed their mind. But this suggests they are optimistic. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even if the share price has increased a bit since then.

Over the last year, we can see that insiders have bought 19.96k shares worth UK170k. In total, Rolls-Royce Holdings insiders bought more than they sold over the last year. Their average price was about UK8.54. Its great to see insiders putting their own cash into the companys stock, albeit at below the recent share price (UK9.05). You can see the insider transactions (by individuals) over the last year depicted in the chart below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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LSE:RR. Recent Insider Trading, March 4th 2019

If you like to buy stocks alongside management, then you might just love this free list of companies. (Hint: insiders have been buying them).

Rolls-Royce Holdings Insiders Bought Stock Recently

We saw some Rolls-Royce Holdings insider buying shares in the last three months. Insiders shelled out UK14k for shares in that time. Its good to see the insider buying, as well as the lack of recent sellers. However, in this case the amount invested recently is quite small.

Insider Ownership of Rolls-Royce Holdings

Many investors like to check how much of a company is owned by insiders. I reckon its a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. From our data, it seems that Rolls-Royce Holdings insiders own 0.02% of the company, worth about UK3.8m. Whilst better than nothing, were not overly impressed by these holdings.

What Might The Insider Transactions At Rolls-Royce Holdings Tell Us?

We note a that there has been a tad more insider buying than selling, recently. But the net investment is not enough to encourage us much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. While we have no worries about the insider transactions, wed be more comfortable if they owned more Rolls-Royce Holdings stock. Of course, the future is what matters most. So if you are interested in Rolls-Royce Holdings, you should check out this free report on analyst forecasts for the company.

If you would prefer to check out another company  one with potentially superior financials  then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

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.
South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged the US and North Korea to quickly resume denuclearisation talks after their Hanoi summit last week ended without a deal.

Moon, who has adopted a dovish approach to Pyongyang and brokered the US-North Korea talks process, urged his officials to find out what exactly had gone awry at the high-stakes meeting, and predicted a deal would ultimately be reached.

"We hope that both countries will continue their dialogue and that their leaders meet again quickly to reach an agreement that was held off this time," Moon said during a security meeting in Seoul.

"While I believe the North-US talks will produce an agreement in the end, I ask officials to work hard for the resumption of working-level talks between the US and the North as it is not favourable to have a long absence or stalemate in talks."

The second meeting between US President Donald Trump and the North's Kim Jong Un broke up in disarray Thursday in the Vietnamese capital, without even a joint statement.

Trump said at a press conference after the summit that the North Koreans had wanted sanctions against Pyongyang "lifted in their entirety".

According to a senior US official, Pyongyang in return offered only to close down "a portion of the Yongbyon complex", a sprawling site covering multiple nuclear facilities -- and the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants.

North Korea rebuffed the claims, saying it had only wanted some measures eased, and that its proposal to close "all the nuclear production facilities" at Yongbyon was its best and final offer.

"I ask that we find out the exact gap between the two sides that led to a no-deal at the Hanoi summit and explore ways to narrow down that gap," Moon said.

The UN atomic watchdog said Monday there were indications that Yongbyon's reported centrifuge enrichment facility had been in use as recently as the end of February.

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"However, without access, the Agency cannot confirm the nature and purpose of these activities," said International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano in Vienna.

The IAEA uses methods including satellite imagery to monitor North Korea's nuclear programme.

About 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, Yongbyon is home to the country's first nuclear reactor, and is the only known source of plutonium for the North's weapons programme.

Yongbyon is not believed to be the North's only uranium enrichment facility and closing it down would not in and of itself signal an end to the country's atomic programme.

However, Moon said that if all Yongbyon facilities were "terminated in entirety, it should be considered the North's denuclearisation has entered an irreversible stage".

The Yongbyon site is "the foundation of North Korean nuclear facilities", he added.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP)  Kosovo's main governing partner has threatened to withdraw its support from the country's prime minister if he perseveres with a 100-percent tariff on goods from Serbia.

Following pressure from Washington to suspend the tariff, Kadri Veseli, leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, said Monday that "no government could endanger sacred ties with the U.S."

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who is from the Alliance for Kosovo's Future Party, has resisted suspending the tariff, saying that it will only be lifted when Belgrade recognizes Kosovo's sovereignty and stops preventing it from joining international organizations.

Serbia says it will not take part in European Union-facilitated discussions with Kosovo, which began in 2011, until the tariff is revoked.

Serbia doesn't accept Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.
As the winter passes and we step into the warmth of spring, we must think of what are the most impactful steps that we can take to improve our industry.

When I took a month off work to reflect on where we are and contemplate where we are going, it is these steps that I was seeking to identify.

We have talked about the importance of global regulatory standard for the blockchain industry. As you know, Malta is leading the way, and many countries are quick to follow, so for today, we will leave it at that. Let us come back to this subject in a couple of months, give the regulators time to implement.

For today I would like to capture your attention on something thats equally as important education.

There is a lot of talk about the importance of getting the attention of more developers to the blockchain industry. There is nothing new about that. The only thing I can add to it is that for us to find solutions to technical issues like scalability and speed we need to draw the attention of at least mid-level engineers to this tech.

Distrust

This should not be a problem, right? It is a fascinating and exciting field, or so it seems. It appears that a lot of sound engineers look at the crypto industry with distrust and disinterest.

Why? In my opinion, a big part of it is due to lack of experience and business knowledge. As I discussed in my earlier article  Bitcoin was born in a world of freedom  we are running a huge deficit of people who understand how this industry works. As a result, we are paying a costly price for what is obviously self-education.

I do believe that learning while doing is excellent and, in fact, it is the most valuable knowledge when we learn through experience.

There is nothing wrong with bootstrapping your company and slowly scaling it from angel to seed to A+rounds. All one needs is the spirit of entrepreneurship and dedication. Lack of knowledge in the early stages is not mission critical as the amount of money that each mistake costs is relatively small.

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But in the crypto space, we must be more careful, as by nature an early stage company, a team of only a couple people who are often entirely inexperienced or, at best, underqualified end up with massive amounts of money. Thats a huge problem, and no wonder many serious developers and business professionals do not want to deal with blockchain altogether.

Avoidable mistakes

I believe that a significant step toward improving the whole industry lies in business and general blockchain education. Just think about how many outrageously expensive mistakes could have been avoided in 2017 and 2018 if non-technical executives of ICOs would have gone through a blockchain business and application course first.

I do believe that most of the failures we observed, for the most part, are due to lack of knowledge and not malaise play.

I decided to lead by example and inspire by action. So, I attended a blockchain executive program at Kingsland University. I am glad that I did; it was time well spent. I support education. And even though before my course I was already equipped with reasonable experience of being in the industry a little over five years, I found it useful. I see value in my ability to say that I am a certified Blockchain business executive now.

Business education is a necessary solution for many existing problems in the blockchain space. Many of which can be eliminated by providing much-needed baseline knowledge. There are more and more programs that are coming online at different universities. If you are a business professional, I encourage you to dedicate some time to take one of these programs and follow my lead. And if thats not on the table for you for whatever reason, at least hire somebody who cared to do so.

I believe that through education and regulatory infrastructure we will see best practices become the norm which is key to broad adoption.

By Emma Thompson  March 4, 2019

The post Lead by example, and inspire by action appeared first on Coin Rivet.
By Deborah Bloom BEAUREGARD, Ala. (Reuters) - Alabama residents and rescue teams on Monday sifted through the splintered remnants of homes torn apart by a string of tornadoes that killed at least 23 people, including three children, in the deadliest burst of twisters to hit the United States since 2013. The tornadoes, spawned by a late-winter "supercell" thunderstorm, ripped through Lee County on Sunday with cyclonic winds of up to 170 miles (274 km) per hour, at step four of the six-step Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale of tornado strength. Mobile homes were tossed on their sides and ripped open, their contents strewn over a ravaged landscape littered with debris and gnarled, uprooted trees. In some places, shreds of houses hung from the limbs of the few trees left standing. "It looks almost as if someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground. There are slabs where homes formerly stood, debris everywhere, trees are snapped," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told a morning news conference. At least three twisters struck the area, in eastern Alabama near the Georgia border, within a few hours on Sunday afternoon. The worst of the damage and all of the known fatalities occurred in and around the tiny community of Beauregard, about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Auburn, said Chris Darden, chief meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Birmingham. Besides one EF-4 tornado, storm trackers have confirmed two smaller twisters classified as EF-1, each of which packed winds of up to 110 mph (177 km per hour), according to Darden. "We'll be examining more areas tomorrow," he said. In addition to 23 confirmed deaths, more than 50 people were reported injured, authorities said, marking the greatest loss of life from a tornado since an EF-5 storm tore through Moore, Oklahoma, in May 2013, killing 24 people and injuring 375 others. Three of the dead were children, ages 6, 9 and 10, County Coroner Bill Harris said at an afternoon news conference. Family members identified two of the young victims. An initial canvass of the stricken area turned up no additional bodies, but Jones left open the possibility that more victims could be found once the search was completed. Darden said in an interview that "a few people" remained unaccounted for, though he said he did not know the precise number. All the dead were in the Beauregard area, he said. All but six of the victims were identified, and investigators think they know the identities of the others, Harris said. 'THAT'S HALF MY HOME' Jenifer Vernon, a 40-year-old grocery store attendant, surveyed the wreckage of her flattened home, spread in piles on either side of her Beauregard street. "That's half my home," said Vernon, pointing to the debris. "That's the other half." She was in the nearby town of Opelika with her husband and 14-year-old daughter when the tornadoes hit. Looking over splintered pieces of wood and the remains of kitchen appliances, Vernon said she had lost another home to fire last year. "We'll bounce back from this," she added. U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter on Monday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be helping. "FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes," Trump said. The death toll was more than double the 10 people killed by tornadoes in the United States for all of 2018, according to government data. Darden said the latest twisters, which are common to the Gulf Coast region this time of year, grew out of a larger storm system that swept out of the Plains to bring thunderstorms to the Deep South and a wintry mix of precipitation to the Ohio Valley, mid-Atlantic region and Northeast. Julie Morrison, a 61-year-old produce manager who has lived in Beauregard for 19 years, said she survived the storm by hiding in a bathtub with her husband. On Monday, all that remained of her home was its concrete foundation, piled under heaps of wood and broken furniture, with the tattered remainders of a trailer wrapped around a tree. "It's just devastating to see this," Morrison said. "I just thank God that me and my husband survived." (Additional reporting by Joseph Ax and Gabriella Borter in New York and Rich McKay in Atlanta; additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; editing by Frank McGurty and Jonathan Oatis)
Tallinn (AFP) - Estonia was on track Monday for its first woman prime minister after the opposition liberal Reform party won a general election, outpacing the governing centre-left and a surging far-right party drawing on support from hurting rural voters.

Reform leader Kaja Kallas, a 41-year-old lawyer and former MEP, wooed voters in the Baltic state of 1.3 million with business-friendly promises of cutting taxes and unemployment insurance premiums to aid job creation.

Bread-and-butter issues like taxation and public spending dominated Sunday's election in the ex-Soviet EU and NATO state, along with tensions over Russian-language education for the sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide.

Reform garnered 28.8 percent of the vote, ahead of the governing centre-left Centre party with 23 percent, while the far-right EKRE more than doubled its previous election score with 17.8 percent, according to full results on Estonia's official election website.

Turnout was just over 63 percent.

- 'Common sense' -

An ardent europhile, Kallas is the daughter of former Estonian prime minister Siim Kallas, who also led the Reform party before serving as a European transport commissioner.

Should she succeed in forging a viable coalition, Kallas will govern in tandem with President Kersti Kaljulaid, Estonia's first woman head of state who took office in 2016.

Vowing to run the "country with common sense", Kallas said Reform would "seek common ground" for possible coalitions with three of the four other parties that entered parliament, while ruling out EKRE as "not a choice for us".

She said Reform has "strong differences" with the Centre party of outgoing Prime Minister Juri Ratas in three areas: taxation, citizenship and education.

Asked if his party would consider becoming a junior coalition partner, Ratas said "of course".

With a combined 60 seats in the 101-seat parliament, the two could govern together as they have done in the past.

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- Rivals or partners? -

Centre and Reform have alternated in government over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.

Both strongly support Estonia's EU and NATO membership, which they see as a buffer against Soviet-era master Russia.

They have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozone's lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.

Joblessness hovers at just under five percent while economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7 percent this year from 3.9 percent in 2018.

Rather than join up with Centre, Kallas could woo two other parties which currently govern in a coalition with Ratas -- the Social Democrats and the conservative Isamaa -- for a 56-seat majority.

While it won just seven seats in the 2015 election, EKRE is now a close third behind the mainstream parties after capturing support on promises of slashing income and excise taxes and pushing anti-immigration rhetoric.

The party has no obvious coalition prospects.

Experts say its appeal is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform.

- 'Very ambiguous' -

Staunchly eurosceptic EKRE leader Mart Helme insisted on Monday that the party would call for an "Estxit" referendum "if the EU starts moving in the direction of federalising".

The move would fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country.

Its suspicion of Moscow translates into strong support for NATO membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 as a tripwire against possible Russian adventurism.

The Centre party has long been favoured by Estonia's Russian minority, which comprises around a quarter of the population.

The minority had counted on Centre to save the existing education system which incorporates Estonian and Russian-language schools rooted in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching.

Under the constitution, Premier Ratas must resign at the first sitting of the new parliament, which takes places within 10 days of the election. President Kaljulaid then has 14 days to name a candidate for prime minister.

Expected to get the nod, Kallas will have two weeks to forge a coalition able to secure a majority in parliament.

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The actor Luke Perry has died days after suffering a massive stroke.

The former Beverly Hills, 90210 star was admitted to hospital last Wednesday after he suffered a stroke at his Los Angeles home.

The actors publicist told Yahoo: Actor Luke Perry, 52, passed away today after suffering a massive stroke. He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiance Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends.

Luke Perry in Los Angeles last year (Presley Ann/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.

Perry starred as Fred Andrews on the teen television series Riverdale but is better known for his role as the handsome loner Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210, which was set around a group of students living in the upscale southern California city.

Read more: RIP Keith Flint

For years, as Beverly Hills, 90210 gained a cult-like following, Perry was mobbed with young girls chasing him wherever he would go. In one instance in 1992, thousands of teens rushed a portable stage, constructed for the actors appearance, and squashed each other, with a dozen people getting rushed to a hospital.

UNITED STATES  17th March 1992: Ian Ziering,Jason Priestley, Tori Spelling and Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green and Luke Perry of Beverly Hills 90210 in the press room at the 1992 Peoples Choice Awards in Hollywood . (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)

I dont like that, Perry told Rolling Stone. I mean, I could understand if I was [Elvis Presley]. He had to stop doing public appearances.

Perry was taken ill the same day that Fox television announced it was reviving the series with many of the original cast, including Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth and Tori Spelling.

Read more: Colin Hanks leads tributes to Perry

Perry was not among those announced as returning for the limited run of six new episodes this summer.

Riverdale has shut down production for the day following the news of Luke Perrys death this morning, Variety has learned.

Beverly Hills, 90210 ran for 10 years starting in 1990 and was one of the most popular shows on U.S. television.

Perry is survived by his two children, 21-year-old son Jack and 18-year-old daughter Sophie, whom he shared with ex-wife, Minnie Sharp. Perry and Sharp divorced in 2003 after 10 years together. The actor was notoriously private about his personal life. It was not public knowledge that he was even engaged to Wendy Madison Bauer until news of his death was confirmed.

Additional reporting by Taryn Ryder, Yahoo Entertainment
Government officials have contrasting opinions on whether or not a list of candidates involved in illegal drugs should be released ahead of the May 13 elections.

The Palace leads those who want this list, now containing 83 names, released. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo says the Constitution guarantees Filipinos' right to information. Voters should know what kind of people they are electing to office. Panelo says President Duterte will not oppose the release of the list because he in fact has done it before. But Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency director general Aaron Aquino is not inclined to disclose the narco-list because it could only make things more chaotic. Elections Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said releasing the list would be "unfair" as it is a form of negative campaigning. Senator Aquilino Pimentel III said the Commission on Elections cannot prevent those on the list from running for office in May because "being on a list, even on a narco-list" is not recognized as a legal ground for disqualifying candidates.And indeed the spokesman for the Comelec said candidates can still seek public office even if they are on the list, because only a final conviction can disqualify them from seeking a public post. The matter could be decided by answering one question: How much can the list be actually trusted? What guarantee do we have that the list contains every name that must be there, and that it does not contain names that must not be there? Only until we are sure of the merits of the vetting process can we even begin to debate on whether or not it is prudent to make the list public. Without this certainty, it would be wiser to hold off the naming and shaming, and simply let voters discern for themselves whether or not a person awash with unexplained cash, for instance, deserves the post he or she is seeking.
Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday outlined his vision for Europe's future, urging reform of its passport-free Schengen area and setting up a new agency "for the protection of democracies" against cyber-attacks and fake news.

In an opinion piece, to be published by several top European newspapers including Die Welt, the Guardian, El Pais and Corriere della Serra, Macron also renewed his call for greater security cooperation and stressed the need for a common asylum policy to deal with the migrant crisis.

"Never since the Second World War has Europe been so necessary. And yet never has Europe been in such a danger," Macron said, in what many see as the start of his own campaign for the May European Parliament elections.

The president listed a series of initiatives the EU could take both to defend itself and to adhere more closely to its core values.

"A European agency for the protection of democracies would provide European experts to each member state to protect its electoral process against cyber-attacks and manipulation," he suggested.

Financing European political parties from abroad should also be banned, while rules should be agreed on banning "hateful and violent speeches from the internet", he added.

In January, Macron had suggested that the Brexit campaign -- which saw Britain vote to leave the EU -- was "manipulated from the exterior by a lot of what we call fake news".

- A symbol of Europe's crisis -

Brexit, he said, was the "symbol of Europe's crisis in not being able to provide for the people's need for protection in the face of today's" threats.

Macron, who has made no secret of his plans to form a centrist, pro-Europe alliance to stave off populist and nationalist movements which have been gaining ground across the continent, also suggested reforming the 26-member Schengen area which allows free movement between members.

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All those who want to belong to Schengen should accept both stricter controls on outer borders and a common asylum policy for migrants, he said.

A number of eastern European EU members, included those run by right-wing governments in Poland and Hungary, have rejected previous calls to take in a share of the migrants arriving from the Middle East and Africa.

Macron suggested Europe should also share a common border force, along with a joint office for dealing with asylum demands.

To head off popular discontent, he raised the idea of a European minimum salary, describing how it could serve as a "social shield guaranteeing the same pay at the same place of work."

At the same time, Europe should seek to favour its own business interests, just as "our American and Chinese competitors do," he said.

Warning citizens against the threat of accepting the status quo, he urged them to seek change while preserving shared values.

- Revising treaties -

A "conference for Europe", involving "citizen panels", could be held "to put forward all necessary changes to our political undertaking, with no taboos, not even that of revising treaties," he said.

He also urged negotiating a new "treaty on defence and security", and setting up a European security council that would include Britain to promote collective defence initiatives.

In a speech in September 2017, Macron called for greater security cooperation in Europe and a common asylum policy.

But his ideas, until now, have met only lukewarm support from Germany's leader Angela Merkel, while sparking outright opposition from right-wing government leaders in Italy, Hungary and Poland.

The 41-year-old Macron upset France's traditional political system by winning the 2017 presidential election, beating off Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front.

Since then he has sought to liberalise the French economy, but this has sparked grassroot opposition with three-months of mass demonstrations by "yellow vest" protesters.
The two sisters vanished from their home last Friday. (Humboldt County Sheriff)

Two miracle young sisters who vanished for 44 hours were found in woodland after rescuers followed a trail of snack wrappers.

Sisters Leia Carrico, eight and Caroline Carrico, five, who disappeared into woods in North Carolina were found alive two days later thanks to leaving a trail of granola bar wrappers.

The young girls vanished from their home in Benbow, north west of Sacramento, on Friday at 2:30pm and were found 44 hours later following a huge rescue operation.

Firefighters discovered them on Sunday morning about a mile away from their home after tracing the granola bar wrappers and their boot marks.

Humboldt County Sheriffs Lieutenant Mike Fridley said last Friday: We have found some clues during the day that have made us change our directions.

The young girls were rescued from the woods after 44 hours. (Humboldt County Sheriff)

We found some granola bar wrappers and we were able to confirm with the mom that yes, these are granola bars that [shes] bought in the last few days.

So the wrappers showed us a direction from where they started to where the wrappers ended at.

The girls vanished after asking their mum if they could go on a walk and her refusing.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said: This is an absolute miracle.

Police launched a huge rescue operation to find the girls. (Humboldt County Sheriff)

This is rugged territory, this is an extreme environment. How they were out there for 44 hours is pretty amazing.

Second district supervisor in Humboldt County, Estelle Fennel, said: We have so many of these kinds of efforts that end up in tears.

Today, we can all shed tears of joy.

The young girls used their survival skills to keep hydrated as they drank water from huckleberry leaves.

They said they became lost when they were following a deer trail.

Police said it was a miracle that the sisters were rescued safely. (Humboldt County Sheriff)

The Coast Guard, US National Guard and fire crews all helped the police to track down the missing girls.

The mother of the two girls, Misty Carrico, said: When my two daughters Leia, age 8, and Caroline, aged 5, wandered off into the woods the whole world came to our aid.

With the help of the volunteer search and rescue, technical rescue, sheriffs office, local volunteers, multiple other agencies my girls were found after 44 hours.

My girls were found cold, tired, but alive.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped President Donald Trump wouldn't declare a national emergency over border security, but said Monday that he was "obviously" unsuccessful in arguing against the move.

The Senate is likely to pass a resolution to block Trumps emergency declaration, McConnell told reporters in Louisville.

I think what is clear in the Senate is there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president," he said. " And then, in all likelihood, the veto will be upheld in the House.

McConnell said he had hoped Trump "would not take the national emergency route."

"Once you decide to do that, I said I would support it, but I was hoping he wouldn't take that particular path," he said.

The latest: Rand Paul says he'll vote to block Trump's emergency declaration

Asked by a Courier-Journal reporter whether he was concerned future Democratic presidents would use a similar tactic to fund issues like climate change or gun control, McConnell said he was.

"That's one reason I argued  obviously without success  to the president that he not take this route," McConnell said.

Trump declared a national emergency in February after Congress sent him a bipartisan funding bill that didn't include his $5.7 billion demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The emergency declaration allows him to free up billions from other sources to pay for the barrier, which he claims is necessary to reduce the flow of drugs and gang members into the country.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 245-182 in support of the resolution blocking Trump's declaration. Thirteen Republicans joined all Democrats in backing the measure.

Over the weekend, fellow Kentucky Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul indicated he will vote in favor of the resolution when it comes to the Senate, likely giving Senate opponents enough votes to send the resolution to Trump's desk.

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During a speech Saturday night in Bowling Green, Paul said he "can't vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president," according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress," Paul said, as reported by the Bowling Green newspaper. "We may want more money for border security, but Congress didn't authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, it's a dangerous thing."

A spokeswoman for Paul, Kelsey Cooper, confirmed Monday the senator had made those comments.

Paul joins Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who have all said they'll vote against the national emergency declaration.

Assuming all the Senate's 47 Democrats and their independent allies vote against Trump, opponents would have the 51 votes needed to pass.

McConnell spoke in Louisville Monday to announce that Trump had personally assured him that the new VA hospital in Louisville would get more than $400 million in his 2020 budget request to Congress.

Contributing: Michael Collins in Washington

Darcy Costello: 502-582-4834; dcostello@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @dctello. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/darcyc.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Mitch McConnell: It's clear Senate will vote against President Trump's national emergency
American Airlines apologised to South Carolina mother Jordan Flake for removing her and her son from a plane over their skin condition. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

Words: Elise Sole

American Airlines refunded a familys plane tickets and apologised for kicking them off a flight for their rare skin disorder.

South Carolina mum Jordan Flake wrote on Facebook that she and her son Jackson were removed from a Thursday flight from El Paso, Texas, to Dallas, Texas because the flight crew was worried about her skin.

Flake has a genetic skin condition called Ichthyosis, which dries out the skin. (She didnt say whether her son is afflicted.)

While Id like to share something positive, Jackson and I were just discriminated againstbig time! Flake wrote on Facebook.

READ MORE: Woman slut shamed over her outfit by airline, offered 27 apology  Im so disgusted

After seating themselves on the plane, an employee asked the two men sitting next to Flake, to stand. He then quietly asked me about my rash and if I had a letter from a doctor stating it was ok for me to fly, wrote Flake.

She explained her condition to the man, who conversed with the flight crew and did an internet search for more information.

When he returned, wrote Flake, he apologetically stated that she and her son would have to leave. The pilot seemed ok with it, she wrote. But the flight attendant rudely said (without even acknowledging me) Well, she doesnt have a letter from a doctor, so'

READ MORE : Southwest Airlines bans university students pet fish from plane

Flake said employees could not return her checked luggage, although she was provided a hotel and a new flight with a different carrier.

I had to make unexpected childcare arrangements for my daughter at home and I am having to get a ride to the store to get our lotions and some clothes for tomorrow. I have never been so humiliated in my life!

Happy Rare Disease Day! Flake wrote of the annual February 28 observance to raise awareness for unique health conditions. Quit being ignorant and take the time to listen to people! I shouldnt have to explain myself.

Story continues

Flake spoke highly of the employee with whom she interacted. He was very helpful and mad about the situation, she wrote. He tried advocating for me!

READ MORE: Woman kicked off plane after shocking act during drunken rage

The airline told Yahoo Lifestyle, Our goal at American Airlines is to create a welcoming environment for all of our customers. We sincerely apologise to Ms. Flake and her son for the experience they had yesterday, and our team has begun an investigation into the matter. Our Customer Relations team has already spoken to her directly and upgraded them on their flights. We will also be refunding the cost of her trip as well.

Flake didnt respond to Yahoo Lifestyles attempts at contact.

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Myanmar authorities seized more than 10 million meth pills worth $13.3 million over the weekend, police said Monday, another massive haul in a country widely believed to be the world's largest methamphetamine producer.

High-grade crystal meth -- or 'ice' -- is smuggled out of Myanmar via sophisticated networks to lucrative developed markets as far away as Japan, South Korea and Australia.

Lower-quality pills, cut with caffeine and known in the region as "yaba" or "crazy medicine", are pumped out to feed the voracious domestic market as well as large drug-addicted communities in nearby Thailand and Bangladesh.

Two different busts took place in the west of the country at the weekend, state-run media said Monday, one in Magway region and one in Maungdaw in Rakhine state.

"It's the biggest drugs seizure this year in the country and the biggest ever in Maungdaw region in Rakhine State," police colonel Win Ko Ko told AFP.

The pills were likely destined for Bangladesh, where they have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya Muslim refugees who have poured across the border since a 2017 military crackdown.

Most of the drug production, however, takes place on the other side of Myanmar, in conflict-ridden eastern Shan state.

Much of the state lies outside of central control with a complex web of rebel ethnic armed groups and militias wielding power and linking up with trafficking networks.

Opium farming is also rife, and Myanmar remains the world's second largest producer of the drug after Afghanistan.

The poppy-covered hills also provide an ideal location for illicit meth labs, with a largely unchecked supply of precursor chemicals flooding-in from China.

Accurate production figures are impossible to obtain, but experts say that large seizures have had no effect on drug prices -- suggesting they are only a small proportion of the total.
Washington (AFP) - The board of US mining company Newmont on Monday unanimously rejected a hostile takeover bid from Canadian rival Barrick Gold, saying its own merger with Goldcorp was a better option.

Toronto-based Barrick announced the takeover offer last week, proposing a share swap that would have combined the world's biggest gold miners to create a juggernaut worth an estimated $42 billion.

Barrick's "all-stock negative premium proposal" would not be in the best interests of shareholders, Newmont said in a statement, and instead offered a joint venture in their adjacent operations in Nevada in the western United States.

But Barrick dismissed the joint venture deal as "stale."

Newmont said its own previously-announced $10 billion combination with Canada's Goldcorp "represents a superior value creation opportunity to generate long-term value."

Newmont Chief Executive Gary Goldberg said, "Unlike Barrick, Newmont Goldcorp will be centered in the worlds most favorable mining jurisdictions and gold districts."

Barrick and Newmont had flirted with the idea of merging five years ago but talks fell apart over who would lead the combined firm and where to locate its headquarters -- Toronto or Denver.

The industry has been consolidating as gold mines around the world get depleted, driving up costs and encouraging companies to come together in mergers and alliances.

In last week's offer, Barrick said it was offering 2.5694 of its shares for each one of Newmont's, which would have given the Canadian firm 55.9 percent of the newly created entity.

But Goldberg said this was not the best offer and that it had hinged "entirely on a new management team that lacks global operating experience."

- Joint venture -

"Our thorough review of Barricks unsolicited proposal and its associated risks has reaffirmed our conclusion that the combination of Newmont and Goldcorp represents the best opportunity to create value for Newmont's shareholders and deliver industry-leading returns for decades to come," he said in the statement.

Story continues

Newmont said the takeover offer entailed half the added value of the Goldcorp merger and that Barrick's "portfolio includes numerous unfavorable and high-risk jurisdictions with several ongoing and significant operational and sustainability problems."

But Newmont submitted a joint venture offer that would take advantage of the adjoining gold mines in Nevada, and "would enable both companies' shareholders to realize the available synergies while avoiding the significant risks and complexities associated with Barricks unsolicited proposal," Goldberg said.

However, Barrick CEO Mark Bristow rejected that proposal, saying it was "essentially based on the stale and convoluted process that foundered previously" and that it came "with unrealistic preconditions."

And the gold fields in Nevada "will be worth a whole lot more if it is run by one operator," Bristow said in a statement.

Newmont's tie-up with Vancouver-based Goldcorp would allow the firm to leapfrog Barrick as top gold miner and would increase share value by around 30 percent.
Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has finally broken his silence on the dams scandal that is threatening to end his six-year tenure at the helm of the countrys National Treasury.

In a rare interview, CS Rotich sat down with Sunday Nation and spoke on scandals the Eurobond saga, the national debt and his personal life.

He maintains that his ministry followed the right procedure in releasing money for the dams. My conscience is clear, he says.

Below are the interview excerpts.

Why did the National Treasury pay billions of shillings for two dams in Elgeyo Marakwet that are non-existent? Even as probe continues, should the National Treasury officials be held accountable for the possible loss of public funds?

The role of the National Treasury is clear  to review and negotiate the financing terms to ensure it is within the government borrowing policy. The utilisation of borrowed funds is done upon request from implementing ministries and agencies and in accordance with the public financial management law.

Treasury cannot wake up one day in the morning and start paying for things they have not been asked to pay. Advance payment is a procedure in virtually all commercial agreements and it is provided for in the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, 2015. It allows the contractor to mobilise and commence work and once the work commences the advance payment is recovered from subsequent interim payment certificates raised by the contractor.

How was the Bill of Quantities for the dams arrived at yet the project had not been designed?

It is important to note that the model adopted for these dams by the implementing agency is design-build Engineer Procure Construct (EPC) plus financing. The commercial contract has a summary of Bill of Quantities, which presumably would not vary with detailed designs in an EPC contract. Details on how they were arrived at can be obtained from the implementing agency, Kerio Valley Development Authority, and the line ministry.

Treasury released money to compensate locals whose land would be affected, but the Kenya Forest Service says it was never asked to degazette sections of the forest where the dams would be built. How could this happen?

Again, the details on compensation and acquisition of dam site is the business of the implementing agency (KVDA) and the line ministry. What I know is that the Land Act requires the CS in charge of a particular function to make an application to the National Land Commission (NLC) for compulsory acquisition of land for public use and, thereafter, the NLC will go through its process to degazette the land.

At some point last year, the State Department of Planning, which was responsible for Regional Development Authority was brought under the National Treasury. As CS responsible for the time being on Planning and Regional Development Authorities (where KVDA falls), I was asked to make an application for compulsory acquisition, which I did, in compliance with the law. Later, vide subsequent Executive Circular, the function of the Regional Development Authorities was hived off State Department of Planning and moved to the Ministry of East Africa Community and Regional Development Authority, where it is to date. So, the status on compensations can be obtained from the line ministry and KVDA.

There have been claims linking you to a company known as Hekiro Investment Ltd that has Italian directors and was involved in the controversial dams. Are you in any way linked to this company?

Not at all. If you are interested in the companies that I own, you can check with the company registry.

The government seems to be thoughtlessly going headlong into projects before abandoning them years later and billions down the drain. The schools laptop project is one example. How much thought goes into some of these mega projects?

I believe every one of us knows that we have a huge infrastructure deficit that we must close in order to exploit the full potential of our economy. The project that you refer to is a noble idea to transform our learning practices at an early age. In our case, we may have experienced implementation challenges but I believe lessons have been learnt.

Going forward, we have come up with a unit at the National Treasury for Public Investment management. This will ensure effective coordination in the project cycle.

On a scale of 1-10 (with 1 being the lowest), how would you rate the Jubilee administration handling of the economy?

8.5, because there is always room for improvement. The results are there for everyone to see. We have been rated very well by our partners and rating agencies. Nevertheless, we continue to face challenges like other countries.

Kenyas foreign debt keeps rising and financial experts have warned of a financial meltdown similar to what happened in Greece. Is this fact or fiction?

As we have indicated before, our public debt remains sustainable. As at the end December 2018, Kenyas public debt in nominal terms was equivalent to 52 percent of GDP, of which half is foreign debt. The debt is 46 percent of GDP in Net Present Value (NPV) terms and within the statutory level of 50 percent of GDP in NPV terms.

Are you confident that the Eurobond funds were used for what they were intended?

Of course, yes. All the funds can be accounted for through the line ministries. Indeed, a reputable firm has completed an independent audit and the results submitted to the National Assembly. The Auditor General has also completed the special audit on the Eurobond and it will soon be tabled in the National Assembly and Kenyans will know the truth.

What motivates you to wake up early to go to work?

Well, it is a sacrifice that has to be made given the nature of the work. Look, I bet if you were to be in this office, you will do exactly that; wake up early and leave late. Whether that is enjoyable, I leave that for you to judge. But on a serious note, as long as Kenyans are happy with the performance of the economy, that makes our work at the National Treasury enjoyable.

How do you unwind after a hard days work?

I wish I could but once in a while I catch up with friends and meet new ones. More recently, I have started taking exercises seriously; so I do some walking and running in Karura Forest.

Your biggest achievement since you became Treasury Cabinet Secretary.

Keeping the economy stable while at the same time achieving significant progress in infrastructure and social investment is not easy. I could add another: Navigating Kenya to access international capital market. The list is long.

Whats your biggest regret so far?

I wish the media could do more to sell Kenyas progress.

What do you consider as the biggest misconception Kenyans have about you?

I dont know of any.

Have you considered quitting as CS?

This question is not necessary.
Abuja (AFP) - Nigerian anti-corruption investigators have arrested a relative of the runner-up in Nigeria's presidential elections as well as the candidate's lawyer, sources said on Monday.

Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, a son-in-law to Atiku Abubakar who was defeated in the February 23 polls, "is being investigated over an alleged case of money laundering," an official at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said, speaking under condition of anonymity.

"The sum involved is 150 million euros ($169 million)," he claimed.

Abdullahi, who was also director of finance for Abubakar's presidential campaign, was arrested at his home in the capital Abuja on Saturday, the source said.

Meanwhile, Abubakar's lawyer, Uyi Osagie, was arrested on February 18 by the EFCC, who raided his home in Lagos and found sums of cash, said Boladele Adekoya, a spokesperson for Abubakar's campaign.

"It is part of an orchestrated campaign to intimidate Atiku Abubakar," Adekoya charged.

The agency said he was being investigated but did not confirm his detention or give details about any charges.

In a statement posted on his Twitter page, Abubakar said his son-in-law and lawyer were "paying the price for supporting me."

"I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a governments mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them," he added.

The arrests come on the heels of a tense election that saw President Muhammadu Buhari re-elected for a second term.

Abubakar refused to concede defeat after the result was announced last Wednesday, denouncing the vote as a "sham election" and vowing to challenge it in court.

His Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) of vote-rigging and "widespread manipulation" in the elections.

Nigeria's electoral body delayed the vote by a week, just hours before polls were to open on February 16.

Story continues

The Independent National Electoral Commission blamed the delay on logistical challenges, yet both parties criticised the decision, warning of attempts to rig the vote.

The rescheduled election saw Buhari win comfortably, gaining 15.2 million votes (56 percent) to Abubakar's 11.2 million (41 percent).

Observers said the vote outcome was credible although it was marred by violence, including 53 deaths, according to the Situation Room, an umbrella group of more than 70 civil society groups that monitored polling.

There were also widespread reports of intimidation of voters and election officials.

Voters will be called out again on Saturday, for governorship and state assembly elections.

ola-eak/spb/ri
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday declined to denounce socialist Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, calling the countrys current crisis a complex issue.

At a press conference to mark the opening of her first congressional office in Queens, the freshman Democrat was asked about the Venezuelan crisis and her willingness to denounce the Maduro regime.

Yeah, so I think that this is absolutely a complex issue, Ocasio-Cortez began. I think its important that we approach this very carefully.

The congresswoman said she is absolutely concerned with the humanitarian crisis thats happening, adding that it is important that any solution that we have centers [on] the Venezuelan people and centers [on] the democracy of Venezuelan people first.

I am very concerned about U.S. interventionism in Venezuela and I oppose it, she said, explaining that she particularly opposes the leadership of U.S. Special Envoy to Venezuela Elliott Abrams, who is known for pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress during the Reagan administrations Iran-Contra scandal. President George H.W. Bush pardoned Abrams in 1992.

I am generally opposed to U.S. interventionism as a principle, but particularly under this administration and under his leadership I think its a profound mistake, Ocasio-Cortez said.

In an interview published last week, another freshman Democrat, Representative Ilhan Omar, responded absolutely not when she was asked whether she, like the U.S. and dozens of other countries, recognizes opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuelas legitimate head of state.

The U.S. has levied heavy sanctions on Venezuela in an effort to cripple Maduros regime. The Trump administration has also pledged nearly $56 million in additional aid to partners in the region working to aid the Venezuelan people, many of whom are starving. Two weeks ago, troops loyal to Maduro shot tear gas and rubber bullets into convoys of opposition supporters attempting to bring food and medical aid to citizens.

Story continues

President Trump said last month that military intervention in Venezuela is still an option.

More from National Review
Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard, Alabama. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Over 20 people are dead and many more are missing after deadly tornadoes touched down in Alabama on Sunday.

Photos from Beauregard, Alabama, show trees broken in half, homes destroyed and large pieces of metal wrapped around trees.

See the latest photos from the tornadoes below.

Debris from a friend's home stands in the background as Ashley Griggs wipes away dirt from a photo found in the rubble of what it used to look like before it was destroyed by a tornado that hit Beauregard, Alabama.

Ashley Griggs, left, helps Joey Roush sift through what is left of his mother's home after it was destroyed by the tornado.

Brittney Downs looks through the debris of a family member's destroyed home.

A young man stands on a downed tree trunk.

A piece of metal is seen wrapped around a tree in Beauregard in this still image obtained from social media video.

A tree fell on a car in Lee County near Beauregard.

More of the tornado's damage.

Debris and a damaged house seen following tornadoes in Beauregard.

Damaged vehicle is seen after two back-to-back tornadoes touched down in Beauregard.

Members of a search and rescue team walk past damage in Beauregard.

People clear fallen trees and debris on a road following tornadoes in Beauregard.

Damaged trees seen following tornadoes in Beauregard.

Damage from storms that killed at least 23 people is seen as Lee County deputies secure the scene in Beauregard.

Damage is seen from storms that killed at least 23 people in Beauregard.

Damage is seen from tornadoes in Beauregard.

Damage from tornadoes in Beauregard.

Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard.

Debris is seen where two back-to-back tornadoes touched down in Lee County near Beauregard.

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth, where 11-year-old Evha Jannath died after falling from the Splash Canyon water ride in May 2017.

The death of an 11-year-old girl on a theme park ride does not meet the threshold for gross negligence or corporate manslaughter, police have said.

Evha Jannath died after falling from the Splash Canyon water ride at Drayton Manor theme park in Tamworth, Staffordshire, in May 2017.

She was one of a party of children on a school trip to the park from Jameah Girls Academy in Leicester.

An investigation into death has now been handed over to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

Evha Jannath, 11, died when she fell from a the Splash Canyon water ride at Drayton Manor, in Stafforshire.

In a statement, Staffordshire Police said detectives conducted a thorough and lengthy investigation into the incident, which was reviewed by the CPS.

The force said a decision has been made that the circumstances surrounding Evhas death do not meet the threshold for gross negligence or corporate manslaughter.

The file has now been passed to the HSE who will consider if any other offences are applicable, it added.

A HSE spokesman said: This remains a criminal investigation and we will be considering whether there were any breaches of health and safety law relevant to the circumstances of this tragic event.

HSEs thoughts remain with Evhas family, who we will keep updated as our investigation continues.

Read more: Police show off terrifying range of knives seized from the streets

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Police said a forensic pathologist concluded Evha died as a result of drowning.

A file has been prepared for the coroner and an inquest will take place later this year.

Detective inspector John Quilty from Staffordshire Police said: The investigation into the tragic death of Evha has been extremely complex and we have worked closely throughout with the park, HSE and CPS.

Evhas family have been made aware of the findings and our thoughts remain with her family and friends.

Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, who has supported Evhas family, said they welcomed the decision of the HSE to take over the case and hope it can be done speedily.

Story continues

The delay in this matter has been intolerable. It is now almost one year and ten months since this tragedy occurred, he added.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
A meat cleaver is just one of the shocking weapons found by the Metropolitan Police as the force strikes out against knife crime.

Forbidden on the streets and hidden from sight these are the lethal weapons seized from Londons streets as knife crime rockets.



Police forces across the capital have used their social media accounts to showcase the deadly knives theyve taken off the streets.

The images were shared as former commander Bernard Hogan-Howe saidBritain needs 20,000 more police officers on the streets to combat the epidemic.

On Friday, 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park near Romford, east London. A day later, Yousef Ghaleb Makki, also 17, was killed in Hale Barns, near Altrincham.

The Metropolitan Police has shared images of weapons seized from the streets as the battle against knife crime steps up. Above a screw driver, baseball bat and lethal serrated blade. (Met Police)

A lethal flick knife seized by London police. (Met Police)

Weapons ranging from a meat cleaver to a lock knife  have been seized and posted online by police. The true number of confiscated weapons is likely to be much higher.

It comes after two teenagers, a Girl Scout and a pupil at a top private school, were stabbed to death in over the weekend.

The assortment of knives recovered by police officers in Camden, Islington, Shoreditch, Enfield, Haringey and Charlton come as new statistics show the number of under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has nearly doubled in five years.

Police share an image of a machete seized from the capitals streets as the panic over knifecrime continues (Met Police)

A knife found in undergrowth by police (Met Police)

Many of the weapons seized are clearly designed as weapons intended for causing harm. (Met Police)

Doctors are battling to save three children a day on average as knife crime rates soar to the highest level since the Second World War.

Recent figures have revealed 347 under-16s were taken to A&E with stab wounds last year, up from 180 in 2012-13, the number of child knife killers has risen by 77% in two years, and Knife-point robberies by teenagers have leapt by more than 50% in the same period

Read more: Shocking list of suspected killings in London so far this year

Husband of Isis bride denied UK citizenship wants them to live together as a family

Meghan Markle gender fluid Royal baby claims are totally false, says Kensington Palace

Knives seized by the Metropolitan Police and shared on social media over the weekend. (Met Police)

Knives seized by the Metropolitan Police and shared on social media over the weekend. (Met Police)

Knives seized by the Metropolitan Police and shared on social media over the weekend. (Met Police)

Knives seized by the Metropolitan Police and shared on social media over the weekend. (Met Police)

Just one of the blades shared by neighbourhood policing teams across London that were seized at the weekend. (Met Police)

This weekends murders follow the fatal stabbings of three teenagers in a fortnight in Birmingham, which led to West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson declaring a national emergency.

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On Monday Theresa May has a cross-Government response to knife crime as she rejected claims police cuts had contributed to a series of brutal stabbings around the country.

The Prime Minister vowed to tackle the causes of knife crime by addressing the issues which led so many young people to carry blades.

But Mrs May was accused by political opponents of presiding over reductions in police numbers and cuts to youth services which have contributed to a rise in violent crime.
Warsaw (AFP) - Graffiti of a swastika and the words "Jude Raus" (Jew, get out) recently appeared overnight on the headquarters of a liberal opposition movement in the Polish capital Warsaw.

The act of vandalism in late February is the latest sign that anti-Semitism persists in the EU member, even if it mostly rears its ugly head on the internet.

"Twenty years ago I would have said that anti-Semitism is on the wane but that's no longer the case. The old stereotypes are resurfacing," said Stanislaw Krajewski, a University of Warsaw professor and prominent member of the Jewish community.

"Anti-Semitism is still present in Poland. It's part of the overall climate," he told AFP.

"But it's most aggressive on the internet. It doesn't come up in my day-to-day life," added Krajewski, who also co-founded an organisation for dialogue with Christians.

For his part, journalist Konstanty Gebert said he had never had cause for concern when walking around Warsaw in his yarmulke.

"Sometimes, very rarely, I get comments. I don't respond and usually someone else answers for me," he told AFP.

"In Paris, on the other hand, I was jostled a couple of times by young people. Other passersby just looked away."

Jews first arrived in Poland in the Middle Ages, and for centuries the country was home to the world's largest Jewish community.

However, the population was decimated during the Nazi occupation. Six million Poles died during World War II, half of them Jews.

Today, there are only around 8,000 to 12,000 Jews living in Poland, according to estimates.

- Tension with Israel -

Tensions have flared recently between Israel and Poland.

Last year, Warsaw passed a law that made it illegal to accuse the Polish nation or state of complicity in Nazi German crimes.

The move sparked an outcry from Israel, which sees it as an attempt to ban testimonials on Polish crimes against Jews. In response, Warsaw amended the law to remove the possibility of fines or a prison sentence.

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Last month, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz then drew Poland's ire by saying "Poles suckle anti-Semitism with their mothers' milk".

Both incidents triggered a wave of hate speech on the internet in Poland, according to Konrad Dulkowski, head of an NGO that monitors racist and xenophobic behaviour.

"Unfortunately the comments confirmed in a way what Katz had said," Dulkowski told AFP.

Last year, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released a survey on discrimination and hate crime against Jews in the EU.

Self-identified Jewish respondents from a dozen EU member states answered how often they had heard or seen non-Jews make anti-Semitic remarks like "Jews have too much power in (country)" or "Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purposes".

In most of the survey's sample statements, Poland had the highest percentage of respondents to report having witnessed anti-Semitism.

- 'Two Polands' -

Poland's far right has expressed its ideas more openly since the conservative Catholic Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in 2015.

In Gebert's view, those currently in power are "schizophrenic" in their approach to the far right.

"PiS condemns anti-Semitism. (Its leader) Jaroslaw Kaczynski has even condemned anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism," Gebert said.

"Yet at the same time, the PiS needs around nine percent of the far-right vote. Its biggest nightmare is to have a local version of Hungary's (far-right) Jobbik party appear in Poland."

He said the far right enjoys implicit support from the governing conservatives, all in the name of freedom of expression.

"The fact that the far right doesn't resort to violence is first and foremost because there are so few of us (Jews)," Gebert added.

But Krajewski pointed out that "at the same time, there's an increasing awareness here of Jewish heritage and the desire to preserve it."

As an example, he cited a recent contest from the Forum for Dialogue Among Nations -- a foundation aimed at bringing Poles and Jews closer together -- that garnered dozens of submissions from secondary school students.

"People don't realise, even in Israel, that there are two Polands," said Krajewski's wife Monika, an artist and writer.

"There's the anti-Semitic one but also the one that is fighting anti-Semitism."
WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the Obama administration repeatedly when asked about the political standoff in Venezuela and the status of trade talks with China.

Each of the problems that weve spoken about today ... the Obama administration did nothing to address any of them," Pompeo told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview Saturday.

"We have taken these on in a serious way, and they are difficult problems," President Donald Trump's chief diplomat said. "This administration has worked with our allies and partners around the world in the way that for eight years, we completely neglected."

Here's what Pompeo said about three pressing international issues:

Venezuela

Pompeo did not answer a question about whether the U.S. was helping opposition leader Juan Guaido return to Venezuela. The Trump administration is pushing for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and has recognized Guaido as the country's legitimate leader.

But Maduro has maintained his grip on power, and Guaido is now stuck outside the country  threatened with arrest if he returns.

Pompeo said the Trump administration has made progress in addressing the political and humanitarian crisis there. But he would would not say if the U.S. was working with Guaido on his return. Instead, he said the Obama administration had "led from behind" and "exercised strategic patience" in the region.

"All disastrous for the security of the American people, he said. "Were working to help the duly elected interim president Guaido assert his power and get food and humanitarian aid assistance in to starving people."

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the press after attending a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York.

Afghanistan

The Trump administration is negotiating a peace deal with the Taliban that could bring an end to the 17-year war there. The Taliban have agreed in principle not to allow Afghanistan to be used as a haven for terrorists plotting future attacks against the U.S.

Story continues

But Afghan women are terrified that if the Taliban return to power, they will lose all the rights they've gained under the new Afghan government. The Taliban barred girls from attending school, forbade women from appearing in public unless escorted by a man and beat women who did not comply with their strict edicts.

Asked about those fears, Pompeo said, We are working to get a reconciliation agreement that will be good for every Afghan  men, women, children."

"There are still places where life is not good for Afghan women," he said. "The United States is a force for good there."

He argued that a peace deal would reduce the ongoing violence in Afghanistan, which he said puts women and children at risk.

"There is nothing like that violence to hurt the weakest among us  the children, the kids," he said. "If we can take down the violence level, if we can stop the fighting, we will have made substantial progress in terms of protecting every Afghan."

China

Pompeo said the Trump administration is making good progress in its trade negotiations with China, which touch on everything from market access to intellectual property theft.

Pompeo sharply rejected any suggestion that the talks were taking a long time to produce a deal, pivoting again to Trump's predecessor, President Barack Obama.

"Its just been two years that this administrations had the opportunity to course correct from the disastrous policies that the Obama administration put in place to allow China to steal the heartbeat of agricultural America," he said. "The Chinese were stealing us blind."

Trump recently said the trade negotiations have been "very productive," and he agreed to delay a threatened increase in tariffs against China. Pompeo echoed that assessment.

"I think were in a good place. I think were making real progress," he said. "And when they are we will have protected American farming for generations to come."

More: President Trump announces delay in tariff hikes against China, plans summit at Mar-a-Lago

More: Afghanistan talks sound a lot like 'peace with honor' ending to the Vietnam War

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pompeo: Trump is confronting Obama's foreign policy failures in Venezuela, other hot spots
Pope Francis has announced that he will open up the Vaticans secret archives on the papacy of Pope Pius XII, who has been accused of failing to speak up about the Nazis persecution of the Jews.

Historians have for decades been calling on the Holy See to let scholars study the archives, in order to determine whether Pius XII failed to use his moral authority to oppose the Holocaust.

The argument that Pius should have been far more vocal in condemning the Nazis annihilation of six million Jews was put forward most forcefully in the 1999 book Hitlers Pope, by John Cornwell, a British writer and academic.

Pope Francis announced his decision during a meeting with staff from the Secret Archives, part of the Vaticans vast repository of documents and records, declaring that the Church is not afraid of history.

He said the archive would be opened on March 2 next year to mark the 81st anniversary of the election of Pius XII in 1939.

Pope Pius XII receives an envoy at the Vatican in 1940 - AP

Francis acknowledged that there had been moments of grave difficulty and tormented decisions for the wartime pontiff, saying he had been treated by posterity with some prejudice and exaggeration.

Without referring directly to Piuss actions towards the Jews of Europe, Francis said his predecessor had engaged in hidden but active diplomacy in order to pursue humanitarian initiatives.

He thanked archive historians for having worked, since 2006, to catalogue and organise the huge body of documentation relating to Piuss papacy, from 1939 to his death in 1958.

Mr Cornwell, the author of Hitlers Pope, said he could not wait for the archives to be revealed.

Pope Francis announced that the archives will be open a year from now Credit: Alessandra Benedetti/Getty

It should be really interesting. It might show that he did fantastic things to help the Jews. Or it might shed light on whether he had anything to do with the Nazi rat-run, when some Catholics helped Nazis escape to South America at the end of the war, he told The Telegraph.

Story continues

He said he called his book Hitlers Pope largely because of what the future Pope Pius did before the war, when as Vatican secretary of state he drew up an accord in 1933, the Reichskonkordat, that protected the Catholic Churchs rights in Germany but in exchange helped give moral legitimacy to the Nazi regime.

He said Pius was, like many Catholics at the time, anti-Semitic, but conceded that he had little scope for limiting the scale of the Holocaust.

He didnt have much room for manoeuvre. He was very much a prisoner inside the Vatican, which was dependent for its light, gas and water on Mussolinis Italy and then on the German regime. Although I still think he didnt do enough when the Jews were being rounded up in Rome.

Hitler even plotted at one time to kidnap the Pope, Mr Cornwell said.

Pope Pius has been accused by some Jewish groups and historians of failing to speak out against the Holocaust during the war Credit: AP

The Vatican insists that by using discreet means, Pius instructed Catholic clergy to give help to the Jews, quietly saving tens of thousands of lives.

The archives will hopefully shed light on the actual possibilities that were open to Pope Pius in condemning the genocide and to what extent he could have made a difference, and at what cost, said Austen Ivereigh, a British expert on the Vatican and the author of The Great Reformer: Francis and the making of a radical pope.

While some historians have accused Pius of complicity in the persecution of the Jews because of his decision not to speak out, others insist he did all that he could in the circumstances.

They argue that to have criticised Hitler and the Nazi regime more strongly would have imperiled Catholics across occupied Europe.

Had he spoken out, it could have been an excuse for Hitler to turn on the Catholic Church. These were very, very difficult moral choices, said Mr Ivereigh.

The planned opening of the archives was welcomed by Jewish groups around the world.

We greatly appreciate Pope Franciss decision, said Noemi Di Segni, the president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities.

It would enable historians to reconstruct with greater clarity the Churchs position regarding the Shoah.

Its shame that well have to wait until 2020, but better late than never, said Ruth Dureghello, the head of the Jewish community in Rome.

More than 1,000 Italian Jews were rounded up in Rome and deported to concentration camps in October 1943.

The Popes decision was also welcomed by Israel. "We are pleased by the decision and hope it will enable free access to all relevant archives," foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon wrote on Twitter.

It normally takes the Vatican 70 years from the end of a pontificate to open up its archives relating to the period, but there has been intense pressure to make an exception for those of Pius XII.

Part of the problem is that simply cataloguing the stuff takes a lot of time, especially given that there arent many staff in the Secret Archives, said Mr Ivereigh. Its a huge archive because it was a very long papacy.
BEAUREGARD, Ala. (AP)  A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

"Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV of the death toll. He added that two people were in intensive care.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. "The devastation is incredible," he said. An intense ground search would resume Monday morning.

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least a half mile wide. He said single-family homes and mobile homes were destroyed, adding some homes were reduced to slabs. He had told reporters earlier that several people were taken to hospitals, some with "very serious injuries."

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told The Associated Press that he had to call in help from the state, because there were more bodies than his four-person office can handle.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating and a track at least half a mile (.8 kilometers) wide caused the deadly destruction in Alabama. Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph (254-331 kilometers per hour).

Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in hard-hit Lee County after what forecasters said they think was a large tornado touched down Sunday afternoon, unleashed by a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service.

Story continues

"It appears it stayed on the ground for at least a mile and maybe longer," Jones told the AP.

After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriff's vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places.

President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday, "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. ... To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to efforts to search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard. At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.

"The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Erenheim said in a phone interview. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken."

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities in southwest Georgia are searching door-to-door in darkened neighborhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 33 miles (53 kilometers) north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon. A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

"There's a squall line moving through the area," Harrigan told AP. "And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It's a favorable environment for tornados."

The threat of severe weather continued into the late-night hours. A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.

___

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, Bill Cormier in Atlanta, and Ryan Kryska in New York contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the twister traveled down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard, not a main artery.
Two weeks after his lowkey wedding, rapper Simon Kimani famously known as Bamboo, has opened up about his wife, Erica Mukisa.

Bamboo and Erica exchanged their vows in front of friends and family on Saturday, February 16, in Ruiru, Kiambu County.

PHOTOS  Rapper Bamboo Says I Do to Ugandan Evangelist

Speaking to Buzz, the rapper who formed the hip-hop group K-South with Abbas Doobeez in the 90s, opened up about his wife practicing witchcraft before she got saved.

Congratulations on your nuptials

Thank you. I must say it was an amazing experience, one of the most beautiful days of my life.

How long have you guys known each other?

Erica and I have been together for four years.

How did you two meet?

I met her four years ago in Uganda. During one of the ministries I was doing, we were introduced to each other through a mutual friend and fellow gospel hip hop artiste, Tommy Lafam.

Why is it that we only heard of the wedding and not the proposal?

I actually proposed to Erica in church about a year ago, in front of everyone, on a Sunday morning. It was a surprise; she didnt see it coming. All the women broke out into dance when she accepted. It was beautiful.

You decided to have a low key wedding, but why didnt you invite your fellow pioneers from the industry?

(Laughs). It wasnt in bad faith, but we also wanted a very low key wedding. I invited a couple of friends from the industry like Buddha Blaze.

Is it not interesting that the wedding took place at your fathers, Pastor Victor Mwangis, church?

Yes, we did it at my fathers House Family Church in Ruiru. I chose the church because thats our family altar and it will always have deep family significance to our family for generations to come. My dad, actually wed us. This was very special.

The wedding most definitely brought you back to the limelight, it seems like youve quit music

Not really, but I must say Ive been low-key these days, with music. That is because Im preparing for full-time ministry, now that we are done with the wedding. However, I have been a ghost writer for a couple of gospel artists.

Are you saying, youre transitioning to being a pastor?

Yes. But for now, my wife and I will be more of travelling ministers, and perhaps over time we will transition to full-time pastors.

A while back, you shared a long post where you revealed that your wife was into witchcraft before she got saved?

Thats correct. It was her own testimony. Her grandmother, on her paternal side was a powerful sorceress. She initiated Erica into witchcraft when she was just eight years old. For seven years Erica served the powers of darkness.

She did not know anything, having been introduced to sorcery at a tender age. She became possessed with evil spirits and was satanic in every possible way you can imagine. Her salvation would later come through her uncle evangelist Patrick Wandera. Its been nine years since her deliverance but Erica recalls everything like it was yesterday.

Wow! That sounds scary

It does, but nothing is impossible with God.

Isnt she worried about sharing the story?

Not really. However, sharing the story has come with its price, most of it being death threats if we continue telling the testimony. We believe satan is at work but we wont loosen up.

As a matter of fact, weve written a book together on the same, its titled Erica Part One Seven Years in Hell (Seven Years In Hell Book 1). Its also available as an e-book, and can be found on Amazon Kindle under the same title as well. Its Ericas testimony in detail.

How expensive was your wifes wedding gown?

About Sh250,000, she has also decided to open a bridal shop business because of all the people who have been enquiring about it. I wish her best of luck.

Whats the most expensive gift youve ever given to your wife?

A plot of land. It cost me a fortune.

Are you still in contact with former K-South rap partner Abbas Kubaff?

I havent seen or heard from Abbas in about four years. Can you believe it?

Will you ever do a collabo with your sister?

I would not rule it out. We actually did a collabo together way back, Love vs Hate.
PHOENIX  Protesters carrying American flags began arriving at Perry High school early Monday after parents say school administrators on Friday demanded their children remove clothing and accessories promoting President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" logo.

A group of students wore red MAGA-themed hats and other clothing items for a spirit day with a "Party in the USA" theme last week. One student brought a Trump flag.

At least one student was suspended, according to parents.

Principal Dan Serrano has said the incident was not about stifling political viewpoints, but about maintaining a safe campus.

March 2: Parents say students at Arizona school were told to remove MAGA gear, one was suspended

"If we're going to take issue with students wearing Trump attire, then why aren't we taking issue with the Wednesday RedForEd attire?" Rep. Kelly Townsend, R-Mesa, said Monday, referencing the red worn to support teachers.

Townsend joined some 40 protesters, including about 10 students, near the school at about 8 a.m. Monday.

Perry High School, in Gilbert, is part of the Chandler Unified School District.

Principal: It's not about political attire

Serrano, in a response sent to parents, said the notion that students were disciplined for expressing their political viewpoints or wearing political attire is false.

Serrano said students were carrying political signs that caused a disruption and created a safety concern at lunch Friday. The students initially complied when asked to put the signage away.

The principal says the trouble began after school ended, when the students brought out the signs again.

"When the schools resource officer asked the students to leave campus, they declined," Serrano said. "They also refused to respond to my request to provide their names and school identification when I sought to interview them."

Parents speak out

Heidi Jones previously told The Arizona Republic that her freshman daughter, Logan, was suspended for 10 days after refusing to give her name to school authorities.

Story continues

"She came here today to support America, which is what your Spirit Day is all about," Jones said. "And now that she has refused to give her name, you're suspending her after she's complied with everything else?"

Jennifer Farris, another mom with a student in the group, said assistant principals were among those asking the students to remove the Trump attire.

Opinion: Did students in MAGA gear make high school unsafe? Or just uncomfortable?

The mother said she was told officials considered the clothing "offensive, and that the kids were being disrespectful by wearing it and could face sanctions if they didn't comply."

Farris, who said she is now banned from the Perry campus, provided a video to The Republic showing an interaction she had with Serrano on Friday.

Farris said her daughter and son, who is also a student at Perry and was wearing a MAGA hat Friday, are good kids who never get in trouble.

What did they do to deserve this and what did I do to deserve the treatment the principal gave me when I walked in? she said. I can see if there was an altercation and my kids were involved, absolutely bring them down to the office. But thats not what happened."

Protesters call for action

Perry students Jade Trovato and Tori Farris, one of the students pictured with the Trump banner Friday, joined the rally Monday in support of their friend who was suspended.

Trovato said the punishment was unwarranted. She said while some of her peers disagreed with students wearing Trump gear to school, it didnt lead to any disruption at lunch, as the school reported.

Sophomore Steven Blackledge, 16, who attended the protest in support of students right to free speech, said that as a conservative student, he feels that he is sometimes targeted by students and teachers.

Police: Woman who knocked off man's MAGA hat now faces deportation

'Like white hoods except stupider':California chef says he won't serve diners wearing 'MAGA' hats

Classmate Sam Wurst said he joined the protest to rally behind the president.

Im here to support my freedom of speech and to fight not only for myself being subjected to their hate of me being who I am and believing what I believe in but Im also here to fight for some of my friends that got in trouble, he said. Im also here to support my president. Whether they like it or not hes our president and I support him and he supports what I believe in.

Townsend called on the principal and assistant principal to apologize to students and lift student punishment.

"I dont want to hear of any more retaliation against any conservative, American-loving student here or teachers," she said.

Townsend read a text from House Majority Leader Warren Petersen saying he plans to introduce a petition on the floor Monday to ask Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate the incident at Perry.

A card from protesters at the school on Monday lists three calls for action:

Lift punishment of student and parents.

Release statement to support students right to free speech.

Initiate an AG's Office investigation into the the school, administration and district.

The protest was organized by Purple for Parents, a parent group created during the #RedForEd movement.

Forest Moriarty, one of the founders of Purple for Parents, said the issue goes beyond Fridays incident. He said the group has heard from staff who feel that they are being subjected to a hostile work environment because of their beliefs.

They feel that if youre not RedForEd, that you have to be careful about what you say, he said.

Follow Paulina Pineda on Twitter: @paulinapineda22.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Protesters rally at Arizona school where students were told to remove MAGA gear
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Monday officially suspended his countrys obligations under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in response to the Trump administrations withdrawal from the pact last month.

Putin said Russias participation in the 1987 treaty, which was signed by Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, will end until the U.S. ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates.

Last month, the Trump administration announced that the agreement would be terminated in six months unless Russia stopped violating it. Russia has denied violating the agreement and accused America of violating it instead.

The treaty bans either country from possessing land-based nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with a range between 310 and 3,410 miles. NATO has concluded that Russias relatively new 9M729 missile violates the terms, while Russia claims that missile-defense facilities the U.S. has deployed in Europe constitute a violation.

In December, the Russian president made a thinly disguised threat to Western powers who might consider attacking Russia.

I hope our new systems will provide food for thought to those who are used to militaristic and aggressive rhetoric, Putin said in an address to his defense advisers, before complaining that NATO continued to build up its military infrastructure near our borders during the year.

The dispute over the treaty has sparked concerns of a renewed arms race between the Kremlin and Washington.

More from National Review
Doha (AFP) - Qatar on Monday told rival Saudi Arabia not to meddle in its potential arms purchases from Russia, as the Gulf state weighs the controversial purchase of an air defence system.

"Regarding the arms sales that Qatar has with Russia... we believe that Saudi Arabia, or any other countries, it is none of their business," Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at a news conference in Doha with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"It's a sovereign decision that should be taken by the state of Qatar," said Sheikh Mohammed when asked about a possible purchase of the S-400, a sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft weapon system.

He said talks on the purchase were ongoing, while Lavrov also confirmed that talks on "bilateral" military cooperation with gas-rich Qatar were taking place.

The possible arms deal first surfaced last year, sparking backlash by Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia -- which along with the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017 over allegations of support for Islamist extremists and Shiite Iran.

Qatar denies the allegations and says its rivals want regime change in Doha.

Saudi King Salman last year expressed Riyadh's concern over the potential deal to buy S-400s in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, threatening military action if Qatar went ahead with the purchase.
By Marwa Rashad RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Monday it was too early to restore diplomatic ties with Syria or reinstate Damascus to the Arab League without progress on a political process to end the eight-year-old war. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Jubeir also said Riyadh, which backed rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, would not take part in any reconstruction efforts before stability is restored in Syria. "This (reopening the embassy) is related to progress on the political process, so it is still early," Jubeir told a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said it was also "too early" for Syria to be reinstated to the Arab League, where its membership was suspended seven years ago. The Arab League has said such a move would require consensus among member states. The United Arab Emirates, a Saudi ally, reopened its embassy in Damascus in December in a diplomatic boost for Assad, in a bid to re-engage and rebuild Arab influence in Syria. Assad has recovered control of most of Syria with support from Russia, Iran and Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim groups such as Lebanons Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE have backed armed groups opposed to Assad during the war. Asked whether Riyadh would assist in reconstruction of Syria, Jubeir said: "Reconstruction cannot happen until the war is over and there is stability and security in Syria." The United States, backed by Saudi Arabia, is lobbying other Gulf states to hold off on rehabilitating Syria, sources told Reuters earlier this month. (Reporting by Marwa Rashad; Editing by Peter Graff)
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's President of the Treasury Board resigned from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet on Monday, the second minister to leave in the wake of a political scandal that has roiled Trudeau's tenure months before an October election. Jane Philpott's resignation follows the departure of former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, who testified last week that government officials inappropriately pressured her to help construction firm SNC-Lavalin avoid a corruption trial. "I have been considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks and after serious reflection, I have concluded that I must resign as a member of Cabinet," Philpott said in a statement released on Twitter. (Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish)
LONDON (AP) -- Senior European Union and British officials were set to hold more Brexit talks less than a month before the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the bloc, as U.K. officials denied Monday that attempts to seal a divorce deal are deadlocked.

EU and U.K. officials said the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, will meet U.K. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman, James Slack, said the two sides have "definitely been making progress" over the past few weeks and negotiations are at a "critical point."

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, but Parliament has rejected May's deal, raising the prospect of a chaotic, economically damaging departure from the bloc.

British lawmakers' objections center on a provision to guarantee there are no customs posts or other barriers along the currently invisible border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland. The mechanism, known as the backstop, is a safeguard that would keep the U.K. in a customs union with the EU to remove the need for checks until a permanent new trading relationship is in place.

Brexit-supporting lawmakers in the U.K. fear the backstop could be used to bind Britain to EU regulations indefinitely, and May wants to revise the deal to reassure opponents that it would only apply temporarily.

EU leaders insist that the legally binding Brexit withdrawal agreement can't be reopened, and talks are focusing on drafting an addendum or other additional words.

"We are happy to offer further clarifications and further assurances if that can help the U.K. government get the agreement over the line," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Monday.

"But from day one we have been very straight about a few things and among those is that Brexit cannot lead, under any circumstances, to the emergence of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland."

Tweaks and clarifications, however, are unlikely to satisfy Britain's most ardent pro-Brexit lawmakers.

Story continues

Cox, Britain's attorney general, dismissed media reports that he had given up on securing significant changes from the EU. He tweeted that much of the reporting had been inaccurate, and "complex and detailed negotiations cannot be conducted in public. "

As May tries to build support for her deal before bringing it back to Parliament next week, she is being accused of trying to bribe opposition politicians into voting for it.

The government has announced a 1.6 billion-pound ($2.1 billion) package of funding over six years to help regenerate run-down communities.

Many are towns in areas of central and northern England represented by the opposition Labour Party, and the move is being seen as a bid to win support from their lawmakers for May's withdrawal agreement with the EU.

But Labour lawmakers reacted coolly to the announcement. Chris Bryant called the money "corrupt, patronizing, pathetic" and "all to appease the Brexit monster."

Labour legislator Gareth Snell said the allocation for his area of central England was "less than the total value of cuts faced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council alone over the same period" because of the Conservative government's austerity measures.

May's spokesman denied the money was a bribe, saying it was not conditional on support for May's Brexit deal.

As the stalemate continues, pressure is growing for a delay to Brexit, or a new referendum on Britain's EU membership.

Rajesh Agrawal, London's deputy mayor for business czar, told The Associated Press that with just 25 days left to go, "we need to take the pressure off."

He said this could be done by revoking Article 50, which formally triggered the Brexit process, "and then we go back to the people for confirmation. Because it's only right and democratic to let the people have the final say."

___

Casert reported from Brussels. Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit
The UKs first transgender prison unit is set to open in Surreys HMP Downview.

Female transgender prisoners will be housed separately from other inmates at a prison in Surrey for the first time in the UK.

A wing at HMP Downview, in Sutton, will be used to hold three transgender prisoners without access to other inmates, Sky News reports.

The three women hold gender recognition certificates, meaning their gender transition is legally recognised.

Usually transgender prisoners are housed according to their legally-recognised gender, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Howerver, the MoJ said the move will not be national and is due to the status of three inmates at the Surrey jail.

Reports claim the move is not expected to be rolled out across the UK and is instead aimed at dealing with the unique risks posed in the case of the three women at HMP Downview.

A Ministry of Justice (MoJ) spokesman said: Prisoner safety is our biggest concern and any decisions we take will seek to best manage the risks posed by each offender.

The wider management of transgender offenders is a highly sensitive issue which poses unique and complex challenges and we are determined to get it right.

They confirmed the government would review the management of transgender inmates and said the work is ongoing.

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A report by the MoJ last year revealed more than a third of prisons in England and Wales hold at least one transgender prisoner.

At the time, there were 139 prisoners presenting as a gender different from the one they were assigned at birth.

However, this data was thought to exclude those who had a full gender recognition certificate.

Transgender inmate Karen White was accused of four sexual assaults against other inmates between September and November last year at New Hall womens prison, before being moved to a male prison.

She was on remand for multiple rapes and other sexual offences against women.

Nearly a fifth of women who died in prison over the last two years were transgender, according to figures from the Prison and Probation Ombudsman.

Story continues

Between 2016 and 2018, six people who self-identified as women died in custody.

In 2016, transgender inmate Jenny Swift killed herself at a male prison, following complaints of bullying by prison staff.

Nicola Cope died at female prison Foston Hall in the same year, while inmates Joanna Latham and Vikki Thompson also died of apparent suicide at male prisons in 2015.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
The Kenya Patriotic Movement (KEPAM) is set to take to the streets later this month to protest against rampant corruption within high circles of the government.

We cant sit and watch as our Country continues to be mutilated by known thieves, said President of KEPAM, Joseph Lister Nyaringo.

The lobbyist said the demonstration dubbed Redeem Kenya Demo will be held on March 30 across the country.

Nyaringo, who is the coordinator of the initiative, said the demonstration will not spare any leader or chief executive officer who has been adversely mentioned by relevant agencies of being involved in graft.

We are planning demonstrations in all parts of the country to decry the numerous corruption scandals currently bedeviling the country, said Nyaringo, adding: Kenyans from all walks of life at home and abroad through the Redeem Kenya Demo are prepared to eject the looters from office. After all, its the taxpayers money that affords them the luxury in those offices.

Maurice Odhiambo, who is organizing the demo in Western Kenya said the country is not a sole proprietorship but a nation of 45 million who claim its shareholding.

If you are an MP, Senator, Governor, Judicial officer and youve been adversely mentioned of abetting corruption let them be prepared to see the wrath of wananchi through the revolution thats coming, Odhiambo said.

The lobby group said it intends to pursue all legal avenues to recover grabbed public properties and funds stashed in offshore accounts by the corrupt.

KEPAM is also appealing to Kenyas foreign partners especially the US, UK and European Union (EU) nations to come to the countrys rescue in the fight against graft.

Robert Ndede, an official of KEPAM in New York questioned why the US government has not implemented tough sanctions including freezing of offshore accounts, blocking international criminal deals and travel bans on Kenyan government officials implicated in looting.

Our country cannot continue celebrating the men and women who loot with impunity and after every 5 years, they use the loot to lure voters to elect them, said Dr Tom Mogondo of Kansas City, Missouri.

Kenyans at home and abroad are now in one accord The poor, students, farmers, touts, the jobless etc are the majority while the looters are the minority. We have the capacity to defeat this minority so that we can restore our nation and put it on the right hands, said Ali Ali from Britain.

The KEPAM officials are appealing to Kenyans from all parts of the country who believe in social justice, fairness, equity and equality to come out in large numbers so that together, we can send the looters home under the Redeem Kenya Demo.

Restoring Kenya will need the sacrifices of Kenyans in global North, South, East and West, said Mogondo.
Madrid (AFP) - Spain and Britain signed Monday a fiscal treaty on Gibraltar as Brexit nears to fight tax fraud and money laundering via the British overseas territory.

Hailed as "massively significant" by Gibraltar's leader, it was signed separately by Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrell and David Lidington, Prime Minister Theresa May's effective deputy.

It must now be approved by the Spanish cabinet and ratified by the parliaments of both countries.

The treaty was part of a deal sealed in November between London and the European Union (EU) on Brexit, as were four other bilateral deals on the overseas British territory that has long been claimed by Spain.

For Madrid, it is "essential" that Gibraltar's departure from the EU, planned for March 29 with Britain, takes place "in an orderly way and in keeping with Spanish interests in terms of fighting fraud and tax evasion."

According to the Spanish foreign ministry, the text stipulates that individuals and other entities in Gibraltar must register their tax residency in Spain if that is where they earn most of their revenue, own most of their assets or if a majority of their owners or managers live there.

Spain welcomed the treaty, saying it set "clear rules to more easily resolve conflicts of tax residence" and allowed for "the reduction and elimination of tax fraud and (other) effects that harm the Spanish Treasury, deriving from the nature of Gibraltar's tax regime."

Spain has long criticised Gibraltar's low-tax regime, while the tiny territory argues it is a crucial part of its thriving, services-based economy.

In a statement, Gibraltar's leader Fabian Picardo said the Spanish government had pledged "that the effective implementation of this treaty will lead to Gibraltar being removed from the Spanish blacklist of tax haven jurisdictions in the future."

He welcomed the treaty as "massively significant" as it also meant "Spain recognises, for the first time in history, the existence of registered Gibraltarians."

Story continues

Borrell meanwhile welcomed "the first international agreement signed by Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar since the Treaty of Utrecht," which dates back to 1713 and saw Spain cede the "Rock" to Britain.

Madrid has a long-standing sovereignty claim on Gibraltar, a small rocky outcrop on Spain's southern tip.

Both are closely interlinked as thousands of residents from neighbouring southern Spain, an area with high unemployment, travel to Gibraltar every day for work.
By CCN.com: Google has become the latest tech giant to admit that it had screwed up when it comes to doing something suspect related to one of its devices and users privacy.

Googles Nest home alarm products are embedded with a microphone that was not disclosed to the buyer. When the news hit the fan, search engine giant pretty much said oops, our bad, we made a mistake, etc.

There seems to be a playbook that tech giants pull from when theyre caught red-handed doing something nefarious. Think Amazon, Apple and Facebook and their debacles with privacy issues. Through verbal gymnastics, their C-suite execs downplayed the problems.

Most aggravating is the duh response. Such responses by these tech behemoths are not going to continue to fly.

Nesting and Listening

To considerable fanfare, Google rolled out a series of home alarm products that it named Nest at the beginning of the year.

As pointed out by Gizmodo, some of Googles newest Nest devices have been on the market for just barely two months, and already there are issues. There have been a few hacking scares over its home securities cameras, according to Gizmodo.

The whammy over this microphone is particularly disturbing and the reasons are twofold:

Read the full story on CCN.com.
Baghouz (Syria) (AFP) - Kurdish-led forces supported by air strikes from an international coalition evacuated civilians held as "human shields" Monday after smashing their way into the jihadists' last scrap of territory in eastern Syria.

The Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies from the US-led coalition unleashed a deluge of fire on the village of Baghouz at the weekend to break the defences of Islamic State group fighters in the final sliver of their "caliphate".

But the Kurdish-led force said their offensive had been slowed down Monday due to remaining civilians inside the pocket, and an SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours.

"More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today -- IS family members and fighters who surrendered," she said.

Through binoculars from an SDF position outside the jihadist holdout, an AFP correspondent saw men kneeling on the ground before boarding trucks, as well as women clad in black and children.

The push on IS's last pocket of territory had resumed Friday after days of mass evacuations, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Monday the operation was being hampered by the presence of more civilians in the besieged enclave.

"We're slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields," he said.

Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of smoke to billow up into the sky.

- Suicide attacks -

Despite being hugely outnumbered, jihadists making a desperate last stand in the riverside hamlet -- most of them foreigners according to the SDF -- are putting up stiff resistance.

They are using snipers, a network of tunnels, and suicide bombers to fight back.

On Sunday, eight suicide attackers blew themselves up before reaching SDF positions and three car bombs were detonated at a distance, the Kurdish-led forces said.

Story continues

SDF officers perched on rooftops have been receiving information on IS positions from elite units, and passing them on to the coalition to call in air strikes.

IS has lost several of its positions in such strikes since Friday in Baghouz, a village nestled in a palm-lined bend of the Euphrates River.

Seven SDF members and 18 jihadists have been killed in the fighting since the final push started, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says.

The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of IS territorial control in the region and deal a death blow to the "caliphate" proclaimed in 2014, which once covered huge swathes of Syria and Iraq.

At its peak more than four years ago, the proto-state created by IS was the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people.

It minted its own currency, levied taxes, and designed its own school curricula.

The "caliphate" effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost most of its major cities in both countries.

The loss of Baghouz, which the SDF says is only days away, would carry mostly symbolic value.

- 'No indoors to go to' -

The latest military operation has nonetheless sparked a major humanitarian emergency, with thousands of people emerging from the ruins of the "caliphate" and washing up in Kurdish-run camps.

After months under heavy bombardment and sometimes with very little to eat, families emerging from Baghouz are often in poor physical and psychological health.

The foreigners among them are not wanted in their countries of origin, and locals are filling camps that the Kurdish administration in the region says it needs more international help to run.

The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday said tens of thousands of Syrians at the camps needed immediate aid, with several sleeping rough in the cold.

"The nights are biting. More than two dozen children are reported to have died due to the cold in recent weeks," said Philip Spoerri, head of the ICRC's delegation in Syria.

"People are bundled in clothes, as they have no indoors to go to. Some don't even have tents yet and remain exposed to rain, wind and bitter temperatures," he said.

The US and Russian military chiefs were to meet on Monday to discuss operations in Syria.

The United States is to keep a residual force in Syria after any declared victory against IS.

Almost eight years into a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions, the Russia-backed Damascus regime is back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country.
Brown-Forman Corporation BF.B is set to report third-quarter fiscal 2019 results on Mar 6, before the market opens. In the last reported quarter, the company delivered a positive earnings surprise of nearly 2%. Notably, this leading producer and distributor of premium alcoholic beverages delivered positive earnings surprise consecutively for the last six quarters. The companys average positive earnings beat for the trailing four quarters stands at 4.7%.



The question lingering in investors minds now is whether Brown-Forman will be able to post positive earnings surprise in the quarter to be reported. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in the fiscal third quarter is pegged at 44 cents, reflecting in-line results compared with the year-ago quarter. Further, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for the fiscal third quarter remained unchanged in the last 30 days. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $907.4 million, up nearly 3.4% from the year-ago quarter.



Brown-Forman, which belongs to the Zacks Beverages  Alcohol industry, has outperformed the S&P 500 in the past month, reflecting a positive sentiment ahead of the earnings release. The companys shares have increased 5.1% while the S&P 500 grew 2.9%.

Brown-Forman Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Brown-Forman Corporation Price and EPS Surprise | Brown-Forman Corporation Quote

Factors at Play



Brown-Forman is favored due to its solid brand portfolio, positive earnings surprise history, expansion plans and shareholder-friendly moves. The company is benefiting from solid growth in underlying sales, improved margins, strength in American whiskey and persistent momentum in focus categories. Its underlying sales improved for nine straight quarters, driven by broad-based growth across geographies and balanced contribution from its portfolio of brands.



The company is confident of capitalizing on its strategy for American Whiskey while benefiting from investments in its brands portfolio over the years. It believes that the global economic environment has improved in the past year, with favorable conditions in many emerging markets. This should position the company for growth in the quarters to come.



Despite strong start to fiscal 2019, the company believes intensified competition in the developed economies alongside rising concerns related to the recently enacted retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey is likely to hurt near-term results. Tariffs presented challenges across many of the companys operations, including production and supply chain operations, with major impacts on markets across Europe, Mexico and Canada. Notably, underlying net sales growth for the fiscal second quarter was negatively impacted by nearly two percentage points due to tariff-related inventory reductions (giveback) linked to tariff-driven buy-ins in the fiscal first quarter. The company began realizing net tariff-related costs in the fiscal second quarter.



This combined with higher input costs and impacts of the adoption of the revenue recognition standard led to declines of nearly 200 bps and 100 bps in the fiscal second quarter and the first half of fiscal 2019, respectively. Further, operating margin for the first half included impacts of nearly 2 percentage points from incremental costs associated with tariffs.



The company estimates effects of tariffs in Europe, Mexico, Canada and Turkey to remain in place through the rest of fiscal 2019. Further, it expects gross margin to remain pressured in the second half due to tariff-related costs. Consequently, the company estimates gross margin decline of more than 200 bps in fiscal 2019.



What the Zacks Model Unveils



Our proven model does not conclusively predict that Brown-Forman is going to beat earnings estimates in this quarter. This is because a stock needs to have both a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) for this to happen. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before theyre reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.



Brown-Formans Earnings ESP is 0.00% and it currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Although the company has a favorable rank, which increases the predictive power of ESP, we need to have a positive ESP to be confident about an earnings surprise.



Stocks Poised to Beat Earnings Estimates



Here are some companies that you may want to consider as our model shows that these have the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat:



Turning Point Brands Inc. TPB has an Earnings ESP of +11.11% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. OLLI has an Earnings ESP of +1.43% and a Zacks Rank of 2.



Costco Wholesale Corporation COST has an Earnings ESP of +0.62% and a Zacks Rank #3.



Zacks' Top 10 Stocks for 2019



In addition to the stocks discussed above, wouldn't you like to know about our 10 finest buy-and-holds for the year?



From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012  2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%.



This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs.



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Ollie's Bargain Outlet Holdings, Inc. (OLLI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Brown-Forman Corporation (BF.B) : Free Stock Analysis Report



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To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



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Theres a wooing going on. John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, has been defined as the new swing vote, and hes now the most powerful jurist in the land. And that means the legal Left is beckoning him. How? By putting him at war with himself  setting up a conflict between Roberts the institutionalist and Roberts the originalist; between Roberts the jurist and guardian of the legacy of the Court and Roberts the ideologue.

It works something like this  lets suppose a key abortion case comes before the court, or the court considers an important conflict between the Trump administration and the special counsels office. According to this construct, its Roberts the ideologue who would vote to restrict abortion rights. Its Roberts the conservative who would back the Trump administration. But a chief justice who cared about the institution of the Supreme Court? Well, he guards Roe. He checks Trump.

I can think of few better examples of the temptation of John Roberts than an extended essay by Michael ODonnell in The Atlantic centered around Joan Biskupics new book about the chief justice. Framing the alleged conflict between Robertss judicial philosophy and his responsibilities as chief, ODonnell asks, What will Roberts do if the clerk calls some form of the case Mueller v. Trump, raising a grave matter of first principles, such as presidential indictment and self-pardon?

The proper answer to that question is obvious  he should decide the case on the basis of the text and original public meaning of the Constitution and any other relevant statutes. But ODonnell has a different response. He portrays himself as an institutionalist, but we do not yet know to what extent this is true. He must necessarily prove himself on a case-by-case basis, which injects a note of drama into his movements. (Emphasis added.)

Prove himself to whom? The progressive legal establishment, of course.

There was a similar dynamic in play during a recent episode of the New York Timess excellent podcast, The Daily. Analyzing Robertss recent decision to side with the liberal justices and temporarily block enforcement of a Louisiana abortion restriction, the host, Michael Barbaro, and Times legal correspondent Adam Liptak described Robertss decision once again in institutionalist terms. He allegedly set aside his ideology to do what was presumed to be best for the court.

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But wait  why is institutionalism so often synonymous with upholding beloved progressive precedent or upholding beloved progressive statutes? Would there be similar hand-wringing if, say, a more progressive court reversed Supreme Court precedents like Heller, Citizens United, or Hobby Lobby? I suspect not.

In reality, there is no conflict between originalism and institutionalism. In fact, originalism will do more over the long run to sustain and enhance the institutional legitimacy of the high court than any short-term political calculation. The true threat to the Supreme Courts legitimacy isnt any given decision or opinion. No, the true threat to the institution is its outsized role in American public life. Just as America suffers because Congress has ceded much of its authority to the executive, our political culture is dysfunctional in part because the Court has strayed too far from its constitutional bounds. Its unelected, life-term justices have entirely too much power over American lives.

There is no better example of this phenomenon than the Roe precedent itself. Decades ago, a court completely unmoored from the text of the Constitution yanked one of the most important and contentious public debates of modern times almost entirely out of the democratic process. And yet the wise men and women of the legal Left will now claim that the very legitimacy of the court depends on protecting a fundamentally illegitimate precedent.

And what would happen if Roe is overturned? The courts role in American life would diminish. More democracy would happen, from coast to coast, as American states enacted laws that reflected their populations values. Presidential elections would be less fraught, as the stakes of American elections would grow higher at the state and local level  exactly where the founders intended Americans to focus their political efforts.

Thats one issue. Lets turn to a possible showdown with the Trump administration. We cannot define legitimacy or institutionalism merely as beating Trump. One cannot believe that the court will remain legitimate, especially in the eyes of a vast number of citizens, if the chief justice is seen to depart from the language of the relevant law in an effort to enhance the ephemeral prestige of the Court  as defined mainly by scholars and pundits on the opposite side of the political divide.

Given the rather obvious flaws in the idea that any class of commentators can define the institutional interests of the Court better than a justice reading and applying the law in good faith, why are thoughtful progressive commentators spilling ink on the idea that Roberts can be won over? Perhaps because they perceive there is precedent  the Obamacare case.

Biskupics book seems to confirm what many conservatives have long suspected, that Roberts started in a different place. He was going to strike down the individual mandate, but he was torn between his heart and his head. ODonnell claims that if Roberts had voted against the mandate, he would have further eroded the Courts claim to transcend politics after the image-shattering decisions in Bush v. Gore (2000) and Citizens United (2010). There is no mention of the image-shattering decisions in Griswold (penumbras and emanations) or Roe or, more recently, Obergefell.

At the most basic level, originalism is institutionalism. Originalism places the institution of the Supreme Court (and Article III courts more broadly) in its proper constitutional place. It subordinates the Court by elevating the text of the Constitution and the text of the laws the Court interprets. It allows citizens to impact government not through the fraught, decades-long process of replacing life-term judges, but by the more immediate and democratic process of changing statutes.

No one doubts that moving the Court back to the text will be politically painful. Overturning Roe would generate an enormous public response, but does anyone want to argue that the current post-Roe political culture is just fine? Does anyone want to argue that the courts previous transparent political calculations have lowered the temperature of public debate?

John Roberts is a good man who understands the American Constitution. I have far less faith in his ability to gauge the medium-term  much less long-term  political and cultural effects of his decisions on the reputation of the court. Yet the progressive establishment calls on him to forsake the former for the latter. Remember your institution, they cry.

America needs a court in its proper place. Roberts should reject the great temptation and remember a fundamental truth  the chiefs institution needs the chiefs originalism. No other course of action will calm debate. No other course of action will preserve the legitimacy of the court. The courts political calculations are a cause of, not the solution to, Americas great political divide.

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Photo credit: Tesla

From Car and Driver

Capping a busy week for announcements, Tesla's Elon Musk has just named the date for the reveal of the EV brand's compact SUV, to be called the Model Y.

He said it will cost more and have "slightly less" range than the Model 3 because it will be bigger.

Test rides are promised at the event, which will be held in Los Angeles on March 14.

UPDATE 3/14/19: Tesla has showed a bit more of the Model Y in a short teaser video just a few hours before its debut. We're surprised to see that the Model Y has a similarly sloped roofline as the Model 3, as we assumed it would have a more upright hatchback shape in order to accommodate more cargo.

Model Y



Thurs 8pm PDThttps://t.co/9GmXGxH0HX - Tesla (@Tesla) March 14, 2019

UPDATE 3/12/19: A dark teaser photo of the Model Y shows a front end reminiscent of the Model 3's, with similarly shaped headlights but a taller overall silhouette. The new crossover will officially be revealed Thursday March 14 at 8 p.m. Pacific time.

As he so often does, Elon Musk took to Twitter to offer tantalizing but incomplete information to the world. This time, it was about the Model Y crossover, about which there has been speculation but little concrete information. In a tweet, Musk announced that the Model Y will make its debut on March 14 at Tesla's LA design studio.

Model Y unveil event on March 14 at LA Design Studio - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

Detailed specs & pricing will be provided, as well as test rides in Y - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

He added in subsequent tweets that the Model Y will be "about 10 percent bigger than Model 3, so [it] will cost about 10 percent more & have slightly less range for same battery." He promised that "detailed specs" and pricing will be provided at the March 14 event, and attendees will be able to experience test rides in the crossover. (Attendees will also be allowed to record video.)



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Then in a reply to another Twitter user, Musk said that the Model Y will be close in design to the Model 3 (pictured at the top of this story). He also confirmed that the Model Y will have "normal" doors, unlike the larger Model X, which has multi-hinged "falcon wing" doors at the rear that are similar to a gullwing setup.

Yes - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

Normal - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

Based on Musk's tweets, we can speculate that the Model Y will start around $39,700 (10 percent more than the new Model 3 Standard Range that starts at $36,200) and offer just over 200 miles of range, a little less than that Model 3's 220-mile range estimate. The Model Y will share its platform with the Model 3, so it's otherwise likely to be mechanically identical, with a rear-mounted electric motor in its base form and a front motor added for all-wheel-drive models.

We'll bring you more details as soon as we have them. The big question, of course, is on-sale timing for the Model Y. In May 2o18, Musk had said that the Model Y would likely be on sale in 24 months, pointing to a mid-2020 on-sale date. It's unclear at this point if Tesla will use a reservation system like it did when it revealed the Model 3, but sales are sure to be online-only. We also don't know where the Model Y will be built. Tesla's Fremont plant has been ruled out, but the Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada is a possibility, as is a factory in China.

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Southwest Airlines' cheapest tickets to Hawaii are rapidly disappearing just a few hours after they went on sale, and some flights to Hawaii are entirely sold out in March.

The airline's eye-catching $49 fares from Oakland to Honolulu, which were available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays into June, are gone, according to Southwest's website. The airline is showing no availability in March at any price for that route and scant availability in April.

There are also no more $49 flights from Oakland to Maui, which starts April 7. The lowest fare, available on a handful of dates in April and May: $79.

Southwest's flights between San Jose and Hawaii, which debut in May, also went on sale Monday, and the $49 introductory fares on those routes are gone, too. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, there were a few dates in May with $99 one-way fares between San Jose and Maui and a few May dates with $119 fare each way from San Jose to Honolulu.

The airline confirmed the cheapest seats are gone in a social media post at 3 p.m. ET Monday:"The lowest launch fares are sold out, but there are still many low fares available!"

Our low fares already have thousands of you booked on new service to the islands of Hawaii! The lowest launch fares are sold out, but there are still many low fares available! https://t.co/TdnRpEMR33 pic.twitter.com/OkI29Lsku4  Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 4, 2019

Southwest's $49 fares always sell out quickly during the carrier's twice-a-year mega fare sales, in June and October, though they are generally only available for short flights. The cheap tickets have disappeared even more quickly on the Hawaii flights given the $98 round trip bargain  fares between Oakland and Honolulu started at $328 round trip on competing airlines Sunday for an early April trip  as well as demand for the service and the limited number of flights.

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Southwest is starting with a single daily flight from Oakland to Honolulu, for example. Each flight can accommodate 175 passengers.

More: 12 things travelers need to know about Southwest flights to Hawaii

Earlier: Tickets on sale from $49 for new Southwest Airlines Hawaii flights

Competing for those seats: travelers buying tickets, cashing in frequent-flier miles (the lower the price, the fewer miles required) and those paying for one ticket and getting a companion ticket for free under Southwest's generous companion-pass program. The airline offered a free companion pass earlier this year to travelers who signed up for one of its frequent flier credit cards, and many travelers signed up specifically to use it on Hawaii flights.

Travelers who didn't snag the $49 tickets early Monday are turning to social media to vent.

One user wrote: "Went from really good deal to you can find it cheaper else where in 20 minutes!!"

Southwest responded to one customer: "As there are many avenues to book, fares for peak travel times tend to sell out quickly. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to see you in the sky soon!"

As there are many avenues to book, fares for peak travel times tend to sell out quickly. We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope to see you in the sky soon! -Taylor  Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 4, 2019

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Those Southwest Airlines $49 tickets to Hawaii are sold out with limited other cheap fares left
Police are investigating after three lambs, named Ethel, Chunk and Ugs were found skinned and slaughtered near Hall Farm on Humberside where they were being raised for a school project. (Hall Farm)

Three lambs bought for a primary school to be pets have been found skinned and slaughtered near a farm.

Remains of the four-week-old lambs, and a rare Lincoln Longwool sheep, were found on land near Hall Farm in Messingham, near Scunthorpe, on Saturday.

Farmer Jamie Quinn told the BBC: How do we tell the children at the school?

Humberside Police said it was investigating a burglary at the farm on Holme Lane.

The lambs, named Ethel, Chunk and Ugs, were triplets and were bottle-fed four times a day because their mother could not feed them all.

Ethel, Chunk and Ugs were were being raised for a school project when they were stolen and killed. (Hall Farm)

Mr Quinn said the animals were slaughtered in the field opposite  skins left for us to find.

They were bought specifically for a school project to fit in with other parts of the curriculum six weeks ago. The plan was to keep them at the school as pets for the kids.

Read more: Detectives granted extra time to question suspected school boy killers

Police said a barn on the farm was broken into between 6pm on Friday and 7am on Saturday.

A statement said: This is clearly a very upsetting incident and the theft of livestock from farms is a serious matter.

Three lambs, named Ethel, Chunk and Ugs were found skinned and slaughtered near Hall Farm on Humberside where they were being raised for a school project. (Hall Farm)

The animals skins and carcasses were found nearby. Damage was caused to the farm and its fencing during the burglary.

Mr Quinn said the lambs deaths came after three adult sheep, including another Lincoln Longwool, went missing four weeks ago in a suspected rustling.

All we found was wool hanging over the barbed wire fence where theyd been dragged across, Mr Quinn added.

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Photo: Reuters

Nearly three-quarters of British workers would choose to do an apprenticeship over studying for a degree, according to new research.

A survey of 1,200 people by CV-Library found 74.1% would prefer to do an apprenticeship, with 53.4% believing they are better for a persons career prospects.

A further 93.9% said they thought apprenticeships could provide workers with the skills needed to succeed in their careers, although 76.1% of those polled hadnt done one.

It is no surprise the public feel so strongly about the benefits of apprenticeships. Not only do they provide you with qualifications, skills and industry knowledge, they can also adequately prepare you for the working world, so youre ready to succeed in your career, says Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library.

The survey found 94.6% of professionals think apprenticeships can be helpful for bridging the skills gap, as they provide the opportunity to learn alongside real-time, practical experience in the workplace.

Yet more needs to be done to promote these schemes, the study found, with 45.8% stating the issue should be addressed by the government.

A further 27.3% believe more information should be available to students in education and 26.9% said they would like to see more businesses promoting these schemes at careers fairs.

If youre considering whether to do a scheme, my advice would be to research into your chosen industry and find the skills required to succeed, says Biggins.

Then, compare them with the skills you could learn during an apprenticeship. More often than not an apprenticeship will teach you these skills and then some.

In other countries, apprenticeships are a valued way of building talent, boosting a skilled workforce and ensuring young people have better access to employment.

In Germany, for example, apprenticeships are a part of the dual education system, which combines company-based training with a school education.

Apprenticeships are led firmly by employers  who maintain their quality  and provide a steady stream of highly qualified workers who are trained for specific occupations and valued in the countrys labour market.

Biggins adds that while the research highlights the benefits of apprenticeships, university degrees are still important.

In some roles, a degree is a mandatory requirement and going to university can give you vital life skills that you wouldnt be able to get anywhere else, he says.
The retailing industry keeps changing, but TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) isn't struggling to grow despite those shifts in the wider selling environment. Instead, the off-price leader this past week posted its 18th consecutive quarter of customer traffic gains as part of a surprisingly strong holiday-quarter outing.

CEO Ernie Herrman and his team outlined the key factors behind that performance in a conference call with analysts while explaining why they believe the chain has plenty of room for additional market-share gains in the coming years. Here are a few highlights from that presentation.

Two women shop for clothes.

Image source: Getty Images.

Broad-based wins

I am most pleased with the consistency of the performance across our major divisions.

-- Herrman

One aspect of this business that attracts investors is its diversity. Besides the core Marshalls and TJ Maxx franchises in the U.S., the company manages the popular HomeGoods brand, in addition to substantial operations in Canada, Europe, and Australia.

Each of these divisions contributed to the fourth-quarter growth, with rising customer traffic leading to accelerating gains in every market except for Canada. Specifically, the Marshalls and TJ Maxx brands grew sales by 7% compared to 3% a year ago. HomeGoods and the Europe and Australia segments each sped up to a 5% pace from 3%. In Canada, sales gains slowed from 7% to 4%. "We operate four powerful divisions," Herrman explained, "each with exciting growth potential."

Growing through the online challenge

We are convinced that the ability to touch and feel merchandise will continue to resonate with consumers, despite the growth of online retail overall.

-- Herrman

TJX's online business is tiny today, especially in comparison with rivals like Walmart and Target, both of which counted on e-commerce to deliver a big proportion of sales growth in 2018. The off-price specialist isn't ignoring this sales channel, though, and in fact is planning to significantly expand its digital selling assortment this year while introducing in-store pickup to more of its locations.

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Executives don't see the urgent need to pivot to a multichannel retailing posture. Instead, they believe the chain's flexible inventory setup and appeal with treasure-hunting shoppers should support many more years of aggressive growth in store selling space. The retailer added 236 stores in 2018, and it plans to add about the same number this year. Over the long term, TJX is aiming for as many as 6,100 locations around the world, up from 4,300 today.

Staying flexible

Even with our significant shareholder distributions, we still plan to end fiscal 2020 with approximately $2.5 billion in cash and short-term investments.

-- CFO Scott Goldenberg

The company this week announced an 18% increase to its annual dividend payment on top of last year's 25% hike. TJX also aims to return about $2 billion of cash to shareholders through stock repurchases this year. Together, these cash return channels should match the $3.4 billion that the company provided investors in 2018.

TJX is still aiming to invest heavily in the business by adding stores in each of its retailing divisions this year. Wages and supply chain costs are likely to rise, too. But its high returns make it likely that the chain will easily protect its strong financial standing. That success puts its merchandise buyers in a good position to take advantage of inventory opportunities through the year. It also means the retailer is highly likely to keep raising its dividends, with just two more annual raises necessary to set a 25-year streak.

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Demitrios Kalogeropoulos has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends The TJX Companies. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
BEIJING (AP)  China's government announced a robust annual economic growth target and a 7.5 percent rise in military spending Tuesday at a legislative session overshadowed by a tariff war with Washington. In a bid to defuse U.S. and European complaints the Chinese system is rigged against foreign companies, Premier Li Keqiang promised in a speech to the National People's Congress they will be "treated as equals" with Chinese competitors. Li, the country's top economic official, set this year's growth target at 6 to 6.5 percent, reflecting official determination to shore up a cooling, state-dominated economy and prevent politically dangerous job losses in the face of U.S.

TOKYO (AP)  The Tokyo District Court approved the release of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on 1 billion yen ($9 million) bail on Tuesday, ending nearly four months of detention. The approval of Ghosn's request for bail, his third, came a day after one of his lawyers said he was confident the auto executive would gain his release. The newly hired attorney, Junichiro Hironaka, is famous for winning acquittals in Japan, a nation where the conviction rate is 99 percent. Hironaka said Monday that he had offered new ways to monitor Ghosn after his release, such as camera surveillance. Hironaka also questioned the grounds for Ghosn's arrest, calling the case "very peculiar," and suggesting the case could have been dealt with as an internal company matter.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP)  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un returned home on Tuesday after traveling two and a half days by train from Vietnam, where his high-stakes nuclear summit with President Donald Trump ended without any agreement. The Kim-Trump summit broke down mainly because of disputes over the extent of sanctions relief the North could win in return for its nuclear disarmament steps. Both Washington and Pyongyang blame each other for the summit's breakdown, but neither side says they would pull out of diplomacy. The crowd welcoming Kim at Pyongyang's railway station gave shouts of joy and loud hurrahs upon his return, the Korean Central News Agency reported.

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Facebook says it will not allow election advertisements for Indonesia's upcoming presidential election that are purchased from outside the country. The announcement on Facebook's website says the restriction took effect Monday morning and is part of "safeguarding election integrity on our platform." Facebook has been criticized for allowing foreign interests to use its site to disseminate ads that may have influenced the outcomes of the last U.S. presidential election and the U.K. referendum on leaving the European Union. The social media company said it's using a mix of automated and human intervention to identify foreign-funded election ads.

MANILA, Philippines (AP)  The United States is more likely to be involved in a "shooting war" in the disputed South China Sea than the Philippines but the latter would be embroiled in such a conflict just the same because of its 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with Washington, the Philippine defense chief said Tuesday. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the treaty needed to be re-examined to clear ambiguities that could cause chaos and confusion during a crisis. He cited China's aggressive seizure in the mid-1990s of a Philippine-claimed reef, saying "The U.S. did not stop it." The Philippine proposal for the treaty's review was among the key topics when U.S.

TORONTO (AP)  China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive. China arrested the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities. Meng's arrest set off a diplomatic furor and has severely strained Canadian relations with China. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei's founder, to face charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran.

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP)  A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan Railways spokesman Ejaz Shah said the train service, known as the Samjhauta Express, left the eastern city of Lahore for India's border town of Atari, with some 180 passengers on board. Pakistan suspended the train service last week as tensions escalated following India's airstrike on Tuesday inside Pakistan. India said it targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesian authorities said Monday they're not certain how many people were buried in the collapse of a remote gold mine nearly a week ago but that the number could be as high as 100. The disaster agency said the official death toll from the collapse of the mine in North Sulawesi's Bolaang Mongondow district is nine. Nineteen people were rescued with injuries from ranging from minor to serious. Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said there's "no exact data on the number of victims." "Some say 30 people, 50 people, 60 people, even 100 people because at the time many were mining in big pits, while in small pits it was unknown," he said.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)  Indonesia and Australia signed a free trade agreement Monday that will eliminate many tariffs, allow Australian-owned hospitals to operate in the giant Southeast Asian country and increase work visas for young Indonesians. Trade ministers from the two countries signed the agreement, negotiations for which first began in 2010, at a Jakarta hotel with Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla looking on. It is subject to ratification in both countries. Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggartiasto Lukita said Indonesia would complete ratification by the end of this year. Annual trade between Australia and Indonesia in goods and services is valued at $11.6 billion.

South Korea's soccer leadership has sent a proposal to North Korea to jointly bid for the 2023 Women's World Cup and is awaiting a response. Combining to stage the FIFA showpiece could be a significant move toward building peace on the Korean Peninsula, which remains technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. The neighbors have been encouraged to bid by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, with the decision due to be taken in March 2020 by the governing body's ruling council. Chung Mong-gyu, the president of South Korea's soccer association who sits on the FIFA Council, is pursuing the bid after gaining the initial support of his government.
Donald Trump said that he asked China to immediately remove all tariffs on agricultural products from the US, as trade talks between the nations progress.

He also delayed plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on $200b of Chinese goods, which were due to come into force on Friday.

"I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.) based on the fact that we are moving along nicely with Trade discussions," the US president claimed on Twitter.

"This is very important for our great farmers - and me!"

The politician's trade war with China has had a heavy and detrimental impact on US farmers.

Beijing imposed tariffs last year on imports of soybeans, grain sorghum, pork and other items, slashing shipments of their products to China.

US trade negotiators have asked China to reduce tariffs on ethanol but it is unclear if Beijing is willing to agree, according to Sonny Perdue, the US Agriculture Secretary.

Mr Trump's comments came several hours after the US government announced that the scheduled hike on tariffs imposed on Chinese goods would be postponed.

The tariff will remain at "10 per cent until further notice," a spokesperson for the Trade Representative's office said.

In a statement on Saturday, China said it welcomed the delay.

Research published this week by the Economist Intelligence Unit said the trade conflict between the US and China posed the biggest current threat to the world economy.

Additional reporting by agencies
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Monday shot down the idea that he discussed curbing joint military drills with South Korea with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a decision he said could save the United States millions of dollars and has suggested would reduce tensions with North Korea. "The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un of NK," Trump tweeted days after he met with Kim in Vietnam in an attempt to reach a denuclearization agreement. The Pentagon and the South Korean military confirmed on Saturday they were ending large-scale joint spring exercises. U.S. officials have long said the spring exercises, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, would be reduced in scope as the countries embraced smaller-scale drills. Last week, the summit between Trump and Kim was cut short after they failed to reach a deal on how far to grant sanctions relief in exchange for steps North Korea could take toward giving up its nuclear program. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Friday his country would continue to work with both the United States and North Korea to reach a deal. The United States and South Korea have suspended a number of military exercises since the first summit last year between Kim and Trump to encourage talks with North Korea. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Mohammad Zargham and Meredith Mazzilli)
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give Alabama the "A Plus treatment" on Monday after the state was hit with a devastating tornado that left at least 23 people dead.

It was not immediately clear what that treatment would entail, but FEMA spokesman Crystal Paulk-Buchanan told USA TODAY that the agency is working in close contact with Alabama and Georgia's emergency management units.

In response to requests from both states, FEMA will deploy liaison officers and Incident Management Assistance Teams to join the states' emergency management centers, Paulk-Buchanan said. The liaison officers coordinate the requests for resources and technical assistance between the states and the federal government.

The Incident Management Teams are generally composed of 10 people who are quickly deployed to the affected region and tasked with determining the best use of federal resources, according to FEMA's website.

"FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes," Trump said in a tweet on Monday. The president said Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey had been informed of his order and is "working closely with FEMA (and me!)."

FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes. @GovIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

Ivey said in a tweet that Trump called her on Monday to "express his sympathy for all affected in our state by yesterday's devastating storms. We appreciate his support as we deal with the tragedy."

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The Republican governor said she had also spoken with FEMA administrator Brock Long "about potential resources we'll be needing as we continue to further evaluate local needs." She noted that FEMA was sending a response team to the area.

"Right now the primary focus is on search & rescue efforts, as there are many people unaccounted for," Ivey tweeted.

Ive also talked with @FEMA_Brock about potential resources well be needing as we continue to further evaluate local needs. Theyre sending a team to assist. Right now the primary focus is on search & rescue efforts, as there are many people unaccounted for. @AlabamaEMA  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 4, 2019

On Sunday night, Trump cautioned people in the path of the deadly storms that spawned the tornado to be "careful and safe."

"Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!" Trump tweeted.

To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement on Monday that the "hearts of all Americans break for the families and victims of the catastrophic tornadoes in Alabama that have destroyed homes and devastated lives."

"In the wake of these deadly tornadoes, federal, state and local authorities must do everything in their power to assist the rescue effort and provide all necessary resources to help those impacted by this disaster now and on the long road to recovery," Pelosi said. "All Americans deserve to know that their government will be there for them when disaster strikes, without question and without hesitation."

The deadly tornado was part of a large storm that also hit parts of Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. The National Weather Service in Tallahassee confirmed the system also spawned tornadoes in Florida and Georgia.

It was the nation's deadliest tornado outbreak in six years, since May 20, 2013, when a tornado killed 24 people in Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center said. Officials have cautioned that the death toll may rise as the search for the missing continues.

Contributing: Josh Vitale, Doyle Rice John Bacon and Kristin Lam, USA TODAY; Grace Pateras, Tallahassee Democrat; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump directs FEMA to give Alabama the 'A Plus treatment' after deadly tornado
(This February 19 story has been refiled to correct conversion to kilometers to show 836.8 km, not 826.8 km, in paragraph seven)

(Reuters) - The U.S. Transportation Department said on Tuesday it will cancel $929 million in federal funds awarded by the Obama administration for a California high-speed rail project and is "actively exploring every legal option" to seek the return of $2.5 billion the state has already received.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said last week the state will dramatically scale back a planned $77.3 billion high-speed rail project that has faced cost hikes, delays and management concerns, but will finish a smaller section of the line.

The Transportation Department's Federal Railroad Administration said in a letter it wanted to halt funding because the state had "failed to make reasonable progress." It cited Newsom's announcement to scale back the project.

Newsom, in a statement, linked the Trump administration action to California leading 15 other states in challenging what he called "the Presidents farcical 'national emergency,'" to obtain funds for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"This is Californias money, and we are going to fight for it," Newsom said of the rail funds.

A coalition of 16 U.S. states sued Trump and top members of his administration on Monday, saying the emergency declaration would cause them to lose millions of dollars in federal funding for national guard units dealing with counter-drug activities and that the redirection of funds from authorized military construction projects would damage their economies.

California planned to build a 520-mile (836.8 km) system in the first phase that would allow trains to travel at speeds up to 220 miles per hour (354 kph) in the traffic-choked state from Los Angeles to San Francisco and begin full operations by 2033.

The Obama administration awarded the state a total of $3.5 billion in 2010 and California voters in 2008 approved nearly $10 billion in bond proceeds.

California can challenge the government's action.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Dan Grebler and Susan Thomas)
By Andrew Chung

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday bypassed a chance to further expand the ability of religious entities to receive public funding, leaving in place a lower court ruling that blocked a New Jersey county from giving historic preservation grants to churches.

The justices opted not to hear appeals of the ruling by New Jersey's top court that Morris County violated a state constitutional ban on using public funds to repair places of worship when it gave millions of dollars to 12 churches under its grant program for local historic preservation projects.

The dispute could have given the justices an opportunity to build on a major 2017 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to more taxpayer funds going to religious institutions.

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh, appointed to the court last year by President Donald Trump, urged his fellow justices to take up a future case that raises similar issues, though he agreed with the decision not to take up the New Jersey dispute because of a lack of clarity about certain matters.

"Barring religious organizations because they are religious from a general historic preservation grants program is pure discrimination against religion," Kavanaugh wrote in a statement, joined by conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch.

Morris County and a dozen county churches that received $4.6 million in historic preservation grants had asked the justices to overturn the state court's ruling against them.

A group that promotes secularism, the Freedom from Religion Foundation, and a local resident who is a member of the group sued in 2015 challenging the northern New Jersey county's policy of giving grant money to churches.

The Supreme Court in 2017 sided with a Missouri church that had been denied state funds under a program to make playgrounds safer because the state's constitution prohibited spending public money "directly or indirectly, in aid of any church." Trinity Lutheran had sought state money to install a recycled rubber surface on its playground.

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The New Jersey dispute pitted two provisions of the Constitution's First Amendment against each other: the guarantee of the free exercise of religion and the Establishment Clause, which requires the separation of church and state.

Dotted with historic sites from the 18th century American Revolutionary War against Britain, Morris County is located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of New York City and is home to churches reflecting hundreds of years of U.S. history and many architectural styles.

New Jersey's top court last year found that the program violated the state's constitution, which forbids taxes for "repairing any church or churches, place or places of worship," since some of the funds would be used to restore buildings so that they could continue as active places of worship.

The county and the churches said the program served a secular purpose to preserve historically significant structures and that excluding them would amount to religious discrimination.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in another case touching on religion last week. The justices signaled a willingness to let a 40-foot-tall (12 meters) cross-shaped war memorial stay on public land in Maryland despite a legal challenge that called it an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. A ruling is due by the end of June.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham)
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled A1.6 billion ($2.12 billion, 1.87 billion euros) in regional development funds Monday in what opposition MPs dismissed as a "desperate bribe" to persuade them to back her Brexit deal.

The money for new jobs and training is mostly directed at northern English areas which backed leaving the European Union and are represented by lawmakers from the main opposition Labour party.

"Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change," May said in a statement announcing the funds.

"These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them," she added.

But Labour finance spokesman John McDonnell said: "This town fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.

"The reason our towns are struggling is because of a decade of cuts, including to council funding and a failure to invest in businesses and our communities."

Many of May's own Conservative lawmakers remain opposed to the withdrawal agreement struck between her government and Brussels.

It has forced May to look across the political divide if she has any hope of getting the deal through parliament's lower House of Commons before Brexit day on March 29.

May's government is also preparing to announce greater guarantees for workers' rights after Brexit, again in a bid to get Labour MPs onside.

Of the funds announced Monday, A1 billion is allocated to specific regions and another A600 million made available through bidding to communities anywhere in Britain.

After her Brexit deal was rejected by a huge majority of MPs in January, May is seeking changes to its most controversial element: dealing with the Irish border.

She has promised to bring a text back to MPs by March 12 and said that if they reject it, they can vote on delaying Brexit to avoid leaving the EU without a deal.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is proposing that the peacekeeping mission in South Sudan be strengthened to shore up a power-sharing deal he said presents the "best and only option" to end the conflict that has plagued the country.

Guterres said in a report to the Security Council, seen by AFP on Monday, that the makeup of a regional protection force deployed in Juba as part of the mission should be reviewed.

The council is expected to decide next week on renewing the mandate of the 16,000-strong UNMISS mission, six months after the latest in a string of peace deals was signed to end South Sudan's five-year war.

In the report, Guterres proposed that the peacekeeping mandate "be strengthened to allow the mission to support the implementation of the agreement and peace process in a nimble and flexible manner."

The UN chief did not specify whether additional troops or police would be needed, but said troop-contributing countries would be asked "to contribute required capabilities if necessary" for UNMISS to carry out the new tasks.

Guterres offered to present an assessment of the requirements for the new peacekeeping mandate and said the makeup of the Juba protection force should be in line with regional demands.

The IGAD group of countries has asked that Sudan, Uganda, Djibouti and Somalia be allowed to send troops to the regional force, which will play a crucial role in maintaining security in Juba.

A previous peace accord fell apart when heavy fighting broke out in Juba following the return of rebel leader Riek Machar, who fled the capital on foot chased by tanks and helicopter gunships.

"I believe that the agreement is currently the best and only option for a political solution to the conflict in South Sudan," Guterres said in the report sent to the council last week.

South Sudan, which broke away from Sudan in 2011, descended into war in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir accused Machar, his former deputy, of plotting a coup, driving millions from their homes.

Last week, three leading UN agencies warned that nearly 7 million people were facing severe hunger in the coming months, an increase of 13 percent since January last year.
Jerusalem (AFP) - The US downgrade of its diplomatic mission to the Palestinians takes effect on Monday as it merges its Jerusalem consulate with the embassy to Israel, the State Department said.

"On March 4, 2019, US consulate general Jerusalem will merge into US embassy Jerusalem to form a single diplomatic mission," it said in a statement.

The consulate had served as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians since the Oslo accords of the 1990s.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the move first announced in October will not constitute a change in policy and is intended to improve "efficiency and effectiveness".

But Palestinian leaders see it as another move against them by US President Donald Trump's administration, which they froze contact with after his 2017 decision recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

"The Trump administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law," senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.
Washington (AFP) - The chiefs of the US and Russian militaries met in Austria on Monday to discuss the situation in Syria, where a residual US military force will remain following the territorial defeat of the Islamic State group.

General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff, in Vienna, Dunford's spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.

"The two military leaders discussed the deconfliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria, and exchanged views on the state of US-Russia military relations and the current international security situation in Europe and other key topics," Ryder said in a statement.

Since Russia's entry into the Syria conflict in 2015, Moscow and Washington have "deconflicted" their respective operations against IS, warning each other of planned air operations to avoid contact.

"Both leaders recognize the importance of maintaining regular communication to avoid miscalculation and to promote transparency and deconfliction in areas where our militaries are operating in close proximity," Ryder said.

The meeting -- the first since June -- comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Russia, with the Pentagon pursuing a renewed focus on Russia as a "great power" competitor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday officially suspended Russia's participation in the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, a key Cold War-era arms agreement, after Washington first moved to ditch the deal.

The INF treaty eliminated short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and missile launchers from Europe.

Despite the conflict in Syria and the rising bilateral tensions, the military chiefs have kept open a channel of communications.

In August 2018, Russia sent a confidential letter, which leaked, containing proposals for cooperation to assure Syria's reconstruction and the return of refugees.

President Donald Trump decided in December to withdraw US troops from northeastern Syria, where they had fought alongside Kurdish forces against IS jihadists, but he has since agreed to leave behind a residual force of about 200 US troops.

Washington is currently negotiating with Western allies in the anti-IS coalition on an international force that would train security forces capable of stabilizing parts of Syria.
Washington (AFP) - The Republican-led US Senate is set to reject the national emergency Donald Trump declared to build his Mexico border wall, likely forcing the US president's first veto, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday.

The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, passed the so-called resolution of disapproval and sent it to the Senate, which is expected to vote in the coming weeks.

Senate Republicans have a 53-47 advantage. But four of them have now announced they will vote with Democrats to block Trump, who is seeking to bypass Congress to unlock funds for construction of a wall on the US-Mexico border that he insists will reduce illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Several other Republicans, while stopping short of announcing they would vote against Trump, have expressed deep concerns about his move, arguing it is a blatant attempt to expand executive authority.

With Senator Rand Paul this weekend becoming the fourth Republican on board, the resolution of disapproval is now likely to be sent to Trump's desk, forcing the president into the tricky position of vetoing the measure and acting in clear opposition to Congress.

Each chamber would then need to deliver two-thirds majorities to override Trump's veto -- an exceedingly high hurdle.

"I think what is clear in the Senate is there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House," McConnell told reporters in Kentucky.

"I was one of those hoping the president would not take the national emergency route," McConnell said, although he backed Trump when he announced his plan.

The Senate leader acknowledged concern that a future Democratic president might use Trump's precedent-setting action as a rationale for declaring national emergencies to bypass Congress on issues such as climate change, health care or gun control.

"That's one reason I argued -- obviously without success -- to the president that he not take this route."
By Deisy Buitrago, Angus Berwick and Carlos Jasso CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido returned to his country on Monday after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to tighten regional pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. A crowd of cheering supporters greeted Guaido and his wife as they stepped into the Maiquetia airport's arrivals hall, and then sped to an opposition rally in eastern Caracas where thousands had gathered to welcome him. The return of Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela's legitimate head of state, signals that Maduro's adversaries have at least temporarily avoided the arrest of a leader who has united the traditionally fractured opposition. But it will also lift pressure on Maduro to act against Guaido as his authority continues to wane and the country's economic meltdown fuels malnutrition and hunger. "Hope has been born and it will not die - things are going well," Guaido told the crowd at a plaza in the Las Mercedes district. "We are going to celebrate this small victory today." He announced plans to meet on Tuesday with public employees, who have been historically pressured by the ruling Socialist Party to join pro-government rallies, as well as for a major march on Saturday. Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb. 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine. But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say. From Colombia, he traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections. On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but had not appeared publicly since. Venezuelan media outlets reported that he flew from Panama City to Caracas. He had kept details of his trip under wraps and he arrived without prior notice, meeting ambassadors for European countries at the airport. Guaido calls Maduro a usurper and says his presidency is illegitimate after he secured re-election last year in a vote widely considered a sham. Maduro retains control of state institutions and the apparent loyalty of senior figures in the armed forces. Asked by a reporter how he was received at the airport by immigration authorities, who could have prevented his entry for violating the travel ban, Guaido said they addressed him as president - a swipe at Maduro, who calls him a U.S. puppet. "Here's my passport, safe and sound," Guaido said, showing it to the crowd. The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. "FACE JUSTICE" Maduro, who denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said Guaido's arrest depends on the justice system. "He can't just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country," he told ABC News last week. Protesters in Caracas on Monday, wearing dressed in white and chanting "Freedom," said arresting Guaido would spark new demonstrations. "If the regime has even a little bit of conscience, they should not arrest Guaido because people truly would not put up with it," said Franklin Lopez, a 60-year-old administrator. The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials. After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that "all options be kept open" to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy. "President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today," U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Twitter. "The United States fully supports Guaido and the National Assembly. His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching." The government has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaido's mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest. Turning away from previous hopes of a swift end to Maduro's government, Guaido said on Sunday it would be a "long and difficult process." He has offered future amnesties to state officials and solders who recognize Guaido, though the military has largely remained loyal to Maduro despite Colombia's migration agency reporting several hundred desertions since Feb. 23. (Additional reporting by Vivian Sequera, Fabian Cambero, and Shaylim Valderrama in Caracas, Marco Bello in Bogota, and Efrain Otero in Maiquetia; Writing by Angus Berwick and Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Susan Thomas and James Dalgleish)
By Angus Berwick and Yury Garcia CARACAS/SALINAS, Ecuador (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Sunday he would return home to lead new protests against President Nicolas Maduro on Monday, running the risk authorities arrest him given that he flouted a travel ban to leave the country last week. Guaido left Ecuador earlier on Sunday after spending the past few days touring Latin American nations to muster support, but he did not disclose where he had gone next or how he planned to return to Venezuela. Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by most Western countries, left the country last week to coordinate efforts in Colombia to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela. But troops loyal to Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that left at least five people dead along the Brazilian border. Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter on Sunday it would be a "historic challenge" to return. He has called for new protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period. "If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make," he said. After traveling to Colombia, Guaido visited Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections. He had flown to the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil after meeting with Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno in the coastal town of Salinas on Saturday. To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City. The Venezuelan Supreme Court imposed the travel ban after he invoked the country's constitution on Jan. 23 to assume an interim presidency. Maduro, who retains control of state institutions, says Guaido is trying to foment a U.S.-backed coup against him. The United States on Friday ramped up its attempt to dislodge Maduro from power by imposing new sanctions and revoking visas. (Reporting by Yury Garcia in Salinas and Angus Berwick in Caracas; Additional reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito and Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Peter Cooney)
QUITO, Ecuador (AP)  Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Saturday said he will go home after concluding a visit to Ecuador, raising the prospect of a showdown with the government that he is trying to force from power.

"I'm announcing my return home from Ecuador," Guaido said after meeting its president, Lenin Moreno. He also called for protests in Venezuela on Monday and Tuesday, days that coincide with the country's Carnival season.

Guaido, who declared himself Venezuela's interim president and is recognized as so by the U.S. and 50 other nations, did not comment on the exact timing of his planned return to Venezuela. His spokesman, Edward Rodriguez, said "it's possible" that he will return on Monday.

"We have little to celebrate and a lot to do," said Guaido, who recently visited the leaders of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina in a campaign to build pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to resign.

His return from the trip opens the possibility that Venezuelan authorities will try to arrest him.

The opposition leader said he seeks a "peaceful transition" that will allow his homeland to overcome its political and humanitarian crisis. Last weekend, Guaido coordinated a failed effort to bring aid from Colombia and Brazil into Venezuela, where security forces loyal to Maduro blocked the supplies.

Maduro described Guaido's gambit as part of a U.S.-backed plot to overthrow him.

Moreno, who met Guaido in Ecuador's coastal city of Salinas, said he supported the opposition leader's attempt to bring "democratic change" to Venezuela.
Female cabin crew at Virgin Atlantic will no longer be required to wear make-up [Photo: Getty]

Female cabin crew representing Virgin Atlantic will no longer have to wear make-up as part of mandatory uniform.

If staff members do wish to wear lipstick or foundation then they are encouraged to stick to the airlines official colour palette.

A spokesperson for the airline said per Huffington Post, We want our uniform to truly reflect who we are as individuals while maintaining that famous Virgin Atlantic style.

READ MORE: The best beauty brands to shop in the UK

Not only do the new guidelines offer an increased level of comfort, they also provide our team with more choice on they want to express themselves at work. Helping people to be themselves is core to our desire to be the most loved travel company.

In a further bid to bring the airline into the 21st century, Virgin Atlantic will now also offer female staff members trousers as part of their uniform.

Before the new regulations, the airline would only provide them upon request.

British Airways 2011 uniform guidelines state that lipstick and blusher is a minimum requirement for female cabin crew [Photo: Getty]

A 2011 interview with make-up artist Kim Allgood and hair stylist Helen Kavanaugh  who work as grooming standards managers for Virgin Atlantic  gives a glimpse at what the airline expected of its female staff.

According to Allgood and Kavanaugh, Virgin Atlantic would not permit women to have natural roots, dye their hair primary colours or wear a fringe below their eyebrows.

READ MORE: The beauty brands now selling make-up for men

But while the airline is shifting its stance on gender equality, British Airways still has a long way to go.

Uniform guidelines from 2015 state that obvious blemishes should be concealed wherever possible while female members of staff are expected to wear lipstick and blusher as a minimum requirement.




Volkswagen wants competitors to use its electric-car platform. Photo: Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch

Germanys Volkswagen Group (VOW3.F) announced on Monday that it will open up its electric-vehicle platform to third parties, in a bid to create economies of scale and drive down the huge costs of making electric cars.

The Volkswagen Group, which holds a special shareholder event in Geneva tonight on the eve of the International Motor Show, predicted that there could be a first wave of 15 million electric vehicles built on its electric platform, called the Modular Electric Tooklit (MEB).

The MEB is to establish itself as the standard for e-mobility, said VW chief executive Herbert Diess in a statement. VW added that German company e.Go Mobile would be the first external partner to use its electric platform.

The Wolfsburg-based company, which says it will invest 44bn (37.8bn, $49.8bn) in electrification, digitalisation, and self-driving tech in the next five years, has been developing its modular platform for battery-electric cars for several years. Its new ID electric model family will use the MEB platform. The dune-buggy style ID Buggy premieres at the Geneva car show on Tuesday.

The announcement is not a surprise: VWs strategy boss told the Tagesspiegel newspaper last month that the company was already in talks with volume-segment competitors with a view to getting them on board with using VWs electric platform.

I believe that as far as costs and scalability are concerned, we are an industry champion, Michael Jost said. Thats why we intend to make the MEB accessible to our entire industry. That is a paradigm shift for us.




Why Does Traveloka Want to Venture Into Competitive Australia?

Indonesias unicorn Traveloka has ventured beyond Southeast Asia for the first time into Australia, an extremely competitive online travel market.

The move will pit it against a slew of established players with branding, expertise, local knowledge, and marketing dollars, including Booking, Expedia, Trivago, Agoda, Flight Centre, Webjet, and Wotif.

Travelokas Australian foray comes with a co-branding partnership with Indonesias tourism ministry, similar to the one the ministry inked with Grab last year. A source suggests that some form of national service to the country on the part of Traveloka might have been involved and would explain Travelokas Australian debut. The online travel company could not be reached at press time for comment.

A press statement from Traveloka said, As a co-branding partner for Wonderful Indonesia [the destination campaign], Traveloka has a mission to support the government to attract 20 million foreign visitors to Indonesia.

Indonesias tourism minister Arief Yahya has been tasked with doubling arrivals from 10 million to 20 million in his five-year term ending this October, along with an expectation of over $20 billion tourism earnings, which would see tourism surpassing the biggest earner, crude palm oil, for the first time.

But last years terror attacks in and around Surabaya in May, along with a series of earthquakes in Central Sulawesi in September and Lombok in August, are a setback and have added urgency to see the targets being achieved.

The governments target to attract 20 million foreign tourists will not be achieved if it does not synergize with players in the industry. Together with Traveloka, we hoped this synergy can help our mission, and we will continue to support Traveloka to exist in this new market, said Edy Wardoyo. Indonesias tourism ministrys deputy of marketing development.

The Australian market itself is one of the promising tourism markets, where foreign tourist visits from Australia to Indonesia continue to increase year on year. Travelokas decision to open in the Australian market is very important to help in facilitating travel access and answer the diverse travel needs of users, added Wardoyo.

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A total of 1.3 million Australian tourists visited Indonesia last year, a figure that is expected to rise by 15 percent to 1.5 million this year, according to Indonesias statistics bureau, BPS.

In general, Australia is a country that has better infrastructure in terms of Internet connection, payment and adoption, so we hope that our digital presence in Australia can further enrich lives of our users by empowering them to discover the world around them by offering a various travel and lifestyle products in one platform, said Yady Guitana, Travelokas head of global partnership.

Australians can now access Traveloka via website or mobile app and book flights, accommodation, flight and hotel packages, airport transfers, attractions and activities, said Guitana.

Indonesia was ranked second after New Zealand as a destination of choice for Australian outbound tourists last year, said Traveloka, citing Statista.com.

Be that as it may, its main destination is still Bali. Efforts to diversify their footprints beyond Bali have not made any real imprint.

The partnership could indeed be an objective towards that goal for both the ministry and Traveloka, for whom differentiating the offering and giving Australians exciting new vacation ideas throughout Indonesia or even in Bali itself, is key.

According to the Australian Federation of Travel Agents, Australians made a total of 11 million international trips in 2017 (latest available figures), an increase of 4.3 percent over 2016. Their top five overseas destinations were New Zealand, Indonesia, the US, the UK and China.

But while the Australian market is robust, with international travel rising faster at 4.1 percent than domestic travel (2.5 percent) according to Webjet.com, Traveloka will have its job cut out for it.

Major players such as Expedia and Booking.com have grown considerably, through organic growth and takeovers of smaller operators, said IbisWorld Australia, which provides research of Australian company profiles. Furthermore, relative newcomers such as Lux Group (through Luxury Escapes) and Airbnb have reported remarkable revenue growth due to their unique service offerings and platforms.

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Bernie Sanders' decision to kick-off his 2020 presidential campaign with rallies in Brooklyn, New York, and Chicago might look like a snub against his home state of Vermont, but the move makes sense for someone looking to reignite the magic of his 2016 run.

Sanders, no longer the underdog, needs to show from the start that he is moving forward on the momentum that carried him to national prominence four years ago and that he is a candidate who can lay a legitimate claim to front-runner status.

That includes being able to replicate the mass rallies that became a signature of his last campaign  and just as important, a crowd that reflects the diversity of this country.

More: 'I know where I came from': Bernie Sanders gets personal in 2020 presidential campaign rollout

The campaign estimates about 13,000 people packed the snow-covered campus of Brooklyn College for Sanders' Saturday kick-off campaign, while an estimated 12,500 turned out for the rally at the Navy Pier's Festival Hall the following night in Chicago.

California Sen. Kamala Harris drew an estimated 20,000 people in January to her kick-off rally in Oakland, California, the largest so far among the 2020 candidates.

Those numbers dwarf the 5,500 people who turned out for Sanders' 2016 launch in May 2015 on the Burlington waterfront.

Drawing a diverse crowd

Sanders' decision to hold his first campaign events in New York and Illinois breaks from the usual practice of candidates following their announcements with trips to Iowa or New Hampshire  the first two primary states.

The early rallies in urban areas in Democratic strongholds such as Brooklyn and Chicago gives the Sanders campaign a chance to showcase their candidate's support among people of color and focus on issues such as racism and housing discrimination.

If there was one weakness in Sanders' 2016 campaign, it was his inability to spark enthusiasm among a broad spectrum of African American and Hispanic voters.

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The ability to galvanize people of color is likely to be a key to winning the 2020 Democratic nomination and the November election.

The optics of these early rally crowds also takes on an added importance because they can be used in future campaign ads, and the campaign's ad strategists are likely happy to have footage of something other than a sea of largely white faces that a Burlington rally would have drawn.

During the 2016 campaign, Sanders was criticized for the otherwise masterful video featuring the Simon and Garfunkel song "America" released shortly before the Iowa Caucuses for largely leaving out racial and ethnic minorities.

Sanders is scheduled to hold rallies in Iowa on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

More: Iowa caucuses: Bernie Sanders plans three rallies for his first Iowa trip ahead of 2020

Trying to escape Vermont winter?

VTDigger reported that the campaign initially sought to hold the kick-off rally in Burlington, but icy conditions at potential venues led Sanders to move the event a few hours south.

People listen to Democratic Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to supporters at Brooklyn College on March 02, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Sanders, a staunch liberal and critic of President Donald Trump, is holding his first campaign rally of the 2020 campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in his home town of Brooklyn, New York.

If weather was a concern for a Burlington rally, then Sanders need not have worried. Temperatures reached into the mid-30 with stretches of sunny skies on Saturday in Burlington  positively spring-like by Vermont standards, though chillier than New York's 40-degree weather.

Sunday in Chicago, temperatures had dropped into the teens, 10 degrees colder than it was in Burlington, but the event was held indoors.

Sanders, clad in a parka on an open-air stage at his rally in snow-covered Brooklyn did give a shout out to his home state early in his speech, thanking "the weathermen for giving us Vermont weather."

Aki Soga is insights and engagement editor for the Burlington Free Press. Email him at asoga@freepressmedia.com, or chat with him on Twitter: @asoga.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Why it made sense for Bernie to launch in Brooklyn, Chicago over Vermont
Holly Albert is accused of assaulting her mother with a phone. (Photo: Montgomery County Police Department)

A Maryland woman was arrested last month for allegedly throwing her phone at her mother after she refused to give her a ride to a yoga class.

Court documents obtained by Washington, D.C. news affiliate ABC 7 state that the incident took place in August 2017, though the accused woman, 30-year-old Holly Albert of Potomac, Md., was not actually arrested by Montgomery County police until this February, some 18 months later.

Albert has been charged with second-degree assault and is accused of hurling the house phone at her mothers head after getting upset when the older woman declined to take her to the yoga class. Albert, who is described as being unemployed and living at her parents home, wanted to attend the class for meditative purposes, her mom told police.

Alberts mother called 911 with the same phone after it allegedly struck her. When police arrived, they found her with a cut to the head, a bloodied shirt and hair matted down with blood.

Despite the alleged assault, Alberts parents are standing by their daughter. They have reportedly hired her a defense attorney and her mother wrote a statement defending her to the court.

I freely state that at all times since those events, up to the present, Holly Anne has lived with me and her father without any incident or reason whatsoever that would cause either of us to fear for our safety or well-being, the statement obtained by ABC 7 reads. Moreover, I believe that it is in Holly Annes best interest that she continue to reside with us, rather than have to make other living arrangements pending a future trial date. Holly Anne is currently unemployed and we are providing her with financial and other support at this time.

The statement continued, It is Holly Annes wish and decision to address and resolve the subject proceeding, and to that end she is voluntarily surrendering herself to the outstanding warrant. Knowing Holly Anne as I do, I am confident that she intends to appear at every court date necessary to bring this matter to a close.

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Albert is due in court on March 19 for a preliminary hearing.

Yahoo Lifestyle has contacted the Montgomery County Police Department for comment.

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By Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slammed opposition parties for demanding evidence about last week's military strike inside Pakistan, and support for him is rising, pollsters say, despite the questions about how successful it was. It's very tricky to be seen questioning the armed forces in India, particularly when there is conflict with arch-enemy Pakistan. But that hasn't stopped opposition leaders from raising doubts about the government's official claims that a "very large number" of members of an Islamist militant group were killed in the strike by Indian warplanes early on Feb. 26. (GRAPHIC: An air strike and its aftermath - https://graphics.reuters.com/INDIA-KASHMIR/010090XM162/index.html) The government has rejected the demand for proof. "At a time when our army is engaged in crushing terrorism, inside the country and outside, there are some people within the country who are trying to break their morale, which is cheering our enemy," Modi said at an election rally on Sunday. "I want to know from (the opposition) Congress and its partners why they are making statements that are benefiting the enemies." With tensions at fever-pitch with nuclear rival Pakistan, and India's general election due by May, the stakes are high. Pakistan responded with an air strike of its own, but no one was killed in that operation. The situation is slightly calmer but remains fraught; the two armies continue to regularly trade artillery fire at places along the frontier. "If (the opposition) continues this campaign on ... national security, I'm afraid it is not going to stick and it's only going to help Modi," Yashwant Deshmukh, the founder of polling agency C-Voter, told Reuters. "Modi's is a presidential campaign, and this is going to help him." The agency has not published any poll after the military strike, but Deshmukh said Modi's approval rating has soared to levels not seen since mid-2017, according to C-Voter's estimates. Opinion polls conducted before the tensions with Pakistan broke out mostly predicted Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would struggle to win a majority because of a slowing economy, low rural incomes and the government's inability to provide more jobs. But pollsters and political analysts say Modi's support is now rising, mainly because right-wing parties like the BJP typically have an advantage over others on national security issues. "It doesn't matter what India did or what Pakistan is doing, at least from the electoral perspective," said Rahul Verma, a fellow at the New Delhi-based think-tank, Centre for Policy Research. "What matters is what kind of perception the media and the BJP and Modi can create. If they can create it like a crisis, 'we did something, we need a strong guy leading the country', they have an advantage. So the details don't matter." Indian air force planes carried out last week's strike in retaliation to a suicide attack in the disputed Kashmir region that was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group. At least 40 paramilitary troopers traveling in a convoy were killed, the worst such attack in three decades of insurgency in Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region claimed by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan. "TERRORISTS OR TREES?" A top government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said last week that at least 300 suspected militants were killed in the retaliatory Indian air strike, while the president of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Amit Shah, put the figure at more than 250. Pakistan has said the Indian bombs hit a largely empty hillside near the northeastern town of Balakot without hurting anyone. "300 terrorists dead, yes or no?" Navjot Singh Sidhu, a leader of the Congress party, asked in a tweet on Monday. "What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorists or trees? Was it an election gimmick? Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Stop politicizing the army, it is as sacred as the state." But pollsters say opposition parties may be making a mistake by questioning Modi on national security when emotions are running high. They say that instead the opposition needs to get back to focusing on the BJP's poor record on creating jobs and tackling farm distress. Those issues helped Congress oust the BJP from power in three states late last year. "It is deeply regrettable and politically immoral on the part of the BJP to make political capital out of military endeavors during cross-border tensions with Pakistan," Congress spokesman Sanjay Jha said. "PM Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah are singularly responsible for lowering the political discourse in our country." Mehbooba Mufti, who governed the state of Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the BJP until they split last year, agreed that it was important for the opposition to not let Modi make the election all about the strikes. "Calling those who question the veracity of Balakot strikes anti-national is baffling," Mufti said on Twitter. "However, the opposition should not fall into this trap of changing the entire election discourse from pressing issues ... to these strikes." (Reporting by Krishna N. Das; Editing by Martin Howell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Lusaka (AFP) - Zambias broadcasting regulator on Monday ordered a one-month suspension of a TV channel that has been critical of the government, just days after the governing party accused the station of bias and unprofessionalism.

Established seven years ago by a former cameraman at the state-owned Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation, Prime TV has openly condemned the government of President Edgar Lungu.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) "resolved to suspend (the) license with immediate effect for 30 days," IBA board secretary Josephine Mapoma told a news conference in Lusaka.

"During the suspension period the station is expected to conduct in-house training in basic journalism, ethics and news script writing," said Mapoma.

Last week, the secretary general of the ruling Patriotic Front, Davis Mwila complained to the authority of "biased coverage and unethical reporting of political opinions and beliefs disguised as news".

But Prime TV director Gerald Shawa told AFP that the authority had issued the suspension without giving the station the right of reply.

Lungu's government is facing mounting complaints from the opposition of authoritarian behaviour.

On February 20, 10 opposition figures said they would report Lungu to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for allegedly fomenting political violence against his rivals.

Prime TV, which employs more than 60 journalists and support staff, is one of the two largest privately-owned stations, along with MUVI-TV.

The authorities also on Monday imposed a two-month suspension on the Eastern Province-based Valley FM Radio for alleged unprofessional conduct.
A New Zealander dubbed "the bumbling jihadi" can expect little help from his homeland after being captured in Syria by forces fighting the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned Monday.

Mark Taylor, 42, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he spent five years with Islamic State but fled in December and surrendered to Kurdish forces because conditions had become unbearable.

"There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed," he said from a Kurdish prison.

"I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave."

Taylor earned his derogatory nickname in 2015 after sending out a series of pro-IS tweets but forgetting to turn off the geo-tagging function, giving away his location.

He told the ABC the bungle earned him 50 days in an IS prison.

He also burned his New Zealand passport in a propaganda video and urged extremists in Australia and New Zealand to "commence operations".

Prime Minister Ardern ruled out stripping Taylor of his New Zealand citizenship because he is not a dual citizen and so has no alternative.

"We of course follow our obligations in international law regarding ensuring we do not deem anyone stateless," she said.

But she also said New Zealand could offer Taylor no consular assistance because it had no diplomats where he is being held and only knew what had been gleaned from media reports.

"We have no connection with the forces detaining him, so it's difficult for us to provide information," she said, adding that Taylor would likely have to contact New Zealand officials in Turkey if he hoped to eventually return home.

Justice Minister Andrew Little said if that happened, Taylor could probably expect to face charges under anti-terror laws.

"It is very clear what happens when you transgress the provisions of that legislation... there's a range of penalties, including imprisonment," he said.

Story continues

Ardern said New Zealand was not obliged to give Taylor legal representation if he was charged overseas, nor did it have to pay his way home.

Ardern refused to say how serious a threat Taylor would represent if he went back home but said "contingency planning" had been made to ensure New Zealanders were safe from returning jihadis.

She also declined to comment on details of Taylor's ABC interview, in which he insisted he was not an IS fighter and lamented the fact he had been "too poor" to afford a Yazidi slave while with the extremist group.

"I wouldn't want to be drawn on those comments because I do not want to be seen to jeopardise any potential case in the future," she said.
The ongoing copyright claim between Danny Young and Tiwa Savage is not ending anytime soon. Before the new lawsuit, the Mavin Records first lady was called out by Danny Young for intellectual property theft.

The song that gave rise to the copyright claim was One by Tiwa Savage which the plaintiff accused the former of lifting off his lyrics and melody without appropriate permission.

After a while, Danny Young was able to get YouTube to take down Tiwas music video for some few week before it was restored.

In a new development, the Oju Ti Won crooner has filed a lawsuit of N200 million in damages on the Tiwa Savage. The lawsuit was filed at a Federal High Court in Lagos. The lawsuit also includes Mavin Records as defendant.

The court documents was shared on Instagram by the plaintiff on his Instagram page as see below.
Home | News | General | Just In: PDP to hold expanded caucus meeting on Monday, March 4

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) will on Monday, March 4, hold an expanded caucus meeting .

According to a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan, the meeting is scheduled to hold at the partys national secretariat in Wadata Plaza.

Ologbondiyan said the party will meet at 12 noon in Abuja.

READ ALSO: Dogara says he wont handover power to another speaker until June

The statement read:

Special announcement"

PDP holds expanded caucus meeting:

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) holds its expanded caucus meeting on Monday, March 4, 2019.

Venue: National Secretariat, Wadata Plaza, Abuja.

Time: 12 noon.

Signed:

Kola Ologbondiyan

national publicity secretary

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that just about six days to the governorship election on March 9, a governorship aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna dumped the party.

Mohammed Sani Sidi left the PDP with about 30,000 other members ahead of the election in which the APC is featuring Governor Nasir El-Rufai as its flag bearer.

Sidi reportedly explained that he and his political associates as well as many other chieftains of the party across the 23 local government areas of Kaduna state have resigned their membership of the party.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV.

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Home | News | General | Breaking: 48 hours after suspension, Amosun holds closed-door meeting with Buhari

About 48 hours after he and Rochas Okorocha of Imo state were suspended by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state, has met with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The meeting held at the State House on Sunday, March 3.

The governors suspension came days after he won a senatorial election on the platform of the party. He was accused of engaging in anti-party activities.

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It was learnt that the duo may have discussed issues relating to the suspension which resulted from the governors supposed support for the candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Adekunle Akinlade, ahead of the governorship election in Ogun state.

Legit.ng earlier reported that he national working committee (NWC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) suspended Governor Ibikunle Amosu of Ogun state and his counterpart, Rochas Okorocha of Imo state from the party.

It was reported that the national working committee also recommended to the national executive committee (NEC) of the party that both governors be expelled from the APC.

It was learnt that the decision was taken on Friday afternoon, March 1, in Abuja, by the national working committee based on allegations of anti-party activities levelled against the governors.

It also reported that the APC said the suspension of governors Rochas Okorocha and Ibikunle Amosun will not affect the partys victory on March 9, governorship and state house of assembly election.

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Malam Lanre Issa-Onilu, the APC National Publicity Secretary, gave the assurance while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the development on Friday in Abuja.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Dogara says he wont handover power to another speaker until June

- Yakubu Dogara, has declared that the life of the current House still lasts until the next three months

- The Speaker said that there are many pending issues before shortly it

- According to him, the pending issues before the House needed urgent legislative attention including the 2019 Appropriations Bill

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said the life of the current House still lasts until the next three months, adding that there were many pending issues before shortly it.

Dogara made this known in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Turaki Hassan, on Sunday, March 3, in Abuja.

READ ALSO: PDP governorship aspirant, 30,000 others dump party in Kaduna

The speaker said that the pending issues before the House needed urgent legislative attention including the 2019 Appropriations Bill.

The speaker is concentrating in accomplishing all he promised in the Legislative Agenda of the House of Representatives.

Who becomes what in the 9th House of Representatives is not the concern or business of the current Speaker, Rt Hon Yakubu Dogara.

You should please spare him from these unfounded speculations, Turaki said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a section of the media has been awashed with reports on likely prime contenders in the leadership race of the two chambers of the assembly.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that a member representing Alimosho federal constituency at the House of Representatives, Olufemi Adebanjo, said that he was prevented by the speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, to air his views on the floor of the House for four years.

Legit.ng reported that the lawmaker made the revelation during a courtesy visit to him in Lagos by the leadership of Alimosho Youth Development Association of Nigeria (AYDAN), led by its president, Comrade Lateef Ogungbade.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? - on Legit TV.

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Home | News | General | I wish I can invite all 15m Nigerians that voted for Buhari to dinner - Aisha Buhari

- Aisha Buhari has expressed gratitude to APC presidential campaign team for their efforts toward the re-election of President Buhari

- The president's wife expressed optimism about the ability of the president to deliver the desired change that Nigerians expected

- Going further, she also appreciated the overwhelming confidence reposed in President Buhari by Nigerians

The wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, has expressed gratitude to the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign team for their efforts toward the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The presidents wife made the commendation through her director, information, Suleiman Haruna, on Sunday, March 3, in Abuja, following the APC victory dinner she organised to celebrate the re-election of President Buhari.

She expressed optimism about the ability of the president to deliver the desired change that Nigerians expected.

She also appreciated the overwhelming confidence reposed in President Buhari by Nigerians.

The wife of the president assured Nigerians of the Presidents determination to use his second tenure to serve their interests.

I wish I can invite all the 15 million Nigerians that voted for President to this dinner, but no place can accommodate you all.

So, let me say thank you and assure you that you made the right choice,she said.

She also thanked the Women and Youths of the Presidential campaign team.

According to her, the campaign team complemented the APC presidential campaign council, as well as the Buhari Support Organisation.

I also wish to express my appreciation to the women and youths of the presidential campaign team that I initiated to complement the efforts of the APC presidential campaign council.

As you all know by now, the aim of setting up the team was to get women and youths who form the majority of the electorate involved in all the campaign activities across the country, Aisha Buhari said.

She said this was a successful experiment that would be recognised in Nigerias political history.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that Prophet Emmanuel Omale who predicted the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2019 election again predicted that the second coming of Buhari will benefit the poor.

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The founder of Divine Hand of God International Ministries said it was is duty to tell people what he heard from God.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? - on Legit TV.

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Home | News | General | Buhari cannot be part of my suspension from APC - Okorocha

- Governor Rochas Okorocha said President Muhammadu Buhari has no knowledge of his suspension from APC

- The governor accused party's national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, of being lawless

- The Imo state governor also accused Oshiomhole of selling the tickets of the party to the highest bidders

Imo state governor, Rochas Okorocha, on Sunday, February 3, said that President Muhammadu Buhari is unaware of his recent suspension from the All Progressives Congress (APC) by the National Working Committee (NWC).

Okorocha, who accused the national chairman of the party, Adams Oshiomhole, of high handedness, said President Buhari is too decent to be part of the lawlessness in the party, Daily Trust reports.

He said: Buhari is too decent and cannot be part of Mr. Adams Oshiomholes appetite for lawlessness, especially in running the affairs of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

READ ALSO: PDP to hold expanded caucus meeting on Monday, March 4

The national chairman of the party has told the world that he wants to ensure partys supremacy and he has been doing so to the best of his ability, because from all indications he has his own idea of partys supremacy.

Oshiomholes idea of partys supremacy could be the purported suspension of two governors on the platform of the party few days after the Presidential and National Assembly elections in which the party did well without any contribution from him.

The president was voted by Nigerians across the geo-political zones because he has proved to be real and can be trusted. When he said I am fighting corruption, you see it happening. It cannot be the same thing with someone who sold the tickets of the party to the highest bidders.

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In other words, the President has nothing to do with Oshiomholes disdain for the right actions and the chairmans charity for lawlessness and total disregard for the partys constitution."

Legit.ng earlier reported that Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state met with President Muhammadu Buhari about 48 hours after he and Governor Okorocha were suspended by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The meeting held at the State House on Sunday, March 3.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Bayelsa polls: Governor Dickson arming thugs ahead of state assembly elections, says Nabena

- Bayelsa governor, Seriake Dickson has been accused of plotting violence in the state

- The accusation was made by the Mr. Yekini Nabena, the deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC)

- Nabena said the governor is plotting violence by flooding the state with arms ahead of state House of Assembly elections

The governor of Bayelsa state, Seriake Dickson has been accused of plotting violence by flooding the state with arms ahead of sate House of Assembly elections in the state.

Mr. Yekini Nabena, the deputy national publicity secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who made the damning allegation while speaking to journalists in Abuja on Sunday, March 3, cited a security report which he alleged uncovered the arms build-up by the governor.

According to the Bayelsa-born APC chieftain, The Seriake Dickson PDP administration has become very unpopular and stands rejected in Bayelsa state.

The governor in desperation has turned to violence and manipulation of the elections to suppress the people and keep PDP in power in the state.

READ ALSO: PDP members defect in Yobe state

Nabena called on the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu to urgently probe the illegal activities of the state security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo which he said was used by the governor and other chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to aid rigging of the presidential and National Assembly elections in Bayelsa state.

His words: Stakeholders in Bayelsa Sstate have received security reports which indicate an arms buildup by the governor of Bayelsa state ahead of Saturdays election. The report uncovered how the governor is hiring, arming political thugs and dressing them in police and army uniforms for the election.

The governors dummy is to constantly and publicly cry foul while he colludes with security agencies and armed thugs to hijack election material and perpetrate violence that characterised the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state. The governor should be held responsible for any breakdown of law and order in the coming elections

Bayelsans watched in horror how Governor Seriake Dickson deployed the state security outfit, Operation Doo Akpo to shield PDP agents as they rigged and unleashed violence in the state during the presidential and National Assembly elections in the state. The governor is already plotting to use Operation Doo Akpo again for Saturdays election.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu must as a matter of urgency investigate the illegal activities of Operation Doo Akpo.

Operation Doo Akpo, a creation of Governor Seriake Dickson is no longer a crime-fighting outfit but now a political tool assisting chieftains of PDP to rig elections. The security outfit must be proscribed and disbanded for the safety and security of the state.

Bayelsa state witnessed widespread violence on Saturday, February 23 during the presidential and National Assembly election.

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Rampaging armed men in military uniform on that day, killed a Bayelsa government house photographer, Mr. Reginald Dei.

Dei was killed alongside the ward chairman of the PDP at Southern Ijaw local government area of the state, Mr. Seidougha Taribi.

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2019 Election: We are retrogressing in Nigeria  83-year-old man says after voting| Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Gunmen kill two soldiers in Rivers community

Two soldiers on the evening of Saturday, February 2 were reportedly killed by unknown gunmen in Abonnema, Akuku-Toru local government area of Rivers state, according to an eyewitness.

Legit.ng gathers that the incident reportedly happened in the Obonoma community and the victims were shot by gunmen wearing military uniforms.

Daily Trust reports that the Amanyanabo of Abonnema Kingdom, King Disrael Gbobo Bob-Manuel, said the gunmen stormed the military checkpoint and killed the officials.

He said: The information I am getting is that criminal elements attacked a military checkpoint between Obonoma and Abonnema and killed soldiers.

READ ALSO: Suspected herdsmen kill 16 in fresh attack on Benue community

We are shocked about this news. We condemn it in its entirety. This is not the attitude of our people because we have lived with the military for years.

We are shocked about this attack on military. I am telling you that this people who killed the military are not our people. They are criminals who invade our community from time to time for oil bunkering and stealing of other valuables."

The Nigerian Army is yet to comment on this killings.

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Earlier, Legit.ng 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.

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Vice President Yemi Osinbajo casts his vote, boasts of APC victory | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | 16 killed by suspected herdsmen in fresh attack on Benue

- 16 people have been killed in a fresh attack on Gwer west local government area of Benue state

- The victims were reportedly killed by gunmen suspected to be armed herdsmen

- The suspected herdsmen stormed Tse- Kuma village in the early hours of Sunday and sacked the a whole ward

16 people were on Sunday, February 3 killed by suspected herdsmen who stormed Tse- Kuma, Mbachohon council ward, in Gwer west local government area in Benue state in the early hour of the day.

Chairman of Gwer West local government council, Francis Ayaga, who spoke with journalists said the whole council ward was sacked by the suspected herdsmen.

However, the commander of Operation Whirl Stroke ( OPWS), Major- General Adeyemi Yekini said only seven bodies have been recovered in the attacked.

READ ALSO: PDP governorship aspirant, 30,000 others dump party in Kaduna

An indigene of Gwer west, Francis Ugbede, who spoke with The Nation, also claimed the herdsmen took over the whole council ward.

Ugbede said: They came with many cattle and are grazing on farm lands and destroying crops after they shot and killed harmless farmers he said.

There is a great humanitarian crisis in the local government are as those who fled the troubled area have no where to put their heads."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that a coalition of Fulani organisations said it recorded the killing of 131 Fulani pastoralists in some parts of Kajuru local government area of Kaduna state.

Malam Saleh Alhassan, the Secretary General of Miyyetti Allah, on behalf of the coalition made this known at a news conference at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Kaduna over the alleged genocide.

Alhassan said the coalition, comprising five Fulani groups in the state, are demanding for justice for the victims.

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The Lagos State Police Command has arrested 19 persons, who allegedly attempted to burn down the Ejigbo Police Station around 11.15pm on Saturday.

A resident of the area, identified simply as Tunde, told our correspondent that he was lounging outside his apartment when he suddenly saw hundreds of commercial motorcyclists armed with dangerous weapons racing towards the police station.

According to him, he did not understand what they were saying until one of his friends told him that a police vehicle allegedly knocked down two of their colleagues.

He noted that a few minutes after, the motorcyclists started hurling missiles at the police station and threatened to bring it down.

He added that in the process, the mob damaged some police vehicles.

Tunde explained that by the time the police mobilised and repelled the attack on the station, some of the motorcyclists had sustained varying degrees of injuries.

He said, I was lounging outside when I suddenly saw hundreds of youths running towards the Ejigbo Police Station. They were chanting in Hausa. I did not understand what they were saying.

I asked one of them, who is my friend, what had happened. He told me that some policemen knocked two motorcyclists down. He said they were going to retaliate.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Chike Oti, condemned the attack on the police station, adding that nobody was knocked down.

According to him, the Lagos State Traffic Law prohibits the movement of motorcycles after 10pm.

He stated that the motorcyclists attempted to burn down the Ejigbo Police Station, but for quick reinforcement.

Oti added that the police repelled the irate youths by firing tear gas canisters at the mob and that nobody was shot.

The PPRO stated, The motorcyclists wilfully damaged two operational vehicles belonging to the Rapid Response Squad, Ikeja. The police did not shoot at any of them; they only fired tear gas canisters to disperse them. The police arrested 19 of them over attempts to burn down the station.

The police on night guard saw some people approaching and became alert, wondering what such number of people was coming to do at the station.

Few metres away, the mob started throwing missiles at the police station. The police resisted them from entering the compound by closing the gate. If the police had allowed them to overwhelm them, they would have burned down the station.

In the process, they damaged two of our patrol vehicles parked outside the station. The DPO was able to organise a security team that repelled them using tear gas to avoid killing anybody.

The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Zubairu Muazu, asked the operatives to rid the state of criminals, especially in the areas marked as black spots.

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Home | News | General | Alao-Akala remains our governorship candidate - ADP

- The Action Democratic Party (ADP) declared that Adebayo Alao-Akala remains its governorship candidate in Oyo state

- ADP southwest chairman, Lateef Arowosaye, said Alao-Akala has not formerly informed the party that he is no more its candidate

- According to Arowosaye, the gubernatorial ticket belongs to the party and not the candidate

The leadership of Action Democratic Party has urged its governorship candidate, former Oyo state governor, Christopher Adebayo Alao-Akala, not to rejoin the All Progressives Congress.

The Nation reports that the ADP declared that as far as the partys leadership was concerned, Alao-Akala remains its governorship candidate.

ADP southwest chairman, Lateef Arowosaye, in a statement in Ibadan at the weekend, said the party was unaware of any pact with the APC.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

The statement read: Our attention has been drawn to the statement by Otunba Alao-Akala to the effect that he has withdrawn his candidacy from the gubernatorial election in Oyo state scheduled for next week. The ADP wishes to make the following clarifications after consultations at all levels of the partys leadership:

We have not been formally informed by Otunba Alao-Akala of his decision to withdraw from the gubernatorial race. The gubernatorial ticket belongs to the party and not the candidate.

The legal department of our party is fully informed and appropriate legal advice is being awaited. The ADP, therefore, remains in the gubernatorial election, moreso when the window of substitution of candidates has closed.

We call on our teeming members and supporters of the ADP to troop out on March 9, 2019 and vote for the ADP in the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections. The ADP wishes to also state that it is not in alliance with the APC in Oyo state.

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We have campaigned on the strength of our positioning as the credible alternative to the ruling APC in Oyo State. It will, therefore, be ridiculous to turn around at the 11th hour and embrace what we have used the lifetime of the ADP to condemn.

The ADP is, however, in talks with other opposition parties in Oyo state to give the people of Oyo State a new breath of life. We shall duly inform party members and the public at large of this initiative at the fullest of time.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the former governor of Oyo state, Adebayo Alao-Akala, reportedly returned to the APC after meeting with ex-governor of Lagos and national leader of the party, Bola Tinubu.

The former governor dumped APC in October 2018 after the party's governorship primaries in Oyo state.

Alao-Akala's wife, Oluwakemi Alao-Akala, his son, Olamiju, and the director general of his campaign, Wale Ohu, accompanied him to Tinubu's residence on Thursday, February 28.

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Home | News | General | People are using military uniforms to rustle cattle in Benue - Military reveals, cautions against retaliations

- The military in Benue has said some certain powerful individuals are behind the recent attacks in the state

- The force said that the same people were responsible for the pockets of violence following presidential elections in Benue

- The military also severely condemned the act of retaliation that places the lives of animals above humans

The military said certain powerful forces in Benue were responsible for the recent attacks on communities in the state.

Major General Adeyemi Yekini, the force commander of Operation Whirl Stroke (OPWS), made the statement at a press briefing on Sunday, March 3, in Makurdi, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

Yekini also said such individuals were instigating violence as could be seen in the recent attacks on communities preceding major elections in the country.

It is obvious that some forces are instigating violence in Benue; it is not a coincidence that there was an attack on Agatu community a week to the presidential election and now there is another attack on Gwer West a week to the governorship election.

It was also reported that OPWS was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 to tackle cases of armed banditry on communities in Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states.

The force commander said the military outfit had intensified operations along Loko-Agatu, Kwande and other border communities in Benue to prevent reoccurrence of the attacks.

He condemned the preference to cattle over human lives by those who retaliated because of cattle theft.

Flt Officer Mohammed Abubakar, the sector commander of OPWS in Gwer West local government area, said some people were using military uniforms to rustle cattle.

Those people who did this are suspected to be livestock guards, according to our local sources, he said.

Abubakar said seven corpses had already been recovered.

According to him, the council chairman of Gwer West, Mr Francis Ayaga and the divisional police officer of the local government area have already submitted seven names of the suspects to him.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that thousands of residents allegedly fled from Abonnema town and neighbouring communities in Akuku-Toru local government area, Rivers state over the weekend, following ensuing confusion over the murder of two soldiers by gunmen.

Movement by boat was forestalled in the entire local government area as soldiers locked down the Abonnema waterways over the incident on Sunday, March 3.

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Home | News | General | Female Nigerian graduate shows off her adorable works as a cobbler

Women are indeed taking charge of their lives and carving a niche for themselves in the process. This is clearly reflected in the life of this young Nigerian lady who despite being a graduate, has found love as a cobbler.

Identified as Ukaha Ezinne, the 26-year-old lady isn't like your average Nigerian babe. Rather than sit around and complain about lack of employment after NYSC like most people do, this smart young lady picked up an entrepreneurship skill as a shoe cobbler.

Speaking exclusively with Legit.ng, the Abia born who resides in Lagos, revealed she is a graduate of Theatre arts from Kogi state university.

READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (former NAIJ.com)

Ukaha Ezinne believes what a man can do, a woman can do better

Source: Original

Ezinne revealed that after her service year in Akwa Ibom in 2015, she found it difficult to get a job despite attending several interviews. Following series of disappointments, she decided to pick up a skill.

After series of job interviews without a call back, Ezinne decided to pick up a skill

Source: Original

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In her words: "I learnt shoe/bag making, I have always believed that what a man can do, a woman can do it better"

Ezinne not only makes shoes but bags as well

Source: Original

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Ezinne revealed that she has been in this business for close to two years now. She has proven to other ladies out there that with determination and passion, almost anything is achievable.

In a similar news, an exceptionally talented young lady Onyinye Edith Chima, who is a graduate of English and Literary Studies from the Ekiti state University, prides herself in making uniquely different footwears for both men and women.

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How I make over 100k monthly - graduate shoemaker. Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Miyetti Allah warns members nationwide against reprisal attacks

- The Miyetti Allah Association of Nigeria has reacted to the ongoing crisis involving Fulani in some parts of the country

- The national president of the association, Alhaji Muhammed Kiruwa Ardon-Zuru, has warned against reprisals

- He said the main agenda of those behind Fulani killings is to ensure the country is engulfed in crisis

The national president of Miyetti Allah Association of Nigeria, Alhaji Muhammed Kiruwa Ardon-Zuru, has warned the Fulani across the country, particularly those who were attacked in their respective communities by unknown assailants, against reprisal attacks.

He said the main agenda of those behind the killings is to ensure the country is engulfed in crisis, as other tribes in the country avenge the death of their kinsmen.

Ardo-Zuru stated this in Birnin-Kebbi, the Kebii state capital, while addressing journalists on the recent crisis in some parts of the country.

READ ALSO:Gombe governor Dankwambo escapes attack, 2 official cars burnt

As a leader, we dont want our people to avenge murders of their people. We realise that those who are attacking Fulani in Kaduna, Taraba and Benue states are carrying out the attacks to destabilise the states and the country, he said.

He also charged security agencies, to retrieve guns and ammunitions in the peoples possession in the flash point states, as well as prosecute those behind killings of innocent citizens.

The Miyetti Allah leader, who expressed the associations readiness to cooperate with security agencies and other agencies, condemned agitation in some quarters that certain tribe should stand firm to defend themselves.

Meanwhile, the Miyetti Allah Wallidira has asked the federal government to expel Amnesty International (Nigeria) and the organisations members arrested over its report on the farmers and herders crises in the country.

The group made the demand in Abuja during a courtesy visit on the minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama.

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Speaking at the meeting, the organisations national president, Alhaji Yusuf Musa Ardo, opined that the entire report released in December 2018, by the AI concerning Nigeria was biased.

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Zaria Massacre: IMN Commemorates 3rd Year Anniversary | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Elections 2019: Pan-Igbo group appeals for large turn-out on March 9

- The Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF) urged Igbo people to come out to vote March 9 governorship and state assembly elections

- The pan-Igbo socio-political group said the call became imperative following likely apathy which might occur after Saturdays presidential election

- The group also called on the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to help in voters education and guard against menace of vote buying and selling

The Ndigbo Unity Forum (NUF), a pan-Igbo socio-political group, has appealed to Nigerians of Igbo extraction to come out en mass and vote on March 9 elections.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rescheduled Saturday March 9, for governorship and state House of Assembly Elections nationwide.

The president of the group, Comrade Augustine Chukwudum, made the appeal in a statement in Enugu on Saturday, March 3.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

Chukwudum said that the call became imperative following likely apathy which might occur after Saturdays presidential election.

We are calling on Igbos to exercise their rights by coming out en mass on the day of Governorship and State Assembly Elections, on March 9.

We also call on INEC to make sure the election is free and fair; while people must stop selling their votes and security agents must checkmate vote buyers, it is not good, he said.

The NUF boss called on the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to help in voters education and guard against menace of vote buying and selling.

According to him, the NOA should educate the people so that they will know the power in the voters cards which they have in their hands.

People who sold their vote in the past do not know the value of what they have, that is why they do not know that they are selling their future, which is the power they have to elect good leaders.

But our people misuse it that is why we end up producing bad leaders who end up milking our God-given resources.

Today some states are lagging behind in development even in the South-East.

Now is the time to elect people who will be servant-leaders and not rulers who will take us backward as it was in the time past, he said.

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Meanwhile, following the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari at the polls, a traditional ruler in Isiala Mbano local government area, Imo state, Eze Oliver Ohanwe, asked the Igbo political leaders to commence moves for the 2023 presidency.

The traditional ruler spoke to journalists in Owerri, the capital of Imo state, on Sunday, March 3, arguing that he was justified in his call for Ndigbo to support Buharis second term bid.

The monarch further pleaded with President Buhari to use the current opportunity of his re-election to address the issues which Nigerians bitterly complained about.

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Home | News | General | Just in: Atiku, party heading to Tribunal over presidential result - PDP expanded caucus insists

- The Peoples Democratic Party has said that it will seek redress at the Elections Tribunal over the outcome of the 2019 presidential result

- This resolve was made known by the party after an expanded caucus meeting in Abuja on Monday, March 4

- Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP's national publicity secretary said alleged that the APC has paid some other smaller parties to approach Atiku with a bid to warn him against heading to the tribunal

The expanded caucus of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Monday, March 4, said it has resolved to head to the Electoral Tribunal following the outcome of the 2019 presidential election which took place on Saturday, February 23.

Speaking at a press briefing in Abuja after the expanded caucus meeting, the national publicity secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan said the caucus has resolved that it would not be intimidated by the ruling party or the excessive use of force to stop its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, from seeking legal redress over the result of the election.

Ologbondiyan said while the PDP caucus commends Nigerians for refusing the militarization by the ruling party, it has resolved with the party to seek redress at the Tribunal.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

He said the caucus also reviewed the situation in Kano especially as it concerns the court decision and notes that an appeal has been filed against the judgement.

According to Ologbondiyan, the caucus raised issues about intimidation of members of the party and its candidate on its resolve to head to the Tribunal and would like to assure Nigerians that it will make needed efforts to protect the people's mandate.

"We insist that our party and its candidate has resolved to seek legal address," Ologbondiyan said.

Ologbondiyan further alleged that the party is aware that the APC has paid some other smaller parties to approach Atiku with a bid to warn him against heading to the tribunal.

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a past minority leader of the Senate and former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, have credited President Muhammadu Buhari's victory at the 2019 presidential election to his defection from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpabio said the PDP lost the presidential election the day he joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking on Channels Television's political programme, the former governor said he strongly believed the president needed to be re-elected.

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Home | News | General | Mixed reactions as image resembling popular Jesus statue appears in the clouds

- A young man, Alfredo Lo Brutto, has captured photos that look suspiciously like the image of Jesus

- Alfredo spotted the figure in the clouds at his hometown, Agropoli, Italy

- The excited man captured the snaps on Friday, March 1, 2019, and shared them on social media

It is not strange to hear news of religious symbols or figures appearing in the most unlikely places. More often than not, these sorts of stories are of African origin.

However Legit.ng has gathered the report of a similar occurrence somewhere in Europe. An image which resembles Jesus was captured in Agropoli, Italy.

The interesting figure was spotted in the sky by one Alfredo Lo Brutto at his home on Friday, March 1, 2019. Apparently, the sun had filtered through the clouds and the image appeared.

Alfredo was very fascinated by the sight that he took series of photos and shared them on social media.

According to Daily Mail, the young man revealed that he is not one to share photos on the internet but he was excited to share photos of the alleged Jesus because it looked beautiful.

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He said: I was enchanted by the view. I don't often share pictures on social media, but when I took this one, I instantly felt like I wanted other people to see it, because it was so beautiful.

See the photos below:

The image in the cloud looks a lot like popular Brazilian landmark, the Christ the Redeemer statue in the country's capital.

Christ the Redeemer statue Photo: Getty Images

Source: Getty Images

Since the photos went viral, series of people have taken to social media platforms to share their interesting reactions.

Some of them agreed it was a beautiful sight and even quoted bible verses to support the claim that it was an image of Jesus, while others were skeptical and made sarcastic comments. See some reactions below:

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Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that the image of Jesus Christ on the cross recently appeared in an Anambra church.

A video shared on Facebook claims that Jesus Christ allegedly appeared on a cross in Awka Etiti. The residents in the community where the incident occurred claimed that the Jesus on the cross is flesh and blood.

In the video, an unidentified woman was heard narrating the event. She claimed that people were gathered around the tree where Jesus allegedly appeared on a cross to touch the water dripping from the cross.

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Image of Jesus Christ appears in Ikorodu Church | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Breaking: EFCC investigates Atilus son-in-law over alleged money laundering

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said on Monday, March 4, it is investigating Alhaji Babalele Abdullahi, the finance director of Atiku Abubakars group of companies, for alleged money laundering.

Abdullahi is a son-in-law to Atiku Abubakar, the defeated presidential candidate, who contested on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Tony Orilade, EFCCs acting spokesperson, said this in Abuja confirming that Abdullahi was in the commissions custody.

We are investigating a case of money laundering against Abdullahi.

We shall speak at the appropriate time, Orilade said as reported by the News Agency of Nigeria.

The report said he declined to disclose the amount involved in the laundering allegation against Abdullahi. However, NAN says its investigation revealed that it was about 150 million Euros.

Atiku had raised an alarm recently over the arrest of Abdullahi by EFCC operatives, who invaded his residence.

A statement by Paul Ibe, Atikus spokesperson, had said the former vice president alleged that in a desperate move to make him concede and congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari, EFCC invaded the Maitama residence of Abdullahi.

The EFCC agents numbering about two dozen came in two regular vehicles, an 18-seater Toyota bus with registration number Abuja CS 522 RSH and a Hilux van.

They came with a warrant to search the house and office of Abdullahi and found nothing incriminating.

They then proceeded to his office at Oakland Centre in Maitama and found nothing incriminating there.

However, they took away some documents of landed property. Not done, the EFCC officials stormed his Wuse residence where they again found nothing incriminating after searching.

Afterwards, Abdullahi was taken away to the EFCC office in Wuse to make a statement, Abubakar said.

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Home | News | General | Just in: Osinbajo lands in Warri ahead of governorship election in Delta

Nigerias vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, landed in Warri, a town in Delta state, southern Nigeria on Monday, March 4, for a stakeholders meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the governorship election in the country.

Osinbajo was in the town to represent President Muhammadu Buhari.

A terse statement from Osinbajos spokesperson, Laolu Akande, on social media said the forum was well attended.

VP Osinbajo now in Warri representing the president at an APC Delta state stakeholders' interactive forum, a widely attended event complete with an infectious enthusiasm, he said.

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Legit.ng reports that while Osinbajo was preparing for the visit to Delta, a group, the Akwa Ibom Liberation Movement (AILM) warned President Muhammadu Buhari to be wary of the APC leadership in their own state.

The warning is coming as the president prepares to visit Akwa Ibom as he commences a thank you tour nationwide after his re-election.

The group accused the APC in Akwa Ibom of working at cross purpose with the president and other national officers of the party. In an open letter to the president dated Monday, March 4, the group told Buhari that leaders of the party, did not take your reelection as serious as they want you to believe.

Meanwhile, Senator Gbemisola Saraki on Sunday, March 3, said she would ensure that the candidate of the APC emerged the winner in the gubernatorial election scheduled for March 9, 2019.

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The sister to the embattled senate president, Bukola Saraki of the Peoples Democratic Party, stressed that the candidate of APC, AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq, will dethrone the ruling PDP in the state.

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2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV

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Home | News | General | Just in: Court nullifies forgery case against Adamawa governor for lack of jurisdiction

- The lawsuit intended to disqualify Governor Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa from the forthcoming gubernatorial election has been dismissed

- The suit was alleging that Governor Bindow submitted fake academic qualification as part of his credentials ahead of the poll

- However, the suit was dismissed by one Justice Olukayode Adeniyi who ruled that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case, since it originated from Adamawa

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Monday, March 4, dismissed a suit alleging that Governor Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa submitted forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for lack of territorial jurisdiction, the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) reports.

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Delivering judgment, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case on the ground that the suit originated from Adamawa and ought to have being filed in the state and not FCT.

A non-governmental organisation, under the aegis of Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International, tendered documents before the court to substantiate its claim that the defendant who is a flag-bearer of the All Progressive Congress (APC), falsely declared his educational qualification and date of birth.

The plaintiff alleged that the governor supplied false information in the Form CF 001 he tendered to INEC, by purporting to have sat for the West African Examination Council, WAEC, in June, 1983.

The group, told the court that contrary to the defendants false claim that he attended Government Secondary School, Miango, Plateau state, incontrovertible evidence shows that Governor Bindow never attended the said school nor sat for the WAEC examination to warrant the issuance of the Testimonial or any other certificate.

The claimant is also seeking the disqualification of Bindow from participating in the 2019 governorship election.

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Bindow in his own statement of defence, denied presenting forged documents to INEC. The governor, through his lawyer, Chief Chris Uche, SAN, told the court that he won the 2018 primary election of the APC held on October 9, in Yola.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that ahead of the governorship election, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha had said that misunderstanding among APC stakeholders in the state was being resolved to ensure that the party retains the state.

Legit.ng gathered that there has been trading of blames among APC chieftains in Adamawa over the slight loss by the party to PDP in the presidential election.

2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | Legit TV

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Home | World | Africa | Her privates are too big for Chamisa

Below is how The Angolan News reported the Nelson Chamisa rape accusation story.

Following revelations that the real rape accuser, Nyaradzo Nyathi who on the 1st March alleged that Chamisa sexually attacked her in November last year, was exposed as a CIO agent's estranged wife, embroiled in a tumultuous relationship that saw her being sent home from Canada after she accused her own husband of rape.

Her husband (Herbert Garikai Nyathi) is a diplomat currently working in Canada. There was no suggestion that he is connected to the allegations against Chamisa.

All Garikayi said is that the Nyaradzo's privates are too big for a young man like Nelson Chamisa. Her privates require two donkeys with full er*ction to satisfy her. No man on earth can have a big penis to satisfy Nyaradzo. For that reason, I sent her back to her family and I remained in Canada.



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Home | World | Africa | Zanu-PF not interested in MDC-Alliance implosion

Zanu-PF says it has no business in the MDC Alliance, which is facing an internal political inferno threatening to consume the opposition party.

Speaking in Harare today, Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Simon Khaya Moyo said recent claims by some MDC Alliance members that the revolutionary party is seeking to influence the opposition's congress outcome are not only farfetched but also absurd.

MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa is set to battle for his life at the helm of the party and Douglas Mwonzora is taunted as one of the firm contenders to the party's highest office.

Some opposition members have accused Zanu-PF of masterminding a plot for Chamisa's downfall.

The latest accusation from the MDC Alliance is that the purported rape case by Chamisa is a creation of Zanu-PF.

However, Zanu-PF had no kind words for the accusations, saying it has no business in affairs of a party facing an imminent implosion.

"It is quite mischievous for someone to suggest that Zanu-PF has an interest in an outfit that does not have substantive political identity. That is farfetched and absurd. The mighty revolutionary Zanu-PF has no business or any derived benefit from burdening itself with the internal affairs of another political party, let alone an outfit rocked by an internal political inferno threatening to consume it," said Khaya Moyo.

"Instead of concentrating on pointing fingers at Zanu-PF, Chamisa's alliance should assign attention towards resuscitating themselves from the political deathbed they are in. It is evident that the MDC Alliance is in complete tatters and is confronted with imminent self-extinction as testified by one of its leaders, Elias Mudzuri suggesting a possible split at their forthcoming congress. He said so recently and it is on record," he added.

Instead, Khaya Moyo said Zanu-PF is pre-occupied with the drive to promote socio-economic development in line with vision 2030 and has no time for kindergarten politics.

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Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF accused of plotting to destroy Chamisa

A top MDC official has sensationally claimed that party officials, especially those who will be voting in the upcoming congress are being paid large sums of money to vote out Nelson Chamisa from the party's presidency.

But Zanu-PF has angrily dismissed the allegations.

MDC vice president Morgen Komichi told the Daily News on Sunday on Friday that Zanu-PF has a budget to influence the outcome of the opposition MDC's congress with the aim being to remove Chamisa who has refused to capitulate to the ruling party's whims and caprices.

Chamisa has particularly irked the powers-that-be by refusing to participate in dialogue being initiated from the Office of the President and Cabinet.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year initiated a national dialogue platform involving all those who contested in the July 30, 2018 presidential elections but an obdurate Chamisa refused to play ball much to the embarrassment of the ruling party.

Chamisa, who is the country's main opposition leader has refused to recognise Mnangagwa's presidency, describing the Zanu-PF strongman as an illegitimate leader who came to power through a rigged election.

This is despite the fact that the Constitutional Court, the highest court in the land, dismissed the MDC Alliance petition to nullify the elections.

In an interview with the Daily News on Sunday, Komichi said Zanu-PF wants to destroy Chamisa either by eliminating him before the MDC congress or sponsoring a "pliable candidate".

"Zanu-PF has two options to hurt Chamisa before congress or to sponsor a candidate. The idea is to buy our members in the region of $4 million to $6 million to destroy Chamisa.

Individual MPs have been approached, when they (Zanu-PF officials) talk to us they make it clear that we should dump Chamisa for a more responsible leadership, they feel strongly that Chamisa is a stumbling block to their objectives. We are, however, not interested," said Komichi.

Komichi told the Daily News on Sunday that they have evidence of an operation to ensure that the opposition gets a weaker leader during its congress.

"We will never interfere with Zanu-PF processes. They should leave us alone. Zanu-PF must not destroy a partner in a constitutional democratic country," said Komichi.

This comes as the name of the party's organising secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora has been touted as the one to challenge the hugely popular MDC leader at the forthcoming congress due to be held between the 24th and 26th of this month.

Mwonzora, who once beat Chamisa in an election, stoked emotions in the opposition party when he said it is his democratic right to contest for any position in a statement that angered the majority of the party faithful.

Contacted for comment, Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo ridiculed suggestions that the ruling party, whose officials have publicly expressed interest in the MDC congress, is interested in meddling in the affairs of its rivals.

"That is nonsense, we have nothing to do, with that we have two-thirds majority in Parliament, we are very strong," said Khaya Moyo.

However, Zanu-PF officials like the party's secretary for youths Lewis Matutu have openly pronounced themselves on who they prefer to lead the MDC.

In a revealing statement on micro-blogging platform Twitter, Matutu wrote "Mwonzora likely to become the new MDC Alliance president because majority of Chamisa's hooligans are not in the structures of their party and they don't form part of the congress delegates".

Zanu-PF is on record saying Chamisa's refusal to accept Mnangagwa's legitimacy is mere political posturing that is designed to cement his position ahead of the congress.

Mnangagwa's spokesperson recently told the Daily News that Chamisa's stance is informed by the impending congress and not national interests.

"On the part of engagement we finished that with the elections. He should not waste our time. We know he wants to raise his stature ahead of his party congress, if he wants to help resolve the economic problem he should go to work. We will grow the economy through productivity, through putting shoulder to the wheel. He wants ED to help him build his profile, we have no time for that," said Charamba.

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The forthcoming MDC congress is critical as it will settle once and for all, the legitimacy question dogging the leadership of Nelson Chamisa, political analysts have said.

Chamisa assumed the reins of the country's main opposition party ahead of his rivals following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai  the party's founding father  last February, albeit, under controversial circumstances.

The 41-year-old was accused of using his then assumed closeness to Tsvangirai's widow, Elizabeth, to torpedo the ambitions of the likes of Elias Mudzuri and Thokozani Khupe who were also eyeing the post.

A titanic leadership battle subsequently ensued in the party, which eventually led to Khupe forming a breakaway faction which went on to perform dismally in last year's elections.

Chamisa ultimately prevailed over his party competitors after a consultative meeting of the MDC, which was held at the party's Harare headquarters  and which was attended by 639 delegates from 210 party districts.

The meeting endorsed him as Tsvangirai's successor and the party's presidential candidate in the 2018 polls.

Political analysts canvassed by the Daily News on Sunday said Chamisa has a chance to iron out the issue of legitimacy surrounding his leadership.

Piers Pigou, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group said formal endorsement at congress is important for Chamisa as it would help remove remaining doubts about his position from many.

"Some, of course, will be dead set against his leadership, whatever the outcome. This will also be influenced by how credible the membership feels the delegation selection process has been.

"How the reconstituted MDC Alliance structures operate in this regard will be essential and it's critical for Chamisa that these processes retain as much integrity as possible and are seen to have done so," said Pigou.

The platform, according to political analyst Maxwell Saungweme is also an opportunity for the MDC to elect leaders with unquestioned mandate and legitimacy.

He said it is important, where possible, that all positions are contested and where someone challenges someone's favourite, and they are not labelled.

"Democratic institutions are not built by ring-fencing positions or attaching labels to genuine contestants. Leaders who emerge from that congress, contested, feel elected, legitimate and holding real mandate.

"I don't think we need negotiations in Zimbabwe but dialogue that leads to win-win outcomes in terms of having inclusive governance and having the economic problems unlocked.

"He must be able to dialogue with (president Emmerson) Mnangagwa and others if his interest is a prosperous Zimbabwe. His suffering two million-plus supporters want the country to progress and he will be made to dialogue for a better Zimbabwe," said Saungweme.

Political analyst Rashweat Mukundu said the MDC congress will end once and for all the noise around Chamisa's legitimacy.

"It's an issue that is advanced by Zanu-PF using the State media and its activists but never an issue within MDC as Chamisa was legally put in that position by the relevant party structures," said Mukundu.

"What Chamisa and the MDC must do is to deliver a democratic congress that demonstrates their capacity and values as an alternative to Zanu-PF."

Mukundu added that the congress offers a fresh start for Chamisa as a post-Morgan Tsvangirai opposition leader and gives him leverage to define the future of the party.

"I think the congress will simply strengthen Chamisa's hand in deciding on MDC political trajectory, and essentially put the Chamisa stamp on the MDC away from the shadow of the late Tsvangirai which still looms large on the MDC.

"I think the MDC position on the dialogue is well defined and unlikely to change. What will happen after congress is that Chamisa will have more time and space to focus on national politics and not worry about internal political party issues."

Another political analyst and civil rights activist Gladys Hlatywayo said the supposed legitimacy deficit is a creation of MDC detractors.

"Yes, president Tsvangirai left Chamisa in an acting position but this acting position was confirmed by the highest decision making body in-between congress which is the National Council.

"The congress is only important in as far as it is the first after the departure of the revered founder and a continuation of the democratic culture of subjecting leadership to the will of the people," she told the Daily News on Sunday.
LAST week, the local skies welcomed the arrival of the restructured fellow southern African carrier, Air Tanzania.

The airline re-launched flights to Harare after close to two decades of no direct flights between Harare and Dar-es-Salaam.

To maximise on profitability, the passenger carrier is connecting Harare to Lusaka as it flies south of the African continent.

What a remarkable story it has been for Air Tanzania.

When President John Pombe Magufuli came to power in 2015, the airline had only one plane.

Upon assuming the reigns, the "Bulldozer", as Magufuli is affectionately known, prioritised investment in the airline to revive the loss-making carrier because of the potential to boost the vital tourism sector  a top foreign exchange earner.

Through his impressive and commendable austerity measures, this carrier managed to get his government to raise money and recapitalise by purchasing brand new long haul and short to medium haul aircraft in the form of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, two ultra-new Airbus 220-300  formerly known as the Bombardier C Series  and three Bombardier Q400 Turbo Prop aircraft, all which are fuel efficient and will be utilised to capacity.

Air Tanzania touched down at the Robert Mugabe International Airport last week hard on the heels of the suspension of flights into Harare by Zambia's Proflight which had launched the service in May last year.

The airline had been facing stiff competition from Emirates and Kenya Airways.Air Tanzania's arrival therefore keeps our hopes alive.

Flights into the country had declined considerably since the beginning of the new millennium largely due to the volatile political and economic landscape, which resulted in the majority of the international airlines  mostly from Europe and Australia  pulling out of Zimbabwe.

Most international airlines ceased flying into Harare, among them British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, SwissAir, Qantas, Egyptair and KLM.

KLM's case was unique.

The airline pulled the plug after operating for about a year citing the unviability of the flight.

It is, however, encouraging for Zimbabwe's tourism industry to see Air Tanzania joining the list of other airlines that have now entered the local market, among them Emirates  the only international airline coming to Zimbabwe and taking advantage of a yawning gap in the market.

Ethiopian Airlines also saw a gap to connect global travellers from various cities such as Washington DC, London, Milan, Paris and Asian cities and flying them to the resort town of Victoria falls via Addis Ababa.

RwandAir also launched flights into Harare in 2016 and has added a connection onward to Cape Town  a route that last saw a direct flight from Harare through Air Zimbabwe (AirZim) in 1999. Of course, South African Airways (SAA) has never pulled out of the route  opting to stayed on and defend its market share.

SAA's most lucrative route is the Harare to Johannesburg flight where it operates six flights a day of which four are to the capital city and the other two to Bulawayo and Victoria Falls, respectively.

The increase in airlines plying into Zimbabwe is a clear indication of the massive growth potential the country has and the fact that there are monetary rewards to be gained by airliners despite the economic challenges facing the southern African nation.

The development comes when the aviation industry in Zimbabwe is confronted with a number of challenges, mainly the foreign currency shortages, which have caused most airlines to decline payments in local currency (the RTGS dollars).

Airlines flying into Zimbabwe have been advising their customers to purchase tickets in United States dollars or to use international credit cards for payment to avoid exposure to the unpredictable new currency. This is quite understandable.

Air tickets paid for in local currency have caused remittance challenges at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which owes airlines millions in ticket sales remittances from the International Air Transportation Association.

Over $60 million is owed to airlines by the central bank.

Ethiopian Airlines is owed $18 million, while Kenya Airways is owed $30 million.

The aviation industry is critical to the growth of the country's economy.

As more airlines join the local skies, AirZim should dust itself up and be competitive in the game.

The period when the local skies were almost deserted by regional and international airlines should have been an opportunity for the national flag carrier to consolidate its position.

Unfortunately, that has not happened due to poor management and government interference.

If only government could stop interfering in the running of the national airline and allow other local players to come in without restrictions. Better still, government can liquidate the airline and start afresh for AirZim's current reputation has inhibited it from withering the storm.

The sky is the limit for the local aviation if it can be liberalized to buttress growth through diversity.

One hopes that the country would be able to address these challenges since tourism has huge potential to outpace traditional foreign currency earners such as mining in terms of growth.
Her privates are too big for Chamisa; Herbert Garikai commented on an international world's favourite newspaper: "The Angolan Times."

To think that this man is a diplomat representing Zimbabwe internationally, he can still afford to make such uncouth, uncivilised comment, using sex to denigrate, defame a Zimbabwe woman, his former wife, leave all right-thinking men and women cold. In Zimbabwe we have seen this kind of local behaviour in several cases where women are belittled using sex to "put them on their patriarchal ordained roles." Zimbabwe social media is extensively read internationally and this is the nonsense paparazzi news they read about Zimbabwe: crude, derogative and uncivilised comments coming from a whole diplomat, defiling his former wife. This article about Nyaradzo Nyathi is well read in the social media: so far in less than 14 hours, over 22000 views have gone through it. By Zimbabwean standard this is wholly newsworthy story because there is a sex element in it.

Notwithstanding, this diplomat could be exposing the calibre of our diplomats in foreign lands. This is how morally low some Zimbabwean misogynistic men have become and how they view women as objects of sex. If our men were ritually circumcised, they would have been taught that what about transpires in the matrimonial bedrooms and the aspect of sexual intercourse with a spouse should never be casually talked about anywhere else except on those family social support systems and with close friends only, this will be a top secret to preserve to those who are supposed to hear it and give advice and counselling. Curiously, our Zimbabwean men, well some of them not all, are failing the traditions and culture of the great country: this is a serious and cultural deficit. Our men did not go to the mountains for circumcision, and that alone they should be ashamed of it, going about with business as usual with their uncircumcised penises. If anything those who were circumcised, it was wholly clinical without the accordance of comprehensive rituals that go with the rituals of male circumcisions.

When Africa is called a black continent, a Sub-Sahara continent: SSC, third world countries, an emerging continent, they know what they are talking about: they know what they mean. They go further and say: "Africans are stupid." Countries in the "First world" will not take African people who have such low values for dignity for mankind as equals in all their global engagements. A nation is called civilised by the way it treats its women and children with respect accorded of human beings. A bedroom quarrel cannot subject all women of Zimbabwe to insults of sexual nature: Sex is used all the time as a tool to humiliate Zimbabwean women. You insult one Zimbabwean woman using sex as a tool is to reduce her you insult all of us women period.

There is something curious about the nature of the insult from our whole diplomat: the genitals of a beast are used to denigrate her. On a psychological perspective, why does he use the male genitals of a donkey, the size of it to inflict the pain and humiliation on a woman who was once upon a time a dear wife to him? Does this diplomat, kind of "envy" the donkey pen's size and the beasty sexual acts that he inherently admires in a donkey, something that could be lacking in him seriously?

"No man on earth can have a big penis to satisfy Nyaradzo Nyathi. For that reason I sent her back to her family and I remained in Canada" the whole diplomat gloats.

From a woman's perspective this is not only sad statement of somebody on a diplomatic mission but as I said a reflection of our failed tradition and cultural fabric that has seriously disintegrated to all time low. Zimbabwean men know that if you insult a woman using sex as a tool, she will "go back to her place:" A woman is still not comfortable to speak freely and carelessly about sex as Zimbabwean men sarcastically do. It could be that women still uphold those cultural values that are imparted in them when they are initiated into womanhood. It is for these reasons by the sexual nature of this insult we women feel we have been equally insulted. To insult one Zimbabwean woman using sex to defile her is equally to have insulted all women of this great country: the mother of Herbert Garikai is included in this insult too, and if he has girl-children then they are part of the insulted for having larger vaginal organs.

The heading of the article in Angolan Times is perverse to say the least. We wonder as women how our most private, most intimate parts; parts that define the gender womanhood in us can be subject to repulsive and pervasive global scrutiny in Africa World Favourite Newspaper: The Angolan Times. Evidently this is gender-based violence on women in the SUB-SAHARA- Continent. This alone confirms my fear that women in the SUB-SAHARA CONTINENT are indeed viewed as the last pieces of dirt by our men folk. Surprisingly still, these very men cannot exist without a woman just for one day. A Zimbabwean man needs his woman almost every day and for many reasons; for many reasons.

But because an African woman is a disposable entity, a diplomat like Herbert will replace his wife Nyaradzo Nyathi the next day and still unscrupulously continues to gloat about it in the international social media that he discarded her because her genitals had become sub-standard. Curiously Herbert will find his match: he will find men that will be amused about that comment he made about his former wife: he knows this! This will be discussed at drinking sessions in Harare and Bulawayo elaborative because this piece of news tickles and exits Zimbabwean men, especially when they are on evening drinking sprees. In our Zimbabwean societies there are rules for men and other for women when it comes to morality and sexual desire. Whereas men can make flippant and sarcastic comments about women, women are packaged in men's dominated patriarchal ordained roles and remain locked up in their passive roles.

I do not condone this unsettling truth that Nyaradzo Nyathi for making that false accusation of rape by Advocate Chamisa was okay. So far Chamisa has not displayed those trouser-zip problems other politicians struggle to contend with small houses doted around the country for all to know. What is abhorrent is the uncouth reciprocation of her former husband: Diplomat Herbert Garikai towards Nyaradzo Nyathi's unfounded accusations of rape.



What is repulsive about Diplomat Herbert Garikai comments is that he is not alone in using sex to humiliate a wife. A full misogynistic Minister Cain Mathema has done it before. When he divorced his first wife he accused her of her large private parts, he needed a younger woman as replacement. Who is going to take an African seriously if our national leaders' moral standards are found wanting: their language use is just below the belt in the sense of the word. At best this is human rights violations against women: and curiously such human rights against women do not mean anything in our Zimbabwe.

No politician in Germany would survive just a day in politics by making such a horrendous and misogynistic statement about his wife or women generally.

There is a negative social element in this misogynistic insult against Zimbabwean women. Women will internalise this and will do whatever they can to correct this physiology of their vagina-enlargement. These herbs women use in some cases are said to cause cervical cancers. These herbs again corrode the lining of the mother mouth causing sexual insensitivity resulting in being the men who benefits and enjoys the sexual act. Most Zimbabwean women will confess that they are not participants' sexual intercourse in a matrimonial home but are merely providers of the sexual acts to please the man. Women should still revisit those girl-instructions we got at the initiation ceremonies: what did our aunties and grandmothers say about vaginal hygiene in marriage.


The number of new print magazines started in the U.S. fell by more than half in 2020 to 60, compared t
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There are exactly zero circumstances in which Bernie Sanders should seek advice from Hillary Clinton. Source: AP Photo / Seth Wenig / File

By CCN.com: She attempted  and failed  to become president in 2008 and 2016. What advice could she possibly offer?

In an interview with The View on ABC News Friday, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he would not meet with former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for advice, as other 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls have done. Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator John McCain and an avowed conservative, posed the question to Bernie about whether hed take Clintons help in his bid to win the presidency in 2020.

McCain said:

Were hearing about a lot of candidates who are meeting with Hillary Clinton for advice, people like Amy Klobuchar. Do you think youll do the same?

Sanders replied:

I suspect not. She hasnt called me. Look, we have differences. You know, Hillary has played a very important role in modern American politics.

Do You Ask A Trader Who Loses Money For Tips on Trading Cryptos, FX, or Stocks?

Bernie Sanders asking Clinton for advice is like asking someone who strikes out in clutch moments for tips on how to hit a home run in the World Series.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
An elderly woman has finally agreed to marry her partner of 43 years  after turning down his annual proposal for more than four decades.

Colin Jones, 74, and Pauline Young, 72, first met in 1976. From that year onwards, Colin asked Pauline to marry him annually, only to be refused again and again.

But Colins fortunes took a turn for the better late last year, when Pauline proposed to Colin  and he gladly accepted.

Colin Jones and Pauline Young who lived and worked side-by-side for 43 years have finally tied the knot Credit: Caters News

Paulines change of heart

When Pauline asked me, I almost fell off the bed. Id been asking her all this time so now she was asking me, I said of course I will.

The couple, who are now husband and wife, lived and worked together throughout their relationship.

Both married before, the pair have five children between them from their previous marriages, and met through a playgroup their children both attended.

For 30 years, they ran a cabinet-making business called Young Jones, which was based in Powys, Wales, and later moved to Gozo, Malta, 14 years ago to run a bed and breakfast together.

Colin revealed he has been floating on air ever since he first met Pauline.

People say theyve been together years but really they have maybe an hour before work and then they see each other in the evenings  we were always together, he said.

When we saw each other it was instant, we fell in love  hook, line and sinker.

Colin Jones asked Pauline Young to marry him every year since they first met 43 years ago Credit: Caters News

The magic of life allows you to meet people like Pauline, our marriage was a combination of our 43 years together.

In sickness and in health

While their story is a touching one, it is not without difficulties.

The pair have lived apart for the past three years, after Pauline  who suffers from rare neurological condition Corticobasal Degeneration, which causes slower movements and tremors  moved to a care home in Telford, UK, after her health worsened.

Colin, meanwhile, has remained in Malta to run the pairs business, and returns to the UK to visit Pauline every fortnight.

Colin Jones and Pauline Young, who have been together since the 1970s, have finally tied the knot after meeting 43 years ago Credit: Caters News

It was during one of these visits last December when Pauline finally proposed to him, while the pair were relaxing together at the home.

Story continues

Their long-awaited big day

Colin and Pauline finally married in a blessing ceremony, which is not legally recognised, at the St Georges Methodist Church in Telford on Valentines Day this year.

They dressed in their best clothes, and Paulines wheelchair was decorated with flowers.

The pair then celebrated with a wedding cake and celebratory drinks at Paulines care home.

Colin said: I had given up all hope of us getting married, I thought it would never ever happen.

But we gradually worked through it and now here we are.

The service was a blessing ceremony, but as far as were concerned its a marriage, its a show of love.

Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com

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Israel's military said its air force struck a Hamas target in the north of the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in response to "explosive devices" that were sent towards the Jewish state. "Today, explosive devices were hurled from the Gaza Strip at Israel?s border fence," the Israeli army said on Twitter. The army said one of its aircraft targeted a Hamas military post in response. The reported strike came after a Hamas security source said Sunday Israeli aircraft had struck its observation points elsewhere in the Gaza Strip late Saturday. Those strikes -- east of Al-Bureij in the central Gaza Strip and east of Rafah in the south of the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave -- did not wound anyone, the Hamas security source said. The strikes occurred after a "cluster of balloons carrying an explosive device was launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory," the Israeli army said in a statement. "No injuries or damage were reported," it said. Palestinians in Gaza have for months sporadically launched balloons with incendiary and explosive devices at southern Israel in parallel with weekly protests and clashes taking place at the border fence. At least 251 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March 2018, the majority shot during the weekly border protests and others hit by tank fire or air strikes in response to violence from Gaza. Two Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008. Palestinians in Gaza have for months sporadically launched balloons with incendiary and explosive devices at southern Israel
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional questioning last week of his former lawyer may have contributed to the failure of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- even as his national security advisor claimed the Hanoi meeting was a success. A high-stakes second summit to strike a disarmament deal with Kim broke up in disarray in Vietnam Thursday, with Trump saying: "Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times." The summit took place at the same time a Democrat-led congressional committee was grilling Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who labelled his ex-boss a "racist", "conman", and "cheat". On Sunday, Trump said the hearing may have contributed to the "walk". "For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk'," he tweeted. "Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!" Still, US National Security Advisor John Bolton told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday that the summit should be seen as "a success, defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests." He said the issue was whether North Korea would accept what the president called "the big deal" -- denuclearizing completely -- or something less, "which was unacceptable to us." "So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected," Bolton added. The summit's collapse followed the leaders' historic meeting in Singapore that produced only a vague commitment from Kim to work "toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." According to senior US officials, in the week leading up to the Hanoi summit, the North Koreans had demanded the lifting of effectively all UN Security Council economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since March 2016. - 'Seat of its pants' - In return, Pyongyang was offering only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a sprawling site covering multiple facilities -- and the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, however, disputed the US account, saying Pyongyang offered to dismantle all "nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area" in exchange for partial sanctions relief. Bolton's evocation of progress was dismissed by leading Democrats, however, including House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who described the Hanoi meeting as a "spectacular failure." "The president did give up a great deal, by going to that summit, by enhancing Kim Jong Un's prestige on the world stage, by giving up those military exercises in the last summit and getting nothing for it," Schiff told CBS. "This is, I think, the result of a president who is not prepared for these kinds of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and is essentially flying by the seat of its pants." Much of the criticism of the summit was sparked by Trump's remarks on the case of an American student tortured and left in a coma in North Korea. - 'Barbaric and unacceptable' - Trump said he believed Kim's claim that he did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier, who died at age 22 days after being sent back to the United States in 2017. Bolton said Trump had been clear that Warmbier's death was "barbaric and unacceptable," although Schiff countered that the president's "obsequious comments" had compounded the summit's failure. Bolton was touring the Sunday political shows the morning after the US and South Korea announced an end to key annual large-scale military exercises. The maneuvers have been a perennial target of North Korean fury -- condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for war. Trump has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises and -- since 2017's Singapore summit -- the Washington and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint exercises. Opponents of scrapping the drills warn that it could affect the combat readiness of US and South Korean forces and hand the North a strategic advantage on the divided peninsula. Bolton sought to play down Saturday's announcement, however, saying the policy remained unchanged since Singapore. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump shake hands in Hanoi, where they held a summit that was seen as a disappointment Timeline of events leading to the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who left North Korea in a coma after 18 months in detention, and died in June 2017
Preach it Mark.

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I was gonna say - he's not wrong.

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i'm glad that, out of anyone, it's him preaching it tbh

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he ain't wrong, fuck them for what they did to luke, leia and han

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Good for him! 

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Okay, but what some people need to understand is that these movies are for the new generation, so of course they want to let go of the past. A lot of the new fans don't care about the previous movies and will only watch the new trilogy and onwards.

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but even if that were the case there's still no need to essentially kill off the trio. they could have made it for a new audience without destroying a piece of what fans loved about the original trilogy.

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They could've done that without treating the older characters the way they did. They could've had the focus on the new characters with the older characters here and there. Instead they're like choosing to just be mean about it and it's just weird.



Edited because Swype is ruining my life.



Edited at 2019-03-04 08:53 pm (UTC)

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i think that's what gets me. it seems kind of spiteful? like lets take this thing that millions of people have loved over the course of like 40 years and fuck with it to see how they react.

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Yes. That comment is freaking stupid honestly. There wouldn't be a new trilogy and new characters if it wasn't for the OT3.

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THIS. Or just start a new fucking story and leave the original cast out of it. They used the ogs to attract the fans. Then they killed them off. They knew wtf they were doing.

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exactly ugh



mark aint wrong

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As an old triology fan TFA did that right. TLJ didnt. It ignored all old history

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In that case why bring the old characters back? just set it 300 years in the future and go then

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i agree, but it wouldn't require much for them to properly acknowledge what the franchise has been for millions of people and the actors portraying the characters; giving it all a proper send off then either building on or moving on from there.



it bothers me that the last jedi took such a cynical approach to not honoring the past and by having yoda deliver a message that the past doesn't matter. it may be an effective way to move on in life, but movies--especially the star wars movies--are about much more than just the actual lived experience. the reason the movies resonated with so many people are because of the big themes of wonder and adventure. of heroism and hope which aren't a part of everyone's day to day lives.



Edited at 2019-03-04 09:03 pm (UTC)

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That could only work if it was a new trilogy and not a follow up though



There's a reason these movies are episodes of the same saga and not 3 independant trilogy set in the same universe

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As others have said, than why not just move the new trilogy well past the OT? Because they wanted all the nostalgia and cash from the hardcore SW fans, that's why.



And they killed off Hans as a character, in a way I felt wasn't earned in TFA, because the actor wanted it. Probably wouldn't have shown up if his character wasn't killed, and that's no way to make a film. Not to mention that Lawrence Kasdan had the same stupid-ass idea of not wanting Hans to be "tamed" by Leia. He wanted Hans to remain, 'a rogue' (read manchild) so in order to facilitate that, they undid all the growth Hans did in ROTJ. Again, that isn't any way to make a coherent films, from other films.



Furthermore, they didn't even bother to have the films in this trilogy line up with each other. How can someone thought that making a trilogy of films and not bother trying to have them be an ACTUAL trilogy, is insanely stupid. And no, it wasn't like the original SW, because George had zero idea he'd be able to make another film after the first one. Disney KNEW it was making a trilogy from the beginning, but allowed Rian Johnson to ignore everything he didn't like from the previous film, and not care about how he left stuff for the next one. That's INSANELY bad film-making, for any generation.

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They wanted it both ways tho. They wanted to cater to fans of the original trilogy And also be like look kids, were shutting all over your parents faves. Arent we edgy?

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Maybe, but I wasn't around when the original movies came out and loved them as a child and then saw the prequels when they came out. I have always liked the original best even though those are the ones that came out before I was born.

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I want a sense of connection. Sure the prequels were new, but at least George in his half-assed way knew how to connect shit and layer the films with connections and references.



I've probably watched TFA twice and TLJ once since theaters. They give no sense of connection to the original films besides having all the original characters die and half baked ideas of a somewhat connected world.

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as a ST and PT fan i get that the new films were not made for me and i wouldn't be upset if they didn't affect the story that's already been told, but they do. the happy end of the original trilogy wasn't actually a happy end because it all was ruined just several years after the end credits rolled, and the story told over the course of the six older movies was kind of for nothing. i mean, that's a little upsetting? that's not letting go of the past, that's disregarding the past.



had they made it as a reimagining of the universe, i'd be chill with it. had it been set at least a couple of generaions later, i'd be chill with it. but they went with 'it happened 5 minutes after the orginal trilogy' solely because they wanted to monetize the fact that the original cast was still available, and it turned out bad.

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LMFAO YAS

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Im fucking screaming

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lmaoo mood

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lol

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perfect comment

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lmaooo

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I can understand being a bit upset about the han and luke bit, and he has more right than the fans to bemoan about the past of star wars.





but FFS, it's still there. Star Wars has been stuck dealing with Skywalkers since its inception. What on earth is wrong with looking past them? What's wrong with focusing on new people?



Do people at present day Lucasfilm really not believe that they can make something entertaining that they use the past as a crutch?

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Nothing wrong with focusing on new people but they even changed the new characters characterization between movies. And then had the old characters also acting OOC.



There was a whole Poe Dameron comic series where he acted completey different than the low key sexist hothead TLJ gave us.



Edited at 2019-03-04 08:55 pm (UTC)

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Ok, the movies not adhering to the paper canon is annoying; That was a big gripe of mine with Amilyn and TLJ. Her and Poe should have gotten along splendidly.



But people change after 30 some odd years. It might be jarring bc the last canon bit of Luke we saw in the movies before the sequel trilogy had him beaming at force ghosts but I don't find it wholly unusual he's kind of angry and disillusioned. The world of Star Wars is kind of crap to be living in tbh :/

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I really was expecting worse from Poe based on the comments but I didn't see the sexism in his portrayal

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Poe Dameron literally changed in the day, week (?) Between TFA and TLJ.

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I really didn't get the Poe love until I read the comics. It's Oscar's characterisation but an actual character.

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What? It's perfectly in character that Poe Dameron's worst fear is a woman in a dress.



/s

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seriously, there are a ton of people who still don't want to believe Rey's parents are nobodies and are super butthurt about her not secretly being Luke's daughter or something. like...why?? the idea that ~anyone~ can be a hero doesn't diminish the legacy of the skywalkers, and it's not like it's a bad message...

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They say in the script forget the past, kill it if you have to, and theyre doing a pretty good job.



lmao this is so spicy, mark!

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I said that it was a big mistake that those three people would never reunite in any way. I guess I was wrong, because nobody seems to care.



I really wish they hadn't missed that opportunity.



I don't take Star Wars lore super seriously, and the originals were already corny, so I enjoyed the new ones so far. but it would've been easier to stan if the characters didn't read like poorly researched fanfic.

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eh, I'm in favor of the kill the past.

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Me too. The fanboy (and I guess fangirl here?) tears make me laugh

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same. and I love the original trilogy.

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I'm completely indifferent so I've just been feeding off the drama in Star Wars fandom since TLJ came out



it really is remarkable how people can have such strong opinions about a movie that I was mostly "eh" about, and hilarious that Mark Hamill himself is fanning the flames

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Yeah, as someone who's been a a fan for ages, watching them do away with all the trappings of Star Wars mythos is v interesting and follows things sort of set up in the KOTOR games, namely the death of the Jedi or the Force. I'd give both movies a 5/5 tbh

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so then kill the past properly. don't make some half-assed, smug effort to include the original characters instead of cynically trying to cash in on them

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This got me mad at TLJ all over again lol



I love Mark

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LMAOOO yep



I was reading some other interview Mark did recently (or it's this one the site won't work for me) and the amount of explanation points they used for him! cracked me up!

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i love him and i agree. in tfa i wasn't as broken up about han dying because i thought it worked in the story. but the way that johnson seemed to just be ignorant of the characters' personalities, motivations, and relationships with each other was really frustrating.

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At least Han had an arc of bonding with Rey and Finn and then sacrificing himself because he wanted to bring his son home as he promised Leia. It felt earned and impactful.



Luke was just like Voldemort dusting away because he used too much Force and they wanted to get rid of the whole trio.

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I'm sort of ambivalent bc the only reason I'm a SW fan now is because of the sequel trilogy. Literally I was whispering to my friend when I saw TFA on a whim "what is Luke and Leia's relationship?" b/c I knew they were main characters but had no idea they were siblings. Later I went back and watched the original (it was fine) and prequel (just bad). But TFA/TLJ are why I became a fan *kanye shrug*

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true

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The way the new trilogy treated the characters of the past is so dirty. There will never be a good enough reason to not have the OG Trio meeting one last time.



And I'll never forgive them for Admiral Ackbar. The disrespect.



It says a lot that instead of being excited for Lando as a character to come back we are all worried he'll just be killed off.

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One of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein, kick-starting the #MeToo movement, Rose McGowan is finally finding some peace  but its been hard-foughthttps://t.co/k3gTeHKTuK  Stella Magazine (@StellaMagazine) March 2, 2019

Rose McGowan covers Telegraph's Stella Magazine ahead of her autobiography 'Brave' being released in the UK, where she discusses wanting to see Harvey Weinstein 'fall off the face of the Earth', enduring trauma, and life post-Hollywood.: "It seemed, to everyone else, like all this just came out of the blue, but for me its been a 20-year-project to get people to listen, to really hear us. I would like to see him [Weinstein] fall off the earth. But, Im going to have to go through the trial.": "Everyone asked me about the hotel room incident [in which she was allegedly assaulted by Weinstein]. Each question was re-traumatising. I think its definitely knocked years off my life. My brain and my strength were severely sapped. And it went on and on for months. Im more gentle with myself now." (She says she's no longer taking the mood-stabilising medication she was prescribed for years to control her depression, and doesn't go on social media as much.): (She says she has no interest in acting again, and doesn't even watch Hollywood films anymore) "I dont really want their information in my head. That town breeds fear, particularly in women. The message is: dont step out of line, little girl  theres another one coming up behind you. I guess I never cared about being famous enough to guard it."After selling her home for $1.9M to pay off legal fees, she's now living between London and New York with her non-binary partner, Rain Dove ("I think I was just really tired of toxic, macho male energy. Its really nice to be with someone whos not like that.") As for the future, she says she's working on a screenplay and a second book, as well as an art project.Brave is in stores in the UK on Tuesday, March 5th.
Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Monday morning, on trade deal hopes and OPEC supply outages. One of the largest OPEC outages at the moment is the supply disruption at the 150,000 bpd Nigerian Bonny Light export terminal, which was shut down last week according to local media.

The operator of the Nembe Creek pipeline, Aiteo Eastern Exploration and Production Company, said it had shut down the pipeline at the end of February, due to an outage in a statement detailing an explosion that had occurred on Saturday near a well at the Nembe field.

Preliminary investigations confirm that there were no fatalities, human incidents or damage to community property. All the wells and facilities in the immediate vicinity have been inspected and secured. This incident did not occur at or involve any part of the NCTL or other pipelines, Aiteo said in response to an Associated Press report that a leaky pipeline had exploded in the Nembe Kingdom, in the Niger Delta, and 50 people were missing, with a massive oil spill among the consequences as well.

It is important to note that prior to this incident, all facilities have been shut down since February 28, 2019, due to NCTL outage. Accordingly, any account suggesting that this incident arose from or affected any pipeline is wholly inaccurate and misleading, the pipeline operator said.

On Saturday, the Associated Press quoted a Nembe Kingdom chief as saying the Nembe Creek pipeline had exploded and more than 50 people were missing after the blast. The AP also obtained video footage of the burning pipeline from the early hours of Saturday, when the blast was said to have occurred.

The Niger Delta is notorious not just for its oil wealth but its pollution levels as well. The responsibility for these has been the topic of a heated debate between local communities and oil field operators. The latter claim the main reason for the spills is oil theft and pipeline vandalism while the communities accuse the operators of simply not caring for environmental safety standards.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The oil industry is kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Investors are growing impatient with even the largest oil companies, as the FT reported. In the short run, low oil prices, and the threat of higher U.S. shale supply, completely saps investor enthusiasm around the oil industry. But in the long-term, the prospect of peak oil demand is an even larger problem. A deceleration in demand growth, and, ultimately, a decline on an absolute basis, throws into question the valuations of multinational oil and gas companies.

At worst, the majors may not be able to produce all of the oil and gas reserves on their books, and the amount of stranded assets could balloon if governments eventually get serious about addressing climate change.

All of that means that investors are losing faith in the case for oil companies large and small. The energy sector badly trailed the broader S&P 500 last year, and glaringly, even lagged the index when oil prices were soaring. Theres just this hate for this commodity right now, said Bernstein analyst Bob Bracket, according to the FT. They dont want it in the short-run due to the price swings seen in recent years. And in the long-run there are fears about how these companies look in a decades time, if the energy transition gathers pace.

Shareholders are doing their part. The industry is about to enter the annual shareholder meeting season, and the number of climate change-related resolutions up for a vote have ballooned to 75, a record high, according to the Wall Street Journal. Thats up from just 17 in 2013.

Related: Where Will Putin Build His Next Gas Pipeline?

In years past, oil executives waived away these shareholder proposals, knocking them as either a distraction, unnecessary or bad for business, or some combination of all three. But shareholders are growing restless as the climate crisis deepens and as the future of the oil industry looks shakier than ever.

It is no longer just environmental or shareholder advocacy groups. Private equity giant BlackRock Inc. and investment firm Vanguard Group, among others in Big Finance, are now backing climate change reporting standards. To be sure, these are minor requests. As the WSJ reports, DowDuPont is facing a proposal at its 2019 meeting that would require more disclosures about the vulnerability to natural disasters at its chemical plant in the Gulf of Mexico.

But climate risk disclosures are becoming much more routine. It was only two years ago that a shareholder resolution passed by shareholders of Occidental Petroleum, calling on the company to assess its vulnerability to climate change, was seen as a major milestone for activist investors. Now those resolutions are arguably viewed as modest steps, the minimum that fossil fuel giants can do.

Now, investors are stepping up their pressure. Royal Dutch Shell was compelled to make changes to the way it compensates senior management. The Anglo-Dutch oil major set greenhouse gas reductions targets, aiming to cut emissions in half by 2050, while also linking executive compensation to meeting those targets. For an oil and gas major, this is a notable development, and could force the acceleration of Shells pivot into renewable energy, electric vehicles, and other forms of energy.

Related: U.S.-China Trade Deal Could Boost Gasoline Prices

The decision came after intense pressure from Climate Action 100+, an investor-led coalition that represents $32 trillion in assets under management. A coalition representing that much capital is bound to post more wins in the months and years ahead.

Meanwhile, the mining giant Glencore also announced a hard cap on its coal production, citing concerns about climate change. It should be noted that as the worlds largest seaborne shipper of coal, supply curtailments could actually tighten up the market and boost prices, which would benefit Glencore. Nonetheless, a cap on coal production and the signal that coal would eventually be phased out, sent shockwaves through the market.

Previously, shareholder activism was aimed at simply forcing oil, gas and coal companies to disclose climate risks  essentially to admit they have a problem. But now, the investor scrutiny is having real world impacts on company operations. In short, more fossil fuels will be left in the ground.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

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Despite strained U.S.-Saudi relations on several fronts, Saudi Arabias oil giant Aramco continues to see the U.S. market as strategic and continues with plans to expand the biggest U.S. refinery with a petrochemical complex, Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, senior vice president of Downstream at Aramco, told S&P Global Platts in an interview published on Monday.

The largest U.S. refinery and the largest refinery in North America is the 630,000-bpd Motiva refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, controlled by Saudi Aramco.

Motiva Enterprises plans to invest US$6.6 billion to expand the Port Arthur refinery into making chemicals, and another US$1.9 billion in a complex in Texas to produce benzene and paraxylene, Houston Chronicle reported in December.

Our investment in Motiva, after the separation from Shell, and adding the chemical expansion will testify to the fact that we look at the US as a market that is growing, is very profitable and has great upside, Al-Judaimi told Platts, noting that Aramco targets commissioning of the facilities in late 2022 or in 2023.

Despite the killing of Jamal Khashoggi and the revived NOPEC draft legislation that could potentially allow the U.S. to sue OPEC members for antitrust violations, the United States remains a key market for Saudi Aramco.

According to Al-Judaimi, the Saudi oil giant aims to boost its refining capacity in the U.S. to 1 million bpd-1.5 million bpd, although he declined to tell Platts specifics of any projects or acquisitions.

Saudi Aramco has an ambitious plan to double its refining capacity and is heavily investing in refining and chemicals worldwide in pursuit of securing more downstream markets for its crude oil, Al-Judaimi said in the middle of 2018.

Earlier this year, Aramcos chief executive Amin Nasser told Reuters in an interview that the oil firm was looking to spend billions of U.S. dollars on natural gas acquisitions in the United States as part of Aramcos strategy to bolster its gas business and become a global natural gas player.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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The U.S. shale revolution helped avert a major, major energy chaos in the world, OPECs Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo said in a somewhat puzzling interview with CNBC this week. Barkindo was also quite delicate in his reference to the role U.S. shale played in the latest price crash, which, together with the praise, suggests the official head of the cartel is trying to make peace with any and all amid discussions in U.S. Congress about anti-OPEC legislation that would make its members liable to prosecution under U.S. antitrust laws.

Barkindo said OPEC had saved the global oil industry in 2016 when it struck the original production cut deal that saw almost 1.8 million bpd removed from global supply, but added that U.S. shale had helped to avoid a crisis, possibly implying a shortage of crude as demand rose.

The comments are somewhat contradictory: The decisions that OPEC took, together with our non-OPEC partners, literally rescued this industry from total collapse, he said, recalling how Brent crude fell below US$30 a barrel at one point in 2015. Since virtually all industry analysts and observers agree that it was U.S. shale development that led the surge in global oversupply that was the main reason behind the price drop, it is a bit unclear what energy chaos the shale boom helped avert.

Barkindo further said the OPEC decision to cut production had actually helped U.S. producers to survive the downturn that followed the 2014 price collapse.

"In particular, during this longest cycle where we saw prices crash by over 80 percent at one point, where we saw the supply and demand balance in (a period of) disequilibrium that had never been witnessed, where we saw more than 100 U.S. companies file for bankruptcy with all the negative consequences on the industry, the regions where they operate  no party was insulated," Barkindo said.

Related: Oil Prices Could Soar On Trade War Truce

Yet, it was OPEC initially opening up the pumps to the maximum that added to the flood of new U.S. supply and eventually brought about the price collapse, as those with longer memories will remember. This fact makes the OPEC secretary generals remark borderline ironic, but it does suggest that Barkindo may be trying to appease the U.S. and reduce the likelihood of NOPEC legislation getting passed. This likelihood is not great to begin with: the bill is not the first one that Congress has discussed over the decades as a means of putting the brakes on OPECs cartel practices.

Interestingly enough, Barkindo had something to say about that, too. It was that "without OPEC, the U.S. would probably have created another organization to do exactly the same." Now, this remark does not play into the scenario of the official trying to make better friends with the U.S. as it suggests the United States is no better than OPEC when it comes to market control practices, but it does seem to send the message that OPEC and the U.S. oil industry need each other.

This message was reinforced by Barkindos remark that OPEC and non-OPEC producers need to maintain their relationship in order to sustain the relative, and fragile, market stability that we have been able to achieve."

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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If you want to teach someone the boom-bust nature of the mineral commodity industry, the story of cobalt over the last few years would be a perfect example. The metal, which is used in lithium ion batteries to stabilize them, recorded several years of rising prices until last year it began to slide down eventually hitting multi-year lows. How did this happen?

The answer is easy enough since it follows the classic industry price pattern, as detailed by Bloombergs Mark Burton. The EV hype that unlike so many other hypes actually transformed into a real race to bring more electric vehicles to the market sparked a cobalt mining frenzy that boosted supply more quickly than the EV revolution took off. This revolution, by the way, still hasnt taken off and is shaping up to be more of an evolution than revolution: a fact thats added its own weight to cobalt prices.

After in early 2018 cobalt hit a 10-year high trading at an average of US$100,000 per ton in the first half of the year, between last November and this February, the metal dropped 40 percent. Now, it is trading at barely above US$30,000 per ton. The bust has come, brought about by a rush to mine as much cobalt as possible and sell it to the Chinese: China accounts for 65 percent of the worlds lithium ion megafactory capacity.

So, one reason was the EV rush. Another, however, had to do with where cobalt is most abundant. Thats the Democratic Republic of Congo and its notorious political instability has served as another booster for the price of the metal.

There is also one more rather unique factor that has contributed to the rout: artisanal cobalt mining in DRC. People there are literally mining cobalt in their backyards. Thats a dangerous endeavor in the absence of specialist mining equipment and protective gear but the practice has proved unstoppable.

The fact a single countryChinais home to more than 50 percent of battery production capacity helped as well. Cobalt just became one more metal whose price fluctuates every time China releases economic data. Related: Are Semi-Solid State Batteries A Gamechanger?

Whats more, there was a hoarding element to cobalts rise to prominence. Benchmark Minerals cobalt expert Caspar Rawles explains, as quoted by Edward Niedermeyer in a story for The Drive, The Chinese were also buying more than they needed because they were stockpiling it and it was going up in value every month so they were making paper profits... which ended up being part of their undoing in 2018."

Even so, the rout now seems to be over. Prices have bottomed out and analysts expect them to start climbing up again as demand remains strong. Thats the good thingor bad thing, depending on perspectiveabout fundamentals. If these are strong, any price crash would be a temporary headache. With weak fundamentals, we get the new normal in oil prices.

Yet cobalt has strong fundamentals: demand will remain robust as the EV industry gathers pace, albeit more slowly than initially expected. Government regulations, notably in China but also in other countries, will serve as a major boost for electric car adoption and whatever boosts EVs will boost battery metals.

The cobalt market is already self-regulating. Artisanal mining in Congo has declined along with prices, so there is less supply coming into the market. At the same time, carmakers are pushing ahead with their ambitious EV plans. Whether these will unfold as they expect remains to be seen, but cobalt will continue to be in demand, even if this demand grows more slowly than optimists expected at the height of the EV hype.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Norways Equinor said on Monday that it had made an oil discovery in the North Sea that could be quickly tied in to existing infrastructureone of the companys goals in exploration drilling in the more mature areas offshore Norway.

The Telesto exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in the North Sea found oil and resources are estimated at 12-28 million barrels of recoverable oil, said Equinor, which operates the acreage in partnership with Petoro, ConocoPhillips, and Repsol.

These are profitable barrels that can be quickly tied in to existing infrastructure and generate substantial revenues for society. Infrastructure-led exploration is an important part of our roadmap for the NCS, said Nick Ashton, Equinors senior vice president for exploration in Norway and the UK.

We have set ourselves an ambitious goal of sustaining high production from the NCS for decades, and discoveries like this are essential towards this end. It will be natural to tie in the resources to the Visund A platform, Gunnar Nakken, Equinors senior vice president for Operations West, said.

Despite cost controls, increased efficiency, and higher activity offshore Norway, oil production at Western Europes largest oil producer fell in 2018 compared to 2017 and is further expected to drop this year to its lowest level since 1988.

Norways oil production is expected to jump in 2020 through 2023, thanks to the start up in late 2019 of Johan Sverdrupthe North Sea giant, as operator Equinor calls it. With expected resources of 2.1 billion3.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Johan Sverdrup is one of the largest discoveries on the NCS ever made.

However, after Johan Sverdrup and after Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea scheduled for first oil in 2022, Norway doesnt have major oil discoveries and projects to sustain its oil production after the middle of the 2020s.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) started warning last year that from the mid-2020s onward, production offshore Norway will start to decline so making new and large discoveries quickly is necessary for maintaining production at the same level from the mid-2020s.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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A rapid rise in subsea tree installations is projected for the global offshore industry in the coming years, as operators are poised to boost expenditure substantially on subsea equipment and installation.

After activity levels fell to only 240 subsea trees installed globally in 2017  the lowest level since the turn of the century  Rystad Energy forecasts that over 350 subsea trees will be installed per year by 2021.

The market for subsea trees, or so-called Xmas trees, is expected to grow by 8% per year in the period 2017 to 2023. The UK and Norway will drive the growth through 2021, after which South America will take the lead.

As the oil price has recovered since 2016, the subsea market has shown clear signs of improvement. Subsea tree installations can be seen as a main driver for this growth. We expect a substantial increase in demand in coming years, said Rystad Energy analyst Henning Bjrvik.

(Click to enlarge)

Global demand for oilfield services is projected to hit $642 billion in 2019, of which the subsea market will account for 4%. Three broad categories constitute the subsea market: Equipment; Services; and SURF (subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines).

Applying our base case oil price forecast, we expect the subsea market to increase significantly in the years to come, with an average annual growth of 10% in E&P spending for subsea equipment and installation from 2018 through 2023. Much of the growth is expected to come from the subsea equipment market (up 12% per year) and the SURF market (up 11% per year).



Related: Reuters Survey: OPEC Oil Production Drops To Four-Year Low

We now see a new wave of subsea developments in the coming years, supported by effective cost cutting measures and cooperation between suppliers and E&Ps, Bjrvik added.

Norway and the UK benefit from having well-established offshore infrastructure. Many marginal fields can draw advantages from their close proximity to existing facilities and can become commercially viable through subsea satellite developments.

Of the projects exploration and production companies (E&Ps) are expected to commit to over the next four years in Norway and the UK, we expect 53% of the offshore greenfield E&P expenditure to be for subsea tie-back projects. This is a significant increase from 30% in the 2010-2018 period.

Equinor, which is the second largest operator of subsea trees after Petrobras and has a large subsea portfolio, is expected to increase its subsea expenditure significantly during 2019, with as much as 93% of the spending being for projects on the Norwegian continental shelf. The majority of this expenditure is projected to be for subsea tie-backs.

By Rystad Energy

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Discussion about wargaming and military history, primarily WWII in North Africa. Also discussion about AFV's and artillery.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
Human rights groups have advocated for Shawkans release since his arrest.

Photojournalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, was released from prison in Egypt on March 4, more than five years after he was arrested and more than a year after prosecutors had sought the death penalty in his case. However his release carries conditions: He has to report to a police station every day for the next five years and spend every night in jail.

Shawkan, 31, who shoots for the Demotix news agency, was covering a violent clash between Egyptian security forces and supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi when he was arrested in August 2013. Shawkan and more than 700 people arrested that day were charged with several crimes, including membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned organization. In 2018, a prosecutor called for Shawkan and the others arrested to receive the maximum penalty, death by hanging.

Though human rights organizations and press groups around the world have demanded Shawkans unconditional release, he was formally charged in September 2018 with weapons possession and other charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Having completed his prison term, he was released on probation, and is required to report to police every night. A spokesperson for Amnesty International said in a statement today, After his release he faces ludicrous probation measures which require him to spend 12 hours of each day at a police station from 6pm to 6am for the next five years. The spokesperson also said, Mahmoud Abou Zeid was arrested and imprisoned solely for doing his job as a journalist.

Shawkans brother told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the family will appeal the verdict. CPJ gave Shawkan its International Press Freedom award in 2016, and notes that Egypt is one of the worlds biggest jailers of journalists, with 19 jailed in 2018 on charges of false news.

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Egyptian Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty for Photojournalist Shawkan
Reuters photographer Yannis Behrakis, who led a team of photographers that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2016 for coverage of Europes migrant refugee crisis, died March 2 of cancer, according to Reuters. He was 58.

Behrakis covered major world news events for 30 years, including conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Chechnya, a huge earthquake in Kashmir and the Egyptian uprising of 2011.

In a statement issued by Reuters, colleagues praised Behrakiss talent and commitment.

You wont see anyone so dedicated and so focused and who sacrificed everything to get the most important picture, said veteran Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic.

Reuters U.S. general news editor Dina Kyriakidou Contini said of Behrakis: His pictures are iconic, some works of art in their own right. But it was his empathy that made him a great photojournalist.

Among his memorable images, for instance, is a photo of a Syrian refugee walking down a road in the rain, while carrying and kissing his daughter. Bahrakis held up colleagues to get the image, saying No, no, wait, I dont have the picture, recounts Reuters senior producer Vassilis Triandafyllou, who was trying to hurry Behrakis along.

Behrakis finally got the picture, and according to Reuters, he later said: I would love to be this father; I think every child would love to have a father like thisThis picture proves that there are superheroes after all. He doesnt wear a red cape, but he has a black plastic cape made out of garbage bags. For me this represents the universal father and the unconditional love of father to daughter.

Behrakis had at least one brush with death during his career. While covering the civil war in Sierra Leone in 2000, he was traveling with several colleagues when gunmen ambushed them. Reuters reporter Kurt Schork and AP cameraman Migue Gil Moreno died in the attack. Behrakis and Reuters cameraman Mark Chisholm narrowly escaped by crawling into roadside undergrowth and hiding in the jungle.

Born in Athens in 1960, Behrakis started his career working in a photo studio in the 1980s. The 1983 movie Under Fire inspired him to take up journalism. He joined Reuters as a freelancer in Athens in 1987. In 1989, Reuters sent him on his first foreign assignment to cover Libya under Muammar Gaddafi.

On that assignment, Reuters says, Behrakis quickly displayed a knack for being in the right place at the right time.

Behrakis is survived by his wife and two children.
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Chavez Cuanto te queremos!



Por culpa de Chavez



Cerveza Polar







Algun dia Colombia volvera a la ideologia de Bolivar







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LOS REVOLUCIONARIOS NO TOMAN CACA-COLA No se trata solamente de un capricho, sino de una sana actitud en todos los sentidos. Desde la solidaridad con el pueblo colombiano donde la empresa Caca-Cola ha cometido los mas grandes abusos contra sus trabajadores incluyendo el presunto secuestro y asesinato de los dirigentes del sindicato, hasta la proteccion de la salud de nuestros hijos, enviciados por ese jarabe de cola y azucar, que les produce obesidad prematura. Pensemos tambien los revolucionarios, que ese dinero que gastamos en los refrescos es utilizado por esas empresas para financiar el terrorismo en nuestro pais. Es cierto, no se trata solo de la Caca-Cola, sino tambien de la cerveza, de los cigarrillos y todos esos articulos innecesarios y mas que eso, daninos para nuestra salud. Podriamos incluso pensar en un dia de parada para cada uno de ellos. Es cuestion de irnos organizando. Pero para empezar, que tal si dejamos de comprar Caca-Cola y sus similares?



























Cuando lo extraordinario se vuelve cotidiano...



Discurso del Acto de Grado en Barinas en 12 de Febrero del 2005 Queridos Graduandos:



Mas que un discurso, quiero dirigirles algunas palabras que escribi anoche, despues de visitar en las clinicas, a los estudiantes heridos, a consecuencia de los enfrentamientos con la policia de hace apenas dos dias.



Me ha tocado por razones del destino, ser la persona que les otorgue el titulo que bien merecieron con sus estudios. Y me siento sumamente orgulloso de serlo. Me consta que la Universidad de Los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, a pesar de lo dicho por los enemigos de esta universidad, es una universidad de primera.



No tendremos la mejor planta fisica, en los salones hace calor. En el comedor hace calor. Pero no es en lo material que las cosas deben valorarse. El mayor capital es el ser humano. Y en eso, nuestra UNELLEZ, lo digo con conocimiento de causa, esta sobrada. Los llaneros venezolanos son nobles, valientes, de coraje.



En la UNELLEZ hacen vida, en este momento, aproximadamente 67000 personas. El 97% de ellas son estudiantes. Jovenes que, como Ustedes hasta el dia de hoy, buscan ese titulo, que constata los anos de dedicacion y de estudio.



Los jovenes son el rio de la vida, ustedes graduados deben ser los capitanes de esos barcos que naveguen por el rio de la vida.



Nuestra Patria atraviesa momentos muy dificiles porque decidio dejar de ser esa matrona de edad vetusta y complaciente, para ser joven, rebelde y altanera. Nuestra imagen ya no es la de una acaudalada ricachona mayamera. En nuestro rostro brilla ahora la sonrisa del Che Guevara, con su diente delantero torcido, su pelo largo y su boina con la estrella.



Entender esto, a mi me ha tomado practicamente toda la vida. Tengo 53 anos, y ya perdi mi oportunidad de derramar sangre joven a causa de un ideal.



Ustedes son jovenes, estan en la flor de la vida. No cometan por favor el error de renunciar a su instinto de rebelion. El Che Guevara fue Ministro de a Economia en Cuba. Los billetes y las monedas se adornaban con su rostro. Nada de eso le importo. Primero fue a Angola donde paso un penoso ano de combate. Despues se fue a Bolivia, donde encontro la muerte. El Che era el ultimo que comia, el que cargaba la mochila mas pesada. Siempre se sacrificaba por los demas en un estoicismo que mas parecia fervor religioso que ideologia marxista.



Si quieren un modelo de vida. Ahi lo tienen.



Dije hace unos momentos que el 97% de la poblacion de la UNELLEZ es estudiante. Se imaginan Ustedes la Universidad que podriamos tener si todos los estudiantes tuvieran la abnegacion, la combatividad del Che?



Los momentos que se avecinan van a requerir de una gran unidad del pueblo venezolano. La alternativa de continuar siendo libres o regresar a la pobreza se nos planteara en los proximos dias de forma enmascarada, o quizas peor, desenmascarada, vestida con uniforme de soldado del Imperio.



Por nuestra parte podemos esperar lo mejor. La macroeconomia no podria ir mejor, la justicia social ha mejorado notablemente. Las misiones ocupan un papel muy importante en el pago de dicha justicia social. Aqui en Barinas ya hemos cumplido con dos de las misiones, la mision Robinson y la mision Sucre. No hay analfabetismo y no hay exclusion en la educacion superior, en estas tierras de Zamora.



Pero ay malhaya! Son precisamente estos exitos los que nos hacen mas antipaticos al Imperio. Para ellos, somos inclusive un mal ejemplo que se esta contagiando al resto del continente y cuidado sino al resto del mundo.



Nunca venceremos al Imperio. Estara siempre ahi, acechando. Por lo menos hasta que el mismo no se autodestruya. Porque, sepanlo senores, el neoliberalismo es canibal. Cuando le ataque el hambre, se devorara a si mismo.



Ustedes, queridos graduandos, a partir de hoy pasan a conformar la elite profesional que debe sostener este pais en los proximos cuarenta o cincuenta anos. Anos decisivos para el logro de nuestra libertad y del rescate de nuestra Soberania.



No se dejen comprar. No se dejen corromper. No se dejen gritar. No se dejen pisar. Que nadie les diga que comer, o que vestirse, o que leer. Sean siempre autenticos, rebeldes, contestatarios. Pero eso si, profundamente patriotas, dignos de ser hijos de Bolivar.



Muchas gracias y que Dios los bendiga.





Alguna duda?



Medio siglo de Holocausto Palestino



Oscar Zanartu Nacio en Caracas en 1960. Ha realizado exposiciones individuales en las galerias Minotauro, Clave y San Francisco, y en salas de Coro, estado Falcon, y Puerto Ordaz, estado Bolivar. En Paris su obra ha sido exhibida en el Centro Cultural Tanagra, en la Exposicion Cite Internationale des Arts, en las galerias De Mars y Arver Space, al igual que en la Galeria Municipal Levallois, en Levallois Perret (Francia). En muestras colectivas, su obra se ha expuesto en Belgica, Francia, Estados Unidos y Venezuela; en Caracas intervino en la exposicion "Del genesis a la memoria", 1995, organizada por la Fundacion La Previsora. En 1982 obtuvo el Premio Nacional Critven y en 1990 la Mencion de Honor Jose Antonio Paez, en la Embajada de Venezuela en Paris. En 1991 se le concedio el primer premio de Pintura Itinerante, en Levallois Perret, Francia.



OZ1



OZ2



OZ3



OZ4



Homenaje a Jason Galarraga



La Victoria de Samotracia



Odalisca



Mas fotos de la nevada del pasado agosto 2008



























La Sierra Nevada de Merida



Nuestro precioso Churum Meru



Homenaje a Picasso



Autoretrato



Sabes lo que bebes en una Coca-Cola?

La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.

Mi profesion?

Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.

Sal en la Coca Cola?

A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.

De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:

Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gusto

Acido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)

azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)

Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantas

Mucha Cafeina

Conservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o Potasio

Dioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebe

Sal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracion

El uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.

Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.

Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.

En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).

Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.

La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.

Bebidas Light?

Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el

Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.



Publicado por loretahur



En realidad, la formula secreta de la Coca-Cola se puede detallar en 18 segundos en cualquier espectrometro optico, y basicamente la conocen hasta los perros. Lo que ocurre es que no se puede fabricar igual, a no ser que uno disponga de unos cuantos millones de dolares para ganarle la demanda que te metera la Coca-Cola ante la justicia (ellos no perderian).La formula de la Pepsi tiene una diferencia basica con la de la Coca-Cola y es intencional, para evitar el proceso judicial. La diferencia es a proposito, pero suficientemente parecida como para atraer a los consumidores de Coca-Cola que prefieren un gusto diferente con menos sal y azucar.Tuve que aprender quimica, entender todo sobre componentes de gaseosas, conservantes, sales, acidos, cafeina, enlatado, produccion, permisos, aprobaciones y muchas otras cosas. Monte mi propio mini-laboratorio de analisis de productos.A patadas. El Cloruro de Sodio no solo refresca sino da mas sed, como para pedir otra gaseosa. Y no resulta desagradable porque la sal mata literalmente la sensibilidad al dulce... del que por cierto tambien tiene mucho: 39 gramos de azucar.De los 350 gramos de producto liquido, mas del 10% es azucar, o sea que en una lata de Coca-Cola mas de un centimetro y medio es puro azucar en polvo. Aproximadamente tres cucharadas soperas llenas de azucar por lata!!La formula de la Coca Cola es muy sencilla:Concentrado de azucar quemado caramelo- para dar color oscuro y gustoAcido fosforito (para darle el sabor acido)azucar (HFCS-jarabe de maiz de alta fructosa)Extracto de hojas de la planta de Coca (Africa e India) y otros pocos aromatizantes naturales de otras plantasMucha CafeinaConservante que puede ser Benzoato de Sodio o PotasioDioxido de Carbono en cantidad para sentir freir la lengua cuando se bebeSal para dar la sensacion de refrigeracionEl uso del acido fosforito y no del acido citrico como en todas las demas gaseosas, es para dar la sensacion de dientes y boca limpia al beber. El acido fosforito literalmente frie todo y dana el esmalte de los dientes, cosa que el acido citrico lo hace en menor grado.Trate de comprar acido fosforito para ver las mil recomendaciones de seguridad que te dan para su manipulacion (quema el cristalino del ojo, quema la piel, etc...). Esta prohibido usar el acido fosforito en cualquier otra gaseosa; solo la Coca Cola tiene permiso. Porque claro, sin el acido fosforico, la Coca Cola sabria a jabon.El extracto de coca y otras hojas casi no cambia en nada el sabor. Es mas bien un efecto cosmetico. El extracto forma parte de la Coca-Cola porque legalmente tiene que ser asi. Pero sin el, no se nota ninguna diferencia en el gusto, que esta dado basicamente por las cantidades diferentes de azucar, azucar quemada, sales, acidos y conservantes.Sabor a que...? ja, ja, ja.Aqui en Bartow, sur de Orlando, hay una empresa quimica que produce aromatizantes y esencias para zumos. Envian diariamente camionadas de sales concentradas y esencias para las fabricas de helados, gaseosas, jugos, enlatados y comida colorida y aromatizada.Cuando visite por primera vez la fabrica, pedi ver el deposito de concentrados de frutas, que deberia ser inmenso, especialmente los de naranja, pina, fresa y tantos otros. El encargado me miro, se rio y me llevo a visitar los depositos inmensos... pero de colorantes y componentes quimicos.Las gaseosa de naranja no contiene naranja.En los zumos dizque de fresa, hasta los puntitos que quedan en suspension estan hechos de goma (una liga quimica que envuelve un semi-polimero).Pina, es un popurri de acidos y goma.La esencia para helado de aguacate usa peroxido de hidrogeno (agua oxigenada) para dar la sensacion espumosa tipica del aguacate.Quieres saber la cantidad de basura que tiene un refresco 'light'? Yo ni siquiera los uso para destapar mi lavaplatos pues temo que danen los tubos de PVC. Los productos endulzantes 'ligth' tienen una vida media muy corta. Por ejemplo el aspartamo , despues de tres semanas mojado, pasa a tener gusto de trapo viejo sucio.Para evitar eso, se agregan una infinidad de otros productos quimicos, uno para alargar la vida del aspartamo, otro para neutralizar el color, otro para mantener el tercer quimico en suspension porque sino el fondo de la gaseosa quedaria oscuro, otro para evitar la cristalizacion del aspartamo, otro para realzar el sabor, dar mas intensidad al acido citrico o fosforito que perderia su sabor por el efecto de los cuatro productos quimicos iniciales... y asi sucesivamente.Un consejo final !!Despues de toda mi experiencia con la produccion de bebidas embasadas, puedo afirmar sin dudar un segundo: la mejor bebida es el agua, como tambien los jugos exprimidos de naranja o limon. Nada mas, cero azucar y cero sal.Publicado por loretahur

MARGARINA o MANTEQUILLA La margarina fue producida originalmente para engordar a los pavos; cuandolo que hizo en realidad fue matarlos.Las personas que habian puesto el dinero para la investigacion quisieronrecobrarlo asi que empezaron a pensar en una forma de hacerlo.Tenian una sustancia blanca, que no tenia ningun atractivo como comestible,asi que le anadieron el color amarillo, para venderselo a lagente en lugar de la mantequilla.Que tal esa?... Ahora han sacado algunos nuevos sabores para vender mas alos incautos como usted y yo.CONOCE USTED la diferencia entre la margarina y la mantequilla?Siga leyendo hasta el final... porque se pone bastante interesante!Comparacion entre mantequilla y margarina:

1.- Ambas tienen la misma cantidad de calorias.

2.- La mantequilla es ligeramente mas alta en grasas saturadas: 8 gramos,comparada con los 5 gramos que tiene la margarina.

3.- Comer margarina en vez de mantequilla puede aumentar en 53% el riesgo deenfermedades coronarias en las mujeres, de acuerdo con un estudiomedico reciente de la Universidad de Harvard.

4.- Comer mantequilla aumenta la absorcion de gran cantidad de nutrientesque se encuentran en otros alimentos.

5.- La mantequilla provee beneficios nutricionales propios mientras lamargarina tiene solo los que le hayan sido anadidos al fabricarla.

6.- La mantequilla sabe mucho mejor que la margarina y mejora el sabor deotros alimentos.7.- La mantequilla ha existido durante siglos mientras que la margarinatiene menos de 100 anos.

Ahora... sobre la margarina:

1.- Es muy alta en acidos grasos trans. (Si, esos que recien ahora loscientificos descubrieron que son malisimos y los gobiernoscomenzaron a prohibirlos) .

2.- Triple riesgo de enfermedades coronarias.

3.- Aumenta el colesterol total y el LDL (el colesterol malo) y disminuye elHDL (el colesterol bueno).

4.- Aumenta en cinco veces el riesgo de cancer.

5.- Disminuye la calidad de la leche materna.

6.- Disminuye la reaccion inmunologica del organismo.

7.- Disminuye la reaccion a la insulina.

Y he aqui el factor mas inquietante (AQUI ESTA LA PARTE MAS INTERESANTE! ):A la margarina le falta UNA MOLECULA para ser PLASTICO...!!Solo este hecho es suficiente para evitar el uso de la margarina de porvida, y de cualquier otra cosa que sea hidrogenada (esto significaque se le anade hidrogeno, lo cual cambia la estructura molecular de lassubstancias).Usted puede ensayar lo siguiente:Compre un poco de margarina y dejela en el garaje o en un sitio sombreado.Dentro de unos dias notara dos cosas:

* No habra moscas; ni siquiera esos molestos bichos se le acercaran (esto yale debe decir a usted algo).

* No se pudre ni huele mal o diferente porque no tiene valor nutritivo; nadacrece en ella. Ni siquiera los diminutos microorganismos puedencrecer en ella.Por que? Porque es casi plastico!!



No a la guerra, Si a la Paz



Misterios de la ciencia...



Los costos de la guerra



medicos y capitalismo...



Capitalismo...



medicos (2)



Quien educa a nuestros hijos?



Los Medios...



Sin Palabras...



Chistes feministas

- Cual es el problema, Eva?

- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz...

- Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.

- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...

- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.

- Que es un hombre?

- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.

- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.

- Cual es el truco?.

- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.

- Cual?

- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.





Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Un dia, en el Paraiso, Eva llamo a Dios: Tengo un problema.- Cual es el problema, Eva?- Se que me has creado, que me has dado este hermoso jardin, todos estos maravillosos animales y esa serpiente con la que me muero de risa... pero no soy del todo feliz... - Como es eso, Eva? - replico Dios desde las alturas.- Me encuentro sola, y ademas estoy harta de comer manzanas...- Bueno Eva, en tal caso, tengo una solucion... creare un hombre para ti.- Que es un hombre?- Un hombre sera una criatura imperfecta, con muchas artimanas. Mentira, hara trampas, sera engreido... vamos, que te va a dar problemas... Pero, va a ser mas fuerte y rapido que tu y le gustara cazar y matar cosas... Tendra un aspecto simple, pero como te estas quejando, le creare de tal forma que satisfaga tus... eh... necesidades fisicas... Y tampoco sera muy listo, y destacara en cosas infantiles como pegarse o dar patadas a un balon... Necesitara tu consejo siempre para actuar cuerdamente.- Suena bien - dijo Eva, mientras levantaba la ceja ironicamente.- Cual es el truco?.- Pues... que lo tendras con una condicion.- Cual?- Como te decia, sera chulo, arrogante y muy narcisista... asi que le tendras que hacer creer que le hice a el primero... recuerda... es nuestro secreto... de mujer a mujer.Por que a los hombres no les puede dar la enfermedad de las vacas locas?  Porque todos son unos cerdos

Ellas...



Ellas (2)...



Tres venganzas femeninas VENGANZA NUMERO 1

Hoy mi hija cumple 21 anos y estoy muy contento porque es el ultimo pago de pension alimenticia que le doy, asi que llame a mi hijita para que viniera a mi casa y cuando llego le dije:

-Hijita, quiero que lleves este cheque a casa de tu mama y que le digas que: Este es el ultimo maldito cheque que va recibir de mi en todo lo que le queda de su puta vida!!! Quiero que me digas la expresion que pone en su rostro.

Asi que mi hija fue a entregar el cheque. Yo estaba ansioso por saber lo que la bruja tenia que decir y que cara pondria.

Cuando mi hijita entro, le pregunte inmediatamente: -Que fue lo que te dijo tu madre?

-Me dijo que justamente estaba esperando este dia para decirte que no eres mi papa!



VENGANZA NUMERO 2

Un hombre que siempre molestaba a su mujer, paso un dia por la casa de unos amigos para que lo acompanaran al aeropuerto a dejar a su esposa que viajaba a Paris.

A la salida de inmigracion, frente a todo el mundo, el le desea buen viaje y en tono burlon le grita:

- Amor, no te olvides de traerme una hermosa francesita Ja ja ja!!

Ella bajo la cabeza y se embarco muy molesta.

La mujer paso quince dias en Francia.

El marido otra vez pidio a sus amigos que lo acompanasen al aeropuerto a recibirla.

Al verla llegar, lo primero que le grita a toda voz es:

- Y amor me trajiste mi francesita??

- Hice todo lo posible, - contesta ella - ahora solo tenemos que rezar para que nazca nina.



VENGANZA NUMERO 3

El marido, en su lecho de muerte, llama a su mujer. Con voz ronca y ya debil, le dice: - Muy bien, llego mi hora, pero antes quiero hacerte una confesion.

- No, no, tranquilo, tu no debes hacer ningun esfuerzo.

- Pero, mujer, es preciso - insiste el marido - Es preciso morir en paz.

Te quiero confesar algo.

- Esta bien, esta bien. Habla!

- He tenido relaciones con tu hermana, tu mama y tu mejor amiga.

- Lo se, lo se Por eso te envenene, hijo de puta!!!



machismo y cibernetica



Chiste machista La NASA ha enviado al espacio una mision experimental tripulada por dos monos y una mujer.Apenas abandona la atmosfera, se establece comunicacion con Houston.

-Atencion, simio 1, verifique sistemas hidraulicos, controle adecuada presion de los propulsores de arranque. A 60.000 pies disminuya un 25% la velocidad.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, simio 2, nivele al cruzar la estratosfera y active sistemas anticongelantes. No olvide monitorear sistemas de comunicacion e indicadores de presion. Comprendido?.

El simio hace la sena de OK.

-Atencion, Houston llamando a mujer: no se olvide.

-Mujer: Si, si, ya se! -interrumpe enojada- que no me olvide darles de comer a estos monos de mierda y que no se me vaya a ocurrir tocar nada!.



.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti.

Un abogado mantiene un romance con su secretaria.Al poco tiempo, esta queda embarazada y el abogado, que no quiere que su esposa se entere, le da a la secretaria una buena suma de dinero y le pide que se vaya a parir a Italia.Esta pregunta: Y como voy a hacerte saber cuando nazca el bebe ? El abogado responde: Para que mi mujer no se entere, tan solo enviame una postal y escribe por detras: Spaghetti. Y no te preocupes mas, que yo me encargare de todos los gastos.

Pasan los meses y una manana la esposa del abogado lo llama al bufete, algo exaltada: Querido, acabo de recibir el correo y hay una postal muy extrana viene desde Italia. La verdad, no entiendo que significa.El abogado, tratando de ocultar sus nervios, contesta:Espera a que llegue a casa, a ver si yo entiendoCuando el hombre llega a casa y lee la postal, cae al suelo fulminado por un infarto.Llega una ambulancia y se lo lleva. Ya en el hospital, el jefe de cardiologia se queda consolando a la esposa y le pregunta cual ha sido el evento que precipito tan masivo ataque cardiaco.

Entonces la esposa saca la postal y se la muestra diciendole: No me explico, doctor; el solamente leyo esta postal. Vea usted mismo lo que trae escrito.Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti."Tres con salchicha y albondigas y dos con almejas



Gol !!!!



Chistes de Borrachos Entra un borracho a su casa todo manchado con lapiz labial por todos lados hecho un desastre, y la mujer le pregunta:-Hombre que te paso?Y el borracho le responde:-No me vas a creer, me pelee con un payaso!



Este es un borracho que entra en un bar y le dice al camarero:-Me da cinco copas de whisky?Al rato:-Me da cuatro?Al rato:-Me da tres copas?Despues:-Me da dos copas?Luego le dice:-Me da una copa?Y le dice al camarero:-Ves? Cuanto menos bebo, mas borracho estoy!


PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has named Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the new governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).This was confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in a text message

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has named Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno as the new governor of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

This was confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea in a text message sent to reporters on Monday night, March 4.

Diokno replaced the late central bank chief Nestor Espenilla Jr., who passed away on February 23 after battling tongue cancer for more than a year.

Diokno's appointment to the BSP came several weeks after calls for his resignation were made over alleged insertions in the 2019 budget.

Malacanang earlier said Duterte wanted the new head of BSP to have "competence and integrity."

The Palace has yet to release a copy of Diokno's appointment paper as of Monday night.

Diokno, 70, served as Budget Undersecretary from 1986 to 1991 and Budget Secretary from 1998 to 2001. He was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte as Budget Secretary on June 30, 2016.

Prior to his 2016 appointment, Diokno served as senior advisor to the International Tax and Investment Center (ITIC); professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) School of Economics; chairman of the Board of Regents, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (University of The City of Manila); and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, and fiscal adviser to the Senate, among others. (SunStar Philippines)
TWO persons survived after a two-seater plane crashed Monday morning, March 4, in Talavera,, Nueva Ecija.Based on initial report of the Talavera police, the Cessna plane, with two passengers, crashed into

TWO persons survived after a two-seater plane crashed Monday morning, March 4, in Talavera,, Nueva Ecija.

Based on initial report of the Talavera police, the Cessna plane, with two passengers, crashed into a farm in Barangay Homestead in Talavera around 7 a.m. due to an engine failure.

The two passengers were rushed to a hospital for medical attention. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines)
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday, March 3, that he had reached out to the court to allow Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari to travel abroad.Duterte made the admission in a speech

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday, March 3, that he had reached out to the court to allow Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari to travel abroad.

Duterte made the admission in a speech delivered in Zamboanga City, amid his intent to pursue peace negotiations with Misuari.

"He (Misuari) wanted to go out. He was not allowed. Tapos may kaso siya. Kinausap ko ang police pati military, pati ang korte na palabasin muna siya. Ako ang nag-guarantee that he will come back (He's facing a case. I talked to the police, military and the court to let him go out. I guaranteed them that he will come back)," the President said.

"Misuari, a true Tausug, would never allow that he be buried in a foreign land. Sigurado ako niyan. That's why he will come back and help us build a nation," he added.

Duterte's statement came after the Sandiganbayan on February 26 granted Misuari's motion to travel abroad for his participation in the 46th session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in the United Arab Emirates and the meeting of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States in Morocco.

Misuari left the country on February 26 and was expected to return home between March 17 to 20.

In another speech delivered in Isabela City, Basilan, the President said he had guaranteed the court that Misuari would "never abandon" the country.

"Sinabi ko payagan mo na lang, hindi 'yan sisibat (I said allow him because he'll never hide). Nur Misuari will never abandon his country and I'm sure that he would only prepare to die in this native land," Duterte said.

He made the remark nearly a week after he met with Misuari at Malacanan Palace.

On February 26, the President bared that he and Misuari would craft a "new deal" when the Moro leader comes back, in a bid to achieve long-lasting peace in besieged Mindanao.

In a press conference held Monday, March 4, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said there was "nothing wrong" with Duterte's move to ask the court to grant Misuari's request to go overseas.

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Duterte merely "persuaded" the court to allow Misuari's overseas trip, as the Chief Executive believed that it would benefit the country, especially Mindanao, Panelo stressed.

"The President, as head of state, is mandated to preserve, and protect, and to serve the people. Kung ang problema doon sa Mindanao ay nakasalalay sa isang tao kagaya ni Misuari na napakalaki ng impluwensiya at malaking grupo na maaaring magkaroon ng sigalot, tungkulin ni Presidente lahat ng kanyang makakaya -- persuasion -- na tulungan," Panelo said.

(The President, as head of state, is mandated to preserve, and protect, and to serve the people. If the problem in Mindanao depends on one person like Misuari, who can influence and whose group is large and can cause discord, it's the President's duty to do his best, such as persuasion, to help Misuari.)

"Kung yung pagbibigay ng laya temporarily kay Misuari ay makakatulong, palagay ko, tungkulin ng Presidente na ipaalam sa hukuman na makakatulong itong taong 'to (If giving Misuari a temporary freedom is necessary, perhaps, it's the President's right to tell the court that this man can help us)," he added.

Misuari is on trial before the Sandiganbayan Third Division for two counts each of graft and malversation due to alleged anomalous purchase of P77 million worth of educational material when he was governor of then Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Panelo said Duterte has no intention of interfering in the court's affairs, stressing that the President was merely relaying his "message" to the court with regard to Misuari's cases.

He also believed that Duterte has to wield "persuasive power" to convince other branches of government on what needs to be done.

"Kung persuasion lang, wala namang problema doon. Kung national interest. Parang ano iyan, there are many ways naman kasi of presenting your position. You can express it verbally nationwide. You can express it privately to the people para makarating sa dapat paratingan. There are many ways. Ang importante it's his duty to preserve this country," he said.

(There's no problem if it's a mere persuasion for national interest. There are many ways of presenting your position. You can express it verbally nationwide. You can express it privately to the people so they will know about it. There are many ways. What's important is it's his duty to preserve this country.)

"I'm telling you, iyan ang realidad (that's the reality). The courts will not allow themselves to be intimidated, coerced or commanded or directed by any branch of this government. You can only tell us your position and then we will evaluate. Iyan ang mga sangay (That's how branches of government work)," Panelo added. (SunStar Philippines)
THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad are expected to talk about "mutual" concerns during their meeting at Malacanan Palace on Thursday, March 7.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed in a press conference with Palace reporters on Monday, March 4, that Mahathir, upon Duterte's invitation, would undertake an official visit to the Philippines on March 6 to 7.

He said the two leaders would discuss issues mutually beneficial to the Philippines and Manila, such as politics and economy.

"The President will welcome officially Prime Minister Mahathir at ceremonies in Malacanan Palace on March 7," the Palace official said.

"The two leaders will then hold a bilateral meeting and discuss cooperation in the political, economic and people-to-people spheres, and exchange views on topics of mutual importance," he added.

Mahathir's arrival in Manila this week is the first since he assumed his position as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia in 2018.

Mahathir, a former strongman of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, won for the second time as Malaysian Prime Minister last year. During his previous term as prime minister, he undertook bilateral official visits in the Philippines in 1987 and 1994. (SunStar Philippines)
Abdelaziz Bouteflikas campaign director, Sunday evening presented to the Constitutional Council the incumbent presidents candidacy for a fifth term, only few hours before the deadline for submitting candidacies.

According to the official news agency APS, Abdelghani Zaalane, Bouteflikas new campaign director, submitted Bouteflikas candidacy to the Constitutional Council.

Abdelghani Zaalane, Minister of transport, was unexpectedly appointed campaign director Saturday (March 2), in replacement of Abdelmalek Sellal, a former Prime Minister. No reasons were given for Sellals sacking.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika and his camp have chosen to wait until the last hours in the hope of seeing heavyweights withdraw from the race as did Ali Benflis of LAvant-garde des Libertes party, who was the main challenger of Bouteflika in 2004 and 2014, and Abderrazak Makri, the leader of Le Mouvement de la societe pour la paix (MSP), the main Islamist party that broke with the presidential alliance in 2012 and that is boycotting the vote.

Bouteflika is the 8th candidate to have submitted his candidacy file to the Constitutional Council, which must rule within ten days on the validity of applications. However, no candidate is a threatening contender to the incumbent president.

A few minutes before his candidacy submission was announced, Abdelaziz Bouteflika addressed a candidacy message to the Algerians where he pledged, if re-elected on April 18, not to complete his mandate and to withdraw at the end of an early presidential election. The date of the polls would be set at the end of a national conference, he said.

I commit myself to the organization of an early presidential election, the date of which will be decided by an inclusive and independent national conference to be held after the poll of April 18. I pledge not to be a candidate for this (early) election, said Bouteflika in the message read out by Abdelghani Zaalane Sunday night before the media.

Bouteflikas commitment to exercise only an abbreviated mandate aims to defuse an unprecedented challenge to his power, without however bowing to the calls of the demonstrators who have been claiming in the first place that he abandons his candidacy for a fifth term.

On Sunday, protesters took to the streets again in several Algerian cities and also in some French towns, mainly Paris, Marseilles and Lyon to decry the candidacy of a moribund man that even some of his former ministers deem unfit to run the country.

And apparently his candidacy message was not convincing as new marches were staged Sunday night downtown Algiers and in many other cities where several hundred young people took to the streets.
FIRE razed a storage facility at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Monday, March 4.Colonel Noel Detoyato, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, said

FIRE razed a storage facility at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Monday, March 4.

Colonel Noel Detoyato, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, said the fire started at 2:36 p.m. at the Property Reutilization and Disposal Division (PRDD) area.

It reached first alarm before it was declared fire out at 3:29 p.m. by the responders from the Bureau of Fire and Protection.

Detoyato said damage was estimated at P200,000.

He said investigators were still trying to determine the cause of the fire. (Third Anne Peralta-Malonzo/SunStar Philippines)
A French man faces execution under Indonesia's strict drug laws after he was caught using a false-bottomed suitcase to smuggle narcotics into the Southeast Asian nation, an official said Monday. Prosecutors have accused Felix Dorfin of trafficking four kilogrammes (8.8 pounds) of cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines. The 35-year-old from Benthune in northern France was arrested after arriving at Lombok island's airport from Singapore in September. "We are charging him with drug possession, carrying drugs to Indonesia from abroad, and trafficking drugs," lead prosecutor Ginung Pratidina told the court. He faced a potential death sentence if convicted, Pratidina added. Dorfin was read the charges with the aid of an English translator. The Frenchman escaped from jail in late January by sawing through bars on the second floor window of the prison and rappelling to freedom with a sarong. He spent nearly two weeks on the run before he was captured again in a forest in North Lombok. Police said Dorfin tried to bribe officers to let him go. A female police officer was arrested for allegedly helping Dorfin escape from jail in exchange for Rp 14.5 million (around $1,000). Indonesia has some of the world's strictest drug laws -- including death penalty sentences for drug traffickers. It has executed several foreign drug smugglers in the past including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, which sparked diplomatic tensions between the two countries. Indonesia has not executed anyone since 2016, but a number of foreigners are still on death row. Serge Atlaoui, a convicted French drug smuggler, has been on death row since 2007, while British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford has been on death row since 2013.
MANILA, Philippines  The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) on Saturday (March 1) warned the public against fixers who collect fees for assistance with the application for identification (ID) cards and member data records (MDR).

The state insurance agency said these people use the social media to target current and prospective members to pay a certain amount in exchange for facilitating their application for PhilHealth ID cards and MDRs.

Such act is considered fixing and strictly prohibited under the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007. We reiterate that we do not charge any fees for the printing and issuance of PhilHealth ID cards and MDRs,

PhilHealth Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Ruben John Basa said in the advisory.

The PhilHealth advised applicants to proceed to the nearest PhilHealth regional office, local health insurance office or PhilHealth Express in their localities, and to transact with the agencys frontline personnel directly.

The public is encouraged to report any incidence of fixing or similar activities to PhilHealths 24/7 Corporate Action Center Hotline numbers 441-7442 or text (0917) 898-7442 or send an email to actioncenter@philhealth.gov.ph.  Marje Pelayo

The post ID cards, MDRs are free; report fixers  PhilHealth appeared first on UNTV News.
A SECOND kill list containing the names of eight people, a few of them running for town councilor on May 13, has been circulating in San Fernando, Cebu.This prompted the Municipal Council to call

A SECOND kill list containing the names of eight people, a few of them running for town councilor on May 13, has been circulating in San Fernando, Cebu.

This prompted the Municipal Council to call for a special meeting yesterday, Monday, March 4, to act on the kill list. The list, which circulated through the Facebook group page Mga Estorya sa Politika sa San Fernando, contains names of some townsfolk allegedly involved in illegal drugs.

It also came almost two months after four public officials of San Fernando were gunned down in separate incidents.

Identified in the second list are San Fernando Purok Federation president Felomino Leyson, municipal councilor candidates Francisco Ranie Medicielo, Vidala Loguiber and Rely Enad; Barangay Captains Tommy Baclaan of Cabatbatan and Roven Borinaga of Greenhills.

Medicielo, Loguiber and Enad are in the slate of San Fernando Mayor Lakambini Reluya, who is seeking reelection. She survived an ambush on Jan. 22, 2019 in Talisay City.

Loguibers daughter, Jennifer, and Richie Paul Manugas, a local businessman in San Fernando, are also named in the list.

Dummy accounts

Due to the existence of a second kill list, four groups have sought the help of the San Fernando Municipal Council to look into its source and circulation.

But during the session on Monday, March 4, the municipal council, presided over by acting Vice Mayor Philip Jude Medalla, urged the the groups to take their complaint to law enforcement authorities.

In their complaint, members of the Pag-asa Youth Association of the Philippines (PYAP) San Fernando chapter, the ABLE Citizens of San Fernando Association, the towns Office of Senior Citizens Affairs (Osca) and the local purok federation asked the municipal council to investigate the dummy accounts that are circulating the second kill list.

San Fernando has been making headlines in almost all newspapers these past few days because of the killings of known people. With this, we think it is not appropriate to neither make fun nor threaten people just as anyone pleases to do, said Ruth Sasil, president of ABLE Citizens-San Fernando, in her letter.

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Leyson, who was mentioned in the list, also showed up before the council to ask local legislators to summon Neil Enriquez, a former town councilor and municipal administrator during the time of former town mayor Antonio Canoy, as he was identified to be the administrator of the Facebook page where the list was posted.

Leyson said Enriquezs participation indicated that the second kill list may have been masterminded by critics of Reluyas administration.

Reluya will be facing businessman Ruben Feliciano in the May 13 elections.

Felicianos running mate, former town mayor Antonio Canoy, was also Reluyas fiercest rival in past elections.

Leyson denied he had any links with the illegal drug trade, as claimed in the post.

Leyson said he has sought the help of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) to help identify the source of the list.

He said that ever since the list was published, strangers have been following him.

Leyson has sought the police for security.

Through SunStar Cebu, Medicielo called upon those responsible to stop what they are doing in the name of God.

Awhagon tamo, sa ngalan sa Ginoo, nga pangundang namo anang inyong gibuhat. Sahi pay kung kamoy matung-an, dili kaha mo mureklamo, Medicielo said.

Medicielo said the allegation against him has worried his family.

Like Leyson, he denied he has links to illegal drugs as claimed by the post.

Page admin

On his end, former town councilor and administrator Enriquez denied he was behind the publication of the second list and the administator of the Facebook group page.

As usual, like Mayor (Lakambini) Reluya, they both claim that I have something to do in whatever situation they are in, just because Im a known critic. But when asked by the police to show any verifiable direct evidence or proof on their claim, they have none to show. All they could produce are hearsay, made by dummy accounts, Enriquez told SunStar Cebu.

SunStar Cebus calls and text messages to Feliciano were left unanswered at press time.

Formal complaint

San Fernando Police Chief Lymel John Pascuin asked the groups to formally report their concern to the police so that police can look into it.

Pascuin said he is aware of the threat circulating online but he cannot ascertain its authenticity especially if dummy accounts posted it.

An earlier kill list came out just before the murders of public officials in San Fernando began early this year.

The first kill list contained the names of Reluya, her husband and San Fernando Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) president Ricardo Nonoy Reluya Jr.; his predecessor, former ABC president and Magsico village chief Johnny Arriesgado; and town councilors Reneboy Dacalos, Alfonso Donaire IV and Edwin Villaver.

They were allegedly linked to self-confessed drug lord Franz Sabalones, brother of San Fernando Vice Mayor Fralz Sabalones who has gone on leave from his duties.

Nonoy Reluya had spoken about the kill list following the deaths of Dacalos and Arriesgado in January 2019.

He and Mayor Reluya and four other companions were ambushed in Talisay City on Jan. 22. Nonoy and two others died on the spot.

Mayoral aspirant Feliciano has denied he made the kill list although he said that Reluya, his wife, and the four councilors had links with Sabalones and warned them that death would come for them if they would not withdraw from the electoral race.

Of those mentioned in the first list, only Mayor Reluya and Villaver remain alive. But Villaver is missing. (JKV, MPS)
Phuket, Thailand, 4 March 2019  Marriott Internationals hotels and resorts in Phuket have joined forces to host another important event aimed at raising awareness about motorcycle safety among local schoolchildren.

The 2019 Helmet Painting initiative saw representatives from eight leading Marriott hotels meet with Grade 3-4 students from Baan Ko En School in Phuket. A total of 50 motorbike helmets were handed out to the schoolchildren, who were able to paint the helmets and give them a personal design.

This valuable CSR activity was designed to emphasize the important messages of road safety and wearing a helmet when traveling by motorcycle. If the helmets help to save just one of these schoolchildren from death or serious injury, the event will have been an immeasurable success.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Thailand has the second highest road traffic fatality rate in the world. Figures also show that approximately 90 percent of children across Thailand still dont wear a helmet when riding to school by motorcycle with their parents or siblings. This means that every day, millions of Thai kids are risking their lives simply by going to school.

Marriott hotels taking part in the initiative included Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa; Le Meridien Phuket Beach Resort; Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa, Nai Yang Beach; Phuket Marriott Resort & Spa, Merlin Beach; The Westin Siray Bay Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa; JW Marriott Khao Lak Resort & Spa; and The Naka Island, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa.

Marriotts hotels have been hosting Helmet Painting events at schools in Thailand since 2016. As part of the companys Serve360 global CSR program, missions will be held every quarter this year. Thank you to Renaissance Phuket Resort & Spa for hosting this years event.
In a groundbreaking Cornell-led study illuminating the extensive scope of mass incarceration in the U.S., nearly 1 in 2 Americans have had a brother or sister, parent, spouse or child spend time in jail or prisona far higher figure than previously estimated.

The study is the first to accurately measure the share of Americans45 percentwho have ever had an immediate family member jailed or imprisoned for one night or more. The researchers had assumed they would find half that rate.

"The core takeaway is family member incarceration is even more common than any of usall of whom are experts in the fieldhad anticipated," said Christopher Wildeman, professor of policy analysis and management and a co-author of the study, which appeared March 4 in Socius.

"This really is an issue that affects all of society," added lead author Peter Enns, associate professor of government. Their Cornell co-authors are doctoral candidates Youngmin Yi, M.A. '16, and Alyssa Goldman '07, M.A. '16.

The figures are even higher for African-Americans and people with low education levels; for those groups, nearly 3 in 5 have had an immediate family member incarcerated, the team found. And siblings were the most common immediate family member to be incarcerated, the researchers saidanother surprise findingand a trend about which not much is known.

"Having an immediate family member in prison instead of in the home can have a major effect on a person and can be extremely disruptive," said Enns.

"This survey really shows who the victims of mass incarceration are: the folks who have to manage households and grow up absent a loved one," said Wildeman, director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.

More-advantaged groups are not immune to the trend, the study found. While college-educated whites experience family incarceration at a much lower rate than the less-educated and people of color, 1 in 615 percenthave had that experience. "That breaks pretty sharply from the standard narrative that we've heard in the research community and in popular discourse, about how white, college-educated folks are completely insulated from those risks," said Wildeman. "And, indeed, this provides further evidence that mass incarceration is a profoundly American phenomenon and something that we as a society must confront together."

Even though all groups are affected, education does somewhat insulate whites from having a family member imprisoned. As their level of education goes up, their level of incarcerated family members goes down.

But that is much less true for African-Americans; the chances an African-American will have a family member jailed or imprisoned stays about the same even if she is well-educated. About 70 percent of people who didn't finish high school have had a family member incarcerated; it's 71 percent for those with a high school equivalent; and 55 percent for those who have a college education.

The research, which grew out of a theme project sponsored by Cornell's Institute for the Social Sciences, is the first to capture both jail time and prison time for family members. And it represents people who are often overlooked in national surveyssuch as young adults, households with a low socio-economic status, those without internet access and Spanish speakersthanks to study's design: participants were able to take the survey online or by phone, in English or in Spanish.

The researchers asked a nationally representative sample of more than 4,000 people whether members of their immediate family (a parent, sibling, spouse or domestic partner, stepsiblings or foster family) or extended family (including grandparents, grandchildren, cousins, nieces, nephews or in-laws) have ever been held in jail or prison for a night or more, and for how long.

The participants were also asked follow-up questions about their experiences with and opinions of the police and the criminal justice system, health and well-being, civic and political engagement, and drug and alcohol use.

The researchers will dig into that data in later studiesand they invite other researchers to do so as well. They've made their data publicly available via Cornell's Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, of which Enns is executive director, to allow others to both see what else the data show and confirm the findings for themselves.

The researchers hope the study will destigmatize the incarceration of family members.

"I hope that it will help folks see that this is more a structural issue than a behavioral one," Wildeman said. "And I hope that it would drive home just how much more we can learn when we do the work to get surveys that explicitly focus on crime and criminal justice contact."

Explore further Formerly incarcerated black men with family in jail or prison are more likely to be obese

More information: Peter K. Enns et al, What Percentage of Americans Have Ever Had a Family Member Incarcerated?: Evidence from the Family History of Incarceration Survey (FamHIS), Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World (2019). Peter K. Enns et al, What Percentage of Americans Have Ever Had a Family Member Incarcerated?: Evidence from the Family History of Incarceration Survey (FamHIS),(2019). DOI: 10.1177/2378023119829332
Capromyid or hutia fossils that were found digested by Cuban crocodiles, found in Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, Grand Cayman. Credit: New Mexico Museum of Natural History

Fossilised bones that appear to have been digested by crocodiles in the Cayman Islands have revealed three new species and subspecies of mammal that roamed the island more than 300 years ago.

An expert team led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London), the American Museum of Natural History, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History studied the bones from collections in British and American museums including the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. The bones had been previously collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Cayman Islands between the 1930s and 1990s.

Published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History today (March 4, 2019), the team describe two new large rodents (Capromys pilorides lewisi and Geocapromys caymanensis), as well as a small shrew-like mammal named Nesophontes hemicingulus. Fossil remains of the land mammal have been previously reported from the Cayman Islands, but have not been scientifically described until now.

The three mammals were unique to the Cayman Islands, existing nowhere else in the world. The scientists calculated that they would have probably become extinct around the 1700s, likely due to the arrival of European settlers and introduced mammals such as rats, cats and dogs.

Cuban hutia Capromys pilorides, closest living relative to the newly described mammals. Credit: Nancy Albury

Professor Samuel Turvey, Senior Research Fellow at ZSL's Institute of Zoology, and co-author of the paper, said: "Humans are almost certainly to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals, and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean. Nearly all the mammal species that used to live on these tropical islands, including all of the native Caribbean sloths and monkeys, have recently disappeared.

"It's vitally important to understand the factors responsible for past extinctions of island species, as many threatened species today are found on islands. The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique vanished world and represent some of the world's top conservation priorities."

Animals described as "coneys" and "little beasts like cats", which were probably the now-extinct rodents Capromys or Geocapromys, were seen and recorded by Sir Francis Drake when he visited the Cayman Islands in 1586. Despite the major marine barrier separating the Cayman Islands from other Caribbean lands, the extinct mammals described in this study are similar to those on Cuba, and other subspecies of Capromys pilorides still survive on Cuba today. The Cayman Islands may have originally been colonised by mammals carried across from Cuba on floating rafts of vegetation, which in some cases have been documented to float as far as 100 kilometres in less than a week.

New subspecies of Cuban hutia found on Cayman Islands. Credit: L Meeker/American Museum of Natural History

Professor Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History's Mammalogy Department, a co-author of the study, said: "Although one would think that the greatest days of biological field discoveries are long over, that's very far from the case. With only one possible sighting early in the course of European expansion into the New World, these small mammals from the Cayman Islands were complete unknowns until their fossils were discovered. Their closest relatives are Cuban; how and when did they manage a 250-km journey over open water?"

Explore further Primates of the Caribbean: Ancient DNA reveals history of mystery monkey

More information: Late Quaternary fossil mammals from the Cayman Islands, West Indies. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, no. 428, Late Quaternary fossil mammals from the Cayman Islands, West Indies., no. 428, digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/6928
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Strong action on climate change is vital if Australia is to thrive in the future. Lack of consensus on climate policy over the past two decades has cost us dearly. It has harmed our natural environment, our international reputation and our economic prospects in a future low-carbon world.

The next two years will be crucial if Australia is to meet its commitment, along with the rest of the world, to limit greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the worst ravages of global warming.

In 2015, nearly all nations signed the Paris climate agreement. They pledged to limit global warming to well below 2 and to reach net zero emissions. By our calculations, Australia needs to reach net zero before 2050 to do its part.

As a first step, Australia has committed to reduce its total emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2030. Under the Paris Agreement it will have to submit progressively stronger targets every five years. Unfortunately, Australia is not yet on track to meet even its comparatively modest 2030 goal.

Falling short

Analysis by ClimateWorks Australia found that although Australia's emissions have fallen by around 11% economy-wide since 2005, emissions have been steadily climbing again since 2013. In 2013 Australia emitted the equivalent of 520 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. By 2016 that had bounced back up to 533 million tonnes.

While some parts of the economy cut emissions at certain times, no sector improved consistently at the rate needed to hit the overall 2030 target.

Emissions are still above 2005 levels in the building, industrial and transport sectors, and only 3% below in the electricity sector, based on 2016 figures, the latest available. The overall fall was mainly delivered by the land sector, thanks to a combination of reduced land clearing and increased forestation. Increased energy efficiency and the growth of renewable energy also made modest contributions.

Unfortunately, progress in reducing emissions has now stalled in most sectors and reversed overall.

How fast should we be cutting emissions?

We calculate that Australia needs to double its emissions reduction progress to deliver on the 2030 target. We will have to triple it to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

Hitting net zero by 2050 means going much further than the Coalition government's 2030 target of 26-28%, or the 45% proposed by federal Labor. Australia would need to cut total emissions by 55% below 2005 levels by 2030 (the middle of the range recommended by the Climate Change Authority) to get there without undue economic disruption.

Fortunately, there are enough opportunities for further emission reductions in all sectors to meet our Paris targets. We can probably do better than that, given the falling costs of many key technologies.

The gap to the 2030 target could be more than covered by further activity in the land sector alone, or by the electricity sector alone, or by the combined potential of the building, industrial and transport sectors. Emission reductions from energy efficiency  through better buildings, vehicles and white goods  can even save money in the long term.

Clearly, not all sectors have the same potential to reduce emissions based on current technological progress, but all have significant room for improvement.

We calculated that:

the electricity sector was on track to cut its emissions by 21% by 2030, but could cut them by nearly 70%

transport sector emissions are set to be 29% above 2005 levels by 2030, but with projected technology improvements could be 4% below

the land sector is set to hit 45% below 2005 levels by 2030, but with more support for planting could be 103% below  well into "negative emissions" territory. The land sector would then be sucking up carbon and making up for emissions from other sectors.

How do we get there?

To ensure a smooth, cost-effective transition to a net-zero-emissions economy by 2050, some sectors will need to do more sooner, to avoid putting too much onus on other sectors where emissions savings are harder and more expensive.

This will require major upgrades to Australia's current policy settings. Since 2013 Australia's efforts to cut emissions have focused largely on the land sector via the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) and the electricity sector through the Renewable Energy Target. With the ERF due to run out of funds soon and no clear energy policy even as our ageing power stations shut down, policy certainty is urgently needed in both these areas to encourage investors.

Renewable energy is powering ahead and starting to tap into Australia's huge potential in clean energy resources. However, ongoing policy support is needed to ensure our energy remains affordable and reliable through the transition.

Despite the importance of the electricity and land sectors, we need emission reductions throughout the economy. Fortunately, there is plenty that Australia can do to cut emissions further, in many different ways:

in the land sector through revegetation and forestation

in electricity by increasing renewables and phasing out coal

in industry by bolstering energy efficiency, fuel switching and reducing non-energy emissions

in transport by introducing vehicle emission standards and shifting to electric vehicles and low-carbon fuels

in construction by increasing standards for buildings and appliances.

With well-targeted policies across all sectors of the economy, we can get back on track and meet our Paris targets.

Australia's states and businesses are recognising how much they can and should do. For instance, 80% of Australia's emissions are in states and territories with goals to reach net zero emissions by 2050, while many large companies and universities are pledging to be carbon-neutral or use 100% renewable energy.

There is more than enough opportunity, but we have to act now.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Postdoctoral scientist Ning Zhang inspects CRISPR/Cas-edited tomatoes in a greenhouse at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, N.Y. Credit: Mike Carroll,  Boyce Thompson Institute

Recently developed gene editing tools like CRISPR/Cas enable plant scientists to figure out the functions of myriad plant genes. While these studies could eventually lead to the creation of crops with improved traits like increased disease resistance or higher yield, researchers first need a good way to keep track of the increasingly large amounts of resulting data.

To meet this need, researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI; Ithaca, NY) have developed the Plant Genome Editing Database (PGED) to be a central repository for efficiently managing plant mutant data, as well as to provide a platform for sharing the data and mutants with the research community. The ultimate hope is that PGED will lead to more efficient use of resources by reducing unnecessary duplicate experiments and catalyzing collaborations among research institutions. To help spread the word about the database's creation, the researchers recently published a call for data submission to PGED in the journal Molecular Plant.

"We've used CRISPR/Cas to make more than 430 different lines, and that's just in tomato. The main problem initially was how to keep track of them all, so that was the primary motivation behind the creation of the database," according to BTI's Greg Martin, who was the co-corresponding author along with BTI's Zhangjun Fei. "Many plant biology labs are doing CRISPR/Cas research these days, and everyone is going to face this problem," Martin adds.

A secondary motivation was to share data and resources, which is part of the mandate of the National Science Foundation (NSF), which helped fund the creation of PGED. "We're trying to make CRISPR/Cas research more efficient," says Martin. "The scientific community can't afford having multiple different labs making the same mutant."

Zach Lippman, professor and HHMI investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, agrees with Martin on PGED's potential to reduce duplicate work. "You can just go to the database, see that someone else is working on what you're interested in, and ask them for seeds," he says. Lippman's lab works with CRISPR/Cas in tomato, groundcherry, peppers and other related species in the Solanaceae family, as well as some strains of Arabidopsis.

Thus far, seven research groups have requested seeds from Martin, and his lab has shared 21 plant mutants with five labs. Martin notes that many of the requests have been for collaborations, and that is where he sees great potential for PGED. "We'll be sending seeds, and the partners will be doing their research and then sending their seeds back to us for further study," he says. "This database will promote collaborations around the world."

Indeed, Lippman has requested seeds from Martin for the purpose of exactly such a partnership. "We work on receptor genes in the context of plant development, whereas Greg works on some of the same ones to study plant immune response," explains Lippman. "We can share seeds to see if there may be some cross-biology in the function of those receptors in terms of plant immune responses and overall development."

While Lippman intends to submit data from his lab to PGED, he says that some researchers may be hesitant to share unpublished data before their projects have fully matured. "There is a lot of competition among other groups, so there may be some hesitancy for people to be fully forthcoming on things they have in the pipeline," he explains. "But hopefully the database will become so large that researchers feel like their new strain is just another mutant, and that competitive nature won't be too much of a hindrance."

"Greg is so forthcoming in sharing his work, so we try to model that," adds Lippman.

PGED currently contains data generated by Martin's lab on 432 tomato lines created with CRISPR/Cas editing by Ning Zhang, a postdoctoral scientist in Dr. Martin's lab. The databasewhich was built by Yi Zheng, a postdoctoral scientist in Dr. Fei's labprovides information about the transformation experiment, species variety, DNA construct and primer, resulting phenotype of the progeny and seed availability. Zhang and Zheng are co-first authors on the Molecular Plant publication.

Martin notes that while CRISPR/Cas-generated lines are the main focus of PGED, it can also be used for plant mutants generated by other genome editing tools like meganucleases, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like nucleases (TALENs).

Explore further This wild plant could be the next strawberry

More information: Yi Zheng et al, Plant Genome Editing Database (PGED): A Call for Submission of Information about Genome-Edited Plant Mutants, Molecular Plant (2019). Journal information: Molecular Plant Yi Zheng et al, Plant Genome Editing Database (PGED): A Call for Submission of Information about Genome-Edited Plant Mutants,(2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.01.001
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The sightlines at Wrigley Field, the panorama from Navy Pier, the vantage points at the Adler Planetarium observatoryall structures built more than 100 years agoare at least 4 inches lower now.

In the northern United States and Canada, areas that once were depressed under the tremendous weight of a massive ice sheet are springing back up while others are sinking. The Chicago area and parts of southern Lake Michigan, where glaciers disappeared 10,000 years ago, are sinking about 4 to 8 inches each century.

One or 2 millimeters a year might not seem like a lot, but "over a decade that's a centimeter. Over 50 years, now, you're talking several inches," said Daniel Roman, chief geodesist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "It's a slow process, but it's a persistent one."

While Chicago's dipping is gradual, this dynamic could eventually redefine flood plains and work against household sewer pipes that slope downward to the sewer main.

The greatest impact of this imperceptible phenomenon likely won't be inland, however. The contour separating the part of the continent that is rising from that which is falling bisects the Great Lakes.

In Lake Michigan, that line passes from Death's Door at Green Bay in Wisconsin to Grand Traverse Bay in Michigan, signaling that the far northern end is rising while the rest of the lake is lowering. Over time, that has created a tilting effect, generally translating into higher lake levels for the southern end of the lakes and lower watermarks for the northern shorelines.

Assuming Lake Michigan's overall water level stays the same, Chicago's lakefront will be about 4 inches higher in the next century. The slow-motion, seesaw effect is also happening in other cities on the southern end of the lakes: Cleveland could see a 4-inch swell in Lake Erie's levels and Milwaukee is projected to see a rise of 5{ more inches. Places such as Canada's Hudson Bay, which was covered by glaciers up to 9,800 feet thick, are rising up to 3 feet per century.

While Earth's surface may appear to be rigid, it actually reacts similarly to a tube of toothpaste that's pressed in the middle. When pressure is applied to the planet's lining, known as the crust, that energy is transferred to the gelatinous layer of smoldering rocks called the mantle. The mantle, which behaves like a liquid, caves under the weight and moves to neighboring areas that bulge.

When the hefty ice sheet melted and the pressure was lifted, the mantle began to flow back to areas where it had thinned out.

Chicago, on the fringe of the last glacial intrusion, rebounded for a time after the glaciers disappeared. But now the city is slowly submerging because more of the mantle is returning to Canada, where the thickest part of the ice sheet bore down on the landscape.

"We can still see the land moving now even though the ice came off Chicago 10,000 years ago," said Seth Stein, professor of geological sciences at Northwestern University.

This shift will also affect the movement of water between the lakes. In Lake Superior, the eastern end that lets out into lakes Michigan and Huron is rising, while the far western edge is slumping. Researchers suggest that could slow Superior's outflow while causing lake levels to surge 10 inches per century near Duluth, Minn.

"If you're tilting one direction, the water flows might change direction or water might accumulate in a way different than you expected in the past," NOAA's Roman said. "That's important for on-land and near-shore environments. You might get more water, but not where you want it."

How that will magnify changing water levels is hard to say. In the past six years, Lake Michigan's water levels have fluctuated wildly, hitting a record low before rising 3 feet to well above the historic average.

Ron Watson, a 73-year-old Naperville retiree, has seen the dramatic swings over the years from his two-story home across the street from Lake Michigan in New Buffalo, Mich. He saw the record-high lake level in 1986, but he has been even more disturbed by the recent unprecedented rise seen between 2013 and 2014, during which houses have been condemned and beaches have been swallowed up.

Neighbors have been concerned that increased precipitation from climate change is one driver. Lakefront development also has exacerbated beach erosion.

And the subtle sinking from the last ice age is contributing to all of these, Watson said.

"That's only going to aggravate the situation," Watson said. "The reason I say I'd be concerned is because if you've ever lived on the shoreline, it's inches of water we're worried about, not feet of water. When lake levels are high, all it takes is inches."

Explore further Great Lakes water level slump over, future unclear

2019 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The 7th joint Tunisian-Qatari High Commission highlighted Saturday by the signing of ten Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) covering many areas, with focus on maritime cooperation.

The agreements, signed by Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and Qatars interior minister Cheikh Abdallah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, cover many areas including transport, youth, sport, tourism, culture, industry and maritime transport.

Qatar, facing a sea/air/land embargo from its neighbors Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain plus Egypt is expanding its maritime routes.

The agreements signed Saturday also include aerial services, tourism and business tourism.

The two countries also agreed to establish an executive program for youth and sport in 2019-2020.

Tunisia also signed with Kuwait this Monday a MoU on the exchange of knowledge and expertise in the judicial field.

The MoU, initialed by Justice Minister Mohamed Karim Jamoussi and his Kuwaiti counterpart Fahad Al-Afasi, focuses on the management of the judiciary and aims to step up cooperation and give greater efficiency to the judicial system by introducing modern technologies in criminal and civil justice.

The agreements were signed on the sidelines of the joint meeting of Arab Interior and Justice Ministers held in Tunis.
Bedbug infestations have re-emerged as a national and worldwide problem over the past 20 years. Credit: Stephen Ausmus, USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Laws that require landlords to disclose bed bug infestations help combat the spread of the insects and protect the health of potential tenants. According to a new study, these laws also lead to cost savings, on average, for landlords within five years. Researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania published their findings today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

When enforced properly, these laws can decrease infestation rates, thereby reducing the need for extermination treatment, which can cost landlords thousands of dollars. Bed bugs can be found in areas of the home other than a bed, but typically reside in areas where humans and animals sleep. Their bites often cause itching, rashes, and anxiety, among other symptoms.

"These laws are critical to ensuring tenants are informed of infestations so they can take precautions to avoid spreading the bugs further," said senior author Michael Z. Levy, Ph.D., an associate professor of Epidemiology in the department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics. "Our work suggests that while it can be extremely difficult to eliminate bed bugs from homes, it might not be so difficult to eliminate them from cities. The public health impact of proactive legislation that promotes prompt and appropriate treatment of infested homes would be enormously beneficial."

The team developed a mathematical model of the spread of bed bugs and housing turnover in a generalized rental market, drawing on data from the United States Census Bureau's American Community Survey and Housing Vacancies and Home Ownership surveys. Though data are limited on how quickly an infested unit is treated, researchers considered cases in which infestation is detected and treated within two months, and cases in which treatment took up to a year. They found that across that broad range, laws requiring landlords to disclose infestations impose immediate cost on those property ownersthrough greater difficulty renting out affected properties in the short termbut, on average, lead to significant cost savings for landlords within five years of disclosure.

Cities including New York and San Francisco have already implemented laws requiring landlords to disclose any recent bed bug infestations to potential renters. The model created by the Penn team also establishes an evidence-based framework for evaluating a Philadelphia City Council bill introduced in February 2019 aimed at mitigating the spread of bed bugs. Washington DC is also considering a similar bill.

"These policies have the potential to lower rates of bed bug infestation, which saves landlords from spending potentially thousands of dollars on extermination treatments," said the study's lead author Sherrie Xie, a graduate researcher in Epidemiology. "It's important for laws to respect the rights of tenants, landlords, and the general public while minimizing cost to all parties, as well as curbing the stigma faced by those whom are living in a previously infested unit."

While they transmit deadly pathogens in laboratory settings, there is no evidence yet to show that they do so in homes. The study authors note that future research will delve into whether bed bug infestation would cause rent prices to change and how that could affect the housing market.

Explore further High water bills can unintentionally harm disadvantaged tenants

More information: Sherrie Xie el al., "Dynamics of bed bug infestations and control under disclosure policies," PNAS (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Sherrie Xie el al., "Dynamics of bed bug infestations and control under disclosure policies,"(2019). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1814647116
The Jaguar I-Pace model was elected "Car of the Year 2019", ahead of the 89th Geneva International Motor Show, at the Palexpo, in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday, March 4, 2019. (Salvatore di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

The electric Jaguar I-Pace won the Car of the Year award in Europe on Monday, the first time the storied British brand has been bestowed the prize just as Brexit looms over the continent's auto industry.

The small SUV with coupe lines edged out the Alpine A110 sports car, which is not a mass production vehicle, after they tied for top honors in a first round of voting by dozens of automotive journalists. The Jaguar won a runoff.

Jaguar design director Ian Callum said the automaker, now owned by India's Tata Motors, sees electric as the future. He touted the new platform for the I-Pace and said the car showed how Jaguar can innovate.

The award established in 1964 marks the unofficial start of the Geneva auto show. The prize, which can propel sales, is organized by seven European magazines and awarded by 60 journalists from nearly two dozen countries.

"I think jury members are quite excited about having a luxury SUV, electric vehicle with a sporty look," said jury president Frank Janssen of the German weekly Stern. "It's the first electric vehicle from a European premium manufacturer that can take up with Tesla."

The five other finalists were the Citroen C5 Aircross, Ford Focus, Kia Ceed, Mercedes-Benz A-class and Peugeot 508.

The finalists were winnowed down from an initial list of 60 models, and road tests began in October. Final tests were two weeks ago at a test center outside Paris.

Last year's winner was the Volvo XC40, a compact SUV.

Explore further Volvo's Polestar unveils electric car touted as Tesla rival

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Aerial view of the Amazon rainforest. Credit: Jorge.kike.medina, CC- BY-3.0/Wikimedia Commons

Access to dwindling freshwater supplies is one of the defining issues of our time as global populations expand amidst a changing climate. Water access and limitations and related issues are rightly considered a possible flashpoint for global conflict; they also represent a major cause of concern from environmental and ecological perspectives as well as a global security standpoint.

Water availability in terms of "blue water"that is, precipitation in the form of free flowing surface water run-off and groundwaterhas been well documented in in the existing scientific literature. "Green water" limits howevergreen water being precipitation that is captured by plants or biomass and recirculated back into the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) or bound up in soilhave thus far received scant attention by researchers. The distinction between blue and green water in understanding water scarcity is far from trivial, since green water represents the greater part of water use by human populations.

Reporting in PNAS, a Dutch-American team has contributed a significant study with far-reaching policy implications. The study successfully differentiates green water use from blue while offering a regional and country-by-country analysis of green water use in terms of natural and human services, and the interplay of existing and potential limitations between the two. Typical human appropriations of green water supplies include uses such as growing food and fiber crops, timber, and bioenergy resources, and raising livestock. Increasingly, however, these human land uses come at the expense of natural systems and the ecosystem services they provide to human and non-human communities alike.

Joep Schyns and colleagues sought to answer three principal questions with their study: "What is the appropriation of green water by the human economy, specified geographically? What are the geographically explicit limits to the human appropriation of green water? Where are these limits approached or exceeded?"

To answer these questions, the researchers first defined a green water footprint (WF g ) in terms of timber production, agriculture, urban areas, etc, at a 5 x 5 arc-minute resolution of spatial cells. Next, they quantified the maximum sustainable WF g (WF g,m ) as the total available green water flow less the green water flow to be preserved for natural systems. In establishing a measure of WF g,m , the study authors took into consideration factors such as agroecological accessibility and biodiversity conservation needs. Biodiversity conservation needs here were based on criteria from the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11, which stipulates a protected area of at least 17% of lands globally. Finally, Schyns and company assessed green water allocation by way of human activities versus natural services in order to determine whether human activities were approaching or had already overshot the WF g,m at the level of each 5 x 5 cell. For this, they calculated green water scarcity (WS g ) at the country-wide level as the ratio of the national aggregate WF g to the national aggregate WF g,m .

They found that 56% of the sustainably available global green water flow has already been allocated for human purposes, though at the regional level the WF g -to-WF g,m ratio varied dramatically. Areas such as Scandinavia, Canada, Africa and elsewhere, for example, had not yet approached WF g,m , whereas other regions such as Central Europe, South Asia, the Middle East, and Central America were fast approaching or had already overshot WF g,m . And just 10 nations, the investigators found, accounted for more than half of the overshoot: "United States (8.6%), Brazil (6.9%), Indonesia (6.4%), India (5.2%), China (5.0%), Colombia (4.9%), Philippines (4.4%), Mexico (4.0%), Germany (3.1%), and Malaysia (2.5%)."

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, countries with seemingly ample rainfall such as Germany, the UK and New Zealand showed high WS g , where green water resources were already fully or almost fully allocated to human activities. In the case of Germany, the researchers point out, vast sections of land have been converted to monoculture production of rapeseed to meet that country's sustainable energy goals. This, in turn, is believed to be responsible for the decline of flying insects even within protected areas of Germany. Biofuels production has led to similar consequences in the US.

The destruction of rainforests, mainly in the Global South, is largely driven by commodity production pressures to expand into lands with adequate rainfall thus far unused by humans, at the expense of major biodiversity loss. Activities such as cattle ranching and crop production for feed and biofuels are driving expansion into the forests and grasslands of South America, while logging and conversion to palm oil plantations are major threats to lands in Southeast Asia. These areas are hotspots on the water scarcity map too. As the study authors ominously note, "The tensions between green water for humans versus nature are intensifying as the green water demand for biomass in the economy grows. This growth is not only driven by population growth, but also by increasing green water demands per capita due to changes in the food and energy mix."

Aside from policy measures to slow down the human WF g - particularly those directed against the consumption of resource-intensive livestock and the use of biofuels - there are steps that can be taken to improve green water productivity: for example, improving the water-holding capacity of soils through no-till agriculture or the application of mulches to slow evaporation. Beneficial blue water flows however may be impacted by improved soil management techniques, and blue and green water flows are ultimately interrelated and communicating systems, both of which are ultimately dependent on precipitation. Stress resistant crop cultivars that are well adapted to water-scarce conditions are another possible adaptation to limited green water flows.

The historical decisions regarding green water use for human purposes versus natural purposes have mostly favored human endeavors at the expense of natural habitats and biodiversity. But even in characterizing these decisions as "trade-offs" of the human versus the natural, the study investigators cite "trillions of dollars in losses of ecosystem service values" owing to the human allocation of green water resources. Thusly, they conclude: "The world's limited green water flow is shared by human society and nature. By ignoring limits to human's [sic] growing WF g driven by an increased demand for food, feed, fiber, timber, and bioenergywe risk further loss of ecosystem service values. Green water is a critical and limited resource that should explicitly be part of any assessment of water scarcity, food security, or bioenergy potential."

Explore further Ramped up efforts needed to protect the world's inland waters

More information: Joep F. Schyns et al. Limits to the world's green water resources for food, feed, fiber, timber, and bioenergy. PNAS published ahead of print February 25, 2019. Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Joep F. Schyns et al. Limits to the world's green water resources for food, feed, fiber, timber, and bioenergy. PNAS published ahead of print February 25, 2019. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1817380116

 2019 Science X Network
UCF's Philip Metzger and his team have created standards for simulated extraterrestrial surfaces, such as asteroids. Credit: UCF

Before civilization can move off world it must make sure its structures work on the extraterrestrial foundations upon which they will be built.

University of Central Florida researchers are already laying the groundwork for the off-world jump by creating standards for extraterrestrial surfaces. Their work was detailed recently in a study published in the journal Icarus.

"I'm firmly convinced that by the end of the century there will be more economic activity off planet Earth than on planet Earth," says Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF and lead author of the study.

According to the wealth management company, Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy will be worth more than $1.1 trillion by 2040.

"With economics moving in that direction, it's important for us to get a head start trying to create the regulatory and engineering environments to make sure everything is done safely and justly," Metzger says.

In the study, Metzger and the team of researchers outlined standards for simulated extraterrestrial surface material and then applied the standards to a simulated extraterrestrial surface material created in the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science's Exolith Lab housed at UCF.

While extraterrestrial surface material can range from lunar soil to Martian dirt, Metzger and the researchers created standards specifically for asteroid surfaces in this study.

The team measured mineralogical composition; elemental composition; densities of rocks and crushed rocks known as regolith; mechanical strength; magnetic susceptibility; volatile release pattern; and particle size destruction.

This standardization is highly needed, Metzger said, as previous attempts at creating simulated extraterrestrial surface material have used everything from floral foam to beach sand.

Samples of asteroid regolith simulant that were used in developing standards. Credit: UCF: Karen Norum

If tests are performed on simulant that isn't similar to the real thing or is not suited for that test, then it makes the test results invalid, Metzger said.

"We have to communicate what the properties are so everyone knows its limitations so they won't use it for a test it wasn't designed to simulate," Metzger said.

Standardization will also allow researchers to more accurately compare test results across studies as standardized simulants will have properties that will not vary test to test.

The researchers also applied their standards to a simulant created in UCF's Exolith Lab called UCF/DSI-CI-2. They compared the results to measures of Orgueil, a meteorite that fell in France in 1864.

Meteorites are meteors that survive entry through Earth's atmosphere and land on the surface. Meteorites are often correlated to certain asteroid types and may be used as reference material for creating asteroid simulant in lieu of having access to an actual asteroid for comparison.

The simulant UCF/DSI-CI-2 received a magnetic susceptibility score, or figure of merit, of .96, which means it is a 96 percent match with Orgueil. Similarly, it received an elemental score of .94 and a mineralogical score of .83. The other five properties the researchers measured also had high scores.

"We're delighted we could get such a high-fidelity simulant," Metzger said. "The fact that we were able to replicate those eight properties with such high fidelity tells us that these simulants will be very valuable for companies doing asteroid mining, doing tests of constructions of facilities and landing pads, metal extraction and more."

UCF researchers were able to create the simulant using particle-size data from the meteorite while also creating the grading standard, said Dan Britt, a Pegasus professor of astronomy and planetary sciences in UCF's Department of Physics. Britt is head of the Exolith lab and a co-author of the study.

"I think we did a good job of producing a simulant that mimics the parent asteroidal material pretty well," Britt said. "The limitations are really expense and safety, as some components can be toxic, so we use a lower-fidelity alternative. This gives the meteorite and space resources communities material that they can experiment on with some assurance that it is close to the real thing. That way they are not constrained by the scarcity of meteorite material or its high price."

Metzger said the research team will continue to grade simulants created in the Exolith Lab as well as offer their grading system to simulants created in other labs. They will also be receiving feedback from the community about improvements in the grading system and will work with the American Society of Civil Engineers for consensus on having the grading standards adopted.

More information: Philip T. Metzger et al, Measuring the fidelity of asteroid regolith and cobble simulants, Icarus (2018). Journal information: Icarus Philip T. Metzger et al, Measuring the fidelity of asteroid regolith and cobble simulants,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.019
In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, Colton Welch, a junior at the State University of New York at Morrisville, N.Y., tends hydroponic tomato plants which will provide students with data applicable to cannabis cultivation. The college's new minor in cannabis studies is among a handful of new university programs aimed at preparing students for careers in marijuana and hemp industries. (AP Photo/Marry Esch)

Grace DeNoya is used to getting snickers when people learn she's majoring in marijuana.

"My friends make good-natured jokes about getting a degree in weed," said DeNoya, one of the first students in a new four-year degree program in medicinal plant chemistry at Northern Michigan University. "I say, 'No, it's a serious degree, a chemistry degree first and foremost. It's hard work. Organic chemistry is a bear.'"

As a green gold rush in legal marijuana and its non-drug cousin hemp spreads across North America, a growing number of colleges are adding cannabis to the curriculum to prepare graduates for careers cultivating, researching, analyzing and marketing the herb.

Research shows there are high times ahead for all kinds of careers in cannabis , ranging from greenhouse and dispensary operators to edible product developers, marketing specialists, quality assurance lab directors and pharmaceutical researchers. Arcview Market Research, which focuses on cannabis industry trends, projects the industry will support 467,000 jobs by 2022.

And even in states where recreational marijuana remains illegal, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, some colleges have launched cannabis studies programs in anticipation of legalization or to prepare students for jobs in other states.

In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, assistant professor at the State University of New York Morrisville displays some cannabis seeds at the university in Morrisville, N.Y. In upstate New York, the state college in Morrisville is launching a cannabis studies minor in the horticulture department. (AP Photo/Mary Esch)

"We're providing a fast track to get into the industry," said Brandon Canfield, a chemistry professor at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Two years ago, he proposed a new major in medicinal plant chemistry after attending a conference where cannabis industry representatives spoke of an urgent need for analytical chemists for product quality assessment and assurance.

The four-year degree, which is the closest thing to a marijuana major at an accredited U.S. university, has drawn nearly 300 students from 48 states, Canfield said. Students won't be growing marijuana, which was recently legalized by Michigan voters for recreational use. But Canfield said students will learn to measure and extract medicinal compounds from plants such as St. John's Wort and ginseng and transfer that knowledge to marijuana.

A similar program is being launched at Minot State University in North Dakota this spring. The college said students will learn lab skills applicable to medical marijuana, hops, botanical supplements and food science industries.

"All of our graduates are going to be qualified to be analysts in a lab setting," Canfield said, noting that experience could lead to a position paying $70,000 right out of school. Those wishing to start their own businesses can choose an entrepreneurial track that adds courses in accounting, legal issues and marketing.

"I came in planning to do the bioanalytical track, maybe go work in a lab," said DeNoya, 27, who was considering nursing school when she heard about the NMU program. "I just switched to the entrepreneurial track. I figured that would better position me, as the industry is still expanding and changing and growing so much."

In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, Colton Welch, a junior at the State University of New York at Morrisville, checks root development on hydroponic tomato plants which will provide students with data applicable to cannabis cultivation. The college's new minor in cannabis studies is among a handful of new university programs aimed at preparing students for careers in marijuana and hemp industries. (AP Photo/Mary Esch)

The expected boom in cannabis-related jobs has colleges responding with a range of offerings. Colorado State University offers a cannabis studies minor focusing on social, legal, political and health impacts. Ohio State University, Harvard, the University of Denver and Vanderbilt offer classes on marijuana policy and law.

Universities have done little research on marijuana because of federal restrictions, but that's starting to change. UCLA's Cannabis Research Initiative, which bills itself as one of the first academic programs in the world dedicated to the study of cannabis, has studies underway ranging from medical treatments to economic impacts.

Agricultural schools are also getting in on the action. The University of Connecticut is launching a cannabis horticulture program this spring.

"We're following the market," said Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Morrisville, a college in rural central New York that's launching a new minor in cannabis studies in its horticulture department this year. Students work with hemp and other plants rather than marijuana, but can take internships at medical marijuana facilities, Jenkins said.

In New Jersey, Stockton University started an interdisciplinary cannabis minor last fall and recently forged an academic partnership with Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia that gives students the opportunity for internships and research work in medical marijuana and hemp.

In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, cannabis seedlings grow under lights as part of a research project by students in the new cannabis minor program at the State University of New York at Morrisville, N.Y. Even in states where recreational marijuana remains illegal, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, some colleges have launched cannabis studies programs in anticipation of legalization or to prepare students for jobs in other states. (AP Photo/Mary Esch)

"Most of the students are interested in novel business opportunities," said Kathy Sedia, coordinator of the cannabis minor at Stockton.

Cannabis businesses range from medical and recreational marijuana to foods, fabrics and myriad other products derived from industrial hemp. The basis for all is the cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana is produced by varieties with high levels of THC, the chemical compound that makes people high. Hemp has only a trace of THC, but produces cannabidiol, or CBD, used in a broad range of nutritional and therapeutic products that are all the rage right now.

Marijuana is legal for medical purposes in 33 states and as a recreational drug in 10. While marijuana remains illegal federally, the 2018 Farm bill cleared the way for widespread cultivation of hemp.

In New York, where legislators are moving to legalize recreational use of marijuana, hemp has become a new source of income for farmers as well as jobs at processing and manufacturing businesses. The state's first legal hemp crop was harvested in 2016 under a Morrisville research license, which gave rise to the new cannabis minor.

"I see a lot more farmers reaching out and trying to find people who know about this new crop," said Colton Welch, an agriculture business student pursuing the cannabis minor at Morrisville. "We're only beginning to see the wide application this plant has."

In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo, Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, left, assistant professor of agriculture at State University of New York, Morrisville, and Kelly Hennigan, who is author of the cannabis minor and chair of the Horticulture Department, hold a tray of cannabis seedlings at the SUNY campus in Morrisville, N.Y. "Majoring in marijuana" may sound like a college dropout track, but at a growing number of universities, cannabis is being added to the curriculum to prepare graduates for a blossoming career field.(AP Photo/Mary Esch)

Karson Humiston, founder of Vangst, an employment agency specializing in cannabis jobs, said the industry outlook is bright for students.

"More jobs are being created in this space than in any other space in North America, with salaries sometimes more competitive than other industries," Humiston said. "With every new state that legalizes, tons of jobs are opening up."

Explore further Is hemp the same thing as marijuana?

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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From a boardwalk overlooking Chicago's deserted Ohio Street Beach in the throes of winter, it's not hard to imagine the last ice age. A blanket of fresh snow covers the shoreline and pale blue ice glazes over Lake Michigan as far as the eye can see.

But this is nothing. Twenty thousand years ago, Chicago was encased in ice roughly 3,000 feet thicktwice the height of Willis Tower.

All that's left of the colossal ice sheet that sprawled over much of North America and formed the Great Lakes is a kernel of ice in the Canadian Arcticand it's dwindling fast.

Today, the Barnes Ice Cap, a glacier about the size of Delaware on Baffin Island in Canada, is the last remnant of the mighty Laurentide Ice Sheet. But after 2,000 years of stability, the ice cap is expected to vanish in the next 300 years as an unparalleled rise in heat-trapping greenhouse gases has brought on an alarming rate of melting since the 1960s.

Scientists say the warmth of the past century exceeds any in the last 115,000 years, and perhaps even longer, according to a study published in January.

"If the Barnes Ice Cap has almost never disappeared in 2.5 million years, and it's disappearing now, then it's giving us the context that it's warm as it's ever been in the last 2.5 million years," said Gifford Miller, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder and a researcher who has extensively studied the ice cap on Baffin Island.

The ice cap's improbable end is hardly a global concern by itself, but it could be a harbinger of what lies ahead for other massive ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, scientists say. While the Great Lakes provided a catchall for glacial meltwater, elsewhere these thawing ice sheets could send a deluge of freshwater into the oceans, contributing to sea level rise and possibly disrupting ocean currents.

In the 2.5 million years that the Earth's climate moved between ice ages and milder periods, the Laurentide Ice Sheet expanded and retreated, shaping modern day existence in the Midwest.

It tilled what would become among the most fertile soils in the world for farmers. It altered the course of the Mississippi River, the country's largest river that shapes contemporary state lines from Wisconsin to Louisiana. And it carved out the basins of the Great Lakes, leaving behind the planet's largest system of freshwater as it melted and withdrew back to the Arctic.

"It's something you don't even think about," said Richard Berg, the director of the Illinois State Geological Survey. "But when cities were founded on it, when your food depended on it, and when glacial deposits provide a lot of the water we drinkessentially our whole lives are tied to this legacy landscape from glaciation."

Before glaciers arrived in the Midwest, Illinois was a rugged place characterized by steep hills, bluffs and deep valleys. But glaciers smoothed over most of the state, giving it its trademark flat horizon.

Each ice age, glaciers acted as a giant pestle on Illinois' landscape, pulverizing rock and prehistoric plants into the fertile soils that the Midwest is known for. Only two areas are untouched by glaciers: a pocket in the far northwest corner in the Galena area and the region south of Carbondale. There, the topography, still punctuated by jagged cliffs and lowlands, is vastly different from the rest of the state.

"Glaciers are the great homogenizer," Berg said. "You can imagine this giant sheet of ice picking up rocks, sand and sediment, and just grinding them up like the rock crushing that goes on in a factory."

The ancient Mississippi River once ran through Illinois, flowing as far east as Hennepin. But when a towering ice shelf protruded into its path, the river was diverted further west to its present-day track. When glaciers left, their meltwater filled the Mississippi River's prehistoric course, forming the Illinois River.

As each great lobe of ice plunged into Middle America, it was rebuffed by Michigan's hard, granitic rock and limestone, but gouged out the softer sediment of the present day Great Lakes.

"Over 2.5 million years, it keeps occupying its favorite spots," Miller said. "It liked flowing through Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. The Great Lakes are the legacy on the landscape of the erosive power of these giant ice sheets."

Similar to a bulldozer, the ice sheet scooped out sediment and deposited it at the edge of its reach, forming subtle, arc-shaped formations known as end moraines in Illinois. These ridges, up to 100 feet high and five miles wide, mark the furthest reach of these massive sheets from at least six glacial periods.

Today, cities like Urbana and Champaign are formed on top of understated rolling hills. Perhaps, the last of these ridges formed the southern lip of Lake Michigan.

Seth Stein, professor of geological sciences at Northwestern University, takes his students to the North Shore to teach them about this history, which fashioned the bluff overlooking Glencoe Beach, the streams that carved out the picturesque ravines along Sheridan Road in Winnetka and the fifth largest lake in the world.

"You stand on campus and look out on Lake Michigan, and that's a product of global warmingone that's not produced by humans, it's purely naturalbut it's definitely a product of global warming," Stein said.

Scientists say the Earth transitions between ice ages and warmer periods as its orbit around the sun changes over time. The Earth also experiences long-term variation in its wobble and tilt, which determines how much of the sun's energy reaches the planet.

But scientists say these cycleswhich operate over tens of thousands of yearscan't explain the current global warming trend for two reasons: the rate of temperature rise is too fast; and the Arctic is warming despite the Earth slowly drifting away from the sun during the Northern Hemisphere summer.

The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet as the spike in heat-trapping gases has led to the disappearance of sea ice, which acts as a cooling agent by reflecting away sunlight. Some scientists believe warmer Arctic air temperatures are leaving the region more vulnerable to incoming warm air masses that are thinning glaciers. The polar vortex, the swirl of cold air that sits atop the North Pole, is prone to destabilizing and spilling into areas like the Midwest as the Arctic warms.

In examining the perimeters of 30 quickly melting glaciers on Baffin Island between 2009 and 2015, Miller and a team of researchers discovered places that had been blanketed in ice for more than 40,000 years are now exposed.

Unlike many glaciers that have survived in colder mountainous regions, the Barnes Ice Cap sits much lower on a stony, tundra plateau. But the 1,600-feet thick glacier has used its own height to sustain itself for much of its existence.

"It's really a true anomaly out there," Miller said. "It's like its own little mountain and it creates its own climate system there, because it's colder as you go up in altitude and it also gets more snow. But as it's melting and lowering, that ability to get more snow is weakening.

"If it ever disappeared, it would never be able to grow back again."

In the past decade, the snowfall that frosts the top of the Barnes rarely lasts as the ice cap loses about 1 foot of height each year at its highest elevations and 3 feet near the margins, according to Miller. And streams of melting water run from its peak down to the lakes that have formed near its base.

If greenhouse gases continue to rise at their current pace, the glacier is expected to disappear around 2300.

Though the glacier will contribute little to sea level rise, scientists are more concerned about its much larger neighbor 500 miles east. The Greenland ice sheet, one of the biggest contributors to rising seas, released the equivalent of 240 million Olympic-size swimming pools into the ocean in 2012, according to a study published in December.

Researchers estimate global sea levels would rise about 20 feet if the ice sheet melted entirely.

At the South Pole, ice shelves the size of states are breaking away and becoming giant ice bergs that could dwindle and contribute to higher tides.

As more land near the poles is uncovered each year from these enormous slabs of ice, scientists say the story is a familiar one. A land smoothed by ice. Freshwater searching for a home. And an unfamiliar warmth waiting on the next ice age. In the future, perhaps the landscape of the North and South poles will resemble that of the Midwest.

"We know what can happen after the recession of the ice sheet," said Berg, the Illinois geological survey director. "Greenland and Antarctica, they are modern day analogues of what happened here in Illinois."

Explore further Last remnant of North American ice sheet on track to vanish

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A green iceberg sighted in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica on February 16th, 1985. Credit: AGU/Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans/Kipfstuhl et al 1992.

Researchers have proposed a new idea that may explain why some Antarctic icebergs are tinged emerald green rather than the normal blue, potentially solving a decades-long scientific mystery.

Pure ice is blue because ice absorbs more red light than blue light. Most icebergs appear white or blue when floating in seawater, but since the early 1900s explorers and sailors have reported seeing peculiar green icebergs around certain parts of Antarctica.

The green icebergs have been a curiosity to scientists for decades, but now glaciologists report in a new study that they suspect iron oxides in rock dust from Antarctica's mainland are turning some icebergs green. They formulated the new theory after Australian researchers discovered large amounts of iron in East Antarctica's Amery Ice Shelf. Watch a video of the new findings here.

Iron is a key nutrient for phytoplankton, microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food web. But iron is scarce in many areas of the ocean.

If experiments prove the new theory right, it would mean green icebergs are ferrying precious iron from Antarctica's mainland to the open sea when they break off, providing this key nutrient to the organisms that support nearly all marine life.

"It's like taking a package to the post office. The iceberg can deliver this iron out into the ocean far away, and then melt and deliver it to the phytoplankton that can use it as a nutrient," said Stephen Warren, a glaciologist at the University of Washington and lead author of the new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "We always thought green icebergs were just an exotic curiosity, but now we think they may actually be important."

A mystery of color

Warren started studying the phenomenon on an Australian expedition in 1988, when he took a core sample from a green iceberg near the Amery Ice Shelf on the coast of East Antarctica.

Interestingly, the green ice he saw was a deep emerald hue much darker and clearer than that of normal icebergsa signal to scientists that green ice might be different from regular iceberg ice.

"When we climbed up on that iceberg, the most amazing thing was actually not the color but rather the clarity," Warren said. "This ice had no bubbles. It was obvious that it was not ordinary glacier ice."

Icebergs break off of glaciers and ice shelves that jut out into the sea. Typical glacier ice forms when layers of snow build up and solidify over time, so it naturally has air pockets that reflect light.

But in Antarctica, some icebergs have a layer of what's called marine ice: ocean water frozen to the underside of an overhanging ice shelf. Marine ice is clearer and darker than glacier ice because it doesn't have any air pockets to reflect light.

When Warren and his colleagues analyzed that iceberg and other green icebergs sampled by Australian expeditions in the 1980s, they found the green parts were made of marine ice and not glacier ice. They suspected an impurity in the ocean water underneath the Amery Ice Shelf was turning some marine ice green.

Their first thought was that dissolved organic carbon, microscopic particles of long-dead marine plants and animals, was getting trapped in the ice as the water froze to the underside of the ice shelf. Dissolved organic carbon is yellow, so if pure ice is blue, the addition of yellow particles could turn the ice green, according to Warren.

But when Warren and his colleagues sampled icebergs on a subsequent expedition in 1996, they found green marine ice had the same amount of organic material as blue marine ice, so something else had to be responsible for the green color.

Rock dust in the sea

The problem nagged at Warren until a few years ago, when an oceanographer at the University of Tasmania tested an ice core from the Amery Ice Shelf for its iron content. She found marine ice near the bottom of the core had nearly 500 times more iron than the glacial ice above.

Iron oxides found in soil, rocks, and common rust tend to have warm, earthy huesyellows, oranges, reds and browns. So Warren began to suspect iron oxides in the marine ice could turning blue ice green. But where was the iron coming from?

As glaciers flow over bedrock, they grind rocks to a fine powder known as glacial flour. When the ice meets the sea, this glacial flour flows into the ocean. If the rock dust becomes trapped under an ice shelf, the particles could be incorporated in marine ice as it forms.

Warren now suspects iron oxides in glacial flour from rocks on Antarctica's mainland are responsible for creating the stunning emerald icebergs. He and the Australian iron researchers now propose to sample icebergs of different colors for their iron content and light-reflecting properties. If their theory proves correct, green icebergs could be more important than scientists thought.

Explore further Giant West Antarctic iceberg disintegrates

More information: Stephen G. Warren et al, Green Icebergs Revisited, Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans (2019). Stephen G. Warren et al, Green Icebergs Revisited,(2019). DOI: 10.1029/2018JC014479
Medical practitioners commonly treat organs in isolation, but Boston University physicist Plamen Ivanov wants to usher in a new paradigm. As he will describe at the 2019 APS March Meeting, 'It's time to view health and disease not only from the perspective of individual organs but from the point of view of their integration,' he said. Ivanov calls the field he's pioneering 'network physiology.' Credit: Plamen Ch. Ivanov laboratory

In modern medicine, physicians treat organs in isolation. People with heart conditions go to heart specialists, just as those with kidney ailments seek kidney specialists. While this model has made tremendous progress and saved countless lives, it doesn't account for how our organs work together or sometimes fail to do so.

This week at the 2019 American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, Plamen Ch. Ivanov, a Boston University physicist affiliated with Harvard Medical School, will present a new paradigm called "network physiology." He will also participate in a press conference describing the work. Information for logging on to watch and ask questions remotely is included at the end of this news release.

"We need to show how the different systems communicate with each other and adjust, coordinate and stay in sync," said Ivanov. The human body, according to this view, can be thought of as a network, with each organ serving as a node connected to other organs and other nodes. "The nodes are not just dots," he said. "They're dynamical systems, constantly changing in time, as are the connections between them."

Today's best hospitals aren't equipped to monitor the inter-organ interactions. "Separate devices keep track of separate functions, but no single monitor can observe a multitude of functions," he said. To improve health monitoring techniques, Ivanov and his colleagues have spent the past decade developing the computational tools and biomedical devices needed to capture data streams from different organ systems and see how they relate to each other.

Some of Ivanov's earliest research on this front was carried out in sleep laboratories, where he and his team analyzed data collected from human subjects as they transitioned between light sleep, deep sleep, REM sleep and wakefulness. Their measurements of the links between the body's various systems led to an astonishing finding: "There is a universal network configuration that uniquely characterizes a given physiological state'universal' because we see it in every human subject," Ivanov explained.

He has since forged collaborations with the intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, the brain trauma unit of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, and neurology and neurosurgery units at the BU Medical School and Boston Medical Centervenues where spotting a breakdown in communications between a patient's organ systems could help physicians avert a potentially dire situation. Ivanov also wants to see network physiology become part of routine medical care, whereby data about the links between numerous internal systems can provide quantitative measures of a person's health.

With support from the Keck Foundation, his group has taken the first steps toward creating a dynamic atlas, or "Human Physiolome," which illuminates connections within the human body while also revealing the "traffic" on each thoroughfare.

Explore further Get a better night's sleep

More information: The 2019 APS March Meeting presentation "The New Field of Network Physiology: Mapping the Human Physiolome," by Plamen Ivanov, Xiyun Zhang and Fabrizio Lombardi, will take place Monday, March 4, at 9:00 a.m. in room 255 of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Abstract: The 2019 APS March Meeting presentation "The New Field of Network Physiology: Mapping the Human Physiolome," by Plamen Ivanov, Xiyun Zhang and Fabrizio Lombardi, will take place Monday, March 4, at 9:00 a.m. in room 255 of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Abstract: meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR19/Session/A56.4
The Carr Fire near Redding, California on July 26, 2018. The fire ultimately burned 229,651 acres. Eight people died and 1,614 structures burned. Credit: Copyright 2018 Eric Knapp

Wet winters no longer predict possible relief from severe wildfires for California, according to a new study from an international team that includes a University of Arizona scientist.

From 1600 to 1903, the position of the North Pacific jet stream over California was linked to the amount of winter precipitation and the severity of the subsequent wildfire season, the team found. Wet winters brought by the jet stream were followed by low wildfire activity, and dry winters were generally followed by higher wildfire activity.

After 1904, the connection between winter moisture brought by the jet stream from December through February and the severity of the wildfire season weakened. The weakened connection between precipitation and wildfires corresponds to the onset of a fire suppression policy on U.S. federal lands, the team reports in the March 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The connection disappeared altogether after 1977.

Now, fuel buildup from decades of fire suppression in the 20th century plus rising temperatures from climate change means any year may have large fires, no matter how wet the previous winter, the team writes.

"The moisture availability over California is still strongly linked to the position of the jet stream, but fire no longer is," said co-author Valerie Trouet, an associate professor of dendrochronology at the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

The finding surprised Trouet.

"I didn't expect there to be no relationship between jet stream dynamics and fire in the 20th century. I expected it to be maybe weaker than before, but not to completely disappear." Trouet said.

California's wet winter of 2016-2017 is a good example, she said. That winter was followed by many large fires in 2017, including the Tubbs fire in October and the Thomas fire in December. Twenty-four people died and 6,699 structures burned in those two fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire.

"It's not either climate change or historical fire managementit's really a combination of the two that's creating a perfect storm for catastrophic fires in California," Trouet said.

The North Pacific Jet (NPJ) travels eastward at variable wind speeds and directions toward California at an altitude of about 11 kilometers above the ocean's surface. The strength and position of the winds take on importance in relation to the amount and intensity of moisture the jet stream delivers. This graphic represents a winter-average path of entry to California that could produce a very-wet, low-fire season in the state. Credit: NOAA NCEI

To reconstruct California's fire and moisture patterns and the position of the North Pacific jet stream for the past 400 years, the researchers combined instrumental and historical records of temperature, precipitation and fires with the natural archives of climate and fires stored in tree rings that go back in time for centuries.

Lead author Eugene R. Wahl of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, "The method we used to determine the average winter jet stream conditions is a real advance. Coupled with independent precipitation and fire records, this is a state-of-the-art coupling of paleoclimate and paleoecology."

The study is the first to show the close connection between winter precipitation in California and the position of the jet stream back to the year 1571, Trouet said. The study is also the first to examine the relationship of past winter precipitation, the position of the jet stream and past fire activity stretching back to 1600, she said.

The paper by Wahl, Trouet and two co-authors is, "Jet Stream Dynamics, Hydroclimate, and Fire in California: 1600 CE to Present." Funding information is at the end of this release.

Initially, Wahl and co-author Eduardo Zorita of the Helmholz-Zentrum Geesthacht in Germany were working independently of Trouet and co-author Alan Taylor.

As part of a larger project to extend global reconstructions of temperature, precipitation and atmospheric circulation further into the past, Wahl and Zorita were figuring out how the North Pacific jet stream affected precipitation in California for centuries. Wahl, a paleoclimatologist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information in Boulder, Colorado, was a co-leader for the North America part of the larger project.

A US Forest Service fire professional uses a drip torch to light a low-severity prescribed burn to reduce the fuel load in a mixed-conifer forest in the Goosenest Adaptive Management Area in northern California. Credit: C.N. Skinner/USFS

Trouet and Taylor of Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, had already reconstructed California's fire history back to 1600, and Trouet had reconstructed the behavior of the North Atlantic jet stream back to 1725.

After Wahl heard Trouet give a presentation about her North Atlantic jet stream research, the four scientists joined forces to see whether there were links between the past behavior of the North Pacific jet stream and California's fire and precipitation history.

"When the jet stream is positioned over California, it's like a fire hoseit brings storms and moisture straight over California," Trouet said. "What we see post-1900 is that the position of the jet stream is still an important driver of moisture to California it brings moisture to California when it's in the right positionbut there's a disconnect with fire."

The likelihood that every year may be a high-fire year will be a significant societal challenge, Taylor said.

"Fire not being influenced by moisture anymore? That is surprising. It's going to be a problem for people, for firefighters, for society," he said. "The only thing we can control is fuels, so what it suggests is that we take that very seriously.

"The last three years may be a harbinger of things to come," he said. "Between 1600 and 1903 there was not a single case of a high-precipitation year coupled with a high-fire year as occurred in 2017."

The research team's next step is to expand this research to see how the jet stream patterns correspond with fire in other types of forested ecosystems farther north.

Explore further Image: California in flames

More information: Eugene R. Wahl el al., "Jet stream dynamics, hydroclimate, and fire in California from 1600 CE to present," PNAS (2019). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Eugene R. Wahl el al., "Jet stream dynamics, hydroclimate, and fire in California from 1600 CE to present,"(2019). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1815292116
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Research has revealed some large whale populations have defied over-exploitation and near-extinction to reach 'peak' abundance  or will do so early in the next decade.

A University of Queensland study monitored east Australian humpback whale populations from Point Lookout on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).

Associate Professor Michael Noad from UQ's School of Veterinary Science said the species had recovered rapidly since commercial whaling ceased in 1962.

"Our observations indicate the east Australian humpback whales are doing well, averaging a 10.9 per cent increase per annum," he said.

"In fact, our most recent data shows that the population has essentially recovered, with east Australian humpback whale populations reaching an estimated 25,000 whales.

"With this growth continuing rapidly, our modelling suggests that either these whales are heading for a higher than expected abundance  at least 40,000 whales  or, more worryingly, there may be a population surge, with a peak in whale abundance somewhere between 2021 and 2026 followed by a crash."

The team collected data in 2007, 2010 and 2015, observing humpback whales from an elevated platform at Point Lookout.

Observers worked in shifts every day across the survey period, weather permitting, noting group size, behaviour, speed and distance.

Dr. Noad said there is more to discover about the recovery of east Australian humpback whales.

"While we know that populations of mammals recover from hunting and other forms of over-exploitation, the dynamics of how this occurs is not well understood," he said.

"Population recovery can be complex, as it can depend on many factors, including the availability of food, the ability to find mates when population density is low, the occurrence of diseases in a population and a suite of other environmental factors.

"When large mammals do recover from low numbers, we also don't fully understand how and why populations eventually reach a plateaux.

"Continuing to survey this population of whales will provide an important opportunity to study this in whales."

Despite the good news, Dr. Noad said the species continued to face considerable threats.

"On one hand they're recovering quickly, but these whales are also threatened by climate change and its impact on Antarctic krill, their main food source.

"If there's a downturn in the population in the near future, we need to be able to detect and understand its cause.

"Any population crash will have serious management implications as well as consequences for the east coast whale watching industry which is worth more than a hundred million dollars to the economy."

The research has been published in Population Ecology.

Explore further Humpback whales found to compose new communal song every few years

More information: Michael J. Noad et al. Boom to bust? Implications for the continued rapid growth of the eastern Australian humpback whale population despite recovery, Population Ecology (2019). Michael J. Noad et al. Boom to bust? Implications for the continued rapid growth of the eastern Australian humpback whale population despite recovery,(2019). DOI: 10.1002/1438-390X.1014
Grand Imam of al-Azhar institute, Egypts Sunni Islam highest authority, has taken a stand against polygamy, noting that monogamy is the rule in the holy book and that polygamy hurts women and children.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb who is considered as Egypts Grand Iman said those who practice polygamy understand the Koran wrongly.

Those who say that marriage must be polygamous are all wrong, the top cleric said during his weekly television program and on Twitter.

For the religious top leader a Muslim man should fulfil conditions of fairness if he wants to marry multiple wives. Without fairness, the man is forbidden to get more than one wife.

While saying that his comments do not outlaw polygamy, Sheikh al-Tayeb bolstered his stance in favor of women, who constitute half of the society and therefore must be respected.

Women represent half of society. If we dont care for them its like walking on one foot only, he Twitted.

The Sheikhs comments received accolades from Egypts National Council for Women.

The Muslim religion honors women- it brought justice and numerous rights which didnt exist before, said Maya Morsi, the councils president.
Geologist Paul Olsen at Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park, where 200 million-year-old rocks are helping reveal the long-ago motions of other planets. Credit: Kevin Krajick/Earth Institute, Columbia University

Scientists have long posited that periodic swings in Earth's climate are driven by cyclic changes in the distribution of sunlight reaching our surface. This is due to cyclic changes in how our planet spins on its axis, the ellipticity of its orbit, and its orientation toward the sunoverlapping cycles caused by subtle gravitational interplays with other planets, as the bodies whirl around the sun and by each other like gyrating hula-hoops.

But planetary paths change over time, and that can change the cycles' lengths. This has made it challenging for scientists to untangle what drove many ancient climate shifts. And the problem gets ever more difficult the further back in time you go; tiny changes in one planet's motion may knock others' askewat first slightly, but as eons pass, these changes resonate against each other, and the system morphs in ways impossible to predict using even the most advanced math. In other words, it's chaos out there. Up to now, researchers are able to calculate the relative motions of the planets and their possible effects on our climate with reasonable reliability back only about 60 million yearsa relative eyeblink in the 4.5 billion-plus life of Earth.

This week, in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers has pushed the record way back, identifying key aspects of the planets' motions from a period around 200 million years ago. The team is led by geologist and paleontologist Paul Olsen of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Last year, by comparing periodic changes in ancient sediments drilled from Arizona and New Jersey, Olsen and colleagues identified a 405,000-year cycle in Earth's orbit that apparently has not changed at all over at least the last 200 million yearsa kind of metronome against which all other cycles can be measured. Using those same sediments in the new paper, they now have identified a cycle that started out lasting 1.75 million years, but is now operating every 2.4 million years. This, they say, allows them to extrapolate long-term changes in the paths of Jupiter and the inner planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars), the bodies most likely to affect our own orbit.

Olsen's ultimate aim: to use Earth's rocks to create what he calls a "Geological Orrery"a record of climatic changes on Earth that can be extrapolated back into a larger map of solar system motions over hundreds of millions of years. He says it would open a window not just onto our own climate, but the evolution of the solar system itself, including the possible existence of past planets, and its possible interactions with invisible dark matter.

View looking east toward the US East Coast, Oct. 7, 2015, when the three planets most influential to Earth's orbit lined up with the Moon. Lower left near Earth's horizon, Jupiter (greenish); slightly higher, Mars (reddish); slightly higher and to right, Venus (bright white); and the Moon. On Earth's surface, lights of the New York-Philadelphia metro region trace the area where scientists took rock cores revealing these planets' motions. Inspired by a photo taken by US astronaut Scott Kelly. Credit: Painting by Paul Olsen; acrylic on clay board, digitally modified

We spoke with Olsen about the Geological Orrery, his work, and the new paper.

Most people have probably never even heard the word "orrery." What is it, and how does it fit with our evolving understanding of celestial mechanics?

In the early 1800s, mathematician Pierre-Simon de Laplace took Newton's laws of gravitation and planetary motion and published his idea that it should be possible to develop a single great equation that would allow all the universe to be modeled. With only knowledge of the present, all the past and future could be known. This idea is embodied in the orrery, a mechanical model of the solar system. Clockwork mechanisms like this for predicting eclipses and the like go back to the ancient Greeks, but it's now clear the problem is far more complicated, and interesting. We've since discovered that the solar system not a clockwork. It is in fact chaotic over long time scales, so Laplace's grand equation was a mirage. This means you cannot unpack its history from calculations or models, no matter how precise, because the motions of the real solar system are incredibly sensitive. Varying any factor even a tiniest bit results in a different outcome after millions of yearseven what the major asteroids, or minor planets, such as Ceres and Vesta, are doing. One of my coauthors, Jacques Laskar, has shown that computations can project forward or backward only 60 million years. After that, the predictions become utterly unreliable. Since Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, this means that only about 1.6 percent of its past or future orbit can be predicted. Over billions of years, the best calculations reveal many possible terrific events, such as one of the inner planets falling into the sun or being ejected from the solar system. Maybe even that Earth and Venus could collide one day. We can't tell if any of these actually happened, or might happen in the future. So we need some other method to limit the possibilities.

So, what is the "Geological Orrery?" Are you trying again to boil everything down to one equation, or is this something different?

The Geological Orrery is the opposite of an equation or model. It's designed to provide a precise and accurate history of the solar system. We get that history right here on Earth, from the history of our climates, which is recorded in the geological record, especially in large, long-lived lakes. Earth's orbit and axis orientation are constantly changing because they are being deformed by the gravitational attractions of other bodies. These changes affect the distribution of sunlight hitting our surface, which in turn affects climate, and the kinds of sediments that are deposited. That gives us the geological record of solar system behavior. Many scientists have used sediments to determine the effects of orbital deformations. That's how we know that the ice ages of the last few million years were paced by them. Some researchers have tried to go back much further in time. What is new here is the systematic approach of taking rock cores spanning tens of millions of years, looking at the cyclical sedimentary record of climate and accurately dating those changes over multiple sites. That allows us to capture the full range of solar system-driven deformations of our orbit and axis over long time periods.

What are the rocks telling you about how such cyclic changes affect our climate?

With two major coring experiments to date, we've we learned that changes in tropical climates from wet to dry during the time of early dinosaurs, from about 252 to 199 million years ago, were paced by orbital cycles lasting about 20,000, 100,000 and 400,000 years. On top of that is a much longer cycle of about 1.75 million years. The shorter cycles are about the same today, but the 1.75 million year cycle is way off it's 2.4 million years today. We think the difference is caused by a gravitational dance between Earth and Mars. This difference is the fingerprint of solar system chaos. No existing set of models or calculations precisely duplicates these data.

How far do you think we're going to get with this problem during your lifetime?

Digital elevation map of sediment strata formed on a lake bottom some 220 million years ago, near present day Flemington, N.J. The lakebed was later tilted so that its cross section now faces the sky. Purple sections are ridges -- remains of hard, compressed sediments formed when climate was wet and the lake deep; alternating greenish sections are lower areas made of eroded-out softer sediments from dryer times. Each pair represents 405,000 years. Groups of ridges in lower part of image manifest a separate 1.7 million-year cycle that has today grown to 2.4 million years. Thee 40-square-mile area is dissected by parts of the modern Raritan and Neshanic rivers (blue). Credit: LIDAR image, US Geological Survey; digital colorization by Paul Olsen

Next step is to combine our two finished coring experiments with cores taken at high latitudes. While our core data do a really good job of mapping some aspects of planetary orbits, they tell us nothing about others. For those, we need a core from an ancient lake above the paleo-Arctic or Antarctic circles. Such deposits exist in what are now China and Australia. We also would like to include deposits that extend the record up 20 million years or so towards the present, and another low-latitude core that we can precisely date. With those, we would be able to determine what if any changes have taken place in that Mars-Earth gravitational dance. That would be a full proof of concept of the Geological Orrery. I plan to certainly be around for that.

Your paper mentions that this work might offer insights into the evolution of the solar systemmaybe the even wider universe.

If all this works out, we could plan the grand mission to use the Geological Orrery for at least the rest of the time between 60 and 190 million years age. This mission would be expensive by geology standards, because rock coring is expensive. But the results would have far-reaching implications. For sure we would have data to produce high-quality climate models for Earth. And there is no doubt we would have the parameters for past climates on Mars or other rocky planets. But more excitingly and more speculative is the possibility of exploring how we might need to tweak gravity theory, or test some controversial theories, such as the possible existence of a plane of dark matter in our galaxy that our solar system passes through periodically.

We're talking deep time here. Does this have any application to questions about modern-day climate change?

It does have relevance to the present. in addition to the way climate is tuned to our orbit, it's also affected by the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. Now we're heading into a time when CO2 levels may be as high as they were 200 million years ago, early dinosaur times. This gives us a potential way to see how all the factors interact. It also has resonance with our search for life on Mars, or for habitable exoplanets.

Explore further Thank the moon for Earth's lengthening day
ASU physicist Frank Wilczek has shown for the first time that the Casimir force can be reversed and made repulsive, tunable or enhanced, depending on the properties of the material inserted in between the plates. Credit: Alan Stonebraker, American Physical Society

The force is strong not only in Star Wars lore but also as a fundamental property in physics. For example, scientists can put two uncharged metal plates close together in a vacuum, and "voila!" -they will attract each other like Luke Skywalker and his trusted lightsaber.

In 1948, Dutch theoretical physicist Hendrick Casimir first predicted an attractive force responsible for this effectlater dubbed the Casimir effect. A half-century later, in 1996, the Casimir force was experimentally measured for the first time by Steve Lamoreaux at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

But just like the light and dark side of the force in Star Wars, scientists have wondered, can there be an equal yet opposite kind of Casimir force?

"Between two like materials, this force always corresponds to an attractive Casimir force, regardless of the mediating materials," said Arizona State University physicist Frank Wilczek. "Yet in principle the Casimir force can be repulsive."

Wilczek explains that generating a repulsive Casimir force has gained a great deal of interest in practical applications like the semiconductor industry, as chips have grown tinier and tinier with atomic-scale features.

"In recent years, people have devoted substantial efforts to realizing repulsive Casimir forces, especially with a view toward applications to nano-devices and colloids, which can contain nearby parts that one wants to keep separate."

Now, Wilczek, along with colleague Qing-Dong Jiang of Stockholm University, have shown for the first time that the Casimir force can be reversed and made repulsive, tunable or enhanced, depending on the properties of the material inserted in between the plates.

"We find that the Casimir force can, as a function of distance, oscillate between attractive and repulsive, and that it can be tuned by application of an external magnetic field," said

To make the Casimir force between metal plates repulsive, Wilczek and Stockholm University colleague Qing-Dong Jiang inserted a material between the plates that breaks this behavior. This 'chiral' material (chiral comes from the Greek word meaning hand) causes two types of photons that differ like your left and right hand, or in this case, right and left-circular polarized photons. Credit: American Physical Society

Wilczek, a professor of physics at ASU who also holds faculty appointments at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.

Far from being a science about nothing, the "material" within the empty space of vacuums between the two metal plates, because of quantum effects, are actually rivers teeming with an invisible force-electromagnetic waves that contain untapped energy. During the Casimir effect, as the plates are moved together, some of the waves in the vacuum are gradually squeezed out, giving more energy to their surroundings, and causing the attractive force.

The vacuum is filled with quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic fieldvirtual photons that pop in and out of existence-that are assumed to behave in the same way. To make the plates repulsive and tunable, Wilczek and Stockholm University colleague Qing-Dong Jiang inserted a material between the plates that breaks this behavior. This "chiral" material (chiral comes from the Greek word meaning hand) causes two types of photons that differ like your left and right hand, or in this case, right and left-circular polarized photons. The material causes the photons to have different velocities that can each transfer a different amount of momentum to the plates.

Wilczek and Jiang calculated the Casimir force between two plates for two types of intervening chiral materials and at different temperatures. They found that the force could be adjusted by changing the distance between the plates or changing the strength of an applied magnetic field. They found that making these adjustments could yield a repulsive Casimir force more than three times as strong as the attractive force for the same setup in a vacuum.

"The key to realizing repulsive Casimir forces between similar objects is to insert an intermediate chiral material between them," said Wilczek. "The chiral Casimir force has several distinctive features: it can be oscillatory, its magnitude can be large, and it can vary in response to external magnetic fields."

Their hope is that these results will provide physicists and engineers interested in semiconductors and nanodevices with a new way to explore the behaviors and properties of different materials at the quantum level.

"Through the connection of this force to independently measurable material properties, one obtains a wealth of predicted phenomena which directly reflect macroscopic effects of quantum fluctuations."

And perhaps, scientists can even draw a bit of innovational inspiration by tapping into their inner Star Wars geek from one of Darth Vader's most famous movie quotes: "Don't underestimate the force."

Explore further Raising the prospects for quantum levitation
Flybe said its takeover by a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic was expected to be sealed by March 11

Britain's troubled no-frills airline Flybe announced Monday that its shareholders have overwhelmingly approved a takeover from a consortium led by Virgin Atlantic.

Flybe said in a statement that 83 percent of its investors have voted in favour of the deal, which was launched in January and pitched at just one pence per share.

The Connect Airways consortium, including infrastructure specialist Stobart and investment firm Cyrus Capital, offered 2.2 million ($2.8 million, 2.4 million euros).

Flybe added Monday that the takeover was now expected to be sealed on March 11, when its stock will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange.

The carrier, which put itself up for sale in November, had rejected a counterbid last month from a group comprising US airline Mesa Air and New York-based investment group Bateleur Capital.

The news comes amid troubled times for smaller airlines, which are more exposed to volatile fuel costs, a struggling pound and Brexit uncertainty than their larger rivals.

Last month, flybmi ceased operations and collapsed into administration, a process in which outside accountants are brought in to try and find a buyer for all or part of a troubled company.

And travel firm Thomas Cook, which offers package holidays to northern Europeans looking for summer sunshine, has launched a review of its airline division.

Explore further UK budget airline Flybe snubs counter-bid

 2019 AFP
The Council of Ministers of the European Union adopted on Monday a decision on the conclusion of the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Morocco, the related implementation protocol and the exchange of letters accompanying the agreement, thereby paving the way for its future implementation.

This adoption follows the consent given by the European Parliament on 12 February 2019 and formally marks the last step on the EU side. However, before the agreement can enter into force, Morocco also has to complete its internal ratification process.

The 4-year protocol implementing the agreement allocates fishing opportunities for the EU in exchange for an overall financial contribution of 208 million, i.e. 52.2 million a year. A substantial part of this contribution will be used to promote the sustainable development of the fisheries economy in Morocco and the Sahara fisheries sector.

In February, the European Parliament voted with an overwhelming majority for the renewal of the farm and fisheries accords with Morocco, including the Sahara,despite the hostile lobbying made by the Polisario separatists, backed by the Algerian regime.

The texts of both agreements extend European trade preferences to agricultural and fishery products from the southern Moroccan provinces, a major diplomatic victory for Morocco.

The two deals enhance the benefits and advantages of local Sahara inhabitants and strengthen the multidimensional strategic partnership existing between Morocco and the EU.

The EU has extensive ties with Morocco in trade, political and security matters. The Union is Moroccos largest trading partner, accounting for 59.4 pc of its trade in 2017. The same year, 64.6 pc of Moroccos exports went to the EU, and 56.5 pc of Moroccos imports came from the EU.

Morocco is the EUs 22nd trading partner representing 1.0 pc of the EUs total trade with the world. Total trade in goods between the EU and Morocco in 2017 amounted to 37.4 billion.

Two-way trade in services amounted to 8.8 billion in 2016 with EU imports of services representing 5.2 billion and exports 3.6 billion.
South Africa: Low risk of load shedding on Monday

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.

Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has welcomed South Africas latest improved global mining ranking from the Fraser Institute. In terms of the attractiveness of its mining policies, South Africa ranked 56th out of 83 countries surveyed. The country improved its ranking by 25 spots, compared to 2017s 81st spot. [read more: https:... See more
King Mohammed VI has addressed a written message to President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz of Mauritania.

The message was handed to the Mauritanian Head of State this Monday in Nouakchott by the emissary of King Mohammed VI, Nizar Baraka.

The royal emissary told the media that that the two Heads of State are both firmly determined to develop and expand the two countries cooperation relations and to upgrade them to a strategic partnership.

The leaders of the two neighboring countries want to diversify this partnership, by mobilizing all the existing political, social, economic and cultural potential, with a view to achieving common development, on the basis of the win-win principle, for the benefit of two brother countries, he said.

Last week, the Mauritanian President had addressed a message to King Mohammed VI.

The message was handed to Prince Moulay Rachid, the Kings younger brother, on February 26, by an emissary of the Mauritanian President
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
Chinese and South Sudanese officials last weekend emphasized their commitment to resuming and increasing production at South Sudanese oilfields and protecting the environment.

The commitments were made during meetings between executives of the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and visiting Minister of Petroleum of South Sudan, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.

The meetings discussed issues ranging from the resumption of oil production at block 1/2/4, increase of oil production at block 3/7, management of produced water to protect the environment and exploration of new blocks.

Discussions also covered community developmental projects, scholarships and a capacity building program to develop the staff of the Petroleum Ministry and the national oil company Nilepet.

South Sudan is building a sustainable oil sector that makes investment in our oil and gas blocks more appealing, Gatkuoth said, adding that resources are recognized to be world class.

As a reminder, South Sudans government has allocated 10,000 barrels of its crude oil per day to Chinese firms to build roads in the country.

The economy of the worlds youngest nation is almost entirely dependent on exports of oil. Some of the suspended oilfields due to the conflict reopened in January in Unity region.
Authorities in Cote dIvoire have announced an ambitious project to extend the electricity network of the city of Soubre in the southwestern region.

The announcement was made by officials from Cote dIvoire-Energies; Compagnie ivoirienne delectricite (CIE); and CEGELEC.

About 3,627 electricity poles will be installed together with 17 transformer stations and 133 km of power lines in the districts of the department.

The city of Soubre has grown rapidly in such a way that today there is a great need to extend its electricity network. This is very good news, said Traore Lassina, Mayor of the city.

Sixty villages were connected to the 275 MW hydroelectric plant in Soubre in December, and a further 190 villages are to be connected this year.

The rural electrification program aims to strengthen the production and supply of electricity networks across the country. It will provide a stable supply of electricity to 252 villages in the Montagnes district.

The program is supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB), whose financial support is allowing electrification of 728 villages in total.

Built by SinoHydro, the Soubre dam inaugurated last year was financed in part by a loan from Chinas Export-Import Bank. It features a 4.km long dam on the Sassandra River.

The project increases the countrys total capacity by approximately 10%.
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The Arab Spring that destabilized governments in the Middle East began in the spring of 2011. Nearly a decade later, the full repercussions of the uprisings are starting to hit home with some governments adopting a new strategy to curtail their influence: taxing social media usage. Arab Spring protesters primarily used social media networks to successfully effect regime changes. And now some autocratic governments are hitting back by trying to limit citizens access to these tools. One such country is Uganda.

The East African nation with a population of 43 million has become the latest country to attempt to gag the voice of its citizens after imposing a social media tax intended to curb gossip. The Ugandan government has introduced a tax of 200 Uganda shilling (5.4 cents) a day to use social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and others.

And, perhaps to the delight of the Ugandan government, millions of its citizens are quitting these networks.

Psychological impact

The daily levy was introduced in July 2018 on roughly 60 online platforms to tame what the government terms as idle talk and also as a means to raise revenue. To use these sites, Ugandans now have had to cough up the equivalent of $1.62 per month.

That doesnt sound like much until you realize that millions of Ugandans have already abandoned social media sites after the tax made its debut. According to StatCounter Ugandas Facebook subscriptions declined to 59.3 percent of internet users in January 2019 from 82.8 percent in June 2018 just before the levees were announced in July. Roughly 40 percent of Ugandans have access to the internet, so that works out to nearly 4 million Ugandans who have quite FB since the regressive tax was introduced.

Why have so many Ugandans quite FB since the introduction of the seemingly affordable social media tax? The cost of living is much higher in the US than it is in Uganda. Based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), a dollar in Uganda buys you 3x as much mileage as in the US. So that $1.62 works out to roughly $5 a month in the US. Still doesnt seem like too muchuntil you consider that income levels in the US are more than 40x higher compared to Uganda.

Related: Tech Giants Lead Renewable Push

Then factor in the psychological impact of charging for a freemium service.

About two years ago, there was talk of Facebook offering an ad-free subscription option. To offset Facebooks ad earnings, Facebook users in the US and Canada would have to pay roughly $7 per month. Yet, a survey by Recode revealed that only two-thirds of FB users in the US would be willing to pay more than $5 per month for an ad-free version. Thats roughly 70 million users who would rather view those cheesy ads than cough up a fiver a month for a clean, user-friendly experience. Bearing this in mind, it would not be a stretch to assume that many more than four million users would abandon the site completely if Facebook started offering a $7 per month service as the only option.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: Recode

Heavy repercussions

The ICT sector is one of Ugandas fastest growing contributing to 6 percent of GDP. It therefore comes as little surprise that the government itself is feeling the heat of so many social media users taking flight. In a series of tweets, the Uganda Communications Commission has revealed that in the first three months alone, total internet subscriptions declined by more than 2.5 million users while taxpayers from over-the-top(OTT) media services fell by 1.2 million users. Meanwhile, the value of mobile money transactions fell by $1.2 million.

However, not all government uses of social media for social welfare is nearly as sinister. Here in the US, the government has been working out less brazen ways to leverage social media networks to achieve its objectives. The IRS wants to use social media to catch tax cheats, noting that Americans underpay their taxes by $125 billion each year with tax evaders pushing the yearly net tax gap to $400 billion. The IRS has proposed scouring social media networks like FB, Instagram and Twitter to discover taxpayers locations and income sources. Currently, the organization has no tools to access this public information or compile social media feeds.

With corporate deficits having declined $92 billion and budget deficit having swollen to $782 million under the Trump administration, the IRS can certainly use all the help it can get.

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
The City of Cape Town is fighting for its right to purchase cleaner energy directly from independent power producers (IPPs).

The City of Cape Town has petitioned the North Gauteng High Court in South Africa to buy up to 40 MW of renewable energy from IPPs.

The City has taken Energy Minister Jeff Radebe and the energy regulator to the High Court in Pretoria to challenge the status quo that allows municipalities to purchase from IPPs only if they have ministerial approval.

The city said in a statement it was doing everything possible to move away from sole reliance on state-owned power utility Eskom for its energy needs.

The city said if it was allowed to procure renewable energy, it could reduce long-term costs for residents.

Currently, 65% of the tariff we charge customers goes towards the cost of buying electricity from Eskom, it said.

The price of power generated from IPPs would differ based on technology and the procurement process to be followed if the court case was successful.

Concentrated solar power technologies are more expensive and it would be more favorable to use wind or PV power but locals are cautioned that it would cost more than electricity.

Earlier in February, the deeply indebted power utility took 4,000 MW off the grid for the first time, as 40% of its available generating fleet was offline.
" " A NASA rover gets some action in the Mars-like Atacama Desert. Professor Stephen B. Pointing

When it comes to searching for microbes on Mars, sending a robotic rover to the most arid environment on Earth is a fine place to start. And, should we find these single-celled organisms on the red planet, scientists have an idea as to what we might name them.

As described in a February 2019 study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, a team of researchers explored the extreme environment of Chile's Atacama Desert. They wanted to develop strategies that future robotic explorers could use to seek out the hiding places of Martian microbes.

In 2020, both NASA and the European Space Agency will launch their first life-hunting rovers to the red planet (the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rover missions, respectively), so mission managers will need to know where to look.

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Mars ... on Earth

The Atacama Desert is about as extreme as it gets for life to eke out an existence. Not only is the region bone-dry  the core of the desert doesn't get any rainfall for decades  because of its elevation, it also receives high levels of damaging ultraviolet radiation. Plus the soil is extremely salty. These factors should make the Atacama Desert toxic for life, but according to team leader Stephen Pointing, a professor at Yale-NUS College in Singapore, some of the bacteria species just below the surface "survive right at the limit of habitability." And this is very good news for the prospect of finding microbes on Mars.

Pointing's team deployed an autonomous rover-mounted drill and sampling device in the Atacama Desert to see if it could extract soil samples containing microbes down to a depth of 80 centimeters (a little over 2-and-a-half feet). As a comparison, samples were also dug up by hand. Through DNA sequencing, the researchers found that the bacterial life in the samples from both methods were similar, confirming these hardy bacteria exist, and that the autonomous extraction method was successful. This test run shores up hope that if microbes also thrive just below the Martian surface, a robot can find them.

" " The rover wields its drill and sample collection system in the Atacama Desert. Professor Stephen B. Pointing

"These results are a cause for optimism that bacterial life could tolerate the conditions of the Martian subsurface," Pointing says. But, finding microbial biosignatures on Mars, he cautions, could be very challenging for a remotely operated Mars rover as they found that the subsurface population of bacteria were extremely patchy, correlating with increased salt levels that restricted the availability of water for the microbes to have access to.

"The patchy nature of the colonization suggest that a rover would be faced with a 'needle in a haystack' scenario in the search for Martian bacteria," he says.

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Previous studies have described the ubiquitous population of "relatively unremarkable" photosynthetic bacteria (microorganisms that get their energy from sunlight) that populate the surface of the desert. Things start to get a lot more interesting and, indeed, more alien just below the surface, Pointing adds.

"We saw that with increasing depth the bacterial community became dominated by bacteria that can thrive in the extremely salty and alkaline soils," he says. "They in turn were replaced at depths down to 80 centimeters by a single specific group of bacteria that survive by metabolizing methane."

These specialized microbes have been found before in deep mineshafts and other subterranean environments, but they've never been seen beneath the surface of an arid desert. "The communities of bacteria that we discovered were remarkably lacking in complexity, and this likely reflects the extreme stress under which they develop," Pointing says.

Finding highly specialized microbes that can thrive in the extremely dry, salty and alkaline Mars-like soils in the Atacama Desert suggest methane-utilizing bacteria could also thrive on the red planet.

If you recall the kerfuffle about the discovery of elevated levels of methane observed on Mars by various spacecraft over the years (most recently, measurements made by NASA's Curiosity rover), you'll understand why Mars methane is a big deal. On Earth, biological and geological processes generate methane, and, in turn, microbes can metabolize methane for energy.

The discovery of methane in the Martian atmosphere could mean there is some kind of active biology going on underground. To confirm this, we need microbe-seeking missions that will drill below the surface  and now we have a strategy to track them down.

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What to Call Martian Microbes

Should microbial life be found on Mars, it would undoubtedly be the most significant scientific discovery in human history. But, in the proud human tradition of naming new things, what would we call our newly discovered Martian neighbors? Would we just copy the system of how we name life on Earth?

"The way we assign Latin names to [terrestrial] bacteria is based on their evolutionary relationship to each other and we measure this using their genetic code," says Pointing. "The naming of Martian bacteria would require a completely new set of Latin names at the highest level if Martian bacteria were a completely separate evolutionary lineage  that is they evolved from a different common ancestor to Earth bacteria in a 'second genesis' event."

Granted, if we find the genetic code of Mars life to be similar to Earth life, it could be that life was transferred from Earth to Mars in the ancient past via a massive impact  a mechanism known as panspermia  but if we truly find a novel genetic code that emerged on Mars, the implications for our understanding of life would be profound.

Pointing concludes: "If we find truly 'native' Martian bacteria I would love to name one, and call it Planeta-desertum superstes, which translates in Latin to 'survivor on the desert planet.'

Now That's Interesting You may not see a lot of vegetation or rain in the Atacama Desert, but you will see plenty of stars. The region is home to the ALMA Observatory and a burgeoning astro-tourism industry for all those stargazers.
Draft strategies to combat terrorism and narcotics in the Arab world were adopted by the Arab interior ministers at the 36th meeting of their Council convened this weekend in Tunis.

Morocco took part in the Tunis meeting with a delegation led by Interior minister Abdelouafi Laftit. In his speech made before his Arab peers, Mr. Laftit highlighted Moroccos strategy to fight terrorism and extremism, saying the North African Kingdom backs any initiative that enhances the collective security of Arab countries.

He said that the fight against terrorism is a long term battle, citing in this regard Moroccos mosalaha reconciliation program, a project which seeks to rehabilitate and integrate prisoners convicted of terrorism offenses into society.

Mr. Laftit also warned against the growing danger of links between terror groups and organized crime networks, affirming that Morocco adopts a comprehensive approach to tackle terrorism threats and smugglers of illegal migrants.

At the end of their two-day meeting, the Arab interior ministers approved a draft plan to improve Arab civil Protection as well as the recommendations of the conferences held by the General Secretariat in 2018.

The Council also endorsed the special report made by the Naif Arab University for Security Sciences (Saudi Arabia) and the report on the activities made by the General Secretariat last year.

According to the Secretary General of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers Mohamed Ben Ali Koman, most serious security challenge facing the Arab countries is the return of terrorist elements from hotbeds of tension following the defeat of terror organizations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda.

He called for an updated Arab database on terrorist fighters and for supplying the base with all available information to confront the terrorist scourge threatening the Arab world peace, stability and security.
Security researchers at McAfee have linked the Op. Sharpshooter with the North Korea-linked Lazarus APT group after analyzing code from a command and control (C2) server.

Security experts at McAfee analyzed the code of a C2 server involved in the cyber espionage campaign tracked as Op. Sharpshooter and linked it with the North Korea-linked APT group

McAfee worked with a government entity and discovered that the

Op. Sharpshooter is much more extended and more complex than initially thought.

McAfee today revealed evidence that the Operation Sharpshooter campaign exposed in 2018 is more extensive in complexity, scope and duration of operations. reads the press release published by the company.

The analysis led to identification of multiple previously unknown command-and-control centers, and suggest that Sharpshooter began as early as September 2017, targeted a broader set of organizations, in more industries and countries and is currently ongoing.

In Decembed 2018, security experts at McAfee uncovered a hacking campaign, tracked as Operation Sharpshooter, aimed at infrastructure companies worldwide. The threat actors are using malware associated with Lazarus APT group that carried out Sony Pictures attack back in 2014.

The campaign targeted nuclear, defense, energy, and financial companies, experts believe attackers are gather intelligence to prepare future attacks.

In October and November 2018, the Rising Sun implant has appeared in 87 organizations across the globe, predominantly in the United States, based on McAfee telemetry and our analysis. reads the analysis published by McAfee.

Based on other campaigns with similar behavior, most of the targeted organizations are English speaking or have an English-speaking regional office. This actor has used recruiting as a lure to collect information about targeted individuals of interest or organizations that manage data related to the industries of interest.

Threat actors carried out spear phishing attacks with a link poining to weaponized Word documents purporting to be sent by a job recruiter. The messages are in English and include descriptions for jobs at unknown companies, URLs associated with the documents belongs to a US-based IP address and to the Dropbox service.

The macros included in the malicious document uses an embedded shellcode to inject the Sharpshooter downloader into Words memory.

Attackers attempted to hide their identity through the use of the ExpressVPN service that showed connections to the web shell (Notice.php) that was discovered on a compromised server coming from two IP addresses in London.

The experts observed threat actors using three different variants of the

Rising Sun backdoor (v1.0, v1.1, and v2.0), a circumstance that confirms the evolution from the Duuzer Trojan that was used by Lazarus APT in attacks against the South Korean organizations.

Experts noticed that backdoor used by the attackers that is similar to versions of the Rising Sun implant dating back to 2017 and has the source code borrowed from Lazaruss Duuzer Trojan.

These [Rising Sun] implants were all based on the original Backdoor Duuzer source code, reads the report published by the experts.

Other similarities in the TTPs of the adversaries are the use of the fake job recruitment campaigns and the use of similar versions of Rising Sun backdoor.

Experts found evidence that variants of the Rising Sun backdoor were used by the attackers since at least 2016.

The analysis of the c2 allowed the experts to determine that the largest number of recent attacks primarily target Germany, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. Previous attacks were focused on entities in telco, government and financial industr, primarily in the United States, Switzerland, and Israel, and others.

Experts also discovered a set of unobfuscated connections from IP addresses in Windhoek, a city in Namibia, Africa. Researchers argue that attackers use the region to make some tests or that attackers run the operation from this are. However, experts cannot exclude that this is a false flag to deceive researchers.

Key findings shared by McAfee are:

Hunting and spearphishing. Operation Sharpshooter shares multiple design and tactical overlaps with several campaigns, for example a very similar fake job recruitment campaign conducted in 2017 that the industry attributes to Lazarus Group.

Operation Sharpshooter shares multiple design and tactical overlaps with several campaigns, for example a very similar fake job recruitment campaign conducted in 2017 that the industry attributes to Lazarus Group. African connection. Analysis of the command-and-control server code and file logs also uncovered a network block of IP addresses originating from the city of Windhoek, located in the African nation of Namibia. This led McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysts to suspect that the actors behind Sharpshooter may have tested their implants and other techniques in this area of the world prior to launching their broader campaign of attacks.

Analysis of the command-and-control server code and file logs also uncovered a network block of IP addresses originating from the city of Windhoek, located in the African nation of Namibia. This led McAfee Advanced Threat Research analysts to suspect that the actors behind Sharpshooter may have tested their implants and other techniques in this area of the world prior to launching their broader campaign of attacks. Maintaining access to assets. The attackers have been using a command-and-control infrastructure with the core backend written in Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) and Active Server Pages (ASP). The code appears to be custom and unique to the group and McAfees analysis reveals it has been part of their operations since 2017.

The attackers have been using a command-and-control infrastructure with the core backend written in Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP) and Active Server Pages (ASP). The code appears to be custom and unique to the group and McAfees analysis reveals it has been part of their operations since 2017. Evolving Rising Sun. The Sharpshooter attackers used a factory-like process where various malicious components that make up Rising Sun have been developed independently outside of the core implant functionality. These components appear in various implants dating back to 2016, which is one indication that the attackers have access to a set of developed functionalities at their disposal.

The researchers will present their findings at the RSA security conference.

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs  Lazarus, Sharpshooter

Sharpshooter )

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Privacy advocates and cyber security experts raised concerns on the choice of German police to store bodycam footage, which may be used as evidence, on Amazon servers.



The choice of the German police of storing bodycam footage on Amazon cloud storage has raised privacy and security concerns.

The news was first reported by the Neue Osnabrucker Zeitung newspaper on Saturday,- According to the newspaper, Federal Police are using a cloud service from Amazon to store bodycam videos because the tech giant is the only company in Germany that was certificated by the Federal Office for Information Security.

The interior ministry explained that storing data on Amazons servers is in compliance with German data security and privacy standards.

Authorities also added that data are encrypted and stored on servers located in Germany.

At present, there is no state infrastructure available that fulfills the requirements. The Federal Police Headquarters told the newspaper. The provider is currently the only one in Germany to offer a corresponding cloud solution certified by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) Make available. The Ministry points out that the German data protection standards would be respected. The data is encrypted and stored exclusively on servers in Germany

The decision is already a political case in Germany, Benjamin Strasser, a lawmaker from the opposition Free Democrats who requested the information from the interior ministry, argued that storing highly sensitive data with a private company posed an incalculable risk.

Strasser pointed out that US intelligence agencies could access the data threatening sovereignty over the core state function of internal security.

The deputy chairman of the Greens parliamentary group, Konstantin von Notz, also raised privacy concerns by explaining that Amazon sells facial recognition software to US P olice that is used for analyzing bodycam videos.

That this company is now to administer the bodycam recordings for the Federal Police leaves more than a bad feeling, said von Notz.

The videos are used as evidence in court cases, but the use of bodycams has caused controversy in Germany.

The data is encrypted and stored exclusively on servers in Germany, the ministry said.

Sven Huber, the deputy chairman of the Police Union ( GdP ), pointed out that the choice of storing videos on Amazon servers raises competition and practical issues.

It is therefore all the more important for digital security management to prevent unauthorized access and data leaks, he said .

Pierluigi Paganini

( SecurityAffairs  bodycam videos, hacking)

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 More stunning post-Booker work from a district court | Main | Compelling capital contrasts 

January 25, 2005

Is there a "new right" on criminal sentencing issues?

I have noted in previous posts the interesting new reality that now Republicans, far more than Democrats, are promoting what might be called progressive sentencing reform. Recall that, as detailed here, it was Republican Senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee who were questioning AG nominee Alberto Gonzales about prison reform and rehabilitation. (Kansas Sen. Brownback spoke of prison reform as "a compassionate conservative topic"; Oklahoma Sen. Coburn said, "As a physician, I believe that we ought to be doing drug treatment rather than incarceration."; Pennsylvania Sen. Specter spoke of the importance of providing some prisoners with "literacy training and job training and drug rehabilitation.")

Moreover, as noted previously here and here, Republicans Governors have often led efforts in many states to cut back on harsh mandatory sentences and to expand treatment-centered alternatives to incarceration. (Recall, as just one recent example detailed in this LA Times article, that Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced a plan for California's prisons to "emphasize rehabilitation, marking a shift away from an era when punishment was the overriding mission.")

Part of what makes these issues so interesting and dynamic is that sentencing reform (especially in the federal system) can appeal in various ways to different wings of the Republican party. Republicans who favor small government (or at least small federal government) might well be distressed by the size and power of the federal criminal justice machine. Consider in this vein the advocacy of Timothy Lynch, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, in this piece about Booker which appeared in Legal Times yesterday. Lynch urges President Bush and Congress in response to Booker "to consult the long-term, strategic vision that can be found in the legal opinions of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas." For Lynch this means, inter alia, that "Congress should jettison the real-offense sentencing paradigm and move to a convicted-offense model" and that "President Bush and Congress should appoint a blue-ribbon commission with a mandate to propose a rollback of the federal criminal code."

Meanwhile, for the religious wing of the Republican party, concepts of redemption and forgiveness have often made religion a progressive criminal justice force in areas ranging from advocating abolition of the death penalty to faith-based prison programming. (I touched on some of these issues in this prior post.) Consider in this vein the advocacy of Mark Early, the President of the Prison Fellowship. In this commentary praising Booker, Early asserts, based on his experiences counseling prisoners, that the federal guidelines "have not produced justice, only bitterness." He likewise calls upon Congress to do better and says "Christians, who understand that doing justice is a matter of wisdom, not fear, should give their representatives the permission they need to resist political posturing and undo past mistakes. Then, perhaps the fairness and wisdom of our system will also be beyond any reasonable doubt."

Of course, the coming debate over the post-Booker future of the federal sentencing system will be a dramatic and important test of whether there really is a new political order in the arena of sentencing reform. Perhaps Blakely and Booker, in the votes of Justices Scalia and Thomas, can be seen as an example of this "new right" in the judicial branch. It will be interesting to see if other examples may emerge in the legislative and executive branches in the days ahead.

January 25, 2005 at 04:42 PM | Permalink

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 Connecticut sentencing jury deliberating at length in high-profile capital case | Main | SCOTUS does a summary reversal of Seventh Circuit habeas grant 

November 8, 2010

When and how will state GOP leaders start cutting expensive criminal justice programming?

The question in the title of this post is inspired by this piece in today's New York Times, which is headlined "Now in Power, G.O.P. Vows Cuts in State Budgets." Here is how the piece begins:

Republicans who have taken over state capitols across the country are promising to respond to crippling budget deficits with an array of cuts, among them proposals to reduce public workers benefits in Wisconsin, scale back social services in Maine and sell off state liquor stores in Pennsylvania, endangering the jobs of thousands of state workers. States face huge deficits, even after several grueling years of them, and just as billions of dollars in stimulus money from Washington is drying up. With some of these new Republican state leaders having taken the possibility of tax increases off the table in their campaigns, deep cuts in state spending will be needed. These leaders, committed to smaller government, say that is the idea. Were going to do what families and businesses all over this country have already had to do, and that is live within their means, said Brian Bosma, a Republican who will soon become the speaker of the Indiana House, alongside a Republican governor, Mitch Daniels, and a supermajority of Republicans in the State Senate. Mr. Bosma said state revenues next year are expected to reach only the levels of about five years ago, creating an enormous strain. Were going to do what is right, and well let the politics land where they may, he said.

Disappointingly, the rest of the article avoids any discussion of the expensive (and sometimes wasteful?) criminal justice programming that could or should be on the chopping block as cost-cutting axes start to swing. Every part of big criminal justice government, from police to prosecutors to prison guards to probation officers, need to be helping state officials effectively figure out which parts of the criminal justice system can or should be able to "do more with less" in the coming years.

As this great recent Vera Institute report highlights, over the last 25 years "states corrections spending went up by 674 percent," and now state spending on corrections systems "constitute the fourth-largest category of states collective spending, following education, Medicaid, and transportation." In addition, as the Vera report also details, lots and lots of states used federal ARRA stimulus moneys to pay for criminal justice programming over the last few years.

A lot of smart policy wonks think there is spending fat to be cut in the arena of mass incarceration and the drug war, and I am certain that GOP leaders are not going to be able to balance budgets without at least considering cuts to criminal justice programming. Some of this cutting has already started moving forward in a few states, but it will be especially interesting to see how the new cost-focused GOP (and others) work through both the politics and practicalities of these issues in the months and years ahead.

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Call me a cynic, but I imagine any discussion of cuts to corrections budgets will start with whatever remains of various states' rehabilitative or educational programs. A lot of noise has been made about the Tea Party and its spurring of the GOP to focus on its cost-controlling, small government philosophies, but I didn't hear anything out of the prominent Ohio state candidates, at least, that made me think that libertarian bent would manifest itself in things like greater usage of home confinement, cutting back on the war on drugs, or other cost cutting measures that could be considered "soft on crime."

Although I remain hopeful the Ohio Highway Patrol's robust speed limit enforcement regime is de-funded to some extent.

Posted by: T.O. | Nov 8, 2010 8:24:36 AM

I'm always amused when the NYT, which has less than no use for the Republican Party, let's us know what it would be wise for the Republican Party to do.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Nov 8, 2010 9:31:46 AM

How much would you pay to not be hit over the head for your wallet, to not be pistol whipped in a carjacking, to not be raped, to not be murdered? Say you would pay $10,000 to avoid each crime (more likely $100,000 if health costs and loss of productivity are counted). Say, each criminal commits an average of a crime a week, for a total of 50 crimes a year (more likely 500 crimes a year). Incapacitation would prevent $500,000 in damage on the outside, although the crimes may go on in the prison, including all the violent crimes above. Say the government spends $50,000 a year to maintain a person in a beautiful jail. What other government programs has a 10 fold return on investment?

I doubt many mere drug users are in prison. Please, recall that the plea bargained charge may be non-violent, but unrelated to the actual charge, and totally fictitious. There are lots of people in jail for contempt when they have not made child support payments. Start by freeing them.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Nov 8, 2010 9:40:36 AM

The notion that the average criminal commits a crime per week, a violent crime as you seem to allege, is just silly.

Posted by: T.O. | Nov 8, 2010 11:47:00 AM

The US crime policy simply put is imprison and keep downtrodden.

I have no problem with imprisonment. While there is room for improvement over how long is appropriate for certain crimes, the issue is not important to my particular post.

I believe the biggest saving can be made in the post-prison portion of things. The policy of keeping criminals downtrodden is the true money pit.

Drug dealer, sex-offender, or thief, if you've done your time, completed your probation, then I see no reason why you should continue to have a black mark.

Granted there are some criminals who just don't learn from their mistakes. In a majority of cases though, I would imagine that the first jail/prison experience is sobering enough to cause a person to stick to the straight and narrow.

The return to crime is usually out of a sense of hopelessness. Not able to find work, housing, voting rights, etc. tears on a person.

If more emphasis was placed on true rehabilitation in the form of counseling and job services recidivism would drop. By job services I don't mean finding work as a laborer or fast food. There are many people convicted that are well educated people and can be productive in respected fields.

Over time, prison populations would decline and require less resources to operate.

Politicians and the public are only interested in quick fixes which rarely seem to work. Criminal justice, economics, etc., requires real time and patience to have effective change.



Posted by: Questions Authority | Nov 8, 2010 11:59:47 AM

"... and now state spending on corrections systems 'constitute the fourth-largest category of states collective spending, following education, Medicaid, and transportation.'"

Vera's source for that is the National Association of State Budget Officers' State Expenditures Report. NASBO has six categories, of which corrections is fifth. Vera gets corrections up for fourth out of five by combining NASBO's two education categories.

Whether corrections is fourth of five or fifth of six, it is not the cost that is breaking state budgets. Education and medicaid spending dwarf it.

Posted by: Kent Scheidegger | Nov 8, 2010 3:24:23 PM

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/11/08/the_prison_boom_comes_home_to_roost/

The Boston Globe also has an editorial The Prison Boom Comes Home to Roost. I don't know if the the link will work.

We require studies and statistics to underscore any policy change - frequently those produced are not evidence based. In this case it really doesn't matter how poorly or fairly the cost has been quantified. There are immeasurable costs that can't be monetized.

Posted by: beth | Nov 8, 2010 4:43:54 PM

"Were going to do what families and businesses all over this country have already had to do, and that is live within their means, said Brian Bosma, a Republican...."

Great talking point. Too bad it is false. No families and businesses use credit? Then what was the credit scare all about that required government bail outs and regulation because businesses could not get loans? And no families have mortgages or finance their cars or use credit cards? It would be interesting to know if Bosma is in any personal debt at all.

Some people call a false statement a lie. Still a great talking point.

Posted by: George | Nov 8, 2010 8:40:33 PM

TO: In the report from here:

http://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2010/02/new-report-detailing-high-percentage-of-inmates-with-substance-abuse-problems.html

The self-reported count is close to 200. Because alcohol is the substance most likely to cause a crime, and is associated with memory loss, the self-reported count of close to 200 may be a marked underestimate. I am guessing it may be closer to 500 crimes a year, with 25% being violent.

Kill a criminal, add 500 X $10,000=$5,000,000 of value to the economy every year he is dead. That does not include the value of the 40% drop in the value of real estate whenever a criminal moves onto a street. That value may be over $15,000,000. Kill a criminal, add $20 million of value to the economy every year, guaranteed, with no risk to capital. The lawyer dumbass must be fired from the criminal law, so the killing may begin properly.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Nov 8, 2010 11:19:58 PM

Policy making is really a tough job but as a citizen we need to be part of it. This is exercising our rights to be heard be a part of the nation, a citizen, a responsible citizen. Well, there are still a lot room for improvement and this won't stop here. By the way, thanks a lot for what you have posted. This is really abreath of fresh air. Great info you have shared.

Posted by: KeithSanroman | Nov 9, 2010 3:11:13 AM

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 Notable new materials from the Drug Policy Alliance on drug decriminalization in Portugal | Main | Third Circuit panel rules sex offenders subject to registration laws in Pennsylvania are "in custody" for habeas purposes 

March 3, 2019

Reviewing the modern reality of robust conservative support for criminal justice reform

Long-time readers know I have been talking for a very long time about a possible "new right" on a range of sentencing and corrections issues. This post way back in January 2005 asked "Is there a 'new right' on criminal sentencing issues?" and this article in December 2008 explained why principled modern conservatives should be troubled by mass incarceration, and this post in November 2010 wondered "When and how will state GOP leaders start cutting expensive criminal justice programming?".

But, happily, it is no longer cutting-edge to be talking about folks on the right supporting criminal justice reform. Three years later, it bears recalling that a majority of the GOP candidates for President in 2016 had a record of support for criminal justice reform. And, remarkably, the one 2016 GOP candidate with arguably the worst record on these criminal justice reform issues (Donald Trump) went on sign the most significant federal criminal justice reform bill in a generation in the form of the FIRST STEP Act. And, before and since the 2016 election, many conservative leaders in many red states have been actively advocating and securing significant state-level criminal justice reforms.

These political realities have found interesting expression in recent days, in part because the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that took place last week had more than its share of notable criminal justice programming. Here are some new articles and commentaries resulting from that conference and the broader realities that its programming reflects:

March 3, 2019 at 11:56 PM | Permalink

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It was odd to see Van Jones at CPAC but he was there thanking the Republicans for acting on "his" issue.

Posted by: Jeff Goldstein | Mar 6, 2019 10:06:43 PM

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TORONTO, CANADA and HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - March 4, 2019 - BMO Private Bank Asia, part of BMO WealthManagement, has won the award for "Wealth Planning Team" at theWealthBriefingAsia Greater China Awards 2019. This is the fourth time BMOPrivate Bank Asia has been honoured by the global news service and mediacompany.

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Story continues

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4 Malaysians were arrested for trying to smuggle Myanmar woman out of Singapore. PHOTO: Immigration & Checkpoints Authority

Four Malaysians have been arrested for trying to ferry a Myanmar woman hiding in a car boot out of Singapore from Woodlands Checkpoint.

The Malaysians, aged between 29 and 42, were charged on Saturday (2 March) for the offence of engaging in the business of conveying prohibited immigrants out of Singapore, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said in a media release on Monday. The Myanmar national was charged for illegal entry and attempted illegal departure offences.

On 28 February, ICA officers stopped a Malaysia-registered car driven by a 42-year-old Malaysian woman for checks at the Woodlands Checkpoint. The car was carrying another female Malaysian passenger.

The officers found a third woman hiding in the car boot and she did not have any travel or identification document with her. She was established to be a Myanmar national.

ICA officers saw another Malaysia-registered car at the post-immigration area, with its engine still running. Suspecting that the car was involved with the one hiding the fugitive and might try to escape, the officers activated a lockdown of the checkpoint.

Preliminary investigations revealed that the drivers and passengers of both cars were in cahoots. The male driver and the female passenger in the second car were also found to be Malaysian.

The penalties for illegal entry are a jail term of up to six months and a minimum of three strokes of the cane, while penalties for illegal departure are a fine of up to $1,000, a jail term of up to six months, or both.

A person who is convicted of engaging in the business of conveying prohibited immigrants out of Singapore, will face a jail term of between two to five years and a minimum of three

strokes of the cane.

The vehicles used in such offences are liable to be forfeited.
SINGAPORE (Mar 4): The post-war economic success of liberal democracies was not simply the result of letting markets flourish. The US and European countries also embedded markets in a structure that allowed people to take the fullest advantage of them. That structure is breaking down, energising populist leaders of both the left and the right. While they pose the right questions, they rarely have the right answers. Perhaps, instead, they should make it easier for people to devise their own solutions.

Why is the post-war structure breaking down? In the immediate post-war era, a formidable system of secondary education in the US prepared students for work or further study at the worlds best universities. Students entered the workforce with the skills to land good jobs. Rapid economic growth and relatively light regulation encouraged many to start their own enterprises. Flexible labour-market policies allowed laid-off workers to find a job quickly somewhere else. Recessions, when they came, were shallow and brief.

The superior pre-market preparation of Americans via the education system, and the many economic opportunities available to them, allowed the US to function with relatively limited social protections against market volatility. Unemployment insurance was modest, while many people had no healthcare coverage  even after the introduction of federally backed insurance schemes for the elderly and the very poor in the 1960s.

Continental Europes education system started off far behind. In 1950, the average French male completed only 4.75 years of schooling (a level similar to Myanmar today), compared with eight in the US. But Europe steadily narrowed the gap and also built strong job protections and social safety nets. In a sense, Europe made up for its initially lower pre-market preparation with stronger post-market support. Both systems worked well in the post-war decades.

Unfortunately, growth stalled in the early 1970s. The capitalist democracies of the West responded with increased liberalisation at home and deeper economic integration with one another. Although the US emphasised the former and continental Europe the latter, the two systems also converged somewhat. In particular, Europe improved its pre-market support while undoing some of its post-market protection, which was increasingly unaffordable in an era of slow growth.

Story continues

Yet growth never really returned to the heady levels of the post-war decades. And, more recently, the technology revolution has automated many well-paid but routine jobs and contributed to the outsourcing of middle-income manufacturing positions. Todays well-paid jobs require more skills and thus more pre-market support.

Regrettably, such support has become far less egalitarian in the US. Successful urban and suburban communities give children the capabilities they need to succeed, while declining semi-rural areas and urban ghettoes do not. For decades, the US has tried to improve failing schools. But growing income segregation makes the task harder. As professionals flee with their children into successful upper-middle-class communities, the high costs of living and real estate keep the rest from following. The demands of the market are creating a meritocracy, but a hereditary one, where the children of the successful are more likely to succeed.

The disparate quality of schooling is also a growing problem in more egalitarian Europe, as immigrants move into affordable working-class communities. Because immigrant children generally must adjust to a different school system and a new language, they almost inevitably require disproportionate attention from teachers and school staff as they catch up. This, too, adversely affects the experience of existing students and creates an impetus for the upwardly mobile to leave the community.

The relative dearth of opportunities for those left behind is probably compounded by the growth of superstar firms, which has coincided with a slowdown in the creation of start-ups and entrepreneurial ventures in the US. Jobs in superstar firms require higher skills. Amazon.coms promise to create thousands of jobs in its planned new headquarters in Queens, New York City, was less attractive to the local community than the headline numbers suggested because many of the better positions would be out of reach for most in the community. Progressive Democratic politicians mobilised against Amazon, which has now abandoned its plans.

Left-wing populists respond to the decline in pre-market support for their natural constituency by calling for additions to the safety net, such as universal healthcare (in the US), job guarantees and forms of universal basic income. The populist right sees such proposals as a threat because they will erode the sustainability of the existing safety net for the native-born majority.

The response of right-wing populists to community decline is to blame immigrants and other minorities, as well as trade. True, keeping immigrants out might initially reduce pressure on schools and services in working-class communities. In the longer run, however, it will deprive these areas of the youth, energy and eventual revitalisation that immigrants bring. And while the populist left supports immigration as essential to sustaining new welfare programmes, it tends to sympathise with the right on trade protectionism.

Unfortunately, beggar-thy-neighbour protectionism will make the world poorer. Declining communities urgently need alternative ways to attract new economic activity and make their citizens better able to respond to globalisation and technological change.

Capital cities are often too remote from local concerns, and too paralysed by infighting, to take the lead. What is needed are local solutions, implemented with community knowledge and engagement and supported by national governments with funding and light oversight where necessary.

If such measures can improve pre-market preparation for people in struggling communities, augmenting the post-market safety net will become less necessary and more affordable. Would it not make sense to eschew the grand centralised policies of the populist left and right and instead put more trust in local communities? That would be a truly populist idea.  Project Syndicate

Raghuram G Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016, is professor of finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the author, most recently, of The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind

This story appears in The Edge Singapore (Issue 872, week of March 4) which is on sale now. Subscribe here
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has hailed the sustained efforts made by King Mohammed VI, Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, in defending the holy sites of Islam in Al-Quds Al-Sharif against Israeli attempts to Judaize the holy city.

In the resolutions adopted Saturday in Abu Dhabi at the end of the 46th session of their Council, the OIC Foreign ministers praised the important role played by Bayt Mal Al-Quds Agency which carried out several development projects for the benefit of the inhabitants of the holy city.

They called on the OIC member States to strengthen their support to the Agency to enable it to continue the implementation of its programs.

The Council of OIC foreign ministers also praised the noteworthy efforts made by the Moroccan King to boost the Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency, through his permanent and generous support for its activities to enable it fulfill its missions and continue defending the holy city and its Palestinian inhabitants and preserve the Arab-Islamic identity of Al-Quds.

The Bayt Mal Al Quds Agency carried out 11 projects in 2018 at a total cost of $3.7 million. The projects were related to the protection of the cultural and urban heritage of Al Quds, social assistance and support for the resistance of the citys inhabitants.

According to a report of the Agency distributed during the 46th session of the Council of OIC Foreign Ministers, the Agency launched the second phase of the restoration and rehabilitation of the building of the Moroccan Cultural Center in Al Quds  Bayt Al Maghrib, for a total cost of $1.155 million.

Morocco took part in the Councils meeting with a delegation led by Mounia Boucetta, Secretary of State to foreign Affairs.

In her speech to the Council, Mrs. Boucetta underlined Moroccos determination to continue its peaceful efforts to support the legitimate rights of Palestinians on the basis of international resolutions and the Arab peace initiative in order to reach a two-state solution, providing for the establishment of an Independent and fully Sovereign Palestinian State with Al Quds as its the capital.
Reuters

A shocking and deadly mob attack on a Sri Lankan factory manager accused of blasphemy in eastern Pakistan last week prompted days of soul searching as the man's remains were flown to his home country. The violence, which was condemned by rights watchdogs including Amnesty International, also drew intense responses from politicians, celebrities and journalists on social media. The mob of factory employees in Pakistan's Punjab province tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday in an attack that Prime Minister Imran Khan said brought shame on the country.
In this article:

4 Mar  Here's looking at the interesting things our celebrities were doing last week.

A healthy mummy is a happy mummy, so mummy-to-be Eliza Sam decided to turn to yoga.

Katy Kung and pals Zoie Tam and Jess Sum reunite to meet baby Rafael and new mum Grace Chan.

Amid rumours of a rendezvous with Bosco Wong in Malaysia, Rose Chan is just so happy to stumble across good friend Rainky Wai in Kuala Lumpur.

While Charmaine Sheh took some time off busy schedule to meet up with BFF Annie Man.

It has only been two weeks since she gave birth to baby Rafael, but Grace Chan just couldn't wait to meet everybody.

While another new mum Anjaylia Chan slays in this Echtego jacket, and an all-white number. The actress recently gave birth to daughter Hosanna.

Shu Qi admits to being amazed at how Carina Lau and Kenny Bee still look like they were 20 years ago.

Story continues

Elaine Yiu and Joel Chan (famous for the Kate and Kent role in "The Unholy Alliance) are ecstatic to be reunited in the new drama, "Chinatown".
At the end of the day, it all boils down to transparency

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have seized the worlds attention time and time again by dismissing their leading critics and continuing to power on despite predictions that they would tumble.

Despite the enduring nature of these digital tokens, much of the buzz that once surrounded their impressive rise to prominence has died away.

This is an unfortunate development, especially since its growing increasingly clear that cryptocurrencies are just getting started when it comes to cybersecurity and crime fighting.

So, could cryptocurrency prevent accounting fraud in business?

Heres a breakdown of how cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology stand a chance at reshaping the anti-fraud campaigns of the future.

Cryptocurrencies are going mainstream

Despite the widespread predictions that leading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin were destined to collapse, todays cryptocurrency market is as vibrant as ever.

As a matter of fact, cryptocurrencies are going so mainstream that an increasingly large number of banks, companies, and other financial and governmental institutions are beginning to express interest in them.

Perhaps the most important consequence of cryptocurrencies becoming more popular is that theyve become a powerful asset for potential fraudsters and criminals who are looking to cover their financial tracks.

With so many neer-do-wells leveraging cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes, its only logical that defenders of the technology have risen up to use it for good.

Around the market, cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain technology that has been used for fraud prevention in a wide number of cases already.

Were only just getting started too, as we can expect to see additional cases of relying on blockchain for fraud prevention as the technology continues to advance, proliferate, and become cheaper to master.

From thwarting identity thieves to preventing fraud in supply chains, the large list of industry use cases when it comes to using blockchain fighting fraud gives us much to be hopeful for.

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Cryptocurrencies wont be able to root out fraud entirely of course  no technology will ever be capable of eliminating fraud outright.

However, the immense promise of these digital tokens and their decentralised ledger technology makes them attractive investment options for IT specialists.

Creating secure accounting systems

For cryptocurrencies to become widely relied upon to fight fraud, theyll need to be able to furnish secure accounting systems.

Theres good news on that front, as cryptocurrencies and the underlying blockchain tech that powers them will be used to create tamper-proof information ecosystems that are much harder to penetrate than traditional alternatives.

Also Read: Why Echelon Roadshow 2019 Jakarta is worth battling the traffic jam for

The public ledgers that sprouted up to encourage the trading of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will soon morph into cryptographically-sealed information hubs where accountants can safely keep their homework.

As blockchain continues to gain prominence as a fraud-fighting tool, expect leading cryptocurrency marketers who use VPNs in Singapore to begin championing the technology as an anti-fraud asset in order to bolster the overall reputation of the crypto community.

Cryptocurrencies can only come to prevent accounting fraud in business if they can deliver on the promise of a more transparent and secure financial future, however.

At the end of the day, it will all come down to transparency.

Financial fraud statistics inform us that the vast majority of fraud perpetrators are employers of defrauded companies. So, cryptocurrency proponents can hold up blockchain as a useful tool for making the marketplace more transparent and those handling crucial information more accountable.

With payroll fraud continuing to hammer small businesses everywhere, well soon see everyday entrepreneurs making use of this technology alongside corporate giants who have realised its potential long ago.

With all of the transactions of a cryptocurrency taking place on a public ledger, such things as payroll fraud and workplace deceit will become veritable things of the past. The immense transparency offered by blockchain is simply unparalleled, as it ensures that no one individual can delete official records in an untraceable fashion.

While some continue to assert that the dizzying nature of cryptocurrencies makes them unsuitable for transparency, there are already some examples proving that major cryptocurrencies can still hold rulebreakers accountable.

The market is already packed with examples

The way that Tether mercilessly tracked down and identified hackers who illicitly made off with stolen digital tokens illustrates that this technology is going to be a boon when it comes to accountability.

Also Read: Indonesia healthtech Halodoc raises US$65M funding from UOB Venture

Long gone are the days of tech-savvy accountants cleverly hiding their tracks, as modern cryptocurrency technology makes it impossible for them to alter financial records without leaving a trace.

Even those accountants deeply unfamiliar with IT matters should be able to appreciate the impressive way that cryptocurrency technology has enabled us to track down and bring to justice to those stealing paychecks.

Finally, the use of smart contracts through blockchain technology stands to upend traditional understandings of rules-based transactions.

In the future, the specifics of financial agreements may simply be hashed out by clever AI programs that work at a pace far in excess of what humans are capable of.

In other words, you can thank cryptocurrencies and blockchain for helping to crack down on contract fraud.

Blockchain technology will continue to advance in fits and starts, but the future is clearly visible, and its going to be dominated by tokens like Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Cryptocurrencies may still be establishing themselves, but there are plenty of reasons to believe these digital tokens will be vitally important tools for when it comes to fighting future fraudsters.



Image Credits: andreypopov

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post Could cryptocurrency prevent accounting frauds? appeared first on e27.
Shock and bewilderment have seized a small Croatian village where the body of a missing woman was found inside her sister's freezer at the weekend, a macabre discovery that has cracked open a 20-year-old cold case. Jasmina Dominic had not been seen since she disappeared as a 23-year-old student in 2000. On Saturday she was finally found inside the freezer on the ground floor of the home of her sister Smiljana Srnec in Palovec, a small but well-off village of neat, two-storey homes in northern Croatia. The gruesome revelation has horrified the community and transfixed the country, with prosecutors pointing the finger at the elder sister who has been living in the house with the freezer all these years. "Who is Smiljana Srnec?", one of the country's main newspapers, Vecernji List, asked in a headline on Tuesday morning, publishing a picture of the 45-year-old smiling with short hair and glasses. An eerie unease has shrouded Palovec, which is home to around 900 people, most of whom have farms or work in a nearby shoe factory. - State of shock - The blinds have been closed at Srnec's white house while a car remains parked in the driveway. According to local media, it was Srnec's son-in-law who found the body and alerted police on Saturday. "No one in the village can sleep. We are all in the state of shock," said a 62-year-old neighbour who asked to remain anonymous. The man said he was asked by police to serve as a witness to the search over the weekend. "For two seconds I saw her crouched in the freezer, arms next to the body," he said, before recalling his memory of the two sisters. "They were different ... Jasmina was nice, kept a low profile, studied in Zagreb, she was a hard-working kid, while Smiljana ... she was not liked that much, was not good in school," he said. "It is an enigma," another neighbour piped in, shaking his head in disbelief. A website that document's missing persons shows a photo of Dominic with a thin face framed by short hair. It says she went missing in August 2000, when her absence was noted both at her university in Zagreb and student job. According to local reports, the sisters had been sharing the family house while their parents worked abroad. - 'Time has stopped' - Dominic's family did not officially declare her to be missing until 2005, when they told police that she said she was going to work on a cruise ship. Police said they searched the house in vain and subjected the family to lie detector tests. The father has since died, while the mother is currently working in Germany, according to neighbours. "It feels as if time has stopped," municipal mayor Valentino Skvorc told AFP of the reaction in the village, where most neighbours are staying inside their and are unwilling to talk. "Things like this usually happen in foreign TV series, but now the crime was committed by a neighbour ... People are upset," Skvorc added. In the town's local bar, Stjepan, a retired mechanic, speculated about possible explanations. "Maybe it was an accidental death, maybe the parents knew," the 60-year-old told AFP, sipping a beer. "If Smiljana knew about the body all the time, it is really something sick. She was passing by it every day," he added.
MANILA, Philippines  The Department of Education (DepEd) clarified on Saturday (March 2) that Grade 6 completers for school year 2018-2019 shall have their graduation rites.

The Department of Education (DepEd) wishes to clarify that its original issuance of DepEd Order No. 2, series 2019 (School Year 2018-2019 K to 12 Basic Education Program End of School Year Rites) dated February 18, stating that Grade 6 completers of the current school year shall have a graduation ceremony, is the correct and agreed upon Order of the agency, Education Secretary Leonor Briones said in a statement.

In February, Briones issued Department Order 002 s. 2019 which states that only Grade 12 learners from schools, including international schools, with DepEd-approved K to 12 programs and those schools with permit to operate Senior High School since 2014; can hold graduation rites this year.

Meanwhile, Grades 6 and 10 as well as kindergarten pupils, according to the same order, would only have moving up exercises.

Thus, the change was not only unauthorized; it was also without basis, Briones said referring to clarified order.

The Education Secretary added that the moving-up ceremony instead of graduation ceremony for Grade 6 is still under discussion by DepEds Executive Committee. Once it is approved, the Department will announce the approval to all concerned.

Briones reminds school administration that all end-of-school year rites must be set within April 1 to April 5 only.

Graduation and moving up exercises, specifically in public schools, must be simple and there shall be no monetary collections from students.

The Education Secretary apologized for the inconvenience or confusion that the issue may have caused.

DepEd assures its stakeholders that it is taking measures to ensure that incidents similar to this will not happen again, the Secretary concluded.  Marje Pelayo (with reports from Aiko Miguel)

The post Grade 6, SHS students to have graduation rites  DepEd appeared first on UNTV News.
The company said it aims to bring better healthcare access across Indonesia

HaloDoc CEO Jonathan Sudharta (left) with Head of Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) Daeng Mohammad Faqih at HaloDocs recent grand launch event

A health tech platform based in Indonesia named Halodoc has announced today that it has secured a Series B funding of US$65 million from UOB Venture Management. Joining the round is new investors like Singtel Innov8, Korea Investment Partners, and WuXi AppTec as well as existing investors.

Halodoc said it will use the funding for building its technology and health service infrastructure as well as widen their strategic partnership with multiple hospitals and healthcare providers in the country.

Halodoc was first launched in 2016 with the approach of digital-based healthcare service that enables patients to communicate directly on smartphones and desktops to 20,000 licensed doctors in the country, whenever and wherever. In addition to that, the platform also serves as at-home checkup-booking platform and medicine delivery vehicle through its application thats connected to 1,300 pharmacies.

Halodoc claims that it has experienced user increase of 2,500 per cent in 2018.

Within the last two years we have provided trusted healthcare service to our two million users every month, with half of the numbers are located outside the highly populated Java area. We believe this strategic funding will help us accelerate the building of a digital platform that will increase access to reliable healthcare across Indonesia, said Jonathan Sudharta, Founder and Chief Executive Officer Halodoc.

Halodocs vision to use technology to widen the reliable healthcare service and to make the optimum use of health resources in Indonesia is what got us to invest in the company, said Kian-Wee Seah, Managing Director, and CEO UOB Venture Management.

Also Read: Razer to launch its e-wallet Razer Pay in Singapore

To date, Halodoc has worked with over 1,400 hospitals and healthcare providers and said to have helped cutting waiting time in pharmacies and assisting with insurance service for hospital bills.

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Also Read: Indonesian handicraft marketplace Qlapa shuts down

The company has won Most Innovative Start-up Asia title in health-focussed organisation Galen Growth Asia. It has strategic partnerships with the likes of Openspace Ventures, Grup Clemont, Blibli.com, and InvesIdea whove all invested in the company.

GOJEK is also one of the company partner through GO-MED thats available in the GOJEKs app.



The post Indonesia healthtech Halodoc raises US$65M funding from UOB Venture appeared first on e27.
4 Mar  It seems that there may not be a CarJean tandem after all, after Jeannie Chan revealed that she has not been in contact with actor Carlos Chan since their last meeting.

As reported on Mingpao, the actress, who appeared at a brand event recently, told the media that she will be travelling to France to attend Paris Fashion Week soon, and is excited about touring the city of love as she thinks that it would be romantic.

Asked if she thinks Carlos is a romantic, Jeannie said that she wouldn't know about that.

"We haven't been in contact with each other. We only communicate with each other when we are cooperating in dramas. We have always been ordinary friends anyway," she said.

Jeannie stressed that she is still single, and has no pursuers at the moment.

"I am used to getting rejected anyway," she said lightheartedly.

(Photo Source: Jeannie Chan Instagram)
MANILA, Philippines  The Cebu Pacific airline posted an advisory on their social media account Saturday evening (March 2), alerting the public against fake Cebu Pacific websites that popped up when the airline launched its seat sale on Friday (March 1) in line with the airlines 23rd anniversary this month.

The local carrier airline said that these suspicious sites are using Cebu Pacific and alleged promo fares to lure unsuspecting persons to a scam.

Before their seat sale kicked off on Friday, the said airline

on March 1 announced on their Facebook page that its website was undergoing improvements, and so suggested alternate links to access their website.

It reiterated that netizens should only trust announcements made through its official social media account and via mass media.

Meanwhile, Philippine Airlines (PAL) also launched its 78th anniversary promo last Friday, March 1, 2019.

The Philippine flag carrier airline has also launched its own promotional fares for domestic flights and international flights.

Last February 26, the PAL management also released its advisory to tyhe public regarding fake ads that has circulated online, stating PAL will provide two free tickets to all for its anniversary celebration under the bogus website philippineairlines.comflyone.com.

PAL asserted that it only utilizes its official website,

www.philippineairlines.com and official Facebook page @flypal for its digital advertisements and announcements.

It is already working with the concerned authorities regarding the matter and is preparing to take legal action against the perpetrators.  Freema Salonga  Gloria

The post PAL,Cebu Pacific alert public against scammers amid promo fare offers appeared first on UNTV News.
Reuters

India surpassed Brazil in food exports to the League of Arab States for the first time in 15 years as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted trade flows in 2020, according to data provided by the Arab-Brazil Chamber of Commerce to Reuters on Tuesday. The Arab world is among Brazil's most important trade partners, but its distance from those markets took its toll as the pandemic rattled global logistics. Brazil accounted for 8.15% of the total agribusiness products imported by the 22 League members last year, whereas India captured 8.25% of that trade, ending Brazil's 15-year advantage, the data showed.
Aggrieved about the pungent end to their business partnership, a Singaporean copywriter has opened up about the alleged injustice he faced running a semi-famous durian stall here with an Australian entrepreneur.

Yu Lian, a Queen Street durian stall that ceased operations in July last year, was even featured on The Straits Times. The stall specialized in Thai durian, and was notable for its unorthodox owners: A 57-year-old Caucasian man by the name of Phillip George Laskaris, and a 27-year-old Singaporean creative professional by the name of Marc Ashley. The marketing that went into Yu Lian was, as the kids say, on fleek  the branding had modern, hip aesthetics, while the stall itself had an upscale, boutique look.

Several months since Yu Lian closed for good, Ashley went public about what apparently lead to their partnership to its eventual demise. To quickly summarise the story, Ashley claims that Laskaris pushed him out of the company right before scoring a million-dollar distribution deal and that the Australian has yet to pay his former partner and brand designer what they were owed.

Heres a retelling of Ashleys story, in case you cant go through the pages of his Instagram Story screenshots. The account below is from his point of view and remains unverified about its authenticity.

The founding

Ashley, a professional copywriter, knew of Laskaris through his mother, whose longtime friend is the wife of the Australian businessman. Ashley was convinced that Laskaris had a viable plan to sell Thai durians here, which can be bought for cheap as Singaporeans prefer the Malaysian varieties. The young man was also impressed by Laskaris grand ambition: To make durian a big enough product that can be traded like stocks on the global market (like gold).

But first, Laskaris needed to set up a durian brand to market via a flagship boutique in Singapore to cater to the huge Chinese tourist market. For this, he needed the help of Ashley, who had experience in the world of advertising. Ashley, in turn, got the help of his designer friend to help come up with the branding. She came up with the branding for Laskaris three established durian companies; one in Thailand, one in Malaysia, and one in Singapore. The total cost of her branding services came up to $28,000.

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After getting to know each other better, Laskaris offered Ashley a position to chair the Singaporean company. The copywriter agreed.

The fall

Ashley went all in, pushing himself into making sure the business would go well before launching proper. The constant pressure to deliver was apparently bad enough to damage his mental health, but eventually, Yu Lian opened.

With the shop sporting a chic Parisian cafe look, Yu Lian proved to be a success story at first, with Ashley literally stacking 50s by the bands. But it all turned sour when orders from Thailand got delayed, and Laskaris mismanaged the deliveries. According to Ashley, the Australian started withdrawing himself from the business.

Eventually, Laskaris called Ashley in for a meeting and telling him to relinquish his shares and role in the company as a director. Laskaris stated that he was losing money, and as a kind gesture, would rather have Ashley turn in all his shares before losing everything. The man even signed an IOU form stating that he owns Ashley S$2,000.

But before the copywriter could agree to anything, Laskaris disappeared, deleting everything, including the company emails.

The return

Months after his disappearance, Laskaris popped up again. Ashley saw a picture of his former business partner in a deal that apparently involved US$1 million, with his Thai company Baan Baison Co. Ltd being an authorized distributor in Thailand for Nano Hair Growth Clinic Pte Ltd.

Ashley was outraged. He had not received any replies from Laskaris about getting his money back, and his designer friend had yet to be paid for her work.

When Ashley demanded that his former business partner pay his debts, Laskaris insisted that he was still suffering serious financial problems, and would only be willing to pay $500 out of the promised $2,000. The man even told Ashley to stop acting the victim when confronted.

Ashley concludes his account by saying that hes given up on trying to pursue the case. I rather keep my fucking dignity than to pick the crumbs of a conniving bastard, he wrote.

As for Laskaris, his latest enterprise is Project Shangri-La, a Thai-based property consulting agency with a Facebook page thats been active as of November last year. Weve contacted him via his Project Shangri-La email address to get his side of the story.

This article, Singaporean copywriter recounts how his Thai durian stall failed in a roller coaster tale of getting ghosted, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!
Kurdish-led forces supported by air strikes from an international coalition evacuated civilians held as "human shields" Monday after smashing their way into the jihadists' last scrap of territory in eastern Syria. The Syrian Democratic Forces and its allies from the US-led coalition unleashed a deluge of fire on the village of Baghouz at the weekend to break the defences of Islamic State group fighters in the final sliver of their "caliphate". But the Kurdish-led force said their offensive had been slowed down Monday due to remaining civilians inside the pocket, and an SDF spokeswoman said hundreds had been evacuated out of the crumbling bastion in the past 48 hours. "More than 800 people exited Baghouz from yesterday until today -- IS family members and fighters who surrendered," she said. Through binoculars from an SDF position outside the jihadist holdout, an AFP correspondent saw men kneeling on the ground before boarding trucks, as well as women clad in black and children. The push on IS's last pocket of territory had resumed Friday after days of mass evacuations, but SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Monday the operation was being hampered by the presence of more civilians in the besieged enclave. "We're slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields," he said. Three air strikes hit the village of Baghouz earlier in the day, causing a huge cloud of smoke to billow up into the sky. - Suicide attacks - Despite being hugely outnumbered, jihadists making a desperate last stand in the riverside hamlet -- most of them foreigners according to the SDF -- are putting up stiff resistance. They are using snipers, a network of tunnels, and suicide bombers to fight back. On Sunday, eight suicide attackers blew themselves up before reaching SDF positions and three car bombs were detonated at a distance, the Kurdish-led forces said. SDF officers perched on rooftops have been receiving information on IS positions from elite units, and passing them on to the coalition to call in air strikes. IS has lost several of its positions in such strikes since Friday in Baghouz, a village nestled in a palm-lined bend of the Euphrates River. Seven SDF members and 18 jihadists have been killed in the fighting since the final push started, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says. The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of IS territorial control in the region and deal a death blow to the "caliphate" proclaimed in 2014, which once covered huge swathes of Syria and Iraq. At its peak more than four years ago, the proto-state created by IS was the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people. It minted its own currency, levied taxes, and designed its own school curricula. The "caliphate" effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost most of its major cities in both countries. The loss of Baghouz, which the SDF says is only days away, would carry mostly symbolic value. - 'No indoors to go to' - The latest military operation has nonetheless sparked a major humanitarian emergency, with thousands of people emerging from the ruins of the "caliphate" and washing up in Kurdish-run camps. After months under heavy bombardment and sometimes with very little to eat, families emerging from Baghouz are often in poor physical and psychological health. The foreigners among them are not wanted in their countries of origin, and locals are filling camps that the Kurdish administration in the region says it needs more international help to run. The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday said tens of thousands of Syrians at the camps needed immediate aid, with several sleeping rough in the cold. "The nights are biting. More than two dozen children are reported to have died due to the cold in recent weeks," said Philip Spoerri, head of the ICRC's delegation in Syria. "People are bundled in clothes, as they have no indoors to go to. Some don't even have tents yet and remain exposed to rain, wind and bitter temperatures," he said. The US and Russian military chiefs were to meet on Monday to discuss operations in Syria. The United States is to keep a residual force in Syria after any declared victory against IS. Almost eight years into a civil war that has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions, the Russia-backed Damascus regime is back in control of nearly two-thirds of the country.
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

(Reuters) - Jihadist insurgents launched attacks against Syrian army posts in northwestern Syria on Sunday, which they said killed at least 25 soldiers and injured others to avenge civilian casualties during a recent escalation of army shelling.

Rebels of the Turkey-backed mainstream Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions told Reuters that dozens of insurgents belonging to the jihadist Ansar al-Tawheed group attacked two major army checkpoints near the village of Masasneh in northern Hama province in a dawn attack.

The army said in a statement that "a number of" its soldiers had been killed in attacks by "terrorists" and that bad weather had made the attacks easier.

Syrian state television showed several corpses, which Ansar al-Tawheed rebels said were the bodies of their suicide squads who had caught army troops off guard in an area close to opposition-held territory.

Stepped up missile and rocket strikes on villages and towns in northern Hama and adjoining Idlib province have been blamed by residents for dozens of civilian deaths and injuries since the latest army campaign began early last month.

The recent escalation has targeted schools, mosques and bakeries and caused widespread damage to infrastructure, civil defence workers and hospital sources in opposition areas say.

The army said a number of its fighters had been killed and injured and it sent a warning to the insurgents whom it said "persisted" in violating the agreement on a buffer zone brokered last year by Syria's main battlefield ally Russia, and Turkey."We will not idly stand by," the army said in its statement quoted by state TV.

The Syrian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the army was on "high readiness to repel such crimes and violations."

Last September's Sochi agreement staved off a Russian backed-assault on Idlib province, the last remaining opposition bastion, and now home to over 3 million people.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by TASS news agency on Sunday as telling Turkey to live up to its commitments under the Sochi accord which requires banned jihadist groups to be expelled from a frontline buffer zone.

Lavrov said extremists who used to belong to the Nusra Front, Syrias former chapter of al Qaeda, were in control of large swathes of territory in Idlib province and were expanding their hold.

Both civilian-run opposition bodies and residents say the strikes have prompted thousands to flee from a number of frontline villages and towns and have threatened a new exodus towards the Turkish border.

Khan Sheikhoun, which has borne the brunt of the recent rocket and missile attacks, has become a ghost town as most of its inhabitants fled to the safety of makeshift camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced after previous Russian and Syrian army air strikes.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Susan Fenton)
Over the weekend, three individuals with links to Rafizi Ramli, the Vice-President of the Peoples Justice Party (PKR), part of Malaysias ruling coalition, were nabbed by police at a Sentul, KL condo, after they were found to be in possession of marijuana.

One of the suspects works for Rafizis non-profit, big data research non-profit, Invoke as a marketing executive, while another is employed there as well, as a graphic designer. The third individual is a former employee. According to police, two of the suspects are women.

Authorities found 75 grams of marijuana at the residence, in the Jinjang area of Sentul early Sunday morning, and the trio are currently being held under the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.

Rafizi, long known as an activist and firebrand within political circles, started Invoke to survey and profile Malaysian voters, detailing their age, gender, location, race, religion and where they fall on the political spectrum. Their database is also questioned on hot-button issues, and voting tendencies.

He is also the founder of the whistleblower organization, the National Oversight and Whistleblowers Center (NOW).

Asked for comment, he has said that he will leave it to his companys lawyers to gather all the relevant information pertaining to the case, but added that employees are ultimately responsible for their actions when off the clock.

If there is any breach of discipline that goes against the companys ethics  whether during or outside of office hours  it will go through the disciplinary process in accordance to labor law and company policy.

I leave it to the authorities to handle the investigation and any further action, as they would in any other case, he said.

This article, Toke and Invoke: Two current and one former employee of Rafizis non-profit detained for weed, originally appeared on Coconuts, Asia's leading alternative media company. Want more Coconuts? Sign up for our newsletters!
US President Donald Trump on Monday denied that he ordered an end to major US-South Korean military exercises as a concession to North Korea's totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un. The previously annual, large-scale maneuvers -- meant to keep troops ready in case of conflict with North Korea -- were shelved shortly after Trump's summit last week with Kim in Hanoi. Trump denied there was any link. "The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un," he tweeted. "I made that decision long ago because it costs the U.S. far too much money to have those 'games', especially since we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost!" he said in the tweet. There are close to 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have angered North Korea, which claims they are rehearsals for invasion. While Trump has ruled out withdrawing US troops, he has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises, describing them at a press conference in Hanoi as "very, very expensive." Trump's summit with Kim ended with no progress toward Washington's goal of getting the isolated country to give up its nuclear weapons.
Sean Hannity love Trumps, but someone at Fox loves the president even more. Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

The cozy relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News is not news to anyone whos paid attention to politics for the past several years. But the depth of the love affair will be.

In a her New Yorker article, The Making of the Fox News White House, Jane Mayer lays out new evidence of just how close Fox News and the White House have grown over the past two years. As one expert put it, Its the closest weve come to having state TV. Also, Mayer appears to have uncovered a little something that may one day come up in impeachment hearings.

Here are Mayers eight most eye-popping and ridiculous revelations:

Trump rates the loyalty of Fox News personalities, and Hannity isnt at the top.

Trump has told confidants that he has ranked the loyalty of many reporters, on a scale of 1 to 10. Bret Baier, Fox News chief political anchor, is a 6; Hannity a solid 10. Steve Doocy, the co-host of Fox & Friends, is so adoring that Trump gives him a 12.

But Trump still loves Hannity.

Sean Hannity has told colleagues that he speaks to the president virtually every night, after his show ends, at 10 p.m. According to the Washington Post, White House advisers have taken to calling Hannity the Shadow Chief of Staff. A Republican political expert who has a paid contract with Fox News told me that Hannity has essentially become a West Wing adviser, attributing this development, in part, to the utter breakdown of any normal decision-making in the White House.

Trump seeks, and receives, advice from even the most D-list Fox News personalities.

Pete Hegseth and Lou Dobbs, hosts on Fox Business, have each been patched into Oval Office meetings, by speakerphone, to offer policy advice.

Rupert Murdoch makes fun of Trump behind his back, but the president doesnt care.

According to Michael Wolffs 2018 book, Fire and Fury, Murdoch derided Trump as a fucking idiot after a conversation about immigration. The aide says Trump knows that Murdoch has denigrated him behind his back, but it doesnt seem to matter that much. Several sources confirmed to me that Murdoch regales friends with Trumps latest inanities.

Prior to the first GOP primary debate in 2015, Roger Ailes may have tipped off Trump about Megyn Kellys question regarding his history of disparaging women.

A pair of Fox insiders and a source close to Trump believe that Ailes informed the Trump campaign about Kellys question. Two of those sources say that they know of the tipoff from a purported eyewitness. In addition, a former Trump campaign aide says that a Fox contact gave him advance notice of a different debate question, which asked the candidates whether they would support the Republican nominee, regardless of who won.

A FoxNews.com reporter had the Stormy Daniels story in the fall of 2016, but it never ran.

[Diana] Falzones story didnt run  it kept being passed off from one editor to the next. After getting one noncommittal answer after another from her editors, Falzone at last heard from [Ken] LaCorte, who was then the head of FoxNews.com. Falzone told colleagues that LaCorte said to her, Good reporting, kiddo. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win. So just let it go. LaCorte denies telling Falzone this, but one of Falzones colleagues confirms having heard her account at the time.

Trump allegedly ordered Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department into blocking AT&T from purchasing Time Warner.

Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs, evidently understood that it would be highly improper for a President to use the Justice Department to undermine two of the most powerful companies in the country as punishment for unfavorable news coverage, and as a reward for a competing news organization that boosted him. According to the source, as Cohn walked out of the meeting he told Kelly, Dont you fucking dare call the Justice Department. We are not going to do business that way.

Former Fox host and current Donald Trump Jr. girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle farmed out her show prep to a viewer in Georgia, who threatened Mayer when she got in touch.

To the astonishment of colleagues, the Fox co-host Kimberly Guilfoyle often prepared for The Five by relying on information provided to her by an avid fan: a viewer from Georgia named David Townsend, who had no affiliation either with Fox News or with journalism. Shed share the days planned topics with Townsend, and then hed e-mail her suggested content. A former colleague of Guilfoyles says, It was a joke among the production assistants  they were, like, Wait till you hear this! She actually got research from him! It was the subject of hilarity. 

When I asked Townsend about his e-mails to Guilfoyle, he said, Mind your own business. Im just a Fox fan. Im a keyboard warrior. Im a nobody. He said, Ive sent stuff to various people at Fox for years, and I dont get a penny for it, and added, I dont know what tree youre barking up but you better be careful.
The United States downgraded its diplomatic mission to the Palestinians on Monday, the latest in a series of steps by President Donald Trump's White House Palestinian leaders say is aimed at wiping out their cause. The move, following a decision announced in October, closes the US Jerusalem consulate general that had acted independently and served as a de-facto embassy to the Palestinians since the Oslo accords of the 1990s. It will be merged with the US embassy to Israel, where a new Palestinian affairs unit will operate. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the move will not constitute a change in policy and is intended to improve "efficiency and effectiveness". The State Department said Monday that "the administration remains fully committed to efforts to achieve a lasting and comprehensive peace that offers a brighter future to Israel and the Palestinians". But the change means Washington's relations with the Palestinians will now fall under the authority of US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who has been a supporter of Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians view him -- along with Trump's administration -- as blatantly biased in favour of Israel. Palestinian leaders froze contact with the White House after Trump's 2017 decision recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and castigated the consulate closure. Saeb Erekat, Palestine Liberation Organisation secretary general, called the closure "the last nail in the coffin of the US administration's role in peacemaking". Senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said "the Trump administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law". Israeli officials had not commented on the move on Monday. - 'Ultimate deal' - The State Department has not confirmed reports that the consul general's residence in Jerusalem will eventually become the home for the US ambassador as part of the embassy's move to the disputed city, which occurred last May. Located near Jerusalem's Old City, it has been the home of the consul general since 1912, while the US permanent diplomatic presence in the city was established in 1857. Trump, who is expected to release his long-awaited peace plan in the coming months, has also cut more than $500 million in Palestinian aid in a bid to force Palestinian leaders to negotiate. Palestinian leaders call it an attempt to blackmail them into accepting a plan that they believe will destroy their hopes for independent statehood. Trump's decision to move the embassy to Jerusalem broke with decades of international consensus that the status of the city must first be decided upon through negotiations by Israel and the Palestinians. Israel occupied mainly Palestinian 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 view the eastern sector -- where key holy sites for Christians, Muslims and Jews are located -- as the capital of their future state. The consulate closure comes amid growing warnings over diminishing possibilities for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli settlement construction approvals in the West Bank on land the Palestinians consider part of their future state has accelerated since Trump took office. Trump has been far less critical of settlement construction than Barack Obama's White House. The White House is expected to unveil its plan for what Trump calls the "ultimate deal" -- Israeli-Palestinian peace -- sometime after Israel's April 9 elections. US officials pledge that the plan will be fair despite Palestinians' dismissal of such claims. While Palestinians point to Israeli policies such as settlement building and its continuing occupation as gradually destroying the two-state solution, Israel argues it has no partner for peace and points to Palestinian violence. Early Monday, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians who carried out a car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank, injuring a soldier and a policeman.
A recap of developments in Venezuela since opposition chief Juan Guaido declared himself acting president in January 2019 and vowed to remove President Nicolas Maduro from office. - 'Acting president' - Guaido declares himself acting president at a January 23 rally of tens of thousands of people in Caracas demanding that Maduro quit. Maduro began a second term as president on January 10 after opposition-boycotted elections dismissed as fraudulent by the United States, European Union and the Organization of American States. Guaido vows to "end the usurpation" of power by Maduro, form a transitional government, and hold free elections. US President Donald Trump immediately recognizes Guaido as acting president, as do Canada and major Latin American powers. Maduro gets the support of allies including China, Russia, Turkey, Mexico and Cuba. - Guaido wins European backing - On January 26 six European countries say they will also recognize Guaido unless Maduro calls elections. Washington imposes sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and hands control of the country's US bank accounts to Guaido. The Venezuelan judiciary bars Guaido from leaving the country and freezes his accounts. On January 30 thousands of opposition protesters, led by Guaido, call on Venezuela's military to abandon Maduro. He demands that the Venezuelan government allow in foreign humanitarian aid, claiming the lives of thousands of people are at risk. On February 4 some 20 European countries also recognize Guaido as the legitimate president. - Battle over aid - Trucks loaded with US aid begin arriving on the Colombian side of the Tienditas border bridge on February 7. Venezuelan troops however block the road, preventing the aid from entering. Maduro slams what he says is a "spectacle of fake humanitarian aid," seeing it as the precursor of a US military intervention. On February 16 Guaido says he has the support of thousands of people to bring in aid via Colombia, Brazil and the Dutch island of Curacao. Venezuelan officials close the maritime border and suspend links with Curacao. On February 21 Maduro shuts the border with Brazil. On February 22 Russia also accuses the United States of using aid deliveries as a ploy for military action. Moscow says it is stepping up shipments of wheat and is considering sending more medical supplies after shipping 7.5 tonnes. - Guaido regional tour - On February 23 Guaido attends an aid benefit concert organized by British billionaire Richard Branson on the Colombian side of the Tienditas border bridge. He claims Venezuelan soldiers helped him out of the country despite a travel ban. Guaido goes on to meet US Vice President Mike Pence and then allies in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador. Defying threat of arrest, he flies home on March 4, greeted by thousands of supporters chanting "Yes, you can!" - Blackouts - On March 7 most of Venezuela is plunged into darkness by a major power cut that lasts five days, followed by sporadic blackouts. The blackouts cause major disruption to food and water supplies, transport and hospitals, which report deaths. Maduro blames sabotage; experts say poor maintenance is the cause. On March 24 two Russian military planes bring in around 100 soldiers and 35 tons of equipment. Guaido's parliamentary immunity is removed on April 2, opening the way for his prosecution for claiming to be president. - 'Attempted military coup' - On April 30 Guaido releases a video recorded at a Caracas air force base in which he says he has the support of "brave soldiers." With him is a group of uniformed men and opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, who says he was freed from house arrest by soldiers supporting Guaido. The government denounces an "attempted military coup." Clashes break out in Caracas leaving at least 69 people injured. Later the same evening in an address broadcast on television and the radio, Maduro declares victory over the uprising and warns it "will not go unpunished". He praises the armed forces for having "defeated this small group that intended to spread violence through putschist skirmishes." Guaido calls for a massive May Day protest to increase the pressure on Maduro.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional questioning last week of his former lawyer may have contributed to the failure of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un -- even as his national security advisor claimed the Hanoi meeting was a success. A high-stakes second summit to strike a disarmament deal with Kim broke up in disarray in Vietnam Thursday, with Trump saying: "Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times." The summit took place at the same time a Democrat-led congressional committee was grilling Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, who labelled his ex-boss a "racist", "conman", and "cheat". On Sunday, Trump said the hearing may have contributed to the "walk". "For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk'," he tweeted. "Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!" Still, US National Security Advisor John Bolton told CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday that the summit should be seen as "a success, defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests." He said the issue was whether North Korea would accept what the president called "the big deal" -- denuclearizing completely -- or something less, "which was unacceptable to us." "So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected," Bolton added. The summit's collapse followed the leaders' historic meeting in Singapore that produced only a vague commitment from Kim to work "toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula." According to senior US officials, in the week leading up to the Hanoi summit, the North Koreans had demanded the lifting of effectively all UN Security Council economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since March 2016. - 'Seat of its pants' - In return, Pyongyang was offering only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a sprawling site covering multiple facilities -- and the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, however, disputed the US account, saying Pyongyang offered to dismantle all "nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area" in exchange for partial sanctions relief. Bolton's evocation of progress was dismissed by leading Democrats, however, including House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who described the Hanoi meeting as a "spectacular failure." "The president did give up a great deal, by going to that summit, by enhancing Kim Jong Un's prestige on the world stage, by giving up those military exercises in the last summit and getting nothing for it," Schiff told CBS. "This is, I think, the result of a president who is not prepared for these kinds of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and is essentially flying by the seat of its pants." Much of the criticism of the summit was sparked by Trump's remarks on the case of an American student tortured and left in a coma in North Korea. - 'Barbaric and unacceptable' - Trump said he believed Kim's claim that he did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier, who died at age 22 days after being sent back to the United States in 2017. Bolton said Trump had been clear that Warmbier's death was "barbaric and unacceptable," although Schiff countered that the president's "obsequious comments" had compounded the summit's failure. Bolton was touring the Sunday political shows the morning after the US and South Korea announced an end to key annual large-scale military exercises. The maneuvers have been a perennial target of North Korean fury -- condemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for war. Trump has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises and -- since 2017's Singapore summit -- the Washington and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint exercises. Opponents of scrapping the drills warn that it could affect the combat readiness of US and South Korean forces and hand the North a strategic advantage on the divided peninsula. Bolton sought to play down Saturday's announcement, however, saying the policy remained unchanged since Singapore.
HR tech platforms need to remain relevant to the changing needs of SMEs

Singapore is often lauded as one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.

Yet, in terms of human resource (HR) management, many companies in Singapore tend to resist or overlook the implementation of relevant HR tech.

This year, a study conducted by Randstad Sourceright ranked Singapore fifth in the world for HR tech adoption, trailing Sweden, US, UK, and China. This is a jump of seven places compared to last year, but more can still be done, considering the level of infrastructure and support available here.

The top concern about HR tech cited by Singapore companies in the study was a reduced human touch in the workplace, followed by a loss of skilled workers and investment cost. But HR tech, which comprises a variety of features and functions, is not about eliminating workers from the HR department.

Currently, many HR personnel in Singapore have to wear different hats. They are tasked with carrying out a wide range of duties, from the sourcing of new workers to overseeing compensation and benefits.

There are common challenges which HR personnel face. For example, the current laws and regulations (and when they change), adapting to innovation, and the technical aspect of having non-consolidated information.

Adopting HR tech can both enable and empower HR personnel. It serves to reduce the cost and time involved in many of those manual processes, freeing up workers to focus on more productive and less mundane tasks.

Payroll automation software, in particular, is one of the most effective and popular solutions. Rather than having to create numerous rows of spreadsheet tabs to record attendance, overtime and deductions, such software reduces the process to within minutes.

Good payroll software should also be able to generate and update payslips automatically, accommodate different pay scales, and comply with tax regulations. Payroll automation helps to avoid mistakes made through manual processes, which can lead to the overpayment or underpayment of employees.

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Worse still, it can lead to costly fines, since companies are required by law to keep complete and accurate employee records.

Popular HR tech solutions in the market include leave management and claim applications, which can all be integrated into a single platform.

HR tech platforms should offer digital capabilities to manage employment contracts and documentation, leave management, claims management, attendance management and payroll.

Regarding payroll, the system has to automate the calculation of payroll, CPF and contributions. It is also better to generate digital payslips, and have the ability to generate tax forms. Integrating with Accounting Software partners provides a more seamless accounting of payroll.

Partnering with global payments technology companies can also allow firms to use a commercial card to pay for salaries and expense claims to their employees.

Regarding the challenge of leave management, owners of a casual dining restaurant based in Singapore found there was a lack of transparency and accuracy when tracking the working hours of its staff. Administrative tasks were highly laborious and took up many hours in a day due to a reliance on manual processes.

One of the ways to solve this was to provide a cloud system where employee documents and data were filed away on a secure cloud server, with access available on mobile or desktop apps.

The business owners can now file and approve leave and claims digitally anytime, anywhere. Staff can also clock in and out on the mobile application, making for a smooth attendance tracking process.

With a software-as-a-service platform, manual filing processes and tasks are eradicated or drastically reduced.

In the long run, HR tech software, which is often subscription-based, can lead to immense time and cost savings.

Some 20 per cent of 300 companies surveyed around the world experienced a decrease in HR personnel costs following the adoption of technology.

But, it is not enough to just choose and employ the right HR tech software. Business leaders themselves need to be flexible and willing to change. A common misstep among Singapore business leaders is that they tend to overlook HR practices, focusing on other aspects of their business first.

However, people will always be the backbone of a company, and a company will not be able to function if simple but tedious administrative tasks are distracting the main workflow.

Companies also need to be ready for changes in their operating procedures, be it through standardisation or making certain compromises. The same survey revealed that while 73 per cent of business processes can be accommodated with technology, on average, organisations had to adjust 45 per cent of their HR-related processes in some form or another.

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This also shows that the education and training of staff, from executives to workers, is necessary to cope with the various adjustments. And such training can be difficult since humans dislike having to change their habits, especially when they are used to working in a certain manner.

Fortunately, there is a great deal of support available in Singapore.

The government has announced three initiatives to boost HR tech adoption this year. The first is an online self-help HR, which functions as the first point of contact for help.

The second increased the number of services available in the HR Shared Services Scheme, designed to help companies outsource the more manual and operational HR functions to service providers.

The third is a HR Tech pilot programme that helps to match candidates to potential jobs, and provides individualised training for existing employees.

In summary, it is essential to collaborate within an ecosystem of financial institutions, the accountancy community and other cloud-based service providers.

HR tech platforms need to remain relevant to the changing needs of SMEs  such as those regarding compliance and regulation issues, as well as accounting practices. These platforms need to prioritise system integration opportunities or other digital solutions for SMEs. It is also important for HR tech firms to guide HR personnel with strong staff support.

Many banks, financial institutions and HR tech providers have joined the fray to educate companies about current technology.

Also Read: Coinbase raises funding from Singapores wealth fund GIC

One such example is the Start Digital Pack under the SMEs Go Digital Programme which gives SMEs a head start in going digital through various business aspects including Human Resources Management System (HRMS) and Payroll.

The HR tech scene is rapidly changing, especially with the integration of artificial intelligence and Big Data, to cope with different demands.

In the future, it could be possible to prevent voluntary attrition through predictive modelling or have unique interview questions automatically suggested. But more importantly, this means that the technology available will become even more useful and relevant.

Ultimately, it is up to the employers themselves to take charge, learn about HR tech, and make the most out of it  so that they will not be left behind.



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Bhaskar Sunkara and Jonathan Chait. Illustration: Zohar Lazar

The National Interest columnist Jonathan Chaits defense of liberalism in general, and Barack Obamas legacy in particular, are well known to readers of this publication. But in recent years hes found a sparring partner in Jacobin founding editor Bhaskar Sunkara, an avowed Marxist whose journal has become the flagship publication for democratic socialism in the United States. We recently brought them together for a Gchat discussion on whether socialisms growing popularity reflects liberalisms failures  or merely leftists inveterate inability to recognize progress when they see it.

Bhaskar Sunkara: Nice to (sort of) meet you, Jon!

Jonathan Chait: You look very sharp, Bhaskar [Sunkaras Gchat avatar is a picture of him as a child in a suit].

Sunkara: Actually, we wear business casual at the Jacobin office.

Chait: I am at home in a sweatshirt if you want a visual.

Sunkara: I think its better if we change this line of inquiry.

Eric Levitz: Agreed. So, Jon, two years ago you wrote an article titled Reminder: Liberalism Is Working and Marxism Has Always Failed. Bhaskar, youve spent your entire adult life arguing something close to the opposite. So I thought we could start by discussing whether liberalism  as embodied, most recently, by Barack Obama  has proved itself adequate to our nations current challenges.

Chait: Liberalism is a somewhat unique American term to describe a center-left that sees itself between socialism and laissez-faire. Its a term that has run from the Progressive Era (Herbert Croly) or arguably the New Deal to the present day and that advocates social and economic pluralism through a mixed economy. Over time, American politics has swung between that vision and an anti-government politics that defends existing social hierarchies. The country has moved closer to the former view. But it is a story of progress and reaction. Id argue Obamas presidency is one of the more successful historical periods of progress. Adding up the successes and subtracting the failures yields a positive picture. The positives are less than either LBJ or FDR, but so too are the negatives. I also argue that progressive critics systematically underrate progress in its time and only appreciate it in retrospect.

Sunkara: Obama was a president operating under great constraints  there was a mobilized right trying to undermine all of his progressive measures, and though there was plenty of energy around his campaign, there wasnt a groundswell of activism pushing him to the left once he was in office. I didnt love him, but I understand why people voted for him. And he ranks fine, as far as U.S. presidents go. What Im more interested in is the conditions in which these presidents are governing, how much space theyre given to operate, how many concessions big companies are forced to make.

Today, thanks to the Bernie Sanders campaign, thanks to the Democratic Socialists of America, thanks to unions like National Nurses United, theres more support than ever for Medicare for All. Now, Obama wasnt ever going to push for single-payer. But an Obama-like president would have been able to (or forced to) negotiate a better deal for working Americans. Thats why Im excited about the new left in the United States.

Levitz: But youre not just a single-payer-loving Justice Democrat, Bhaskar  youre a card-carrying pinko. For the sake of argument, lets say the events of the 21st century have proved Obamaism inadequate. Didnt the 20th century prove that socialism is even worse (as Jon has argued)? After all, socialists are supposed to be radical (small-d) democrats  yet, in country after country, didnt they transform into authoritarians upon their first taste of power?

Sunkara: I deny being a card-carrying pinko  Im completely red. And I think that the history of the socialist movement has in fact been much more of a success than youve let on. If you get weekends off, you have a workers movement  that by the 1880s and 90s was largely inspired by socialism of the Marxist variety  to thank. Obviously those great movements of the late-19th and early-20th century didnt end up inheriting the world. They split into social-democratic and revolutionary socialist wings. Both aspired to go beyond capitalism. The former never did break with capitalism, but in countries like Sweden, its parties administered the creation of welfare states, taking huge swaths of life outside the market and using the collective-bargaining power of workers to shape the outcomes of competition in a way that benefited ordinary people. It might not have been perfect, but Sweden in the 1970s was the best society weve ever seen. And it was governed by a socialist party that fought for democracy through the 1920s and ruled virtually uninterrupted for a half-century through democratic elections (and when it lost in 1976, it oversaw a peaceful transition of power).

We know the tragic legacy of the latter tradition. But socialism in the West has largely been dominated by anti-Stalinists, by people who believe in freedom. At our best, we dont oppose liberalism so much as force liberalism to live up to its ideals.

Levitz: So Jon, whats your problem with 1970s Sweden? Not a fan of Abba? Or do you deny that the self-avowed socialists who built Swedish social democracy knew what they were?

Chait: From my perspective, political and economic models are distinct. You can be, like Bernie Sanders, an economic socialist (of sorts) and still be a political liberal, who believes above all in individual rights. But there is an alternative political model that places class justice over individual rights. And those movements always descend into tyranny. Whats more, by suppressing any channels for correction, they tend to descend into economic failure as well.

Sunkara: Well, we believe in both: Theres an unalienable bedrock of individual rights, things that no state or movement or collective can intrude upon. But believing in freedom isnt a simple matter. If we all have the same inherent worth, then we have to be free to fulfill our potentials, to discover and flourish in our individuality. Freedom of speech is a good thing, for instance, but is it a tangible right if we dont also guarantee a right to literacy and a quality public education? I think almost everyone can get behind those other rights. But things get trickier when it comes to certain property rights.

I think freedom for working people today means limiting the freedom of those who benefit from the inequities inherent in class society. So if youre an employer and you risked everything to set up a business  and you own machinery that you want operated or a storefront you pay a mortgage on  a socialist wants to intrude on your freedom by dictating that you can only employ your workers for 35 hours a week. And that if you need more labor than that, youll have to hire a different shift of full-time workers or pay time and a half to your existing workforce. Or, more fundamentally, in fact, that your business should be run as a cooperative and that shares should be given to your employees.

Now, someone loses something here. But something is gained for the people who used to work 12 hours a day but now work seven hours a day. That five hours is their personal time, time to reach their potentials, time to watch the NBA, time for whatever. Socialism is not so much about trading in freedom for equality but rather posing the question, Freedom for whom?

Chait: Im talking about political rights, not economic ones. Of course this might be a distinction you dont observe at all. But the liberal perspective says there must be guaranteed political rights for all irrespective of what economic system is in place.

Sunkara: Of course I agree with that.

Chait: To give this a more concrete flavor, why dont we address something Ive brought up before: Jacobins coverage of Venezuela. My review of the coverage found the tone to be heavily favorable and defensive of the regime, and even after conclusive evidence of massive political repression was public, Jacobin continued to defend the revolution along the lines I am describing: What mattered was simply who was exercising power, not whether they followed any abstract rules of justice. Freedom for whom? meant freedom for the oppressed people, which meant supporting the party that represented them, the party of Chavez and Maduro.

Sunkara: I think youre mischaracterizing the coverage. But Ill concede that socialists in the United States have tended to be permissive, at times overly so, of foreign governments that draw the ire of Washington. In some cases, such as in Cuba, these are authoritarian socialist states, but in others, like Venezuela, they arent even socialist states. I wouldnt characterize Maduro as coming from the socialist tradition but rather as a left-wing populist.

Levitz: So heres what Im hearing: Jon defines Marxism (and/or socialism) as the prioritization of class justice over individual liberties (and not merely economic liberties but political freedom and equality before the law). Bhaskar says that that isnt democratic socialism, by definition, and that political rights and legal equality are nonnegotiable. Perhaps theyve been compromised in some places where socialists have taken power (the USSR), but they havent been in others (Sweden). Self-identified liberal democracies have featured de jure racial caste systems and the suppression of dissent. But few would say that Jim Crow rule and the Red Scares permanently discredited the liberal-democratic model. So why should Stalins crimes (or Maduros) forever discredit the socialist one?

Chait: I think the kinds of repression created by Marxist/authoritarian-left regimes close off any possibility of reform and improvement, very much unlike the failures of American democracy.

Levitz: But Bhaskar is not advocating for left authoritarianism (tabling the debate over whether his magazine has ever apologized for it in Venezuela). So I want to figure out where you two actually disagree. The subordination of individual liberties may not be inherent to Bhaskars vision of socialism. But concentrating capital under the management of a democratic state is. Jon, do you believe that such socialization of finance is undesirable and that there is value in decentralizing economic power by maintaining a class of private investors?

Chait: I cant say Ive spent much time studying the practicality of proposals to turn the means of production over to workers. I did read up a bit on codetermination (worker representation on corporate boards) and came away optimistic.

Levitz: All right, then. Ill play social-democrats advocate. Bhaskar, in your upcoming book, The Socialist Manifesto, you argue for the necessity of democratic socialism by insisting that the Nordic model  of a mixed economy with a cradle-to-grave welfare state, strong trade unions, full employment, and inclusive growth  is inherently unsustainable. Eventually, growth will slow and the objectives of maintaining capitalists profits and workers living standards will cease to be compatible. And so long as your economy depends on the willingness of individual rich people to invest their wealth, governments will inevitably prioritize capitalists profitability over preserving social-democratic gains.

And yet, if the Scandinavian social democracies have become more neoliberal in recent decades, they still have more ambitious welfare states than anything Bernie Sanders has dared to propose. Universal health care, child care, and free higher education remain lived realities in these countries. Meanwhile, even in the United States, ground zero for the neoliberal counterrevolution, the capitalist class has proved incapable of rolling back our nations most social-democratic programs  Social Security and Medicare. Given all this, on what basis do you declare the Nordic model unsustainable? And if some kind of mixed economy with strong redistributive institutions is viable under capitalism, why shouldnt we prefer the proven success of welfare liberalism to the purely theoretical promise of democratic socialism?

Sunkara: I think that social democracy is proven  it works. But there are still a few reasons why I think we need to look beyond it. One is completely ideological: I think that exploitation and hierarchy should be limited to the greatest extent possible. If worker-controlled firms, even in a competitive market, can function, we should prefer that alternative since its more democratic.

The second is practical: The history of social democracy is that capital will withhold investment if it doesnt like the prevailing political mood or constraints on its freedom. In the modern, internationalized economy, this means that social democracy is harder to achieve than it was in the 20th century.

But lets march together toward this social democracy, though, and see these dilemmas play out.

Levitz: Do you see any tensions between the immediate goal of bringing social democracy to the U.S. and that of popularizing democratic socialism? Personally, Im uncertain of the utility of branding politicians like Bernie Sanders  and policies like single-payer health care  as socialist, given that Sanderss actual policy agenda is both objectively social democratic and much more popular among U.S. voters than the word socialism is.

Sunkara: Bernie Sanders is a democratic socialist. Its his background. It informs the way he views the world and the way he thinks change is made (by taking wealth and privilege away from economic elites and expanding social rights for the vast majority). And the right would call him a socialist anyway, whether he used the term or not.

I also think we need activists trained in the socialist tradition who look seriously at the good and ill of its history, and rank-and-file militants who do the same with labor history, to make progress. That doesnt mean that all center-left progressives need to call themselves socialist to make change. But the creation of democratic socialism in its new form as an identity has been about tapping into disenchantment with liberalism and what it has (and hasnt) been able to accomplish lately and speaking to that frustration from the left (as opposed to the right).

Chait: Its hard for me to engage with this strand of the conversation, because it doesnt connect to any premises I share. I think the long record of American liberalism is one to be proud of, and points the way toward continued success in the future, despite all the frustration it creates when in power and the periods of reactionary backlash it engenders.

Sunkara: The terms are very slippery in the U.S. context. Who were the liberals in the 1960s, and who were the social democrats? When Walter Reuther and left Democrats were calling for full employment and national health insurance  was that liberalism? Or since socialists like Bayard Rustin and Michael Harrington were involved, do we get credit?

Chait: Full employment and national health insurance have been liberal goals since the New Deal, at least.

Sunkara: And much of the New Deal was cribbed from Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomass platform.

Chait: These goals have been shared by the left, but the lefts role has always been more minor. And, in practice, the lefts chosen role has often been to stand on the sidelines pissing on whatever the liberals were able to actually achieve (with regard to health care, anyway).

Levitz: Now weve come to the heart of it: Is progress possible without piss play? Anything in the way of closing thoughts, Jon?

Chait: I feel my chances of dying in the Gulag have diminished as a result of this chat, so I deem it a success on those grounds alone.

Sunkara: Well, Im not sure. The Mensheviks didnt fare so well after the revolution, either [smiling emoji]. Nice chatting with you.

*A version of this article appears in the March 4, 2019, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!

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There was no way that Saturday Night Lives cold open this week would be anything other than a highly-condensed version of Michael Cohens shitshow of a congressional hearing. The proceedings packed in more stupidity per second than the Republican National Convention, and nearly as much as CPAC. The shows cold opens tend to impose a Parade of Morons structure even when its not already theresee, e.g., the countless sketches where Baldwins Donald Trump meets with his advisors one-by-oneand this time, Congressional Republicans graciously handed it to them on a silver platter. The challenge was finding some way to make the spectacle of Republicans spending seven-and-a-half hours pretending there was still some confusion over whether or not the president was a crook, a cheat, and a white supremacist funnier than it already was. Thats a tall order, but they more or less pulled it off:

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But the real star here was Kyle Mooney as Arizonas Paul Goser. Goser, you may recall, is such a beloved figure that during his last campaign, six of his nine brothers and sisters cut an attack ad accusing him of racism and endorsing his opponent. He came off even worse during the Cohen hearings. Mooneys greatest gift as a comedic actor is his ability to slip into a middle-school-like mixture of indignance, rage, and mind-boggling stupidity, and Goser is the part he was born to play. Still, Mooney doesnt quite reach the depths of the actual testimony, which is a masterpiece of marble-mouthed gibberish that would have made Cliff Nazarro proud. Watch Michael CohenMichael Cohen!run rings around him:

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Theres so much to love here, but the best part is probably Gosar trying to quote an earlier statement from Elijah Cummings, getting as far as This is a real then consulting his notes for eight full seconds before coming up with the end of the sentence: sad state. Its not fair to fault Mooney for failing to plumb the full depths of Gosars placid stupiditythink of the elective brain surgeries hed need to fully embody the role!but its worth noting that our actual reality is, once again, about a million times dumber than the world of Saturday Night Live cold opens. And we dont even get an afterparty.

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In the most dramatic step yet by congressional Democrats in their efforts to probe President Donald Trumps misconduct in office, the House Judiciary Committee on Monday requested documents from more than 80 people, businesses, and institutions with connections to Trump, launching an extremely broad probe into any possibly impeachment-worthy offenses by the president.

The sought-after documents relate to a range of scandals and controversies that could point to obstruction of justice, corruption, or abuse of power by Trump and his administration. Obstruction of justice inquiries relate largely to the administrations responses to the Mueller probe: possible lies to federal investigators, Trumps decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, and the presidents repeated public condemnations of the probe.

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According to the committees statement Monday, the corruption line of inquiry relates to Trumps potential violations of the U.S. Constitutions Emoluments Clause, which bans presidents from using the office for financial gain or accepting gifts from foreign states (as some have argued Trumps business holdings allow), as well as possible campaign finance violations (hush money payments arranged by Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, for example). Potential abuse of power relates to Trumps attacks on the press, attacks on the judiciary, and the misuse of the presidents power to pardon, according to the statement.

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The committee has given the recipients of the letters two weeks to comply, at which point it will subpoena the documents, staff told reporters Monday. The list of those who received letters requesting documents includes family members (sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric, along with son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner); administration officials, current and former (Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer, Don McGahn, Jeff Sessions, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, and Reince Priebus); campaign officials (Paul Manafort, Carter Page, Corey Lewandowski, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, Tom Barrack, and Brad Parscale); business associates (Allen Weisselberg, Felix Sater, and Rob Lieberman); media figures (David Pecker and Jerome Corsi); foreign or foreign-connected lobbyists (George Nader and Paul Erickson); longtime friend Roger Stone; and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

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Businesses and institutions include American Media Inc. (the parent company of the National Enquirer, owned by Pecker); Cambridge Analytica; the Trump Organization; the Trump campaign; the administrations transition team; WikiLeaks; the White House; and the Department of Justice.

As the New York Times noted, the committees work will overlap in many places with Robert Muellers investigation, but the significance differs in that congressional standards of misconduct differ from criminal ones. The requested information could establish grounds for impeachment proceedings, as the committee has jurisdiction over impeachment.

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Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the committee chairman, said in a statement. We have sent these document requests in order to begin building the public record.  We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people. This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts.
On Sunday, HBO premieres Leaving Neverland, the new documentary that tells the stories of two men who say they were repeatedly sexually abused by Michael Jackson while they were children. The new reckoning raises the persistently tricky question: Should pedophilia be treated as a sickness or punished as a crime? After Jackson was charged with several counts of child molestation, Dahlia Lithwick looked into the research to try to answer the question. Initially published in January 2004, the original, still enlightening, is reprinted below.

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Again, and for all the wrong reasons, we cant take our eyes off Michael Jackson. Whether or not the allegations are substantiated, the question is in the air: Is pedophilia a disease to be treated, or a crime to be punished? Are people who seduce minors sick or evil? Our current legal and medical systems blur both views. We call for the most draconian punishments (life imprisonment, castration, permanent exile) precisely because we view these acts as morally heinous, yet also driven by uncontrollable biological urges.

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If sex with children is truly the product of freely made moral choices, then we should deal with it through the criminal justice system. But if it is a genetically over-determined impulse, an uncontrollable urge nestled in our DNA, then punishing pedophiles must be morally wrong. As scienceand cultureincreasingly medicalizes bad behavior, finding a neurological component to everything from alcoholism to youth violence, we run the parallel risks of either absolving everyone for everything, or punishing criminals who are no guiltier than cancer patients.

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What science has revealed about the moral/medical roots of pedophiles is, of course, ambiguous. What is clear is that the binary choice laid out above is an oversimplification. The medical community, which started to view pedophilia as a disease rather than a crime in the 19th century, has amassed evidence that at least some violent and antisocial behaviors have genetic links and signposts. But researchers have been unable to isolate a biological cause for pedophilia, or even to agree on a personality profile. Not to mention the terrific confusion within the medical community in defining what this disease really involves. Until a few years ago, for example, the DSM-IVthe Psychiatric Associations Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disordersdefined pedophilia as a disease only if the sufferers fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. In other words, a non-impaired, remorseless pedophile was apparently perfectly healthy.

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Advocates of the disease school say pedophilia is often the product of uncontrollable impulses that seem to respond to treatment (including castration, both surgical and chemical) particularly in conjunction with monitoring and behavioral therapy. This raises at least a possibility not associated with car thieves and insider traders: That small tweaks to ones brain chemistry may neutralize the impulse to commit more crimes. And if that is the case, they contend, shouldnt we be treating rather than punishing? Can we really call ourselves a just society if we are jailing folks for their neurochemical profile? In a thoughtful essay in Reason, Thomas Szasz urges that pedophilia is ultimately still a moral failure regardless of its biological roots: Bibliophilia means the excessive love of books. It does not mean stealing books from libraries. Pedophilia means the excessive (sexual) love of children. It does not mean having sex with them. The crime, he argues, is not the psychological impulse, but the willingness to give in to it. But this conclusion assumes an answer that science is still uncertain about: whether for some pedophiles, the impulse to molest has become a pathology. If that is the case, pedophiles cant have the criminal intent necessary to want to commit a crime, and that mens rea is the cornerstone of our criminal law.

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Assume, for a moment, that we are sophisticated enough to embrace this ambiguity, to accept the likelihood that the reality is complicated, and that both chemistry and morality are at work in the creation of a sexual predator. Studies by Stanford University neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky suggest that mental illness really falls along a continuumthat criminals are not sick or evil but some intricate combination of both. What, then, is the moral and proper approach to their acts?

In 1987, Robert Wright explored this choice/illness dichotomy as it related to alcoholism in the New Republic. Wrights ultimate conclusion was that it is a mistake to label a behavioreven a behavior with some biological and genetic determinantsa disease because it ultimately means giv[ing] up on the concept of volition altogether. According to Wright, since alcoholism is the product of a complicated moral soup of environmental and biological factors, since biology may play a role, but not the only, or even predominant role, in these behaviors, we are better off holding people responsible for their actions than not. Otherwise, he argues, things fall apart.

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This things fall apart approach has its attractions. It suggests that in a world of increasing causal complexity, morality must remain all the more unequivocal. The question, then, is whether this pragmatic solution is also the ethical one as the stakes rise. The problem is that pedophilia, unlike alcoholism, has one real and tangible victim for every incident. If alcoholics damaged another persons life with every drink, the parallel might hold. But if statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health are right, and the average molester of boys will have 150 victims before apprehension, then the social costs of a single incident are astronomical.

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If the repercussions of the act argue for holding the perpetrators morally responsible, regardless of their level of agency, then the seriousness of the punishment pulls in the other direction. Holding alcoholics morally responsible for their actions has predominantly insurance and employment consequences. Holding a child molester responsible for his actions means a lifetime of incarceration or of monitoring, unemployment, and shaming. Offender registries are certainly an alternative to other forms of vigilantism, but the practical effect is a whole subclass of offenders with nowhere to live or work. If science someday proves us wrong, and pedophiles are wholly victims of their own biology, we will have victimized them twice and called it justice.

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There are, its generally agreed, four basic rationales for punishment: revenge, rehabilitation, deterrence, and incapacitation. If we accept the mixed causation theorythat pedophilia is part disease and part crime, then almost none of these rationales are served. Lifetime recidivism rates show that rehabilitation alone has not been very effective for sex offenders, and we know that deterrence is unlikely when most offenders are able to get away with multiple acts before apprehension. Revenge makes sense only where rational choices led to the commission of the crime, which is in doubt when ones neurochemistry may be running the show. Which leaves only incapacitation as the reason for punishing pedophiles.

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Now, dont knock incapacitation. A lifetime of involuntary confinement was a good idea for carriers of the Black Plague, who were guilty of no moral failures at all. But this raises the practical, financial component of imposing complete moral responsibility on pedophiles. Our jails are teeming with sex offenders; and knowing what we do about recidivism rates for pedophiles (recent studies show that they are lower than previously believed in the short-term, but still hovering at 50 percentover a 25-year career) we must choose between lifetime involuntary confinement, or the cost of ongoing monitoring. Due to prison overcrowding, child molesters are released each day into communities that no longer care whether pedophiles are sick or evil, so long as we throw away the key.

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The appeal of the crime-punishment model is that it can tailor the punishment to the crime. A one-time molester is as sick as a serial predator under the disease theory. But the attraction of the disease model is that it assumes both that there is a cure, and that the perpetrators wish to be cured. There is a danger to assuming the latter is true. Its been the basis for the states who adopted mandatory civil-commitment laws, following the Supreme Courts holding in 1997s Kansas v. Hendricks that the most dangerous child molesters can be held involuntarily, after their sentences are served, so long as theyre receiving treatment. The problem is that often the treatment they receive is not sufficient or effective. But since this is treatment and not punishment neither the public nor the Constitution is offended, says the court. The danger of the treatment model is the danger posed to a society that has sedated and medicated an entire population into a law-abiding stupor. But the crime/punishment model is similarly hopeless. The promise of an ever-growing number of pedophiles either languishing in jails we cannot afford, or using jails for sleepovers between crimes is, quite possibly, a worse nightmare than the treatment option. Perhaps the best solution to a problem with hybrid causation is a hybrid solution: Studies generally show that treatment is better than no treatment, and its hardly coddling criminals to institute a program of close supervision, drug therapy, and counseling. If science is proved even 10 percent right and nature has some hand in creating a pedophile, lifelong imprisonment solves only one immediate problemwarehousing dangerous citizens. But it raises a more immediate problemwe may be punishing sick people who could have been helped.
Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerrold Nadler. Photo: REX/Shutterstock

Two months after Democrats took control of the House, the Judiciary Committee is getting down to business. Chairman Jerrold Nadler on Monday launched a broad investigation into President Trump, issuing document requests for 81 people and entities tied to him and potentially beginning to lay the groundwork for impeachment.

The committee told reporters on Monday that the investigation will focus on three primary topics, according to NPR: whether the president obstructed justice by interfering with criminal investigations; potential corruption such as violation of campaign and financial reporting laws, as well as possible misuse of office for personal gain; and abuses of power to include misuse of the pardon power and attacks on the press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

Those receiving requests for documents include Trumps charity, business, campaign, and inaugural committee. Two of his children  Eric and Donald Trump Jr.  are also on the list of 81, as is son-in-law Jared Kushner. Other names on the list include Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Steve Bannon.

A list of the 81 recipients of letters seeking documents from House Judiciary Committee pic.twitter.com/wzNaV5MOkh  Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) March 4, 2019

Counsel for the committee told NBC News that the goal of the requests is to amass a very large treasure trove of evidence to guide its investigation. And though Nadler said on Sunday that impeachment is a long way down the road, the possibility of removing Trump from office looms over the investigation. After all, the Judiciary Committee is where impeachment proceedings would begin.

Nadler, who has already said that its very clear that Trump obstructed justice, didnt mention the I-word in a statement on Monday. We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people, he said.

Trump suggested on Monday that he will cooperate with the investigation. I cooperate all the time with everybody, he told reporters. But in a speech at CPAC on Saturday, he struck quite the opposite tone. They dont have anything with Russia. Theres no collusion, he said. So now they go and morph into, Lets inspect every deal hes ever done. Were going to go into his finances. Were going to check his deals.  These people are sick.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Monday that hes done the math, and hes going to lose: The Senate will vote to terminate President Donald Trumps national emergency on the Southern border. McConnells acknowledgment came after his fellow Kentuckian Sen. Rand Paul announced over the weekend that he would provide the 51st vote needed to block the presidents legally dubious maneuver. The final tally will likely run higher.

I think what is clear in the Senate, McConnell told reporters in Kentucky, is that there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House. Hes correct on all counts. The White House has already issued an official veto threat, and the House didnt come anywhere close to a veto-proof majority when it passed the resolution last week.

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Even if Congress ultimately proves unable to block Trump, it wont feel like a success for McConnell. The process hes experiencing right now, in which Senate Republicans have to choose between their principles and their president under a bright spotlight that could otherwise be focused on more valuable political terrain, is exactly why he didnt want the president to declare the national emergency in the first place.

As a morally flexible legislative leader, McConnell thinks less in terms of right versus wrong than unifying versus divisive. McConnell might say that he, personally, is a little uneasy about the president stealing money from elsewhere to build a wall. But what makes him truly uneasy is that he knows some members of his caucus feel quite strongly about protecting Congress constitutional power of the purse, or quite strongly about winning re-election in a purple state in 2020.

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When a Republican is reading the Federalist Papers to explain her problem with what other Republicans are doing, McConnells agenda has been derailed.

Thats why, when McConnell was advising Trump earlier this year not to declare a national emergency, his main argument wasnt that it would violate Mitch McConnells Sacred Constitutional Principles or provide the next Democratic president a new avenue for addressing climate change. It was that it would be a divisive issue within his caucus, and that divisiveness would be well-documented.

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell cautioned President Trump privately this week about the consequences of declaring a national emergency to build his border wall, the Washington Post reported on Feb. 1, telling him the move could trigger political blowback and divide the GOP. And he was right.

The Senate Republicans who have already come out against the national emergency have not done so quietly. Paul, who announced his decision in a Fox News editorial, wrote that he would literally lose my political soul if I decided to treat President Trump different than President Obama, and that the only way to be an honest officeholder is to stand up for the same principles no matter who is in power. If youre Mitch McConnell reading this, all youre seeing is one of your senators calling most of your other senators dishonest officeholders.

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North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, who is moving toward the center ahead of his re-election campaign, similarly wrote that he was just standing by the same principles against executive overreach that he stood by under Obama. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who joined with Democrats to introduce the Senate version of the disapproval resolution, cited James Madison in the Federalist Papers to justify this position. When a Republican is reading James Madison in the Federalist Papers to explain her problem with what other Republicans are doing, Mitch McConnells agenda has been derailed.

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In the coming days, McConnell will watch as other critical members of the Republican Senate majority choose to split the baby. Does Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner make the sensible general-election decision in his lean-blue state, even if it invites the wrath of the president? Does Texas Sen. Ted Cruz follow Rand Paul, or does he deliver the punchline to his years of lecturing speeches about the Constitution? Does Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, previously a vocal opponent of the national emergency, add another entry to his list of caves?

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These are the sorts of no-win decisions that McConnell hoped to protect his conference from. In a world where Trump opted not to pursue the national emergency, the poor politics of a debate over the wall would finally be in the rearview. McConnell would be using floor time to cleave Democrats, rather than the other way around, by forcing them to vote repeatedly on banning cows or ending employer-sponsored health insurance.

This might have been the happier, alternate dimension McConnell saw dissipate before his eyes when, on Feb. 14, he announced on the Senate floor that the president would declare a national emergency, and that he had agreed to support it.
Sen. Rand Paul is lending Democrats a hand in their effort to block President Donald Trumps national emergency declaration. Over the weekend the Kentucky lawmaker became the fourth Republican senator to say he would vote in favor of a resolution that would block Trumps measure to build a border wall through an emergency declaration. I cant vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasnt been appropriated by Congress, Paul said at an event in Kentucky, according to the Bowling Green Daily News. We may want more money for border security, but Congress didnt authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, its a dangerous thing.

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Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) had previously said they would vote in favor of the resolution to block Trumps national emergency declaration. With Pauls vote the resolution would pass when it is set to reach the Senate later this month. The House passed the resolution on Tuesday in a 245-182 vote with the support of 13 Republicans. Trump has vowed to veto any resolution that would block his emergency declaration. It would be the first veto of his presidency but would almost certainly assure he would get his way since lawmakers wouldnt have the votes to override the veto.

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Around a dozen Republican senators are still undecided and more could speak up now that Paul made the announcement. Pauls decision to become the deciding vote could free other senators to voice their opposition, notes Politico. A significant bloc of Republicans dislike the national emergency, though some senators question whether that will translate to yes votes on the disapproval resolution. Some senators have been wary of breaking with the president on border security issues even if they disagree with the national emergency declaration. That is why many of those who are supporting the resolution are framing the opposition in terms of separation of powers rather than characterizing it as a vote either for or against Trump.

Its unclear when the Senate will vote on the resolution. Officially, the Senate has 18 days from the date the House approved the resolution to carry out its own vote.
Benjamin Netanyahus Likud Party recently put up a billboard at an entrance to Tel Aviv showing the Israeli prime minister shaking hands with President Donald Trump over the caption Netanyahu. In another league. Its not surprising that Netanyahu wants to tout his close relationship with the American president: Trump is popular in Israel, particularly among potential Netanyahu voters, for decisions such as withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state. But after the news last week that Israels attorney general plans to indict Netanyahu on corruption charges, just six weeks ahead of closely contested national elections, the juxtaposition of the two men could also have uncomfortable connotations. The legal and political predicaments both leaders are facing have plenty of parallels.

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Like the Trumps, Netanyahu and his family have been the subject of what feels like an interminable investigation, with developments and information coming in drips and drabs while opponents hope against hope that the justice system will finally remove him from office. As in the U.S., the motivations of the attorney general, a former Netanyahu ally, have been called into question. In both cases, the squalid tabloid details are irresistible: In place of the overpriced portrait and porn star hush-money payments that featured into Michael Cohens testimony, Netanyahus case features alleged bribes in the form of pink champagne, cigars, and Mariah Carey tickets. Both men even share a high-profile defender in the form of celebrity law professor Alan Dershowitz.

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Most importantly, both men have attempted to use the investigations to their own advantage by painting them as political witch hunts. The left understands that they will not beat me at the ballot box, Netanyahu said last week after the attorney generals announcement. They exerted extraordinary pressure on the attorney general to issue an indictment even though there is nothing, in order to influence the elections and to crown a left-wing government. This echoes Trumps charge over the weekend that Robert Mueller put 13 of the angriest Democrats in the history of our country on the commission in order to avenge Hillary Clintons electoral defeat.

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With Knesset elections scheduled for April 9, Israelis will learn before Americans how well this strategy works out. Israels center-left opposition uncharacteristically appears to have its act together heading into this election. An alliance led by former IDF chief of staff Benny Gantz and former finance minister Yair Lapid is leading Netanyahus Likud party in recent polls. Netanyahu cannot actually be indicted until a court hearing , which wont be held until months after the election. Even then, he wouldnt have to step down unless hes convicted, which could take years. But the charges are quickly becoming the dominant issue of an election that will be mostly a referendum on Netanyahu. As with Trump, his base is likely to stick with him: 42 percent of Israelis believe the charges against him are politically motivated.

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Echoing Trumps recent attacks on socialism and the Green New Deal, Netanyahu has painted Gantz as a leftist whose government would undermine Israels security. Netanyahu has also been pandering to far-right nationalism, forging an alliance last week with an extremist, racist Otzma Yehudit party. The Times of Israel reports that he favored a slogan describing the election as a choice between Bibi or [Arab MK Ahmad] Tibi, who he claims is in cahoots with Gantz. Trump is not exactly above these sorts of tactics.

As with the investigation into Trump, the charges hanging over Netanyahu could either lead to his removal from office, orif he beats the odds as he has time and again in his long career and wins re-electionleave the countrys politics even more fractured, destabilized, and open to extremists. Americans should be paying close attention this April.
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.
Rastislav Trnka, President of the Kosice Self-governing Region, addresses the problems associated with the brain drain phenomenon and offers some examples of policy measures introduced in Kosice.

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The beginning of the New Year started with unflattering statistics. Two districts were added to the list of the least developed ones in Slovakia. Overall, their number increased from 16 to 20 last year. Nevertheless, there were only 12 in 2015, when the law on support of lagging districts was passed.

The OECD analyses show that Slovakia is one of the countries of the European Union with the highest regional disparities and income inequality. We took the 29th place out of 32. People living in the east and south parts of Central Slovakia earn significantly less than people living in the capital city. The differences are evident not only in the level of income but also within the unemployment rate. How is it possible that, even if we have been aware of these figures for several years, the lagging behind of the least developed districts is deepening and even more new districts are getting on the list?

The fact is that the west of Slovakia registers the lowest unemployment rate in the long run. Companies and employers are facing the problem of a lack of qualified workforce. There are also employers in the Kosice Self-Governing Region who find it more difficult to look for new employees. In most cases it is a qualified profession, especially in the IT field. To compare, in 2007, less than 1,000 people worked in the IT sector in Kosice, today it is about 12,000. An IT hub has been developed and it has a significant position on the labor market. Not even this fact prevented the seven districts of our region from belonging to those which need support through action plans.

I am convinced that there might be several factors behind these results. Low qualification of long-term unemployed people is one of them. In many cases, these are marginalized groups of people who do not have basic education or those who have no working habits.

Brain drain presents another major problem that contributes to deepening the differences in individual regions. The statistics of health insurance companies and the Institute of Financial Policy between the years 2010 and 2013 demonstrate that every tenth university graduate went abroad, whereas up to 14% of Slovak students attended foreign schools. This trend persists. The quality of the available workforce goes on suffering from the brain drain phenomenon. Highly qualified young people, mainly in the eastern part of Slovakia, are not able to find suitable employment with respect to their education or pay requirements.

From the position of the Kosice Self-Governing Region, we do our best to work on these issues. For example through attempts to integrate marginalized groups of the population. We have launched an experimental verification program to admit students with a mild degree of intellectual disability to one of our high schools this school year. These students can normally only study at special schools, however, we have accepted them to a standard vocational school that focuses on traditional crafts departments. Along with education, these students will also develop basic working habits that will undoubtedly help them in the future. The admission of these students has proved successful and we can already say that they are doing well.

We are also beginning with the implementation of the first projects funded by the Integrated Operational Program. Due to the lengthy setting up of the processes by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Deputy Prime Ministers Office for Investments and Informatization, it has been five years since the seven-year budget period started, but I am convinced that the big investments can move the regional development forward.

For many potential investors, the lack of transport infrastructure in the eastern part of the country represents a major problem. As for the 2nd class roads and 3rd class roads that fall under our region, last year we managed to repair three times more kilometers than the year before. However, about 30% of regional roads still remain in bad technical condition.

Our long-term effort is to promote dual education at our high schools, to cooperate with employers, to support IT classes and to create favorable conditions for creative people in our region. We do not want young people to leave our country and if they do so, we would like them to come back. It will only be extremely difficult to achieve this goal without cooperation of strong partners at national level.

Rastislav Trnka is President of the Kosice Self-Governing Region

Originally published in Connection, the magazine published by AmCham Slovakia.
This support for domestic tourism will be burden for bigger Slovak employers.

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Within the package of support measures for tourism in Slovakia, the Slovak Parliament has adopted an amendment in the Labour Code introducing a recreational allowance, referred to as the holiday voucher by media. The amendment came into force on 1 January, 2019. Its primary purpose is to support tourism in Slovakia by encouraging employees to visit interesting places in Slovakia; their travel costs are then reimbursed by employers. According to Slovak lawmakers, a similar system already exists in several other EU countries, such as France, Hungary and Italy, and has increased domestic tourism.

However, this new measure will be a burden for larger Slovak employers. The obligation to provide employees with holiday vouchers only applies to companies with more than 49 employees. Other employers may voluntarily decide whether to provide an allowance to employees in the form of a tax-free benefit. Only employees who will have worked for their employer for more than two years on the day their holiday begins will be entitled to ask for the vouchers.

Dusan Nitschneider, Partner

Employers may adjust their system of employee benefits, but they must avoid any discrimination between employees who apply for vouchers and those who do not. In other words, employers are allowed to reduce other voluntarily provided benefits, but they are forbidden to incorporate the recreational allowance into the benefits system as an alternative benefit.

How does it work?

The recreation allowance could be provided in two ways. The first is in the form of an electronic payment card tied to a specific employee, valid until the end of the calendar year in which it was issued. The second is as a direct payment to an employee on his or her payday, subject to legal conditions.

The contribution amounts to 55% of the employees eligible expenses, up to a maximum of EUR 275 per year. Eligible expenses cover accommodation or other tourism packages associated with accommodation for at least two overnight stays in Slovakia for the employee, his or her spouse and/or children (sorry, no vouchers for LGBT partners) or for holiday camps for the children of employees.

What's the potential fallout?

A majority of Slovak employees dream of seaside holidays spent by the Slovak sea in Croatia. But even if you are used to spending your holidays abroad by the sea, would you not consider spending a weekend with your family in a domestic destination if 55% of the costs were covered by your employer? Of course, you would! Could employers adjust their bonus schemes, without the fear that they are demotivating employees in these times of workforce shortage? Of course not!

This new incentive does not put more cash into employees pockets but rather pushes them to spend more. Employers are also forced to provide vouchers, even if they were considering some other form of benefit for their employees. Surprisingly, they open up the doors for payment card providers and generate new business for them. Overall, they bring too much regulation into an already overregulated area of employment, rather than give parties the freedom to agree on whats the best option for them.

Controversial link to socialist times.

What makes these vouchers even more ridiculous is the fact that a similar system was put in place in the 1950s. Many people remember the film S Andelem na horach (Mountain holidays with Mr. Angel) where the group of employees used their holiday vouchers for romantic holidays in the High Tatras. Rather than an Oscar-worthy movie, this was more of a propagandic story of the socialist regime. And so are the vouchers themselves.

Who's the winner?

As an employee, would you feel more motivated to work if you had these holiday vouchers? As an employer, would you be happy to spend 275 EUR on each employee without the ability to decide what would be the best for your employees? NO is most likely your answer to both questions. And when you realize that it creates a new business for payment card providers who will automatically get a 3% commission for every voucher, the frustration increases.

Overall, holiday vouchers just increase salary costs and decrease the competitiveness of the economy, which may lead to more dramatic changes on the market in the long run. And, as lord Keynes said in the long run, we are all dead.
Slovakia based AIRCRAFT REPAIR COMPANY TRENCIN - LOTN provides a completed general overhaul of another Mi-17 helicopter.

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Aircraft Repair Company Trencin  LOTN are prepared to deliver the next Mi-17 helicopter to the Afghan air force after a general overhaul. The helicopter was repaired by the company on the basis of a contract with the NSPA (NATO Support and Procurement Agency) won in 2016 in public tender.

Despite the existence of sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation, while still operating in full compliance with all applicable international and national regulations, LOTN is continuing to support the highly-prized general repairs of the Mi-17 helicopters for its customers. This series of helicopter repairs are the result of the highly professional work ethic and determination of our company, "said CEO and Chairman of the Board LOTN JUDr. Martin Dusanic. He was also complemented by the Minister of Defense of the Slovak Republic, Peter Gajdos, who visited a state-owned joint stock company in Trencin to personally see for himself how the contract between LOTN and NSPA was being fulfilled. "I can assume that the work is in full compliance with the contract. Therefore, I want to highlight the expertise and professionalism of all employees of LOTN. They confirm that Slovakia has truly excellent experts, which make our companies competitive and they can also apply in an international environment, "emphasized Defense Minister Peter Gajdos regarding LOTNs fulfilment of their obligations.

General repairs of Russian Mi-17 helicopters are a decades-long production program of LOTN. Collaboration with Russian manufacturing companies and MVZ Milja, an author-design organisation, has been instrumental in harnessing Slovak labor forces as well as supporting and preserving brands of high-quality helicopters that are still used around the world.

LOTN received a contract for general repairs of helicopters Mi-17V-5 as early as 2016, thanks to their success in the NSPA public international competition.

For more information please contact press@lotn.sk or go to http://www.lotn.sk/?lang=en.
Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak says we need to understand that we need the alliance.

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US President Donald Trump is aware that NATO is important not only for Europe but also for the US, and he no longer doubts its role.

This is what NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said during his meeting with students in the eastern Slovak city of Kosice.

In the past, Trump has criticised other NATO member states for failing to meet their contribution targets.

NATO has changed, we have increased our efforts in the fight against terrorism, we made a big progress in the defeat of the ISIS, Stoltenberg said in Kosice. Trump sees that NATO members and allies invest more in defence now.

Slovakia too increased its defence spending, the Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said. Today, Slovakia spends some 1.73 percent GDP on defence. The required share is 2 percent GDP. In 2017, only six of the 29 member states reached that level of spending. Lajcak expects Slovakia to reach the limit in 2022.

Kiska spoke about defence

Stoltenberg came to Kosice to attend the meeting of the Bucharest 9 states, that gathers together the nine states of the eastern wing of NATO.

Nine presidents and NATO Secretary General met in Kosice on February 28. (Source: Sme)

Slovak President Andrej Kiska hosted the presidents of Czechia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. They too discussed defence.

Kiska and Stoltenberg agreed that politicians need also to talk about security in times of peace.

We discussed the need to explain to our citizens how important it is to invest in our defence. To secure the protection of our citizens is the main task of the state, Kiska said.

During his discussion with students, organised by the non-governmental think tank Globsec, Stoltenberg also answered questions about Russia as a threat.

He said that the troops at the borders of member states are meant to prevent, not provoke conflict. He said NATO sufficiently supports the Ukraine and demands that the Minsk Agreement be observed.

Stoltenberg also said that NATO has enough evidence that the separatists in Donbas are supported by Russia, in answer to a question that cast doubt on the Russian involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

Is there an alternative?

In Kosice, the presidents and Stoltenberg also discussed how to best explain the working of NATO and the need for the alliance.

What is a better alternative? There is no better alternative than to be a trustworthy and credible partner in the EU and NATO, the NATO head said.

Lajcak admitted that politicians are partially responsible for the fact that pro-Russian sentiment is on the rise in central Europe.

It creates chaos, he said. People have lost the feeling that European institutions deal with their problems and protect them.

He stressed the need to cultivate the debate in NATO member states.

It is important to understand that we need NATO and that we need collective defence, he said.

NATO is the only and the cheapest possibility of effective protection, according to Lajcak.

Sme
He did not sign a new contract with his firm to manage his presidential campaign between 2013 and 2014. But, the KTAG claimed a tax deduction for the campaign expenditures.

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Where did Slovakia's President Andrej Kiska go wrong when funding his 2014 presidential campaign? Why has the investigator initiated the criminal prosecution of Eduard Kuckovsky, a manager of Kiska's KTAG firm? Could the Slovak president also face criminal prosecution?

The biggest problem in financing Kiska's campaign is the president's contract with his own KTAG firm, an analysis by the Sme daily shows. It is based on available information, including the statement of charges against Kuckovsky.

If Kiska had entered into a proper contract with his firm, explicitly stating the company would manage his election campaign, and paid for the company's invoices, the KTAG could defend its expenses on the president's campaign before a tax office more easily.

Apparently, Kiska had not intended to avoid paying taxes because the KTAG paid them (including VAT) in due time. Nonetheless, it was later discovered that the company had paid less on taxes at a certain point. The firm paid the due money, however.

Kiska funded his campaign with his own funds, which he had deposited in the KTAG. Yet, there are still irregularities prevalent in this case.

The president has an estimated fortune of several million euros.

1) Campaign as a business activity
Protesters outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul last October. Photo: Yasin Akgul/AFP/Getty Images

The body of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was never found because it was burned in an outdoor oven at the residence of the Saudi consul general in Istanbul, a new documentary alleges.

The film aired Sunday on Al Jazeera Arabic and included an interview with a worker who helped build the oven. The worker said that the oven had to be deep and withstand temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius  hot enough to melt metal, Al Jazeera reports.

According to the film, Turkish authorities watched the oven burn from outside the residence. They also saw bags, thought to contain Khashoggis dismembered body, carried inside. They said the burning took place over the course of three days. Afterward, the cover-up began: Large quantities of barbeque meat were grilled in the oven after the killing in order to cover up the cremation of the Saudi writers body, Al Jazeera learned from the Turkish authorities.

The allegation in the documentary lines up with a recent report from Anadolu, Turkeys state-run TV station, which last month cited a police report that said Khashoggis body was turned to ash at the consulate.

Turkish police officially stopped looking for Khashoggis body more than a month after his disappearance on October 2, 2018. When the search ended on November 10, authorities had another theory about what happened to Khashoggis dismembered body: They thought it was dissolved in acid.
The authorities were aware of the activities of Ndrangheta in eastern Slovakia years ago, says Maria Grazia Mazzola.

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There are phone calls that concern top representatives of Slovak politics and Antonino Vadala, the man who faces charges of drug trafficking in Italy and is reportedly related to the Italian underworld group, 'Ndrangheta.

Read also:

Read also: A murderer, an MP, a model: Who is who in the case Kuciak was investigating Read more

Italian journalist Maria Grazia Mazzola who has been dealing with the Kuciak case, confirmed this for the Sme daily.

Mazzolla claims that the Slovak police have known about Antonino Vadala and the system of 'Ndrangheta in Slovakia since as early as 2013.

Slovak police knew about 'Ndrangheta years ago

"In 2013, the Slovak police investigated the illegal use of EU funds by Vadala and other Italian entrepreneurs," Mazzola told Sme. "They also had relationships with Slovak investigators. That cannot be denied. I have read it."

Read also:

Read also: Kalinak misled: police received info on Vadala 5 years ago Read more

Sme contacted Italian journalists with questions about the phone call between Fico and Vadala that La Repubblica and Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) wrote about. Fico has denied having ever spoken with Vadala on the phone and he told journalists that Italian prosecutors have confirmed to the Slovak Embassy in Rome that no information about such a phone call exists.

Both Mazzola, who works for the Italian public-service broadcaster RAI, and Carlo Bonini from La Repubblica, confirmed the existence of the phone call for Sme.

Fico kept Troskova close, despite her ties with Vadala

Prosecutor Gaetano Calogero Paci from the office in Reggio Calabria, Italy, did not disprove this in his statement for Sme either. He said he did not care what Fico is saying. He explained that prosecutors must remain impartial and "lead investigations, not journalistic polemics".

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Read also: Cocaine hidden in fruit Read more

Mazzola explained for Sme that Italian prosecutors are not allowed by law to talk about information concerning investigations.

She did however stress that the Slovak police investigated the use of EU funds for agriculture in Slovakia by ten entrepreneurs, including Vadala.

"Jan Kuciak found a very important link between the EU funds and these entrepreneurs," Mazzola said. She stressed that the question of how that investigation ended remains unanswered. "But there's more: How could the Slovak government be so uninformed that they did not know who Vadala was and how could the prime minister [Fico] have [Maria] Troskova next to him when she had links to Vadala? The Slovak police knew that in 2013. This calls for consequences to be faced."
Austrian diplomat Helfried Carl is expected to build a new democracy initiative with Council of Europe member states.

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Former Austrian Ambassador to Slovakia, Helfried Carl, has become Senior Director of the Innovation in Politics Institute.

Together, he and the institute will launch the new European democracy initiative, to promote innovation for a vibrant democracy in politics and civil society, the institute wrote on its website. It highlighted, among other things, Carls experience from the Austrian parliament and his international perspective.

I am delighted by this new, exciting task, Carl said, as quoted on the website. Democracy is the essence of the European way of life, which we must continue to develop in these turbulent times in order to preserve it. The institutes positive, innovative approach to new forms of political work is exactly the right approach for this challenge.

Carl returned from Slovakia at the end of January, where he had been posted as Austrian ambassador since 2014.

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Read also: Austrian Ambassador: I like almost everything about Slovakia Read more

Between 2008 and 2014, he was office manager and foreign policy advisor to Barbara Prammer, the president of the National Council, who died in 2014. He gained further diplomatic experience as deputy head of cabinet of the then High Representative in Bosnia, Ambassador Wolfgang Petritsch, at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations in New York and as the first Austrian secondment to the British Foreign Ministry.

Carl studied political science and a combination of law and history at Salzburg University as well as international relations and international economics at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna/Italy and Washington D.C.
Its true! Everything you know about tea is wrongor at least, if youre me. I grew up on tea bags; I can still see them right now, a yellow box of Lipton tea bags, hanging out in the back of the middle shelf of the bank of cupboards in my mothers kitchen. Maybe this article should have been titled Everything Jordan Knows About Tea Is WrongI apologize for making assumptions by using the royal you.

Until a very short time ago, tea was this very ancillary, secondary, overlooked thing in my life. I usually drank it (if I drank it at all) served as iced tea, sweetened of course if I was in the American South, or served dry as a bone over great hulking chunks of ice with a lemon wedge on that rare hot day in the Pacific Northwest, where I grew up. I didnt take tea seriouslyI ignored it on coffee shop menus, I didnt make it for myself at home, I couldnt really tell you anything about the various styles and varieties. I didnt own a gaiwan or any tea-making gear, even at the entry level. I was oblivious to its many cultures and subcultures and rich history.

I was fucking up and I didnt even know it.

And then very suddenly, everything changed. It started, like literally every major event over the last decade in my life, because of coffee. More specifically, because of a story I was assigned to write for Sprudge. We had noticed an uptick in tea quality at high-end cafes, specifically here in Portland, where the San-Francisco-based tea company Song Tea was showing up on the menu at a couple of the good local coffee bars. We started following Song and realized they were being placed in several well-respected cafes around the country. A hypothesis emerged.

In the early days of Sprudge you could tell if a coffee shop was any good just by the gear. If you walked into a coffee bar in 2009 and they had a La Marzocco and a Mahlkonig, you knew they likely gave a shit. Nowadays its harder to tell quite so easily, as the third wave coffee movement has exploded and things like gear and interior design have become more copycat. But maybe this tea brand was on to something; maybe Song was sort of like a third-party quality control vetting system, and that by only going into good coffee shops, we could look at them as a kind of hack. If a cafe serves Song, they must be good.

And so I went to San Francisco and interviewed Peter Luong, Song Teas founder, who grew up in his familys tea shop and has been traveling for tea sourcing since he was a kid. You can read the interview hereits an okay interview, I think, and it helped turn more people on to the good work Peter is doing. But the subtext of that interview is what leads us here today. Because throughout it, while I asked Peter rudimentary questions about Songs approach to tea in a coffee context, he was making tea the entire time. Teas like I had never, ever tried beforewonderful buttercream oolongs and chocolatey roasted tieguanyins, Cypress smoked black tea like a campfire jujube and endlessly complex Sichuan greens, all of it served in a procession of simple, stunning, utterly pleasurable teawares. Peter was serving me his own personal take on gong fu cha as I interviewed him, and honestly, it changed my life.

I left high. Floating. Tea drunk, tea stoned, whatever you want to call it. (Although if we really want to get into what psychotropic most mimicked by a sizable consumption of tea, I think its closest to a gentle microdose of psilocybin.) Blowing like a feather in the wind around Pacific Heights, with a laptop full of notes and no particular place to head next, clutching my backpack now full of teas for steeping back home.

And steep back home I didpot after pot, with a strict 10:00pm cutoff so as not to mess with my sleep schedule, chasing the sensory memory of that incredible experience in San Francisco. I love a rabbit hole, a new world to explore, and tealike coffee, and like natural wineoffered a vast and never-ending beverage culture to soak up like a sponge.

Tea quickly became a daily part of my creative and personal life. I found myself writing better, or at least writing more voluminously (which I know should not be mistaken for better but often feels like it) while consuming an ever-growing raft of teas. I started exploring different brands, seeking out interesting tea accounts on Instagram, pouring through websites big and small, from tea purveyors based in China to tea purveyors based a few blocks from my house. I started collecting teawares, began following talented ceramicists from around the world, and startedslowly at firstto begin making tea for others, as a form of expression for this new passion.

I also began traveling with tea in mind, seeking out tea experiences in different parts of the country and digging out time for tea alongside Sprudges busy travel schedule. An hour here, an hour there, ducking out of a festival on my lunch break or landing with an extra day to explore tea shops across a city. Along this path I started talking with the people who run these tea shops and bars, asking them about their own journeys with tea, their own perspectives on the drink and the multitudes it contains.

And through it all, I learned a couple of surprising things.

First, tea people are by and large kind to each other. I learned this first by haunting the Instagrams and Reddit forums for tea drinkers, and by taking on some local tea writing for the alt-weekly here in Portland, which got me into more and more local tea bars, begetting more and more happy, sunshiney, tea-stoned conversations. On the internet, and IRL, tea conversations appear at least to this outsider to be mostly full of positivity and kindness. Its one of the nicest Reddits, which is really saying something, and on Instagram you have to look hard to find tea people being shitty to each other. I can assure you this is not always the case in coffee, and it is really not the case in wine.

The notion of teas inherent kindness landed while I was sitting in a tea bar on New Yorks Upper West Side called Floating Mountain, whose owner, Lina Medvedeva, escaped the world of Manhattan finance to open a serene, meditative, beautiful little second floor tea bar and gallery above W 72nd Street. Over a single pot of Phoenix Dan Cong (I can still taste its warm red comforting flavors now, months later writing this) we talked about her past life, her upbringing in Russias far east, near Vladivostok (We grew up drinking tea like water), and how Floating Mountain came to be. It was once a tailor shop, and today is imbued with the most glorious Manhattan light, streaming in through floor to ceiling windows, like an oasis of energy and calm in the middle of the city, just blocks from The Dakota and Central Park.

Linas gong fu cha is minimalist, with everything just sonothing extravagant, nothing loud. A tea scoop from the Czech Republic, made from vitrified bogwood. A simple porcelain gaiwan. A glass water kettle. An hour became two, and I was then hopelessly late for my next appointment, but I remember asking: Is it just me, or do tea people seem rather content? Like as a culture, it seems to be a pretty positive placedo you agree?

You can never know the inside of another mind, she replied, but the tea speaks. There isnt much left to say.

A few weeks and a thousand miles later I sat for another tea experience, where I learned a lesson on teas power to transform our very souls. This time it was inside an unassuming house, on a nondescript street amongst a row of clapboard little boxes in suburban Columbus, Ohio. This is the home of Andrew Richardson, who goes by Liquid Proust on Instagram and runs a fast-growing digital tea company of the same name. His focus is on rare and aged teas, typically from Yunnan but also some truly remarkable oolongs from Taiwan and eastern China. His entire business and network of tea community happens online, and walking up to the house, you would never in a million years guess that inside it dwells one of the foremost young American collectors and distributors of vintage single-origin tea.

Nearly every surface inside of Andrews house is covered in tea: tuongs, satchels, bags, parcels, caddies, ceramic resting jars, wooden commemorative chests, boxes and boxes and boxes with China Post shipping labels affixed (oh, what the mailman must think!) and enough shipping material to ensure safe passage between here and Mars and back, Express Class. There is more tea in this house than one person could drink in a thousand lifetimes, though I suspect Liquid Proust would die happy trying. In his cluttered office (tea, tea everywhere) across an industrial minimalist metal tea table, Andrew brewed me a procession of increasingly rare and fine teas, and talked to me at length about his growing business.

Liquid Proust began as a side hustle from Andrews full-time job, which is as a business advisor and student in a corporate MBA program. He fell down a particular sub-section of the tea rabbit hole, chatting with tea purveyors in China and Taiwan and Malaysia using auto translate programs, assuming financial risk by purchasing lotslarge and smallof vintage tea, and documenting all of it on Instagram. Today his website is an ever-changing array of tea offerings, collaborative buys and special lots, handpacked from his home in Ohio.

Tea has been a transformative force in Andrews life. Tea has taught me to be accepting, he told me. I grew up in a very conservative religious family, and without tea, I think I be like somebody totally different. A Christian conservative Trump supporter, most likely. He grew up drinking Bewleys tea bags with his family, he tells me sheepishly, and I can relate. As tea gained more and more prominence in his life, the old vestiges and relationships of his past life fell away. He fell into a new world of tea drinkers and tea loversdiverse, international, accepting, kind. His doors are always open to fellow tea heads on the same journey.

People come to this house from around the world, he tells me, as we look over jar after jar, bag after bag, an entire living room given over to boxes to ship, every square inch of kitchen counter overflowing with tea from his remarkable collection. We just start laughing together, and talking. Its almost like drinking beerif you drink enough tea you get silly after a while, and then you get to really hear about peoples lives, their views on religion and love, and who they truly are. I would have never had this conversation beforeI would have never known you.

Too soon I was back outside in the Ohio chill, waiting for a Lyft to take me back into the city, my bag and mind and heart crammed full to bursting with tea. I started crying in the back of the car.

As a Western tea drinker, tea doesnt need me. Not economically, not culturally, and certainly not spiritually. Indeed, there is something almost comically absurd about obsessing over tea here in America, thousands of miles from where its cultivated and revered, separated by a vast ocean both literal and cultural, although Id like to think its kind of modern and cool toobridging language and culture gaps digitally over a shared love for something truly good. But the economy and language of tea is quite happily percolating along in the countries where tea is produced, a brisk market of sales and consumption and obsession. Tea is not, like coffee, primarily an export crop. Its more like winethe cultures that grow it most revere it, and typically keep all the good shit close to home. Indeed, as I understand it is only relatively recently that truly great teas from China and Taiwan have even been available for mass consumption in the United States. General access to premiere quality tea in America is a fairly new thing informed by the opening up of Chinas flexible take on communism vis-a-vis small business growth, the linking of our world through the towering modern marvels of online shopping, international shipping (thanks China Post!) and global free trade.

Tea prices, trade wars, globalism: all of this is made possible by international commerce and the free movement of goods and services and ideas through international markets. Like coffee, tea is an unexpectedly and explicitly political product to consume in the best of times. And today? When these trade freedoms are imperiled by tariffs and racism and shudderingly incompetent political leadership? Drinking good tea in America right now is a profoundly political act, more so than at any time since the American revolution.

Tea doesnt need the West but I think we need it. I think we could all stand to sit with this stuff as a regular part of our lives; not to replace coffee in the mornings, or instead of wine at night, but as a bridge and a complementary force alongside the other drinks we already love. Tea is a vast, bottomless, endlessly complex world of styles, producers, history, modern expression, accoutrement and idiosyncrasy. It is a lifetimeindeed, many happy lifetimesof culinary inquiry. Drinking good tea can make your life better. Drinking good tea has definitely made my life better, made me a happier person and a more creative thinker, a better friend and colleague and partner. It has comforted me in times of sadness and tragedy, and I have celebrated good news with it, and it has been there for me as alacrity fuel of the highest order on plain old boring work nights.

I strongly recommend drinking a lot of good tea to anyone who wants to better know their own mind. Bathe your brain in theanine any possible chance you get. Think of it almost as like a performance-enhancing drug for your life.

I will end this essay by telling you a secret. Im the guy from Sprudge which means that every so often at an event (be it family or promotional) someone expects me to make coffee. And I can do it serviceably well enough. Im okay at it, but I dont think Im particularly great at it, or that I approach it with the easy confidence and muscle memory of a champion barista or anything. My coffee brewing prowess is nothing special, and I always kind of dread being asked, because it comes with a lot of expectations that frankly Ive done nothing to deserve beyond stringing lots of flowery words together.

But I love making tea. Adore it, really. I love making it for myself, for my friends and family, for guests at our Sprudge offices in Portland, at parties or brunches or pretty much wherever. I love (and I mean love) the ceramics; I love the tactile change from dry to porous; I love the flavor variation across a long session; I love the steeping rhythm; I love the intimacy it creates, the way you really get to know someone somewhere between the fourth and seventh cup. Some of the very best conversations of my life have taken place over the last two years, with friends new and old, across a gaiwan.

My dream is that someday I will be able to give my own personal expression of gong fu cha to someone else and change their life, too, by opening their eyes and mind up to what tea can be, just as Peter Luong and Lina Medvedeva and Liquid Proust have done for me.

Its the least I can do.

Jordan Michelman (@suitcasewine) is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

Editor: Liz Clayton.

All photos by Anthony Jordan III (@ace_lace) unless otherwise noted. The top image for this feature depicts a ceramic teascoop chahe from Russian ceramicist Anton Filonov, distributed in the United States by Liquid Proust.

Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
Its Tea Week here on Sprudge, which means were turning our attention to the wide world of Camellia sinensis and beyond for a weeklong deep-steep of coffees leafy counterpart. This includes News Wire, Sprudges daily hard-hitting coverage of coffee news from around the world, which will spending the next five days scouring the internet for the best tea stories going.

But were going to ease into Tea Week here on Wire, with a story oh so familiar to coffee news readers, but with some of the names changed.

TEA! Its the key to long life! Specifically green tea. In a recent article in the New York Post, red wine, salty snacks, and none other than green tea are espoused by The Longevity Solution authors Dr. Jason Fung and James DiNicolantonio as a recipe for living to an advanced age.

To reach these conclusions, Funga nephrologistand DiNicolantonioa doctor of pharmacologylook to blue zones, areas of the world with the longest living populations, for clues, one of them being Okinawa, Japan. Their research yielded some fairly standard longevity cures: dont eat a lot of meat, animal products like eggs and cheese, or processed foods; eat vegetables and whole grains; and get your protein from plant-based options like nuts and legumes. But they also had a few suggestions that amount to more than simply, eat right, dummy.

One such suggestion was green tea, which Fung says suppresses the appetite and boosts the metabolism a bit. The article also notes that some research suggests that the drink can help ward off cancer, and the positive health benefits of caffeine have been widely reported here on Sprudge. Fung goes on to suggest drinking it without cream and sugar, because no duh. If your goal is to be healthy, adding milk fat and sweet, sweet empty calories aint it. Instead, opt forand this is Sprudge speaking here, not Fungany of these lovely green teas from Japan sourced by Kettl of Brooklyn (we especially like the Ogura Gyokuro) or this beautiful White Dragonwell from San Franciscos Song Tea. Head on over to Sprudges tea buying guide for more tips and suggestions.

The doctors also suggest one to two glasses a wine a day (we have a website for that too!) as well as salty foods for added longevity, and a generally happy life anyway. Because whats the point of living a long time if youre eating flavorless food?

As youll probably see suggested across Sprudge this week, maybe consider adding a little tea to your daily drinking ritual. Not only is it a whole world of flavor worth exploring with the same passion and rigor as you would coffee, it may also help you live longer. And the longer you live, the more coffee you can drink. Think about it. Its simple math.

Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.

Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
The tea cake is nothing new. Compressed tea bricks date back to before the Ming Dynasty, where they were traded along the ancient Tea Horse Road across Tibet, Sichuan, and Yunnan. In modern times tea cakes (called bingcha) are most commonly used for Puerh teas hailing from Yunnan, though other kinds of tea cakes and tea bricks are produced throughout mainland China.

For more on the history and culture around tea farming and tea cakes in Yunnan, we strongly recommend reading Lisa Sees seminal historic fiction novel The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane.

For our purposes today, we want to cast our design eye towards how the tea cake form is being reinterpreted here in 2019. Sprudge has a long tradition of covering innovative packaging and branding, and weve been really blown away across the last few months of research by all the cool design work happening across the world of tea. This, too, is of course nothing newtea cakes have long been a platform for beautiful art and calligraphy. But in 2019 the artistic milieu, as interpreted by a new generation of tea lovers, draws from a global field of influence and inspiration, interpolating the form in wild and vivid colorways. The end result looks every bit as much like something you might find in a hypebeast sneaker shop as you would in a tea bar.

This is just a snippet, a soupcon really, of some of our favorite contemporary tea packaging design work. Gaze upon it and feel covetous urges, yes, but too assured that within such neat design wrappings there be flavors and textures to match the trappings.

Kilogram Tea

Nothing else looks quite like Kilogram Tea of Chicago, whose technicolor art mural boxes stand out at home or on a shelf at a coffee bar. For tea design with the coffee drinker in mind, this is some of our very favorite work.

Kuura

Melbourne tea purveyors Kuura brand themselves as tea from the future and from a design and packaging perspective, that about nails it. These are the tea cakes that have most drawn oohs and ahs from office visitors over the last few months, but its also worth noting that theres some quality sourcing work being done here, especially with offerings like their Ghost white tea (pictured below). For pure aesthetic joy its tough to beat Kuuras Prescription Only raw puerh, but be forewarnedthis tea is not for the faint of heart or meek of stomach.

White2Tea

Inarguably some of the coolest design work in the biz and a staff favorite here at Sprudge, White2Tea sources, prints, and ships out of Yunnan. With vivid colors, punk text, and a design scheme drawing from equal parts pop-art and streetwear, if BAPE and Supreme had a tea-stoned cousin, this would be it.

Crimson Lotus

Crimson Lotus of Seattle walk a fine line, pushing both quality and design aesthetics with feet planted in both the West Coast of the United States and the hills and mountains of Yunnan. Owner duo Glen Bowers and Dawa Lamu source exquisite raw and ripe teas from across the region, focusing only the many teas of Yunnan known colloquially as puerh (named for a village in the region, kind of like how Chardonnay is named for a village in Burgundy).

Crimson Lotus are big on artist collaborations, which is how you get works like Honeymoon, a Spring 2018 cake designed in collaboration with The Oolong Drunk and artist Stephanie Osborne, or the sci-fi influenced Forgotten Nebula, designed by Jones Pitsker.

Liquid Proust

Vintage and rare tea import savant Andrew Richardson manages Liquid Proust out of his home in Columbus, Ohiowe visit him there elsewhere in our Tea Week coverage. This stunningly minimalist design for his 2018 Almost white tea cake release is something weve returned to again and againa subtle white gauze offset by simple block text. Sadly this cake is sold out, but watch Liquid Proust on Instagram for upcoming new releases and limited edition drops.

Bitterleaf Teas

Another collaborative piece, this tea cake wrap from artist Jason Wasserman gives us serious back of the notebook bored in class vibes. We love its evocation of the tea itselfBitterleafs Spring 2018 Limited Yiwua raw, powerful tea with many years ahead of it and big-time Year of the Dog cosmic vibes.

Jordan Michelman (@suitcasewine) is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

Photos by Zachary Carlsen and Anthony Jordan III for Sprudge Media Network.





Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
I hesitated in writing this guide. The world of teaware is vast and intimidating, and can be a money pit of fakes and forgeries. It is also where so much of the joy in loving tea can be derived. Ultimately our team felt Tea Week would be incomplete without some sort of feature on teaware. My very best attempt at this here in 2019 is what follows.

For coffee lovers, you might think of teaware as like the espresso machine of the tea world. To casual drinkers or the untrained eye, it just looks like a nice object that makes the thing you drinkand nothing more. But for those who obsess it can become an endless quest of sourcing and seeking, of pride and cost. A lifes pursuit, even. There is no small amount of money to be spent at the top end of teaware buyingmay I call your attention to the infamous Chengua-era chicken cup, which sold for $35 million at Sothebys in 2014. For our purposes this guide caps objects at the $500 range, with prices average considerably less for most of the offerings.

Note that this guide only barely touches on the world of Yixing, the traditional tea pottery of Jiangsu, made using porous clay in a style dating back to the 10th century. This is its own whole world, a vast guide I dont feel prepared to lead at this timeperhaps in a few more years.

For now, these wholesalers and makers are more than enough to get you started and find new favorites. The guide below is hopelessly biased towards my own personal taste but heyteaware is supposed to be personal. Thats part of the fun, and its something I hope you are inspired to explore further with support from this guide

A Solid Foundation

Rishi Tea

Rishi is a truly solid place to get started with home teawares, offering for example this workhorse starter gaiwan for $12, and this cute little basic tea tray for $25. Theyve also got a lovely collection of flex items, like this stunning blue studio-made celadon fairness pitcher from Taiwan, or this rustic clay and mineral cup. Rishi ships free domestic at $25, which is plenty to get started making gong fu chapair that $12 gaiwan with, say, a couple of oolong samples (we like Rishis Iron Goddess of Mercy and Phoenix Dancong) and you are off to the races.

Breville

Breville is the presenting sponsor of Tea Week on Sprudgefor which we thank them!but they also produce a range of tea-focused hot water boilers and teamakers we have no lie legit been happily using in Sprudge Studios for the last few years, long before this content package was a twinkle in the editorial eye. The Breville Tea Maker Compacts tech allows you to set up brew parameters for whatever kind of tea youre into; the machines automated basket then plunges your brew into water heated to your temp of choice. When the cycle is done, the basket lifts out of the water, ensuring you wont oversteep. Id liken this machine to something like a nice home batch brewer, a simplifier thats perfect for tea making on a busy morning or for large groups (for which the classic Tea Maker is a bigger, better fit).

Another option is the Breville Smart Tea Infuser, which we especially dig these Tea Makers for their handiness with single-steep tisanes, like those from Smith Tea, Song Tea, and Tea Dealers featured in our tisane spotlight. We also really like their IQ Kettle Pure (pictured above) for heating water consistently and at scaleyou can transfer from there into a ceramic kettle for service, or pour directly from the Breville IQ.

If you are looking for a fusion of tea, taste and tech, this is the gear for you.

Manual Tea Maker No1

Chicago tinkerer Creighton Barman puts out new stuff each year, typically pre-funded on Kickstarter, but were still in love with this 2016 release, the Tea Maker No1, a modernist reinterpretation of the gaiwan built for ease of brewing. Double-walled glass is the hook here, which keeps the Tea Maker cool to the touch throughout the brewing process, and also gives you peek-a-boo viewing at all that beautiful steeping action. I think these gaiwans offer a rare degree of utility no matter where you are in terms of tea knowledge and experiencethey are rad and very forgiving for beginners who are still mastering the whole gaiwan thing, but also fun for experts who want to incorporate western and modern influences into their teaware collection.

Lets Geek Out

Bitterleaf

With full respect to Bitterleafs collection of teas for drinking (featured in our buying guide), the sites assortment of teawares, tea tools, tea pets, and assorted Chinese tea ephemera is truly deep and excellent.

From beautiful little studio tea cups (starting around $8) to Chaozhou teapots in a range of classic styles (more like $80) to really cute hand-painted animal vessels ($35) to all manner of entry-level trays and supports (prices vary) and much more, there are hundreds of pieces of tea kit to shop from and swoon over at Bitterleaf. I especially like their selection of tea pets, little clay figurines typically depicting children or animals, incorporated into tea service as a symbol of good luck. You feed the tea pet with excess water or tea throughout the teamaking process, with the clay left to develop a lovely luster over repeat feedings. (Its fun. Dont @ me.)

Song Tea

Song Tea are also featured in our tea buying guide for their literally life-changing (as in it changed my life) compendium of meticulously curated tea offerings. But the ceramics offered by Song are on another level. Founder Peter Luong has an eye for relatively young and emerging artists, making commissions across his travels to Taiwan. Works by artists like Zhang Yun Chen (Nantou), Qiu Qing Yun (Meinong), and Hu Tie Ha (Jiefen) evoke whats possible at the blurred edge of collectible art and practical working pottery. I cannot realistically see myself being someone who collects art to hang on the wall, but the idea of owning this Husk #2 tea bowl by Zhang Yun Chen gives me heart palpitations. If you are, say, truly enjoying tea week and would like to, you know, say thank you as a grateful reader or whatever, please buy this for me. DMs are open.

Pu-Erh.Sk

Based in Slovakia, Pu-Erh.sk is an online webshop shipping worldwide, focused on sheng and shou Puer teas from Yunnan. Their tea sourcing is concise and well-consideredthe gushu heads love embut for me the sites focus on Eastern European ceramicists and teaware artisans has been a revelation. Czech artists like Jiri Duchek and Jura Lang are building truly compelling, one-of-a-kind teawares that fuse traditional regional clays with far-flung design influences from the east and west. Pieces like this gorgeous Jura Lang shiboridashi (a kind of Japanese easy gaiwan) are handmade, wood-fired, visually stunning, and sure to grow in beauty over repeated use. For beginning collectors and enthusiasts to be able to get in the door with an artist-specific work like this at just 65 is really special. Elsewhere on the site, Swedish artist Stefan Andersson makes a range of gorgeous wares, while Norwegian brand Ad.Infinitum offers bespoke and vintage tea ceremony linens. All of these makers are brands with followings in their own right, collected by Pu-Erh.sk for easy ordering and global shipping.

Everybodys taste is different, and a lot of tea ceramics collections start and end in Asia, with no deviation. But I really grok the vibe of this stuff coming out of Eastern Europe. To get in at the cutting edge of small maker European ceramics artistry, go here.

Ceramicists To WatchAnd Collect

*A note: While I am personally passionate about ceramics and hopelessly biased towards its validity and urgency as an art form, I also think youwhomever you are reading thismight really dig works from the artists below. The idea of placing a commission with an individual artist might seem intimidating or overly expensive, but were not talking George Ohr here; works from these artists dont typically cost more than $100 for a single piece of teaware, and more like $30-$50 for a handmade cup or set of cups. For less cost than a single dinner at a fancy restaurant you can own and put into daily use your own personal work from a talented artist. It will make your tea taste better, your kitchen look cuter, and who knowsin 50 years you might get a segment on the Antiques Roadshow.

Here are a few talented and emerging ceramicists to follow.

Lilith Rockett

Portland ceramicist Lilith Rockett works across a range of expressions for home pottery, including plates, lighting, vases, and abstract decorative objects. Her stylelustrous soft milky white porcelain, entirely handmadetranslates well into tea, especially the stunning wheel-thrown porcelain gaiwan. A significant amount of tea consumed for the purposes of Tea Week on Sprudge was steeped in just such a piece. Rockett has a webshop, and also accepts limited commissions. You can find her work at some of the best restaurants in the United States, including The French Laundry (Napa), Smyth (Chicago), Saison (San Francisco), and Nodoguro (Portland).

Follow Lilith Rockett on Instagram.

Carole Neilson

Buzzy San Francisco-based artist Carole Neilson fuses the rural pottery traditions of her native Alsace with an irresistible contemporary immediacy. Her eye-catching signature glazes evoke smoke fumes and clouds of dust, making for pottery with an earth-dappled glow. Neilsons range of works include original sculpture pieces and stunning bowl and plate sets, but for tea (and coffee!) drinkers her small cups and pitchers make a lively addition to any collection. Neilsons work is blowing up, with a growing list of stockists, gallery exhibitions at spaces like Hugomento, pop-up dinners around the country (including a recent dinner at Omahas Archetype Coffee), and a successful recent series of artist grants. She is truly an artist to watch. Neilson has a webshop and accepts limited commissions.

Follow Carole Neilson Ceramics on Instagram.

Qi Pottery

Kim Whyee Kee of Qi Pottery first learned his art behind bars. After serving time in the Singaporean corrections system for gang-related crimes, Kee graduated from an arts college, helped co-found a variety of initiatives working with at-risk youth, and launched Qi Pottery in 2016. His style echoes ancient tea traditions, but does so through a burst of heart-stopping colors that demand attention. Vivid pinks, deep blues, mesmerizing blacks, coral redsEaster egg pastels that fuse the practical nature of teaware with the elegance of a home statement piece. But this is no gimmick makerQi Potterys mastery extends to more simple forms, like these beautiful rusted large format cups.

Its simply some of the most beautiful ceramics work Ive ever seen, and for an artist with just a few public showings so far, you can certainly expect these pieces to become more and more sought after and valuable over the years. Qi Pottery has a website, but no webstore. If youre interested in purchasing an existing piece or making a commission, please contact the artist directly via email or Instagram.

Follow Kim Whye Kee of Qi Pottery on Instagram.

Arturo Alvarez

A full-time artist dedicated to original teawares, Arturo Alvarez is based in Olympia, Washington, and crafts art in a range of styles and expressions. We commissioned Alvarez for our office tea set at Sprudge Studios (well be serving tea there this week as part of the Tea Week fun), and follow his regular updates on Instagram, where his account @your_pencil is part of a thriving Instagram ceramics community. Perhaps his most distinctive pieces involve incorporating found materials, including driftwood handles made from wood found across Puget Sound beaches, but this is an artist growing and advancing his craft before our very eyes, letting it all play out online. Follow him and watch alongit feels like hes debuting new pieces almost every day.

Arturo Alvarez sells a limited number of teawares online via Etsy. Contact the artist directly via Instagram for commissions or to purchase pieces featured on his account.

Follow Arturo Alvarez on Instagram.

Andrzej Bero

A teaware potter out of Warsaw, Andrzej Bero specializes in the shiboridashia gaiwan variant thats easy to use and, in the right hands, a piece of working art. Beros shibos are made from clay that feels coarse and tactile to the touch, in a range of dark reds, greens, and blues. This style translates especially well to larger pieces, like his 300ml teapots, which are hotly in demand for tea services around the world. Andrzej Bero has a website but no webstore; a limited number of his works are available for purchase via the aforementioned Pu-Erh.sk. Contact the artist directly for commissions and availability.

Follow Andrzej Bero on Instagram.

Jordan Michelman is a co-founder and editor at Sprudge Media Network. Read more Jordan Michelman on Sprudge.

Editor: Scott Norton.

Top photo by Anthony Jordan III (@ace_lace).

Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
Hello and welcome! We are Sprudge, the worlds most popular coffee publication, and for the last decade, we have published stories all about the world of coffee every single week, sometimes two or three or more a day. But this week, if you will so kindly permit us, wed like to try something a little different.

This week were going to run around a dozen or stories about tea. This is Tea Week on Sprudge presented by Breville USA.

Yes, tea! We really, really love the stuff. But moreover, tea is enjoying a particularly interesting cultural moment right now, as access to better and better quality small lots grows worldwide, and the ancient culture around tea enjoys new interpretations and points of influence. As a beverage and medicinal practice, it is thousands of years old, with roots in mainland China and a cultural footprint across nearly every nation in Asia; and at the same time, it is blowing up right now amongst young people in the all around the world, across social media and Instagram, and at high-end tea shops and coffee bars from Taipei to London to New York.

It has never been easier to have access to great tea, and yet this access is threatened by political forces. Mankinds fundamental urge to trade openly with other peoples and cultures around the world is under attack by an ugly, virulent resurgence of isolationism and racism. Tea stands against all thatit is both old and new, local and global, a personal practice and yet inherently politicaland thats why we love it so much.

Across these pages, youll find stories about tea shops and tea influencers, traders and purveyors, ceramicists and design artists around the world. Well explore how tea interacts with graphic design (Tea Cakes are the New Sneaker Drop), and travel to Taiwan with one of Americas foremost young tea buyers (For Song Tea, Sourcing MattersBut It Isnt Everything). We offer a series of guides on where to buy delicious tea and how to get started with the stuff you need to make it, from ceramics to home brewers like those offered by our sponsors at Breville USA. We talk to tea shop owners like Elena Liao of New York Citys Te Company and Lina Medvedeva of Floating Mountain, both of whom escaped the corporate world to follow their passions into tea entrepreneurship.

Were also looking forward to serving you tea in person this week! On Thursday, March 7th and Friday, March 8th were throwing the doors open to our HQ in Portland for an open tea service, featuring complimentary teas from around the world (featured in our guides) served in artisan ceramics, along with a hands-on chance to explore Breville USAs range of tea brewers, kettles and steepers featured in these articles, including the Tea Maker, Tea Maker Compact, Smart Tea Infuser, Smart Tea Infuser Compact and IQ Kettle Pure. There will also be yummy tea snacks. Check our Instagram for full details!

This is our first real crack at writing about tea on Sprudge, and we wont nearly come close to telling every meaningful story from this deep and fascinating world. We hope to continue writing and reporting on tea in the months and years to come, bringing in more viewpoints and perspectives on the topic along the way. And dont worry, we still love coffee! Coffee and the global industry around it will always be our main focus here at Sprudge, and we assure you, a great many gallons of coffee were brewed and consumed over the course of writing and researching these stories.

But for this week lets cast our eyes together on the world of progressive tea in 2019. Theres fascinating stuff happening here, both from a culinary and cultural perspective. Today tea offers a fascinating global culture mash-up for modern drinkers, and theres never been a better time to fall in love with it.

Happy steeping!

The Sprudge Team

Sprudge Tea Week is presented by Breville USA.
The Pompano Park tote board practically exploded on Sunday night (March 3), as a mandatory payout in the track's Super Hi-5 and the Miller-Tetrick Annual Pro-Am event took centre stage.

Handle was $1.36 million, including a record pool in the Super Hi-5 in excess of $385,000, which sent that total pool with the carryover soaring over the $540,000 plateau.

Though the prohibitive 1-10 favourite, Prairie Panther, was an easy winner in the Super Hi-5 finale, there were 247 winning tickets sold on the winning 7-4-6-3-10 combo, each worth a handsome $1,926.34 for each 20-cent wager.

The annual Miller-Tetrick Pro-Am Challenge was contested at the south Florida and the David Miller team edged the Tim Tetrick team, 122 to 84, in the four-race event which benefitted the Make-A-Wish Foundation and New Vocations. Each charity received a $5,000 donation from the Florida Amateur Driving Club, which sent their total donations over $210,000 since their inception.

Tetrick started the festivities when he reached the winner's circle with Alessandro Spano's Chocolate Xplosion in 1:56.3, a seasonal best time, over the pacesetting Gespacho (who was driven by Dein Spriggs) and Undercover Bro (David Miller).

The second Pro-Am event went to the longest proposition on the tote board, Hoss Cartwright, in 1:59.1. After having been sent off at 79-1, the son of Muscles Yankee provided his faithful with a bonanza payoff of $161.20. Owner-trainer Leon Cable was in the eight-year-old's sulky, which resulted in a $1,621.40 exacta payoff, as well as a trifecta worth $12,908.20.

The 20-cent superfecta came back at $7,368.84. Lodi Bank Robber (Carl Garofalo) and My Cousin Vinnie (Tony Dinges) were next in the event.

About 20 minutes later, Alfredo Dream was a photo-finish winner for Jeff Schaefer  his first win since January of 2017  at 68-1, which ignited a win payoff of $139.20 and a 20-cent pentafecta worth $8,564.18. Donna Gilson-Eferstein is the owner-trainer of the son of Infinitif. Global Inspiration (David Miller) and Shadow Copy (Ron Cusimano) were two-three in the mile, clocked in 1:59.

The finale went to Keystone Blade, handled by Sky Walker in 1:56, over Fire In My Heart (John Mungillo) and Security Guard (Dein Spriggs). As the favourite, Keystone Blade, owned by the Walker Stable and trained by Walker, returned $5.20 to win.

After the event, both Tetrick and Miller had high praise for the Florida Amateur Driving Club and the Pro-Am event, with Tetrick lamenting, "This gives us a chance to give a bit of payback to a sport that has been so great to us. As I have said many times, our horses are athletes that give us their all during their career and New Vocation is a wonderful organization that provides great homes and environments for them when their racing days are over. I salute the Florida Amateur Driving Club for all the great work they do."

Miller chimed in, saying, "It's just great that the Florida Amateur Driving Club provides us an avenue to give back. In the case of Make-A-Wish, if our efforts make even one wish come true, it's well worth it."

Miller, by the way, was flown in for the event by Dr. Ian Moore, who escorted Miller to and from the event so he could participate.

Several dignitaries were in attendance for the festivities, including representatives from Make-A-Wish, New Vocations, Chris Tully and the USTA's Mike Tanner.

The $10,000 Open Handicap Pace was won by Lets Roll. The four-year-old son of Roll With Joe made a bold backside brush to the top before going on to record a one-length win for Mike Simons in 1:51,1, a new lifetime mark.

Owned by Rosie Huff along with the Beauty Bridle Stable and the Our Three Sons Stable, Lets Roll pinned thee defeat on Brigadierbronski A (Ricky Macomber Jr.) and American Hustle (Scott Zeron). McMach recovered from an early miscue to finish fourth while Andereios Hustle picked up the final awards.

Racing continues on Monday night with a carryover in the track's Pick-5 of $10,686.22.

Post time will be at 7:20 p.m.

(Pompano Park)
Photo: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

I think its best to understand the last-ditch effort to woo Amazon back to Queens  with Andrew Cuomo plaintively calling Jeff Bezos and civic leaders placing an open letter in the newspaper  as not mostly being about Amazon. Its about the next company the politicians who wooed Amazon would like to bring to New York with a subsidy package.

Amazon doesnt appear interested in coming back to the table, and if it were, itd presumably demand an even richer deal than it was offered the first time. The company was spooked by the vigor of political opposition to its move, and by the obvious energy that Amazon critics intended to expend on forcing concessions from the company  some financial, some about business practices not limited to its operation in New York, and not just during its move but after. It was reasonable for Amazon to conclude that developing an ongoing relationship where it would need to appease these critics would be a costly headache; for the trouble, it should logically want an even larger subsidy package. Meanwhile, its clear that Governor Andrew Cuomo lacked the juice to deliver even the package he had already offered; sweetening the deal would be both substantively unwise and politically impossible. Theres no deal to be had here because it doesnt make sense for either side.

But the pro-Amazon Establishment is desperate to get Amazon back for two reasons not directly related to Amazon.

One problem is the loud signal the episode sent about New York being an expensive and difficult place to do business. New York real-estate developers endure a lot of community input and busybody negotiations because land cant be moved and theres a lot of money to be made developing it right here; now, businesspeople whose operations are more mobile have been given a high-profile taste of the headaches they might face if they come to New York when they dont have to.

The other problem is the specific signal the episode sent about Cuomos and Mayor Bill de Blasios credibility if they offer an incentive package to another company. If you think you have a deal, you still have to worry that you actually might not have a deal. That makes it hard to negotiate the next deal.

Of course, New York is full of businesses. The economy is strong and office rents are high. I didnt say New York was a bad place to do business. I said it was an expensive and difficult place to do business. There is a difference.

New York is an expensive and difficult place to do business for much the same reasons it is an expensive and difficult place to live. Rents are high, labor costs are high, taxes are high, regulations can be onerous. Its busy and crowded, and getting around by car  most Americans preferred form of transportation  sucks.

Like people, businesses locate here when theres something they can get out of New York they cant get elsewhere. If you run an investment bank or a television network or a fashion house, this is a great place to be because the excellent proximity to talent, competitors, and counterparties allows you to bring in more revenue. And because the people who work in those high-profile industries generate a lot of demand for ancillary services  from law firms to restaurants to dentists  this can also be a great place to be in an ancillary-service business.

But a lot of businesses would be crazy to locate here. You wouldnt build an auto plant in Queens or put a call center in midtown. Most businesses, like most people, would find locating in New York to be a costly headache and are better off elsewhere.

Amazon was something of a borderline case. The ability to hire workers who strongly desire to live in New York is a plausible asset to a giant tech firm like Amazon. Even without the subsidy package and the huge new campus, it will choose to have thousands of employees here. Plus, it needs Whole Foods stores here to access our lucrative customer base. But the location advantage of New York is not as strong for Amazon as it is for a bank or a broadcaster; arguably, its not even as strong as it is for Google, whose HR strategy is more focused on catering to its employees desires than Amazons is.

So, while some companies will headquarter here without any special incentive, and others couldnt be brought here at any imaginable price, it makes sense that Amazon was the sort of firm for which a multibillion-dollar subsidy package mattered at the margin: The subsidies created a location advantage that was large enough to woo Amazon to headquarter in Queens; otherwise, the math didnt pencil.

What Cuomo and his allies would like to maintain is the flexibility to manufacture these location advantages from time to time. There are a number of reasons why they want to be able to do this, some more compelling than others. They would like to diversify New Yorks economy away from finance; thats a valid goal, given our excessive fiscal reliance on taxing high salaries and high profits at banks, and the risk that poses to public services in New York when banks do badly. They would like to influence the built environment created by companies, including by creating new downtowns in the outer boroughs, one of which Amazon would have anchored; Ive written that there are some good reasons to want that. They would also like to put on hard hats and take personal credit for job creation, instead of just saying jobs come from the invisible hand of the economy.

In a way, Cuomo and the Amazon boosters are not so different from some of the Amazon critics, in that they see one-off development deals with corporations as a good way to shape the role the private sector plays in New York society. They disagree strongly on what the terms of those deals should be, but the implosion of the Amazon deal makes it likely that fewer deals will happen on any terms.

Personally, I am satisfied with that outcome. My view is that public officials are less wise than they think when they seek to plan the economy; sometimes, they get their lunch eaten by companies that out-negotiate them (see Foxconn), and sometimes they simply set the wrong development goals and ask for the wrong things. They almost always overstate the economic benefits because they focus on what is seen and ignore what is not seen; Cuomo liked to brag that the Amazon deal would generate $9 in new taxes for every $1 in subsidy granted, an estimate based on the unreasonable idea that Amazons entry would be pure net economic growth, not crowding out any other businesses or workers or people in a city where development is already heavily restricted.

So, I dont mind that it will be hard to negotiate the next deal. In fact, I think that is likely to save New York taxpayers money and promote a healthy separation between the public and private sectors.

If Cuomo and de Blasio want to make New York more attractive to companies, instead of trying to restore the credibility they would need to cut special deals, they should focus more on the general business climate and ways they could make New York a less expensive and difficult place for everyone to do business.

Some of the reasons New York is expensive are good, and some are inevitable, but others could be fixed. High taxes would be more palatable if they came with higher-quality public services, including more efficiently built and better operated infrastructure. Some costly business regulations (see the New York Times in January on a mysterious spike in sign ordinance fines) make business operators feel like cash machines instead of valued parts of the community.

Those are the sort of matters our political leaders could address to combat any negative public image the Amazon episode created, and foster a sustainable environment that draws diverse businesses to the city without subsidy.
The Israeli domestic intelligence service (Shin Bet) revealed in February 2019 that they had broken up a Hamas terrorist network in the West Bank and East Jerusalem that had used a communication system based on code words or specific gestures made by news readers on the defunct (since December 2018) Hamas al Aqsa TV station in Gaza. Such techniques are nothing new but it takes some effort to discover their use. This signal system was one of several developed to assist in creating and sustaining a network of Hamas operatives in the West Bank and parts of Israel. Hamas invested a lot of time, effort and key Gaza based agents to create a terrorist network capable of carrying out attacks in Israel using Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem who have Israeli ID cards. A third of these Palestinians have such ID cards, which allow the holders to freely travel between the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Shin Bet had cooperation from the West Bank government (Fatah) which sees itself as the legitimate ruler of Gaza while Hamas seeks to take control of the West Bank any way it can. This rivalry means Hamas particularly values pro-Hamas Palestinians in the West Bank who have Israeli ID cards and puts a lot of effort into recruiting and developing them as operatives capable of planning and carrying out major terror attacks in Jerusalem or elsewhere in Israel (using the even smaller number of pro-Hamas Israeli Arabs.).

To make such a terror network survive and perform well Hamas needed some way to communicate with its West Bank agents quickly (in an emergency or any time-dependent situation) and without detection by the Israelis. This has been done, for a while, using the al Aqsa TV station in Gaza. Known mainly for its anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda it was long known by the Israelis that there was a certain amount of communication to Hamas agents in Israel and the West Bank via al Aqsa but it wasnt until late 2018 that Israel was able to knock al Aqsa off the air by using multiple airstrikes on an al Aqsa facilities in Gaza (including the mobile broadcasting equipment). That loss came at a time when Hamas was suffering a the sharp reduction in foreign aid which made it impossible to quickly pay for new equipment and get al Aqsa back on the air. Again Israel had help from Fatah which has become a very dedicated foe of Hamas (which has controlled Gaza 2006).

Al Aqsa went off the air at the end of 2018 because it said it was bankrupt. What was not mentioned was how the recent Israeli air strikes on Islamic terrorist targets in Gaza were much more comprehensive, as far as al Aqsa TV was concerned, than included in the past. Israeli smart bombs hit four major structures, including the seven story headquarters of the Al Aqsa TV station. That alone would cost about $5 million to replace. Israel had located other al Aqsa assets, like the truck mounted mobile TV broadcasting equipment, and bombed these as well. All these airstrikes (and over 150 others) were delivered over a few days in response to a major Hamas rocket attack. After the retaliatory airstrikes, Hamas accepted a ceasefire and a month later al Aqsa announced it was broke and unable to get back on the air any time soon. It was not public knowledge then that the loss of al Aqsa TV was also a major blow to Hamas terrorist operations in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Hamas still has use of radio stations, which had been used heavily since World War II for sending messages to agents in enemy territory. But TV could more easily hide its secret messages by using a combination of visual cues and code words. Radio broadcasts are still used for intelligence work, especially the use of short wave numbers stations to broadcast long messages via a series of numbers broadcast at a certain time on a regular basis. In July 2016 North Korea activated, for the first time since 2000, a numbers station. This is a special radio station that uses a specific shortwave radio frequency that periodically (on pre-arranged dates and times) broadcasts sequences of numbers. These broadcasts often last a few minutes then that channel goes silent.

Numbers stations were a popular 20th century technique for sending secret messages to agents in foreign nations or combat zones. It began during World War I, with Morse code used instead of a spoken voice. Given the frequency used and the strength of the signal the audience for these new North Korean messages was apparently in South Korea, China or Japan. Analysis of the audio indicated that the North Koreans were using Cold War era Russian (Soviet) broadcast equipment. Apparently this gear was put in storage in 2000 and revived for the new broadcasts.

Since the Cold War ended a few nations still use numbers stations, most notably Cuba, China, Taiwan, Israel and, until 2000, North Korea. For nations with international Internet access (and this does not include North Korea) there are more effective Internet-based methods for sending secret messages. North Korea is known to have used these Internet-based methods so it is a mystery as to why they have revived their numbers station broadcasts. Then again it could just be another ploy to frighten their enemies (which is just about everyone, especially South Korea, the United States and Japan.) These three nations do not appear alarmed by the broadcasts, but that could be said for most North Korean threats.
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About Me Dean K. Wilson Retired from full-time employment since 2003, Dean was raised in Bradford, PA, where he and his family were active members of the Hill Memorial Evangelical United Brethren Church.



Dean graduated from Houghton College (NY) in 1968 with a BA degree in Writing and Psychology.



Before retiring, he spent 38 years working as a fire protection engineer, educator, director of training, and business consultant in the insurance and consulting industries. Dean holds registration as a licensed Professional Fire Protection Engineer (CT), has been elected a Fellow of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers, and has received the Standards Medal from the National Fire Protection Association.



Dean has written over 370 magazine articles and book chapters for technical and business publications. He has written over 1,500 blog posts. Dean is also a nationally known conference speaker and seminar leader on various fire protection, adult learning, and communications issues.



In July of 1968, Dean married the former Shirley Willink, who remains his most faithful and best friend. View my complete profile
Two Syrians from Manbij have moved from refugee status to managing an important transport company in Germany, Iqtissad, an opposition media, reports.

The two Syrian refugee brothers Ibrahim and Riadh al-Jiran did not want to depend only on the social benefits granted to Syrian refugees in Germany, so they tried to prove themselves with their ambition and desire to achieve success in their new society.

They established a postal and courier company named Elias Trans, based in the district of Bad Cannstatt, in the city Stuttgart, and which was able to compete with many larger companies in Germany.

The two brothers, Ibrahim, 24, and Riad, 23, were living in Manbij, Syria. Due to the circumstances of the war, they sought refuge in November 2011 in Turkey then in Germany.

They went on a safe trip through the sea to eventually arrive at a refugee camp in the town of Ellwangen. Three months later they moved to a small, lifeless village with no jobs, and then to Stuttgart.

After finishing a German language course, they looked for work to secure their living.

The elder brother Ibrahim told Iqtissad that he started working as a distributor on a bicycle for the German postal service Deutsche Post. Afterwards, he left the job to work as a driver, together with his brother, for an Italian-owned company. The younger brother, Riadh, said that they gained experience and that that their mastery of the German language was key to their success.

After six months of work, the two brothers decided to open their own transport company early last year. They managed to buy three Vans by borrowing from banks, but they lost about 13 thousand Euros and returned to scratch.

Then their uncle visited them and encouraged to get up again. They managed to get a long-term contract with the German postal service and became the two younger refugees working in this sector. The companys work consists in the transport and distribution of letters and parcels and it has now two branches in Stuttgart and Frankfurt.

Ibrahim said that the German postal service gave them a trial contract for one month, and when it proved its worth got a permanent contract.

This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
Following negotiations with tribal leaders, the SDF has released hundreds of prisoners formerly members of ISIS but whose hands are not stained with blood, an opposition media reports.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia on Saturday released hundreds of prisoners in the city of Raqqa who had been arrested on charges of belonging to the Islamic State organization, or ISIS.

The SDF announced during a press conference in Ain Eissa in the Raqqa countryside that it had released more than 283 prisoners due to the urgent, repeated requests of tribal notables and sheikhs of the region.

Rouhlat Are, deputy joint head of the Executive Council for the SDFs so-called Self-Administration, said: We focused on the people whose hands are not stained with blood, and we discussed the prisoners status with the judiciary and justice council.

She noted that, the council will continue to release prisoners across Syrias northern areas after finishing investigations with them to confirm they were not implicated in killing civilians or fighters.

According to the Executive Council, those ISIS members released are from Hassakeh, Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa and Deir-ez-Zor. They were members who were deceived, and who violated customs, tradition and law. They would be given work opportunities to reintegrate them into their normal status in society, according to Abdel Hameed al-Mahbash, joint head of the Executive Council.

A major meeting was held yesterday between the SDFs Self-Administration government and tribal sheikhs and notables in the town of Ain Eissa in the northern Raqqa countryside to discuss the matter of releasing prisoners with the guarantee of the sheikhs and notables.

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.
An Al-Qaeda-linked group kills 21 regime forces near Idlib, the Syrian government denounces the UKs blacklisting of Hezbollah and accuses the US of investing in terrorism, ISIS is close to final territorial defeat and a Syrian parliamentary delegation is in Jordan on the occasion of a conference on Jerusalem. Catch up on everything that happened over the weekend.

1. A Syrian jihadist group linked to Al-Qaeda killed 21 regime and allied forces Sunday near Idlib province, in one of the deadliest breaches of a six-month-old truce deal, an activist group said. At dawn, 21 fighters from the regime forces or allied militia were killed in an attack by Ansar al-Tawhid jihadists, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Five jihadists were also killed, Rami Abdel-Rahman, the director of the Britain-based group, added. The regimes army forces said they clashed with the terrorist group. A military source was quoted by SANA as saying, the army units operating in the region, the source added, bravely confronted the terrorists, killed a number of them and destroyed their equipment and weapons.

2. Syria strongly denounced the British governments decision to put Hezbollah on a list of terrorist organizations. A source at the Foreign Ministry told SANA that the decision confirms Britains deep-seated historical hostility against the Arab nation, as Britain is the godfather of fragmenting the Arab nation through the SykesPicot Agreement, and is also responsible for the inauspicious Balfour Declaration that led to Palestine being usurped by Zionists and to displacing millions of Palestinians.

3. Syrias Permanent Representative at the UN, Bashar Jaafari, said that Western states, particularly the United States, are working to prolong the crisis in Syria by investing in terrorism, stressing that a military resolution in Idleb is inevitable if the political efforts to implement the Sochi agreement fail. In an interview given to pro-Iran Al-Mayadeen TV Network, Jaafari said that President Trump has repeatedly said he would withdraw his forces which occupy parts of Syrian territory from them. This hasnt happened, he said, because his administration wants to continue investing in terrorism in Syria and Iraq in order to carry out its agenda in the region in collusion with Turkey and militias in the Syrian North-east region. He claimed that the international coalition, which Washington created without Security Council approval continues to support ISIS.

4. ISIS faced final territorial defeat on Saturday as the US-backed Syrian force battling the militants said it was closing in on their last bastion near the Iraqi border, capping four years of efforts to roll back the group. Asharq Al-Awsat quoted Mustafa Bali of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces saying that fighters are advancing on two fronts amid intense fighting with the extremists in the last area they control. Bali tweeted Saturday that heavy clashes are taking place in the area on the east bank of the Euphrates River. He said three SDF fighters were wounded.

5. The 29th conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU) entitled Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Palestine kicked off in Amman on Sunday with the participation of Syria. The Syria Times reported that Speaker of the Peoples Assembly Hammoudeh Dabbagh heads the Syrian delegation to the conference. Sabbagh arrived in Amman Saturday upon an invitation from Speaker of Jordans House of Representatives Atef al-Tarawneh to participate in the conference.
Photo: Charles Mahaux/Getty Images

Every once in a while, a city gets exactly the museum it needs. Bilbao used its Guggenheim to complete a post-industrial transformation. The Museum of Modern Art boosted New Yorks 20th-century aspirations to be the ultimate modern metropolis. Mexico Citys Museum of Anthropology unites flabbergasting evidence of all the ancient cultures on which the nation rests. And as of 2016, the city of Puebla, two hours south of the capital, has its Museum of the International Baroque, an ode to a long-lived movement that swept across oceans and bubbled up on Mexicos high plateau.

Mexican goldsmiths, ironworkers, ceramicists, masons, builders, painters, plasterers, musicians, writers, priests, aristocrats, and congregations all had a hand in shaping the baroque in the Americas. Yet rather than have a Mexican architect reinterpret that legacy, the museum turned to Toyo Ito, a Pritzker Prizewinner who comes from a part of the world that never absorbed the European assault of religious fervor and decorative raptures: Japan. Ito was a surprising choice for other reasons, too: He had hardly worked anywhere in the Americas (a plan for a new Berkeley Art Museum foundered in the 2008 recession). He was also best known for two virtually opposite projects: the White U House of 1976, a single concrete curve, sepulchral and opaque, that was built for his sister and demolished in 1997; and the Sendai Mediatheque, from 2000, so weightless and clear as to be practically vaporous. Neither suggested that he would be the ideal architect to honor an art of violent movement and cinematic shafts of light. Somehow, though, the commission yielded an effortlessly expressive vessel for an alluring institution.

Itos challenge was to evoke baroque architecture without mimicry or glitz, to design a contemporary local shrine to a long-ago global phenomenon. And he had to capture Pueblas glory on a site far from the colonial downtown, in a park enlaced in highways and bordered by office blocks. If he succeeded in doing all that, its because he depends on a baroque sense of theater. After dark, the exteriors curved and folded walls billow like curtains illuminated by footlights. Inside, each chamber offers a new scene, another opportunity to be bowled over by artifice and light. Painted ceilings pried from European palaces hover overhead. Gowns and embroidered waistcoats glimmer behind glass, rather like a wild window display I saw downtown, where giant stuffed bunnies stood shoulder to shoulder with mannequins in elaborate headgear, leathers, and incandescent floral prints. At the center of the architecture gallery is a triumphal arch, an edible-looking confection of scarlet, lime, and fuchsia paper made by Humberto Spindola for the opening in 2016. This is a museum of excess.

Theres a certain slyly subversive quality to the displays of manuscripts, ceiling frescoes, foods, scientific instruments, silverware, home furnishings, and scenes of Monteverdi opera and Shakespeare performed in Spanish. Here, a formerly colonized people have placed the colonists culture on display, as if to acknowledge with a hint of surprise that Europe such an advanced civilization in the 17th and 18th century.

Poblanos need no introduction to baroque splendor: it saturates the city. Years of feverish renovation have wiped away decades of industrial gray, revealing facades of exquisitely gaudy talavera, or ceramic tiles. Sugar-white trim frosts fanciful turrets and sets off palacios painted in lemon and teal. Bell towers and cupolas alternate rhythmically across the skyline, harmonizing with the peak of a distant volcano. The over-the-top quality of the past spills into the present, tooin the amplified come-ons from lurid stores along Calle 5 de Mayo, in the clusters of balloons for sale along the Paseo Bravo, in the festive jangle of the Zocalo.

Ito distilled all this muchness into a quietly flamboyant design. The walls of the museum are curved sheets of bright white concrete standing on edge like curls of lemon rind. Unlike Frank Gehrys neo-baroque compositions of scrolls, ribbons, crumples, and whorls, Itos design flaunts its orderliness. You cant grasp the whole structure from any one perspective, and certainly not from the front, but once you enter and walk through, it doesnt take long to understand that its an enfilade of squarish galleries circling an open court, with a second story abovethe same structure as any viceroys palace downtown. From its plan to its details, the architecture abstracts the muscular urgency of baroque art. In Berninis sculptures, heroes and their victims corkscrew their bodies or grapple in a swirl, sometimes circling a hectic void. In ceiling frescoes, like Andrea Pozzos Apotheosis of Saint Ignatius, angels gyre towards the agitated skies as if being sucked up by a tornado. Solomonic columns twist around themselves like rubber bands. In Itos building, the same forms multiply, though in more muted form: the conch-shell plan, in which rooms twirl around a fountain with a vortex at its center, the main staircase that coils up from the lobby towards the (superb) restaurant; the conical atriums shooting up towards a glowing skylight like some heaven-bound soul.

Despite these affinities, Itos museum is no pseudo-baroque knockoff. On the contrary, its a smooth-shelled container for a style that gloried in texture, complexity, shadows, and theatrical effects. The building finesses one of the most antiquated but persistent ideological battles: between architects who disdain ornament as self-indulgence and those who relish it as an opportunity for expressivity or branding. Both sides share the assumption that whatever you affix to a wall is an arbitrary choice and has little inherent meaning.

Baroque artists, on the other hand, didnt distinguish between ornamentation and content. All those superhero-like saints and bursts of gilded sunshine, that Edenic foliage and fluttering draperyeach figure, prop, and set had a role to play in the worldwide opera of Catholic cosmology and the Churchs earthly triumphs. From Palermo to Manila and St. Petersburg to Sao Paulo, the faithful of three continents may have lived in cramped and insalubrious quarters but they could feel truly at home in a sumptuous chapel, where artists and divinities tried to win over their fickle-souls with a never-ending spectacle.

In Mexico, indigenous people merged their religions with that of their conquerors, and the fusion yielded places of worship so dazzling as to be surreal. From the outside, Santa Maria Tonantzintla in San Andres Cholula, a village at the edge of Puebla, looks like a modest country church. Cross the threshold, though, and the effect is hallucinogenic. The interior is barnacled from floor to vault in putti with arms raised in entreaty or celebration, men in plumed headgear, feathered snakes, corn motifs, and cornucopias of local fruits like huaya, pitaya, and mamey. The Madonna of Guadalupe fuses with the mother goddess Tonantzin, and a paternal God with a faint resemblance to Papa Hemingway is accompanied by a host of Aztec-looking seraphs. Rome dispatched artisans to saturate the non-Christian world with the power and profusion of its imagery; indigenous people in Mexico responded with the 17th-century equivalent of hold my beer.

The church of Santa Maria Tonantzintla in San Andres Cholula, Puebla, Mexico. Photograph by Candida Hofer, on view at Sean Kelly through March 16. Photo: Candida Hofer, Iglesia de Santa Maria Tonantzintla I, 2015. C-print. Paper: 70 7/8 x 86 5/8 inches (180 x 220 cm). Framed: 72 7/16 x 88 3/16 inches (184 x 224 cm).  Candida Hofer, Koln / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Courtesy: Sean Kelly, New York

But Ito operates in a different world. The modernist tradition he emerged from had obliterated the idea of encrusting walls with statues, scrolls, pilasters, or anything, really. The century-old commandment that facades must be seamless and textureless, or at least simple and abstract, remains in force, partly because it provides stylistic cover for the cheap and the plain. (One common way to challenge it is with perforated metal screens, as Herzog & De Meuron did at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, for instanceor as Ito did in a vaguely Gaudi-like apartment building in Barcelona.) The only thing we have left in modern architecture is gesture; we dont have dress, a noted American architect recently told me. He meant that however complex the form he gave to a building, he would almost invariably wind up cladding it in glass. All else would be costume and pretense.

Without getting fussy, Ito provides a reproach to that timidity. Joy, grace, detail and judicious idiosyncrasythese qualities, so deeply baroque and in such short supply in todays architecture, sometimes resurface when you need them most.

A closeup of Santa Maria Tonantzintlas over-the-top detailing. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
11 hours ago

MongoDB Resumes Uptrend, Analyst Raise Targets

MongoDB, Wow Is All We Can Say We were expecting MongoDB (NASDAQ: MDB) to produce a good report simply because the adoption of tech is going so strongly. What we were not expecting is for revenue and earnings to accelerate as fast as they did, or for the company to raise guidance for the year.

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The OECD Observer online archive takes you on a journey through half a century of public policy and world progress.

Since November 1962, the OECDs experts and leading guests offer insights on the questions facing our member countries with concise and authoritative analysis, and provide our audiences with an excellent opportunity to understand policy debates and consider solutions.

Each edition of the OECD Observer reports on a core theme of the OECDs on-going work, from economics and society through governance, finance, and the environment, and articles are bolstered by tables and graphs.
Prime Mnister Narendra Modi to launch pension scheme-Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PM-SYM) on his two-day visit to Gujarat, starting from Monday. The PM will also inaugurate first phase of Ahemadad Metro service on March 5.

PM will kickstart his visit from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region on Monday where he would dedicate 750-bed annexe of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital to the nation. Besides, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate its Post-Graduate hostel.

In Ahmedabad, will inaugurate the New Civil Hospital. Shall also dedicate to the nation, a Women Children & Super Specialty Hospital, Cancer Hospital, Eye Hospital and Dental Hospital. This health infrastructure will greatly help people get affordable & quality healthcare. pic.twitter.com/btf2cRXiuQ - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 3, 2019

On March 5, PM Modi will also launch SAUNI water schemes- a drinking water and irrigation project, including Und-1 to Ranjit Sagar Lift Irrigation Scheme and Machu-1 to Nyari Lift Irrigation Scheme in Saurashtra.

The PM will also lay the foundation stone of Jodiya Desalination Plant and Und-3 to Venu-2 Lift Irrigation Scheme.

Later in the day, Modi will also launch railway projects including conversion of rail tracks to broad gauge and flag off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express in Jamnagar.

The Prime Minister will lay the foundation pf 28.28 km second phase of the Ahemadabad Metro as part of metro rail commissioning programmer. Further, the PM ewill attend a grand function in Umiya Dham temple complex.

4th March 2019- a historic day for the wonderful people of Ahmedabad. Phase-1 of the Ahmedabad Metro is going to be inaugurated. This project will further 'Ease of Living' for the people of Ahmedabad. The foundation stone for Phase-2 of the Metro will also be laid. pic.twitter.com/MGxWaccYqP - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 3, 2019

On Tuesday, Modi will go to Vastral to launch PM-SYM and contributory pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector with a monthly income up to Rs 15,000.

The pension scheme was announced in the Union Budget of this year. The scheme assures a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to unorganised workers after attaining the age of 60 years.

A visit to Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj, Gandhinagar is also on Tuesday's schedulewhere PM Modi will lay foundation stones of Shikshan Bhavan and Vidhyarthi Bhavan.
During his two-day Gujarat visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Phase-1 of the 6 km long Ahmedabad Metro train service today. He also plans to travel some distance on the Phase-1 stretch and unveil the Common Mobility Card of Ahmedabad Metro. The development cost of the Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project, which has been implemented by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited, is estimated to be around Rs 10,773 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave his Twitter followers a brief overview of his visit on Sunday night.

4th March 2019- a historic day for the wonderful people of Ahmedabad. Phase-1 of the Ahmedabad Metro is going to be inaugurated. This project will further 'Ease of Living' for the people of Ahmedabad. The foundation stone for Phase-2 of the Metro will also be laid. pic.twitter.com/MGxWaccYqP - Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 3, 2019

The Phase-1 project is around 40.03 km in total, out of which 6.5 km is underground and the rest of the stretch is elevated. As per reports, the minimum fare may start from Rs 15 for a ride of up to 2 km and the maximum fare may be around Rs 51 for a ride of up to 31 km.

The 6.5 km long stretch that connects Vastral Gam to Apparel Park, will also include other two stations- Nirant Crossroads and Rabari Colony. The first trial run on the 6.5 km route of the metro rail was successfully conducted recently. This 6.5 km stretch is part of the East-West Corridor of the Ahmedabad Metro Phase-1.

The total stretch of the East-West Corridor is nearly 21.16 km long which covers 17 metro stations. The North-South Corridor, which is completely elevated comprises a total of 18.87 km and covers another 15 metro stations. The Old High Court station will be an interchange station for both the corridors.

The East-West Corridor links Vastral Gaam to Thaltej Gaam, crossing through Nirant Cross Road, Kankaria East, Kalupur Railway Station, Vastral, Rabari Colony, Amraiwadi, Apparel Park, Ghee Kanta, Shahpur, Old High Court, Gujarat University, Gurukul Road, Stadium, Commerce Six Road, Doordarshan Kendra, Thaltej metro stations.

The North-South corridor links Motera Stadium to APMC, Vasna, passing through Sabarmati, Ranip, Vadaj, Vijaynagar, Usmanpura, Old High court, AEC, Sabarmati Railway station, Gandhigram, Paldi, Shreyas, Rajivnagar and Jivraj metro stations.

PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Phase-2 of the Metro, as part of metro rail commissioning programmer. Union Cabinet had given approval for the Phase-2 of Ahmedabad Metro Rail Project in February 2019.

Total completion cost of Phase-2 metro is estimated at Rs 5,384.17 crore. The Phase- 2 will comprise two corridors of total length 28.254 km. This will include the 22.838 km long Corridor 1 from Motera Stadium to Mahatma Mandir. The Corridor 2 will be 5.416 km long from GNLU to GIFT City.

This project aims at streamlining the urban transportation system and a much-needed additional public transport infrastructure in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. It will provide comfortable and reliable public transport to the travelers and help decreasing stress in inter-city commute due to intensive developments, increased number of private vehicles and heavy construction in the region.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to a launch a slew of other projects when he visits Gujarat, his home state, on Monday and Tuesday. He is a former chief minister of Gujarat, which he governed between 2001 and 2014.

(Edited by Rupa Burman Roy)

Also Read:PM Modi in Gujarat: Launch of pension scheme, inauguration of Ahmedabad metro on agenda of his two-day visit

Also Read:China asks for duty-free import of 85% of its products into India
[Ed. Note: I had to remove this article from Monday morning because I messed up when I posted itI inadvertently left some important parts out. I'm leaving this placeholder here so that the comments already written don't get deleted along with the article.

I'll post a revised version on Tuesday. My sincere apologies for the error.]
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.
The IDBI Bank has received government nod to handle import and export transactions with Iran, a move which would help in promoting two-way trade amid US sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation, industry sources said.

US President Donald Trump had in May last year withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, re-imposing economic sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. Some sanctions took effect from August 6, 2018 while those affecting the oil and banking sectors started from November 4, 2018.

According to sources, IDBI Bank has been identified to route the payments. UCO Bank had in the previous round of sanctions handled rupee payments.

India used to pay its third largest oil supplier in euros using European banking channels. But this channel is also blocked from November last year.

ALSO READ:RBI slaps Rs 4 crore fine on Karnataka Bank for regulatory violations

Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but sanctions by the West over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the subsequent years. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonnes (MT) and 10.95 MT of crude, respectively from Iran.

Bilateral trade between India and Iran increased to $13.8 billion in 2017-18 from $12.9 billion in the previous fiscal. However, India's exports were only worth $2.5 billion to that country.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that more banks should get permission for trade with Iran.

"This will generate healthy competition between UCO and IDBI encouraging them to be more customers friendly and thereby benefitting exim community," FIEO President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said.

ALSO READ:Larsen & Toubro lnfotech completes acquisition of Germany's Nielsen plus Partner
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
After a 48kg grenade exploded in the military camp at Waldhof on Thursday, two non-commissioned officers of the Luxembourg army lost their lives. Another is still in critical condition, but is showing strong signs of recovery following extensive surgery.

Defense Minister Francois Bausch announced on Friday morning that the wounded soldier had been operated on throughout the night and that his condition had stabilised.

The government held a moment of silence on Friday morning at the Governing Council in memory of the two victims. Next week, there will be a commemoration ceremony at the military camp and the two victims will subsequently be buried in their respective local communities following the traditions of military funerals.

Later on, commemorative plaques with their names will be put up at the military camp in order to thank them for their service.

The Grand Duke and Duchess have also shown their shock at what has happened on Thursday. After having received a detailed briefing from the Minister of Defence Francois Bausch and General Alain Duschene, the couple visited one of the surviving victims in hospital.

Call for donations

Some people have already started raising money for the victims' families. Their goal is to raise 100.000 euros. If you're interested in donating money, you can do so here.

Nation in shock

On Thursday morning, an ordnance exploded at the army's munitions depot in Waldhof (Waldhaff).

A press conference in was held at 4.30pm. Francois Bausch began the press conference by expressing his condolences to the family and friends of the deceased sergeants, as well as those of the injured sergeants, all of whom are going through a difficult time. He confirmed that one of the injured sergeants remains critically injured, but the other is not in a life-threatening state and is conscious.

Bausch was joined at the press conference by the Attorney General, Georges Oswald, and the Chief of Staff of the Army, Alain Duchene. Oswald and Duchene confirmed that the deceased sergeants were 47 and 39 years old and bomb disposal experts. The sergeants were in the process of preparing a 48 kilogram bomb from WWII for disposal. The bomb did not have a detonator, was classed as safe, and due to be taken to Belgium to be neutralised.

The two injured sergeants, aged 44 and 41, came to the depot to collect equipment and were not involved in the relocation preparation. There were no other individuals in the building other than the four implicated in the explosion. Whilst others do work at the weapons depot, first established in 1948, no other army personnel were present in the building.

The three officials were unable to answer all questions at the conference due to the ongoing investigation. The security perimeter remains in place and an investigators talked to the conscious sergeant.

The police, bomb disposal experts, forensic officers, and a legal doctor were sent to the scene following the initial reports. A security perimeter was set up for them to be able to work efficiently.

At midday, an investigating judge arrived at the scene in order to begin an autopsy and to name foreign experts who would help the investigation in ascertaining the cause of the explosion.

Duchene also confirmed that one of the sergeants had a dog present at the time, but he only knew that a vet had been called to the site and had taken the dog away for further treatment.

Bausch thanked the press for their understanding that the officials cannot provide answers to all the questions and explained that the next step will be to meet with the parliamentary commission on defence on Friday morning. As for army officials, they will monitor the explosion risks of other weapons as a consequence of the tragedy. Bausch confirmed that a remembrance ceremony will be held for the deceased.

The Grand Duke and Duchess have also expressed their condolences to the victims' families.

Earlier official communique

Communique of the Luxembourg public prosecutor's office following an explosion at the military camp in Waldhof (14.02.2019)

Around 10:30 this morning an explosion took place in a hangar of the military camp at Waldhof. At that moment four people were inside the hangar and were handling an artillery shell. Following the explosion, two people died. Two other people had to be hospitalized. One of them is in critical condition.

Two Luxembourg prosecutors are on hand to conduct the investigation.

First reporting

According to eyewitnesses, the explosion was heard kilometres away. The head of the army and Minister of Defence Francois Bausch were on their way to a meeting in Belgium at the time of the explosion. The meeting was to visit the pilots of Luxembourg's military aircraft, due to be delivered in 2020. The meeting was cancelled once the explosion occurred.

Earlier incident in 2012



This is not the first fatal incident to occur at the depot. On 6 November 2012, a soldier on patrol was hit by a bullet in the stomach and died from his wounds.

The man had been shot as his colleague had not adequately secured his gun.

In 2015, the colleague was sentenced to two years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.
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ICICI-Videocon loan case: Chanda Kochhar quizzed on third day; ED summons Matrix Fertiliser's Nishant Kanodia





In his first reaction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at India Today Conclave 2019, Congress President Rahul Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of stealing Rs 30,000 crore and said he was "solely responsible" for the delay in the arrival of Rafale jets in India. Rahul Gandhi's recent attack on the Prime Minister comes after PM Modi during his speech at the India Today Conclave 2019 said India was feeling the absence of Rafale. "The entire country is saying in one voice today, that if we had Rafale, the results would have been different. " he said.Beleaguered carrierJet Airways has grounded two more of its aircraft due to non-payment of lease rentals, taking the total number of planes on the ground to 23. With the grounding of two more planes, almost 20 per cent of aircraft in the airlines fleet are now out of operations.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth was fastest under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. Speaking at the India Today Conclave, Prime Minister Modi said you say you are 'sabse tez, so are we.' "If you see from 1991, we have increased GDP growth fastest in the last 5 years," he said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi Sunday addressed his first rally in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, since coming to power in 2014 and laid the foundation stone of a manufacturing unit for AK-203 rifles. Modi, who landed in the city after addressing a rally in Bihar's Patna, said Amethi, which has traditionally been loyal to the Gandhi family, was the best example of his government's 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (together with all, development for all) motto.India's largest telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd -- formed after the merger of Vodafone and Idea -- announced Saturday the consolidation of its radio network integration in Jammu & Kashmir. "With this, J&K is amongst the first nine circles to complete integration in the world's largest network integration exercise which is currently underway in India. J&K circle integration was completed within a short span of two months," Vodafone Idea said in a statement.On the third day of its questioning, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Sunday interrogated former ICICI Bank CEO and MD Chanda Kochhar and summoned Matrix Fertiliser Chairman Nishant Kanodia. The ED had also quizzed Chanda, her husband Deepak Kochhar, and Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot in the Rs 3,250 crore 'quid pro quo' case on Saturday.
The police were kept very busy on Friday night and Saturday morning, responding to a number of calls alongside traffic checks.

In Esch-sur-Alzette, police were called to Rue Henri-Koch, where a lorry was reported to be driving in a zig-zag manner.

Authorities were able to locate the vehicle on Rue Marcel Reuland, which was incidentally when the driver of the vehicle fell asleep behind the wheel. When police officers woke the driver, he proceeded to throw up and refused to take a breathalyser test. The driver received a provisional driving ban and his vehicle was immobilised.

In Diekirch, Strassen, and Differdange, police officers responded to further reports of drunk drivers. Three drivers who had indulged in drinking had their licenses seized.

On Saturday night, there were reports of cars having been vandalised in two separate locations in Luxembourg City. On Rue Raspert in Weimerskirch, six cars were vandalised. A further eight cars were subject to vandalism in a car park on Rue Stavelot in Pfaffenthal. In total, fourteen cars suffered damage. The perpetrator(s) mainly broke off mirrors and windscreen wipers.

The police also responded to a domestic incident on Friday evening in Niederkorn. A man and woman started fighting on Rue de Longwy, leading to slight injuries to both parties. A passerby intervened and broke the warring couple up. The police later found the man at his home under the influence of alcohol. It transpired that the police were already trying to find the man for another offence. The man was taken to the police station.

A young man was also attacked by five men in Luxembourg City on Friday night. The attack occurred around 10pm on Avenue Monterey. The victim was lightly injured during the attack and had to be taken to hospital. The attackers made themselves scarce by fleeing through Place dArmes.

On Friday, two perpetrators broke into a home in Dippach on Rue de Luxembourg. The resident was asleep in his bedroom when he was woken up by the noise and he managed to surprise the criminals. They then fled the scene, but the man decided to chase them. Unfortunately, he lost track of them and the police were unable to locate them either.

A further break-in occurred on Saturday night in Clervaux.
The UN' top court will hand down its view Monday in a bitter dispute between Britain and Mauritius over the fate of the Chagos islands, home to key UK and US military base.

Judges at the International Court of Justice will give their opinion on the future status of the remote Indian Ocean archipelago housing the US base of Diego Garcia, leased from Britain on territory claimed by Mauritius.

Colonial power Britain between in the late 1960s and early 1970s evicted around 2,000 Chagos islanders to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base, in a lease which expires in 2036.

Chagos islanders -- who have been banned from visiting the islands without special authorisation -- have been fighting for their return since first launching legal action in 1975, with some receiving compensation from London in 1982.

In a new diplomatic blow to Britain, the UN General Assembly in 2017 adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer legal advice on the island chain's fate.

The ICJ's 15-judge bench will now hand down a non-binding "advisory opinion" at 1400 GMT at its headquarters at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

- 'Decolonisation incomplete' -

London split off the remote islands from Mauritius three years before Port Louis gained independence in 1968. Their status has since been at the centre of a bitter dispute spanning five decades.

During the Cold War, London established a combined military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands, which was a key staging ground for bombing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Residents of the Diego Garcia Island in 1971 pictured receiving the news that they will be depo /  CHAGOS REFUGEE GROUP/AFP/File

Judges heard the case in September, with Mauritius arguing that it was illegal for London to break up its territory while still under colonial rule. Its case was backed by India.

Chagos, said Port Louis' lawyers, was "integral to Mauritius" and that the decolonisation process of the island group "remains incomplete."

Britain in turn apologised for the "shameful" way it evicted thousands of islanders but insisted Mauritius was wrong to bring the case to the ICJ.

The US meanwhile said the court had a "duty" not to take a position on the row.

Experts said that should the ICJ's judges give an opinion, it is most likely to revolve around the legality of Britain's move to split Chagos from Mauritius -- which lies some 2,100 kilometres (1,300 miles) to the southwest.

- Difficult to predict -

"The main question will be whether separating the two was -- at the time -- a breach of international law in the sense that it did not respect the right of self-determination of the Chagossians," said Eric De Brabandere, a professor of international law at the University of Leiden.

"Then the question is whether the continued administration by Britain has any consequences," he told AFP.

"I think that the court will say something about the right to self-determination of the Chagossians now, and the need to complete the decolonisation process," he said.

But, "as usual it is difficult to predict," de Brabandere said.

- Non-binding opinion -

While the ICJ's "advisory opinion" is not binding, it still carries weight and a finding in favour of Mauritius may strengthen its hand in future negotiations over the Chagos islands.

Chagos Islands /  AFP

It could also lay the foundation for an eventual formal claim before the ICJ, which was set up after World War II in 1946 to rule in disputes between United Nations member states.

The Indian Ocean base of Diego Garcia has always played a key strategic role in US operations in the Indian Ocean.

In the 1970s, it offered proximity to Asia during the fall of Saigon and the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia, and as the Soviet navy extended its influence in the region.

The ICJ -- which rules in disputes between countries -- is not often called upon to hand down so-called advisory opinions, which is usually called for when a UN body needs legal advice.

In 2010, the ICJ concluded in an advisory opinion that Kosovo's declaration of independence two years earlier "did not violate international law."
Wonder Caves: Ideal Spot for Hikers and Cave Explorers
AfghanTaliban-US officials not reached any agreement in Qatar: Taliban spokesman

Afghan Taliban and US officials have not reached any agreement in the current round of peace talks in Qatar so far, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement on Sunday. Mujahid, however, said the ongoing dialogue process in Doha is gradually moving forward.



Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen earlier said the talks focused on the complete withdrawal of foreign troops and to prevent Afghan soil from terrorism in future.



Mujahid said the latest round of negotiations discussed the details of the withdrawal and terrorism on which both sides had agreed during their talks in January. As the issues (withdrawal and terrorism threat) are very important and sensitive, so the process is moving forward with caution, he said.



He said reports about other issues being discussed were just speculations. He did not cite other issues but reports had stated that the US wants the Taliban declare ceasefire and join the intra-Afghan dialogue. The Taliban are unwilling to sit with the Kabul administration until there is progress on their call for withdrawal of foreign forces.



Sources told Daily Times that Taliban and the US failed to agree on draft agreement apparently due to some technical issues, including announcement of a timeframe for withdrawal of foreign troops, Talibans refusal to declare a ceasefire and start talks with the Afghan government. When asked him if the current round has concluded, Mujahid said talks in Qatar will continue.



Sources familiar with the talks say that there are also differences on the time frame for the troops withdrawal as Taliban want total withdrawal within six months. The US is not agreeing to this proposal.



Taliban have long been demanding the US to announce a timetable for withdrawal of their troops and in return they will assure not to allow Afghanistan to be used by armed groups against other countries. Sources also believe the two sides did not finalize agreement as the US side wanted to seek consent of the Afghan government.



On the other hand, the Afghan government has said it is in the process of formation of a powerful team to hold talks with Taliban and has requested the Afghan political leaders to nominate members for the team.



Presidential spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri said in Kabul that the team will be announced after the parties share names of their representatives.



The focus will now be on the next round of Moscow talks between the Taliban and Afghan political leaders that is likely to be held in Qatar later this month. The first round of the talks was held in Moscow in February, which had endorsed the Taliban-US negotiations and demanded withdrawal of the foreign forces and lifting of sanctions from the Taliban leaders.
Chaudhry Sarwar called upon int'l community in defusing tensions

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar has called upon the international community to play its role in defusing tensions and mediating peace between Pakistan and India. Sense should prevail and differences be resolved through dialogue and negotiations, he suggested.



The governor, on Sunday, has written a letter to the British and European parliamentarians explaining Indian premier Narendra Modis war hysteria that pitched the both nationsarmed forces against each other.



While Pakistan is already in contact with the international community to mediate peace, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at a news conference on Saturday lauded Governor Sarwar for his suggestion in the letters to the House of Commons and European Union parliamentarians.



In his letter titled Pakistan India Tension, the governor stated that Pakistan and Indias relations had reached a critical stage after Pulwama incident that demanded international communitys role in de-escalating the rising tension and saving the world from a war.



He stated that as a goodwill gesture and to de-escalate the situation between the two nuclear powers, Prime Minister Imran Khan ordered release of the captured Indian pilot Abhinandan. However, he said, India was continuing escalating tension at the Line of Control.



Despite Indian aggression against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan, the governor stated that Prime Minister Imran Khan had been calling for peace and making it clear that Indian premier Modis attempts to spread regional unrest were aimed at gaining political mileage and win the upcoming general elections.



Mr Sarwar said that Pakistans offer of investigations into the Pulwama incident, if India provided any actionable evidence, was still on the table. Pakistans desire for de-escalation and peace should not be misconstrued as its weakness, he said and added Pakistan had developed a comprehensive National Action Plan to deal with the terrorism threat.



A former member of the British parliament, Mr Sarwar stated that the British government as well as Pakistans European Union partners had always played a key role in addressing international issues. Britain and EU can play a pivotal role between Pakistan, India and Kashmir, he said. Stating that the situation in Kashmir did not seem to be abating, he asserted that Kashmirs struggle for self-determination needed to be acknowledged as per the United Nations resolution.



He said both countries possessed nuclear capabilities and any further escalation could destabilise the whole region with catastrophic loss of life. We know from the past that it is easy to start a war, however once triggered there could be no control over it as seen in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine etc., he said.



We urge the international community to play its role in diffusing tensions and mediating peace between Pakistan and India, he said. He stressed that the British and European partners should rise to the occasion and coerce India into holding talks and easing the current situation.
Check whats in the news today.

Politics

-- U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday that the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi last week was "unquestionably a success, amid criticism that the meeting was failure as no deal was reached.

Society

-- Surveillance cameras to monitor traffic violations will be installed in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by 2020, during a pilot scheme in which the government aims to reduce traffic jams and traffic accidents.

-- Police in the southern province of Kien Giang said on Sunday they have arrested a Cambodian national who is suspected of killing a Vietnamese motorbike taxi driver in January.

-- The first-ever urban railway line in Hanoi, Cat Linh-Ha Dong, is expected to issue day passes costing VND30,000 (US$1.29) apiece instead of conventional tickets like buses.

-- A six-hectare piece of grassland in Bien Hoa, the capital of the southern province of Dong Nai, caught fire on Sunday afternoon, threatening a nearby residential area.

-- As many as 131 weak bridges on Vietnams north-to-south railway will be repaired or replaced by 2021 under a VND1.95 trillion ($83.85 million) state-funded project, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Sunday.

Business

-- Vietnamese-made VinFast cars are slated to undergo rigorous tests in Europe this Wednesday, March 6, in order to ensure quality according to international standards.

-- Vietnams exports to the U.S. rose by more than three times in the 2010-18 period, from $18 billion to $60.2 billion, according to the latest customs data.

-- More and more beverage shops in Ho Chi Minh City have switched from plastic straws to more eco-friendly alternatives, as local consumers also go green by bringing their own cups to cafe and milk tea stores.

Lifestyle

-- More than 3,000 people wearing ao dai (Vietnamese traditional long dress) joined in a mass performance in Nguyen Hue Walking Street in Ho Chi Minh City on Sunday, as part of the ongoing sixth Ao Dai Festival in the southern metropolis.

-- Miss Earth 2018 Phuong Khanh joined locals in a beach cleaning campaign in the southern province of Ben Tre on Sunday.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A Cambodian man has been arrested for purportedly murdering a Vietnamese motorbike taxi (xe om) driver in an incident where he claimed to have acted out of self-defense.

Colonel Luu Thanh Tin, deputy director of the police department in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang, confirmed on Sunday that officers had apprehended Soc Tha, a 64-year-old Cambodian national.

Tha, a temporary resident in Kien Giang, was captured when he was staying in Cambodia, according to Tin.

The murder suspect was escorted to Kien Giang for investigation on Saturday, Tin added.

The incident happened at around 9:00 pm on January 22, when Tha had a Vietnamese motorbike taxi driver named L. carry him to a friends house in My Thuan Commune, Hon Dat District, according to his statement.

After negotiation, the driver and passenger agreed that the ride would cost VND70,000 (US$3).

But upon arriving at the destination, Tha found out that his friend was not at home, thus he asked L. to take him to another place.

Moments into the second journey, the driver demanded that Tha pay him for the first trip.

L. wanted VND170,000 ($7.3) instead of VND70,000, explaining that he had previously quoted the wrong price, citing differences between daytime and nighttime fares.

As Tha refused to pay, the driver requested that he get off his vehicle, sparking an argument between them.

As they were quarreling, the driver pulled out a knife and attacked Tha, according to the Cambodian mans account.

The passenger managed to disarm his attacker. When L. ran away from the scene, Tha chased after him and cut his throat with the victims own weapon.

Tha dumped the body in a roadside ditch and rode L.s motorbike to nearby An Giang Province. He then abandoned the vehicle and headed to Cambodia.

The suspect insisted that his action was self-defense.

Kien Giang police said further investigation is ongoing, adding that the suspect was convicted of murder in 2011 by the provincial Peoples Court and had served a seven-year jail term.

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African swine fever has been recorded in seven Vietnamese localities and affected nearly 4,000 pigs over the past month, prompting authorities to come up with measures to stop further outbreaks.

The affected localities include Hung Yen Province, Thai Binh Province, Ha Nam Province, Hai Duong Province, Hai Phong City, Hanoi, all of which are in northern Vietnam, and Thanh Hoa Province in the north-central region.

The number of pigs having been infected and disposed of reached 3,925 as of Sunday, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

African swine fever is a severe viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. It is incurable and the infected swine have a 100 percent fatality rate.

The virus has high resistance and can spread through the air, food, and drinking water. Although the disease is not a risk to human health, it can result in serious production and economic losses.

According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien, one of the reasons for the fast and complicated development of the disease is that Vietnam has bustling commercial activities relating to the slaughte, transportation, and distribution of pork.

Nearly 50 percent of small-scale husbandry facilities in the country do not meet standards regarding biosecurity and disease prevention.

These facilities are usually the places where the outbreaks start, Tien elaborated, adding that humidity and rain have helped spread the virus.

Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development inspect an affected neighborhood in Hai Phong City on March 2, 2019. Photo: Tien Thang / Tuoi Tre

Local authorities have faced multiple challenges in preventing the epidemic, including the inadequate management of pork and related products and a lack of personnel.

The lack of a fast-track process to purchase anti-epidemic chemicals also exacerbates the issue, Tien added.

It also took quite a long time for authorities to receive the infected pigs from local farmers to begin the disposal process, the deputy minister stated.

As the current financial support for affected farmers is fairly limited, the agriculture ministry has asked the prime minister to green-light further assistance for them, Tien continued.

We will also request the premier to tighten the management of the sale and transportation of pork and pork products, he said.

Authorities will raise awareness of the disease among farmers and provide them with instructions on how to deal with the epidemic.

As for long-term solutions to the issue, the agriculture ministry will seek help from international organizations in establishing modern livestock production chains that ensure food safety and disease prevention.

As there is no vaccine against African swine fever, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Science and Technology will continue their research to find the best prevention method, he underlined.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc was scheduled to chair a teleconference with officials of 63 provinces and cities on Monday, during which issues relating to the disease would be discussed.

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Jeff Ballabon is a not-so-high-level advisor to the Trump Election Campaign, but he's out to climb higher in the 2020 Campaign by denouncing US Representative Ilan Omar (D-Minnesota) as "filth," "disgusting" and "filthy." She and her criticisms of Israel, "got to go," he says. "So what if she's in Congress." Does that mean "so what if American voters elected her?" Ballabon's hurling was on the Varney & Co. show on Fox Business TV.

A bullyish loudmouth, Ballabon exemplifies what's wrong with the Israel Lobby, the Netanyahu-lovers, and Israel-firsters in America -- they don't really believe in democracy, and when American voters reject the candidates that get the "Benjamins" and other currency that the likes of Sheldon Adelson throw into election races every cycle, operatives like Ballabon snarl and gnash like rabid animals. Preferably in front of TV cameras.

VARNEY: "Insulting language there."

BALLABON: "Yes."

VARNEY: "Insulting to Ms. Omar. You've used it."

BALLABON: "Yes."

VARNEY: "I don't hear other Jewish members of Congress saying the same thing. They're not making the same demands and they're not using the same language."

BALLABON: "Absolutely correct. They're still playing politics...."

Using vile, violent language, Ballabon called Omar "a filthy, disgusting hater. So what if she's in Congress? That's the problem." Her beliefs "got to go." Her tweets scare him, Ballabon said.

But in the same Varney & Co. show, Ballabon also bellowed against American Jewish voters, denouncing them as "this ghetto of Jewish voters in the Democratic Party," who don't understand that Republicans like himself, as opposed to Jewish politicians like Senator Chuck Schumer, are their real friends.
Dawn French has a new UK series in the pipeline, Glass Houses.

The 6 part ITV series is set in a picturesque small coastal town with a close-knit community.

It follows the stories and fall out for Maggie Connors (Dawn French) who doesnt pay attention to the cautionary adage that those in glass houses shouldnt throw stones.

Maggie is a central character in town who makes it her business to know a bit about everyones lives. When a radio journalist interviews her for a small reportage piece about local life she gives him far more detail, and embellishment, about the locals and their personal lives than he was counting on. In the days and weeks following the shows broadcast, Maggie sees the butterfly effect of how her very public gossip-fest affects various figures around the town and disrupts their lives.

Maggie has been happily married to headmaster Peter (Mark Heap) for nearly 40 years, and their son Jamie and his wife Becka live nearby. Other notable residents include Maggies best friend Jill (Julie Hesmondhalgh), Brian the publican, school secretary Karen (Vicki Pepperdine), the towns GP Carol, local shopkeepers Emil and Roxanna, and Kelly who works in the hair salon. Also part-time resident is the handsome Marcus (Patrick Robinson), who rents a cottage to write his best-selling novels.

Created and written by Mark Brotherhood (Benidorm, Mount Pleasant, Shameless, Worst Year of My Life Again!) it will go into production on location in South Devon in coming months.

Saskia Schuster, ITVs Comedy Controller said, Glass Houses is a new drama in the tradition of Doc Martin and The Darling Buds Of May, full of warmth and intriguing characters. This new series will embrace its beautiful idyllic South Devon setting as we meet the villagers of Thurlbury and find out how an innocent afternoon spent indiscreetly gossiping has a domino effect on the whole village.

Dawn French added,Its such a good story with a fantastic funny, touching script by Mark Brotherhood. Let me at it!

An Australian broadcaster is yet to be announced, but I would tip Seven or possibly ABC.

French can be seen in a third season of Delicious on ABC this Saturday.
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Funeral prayers of Jawan offered with full military honour

Funeral prayers of Havaldar Abdur Rab Shaheed and Naik Khurram Shaheed were offered in Dera Ghazi Khan, following which they were buried with full military honour for their supreme sacrifice for defending the motherland at Nakyal sector.



Meanwhile, AJK President Sardar Masood Khan reviewed the measures taken by governmental and non-governmental organisations to provide relief to the affected people.



At a briefing by Secretary of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Syed Shahid Mohyuddin and Chairman of the AJK Red Crescent Society (RCS) Dar Sardar Mahmood Ahmed, the president was told the teams of RCS volunteers with first aid items and relief goods had been sent to the affected areas.



Besides, the volunteers were also making arrangements for donation/provision of blood to the persons injured by the ceasefire violations by Indian army, they said.



The AJK RCS chairman said his organisation was in constant contact with the district administrations concerned and relief items and dry ration were being provided to 500 affected families in Muzaffarabad and Kotli by Pakistan RCS headquarters.



The SDMA secretary said his organisation was providing food and accommodation facilities to the affected people in Muzaffarabad, Haveli, Kotli, Poonch and Bhimber districts.



The health department was extending emergency health services to the victims, he said. Mr Qadri said control rooms had been established at the state capital and the district headquarters to gather and disseminate information.



He said the Rescue 1122 services had been put on high alert on the directives of the NDMA. In addition, he said, a plan had been chalked out to provide rapid relief through effective coordination with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), armed forces, AJK home department, line agencies and other organisations.
Call the Midwife has been renewed for not just one, but two new seasons by the BBC.

With series nine about to start filming, the show will now be on air until 2022.

Series 10 and 11 will consist of two 860 series and two Christmas specials.

Call the Midwife continues to be the most watched drama series in the UK. Series eight has averaged nine million viewers per episode, making it BBC Ones biggest show of 2019 so far and the highest rating returning drama across all UK channels this year.

Heidi Thomas, Creator, Writer and Executive Producer, says: Even after all these years, it still feels as though Call the Midwife has more truth to tell, more tears to cry, more life to celebrate, and more love to give. We are blessed with the best cast, crew, and audience a show could wish for, and I could not be more excited about our future.

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, says: Everyone at the BBC is delighted were welcoming the nurses of Nonnatus House back for another two series and were all looking forward to following our cast through the tumultuous years of the late sixties. Id like to thank the wonderful cast and crew, and particularly Heidi, Pippa and Ann for their continued creative ambition and dedication to such a very special show.

Season 8 is currently screening in Australia Thursday nights on BBC First.
Dateline returns to SBS for 2019 next week with a report on Denmarks Dementia Village.

Greg Kelly has early onset dementia and does not want to go into a nursing home. Dateline follows him to Denmark to experience an alternate care option, where there is a village where everyone has dementia.

Dateline is an award-winning international documentary series with a current affairs backbone. Every week, Dateline transports you to a different part of the world to share stories about family, social injustice, identity, tragedy, redemption and survival.

Dateline journalists scour the world for the special characters to bring you a world of daring stories.

Tuesday, 12 March at 9.30pm on SBS.
Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has been accused of attempting to bribe MPs ahead of the key vote on her Brexit withdrawal plans.

May has announced that poorer towns across England will be given an additional 1.6 billion in funding through the Stronger Towns Fund.

May said that prosperity has been unfairly spread for too long in the UK in a statement released by her office. Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change -- that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.

This money will be given to areas that had not shared the proceeds of growth, such as Wakefield, Doncaster, and Wigan.

However, all of these towns also voted heavily for Brexit.

Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell has described the Stronger Towns Fund as a bribe designed to get MPs in pro-Brexit parts of the country to vote for her in the Commons.

McDonnell said that the initiative smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.

Will MPs vote for Mays Brexit deal?

May has until March 12 to put her deal to Parliament. However, having suffered a damaging defeat in January, the Prime Minister has been holding off calling another vote.

Brexiteers feel she is failing to deliver the hard Brexit that people voted for due to the backstop agreed in Ireland, while Remainers are disgruntled by her refusal to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

She has had little luck convincing either side to back her plans, and this latest attempt seems to have fallen flat too.

May and her supporters have been quick to rebuff suggestions that they are attempting to buy votes, insisting that the initiative is an attempt to show communities that they can be better off after Brexit.

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, said: It is vital that this fund is not seen as pork-barrel politics, but a way for all poorer communities to benefit post-Brexit.

Regardless, MPs across constituencies and parties appear to be unaffected by the attempts, standing strong against Mays Brexit deal.

Gareth Snell, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, insisted there was is no price on his vote, stating that the additional funding wouldnt cover the recent cuts made by his local council.

May has also come under fire from Conservative MPs, such as Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who said: What this money wont do is buy any votes in Parliament.

If May is unable to convince MPs soon, she could be forced to delay the March Brexit deadline by up to three months.
The Prince of Wales compared British seaside towns Margate and Southend to party destination Ayia Napa as he celebrated the UKs ties to Cyprus.

Charles hosted the nations president Nicos Anastasiades at Buckingham Palace on Monday evening, along with guests including artist Tracey Emin, who was raised in the Kent seaside resort.

Tonight The Prince of Wales hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate ties between the UK and Cyprus.   Guests included @AnastasiadesCY, President of Cyprus, and Cypriots of Greek and Turkish heritage from across the diaspora community in the UK. pic.twitter.com/UuvHe5HqqA  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) March 4, 2019

The prince celebrated the waves of migration of Cypriots to Britain and their support of the Army during both world wars.

He added: Im told that some early British-Cypriot communities were established in Southend and Margate which  I can only imagine  were the closest thing they could find to Ayia Napa.

After his remark was met with laughter, he said: Im glad you got the joke.

Charles praised Britons of Cypriot descent including George Michael, Emin and the entrepreneurs Theo Paphitis and Touker Suleyman, who have both featured on Dragons Den.

Charles speaks to Theo Paphitis (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Mr Paphitis discussed his nearly 150-year-old firm Robert Dyas with the prince, who replied with a quip.

I own them  they cant get rid of me, Mr Paphitis returned.

Speaking after their conversation, the businessman praised Britains ties with Cyprus and predicted they would only get closer following the UKs departure from the European Union, of which Cyprus is a member.

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I think with everything thats going on around the world at the moment, and especially with Brexit, Im sure Cyprus will remain very, very close to the UK, he said.

During the reception, The Prince of Wales viewed maps of Cyprus dating back to the 1870s, and artefacts from the Bronze Age Cypriot town of Enkomi. pic.twitter.com/zyDn3PXqSi  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) March 4, 2019

Ms Emin, who is best known for her piece My Bed, discussed art with Charles and her familys ties to the Mediterranean island.

Tracey Emin also attended the reception (Jonathan Brady/PA)

He wanted to know what my connection was to Cyprus so I said about the fact my great-great grandfather was a slave in the Ottoman Empire, she said.

Ms Emin said she prompted laughter from Charles when she told him how her Sudanese ancestor was given 50 sheep along with his freedom by Cyprus 1860.
Govt to take firm decision against all militant groups: Fawad Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD: The imminence of an action against extremist groups was confirmed by Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry. He said the government had taken a firm decision that there would be a stern action against all militant groups. This, he said, was in accordance with the political consensus contained in the National Action Plan (NAP).



The information minister refused to give any timeline for the operation against militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), accused of masterminding the Pulwama attack that triggered the latest crisis with India and took both nuclear-armed rivals close to war, and Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF). Mr Chaudhry said the timeline was something for the security forces to decide.



The National Security Committee had in its Feb 21 meeting decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations and ordered re-imposition of ban on JuD and FIF. Prime Minister Imran Khan had on that occasion, while emphasising eradication of militancy and extremism from society, said the state could not be allowed to become hostage to extremists.



We are taking action in our national interest. We have to correct the course. We cannot leave this mess for our next generation, the source said, adding that the existing political consensus within the country was an opportunity to take Pakistan on the positive track.



He said the action would help deal with the issues arising out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) listing. Pakistan, despite making significant progress on the initial concerns of FATF, came under renewed pressure at the Paris plenary last month.



The source said at the briefing that there could be law enforcement actions against JeM, JuD and FIF. However, it was clear from the conversation that Pakistan would also review its stance on the issue of listing of JeM leader Masood Azhar by the United Nations Security Council. No individual is more important than Pakistan, he said while responding to a question. Pakistan wont make it a matter of ego, he said in response to another. We wont test our friends either, he said in reference to China that has been maintaining a technical hold on Azhars listing by the UNSC.



The United States, Britain and France three permanent members of the UNSC with veto power  have again, after Pulwama, moved the Security Council for designation of Azhar as a global terrorist.



When asked why Pakistan had in the past failed in acting against the proscribed groups, the source said the elements of NAP relating to military had been implemented, but those pertaining of civilians lagged behind because of lack of capacity, capability and will. He pointed to compulsions of certain political leaders as one reason, but said no one could be absolved of responsibility.



It was decided in NAP in 2014 that there would action against proscribed groups. That required strategic shift and such changes take time, he emphasised, observing that time had now come to decisively against these groups.



Talking about the latest confrontation with India in which a strategic pause in hostilities was obvious on Sunday, he said it was in the interest of Pakistan to exit from the face-off at this stage when it had attained moral, diplomatic and military ascendancy over India. However, Indias case was different, he argued, saying that it might be a tough decision for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to de-escalate at this stage because of the political cost. Thats why they are taking time. Now that the strategic pause is there, they would have gone back to re-evaluate their options.



Inter-Services Public Relations in its update on the LoC situation on Sunday reported calm after heavy exchanges over the past few days following use of air power by the two countries. After heavy exchange of fire on night 1st/2nd March there is relative calm along LoC with intermittent fire during last night in Neza Pir, Jandrot and Baghsar sectors, it said.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - China's government and its leading smartphone maker Huawei Technologies Ltd on Monday stepped up pressure on U.S. and Canadian governments in a dispute over market access that has ensnared Huawei's CFO, who faces U.S. criminal charges.

China on Monday accused a detained Canadian man of stealing trade secrets passed on to him from another detained Canadian, while the telecom gear maker is also preparing a lawsuit against the U.S. government over a law that restricts its market access.

They were the latest escalation of an unprecedented crisis for Huawei, the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker and no. 2 manufacturer of smartphones, as Washington calls on governments around the world to stop using its gear, particularly in 5G networks.

China accused detained Canadian citizen Michael Kovrig of stealing state secrets which were passed on to him from another detained Canadian, businessman Michael Spavor, in a move likely to increase tension between Ottawa and Beijing.

We are obviously very concerned with this position that China has taken," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said about the accusations on Monday. "Weve been engaging and standing up for the two Canadians who have been arbitrarily detained by China from the very beginning."

Spavor, who worked with North Korea, and former diplomat Kovrig were picked up in December, shortly after Canada arrested Huawei Technologies Co Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to the United States.

Lawyers for Meng are suing the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police, alleging their client was detained, searched and interrogated for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights.

Canada arrested Meng in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States, which has charged her with bank and wire fraud to violate American sanctions against Iran by doing business through a subsidiary it tried to hide.

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HUAWEI TO SUE

In another escalation of the trans-Pacific dispute, Huawei plans to announce a lawsuit against the United States government on Thursday on grounds related to a defense bill, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Huawei will challenge an addition to the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed last year, that controlled U.S. government contracts with Chinese companies and strengthened the role of the panel that reviews foreign investment proposals. Beijing has condemned the NDAA act as targeting China.

Trump last year signed the law that limits Huawei and ZTE Corp's access to U.S. government and military contracts. This is part of an all-out U.S. effort on the two companies to close their access to not only the U.S. market, but also major telecoms markets around the world where next-generation, 5G, networks are being designed and built.

U.S. lawmakers earlier this year introduced bills that would ban the sale of U.S. chips or other components to Chinese telecommunications companies that violate U.S. sanctions or export control laws.

U.S. officials have alleged Chinese telecom manufacturers are producing equipment that allows their government to spy on users abroad, including Western researchers working on leading-edge technologies. Beijing and the Chinese companies have repeatedly denied such claims.

Trump is considering declaring a national emergency that would bar U.S. companies from using telecommunications equipment made by Huawei and ZTE, three sources familiar with the situation told Reuters in December.

The Justice Department has also charged Huawei with stealing robotic technology from T-Mobile US Inc.

Trump said in February he may or may not include Huawei and ZTE in the trade deal being negotiated with China. Trump told reporters at the White House that U.S. officials are not talking about dropping charges against Huawei.

HUAWEI CFO IN LIMBO

Huawei CFO Meng, who is out on bail, is due to appear in a Vancouver court on Wednesday, when a date will be set for her extradition hearing. Ottawa rejects Chinese calls to release Meng, saying it cannot interfere with the judiciary.

The Canadian government approved her extradition proceedings on Friday. China, whose relations with Canada have deteriorated badly over the affair, denounced the decision and repeated previous demands for Meng's release.

It could be years before Meng is sent to the United States since Canada's slow-moving justice system allows many decisions to be appealed.

A final decision will likely come down to the federal justice minister, who will face the choice of angering the United States by rejecting the extradition bid, or China by accepting it.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Ben Blanchard and Sijia Jiang; Writing by Nick Zieminski in New York; Editing by Susan Thomas)
The structure which cost 3.75 million to build was almost 400,000 over budget and about four months behind schedule.

The Duke of Cambridge has paid tribute to a pioneering woman diplomat as he opened a lecture theatre named in her honour.

William launched the Mayhew Theatre which recognised the achievements of Cicely Mayhew, one of the first women to be appointed to the British Diplomatic Service, and told members of her family she was remarkable woman.

He jokingly referred to the new building, constructed in an internal courtyard at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in Whitehall, as a crisp because of its distinctive roof when he chatted to the contractors.

Investing in the people who make up the diplomatic service is vital  and so I am pleased to be here to help mark the next step forward in that investment.  The Duke of Cambridge at the opening of the @UKDipAcademys new Mayhew Theatre. pic.twitter.com/KJD21xeRVx  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019

Sir Simon McDonald, Permanent Under Secretary and Head of the Diplomatic Service at the FCO confessed the budget and timescale for the build had been missed.

As he invited William to the podium in the lecture theatre and education space, he said: Welcome to the Mayhew theatre, concrete proof of the FCOs commitment to learning and development  a little bit late, a little bit over budget, but now complete and ready to be open.

The structure which cost 3.75 million to build was almost 400,000 over budget and about four months behind schedule.

The new facility is named after Lady Cicely Mayhew, one of the first women to be appointed to the British Diplomatic Service. Today The Duke met three of her children  Tessa, David and Judy and her granddaughter Emily, who are here for the opening. pic.twitter.com/F7JPKpefh2  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019

William told the invited audience: I know how valuable the work of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is, I can see what you do for myself when I travel around the world at the Governments request.

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I meet members of your service and Im always impressed by your dedication to projecting our values, to protecting our national security, to creating prosperity and to supporting our citizens all around the world.

I recognise the challenges of modern diplomacy in a digital age, where we need to adapt to the opportunities and threats of new technologies. Investing in the people who make up the diplomatic service is vital.

The duke, who met three of Lady Cecilys children and one of her grandaughters at the event, told those who will use the teaching space: Take inspiration from the commitment to public service that Cecily Mayhew showed throughout her entire life.

After graduating from @UniofOxford with a First in German and French, Mayhew worked at Bletchley Park during WWII to decode and translate signals from the German Fleet. Mayhew later joined The @ForeignOffice in 1947 and was first sent to Belgrade, Serbia. pic.twitter.com/rjtOyVtvhD  Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019

The former diplomat, who died in 2016 aged 92, joined the Foreign Office in 1947 and previously worked in the code-breaking centre Bletchley Park, having been recruited from university by naval intelligence.

At her request, she worked behind the Iron Curtain in Belgrade  but had to give up her career when she married.

The Mayhew Theatre uses state-of-the-art technology to allow staff to join sessions virtually from across the world, and will be used to support the delivery of curriculums from the Diplomatic Academy, opened in February 2015 as a centre of excellence.

Jon Benjamin, the academys director, said about the delays to the budget and timescale: A lot of it was caused by the delays inherent in trying to work in this space and having to work out of hours.
Estonia's opposition liberal Reform party won Sunday's general election, outpacing centre-left Prime Minister Juri Ratas's party and a surging far-right buoyed by a backlash from mostly rural voters in the Baltic eurozone state. Led by former MEP Kaja Kallas, Reform garnered 28.8 percent of the vote, well ahead of Ratas's Centre party on 23 percent, with the far-right EKRE more than doubling its previous election score at 17.8 percent, according to full results on Estonia's official state elections website.Two other parties in the race which currently govern in coalition with Ratas, the Social Democrats and conservative Isamaa, respectively took 9.8 percent and 11.4 percent of the vote.Both could team up with Reform for a 56-seat majority in the 101-member parliament, or holding a combined 60 seats, arch-rivals Reform and Centre could govern together as they have done in the past."Now the real work begins to put together the government and start running the country with common sense," Kallas told public broadcaster ETV/ERR.Insisting that the "EKRE is not a choice for us," Kallas said Reform would "keep all coalition options on the table", adding that her party has "strong differences with Centre in three areas: taxation, citizenship, and education."As for Ratas, when asked if Centre would consider becoming a junior coalition partner, he said "of course" but declined to elaborate.EKRE leader Mart Helme raised the idea of a Centre-EKRE-Isamaa coalition commanding a 57-seat majority, according to ETV/ERR.Bread-and-butter issues like taxation and public spending had dominated the lacklustre campaign, along with tensions over Russian-language education for Estonia's sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide.The far-right EKRE captured support promising to slash income and excise taxes and pushing anti-immigration rhetoric.Turnout clocked in at 63.1 percent of eligible voters, the state election commission said.Tax breaks, wage hikesTraditional rivals, Centre and Reform have alternated in government and even governed together over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.Both strongly support Estonia's EU and NATO membership and have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozone's lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.Centre has vowed to hike pensions by 8.4 percent and to replace Estonia's 20 percent flat income tax and 21 percent corporate tax with a progressive system to boost state revenue.Nixing a progressive tax, business-friendly Reform instead wants to raise the tax-free monthly minimum exemption and lower unemployment insurance premiums to aid job creation.Joblessness hovers at just under five percent while economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7 percent this year, from 3.9 percent in 2018.For Lauri, an advertising specialist who declined to reveal his family name, the isolationist and conservative foreign and social policy proposed by parties like the EKRE is cause for concern."There's a trend in Western Europe right now, if we look at the Netherlands, at England, maybe even France. I don't support such populism myself," he told AFP.EstxitWhile it won just seven seats in the 2015 election, the EKRE is now a close third behind the mainstream parties.Staunchly eurosceptic, it called for an "Estxit" referendum on Estonia's EU membership, although the move would fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country.The party's suspicion of Moscow translates into strong support for NATO membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 as a tripwire against possible Russian adventurism.Tonis Saarts, a Tallinn University political scientist, describes the EKRE's position on liberal democracy, including civic and human rights, rule of law and the separation of powers, as "very ambiguous" and compares it to similar parties that have recently gained support across Europe.The party's appeal is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform."These people see few economic prospects and feel the mainstream parties don't care much about their problems," Saarts told AFP.Russian minorityThe Centre party has long been favoured by the Russian minority, comprising around a quarter of the Baltic state's population of 1.3 million.To avoid losing voters suspicious of Russia, Ratas insists that a 2004 cooperation deal with Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is "frozen". But out of fear of losing the Russian vote, he has refused to rip it up.The minority counts on Centre to save the existing education system comprising Estonian and Russian-language schools rooted in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching.(AFP)

Estonia's opposition liberal Reform party won Sunday's general election, outpacing centre-left Prime Minister Juri Ratas's party and a surging far-right buoyed by a backlash from mostly rural voters in the Baltic eurozone state.

Led by former MEP Kaja Kallas, Reform garnered 28.8 percent of the vote, well ahead of Ratas's Centre party on 23 percent, with the far-right EKRE more than doubling its previous election score at 17.8 percent, according to full results on Estonia's official state elections website.

Two other parties in the race which currently govern in coalition with Ratas, the Social Democrats and conservative Isamaa, respectively took 9.8 percent and 11.4 percent of the vote.

Both could team up with Reform for a 56-seat majority in the 101-member parliament, or holding a combined 60 seats, arch-rivals Reform and Centre could govern together as they have done in the past.

"Now the real work begins to put together the government and start running the country with common sense," Kallas told public broadcaster ETV/ERR.

Insisting that the "EKRE is not a choice for us," Kallas said Reform would "keep all coalition options on the table", adding that her party has "strong differences with Centre in three areas: taxation, citizenship, and education."

As for Ratas, when asked if Centre would consider becoming a junior coalition partner, he said "of course" but declined to elaborate.

EKRE leader Mart Helme raised the idea of a Centre-EKRE-Isamaa coalition commanding a 57-seat majority, according to ETV/ERR.

Bread-and-butter issues like taxation and public spending had dominated the lacklustre campaign, along with tensions over Russian-language education for Estonia's sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide.

The far-right EKRE captured support promising to slash income and excise taxes and pushing anti-immigration rhetoric.

Turnout clocked in at 63.1 percent of eligible voters, the state election commission said.

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Tax breaks, wage hikes

Traditional rivals, Centre and Reform have alternated in government and even governed together over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.

Both strongly support Estonia's EU and NATO membership and have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozone's lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.

Centre has vowed to hike pensions by 8.4 percent and to replace Estonia's 20 percent flat income tax and 21 percent corporate tax with a progressive system to boost state revenue.

Nixing a progressive tax, business-friendly Reform instead wants to raise the tax-free monthly minimum exemption and lower unemployment insurance premiums to aid job creation.

Joblessness hovers at just under five percent while economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7 percent this year, from 3.9 percent in 2018.

For Lauri, an advertising specialist who declined to reveal his family name, the isolationist and conservative foreign and social policy proposed by parties like the EKRE is cause for concern.

"There's a trend in Western Europe right now, if we look at the Netherlands, at England, maybe even France. I don't support such populism myself," he told AFP.

Estxit

While it won just seven seats in the 2015 election, the EKRE is now a close third behind the mainstream parties.

Staunchly eurosceptic, it called for an "Estxit" referendum on Estonia's EU membership, although the move would fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country.

The party's suspicion of Moscow translates into strong support for NATO membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 as a tripwire against possible Russian adventurism.

Tonis Saarts, a Tallinn University political scientist, describes the EKRE's position on liberal democracy, including civic and human rights, rule of law and the separation of powers, as "very ambiguous" and compares it to similar parties that have recently gained support across Europe.

The party's appeal is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform.

"These people see few economic prospects and feel the mainstream parties don't care much about their problems," Saarts told AFP.

Russian minority

The Centre party has long been favoured by the Russian minority, comprising around a quarter of the Baltic state's population of 1.3 million.

To avoid losing voters suspicious of Russia, Ratas insists that a 2004 cooperation deal with Vladimir Putin's United Russia party is "frozen". But out of fear of losing the Russian vote, he has refused to rip it up.

The minority counts on Centre to save the existing education system comprising Estonian and Russian-language schools rooted in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching.

(AFP)
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Sunday he would return home to lead new protests against President Nicolas Maduro on Monday, running the risk authorities arrest him given that he flouted a travel ban to leave the country last week. Guaido left Ecuador earlier on Sunday after spending the past few days touring Latin American nations to muster support, but he did not disclose where he had gone next or how he planned to return to Venezuela.Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by most Western countries, left the country last week to coordinate efforts in Colombia to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela.But troops loyal to Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that left at least five people dead along the Brazilian border.Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter on Sunday it would be a "historic challenge" to return.He has called for new protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period."If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make," he said.After traveling to Colombia, Guaido visited Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.He had flown to the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil after meeting with Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno in the coastal town of Salinas on Saturday.To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City.The Venezuelan Supreme Court imposed the travel ban after he invoked the country's constitution on Jan. 23 to assume an interim presidency.Maduro, who retains control of state institutions, says Guaido is trying to foment a U.S.-backed coup against him.The United States on Friday ramped up its attempt to dislodge Maduro from power by imposing new sanctions and revoking visas.(REUTERS)

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Sunday he would return home to lead new protests against President Nicolas Maduro on Monday, running the risk authorities arrest him given that he flouted a travel ban to leave the country last week.

Guaido left Ecuador earlier on Sunday after spending the past few days touring Latin American nations to muster support, but he did not disclose where he had gone next or how he planned to return to Venezuela.

Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by most Western countries, left the country last week to coordinate efforts in Colombia to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela.

But troops loyal to Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that left at least five people dead along the Brazilian border.

Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter on Sunday it would be a "historic challenge" to return.

He has called for new protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period.

"If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make," he said.

After traveling to Colombia, Guaido visited Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

He had flown to the Ecuadorean port city of Guayaquil after meeting with Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno in the coastal town of Salinas on Saturday.

To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court imposed the travel ban after he invoked the country's constitution on Jan. 23 to assume an interim presidency.

Maduro, who retains control of state institutions, says Guaido is trying to foment a U.S.-backed coup against him.

The United States on Friday ramped up its attempt to dislodge Maduro from power by imposing new sanctions and revoking visas.

(REUTERS)
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei delivers a speech during a meeting with Iranians from the East Azerbaijan province, in Tehran, Iran February 18, 2019. Khamenei.ir/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - A closed-door speech last year by Iran's Supreme Leader voicing doubt about the Iranian government's diplomatic overtures to Europe was released on Monday in a sign of feuding over foreign policy that led to a short-lived resignation by the foreign minister.

The address by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in mid-2018 appeared to forecast difficulties European countries would have in honouring pledges to protect trade with Iran from new U.S. sanctions after Washington abandoned a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

The speech showed that while President Hassan Rouhani was trying to save the nuclear deal with European powers, who remained committed despite the U.S. exit, Khamenei was not optimistic. The publication of the comments eight months afterward presented Khamenei as viewing the situation as unchanged.

Khamenei, an anti-Western hardliner, was quoted as saying by his official website that the Europeans would naturally say they are protecting Iranian interests with their package but the Iranian government "should not make this a main issue".

He said the nuclear deal did not resolve any of the economic problems of Iran. He predicted that a mechanism proposed by the EU to shield business with Iran against the U.S. sanctions would also be no panacea for Iran's economic hardship.

"(The Europeans) are bad. They are really bad. I have a lot to say about the Europeans; not because of their current policies, but their mischievous nature over the last few centuries," said Khamenei.

ZARIF'S RESIGNATION

His comments, made in a meeting with the cabinet, were published a week after Rouhani rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a U.S.-educated veteran diplomat who championed the nuclear deal.

Khamenei's comments cast doubt on the efficacy of Zarif's past and current efforts to keep the agreement alive.

Zarif, who retracted his resignation after Rouhani refused to accept it, said on Monday he had resigned in order to preserve the dignity and credibility of the Foreign Ministry, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

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Fars quoted him as saying the ministry is responsible for all of Iran's foreign relations. "It's not that any body inside or outside the government has its own foreign policy, and we're only responsible for the foreign policy of the foreign ministry. In that case, there would be no need for a foreign ministry," he was quoted as saying.

Iranian politics has long been riven by factional struggles, especially on fraught relations with the West.

While Rouhani and his moderate camp still back the nuclear deal and seek rapprochement with the United States and Europe, hardliners, echoing Khameneis stance, reject any yielding to foreign pressure as inimical to Islamic revolutionary values.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all major Iranian domestic and foreign policy and only reluctantly backed the nuclear negotiations, said on Monday Rouhani's government should not be deceived by European countries and their "smiles".

Under the nuclear deal struck between Iran and six big powers in 2015, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations were lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear programme the West suspected was geared to developing an atom bomb.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out last year. His administration said that while Iran had met the deal's terms, the accord was too generous, failing to rein in ballistic missile testing or to curb Iranian involvement in regional conflicts such as Syria and Yemen.

New U.S. sanctions have largely succeeded in persuading European companies to put aside business projects with Iran.

France, Germany and Britain opened a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran in January, although diplomats say it is unlikely to enable the big transactions Tehran says are needed to keep a nuclear deal afloat.

On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi praised the proposed EU mechanism, known as Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX), as a "late but important step". Qasemi said, however, that the Islamic Republic would accept no conditions from the EU.

France has called on Iran to stop all activities linked to its ballistic missile programme or face sanctions.

The Europeans have promised to help companies do business with Iran as long as it abides by the deal. Iran has threatened to pull out of the 2015 deal itself unless EU powers demonstrably protect its economic benefits.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Monday that Iran is still meeting its commitments under the nuclear deal.

"Contrasting the constant lies that Netanyahu, Trump & Associates tell about Iran, the #IAEA once againand for the umpteenth timeaffirms our standing by our word and adhering to the nuclear accord that the US has illegally violated. Our patience, however, is running thin," Zarif tweeted on Monday.

(Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry)
French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a call for reconciliation with Italy following a diplomatic spat between the neighbours that saw Paris briefly recall its ambassador. Relations between the two countries have fractured due to repeated clashes between centrist Macron and Italy's populist coalition government.In February, Paris recalled ambassador Christian Masset for a week in protest at "unfounded attacks and outlandish claims" by the Italian government."There has been intemperate talk. There have been various twists and turns and I think we owe it to our people, to our history and to Europe, to get past that," Macron said Sunday on Italian television.In the spirit of reconciliation, Macron said he would host his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella at Amboise, central France, on May 2 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci "with French and Italian youth"."We will talk about the future and Europe," he added.The two presidents intend to go "beyond the misunderstandings that can sometimes arise in political or economic life and which are, for me, secondary," Macron said, without mentioning Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte or other Italian leaders.With the exception of a question about the planned Lyon-Turin rail link -- which he stressed the importance of -- Macron did not mention other divisive subjects such as Italian populist leaders' support of the "yellow vest" protestors in France or the merger between French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (formerly STX France) and Italy's Fincantieri.'Sleepwalkers'On the other hand, he spoke at length about his love of Italy and his travels."There are so many French people who love Italy and Italians who love France and the French. But suddenly, we almost forgot that we have to keep on learning to understand each other," Macron said."I do not underestimate any of the difficulties of everyday life and the impatience, but I believe that between our countries there is and always has been a lot of heart, that is to say, friendship, love," he said in a final message to camera.In Italy, the interview provoked controversy even before its release as Macron chose to be interviewed by Fabio Fazio, a nemesis of Italy's deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and nationalists who consider him an archetypal "trendy" journalist.During his interview, the French president also quoted writer Roberto Saviano, one of Salvini's most virulent critics, and lambasted "the simplification of the message of some nationalists"."No country, no one in Europe, nor Italy, nor France, will solve its own problems by opposing other European countries and by withdrawing back to the national level," he insisted.He also felt Europe was like living "on a volcano"."There are people who think we can continue like sleepwalkers, as if nothing has happened, they will be buried. Me, I'm aware of the tragedy", he said."We need some real, complex philosophical thought and to re-inspire our peoples."(AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a call for reconciliation with Italy following a diplomatic spat between the neighbours that saw Paris briefly recall its ambassador.

Relations between the two countries have fractured due to repeated clashes between centrist Macron and Italy's populist coalition government.

In February, Paris recalled ambassador Christian Masset for a week in protest at "unfounded attacks and outlandish claims" by the Italian government.

"There has been intemperate talk. There have been various twists and turns and I think we owe it to our people, to our history and to Europe, to get past that," Macron said Sunday on Italian television.

In the spirit of reconciliation, Macron said he would host his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella at Amboise, central France, on May 2 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci "with French and Italian youth".

"We will talk about the future and Europe," he added.

The two presidents intend to go "beyond the misunderstandings that can sometimes arise in political or economic life and which are, for me, secondary," Macron said, without mentioning Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte or other Italian leaders.

With the exception of a question about the planned Lyon-Turin rail link -- which he stressed the importance of -- Macron did not mention other divisive subjects such as Italian populist leaders' support of the "yellow vest" protestors in France or the merger between French shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (formerly STX France) and Italy's Fincantieri.

'Sleepwalkers'

On the other hand, he spoke at length about his love of Italy and his travels.

"There are so many French people who love Italy and Italians who love France and the French. But suddenly, we almost forgot that we have to keep on learning to understand each other," Macron said.

"I do not underestimate any of the difficulties of everyday life and the impatience, but I believe that between our countries there is and always has been a lot of heart, that is to say, friendship, love," he said in a final message to camera.

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In Italy, the interview provoked controversy even before its release as Macron chose to be interviewed by Fabio Fazio, a nemesis of Italy's deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and nationalists who consider him an archetypal "trendy" journalist.

During his interview, the French president also quoted writer Roberto Saviano, one of Salvini's most virulent critics, and lambasted "the simplification of the message of some nationalists".

"No country, no one in Europe, nor Italy, nor France, will solve its own problems by opposing other European countries and by withdrawing back to the national level," he insisted.

He also felt Europe was like living "on a volcano".

"There are people who think we can continue like sleepwalkers, as if nothing has happened, they will be buried. Me, I'm aware of the tragedy", he said.

"We need some real, complex philosophical thought and to re-inspire our peoples."

(AFP)
Rwandan troops have not been deployed at the Ugandan border, according to Ugandas government spokesperson, who denied reports in the Ugandan media that heavily armed soldiers had ... The border crossing at Katuna has been closed since last week and Rwanda has advised its nationals to avoid travelling to Uganda.Its Rwandas sovereign right to deploy on its side of the border for whatever reasons except perhaps provocation, said Ofwono Opondo, Ugandas government spokesperson. For now, we dont have that information as all border posts are calm except Katuna where the official reason is temporary closure and diversion due to ongoing civil works.Ugandas Observer newspaper reported on Monday that armed personnel from the Rwanda Defence Force were seen in areas along the border, citing intelligence sources. The move would have marked an escalation in the tension over the border crossing.Rwandas army spokesperson Innocent Munyengango told RFI that he had no comment on the reports, suggesting that the journalists responsible for the reports provide evidence of what was described as soldiers visible in the hills.Authorities in Kigali last week closed the border crossing at Katuna, known as Gatuna in Kinyarwanda, due to construction works and security concerns.Ugandan harassment?Rwandans are strongly advised not to travel to Uganda due to ongoing arrests, harassment, torture, said Rwandas Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera, directing heavy goods traffic to a border crossing at Kagitumba, some 120 kilometres from Katuna by road.Opondo said Ugandans and citizens of other countries are moving to and from Rwanda without undue impediments, adding that Ugandan officials were working with their Rwandan counterparts to clear a backlog of trucks especially those carrying fuel.Uganda government communications shared images of over 130 cargo trucks stuck at the border crossing, saying they had already been cleared by Ugandan customs.Spokesperson Opondo last week said, there is no witch hunt for Rwandese in Uganda, denying that Rwandans were being harassed.However, Rwandan Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe hit back, describing Opondos comments as actually and demonstrably incorrect, saying more than 40 Rwandans were being detained by Ugandan military intelligence and over 800 Rwandans had been deported from Ugandan or refused entry to the country since the start of last year.Closure of the border crossing at Katuna has temporarily crippled the movement of goods between the two countries. Landlocked Rwanda moves a large part of its imports through Uganda from the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The same route is also used for Kenyan exports and helps supply goods to neighbouring countries including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Rwandan troops have not been deployed at the Ugandan border, according to Ugandas government spokesperson, who denied reports in the Ugandan media that heavily armed soldiers had ...

The border crossing at Katuna has been closed since last week and Rwanda has advised its nationals to avoid travelling to Uganda.

Its Rwandas sovereign right to deploy on its side of the border for whatever reasons except perhaps provocation, said Ofwono Opondo, Ugandas government spokesperson. For now, we dont have that information as all border posts are calm except Katuna where the official reason is temporary closure and diversion due to ongoing civil works.

Ugandas Observer newspaper reported on Monday that armed personnel from the Rwanda Defence Force were seen in areas along the border, citing intelligence sources. The move would have marked an escalation in the tension over the border crossing.

Rwandas army spokesperson Innocent Munyengango told RFI that he had no comment on the reports, suggesting that the journalists responsible for the reports provide evidence of what was described as soldiers visible in the hills.

Authorities in Kigali last week closed the border crossing at Katuna, known as Gatuna in Kinyarwanda, due to construction works and security concerns.

Ugandan harassment?

Rwandans are strongly advised not to travel to Uganda due to ongoing arrests, harassment, torture, said Rwandas Foreign Minister Richard Sezibera, directing heavy goods traffic to a border crossing at Kagitumba, some 120 kilometres from Katuna by road.

Opondo said Ugandans and citizens of other countries are moving to and from Rwanda without undue impediments, adding that Ugandan officials were working with their Rwandan counterparts to clear a backlog of trucks especially those carrying fuel.

Uganda government communications shared images of over 130 cargo trucks stuck at the border crossing, saying they had already been cleared by Ugandan customs.

Story continues

Spokesperson Opondo last week said, there is no witch hunt for Rwandese in Uganda, denying that Rwandans were being harassed.

However, Rwandan Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe hit back, describing Opondos comments as actually and demonstrably incorrect, saying more than 40 Rwandans were being detained by Ugandan military intelligence and over 800 Rwandans had been deported from Ugandan or refused entry to the country since the start of last year.

Closure of the border crossing at Katuna has temporarily crippled the movement of goods between the two countries. Landlocked Rwanda moves a large part of its imports through Uganda from the Kenyan port of Mombasa. The same route is also used for Kenyan exports and helps supply goods to neighbouring countries including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Nearly 100 migrants trying to reach Britain broke into the port of Calais Saturday night. Half of them managed to get on a Dover-bound ferry, causing severe overnight traffic delays.Migrants climb aboard Dover ferry using maintenance ladderDozens of migrants hoping to reach Britain scrambled aboard a cross-Channel ferry in northern France, sparking a 12-hour manhunt as police combed the ship to find them, officials said Sunday.Around 100 migrants broke into the dock area of the port of Calais late Saturday, and dozens managed to get onboard the ferry that had just arrived from Dover, England.A total of 63 migrants were detained, many of whom had tried to hide aboard the Danish-operated DFDS 'Calais Seaways', regional authorities said.On Sunday morning, firemen talked down the last group of about a dozen migrants who had climbed high above the deck to a catwalk attached to the ship's funnel.The migrants managed to get aboard the ferry by using a maintenance ladder at high tide, senior regional official Jean-Philippe Vennin told AFP."Two of the migrants fell into the sea and were quickly rescued by firemen," he added.Ship scoured for missing migrants, cross-Channel traffic delayed overnightPolice offloaded vehicles arriving from Britain on the ferry before making a top-to-bottom search of the ship.Those detained were taken to Calais police headquarters, Vennin said.Cross-Channel ferry traffic was delayed overnight with at least two forced to remain at sea before being allowed into port.The 'Calais Seaways' was itself moved overnight so the harbour could resume operations.To reach the port area, "the migrants crossed a pedestrian gangway normally used by employees and I am convinced the place had been cased and that last night's operation was orchestrated by people smugglers," harbour master Jean-Marc Puissesseau told reporters after the police search ended."It's not normal to have 100 migrants break into a secure area such as a harbour. There must be a failure somewhere," local mayor Natacha Bouchart said, before blaming police force cutbacks."We must reinforce our police forces on the eve of Brexit which people smugglers exploit in a bid to promote their trafficking," regional president Xavier Bertrand said on Twitter.

Nearly 100 migrants trying to reach Britain broke into the port of Calais Saturday night. Half of them managed to get on a Dover-bound ferry, causing severe overnight traffic delays.

Migrants climb aboard Dover ferry using maintenance ladder

Dozens of migrants hoping to reach Britain scrambled aboard a cross-Channel ferry in northern France, sparking a 12-hour manhunt as police combed the ship to find them, officials said Sunday.

Around 100 migrants broke into the dock area of the port of Calais late Saturday, and dozens managed to get onboard the ferry that had just arrived from Dover, England.

A total of 63 migrants were detained, many of whom had tried to hide aboard the Danish-operated DFDS 'Calais Seaways', regional authorities said.

On Sunday morning, firemen talked down the last group of about a dozen migrants who had climbed high above the deck to a catwalk attached to the ship's funnel.

The migrants managed to get aboard the ferry by using a maintenance ladder at high tide, senior regional official Jean-Philippe Vennin told AFP.

"Two of the migrants fell into the sea and were quickly rescued by firemen," he added.

Ship scoured for missing migrants, cross-Channel traffic delayed overnight

Police offloaded vehicles arriving from Britain on the ferry before making a top-to-bottom search of the ship.

Those detained were taken to Calais police headquarters, Vennin said.

Cross-Channel ferry traffic was delayed overnight with at least two forced to remain at sea before being allowed into port.

The 'Calais Seaways' was itself moved overnight so the harbour could resume operations.

To reach the port area, "the migrants crossed a pedestrian gangway normally used by employees and I am convinced the place had been cased and that last night's operation was orchestrated by people smugglers," harbour master Jean-Marc Puissesseau told reporters after the police search ended.

"It's not normal to have 100 migrants break into a secure area such as a harbour. There must be a failure somewhere," local mayor Natacha Bouchart said, before blaming police force cutbacks.

"We must reinforce our police forces on the eve of Brexit which people smugglers exploit in a bid to promote their trafficking," regional president Xavier Bertrand said on Twitter.
Samuel L Jackson has revealed his de-aged appearance in Captain Marvel is based on his 1998 film The Negotiator.

The actor, 70, reprises his role of Nick Fury in the new superhero film set in 1995  and de-aging technology, which was also used on Michael Douglas in the Ant-Man films, was used to make him appear 20 years younger.

He told the Press Association: I knew that they were doing it and we were looking at my faces from the 90s in different films so I think that I one chose, and pretty much the one they used, was The Negotiator.

Samuel L Jackson in 1998 (PA)

We talked about it and all the different films that they had to choose from that time period.

I knew that there are a lot of facial expressions they can use from Danny Roman (his character in the film).

Jackson said he did not find it strange to see himself looking so much younger on screen, adding: I watch old movies of mine all the time, if Im channel surfing and theres nothing else on and there is a movie on I stop and watch. I stop and watch Die Hard (With A Vengeance) all the time.

Discussing going back in time with his character, who meets Captain Marvel when she returns to Earth, he said: Its kind of easy to be a guy who has never met an extra-terrestrial, although I dont know that I havent, Ive met some crazy people in my life that said they were from places.

I met people in other places who said they had been abducted by people. If youve ever been to New Mexico youre going to meet somebody who tells you theyve been abducted, thats what happens in New Mexico.

He added: I understand it, Ive been on a highway alone by myself in New Mexico and something flew` across the sky and stopped above my car and made me stop and go like Oh no, not really, please, not tonight.

Its kind of sitting there and then just goes away and you drive away as fast as you can because you dont want it to come back.

There is an air force base out there and they test stuff and I think they just do stuff to mess with peoples heads when they are on the highway out there late at night in New Mexico because they are just long flat expanses of road.

Captain Marvel is released in UK cinemas on March 8.
The son of Liberia's former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been charged over the disappearance of 2 billion Liberian dollars in freshly printed banknotes.Charles Sirleaf appeared at the Monrovia City court today alongside Milton Weeks, the former Central Bank Governor and, Banking Director Dorbor Hagba.The three were charged with a string of offences, including criminal conspiracy, economic sabotage and misuse of public money.Last year, parallel investigations were launched by both Liberia and the United States following media reports in September that a container full of newly printed Liberian banknotes, worth more than US$100 million, had gone missing.After months of investigation, business intelligence firm Kroll Associates Inc. released their findings last week, dismissing the suggestion that the banknotes simply went missing.The report found that the Liberian government had approved the printing of new banknotes totaling five billion dollars, but that the central bank printed surplus.The accused bank officials arrived at Monrovia City Court court in handcuffs with a large security escort.According to the charge sheet, seen by RFI, defendant Charles Sirleaf, 61, and his accomplices Milton Weeks and Dorbor M. Hagba, including defendants Richard H. Walker and Joseph F. Dennis, currently at large, are criminally liable for two billion-six hundred forty five million (L$2,645,000,000) Liberian dollars in banknotes brought into the country which cannot be accounted for by them.According to the charge sheet, Sirleaf admitted during police interrogation to signing the first contract for the consignment of new banknotes in 2016 with Swedish firm, Crane Currency.He also said defendant Milton Weeks, former Bank Governor signed the 2017 contract.In view of the above, the investigation herewith resolves to charge defendant Charles Sirleafwith the commission of the crime, economic sabotage, misuse of public money, property or records and theft and/or illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, criminal conspiracy in violation of 15.80, 15.81, 15.82 and 10.4 of the revised penal law of Liberia, the charge sheet noted.The accused were taken to Monrovia's Central Prison, otherwise known as South Beach, while their lawyers apply for their release on bail, pending the verdict.

The son of Liberia's former President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf has been charged over the disappearance of 2 billion Liberian dollars in freshly printed banknotes.

Charles Sirleaf appeared at the Monrovia City court today alongside Milton Weeks, the former Central Bank Governor and, Banking Director Dorbor Hagba.

The three were charged with a string of offences, including criminal conspiracy, economic sabotage and misuse of public money.

Last year, parallel investigations were launched by both Liberia and the United States following media reports in September that a container full of newly printed Liberian banknotes, worth more than US$100 million, had gone missing.

After months of investigation, business intelligence firm Kroll Associates Inc. released their findings last week, dismissing the suggestion that the banknotes simply went missing.

The report found that the Liberian government had approved the printing of new banknotes totaling five billion dollars, but that the central bank printed surplus.

The accused bank officials arrived at Monrovia City Court court in handcuffs with a large security escort.

According to the charge sheet, seen by RFI, defendant Charles Sirleaf, 61, and his accomplices Milton Weeks and Dorbor M. Hagba, including defendants Richard H. Walker and Joseph F. Dennis, currently at large, are criminally liable for two billion-six hundred forty five million (L$2,645,000,000) Liberian dollars in banknotes brought into the country which cannot be accounted for by them.

According to the charge sheet, Sirleaf admitted during police interrogation to signing the first contract for the consignment of new banknotes in 2016 with Swedish firm, Crane Currency.

He also said defendant Milton Weeks, former Bank Governor signed the 2017 contract.

In view of the above, the investigation herewith resolves to charge defendant Charles Sirleafwith the commission of the crime, economic sabotage, misuse of public money, property or records and theft and/or illegal disbursement and expenditure of public money, criminal conspiracy in violation of 15.80, 15.81, 15.82 and 10.4 of the revised penal law of Liberia, the charge sheet noted.

The accused were taken to Monrovia's Central Prison, otherwise known as South Beach, while their lawyers apply for their release on bail, pending the verdict.
I am not worthy of Nobel Peace Prize: Imran Khan

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, addressing calls by people on social media and in his government to award him a Nobel Peace Prize, said he "was not worthy" of the award.



"The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people, and paves the way for peace and human development in the subcontinent," he said.



Supporters and fans of Imran Khan started lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize for the premier following his announcement to release Indian Air Force (IAF) officer Wing Commander Abhinandan, who had been captured after his MiG 21 aircraft was shot down by a Pakistan Air Force jet Indian pilot. Addressing the joint sitting of the parliament on Thursday, the prime minister had termed the pilot release "a peace gesture".



Soon after the captive pilot was handed over to the Indian authorities on Friday, the hashtag #NobelPeacePrizeForImranKhan started trending in the country on social media website Twitter. Until Sunday, more than 300,000 people had signed online petitions calling for the award of Nobel Peace Prize to Khan.



On Saturday, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry submitted a resolution to the National Assembly Secretariat calling for Imran Khan to be given the prestigious prize for his contribution towards peace in the region.



The resolution said the prime minister had played a sagacious role in reducing recent tension between Pakistan and India which was created due to warmongering attitude of the Indian leadership.



It said that the aggression manifested by the Indian leadership had brought the two nuclear states to the brink of war, endangering lives of tens of millions of people on both sides of the border. However, the situation was averted due to its proactive and deft handling by the prime minister. Keeping in view his contribution towards peace in the region, PM Imran Khan may be given Nobel Peace Prize, concluded the resolution.
Military helicopters have failed to find any trace of two climbers, including a British man, missing on the so-called Killer Mountain.

Tom Ballard, 30, was climbing Nanga Parbat in Pakistan with Italian Daniele Nardi when they lost contact a week ago.

Military helicopters were used to fly a group of four rescuers - including a physician - up the mountain to search for the pair.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Spaniard Alex Txikon and three colleagues, including a physician, joined Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara, who is already at base camp.

The helicopters found no trace of the climbers, but Mr Haidri hopes the improved weather will allow the rescue team to search further.

He said: "It's very difficult to survive in that condition and it's a big challenge for a mountaineer to climb in winter."

Later on Monday he said: "Unfortunately, no sign of climbers or a camp site was found during the aerial reconnaissance."

Rescuers also plan to use a drone in their search efforts amid the harsh weather.

Ballard is the son of Alison Hargreaves, who died on K2 at 33 years old, months after becoming the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest unaided.

Friends of the climbers set up a GoFundMe page to pay for the rescue mission and have so far raised more than 105,585.

Mr Haidri said he hoped the climbers could be found.

"It's very difficult to survive in that condition and it's a big challenge for a mountaineer to climb in winter," he said.

Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest peak in the world at 8,126m (26,660ft) and has been dubbed 'Killer Mountain' due to the high number of fatalities.

Nadri and Ballard began their climb on 22 February and made it to the fourth base camp the following day.

They last made contact on 24 February from an elevation of around 6,300m (nearly 20,700ft).

Search helicopters were dispatched last week, despite the closure of Pakistan's airspace amid tensions with India over the disputed region of Kashmir.

Story continues

Ali Sadpara, who was part of the search team, reported seeing a snow-covered tent on Thursday while Nardi's team said there was evidence of an avalanche in the area.

Nardi, 42, has attempted the Nanga Parbat summit in winter several times previously.

In 2015, Ballard became to first person to solo climb all six major north faces of the Alps in one winter.
FILE PHOTO: India's Border Security Force (BSF) soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan in Ranbir Singh Pura sector near Jammu February 26, 2019. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta/File Photo

By Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali and Michelle Nichols

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been publicly focused on lowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a Feb. 14 suicide car bomb in an Indian-controlled area of Kashmir triggered the first Indian air strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.

Senior U.S. officials told Reuters that as the United States spoke with senior Pakistani officials, emphasizing the need to lower the risk of conflict with India, Islamabad privately offered warnings on Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said their ability to support Afghan peace talks could be in jeopardy in the event of a full-blown crisis, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"They'll stop being a facilitator, they will stop the pressure they are applying" on the Taliban, one U.S. official said, recounting Pakistani warnings conveyed to Washington.

Pakistan has publicly denied any role in the suicide bombing. But the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility for it, and India has long accused Islamabad of supporting them.

The United States has likewise accused Pakistan of ties to Taliban militants who are fighting in neighbouring Afghanistan against American and U.S.-backed Afghan government forces.

Reuters has previously reported, however, that U.S. officials have recently seen a positive shift in Pakistan's behaviour.

Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan, has played a behind-the-scenes role in supporting U.S. peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, including by facilitating travel to negotiations.

Current and former U.S. officials caution that Islamabad could again choose to act as a spoiler.

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"I don't believe that Pakistan has the capability to straight out make peace happen in Afghanistan, but they definitely have the capability to make peace not (happen)," said Laurel Miller, a former senior State Department official.

MOVEMENT OF TROOPS

In the past several days, India and Pakistan have appeared to dial down hostilities that brought the arch enemies to the brink of another war. But it's unclear whether the calm will hold.

A Pakistani official in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that unless the tensions were reduced, there was a "very strong likelihood" that Pakistani troops would be moved from the border with Afghanistan to reinforce positions near India.

Pakistans U.N. Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told Reuters that Islamabad's focus could completely shift to its eastern border with India.

"If the crisis with India continues, Pakistan will be obliged to keep our entire focus on our Eastern border. That may affect our efforts on our Western front," Lodhi said.

The Pakistani official in Washington said Pakistan had not been focused on Afghanistan since tensions with India increased last month, and it would have implications for peace talks.

Some current and former U.S. officials say Islamabad may be over-stating the risks of fallout on Afghan peace talks, which resumed over the weekend in Doha. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they noted that Islamabad has its own self-interests in mind as it seeks to influence the peace process in neighbouring Afghanistan.

But other U.S. officials acknowledge a major crisis involving India would be all-consuming for Islamabad, and say it's another reason why lowering tensions is so important.

In Afghanistan, which fears its country is being used as a proxy for tension between India and Pakistan, the foreign ministry summoned Pakistan's envoy to Kabul after he made similar warnings.

Veteran diplomats say that if the United States pushes Pakistan too hard on combating militants, Islamabad could diminish its support for the peace process.

Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said many of the Pakistani officials who dealt with India were also responsible for Afghanistan, and that tensions could impact peace talks.

He said a lack of U.S. focus on South Asia was problematic.

"We need much more focus and strategic thinking from the Trump Administration on this region, and an effective way of implementing that strategy," Feldman said.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali in Washington, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; additional reporting by Eric Knecht in Doha; editing by Bill Berkrot)
When University of North Georgia (UNG) freshman Daniel Shearer first learned he was a semifinalist for the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS), he was reluctant to celebrate. The member of UNG's Corps of Cadets was excited, but he wasn't a finalist  until now.

"I feel very fortunate to have won," he said. "I honestly didn't have high expectations, but I am glad."

Shearer and three other UNG students were glad to learn March 1 that they were selected as CLS finalists. The scholarship program is a fully-funded overseas language and cultural immersion program for American undergraduate and graduate students. Its goal is to broaden the base of Americans studying and mastering critical languages and building relationships between the people of the United States and other countries.

Out of UNG's eight semifinalists announced in January, the four finalists are:

Shearer, who is pursuing a degree in East Asian studies with a concentration in Japanese studies and a minor in leadership, will be in Japan.

Josh Shepherd, who is pursuing a degree in Chinese and a minor in Spanish, will be in China.

Donnie "Jamar" Shumaker, who is pursuing a degree in East Asian studies with a concentration in Chinese and a minor in Chinese language and culture, will be in China.

Rachel Wilson, who is pursuing a degree in finance and a minor in Chinese, will be in China.

Of the remaining semifinalists, all four were named alternates. They are:

Daniel Barker, who is pursuing a degree in mathematics and a minor in Russian.

Hannah Chisholm, who is pursuing a degree in communications with a concentration in multimedia journalism and a minor in Korean.

Leah James, a member of the Corps of Cadets who is pursuing a degree in nursing and a minor in Arabic.

Julia "Rhiannon" Smith, who is pursuing degrees in psychology and modern languages with a concentration in Russian.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, CLS is highly competitive, with acceptance rates of 10 percent, said Dr. Victoria Hightower, UNG's assistant director of Nationally Competitive Scholarships. This makes UNG's accomplishment of four finalists and four alternates significant.

"UNGs four finalists and four alternates reflect our commitment to cultivating academically talented global leaders," Dr. Anastasia Lin, assistant vice president for research and engagement at UNG. "This also indicates UNG's prowess in teaching critical languages."

Hightower, associate professor of history, agreed.

"In addition to our students' qualities of determination, perseverance, and persistence, this success also reflects the encouragement they receive from their mentors throughout the university," she said.

The four finalists and four alternates also mark an increase in UNG students selected. Last year, three were selected as finalists, and two were alternates. UNG had one finalist and one semifinalist for both 2016-17 and 2015-16 academic years.

Lin said more students are encouraged to apply to scholarships such as CLS after hearing of previous winners.

"I predict we will see more applications and winners in the future because of a growing commitment to scholarships on both the part of our students, faculty and staff," she said.

Shearer, a freshman from Suwanee, Georgia, plans to use the study abroad experience as a springboard for his future.

"I intend to commission through UNG, and as I am pursuing a degree in East Asian studies, I would love to have a duty station over there," he said, adding the CLS program will give him an advantage. "Through this scholarship, I will have greater fluency in Japanese through immersion in the culture that comes through living and working there."

Students interested in learning more about nationally competitive scholarships should contact ncs@ung.edu for more information. Students wanting to learn about funding and programs to study abroad may visit the Center for Global Engagement website.
Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.
Despite a media bias so palpable that even the BBC found itself guilty in a review of its coverage of Israel-Palestine affairs, people did not care for the aggressors.

They did care  in large numbers, on the streets of the UK and around the world  for the dead, injured and dying children who were collateral damage in what was supposed to be the annihilation of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Once again, at the hands of Hezbollah, the group responsible for more than a decade of guerrilla resistance that saw the Israeli army literally run out of South Lebanon in 2000, the Israelis lost.

Israels psychology in this defeat was so much worse because people hoisted banners around the world proclaiming: We are all Hezbollah. With the banner came the flag, carried by young Muslims, old Muslims, middle-aged English ladies and anti-Zionist rabbis. It was pervasive, and it has stayed.

Converging interests

This psychology is important towards understanding the UK governments recent decision to proscribe Hezbollah under the Terrorism Act 2000. The Labour Party has raised concerns, while analysts have explored the convergence of the hard-power interests of the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia with Home Secretary Sajid Javids decision, which many see as an attempt to raise his star in the run-up to a Tory leadership contest.

Amal Saad, a British-Lebanese professor at the Lebanese University, has highlighted the lack of justification within the context of the Terrorism Acts own flawed raison detre, the UKs attempts to work with Hezbollah to maintain stability , and the vested interests in Javids decision vis-a-vis another attack on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Amal Saad @amalsaad_lb Replying to @amalsaad_lb Javid justifies his position by claiming Hizbullah is destabilizing the region, knowing full well that a British ban on the party that aims at delegitimizing it politically, is highly destabilizing for Lebanon which only recently formed a government after a long impasse Amal Saad @amalsaad_lb Its clear this bill is a bludgeon against Corbyn, but its effects on Lebanon will not be insignificant. It will also complicate things for the UK: how will it deal with the Lebanese president who is a staunch Hizbullah ally, or the Lebanese army which coordinates with Hizbullah? 60 Twitter Ads info and privacy This decision is further proof of the bankruptcy of the idea of anti-terrorism as anything other than a political device to criminalise dissent, as Saad aptly describes, through transnational totalitarianism . It shows just how far the crackdown on ideas has come, and just how petty and venal the government has become.

It is perhaps no surprise that a nervous, Brexit-unready country seeks validation from the US and Israel and money from the Saudis . But at the same time, there is a bizarre and truly shameful connection between hatred on the streets of London against pro-Palestinian activists and the British government.

Al-Quds Day

This is due to the link between this latest decision and a two-year campaign by a crew of fascists and pro-Israel media to shut down pro-Palestinian solidarity. This campaign has focused on the growing popularity of al-Quds Day demonstrations in London, which have increased in size over the years since the 2006 war.

Many powerful banners proclaim messages of solidarity, interfaith and inter-community harmony, and political and religious diversity in support of Palestine.

Muslims, Jews and Christians, along with people of other faiths or no faith, take part. It differs from other demonstrations in that it looks to the long-term issue: the original usurpation of Palestine and ongoing injustices. It is not reactive only when another large-scale atrocity is taking place.





The far-right rages against it on social media every year. The trope of new anti-Semitism has been levelled against the march, alongside chants of terrorists off our streets and op-eds about flying a terrorist flag in reference to Hezbollah flag. The grassroots group North West Friends of Israel petitioned Londons mayor to ban the event, saying : After the terrible recent terrorist events in Manchester and London this display of extremism has no place on the streets of the UK.

To characterise an event where rabbis stand alongside imams, Palestinians and Israeli activists speak on the same platform, and women, men and children gather from around the UK, in such a way is offensive.

But words can definitely hurt: after Darren Osborne drove a van into worshippers in Finsbury Park in 2017, news broke that his original target might have been the al-Quds Day demonstration.

Whose side are you on?

This egregious narrative has been validated further by Javid. It is a truly perverse moment, where those targeted for acts of terrorism now face the prospect of incarceration should they continue flying the flag of resistance against racism.

Is the government really beholden to this bunch of right-wing groups? Has the state really taken what is essentially a hearts-and-minds debate around human rights, racism and justice for Palestinians and all oppressed peoples from the streets of London to the corridors of Whitehall?

Like the ricin plot that didnt exist , yet was used at the UN to justify a war on Iraq, or the trope of humanitarian aid necessitating intervention in Venezuela, this is flimflam that only the most misguided could believe.

Whose side are you on is the key question that will define those willing to resist oppression

Alongside the various banners hoisted each year on al-Quds Day, one stands out. It was painted during the Second Intifada and depicts the martyred 14-year-old Faris Odeh throwing a stone at an Israeli tank. It reads simply: Whose side are you on?

A toxic marriage

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has chosen his: an Islamophobic narrative demonising al-Quds Day via his tweet on the ban. Bizarrely, he talks about a ban under anti-terrorism laws in the context of anti-Semitism and hate crimes.

Its ludicrous, and this is the same thing we said when the law came into being two decades ago. This will criminalise dissent and become part of a gamut of law and policies the state uses to silence criticism.

That toxic marriage of racism, legal instruments and those interest groups committed to chauvinism mirrored in the states own hierarchical and supremacist institutions is what any and all progressives  with all their differences  are up against.

Britains ban on Hezbollah is hypocritical and unhelpful Edward Wastnidge Read More 

Whose side are you on? is the key question that will define those willing to resist oppression and work for the betterment of this world, versus those who will continue with their racist policies and discourses and plough into crowds of worshippers/Palestinians/anti-fascists worldwide.

I know which side I am on.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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After not reaching an agreement with the LA Galaxy, Giovani dos Santos is now without a team with his future in the hands of the MLS, making him eligible for 13 possible destinations in the United States.

There are 13 different teams with available space for a Designated Player including Los Angeles FC of the also Mexican, Carlos Vela. An option that could appeal more than others to Gio dos Santos although he has other options to continue in the MLS.

The 13 clubs Giovani could reach

These are the 13 teams with at least one share for a Designated Player and could use it with Giovani Dos Santos.

FC Cincinnati

Colorado Rapids

D.C. United

Houston Dynamo

Seattle Sounders

Toronto FC

Montreal Impact

New England Revolution

New York Red Bulls

Philadelphia Union

Portland Timbers

San Jose Earthquakes

Vancouver Whitecaps

What could prevent Dos Santos to reach one of them?

The 29-year-old high salary is the main barrier for the Mexican to reach one of these clubs, as Gio is one of the fifth best-paid players with an earn of 6 million dollars.
Modi himself questioned anti-terror air strikes in Pakistan: Indian Congress

NEW DELHI: A day after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of delaying the induction of Rafale warplanes into the air force, and suggesting the outcome of the recent outing against Pakistan suffered as a consequence, the Congress party asked on Sunday if the government was suggesting the mission had been unsuccessful.



The Congress said Mr Modi had himself questioned the recent anti-terror air strikes in Pakistan by his remarks that the country was feeling the absence of Rafale fighter jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.



The party also said it had neither sought proof of such strike earlier nor was it asking for it now. The prime minister has himself questioned the air strikes. He said had the Rafale jets been there (with the IAF), the results would have been different.



What is the meaning of this? Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said during a press conference in New Delhi.



Asserting that the prime minister should himself explain what would have been different with Rafale jets, he held Mr Modi responsible for the delay in the induction of the French-made jets into the IAF by cancelling the earlier negotiations, The Hindu reported.



Mr Modi on Saturday hit out at the opposition for allegedly doubting the armed forces on what he claimed was an anti-terror air strike in Pakistan. The prime minister said the country was feeling the absence of Rafale jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.



India is feeling the absence of Rafale. The entire country is saying in one voice today, if we had Rafale probably the result would have been different. The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale, he said at a media event.



Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday had accused Mr Modi of being solely responsible for the delay in arrival of Rafale jets. Dear PM, have you no shame at all? You stole 30,000 crore (Indian rupees) and gave it to your friend Anil (Ambani). You are solely responsible for the delay in the arrival of the Rafale jets. Mr Gandhi had said on Twitter. He added that Mr Modi was why pilots like Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman were risking their lives flying outdated jets.
House of Representatives: Most of the attention this week focused on the testimony of Michael Cohen, president Donald Trump's longtime personal attorney. However, the House of Representatives passed landmark legislation on Wednesday that could make it harder for would-be criminals to legally get their hands on a firearm. However, Bloomberg noted on February 28 that "the bill will hit a roadblock with the GOP-led Senate."

This bill has been named the "Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019," and it passed through the House with 240 representatives voting in favor and 190 voting against it.

The votes on this legislation fell mostly along party lines, and it is the most sweeping piece of gun control legislation that has ever passed either chamber of Congress in a generation.

This bill, which is now headed towards the Senate, will close the loopholes that currently allow people to purchase a firearm at a gun show or online without going through a federally mandated background check. If this legislation becomes law, all firearm purchases, with the exception of a transfer between relatives or someone loaning a gun for use at a shooting range or while hunting, will be subject to a mandatory background check.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-California sponsored this bill, and it enjoyed almost universal support from House Democrats, and it did manage to garner five Republican co-sponsors and eight votes from GOP members of the House.

Gun control bill is unlikely to pass final hurdles before becoming law

Although this bill could be hailed as a victory by the majority-Democratic House, it faces a steep uphill battle to becoming actually signed into law, as 52 of the Senate's 100 seats are occupied by Republicans.

For years, as America has been rocked by one mass shooting after another, and as victims and relatives of victims have called on lawmakers to pass more stringent gun control legislation, the GOP has strongly and stubbornly resisted making current gun laws even the least bit more restrictive in order to prevent future shootings.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Many simply were resigned to the fact that nothing could get done either way to make progress.

About a year ago, 17 people were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which inspired some students at the school to publicly speak out in favor of gun control legislation. Shortly afterward, president Trump suggested that teachers in public school should be armed in order to prevent another shooting.

Although Trump's exact position is somewhat controversial, his overall stance on how to prevent future incidents of mass gun violence are generally in line with the GOP's philosophy on protecting the public from mass shootings. Numerous Republicans are strongly against gun control legislation as they feel that it would interfere with the ability of a good Samaritan to stop a would-be assailant. In addition, the National Rifle Association, America's leading gun-rights lobbying organization, has funded and supported president Trump and other GOP politicians over the years.

Many Democrats, on the other hand, have been pushing for stronger gun control legislation, arguing that universal background checks would prevent at least some future shootings by resulting in fewer guns on the streets.

Politicians and their constituents differ on gun control stance

While lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sharply divided on how to prevent future tragedies involving firearms, American citizens have found some sort of consensus.

Shortly after the Parkland shooting, a Washington Post/ABC News poll found that 62 percent of people think president Trump hasn't done to prevent mass shootings, while 77 percent feel Congress hasn't done enough.

A January poll done by Quinnipiac showed that 95 percent of Democrats, 94 percent of independents and 89 percent of Republicans supported mandatory background checks for all prospective gun buyers.

Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019 is just one gun control bill the House is looking to pass

On February 28, a second bill will be addressed that would give federal authorities more time to properly conduct background checks on individuals looking to purchase a firearm. Right now, a gun purchase will be automatically approved if a background check isn't completed within three business days.

This second bill would allow for up to 20 days for a background check to be finalized. In addition, it would close what is known as the "Charleston loophole," which gives individuals the ability to purchase a gun before a background check is done.
The serial killer storyline on "General Hospital" will pick up steam this week as a number of Port Charles residents put the clue together and figure out that Ryan Chamberlain has been impersonating his twin brother, Curtis and detective Chase will listen to the voicemail that Franco left for Jordan and realize what has been going on, while Mac and Felicia do some sleuthing and come to that same conclusion. Meanwhile, over at Ferncliff, Laura and Kevin are going to find a secret tunnel that will lead them out of the basement and to freedom. The real Dr.

Collins showing up with the missing mayor will leave no doubt as to what has been taking place for the past year.

Curtis, Chase, Mac, Felicia get a revelation

Soap Dirt indicates that Ryan will lock Carly in the trunk of his car and head to Niagara Falls to marry Ava, While there the serial killer will have some type of altercation with Oscar, Josslyn, Cameron, and Trina. Meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose back in Port Charles. Celeb Dirty Laundry says that Detective Chase and Curtis will listen to the message on Jordan's cell phone from "Urgent" and realize the commissioner was working with Franco. They will know at that point that Kevin's evil twin ha been impersonating him.

Mac will be discussing new clues with Felicia when the couple also realize that Ryan has traded places with Kevin.

Spoilers don't say what will be done with this information but at least now most of the town is beginning to understand the deception they all have fallen for. Jordan is in a coma but Curtis will see to it that her work with Franco is made known and the real killer is caught.

Laura and Kevin may make it home

CDL teases that Laura will find a secret passage in the basement at Ferncliff that will lead to freedom.

Discuss this news on Eunomia

Kevin, however, will point out that his blindness will slow them down and want her to go alone. Spoilers don't say how the duo escapes but only that they will. The duo will be shocked to find out that Ryan forged Mrs. Collins name on divorce papers, and left the country with the intent on marrying Ava.

Some exciting episodes are coming up this week so be sure to tune in to "General Hospital" to see how it all plays out.

Spoilers have not revealed what happens to evil Dr. Chambrlain but perhaps this time he will indeed meet his final demise. Perhaps Ryan and his twin will faceoff and Kevin will get his revenge. Be on the lookout for updates to this storyline and continue to watch weekday afternoons on ABC at 2:00 PM EST,
Founder and CEO of Engineers and Planners, Mr. Ibrahim Mahama, on the 28th of February 2019, participated as a distinguished speaker at Concordia Africa Initiative in London.



Concordia Africa fosters a community of cross-sector leaders to share strategies for economic growth and lasting prosperity on the rapidly-changing and demographically-growing continent.



Mr. Ibrahim Mahama was a panelist on a session dubbed '21st Century Investment in Africa'. The session explored broadly what it means to invest in Africa in the 21st century across industries from education to infrastructure, and how to keep African agendas central to the investment story of the continent moving forward.



Mr. Mahama, who runs a cross-section of businesses with Intra-African reach, provided invaluable insight, based on his 2 decades-worth of experience investing in Africa.



He asserted that Africa has enough resources to bring it's people out of poverty.



"We can do better by having confidence in our people, We need to ensure that the real capital stays in Africa.", Mr. Mahama said. He went on to explain that Engineers and Planners have been able to go into Zambia and start off a copper mine using a Ghanaian workforce. Proving that Africans are actually capable if given the chance.



He intimated with the audience his entrepreneurial journey from having started with only the equivalent of 500 back in 1997, to having recently signed a 1.7 Billion dollars contract with Goldfields Ghana.



H.E Olushegun Obasanjo was also a panelist. He offered a critical view point on the way forward for Africa's Investment strategies, drawing from his long political career in Africa's largest economy.



Other panelists joining the conversation were Chika Chukwujekwu the Head of Africa Business Development at Grant Thornton who was also the session moderator, and Mr. Mohammed Nyaoga, Chairman of the Board of Directors - Central Bank of Kenya.



Mr. Nyaoga emphasised on the need for deliberate effort to Brand Africa and change the African narrative.



Previous speakers at the Summit include Ghana's President H.E Nana Akufo-Addo and Rwanda's President H.E Paul Kagame.

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Apoiar a oposicao venezuelana e uma coisa. Imaginar que se deva fazer o que foi feito na Libia, pensando que forcas externas podem reconstruir a democracia no pais, e ignorar os fatos. Os desatinos verbais tem sido de tal ordem que resta o consolo de ver os militares recordarem que temos uma tradicao de altanaria e soberania a respeitar, soberania nossa e dos demais paises.

Bom mesmo seria ver o Itamaraty voltar a ser coerente com sua tradicao: ressaltar e criticar o autoritarismo predominante na Venezuela, apoiar a oposicao, dar acolhida as vitimas do arbitrio do atual governo e manter acesa a chama democratica. Abrir espaco para que terceiros paises, mormente distantes da America do Sul, queiram resolver o drama politico pela forca nao nos convem e fere nossas melhores tradicoes de atuacao internacional.

Supporting the Venezuelan opposition is one thing. To imagine that one should do what has been done in Libya, thinking that external forces can rebuild democracy in the country, is to ignore the facts. The verbal nonsense has been such that there is the consolation of seeing the military remember that we have a tradition of haughtiness and sovereignty to respect, our sovereignty and the other countries.

It would be good to see Itamaraty again consistent with its tradition: to emphasize and criticize the predominant authoritarianism in Venezuela, to support the opposition, to welcome the victims of the will of the current government and to keep the democratic flame burning. To open space for third countries, which are far from South America, to resolve the political drama by force, does not suit us and hurts our best traditions of international action.

He argues that Donald Trump's basic goal is a unilateral global system dominated by the United States. That, he says, is not in Brazil's interest to support, especially because Trump will only be in the White House so long. It's bad for Brazil's image. That brings him to Venezuela, where he says Itamaraty needs to more forcefully reject U.S. policy:Here is your basic Google Translate of it:Indeed, Brazil's traditional foreign policy is regional with a global look that has varied from president to president (with Lula it was very strong, less so with Dilma). The UN was a place for Brazil to make its mark, not fodder for empty globalist conspiracy theories. Under Bolsonaro, Brazil has no foreign policy identity beyond following Trump. In January I wrote about how Brazil would at any other time be taking a lead role to address the Venezuelan crisis, but now Bolsonaro is passive, almost subservient. FHC sees this as a problem for Brazil. At a minimum, it doesn't seem to advance Brazilian interests.
HUNTERSVILLE, N.C.  Last week a fire broke out above Laughingbrook Spellcrafting & Ancestral Arts (LBSCAA). The fire was the result of bad wiring and lack of oversight and maintenance of the landlord for the building. Gabriela Laughingbrook, founder of LBSCAA was notified of the fire by Zach Kuklinski, manager of Video Game World, a neighboring business. Kuklinski was also the person who reported the fire to the Fire Department.

Within hours of being notified, members of the Laughingbrook Village had a GoFundMe page up and began organizing volunteers to begin salvaging once the site was cleared for them to access it. The title they chose for the fundraiser is telling: Laughingbrook: Luceo Non Uro which means, I shine, not burn.

There was a strong response to the initial calls for helplocal artists offering up items to replace those damaged or destroyed, as well as realtors and lawyers offering their services, since LBSCAA will have to relocate and may need representation. The Laughingbrook Village is a vital part of the Huntersville community at-large, featuring local art and adding diversity to the community.

Unfortunately, not everyone is supporting them. A family, who identifies as Catholic, opened a neighboring pizza restaurant in 2018, have disparaged the existence LBSCAA, which has been in operation since the fall of 2014.

Shortly after news of the fire reached the greater community, Laughingbrook received a public message of intolerance saying that while they were glad no one was hurt they encouraged Laughingbrook to move the store out of Huntersville and away from their children, and to find a Catholic priest and repent. Laughingbrook who holds BAs in Hispanic Linguistics and Cultural Anthropology and a Master of Education degree in Social Justice Education, addressed the message in a strongly worded public post on the LBSCAA Facebook page.

This is a developing story and TWH will have full coverage this week.

* * *

GRAND FORKS, N.D.  Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a report last week identifying three hate groups that have established bases in North Dakota. The SPLC report included the Heathen group, Asatru Folk Assembly, which had been added to its overall list of hate groups last year. The other two groups, Soldiers of Odin, and the American Freedom Party. North Dakota has at least 12 identified hate groups, including the Proud Boys, actively operating in the state according to the SPLC.

While the Asatru Folk Assembly protested being adding to the SPLCs list of hate groups, SPLC said the language of exclusion used on their website and some of the social media platforms reflected white supremacy ideology, thus refusing to remove their name from the list. Concern over the symbols of Heathenry being used by white supremacists has been examined a great deal over the last few years.

The Atlantic published an article in November of 2017 and interviewed TWH columnist, Karl Seigfried on how inclusive members of Asatru might respond and address the problem of Heathenrys symbols and some of its ideology being co-opted in this way. The Troth has also issued statements of inclusion and their mission is to bring together the many types of Heathens to unite against exclusion and push back against white supremacy.

* * *

Witch Hunt News :

Reuters reports that in Keonjhar district of India, which is dominated by Odisha tribe, unveiled a memorial to victims of witch hunts as part of a broader campaign to end the persecution of women who are suspected of being witches and who are often beaten, sexually assaulted, and murdered. The memorial is the first of its kind featuring the statue of a woman and is surround by plaques bearing the names of 55 victims of witch hunts.

Assam police in the Kokrajhar district (an administrative district in Bodoland Territorial Area of Assam in northeastern India), are working in conjunction with a variety of other groups to raise awareness against superstitions that have contributed to witch hunts and the murders of innocent people. They have identified that illiteracy and lack of scientific practices and knowledge as important factors to eliminate these witch hunts; as well as villagers seeking out tribal practitioners also known ojha or bez, who blame illnesses or other misfortunes on other villagers identifed` as witches.

In Liberia, the Association of Female Lawyers (AFELL) issued a statement last Thursday, by the president of AFELL, attorney Vivian D. Neal, It appears that some of our people are not aware that traditional and customary practices, which infringe upon the fundamental rights of individuals, for example presumption of innocence, right to security and integrity of the person, etc., are subordinate and inconsistent with the Constitution of Liberia. The statement was in response to the treatment of two women who had been brutalized and marched naked after being accused of being witches.The Supreme Court in Liberia ruled it was unconstitutional for trials by ordeal, and that witchcraft is not prosecutable under Liberian laws.

In the Kenyan village of Migori, an 80 year old grandmother, Maritha Amollo, her daughter-in-law and three children were burned alive after being accused of practicing witchcraft. The accusations stemmed from another villager falling ill and Amollo allegedly refusing to remove the alleged curse that caused the illness or heal him.

In CHIPINGE, Zimbabwe Andrew Machirawuta Danda was accused of murdering a relative by stoning and then setting the body on fire in the victims bedroom because Danda believed the relative was guilty of practicing witchcraft. Danda is being held with bail and will be examined by two doctors as required by law under the Zimbabwean Mental Health Act.

Two women, Pramila Devi, 65, and Kapurva Devi ,70, of the Gopali Chak village in Bihar, India were beaten to death by villagers after being suspected of practicing witchcraft. Nine people are implicated in their deaths, five of those are currently in custody.

In other news:

Today marks the 35th anniversary of The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel and their first coven, Keepers of the Holly Chalice, founded in 1984. The Assembly of the Sacred Wheel is a legally recognized Wiccan non-profit, 501(c)3 religious organization. They currently have 13 covens, and built the New Alexandrian Library.

In a Guardian article by Laura Bates, author of the new YA book, The Burning, Bates draws a stark parallel between the kind of baseless accusations that drove the Witch hunts in Scotland between the 16th and 18th centuries and how teens today can be affected by rumors and bullying spread online and through social media. She points out the misogyny that drives such behavior. This isnt a new story. Its not a modern invention or a problem created by the internet. It wont go away on its own, unless we do something to change it. These stories span four centuries. These stories are the same.

NPR reported that a crypt at St Michans Church in Dublin, Ireland was broken into and vandalized. The head of an 800-year-old mummy, nicknamed The Crusader was stolen, as well as several other sets of remains being disturbed and damaged. The thieves managed to breach the steel door, doing considerable to the vault. Officials are concerned that exposure to the open air may cause the remaining mummies to deteriorate further. Other reports included a statement from an anthropologist theorized that the head had been taken by practitioners of Voodoo or Witchcraft.

The first installment of the Smithsonian Channels new series, Americas Hidden Stories, premieres with Salems Secrets, tonight, Monday, March 4. Wicked Local Salem reports, The episode revisits a tragic and much-examined chapter in Salems history with newly discovered archival evidence and uses high-technology to take a deeper dive into the mystery of where the victims were executed and buried and the cover-up that followed.

Tarot of the week by Star Bustamonte

Deck: White Sage Tarot by Theresa Hutch, published by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.

Card: Temperance, Major arcana (14) fourteen

This week there is an emphasis on balance. Sometimes the way to bring things (and ourselves) into balance is by first identifying the areas that are out of balance. It is also helpful to remember that finding and maintaining balance is a process, and it can ebb and flow.

Decks generously provided by Asheville Raven & Crone.
In a recent post I discussed the use of heat maps to display patterns of data that are often shown in a tabular format ( US 2018 grape harvest prices visualised ). In the current post I will discuss an alternative type of graph, one that shows flows of things from on place to another  the Sankey diagram. This has obvious relevance to the wine industry, in which grapes and wines move globally as well as nationally.In this case I will look at the movement of bulk wine between countries. I have compared world-wide imports and exports in an earlier post ( Where does all of this wine come from and go to? ), but not shown the actual flows of the volumes.The data come from Comtrade , the United Nations International Trade Statistics Database. I accessed the data available for 2017 in the category: "Wine; still, in containers holding more than 2 litres" (code 22042). This may include pretty much anything (bulk or otherwise), except import/export of single bottles of wine, but excludes sparkling or fortified wines.For an example of a Sankey diagram, let's look at Spain, the world's largest bulk-wine exporter. Spain actually exported to 116 countries in 2017, according to the database, but I have shown only the top 15 countries in the figure.The diagram shows flows from left to right, so in this case the exporting country is on the left and the importing countries on the right. There is one line connecting to each importer, with the thickness of the line indicating the relative volume of wine. So, in this case France is far and away the biggest importer of bulk Spanish wine, followed by Germany. The countries tail off pretty quickly, past Italy and Portugal.That France is a massive importer of bulk wine has been commented upon before, and it is usually assumed that it is being added to cheap French wine, without being mentioned on the label (the latter is only required if the addition exceeds a certain percentage). In this case, though, the Comrade database show that the reported Spanish exports exceed the reported French imports by 4 million litres, which is rather a large discrepancy (0.9%).As an alternative, we can look at Germany, which is the world's largest bulk-wine importer. Germany actually imported from 28 countries in 2017, but once again I have shown only the top 15 countries in the figure.The diagram shows us that, at the moment, Italy slightly exceeds Spain as the main source of bulk wine for Germany, with a pretty rapid decline after that.We can also look at both exportsimports. For this, we might look at the USA. In 2017, the USA exported to 58 countries but imported from only 15 countries, when looking at large containers. These are shown in the next two graphs.Clearly, the United Kingdom is far and away the largest recipient of American bulk wine, while Chile, New Zealand and Australia vie to be suppliers.The Sankey diagram also allows us to combine imports and exports into the same graph. The data for the next figure are taken from the American Association of Wine Economists' Facebook page: World's Top 30 Bulk Wine Routes 2017 . So, the Sankey diagram illustrates the 30 largest movements of bulk wine during 2017. As above, wine is exported from the left of each line and imported at the right, so that importer / exporters will lie in the middle.In this case, the diagram indicates that Spain exports to Italy, which in turn exports to France, which exports to Germany. Spain also exports directly to France and Germany, and Italy also exports direct to Germany. Any flow of bulk wine opposite to these flows is not among the top 30 routes. Note that it would be impossible to show all of the routes in a single diagram using this arrangement, because flows can only go from left to right.Perhaps the most interesting outcome of this arrangement of the diagram is what is shown about Canada, which exports more bulk wine to the USA than it produces! Clearly, Canada is re-exporting wine, mainly imported from Australia, while there is also a direct route from Australia to the USA.Another version of this same diagram is actually shown in the comments section of the AAWE page linked above, created by Yuta Kanazawa. I have included it here, because it is such a pain to directly access old Facebook posts. In this case, countries appear atthe left and right of the diagram, depending on their role as either an exporter or an importer (eg. Canada, France, Italy, USA). With this arrangement, rather than the one above, we could, indeed, show everything.
We live in a country where one of our major hindrance to our development is corruption. Over the years, fighting corruption has been the priority of our leaders especially leaders or Presidents from the New Patriotic Party's Government.



This has been a source of encouragement for anti-corruption crusaders.Anas Arimeyew Anas has been known for his tactics which he claim is means of naming and shaming corruption officials. It is not debatable that his methodology is seen as a lazy approach which almost everybody who may be corrupt or not may fall for. It is normal for everyone to take an offer which is presented to you as gift, so this methodology of Anas is not helping to fish out the actual corrupt officials.



In his latest expose which he used his lazy methodology captured Mr Andy Owusu, the Personal Assistant to the the Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ruling New Patriotic Party.



In this video Andy Owusu was captured taking money from someone inorder to engage in mining. In this very instance, Andy Owusu was not captured in his capacity as a Government official, member of operation vangaurd or the personal assistant to the NPP Regional Chairman but in the capacity of a consultant.



Consultants take money or resources before they assist anyone in any operation or business. In many foreign countries, we have people who serve as a link between countries and companies is these countries needs inverters which has never been seen as a means of encouraging corruption.



We are by this release urging every Ghanaian to rubbish the corruption allegations against him and also task Tiger eye to apologise to Mr Andy Owusu for the shame and disgrace they have brought his name into.



We are also by this release asking the Ghana Police Service and all other security agencies to invite Anas Aremeyaw Anas for going against the constitution of Ghana which prevents us from offering bribes. Lastly Anas Aremeyaw Anas should let us know his source of funding in his investigative works.



Sign

.....................

Mr Prince Dabo

0242927513

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Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper joined an increasingly crowded 2020 Democratic field on Monday.

It's official: I'm asking you to interview me for President. Our country is in crisis, and we need someone who knows how to bring people together and get things done. This is my record, but I've never done it alone. Join me: https://t.co/ta7aY0lTeY pic.twitter.com/HaCnK5paBU  John Hickenlooper (@Hickenlooper) March 4, 2019

Hickenlooper served two terms as Colorado's governor; he was unable to run again in 2018 due to term limits. He joins Washington's Jay Inslee as the only state executives among the 12 announced Democratic candidates; 6 of whom are U.S. Senators. Hickenlooper is socially liberal and pro-business, and is among the more centrist candidates in the field.
Andrea Scrimas The Ethnic Chinese Millionaire at Maniere Noire consists of a two-part, large-scale text installation, a small sculpture, and a news photo printed on the invitation card. These three elements interlock in an intricate manner, while the exhibition stands in relation to the novel A Lesser Day, which has recently come out in German translation [Wie viele Tage, Literaturverlag Droschl, 2018]. I spoke to the artist and author about the connections between literature and art, image and reproduction, description of image and text turned into spacein other words, about the multimodal signification processes of this complex work. The following conversation took place via email over a period of several weeks for the most part in August and September, 2018. Myriam Naumann

Myriam Naumann: Kent Avenue; how I hadnt done anything Id set out to do in New York, how Id called off the exhibition and worked on the book instead In A Lesser Day, processes of emergence and coalescing, for instance of perception or materiality, are always present. At one point, the actual writing of a book becomes the subject matter of the text. How did A Lesser Day and its German translation come about?

Andrea Scrima: As a visual artist, I worked in the area of text installation for many years, in other words, I filled entire rooms with lines of text that carried across walls and corners and wrapped around windows and doors. In the beginning, for the exhibitions Through the Bullethole (Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha), I walk along a narrow path (American Academy in Rome) and its as though, you see, its as though I no longer knew (Kunstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin in cooperation with the Galerie Mittelstrasse, Potsdam), I painted the letters by hand, not in the form of handwriting, but in Times Italic. Over time, as the texts grew longer and the setup periods shorter, I began using adhesive letters, for instance at the Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Kunsthaus Dresden, the museumsakademie berlin, and the Museum fur Neue Kunst Freiburg. Many of the texts were site-specific, that is, written for existing spaces, and often in conjunction with objects or photographs. Sometimes it was important that a certain sentence end at a light switch on a wall, that the knob itself concluded the sentence, like a kind of period. I was interested in the architecture of a space and in choreographing the viewers movements within it: what happens when a wall of text is too long and the letters too pale to read the entire text block from the distance it would require to encompass it as a wholewhat if the viewer had to stride up and down the wall? And if this back and forth, this pacing found its thematic equivalent in the text?

These are all formal considerations; at some point I became more interested in the content, the writing itself. The inevitable question that arose was whether these texts could hold their weight in a literary context. And so, in a kind of organic development, my writing grew out of my artistic work; nonetheless, I suddenly saw myself confronted with a complete change of profession. During this time, in September 1999, I received a substantial artists grant from the Berlin Senate and used the money to move back to New York and rent a loft on the East River. I blew off the exhibition I was supposed to put up in connection with the grant; I blew off a show at my New York gallery at the time. All I wanted to do was write. It was a very focused period, I wrote hundreds of pages, but the novel I was working on at that time, the book thats indirectly mentioned in A Lesser Day, was never finished. Ive promised my Austrian publisher that Ill deliver the manuscript by next summer, so well see. In any case, A Lesser Day came later, after Id already returned to Berlin. Without realizing that I was about to embark on a new book, I sat down at my desk one evening and wrote down the first few pages, just like that. The German edition was published several years after the English edition; the translation was a collaboration, a very absorbing one, because I have a fairly precise idea of how my writing should sound in German.

M.N.: Your description of the text installations suggests that the space was inconceivable without text and the text inconceivable without the space. On the other hand, writing a book entails a different type of concentration on subject matter, which in A Lesser Day includes existing and imaginary places, spaces, interstices. Even before the idea of writing a book presents itself, youre immersed in a kind of unsuspecting beginning: you wrote down the first pages, just like that. The site for this act is the desk, a recurrent motif in A Lesser Day: how precarious the order on the desk suddenly seemed; the reduction of everything to the daily essentials: a bed, a desk, a sink, a gas stove, a refrigerator. The books narrator lays her trembling hands on the desk; sits at her desk and observes the hostile environment outside; waits at an unnamed persons desk and hurls a bottle of wine at a wall. The desk is more than just a piece of furniturewhat significance does it have for you and for the narrator of A Lesser Day?

A.S.: When I consider these examples, I think of a place where something fundamental takes place, a kind of subconscious. A person seated at a desk is usually alone. The desk is a place to think and to write. In A Lesser Day, its also a place where the narrator is constantly cutting photographs out of newspapers: the site of her contemplative, affected, uneasy encounter with the world.

M.N.: Each section of A Lesser Day begins with the name of one of five locations in Berlin and New York: Eisenbahnstrasse, Fidicinstrasse, Bedford Avenue, Ninth Street, Kent Avenue. The two cities are also described spatially, while the narrator navigates between real and imaginary places. What importance do locations hold for you? How is space to be understood?

A.S.: In A Lesser Day, there are rooms the narrator lives or works in, rooms she remembers, and rooms that she merely imagines. A key question here is how we inscribe ourselves into places, whether a part of us remains behind after weve left.

M.N.: In the book, there is a funny, very concrete scene for this sort of inscription. It takes place at Kent Avenue. Theres a spot on the floor where the paint hasnt completely dried through, an inadvertent record of the narrators footprint as she ponders the colors relative pinkness. A wrinkly scar, a filigree pattern is what remains, and a fine skein of dirt settles into it each time the floor is mopped. Does the trace require a material enactment of this kind, or does the latter reveal in an exemplary way how fine the line really is between materiality and immateriality, a persons presence or absence in a space?

A.S.: The wrinkly scar is the small, barely noticeable trace of a fleeting moment. The idea of turning a small wrinkled spot on the painted hallway floor into a memorial for a random conversation already points in the direction of immateriality (if not absurdity), and yet the trace is there; it stands for something. There are also, however, invisible traces. In A Lesser Day, theres a section in which the narrator goes in search of a place that no longer exists: the building in the South Bronx where her mother grew up. The building has long since been torn down and remains as nothing more than a gap in a numerical sequence, yet nonetheless, somewhere in the air between two buildings erected at a much later date, lies an intersection of coordinates in the very spot where the mother went to bed each night, where she laid her head on her pillow, all throughout her childhood.

M.N.: Id like to return to the text installation for a moment. In the exhibition The Ethnic Chinese Millionaire at the Berlin gallery Maniere Noire, the method of turning text into space described above undergoes a variation; the result is a complex connection between literature (A Lesser Day) and art (the three works of the exhibition). How would you characterize the relationship between your book and the exhibition?

A.S.: The exhibition consists of an image printed on an invitation card; a large-scale text installation on two walls; and opposite these, on a shelf mounted to the wall, a small sculptural object. Although Ive exhibited many such text works in the past, now, after Ive published a book, the relationship to text suddenly takes on a new, perhaps even problematic dimension, because the passage Ive used comes directly out of A Lesser Day. And so its no longer about formal questions alone; theres a reciprocal inquiry between art and literature going on here. Is this nothing more than two vastly enlarged pages of an open book? An image is described: a photograph cut out of the newspaper in which a raging crowd is in the act of plundering a millionaires home. In the foreground, an oil painting is held aloft by several people: its the portrait of the millionaire. The photo was taken in the 1990s, when ethnic Chinese businessmen living in Indonesia were rumored to have caused the economic crisis of the time and suddenly found themselves in danger. The narrator describes the photograph in painstaking detail; she literally reconstructs the photograph in words. What is the mental image that results from this description, and what relationship does it bear to the original photograph? Its about the description of an image of an image here: a text about the printed photograph of a portrait painted on canvas of a man who has fled for his life only moments beforean oil painting that was destroyed seconds after the picture was taken. The media-reflexive aspects of this relationship are very interesting to me.

Inserted into this is the sculptural object I mentioned: the empty wrinkled shell of white oil paint left behind after covering an apple half in numerous successive layers of white oil paint as the fruit decays and gradually withers away inside. The art historical references to the still life and to Netherlandish painting are clear enough; they constitute, however, an inversion, because here the oil paint is used not as a means of depicting arrangements of flowers or fruits before they wilt or rot, but implemented in a very concrete sense, to physically conserve something perishable. This object provides an important hint for interpreting the relationship between installation and book.

M.N.: Youre alluding to the Ontbijtjes, the table arrangementsstill lifes of fruit, desserts, and confection in Flemish painting of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The fruits were aestheticized in their full magnificence shortly before or during the moment decay set in. While the real fruit, in other words, the original has long since disappeared, the painted canvas lasts for centuries. In the case of your object, this principle is both inverted and radicalized: the paint itself becomes the sculptural shell, while inside, particles of decayed matter are mummified. Can you clarify the details of this inversion and explain how the object provides the key for interpreting the relationship between the installation and book? Perhaps you can also take into account that in A Lesser Day, the making of just such an object (in this case an orange and a radish) is converted into literature?

A.S.: The lavish still lifes of the Ontbijtjes genre were scenes of vitality, nourishment, and indulgence; at the same time, they bore the first subtle signs of decay, for instance a fly perched on a piece of fruit, or a tiny brown spot. Some of the paintings by Clara Peeters from Antwerp contain miniature self-portraits of the artist in the form of reflections in porcelain or in the burnished tin lids of jugs: a form of ascertaining the self, but also a reference to the fleeting nature of our existence and to death.

My work also contains a reference of this nature; here, however, its not about depicting anything, but is a sort of fossil imprint. An inversion takes place: oil paint is used not as a means to portray something realistically, but as material in the fabrication of an actual sculptural object. The difference is subtle, but crucialbecause in the framework of the exhibition, this small object offers a possibility for reading the relationship between book and installation. The installation is not a visualized book or a mere passage from the novel, but something fundamentally different, something autonomous and stable in itself.

A Lesser Day contains numerous passages that describe artistic processes. Transforming these processes into literature also gives rise to works of art, and while these are immaterial and imagined, theyre no less present. What emerges here is a strange in-between space: are the works described pre-existing works, or are they the product of literary invention? Was the Prepared Object created from its fictional description, or was it the other way around? Im drawn to this fictional space. For the most part, art and literature are very separate disciplines, and theyre not often perceived in direct relation to one another. There are a few exceptions, for instance the collaboration between Sophie Calle and Paul Auster that began after Auster described some of Calles projects in his novel Leviathan. In response, Calle created a facsimile of several book pages that she augmented with handwritten corrections in order to clarify the differences between herself and her double, the fictional artist in the book. But it was also, of course, a game, and yet another layer of fictionalization.

In A Lesser Day, the newspaper photo mentioned above is described in words; in the exhibition The Ethnic Chinese Millionaire, the letters of this description fill two entire walls that together form a corner, transforming the text into an image. And so the viewer can enter into this textual space, take in various passages here and there, become absorbed in his or her own mental images. At the same time, the description is indirectly confronted with its original object: the photograph is printed on the invitation card, small in scale, yet nonetheless a sort of correction.

M.N.: In what sense do you see the invitation card as a correction?

A.S.: Im talking about a correction in quotation marks. Actually, its more about conflict. We have a parallel image consisting of words that enters into a relationship with the original image, and to an extent superimposes itself upon it. The text isnt just a description; it also contains observations about the image that arent evident or intelligible at first glance. Conversely, the image contains information that resists language. In this way, the location of the image becomes unstable and insecure. The text installations that I realized over a longer period of time all in one way or another addressed this unstable location of the image. The majority of these works consisted of a combination of text and photographic image or text and object. One installation I did for the Kunsthaus Dresden, however [how did he smile, how did he blow his nose?, 1999], consists exclusively of text; the writing already addresses a particular image, and any additional visual component would disturb the formal balance. The content of the text is easily summed up: a woman discovers that shes already in the process of forgetting a man she once loved. She is in possession of a photograph that has the power, or rather had the power of invoking his living image, of conjuring him up in all his uniqueness, his physical presence. To her great distress, however, she discovers that the photograph suddenly yields much less than it once did. She is afraid that shes already used up the power of the photograph; she decides to look at it as seldom as possible, in the hopes of somehow arresting the process of dissolution. But of course the problem lies in the workings of her own memory. The corresponding inner image that the photograph evokes is in the process of disintegrating; the location of the image retreats beyond her grasp. The installation consists solely of a text that sets out to convey the finite nature of the remembered or imagined image.

M.N.: You described the process by which the text is transformed into an image. The gallery Maniere Noire offers several walls for exhibiting work. You deliberately decided to arrange the text blocks into a corner situation as an installation instead of concentrating on a single wall. What was behind this decision?

A.S.: The text is separated into two large walls divided by a space, the corner of the rooma gap that exudes its own strange presence. There are several reasons why the text installation assumes this diptych form. A doubling takes place, coupled with an emphasis on the interstice: the space between the image and the description of the image, photo and text, text image and text content, work of art and book. The notion of an in-between space is also important in thematic terms. The scene described takes place between two highly opposed situations: order and chaos. The photograph itself is divided in two; there are various figures to the left and right, while suspended in the middle is a framed portrait of the missing millionaire. The gestures of the persons described in the text are all caught in an intermediate state; they are, like all photographic images, frozen in time. Mouths are half open in mid-jeer, mid-shout, a man with a balled fist is caught mid-jump, mid-strike. And then theres thehighly serendipitousoptical extension of the millionaires body by another man standing behind the oil painting, one moment of concurrence between the raging mob and its effigy. To carry this thought even further, the gaze of the millionaire is located in another in-between space: his eyes, which once gazed into the eyes of the painter, are now gazing into the camera and thus into the eyes of the person viewing the photograph, then the eyes of the person reading the newspaper, and then, at another remove, the eyes of the viewer of the exhibition. We see the painting a second, perhaps half a second before its annihilation. Finally, in the actual exhibition situation, when the viewer stands facing the corner of the room, surrounded by text to the left and right, he or she enters into this textual space and assumes the position of the oil painting, becomes the center of the (text) image, and, by extension, its subject.

M.N.: This interplay of exchanged gazes comes to fore when the viewer assumes this position; at the same time, it brings into focus the multimodal signification processes in your work. Addressing the Indonesian uprising of the 1990s is only one example for the way in which the historical and political are always present in your work, although this presence is never obvious or polemic. How do the historical and political enter into your work, and what importance do they acquire in A Lesser Day and the exhibition?

A.S.: The Fall of the Berlin Wall; the long lines of East Germans waiting for their greeting money, a one-time bonus of 100 German marks granted to them by the government of the Federal Republic; the weekend the currency union went into effect a half year prior to German Reunification, when Eastern products were replaced with the colorful, far more expensive Western products in most East German shops; the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the slaughter: these and other scenes appear abruptly in the book. Later, just prior to the turn of the millennium, a sense of dread hanging over the World Trade Center is added to the mix, together with the YK2 mania, the fear that the computerized world was incapable of adjusting to a four-digit change in date and might trigger some sort of apocalypse. The passages are described in a kind of trance; the political appears to take place on the outer fringes of the narrative, as a kind of backdrop. In a book that completely breaks with linearity and chronology, however, these historical interludes assume a very important function: they act as coordinates that anchor the various scenes in temporal terms. The passages in which the narrator sits at a desk or table and cuts pictures out of the newspaper constitute a leitmotif. But she never explains why she does this. It seems to be a part of her art. In any case, some of the images are of people carrying images of people in their hands. Again and again, the narrator mentions the flatness of the printed photographsthat the eye cannot differentiate between the people depicted and the reproduced image-within-an-image: a reference to the immateriality and, in the final analysis, unreliability of the images, particularly news imagesas well as the unreliability of news reporting in general.

M.N.: One possibility would have been to print the news photos described in A Lesser Day in the actual bookas a documentation, illustration, or image-based (as opposed to text-based) visualization. As youve explained, this was not an option. Do the absence of images and their transformation into a literary description imply a form of cultural criticism?

A.S.: Cultural criticism was not the main thing I had in mind. Were flooded with photographic imagery; you could say that the image is in crisis, because the inundation and digital manipulability lessen the effect individual images exert on us. Weve become insatiable; we need a constant supply. On top of this, theres a new mistrust, a new skepticism. And so of course you could read the descriptions of images in A Lesser Day as a criticism, as a return to the word, to a reliability and precision that can no longer automatically be expected from images. But for me its about something altogether different. Im simply interested in the mental images that arise in the readers imagination: what kind of images are they? Or is it more a series of sequential, fragmented images, because language reveals itself through a linear process and not, as with the photographic image, as a whole?

M.N.: Id like to talk about two positings in A Lesser Day, the title and the opening quote. A Lesser Day and Wie viele Tage both place the temporal unit of day/Tag in a prominent position in the textimmediately visible to all at the very beginningand at the same time infuse the title with an indeterminate quality. Theres a passage in the German edition that contextualizes the title; at the same time, through a subtlety of meaning, it pulls away from this connection: How many days spent immobile, waiting for these twirling bits of thought to slowly settle down at the bottom of the jar, afraid to move Does the title lead the reader into the books program and methodology, while offering comparatively little (as is so often the case) in terms of the books themes? Moreover: for the exhibition The Ethnic Chinese Millionaire, you decided on a title that bears no obvious reference to the book. What was behind this choice?

A.S.: The title of the English edition, A Lesser Day, comes from a passage in the book in which the narrator describes a photo project shes working on in which she takes one photograph each day for the duration of a year, using a cheap instamatic camera. Its very important that each day be represented by a photograph. The majority of the images are the product of a perception honed by the painting process: patterns of erosion on a wall, the way the light falls on the pavement, etc. But there are also days when she waits too long to press the shutter release, although she knows that theres too little light to expose the film; that no visible image will result. These are the lesser days, the days on which she has seen something, and thought something, but that have left behind no concrete proof apart from the greenish or brownish monochromatic blurs that she has to pay a considerable amount of money to have developed by hand, because the machines in the photo lab automatically skip over what would normally be regarded as worthless. The developing machines are calibrated this way; nothing can be done about it. But she insists on the fact that the lesser days are just as important.

In addition, the phrase a lesser day occurs in the same passage of the book in which another image is described: a winding snake of spilled paint on a sidewalk whose granite paving stones were removed at some point and then reassembled, but in another order, so that the winding line is no longer one continuous flow, but an interrupted course that goes first in one, then in another direction: a metaphor for memorys imperfect reconstruction of time and experience, the way in which we perceive, and rewrite, our lives in retrospect. These two metaphors are thematically intertwined.

As we worked on the German edition, we discovered that the book title was impossible to translate; this is why we had to resort to another passage of the book. The German title Wie viele Tage [How many days] suggests the temporal order thats so central here, but the emphasis is shifted to the thought process, or rather, the process of being able to think at all, or not being able to think.

The fact that exhibition title and book title are not the same has a very simple reason. The exhibition text comprises one and a half, two pages of a 190-page book. The installation is neither a visualization of the book nor a reading sample, but an autonomous work that operates according to its own inner logic. As Ive explained, its about the relationship between the description of a photo and the photo itself. But this relationship points to another layer, that of reproduction. The distance to the original is composed of several degrees of remove. In optical terms, the digitized image of a scanned black-and-white screened and printed photograph doesnt differentiate between actual living people and human images in reproduction, in this case, the oil painting. On the printed page of a newspaper, everything becomes equally flat: the face of the painted millionaire, the faces of the people actually occupying the physical space around him. In the reproduction, they merge together, become suspended in a different shared space. Its the lexical description of the picture alone that separates these planes and reinstates the distinction between image and reproduction.

M.N.: You placed a quote from T. S. Eliots Four Quartets at the beginning of your book . . . see, now they vanish, The faces and places, / with the self which, as it could, loved them, / To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern. What made you choose these lines, and what connection exists between A Lesser Day and the poem?

A.S.: The quote contains the connection. Eliot speaks of a new pattern that arises when, in retrospect, one creates meaning out of the patterns of the forgotten and disappeared. Memory is always a process of reordering, rewriting. The other pattern that Eliot speaks of is the transfiguration of the past, in other words art, literature, and poetry.

M.N.: Forgetting and disappearing, remembering and reconstructing the past are processes in A Lesser Day that envelop and entangle the narrator. Scenes of transience and death are the signs of time that lend these processes force: the death of family members, of neighbors, of animals, together with the realization of ones own mortality. Is the self reassuring itself here, along with the reordering of life mentioned above? And what, to your mind, is the relationship between death and memory?

A.S.: The memories conjured up in A Lesser Day commence with the fathers death. The narrator perceives strange alterations in the way her memory works, her sense of time, even her own corporeality. In her grief, she experiences time as something malleable and mutable; the loss has left an imprint on her perception so deep that she experiences the present moment as though she were looking back to the distant past from an indeterminate point in the future. Its less about the self reassuring itself here than about it breaking apart, dissolving. Everything stands under the sign of death; she experiences even the killing of insectsand the book is full of insects, all of whom have a strong will to liveas a massacre.

M.N.: The idea of the pattern can also be taken as a clue for how to read A Lesser Day, because your book sensitizes the reader to the pattern as a phenomenon in the world. Would you agree that the pattern constitutes a phenomenon? And what patterns unfold for you in A Lesser Day?

A.S.: There are mathematical patterns that exist objectively in nature, and there are the patterns that derive from human perception. The latter can be either empirically observed structures, projected orders on the randomness of the world, or signs steeped in personal meaning. Theres a passage in A Lesser Day in which this last variation appears. A chance intersection of nondescript events is described in detail: a coffee cup thrown from a passing truck; a thin trickle of dog urine; a slip of paper that someone has scribbled something on. For the narrator, the concatenation of these three events takes on a strange importance, as though something lay imbedded within it, written just for her, something she is unable to read. The slip of paper actually turns up once again at a later point in the book: many years later, the narrator finds it somewhere among her old papers, and again it presents itself as a complete mystery to her.

M.N.: Along with psychological patterns, we see linguistic patterns that not only describe the world, but also conjure it into being. In A Lesser Day, the leitmotif but that came later occurs twenty-three times as a stylistic pattern of repetition and allusion, creating a temporal connection between the past, the present, and the future. What made the phrase but that came later so interesting for you while writing the book?

A.S.: I wanted to make it clear that chronology, if it exists at all, is highly unreliable. The narrating self tries to remember; as she relates certain events and her inner perception of things that have happened, she grows increasingly confused. Again and again, shes forced to correct herself. We dont, of course, remember in a linear sequence, but in a very odd manner and by way of detour; we remember the things that left the strongest emotional impression on us. To create a temporal order from this means, first, to collect the fragments and then, later, to bring them into some kind of form so that it makes sense as a whole. We compose and invent when we remember; we create new constellations, new meanings.

M.N.: We could conclude with a number of themes, ranging from the literary form of the novel and the question of autofiction to that of reception. Id like to talk about this last point. Your book has been reviewedand celebratedwidely, both in the cultural sections of renowned papers and on national radio. This is heartening to see, and Im sure its an important affirmation for your work. There were also many comments in response to the exhibition, i.e. in conversations with visitors to the gallery. What are your thoughts on the viewers perception, and how do you assess these reactions to your work? Do you relinquish control over how your works are interpreted?

A.S.: My work is done the moment Ive finished writing the book or setting up the exhibition. And yet: readers and visitors to the gallery like to have certain things explained to them. We had an artists conversation to accompany the exhibition, and the response was one of attentive interest and concentration. And so it made sense to discuss, in a live situation, the themes weve been illuminating in detail here, in our written conversation. Ive held a lot of readings this year, and I selected different sections from the book each time so that I wouldnt always be talking about the same thing; in this way, they stayed interesting for me, as did the questions people posed. But when the FAZ offered me a full page for my essay on patriotism [The Problem with Patriotism: A Critical Look at Collective Identity in the U.S. and Germany, The Millions, 7/3/2018; in German: Wie ich Amerika verlor, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, 8/19/2018], the deluge of letters to the editor surprised and finally alarmed me. After 95 readers comments arrived within the first few hours of publication, they deactivated the comment function for the online edition. I never suspected the degree of arrogance, sarcasm, and attention-mongering lurking in the FAZ readership, let alone the appalling degree of sympathy for the right-wing AfD, which is apparently becoming more and more acceptable in polite society. Some of the comments sounded as though they werent aimed at my essay, but a different essay altogether, one situated in their own heads. If my work is wrongly interpreted, theres very little I can or wish to do to counter that. My readers, my public will find me in any case.
by Michael Liss

The man for whom the word Emergency must have been invented (serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action) pulled the pin out of yet another hand grenade.

Our President, Donald J. Trump, bollixed, frustrated, stymied, and parboiled (twice) by the evil Nancy Pelosi, went off and did just what he wanted to do anyway. He picked up the compromises made by Democrats in bipartisan negotiations to re-open the government, put them in his pocket, and grabbed for more.

What a fine drama it was. He summoned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the White House, heard him say the votes were there to pass the bill, and told McConnell that he, Trump, did not care what Congress thought. It was irrelevant. The President had consulted his legal advisors, his portrait of Andrew Jackson, and his statue of Winston Churchill, and concluded that the term emergency also encompassed any situation in which he did not get his way.

Mitchie, he thundered (the exact transcript has been suppressed and placed in a secure location with the Putin conversations), I want my Wall, and I will smite this bill unless you pledge your undying support for my Emergency Declaration. The Senior Senator from Kentucky, wily cephalopod that he is, complied. None of us need speculate over exactly what curses, orbs, and scepters were employed, or whether McConnell extracted something for himself, but he knelt, thanked his master, and then left the Oval Office back-side first, bowing at every other step.

Game on! So we move to the most frequently used phrase in the Trump Era, Can he do this?

Even to approach this question rationally, you have to wait until the adrenaline wears off, and show the extraordinary discipline of forgetting that its Trump. It is a challenge. The infection rate of Trump Derangement Syndrome (both the adoring and abhorring variants) in the population is extraordinarily high. Scientists are feverishly working on a cure, but right now, the only treatments are palliative, such as throwing your iPhone at your MacBook, and watching both bounce off a screen with either Rachel Maddow or Sean Hannity whack-whacking back at you. This is probably best done in a hotel bar, where, along with ample lubrication, most establishments have installed high-impact glass in response to previous incidents.

Take a breath. Other than his being the ultimate catalyst, this isnt about Trump, and its certainly not much about the Wall. Its about the role of the Presidency, and the exercise of political power, and the balance among the three branches of government. To be more explicit, it is about virtually anything a President says he wants that a Congress wont give. Can he just take it?

As bizarre as it may seem to those of us who were taught about things like checks and balances, the correct answer isit depends. It depends on whether its authorized by a statute. It depends on whether Congress has the backbone (or the willingness) to stand up to Presidential overreach. And, ultimately, it depends on the Supreme Court.

Lets save some time (and laughter) on the Congressional backbone part (of the more than 60 Republicans who voted to reopen the government on February 14th, just 13 reaffirmed their support less than two weeks later) and head right to litigation. Thats what 16 Blue States did, and their Complaint is as good a place as any to begin to explore the legal issues.

There is an interesting tension in the law when it comes to political issues. Being legal is not the same thing as being wise. Politicians, answerable to the electorate, should be the ones making policy. The Supreme Courts role is not to decide the wisdom of a policy, but only whether it was properly enacted, and whether a particular application of it conforms to Constitutional requirements. Its not the Courts job to fix basic foolishness.

The first thing you become aware of when asking, did the President have the right to declare an emergency, is that Congress might very well have been foolish. It has, over many years, ceded to the Chief Executive a heck of a lot more than was granted in Article II of the Constitution. The Brennan Center counts a web of up to 123 separate statutes that give to a President some additional emergency authority, the big one The National Emergencies Act of 1976 (NEA). For those of us who mocked Texass mass flip-out over Jade Helm, the laugh is on us. Try reading this excruciating article by Elizabeth Goitein in The Atlantic and see if you can suppress your urge to visit your safe-deposit boxes and pack your go-bags before you get past the sixth paragraph. Its not good.

There is an irony about the NEA: the impetus for it was Congresss desire to rein in Presidents from going off on their own without Congressional oversight. But, by codifying powers that the President previously didnt have, an unintended consequence was that Congress may have written a near-blank check. True, Presidential authority is not unlimited: Presidents cannot just conjure up new powers, and Congress can enact a Joint Resolution terminating the Emergency, but there are a notable lack of guardrails after that.

Why? Best guess is that they thought they were empowering rational Presidents who would act in genuine emergencies (Biblical Ten Plagues sorts of things: floods, pestilence, hail, etc.). They never seriously considered that a future President might use an Emergency for a purely political reason. As Monty Python reminds us, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition. So, off to court it is.

What might your ordinary, run of the mill, appointed-for-life, Harvard or Yale-trained Justice think? Here are some of the arguments traced out by the 16 States in their Complaint.

Its not an Emergency. I wouldnt be surprised at all if a lower court would rule that Trumps own statements and prior conduct indicate that the Wall was not an Emergency. This has a lot of appeal, given his verbosity, and that 58 former National Security folks just signed a letter saying it wasnt. That being said, I suspect the majority (quite possibly at least six) of the Roberts Court is going to have at least a very strong preference for not setting a precedent of potentially second-guessing a Presidents judgment on what constitutes an emergency, particularly one that potentially involves security. Congress already considered Trumps request for this particular project and rejected it . Given the specificity and the closeness in time of the Congressional vote and Trumps subsequent Declaration, this approach might carry some weight. The President proposes, Congress says no, the President takes what he wants anyway, Congress passes a Joint Resolution reaffirming its previous positionand the President refuses to sign it, thus diluting Congressional power by requiring a two-thirds override vote. Intuitively, that cant be right, but the textualists and the hardliners are likely to argue that Congress could have, and perhaps should have, addressed that specifically in the NEA. It violates the Appropriations Clause.  Article I of the Constitution is very clear that its Congress that gets to write checks: No Money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. There is a solid argument Congress cant properly assign that power, even in limited circumstances, without amending the Constitution itself. I think this one has a chance, particularly because of the granularity of budget allocations and their impact on individual states. It would be interesting to see how Originalists/Strict Constructionists address that issue, and reconcile it with their support for expansive Executive Powers.

So, what wins here? Difficult to tell, but with Chief Justice Roberts likely as the swing vote, I can see a very narrowly written victory for Trump, authored by Roberts, with a complex multi-concurrence and dissent mashup. What Roberts might say, is that (a) Congress does have the authority to give flexibility to the Executive in spending and has, in fact, been doing so for a very long time, (b) Congress has a remedy for this specific Trump action of which it failed to avail itself, and (c) (this is a Roberts favorite) poorly-written legislation needs to be re-written by Congress, and not edited by SCOTUS to reflect a legislative intent that was not clearly expressed.

I suspect that Roberts will probably go on with substantial dicta on how the Courts decision is on this specific claim only, that it should not be seen as a precedent, and that its not an open invitation for Presidents to exceed their authority, and he might even include some scolding of Congress to get right on this and either amend the NEA, and/or pass a Joint Resolution to roll back Trumps Declaration. No one will pay any attention to any of that.

Why would Roberts do this when he has to know that the result is potential chaos? Because of the internal dynamics of the Court. Lets put aside the widely held conviction that there are Justices who are essentially political animals. The more important point is that there are Justices (particularly the two newest) who support the idea of broad Presidential powers, and Roberts needs to give them something, but is not ready to go with them in the (further) direction of an Imperial Presidency. I also suspect that Roberts is canny enough to realize that there will be a time in the future when he and his fellow conservatives and ultra-conservatives want to hem in a Democratic President. A hearty clap on the back for Trump followed by a wagging finger at someone more Blue would be bad optics. And, finally, Roberts does not wish to risk a Constitutional confrontation with Trump, who would almost certainly relish the opportunity to put even the Supreme Court in its place. So, Roberts will leverage his own, necessary, support to achieve the narrowest result.

What will ensue? We can expect a blizzard of angry commentary, and a gleeful White House spitting out one Emergency after another. And one absolutely miserable man, good old Mitch McConnell. Hes got the tiger by the tail and cant let go. He really doesnt want a Presidentany Presidenthaving the kind of power that Trump has just assumed. McConnell knows, institutionally, it is a catastrophe, a serious erosion of Congressional prerogatives. Its also going to play havoc with future negotiations with the Democrats. McConnell will have to get Trumps signature in blood in advance before Pelosi agrees to anything. And theres another election coming in 2020; McConnell needs to defend his Senate majority; and swing voters will not be enthusiastic about this.

Whats an utterly soulless political operative to do? Start herding cats, and for the long-term good of the country and his party, agree to amend the NEA in a thoughtful way, so Presidents, present and future, cant do what Trump did (or could do).

That is not going to be easy. Trump will veto anything that in any way limits his power, and that means McConnell (and Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader) will have to come up with enough votes from their side of the aisle to join with Democrats and override. The math is daunting in an era in which Trumps approval rating among Republicans is sky-high and 80% of them approve of his Emergency Declaration. Who in the shockingly supine GOP Congressional Caucus wants to put a bulls-eye on their back?

Nothing quite like daunting math. As Albert Einstein put it: As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

Not unlike the laws of politics. Stay tuned.
by Bill Benzon

I dont know what Damien Chazelle was thinking as he was crafting First Man, a film about Neil Armstrong and his moon landing in Apollo 11, but to create the film we saw he had to cleanse it of four decades of space-adventure films. But why, you might ask, would he want to do that? Whats wrong with adventures in space? Nothing, if thats your cup of tea. But, on the evidence of the film itself, he had something else in mind.

What, pray tell, was that? you ask. Lets take a look.

The film opens on Neil Armstrong in a test flight of an airplane. While we do have some shots of the plane from the outside and at a distance, most of the shots are of the planes cockpit, either from Armstrongs point-of-view has he looks about the cockpit, often at his hands activating controls, or through the window at the sky. Theres trouble, the image vibrates, a reflection of the planes motions. We hear voices (I think). We know Armstrongs going to pull out of it because, well, after all, he did go to the moon and thats not yet happened. Theres a strong sense of being enclosed, being trapped, of being at the edge of desperation.

No sense of wide open spaces, no wild blue yonder. Just white knuckles holding on and deliberate self-mastery. Keep it together. Pull through. And then its over. Armstrong lands the plane and gets out.

The aerial adventure trope has been held at bay. Weve been told, this is not that kind of film. And the film makes a quick shift to a different register.

We move into Armstrongs home. His young daughter, Karen, has cancer. And thats what we see, Armstrong and his wife Janet caring for Karen. Intensely domestic. To the hospital for radiation treatments. And then we hear the sound of a winch lowering a small casket into a grave. We see Armstrong, his wife, and son at the funeral.

And then its over. The film moves to yet another register. We see Armstrong at work, in his office. His boss offers him time off, which he declines. He wants/needs to work. He scans his desktop, see a NASA newsletter with a story about the Gemini program. He decides to apply. Was that decision a response to, a way of coping with, his daughters death? Who knows. Armstrong doesnt say that hes applying to Gemini because his daughter has died. He says nothing at all about why he applied. He just does.

But the film creates a connection by virtue of its narrative strategy. First we see a dicey test flight. And then we cut to Karens illness. No causal connection is asserted or implied there, nor would I think that anyone infers cause. All we have is sequence, juxtaposition. Within the imaginative space that is First Man, thats what weve got. Two things first: a test flight, a death in the family. And then a third: Armstrong applies to the Gemini program, an orbital program that preceded the Apollo moonshots.

And so it goes for the rest of the film. We see astronaut training, early space flights, a Soviet success, a disastrous launch-pad failure, but also a move to Houston, Janet is pregnant, now they have two sons, and so on. The film weaves back and forth between domestic life astronaut life.

Just before Armstrong is to go to the moon these two strands come together. Hes packing his bags and apparently hopes to slip out of the house without talking to his sons. Janet wont allow this. She knows that he might not return, as does he, and she wants him to acknowledge that to his sons. He talks with them and acknowledges that, yes, he might not return.

Then we move to the launch pad and to the moon. Armstrong steps out onto the lunar surface, utters the famous line  Thats one small step for [a] man; one giant leap for mankind  and sets out walking. Whats the last thing we see Armstrong do on the moon? He drops Karens identity bracelet into a crater. That action explicitly asserts a connection between his daughters death and his decision to enter the astronaut program. That connection is how this film asserts the sacred quality of walking on the moon. The next shot has him safely back on earth. Then hes in quarantine, where he meets his wife. They cannot touch, directly, but they touch the window separating them in the same spot. No talk. The film ends.

Does Armstrong tell anyone about leaving Karens bracelet on the moon? Who knows? We do.

* * * * *

While the film does show the American flag on the moon, it didnt show Armstrong actually planting the flag on the moon. And that caused a bit of a ruckus. For example:

Chazelle offered this statement:

In First Man I show the American flag standing on the lunar surface, but the flag being physically planted into the surface is one of several moments of the Apollo 11 lunar EVA that I chose not to focus upon. To address the question of whether this was a political statement, the answer is no. My goal with this movie was to share with audiences the unseen, unknown aspects of Americas mission to the moon  particularly Neil Armstrongs personal saga and what he may have been thinking and feeling during those famous few hours.

I wanted the primary focus in that scene to be on Neils solitary moments on the moon  his point of view as he first exited the LEM, his time spent at Little West Crater, the memories that may have crossed his mind during his lunar EVA. This was a feat beyond imagination; it was truly a giant leap for mankind. This film is about one of the most extraordinary accomplishments not only in American history, but in human history. My hope is that by digging under the surface and humanizing the icon, we can better understand just how difficult, audacious and heroic this moment really was.

Thus have gave us the statement of universality  one giant leap for mankind  and the personal statement of mourning and healing, the bracelet. But he sidestepped nationalist sentiment.

To humanize the icon: to endow it with a sense of the sacred?
The Minister of Planning, Prof. Gyan Baffour, in representation of the President of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, the Krontihene of Dormaa Barimah Ansu Agyei, and Enis Executive Vice President for Sub-Saharan Africa Guido Brusco cut today in Kyeremasu, Dormaa East, Bono Region, the sod of a new training center for diversified agricultural development and entrepreneurship.



The Minister of Health Kwaku Agyemang-Manu and the Italian Ambassador to Ghana Giovanni Favilli also attended the ceremony.



The training center is part of the Okuafo Pa Project, aimed at supporting Ghanas sustainable development by promoting socio-economic growth. The center consists of a Campus for up to 800 students, with classrooms, workshops, offices and related storage spaces and utilities. Photovoltaic panels will power the campus, which will be energetically self-sufficient and highly efficient.



Educational programs, focusing on agricultural activities, poultry breeding and greenhouse cultivation, will be defined with the support of Ghanaian and European Universities. Besides training activities, Okuafo Pa Project will facilitate access to micro-credit and to the labor market. Opening of educational activities is expected by end of year.



According to the Minister of Planning Prof. Gyan Baffour, Government considers this Akuafo Pa project a facilitator and a flagship initiative for economic growth and employment in the district.



He said, the implementation of this diversified agricultural project guarantees that a significant contribution will be made to achieving goals 1, 2, 7, 8 10 and 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Most importantly, the country will make strides in attaining our economic aspirations to build a prosperous Ghana.



The Minister for Planning also disclosed that some of the interventions government has initiated to provide jobs and boost economic development are the Planting for Export and Rural Development Programme, Rearing for Food and Jobs Campaign and the mechanization.



According to Mr. Guido Brusco, Eni Executive Vice President for Sub Saharan Africa, one of Enis core values is supporting the sustainable development of the countries we operate. Wherever we are, we establish a strong dialogue with institutions and communities, to identify needs and develop joint solutions.



This is what we call the dual flag model: we are Italian, and we are Ghanaian. We grow if Ghana also grows with us.



He continued that, we believe in Public Private Partnerships, a tool that the United Nations identified as fundamental to trigger sustainable development.



We therefore respond to a call from the Ghanaian Government for private companies to support local institutions in skills development and capacity building.



The Campus is the first step of the Okuafo Pa project, aimed at defining a sustainable model to be replicated in other regions of Ghana as well as in other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, to positively impact on productive activities and occupation opportunities. The Campus will leverage local employment, generate revenue from agricultural activities and develop a co-operative model on the overall supply-chain of each product.



Eni and the Government of Ghana, represented by the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI), developed the Okuafo Pa Project. The project is aligned to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Government of Ghana program Ghana beyond Aid.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash









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Featured Video
by Robert Fay

Lake Simcoe, Canada. The sound of the Chickering piano. Bach.

He is lazing down a wooded foot path, teasing his collie Banquo with a stick. He wears gloves, a wool Donegal cap, muffler and long coat despite the July temperatures. He is not being self-consciously eccentric; he simply fears getting a chill, and therefore sick. The film is black-and-white, giving the imagination ample room to conjure up the verdant rapacity of the brief northern growing season. He is then pictured inside the cottage seated before the Chickering, swaying and rocking as he alternately taps and presses the keys, his hands occasionally leaping back from the instrument as if caught in flagrante delicto.

The regal pianissimo of the Italian Concerto.

He is humming. He will always hum when hes secluded within the architecture of the immortal scores. Recording engineers will despair of this harmonizing, but the microphones must be present, and he will sing as he plays, because the two expressions are a hypostatic union, an indivisible entity offering themselves to the music. He hums because the composition is only a series of notations until it becomes a part of his body, a force within, causing him to sway and vocalize the rapturous melody.

The cottage is the perfect bourgeois expression of respectable 1950s Toronto. It is not to be confused with a cabin. It is the weekend retreat of prosperous fir merchant, not a sportsman. And the Toronto of the 1950s is Victorian, hardworking and Protestant, and Glenn Gould will decide he can live nowhere else, despite his fame and financial success.

There are of course philistines in the city, but the Goulds are not among them. The cottage reflects cultivation and taste. It is carpeted and furnished with comfortable pieces, wicker chairs, table lamps, bookshelves, a floor model television set.

The 70-year-old Chickering is backed up to the picture window where outside one sees a stand of birch trees, a spruce, a recently cut lawn, and the rippling water of Lake Simcoe beyond. Level with the windowsill is a small table with a lamp and a tiny statuette of a doe resting on her hind legs. Next to the piano is a larger table with stacks of scores, and on the Chickering, there is an open score on the music rack, as well as a porcelain tea cup and saucer on the piano lid.

The documentary is called Glenn Gould  Off the Record, and it is a 30-minute piece filmed by the CBC in 1959.

It begins with Gould in New York at the Steinway & Sons headquarters in Manhattan. He is choosing a piano for an upcoming performance of Bach. The film then shifts to the family cottage at Lake Simcoe, 90 miles north of Toronto, before rejoining Gould in the basement of the Steinway building. The film includes footage from the tiny hamlet of Uptergrove, which is the closest town to the cottage. When Gould breaks away from his studies, he drives downtown for groceries and a meal at his favorite restaurant.

The proprietor of Adams General Store / Post Office (a wooden sign with a bottle cap graphic: DRINK Pepsi Cola) has known Gould since he was a child. He often finds crumpled dollars in the snow, and he sets them aside, knowing the young musician would have absently dropped them while deep in thought. When Gould returns to the Lake he will end up on a private dirt road that leads back down to the cottage. There is a pole with a hand-painted wood slate that reads: R H GOULD  GLEN COVE. Its like that. Its life in the country, and there in solitude, Goulds imagination can pursue its contrapuntal impulses, free of interference or anxiety, entirely in control of circumstances.

In 1959 there were 17 million Canadians, now there are 35 million, and the film stands as something of an elegy to a Canadian way-of-life now disappearing. The land has more people on it than ever. There is more noise, and geographic solitude is harder to achieve. And this change would have been jarring for Gould, for whom solitude was essential to his life and art. His love-of-country rested, in part, on the sparsely populated north country.

His 1967 CBC radio program The Idea of North, profiled Canadians who had gone to live and work in the great solitude of the artic region, not simply as a way of making a living, but more as a matter of exploring the self. Yet in the Gouldian manner, the program wasnt standard public-broadcasting fair, but an experiment in counterpoint. One Canadian voice begins talking of his experience, then a second voice is dropped in, and both melodies continue echoing and speaking to each in the manner of a Bach keyboard piece.

But counterpoint isnt the focus of the film, and what remains with me are the more pedestrian details: Glenns lakeside neighbor cutting the grass with an old push reel mower, and the porcelain saucer and tea cup on the lid of his Chickering. This last detail is something I linger on with pleasure. It has something to do with memory and the loss of the little objects and rituals that were once the invisible DNA of our lives.

I am reminded of the now-defunct Greenhouse Coffee Shop on Brattle Street in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It looked directly out at the Out of Town News kiosk and the outer bricks walls enclosing Harvard Yard. My first visit was in 1989. I was a high school kid from Bostons North Shore and the small cafe with its Bohemian clientele was nothing less than my Paris, my Vienna, proof I could dream beyond the work-a-day America of my parents.

I remember the cigarette smoke in the cafe clung stubbornly to my clothes, and it wasnt unusual to smell pipe tobacco too, as older gentlemen occasionally sparked up a full bent pipe. The coffee came in cups and saucers along with endless slices of cherry and apple pie from the countertop pie displays with heavy glass covers.

Ah, the cups and the saucers! It was a similar ritual visiting my mothers Irish aunts in Boston. Neither of them had married, and like good Catholic women of the era, they had remained housemates for life and avoided the company of men. Aunt Libby and Aunt Mary had both been grade school teachers before they retired. On our visits, they served mother Lipton tea in a simple cup and saucer. I got ginger ale and a glass filled with crushed ice, or if was unlucky, a bottle of medicinal Moxie soda, which my aunts kept in the pantry for Grandpas high balls.

These two angelic women always wore dresses, black heels and thick-brown panty hoses. Aunt Mary still wore 1950s-era cat-eye glasses with a chain so she could rest them on her chest when not reading. There was sense of order and refinement about the house: stained glass lamp shades, candy dishes with stale pastel mints, ottomans, Lladro figurines and plastic covering the sofa. I wish I could time travel back to their kindness, their gentle manners, their unconscious preservation of 1950s Americastill alive in their parlor as late as 1974but its gone now, and gone forever.

*

Toward the end of the film the cup and saucer has disappeared. Gould is seated at the piano while his friend Franz Kraemer, a musician and radio producer, sits nearby in a comfortable white wicker chair with his legs languorously crossed. They are talking about the atonal master Anton Webern, and Kraemer says he has was a student of Weberns in Vienna. He adds that Webern was a shy man who wrote shy music, and Gould immediately interjects, Is this shy music? and then turns to the keyboard and plays a few bars of a halting, disjointed piece of Webern music. Its all so perfect: the cottage, the piano, the artist in the deep woods, the intellectual companionship of a good friend, the piles of scores stacked and scattered about.

How I envy such a life! A life of the mind, art, good companionship, and all in the leafy summer retreat!

The voice of the narrator periodically cuts in to provide context for Goulds life and career. Goulds life seems ideal: peace, calm, time to study in idyllic surroundings, the omniscient voice informs us. But his world is also an unnerving one. It takes courage of a high order to play Beethoven before the super critical audience of Berlin. Or to present oneself on the same platform as the great Russian pianists of today.

Gould was touring in those years and despised it. He mistrusted audiences, despaired at the imperfections inherent in live performances, and suffered under the vagaries of travel. Plus, there were the obligatory social demands surrounding the concert appearance: dinners, speeches, receptions with benefactors and subscribers. As often as he could, Gould canceled performancesfrequently at the last momentciting illness, though most likely these were hypochondrial episodes.

Life at Lake Simcoe was indeed idyllic for Glenn, but it was lived as stolen time, a temporary respite from the concert-going vultures in the great cities of the world. It wasnt until 1964, five years later, when Gould finally had the financial leverage to quit touring and reserve himself for the studio to record, rearrange, perfect, snip and playback his music, and ultimately his life, in the way that he saw fit.

*

The documentary ends where it begin, in the Steinway & Sons basement, Gould scrupoulsly investigating all the concert grands. He eventually settles on a piano with the the agility he requires to play Bach. The piano tuner and the Steinway account manger stand with him chatting, clearly enjoying his company.

But Gould must be alone, there is no other way. He politely asks, Can I stay and practice? and the two men immediately depart, saying theyll be upstairs if he needs anything. He begins playing Bach as the credits roll.

The rocking and swaying slowly starts. I think of religious Jews swaying (shucklen in Yiddish) as they read the Torah, entering into the ancient and mystical landscapes of God. As in the Psalms: All my limbs shall say Who is like You, O Lord?

Gould was not Jewish, nor a religious protestant, but Bach got him swaying, got him back to the Chickering and Lake Simcoe and those joyful days of child solitude at the cottage, the cups and saucers, and I remember that wonder too, of childhood moments, when the world came to youserved right up to youas if to give you a taste of heaven, of more to come, of a life that seemed to promise imagination, wonders, adventure, everything!

Robert Fays essays, reviews and stories have appeared in The Atlantic, The Millions, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The Chicago Quarterly Review, among others. He is co-creator of the Feeling Bookish Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @RobertFay1.
by Huw Price

From aviation to zoo-keeping, theres a simple rule for safety in potentially hazardous pursuits. Always keep an eye on the ways that things could go badly wrong, even if they seem unlikely. The more disastrous a potential failure, the more improbable it needs to be before we can safely ignore it. Think icebergs and frozen O-rings. History is full of examples of the costs of getting this wrong.

Sometimes the disaster is missing something good, not meeting something bad. For hungry sailors, missing a passing island can be just as deadly as hitting an iceberg. So the same principle of prudence applies. The more we need something, the more important it is to explore places we might find it, even if they seem improbable.

We desperately need some new alternatives to fossil fuels. To meet growing demands for energy, with some chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, the world needs what Bill Gates called an energy miracle  a new carbon-free source of energy, from some unexpected direction. In this case its obvious what the principle of prudence tells us. We should keep a sharp eye out, even in unlikely corners.

Yet theres one possibility that has been in plain sight for thirty years, but remains resolutely ignored by mainstream science. It is so-called cold fusion, or LENR (for Low Energy Nuclear Reactions). Cold fusion was made famous, or some would say infamous, by the work of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons. At a press conference on March 23, 1989, Fleischmann and Pons claimed that they had detect excess heat at levels far above anything attributable to chemical processes, in experiments involving the metal palladium, loaded with hydrogen. They concluded that it must be caused by a nuclear process  cold fusion, as they termed it.

Many laboratories failed to replicate Fleischmann and Pons results, and the mainstream view since then has been that cold fusion was debunked. It is often treated as a classic example of disreputable pseudoscience. But it never went away completely. It has always had defenders, including some scientists at very respectable laboratories. They acknowledged that replication and reproducibility were difficult in this field, but claimed that most attempts on which the initial dismissal had been based were simply too hasty.

Such work continues today, as cold fusion approaches its thirtieth birthday. A recent peer-reviewed Japanese paper lists seventeen scientific authors, from several major universities and the research division of Nissan Motors. These authors report excess heat energy which is impossible to attribute  to any chemical reaction (with good reproducibility between different laboratories). The field has also been attracting new investors recently (including, some claim, Bill Gates himself).

These seventeen Japanese scientists might be mistaken, of course. Scientists  not to mention investors!  often get things wrong. But their work is only the tip of a very substantial iceberg. If there was even a small probability that they and the rest of the iceberg were on to something, wouldnt the field deserve some serious attention, by the prudence principle with which we began?

When I wrote about these issues in Aeon three years ago, I argued that the problem is that cold fusion is stuck in a reputation trap. Its image is so bad that many scientists feel that they risk their own reputations if they are seen to be open-minded about it, let alone to support it. Thats why the work of those Japanese scientists and others like them is ignored by mainstream science  and why it doesnt get the attention that simple prudence recommends.

The reputation trap is nicely illustrated by the tone of a New Scientist editorial from 2016. It accompanied a fairly even-handed article describing recent increases in interest in LENR, from investors as well as some scientists. The editorial concludes:

Theres still no compelling reason to think cold fusion will work. Let those with money to burn take the risk and, if proven right, the rewards for their chutzpah too. For the rest of us, cold fusion is better off left out in the cold.

Theres no mistaking the tone, but if we translate it to the safety case the logic has a chilling familiarity: Theres no compelling reason to think that there will be icebergs at this latitude. Let those with money to burn take the slower route to the south, and the rewards if they turn out to be right.

The fallacy here is obvious. It puts the burden of proof on the wrong side. What matters is not whether there is a compelling reason to think that there are icebergs, but whether there is compelling reason to be confident that there are not. Thats whats distinctive about these safety cases, and it stems from the high cost of getting things wrong  hitting the icebergs, or missing the islands.

In the safety case, we know what happens when reputation and similar cultural and psychological factors get in the way of prudence. Icebergs are unlikely, and our reputation is at stake, so full speed ahead! NASA fell for precisely this trap in the case of the Challenger disaster, ignoring warnings about the O-rings. Something similar underlies the tone of the New Scientist editorial, in my view  a kind of misplaced rigidity, engendered in this case by the norms of scientific reputation.

Reputation plays an indispensable role in science, as an aid to quality control. But sometimes it gets thing wrong. There are famous cases in the history of science in which new ideas were ignored or ridiculed, sometimes for decades, before going on to win Nobel prizes. (Classic examples include the work of Barbara McClintock on mobile elements in genetic material, and the discovery by Australian scientists Barry Marshall and Robin Warren that stomach ulcers are caused by a bacterium. )

Usually this doesnt matter very much  science got there in the end, in these famous cases. But it is easy to see how it might be a problem, where prudence requires that we take unlikely possibilities very seriously. If whats at stake is a serious risk, the normal rate of progress in science  one funeral at a time, as Max Planck put it, commenting on sciences conservatism  might simply be too slow.

So the normal sociology of scientific reputation may be pathological in special cases  cases in which the cost of wrongly dismissing a maverick idea is especially high. In my Aeon piece I suggested that LENR is such a case. I proposed that to offset this pathology we need some carefully targeted incentives  an X-Prize for new energy technologies, say. To mainstream scientists this idea sounds absurd, even disreputable, at least in the case of cold fusion. But thats just the pathology talking, in my view  and the rational response to the pathology is to hack it and work around it, not to give way to it.

Not surprisingly, my article was controversial  some commentators wondered what it would do to my own reputation! Critics didnt disagree with the principle that we need to take low probability risks (or potential missed opportunities) seriously, when the cost of overlooking them would be high. But many denied that cold fusion falls into this category. They felt that is so unlikely, so discreditable, that we can safely leave it in the reputation trap. (Sometimes this response came with considerable vehemence, even from friends.)

How likely would cold fusion have to be, to be worth serious attention? This is debatable, but a generous 5% should be uncontroversial. (Who would argue that we should ignore a 1 in 20 chance of some interesting new physics, let alone carbon-free energy?) My critics thought that the probability that cold fusion is real is much lower than that.

I felt that many of these critics were simply not paying attention. If one took the trouble to look, there was a lot of serious work, including recent work, suggesting real physical anomalies. If we ask not whether this evidence is entirely compelling, but simply whether it lifts the field above a very low attention threshold (say 5%), the answer seemed to me to be obvious. We shouldnt be ignoring this work. (Instead, we should be trying to hack the pathology that makes it so easy to dismiss it.)

In addition to scientists at respectable institutions who work on LENR, there are also some inventors and entrepreneurs who claim to be developing practical LENR-based devices. I mentioned two in my 2015 article. One was a controversial Italian engineer, Andrea Rossi. His claims in 2011 had attracted me to the topic in the first place, and in 2015 he seemed to be doing well. The other was a less colourful inventor, Robert Godes, whose Berkeley-based company Brillouin Energy also claimed to be on a path to a commercial LENR reactor.

My critics were confident that both Mr Rossi and Mr Godes must be frauds, or else deeply confused. What other possibilities are there, after all, if  as my critics were convinced  theres no genuine LENR? I thought that this dismissal was far too hasty. I wasnt certain by any means that Rossi or Godes did have what they claimed, but I thought that the probability was well above a reasonable attention threshold (given what success might mean).

With several critics, these differences of opinion led to bets, at long odds. I would win the bets if, after three years, at least one of Rossi or Godes had produced fairly convincing evidence (> 50% credence) that their new technology that generates substantial excess heat relative to electrical and chemical inputs. If my opponents and I couldnt agree whether this is the case, the question would go to a panel of three judges for arbitration. (Either way, the proceeds will support research on existential risk.)

The three years is now up, so how am I faring? About Rossi, I am happy to concede that he hasnt made it to the finishing line, even at a modest 50% credence. I think there is still some reason to think that that he may have something, based in part on claimed replications by far less colourful figures. But there is also evidence of dishonesty, especially in his dealings with his US backer, Industrial Heat.

Luckily for me, I backed the ants as well as the grasshopper. About Godes Brillouin Energy (BEC) the news is much better. There are now three positive reports (from 2016, 2017, and 2018) by an independent tester, Dr Francis Tanzella, at the Menlo Park lab of SRI International. The first report already confirmed low levels of excess heat, and important progress in reproducibility:

This transportable and reproducible reactor system is extremely important and extremely rare. These two characteristics, coupled with the ability to start and stop the reaction at will are, to my knowledge, unique in the LENR field to date.

The more recent reports describe steady progress in two directions. First, a modest improvement in excess heat as measured by the the so-called Coefficient of Performance (COP)  the ratio of output power to input power. Second, a large increase in the absolute level of excess heat, from a few milliwatts in 2016 to several watts in early 2018.

The last of Dr Tanzellas three reports covers the period to July 2018. Since then, BEC themselves have claimed even better results  consistent output power around twice the level of input power, with excess heat of around 50 watts.

What are the options, if we are not to take these reports at face value? Essentially, one needs to dismiss as incompetent or fraudulent not only Mr Godes and his BEC team, but also Dr Tanzella and his SRI colleagues. However, as the 2018 report notes, SRI brought over 75 person-years of calorimeter design, operation, and analysis experience to this process, much of it in the field of LENR. SRI, and Dr Tanzella himself, are among the most experienced experts in the field.

Accordingly, it seems to me greatly more likely than not that BEC do have what they claim  in the words of my bet, a device that generates substantial excess heat relative to electrical and chemical inputs. Readers wishing to make up their own minds should study Dr Tanzellas reports, and listen to a recent podcast in which he speaks about his work. (The same site also offers a recent interview with Robert Godes, in which he discusses BECs latest results.)

Some critics will say that Dr Tanzella must be wrong, because the claims are simply so unlikely. That would be an understandable view if BECs claims were a complete outlier, unrelated to any previous work. But as I said, theres an icebergs worth of work beneath it, much of it from eminently serious sources (people and institutions). Only someone who hadnt taken the trouble to look at this work could think of BEC as an outlier.

As a very small sample from this iceberg, see this and this for overviews of long programmes of work by two US laboratories, SRI International themselves and the Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) lab, San Diego, over the 1990s and 2000s; this for a short summary of the recent Japanese work mentioned above; and this and this for two additional recent technical papers. All these pieces report results not explicable by known chemical processes. This site offers hundreds of other papers.

Finally, for our Norwegian readers, theres this recent 45 page report by the Norwegian Defence Research Institute. The author, an electrochemist, concludes that in his view LENR is a real phenomenon, the development of which ought to be closely watched. He says that the alternative is to believe in a conspiracy of independent researchers at a number of different institutions, and adds that for the original Fleischmann and Pons reactions in particular, the documentation is highly convincing.

The question I want you to ask yourself  after examining this material  is not whether you agree with me that BEC has made it over the finishing line specified in my bets. Thats an interesting question, but not the important one. The crucial issue is whether LENR in general makes it over a much lower bar, the one that recommends it for serious attention, given how desperate we are for Bill Gates energy miracle. If you dont agree with me even about the low bar, Im wondering what you take yourself to know, that all these authors do not, that could possibly justify such certainty?

If you do agree with me about the low bar, I encourage you to join me in trying to hack the reputation trap. It may be too much to expect mainstream science to scan the horizon very far to port and starboard. Thats how science works, and rightly so, in normal circumstances. But if thats where the energy-rich islands might be, thats the direction someone needs to be looking. So we need some unconventional thinkers  especially young, brilliant, sharp-eyed thinkers  and we need to cheer not sneer at their efforts.

In my view, its as much a mistake to let reputation blind us to prudence in this case as it is was for the icebergs and O-rings. True, it isnt necessarily so catastrophic. But unlike the Titanic and the Challenger, the planet has all of us on board. So lets loosen our collars a little, remind ourselves of the virtues of epistemic humility, and try to encourage our energy mavericks.

For the moment, as cold fusion turns thirty, it remains a black sheep of the scientific family. But as the history of science shows us, its often black sheep who bring home black swans. We dont know whether cold fusion will follow the same path. We do know that its in the whole familys interests to show it some warmth. For safetys sake, cold fusion needs to be cool.

* * *

Huw Price is Bertrand Russell Professor of Philosophy and a Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Cambridge. He is Academic Director of the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, and a co-founder with Martin Rees and Jaan Tallinn of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. Before moving to Cambridge he was ARC Federation Fellow and Challis Professor of Philosophy at the University of Sydney, where from 20022012 he was founding Director of the Centre for Time.

This article is published under a Creative Commons licence and you are free to reproduce it as long as you give Huw Price and 3 Quarks Daily credit and link back to this page.
"Everything I'm focused on is about health equity and health disparities," said Spahr, a third-year resident at the University of Pennsylvania Family Medicine Residency in Philadelphia. "That's directly related to my upbringing and the experiences I've had as a young adult. I grew up with a mom who worked two full-time jobs. She only slept four hours a night. People shouldn't have to do that, but she made a lot of sacrifices for my education."

Spahr's mother pursued her own education, too. After initially working at low-paying jobs at places like Walmart, she became a surgical technician and later a nurse.

"You don't know what potential people might have," Spahr said, "but you can help them build on their strengths."

Her mother's career path exposed Spahr to the medical professions.

"Any time I didn't have an after-school activity, I was at the hospital waiting for her," Spahr said. "I had a lot of contact with her co-workers, and I was always interested in health care."

While pursuing a master's degree in public health from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Spahr developed a program at a community health center in Milwaukee that provides group well-child visits for Spanish-speaking immigrant families.
Last summer, around the Fourth of July, Francesca Castagnoli saw fireworks  but not the kind she was hoping for. I looked down and saw this spray of wrinkles starting in my cleavage and erupting up my chest, describes the 48-year-old journalist from Montclair, N.J.

Growing up, Castagnoli loved being tan. In her 40s, she became diligent about protecting her face, wearing sunscreen and a hat on the regular. But she neglected her chest, as most of us do. The fallout? Cleavage wrinkles, aka clinkles (or its crasser moniker, cougar cleavage). While they may evoke images of Magda in Theres Something About Mary, the truth is that many women entering their 40s are starting to see the results of ignoring the clavicle-to-nipple region.

Most wrinkles are the result of sun damage, but even the most vigilant among us often forget to slather our decolletage with SPF anything before heading out the door. Because chest skin is thinner than the skin on the rest of the body, its even more prone to sun damage. Complicating matters, its about 10 to 15 times more sensitive than other skin, too, notes dermatologist Samantha Conrad, clinical practice director at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, so it doesnt tolerate aggressive treatments very well.

Large-busted? You might notice vertical lines faster, especially if you're a chronic side-sleeper, Conrad says, as gravity causes a compression-like effect between the breasts.

Still, there are some steps you can take to iron out cleavage wrinkles.

Level the playing field

A wrinkle is a depression in the skin, and we want to bring down the sides of the wrinkles so everything is the same depth, explains J. Timothy Katzen, a board-certified plastic surgeon and owner of Body by Katzen in Beverly Hills, Las Vegas and Dubai. He says beginner patients can start with a glycolic acid chemical peel. Skin will turn red after application and may feel like it has a deep sunburn, but you can return to work immediately. The acid helps slough out the outermost layers of skin, improving texture but only yielding about a 20 percent reduction in wrinkles, Katzen estimates. (Cost: $250 to $1,000)

Lasers can even things out even more. Katzen likes the Nd:YAG laser for crepey decolletage. (Youll likely need three treatments, spaced six weeks apart from each other, costing $1,000 to 1,500 per treatment.) Once again, expect a sunburned look; downtime is usually a day. The payoff: an 80 percent reduction in wrinkles.

You could also try the PicoSure laser, says Johanna S. Youner, a certified laser specialist and owner of Park Avenue Laser Treatment in New York City. Often used for tattoo removal, this laser has a faster speed and feels like the snap of a rubber band. It doesnt get very hot, meaning minimal redness. This one, too, requires multiple treatments; expect three, spaced six weeks apart, for a 65 to 70 percent reduction, with no downtime. ($750 per visit on average)

Fill er up

Another way to attack deeper, discrete lines is to fill up the valleys so that theyre flush with the rest of the skin. Thats what Castagnoli opted for a few years ago when she tackled her chest wrinkles. Her doctor warned her that because chest skin is relatively thin, traditional hyaluronic acid fillers like Restylane and Juvederm can result in a bumpy-looking texture, and their bluish tint can even show through fair skin. Instead, he suggested Belotero, at the time a newer, colorless, ultra-thin filler that can be massaged and molded, once injected, for a smooth result. After applying a topical anesthetic, her doctor added lidocaine to the syringe full of filler to help prevent burning during injection. When I walked out, you could barely see the wrinkles, she says.

Belotero costs about $650 per syringe and should last six months to a year. Newly recommitted to dulling her fireworks display, Castagnoli says shes planning on creating a decolletage budget for 2019, on top of her facial filler budget, as well as investing in a rash guard to wear when she hits the beach with her family.

Get prickly

Conrad recommends microneedling to stimulate collagen production and improve texture. Your dermatologist will use a tool that creates teeny, sterile pinpricks in your skin. As the punctures heal, they encourage the skin to remodel, improving the appearance of wrinkles  but not getting rid of them. (Youll likely need three treatments, spaced one month apart from each other, costing $1,000 total.)

Buy a boobie pillow

You heard right. Pillows exist just for your breasts, separating and supporting them so that when you sleep on your side, they dont smush together. This results in deep morning wrinkles that, over time, can become permanent etchings. Conrad said they may be worth a shot for large-breasted women. Two models on the market include the Intimia Pillow Bra ($34.95) and the Bosom Buddy ($34.95).

Minimize damage moving forward

Every expert interviewed for this story emphasized using sunblock daily to minimize further wrinkling.

Conrad also suggests a multipronged skin care regimen that includes an antioxidant product in the morning and a retrinol-containing one at night. Antioxidant products provide protection from the free radical damage that occurs as a result of sun exposure, radiation and pollution, helping sunscreens work better, she says. She likes SkinCeuticals C E Ferulic ($166) or SkinBetters Alto Defense Serum ($145).

Then at night, I like retrinols  theyre like the gentler cousin to tretinoin (Retin A) and dont need a prescription. She recommends Avene RetrinAL 0.1 Intensive Cream ($70) and AlphaRet Overnight Cream by SkinBetter ($110).

Or ... do nothing

So youve got some boobie wrinkles. Grab a turtleneck  theyre back in style. Also, did you know there are now 89 different ways to wear a scarf? A few minutes of meditation may also help you come to peace with your clinkles, seeing them more as a first-world problem than a harbinger of the age apocalypse. Just make sure you lie on your back when you do the meditating (in case you had forgotten the earlier info about side-sleeping).
By 2016, I was feeling great. Our kids were completely off the payroll, and the dog was long since dead. Mikes mother, our one remaining parent, was in good health at 83. We had found our sweet spot.

We decided it was now or never. Just days after Mikes 60th birthday, we sold our house of 30 years. Selling and giving away our possessions was an incredible feeling of freedom. The sea was calling us, and we were answering.

We moved aboard Exodus, casting off from our mooring in Padanaram, Mass. We headed south, down the East River in Manhattan, around the Statue of Liberty and into the Chesapeake, to Hampton, Va. There, we met up with the Salty Dawgs, a group of sailors who make a yearly ocean crossing from Virginia to Antigua.

We did our first ocean crossing, with two in crew, in early November. I was a nervous wreck about the 1,200-mile trip and 11 days at sea, and our passage was not easy. The freezer, filled with food for the passage, died on the third day.

Our autopilot worked sporadically, requiring us to steer mostly by hand. Our rudder broke in a squall, so the men were forced to take one-hour shifts at the emergency tiller to complete the last 100 miles. There were plenty of times I thought this life was simply too hard, too scary, too frustrating. More than once, we discussed giving up and going home.

But while docked in English Harbor, Antigua, fixing our rudder, we had an attitude adjustment. Mike was in the engine room, and when he heard Prince Charles was touring the marina, he popped up on deck in his sweaty T-shirt. Prince Charles, wearing a three-piece suit (he doesnt sweat), made his way over to Exodus, and had a long chat with Mike about our voyage. We realized that despite hardships and frustration, this was going to be a life of adventure.

We embraced the cruising life  the warm, gin-clear waters; the dolphins, turtles and reef fish. We embraced the iguanas, the sloths and the monkeys. We embraced new cultures, months of no rain and oppressive heat, and Caribbean time. We embraced 34-knot trade winds off our stern, and flying fish landing on Exodus at night. We embraced countless sunsets and rainbows. Against all odds, I even learned to embrace moonless night passages, on watch by myself in the inky darkness. We embraced constantly monitoring and maintaining the engine, water, electrical, sanitation, rigging, HVAC, bottom growth, refrigeration, and the never-ending battle to fight the constant corroding effects of salt water and UV rays.

Most importantly, we embraced a sailing community that looks after each other like no other. We embraced new friends from all over the world. We help each other fix engines, rigging, and computer and electrical problems. We provide tools and spare parts. And we provide each other with emotional support. We sing, laugh and drink. Boy, do we drink.

We are now well into the second leg of our journey. We have joined a group of 40 sailboats (the OCC Suzie Too Rally) heading into new and unchartered (at least for us) lands: the coast of Colombia, the San Blas Islands, Panama, the islands off of Honduras and Nicaragua, and Belize. We will make our way to Mexico, and then head back to the United States, where we will spend the summer seeing family and friends.

Most of our friends from home thought we were a little nuts when we set out on this adventure: There were so many reasons not to do this, so many obstacles; we were too old; it wasnt the right time (but when is?). I think now they are proud of us  and a little jealous  for following our dream. I hope that we have inspired others to follow theirs.

We dont know how long this journey will last, or even where we will go next. We know life will sometimes be difficult and exceedingly frustrating. We know there will be stretches of boredom interrupted with moments of terror. We also know there will be celebrations with friends, more beautiful sunsets, and plenty of adventure. We could not be happier that we took this leap of faith.

Ronna Benjamin is a former real estate lawyer turned writer, and a partner in and regular contributor to betterafter50.com. She has no idea how long her adventure will last or where she will explore next.
Former President John Dramani Mahama has called on President Akufo-Addo to 'bring to book and sanction' culprits caught engaging in corruption acts in Anas' latest expose.



Secretary to the anti-galamsey task force, Charles Bissue and others were caught on camera engaging in alleged extortion in investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas latest expose, Galamsey Fraud.



Meanwhile, Mr Bissue has decided to step aside to allow investigations to go on.



According to him, "I was not and have not engaged in any acts of corruption, criminality or misconduct.



However, Anas insists, Mr Bissue is not innocent.



Speaking to the expose, the former President in a post on Facebook, said the President "should let his belief in the Anas principle show by taking action".



The former President shared the post below with a video attachment



The investigative expose by Tiger Eye PI about officials at the Presidency aiding illegal small scale mining, galamsey, in Ghana, is an example of what our President Nana Akufo-Addo described in the attached video as the Anas principle.



Despite all the efforts by the NPP and Government apparatchiks to distract the nation's attention from the premiere of the video last week, the evidence still stares us in the face.



The President should bring to book and sanction these people that we clearly see in the Anas video indulging in acts of malfeasance and receiving illicit monetary consideration.



He should let his belief in the Anas principle show by taking action. Action speaks louder than words.



And while you are at it, let me respectfully inform you sir, that Anas and his team have never felt more persecuted and threatened for the work that they do, than under your administration.







Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]//twitter: @ladybeccabecks









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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Gov. Noem's budget calls for workforce raises, high-dollar projects for local economies

Noem's proposed budget includes $30M to help DSU bolster its cyber-security training program, which could include a facility in Sioux Falls.
State Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, is working to establish new requirements for active-shooter and evacuation drills with Senate Bill 147.

Current law requires 12 emergency drills, nine of those being fire drills, two shelter-in-place drills and one evacuation drill. Brandts bill would decrease the number of mandatory fire drills to four.

We need to adjust the current threat, Brandt, a former Rio Rancho Public Schools board member, said. The current threat comes from active shooters. We have to move the focus from fires to active shooters.

Brandt said there isnt as much of a need for fire drills as there used to be. The last fire at a school was in 1958 in Chicago.

The bill requires an emergency drill once per week for the first four weeks of the school year. The drills conducted include one active shooter, one evacuation and two fire drills.

Following that, the bill mandates an additional four drills to take place throughout the year. Two of these drills must be fire drills, but school officials can decide what types of emergency procedures they want the other two drills to be, allowing more flexibility for the school to decide what threats are most present there.

Beth Pendergrass, Rio Rancho Public Schools spokeswoman, said the district supports the bill to reduce the number of fire drills. Decreasing the number of fire drills will allow schools to have more time to practice other safety procedures, without cutting into class time, she said.

The district will be able to focus more time on other necessary drills, such as lockout and lockdown, without further interruption to instructional time, Pendergrass said.

Brandt is working to produce two other bills to improve school security.

The first, SB 146, would make it a fourth-degree felony to proclaim a threat of a school shooting. The second, SB 148, would allow cost-of-living adjustments to increase for retired law enforcement officers hired as public-school security personnel.

It is really important that we get these bills right, Brandt said. We want to keep everyone safe without violating any individual rights.
Jennifer Kurtz quickly boils down the reasons small businesses should care about cybersecurity.

You want to keep your business, your reputation, your customers, your money and your people. You dont like getting sued. And you want to sleep well.

Pretty hard to argue with that.

Kurtz, the cyberprogram director at Manufacturers Edge, a Colorado-based nonprofit that works to boost the competitiveness of Colorado manufacturers through that states Manufacturing Extension Partnership, shared her expertise with attendees of New Mexico MEPs Manufacturing Day activities in Albuquerque last October. During the New Mexico MEP Manufacturing Summit, Thinking Machines and Smart Workforce, Kurtz addressed the impact of cybersecurity, breaches and data theft.

Kurtz told the New Mexico MEP attendees she uses the phrase Biz Burglary when discussing what happens when phishing, ransomware or security breaches result in data being stolen or compromised. And, she says, it has led to financial loss and, in some cases, businesses having to close entirely.

Kurtz reports that 55 percent of small or midsized businesses have experienced data breaches or cyberattacks. In 2016 alone, 70 percent of targeted attacks were aimed at small or midsized businesses and 60 percent of those were severely impaired by the attacks. About 50 percent of small and midsized businesses were victims of ransomware, with 48 percent of the victims paying. All told, small businesses had an average cost of $38,000 to recover from the attacks.

And the cycle always begins with an email, she said. Over a three-year period, that cost roughly $12 billion worldwide, $3 billion in the U.S. alone.

And, Kurtz said, most businesses are at risk, especially businesses that use email, internet, have bank accounts and maintain computerized records including purchase orders, product plans, customer lists, personnel files and similar information. In todays tech-based environment, thats pretty much all businesses.

Kurtz said 94 percent of hacks are made possible by people in the organization doing something that is preventable. That can be as simple as using public networks at hotels while traveling for business, not securing computers with appropriate passwords, responding to suspicious emails or opening attachments that allow malicious software to be installed surreptitiously on a computer.

This can impact everything from supply chains to power grids and personnel information to customer data, she said.

This is a business problem, not just a technology problem, Kurtz said. Every business is being attacked, no matter how small. If, we mean when, it happens, you can lose your business.

Kurtz recommends that owners and managers educate themselves on available resources and make the time to educate employees about the risks of cyberbreaches and attacks. Regularly review security and technology and write and enforce simple policies to ensure secure networks, she advises. Finally, Kurtz recommends preparing to respond to a breach by regularly backing up data, developing a plan of response when breaches inevitably happen, and lining up a response team.

New Mexico MEP is a nonprofit organization that helps businesses throughout the state increase profitability and competitiveness. To reach a New Mexico MEP consultant, visit newmexicomep.org/. Find more cybersecurity resources atmanufacturersedge.com/our-services/cybersecurity/.

Finance New Mexico connects individuals and businesses with skills and funding resources for their business or idea. To learn more, go to www.FinanceNewMexico.org.
NEW YORK  When a small-business owner or a company doesnt have the funds to pay a big tax bill, an installment payment plan with the IRS can be an option.

Many tax advisers and the IRS itself recommend that any individual or business who cant pay their taxes consider alternatives  borrowing from a bank, family or friends, for example. But owners whose companies dont have lines of credit and who cant dip into personal savings may decide the IRS is the best route.

Some owners might be inclined not to file their income tax returns if they cant pay, but thats a big mistake. The governments penalty for failure to file can be as much as 25 percent of unpaid taxes, and thats on top of late payment penalties and interest. And, if an owner or business hasnt filed all their returns, they cant enter a payment plan.

On its website, irs.gov, the agency advises all taxpayers to pay as much as they can. If they want to apply for a payment plan, they should visit irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application, the web page that explains payment plan options and requirements. Among them:

 Businesses (and owners, if theyre seeking a plan as an individual taxpayer) can apply for short-term plans, which means paying their full bill within 120 days. Otherwise, they can ask for long-term plans. There are fees for long-term plans; the fees can be reduced if payments are made by direct debit.

 A business can apply online if it owes less than $25,000 in tax, penalties and interest combined. Individual owners can apply for a long-term plan online if they owe $50,000 or less in tax, penalties and interest combined. An owner can individually apply online for a short-term plan if the amount owed is less than $100,000. Theres a link to the application at irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application.

 Owners or businesses that cant apply online must complete IRS Form 9465, Installment Agreement Request. It can be downloaded from the IRS website.

 If owners are severely strapped, they may be able to work out agreements to reduce their indebtedness to the IRS. But, suggests Scott Berger, an accountant with Kaufman Rossin in Boca Raton, Florida, save that for when you really need it.
Cheba Hut, a cannabis-themed restaurant chain, has opened its second Albuquerque location in the former Quarters Barbecue at 3700 Ellison NW.

Franchise owner Isaac Montoya said the new West Side location serves the same fresh-made sandwiches as the restaurant at 115 Harvard SE.

Cheba Hut has kind of always been in the family, Montoya said. My parents took over the Cheba Hut near the university with some partners a few years ago when I was going to UNM.

Montoya said he would juggle his schoolwork with being the general manager to help his parents out.

In 2014, I actually took over my parents business partners shares in Cheba Hut, so thats kind of how I fell into the whole role of owning and operating my own franchise.

Montoya said the biggest thing he wants everyone to know is that Cheba Hut is a sandwich shop first and foremost.

The cannabis symbols and so forth are just a theme for the restaurant, he said. We are not serving drugs in the back or anything; its just a theme.

Montoya said many customers have asked him if they would be able to pass a drug test if they ate the food at the restaurant.

We get people that come in all the time with a stigma about what we serve, he said. At the end of the day, we serve great food, and thats the bottom line.

What Cheba Hut does serve at its new location that it doesnt at the original location near UNM is liquor, including several drinks that are unique to the restaurant.

The most popular drink we have is called the Dirty Hippie, which is an infusion of cucumbers, vodka and some lemonade, he said.

One of Montoyas favorite sandwiches on the menu is the Kali-Mist (California Club)  turkey, jalapeno peppers, chipotle mayonnaise, bacon and pepper jack cheese.

We are planning on an expansion in Albuquerque on the East Side sometime soon, but for now we are happy to be moving forward with this location, he said.

Montoya said there are 25 Cheba Hut restaurants nationwide.

Orbiting a new location

Satellite Coffee CEO Jean Bernstein said the franchise will be opening its newest location at 7600 Jefferson NE in the Market Place at Journal Center on March 4.

Its looking beautiful. Everything is coming together, Bernstein said.

Bernstein estimated that the new location would create about 10 jobs, depending on the amount of business it generates.

As for the menu, customers will find all of their favorite items offered at other Satellite Coffee locations.

We may have a couple of sandwiches that are new, but for the most part it will basically be the same menu, she said.

Bernstein said what makes this store unique is that she was able to repurpose an old Starbucks. Starbucks has like 54 locations in Albuquerque, and now one gets reclaimed by a local. Its kinda cool, she said.

Bernstein said the new store will be Satellites sixth.

The last wave

The question addicted yet? is stamped on every takeout box that comes from the new Bonchon restaurant at 2101-2 Vista Oeste NW near Unser Boulevard.

Native New Mexican and Bonchon General Manager David McCreary said he trained for a month in New York City to learn the art of cooking Korean cuisine in preparation for the opening.

McCreary said the Albuquerque restaurant is the chains 90th location in the U.S. The chain has 300 stores globally.

I am shocked at the response we are getting since our soft open, McCreary said. We are getting a lot of Asian clientele that know this food, but its the locals that seem like they cant get enough.

Bonchon carries traditional Korean plates such as bibimbap, a rice bowl served five ways, or bulgogi, thiny sliced, marinated rib-eye beef with sauteed mushrooms, scallions and onions.

McCreary said the new Bonchon is in a neighborhood of roughly 22,000 people with no other restaurants, so he expects business to be good.

Bonchon also serves beer and wine.

We are going to have a Korean beer called Hite. Its like the Budweiser of Korea, and we are doing mochi, which is a traditional Korean-Japanese dessert, which is fried ice cream in a rice layer.

McCeary said Bonchon has 40 employees and room for 60 customers in the restaurants 4,000-square-foot space.

I was little nervous bringing Korean food to Albuquerque because I knew Vietnamese and Thai were popular, but Korean cuisine was like the last wave of the Asian food trends, he said.

Restoration Pizza well underway

Jotham Michnovicz, Bosque Brewerys director of operations, said the new Restoration Pizza near Cabelas in the Legacy at Journal Center shopping area should be open in April.

The area is still under construction. I mean, there is paint on the walls, but we still have to move the restaurant equipment in, Michnovicz said. Its really starting to take shape, but we dont expect to open the doors fully until sometime in April.

The Journal first reported on the pizzeria last summer, noting that it would serve pizza, breadsticks and salads, as well as Bosques craft beers.

Bosque has partnered with consultant Nathan Winham and Adelante Development Center, a nonprofit in New Mexico that supports people with mental and physical disabilities. Michnovicz told the Journal that 50 to 70 percent of the restaurants staff would be differently abled individuals so the company can provide good jobs for people who wouldnt otherwise have the opportunity.
LONDON  Britains international trade secretary on Sunday welcomed proposals drawn up by hard-line Brexit supporters that outline what it would take for them to support Prime Minister Theresa Mays deal with the European Union.

Liam Fox told the BBC that the European Research Groups proposals, published in the Sunday Times, could be seen as an attempt to find common ground on the sticky issue of the Irish border.

I hope its a genuine attempt, and I think it is, to try to map out ground where we can have common territory before the House of Commons votes on the deal next week, Fox told the BBC.

Parliament rejected Mays deal in January, largely because of concerns about the so-called backstop, which is designed to prevent the need for physical border checks along the Irish border if negotiators fail to agree on a free-trade deal. Lawmakers on all sides opposed the provisions because they could leave Britain tied to the EU indefinitely.

In its published proposal, the European Research Group demanded a clear and unconditional route out of the backstop.

While the group didnt detail how its goal should be achieved, it said the change must be contained in a treaty-level clause that unambiguously overrides the text of the current agreement.

Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of Conservative lawmakers, expressed optimism that a breakthrough was close. Brady suggested he could back Mays deal if the right compromise on the backstop emerged.

The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay, he wrote in the Mail on Sunday, adding that this is not a time to make the best the enemy of the good.

We know what is needed to shift the logjam, he said. The attorney general needs to give a legally binding guarantee that the backstop is temporary.

Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party remained divided over its next moves after party leader Jeremy Corbyn last week supported calls for a second Brexit referendum.

John McDonnell, Labours spokesman on treasury issues, signaled Sunday that the party was likely to force its lawmakers to back legislation on a new referendum. But former minister Caroline Flint told Sky News that up to 70 of Labours lawmakers would oppose any such move.

Corbyn had an egg thrown at him Sunday during a visit to a north London mosque. The Labour leader was not hurt and met with constituents at the Finsbury Park Mosque and Muslim Welfare House as planned, according to Britains Press Association.

A 41-year-old man was quickly detained and arrested on suspicion of assault, the Metropolitan Police department said.
Rare Disease Day is meant to raise awareness about exactly the kind of genetic skin condition that Jordan Flake shares with her 1-year-old son, Jackson.

The international observance, which fell Thursday, puts the spotlight on orphan diseases  disorders that affect a small percentage of the population.

And although Flake said she was glad that her skin condition has garnered attention, she expressed dismay at the incident itself.

I have never been so humiliated in my life, Flake wrote Thursday in a Facebook post, claiming American Airlines discriminated against her and her child by removing them from a South Carolina-bound flight from Texas. American Airlines said it is looking into the incident and has offered an apology.

Flake could not immediately be reached for comment.

On Thursday, after spending several days seeing off her husband before his deployment, Flake and her son began their journey home to Columbia  checking their luggage, passing through security and settling into their seats on the plane, she wrote on Facebook and LoveWhatMatters.com. Flake did not specify whether her husband is in the military.

We boarded our flight where everyone smiled and talked to Jackson, she recalled in her blog posts.

That changed as the plane readied for takeoff.

Flake wrote on Facebook that an American Airlines employee asked the men in the adjacent seats to get up, then quietly asked me about my rash and if I had a letter from a doctor stating it was ok for me to fly.

I explained to him that it was called Ichthyosis and it was a genetic skin condition.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology, ichthyosis is a skin disease that may be inherited or develop from a gene mutation and causes extremely dry, thick, and scaly skin. The skin often looks like it has fish scales. Ichthyosis is not contagious.

Flake said the airline employee Googled the condition and returned to the crew standing near the jet bridge, where they had a brief discussion.

He came back and said he apologized, but we wouldnt be able to fly, and we had to get off the plane,' Flake recounted, adding that the employee, who was called by the attendant crew, was very helpful and mad about the situation.

Even with his help, Flake was unable to retrieve her checked baggage, she said, and she and her son had to stay at a hotel overnight.

American Airlines said the company aims to create a welcoming environment for its customers.

We sincerely apologize to Ms. Flake and her son for the experience they had Thursday, and our team has begun an investigation into the matter, the airline said in a statement Saturday to The Post.

After the incident, Flake wrote on LoveWhatMatters.com that she had never felt more aware and embarrassed about my skin, or the condition I share with my son.

I should never feel ashamed of myself for the way I was born, she continued. This was unacceptable and uncalled for. I have never been asked to show a letter. I have never been told by a doctor that I had to have documentation stating I wasnt contagious, or whatever they were assuming. In 2019, its time we stop discriminating. Ask questions, and listen.

If anything comes out of this, I hope its that whatever individual put this into action realizes they were wrong and unkind, and will think twice next time. If I am not to judge people based on their gender, skin color, or relationship status, then I should not be judged based off of the way I was born.



The Washington Posts Lindsey Bever contributed to this report.
BALTIMORE  The story of a woman who was fatally stabbed in December after reportedly giving money to a panhandler  a case that drew national attention and spread fear through Baltimore  was actually a ruse by her husband and stepdaughter, who have been charged in her death, police announced Sunday night.

Keith Smith, 52, and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, were arrested by Texas State Police near the U.S.-Mexico border while trying to flee the country earlier Sunday, acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.

Warrants charging them with first-degree murder in the death of Keith Smiths wife, Jacquelyn Smith, were issued, Harrison said.

The information and evidence points it wasnt a panhandler, Harrison said. People take advantage of Baltimore. We want to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done.

Jacquelyn Smith, 54, an electrical engineer at Aberdeen Proving Ground, was stabbed to death about 12:30 a.m. on Dec. 1 at North Valley and East Chase streets, according to police.

Just days after the stabbing, Keith Smith and Valeria Smith, who also identified herself as Shavon, appeared at a tearful news conference at the scene. They blamed Jacquelyn Smiths death on a man who approached their car after she reached out the window to give money to a woman begging in the rain with a baby. They said the man came up to the car under the guise of thanking Jacquelyn Smith, then reached into the car and snatched her necklace and pocketbook, stabbing her in the process.

This girl actually said, God bless you  after the man stabbed Jacquelyn, Keith Smith said to the media in December.

Several members of Jacquelyn Smiths family had doubted that story from the beginning, said her brother, Marcel Trisvan of Havre de Grace.

I already know its Keith, he said. Trisvan said police provided no information to the family, but detectives had increasingly been asking the family about his sisters relationship with her husband.

All the questioning has been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it right there, he said. It never made sense. I told (detectives) from the very beginning there are no suspects out there.

Trisvan said Keith Smith moved out of his sisters Aberdeen house two weeks ago. He handed the keys over to Trisvan, and told the family he was moving to Florida. Trisvan said his sister owned the home.

He said Keith Smith removed all the appliances from the home.

Lt. Johnny Hernandez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety highway patrol, said the department received information from Baltimore police about the Smiths and their vehicle. Around 10 a.m. Sunday, a trooper spotted the rental Toyota Camry leaving the parking lot of a small grocery store in Combes, Texas, just north of Harlingen  where Harrison said the Smiths had been arrested.

Hernandez said the trooper stopped the car and arrested the Smiths on the warrants from Baltimore. Hernandez said they were taken into custody without incident and are being held at the Cameron County jail.

A member of the Cameron County sheriffs office said the Smiths were still being processed Sunday night.

The case drew national attention, causing some  including Oprah Winfrey  to express concern about giving money to panhandlers. In the days after Smiths killing, some of Baltimores homeless citizens said they noticed a decrease in the number of people willing to roll down their windows and help.

Some from the Johnston Square neighborhood had questions from the beginning about the husbands account of the killing, said one longtime neighbor who asked not to be identified to speak candidly about the killing.

Smiths story of the family encountering a woman panhandling with a baby raised suspicions, the neighbor said, because the block is usually empty by that time and none of the neighbors had ever seen such a woman.

Everybody in the neighborhood said somethings wrong with it, the neighbor said. I dont know what happened. Nobody around here knew her.

Furthermore, the husband told police  and, later, the public in a news conference  that the killing happened at East Valley and North Chase streets, when the word on the street was that it had happened on Eager Street, a block away, the neighbor said.

The whole thing is so messed up, the neighbor said. Youd spend a long time trying to straighten that story out.

Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby said the Smiths exploited the city and its violence. Smiths death was one of more than 300 in Baltimore in 2018.

Often times, we have these negative depictions of our city and its rather unfortunate when people take advantages of these negative perceptions, she said at the news conference.

Mayor Catherine Pugh also criticized the killing and cover-up.

Like everyone in our city, state and across this nation, we mourned the senseless killing of Jacquelyn Smith. To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy, Pugh said in a statement Sunday. They were responsible for taking Jacquelyns life with unconscionable cruelty and contrived to do so in our city under the guise of random violence, exploiting the legitimate fears of our residents.

Mosby praised the collaborative efforts by police and prosecutors who pursued the case to get justice for Jacquelyn Smith.

This case, like all of these cases, certainly is a terrible tragedy, Harrison said. Jacquelyn Smith is an innocent victim, so I hope you keep her in your thoughts and in your prayers.

After months of little to no updates in the case, Trisvan said hes pleased there were arrests, but they did not bring him closure.

Im hopeful this person never sees the light of day, but I mean, to me, thats not closure, he said, noting the violent way in which his sister was killed.

My sister was robbed from this world. This didnt need to happen, he said.
A group calling itself Concerned Citizens for Peace and Justice [CCPJ] has highly praised President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for his call to discuss vigilantism with the largest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress [NDC].



The group described the move as perfect after admitting that vigilante groups are threat to the peace of Ghana.



President Akufo-Addo, while delivering the 2019 State of the Nation Address instructed the leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) which he belongs to, to extend an invitation to the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) to discuss how to disband their respective vigilante groups.



Citing the recent violence that marred the Ayawaso West Wuogon constituency due to activities of supposed politically-aligned vigilante groups, President Akufo-Addo promised to use legislation to stop the phenomenon of political vigilantism if the two parties fail to stop it voluntarily.



I want to use the platform of this Message to make a sincere, passionate appeal to the leaders of the two main political parties in our country, NPP and NDC, to come together, as soon as possible, preferably next week, to agree on appropriate measures to bring an end to this worrying and unacceptable phenomenon of vigilantism in our body politic, he said.



I have asked the leadership of the NPP to extend an invitation to the leadership of the NDC for such a meeting. The security services of the country will be on standby to assist this meeting If voluntary disbandment by the parties is not feasible, then I will initiate legislation on the matter. Vigorous debate and the exchange of ideas should be the true basis of political dialogue and competition in our country, not the activities of party vigilante groups, Akufo-Addo added.



However, the NDC led by former President John Dramani Mahama has said the NDC is willing to attend a bi-partisan meeting which will ostensibly seek to end political vigilantism in the country.



Speaking at a Thanksgiving Service to celebrate his re-election as flagbearer of the NDC at the Perez Chapel in Accra, the former President said the NDC will ensure that objectives of the discussions at the meeting which will be held with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are upheld.



We have written a letter to the President and we say that the National Peace Council is the best organization to preside over the talks on disbanding vigilantism. NDC is going into that conference in good faith, Mr Mahama assured.



In a statement copied to Peacefmonline.com, the Concerned Citizens for Peace and Justice [CCPJ] said they are proud of the NDC to have accepted the Presidents call for vigilantism dialogue.



We sincerely commend them and hope the process will be fast tracked to achieve the desired results. Its heartwarming the proposal made by the NDC that, the peace council should lead the process as well as other relevant state institutions, the statement read.













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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WASHINGTON  Emboldened by their new majority, Democrats are undertaking several broad new investigations into President Donald Trump and setting the stage for a post-Robert Mueller world.

Whether the special counsels final Russia report is damning of the president or not, Democrats in charge of a half-dozen House committees are planning to flood the administration with document requests, calls for testimony and even subpoenas if necessary. The investigations reach far beyond Muellers focus of Russian interference and collusion in the 2016 campaign.

The Democratic efforts increased this past week after Trumps former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, appeared before two House committees and a Senate committee. In his public testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Cohen called the president a con man and a cheat and gave Democrats several new leads for inquiry.

The stepped-up oversight could eventually lead to, or even serve in place of, impeachment proceedings. While many liberal members of the Democratic caucus think impeachment is warranted, Democratic leaders have been cautious, saying they first want to investigate.

A look at the status of some of the House investigations:

HOUSE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE

The committee is reopening and expanding an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election that the Republican majority closed last year. At that time, Republicans said, over Democratic objections, that there was no evidence to show that Trumps campaign colluded or conspired with Russia. The top Democrat on the committee then, California Rep. Adam Schiff, said Republicans had prematurely closed the matter without interviewing key witnesses and demanding important documents.

Schiff is now chairman, and last month he announced a broad new investigation looking not only at Russian interference but also at Trumps foreign financial interests. Schiff said the investigation will include the scope and scale of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, the extent of any links and/or coordination between Russians and Trumps associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates, and whether anyone has sought to obstruct any of the relevant investigations.

The committee interviewed Cohen in private on Thursday and will finish the interview this coming Wednesday. After Cohen left, Schiff announced that the committee will hold an open hearing later this month with Felix Sater, a Russia-born executive who worked with Cohen on an ultimately unsuccessful deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Schiff said told CBS Face the Nation on Sunday that there are any number of witnesses that can shed light on whether Americas national security is compromised because the president has been pursuing financial interests with the Russians.

___

HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND REFORM COMMITTEE

This committee was in the spotlight when Cohen testified publicly last Wednesday. The chairman, Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, said afterward that he wanted to call in several people mentioned repeatedly by Cohen. That could include Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and possibly two of Trumps children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump.

The committees jurisdiction touches on all parts of government. On Friday, Cummings demanded that the White House turn over documents by Monday related to security clearances after The New York Times reported that the president ordered officials to grant his son-in-law Jared Kushners clearance over the objections of security officials. Last Tuesday, the committee voted to subpoena administration officials over family separations at the southern border.

The committee is also looking into other conflict of interest issues within the administration, including at Trumps hotel in Washington, and into prescription drug prices.

____

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

The House Judiciary Committee would be in charge of impeachment, but the chairman, New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler, first wants to examine Muellers report, whenever it comes out. Nadler has helped lead the charge to pressure the Justice Department to release the full report to the public.

On Sunday, Nadler announced that the committee will request documents Monday from more than 60 people from President Donald Trumps administration, family and business as it begins investigations. He said that would include officials from the Justice Department, Weisselberg of the Trump Organization and Donald Trump Jr.

Nadler said on ABCs This Week that lawmakers would send the letters to begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.

The committee has also called in the former acting attorney general, Matthew Whitaker, and plans to question him again in the coming weeks. Whitaker is a close Trump ally who had criticized the Mueller report before he was appointed. William Barr has since been confirmed as attorney general.

____

HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

The chairman, Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal, is expected to eventually try to obtain Trumps tax returns, which the president has refused to release. But for now, Neal is taking it slow.

The law says the treasury chief shall furnish the requested information to members of the committee for them to examine behind closed doors. But reality is more complicated, and the request could end up in a lengthy court battle between Congress and the administration.

Last month, Neal held a hearing in which experts discussed the authority under current law for Neal to make a request for any tax returns to the treasury secretary. The hearing also examined proposals to compel presidents and presidential candidates to make years of their tax returns public.

____

HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE

The committees head, California Rep. Maxine Waters, has focused on Deutsche Bank, the German asset management firm that has loaned Trumps real estate organization millions of dollars over the years. She said this past week that the bank is cooperating with requests for documents.

The committee is working with Schiff, who along with Waters has said he wants to investigate whether Russians used laundered money for transactions with the Trump Organization. Trumps businesses have benefited from Russian investment over the years, and Schiff has said he wants to know whether this is the leverage that the Russians have over Trump.

Waters said she is also interested in looking at Trumps embattled charitable foundation that is shutting down after agreeing to a court-supervised process and at White House budget director Mick Mulvaneys tenure at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She has said Mulvaney may be called to testify.

____

HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

The chairman, New York Rep. Eliot Engel, is also working with Schiff and his committee to review Trumps encounters with and connections to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including a private meeting between the two in Helsinki last year. Trump would not disclose the full details of what was said in their meeting.

The two committees have worked with House lawyers to figure out the appropriate way to investigate that meeting. That could include getting information from a translator who attended.

Engel has said that the committee will hold hearings on the mysteries swirling around Trumps bizarre relationship with Putin and his cronies, and how those dark dealings affect our national security.

The committee is also looking at the administrations policy toward Saudi Arabia and response to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
As an elected member of the Legislature, one of my primary responsibilities is to provide New Mexicans the most effective programs government can deliver. As leaders, we have the responsibility of funding effective services  child welfare programs, drug and alcohol interventions, rehabilitation classes  that can improve the lives of our constituents and communities. But all too often, legislators do not have the data available to make informed decisions on programs.

Earlier this year, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into a law a measure to ensure programs funded by the state will deliver results for New Mexico.

Senate Bill 58  Evidence and Research Based Funding Requests Act  has a complicated name but a simple purpose: the new law requires state agencies to indicate how much of the funding theyre requesting will be spent on evidence-based programs, or programs that have research and data indicated as effective. The law requires agencies to prioritize evidence-based programs when possible and directs the state Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) to work with the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) to help agencies implement this new directive.

For years, New Mexico has been a national leader in using evidence in our policymaking process. Since 2013, the state has appropriated $350 million to evidence-based programs; likewise, the state has shifted funds away from programs that the analysis deemed to be ineffective, freeing up state resources for programs that are better able to serve our residents.

This new law enables us to serve the state even better. By embedding the use of evidence in the states budgeting process, and by creating a pathway for collaboration between the legislative and executive branches, we are moving the state toward a culture of evidence-driven funding that prioritizes what is most important: positive outcomes for New Mexicans.

Sen. Sander Rue represents the 23rd District, which includes Bernalillo County. He sponsored Senate Bill 58, Evidence and Research Based Funding Requirements.
A couple of years ago, opponents of Donald Trumps presidential bid warned that a Trump presidency would be a crazy spectacle. Jeb Bush famously said that Trump was a chaos candidate who would be a chaos president.

Some even conjured various wild scenarios that might unfold under a president Trump. They said it might look something like this: As tensions flared in some hotspot  the Middle East or maybe along the India-Pakistan border  or as the president conducted perilous negotiations with, say, North Korea, he would be distracted or bedeviled with some sort of domestic scandal.

Well, I dont know if anybody predicted the specific details of Wednesdays cavalcade of crazy, but if they did, they should collect their door prize.

Michael Cohen, Trumps former fixer and vice president of the Trump Organization, owed his career to the fact that he would happily be his bosss pet snake. By his own admission, Cohen proudly did the presidents dirty deeds  his words  likening himself to the Tom Hagen character in The Godfather. He threatened anyone who crossed Trump, paid off inconvenient women and boasted with a losers false courage how he would take a bullet for his boss. He celebrated, with an alacrity rarely matched by Stalins henchmen, his employers near-superhuman genius and empathy.

Then, on Wednesday, he stopped by Congress before he heads to prison, he shed his old skin, the way snakes can, and tried on a new role of martyr and moralist. Its possible his professed redemption is sincere. It certainly seemed like it at times. But one neednt be a cynic to doubt it.

Regardless, Cohens testimony seemed designed to simultaneously enrage the president in every way possible and to ingratiate himself with his left-wing critics. Cohen impugned the presidents character, his intelligence, honesty and wealth. He called Trump a draft-dodging racist and grifter. If I had to guess, his testimony was framed in the best way possible to compensate for the fact Cohen could not corroborate the most extreme versions of the Russia-collusion theory, which is a political Holy Grail for Democrats and much of the media.

Meanwhile, Trump was in Hanoi, Vietnam  a locale he studiously avoided visiting in his youth by claiming to have bone spurs  to negotiate with the murderous dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un.

The summit, like the first one, was ill-considered. It rested on the assumption that Trump, the worlds greatest dealmaker, could charm Kim and the North Korean regime out of its nuclear program. The worry from foreign-policy experts across much of the ideological spectrum was that Trump would blunder into a deal just for the sake of being able to declare victory. Rumored concessions leaked out in the media as if through an open faucet.

And then, it didnt happen. The summit was a failure on its own terms, and ironically, that made it a kind of victory for Trump. The political tumult in Washington gave Trump every personal incentive to come up with any deal he could in order to change the subject and have something to boast about. This was, after all, part of the political rationale for his declaration of an emergency to build the wall at the border  it changed the subject from his defeat in the post-government-shutdown budget deal.

I have long argued that the North Koreans cant be talked out of their nuclear program because their nuclear program is central to the rationale for the regimes entire existence. It would be like talking Hitler and the Nazi regime out of their desire for conquest and their obsessions with the Jews; its simply the nature of the regime. You cannot reason a leopard to abandon its spots. Its doubtful Trump fully recognizes this yet, but thats irrelevant. He recognized enough: Any deal he could have gotten with Kim would have been worse than doing what he did  walk away from the table. Whether he came to this conclusion on his own or was cajoled into it by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton is irrelevant, too.

One can rightly bemoan or lament the fact that the Trump presidency made the Cohen spectacle possible in the first place. But that doesnt change the fact that the president defied political temptation and did the right thing.

E-mail goldbergcolumn@gmail.com, or via Twitter @JonahNRO.  2019 Tribune Content Agency LLC.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

Second of a two-part series.

CARLSBAD  Just before 7 a.m. on a recent weekday, cars and trucks are backed up at the Y where U.S. 62/180 merges with U.S. 285 here in the Eddy County Seat.

A couple of trucks bully their way into the lanes they need as motorists sit through three, four, five cycles of traffic lights.

Steve McCroskey, Eddy County planner, is behind the wheel of one of the vehicles waiting to turn off 62/180 on to 285.

The traffic has increased so greatly, said McCroskey, 48, a 1989 graduate of Carlsbad High. If we had this much traffic when we were cruising (in high school), I dont think any kid would have gotten home without a wreck.

John Waters, executive director of the Carlsbad Department of Development, said about 43,000 vehicles pass through this intersection each day and that the population in a 20-mile radius of Carlsbad has gone from 42,000 in 2010 to an estimated 75,000 today.

Those numbers are attributable to a boom in oil and gas business that started in late 2016 and isnt expected to let up soon.

There is universal agreement that the Permian (Basin in New Mexico and Texas) will continue to grow in production, said Robert McEntyre, spokesman for the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.

There are vast amounts of untapped (resources.) We are going to be busy for a long time.

Still waiting to get through the light at the Carlsbad Y, McCroskey thinks fondly back to 30 years ago when he drove his 1977 Land Cruiser with the 350 Chevy engine from Beckys Drive-In on Carlsbads Church Street to the Sonic on Canal Street.

Those times are all gone, he said.

Milk and honey

Tax revenue from the accelerated oil and gas business has resulted in a state budget surplus, and New Mexico is looking at putting $300 million to $400 million of that windfall into statewide road projects.

Since roads in Eddy and Lea counties are the ones taking a pounding from big rigs hauling oil, water, dirt and fracking sand and towns such as Carlsbad and Jal in southern Lea County are the places choked up with oil and gas industry traffic, many feel most of that road-improvement money should be spent in those counties.

Weve got an unprecedented amount of money to spend, said State Rep. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs, himself a long-time oil man. I think this state Legislature should recognize that we should provide money to this area which is providing all the milk and honey up here.

With an average price tag of $2 million per mile for paving construction in New Mexico, it doesnt take long to go through a few hundred million dollars. Prioritizing road projects is vital.

I think the most advantageous place to spend it, because there may be some federal dollars, is on U.S. 285, in Eddy County, from Loving down to the state line, Scott said.

Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, agrees.

I think the consensus is that U.S. 285 is the road in most need, she said. The project cost is $90 million (for the 22 miles from Loving to the state line). We already have $20 million and (the) House Appropriations (and Finance Committee) is pushing to get the other $70 million.

Brown said N.M. 128 between Carlsbad and Jal is next on the list.

Its not even in design yet, she said. But it lacks (sufficient) shoulders, is crumbling at the sides and has heavy traffic.

She added that an overpass is needed where N.M. 31 intersects with U.S. 285, just north of Loving.

Thats a bottleneck, Brown said. It might take 40 minutes to make a turn there. Its just a terrible situation. People take risks because they get tired of waiting.

More lanes please

Lea County Manager Mike Gallagher, 38, said some state highways and county roads in Lea and Eddy counties are in good condition but were not designed for the kind of traffic they are experiencing now.

A roadway that used to see 900 cars a day now sees 5,000 commercial trucks a day, he said. We see that more lanes are needed.

Gallagher said roads of most concern in Lea County include N.M. 18 from its intersection with N.M. 128 at Jal south to the Texas line and N.M. 128 from Jal west.

But its not just highways that need to be tended to, he said.

The last two years we have allocated millions to upgrade residential roads because people are moving here and need a place to live, he said. And we need to maintain our rural county roads up north for farming and ranching while maintaining oil and gas industry roads in the southern and central part of the county.

Eddy County planner McCroskey is acutely aware of the beatings county roads are taking because of the uptick in oil and gas traffic.

All the traffic on U.S. and New Mexico highways end up on our county roads, and they were not designed to (Department of Transportation) specifications, he said.

Kicking in

State road projects are usually funded by issuing bonds or from a fund supported by a gasoline tax and other taxes and fees.

But alternate ways of securing roadwork money are being explored.

Private-public partnerships, in which interested private concerns, such as oil companies, kick in money for road improvements is one such avenue.

Rep. Brown said the Permian Strategic Partnership, made up of 20 major and mid-size energy companies in west Texas and southeast New Mexico, is looking at putting $100 million in oil patch communities, not only for roads but also for water systems, health care, education and housing.

They are very sincere and very invested, she said.

Brown herself has introduced a bill in the current Legislative session that proposes the creation of a process that would allow private individuals and companies to donate directly to their county road fund or give all or part of their New Mexico tax return to such a fund.

She said she has also introduced a bill that would create an urgent-needs roads fund, with monies appropriated from the general fund, that would allow the Department of Transportation to respond rapidly to critical roadwork needs such as a deteriorating road bed.

Both bills have been tabled at the committee level, but Brown said she is still hopeful something can be worked out.

We dont give up, she said.

Jeri Strong, Eddy County public information officer and oil and gas liaison, said the county is working on the creation of an Energy Advisory Board, comprised of about 15 people, excluding politicians but including representatives of municipalities, school districts, organizations and the oil and gas industry within the county.

They will discuss problems, including road conditions, related to growing pains in Eddy County, Strong said. Theyll address issues collectively, come up with solutions and advise the (county) commission.

Priority road projects

According to New Mexico Department of Transportation District 2, which covers southeastern New Mexico, the roads in Eddy and Lea counties in most urgent need of work are:

 U.S. 285 in Eddy County from Loving 22 miles south to the Texas state line.

 N.M. 128, 53 miles between Carlsbad in Eddy County and Jal in Lea County.

 Intersection of N.M. 31 and U.S. 285 in Eddy County.

 Pavement preservation on N.M. 31 in Eddy County.

 U.S. 380 from Roswell in Chaves County through Tatum in Lea County.
Sally-Alice Thompson has led a life so full of incredible accomplishments and adventures that its hard to know where to start.

We could begin with the time she traveled 450 miles by foot and by bus with a group of Americans and Soviet citizens in 1987 from what was then Leningrad to Moscow to promote peace and nuclear disarmament.

At every town, we were welcomed enthusiastically, Thompson, 95, recalled. They brought us flowers and big, flat loaves of bread and little treasures that meant something to them. They were so happy to see Americans who didnt hate them.

We could start with how she participated in a similar anti-nuke walk, called the Great Peace March, a year before that, beginning in Los Angeles and ending in Washington, D.C., nine months later.

Perhaps we begin with how she was one of the first women to serve with the Albuquerque Police Department. Or how she served in the Navy during World War II. Or how she taught elementary school in Albuquerque for 20 years.

Maybe we start with how she and her husband, Donald Thompson, also a Navy veteran, school teacher and a former state legislator, founded the Albuquerque chapter of Veterans for Peace after both came to believe the cost of war was far too high and the justice shown veterans far too low.

Maybe we begin with the many other marches she has participated in against the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2005 protest at then-President George W. Bushs ranch in Crawford, Texas. Or how in 2014 at the age of 91, she trekked for 13 days from Albuquerque to Santa Fe in support of MOP, or Money Out of Politics.

It might do well to begin with a discussion of her travels around the globe from Turkmenistan to El Salvador to teach and to learn, and how that global awareness prompted her to open her Ridgecrest home to refugees and immigrants.

Or we could start with her affiliation with the Raging Grannies, women of a certain age who detest and protest war and injustice.

Thompson taught herself to play guitar and compose some of the songs the Grannies sing at protests.

We might begin with the two books she has written  one a memoir, the other a novel.

Or how she and her husband became charter members of the Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice and paid off the mortgage to its location at Harvard and Silver SE.

Shes inspired many, including me, said Samia Assed, president of the centers coordinating council. Shes active to this very second.

Because of Thompsons contributions, the center is honoring her at a gala March 10 that also celebrates the centers 35-year anniversary.

But perhaps the most important story is the one that begins with Thompson as a child of the Great Depression, the oldest of five children born to parents who moved the family from farm town to farm town throughout the Midwest in search of a better life they never found.

Everyone was poor, and we were the poorest, she said.

She recalls that her parents were both anti-war, that her father was a conscientious objector during World War I. Despite her parents opposition, she joined the Navy.

I was a rebel from Day One, she said.

The military, she said, was a way out of poverty and a way into higher education. For her, it seemed the only way. That, she said, already seemed wrong.

We should not have to go to war just to go to college, she said. Education should be accessible for all, no matter how rich or poor.

It was that sense of fairness for all, that desire to make something from nothing, that became the catalyst for why she has marched, protested, toiled and sung her truth.

Ive always been concerned with justice, she said. I dont think being born in America makes you special. We dont choose where we are born. People, wherever they are born, deserve to have rights, deserve to have justice and peace.

Thompson walks six miles each day, but she is slowing down  not being as efficient, as she puts it. Her body is stooped and frail, her hearing fading, but her mind and her memory are as sharp as ever.

I outlived everybody, she said, referring to her husband, her two children and her siblings and parents. I dont know why.

She still sings with and writes songs for the Raging Grannies, still mails out newsletters for the Center for Peace and Justice, still makes phone calls for candidates and causes, still cares about a world that she still believes is worth fighting for.

These days, she sees the pendulum swinging toward authoritarianism and privilege for the few.

But she also sees the slow rise of a new generation willing to keep fighting for peace and justice, to protest, to march, to care.

Its just going to take time for them to catch up to her.

UpFront is a front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg.
While delivery methods to achieve the best effects of marijuana grows, new research suggests the old-fashioned way  smoking a doobie  still delivers.

That was part of the findings of two University of New Mexico researchers who last month published a peer-reviewed scientific study on how various strands and marijuana-infused products helped treat certain medical conditions. The findings show that the tried-and-true method of smoking dried marijuana that contains THC was the most effective for patients who use cannabis.

The findings mark a contrast to conventional wisdom that cannabidiol, or CBD, is the part of the marijuana that contains medical benefits while tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, merely makes one high, said Jacob Miguel Vigil, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology.

The research was done at a time when there is a booming market of different ways to ingest and use marijuana, from edible candies, wax, vaping pens to, of course, a standard joint to smoke.

Vigil and Sarah Stith, an assistant professor in the Department of Economics, last month published the study, The Association between Cannabis Product Characteristics and Symptom Relief, in the journal Scientific Reports.

The UNM researchers analyzed data from patients who logged their reaction after using marijuana by whatever means into an application, ReleafApp, which was created by people who work outside the university. The findings are based on surveys collected from 3,341 people who recorded information after 19,910 sessions.

The university didnt provide any marijuana to the participants, who voluntarily logged information about the effects marijuana-infused products had on them. The participants used a numbered scale to measure their symptom relief after using marijuana and also charted their positive or negative side effects.

THC offers a more intense experience, Stith said. Higher THC levels seem to be associated with more symptom relief and with more reporting of side effects, both positive and negative.

Vigil said there could be other factors besides just THCs effectiveness that led to the scores. Because CBD doesnt have a psychedelic effect on the body, the person using it could not be as aware of its effect compared to using cannabis with THC in it, he said.

The research was paid for in part with public donations to the University of New Mexico Medical Cannabis Research fund.

Vigil said its important to continue to research the medicinal effects of marijuana, even as debate about the drugs place in New Mexico turns to one of whether or not it should be legalized. Legislators are considering proposals to make recreational legal in the state.

If you are taking it because you are stressed out after work  well in theory those are medicinal purposes, Vigil said.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

The state House version of a bill to institute a voter-mandated ethics commission won bipartisan approval by a decisive margin Sunday evening.

House Bill 4 now heads to the Senate, where a competing proposal outlining the powers and procedures for the seven-member independent commission is under consideration. Both measures come after New Mexicans in November voted overwhelmingly in support of an amendment that would set up a state ethics commissions charged with investigating complaints of wrongdoing against state employees, elected officials, legislators and lobbyists.

My hope is that if this bill becomes law, we have balanced two things: the publics right to expect that were going to be held accountable for our actions, Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales said. But also, and equally important, due process for those people accused of wrongful conduct.

Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico said the bill incorporates the best principles of what would make an effective ethics commission.

The whole goal of this commission is to rebuild public trust that has been so deeply eroded over time and high-profile, scandalous cases where our elected officials have gone to jail, Ferguson said.

As approved, complaints would be made public when commission officials find that probable cause exists to start an investigation. Complaints that are found by the commission to be frivolous or unsubstantiated could be made public by the complainant or respondent, which, Ely said, was a check on the commission.

The proposal would also gives the commission subpoena power, which Ferguson said would allow it to operate efficiently and expediently. And it would have the ability to issue advisory opinions to help officials avoid accidental violations.

Many times, mistakes dont even have to happen if they could just seek some guidance and clear advice on what they can spend their money on, or what needs to be filed when, Ferguson said.

Representatives largely spoke in support of the bill, which passed 56-11, though they shared suggestions for improving it.

Up for debate on Sunday was the proper length for a blackout period before an election during which the commission would not adjudicate a complaint filed against a candidate except pursuant to the Campaign Reporting Act or Voter Action Act.

As approved by the House on Sunday, that period is 60 days before an election. But Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, suggested expanding the blackout period so that it would begin 60 days before the start of early voting.

Montoya said the purpose was to ensure that people would not file complaints solely to undermine a candidates ability to run without distraction. His amendment was tabled.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  New Mexicos medical marijuana producers have received approval from state regulators to temporarily boost by fivefold the number of plants they are allowed to grow as the result of a legal battle centered on concerns about demand and adequate supplies.

The state health department issued is an emergency rule change last Friday, when a court order invalidating the states 450-plant limit was set to kick in.

The amendment sets the cap at 2,500 plants per producer at least through Aug. 28. It will be up to the health department to launch a public process over the next six months for crafting a permanent rule that governing how many plants will be allowed.

Without the change, state officials said there would not have been any restrictions in place and producers would have been able to grow an unlimited number of marijuana plants.

The department has determined regulation of cannabis production is necessary to ensure the health and safety of New Mexico residents, Health Secretary Kathyleen Kunkel said in a letter announcing the amendment. Further, regulation will help to ensure that our states citizens may access medical cannabis without fear of interference from the federal government.

The move was praised by patients and producers, who have long voiced concerns about shortages as the number of licensed patients has grown exponentially.

Before the court ruled in November, the health department had not revisited the plant limit since 2014 despite the increase in patients. There are now nearly 70,000 active patients, up 40 percent over the past year.

The lawsuit was brought by the states largest producer, Ultra Health, and by Nicole Sena, who uses cannabis oil and medical marijuana products to treat her daughters rare form of epilepsy. Sena has said the treatments called for a significant amount of cannabis material and she was having a hard time finding a licensed producer who could provide enough.

Ultra Health CEO and president Duke Rodriguez said Monday that any new regulation needs to be more sophisticated than just multiplying the former limitations.

We look forward to working collaboratively with the state to develop a rule consistent with patient needs by providing meaningful data and research from the experience of accessible medical markets in other states, Rodriguez said in a statement.

Ultra Health plans to boost production at its growing operations to meet the temporary cap of 2,500 plants while the state works on the final rule.

The debate over the cap comes as New Mexico lawmakers consider a host of marijuana-related bills  from proposed legalization of recreational use to changes aimed at making it easier to qualify for the medical pot program.

Patients currently must meet at least one of 21 conditions to qualify for a medical marijuana card.

Of the patients enrolled as of the end of January, slightly more than half of them listed post-traumatic stress disorder as a condition. Other conditions include severe chronic pain and cancer.
Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A proposal to take more money from New Mexicos largest permanent fund for early childhood programs hit a brick wall again in the Roundhouse on Monday, when three Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to block it from moving forward.

But Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said later in the day that shes not giving up the fight and threw her support behind a scaled-back measure.

The first-term Democratic governor acknowledged she had no commitments from Senate leaders that the new proposal would pass before lawmakers wrap up a 60-day session March 16, but she suggested it could be more palatable to some lawmakers.

This gives us a renewed opportunity to continue this very important conversation, Lujan Grisham told reporters.

Earlier in the day, the Senate Rules Committee voted 7-4 to table a proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 1, that calls for the annual distribution rate from the $17.7 billion Land Grant Permanent Fund to go up by 1 percentage point  from 5 percent to 6 percent  into perpetuity.

That would generate an estimated $170 million for early childhood programs during the 2022 budget year, the earliest it would likely be in place, according to a fiscal analysis of the legislation.

But the vote to table the House-approved proposal means its unlikely to resurface during this years session. That left some supporters fuming.

 Lets just let the kids sink is our attitude, said Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, who described himself as exasperated by the vote.

Backers, including the states Catholic bishops, have pushed for nearly a decade to take more money from the permanent fund  which this year is distributing more than $780 million for public schools and other programs  for various early childhood initiatives.

They argue that a cash infusion into programs benefiting the states youngest residents is needed now, given that New Mexico is grappling with chronically high poverty rates and a string of high-profile child abuse cases.

But opponents of the idea, which include the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, have raised concerns the plan would undermine the funds long-term health. They also point out the state has already ramped up spending on early childhood programs in recent years.

Specifically, total New Mexico spending on child care assistance, home visiting, prekindergarten and other programs has gone from $136.5 million in 2012 to $313.2 million in the current budget year.

Under the revised proposal unveiled by Lujan Grisham and sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, the distribution rate from the permanent fund would go up by a smaller amount  just 0.5 percentage points instead of 1 percentage point.

That proposal, Senate Bill 671, was brought forward using the dummy bill process  in which placeholder bills are amended after the bill introduction deadline  and could be voted on in a different Senate committee by as soon as Wednesday.

But its unclear whether it will fare any better than the other measure, as Republican legislators and some Senate Democrats have shown a reluctance to tap into the permanent fund.

Democratic Sens. Bill Tallman of Albuquerque, Clemente Sanchez of Grants and Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces voted with Republicans on Monday to table the original proposal. Sanchez and Papen also voted against a similar measure in 2017.

A State Investment Council analysis of the tabled proposal forecast that the permanent fund would continue to grow over the next 20 to 30 years even at the higher distribution rate, due to expectations of strong tax and royalty inflows from the oil and natural gas industry during that period.

But the analysis also concluded the permanent fund would distribute more money to schools and other beneficiaries in the long run if it remained at the current 5 percent level, given the expectation that the fund would grow more rapidly at the lower distribution rate.

In 30 years, would we rather have $8 million more (in the fund) or an entire generation of New Mexico kids that had access to universal prekindergarten? asked Rep. Antonio Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, one of the proposals co-sponsors.

Meanwhile, Mondays vote comes just two days after the Senate voted 39-2 in favor of legislation to create a new early childhood education department in state government.




SAN ANTONIO  An Air Force major based in San Antonio bought a shovel, an ax, gasoline and a burn barrel a day after his wife was reported missing and then tried to destroy the receipt, according to investigators.

Andre McDonald, 40, was indicted Sunday on a charge of tampering with or fabricating evidence in the disappearance of his 29-year-old wife, Andreen McDonald, who police believe is dead, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said friends reported Andreen McDonald missing Friday and her husband purchased the materials Saturday morning. Law enforcement found the items Saturday evening after obtaining a second search warrant for the couples home, Salazar said.

It led us to believe that these were implements that were going to be used to dispose of a body, Salazar said.

The find really drives home to us: We believe that Andreen McDonald is no longer living, he said.

Investigators also found pieces of a receipt that they accused Andre McDonald of having torn up, Salazar said.

There was quite a bit of effort that went into destroying that receipt to try to prevent us seeing where (the evidence) was purchased, he said.

Andre McDonald works at a cyberwarfare unit at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.

Deputies have been searching wooded areas in north Bexar County for Andreen McDonald, Salazar said. Authorities havent questioned the couples 6-year-old daughter, who has autism and is mostly nonverbal, he said.

The fact that this young lady, mom to this beautiful little child, is out in the woods somewhere quite possibly doesnt sit well with me, Salazar said. Im not going to rest until we find her and we get her back to her family.

He said anyone with information on Andreen McDonalds whereabouts should contact the department.

___

Information from: San Antonio Express-News, http://www.mysanantonio.com
The outgoing Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Mrs Catharine Abelema Afeku, has expressed her commitment to the government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whom she described as the captain of the team for delivering value to Ghanaians.



She said as the captain of the team, the President was the embodiment of the strategy and knew who could best help him deliver the best results.



Mrs. Afeku said she, therefore, had no qualms about the recent ministerial reshuffle which moved her to the Presidency, assigning her to the Office of the Senior Minister.



Reacting to some reports that she had rejected the recent changes in ministerial portfolios, she expressed surprise at reports that she had resigned because she considered her new job a demotion.



The former Tourism Minister insisted that she had not resigned from government, neither had she abandoned the Presidents team, dream, and vision, saying: Im committed to serving my people as a Member of Parliament and Minister of State in whatever capacity the President deems fit for me.



The appointment



In January 2017, some residents of the Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira Constituency in the Western Region commended the President for appointing Mrs Afeku as Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture.



The appointment made her the first from the constituency to be appointed a minister and also a female minister.



The people of Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira expressed the view that tourism, which is special to Mrs Afeku, would see a revolution across the country and consequently improve the local economy and create jobs for the people.



Background



Mrs Afeku lost her seat to the National Democratic Congress in the 2012 election but annexed it back in 2016.



She was recently appointed the Chairperson of the Leadership Taskforce of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) at the organisations first meeting of the Leadership Taskforce in January this year at its headquarters in Madrid, Spain.

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How will Circa 2019 pan out? 85 per cent Indians expect the global economy to boom; 80 per cent Indians expect everyone around the world to spend more time online than watching TV; 57% Indians expect doctors to use Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare; 40 per cent Indians plan to do a social media detox; 61 per cent Indians feel they will be less lonely this year; 55% Indians expect the society to get more tolerant. Further, 79% Indians expect global warming to increase; 3 in 10 Indians expect the global stock markets to crash and 1 in 3 Indians expect the US President, Donald Trump to be impeached this year.

Perceptions notwithstanding, 92 per cent Indians are optimistic that 2019 will be a better year for them, as 43 per cent were unhappy with how 2018 had unfolded for them and their family. Interestingly, 85 per cent Indians profess to have set goals and resolutions for 2019. And 68% Indians are confident of pay parity for women with men, this year.

These are some of the topline findings of the Ipsos Prediction 2019 survey conducted in 31 global markets including India.

Overall the mood is buoyant, riding on optimism among Indians, who are making conscious efforts in steering their lives and getting a grip, whether it is to do with setting goals, social media detox, combating loneliness or looking to the future with positivity and not being pulled down by events of 2018. Majority are hopeful of pay parity for women with men. Though there is concern around global warming, personal data security and other macro issues, says Parijat Chakraborty, Head of Public Affairs, Ipsos India.

Global Affairs

85% Indians believe that the global economy will become more robust this year. France (24%) and Japan (28%) are least optimistic.



Only 3 in 10 Indians (33%) expect the major stock markets in the world to crash this year.

Polarized views were seen for impeachment of the US President, Mr. Donald Trump  36% Indians feel that Donald trump will be impeached and likewise 36% feel he wont be impeached. The rest were undecided.

Global Warming is a stark reality - 79% Indians expect global temperatures to soar further this year (an 11% jump from 2018)  and majority of Malaysians (88%), Chileans (88%) and Turks (86%) expect global temperatures to shoot up further.

Digitally connected and not lonely

80 per cent of Indians expect people around the world to spend more time browsing online than being glued to their TV sets  being online will take precedence over watching TV! Similar trend seen across markets, majority will be online  Turks (92%) and Russians (89%) the most. And Spanish (70%) and Saudis (71%) will be online but relatively lesser than the rest of their global counterparts.



Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare - 57% Indians expect doctors to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to treat patients this year. India is placed third in the global pecking order in being bullish on AI for healthcare, below China (60%) and Malaysia (58%).



Social Media detox? 40 per cent Indians say they are likely to be less on social media this year.

Majority across all markets polled (61%) and even in India (61%) feels it wont be lonely this year. But 3 in 10 Indians are likely to feel lonelier this year. And in Turkey, about 6 in 10 say they will feel lonelier this year.

Gung-ho about Future

92% Indians are optimistic that Circa 2019 will be a better year for them vis-a-vis 2018.

43% Indians seemed disgruntled with 2018.

Resolutions anyone? Majority across all markets claimed to be chalking out personal goals and resolutions for Circa 2019  85% Indians endorse this view, 95% of Peruvians, 92% of Mexicans, 92% of Colombians, 91% of Chinese and 91% of South Africans. Only 4 in 10 have chalked out resolutions in Sweden (41%), Netherlands (41%) and Japan (45%).



55% Indians are optimistic that as a society well be more tolerant this year. 4 in 10 Indians however disagree.



Though 46% fear large scale public unrest with 45% denouncing it.

Polarized views  43% Indians fear leakage of their personal data on the internet. On the contrary, 43% Indians are confident that their personal data is secure and wont be leaked. Fear of personal information leakage is most rampant in Turkey (69%), South Korea (68%) and China (65%).

Other Issues & Delusions

59% Indians are hopeful that a cure for the Common Cold will be found this year. Most hopeful are the Chinese (74%) and the Malaysians (67%). Least hopeful are the Brits (13%) and the Canadians (17%).

Only 1 in 4 Indians (25%) are hopeful that they will discover existence of ghosts this year  validation of paranormal.

4 in 10 Indians (41%) feel we will discover time travel this year  highest globally, followed by China (36%) and Saudi Arabia (33%).

One in four Indians feel that Aliens will visit the earth this year. Saudis pip India  1 in 3 hold this view.
WARC, the global authority on advertising and media effectiveness, and now part of Ascential  the company that also owns brands like the Cannes Lions, declared Saregama Carvaan as the most effective campaign in the world! The WARC Effective 100 rankings were released today morning.

The Womb also made it to the Top 10 most creative agencies in the world, and is the only independent agency in the Top 10 list. The Womb also helped India finish among the Top 3 nations where the most effective work is being created.

Carvaans underdog story and success has already become part of marketing lore in India, and it now deservingly sits at the top of the heap in global sweepstakes as well. Additionally, on the back of this path-breaking work, Carvaan pushed itself into the top 5 brands in the world  just behind Coca Cola, McDonalds, Burger King and Ikea.

Vikram Mehra  CEO, Saregama India, had this to say on the recognition, The commercial and critical success of Carvaan is a testament to our belief that the key to innovation is listening to our customers. We are proud to have The Womb as our strategic partners in this successful journey.

An excited Navin Talreja and Kawal Shoor, Co- Founding Partners, The Womb, said, We took on an almost terminal business challenge in the first year of starting our agency. We helped the client meet it, and beat it with a product innovation, that too for an innovation-phobic elderly audience! This has been such a once-in-a-lifetime experience. What more can we ask for after this recognition, except that we must now move onto the next big thing!

The WARC Effective 100 (successor to the WARC 100) tracks the performance of campaigns, brands and agencies in marketing effectiveness and strategy competitions around the world. And the rankings are a global benchmark for commercial creativity.

The behind-the-scenes article on how the worlds most effective campaign came about can be accessed from the WARC site.
BJP President Amit Shah while speaking as the inaugural speaker at the India Today Conclave on Friday said that he would not like to hazard a guess on the number of seats the NDA would win in 2019 elections but would win with a renewed majority. Back in 2014, I had told party workers that we will win more seats in 2019, he said adding that the BJP would gain seats in the North East and Odisha and may lose some seats in states where it won cent per cent seats. We will the win 73-74 seats in UP, he said.

Responding to a question on what is the message to Pakistan in the last 72 hours, Amit Shah said that it is up to Pakistan what it makes out of it but what is clear is that the surgical strike after Uri and the air strikes after Pulwama make it clear that this government is different from the government in power from 2004-14.

Amit Shah said that the only time there was a smile on the faces of the Pakistan media was when the Opposition raised questions about the air strikes in Pakistan.  There is no problem in asking questions but the timing of the questions is very important, he said. Shah defended the BJP placing ads after the 26/11 attacks questioning the then government saying that it was alright to do so during the campaign. Amit Shah said that BS Yedurappa should not have said that the strikes would help the BJP win 22 seats in Karnataka.

When told that then PM Manmohan Singh saw no merit in attacking Pakistan, preferring talks as an alternative after 26/11, Shah said,  talks should be given a chance first and we did that with Pakistan too. But what do we when the other group doesnt understand this? It has to be replied in the same manner. The Modi govt has the best record in dealing with terrorism. Now any group will think ten times before launching an attack, said Amit Shah on the Modi govts response to the Kashmir issue.

The 2019 elections will not be contested on a single issue but multiple issues. Every citizen has a set of questions to be asked to each political party, said BJP President Amit Shah on if 2019 elections will be contested on national security or development.

Amit Shah refuted the Oppositions charge that the attacks were related to the upcoming elections.  what is the Opposition trying to say, that we timed the Pulwama attack, he said.

Amit Shah downplayed the political alliances that have come into being in the run up to the 2019 elections.  every party has a committed vote but we contest every election seriously, we will contest this one the same way, he said.

Institutions are not bigger than the country, said Amit Shah while defending the BJP governments so called clean up of institutions.  ever since the rule that CBI chiefs would get a fixed term, problems began to arise, he said adding that his partys government had no plan to change the fixed two year term.

He refuted the Oppositions charge that the CBI was being used politically.  we have not registered any fresh cases but people are sweating when they are now being questioned, he said.

Shah said that individuals who question national security are trolled by people and there was nothing wrong with that.  India Today runs a campaign against us but no one trolls you, he said.

Amit Shah said that Priyanka Gandhis entry in politics will not make much of a difference. She has been in politics for 12 years and the media finds something new everytime she comes back, he said.
Managing Editor's Note: That's a photo of the board of Every Child By Two, you can click HERE to see a larger photo and a list of the members and their affiliations. (10/14/08, ECBT asked us to remove the photo as it is copyrighted. We replaced it with a similar photo.) By J.B. Handley 17 years ago, in 1991, the DTP Vaccine was under fire for the high rate of autism, brain injury and death it was causing in children. Lawsuits were mounting. In fact, DTP was why Congress created the 1986 Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the first place. As Barbara Loe Fisher, co-author of A Shot In the Dark, a book chronicling the problems with DPT, said, "it is important to note that the vast majority of vaccine injury awards in the VICP have been for children suffering DPT vaccine brain injuries and deathsof all the vaccines which have been routinely used by children in the past century, the brain damaging effects of the pertussis (whooping cough) portion of DPT vaccine is among the most well documented in the scientific literature."

On the firing line was Lederle Laboratories of Wayne, NJ, one of the largest manufacturers of DTP vaccine at the time. A spokesperson for Lederle was charged with working the press to try and defend DTP, mercury, and vaccines in general--he was the Paul Offit of his time. This spokesperson, in January 1991, was quoted in the New York Times saying, "Any chemical product, because it is a chemical substance, does produce some side effects. The current vaccine [DTP], as far as we are concerned, is a very safe and efficacious vaccine."As we all know, the DTP vaccine was soon replaced with DTaP because of safety concerns.So what, you say?

Well, there's more to the story. In 1994, Wyeth bought Lederle Laboratories and the Lederle spokesperson--the Paul Offit of his timewent with Lederle to the new owner, Wyeth.



This spokesperson, Craig Engesser, he still works for Wyeth, his job title today is Senior Director, Professional Affairs.



And, he sits on the Board of Every Child By Two.



When I watched CBS rip apart the conflicts (HERE) that vaccine promoters and vaccine makers have, I was left with a nagging question: who the hell is Every Child By Two? Yes, I knew Amanda Peet was their new spokesperson. I knew Paul Offit had recently joined their board. But, who the hell were they?



Doing some research, it turns out these "Special Interest Dot-Orgs"SIDs for shortare nothing new. Unfortunately, the 501(c)3 code of the IRS is very vague on what constitutes a non-profit organization and there are very few disclosure requirements for funding sources any public filings nonprofits have to make. As an example, if you wanted to find out where Generation Rescue gets its funding, you wouldn't be able to. No filing requirements exist.

As you might expect, drug companies have taken full advantage of this murky area. To my surprise, the press has been covering this story for years, just not specific to vaccines. In a 2005 expose titled, "A little too cozy? Not-for-profits may have undisclosed funding ties to for-profit drug companies", Sacramento Bee reporters Dorsey Griffith and Steve Wiegand went after the practice:



"The public may be getting hoodwinked because they may think these nonprofits are independent," said Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a watchdog group that provides information about nonprofits. "But how can they do it independently if they are paid by the drug companies?"



Borochoff and other critics say that even the best-intentioned advocacy groups can ignite public fears about conditions that may not be medical problems, divert attention from more serious health issues and put pressure on doctors to prescribe medications that may not be necessary.



While some of these advocacy organizations begin as true grass-roots associations that later come to rely on financing from the pharmaceutical industry, others sprout directly from drug company seed money. And some are hybrids.



A Boston Globe investigation in 2007 revealed similar concerns:



But little attention has been paid to smaller nonprofits, especially patient groups that are largely funded by the drug industry. Public Citizen's Peter Lurie, who testifies frequently before FDA panels, noticed a shift as public hearings "were becoming contaminated by people who didn't represent the public in any way. They represented particular moneyed interests." Lurie, deputy director of the consumer advocacy organization's health research group, said, "It's a fair question: Who represents patients and how they come to call themselves" patient representatives?



In 221 advisory committee meetings scrutinized, 32 of 44 speakers representing patients said they had received funding from a company that would be affected by the FDA's decision, according to a recent journal article that Lurie coauthored about conflicts of interest on FDA advisory panels.



And, The Philadelphia Inquirer also posted an investigative piece on the practice saying, "Although patients seldom know it, many patient groups and drug companies maintain close, multimillion-dollar relationships while disclosing limited or no details about the ties." The Inquirer also explained that the money to support these nonprofits often comes "from the companies' marketing or sales divisions, not charity offices, company and nonprofit officials said."



Wow. Of course, none of us are surprised. Back to Every Child By Two.



In the CBS Evening News piece on the APP, Paul Offit, and Every Child By Two, CBS was unable to provide any details on ECBT's ties to vaccine manufacturers beyond a confirmation from the organization that they did take money from vaccine companies. But, it's right there in black & white, it just takes a little digging.



First, a little background. By nonprofit standards, ECBT is a rat-shit organization. With a grand total of 3 employees, a tiny office suite in a crummy Washington D.C. neighborhood, and an annual budget under $1 million, they are a blip on the radar screen. As usual, the devil is in the details.



Let's look first at their total revenues for the last 3 years (we only have numbers through 2006. Numbers for 2007 will probably be public in October):



Every Child By Two, Total Revenues:



2006: $752, 631

2005: $836,690

2004:$485,155



Within ECBT's revenues is a long-term contract they have had with Public Health Solutions, another SIDs which is a front for the NY Department of Health. This is effectively a long-term government contract that ECBT has had for years. Focusing on 2006 and removing this piece of their revenues, ECBT looks like this:



Every Child By Two, Total Revenues, excluding PHS:



2006: $513,011



So, the question is, where did the half million bucks come from? If you looked at their 2004 Form 990, you would never know. If you looked at their 2005 Form 990, you would never know, either. But, in 2006 something changed. Either a new accounting firm, a new accountant, a request from the IRS, I don't know. I just know the form is longer and has more disclosure. On Page 23, in black & white, it reads:



"Wyeth Vaccine: Ensure all children from birth to Age 2 are fully immunized."



And, how much did Wyeth give ECBT?



Wyeth gave $350,769. That's 68% of their non-contract revenue and 48% of their total revenue. From one company. A vaccine manufacturer named Wyeth. And Craig Engesser, a Wyeth spokesperson, has been on the board of ECBT for as long as I can track it. He even served as the organization's treasurer!



Every Child By Two. Amanda Peet. Paul Offit. Craig Engesser. Wyeth. Lederle. DTP. Rat-shit.



J.B. Handley is co-founder of Generation Rescue and Managing Editor of Age of Autism.
Note: Thank you to Brett Wilcox for permission to excerpt his letter to Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski following last week's hearing (rubber stamp) on vaccination. Please bookmark his blog at Running the Country. Unlike so many other citizens advocating for a safe, GMO and Monsanto glyphosate free food supply, Brett also sees the parallel within the vaccine safety community. Care about what we put into our bodies can not exclude vaccination.



###



The letter:

February 28, 2019

Senator Lisa Murkowski

522 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Re: HELP Hearing, Vaccines Save Lives

Dear Senator Murkowski,

My name is Brett Wilcox. My family and I live in Sitka. In July, 2014, my 15-year old son, David, and I completed our 6 month, 3,000 mile run across the USA advocating for a GMO Free USA. My wife, Kris, and 13-year old daughter, Olivia, David and I had the privilege of meeting with you in your Washington DC office after our run.

Since that time, I have invested thousands of hours into the study of vaccine industry corruption. In 2016, I authored the book JABBED: How the Vaccine Industry, Medical Establishment, and Government Stick It to You and Your Family. In 2018, Skyhorse Publishing published an updated edition in hardcover.

As a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education Labor & Pensions, you will participate in a hearing scheduled on March 5th titled Vaccines Save Lives: What Is Driving Preventable Disease Outbreaks?

You and your colleagues will be subjected to a barrage of propaganda created by the financially driven vaccine industry. Their goal, as it has always been, is to increase profit, not health. And they accomplish that goal by spreading one sided and flat out wrong information about their liability-free products.

Vaccine industry architects are not afraid of the measles, they are not afraid of losing herd immunity, and they are not primarily interested in protecting immunocompromised people. They are, however, afraid of Constitutionally protected free speech, and theyre afraid of the growing vaccine informed public. It is well known that better educated people vaccinate less. Why? Because they learn the truth about the vaccine industry, and they learn the truth about vaccines.

The vaccine industry is afraid of the truth. Their only defense against the truth is lies. Please refer to the following facts to counter industry lies:

Fact #1. Vaccines are dangerous

Under federal law, vaccines are legally classified by Congress itself as unavoidably UNSAFE products. [1] Thats because there is nothing safe about injecting children, pregnant women, or elderly people with cell and DNA fragments from aborted male and female fetuses, human serum albumin, fetal bovine serum, monkey and canine kidney proteins, egg protein, chick embryo cells and fibroblasts, milk-derived raw materials, aluminum, mercury, formaldehyde, sodium chloride, neomycin, and polysorbate 80. [2]

Newer vaccines also include genetically modified ingredients and next generation vaccines are intended to permanently alter human DNA and the human genome. [3] [4]

As of November, 2018, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out more than $4 billion for vaccine-related injuries and deaths. [5]

Fact #2. Reduction in infectious disease does not equal improved health

While there is some evidence that vaccines do in fact provide at least a temporary reduction in targeted diseases, there is also a growing body of evidence that vaccines are the primary cause of a host of chronic diseases. [6] [7]

Researchers in Africa found a lower incidence of targeted diseases following the administration of the DTP vaccine. They also found that DTP recipients died at 5 times the rate of their unvaccinated peers from non-vaccine-targeted illnesses. [8]

In a paper published in February 2019, one of the worlds leading authorities on the DTaP vaccine, James D. Cherry, MD, writes, Because of linked-epitope suppression, all children who were primed by DTaP vaccines will be more susceptible to pertussis throughout their lifetimes, and there is no easy way to decrease this increased lifetime susceptibility. [9]

The incidence of chronic disease has grown exponentially both in the US and abroad concurrent with the increase in the liability-free vaccination schedule. In 1976, 1 US child in 30 was learning disabled. In 2013, 1 US child in 6 was learning disabled. [10] The cost of special education is threatening to bankrupt some countries. [11]

It would be foolish to pin the epidemic of sick and disabled children entirely on vaccines. It would be far more foolish, however, to ignore the obvious connection.

Thus we see that the bumper sticker slogan Vaccines are safe and effective is a lie and any expert who makes such a claim while under oath is committing perjury.



Read the full letter here.



... Conclusion

Vaccine zealots are losing control at the state level. Of the more than 100 vaccine-related bills currently filed across the USA, nearly half support meaningful informed consent, increased parental rights, and stronger exemptions. This is happening because vaccine informed people no longer tolerate industry lies, tyranny, and government overreach. We no longer tolerate the unholy collusion of Pharma and State. And we will not submit to the proposed mandatory adult liability-free vaccine schedule.

The American people have never needed protection from the measles. We do, however, need ethical and informed elected officials to protect their constituents from the increasingly rapacious pharmaceutical industry and from their mandated, liability-free vaccines.

Senator Murkowski, youve got truth and a growing army of vaccine-informed people on your side. Together we will reclaim our sovereignty over our bodies, our health, our children, and our government. We trust that you will do everything within your power to support us in this critical endeavor.
A civil society group by name Defenders Of Ghanas Democracy, have called on Mr. John Mahama, Ghanas former President, to quickly update the international community on his party Chairmans alleged kidnapping comments which has been described by many as distateful.



In an address by the group to the media, they also urged Mr. Mahama to also give an account of the NDCs recent intra-party shooting which led to the killing of one person at its Ashanti Regional headquarters to the foreign missions he recently interacted with.



Full statement below...



Good morning ladies and Gentlemen of the Media



Democracy is undeniably a competition of ideas and struggle for power to rule. This intrinsic nature makes democracy and conflict inseparable twins. What we have been able to do commendably as a nation is our by-partisan approach and determinations to suppress the occurrence of conflict in order to allow our multiparty democracy a chance to flourish flamboyantly.



Mr. John Dramani Mahama, in his characteristic fashion, picked and chose when he sought to disgrace Ghana to the international community. Instead of being an Ambassador for the great strides the country is making in its bid to emancipate the country economically, Mr. Mahama chose to embark on a political mission aimed at painting Ghana black to the outside world.



The Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election came with its attendant issues, matters it would not be prudent to mention once again since they are well known.



As though he were suffering from a selective illness or amnesia, candidate Mahama assembled the diplomatic corps in the country, showed them videos of what he termed as the atrocities incidental to the by-election held in the Ayawaso West Wuogon Constituency.



Our collective efforts to suppress the occurrence of conflict in our body politics notwithstanding, various by-elections, general elections and even local elections held in this country have recorded some degree of misunderstandings and clashes. Few of such manifestations worth mentioning here include the political violence recorded at Talensi, Akwatia and Chereponi by-elections and the politically motivated clashes at Agbogbloshie, Suame and the recent NDCs intra-party shooting and killing of one person at its Ashanti Regional Headquarters recently. We are, by this press event, asking Mr. Mahama to stop his hypocrisy by showing the atrocious crimes committed against Ghanaians during the Talensi, Akwatia, Chereponi, Amenfi Central and Asawase by-elections to the same people he showcased that of Ayawaso West Wuogon skirmishes to.



At Talensi, it was a normal Tuesday when that constituency was warming up for a .. By-election. The poll started peacefully but before the elections would be over Talensi broke loose and pandemonium took over. Gunshots took over the atmosphere. There were incidents where the Azorka boys were able to cross a police barrier some meters to the NPP constituency office. They fired bullets at NPP members. NPP members had to run helter-skelter. Many were rushed to the hospital with injuries.



At Agbobloshie, Hon. Ursula Owusu Akuffo (MP for Ablekuma south and now Minister of Communication) was touring the constituency to urge NPP supporters in the constituency to register in a biometric registration exercise when she was attacked by heavily built men who were known followers of Nii Lante Vanderpuye. She was slapped by these men, who held broken bottles. They hurled stones at her whiles she run for cover in one of the shops around the area. She suffered injuries to her face and other parts of her body.



Aside the election related conflicts, there were also peaceful demonstrations such as Kumepreko and Let My Vote Count where Police brutalities resulted in the death of one person and the maiming of several others.



As far as the good image of the Republic of Ghana is concerned, we the citizens of this country will not sit down and allow Mr. John Dramani Mahama to use one sided, falsified and dishonest analysis to stale the hard earned cordial relationship between Ghana and the diplomatic community.



We would also like Mr. Mahama to play the Ofosu Ampofo audio to the international community for them to know the wicked plans of the NDC and its antecedents.



We are using this opportunity to also call on the leadership of the Church of Pentecost to, as a matter of urgency, excommunicate Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo. One of the core values of the Church of Pentecost is Discipleship. The church trains believers to be like Christ. The emphasis is on holiness, righteousness, faithfulness, honesty, sincerity, humility, prayerfulness and the leading of disciplined and responsible lives. This is done at the level of individuals, where every member takes responsibility to discipline their new coverts, as well as through the church. Clearly Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo was doing the opposite when he was speaking to his party people. He has dragged the name of the revered church into disrepute.



Mr. Ofosu Ampofo does not deserve to hold any leadership position in any church since he carries himself as a saint in public but acts like a sibling of Lucifer in the dark.



Former President Mahama and his party leadership owe Ghanaians an unequivocal apology for planning to topple a legitimately instituted government.



Anything short of these demands would spring us into action to activate the next line of action.



Thank you all for coming.



Adu Adarkwah Larbi



Convener



0507007303





Robert Tetteyfio Adjase



Co-Convener



0244582458







Agyare Sarpong



0201249820



Member







Boamah Yeboah Jacob



Member



0242725239

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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CAIRO  Relations between Egypt and Iran have fluctuated greatly over the years  over the millennia, actually  and remain mutable today.

The countries' representatives exchanged pleasantries Feb. 12 when an Egyptian diplomatic delegation headed by Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs Khaled Sarwat attended a ceremony at the Iranian ambassadors residence in Cairo to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

In a speech, Nasser al-Kanaani, head of Iran's Interest Office, its de facto embassy in Cairo, said Tehran looks forward to seeing security and stability in Egypt. He said he believes the two countries will develop their relations  sooner or later  and he underlined Tehrans readiness to follow this path should the Egyptian government have the political will to do the same.

Several question marks hover around the countries' future relations. Egypt regularly shares Iran's celebration of the revolution, so that's not extraordinary  unless one considers that this very occasion brings to mind the beginning of the deterioration of modern relations between the two countries.

The last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was overthrown in that 1979 revolution and fled to Egypt, where he was granted asylum by then-President Anwar Sadat. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were severed in 1980. They resumed 11 years later under Hosni Mubarak, but only at the charge daffaires level, with interest offices instead of embassies in both countries.

Hassan Abu Talib, adviser to the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Al-Monitor that Kanaani's sanguine speech wasn't surprising. It's in Irans best interest to have normal relations with Egypt, Abu Talib said, adding that Egypt's not against improving relations with Iran, with certain conditions.

Over past decades, Egyptian-Iranian relations have strained at different levels. Under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, relations were marked by disagreements and hostility, especially after the 1955 Baghdad Pact, a Cold War alliance that included Tehran and that Egypt deemed unreliable.

Under Sadat, relations took a new political turn following the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which resulted in the 1978 Camp David Accords and a rapprochement between Egypt and the United States, which led to good relations with the shah of Iran.

Relations soured again when Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. Tehran rejected the pact.

Ties between Iran and Egypt also frayed as a result of Cairo's support of Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Although Egypt supported Irans membership in the Group of 15 in 1999, things took another bad turn in 2004, when Egypt accused the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of espionage in a plan to assassinate an undisclosed Egyptian figure.

In another swing, relations improved during the rule of President Mohammed Morsi, which saw mutual visits at the presidential level.

Today, under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, relations with Iran are believed to be dependent on the Gulf states, which were at the front line in supporting Cairo following the June 30 Revolution of 2013. Prominent among those was Saudi Arabia. Saudis and Iranians are at opposite poles at all levels, with mutual threats of military confrontations.

During a meeting with foreign media at the Nov. 6 World Youth Forum, Sisi took a jab at Iran by saying that Egypt would not allow any undermining of Gulf security, and that the Egyptian army would move to protect Egypts brothers against any danger or direct threat.

On the US sanctions on Iran, Sisi said, Instability affects us all. Any unstable country in the region would affect us.

Abu Talib described Egypt's participation in the Iranian celebrations as mere protocol, saying it doesn't imply any shift in diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Any change in the status quo would happen through a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries or through talks about joint cooperation between senior officials, whether arranged in advance or on the sidelines of an international forum, he told Al-Monitor.

Kanaani had previously courted the Egyptian public and government, bringing up normalized relations between the two sides. In a November article in the Egyptian newspaper Veto Gate, Kanaani called for cooperation and rapprochement between Egypt and Iran in the arts, expressing regret over banning the screening of Iranian films at the Cairo International Festival.

So would it be better to wait for better political conditions and improved relations to see the participation of Iranian movies in the Cairo festival, or Egyptian films in the Fajr International Film Festival in Iran? Kanaani asked in the article.

During his visit Feb. 3 to the Cairo International Book Fair, Kanaani said he looked forward to strengthening communication between Iranian and Egyptian publishers and to the mutual participation of Cairo and Tehran in both countries' international book fairs.

Abu Talib believes normalization with Iran depends on several factors  mainly getting Iran to stop interfering in the affairs of several Arab countries, namely Yemen and Iraq, and to initiate a good-neighbor approach with its neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia.

We would like to see normal relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Tehran derives its strength from improving its relations with neighboring countries. Should this not happen in accordance with the rules of international law and the UN Charter, Iran would be the biggest loser, Abu Talib said.

The radical tide is on the rise in Iran, which can be seen through the tight grip of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard over the country and the obsession with expanding Iranian influence in Arab and Sunni communities in particular. As a Sunni country, Egypt believes this poses a threat to the nation. Therefore, it all boils down to Iranian behavior. Iranian influence is built on relations with groups that operate outside the umbrella of their states.

Abu Talib wondered, Would Iran accept it if Arab countries dealt with groups in Tehran and bypassed the government? I dont think so. Any dealings or connections that dont go through governments are seen as interference, and this isn't acceptable.

Commenting on growing international concern about Iran's expanding influence, Abu Talib said, We don't wish to see any wars, or American or non-American intervention in Iran. Any war at this level would have bad regional repercussions, namely economic. Egypt would undoubtedly be affected even if it wasn't involved militarily.

He added, "We hope Iran will change its political trend, which will certainly be welcome by Egypt and other Arab countries."
RAMALLAH, West Bank  The Palestinian government is refusing to accept the first 2019 monthly tax transfer from Israel. Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said in a Feb. 27 press statement that the Palestinian Authority (PA) decided earlier that month to return the money from Israel because it was only a partial payment, as the latter deducted 41 million shekels ($11.3 million).

The money in question consists of some of the taxes Israel collects on behalf of Palestinians on goods entering the territories from or through Israel. Israel intends to annually withhold more than half a billion shekels  the amount the PA paid in 2018 to the families of Palestinians imprisoned, injured or killed while fighting Israel. Israel considers those recipients terrorists and says the payments support and encourage attacks.

The total amount of import taxes Israel collected for the PA in 2018 amounted to more than 8 billion shekels, according to Palestinian Ministry of Finance figures, with a monthly average of 670 million shekels.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had warned he would refuse the payment when he spoke on the sidelines of his Feb. 19 meeting in Ramallah with US congressional Democrats and a delegation from J Street, a US nonprofit, liberal advocacy group. The PA's rejection is likely to worsen the public's already dire financial situation and increase tension and unrest. The PA, knowing that Israel fears that possibility, could be seeking to pressure Israel into reversing its decision.

The PAs stand will cast a shadow over the government's spending in several areas, mainly paying the salaries of its public servants. In a Facebook post Feb. 17, Hamdallah had said, A deduction in [these funds would put] the Palestinian economy in danger, threaten our ability to pay salaries and wages, and disrupt the economic wheel.

Minister of Finance Shukri Bishara said at a Feb. 21 news conference, The government will continue to pay its employees on time, but the salaries may be incomplete, except the wages of retirees and allowances for the families of martyrs, the wounded and prisoners, which will be paid in full. He hinted at the possibility of paying 80% of the payroll bill, according to the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Bishara added that the government will take austerity measures to deal with the crisis, but he didn't disclose the specific procedures. Not paying full salaries to employees would create financial obligations that will affect the 2019 budget, which hasn't been approved yet.

The government is expected to rely on the private sector for help. A Ministry of Finance source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the government already owes money to suppliers and the private sector. "It's difficult to pay them either in full or in part, in light of the [tax] crisis," he added.

Without help from private sources, the government would have to borrow from banks, Bishara said at the press conference.

Naser Abdel Karim, an economics professor at Birzeit University, told Al-Monitor that government spending is divided into four areas: salaries and wages, operating expenses, transfer expenses (such as social security payments) and capital expenditures.

He added that it would be wise to stop operating expenses, which include the cost of travel and privileges of officials; their monthly phone and fuel expenses, which the treasury covers; and capital expenditures for vehicles, offices and renting premises for officials. Also, the government ought to revise the payroll budget because there are many employees who are not on the job but still receive salaries, Abdel Karim noted.

He explained, The government will be able to cut spending if it doesn't pay salaries in full, but its obligations will accumulate over time, in addition to the money it already owes private sector suppliers and local banks.

Abdel Karim said the government was hasty in refusing the funds, noting, The decision is not strategic and doesn't fall within the strategic thinking of confrontations or clashes with Israel. It's an impromptu decision with which the PA is trying to threaten Israel and show it that the field situation could further deteriorate.

Samir Abdullah, former planning minister and researcher at the Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute-MAS, told Al-Monitor the PA won't be able to fulfill its financial obligations if it refuses the funds over a long period, and this will be reflected in an increasing budget deficit.

The option of borrowing from banks can serve the PA for only a month or two, because Palestinian banks don't have the ability to give it long-term loans, especially as the PAs loans from Palestinian banks [already] amount to about $1.4 billion, Abdullah said.

He also called on the PA to stop importing Israeli products, as this could prompt Israeli companies to pressure the Israeli government.

The PAs options in dealing with the crisis seem limited. At the local level, boycotts of Israeli products are expected to increase. Fatah's deputy head Mahmoud al-Aloul said during a Feb. 21 interview with Voice of Palestine radio that the Palestinian Central Council will form a committee to determine which Israeli products have local alternatives, with an eye toward keeping those products from entering the Palestinian market.

The PA is also seeking to activate the Arab "financial safety net," which can provide the PA with financial support worth $100 million per month in case it's unable to meet its obligations. This fund was approved by the Arab League during a 2010 summit in Kuwait.

Israel fears that the PA's refusal to receive the tax money will add to Palestinians' financial burdens, increase tensions and worsen the security situation in the West Bank and Gaza. Although the decision went into effect with the March payment, the real test will come after Israeli parliamentary elections April 9, once Israel reveals whether it will continue freezing the funds or release them.
Ever since the Turkish military and allied factions from the Free Syrian Army drove the Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) out of Kurdish-dominated Afrin in March 2017, there has been almost no independent reporting on how the enclave is faring under Turkish occupation. The United Nations and Human Rights Watch are among a handful of international bodies that have offered valuable insight on the massive human rights abuses  rape, theft, extortion, kidnappings and the forced displacement of locals in favor of Syrian Arabs bused in from areas retaken by the Syrian Arab Army  allegedly inflicted by the FSA under Turkeys watch. The UN said some of these actions amount to war crimes. But aside from propaganda being churned out from opposing sides, even less is known about a low intensity insurgency that is being waged by several Kurdish armed groups against the FSA and Turkish forces inside Afrin.

Using satellite imagery and open sources, the online investigative media outlet Bellingcat has sought to lift the veil on the 10-month insurgency in a report that was published on March 1. The study focuses on the attacks claimed by three anti-FSA groups. They are the YPG, Ghadab al-Zaitoun (Wrath of Olives) and Hezen Rizgariya Efrine (Afrin Liberation Forces). Together they have claimed responsibility for almost 220 attacks carried out between late March 2018 and the end of January 2019.

Alexander McKeever, a master's student at New Yorks City University who gathered and analyzed the data, told Al-Monitor that the the groups had claimed 25 more attacks in February. He was able to independently verify half of them. Amid the forest of technical details, three aspects of the insurgency stand out: The actors, their methods and the impact of their attacks, all of which have wide ramifications for the broader conflict between Turkey and the YPG as well as their respective relations with the other main stakeholders in the eight-year-old Syrian conflict: Russia, Iran, the regime and the United States.

The YPG is widely lauded for its steely courage in the US-led coalitions battle against the Islamic State. Its men and women fighters have with their Arab allies in the Syrian Democratic Forces brought the caliphate to its knees and shrunk its once vast territory to the hamlet of Baghouz, where the final assault against the jihadists is currently unfolding. But in Afrin, Bellingcat suggests, Syrian Kurdish forces may be displaying a darker side they are presumably less keen to advertise.

Wrath of Olives, McKeever observes, gained notoriety for the their highly controversial kidnappings and executions of FSA members and suspected collaborators, a grim hallmark that has differentiated them from official YPG activity in Afrin. The word official here is key because, as McKeever noted, there is speculation that both Wrath of Olives and the Afrin Liberation Forces are front groups for the YPG. If true, the tactic mirrors the modus operandi of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the rebel group that has been fighting Turkish forces since 1984 and helped found, organize and staff the YPG. The PKK is believed to use front groups such as the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons for its urban operations, in which civilians are sometimes targeted. The practice gives the PKK plausible deniability while at the same time forcing the government to back off. Wrath of Olives has published some of its execution videos online. At least two of its victims were allegedly civilians accused of serving as informants for the Turkish military.

The Afrin insurgents typically use IEDs during the day and roadside ambushes with small firearms at night. More recently, however, the Afrin Liberation Front has begun to use anti-tank guided missiles against its Turkish foes.

Mckeever said it's conceivable that the Kurdish rebels are operating with the acquiescence of the Syrian regime, which also have a vested interest in disrupting the Turkish occupation. The situation is so murky in Afrin that it's impossible to confirm, as is the death toll. But at least 10 Turkish soldiers have died since the end of the Turkish offensive. Turkey often ascribes the deaths to de-mining accidents. Bellingcat places the number of opposition rebels killed over the past 10 months at over 100 in what it calls a prudent estimate.

The main reason Turkey was able to launch Operation Olive Branch was that Russia, which controls the skies over Afrin, allowed it to do so over the regimes objections. Its fall was an enormous blow to Syrias Kurds, as it is their heartland, said Thomas Schmidinger, a political scientist and cultural anthropologist at the University of Vienna who has authored two recent books on the Syrian Kurds, one of them on Afrin.

Schmidinger told Al-Monitor, Afrin was much more Kurdish than any other part of Rojava, he said using the Kurdish name for Syrian Kurdistan. Schmidinger added, Afrin is considered the most liberal and open-minded region in Rojava and was also a hub for religious minorities like the Yazidis and Alevis. They suffer especially under the Turkish occupation and the semi-jihadist militias who work with the Turkish army.

Schmidinger alluded to the desecration of Alevi and Yazidi sacred sites and cemeteries, all documented by McKeever in a separate Bellingcat study.

However, Sunni Kurds also suffer under the policies of ethnic cleansing. The internally displaced are prevented from returning while Arab and Turkmen settlers take over their homes. It seems that Turkey is trying to establish a kind of Turkish Republic of Northern Syria in the region, similar to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, but with an Islamist agenda, Schimdinger argued.

The Wrath of Olives label is a pointed reference to Turkeys alleged appropriation of Afrins rich olive harvest, which used to be one of its main sources of income. Its rebel allies stand accused of burning down thousands of olive trees, extorting produce from local farmers at rock bottom prices and dismantling and stealing local olive oil presses.

All of these violations are feeding the Kurds desire for vengeance but can the insurgency be enough to drive out Turkish forces and scare off their collaborators? Not likely, contended Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon II who closely monitors the Syrian conflict. Balanche reckons that Afrin serves as an example to the YPG of the fate that likely awaits them in places like Kobani and Qamishli, with Turkey invading once the United States withdraws, which it almost certainly will, Balanche told Al-Monitor. It's either that or the Kurds will have to agree to an unconditional return of the regime.

In any case, Moscow is in no real hurry to see Turkey leave because Afrin gives Russia leverage over Turkey and the regime. It undermines Turkeys ties with NATO by virtue of being such an irresistible prize that is Russias alone to deliver. At the same time it is a constant reminder to the Kurds of how the Americans failed to come to their defense. But the Syrian Democratic Forces seems undeterred, declaring in a statement last month that it would focus on the liberation of Afrin once the battle against the Islamic State is over.
TUNIS, Tunisia  Algerias 82-year-old paraplegic President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has confirmed that he intends to run for a fifth term despite more than a week of widespread protests opposing his candidacy.

Demonstrations against Bouteflikas candidacy have built in scale and momentum since they first broke out over 10 days ago, as protesters took to the streets to voice their anger against the continued rule of the octogenarian incumbent, in power since 1999.

Bouteflika has rarely appeared in public since suffering from a devastating stroke in 2013. He is currently reported to be in Switzerland undergoing treatment, with his candidacy papers entered at Algiers Constitutional Council by proxy.

Announcing the filing of the presidents candidacy March 3, his campaign manager Abdelghani Zaalane read from a letter purportedly written by Bouteflika, promising a fresh tranche of reforms before holding new elections within a year in case of victory.

However, whether these concessions will prove enough to quell the tide of protests that has rocked the gas- and oil-rich nation remains to be seen. One of the demonstrators, who identified himself as Khalil le Che, told Al-Monitor last week, We are protesting against the system and how they see democracy. Bouteflika is just their puppet.

Given the degree of his infirmity, demonstrators pointed to a shadowy system, presumed to include his brother Said plus senior figures from the army, security services, trade unions and businesses, who exerted power through the figure of the president. We will demonstrate against the system itself, not only against the fifth term, a member of All Against a Fifth Term, a youth organization, told Al-Monitor through social media.

Much of the nature of the current wave of protests appears to have been shaped by the countrys troubled history of dissent and protest. In Algiers, the student demonstrators chanted, Peaceful, peaceful and No to a fifth term, eager not to take any action that might inflame the security services.

During the 1990s, the countrys so-called dark decade, somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 people were killed when a confrontation between the security services and Islamists over the result of the 1991 elections escalated into a savage civil war that lasted over a decade.

Mass protests also erupted again in 2011, with demonstrators, spurred by the revolutions in the region, taking to the streets to call for sweeping economic reform.

In 2011, the protests were a limited extension of the Arab Spring, freelance Algerian journalist Mohamed Amine Hocine told Al-Monitor. And the demands of protesters in the poor neighborhoods were so economic and social that they were called 'oil and sugar protests.'

That unrest was eventually absorbed through a generous program of state social policies, such as the subsidizing of basic foods, wage increases and the opening up of employment opportunities within the public sector that, at the time, resource-rich Algeria could easily afford.

However, with the price of oil in steady decline since 2014, Algiers current room for maneuver is more limited. Today the regime can no longer buy people's silence in this way after oil revenues have fallen to less than half, Hocine said.

Despite moves to diversify its economy, Algeria remains heavily dependent upon hydrocarbons. Currently, oil, gas and their related products make up about 30% of Algerias gross domestic product, while accounting for approximately 95% of the countrys total exports.

Hocine added, The political situation is rotten to the point of nominating a helpless president for a fifth term in order to guarantee the interests of those around him. The demonstrators described the regime as a 'murderer regime,' saying, 'No for the fifth term, yes for the departure of the regime,' which makes these protests stronger and radically different from those in 2011.

Though the interests of large swathes of Algerian society remain firmly vested within the generous state subsidies Bouteflikas government has consistently provided, the scale of the current round of protests remains daunting and, should they continue, the possibility of a wider confrontation between protesters and the security services remains.

On March 2, Human Rights Watch warned of the dangers of large-scale arbitrary arrests and the use of tear gas by the security services. Meanwhile, in Algiers, politicians have been keen to portray the unrest as a direct threat to Algerias continued stability, with Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on March 1 warning of a Syrian scenario, recalling the initially peaceful protests in Damascus that helped lay the foundations for the savage civil war that followed.

However, whether the countrys protesters, emboldened by an unparalleled series of popular successes, will be ready to accept the offer of reform and a limited term delivered by proxy from an ailing president in a foreign country remains far from certain.
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Mohamed Ramadan watched from his small office as the out of control locomotive sped past him on platform four of Cairos Ramses train station just after 9:30 a.m. on Feb. 27. In the seconds before it smashed into the end barrier of the station and burst into flames, he yelled out to bystanders warning them to get out of the way.

It was coming so quick before it hit the stop and then exploded, taking everything in its way, Ramadan told Al-Monitor. He said he ran in the direction of the explosion almost immediately, to those who had caught fire.

I saw an elderly man who was on fire and I was able to help him put out the flames, Ramadan noted. But then I came across a girl in her 20s who was on fire and we tried to put a blanket on her. I dont know if she survived.

At least 22 people died and over 40 were injured, many critically, in the explosion and ensuing fire after a single train carriage crashed into the station, according to Minister of Health Hala Zayed.

A video posted online from CCTV footage shows the moment the train barges at an estimated 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour into the end barrier of the station, bursting into flames after its fuel tank exploded, engulfing bystanders immediately.

Another graphic video posted online from CCTV footage showed a person on fire running around, to find a way to put the flames out, unsuccessfully.

The New York Times reported Feb. 27 that one woman asked a man to kill her because her whole body had been burnt.

Ahmed Galal, another witness who spoke to Al-Monitor, said that he was having breakfast in the cafe he works in at the station when he heard the loud explosion. I went to look out the window and I could see a big fire and people running away, he said. I ran downstairs to give a fire extinguisher to a man and I could see about 20 bodies on the ground.

He added, One young girl was lying on the ground crying and she told me she was looking for her aunt. I dont know if she found her.

Within hours of the incident, Transport Minister Hisham Arafat had resigned.

Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek said investigators had determined that the locomotives conductor had left the car to fight with another conductor whose railcar was blocking his own.

Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly, who visited the scene soon after the crash, said, "Any person found to be negligent will be held accountable and it will be severe.

Six people, including the train conductor, were arrested on Feb. 28.

Al-Monitor asked the manager of Ramses station, Mostafa Mahran, for a comment on the incident, but he said he was not authorized to speak to the media, citing a heavy security presence.

Egypts train safety record is poor. According to Egypts state statistics agency CAPMAS, there were 10,965 railroad accidents between 2008 and 2017.

A year ago, on Feb. 28, two trains collided to the north of Cairo in the Nile Delta region killing 12 people. In August 2017, over 40 people were killed and nearly 180 injured when two trains collided in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria.

Anger quickly grew in Egypt, including on social media platforms, where many users questioned why such an accident could occur at the countrys busiest transport hub in rush hour, especially after other recent deadly incidents.

Shortly after the crash, various hashtags were trending on Twitter with users expressing outrage at the governments perceived neglect of the public infrastructure and broader discontent at the political and social situation in Egypt.

One Twitter user wrote, Accidents such as yesterdays hint to state failure.

Others on Twitter also expressed outrage at what they see as the states misdirected priorities.

Last year, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi talked about the need to modernize Egypts railway system to prevent such accidents from occurring. He said 200 billion Egyptian pounds (about $11 billion) was needed to overhaul the network.

In March 2018, Egypts parliament approved a law to allow private sector participation in the railway sector development. It came just as then-Transport Minister Arafat said there would be a marked improvement in Egypts railway system by mid-2019.

But many are critical of the states approach and believe that improvements to the public infrastructure are being overlooked in favor of glossy new mega-projects, such as the current construction of a new capital to the east of Cairo in the desert.

Nancy Okail, executive director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said in an email to Al-Monitor that the Egyptian state should be prioritizing more urgent needs over mega-projects. There has been an unnecessary pressure to speed up construction in mega-projects, which has put a high strain on the budget as it costs much more to conduct them, she said.

Okail argued that there has not been enough focus on human capital, saying, What [Egypt] really needs is investments in human capital employed in terms of training, regular inspections for license renewals and an enforcement of an accountability system that is not even in place."

The full political fallout from the accident is yet to be seen.

But even in Egypts usually uncritical parliament, a group of dissenting representatives known as the 25-30 bloc offered tough criticism in a statement posted on Facebook. It is understood that a minister resigned, but the responsibility of this passes to all officials who did not care about the real needs of the people, the statement read.

Amro Ali, a lecturer in sociology at the American University of Cairo, told Al-Monitor that there is nothing new about the talk to improve infrastructure in Egypt. But people just shrug their shoulders with any talk about mega-projects, he said. People are exhausted, they want to see real change, physical changes, where infrastructure is visibly improved.
After 10 years as head of one of the most important, and repressive, institutions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani will step down as chief of the judiciary and be replaced by Ebrahim Raisi. Larijani will join other recent government semi-retirees as a member of the Expediency Council, an institution designed to resolve differences between the parliament and the Guardian Council. Raisi will take the helm at a time when his history, concurrent posts and support from Reformists are in question.

Judiciary spokesman Gholam Hussein Mohseni Ejei confirmed Raisis appointment March 3 during a press conference. This confirmation that Raisi had been appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was followed by comments from Yayha Kamalipour, a member of parliaments judiciary commission, who said Raisi will take over March 8.

Raisi first entered the national stage in 2016 when Khamenei appointed him as custodian of Astan-e Quds Razavi, one of the wealthiest endowments in Iran, which operates the Imam Reza Shrine and a vast amount of surrounding property in the northeastern city of Mashhad. The previous custodian, Ayatollah Abbas Vaez-Tabasi, had held the position since the 1979 Islamic Revolution until his death in 2016.

Shortly after the appointment as custodian of Astan-e Quds Razavi, Raisi decided to run against President Hassan Rouhani, who was seeking a second term in the 2017 presidential race. Raisi received favorable coverage from conservative media, with some even elevating his clerical position from hojat-al Islam to the more senior ayatollah. Though the conservative candidate lacked charisma and even made political missteps such as seeking the endorsement of popular tattooed Iranian rapper Amir Tattalou, Raisi still garnered nearly 16 million votes to Rouhanis 23.6 million.

An incident in Raisis past came to further light in 2016. The son of the late Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, Ahmad Montazeri, released an audio file regarding the 1988 mass executions of prisoners. Raisi, a deputy prosecutor in 1988, was implicated as being one of the men responsible for carrying out the execution orders by then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Hossein Ali Montazeri fell from power in 1988 as a result of his opposition to these killings. In retaliation for releasing the tape, Ahmad Montazeri was sentenced to six years in prison by the Special Court of Clergy, although he was quickly released through the intervention of senior clergy in Qom.

Both before and after the 1988 executions, the 58-year-old Raisi has held important positions in the judiciary. He has been attorney general of the country, first deputy of the judiciary, head of the General Inspection Office of Iran and attorney general of the Special Court of Clergy.

Given his history, it was surprising to see a number of Reformists support his appointment as head of judiciary.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, an Iranian Reformist politician who spent time in prison after the 2009 election, tweeted regarding the previous successions of judiciary chiefs, Among those who believe that Hashemi Shahroudi [judiciary chief 1999-2009] was able to bring the judiciary back from the ruins of Mohammad Yazdis term [as judiciary chief from 1989-99], and that Sadegh Larijani was also able to make it accountable to societys needs, there is hope that Raisi will bring the judiciary up to date and make it efficient. He ended the tweet, Iran needs a judiciary that is independent, unbiased and answerable.

Reformist member of parliament Mahmoud Sadeghi tweeted, Many judges of the judiciary are optimistic about the imminent changes in management of the judiciary. Given the history of the likely choice of the next judiciary chief, there is hope that the General Inspection Office will recover its necessary place in fighting corruption. The Reformist Shargh Daily printed Iranian writer Abbas Maroufis recollection of an encounter with Raisi when he was a judge; the article painted the cleric as handsome and a fan of the author's work.

For many Reformists who fought Raisis 2017 election bid and issued dire warnings about a return of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad-era politics if Raisi were to win, the thought of having him in a position of this much power as judiciary chief is certainly worrying. After all, as attorney general of the Special Court of Clergy, it was Raisi who went after Ahmad Montazeri for releasing the tapes.

But it appears that Reformists, who are struggling to maintain relevance, must now strategically walk back some of their criticisms of Raisi and avoid opening another front, which they certainly would not win and would only lead to their diminished influence in politics and among the electorate.
The Israeli governments campaign equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism has achieved considerable success. In May 2016, the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance (IHRA) decided to add targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity to its definition of anti-Semitism.

French President Emmanuel Macron made similar comments in 2017 and again on Feb. 21 of this year during a meeting with the leadership of CRIF (Conseil Representatif des Institutions Juives de France), the umbrella organization of the French Jewish community, as reported in Al-Monitor by Rina Bassist. Macron reiterated the identification of anti-Zionism with modern-day anti-Semitism and pledged that his government would define anti-Zionism as a form of anti-Semitism. Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbin, leader of the Labor Party in the United Kingdom, came in for sharp criticism when his party initially refused to adopt the IHRA's definition, criticism that eventually led to a change in Labors position and adoption of the definition in September 2018.

Israel wants anyone seeking its friendship to identify anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. I am not sure, however, that this is the right battle for Israel to wage, and I have a hard time understanding how this formula benefits the country. The Zionist idea envisioned all the Jews of the world gathering in Israel, but not everyone who rejects this idea is an anti-Semite.

In historical terms, the determination equating anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism is wrong. Anti-Semitism was the driving force for the creation of the Zionist movement in the second half of the 19th century by European Jews who felt they were being stifled, driven out of various professions or relegated to quotas in other fields, put on trial for crimes they did not commit and subjected to vitriol by the political right and left. The anti-Semites of the 19th century were not (necessarily) enemies of Zionism, and to some extent, they even found a common denominator with the new movement: They wanted Europe cleansed of Jews, while Zionism urged Jews to leave Europe. Thus, the haters and the hated cooperated on occasion.

The most prominent example of this kind of cooperation in modern times is the strange alliance between Israels political right and Christian evangelists around the world who seek to ensure that at the end of time, all the Jews will convert to Christianity or be annihilated. For the evangelists, the Jews serve as harbingers of the Messiahs coming on a donkey. According to evangelical doctrine, to ensure the Second Coming of Christ, all the Jews must live in an undivided Land of Israel. For now, they are supporters of Israel and are viewed as bigger Israel lovers than many Diaspora Jews, keeping their vision of the end of time in the vault.

Manifestations of open anti-Semitism declined after the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, as did blatant opposition to the establishment of a Jewish state, with one exception. The Islamic states, especially the Arab ones, took up the banner of hostility toward Israel and turned the notorious anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion into a sort of second Quran. Their hatred of Israel was accompanied by hatred of Jews, but one cannot say that the Arabs' anti-Israel sentiment was a new cover for anti-Semitism. On the contrary, opposition to the Jewish state gave birth to manifestations of anti-Semitism in the Arab Semitic world.

There is ongoing tension between the struggle against anti-Semitism and the yearning for an ingathering of Jews under one roof as clearly manifested in comments by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris after the January 2015 terror attack on a Jewish supermarket. Netanyahu, in almost spontaneous fashion, trotted out the classic Zionist response and urged French Jews to immigrate to Israel in light of the attacks against them. The French government saw this as a slap in the face. Prime Minister Manuel Valls responded that without its Jews, France would not be France. Valls saw anti-Semitism as a racist phenomenon that should be erased from French soil and believed that its mitigation lay in educating the French, not in mass Jewish migration to Israel.

Millions of Israelis hold views locating them on the spectrum between non-Zionists and anti-Zionists. Most Palestinians living in Israel, or almost all of them, regard Zionism as a movement that drove their relatives from their homes and demanded Jews' priority over them. Most if not all accept the existence of the state and fulfill their civic duties, and the majority are even proud of their country and admit its advantages over neighboring states. They also, however, regard the very idea of Zionism as the cause of their deprivation and have a hard time understanding how Jews dare declare, The Bible is our mandate to the Land, as David Ben-Gurion famously told the Peel Commission in January 1937, and why we had to choose Palestine of all places when fleeing European anti-Semitism.

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews also oppose Zionism. They view it as a challenge to the religious concept that calls for waiting for the Messiah rather than taking the liberty of jumping the gun and establishing a Jewish state. Some among them live in Israel and boycott everything to do with the state  from the time zone on their clocks to government-issued identification cards to tax payments. Some simply express their displeasure by refusing to stand at attention during the annual sounding of sirens throughout Israel to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and the fallen of Israels wars. Others refuse to serve as government ministers, even though their political parties are members of the ruling coalition, so as not to bear responsibility for the sins of the secular state.

There are radical anti-Zionists among this group as well as others who repress their anti-Zionism and when asked whether they are anti-Zionists always respond, We pray Next year in Jerusalem, invoking the other name of Zion. They are convinced that this response is the most crushing answer to the troublesome question.

Then there is a minority of secular Israeli Jews who are not Zionists and proud of it. They range from the Canaanites, who in 1939 called for the integration of Jews into the region and handed out flyers opposing Zionism, to the Hebrew communists and others. All these groups are far from being anti-Semites, each opposing Zionism for reasons of its own.

One cannot ignore the link between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. Sometimes, anti-Zionism is, indeed, a guise for anti-Semitism, but we are not doing anyone any favors by insisting on equating the two terms. They are partially congruent, but not identical. It would be a mistake to enshrine this in law and a mistake to consider it some sort of Israeli achievement.
Ultra-Orthodox journalists are increasingly dominating Twitter. What started as a marginal phenomenon has become over the past year a broad one, with growth in the number of ultra-Orthodox tweeters and the number of followers among the general public. The influence of ultra-Orthodox journalists on general discourse on the popular social media platform has also grown. The phenomenon is especially prominent in the current election cycle, in the course of which ultra-Orthodox journalists and politicians have been updating, and sometimes breaking, news from the sector, but also from outside it.

Aryeh Ehrlich, editor at Mishpacha newspaper, is one of the pioneering ultra-Orthodox journalists on Twitter. He set up his account in February 2013 and has amassed more than 29,000 followers. When I opened my [Twitter] account I was one of the first ultra-Orthodox journalists on this medium, he told Al-Monitor. In the beginning there were quite a few tweeters who asked me if its acceptable in the ultra-Orthodox community [to be on Twitter]. Today theres nothing more natural. The deputy mayor of Jerusalem  ultra-Orthodox Yossi Daitsh  has an active Twitter account. Chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party Aryeh Deri is also an active Twitter user.

Journalist Shimon Breitkopf, who has 11,000 followers, believes that the ultra-Orthodox presence on the social media platform shatters stigmas and myths. Twitter has shown that the ultra-Orthodox are like everyone else, he told Al-Monitor. There are ridiculous people, there are brilliant people and there are those who dont get jokes. Twitter has humanized the ultra-Orthodox, who have always been presented [in Israeli society] as a stereotype. In my opinion, this is important especially on Twitter, since it is a key medium for journalists and public opinion shapers. Those who are hurt by the phenomenon are journalists [who report] on ultra-Orthodox affairs at the main media organizations  those who flourished in the 1990s but in recent years have lost their primacy. Now you no longer have to have heroic courage to infiltrate the community as a journalist in order to document whats happening in [Jerusalems ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of] Meah Shearim. Meah Shearim is on Twitter.

You could say that the best way to get to know the ultra-Orthodox world, relatively speaking of course, is through Twitter, said Yerach Toker, a public relations expert with 25,000 followers and the spokesman for Knesset member Moshe Gafni [Yahadut HaTorah]. Before the era of Twitter, there was a phenomenon of [secular] ultra-Orthodox affairs journalists. Today we hardly see this phenomenon. Even on TV talk shows where theres a relevant topic, they bring ultra-Orthodox people and not analysts on ultra-Orthodox affairs. In my opinion, Twitter is responsible for this to some extent. The ultra-Orthodox tell about themselves in a much more authentic and reliable way, and they have their own voice. Theres no longer a need for someone to mediate them to Israeli society. Today when you want to know about the ultra-Orthodox, you just follow them on Twitter.

He added, "This medium has almost entirely eliminated incitement against the ultra-Orthodox that came out of ignorance. There had been quite a few reports in the media that suffered from glaring distortion. I immediately tweeted about it and the media outlets understood their mistake and fixed it. We are a kind of first aid.

Ehrlich also bolsters the argument that he and his friends render ultra-Orthodox affairs journalists redundant. Journalists on ultra-Orthodox affairs have a questionable record of disseminating inflammatory, false and distorted information about the ultra-Orthodox, he noted. Thats the reason my ultra-Orthodox colleagues and I have issued a call to boycott the program 'True Face' by reporter on ultra-Orthodox affairs Amnon Levy, where we say Stop the voyeurism and the hate  reveal the true face.

Ehrlich added, Levy is one of those former ultra-Orthodox affairs journalists who have seen the ultra-Orthodox as perfect material for anthropological productions. He has led a series of voyeuristic and humiliating projects about the ultra-Orthodox. If for years this has gone over quietly, in the era of Twitter its done. We have stopped turning the other cheek.

Levy rejects these claims, and said, Ultra-Orthodox journalists are conducting a campaign against me out of frustration. I help the ultra-Orthodox.

Shahar Ilan of the Calcalist newspaper, who was the ultra-Orthodox affairs analyst at Haaretz, agrees that Twitter enables ultra-Orthodox journalists better access than in the past to secular journalists and politicians. Twitter  just like online comment sections on news sites  has created a kind of democratization in the discourse, he told al-Monitor. But I dont think the role of ultra-Orthodox affairs reporters has become redundant. To a certain extent ultra-Orthodox journalists on Twitter are acting as spokespeople for official ultra-Orthodox positions, and dont necessarily do whats required of journalists: internal critique and dredging up stories.

Journalist Shimon Breitkopf thinks Ilan is mistaken. Twitter in particular and the ultra-Orthodox internet in general are pioneers where it comes to addressing problems within the sector and raising issues that havent been addressed. The ultra-Orthodox at times seem to be acting as spokesmen for ultra-Orthodox positions because the ultra-Orthodox are under constant attack in the Israeli media. Just as Arab tweeters explain the positions of Arab Israelis. But there is also a lot of internal critique.

For Ehrlich, the ultra-Orthodox presence on Twitter has brought them into the center of Israeli discourse. Thanks to Twitter the ultra-Orthodox have become part of the general political discourse in Israel. It is the height of integration in Israeli society. Twitter has shown that the ultra-Orthodox have a say on any topic and any area. They no longer just talk about [Jewish Eastern Europian dish] kugel and news from the Hassidic circles  though theres that too.

However, Toker thinks that this should not be seen as a signal for the penetration of social media into the ultra-Orthodox sector. "Twitter is still a medium mostly for journalists and activists. Regular people [Israelis] are usually on Facebook. But ordinary ultra-Orthodox people are on neither platform. Having an account on social media is still taboo among most ultra-Orthodox communities. But when it comes to journalists and spokesmen, it is more accepted  although most ultra-Orthodox Knesset members and journalists from the main [ultra-Orthodox] streams still do not have social media accounts. However, many among the ultra-Orthodox political leadership understand the enormous positive influence of the ultra-Orthodox on Twitter," he said.
MOSCOW  The Russian Defense Ministry has launched its latest public relations campaign: a traveling exhibit of weaponry and equipment captured in Syria from opposition militants and terrorist groups.

On Feb. 23, Defender of the Fatherland Day, the military equipment was loaded onto a train that also doubles as a museum exhibit, titled Syrias turning point. It was first displayed at Moscow's Kazansky railway terminal. The train will travel to about a dozen other cities, from Sevastopol in Crimea all the way to Vladivostok in the far east, covering more than 17,000 miles. The mobile exhibit will run until April 17, when Syria celebrates its independence day. The schedule and route of the train can be traced online.

Maj. Gen. Alexander Yaroshevich, the Defense Ministry's chief transport official, said the display aims to offer a sense of what the army encounters in Syria, according to Haaretz.

Soldiers and military officials who accompany the train will recount to visitors stories of how the equipment was seized.

The train is being welcomed to new cities and stations with much fanfare, attracting large crowds of locals who come to catch a glimpse of the artifacts. The train's 20 cars are divided by theme, including chemical agents, improvised explosives and automatic rifles. With more than 5,000 items on board, including armored personnel carriers and drones, the most popular exhibits are a -55 tank, an Eagle Head armored vehicle seized from the People's Protection Units, an Aardvark JSFU mobile mine detector and a Jeep Grand Cherokee jihad-mobile.

One train car contains a gift shop where visitors can buy Russian military paraphernalia, while another car is a military recruitment center.

The campaign, initiated by President Vladimir Putin himself, comes as part of a set of initiatives to whip up patriotic sentiment.

Syria has arguably been Russias most successful policy achievement over the last five years. Whereas Russias relationship with the West is at its lowest point in recent history, and the long proclaimed pivot to Asia hasnt materialized as intended, the Middle East has emerged as a venue for Moscow to showcase its best diplomatic practices and brightest military breakthroughs.

The situation in Syria today is still complicated. While Moscow has inserted itself in spats between Israelis and Iranians, Turks and Kurds, it has also established itself as a go-to player among most local and regional actors. Yet, just as the Kremlin is trying to profit from its Syria success  by monetizing relationships and entering markets  the Syrian campaign, on the domestic front, doesn't inspire national pride or reinforce Putin's popularity.

An April 2018 Russian opinion poll on Syria, conducted by the nongovernmental Levada Center, concluded that 31% of those surveyed said they were watching the developments in Syria very closely, the highest percentage since June 2013, when such polling was first conducted. Meanwhile, 51% said they followed developments but not very closely," with 14% saying they didnt know much about the latest events in Syria. Asked whether people feared that Syria may bring Russia and the West to a third world war, 16% said they were seriously concerned, 41% had some concerns, and 27% and 11% said they didnt have much concern or had no concern, respectively.

In March 2018, the state-run Russian Public Opinion Research Center conducted its own survey. Of the 84% who said they followed events in Syria, only 22% said they followed it regularly. Most expressed pessimism regarding developments in Syria: 25% said they saw the situation as a stalemate, while 17% believed things were getting worse. This is remarkable given that in September 2017, 58% said they felt the situation in Syria had stabilized. In February 2018, the number of optimists decreased to 38%.

That said, 73% of those surveyed believed that Moscow had achieved its goals in Syria. (Interestingly, the number was high among Russians over the age of 60  83%  and among those aged 18 to 24  61%.) However, when asked about Russias further participation in the conflict, 34% supported the Kremlin's current policies, 14% advocated for a more proactive stance, 24% said Moscow should either halt its actions or choose a more cautious course, and 11% argued Russia should cease its operation.

Finally, a media analysis found that, from January 2015 to February 2018, the word "Syria" appeared in the Russian media over 3.2 million times. While no further analysis was conducted, it's apparent that the presence of the Syria issue in the Russian public sphere has visibly decreased, with the domestic socio-economic agenda dominating discourse.

Besides, since the future of the Syrian war and the post-war settlement is precarious, the Russian leadership is seeking to take advantage of the opportunity and make the most of its spoils of war.

However, the traveling exhibit has provoked mixed reactions, including criticism that the funds used for the exhibit could've been better directed toward the social needs of the people.

Alexey Avetisyan, a lawyer in the southern city of Krasnodar, together with his colleagues, appealed to the regional prosecutors office to investigate the train exhibit.

To show to the kids the swords with which terrorists have been chopping [off] heads of the captives, or exhibit the explosive devices used to bomb civilians, is this acceptable? Avetsiyan complained on Facebook.

We believe all this rubbish [military equipment] should be either simply destroyed or used by the military exclusively," he added. "By showing it around the country [the military is] intimidating the population [and] methodically propagating the politics of 'aggressive militarism.'"

Another social media user raised an important question concerning Russias participation in the Syria conflict.

Well, if Russian forces didnt participate in a ground operation, as Putin and [Defense Minister Sergei] Shoigu have stated several times, where did they get the trophies from? Did they steal them from the allies  Iran and Hezbollah? the person asked on Twitter. The account was soon deleted.

Others joked, saying that instead of a military exhibit on wheels, the government should have launched a food train across the country following the highly contested Russian pension reform.

Those who applaud the initiative say it should have been carried out in a more organized way, with the ministry doing a better job raising awareness of the exhibit so more people could see it.

The military itself believes that a patriotic upbringing, which is a goal of the exhibit, is integral to the strengthening of Russias defense potential.

We have long argued that exploiting a countrys protest potential to later use as a pretext to intervene or stage a special operation is how modern and future warfare will be conducted," a high-level military official told Al-Monitor, arguing that what happened in Libya and Syria "is now happening in Venezuela. Theres only one way to shield from this kind of threat: by instilling a sense of patriotism in the people, in the youths.

He continued, They should take pride in the heroic deeds of their countrymen in the military. Things like this train exhibit help them feel part of this historic experience."
The Pentagon rerouted millions of dollars worth of weapons and vehicles from Iraq to Syria in the second half of 2018, Al-Monitor has learned, as US-backed forces cornered the last remnants of the Islamic State (IS).

In a series of notifications to Congress reviewed by Al-Monitor, the Defense Department said it had determined that a bevy of supplies purchased by the Pentagon for the Iraqi military would instead go to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The Pentagon sent lawmakers its last reprogramming notification for 2018 on Dec. 31, 12 days after President Donald Trump announced his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria.

The stock of equipment includes nearly 50 Humvees, 20 mine-resistant vehicles, 40 enhanced armament carriers and nearly 700 light anti-tank weapons. The Pentagon also approved the transfer of more than 2,400 mortar rounds, 25 mine rollers and dozens of charges used to destroy mines and other explosives, the letters indicate.

Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a Pentagon spokesman, would not confirm whether the supplies had been moved, citing government policy. When Al-Monitor reported the transfer of route clearance equipment to Syria in June, he said it would assist the SDF in successfully retaking the last remaining [IS-held] territory in Syria.

Ensuring that the SDF are sufficiently equipped has been critical to the SDFs hard-fought campaign to liberate the Middle Euphrates River Valley from [IS] control, he said last month. The [Defense] department will always exercise effective and efficient use of the train-and-equip funding appropriated by Congress.

Experts said the equipment may help the SDF further diminish IS, which beefed up its urban defenses with car bombs, booby traps and other battlefield hazards. Al-Monitor first reported that the Pentagon was transferring equipment from Iraq to Syria in June.

The equipment would be helpful, particularly to be able to overcome entrenched [IS] defenses and vehicle-born improvised explosive devices, which the militant group used extensively to slow US-backed forces in Syrias Middle Euphrates River Valley, said Nick Heras, a Middle East fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

Mazlum Kobane, the SDFs top commander, said last week IS is just days away from losing control of all its territory in Syria. But the shift in resources may come at a cost for Iraq, which is struggling to regain its military footing even after declaring IS defeated in 2017.

The Pentagon budgeted $800 million to rebuild the countrys armed forces last spring. But experts worry that without US boots on the ground in next-door Syria, Iraq could be forced to pick up the slack, taking on an expeditionary role fighting IS across the border.

When you dont have intelligence on the ground and you lose some of the things that are leaving, it will become much more pinpricks from the outside, said Linda Robinson, a senior defense researcher at the RAND Corporation. It will become a much more difficult fight to prosecute. Its first a question of the wolf at the door and then the wolf across the border.

As Iraq looks to beef up its counterinsurgency operations against IS, and US forces take on more of a training mission, Ambassador Fareed Yasseen said the US troop and equipment presence in Iraq remains to be seen.

It will certainly mean more American troops if we get American equipment, Yasseen said. It will probably mean less if we buy European or Russian equipment. The American equipment is pretty expensive, and were cash-strapped.

The envoys assessment aligns with incoming US Central Command chief, Marine Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who told Congress in December that Iraq will not be able to pay to maintain US equipment.

Yasseen said Iraq will likely see an internationalization of the Western military presence thats there in support of Iraqi military capabilities. That includes a new NATO training operation led by Canadian Gen. Dany Fortin. The US-led coalition fighting in Iraq told the Pentagons inspector general last month that training of Iraqi forces is of a basic nature and does not fit US definitions of counterinsurgency instruction.

Though the president visited US troops at al-Asad air base in December, he did not meet with Iraqi officials.

Every minute we try to spend putting the Humpty Dumpty back together again we are reducing our opportunity to solidify Iraq, Robinson said. We have to look at all of the pieces on the chessboard and make the right decision.
CAIRO  An Egyptian campaign calling for a marriage boycott until prospective brides' families lower their financial expectations of would-be sons-in-law has spurred strong reactions from Dar al-Ifta, Egypts ultimate religious authority, and young women themselves.

The online campaign Let Her Stay Single, launched on Facebook, urges young people, primarily men, to boycott marriage rather than struggle to meet the financial demands of women's families before they consent to their daughters marrying. A typical demand might include a fully furnished home, jewelry for the bride and family and a big wedding. The campaign, whose logo depicts a bride, a groom and a crossed red circle, kicked off on Facebook in early January. Its popularity attracted the attention of local media.

Many of the online postings maintain that if jewelry and a huge wedding are required to get married, it might be best for young women to instead remain at home and accept spinsterhood. Supporters share cartoons or pictures of what they call old maids or spinsters along with anecdotes about how they failed to marry the woman they desired because they could not afford her family's demands.

A young man in his 20s who posted his experience on the campaign's Facebook page and requested anonymity told Al-Monitor that his first relationship ended two years ago because his girlfriend's family requested a house in an affluent neighborhood, a huge dowry, an expensive wedding ring and a wedding party in a luxury hotel. The total cost would have been 1.5 million Egyptian pounds ($85,709).

Although the young man earned a monthly salary of 8,000 pounds ($457), which is better than most, he could not meet all of their requests over the course of a two-year engagement. I calculated that I had to save more than three-quarters of my income for more than 200 months to fulfill their demands, he told Al-Monitor.

Egyptian women who feel that the anti-marriage campaign portrays women and their families as money-grabbers were quick to start a campaign of their own, using the hashtag #stayinyourmother'slap. Since its launch on Jan. 28, a number of groups and individuals behind various Facebook pages have adopted the hashtag with the common objective being to counter the claims that men face the financial burdens of marriage alone. Many posts note that the brides families shoulder costs as well.

Heba Abdel Aziz, a campaign co-founder, told Al-Monitor that Let Her Stay Single depicts most girls parents as materialistic, but it is actually only uneducated families that seek to ensure material gains through the marriage of their daughters. Well-educated families that are keen on their daughters future do not tie marriage to money, especially since the girls parents traditionally bear half the cost of the wedding.

Mohamed el-Masri, a co-founder of Let Her Stay Single, told Al-Monitor his side of the story. Our campaign does not intend to insult women, he asserted. Nor do we portray only the girls as spinsters. Spinsterhood is a description that applies to men and women. Many girls who have been denied marriage because of their parents exaggerated demands support us.

Meanwhile, Dar al-Ifta has condemned Let Her Stay Single, declaring it contrary to Islamic law, even if those behind it had good intentions. In a report published Feb. 14 on its fatwa website, the authority called on Egyptians not to join the campaign because reluctance to marriage could push youths into extramarital relations, which is contrary to Sharia.

Dar al-Ifta also pointed out the need to remove social and financial obstacles to marriage. It urged families to lower their dowry requests and for young people to take advantage of loan programs for newlyweds.

Responding to Dar al-Ifta, Masri said, We [also] believe that marriage is Gods will. Ours is a call to end the harsh conditions imposed for getting married.  We are calling for a temporary boycott, not an indefinite boycott.

Some activists, among them Ahmed Hijazi, believe the campaign is unlikely to achieve anything. These young men are not only frustrated but immature, he told Al-Monitor, additionally claiming that they were mainly chasing beautiful and rich girls beyond their economic class and therefore unattainable.

He also called them shallow in terms of their choices.

Siham Afifi, a retired sociology professor at Menoufia University, explained the problem of financial demands in terms of inherited traditions. The fact that these traditions continue to be observed today reflects the strong domination of the older generations at the familial level, she told Al-Monitor. The younger generation, male and female, according to Afifi, often end up bowing to their demands.

Afifi said that she hopes the social media campaigns will create awareness and empower young Egyptians, especially women, to demand greater freedom to make personal decisions about marriage and in other areas of their lives. She called on families to limit their input to advice and guidance, with ultimate decisions being left to their children.
A longtime employee of the National Park Service in Alabama will continue her work for the agency in Birmingham.

Barbara Tagger, the acting superintendent of the Selma to Montgomery National Historic trail, says she will head to Birmingham to work with the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, which includes the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, 16th Street Baptist Church, and the A.G. Gaston Motel.

Tagger announced the move on Sunday to an audience gathered at Brown Chapel A.M.E in Selma to commemorate Bloody Sunday and the Selma to Montgomery marches of 1965. In attendance were Hillary Clinton and Sen. Cory Booker, both of whom gave rousing speeches about the sanctity of Selmas role in the civil rights movement.

While she didnt specify her new role at the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument, Tagger did tell the crowd she was happy to continue her work helping the nation learn about Alabamas place in the civil rights movement, saying she was blessed to have helped create National Park Services Selma to Montgomery trail, which traces the path of activists as they marched from Brown Chapel A.M.E over the Edmund Pettus Bridge to Montgomery to demand the right to vote.

This is hallowed ground, Tagger said of Brown Chapel A.M.E and the Selma to Montgomery Trail.

In 2016, the National Park Service awarded grant funding to Birminghams 16th Street Baptist Church and three other historic Alabama sites for ongoing preservation.

Outgoing president Barack Obama signed a proclamation designating the Birmingham Civil Rights District as a national monument in 2017.

That day, mayor William Bell said the designation was transformative for the city of Birmingham.

To have our story not only recognized, but secured for generations to come, will change the way we are able to go after federal funding, improve our neighborhoods and continue to acknowledge the contribution of Birmingham, the city that broke the back of segregation and changed the world.

A long-time employee of the National Park Service who has worked as historian and project manager, Tagger received the 2013 Harriet Tubman Life Time Achievement Award for her work in planning and developing the agencys Harriet Tubman Underground State Park and Byway in Cambridge, Md.

To see more of Alabamas nine national park sites, go here.
A video showing Alabama high school students drinking and using racist slurs at an off-campus gathering surfaced on social media over the weekend.

In the video, shared on Facebook and other platforms, a group of white students are going back and forth talking about the Holocaust, about Jewish people, and about African-Americans, using the n-word multiple times in a derogatory manner.

"F--- n------'s, f--- Jews," one boy says.

Jews are fine because theyre white, a girl says. We just need the n----'s gone.

The teens attend schools in Hoover, a suburb south of Birmingham.

Hoover City Councilman Derrick Murphy said, I am saddened by the words and thoughts of these children. There is no excuse for hate speech; or hate for that matter. This does not represent our city.

Hoover Superintendent Kathy Murphy, who is not related to the councilman, told AL.com, We are exceptionally sad and disappointed that this would either be the attitude of some of our young people or whatever would prompt them to have such conversations.

The father of one of the students, Gordon Stewart, issued an apology for his daughters behavior on his business social media accounts. Stewart is the owner of Hoover Toyota.

Superintendent Murphy said she held a conference call early Monday morning with both Hoover and Spain Park high school principals, confirming the students are enrolled in the school system. Murphy was sent the video around 11 p.m. Sunday night, she said.

Any disciplinary action would take into account that the event happened off of school property. To the extent that a matter happens off campus and has some residual impact in the school itself, Murphy said, will affect what action is taken.

"It certainly speaks to the work we have before us," she said.

The father of one of the students, Gordon Stewart, issued an apology for his daughters behavior on his business social media accounts. Stewart is the owner of Hoover Toyota.

An important message from Gordon Stewart, Owner of Hoover Toyota. Posted by Hoover Toyota on Monday, March 4, 2019

Spain Park High School senior Unique Simpson, in a statement to AL.com, said, Honestly, I am so sick and tired of going through this same routine at Spain Park High School. Simpson, who is African-American, said multiple incidents have happened at the school that she feels have not been handled well by administrators. Ive been through so many personal experiences," she said. "This needs to stop.

Spain Park is a 1,600-student ninth- through 12th-grade school, one of two high schools in the 13,900-student district. The school has a student body that is 61 percent white, 22 percent black, 6 percent Asian, 6 percent Hispanic, and 5 percent mixed-race.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato issued a statement on Twitter Monday afternoon, saying The City of Hoover condemns racism and hatred in every form and at any place or time. We are deeply disturbed by a video that is currently circulating on social media. Our city is a place for all people to live, work and play in a safe environment.

The composition of the student body district-wide is 55 percent white, 25 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian and 5 percent multi-race. Just under 20 percent of Spain Park High Schools student body is eligible for free or reduced-price meals, according to numbers provided by the Alabama State Department of Education.

Spain Park High School principal Larry Giangrosso could not be reached for comment prior to the publication of this article.

Superintendent Murphy said the districts director of equity and educational initiatives, Terry Lamar is pulling us to the table for us to have some very critical and very courageous conversations about race relations in our schools and in our city. Lamar is directing the districts efforts to meet obligations of a federal school desegregation order resulting from a 1965 court case.

Murphy said she recognizes that Hoover is not the only place dealing with race issues. Schools end up being a microcosm of something much bigger, she said. We want to be advocates for making sure we are respecting all children.

The city is still dealing with the aftermath of the shooting of E.J. Bradford on Thanksgiving night, where a white Hoover policeman shot Bradford, an African-American, inside the Riverchase Galleria mall. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said in February the shooting was justified. The shooting led to protests in Hoover.

A Hoover High School teacher resigned in 2018 after using a racial slur to describe a students music choice during school.

As a parent, Councilman Murphy said, I sincerely pray for all of the parents represented in the video---whether they are also struggling with the same hate or are simply blindsided by the childrens thoughts, I have full confidence in school leadership on handling this situation.

The district sent the following in an email to parents and media Monday afternoon:

We have been made aware of a recently posted video that features Hoover School System students who appear to be engaged in disturbing conduct. The activity apparently took place this past weekend at a private residence. Although it was not part of any school function, the conduct in question is in direct conflict with our school systems values and its mission. Our school administrators are carefully investigating the situation in order to assess our options under the Code of Student Conduct. In the meantime, the Hoover school community may be assured that the Board, together with its administrative and instructional staff, remains steadfastly committed to maintaining and strengthening a school culture that encourages and embraces diversity, inclusiveness, and tolerance.

Updated at 12:55 p.m. to include descriptive information about the student body in the school and the district. Updated at 1:00 p.m. to include the statement from Hoover City Schools. Updated at 2:10 p.m. to include statement from Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato. This story was updated at 8:30 p.m. to include an apology from Gordon Stewart, owner of Hoover Toyota. Reporter Jonece Starr Dunigan contributed to this article.
Update:

BREAKING: Preliminary EF-4 Tornado Damage has been found along County Road 39 just east of Cave Mill Road in southwestern Lee County. Winds have been estimated at 170mph. Single family homes were completely destroyed. Photos are from those survey locations. #alwx pic.twitter.com/euYNfSDY11  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) March 4, 2019

Earlier:

A wave of deadly storms swept through Alabama Sunday afternoon, killing at least 23 people and causing widespread damage in the southeast part of the state.

The victims range from a child as young as 6 to older adults, according to Lee County Coroner Bill Harris. Drones equipped with heat-seeking equipment is being used to assist in the search for survivors.

Five children injured in the storm were transferred to Childrens Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, according to WIAT. The children were treated for head and orthopedic injuries. Three are trauma patients and two reportedly suffered significant injuries.

At least 12 of those deaths occurred in an area about 6 miles south of the city of Opelika, Sheriff Jay Jones said. The number of people who remain unaccounted for is in the double digits, according to Jones. Identification of the victims has not been released.

Jones said the community of Beauregard is among the hardest-hit areas, particularly the mobile home communities in the area.

East Alabama Medical Center said it received more than 50 patients as a result of the tornado and expected more. Other patients were sent to surrounding hospitals.

President Trump has pledged additional help for the state.

FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes. @GovernorKayIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

Gov. Kay Ivey said she has been in touch with federal officials.

Just spoke to @VP Pence, & he said hes keeping Alabama in his thoughts and prayers as we work to get things back on track. Our hearts are full because of the support were receiving on the national & local level. Thank you ALL!  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 4, 2019

The National Weather Service plans to send investigators out Monday to survey two storm tracks in Lee County.

At this time, we can confirm that there is at least EF-3 damage in extreme southern Lee County off County Road 36 just north/northwest of Dupree, the NWS said. The tornado track is at least one-half mile wide.

A third team will go to Barbour County to assess damage along two different tracks.

EF-3 storms pack wind speeds of between 158-206 mph.

Damage was reported in at least six Alabama counties.

Here's a radar loop of the destructive tornado that ripped through southern Lee County earlier today. This was the 1st tornado to impact the county. #alwx pic.twitter.com/QfKIju6OuN  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) March 4, 2019

Lee County

Two of the hardest-hit areas, Highways 38 and 39 in Lee County, remain blocked by storm debris. People are asked to avoid the area to allow first responders to continue their work.

All Lee County schools are closed Monday.

Barbour County

Twenty-five hangars and more aircraft and buildings were damaged at Eufaula Municipal Airport, according to the Dothan Eagle. An adjacent Eufaula Fire Department building was destroyed.

The tornado hit along Highway 431, almost 5 miles north of downtown Eufaula.

Deadliest storm

The Sunday storms are among the deadliest in Alabama history, according to the National Weather Service. The storms are also the deadliest day for tornadoes in the state since the Super Outbreak that killed hundreds in April 2011.

The death toll of 22  which is expected to rise  ties the number of fatalities from the Goshen tornado on March 27, 1994 and the Smithfield tornado on April 4, 1977.

You can see a list of Alabamas deadliest storms here.
Guwahati, March 4 : While, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) updation process is going in Assam to detect illegal foreigners residing in the state, a shocking data has come out that, over 1600 families of illegal Bangladeshi muslim are illegally residing in Karbi Anglong district.

It was revealed by the Chief Executive Member of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC).

Tuliram Ronghang, CEM of Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council revealed that, around 1634 families of illegal Bangladeshi muslim are illegally residing in the hill district of Assam.

He said that, eviction drives against the illegal foreigners are continuing.

Continuing operations against the illegal Bangladeshi muslims, who illegally residing in Assam's Karbi Anglong district, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) has carried out eviction drives against the illegal Bangladeshis.

The Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council authorities have so far evicted 1672 houses of illegal Bangladeshi muslims residing illegally in the hill district.

The authorities had carried out its drive at at Langkaijan area in the district and evicted over 100 houses of illegal Bangladeshi muslims, who encroached a vast forest area.

"Total geographical area in Karbi Anglong is 10,434 sq km and huge number of illegal Bangladeshi muslims are living in the territory of Karbi Anglong district. We have carried out eviction drive against these illegal Bangladeshi muslims," Tuliram Ronghang said.

He further said that, 1634 illegal Bangladeshi muslim families are illegally living in the hill district and eviction drives are continued.

It is to be mentioned that, over 40 lakh people were excluded from the complete draft of NRC, which was published on July 30 last year.

(By Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
Sundays tornado carried a billboard from Lee County, Alabama to Hamilton, Georgia, some 20 miles away.

The Lee County Flea Market shared a photo on Facebook showing its billboard, formerly at the Buck Wild Saloon north of Smiths Station, in a front yard of home in Georgia. The billboard was mostly intact with little damage beyond a few holes.

A Facebook post from Lee County Flea Market shows its billboard after a tornado carried it to Georgia.

We've got something pretty crazy to share.



We have found evidence that the Lee Co. Flea Market billboard along US Hwy. 280 traveled 20 miles(!) in today's Lee County, GA Tornado. It was torn off N of Smith Station, AL and landed 20 miles to the NE in Hamilton,GA. #alwx #gawx pic.twitter.com/eLmU4NznIX  U.S. Tornadoes (@USTornadoes) March 4, 2019

Smiths Station is in Lee County, the site of Sundays devastating tornadoes. At least 23 people were killed in the storm, several remain missing and property damage has been described as catastrophic
Lee County Schools will remain closed Tuesday as grief counselors are preparing for students to return to class.

The community is devastated, Superintendent Dr. James McCoy said. Were trying to locate teachers, make sure they are OK and see if they need anything. We do know we have personnel that have lost houses.

Lee County Schools were closed Monday in the wake of Sundays deadly tornado. Twenty-three people have died in the storm, including two children.

McCoy said a grief counseling team will be on hand when students and teachers return.

We have wonderful neighbors at Opelika City Schools and Auburn City Schools offering help. And weve had calls from everywhere from Madison to Geneva and even Georgia offering services, McCoy said.

McCoy said the systems school buildings sustained some damage but none were destroyed. West Smiths Station Elementary was the hardest hit, with an air conditioning unit being knocked out and making a hole in the roof. The damage impacts 14 classrooms, McCoy said, but is limited to a stand-along building.

If we can get power on to the other buildings, were working on how we will move those classrooms around, McCoy said.

Schools in the hardest-hit area of Beauregard escaped major damage.

The date for schools to reopen will depend on the restoration of utilities and clearing of roads, McCoy said. Several schools are also being used as staging points for first responders and media.

Opelika and Auburn city schools are open Monday.
The storms are gone, and winter is about to make its presence felt again across Alabama.

The National Weather Service in Birmingham has issued a freeze warning for tonight for parts of central Alabama.

It will be in effect from midnight tonight until 10 a.m. Monday.

Temperatures overnight are forecast to fall into upper 20s to low 30s across the warning area, which could damage or kill sensitive crops or vegetation:

Here's a look at low temperatures expected tonight.

Many plants have bloomed early thanks to unseasonably mild weather in parts of central Alabama.

In fact, the National Weather Service in Birmingham said that the Birmingham International Airport only hit 32 degrees one time in all of February.

The counties in the freeze warning are: Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Winston, Walker, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, Talladega, Clay, Randolph, Sumter and Greene.

Expect the next several nights to be just as cold if not colder.

The weather service is expecting the coldest night for central Alabama to come on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, when temperatures could fall below freezing statewide.
A U.S. Federal district judge will hold a hearing today on the citizenship of Hoda Muthana, a young woman from Alabama who wants to come home four years after leaving the U.S. to join ISIS forces.

A federal judge granted an expedited hearing on Muthanas citizenship. Attorneys for Muthana and her family filed a lawsuit against Pompeo and the Trump administration on Feb. 21 asking the court to recognize her citizenship and the citizenship of her young son.

Pompeo told Gray Television Muthanas return would be a risk to the U.S. He said his attorneys plan to tell the judge today that Muthana has no citizenship and no legal basis on which to base her citizenship.

This woman should not come back to the United States. It presents an enormous risk to the United States of American if she returns. President Trump has made very, very clear if weve gotta prosecute terrorists here in the United States, were completely prepared to do that. But in this instance it make no sense.

Muthana told CBS News she does have the legal documentation for her citizenship and that she should be allowed back in to the U.S.

Were still trying to win the case and hopefully we will, Muthana told CBS News in Syria. I know I am an American citizen and I know I have the right to come back. I have no other citizenship anywhere. Even my own home country I dont. Ive never been there (Yemen).
In a matter of minutes Sunday, 23 people were killed as tornadoes tore through Lee County.

Four of the victims were children -- ages 6, 8, 9, and 10. A family of seven was among the dead. A young couple, both 22-years-old, also lost their lives. Another couple, both 59, were reconnected after years apart by Hurricane Michael, only to die together.

Full coverage of the March 3, 2019 tornadoes

Here are the names and ages of the dead: Armondo AJ Hernandez, 6; Charlotte Ann Miller, 59; David Dean, 53; Emmanuiel Jones, 53; Eric Jamal Stenson, 38; Felicia Woodall, 22; Florel Tate Stenson, 63; Henry Lewis Stenson, 65; Irma Gomez-Moran, 41; James Henry Tate, 86; Jimmy Lee Jones, 89; Jonathan Marquez Bowen, 9; Maggie Delight Robinson, 57; Mamie Roberts Koon, 68; Marshall Lynn Grimes, 59; Mary Louise Jones, 83; Mykala Waldon, 8; Raymond Robinson Jr., 63; Ryan Pence, 22; Sheila Creech, 59; Taylor Thornton, 10; Tresia Robinson, 62; Vicki Braswell, 69.

Here are their stories. This article will be updated as more information is available.

Mykala Tootie WaldonV+D420XPNSnaUuPHYreb1xH2P0fg9ZvfseBPgZcSy13fGK0zz2x1vbcl9Uqlqy2GdOX0cjCaQi6XmSz1ul1Lxg==

Mykala Tootie Waldon, 8

Mykala Tootie Waldon was among the youngest victims. She was only 8, but within those 8 years she accomplished and put forth nothing but love, according to a GoFundMe established to help with her funeral and the recovery of other family members. Mykala Waldon lived 8 years of joy no sorrow, health no pain, love never hate.

Michael Waldon described his daughter as an old soul.

She was just one of a kind, the grieving father said. It was like shed been in this world before.

Mykala, a third-grader at Beauregard Elementary School, was killed alongside her 9-year-old cousin, Jonathan Marquez Bowen. She was close to her cousin, and all of her family members. She touched so many people, Waldon said.

He said he doesnt know the details of what happened Sunday afternoon at the house where Mykala and Jonathan were killed, and others injured. I just know that storm took my daughter away, he said.

Two of Mykalas younger sisters are hospitalized in Birmingham. Everybody in the house was hurt, he said.

Mykalas passion was dance. It was her first love, Waldon said. She wanted to be a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader when she grew up. I took pride in my daughter.

Waldon said he is devastated by the loss. I aint going to see her go to Homecoming, or prom or decorate her college dorm room, he said. I took pride in my daughter.

Everybody said I did a lot for my daughter but now that shes gone, I feel like I failed her, he said. She was very special, and I just want her back.

There has been outpouring of support for Mykala via social media. Photos showed her smiling happily in a variety of dance costumes.

A piece of my heart is gone and I just cant understand why Lord!!!, wrote Mykalas aunt, Tameika Waldon-Carter. Help me my world is forever crumbled my baby gone yall.

Third-grade teacher Kristin Cofield pulled out her phone to look over her notes about Mykala. But nothing she had written about the vivacious 8-year-old seemed to do her justice.

There were no words for the feeling of the little girls hand in hers as they walked down the hall, or the way she would tell Cofield I love you at the end of every school day.

Cofield's eyes filled with tears before she could even say Mykala's name.

Dawn Weatherly reached for her hand as they remembered the girl with an expressive face and infectious energy, rarely seen without her signature purse full of lotions and chapstick.

They'd been teaching together at Beauregard Elementary School for a combined three decades, and Mykala was one of three students killed when a series of devastating tornadoes swept through the region on Sunday.

They were our angels, said the schools principal, Lisa Harris.

Maggie Robinson

Maggie Delight Robinson, 57, Raymond Robinson Jr. 63, and Tresia Robinson, 62

Robinson, who died after her home in Beauregard was struck by a tornado, dedicated her life to helping others. This summer would have marked her 40th work anniversary at East Alabama Medical Center as a nurse.

Everybody loved Maggie because she made it easy to love her, and like her. The Bible says the righteous will be remembered forever; I would like to say I believe that to be true about our Maggie. She had a heart of compassion and was so loving to us and to her patients, said Robinsons co-worker, Chona Lane, in a Facebook tribute posted by the hospital.

Willie Lewis, a former hospital employee and friend of Robinsons for 20 years, said the nursewas everyones friend, and she was easily my best friend.

Lewis said he spoke to Robinson, who was devoted to her faith, about one hour before the tornado struck.

We had discussed Galatians 6:9 about a week ago, and she told me that verse appeared in her devotionals three or four times during the week, he said. "She also told me Im in a good place; God is first and foremost in my life.

Chaplain Laura Eason, director of pastoral care at the hospital, met with Robinsons co-workers in the endoscopy department as they mourned her.

"They described Maggie as having a calm demeanor, and who always had a smile on her face, Eason said. They said she was the true light of the department.

Maggie Robinson grew up in what one relative calls a community of familyhood.

Ten members of that familyhood died when the tornado struck the close-knit town of Beauregard, including Maggie, her 63-year-old cousin Raymond Robinson Jr. and his 62-year-old wife Tresia.

The Robinsons have ties to the Jones, Stenson and Tate families, who live nearby and lost relatives as well.

"We were like sisters and brothers instead of friends and neighbors, and then, of course, cousins," Monica Jones Harvey said in an Opelika-Auburn News report . She is related to the Jones and Robinson families, and friends with the Stenson and Tate families.

Growing up in Beauregard, Harvey said the families were always at each other's homes, with the kids playing outside.

"The community of familyhood. That's what it was. And it's still like that," Harvey said.

A.J. Hernandez

Armando A.J. Hernandez, 6

A.J.s grandfather Bobby Kidd said the child did everything a 6 year old likes to dobut mainly he loved play basketball, watch cartoons, and eat chicken nuggets.

A.J., his 10-year-old brother, and father were home when the tornado hit. Kidd said the three huddled in a closet and the boys father wrapped his arms around the children. Kidd said the house took a direct hit though, and the children were torn away.

The childs body was found a short while later, Kidd said.

He was such a wonderful kid, Kidd said.

A.J.s brother suffered a broken arm and small skull fracture, while his dad sustained several rib fractures and other small abrasions. The boys mother was at work during the storm and wasnt home.

Theyre holding up, Kidd said when asked about the boys parents. Theyre holding up better than I would be. I know its going to get difficult as we go home But Beauregard is the greatest community.

Kidd said the family has received calls from across the nation asking what the family needed, and of people offering prayers. Its just been uplifting to know we have that kind of support, he said.

Marshall Lynn Grimes and Sheila Creech

Sheila Creech, 59, and Marshall Lynn Grimes, 59

Sheila Creech, 59, had been staying at companion Marshal Lynn Grimes' home in Alabama while damage from Hurricane Michael was being repaired at her Panama City Beach, Florida, apartment building, her granddaughter said.

Creech and Grimes, also 59, had a long, sometimes tumultuous history, granddaughter Desteni Clifton told the Montgomery Advertiser.

Friend John Allen Coker said Grimes rode with Christian Motorcyclists Association and loved to tell folks about Jesus.

He loved his family, worked hard and was an all-around great person, Coker said.

As a young couple, they had two children together, before moving on to new relationships and having more children with other partners, Clifton said.

Two years ago, the internet brought Creech and Grimes back together. They rekindled their romance, even planning marriage.

They had been camping over the weekend, bringing along Taylor Thornton, a friend of Grimes' 11-year-old daughter, Clifton said.

"I guess they maybe didn't hear the sirens, or if they did, it was too late for them to get anywhere safe," Clifton said. "It was a total surprise. She was very young and so was he."

Grimes daughter broke both her legs when the tornado hit. She remains hospitalized at Childrens of Alabama.

Friends say she does not yet know her father was killed. She followed him around like a puppy, Coker said. She was his heart.

Jonathan Marquez BowencJx2pn7G6dkNwF8M0yxGm53eULW+XZeRAMviIz0WxJtdFD29lsoo5kG2R4Mivxx7QgGwAOxcLLWPQdeyls7lXQ==

Jonathan Marquez Bowen, 9

Jonathan Marquez Bowen was just 9 when he died in Sundays storms.

The house we were in went up and the floors disappeared underneath us, his mother, Shamel Hart, wrote in a GoFundMe she launched. One minute felt like hours. The tornado ripped our kids from under us without remorse.

When I found my son, I was trying to do everything to keep him with me. I tried my hardest to save him with the help of the most heroic people of Beauregard, Hart wrote. A mothers worst nightmare is to have to bury their child. I never thought I would be burying my child I always thought they would have been burying me.

He loved to ask Alexa questions. Hed say, Alexa, tell me all you can about the solar system, his mother said in a WRBL-TV report .

His 12-year-old brother, Jaylen, said the smart, loving boy would not want to see his mother in pain. Hart said she also lost her niece, 8-year-old Mykala Waldon, in the tornado.

"I'm trying to keep her from breaking down a lot, helping her look at the bright side, because I know that's what my brother would want and why he fought so hard, because he wouldn't want her to cry," Jaylen said.

Hart and her sons were visiting relatives in Beauregard when the tornado hit.

"My mommy and my auntie tried to cover us as best as they could, but the floor fell," said Jaylen.

Hart said she tried to hold onto all the children as the house violently shook and rocked on its foundation, throwing the four adults and five children inside into its walls.

When it was all over, the house was gone. Hart tried to use the first aid skills she used in the military to help her injured relatives. She tried to resuscitate Jonathan until help arrived. He had a pulse when a man with a chain saw started cutting through the fallen trees that trapped them, but he died at a hospital.

I believe he heard me crying for him to try and I know he was really, really trying, Hart said.

Felicia Woodall, 22, and Ryan Pence, 22,

Ryan Pence, 22, and Felicia Woodall, 22

Felicia Woodall, 22, and Ryan Pence, 22, were engaged to be married and family had been desperately searching for them both on the ground and through social media before they were confirmed dead. Their house was destroyed, according to one friend who posted on social media. Theres absolutely nothing left, she wrote. Its a war zone in all directions.

Pence worked for the Eufaula Parks Recreation Department while getting a degree in criminal justice, according to a WRBL TV report. Ryan was anticipating a career in law enforcement.

In Facebook posts, the friends and families of the couple are remembering them as dog lovers and kind friends, with infectious smiles, who were beloved by all who knew them.

Woodalls aunt, Angela Pentzer Scott, declined comment to The Associated Press on behalf of both families in a Facebook message.

Scott wrote in one Facebook post that the couple's relatives trekked through the woods on foot to search for them after the tornado struck their Beauregard home.

"They found one of their puppies alive. Their house is completely gone. There's absolutely nothing left," Scott wrote.

The Rev. Billy McClendon, who will officiate at Pence's memorial service Thursday, said he worked with Pence at the Eufaula Parks and Recreation Department.

McClendon told WRBL-TV that he started texting Pence when he heard about the storm approaching Sunday afternoon.

"He never answered," McClendon said.

Pence was also a football fan, he said. "He liked Alabama, but he loved the Dallas Cowboys," McClendon said.

Woodall had lived previously in Panama City, Florida. Its so sad, her friend, Amber Finley, said in a News Herald report . I dont know that I have ever met a nicer person.

Vicki BraswellaZNmznkppvU60ea2/hWTSrDyC27gImOrtX8PtdAQIKWfbiJu4uFr+62gzQZn2V5AxADbzyCv0qx4sqLPqEO02Q==

Vicki Braswell, 69

Braswell died when the house she was in was ripped from the foundation and turned upside down. She and two other family members were pinned in the debris, said her daughter-in-law, Shannon Rush. Braswells daughter and granddaughter were rescued and taken to the hospital. A grandson and one of her friends were uninjured, as was Braswells son-in-law.

He performed CPR on Braswell until a police officer arrived, but they were unable to save her. She was pronounced dead on the scene.

This family lost their mother, their home, car and everything they owned, Rush said. She has launched a GoFundMe to help take some stress off the family and they begin the long process of starting over. They were rescued wearing only the clothes they were wearing.

Rush said Braswell, who had six grandchildren, was sweet and kind. She loved to read and spend time with all of her grandkids, she said.

Rushs own two children had spent the night with their grandmother Saturday and were picked up just one hour before the deadly storm hit. I am thankful that we were able to spend time with her just hours before this storm hit, she said. We laughed and joked about hanging out on our future porch drinking coffee.

The family has been reeling, but said theyve received so much love and support from the community.

Its a struggle but were managing, Rush said.

Braswell, she said, was loving and generous. She was very quiet, she said, but unbelievably sweet and kind.

Taylor Thornton has been identified as one of the 23 known victims of the March 3 tornadoes that devastated Lee County Sunday.ybCu47ahkYTdIhiZd8ZIvNHxq2TDio6ouppiN3tRiZYaORMg6K9fvGaGi/bSq6L3MyCWo5xHruSHgFCi+uFDDQ==

Taylor Thornton, 10

Taylor Thornton was friendly, positive, and creative, Lee-Scott Head of School Stan Cox said. The school held a prayer gathering around 7:30 a.m. for members of the school and community to come together and pray for the fourth-grade girl and other victims.

A GoFundMe account for Taylors funeral cost doubled its fundraising goal in less than 24 hours, hitting over $31,000 by 8 a.m. Tuesday.

The 10-year-old was a ray of sunshine, Cox said, adding that Taylor fit right in although she had not attended Lee-Scott for long. She made friends easily and always smiled. Were better because Taylor came into our lives, he said.

Cox was first notified of the childs death several hours after Sundays storm, when Taylors aunt called the Cox family. Cox said he later spoke with Taylors parents. The news was devastating, he said.

The school announced Taylors death on Monday, stating in a Facebook post, Our hearts at Lee-Scott Academy are broken this morning. Please pray for the Thornton family, our students, faculty, and staff during this difficult time.

The private school in Auburn was affected in other ways, too. Several faculty members suffered property damage, Cox said, while others have family members or friends who were injured or killed. Its this big community thing, Cox said. Were all impacted by this big storm.

Lee-Scott will offer counseling to both teachers and students.

David Dean, 53

David "Roaddog" Dean

Dean, 53, known to friends as Roaddog, died when his double-wide trailer was ripped apart by the tornado. His body was found in an adjacent yard.

Deans wife, Carol Dean, said she rushed home from her job at Walmart to plead with sheriffs deputies to let her see her husbands body.

I got to spend a little time with him before they took him away," she told the Associated Press. My life is gone. He was the reason I lived, the reason that I got up.

Jerry Dodwell, a friend who said Dean was like a stepfather to him, told AL.com "he sure meant a lot to me. He was a kind-hearted guy. I just cant believe all this.

The metal base of their trailer was bent into a U shape around a tree, she said.

She found her wedding dress amid the wreckage, and a Father's Day note to her husband reading, "Daddy, I love you to pieces."

He was a wonderful man, a loving, giving man. He took life by the reins and rode, Carol Dean said.

Emmanuel Jones, 53, Mary Louise Jones, 83, and Jimmy Lee Jones, 89

Jackie Jones got worried when she saw television reports that said the worst of Sunday's storm was passing close to the Beauregard house where her parents and two brothers lived.

"I decided I'd call down to the house, and I didn't get no answer," she said. "The phone just rang and rang and rang."

That left her unsettled and she called her other siblings to say she feared something was wrong.

She was right. Her parents' house had been sheared down to its foundation. Her parents, 83-year-old Mary Louise and 89-year-old Jimmy Lee Jones, and her brother, 53-year-old Emmanuel Jones, were dead.

Another brother also living in the home, 56-year-old Benjamin Jones, survived.

Mary Louise and Jimmy Lee were "ordinary folks" who had been married more than 60 years and had worked on a farm when they were younger, Jackie Jones said.

They enjoyed sitting on their front porch, talking about "the olden days and how they were raised," she said. Her mother also taught Sunday school for decades.

Her younger brother, Emmanuel, did yard work for neighbors and enjoyed watching football and basketball, especially University of Alabama teams.

Jackie Jones said she hoped to find her mothers photo albums amid the wreckage, because she does not have any pictures of her parents or brother.

Charlotte Ann Miller

Charlotte Ann Miller, 59

Miller was an accountant and author who drew inspiration from the Deep South in her writing.

The Roanoke native, who wrote for Montgomery-based New South Books, started writing her Sanders family trilogy while receiving her degree in business administration from Auburn University. The trilogy -- Behold, This Dreamer; Through a Glass, Darkly; and There is a River was described by the publisher as a multi-generational saga of the agricultural and cotton mill South.

A short story written by Miller, An Alabama Christmas, was featured in the bestselling 1999 regional collection Ordinary & Sacred as Blood: Alabama Women Speak.

Miller was a product of the world she wrote about. She was an accountant by day, who remained committed to her craft until the end. Her books are a remarkable accomplishment for someone who had little formal introduction to literary world, Suzanne La Rosa, publisher of NewSouth Books, wrote in an email to AL.com.

These are works of fiction with a romantic story line but which also convey with startling accuracy and texture the realities of struggling poor white families who were mill workers and sharecroppers during a transitional period in Southern history, La Rosa added.

It was Millers great talent to write about these people with affection and understanding. In the years after her first book was published, Miller was a bestselling novelist with a strong following across the South. Reviewers have compared her novels to the work of Erskine Caldwell and even James Agee.

Miller had one son, Justin, 29.

Miller was a member of the Georgia Writers Association and the National League of American Pen Women.

Eric Stenson, 38, Henry Stenson, 65, and Florel Stenson, 63

Three members of the Stenson family were killed. When the storm hit on Sunday, Eric Stenson, 38, had been visiting his parents, Henry and Florel Stenson, 65 and 63 respectively. All three were killed.

He was a good guy, Dusty Bell, 38, said of Eric Stenson. The two were neighbors growing up and played baseball together. Stenson, Bell said, was a really good shortstop.

A niece remembered Henry Lewis Stenson and wife Florel Stenson as the sweetest people.

"They dated through high school, got married  the sweetest, loving people that you could know  a very good family," said Katrena Coleman Turner, of Huntsville.

"Uncle Henry was the go-to man. Whatever you needed, you'd call him, he'd come running," she said.

Turner said her uncle, aunt and cousin Eric Jamal Stenson were all killed when their mobile home in Opelika was destroyed by the tornado.

Turner said she called her mother Henry Stenson's sister and other relatives to check on them when she heard about the storm. A cousin later called to tell her they had been killed.

"A family member who was out looking for them found them. He found all three of them dead," she said.

Terry Tate, Florel Stenson's brother, said Eric Stenson was with his two teenage sons visiting his parents when the storm hit. Eric and his parents were killed; the boys, ages 14 and 17, were injured but survived, Tate said.

All five family members were thrown from the house, which was ripped apart by the force of the storm.

Words cannot describe the disruption that happened through here, Tate said.

Mamie Roberts Koon, 68

Koon loved her grandchildren, her daughter said.

Melissa Hussey told The Associated Press on Tuesday that her family is "devastated" by the news of her mother's death.

"She was loved by everyone and she will be missed," said Hussey, who lives in Columbus, Georgia.

Hussey said she and her brother each have children, all of whom Koon adored. She said Koon was from Phenix City, Alabama, and was a retired former ABC liquor store employee.

Hussey said the fact that corporations have offered to pay the funeral costs for all 23 victims is a big help.

Thatll take a load off the family, she said.

James Henry Tate, 86

Tate is remembered as an old-fashioned, fun-loving guy, his great-niece Krystal Garrett told WBRL News.

He was funny, always the jokester, she said.

Tate was raised in the Marvyn community in Lee County, WBRL reported. He spent about 35 years working and living in Long Island, New York, but came back to Lee County to retire in the 1990s.

Tate had five children -- four daughters and a son.

The Lee County Coroners Office is asking for anyone trying to identify someone or for anyone looking for someone to call the Lee County Emergency Management Agency at 334-749-8161.

The Associated Press and Washington Post contributed to this report.
National Weather Service survey teams fanned out across central and south Alabama on Monday to start the process of counting tornadoes from Sundays severe weather.

Eight tornadoes have now been confirmed statewide as of Monday night:

*Two EF1s in Washington County

*An EF1 in Butler County

*An EF1 in Crenshaw County

*An EF2 in Macon County

*Two EF2s in Barbour County

*An EF4 in Lee County

The Lee County storm caused at least 23 deaths, according to officials. Its top winds have been estimated at 170 mph.

The EF4 storm tracked through the southern part of the county near Beauregard and Smiths Station and was nearly a mile wide, according to the weather service. It destroyed not only mobile homes but also single-family homes, the weather service said.

BREAKING: Preliminary EF-4 Tornado Damage has been found along County Road 39 just east of Cave Mill Road in southwestern Lee County. Winds have been estimated at 170mph. Single family homes were completely destroyed. Photos are from those survey locations. #alwx pic.twitter.com/euYNfSDY11  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) March 4, 2019

That single storm caused more deaths than all of 2018s tornadoes combined  nationwide  according to the Storm Prediction Center.

According to their records 10 people were killed by tornadoes in 2018 across the country.

The Lee County tornado is also the single deadliest tornado since the Moore, Okla., tornado on May 20, 2013. That was an EF5 tornado that killed 24 people and injured 212.

It was the deadliest tornado in Alabama since the super outbreak of April 2011, according to data from the National Weather Service.

More information was trickling in about the other Sunday tornadoes.

The Macon County tornado has been upgraded to an EF2, according to the weather service. It tracked through the eastern part of the county, south of Tuskegee, and had top winds of 115 mph. It later crossed into Lee County.

There were two tornadoes that hit Barbour County. Both have been given preliminary ratings of EF2.

One had with top winds of 115 mph, the weather service said. It tracked along County Road 79, northwest of Eufaula. It was on the ground for 6.68 miles and was 700 yards wide. It touched down about three miles south-southwest of Batesville and lifted near Lugo.

The storm snapped and uprooted hundreds of trees and also topped a large wooden double power pole, the weather service said.

The weather service said a second tornado hit the county closer to Eufaula and also upgraded that storm from an EF1 to a preliminary EF2 with peak winds of 130 mph.

It was on the ground for 4.2 miles and was 600 yards wide. It touched down three miles northwest of the Old Town Creek Rec Area, or four miles north of Eufaula, according to the weather service.

This storm did considerable damage. It struck the Weedon Field Complex and damaged a home, several metal structures and several airplanes, the weather service said. Mobile homes were damaged elsewhere as well.

The tornado crossed the Chattahoochee River and into Georgia, where it was still producing damage, the weather service said.

The National Weather Service in Mobile confirmed four tornadoes on Monday -- all of them EF1s.

Damage Survey Team #1 has confirmed two separate EF-1 tornadoes in Washington County Alabama. One south of Chatom, AL and one near Sims Chapel, AL. Click here for the full report: https://t.co/Ay29lwo6SH pic.twitter.com/OnBtkKpXts  NWS Mobile (@NWSMobile) March 4, 2019

The first storm was in Washington County and had top winds of 95 mph, according to a preliminary storm report. It touched down about three miles south of Chatom at 12:55 p.m. Sunday and was on the ground for only 0.17 miles, the weather service said. It was 300 yards wide at its peak.

The storm didnt damage any structures but snapped numerous trees, the weather service said.

The second Washington County tornado touched down less than 45 minutes later about eight miles southwest of McIntosh. It was stronger, with top winds estimated at 105 mph. It was on the ground for 2.6 miles and was 100 yards wide at its peak, the weather service said.

This tornado damaged a new addition at the Sims Chapel Holiness Church, the weather service said. A few other structures had minor damage, mainly because of downed trees.

The weather service added two other tornado confirmations later Monday.

One was an EF1 in Butler County with top winds of 90 mph. It touched down at 2:34 p.m. Sunday about six miles northeast of Honoraville and had a path length of 0.27 miles. The storm partially lifted the roof off one home and damaged an outbuilding, the weather service said, as well as snapping and toppling many trees.

The other late addition was also an EF1 in Crenshaw County. It had top winds of 90 mph and a path length of 2.66 miles, the weather service said. It touched down at 2:38 p.m. Sunday about 4.5 miles northwest of Honoraville and was on the ground for four minutes.

The storm did a lot of tree damage, and one large tree fell on a mobile home, the weather service said.

Thats not all the possible tornadoes.The weather service in Birmingham said it is planning to look at damage in Bullock and Autauga counties on Tuesday.

The weather service in Tallahassee, Fla., will send teams to southeast Alabama after multiple tornado-warned storms in that region on Sunday.

The weather service said updates will be released periodically as more information becomes available.
A request for a judge to consider the case of an Alabama ISIS brides citizenship on an emergency basis was denied in federal court today, attorneys said.

The woman, Hoda Muthana, left the United States to join ISIS in Syria in 2014. Shes been begging to return home with her young child, saying she regrets joining ISIS. On Feb 21, a lawsuit asking the court to recognize her citizenship was filed after the Trump administration said she has no legal basis to claim citizenship.

The judges denial means she wont be able to immediately leave a refugee camp in Syria and fight her citizenship claim inside the U.S., AP reported. But Judge Reggie Walton did say the 24-year-old womans lawyer made a valid argument for her right to citizenship during a hearing Monday.

The judge said the potential harms are too speculative. The judge said theres no reason not to treat this as a normal case, attorney John Eastman of the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence told AL.com Monday.

The U.S. says Muthana is not a citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat at the time of her birth in New Jersey. Her lawyers argue he was no longer a diplomat at the time.

Today were disappointed but understand the judges ruling . . . focusing on whether theres immediate harm, lead Muthana attorney Charles D. Swift of the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America told The Washington Post after the hearing. In the meantime, were also very encouraged. The judges comments certainly foreshadow the ultimate outcome of this case in our viewpoint . . . the fact that Hoda Muthana is a United States citizen, Swift said.

A ruling on the case could come this summer or fall.
Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said this afternoon search and rescue efforts today in the Beauregard community have so far not revealed any more fatalities from Sundays tornadoes, with the death toll standing at 23, but Jones said dozens of people are still unaccounted for.

The search teams have worked the areas of the most significant damage, Jones said. "I am pleased to report we have not recovered any further victims from the areas that we have initially searched. But I want to offer a caveat with that, that we have not completed our searches."

Jones and other officials gave an update this afternoon at Beauregard High School, which sits in a rural area on a two-lane highway south of Opelika and Auburn, not far from where the most powerful of Sundays tornadoes plowed through, snapping trees and shredding homes. Gov. Kay Ivey spoke at the news conference and pledged state and federal support in the recovery effort.

Jones said the fatalities are in an area framed by Alabama Highway 51 and Lee County highways 38 and 39.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Chris Darden said preliminary analysis indicates the main storm in Lee County was an EF-4 tornado packing winds estimated at 170 mph. Darden said the tornados track of was at least 24 miles long.

Almost a mile wide, Darden said. A monster tornado as it moved across the area.

A separate tornado that hit Macon County and moved into Lee County was likely an EF-1, Darden said. A storm that hit Eufaula and Barbour County was likely at least an EF-1, he said.

Authorities are working with family and friends of the missing to determine how many are still unaccounted for.

UAB Hospital in Birmingham confirmed to AL.com Monday that it received seven patients from the tornadoes. Their conditions were not publicly released.

Agencies from around Alabama and parts of Georgia are assisting in the search and recovery effort.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said the process of identifying victims was close to completion but that six victims could not be initially identified from physical characteristics.

We believe we know who those individuals are, Harris said. "We have talked to the families."

Harris said one of the 23 victims died at a hospital.

Once we get into some more areas, Im not going to be surprised if we dont come up with some more deceased, Harris said. Hopefully we wont. But its been a long, long night.

Harris said he planned to start meeting with families of victims at an undisclosed location this afternoon.

Harris said there were at least three children among the victims, ages 6, 9 and 10.

Ivey said she got a call from President Trump about 8:15 this morning. Ivey said she told the president the state would like to expedite the process of assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. She said Trump promised to do that. Ivey said the president told her, You folks in Alabama are wonderful people and surely in your time of need, I will support you.

Ivey said the state was in mourning but that Lee County would bounce back.

To know Alabama is to know that we are a tight-knit community of people and today each of us mourns the loss of life of our fellow Alabamians, Ivey said. "Our hearts and prayers go out to these people who have lost their family members and friends and all those who are impacted by these storms.

"Amidst this tragedy, we have a job to do. We must build back Lee County to its feet. Today, all of Alabama is focused on Lee County. And yall as your governor, I want to you to know Ive got your back. We will do everything in our power to help the citizens of Lee County recover and recover and come back stronger.

Gov. Kay Ivey and other officials speaking at Beauregard High School about Sundays deadly tornadoes. Posted by al.com on Monday, March 4, 2019

First aerial look of Beauregard, Al after yesterday's intense tornado The aerial scenes from Beauregard are simply horrible. Posted by WXChasing on Monday, March 4, 2019

The tornado ravaged a small neighborhood in Smiths Station on Lee County 430, where Greg Molinari and many of his neighbors sorted through the damage on Monday morning. Molinari was upbeat even though his home was destroyed. He said he and his wife, Susan, survived the storm because they took his daughter-in-laws advice and put large cooking pots over their heads as makeshift helmets.

The sirens were going off quite frequently and we said we better take this very seriously. That was about three oclock, Molinari said.

And my wife and I received a text from my daughter in law. She said get in the bathroom and put pots on your head. Well, the bathroom wasnt a great idea because its an exterior wall. But we went in the hallway, which is a small, confined area here. And we did put big cooking pots over our head. Saved our lives. The ceiling crashed in on us.

The tornado ripped the roof off Molinaris house.

And we were trapped in there, Molinari said. We couldnt get out even though we were OK. Our neighbor across the street here, he came screaming over, Is anybody in there? Is anybody in there? We said, Yeah. We cant get out. He dug us out.

Molinari said he and his wife then rode out the storm at the neighbors house.

Him and his wife, his daughter and his dog and us, we all hunkered down in there," Molinari said.

Molinari said another neighbor he didnt know helped in their rescue.

Molinari said he had reason to be positive despite the disaster.

We have a very strong faith," Molinari said. "Were Jehovahs Witnesses. Our God Jehovah takes care of us. We believe he helped to protect us. Hell also help us recover from all this.

On the same street as Greg Molinari, Taylor Grantham was home with her husband and children on Sunday when the tornado arrived.

There were definitely sirens, Grantham said. We had a warning but we didnt really take it seriously until my husband seen it, right before it hit us. And he slammed the door.

He said, Its here, and he grabbed a mattress and covered us and we just were in the hallway and we stayed under the mattress until it was over.

Grantham said they had holes in the roof and a wall on the back of the house caved in. Overall, she said her house sustained less damage than many in the neighborhood.

We were just praying that our house wasnt going to get ripped open. And we came out and started checking on all our neighbors and saw that their houses were gone, Grantham said.

She said her husband and several other men from the neighborhood helped lift a fallen roof off a woman.

It took five men to lift the roof up to get her out, Grantham said. She was injured but she was OK. She was able to crawl out and walk on her own.

On U.S. 280 in Smiths Station, David McBride stood by the wreckage of his business, the Wild Buck Saloon. Whats left of the bar is in the tornados clearly marked path and close to the crumpled remains of a cell phone tower that had to be cleared from the four-lane highway.

McBride said he arrived at his bar Sunday afternoon to do a favor for a customer.

I pulled up in here in my truck and I seen all the stuff swirling in the air, McBride said. So I took off around that pole and got in front of that store just about the time everything started blowing apart.

McBride thought he was safely ahead of the storm.

Somebody told there was one coming but it was 45 miles from here or 45 minutes, McBride said. So I was coming over here to get a friends wifes purse that she left the night before and meeting him over here. And then when I pulled up in here and seen all that, got in front of that store over there and watched everything blow to pieces.

And I would have been in that building if it had been four more minutes, further that way, I would have been inside that building.

Asked what he saw and heard, McBride said, I heard a train coming and I seen that tower fall and as I got to the edge of that store wall there I seen the roof blow off my bar and then a couple of seconds later the store just exploded.

McBride said he wasnt aware of anyone being hurt in the immediate vicinity of where he was. He said he has owned the bar for about six years and said he did not know what his plans for it were.

Smiths Station Mayor Fred Copeland said there were two injuries in the city but no fatalities.

This storm was devastating, Copeland said. "The one thing I can say is whether you live in Texas, whether you live in Arkansas or wherever, if you hear a siren, take heed. Yesterday it come up so quick that we were not able to really realize what was going on.

It is devastating to our city. We will rebuild. Beauregard will rebuild. But our hearts in Smith Station are with our neighbors in Beauregard.

The Lee County Emergency Management Agency is accepting information from people with missing family members and friends.

Here is the link.

Locator map of east Alabama tornado

FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes. @GovernorKayIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

@POTUS called me this morning to express his sympathy for all affected in our state by yesterdays devastating storms. We appreciate his support as we deal with this tragedy & will be coordinating efforts with @FEMA.  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 4, 2019

This is a developing story and will be updated.
Riverdale" and Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry is dead at age 52 after suffering a stroke last week.

E! News confirmed Perry died Monday, days after Perry suffered a stroke on the same day that Fox announced a reunion TV series featuring the original cast of Beverly Hills, 90210." Additional details have not been disclosed.

Actor Luke Perry, 52, passed away today after suffering a massive stroke, his rep said in a statement. He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiance Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends. The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time.

Perry, born Coy Luther Perry III, was hospitalized last Wednesday after suffering a stroke. The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to Perrys home Wednesday for a medical assistance call and took one person to the hospital.

Perry is best known as the 90s heartthrob Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210, and currently appears on The CWs Riverdale as Archies dad. He was set to reunite with his 90210 costars for a fictionalized meta-reality series about the cast trying to reboot the show; Fox ordered six episodes to air this summer.

His acting credits also include the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie, The Fifth Element, Oz, 8 Seconds, and Quentin Tarantinos upcoming Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
A inmate who had been on the run since escaping from a Mississippi jail two days ago was captured by U.S. Marshals after a dramatic chase through lower Alabama Sunday.

Billy Hinton, 21, escaped from the Greene County jail in Mississippi in the early hours of March 2, according to local law enforcement. Acting on a tip, U.S. Marshals traced Hinton at a house in Loxley, Alabama.

He was spotted and fled into nearby woods near to the I-10. The Alabama Department of Corrections brought in tracking dogs to help locate Hinton, but it was later discovered he had managed to escape in a stolen vehicle.

Deputies were able to contact Hinton via phone and convinced him to turn himself in. However, as he was travelling to meet officers he changed his mind. Deputies later spotted Hinton and gave chase. Hinton wrecked the stolen vehicle in Silverhill and fled on foot. He was quickly located and arrested.

He was also treated for lacerations to his head.

He was charged with receiving stolen property first, attempting to elude, assault 3rd degree and reckless endangerment. He was granted bond on each offense but will not be able to make bail because of his fugitive status.

Hintons wife, Delenna Hathcock, 36, of Summerdale was also arrested. She was charged with hindering prosecution second degree and hindering the apprehension of an escapee.
Kathmandu, Nepal: New Baneshwar of Kathmandu turned into battle field after teachers and Nepal police clash briefly on Monday. Police used excessive force against of the protesting teachers in the name of dispersing the protesters.

Scuffle was ensued after teachers under the government relief quota attempted to breach the prohibited line during their protest program. It is said that four teachers have been arrested while three others have sustained injuries.

The teachers working under the government relief quota have been protesting against a provision in the proposed Federal Education Bill as the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) has prepared a draft Federal Education Bill with the provision that only 20 percent of the relief quota and ECD teachers be made permanent through internal competition.

It is said that about 40,000 teachers are working under relief quota at various public schools. Likewise, around 26,000 female teachers have also been working at Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDCs) across the country.
The National Weather Service is planning to send out multiple teams to look at extensive storm damage across Alabama after severe weather today.

The weather service in Birmingham said three storm survey teams will go out Monday across central Alabama, where significant damage and fatalities were reported in Lee County and other areas were also hard-hit. Lee County was possibly hit twice.

The weather service said Sunday night that it had a person on the ground in the Lee County area that got a brief look at some of the damage before sunset and said the storm was at least an EF3 tornado that was a half-mile wide.

Thats a very preliminary assessment. Survey teams will take a thorough look at the damage on Monday.

The weather service two teams will look at the two different tracks in Lee County.

The probable EF3 damage was found in southern Lee County off County Road 36 just north-northwest of Dupree.

Survey teams will also look at two different tracks in Barbour County on Monday.

Another storm survey is planned for Autauga County on Tuesday, the weather service said.

The National Weather Service in Mobile said it was planning to send out two survey teams on Monday.

One will head to Butler County and the other to Washington County. Both were under tornado warnings on Sunday.

The weather service in Tallahassee will also have multiple storm surveys to conduct, an they will include southeast Alabama:

We will be organizing multiple survey teams to begin surveying tornado damage across north Florida, southeast Alabama, and southwest Georgia. Surveys are expected to begin tomorrow and will likely take a few days to complete.  NWS Tallahassee (@NWSTallahassee) March 4, 2019

The teams will fan out across the state to look at the damage firsthand, determine if tornadoes caused it and then how strong those tornadoes were.

The teams will send in periodic reports on their progress.
For 45 years, the Merry Widows of Joe Cain arrive to the Old Church Street Graveyard dressed in all black clothing and black veils to mask their identities.

They enter the historic cemetery to somber music, while weeping for the loss of their beloved Joe.

They solemnly walk toward the tombstone of Joe Cain, who has been dead for 115 years. Gathered together as a group, the crying continues before the arguing commences over whom Joe loved best.

Its pure spectacle embraced as tradition each year on Joe Cain Day, the annual celebration of the man credited for helping revive Mardi Gras in Mobile and beyond following the Civil War.

The widows, whove been descending on Cains tombstone since 1974, have been described as hilarious and fun and, of course, uniquely" or "so Mobile.

Tyler Roberts, 22, who moved to coastal Alabama last summer, witnessed his first weeping widows event at the cemetery on Sunday. He said he first learned about the event while researching the city and its annual Mardi Gras event, which is Alabamas most popular annual festival.

I just speaks to the enthusiasm and excitement Mobilians have toward this, said Roberts, a native of the Philadelphia area.

Ethel and Charlie Poole, residents near Jacksonville, Fla., first witnessed the tradition last year. They enjoyed it so much that they made sure they returned to the cemetery to witness it again on Sunday.

Ethel Poole, herself, stopped to pay respects at Cains gravesite which was inundated with Mardi Gras beads hours before the widows arrived.

The Pooles were joined with several other couples from the Jacksonville, Fla., area. The husbands, Navy veterans, and their wives, said they were now making week-long trips to Mobile for Mardi Gras an annual tradition.

Watching the Widows was one of the must-see activities.

We thought that it was so good, why dont we do it again, said Jeanne Kline, also from the Jacksonville area.

For Michelle Henken, 24, the trip out to the cemetery is nothing new. Her mother used to dress her up in all black, just like a merry widow, back when she was only 4 years old.

I finally could tell her No, said Henken. So I stopped.

But Henken, now an adult, has returned to the cemetery the last couple of years dressed up, once again, as a widow.

The real widows  whose identity is anyones guess  tossed beads and black roses to Henken and other onlookers outside the cemeterys entrance and to those who sat atop the brick wall that surrounds the historic downtown grave yard.

The somber songs played upon the widows arrival were replaced a more festive song after the ladies finished their weeping and bickering.

The whole time, the rains forecasted to dampen Joe Cain Day, held off even if the entire event took place under gloomy skies.

For Henken, the weather only added to the widows mystique.

We are in mourning, said Henken, jokingly.
Alabama has a new Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen.

Zoe Champion, Jefferson Countys Outstanding Teen, won the state title Sunday. Champion, of Leeds, attends Connection Academy Virtual High School. Champion performed a jazz dance for her talent with a platform of Champions M.A.D.E.

Emma Terry was first runner-up; Marissa Luna was second runner-up; Jayla Duncan was third runner-up; and MaKenzie Ward was fourth runner-up.

Champion was one of 50 contestants in Sundays event held at Thompson High School in Alabaster. Contestants take part in interview, fitness, evening gown and on-stage question.

Champion will represent the state at Miss Americas Outstanding Teen competition in Orlando. Her sister, Chandler, was Miss Alabama 2013.

MALOT Social Media Calendar- Hometown Pride :) I am so excited to represent Jefferson County at MALOT as Miss Jefferson... Posted by Zoe Blythe Champion on Monday, February 25, 2019

Congratulations to our Saturday afternoon preliminary winners: Jayla Duncan, Evening Gown & On Stage Question and Zoe Champion, Talent Winner. Posted by Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen Pageant on Saturday, March 2, 2019

Congratulations Zoe Champion, Miss Alabamas Outstanding Teen 2019! Pictured left to right: Jayla Duncan, 3rd Runner-Up;... Posted by Miss Alabama's Outstanding Teen Pageant on Sunday, March 3, 2019
Authorities have released the name of a woman who died over the weekend following an assault inside an east Birmingham home.

The Jefferson County Coroners Office identified the victim as Jennifer Marie Lane. She was 31 and lived in Moody.

Birmingham police East Precinct officers were dispatched at 5:42 p.m. Sunday to St. Vincents East on an assault. Sgt. Johnny Williams said officers arrived on the scene and learned the woman had died from undisclosed injuries.

Coroners officials said the assault happened at a home in the 800 block of 82nd Street South. Chief Deputy Coroner Bill Yates said authorities have not yet determined how Lane was killed but an autopsy will be done today.

Williams said officers were able to find the man who had brought the woman to the hospital in his vehicle. Investigators learned that the victim and the suspect were involved in a physical domestic altercation before she was taken to the hospital by private vehicle.

The suspect was taken into custody at the hospital. Police have not yet identified him.
A 45-year-old man convicted in the 1999 hate crime murder of Billy Jack Gaither has been killed in an Alabama prison.

Steven Eric Mullins was found unresponsive Feb. 26 at St. Clair Correctional Facility, Alabama Department of Corrections officials announced Monday. About 6 p.m. that Tuesday, correctional officers responding to the assault found inmate Mullins unresponsive inside a housing area.

The inmate was airlifted to an area hospital where he was treated for multiple stab wounds. Hospital officials reported that Mullins had died from his injuries on Thursday.

ADOC spokesman Bob Horton said The Department of Corrections Investigations and Intelligence Division is filing capital murder charges against 50-year-old Christopher Scott Jones who is a suspect in the fatal stabbing.

Christopher Scott Jones

Jones is serving a 25-year sentence for a 2011 murder conviction in Shelby County. He was convicted in the 2008 slayings of five men in a Shelby County apartment. They slayings happened Aug. 17, 2008 at an apartment complex off U.S. 280.

Authorities said the slayings were carried out in a murder-for-hire over $450,000 in missing drug cartel money.

Mullins was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole on a 1999 capital murder and kidnapping of the 39-year-old Gaither n Coosa County. Gaithers murder sparked a national outcry and a movement to include sexual orientation in Alabamas 1994 hate crime law.

Mullins, then 25, and Charles Monroe Butler, then 21, told Coosa County Sheriffs Office investigators they plotted Gaithers death because he made a pass at Mullins a week earlier. They later denied the murder was premeditated, saying instead Gaither was killed because he came on to Butler the night of the murder.

The Fayetteville men lured Gaither from a Sylacauga bar to a boat launch, stabbed him, beat him with an ax handle, put him in a car trunk and drove him to a creek. They beat him again and then placed him on two fiery, kerosene-drenched tires.

Events for Gaither were held across Alabama and across America.
The death of a man fatally shot in Birmingham last week has been ruled justifiable.

Ronald Grant Jr., 39, was shot about 9:15 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 27, in the 4000 block of 43rd Avenue North. Officers responded to the area on a domestic disturbance call and found Grant suffering from a gunshot wound.

He died en route to UAB Hospital.

Birmingham police spokesman Sgt. Johnny William said Monday that homicide investigators presented their evidence to the Jefferson County District Attorneys Office for review. The District Attorneys Office indicated that the suspect was defending herself while being attack by Ronald Grant, which resulted in his death, Williams said in a press release.

No charges will be filed in the case.
A homicide investigation is underway after a woman showed up at a Birmingham hospital Sunday evening with grave injuries.

Birmingham police East Precinct officers were dispatched at 5:42 p.m. to St. Vincents East on an assault. Sgt. Johnny Williams said officers arrived on the scene and learned the woman had died from undisclosed injuries.

Officers were able to find the man who had brought the woman to the hospital in his vehicle. Williams said investigators learned that the victim and the suspect were involved in a physical domestic altercation and another location before she was taken to the hospital by private vehicle.

The suspect was taken into custody at the hospital. Police have not identified the victim or the suspect.

Williams said more information will be released at a later date.
Two Tuscaloosa businesses are partnering to host a tornado relief drive after storms on Sunday killed at least 23 people in Lee County.

Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa and Julio Jones Kia Mazda are hosting the Tide for Tigers Tornado Relief Drive this week, Townsquare Media announced Monday morning.

Members of the media companys seven radio stations and Julio Jones Kia Mazda employees will be on site all week at the car dealerships showroom to accept donations. The group is asking for toiletries, diapers, cleaning supplies, and non-perishable food items. Cash donations can also be taken to the Julio Jones Kia Mazda showroom.

Townsquare Tuscaloosas operating manager Meg Summers said she was mourning the victims of Sundays storms and asked everyone in Tuscaloosa to donate to the relief drive.

Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones or saw damage to their homes and businesses in East Alabama Sunday, Summers said. So many in Lee County and the Auburn area came together to help us when a tornado devastated Tuscaloosa in 2011 and this is our chance to return their kindness with some of our own.

A box truck donated by Premier Service Company, Inc. will be on site at the dealership-- located at 4301 Greensboro Avenue--accepting donations through Friday. Townsquare Media is also working to establish a donation fund at a local bank.

Other agencies across the state have also set up donation funds or other ways to assist those affected by the tornadoes. Heres how you can help.

See AL.coms full coverage of the tornado aftermath
This is an opinion column.

And so they came. Again.

Just as they do every year. At this time. To Selma.

Especially in years like thisyears when it is preseason for the next presidential run.

Busloads of members of the U.S. Congressthough mostly Democratsventured to Alabama this weekend and visited our sobering check-the-box civil rights spots: The 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham. The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, commonly known as the Lynching Museum, in Montgomery.

And the Edmund Pettus Bridge, of course. In Selma.

Among them this year were a handful of wannabe residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Cory, Bernie, and Sherrod (who appears to be announcing any minute now.)

Hillary was there, too. (Draw your own conclusions.)

So was Congressman John Lewis, the one among them who left DNA on that bridge, who left blood on that bridge.

Whose skull was cracked on that bridge.

They call it a pilgrimage. And they dutifully paid homage to those who sacrificedsome of them ultimatelyfor the freedoms and benefits we all (and I do mean all) enjoy today.

Some of them marched, of course. They recreated that frightening day 54 years ago when a mosaic of Americans crossed that bridge and confronted so-called lawmen, some on horseback, brandishing billy clubs, tear gas and worse.

That day we now call Bloody Sunday.

Then they left. Again.

Just as they do every other year.

They left Selma behind. Again.

Left without leaving anything behind. Again.

Except the poverty. The abandoned storefronts and warehouses. The crumbling shorelines of the Alabama River.

The hopelessness of a city that laid off more than 60 public employees last November due to financial woes.

A city deemed the fastest-shrinking municipality in the state with more than 10,000 residentsSelma residents declined by 11.5 percent between 2010 and 2017, according to U.S. Census.

A city bearing more For Sale signs than there will ever be buyers.

One of the hymns sung during the recreation of the bridge-crossing Sunday was Eyes on the Prize. Among the refrains: Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.

Im not sure how much longer Selma can hold on.

Not when the people best suited to jumpstart its revival stroll the bridge every year, pose for a few selfies, then leave. Again and again.

Leave without having a meal in a local restaurant that probably hasnt been full one day in more than a decade.

Leave without staying in one of the few surviving hotels. (They stay several miles away in Montgomery.)

Leave without buying a gallon of gas.

Leave without producing more than a modicum of economic impact.

Every year.

People come to Selma, but they dont deal with the poverty, the closing hospitals, the crumbling infrastructure, Rev. Jesse Jackson told AL.com just before the weekend began. The bridge has become a staging ground to absolve some of their sins. Selma should be the model for a reconstruction project that could be used to revive rural areas throughout the South, not just a prop of bygone years.

The late Amelia Boynton Robinson, another Bloody Sunday victim, was 103 years old and wheelchair-bound when then-President Barack Obama held her hand during the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of bridge cross. She died just five months later.

Mrs. Boyntons house is in ruin, Jackson said. Those who come never address the plight of Alabama. Selma should be a showplace of what can happen.

On Saturday, after U.S. Representative Terri Sewell escorted the pilgriming throng across the bridge from her hometown, she expressed her frustration at an inability to persuade her congressional colleagues to turn their attention towards Selma more than once a year.

When we spoke early Sunday morning, she was still frustrated.

We take this annual pilgrimage, she said, and keep on walking to Monday.

No city is in more need of help.

The list of projects in need in Selma is almost infiniteincluding the deteriorating federal building, whose only tenant is Sewells office.

In less than a year since opening, the sobering National Memorial for Peace and Justice has drawn hundreds of thousands of visitors to Alabama and Montgomery. Similarly, Sewell sees Selmas obvious symbol and role in American history as perhaps its best lure to launch revitalization.

Now, however, visitors to the citys Welcome or Interpretive Centers, or the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute, which sits in a gravel parking lot at the foot of Edmund Pettus Bridge, must sign in by hand.

A state-of-the-art museum may be the anchor needed to capture tourists, she said. Then I can say, Hey, Mister Hilton, Mister Hyatt, Mister Hampton Inn, how about a hotel for them to stay?

Sewell is encouraged by the new possibilities of the 116th Congress and its Democratic majority. She and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced the Voter Advancement Act, which addresses voter suppression efforts nationwide. Shes all-but confident it will pass the House.

I have 212 votes, she said. All I need is 218.

Passage might lead to further collaborative actions, including, efforts to revive earmarks, which Congress banned in February 2011 after years of controversy and corruption. (Before the outright ban, guidelines were enacted that provided more transparency and accountability, but the taint was too much to overcome.)

Without them, Sewell says, it is more difficult for individual legislators to plant seeds in districts starving for growth.

By giving up directed spending, were cutting our nose to spite our face, she said. I need them to spend money way spend money in my district.

Im not asking for a handout, the Congresswoman added. We feel like we have done our part for history. Im just asking for assistance to keep the history going.

I say this every year.

Sewell and her legislative colleagues are gone.

This year, though, Selma simply cant afford to be left behind. Again.

Roy S. Johnsons column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Hit me up at rjohnson@al.com. Follow me at twitter.com/roysj or on Instagram at instagram.com/roysj/
Climate change is responsible for the death toll of Sundays tornado that ripped through Lee County and killed at least 23 people, Sen. Bernie Sanders suggested in a Facebook post.

The science is clear, climate change is making extreme weather events, including tornadoes, worse, the independent Vermont senator said in a Facebook post linking to an EcoWatch article on the tornado. We must prepare for the impacts of climate change that we know are coming. The full resources of the federal government must be provided to these families. Our thoughts are with the people of Alabama and their families.

The EcoWatch story cited a climate researcher who said the tornado bolstered the opinion that so-called tornado alley in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska is moving east.

Its not a big jump to say that climate change is causing this shift east," Dr. Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University, the author of a study cited in the story, told CBS News. The hypothesis and computer simulations support what we are observing and what we expect in the future.
Thousands in Niger were employed as middlemen until the government, aided by the EU, targeted undocumented migration.

Agadez, Niger  A group of women are squeezed into a modest room, ready to take their class in a popular district of Agadez, the largest city in central Niger.

A blackboard hangs on the wall and Mahaman Alkassoum, chalk in hand, is ready to begin.

A former people smuggler, he is an unusual professor.

His round face and shy expression clash with the image of the ruthless trafficker.

Were here to help you organise your savings, so that your activities will become profitable, Alkassoum tells the women, before drawing a timeline to illustrate the different stages of starting a business.

Until mid-2016, both he and the women in the room were employed in Agadezs huge migration market, which offered economic opportunities for thousands of people in an immense desert region, bordering with Algeria, Libya and Chad.

Alkassoum used to pack his pick-up truck with up to 25 migrants at once, driving them across the Sahara from Agadez to the southern Libyan city of Sebha, earning up to 1,500 euros ($1,706) a month  five times the salary of a local policeman.

All of us suffered with the end of migration in Agadez. We're toasting peanuts every day and thinking of new ways to earn something. Habi Amaloze, former cook for migrants

The women, his current students, were employed as cooks in the ghettos and yards where migrants were hosted during their stay in town.

At times, they fed 100 people a day and earned about 200 euros ($227) a month.

For decades, the passage of western African migrants heading to Libya, and eventually to Italian shores, happened in daylight, in full view  and in most cases with the complicity of Niger security forces.

According to a 2016 study by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), migrants in transit had injected about 100 million euros ($113.8m) into the local economy,

But the golden age of migration through Agadez ended abruptly in the summer of 2016 when the government of Niger launched a crackdown on people smuggling.

More than 300 drivers, middlemen and managers of ghettos, have been arrested since then, convincing other colleagues  like Alkassoum and his students  to abandon their activity.

The drivers new career as a community organiser began right after, when most locals involved in the smuggling business realised they had to somehow reinvent their lives.

At first, a few hundred men, former drivers or managers of ghettos, decided to set up an informal association, with the idea of raising funds between members to launch small commercial activities.

But the project didnt really work, Alkassoum recounts. In early 2018, the leader of the group, a renowned smuggler, disappeared with some of the funds.

A Niger army soldier waiting for a convoy of migrants rejected by Algeria in the suburbs of Agadez, Niger, 2018 [File: Francesco Bellina/Al Jazeera]

Alkassoum, at the time the associations secretary, got discouraged.

That was the moment when their female colleagues showed up.

Most of them were wives or sisters of smugglers, who were cooking for the migrants inside ghettos and, all of a sudden, had also seen their source of income disappear.

Resorting to an old experience as a youth leader, Alkassoum decided to help them launch new businesses, through lessons on community participation and bookkeeping.

As of mid-2018, more than 70 women had joined.

At first we met to share our common suffering after losing our jobs, but soon we realised we needed to do more, says Fatoumata Adiguini at the end of the class.

They decided to launch small businesses, dividing themselves into subgroups, each one developing a specific idea.

Habi Amaloze, a thin Tuareg woman, heads one of the groups: 17 women that called themselves banda badantchi  meaning no difference in Hausa  to share their common situation.

The banda badantchi started with the cheapest possible activity, shelling and toasting peanuts to sell on the streets.

Aissa Sylla Hassan, a former worker in the Agadez migration business, sits inside her shelter. A widow, she shares the space with two other families [Francesco Bellina/Al Jazeera]

Other groups collected small sums to buy a sheep, chicks or a sewing machine.

We started with what we had, which was almost nothing, but we dream to be able one day to open up a restaurant or a small farming activity, explains Amaloze.

While most men left Agadez to find opportunities elsewhere, the women never stopped meeting and built relations of trust.

Besides raising their children, they have another motivation: working with migrants has freed them from marital control, something they are not willing or ready to lose.

According to Rhissa Feltou, the mayor of Agadez, the crackdown on northbound migration responded to European requests more than to local needs.

Since 2015, the European Union earmarked 230 million euros ($261.7m) from its Emergency Trust Fund of Africa for projects in Niger, making it the main beneficiary of a fund created to address the root causes of migration.

Among the projects, the creation of a police investigative unit, where French and Spanish policemen helped their Nigerien counterparts to track and arrest smugglers.

Fatimata Adiguini and her husband Mohammed Chegou in front of their family shelter in Agadez. They were both working in the migration business before a 2015 law declared their activities illegal. Chegous ghetto hosted up to 100 migrants a day, waiting to cross to Libya [File: Francesco Bellina/Al Jazeera]

Another project, known under its acronym Paiera, aimed at relieving the effect of the migration crackdown in Agadez, included a compensation scheme for smugglers who left their old job. The eight million-euro ($9.2m) fund was managed by the High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace, a state office tasked with reducing conflicts in border areas.

After endless negotiations between local authorities, EU representatives and a committee representing smugglers, a list of 6,550 smuggling actors operating in the region of Agadez, was finalised in 2017.

But two years after the projects launch, only 371 of them received small sums, about 2,300 euros ($2,616) per person, to start new activities.

The High Authority for the Consolidation of Peace told Al Jazeera that an additional eight million-euro fund is available for a second phase of the project, to be launched in March 2019, allowing at least 600 more ex-smugglers to be funded.

But Feltou, the citys mayor, isnt optimistic.

We waited too much and its still unclear when and how these new provisions will be delivered, he explains.

Finding viable job opportunities for thousands of drivers, managers of ghettos, middlemen, cooks or water can sellers, who lost their main source of income in a country the United Nations dubbed as the last in its human development index in 2018, is not an easy task.

For the European Union, nonetheless, this cooperation has been a success. Northbound movements registered by the IOM along the main desert trail from Agadez to the Libyan border, dropped from 298,000 people a year in 2016 to about 50,000 in 2018.

In a January 2019 report, the EU commission described such a cooperation with Niger as constructive and fruitful.

Migrants identified by IOM after being deported from Algeria; voluntary return was proposed [File: Francesco Bellina/Al Jazeera]

Just like other women in her group, Habi Amaloze was disregarded by Brussels-funded programmes like Paiera.

But the crackdown changed her life dramatically.

Her brother, who helped her after her husband died years ago, was arrested in 2017, forcing the family to leave their rented house.

With seven children, ranging from five to 13 years old, and a sick mother, they settled in a makeshift space used to store building material. Among piles of bricks, they built two shacks out of sticks, paperboard and plastic bags, to keep them safe from sand storms.

This is all we have now, Amaloze says, pointing to a few burned pots and a mat.

In seven years of work as a cook in her brothers ghetto, she fed tens of thousands of migrants. Now she can hardly feed her family.

At that time I earned at least 35,000 [West African franc] a week [about $60], now it can be as low as 2,000 [$3.4], enough to cook macaroni once a day for the kids, but no sauce, she says, her voice breaking.

Only one of her children still attends school.

Her experience is familiar among the women she meets weekly. All of us suffered with the end of migration in Agadez, she says.

Through their groups, they found hope and solidarity. But their future is still uncertain.

Were toasting peanuts every day and thinking of new ways to earn something, Hamaloze says with a mix of bitterness and determination. But, like all our former colleagues, we need real opportunities otherwise migration through Agadez and the Sahara will resume, in a more violent and painful way than before.
Home to more than six million tonnes of salt, camel caravans still take the precious resource to Ethiopia.

Lake Assal, Djibouti  From a distance, Djiboutis Lake Assal could be mistaken for a prime holiday destination.

Its waters glisten under the midday sun, sparkling in different shades of dark blue, turquoise and green.

In the distance, camel caravans carry payloads of goods into the desert, disappearing beyond the horizon.

But the closer you get to this place of unsurpassed beauty, the vast desert plains give rise to an altogether different landscape  a place where the sand is not actually sand at all.

Created a millennia ago by volcanic eruptions, the receding waters at Lake Assal have left behind an expanse of crystal white salt that is stunningly beautiful, but excruciatingly painful to walk upon barefoot.

The waters of the lake offer no respite either.

The warm and shallow waters sting the eyes and bite against the skin.

Lake Assal has been at the centre of the salt trade for centuries with salt caravans travelling back and forth to the Ethiopian Highlands [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]

Yet its here, every morning, that dozens of men like Hummad Musa converge.

They toil away under the blistering hot sun and break the ground open with hand axes to extract salt, a trade which historians estimate has gone on since the sixth century.

Musa says most of this weeks labour has been mined just metres away from the shore and will be sold to the few tourists who visit this harsh, desolate place.

A relatively new country, Djibouti gained its independence from France just 41 years ago. But despite its young age, its the homeland of an ancient people who have lived and roamed the countryside for centuries.

Next week, Musa, a member of the Afar ethnic people, says he will take his caravan of 10 camels to markets across Ethiopia, a journey his father and grandfather once made.

Ive been working in this trade since I was a child, the 63-year-old told Al Jazeera, as the oven-hot winds lashed against his face.

We start work early in the morning and continue extracting the salt until Dhuhr prayers (midday).

Whenever the tourists happen to visit, we come back (to the stalls on the shore) and sell them whatever we can to provide food and water for our families.

Hummad Musa says most of the tourists that visit this desolate region simply take photos of the salt-encrusted skulls of antelopes and gazelles before leaving [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]

According to Musa, each of his camels will be carrying up to 150kg of the white gold for sale in Ethiopia.

The journey could take up to five weeks and will see the caravan make at least four stops  first in Debyie, then Barkato, Balhou, and finally Aile Da-ar.

If all goes well, a top-grade slab weighing 25kg will fetch around 10 Ethiopian birr, around $0.40.

With each camel carrying around $2.40 worth of salt, the entire caravan could make more than $20  with his share enough to last his family of three more than a fortnight.

According to Musa, what sets his salt apart from the white gold found in Ethiopias northeastern Danakil Depression is the quality.

Lake Assal has an average salt concentration of 34 percent, making it nearly 10 times saltier than seawater.

At 155 metres below sea level, Assal is also the lowest point in Africa and the third lowest point in the world after the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.

Wade into the waters, Musa says, and youll also find something, which cant be found any anywhere else in the world  perfect spheres of salt.

The spheres of salt can vary in size from caviar eggs to small peaches [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]

Depending on the wind, each segment of the Lakes shore produces its own shape and size, he says.

The spheres are formed entirely by nature when tiny crystals get glued together and roll around on the seabed. They slowly snowball before whittling and polishing themselves into perfect spheres.

Families work together, he says, with men wading deep into the lake to get the salt.

Later, the women hand sort the spheres by size, which can vary in size from caviar eggs to small peaches.

Musa says while the trade is relatively unknown in the west, Assals salt has not escaped the attention of Chinese mining companies.

With more than six million tonnes of salt being deposited in the area every year, and the thickness of Assals crust varying between 20 and 80 metres, a Chinese-funded industrial plant has started work. The government has also tabled the Lake Assal Salt Project to further commodify the lake.

Hummad Musas house is made of chicken wire and corrugated iron. It neither keeps the wind or the heat out [Faisal Edroos/Al Jazeera]

But today, most of Musas daily business comes from tourists or the thousands of foreigners stationed at the United Statess, Chinese, Japanese, and French military bases in Djibouti.

Im flying back in a couple of weeks and my wife told me to bring back some novelty items, said Carl, one of 4,000 Americans stationed at Camp Lemonnier.

So the first place I thought of was here.

I doubt my wife will use the salt to cook with but it sure will make for a good gift.

A railway being built from Djibouti to Ethiopia has also raised fears that in the near future the traditional camel caravan route could be rendered obsolete.

But until then, Afar miners like Musa say theyll continue their tough way of life, hacking away at the ground and eking out a living from this desolate stretch of salt.
Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo  Wearing a white linen Jean Courcel suit, a Chanel bow tie and Versace sunglasses, Ntsimba Marie Jenne would not look out of place in the front row of the Paris or London fashion weeks.

But the 52-year-old happens to be strutting her stuff in Brazzaville, the capital city of the Republic of the Congo.

She is one of the growing number of women belonging to the Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (the Society of Ambiance-Makers and Elegant People), or SAPE.

Like their impeccably dressed male counterparts, the female Sapeuses will spend in excess of $3,000 on a suit when they do not even have running water, and go without food in order to save up for the right designer accessories.

Most have ordinary day jobs as policewomen and tailors, but as soon as they clock off, they transform. On the streets of Brazzaville, they are treated like rock stars, defying their circumstances to bring joie de vivre to their communities.

Spending money on ornate umbrellas and silk socks might seem surreal when almost half the countrys population lives in poverty, but the SAPE movement aims to do more than just lift the spirits. Over the decades, it has functioned as a form of colonial resistance, social activism and peaceful protest.
The military escalation between India and Pakistan appears to be winding down for now. On Friday, Islamabad handed over Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman, whose plane the Pakistan Air Force had shot down two days earlier.

New Delhi declared it is committed to maintaining peace and stability in the region, suggesting it is not planning any more air attacks deep in Pakistans territory.

Meanwhile, crossfire on the Line of Control (LoC), which divides Indian- from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, has also decreased.

However, this might be a temporary lull, as the situation remains tense with India still reeling after the February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a UN-designated terrorist group.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who faces a difficult general election next month, has taken this opportunity to reinforce his strongman image and to prove he can deter Pakistan from fomenting terrorism in India.

The February 26 air raids against a suspected JeM camp by the Indian Air Force (IAF) marked the first time Indian fighter jets crossed deep into Pakistan since the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. Riding on a wave of public anger, Modi sent a message to Pakistan that India had abandoned its unstated policy of strategic restraint and adopted what analysts call the new normal  that it would retaliate for any terror attack perceived to be linked to Pakistan.

Going by Pakistans sustained efforts to de-escalate the crisis, including several conciliatory statements by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Indian air raids clearly shook Islamabads decision-makers. Yet, all through the crisis, clumsy Indian information management diluted the message Modi sought to send. By contrast, Pakistans media managers successfully controlled messaging, allowing Islamabad to appear responsible and wedded to peace.

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This was apparent from the morning of the Indian attacks. Instead of the announcement coming from New Delhi, the Pakistani militarys media wing  the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) directorate  announced on social media a failed Indian attempt to bomb Pakistani targets, supported by photographs of what appeared to be explosion craters in an otherwise empty forest glade.

By the time New Delhi announced that its combat aircraft had struck a JeM camp deep inside Pakistan, public attention was no longer on the IAFs considerable military feat of having overcome Pakistani air defences to reach a target 80km across the LoC. Instead, people were questioning whether Indian bombs had completely missed their targets and whether 300 terrorists had actually been killed, as Indian officials had whispered to the media in Delhi.

Without wasting time, the ISPR facilitated local as well as international media access to an area that was purportedly the IAFs target. Very soon, credible global media organisations like Reuters, the New York Times and Al Jazeera put out reports supporting Pakistans contention that there were no signs of any casualties in the so-called terrorist camp.

Lost in the claims and counter-claims was the primary Indian message: that it was demonstrating its ability and intent to hit militant groups in Pakistan, by crossing not just the LoC in Kashmir, but also the international border into Pakistan. By failing to put out any evidence that the IAF actually struck the camps it targeted, New Delhi failed to prove its capability, even if it had successfully demonstrated a new resolve.

Pakistans success in controlling the message was visible again the next day when the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) staged a retaliatory incursion into India. The IAF quickly drove out the Pakistani fighter aircraft, but one of its MiG-21 fighters was shot down across the LoC and Pakistani troops captured its pilot. All through the day, the ISPR put forward claims that two to three Indian aircraft had been shot down and, by afternoon, the captured Indian pilot was paraded on Pakistani television channels, declaring that he was being treated well.

Prime Minister Khan made a video appeal for peace, urging India to join Pakistan in de-escalating the crisis. That evening, far too late, New Delhi put out a statement admitting the loss of one aircraft while claiming the IAF had shot down a Pakistani F-16. But the day clearly belonged to Pakistan.

On day three, international mediation, especially by the United States, led to a deal for the release of the IAF pilot in exchange for New Delhis commitment to restraint and a de-escalation of the crisis. Here, again, Pakistan grabbed the credit with Khan dramatically announcing that Pakistan would release the pilot the next day, again playing the statesman by urging peace with India.

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Hours later, in a wooden press conference in New Delhi, senior Indian military officers grudgingly welcomed the pilots release. Pakistans public relations victory was complete the next day when, on primetime television news, every Indian and Pakistani news channel broadcast live the pilot being handed back to India.

Forgotten by now is the strategic message against cross-border terrorism that India sought to send to Pakistan. Across India, this is now a purely domestic political issue as Modi, already campaigning across India, talks up the air attacks as a demonstration of his strong leadership. In a public speech, he has referenced the pilots release in an unsophisticated pun to threaten Pakistan with more to come: This was just a pilot project. We were just practising. Now we will carry out the real thing.

Ultimately, New Delhi will measure the success or failure of these air attacks by whether they induce Islamabad to take visible and verifiable steps to rein in militant groups like the JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which India accuses Pakistan of nurturing as sub-conventional assets.

Pakistan has already signalled it would not crack down, with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi telling international media that the Pakistani government needs to see more evidence that JeM indeed carried out the attack.

At the same time, there is growing international concern that Pakistans failure to control militant groups operating from its territory could create another major crisis with India, even a full-blown armed exchange that tests the nuclear threshold.

On Wednesday, the US, UK and France proposed that the UN Security Council blacklist Azhar Masood, the JeM chief. For the past three years, New Delhis efforts to get the UN to designate Masood as a global terrorist have been blocked by China, on technical grounds.

So far, Beijing has not heeded New Delhis appeal to drop its objection. But that could change, given Chinas ongoing security operations in Xinjiang province, which borders Pakistan.

Although Pakistan won the perception war in the recent crisis, it is losing ground internationally to a rising India. On Friday, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting in Abu Dhabi as a guest of honour. The OIC invited Swaraj over the objections of Pakistan, which downgraded its own participation in the meeting in protest.

Fifty years earlier, Pakistani objections had resulted in India being disinvited from the OICs inaugural summit. But things have moved on.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
The Israeli political elite has long tried to cover up its fascist views and practices. Today it no longer cares to.

In 1984, Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founding leader of the openly racist Kach party, managed to enter the Knesset after securing some 26,000 votes. Despite his rising political profile, however, the far-right rabbi was not welcomed with open arms in the Israeli parliament  whenever he spoke, all the other 119 members of the Knesset (MKs) would walk out.

MKs were so disturbed by Kahanes presence in the parliament that in August 1985 they even passed a revision to the Electoral Law which banned parties inciting racism  including Kach  from participating in future elections.

The problem was that this amendment also disqualified parties which opposed the existence of the Israeli state as a Jewish state. The second anti-racist law in 1986 was even worse. It exempted discrimination on the grounds of religion resulting in Kahane voting for it and the left in the Knesset voting against it!

However, the MKs vocal opposition to Kach had nothing to do with the racist ideology that was guiding the party. They were simply concerned about the damage Kachs success could inflict on Israels image on the international arena  before the Supreme Courts election ban, polls were predicting that the party could gain up to 12 seats in the 1988 elections.

Nevertheless, even if it was mostly for cosmetic reasons, back then, overt racism was still unacceptable in Israeli politics.

However, much has changed in the last 35 years.

Today, heirs of Kahane are being welcomed in by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. What was trefa (forbidden) yesterday, has become kosher today.

Netanyahus political calculations

As part of his ongoing election campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has openly encouraged the far-right Jewish Home party to unite with smaller, even more extremist right-wing parties, including Otzma Yehudit  the party of Kahanes disciples. The Jewish Home central committee recently approved the merger, paving the way for at least one member of Otzma Yehudit  its leader Michael Ben Ari  to secure a seat in the 21st Knesset in the upcoming April election.

Ben Ari, an avowed Kahanist, was a member of the Knesset between 2009 and 2013. Apart from inciting a pogrom against African refugees in South Tel Aviv, he is famous for tearing up a copy of the New Testament and putting it in a rubbish bin and for referring to Jewish left-wingers as germs that need to be eradicated.

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In September 2010, in response to being told that for every Israeli killed, six Palestinians had died over the previous 10 years, Ari remarked that For every one dead on our side, we need to kill 500 and not six. During 2012s Operation Pillar of Defense, he stated that there are no innocents in Gazamow them down! Kill the Gazans without thought or mercy!

This is who Netanyahu has made sure will enter the new Knesset in April.

The reason the prime minister has so eagerly supported Otzma Yehudit  and other extremist parties like it  is because the far-right in Israel commands up to 250,000 votes but is divided between at least four parties. He believes that a failure of these parties to unite could lead to many of them not crossing the electoral threshold (which was raised from 2 percent to 3.25 percent in 2013 in order to exclude the Arab parties from parliament), making way for the rise of a left-wing coalition in the Knesset.

Unlike his predecessors, who had once likened Rabbi Kahanes racist policy proposals to Nazi Germanys Nuremberg laws, Netanyahu seemingly has no qualms about dealing with the far right. There are no waters too polluted for the prime minister to fish in.

Some on the Israeli left are acting as if this signals a major shift in Israeli politics. Yet Israels Arab population is undoubtedly asking, Whats new? After all, they have always suffered violence and institutional discrimination.

What we are witnessing today is not a major shift in Israeli politics, but the public face of Zionist ideology finally catching up with decades of Zionist practice. Israeli Labour governments of the past spoke the language of social democracy as they practised ethnic cleansing. Netanyahus new, openly fascist right-wing government, however, has taken the hypocrisy out of Zionism.

Zionism exposed

When Kahane preached that Israel could either be a Jewish state or a democratic one, he was stating a truth that generations of left-wing Zionists have glossed over. The Zionist ideology had always given prominence to the states Jewish identity over democracy. This is why, when it was founded in 1948, Israel expelled over 750,000 Palestinians, and successive Zionist governments, Labour and Likud alike, opposed mixed marriages and personal relationships between Jews and Arabs.

In this context, the only real difference between mainstream Zionist Israeli parties and the likes of Kach or Otzma Yehudit is that what the former whisper in muted tones, the latter shout from the rooftops.

During his stint in the Knesset, Kahane proposed a series of laws which would make Israel a true Jewish state. These proposals included, among others, revocation of citizenship rights of non-Jews, the eventual imposition of slavery on Arabs and other non-Jews, banning non-Jews from living in Jewish neighbourhoods, the expulsion of non-Jews from Jerusalem and eventually Israel, prohibition of sexual relations between Jews and Arabs and forced dissolution of all inter-faith marriages.

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While many of these proposals, such as the prohibition of sexual relationships between Jews and Arabs and the forced dissolution of intermarriages, come straight from the 1935 Nazi Nuremberg Laws and appear extreme and unrealistic on the surface, they offer little more than further codification of the existing practices of the Israeli state.

There is no civil marriage in Israel and since religious authorities do not perform interfaith marriages (between a Jew and a member of another religion), they are not permitted in Israel. Kahanes proposition to ban non-Jews from living in Jewish neighbourhoods is also already a reality. Hundreds of communities in the country are already Jewish only; non-Jews residing in Jerusalem are facing expulsion for the most trivial reasons.

Kahane represented the hidden face of Zionism. Members of the Knesset, both from the left and the right, denounced his ideas and words to keep up appearances, while tacitly supporting the very same racist policies he promoted.

Kahane may have died at the hands of an assassin in 1990, but his ideas have thrived in his absence. Israels government no longer feels the need to hide the fact that it embraces the open racism of Kehanes modern-day followers.

Liberal anxieties

The upcoming election is likely to mark the demise of the so-called Zionist left  and the decades-old lie that mainstream Zionists are fundamentally different from racists like Kahane.

This is causing apoplexy among Zionisms liberal supporters. Batya Ungar-Sargon he Forward, recently published a commentary headlined Netanyahu Just Invited Israels Equivalent Of The KKK To Join The Government.

These are the David Dukes and the Richard Spencers of the Jewish State, people who believe that Jewish sovereignty depends on the oppression, ethnic cleansing and even murder of Israels Arab population, she explained.

The American Jewish establishment has clearly been shaken by Netanyahus open association with proud fascists and racists, but above all by his shamelessness.

Most American Jews have long suffered from political schizophrenia  they are progressive on everything bar Palestine. For decades they have turned a blind eye to all sorts of racist atrocities committed by the Israeli state and its leaders.

And what appals them today is not the ideas Otzma Yehudit representatives would bring into the Knesset  which, in fact, are just a vocalisation of accepted Israeli practices. They are just concerned about the political consequences of the Israeli prime ministers open support for shamelessly racist political forces.

In an interview with Israels Haaretz newspaper, Susie Gelman, a prominent Zionist-American donor, recently expressed this sentiment, saying, Netanyahus actions are feeding the estrangement of young American Jews from Israel. Many other Jewish American leaders have voiced similar concerns.

In response to the deal between Netanyahu and Kahanists, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted: There should be no room for racism and no accommodation for intolerance in Israel or any democracy. [] It is troubling that they are being legitimized by this union.

Where, one wonders, was Greenblatt when the Chief Rabbi of Safed Shmuel Elihayu issued an edict in 2010 that Jews were forbidden to rent rooms and apartments to Arabs? Or when Rabbis Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur published the Kings Tora, which explained how Jews could legally kill non-Jews, even children and infants?

In this context, members of the Jewish American establishment can be likened to the MKs of the 1980s who protested Kahanes racist speeches while voting for similar, but more polite, policies themselves. The liberal Jewish establishments main concern today is not the institutional racism rampant in Israel or the ethnic cleansing that is taking place before their eyes, but that his move will hurt Israels image and create a rift with Jewish Americans.

It is clear that Zionism has now come full circle. There was always a tension within socialist Zionism  between their professed universalism and their actual practice. Zionism today has no such dilemmas.

The logic of a Jewish state is that non-Jews are there on sufferance. Just as Jews were not welcome in the ethno-nationalist states of 1930s Europe, so too are Palestinians excluded from the Jewish state today.

There is a large section of Israeli society, in particular, the religious Zionists, for whom the Palestinians represent the Jews mythical biblical enemy, the Amalekites. In Exodus 17:14, God told Moses: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.

Today these passages are being brought back to life. For those who are aware of the story of Esther, Netanyahu is indeed the Jewish Haman.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
At a private gathering at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London on February 28, David Makovsky and Dennis Ross  two men with a deep understanding of the decades-long peace process between the Palestinians and Israelis  spoke frankly and at length about US President Donald Trumps ultimate deal.

Makovsky is an author and journalist who covered the often anguished twists and turns of the journey to reach the Oslo accords of 1993 and 1995. Ross was appointed President Bill Clintons Middle East envoy in the first Clinton administration and in that capacity helped to broker the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, commonly referred to as Oslo II in 1995.

Both men are seen by critics  justifiably or not  as being sympathetic towards Israel: Makovsky is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) which is closely linked to the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC; Ross, after leaving his post as envoy, returned to WINEP as a counsellor and distinguished fellow.

What was abundantly clear from their comments was that the peace deal, whose details remain a closely held secret, is doomed to failure. As Makovsky put it if it was left to the advisers, they would say do not pursue this deal. He added that the risk of failure was high and every failure comes with a cost.

This is the fourth attempt at a comprehensive peace deal and the cynicism on both sides, after decades of effort, is running higher than ever before. Ross noted that both sides have lost faith; without faith, he argued, there is no chance of a deal. What has been completely lost is the sense that there is the possibility a deal can be reached. That possibility has to somehow be recreated.

Resurrecting the peace process is a major challenge in itself, but what makes it even more difficult to achieve for the Trump administration is the fact that the triumvirate delegated with this mission  Trumps son-in-law Kushner, Trump Organisation lawyer Jason Greenblatt and Trump campaign adviser David Friedman  is seen as closely linked to the illegal settler movement in the West Bank.

Kushners family foundation has funded a settlement. Friedman, Trumps appointee as ambassador to Israel, has argued that the settlements, contrary to international law, are not illegal. Greenblatt, confounding experts as well as common sense, has decreed that the settlements are not an obstacle to peace.

In keeping with the presidents approach to foreign affairs, Kushner has eschewed the systems and structures that in normal times are used as essential tools of diplomacy. He shares his father-in-laws egotistic view that he has no need for the machinery of government nor the thoughts of wiser and older Middle East experts. In his very limited world view, this is just another Manhattan real estate deal writ large.

Makovsky called the triumvirates approach close-holed; other practitioners see the obsession for secrecy and the refusal to consult knowledgeable Middle East peace negotiators as simply paranoid.

No wonder then that there is an absence of faith on the Palestinian side. Kushner seems to believe that his project, which Makovsky called economy plus-plus, will convince the Palestinian leadership to give up some, if not all, of their hot button issues in return for economic benefits. These core issues remain the right of return for refugees, borders based on the 1967 Green Line, security and occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a viable Palestinian state.

The benefits that are supposed to flow, in Kushners mind, like water in the desert, will come in part from the largesse of the Gulf states, in particular, Saudi Arabia. He, of course, has a special relationship with the Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). (The crown prince has boasted that he has Kushner in his pocket so the relationship may not be quite what Kushner thinks it is.)

However, the Saudis are not prepared to stump up unless the US does too. Given Trumps erratic and unpredictable approach to foreign policy, there is no guarantee whatsoever that will happen, a point not lost at all on the Saudis.

While it is true that Israel has worked assiduously to gain the support of key Gulf leaders, who view it as a bulwark of support against Iran, Ross said that Arab leaders will never say publicly to the Palestinians that you must accept the (Kushner) deal.

In a best-case scenario, he said, Arab leaders could say we have questions and reservations but this does form the basis for negotiations  in other words, a starting point and nothing more. Then the strategy would be to get Europe on side. That would leave the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a bind and in Ross opinion he would be forced to come to the table.

However, the only way that could work is if the key demands, the hot buttons, of the Palestinians are met in the plan. While virtually nothing else is known about the 50-page document that Kushner has prepared, it is clear that it does not address these demands in any meaningful way.

Makovsky expressed his concern that the deal was set up for failure, and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was counting on Abbas to say no, thus delivering to the hard-right settlement parties the result they wanted after supporting his re-election bid.

With news that the Israeli attorney general will proceed to indict the prime minister on charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust, the election itself has been thrown wide open. Trump and Kushner have intimated that the deal of the century will be released sometime after the election on April 9. But whereas before it would have tumbled out in a political space secure in Netanyahus re-election, now the deal faces uncertainty in Israel as well as the anger of the Palestinians.

No one who has given it much thought really expects the plan to do anything other than fail. But when seasoned veterans like Makovsky and Ross confirm that view, it is a safe bet that Trump, the self-proclaimed great dealmaker who fell flat on his face at the Vietnam summit, is set for a repeat performance in a fractious and volatile Middle East.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
[March 04, 2019] ARI Announces Strategic Growth Investment from TA Associates ARI Network Services (News - Alert) , Inc. ("ARI"), a provider of software and marketing solutions to dealers, equipment manufacturers and distributors in select vertical markets, today announced it has received a strategic growth investment from TA Associates, a leading global growth private equity firm. True Wind Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm that completed a take-private transaction of ARI in August 2017, will remain the largest shareholder in the company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005272/en/ Founded in 1981, ARI provides lead-generation, e-commerce, digital marketing, electronic catalog and dealer management solutions to dealers in end markets such as power sports, outdoor power equipment, marine, recreational vehicle, tire and wheel, aftermarket auto service, appliances and home medical equipment. The company's suite of products are mission critical in helping dealers drive sales and manage operations. ARI has offices throughout the United States and around the globe. "We are thrilled to complete an investment in ARI and help build upon the company's outstanding record of supporting dealerships' end-to-end technology needs," said Ashutosh Agrawal, a Managing Director at TA Associates who will join the ARI Board of Directors. "We are confident that ARI is well positioned to continue to grow organically and through strategic add-on acquisitions, and look forward to contributing additional resources to support the ongoing momentum of the company." "ARI was built on the basis that manufacturers, distributors, dealers and service providers deserve premier solutions to automate and enhance their businesses," said Roy W. Olivier, President and Chief Executive Officer of ARI. "In keeping with our roots, we believe it is critical to have value-add partners in place who are aligned with and supportive of our mission and goals. With True Wind retaining a significant stake in the business and TA Associates coming on board as a new partner, we feel fortunate to have two highly regarded investors at our ide as we seek to continuously innovate and improve our suite of data-powered technology tools to enable our customers to drive sales. It is a pleasure to welcome TA to the ARI family."

"We have thoroughly enjoyed our relationship with the entire ARI team since we successfully took the company private 18 months ago," said Adam Clammer, a Founding Partner of True Wind Capital. "We are delighted to continue our relationship with ARI and are eager to begin working collaboratively with TA to help the company in its next phase of growth." In addition to Ashutosh Agrawal, Nicholas D. Leppla, a Vice President at TA Associates, will join the ARI Network Services Board of Directors. About ARI Network Services

ARI Network Services, Inc. (ARI) offers an award-winning suite of SaaS (News - Alert) , software tools and marketing services to help dealers, equipment manufacturers and distributors in selected vertical markets Sell More Stuff! - online and in-store. Our innovative products are powered by a proprietary data repository of enriched original equipment and aftermarket electronic content spanning more than 17 million active part and accessory SKUs and 750,000 equipment models. Business is complicated, but we believe our customers' technology tools don't have to be. We remove the complexity of selling and servicing new and used vehicle inventory, parts, garments and accessories (PG&A) for customers in the automotive tire and wheel aftermarket, power sports, outdoor power equipment, marine, home medical equipment, recreational vehicles and appliance industries. More than 23,500 equipment dealers, 195 distributors and 3,360 brands worldwide leverage our web and eCatalog platforms to Sell More Stuff! For more information on ARI, visit arinet.com. About TA Associates

TA Associates is one of the largest and most experienced global growth private equity firms. Focused on five target industries - technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer and business services - TA invests in profitable, growing companies with opportunities for sustained growth, and has invested in more than 500 companies around the world. Investing as either a majority or minority investor, TA employs a long-term approach, utilizing its strategic resources to help management teams build lasting value in growth companies. TA has raised $24 billion in capital since its founding in 1968 and is committing to new investments at the pace of $2 billion per year. The firm's more than 85 investment professionals are based in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong. More information about TA Associates can be found at www.ta.com. About True Wind Capital

True Wind Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity firm focused on investing in leading technology companies. True Wind is a value-added partner, providing support and expertise that is rooted in 75+ years of collective investing experience. True Wind's founding partners have successfully invested more than $15 billion of equity in transactions with over $75 billion of value across a variety of industries, geographies, economic cycles and transaction types. True Wind targets investments in which they partner directly with management teams to support their pursuit of market leadership and its investment professionals have completed more than 50 platform investments. Visit www.truewindcapital.com for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005272/en/

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Few options remain for people in shelters  too afraid to go home and with little hope of resettlement.

Makassar, Indonesia  Earlier this month Sajad Jacob, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan who had been living in an Indonesian detention centre for nearly two decades, died in the hospital. The 24-year-old had doused himself in petrol and set himself on fire.

Jacob was a Hazara, a Shia Muslim minority that has suffered violent persecution in Afghanistan.

I tried to help as much as I can because I also care and have humanity, Arthur Mawikere, head of the detention centre in Manado where Jacob and his family were living, told Al Jazeera. Mawikere said he didnt know whether Jacobs self-immolation was deliberate.

Jacobs family had fled Afghanistan when he was a child and had been in Indonesia since 2000. They had tried at least twice to be recognised as refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but had been rejected on both occasions.

The refugee agency offered to hear their case again last year but the family refused, instead taking to social media and hunger striking to demand immediate refugee status. Without the protection of being an asylum seeker, they became illegal immigrants at risk of deportation.

I wanted to help but its the law, Mawikere said. Illegal immigrants cannot find work or housing.

Jacobs family members remain in detention. They could not be contacted because their phones had been confiscated.

There are increasing reports of mental health problems among the 14,000 people  asylum seekers and even those recognised as UN refugees  who now live in limbo in Indonesia. Most exist in immigration-controlled housing in a twilight world where they cannot work or get an education, and have little hope of resettlement elsewhere. Just 556 refugees got to leave Indonesia to start a new life in a third country last year.

Many find themselves in the archipelago as a result of Australian policies designed to deter people from arriving in the country by boat.

Since 2000, Australias government has funded the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Indonesia, which handles relief for the UNHCR in Indonesia, part of a campaign to discourage people from trying to get to Australia by sea and claim asylum. Those who arrive by boat are sent to remote offshore camps on Nauru and Manus Island for processing with no chance of ever being resettled in Australia  even if they are found to be refugees.

The shelter for refugees in the Indonesian city of Makassar [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera]

Stranded and destitute

According to the UNHCR data, in 2017, Australias financial support for the IOM in the archipelago was more than three times its contribution to the refugee agency globally.

But now that funding is being reduced too.

The reduction in IOM funding, which was used in part to provide emergency relief and shelter for refugees, has left people stranded and destitute, said Asher Hirsch, senior policy officer with the Refugee Council of Australia. This, combined with the lack of rights in Indonesia, has caused significant mental stress for refugees stranded in Indonesia.

After the UNHCR decides a person is a refugee, the IOM manages their life in Indonesia until they can be resettled, providing them with a monthly allowance  $90 for an adult and $36 for a child.

This month, the Australian government said it would reopen its detention centre on Christmas Island, an Australian territory just south of Indonesia, after parliament passed a law allowing those confined to Manus and Nauru to be brought to Australia for medical treatment if doctors said it was necessary.

The move ratcheted up an already restrictive immigration environment ahead of Australian elections due by May.

Mark Getchell, the IOMs chief in Indonesia, said Australias decision to cut its assistance to the Indonesia programme could have been recognition that served as a pull factor for refugees.

The Australian government declined to respond to Al Jazeeras specific questions on its policies in relation to asylum seekers and refugees in Indonesia.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Home Affairs said its funding to IOM had successfully supported irregular migrants in Indonesia while they pursue third country resettlement, where eligible to do so, rather than attempt the dangerous journey to Australia by boat.

Muhammad Amiri has his hair cut at a barbershop in the refugee shelter in Makassar, Indonesia [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera]

IOM stopped accepting new refugee applicants to the programme in March last year to reduce the risk of irregular migrants drawn to Indonesia, the spokesperson added.

Since 2010, Australia has been accepting an average of about 400 refugees from Indonesia each year, but that figure dropped to 85 in 2017-18, according to data provided to the refugee council following a Freedom of Information request.

Other countries are also accepting fewer refugees for resettlement too, and fearful of returning home  even with assistance from the IOM  the asylum seekers and refugees are instead living in IOM shelters run by immigration.

Open prison

Almost 2,000 people are crammed into the hostels in Makassar, the biggest number after Medan, where rules include a 10pm curfew, no overnight stays outside the shelter, and a ban on protests.

Muhammad Joniad, a 25-year-old refugee and aspiring lawyer from Rakhine state in Myanmar, has gathered the stories of at least 17 people he says have died as a result of depression or a lack of medication. Jacob was the most recent entry on his list.

Like many, Joniad likens life in Indonesia to an open prison and is losing hope.

I cannot tell my family the truth about here, because they are already suffering enough, said Assadullah Amiri, 29, another Hazara refugee. And now after six years, were told were still not vulnerable enough to be resettled?

Refugee John Arash Sedigh, 40, at the church he attends in Makassar [Ian Morse/Al Jazeera]

Those living in Makassar say they can be returned to immigration detention for unknown lengths of time, their stipend suspended for breaking any of the rules. Getchell said the IOM does not support such arbitrary, indefinite detention.

Domestic law governs the legal status of immigrants in Indonesia, but makes no reference to asylum seekers or refugees, Hirsch said. Instead, the law focuses on criminalisation, describing any person without a visa as an illegal immigrant.

Refugees in Makassar have resorted to social media and twice-monthly demonstrations in front of the UNHCR and IOM offices to press their case.

John Arash Sedigh, a Christian convert from Iran, has been there almost every morning since September.

He arrived in Indonesia with his wife in 2012 and after trying twice to get to Australia has been living for the past five years in the IOM shelter.

Sedigh has given up on getting a boat out of Indonesia, and says his familys situation has become a kind of mental torture. His wife and young son rarely venture out of the tiny room they share and he says his wife is having suicidal thoughts.

If there was hope, it would be better, said Sedigh, 40. But when there is no option to go back, to stay as a human, or to get resettled, maybe we will all end it ourselves.
Anti-government rallies continue despite ailing presidents proposal to hold new polls if he wins fifth term in office.

Algiers, Algeria  Thousands of Algerians have staged fresh protests after President Abdelaziz Bouteflikas offer not to serve a full term in next months elections failed to appease public anger against his bid to seek a fifth term in office.

In a letter read out on state-run TV on Sunday, shortly after the 82-year-olds campaign manager formalised his candidacy, the ailing leader vowed to organise an inclusive national conference that would set a date and prepare for new polls which he would not contest.

In the statement, which came in response to an unprecedented mass protest movement against his 20-year rule, Bouteflika also pledged to improve the redistribution of the oil-producing countrys wealth and create better economic opportunities for Algerians.

The promises, however, did little to quell the protesters frustration.

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Late on Sunday, hundreds of young people gathered in Algiers Audin Square, chanting slogans denouncing Bouteflikas candidacy.

Thousands more staged new anti-government protests on Monday in the capital and other cities, including Oran, Constantine and Bouira, according to witnesses and local TV footage.

These demonstrations showed that the Algerian population is not naive. We do not believe President Bouteflika when he says that he is ready to step down in the near future. It is a new manoeuvre of the regime to find a way to buy time, Reda Boudraa, deputy leader of Rally for Democracy and Culture (RDC), a secular opposition party, told Al Jazeera.

What is interesting with his message is that he is acknowledging that something new is happening with these protests and that his regime can no longer survive without any change, he added.

Tens of thousands have taken to the streets since protests began last month [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters]

Protests first broke out on February 22, about two weeks after Bouteflika confirmed in a letter carried by the official APS news agency that he would run in the April 18 presidential elections.

The president, who has used a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2013, last week travelled to Switzerland for medical tests. His exact whereabouts are currently unknown.

With anti-Bouteflika rallies expected to continue throughout the week across Algeria, many expressed doubts that the president was sincerely willing to handle a democratic transition if he won the polls.

Bouteflikas determination to run again despite his fragile health and widespread protestations is a political suicide, said Walid Hadjadj, a member of Young Generation, another secular opposition party.

He had the chance to leave power without violence. Now, the regime will be toppled by the people mobilisation. His attitude reminds me of [Zine El Abidine] Ben Alis attempt to stay in power, he told Al Jazeera, referring to Tunisias long-time ruler who was overthrown in a 2011 uprising sparked by anger at poverty and unemployment.

Abdelghani Zaalane, Bouteflikas campaign manager, submitted the presidents candidacy papers on his behalf [Ryad Kramdi/AFP]

Bouteflikas offer has been heavily criticised by several opposition parties, some of which are calling for a boycott of the upcoming vote.





We will not take part in the election if Abdelaziz Bouteflika runs for a fifth term because we have already noticed multiple fraud activities, Abdelaziz Belaid, founder of the opposition Front El Moustabal party said on Monday, two days after registering his own candidacy.

On Monday, Ali Benflis, Bouteflikas main opponent during the 2004 and 2014 presidential elections, described Bouteflikas offer as an unspeakable additional provocation.

Benflis, who has withdrawn from the presidential race to protest against Bouteflikas fifth-term bid, said the Algerian people were expecting an unambiguous response but, instead, they heard the same unfulfilled old promises.

Two other main opposition parties, the Labour Party and the Islamist Movement Society for Peace, have also decided to boycott the polls.

In a speech at her partys headquarters in Algiers on Friday, Labour leader Louisa Hanoune said that this electoral process represents a danger for the countrys national security. We need to help this administration to leave the power for the countrys best interest.

A fair deal?

But others, including Ilies Berdiche, a member of Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahias National and Democratic Rally (RND) party, described Bouteflikas proposal on Sunday as a fair deal.

It will give enough time to opposition parties and civil society organisations to be ready for a major political transition, Berdiche, who will volunteer for Bouteflikas election campaign for a fifth term, told Al Jazeera.

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Bouteflikas offer is consistent with the letter he sent in February when he announced his intention to run for a fifth term, he said.

At that time, he had already called for the establishment of an inclusive and national conference to organise a peaceful transition. Everybody, including the Bouteflika administration, agrees that the time has come for wide-ranging reforms.

Likewise, Djaoudia, a business management student backed Bouteflikas proposal as a peaceful way out of the political turmoil.

I dont want the electoral process to be cancelled, Djaoudia told Al Jazeera. This will ensure a soft exit out of the crisis. I agree that political transition is needed but it will require time. Bouteflikas offer will guarantee the success of a political transition.

Others, however, disagreed.

Bouteflika is not in shape to organise a political transition, Amina, a 30-year-old paediatrician, said.

He must leave now. Besides, he lied to the population when he said that his fourth term would be the last one. How can we trust him now when he promises to step down if he wins the vote in April?
There are 25 days until the UK is expected to quit the EU, but it appears unlikely the divorce will take place on time.

London, United Kingdom  There are just 25 days until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union, and the British public remains in the dark about how, when and if Brexit will take place. But things are coming to a head.

What will happen next?

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised to bring a revised deal back to parliament by March 12, and hold a second meaningful vote, hoping to persuade enough Conservative MPs  many of whom have so far rebelled against her plans  to vote for it.

May has delayed such votes in the past, leading to accusations of running down the clock, but this time she is bound by parliament to hold a vote on March 13.

This will give MPs the final say on leaving the EU without a deal on March 29  something there is not a parliamentary majority for.

Should MPs vote against the deal, and then vote against leaving the EU without one  both of which appear likely, another vote will be held on March 14 on extending Article 50.

Is Brexit going to happen on time?

Nothing has been confirmed but it does not look likely.

Extending Article 50  the part of the treaty on the EU that allows member states to leave the bloc  is not unilateral and all other 27 EU member states need to agree.

French President Emmanuel Macron, for one, has already objected to a delay without a clear objective.

May has said she would allow an extension not beyond June, but the EU is expected to seek a longer period. However, there is a limit to the EUs timeframe too. Its members are unlikely to want an extension so long that it undoes 18 months of negotiations.

European Parliament elections are scheduled for May 23-26, and the new assemblys first sitting is on July 2.

A longer extension also means British citizens should have a say on who represents them in the European Parliament if theyre still part of the EU by then.

But taking part in an EU election while the UK is in the process of leaving the union is seen as problematic

on the domestic front.

What are the chances of a second referendum?

A second public vote would need parliaments approval, and it is unclear if there would be enough support.

Parliament voted down opposition leader Jeremy Corbyns Brexit plan last week, which means the Labour Party is now officially committed to backing a second referendum.

However, some Labour MPs in leave-voting constituencies might not support it.

Options for a vote could include remaining in the EU, leaving without a deal, or a number of different withdrawal terms.

There is some public support for a new vote; a put it to the people rally has been called in London for March 23.

Are all options still on the table then?

In short, yes.

The prospect of a short delay would bring Britain to a sharper cliff-edge, according to May, and she is hoping to back MPs into a corner to vote for her deal.

This means next weeks meaningful vote may not be the last one after all.

Any request for an extension is likely to be on the agenda of the next European Council meeting, on March 21-22.
Accusations about ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor come as China seeks Huawei CFOs release.

China has accused two Canadians currenctly held there of acting together to steal state secrets and intelligence, according to state media.

Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were arrested in China in early December soon after the detention in Canada of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, who is currently facing extradition to the United States.

On Monday, Chinas official Xinhua news agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Spavor. It was the first time the two mens cases have been linked.

It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas and acquired information from Spavor, his main contact.

Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security, Xinhua said.





No other details were given and Xinhua said further judicial proceedings would take place based on the cases progress.

Kovrig and Spavor have not had access to a lawyer or to their families since their arrest.

But Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said China has given necessary notice to the Canadian side and that their handling of the cases of the two Canadians is in accordance with the law.

The latest development comes as Chinas foreign ministry repeated its call on Monday for Canada to release Meng after her lawyers said she was suing Canadian authorities over their handling of her arrest.

We urge Canada to immediately release Ms Meng Wanzhou, let her return to China in safety while ensuring her legitimate and justifiable rights and interests, and not repeat its mistakes, said Lu Kang during a regular press briefing.





The US is seeking Mengs extradition from Canada to face charges that she misled banks about Huaweis business with Iran.

Mengs arrest in the Canadian city of Vancouver on December 1 set off a diplomatic furore and severely strained Ottawas and Washingtons relations with Beijing.

Meng is out on bail and living at a residence she owns in Vancouver.

She is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved.

Beijing has accused Canada and the US of a politically motivated attempt to hurt Huawei.

The US has been lobbying its allies to shun Huaweis products on national security grounds, saying Chinese law requires the company to provide it with intelligence on its foreign clients whenever requested.
Reports suggest Presidents Xi and Trump to close a deal at a summit in coming weeks at Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

The United States and China appear close to a deal that would roll back US tariffs on at least $200bn worth of Chinese goods as Beijing makes pledges on structural economic changes and eliminates retaliatory tariffs on American goods.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could seal a formal trade deal at a summit around March 27 given progress in talks between the two countries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

In an eight-month trade war, the US has imposed punitive tariffs on $250bn worth of imports from China, while Beijing has hit back with tariffs on $110bn worth of US goods, including soybeans and other commodities. The actions have roiled financial markets, disrupted manufacturing supply chains, and reduced US farm exports.

Trump administration officials have said they expect the two presidents to close a deal at a summit in coming weeks at Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.





Differences and disputes

The substantive progress China and the US have made in their trade talks has been well-received in both countries and around the world, a senior Chinese official said on Monday, maintaining Beijings previous upbeat assessment of discussions.

History shows cooperation is the best choice for the worlds two largest economies, Zhang Yesui, a former Chinese ambassador in Washington and now spokesman for Chinas legislature, told a news briefing.

Economic and trade ties between China and the United States are mutually beneficial, win-win by the nature, and we hope that both sides can continue to step up consultations, to reach a mutually beneficial, win-win agreement.

He said international disputes were not uncommon and this one was no different.

Its totally normal to have differences and disputes, but this does not inevitably lead to antagonism or confrontation, he said.

It is in neither countrys interests to clash or have a confrontation, Zhang added.

Using the old thinking of the Cold War to deal with new problems in the context of globalisation definitely wont get you anywhere.

Done deal?

A source briefed on the talks told Reuters news agency that no dates for a summit had been determined, but Beijing had reserved a 10-day window from around March 20 for a possible meeting.

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Many details still needed to be worked out, including the terms of an enforcement mechanism to ensure that Beijing follows through on pledges to make changes to policies to better protect US intellectual property, end forced technology transfers and curb industrial subsidies.

The Wall Street Journal said China would lower tariffs on US-made goods including agricultural products, chemicals and cars in exchange for sanctions relief from Washington in the pending agreement, citing people briefed on the matter on both sides.

The newspapers sources cautioned that hurdles remain, and each side faces possible resistance at home that the terms are too favourable to the other side.

Last week, Trump said the US could walk away from a trade deal with China if it were not good enough, even as his economic advisers touted fantastic progress towards an agreement.

Trump a week ago delayed a tariff increase on $200bn in Chinese goods that was previously scheduled to take place on Saturday, citing progress in the talks.
China unveiled its largest defence spending increase in years in 2018, setting an 8.1 percent growth target.

China will keep up a reasonable and appropriate increase in defence spending to satisfy its national security and military reforms, a government spokesman said on Monday, a day before the release of its defence budget.

Chinas spending on armed forces is closely watched in Asia and Washington for pointers to its broader strategic intentions amid an impressive modernisation programme, which has developed stealth fighters, 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.

The legislatures spokesman Zhang Yesui, a former ambassador to Washington, said China had always walked the path of peaceful development. He was speaking ahead of parliaments release of the national budget on Tuesday.

Maintaining reasonable and appropriate growth in national defence spending is needed for protecting national security and for military reforms with Chinese characteristics, Zhang said.

Chinas limited defence spending is only for its own security needs and to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will not threaten other countries, he added.

Whether a country poses a military threat to other countries depends on its foreign and defence policies, rather than how much its defence spending increases.

$750bn vs $166bn

Zhang did not elaborate on how much defence spending would rise, as has often been the custom in recent years the day before the legislature opens.

US President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750bn from Congress for American defence spending in 2019. That compares with the $165.55bn China set for its military budget in 2018.

Zhang said China only spent about 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product on its military last year, compared with more than two percent for certain major developed countries.

China gives no breakdown of its defence budget, prompting complaints from neighbours and other military powers that Beijings lack of transparency has fuelled regional tension. China says it is fully transparent and no threat.

Diplomats and many foreign experts say Chinas defence numbers probably underestimate true military spending for the Peoples Liberation Army, the worlds largest armed forces, which also run the space programme.

The 2019 figure should be unveiled at Tuesdays opening of the annual session of Chinas largely rubber-stamp legislature, although in 2017 it was not initially announced, prompting renewed concerns about transparency.
The two main political parties in Iraqs semi-autonomous Kurdish region have struck a four-year deal paving the way for the formation of a new Kurdish Regional Government (KRG), according to local media.

The political agreement signed on Monday between the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) comes months after Septembers parliamentary elections.

We both are winners. Our people are the winners, Sadi Pira, a PUK member, was quoted as saying by Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.

The security of our people is the priority  I hope everyone thinks of the peoples interests, not partisan interests, Fazil Mirani, secretary of the KDPs executive committee, said.

According to Rudaw, the new deal is expected to replace the KDPs and PUKs redundant so-called Strategic Agreement, which united the region under a KRG administration in 2005, and included measures to accelerate the formation of a new government.

At a joint press conference following the signing of the deal in Erbil, PUK spokesperson Latif Sheikh Omar said a commission would be established to follow up on the implementation of the agreement.

The deal would also result in the formation of parliamentary committees, local media outlet Kurdistan 24 reported.

No other information was immediately available.





The two major parties, which have ruled the Kurdish region under a power-sharing agreement, have been at odds since the regions failed bid for independence from Iraq in a controversial 2017 referendum.

The September 30 vote saw hundreds of candidates competing for the 111 seats in the regional parliament, including five allocated for Turkmen, five for Christians and one for Armenians.

According to the regional election commission, the KDP won 45 seats in Septembers parliamentary election on September 30, while the PUK came second, securing 21 seats.

At the time, several opposition parties rejected the election results of the election, which came amid a political crisis brought about by the failed referendum  pushed for by the KRG at the time.

Kurdish political parties, as well as the central government in Baghdad, had opposed the referendum, which led to a military confrontation between Erbil and Baghdad in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

Even though relations with Baghdad have since improved, the Kurdish region has lost territory and economic autonomy following the independence bid, and voter frustration is rising.

Years of stagnant politics, unpaid salaries and corruption have undermined faith in politics and shrunk the turnout in recent elections.
SDF says 500 people, including ISIL fighters, leave armed groups last enclave as US-backed forces slow down offensive.

Hundreds of people, including ISIL fighters, have surrendered to advancing Kurdish-led forces in eastern Syria and evacuated the last patch of territory held by the armed group, according to an official.

Ciyager, an official with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group, said approximately 500 people on Monday left the village of Baghouz, in Deir Az Zor province.

Some 200 more people were expected to leave the enclave later on Monday, the official told The Associated Press news agency.

The SDF did not provide an exact figure about how many ISIL fighters had surrendered.

SDF-affiliated media and rebel activists are reporting dozens of ISIL fighters are surrendering; some placed the number at 150 and others at 200, Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon, said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also said the group that left Baghouz included 150 ISIL fighters.

The evacuation came hours after the SDF announced it was slowing down its push to capture the village to protect civilians who remain there, according to Mostafa Bali, a spokesperson for the group.

We are slowing down the offensive in Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by Daesh, Bali said on Twitter, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

However, we assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon.

Were slowing down the offensive in #Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by Daesh. However we assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon.  Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 3, 2019

Al Jazeeras Khodr said it was unclear how many ISIL fighters and civilians remained in Baghouz, which lies on the eastern side of the Euphrates River near the Iraqi border.

Thousands of civilians have left the village in the past week, said Khodr, and were taken to the overcrowded Al Hol camp, now home to more than 55,000 people.

They emerged weak, tired and hungry. They had dwindling supplies, and aid agencies in the area have been struggling to feed them, she added.

Sonia Khush, Syria director for Save the Children, told Al Jazeera that aid agencies were not prepared for the large influx of people that arrived from Baghouz.

The needs are immense, Khush said. Were struggling with having enough tents.

Smoke and fire billowed from Baghouz on Sunday as Kurdish-led forces backed by US fighter jets rain artillery fire and air raids on ISILs last holdout [Delil Souleiman/AFP]

On Sunday, the SDF faced landmines, car bombs, tunnel ambushes and suicide attacks as it resumed its final assault on Baghouz.

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The offensive had been held up for weeks to allow thousands of people to flee the area.

On Friday evening, the SDF said only ISIL fighters remained, but officials on Monday said civilians were still in the area.

While capturing Baghouz would mark a milestone in the fight against ISIL, the group is expected to remain a security threat as a force with sleeper cells and some pockets of remote territory.
New documentary says Turkish investigators also found traces of Khashoggis blood on walls of the Saudi consuls office.

The body of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was likely burned in a large oven at the Saudi consulate generals residence in Istanbul, an Al Jazeera investigation revealed.

New details of the writers murder by a Saudi assassination team were reported in a documentary by Al Jazeera Arabic that aired on Sunday.

Turkish authorities monitored the burning of the outdoor furnace from outside the premises as bags believed to be containing Khashoggis body parts were transferred to the Saudi consuls home after he was killed inside the consulate a few hundred metres away.

Al Jazeera interviewed a worker who constructed the furnace who stated it was built according to specifications from the Saudi consul. It had to be deep and withstand temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius  hot enough to melt metal.

The furnace in the garden of the Saudi consulate generals residence in Istanbul [Al Jazeera]

Large quantities of barbeque meat were grilled in the oven after the killing in order to cover up the cremation of the Saudi writers body, Turkish authorities reported.

The burning of Khashoggis body took place over a period of three days, Turkish officials said.

Turkish investigators also found traces of Khashoggis blood on the walls of the Saudi consuls office after removing paint that the assassination team applied after killing the Washington Post columnist on October 2.





The documentary was based on interviews with security officials, politicians, and some of Khashoggis Turkish friends.

First contact

Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan was the first official to contact the Saudis regarding the whereabouts of Khashoggi, according to the documentary.

In a call with the de facto Saudi leader, Fidan reportedly demanded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known by his initials MBS) reveal what happened to the journalist.

The call was cut short though when MBS rejected the demand and ended the call over what MBS reportedly perceived as an unacceptable threat.

A critic of Saudi Arabias powerful Prince Mohammed, Khashoggi entered the consulate in Istanbul to obtain paperwork so he could marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who was waiting outside the building.

Riyadh initially insisted Khashoggi had left the consulate alive before changing its account and admitting the journalist was killed in an operation it said was undertaken by rogue elements.

A CIA report said MBS likely ordered Khashoggis killing  an allegation Saudi Arabia denies.

Eleven suspects have been indicted for Khashoggis murder in Saudi Arabia, which has insisted it would handle the case and refused their extradition to Turkey.

United Nations special rapporteur Agnes Callamard, who is leading an international inquiry into the murder, called it a brutal and premeditated killing, planned and perpetrated by officials of the state of Saudi Arabia.

The international investigation started in late January and an official report is due in June.
The Netherlands has recalled its ambassador to Iran for talks following Tehrans decision to expel two of its diplomats amid a dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate political opponents of the Islamic Republic on Dutch soil.

In a letter to the Dutch parliament on Monday, Foreign Minister Stef Blok said he told Irans ambassador in The Hague last month that the expulsions, which were not previously publicly announced, were unacceptable and negative for the relationship of the two countries.

Iran informed the Dutch authorities of its decision to expel the diplomats on February 20 and the pair returned to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok added.

The foreign minister said Irans move was a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 due to suspicions that Tehran was involved in the assassination of two Dutch Iranian citizens in the Netherlands.

Tehran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the murder of the two dissidents and alleged the accusations were intended to damage Irans relations with the EU, which early this year announced sanctions against an Iranian intelligence unit and two officials allegedly linked to the deaths.

Nuclear deal tensions

The spat between the two countries is taking place as the 28-nation EU, of which the Netherlands is a member, is scrambling to contain the fallout from US President Donald Trumps decision in May last year to pull out of a landmark multinational nuclear deal with Iran.

Under the 2015 agreement, brokered between the United States, Iran, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union, Tehran agreed to scale back its uranium enrichment programme and pledged not to develop nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

The UNs nuclear watchdog has repeatedly confirmed Irans compliance with the accord, with the most recent endorsement coming on Monday.

But Trump said Iran was violating the spirit of the deal, despite the UNs nuclear watchdog repeatedly confirming Irans compliance with the accord, and argued the Islamic Republic was working against US interests in the Middle East.

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His move to withdraw from the agreement led to Washington reimposing sanctions on Iran and pressuring European partners to also abandon the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Last month, US Vice President Mike Pence said the time has come for the UK, France and Germany to quit the accord and support Washingtons efforts to bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region, and the world the peace, security, and freedom they deserve.

London, Paris and Berlin have so far shown no inclination of abandoning the agreement, however, and instead, have sought to provide Iran with enough economic incentives to make it work. Russia and China have also remained publicly committed to the existing accord.

However, Iran has threatened to also pull out of the deal unless the European powers enable it to receive economic benefits, amid ongoing feuds between officials in Tehran over the merits of the accord and the extent of European signatories efforts to nullify the effects of Washingtons sanctions.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last year voiced doubts during a closed-door speech over the Iranian governments overtures to its European partners in the deal, a statement published on Monday by Khameneis personal website revealed.

Khamenei warned in the speech that Tehran should not tie down the economy of the country to European packages.

His speech was published a week after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani rejected the resignation of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who championed the 2015 nuclear deal, and casts renewed doubt on the latters ongoing efforts to keep the accord alive.

Also on Monday, Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency once again confirmed Irans compliance with the pact, telling reporters in Vienna that Tehran was implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the JCPOA.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on March 4, 2019

2019/03/04

Q: We know that for some time, several western countries have been finding faults with China on Xinjiang-related issues. But last weekend, in Abu Dhabi, the 46th session of the Council of Foreign Minister of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) adopted a resolution which commends China's efforts for the Muslims. What is your comment?

A: The resolution adopted by the 46th session of OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Abu Dhabi on March 2 speaks highly of and fully recognizes the efforts China has made for Chinese Muslims and expressed its willingness to strengthen cooperation with China. The Chinese side appreciates that very much. Not long ago, an OIC delegation visited Xinjiang when they were in China for a political consultation. They saw for themselves that local Muslims live a happy life with good employment and full freedom of religion. They spoke highly of China's ethnic and religious policies and recognized China's efforts for preventive counter-terrorism and de-extremization. In fact, China enjoys traditional friendship with Islamic countries and has close communication and exchanges with the OIC. Under the current circumstances, China stands ready to work with the OIC to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation with the OIC and the Islamic world and forge the relationship into a model for cultural exchanges and South-South Cooperation.

Q: Pakistani media have been reporting that according to Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a special envoy from China will be visiting both Pakistan and India to help defuse tensions between the two countries. Does China have any comment? There are also reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has proposed that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) mechanism can be a forum where this issue can be discussed. Would you agree with the Russian view?

A: On your first question, we have said many times that we hope that India and Pakistan, as two important countries in South Asia, will enjoy good neighborliness and friendship and resolve their issues through friendly consultations. I have said that in order to alleviate recent tensions between India and Pakistan, China is in close communication with both to facilitate reconciliation and dialogue. China will continue to play a constructive role in its own way in whatever that will help ease the situation and promote regional peace and stability.

As for your second question, I have seen relevant reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed to do something under the SCO mechanism. Our principled position is that we encourage all constructive efforts towards easing tensions and promoting peace and stability in the region by relevant parties of the international community.

Q: According to media reports, last week China and the US held a handover ceremony in the US where the latter returned 361 pieces of seized antiquities lost from China. Some online comments are calling the US handover a goodwill gesture. Does China have any comment?

A: Given that the comments are about the consideration of the US side, I would suggest you seek verification with them.

As to the handover of 361 pieces of lost Chinese antiquities in Indianapolis, we have expressed our appreciation. It was the third and largest such handover since the two sides signed an inter-governmental MOU on import restrictions of Chinese antiquities. I said earlier that enhancing cooperation in preserving antiquities in itself is an important component of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and the US. It goes without saying that we think it is a positive move on the US side to return the antiquities.

On whether this is a goodwill gesture on the part of the US side under current circumstances, I would like to repeat our long-held view that China and the US, as two major countries, are bound to have some differences and encounter some difficulties or even contradictions. However, looking back on the past four decades of bilateral relations, we can see that despite the difficulties and differences, there has been more and more cooperation and exchanges. That is a natural result of the highly intertwined nature of the two sides' interests today. So we encourage all measures conducive to promoting shared interests and bringing the two sides closer.

Q: The defense team of Ms. Meng Wanzhou of Huawei has filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government and police, saying that she was detained without cause at the airport for three hours, which violated her constitutional rights. Does China support Meng's lawsuit against the Canadian side?

A: I'd refer you to Huawei for the legal actions the company and Meng Wanzhou have taken.

The Chinese government's position on the Meng Wanzhou case is clear-cut. The US and Canada abused their bilateral extradition treaty and took compulsory measures on a Chinese citizen. This is a grave violation of her legitimate rights and interests and also constitutes a serious political incident. We once again urge the US to withdraw its arrest warrant and extradition request for Ms. Meng. We urge Canada to change course before going further down the wrong path and release Ms. Meng immediately, ensuring her safe return to China and legitimate rights and interests.

Follow-up: Isn't it something of double-standard for Meng to be able to sue the Canadian government when Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig have not even been granted access to lawyers?

A: Regarding the cases of the two Canadian citizens you brought up, as I recall, my colleagues and I have made clear that China has strictly fulfilled our due obligations as required in the China-Canada Consular Agreement.

Also I believe you know that relevant Chinese authorities took compulsory measures against the two Canadian citizens, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on the ground that they were suspected of involving in activities undermining China's national security. I believe you are well aware that it is common practice for all countries in the world to deal with cases concerning national security in this way.

Follow-up: Can you confirm or not that these two Canadians have had access to lawyers?

A: As I said, China has made necessary consular notifications to the Canadian side and fulfilled our due obligations as required in the China-Canada Consular Agreement.

Q: Is China ready to play a mediation role between India and Pakistan? Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Russia is ready. I was wondering if China is also ready to do this?

A: Regarding the relevant remarks from the Russian side, as I said earlier, we welcome all positive measures towards easing tensions and promoting regional peace and stability. In fact, China has been in close contact with both India and Pakistan and making efforts to promote peace and facilitate talks. We will continue to play such a constructive role.
Politics in Azad Jammu and Kashmir dominated by Pakistani national parties as pro-freedom voices struggle to be heard.

Muzaffarabad, Pakistan  Political parties seeking independence for the entire disputed territory of Kashmir from both Indian and Pakistani control are facing a fresh round of intimidation and legal action in the Pakistan-administered portion of the region, political activists said.

The government of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, known locally as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), denied that it was restricting space for pro-freedom parties, while electoral analysts said those parties have historically had marginal support in the territory.

The same parties in India-administered Kashmir regularly face arrests, arbitrary detentions and other alleged human rights abuses while in custody, activists told Al Jazeera in late February.

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Last month, court hearings were held in a treason case lodged against 19 activists of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), a Srinagar-based pro-freedom party, for allegedly shouting slogans calling for both India and Pakistan to leave Kashmir.

Our slogans were that Kashmir should have the right of self-determination and that Indian and Pakistani forces should both leave Kashmir, Toqeer Gilani, the Pakistan-administered Kashmir chief of JKLF, told Al Jazeera.

They objected to us saying that Pakistani military forces should leave Kashmir.

Gilani said the slogans were shouted during a conference organised by the student wing of his party in the town of Kotli, 80km east of the Pakistani capital Islamabad, in November. A fresh case was lodged following the latest hearing, he added.

Since gaining independence in 1947, Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over the disputed territory of Kashmir, which both claim in full but administer separate portions of.

Since 1989, thousands have fought in an armed movement for the separation of Kashmir from Indian control. Some armed groups demand accession to Pakistan, others advocate complete independence for the territory, home to 16 million people.

Indian security forces have carried out an increasingly intense crackdown on separatist groups on their side of the Line of Control, which separates the two portions of Kashmir, resulting in scores of detentions, extrajudicial killings and alleged human rights violations.

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The JKLF, led by Yasin Malik, is a political group that has advocated for independence. It is headquartered in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, but maintains a presence in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

We told the judge that we confess to the cases, so you can arrest us if you want, said Gilani, who was one of the 19 named in the latest case.

Hearings in the case are ongoing, with all 19 activists out on bail.

Limited political relevance

Analysts said pro-freedom parties have historically had limited electoral influence or support in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

In terms of being politically relevant, what we call the state parties are essentially all gone, said Ejaz Haider, a political analyst who hails from Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Politics in AJK has now become dominated, he said, by national Pakistani political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (the current ruling party).

The parties you now have [in Pakistan-administered Kashmir], these are extensions of the Pakistani parties, he said.

Other followers of politics in the region agreed with that assessment.

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[The pro-freedom parties] are a very marginalised group, mostly urban-based, said one journalist who closely follows electoral developments in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

And many of them are living abroad. On the local level, they are fringe groups now.

The journalist spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.

Pakistan has historically supported the Kashmiri movement for self-determination in Indian-administered Kashmir, both diplomatically and politically. India alleges that its neighbour also supports armed groups who have been fighting Indian security forces for decades, a charge that Pakistan has repeatedly denied.

In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, however, the room to express a political stance other than for accession to Pakistan is limited.

An electoral law, for example, requires all candidates for the legislative assembly of the autonomous AJK government to swear an oath to support accession to Pakistan.

I solemnly declare that I believe in the ideology of Pakistan, the ideology of states accession to Pakistan and the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan, reads the relevant portion of the electoral oath.

India enforces a similar restriction in India-administered Kashmir.

Khwaja Saifuddin, 70, is a senior vice-chairman of the JKLF and says restrictions on his partys activities are routine [Asad Hashim/Al Jazeera]

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Neither here nor there

We are citizens of this state, we have lived here for thousands of years, generations of our family have lived here, but the resources of this land, they are apparently not for us, said Afzal Sulehria, 38, president of the separatist Kashmir National Party (KNP) in AJK.

Sulehria said he has been jailed three times and faced court cases for the last 16 years for having advocated for an independent Kashmir.

Most commonly, Sulehria and other political activists told Al Jazeera, they are charged with treason or sedition.

We are not citizens of Pakistan, as per the Pakistani constitution, as per the United Nations resolution and as per our own laws. But despite this, we have been arrested for treason and rebellion [against Pakistan], Sulehria said.

Sulehria as well as representatives of the JKLF and the United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP) all said they were free to hold political rallies, but that their members were pressured through surveillance and court cases if any slogans targeting the Pakistani state are raised.

We can take out political rallies, but we will be bound by restrictions, and people who attend will be threatened to limit attendance, said Sulehria.

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When we speak about [Pakistan leaving Kashmir], they treat us as if we are enemies of the state.

Gilani, the JKLFs local chief, said Pakistans suppression of pro-freedom narratives is akin to Indias position. He stressed, however, that the crackdown by Pakistani authorities is not on the same scale as that in Indian-administered Kashmir, where security forces have illegally detained or killed scores of political activists.

The violations of human rights and physical abuse, there is no comparison of that, he said. But their approach is the same when it comes to restrictions, even if the scale is not the same.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, meanwhile, a renewed crackdown against Kashmiri political leaders and citizens continues, after at least 42 security forces personnel were killed in a suicide attack in February.

Malik, the JKLF chief, was among more than 160 people arrested on February 22 in that crackdown, and clashes between security forces and protesters continue in the restive Himalayan region.

The state wants us to be silent completely. The continuous raids by the state agencies in our homes, they want to stop us, said a JKLF leader from Indian-administered Kashmir on condition of anonymity.

The consequences of all the suppression are that even educated young men are now picking up the gun.

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They cant say that

Representatives of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir government denied that there are any restrictions on political groups operating on its soil, but said that criticism of Pakistan or its military would not be tolerated.

In Azad Kashmir, I can tell you that there is tolerance for dissent. But that tolerance doesnt brook abusive and seditious language against the state of Pakistan, AJK President Masood Khan told Al Jazeera.

There are no curbs of freedom of expression otherwise.

Khan clarified that those who raise pro-independence slogans, they would not land up in jail.

Tariq Farooq, a senior minister in the AJK government, concurred with that view.

Anybody can do anything, claim anything, discuss anything in this area. In our government, everybody has full fundamental rights to speak anything which is related with human rights, he told Al Jazeera in the AJK capital, Muzaffarabad.

Asked if that freedom extended to parties advocating for Pakistani forces to leave Kashmir, he said: They cant say that.

Syed Waqar Hussain Kazmi, chief UKPNP organiser, says both India and Pakistan treat the question of Kashmiri independence similarly [Asad Hashim/Al Jazeera]

The AJK government bases its position on a 1949 UN resolution that calls for a plebiscite to be held in Kashmir, giving Kashmiris the choice of acceding to either India or Pakistan.

No third option is offered in the resolution.

Pakistan has long demanded that India administer the plebiscite in India-administered Kashmir, indicating its willingness to organise the vote on the side it controls.

In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, pro-freedom activists said that leaves them between a rock and a hard place.

Waqar Hussain Kazmi, chief organiser for the UKPNP, said Pakistans treatment of pro-freedom activists mirrored that of neighbouring India.

We are the sons of this soil, but over here, we are accused of being [Indian intelligence] agents. And on their side, we are accused of being [Pakistani intelligence] agents.

Additional reporting by Sudipto Mondal and Showkat Shafi in Doha, and Rifat Fareed in Srinagar.

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeeras digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim
Sheikh Mohammad hits out at Saudi opposition while also discussing Syria, Libya with his Russian counterpart.

Qatar is still studying the purchase of Russias S-400 missile air defence system, Qatars Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said, adding that the potential deal  reportedly opposed by Saudi Arabia  was none of Riyadhs business.

Following a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Monday, Sheikh Mohammed also said there was no sign of a thaw in the Gulf crisis over allegations by Saudi Arabia and some other Arab states that Qatar supports terrorism.

There is a discussion for procurement of various Russian equipment but there is no understanding as of yet as to this particular equipment (S-400), Sheikh Mohammed told a joint news conference with Lavrov.

With regards to Saudi or other countries, it is none of their business, its a sovereign decision by Qatar.

Ties between Qatar and Russia have stepped up since a blockade against Qatar was launched by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain in 2017.

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Russia has consistently called for an end to the crisis through negotiations.

Qatar has been clear from the beginning of the crisis. Once the blockading countries are willing to engage in a positive dialogue, Qatar is prepared. However, the continued policy, the continued rhetoric and demeanour will lead to no solution, he said at the press conference.

Sheikh Mohammad said he also discussed Syria and Libya with Lavrov, who is visiting Doha, the first stop in a Gulf tour, adding that a political solution in Syria was the only option for the war-torn country and calling for unity in Libya.

He reiterated that Doha was not yet ready to normalise ties with Syria, saying the war-damaged country must have a political solution and leadership elected by its people.

Lavrov, meanwhile, said he was working with Sheikha Mohammed on finding a political solution to Libya, Syria and Palestine but he also emphasised economic cooperation.

We agree with our friends theres a need to increase trade and economic ties and we welcome the efforts on cooperation. The next stage will take place in Moscow on April 10, said Lavrov.

We highly value this relationship and we value the cooperation between the Russian government and Qatari investment agency.

Qatar has invested billions of dollars into the Russian economy and recently finalised an $11.5bn deal to acquire nearly 20 percent of Russias state oil company Rosneft.

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In October, Russia and Qatar signed a number of agreements on military and technical cooperation.

Reporting from Doha, Al Jazeeras Hashem Ahelbarra said both sides are emphasising the strength of this relationship.

Russia is trying to build bridges with countries in the Middle East for different reasons. It has been having problems with many countries over regional conflicts like the Syria conflict, he said.

This has created a strange relationship between Russia and many countries and explains why Russia is building bridges. The Russians are saying they want to team up with Qatar, for example, when it comes to expanding the gas market worldwide.
Military says a number of soldiers were killed in attacks by terrorists and bad weather made the attacks easier.

Fighters of the Ansar al-Tawheed rebel group launched attacks against Syrian army posts in northwestern Syria, which they said killed at least 25 soldiers to avenge civilian deaths during recent army shelling.

Rebels of the Turkey-backed mainstream Free Syrian Army (FSA) factions told the Reuters news agency that dozens of rebels belonging to Ansar al-Tawheed attacked two major army checkpoints near the village of Masasneh in northern Hama province in a dawn attack on Sunday.

The army said in a statement that a number of its soldiers had been killed in attacks by terrorists and that bad weather had made the attacks easier.

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Syrian state television showed several corpses, which Ansar al-Tawheed rebels said were the bodies of their suicide squads who had caught army troops off guard in an area close to the opposition-held territory.

Stepped up missile and rocket attacks on villages and towns in northern Hama and adjoining Idlib province have been blamed by residents for dozens of civilian deaths and injuries since the latest army campaign began early last month.

The recent escalation has targeted schools, mosques and bakeries and caused widespread damage to infrastructure, civil defence workers and hospital sources in opposition areas say according to Reuters.

Violation of buffer zone

The army said a number of its fighters had been killed and injured and it sent a warning to the rebel group that it said persisted in violating the agreement on a buffer zone brokered last year by Syrias main battlefield allies  Russia and Turkey.

We will not idly stand by, the army said in its statement quoted by state TV.

The Syrian foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the army was on high readiness to repel such crimes and violations.

Last Septembers Sochi agreement staved off a Russian-backed assault on Idlib province, the last remaining opposition bastion, and now home to over 3 million people.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was quoted by TASS news agency on Sunday as telling Turkey to live up to its commitments under the Sochi accord which requires banned groups to be expelled from a front-line buffer zone.

Lavrov said fighters who used to belong to the al-Nusra Front, Syrias former chapter of al-Qaeda, were in control of large swaths of territory in Idlib province and were expanding their hold.

Both civilian-run opposition bodies and residents say the attacks have prompted thousands to flee from a number of front-line villages and towns, and have threatened a new exodus towards the Turkish border.

Khan Sheikhoun, which has borne the brunt of the recent rocket and missile attacks, has become a ghost town as most of its inhabitants fled to the safety of makeshift camps housing tens of thousands of people displaced after previous Russian and Syrian army air raids.
Mahmoud Abu Zeid, better known as Shawkan, was arrested while covering a crackdown on anti-military protests in 2013.

Award-winning Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, widely known as Shawkan, has been released in his country after more than five years in prison.

The photographer, who was arrested while covering a crackdown on anti-military protests back then, was freed on Monday.

He posted a picture on his Twitter with the hashtag hello asphalt, a phrase used by Egypts political prisoners when they get freed.

He was released at 6am (04:00 GMT) from the Al-Haram police station (near the Giza pyramids) and is currently at home, his lawyer Taher Aboul Nasr told the AFP news agency.

Shawkan was arrested in August 2013 while covering clashes between security forces and supporters of the overthrown President Mohamed Morsi that turned into a bloodbath in which hundreds of demonstrators died.

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The photojournalist was jailed and put on trial along with 739 defendants, most of them charged with killing police and vandalising property.

It was one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.

In September, an Egyptian court upheld death sentences of 75 defendants and gave Shawkan a five-year jail term, which covered the time he had already served. However, he remained in jail awaiting his release.

International condemnation

Shawkan was accused of murder and membership of a terrorist organisation, charges that can carry the death penalty. His arrest sparked condemnation from international rights groups, which demanded his release.

Britain-based Amnesty International said at the time he had been convicted simply for doing his job as a photojournalist and documenting the police brutality that took place that day.

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Other 214 people who were sentenced in September to five years in prison were also released on Monday.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, was elected in 2014 nearly a year after leading the militarys overthrow of Morsi following mass protests against his year-long rule.

Sisi, who critics say has carried out a widespread crackdown on dissent, was re-elected in March 2018 after securing more than 97 percent of the votes in the absence of any serious competition.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group ranks Egypt 161st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index.
Russias President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Moscows participation in a key Cold War-era nuclear arms control treaty, following a similar move by the United States.

In a statement on Monday, the Kremlin said the suspension would last until the US ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates.

In February, Washington gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the landmark 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), which was established as a major safeguard against nuclear war.

The move by US President Donald Trump set the stage for the bilateral pacts termination in six months.

Washington accuses Moscow of developing and deploying a cruise missile that violates provisions of the treaty that ban the production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles that have a range between 500km and 5,500km.

US officials have also expressed concerns that China, which is not party to the pact, was gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treatys limit.

The President signed an executive order suspending Russia's compliance with the INF Treaty  President of Russia (@KremlinRussia_E) March 4, 2019

Russia has denied any breaches, instead, charging that it was the US that had flouted the pact by deploying missile defence facilities in Eastern Europe that could fire cruise missiles instead of interceptors.

Washington rejects the claim.

The collapse of the treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era European missile crisis during the 1980s, when the US and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent.

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Putin has previously said Russia would seek to develop medium-range missiles, but would not deploy them in the European part of the country or elsewhere unless the US does so.

NATO has supported the USs decision to withdraw from the pact, but many European leaders have voiced fears over the consequences of its demise.

China has also urged Russia and the US to preserve the treaty.
Russian state media said Lavrov will focus on energy, investment and regional issues, including Syria and Palestine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Qatar as part of a tour across the Gulf countries aimed at discussing bilateral trade, energy, investment and regional issues including Syria, Yemen, Libya and Palestine.

Lavrov is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates after his first stop in the Qatari capital Doha on Monday.

Russian media reported that Lavrov, in his talks with Qatari officials, would discuss the implementation of the top-level agreements, projects in the energy sector, industry, agriculture and the peaceful use of outer space.

Qatar has invested billions of dollars into the Russian economy and recently finalised an $11.5bn deal to acquire nearly 20 percent of Russias state oil company Rosneft.

Ties between the two countries have stepped up since Qatars blockade by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain in 2017. Russia has consistently called for an end to the crisis through negotiations.

Ibrahim Fraihat, a political analyst at the Doha Institute, told Al Jazeera that during his trip to the Gulf countries, Lavrov is hoping to gather support to deal with the situation in Syria.

Russia is trying to establish this constitutional committee in order to deal with the situation in Syria, which is part of the reconstruction process in the country, said Fraihat.

Russia is trying to find an opportunity for itself where it can play a role in the politics of the Middle East.

Lavrov, in an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) published on Sunday, said the situation in Syria had visibly stabilised after operations by Syrian government forces with Russian aerial support.

But he added it was too early to declare the terrorist threat in Syria  a reference to rebels  eliminated.
Riyadh will not reopen embassy in Damascus until progress is made on Syria peace process, Adel al-Jubeir says.

Saudi Arabia has ruled out reopening the kingdoms embassy in Syria, saying it is too early to restore diplomatic ties with President Bashar al-Assads government.

The comments were made on Monday by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir, who also said Saudi authorities would not take part in any reconstruction efforts in Syria without progress on a political process to end the countrys eight-year-old war.

The kingdom has always been keen on the integrity of the Syrian territory and the political solution, al-Jubeir told a joint press conference with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

[And] the reopening of the embassy is related to the progress of the political process, he added.

Riyadh closed its embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and pulled out its diplomats and staff in March 2012.

Minister @AdelAljubeir: We agreed on the importance of reaching a political solution, based on Security Council Resolution 2254, and are very keen on the unity and sovereignty of #Syria and the success of the political process. pic.twitter.com/vj3uYNRgzN  Foreign Ministry  (@KSAmofaEN) March 4, 2019

Al-Jubeir also said Riyadh, which backed rebels fighting Assad, was against reinstating Syria to the Arab League for now.

Syria was suspended from the pan-Arab body in 2011 and slapped with sanctions following Assads brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

The unrest escalated into the countrys ongoing civil war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced more than 11 million others, according to the United Nations.

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Assad has since recovered control of most of Syria with support from Russia, Iran and Tehran-backed groups such as Lebanons Hezbollah.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), meanwhile, have backed armed groups opposed to Assad during the war.

In December last year, Sudans President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab League leader to visit Damascus since the war in Syria began.

Shortly afterwards, the UAE, a Saudi ally, reopened its embassy in Damascus in December in a bid to re-engage with Assad and rebuild its influence in Syria as a means of heading off regional interference in Arab affairs.

But the United States is lobbying other Gulf states to hold off on rehabilitating Syria, the Reuters news agency reported last month, citing five sources familiar with the process.

Fresh EU sanctions on Damascus

The European Union also stepped up pressure on Damascus on Monday, adding Syrias interior minister and six other ministers, including the portfolio holders for tourism, education and communications and technology, to a sanctions blacklist for their role in Assads violent repression of civilians.

The European Council, which includes the heads of state or government of the 28 EU member states, said in a statement those sanctioned were barred from travelling to Europe and would see their assets frozen.

Including the seven newly added individuals, there are now 277 people under EU sanctions for their role in the repression of civilians in Syria and their links to Assad.

Brussels has also frozen the assets of some 72 entities, while other sanctions include an embargo on Syrian oil and a freeze on the countrys central bank assets within the bloc.

The EU will continue to consider further restrictive measures against Syria as long as the repression continues, the European Council statement said.
Palestinian leaders see the decision as another move against them by US President Donald Trumps administration.

The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission in Palestine by folding it into the US Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations, State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino said in a statement.





It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian leaders see the decision as another move against them by US President Donald Trumps administration, which they froze contact with after his 2017 decision recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital.

The Trump administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights, as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law, senior Palestinian official Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move the final nail in the coffin for the US role in peacemaking.

The symbolic shift hands authority over US diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to Ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

When first announced by US Secretary Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, leading to their suspicions that the US was recognising Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration [Mike Nelson/EPA]

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the US administrations role as a neutral arbiter in the peace process.

Last year, the US recognised Jerusalem as Israels capital and relocated its embassy there, upending the US policy towards one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.





The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programmes.

It has cut funding to the UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the US has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious Deal of the Century to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the US would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April.

The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the US of bias towards Israel.
Despite the Vietnam summits failure to bring about a deal, Moon hopes Trump and Kim will resume talks soon.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has expressed confidence that the United States and North Korea will eventually find an agreement on denuclearisation despite both sides returning from the Vietnam talks without reaching an agreement.

US President Donald Trump and North Koreas leader Kim Jong Un met in Hanoi on February 27 and 28 with hopes of signing a deal that sees Pyongyang stop missile testing and getting economic sanctions in return. However, no agreement was reached as the summit was abruptly concluded, and a signing ceremony, as well as working lunch, was cancelled.

The second North Korea-US summit, though it is very disappointing in its result, was a chance to confirm the very meaningful progress that has been made through dialogue between the two countries, Moon said in a National Security Council (NSC) meeting held at his office, Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Monday.

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The South Korean president said the two parties will reach an agreement in the end but urged them to work for an early resumption of working-level dialogue because we do not want the stalemate to be prolonged.

Trump said that the North demanded all US and international sanctions be lifted in their entirety but only offered to give up its well-known nuclear facilities in Yongbyon.

In a late-night press conference, North Korea rejected those claims, saying it only requested partial lifting of the sanctions.

During the NSC meeting in Seoul, Moon stressed that the shutting down of Yongbyon would mean the Norths denuclearisation process entering a phase of no-return.

Should the Yongbyon nuclear facilities, that include plutonium reprocessing facilities and uranium enrichment facilities, be fully and completely dismantled, North Koreas denuclearisation process could be said to have entered an irreversible stage, the president added.

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Moon noted that improving relations between the two Koreas within the boundaries of sanctions could also foster relations between the US and North Korea.

Moons falling rating

Meanwhile, the failed Vietnam summit also follows a fall in ratings for the South Korean president.

President Moon was closely eyeing the meeting since he has been an active supporter of efforts to end confrontation on the Korean Peninsula.

Moon met Kim three times last year and was trying to facilitate his nuclear negotiations with the US.

Last week, Moons approval rating fell to 49.4 percent, shrinking 2.1 percentage points, according to a weekly poll published on Monday by Realmeter.

It partly attributed the drop in Moons rating to the national convention of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) to elect its new leadership that could have been an incentive to turn the publics attention towards more conservative views.

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The South Korean main conservative opposition party, Liberty Korea, saw its support score rise to 28.8 percent last week thanks to a so-called convention effect that came from the election of former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as the party chief in the nationwide party convention.
SDF curbs offensive against ISILs last held areas, accusing group of using civilians as human shields in Baghouz.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) say they are slowing down their offensive against the last area held by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group, to protect civilians.

They accuse the fighters of using people as human shields in the eastern village of Baghouz.

Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr reports from Beirut.
COLUMBIA, Md. (March 4, 2019)When Linda Smith gets bookings for her Baltimore City bed and breakfast through Airbnb, she tells guests they'll have to pay 15.5% in taxes upon arrival.



It leads some people to cancel their reservation.



Smith, owner and innkeeper of Rachael's Dowry, is just following the rules for registered hotels operating in the city, but Airbnb properties fall under different taxes and regulations.



Some lawmakers are trying to change that, at least when it comes to paying Maryland sales tax.



A bill before the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee would require short-term rental sites to collect the 6% Maryland sales and use tax at the time of booking and remit the fees to the state.



SB533, sponsored by Sen. Guy Guzzone, D-Howard and Sen. Cory McCray, D-Baltimore City, was part of a crowded agenda of 24 bills that were heard on Wednesday.



Smith testified for the sales tax bill to help level the playing field within her industry, she said.



"We have a 6% price disadvantage until this bill is passed," she told committee members.



Justin Fiore, government relations manager with the Maryland Municipal League, which represents the state's 157 cities and towns, said his organization estimates $1.4 million in sales tax is lost in Anne Arundel County alone from these online platforms. About 25% of all accommodations in Annapolis are in short-term rental properties, he said.



"We think it's essentially a parity measure," he said in supporting the bill.



According to an article last month in the Baltimore Business Journal, Baltimore City had the most Airbnb guests in Maryland in 2018, at 107,700 individuals, earning hosts $14.9 million.



Across the state, 383,000 guests used the online home sharing service last year, earning hosts $57 million. Airbnb estimates there are over 6,500 hosts in Maryland who earn an average of about $5,600 annually, the article states.



Baltimore City requires short-term rentals to pay hotel tax



Besides collecting state sales tax, Smith also must collect a 9.5% city hotel tax. The Baltimore City Council imposed the same hotel tax on guests of short-term rental sites operating in the city when they passed new regulations in December.



For her 6-room inn near Camden Yards, Smith is also required to have liability insurance, fire monitoring and sprinkling, annual health and safety inspections, and be commercially zoned. Airbnb properties don't have the same requirements, she said.



While she bristles at the disparities, she also advertises her B&B on Airbnb's website.



"For marketing purposes, I'd be foolish not to," she said in an interview following the bill hearing. "People are using these platforms now to find things. They're the online yellow pages. You kind of have to be there to be seen."



Airbnb currently collecting hotel tax in Montgomery



According to the bill analysis, Airbnb reported $2.6 billion in revenue in 2017. The company has made agreements with several states and local governments to collect and remit sales and hotel rental taxes. In Maryland, the platform collects hotel rental tax for properties in Montgomery County.



Besides Airbnb, other online lodging platforms that would be covered by the bill include: VRBO, Booking.com, HomeAway, Flipkey, Homestay, Go With Oh, One Fine Stay, House Sitting, VillasDirect, and Outdoorsy.



State sales and use tax revenues stand to increase "by a potentially significant amount beginning in fiscal 2020" if the bill passes, according to the fiscal and policy note, although no specific dollar figure is given. Sales taxes collected from hotel and motel room rentals and apartment and cottage rentals in the state totaled $125 million in fiscal 2018, it said.



Some online hosting platforms are currently collecting and paying state sales tax, but due to confidentiality requirements, the names of those companies and the amounts of taxes collected can't be disclosed, according to the Comptroller's Office.



Several people spoke in support of the bill, including representatives from the Maryland Association of Counties, the Maryland Municipal League, Marriott and even Airbnb.



"Airbnb doesn't oppose collecting and submitting the sales tax," said Justin Ross, a lobbyist representing the company.



Steve Shur, president of Travel Tech, which advocates for the travel technology industry, was the lone speaker against the bill.



Besides collecting the sales tax, the bill requires short-term rental sites to list sales tax and fees separately from the rental rate.



Shur said providing that breakdown would expose proprietary contract information between rental entities and online platforms.
As Cuba continues to support Venezuelas Maduro, the US announces a number of punitive measures against the country.

The Trump administration on Monday threatened to put new financial restrictions on Cubas military and intelligence services amid the political turmoil in Venezuela.

Cubas role in usurping democracy and fomenting repression in Venezuela is clear, White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a Twitter post.

Thats why the US will continue to tighten financial restrictions on Cubas military and intel services. The regions democracies should condemn the Cuba regime, he added.

Cubas role in usurping democracy and fomenting repression in Venezuela is clear. Thats why the U.S. will continue to tighten financial restrictions on Cubas military and intel services. The regions democracies should condemn the Cuba regime.  John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) March 4, 2019

Cuba  as well as China, Russia and Turkey, among other countries  continue to support embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The United States and at least 65 other countries have recognised Juan Guaido, opposition leader and self-declared interim president, as the countrys legitimate leader.

Boltons tweet was made just as the Trump administration symbolically tightened a six-decade trade embargo on Cuba by allowing lawsuits against Cuban companies using properties confiscated after its 1959 revolution.

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The announcement limits lawsuits to a list of about 200 Cuban businesses and government agencies that are already subject to special US sanctions because they are tied to the Cuban military and intelligence ministries.

Virtually none of the businesses have any links to the US legal or financial systems, meaning the ability to sue is unlikely to have any effect on the Cuban economy or foreign businesses that work with the socialist government.

Some of the businesses on the list are hotels operated as joint ventures with foreign companies, but the Trump administrations measure does not allow foreign companies themselves to be sued, a State Department official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

More sanctions

Every president since Bill Clinton has suspended a section of the 1996 Helms-Burton act that would allow such lawsuits because they would ensnarl companies from US-allied countries in years of complicated litigation that could prompt international trade claims against the US.

Along with carving out a small exception to Title III of the act, the Trump administration said it would only be suspended for 30 days, raising the prospect of more sanctions in the future.

The Cuban government said this was an unacceptable threat against the world.

I strongly reject the State Departments announcement to authorise lawsuits under Title III of the Helms-Burton Act against a list of Cuban companies arbitrarily sanctioned by the Trump administration, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said on Twitter.

I strongly reject #US State Department announcement to allow lawsuits under Title III of Helms-Burton Act against list of Cuban companies arbitrarily sanctioned by Trump administration. Thirty-day waiver granted for all other cases is unacceptable threat against the world | #Cuba  Bruno Rodriguez P (@BrunoRguezP) March 4, 2019

Major investors in Cuba include British tobacco giant Imperial Brands, which runs a joint venture with the Cuban government making premium cigars; Spanish hoteliers Iberostar and Melia, which run dozens of hotels across the island; and French beverage company Pernod-Ricard, which makes Havana Club rum with a Cuban state distiller.

It is not intended to affect European companies that are currently doing business in Cuba, the State Department official said. You could not sue a European or Japanese partner in a joint venture.

Legal pushback

Lawyers for Americans with claims on confiscated properties said the Trump decision to announce an extremely limited partial lifting of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act may itself be illegal because it violates their clients rights to sue.

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If this is the first step in a strategic effort that will lead to full enforcement of US law, it may be a good first step, said lawyer Jason Poblete, who represents a group of Americans whose property was confiscated.

However, partial waivers are not mentioned in the statute and it raises potential equal protection and maybe other constitutional questions, he added.

US politicians have applauded the additional measures against Cuba.

Today expect the United States to take the first in a series of steps to hold the regime in #Cuba accountable for its 60 years of crimes & illegality which includes its support for the murderous #MaduroCrimeFamily, Florida Senator Marco Rubio wrote on Twitter.

Justice is coming. And more to come, he added.

After nearly 60 years of a trade embargo, the Cuban economy is in a period of consistently low growth of about one percent a year, with foreign investment at roughly two billion dollars, far below what it needs to spur more prosperity.

But tourism, remittances and subsidised oil from Venezuela have allowed the government to maintain basic services and a degree of stability that appears unshaken by the Trump administrations recent moves against Cuba and its major remaining allies in Latin America  Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has returned to Venezuela after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to tighten regional pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

A crowd of cheering supporters greeted Guaido and his wife as they stepped into the Maiquetia airports arrivals hall, and then sped to an opposition rally in eastern Caracas where thousands had gathered to welcome him.

Hope has been born and it will not die  things are going well, said Guaido, the self-declared interim president who is recognised by most Western nations as Venezuelas legitimate head of state.

In a tweet, he called on his supporters to mobilise on Saturday because all the support we have, and all the support we need will depend on whether we stay in the streets.

Gracias a todos por el carino y el calor inmenso con el que nos recibieron. Convoco al pais a movilizarse nuevamente este sabado #9Mar . Todo el apoyo que hemos recibido y el respaldo que necesitemos dependeran de que nos mantengamos en las calles. Vamos muy bien, Venezuela!  Juan Guaido (@jguaido) March 4, 2019

In violation of a Supreme Court order, Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia last month to coordinate efforts to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela on February 23 to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But Venezuelan troops, who remain loyal to Maduro, blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

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From Colombia, Guaido travelled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that according to him will precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but had not appeared publicly since. Venezuelan media outlets reported that he flew from Panama City to Caracas.

His return can be understood as a [direct] challenge to the institutions controlled by Maduro, Carlos Eduardo Pina, a Venezuelan political scientist, told Al Jazeera.

The most likely scenario is that the Chavismo will retreat tactically, allow the entrance of Guaido, but argue that all this is part of a mediatic [media] show, and that at the end of the day the president in office is still Nicolas Maduro, he said.

Pina added that because Guaido has the backing of the United States and European Union, Maduros options were limited.

Under other circumstances Guaido would have been immediately arrested, he said.

The return of Guaido signals that Maduros adversaries have at least temporarily avoided the arrest of a leader who has united the fractured opposition [Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters]

He cant just come and go

Maduro, who denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said Guaidos arrest depends on the justice system.

He cant just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country, he told ABC News last week.

On Monday, Maduro largely ignored Guaidos return, urging Venezuelans to enjoy the carnival season.

I invite the Venezuelan families to enjoy the festivities and the natural beauty that our beloved Venezuela offers us, he wrote on Twitter.

Invito a la familia venezolana a disfrutar de los #CarnavalesFelices2019 y de las bellezas naturales que nos brinda nuestra amada Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/R5VlVQSdxV  Nicolas Maduro (@NicolasMaduro) March 4, 2019

A government supporter, Emigio Pereira, told Al Jazeera that he believes the government acted well by letting Guaido in without problems.

They (the opposition) are waiting for a military intervention and the government is not going to fall into the trap. Maduro is giving us peace. Thats all we want, he added.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said that the appropriate measures will be taken to address this situation.

His behaviour, his activities, these will be carefully analysed by [our] institutions, and appropriate measures will be taken, Rodriguez said on Monday in an interview with Russia 24.

Venezuelan opposition leader talks to supporters during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros government [Ivan Alvarado/Reuters]

Freedom

Protesters in Caracas, dressed in white and chanting Freedom, said arresting Guaido would spark new demonstrations.

We are here to tell Nicolas Maduro not to even think about touching our president Juan Guaido, Marcos Gonzalez, an opposition supporter told Al Jazeera.

The US has also warned Maduro about the consequences of arresting Guaido.

Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido has announced his planned return to Venezuela. Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community.  John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) March 4, 2019

The government has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaidos mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest.

Turning away from previous hopes of a swift end to Maduros government, Guaido said on Sunday it would be a long and difficult process.

With additional reporting by Erika Fiorucci in Caracas.
Bouteflikas resignation prompts jubilation in Algiers but many say they will continue to protest against government.
Artisanal fishers have focused more on shark fishing off the coast of the Republic of the Congo in recent years.
In Kenya, the locusts are eating in one day the amount of food consumed by all Kenyans in two days, World Bank says.
Democrat Joe Biden has been lurking in the 2020 presidential shadows being presented by those with their 2020 fingers crossed as an adult in the romper room of pubescent progressives waiting for their Spartacus moments as they learn the complexities of basic math and leadership skills.

Biden was the top choice for 28 percent of likely Democratic primary voters surveyed in a recent University of Massachusetts Amherst poll, despite his not having declared a 2020 presidential bid. Yet while critics of President Trumps foreign policy accuse him of a degree of recklessness and immaturity that place the nations security at risk, Bidens service in an administration that gave us the criminal negligence and incompetence of Benghazi, provides us with an example of why he should not be trusted with the nations security or the lives of its heroes.

As author and attorney David Shestoksas points out in his review of Betrayed: The Shocking True Story of Extortion 17 as told by a Navy SEAL's Father, Biden betrayed the heroes that killed Osama Bin Laden to further his political ambitions:

On May 1, 2011, Aaron Carson Vaughn, member of Americas elite special operations force, Seal Team VI, called his father, Billy Vaughn and exclaimed: Dad, we got him! The elder Vaughn asked: Got who, son? Aaron Vaughn replied: Who do you think? Go turn on the TV.[1] On television shortly thereafter, President Obama declared to the nation that Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind of the deadly attacks of September 11, 2001 was dead. Vice-President Biden Applauds and Endangers the Seals Vice-President Joe Biden, at an awards banquet on May 3, 2001,[2] remarked: Admiral James Stavridis can tell you more about the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday Id be remiss also if I didnt say an extra word about the incredible events, extraordinary events of this past Sunday. As Vice President of the United States, as an American, I was in absolute awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community, the CIA, the SEALs. (emphasis added) Less than a day after Bidens remarks Aaron Vaughn called his mother Karen: Theres chatter and all of our lives are in danger including yours, Mom. Three Months Later A Deadly Attack on Seal Team VI On August 6, 2011, in the Tangi River Valley of Afghanistan, Aaron Vaughn and 30 other Americans,[3] including 15 members of SEAL Team VI[4] were killed when their fifty year old helicopter, designated Extortion 17, was hit by a rocket propelled grenade.

Leon Panetta is one who has taken President Trump to task for his alleged loose lips. Panetta himself, it would seem, was also one who needed to be surrounded by adults to keep his loose lips in check, having put the lives of those who took out Osama bin Laden at risk. As Breitbart reported:

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta, for example, told CNN on Tuesday that Trump cannot just say whatever the hell he wants and expect it doesnt carry consequences. Panetta should know, because it was his loose talk after the Osama bin Laden raid that exposed a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, who helped locate the Al Qaeda leader. As a result, Afridi was imprisoned on fabricated charges and will live under fear of assassination for the rest of his life. As Breitbart News noted in 2013, a Pakistani report on Dr. Afridi reportedly concluded Dr. Afridi was implicated by a statement by the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was the CIA Director when May 2 happened, confirming the role of Dr. Afridi in making the U.S. assassination mission a success.' Panetta did not reveal that critical intelligence in a private meeting with a foreign emissary, but to the entire world, on CBS News 60 Minutes.

Then there is Joe Biden, whose loose lips got members of Seal Team 6 targeted for revenge and killed in an Afghan mission known as Extortion 17. As Investors Business Daily recounted on May 28, 2013:

Extortion 17 was the call sign of a special operations mission in Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011, that responded to an Army Ranger unit engaged in a firefight with the Taliban and in need of backup. The Chinook helicopter carrying the rescue team was shot down by a Taliban-owned rocket-propelled grenade over the Wardak Province on Aug. 6, 2011, killing 38, including 30 Americans and 15 members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden just three months prior. The shoot-down was described at the time as a "lucky shot," but the families of the dead SEALs believe that, like Benghazi, it was a pre-planned operation of revenge facilitated by a government that put them in harm's way without adequate support and with a bull's-eye painted on their backs. At a Pentagon briefing on Monday, May 2, 2011, a senior defense official was asked if it was a Navy SEAL team that found and killed the world's most wanted man. The terse and proper response was: "Not going to comment on units or numbers." Then on May 3, Vice President Joe Biden got up to speak at a dinner at Washington's Ritz Carlton Hotel marking the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Council to spill the beans about Adm. James Stavridis and "the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday." From that moment, the families believe, the Taliban looked for an opportunity for revenge, and a government more concerned with politically correct rules of engagement than victory helped them get it.

Biden skated on the leak that got SEAL Team 6 targeted for revenge. Those who now condemn Trump for trying to save American and, yes, Russian lives, were silent, especially Leon Loose lips Panetta. Panetta and Biden, like Hillary Clinton at Benghazi, put lives in jeopardy and got men killed.

The deaths of more than 20 Navy SEALs from the unit that took out Osama bin Laden is connected to a loose-lipped vice president who likes to sometimes pose as a presidential action figure.

To be a politician takes more chutzpah than courage. The chattering class, as the mainstream media is sometimes called, were more worried about how the successful Bin Laden raid by Navy SEALs might affect President Obamas reelection chances in 2012. So did administration officials, as the leaks and chest-thumping began almost immediately.

SEAL missions depended on bravery, courage, skill, daring -- and secrecy. Initially, when President Barack Obama announced that a small team of Americans had killed Osama bin Laden, he did not identify it was the SEALs. Nor did the senior defense official at the Pentagon briefing: Not going to comment on units or numbers.

Then on May 3 Vice President Joe Biden got up to speak at a dinner at Washingtons Ritz-Carlton Hotel to mark the 50th anniversary of the Atlantic Council: Let me briefly acknowledge tonights distinguished honorees. Admiral James Stavridis is a, is the real deal. He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday.

The RPG that felled the SEALs may have just been a random act of war. The Taliban could have just gotten lucky. Or they could have been plotting and waiting for revenge, looking for helicopters that might be carrying more SEALs on another mission, a big bulls eye painted on their backs by a vice president who forgot that loose lips can sink ships, and can also get Navy SEALs killed.

Daniel John Sobieski is a freelance writer whose pieces have appeared in Investors Business Daily, Human Events, Reason Magazine and the Chicago Sun-Times among other publications.
Satire

We have to be thankful to Democrats for continually reminding Americans of the horrible if not intractable problems our country faces. We sympathize with their needs. Because we love our fellow Americans who are Democrats, we want to do whatever we can to help them achieve the perfect utopia they deserve. Here are several modest proposals that logically should be part of the Democrats party platform.

Democrats' 2010 version of their logo (via Pixellogo)

Racism: Democrats never tire telling us that racism is a horrible stain on America. Its hard to disagree. The most logical way to eliminate racism is to eliminate race. Lets start by agreeing on an all-American skin color -- white, brown, black, yellow, pink or maybe native American red? Or, how about beige? (I personally would oppose avatar blue or cartoon chartreuse.) In any case thanks to amazing new technology it is now possible to make it mandatory for all Americans to undergo skin color treatment that will turn their skin color red, white and blue American. This will end racism in America forever. Of course, theres still the accent issue. Not a problem! Thanks again to technology, every American will be equipped with an electronic voice projector so every voice will sound the same. Its perfect.

Unequal Income: Nothing is more insulting to Democrats than wealth disparity. A recent study shows the three richest people in the US  Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett sitting on a combined US$248.5 billion fortune  own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people. The Institute for Policy Studies calls the growing gap between rich and poor a moral crisis.

Therefore I am asking my Congressman to introduce legislation that would confiscate (nationalize) assets of all registered Democrats and Democratic Socialists and their supporters (including Gates, Bezos and Buffet as well as wealthy politicians such as Nancy Pelosi and Diane Feinstein) and donate those assets to the Social Security and Medicare funds. Think of the many advantages. The Democrats will have a clean conscience that they are doing their fair share to eliminate wealth disparity. In addition, we would be strengthening two critical entitlement funds important to all Americans. Of course, dealing with Republicans will be a bit more difficult on this, but perhaps something can be negotiated once Democrats have shown the way and set the moral standard.

Guaranteed Income For All. This is a idea whose time has come. Democrats advocate a basic $15 an hour ($43,800) a year regardless of the job. But why stop there? Even a high minimum wage will not eliminate income disparity. And as Democrats such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez keep telling us, there is plenty of money out there. We are the richest country on earth. Shes right. Why fool around? Lets mandate a $1,000,000 a year salary for all jobs, as well as for those unable or unwilling to work. Everybody will be a millionaire. Sign me up.

Health Care For All: Democrats are all in on this issue. Universal health care is a basic human right. Sounds good to me. There is, of course, that nagging issue of how it will be funded. President Trumps current federal budget proposal is $3.4 trillion.

Bernie Sanders's universal health care plan would cost $33 trillion.

The answer to funding is simple. Its the same way we are going to guarantee a $1,000,000 salary for every American. It turns out the government owns the printing presses and can print whatever is needed. If you have doubts on this, just ask the Democrats new super star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Finally, we have someone smart enough to have figured it out.

The Southern Border Wall: Nancy Pelosi says, A wall (along our Southern border) is an immorality. Its not who we are as a nation. We understand. Walls dont build friendships. They are insulting. They suggest exclusion and superiority, not to mention racism. We need urgent legislation to outlaw all walls and fences in the US  particularly walls around the mansions of rich politicians such as Nancy herself and bleeding-heart celebrities. Lets mandate that all residential and business walls be torn down immediately. The last thing Democrats want is to be associated with anything that is immoral or racist. And while were at it, lets grant everyone in the world who requests it American citizenship along with a bonus right of admission. Soon, well have a population larger than China. And with a guaranteed $1,000,000,000 salary, theyll all be rich. What could possibly go wrong?

Gun Control: We know guns are dangerous. We need to eliminate danger in our society because it upsets the snowflakes. Therefore, lets just ignore the Second Amendment. All guns should be confiscated and destroyed. Lets not only disarm all residents of the US including citizens, non-citizens and NRA members, but also police, the FBI and various security forces including all armed guards for politicians and celebrities. If nobody has guns, there will be no danger from guns and therefore there will be no need to have one. Imagine! We can melt those guns down and turn them into a railway bridge across the Atlantic as part of a larger plan to eliminate polluting air traffic.

A Womans Right to Choose: In the important cause of womens health, New York law now supports abortion up to and even after the moment of birth. But what about a womans health afterwards? Its not uncommon for women to suffer from post-partum depression. There are also serious issues of sleep depravation and the outrageous amount of time that must be spent with a new baby, which can adversely affect a business career or other activities such as going to parties and having fun. The obvious solution is to extend the mothers right to choose to the childs first birthday. After all, there is no real difference in killing a baby one second before birth or a year later, is there? And killing off all those babies will reduce the government obligation to pay the $1,000,000 guaranteed salaries.

Saving the Planet  Democrats and others on the left never stop telling us that the sky is falling. Time is running out  OAC has revealed we only have 12 years to save the planet. Lets get started. The switch to all electric vehicles begins immediately. Ban all gasoline, diesel and aviation gas fueled vehicles. Meanwhile, well build bridges facilitating the use of solar powered trains to cross the Atlantic and the Pacific, thereby eliminating air traffic. Well rebuild every structure in America to make them all environmentally friendly. Think of all the jobs that will be created. Farting cows are a big problem. So lets slaughter all bovines immediately. We need to all go vegan. After all no one really needs ice cream. And almond milk is delicious. Water is a precious commodity, an important natural resource. Lets not waste it. Lets require men to urinate in an empty milk jug instead of a toilet. That would save millions of flushes a year. And while were at it, lets permanently eliminate the military, a huge producer of greenhouse gas emissions. And, of courses, stop having children who consume so much of the earths resources. Now I must confess, this proposal is not original with me. Its one of those times when Democrats are ahead of me with their own modest proposal. (BTW, its estimated the Democrats Green New Deal will cost an estimated $94 trillion, a modest $600,000 per household. But hey, theyll be saving the world.)

Frank Hawkins is a former U.S. Army intelligence officer, Associated Press foreign correspondent, international businessman, senior newspaper company executive, founder and owner of several marketing companies, and published novelist. He currently lives in retirement in North Carolina.
Without the claimed "scientific consensus" on global warming or climate change, the Green New Deal becomes just another progressive con game, but with the highest stakes ever.

Writing in Forbes, James Taylor shows that the supposed 97% "scientific consensus" on global warming is false:

Don't look now, but maybe a scientific consensus exists concerning global warming after all. Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies. By contrast, a strong majority of the 1,077 respondents believe that nature is the primary cause of recent global warming and/or that future global warming will not be a very serious problem. The survey results show geoscientists (also known as earth scientists) and engineers hold similar views as meteorologists. Two recent surveys of meteorologists (summarized here and here) revealed similar skepticism of alarmist global warming claims. According to the newly published survey of geoscientists and engineers, merely 36 percent of respondents fit the "Comply with Kyoto" model. The scientists in this group "express the strong belief that climate change is happening, that it is not a normal cycle of nature, and humans are the main or central cause." The authors of the survey report, however, note that the overwhelming majority of scientists fall within four other models, each of which is skeptical of alarmist global warming claims. The genesis of the 97% figure was always questionable, but now, with an actual peer-reviewed study, it is time for the junk heap.

Shhhh! Nobody tell Ocasio-Cortez:

Trump: When I'm on the debate stage with one of these maniacs, I mean, how do you get to Europe? We haven't figured that one out, we don't use airplanes anymore. You saw what I'm doing in California, right, they have a fast track, the fast train goes from San Francisco to Los Angeles."

Image credit: Shutterstock.
Along with some other presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton spoke in Selma, Alabama, on Sunday to commemorate the famed civil right march that put that city on the map.

Hillary was not the first politician to conjure up an ersatz southern accent to show her street cred. In 2007, Barack Omama used the occasion of the marchs 52nd anniversary to show down he was with the movement in what biographer David Remnick charitably called a slightly different dialect.

The full 30-minute speech

In fact, Obama used his best black preacher voice to tell his audience a story so comically unanchored to reality that had a black Republicans told it his candidacy would have died before the evening news even aired.

My very existence might not have been possible had it not been for some of the folks here today, Obama told the civil rights veterans gathered to mark the events of Bloody Sunday. Something happened back here in Selma, Alabama, Obama continued. This something sent a shout across the ocean, which inspired Obama Sr., still herding goats back in Kenya, to set his sights a little higher. This same something also worried folks in the White House to the point that the the Kennedy's decided we're going to do an air lift.

As the saga continued, Obama Sr. got a ticket on the airlift and met Obamas mother, a descendant of slave-owners. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge, preached Obama.

So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Alabama.

He didnt, and he wasnt. Something about Selma inspired Obama to aggrandize his history to Homeric levels. For starters, herding goats in his fathers town was like mowing lawns in an American one. Everyone did it as a kid, even the son of the villages most affluent guy.

Obamas prosperous grandfather, by the way, had not been imprisoned and tortured by the British for helping the anti-colonial Mau-Mau rebels, as Obama, in another bit of canvas-darkening, claimed in Dreams from My Father.

By the time his son came along, Grandpa Obama was able to dress him in western clothes and send him to English-speaking Christian schools. Obama Sr. was working as a clerk in Nairobi, not a goatherd in East Bejesus, when he applied for the first airlift. For the young or those of short memory, the Republican Eisenhower was the president in 1959 when Obama Sr. came to the United States.

Although born in Kansas, Ann Dunham was not exactly Dorothy. She spent her formative years in the state of Washington where she earned the nickname "Anarchist Annie" under the tutelage of some hipster teachers.

By the time of the Selma march, Dunham had long since been seduced and abandoned by the roguish Obama Sr. In fact, her son was conceived four years before anyone outside of Alabama ever heard of Selma. What amazes in retrospect is how Obama found the nerve to tell so flagrantly dishonest a story. Having a dependably obliging media surely fortified his spine.

More than a year later, the Washington Posts fact checker Michael Dobbs began his analysis of the speech with the sadly ingenuous comment, A reader, Gregory Gelembiuk of the University of Wisconsin, thought there was something strange about the story told by Barack Obama in his Selma speech last year, and asked me to look into it.

Good gosh, Michael! It took the Post a year to figure out there was something strange about this speech?
Yesterday, on the Sunday morning political interview TV talk shows, Democrats made it clear that they have learned nothing from the apparent failure of the Mueller witch hunt to find anything actionable, nor from the disastrous Republican attempt to impeach Bill Clinton more than 2 decades ago. In the words of Talleyrand, they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

The self-contradictory testimony of Michael Cohen apparently was irresistible bait. They are, in some other immortal words from General Russell Honore, stuck on stupid.

Former Clinton political operative George Stephanopoulos peepared his viewers on ABCs This Week:

For now, party lines holding fast, but six House committees armed with subpoena power are now poised to examine every facet of President Trumps life  his campaign, his White House, his foundation and the business that made him famous.

Despite his own star witness Michael Cohen flaming out, Adam Schiff just cant let go of the famous Trump Tower meeting with Russians seeking to repeal the Magnitsky Act:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Cohen said though in that open testimony, he had no direct evidence of collusion with Russia. The Senate Intel chairman also said at this point no evidence of collusion at this point. Have you seen do you have direct evidence of collusion with Russia? REP. SCHIFF: Well I think there is direct evidence in the e-mails from the Russians through their intermediary offering dirt on Hillary Clinton as part of what is described in writing as the Russian government effort to help elect Donald Trump. They offer that dirt. There is an acceptance of that offer in writing from the presidents son Don Jr. and there is overt acts in furtherance of that. That is the meeting at Trump Tower and all the lies to cover up that meeting at the Trump Tower and apparently lies that the president participated in. That to me is direct evidence but theres also abundant circumstantial evidence. There is for example evidence of Manafort sharing internal polling data with someone linked to the Russian intelligence services.

Even more damning, speaking to Stephanopoulos, Gerald Nadler -- even as he acknowledges the need to bring along public opinion for impeachment -- seems to have stumbled over his words and admitted that impeachment is about trying to steal (his word) the 2016 election (Rush transcript via Grabien):

NADLER: No. We have to  we have to do the investigations and get all this. We do not now have the evidence all sorted out and everything to do  to do an impeachment. Before you impeach somebody, you have to persuade the American public that it ought to happen. You have to persuade enough of the  of the opposition party voters, Trump voters, that youre not just trying to  STEPHANOPOULOS: Thats a very high bar. NADLER: Yeah. It is a very high bar. The United States trying to steal the (inaudible) to reverse the results of the last election. We may or may not get there. But what we have to do is protect the rule of law.

The New York Post editorial board sees clearly that this is a doomed enterprise:

Key House chairmen on Sunday made it plain theyre charging ahead on what President Trump calls a witch hunt  talking as if they already have proof of impeachable offenses even as they announce theyre going to keep looking for something, anything, that actually fits the bill. (snip) Look: Special Counsel Robert Mueller has been looking into all of this and more for nearly two years. Any effort to suppress his findings is sure to fail thanks to leaks. New investigations will give Nadler & Co. regular opportunities to posture. But it all boils down to the Keystone Kops effort to restage All the Presidents Men.

Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a real phenomenon, a psychological condition that suspends the normal faculties of discernment and judgment in otherwise-intelligent people, leading them to self-destructive behavior. We are in the midst of watching a mass delusion playing itself out over the next 20 months until the electorate speaks in November 2020. The full court press of the mainstream media in support of the Democrats agenda misleads them into thinking the public isnt getting tired and angry over repeated unsuccessful attempt to prove something for which there is no evidence
Patty Sheehan, Central Floridas first openly gay City Commissioner, announced Feb. 19 that she is running for re-election.

Sheehan is city commissioner over Orlandos District 4, which consists of the majority of historic districts in downtown. During her time as commissioner, Sheehan has overseen the restoration of the Lake Eola fountain, the preservation of the Eola House, the addition of 1.3 acres to Lake Eola Park and the construction of sidewalks for children going to and from school.

Sheehan declared her bid for re-election via Facebook and announced her first campaign fundraiser. The event will be held at Quantum Leap Winery on March 6 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

Sheehan  alongside former Orlando Police Chief John Mina  also passed the OPD Safe Place Initiative, which provides safe spots for those within the LGBTQ community throughout Orlando should they find themselves victims of crime. This was passed six months after the Pulse nightclub shooting. In addition, Sheehan also helped to create the Orlando Youth Empowerment Summit, which is a free conference dedicatito empowering LGBTQ youth and allies through education and support.

First elected in 2000, Sheehan was re-elected in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2015. She also serves as vice chair of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and is the founder and chair for Wheels for Kids, a program that has provided over 1,000 bikes to elementary and middle school students.
A few years ago, David Brooks wrote a hypothetical memo from a campaign consultant to Democrat party leaders. It went like this:

I understand that our donors (though not necessarily our voters) want to preserve a womans right to choose through all nine months of her pregnancy. But do we want late-term abortion so much that we are willing to tolerate President Trump? Do we want it so much that we give up our chance at congressional majorities? Do we want it so much that we see our agendas on poverty, immigration, income equality and racial justice thwarted and defeated? Lets try to imagine what would happen if Roe v. Wade was overturned. The abortion issue would go back to the states. The Center for Reproductive Rights estimates that roughly 21 states would outlaw abortion. Abortion would remain legal in probably 20 others. Theres a good chance that a lot of states would hammer out the sort of compromise the European nations have -- legal in the first months, difficult after that. Thats what most Americans support.

I should add that this was written before the recent remarks by Governor Northam of Virginia and the cheering in New York.

Down in Texas, the "heartbeat" law is picking up steam. According to news reports, it will go to the Texas Senate and could be on Governor Greg Abbott's desk in the next 18 months.

The usual suspects are screaming "no." They tell us that this is another effort to restrict abortion rights or something like that. They also claim that this is about a woman's health care but I thought that ObamaCare covered that.

The abortion debate has now moved to a different level and the left can't see it. They are holding onto their talking points but the country is not with them on abortion on demand.

We will see how this plays out in 2020. Nevertheless, every Democrat should be asked about this heartbeat law.

The question is simple: do you abort if you can hear a heartbeat? Let's see how Democrats answer that question.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
If this post in Watts Up With That? is correct, an inadvertent, serendipitous scientific discovery is responsible for reshaping the modern world of geopolitics to Americas advantage  and nobody noticed.

Fracking is usually credited with being the critical technology for the reshaping to which I refer: the rather sudden conversion of the United Sates from a huge net energy importer to (currently) self-sufficient, and clearly heading toward a major net energy exporter. This is far more than a simple balance-of-trade issue, through that is very important. It even transcends the millions of jobs and economic prosperity that has blessed the United States. We and our allies are now almost free of the economic extortion of oil exporters that started in 1973 with the first oil boycott, gas lines, and soaring prices. Russia, which depends on hydrocarbon exports (oil and gas) for nearly all of its hard currency, no longer will be able to bully its European neighbors with threats of cutting off natural gas exports during winter, as it has done in the past, once the logistical supply lines now planned for sending American natural gas to Europe by tanker are in place.

Saudi Arabia is cozying up to societal reform and even to Israel because it no longer can throw its weight around in world energy markets as it formerly could. Venezuelas declining oil exports no longer can cause lines at gasoline stations.

But according to Ronald Voisin writing in WUWT, fracking was only half of the technology revolution that has remade the modern world. It was satellite sensors orbited to provide data on volcanoes that accidentally and unexpectedly revealed where the oil deposits are found, enabling not just fracking but the discovery of vast new oil fields globally. Best of all: This new satellite data reveals that North America is where most of the worlds hydrocarbon resources are located. Read the whole thing, but this is the essence:

A couple decades ago an international team of volcanologists arranged for the tag-on launch of [a satellite with] a first generation orbiting gravimeter in order to study volcanism (the legitimate auspicious being pure scientific endeavor). While that intended function was successful, a much more important capability unexpectantly came to pass. Subsequent generations of these devices showed exactly where and to what extent natural gas, oil and coal were located as they have revealed progressively higher resolution images of Earths deep interior. Several more generations of these devices are possible and this explains the recent substantial increases in estimated recoverable oil and gas and coal for that matter. Meanwhile, fracking and horizontal drilling have enormously reduced the costs and surface-area-impact of fossil fuel recovery. (snip) the USA was not just lifting-the-kilt on North American fossil fuels. We came to understand the global distribution of them. We came to know who had what, just what fossil fuel reserves existed in the Middle East, Russia, China, as well as with Friendlies, such as Europe, Australia, Canada, and Mexico. This information has enormous geopolitical significancepossibly the greatest geopolitical significance of any human discovery ever.

Despite the fantasies of greenies, oil and gas are the lifeblood of world power and of most economic activity. With this knowledge and the abiity to exploit it, the United States carries far more weight than it did ten years ago.
Making herself Louis Farrakhan's "sweetheart" as he put it, Rep. Ilhan Omar isn't going anywhere with the apologies on her third incident of anti-semitism. Farrakhan, you recall, didn't want Omar, whom he called "sweetheart" to apologize for those, and sure enough, she's not apologizing.

What I see instead in the miasma of tweets on Twitter, is a bid to deflect attention, with she and her supporters attempting to present the "narrative" of Omar as the "real victim," calling attention to a few bad actors, some anonymous, who've made threats against her and drawn a negative reaction and lawmen looking for them. Omar's anti-Semitism, however, is being permitted to stand. Here's her completely inadequate response to criticism from a reported mentor of the new class of far-leftists in Congress, Rep. Nita Lowey of New York:

Omar responded to the criticism in a series of tweets Sunday. First, she replied to a tweet from Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who wrote that "lawmakers must be able to debate" without "prejudice or bigotry." "Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress," Omar tweeted.

There's no doubt about it, she wants that latest round of anti-Semitic remarks to stand.

And that raises questions about the Democratic leadership, whose House leader, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has said nothing, and done nothing to get this repeat-shill for Jew-hate off the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Why is this woman still on it? She's made three violations now, and has stopped with the half-hearted apologies. She's not backing down, and Jewish groups are noticing. The GOP's Rep. Steve King, who made clumsy statements about white supremacy he says he never meant, got thrown off his committee assignments for a lot less.

Jewish Press is reporting that 11 Israel-friendly groups have written this letter to the Speaker (and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel):

Speaker Pelosi, you demonstrated wisdom and leadership in rebuking Rep. Omar on February 11 following her use of anti-Semitic stereotypes, and Chairman Engel, your reaction to the classic anti-Semitic trope of the charge of dual loyalty about American Jews, that Rep. Omar uttered this weekend at a Washington establishment, was highly appropriate, and we applaud you both for that. We hope you will continue to demonstrate your commitment to the high moral standards of your office by removing Rep. Omar, a woman who has repeatedly exhibited strong biases against the State of Israel and the Jewish people, from this critically important and sensitive committee.

They point out that Omar not only has continued with her Jew-hating trope over the course of her mere two months in congressional office, she's also made herself a figurehead for a Muslim Brotherhood front group, Islamic Relief USA, which both Israel and the United Arab Emirates have designated an actual terrorist group. The Muslim Brotherhood, recall, was the vicious group that spawned al-Qaida and took much of its early leadership from it. She wants to be associated with that?

This says something.

Yet Pelosi has said nothing, and keeps allowing Omar to remain on the House Foreign Affairs seat, while Engel's demand for an apology from her is going unanswered.

How did she get that committee seat at all? Apparently the same way Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got her committee seats - by threatening to withold support from Pelosi as speaker of the House. Both socialists mysteriously changed their minds and came to support Pelosi once they had the seats in hand. One hand washes the other. But in Omar's case, there's a real problem for Pelosi, because Omar's singularly unfit to be in it, given that her repeated expressions of anti-Semitism are indistinguishable from those of a streetcorner 'Jews rule the world' conspiracy theorist, or for that matter, Farrakhan himself.

Pelosi's response is that of a wimp. One can only hope this baggage travels with her as she seeks to win another stretch as Speaker of the House in 2020.

Image credit: Quinn Dombrowski, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 2.0
Samsung will reportedly launch the Galaxy A40 mid-range smartphone in Europe for the price of 249 ($282), according to sources cited by MySmartPrice in a recent report. The device will apparently land on European shelves soon yet no exact launch date was given, but the smartphone has already been certified by Bluetooth SIG on March 1, so its market release does seem imminent.

The Samsung Galaxy A40 was also spotted in a Geekbench listing back in January which means that some testing has been done on the phone in preparation of its eventual release. Spec-wise, the unit fits between the Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50, both of which have already been launched in India a couple of days ago.

According to preliminary specifications, the Samsung Galaxy A40 should rely on the Exynos 7885 chipset based on two ARM Cortex-A73 cores clocked at up to 2.2GHz along with six Cortex-A53 cores operating at a maximum frequency of 1.6GHz. The CPU is coupled with an ARM Mali-G72 MP2 (dual-core) graphics chip and 4GB of RAM.

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Details about the display are missing but both the Samsung Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 feature the same panel, i.e. a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-U screen with a resolution of 2340 x 1080, and as such its likely that the Galaxy A40 wont break the mold and will share this characteristic with its two close siblings.

Likewise, both the Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 are powered by a 4,000mAh battery each so theres no reason to believe the Galaxy A40 will offer a different battery capacity. But there are some key differences between the two aforementioned models and it remains to be seen if the upcoming Galaxy A40 will lean more towards the lower-cost Galaxy A30 or the slightly more ambitious Galaxy A50.

The former has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and two rear-facing cameras, whereas the latter has three main cameras on the back and adopts an in-display fingerprint sensor. Additionally, the Galaxy A30 has less RAM and built-in storage at up to 64GB, while the Galaxy A50 doubles the storage and can be acquired with up to 6GB of RAM as opposed to 4GB.

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The Samsung Galaxy A series is the OEMs new budget-oriented range, covering both the lower-end segment with the Galaxy A10, as well as the mid-range portion of the market with the Galaxy A30 and Galaxy A50 duo. The upcoming Galaxy A40 seems to lean more towards the mid-range market as indicated by the alleged 249 ($282) price tag in Europe, and the moniker itself.

For reference, the Galax A30 in India has a starting price of Rs. 16,990 (211 / $239) whereas the Galaxy A50 debuted for the starting price of Rs. 19,990 (248 / $282) and can go as high as Rs. 22,990 (286 / $324). Having said that, its unclear whether the 249 price attached to the Galaxy A40 represents the lowest or highest point depending on the hardware configuration, or the average price.

The entire new series runs Android 9 Pie out of the box, meaning that it should also include the new One UI which replaced Samsung Experience late last year. The lineup seems to have been created as a replacement for Samsungs previous mid-range series including the Galaxy On/Galaxy J.
Attorneys representing Meng Wanzhou, Huaweis CFO, have filed a lawsuit with the British Columbia Supreme Court against the Government of Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police over her arrest on December 1 at Vancouvers airport. That request took place at the request of the U.S.

Attorneys say the due protocol wasnt followed during her arrest and the officials overstepped their authority. They allege that a Canadian official and the Canadian Border Services Agency officers, despite having orders for the immediate arrest of Meng, delayed the process and violated the orders of the court. While pretending to carry out a routine border check, the officials apparently illegally detained and interrogated her to extract evidence before formally arresting here and telling her about her right to counsel.

The lawsuit says that although international travelers can be subjected to routine questioning, Mengs charter rights were violated as she was being questioned in relation to her arrest. The Canada Border Service Agency agents apparently confiscated her electronic devices, got passwords, and viewed the contents unlawfully while keeping her in the dark about the reason for her detention as they knew they wouldnt be able to get the information they were looking for if she was arrested immediately. She was finally told about her arrest and her rights after three hours.

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Meng is now seeking damages for false imprisonment and misfeasance in public office during her detention at the airport on December 1. She is currently out on bail and the Canadian authorities have started the official proceedings to extradite her from Canada to the U.S. She is due to appear in court on March 6, when a date would be set for the extradition hearing.

Meng is the daughter of Huaweis founder, Ren Zhengfei, and the U.S. government has filed a plethora of charges against the Chinese company. The U.S. prosecutors say that Meng misled banks about Huaweis dealing which potentially breached Iran trade sanctions. The prosecutors argue that the fraudulent financial scheme can undermine the security of the U.S. Meng has denied all the charges levied against her and China says that the extradition process is politically motivated. Huawei is the second largest smartphone maker in the world and China believes that the arrest is an attempt to hurt the company.

The arrest has soured relations between China and the United States. China has also expressed its dissatisfaction with the proceedings. In an apparent bid to retaliate, the country has detained two Canadian citizens, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor. Both have been denied access to a lawyer.

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When asked if the U.S. might drop criminal charges against Huawei, the U.S. President Donald Trump said recently that he will discuss the issue with the attorneys in the coming weeks. So, there is a possibility that the president could intervene and cool down the matter a bit. All in all, well have to wait and see what will happen, but things are getting out of hand, it seems, and theyll hopefully calm down in the near future.
Huawei is planning to sue the United States government over a 2018 spending bill that saw it outlaw the companys equipment in the context of federal use, citing national security concerns. The Chinese conglomerate is understood to be close to filing for litigation, which it intends to do in the Eastern District of Texas, the home of its American headquarters which took a lot of hits in recent times, insiders claim. The move could be announced as early as this week. as per todays reporting.

While the Shenzen-based firm has little hope of winning the lawsuit in the foreseeable future, the planned litigation may be framed as part of a wider effort at combating the U.S. governments growing opposition to its international expansion. Despite what experts from every part of the world bar China see as valid concerns, many of which were raised by the U.S. intelligence community in recent times, theres little evidence of Huawei ever getting involved in a spying operation, particularly one aimed at any one of its foreign customers.

Thats precisely the notion the company will want to see publicized, which is what a public trial would basically guarantee. Attorney General Ken Paxton could push for the trial to be enshrouded in some degree of privacy but that isnt a battle the government is likely to win. The actual contents of the lawsuit remain unclear, though the bulk of it reportedly lies on a provision Congress attached to last years spending bill, dealing an unprecedented blow to the Chinese company and another wireless player from the Far Eastern country  ZTE.

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Even if Huawei has a case against Washington, ZTE is extremely unlikely to join it in its efforts to combat the U.S. opposition in the court of law  its ownership structure isnt nearly as opaque and the telecom giant isnt secretive about the fact its state-owned, i.e. majority-controlled by a state firm. Huawei, on the other hand, remains adamant its fully in the hands of its own employees but the reality is much more complicated than that; the provisional shares issued to some of its workers are only valid for the duration of their employment and cannot be traded, with their value hence being highly speculative. Likewise, its unclear how that quasi-stock acts in terms of voting rights but many members of the Western intelligence community previously dismissed the possibility of Huawei operating under democratic principles, arguing such a voting structure would naturally lead to more transparency, not less.

Huaweis long history of issues took yet another turn for the worse in December after its Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on the request of the U.S. Department of Justice. Washington suspects her of bank fraud and a conspiracy to violate trade sanctions imposed on Iran, according to a recently unsealed indictment naming several Huawei subsidiaries and officials.

A competent Canadian authority on Friday said Ms. Meng  a 46-year-old daughter of Huawei founder Rei Zhengfei  can be extradited but left the final decision to a Vancouver court which will hold its first hearing over the matter next week. The industry veteran is facing up to 30 years in federal prison if she ends up in the stateside judicial system. She and Huawei both denied any alleged wrongdoing on numerous occasions in recent months.
T-Mobile makes an appearance on the latest iteration of the annual list of the 128 most ethical companies in the world named by ethical standard organization Ethisphere.

The self-proclaimed Un-Carrier is unsurprisingly quick to point out it managed to achieve this high ranking position for the eleventh year in a row, about as long as Ethisphere has been ranking corporate behemoths and ethics (or lack thereof) behind their decisions.

Eccentric T-Mobile Chief Executive Officer John Legere reflected on the opportunity as a major milestone for T-Mobile and yet another piece of evidence suggesting its way of doing business is working from a variety of aspects, pointing to the telecom giants rockstar employees as the main driving force behind the trend.

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Besides topping wireless in the ethics department domestically, T-Mobile was recognized in this regard globally alongside Nokia, Brazilian Vivo, and its German parent Deutsche Telekom.

Banking on (in)difference

Even as being different is ironically a generic strategy (on a conceptual level) many companies failed to follow in modern times, T-Mobiles take on the idea is to concentrate on what are largely perceived as the worst experiences associated with its rivals, then doubling down on making them as pleasant as possible.

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That train of thought led it to force a return o the unlimited rate in the United States several years back. More recently, it saw T-Mobile invest millions in an increasingly controversial component of modern telecom operations  human tech support. Whereas most other network operators are aggressively driving toward maximum automation, T-Mobile suddenly decided to stop, reverse, and proclaim some previously passed mark to be the finishing line, so to speak.

Whether its rivals take the bait remains to be seen but their indifference to some growing industry issues are a large part of what allowed T-Mobile to grow so much in recent years. In other words, when Legere starts yelling about defeating the soul-crushing robot armies of the likes of Verizon and AT&T, while his marketing team is simultaneously calling for consumers to break up with their carriers for Valentines Day, such eccentricities are bound to resonate, even if their effectiveness varies.

Who can even claim to an authority on ethics?

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The Scottsdale, Arizona-based organization behind the standard T-Mobile is more than happy to use for advertising purposes these days has been operating since 2007, having been established as a unit of compliance training firm Corpedia. Three years later, founder Alex Brigham managed to retain the ownership of the entity after Brigham bought Corpedia by European stock exchange operator Euronext for an undisclosed fee.

Mr. Brigham, then serving as the Executive Chairman of Ethisphere, remained at the unit after striking a deal with the well-funded buyer from the Old Continent. Around that time, Corpedia started referring to itself as an institute.

Some critics previously described the moniker as misleading because Ethisphere has always been envisioned as a for-profit organization and such an entity handing out ethics awards could feasibly be a recipe for a large-scale conflict of interest. The American standards organization always fiercely defended the legitimacy of its awards, going as far as to disclose the overall workings of its system used for calculating the most ethical companies in the world on a yearly basis.

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Not only does the firms index span some 160 questions covering every aspect of contemporary corporate entities but it also doesnt score candidates in a vacuum. Instead, its ratings are extrapolated from answers to standardized questions relative to those from their peers, meaning the continuation of T-Mobiles high ranking can primarily be seen as evidence of the firm maintaining a sizable gap in front of its domestic wireless rivals, without disclosing the specifics of whether that means the carrier improved faster than its competitors or simply dropped fewer balls over the course of the entire year.
Posted on: March 4, 2019 7:31 PM

A service has been held in the chapel of Lambeth Palace  the official London residence of the Archbishops of Canterbury  to celebrate 25 years of the ordination of women in the Church of England. The then-Bishop of Bristol, Barry Rogerson, ordained 32 women in Bristol Cathedral on 12 March 1994 in the first of many ordinations that year. A message from Bishop Barry was read to the more than 80 female priests who were invited to Fridays service.

The guests included many women who were among the first to be ordained in 1994 as well as some of the lay people who were active in the campaign for the ordination of women. Also present were female ordinands as well as a number of other female clergy.

Prebendary Angela Berners-Wilson, the first woman to be ordained in the Church of England, was also at the service. Dr Isabelle Hamley, the Archbishop of Canterburys Chaplain, preached the sermon. Amongst the five female bishops at the service was the Bishop of Derby, Libby Lane, who was the first woman to be consecrated in the Church of England when she was appointed Bishop of Stockport in 2015.

In her sermon, Dr Hamley reflected on the gift of Jesus that Mary and Joseph were given, and the risks and responsibilities of nurturing it. Let us cherish this gift where it is public and obvious, and where it is hidden, private and yet equally powerful. Together, may we witness to the gift that lives in us, and the God who has called us to follow him, she said.

Speaking at the service, Archbishop Justin said: Many of those here today have been pioneers as they work out what it means to be an ordained woman in the Church of England  not just for themselves and their communities, but for the whole of the Body of Christ. Today let us bear witness to those who paved the way in 1994, as well as upholding those whose way into ministry has been opened up since.

In his message, Bishop Barry said that: over the last 25 years, I have observed and received the ministry of women in parishes, but also in chaplaincies; hospitals and hospices, schools, universities and prisons and know what an innovative and positive contribution women priests have made.

Perhaps today we might give a thought for all those women, worldwide whose vocations to the priesthood have still been neither recognised nor tested.

Prebendary Berners-Wilson said: It was an amazing thing to be  by a few seconds  the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Church of England. Today Ive been reflecting with great gratitude on those other women who were priested alongside me, and the many hundreds of others since.

For 25 years it has been the greatest privilege to finally be able to live out my calling, after a 15-year probationary period first as a deaconess then as a deacon. Today has been a day to celebrate all the women priests who have been enabled to grow into the fullness of who God has called them to be as bearers of Christs good news for the world.

Fridays service was recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio Four and is available to listen online in parts of the world for the next 28 days.
Posted on: March 4, 2019 5:58 PM

Almost 500 people  many of Iranian descent  packed into Wakefield Cathedral on Saturday (2 March) for a Persian Celebration Service. The event marked the launch of an officially authorised translation of the Holy Communion Service. The Bishop of Loughborough, Guli Francis-Dehqani, led the service. Bishop Guli arrived in the UK in 1980 at the age of 14 following the murder of her brother, Bahram, and the attempted murder of her father, the then- Bishop of Iran, Hassan Dehqani-Tafti.

While billed as a celebration, the congregation remembered Bahram and another Anglican martyr, Arastoo Sayyah. The 40th anniversary of his murder was commemorated last month. The congregation also prayed for Christians living in Iran today.

The new translation recognises the presence of Iranians in churches as a gift, and demonstrates commitment to welcoming them into the life of the Church of England, the C of E said in a statement. The service is not a new liturgy, but a translation of the existing Order One service of Holy Communion from Common Worship. It is designed to be used alongside English language liturgy, with both languages printed side by side, enabling people to follow and participate in services.

Saturdays service was the first time that the liturgy had been used. It drew a congregation from across England.

It has been amazing to see, and hear about, the extensive and rapid growth of Farsi speaking Christians across this nation, the Bishop of Durham, Paul Butler, said in a sermon. In my own diocese we have significant Farsi speaking groups in Stockton, Hartlepool and Sunderland.

Then in the neighbouring dioceses of Newcastle and York there are further significant groups in various churches. Here we are in our other neighbour of Leeds diocese. Liverpool, Manchester, Stoke on Trent, Leicester and many other centres have seen similar growth. It appears to be a significant work of God amongst Farsi speakers in this land.

In his sermon, which was translated into Farsi as he delivered it, he added: Now we are all here, Farsi, English or other first language speakers because someone shared the story of Gods love in Jesus with us. Some of us have been raised and nurtured within the Christian faith. We were prayed for before our birth. We were nurtured in Christ from the day of our birth.

Others of us, like myself, have come to faith in Christ through the loving witness of others; sometimes just one friend but very often through the loving care of a Christian community too. For some of us this journey has been relatively easy and straightforward. For others it has been costly and painful.

This has, as we know, included martyrdom for some. The two Anglican Iranian martyrs are Revd Arastoo Sayyah and Bahram Dehqani-Tafti. The blood of the martyrs is indeed the seed of the saints. What every single one of us has discovered is the depth, breadth, height and length of Gods love in Jesus.

One of the readings was given by Mohsen Chinaveh, who attended Saturdays launch with his wife Sara and son Mesih (Jesus). Speaking to reporters ahead of the service, he said: You can speak with God in your own language, that language you completely understand because you grew up with it, he said as he welcomed the new liturgy.

Also speaking before the service, Bishop Guli said: This translated service of Holy Communion is hugely significant within the life of the Church of England as we seek to find ways of recognising the diversity which is increasingly the reality of the Church of England.

Weve had, over the last few years, over 75 clergy contact us to ask how can we best help to integrate the Iranians who we find are coming to our churches, so in this liturgy what were doing is formally recognising a minority community as part of our wider body and crucially enabling Persian, Farsi speaking people and English speaking people to worship alongside one another.

The Farsi-language liturgy can be downloaded from the Church of England website.

Watch our video news report:
(WB) CBC reporter Chris Glover has filed a police report after comedian Boyd Banks licked him without his consent on a live broadcast.

Glover, who is gay, was reporting from the Comedy Bar in Toronto when Banks came up behind him. Banks begins to lick Glovers ear and nuzzle his shoulder. Glover laughs nervously and tries to keep reporting but eventually uncomfortably wraps up his segment.

Things are getting a little awkward out here, so Im going to pass it back to you, Dwight, Glover tells anchor Dwight Drummond.

Drummond responds: Yeah, thats a little strange. Its really unnecessary. Just move away from that gentleman.

The clip went viral as people sympathized with Glover and condemned Banks behavior.

Glover has since filed a police report.

I, as a journalist, was just trying to do my job, Glover told Global News. I feel deeply disturbed by what happened. I still feel like it was completely uncalled for. The whole thing just really made me feel really awkward and uncomfortable and embarrassed.

Banks has issued an apology stating: There is no excuse for my behavior last night. Im guilty of everything. I am an idiot. I want to apologize to the standup community in Canada and of course the reporter, who was doing his job.

Gary Rideout, the owner of the Comedy Bar, has said Banks is now banned from the club for displaying reprehensible behavior that I cant condone in any way.
Marysville, CA (95901)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 44F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 44F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
GoAirs inaugural flight from Kannur to Abu Dhabi was received with much fanfare today, as the Indian subcontinent remains one of the most popular destinations for travellers departing from AUH. In addition, Kannur itself is popular leisure and business destination within the state of Kerala.



Bryan Thompson, CEO Abu Dhabi Airports said: India is a key travel market for Abu Dhabi International Airport, and we are always eager to strengthen our connectivity to the Indian Subcontinent, enhancing further our services extended to our dear customers.



Maarten De Groof, chief commercial officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: As one of our most promising new partners, we are pleased to welcome GoAirs flights to Abu Dhabi. India has always been one of our largest and most important areas of operations, and we look forward to ensuring GoAirs guests enjoy a comfortable and efficient experience throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport where we continue to deploy world-class smart travel solutions, attractive retail offerings, and relaxing lounge spaces.



This additional service to Abu Dhabi reflects the Capitals status as a key destination and transit hub, and forms a part of our strategy to attract new airlines to our network, added De Groof.



Jeh Wadia, managing director, GoAir, said: This is a historic moment for GoAir as we enter the Middle East region with our maiden flight taking off from Kannur to Abu Dhabi, thereby strengthening the India  UAE relationship. GoAir is worlds fastest growing airline and Abu Dhabi is our 4th international destination after Phuket, Male and Muscat, and 28th destination sequentially speaking. GoAir is delighted to partner with Abu Dhabi Airports.
The tour was part of a networking event organized by the Department of Transport Abu Dhabi (DOT), which included an Aviation Sector Stakeholders Forum that focused on key challenges in aviation, and a tour to Etihad Airways facilities.



The delegation included dignitaries and leaders from various civil aviation authorities within the region, which included the Kingdom of Morocco, Palestine, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, Lebanon, Egypt, the sultanate of Oman, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Sudan.



The high level delegation was welcomed to a two-hour tour around the key features and facilities of the future airport terminal. The aim was to deliver a full passenger experience of all the travel processes involved. The visit started at the MTB carpark where guests were presented with brief introduction of the new terminal, then moved through the facilitys walkway to the departure hall. After experiencing the departure journey, the delegation moved to the transit area where they saw the sheer space for the duty free, F&B, and hospitality offerings. From there, the group moved towards Pier 4 into one of the departure gates to reach the arrival level. The guests exited the new terminal following their arrival process, which allowed them to experience the entire passenger travel journey whether departing from or arriving to the new gateway



Bryan Thompson, CEO Abu Dhabi Airports, commented: We are proud of this magnificent infrastructure that we will start operating soon as the main gateway for Abu Dhabi, and a key transport hub for the region and the world. We are also eager to showcase it to our peers and stakeholders in the aviation community, as this transitioning phase provides priceless opportunities for knowledge sharing and lessons learnt.



Thompson continued: We are building future capacity not only for Abu Dhabi, but for the entire region, which will have a tangible impact on the sustainability of the economic growth and development locally and regionally.
Under the guidance of NYUAD Research Assistant Professor Mohamed Al Sayegh, Almansoori will work on developing lab skills including mammalian cell/tissue culture, RNA and protein extractions, primer design, Real-time PCR, microscopy, and cell staining methods. The fellowship will culminate in a scientific research proposal, aimed at creating a scientific publication.



NYUAD Provost Fabio Piano said: We are delighted to welcome Alia Almansoori to our research community, and look forward to fostering her insatiable hunger for knowledge and deep curiosity while helping her make ever greater contributions in the sciences, and space science in particular. NYU Abu Dhabi research seeks to tackle some of the greatest challenges of the 21st century while pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge and progress within the UAE and beyond. Alias assistance and contributions as a Scientific Research Fellow will be invaluable in this endeavour.



Almansoori underlined her excitement and emphasised how important this achievement is for the UAE, adding that it was due to the wise leadership of the UAE that this opportunity was even possible. Adding that the governments support of womens empowerment is present throughout the society, with, for example, the UAEs political cabinet comprised of nearly 30 percent women.



She stressed that by joining NYUAD as a scientific fellow, she would be able to inspire young Emiratis to engage in research and science, both considered key to the progress of society.



Almansoori encouraged her contemporaries to pursue ambitious goals in the fields of research, noting that NYUAD provides the latest scientific equipment and laboratories for researchers and scholars. She confirmed that her research in the field of space did not come purely by chance, but resulted from her continued passion for biochemistry and space science. She also explained that excellence in space research and science does not necessarily require the individual to be a specialist in space science, but may be triggered instead by his or her interest and passion in other areas such as chemistry and biology.

Al Sayegh commented,Its exciting to be working with Alia, who is proving to be a rising star within the field of the sciences in general. Although Alias interest in the sciences is vast, spanning from space and astronomy to biology, our shared interest will focus largely within the field of biology, specifically in genetics, encompassing my research interest in cell differentiation and her interest in heat shock responses at a molecular level. This will add a new stream to the ongoing research program in my lab, which will be of great interest and value to explore and expand on. At the same time, Alia will be gaining immense experience in the lab under my mentorship, transcending my experience with her research interest from an experimental and scientific point of view. Overall, I think her joining the NYUAD community will be beneficial for both, in that she would be exposed to an excellent academic setting and NYUAD will have the chance to work with and foster a local talent with already significant achievements.



Hailed as a young space sensation, Almansoori won the UAE Genes in Space contest for her experiment designed to detect gene expression changes in astronauts induced by stress, such as that caused by cosmic radiation and microgravity. This experiment, performed by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in August 2017, successfully detected stress-induced gene expression using a fast and simple technique known as reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The research could lead to the discovery of methods for monitoring cellular stress in astronauts and assessing the impacts of long-term space travel at the molecular level.
The obituaries for Andre Previn, who died last Thursday at the age of eighty-nine, were respectful, even admiring, in a way that they wouldnt have been had he died a quarter-century ago. It took a very long time for Previn to be fully accepted by the classical-music establishment, which for decades looked askance at a conductor whod gotten his start in the Hollywood studios, and I confess to being a bit surprised by how lavish a sendoff he received from such official organs of respectability as, say, the New York Times.

Perhaps its simply that Previn survived into a world in which the ability to move freely among stylistic genres had long since become not merely acceptable but downright fashionable. Whats more, the Brits went even further in their posthumous praise. Witness, for example, the Guardians sendoff: The conductor, composer and pianist Andre Previnwas not only among the most charismatic performers of his day, but also enjoyed one of the greatest classical-music lives since Berlioz and Lisztand one that did not grow less eventful with old age.

My own view of Previn, if far from jaundiced, is nonetheless somewhat cooler. Admire him though I did, I thought of him as a prodigally gifted artist who did more things wellbut nothing betterthan anyone else. To compare him to Leonard Bernstein, as many have done in recent days, is to make the point with unintentionally cruel honesty. Like Previn, Bernstein was widely criticized for having spread himself too thin. Yet he still managed to leave behind On the Town, Candide, and West Side Story, as well as a stack of recordings that are, if rarely definitive, almost always remarkable. Not so Previn: I cant think of even one of his classical recordings that I prefer to all its competitors, nor are any of his compositions especially memorable, in part because he lacked the priceless gift of melody. As a result, only two of his film scores, for Bad Day at Black Rock and Elmer Gantry, are distinguished, and only one of his pop songs, Youre Gonna Hear From Me, came remotely close to becoming a standard.

As for Previns classical pieces, what I wrote in Time about his 1998 operatic version of A Streetcar Named Desire could be said of any of them:

Previns well-bred score barely hints at the dark crosscurrents of obsession and desperation that made Tennessee Williams play so naggingly memorable. This slow-moving Streetcar is tonal but tuneless, sometimes violent but never sexy. Even the bluesy bits are oddly politean unexpected letdown from a composer-conductor who plays first-rate jazz piano on the side.

Two decades after the fact, I can also admit that I was being just as polite about his jazz piano playing, which was immaculately finished and unfailingly agreeable but almost entirely faceless. I cant imagine anyone being able to pick Previn out of an auditory lineup, no doubt because he started out as an imitatorhe could do Art Tatum without flawand never fully succeeded in becoming his own stylistic man.

It strikes me in retrospect that Previns greatest gift may well have been his formidable ability as a popularizer. He talked about music wonderfully well in his TV appearances, and he was an impeccably competent interpreter of pretty much anything at which he tried his hand. For all these reasons, he was probably at his best during his eight-year tenure as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, a good orchestra that he turned into a very good one, simultaneously putting it in the national limelight by hosting Previn and the Pittsburgh on PBS for three deservedly successful years. He was made for that job, and never found another one as well suited to his talents: it says everything about Previn that he seems never to have been seriously considered to run any of the worlds top-tier orchestras, which went elsewhere when looking for new maestros. (The Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he led to famously unhappy effect from 1985 to 1989, did not yet fill that bill.)

I wonder how Previn felt about that, just as I wonder whether he was truly fulfilled by his career, extraordinary in so many ways as it was. You cant read No Minor Chords: My Days in Hollywood, his witty 1991 memoir, without realizing that he had a first-rate mind, as well as a great deal of personal insight. Rarely has any famous conductor told a story about himself that is as revealingnot to mention self-deprecatingas this tale that Previn told about his conducting teacher, Pierre Monteux:

He liked cloaking his advice with indirection and irony. A few years later he saw me conduct a concert with a provincial orchestra. He came backstage after the performance. He paid me some compliments and then asked, In the last movement of the Haydn symphony, my dear, did you think the orchestra was playing well? My mind whipped through the movement; had there been a mishap, had something gone wrong? Finally, and fearing the worst, I said that yes, I thought the orchestra had indeed played very well. Monteux leaned toward me conspiratorially and smiled. So did I, he said. Next time, dont interfere!

I think it might have been fun to know such a man, just as it says a great deal about Previn that he was close friends with both Mike Nichols and Tom Stoppard. Alas, I never met him, but I shared an elevator with him at Lincoln Center last year: I was there to review Stoppards The Hard Problem, and just before the doors closed, Previn was wheeled into the elevator by an attendant, all but invisible beneath the brutal marks of age, though I had no trouble recognizing him. I was tempted to introduce myself, but thought better of it. What could I possibly have said that would have been of any interest to him? Instead, I looked discreetly away and left him to his reflections.

For what its worth, my guess is that Previn was far too smart and self-knowing not to be perfectly aware that for all his great success, he didnt quite manage to hit the high C as an artist, least of all in the way that Bernstein did. That is a very dark thought, and while I hope he was content to be what he was and do all that he didas well he should have beenI have my doubts.

* * *

Andre Previn and Oscar Peterson talk about Art Tatum on the BBC in 1974:

The main-title cue from Previns score for Bad Day at Black Rock, performed by Previn and the MGM Studio Orchestra:

Previn and the Philharmonia perform excerpts from William Waltons Orb and Sceptre, Violin Concerto, and Belshazzars Feast at Londons Royal Festival Hall in 1982. (The soloist in the concerto is Kyung-Wha Chung.) This concert was given in honor of the eightieth birthday of Walton, who was present in the audience:
Located between Thailand and Vietnam, Cambodia is an attractive investment destination for businesses looking to expand in ASEAN. The country has recovered from a troubled and violent 20th century past and aims to now secure a place on the global economic playing field.

With a steady economic growth of around 7 percent in recent years, which is forecasted to continue in 2019, Cambodia is on a steady path of economic improvement. The growth rate is the highest amongst the fast-growing ASEAN nations. However large-scale reforms are needed to support this growth and to make the country competitive on a global level.

Economic Performance in 2018

In the second quarter of 2018, the FDI inflow increased for the fifth consecutive time in the last two years to US$ 832 million. Constant growth over the last decade has sustained the economy despite being somewhat overshadowed by the more advanced economies of neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.

In 2018, the garment industry and tourism sector primarily supported the economic performance of the country.

Investment Climate

The tourism industry grew steadily with an 11 percent increase of international tourists coming to the country. The garment industry expanded in 2018 owing to relocation of companies to Cambodia due to rising wages in China and several factory incidents in Bangladesh. In the first half of 2018, garment exports increased by 11 percent

The Cambodian investment climate is driven by the countrys attractiveness for FDI. The country has very open investment laws and offers a range of incentives to investors. In combination with its close proximity to production facilities in Thailand and Vietnam as well as the Chinese market, the country represents a perfect investment opportunity.

The countrys Special Economic Zones (SEZ) offer a perfect setting for foreign investments especially in border areas and for the export-based manufacturing industry. Corporate tax exemption of up to eight years and further exemption on profits, if reinvested in the country, are among attractive incentives for investors. Complete duty and tax exemption on imports and exports for most industries are also available.

100 percent foreign ownership of companies is allowed in most sectors. The countrys investment law also provides regulations governing the protection of investments from regulated prices and nationalization. Yet the lack of Rule of Law and the high endemic corruption may partially weaken those provisions.

At the beginning of 2018, an agreement with the European Patent Organization came into force providing validation of EU patents in Cambodia. This allows with one single patent registration the coverage of the EU, Cambodia and other signatory states. With this agreement, EU companies can easily protect their innovations while producing in Cambodia for the Asian market.

2019 Economic Outlook

This year, the Cambodian economy is expected to grow at around 7 percent as in the preceding years. Although global economic changes call for different approaches, the US-China trade war, however, can indirectly support the local export-based economy in 2019.

With challenges such as energy supply and the potential exclusion of the country from the Everything but Arms policy of the EU notwithstanding, the garment sector will remain an important driver of the economy in 2019. Other manufacturing industries might also find the attractiveness of Cambodia for their supply chains. Tourism, agriculture and the resources sector offer major potential but are in the need of further investments to become competitive on the global market.

Garments, the EU and Renewable Energy in Cambodia

2019 will be dominated by the garment sector. It already accounts for 16 percent of the GDP and 80 percent of the total exports. The sector offers large potential with the countrys strategic location, competitive labor force, supportive government initiatives and the preferential access to major markets like the EU and US. Nonetheless, the garment sector faces face two major challenges in 2019 that need to be addressed.

First, the EU launched a withdrawal procedure regarding Cambodia and the Everything but Arms policy.

This policy facilitates Cambodia with exclusive access to the EU common market without paying duties or tariffs. During the launched 18-month withdrawal period, human rights issues in Cambodia will be investigated by the EU. The EU represents the largest importer of Cambodian garment products with around 40 percent of all garment exports . Despite the impending setbacks of the EU market, the US market with a share of 30 percent and the rising Chinese demand can still back the local garment industry.

Further, the local energy supply represents a problem that needs to be tackled for further economic growth. Energy production depends on oil, coal and water power. However, these sectors are largely import depending or cause major environmental implications which leads to high energy prices in Cambodia. Backed by the national plan to connect all 24 provinces to the national grid by 2020, decentralized energy supply offers huge potential to solve the problem. Biogas, solar and wind power offer potential to spice up the energy mix and to quickly reduce the prices while making energy supply more reliable.

The Untapped Resources of Cambodia

Currently, the country is depending on imports of resources. Mainly oil, gas and coal are imported and not exploited in the country itself. Still, Cambodia offers a vast potential for self-exploitation of resources. Due to regional disputes with Thailand, the offshore oil resources have not been exploited so far. In 2018 the government started to facilitate exploration agreements for local oil resources.

Future opening up of the resources sector offer huge potential for investors. The infrastructure sector is in the need of investments as well. The local refinery production facilities are not able to handle large-scale exploitation operations. Reforms of the legal framework regarding the resource sector are in progress.

Cambodias Manufacturing Potential

Cambodia offers with its liberal investment law and the strategic location a perfect opportunity for manufacturing sites, also supplying the economies in accelerating Thailand and Vietnam. Current manufacturing companies focus on food and beverages, chemical rubber and plastic as well as paper processing.

The countrys SEZs can easily supply industries in Thailand and Vietnam as well as export to other countries. Especially regarding the US-China trade war, the country could position itself as a cheap alternative for manufacturing.

Agriculture  The Neglected Backbone of the Country

With around 40 percent of the workforce being employed in the agriculture sector, it remains in the heart of the Cambodian economy. The global demand for agricultural products  in particular from China that already represents 27 percent of the total exports in 2018  is supporting the local production. Recent agreements for the promotion of organic food and the rising demand for such products in ASEAN can further facilitate development in the local food industry.

However, the local agricultural industry faces several problems. The sector is currently not competitive on a global level. Lack of infrastructure represents an obstacle, especially for the export-based agricultural industry.

Investing in Cambodia in 2019?

Cambodia offers several opportunities to get involved for investors. An open investment environment, cheap labor and the close location to the largest markets in the world support the investment incentives. EU patent protection and increasing reliability of the countrys infrastructure  especially in SEZs  make Cambodia interesting for manufacturing going beyond garment industry. Lowering production costs by self-exploitation of resources will support resource-based industries in the country in the near future as well.
(AP) Former Vice President Joe Bidens tendency to talk about his good relationships with Republicans landed him in trouble Thursday when he called his successor, Mike Pence, a decent guy.

The comment was quickly criticized by fellow Democrats, including actress and activist Cynthia Nixon, who tweeted that Biden had complimented Americas most anti-LGBT elected leader, forcing Biden to walk back his comment.

Youre right, Cynthia. I was making a point in a foreign policy context, that under normal circumstances a Vice President wouldnt be given a silent reaction on the world stage, Biden tweeted. But there is nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the Vice President.

The episode shows one of the challenges the 76-year-old Biden will face as he considers a run for the presidency. In promoting his relationships with Republicans in a way that might appeal to general election voters, Biden also risks alienating the Democrats he would need to win a primary.

His comment about Pence came during a foreign policy forum in Omaha with former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel. Biden hailed the character, integrity and humanity Ive seen up close of the former GOP senator from Nebraska. He also referred to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as a good guy.

Biden has had kind words for other Republican officials in recent weeks.

Biden hailed the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona as brother during public events, including at a speech in Germany when he pointed out another former Defense Secretary William Cohen, a former Republican senator from New Hampshire, as my buddy.

One Democratic official warned that Biden should focus first on the Democratic primary, not the general election, if he decides to run.

He has to be careful not to run too much of a potential general election campaign before he even gets in the primary race, said Brenda Kole, an Iowa-based Democratic operative who was a senior adviser to Clintons 2008 and 2016 campaigns.

But Jennifer Palmieri, a former top aide to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, said, The idea that he is someone who has Republican friends and can have good bipartisan relationships is baked into the Joe Biden brand.

I dont think that comes with the attendant risks that it would for newcomers, she said.

Biden said earlier this week that he hadnt made a final decision about running in 2020, though his family was encouraging him to launch a White House bid. Biden told The New York Times hed launch his campaign after March if he decides to get in.
Do it yourself if you can We accept  in principle  that private equity can deliver (somewhat) excess returns over most other asset classes. But there are a lot of qualifications attached to that, and most of them are very relevant to whether and how pension funds should invest in private equity.
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(WB) Former vice president and potential 2020 hopeful Joseph Biden sparked criticism this week after calling Mike Pence a decent guy, but another Democrat pursuing a presidential run  one who is openly gay  made similar comments calling the vice president a super-nice guy two years ago.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg called Mike Pence a super-nice guy during an interview with the Washington Blade two years ago when he was running to become chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Asked about the experience of being openly gay in a state where Pence was governor, Buttigieg called Pence a super-nice guy, but also said he pursues divisive and backward-looking policies.

The thing about Mike Pence is, hes a super-nice guy, who just genuinely believes this stuff, Buttigieg said. He operates from a different reality than the rest of us operate from. Hes written that cigarettes dont kill, he thinks climate change is made up. He must assume that people get up in the morning one day and decide to be gay. And so, as nice as hell be to you in person, when it comes to policy, like a moth to a flame, he goes in for these divisive and backward-looking policies and I think is having the same influence in the White House right now that he did as governor.

Bidens remarks calling Pence a decent guy during an event in Omaha, Neb., emerged Wednesday as a result of reporting from the Wall Street Journals Reid Epstein.

The comments drew criticism on Twitter from LGBT rights supporters who said Pences anti-LGBT record demonstrates the vice president isnt decent. Among those condemning the comments was queer-identified Sex and the City star and 2018 New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon.

Pence has a long anti-LGBT history that includes votes as a congressman against Dont Ask, Dont Tell repeal and opposition to marriage equality. His record notably includes signing into law as Indiana governor a religious freedom bill widely seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination.

More recently, Pence as vice president has defended his wife, Karen Pence, for teaching at a Christian school that refuses to admit LGBT students or employ LGBT teachers.

As a result of the criticism, Biden was forced to walk back his comments on Twitter, saying he was discussing Pence in terms of foreign policy, but theres nothing decent about being anti-LGBTQ rights, and that includes the vice president.

Lis Smith, a Buttigieg campaign spokesperson, said the full quote from Buttigieg is critical to understanding his views on Pence.

He had a whole chapter in his book about thisand hes addressed [it] on the campaign trail, as reporters and voters ask a fair amount about Pence, Smith said. I cant speak to what other potential candidates say about the VP, but what Pete has always said is that Pences nice demeanor masks a very fanatical ideology that is out of step with reality and one that is very anti-LGBTQ.
Four of the 24 new partners K&L Gates has elevated around the world are in Australia.

The firm has promoted Savannah Hardingham and Daniel Knight in Melbourne, as well as Kirstie Richards and Lucy Shanahan in Sydney.

Hardingham specialises in IP law. She is experienced in the protection, management, and enforcement of IP rights, including trademarks, copyrights, and designs.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe has won for three Chinese LED display companies in a patent-infringement action at the United States International Trade Commission (ITC).

The San Francisco-headquartered firm acted for Shanghai Sansi Electronic Engineering (Sansi), CreateLED Electronics (CreateLED) and Yaham Optoelectronics (Yaham), which can continue their business activities in the US after Ultravision Technologies withdrew their complaint that triggered a section-337 investigation at the ITC.

In March 2018, Ultravision filed the complaint against the three companies, as well as other respondents, alleging infringement of patents on modular LED display panels and components.
Western Victoria has signed an agreement to join the Legal Profession Uniform Law scheme, the attorneys-general of New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia have announced.

It is planned that the state will join the scheme by 1 July 2020, moving Australia closer to a national legal market. NSW and Victoria have implemented uniform law since 2015.

Around 68% of Australia's practising lawyers are regulated by uniform law, and that will increase to around 75% when Western Australia comes on board. Importantly, the uniform law provides strengthened protections for consumers, including through applying consistent regulations in different states, said Mark Speakman, NSWs attorney-general.
I submitted my 820 de facto partner visa in September 2017. Yes I'm a bit slow in putting this together (sorry!) but despite the lateness, I wanted to document our application in a simple way in the hope that it may help alleviate some of the stress for those of you who are going through the same process.I'm from the UK and my partner is from Australia and we met whilst living in London. It is important for me to mention that we were together for 2 years before we made the decision to move to Australia but we did not live together. We lived 10 minutes apart from each other and were planning on moving in but due to his employment situation we decided to hold off moving in together until we knew whether we'd be moving to Australia.In this section I'll briefly layout our relationship timeline from when we met up until when we submitted the application:March 2015 - first met my partnerJune 2015 - committed to a relationship togetherJune 2015-Feb 2017 - we went on numerous holidays together and met each others friends & family.Feb 2017 - my partner had to move back to Australia for work. He registered our relationship in NSWMarch 2017 - relationship certificate receivedJune 2017 - I emigrated to Australia as a British tourist and moved in with partnerJune-September 2017 - collated all visa information (actually started this process before I moved out to Australia to ensure I had everything I needed from the UK)September 2017 - submitted 820 visa application & was then immediately placed on a bridging visaFeb 2018 - request for further information (health check & police checks only)March 2018 - temporary visa grant notificationBefore I started my online application, I printed off the paper application as a guide for what I would need to provide (I don't believe the paper app is available anymore). There is a checklist available from the immigration site however this does not go into detail therefore I wanted to be prepared for the questions.The application form is pretty lengthy and repetitive. You, as the applicant, complete your application then your partner as the sponsor completes a separate application. One thing I wasn't aware of was the level of detail that was required in respect of family information. You have to know the dates your & your partners parents & siblings were married including length of relationship information of those in defacto relationships. You also have to provide information on previous relationships for you and your partner and provide reasoning as to why the relationships ended (bit personal!). You also have to provide the dates of when parents & siblings were married/in a defacto relationship.To keep organised, I set up separate folders for each of the sections of the application form and saved the relevant documentation as I uploaded them. Note that none of the information has to be certified if you provide a scanned colour copy.Lease of apartmentBank transfers I made to partners accountJoint expenses spreadsheetJoint bank account statementInternet & electricity billsJoint bookingsSeparate statement explaining our financial situation - this was a very short paragraph stating we had a joint bank accountWho does what in the household - we wrote a short paragraph about who cooks/washes up etcTicket stubs from various events we've been toJoint invitations, cards etcSelection of Facebook check-insPhotos (no more than 15. Photos take up a lot of space so I copied 2-4 pictures onto a word document and I put a short explanation of each underneath).Evidence of how we kept in touch when we were apart - emails, whats app screen shotsSeparate short statement about how we socialise togetherDevelopment of relationshipSeparate short statements about how our relationship developedRelationship certificateCards to each otherEvidence of being each others emergency contact for various things i.e work, passportBirth certificateForm 80 - Personal particulars for assessment including character assessment (this form is a bit repetitive)Health certificate (as the waiting time for the applications would exceed the validity of the health certificate, I held off doing this until I was requested. I knew it may hold up the application but it was too much money to risk. I registered on e-medical for a HAP ID number and printed this out and included it with my initial application advising I would schedule a health assessment in 6 months time unless it was requested sooner).Statutory declarations - I sumbitted 3. One from a friend who knew my partner and I and two more from my partners cousin and father. These had to be certified.Development of relationship statement - I wrote a 2 page document describing our relationship. This went into how we met each other, how the relationship developed, how we rely on each other for support and our intentions for the future. This statement overarched the other smaller statements we wrote in the sections of the application. It can be as personal as you want it to be - my statement was definitely more emotional than my partner's!Passport picturesPassport and driving licenceProof of my national insurance number (I don't have a card so used a P45 from a previous employer)PassportPayslipMedicare cardPassport picsDriving licenceBirth certificatePolice checkDevelopment of relationship statementAll applications must now be submitted online. The cost was $7,000 when we applied but it is now $7,160. There are further costs for health checks (around $400), police checks etc. We considered employing an immigration agent but decided against this due to the additional cost and the fact I had everything I needed to apply. Whether you use one obviously depends on your situation.It was a HUGE relief when we received confirmation that my temporary visa had been approved. I read lots of forums and people talked about how stressful the process was - I didn't think I'd be stressed but it's hard not to feel a little stressed as it affects your life! I'm now waiting to submit further evidence for my 801 permanent visa and will do this in August 2019. You are NOT reminded to do this and have to do it yourself.I hope this helps - please PM me if you have any other questions! Good luck
SUV

Model Y unveil event on March 14 at LA Design Studio  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) 3 martie 2019

As per a tweet posted by Musk on Sunday, the highly anticipated Tesla Model Y will be shown for the first time publicly on March 14, at the Los Angeles Design Studio, where those attending will get the chance to take tha car for a spin.Responding to queries to the original post from his Twitter followers, Musk said the full details on the car will be made public at the event, including pricing. Until then, he revealed what we were all expecting: the Model Y will be a tad more expensive than the Model 3 , because it is, well, bigger.The increase in price will not bring with it increased range, but at the contrary. Since the Model Y will use the same battery as the 3, the range is expected to be less impressive.Model Y unveil event on March 14 at LA Design Studio, Musk said in his tweet. "Model Y, being an SUV, is about 10% bigger than Model 3, so it will cost about 10% more & have slightly less range for the same battery. Detailed specs & pricing will be provided, as well as test rides in Y.The Model Y will be the fourth and for now the last new model planned by Tesla. The car will be built on the same platform as the 3, as will be ansmaller than the X This is the first car in the Tesla lineup to be manufactured in China and the U.S. alike. Debunking initial rumors that the Y will be manufactured solely in China, Musk said at the beginning of the year Americans will get a home-grown Y.Shanghai Giga will produce affordable versions of 3/Y for greater China, said the billionaire at the time, adding that the Fremont facility will be in charge with higher cost versions of Model 3/Y."
Over in Australia, there's a series called Superutes, and one of the newest contenders is the 2019 Mitsubishi Strada. Yes, barely months since its global debut, it has been transformed into a circuit racer. It's a factory-backed effort too so you know Mitsubishi is quite serious about it.

When we hear the words race truck, we'd typically imagine a rally raid machine taking on tough terrain at high speeds. A circuit racing pickup, on the other hand, is a bit of an oddity. Still, it hasn't stopped anyone from having a crack at it and, in fact, there are a couple of racing leagues around the world that sees these utility vehicles haul more than cargo.

The Strada (or Triton as it's called in Australia and elsewhere) race truck is actually close to its production counterpart. In fact, it starts out in life as a Strada/Triton GLX but is completely stripped out to shed weight. It then gets a roll-cage, a single bucket seat, and the all-important safety harness. It gets fully-adjustable coil overs on all corners, as well as a more aggressive rear differential.

It's significantly beefier than the Strada/Triton you see in the showrooms, particularly in the engine department. While it still uses the same 2.4-liter MIVEC diesel engine, it gets an upgraded turbo, intake manifold, intercooler, radiator, engine management system, and oil sump. According to Mitsubishi Australia, the Triton Superute packs around 350 PS, and a whopping 550 Nm of torque. They say that it can even reach speeds of up to 240 km/h.

In the Australian racing scene, the new Strada/Triton Superute does battle with the Ford Ranger, Holden (Chevrolet) Colorado, Isuzu D-Max, Mazda BT-50, and Toyota Hilux. So, besides the sales charts, we now also get to see these trucks duke it out on the race tracks.
Palmdale, CA (93550)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 39F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 39F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.
(CNN) After years of debate, hundreds of United Methodists from all over the world gathered in St. Louis last week to settle the denomination's stance on LGBT clergy and same-sex weddings.

In the eyes of many, they failed.

Following several days of dramatic testimony and prayer, delegates of the denomination's General Conference voted 438-384 to reinforce the United Methodist Church's stance against ordaining gay clergy and performing same-sex weddings, in a move that threatens to split the second-largest Protestant denomination in the US, and one that has a growing presence internationally.

United Methodists who spoke to CNN reacted with a mix of devastation and contentment. However, none are celebrating.

Jordan Harris, a gay United Methodist pastor in Somerville, Massachusetts, decided to pursue ministry because of a childhood experience with homelessness. It was a church, he said, that helped his family, and it inspired him to become a pastor and help others.

But now, on the cusp of being ordained and marrying his fiance, Harris is afraid for the career he's spent at least eight years preparing for.

"I feel like someone has died," Harris told CNN.

For years liberal United Methodists like Harris have pushed for the church to adopt more tolerant policies.

The denomination's Book of Discipline says all people have "sacred worth," but it denounces the "practice of homosexuality," and says it is "incompatible with Christian teaching."

But there are openly gay and lesbian clergy members who serve -- in 2016, Karen Phyllis Oliveto became the first married lesbian to become a bishop. While the gay clergy could be removed from ministry, church trials are rare.

Harris was "hopeful" the UMC would continue to take steps towards tolerance this week. He felt some of the proposals up for debate offered a chance for churches with different views to continue to "coexist."

Like many LGBT clergy and United Methodists, Harris hoped delegates would vote for what was known as the Simple Plan -- one of three proposed plans that outlined different tracts for the church's stance on LGBT persons.

The Simple Plan would have removed language prohibiting gay marriage and clergy from the United Methodist Book of Discipline. The Traditional Plan, the one that passed, reaffirmed the church's current stance.

There was also the One Church Plan, which would have allowed local churches to decide on the issue for themselves but keep the denomination together.

"It felt like we finally got to a place where we were at least able to have constructive dialogue," he said.

He was ultimately let down. As he watched the conference play out, Harris felt that the traditionalists were unwilling to meet in the middle. And now he's left disappointed and afraid.

"It's hard to be in this place where you feel like things are falling apart all around you."

The One Church Plan was the path favored by Flo Martin. She's the wife of a retired minister, and the mother of a current pastor. She's also been a heavily involved member for most of her life.

But while watching the proceedings online this week, Martin wondered, "Have we really sat down and talked and listened and allowed ourselves to hear each other and each others' stories?"

Martin preferred the One Church Plan because she felt it afforded people the opportunity to find a church that aligned with their beliefs, "but also room for us to still say we could be together."

"There are people sitting in pews together that disagree on lots of issues," she explained. "Not only homosexuality but political issues and other issues. And if there were an emergency they would be there working side-by-side, caring and praying for each other."

"Who are we," she added, "to be legislating the love of God, and putting barriers around people being in ministry?"

When the Traditional Plan passed, Keith Mcilwain, a pastor in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, said he was pleased with the outcome.

"I wanted to see my preferred plan pass, just like every pastor did," he said. "But I was keenly aware that no matter which plan passed, people were going to be upset, disappointed and people were going to be in pain."

"So I could not really celebrate," he said.

Mcilwain supported the Traditional Plan because it most closely aligned with the church's theology and its historic stance on homosexuality -- that it is "outside the bounds of orthodox Christianity," he said.

But prior to the conference Mcilwain held meetings with the members of his church to clarify the meeting's purpose and start a dialogue. He wanted them to understand that the church was not deciding whether gay people were allowed to come to church. That much was not up for debate.

He explained in a letter to his congregation that "our Church is debating how to be in ministry with LGBTQ persons -- not whether we will be in ministry with them."

Mcilwain's congregation has a mix of members with different political perspectives and beliefs, he said, including gay people.

"They are loved and they love others. We welcome them, they welcome us and we love them," he said. "They are part of our family."

"Whether or not we will include them isn't an issue," he said. Rather, General Conference's purpose was to decide "to what extent would it be appropriate to include them."

But the debate's not over. The UMC's Judicial Council -- think of it as the church's Supreme Court -- is set to review the Traditional Plan at its meeting in Illinois next month to decide whether it's constitutional.

If the council upholds the plan, many fear a split is imminent, and that liberal members and more progressive churches will leave the denomination.

And while that's no one's preferred route, Mcilwain and Martin are coming to terms with the possibility.

Mcilwain made clear he prefers the church stay together, and he's hopeful.

"But if some people feel that they cannot remain," he conceded, "then I love them enough to let them leave."

Martin pointed out she would have been staunchly opposed to a split in years past. But now she wonders if there's a way the UMC could split amicably, illustrating to the world that people who have different beliefs can "agree to disagree agreeably."

But Harris said he's determined to stay, and he doesn't believe he's alone. "The vast majority of the response that I've seen ... has been one of faithful resistance.

"I don't see a whole lot of progressive pastors or LGBTQ people who are adamant about leaving or giving up," he said. "Rather, I think a lot of us are reinvigorated."

But right now he's focused on Sunday, and what he'll say when he steps into the pulpit. All he can do is share "the same truth I preached last Sunday, and the Sunday before and before that," Harris said, "which is, you are loved by God."
The Canadian dollar, which had been one of the best-performing G10 currencies in the world this year, fell significantly on Friday.

Driving the news: A slide in oil prices and reduced expectations for a rate hike from the Bank of Canada also hurt the loonie, which is edging towards its lowest level of the year against the U.S. dollar. Canada's economy grew at its slowest past in 2.5 years in the last quarter of 2018 and some economists say first quarter GDP growth this year will be even weaker.

Expand chart Data: Factset; Chart: Axios Visuals

"While a slowdown was widely expected in the final months of the year due to falling oil prices, it's a much bleaker picture than anyone anticipated," Bloomberg notes.

Why it matters: That's bad news for the global economy and especially bad news for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The big picture: A downward revision in the Q4 2018 numbers and a negative print on the Q1 2019 numbers would put Canada in a recession. That could mean 2 of the world's 10 largest economies in a recession, with Canada joining Italy, which fell into recession at the end of 2018.

Worse, Canada hasnt hasn't had a recession without the U.S. economy also contracting since 1951.

For Trudeau, the news couldn't come at a worse time.
The U.S. is living through a "full-fledged crisis in our democracy, " 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton said in Selma, Alabama, Sunday, as she launched an attack on President Trump's White House.

The big picture: The speech formed part of weekend-long commemorations that have drawn thousands marking the 54th anniversary of "Bloody Sunday, which galvanized support for the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

What she's saying: "This is a time, my friends, when fundamental rights, civic virtue, freedom of the press, the rule of law, truth, facts and reason are under assault," Clinton said, according to CNN. "When racist and white supremacist views are lifted up in the media and the White House, when hard-fought-for civil rights are being stripped back ..."

Also in attendance were several 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) who, the Associated Press reported, delivered a fiery keynote address, declaring "It's time for us to defend the dream."
President Trump ignited outrage when he absolved Kim Jong-un of responsibility for the death of American college student Otto Warmbier, who left jail in North Korea in a terminal state.

Catch up quick: "I don't believe that he [Kim Jong-un] would have allowed that to happen; it just wasnt to his advantage to allow that to happen," Trump said in a press conference after meeting with the North Korean dictator in Hanoi. "Those prisons are rough  they're rough places  and bad things happened. But I really don't believe that he  I don't believe that he knew about it."

"He tells me that he didnt know about it," Trump also said, "and I will take him at his word."

Trump later said he'd been "misinterpreted," though his original words couldn't have been clearer.

Here's an exchange from today's Fox News Sunday between host Chris Wallace and Trump's national security adviser John Bolton:

Wallace: But this is not the first time that the president has taken the word of an autocrat over outside evidence.

But this is not the first time that the president has taken the word of an autocrat over outside evidence. Bolton: It's not taking the word. He said I'm going to take  when he says, "I'm going to take him at his word," it doesn't mean that he accepted as reality, it means that he accepts that's what Kim Jong-un said.

It's not taking the word. He said I'm going to take  when he says, "I'm going to take him at his word," it doesn't mean that he accepted as reality, it means that he accepts that's what Kim Jong-un said. Wallace: So when he says "I take him at his word," it doesn't mean that he believes Kim Jong-un?

So when he says "I take him at his word," it doesn't mean that he believes Kim Jong-un? Bolton: Well, that's what he said  I think one way to prove that is to give the United States a complete accounting.

The bottom line: Working for Trump often involves claiming the president didn't mean what he clearly said.
In the wake of reciprocal attacks in February between India and Pakistan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not responded favorably to Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khans offer for talks, raising questions about Modi's Pakistan policy and whether he might want to go to war.

Between the lines: India is gearing up for a general election in April and May, and despite losses in key states, Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remains a front-runner  something Modi does not want to change. One of his objectives with the Balakot attack was to show the Indian public that he is the leader with the necessary political will to fight terrorism emanating from Pakistan.

Modi has certainly adopted a hardline approach toward Pakistan, with the BJP often threatening to go to war. Also under Modis administration, India has been experiencing a rise in right-wing Hindu nationalism, which is not surprising in light of Modis roots in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu-nationalist paramilitary organization accused of inciting sectarian violence and fueled by a religious ideology that advocates for Hinduism's dominance within India. The RSS sees Pakistan, a Muslim-majority neighbor, as the ultimate enemy.

Yes, but: Going to war with Pakistan would not guarantee an electoral victory for Modi, because there's no evidence that launching surgical strikes within Pakistan would deter militant groups like Jaish-e-Mohammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba  responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks  from attacking Indian forces in Kashmir.

Rather, surgical strikes would lead to a conventional war that would destabilize the region, potentially creating a devastating nuclear conflict or a refugee crisis in a region already experiencing its fair share (the Afghan crisis after the Soviet invasion, for example, and the ongoing Rohingya crisis).

The congressional opposition, for its part, has criticized Modi and the BJP for politicizing the standoff with Pakistan for its own political gains during this election season.

The bottom line: Modi's re-election prospects would not be improved by his initiating a war. But unless Pakistan re-evaluates its use of militant proxies, and unless India ceases committing gross human rights atrocities in Kashmir, the two countries may stumble into one regardless.

Sahar Khan is an adjunct scholar in the Cato Institute's Defense and Foreign Policy Department.
Economic Development Minister Tigran Khachatrian touted on Monday a preferential trade agreement signed by Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) last year, saying that it could greatly benefit Armenian exporters.

The agreement signed in Kazakhstans capital Astana will be valid for the next three years. It will abolish or lower import duties for around 300 types of products traded between Iran and Russia, Armenia and three other ex-Soviet states making up the trade bloc. The signatories pledged to work out a permanent free-trade arrangement during the three-year period.

The deal has since been ratified by the parliaments of Russia, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan. Armenias National Assembly is expected to follow suit soon.

Khachatrian said he is looking forward to the deals entry into force. Irans simplified trade agreement with the EEU will give major opportunities to companies operating in the EEU -- and Armenia in the first instance -- in terms of better access to the Iranian market, he told reporters.

It will also create opportunities for Iranian manufacturers for whom the Russian, Armenian, Belarusian and Kazakh markets are not insignificant at all, especially given the current state of the Iranian economy, he said.

The minister argued that many of the 300 items covered by the deal are exported by Armenia to Iran. Armenian manufacturers will also be in a much better position to sell other products such as beef and mineral water in the vast Iranian market, he said.

According to official Armenian statistics, Armenias trade with Iran soared by over 40 percent, to almost $364 million, in 2018. However, Armenian exports to the Islamic Republic accounted for only one-quarter of that turnover. Armenian companies have long complained that Tehrans protectionist policies seriously limit their access to the Iranian market.

Khachatrian admitted that U.S. economic sanctions re-imposed on Tehran last year could hamper greater trade between Iran and the EEU member states. But he also said: The sanctions are temporary, while the agreement is long-term.

Economic issues were high on the agenda of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinians talks with Irans leaders held in Tehran last week. The two sides pledged to deepen bilateral commercial ties despite the U.S. sanctions.
Law-enforcement authorities on Monday pledged to investigate an overnight attack on a video blogger highly critical of Armenias government, which was reportedly carried out by a youth group at loggerheads with him.

The blogger, Narek Malian, was confronted outside his home in downtown Yerevan by members of the group called Restart shortly after midnight. A YouTube video of the incident showed the Restart leader, Davit Petrosian, and several other men forcibly carrying Malian along an adjacent street before being stopped by police officers.

Petrosian posted the video on his Facebook page, writing: There are moments in life when you cant choose between the good and the bad and just have to listen to your conscience.

In a statement, Restart said it wanted to throw Malian into a trash container. Petrosian likewise explained that he and his comrades tried put the garbage in its place in response to what he called Malians offensive and slanderous statements about their activities.

Malian, Petrosian, and four other men were detained on the spot but set free a few hours later. The Armenian police said afterwards that they are preparing materials for an inquiry.

The Office of the Prosecutor-General reported later on Monday that it has opened a formal criminal case in connection with the incident. It said the investigation will be conducted under an article of the Criminal Code dealing with hooliganism.

Malian, who worked until last year as an adviser to former police chief Vladimir Gasparian, described the assault as a kidnapping attempt and blamed the Armenian branch of U.S. philanthropist George Soross Open Society Foundations (OSF) for it. He said that Restart is financed by the OSF. The latter did not immediately react to the accusation.

Malian linked the incident to his vocal efforts to prevent the sacking of the long-serving rector of Yerevan State University (YSU), Aram Simonian, which is sought by the government. The former police official last week staged a lone protest at a meeting of YSUs supervisory board that narrowly failed to fire Simonian.

Restart has on the contrary been campaigning for the controversial rectors ouster since last years velvet revolution in Armenia. The youth group comprising current and former YSU students actively participated in the revolution.

By contrast, Malian has been very scathing about the dramatic regime change in the country. He regularly attacks Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other government officials and pours scorn on their supporters on his Facebook page.

Incidentally, Pashinian was quick to condemn the assault. Any attempt to solve issues in Armenia through violence must meet with a tough legal reaction, he said in a statement. In the New Armenia all those who follow the logic of violence, deceit and spread of lies act against Armenia, against democracy and against the people.
A German-Italian consortium planning to build a new thermal power plant in Armenia has secured over $200 million in funding from the World Bank Group and other multilateral lenders.

The ArmPower consortium consists of a subsidiary of Germanys Siemens group and two Italian companies. One of them, Renco, will also act as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the new Yerevan-based plant that will further diversify foreign ownership in the Armenian energy sector.

Renco had supposedly launched the project with a ground-breaking ceremony in March 2017 attended by then President Serzh Sarkisian. The start of the construction was delayed, however.

Armenias current government froze Rencos contract with the Sarkisian administration shortly after taking office in May 2018. It said the deal is not beneficial for the Armenian side and must be renegotiated.

The two sides signed a revised deal in November. Energy Minister Garegin Baghramian said concessions made by the Italian firm will allow Armenia to save $160 million in energy expenses over the next 25 years.

Baghramian also said that electricity to be generated by the new plant will be cheaper than power supplies coming from two other gas-powered facilities that currently meet roughly one-third of the countrys energy needs.

The Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, also stressed the projects economic importance for Armenia on Monday. A modern 250-megawatt combined-cycle gas turbine power plant in the south of Yerevan will help increase efficiency for gas-fired electricity generation, it said in a statement.

The statement said the funding for the project includes a $42 million loan for IFCs own account as well as $121 million from IFCs innovative syndications platform  plus parallel loans from the Asian Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the German development finance institution DEG.

In addition, it said, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), which is also part of the World Bank Group, will provide up to $39 million in loan guarantees to help Renco manage non-commercial risks.

We are committed to starting the work as soon as possible to complete the commissioning of the plant within schedule, Rencos chief executive, Giovanni Rubini, was quoted as saying.

Rubini said in November that the construction will take just over two years.

Renco has done business in Armenia since the early 2000s. It has not been involved in the local energy sector until now, investing instead in luxury housing, hotels and office buildings. But the company has built, installed or operated power generation and distribution facilities in other parts of the world.
By Trend

The changes envisaged in the customs system of Azerbaijan are aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but the Agency for Development of SMEs isnt satisfied with the level of use of the mechanism of these changes by entrepreneurs, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Agency for Development of SMEs Natig Hasanov told Trend.

He was responding to a question about the problems that SMEs can face when working with customs authorities.

He said that there are no difficulties in the process of working with customs authorities in the field of small and medium business.

"The customs authorities are actively involved in the reforming process, which aims to support SMEs," he noted. "The problem is that entrepreneurs are very poorly informed about the changes in the customs system implemented in order to support them. Therefore, we consider it important to strengthen the information platform, including with the direct participation of the customs authorities."

The Agency for the Development of SMEs of Azerbaijan was established on the basis of the decree on improvement of management in the field of SMEs signed by President Ilham Aliyev in December 2017.

The task of the agency is to ensure the consistency of reforms, as well as the improvement of the business regulation system and the application of effective coordination, enhancing the role and competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses in the countrys economy, and the compliance of the management system of this sphere with modern requirements.

As a single structure with special powers, through the Houses of SMEs, the agency will organize, coordinate, evaluate and regulate the services rendered by state agencies and organizations in this area.

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By Laman Ismayilova

Indian Product Trade Show will held in Baku.

Supported by the Embassy of India in Baku, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) of India will host the 2nd edition of Best of India Show at Baku Sport Palace on March 7-17.

The exhibition is being held as part of bilateral business cooperation between India and Azerbaijan.

The event is supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, Azertag reported.

The series of shows held overseas have consistently presented Indian industrys high quality goods, services and technologies in varied industrial sectors to the world.

The Best of India - An Exclusive India Product exhibition will gather 75 companies from India showcasing high quality products and services, including electronics, bicycle, rice, tea, spices, packaging, pharmaceuticals, gifts and handicrafts, stationery, home furnishing, textile and garments, jewellery, cosmetics.

Apart from business and commerce, the event will also focus on portraying the rich Indian cultural heritage through cultural events, food and, Bollywood festival etc. all adding to "Best of India" Experience. Entry to the exhibition is free.

India and Azerbaijan enjoy close friendly relations based on historical links and growing bilateral cooperation.

The two countries have increasing business and commercial cooperation in the fields of energy, pharmaceutics, agriculture, tourism, IT, science and technology, textile, garments and education sectors. In 2017, Indias export to Azerbaijan has grown by more than 37 million USD and total bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan has reached around 463 million USD. India and Azerbaijan have growing cooperation in capacity building under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme which provides fully paid training programmes for Azerbaijani professionals and students in Indian institutions.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry - one of the leading Industry Chamber of India, and ever since its inception in 1905 has been an active participant in the India growth story through its advocacy role for the policymakers of the country.

As a true representative of the Industry with a large membership base of 130,000 direct and indirect members, PHD Chamber has forged ahead leveraging its legacy with the Industry knowledge across sectors. At a global level the Chamber has been working with the Embassies and High Commissions in India to bring in the International Best Practices and Business Opportunities.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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By Leman Mammadova

A delegation consisting of officials and businessmen headed by the Minister of Economy of Azerbaijan and co-chairman of the Azerbaijan-China Intergovernmental Trade-Economic Cooperation Commission Shahin Mustafayev was on an official visit to Beijing, China, from February 25 to March 1.

Mustafayev held a number of meetings during his stay in China, and also took part in the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and China.

In particular, during a meeting with President of the China National Electrical Engineering Co. (CNEEC) Zhang Yanfei, the organization of tire manufacturing in Azerbaijan was discussed.

The sides exchanged views on the possibilities for developing cooperation and the companys activities in Azerbaijan. It was noted that CNEEC is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The seventh meeting of the Azerbaijani-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission, co-chaired by head of the Eurasia Department of the Ministry of Commerce of China Luo Weidong, was held during the visit.

Adressing the meeting, Mustafayev highlighted the history of the successful bilateral cooperation between the two countries. He noted that the Sino-Azerbaijani relations are based on friendship and mutual trust.

It was noted that the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.3 billion in 2018. It was also noted that Azerbaijan accounts for 43 percent of Chinas trade with the countries of the South Caucasus. However, there is potential for increasing the volume of trade.

Almost 120 companies with Chinese capital operate in Azerbaijan. The total investment value of Chinese companies in Azerbaijan is more than $800 million.

The Azerbaijani minister invited Chinese companies to benefit from the favorable business and investment environment in Azerbaijan and establish joint ventures in the country`s industrial parks and hubs.

Speaking about the possibilities of cooperation in the field of transport, Mustafayev hailed China's One Belt, One Road initiative, saying that Azerbaijan is one of the first countries to support this strategy and is closely involved in its implementation. Minister noted that the use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) within the One Belt One Road initiative opens up broad opportunities for cooperation in the fields of economy, especially investments, trade, transit.

Co-chair of the commission, head of the Eurasia Department of the Ministry of Commerce Luo Weidong expressed China`s interest in developing relations with Azerbaijan. He shared his views on the prospects for development of these ties.

Weidong emphasized that Azerbaijan is a key trade partner of China in the South Caucasus region. He also praised the commission`s role in expanding Azerbaijani-Sino economic and trade relations and promoting new cooperation opportunities.

The meeting ended with the signing of the protocol that envisages the expansion of cooperation in industrial, agricultural, transit, logistics, trade, investment, ICT, financial, tourism, humanitarian and other areas.

Within the visit to China, Azerbaijani delegation led by Mustafayev, held several meetings.

At the meeting with China's Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan, Shahin Mustafayev said that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to bilateral relations with China and is interested in expanding these ties in all spheres.

Azerbaijan has taken many steps towards the development of bilateral trade relations with China. It was noted that export missions to China are being organized, Azerbaijan's trade representative operates in China, Azerbaijan's wine houses in Urumqi and Shanghai, Azerbaijans Trade House in Liuzhou.

This year Ministry of Economy is planning to organize three more export missions to China.

It should be noted that Ministry of Economy and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) organized the first export mission of this year to Beijing, China on 25 February-1 March. The mission included 16 Azerbaijani companies operating in the field of food, wine and other alcoholic drinks. Within the framework of the export mission, a roundtable was held with the participation of Chinese and Azerbaijani companies, information was given about Azerbaijani products. The sides exchanged views on increase of export.

Since March 1, the sale of Azerbaijani wines has already been launched in China's BHG markets.

At the meeting with Chinese Minister of Transport Li Xiaopeng, it was noted that Azerbaijan attaches great importance to transport and transit cooperation with China and is interested in the development of relations.

It was emphasized that Azerbaijan is expanding its cooperation with the countries on the "One Belt, One Road" Initiative, and is continuing to develop Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

The Chinese side, in its turn, said it supports Trans-Caspian International Transport Route.

During the meeting, in order to promote Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, the sides discussed the establishment of the Working Group for the promotion of joint activities, expansion of cooperation between relevant railway authorities, the development of transport links and other issues.

In the discussions with Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei, joint projects in the field of industry and ICT in Azerbaijan, joint efforts to implement Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project and other issues were discussed.

The sides exchanged views on creation of joint ventures in the fields of mechanical engineering, metallurgy, pharmacy and expansion of mutual investment in industrial parks established in Azerbaijan.

During the meeting with Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, director of the National Bureau of Statistics of China Ning Jizhe, the importance of promoting the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route in China was discussed and discussions on expanding cooperation in transport, transit, industrial, agricultural and other spheres were held.

During the visit, a protocol On cultural cooperation for 20192023 between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan and the Memorandum of Understanding On simplifying group visits of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, were also signed.

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Azercell Telecom LLC, the leading mobile operator in Azerbaijan, continues to conduct projects aimed at personal and academic growth of students in the country. This time, Azercell joined ADA Career Fair 2019 held at ADA University on March 1.

Representatives of Azercells Human Resource Department answered the questions of students and graduates seeking employment opportunities, gave broad information about the current vacancies, as well as programs for students. The event is a grand tradition at ADA University, which aims to inform the youth about the employment market, give them an opportunity to build direct cooperation with leading companies in the labor market in order to make an important choice in their professional carriers. The Career Fair was organized from February 28th to March 2nd, hosting the companies representing IT and telecom industry on March 1st.

Azercell Telecom LLC annually conducts the Student Bursary Program and Internship Programs with the aim to support young talents in the country. This year, the Student Bursary Program received 1398 applications. Following the review and selection process, 25 students have been honored with the title of Azercell scholar.

The winning students got a chance to receive 200 AZN monthly stipend throughout the remaining period of their university studies, enrich their knowledge on telecommunications, participate in Azercells corporate events and social activities, receive training and information sessions, as well as various courses.

Azercell will continue its contribution towards the successful career development of the youth.

The leader of the mobile communication industry, the largest taxpayer and the biggest investor of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC was founded in 1996. With 49 percent share of Azerbaijans mobile telecom market Azercells network covers 99.1 percent of the territory (excluding the occupied territories) and 99.8 percent of population of the country.

Currently, 4.5 million subscribers choose Azercell services. Azercell has pioneered an important number of innovations in Azerbaijan, including GSM technology, advance payment system, mobile internet services, Metro coverage, 24/7 call center service, 7 day/week Front Office service, M2M services, one-stop-shopping approach Azercell Express offices, mobile customer services, Online Customer Care and Social Media Customer Care services, mobile e-signature service ASAN Imza etc.

Azercell deployed first 4G  LTE services in Azerbaijan in 2012. According to the results of mobile network quality and wireless coverage mapping surveys by international systems, Azercells network demonstrated the best results among the mobile operators of Azerbaijan. Azercell is the only company in Azerbaijan and CIS region which has been awarded Gold Certificate of International Investors in People Standard.

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By Leman Mammadova

The fifth meeting of the intergovernmental commission between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia was held in Baku on March 4.

The delegations led by co-chairs of the commission, Azerbaijani Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov and Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) Ibrahim Al-Omar discussed the current state of the economic cooperation and prospects for expanding relations.

The sides discussed the issues of cooperation in such spheres as economics, trade, investment, IT, culture, sports, agriculture, food security, employment, healthcare, tourism, education, etc.

The meeting participants also exchanged views on the current economic relations between the countries, the work carried out after the fourth meeting of the intergovernmental commission.

During the meeting, Samir Sharifov noted that Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia are interested in expanding air communication.

Sharifov reminded that in February 2016, Azerbaijan simplified the procedure of obtaining visas for citizens of Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Persian Gulf.

The minister said that 7,500 tourists from Saudi Arabia visited Azerbaijan in 2016, 33,000 tourists visited the country in 2017, and 73,000 tourists from Saudi Arabia visited Azerbaijan in 2018. However, the influx of tourists is observed only in the summer, he noted.

I think it is necessary to establish permanent direct flights, Sharifov said. This will be important not only for tourism, but also for the development of business relations between the two countries.

Further, he noted that there is mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in many areas.

Despite that political relations between our countries are at the highest level, these relations dont correspond to the potential in other areas, he said. The main task of the intergovernmental commission is to promote the development of these relations.

Governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority Ibrahim Al-Omar said that a number of activities should be undertaken to develop bilateral relations.

Al-Omar stressed that the trade turnover between the two countries did not exceed $20 million in 2018 and investments do not correspond to the potential.

The mechanisms should be created for the full implementation of agreements signed between the two countries and for the establishment of a platform for a mutually beneficial investment sphere, he said.

He underlined that an agreement on customs cooperation should be signed to encourage mutual trade between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia.

Al-Omar also highlighted the importance of preparing the business plans for revitalization of previous memorandums, preparing a platform for creating a favorable investment climate, presenting the business council to investors in both countries.

He added that the two countries are doing everything possible to expand the ties in the fields of trade and investment.

Within the meeting, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia signed a protocol on expanding cooperation in economic and trade investments.

The document was signed by the Chairman of the Board of the Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Orkhan Mammadov and Ayed bin Hadi Al Otaibi, deputy governor of the general authority for investment and investment development.

The protocol also provides for the expansion of cooperation in the field of culture and sports.

The diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia were established in 1992. Over the past years, the bilateral economic relations have strengthened and expanded with the increased interest in investment.

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By Laman Ismayilova

The Heydar Aliyev Palace brought together multiple jazzmen to delight music lovers with beautiful sounds of jazz.

Ten-time Grammy winner Arturo Sandoval performed a marvelous concert in Baku on March 2, Day.Az reported.

Those who have heard him playing the piano, or his classical works, know that Arturo Sandoval is an outstanding musician, one of the brightest, many-sided and recognized performers of our time.

Addressing the event, the host of the evening, the teacher at the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, jazz columnist Tofig Hasansoy informed the public about the important stages in the creative path of musician.

Arturo Sandoval, the protege of jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie, was born in Cuba in Artemis, a small town near Havana, on November 6, 1949.

As a twelve-year-old boy in Cuba, Sandoval played trumpet with street musicians. He helped establish the Orquesta Cubana de Musica Moderna, which became the band Irakere in 1973.

He is one of the world's most recognized musicians playing the jazz trumpet and flugelhorn.

Sandoval is also known as a performer of classical music, regularly performing with leading symphony orchestras of the world. He is the author of the concert for the pipe "Concert for Trumpet and Orchestra".

With his virtuosity, the musician has won the recognition of the most famous conductors, composers and symphony orchestras all over the world.

"Arturo Sandovals performance can be heard in recordings with many musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Woody Hermann, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Alisia Keys and many others. He also created music for many famous films," said Hasanov.

The host of the evening also noted that Sandovals biography became the basis of the TV film "For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story" (2000), where Andy Garcia starred as the main character.

Tofig Hasanov stressed that the concert was held with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Baku.

U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Azerbaijan William Gill addressed the event.

In his speech, William Gill expressed his gratitude to the concert organizer, General Director of Premier LTD Art Management Nazakat Gasimova and the Heydar Aliyev Palace.

Afterwards, Arturo Sandoval appeared on the stage. The audience gave him a big round of applause.

The virtuoso trumpeter surprised the audience also with piano performance, percussion, as well as breathtaking scat singing (vocal improvisation).

Arturo Sandoval endeared the listeners with heartfelt songs. His performance on the pipe is worthy of special praise.

Watching the energetic performance of the musician, it was hard to believe that he would turn 70 in November.

He charged the public with his incendiary energy, which never stopped applauding solo improvisations of the musician and his trumpeter band.

Talented musicians Tiki Pasillas (percussion) Mike Tucker (saxophonist), Max Haymer (pianist), John Belzaguy (bass) and Johnny Friday (drummer) made the evening even more spectacular.

Arturo Sandoval informed the public that he visited Baku in the 1970s, and that he was happy to come back here again. He also noted that the city impressed him with its beauty.

At the end of the concert, the public did not let the musicians go for a long time. After that, the musician posed for photos with his fans and signed autographs.

The concert has been organized by Premier LTD Art Management with support of the US Embassy in Azerbaijan.

Media support was provided by Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az

---
By Laman Ismayilova

Holiday Train charity fair will be held in Baku on the eve of Novruz holiday.

The event will take place at at Jafar Jabbarli Square from March 15 to April 15, Trend Life reported.

Numerous restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops will join the spring feast.

The event is organized by ADY Property with the support of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC.

The main feature of the charity fair is that it will be held three times a year.

For more information, please contact:

+994 50 320 00 61

On March 20-21, Azerbaijan celebrates one of the most ancient, beloved holidays  Novruz, which reflects the traditional values of country's people.

Before the holiday, people mark four pre-holiday Tuesdays, each of which is dedicated to the awakening of one of the natural elements called Su Chershenbesi (Water Tuesday), Od Chershenbesi (Fire Tuesday) Hava Chershenbesi (Wind Tuesday) and Torpaq Chershenbesi (Earth or Last Tuesday).

People do house cleaning, plant trees, paint eggs, make national pastries such as shekerbura, pakhlava, shorgoghal and a great variety of national cuisine. Children jump over bonfires and run through the streets and knock on doors to ask for treats.

The holiday was given the status of an official holiday in Azerbaijan by a presidential decree dated 13 March 1990. In 2009, Novruz was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and since then, March 21 was declared the International Day of Novruz.

---

Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijani postal operator Azerpost LLC forecasts growth of the e-commerce market in 2019 by 40 percent, Director General Emin Efendiyev told Trend.

As he noted, this segment of the market shows constant growth, and last years growth was 33 percent.

Efendiyev stressed the intention to focus on the development of agency services in 2019, which will be offered not only to banks but also to other structures located in the territory of Azerposts branches.

He recalled that Azerpost is a large network consisting of 1,497 branches and 63 branches, which allows offering agency services to all and everyone.

As for the overall profitability of Azerpost, as the head of the LLC said, this issue is considered from the prism of the entire enterprise, rather than each branch separately.

"Azerpost is a profitable organization today. Despite the fact that our tariffs have not changed since 2011, we have been operating profitably. Therefore, we provide services, including in the most remote settlements. We cannot consider each point separately on the subject whether it is profitable or not. We consider the profitability of the Azerpost network as a whole, said Efendiyev.

He also mentioned the competitive advantages of the company in the field of courier postal services. As he informed, Azerpost intends to conquer this market segment by competing with private courier services.

"Only last year we concluded about 50 new contracts on this market. Among other things, we will develop this area. Today we are updating our car park. As for our tariffs, they are significantly competitive compared to the rates of private courier services," concluded Efendiyev.

The beginning of the development of postal services in Azerbaijan at the state level falls in the 16th century. However, the formation of mail as a modern form of communication began at the beginning of the 19th century. In 1818, the first post office was opened in Ganja.

Currently, Azerbaijans national postal operator Azerpost LLC has the most extensive network in the country and provides postal (traditional and non-traditional), postal and financial services to all segments of the population and legal entities on acceptable terms.

Computerization of all post offices in accordance with modern requirements, the necessary technical equipment and the introduction of advanced technologies, ensure high quality and reliability of the services provided.

---

Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Leman Mammadova

Azerbaijan exported 794.5 million cubic meters of gas to Turkey in December, becoming the country`s third largest gas supplier.

According to Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) report, Turkey`s gas import from Azerbaijan increased by 200 million cubic meters in December against the same period of the previous year, AZERTAC reports.

With 2.26 billion cubic meters of gas exported, Russia remains Turkey`s largest gas supplier. Iran is the second largest with 896 million cubic meters.

Azerbaijan exported more than 7.483 billion cubic meters of gas to Turkey last year.

Turkey imports natural gas from Azerbaijan via the South Caucasus Pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum) and Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). The South Caucasus Pipeline commissioned at the end of 2006 is currently supplying Shahdeniz gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.

TANAP, along with TAP, is a part of Southern Gas Corridor project that envisages transportation of gas from Azerbaijani Shah Deniz-2 gas field to European markets. TANAP gas pipeline was put into operation on June 12 in Eskisehir, Turkey. The first gas transportation to Turkey started on 30 June. So far, TANAP has transported about 800 million cubic meters of Shah Deniz gas to Turkey. TANAP will transport 2 billion cubic meters in 2019 to Turkey, 4 billion cubic meters in 2020, and 6 billion cubic meters of natural gas will be transported in 2021.

Turkey now imports liquefied gas from Algeria, Qatar and the US, except Russia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

Since Turkey's energy security is dependent on foreign energy resources, Turkey has been continuously exploring new hydrocarbon reserves offshore and onshore.

Turkey is a partner in many strategic projects of Azerbaijan. Turkey was the first state to recognize Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 and has been a staunch supporter of Azerbaijan in its efforts to consolidate its independence, preserve its territorial integrity and realize its economic potential arising from the rich natural resources of the Caspian Sea.

Every year, trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkey diversifies and covers new areas. Both countries are interested in the maximum expansion of relations.

Two countries have gained good experience in the implementation of large-scale projects of international importance, which are well known in the region and the world such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline, TANAP, the Southern Gas Corridor and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

Turkey and Azerbaijan, both effectively use their economic and energy capabilities, as well as the geopolitical position to expand bilateral and regional cooperation.

All projects initiated by Azerbaijan and Turkey are implemented successfully and serve further development and well-being of two nations.

---

Leman Mammadova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

The delegation of Turkmenistan will attend an inter-ministerial meeting to be held March 3-4 in Bucharest to discuss a project of creation of Caspian Sea-Black Sea international transport corridor, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen government.

Deputy prime minister, Foreign Minister of Turkmenistan Rashid Meredov will meet with his colleagues from Azerbaijan, Georgia and Romania. The agenda includes issues related to increasing freight traffic through the ports of Turkmenbashi, Baku, Poti, Batumi and Constanta, encouraging cooperation with all interested parties, including the EU and the creation of a quadrilateral working commission on the implementation of this project.

In order to improve the quality of transport services, it is planned to discuss the possibilities of using digital technologies and establishing information exchange. Following the meeting, it is planned to adopt the Bucharest Declaration, the Turkmenistan State News Agency reported.

Ashgabat is lobbying for the creation of an extensive multimodal infrastructure covering the Caspian basin, continental Eurasia with access to the Black Sea and Baltic Sea terminals, South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and countries of the Asia-Pacific region.

The initiated important projects include the transport corridor on the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey route, which has great prospects for turning into a trade-economic and cultural bridge between Asia and Europe in the future.

Earlier, it was reported that Ashgabat and Bucharest had agreed on intensifying political and diplomatic efforts for potentially inking a political declaration on the creation of a transport and transit corridor connecting the Caspian to the Black Sea.

It is expected that Constanta may become a transshipment point of goods transported from the Turkmen port of Turkmenbashi to the EU, as well as from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in the context of ensuring the access of goods from Turkmenistan and other Central Asian countries to European markets.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
NASA's current slogan is "Forward To The Moon". They say this because they do not want to say "Back To The Moon" Isn't about time for NASA to speak boldly about what it plans to do?

During the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) era after the loss of Columbia NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe created an Exploration Directorate separate from the directorate that operated the space shuttle and ISS - on purpose. He wanted the new stuff to not be bound by the status quo. Adm. Craig Steidle was recruited to run the show. Whatever commercial things NASA does now had their seeds in what Steidle and O'Keefe did. This all came apart when O'Keefe left, and Mike Griffin came in and threw everything new and innovative out to do his "Apollo on steroids thing". President Obama later gutted that only to bring it partially back. NASA now deals with the remnants of these roller coaster decisions.

Keith's update: To be clear about how this all happened, NASA Deputy Administrator Fred Gregory was actually the prime mover behind the creation of a separate exploration entity within NASA focused on (you guessed it) exploration. He created a group looking into how to facilitate exploration thinking, hired Adm. Craig Steidle, and then pitched a plan to Sean O'Keefe. Fred also found and recruited Gen. Michael Kostelnik to become the program director of human space flight with the hope of breaking down the field center sand piles and to pull Space Station and Space Shuttle programs closer together. This was an enlightened series of steps taken by Fred and would be well worth revisiting today since the stovepipes within NASA human spaceflight were quickly reassembled.

During that time when the VSE was seen as a refreshing recommitment to exploration post-Columbia - there was a momentary alliance between all factions. People thought bold adventurous thoughts again. Back to the Moon and then on to Mars. Craig was looking to do some branding and meme generation. He hit on one thing that was really ballsy. He read a lot of Greek classics as military people are want to do. And he found his catch phrase. He created a motto - for a patch and logo that Mike Okuda (who worked on Star Trek) created. (Larger image) The motto was "Fortuna Audaces Juvat" which is usually translated as a variant of "Fortune favors the bold" - a latin proverb most prominently repeated in Virgil's "Aeneid" at 10.284. You have no doubt seen this phrase before. Its common in the military - for good reasons. It has a Star Trek vibe to it. Craig Steidel drew a line in the sand and provided a motto to wear on one's shoulders as the agency set forth back into space. I thought it was a master stroke. Too bad NASA doesn't do things like this any more.

In the course of writing my next book I came to reference this phrase and thought I'd see if my antique book collection could help me find an old reference. In this case I found one in a 1792 publication - translated as "fortune assists the brave". Close enough. (larger image)

Jim Bridenstine often ends many official statements with "Ad Astra" ("to the stars") which is taken from another Latin phrase common in exploration and military history "Per aspera ad astra/ ad astra per aspera" ("through hardships to the stars"). Alas, NASA is now going to try and do some exciting stuff in space again by going "Forward to the Moon" to quote Bridenstine's official favorite phrase.

Ugh. That's certainly underwhelming. Why not "Back To The Moon and then Beyond?" or "Go boldly where no(one) has gone before"? you know - something a little more inspiring?

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
By Trend

Iran's customs has released some 200 cars held up at the imported cars depot, Trend reports via Mehr News Agency.

The head of Iran Customs Administration Mehdi Mirashrafi has announced that200 vehicles have already been released and its expected that more cars would be released from the customs in the coming days, Trend reported citing Mehr News Agency.

The number of released cars is only 2 percent of the 13,000 imported autos that are kept at customs warehouses.

The cars have recently been released after Iran Customs Administration held talks with Iran's Ministry of Industry.

"The imported cars that discharged at customs before August 10 are currently following the customs procedures to be released," said Mirashrafi.

He went on to add that the customs offices in Iran are obliged to implement certain customs procedures in order to release imported cars.

He further said that if the release procedure takes longer, the remaining cars at the customs would be considered abandoned.

The official has recently indicated that some 10,000 complaints have been filed against customs over held up auto imports.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Irans minister of roads and urban development says all our airports are beneath the Iranian peoples dignity.

Even some airports, which carry out 85 percent of flights, do not meet the requirements, Mohammad Eslami said on the sidelines of an inauguration ceremony of the new head of Irans Airports Company on Sunday, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.

On Wednesday, Minister Eslami appointed Siavash Amirmokri as the new head of the Iran Airports Company.

Amirmokri, who was the deputy head of the Airports Company for resource management and development over the past years, replaces Rahmatollah Mahabadi, the companys previous head.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Visiting Azerbaijan will become easier for Chinese tourists, according to the Memorandum of Understanding On simplifying group visits of Chinese tourists to Azerbaijan signed between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the State Tourism Agency of Azerbaijan, Trend reports with reference to Azerbaijans Economy Ministry.

The document was signed during the visit of the Azerbaijani delegation led by Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev to China.

During the visit, a protocol On cultural cooperation for 20192023 between the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan was also signed.

Minister Shahin Mustafayev held a number of meetings during his stay in China, and also took part in the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission on trade and economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and China.

In particular, during a meeting with President of the China National Electrical Engineering Co. (CNEEC) Zhang Yanfei, the organization of tire manufacturing in Azerbaijan was discussed.

The sides exchanged views on the possibilities for developing cooperation and the companys activities in Azerbaijan. It was noted that CNEEC is interested in cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The seventh meeting of the Azerbaijani-Chinese Intergovernmental Commission was also held during the visit. At the meeting, it was noted that the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $1.3 billion in 2018. It was also noted that Azerbaijan accounts for 43 percent of Chinas trade with the countries of the South Caucasus. However, there is potential for increasing the volume of trade.

Almost 120 companies with Chinese capital operate in Azerbaijan. The total investment value of Chinese companies in Azerbaijan is more than $800 million.

Speaking about the possibilities of cooperation in the field of transport, Mustafayev noted during the meeting that the use of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) within the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative opens up broad opportunities for cooperation in the fields of economy, especially investments, trade, transit.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Hiawatha Horse Park owner/operator Jim Henderson is used to seeing people reap the benefits of a big reward. Long odds and hefty exotics tend to lead to big payoffs at the track, but a chance wager of a different kind has netted the Brigden, Ont. resident quite the windfall.

Multiple mainstream media reports have explained that Henderson has won the most recent Bluewater Health Foundation Dream Home Lottery.



A screen grab from the A screen grab from the Bluewater Health Foundation website indicating that Jim Henderson is the Dream Home Lotterys grand prize winner

Jims sister, Barb, had bought the winning ticket and had given it to her brother as a gift. Barb, a former hospital worker, has been purchasing tickets for the grand prize draw ever since it started. Shes been giving the tickets to family members as gifts.

What. A. Gift.

The hospital foundation has been conducting the home lottery for 24 years now. The most recent edition of the draw has generated roughly $300,000  capital that is earmarked toward a million-dollar upgrade of mammogram-related equipment at Bluewater Health.

The home, which is valued at just under $600,000, comes complete with furnishings, appliances and electronics. Jim has the option of either taking possession of the home or receiving $350,000 instead. Jim has said that he and his sister have yet to decide what option they are going to choose.



Jim Henerson, pictured inside the dream home (Handout image courtesy The Sarnia Observer) Jim Henerson, pictured inside the dream home (Handout image courtesy The Sarnia Observer)

After having toured the home for the first time on Friday (March 1), Jim was quoted as saying that the unexpected win was a nice surprise.

Kathy Alexander, the hospital foundations executive director, has explained that the most recent lottery was an overwhelming success. It was our most successful Dream Home Lottery to date, she said.

(With files from The Sarnia Observer and Blackburn News)
ZURICH, Switzerland, March 04, 2019 / B3C newswire / -- NovaGo Therapeutics AG, a Swiss biotech company developing human antibody therapeutics to promote regeneration after cerebral stroke, has closed a Series A financing round of CHF 10 million led by Pureos Bioventures and the strategic partner Neurimmune. Dr. Dominik Escher, Partner at Pureos Bioventures will join NovaGos board of directors. The proceeds will be used to develop NovaGos regenerative therapeutics towards clinical trials.

Prof. Martin E. Schwab, founder and President of NovaGo Therapeutics, and the discoverer of Nogo-A, commented: We are very pleased that we succeeded in securing additional funds in support of the development of our human antibodies. Neurimmune and Pureos Bioventures share our vision of developing a therapy for regeneration after stroke. We welcome Dominik to our board of directors. His wealth of executive biotech experience will be instrumental for advancing NovaGo.

NovaGo Therapeutics, founded 2015 as a spin-off company from the University of Zurich, previously entered into a strategic partnership with Neurimmune to discover human antibodies targeting Nogo-A. Neurimmunes Reverse Translational Medicine technology decodes genetic information of immune cells obtained from healthy aged people to identify next generation antibody therapeutics.

About NovaGo Therapeutics AG

NovaGo Therapeutics is a Swiss start-up dedicated to the development of regenerative therapies for diseases of the central nervous system such as stroke and spinal cord injury. The company was founded by Prof. Martin Schwab based on the discovery of the existence of inhibitors of nerve fiber growth as a cause of the absence of regeneration of injured fiber tracts in the central nervous system.

About Neurimmune

Neurimmune is a Swiss clinical stage biotech company translating human immune memory into game changing therapeutics. Neurimmunes pipeline comprises high-potential drug candidates at both clinical and advanced preclinical development stages. Aducanumab, an investigational treatment for Alzheimers disease, partnered with Biogen, is currently in phase 3 clinical trials. Rights in antibodies BIIB054 for Parkinsons disease and BIIB076 for Alzheimers disease were acquired by Biogen. Neurimmunes pipeline includes human antibody programs for ALS, fronto-temporal dementia, cardiomyopathy, type-2 diabetes and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, with potential therapies in advanced preclinical stages.

About Pureos Bioventures

Pureos Bioventures is a new venture capital fund located in Zurich to exclusively invest in private innovative drug development companies, with a special emphasis on the next generation of biological drugs and drug formats.

About Stroke

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability and represents a major health problem. It affects approximately 33 million patients worldwide, with an estimated 17 million people suffering a first stroke each year. This chronic disease generates tremendous direct as well as indirect costs for the public health system and economy, with total cost estimates beyond $100 billion a year for Europe and the United States combined.

Despite improvement of acute care treatments, more than half of the stroke patients remain with major life-long sequalae, which include problems with mobility, vision, speech and memory, personality changes, fatigue and depression among others. There is no pharmacological therapy that targets the central nervous systems regenerative capacity in stroke. As post-stroke disability significantly affects patients quality of life and long-term healthcare resource utilization, an effective regenerative therapy is a major unmet need.

Contact

NovaGo Therapeutics AG

Dr. Eduardo Vianna, CEO

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published by B3C newswire and shared through Newronic


The Diocese of Fresno failed to do its due diligence investigating a case of alleged sexual abuse of a minor by Father Miguel Flores in 2002, 
Joe Eskenazi, who will turn 104 on Jan. 30, shared haunting memories from eight decades ago with an audience as he was honored by the South Bay Quilters Guild, Sunday at the American Legion in Redondo Beach.
SEVERAL resident attorneys are hosting a free legal clinic in Providenciales this weekend for members of the public.





The initiative is being undertaken by the Turks and Caicos Islands Bar Association and will be hosted at Community Vocational Centre, on Leeward Highway, opposite the 7/11 convenience store, this Saturday (March 2).





Attorneys will be available between 9am and 12pm to provide consultations on legal issues such as landlord/tenant, government benefits, employment disputes, criminal defence - Magistrates Court, road traffic matters, consumer protection, civil claims under $10,000 in value, probate, family/domestic matters, uninsured personal injury/fatal accidents, claims and immigration issues.





President of the TCI Bar Council, Oreika Selver, spoke with Magnetic Media this week about the reasons behind the free clinic.





"We have over a dozen highly experienced and more senior members of the Bar who will be ready and willing to give legal advice in their areas of expertise; representing an unquantified number of billable hours given freely with a mind of service to the public, said Selver, a legal and compliance officer at Invest Turks and Caicos Agency.





This is the associations first free clinic and a way for the legal fraternity to give back to the community.





"We wanted to do so in a way that allows us to utilise our skills as practitioners and have a direct and positive impact on those seeking legal advice.





She said their goal is to give participants, who may have had little or no prior legal advice, a better understanding of their issues and how best they can go about resolving them.





"Some matters will be a bit more complex and cannot be resolved in the time allotted, and in those cases  our aim is to at the very least, to be able to give some guidance on the next steps, the Bar Council president said. (Delana Isles)




Haden Blanchard is a dancer. The 14-year-old has won awards for his demonstration of grace, strength and control on stage. What you won't see on stage are the physical symptoms of his Tourette syndrome. When Haden is dancing, his tics completely disappear.

He uses his dance as a way to inspire those with Tourette's and other tic disorders, demonstrating that even though he struggles with the symptoms of his syndrome, he is not defined by it. Now, Haden is learning the skills he'll need to make others aware of Tourette's and tic disorders, and encourage people to support Tourette Association of America, representing Texas as a youth advocate.

Haden left Beaumont over the weekend for a trip to Washington, D.C., where he will train with students from all 50 states for his role as an advocate.

Tuesday, he will meet with Sen. Ted Cruz along with other youth advocates to ask for his support continuing federal funding for research into Tourette's and treatment access for those with the disorder. They will also request that he co-sponsor the Collaborative Academic Research Efforts (CARE) for Tourette Syndrome Act. The bill would expand research opportunities into Tourette's and tic disorders to hopefully find other and more effective treatment methods.

"It's not just the tics or what people typically associate with Tourette syndrome," his mother, Kim Blanchard, said as her son pierced the lid of his disposable cup with the plastic fork he'd just broken.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder are co-morbid for many people with Tourette's. It was severe ADHD that hindered Ha-den most while attending traditional school.

His mother said teachers would become frustrated with Haden, not understanding that his behavioral symptoms, like his tics, were entirely out of his control. Eventually she would pull her son out of school, turning instead to a home-based online public school program. Since then, Haden's scores on STAAR tests have risen, and he has more time to dedicate to his dancing, and after this trip, advocating for Tourette syndrome.

In the past, Haden has been asked to dance at conferences held by Tourette Texas, the national association's state-based chapter, and tell his story to those afflicted by the same neurological disorder he himself deals with daily.

After his time in D.C., Haden will represent the Tourette Association to raise awareness and educate those unaffected by tic disorders, and help educators better understand the behavioral problems associated with Tourette's. He will speak at schools and for other groups, explaining that one out of every 100 children between the ages of five and 17 has Tourette's or some other tic disorder

Haden says he hopes the training gives him tools to feel more comfortable speaking with others about his condition.

"He's good with talking to his peers  other kids with Tourette's  but not so much adults," Kim Blanchard said.

Haden said he would feel proud if he was able to help someone realize that they had Tourette's and help them better understand their own behavior, or inform a teacher who then is able to better accommodate a student with a tic disorder.

When asked how it would feel to be part of the group that got a bill signed into law that benefited Tourette's research, he smiled, looking down at his cup.

"It'd be pretty cool," he said.



haley.bruyn@beaumont enterprise.com

Twitter.com/HaleyWrites_BE
Photo courtesy of Newton County Sheriff's Office

Newton County Sheriff Billy Rowles has released the name of a man suspected of intentionally hitting a deputy with a pickup truck late last week.

Scott Allen Gantt was arraigned on charges of aggravated assault on a public servant, accident involving injury, evading arrest with a vehicle and driving while intoxicated, according to a news release from the Sheriff's office.
Before she went missing, Andreen McDonald told a close friend that if she ever disappeared, it would be because her husband, Air Force Major Andre McDonald, had killed her, according to court documents.

On Friday, after Andreen McDonald didn't show up to the gym or to work, two places part of her usual routine, the close friend and another woman went to her home.

They knocked at the front door. No answer. So they went around back and discovered an unlocked way in. They went inside and found evidence that seemed to confirm their suspicions, according to investigators.

Andreen McDonald's car in the garage. Blood stains on a light switch. A fresh burn pile out back.

Andre McDonald, 40, was arrested Sunday on a charge of tampering with evidence in the case of his missing wife. He was booked into the Bexar County Jail and his bail set at $2 million.

Though Andreen McDonald hasn't been found, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said authorities believe she is dead.

RELATED: Husband of missing San Antonio mom has been arrested and charged in connection to her disappearance

Andre McDonald's recently released arrest affidavit provided more details about what led investigators to suspect him.

According to the document, the blood and hair in the master bathroom of his North Bexar County home, in the 1000 block of Solitude Cove, were first discovered by acquaintances of Andreen McDonald who were looking for her after she didn't show up to work on Friday.

"The first witness said that the Missing Person (Andreen McDonald) told her many times if she ever went missing it would be because the Suspect killed her," the affidavit says.

The two witnesses, described as a woman and one of her employees, went and knocked at the McDonald residence on Friday. When they received no answer, the women went to an unlocked back door and entered the house, according to their statements to detectives.

"The first witness said she and the second witness gained access to the residence through the back door, after no one answered their knock," writes Dep. Mark Waits in McDonald's arrest affidavit.

Johnny Garcia, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, said the women are "very close" friends of Andreen McDonald's.

"They were tight knit with each other," he said. "They know her routine, and they're used to seeing her at certain places at certain times."

Inside the home, the two women found blood and hair on a light switch in the couple's master bathroom. One of the women observed "what she described as a fire on the ground," the affidavit says. She said she saw a zipper in the fire.

The two women then left the residence. One of them drove to pick up Andreen McDonald's mother and bring her to the home, according to the affidavit. At some point, Andre McDonald returned to his house and spoke with at least one of the witnesses but they "weren't able to get many answers" out of him. According to the affidavit, as the second witness returned to the home with Andreen McDonald's mother, they spotted Andre leaving the residence. Only then did they contact the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.

OnExpressNews.com: Air Force major, based in San Antonio, suspected in wife's death

The two witnesses and Andreen McDonald's mother met with Deputy F. Gonzalez at home on Solitude Cove around 1:20 p.m. Friday. They reported Andreen's disappearance and said they "suspected foul play." Andreen McDonald's mother led Deputy Gonzalez into the master bathroom and showed him the blood and hair. He also noticed a burn pile in the backyard, and he found Andreen McDonald's purse, ID, keys and other personal belongings in the home.

Garcia said that despite the questionable legality of Andreen McDonald's friends entering her home, deputies followed proper procedure.

Deputies detained Andre McDonald for questioning. The affidavit says he told investigators that his wife was being treated at Baptist Emergency Hospital on U.S. 281, but when authorities contacted the hospital, they were told she was not there. McDonald then said he didn't know where she was, and he noted the two had been in an argument the night prior. According to the affidavit, McDonald declined to comment further and requested an attorney.

Bexar County records indicate McDonald had previously filed for divorce from his wife in 2017 but later dropped proceedings.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the home on Saturday, during which the blood found in the bathroom was found to be human. They also seized a Chevy Malibu that contained a small amount of presumed blood evidence, the affidavit says.

The same day, investigators followed Andre McDonald as he visited Nagel's Gun Shop, where he bought a gun and ammunition. According to the affidavit, another deputy then went to the Solitude Cove residence to "make sure it was secure." Garcia said sheriff's office authorities were concerned for Andre's well-being, but when the deputy arrived, he found additional evidence.

RELATED: Husband of missing San Antonio woman detained for mental evaluation after bizarre gun purchase

"When he approached the residence, he could see inside of the Porche Macan and noticed a shovel that was not present during the previous search of the residence," the affidavit says. Deputies then secured a second search warrant.

The second warrant led to the discovery of two torn up receipts indicating Andre McDonald had purchased a shovel, an axe, a hatchet, heavy duty large plastic bags, gloves and two 5-gallon gas cans. Investigators found many of those items in the back of McDonald's Porche, and they also discovered heavy coveralls in a trash can. Further, another fire pit "that was not present during the previous search" was found. Investigators determined it had been used to destroy "papers and other items."

Based on the evidence collected during the search warrants, deputies arrested McDonald on the tampering with evidence charge and booked him into jail.

Deputies and volunteers plan to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday at 26108 Overlook Pkwy to organize and continue the search for Andreen McDonald.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com |

cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns
By Delana Isles





HOTEL, restaurants and tourism related businesses in Turks and Caicos Islands will soon benefit from a limited-time opportunity tax forgiveness and write off by the Government.





The announcement was first made on February 18 when Premier Sharlene Cartwright Robinson read for the first time the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Taxation Amnesty Bill 2019 in the House of Assembly.





The bill was seconded by Deputy Premier Hon. Sean Astwood.





In a subsequent press conference, the premier spoke briefly on the reasons the Government took the bill to the House.





She stated that the Tax Amnesty Bill is among several others she presented to the Assembly to address some of the taxation issues the Government has ongoing with Beaches Turks and Caicos.





However, the Amnesty Bill in particular, is one from which other tourism related businesses in the territory can and will greatly benefit.





"We continue to look at how we can assist business, so we are working on a number of amnesty and write offs to clean up accounts, but also to give businesses some sort of support, the premier stated in response to questions on the new bill.





When the House of Assembly reconvenes on March 4, Premier Cartwright Robinson is expected to read the bill for a second time and encourage debate on its provisions before its expected passage.





"Businesses in the hotel and restaurant sector will be able to benefit from an amnesty period, where Government will look to enter into a payment plan with them on the principal owed, and if they pay within a certain time, they will be able to benefit from write-off of penalties, she said.





A tax amnesty is a limited-time opportunity for a specified group of taxpayers to pay a defined amount, in exchange for forgiveness of a tax liability such as interest and penalties, relating to a previous tax period or periods and without fear of criminal prosecution.





Also on Monday, the premier is expected to make an announcement on the Governments position concerning the tax issue involving Beaches Turks and Caicos.





Parent company, Sandals Resorts International has threatened a 2021 closure of its local branch if the Government does not abide by the resorts "legally binding written agreements regarding their payable tax rates.





They stated that in 2017, the tax department had illegally imposed additional taxes and penalties on them at a "preposterously crippling rate of 10 percent per month, compounded, which translates to more than 213 percent per annum.





The company said they have been waiting for two years for the current administration to take some action on their grievances which they have reportedly acknowledged is an "injustice.





The resort also claims that they are currently owed many millions of dollars in overpaid taxes.




Health care advocates say over a million Texans would get health insurance if the state expanded Medicaid. On Monday, demonstrators held a rally at the state Capitol with a string of 1,000 paper dolls that stretched from the Capitols south steps to Congress Avenue to illustrate how many people would be affected.

A million is a really hard number to imagine  and thats why we have a string of people to help us do that, said Laura Guerra-Cardus, deputy director of the Children's Defense Fund in Texas. As you look at each of those paper people, think that every one of them represents 1,000 Texans who do not have health insurance and would if we expanded Medicaid.

The rally was led by nearly two dozen Texas organizations, including the Childrens Defense Fund, to urge state lawmakers to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to decide whether Texas should expand Medicaid coverage.

Texas, one of 14 states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, would not be the first to put expansion on the ballot. Last November, voters in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah approved ballot measures for Medicaid expansion, and Maine voters did the same in 2017.

Recent data from the U.S. Census shows Texas has both the highest number and highest percentage of uninsured residents in the United States. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of uninsured Texas residents rose from 4.5 million to 4.8 million, and from 16.6 percent to 17.3 percent. The percentage of uninsured Texans has gone down since 2013, when it hit 22.1 percent.

The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 1.2 million people in Texas would be eligible for Medicaid coverage if the program were expanded.

Any measure to expand Medicaid is likely to face opposition in the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature, with top state leaders including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Gov. Rick Perry arguing that expanding Medicaid would increase future health care costs to the state. In a debate in the fall, Abbott called Medicaid expansion a blank check to the federal government that hes not willing to write. Abbott has also referred to Medicaid as a broken and bloated program.

Texas Take: Get political headlines from across the state sent directly to your inbox

At the rally, state Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said Texas should follow the lead of other states in expanding Medicaid.

Johnson said its time that Texas lawmakers looked at the data from five years of dozens of other states expanding Medicaid to the benefit of their citizens, to the benefit of their businesses, to the benefit overall of their economies, of their health and of the spirit of their populations.

Johnson is author of Senate Bill 524 and Senate Joint Resolution 34 that call for Medicaid expansion to be placed on a future ballot. Its time that Texas joined the rest of the United States of America and did the same thing, he said.

Johnson said Republican opposition to expanding Medicaid in Texas has prevented the state from helping its uninsured residents.

The tired old dogma, the fears, the doomsday prognostications, even the legitimate concerns  about the scary prospect of expanding Medicaid  have been debunked by the lessons of experience, Johnson said. Politics is not an answer for not making progress.

State Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin, who also filed legislation to put expansion on the ballot, said at the rally that 64 percent of adults in Texas support expanding Medicaid, according to a new statewide survey by the Episcopal Health Foundation.

We have put politics before our people, and too many Texans are one medical visit away from financial disaster, said Israel, who filed House Bill 590 and House Joint Resolution 40. Although the Legislature has refused to act, everyday Texans understand the emergency that we face.

To accompany the bills filed by Johnson and Israel, state Reps. John Bucy, D-Austin, and Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, have also filed legislation to expand Medicaid in Texas.
Moustafa Moataz Aboshady, MD, was found guilty of falsifying patient medical information to obtain illegal payments from Medicare and commercial insurers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Here's what you should know:

1. Dr. Aboshady was convicted of one count of conspiracy to make false statements and two counts of making false statements regarding actions he committed between May 2012 and May 2013.

2. Dr. Aboshady was a medical resident practicing at New England Wellness & Pain Management, which operated a series of practices in Massachusetts and Rhode Island under several names.

3. New England Wellness & Pain Management was operated by Fathallah Mashali, MD. Dr. Mashali pleaded guilty to 27 counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and 16 counts of money laundering. He faces eight years in prison.

4. Dr. Mashali and Dr. Aboshady both falsified medical records to receive payments from Medicare and commercial insurers for unperformed services.

5. Dr. Aboshady also fabricated urine drug test results with false test dates. Along with partners in Cairo, Egypt, urine sample test results were fabricated to make the tests appear days old, instead of either weeks or months old.

6. Dr. Aboshady faces up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, $250,000 in fines and restitution. A federal judge will sentence him at a later date.
Columbus-based Ohio State University officials approved the purchase of land for a large outpatient care center in Dublin, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports.

Seven insights:

1. The Dublin facility is one of three outpatient centers OSU has announced since April. The others are located in Powell, Ohio, and the Northeast Side of Columbus.

2. The facilities will be approximately 200,000 square feet each and include outpatient surgery centers.

3. The land acquisition and initial design work for the three centers cost more than $31 million. The cost of construction hasn't yet been determined.

4. The Dublin center will be located across from Columbus-based OhioHealth's Dublin Methodist Hospital.

5. The Northeast Side center is expected to be complete by mid-2021. Its signage "will be as big as the law allows," according to OSU board of trustees committee member Bob Schottenstein.

6. The Powell outpatient center is the city's largest economic development project. It's expected to create 500 jobs with an annual payroll of $50 million.

7. Next, OSU is looking to expand in communities southeast and southwest of Columbus.
Earlier this week, the Missouri Supreme Court decided a surgery center wasn't liable for approving staff privileges for a surgeon with undisclosed lawsuits against him, according to a Kansas City Business Journal report.

Four things to know:

1. A former patient filed a lawsuit against Saint Luke's Surgicenter-Lee's Summit (Mo.) after undergoing a procedure there and experiencing complications. The surgeon, who had lawsuits filed against him, damaged the patient's bile duct during surgery.

2. The patient settled with the surgeon, but also sued Saint Luke's Surgicenter-Lee's Summit, accusing the ASC of negligence.

3. The ASC contended in court that the surgeon did not disclose prior lawsuits during the application process, and filed a post-trial motion "arguing there was insufficient evidence presented to support a claim of negligent credentialing." The motion was denied, but the ASC then filed an appeal that lead to the Missouri Supreme Court's decision.

4. In a 6-1 ruling, the Supreme Court reversed the prior decision, finding the patient didn't prove that Saint Luke's was negligent in the credentialing process.
It's a rainy day in New York City; three people representing the Colon Cancer Coalition stand on the street holding signs attempting to educate young adults about colorectal cancer. A young man walks by, "Colon, that's by your lungs, right?"

"What?" Colon Cancer Coalition Communications Director Erin Peterson asked. The man replied, "'Co-lung, it's by your lung. It helps you breath.'"

Beyond a clinical problem

Health literacy is one of the biggest issues the Coalition faces when talking about colon cancer, Ms. Peterson said.

A nationwide screening advocacy organization the Coalition was started in 2004 when Kristin Lindquist organized a 5K race in honor of her sister, Susie Lindquist Mjelde, who died of colon cancer. After the success of the first race, the group now holds events across the country focused on increasing colon cancer screening and raising awareness.

Despite being the third most common and second deadliest cancer in the world1, public knowledge surrounding colon cancer isn't as widespread as believed, Ms. Peterson said. Going back to that day in New York City, the young man wasn't alone with his uncertainty either. In the subway, a woman came up to the group and said, "I have high cholesterol," unsure of what the colon or what colorectal cancer was. Again, they shared their story.

"Health literacy is a big barrier in raising awareness," Ms. Peterson said. "In the advocacy world, we talk to a lot of the same people all the time. Our goal is to find new ways to reach the unengaged. The more partners we bring in, the more awareness activities we can support to really reach people and talk about screening and how it can save a life."

Ms. Peterson isn't alone in her belief that more can be done to increase colon cancer-related health literacy. Chicago-based Advocate Illinois Masonic Digestive Health Institute's Medical Director of Digestive Health Andrew Albert, MD, MPH, said gastroenterologists could be doing more to promote screening.

A vocal activist, Dr. Albert and his fellow physicians frequently go out into the community, everywhere from underserved areas to some of Chicago's most bustling skyscrapers, to inform the public about colon cancer.

"Many people in the past year have relayed to us that they don't know what the colon is or what it does," Dr. Albert said. "Even when giving talks in firms downtown I get asked by people of all education levels, 'Can you tell me where the colon is?'  We can talk about screening all day long, but if the reality is you don't know what your colon is, how do you know to screen it in the first place?"

The solution

The good news is the solution to America's health literacy deficiency is an easy one; get involved.



"There are tons of partners out there that would love the opportunity to work with gastroenterologists with all of their resources," Dr. Albert said. "There are so many advocacy groups with survivor and cancer patients that would love the opportunity to have a physician join in their efforts to educate the community. They need a [physician] champion to emphasize the importance of the message."

Patients gets their information from an array of places  be it television, radio, newspapers, social media, the internet, family, friends and in general discussions. Dr. Albert encourages gastroenterologists to engage in the conversation, and find a place to go and share their knowledge instead of waiting for patients to come to them.

The Colon Cancer Coalition is one place gastroenterologists can get involved. "Getting as many physicians as we can engaged and talking about colon cancer and doing awareness campaigns is incredibly important," Ms. Peterson said.

The Coalition has about 40 events scheduled across the U.S. in 2019. The group welcomes anyone interested to reach out for more information. Additionally, the Coalition developed a series of free awareness materials written at a level that's easy for most people to understand. The Coalition also partners with physicians and medical groups to co-brand the material and put their logos on the pamphlets. All for free.

March is National Colon Cancer Awareness Month, and multiple organizations will be holding advocacy events through the month. But when the calendar hits April 1, it's just as important for gastroenterologists to promote colon cancer awareness and continue a dialogue with the community.

"I think when it comes to colon cancer screening, we oftentimes meet people when it's too late," Dr. Albert said. "It's important for us to carve out time from our clinical schedules  whether it's an hour a month; an hour a year or even an hour a week  to dedicate to the mission of preventing colon cancer."

1 According to 2018 World Health Organization statistics
Online retail giant Amazon continues its push into healthcare with a $2 million investment in Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to test artificial intelligence, according to Bloomberg.

With the grant, the two will study how AI can simplify medical care. While there are hopes that AI tools will one day improve diagnosis and treatment, Beth Israel Deaconess will first focus on making day-to-day tasks, such as patient scheduling, more cost-effective.

"They're identifying the right problems where machine learning truly can help," Taha Kass-Hout, senior leader for healthcare and AI at Amazon, told Bloomberg.

The 673-bed medical center purchased Amazon Web Service's cloud software in 2016. Since then, the medical center and its network of hospitals in the Boston area have seen significant improvements with operating room efficiency and scheduling, according to the report. When Beth Israel Deaconess first began using the cloud services, the goal was to ensure data would be accessible if disasters struck.

From there, Beth Israel Deaconess began experimenting with the technology, testing if the cloud could automate manual work. Today, the hospital uses the technology to book operating room times more precisely and predict when patients are more likely to miss appointments.

With 41 operating rooms, Beth Israel Deaconess has been able to expand its OR capacity and use daily.

"If I look at a million patients like you, and discover we only need 25 minutes, wouldn't that be better for society? Because now the OR is the most expensive place in a hospital." John Halamka, executive director of the Health Technology Exploration Center at Beth Israel Lahey Health, told Bloomberg.

Physicians are also getting hands-on experience using the advanced technology. With Amazon Web Services, Beth Israel Deaconess created an app that makes reserving OR times for a physician as easy as making a restaurant reservation.

Explorations of AI uses in healthcare is booming. Equity funding for healthcare AI ventures topped $2.4 billion in 2018, a 78 percent increase compared to 2017, Bloomberg reported.

"Providers are entering into the space where they need to be much more understanding of a consumer's needs," Gurpreet Singh, a U.S. health services leader at consultant PwC, told Bloomberg. "Those are all capabilities that a tech company provides."

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A healthcare company's 138 percent stock jump March 1 had traders perplexed, according to Bloomberg.

The jump was in Culver City, Calif.-based NantHealth, a small health data company run by billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Three things to know:

1. The stock reportedly caused three volatility halts as the record surge occurred.

2. Traders and sellers told Bloomberg no apparent company news came out around the time of the move, and a NantHealth spokesperson didn't immediately respond to the publication's email request seeking comment.

3. The company is expected to release its latest financial results this month.

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Moody's Investors Service affirmed its "MIG 2" short-term rating for McComb-based Southwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center, affecting $18.6 million of hospital revenue notes that mature June 1.

The affirmation reflects a commitment from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, rural development to provide a direct loan upon completion of the project with minimal risk of recession.

Short-term MIG ratings do not carry outlooks.
In a ruling issued Feb. 27, a district judge in Oklahoma determined Fairfax (Okla.) Community Hospital's financial troubles pose a threat to patient safety, according to Pawhuska Journal-Capital.

The judge's ruling came after the town of Fairfax filed a civil lawsuit in December against the hospital's owner, Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, seeking to have a receiver appointed to assume operational control of the facility.

The hospital is one of several EmpowerHMS hospitals that have experienced financial challenges, including payroll issues and lack of funds for supplies, in recent months. In January, Miami-based iHealthcare entered into a management agreement with Fairfax Community Hospital, but EmpowerHMS is still responsible for fulfilling the hospital's financial obligations, including payroll and other operating expenses.

On Feb. 27, the court determined the hospital is insolvent and an "immediate threat to the health and safety of current and future patients exists," according to the Pawhuska Journal-Capital. The court named Fairfax Healthcare Authority, a municipal trust authority, to be the receiver and assume operation of Fairfax Community Hospital.

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A bill introduced in Oregon would set a minimum for the amount tax-exempt hospitals spend on benefits for the communities they serve, according to a Portland Business Journal report.

House Bill 3076 requires the state to set a minimum for hospitals' community benefit spending, and provides remedies and penalties for not meeting that minimum. It also requires nonprofit hospital systems to report specific information to the state each year, such as property tax exemption status and charity care provided.

Service Employees International Union Local 49, which has nearly 15,000 members in Oregon and southwest Washington, played a key role in crafting the legislation.

"We're proposing this because while some hospitals dedicate over 30 percent of their operating expenses on community benefits, others do less than 1 percent. Yet all receive tax exemptions," union spokesperson Rae Dunnaville told Becker's. "This isn't fair to the nonprofits living up to their missions, or our communities who are suffering under the high price of healthcare. Some of hospitals seem to need more rules to be reminded of their charitable missions."

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems opposes the bill.

Andy Van Pelt, executive vice president at the association, said the proposed legislation is inflexible and fails to account for all the factors playing a role in hospitals' community benefit spending..

"Hospitals need flexibility to fulfill their community benefit commitment to all the communities they serve in Oregon. There is a wide range of demographics that affect the payer mix at different hospitals, and individual facilities do serve populations that have a higher or lower portion of patients that need charity care. That can affect the amount of community benefit spending, and rigid spending requirements don't take that into account," he told Becker's.







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Chief information officers are on different pages when it comes to blockchain. Some use it everyday while others are uncertain about its basic structure.

At The Wall Street Journal CIO Network in San Francisco, Feb. 26, c-suite executives discussed everything from 5G infrastructure to artificial intelligence to blockchain. When the event was complete, it was clear that blockchain adoption was still in the early stages, according to an WSJ blog post.

Although blockchain deployments are in small forms, the technology is fully functional. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. created and tested a cyrtocurrency for payments on its blockchain. The goal is to test how the digital currency could potentially reduce costs and simplify transactions in different capital markets.

"I think we see pull but it is very early days," Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of global platforms for IBM's blockchain division, said at the event. She went on to explain how blockchain will have more uses in markets where complex documents are in high-use and where authenticity is challenging.

AI was another hot topic for CIOs.

"AI may be the first technology I have seen, including the internet, that exceeds expectations... and faster," John Chambers, CEO of JC2 Ventures said, according to WSJ. Different CIOs are exploring how AI can be used in the recruiting process and in sales.

To read the complete report, click here.
More than 30 current and former Springfield (Vt.) Hospital staff members signed a petition calling for the hospital board chair's resignation, the VTDigger reports.

The petition accuses board chair George Lamb of not doing enough to help the hospital's troubled financial situation, which has led to salary reductions and the elimination of positions, the report states.

"We have watched with feelings of powerlessness and distress as the financial difficulties facing SMCS have been revealed over the past few months. As employees, we need to be able to have faith in our administration, and we do not have that faith in Mr. Lamb," the petition states, according to the report.

Mr. Lamb has served on the board for roughly eight or nine years, and has served as chair for the past two years. He declined to comment to the VTDigger other than to say the board was doing its best.

The petition was presented during a Feb. 19 board meeting and submitted to Springfield Hospital Interim CEO Mike Halstead.

A recent audit found the hospital lost roughly $14 million in two years, and officials cut 27 positions and reduced employees' salaries across the organization, the report states. Last year, the hospital saw changes to its leadership, with the CEO and CFO abruptly leaving the organization.

To access the full report, click here.
San Clemente, Calif.-based Sovereign Health is suing Anthem and its Blue Cross entities for sending more than $1.3 million in payments to patients that is allegedly owed to facilities that treated them, according to CNN.

Three things to know:

1. The lawsuit alleges Anthem is sending payments directly to patients after they seek out-of-network care to pressure providers into joining its network and accepting lower reimbursement, according to the report.

2. The patients are supposed to send the money to providers, but some patients don't. Arthur Caplan, PhD, director of medical ethics for New York University's School of Medicine, told CNN it's "insane" to send reimbursement directly to patients. "I'm enormously surprised that anyone would think this is a doable approach," he said.

3. In court filings, Anthem does not dispute that checks are given to patients in some cases for out-of-network care. The insurer argues Sovereign Health's lawsuit should be dismissed for lack of legal standing. The insurer also argues previous court decisions determined anti-assignment clauses that allow for payments to patients are legal, according to CNN.

Access the full CNN article here.

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A county judge ordered Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Lutheran Health Network and its parent company, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, to pay more than $210,000 in legal fees over a lawsuit the organizations settled last year, according to The Journal Gazette.

Three things to know:

1. Judge Nancy Eshcoff Boyer ordered the health systems to pay $210,650 to cover the legal fees for the individuals and companies subpoenaed to provide testimony in the systems' 2017 lawsuit against Lutheran Health Network's former CEO Brian Bauer.

2. Attorneys for CHS and Lutheran Health Network have asked the Marion County, Ind., magistrate to reconsider the decision because it was made before attorneys and others could file a response. They also argued that Ms. Boyer no longer had jurisdiction over the fees because the lawsuit was settled in a Tennessee court.

"We respectfully disagree with the judge's decision that she has jurisdiction over all fee petitions and are evaluating our options for appeal," a CHS spokesperson said in an email to the Journal Gazette Feb. 28. "It is important to note the trial judge in Indianapolis made the opposite determination regarding this issue in the same case."

3. CHS and Lutheran Health Network settled their lawsuit against Mr. Bauer in November 2018. The lawsuit alleged Mr. Bauer violated aspects of his stock option agreement.

To access the full report, click here.
By Delana Isles

PNP party stalwarts Ricardo Donhue Gardiner, Rufus Ewing and Michael Misick have all come out in protest to controversial recommendations made by a British House of Commons committee for adoption by overseas territories.





The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC)s recommendations are to the UK government for imposition on their overseas territories and follows scrutiny of the UKs relationship with its territories going forward.





Most notably, the recommendations deal with removal of Belongerships to allow British citizens a right to vote in overseas territories elections and the legalisation of gay marriage.





The report states in part: "Belongership and its equivalents are wrong. While we recognise that the OTs are small communities with unique cultural identities, we do not accept that there is any justification to deny legally-resident British Overseas Territory and UK citizens the right to vote and to hold elected office.





Gardiner, who is this weekend going up against two other members for the PNP leadership, issued a strongly worded statement on the controversial issues.





He pointed out that a better use of the United Kingdoms time and resources would be to focus on their long neglected responsibilities towards overseas territories, particularly the Turks and Caicos Islands.





"The government of the UK has for a very long time not lived up to its responsibilities to these Islands, nor have they lived up to their responsibilities to the United Nations in respect of these Islands, he said.





"Chief among these instances of neglect are the UKs failure to prepare these Islands for self-determination and its failure to shoulder its international responsibilities as it relates to the internal security of these Islands.





He noted that an enlargement of the UKs franchise over the TCI would cause a destabilisation of the territorys current structures designed to secure the inalienable rights of TC Islanders.





"As a people, we must engage and approach this impending crisis with our eyes open; ready to express a settled will on independence, should the Government of the UK proceed as the FAC report recommends.





Gardiner said this will involve a series of hard but necessary conversations with residents to better determine the settled will of the people.





"These collective views must be taken to the Government of the UK and to the international community; and, should it come to it, must be represented in a referendum on independence.





He further called on the Government to form a bipartisan committee to examine all options, including a referendum on independence.





Shortly after the news broke last week Thursday (February 21), former premier Rufus Ewing was among the first to speak out against the committees recommendations.





In a Facebook post, Ewing called on the Sharlene Cartwright Robinson-led Government to tell the UK parliamentary committee "where to jump.





"When we as overseas territories requested to have our citizens vote in the Brexit referendum, we were told no.





"Now you want British citizens to vote in our elections and also to run for and hold political office! Hell no!





He called on Turks and Caicos Islands, Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Montserrat and British Virgin Islands to form a united front and move forward to independence if the UK decides to adapt the FAC recommendations.





"This fight is the peoples fight, but it requires a government with strong leadership, Ewing encouraged.





Former premier Michael Misick was equally as dismissive of the recommendations, conveying his outrage in a statement to the territory from his official Facebook page.





"This report is beyond concerning. If you are a Belonger in these Turks and Caicos Islands, it puts our very patrimony at risk.





"If the recommendations are passed by parliament, it would fundamentally alter what it means to be a Turks and Caicos Islander.





He predicted that Islanders would no longer have any control over their Government, with the British voting out native representatives and putting their own in place.





He too took the stance that any imposition of same sex marriage is a direct attack on the culture and values of the TCI.





"If you are concerned about our ability to have any say over the governance of our Islands going forward about becoming a second class citizen in your own country about your property rights and about the UK forcing their cultural values upon our people, I urge peaceful protest and support my call for independence, the former leader stated.





He added that no fundamental change should be made to the territorys constitution or to the colonial relationship without the express wish of the people of the TCI through a referendum.





In online forums, Islanders called on the two major political parties to come together and fight.

One comment read: "PNP, PDM, this is the time to stand together and fight for our country. Unity is what we need now.





Another read: "We are waiting on the call from all. The clergy, the Government, the Opposition to do a unity march and a national day of prayer and fasting. We have to call on God to deliver us




Purdue Pharma is considering filing for bankruptcy to protect the company from significant liabilities that may arise from thousands of lawsuits claiming the OxyContin maker contributed to the nationwide opioid epidemic, Reuters reports.

Filing for Chapter 11 protection would halt the lawsuits, allowing the drugmaker to negotiate legal claims under the supervision of a U.S. bankruptcy judge.

Purdue Pharma, and its wealthy owners, the Sackler family, face claims that the company misled U.S. physicians and patients to push the addictive drugs and fuel the opioid crisis. Purdue Pharma denies the allegations.

"As a privately held company, it has been Purdue Pharma's longstanding policy not to comment on our financial or legal strategy," Purdue told Reuters. "We are, however, committed to ensuring that our business remains strong and sustainable. We have ample liquidity and remain committed to meeting our obligations to the patients who benefit from our medicines, our suppliers and other business partners."

Purdue tapped law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell for restructuring advice last year.

Read the full report here.
Amazon began removing anti-vaccine documentaries from its video streaming service March 1, hours after U.S. House Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., expressed concern that the tech giant is helping propel the anti-vaccination trend, CNN reports.

In a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Mr. Schiff said the emerging anti-vaccination trend is a result of misinformation spread on the internet, referring to it as a "direct threat to public health," according to CNBC.

"There is strong evidence to suggest that at least part of the source of this trend is the degree to which medically inaccurate information about vaccines surface on the websites where many Americans get their information, among them Amazon," Mr. Schiff wrote, according to CNBC. "As the largest online marketplace in the world, Amazon is in a unique position to shape consumption."

Anti-vaccine documentaries on Amazon, including "We Don't Vaccinate!" and "Shoot 'Em Up: The Truth About Vaccines," have been listed as "currently unavailable," since March 1, CNN reports.

In February, Mr. Schiff issued a report to Google and Facebook over concerns that the companies' algorithms promote anti-vaccination messages. To combat the issue, Google introduced strategies such as "knowledge panels," which display authoritative information when medical conditions are searched.

YouTube and Pinterest have also taken measures against the spread of anti-vaccination content by enhancing search and recommendations for medical content. Pinterest stopped returning search results for vaccination-related terms.
CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, will travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo next week, reports STAT.

Dr. Redfield will visit the Congo, which is experiencing the second-worst Ebola outbreak in history, with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, director-general of the World Health Organization.

Dr. Tedros will visit two cities in the outbreak zone  Katwa and Butembo  according to a WHO statement cited by STAT. It is not clear whether Dr. Redfield will also visit these cities.

"To protect the safety of CDC staff, including leadership, we don't confirm travel or discuss specific locations of deployed staff members," CDC spokesperson Kate Grusich told STAT via email.

The CDC withdrew employees from the Congo's outbreak zone in October 2018 due to security concerns. At the time, Dr. Redfield said he pushed for American experts to stay in the Congo to help address the outbreak.

As of March 2, health officials have reported 894 confirmed and probable Ebola cases linked to the outbreak, including 561 deaths.
Best Buy, Dell, AmGen and health systems like Oakland, Calif.-based Alameda Health System are finding new ways to help provide employees with affordable caregiving services, Reuters reports.

Three things to know:

1. Companies are increasingly offering caregiving coordination and support to employees. Best Buy, for example, offers paid caregiver leave of up to four weeks and plans to offer paid time off to part-time employees.

"People are [now] able to spend the final days of a parent's life with them, and they wouldn't have been able to do that otherwise," a Best Buy human resources official told Reuters. "We hear so many heartwarming stories."

2. Reuters spoke with several caregiving service providers that work with businesses across the country. One such provider is Torchlight in Burlington, Mass., whose clients include TripAdvisor, Dell and Alameda Health System. Torchlight's services often save employees about $400,000 in cost offsets, according to one financial services company's evaluation of Torchlight.

3. Cariloop, a caregiver support platform in Dallas, measures its effect on employees by how much time it saves for clients, who could be using those hours to be more productive at work or elsewhere. For example, if you could save an employee making $75,000 per year at least 48 hours of time over six months, it saves nearly $2,000, Cariloop co-founder, CEO and Chairman Michael Walsh told the publication.

To access the full report, click here.
American Journal of Medicine's recent study shows physician burnout, a serious issue in the medical community, jumped to 54% over the last 3 years. Physicians today are dealing with an incredible amount of stress as they confront growing administrative burdens, rising operating costs, new medical technology adoptions and the increasing patient demand for frontline care.

Dr. Sean Alemi, Otolaryngologist from New York, has found a rewarding remedy that helps him reset and fight burnout international medical missions.

"For me, finding the time and space to reset and remind myself of why I became a doctor in the first place has been the perfect antidote to burnout. I have always enjoyed physical activity as a way to reset my mind and gain perspective on some of the emotional challenges of my daily work. But I was surprised to find that the most transformative experiences did not come exercise, or a vacation, rather through international medical missions," shared Dr. Alemi.

Despite the long hours of travel and the time it takes to organize a medical team of volunteers while also transporting large necessary medical equipment  Dr. Alemni believes "it's all worth it" and puts everything back into perspective, helping him reclaim his calling and remember why he chose to be in medicine.

On his recent medical mission to Ica, Peru, Dr. Alemi treated patients ranging from ages 4 weeks to 21 years old, mainly performing cleft lip & palate surgeries. His patients would travel 24+ hours, on horseback, trains, buses, just to see Dr. Alemi.

In most cases, this was the very first time they had ever met a physician.

With these medical missions, Dr. Alemi's small procedure leaves children forever changed with the new ability to speak coherently, eat and swallow properly, and exchange a smile.

Finding the time and money to travel on a residents salary is tough. Dr. Alemni wants all doctors to know that there are resources to help. For example, his most recent medical mission to Inca, Peru was funded by The Dox Foundation, which provides grants for medical missions to underserved communities across the globe. The Dox Foundation offers monthly grants to Doximity members, a professional medical network with over 70 percent of all U.S. physicians. Since its launch in 2017, the Dox Foundation has donated over $200k to support medical missions in over 33 countries.

"I'm sincerely grateful to have had the opportunity to partake in a humanitarian mission that allowed me to remove myself from my routine and temporarily break free from daily stresses. It changed my perspective on my profession and it felt empowering to know that there is not only a community of support, but non-profit organizations that can financially help physicians across the country do the same," said Dr. Alemi.

Although physician burnout is not curable, there are ways to alleviate symptoms by empowering physicians to dedicate their time and get back to doing what they love helping patients. Medical missions can have a lasting impact, leaving physicians feeling better equipped mentally and emotionally to be as enthusiastic about their job going forward as they were on Match Day.
A financial planning and advice business owned by Standard Life Aberdeen has entered an agreement to acquire BDO Northern Ireland's wealth management division.

A total of 12 staff from the Belfast-based accountancy and business advisory service will transfer to 1825 as part of the deal, which is expected to go through on July 1. It marks the first local acquisition by 1825, which has a presence in 10 other UK locations.

BDO NI said its wealth management arm, which was set up 25 years ago, has assets under advice of around 230m.

The new business will be known as 1825 Northern Ireland, with its office remaining in Belfast city centre. It will fall under 1825's north west division headed up by Mike Cullinane.

"I'm delighted 1825 has extended its geographical reach and that we will now have a presence in Northern Ireland," said Mr Cullinane.

"I welcome the BDO NI wealth management team to 1825 North West region. It's four years since we launched 1825 in response to the growing demand for financial advice. We remain focused on growing 1825 and helping our clients plan for a better future."

Nigel Harra, senior partner at BDO NI, described the acquisition as "a tremendous boost of confidence in the Northern Ireland market".

He added: "This investment provides the team with the opportunity for further growth and development, and as a spring-board for continuing success.

"We are thrilled to be working with 1825 as they also share our focus on putting the client first and providing them with a dedicated, bespoke service."
US Fashion chain American Eagle Outfitters Inc is to expand its brand throughout Europe with the first of its new stores to open in Ireland this summer

US Fashion chain American Eagle Outfitters Inc is to expand its brand throughout Europe with the first of its new stores to open in Ireland this summer.

The company said it would grow both its American Eagle and Aerie brands in Europe with a multi-year licence agreement with AEO EU, a partnership of European brand builders, led by Sunil Shah.

The AEO EU team has launched and grown brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Guess Jeans, Pepe Jeans and Skechers across European markets for 30 years, said the fashion retailer. The first American Eagle stores will open in Ireland this summer.

Following this, an e-commerce site serving the European Union will lay the foundation for a three-year "brick and mortar expansion strategy across Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic, UK and Holland".

Jay Schottenstein, chief executive officer of American Eagle Outfitters Inc, said: "Global expansion is a major growth opportunity for AEO Inc.

"We are excited to take our leading American Eagle and Aerie brands to vibrant consumer markets across Europe.

"The AEO EU team brings deep market expertise and strong connections enabling us to create the best possible brand experience for local consumers."

American Eagle Outfitters already has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico, People's Republic of China and Hong Kong.
Until recently, a bottle of posh liquid handwash was a bathroom necessity if you wanted to impress visiting guests.

But now, as we're all becoming more environmentally aware, the coolest households are eschewing plastic packaging of all kinds and sales of the humble soap bar are on the rise.

According to Mintel, sales of bar soap have increased by 3%, from 24% in 2017 to 27% in 2018.

At Waitrose, sales of bar soap are up 20% year-on-year, based on Kantar Worldpanel figures, and beauty brand Dr Bronner reports an even bigger spike.

"Our Pure-Castile Bar Soaps have always been very popular, but we've seen a 30% increase in sales of these soaps in the UK, which has been a marked change," says the company's president Mike Bronner.

"There has been a movement away from plastic.

"Our bar soaps are a sustainable, affordable and eco-friendly option, as the entire bar, including its post-consumer recycled paper packaging, is biodegradable.

"We feel the sales growth of our bar soaps is driven in part by environmental factors, but also economic ones, as the bars last such a long time."

As well as ditching plastic bottles, consumers are also on the hunt for ingredients that won't harm them or the environment.

On e-commerce site Etsy, there have been over 44,000 searches for 'natural soap' in the past six months, as well as a 110% rise in searches for 'shampoo bars', compared to the same time last year.

"The renewed interest in bar soaps can certainly be aligned with the shopper's desire to become more eco-conscious," says Etsy trend expert Dayna Isom Johnson.

"By purchasing bar soaps, shoppers can have more visibility on ingredients, leave less of an impact on the planet by reducing plastic bottles, and what's even better is that some bar soaps and shampoos last longer than traditional liquid bottles."

And it's not just liquid hand soap that shoppers are swapping out of their routines.

"In 2018, we saw an 88% increase in purchases of our cleansing bar, Le Savon Lune," reports Joy Isaacs, founder of luxury skincare brand Argentum Apothecary, a stat that's particularly impressive since the bar retails at 104.

Why so pricey? Because the soap-free formula is infused with real silver hydrosol, the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties of which can help to tackle acne and clean without irritating the skin.

When Gallinee launched a cleansing bar last year, it immediately sold out (it's now back in stock) and cult brands like Drunk Elephant and Lush are responding to demand with solid cleansers for all skin types.

So, whether you want a simple soap bar to stash by the sink, or a gentle cleanser for daily use, you can now ditch the plastic without compromising on quality.

Ready to make the switch? Here's our pick of the best soaps, from bargain bars to luxury lathers...

Baylis and Harding Royale Bouquet limited edition luxury soap set, 4 for three, Sainsbury's

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BeanAndBoy orange and cacao soap, 4.95, Etsy

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Dr Bronner's pure-castile lavender bar soap, 4.99

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Argentum Le Savon Lune, 104

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Lush raspberry milkshake soap, 7.95

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L'Occitane shea butter verbena soap, 8.10, Escentual

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Kama Ayurveda Himalayan Deodar soap for men, 18.99, Amazon

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Chanel No 5 The Bath Soap, 19.80 (was 22), Debenhams

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Drunk Elephant Pekee bar, 24, Space NK
Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry of The Dead Rabbit in New York

The Belfast men who co-founded a famous New York bar have written a guide to the best pubs and distilleries in Ireland.

Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry opened The Dead Rabbit in 2012 and have been collecting awards for it ever since.

And while every aspect of the popular hostelry, which has been named the world's best bar twice, is inspired by Ireland's pubs, the idea behind the guide was to allow everyone to enjoy their favourite watering holes.

Sean said they decided to write From Barley To Blarney: A Whiskey's Lover's Guide To Ireland because they are always being quizzed about their best-loved spots.

"We are constantly asked for our recommendations of where to go in Ireland, what to see and what to do," he told Metro US.

"The book sums up our collective wisdom and was truly a labour of love."

They visited Ireland on research trips for the guide twice last year and clocked up 4,000 miles on a road trip that took them through 29 counties, visiting 111 pubs and every whiskey distillery.

They said Irish whiskey expert Tim Herlihy helped them pick 50 essential pubs and 22 distilleries to best explain Ireland's whiskey-making history.

Among the standout pubs are one founded in 900 AD, possibly the oldest tavern in the world; a pub in a hardware store; one that was once a mortuary, and a pub that claimed President John F Kennedy as a fan.

Jack, who also created 12 original Irish whiskey cocktails for the guide, said it lets readers "see what Ireland is all about in terms of the pub and the hospitality of the people behind the pub".

"There are some amazing characters in there, and if you go there I think you'll understand (The Dead Rabbit) a whole lot better also," he added.

Tim said the number of distilleries has grown from seven in 2014 to 23 today.

Sean, who's been in America for over eight years, added: "Ireland is experiencing explosive growth in both distilleries and whiskey, and we wanted to capture this unique and historic revival."

In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the north Belfast man previously revealed how he and best mate Jack ended up in the Big Apple in the first place.

It started in 2011 when he was The Merchant Hotel's bar manager and Jack was a bartender, at a time when the bar had a reputation of its own as one of the city's finest.

Sean recalled how a prominent American businessman stopped in one day and made him an offer he couldn't refuse - "take what you've achieved in Belfast and I'll set you up in New York".

He obviously didn't need to be asked twice.

"New York is a city of opportunity; it's where dreams become reality," he said.
By Delana Isles

THE TURKS and Caicos Islands is once again looking to have its beaches Blue Flag certified.

Minister of Tourism and Environment, Hon. Ralph Higgs and other environment and tourism officials revealed their intention this past week during a press conference.





Joining the local tourism and environment team were two key support partners Earlston McPhee, director for sustainable tourism planning in the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, and Lourdes Diaz, member of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) board of directors and the regional mentor.





Both McPhee and Diaz were involved in the Turks and Caicos Islands 2008 Blue Flag certification programme.





During that time three beach locations in the territory were Blue Flag certified - Kids Park in the Bight, Governors Beach and the Grand Turk Cruise Centre.





The Blue Flag is a certification by the FEE; it is sought for beaches, marinas, and sustainable boating tourism operators as an indication of their high environmental and quality standards.





It is a trademark owned by FEE, a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation consisting of 65 organisations in 60 member countries.





FEEs Blue Flag criteria includes standards for quality, safety, environmental education and information, the provision of services and general environmental management criteria.





It is the hope of local environmental stakeholders and the Government that many more local beaches will be Blue Flag certified going forward.





Minister Higgs conveyed this sentiment: "I am pleased that we have the expertise that Mr McPhee and the FEE, the Blue Flag management company will bring to the table, and in short order Turks and Caicos will be re-established as a Blue Flag destination.





"The world is turning; the environment is becoming more important with emphasis on the protection of our natural environment becoming more and more important.





He also promised the Governments commitment to taking every step necessary for the promotion, protection and preservation of the TCIs environment, not only for tourists, but for residents and future generations.





He noted that the recertification drive comes on the tail end of a natural capital assessment which outlines how much the environment contributes to the TCIs daily Gross Domestic Product (GDP)





Certificates, which FEE refers to as awards, are issued on an annual basis to beaches and marinas of FEE member countries.





The awards are announced yearly on June 5 for Europe, Canada, Morocco, Tunisia, and other countries in a similar geographic location, and on November 1 for Caribbean countries, New Zealand, South Africa, and other countries in the southern hemisphere.





The Blue Flag was created in France in 1985, as a pilot scheme from the Office of the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe where French coastal municipalities were awarded the Blue Flag on the basis of criteria covering sewage treatment and bathing water quality.





In 2015 more than 4,154 beaches and marinas globally were awarded the Blue Flag.





The TCI seeks to join with 47 other countries that are currently participating in the Blue Flag programme.




Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at the the Alliance Party conference with Naomi Long and her husband Michael

Alliance leader Naomi Long has said she is shocked by how far the DUP departed from the standards of good government in the cash-for-ash scandal.

Mrs Long told her party's annual conference in Belfast on Saturday that Stormont will survive in the long-term only if there are major structural reforms.

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While critical of both Sinn Fein and the DUP, she launched a blistering attack on Secretary of State Karen Bradley, whom she accused of an "appalling dereliction of duty" and making no effort to end the political stalemate.

She also repeated her party's demand for a second referendum on leaving the EU and said the "slow motion car crash" of Brexit was only beginning.

Mrs Long told around 300 delegates that any doubts about the Executive's dysfunctionality had been "swept away by the tide of evidence" at the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) Inquiry.

She said her party had made the right decision not to enter the Executive in 2016.

"Yet even we were unaware of just how far from the expected standards of good government the largest parties in the Executive, and the DUP in particular, had departed," she said.

"The inquiry report, due later this spring, will not make edifying reading, I suspect. Few if any of those involved in RHI will emerged covered in glory.

"However, it is important that we use it to learn lessons for the future, not simply to rake over the past."

The culture at Stormont centres on "appeasing the demands of the two main parties" with civil servants even feeling "pressure to protect them from criticism and scrutiny rather than upholding due process", and had to change, Mrs Long said.

She added: "If and when there is a return to devolution, it has to be based on openness and transparency, proper accountability for ministers and advisers, collective responsibility and raising standards throughout government.

"Only with genuine reform of the petition of concern, the replacing of parallel consent with weighted majority voting, and restructuring of the Executive to enhance and incentivise co-operation, will we have an Assembly and Executive fit for purpose, fit to deliver, and sustainable in the longer term."

Mrs Long said that talks to restore devolution must start now with an independent chair. "The process cannot wait, as some would wish, until Brexit is over. Because whatever happens over the next 27 days, it is clear that the slow motion car crash that is Brexit will not be over but only beginning," she added.

The Alliance leader rounded on the DUP and Sinn Fein for not finding an agreement to allow MLAs to do the job they were elected to do.

She also slammed the Secretary of State for making "no concerted effort to end this interminable drift, despite it allegedly being her top priority".

"I haven't seen Karen Bradley's to-do list, but if restoration of the devolved institutions is indeed her number one issue, Heaven help those who find their concerns further down the list," she said.

"Her claim to the House of Commons that she has approached resolving the impasse with 'laser-like focus' is evidence only that we can now add lasers to the list of things the Secretary of State knows nothing about."

On Brexit, Mrs Long said if the current withdrawal agreement could not gain parliamentary support, another referendum must be called.

"Our membership of the EU is a racehorse, which we are trading for the promise of a unicorn, and so whatever donkey Theresa May brings home from Brussels will never and can never satisfy the expectations either of those who voted for a unicorn or those who were happy with the racehorse," she said.

"Even the most ardent fans of Brexit admit we will probably be worse off for anything up to 50 years."

The Alliance leader insisted that leaving the EU could never be good, but a no-deal Brexit would be the worst possible outcome.

"Parliament has failed over the last two-and-a-half years to articulate clearly what it wants.

"Another 21 months of an extension to this process would merely prolong the damaging and paralysing uncertainty.

"If, as the votes suggest, a majority of MPs actually oppose no deal, then they need to back the Withdrawal Agreement, which is the only basis for a deal.

"And if Parliament are not up to the task, then put it to the people.

"Let's have a People's Vote - but this time one based on the real choice between the donkey and the racehorse, not the unicorn Brexit which never existed."
Alliance party leader Naomi Long has slammed controversial media commentator Jude Collins following remarks about what he called her weight problem.

Mr Collins made the comments on his blog after seeing Mrs Long on a BBC TV programme on Sunday.

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The Alliance leader appeared on the Sunday Politics show hosted by Mark Carruthers a day after addressing her party conference.

"Naomis weight problem  Im assuming its a medical condition  is what hits you between the eyes when she comes on TV," he said.

"And I have no doubt that its a worrying thing for her, and not just in terms of public image. But such is the Alliance leaders fluency of speech, its not too hard to focus on whats being said, not how she looks, he added.

The remarks were roundly denounced on social media and the Alliance leader took to Facebook to hit back at Mr Collins.

Mrs Long said the writer and broadcaster had no right to speculate about her health. She said the comments were also evidence of his misogyny as well as his lack of manners.

Just remember, it's not those of us with big bodies but those with small minds which are the most destructive force. Naomi Long

"That my "weight problem" is the first thing to hit him between the eyes when I'm on TV is evidence not of my weight, but his problem," she said.

"I wasn't aware Jude was either invested enough in my health to care or medically qualified enough to comment: however, I am absolutely certain he doesn't know me or what concerns me at all, and has no right to speculate."

This may be the one and only time I ever share anything written by Jude Collins, and it isn't to praise it. That my "... Posted by Naomi Long on Sunday, March 3, 2019

This is not the first time Jude Collins has landed himself in hot water.

In December last year he claimed he had been dropped as a regular contributor on BBC NI for controversial remarks he made about IRA victim Patsy Gillespie.

In 1990, Mr Gillespie, a civilian Army worker, was forced to drive a bomb to an army barracks while his family were held hostage. The bomb was detonated by remote control, killing Mr Gillespie and five soldiers.

Jude Collins said Mr Gillespie had chosen to work for the security forces even though he knew this made him a target for the Provisional IRA.

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Last August he was condemned by families of the victims of the 1998 Omagh bombing for a blog post in which he said those responsible did not set out to deliberately kill innocent civilians.

Mrs Long said that the author chose to make comments about her appearance, rather than her views, was "a rather sad reflection on him, both as a human being and a commentator".

"This is why so many women of all shapes and sizes, avoid public life," she added.
Every scientist dreams of making a breakthrough that changes the way we think about the world.

And for one Northern Ireland woman, a discovery in the Arctic Circle has been making headlines around the globe.

Clare McCann was part of a project that found antibiotic-resistant genes - responsible for some of the world's deadliest superbugs - in one of the last pristine places on Earth.

The 33-year-old had a key role in the Newcastle University-led study which discovered the genes, first detected in urban India, some 8,000 miles away in soil samples taken in the Kongsfjorden region of Svalbard, Norway.

It has raised fears about the global reach of antibiotic resistant bugs, and could have far-reaching repercussions for the treatment of disease for future generations.

The Kongsfjorden region was home to Dr McCann and her team for two months as they conducted their research, which was finally published in January.

It is a world away from the Co Londonderry village of Castledawson, where she grew up with her parents and four siblings. But the former student of St Mary's Grammar School in Magherafelt and Queen's University Belfast said the opportunity of an Arctic expedition was one any scientist would jump at.

"I had gone to Newcastle University to further my studies and was asked to join the research team," she said.

"I never thought I'd be heading to the Arctic Circle and never expected to write a study on something that was so significant for world health research."

Armed with her BSc in Geography, MSc in Environmental Engineering and PhD in Environmental Civil Engineering, Dr McCann relished the chance of joining the research team.

"I was never going to turn down the opportunity," she said. "It was quite a culture shock. It was the end of summer when we arrived and that meant almost 24 hours of daylight, though temperatures could drop as low as -20C.

"We were stationed at an international research base which can hold up to 100 people, and while two months might seem like plenty of time, it really was a race against time to fit in all the work we needed to do.

"It's an experience I'll never forget and that's before we made our discovery."

It was in a series of usual soil samples that the breakthrough was made, though it has taken several years for the study research to be pulled together and presented.

The findings were published in late January, and the team's work has made headlines around the world since.

"It was quite a commitment," added Dr McCann. "It was my job to collate the results, analyse them and finally present them and that's what I've spent an awful lot of my time doing these past couple of years, trying to piece together a picture of what we found - particularly the surprise that popped up in the results.

"We actually went to the Arctic back in 2013, and what we discovered was a gene (blaNDM-1) which had first been spotted 8,000 miles away in India just three years before.

"We were puzzled as to why it would be there, but it has highlighted the speed at which antibiotic resistance can spread around the world.

"Polar regions are among the last presumed pristine ecosystems on Earth but less than three years after the first detection of the gene in the surface waters of urban India we found them thousands of miles away in an area where there has been minimal human impact."

By 2050 it is predicted antibiotic resistance will be responsible for the deaths of 10 million people every year if action is not taken.

Dr McCann added: "Without effective antibiotics, everyday operations like caesarean sections or hip replacements could become too dangerous to perform.

"Encroachment into areas like the Arctic reinforces how rapid and far-reaching the spread of antibiotic resistance has become, confirming solutions must be viewed in global rather than just local terms.

"What humans have done through excess use of antibiotics on a global scale is accelerate the rate of evolution, creating resistant strains that never existed before."

Her proud family - including parents Brenda and Patsy McCann in Castledawson - have watched in admiration as Dr McCann's work has hit scientific headlines around the world in recent weeks.

"My sister lives in Texas and was able to send me some of the coverage in the US newspapers, so that was great," she added.

Dr McCann's next project isn't quite so exotic, however - she is conducting her next research project around inner-cities in England.
Railway workers clearing debris from the railway crossing in Lurgan in 2016

A baton-weilding thug attacked a BBC cameraman yesterday as he was recording an interview in Co Armagh.

The camera operator had to have three stitches after the shocking incident, which happened just a day after a gunman approached rail workers carrying out maintenance on the line which runs through the centre of Lurgan.

The BBC NI crew was in Lurgan reporting on the firearms incident when the cameraman was targeted.

Police said a 25-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

He remained in police custody last night.

Last night the injured cameraman, Eugene McVeigh, was recovering at home from his ordeal.

"I'm home now with an ice pack and three stitches," he tweeted.

"No fractures."

Mr McVeigh thanked everyone who had helped him during and after the attack.

"Thank you Lurgan for looking after me," he said on social media.

The Belfast-Dublin railway line at Lurgan is undergoing an 11.9m upgrade programme, part of which means the closure of the line for periods while the work is being carried out.

Sinn Fein councillor Keith Haughian condemned the attack on the camera operator.

"Firstly, I want to commend the BBC crew who, despite this attack, insisted on completing the interview and their report," he said.

"I also want to fully condemn the reckless actions of the attacker who violently struck the camera man.

"I welcome the swift response of the PSNI.

"In stark contrast to the idiotic actions of the attacker, a lady nearby took the crew into her home - this demonstrates the true face of the north Lurgan community.

"Journalists should be able to do their job free from fear of attack or intimidation."

A BBC spokesperson said: "We can confirm there has been an incident involving a member of staff in Lurgan.

"We are unable to provide further information at this time."

PSNI representative Inspector Beckett said yesterday: "A 25-year-old man has been arrested following a report of a man in his 60s assaulted at the Lake Street area of Lurgan.

"The man remains in police custody."

On Saturday, Translink workers on the line at Lurgan were threatened by a man who was carrying a firearm.

A bomb warning was also phoned in to the authorities.

DUP MLA Carla Lockhart blamed the firearms incident on republicans "who are not representative of the people of Lurgan".

She said: "Everyone will be aware that the railway line is closed for upgrade with 11.9m investment, yet we have despicable individuals who today approached the workers on the track and threatened them with a firearm.

"The people of the area will not allow this small nucleus of people to drag Lurgan back to the dark days."

Mr Haughian also appealed for anyone with any information about the threats to contact police.

"The company doing the work to the lines have agreed to carry out significant work to a local GAA club free of charge - and this is how these people repay the firm's workers," he added.

"It is long past time these individuals wised up and got off the backs of the people of north Lurgan."

The train line - which was closed over the weekend for construction work - will reopen today.

A Translink spokesperson said: "We are currently liaising with the PSNI, who are investigating this incident.

"We have consulted widely with the local community and local stakeholders who have been very supportive, recognising the need and associated benefits, longer term, which this important scheme will provide for the local area," the spokesperson said.

It is not the first time the railway line at Lake Street has been targeted.

In August of last year, two petrol bombs were thrown onto the tracks, while another was thrown by youths at a pump house which is close to the railway line barrier.

Police said that they believed "violent dissidents" had orchestrated the attack.
A bid by the PUP to rename the former Robinson Centre in east Belfast after the party's former leader David Ervine has been rejected.

The leisure centre, which was named after former DUP leader Peter Robinson, is currently undergoing a 20m regeneration which will see a state-of-the-art facility open on the Montgomery Road site.

The leisure centre is now to be named Lisnasharragh Centre, subject to full ratification from the council, after objections from SDLP and Sinn Fein councillors who argued the name was not inclusive for all sections of the community. It was also argued the original named contravened council policy as the named person was not deceased.

Last night the DUP proposed retaining its existing name, but lost the motion with 34 votes against.

DUP councillors then proposed renaming the facility the Castlereagh Centre, which was also lost by 36 votes.

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PUP representatives then proposed for it to be named the David Ervine Centre, who led the party before his death in 2007.

PUP leader councillor Billy Hutchinson said: In tribute to and in keeping with Council policy, I proposed that we rename the facility the David Ervine Centre.

"An East Belfast stalwart with a remarkable story. A valued contributor to Northern Irelands peace process who both in life and in his untimely death united both traditions.

"Sadly not a single Unionist, with the exception of my own party colleagues, participated in the vote. Instead they chose to abstain.

One things clear tonight, it isnt just Republicans that dont want a Loyalist about the place.
Former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson has said that any prosecutions against Army veterans serving on Bloody Sunday would be about politics, not justice.

Mr Johnson was speaking ahead of a decision being taken on whether to prosecute the soldiers on March 14.

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On Saturday the Daily Telegraph reported that four ex-paratroopers, now in their 60s and 70s, fear being told they will face murder charges.

Thirteen people died when soldiers from the Parachute Regiment opened fire on civil rights marchers in Londonderry in January 1972, with a 14th victim dying later.

The Saville Inquiry concluded in 2010 that all those killed or injured were innocent.

It says, "if you murder 14 unarmed civil rights marchers you should expect to be prosecuted". pic.twitter.com/0E7FEWHNwu  Colum Eastwood (@columeastwood) March 3, 2019

Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday Mr Johnson said it "seems very likely" that charges will be brought against the soldiers involved on Bloody Sunday.

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The former Mayor of London said he believed this would cause a "storm of utter fury from the public".

"It feels sickening that we are persecuting these elderly men for doing what they thought was their duty  in uniform, under orders, as members of the Parachute Regiment," Mr Johnson wrote.

"What kind of a world is it  you may ask  where we can put former squaddies in the dock for murder, and simultaneously tell IRA killers that they can get away with it?

"Are we really proposing to send old soldiers to die in jail  after we gave dozens of wanted terrorists a get-out-of-jail-free card under the Good Friday Agreement? Is that balanced? Is that fair?"

However, the Conservative MP acknowledged that argument "does not in itself amount to a sufficient objection to a trial".

Mr Johnson wrote that it must be accepted there was a possibility a serious crime had been committed and that "no one  not even an essentially loyal and well-meaning British soldier  should in principle be exempt from justice".

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He wrote that the main issue with any trial would be that there is no new evidence left to discover following the Saville Inquiry.

"The answer is that it is not about justice. It is about politics," Mr Johnson wrote.

"The objective is not to get to the truth of this episode, or any other. It is just meant to be a concession to Sinn Fein, a gesture to nationalist feeling, part of the complex politics of restarting provincial government at Stormont. It will cost millions."

He said that any trial would only achieve the "misery of a few old men" and send a "terrible warning" to anyone thinking of joining the armed services.

"They will know that they cannot rely on the Army, the MOD, the politicians or anyone else to protect them or show common sense. The whole thing is a disgrace, and should be disposed of as quietly and as speedily as possible," Mr Johnson wrote.

Foyle MP Elisha McCallion said Mr Johnson's comments were "disrespectful and hurtful" to the families of those killed.

"The remarks also showed disrespect to the ongoing court case into the massacre by attempting to preempt the legal outcome," the Sinn Fein representative said.

"What happened on Bloody Sunday was not a 'misjudgement' as Boris Johnson has claimed. It was murder and that's why there is an ongoing murder inquiry.

"The relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday have campaigned for truth and justice for decades and are entitled to justice.

"All relatives of those killed during the conflict are entitled to the truth over what happened to their loved ones and the British government need to step up and implement the legacy mechanisms already agreed."

After the findings of the Saville Inquiry Prime Minister David Cameron issued an official apology in the House of Commons for Bloody Sunday, describing the killings as "unjustified and unjustifiable".

Two years later, in 2012, the PSNI launched a murder investigation and passed the files to the PPS in 2016.

The police concluded that charges related to Bloody Sunday could be brought against 18 former soldiers.

The Public Prosecution Service will announce what action, if any, is to be taken against the soldiers on March 14.
The memorial to the 14 people who died on Bloody Sunday in Derry rises from among the sea of umbrellas as all the families came together in an ecumenical service. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Civil Rights mark.The service included contributions from Father Michael Canny and Reverend David Latimer, left. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 29.1.12

A memorial to those killed on Bloody Sunday in the Bogside area of Derry

Linda Nash carries flowers with the number 14 inscribed during yesterdays annual Bloody Sunday Parade in Derry. Picture Martin McKeown. Inpresspics.com. 29.1.12

The start of a grim day in Derry. Civil Rights marchers make their way through Creggan. They defied a Government ban and headed for Guildhall Square, but were stopped by the Army in William Street. 31/1/1972

JAMES WRAY IN HIS HOME IN THE BOGSIDE DERRY HOLDING THE COAT WITH BULLIET HOLES IN THAT HIS SON ALSO CALLED JAMES WRAY WAS KILLED ON BLOODY SUNDAY

A man receiving attention during the shooting incident in Londonderry, which became known as Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday. Funeral. Mrs Ita McKinney, 9 months pregnant cries behind the hearse carrying her husband James from St Mary's, Creggan. 2/2/1972.

Alana Burke who was eighteen when she was run over by an armoured personnel carrier on Bloody Sunday.

Lord Chief Justice, Lord Widgery in his room at the Old Bailey as he looks through his report on the "Bloody Sunday" shootings

Bloody Sunday: Up to 20 soldiers still face being formally questioned by police for alleged murder, attempted murder or criminal injury during the notorious incident

A protest parade in was staged in Londonderry in January to mark the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Lt Col Derek Wilford, the former commander of the members of the Parachute Regiment involved in the Bloody Sunday shootings

Hugh Gilmore (third left) seen clutching his stomach as he is shot during Bloody Sunday.

A scene showing a British paratrooper near Glenfada Park in Derry where Bloody Sunday took place.

A young Fr Edward Daly carries a blood-soaked hankie as he leads a group of men trying desperately to carry John 'Jackie' Duddy to safety. Duddy (17) was the first fatality of Bloody Sunday after being shot from behind by paratroopers

A young Fr Edward Daly carries a blood-soaked hankie as he leads a group of men trying desperately to carry John 'Jackie' Duddy to safety. Duddy (17) was the first fatality of Bloody Sunday after being shot from behind by paratroopers

30th January 1972: An armed soldier and a protestor on Bloody Sunday when British Paratroopers shot dead 13 civilians on a civil rights march.

January 30, 1972: Soldiers of the Parachute Regiment open fire on demonstrators at a civil rights march in Derry. Some 13 men died that day. A 14th man was wounded, and subsequently died of his wounds.

February 1, 1972: UK Prime Minister Edward Heath appoints Lord Chief Justice Lord Widgery to produce a report into the events of what became known as Bloody Sunday.

February 22, 1972: The official IRA plant a bomb at an Army barracks in Aldershot, where the Parachute Regiment was headquartered. Seven people are killed in the explosion.

March 24, 1972: The Parliament of Northern Ireland is prorogued and direct rule from London introduced.

April 18, 1972: Lord Widgery produces his report: Called Report of the Tribunal appointed to inquire into the events on Sunday, 30th January 1972, it is described in Derry as the "Widgery Whitewash".

January 1, 1973: Colonel Derek Wilford, who was in command of the Parachute Regiment soldiers on Bloody Sunday, is awarded the OBE in the New Year Honours List.

December 29, 1992: Prime Minister John Major tells SDLP leader John Hume: "The Government made clear in 1974 that those who were killed on Bloody Sunday should be regarded as innocent of any allegation that they were shot whilst handling firearms or explosives. I hope that the families of those who died will accept that assurance."

January 23, 1998: Bertie Ahern, then Taoiseach, lays a wreath at the Bloody Sunday memorial in the Bogside during a visit to Derry. He calls for a full independent inquiry into the events of 'Bloody Sunday'.

January 29, 1998: Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair, announces that there will be a new inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday, following years of pressure from relatives of the people shot dead by the Parachute Regiment.

April 3, 1998: The Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday begins its probe. It will last 12 years and cost hundreds of millions of pounds.

June 15, 2010: The final report of the Saville Inquiry is published. Among its findings it stated: "We found no instances where it appeared to us that soldiers either were or might have been justified in firing." Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the Government for the events of 30 January 1972, describing the soldiers' actions as "both unjustified and unjustifiable".

July 2012: The PSNI launches a murder probe into the deaths of the Bloody Sunday victims. The probe will last for four years and involves 30 detectives.

December 2016: The PSNI passes a file to the Public Prosecution Service. It must decide whether or not to prosecute any of the Parachute Regiment soldiers for their actions on Bloody Sunday.

September 2018: Legal actions for compensation by families of Bloody Sunday victims begin in Belfast High Court.

February 2019: The Public Prosecution Service says it will make public on March 14 its decision on whether to prosecute any of the Bloody Sunday soldiers.

Sources: Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN) and Belfast Telegraph archives
Art by Ro Owens and Framewerk Gallery who have been working on a textile piece with those affected by suicide

A pianist and composer has written a piece of music dedicated to people bereaved by suicide called 'Hope' after five friends took their own lives - the first when he was just 15.

Lee McVicker (24) was so moved by the issue that he recently penned the composition and, with the help of Pulse Studios in Derry, recorded it within 24 hours.

He wants people feeling in despair to take heart from his experience and ask for help and support.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, Mr McVicker said: "When I was 15 and still at school I lost a friend who was 16 to suicide.

"It was a very traumatic experience and left me heartbroken.

"Losing a friend at that age under any circumstances is not something a 15-year-old thinks about.

"I am 24 now and since then four more of my friends died by suicide, so that tells how big an issue suicide is in Derry, although one of my friends wasn't from Derry.

"I am one person and I have lost five of my friends - something I will never get over but I will learn to live with it and I hope this piece of music which Pulse Studios very kindly allowed me to record will help others.

"The piece I wrote, which is to give comfort to people who have been bereaved by suicide, comes from within my own heart and was composed and recorded in one day."

Mr McVicker said he wants anyone who is having suicidal thoughts to know there is help and support available.

He added: "At one time in my life I also reached a low point and attempted suicide. But thankfully I did ask for help, which was the best thing I ever did. I got counselling, worked my way though things and I am the best I have ever been.

"I want others to know that no matter how low they are feeling they should ask for help - even though I know that can be hard.

"But there is help out there.

"Some people still feel embarrassed asking for help or telling someone they are feeling suicidal but if they can't tell a friend there are organisations like Samaritans and Lifeline that are there 24 hours a day.

"It has been breaking my heart how much suicide there is, especially in Derry, and that moved me to write the piece.

"Suicide affects everyone, no matter who you are or whether you are 15 or 80, Catholic or Protestant, rich or poor, no one is immune," Mr McVicker added.

Meanwhile, people gathered at Belfast City Hall on Saturday for a suicide prevention rally to raise awareness and highlight underfunding for treating those at risk.

Belfast artist Ro Owens wrapped a hand-stitched memorial to the thousands who have died by suicide around the landmark city centre building.

More than 4,500 suicides have been registered in Northern Ireland in the 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement, while during the Troubles, between 1969 and 1997, it is estimated that 3,600 died by suicide.

If you, or anyone close to you, is affected by any issues in this article, please contact the Samaritans free on 116123 or Lifeline on 080 8808 8000
By Gemma Handy

BRITAIN is in a "weak position for demanding its territories adopt same-sex marriage while it remains illegal within the UK, international human rights chiefs say.





Amnesty International said London lacks the "moral authority to force change as long as gay marriage is still banned in Northern Ireland.





Giving the TCI and the four other Caribbean overseas territories a deadline to enact same-sex marriage legislation  or have London do it for them  was among a slew of controversial recommendations released last week.





The Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) has been scrutinising Britains governance of its 14 remaining OTs across the globe.





And some of its findings, published on February 21, go to the heart of cultural divisions between the Caribbean territories and their former coloniser.





The subject of gay marriage arose early in the process when regional representatives were called to give evidence to a parliamentary select committee last year.





FAC member Chris Bryant MP accused territories of "wanting to have their cake and eat it by choosing to stay under the British umbrella but refusing "to be part of the British way of life.





Bryant himself married husband Jared Cranney in 2010 in the first civil partnership ceremony ever held in the Houses of Parliament. Same-sex marriage came into effect in England and Wales in March 2014.





This week, Amnesty International urged London to apply the same pressure "without further delay on Northern Ireland.





"The Government should first end discrimination against LGBT+ people within the UK and will then be in a stronger position of moral authority to deliver marriage equality overseas, said Patrick Corrigan, Amnestys Northern Ireland programme director.





He also called for "friction surrounding the issue between the UK and the Caribbean OTs to be "urgently addressed.





The organisation claims denying homosexual couples the right to wed contravenes human rights.





In 2017, the highest court in Taiwan ruled banning same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional following a global Amnesty campaign, setting the stage for Taiwan to become the first country in Asia to recognise such unions later this year.





As of May 2018, same-sex marriage was recognised in 24 countries. But having sex with a partner of the same gender remains illegal in dozens of nations worldwide, including several in the Caribbean.





Gay sex was decriminalised in the TCI and other resistant territories via a 2001 British Order in Council.





Despite the majority of people in Northern Ireland showing support for same-sex marriage legislation in 2015, five attempts to introduce it in the provinces Assembly have failed due to the Democratic Unionist Party exercising its veto powers.





It has been legal in the Republic of Ireland since November 2015 following a referendum.





The Catholic Church believes such unions to be immoral and has repeatedly stymied efforts by governments to introduce them, a position upheld by its Providenciales arm.





"Marriage is between a man and a woman, a spokesman for Our Lady of Divine Providence Church told the Weekly News on Thursday (February 28).





"For the Catholic Church to recognise a marriage, it has to be one that is open to Gods children. A same sex couple cannot procreate, therefore they are not open to the will of God, he explained.





"Our teachings are the same as any Catholic diocese in the world; they come under the same teaching of the Holy Fathers, he added.





Local human rights bosses were slower to take a stance. Cheryl Astwood-Tull, chairman of the TCI Human Rights Commission, said merely the body would "discuss the report and revert in due course.





The FACs recommendation  along with those calling for speedy implementation of public registers of beneficial ownership, and voting and office-holding rights to be expanded  ignited tension in other OTs in the region.





In addition to the TCI, Britains remaining Caribbean territories are Anguilla, BVI, Cayman Islands and Montserrat. Same-sex marriage is illegal in all five but is the focus of a legal battle in Cayman.





The FAC reports recommendations will be "carefully considered, a spokesperson for Londons Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) told the Weekly News.





"We take our responsibilities to the overseas territories extremely seriously and are committed to assisting them in a range of areas  from building strong economies, to improving standards of governance and protecting vulnerable groups, the spokesperson added.




The family of a young mother who was killed by a south Armagh truck driver on her way to see her day-old baby in hospital has said every road user needs to be more aware of driver fatigue.

Nicola Kenny (26) was being driven to Dublin, with her mother Ann, by her aunt Irene on September 5, 2016.

Nicola had given birth in South Tipperary General Hospital to baby Lily Rose the day before, but the child was transferred to Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin.

While on the M8 motorway Nicola received a phone call so Irene pulled on to the hard shoulder. It was a staff member at Temple Street Hospital telling her Lily Rose was fine and there was no need to travel to Dublin.

Moments later a truck crashed into the back of the car. Nicola was in the back seat and died at the scene. Her mother and aunt were injured.

Tipperary Coroner Paul Morris urged commercial vehicle operators to comply with tachograph safety guidelines as he stressed the tragic case underlined the appalling consequences of potential driver fatigue.

Ann Kenny echoed that call, saying "it only takes a split second for a tragedy to happen". "The coroner said people need to be more aware of the dangers of driver tiredness and I agree with him," she added.

"This is very hard on our family. I didn't go to the inquest myself. I stayed at home and looked after Lily Rose. She comes first... she is number one."

Truck driver Ciaran McBride, from Keady, Co Armagh, was given a suspended prison sentence last year after he pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death. The circuit court trial heard the tachograph on McBride's lorry was found not to be working properly.

The driver told Garda he had taken the required breaks.

But the Circuit Court heard officers disputed the stop periods claimed. The lorry had a toll scanner. When gardai recreated the journey from its details, they found the trip did not match the claimed driver breaks.
Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan arrives at a press conference where he is unveiled as running for Fine Gael in the European elections in Dublin by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

A former Northern Ireland statesman has said he hopes to give the region a voice in Europe after Brexit by running for election in the Irish Republic.

Mark Durkan, a former deputy first minister, was confirmed on Monday as a Fine Gael election candidate for the European elections in May.

The former SDLP leader will run as a candidate alongside former tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald in the constituency of Dublin for the party which forms the major part of Irelands minority government.

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Confirming the move at a press conference in Dublin, Irelands premier Leo Varadkar said his decision to invite Mr Durkan to run as a candidate was for the political future of the island.

We are living in extraordinary times, Mr Varadkar said.

We need in the European Parliament people of ability, experience and vision. We need people who can speak and work for the people of the whole island, for Ireland, not just their constituency.

At this point in time, as Brexit continues to present enormous challenges, we need a place to hear people like Mark Durkan and that place is in the European Parliament.

Instead of a border poll, Im asking the people of Dublin to cast a more important vote.

I dont want the people of Northern Ireland to have no voice or representation in Europe, I dont want them ever left behind again.

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Mr Durkan led the SDLP from 2001 to 2010, taking on the mantle from Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume.

The 58-year-old briefly served as Northern Irelands deputy first minister alongside the Ulster Unionist Partys first minister David Trimble.

Now he said he wants to be part of a strong team Ireland that stands for decency.

Given my own deep involvement in negotiating the Good Friday Agreement, I would really welcome the opportunity to contribute in that context in the European Parliament, he said.

Taoiseach @campaignforleo and Tanaiste @simoncoveney announcing the intention of @markdurkan and @FitzgeraldFrncs to seek the Fine Gael nomination to run in the European elections. pic.twitter.com/vw22c0xXrT  Fine Gael (@FineGael) March 4, 2019

The Taoiseach is following through on his statement last year that Northern Ireland citizens will not be left behind.

This is a big ask for the people of Dublin, but as we see a huge disenfranchisement in Northern Ireland, the promises of rights that were framed in the Good Friday Agreement stand in deficit at the minute.

In the broadest sense, I hope the people of Dublin look at this as an election of the greatest national importance.

I hope this is a green jersey day with a strong turnout to send a message to Brexiteers that the Irish people as a whole value the EU in a fundamental way.

Mark Durkan unveiled as Fine Gael candidate for Dublin in European elections: Obviously going forward I will be putting on a FG vest but I will not hide my SDLP jersey underneath. pic.twitter.com/rhad8zb19k  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

Mr Durkan was quizzed on how we would relate to the people of Dublin after spending the majority of his career working in Northern Ireland.

He was asked on a number of occasions whether he could name any proposed routes on the new Dublin metrolink rail line, and whether he could name any road in West Dublin.

Mr Durkan was unable to answer either question and said he would not pretend to the canny people of Dublin that he was a Dub.

Im not going to pretend Im not a Derry person, and Im not going to pretend that my family and I wont continue to live there, he said.

I think Dublin is proud as a city, but as a capital city and there are national issues at stake here, and I think there are many people in Dublin who have a strong instinct about the national interest.

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Mr Durkans defeat by Sinn Feins Elisha McCallion at the 2017 general election was considered to be one of the surprises of that poll, which saw all three SDLP MPs lose their seats.

His candidacy for Fine Gael comes just weeks after the SDLP announced a link-up with Irish Opposition party Fianna Fail, in an effort to boost its flagging fortunes.

An SDLP spokeswoman paid tribute to Mr Durkan.

Mark Durkan provided the people of Derry with a first class public service for decades, she said.

He is a first class parliamentarian and his regrettable absence on the benches of Westminster has not gone unnoticed by parties and communities alike.

We wish him well in the upcoming European election. Ireland can only benefit from having Mark Durkan back on a parliament bench.

Mr Durkan told RTE he will suspend his SDLP membership in order to run as a Fine Gael candidate.

At the press conference in Dublin, he stated: Obviously, going forward, I will be putting on a Fine Gael vest, but I will not hide my SDLP jersey underneath.
The UUP MLA and Army war veteran Doug Beattie has said soldiers suspected of Troubles crimes should face prosecution, but he "wished fingers could be pointed at" those commanders responsible, not just for the Army's actions but also those who directed terrorism.

He was speaking after weekend press reports suggested soldiers involved in the Bloody Sunday massacre were to be charged with murder. However, prosecutors in Northern Ireland warned over speculation saying they would announce their decision on the matter next week.

"I do have this fundamental problem," Doug Beattie, who was awarded the Military Cross for his service in Afghanistan, told the BBC Stephen Nolan show.

"It always seems to be the footsoldier who carries the can for decisions that were made at the higher levels. And I kind of wish we could point the fingers at those at the very top of the tree who made these decisions in the first place and then sent out the young men and woman to carry out their actions.

"And I mean that on both sides - both military and terrorists."

On the odd occasion when [the Army] go outside then they should face the law the same as everyone else.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, it's been reported, is expected to bring forward legislation to protect soldiers from prosecution for alleged historic abuses with a proposal for a 10-year time limit.

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Upper Bann UUP MLA Beattie said there should no protection for soldiers from prosecution.

"The military in operations throughout the world adhere to the law of armed conflict. They adhere to military law, adhere to civil law and they adhere to the rules of engagement. And in 99% of the cases they work within that.

"On the odd occasion when they go outside then they should face the law the same as everyone else.

"Nobody is above the law."

He added: "So I don't think anyone should be given free passes in regard to this what we can do is we can take into account the circumstances of what happened we could look at what year and what was going on at the time of what happened and they can all be brought before the courts.

"Actions need to be tested and if they are tested in law, then they have to be tested in a law court."

We are looking at legacy piecemeal at the times.

Referring to royal pardons and the on-the-run comfort letters he said it was "absolutely right some terrorists had been let off, despite knowing of their involvement in crimes".

"There is a wider discussion here.... there is an imbalance here," he said.

"There were tens of thousands explosions in Northern Ireland and Great Britain and the vast majority of them were by republican terrorists. There's why you have so many going through jail

"You can argue that so many went through and you have to balance the books. It doesn't work that way. What we need to have is balanced and fair proportionate system which looks at legacy in the round.

"And what we are doing is we are looking at legacy piecemeal at the times and we can't do that."

Mr Beattie also pointed out there had been no "effective investigations" into the 185 soldiers murdered during the Troubles. And the same for those in the RUC that were killed.

When discussing the issue around the legacy of our Troubles the number 185 doesnt jump out at you," he said.

"If I was to add that this is the number of murdered soldiers who have not had an effective investigation or inquest then again some, mainly from a republican, Sinn Fein background will just shrug their shoulders and say so what."
Irish premier Leo Varadkar says his government and the EU are happy to offer clarifications and assurances on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, to help get the accord over the line.

The Taoiseach said Ireland has been very flexible and very reasonable in helping the UK government to resolve its problems which, he said, are of their own creation.

His comments come as Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay prepare to return to Brussels on Tuesday to continue their efforts to secure legally-binding changes to ensure that the UK is not trapped permanently by backstop arrangements designed to keep the Irish border open.

Speaking during a press conference with Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, Mr Varadkar said: We are entering quite a sensitive phase now over the next week or two as we approach the next round of votes in the House of Commons and the European Council meeting the week after that.

Welcomed Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis to Dublin this morning. We visited #dubw earlier and now holding meeting in Farmleigh to discuss bilateral relations, EU issues and #brexit pic.twitter.com/SVjZcSCWaJ  Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) March 4, 2019

We are happy to offer further clarifications and further assurances if that can help the UK government get the agreement over the line. But from day one we have been very straight about a few things and among those is Brexit cannot lead, under any circumstances, to the emergence of a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The backstop is a means to an end, but its a really important end and that is a legally-binding assurance that there wont be a hard border on the island.

He said the backstop is the mechanism that will avoid a hard border.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney said: There has been no application made for an extension to Article 50 and I dont think its likely theyll ask for a long extension.

There may be a need for a technical extension but we need to see how the British parliamentary system responds.

However if the British Parliament wants to avoid electing MEPs to seats in Europe there is an obvious end point at the end of June before they take their seats.

On Monday, Mr Varadkar and the Lithuanian Prime Minister met with pupils from Hartstown Community School in Dublin which has the highest number of Lithuanians of any school in Ireland.

There are some 40,000 Lithuanians currently living and working in Ireland.

Mr Varadkar added: I am very happy with the corporation bilaterally we have between Lithuania and Ireland, but theres always opportunities to deepen that.

Among things we talked about was working together on European issues after Brexit, I think Ireland will find common cause with the Baltic states and Nordic countries.

Among the issues we have a similar view on is the (EU) common agricultural policy (CAP), maintaining funding for that and also making sure that cohesion funding is protected for central eastern Europe.

Mr Skvernelis said: We also discussed the (Brexit) challenges and we fully support the position of Ireland on Brexit and we support the interests of Ireland.

I would also like to invite Irish investors to come to Lithuania, we have excellent conditions for businesses.

Our countries share very good and close relations, we are linked by shared values.

Ireland used to have the number of its population decreasing at certain points of its history and currently Lithuania is experiencing the same problem, so we also talked about this with the Taoiseach and how we could share best practices in trying to increase the number of (our) population.
The Northern Ireland Fire Service are at the scene. (stock picture)

A large blaze at a bar in Armagh has been brought under control by firefighters.

The fire was at the Northern Bar and began at 8am. The fire service had the fire under control by 4pm.

No one was injured.
The PSNI said the man was detained at Manchester Airport (Niall Carson/PA)

A man has been arrested at Manchester Airport on suspicion of murdering Belfast community worker Ian Ogle.

The 32-year-old suspect is to be brought to Northern Ireland for questioning.

Mr Ogle, 45, died after being stabbed 11 times shortly after praying with a pastor near his home on Cluan Place in east Belfast on January 27.

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On Sunday evening, PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Peter McKenna said: Following excellent partnership working with UK and international partners, the man was detained in Manchester Airport this evening.

He was subsequently arrested on suspicion of murder and will be conveyed to Northern Ireland to be questioned by Major Investigation Team detectives.

At this time, I would also reiterate my appeal for witnesses to this horrific murder. Ian Ogle was subjected to a brutal attack.

His skull was fractured and he was savagely stabbed 11 times in the back before being left to die on the street. His family deserve justice.

One man has already been charged with Mr Ogles murder.

Jonathan Brown, 33, of McArthur Court, Belfast, was remanded in custody last month after appearing before Belfast Magistrates Court.

His solicitor said he denied planning, preparing and committing the offence.
A man was beaten in his bed in the Bawnmore Park area. Credit: Google

Two men were beaten with bats and hammers during paramilitary style assaults in Newtownabbey in the past 24 hours.

Around 10.00pm on Sunday a man was assaulted by 5 to 6 masked men outside his flat in the Clonmore Walk area. It is believed the men used bats and hammers during the assault.

The victim was taken to hospital for treatment to his injuries, which are not believed to be life threatening.

Around 2.00am in the early hours of Monday two masked men armed with hammers entered a dwelling in the Bawnmore Park area and assaulted a man has he lay in his bed.

Police are investigating the two incidents as aggravated burglaries but do not believe they are linked.

District Commander for Antrim & Newtownabbey, Superintendent Sue Steen said police were treating the incidents as paramilitary style attacks.

These two brutal assaults left both victims with a number of injuries requiring hospital treatment," she said.

"A persons home should be a place where they feel safe, not a place where thugs feel they can freely enter and reign their terror down on their victims. There is no place for this vicious behaviour in a civilised society.

I would appeal to anyone who saw any suspicious activity or vehicles in these areas to contact detectives at Newtownabbey on the non-emergency number 101, quoting reference numbers 1225 03/03/19 and 76 04/03/19.

"Alternatively, information can also be provided to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, which is 100% anonymous and gives people the power to speak up and stop crime.
Northern Ireland's power-sharing crisis has left young people's mental health services on their knees, the Children's Commissioner has warned.

Koulla Yiasouma highlighted that almost one of four of the region's children and young people are now impacted by "significant mental health issues" as she expressed concern their needs are not being properly addressed due to a lack of government action.

Mrs Yiasouma, who began her second four-year term in office at the weekend, also cautioned that not enough was being done to tackle spiralling child poverty rates.

She was initially appointed by Stormont's First and deputy First Ministers in 2015 but her reappointment was made by Secretary of State Karen Bradley in the absence of a functioning devolved administration.

"I am just gutted we are here," she said of the political impasse.

"I am gutted for our kids. I don't want another four years of this, I want to be a commissioner who can advise our government on the best way forward for the children of Northern Ireland and I want to be working in partnership with ministers, with the executive and Stormont.

"I am gutted that I have not been able to do that bit of my job for two years."

As Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People, Mrs Yiasouma's role is to promote and safeguard the rights and interests of the youngest generation.

She said the collapse of Stormont means policy decisions on investing and improving mental health services are not being taken. She also pointed to a lack of data on how current services are working.

"I know the couple of years I had as Children's Commissioner when we had our Assembly going, at least it meant we could do things," she said. "We were meeting with ministers in education and ministers in health. If we still had a minister for health and we had the health committee, our children's mental health would be in a very different place right now. Services for our children's health would be in a very different place right now.

"Because the commitment from the minister and the commitment from the committee was tangible and we would have moved forward and here we sit two years later with our children's mental health system on its knees."

Civil servants are currently in charge of running public services here but the lack of elected ministers limits their ability to pursue new policy initiatives.

Mrs Yiasouma said civil servants were doing their best but the practical impact of the political deadlock meant no-one was taking the tough decisions to stop ineffective services and reinvest in new approaches.

"The estimates are one in four, one in five, of our children have significant mental health issues in Northern Ireland. That's higher than anywhere else on these islands because of our particular circumstances. My worry is the lack of investment, and that is just going to get worse and worse and worse as different things challenge our children.

"Education policies need to be improved, relationship and sexuality education needs to be improved, stronger guidance coming from the department to schools may be able to tackle some of the issues around LGBT young people feeling undervalued - they experience higher levels of bullying than other children, so therefore their mental health suffers.

"There's lots of things we need an Assembly, a minister and government to be able to do."

Mrs Yiasouma said the political vacuum was also hindering efforts to address child poverty.

"What we know from the latest set of welfare reforms is that child poverty is going to increase much more than any other area," she said.

"The population who is most in poverty are our families, ie our children, and we have no local initiatives to be able to improve child poverty, to eradicate child poverty.

"If a child lives in poverty we know they are likely to have less years of life, less years of good health, they are going to do worse in education and they are going to have poorer mental health."

The commissioner said she did not blame the politicians for the crisis, but she insisted there was a need for more focus on issues that were not wholly linked to traditional "orange and green" politics.

She added: "I have yet to meet a politician who says they don't care about this, so I don't blame the politicians. The politicians are doing what they told their electorate they would do. This is part of us growing up into a democratic society. Northern Ireland needs to be more than green and orange, because that's what our children are telling us.

"They are telling me that's what they want."
Fire Service at the scene of The Scotch House pub. Pic Kevin McAuley

Police said a petrol bombing was responsible for a fire at a pub in the Co Antrim town of Bushmills.

Fire broke out at the Bushmills pub The Scotch House in the early hours of Monday morning at around 3am.

Read More

Police said two males smashed a window before pouring flammable liquid inside and setting it alight.

Damage was caused to an alcove inside the bar.

The Army bomb squad was sent to the scene as a precaution.

Local councillor Norman Hillis said the Army attendance sparked concern a pipe bomb had been left in the area.

"Bushmills has come a long way in the last few years and markets itself as the gateway to the Causeway," the UUP councillor said.

The road has been reopened to traffic.

Police have appealed for anyone with information to contact detectives on 101.
By Olivia Rose

THE US State Department on Monday (February 25) issued a travel warning for the Turks and Caicos Islands telling Americans to "exercise increased caution when visiting.





The advisory was updated on the State Departments website www.travel.state.gov "after periodic review with updates to information on crime, it read.





It warned tourists to be vigilant especially in Providenciales where "the vast majority of crime occurs and said that the territorys medical care and criminal investigative capabilities are limited.





Visitors were urged to take several precautionary measures when travelling to the TCI.





"Avoid walking alone and at night. Do not answer your door at your hotel/residence unless you know who it is. Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.





"Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.





"Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter, the department advised.





"US citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations.





Minister of Tourism Hon. Ralph Higgs in a press statement on Wednesday (February 27) said the advisory is not the result of any recent increase in criminal activities in the Islands.





Instead it was issued out of an abundance of caution, he said, and forms part of the US Consulates statutory duties to the American travelling public.





"Recent statistics on crime from the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, show a double digit decrease in crime here in the Islands, he assured.





The tourism minister said the TCI remains the safest destination in the region, if not in the world.





"All of our islands are at the disposal of our guests, and I would like to encourage them to visit every one and to be vigilant while they enjoy our many natural attribute, Higgs added.




The Northern Ireland Fire Service are at the scene. (stock picture)

Police believe the Northern Bar in Armagh was broken into in the early hours of Monday, ransacked and set alight. Credit: BBC

Police believe a large blaze at a bar in Armagh may have been started deliberately.

More than 30 firefighters were involved in dealing with the well-developed fire at the Northern Bar on Railway Street.

Detectives believe the fire, which started at around 8am, was an arson attack.

Inspector Gary Moore said: "Following an inspection of the premises we believe that entry had been gained to the bar sometime in the early hours of this morning and the bar then ransacked and set alight.

"We are also investigating an incident at Mullacreevie Park, where a white Audi A6 car was set alight shortly before 5am this morning. We are currently working to establish if both incidents are linked."

"Our enquiries are at an early stage and I would appeal to anyone who noticed any suspicious activity in the Railway Street area, or at Mullacreevie Park, to contact officers in Armagh on 101 quoting reference number 182 04/03/19.

A NIFRS spokesman said: Four Fire Appliances from Armagh, Keady, Portadown and Lisburn Fire Stations attended the incident along with the Command Support Unit from Lisburn Fire Station.

"Integral to Firefighting operations was the new Turntable Ladder Appliance based at Portadown Fire Station which also attended the incident. This enabled Firefighters to attack the fire from a height to quickly bring it under control.

The call was received at 7.55am this morning (4 March 2019) and it was initially thought that there were people trapped within the premises.

"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus quickly carried out a search of the building to confirm that no one was inside.

"The complex layout of the building, combined with floors that had been compromised due to the intensity of the fire, added significant challenges for firefighting operations. Firefighters worked hard to contain the fire and prevented it from spreading to adjacent buildings.

The cause of the fire is under investigation. The incident was dealt with at 3.54pm

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It's the second such fire at a bar in Northern Ireland after a petrol bomb attack on The Scotch House in Bushmills in the early hours of Monday morning.

Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster which represents those in the pub trade described the fires as "devastating".

"Our thoughts are with the management and staff at this sensitive time and well do all we can to support them.
A Northern Ireland primary school has complained of having no government agency to offer help it after its website content was replaced with pornographic material.

St Ronan's Primary School in Newry was alerted to the change in material on its site on Sunday.

The school said it believed the site was hacked, however, Twitter users pointed out that the subscription to host the website may have lapsed meaning another organisation was able to take over the management and content of its pages.

Police confirmed the domain name had been purchased legitimately and therefore the new owner entitled to publish their own material on the site.

"Unfortunately no government agency is able to assist," said the school in a tweet.

The school said it had been in contact with the domain hosts to try and resolve the issue as well as the police.

However, the material was still available on clicking on the school's official page on Monday afternoon.

Police said they investigated the matter.

A spokeswoman added: "Police received a report of an incident in relation to a website in the name of a school in the Newry area. On further police investigation it was established that the lease for this website had expired and it was legitimately purchased by another user.

"This website is in no way related to the school."

St Ronan's has been approached for a comment.
Two men have been charged with grievous bodily harm after a man suffered head injuries during a Co Antrim assault.

Police have appealed for witnesses after the incident on Main Street, Portglenone in the early hours of Sunday.

It was reported that just after 12.10am a man in his 20s was assaulted outside a licensed premises, sustaining head injuries.

Two men, aged 37 and 39, were charged on Monday evening with grievous bodily harm.

They will appear at Antrim Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.
A Fianna Fail senator is predicting that there will be a united Ireland in five years' time.

Kerry representative Mark Daly (45) claims that because of Brexit, many in Northern Ireland's unionist community are now more open to the idea of reunification.

Senator Daly told Dublin's Sunday Independent he had met many former paramilitaries and Church leaders in Northern Ireland.

"Some are saying that maybe a united Ireland would be better than a Brexit Britain," he said.

"They are contemplating it for the first time, but the problem is nobody in the Republic or in our government has given them the vision or explained what this new Ireland would look like.

"The truth is, it's not going to be the nightmare that unionists believe, or the dream that republicans expect. It will be a 'new Ireland' with compromise."

He told the paper that there will no longer be a unionist majority in in two years' time.

"We will see a unionist minority in 2021, and a unionist voting minority by 2023," he said.

But he described as "reckless" the absence of Irish preparations for the political and social challenges that a united Ireland would pose.
Gardai seized cocaine and cannabis in the Finglas area of Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

Cocaine and cannabis with an estimated street value of nearly 200,000 euro has been found in north Dublin.

Gardai investigating the sale and supply of drugs in the Finglas area seized the substances during a planned search.

Finglas detective unit searched an area off River Road on Sunday afternoon.

Cocaine with an estimated street value of up to 156,000 euro  pending analysis  was recovered, along with cannabis herb worth an estimated 35,000 euro  also pending analysis.

There were no arrests and the investigation is continuing.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has privately told ministers he believes the deadline for Britain leaving the EU will be extended to June.

The Taoiseach's private comments follow EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier indicating that he does not believe the UK will have enough time to approve a withdrawal deal by the scheduled exit date of March 29.

Prime Minster Theresa May has faced an angry backlash from hardline Brexiteers over the prospect of extending the deadline.

However, the Taoiseach has indicated to his most senior ministers that the most realistic prospect at this point is an extension, as Mrs May is unlikely to get a withdrawal deal through Parliament in time.

A Dublin minister, speaking on the grounds of anonymity, yesterday told the Sunday Independent: "The Taoiseach has privately said to us it is very likely there will be an extension until June."

Extending the deadline beyond June would cause complications for the EU Parliament elections in May. If the extension was any longer, Britain might have to put forward candidates for the election.

Last Friday the Taoiseach said he believed it was now unlikely Britain would leave the EU without a deal.

Speaking in Belfast, he said: "I don't want to say too much about it at this stage, but I think that the United Kingdom crashing out of the European Union without a deal on the 29th of March is unlikely. I think we either will have a deal or we'll have an extension."

However, his private comments suggest he is leaning towards an extension.

The prospect of a three-month extension to the Brexit withdrawal date comes as Irish ministers prepare to hold an informal discussion on the prospect of a no-deal Brexit. They will gather tonight for a dinner in the official state residence, Farmleigh in Dublin.

"It will be a good opportunity to reflect on the state of play with Brexit and to review the work that has been done over the last few months," the Taoiseach's spokesperson said.

"Ministers will discuss the progress of the Omnibus Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas and will be able to discuss and reflect on Brexit-related issues in their own departments, especially as preparations for all scenarios reach an advanced stage, including both deal and no-deal outcomes."

Tanaiste Simon Coveney will also use the meeting to brief ministers on the government's messaging ahead of its international St Patrick's Day trips later this month.

Mr Coveney will tell ministers that foreign dignitaries should be told "Ireland's place is at the heart of the EU" and explain how the country is preparing for the challenging times of Brexit.

Ministers will be told to say that the Republic is fully committed to membership of the EU and the eurozone and insist this is central to the success of its open, competitive economy.

The Tanaiste will tell ministers to promote the Republic as an attractive location in which to live, work and study, to trade with and in which to invest.
Gardai were among the emergency services sent to the scene in Baggot Street, Dublin (Niall Carson/PA)

A government building in Dublin has been reopened after an envelope containing white powder was deemed non-hazardous.

The Defence Forces bomb disposal team was called out to deal with what was believed to be hazardous material at the Department of Health, prompting an evacuation of the building.

In a statement, the Defence Forces said: An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

Army bomb disposal units have arrived in protective clothing to the Department of Health on Baggot Street amid an ongoing incident. pic.twitter.com/pBdulvB1EZ  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination.

The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the gardai.

The Defence Forces confirmed their Bomb Disposal Unit was deployed to the scene at around 12.20pm on Monday and could be seen entering the building in protective chemical suits.

A statement from Dublin Fire Brigade had said: The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature.

All resources are in place to resolve the incident.

The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature. All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/ZpaPqHmkdZ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons.

A statement published on social media by the Department of Health had said: We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time.

All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time. All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) March 4, 2019

Despite the health department evacuation, staff could still be seen inside nearby businesses, including shops and cafes, behind the Garda cordon.

At least five fire engines rushed to the scene, along with ambulance staff and a number of Gardai support vehicles.

The Defence Forces Army Bomb Disposal unit also kept a number of vehicles present on site.

When asked about the incident on Monday afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had said he had no confirmation yet.

As far as the incident at the Department of Health, I dont have any details on that unfortunately, I just heard there was a suspicious package at the Department of Health and they had been evacuated, he said.

I wont say anymore until we know what the nature of this potential threat is, but I know our gardai and Defence Forces have all appropriate equipment and skills to deal with such matters.

The potential threat comes just weeks after protesters gathered outside the home of Simon Harris in Co Wicklow to protest over their dissatisfaction with the Health Minister.

The peaceful protest was broken up voluntarily after gardai arrived on the scene, but Mr Harris, who was at home at the time with his wife and baby daughter, said the ordeal was frightening for his family.

Traffic across the busy Dublin city centre area suffered major disruption due to the incident, as a considerable length of Baggot Street was closed off and public transport diverted.
A government building in Dublin has been reopened after an envelope containing white powder was deemed non-hazardous.

The Defence Forces bomb disposal team was called out to deal with what was believed to be hazardous material at the Department of Health, prompting an evacuation of the building.

In a statement, the Defence Forces said: An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

Army bomb disposal units have arrived in protective clothing to the Department of Health on Baggot Street amid an ongoing incident. pic.twitter.com/pBdulvB1EZ  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination.

The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the gardai.

The Defence Forces said the Bomb Disposal Unit was deployed to the scene at around 12.20pm on Monday and were seen entering the building in protective chemical suits.

A statement from Dublin Fire Brigade had confirmed there was no danger to the public, and appealed for people to respect the emergency cordons that were in place.

The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature. All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/ZpaPqHmkdZ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

All staff at the Department of Health were sent home in the wake of the incident.

At least five fire engines went to the scene, along with ambulance staff and a number of gardai support vehicles.

When asked about the incident on Monday afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that gardai and Defence Forces had all appropriate equipment and skills to deal with the incident.

It comes just weeks after protesters gathered outside the home of Simon Harris in Co Wicklow to protest over their dissatisfaction with the Health Minister.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time. All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) March 4, 2019

The peaceful protest was broken up voluntarily after gardai arrived on the scene, but Mr Harris  who was at home at the time with his wife and baby daughter  said the ordeal was frightening for his family.

Traffic across the busy Dublin city centre area suffered major disruption due to the incident, as a considerable length of Baggot Street was closed off and public transport diverted.
Development is for private sector, govt is for protecting freedoms

Bureaucratic figures are untrustworthy in every dictatorial regime. Hiding the truth is authoritarianism.

When the dictators fall only then lies are found out and the ruination of the country is revealed. In Bangladesh the banking sector has been freely looted under this government and it does not require somebody from the academic world to say that no country can be developed by destroying the banking system or allowing politics to be rich overnight.





In a recent interview conducted by Al Jazeera Television Mr Gowher Rizvi, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister, described himself to be proud for the opportunity to serve under the great leader Sheikh Hasina for the government's high achievements in many areas.







Like, anyone not responsible to the people but works unseen from within can beautifully distort the truth and mislead the government by gagging the free press and subverting free elections. That is the way to keep everybody guessing about the true position.





Mr Rizvi gloated over disinformation spread by Shahidul Alam. The question is why he has to be beaten up mercilessly unless to teach others of the consequence of criticising the government actions? If the government can give credible information, no disinformation can do any harm. The government itself must enjoy public trust by not lying to the people or robbing the election.





Democracy does not mean just election but also justice and good governance. It should also be known that propaganda about huge success without good governance is the worst disinformation.





Anyone who has respect for intellectual honesty must have felt sorry for him. He came to serve Sheikh Hasina to feel powerful where political leadership is weak and real power lies with others to play with the fate of a nation.





Mr Rizvi is right that he has come to serve Sheikh Hasina and not the people or the country. He gave some figures of development in various sectors. Unless one has the inside information to corroborate and where free speech is risky, lies are risk-free for the government. One should ask how corruption has gone up with impunity.





Where the practice of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and politics of police cases are prevalent, it is easy for the government supporters to get away with falsehood and easy denials.





Mr Rizvi spoke more like a loyal bureaucrat than an academic of independent thinking. Why some truths did not come out from so highly educated a person like Mr Rizvi such as the government's fear of free election and free press. The number of television channels, mostly owned by the government supporters is no proof of free press freedom.





Under the Digital Security Act nothing but the truth is to be said but press freedom means searching for the truth. The freedom of speech is not like giving evidence in a court of law. Even for an alleged defamation the law is applied.





All the success stories he dished out to be true then why fear a free election like held under parliamentary system everywhere after resigning from power. The Constitution was arbitrarily changed to make the democratic system of free election impossibility.





He is very much part of the plan for not allowing the people to vote. Besides, success of the government must mean quality of life and enjoyment of freedom by the people.





We do not want to hear success stories from the special beneficiaries of the government. If the achievements were not for the benefit of the few collaborating with the government but for the benefit of the general public, the people would have supported the government wholeheartedly.





He also blamed the military governments for destroying the democratic institutions. The democratic institutions were vanished by the Awami League when one party BKSAL government was formed.





In this regard also the role of some anti-people experts was important. Both military and civilian authoritarianism are bad for curtailing freedoms.





The truth is under the successive martial law governments multiparty democracy was given a chance to grow. It is the weak political leadership helped by so-called expert advisers that the democratic institutions were systematically made unworkable so that the advisers could feel important as the king makers.





Mr Rizvi should have the openness to advise the government for a free election so we could all, nationally and internationally, hear from the people how much good they have done to the people and the country.







Mr Rizvi, although a likeable person and other advisers not so likeable together have made the government their government and not the people's government.




The family of an Irish woman murdered alongside her three children by her husband faced debts of more than 50,000 (43,064) in funeral and legal costs after the killings.

Speaking as they ask to see copies of Garda files on the murders and suicide, Clodagh Hawe's sister Jacqueline and mother Mary said they want laws on succession to change so that the relatives of people who wipe out their families do not benefit financially from their crime.

Alan Hawe transferred large sums of money from the joint account he had with teacher Clodagh into his own account before killing himself, his wife and sons Liam (13), Niall (11), and Ryan (6) in August 2016 at their home in Ballyjamesduff in Co Cavan in August 2016.

It is thought he did this so that his family would inherit the money.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Jacqueline said that in the days and weeks after the shocking killings, they slowly started to learn that as the victim's family they had few rights.

This began when they tried to have Alan Hawe exhumed from the grave he shared with Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan.

"Of course, when we tried to have the body exhumed we learned, as we did on so many occasions later, that we, Clodagh's next of kin, had no rights.

"It would be the Hawe family that would have the ultimate say whether there would or would not be an exhumation," said Jacqueline.

"We also would find out that under the Succession Act 1965, the Hawe family alone are entitled to all the proceeds of the estate."

Last Thursday, Jacqueline and Mary met with justice minister Charlie Flanagan to discuss the 1965 Act.

"It must be reformed as soon as possible so that murderers, or their family if they end their own life, do not financially benefit from their crime," said Jacqueline.

"Last week I also spoke with Jim O'Callaghan, Fianna Fail's justice spokesperson, who said it must be a priority to change this law.

"Let's get this law changed immediately. Please, please stop financially rewarding the perpetrators of femicide and familicide.

"At the inquest, we learned that Alan Hawe transferred funds and arranged his affairs so his family would be the sole financial beneficiaries of his estate.

"Please do not add insult to our injury, loss and grieving, thinking we want money.

"But trying to get answers to our questions, plus the expenses for the funerals and legal costs we had for the inquest, have all added up to more than 50,000 - bills my mother, retired, and I, a widow, are struggling to pay."

Since the inquest, Clodagh's family have learned from the notes of his counsellor that Alan Hawe had been viewing pornography at work on a laptop, and was experimenting with cross-dressing.

He had said he had been caught "red handed" and Jacqueline and Mary want to know what that referred to.

They have also been told by a local man that he saw Alan driving very close to the school where he was vice principal early on the morning of August 29.

"So, after Alan Hawe murdered his wife and three sons, did he leave the house to go to his place of work, Castlerahan National School, where he was vice principal, perhaps to destroy evidence?," Jacqueline asks.

"When we asked a detective did the gardai pursue this line of inquiry - local witnesses saying they sighted the murderer driving that morning - we were accused of interfering with a witness, because we allowed a local to tell us what they saw that morning," she added.

Last week, The National Women's Council of Ireland said a review of domestic homicides had not been published, despite assurances from then-Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and then-Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan following the Hawe murders.

There has also been criticism of the Dail's failure to fast-track legislation that is aimed at closing off a loophole which means killers or their estates can inherit assets.

The Private Member's Bill, which has been dubbed Celine's Law after slain film production company owner Celine Cawley, was tabled two years ago.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has condemned the perpetrators who sent a suspicious package to a government building.

The Defence Forces bomb disposal team was called out to deal with what was believed to be hazardous material at the Department of Health.

Staff had to be evacuated from the building at lunchtime on Monday.

Expand Close Health Minister Simon Harris (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

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Whatsapp Health Minister Simon Harris (Niall Carson/PA)

I understand there was a suspicious package opened at the department and the hazmat people checked it out and its been given the all-clear now, Mr Varadkar said.

I havent been able to speak to Minister (Simon) Harris or his team yet but my particular concerns would be for the staff in the department who open the mail.

Im not sure what kind of oddballs send suspicious packages in the post but they should be well aware that it is not politicians opening the mail, its people doing a normal job, a receptionist or a security guard or clerical officer or someone in the constituency team.

If you want to come after us, come after us, but dont come after our staff or our families.

Army bomb disposal units have arrived in protective clothing to the Department of Health on Baggot Street amid an ongoing incident. pic.twitter.com/pBdulvB1EZ  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

The Defence Forces confirmed the bomb disposal unit was deployed to the scene at around 12.20pm and could be seen entering the building in protective chemical suits.

In a statement, a Defence Forces spokesman said: An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination.

The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the gardai.

The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature. All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/ZpaPqHmkdZ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

A statement published on social media by the Department of Health confirmed staff had been evacuated by emergency services.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time.

All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time. All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) March 4, 2019

Despite the health department evacuation, staff could still be seen inside nearby businesses, including shops and cafes, behind the Garda cordon.

At least five fire engines went to the scene, along with ambulance staff and a number of Gardai support vehicles.

The Defence Forces Army Bomb Disposal unit also kept a number of vehicles present on site.

The government building in Dublin reopened a few hours later after the envelope containing white powder was deemed non-hazardous.

The potential threat comes just weeks after protesters gathered outside the home of Simon Harris in Co Wicklow to protest over their dissatisfaction with the Health Minister.

The peaceful protest was broken up voluntarily after gardai arrived on the scene but Mr Harris, who was at home at the time with his wife and baby daughter, said the ordeal was frightening for his family.

Traffic across the busy Dublin city centre area suffered major disruption due to the incident as a considerable length of Baggot Street was closed off and public transport diverted.
The DUP's Westminster leader Nigel Dodds has said any changes to the withdrawal agreement with the EU mush be legally binding but they are committed to getting a deal.

It comes as the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox - who will be in Brussels on Monday with the Brexit secretary for further talks - is reported to be abandoning getting a time limit or exit mechanism added to the backstop in the Irish withdrawal agreement.

The DT reporting of the last 24 hours consists of misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts. Some of it is accurate, much more of it isnt and what is not is far more significant than what is. Complex and detailed negotiations cannot be conducted in public.



Get Outlook for iOS  Geoffrey Cox QC MP (@Geoffrey_Cox) March 4, 2019

The DUP and a number of MPs have outlined their key demands ahead of any meaningful vote in the Commons. Chief among them is they want to examine any agreement to ensure the backstop is temporary.

"We know the current backstop arrangements are meant to be temporary and all the assurances in the world from the EU that they will negotiate in good faith etc, it doesn't change that," he told the BBC.

"What we need to have is legally binding change not assurances about what we know already."

We want to get a deal, we certainly are not in the business of running down the clock towards some kind of no deal scenario.

He said any change to the withdrawal agreement would have to have "legal effect".

"The more important question is, what is it that has to change?

"The problem with it is that at the minute if the agreement is accepted in its current form The UK will only every be able to get out of it either by having a full customs union and high single market alignment for the whole of the UK or Northern Ireland left behind in such an arrangement. And that's the problem with it."

Read More

Mr Dodds said he did not believe his party held sway with dozens of MPs in terms of how they would vote in parliament but said members were aware the party had been consistent and after the "best interests of the of the union in the medium to long term whatever the short term benefits" would be.

"And that will be their considerations for what Geoffrey Cox is to bring back," he continued.

Asked if the DUP was "slithering" toward a fudge deal, in the words of the former UUP leader Lord Empey, Mr Dodds said they would have no problem saying no to a deal "if it was not right for Northern Ireland".

"We will judge all these things in the round and the best interests of the people we represent and the UK. We want a deal that works for the whole of the UK and NI."

Mr Dodds said a lot depended on the EU and if they were prepared to reach agreement.

"We want to get a deal, we certainly are not in the business of running down the clock towards some kind of no deal scenario," he said.

"But if people want a deal then they have got to realise that the current arrangements which is an indefinite trap forever holding over Northern Ireland to the prospect of keeping us in the customs union, single market, for agri food, for manufactured goods and certainly of the customs union for the whole of the UK that is an unacceptable position."
Theresa May was given a Brexit boost as key Tories signalled swinging behind her stance in exchange for movement on the backstop.

Chairman of the highly influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tories Sir Graham Brady expressed optimism that a breakthrough on the backstop was close.

The hardline European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg also indicated a more conciliatory tone on the issue.

The ERG has drawn up "three tests" the Government must pass to win backing, according to the Sunday Times.

In private talks with Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, the ERG called for a legally-binding mechanism to escape the backstop, with a clear exit route and an unambiguous rewrite of the language in the Government's legal advice, the newspaper said.

The stance has been drawn up in conjunction with the DUP, according to the Sunday Times.

Last night a DUP spokesman said: "We want a sensible deal which works for the entire UK as well as our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland.

"The PM received a clear mandate from the House of Commons through the Brady Amendment on January 29.

"She committed to seek legally binding changes. She should deliver on those commitments.

"We will judge any new deal on how it impacts the Union and whether it respects the referendum result in that the UK takes back control of its money, laws and borders."

Sir Graham made clear he could swing behind the Prime Minister's withdrawal agreement ahead of crunch Commons votes.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Sir Graham said: "The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay.

"When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the European Union on March 29."

Many Brexiteers have expressed opposition to the backstop, as it would leave the UK obeying EU customs rules if no wider trade deal is agreed after a transition period.

Sir Graham, who branded the Government's handling of the Brexit negotiations as "lions led by donkeys", indicated there was a growing mood for a deal in the Commons.

He said: "My conversations with senior diplomats and politicians from across Europe have given me cause for optimism that a breakthrough is near."

The ERG proposals were drawn up by eight members, including veteran Eurosceptic Sir Bill Cash, the Sunday Times said.

One of the eight, Michael Tomlinson, told the newspaper they needed to see "black and white" text in good time before the Commons votes.

Mr Tomlinson told the Sunday Times: "There is a spectrum and a range of options that the Attorney General has.

"I'm going to say protocol good, codicil bad, letter very bad, because that would be prejudging it."

The manoeuvring follows Mrs May telling MPs the Commons will have a "meaningful vote" on her Brexit plans by March 12.

The PM said that if her deal is rejected, MPs will be able to vote on whether the UK can leave the EU in a no-deal scenario, and if that is rejected, the Commons can decide on whether to extend Article 50 and delay Brexit.

Meanwhile, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he does not believe the UK will have enough time to approve Mrs May's withdrawal deal by the scheduled exit date of March 29.

Mr Barnier suggested a "technical extension" of up to two months may be needed.

Asked if he thought it was possible to reach an agreement by March 29, even if Westminster gave the green light this month, Mr Barnier told Spain's El Mundo newspaper: "No."

Mr Barnier has also said that Brussels is ready to give the UK further "guarantees, assurances and clarifications" that the Irish backstop should only be temporary.

Elsewhere, a man has been arrested on suspicion of assault after an egg was thrown at Jeremy Corbyn in north London.

The Labour leader was allegedly targeted while visiting the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park on Saturday afternoon.

Sky News reported that the arrested man was believed to be a pro-Brexit campaigner.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "On Sunday, March 3 at around 15.52 hours an egg was thrown at a Member of Parliament.

"The incident occurred on Seven Sisters Road.

"A 41-year-old man was quickly detained by officers on scene and arrested on suspicion of assault."
Channel 4s Dispatches found the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing homicides using a knife or sharp instrument rose by 77% over three years (Katie Collins/PA)

The number of children and young people linked to murders and manslaughters using knives has risen by more than 75% over three years, an investigation has indicated.

Channel 4s Dispatches found the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing homicides using a knife or sharp instrument rose by 77% from 26 to 46 from 2016 to 2018.

The analysis was based on Freedom of Information request responses from 29 out of 43 police forces about the age of offenders recorded as carrying out knife and sharp instrument offences.

It also found that during this period the number of police recorded offenders aged under 18 committing rape and sexual assault with a knife rose from 24 to 33 and robbery with a knife increased from 656 to 999.

The programme said a police recorded offender is where there is an offender linked to the crime resulting in an arrest, caution or community outcome.

Dispatches also found there has been a 93% rise in the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for stab wounds in England.

An analysis of NHS Digital data by the programme found the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for assaults by sharp objects rose from 180 to 347 between 2012-13 and 2017-18.

Its said that 76 people were reportedly stabbed to death in the capital out of 306 across the UK as a whole last year, including 23 children.

The programme, Britains Knife Crisis: Young, Armed And Dangerous, is fronted by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and airs at 8pm on Monday.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.Policing Minister Nick Hurd

Lord Hogan-Howe, who retired from the Met in 2017, called for the appointment of a new knife crime tsar to get a grip on the crisis.

He said: Its important to focus attention on the exploitation of children in socially deprived areas.

We need to increase police numbers in these areas and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution including by county lines.

Something law enforcement and government have failed to do.

I just dont see anybody getting a grip of this crisis. The government needs to appoint somebody who is going to lead it day after day.

Call it a knife crime tsar if you like, but somebody who is going to make sure we get knives off the street and save lives.

Lord Hogan-Howe also called for increased interception of Class A drugs, increasing police numbers by 20,000, improving technology and building trust in local communities as part of urgent measures to reduce knife crime.

Policing minister Nick Hurd told the programme an extra 460 million is being invested in the police system this year which will be used to recruit at least 2,500 more officers.

But Lord Hogan-Howe told ITVs Good Morning Britain the proposed number of new officers was too few.

Expand Close The programme is fronted by former Metropolitan Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe (Stefan Rousseau/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

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Mr Hurd added: This is a massive challenge for our policing system and therefore a big priority for me as policing minister to make sure that our police system has the resources to invest in upgrading our technology.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

The show also used undercover filming to capture a 17-year-old girl being allowed to buy the knives in Asda and B&M without being challenged her on her age or asking for ID.

It being illegal to sell a knife with a blade longer than three inches to anyone under 18 but experts say girls are used by gangs to buy them, the programme said.

B&M, which was fined 480,000 in September last year for selling knives to under-age children, told Dispatches it takes every precaution to prevent the sale of knives to under-age shoppers.

The company said the checkout worker filmed by the show had received training on Challenge 25 in the previous 12 months and had therefore been suspended pending disciplinary action and further training.

It added: We have had 104 test purchases in the last 12 months by Trading Standards for age restricted products, with a 100% pass rate.

Asda told Dispatches it took its responsibility as a retailer very seriously, had strict processes around knife sales and regularly trained staff on its Challenge 25 policy.

It added: On this occasion we got it wrong and have conducted a full investigation into what happened.
Five people have been arrested after a gang of males armed with knives entered the grounds of a college and threatened students.

Staff at Runshaw College in Leyland, Lancashire, rang police on Monday at 10.40am after they received an anonymous report stating a group with weapons were heading to the college by train from Manchester.

Officers were sent to the site and shortly before 4pm they witnessed a group of males walking into the grounds while students were leaving.

Some of the group were seen carrying knives and making threats towards students, said Lancashire Police.

A 17-year-old boy was nicked on the arm during the incident and has been taken to Chorley Hospital.

His injury is not thought to be serious. No-one else was injured during the incident, police added.

We believe this was a targeted attack in that we think the group have gone to find someone and a separate student has received a minor injury. This was not a random attackChief Inspector Gary Crowe

The group made off from the college when police patrols arrived.

Three people who were inside a parked Nissan Micra close by were arrested. A fourth person who made off on foot was also arrested.

A Peugeot 306 was later stopped on the M55 and a fifth person was arrested in connection with the disorder.

Chief Inspector Gary Crowe, from Leyland Police, said: We believe this was a targeted attack in that we think the group have gone to find someone and a separate student has received a minor injury. This was not a random attack.

I would like to reassure people that the incident has now come to a close. The safety of the colleges students and staff remains our priority and so we have stepped up patrols in the area and this will continue. We have and will remain in close contact with the college.

Five males have been arrested following an incident of disorder at Runshaw College this afternoon. You can read the full story here: https://t.co/HpHLLXm5SO We have stepped up patrols in the area and these will continue. Please contact us if you have any information. pic.twitter.com/a4K44Tyzk9  Lancashire Police (@LancsPolice) March 4, 2019

If you have any information, or any mobile phone footage of the incident, please make contact with us. You can call 101 quoting incident reference 933 of today (March 4).

British Transport Police authorised the use of Section 60 Stop and Search Powers at Leyland Train Station until 10pm on Monday.

Runshaw College tweeted it would be open on Tuesday as usual for classes.
Flowers near the scene in Harold Hill, east London, where Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Police still have no idea why a 17-year-old girl stabbed to death in an east London park was targeted.

Jodie Chesney was with friends near a childrens playground on Harold Hill when she was approached by two males and knifed in the back in a seemingly motiveless attack.

Jodie was pronounced dead just over an hour after police were called to the park at 9.25pm on Friday evening.

The suspect who attacked Jodie is described as a black male aged in his late teens, the Metropolitan Police said on Sunday.

There was no description given of the other male who approached Jodie and her five teenage friends while they were playing music.

The group were aware of the two males being in the park and saw them leave at around 9pm, police said.

The males returned around 30 minutes later and walked towards the group where one stabbed Jodie in the back.

The pair then ran off in the direction of Romford Road.

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Detective Chief Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri, who is leading the police response to the murder in the local community, said on Monday afternoon: We still dont have any idea (why Jodie was attacked).

She said investigators were focusing totally on a witness appeal to try and track down the suspects.

The Met has asked anyone who may have CCTV or dash cam footage between 7pm and 11pm on March 1.

Ms Chaudhri refused to speculate on whether the attack could have been some form of gang initiation.

She said the Mets Violent Crime Taskforce had been deployed in the Havering area as well as additional patrols in the boroughs of Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham and Havering.

We are working robustly  not just here but across the whole of London, she said.

Weve increased overtime, weve extended the number of officers on shift weve seen an increase in stop-and-search.

Weve carried out over 2,500 stop-and-search in the last few days, so we are working very robustly.

Increased police presence has made a difference with officers conducting more than 2,500 stop and searches in the last three days alone. To show the scale of our activity around tackling knife crime, in the last 12 months we have seized 1000s of weapons by utilising the tactic pic.twitter.com/MTyG7Pkv71  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) March 4, 2019

When asked if the Met needed more officers, she replied: Id love to have more officers but I have to work with the numbers that Ive got.

A post-mortem carried out on Sunday established that the cause of Jodies death was trauma and haemorrhage, and police released a photograph of the teenager on the same day.

Jodie was a Girl Scout and school friends said students at Havering College would be wearing purple next Friday in honour of Jodie and her Barking & Dagenham scout troop colours.

She posted a photograph on Instagram with fellow scouts at 10 Downing Street on Remembrance Day last year, with the caption: Im basically famous now  this was such a good opportunity and so much fun.

Reverend Alan Moss, 37, who had come to lay flowers for Jodie said a lot of young people had been relocated to the borough out of inner city areas to try and break the cycle of gang violence.

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Rev Moss, of nearby St Johns and St James Church, said: Its not really solving the problem, its just moving it.

There were a lot of people who werent gang affiliated who now are.

He continued: Of course this may not have been gang related, it could have just been a random attack.

Rev Moss did not know Jodie personally but works with young people in the community.

A charity set up a fundraising page for Jodies family which raised more than 4,000 of the 5,000 goal in a day.

It said: The whole community are still trying to come to terms with this shocking event.

As a local charity we want to support the family as much as we can to alleviate the financial stress on this young ladys funeral.

Police continue to appeal for information following the appalling murder of Jodie Chesney. I urge anyone with any information at all to call 101 or @CrimestoppersUK.



There is no honour in staying silent, and those responsible for this horrific crime must be brought to justice. https://t.co/FgitBmycXc  Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) March 3, 2019

Two school friends told the Press Association they were disgusted by the killing. One said: Jodie had no enemies, she was the nicest person.

Jodies uncle Dave Chesney told ITV News on Sunday that the family had lost a beautiful, lovely and quirky girl.

Posting on Facebook on Saturday, Jodies grandmother Debbie Chesney said too many young people were having their lives cut short by needless violence.

She echoed calls for people to come forward with information.
Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Salisbury Cathedral, following a visit to mark the first anniversary of the Skripal poisoning (Adrian Dennis/PA)

Theresa May praised the tremendous spirit and resolve shown by the people of Salisbury a year on from the nerve agent attack in the city.

Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with Novichok in the Wiltshire city in what the Prime Minister described as an utterly reckless attack.

The Russian GRU intelligence agency has been blamed for the use of the chemical weapon, which later claimed the life of Dawn Sturgess, who died after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack on the Skripals and then discarded.

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In Salisbury, the Prime Minister met some of residents of Christie Miller Road  the neighbours of Mr Skripal and the location where the nerve agent was deployed.

She also visited businesses in the city and its historic cathedral following last weeks announcement that the clean-up operation at sites connected with the attack had been completed.

Mrs May said: This city has shown such spirit and resolve in the last 12 months.

The impact of the utterly reckless use of a nerve agent should not and will not be forgotten.

But it is incredibly heartening to see the hard work and determination of the people here to ensure this city has a positive and prosperous future, which it deserves.

Those responsible saw the international community unite to say NO - thanks to all those who supported the UK on chemical weapons use 2/2  Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) March 4, 2019

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt thanked the UKs allies for their response to the attack.

The UK expelled 23 diplomats it claimed were Russian spies following the attack and other Western powers followed suit.
Police are investigating after a woman was attacked in Kirkwall (Peter Byrne/PA)

Police are investigating after a woman was sexually assaulted in Kirkwall, Orkney.

The attack is said to have happened just after midnight in the towns Bridge Street area.

Police Scotland said officers would remain at the scene as inquiries continued.

Enquiries into the incident are ongoing and at an early stagePolice Scotland

A spokesman said: Police Scotland is carrying out inquiries following a report of a sexual assault of a woman in the Bridge Street area of Kirkwall in the early hours of Monday March 4.

Inquiries into the incident are ongoing and at an early stage.

A police presence will be maintained in the area as these continue and the local public are thanked for their understanding.
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The memorial dedicated to victims of the 2015 terror attacks in Tunisia at Cannon Hill park, Birmingham (Joe Giddens/PA)

Prince Harry has officially dedicated a memorial to the British victims of the 2015 Tunisia terrorist attacks.

The Duke of Sussex attended the ceremony at Birminghams Cannon Hill Park, alongside the families of the victims, on Monday.

The memorial will be a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, and a hotel beach resort in Sousse on June 26.

"In memory of all those who lost their lives, and to the families whose lives were changed forever."



The Duke of Sussex at the Sousse and Bardo Memorial, dedicated to those who lost their lives on the attacks in Tunisia on the Bardo Museum in March 2015 and Sousse in June 2015. pic.twitter.com/Ofpo8FJLxJ  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019

Addressing an audience of about 200 family and friends of those who died, Prince Harry said: In memory of all those who lost their lives.

And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events.

I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones.

Holding a single white rose, he then turned and walked to the memorials centre-piece, where he laid the flower.

At Sousse, 30 British tourists staying at the Hotel Rui Imperial Marhaba complex in Port el Kantaoui were among 38 killed, with dozens more injured.

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Sally Adey, a 57-year-old solicitor from Caynton near Shifnal, Shropshire, was the sole British victim of the deadly museum attack, which left 22 dead.

The Sousse terrorist attack was the deadliest on British citizens since the July 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Islamic State claimed at the time that it was behind the attack by Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui.

Among those killed were three members of the same family; Charles Patrick Evans, 78; his son Adrian Evans, 49, and grandson Joel Richards, 19.

Joels brother Owen Richards, then 16, survived and was later praised for his bravery at the scene by a coroner at inquests into the deaths.

The Sousse and Bardo Memorial, made up of 31 individual streams, each one representing the British nationals who lost their lives  will be a place of remembrance, commemoration and reflection for families of those injured and killed in the terrorist attacks in Tunisia in 2015. pic.twitter.com/prRzupp16j  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) March 4, 2019

After the attacks, he and his mother Suzanne Richards set up the Smile for Joel Charity, providing support for other victims of terrorism.

Speaking after the ceremony, Mrs Richards said: Were looking forward to seeing the memorial being officially unveiled. We had a sneaky peak yesterday and it was beautiful.

Its lovely to think people can actually come and see all the names of those killed and reflect on what happened.

It is very difficult and also today is my Dads (Charles) birthday.

Owen Richards, now 19 and studying at university, said: Its really important not just for the families but also generally for the wider public to take an interest and be able to remember what happened, and not forget it.

Because there were things that should have been learned from that day and by remembering it hopefully those lessons (will be learned) and it will stop it happening again.

He added: Its a bit of a hectic, intense day.

Its Grandads birthday today which is kind of nice but obviously makes it a little bit harder.

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Mrs Richards added that the charity, Smile for Joel, set up 18 months ago was also now reaching out to families affected by murder in the UK as well as terrorism, particularly given the recent spate of gun and knife attacks.

Its lovely because every week, we get requests for help and its lovely to be able to give help in their names, she added.

The mother and son also performed a reading at the dedication, called We Remember Them.

Mrs Richards said: We chose a reading about remembering them, because that is what this is all about.

We want to make sure that people never forget that people went on holiday and never came home.

The work Im doing with the travel industry Im hoping to make changes so that never happens again.

Seven people were sentenced to life in prison in Tunisia, in February, in connection with both attacks.

The park site was selected in consultation with the families due to its central location, its seclusion and tranquillity and as being a place of public prominence, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said previously.

The memorial has been designed by George King Architects and overlooks the parks boating lake.

The centre piece of the memorial is a sculpture titled Infinite Wave made up of 31 individual stainless steel rods, each representing the Britons who lost their lives.

From the side, the memorial also takes the shape of a dove of peace taking flight, while concentric rings of stone and turf ripple outwards.

The FCO developed the memorial, consulting with families on the design and location.

In 2016, Prince Harry attended a service at Westminster Abbey for the victims, and gave a reading.
(From left) Pete Wishart, Tommy Sheppard, Danielle Rowley and Christine Jardine from the Scottish Affairs Committee in Edinburgh announcing an inquiry into drug use in Scotland (PA)

MPs are to investigate in an attempt to address the record number of drug-related deaths in Scotland.

Almost 1,000 people died in Scotland due to drug misuse according to the latest figures, with that number predicted to continue rising.

The Scottish Affairs committee has now launched an inquiry into the use and misuse of drugs that will look at ways to tackle the issue.

Describing drug use as one of the biggest social issues we are currently confronting here in Scotland, committee chair Pete Wishart said that the group of MPs would seek evidence from all sides of the debate and look at drug laws.

Speaking at Crew 2000 in Edinburgh, a facility offering information and support about drug use, Mr Wishart said: We all know that substance abuse can devastate the lives of individuals, families and communities.

Detailing the drug problems facing Scotland, he explained: In 1997 there were 224 drug-related deaths, in 2017 that number has gone up to 934.

He added that the committee would predominantly examine the use of opioid-based drugs such as heroin, fentanyl and morphine, which were involved in 89% of recorded deaths, but also hear evidence about other recreational drug use as well as links between substance abuse and poverty.

The consequences of the legislation are almost wholly the responsibility of the Scottish Government in terms of the health and social care system and the police and criminal justice systemTommy Sheppard MP

Commenting on the record levels of deaths caused by drugs, Edinburgh East MP Tommy Sheppard added: Most of them shouldnt die. I think that if this was any other area of social policy there would be outrage.

He expressed dismay that drug laws have not been reviewed for almost half a century and said: The nature of drug abuse we have in society today is incredibly different to what it would have been characterised as in 1971.

Perhaps our inquiry, the evidence we take and the report that we make may encourage the Home Office and others into looking at the legislation again.

Mr Sheppard also raised the issue of drugs legislation not being devolved to the Scottish Parliament, which meant the Home Office were able to block attempts to introduce a drug consumption room in Glasgow in 2017.

This is one of these areas where the legislative framework is entirely reserved to Westminster in terms of the 1971 Misuse of Drugs Act and yet the consequences of the legislation are almost wholly the responsibility of the Scottish Government in terms of the health and social care system and the police and criminal justice system, he said.

Pointing out that the current laws span multiple generations of her family, Christine Jardine MP said: I dont think we can be in any doubt now that the war on drugs has failed.

This will be about looking at an issue which has blighted those two generations in Scotland, costing lives and blighting families, and looking for a way that we can recommend some positive action.

The committee will also look to evidence from other countries with different drug laws, including places that have legalised certain recreational drugs, to see if there has been an impact on deaths or harm caused by drugs.
Luke Perrys portrayal of rebellious heartthrob Dylan McKay in Beverly Hills, 90210 captured a nation of hearts in both his native America and across the Atlantic.

So ubiquitous was his performance in the 90s teen drama that at times the public found it difficult to separate him from his character.

Often compared to James Dean, Perry, who has died aged 52 after suffering a stroke, found himself typecast in the years following his departure from that show.

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He was born Coy Luther Perry III on October 11 1966 in Mansfield, Ohio, to a steelworker father and housewife mother.

Perrys relationship with his father remained strained until his death in 1980 following a heart attack.

Indeed, it was his stepfather, a construction worker, who he looked to as a role model.

In an interview with People magazine he described him as the one who taught me the important things I needed to know about being a man.

After finishing school and realising there was little chance of him breaking into the film industry from Ohio, he spent time in both Los Angeles and New York.

It took until 1990 for his breakthrough role, and in the intervening years he worked as a paver, living in cities including Huntington Beach and Long Beach.

In an interview with American television host Whoopi Goldberg, Perry said he auditioned for 215 acting jobs in New York before finally securing a single TV commercial.

He scored a part in the video for the Alice Cooper-featuring song Be Chrool To Your Scuel by heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Later he appeared in daytime soaps such as ABCs Loving.

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But at the cusp of the 90s he was cast in Aaron Spellings Fox TV series Beverly Hills, 90210 and his career accelerated.

Playing the brooding son of a millionaire, Perry became a household name.

He had originally auditioned for the role of jock Steve Sanders but was thought more suited to the morally ambiguous and often conflicted McKay.

Alongside Justin Timberlake, Perrys image was found plastered across the bedroom walls of teenage girls in the US and UK.

Beverly Hills, 90210 set a template for teen drama that would be reused and repurposed by programmes including The OC and later Gossip Girl.

It followed a group of friends living in the exclusive and star-studded community of Beverly Hills as they start at college and face the adult world.

Two years later Perry won a supporting role in the film version of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, starring in the movie Terminal Bliss the same year.

The US network Fox saw its ratings soar and the media regularly compared Perry to the actor James Dean, who died aged 24 following a car accident.

Feeling he had outgrown the show, Perry quit in 1995 and began looking for more mature roles.

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The next three years saw him star in an independent film and a clutch of science fiction features.

But he did not find the career breakthrough he longed for and returned to his role as McKay in 1998 for financial reasons.

The late 90s and noughties saw Perry find consistent work on television including on HBO prison drama Oz from 2001 and 2002 and Windfall, a series following friends who win the lottery, in 2006.

Yet all the while he was unable to escape the character he created on the by then ubiquitous Beverly Hills, 90210.

A 2009 revival did not include Perry, with him telling fans at the time that a new series which did not feature longtime producer Aaron Spelling was simply a pale imitation.

He said: The difference between CW bringing something back and Aaron Spelling doing something back is significant, and I cannot do it without Aaron.

Perry cameoed in programmes including The Simpsons and took to the stage in a Broadway revival of The Rocky Horror Show in 2004 as well as a London production of When Harry Met Sally as Harry.

Ironically, he would eventually find the steady television work he craved in a programme that knowingly, often overtly, referenced the teen dramas he helped pioneer.

Riverdale  available in the UK on Netflix and based on a series of Archie Comics  nodded towards the intrigue of Twin Peaks with the hormone-fuelled drama of Beverly Hills, 90210.

Perry played Fred Andrews  father to the series main character Archie Andrews  and found renewed interest in the shows transatlantic fan base.

His first brush with serious illness came in 2015 when a colonoscopy revealed precancerous growths.

Perry married the actress Rachel Sharp in 1993 and they had two children, Jack and Sophie, before splitting in 2003. Jack continues to work as a professional wrestler, performing under the name Jungle Boy Nat Coy.

On February 27 2019 Perry suffered an unexpected and serious stroke at his home in Sherman Oaks in California. He was hospitalised and died four days later, aged just 52.
Demonstrators march with Algerian national flags during a protest to denounce President Abdelaziz Bouteflikas bid for a fifth term (Fateh Guidoum/AP)

Algerias ailing president has said if he wins a fifth term in April he will promote political changes demanded by critics and call an early presidential election in which he will not run.

In a written message to the nation, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said if he is re-elected April 18, he will organise a public referendum on a new constitution and respond to an opposition demand for an independent electoral commission.

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Whatsapp Demonstrators are blasted with a police water cannon in Algiers during a protest to denounce President Abdelaziz Bouteflikas bid for a fifth term (Fateh Guidoum/AP)

The long-time leader also vowed to immediately call a national conference to set a date and prepare for another presidential election.

His decision to run next month has prompted rare, massive protests in recent days.

I have heard the pleas of protesters and especially thousands of young people who asked about our nations future, he wrote in his public message.

Mr Bouteflika was first elected in 1999. Questions about his fitness for office have grown since he suffered a stroke in 2013 and remained largely out of public view during his fourth term.

He turned 82 on Saturday and underwent medical checks in Switzerland last week.

Neither the government nor news media reported if he was back in Algeria.

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Whatsapp Police officers stand outside of the Constitutional Council building in Algiers (Fateh Guidoum/AP)

Although the presidents office had said Mr Bouteflika intended to run again, his candidacy was not formal until Sunday.

Mr Bouteflikas campaign chief, Abdelghani Zaalane, filed the presidents candidacy papers on Sunday at the Constitutional Council in Algiers, the countrys capital.

Hundreds of students took to the streets to denounce the new bid.

About 10 vans transported Mr Bouteflikas documents to the building, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.

Elevated security measures were in place in Algerias capital and especially around the Constitutional Council.

Sunday was the deadline for candidates to the April 18 presidential election to file their documents.

Images of students marching and chanting anti-government slogans appeared on social media.

Expand Close Demonstrators stage a protest in Marseille, southern France, with a sign in the background saying no to a 5th term (Claude Paris/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Whatsapp Demonstrators stage a protest in Marseille, southern France, with a sign in the background saying no to a 5th term (Claude Paris/AP)

In France, thousands of people from the European countrys Algerian community also rallied on Sunday in Paris and in the southern city of Marseille to oppose Mr Bouteflika remaining in office.

His major opponent during the 2004 and 2014 presidential elections, former Prime Minister Ali Benflis, announced on Sunday that he would not challenge the incumbent this year.

Mr Benflis said the central committee of his party, Talaie El Houriat  Arabic for Vanguard of Freedoms  decided not to field a candidate so as not to serve as a pretext for the candidacy of the sick president.

The head of the moderate Islamist party MSP, Abderrazak Makri, has also ruled out running.
China has accused two detained Canadians of acting together to steal state secrets, days after Canada announced it will proceed with a US extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

China arrested the two Canadians on December 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, who was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of US authorities.

Mengs arrest set off a diplomatic outcry and has severely strained Canadian relations with China.

The US is seeking the extradition of Meng, the daughter of Huaweis founder, to face charges that she misled banks about the companys business with Iran.

Expand Close Meng Wanzhou (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Chinas official Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor.

It is the first time the two mens cases have been linked.

It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquired information from Spavor, his main contact.

Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security, Xinhua said.

The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Partys Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

No other details were given and Xinhua said further judicial proceedings would take place based on the cases progress.

We are obviously very concerned by this position that China has taken, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said. It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions.

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Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank.

Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.

After Mengs arrest, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier.

Fact: the Authority to Proceed is the first step in the extradition process. The decision was made by Department of Justice Canada officials, who are part of a non-partisan public service. #MengWanzhou https://t.co/DekpRoG9rp pic.twitter.com/3hSO8DtUIR  Justice Canada (@JusticeCanadaEN) March 1, 2019

Kovrig and Spavor have not had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested.

Canada said on Friday that it will allow the US extradition request for Meng to proceed.

She is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved.

The US has been lobbying its allies to shun Huaweis products on national security grounds, saying Chinese law requires the company to provide the government with intelligence on its foreign clients whenever requested.

A Chinese government spokesman hit back at the US claims that Huawei poses a threat to other countries information security.

Zhang Yesui said US officials were taking Chinas national security law out of context and playing up the so-called security risks.

The 2017 law borrows from other countries experiences and is designed explicitly to protect human rights and the lawful rights of individuals and organisations, he said.

This kind of behaviour is interference into economic activities by political means and is against World Trade Organisation rules. It disrupts an international market order that is built on fair competition.

This is a typical case of double standards that is neither fair nor ethical.

Lawyers for Meng, who is staying at a property she owns in Vancouver after her release on bail, said she is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, alleging she was detained, searched and interrogated before she was told she was under arrest.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un take a walk after a meeting in Hanoi (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President Donald Trump has raised the possibility that a congressional hearing Democrats arranged with his former personal lawyer may have contributed to the lack of results of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Mr Trump left the summit in Vietnam with the North Korean leader last week without reaching an agreement.

After sending out national security adviser John Bolton to the Sunday talk shows to describe the summit as a success, Mr Trump showed his frustration about the results by lashing out at Democrats.

In a tweet on Sunday night, Mr Trump criticised Democrats for holding the congressional hearing with Michael Cohen while he was in sensitive negotiations overseas.

For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame! Mr Trump tweeted.

As Mr Trump wrapped up his trip to the summit last week, he complained about why Democrats had to hold the hearing at the same time as his negotiations.

He described it as a fake hearing and said having it in the middle of this very important summit was really a terrible thing.

Mr Trump said they could have held it a few days later and had more time to prepare.

During the House Oversight Committee hearing, Mr Cohen was harshly critical of his former boss, calling him a racist, con man and a cheat.

Mr Bolton earlier on Sunday described the summit as a success despite the lack of an agreement providing for verifiable dismantling of the Norths nuclear sites.

Mr Bolton, in three television interviews, tried to make the case that Mr Trump advanced Americas national security interests by rejecting a bad agreement while working to persuade Mr Kim to take the big deal that really could make a difference for North Korea.

The US and North Korea have offered contradictory accounts of why last weeks summit in Vietnam broke down, though both pointed to American sanctions as a sticking point.

In news show appearances, Mr Bolton said the leaders left on good terms and that Mr Trump made an important point to North Korea and other countries that negotiate with him.

Hes not desperate for a deal, not with North Korea, not with anybody if its contrary to American national interests, Mr Bolton said.
Would it be a good idea to re-name 'Mother' and 'Father' as 'Parent 1' and 'Parent 2'? The French have been having this debate for a while now. And it's been voted through parliament, on first reading, that the national education system should delete 'Mother' and 'Father' in all official documentation, substituting gender-neutral words instead.

It's an innovation that was first proposed in Justin Trudeau's Canada and it has arisen in legal language in Britain too. Valerie Petit, the French deputy who brought forward the amendment, claims that the change is so that "no one should feel excluded from this society by backward thinking".

The leader of the Association des Familles Homoparentales in France, Alexandre Urwicz, says that gender-neutral terms will signal more respect for same-sex parents and "allow our families to be included in forms that previously did not allow it".

Some of this gender-neutral language is well-meant, reaching for the kindly notion of inclusivity - and equality - for all. But some of it stems from an ideological war against nature which is part of gender theory. This is the claim that differences between males and females are "socially constructed" and not based on biology.

It's a theory that would make no sense to anyone involved in animal husbandry - or the world of the turf, where the dam and the sire of any racing equine are a matter of the most careful biological attention in the record books. But most people now are not living in the reality of the natural world, and to some, like perhaps Valerie Petit, that reality is "backward", despite its Darwinian lineage.

There is another incongruity, too, in wanting to extinguish the concept of 'mother' so as not to offend same-sex couples. Gay men are often among the most devoted sons to their mothers. Read the diaries of Noel Coward, and observe the intense attachment that he had to his mother. Similarly with the playwright Terence Rattigan, the renowned gay playwright, told all kinds of fibs to spare his mother emotional pain. When couturier Karl Lagerfeld died recently it was said that his mother had been the only true love of his life.

We older women often benefit from respect and affection from gay men because we may remind them of their mothers or because older women can be mother-figures (whether or not they are actual mothers). Walk into a room full of men, as an older woman, and the straight guys don't even look from their screens; it's the gay guy who comes forward to engage with you.

I believe this is because they are easier with older women, since they've been close to their mothers. So it seems an odd idea that all gay people would want to banish the word 'mother' - even leaving 'father' aside - from the vocabulary.

Let's give the 'Parent 1/Parent 2' advocates the benefit of the doubt and accept that they are just seeking to establish a broader definition of equality, going beyond the issue of same-sex couples. Maybe they want to correct some of the more rigid lines of the patriarchal family, which remained prevalent in Latin societies over many centuries (strongly held by Napoleon, author of France's civil code).

Maybe some feminists feel that motherhood has been over-sentimentalised and over-idealised, especially within Christianity, where the mother and child is, literally, such a dominant religious icon.

Parenthood today is achieved by many different means: through donor sperm, surrogacy, egg-donation and adoption (see the movie Instant Family about fostering and adoption by parents of all varieties).

And then there is the 'blended' or 'reconstituted' family, which mixes hers, his, theirs and kids from other relationships.

In view of all these changes, maybe 'mother' and 'father' simply could do with an update?

Not so easy. The French instigators of the 'Parent 1' and 'Parent 2' proposal have encountered some robust opposition.

Madame Petit does not have the backing of President Emmanuel Macron, nor that of the Education Minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer, who has said that the 'Parent 1/Parent 2' lobby has over-reached itself. And it is improbable that the senate will pass it, for the moment anyhow.

There is also an interesting objection raised by the philosopher and founder of the Hannah Arendt Research Institute, Chantal Delsol: "'Parent 2' is itself a discriminatory term. If I must call myself 'Parent 2', doesn't that mean that I am subordinate, less important, and finally, a domestic servant?" The evident implication is that 'Parent 1' is top dog and that is blatantly an offence against equality.

Most younger parents are more inclined to share family roles, which is great. But the equality reformers wanting to eradicate all differences between Ma and Pa are in a similar position to those secularists who have tried to banish Christmas.

There's a case for re-naming the December saturnalia as 'Winterval' or 'Happy Holiday Time'. But the brand has proved itself too big to bring down. 'Mother' and 'Father', 'Mum' and 'Dad' are like Christmas: the brand is so deeply embedded in our consciousness that no mere law is going to change it any time soon.
In today's paper there is a compelling and moving interview with Kevin McKinney, whose father Gerard was killed on Bloody Sunday

In today's paper there is a compelling and moving interview with Kevin McKinney, whose father Gerard was killed on Bloody Sunday.

He says there is no point jailing soldiers of the Parachute Regiment who were involved that day, even if they are convicted.

Kevin says he and other members of his family have forgiven the soldier who killed his father, and it is God, not a court of law, they will have to answer to.

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This is a remarkably compassionate and thoughtful intervention by Mr McKinney in the vexed debate as to whether soldiers should face charges.

Northern Ireland Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Herron is no doubt aware that whatever decision he reaches on these particularly difficult cases, it is bound to be controversial.

Some will feel strongly that "murder is murder", for which there is currently no statute of limitations.

Others, including Kevin McKinney and his sister Regina McLaughlin, regard the potential jailing of men now in their 60s and 70s as excessive, and offering no real prospect of closure on a distressing episode of our history.

Regina's recent comments are worth recalling: "What's the point in putting these soldiers in jail? These soldiers are old men now. They are dying, and some have died already. I believe that they will have to answer to God for what they did."

Such words are impressive, but it should also be stressed that Britain's response to the Bloody Sunday massacre has been lamentable.

The Widgery Tribunal, set up in the immediate aftermath, was seen widely as a British Establishment whitewash.

It took another 26 years for Prime Minister Tony Blair to announce the Saville Inquiry, and yet another 12 for Lord Saville to prompt another Prime Minister, David Cameron, to offer a formal state apology for the "unjustified and unjustifiable" killings of the 14 innocent victims.

In future Army veterans may be protected from prosecution for alleged historic abuses under plans for a 10-year limit on new cases.

As to whether any good for the public interest would come from jailing the soldiers, the last words should come from Regina.

"If they were ever going to prison, it should have happened a long time ago.

"My mother forgives them. I forgive them.

"My father would have forgiven them too. I know he would."
A WOMAN who stole thousands of lottery scratch cards has walked free from court after she paid all the money back.

Irina Telford was caught on CCTV stealing the cards from Asda while working at the supermarket chain's Dundonald store.

Telford was suspected of stealing up to 11,000 worth of cards but she appeared in court accused of stealing cards to the value of "3,300 or thereabouts". The 54-year-old's job included scanning the scratch cards and putting them on display.

Telford appeared at Newtownards Magistrates Court last week to be sentenced for a charge of theft by an employee which she had earlier admitted. It was not said at the hearing whether Telford had won cash on any of the thousands of cards she nicked.

A prosecuting lawyer told the court how stock audit figures for the scratch cards "were usually 1,000 up or down" but that cops were alerted when significant discrepancies were uncovered.

On checking CCTV footage, it transpired that Telford had been lifting a quantity of scratch cards from eight deliveries, putting some for sale on display but pocketing thousands of others.

Telford, from Enler Park East in Dundonald, had pleaded guilty to a single count of theft of scratch cards on September 22, 2017, and had been due for sentence a year ago but that was deferred to allow her time to pay back what she stole.

Defence counsel Peter Coiley said the outstanding 3,300 has now been paid back, submitting that while she was remorseful, the 12 months the case had been hanging over her head has been "very stressful" for her.

Imposing a four-month jail sentence but suspending it for two years, District Judge Mark Hamill said Telford had "no one to blame but herself" for being in court, and described the offences as a breach of trust case.
A Belfast rap group have been condemned for their "outrageous behaviour" after they led chants of "Get the Brits out now" at the same pub Prince William and Kate Middleton graced 24 hours earlier.

Controversial West Belfast outfit Kneecap performed at the Empire Music Hall on Thursday and a video shows them on stage chanting the slogan - a day after a smiling Kate was snapped pulling pints in the same venue.

The Royals had hosted an event to honour Olympic gold medal winner Dame Mary Peters who was made a Lady Companion of Order of the Garter.

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The DUP's Christopher Stalford, a South Belfast MLA said: "The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge delivered a simple message about bringing people together.

"Dame Mary Peters was also recognised for her work in uniting people. This hate-filled chanting is the very antithesis of what was said by the Royals.

"My family and I are British. When people chant "Brits out" they are saying they want me and my children to leave the area.

"My constituency is the most diverse in the country. I would condemn such a statement about any other people group and I trust there will be fulsome condemnation from all leaders in South Belfast about this outrageous behaviour."

Kneecap's 12.50 per head show was billed as "not to be missed" and the trio - rappers Mo Chara and Moglai Bap alongside balaclava wearing DJ Provai - switch between Irish and English in their set.

Expand Close The Duchess of Cambridge pulls a pint during her visit to Belfasts Empire Music Hall PA / Facebook

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When Sunday Life contacted the Empire Music Hall and asked them about the chanting led by the performers, a spokesman said: "We'll be making no comment."

In the same video of their Belfast show, the group also lead the crowd in another chant of "f**k RTE".

Last year the group hit the headlines after their foul-mouthed single Cearta - Irish for 'right' - was banned from RTE playlists before the watershed due to the song's "drug references and cursing".

Defending their act, Moglai Bap (25) said at the time: "We're proud of Irish culture, but we don't want to be defined by it. We wanted this song to break stereotypes."

The video was leaked to the media by someone who found the chanting by Kneecap sickening.

On Wednesday the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge laughed and exchanged jokes as they got behind the bar at the Empire Music Hall and attempted to pour a few pints.

Prince William said it was "fitting" to recognise Dame Mary (79), who he said had "helped inspire so many of you in the first place".
Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita (right) and Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Simon Birmingham appear at a press conference in Jakarta after signing a free trade agreement, March 4, 2019.

Indonesian and Australian officials signed a much-awaited free trade agreement on Monday, paving the way for the elimination of most tariffs and closer economic ties between the two neighbors.

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita signed the trade deal with Australian counterpart Simon Birmingham in Jakarta, ending nearly a decade of negotiations.

Under the agreement, all Indonesian goods will enjoy zero tariffs when entering Australia, while duties on 94 percent of Australian goods imported by Indonesia will be eliminated gradually.

Enggartiasto described the deal, formally called the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, as historic.

This agreement is very beneficial for the two countries and is comprehensive, not only in terms of trade in goods but also investment and services, he told reporters after the signing ceremony.

Trade between the two countries has been too small, so we hope that it will increase with this agreement, he said.

It is subject to ratification by both countries parliaments.

Birmingham said the deal would take ties between Indonesia and Australia to a new level, one in which our economic and trade relations will be much deeper, stronger and richer.

Theres more business opportunity in Australia, but also more business opportunity in Indonesia as a result of that shared collaboration and the joint productive value that comes from making things together, he said.

The Indonesian government said industrial sectors such as automotive, textile, footwear and agribusiness would benefit from the trade agreement.

In return, Indonesia will grant automatic import permits for Australian agricultural products and meat.

The deal will allow Australian universities to operate in Indonesia and Australian companies to have greater stakes in sectors such tourism, health and mining.

Australia also will increase the number of work and holiday visas given to Indonesians from 1,000 to 4,100 in the first year, before growing to 5,000 annually six years after ratification.

Indonesia and Australia are members of the G-20 group of major economies, but are not each others top 10 trading partners, despite their proximity.

Total bilateral trade between Indonesia and Australia was valued at U.S. $8.6 billion in 2018, according to the Indonesian Trade Ministry.

But goods from Indonesia make up only 1.2 percent of Australian total imports from around the world, while Australian goods account for 3.4 percent of Indonesias imports, Enggartiasto said.

Negotiations for the pact, which started in 2010, concluded in August, but the signing was delayed after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Canberra was considering moving its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Indonesia, the country with the worlds largest Muslim population, is a staunch supporter of the Palestinians and has warned that such a move could undermine efforts for a two-state solution.

In December, Australia formally recognized West Jerusalem as Israels capital, but stopped short of moving its embassy.

The chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Rosan Roeslani, said Australian investment in education and health could improve Indonesias competitiveness.

With the huge trade potential of two countries, it is very important for Indonesia to immediately carry out the economic reform process needed as part of its [free trade] commitments, Rosan said.

Relations between Indonesia and Australia are often testy, but bilateral ties improved under former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, with the two nations agreeing to restore full military cooperation in 2017.

The two nations in the past years have been embroiled in spats over issues such as Australias perceived interference in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony occupied for more than a decade by Indonesia but which voted for independence in 1998.



A diplomatic rift also took place in 2013 after reports surfaced that Australian intelligence services had spied on then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his inner circle.

Australia briefly recalled its ambassador to Jakarta after Indonesia executed two Australian drug convicts in April 2015, despite pleas from Canberra to spare their lives.
Philippine soldiers conduct a flag raising ceremony on Pag-asa Island in the South China Sea, May 11, 2015.

Activists on Monday protested outside the Chinese embassy over reports of its boats chasing away Filipino fishermen from a string of sandbars close to a Philippine-occupied island in the South China Sea.

The activists slammed what they called Chinas latest bullying tactics against Filipino fishermen whenever they approached what is considered traditional fishing grounds around Pag-asa Island. The protests came three days after the U.S. secretary of state assured the Philippine government of his nations support.

We condemn this continuing Chinese occupation of our marine waters and denial of Filipino fishers of their livelihood in the strongest possible terms, said Fernando Hicap, chairman of fishermens group called Pamalakaya.

Aside from fast transforming our marine territory into military facilities, China also tightly controls fishing activities and who can have access in our own fishing waters, Hicap said. They are not only threatening the livelihood of Filipino fishermen but also the food security of millions of Filipino people who depend on fish as a protein source.

The sandbars are 3 km (1.8 miles) from the island, a Philippine-claimed territory in the South China Sea. Filipino defense department officials recently noted that dozens of Chinese ships had been anchoring near Pag-asa, which the Chinese refer to as Thitu island.

Kalayaan, a small Philippine township on the island, is under the jurisdiction of southwestern Palawan province. It has been part of the country since the late 1970s, by virtue of a presidential decree and other international laws.

On Sunday, Kalayaan Mayor Roberto del Mundo said Filipino fishermen were being driven away by Chinese boats whenever they came anywhere near the closest sandbar.

Hicap called on President Rodrigo Duterte to issue a strong condemnation against China.

On Monday, Duterte spokesman Salvador Panelo said the government needed to validate the reports, but supported the Filipinos.

Our fishermen have been fishing there. Nobody has the right to drive our fishermen away, he told reporters.

Del Mundo said about 50 Chinese boats were blocking Filipino fishermen.

The Chinese are only staying around the shallow part of sandbars because they cant occupy the sandbar itself because it would damage their boats, he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

But theres no harassment, as some say, you just cant go to the nearest sandbar. I dont know the reason why they do that, to think thats supposed to be ours, he said.

Defense treaty

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who met with Duterte and Filipino diplomats last week, assured them Washington would back the country.

He said the two nations were bound by a Mutual Defense Treaty signed in 1951 and that any armed attack on Filipino forces in the disputed sea would trigger mutual defense obligations.

China claims most of the mineral-rich South China Sea, including areas that reach the shores of its smaller neighbors. The region also is claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan, leading to skirmishes in the area.

Despite pledges to keep the peace in the region, China recently installed anti-ship cruise missile and surface-to-air missile systems in its occupied territories.

Maritime analyst Jay Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines described Chinese fishing boats as an example of Beijings gray zone strategy.

In this tactic, civilian vessels are used to avoid direct responsibility by arguing that these are not government vessels. These are ostensibly civilian fishing vessels used to either intimidate or discourage our vessels from coming too close, he said.

What the Philippines should do is to protest each and every instance of blocking because they are in violation in rules of the road, he said.

Jeoffrey Maitem in Cotabato City contributed to this report.
By Alex Sciranka

Each year, the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) honors one young educator who is committed to excellence in music education and is deserving of statewide acknowledgement.

This year, OMEA granted the Outstanding Young Music Educator Award to Brett Benzin '11, who majored in music education in the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University.

"My initial reactions ranged from being overwhelmingly proud to very excited," Benzin said. "OMEA has given me so much, both as a young student and as an educator, and to receive an award honoring some of my achievements is truly special."

Since 2015, Benzin has served as the director of bands at Keystone High School in LaGrange, Ohio, where he also teaches music to grades 6-12.

"I greatly enjoy working at Keystone," Benzin said. "I have a supportive school administration and great colleagues."

Benzin's success in this role have shown an increase in the number of students interested in the band, and twice Benzin has led Keystone to a qualify for the OMEA State Large Group Event.

His passion for music started in grade school.

"I knew I wanted to be a band director when I was in seventh grade," Benzin said. "Marty Lydecker, my band director at North Royalton (Ohio) High School, encouraged me to become the best musician and person that I could be and I am very grateful for his support."

It is evident that his early passion grew during the journey to his professional career. Outside of the classroom, Benzin is also very active in OMEA. He currently serves as president-elect of OMEA District IV as well as serving as the All-State Band Chair in 2016. Benzin is also a member of the American School Band Directors Association.

The Outstanding Young Music Educator Award is granted to a music educator in Ohio who has 3-8 years of experience in the field. The award, announced annually at the OMEA Professional Development Conference, has been granted to a Bowling Green State University graduate every year since its inception in 2015: Ryan Hurd 2018; John Carmack 2017; Megan Link 2016; and Lindsey Newlove 2015.

"I thoroughly enjoyed studying at BGSU," Benzin said. "But I am most grateful to Bruce Moss and Charles Saenz. These two professors helped guide me to become the best educator I can be, and I am grateful for their service and dedication."

Recipients are nominated by current OMEA members who believe the young educator demonstrates outstanding leadership and dedication to bringing the arts to youth.

"Earning this award recognizes Brett's dedication to becoming an excellent music educator," said Benzin's nominator, Adam Landry '08, who serves as the director of choirs at Mentor (Ohio) High. "Brett is an exemplary young music educator. His students, colleagues and administrators describe him as a teacher who creates a welcoming and positive environment in his classroom."

Benzin also thanked Kathleen McGrady and Bernie Schwartz at nearby Springfield Local Schools, where he completed his student teaching while at BGSU. Both McGrady and Schwartz are graduates of BGSU, the former serves as the OMEA President, the latter as an instructor in the College of Musical Arts at BGSU.

"This achievement means the world to me," Benzin said. "This award is not only a measure of my work, but a testament to all of the educators who have shaped me in my young career and who helped push me through their dedication, support and passion in my field."
By Bob Cunningham 18

Dr. Jennie Gallimore is the new dean of the College of Technology, Architecture and Applied Engineering. This past fall semester was her first at Bowling Green State University. Gallimore came to BGSU from Wright State University, where she held a number of leadership positions, including associate dean for research and graduate studies since 2015. Before serving in that role, she was executive director for professional development in the college from 2012-15. She also was director of the Ohio Center for Excellence in Human-Centered Innovation from 2009-12. Gallimore has the distinction of being the first tenure-track female faculty member in her college at Wright State. Her administrative experience includes developing partnerships with external groups such as the Air Force Research Laboratory, serving as director of a center comprising representatives from industry and academia, and, internally, participating in negotiations for Wright States collective bargaining agreement. She is experienced in the accreditation process, including ABET, which is also held by BGSUs electronics and computer engineering technology and engineering technology programs. As a professor of industrial and human-factors engineering, she held joint appointments as a professor of surgery in Wright States Boonshoft School of Medicine and professor of computer science and engineering. She has a bachelors degree in psychology and a masters degree in experimental psychology, both from California State University, Northridge, and a Ph.D. in industrial engineering and operations research from Virginia Tech.

Q. Now that youre in your second semester here at BGSU, what were your first impressions of the University in the fall?

A. The first thing that comes to mind is, Bowling Green State University has a beautiful campus. Everyone is friendly and open, and its easy to see how much everybody here really cares about the students and wants to help the University do great things. Ive felt very welcome here from the beginning. Ive talked to faculty, staff and other deans, and theyve been very helpful and welcoming. The faculty and staff here in technology care about the students and they really want to see this college move forward. They are excited about new opportunities that we are going to be working on for new programs. I think that this college is going to change in many ways moving forward.

Q. Can you speak to your impressive background in technology?

A. I am very interested in how humans interact with systems. My engineering degree was very focused on industrial, human factors and systems engineering. The whole idea is that when we design things, we design them for human use. Thats why I focused toward technology and engineering and design of systems because we, as people, cant change, and we often have to interact with technology that is poorly designed. Technology is fast-growing and changes very quickly. We have to think about who will be using these systems in the future. I use scientific knowledge about humans and apply it to different types of systems, including health care systems or computer-interfaced systems. Ive worked in aviation quite a bit. All systems have to be designed with the user in mind. Thats why my research looks very diverse, and yet its really about how do you design systems for people?

Q. Was BGSUs on-campus airport a big draw for you?

Q. I was excited about this college because it has such a diverse portfolio. It has many different areas in engineering and technology. Aviation, of course, is an area in which I have conducted research. For aviation to be safe and efficient, how we teach aviation, the design of aircraft and the design of national airspace system are all important. The fact that aviation is one area of education that the college provides was a draw for me. The college, in general, has so much opportunity. There are so many ways that this college can grow, so thats what excited me about coming to BGSU  the opportunities for us to grow as a college. Were doing really well in the flight training area, but we have other programs, including aviation management and airport operations that are also doing well. There are a lot of opportunities in advanced manufacturing, in construction and in architecture, as well as various types of engineering technologies. Our VCT department studies not only how people interact with technology, but how people communicate through technology. All of those things are really exciting areas.

Q. How important is it for current and prospective students to be involved in the growing robotics program on campus?

A. Our mechatronics program has a strong focus on robotics. Industry is developing more technology that designed to be autonomous, meaning robotic or automated. For example, in manufacturing robots, airplanes and cars that drive themselves, these systems require human supervision and intervention. So, its really important for students to consider how to design autonomous systems for safety, efficiency and effectiveness. The more we automate tasks humans cant do well, such as lifting heavy objects or viewing objects in remote places, the more opportunities there are for humans to focus on decision making, judgment and design  human skills in which machines do not excel. There are many considerations about how humans interact with these technologies, and its an area ripe for growth.

Q. How will all the colleges new construction benefit the students as it moves forward?

A. The Technology Building is going to be renovated starting in the summer and lasting through the summer of 2020. The building can help us change the way we do business with more collaborative classrooms, spaces and labs that are really the next level in education and technology. Were actively looking for industrial partners to talk to about our programs. We want to engage all of our stakeholders: the students, faculty, community and industries as we build toward the future. We want our partners to help us design our future programs and workspaces so our students have the best education and best job opportunities when they graduate. The idea is to obtain state-of-the-art technologies for this building. Were ready to renovate the building, start new programs and take off.
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New AIIMS will add 100 UG (MBBS) seats and 60 B.Sc (Nursing) seats

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the establishment of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at Manethi, District Rewari, Haryana

New AIIMS will add 100 UG (MBBS) seats and 60 B.Sc (Nursing) seats. It will have 15-20 Super Specialty Departments and will add around 750 hospital beds. As per data of current functional AIIMS, it is expected that each new AIIMS would cater to around 1500 OPD patients per day and around 1000 IPD patients per month.

Establishment of new AIIMS involves creation of Hospital, Teaching Block for medical & nursing courses, residential complex and allied facilities/services, broadly on the pattern of AIIMS, New Delhi and other six new AIIMS taken up under Phase-I of PMSSY. Governments objective is to establish the new AIIMS as Institutions of National Importance for providing quality tertiary healthcare, medical education, nursing education and research in the Region.
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1) To try and understand what happened in the past is not the same as to morally condone it. Explanation and understanding do not result in exculpation. The communist regime was not legitimate; the peoples lives are. It is easy to dismiss the past on the assumption that all communists were evil but not to learn our lessons from the past means to expose the country to future dictators. For democracy to grow stronger it must learn from its past defeats. Knowledge is empowerment  which is why Czechoslovak communists were so keen on manipulating history. Dont dismiss knowledge like a communist.

2) Suffering is a characteristic shared by almost all European peoples in the twentieth century. All people tortured and killed, and their families, suffered hell at the individual level. The evil character of each regime that implemented such practices is already included there; no need to try and make collective figures bigger than they are. Competitive martyrdom is an unwinnable game; its victims are already dead. Communists liked to see only their own suffering and to dismiss the suffering of others. Dont disregard others like a communist.

3) The world is not unilaterally divided between the victims and the traitors. Every human life is nuanced and complex. Many, if not most people were victims at some level while simultaneously collaborating with the regime at another level. Moral judgement is easy only for those who were never placed in the impossible situation in which other people often found themselves in their everyday lives. A minimal empathy for individual trajectories often helps understanding their behaviour. It does not amount to condoning the communist system as a whole. Empathy, by the way, is not a dirty word. Communists used to despise empathy. Dont judge others like a communist.

4) History is a science, it is not just about telling a story. The professional study of history has disciplinary standards. If you do not know how to appraise and corroborate sources, a superficial reading can give you the exact opposite result compared to a contextualized reading: a document never simply tells the truth, especially if it is coming from secret police archives. If you dont know how to appraise an interview, you might believe witnesses who are completely mistaken or outright lying, and are in any case telling only their story. If you dont keep up to date with methodology, you can miss the chance to explain things in a new light. If you dont know what historians are writing in other countries, you risk thinking your own situation is unique whereas it is not, and you fail to learn from their lessons and their progress. Communists were incredibly provincial. Dont be condescending like a communist.

5) History is complex and messy. We like to tell our children simple tales with a simple moral but children have to grow up one day. Life is complicated and none of us are exempt from dubious moral choices. What is true for us is true for the nation. It is not enough to read half a sentence, complacently simplified by the media, to know what a historian is telling and to condemn it. If you dont make the effort to read, you will not be able to understand things in their complexity. Communists were masters at presenting situations in artificially simple, black and white terms. Dont be simple-minded like a communist.

6) History is not politics. Only by constantly thinking about the issues at stake and the methods you use can you keep at bay the temptation to use the past for present purposes. Historians who know the answer before they even ask the question are not historians but politicians. History is often contradictory, just like life, and does not provide a unilateral message immediately available to justify this or that political choice. Communists knew in advance the answer to everything. Dont politicize everything like a communist.

7) There is no such thing as a definitive and forever indisputable historical truth. We are always learning more about the past. What you think is the truth today is determined by your actual situation and by what you believe in. Truth is contingent on our social and political environment. What we think is true tells us more about who we are today than about the actual past. History is not the expression of historical truth but a narrative, constructed by a historian who is reflecting all along on how to make it as objective as possible. This is why it is a science. History consists of a consensus arrived at by historians, who are constantly engaging with one another about our understanding of the past. And that is why many people posing as historians are not actually doing genuine historical work. No one knew better than the communists what the alleged historical truth was without having to do any research. Dont patronize like a communist.

8) To tell over a beer what happened to you personally is not history but one story. First-hand experience is irreducible and is a precious source for a historian. But other people have other stories to tell, that might contradict yours yet are equally valid. Individuals are not always equipped to tell what is what  historians are. You have an opinion and an experience, not the basis for a historical monograph. Dont dictate to historians what they should write, like a communist would have.

9) You dont have to have been there in person to understand what happened. None of us was sitting with Hitler in Munich in 1938 and yet we know very well what happened. None of us was living in the Middle Ages and still we have medieval historians that teach us a lot. Similarly, you dont have to have experienced communism personally to know what it was about, nor does the profession of your parents invalidate your opinion. A direct witness has the ability and the competence to say what they saw personally but the witness standing next to them will often have a very different opinion about what they saw at the very same time. A historians task, again, is to sort these opinions out and to compare them with other sources, while reflecting on the way he or she does it, in order to produce a narrative  one narrative, not the historical truth. Dont disqualify people for their origin like a communist.

10) Please stop telling me that I cannot understand what happened. I have been sitting in the Czech archives for 25 years, I have spoken to dozens of witnesses, I have read hundreds of books, I can place the Czech situation in its Central European and European context and compare it with other cases, including Western countries. If you think I cannot understand the tenets of communist ideology such as terror, censorship or state lies because I am French, that shows only your ignorance of French history. If you think the Czech situation is unique, you are mistaken: much is to be learned from the Czech Republics neighbors, and from their historians. My job is to try to understand the entirety of this historical experience, not to produce a result that people find easy to digest or that might be politically useful.

Things were complicated. Only people as dogmatic as the communists were could claim otherwise.
Mysteries Of India That Are Still Unsolved Life oi-Syeda Farah Noor

There are several unsolved mysteries that will make you wonder on how was it even possible in the first place!

As researchers try to solve them through various means, they only leave them with more questions and most of the mysteries still remain unanswered.

Here are some of the unexplained mysteries of India that you need to learn about. Check them out.

The Twin Village A village in India is called the village of twins.' This is due to the strikingly large number of twin births in the village. It is even more strange as the individuals who even leave this village and go to another place and give birth are also reported to have twins. According to stats, this village has about 200 pairs of twins. Taj Mahal Conspiracy An author named P K Oak wrote a book that had stated facts about how the Moghul Emperor Shahjahan had apparently taken the then Tejomahalaya' from the then king of Jaipur by force and renamed it to Taj Mahal. Jodhpur Boom On December 18, 2012, a sonic boom was heard in Jodhpur. This remains a closed mystery till date. It is reported that the army denied performing any such activity from their end while the boom sound had clanged in the entire city. The Cursed Village - Kuldhara This is a village that is located 15 km away from Jaisalmer. The place is a mystery as the entire village vanished one night without any intimation. The Kuldhara village was established in the year 1291 and it flourished in leaps and bounds as it had over 84 villages in its vicinity. It is believed that the villagers were threatened by an evil Dewan and this left the people scared and as a result they evacuated the land in one night. The Kongka La Pass UFO Base This UFO base is situated on the Indo-China border. It is rumoured that there have been many reports of multiple UFO type sightings in the sky. According to reports, the area does not have an army base nearby and their is no border force manning the immediate area which make the UFO sightings a big mystery.

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HALIFAX - Glen Assoun says he wants a public inquiry to determine what led to his wrongful conviction for murder in 1999 and imprisonment for almost 17 years, saying he is afraid the case will be "swept underneath the table."

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This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Glen Assoun heads from Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax on Friday, March 1, 2019. Assoun spent more than 16 years in prison after being convicted of murder. The conviction was dismissed following a decision by the federal justice minister ordering a new trial. The Crown has decided to not proceed and this effectively exonerates Assoun in the 1995 murder of Brenda Way. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

HALIFAX - Glen Assoun says he wants a public inquiry to determine what led to his wrongful conviction for murder in 1999 and imprisonment for almost 17 years, saying he is afraid the case will be "swept underneath the table."

"I'd like to see accountability," the Halifax man told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.

On Friday, Assoun was acquitted of second-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Brenda Way after federal Justice Minister David Lametti quashed the conviction and ordered a new trial.

The re-trial wrapped up quickly as Crown prosecutor Mark Scott said there was no reasonable prospect for a conviction, and no evidence was presented before the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Way's body was found in a Halifax-area parking lot on Nov. 12, 1995. He throat had been slashed and she suffered multiple stab wounds.

Assoun was arrested almost three years later. He was convicted by a jury in a 1999 and sentenced to life in prison. He spent 16 years and eight months behind bars.

For almost two decades, Assoun has insisted he was with his girlfriend on the night Way was killed. He has also contested contradictory testimony from witnesses, some of whom were criminals with suspect motives.

The former Defence Department employee was eventually released on bail in 2014 after federal lawyers determined there may have been a miscarriage of justice.

The reasons for that decision remain under a publication ban.

Now 63 years old, Assoun says he is focusing his energy on finding out what happened.

"I would like to see accountability through the police force, the Halifax police and the Halifax prosecution," he said in an interview from his daughter's home in suburban Halifax. "In all the wrongful convictions, there's never anything done about it."

When Lametti quashed Assoun's conviction, he issued a statement saying his department's investigation turned up "relevant and reliable information that was not disclosed" to Assoun during his criminal proceedings.

Philip Campbell, a lawyer who fought for Assoun's release on behalf of Innocence Canada, said that finding should raise alarm bells.

"Behind that phrase lies a sad (and) to some degree a shocking story, in the telling of which there will eventually be an acute public interest," Campbell said.

Outside the courtroom, Campbell alleged that police failed to disclose important evidence in the years before a Nova Scotia Court of Appeal case that Assoun lost in 2006.

The RCMP were not immediately available for comment.

Halifax Regional Police issued a statement Monday saying the force was not in a position to comment further.

The province's justice minister, Mark Furey, issued a statement saying it would be premature to "determine what possible next steps may be considered."

Felix Cacchione, director of the Serious Incident Response Team  the province's police watchdog  said his agency doesn't have a mandate to investigate the matter because the case occurred before the agency's creation.

However, Cacchione said the public interest would be served by a broader investigation, such as a public inquiry similar to the probe into Donald Marshall Jr.'s wrongful conviction.

Kent Roach, a professor of criminal law at the University of Toronto, said he sees parallels between the Marshall case and Assoun's wrongful conviction.

Marshall served 11 years for his wrongful conviction for murder in 1971. In 1990, the Mi'kmaq man, who would later become a well-known Indigenous leader, was exonerated by a royal commission that found he was the victim of a criminal justice system marked by racism and incompetence.

Roach said the injustice against Marshall led the Supreme Court of Canada to establish a broad right of disclosure of evidence for the accused.

"A public inquiry or perhaps some other accountability mechanism may be necessary to see if Mr. Assoun's broad constitutional right to disclosure was respected in his 1999 trial and during his post-conviction period," said Roach.

"A public inquiry could also examine other important matters, such as the Crown's reliance on certain witnesses and the need for proper compensation."

Assoun and his lawyers have argued that police worked obsessively to prove a case that was badly flawed.

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MONTREAL - The sentencing hearing for a man convicted of manslaughter in the death of his ailing wife could renew the debate over so-called compassion killings in Canada, and whether a killer motivated by mercy deserves a more lenient sentence than any other, experts say.

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This article was published 3/3/2019 (1010 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL - The sentencing hearing for a man convicted of manslaughter in the death of his ailing wife could renew the debate over so-called compassion killings in Canada, and whether a killer motivated by mercy deserves a more lenient sentence than any other, experts say.

Michel Cadotte's lawyer described Jocelyne Lizotte's illness as a "tsunami" that ravaged her family, friends and loved ones and eventually led to her death at the hands of her husband, who smothered her to death in the bed of a long-term care facility.

Late last month, a jury found Cadotte guilty of manslaughter in the killing of Lizotte, 60, who was in the last stages of Alzheimers disease. He had originally been charged with second-degree murder.

Cadotte's lawyers argued their client was in a disturbed state of mind and acted impulsively on Feb. 20, 2017, seeking to end his wife's suffering. Outside the courtroom, the crime had been framed by the defence and the media as a compassion killing  an offence that doesn't exist in the Criminal Code.

"There's no side to this story," defence lawyer Elfriede Duclervil said outside the courtroom following the verdict. "It's a tragedy, and there are no sides, only pain and sorrow and tragedy."

Duclervil declined to say what sentence she would seek when hearings begin Tuesday. Manslaughter does not carry a mandatory minimum sentence.

Arthur Shafer, the director of the Centre for Professional and Applied Ethics at the University of Manitoba, believes there's a chance Cadotte could escape jail time altogether.

Shafer has long advocated for a law on compassionate homicide, which would carry a lesser sentence than first or second-degree murder.

"I don't think you could find one in a thousand Canadians who could say that someone who commits a planned murder for greed, cruelty, jealousy, or any of a number of other motives should be given the same punishment as someone who kills a loved one to spare them from intolerable suffering," he said in a phone interview.

Witnesses at Cadotte's trial portrayed him as a devoted husband who spent years caring for his wife, including after she went into care and was no longer able to speak, feed or take care of herself. The court heard that Cadotte had inquired about a medically assisted death for Lizotte a year before she was killed, but was informed she did not qualify because of her advanced Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Shafer compared the case to that of Robert Latimer, who was convicted of killing his severely disabled 12-year-old daughter nearly 25 years ago by piping exhaust fumes into the cab of his truck.

Latimer appealed after he was convicted of second-degree murder in 1994 and the Supreme Court of Canada ordered a new trial due to jury interference. He was convicted again and eventually sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 10 years. He was granted full parole in November 2010.

But while some Canadians may feel sympathy for Latimer and Cadotte, disability rights activists say framing such homicides as merciful devalues the lives of people with severe illnesses and disabilities.

"To grant Mr. Cadotte a lighter sentence on the basis of Ms. Lizotte's having Alzheimer's would be to send the message that Canadians living with Alzheimer's and other degenerative conditions no longer have the same protection under the law as do other Canadians," said Heidi Janz, a spokesperson for the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.

While Latimer served a multi-year sentence, there have been instances where Canadian courts and juries have shown leniency towards others who have killed family members they perceived to be suffering.

In 2006, 88-year-old Tony Jaworski, was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of his terminally ill wife, Sophie.

That same year, Andre Bergeron of Sherbrooke, Que. received three years' probation for aggravated assault in relation to the death of his severely ill wife. The judge at the time said he would have ordered a jail sentence but for mitigating circumstances, including the accused's devotion to the victim.

By convicting Cadotte of manslaughter rather than second-degree murder, Shafer believes the jury in the Cadotte case may have been sending a message that they were uncomfortable with the mandatory life sentence for second-degree murder, even if it was legally arguable that his actions fit the definition of the crime.

"One of the functions of juries is to bring the common sense of ordinary citizens into the courtroom. And when the law is unduly harsh or inflexible, doesn't allow humane discretion, juries sometimes bring that humanity into the courtroom," he said.

But a legal expert at the University of Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School, who is not familiar with Cadotte's case, said it's impossible to know, since juries are not allowed to reveal the reason behind their decisions.

"Did the jury feel that the mandatory minimum sentence of life imprisonment seem unfit, even if that was what the Crown felt was the appropriate way of classifying the offence? Well never know," he said.
TORONTO - The firing of a high-ranking provincial police officer waging a legal battle over the controversial appointment of Ontario's top cop renewed accusations of political interference Monday that the government denied.

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TORONTO - The firing of a high-ranking provincial police officer waging a legal battle over the controversial appointment of Ontario's top cop renewed accusations of political interference Monday that the government denied.

Deputy commissioner Brad Blair has asked the courts to force the provincial ombudsman to investigate the hiring of Toronto police Supt. Ron Taverner, a long-time friend of Premier Doug Ford, as the new OPP commissioner.

He is also threatening to sue Ford, alleging the premier damaged his reputation when Ford accused him of breaking the Police Services Act by speaking out against Taverner's hiring.

Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Sylvia Jones said the decision to fire Blair came from the public service.

"There was zero political influence on this decision," Jones said. "For me to start questioning my deputy minister would have been absolutely inappropriate."

Shortly after a press conference in which after Jones refused to divulge the reasons for the firing, she stood in the legislature to say Blair had been warned about releasing confidential OPP information late last year. He then did it again through subsequent filings in his case involving the ombudsman, she said.

Deputy minister Mario Di Tommaso wrote in a memo on Friday that he had recommended the termination to the Public Service Commission because Blair had contravened "his legal and ethical responsibilities as a deputy commissioner and senior public servant."

A day earlier, the president of the Ontario Provincial Police Association had written to Di Tommaso expressing concern that Blair's public court filings, including internal OPP documents, have had adverse impacts on his members, in particular a protection officer for Ford.

Di Tommaso is also a former boss of Taverner's and was part of the three-person hiring panel that selected Taverner as OPP commissioner.

Taverner, 72, initially did not meet the requirements listed for the commissioner position. The Ford government has admitted it lowered the requirements for the position to attract a wider range of candidates. His appointment has been delayed until the integrity commissioner completes an investigation into his hiring.

Jones rejected suggestions that Di Tommaso's involvement in Blair's firing was inappropriate, saying he is in charge of the ministry's public safety division.

"It makes imminent sense that he would be involved in OPP hiring, in OPP decisions, in OPP oversight," she said.

Blair's lawyer did not respond to request for comment.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said it appears the government is attempting to silence a vocal critic.

"This whole thing is a cesspool of interference by Mr. Ford," she said. "Good people who have dedicated their lives to this province, who have brought integrity to the OPP, are being thrown under the bus."

Liberal Nathalie Des Rosiers asked the chair of the legislature's justice committee to call Di Tommaso to testify.

Green party Leader Mike Schreiner called on Ford to scrap Taverner's appointment permanently and to hold a probe into the entire affair.

"I think we need an independent investigation to get to the bottom of this," he said. "The premier doesn't have any credibility on this."

Ford's government has faced similar criticism in the past.

Washington state regulators said late last year that they would not allow Ontario's largest utility to buy American energy company Avista for fear the provincial government, which owns 47 per cent of Hydro Ones shares, might meddle in Avista's operations.

In another case, opposition parties are called on Ford in November to address allegations that his chief of staff sought to interfere in police investigations into illegal cannabis dispensaries. Dean French is alleged to have unsuccessfully ordered senior political aides to instruct police to raid dispensaries the day recreational cannabis became legal.

Blair initially requested an ombudsman investigation into Taverner's appointment in December, amid what he called "growing concerns of political interference" in the hiring process. He said it had deeply affected the morale of rank and file officers.

Public court filings in Blair's case attempting to force the ombudsman to investigate Taverner's hiring contain an account written by an OPP officer who is part of Ford's detail. The premier allegedly asked to be able to choose the officers who protect him and complained about the response to his request.

Other messages in the package outline Ford's request of the police service for a custom-built van that was to include a 32-inch television with Blu-Ray player, a mini-fridge, black leather captain's chairs and a reclining leather sofa bench.

Ford, in turn, has accused Blair of breaking the Police Services Act, and Blair is now threatening a defamation lawsuit over those comments. A Ford spokesman has denied that the premier's statements were a reprisal against Blair.

The veteran officer, who was also in the running for the commissioner's job, was acting OPP commissioner at the time he started his legal case but soon after was removed from that position.

Days later, Di Tomasso wrote to Blair to warn him that his oath as public servant required him to maintain confidentiality. The letter should not be construed as "disciplinary in nature," Di Tomasso wrote, but Blair was expected to comply in the future.
OTTAWA - Jane Philpott suddenly resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet Monday, linking her decision to the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair. Below is the full text of her letter to Trudeau, as she posted it online:

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This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Indigenous Services Minister Jane Philpott speaks at the Assembly of First Nations Special Chiefs meeting in Ottawa, Wednesday, December 5, 2018. Philpott has resigned from cabinet. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA - Jane Philpott suddenly resigned from Justin Trudeau's cabinet Monday, linking her decision to the fallout from the SNC-Lavalin affair. Below is the full text of her letter to Trudeau, as she posted it online:

Dear Prime Minister,

It is an enormous privilege to be the Member of Parliament for Markham-Stouffville and to have served as Minister of Health, then Minister of Indigenous Services, then President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government. It has been an honour to play a leading role in progress that has shaped our country: bringing Syrian refugees to Canada; legislating a balanced approach to Medical Assistance in Dying; negotiating a health accord with new resources for mental health and home care; improving infrastructure for First Nations to provide clean water on reserve; and reforming child welfare to reduce the over-apprehension of Indigenous children.

However, I have been considering the events that have shaken the federal government in recent weeks and after serious reflection, I have concluded that I must resign as a member of Cabinet.

In Canada, the constitutional convention of Cabinet solidarity means, among other things, that ministers are expected to defend all Cabinet decisions. A minister must always be prepared to defend other ministers publicly, and must speak in support of the government and its policies. Given this convention and the current circumstances, it is untenable for me to continue to serve as a Cabinet minister.

Unfortunately, the evidence of efforts by politicians and/or officials to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in the criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin, and the evidence as to the content of those efforts have raised serious concerns for me. Those concerns have been augmented by the views expressed by my constituents and other Canadians.

The solemn principles at stake are the independence and integrity of our justice system. It is a fundamental doctrine of the rule of law that our Attorney General should not be subjected to political pressure or interference regarding the exercise of her prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases. Sadly, I have lost confidence in how the government has dealt with this matter and in how it has responded to the issues raised.

It grieves me to leave a portfolio where I was at work to deliver on an important mandate. But I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities and constitutional obligations. There can be a cost to acting on ones principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them.

Although I must regretfully resign from Cabinet, I will continue to serve Canadians in every other way that I can. I was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Markham-Stouffville and I intend to continue in that role. I am firmly committed to our crucial platform priorities, especially: justice for Indigenous peoples; and implementing a plan to tackle the existential threat of climate change. Canadians need the assurance that, in all matters, Members of Parliament will act in the best interests of the public. My decision has been made with that spirit and intent.

Sincerely,

The Honourable Jane Philpott MD PC MP
Government supports for Irish firms trading in continental Europe are "too little too late" because of the focus on cross-border business, a Cork-based medical service exporter has said.

Owen Curtin of Healthcare 21 said while the main focus was "understandably protecting the backstop", it had led to the Government taking its eye off the ball when it came to the landbridge between Ireland, Britain and mainland Europe.

Mr Curtin, whose firm employs more than 450 staff in Ireland, the UK, Germany and Austria and has a turnover of more than 150m, said 428m in Brexit supports would not suffice.

"Nearly all of our trade is conducted along the land bridge between Ireland, UK and Europe. Ireland should be pressuring both the EU and the UK to facilitate a tariff-free bonded route on that land bridge between Ireland and Europe," he said.

Cross-border trading body InterTrade Ireland announced new supports for firms including a voucher up to 2,250 towards professional advice to help businesses understand their Brexit exposure.

This includes issues such as customs requirements and supply chain exposure, Vat and financial implications, as well as understanding complex tariff codes, InterTrade Ireland said.

A second voucher up to 5,625, with InterTrade Ireland paying 50%, will allow businesses to implement changes identified in the Brexit exposure process, the organisation said.

InterTrade Ireland officer Aidan Gough said: "Through our research and engagement with cross-border traders, we recognise the acute challenges they face as they come to terms with Brexit in the face of many other competitive challenges. As we move closer to the March 29 deadline, the message is that its still not too late to make preparations."

Brexit is "desperately serious" for Cork farmers, the Irish Farms Accounts Co-operative (Ifac) said.

Ifac's David Leydon said: "Cork suckler and beef farmers, over 7,200, will come under the most pressure, with Irish beef becoming uncompetitive in the UK due to WTO tariffs in a worst-case scenario. For dairy farmers, the price of milk will come under pressure but will not have the same devastating impact."
Irish consumer sentiment fell sharply last month with concerns over a 'no deal' Brexit, the nurses' strike and overruns at the National Children's Hospital.

KBC's latest index shows consumer sentiment was at 86.5 in February - down from 98.8 in January.
The State recorded a surplus of 139m to the end of February.

That was down on the figure of 217m for the same period last year.

Exchequer returns show tax revenues of 8.1bn for the first two months of the year, which is slightly behind target.

The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 3.7% or 293m.
IDA Ireland has chosen to locate its new Advanced Technology Building (ATB) in Monaghan.

Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys has also announced its design team.

The new 1,350 sq. metre property is to be located at Monaghan Business & Technology at Knockaconny.

The development is part of IDA Irelands Government-funded Regional Property Programme (RPP) announced in 2015 as part of IDA Irelands strategy Winning FDI 2015-2019 to develop property solutions in regional locations.

IDA Ireland is investing 150m over five years in the programme and buildings have been built and occupied in Athlone, Waterford, Sligo, Tralee and Castlebar with around 700 jobs announced.

The body is to finish constructing more buildings in Dundalk, Limerick, Galway and Waterford this year.

Monaghan is one of the locations - along with counties Louth, Carlow, Sligo, Westmeath, Waterford, Limerick and Galway - to benefit from further funding allocated in Budget 2019 for the next phase of the programme.

Minister Humphreys said: "When I was appointed Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation in December 2018, I said my number one priority was going to be supporting the regions, and in particular the border region because, in the past, it has been left behind.

I followed through on that commitment in Budget 2019 when I increased the IDAs Budget for the Regional Property Programme by 10million specifically so the agency could develop further advanced premises in the border region with Monaghan, Dundalk and Sligo identified as suitable locations among others.

Now we have real and tangible progress with the appointment of the Design Team today for a new IDA Advanced Technology Building here at Knockaconny. Without a doubt, this new facility will help to attract more investment into the region.

"I want to wish Tomas Kelly of AECOM and John Parker of ABK Architects well in their work ahead. You both bring a wealth of experience to this project and I have no doubt you will do an excellent job."

IDA Irelands Executive Director Mary Buckley said: The positive precedent set by IDA Ireland during the pilot phase of our property programme, supports this additional and ambitious new programme which includes an ATB in Monaghan. IDA Irelands advanced building solutions offer ready-for-occupation, high specification, flexible and sustainable property solutions, suitable for high-value manufacturing and global business services to support the winning of investments from FDI clients.
A High Court judge has dismissed a banks objections to a personal insolvency arrangement under which a man sought to stay in the home he jointly owns with his now estranged wife.

Mr Justice Denis McDonald was satisfied Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank would not be unfairly prejudiced under the personal insolvency arrangement (PIA).

The bank would also do better than if the man was made bankrupt or if the bank tried to enforce a possession order it previously obtained against the mans ex wife, he said.

Under the PIA, the bank will get 220,000 over the 33-year extended mortgage period, plus a dividend of 6,724 over the two-year lifetime of the PIA, he noted.

The current market value of the house is 160,000 and, allowing for 10% to cover sale costs in a bankruptcy, the bank would recover no more than 144,000, he added.

The PIA provides the mortgage balance of 283,665 will be reduced to 220,000.

The 63,665 balance will be treated as an unsecured debt, in respect of which the bank will get 6,724 over a two year period.

The man was in low paid employment but is now self-employed running a car valeting business earning about 1,548 monthly.

The PIA provides he will make monthly interest-only payments of 229 for two years towards the 220,000 restructured balance. Then he will make monthly repayments of 678 and the mortgage term will be extended to 33 years when he will be aged 70.

Business income

Out of his business income of 1,548, he will pay 104 towards Revenue debts and 200 for child maintenance, leaving about 1,244 monthly for living expenses, mortgage and other debt repayments.

After those payments, he would have a monthly deficit of about 374 but he proposed that would be made up by a contribution from his live in girlfriend who earns 43,000 a year.

The mans wife, a discharged bankrupt, has not lived since 2014 in the home the couple had shared between 2004-2011. The man moved out into rented accommodation when the marriage broke down in 2011. He moved back in in 2015 when the property was effectively vacant, the woman having left the previous year.

After the bank took proceedings in 2017 for possession of the property, the mans personal insolvency practitioner sought approval of a PIA. The bank, his main creditor, opposed the PIA but his other creditor, the Revenue Commissioners, owed some 2,500, supported it.

The Circuit Court refused to approve the PIA after accepting the banks argument the man had failed to meet a requirement of the Personal Insolvency Acts to exhibit a written declaration he had co-operated with the bank for at least six months in relation to the principal private residence.

The bank, which maintained the man was not a co-operating debtor, opposed his appeal over the Circuit Court decision on a range of grounds, including the declaration point.

In his judgment on Monday, Mr Justice McDonald said the declaration had now been exhibited and he was satisfied it was in the interests of justice to admit it into evidence in this appeal.

There may be costs consequences over the failure to put the declaration before the Circuit Court, he warned.

The man said he had decided to move back because he had a personal liability to the bank under the mortgage loan and he has paid 700 a month since to the bank, the judge noted.

Rejecting the banks arguments the PIA was not sustainable, he said, while the bank complained there was insufficient evidence about the means of the mans girlfriend, there was no reason to suppose information from her employer was not correct.

Even if that relationship broke down in the future, the man could rent out one of the bedrooms in the house, he said. Ironically his experience dealing with such cases of is that secured creditors frequently complain debtors could make more extensive payments if they rented out rooms.

While the bank also complained the PIA is envisaged to continue until the man is 70, many people, including judges, do not retire until they are aged 70, he said.

The judge also rejected a number of other objections to the PIA.
Importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) at a proposed site on the Shannon estuary and a storage facility at Islandmagee in Co Antrim could help reduce prices for consumers, according to research by the Economic and Social Research Institute.

The sites, which have been proposed by the EU as projects that could potentially integrate European energy markets, would help Ireland tap highly-competitive world LNG market prices, according to ESRI researchers.
Almost four out of five hotels have seen their insurance premiums hiked in the past year by an average of 15%, according to a report by the industry's main representative body.

The Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) called for "urgent action" on rising costs, with its chief executive claiming they were now at an unsustainable level, averaging 1,150 per guest bedroom annually.

Tim Fenn said: "The time for foot-dragging is long past. The Government must now deliver concrete results in relation to insurance reform. Progress has been extremely slow to date and this inaction is having serious consequences for the viability of hotels and other tourism businesses."

Mr Fenn claimed "exorbitant levels of awards and lack of consistency" was making the Republic less attractive for insurers who were shying away from hotels.

"We are seeing an increasing number that are no longer willing to provide cover to hospitality businesses. This, in turn, is reducing competition in the insurance market and driving up costs," Mr Fenn said.

The IHF's annual general meeting in Killarney heard that there were now 61,865 hotel and guesthouse bedrooms in Ireland, up from 60,875 in 2017.

There were just under 11 million visitors from abroad last year, with total tourism revenue of 9.42bn, the IHF said.

Hotels outside Dublin are facing serious challenges despite record tourism numbers, according to the IHF.

Mr Fenn said: "There are many areas where tourism remains very seasonal and hospitality businesses struggle to break even during off-peak periods.
Ryanair has today reported a 13% growth in its traffic numbers for last month when compared to February 2018.

Last year, the budget airline carried 8.6 million passengers in February, while February 2019 saw them carry 9.6 million customers.
Tanaiste Simon Coveney has said all parties are "inching towards" a Brexit deal but warned "there are a few ups and downs in these negotiations yet" as the March 29 deadline moves into view.

Speaking at the official opening of the new 10m Clonakilty Distillery in West Cork, Mr Coveney sought to reassure businesses that the government was "working night and day" to prevent a scenario where the United Kingdom crashes out of the EU.

However, he said contingencies were also being developed in case that came to pass.

The Tanaiste had just completed a public speech which, he said, was the first he had made in a month that didn't mention Brexit. But while he joked that whiskey might be a requirement as negotiations continue, he said: "We are getting there slowly.

"I can reassure you we are planning for the worst just in case it happens, but we are working night and day to make sure that it doesn't," he said.

The Tanaiste said a deal that would be endorsed by the UK and acceptable to the EU was the goal and "we are inching towards that". He had earlier been asked what supports might be immediately available in a 'no deal' scenario and admitted it was too early to know.

It's difficult to determine what funds will be needed until we get a clearer picture of what a no-deal Brexit could look like and what I mean by that is it's very hard to know at the moment whether there would be tariff, non-tariff, or both, barriers to trade.

"The British government has not made up its mind in relation to tariffs in the context of a no deal. But of course we all need to work to make sure we avoid that kind of dramatic situation where Britain could crash out without any deal."

Brexit loomed in the background even as the country's latest distillery was opened, the new facility right in the centre of Clonakilty employing 35 people and with plans to attract 35,000 visitors annually.

Clonakilty Distillery CEO, Michael Scully, said the plans focused on high spending tourists and the domestic market. The new distillery includes a visitor experience, a gin school, the Whales Tail Bistro, and a warehouse on the Wild Atlantic Way on the Galley Head peninsula.

"While we would love to have English visitors there are other whiskey visitors, from Germany, France and the USA and its very important to attract them, and local Irish tourists, to our business," Mr Scully said.

The launch was attended by Minister with responsibility for Mental Health, Jim Daly, and local TDs Michael Collins and Margaret Murphy O'Mahony.

Mr Coveney said the Irish whiskey industry had experienced "a renaissance" over the past eight years, resulting in 650m a year in experts to become the fastest growing spirits category in the world. He said the new distillery would be a "strong tourism driver" for the area, adding: "A lot of people talk about the demise of rural Ireland; I am not seeing it in West Cork."

The Tanaiste also reiterated his support for a directly elected Lord Mayor for Cork City ahead of a plebiscite on the issue later this year, adding: "I think directly elected mayors have worked really well in other dynamic cities across the EU and I think the same can take place in Cork."
The soccer player who made global headlines after his death was incorrectly reported in communications from his Dublin football club has found a new team to play with.

In November, in communications with the Leinster Senior League, a Ballybrack FC representative claimed that Fernando LaFuente had died. The false statement was made in a bid to get out of playing a game against Arklow Town.


In the Kitchen with

Video Series



Join Darina Allen for Stir It Up Sunday and cook along with her as she makes her mothers plum pudding recipe. She also makes Mrs Hanrahans sauce - a recipe that is so delicious that Darina says people ask for more plum pudding just so they can have more sauce!



Join Darina Allen as she makes her mother's plum pudding with Mrs Hanrahan's sauce.


The Young Social Innovators Speak Out Tour 2019 is to be launched in Dublin today and will see 6,000 young people speak out on local, national and international issues across the country.

Some 800 secondary school students from Dublin and Meath will gather in the Round Room of the Mansion House today to discuss issues such as community regeneration, well-being, gender stereotyping, and combating elderly isolation and loneliness.
The Government's being accused of having a two-tiered tourism industry, which its policy is failing to tackle.

The Irish Hotels Federation, which is holding its annual conference in Kerry, says not every region of the country has had the same success.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a Sligo woman who impeded an investigation into a killing and was released on bail, despite DPP objections, after the High Court heard that gardai have "no idea where she is".

Janice Brady (29), with a last address of Maryville Hostel, Finisklin, Sligo, was arraigned before the Central Criminal Court in November 2017.

She pleaded guilty to impeding the apprehension or prosecution of a man between August 2 and August 3, 2015, at an address in Sligo, knowing or believing that the man was guilty of a killing.

Paul Murray SC, for the Director of Prosecutions, this morning told Mr Justice Paul McDermott we simply dont know where she is.

Bail

The terms of Ms Bradys bail included that Ms Brady would enter her own bond of 100; reside for a period of six months in sheltered accommodation provided by the Peter McVerry Trust; remain drug and alcohol free for the six-month period; take proactive steps in her recovery; sign on three times a week at a garda station; observe a curfew from 10am to 6pm; provide a mobile phone number to gardai and not visit or live in Sligo except for the purposes of visiting her son.

Mr Murray SC said this morning that it is the States case that Ms Brady has breached these conditions.

He said Ms Brady, since being granted bail, has tested positive for drugs and has not signed on with the gardai since February 15.

He said because of these developments, the State was seeking an arrest warrant for Ms Brady in order to revoke her bail.

On February 1 last, when Mr Justice Michael White granted Ms Brady bail, the judge warned her: Be careful, youre on very strict conditions.

At the time, the State objected to Ms Bradys bail application, with Inspector Tom Colsch telling Mr Murray SC that there was a strong likelihood that if Ms Brady was granted bail she would re-offend and return to her drug habit.

This morning Inspector Colsch told Mr Justice McDermott that Ms Brady has breached her bail conditions.

He said the gardai have no idea where she is and he added that she has not been seen in Sligo.

Mr Justice McDermott said he was satisfied that there had been a breach of Ms Bradys bail conditions and issued an arrest warrant for Ms Brady.

On February 1 last, Mr Justice White said he was comforted by a letter from the Peter McVerry Trust offering Ms Brady sheltered accommodation in Drumcondra for a period of six months and he was prepared to release her on bail conditions for that amount of time.

The judge said the defendant's urine analysis had not tested positive for any illegal substance and he was not unduly concerned that she would try to evade justice.
The death has taken place of former Fine Gael TD, minister and mayor of Waterford Eddie Collins.

Mr Collins, who was a Fine Gael member and representative for many years, died on Monday morning at University Hospital Waterford after a long illness at the age of 78.

Former taoiseach John Bruton paid tribute to Mr Collins in a statement, saying he was "deeply saddened" by the Waterford city native's death.

"I met Eddie Collins for the first time when I went to Waterford to campaign for him in the 1966 by-election," Mr Bruton recalled.

It was an exciting old-style campaign with parades and rallies on behalf of the rival parties as well as intense local canvassing.

Eddie Collins was a member of Waterford Corporation from 1964 to 1981 and Waterford County Council from 1979 to 1981. He was unsuccessful in the 1966 Dail by-election but did win a seat in the 1969 general election, retaining it until 1987.

He was Fine Gael's education spokesman from 1977 until 1981 and, according to John Bruton, was "exceptionally active" in drafting new policies, including a proposal to establish local education structures and the introduction of an adult education bill.

He was minister of state at the Department of Industry and Energy from 1981 to 1982 and at the Department of Industry, Trade, Commerce and Tourism until 1987.

"I found him to be an exceptionally hard-working, creative, reliable and loyal colleague," Mr Bruton said.

After the 1987 general election when he lost his Dail seat, Eddie Collins became a lecturer in economics at the Institute of Technology in Tallaght.

He was Mayor of Waterford in 1975.

Mr Collin was pre-deceased by his wife Lelia and is survived by his daughter Elizabeth, son Edward and other relatives and friends.

He will be buried in Ballygunner Cemetery on Thursday following funeral Mass in the Sacred Heart Church, The Folly, Waterford, at 12 noon.
Forty-two girls' lives will be saved this year because they get the HPV jab, research from the Irish Cancer Society has concluded.

Cervical cancer kills 90 women in Ireland each year - almost two a week.
A jury has begun deliberating in the trial of a 37-year-old woman charged with attempting to murder a civil servant, who was walking home from work in Dublin two years ago.

Laura Kenna, of no fixed abode, is charged with attempting to murder Fionnuala Burke on Lower Drumcondra Road in the city on January 3, 2017, and of assault causing serious harm to her on the same occasion. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to both counts and is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.

The trial has heard that Ms Burke was working for the Department of Social Protection, and was walking home when she noticed a woman sitting on a wall outside a house.

The woman, Laura Kenna, sprang up and pushed her back onto a grassy area. Ms Kenna didnt say anything, but started to stab her.

The court heard Ms Burke felt the short stab wounds and could also feel her face being slashed, before she felt a dramatic slash straight across her neck. Ms Kenna then spoke, telling Ms Burke that shed let her go if she handed over her bag.

Ms Kenna later admitted to gardai: I sliced her like you would a goat.

The main issue for the jury to consider was Ms Kennas state of mind at the time; however there was a conflict of opinion between the experts on this issue.

A consultant psychiatrist engaged by the defence, Dr Stephen Monks, testified that the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time; she was therefore entitled to the special defence of not guilty by reason of insanity.

However, a consultant psychiatrist engaged by the State disagreed. Professor Harry Kennedy testified that she was not delusional at the time, but carried out the attack in anger and out of a sense of entitlement; she told gardai shed needed money.

Barristers for both sides delivered their closing speeches today.

Barry White SC, defending, reminded the jury that both doctors had agreed that Ms Kenna had fit the criteria for the special insanity verdict when she had attacked another woman a few weeks before this attack.

A jury in that case had later reached a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity on that charge.

However, the same two doctors had differed in this case. He pointed out that Prof Kennedy considered her to have a mental disorder after the Drumcondra attack, but not during it, and said the professor had Ms Kenna going from mad to bad to mad.

You heard from Dr Monks that this is highly improbable, he said.

Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, reminded the jury that he had said at the outset that this would not be an easy case.

I did not tell you that this was a retrial and that another jury had struggled with this, he said, referring to a previous jury failing to reach a verdict, something the defence had disclosed in this trial.

That is now known to you and it endorses the statement I made that this is a difficult case, he said.

He noted that there was no blood test that could establish a mental condition.

One has to go through the torturous process that has been revealed to you in this case, he continued, explaining that the Oireachtas had decided that 12 citizens coming together had to answer the question on insanity.

The six women and six men began considering their verdict this afternoon and will resume deliberations tomorrow morning. Ms Justice Tara Burns warned them not to discuss the case with anyone in the meantime.
A couple from Kilkenny are planning to pay off their mortgage after winning a 200,000 National Lottery All Cash Spectacular scratch card prize.

They won the life-changing sum from a 10 scratch card bought at Blanchfield's Centra in Mooncoin.

On collecting their winning at the National Lottery offices in Dublin, the husband said spoke of his shock - and joy - when he discovered he had won such a big prize.

I buy the same scratch card every week and win a few bob here and there but never believed that I was going to win this kind of money," he said.

"I scratched the card in the car after I bought it in the shop and one of my numbers came up as a winner. I then realised it had the 200,000 symbol beside it! I contacted my wife straight away and she told me that I was talking nonsense that I could not have won anything like this! Its only sinking in with her now!

The couple are going to go against the temptation of big purchases and are instead, going to pay off their mortgage.

We had a long think about what we would do with the money and we have decided to pay off our mortgage. It might hurt a little handing over almost all of the money to the bank manager but there is no greater security in life than being mortgage free.

However, in the midst of Storm Freya, the couple are planning on getting some sun with the winnings:

"Well have a very small amount left over for a nice family holiday it will be great to get away from this horrendous weather, he said.
Update 6.45pm: Health Minister Simon Harris has been targeted by unknown individuals for the second time in a month after an envelope containing white powder was sent directly to his office - forcing the Department of Health to temporarily evacuate.

Workers at the Department's offices on Baggot Street in central Dublin were forced to leave the building for three hours today amid widespread fears of a serious safety incident centering around the powder.

Shortly after 11.25am this morning, staff at the Department of Health opened an envelope containing a suspicious white powder which was addressed to Mr Harris and which was later revealed to be baking powder.

Officials immediately phoned the gardai and emergency services, who rushed at least eight fire brigade vehicles, garda units and the army bomb squad to the scene due to fears the envelope - which did not include a letter or any message - posed a serious safety risk.

Over the subsequent three hours, emergency services evacuated the building and set up a 100-metre cordon around the site, ordering pedestrians to leave the area and telling workers in nearby offices to not leave their buildings under any circumstances.

Specialist "hazardous material team units" and the army bomb squad were sent into the building in full body suits to examine the envelope and any other suspicious items,

All staff who had direct contact with the suspicious white powder had to undergo "chemical cleaning" to ensure they did not spread the risk to other individuals.

However, after a three-hour examination, emergency services confirmed at 2.30pm that the suspicious white powder was baking powder and that there was no risk to individuals.

While it is unknown who was behind the envelope, today's incident is the second time in a month Mr Harris has been targeted. Last month there was a protest outside his County Wicklow home.

Mr Harris was not present at the time the envelope addressed directly to him was discovered and he did not have direct contact with it. However, Children's Minister Katherine Zappone was holding a disability services meeting in the building at the time.

In a statement, Mr Harris thanked emergency services for their "diligence in responding to an incident at my department": "The safety of staff must always be paramount. Today was a difficult day for them all and particularly those who work so closely with me in my office."

Earlier: Taoiseach criticises 'oddballs' behind suspicious package sent to Dept of Health

Update 6.05pm: The Taoiseach has described people who send suspicious packages in the post as "oddballs".

An envelope containing powder was sent to Minister Simon Harris this morning, shutting down the Department of Health for the day.

It has been deemed non-hazardous and handed over to gardai for further examination.

Emergency Services at the scene. Photo: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says people should know that post does not immediately reach the politicians directly.

"I'm not sure what sort of oddballs send suspicious packages in the post but they should be well aware that it's not the politician who's going to be opening the mail it's somebody doing a normal job," he said.

"It could be a receptionist, it could be a security guard, it could be a clerical officer or somebody working on the constituency team.

If you want to come after us come after us, but don't come after our staff or our families.

Additional reporting by Digital Desk

Earlier: Department of Health reopens after envelope of powder deemed non-hazardous

Update 4.19pm: The Department of Health on Baggot Street has re-opened, following the discovery of a suspicious package this morning.

An envelope containing a powder, which was sent to the Minister for Health, was inspected on site after gardai and the Army Bomb Disposal team were called to the scene.

Army ,Dublin Fire Brigade and emergency services at the scene. Photo: Gareth Chaney / Collins Photos

The package was deemed non-hazardous by technicians, and has been handed over to gardai for further examination.

The scene was declared safe at 2.30pm.

The building was evacuated at around 11.30am and staff at the department were sent home for the day.

In a statement, the Defence Forces said: An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

Army bomb disposal units have arrived in protective clothing to the Department of Health on Baggot Street amid an ongoing incident. pic.twitter.com/pBdulvB1EZ  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination.

The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the gardai.

A statement from Dublin Fire Brigade had confirmed there was no danger to the public, and appealed for people to respect the emergency cordons that were in place.

The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature. All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/ZpaPqHmkdZ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

At least five fire engines went to the scene, along with ambulance staff and a number of gardai support vehicles.

When asked about the incident on Monday afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that gardai and Defence Forces had all appropriate equipment and skills to deal with the incident.

Traffic across the busy Dublin city centre area suffered major disruption due to the incident, as a considerable length of Baggot Street was closed off and public transport diverted.

Additional reporting by Digital Desk and Press Association

Earlier: Offices evacuated as envelope with white powder sent to Department of Health

Update 12.08pm: The Department of Health's offices in Dublin city centre have been temporarily evacuated after an envelope containing unknown white powder was sent to the building.

The site was closed off by gardai and surrounded by at least eight fire brigade vehicles at midday on Monday after the item was identified.

One of the fire brigade crews also brought with it a large container labelled "hazmat support unit" items, which relates to the special hazardous material equipment needed to address potentially threatening materials.

The Department of Health's offices have been temporarily evacuated after a suspicious package was sent to the Dublin city. Video by Fiachra O Cionnaith

The Department of Health's offices have been temporarily evacuated after a suspicious package was sent to the Dublin city location. #iestaff  Fiachra O Cionnaith  (@Ocionnaith) March 4, 2019

We are on scene at an incident in a premises on Baggot Street Lower. To help us deal with the incident the road has been closed. Expect traffic delays and disruption in the area. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/J42CWRHTkF  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

The Irish Examiner understands the envelope was found at the same time as a meeting was due to take place in the Department's offices.

A call was then made to Dublin fire brigade and the gardai, who sealed off and evacuated the site.

It is currently unknown what material is involved and no motive for the package has been revealed.

However, the Department and Health Minister Simon Harris have been at the centre of a series of stand offs in recent months over the abortion referendum, children's hospital, protests at ministerial homes and other matters.
A rape victim waived his anonymity as a 54-year-old East Cork man pleaded guilty to raping him twice when he was approximately ten years old.

Anthony Moynihan of Crocane, Rostellan, Midleton, County Cork, pleaded guilty to rape, on a date unknown between September 1, 2006 and June 27, 2008 at an address at Upper Aghada in County Cork.

The second rape charge was similar and referred to another date in the same time period.

Counts 3 and 4 on the indictment referred to sexual assault by Anthony Moynihan on unknown dates during the same period of time.

Tim OLeary, senior counsel for the prosecution said the victim was waiving his anonymity.

Mr Justice Michael White said evidence would be required on the effects of the crime on the victim.

The judge directed the preparation of a victim impact statement in advance of sentencing.

Defence senior counsel Tom Creed asked for the case to be adjourned until May 7.

Mr Justice White acceded to that application at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

However, he said that the sentencing would take place in Dublin on May 7.

Mr Creed said the defendant was undergoing treatment for cancer at the moment.

Mr Justice White directed a probation report and Mr Creed SC said medical reports would also be presented.

When he was arraigned at the Central Criminal Court, it emerged that Moynihan was unable to speak.

His solicitor, Ken Murray, entered the guilty plea on Moynihans behalf to each of the charges  two counts of rape and two of sexual assault.

The background facts in the case were not given in court.

They will be given by one of the investigating officers in May.
Revenue officers seized 40,400 cigarettes at Cork Airport this morning after searching a passenger from Nigeria.

The passenger, a man in his 20s, had the cigarettes that were branded Benson & Hedges, according to Revenue.

In a separate incident yesterday, 8,400 cigarettes were seized at Cork Airport.

The cigarettes, branded Double Happiness and Hongtashan, were found hidden in the suitcase of an Irish passenger in his 50s who had arrived on a flight from China.

The seized cigarettes have an estimated retail value of over 29,280, representing a potential loss to the exchequer of 23,100, according to Revenue.

Investigations into both incidents are ongoing.
The prosecution has closed its case in the trial of a man accused of murdering a 90-year-old retired farmer in his home.

Ross Outram (28), of Ferryland, Waterford Road, Clonmel in Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Paddy Lyons at Loughleagh, Ballysaggart, Lismore, Co Waterford, at a time unknown between February 23 and 26, 2017.

Ross Outram

Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, was today tendered by the prosecution at the request of the defence in the Central Criminal Court trial of Mr Outram.

The pathologist gave evidence last Tuesday that Mr Lyons suffered multiple blows to his head and neck from a blunt weapon, before his blood-smeared body was found slumped in his armchair at his home.

Mr Lyons cause of death was blunt force trauma to his body with a traumatic brain injury and shock due to fractures of his hip joint, jawbone and ribs, Dr Bolster outlined to the jury last week.

Under further cross examination today by Michael OHiggins SC, defending, Dr Bolster said it was not an unreasonable conclusion that Mr Lyons would have suffered from concussion after sustaining head injuries following the altercation.

Dr Bolster said this was not a trivial head injury as there were multiple areas of haemorrhage to Mr Lyons head as well as shearing of his nerve fibres which implied that sufficient force had been used to disrupt those fibres.

There would have been some alteration in his levels of consciousness, she added.

Mr OHiggins put it to Dr Bolster that she could not tell whether or not Mr Lyons had suffered concussion.

In my opinion he almost certainly did, replied the witness, adding that significant force had been transmitted to Mr Lyons brain.

Dr Bolster commented that the deceased would at least have wiped the blood from his face if he was perfectly healthy after suffering the head injuries.

The witness agreed with counsel that she could not tell what symptoms Mr Lyons would have suffered after sustaining the head injuries but stated that there would have been some alteration in his brain function.

Mr OHiggins asked Dr Bolster if it was reasonable that Mr Lyons would not have been concussed. I can say in my opinion that there would be some effects from head trauma, she replied.

The barrister further put it to the witness that while she was saying to the jury that it was reasonably possible that there could have been some effects, she was not excluding the possibility that there might not have been.

Based on an examination of his injuries and the scene, there would have been some effects, Dr Bolster indicated, adding that she could not say what these effects were.

In conclusion, Dr Bolster said it was not impossible that Mr Lyons would have had no symptoms following the assault.

However, she felt that the deceased would have suffered some effects because of the evidence concerning his significant brain trauma and the fact that there was no evidence of him having wiped his face.

Mr OHiggins put it to the witness that she was wrong and there was insufficient material to form any view "good, bad or indifferent" concerning concussion in this case. I dont think Im wrong, she said.

The prosecution has now closed its case and the trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Coffey and a jury of eight men and four women.
Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly has admitted that he is "worried" about the forthcoming European elections after it emerged that his running mate Deirdre Clune secured about one-third more delegate votes than him at Sunday's selection convention.

Both sitting MEPs in Ireland South, Kelly and Clune, were chosen by 800-plus Fine Gael members to contest the next election in May, along with Andrew Doyle from Wicklow who is a long-serving TD and currently minister of state.

Voting numbers were not publicly released by Fine Gael following the convention in Clonmel's Hotel Minella but Deirdre Clune secured 298 of the first preference votes, well ahead of Sean Kelly on 225, with Andrew Doyle on 161 and Laois-Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy on 115.

Both Kelly and Clune surpassed the quota of 199 on the first count and the surplus was almost evenly distributed among Doyle and Corcoran-Kennedy, putting the Wicklow TD over the line.

"I wouldn't say I'm not worried about it, I certainly would be worried about it," Sean Kelly said on Monday in relation to the voting numbers.

"You just have to look at the history of European elections, I'm the only person from Kerry ever to be elected.

People on the periphery of any boundary are going to find it more difficult than people in the centre.

"I would hope that, in the election, the hard work I've done and the achievements in Europe will be well looked upon by the electorate. Hopefully they will see I've given it 100 percent and I've been effective."

Asked if he was surprised by the gap between himself and Cork-based Deirdre Clune at the convention, the former GAA president said: "Not really, because it's a big county [Cork]. They've a way bigger vote than Kerry. We're so far south-west, with our backs to the sea, it's going to be a difficult position.

"It takes an extremely special effort to be nominated, not to mind elected... Yesterday was about getting on the ticket and we're on the ticket now and we'll put our best foot forward."

Delegates are believed to have gone for Andrew Doyle as the third candidate in attempt to sweep up votes along the eastern half of the constituency, which takes in all of Munster as well as Wicklow, Laois-Offaly, Kilkenny-Carlow and Wexford. Doyle's constituency colleague, Simon Harris, ran in 2014 and was only beaten on the last count by Deirdre Clune for the fourth seat.

This time the constituency has five seats, with Fianna Fail expected to take the seat about to be vacated by poll-topper Brian Crowley and Sinn Fein expected to hold onto the seat won last time by Liadh Ni Riada. The fifth seat could be between a third Fine Gael candidate, second Fianna Fail candidate and Green Party senator Grace O'Sullivan who polled respectably in 2014.

A Fine Gael delegate said on Monday that the convention was a major boost for Deirdre Clune, who is likely to have been backed in large numbers by Cork delegates. "Deirdre Clune, as evidenced by the convention seems to be very strong and seems to have consolidated Cork and Waterford. The fact that Crowley has gone might make her a lot stronger."

However, others in the party pointed out that Cork has more delegates to the convention than the likes of Kerry or Limerick, which would be seen as Sean Kelly strongholds, skewing the numbers in Clune's favour.
The Supreme Court is visiting Galway today, in what is its first time sitting outside the Four Courts in Dublin in over 80 years.

This morning, Mr Justice Frank Clarke and the other judges of the Supreme Court arrived at NUI Galway  marking the first time the court has left its home in Dublin since 1932.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a further appeal over the extradition of a Polish man accused of drug trafficking.

Artur Daniel Celmar's extradition case was at the centre of controversy when High Court judge Aileen Donnelly referred it to the Court of Justice of the EU(CJEU).

She had found "generalised and systemic" violations to the independence of the Polish judiciary which gave rise to a real risk that fair trial rights would be breached.

It arose after Celmar's lawyers argued he faced a risk of an unfair trial because of radical changes to the Polish justice system, which has put the country at odds with the European Union in recent years.

Ms Justice Donnelly postponed her decision on the extradition request pending a decision from the CJEU.

Last June, advocate general to the CJEU, Evgeni Tanchev, said while it cannot be ruled out that lack of independence of the courts of member state issuing a European arrest warrant may, in principle, amount to a flagrant denial of justice, it must be "so serious that it destroys the fairness of the trial".

It was for the Irish court to determine whether this was so on the basis of information that is objective, reliable, specific and properly updated and demonstrates that the deficiencies affecting the Polish system of justice exist, Mr Tanchev said.

When the case returned to Ms Justice Donnelly in November, she ordered Celmar's surrender to the Polish authorities after saying she was only concerned with determining whether the issues in Poland specifically related to Celmer, in accordance with the CJEUs ruling.

She concluded that, of themselves, the systemic and generalised deficiencies in the independence of the Polish judiciary did not reach the threshold of amounting to a real risk that there would be a flagrant denial of a fair trial.

Celmar's lawyers sought leave from the Supreme Court to bring a further appeal on grounds that the case involved a matter of general public importance.

Among their grounds were that judges at all levels are subject to a significant pressure from the (Polish) Minister for Justice who has disciplinary powers over them, and who influences how they are appointed and replaced. This is particularly pernicious in the context of criminal trials because the Minister for Justice is also the Public Prosecutor, it was claimed.

In a written determination published recently, the Supreme Court said the (Irish) Minister for Justice, who sought the extradition, had disputed the claims raised by Celmar's lawyers but had not opposed the application for leave to bring a further appeal.

The question for determination, the Supreme Court said, is whether the application meets the constitutional criteria of being a matter of general public importance. "It clearly comes within that category", it said.

The court also noted the Minister for Justice said the grounds of the further appeal significantly expanded the grounds raised in the High Court.
Work to finalise the complex funding arrangements for the stalled Cork event centre is still ongoing, the Tanaiste has confirmed.

Just days after calls from the citys business leaders, hoteliers and publicans for certainty, accountability and meaningful communication on the controversial project, Simon Coveney said legal advice on the increased State-aid, upped from 20m to 30m, including the contentious 9m repayable loan element is awaited.

At the opening of the Clonakilty Distillery in West Cork today, the Tanaiste said he speaks all the time to businesses in Cork about the project.

We are at a point now where we are awaiting legal advice from two senior counsels to make sure that we can move to the next stage, which is effectively finalising the conditions by which the 30m that has been sanctioned and committed by government is actually spent, he said.

Some of that money needs to be a repayable loan, We have known that for many, many months but the circumstances around that need to be consistent with the original tendering process.

So anybody who has been involved in this process knows exactly what is going on. There are ongoing discussions, in fact, weekly discussions, which I am involved in to continue to move this process forward.

He said as the funding issues are being finalised, BAM will finalise the planning process.

I am as frustrated as anybody else that we are not physically seeing it being built at the moment but there are processes that need to be concluded so we dont make decisions and then find that they are legally challenged," he said.

It's more than four years since the State funding was sanctioned and more than three years since the sod was turned. BAM has been asked for further information on its planning application for the enlarged venue.
The Taoiseach has moved to defend his predecessor Enda Kenny over claims that he lobbied on behalf of Facebook while in office.

However, Leo Varadkar has said large companies and groups lobby him "all the time" and their representations are "taken on board".

Over the weekend it was claimed that Mr Kenny had lobbied on behalf of Facebook to influence EU data protection laws.

It had been reported that Mr Kenny offered to use the significant influence of the EU presidency in 2013 to promote Facebook's interests among the other EU member states on EU data protection laws.

Mr Varadkar said the Government should be judged on its actions citing the introduction of the GDPR. He said the office of the data protection commissioner had also been "totally beefed up".

"When Enda Kenny took over as Taoiseach it was a small under-resourced office headquartered over a Spar in Portarlington and he really took that on."

Mr Varadkar said the Government has a good relationship with all multinationals which have bases in Ireland, from tech firms to pharmaceutical companies.

"But we don't have a relationship with Facebook that is closer than any other relationship that would exist with any large firm."

He added:

Do companies lobby me as Taoiseach? Yeah certainly all the time, absolutely everyone who comes into my office lobbies me about something, that is what you do as a politician.

"So whether it's a company, whether it's an NGO, whether it's a representative organisation of business or farmers or a trade union, they don't come into the office to tell me what a great job I am doing, they come into the office to tell me that they want public policy changed in some area, that they want funding for something or that they want me not to do something I intend to do."

He said these views are "taken on board" and a decision is then made.

Communications Minister Richard Bruton also moved to defend former Taoiseach Mr Kenny claiming the Government is not in the pocket of online giants.

"Whatever perceptions might be sought to be created I think the reality is very different," said Mr Bruton.

"It's a matter for Enda to decide whether he wants to comment but I think the evidence is very clear that there has been no diminution of the vigilance of data protection in Ireland.

Asked if the outside view is now that Ireland is "in the pocket" of Facebook and other tech giants, Mr Bruton said: "I think the evidence is absolutely clear that we are not".
Three Portuguese men have been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with cultivating cannabis following the discovery of a 640,000 grow house in Dublin.

Gardai arrested nine people in Dublin and Co Wexford after a cannabis cultivation unit was allegedly discovered during the search of a commercial premises in Dublin's north inner city on Saturday.

In excess of 800 cannabis plants at various stages of growth, with an estimated value of 640,000 were seized. Four people were arrested at the scene. Three of them faced a court hearing today.

Miguel Lima, 27, and Hugo de Silva, 23, who are of no fixed abode and Pedro Barbosa, 34, with an address at Suffolk Street, Rochdale, England, appeared before Judge Bryan Smyth at Dublin District Court.

They had been held at Mountjoy Garda station following their arrest and were charged under Section 17 of the Misuse of Drugs Act for cultivating cannabis at a premises on Frederick Lane North on March 2.

Evidence of arrest charge and caution was given by detectives Stephen Gillespie, Mark ONeill and Liam Brennan of the Garda National Drugs & Organised Crime Bureau.

The court heard there would be an objection to bail.

The judge was told Mr Lima replied I was arrested on the street not in the address after he was charged. His solicitor Michael French told the court his client will make a bail application for Friday.

He also requested that Mr Lima would be given medical attention because he has psychiatric issues.

His co-defendants made no reply when charged.

Solicitor Clare Barry, for Mr de Silva also said her client would apply for bail on Friday.

Judge Bryan Smyth acceded to a request from barrister Kitty Perle, for Mr Barbosa, to adjourn his case until next Monday.

All three were granted legal aid and were remanded in custody pending their bail hearings.

They did not address the court and listened to the proceedings with the help of an interpreter.

Searches were also carried out at locations in Co Wexford. Two others were released without charge while four more remained in Garda custody today.
A congressional panel has launched a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump, his White House, his campaign and his businesses.

The panel is sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says the investigation will be focused on obstruction of justice, corruption and abuses of power.

The aggressive, broad investigation could set the stage for impeachment, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review special counsel Robert Muellers report before taking drastic action.

Nadler said todays document requests are a way to begin building the public record and the committee has the responsibility to investigate.

The White House said it has received the House Judiciary Committees letter requesting documents related to the Trump administration, family and business as part of an expanding Russia investigation.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said today that the White House counsels office and relevant officials will review the letter and respond at the appropriate time.

The committee is requesting documents from more than 60 people.

Nadler, who says he believes the president obstructed justice, said the panel wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the presidents son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. He says former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn also are likely targets.

It also includes his embattled charitable foundation, which he is shutting down after agreeing to a court-supervised process, and officials at the FBI and Justice Department.

The committee expects some people to produce right away, and others may eventually face subpoenas, an official said. It is unclear how many will eventually be called in for interviews.

The announcement of the new investigation follows a bad political week for the president. He emerged empty-handed from a high-profile summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearisation, and Mr Trumps former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, in three days of congressional evidence, publicly characterised the president as a conman and cheat.

Mr Nadler previewed the announcement on ABCs This Week on Sunday, saying it was very clear that Mr Trump had obstructed justice.

He said House Democrats, now in the majority, are doing our job to protect the rule of law after Republicans during the first two years of Mr Trumps term were shielding the president from any proper accountability.

Were far from making decisions about impeachment, he added.

The top House Democrat said its very clear President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Nadler, who is the chairman of the House committee that would be in charge of impeachment, said the panel is requesting documents today from more than 60 people from Trumps administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation.

Asked if he believed Trump obstructed justice, Nadler said, Yes, I do.
A 1.6bn (1.85bn) package promised by Theresa May for run-down towns in England has been dismissed by opposition MPs as a "pathetic" attempt to win Labour support for her Brexit deal.

The money, which will be spread over seven financial years to 2025-2026, is a "desperate bribe", shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed.

But Britain's Communities Secretary James Brokenshire said the money would be "transformative" and was not conditional on support for the British Prime Minister's Withdrawal Agreement.

Mrs May's efforts to make the deal more palatable to hardline Brexiteers have hit a setback, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.

British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has dropped attempts to secure key demands for a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop or a time limit for it, according to the newspaper.

The DUP and the Tory European Research Group (ERG) have made it clear they will not support the PM's Withdrawal Agreement in crunch Commons votes without such legally binding measures.

Launching the new 1.6 billion Stronger Towns Fund package, Mrs May said: "For too long in our country prosperity has been unfairly spread.

"Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change - that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.

"These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them."

Mr McDonnell branded the initiative a "desperate bribe".

He said: "This Towns Fund smacks of desperation from a Government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation."

But Mr Brokenshire told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the money was not linked to getting the deal through.

"This funding is there regardless of the outcome, but obviously we want to see a deal happening, we believe that is what is in the best interests of our country.

"But there is no constitutionality in that sense."

Labour MP for Stoke Central Gareth Snell said: "The entire allocation for the West Midlands over four years is less than the total value of cuts faced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council alone over the same period."

The entire allocation for the West Midlands over four years is LESS than the total value of cuts faced by Stoke-on-Trent City Council alone over the same period.



This is a huge disappointment. https://t.co/6JZOVQ8nPq  Gareth Snell (@gareth_snell) March 3, 2019

Luke Pollard, who represents Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, scorned the 35 million earmarked for towns in the South West, pointing out that it was around the same amount as the settlement agreed with Eurotunnel over the Brexit ferries "shambles", adding: "What a pathetic mess."

Rhondda MP Chris Bryant said the money - for English regions - was "corrupt, patronising, pathetic" and "all to appease the Brexit monster".

Of the 1 billion being allocated using a needs-based formula, the North West gets 281 million, the West Midlands 212 million, Yorkshire and the Humber 197 million, the East Midlands 110 million, the North East 105 million, the South East 37 million, the South West 35 million, and the East of England 25 million.

Another 600 million will be available through a bidding process to communities in any part of the country.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General is set to return to Brussels this week for more talks on the backstop following the reports that he has abandoned key Brexiteer demands.

Asked about the Daily Telegraph report, Mr Brokenshire said: "The Attorney General continues with his work to ensure that we get legally binding changes to ensure that we are not locked in the backstop."

He said Mr Cox would be "back to Brussels this week to continue the discussions to make sure that we can get those legal changes".

The Attorney General is reported to be focusing on securing an enhanced "arbitration mechanism" that allows the UK or the EU to provide formal notice that the backstop should come to an end.

But Brussels is said to be resisting demands for an "independent" arbitration panel, outside the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

The ERG has set out three tests by which they will judge Mr Cox's efforts to secure changes to the backstop.

The group wants a legally binding, treaty-level arrangement; the language must not just simply reiterate the temporary nature of the backstop; and there "needs to be a clear and unconditional route out" of the arrangement.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds said his party must see legally binding and treaty-level changes to the Withdrawal Agreement regarding the backstop in order to support it.

He told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "We need something which, whatever its legal form, has legally binding effect and which changes the current meaning of the Withdrawal Agreement.

"And which makes clear that it cannot be indefinite, and it cannot be a trap both for the United Kingdom generally and for Northern Ireland in particular."
A woman has appeared in court in England charged with murdering her three-month-old baby girl.

Kamila Bogdan, 40, appeared in the dock at Bromley Magistrates' Court today accused of killing Jolia Bogdan at an address in Tamworth Road, Croydon, south London on Saturday.

The defendant, who gave her address as Tamworth Road, was assisted by an interpreter as she spoke to confirm her address, date of birth and nationality as Polish.

Police have said they were called by the ambulance service just before midday on Saturday to a home in London after it was reported that a baby was unresponsive.

The baby was taken from the scene in Croydon to hospital and was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

Bogdan, dressed in a dark jacket, was remanded in custody to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, March 6.
British intelligence services investigated "increased" and "unusual" activity at the Russian embassy in London in the days before and after the Novichok poisoning, the Press Association understands.

MI5, MI6 and GCHQ looked into "frantic comings and goings" at the building in Kensington in the days leading up to the moment former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia came into contact with the nerve agent and after they were found unconscious, according to a source.

In the wake of the attack, which took place in Salisbury a year ago on Monday, the observations were "deemed to be significant and of interest", it is understood.

A security source told the Press Association: "The intelligence agencies have been investigating unusual and increased activity at the Russian embassy in Kensington in the days leading up to and after the attack on the Skripals."

A heavy police presence around Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, ahead of a visit from British Prime Minister Theresa May on the first anniversary of the Skripal Salisbury poisoning today.

The source, who has knowledge of the investigation, said lines of inquiry included looking at movements - described as "frantic and unprecedented" - which were observed at the time, adding: "As would be expected, the UK security services have eyes on known and undeclared foreign intelligence operatives."

Britain has accused Russia of being behind the attack.

Intelligence services continue to believe it was ordered at "the highest level in the Russian state", the source said.

Some two weeks after the attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May kicked out 23 suspected Russian spies from the London embassy in the largest mass expulsion of diplomats since the Cold War.

Both Mrs May and British Home Secretary Sajid Javid claimed the Russian government had been involved, saying approval came from a senior level in Moscow.

British Prime Minister Theresa May passes a display in a shop window while walking through Salisbury on the first anniversary of the Skripal poisoning today.

It is understood several Russians are being investigated over the attack.

The source did not rule out the possibility of there being more suspects than those already named and said inquiries were "not limited to the suspects already publicly declared."

In September, Scotland Yard and the UK's Crown Prosecution Service said there was sufficient evidence to charge two Russians - known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - with offences including conspiracy to murder after they were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.

They are accused of being members of the Russian military intelligence service the GRU.

In February, high-ranking Russian military intelligence service officer Denis Sergeev was revealed as being reportedly in Britain during the attack.

The 45-year-old member of the GRU, who uses the alias Sergei Fedotov, arrived 48 hours before the poisoning but it is unclear what role, if any, he played in the attack, the investigative website Bellingcat said.

Detectives believe the Skripals first came into contact with the nerve agent when it was sprayed on the door handle of their home in Christie Miller Road, Salisbury.

Mr Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter survived the attack, as did Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who came into contact with the poison when he searched their home.

But Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months after the incident and died in hospital in July after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack on the Skripals and then discarded.

The specially adapted counterfeit Nina Ricci bottle - which Ms Sturgess handled - is thought to have contained the substance.

Her partner Charlie Rowley was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.

The 45-year-old demanded justice on Friday as the city was declared "safe" from Novichok after the decontamination process was completed.

Mr Rowley said the case was still an "open book" after counter-terrorism police re-issued an appeal for information about the perfume bottle, admitting they still do not know what happened to it between March 4 and when he said he found it on June 27.

On Sunday, the 20-year-old son of Ms Sturgess, Ewan Hope, urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to hand over the men suspected of being responsible for her death.

His grandparents previously called on the UK Government for answers.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement with Mr Putin claiming the two suspects were civilians.

During an interview the pair said they were tourists visiting Salisbury - particularly its famous cathedral.

A fortnight after the attack, the Russian embassy in the UK's official Twitter account posted a comment which said: "In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!" with an accompanying picture of actor David Suchet in costume as his famed character.

A week later, Russia's ambassador in London was ridiculed for claiming Britain was behind the attack.

Following a press conference at the embassy, Alexander Yakovenko was said to have been called a Russian "Comical Ali" by Conservative MPs, after Saddam Hussein's spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf - who earned the nickname over his claims.

The UK's Home Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and GCHQ all declined to comment.

The Russian Embassy did not respond when contacted.
Pope Francis said he has decided to open up the Vatican archives on Second World War-era pontiff Pius XII, who has been accused by Jews of staying silent on the Holocaust.

Francis told officials and personnel of the Vatican Secret Archives that documents would be open to researchers starting on March 2 next year.

Pius was elected pontiff on March 2 1939, six months before the war erupted in Europe. He died on October 9 1958 at the Vatican summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

Pope Pius XII.

The Vatican usually waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open up the relevant archives, but the Holy See has been under pressure to make the Pius XII documentation available sooner, while Holocaust survivors are still alive.

Vatican archivists had already started preparing the documentation for consultation in 2006, at the behest of Francis's German-born predecessor Benedict XVI.

The Vatican has defended Pius, saying he used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save lives. Francis indicated he embraced that interpretation.

Pius's actions will be scrutinised as part of efforts to decide if he should be declared a saint.

Francis indicated that the church was confident the papacy would withstand the findings by historians studying the archives, saying Pius was "criticised, one can say, with some prejudice and exaggeration".

"The church isn't afraid of history - on the contrary, it loves it, and would like to love it even more, like it loves God," Francis told staff at the archive.

"Thus, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open, and entrust to researchers, this patrimony of documentation."

In Jerusalem, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial commended the decision and expressed the expectation that "researchers will be granted full access to all the documents stored in the archives".

It noted that it had for years called for the opening of the archives, saying that will "enable objective and open research as well as comprehensive discourse on issues related to the conduct of the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic Church in general, during the Holocaust".

Israel's foreign ministry also expressed hope that there would be "free access to all relevant archives".

Francis expressed certainty that historical research would properly evaluate Pius's legacy "with appropriate criticism".

He said the Pius papacy included "moments of grave difficulties, tormented decisions of human and Christian prudence, that to some could appear as reticence".

Instead, he said, they could be seen as attempts "to keep lit, in the darkest and cruellest periods, the flame of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy" aimed at possibly "opening hearts".
President Vladimir Putin has suspended Russia's participation in a key nuclear arms treaty following Washington's decision to withdraw from it.

The decree means Russia is suspending its obligations under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty and will continue to do so "until the US ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates".

The US gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the INF a month ago, setting the stage for it to terminate in six months unless Moscow returns to compliance.

Russia has denied any breaches and accused the US of violating the pact.

The US has accused Russia of developing and deploying a cruise missile that violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 310 to 3,410 miles.

The move also reflected President Donald Trump's administration's view that the treaty was an obstacle to efforts needed to counter intermediate-range missiles deployed by China, which is not part of the treaty.

Russia claims the US breached the pact by deploying missile defence facilities in eastern Europe that could fire cruise missiles instead of interceptors - a claim rejected by the US.

The collapse of the INF treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era Europe missile crisis, when the US and the Soviet Union deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent during the 1980s.

Such weapons take shorter time to reach their targets compared with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and their deployment was seen as particularly destabilising, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

Mr Putin has warned the US against deploying new missiles in Europe, saying Russia will retaliate by fielding new fast weapons that will take just as little time to reach their targets.
David Gonski was the headline act at the Australian Institute of Company Directors conference on Monday. The ANZ chair and one of the most influential directors in Australia has been a ghost for 18 months and a crowd of 1500 people wanted to catch a glimpse of the man who has mastered near invisibility.

Seen by many as the Godfather of the rarefied "director" clan, rarely if ever did Gonski enter the fray alongside others in banking as the industry was battered from all sides.

From left, former CEO of the Australian Industry Group Heather Ridout, ANZ Bank chairman David Gonski, independent director of BlueScope Penny Bingham-Hall, and Ticky Fullerton, of Sky News Business Channel at the Australian Institute of Company Directors conference yesterday. Credit:Graham Jepson

Gonski has adopted the small target strategy. It has worked well but it hasnt gone unnoticed.

Indeed Gonski proffered the most extraordinary opinion that being a director was "a great job" albeit one that it was getting more difficult.
Australian textbook retailer the Co-op is under pressure with dozens of store closures and growing frustration in academic circles over its stock levels, which one professor said was "signing the death knell" of the chain.

An institution for the nation's university students, the Co-op was founded 50 years ago to sell cheap textbooks. It is owned by its 2.1 million members, most of whom joined for life at university to access discounts.

But staff at some of Australia's major universities are frustrated with the Co-op, accusing the retailer of not stocking enough books to meet demand, leaving academics scrambling to find reading materials for their students as semester begins.

The Co-op at UTS closed last year, one of more than two dozen Co-op stores that has shut. Credit:Ryan Stuart

Barbara McDonald, a professor at the University of Sydney, said she had given the Co-op several weeks' notice that 200 postgraduate students would be starting their law studies in early February, but the Co-op only had 12 copies of the textbook they needed.
Michael Gable, managing director of Fairmont Equities, said weaker housing markets had a big impact on a number of companies, including waste management group Bingo Industries and construction firm Boral Group. Loading "Retailers are also feeling the pinch, as bricks and mortar stores are in a structural decline, so I think the risks in retailing are higher than those in the construction sector," he said. Overall, statutory profits rose by 15.3 per cent on a year ago to $33.5 billion. However, the total was heavily influenced by market heavyweights Wesfarmers and BHP. Excluding the corporate giants, profits fell by 5.5 per cent.

Revenue rose 4.8 per cent and, of companies reporting a profit, 52 per cent lifted their results while 48 per cent reported a profit decline. Loading Mr Gable said despite the bearish commentary at the beginning of the year, it was interesting to see so many companies maintain their previous profit guidance. "I think a lot of analysts were surprised by that," he said. A number of firms elected to pay special dividends, boosting aggregate dividends by 11.7 per cent. However, excluding Flight Centre, Fortescue and Wesfarmers, dividends were up just 2 per cent. The chance of a Labor election win and its plans for the abolition of cash franking credit refunds gave Flight Centre and Wesfarmers a chance to reduce big balances of franking credits on their books.

"One positive effect of the possible removal of cash [franking credit] refunds is that it will force investors to look for companies beyond the likes of Telstra and the banks, which have been capital killers in the past few years," Mr Gable said. Loading "When you don't concentrate on fully franked dividends, you discover that there are plenty of better companies in which to invest that can provide a better return in the long term." Challenges ahead for miners The big miners, as expected, weighed in with solid results, as China continued to be a major consumer of Australian resources.

BHP reported a 61.2 per cent rise in statutory profit while Rio Tinto beat consensus expectations to report underlying earnings of $US8.8 billion, while generating more than $US40.5 billion in revenue. Loading Rio Tinto's announcement of a $5.6 billion special dividend added to the $84 billion expected to be returned in dividends to shareholders. "The current economic cycle is favourable to resource companies and the big miners still have a large amount of franking credits on their books, so they continue to look attractive," Mr Gable said. Craig James, chief economist at CommSec, said miners benefited from strong demand and higher prices.

"However, looking ahead, there are greater challenges," he said. "Oil prices have eased from highs and the outlook for coal remains challenging." Loading Michael Kodari, chief executive of Kodari Securities, said consumer spending also continued to be a problem for the economy. "We're likely to see ongoing softness in consumer spending, given very high levels of household debt and very low levels of wages growth, which will weigh on demand," Mr Kodari said. "For the past four years, housing debt has grown faster than disposable income. While housing debt was 62.4 per cent of household annual disposable income in the September quarter of 1998, it was 1.48 times annual disposable income last year," he said.

As a result of such high debt levels, homeowners may reconsider whether they will undertake renovations or spend money on household items, such as furniture and white goods, he said. Banks 'appear to be reasonable value' As for the big banks, which reported earnings largely in line with expectations, analysts still expect a rocky road ahead, despite the clearance of hurdles emerging from the banking royal commission. "The worst is by no means over for the big four banks, which still face huge earnings challenges ahead, given the housing market downturn," Mr Kodari said. "That will weigh heavily on demand for mortgages, which in turn will weigh heavily on the big banks mortgage earnings."

Mr Gable said poor loan growth and debt quality would continue hinder bank performance. Mr Montgomery added that following the royal commission, investors were now more concerned about the outlook for bank mortgage books. The worst is by no means over for the big four banks, which still face huge earnings challenges ahead. "The market has priced in expected declines in mortgage system growth, and credit growth more generally, and this negative stance was proven correct when most banks reported pressure on revenue growth rates," he said. "If a recession in Australia is avoided (again), the big banks appear to be reasonable value.
Telstra is cutting back its small business offering, shutting 78 business centres and opening 28 Telstra Business Technology Centres in their place.

Telstra acting group executive for consumer and small business, Michael Ackland, said it was "a real structural change" for the telco.

Telstra executive Michael Ackland is closing Telstra's 78 business centres. Credit:James Brickwood

"For our small business customers this is a very, very big transformation," he said. "It is an evolution of the Telstra Business Centre model which first kicked off close to a decade ago. Small business technology and connectivity needs have changed significantly since then."

Mr Ackland said the business centres, which number around 78, would be "phased out" as part of Telstra's T22 strategy and the closures had already started.
The tax office has urged small businesses to use new small business benchmarks to track their performance against competitors, warning it will be knocking on the doors of 4000 companies between now and July to chase black economy activities.

The tax office is planning more than 4,000 site visits planned between now and the end of the financial year. Credit:Jim Rice

The Australian Taxation Office's updated benchmarks published on Tuesday draw information from 1.5 million small business tax returns to paint a picture of the typical margins and costs of sale for smaller operators.

Assistant commissioner for small business Peter Holt says the tax office will be using these updated numbers as a risk indicator when considering business returns, with businesses that report numbers well outside the norms piquing its interest.

"Small business benchmarks are one risk indicator and if they are operating outside the benchmarks, they might be undercutting their competitors," Holt says.
The former head of gas giant Santos, John Ellice-Flint, has suggested the creation of an independent central gas authority could help remove barriers to exploration and reduce tight domestic supplies.

Mr Ellice-Flint, currently the chairman of junior gas company Blue Energy, said a mismatch of government policy and state-by-state regulation had slowed the development of new exploration fields.

Ex-Santos CEO John Ellice-Flint says Australia's different energy regulations and policies state by state has slowed gas exploration in new regions. Credit:David Mariuz

He said while companies had focused on "exploitation and export over exploration" of gas during a period of low prices, current barriers for the industry meant rising oil prices had still not prompted a fast return to "greenfield" exploration to find new sources of gas, reducing domestic gas supplies that aren't already contracted.

Mr Ellice-Flint said a combination of government regulations and anti-industry campaigns were creating a lag on approvals. "Its a big barrier," he said.
The former operators of Subway outlets in Artarmon and Stanmore who underpaid a worker have been fined more than $65,000.

Fair Work inspectors found a Chinese national had been underpaid a total of $16,345 for work at both fast-food stores.

The operators of Subway outlets in Artarmon and Stanmore who underpaid a worker have been fined more than $65,000. Credit:Rebecca Hallas

The Federal Circuit Court on Friday fined Danmin Zhang, who previously operated the outlets, $9255. The company operated by Ms Zhang and her husband, G & Z United Pty Ltd, was penalised a further $56,183.

The Chinese worker was paid flat rates of $14 to $14.50 per hour. Under the Fast Food Industry Award 2010, she was entitled to minimum rates of more than $18, plus casual loading, for ordinary hours, and penalty rates of up to $52.22 on public holidays.
An English teacher has told a parliamentary inquiry she got instantly better comprehension results from teaching poetry when she switched from the curriculums poetry classics to Queensland poet Rupert McCalls football poems.

It was an example, former English teacher Kim Roy said, of how autonomy in the classroom and the ability to adjust the curriculum to the students at hand was vital to good teaching.

Ms Roy was one of eight teachers and principals who gave anecdotes to the federal government's hearing into the status of teaching in Australia in Brisbane on Monday.

Poet Rupert McCall was introduced to school students in a football-mad community to get them interested in poetry. Credit:Steve Holland

Several teachers told of the frustration of losing their personal autonomy to make improvements for the students.
Is it too basic to call Di Stasio Citta a restaurant when eating and drinking counts for a fraction of why you'll come here? I mean, of course it's a restaurant at a molecular level  a spaghetti-serving, barolo-pouring, contemporary art-loving establishment, just like its 31-year-old St Kilda sibling. But there's something less tangible that makes both Di Stasios, old and new, not-quite-like-other-restaurants.

Old fans know and accept this. They are lined up to pay big money at Citta and are thrilled their negronis and fluffy schnitzel sandwiches are now in the CBD. They understand Di Stasio pasta is served with Sicilian bite and that this is a proud house where the customer is not automatically right. Manager Mallory Wall ensures great service, but not subservience.

Videos and slashes of vivid red electrify the Di Stasio Citta dining room. Credit:Eddie Jim

But for a fresh audience, some things may jar the unsuspecting. Even getting in is a trick. There's no signage (intentionally). The sliding glass door requires you to push a discreet button on the left, and if you miss it you stare dumbly, waiting until you are rescued.

Given that restaurateur Rinaldo Di Stasio is as well known as an art-loving provocateur who proudly sweats every detail, this can feel like you're being tested. It's like an anti-passivity calling card that says if you want in, you have to play the Di Stasio game.
Its the end of an era for one of Canberras busiest public hospitals, as the Canberra Mothercraft Society decides to bow out of its role at the Queen Elizabeth II Family Centre.

Known more fondly as QEII, the centre has been helping families through the postnatal and early childhood years, with the society at the helm, for 56 years.

From left: Canberra Mothercraft Society board members Jane Smyth and Lynne Johnson, President Fiona Smith du Toit, hospital director Mary Kirk, and board members Viola Kalakerinos anad Wendy Saclier. Credit:Karleen Minney

Generations of families have come through the hospital doors seeking help for sleeping and feeding issues, to more complex behavioural problems.

But the society has now decided to hand over the running of QEII to another organisation.
Australians have been shocked and saddened by the tragic drug deaths at music festivals in recent months but the question remains whether pill testing would have saved these and other young lives?

According to ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, even a death during the pill testing trial in Canberra would not stop further pill testing. The ACT Government is seemingly not concerned with the evidence arising from last years pill testing trial at Groovin the Moo, or from independent leading experts. It has already made up its mind.

People who are thinking of testing their pills should also be aware that they will be required to sign a waiver. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

People who are thinking of testing their pills should also be aware that they will be required to sign a waiver that explicitly states that pill testing does not provide evidence of purity, evidence of safety, evidence of dose or information about how an individual will respond.

So why was the pill testing trial conducted last year declared by some as a success?
The owner of a popular Canberra cafe has had charges against him dropped, relating to a salmonella outbreak that saw more than 100 people fall ill in 2017, and has also escaped conviction on an unrelated charge.

The ACT chief magistrate Lorraine Walker did not record a conviction against Rick De Marco, owner of Ricardo's Cafe at the Jamison Plaza, after he pleaded guilty to one count of failing to comply with the food standards code.

Rick De Marco leaves the ACT Magistrates Court after having charges against him dropped.

Mr De Marco had originally faced eight charges before prosecutors dropped the other seven charges against him.

Ms Walker told the court the original charges were far more extensive and were based on numerous complaints of illness caused by salmonella.
An alleged major player of an international drug syndicate has managed to evade authorities for almost a year since he fell off the police radar while on bail, despite wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet designed to track his movements.

Questions have now been raised about the technology used to monitor the man in question and the efficacy of such devices for alleged criminals released on bail.

Missing on bail: Xu Lin.

Xu Lin, 29, was one of four people arrested by the Australian Federal Police in January 2016, for his alleged role in importing 159 kilograms of methamphetamine and 340 kilograms of the drug precursor ephedrine into Australia concealed in red bar stools and small packets of soup mix.

The methamphetamine alone had a potential street value of up to $106.5 million, with Mr Lin described by AFP officers at the time as a "crucial component" of an internationally-linked Australian criminal syndicate.
The NSW Crime Commission has frozen a further $5.5 million in property assets linked to the alleged drug money laundering Mosman chief executive Savas Guven.

Mr Guven, the boss of property developer BRP Property Group and scaffolding firm AllRound Access, also known as Savas Yucel, was arrested in October 2017 and has been charged with 20 counts of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and money laundering offences.

Savas Guven has been charged over money laundering. Credit:Fairfax Media

Over three weeks in February and March 2014, Guven allegedly laundered $3.6 million in 20 cash drops mainly around the lower north shore of Sydney - in a McDonald's car park, in a Crows Nest council car park and even outside his lawyer's office in O'Connell Street, Sydney.

Officers from Strike Force Millstream were surveilling the businessman.
Plans to build high-rise accommodation for up to 600 students at The Block in Redfern have been approved by an independent panel as part of a controversial bid to redevelop the inner-Sydney site.

The proposed 24-storey tower would not have "significant adverse social or cultural impacts" on the area that was once home to Redfern's Aboriginal community, the Independent Planning Commission said.

The proposed development at The Block would house up to 600 students.

Instead, the commission said the project would provide 62 affordable homes for Indigenous people, at least 110 beds for Indigenous students, and retain the area's culturally significant wall art.

The commission on Monday approved the latest plans, subject to conditions, for a higher tower than had first been proposed to be built on the vacant block opposite Redfern station.
A Brisbane lawyer who stole from his dead client has been suspended from practicing law for three years.

While a partner at a Brisbane firm, Mark Joseph OReilly siphoned more than a quarter of a million dollars from his client Farah Sabas bank accounts after he died in order to pay off his debts.

Mr OReilly was granted power of attorney when his client Mr Saba became incapacitated at the end of 2012.

Pursuant to his powers, Mr OReilly became the sole director of his clients company Farah Saba Investments (FSI).

Less than a year after Mr OReilly became the director of FSI, he cashed a cheque for $5445 on the company operated bank account.
A crash on the Ipswich Motorway has led to delays for Brisbane-bound commuters on Tuesday morning.

Several vehicles were involved in the accident, about 6.45am, and the right inbound lane after the Warrego Highway at Riverview was partially blocked, Jay Lane of the Australian Traffic Network said.

Delays were building quickly at the Ipswich Motorway near Warrego Highway on Tuesday morning. Credit:Department Transport and Main Roads

Mr Lane said a crashed vehicle was sitting off the right shoulder of the motorway but delays were building quickly during the peak-hour rush.

Meanwhile a nose-to-tail bump on the Pacific Motorway, inbound at Stanley Street, has not been too much of a headache for morning commuters.
It was just a thought. There should be a nice Twitter. And it turned out a lot of people agreed. I dont know where the thought had even come from. I hadnt been online all day.

But late in the afternoon I was ditzing around on my iPad and I strayed into the never-ending tyre fire of that is the favoured social media platform of neo-nazis and the sentient orange fur ball in the White House, and I thought, you know what, there should be a nice Twitter.

Forget about the Book of Face, its a lost cause, a plaything of anti-vaxxers and Russias Main Intelligence Directorate and it will surely be broken up by legislation.

But when I woke up, I found out that my little brainfart about a nice Twitter had collected more than six hundred likes, retweets and comments overnight. Blue tick mavens Claire Connelly and Asher Wolf had suggested judicious use of the block and report function to cull an unruly timeline.
A South Australian man has been found guilty of kidnapping and raping a European backpacker in an old pig shed, southeast of Adelaide.

A District Court jury returned the guilty verdicts against Gene Charles Bristow on Monday after deliberating for about three hours at the end of the month-long trial.

Gene Charles Bristow. Credit:Nine News

The 54-year-old was found guilty of one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape and one count of attempted rape.

The charges stemmed from Bristow's response to a Gumtree advertisement the 26-year-old woman posted in search of temporary farm work in February 2017.
A woman who was raped at gunpoint by a masked man in a secluded car park in 1983 says she felt helpless during the terrifying crime, which changed her life forever.

But the victim, who was 18 at the time, feels as if a weight has been lifted off her shoulders because her attacker has finally been caught and she can now "take the power back".

A police photo composite of the suspect who turned out to be James Dobbie.

She is one of several victims of killer James Dobbie, who shot a man dead, raped two young women and tied up their boyfriends in three "horrifyingly violent" incidents in 1980 and 1983.

Dobbie, now 65, targeted lovers at the secluded Police Paddocks Reserve in Rowville, wielding a sawn-off, double-barrelled shotgun as he approached their cars in a balaclava.
Warnings have been downgraded for two out-of-control bushfires in the state's east after they flared up on Tuesday afternoon and raced towards several townships.

An emergency warning for the Black Creek Snake fire north-west of Dargo was issued just after 2pm and updated just before 6pm, while an emergency warning was also issued for the Licola fire about 4pm.

Both were downgraded shortly after 8pm to watch and act alerts.

Those in communities north-west of Dargo - including Black Snake Creek, Cowa, Crooked River, Dargo, Hawkhurst, Shepherdson, Winchester, Wongungarra - have been urged to stay close to buildings they can shelter in and keep monitoring conditions.
The Victorian RSL's old guard is facing a revolt from younger members who say the 103-year old league has lost its way and must get out of poker machines.

Veterans, including those from Afghanistan, Iraq and East Timor, are campaigning for reform ahead of the RSL state conference in July, where will they will contest leadership positions and propose constitutional change.

RSL reformer Dave Petersen at the Camberwell City RSL hall Credit:PHOTO by Meredith O'Shea

They argue that young veterans were either not interested in the clubs, or were struggling with post-service mental health issues, and were prone to problem gambling. This made the presence of pokies in many RSL clubs a welfare problem.

Dave Petersen 32, is an Afghanistan veteran who was medically discharged for mental health reasons. A former army artilleryman, he is now president of the Camberwell sub-branch, the youngest sub-branch president in Victoria, and a leader of the group challenging the RSLs old guard.
A talented young BMX rider critically injured during a national race in Perth on the weekend is now in a stable condition.

Palmerston BMX rider Caitlin Jong was competing in the under-16s BMXA Bad Boy National Series on Sunday in Balcatta when she had a severe fall.

Caitlin Jong is in a critical condition after having falling during a race in Perth. Credit:Facebook

The 13-year-old, from the Northern Territory, was treated onsite at the Westside BMX Club by paramedics before being taken to Perth Childrens Hospital.

The Satellite City rider is a finalist in the 2019 Northern Territory Young Achiever's Awards for helping raise the prominence of female riders in the BMX community.
Off-the-plan buyers have been stung with bills for hundreds of dollars due to new laws that were supposed to improve housing affordability.

Empty properties in Canberra began to incur land tax from July 1 last year, a policy designed to stop landlords sitting on vacant property, thus freeing up housing in an increasingly tight market.

A so-called "vacancy tax" has left off-the-plan buyers and developers alike with land tax bills they didn't expect. Credit:Graham Tidy

Before, only rented properties attracted land tax, while homes that were the owner's principal place of residence were exempt from the charge.

But since the tax was rolled out to all vacant properties, buyers and developers alike have been stung with unforeseen charges.
It's not unusual to see government job ads include a line about what security clearance the successful applicant will need. It's just as likely it will take months to be granted that clearance  even a year or more.

Analysts, investigators, anything with intelligence in the title  these are all jobs for which candidates might expect to fill out lengthy forms about themselves and their pasts. But does this story about cleaners at a major regulator help explain why the security-clearance system is so strained?

Should cleaners in government departments have security clearances? Credit:SHUTTERSTOCK

It starts with a reported spike in the number of non-citizens and those without fully checked backgrounds granted clearances. The agencies involved explained this by blaming mostly reporting errors.

A recent government report showed just one agency was responsible for most of the increase in clearances given to non-Australians in 2016-17. A different agency was responsible for most of an even-larger increase in the number of clearances given to people whose pasts (going back at least 12 months) could not be verified by vetting.
When told that Labor supporters all over the country were popping champagne corks, Mr Hawke was asked if just this once he would have a victory drink. "Yes," he quipped, "I will be having a double dash of lime in my mineral water." The new leader of the Liberal Party is expected to be Andrew Peacock or John Howard. But early today neither would commit himself to standing. The swing against the Government occurred in all the mainland States and Labor even has a chance of winning the Northern Territory seat from the National Party. It seems certain to win 6 seats in NSW, 6 in Victoria, one in South Australia, 4 and possibly 5 in Queensland, 4 in Western Australia and possibly the Northern Territory. At one stage during the counting, the Labor Party's surge to power stalled with eight seats won of the 11 needed and it looked as if the election would be close.

Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser weeps after the coalition Liberal Party and National Party lost the federal election to the ALP. Credit:Paul Wright But it was then able to claim victory in the NSW seat of Macarthur and the Victorian seat of Flinders. When Queensland came in with three probable wins to Labor, Mr Hawke was over the line. As Mr Hawke arrived in the national tally room, the atmosphere was hysterical. He arrived at 12.30 am, three hours later than anticipated. When he stepped from the lift of the Lakeside International at 11.55 pm the crowd which had waited so long for him to appear went wild.

Flower bowls were knocked over, his wife, Hazel, was engulfed by half a dozen women, someone thrust a boquet of flowers at the new Prime Minister and a roar went up: "Good on you, Prime Minister." All night press and public had ebbed and flowed across the turquoise carpet as the cry went up: "He's coming down." The crowd would surge around the lifts and then fall back disappointed. There were extraordinary scenes at Mr Fraser's hotel where he and his mother, Mrs Una Fraser, his wife Tamie and his daughter Phoebe suffered the biggest crisis the family has faced since he took office seven years three months ago. Four Federal Ministers appear to have been steamrolled by the Hawke bandwagon and a fifth is expected to be pushed to preferences to retain his seat.

The Sun-Herald, 6th March 1983, Page 1 Credit:The Sun-Herald With a 13.3 swing against him the Minister for Defence Support, Mr Viner, seems certain of defeat in WA. In Queensland with 79.3 per cent of the votes counted the Federal Immigration Minister, Mr John Hodges, was 2000 behind his Labor opponent. In Victoria the swing towards the ALP could unseat Federal Communications Minister Mr Neil Brown, who is trailing his opponent by more than 1000 votes during late counting with a 6.2 per cent swing against him. Labor is also confident of picking up the Queensland seat of Leichhardt, currently held by the Minister for Science and Technology Mr Thompson who was trailing his opponent last night by more than 2000 votes with Labor recording a 5.9 per cent swing in the seat.

The Special Minister of State, Mr Jim Killen. whose seat of Moreton clinched victory for the Menzies Government in 1961 was a handful of votes in front of his ALP opponent late last night and would need Democrat preferences to win. The result in Flinders was a litmus test of Mr Hawke 's leadership. In December last year, the Labor Party lost a byelection in Flinders under Mr Hayden's leadership. But with a new candidate in the seat and under Mr Hawke's leadership, the Labor candidate went to an early lead and stayed ahead all night. For the Liberal candidate, Mr Peter Reith, it ended one of the shortest careers in the history of Federal politics. He did not have time to take his seat in Parliament.

The Labor Party made good gains in NSW and early in the evening was able to claim victory in the Sydney marginal seats of Phillip and Barton. The Labor Party also went very close in the seat of Cook but the sitting Liberal, Mr Don Dobie, is expected to hold his seat on preferences. Labor also won the central-western seat of Calare, held previously for the National Party by Mr Sandy MacKenzie. In the far-flung seat of Riverina, the Labor Party claimed victory although on early counting the National Party member, Mr Noel Hicks seemed well ahead. But Labor Party officials had reports from scrutineers that the strong Labor vote in Broken Hill had not been counted.
If the federal government has its way in Comcare v Banerji, a case before the High Court this month, the ability of public servants to express their political views will be curtailed. But there is an interesting pattern in recent case law that threatens to expose the government's stated desire for neutrality within the public service for what it really is: an aversion to criticism.

Over the past 1 decades, there have been four publicised examples of public servants (or similar) losing their jobs for their political expression. I am also aware of several other cases where, for various reasons, expression-related disciplinary action was not contested in court. The four cases that proceeded to litigation are diverse: a customs officer, an army reservist, a Centrelink employee and a public affairs specialist at the Immigration Department. The views expressed cross the political spectrum, from far right to far left.

Decisions: The High Court will hear Comcare v Banerji this month. Credit:Karleen Minney

What unites these four cases  Bennett, Starr, Gaynor and now Banerji  is that each involved criticism of government policy. Which makes the submissions of Western Australia intervening in the High Court in the latest case particularly curious. That state's solicitor-general suggests that the Australian Public Service's code of conduct requires federal public servants to, at all times, "behave in a manner which is 'apolitical'", which limits "the ability" of those employees "to promote or criticise the merits of the policy ideas, principles or commitments of elected representatives, or political parties" (my emphasis).

Western Australia's intervention draws attention to a fact that has often been overlooked in this debate: political neutrality cuts both ways. Perceptions of the public service's impartiality are liable to be undermined in equal measure by overt cheerleading as by robust criticism.
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The Australian government ruled out nuclear propulsion because of: our lack of an indigenous nuclear industry; concerns about maintenance dependence and sovereignty issues if we bought or leased a nuclear-powered sub; and likely public opposition to nuclear technology. So the Royal Australian Navy was not given the option of considering nuclear power. It would, however, have been cheaper and more practical, because we could have bought a proven nuclear-powered vessel (such as the US Virginia class), without the need to modify it, for about $4 billion each. (Virginia-class subs are designed for a broad range of open-ocean and shallow, coastal-water missions.) Because the government delayed its decision and did not choose an "off-the-shelf" option, Australia's Collins-class subs will require a "life of type" 10-year extension so they last until the mid-2030s. The new threat: drones The Defence Department and the military can argue, with reasonable justification, that we don't know what the strategic environment will be like in the lifetime of major weapons platforms (to the 2070s, in the case of our future subs) and we can't afford to be caught short.

Submarines were certainly devastating weapons in past conflicts. German U-boats in both World Wars were very effective in enforcing blockades against enemy shipping. During the Falklands war in 1982, the sinking of Argentine cruiser Belgrano by British nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror effectively kept the Argentine navy out of the conflict. We could be caught short, though, as new technologies become available that make long lead-time platforms more vulnerable  even redundant. Large warships in particular will be at risk in future decades, which is an argument for smaller, more capable, stealthy surface vessels or submersibles (not new destroyers). But you can't convince navies that bigger isn't better. One important underwater development is unmanned underwater vehicles (or UUVs). They can be divided into two categories: those controlled by a remote human, and autonomous vehicles that operate independently of human input. An undated video screenshot of Russia's Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone. Credit:Russian Defence Ministry The current technical challenges facing these drone subs include endurance (due to limits on power sources) and command-and-control at extended ranges. Once these challenges are overcome, military UUVs (like drone aircraft) will provide significant advantages over manned systems.

In the interim, some hybrid systems will enter service. Russia is reportedly developing a submarine-mounted variant of its Poseidon drone sub that will be able carry a nuclear warhead; it could be deployed in the late 2020s. The intent would be to explode the warhead underwater near a coastal city, creating a tsunami to destroy the city. Two Poseidon-carrying submarines are expected to enter service with Russia's Pacific fleet. Each submarine would carry up to eight drone subs. Their primary aim would be to deter a US attack, but their deployment in the Pacific will concern allies with major coastal cities, such as Sydney. China's "912 project" aims to develop a new autonomous drone-sub capability to mark the Chinese Communist Party's centenary in 2021. The project is said to be a countermeasure to the US Navy's development of long-range, extra-large drone subs. China's first-generation drone subs will reportedly be able to lay mines and conduct surveillance. In the future, drone subs could have a variety of purposes: launch attacks  while on the move or from long-term "sleeper" positions  against land targets, enemy submarines and surface ships; lay mines; place seabed sensors; surveillance and reconnaissance; gather intelligence; and so on. Barracuda's other problem: submariners

They will be much cheaper to build and operate than manned submarines, and without the crewing challenges. Collins-class submarines now have 58 crew members, but we have never been able to raise more than four crews for our six submarines. (The US Navy has duplicate crews for its operational vessels so that it can deploy them for protracted periods.) Past measures to try to improve our navy's crewing included: increasing each sub's complement to spread the workload; having mixed crews; reducing the length of patrols; increasing shore leave; paying bonuses to submariners; and providing internet access on-board. Some of these measures reduced the submarines' effectiveness. Government minister Christopher Pyne in 2016, announcing the decision to build the French diesel submarines in Australia. Credit:Thibault Camus There is little point in having next-generation submarines that can stay at sea for 80 days if sailors aren't prepared to be away from home that long  or can't exist without regular internet or smartphone access. Assuming these crewing problems continue, it's likely our new subs will spend most of their time in port. And if our subs become more vulnerable to enemy action in future, as seems inevitable, that will presumably make it even harder to recruit submariners.
Not only are these slogans nebulous and hence useless when it comes to informing the public, their claims simply don't stack up. There is no evidence that the policies being spruiked have reduced electricity prices. Indeed, international businesses have consistently chided the Australia's government's lack of leadership and consistency on energy policy, saying the resulting uncertainy has crippled investment in the market.

The Defence Department chipped in, too, spending $16 million last financial year to tell us it will spend $200 billion on some submarines and other weapons, which will create jobs for some Australians. Thanks, guys, but Christopher Pyne no longer needs your help.

Auditor-General Grant Hehir is now investigating the energy ads, along with two other campaigns, to ensure they complied with government advertising rules. Those rules say public servants must not authorise campaigns that are "conducted for party-political purposes". Nonetheless, ads can "explain government policies, programs or services ... to encourage informed consideration of issues or to change behaviour".

Unfortunately, Hehir is unlikely to release his findings before the election. Nor will the public be told, before they vote, how much of their money bureaucrats spent on these campaigns this financial year (that data will be published later in 2019).
The appointment of 14 former Coalition MPs and staffers to the Australian Appeals Tribunal last month is as deeply political as it is concerning. "Jobs for the boys" is hardly a new phenomenon, but it's becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Much of the reporting on the latest appointments concerns the optics of a senior minister, Attorney-General Christian Porter, handing out jobs to political mates and former colleagues. But within the outrage of yet another furore over politicians behaving badly, we lose sight of what the AAT does and whom it's meant to serve.

Attorney-General Christian Porter announced a large number of Liberal-connected appointees to the AAT last month. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

During Senate estimates hearings, I ask the AAT how many appeals it receives that relate to Centrelink, categorised by payment type. Last month, the AAT told me there had been a 42 per cent increase overall in Centrelink-related appeals. Appeals related to the disability support pension rose 77 per cent, those related to Newstart allowance increased 41 per cent, and national disability insurance scheme appeals went up 75 per cent.

This alarmed me but was unsurprising, given I've been watching appeals to the AAT since disability-support eligibility criteria were overhauled back in 2012.
Billionaire developer Bob Ell has declared he will stall a 4500-unit development in one of the most rapidly growing regions in NSW unless the government builds a new hospital on his site.

Bob Ell told the government he will not commence residential development if they do not allocate a new hospital to his site Credit:Lisa Wiltse

Mr Ell's ultimatum to Premier Gladys Berejiklian and three senior ministers is squared at the most sensitive issue in the critical seat of Tweed at the coming election, which Labor has cast as a referendum on the location of the hospital.

The government controversially decided last year to replace the ageing hospital at Tweed Heads with a greenfields development on state significant farmland, while Labor candidate Craig Elliot says he would have the facility built on a block owned by Mr Ell that was rejected by Health Infrastructure.

Nationals MP Geoff Provest holds Tweed on a margin of 3.2 per cent, and the seat sits alongside Lismore as the greatest concern to the government.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has refused to be drawn on the threat of minority government, as independent crossbenchers say the overall two-party vote will be a key factor in deciding which party to support in a hung parliament.

As the election campaign began in earnest on Monday, Ms Berejiklian said she would not deal with hypotheticals, saying only that voters had a very clear choice.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian has refused to been drawn on the threat of minority government. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Lets wait until polling day because I dont like to speculate about the result. Weve always known it was going to be tight, Ms Berejiklian said.

They [voters] have a choice about a positive future based on jobs, infrastructure services, [and] taking the pressure off families. Or NSW can go backwards under Labor because weve seen what theyre like in government.
Adani expects government environmental approvals for its Galilee Basin coal mine will be signed off very soon.

The Indian mining giant is waiting on approvals of its environmental management plans for the black-throated finch and groundwater.

Adani Mining Australia CEO Lucas Dow says he expects environmental approvals for the Carmichael coal mine will be signed off soon. Credit:Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg

Adani Australia Mining chief executive Lucas Dow said the company had been working with the state Department of Environment and Science on its the black-throated finch management plan for 18 months, and it had been through several revisions.

"We expect approvals in the near term, particularly given the fact the state has had such input to this point because the obvious point that remains is if we have to make significant changes, what has the department been doing over the last 18 months?" he said.
There are fears Adani might be barred from seeking financial compensation if mining leases for its Galilee Basin are ripped up under a Greens proposal.

Greens MP Michael Berkman has introduced a private member's bill to ban all coal mining in the Galilee Basin, including Adani's Carmichael mine, and rip up existing leases, with no compensation to be paid.

Adani Australia Mining CEO Lucas Dow says the company would be entitled to "sizeable" compensation if its mining leases were ripped up. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Queensland Law Society mining and resources law committee chair James Plumb said the bill meant "it is certainly open for the possibility that there is no [legal] action" for companies which already had agreements in the Galilee Basin.

Mr Plumb said he was "fearful" that there may be no cause of action to be brought for damages against the state government but was uncertain about whether that was the case.
The risk Queensland might need to pay compensation to miners if it scrapped all projects in the Galilee Basin must be balanced against the devastating effects of climate change, Greens MP Michael Berkman says.

Mr Berkman has introduced a private member's bill to ban all coal mining in the Galilee Basin, including Adani's Carmichael mine, and rip up all existing leases, with no compensation to be paid.

Greens MP Michael Berkman has introduced a bill to ban coal mining in the Galilee Basin.

"The Queensland government is sovereign and can make decisions of this nature," he told a committee hearing into the bill.

"No matter how many billions of dollars these companies might want to throw around as the amount they've spent as compensation they should be entitled to, there is no basis to claim any future profits they might have made.
Jakarta: Two of Australia's most prestigious universities are considering opening new campuses in Indonesia following the signing of a landmark free trade agreement.

Indonesia and Australia's respective trade ministers, Enggartiasto Lukita and Simon Birmingham, finally put pen to paper on the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or IA-CEPA, on Monday - nine years after negotiations began.

The deal, which still has to be ratified by both nation's parliaments, will cover trade in goods and services, electronic commerce, investment rules, and it will eliminate 100 per cent of Australian tariffs and 94 per cent of Indonesian tariffs over time.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham, left, and Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita at the signing ceremony in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday. Credit:AP

In the short term, it will deliver a boost to Australian farmers by allowing them to sell more beef, live cattle, cattle feed, potatoes and other produce into Indonesia.
Washington: Republican Senator Rand Paul will support a resolution that would overturn US President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, appearing to provide the crucial vote needed for the Senate to pass the measure.

"I stand with the president often, and I do so with a loud voice," Paul wrote in an opinion piece published late on Sunday on Fox News' website. "Today, I think he's wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits."

"I cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding" for a wall along the border with Mexico, he wrote, "so I will be voting to disapprove of his declaration when it comes before the Senate."

US President Donald Trump rallies the 'base' during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland on Saturday. Credit:Bloomberg

Paul joins three other Republican senators  Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  in backing the resolution. His support appears to provide the slim majority Democrats need to send the measure to the president's desk, offering a stinging repudiation of the declaration.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

Indian Product Trade Show will held in Baku.

Supported by the Embassy of India in Baku, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) of India will host the 2nd edition of Best of India Show at Baku Sport Palace on March 7-17.

The exhibition is being held as part of bilateral business cooperation between India and Azerbaijan.

The event is supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of the Government of India, Azertag reported.

The series of shows held overseas have consistently presented Indian industrys high quality goods, services and technologies in varied industrial sectors to the world.

The Best of India - An Exclusive India Product exhibition will gather 75 companies from India showcasing high quality products and services, including electronics, bicycle, rice, tea, spices, packaging, pharmaceuticals, gifts and handicrafts, stationery, home furnishing, textile and garments, jewellery, cosmetics.

Apart from business and commerce, the event will also focus on portraying the rich Indian cultural heritage through cultural events, food and, Bollywood festival etc. all adding to "Best of India" Experience. Entry to the exhibition is free.

India and Azerbaijan enjoy close friendly relations based on historical links and growing bilateral cooperation.

The two countries have increasing business and commercial cooperation in the fields of energy, pharmaceutics, agriculture, tourism, IT, science and technology, textile, garments and education sectors. In 2017, Indias export to Azerbaijan has grown by more than 37 million USD and total bilateral trade between India and Azerbaijan has reached around 463 million USD. India and Azerbaijan have growing cooperation in capacity building under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme which provides fully paid training programmes for Azerbaijani professionals and students in Indian institutions.

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry - one of the leading Industry Chamber of India, and ever since its inception in 1905 has been an active participant in the India growth story through its advocacy role for the policymakers of the country.

As a true representative of the Industry with a large membership base of 130,000 direct and indirect members, PHD Chamber has forged ahead leveraging its legacy with the Industry knowledge across sectors. At a global level the Chamber has been working with the Embassies and High Commissions in India to bring in the International Best Practices and Business Opportunities.
Montgomery: Rescuers tore through rubble and wreckage on Monday in a search for survivors amid homes torn from foundations, shredded metal dangling from battered trees and dead animals lying among debris after a powerful tornado ripped through southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people, including children.

The trail of destruction from the Sunday tornado was at least a kilometre wide and overwhelmed rural Lee County's coroners' office, forcing it to call in help from the state. Volunteers used chain saws to help clear paths for emergency responders. At the R&D Grocery on Monday morning, residents were constantly asking each other if they were OK.

The death toll from the severe weather that hit the US deep south continues to rise. Credit:AP

"I'm still thanking God I'm among the living," said John Jones, who has lived most of his life in Beauregard, a tiny unincorporated community of roughly 10,000 people.

The Sunday tornado, which had winds that appeared to be around 257 kilometres per hour or greater, was part of a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across the Deep South, spawning numerous tornado warnings in parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
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Organizers of the boroughs eponymous St. Patricks Day parade this year will formally welcome local LGBTQ marchers for the first time in the processions 44-year history  a historic change for the event that excluded those communities for too long, according to a longtime Irish-American LGBTQ advocate.

It is ground breaking, it is historic, it is a huge moment, said Brendan Fay, the founder of advocacy group the Lavender and Green Alliance, whom police previously arrested for protesting the local march, and who for decades has advocated for more inclusive St. Patricks Day parades across the five boroughs.

Leaders of the Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organization announced on Feb. 26 that parade organizers accepted their group as one of dozens of entities that will march in the March 17 procession through Park Slope, encouraging supportive locals of all genders and sexual orientations to walk beside them as they take to the streets without fear of arrest.

For many years, people within the LGBTQ community had to separate from their identities to march in the parade, said Lisa Fane, a co-founder of the local Irish LGBTQ organization. Were proud of our LGBTQ history and we feel this has been missing in the parade.

Brooklyn St. Patricks Day Parade organizers decision to welcome more diverse participants comes years after leaders of the citys St. Paddys Day march through Manhattan invited Fays alliance to join that procession in 2015, but as stagers of other borough-based processions, including the March 3 Staten Island St. Patricks Day parade, continue to formally exclude LGBTQ marchers.

And the opportunity for LGBTQ Brooklynites to openly celebrate their Irish heritage, and their sexual and gender identities, is a huge victory for advocates  especially Fay, who said he was heartbroken when cops cuffed him along with seven others for parading without a permit after they slipped into the ranks of the 1999 Brooklyn St. Patricks Day Parade.

To be Irish and arrested for simply seeking to celebrate Irish heritage and culture with your community was devastating, he said.

The local Irish LGBTQ group formed by Fane and Matthew McMorrow, both of whom live in Park Slope, filed its application to appear in this years parade  which will step off 20 years after the march where police arrested Fay  after spending two years building a coalition of supporters, including local Assemblyman Robert Carroll (DPark Slope), whose grandfather John Carroll co-founded the annual Kings County Celtic procession back in 1975.

And organizers of the procession  who met with Carroll and the Brooklyn Irish LGBTQ Organizations leaders several times last month, after receiving the formal application in January  ultimately approved, according to Fane, who said getting them to agree to diversify the parade didnt require too much persuasion after recent changes to other marches.

It wasnt that hard of a sell, she said.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.
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New Yorks Bravest rushed to extinguish a fire inside Downtowns Hoyt Street station on Monday, which sparked when equipment came in contact with metal debris on the tracks, according to officials.

Firefighters received a call about the blaze at 9:46 am, hightailing it to the station near Fulton Mall where they battled the flames on the Flatbush-bound 2 and 3 tracks as the operator of a stalled 2 train looked on a from a few feet away.

The responders took off roughly 40 minutes later, before fully extinguishing the flames, said a Fire Department spokesman, who added they exited so that Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers could kill power to the tracks in order to fully smother the fire.

And crews with the state-run transit agency restored service along the line by 10:44 am, about an hour after firefighters first arrived, according to spokeswoman Amanda Kwan, who said the blaze began after an insulator  a piece of equipment that protects the third rail  came in contact with metal debris.

Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixs on@cn gloca l.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.
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Park Slope is going off the Pot.

Slopers are sobbing over the looming closure of yet another long-standing local business, Seventh Avenue retailer The Clay Pot, whose owner will shutter the business on March 10, just months after it celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Its really sad, said Helen Spontak, who moved to Park Slope in 1977. The neighborhood is turning into something I dont recognize.

Entrepreneurial couple Bob and Sally Silberberg opened The Clay Pot in January 1969, hawking ceramics they made on site in a back-room studio from the shop between Garfield Place and First Street.

The couple moved to Massachusetts in 1974, but continued to operate the store in absentia, using it to sell their seconds  slightly damaged pieces they offered on the cheap  according to their daughter Tara Silberberg, who now runs the shop and a sister outpost that opened three years ago in Manhattan.

The Silberbergs expanded their Seventh Avenue stores inventory in the 1980s, stocking other makers merchandise, including jewelry, in addition to their ceramics, and their daughter took charge of the family business in 1990 after graduating college, saying her good eye and a talent for sales made her a natural successor.

I wanted to be in Brooklyn, said Tara Silberberg. I love stuff and it turned out I had a real knack for it  Im an amazing salesman.

The shop had several years of strong sales until the financial crisis in 2008  and even then managed to keep its doors open despite a year-long dry spell following the crash, the younger Silberberg said.

At the beginning of 2008 we were up 25 percent from 2007, then the stock market crashes, Obama gets elected, and I had entire orders of really expensive jewelry that I didnt sell a piece of for a year and a half, she said.

Sales didnt really pick up after the markets corrected themselves, however, which the second-generation owner attributed to a maturing local clientele and the migration of its core customer to trendier parts of the borough.

This part of Brooklyn has become older and older  or extremely wealthy  both of which dont seem to be into this store, Tara Silberberg said. Younger consumers are the ones who are more actively buying things. They need things!

Still, news of Clay Pots impending closure shocked those loyalists left in the neighborhood, many of whom scrawled messages such as Lots of love and We will miss you on a long scroll of paper its current owner placed in a so-called feelings corner of the shop.

Shuttering the Park Slope location will allow Silberberg to focus her efforts on her Manhattan store, where she trusts her long-time local patrons will trek to for their jewelry and ceramics.

Im taking a huge gamble that park slope will follow me, she said. I have so many loyal customers and I know theyll shop in Manhattan.

And when Clay Pot does close, it will join a laundry list of other longtime Slope shops that shuttered after decades in business, including optical shop Visions of Park Slope, which closed in October after 27 years in operation; Tex-Mex restaurant Santa Fe Grill, which also closed that month following a 34-year run; and Seventh Avenue health-food emporium Back to the Land, whose owner sold his last supplement last year after nearly half a century serving Slopers.
By Trend





Around 90 percent of land along the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) route has been restored in Greece and Albania, Trend reports citing TAP AG consortium.

In Albania and Greece, 90 percent of the land has been restored. In the countryside around Fier, production activities have resumed and, with spring, the trace of the works will be even less visible, said the consortium.

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).
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.

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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
Dubai-based Trustworthy.ae Group today announced the groundbreaking of its first Inland Container Depot (ICD) and a third-party logistics (3PL) facility in the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), one of the largest industrial zones in the Middle East and a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Ports.

Hayleys Advantis Limited, the transportation and logistics arm of multinational conglomerate Hayleys Group, will manage and operate the two facilities.

Advantis brings over two decades of experience in ICD and 3PL management, with it operating multiple facilities across the South Asian region, said a statement.

Trustworthy.ae Group's ICD and 3PL facility, located in close proximity to the Khalifa Port, will be geared to serve the expected rise of container volumes to 8.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) from existing 1.5 million TEUs per annum over the next five years.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Captain Mohamed Juma Al Shamsi, chief executive officer, Abu Dhabi Ports; Samir Chaturvedi, chief executive officer, Kizad; Abdul Lathif, managing director, Trustworthy.ae Group; Jalal Essudeen, executive director, Trustworthy.ae Group; Mohan Pandithage, chairman, Hayleys Group; Ruwan Waidyaratne, managing director, Hayleys Advantis Limited, along with many other VIP guests.

"Today's groundbreaking ceremony marks an important milestone on our project. Trustworthy.ae Group's investment in building the ICD and 3PL facility in Kizad demonstrates our continued commitment to the UAE," said Abdul Lathif, managing director, Trustworthy.ae Group.

"We are proud to collaborate with Hayleys Advantis Limited on this exceptional project who are leaders in managing and providing world-class depot and logistics facilities. We are confident that Hayleys Advantis will set a new benchmark for quality and service in the Middle East region," he added.

Chaturvedi said: We are pleased to celebrate the ground-breaking of Trustworthy.ae Groups first Inland Container Depot and third-party logistics facility  two major developments that will support the trade of goods to and from Abu Dhabi across a wide spectrum of industries. The investment of Sri Lanka's leading logistics firm at our industrial zone is testament to Kizads established position as a global industrial and trading hub. The vast scale of these new facilities, along with the expansion of Khalifa Port and surrounding transport infrastructure, will support the growth of container volumes across the region over the coming years.

Waidyaratne said: We are indeed delighted to be partnering the Trustworthy.ae Group on this project and look forward to serving the Abu Dhabi clientele. This being our first project in the Middle Eastern region, we are intent on making a meaningful impact by utilizing the experience and expertise we have developed over the years, by operating in multiple countries in the Asian region.

Mobilisation work on the facilities will begin this month with the ICD becoming operational in June 2019. Spread over a built-up area of 40,000 sq m along with 25,000 sq m of open yard for storage area, the 3PL facility will be ready for business by the first quarter of 2020.

The ICD will offer washing, cleaning, repairs and certification for containers with an operational capacity of 1,500 to 1,800 trucks per day. Major and minor container repairs will be served by a state-of-the-art workshop within the facility. The 3PL operations will cater to cold, ambient and open yard storage.

Trustworthy.ae Group will use state-of-the-art equipment in both the facilities that will help improve transit time and reduce costs for the trade. The ICD will deploy advance intralogistics practices and equipment from the global industry leaders to handle, transfer and stack empty containers. The depot will also adopt most advanced mobile technology to increase efficiency and mobility of the workforce in order to ensure the highest level of services.  TradeArabia News Service
For the people in the Kosi-Kamala floodplains, located in the foothills of the Nepali Himalaya, life is centred on the river and the wetlands for agriculture and fishery. While the agriculture is mostly rain-fed in summer, it is irrigated by groundwater and by water pumped from the wetlands in winter.

The Kosi region has historically been very flat, lower in elevation  a floodplain landscape. However, flood control measures altered it, cutting off small river channels that used to meet the rivers Kosi and Kamala. On the other hand, the wetlands located outside the embankments ...
The second offering from the road monetisation projects was cancelled last month, as the bids received were lower than the estimated price of the contract. Financing is not a problem as far as road monetisation projects is concerned, said a senior road ministry official. But experts feel that not just the hybrid-annuity projects, even TOT contracts were facing lending issues and therefore, the bids submitted by the three ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
Repeated threats of high counter-tariffs on Indian goods by US President Donald Trump may derail the initial progress made in crafting a mutually acceptable trade package between the countries, government officials say.

The package has been in the works for the past one year and trade officials have met as many as five times to hammer out a deal that provides an amicable solution to grouses from both sides. India is considering the dismantling of its current price cap regime for coronary stents with a trade margin policy, while it may also allow lower duties on import of certain ...
Acwa Power, a leading developer, owner and operator of power generation and water desalination plants, said its consortium with Saudi Brothers Commercial Company (SBCC), has signed senior financing and hedging agreements for the SR2.62 billion ($700 million) Rabigh-3 IWP, one of the worlds largest independent water desalination plants.



Once completed, the Saudi plant will generate 600,000 cu m of water per day thus making it one of the largest seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination projects in the world.



The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the project was awarded to a consortium of SepcoIII (Power China), Abengoa and Sidem (Veolia).



The operations and maintenance agreement was signed with Rabigh Water Production Services Company, an affiliate of First National Operations & Maintenance Company (Nomac), while Saudi Water & Electricity Company (WEC) will act as the off taker of the project.



The water purchase agreement was signed in December by Engineer Abdulrahman bin Abdulmohsen Al Fadley, Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture and WEC Chairman.



A new entity, Rabigh Three Company (RTC) has been established with Acwa Power as the 70 per cent stake holder and the rest by SBCC for ownership of the Rabigh 3 IWP Plant.



The transaction is financed through limited recourse ring fenced project financing with Natixis, MUFG, Samba and Riyad Bank being the initial mandated lead arrangers. In addition, Riyad Bank has already provided an equity bridge loan for the transaction earlier this month.



Acwa Power president and CEO Paddy Padmanathan, said: "As this region embarks on an extensive desalination capacity procurement programme, with four large projects already in the market and a number of additional projects in pipeline, we are proud to have closed Rabigh-3 as a demonstrator for how the recent price and technology evolution in reverse-osmosis (RO) desalination has made this an affordable and efficient solution for potable water production for countries around the region."



Rabigh 3 IWP will utilise RO technology to yield a 600,000 cu m capacity that will cater to the water demand of Makkah and Jeddah areas, he noted.



"This will ensure consistent, reliable and steady water supply to the citizens of the two cities and village, especially during demand peak periods such as Ramadan and Hajj seasons. The project will also create new employment opportunities in fields including construction, operations and maintenance as well as enhancing the local capabilities in terms of local contentm, he added.



Chief investment officer Rajit Nanda said: "As owner and operator of the worlds largest desalination capacity and a leading innovator on cost and efficiency, we look forward to continuing to deliver unmatched value for the markets we serve in as water demand and the need for desalination grows rapidly."



The commercial operation date of the plant is scheduled to be towards the end of 2021.-TradeArabia News Service
Muna AbuSulayman was relaxing in bed last month when her phone pinged with news that the grand mufti, Saudi Arabias religious leader, had died. After checking that the alert appeared to originate from an official source, the former talk show host shared it with 544,000 Twitter followers. It was a fateful misjudgment that pitched her deep into an ugly struggle over what it means to be Saudi as the kingdom forges a new identity under its young crown prince.

The story about the mufti was fake. AbuSulayman deleted her post and apologized, but the damage was done. Over several ...
The Chinese electronics giant Huawei is preparing to sue the United States government for banning federal agencies from using the companys products, according to two people familiar with the matter. The lawsuit is due to be filed in the Eastern District of Texas, where Huawei has its American headquarters, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential plans. The company plans to announce the suit later this week. The move could be aimed at forcing the United States government to more publicly make its case against the Chinese equipment maker. It ...
China and the US are in the final stage of completing a trade deal, with Beijing offering to lower tariffs and other restrictions on American farm, chemical, auto and other products and Washington considering removing most, if not all, sanctions levied against Chinese products since last year. The agreement is taking shape following Februarys talks in Washington, people briefed on the matter on both sides said.

They cautioned that hurdles remain, and each side faces possible resistance at home that the terms are too favourable to the other side. Despite the remaining ...
Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Monday met Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) Chief Captain Vijayakanth.

After the meeting, Panneerselvam told media here, "Talks of the alliance are underway. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming here on March 6, by then everything will be finalized as we have an event on that day where all alliance parties need to be present.

"Today, I have come to check on his health status. It was a courtesy call," he added.

On February 19, the AIADMK formally joined the NDA. Under the joint agreement, the BJP will contest five out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The party will also support the AIADMK in the by-polls which will happen for 21 constituencies in Tamil Nadu.

Another regional party in the fray, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), led by S Ramadoss, will support the BJP-AIADMK front in the state in the General elections.

The party, which has a strong vote base in northern Tamil Nadu, especially among the OBC Vanniyar community, will contest on six Lok Sabha seats and will be given one Rajya Sabha seat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Those who are discussing the casualty count of IAF's strike at the biggest terror training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have "little or no knowledge" of defence, said on Monday defence experts while talking to ANI.

They also backed Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa's statement on the casualty count in the recently-conducted airstrike in Pakistan, where he said that they do not count the bodies, but hit the targets.

"Defence experts have been saying from day one that no can tell an exact count of the number of terrorists killed in air strike," said defence expert V K Chaturvedi on Monday, while talking to ANI.

"What we can say with confidence is that we have hit the target we wanted to. Such talks in the media or elsewhere about the total casualties being put at 250 or 350 are done by those who know little or nothing about defence," he said.

BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday, while addressing a rally in Ahmedabad, had claimed that 250 terrorists were killed in the air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) in Pakistan's Balakot, targeting terror launch pads in the region, during the wee hours of February 26.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said on Monday: "IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not. We hit our target."

Backing the IAF chief's statement, Praful Bakshi, also defence expert, told ANI: "Nothing could be truer than what the Air Chief Marshal has said. The job of the Air Force and the Army is exclusively to eliminate the enemy, and not answer such questions."

Uday Bhaskar, another prominent defence expert, was of the view that domestic political deliberation on the issue was 'undesirable.'

"We have had a mini domestic debate about whether or not the target had been acquired, what was the damage, and the figure of 300 terrorists having been eliminated or neutralised have been doing the rounds in public perception," Bhaskar told ANI.

"Perhaps some media outlets have also given some credence to this. It is in this context that we have also had a domestic political deliberation on this issue, which, as I have said earlier, is undesirable," he said.

Acknowledging that questions regarding details of the strike do arise in a democracy, Bhaskar noted that there is a way for parliamentarians to raise these questions.

"At a point like this, these kinds of questions can be raised. Democracies should have the debate. They should have dissent, but there is a parliament," he said.

"There is a way for parliamentarians to raise these questions related any wing of the government--whether it is the Defence Minister, or if need be, the Prime Minister, and get whatever information they are seeking," added Bhaskar.

India carried out the air strike 12 days after JeM suicide bomber attacked the convoy of CRPF in Pulwama on February 26 in which as many as 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

Hours after the air raid, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had told the media that the IAF fighter planes hit the largest militant camp of JeM at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Following Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa's remark on air strikes, BJP and Congress have once again locked horns on the issue, with the former accusing the latter of politicising the issue and the Congress seeking the source of statements being made by BJP leaders with regards to the number of casualties.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Dhanoa had said fighter planes had hit the target given to them, adding that he cannot give the number of casualties suffered as it is for the government to do.

Soon after this statement, Congress leaders started raising questions over the source of BJP president Amit Shah's claim of 250 terrorists having been killed in the Air Strikes in Balakot.

Speaking to ANI, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said BJP leaders should share the information that they have.

"We should not politicise the air strike. As Rahul Gandhi said, for security, we should support each and every action of our armed forces. We should stand united in these situations. But if someone is doing and wants to take credit for the Army's action, this is not good. With Karnataka state president's statement, BJP is exposed now. We should focus on interest now," Kharge said.

He also denied asking for evidence of the air strike and said, "We did not ask for any proof. We just want that BJP is making different claims, hence they should also share with others whatever information they have."

Echoing similar sentiments, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told ANI that they are not questioning the armed forces but only want to know the source of claims being made by BJP leaders, including its president Amit Shah.

"Air Chief BS Dhanoa is right in what he says and we never question the integrity of our security forces. The Indian Air Force has definitely hit the target but the question is what the inputs they received were. Was that from an active intelligence report in which the terrorists were camping there. The report is in 2005, they evacuated the place. The question is where the BJP president got the figure of 250, they haven't completed the counting of demonetisation note," Singh said.

Congress leader RPN Singh also raised questions over the statements being made by BJP leaders and demanded an apology from the Prime Minister.

Singh said, "I think the prime minister should apologise to the Air Force. He is questioning the valiant efforts, the bravery of our Air Force pilot. Air Chief BS Dhanoa said that MIG-Bison was fitted with the latest technology and capable enough to challenge any latest fighter jets. It is not Congress but BJP which is politicising the air strike. We have BJP state president walking in army fatigues. BJP chief Amit Shah is speaking about 250 dead. From where is he getting such a figure?"

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury also quoted Air Chief Dhanoa's remarks and said the BJP chief having secret information amounts to a breach of security.

"Air Force has not counted, the government is speaking in multiple voices, but the BJP Party President is dishing out numbers. If he has access to secret information which even IAF Chief does not have, it's a breach of national security. If not, he is lying," said Yechury.

BJP leaders, on the other hand, cited Dhanoa's statement to question Congress about its loyalties.

BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "Now air chief is saying that they fixed a target and destroyed it. Pakistan is saying some other thing. Now it is for Congress to decide whether they are with Pakistan or Indian armed forces."

BJP Vice-president Shyam Jaju also endorsed the remarks made by IAF chief and said, "We have given a message to the world that we are peaceful country but won't leave anyone who threatens us. The opposition leaders are trying to demoralise our armed forces."

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Safar Travel & Tourism, a member of Al Fahim Group, has announced its partnership with GoAir airlines to roll out direct flights between Abu Dhabi International Airport in the UAE and the newly opened Kannur International Airport in the southern Indian state of Kerala.



Under the partnership, Safar Travel & Tourism will act as the general sales agent for GoAir in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, marking the award-winning travel agencys entry into Indias growing air travel industry.



With the inaugural flight from Kannur to Abu Dhabi International Airport taking off this month, GoAir will offer direct flights on Airbus 320neo with two cabin configurations, economy GoSmart and business GoBusiness.



Jeh Wadia, managing director of GoAir, said: This is a historic moment for GoAir as it enters the Middle East region with its maiden flight taking off from Kannur to Abu Dhabi, thereby strengthening the India-UAE relationship one step further. GoAir is one of the worlds fastest-growing airlines, and Abu Dhabi is our fourth international destination after Phuket, Male and Muscat, and our 28th destination overall.



He added: GoAir is delighted to partner with Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC). We take this opportunity to thank the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the UAE and our partners, Safar Travel & Tourism, for making this happen.



GoAirs flight schedule will provide passengers with four direct flight services per week at an attractive all-inclusive one-way fare of Dh435 ($118.4).



Awj Khalil, general manager of Safar Travel & Tourism, said: Safar is proud of its partnership with GoAir that allows UAE residents to book flights to destinations across India with ease. India represents one of the fastest-growing markets for budget airlines, with GoAir at the forefront of the movement to make air travel an affordable option for everyone. By giving more people access to GoAirs routes and its connections with Indias major international transport hubs served by UAE-based carriers, Safar is also contributing to the growth of Abu Dhabis aviation and tourism sectors. - TradeArabia News Service
There is an orchestrated effort by BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits to fuel 'jingoistic nationalism' in the country after the terror attack in Pulwama, alleged CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday.

"A united India rose against terrorism. Instead of strengthening this, the post-Pulwama developments are seeing an orchestrated effort by BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits to rouse jingoistic nationalism," said Yechury at a press conference here.

As many as 40 CRPF jawans were killed on February 14 in south Kashmir's Pulwama district after their convoy was attacked by the suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror outfit--Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

Referring to alleged attacks on Kashmiris in various parts of the country, he said: "The targeting of Kashmiris, the call for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A are all turning this battle of Indians against terrorism into a battle against Kashmiris and Muslims to further deepen the communal polarisation."

"CPI-M denounces these efforts to disrupt the united fight of India against terrorism by the BJP and the leaders of its government," he said.

Yechury also claimed that the number of terrorist incidents has witnessed a rise of 176 per cent during the tenure of NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"The number of security personnel and civilians killed in terrorist attacks has also gone up. The number of security personnel killed has seen a rise of 93 per cent. On an average, eleven terrorists infiltrated every month between 2014 and 2018," he said.

Yechury said: "Most dangerous trend has been the sharp rise in local Kashmiri youth joining terrorist groups from 16 in 2013 to 164 in 2018."

"This deepening alienation of Kashmiri youth is a consequence of the NDA government reneging on its promise to initiate a political process of dialogue with all the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of confidence-building measures," he said.

"Clearly, the terrorist strikes continued and intensified even after the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force after the terrorist attack on army units in Uri in September 2016."

Yechury said: "It is Prime Minister Modi and BJP leaders who are politicising the issue of the fight against terrorism and disrupted the united fight of Indians against terrorism for their partisan electoral benefits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Algeria's ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Sunday vowed that he would not serve a full term if re-elected as President for the fifth time in the upcoming elections scheduled to take place on April 18.

Bouteflika formally lodged his candidacy on Sunday.

Al Jazeera quoted Abdelaghani Zaalane, the campaign manager of President Bouteflika, who has been facing nearly two weeks of protests against his election bid, as saying that the incumbent President would call for early polls if he is re-elected in April elections.

"I have heard the pleas of protesters and especially the thousands of young people who asked about our nation's future," Zaalane was quoted while reading out a statement by the President's Office on a local television network.

"I am committed to the organisation of an early presidential election," the date of which will be decided by a "national conference" set up after the April 18 vote. "I pledge not to be a candidate for this election," Bouteflika added to the statement, while also calling for a new revision of the constitution.

The announcement came after thousands of protesters took to streets on Friday, last day for the candidates to register their names for the April elections, objecting President Bouteflika's bid to run for Presidential elections.

Numerous police helicopters hovered over the streets leading to the presidential headquarters, along with riot police deployed at the neighbourhood firing tear gas shells at the protestors gathered to display public discontentment regarding the leadership.

Pictures viral on the social media also showed protestors setting pictures of Bouteflika on fire amid whistles and cheers and calling for his resignation.

The Algerian law requires candidates to be medically fit to assume the presidency of the nation.

On January 18, President Bouteflika announced that the North African country would go for Presidential elections in April.

The 81-year-old incumbent president had last addressed the nation more than six years ago and has been sick since he suffered a stroke in 2013.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Communist Party of India (CPI) and Dravida Munnetra Kazgham (DMK) on Monday signed a poll pact for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan and DMK President MK Stalin have signed the seat sharing agreement on two constituencies, ahead of the polls.

Earlier in the day, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) founder-leader Thol Thirumavalavan announced that his party has reached an agreement with DMK for two constituencies for the forthcoming general elections.

Thirumavalavan told ANI, "We made an agreement with DMK for two constituencies in forthcoming parliamentary elections. We will decide on what are those constituencies after a couple of days. Now we fixed only on the numbers, peacefully and happily."

DMK president MK Stalin last month announced to give 10 Lok Sabha seats to Congress in Tamil Nadu including Puducherry wherein all 40 seats are at stake.

Meanwhile, Union Minister and BJP leader Piyush Goyal in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi said, "On March 6, we will have a grand meeting of BJP-AIADMK-PMK alliance near Chennai. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the meeting along with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, the PMK leaders and several other leaders will share the stage."

BJP has announced it will fight the coming General Elections in alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

AIADMK said on February 19 said that the BJP would contest five Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat of Puducherry.

PMK, which has a strong vote base in northern Tamil Nadu, especially among the OBC Vanniyar community, will contest six Lok Sabha seats and will get one Rajya Sabha seat.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, AIADMK won 37 seats in Tamil Nadu while the BJP-DMK alliance had won only two seats.

In the 235-member Assembly, the AIADMK has 115 members followed by DMK 88, Congress eight, IUML and independent one each, while 20 seats are lying vacant on account of the disqualification of 18 members and the death of two MLAs.

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The cross-LoC bus service from Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district to Rawalkot of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was suspended on Monday.

A bus carrying 3 passengers from PoK had to return back to Poonch after Pakistan Army refrained from opening the zero point gate at LoC.

A resident of Mirpur from PoK, Syed Bukhari, expressed concern on the bus service suspension.

"I was going back. I, later on, went to the border to buy tickets but, was told that the Pakistani authorities did not open the gate today, then we had to come back," he told ANI.

The suspension comes at a time when Pakistan and India are trying to de-escalate tensions between the two nuclear powers following Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman's return to India on March 1.

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Citing international media reports of "no proof of militants being killed at Balakot", Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday questioned BJP leaders how they could zero down on specific number of terrorists killed there and asked them not play with terror keeping Lok Sabha elections in mind.

"Your (BJP) ministers are saying '300 people have been killed', '400 people have been killed'. Where did they get this information from or is it with a particular thought in mind that the Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, so they have to say that 'x' number of people have been killed?" said Sibal while speaking to ANI.

Sibal's statement comes a day after Amit Shah said that over 250 terrorists were killed in the air strike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) against a terror camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot, Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"Who told Amit Shah this (number of terrorists killed)? Did the Defence services tell him that 250 people have been killed? Did the Government of India tell him? He is president of a political party only. If the government and the Defence services have shared this information with him, why doesn't the government share this information with the Opposition leaders of the country? Amit Shah, let's not play with terror. Both you and the Prime Minister are doing the same thing and we know why. You are doing it because the Lok Sabha election is around the corner," Sibal stated.

Sibal said, "How is it that the international media is saying there is no proof of militants being killed at Balakot? Is it that the international media pro-Pakistan? Is the Prime Minister now going to call the international media pro-Pakistan and anti-India?"

That very international media, however, publically calls Pakistan the hotbed of terrorism and when that happens, "you lap it up and say the international media is right", said Sibal while pointing out the double standard attitude of the government.

"It is surprising Prime Minister that you pat yourself on the back and say that because of you Abhinandan was brought back... The nation is delighted and the nation embraces Abhinandan on his return. But you should also then accept accountability that there was a huge intelligence failure. Why don't you accept that?" he further said.

He added, "Don't play with terror Mr Prime Minister and don't play politics with terror with the Lok Sabha elections in mind. The people of India have seen through you of the promises (you) made and the failures of your government."

Besides Sibal, Congress leader Ajay Singh has also raised questions over the claims made. "A few days ago, bombs were dropped on Pakistan. He (Prime Minister Modi) said that everything in Balakot was destroyed. New York Times reported that there was no damage due to air strikes. If not today, in the next 10 days, the whole sequence of events will be exposed," Singh said while addressing a rally in Satna, Madhya Pradesh.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also questioned Amit Shah. In a tweet, Kejriwal said that the armed forces have till now not released any number of terrorists killed in the air strike. Yet, Shah has come out with a specific number. Kejriwal questioned whether Amit Shah and BJP were trying to call the armed forces "liar" for their political benefits.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) arrived here on Monday on a two-day visit to review the poll preparedness in Jammu and Kashmir in the run-up to the upcoming general elections.

The five-member team is being led by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena and includes Director General (Expenditure) Dilip Sharma, ADG (SPS) Sheyphali B Sharan, Director Nikhil Kumar and Principal Secretary Standhope Yuhlung.

The team is scheduled to meet 7 parties and 3 state parties during its stay, according to the office of the state's Chief Electoral Officer.

A presentation by the Chief Electoral Officer, Police Nodal Officer and other Nodal Officers is also scheduled.

The Commission will hold meetings with state officials including Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and Divisional Commissioners of twelve districts of the state.

A press conference will be addressed by the team tomorrow.

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Indian equity markets remained shut on Monday on account of Mahashivratri, the Hindu festival celebrated once a year in the honour of Lord Shiva.

However, Asian shares moved up amid signals that the United States and China were close to striking a pact on ending their long-standing trade tariff disputes.

Reports said Washington could remove most of its tariffs on Beijing. Also, a summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to sign a final trade deal may take place later this month.

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Ahraz Mulla, the president of Goa unit of the Students' Union of India (NSUI) has complained against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to President Ram Nath Kovind, the United Nations and the Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for allegedly discriminating dyslexic children.

In his complaint, Mulla shared a link of a video in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while talking to students via video conferencing, purportedly took an impromptu dig at Rahul Gandhi, implying that the Congress president is suffering from dyslexia.

During the video conference for 'Smart India Hackathon 2019' on Saturday, an engineering student from Dehradun introduced her project to the Prime Minister and briefed him about a program that could help dyslexic children who face reading and writing difficulties.

Introducing her project, the student said: "We have an idea to help dyslexic children, whose pace of learning and writing is very slow. But they have a high intelligence and creativity level as you have seen in the movie Taare Zameen Par..."

The Prime Minister then interrupted the student and asked a question, "Will this program work for a 40-50 year old child too?"

Many present there started laughing and applauding after what the Prime Minister said.

Soon after being prompted by her peers, the student replied: "Yes sir, it will work."

Then taking a jibe at UPA chairperson and Rahul Gandhi's mother Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister said: "If it really will, then it will make the mothers of such children very happy."

Which again left the students laugh and applaud.

Reacting to the video, Mulla in his complaint said: "We strongly demand for an apology from the Prime Minister because of which individuals with dyslexia have felt discriminated by one of the highest authority in the country. This has lead to depression, anxiety and a sense of suicide among the individuals."

"They have been mocked by the highest authority of the country because of which sends a very wrong message to the entire country and makes them a subject to be mocked. We request you kind authority to look into this matter with seriousness and ask for an apology by the PM to all the individuals suffering from dyslexia to send a message against discrimination and prevent further discrimination of such individuals in the society," he said.

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Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh on Monday said that High court reprimanding Telangana police for arresting the employees of an IT company which provides services to TDP "is a victory of the justice".

Taking to Twitter, he wrote, "Justice prevails! The High Court has reprimanded the Telangana Police for unlawfully arresting the four employees when the complaint was filed against the company."

He also outlined the alleged modus operandi of the police and cited court's observation regarding the same saying, "It (High Court) has questioned the police why they (IT company officials) were taken in as witnesses without being served a prior notice which is part of the procedure. The Court was shocked to see the Police take signatures of the VRO on blank papers and gave them an earful for blatant disregard for the law of the land."

Attacking YSR Congress party, he added, "By using police and embracing extrajudicial tactics, TDP data has been stolen and handed over to the YSRCP. But can they steal the respect and admiration that people have for N Chandrababu Naidu? Every voter is watching how all the anti-AP forces are ganging up against one single man."

Earlier on Sunday, after the Hyderabad Police raided the office of the mobile app developer, Chief Minister Naidu claimed that this was done after YSRCP leader Vijay Sai Reddy complained, and also accused the opposition of stealing data.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The grand opening ceremony of Japanese brand hotel Hotel Nikko Bangkok was held in Bangkok, Thailand.

With the launch of the new hotel, Okura Nikko Hotels brand has now expanded to 70 hotels worldwide with Japanese unique hospitality service called Omotenashi in each country. Okura Nikko Hotels is one of the most famous Japanese hotel brands and this is their second hotel in Bangkok.

The hotel, located at Sukhumvit Road, two minutes from Thong Lo BTS station, has 301 rooms with traditional Thai design. In addition, it contains a popular facility such as an outdoor pool and fitness centre.

"Hotel Nikko Bangkok is located in Thong Lo area, and it is known as one of the fashionable spots in Bangkok. So as our hotel, here is a kind of perfect location to be opened. We are trying to provide Japanese style hospitality called 'Omotenashi' which means providing not only the service followed by manual but also trying to give guests more personal touch service and hospitality, Jo Sato, General Manager of Hotel Nikko Bangkok.

"We would like to export our mind to not only the city of Bangkok but also global wide and are looking forward to serving special Japanese style hospitality to all of our guests," Jo Sato said.

'The Okura Prestige Bangkok' was the only 'Okura Nikko Hotels Brand' hotel before the opening of 'Hotel Nikko Bangkok'.

"The Okura Prestige Bangkok will be celebrating its seventh year in May. We are very much confident and proud to receive high reputation such as ranked top 10 among 980 hotels in Bangkok on Trip Adviser. And the recent opening of 'Hotel Nikko Bangkok' will definitely leverage our brand awareness and reputation of delivering unique Japanese hospitality with the well-known warm welcome of "Land of Smiles," said Masaya Hasebe, Okura Prestige Bangkok.

The new collaboration of hospitality by Japanese brand contributes to offering great service for many people with a warm welcome.

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TCN News

Tribals and Dalits have called for a nation wide bandh tomorrow march 5th, 2019, Tuesday to protest the SC order for eviction of tribals from the forests in 16 states in India.

The order of the Supreme court gave the order on 13 February but the written order was passed on 20th February in which the court has ordered the eviction of lakhs of tribals and traditional forest dwellers to be evicted from the forests as their claims were rejected.

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This order came in the wake of a petition filed by some NGOs and activists who challenged the Forest Rights Act, 2006 and demanded for the eviction of the tribals and the subsequent failure of the defendant lawyers who were absent at the hearing and did not present their side. The 3 judge bench then passed the above mentioned order.

The center has however filed a plea to the apex court to modify the order as it affects the lives of nearly 1.89 million tribals. The court had earlier withheld the order giving time to the states to file their affidavits but has again stayed the matter.

The tribals are demanding for restoration of the Forest Rights Act for protection of their rights. The Dalit groups are also joining in in this protest to support the tribals.

Along with the restoration of FRA the Dalits are demanding for an ordinance to passed against the 13 point rooster system and restore the reservations system that benefits SCs and STs.

The bandh will be a peaceful one in their respective places.
Amid questions over the Balakot air strike, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on Monday said the fighter planes had hit the target given to them but he cannot give the number of casualties suffered as it is for the government to do so.

"IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not. We hit our target," he told reporters here.

The Air Chief Marshal was responding when asked whether he could give the number of casualties suffered in the February 26 air raids by the IAF on a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) camp in Balakot.

"The air force doesn't calculate the casualty numbers, the government does that... We can't count how many people died. It depends on how many people were there. That is why the Army is there," Dhanoa said.

He went on to add, "The target has been clearly amplified by the Foreign Secretary (Vijay Gokhale) in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan) have responded? If we dropped bombs in the jungles, why would he respond?"

The comments assume significance as there have been questions over the exact number of casualties suffered in the air strike.

India carried out the air strike 12 days after the Jaish terror attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives. JeM had claimed the responsibility of the attack.

Hours after the air raid, the Foreign Secretary had told the media that the IAF fighters hit the largest militant camp of JeM in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan and "a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated" in it.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
ARY and Geo channels carried similar reports on this, which clearly reflected Pakistan government's disinterest in acting on the evidence provided by India like it has been doing in the past.

India gave the dossiers to Pakistan after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan promised to act against JeM if "actionable evidence" was provided.

JeM, which is based in Pakistan, had carried out a ghastly terror attack on a CRPF convoy on February 14 in Pulwama district of Kashmir, killing 40 security personnel.

The terror outfit had lated claimed responsibility for it and issued the video of the suicide bomber.

Geo TV, quoting "high level government sources" , also said that security agencies of Pakistan and India "remain in contact despite the tension"and that "there was also contact on the night of February 27-28."

The two TV channels, quoting "sources", also claimed that India was planning to launch missile attacks at various targets in this country with the help of Israel on February 27.

ARY News said that in retaliation Pakistan had "also aimed eight to nine targets"in India.

"India had planned to carry out an attack on Pakistan via Rajasthan and it had also decided to use missiles," the ARY claimed, quoting "sources".

The report also claimed that Israel had "an aim to dent Pakistan's nuclear assets".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Minister Prakash Javadekar slammed the opposition parties for questioning air strike conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) in Balakot area of Pakistan on February 26.

"Pakistan accepted that Indian planes entered in Pakistan, not only Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. A terror camp was functioning in the name of Madarass where more 350 terrorists were getting trained including around 12 chief commanders and 25 master trainers. This was the centre for sending terrorists to Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir and rest parts of the world. And no one was left alive in the bombing," he said.

Addressing BJP Mission 2019 programme at Balgandharva Rangmandir, the minister said, "Our opposition parties are asking for proofs. This complete bankruptcy of some opposition parties,"

"Their statement was welcomed by Pakistan. This was also discussed in their parliament. Their media also picked up this," he added.

"Post 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, armed forces want to teach lessons to Pakistan, they did not get permission that time. But they got the permission by our government. This is a difference," Javadekar said while underlining the difference between Congress-led UPA government and BJP-led government at the Centre.

Setting the tone for 2019 general elections, the BJP leader said, "What do we need a Majboot (Strong) government or like Mayawati said Majboor (helpless) government where the Prime Minister will change after every six months. This is the central issue of 2019 elections."

"Some people have started preparing for saying that there is some fault in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM'. It means they have started preparing explanations for their defeat in upcoming polls," he added taking a jibe at political parties who had earlier question EVM use.

Taking a potshot at Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of the opposition parties, Javadekar said, "An opposition leader told me that the Common Minimum Programme of their Mahamilawat (Adulteration) alliance is 'Modi hatao' (Remove Modi) and nothing else."

"Two bomb attacks happened in Mumbai. 26/11 and train blasts where 250 died. In UPA time then a big Congress had said 'small incidents used to happen in big cities.' Where did you find incidents of bomb blasts, except Jammu and Kashmir, under our government? This all become possible with strong leadership," he added.

Underling the success of many BJP government schemes at the Centre, he said, "Under Congress rule, they had opened the bank account of the unborn child, had taken financial help for marriage, scholarships and took even pensions by declaring them as widows. There were many such cases. We save Rs 90,000 after linking Aadhaar to bank accounts that totally eliminated bogus people."

"Today India was the chief guest at OIC. 50 years ago, at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference. The Indian representative Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed went there to attend the conference. But due to Pressure from Pakistan, Ahmed was not allowed to enter the conference. Today India is there and Pakistan is not," he said speaking of India's representation at the recently concluded conference at OIC in Abu Dhabi.

Javadekar highlighted the success of many government schemes like Jan Dhan Yojna, Atal Pension Scheme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, rural electricity, new infrastructural projects including new airports, highways and expressways and many others.

"We were at 11th position in the economy under UPA regime and today we stand at 6 and in the coming time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will reach at 3rd position," he said.

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After the Opposition raised their voice against Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari who was seen wearing military fatigues, the actor-turned-politician on Monday hit back saying that he feels proud to wear it and respecting the armed forces is a patriotic gesture.

Tiwari was participating in the party's 'Sankalp Bike Rally' in the capital, with an aim to connect with the voters ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for April-May.

"From time to time, I wear armed forces' caps, t-shirts. I feel proud to wear it and to respect the armed forces is patriotism. The people of the country are proud to wear it," Tiwari who was wearing an Army t-shirt told ANI.

Attacking the opposition parties, Tiwari claimed that those criticizing him were people who "do not love the country and respect the armed forces", adding that the people of the country will give a "befitting response".

Asked whether donning Army colour clothes is an offence, the Delhi BJP chief replied, "No, it's not. At this time, it is the colour of patriotism. Not only me, 125 crore Indians wear it and they feel proud."

Responding to Opposition's allegations of trying to politicise the airstrikes on JeM terror camp in Pakistan, Tiwari said, "This is their pain. They were in power for a long time and did not do any airstrikes. When they (IAF) went, there were so many dangers, including whether they will return safely or not. We are backing our forces to boost their morale."

"Our country comes first, then party and then us," he added.

On Sunday, Tiwari defended his move of wearing an Army jacket, saying he was expressing his solidarity. He questioned that if he wore a Nehru jacket in the future, then would it be an insult to the nation's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

"I wore simply because I felt proud of my Army. I am not in Indian army but I was expressing my feeling of solidarity. Why should it be treated like an insult? I have the highest regard for our Army By logic tomorrow If I wear a Nehru Jacket will it be an insult to Jawaharlal Nehru?" the actor-turned-politician tweeted.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O' Brien, slammed Tiwari for donning military fatigues, calling it "shameless".

"Shameless. Shameless. Shameless. Manoj Tewari BJP MP and Delhi President wearing Armed Forces uniform and seeking votes. BJP-Modi-Shah insulting and politicising our jawans. And then giving lectures on patriotism. Low life," he tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, confirmed the incumbent Provincial Minister of Punjab for Information and Culture in Pakistan on Monday.

"He is alive, Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, we have no information of his death," Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan told ANI, without elaborating on Azhar's current state of health.

Social media has been abuzz with speculations regarding death of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief, with many alleging liver cancer as the reason behind his supposed demise.

Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the February 14 ghastly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which killed over 40 Indian CRPF personnel.

Following this, the international community has thrown its weight behind India in its fight against terrorism, with the United States telling Pakistan to stop providing support to terror outfits and terrorists in the immediate aftermath of the terror attack.

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US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) said that the latest decision to terminate the spring military exercises with South Korea was aimed at saving "millions of dollars which are not reimbursed" and avoid the escalation of tension with North Korea.

"The reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed. That was my position long before I became President. Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!" the US President tweeted.

The statement by the US President comes after the US Department of Defence on Saturday announced that the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises scheduled with South Korea have been curbed in order to facilitate the denuclearisation process of the entire Korean Peninsula.

However, South Korea and the United States will be launching a new nine-day Dong Maeng exercise on Monday to replace their Key Resolve drills, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) announced on Sunday.

Both countries added that the upcoming exercise is imperative for armies to train and maintain "a standard of readiness".

Meanwhile, the low-key battalion-or lower-level drills are expected to replace the year-round Foal Eagle field training.

North Korea has previously criticised the exercises and has asked both South Korea and the US to cease military drills in the Korean peninsula.

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BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday said over 250 terrorists were killed in the airstrike carried out by the (IAF) on the "13th day of dastardly "

Addressing the 'Lakshya JITO' program, Shah spoke about the two major terror strikes of the last five years and outlined the central government's response against them.

"In 5 years two major incidents happened...In URI and Pulwana.....after Uri attack our army entered Pakistan and did a surgical strike and took revenge of our soldiers' death."

"After Pulwama attack, everyone thought surgical strike can't be done this time..now what will happen?... At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government did an airstrike on the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists without any harm on our side," Shah said.

On February 28, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the government to spell out "details" of the exact place where the air raid was carried out and the casualties inflicted, stating that international media claimed that there was no damage in the strike.

In the wee hours of February 26, the anti-terror operations carried out by the targeted camps of dreaded terror outfit-Jaish-e-Mohammad-in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A day later, on February 27, India foiled an attempt by Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir by shooting down an F-16 fighter jet.
Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi called the 'Sankalp Rally' by the NDA in Patna on Sunday a "big flop" saying that despite Bihar government misusing its machinery for the Rally there was no big crowd.

"The way in which the government machinery was blatantly and openly misused the Rally failed to attract the crowd. It would not be an exception if we say the Rally was a big flop," said Jitan Ram Manjhi.

"Due to which the energy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also apparently very low," he added.

He also slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for participating in the Rally rather than visiting the family of CRPF personnel from Bihar who was killed in an encounter with the terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir.

"At least the Chief Minister should have gone but he gives more importance to the Rally over the martyred soldier," said Manjhi.

At the 'Sankalp Rally' in Patna on Sunday Nitish Kumar praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the way he handled the recent challenges emerging out of terrorism.

"Under Prime Minister Modiji, the Central government took an initiative. Armed forces were authorised to punish terrorists. The entire nation got united against terrorism," said Kumar, while addressing 'Sankalp Rally' here.

The Chief Minister also praised IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. "Wing Commander Abhinandan was released within 60 hours. I congratulate the Government of India and Modiji for this. Greetings to Abhinandan as well," he said.

Kumar said the NDA will win all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the coming General Elections in the state, and also predicted that the next government at the Centre will be formed under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) had started surveillance of the facility after the Indian Air Force (IAF) was given clearance to target the camp in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said.

On February 26, 12 Mirage 2000 IAF jets penetrated deep inside the Pakistani air space and launched 1,000 kg Spice 2000 bombs at the camp in Balakot, which housed terrorists, including commanders, and an ammunition dump.

"During technical surveillance, it emerged that there was a presence of around 300 mobile phones with active signal strength inside the facility in the days leading up to the strike. The facility was destroyed by the IAF fighters," added the sources who wished to remain anonymous due to first hand involvement in operational matters.

The sources added that other Indian intelligence agencies had also corroborated NTRO's assessment of active targets with inputs of similar number of Jaish operatives in the Balkot facility.

No official number of terrorists killed in the strike have been announced by the government.

However, IAF chief BS Dhanoa, at a press conference in Coimbatore on Monday, confirmed that the target had been destroyed by Indian fighter jets and that exact casualty numbers was something that the government would release.

Top government leadership gave approval for the air strikes on the Jaish training camp after the Pakistan-based terror outfit carried out the deadliest suicide attack in Kashmir when a CRPF convoy in Pulwama was targeted by a car bomb driven by a JeM terrorist that killed 40 security personnel on February 14.

Hours after the air raid, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the media here that the IAF fighters hit the largest militant camp of JeM in Balakot and "a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders were eliminated" in it.

In an intelligence-led operation, Indian fighter planes struck at the Jaish facility, Gokhale had said, calling the raids "pre-preemptive" action against the terrorists who were planning further attacks in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
People from different nationalities held a protest outside the United Nations building in New York on Sunday (local time) against Pakistan for sponsoring cross border terrorism in India and Afghanistan.

While condemning the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, the protestors demanded that the UN should make Pakistan accountable for Pulwama, 2008 Mumbai and other terror attacks.

Around 400 people from India, the Caribbean countries, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Israel, Balochistan (part of Pakistan) expressed staged the protest.

Speaking to ANI, Richard Benkin, a Jewish American said, "Pakistan long has been cancer on the international body politic. It was allowed to get away with sponsored attacks on India for decades, but that time has passed. A new and strong Indian resolve defends the nation. We all must stand with India and let Pakistan know that its cowardice and support for terror will go unanswered no longer. While it oppresses its own minorities, it lashes out against other, peace-loving nations. Failure to stop Pakistan now only means greater problems and more deaths later."

Protesters raised slogans about against Mumbai 26/11 attacks, Pulwama and Uri attacks, 2001 Indian Parliament attack, 9/11 US attacks, Kabul US Embassy attacks, London bus and subway bombings, Germany embassy attack, extra-judicial killings of activists from Balochistan province of Pakistan, perpetrated by those who are nurtured, protected and funded by Pakistani establishment.

They also urged UN and the community to sanction Pakistan's army generals and ISI leadership, freeze their assets around the world, declare Pakistan as a global terrorist state and JeM Chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. A memorandum was also mailed to Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in this regard.

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Nikhat Fatima, TwoCircles.net

Close to 10000 people including children, men, women and even senior citizens of tribal communities from 20 districts of Jharkhand came together to March for their right to the Forests and land. The march, also called Paidal march ( Marching on foot) began from 20th February from Columbus ground at Hazaribagh and concluded at Ranchi on 27th February covering 110 kilometres.

Their demands are simple  they want full rights to the land, water and other resources of the forests from which they are being systematically alienated.

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Earlier it was the British who exploited the forest dwellers and after Independence, the Indian Forest Act ignored their rights depriving them the usage of the forest and its resources which they had always access to and which belonged to them since time immemorial.

However, later the Government of India recognised the injustice done to the forest dwellers and brought the Schedule Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dweller Forest Rights Act, 2006. This act provides for the strengthening of the local government/Gram Sabha for the management and governance of forests within the traditional boundaries of a village and for the protection of forests, forest life, and biodiversity.

Similarly, schedule V of the Indian constitution recognized the need for protection and special administration of areas predominantly inhabited by tribal/ Adivasi people due to their cultural uniqueness, vulnerability to external exploitation. The most important right provided under this schedule is the prevention of land alienation through land transfer regulation where no land or immovable property in these areas can be transferred by way of sale or lease to persons other than the tribals.

But no serious efforts were made to empower the forest dwellers instead they were displaced and exploited. By selling major chunks of the land to corporates the state government violated the provisions of the constitution.

In Jharkhand, over the years thousands of people have been displaced and denied their right to the forest. The government has sold forest lands to the rich corporates who razed agricultural fields to start projects like coal mining, stone quarry, dams, factories and other projects in the name of development. The Governments initiatives like Tiger Project, Wildlife corridor have also displaced many people and the others who have not been displaced are living in constant fear.

Various tactics are used time and again to drive the tribals from their land and displace them.

In Jharkhand, there are demands for both granting of both IFR (Individual Forest Rights) and CFR( Community Forest Rights).

One of the tribal women from Hazaribagh says,  Our forefathers have struggled to preserve the land and the forest resources. But now the government refuses to give us that very land instead they have added that land to the land bank. Our demand is that we are given rights to the land.

In Jharkhand, there are 16452 villages with 1994387 hectares of their land covered by forests. So the villagers can be granted the forest rights as a community and 14 lakh individuals are eligible for the individual forest rights.

The National Alliance for peace and justice (NAPJ) organised the 8 days March to help Adivasis in Jharkhand state reclaim the forests, the rivers, the creeks, the trees, the sand, and the farms.



A day after the March began the Supreme Court ordered the eviction of the forest dwellers so in their charter of demands the organisers were prompt to add demand the state to file a petition against the order.

The other demands are:

 withdrawal of minor civil and criminal cases against the forest dwellers,

 a dedicated scheduled tribe department to be formed to focus on welfare and rights of the tribal population;

 Land acquisition act 2013 should be enforced and Land Acquisition Act 217 should be repealed;

 A state-level Joint committee should be formed for execution of Forest Right Act. 2006.

 The Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act, and Santal Pargana Tenancy (SPT)Act should be strictly implemented.

 The common land, the grazing land, the forests, the rivers, rivulets, streams, the trees, farming land everything that has been added in the Land Bank should be freed and not given to capitalists.

Another participant ( audio recorded during the March) says,  We want back our rights to the forest and the forest produce such as the fruits, medicines, wood and other produce

Another tribal person, Birendra Kumar says  It is 12 years since the Forest rights act has been passed but still not being implemented properly. There are more than 32000 villages in Jharkhand and everyone has their land and their names recorded. But still what happens is the bullying of the police and the Government. In one of our villages, the NTPC (National Thermal Power Corporation) has forcefully taken over 25000 acres of land. And in another village in Santhal Pragana, where the people were agitating, the police has put them behind bars under false allegations. It appears like the state and the law are in favour of the rich and our voices are not heard. The Government is not concerned about the forests and the forest dwellers. 

 And now the Supreme Court has said that those whose claims have been rejected should be evicted from the forests. Where will they go? There must be lakhs of people in the entire country whose claims have been rejected.

Now that the Supreme Court has stayed the order of eviction of forest dwellers, the tribals can heave a sigh of relief. But, says Shafiq ur Rehman Khan, one of the organisers from NAPJ to Twocircles.net,  the Supreme Court order for eviction came in the wake of some corporate NGOs and other NGOs funded by corporates, filing a petition. The corporate sector is anti-ecology and anti-forest dwellers.

He also adds that the state wants to institutionalise the forests  construct parks and reserves. But we want the forests to be left as it is  wild and free.

The Government does not even have any record of the people who have been displaced from the last 20 years. And this is one of our concerns. Ideally, each state government should prepare a status report on tribals once a year and submit to the central government but this is not in practice. There is no data with any of the states.

On 28th February a group of 5 Adivasis accompanied by Ex-MLA Gautam Sagar Rana met the Governor Draupadi Murmu and submitted their memorandum of demands. The governor who is a tribal herself assured that she will take up the matter with the Central Government and at the state level also she said she will talk to the Forest Minister.

The people are hopeful that the Governor will support their demands. If not, the National alliance for Peace and Justice say they will continue with their protests in their own blocks.
One of Puducherry's well-known landmarks, the Old Lighthouse, constructed in the 19th century by the erstwhile French rulers, is in a sorry state and requires urgent need of restoration.

The over 180-year lighthouse, situated just opposite to the Promenade Beach in the city, was constructed when Puducherry was a part of the French East India Company.

The lighthouse had first beamed light on September 1, 1836. At that time, it was considered very modern because of its unique round tower.

The height of the lighthouse is 29 meters and originally had a square base. At that time, the cost of constructing the structure was around 10,000 francs (approx Rs 1.23 lakhs). The foundation has a depth of nine meters. Its light beam can be seen from a distance of 15 miles.

The light source of the dilapidated structure consisted of six oil lamps and two reflectors. The light source was converted to electric lamps in 1913.

The power of the lamp was increased in 1931. The new lamp had a range of 26 nautical miles and it took about 36 seconds for one full rotation of the beam.

Although the lighthouse was renovated in the 20th century by the Indian government, the structure was not maintained properly and is now in a sorry state.

"This is an elite monument built in 1836 by the French. It was a wonderful lighthouse for the fishermen who were out fishing (in the sea) for a long time. The lighthouse had six old lamps and two reflectors. The lamps were modified with powerful beam lights in 1931. But, the structure of the lighthouse became dilapidated with time. It was renovated in the 20th century, but was not maintained properly," Gayathri Shrikanth, a social worker, told ANI.

She underlined that the windows of the lighthouse were shattered and the wall was damaged.

"The gates (of the lighthouse) are closed and people are not allowed to venture into the lighthouse," the social worker said.

Urging the Puducherry government to take cognisance, Shrikanth expressed hope that the administration would take up initiatives to renovate the heritage structure, adding, "We want the government to take care of the lighthouse.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to three senior Maharashtra Government officials, including the former Managing Director (MD) of Denotified Tribes and Nomadic Tribes Development Corporation (Limited), Mumbai, Ramesh Vasantrao Bansod, who are accused of cheating, forgery and criminal intimidation.

A division bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan and also comprising Justice KM Joseph, directed the Maharashtra Government not to arrest the three individuals until further hearing in the case. It, however, directed the accused persons to cooperate in the investigation.

"Issue notice to the Maharashtra Government. The accused persons shall not be arrested till further order of this court. Meanwhile, the accused persons have to cooperate with the investigation," the court said in its recent order.

Alakh Alok Srivastava, who appeared on behalf of the three accused, submitted to the apex court that an instant FIR was lodged to defame his client.

The Maharashtra High Court judgement by not providing the bail was erroneous and it should be set aside, he had said earlier.

Bansod, who was formerly working as the MD of DTNTDC Mumbai, has been accused of forgery, cheating, and misappropriation of funds in July last year, charges which he has denied.

Srivastava, in his petition, also claimed that his clients are innocent in the case and they had nothing to do with disbursal of any amount in any manner. "He (Bansod) and other accused are innocent in the case," he said and expressed happiness over the grant of anticipatory bail to his clients.

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Thousands of devotees thronged Pashupatinath temple here on Monday on the occasion of Mahashivaratri.

The Indian Ambassador also visited the Pashupatinath temple to offer prayers.

The Pashupati Area Development Trust (PADT) is expecting about one million devotees to celebrate Mahashivaratri at the temple this year.

"We have made arrangements for about one million people belonging to Nepal and other countries, to facilitate their pray," Pradeep Dhakal, the member-secretary of PADT told ANI.

Taking cognizance of the number of devotees expecting to visit the temple, thousands of security personnel are deployed in the zone. Arrangements for the installation of CCTV cameras all around the region have also initiated by the Trust.

Mahashivratri is celebrated on the lunar month of Phalgun and is believed to instil faith in those who are destined to live in trouble. The Skanda Purana, another holy text of the Hindus, also mentions the significance of the event.

The religious belief behind the rituals performed on Shivratri is that if one offers milk along with Dhatura (a kind of intoxicating plant) to Lord Shiva and observes night-long fasting, she/he will receive heavenly blessings and is believed to give great merit to the worshipper.

Four kinds of worships including Mahadip, Akhandadip, Lakshya Batti and Dipotsav as well as an offering of Bael patra are performed in four phases by all the devotees to impress Lord Shiva on this auspicious day for Hindus.

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Congress delegation comprising Mohi-Ud-Din and Ali Mohammad Sagar on Monday met the Election Commission of India (EC) in Srinagar, and urged the poll body to hold simultaneous polls.

Addressing the media here, Mohi-Ud-Din said: "Elections are necessary and they should happen within a time frame and should be held simultaneously."

"Congress has always favoured a democratic process. From 1996 to 2014, we have shown that when there is a democratically elected government, militancy is dealt with care. The government also deals well with anti- elements. It was a myth that under Governor's rule, militancy in the state would come to an end. The graph is visible, which shows that during Governor's rule militancy spiked."

Echoing similar views, Congress leader Ali Mohammad Sagar added: "Kashmiris are being projected as terrorists, and the Governor has changed many rules arbitrarily, there is only one solution to this, which is the formation of a government in the state that will tackle these issues in the correct direction. Therefore, we have urged the EC to hold parliamentary election and assembly poll together."

In August last year, BJP chief Amit Shah had written to the Law Commission asking for simultaneous elections to be held in the country, citing examples of Indonesia, Sweden, South Africa, Belgium and Italy.

Earlier this month, Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora had said simultaneous elections are "desirable goals", but for that, the political system of the country will have to take steps to align the life of a state assembly with the life of Parliament.

"Till 1967, we had elections simultaneously. For various reasons, the cycle got disrupted in 1967. It's a very desirable goal, but for that, political systems of the country will have to take steps to align the life of a state assembly with the life of Parliament," Arora had said at an event in the capital on February 8.

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Amid allegations of poaching from BJP and Congress, TRS working president KT Rama Rao on Monday said that MLAs of opposition parties were joining his party only after being impressed by the welfare schemes of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

"The Congress should first answer at what cost they have purchased the loyalty of Uttar Pradesh BJP MP Savitri Bai Phule. TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy is making baseless allegations against the TRS," said Rao.

"Two Congress MLAs-Rega Kantha Rao, and Athram Sakku-have publicly announced that they are interested in joining the TRS after being attracted to the schemes launched by the state government," he said, adding that a few Congress leaders are not satisfied with TPCC president Reddy.

Congress spokesperson D Sravan, however, alleged that KCR was attempting to destroy the opposition. "Two Congress MLAs are interested to join the TRS. It is unfortunate Chief Minister Rao is bent upon destroying the opposition, thus dismantling the very foundation of democracy," he said.

"There must be a limit to political greed. They have an absolute majority with 75 per cent of seats including TRS and AIMIM. They have 95 seats in an assembly of 119 MLAs. Why do they need more," he said.

"This kind of predatory will only lead to dictatorial rule and demeaning the spirit of the People's Representative Act. Unfortunately, Speaker Pocharam Srinivasa Reddy and Governor ESL Narasimhan have become puppets of the ruling TRS," he said.

BJP's state unit spokesperson Krishna Sagar Rao also accused Chief Minister Rao of promoting defections. "We condemn horse trading and defections being promoted by Chief Minister KCR in Telangana," he said.

"TRS' bid to attract opposition MLAs to its fold is only to ensure that KCR wins all the MLC seats. It is the Congress' classic and signature which KCR has adopted," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The United Kingdom on Monday expressed concern over the current India-Pakistan tensions and said that both sides should look for a "peaceful diplomatic solution".

British Minister for Asia and the Pacific Mark Field said, "I am delighted to be here in India to build on strong ties with a key partner. I was pleased to meet Indian Foreign Secretary (Vijay) Gokhale at a difficult time in regional relations between India and Pakistan. I expressed the UK's concern about the current tensions, discussed the importance of creating greater regional stability, including the urgent need to tackle terrorism, and encouraged both sides to come together to look for a peaceful diplomatic solution."

He said, "I repeated that the UK stood shoulder-to-shoulder with India in condemnation of the appalling terrorist attack in Pulwama", according to a British High Commission statement.

Field's three-day visit to India came after Indian Air Force's "non-military", "pre-emptive" strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

During an address at the Indian Foreign Service Institute, Field highlighted the strength of the UK-India relationship. He also spoke about the UK's place in the post-Brexit and the strengthening of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The Minister also visited Mumbai where he met young entrepreneurs at the 'Fintegrate Zone' conference to further the UK's position as a leader in FinTech and its place as India's partner of choice in raising finance. He attended a multi-million-pound UK-India life sciences deal signing.

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Union Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha on Monday alleged that various projects have been delayed in the state as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik led BJD government is not facilitating the acquisition of land.

"We have given railway projects to Odisha, but many projects are not taking off due to delay in the acquisition of land," he said, while adding that his ministry has started work on several routes including Bichhupalli in Bolangir district on Khurda Road-Bolangir railway line.

However, he said that the state government had not been able to give 2,059.43 acre land in Boudh, 528.31 acre in Sonepur and 38.96 acre in Bolangir for railway projects. He also announced the extension of Gondwana Express train to Sambalpur via Jharsuguda Road.

Railway Minister Sinha, in the presence of Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, also dedicated various passenger amenities at Bhubaneswar, Brahmapur, and Talcher stations through video conferencing from the railway auditorium.

He also laid the foundation stone of new escalator at Bhubaneswar railway station and inaugurated escalator and foot over bridge at Brahmapur railway station and passenger amenities at Talcher railway station through video conferencing.

Sinha also announced the extension, increase in frequency and additional stoppage of some trains during the occasion. These include the extension of Hazrat Nizamuddin-Raigarh Gondwana Express up to Sambalpur via Jharsuguda Road, and increase in the frequency of Sambalpur-Howrah Express via Angul and Bhadrak from weekly to tri-weekly.

He also announced the stoppage of Bhubaneswar-New Delhi Rajdhani Express via Angul at Dhenkanal, Howrah-SSPN Express, and Haldia-Chennai Express at Balasore, Howrah-Kanyakumari Express at Bhadrak, Purulia-Villupuram Express at Jaleswar, Puri-Paradeep, and Puri-Barbil Express at Kanas Road, Howrah-Puri Dhauli Express at Markona, Puri-New Delhi Neelachal Express and Kendujhargarh-Bhubaneswar passenger at Dhanmandal railway stations.

Apart from this, Sinha also dedicated 280 rural wi-fi hotspots and wi-fi choupal project of Common Service Centre (CSC) for 100 Gram Panchayats of Jagatsinghpur district of Odisha, 400 2G-based transmission stations, and 480 3G-based transmission stations in the state.

Railway Minister Sinha also unveiled some CSR related projects, which include the Community Centre for Culture at Deogarh town, developmental works at Deogarh Panchayat High School, Adas, Primary School, Deogarh, and also inaugurated a public park at Purunagarh.

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Describing the recent US-North Korea Summit as "constructive" China on Monday prompted that Washington and Pyongyang should continue to talk and stick to a political solution to resolve issues pertaining to the Korean Peninsula, reports Xinhua.

Addressing a press conference, Zhang Yesui, spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) said, "I hope for the DPRK and the United States to keep good faith, remain patient, and continue to engage in talks toward the right direction to seek further progress."

"The recent meeting between the DPRK and the US leaders in Hanoi was constructive," he added.

Meanwhile, the second session of the 13th NPC will commence in Beijing on March 5.

The optimistic remarks by China came a day after Beijing announced that President Xi Jinping is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with United States President Donald Trump later this month to ease tensions over trade and technology security.

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Condemning the IT raids at the company that provides app services to Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said that his party will complain to the Election Commission of India on data theft issue.

"TDP data comprises the details of a welfare fund for party activists. Details of party activists' insurance are also there in that data. That data is a result of 24 years of hard work of our party. Party data is our asset. It is an offence to steal it. There is data of 70 lakh workers and no government has the right to steal that data. We will complain to the Election Commission of India on the theft of our data," said Naidu while addressing a teleconference with party leaders, public representatives and booth conveners.

Condemning the raids, he raised the issue of state jurisdictions. "When the asset is in Andhra Pradesh, how can a theft case be filed in Telangana? How can cases be registered in Telangana against those who work for TDP in Andhra Pradesh?" said Naidu.

He added, "Is this the return gift Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao was speaking about? Does anybody give a gift or return gift with the vendetta? We are ready to take any number of such return gifts but it is not the right conduct to steal our data and give it to our political rivals. They (YSRCP) are filing cases on TDP in Telangana region out of frustration. They are afraid that they have to face public opposition if they file cases in Andhra Pradesh."

Asserting that his government has interlinked welfare of the poor with technology, Naidu further added, "I built up technology-based systems in the government as well as in the party. We are providing corruption free rule and transparent governance with the help of technology. YSRCP chief is conspiring against us from Hyderabad and Telangana Chief Minister KCR is supporting him."

Andhra Chief Minister Naidu also outlined the concerns that alleged cyber conspiracies can have on the IT companies based in Hyderabad and said, "With such cyber conspiracies, YSRCP and TRS have pushed Hyderabad into a situation of uneasiness. Now commercial organizations have no safety in Hyderabad. Today raids are done on the companies which are providing services to TDP. Tomorrow all companies in Hyderabad may face similar raids. YSRCP and TRS are making IT companies' scapegoats in their conspiracies."

He also alleged of Prashant Kishore having a role in the IT raids and accused him of giving 'criminal advice' to YSR Congress.

Launching a scathing attack on Jaganmohan Reddy, Naidu said, "Bihari gang is indulging in misdeeds with the fear of loss in elections. Bihari Prasant Kishore is giving criminal advises to YSRCP. Jaganmohan Reddy is hatching cyber conspiracies. Narendra Modi and K Chandrasekhar Rao are providing aid and help to him. Jagan's criminal mindset will not change. He became a big anarchist. All the leaders in YSRCP are hardcore criminals. Be it loot of ATMs, circulation of counterfeit notes, selling of spurious liquor - in all crimes, the invisible hand is that of YSRCP leaders only."

Earlier on Sunday, after the Hyderabad Police raided the office of the mobile app developer, Naidu had claimed that this was done after YSRCP leader Vijay Sai Reddy had complained. He had also accused the opposition of stealing data.

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Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said that the Centre would provide and release evidence of the Indian Air Force's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan at the appropriate time.

Puri also called "illiterate and stupid" those who are demanding evidence of the air strikes and those leaders who thanked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing fighter pilot Abhindan Varthaman.

Puri who was addressing "Bharat Ke Mann Ki Baat" programme in Kanpur told reporters that the "IAF targeted the locations in Pakistan because they were training ground for the terror groups and the ammunition used was precision guided and it is not upto us to tell them how many people were killed."

"We have been repeatedly saying that Pakistan as a country uses its state for terror," the Union Minister also said adding that relatives of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's chief Maulana Masood Azhar had come out and admitted that the Indian Air Force had hit their training bases.

After the strikes on Pakistani territory, Congress leader Digvijay Singh and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee amongst others had asked for proof.

"Don't become anti-nationals, don't take out your hatred against Modi and BJP against the nation," Puri asked political leaders who were raising questions about the strikes.

Puri also attacked Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and said, "He was playing pappi-jhappi in Pakistan when the Kartarpur corridor was opened."

The Union Minister was referring to the hug that Siddhu gave Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa at Imran Khan's swearing-in ceremony in Islamabad. Siddhu had then reportedly claimed that his hug was spontaneous reaction after hearing that the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor.

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Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, two Caspian littoral states, may create a working group to strengthen regional transportation and logistics capabilities as they seek to diversify their economies beyond the oil and gas sectors. As Caspian News reports, senior representatives from the Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy met in Baku on February 27, putting a spotlight on transport routes passing through the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijans efforts to upgrade its marine fleet.

Azerbaijans Caspian Shipping Company will continue pursuing its strategy to ensure the turnover of increasing volumes of cargo transportation in the Caspian Sea, the companys official website cited Rauf Veliyev, who heads the company, as saying.

On February 21, Veliyev announced the companys intention to purchase five new ships sometime this year. Two vessels will be built by Baku Shipyard, while the remaining three will be purchased from foreign companies. Over the past five years, 20 ships have been purchased to replace older vessels. Wednesdays meeting also discussed capabilities of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR). Officials from both countries believe shipping from China to Europe will become even faster once the route operates at full capacity.

While being an alternative to Russias Trans-Siberian Railway, the route runs from China through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and further to European countries. TITR is expected to shorten the length of time it takes to transport cargo from one month to 14 days, as well as cut down on international cargo shipping costs.

The transportation and shipping sectors are viewed by Caspian countries, particularly Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, as a way to diversify their economies. Azerbaijans potential as a geostrategic location for major air, sea, rail and road routes within Eurasia  including TITR, the North-South and East-West routes, and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway  are only starting to be realized.

The recently constructed Port of Baku, which opened last year, is the largest and most developed seaport within the Caspian basin that is expected to play an integral role in the Black Sea-Caspian Sea Transit-Transportation Corridor. Links between the port and the existing highways and railways within Azerbaijan pave the way for the inland regions of regional countries like Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan in order that their goods may reach European markets. In 2018, the volume of goods carried by marine transport amounted to 8.2 million tons, according to data provided by Azerbaijans Statistics Committee.

Like neighboring Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan is aiming to increase trade via a water route that will move freight coming into Kazakhstan from places like China, across what is the worlds largest lake, and move it westward to Europe via Baku. Being Kazakhstans eastern neighbor, China sees Central Asias largest country as a gateway to western markets. Beijing has already incorporated Astana into its Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to revive the legendary Silk Road albeit via modern means and technologies. Kazakhstan joined the Chinese major initiative in 2015 after the countries agreed to link Kazakhstans railways to the project.

With an aim to boost the countrys regional transportation and global logistics capabilities, Kazakhstan inaugurated a ferry complex at its Caspian Sea port of Kuryk in 2018. Throughout ten months of 2018, the volume of container traffic through Kazakhstan amounted to 411,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), which is 49 percent more compared to the same period of the previous year. Meanwhile, in the China-Europe-China direction, this figure amounted to 235,500 TEU, which is 54 percent more compared to the same period of 2017.
At least 59 people were killed and another 143 injured as flash floods struck Afghanistan following heavy rains in the country, officials said on Monday.

Kandahar and Helmand provinces were the most affected by the floods that hit the country following heavy rains last Saturday.

"In the past three days, 59 people were killed and another 143 people injured in flash floods and heavy rains in nine out of the 17 provinces in deferent parts of the country," the operations chief for the State Ministry for Disaster Management, Ahmad Khan Nafi, told Efe news.

Nafi said the number of casualties could change as communication systems had been disrupted in many parts of the country.

At least 2,000 houses were destroyed in floods, besides, schools and hospitals, Hashmat Khan Bahaduri, spokesman for the State Ministry for Disaster Management said.

Bahaduri said hundreds of trapped people have been rescued and taken to temporary camps by the Afghan security forces.

He said about 8,000 families have been provided food and other assistance.

Although the rain has stopped and water receded, displaced people were still staying at temporary camps.

--IANS

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After his gripping performance as a courageous soldier in "Uri: The Surgical Strike", actor Vicky Kaushal has been cast to tell the heroic tale of Shaheed Udham Singh in a biopic. He says it's an honour.

"An absolute honour to be roped in to play Shaheed Udham Singh in his biopic to be directed by Shoojit Sircar sir. Can't wait for this journey to start next month," Vicky tweeted on Monday.

Actor Irrfan Khan was originally supposed to play Udham Singh.

Vicky, a versatile actor, and Sircar, a master storyteller, are joining hands for the very first time for the project, to be produced by Ronnie Lahiri under the banner Rising Sun Films.

The actor will bring alive the story of Udham Singh, who assassinated Michael O' Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of Punjab in pre-Independence India, in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919.

Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940.

Sircar said in a statement: "I have been waiting to tell the heroic tale of Shaheed Udham Singh for a very long time. It is a story very close to my heart. For it, I needed an actor who could give his heart and soul to the film, be with me and tell the story together.

"Vicky fits the bill perfectly. I have seen his work and the dedication he brings to it. I'm very happy he is on board this project."

--IANS

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Actor Luke Perry, known for roles in "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Riverdale", died on Monday, just days after suffering a massive stroke. He was 52.

Perry suffered a stroke on February 27.

"He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiance Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends," Perry's publicist Arnold Robinson told Fox News.

"The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning," Robinson added.

Last week, Perry was admitted to a hospital for "observation".

According to TMZ, paramedics responded to a call at the star's home in Sherman Oaks, California, on February 27 morning.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Monday pointed fingers at the Election Commission (EC) over the delay in the announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha polls and accused the EC of giving a long rope to the Narendra Modi-led government.

"Is the Election Commission waiting for the Prime Minister's 'official' travel programmes to conclude before announcing dates for General Elections," tweeted the Congress Rajya Sabha member.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day visit to his home state Gujarat during which he will unveil a host of projects, including the first phase of the Ahmedabad metro service.

"Using government functions as an excuse for political rallies, flooding TV/radio and print with political ads... It seems that EC is giving the government a long rope to campaign till the last moment using public money," Patel tweeted.

The 2014 Lok Sabha polls were announced on March 5.

The Congress and the other opposition parties had earlier slammed the poll panel for the delayed announcement of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly elections.

--IANS

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Algeria's veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has defied protesters by confirming he will run again but said he will not serve a full term.

In a letter, he said if he won April's vote he would oversee a national dialogue leading to fresh elections that he would not contest, the BBC reported on Sunday.

His decision to seek a fifth term in office sparked nationwide protests.

Bouteflika, 82, has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.

Sunday saw new protests as a midnight deadline loomed for candidates to register. By nightfall, young people were again marching in the capital Algiers despite the president's offer.

Bouteflika's campaign manager submitted papers on behalf of the ailing president, who is undergoing medical treatment in Switzerland.

The electoral commission has said candidates need to submit them in person, but the Constitutional Council ruled that he did not have to be physically present.

The proposal came in the form of a letter to the Algerian people read out on state television.

Bouteflika said he would hold an "inclusive national conference" followed by a vote to determine the next president.

He said he would not run again and acknowledged the protests that have rocked Algeria.

"I listened and heard the heartfelt cry of protesters and in particular of the thousands of youth who asked me about the future of our country," the letter said, read by a presenter on ENTV.

"These youth express an understandable concern about the uncertainties they face. I have the duty and will to appease the hearts and spirits of my compatriots."

So far, six other candidates have formally registered, among them a retired general, Ali Ghediri, who has promised to bring "change" to Algeria.

Businessman Rachid Nekkaz, who has a sizeable Facebook following and is said to be popular among Algeria's young, announced plans to run, but was deemed ineligible.

Instead his cousin, a car mechanic who is also called Rachid Nekkaz has entered and the businessman says he will serve as his campaign manager.

Two opposition parties, the Labour Party, and the Islamist Movement of Society for Peace, have said they will boycott the election.

A key challenger in previous elections, Ali Benflis, also is not running.

Public shows of dissent in Algeria are rare, and the protests have been the biggest since Bouteflika came to power 20 years ago.

Demonstrations broke out about 10 days ago after Bouteflika announced his plans to run for office again.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Members of the Indian community and international supporters have held a protest outside the UN headquarters demanding that the international organisation act against Pakistani leaders abetting and impose an arms embargo on Islamabad.

The protest on Sunday by about 400 people also included concerned citizens from the US, Bangladesh, Caribbean countries, Sri Lanka and Israel, as well as from Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The protesters held up signs listing various terrorist attacks around the world linked to Pakistan -- from Pulwama to New York's Times Square, and from Mumbai to London, and the Pakistani military's atrocities during Bangladesh's War of Independence.

Their posters also listed terrorist organisations like the Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Haqqani Network, Taliban, Laskshar-e-Omar, Sipah-e-Sahaba that are based in Pakistan and operate internationally.

A memorandum from the protesters to the UN said the world body should declare Pakistan a global terrorist state and JeM leader Masood Azhar an international terrorist and impose sanctions on them.

As a member of the Security Council, China has been protecting Azhar and has vetoed efforts by other members to add him to the list of global terrorists so he would face international sanctions.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 which killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

The memorandum also asked the UN to impose an arms embargo on Islamabad and financial and travel sanctions on Pakistani political and military leaders involved in protecting and aiding terrorist organisations.

Overseas Friends of BJP President Krishna Reddy Anugula said that they would send the memorandum to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

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The "sole" agenda of the Centre's ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) is to curb separatism in Jammu and Kashmir as the organisation has been the "brain" behind the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) which, the investigating agencies claim, has been ideologically supporting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, said sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Sources said the JeI (J&K) has been "instrumental behind the APHC's role in terror activities, especially in the Valley, with the support of Pakistan for the last three decades."

"The ban on JeI (J&K) is to ensure complete non-functioning of the APHC as it has been the brain behind the separatist group," said a Home Ministry official.

The ban would help the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies take action against the JeI (J&K), which has been providing "logistic support" and feeding "new ideas" to the APHC for spreading terrorism in the Valley, under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said the official.

The UAPA is aimed at prevention of unlawful activities and associations in the country.

Normally, the official said, the probe agencies or the police would have to go through legal documentations and collect "more strong evidence" to prove the illegal activities of any organisation.

The APHC, the official said, is a conglomerate of organisations with "separatist and terrorist leanings" and has been instrumental in "stone pelting" and "recruiting youth to join terrorism through radicalisation" in the Valley. The NIA has already registered a case against it besides arresting several separatist leaders.

The Home Ministry's decision to ban the JeI (J&K) came after it received inputs that the Hurriyat has become active to increase the "overground workers" support on the JeI's instructions for enhancing terrorist activities, not only in J&K but across the country, said the official.

Asked about the number of "overground workers," another senior Home Ministry official told IANS it was not "as small" as it could be ignored and not "as big" as it couldn't be controlled.

The JeI, banned on February 28 for five years for indulging in activities prejudicial to internal security and public order with the potential to disrupt the unity and integrity of the country, was proscribed first time in 1975 for two years by the J&K government. It was again banned by the central government in 1990, which continued till December 1993.

The official said after the ban on JeI, the government now has full authority to check the "balance sheets, account details, activities and supporting figures" of the organisation. It can paralyse the Hurriyat Conference.

The Home Ministry sources said a sizeable section of JeI cadres have overtly worked for militant organisations, especially the Hizbul Muzahideen (HM), one of the biggest terror groups active in J&K.

The HM is one of the main organisations responsible for propagation of separatist and radical ideology in the Valley.

A ministry document, however, has clarified that the JeI has nothing to do with Jamaat-e-Islami. "In 1953, the JeI enacted its own constitution. It is responsible for formation of the HM. It has been providing all kinds of support to the HM in terms of recruitment, funding, shelter and logistics. In a way, the HM is the militant wing of JeI (J&K)."

"The HM, with the support of Pakistan, is spearheading terrorist activities in Kashmir and JeI is largely responsible for HM's secessionist activities. The JeI is opposed to the democratic electoral process and has been pursuing the agenda of setting up an independent theocratic Islamic state by destabilising the government establishment," said the document.

The HM's strong presence in the JeI's areas of influence was a clear reflection of the separatist and radical ideology of the group, it said. The JeI was collecting funds in the name of religious activities and using it for anti-national separatist activities, it added.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

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Accusing the BJP of politicising post-Pulwama developments, the CPI-M on Monday said it was turning a united India's battle against terrorism into one against Kashmiris and Muslims to deepen communal polarisation.

After the Pulwama attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers died, a united India rose against terrorism, it said, adding that "instead of strengthening this, the post-Pulwama developments are seeing an orchestrated effort by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits to rouse jingoistic nationalism".

"The targeting of Kashmiris in various parts of the country, the calls for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A are all turning this battle of Indians against terrorism into battles against Kashmiris and Muslims to further deepen the communal polarization," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said in a statement after the meeting of its Central Committee.

"It is Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and BJP leaders who are politicising this issue and disrupting the united fight of Indians against terrorism for their partisan electoral benefit," it said, said while denouncing such efforts.

It added that India must step up its diplomatic efforts to exercise international pressure on Pakistan to purge terror outfits and cross-border terrorist activities.

Criticising Prime Minister Modi's "failed" Jammu and Kashmir policy, the party said during his reign, the number of terrorist incidents saw a rise of 176 per cent and the number of security personnel and civilians killed in such attacks had grown.

"The number of security personnel killed saw a rise of 93 per cent. On an average, 11 terrorists infiltrated every month between 2014 and 2018. More dangerous trend has been the sharp rise in local Kashmiri youth joining terrorist groups from 16 in 2013 to 164 in 2018.

"This deepening alienation of Kashmiri youth is a consequence of the Modi government reneging on its promises to initiate a political process of dialogue with all the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of confidence building measures. Clearly, the terrorist strikes continued and intensified even after the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force after the terrorist attack on army units in Uri in September 2016," it said.

The party also attacked the changed methodology adopted by the government for GDP calculations and said the 2018-19 GDP growth at 7 per cent was the lowest in the last five years.

"2018 last quarter growth rate was even lower at 6.6 per cent. This means that the economy is loosing further steam leading to a sharper growth in unemployment and a further deterioration in the living conditions of the vast majority of our people," the CPI-M said.

It also accused the Modi government of crony capitalism, questioning why it "has handed over five major public airports to the Adani group" by bypassing the consideration of experience in managing airports.

It also called upon the President not to sanction the ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet which allows private corporates to use the Aadhar data base "for profits in the absence of a data protection law".

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over a year after women rights campaigner Prashanti Tiwari filed an FIR against UNFPA India chief Diego Palacios for sexually harassing her, Bihar Police's CID has ordered the investigating officer to file a charge sheet against him, police sources said on Monday.

In the FIR filed in February last year, Prashanti had also accused the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) country head for India and Ena Singh of assault with intention to outrage her modesty and criminal intimidation.

She had alleged that Palacios sexually harassed and abused her on many occasions during his visit to Bihar in March 2017, and thereafter retaliated against her by closing her programme 'Bandhan Tod', which was working against child marriage.

A district police officer associated with the matter told IANS that police found there was a prima facie case against Palacios.

"A charge sheet will be filed in the court soon," the police officer, who did not want to be named, said.

According to sources in state police headquarters here, several problems were faced in the investigation due to the accused's diplomatic immunity. The case was transferred to the CID, which approached the Ministry of External Affairs to interview the accused and key witnesses and to obtain various documents.

An arrest warrant is likely to be issued and will be served to the accused through the Ministry of Home Affairs, the sources said.

This case, involving United Nations officials enjoying immunity, attracted much national and international attention. A number of other cases of sexual harassment within the UN system came to light, and in one case, an Indian, Ravi Karkara was dismissed from service by UN Women.

Prashanti's call to prevent abuse of UN immunity saw a global movement in her support and to end diplomatic immunity privileges, which, according to campaigners, impedes victim's right to legal justice.

With growing international pressure, the UNFPA initiated its own internal investigation last year. Though Prashanti initially rejected it, she later joined at the MEA's request.

The investigation, which dismissed Prashanti's allegations as "unsubstantiated", received flak from international organisations for penalising the victim and protecting the accused.

While Prashanti refused to comment on the new developments, a spokesperson from Gender Alliance told IANS that the news is a tribute to phenomenal courage and strength of not only her but also to other women in the 'Me Too' movement whose harrowing experiences have been dismissed by men in position of power.

"An official statement from Gender Alliance would be released soon after discussions with various individuals and organisations who stood by the cause throughout, including Code Blue Campaign (which probes allegations of sexual harassment by UN officials)," the spokesperson added.

Prashanti re-launched Bandhan Tod recently and it saved nearly 50 girls in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh from child marriage. The first FIR against child marriage in Bihar in last four years was also lodged by her against a 50-year-old tution teacher for marrying his 15-year-old student.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese authorities on Monday accused two detained Canadians of spying as tensions between the two nations grow over the possible extradition of a Huawei executive to the US.

Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, were detained in December after Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on suspicion of fraud and breaching sanctions on Iran.

China had condemned Meng's arrest and the diplomatic spat hurt Canada-China relations. The arrest of the two Canadians was seen as Beijing's retaliation. Meng has sued Canada over her arrest, which was made at the request of the US.

Canada said China had not made a specific link between the detentions and Meng's arrest, but experts and former diplomats said Beijing was using their detentions as a way to put pressure on Canada.

Chinese authorities said Kovrig was passed intelligence by Spavor, according to a statement released on Monday by the Chinese Communist party's central political and legal affairs commission.

Spavor has also been in detention since December.

Kovrig had often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, "stealing and spying on sensitive Chinese information and intelligence via a contact in China," it said.

"Kovrig's actions, suspected of stealing, spying on state secrets and intelligence, have seriously violated Chinese law," the commission said. It described Spavor as his "main contact", the Global Times reported.

The Chinese state media said Spavor "had provided intelligence to Kovrig and was an important intelligence contact of (his)".

Meanwhile, Canada's Justice Department on Friday approved the beginning of extradition proceedings for Meng who is on bail and denies the charges against her.

In her lawsuit, Meng sought damages against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the federal government for allegedly breaching her civil rights under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Her detention was "unlawful" and "arbitrary", the suit said, and officers "intentionally failed to advise her of the true reasons for her detention, her right to counsel, and her right to silence".

--IANS

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Massacre of civilian population in the Azerbaijani city of Khojaly has numerous documented evidences, including eyewitnesses' accounts, accounts of soldiers of the Russian army. Gradator.ru website cites acoount of Yuri Girchenko, who served in the sapper battalion dispached to Aghdam in 1992. In his book "Army of the State That Doesn't Exist," Yuri Girchenko says: "... on the night of February 25-26, Armenian armed forces with the support of tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and personnel of the Stepanakert 366th motorized rifle regiment took over the city of Khojaly."

According to Girchenko, not the entire regiment participated in occupation of Khojaly, only the second battalion.

"Preparation for this operation took place in secret. But still, commander of the second battalion was one of the leaders of this operation. Why did it happen? It's simple! Commander of the second battalion, and almost all officers of the battalion were Armenians."

On that night, as Girchenko recalls, they gathered all Armenian soldiers in the regiment, as well as several volunteers of other nationalities, and began joint assault on Khojaly together with Armenian troops.

"At 11 PM, two-hour massive shelling of the city from tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and modified Alazan systems has began. Then, from 1 AM till 4 AM, Armenian armed units launched an offensive operation on the city. Soldiers of the 366th regiment didn't enter the city. Resistance of the Khojaly garrison was quickly suppressed. By 5 AM, a large fire broke out in the city. Almost the entire city was burning..."

Even before the shelling began, Armenians shouted through the speakers installed on armored personnel carriers that free corridor" has been created for people who want to leave Khojaly and head towards Aghdam. Armenians warned that only unarmed people would be able to pass and leave the city."

Yuri Girchenko notes that "there was a second post of Armenian armed forces, of which Azerbaijanis didn't know. When people reached this post, Armenians began to shoot Khojaly refugees with machine guns. They killed both armed and unarmed Azerbaijanis. They killed both adults and children, young and old people... This path gradually turned into a bloody mess. There were so many corpses..."

According to Girchenko, refugees near the Nakhichevanik village got caught in heavy fire of Armenian armored personnel carriers.

Bloody corpses laid side by side, on top of each other. Part of the Azerbaijani convoy went in the direction of the Gulably village. About two hundred people were captured there. Those who survived went to Aghdam, leaving through the Askeran village, but there was also a second stream of refugees."

According to Girchenko, people following this route avoided Askeran, but they were still shot by Armenians. Armenians attacked them withouth even checking whether they were armed or not.

"Armenians took hostages, while some of Azerbaijanis were killed on the spot, and heads of Azerbaijani riot policemen were chopped off with axes. Armenians gouged out some of the hostages' eyes, cut off their ears, scalped and then killed them... Many refugees tried to run away and simply froze to death. those who did get to Aghdam suffered severe frostbite," Girchenko added.

"After Khojaly was occupied by Armenians, about three hundred Azerbaijani civilians still remained in it. All of them were taken hostage and were brought to Stepanakert and Askeran in three days. Khojaly was plundered..."

Many media outlets and other eyewitnesses discrive these days as terrible crime.

"Two groups, bodies of members of two families, apparently, laid side by side. Women tried to cover their children. Some of them, including a little girl, had monstrous wounds on their heads: only their faces remained intact," British journalists wrote from the scene of this tragedy.

According to investigation, carried out by Azerbaijani side, 613 people died during tragic events in Khojaly. 63 of them were children. 8 families were killed completely, 130 children lost one of their parents, 25 remained orphans. 487 people were injured, 76 of them were children. 150 more people are missing.

No one was punished for this bloody slaughter.

Serzh Sargsyan, who was one of the Karabakh field commanders at that time, and even became President of Armenia later, initially stated that Armenians prefer "not to talk about this event" out loud.

However, Sargsyan spoke more frankly later:

Before Khojaly, Azerbaijanis thought that it was possible to mess with us, they thought that Armenians are not able to go against civilian population. We crushed this stereotype. That's what happened.
Questioning BJP President Amit Shah's claims on the February 26 air strikes in Pakistan, the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party here on Monday slammed him and his party for not trusting the armed forces and "milking the air strikes for politics".

Responding to Shah's claim on Sunday that more than 250 terrorists were killed in the air strikes, the two parties said the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) claims were not in line with the Air Force statement in this regard.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari tweeted, "AVM RGK Kapoor said, 'it would be premature to say what is the number of casualties that we have been able to inflict on those camps and what is the number of deaths.' But Amit Shah says over 250 terrorists killed in air strikes. Is this not milking the air strikes for "

Congress leader Sanjay Jha accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of playing "repugnant politics".

"Three hundred terrorists killed says BJP! Amit Shah suddenly reduces that to 250. SS Ahluwalia says none. Officials say, no estimate. Why is Modi once again playing repugnant with India's defence forces? Why? The opposition is deeply disturbed by this obfuscation," Jha tweeted.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal also questioned Shah's claim. "The (Air) Force cannot lie. The BJP is lying. The whole country is with the (Air) Force, only the BJP is against them," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

"Is the (Air) Force lying as per Amit Shah? The (Air) Force has clearly said it isn't sure if anyone died or not (in the air strikes). Are the BJP and Shah calling the (Air) Force a liar for their electoral benefit? The nation believes in the Forces. Don't Shah and the BJP trust them?" he stated in another tweet.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Oommen Chandy hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), here on Monday, stating the Congress didn't need to learn about patriotism from the BJP.

"The Congress is a party that was led by Indira Gandhi, whom Atal Bihari Vajpayee had described as 'Durga' after the 1971 Bangladesh war. We don't need to learn patriotism from the BJP," Chandy said.

He said the Congress only questioned the manner in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was using national security for political gains.

"Modi's comment that the Congress is asking for proof of the air strike by the Indian Air Force at Balakot in Pakistan is baseless. The Service Chiefs have said they did not count casualties of the air strike.

"However, some sections of the media reported that 300 people were killed. The figure could have been unofficially provided by the government. We are not questioning that. But the international media, after visiting the site of the strike, reported the figure was not true," said Chandy.

He also pointed out Union Minister S.S. Ahluwalia's remarks that the air strike was meant to "warn the terrorists and not kill them." But the country believed the operation was carried out to eliminate terrorists across the Line of Control (LoC), Chandy said.

"The onus is now on Modi to come out with figures of what actually happened in Balakot. Incidentally, it was a BJP leader who said the party will gain political mileage from the attack," said Chandy.

"The Congress and the people of the country stand with the armed forces," said the two-time former Kerala Chief Minister.

The Indian Air Force on February 26 conducted an air strike in Pakistan's Balakot targeting a Jaish-e Mohammad training camp, the militant group that claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were slain.

--IANS

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The Karnataka ruling alliance partners, the Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), here on Monday discussed the seat-sharing strategy for the Lok Sabha elections, party leaders said.

"The co-ordination committee discussed seats to be contested by each party," chairman of committee and Congress leader Siddaramaiah said. It was a cordial meeting, he added.

The parties, however, are yet to finalise the seat-sharing strategy.

"Some more discussions will be held within the parties as per the pre-poll alliance. It will be finalised within a week," said JD-S general secretary Danish Ali.

A meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD-S national president H.D. Deve Gowda is also scheduled in few days to finalise the poll strategy, Ali said.

"The main motive of the JD-S and the Congress is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and cut its strength in the state," he said.

Of the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, the BJP had won 17, the Congress nine and the JD-S two.

--IANS

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The CPI-M on Monday proposed "no mutual contest" in six Lok Sabha seats currently held by Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal even as it indicated that it would lend support to the Congress on seats it is not contesting in states where there is a direct contest between the BJP and Congress.

Communist Party of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said here in West Bengal, where the party had won two Lok Sabha seats in 2014, it will not go for mutual contests in six Lok Sabha seats - these and four seats held by Congress at present.

Yechury, who was briefing reporters after a meeting of party's Central Committee, said that its electoral tactics in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections will be based on defeating the BJP alliance, increasing strength of the CPI-M and the Left in the Lok Sabha, and ensure that an alternative secular government is formed at the Centre.

He said that the Central Committee had earlier decided that the CPI-M will adopt suitable tactics to ensure the maximization of the pooling of anti-BJP and anti-TMC votes in West Bengal.

"In accordance with this, the CPI-M proposes no mutual contest in the present six sitting Lok Sabha seats, currently held by Congress and the Left Front. The Left Front is meeting on March 8 to finalise the other seats," he said.

Sources said that the talks were being held for an understanding between CPI-M and Congress for the Lok Sabha seats in the state. They said that if the understanding is arrived, the CPI-M is likely to contest 20 seats, other members of Left Front 8-10 seats and Congress could contest 12-14 seats.

However, the talks are apparently stuck over Congress keenness to contest Raiganj and Murshidabad constituencies, which the party narrowly last in 2014 elections. The two seats are held by the CPI-M.

Yechury said that in order to ensure the maximum pooling of anti-BJP votes, state level electoral tactics are being worked out. "In states where the direct contest is between the Congress and BJP, the CPI-M will contest one or two seats and campaign generally for the defeat of the BJP," he said.

A party statement said that in Tamil Nadu, discussions were on for seat sharing with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra for contesting Dindori or Palghar seats where it "independently polls around a lakh votes each".

In Bihar, talks are being held with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for contesting Ujiarpur seat in Samastipur district, it said.

"In Odisha, where simultaneous elections will be held, the CPI-M will contest the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha and a few Assembly seats including its sitting seat Bonnai," he added.

--IANS

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NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Alexey Ovchinin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos who were forced to abort their mission to the International Space Station (ISS) when their Soyuz's rocket booster malfunctioned shortly after launch in October last year are set to launch again on March 14.

The two will be joined by NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch for the launch aboard the Russian Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, NASA said.

The trio will join the station's Expedition 59 crew and return to Earth in October 2019 as members of Expedition 60.

During their mission, the station crew will take part in about 250 research investigations and technology demonstrations not possible on Earth to advance scientific knowledge of Earth, space, physical, and biological sciences, NASA said.

The US still uses Russian Soyuz spacecraft for sending astronauts to the space station.

But on March 2, Elon Musk-owned SpaceX successfully launched its unmanned Crew Dragon test flight to the International Space Station.

Launched on the company's Falcon 9 rocket, it was the first test mission of a commercially built and operated American spacecraft and rocket designed for humans. The Crew Dragon capsule docked with the ISS on Sunday.

--IANS

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The Telangana High Court here on Monday dismissed a habeas corpus petition, filed by the CEO of Hyderabad-based IT Grids (India) Pvt. Ltd, in an alleged data theft case after four employees of the company informed the court they had not been arrested by the police.

A Division Bench of Justice R.S. Chauhan and Justice Shamim Akhtar dismissed the plea after Regonda Bhaskar, Phani Kaduluri, Gurudu Chandra Sekhar and Vikram Goud Rebbala told the court they were not in the police custody and that they had only been served notices to cooperate in investigations.

The court had on Sunday directed Cyberabad police to produce Bhaskar, Kaduluri, Chandra Sekhar and Rebbala before it after IT Grids CEO D. Ashok filed the plea alleging four of his colleagues had been illegally detained.

With Monday being a holiday on account of Maha Shivaratri, the employees were produced before Justice Chauhan at his residence.

IT Grids, which provides IT services to Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is facing allegations of stealing data of 3.70 crore voters from the state government database.

Cyberabad police had on Saturday registered a case against the company on a petition by whistleblower T. Lokeshwar Reddy, who alleged the TDP had provided it data of Andhra Pradesh voters, including their Aadhaar details, colour photographs and mobile numbers.

The complainant alleged IT Grids integrated this voter data with reports of surveys done by the party and uploaded it on Sevamitra, an app for TDP cadres.

Reddy claimed the data was being misused for voter profiling and deleting names of non-TDP voters to further the prospects of the party in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The searches conducted by Cyberabad police at IT Grids office sparked a row between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Cyberabad police also served notice to Ashok asking him to make himself available for investigations. The company CEO is yet to come forward to record his statement.

Meanwhile, a fresh data theft case was registered at the SR Nagar police station against IT Grids on a complaint by Ranga Reddy of the IT cell of the YSR Congress.

The YSR Congress alleged the TDP was caught red-handed while stealing the voter data. The TDP, however, has denied allegations and termed the action against IT Grids a conspiracy by the YSR Congress and Telangana's ruling party Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for the second consecutive day on Monday held a meeting with Advocate General D. Srinivas and Director General of Police R.P. Thakur to discuss developments in the case and the legal action to be taken.

--IANS

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A dual US-Saudi citizen who has been detained in Saudi Arabia reportedly has been beaten and tortured, a media report said.

The US State Department has confirmed Walid Fitaihi's detainment in Saudi Arabia and that it has raised his case with the Riyadh government.

"We can confirm that US citizen Walid Fitaihi is detained in Saudi Arabia, we are providing him consular services, and we have raised his case with the Government of Saudi Arabia," a Department spokesperson said told CNN on Sunday.

"We take all allegations of abuse and torture extremely seriously. "

Fitaihi is a physician who came to the US in the 1980s for education and then worked here.

He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2006 to start a hospital, which his family built. Fitaihi would periodically come back to the US for business.

He was detained in November 2017 at the Ritz Carlton hotel along with other prominent Saudis and without explanation, he was transferred to a Saudi prison where he has been held for nearly a year, according to his attorney Howard Cooper.

"It is believed that Fitaihi has been and is tortured at least psychologically during his imprisonment."

His family has been able to visit him occasionally as well as talk to him on the phone and said "he has physically deteriorated" and that he appears to be "emotionally broken", Cooper told CNN on Sunday.

"He has been held without any process whatsoever," the lawyer added.

The family is now going public on Fitaihi's behalf and is calling on President Donald Trump and senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner to insist on Fitaihi's release.

Meanwhile, a Saudi spokesman in a statement to The New York Times denied any mistreatment of detainees.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes any and all allegations of ill treatment of defendants awaiting trial of prisoners serving their sentences very seriously," an embassy spokesman told the Times.

National Security Adviser John Bolton told CNN on Sunday that "as of this moment, my understanding is we have had what's called 'consular access', meaning American diplomats in Saudi Arabia have visited with him. Beyond that, we don't really have any additional information at this point".

--IANS

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DJ and actor Ali Merchant will unveil his album on Holi, which will be celebrated on March 21.

"I will be launching my next album on Holi. It is called 'Kadak 2019', which is created for festivals and arenas," DJ Ali Merchant said in a statement.

He will be playing at Percept Live's Bollyboom Holi Bash, now in its third year.

The Mumbai show on March 21 will see a line-up of DJs - Ali Merchant, Amann Nagpal, Cyrus, Tarun Makhijani, Ankita Arya, Mariya and the Doorbeen Band.

The Doorbeen band said: "Holi is the festival of colours, joy, frolic, love and great vibes. Playing on an auspicious day like that brings a lot of joy and pride for us, especially for an event of this stature."

The musical extravaganza will be held from March 20-25 across nine cities -- Mumbai, Pune, Cochin, Mysore, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Nagpur, Hubli and Kakinada.

Janamjai Sehgal, Business Head - Bollyboom, said: "The Bollyboom Holi Bash across nine cities is our attempt to reach a larger number of Bollyboom Holi aficionados without conceding on the experience and value of this unique Intellectual Property."

--IANS

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The DMK on Monday concluded electoral pacts with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the VCK for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

As per the agreement inked between the three parties, the CPI and the VCK get two seats each.

Speaking to the media, VCK leader Thirumavalavan said the two constituencies will be decided later.

According to Thirumavalavan, the DMK-led alliance will win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats -- 39 in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

He said the party would decide on whether to contest under its own symbol or under the DMK's Rising Sun symbol.

On his part, CPI's Tamil Nadu State Secretary R. Mutharasan said after the smooth first round talks earlier, the agreement was reached in the second round.

He said the party will contest under its own symbol.

Mutharasan said the CPI will extend support to the DMK in the bypolls that would be held for the 21 Assembly constituencies lying vacant in Tamil Nadu.

The DMK has signed electoral alliance pacts with the Congress (nine seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat), CPI, VCK (two seats each), IUML and KDMK (one seat each).

The DMK is also holding talks with the MDMK, CPI-M and others like the DMDK.

The DMDK, founded by A. Vijayakant, has called a meeting of its party senior officials on Tuesday probably to decide on whom to align with.

--IANS

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar for the fourth consecutive day in the ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning a Rs 1,875-crore loan by the bank to the Videocon Group.

Chanda Kochhar's questioning began at ED's office after she deposed before the investigators around noon.

The ED questioned Chanda Kochhar for the first time on March 1 at her south Mumbai residence along with her husband Deepak Kochhar. On Sunday she was questioned for the third straight day.

The agency on Sunday also quizzed Nishant Kanodia, chairman of Matix Group and son-in-law of Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia, regarding investments made by his Mauritius-based firm Firstland Holdings in NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd, a company run by Deepak Kochhar.

Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot were on March 2 were quizzed till late night in the case.

The ED on March 1 also carried out raids under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at five offices and houses owned by the Kochhars and Dhoot.

The ED started the probe after registering a criminal case under the PMLA in February against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others, taking cognizance of a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The FIR named the Kochhars, Dhoot and his companies -- Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd. It also included names of Supreme Energy, a company founded by Dhoot, and NuPower Renewable, a firm controlled by Deepak Kochhar.

The authorities are trying to determine whether any wrongdoing was involved in the sanctioning of the Rs 1,875 crore loan by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium.

The CBI has alleged the ownership of the two companies changed hands through a complex web of share transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.

It is alleged Dhoot invested in NuPower through his firm Supreme Energy, a quid pro quo to loans cleared by the ICICI Bank after Chanda Kochhar took over as the Chief Executive Officer on May 1, 2009.

--IANS

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The top U.S. and Russian generals will meet to discuss the situation in Syria, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs, Colonel Patrick Ryder said.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. General Joseph Dunford and chief of Russias military general staff Valery Gerasimov will also discuss other pressing matters when they meet in Vienna on March 4.

"The two military leaders will discuss the deconfliction of coalition and Russian operations in Syria, plus exchange views on the state of U.S.-Russia military relations and the current international security situation in Europe and other key topics," AFP cited the spokesman as saying.
A team from the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday embarked on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir to review the preparedness for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the security situation in the state.

"The team headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Sharma will hold meetings with leaders of seven national and three regional parties in Srinagar on Monday," official sources said.

They will also hold detailed discussions with top administration officials including Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police of 10 districts in the Kashmir Valley and two in the Ladakh division.

According to the sources, the team will also be briefed about the security situation in the state following cross-border tensions in the past one week.

"Before flying back to Delhi tomorrow (Tuesday), the team will hold a press conference here tomorrow," the sources added.

The ECI visit is taking place amid intense speculation whether the state Assembly polls will also be held simultaneously with the general elections or be deferred to a later date.

--IANS

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Actress Ellen Page was "lucky" she could "reach out to a therapist" when she felt "repressed" as a lesbian woman.

"A lot of superhero narratives particularly in this show ('The Umbrella Academy'), are so much about feeling like an outsider then going on a journey where you have to discover your own power. I think a lot of people in the LGBTQ community can relate to that," Page told Gay Times magazine.

She added: "Vanya's (her character) experience is similar to that. Her experience aligns with any repressed element of yourself that you are trying to deal with. Of course, she does not necessarily get the support that one reaches out for in that situation.

"For me, when I was going through that in my life, I was lucky that I had the ability to reach out to a therapist. I had people who I could actively work through that pain with."

The "Inception" actress stars alongside Rob Sheehan in the series who plays the openly gay character, Klaus, despite being a heterosexual male and although she thinks he's "superb", Page insisted that she thinks it is "great" when "queer people can play queer roles", reports femalefirst.co.uk.

--IANS

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John Hickenlooper, who served two terms as Governor of Colorado, on Monday joined the Democratic race for the 2020 US presidential election, citing an ability to bring people together in a time of "crisis".

"It's official," he wrote in a morning tweet. "I'm asking you to interview me for President. Our country is in crisis and we need someone who knows how to bring people together and get things done. This is my record, but I've never done it alone. Join me."

The 67-year-old's campaign said he will formally launch his campaign with a rally in Denver on Thursday before heading to Iowa, the first presidential nominating state. He joined a field of 13 other Democrats who earlier announced either White House bids or exploratory committees, the Washington Post reported.

They are: Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar among others.

Governor Jay Inslee of Washington announced a run based on environmental concerns. Montana Governor Steve Bullock was also considering a run, as was the Colorado Senator Michael Bennet, according to the Post.

As Governor, Hickenlooper presided over steady economic growth, the legalization of marijuana - which he initially opposed - and a surge that put Democrats in full control of a once-conservative state.

"I'm running for President because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done," Hickenlooper said in a video announcing his candidacy.

"I've proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver."

Hickenlooper was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia and moved to Colorado to take a job as a geologist for a petroleum company.

After a layoff, he opened a brewpub in Denver that over time helped revitalize the city's then-distressed downtown. Colorado has become known for its microbreweries and craft beers.

In 2003, he was elected Mayor of Denver. He won re-election in 2007 and four years later was elected Governor.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The government may introduce an ordinance soon to revive the university-wise recruitment system for faculty, an official from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) said on Monday.

It was changed to department-wise in 2017 by an Allahabad High Court order, the official added.

A review petition filed by the HRD Ministry to revive the university-wise recruitment system was rejected by the Supreme Court on February 27.

"We have proposed to the cabinet to issue an ordinance in this regard. The government will take a decision on it," R. Subrahmanyam, Higher Secretary, HRD Ministry, told IANS.

He said the meeting is likely to take place in "two-three days" before the election model code of conduct comes into force.

The HRD Ministry was under duress from academic groups to have the Supreme Court revoke the Allahabad High Court decision and restore the university-as-a-unit method for faculty recruitment, applicable earlier.

Several groups of academics feel the department-wise recruitment will lead to undermining the hiring chances for SC/ST and OBC groups.

While the central universities are beset with large vacancies, the government, facing protests from several quarters against the change in the recruitment method, had last year put on hold any recruitment till the resolution of the issue.

According to the data IANS obtained from the HRD Ministry, the Delhi University and the Jawaharlal Nehru University have 47 per cent and 34 per cent vacancies, respectively.

The situation is worse at the central universities in Haryana, Allahabad and Himachal Pradesh where the vacancy is stated to be 76 per cent, 67 per cent and 60 per cent of the sanctioned strength, respectively.

The situation is even worse in Odisha, where 88 per cent faculty positions are vacant in central universities.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Praising Prime Minister Modi's move to retaliate against the Pulwama terror attack, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday called for "pulling out the eyes" of the terrorists.

Sarma was addressing a rally at Sadiya in Assam's Tinsukia district. The Minister laid the foundation stone for a bridge over the Kundil river.

"There were terror strikes in our country earlier too. But our forces, despite the capability, were not allowed to act because they were not permitted to use their strength," said Sarma.

"After the Pulwama attack in which 40 BSF jawans were martyred, the Indian Air Force went inside Pakistan, bombed selected location and returned. This is the New India of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," said Sarma.

He said the people need to rally behind the Prime Minister, who is determined to fight against terrorism.

"In new India, no one will cook food using fire wood, no village in the country will be without electricity and the red eye of the terrorists will be taken out if they show it to India," said Sarma while addressing the rally.

Saying that the Prime Minister has brought about a sea change in the country in the last five years, Sarma said while the Central government has completed 5,000 km of roads in the north-east region, the BJP government in the state, too, has done its bit: admissions are free in all colleges, textbooks are free and the hostel fee is waived.

He said the state government has reduced the price of rice from the existing Rs 3 per kg to Re 1 per kg. "We are now considering how to make kerosene and sugar available at cheaper prices through the public distribution system.

--IANS

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State-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Monday announced the launch of its Young Scientist programme to train class 9 students in space technology and its applications.

"ISRO has launched the special programme for school children 'Yuva Vigyani Karyakram' (Young Scientist programme) to impart basic knowledge on space technology, space science and applications to the young ones to arouse their interest in space activities," the city-based space agency said in a statement.

With an aim to spread scientific fervour among the youth in the country, ISRO said it chalked out the programme to "catch them young".

The two-week residential training programme will be held each year during summer holidays for students from across the country who have completed class 8 and are studying in class 9.

"Three students will be selected from each state/union territory to participate in the programme each year covering CBSE, ICSE and state syllabus," the statement said.

The space agency has approached the Chief Secretaries of the states for the selection of three students from each state and Union Territories.

The list of students taking part in the training programme's maiden session during this summer (May-June) is expected by March-end, ISRO said.

"The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to rural areas have been given special weightage in the selection criteria," it added.

--IANS

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Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das here on Monday handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to pilgrims from the state to Kailash Mansarovar.

As a token gesture, 15 people were handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each at a programme organised at the Chief Minister's residence.

According to Rahul Sharma, Secretary, Tourism Department, 75 people had applied for the grant for undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The remaining applicants will be handed over cheques after proper verification.

Speaking on the occasion, Das said: "The Jharkhand government is sending people to religious places under the 'Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana'. Under the scheme, Rs 1 lakh each is given to economically weak people to travel to Kailsh Mansarovar".

"More than 5,000 people have been benefited by the scheme," Das said.

"The state government is also developing tourist places in Jharkhand. The state would soon be recognised for its tourism sector at the international level," the Chief Minister said.

Das also greeted the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

--IANS

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The Congress, an ally in Karnataka's ruling coalition, got a jolt on Monday when its legislator Umesh Jadhav resigned from his assembly and was set to soon join the opposition BJP.

Jadhav, a two-time MLA from Chincholi in the state's northern Kalaburagi district, submitted his resignation to Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar without any explanation.

"Jadhav submitted his resignation letter to Kumar earlier in the day at the latter's house at Srinivasapura in Kolar district near Bengaluru," a Congress leader told IANS here.

Hours later, a BJP leader told IANS that Jadhav would join the party on Wednesday at Kalaburagi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi would address a massive party rally ahead of the general elections, due in April-May.

"Jadhav, who has been unhappy with the Congress, will join the BJP at Kalaburagi prior to the party rally to be addressed by Modi or in his presence on the dais," said party spokesman G. Madhusudhan.

The Speaker is, however, yet to accept Jadhav's resignation, as a February 11 letter from Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah to disqualify him from the party under the anti-defection law is pending with Kumar after the legislator defying the party's whip and skipped the 10-day budget session for the first five days from February 6-13.

"If the Speaker accepts Jadhav's resignation, the Chincholi assembly bye-election will be held along with the Lok Sabha elections to 28 seats across the state," said the official.

The Congress strength in the Assembly will reduce to 78, excluding the Speaker, who got elected on a Congress ticket from Srinivasapra in Kolar, about 100km from here.

"The Congress has done everything it could with Jadhav. He was power hungry and has been dissenting against the party's leadership. He is an opportunist. We are disappointed with him," state unit president Dinesh Gundu Rao told the media.

In the 225-member House, including one nominated, the Congress has 80 members, its ruling ally Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) 37, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party 104, one independent, and one each from the BSP and regional outfit KPJP.

A keen contest is in the fray in case the BJP decides to field Jadhav against outgoing Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge from the Kalaburagi seat as the latter is a dominant Dalit leader.

Regretting Jadhav's resignation, state working president Eshwar Khandre, who hails from Bidar in the northern region, said the former had spoiled his political future by leaving the Congress and waiting to join the BJP.

"There will be no effect of Jadhav leaving the Congress on the 9-month-old coalition government in the state as the allies have 116 members in the House, which are 3 above the 113 simple majority," Khandre asserted.

--IANS

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The CPI's Kerala unit sprang a surprise here on Monday by recommending four names for the Lok Sabha seats the party contests and dropping the sitting MP.

C.N. Jayadevan who won Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in 2014 has been dropped and the names of two sitting legislators -- C. Divakaran (Thiruvananthapuram) and Chittayam Gopakumar (Mavelikera) -- have been added to the list.

Rajaji Mathew Thomas, a former legislator, has been asked to contest from Thrissur and P.P. Suneer the Wayanad seat.

Speaking to the media, Divakaran, a former State Minister, said the state council has cleared his name and now the national executive will take a decision. "If it's cleared then I will contest and win," said Divakaran.

Incidentally, Divakaran will be taking on two-time Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor.

The national executive will meet in Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday to take a final decision, said Thomas.

The CPI is the second biggest ally of the ruling left government in Kerala.

--IANS

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Kerala Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar on Monday asked banks in the state to adopt a more humane approach, especially towards farmers.

In the aftermath of last year's floods, the worst ever to hit Kerala in a century, banks in the state have been using the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002, (also known as the SARFAESI Act) to recover loans from farmers.

As part of this recovery process, notices are being sent to auction residential or commercial properties of those who default.

Close to 15,000 farmers in Idukki district alone have received recovery notices from both commercial and cooperative banks, with reports of this leading to about half-a-dozen suicides over the past two months.

According to official statistics, the floods damaged around 11,000 hectares of agricultural land in Idukki leaving almost 35,000 farmers in distress.

Asked about the situation, the State Agriculture Minister said: "The situation today is such that panic spreads the moment someone receives a recovery notice from a bank. But farmers need not panic at all.

"The state cabinet is having a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter. The Chief Minister has also called a meeting of the State Bankers Committee on Wednesday. It is high time banks in Kerala adopt a more humane approach," said Kumar.

In the Cabinet meeting due on Tuesday, the state government is expected to ask the State Banker's Committee for a moratorium on recovery of all agricultural loans taken in the flood-affected districts.

State Cooperative Minister Kadakampally Surendran told the media: "Yesterday, we directed all cooperative banks in the state not to send any more recovery notices. I am meeting officials of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development on March 12 to discuss the issue."

--IANS

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Five people were killed after a rescue helicopter crashed in Irans western province of Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari.

According to Irans state TV, the helicopter was trying to airlift a pregnant woman, but did not make it to her location on Monday.

Head of the countrys emergency medical services Pirhossein Koulivand told the TV three of the five aboard were flight crew and two were rescue workers.

Iranian aircraft crashes have been blamed on its old fleet and years of international sanctions over the countrys nuclear program, the AP reported.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's special train passed the Chinese port city of Tianjin on Monday, sources said, ending speculation about a possible meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Kim left Dong Dang station in Vietnam on Saturday after a failed two-day summit with US President Donald Trump and an official visit to the Southeast Asian nation, reports Yonhap news agency.

His train passed through Tianjin at around 7 a.m., according to the sources, apparently taking the same route as when he travelled nearly 66 hours by train to Vietnam.

"Security was tightened in downtown Tianjin early in the morning and then eased. It seems like Chairman Kim's train has passed through the city," a source said.

Despite earlier speculation, Kim did not stop in Guangzhou, a Chinese port city northwest of Hong Kong, nor in Beijing to meet President Xi on his way back home.

His train is expected to reach Dandong station and then cross the Yalu River, also known as the Amrok River, near the border, on Monday night.

--IANS

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Questioning the BJP's claims of 250 causalities in the air strikes in Pakistan's Balakot, the Congress on Monday demanded of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise for claiming the India Air Force (IAF) felt the absence of Rafale fighter jets.

Countering the Modi's allegation of the opposition playing at the cost of national security, Congress spokesperson R.P.N. Singh accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of politicising the air strikes and trying to reap electoral mileage from it.

With the government yet to give an official count of the number of terrorists killed in the air strikes in Pakistan's Balakot and Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa declining to comment on the casualties, Singh also demanded to know the basis of BJP chief Amit Shah's claim of 250 terrorists being killed in the air strikes conducted in the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 security personnel were killed.

"The Prime Minister tried to show that the IAF was weaker because it did not have the Rafale. He should apologise for questioning the capabilities of the IAF and for playing on armed forces," Singh told the media here.

"We have witnessed how BJP leaders, including Shah and Modi, made many political statements on the Pulwama attack and yet accused Congress of doing it. We have a BJP leader (Manoj Tiwari) roaming around in Army fatigues, so who is politicising the issue? It is the BJP?" said Singh and questioned Shah's claims on the casualties in the air strikes.

"Where are these figures coming from? Air Chief Marshal clearly said that it is government's duty to count casualties."

Earlier in the day, Punjab Minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu questioned if its casualties claim was an election gimmick, while former Union Minister P. Chidambaram asked who put the number of casualties at 300-350.

"Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Stop politicising the Army, it is as sacred as the state," Sidhu said, tagging media reports of Union Minister S.S. Ahluwalia and former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa's remarks on the IAF strikes.

While Ahluwalia had claimed that the IAF operation in Pakistan's Balakot was to "send out a message and not to kill", Yeddyurappa said the air strikes will help the BJP win 22 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in the upcoming general elections.

In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said: "Vice Air Marshal declined to comment on casualties. A statement from the Ministry of External Affairs said there were no civilian or military casualties. So, who put out the number of casualties at 300-350?

"As a proud citizen, I am prepared to believe my government. But if we want the world to believe, the government must make the effort, not indulge in opposition-bashing," said Chidambaram.

The IAF operation has remained at the centre of a political slugfest, with Modi and Shah lashing out at the opposition for questioning the counter-terror operation while the opposition has accused the BJP of playing over national security.

--IANS

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Deputy National Security Adviser and Prime Minister's special envoy for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, is arriving in Dimapur and would travel to Kohima over the next two days to conclude the protracted Naga peace talks, sources said.

Government sources said with the Naga groups expected to reciprocate with "pragmatic flexibility", the final agreement could be signed "any day".

Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting Assam on Tuesday and there could be some forward movement in the talks.

Sources say the government is ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the "Naga Constitution".

A source said that there has been an apparent understanding on the Naga flag and on opening autonomous cultural centres in states adjoining Nagaland with Naga population.

In a recent interview to the Nagaland Post, Ravi had said that Naga peace talks were at the "concluding stage".

"Political principles of settlement, substantive issue of competencies and structural issues of governance have all been mutually agreed. The peace process has become truly inclusive with the seven Naga groups coming onboard. We have mutual understanding with NSCN (I-M) that they would not oppose constructive cooperation in the peace process and their participation in the final agreement. The peace process can conclude any day," he said.

Asked if he is saying that the talks are in the final stage, Ravi said the Naga political issue is a very old and complex one and in the last four years, the negotiating parties have made significant continuous progress by resolving several facets of it.

"(These are) like political parameters of settlement and the specifics of various competencies to be shared between the Naga people and the government of India. All issues have been mutually understood and agreed upon.

"However, a few issues mainly a flag and a constitution are sticky. On these issues, the two sides have differing positions. We will sign the agreement as soon as these are resolved," he told the newspaper.

On what is holding the negotiating parties in solving the flag and constitution issue, Ravi said the government was aware of Naga people's sentiment over the flag which must be respected.

"Our position is that the Naga flag should be located in the Pan Naga cultural body, which would be a common platform of all the Nagas. Similarly, the final agreement, which would have to be duly incorporated in the Constitution of India, could be the Naga 'Yehzabo'. However, the Naga negotiators are not agreeing to it," he said.

Asked about differences on these issues with both NSCN (I-M) and Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), Ravi said both of them have insisted on recognition of the Naga flag.

"On the issue of 'Yehzabo', we are trying to reach a common position with NSCN (I-M)," he said.

Speaking to IANS on Monday, Ravi said: "My interview to the Nagaland Post covered every aspect (of the peace talks). Everything is clarified. I have already answered what is 'flag' (in the context of Naga peace talks" and our position on it."

Some stakeholders had, however, last week boycotted their scheduled meetings with Ravi, citing "insincerity" on the part of the Central government. They included the Naha Hoho, the Naga Mothers' Association and Naga Students' Federation.

--IANS

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All the mainstream political parties, which met the Election Commission (EC) team here on Monday, have favoured holding simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.

Senior leaders of the National Conference (NC) including Ali Muhammad Sagar, Choudhary Muhammad Ramzan and Nasir Aslam Wani, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) including Abdul Rehman Veeri, Haq Khan and Nizamuddin Bhat, and Congress' Taj Mohiuddin and Usman Majeed met the EC team, headed by Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena.

"We have told the EC that both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be held simultaneously in the state. J&K is without an elected government for the past 9 months. In the absence of an elected regime, uncertainty is deepening. The dissatisfaction among a large section of the people is increasing by the day," said Ali Muhammad Sagar.

The EC team visited the state to review preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

The team, comprising senior ECI officials, is scheduled to meet leaders of seven national and three regional political parties in Srinagar and Jammu to seek their response on holding elections in the state.

The team will also hold discussions with the Deputy Commissioners and Senior Superintendents of Police of the 10 districts in the Valley and two districts in the Ladakh division.

According to officials, the team will be given a detailed briefing about the overall security in the Valley by the zonal police chief and other nodal officers before it flies to Jammu for similar meetings.

Sources said the EC team will also be briefed about the security situation in the state, following the cross-border tensions in the past one week.

The team will hold a press conference in Jammu before flying back to Delhi on Tuesday.

--IANS

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the defence situation in the country would have been different if the Indian Air Force had Rafale fighter jets. "Not one this side would have gone and no one on the other would have survived," he added.

Addressing a rally here, the prime minister called upon the Opposition, without naming it, to use "common sense" when it speaks about the Rafale jets.

"If the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, but some people do not have it in them to understand this," Modi said, adding "When I say this, they question the Air Force strikes."

The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, went on, "The nation agrees that the disease of terrorism has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say?

"Should or should not everyone, including me, believe in our armed forces without raising questions? We should be proud of our armed forces."

Modi was addressing the rally after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe and PG hostel of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital here.

He also laid the foundation stones of various development projects in the Saurashtra region.

The prime minister will reach Ahmedabad later in the day to inaugurate the first phase of the six-km-long Metro rail service.

He will also lay the foundation stone of the Patidar community's Umiya Mata Temple Complex in the city.

--IANS

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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, addressing calls by his countrymen on social media and in his government to award him a Nobel Peace Prize for "de-escalating" tensions with India, on Monday said that he is not worthy of the honour.

"I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace and human development in the subcontinent," he tweeted.

Supporters and officials of Khan's administration started lobbying for a Nobel Peace Prize for him following his announcement to release Indian Air Force (IAF) officer Wing Commander Abhinandan who was captured by Pakistan on February 27 after his MiG-21 crashed inside Pakistani territory. He was released on March 1.

Soon after the Indian pilot was handed over to the Indian authorities, the hashtag "#NobelPeacePrizeForImranKhan" started trending in Pakistan on Twitter. Until Sunday, over 300,000 people had signed online petitions seeking the Nobel for Khan.

A resolution was also submitted in the country's National Assembly Secretariat last week for the same. The motion stated that Khan played a "sagacious role in reducing tension between Pakistan and India which was created due to warmongering attitude of the Indian leadership".

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Peoples Party, which had earlier questioned the timing of the release of the Indian pilot, expressed its sorrow over the ongoing campaign for the award.

--IANS

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India's O.P. Jindal Global University and the University of Wollongong (UoW) in Australia's New South Wales have signed a strategic partnership/memorandum of understanding through which students and faculty members from each institution can spend time at the other in short or longer term exchange programmes.

The objective is "not only to begin a solid partnership between JGU and UoW but also to provide a strong platform for engagement between the two Universities that would qualitatively impact the learning and growth of students and faculty alike," a UoW statement said.

Welcoming the JGU delegation, UoW Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings said: "We are delighted with this first step -- in what we hope will be a long term friendship with a very fine Indian higher institution. JGU, though a young university, has already made a solid name for itself in many areas of teaching, research and community engagement. We view this partnership as a strategic development to help us -within a higher context -- further strengthen the social, cultural and economic links between Australia and India. We feel that JGU is an ideal institution through which to enable that development."

Apart from student exchange opportunities, faculty and researchers at both universities can conduct joint research and joint teaching, while encouraging collaboration in international publications.

"This collaborative spirit exemplifies the noteworthy work conducted by JGU's Centre for India Australia Studies (CIAS), headed by Professor Shaun Star. The CIAS was founded by Professor Star three years ago and is the first and only Centre with a focus on the India-Australia bilateral relationship embedded within an Indian Higher Institution. The CIAS has hosted hundreds of Australians in India since the Centre's inauguration; and continue to be a strong site for building awareness of Australia in India, while fostering very solid ties in the bilateral relationship," the statement said.

Noting that JGU celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, Vice Chancellor Professor C. Raj Kumar said: "As the youngest Indian university to break into the QS Asia and QS BRICS rankings, (this) signing reflects JGU's genuine commitment to fostering partnerships of mutually beneficial value with leading global universities."

"As part of this, we are especially keen to deepen our ties with Australian higher education institutions. And so I am particularly pleased that JGU students will have the unique opportunity to learn at the University of Wollongong, one of the best modern higher education institutions ranked within the top 250 global universities," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Professor Colin Picker, UoW's Dean, Faculty of Law, said: "Wollongong is delighted with the partnership and we look forward to it as a step toward strengthening collaboration with the leading set of Indian-and indeed Asian universities, including JGU."

Professor Star also remarked that the partnership reflects the vision of the Vice Chancellors of JGU and UoW that collaboration in higher education leads not only to stronger institutional ties but bridges the gap between Australia and India. "This partnership will create stronger people-to-people linkages and research collaborations between students and faculty in India and Australia. This can only be a good thing for both nations," he added.

--IANS

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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional war.

Pointing out that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers, he said it was not in either country's interest to use the weapons of mass destruction but Islamabad could indulge in such a misadventure, if faced with defeat in other battles.

In an informal chat with reporters here, Amarinder Singh said that the Indian Air Force air strikes had proven India's resolve to deal with the problem in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, but refused to comment on the number of terrorists killed in the strikes.

"Whether it was one killed or 100, the message has gone out loud and clear that India will not let the killing of its soldiers and citizens go unpunished," he said.

Pointed out that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess and had been going around with a begging bowl and surviving on doles from other Islamic nations, Amarinder Singh said they could ill-afford a full-fledged war with India.

And though both were nuke powered countries, Pakistan could act out of desperation to use its nuclear weapons if they found themselves cornered, he warned.

On the Aam Aadmi Party's decision to ally with the Shiromani Akali Dal-Taksali for the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, the Chief Minister said it was their prerogative, but as far as the Congress was concerned, it did not need any alliance.

Dismissing the AAP-SAD-Taksali coalition as of no consequence, he said the Congress in the state was fully ready for the polls and was well placed to win on its own.

--IANS

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Actress-turned-politician Isha Koppikar says she admires Prime Minister Narendra Modi a lot and he inspired her to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as the working president of the Women Transport Wing in January.

"BJP is the ruling party of our country and Modiji has worked a lot for the betterment of our country in last five years. His ideologies inspired me to join the party. I want Modiji to become PM once again. He walks the talk," Isha told IANS.

According to Isha, is a great platform through which she can help the society.

"I always wanted to do something for the society. Whatever fame and success I have earned is because of people only. So I thought now it is the time to give back to them and joined to work for the society," she added.

On her plan of action as the president of the Women Transport Wing of the BJP, Isha said she is planning to introduce more "pink taxies" and "female drivers" in the nation.

"I am a true feminist at heart. I will try my best to uplift our women and make them independent," she added.

--IANS

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After the father of a slain CRPF trooper expressed anguish and anger over National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders for not paying homage to his dead son, Janata Dal-United (JDU) national Vice President Prashant Kishor has apologised to him.

"We are sorry for the error of judgement on part of those of us who should have been there with you in this hour of grief," Kishor said in a tweet on Sunday.

Pintu Singh, a resident of Begusarai district, was killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Friday during an anti-terrorist operation.

After none of the NDA leaders or Bihar ministers were present at the Patna airport when his body was brought in on Sunday, his father Chakradhar Singh said: "Ministers are only concerned about remaining in power. It shows how concerned they are about the soldiers.

"NDA leaders were more concern about Sankalp rally of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. They have neglected to pay homage to a brave soldier who was killed for the country."

--IANS

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Tehran is complying with the 2015 deal with major world powers aimed at preventing the country from building nuclear weapons, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog Yukiya Amano said.

Amano made his assessment in a regular update to the International Atomic Energy Agencys board of governors, confirming a confidential report distributed to member states last month.

"Iran is implementing its nuclear-related commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," the AP cited him as saying.

The IAEA head added that "it is essential that Iran continues to fully implement those commitments."
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will on Tuesday inaugurate the BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) project on the India-Bangladesh border in Assam's Dhubri district to ensure surveillance in areas with adverse terrain.

The Border Security Force (BSF) is responsible for safeguarding the 4,096-km-long border, which has border fencing on most of its length. However, at various places, it is not possible to erect a fence due to the geographical conditions.

According to a Home Ministry statement, the 61 km stretch of the border in Dhubri where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh has "char lands" (riverine sand bars) and innumerable river channels, "thus making border guarding in this area, a daunting task especially during the rainy season".

Hence, the ministry, it said, decided to go for a technological solution besides the physical presence of the BSF. "In January 2018, the Information and Technology Wing of BSF undertook the project BOLD-QIT and completed it in record time with the technical support of various manufacturers and suppliers," it said.

BOLD-QIT, under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS), envisages installing different kind of sensors in the unfenced riverine area of Brahmaputra and its tributaries on the India-Bangladesh border to detect any incursion.

"Now, the entire span of River Brahmaputra has been covered with data network generated by microwave communication, OFC cables, DMR communication, day and night surveillance cameras and intrusion detection system. These modern gadgets provide feeds to BSF Control Rooms on the border and enable BSF Quick Reaction Teams to thwart any possibility of illegal cross-border crossing/crimes," it added.

The implementation of this project will not only help the BSF to curb all type of cross-border crimes but also provide respite to the troops from round the clock human surveillance.

Rajnath Singh had inaugurated two smart fencing pilot projects of five km each on the India-Pakistan international border in Jammu in September last year.

--IANS

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South Korea on Monday proposed trilateral dialogue with the US and North Korea after denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang collapsed in Hanoi last week.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the government in Seoul, to get the nuclear talks back on track, would seek semi-official meetings called "track 1.5" in a multilateral format, which would include representatives from the three countries and civilian experts.

Kang said the proposal to hold dialogue in the new format was mooted during a National Security Council (NSC) meeting here on Monday chaired by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to Efe news.

The three countries held three-way talks in Sweden just before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, which ended abruptly without any agreement over the regime's denuclearisation process.

The NSC meeting, the first to be held in Seoul in nine months, was convened to discuss the reasons of failure in Hanoi and how to begin the initiative afresh.

Moon at the meeting defended his conviction that North Korea and the US will eventually reach an agreement on denuclearising the peninsula and lift sanctions that Washington imposed on Pyongyang over its atomic weapons testing, the report said.

Moon, in a statement at the end of the meeting, urged both sides to resume working meetings as soon as possible to dissolve the deadlock.

Pyongyang and Washington aired their own versions of events at the Hanoi summit, but the disagreements between the two sides were primarily on dismantling of the number of facilities and assets of the North Korean nuclear programme along with volume of international sanctions that the North Korean regime wanted the US to remove.

Moon said Washington and Pyongyang avoided hostile posturing following the lack of agreement in Hanoi, which was an indication that there would be progress in the future and the two sides would eventually reach an agreement.

Moon, who has played a pivotal role in mediating between the US government and the North Korean regime, said Seoul's intermediary role would now be more important.

He urged his cabinet to accurately identify the differences that prevented both sides from reaching an agreement and find a way to reduce them.

--IANS

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The Sri Lankan government on Monday said that it will change its immigration rules to offer multiple entry visas for business travellers who aim to trade and invest in the island country, according to media reports.

Local media quoted the state information office as saying that the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal by Minister of Internal and Home Affairs Vajira Abeywardena to change the Immigrants and Emigrants Act in order to implement the new visa scheme.

The government aims to extend the duration of tourist visas and issue multiple entry visas for commercial activities, Xinhua news agency reported citing a statement from the Information Department.

The amendments will launch a visa system to attract investors and introduce a single fee scheme for tourist visas.

Currently, tourists are only granted a one-month visa and if it needs to be extended, tourists need to make a further payment.

A penalty fee of $500 will also be introduced for those who overstay in the country without visas.

--IANS

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The Cyberabad Police said here on Monday that IT Grids India Private Limited CEO D. Ashok should surrender in connection with a data theft case, failing which he will be arrested.

Hyderabad-based IT Grids is facing the allegation of misusing sensitive data of the people of Andhra Pradesh to help the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) further its prospects in the ensuing Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said the IT Grids Chief Executive Officer was the main accused in the case and since he failed to appear before the police despite being served notice, he should surrender along with the materials.

The police chief said four teams have been constituted to probe the case. He said the police would not spare the accused, no matter how powerful they were.

Addressing a press conference, Sajjanar said based on a complaint by one T. Lokeswara Reddy, alleging misuse of personal information and sensitive data, a case was registered against IT Grids at the Madhapur police station on Saturday under sections 20B, 379, 420 and 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 72 and 66B of the IT Act.

The police served notices on four employees of the company and in their presence conducted search and seizure at the firm's office in Madhapur on Saturday and Sunday. Several electronic gadgets, hard discs, cellphones, documents and other materials were seized.

Preliminary investigations revealed that IT Grids got access to personal information and sensitive data related to Aadhaar, electoral rolls and beneficiaries of government schemes. The company was using this data for 'Sevamitra', an application developed by it for the TDP.

"The information is being used to create profiles of voters and use them for political purposes," he said.

The police also suspect a link between the misuse of data and deletion of voters' names in Andhra Pradesh. Sajjanar said the police in the neighbouring state have registered 50 cases against people who have lodged online complaints seeking removal of names of eligible voters from the electoral rolls.

Sajannar said the police have issued a notice to Amazon Web Services for the production of a database relating to application and other data. "We are also writing to the UIDAI and the Election Commission for more details," he said.

The Police Commissioner also took strong exception to a team from the Andhra Pradesh police rushing to Hyderabad without permission and interfering in the investigation.

He said a habeas corpus petition was filed in the Telangana High Court despite the fact that the four employees of IT Grids were with the Cyberabad Police as witnesses.

Sajannar said the Andhra Pradesh police team also went to complainant Lokeswara Reddy's house and abused and threatened him. A case of criminal trespass and intimidation has been registered against the Andhra Pradesh cops at the Kukatpally police station.

--IANS

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Giving a guarded response to the CPI-M's announcement that it would avoid a mutual contest in the six West Bengal Lok Sabha seats currently held by it and the Congress, the state Congress on Monday said while it saw no reason to "discourage" them, there were practical hurdles which needed to be sorted out first.

Former state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya, who has been playing a key role in the ongoing seat adjustment discussions with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), hoped that a further round of discussions would help the two parties to come to some decision.

"I know what the CPI-M has said. I see no reason to discourage the CPI-M. But there are difficulties we are facing in coming to an adjustment. These practical hurdles needed to be removed first," Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha member, told IANS.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won four and the Left Front major CPI-M bagged two of the 42 seats in the state.

Ever since the two parties began seat-sharing talks for the coming general elections, a major problem has been the two seats - Raiganj and Murshidabad - which were won by the CPI-M five years back.

The Congress, which considers Raiganj as its pocket borough, having won it six times out of the last nine polls, has been adamant on contesting it.

Moreover, Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi, who won the seat in 2009 but lost out narrowly to CPI-M's Mohammed Salim in 2014, has been keen on trying her luck again from the constituency.

Similarly, former state Congress chief and Murshidabad district stalwart Adhir Chowdhury wants the party to put up a candidate for the Murshidabad seat, which his party had won in 2004 and 2009.

The CPI-M, on the other hand, from the start of the negotiations has been harping on the formula of the two parties putting up candidates in the seats they won last time.

The Marxists thus were ready to back the Congress in Baharampur, Jangipur, North Malda and South Malda - from where it won in 2014, though North Malda MP Mousam Noor switched to the Trinamool Congress a few days back.

In fact, the CPI-M persuaded Left Front partner Revolutionary Socialist Party to opt out of the contest from its traditional constituency Baharampur, which has been electing Chowdhury since 1999.

State Congress president Somen Mitra said both Congress and the Left Front need to come together.

"Both need the alliance. Unless they join hands with the Congress, the Left Front will not be able to open their account in the state this time."

Mitra conceded that Murshidabad and Raiganj were the problem seats.

He said the Congress has made it clear to the Marxists that they wanted to fight from both the seats. "But they have not agreed to far."

Late in the night, the state Congress came out with a statement saying it had "started discussion with great hope with the Left parties regarding seat adjustment for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal."

However, the statement mentioned that "constituency issues are involved while we are in discussion.

"Certain geographies have been historically Congress bastions and we find it difficult to ignore our supporters in such constituencies. As a result we are yet to arrive at a conclusion."

The party said it had "taken note" of the statement by the CPI-M Central Committee, and said "after further negotiation," the final recommendation would be submitted to AICC and the Congress President shortly.

--IANS

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palanswami on Monday launched financial assistance of Rs 2,000 for 60 lakh below the poverty line (BPL) families in the state affected by cyclone Gaja, drought and failure of rains.

At the state secretariat, Palaniswami handed over to 32 families the administrative sanction to deposit Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts.

On Feb 11, Palaniswami had announced in the assembly the special assistance of Rs 2,000 to the 60 lakh BPL families in the state affected by cyclone, Gaja, drought and failure of rains.

He had said the outlay for this will be Rs 1,200 crore and will be made in the supplementary demands for grants to be made this fiscal.

Palaniswami had said 35 lakh families in villages and 25 lakh families in cities will be benefited by this financial assistance.

According to him, the financial assistance will be of great help especially to agricultural workers, fishermen, workers in firecracker units, handloom weavers, tree climbers and others.

The government had paid Rs 1,000 as a cash gift and gift hamper to ration card holders-BPL and non-priority household with sugar-only ration card to celebrate Pongal festival.

--IANS

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Mizoram and Tripura governments are keen on changing school timings for better utilisation of daylight and allow students more time for extracurricular activities. The day breaks early in the northeastern states with the sun rising and setting at least 60-90 minutes ahead of western and southern states.

"The sun rises and sets early in the northeastern states. As the country follows the IST (Indian Standard Time), the people of the region has been wasting a lot of daylight," Tripura and Law Minister Ratanlal Nath told IANS.

To better use daylight and provide more scope to students and teachers for extracurricular activities, the Tripura government would like to change schools timings from 11 a.m. to 8 a.m., Nath said.

A high-level committee has been set up to study the issue. After the committee submits its report, the government would take a final decision, he added.

He, however, admitted to some infrastructural problems in 800 schools in the state. "Before introducing the new timings, the government will try to provide suitable infrastructure and teachers," Nath said.

The minister said the state government has launched a programme, "Natun Disha" (new direction), to assess the academic level of students in classes III to VIII. "The scheme also encourages interaction between teachers and parents for improving quality and resolving other issues," he said.

On March 3, the first day of the teacher-guardian interactive meet, 2,18,484 guardians of 3.20 lakh students discussed and resolved petty issues, the minister said.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and Nath also visited several schools and observed the interaction. THe "Natun Disha" scheme would surely yield positive results and improve the quality of in Tripura, he added.

The Mizoram government too has decided to change the school timing from the new academic session (2019-2020), beginning April.

Instead of one (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) timing, the state government plans to make it 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for primary schools, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. for middle schools and 9 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. for secondary and higher secondary schools.

The move is part of the Mizo National Front's (MNF) pre-poll promises.

According to a senior education official, the new timings have been finalised considering the climate, food behaviour and turnout of students and teachers in the state.

As far as loss of daylight is concerned, it becomes serious during shorter days of winter, which raises electricity consumption.

Meanwhile, the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), largest and influential student body in Mizoram, has opposed the new timings, claiming schools should start earlier for better use of daylight.

MZP President L. Ramdinlian said there must be a separate time zone for the northeast to better utilise the daylight hours.

However, the Mizo Student Union, another student body, has welcomed the new timings saying it would immensely help students, teachers as well as parents.

Many organisations and NGOs, including the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and the North East Students' Organisation, a union of eight students and youth bodies of the seven N-E states, have been demanding a separate time zone for the region.

Nimal Datta, a senior scientist and researcher, said normal activity and schedules like meal timings, official and non-official working and sleeping hours more or less remain the same across the country, as it has a single time zone.

This, Datta told IANS, "results in an around two-hour delay in normal activities in N-E compared with western and southern states."

--IANS

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Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President K.T. Rama Rao on Monday asked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his son and IT Minister Nara Lokesh to face the probe in data theft case, instead of making baseless allegations against Telangana government.

Rama Rao said they were caught red-handed while providing Andhra Pradesh citizens' data to a private company engaged by Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

"Let Naidu and Lokesh accept that there has been a data theft. Let them stand up for scrutiny. If there has been a data theft, let them face the music," he told reporters.

KTR, as the TRS leader is popularly known, hit back after Lokesh alleged that Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were trying to help YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy by stealing information of TDP party members.

Lokesh made the allegations after police in Hyderabad raided office of IT Grids, a company which provides IT services to TDP, and booked case against it.

KTR, who is son of Chandrashekhar Rao, defended the action against the company saying the police registered a case on a complaint by whistleblower Lokeshwar Reddy, a resident of Andhra Pradesh living in Hyderabad.

He said since the company was also located in Hyderabad, the police took up the investigations into violation of sections 66 and 72 of the Information Technology Act.

The TRS leader took exception to Andhra Pradesh police interfering in the investigations by raiding the complainant's house and abusing him. He remarked that Naidu and Lokesh should not be scared if they had done no wrong.

"Naidu and his government should be ashamed of sharing personal data of Andhra Pradesh citizens with a private company so that TDP can get political benefit. People of Andhra Pradesh should decide whether the chief minister has the moral right to continue in office," KTR said.

On TDP allegations, he said Naidu afraid of losing elections was using cheap tricks to get sympathy of people.

"In his last-ditch effort, he is trying to evoke emotions and passions among people but he will not succeed," the TRS leader said.

--IANS

ms/prs

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A committee of the US House of Representatives is seeking documents alleging obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by President Donald Trump and his aides.

Judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC news that 60 individuals and entities would be receiving requests from Monday, the BBC reported on Sunday.

Nadler said he believed Trump had obstructed justice.

But any impeachment move would depend on the results of the inquiry.

President Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and accused Democrats of a witch hunt.

On Saturday, he launched a furious attack on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, railing against the inquiry he is leading into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Mueller is expected to hand in his report to the attorney general shortly.

Targeting Mueller repeatedly -- as well as firing the former FBI chief over the Russia inquiry -- were among the issues Nadler cited as "clear" cases of obstruction of justice by President Trump.

But the Democratic congressman said "we do not have the evidence" to start an impeachment procedure against the president.

"Impeachment is a long way down the road, we don't have the facts yet, but we're going to initiate proper investigations," Nadler told This Week.

"Tomorrow (Monday), we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice," he said.

Among those receiving the requests would be Donald Trump Junior.

Democrats are now in control of the House of Representatives, with Republicans holding the Senate.

--IANS

pgh/

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US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has condemned a poster linking her to the 9/11 attacks displayed at a Republican stall in the West Virginia legislature.

She said the "anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist" encouraged threats of violence against her, the BBC reported on Monday

West Virginia Republicans said they did not support hate speech and had told the exhibitor to remove the poster.

Omar was elected last November, one of the first two Muslim women to have been elected to the US Congress.

The poster at Friday's West Virginia Republican Day in the state legislature in the town of Charleston showed her and the burning twin towers in New York alongside the words: "Never forget - you said. I am the proof - you have forgotten."

In response, Omar said the image showed why she was the target of threats.

"No wonder I am on the 'hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and 'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations," she said.

"Look no further, the GOP's (Republican) anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them."

Omar's mention of a hitlist appears to refer to an alleged plot by a self-proclaimed white nationalist. Christopher Paul Hasson had a cache of weapons and a list of targets including Ms Omar and other prominent Democratic politicians.

The poster of Omar was next to a poster for ACT for America, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a rights group, lists ACT for America as "an anti-Muslim hate group".

However, ACT said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the poster of Omar and had a "zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination".

West Virginia House of Delegates member Anne Lieberman later resigned after she was accused in the House of making an Islamophobic remark.

Democratic Delegate Michael Angelucci said that during the row over the poster Anne Lieberman said all Muslims were terrorists.

Lieberman declined to comment when contacted by a media outlet.

Last month, Omar apologised for tweets implying US lawmakers only supported Israel because of lobby money.

"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," she said.

--IANS

pgh/

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A man was shot dead today in Yerevan. The police received a call at around 1245am that there was a dead body of a man at the yard of a house.

The police arrived at the scene, where they found the dead body of 50-year-old Amen Parsadanyan.

According to the preliminary conclusion, the man had died of gunshot wounds - one to his heart and the other to his leg.

The police investigative department launched a criminal case into this incident, News.am reported.

The victim's neighbor 42-year-old Yerevan resident Armen M has been detained on suspicion of committing a crime. The preliminary investigation is still in progress.
The DMK and VCK on Monday inked an electoral pact by which the latter will contest from two seats in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The two parties reached the agreement after talks.

Speaking to the media, VCK leader Thirumavalavan said the two constituencies will be decided later.

According to Thirumavalavan, the DMK-led alliance will win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats -- 39 in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

He said the party would decide on whether to contest under its own symbol or under DMK's Rising Sun symbol.

The DMK has signed electoral alliance pacts with Congress (nine seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat), IUML and KDMK (one seat each).

The DMK is also holding talks with the two communist parties, MDMK and others like DMDK.

The DMDK founded by A. Vijayakant has called a meeting of its party senior officials on Tuesday probably to decide on whom to align with.

--IANS

vj/ksk/bg

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To prevent Pulwama-like suicide attack in which 40 CRPF troopers were killed and casualties in anti-terror operations in Jammu & Kashmir, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has "revised" its combat strategy to "wait, watch and take time" and issued new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Over 55,000 CRPF personnel deployed in J&K have been advised "not to show hurry" during anti-terror operations in residential areas.

The new advisory was issued after three CRPF troopers, including an Inspector, were killed after a 48-hour gunfight on Sunday that began on March 1 at Babagund village in the Handwara area of the Kupwara district.

The CRPF lost its men when they were carrying out searches at the site after the end of gun-battle. A militant, presumed to be dead, rose from the debris of a blasted house and fired at them indiscriminately.

Two militants, two policemen and a civilian were also killed in the operation.

"There is clear instruction for every CRPF trooper on combat duty in J&K to 'wait, watch and take time' during anti-terror operations. This is not new. It is a part of our SOP, which has been revised after we lost three personnel," a CRPF official told IANS.

The official said the security personnel would not have been killed, had they waited before carrying out the search operation after the gun-battle. "We change our strategies and revise our SOPs from time to time," he said.

After the Pulwama attack, CRPF Director General R.R. Bhatnagar had in a media briefing last month, stated the CRPF was formulating some strategies but refused to divulge specifics.

The CRPF has already tweaked things like "traffic control" and "convoy movement timings" to enhance security for its 3.5-lakh strong force.

It has also revised the strategy to deal with explosive attacks, said another official privy to the developments.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)

--IANS

rak/rtp/pcj

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed confidence that the Bharatiya Janata Party, under his leadership, would return to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

"Don't worry... I am coming back in 2019 so if you need anything from the Central government, you can tell me," he told a massive gathering of the Patidar community at Jaspur near here.

The Prime Minister was speaking at the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Rs 1,000 crore Umiya Mata Temple complex of the community on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

Wishing all success to the trustees of Umiya Mata Foundation for this project, Modi said, amid huge applause, "If you need anything in this, my home in New Delhi is all yours, and don't worry I am there even after 2019 (elections)".

--IANS

desai/vd

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Chinese news agency Xinhua has put its first female (AI) news presenter on the job, signalling a clear threat to human journalists in the years to come.

Sporting a short haircut and wearing a pink dress, the AI robot named "Xin Xiaomeng" made its debut in a short, one-minute video on Sunday as China's Two Sessions - the country's biggest political meetings of the year - kicked off.

The Two Sessions event is back-to-back meetings between the Chinese Peopleas Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress (NPC).

Xinhua has given life to "Xin Xiaomeng" in collaboration with Chinese search engine company Soguo.

"Xiaomeng" joins two male AI anchors already working with the news agency.

Last November, AI news presenter anchor Qiu Hao was unveiled during the World Internet Conference in China.

There is another, an improved male AI robot named Xin Xiaohao "who is able to gesture, stand, and move more naturally than Xin Xiaomeng or Qiu Hao", said a report in interestingengineering.com.

Qiu Hao has already presented 3,400 reports and garnered 10,000 minutes of screen time.

Xinhua has also been experimenting with a robot reporter called "Jia Jia".
Twenty two GPS-enabled observatories across the country were made operational by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) on Monday to facilitate surveying related to geological and geo-physical mapping.

GSI Director General Dr Dinesh Gupta told a press meet here "this move (operational of 22 GPS observatories) would enable the country to delineate high seismic hazard zones as well as produce themaicm maps with high positional accuracy."



The 22 GPS-enabled centres were set up in GSI facilities in south, central, northen and eastern India.

He said while the 22 'GPS-Geodetic observatories' were operational from today (Monday), the 169th Foundation Day of GSI, another 13 observatories will be operational from March 2020.

Geodetic pertains to Geodesy, the science of measurement of the earth.

The GPS infrastructure consists of highly sensitive receivers installed in a dense network, operating continuously and monitored centrally, he said.

"These stations (observatories) will help identify active seismic zones," the top geologist explained.

The 22 GPS-enabled centres are at Kolkata, Jaipur, Pune, Dehradun, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Visakhapatnam, Agartala, Itanagar, Jammu, Shillong and Little Andaman among others.

The 13 more GPS-Geodetic observatories, to be made operational by March 2020, would be at Aizawl, Uttarkashi, Coochbehar, North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Ranchi, Imphal, among others.

Gupta said GSI is carrying out specialised studies in the domain of natural hazards such as quake by monitoring the active faults and determination of high-strain zones in earth's surface by attaining milimetre level accuracy in GPS.

To foster interest about Geology among the young generation and guardians, GSI has urged HRD ministry to introduce it as a separate subject in secondary and higher secondary curriculum, he said to a question.

"We will wish Geology as a separate subject, and not part of Geography, be introduced in the school syllabus of secondary/higher secondary boards/councils across India," Gupta said.

He said to create interest among students of higher educational institutions about earth science, 'Bhuvisamvad', a unique platform under the Ministry of Mines, was recently launched facilitating interaction of geo-scientists from GSI with students from different universities and colleges.

GSI has also signed an MoU with IIT Hyderabad and IIT (ISM), Dhanbad for collaborative research and awarding PhD degrees.

To a question, Gupta said GSI was setting up a warning system for landslides in sub-Himalayan West Bengal.

Another GSI official told reporters later, "While the process to install early warning system for landslides has already started by involving local communities and areas of that region (Darjeeling Hills), the entire set-up from top to bottom will be ready by 2020."



"The GSI will then be able to issue forecasts about landslides, zeroing on a specific zone, on the lines of IMD's area-specific highly accurate weather updates," the official added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three people have been detained and their mobile phones seized for allegedly clicking pictures and recording videos of a BSF patrol team near the international border in Jaisalmer city of Rajasthan, police said Monday.

Sarjeet (55) and his son, Rajpal (25), from Sri Ganganagar, and Mitthu Lal Bheel (30), of the Mohangarh area in Jaisalmer, were detained by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel on Sunday night at the PTM crossing area and handed over to the police, Mohangarh police station in-charge Amar Singh Ratnu said.

The accused had attempted to flee on being spotted recording videos of the BSF team, but were intercepted and detained, Ratnu said.

Their mobile phones are being examined and they will be interrogated by investigation agencies, the police officer said.

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The ABVP will be staging a protest against the Delhi University vice-chancellor for not meeting the elected members of the varsity's students' union.

The RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad claimed that DU vice-chancellor Yogesh Tyagi has not been seen by any student for almost seven months.

"He does not listen to problems of students and does not want to meet the elected student body (DUSU). We are paying homage to our 'Dead Vice Chancellor'," they said in a statement.

They will be protesting on Tuesday in front of the Arts Faculty.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An additional secretary in the Maharashtra government died Sunday when his motorcycle collided with a tempo truck in Pune, police said Monday.

The incident occurred in the evening when Suhas Chavan was headed to the residence of his brother in Hadapsar area, a police official said. He was 49.

Chavan, who was seriously injured in the accident, was rushed to hospital, but died before treatment, he said.

He was working as Additional Secretary at Mantralaya or state administrative headquarters in Mumbai.

The driver of the tempo truck fled after the incident.

A case has been registered and further investigation is underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The IAF's massive pre-planned day-night exercise in Rajasthan's Pokhran desert close to the Pakistan border on February 16 underwent certain changes in its format following the Pulwama attack after the government considered an air strike option across the LoC which was carried out 10 days later, official sources said Monday.

The exercise 'Vayu Shakti' involving over 140 fighter jets, military helicopters as well as a variety of missiles demonstrated the capability for short notice missions with pinpoint accuracy.

Though it was a pre-scheduled exercise, the IAF top brass knew the government was considering using the air power to avenge the Pulwama attack on February 14, making the drill a dress rehearsal for aerial strike to target Pakistan-based JeM, top government sources said Monday.

They said the IAF even incorporated certain changes in the format of the exercise after receiving an indication from the government about a possible role for the Indian Air Force(IAF) to carry out a strike across the Line of Control(LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

Ten days later, in a well coordinated operation, a fleet of 12 Mirage 2000 aircraft supported by other platforms struck inside Pakistan, targeting the biggest terrorist training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

The IAF got the indication that the government may likely task the air force for a precision strike targeting a Pakistan-based terror outfit, the sources said.

In his address at the inauguration of the exercise, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said the IAF was ever prepared to deliver "appropriate response" as assigned by India's political leadership.

From his speech, it was not clear, then, whether IAF was considering such a strike on Pakistani soil.

At the exercise, a fleet of Mirage 2000 aircraft had demonstrated its capability to smash enemy assets.

The Mirage 2000 aircraft used in the strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed terror 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.

The IAF hit the JeM training facility using S-2000 precision-guided bombs fired from the Mirage-2000 fighter jets.

The sources said the strike produced intended results.

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Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said that the decision to extend the Turkish Stream pipeline across Bulgaria depends on whether Sofia can get firm guarantees that the European Union will not obstruct the plans for gas supplies via the new gas pipeline.

"The new line should not suffer the fate of South Stream," Medvedev told the Bulgarian newspaper Trud.

The decision depends on whether Bulgaria "can get firm guarantees" that the EU "will not obstruct the plans for gas supplies via the new gas pipeline," the PM noted.

Medvedev noted that the option to extend the second branch of the Turkish Stream to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary is being worked out. "Which extension option for Turkish Stream is ultimately chosen will largely depend on the availability of gas transport infrastructure. That, in turn, depends on the involvement and concrete actions of the governments in the respective countries," the head of the Russian government noted.

In this regard, the PM said that he is already seeing progress in Bulgaria. "Bulgartransgaz has recently completed the open season procedure  the collection of binding bids to reserve future gas transmission capacities. Also, Bulgartransgaz has made the final investment decision on the project to develop and expand its gas transmission system. The road to beginning construction work is all clear," Medvedev stressed.

In 2014, Russia halted the implementation of the South Stream pipeline, which was intended to traverse the Black Sea to deliver Russian natural gas through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Italy and Austria to bypass the territory of Ukraine. Moscow gave up the project as the European Commission opposed it over alleged breaches of EU energy legislation.
: The AIAMDK government in Tamil Nadu Monday rolled out the scheme of providing a special assistance of Rs 2,000 each to about 60 lakh Below Poverty Line families across the state, even as the DMK petitioned the Election Commission and dubbed it as an 'inducement' of voters ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The DMK, in its petition to the Election Commission of India (EC) Monday, alleged that the ruling AIADMK was "against a level playing field" in the Lok sabha polls and sought action.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami launched the scheme here by giving away the certificates to 32 beneficiaries, in line with an announcement he had made in the state assembly earlier.

Palaniswami had informed the House on February 11 that the proposal was part of the state government's efforts to ensure inclusive growth.

"Considering the impact of Gaja cyclone (in November 2018) in many districts, as well as the drought, the special assistance was being provided," he had said.

The beneficiaries would be the urban and rural poor, including farm labourers, workers in the fireworks industry, powerloom and handloom sector, salt pans and construction workers, among others.

Palaniswami had then said a total of 60 lakh BPL families will benefit from the move, with an allocation of about Rs 1,200 crore.

Gaja cyclone had hit the coast near Vedaranyam in Nagapattinam district in November 2018, leaving a trail of destruction in over 10 southern districts.

Some districts are facing drought due to deficit rainfall.

The DMK, however, alleged that the scheme was being misused for the benefit of AIADMK workers and office bearers.

"Our party is not against financial assistance to below poverty line families, (but) is concerned that the amount is now being misused for the benefit of AIADMK workers and office-bearers," DMK Organising Secretary and party's Rajya Sabha MP R S Bharathi, said in a petition to the EC.

He claimed that an AIADMK spokesperson, also a former Minister, had said the scheme was "being given to nearly three crore voters, of which two crore would definitely cast their votes in favour" of the ruling party and ensure it 'swept' the polls by winning all 40 Lok Sabha seats, 39 in Tamil Nadu and one Puducherry.

Bharathi recalled that some political parties, social activists and people had objected to the scheme soon after it was announced.

"It is clear that the payment of Rs 2,000 is nothing but an inducement to voters to cast votes in favour of the ruling AIADMK, which is against level playing field in the forthcoming General Election to the Parliament."



Therefore the scheme will not benefit BPL families, he said.

Bharathi requested the EC "to check the illegalities and take immediate action."



"The Chief Secretary is called upon to follow the existing guidelines framed by the state government and Central government and to identify the families of Below Poverty line by adopting transparent process, including publication of names of BPL families in the government website and then distribute the financial assistance," he said.

Any distribution of forms for this scheme through AIADMK office-bearers should also be not done, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sidestepping a raging debate on the number of casualties in the Balakot strike, chief B S Dhanoa on Monday said it is for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

The Air Force doesn't count human casualties, Dhanoa said as the figure of how many terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province remained unclear.

Government sources said up to 350 terrorists were killed, BJP president Amit Shah put the toll at 250, some media reports indicated the damage was minimal and opposition leaders clamoured for clarity. But there has been no official statement so far.

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," Dhanoa said in his first comments since the events of last week, when escalating India-Pakistan tensions led to aerial combat and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman being in captivity in Pakistan for almost three days.

The air chief told reporters the Indian Air Force pilot would fly a fighter jet if he was fit.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference.

Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG 21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and released on March 1.

Discussing the Balakot strike, 12 days after the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, Dhanoa said the Air Force is not in a position to clarify how many people were inside.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise."



Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement."



India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed.

"Obviously, I think they have lost a F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us," he added.

According to him, had the Indian Air Force dropped bombs in a jungle at Balakot there would have been no need for Pakistan to respond.

"The target has been clearly amplified by the foreign secretary in his statement. And, of course, if we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded," he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief said.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."



Eventually, Jaguar, MiG29, and Mirage 2000 aircraft will be replaced by Tejas Mk-2 and then the "next step" will be on Advanced Medium Combat Aircrafts, he said.

Dhanoa declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," Dhanoa told reporters.

Though he could not comment on the politics, he said he was happy Abhinandan was home, he said.

"Whether he flies again or not depends on his medical fitness. That is why post ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Thereafter, whatever treatment is required, we have given to him. Once he gets his medical fitness, then only will he get into a fighter cockpit," Dhanoa said.

The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

The lack of clarity over the Balakot issue is rapidly snowballing into a political issue with opposition leaders, including from the Congress, asking for a statement.

On Sunday, Shah said at a rally in Ahmedabad, "After Pulwama attack, everyone was thinking that we can't do surgical strike so what will happen...But Narendra Modi government, on the 13th day (after the attack), conducted air strikes and killed more than 250 terrorists.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday said BJP president Amit Shah took a stand contradictory to that of the armed forces over the number of terrorists killed in the pre-dawn air strikes on terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's training camps in Pakistan.

On Sunday, Shah said the air strikes killed more than 250 terrorists, while the armed forces have not put out any official figure.

"The armed forces are also saying this. Amit Shah is saying that the armed forces are lying, 250 (terrorists) were killed. Amit Shah is calling the armed forces a liar. The country will not tolerate this under any circumstances," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi, referring to a report which quotes Union minister SS Ahluwalia as saying that the purpose of the strike was to send a message and not to kill.

In another tweet, the Delhi chief minister said the whole country stands with the armed forces while the BJP stands against them.

"The armed forces cannot lie but the BJP is lying. The whole country stands with the armed forces but BJP stands against them," Kejriwal said.

At an event in Ahmedabad, Shah had said: "After Pulwama attack, everyone was thinking that we can't do surgical strike so what will happen...But Narendra Modi government, on the 13th day (after the attack), conducted air strikes and killed more than 250 terrorists."



At a press conference this morning, IAF chief B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the death toll in the Balakot strike, saying it was for the government to provide details on the number of terrorists killed.

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," he said.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP Chief Amit Shah would launch the party's campaign for the coming Lok Sabha elections in Telangana with a meeting to be held at Nizamabad on March 6, state BJP president K Laxman said here Monday.

Shah would attend the party's cluster meeting at Nizamabad, he told reporters here.

"National president Amit Shah ji is going to come for the meeting to be held on 6th in Nizamabad cluster. Along with this meeting, he is going to start the election campaign in Telangana," he said.

The party has divided Lok Sabha constituencies in the state into different clusters.

Laxman said there was no leader in other parties who could match Prime Minister Narendra Modi and added that though people voted for TRS in the assembly elections, they wanted to see Modi as PM again.

On TRS working president K T Rama Rao's comments that TRS would ensure a better deal for Telangana by winning 16 Lok Sabha seats (of the total 17; leaving Hyderabad held by AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi), Laxman said people of Telangana know that TRS cannot get the Prime Minister's post even if it wins not just 16, but 20 Lok Sabha seats.

"If there is anyone who can match Modi, Rama Rao should specify who it is ", he said.

TRS has to make it clear whom it would support (post the Lok Sabha elections), the Congress or any other party, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the debate over India's February 26 air strikes in Pakistan rages on in the country, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Monday asked the Centre to avoid "opposition-bashing" and convince the world on its stand.

Chidambaram said he was prepared to "believe the government" as a "proud citizen", but the Centre has to "make efforts for the world to also believe" its stand.

He recalled party chief Rahul Gandhi was the first to laud the Indian Air Force after the strikes.

Chidambaram faced sharp rebuke from Union Minister Piyush Goyal for his comments, with the senior BJP leader charging the Congress with believing in "Pakistan propaganda," but not the Indian armed forces.

"As a proud citizen, I am prepared to believe my government. But if we want the world to believe, the government must make the effort (to explain), not indulge in Opposition-bashing," Chidambaram said in a tweet.

Chidambaram's response came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the opposition for doubting the IAF air strikes in Pakistan amidst a debate in the country over the casualty inflicted by the IAF.

Incidentally, on Monday, IAF Chief BS Dhanoa said the figure on casualty will be given by the government, even as Union Minister SS Ahluwalia had said the purpose of the strike was not to cause human casualty but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.

Neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of air strikes. Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorists killed were being circulated, he had said.

Last Tuesday's air strikes were seen as retaliation to the February 14 attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama in Kashmir, in which 40 personnel were killed.

At a political rally in Patna on Sunday, Modi had said the opposition parties were speaking a language that "suits" Pakistan.

"Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully," the PM had said.

On Monday, without taking any names, in another tweet, Chidambaram said, "IAF Vice Air Marshal declined to comment on casualties."



"The MEA statement said there were no civilian or military casualties. So, who put out the number of casualties at 300-350," he asked.

"Congress President Rahul Gandhi was the first to salute the Indian Air Force for its splendid achievement. Why has Mr Modi forgotten that," Chidambaram, former Union Minister, said.

Goyal responded sharply to Chidambaram's attack, saying it was "condemnable and shameful."



The railway minister said it was "shameful" that the Indian opposition was raising questions about our armed forces.

"It is an insult to the Air Force, an insult for our jawans who are willing to lay down their lives to protect the country," he told reporters at Tuticorin.

"..and this shows Congress party believes in Pakistan propaganda and not in our own armed forces and what our Army, Navy and Air force said."



"It is thoroughly condemnable and I am ashamed that we have such leaders like P Chidambaram in this wonderful state of Tamil Nadu," Goyal said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet on Monday said, "Modi-ji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country."



West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday had demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Award-winning Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid was released on Monday after spending nearly six years in prison following his arrest while covering a bloody crackdown on protests.

The photographer, widely known as Shawkan, faces five years of strict supervision and will be required to spend every night sleeping at his local police station, but he vowed to resume his work.

Shawkan last year received UNESCO's World Freedom Prize for his "courage, resistance and commitment to freedom of expression", dismaying the Egyptian authorities who accused him of "terrorist and criminal acts".

Speaking at his home in Giza, he said the first moments of his release felt "as if I was flying".

Imprisonment was "an experience that I can never forget", the 31-year-old told AFP.

New York-based Human Rights Watch welcomed Shawkan's release while deploring the state of journalism in Egypt.

"Since Shawkan's arrest in 2013, Egypt has descended further into darkness and suppression of a free media," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa head.

"While we joyfully celebrate his release, it's also a reminder of how far Egypt has fallen since 2011," when an uprising toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak and stirred hopes of a democratic awakening, she said in a statement.

Shawkan said he was determined to return to his career despite the restrictions placed on him.

"I will continue my work as a photojournalist in Egypt," he said.

His mother said she feared his journalism would expose him to more risk.

"As a mother I always urge him to stay out of trouble... but he always says journalism is in my blood," said 61-year-old Reda Mahrous.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the Egyptian authorities "to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release".

Shawkan said he would take legal steps to try to end the restrictions.

He was detained in August 2013 while covering clashes between security forces and supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi that turned into a bloodbath in which hundreds of demonstrators died.

"We were arrested in the first 30-40 minutes (after the clashes started). We were stripped of our equipment," he said.

"The others were released two hours later... I left my home to take photos and I didn't return for five and half years."



Shawkan was put on trial along with 739 defendants, most of them charged with killing police and vandalising property.

It was one of the largest mass trials since the 2011 uprising.

In September, an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against 75 defendants and gave Shawkan a five-year jail term -- which covered the time he had already served -- but he remained in jail awaiting his release.

Shawkan was accused of "murder and membership of a terrorist organisation" -- charges that can carry the death penalty -- sparking condemnation from international rights groups which demanded his release.

Amnesty International said at the time he had been convicted "simply for doing his job as a photojournalist and documenting the police brutality that took place that day".

Amnesty hailed his release but denounced "the ludicrous probation measures" which will require him to spend the night at a police station for the next five years.

Another 214 people who were sentenced in September to five years in prison were freed from prison on Monday.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former army chief, was elected in 2014 nearly a year after leading the military's overthrow of Morsi following mass protests against the Islamist's year-long rule.

Sisi, who critics say has carried out a widespread crackdown on dissent, was re-elected in March 2018.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks Egypt 161st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index.

More than 30 journalists are still in prison in Egypt, according to the media watchdog.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh has executed a man who murdered a Saudi Embassy official in the Dhaka's high security diplomatic area in 2012.

Saiful Islam Mamun was hanged on Sunday at 10.01 pm at the suburban high security Kashimpur Central Jail.

"Convict Saiful Islam Mamun was hanged at 10.01 PM yesterday at suburban high security Kashimpur Central Jail in Gazipur," Shahjahan Ahmed, a senior official of the prison was quoted as saying by the state-run BSS agency.

Khalaf Al Ali, 45, was shot dead near his residence in Dhaka's posh Gulshan area on March 6, 2012.

The subsequent investigations found it to be a case of mugging when miscreants demanded money from him but his resistance led to a bloody confrontation when Mamun shot him dead.

A fast track Dhaka court in December the same year handed down the death penalty to five Bangladeshis for the murder but four of them were acquitted as the verdict was later referred to the High Court for mandatory review of capital punishments.

However, the apex Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on November 10 last year approved ways for Mamun's execution for murdering Ali, rejecting his plea for reviewing his sentence.

Jail's official Ahmed said that doctors subsequently declared Mamun dead while the body was later handed over to his brother on behalf of the family.

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The opposition Naga People's Front (NPF) Monday expressed apprehension that the BJP led central government might promulgavote bankdinance on the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill just before the Lok Sabha election to strengthen the votebank of the saffron party.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is not acceptable and it would be opposed tooth and nail in whichever form it comes in future, NPF spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said.

"The BJP government, which is hell bent in implementing the Bill, would try to bring it as an ordinance just before the elections as the BJP is trying to increase its vote base," Kikon said at a panel discussion on the Bill.

Reiterating his party's stand to oppose the Bill till the end, he claimed that and have been facing the consequences of illegal immigrants as they have out-numbered the indigenous inhabitants.

Kikon said the Centre is planning to "dump illegal immigrants into the North East" and "granting citizenship on religious grounds is wrong."



The contentious Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to grant Indian nationality to people belonging to minority communities -- Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians -- in Afghanistan, and after six years of residence in instead of 12, even if they don't possess any proper document.

A largescale protest broke out in the Northeastern states as the indigenous people of the region were apprehending that if the bill was enacted, it would endanger their livelihood and identity.

The bill, being vehemently opposed in the region even by certain allies of the BJP, was passed in the Lok Sabha on January 8. However, it is set to lapse on June 3, when the term of the present Lok Sabha ends, as it could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha.

Another panellist, Naga Hoho P Chuba Ozukum said, "The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has become a threat for the Nagas and the people of North East in general because once it becomes a law, we won't be able to save ourselves."



Naga Hoho is the apex tribal body of the Nagas.

Even the Article 371(A) of the Constitution and the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system would not be able to save the Nagas, Ozukum said.

The Article 371(A) deals with certain special provisions for

Former minister Merentoshi R Jamir and others also took part in the panel discussion.
In a bid to end differences between the BJP and the Shiv Sena over Maharashtra's Jalna Lok Sabha seat, a senior BJP minister Monday tried to convince Sena leader Arjun Khotkar to not contest against state BJP president and sitting MP Raosaheb Danve.

However, Khotkar, who had earlier announced to take on Danve even if the Sena and BJP formed an alliance, maintained that he would follow the decision of his party chief Uddhav Thackeray on the issue.

At a time when announcement on Lok Sabha poll schedule is eagerly awaited, Maharashtra Cooperation Minister Subhash Deshmukh met Khotkar at the latter's residence in Jalna along with Danve.

Though Deshmukh claimed Danve and Khotkar have agreed to bury their political differences, the Sena leader who handles textile, animal husbandry and fisheries portfolios as a minister of state, put the ball on Jalna in Thackeray's court.

Speaking to reporters after the hour-long meeting, Deshmukh said, "Both the leaders have agreed to bury their differences. Both will not only work for their respective political parties, but now they will work together for the alliance. Khotkar will adhere to the Yuti dharma".

He said while some issues flagged by Khotkar have been resolved, rest will be placed before Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis during a meeting in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Danve said there is no scope for doubt now about anyone's political stance.

"You can guess the decision taken place at today's meeting by looking at our expressions," the state BJP president said.

However, Khotkar was not forthcoming.

"My attachment is with Uddhav Thackeray. I am going to abide by whatever decision he takes. I have stated earlier as well that I will not betray the order of 'Matoshree' (read Uddhav Thackeray)," he said, adding that Deshmukh came to meet him as an emissary of the chief minister and gave him a patient hearing.

The war of words between Danve and Khotkar, who is chairman of Jalna Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee, has been the topic of discussion in political circles.

Khotkar is the sitting MLA from Jalna assembly constituency.

Danve had reportedly said "all thieves have been united against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and in Jalna too some thieves have ganged up against me".

As per the seat-sharing agreement, the BJP will contest 25 of total 48 seats in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, leaving rest for the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

While announcing that he would take on Danve, Khotkar had said in January that the BJP has been winning polls on strength of Sena for many years.

"The BJP is behaving in very arrogant manner, which is very painful. So, I will contest to defeat their arrogance," he had said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UK government drew the wrath of transparency groups on Monday by delaying proposed legislation aimed at ending secret company ownership in offshore territories such as Jersey.

Britain has been gradually ramping up its fight against money laundering and various tax avoidance and evasion schemes.

But it has less say in the rules governing the Isle of Man -- a region of 85,000 people in the Irish Sea -- and its fellow crown dependencies of Jersey and Guernsey.

The European Union has threatened to include the tiny territories in its 2019 list of tax havens if they fail to improve their transparency rules.

A cross-party amendment, that had been scheduled for debate in the British parliament on Monday, is aimed at obliging the islands introduce registers disclosing companies' ownership structures.

The law would require the names of parties owning at least 25 percent of any firm registered in the dependencies to be made publicly available by the end of 2020.

But the government on Monday unexpectedly withdrew from debate the bill to which the amendment was attached.

The UK Treasury said it wanted to give the proposed amendments "proper and thorough consideration" before putting them up for a vote.

It did not say when the next debate might be held.

"Crown dependencies are separate jurisdictions with their own democratically elected governments," a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May's office had earlier told reporters.

"They are responsible for their own fiscal matters".

The three crown dependencies are internally self-governing possessions of the British crown for which the United Kingdom is responsible under international law.

The BBC reported that they are home to 76,000 companies -- nearly one for every three people living there.

Their governments issued a joint statement on Saturday raising "strong objections" over the proposed change.

"It is a respected constitutional position that the UK does not legislate for the crown dependencies on domestic matters without our consent," their statement said.

London "should not attempt to pass unwarranted and inoperative legislation," Guernsey chief minister Gavin St Pier tweeted as he headed into the talks.

The three islands further branded the amendment as redundant because they had a "robust existing approach" to fighting secret company ownership.

The Financial Times newspaper said the amendment appeared likely to succeed eventually because the proposed law change has the backing of powerful lawmakers in May's Conservative Party.

The government's decision to delay the amendment was swiftly condemned by the change's supporters and global anti-corruption campaigners.

Amendment co-sponsor Margaret Hodge called the government's decision "outrageous".

"May showing yet again not fit to lead," Hodge said on Twitter.

"Every day that passes without the transparency brought by public registers is another day where corrupt individuals can hide and move wealth they have stolen," Transparency International said.

A similar parliamentary proposal last year imposed greater transparency rules on Britain's overseas territories.

These include the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands -- two territories that are home to tens of thousands of companies with overseas owners.

Such regions are popular due to their very low tax rates and looser transparency rules.

Britain's Foreign Office has extended the deadline by which the overseas territories have to publish their registers until the end of 2023.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Netherlands recalled its ambassador to Iran for consultations after diplomats at its embassy in Tehran were expelled, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said.

"The government has decided to recall the Dutch ambassador in Tehran for consultations, Blok said in a statement. This decision follows the announcement by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that two Dutch diplomats at the embassy in Tehran have been declared persona non grata and have to leave the country," Reuters cited the statement as saying.

Blok added that the diplomats have already returned to the Netherlands.

The Iranian ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in The Hague to explain the expulsions, which Blok said in a letter to parliament is not acceptable and is negative for the development of bilateral relations.
Two locks of hair belonging to widely revered Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros will be repatriated after a request from Addis Ababa, the National Army Museum in Britain announced Monday, as more African countries seek to reclaim heritage they say was taken decades, even centuries, ago.

An outcry erupted last year in Ethiopia over an exhibit by the Victoria and Albert Museum on the 1868 British expedition to what was then called Abyssinia.

During that campaign, in which 13,000 troops were deployed to free several British hostages, the emperor killed himself and his fortress was captured and looted.

"Even at the time, this episode was regarded as a shameful one," the Victoria and Albert Museum said in its notes on the exhibit.

Ethiopians were appalled, with the government saying it would use "whatever legal and diplomatic instruments" to secure the return of related items including an intricate golden crown.

That locks of the emperor's hair were being held by another British museum was seen as particularly sensitive.

"Displaying human parts in websites and museums is inhumane," Ethiopia's minister for culture and tourism, Hirut Woldemariam, told The Associated Press last year.

The National Army Museum has said the hair was donated in 1959 by relatives of an artist who painted the emperor on his deathbed.

"Our decision to repatriate is very much based on the desire to inter the hair within the tomb alongside the emperor" at a monastery in northern Ethiopia, Terri Dendy, the museum's head of collections standards and care, said in a statement.

It was not clear when the formal handover would occur. The Ethiopian Embassy in London said it would hold talks with the museum on Thursday about the repatriation, which comes at the end of a yearlong commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the confrontation known as the Battle of Maqdala.

The embassy in a statement commended the museum's decision as an "exemplary gesture of goodwill," adding that "a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when (the hair) is returned to its rightful home."



Now Ethiopians say they seek the return of the bones of the emperor's son, Prince Alemayehu, who was taken to Britain and died there at age 18. He was buried at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The decision to return the emperor's hair is "a great start, both in encouraging the British toward looking into the possibilities of returning our looted antiquities and also the Ethiopian stakeholders whose decades-long, painstaking efforts actually can bear fruit," Yonas Desta, director-general of Ethiopia's Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, told the AP.

The bulk of what was taken, however, remains in the hands of the descendants of the British soldiers, according to Alula Pankhurst, a former professor at Addis Ababa University and an expert on Ethiopian studies.

"Some items in private collections have already been returned but the bulk of the items are in public collections within the UK and those cannot be restituted without an act of Parliament, and that is something that requires a big change in popular opinion and a bill has to be presented by members of Parliament," he said last year.

"This is something that cannot be done overnight." Some in Africa expect the momentum to grow in repatriating heritage from institutions overseas.

Late last year, a study by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, recommended that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them.

That could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit. The experts estimated that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistani troops Monday violated ceasefire at two places by targeting forward posts and villages along the in and Kashmir, breaking a two-day lull in cross-border skirmishes, officials said.

The firing and shelling by in Akhnoor and Poonch sectors in region, however, caused no casualty, they said.

A defence spokesperson said initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing mortar shells and small arms on forward posts and villages around 3.00 am in Akhnoor sector of district.

The Indian retaliated strongly and effectively and the exchange of firing between the two sides continued till 6.30 am, he said.

The spokesperson said also initiated unprovoked shelling with mortars and firing of small arms in Poonch sector around 5.30 pm, prompting strong and effective retaliation by the Indian

Barring a two-hour cross-border firing in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district Saturday afternoon, the guns had fallen silent all along the LoC since Friday night.

The lull in the cross-border firing had come as a major relief to the border residents, especially in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri, where Pakistan had violated ceasefire for over 50 times, targeting 80 villages which left four persons, including three members of a family dead, and several others injured.

The ceasefire violation by Pakistan witnessed a spurt after India's air strike at terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26 in a "preemptive" action following the terrorist group's February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Amid heightened tensions, chief Gen visited Jammu-based White Knight Corps on Saturday and reviewed the operational preparedness of the forces in the Corps Zone in view of the current situation along the LoC and the International Border.

Gen Rawat visited various forward locations of Samba and Ratnuchak along the IB in Jammu region again on Sunday.

He expressed complete confidence in capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of enemies of the country and handle any situation.

The Army chief also praised the high state of morale and preparedness of the troops.
China on Monday kept mum on Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mohammad Qureshi's claim that Beijing plans to send a special envoy to Pakistan and India to ease tensions following the Pulwama terror attack, but said the two countries can resolve their differences through friendly negotiations.

Pakistani media on March 2 quoted Qureshi as saying that China has decided to send a special envoy to Pakistan and India in a bid to reduce the tensions in the region.

Asked about Qureshi's reported remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, As to your question, like we said before, we really hope India and Pakistan, both important countries in South Asia, can resolve the relevant issues through friendly consultations and negotiations."



In order to ease the tensions, China has maintained close communication with both India and Pakistan. Whatever is conducive to regional peace and stability, China will try to do that, and we will continue to do so," Lu said, without referring to any plans to send a special envoy.

To a related question whether China is ready to play a mediation role between India and Pakistan as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia is also ready for it, Lu said, We welcome all the efforts that are conducive to easing tensions and promoting peace and stability in this region."



Actually, we have been in close contact with both India and Pakistan, and we will continue to do so and to play a conducive role," he said.

India maintains that Kashmir is a bilateral issue and there is no need for any third party mediation.

To another question about the reported remarks by Lavrov that Counter-Terrorism Mechanism under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) could be a forum where the India-Pakistan issues could be discussed, Lu said I also saw the reports that Lavrov said the SCO mechanism could be used to ease the tensions.

We encourage anything as long as it is conducive to promoting the peace and stability in this region and easing tensions. We will encourage anything to this end," he said.

Russian agency TASS reported on March 1 quoting Russian Foreign Ministry that Lavrov had a telephonic conversation with Qureshi on India-Pakistan tensions.

"Russia stressed the need for all countries to observe a provision on universal counter-terrorism conventions and cooperate for their implementation," the Foreign Ministry said, noting the possibility of using for these goals the mechanism of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure of the SCO, the TASS report said.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Lavrov on the sidelines of the Russia, India, China (RIC) Foreign Ministers meeting on February 28 at the Chinese city of Wuzhen.

At the RIC Ministers meeting, India won the support of China and Russia in the fight against terrorism as Beijing and Moscow had agreed to step up policy coordination in this regard.

Briefing media after the RIC Ministers talks, Wang said, We agreed to jointly combat all forms terrorism through closer policy coordination and practical cooperation. Especially important is to eradicate the breeding grounds of terrorism and extremism."



But at the same time Wang tried to strike a balance highlighting that Pakistan, which is Beijing's close ally, is also opposed to terrorism.

China, Russia and India have reaffirmed our strong opposition to terrorism in various forms and manifestations. At the same time, we believe that Pakistan has always been opposed to terrorism," Wang had said at the joint press conference with Swaraj and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Elaborating on China's stand, Wang said, "on the recent developments between India and Pakistan, China appreciates the statements from Indian and Pakistani friends saying that they will exercise and avoid escalation of the situation.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China suspects detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig of spying and stealing state secrets, state media reported Monday, turning up the heat in a diplomatic row between Beijing and Ottawa as a top Huawei executive faces possible extradition.

Another Canadian in Chinese detention -- businessman Michael Spavor -- was one of Kovrig's main sources of intelligence, the official Xinhua agency reported, citing authorities.

The pair were detained in December in what observers see as retaliation just days after Canada arrested Chinese telecom giant Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the United States.

Chinese authorities had previously said the two Canadian men were under investigation on suspicion of endangering national security. Spying charges could expose them to tough prison sentences.

Kovrig, who now works for the International Crisis Group think tank, had often entered China using a non-diplomatic passport and business visas and has been gathering intelligence since 2017, Xinhua said.

The new allegations come three days after Canada launched the extradition process against Meng, angering Beijing, which called the action a "severe political incident." Meng will be in court in Vancouver on Wednesday to schedule a date for her extradition hearing.

The United States wants to put her on trial on fraud charges for alleged Iran sanctions-busting and lying to US banks about it.

Ottawa has said the two Canadian citizens were "arbitrarily" detained and that interrogations of Kovrig breached the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations -- allegations Beijing flatly rejected.

A group of Canadian parliamentarians had earlier complained to Chinese authorities that Kovrig and Spavor have been denied access to lawyers, and remain in "completely unacceptable" detention conditions.

"China's approach is no different from the rest of the world in dealing with such cases involving national security cases," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular briefing Monday.

China will handle their case in "strict accordance with the law, guarantee the legitimate rights of Kovrig and Spavor," and arrange for consular visits, a report by a Communist Party organ overseeing state and public security said in a report on a website it operates.

Meanwhile, Meng, 47, has filed suit against Canadian authorities for violating her constitutional rights when she was detained at Vancouver International Airport.

Her lawyers charge impropriety in the conditions under which Meng was interrogated for three hours by the customs officers, officially as part of a routine inspection, before being served with her arrest.

During those three hours, the customs officers searched her phones and computers as well as her luggage, in violation of her rights, the lawyers said.

The US Justice Department accuses Huawei and its chief financial officer of circumventing US sanctions against Iran, but also, via two affiliates, stealing trade secrets from US telecommunications group T-Mobile.

The daughter of Huawei's founder, Meng was released on parole in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences, on a bond deposit of 10 million Canadian dollar (USD 6.6 million), wearing an electronic bracelet and handing over her passports.

The extradition procedure can take months or even years because of the many appeal possibilities.

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The 6.6-km Noida City Centre-Noida Electronic City section of Delhi Metro, an extension of the Blue Line, was Monday inspected for safety, paving way for its opening, officials said.

This fully-elevated section consists of six stations -- Sector 34, Sector 52, Sector 61, Sector 59, Sector 62 and Noida Electronic City.

"The civil work on the section is over and trials are currently underway. Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) S K Pathak today inspected the 6.675-km long Noida City Centre-Noida Electronic City section of Delhi Metro's Blue Line," a senior DMRC official said.

The extension, likely to be inaugurated soon, will immensely help residents of Noida.

Once operational, the extended corridor will bring the Blue Line close to the recently-opened Aqua Line, which connects Noida and Greater Noida.

Sector 52 station of the DMRC's Blue Line is very close to Sector 51 station on the Aqua Line, operated by the Noida Metro Rail Corporation (NMRC), and its commuters are awaiting last-mile connectivity between the two lines.

Plans are afoot to connect the two lines through a dedicated pathway and a carriage-way for e-rickshaws, officials had said.

There is a distance of around 300 metres between Sector 51 metro station, the terminus of the Aqua Line in Noida, and the upcoming Sector 52 metro station of the Blue Line.

The Delhi Metro's current operational span is 327 km with 236 stations in Delhi and neighbouring cities.

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The state Congress leadership Monday said it is ready to fight the upcoming Lok Sabha elections alone in West Bengal if the Left Front does not leave for it the two party-bastions -- Raiganj and Murshidabad, after the CPI(M) proposed a "no mutual contest" for six seats in the state.

In a move to untangle the formula of seat sharing, an arrangement to consolidate anti-BJP votes and anti-Trinamool Congress votes, the CPI(M), after its Central Committee meeting in Delhi, proposed "no mutual contest" in six Lok Sabha seats, currently held by the two parties.

In 2014, the CPI(M) won Raiganj and Murshidabad in a four-cornered contest, though they have been traditional Congress strongholds. While Uttar Dinajpur's Raiganj has been a pocket borough of Congress stalwart Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Murshidabad's has been dominated by party's firebrand leader Adhir Chowdhury.

There were several rounds of talks between the two blocs on seat sharing but Raiganj and Murshidabad have remained the bone of contention.

On the proposal by the CPI(M), the Congress has not made any decision officially, but a senior leader privy to the seat sharing discussions with CPI(M) told PTI that the party will not compromise on the two constituencies.

"There are two prevailing views in the party. One: we fight alone in Bengal as it is a Lok Sabha election where the fight is between the Congress and the BJP. Two: we share seats with the CPI(M). But there will be no compromise on our demand for Raiganj and Murshidabad seats," the Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

"Raiganj and Murshidabad have long been a stronghold of the Congress. We lost these seats with a very small margin in 2014 due to four cornered contest. But this time we are confident of winning those two seats," he said.

Senior Congress leader and chairman of the state coordination committee Pradip Bhattacharya, who is part of the parleys with the Left, said, "It is a decision made by the CPI(M). We are yet to take a call on this matter. We are hopeful that by end of this week we will decide on this."



Late in the night, the Congress issued a statement saying the party had started with "great hopes" the seat sharing discussions with the Left.

"But it needs to be mentioned that certain geographies have been historically Congress bastions and we find it difficult to ignore our supporters in such constituencies. As a result, we are yet to arrive at a conclusion. But we will discuss and submit our recommendation to the AICC and Congress president very soon," it said.

In April 2018, at the Party Congress, the CPI(M)'s had said that defeating the BJP and its allies was the party's main goal, but had also said this had to be achieved without a political alliance with the Congress. However, it had kept that option open in Bengal to maximise pooling of anti-BJP and anti-TMC votes.

The two parties had a similar tactical understanding in the 2016 assembly polls.

In the last general election in 2014, the CPI(M)-led Left Front won only the Raiganj and the Murshidabad seats.

The Congress had won four seats -- Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Baharampur and Jangipur.

Maldaha Uttar MP Mausam Noor joined the Trinamool Congress recently.

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Two days after Union Minister S S Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of Balakot air strikes, the Monday asked the Prime Minister to come out with the truth on the number of terrorists killed.

"Modi-ji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country," said spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet Monday.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, S S Ahluwalia, said Saturday in Siliguri that neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of air strikes.

Rather, the Indian media and social media users were circulating an unconfirmed figure of terrorists killed, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modi-ji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modi-ji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask if Modi-ji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figure?" he asked reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The Darjeeling BJP MP's comments come in the wake of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioning the Modi government over the air strike.

Banerjee on Thursday demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The CPI(M) on Monday proposed "no mutual contest" for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in six seats currently held by the and the Left Front in West Bengal, in a move to untangle the formula of seat sharing between the two political blocs to consolidate anti-BJP and anti- votes.

The state leadership, however, said it is ready to fight the polls alone if the Left Front does not leave for it the two parliamentary seats -- Raiganj and Murshidabad, which are strongholds.

While the Congress won four seats in the state during the last national polls, the CPI(M) won only Raiganj and Murshidabad, which have been the bone of contention between the two sides since the beginning of the talks for seat sharing.

In 2014, the CPI(M) won Raiganj and Murshidabad in a four-cornered contest, though they have been traditional Congress strongholds. While Uttar Dinajpur's Raiganj has been a pocket borough of Congress stalwart Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Murshidabad's politics has been dominated by the party's firebrand leader Adhir Chowdhury.

Raiganj is represented by CPI (M)'s Mohammad Salim, while Badaruddoza Khan represents Murshidabad.

"In West Bengal, the Central Committee had earlier decided that the CPI(M) will adopt suitable tactics to ensure the maximisation of the pooling of anti-BJP, anti- votes," CPIM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

"In accordance with this, the CPI(M) proposes no mutual contest in the present six sitting Lok Sabha seats, currently held by the Congress and the Left Front," Yechury said.

For the rest of the seats, the Left Front in Bengal will decide on March 8, he added.

The decision on these six seats was taken at a Central Committee meeting of the party on March 3 and March 4.

On the proposal by the CPI(M), the Congress has not made any decision officially, but a senior leader privy to the seat sharing discussions with CPI(M) told PTI that the party will not compromise on the two constituencies -- Raiganj and Murshidabad.

"There are two prevailing views in the party. One: we fight alone in Bengal as it is a Lok Sabha election where the fight is between the Congress and the BJP. Two: we share seats with the CPI(M). But there will be no compromise on our demand for Raiganj and Murshidabad seats," the Congress leader said on condition of anonymity.

"Raiganj and Murshidabad have long been a stronghold of the Congress. We lost these seats with a very small margin in 2014 due to a four-cornered contest. But this time we are confident of winning those two seats," he said.

Senior Congress leader and chairman of the state coordination committee, Pradip Bhattacharya, who is part of the parleys with the Left, said, "It is a decision made by the CPI(M). We are yet to take a call on this matter. We are hopeful that by end of this week we will decide on this."



Later in the night, the Congress issued a statement saying the party had started with "great hopes" the seat sharing discussions with the Left.

"But it needs to be mentioned that certain geographies have been historically Congress bastions and we find it difficult to ignore our supporters in such constituencies. As a result, we are yet to arrive at a conclusion. But we will discuss and submit our recommendation to the AICC and Congress president very soon," it said.

The two parties had a similar tactical understanding in the 2016 assembly polls.

In the last general election in 2014, the CPI(M)-led Left Front won only the Raiganj and Murshidabad seats.

The Congress had won four seats -- Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Baharampur and Jangipur. Maldaha Uttar MP Mausam Noor joined the Trinamool Congress recently.

Congress' Adhir Chowdhury met party chief Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and discussed various aspects on the proposed seat sharing.

At the meeting, Gandhi has enquired about the positives and negatives of the seat sharing with the CPI(M) in Bengal, according to Congress sources.

Chowdhury has briefed Gandhi about all the aspects of the proposed seat sharing and the hurdles.

"During the meeting Adhir Chowdhury also said that the Congress workers in Bengal are of opinion that the Congress should either go alone or go for seat sharing with the Left.

"But under no circumstances should the party align with the in Bengal as it would be a severe jolt to the organisation in the state," a senior Congress leader, privy to the development, said.
The CPI on Monday questioned BJP president Amit Shah's claim of 250 casualties in the Indian Air Force's air strike on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot and accused the BJP and RSS of politicising the armed forces.

CPI leader D Raja said the prime minister cannot accused the opposition for demoralising the armed forces as "it is him (Modi), the BJP and the RSS which are dragging the defence forces into 'dirty politics' and 'controversies'."



"They are doing politicisation of what our security forces are doing. If the prime minister worries about the country's security and unity, he should answer the questions raised.

"Where was the prime minister at the all-party meeting. The opposition had demanded that he should convene an all-party meeting, but he did not address one," Raja said.

The CPI leader said while External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj did not provide any casualties, "how come Amit Shah is giving figures of 250".

"PM Modi should tell the nation and people what the BJP/RSS are doing. They are all politicising the armed forces and they are undermining our armed forces," he said.

"It is the BJP/RSS which is demeaning the security forces. They have no moral authority or ethical position to accuse the opposition. Mr Modi thinks the opposition is demoralising the forces, he should name which party is doing so," he asked.

At an event in Ahmedabad on Sunday, Shah had said: "After Pulwama attack, everyone was thinking that we can't do surgical strike so what will happen...But Narendra Modi government, on the 13th day (after the attack), conducted air strikes and killed more than 250 terrorists.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with entral Bank Chairwoman Elvira Naiullina today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

"The president is working in the Kremlin today, he has a normal workday, internal meetings. The meeting with Nabiullina will be public," the spokesman said, adding that it will be an ordinary meeting.

Peskov added that fund Baring Vostok might be discussed if the officials see this appropriate, the Prime news agency reported.
The organisers of a prestigious annual culinary award on Monday appealed to gastronomy experts from India to nominate chefs who can showcase the country's exceptional skills in using culinary means to make an impact on the society.

The 100,000 euro Basque Culinary World Prize, now in its fourth year, honours a "trailblazing" chef from among worldwide nominees in recognition of their "transformative impact beyond the kitchen".

The Basque Culinary Centre in San Sebastian in Spain, which collaborates with the Basque government on the annual prize, said that it is keen to reach out to India because of the country's tradition of using culinary means to make an impact on the society.

"The knowledge of cooks can be used to provide solutions to the many problems where food plays a fundamental role. Through their expertise, creativity, commitment to excellence -and often boldness - chefs are showing that it is possible to make a huge difference to realities on the ground, said Joxe Mari Aizega, Director of the Basque Culinary Centre.

"In India, there is a long tradition of this work, which is why we invite everyone in the Indian gastronomic community to nominate an inspiring chef who can claim concrete achievements beyond the kitchen," he added.

An interdisciplinary jury made up of some of the most influential chefs in the world, together with academics and international experts, select each year's winner - a chef whose work embodies the ethos of the prize to transform society through gastronomy.

The winner receives 100,000 euro, which he or she devotes to a project of choice that expresses the transformative power of gastronomy.

"This unique and global award celebrates the scope and potential of gastronomy when chefs around the world make the best use of the knowledge, leadership, entrepreneurial spirit and creativity that sets them apart to generate transformative changes in society," said Bittor Oroz, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Policy in the Basque government.

"Another aim of this prize, awarded within the framework of the Global Strategy for the Basque Country, is that shared values in Basque society - such as the culture of effort, commitment, self-improvement, dedication to innovation and competition, and equal opportunities for women and men - are associated with the image of the Basque Country and become our calling card at an international level," he said.

This year's winning chef will be selected from 10 finalists at an event in San Francisco on July 15, hosted by chef Dominique Crenn, chef of Atelier Crenn in the US.

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A Delhi Police head constable was injured after he was hit with a bottle by two person when he intervened in a scuffle between a man and a woman outside a resto-bar in south Delhi's Saket area, police said Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday when Head Constable Manoj was on night patrol, they said.

In a complaint, Manish Kaushik, a builder, said that on Friday night he visited the resto-bar where he met a woman and became friends with her, police said.

He claimed he had a fight with her over some issue after which he left the bar, they said.

On Saturday night, he visited the restro-bar again and when he was leaving in the early hours of Sunday, he spotted the same woman with two men in a parking area, a senior police officer said.

Kaushik told police that he was hit with a bottle by the men on the woman's instructions and she alleged that he had insulted her the previous night, he said.

The head constable, who was patrolling the area, intervened. He was also attacked by the two men with the bottle which they had used to hit Kaushik, the officer said.

They hit the policeman on his face, he added.

The head constable and the victim were taken to hospital and discharged after treatment, the officer said.

The two men, who were with the woman, fled from the spot after the incident. However, a case was registered and the woman was arrested, he said.

Police said they are trying to nab the accused men who worked as a bouncer at a club in Gurugram. Further investigation is underway.

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh Monday told the state Assembly that the demand for the inclusion of the ethnic Meitei/Meetei community in the Scheduled Tribe (ST) list was reasonable.

Terming the demand as reasonable, Singh said the state government was taking necessary steps in this regard.

He said microscopic population of the indigenous people of the state is under threat and the ST demand seeks to provide Constitutional safeguard for the indigenous people, a press release issued by Department of Information and Public Relations said.

Responding to the Calling Attention moved by opposition member K Meghachandra Singh, on the last day of the Assembly Session, Singh said the momentum for the ST demand began during the term of the previous government.

He said the Manipur State Commission for the Schedule Tribe Act, 2014 was notified in the State Gazette on March 27, 2014.

On August 8, 2016, the Manipur State Commission for Scheduled Tribes was constituted for examining the ST demand with RS Golmei as the chairman of the committee.

He informed the House that the state Home department has communicated to the Anthropological Survey of India to depute or nominate experts for inclusion in the Committee to conduct the Socio Economic and Ethnographic survey.

Singh said the National Commission of Schedule Tribes on July 6, 2018 sought report on action taken regarding the socio economic and ethnographic survey from the state government for the procedure to include Meitei/Meetei in the ST list.

He said the government in consultation with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Tribal Affairs is taking up the matter positively.

A mass protest rally was organised here by Scheduled Tribe Demand Committee (STDC) on Sunday demanding Scheduled Tribe status for ethnic Meitei community in Manipur.

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Over one million devotees from India and Nepal on Monday thronged the Pashupatinath temple here to observe Maha Shivaratri festival at the famous 5th century temple situated on the banks of Bagmati river.

This year's Mahashivaratri is considered more auspicious as it has fallen on Monday, a day dedicated specially to worship Lord Shiva.

All four doors of the temple, regarded as the most sacred and oldest temple of Shiva in Nepal, remained open since 3 am.

The entire temple premises was decorated with colourful lights, flags and banners. The temple authorities have allocated Rs 5.4 million budget for the Maha Shivaratri festival.

The devotees observed fast before offering prayers to the Lord Shiva. Hundreds of Naga Sadhus mostly from India performed special rituals in the temple premises.

In the vicinity of the temple, devotional programmes were presented and vegetarian meals were served by different charity organisations to the devotees.

In view of massive number of devotees thronging the temple, more than 6,000 security personnel along with 5,000 volunteers were deployed for maintaining law and order and smooth functioning of the celebrations.

Vehicles were restricted few kilometers away from the temple premises to ease traffic arrangements.

The Pashupati Area Development Trust has made special arrangements including temporary shelter, water, complementary meals, medicines etc for the convenience of the devotees.

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The DMK Monday inched closer to finalising a seat sharing pact with its allies for the coming Lok Sabha elections by allotting two Lok Sabha constituencies each to the CPI and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and continued talks with others.

Days after finalising seat sharing with parties, including the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League, the DMK today clinched electoral deals with the fledgling Indiya Jananayaga Katchi as well, besides the CPI and VCK.

The IJK will contest from one constituency in its "Rising sun" symbol, the DMK said in an official release here.

Formal electoral agreements were signed between the leaderships of the DMK and the CPI, VCK, and the IJK.

The IJK was part of the BJP-led front in Tamil Nadu in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and its top leader Pari Vendhar had said on Saturday that his party cannot be part of the AIADMK-saffron party combine, since the PMK was part of it, which had allegedly troubled his party in the past.

While VCK was part of the DMK front in 2014, CPI faced polls in association with its ideological sibling the CPI(M). The two Communist parties together fought 18 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and drew a blank.

The DMK, keen to post an electoral rebound in the wake of debacles since 2011, has already allotted nine seats to the Congress in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry.

One segment each has been allocated to the IUML and the Kongunadu Makkal Desiya Katchi and the latter too would fight polls in the DMK's "Rising Sun" symbol.

The Stalin-led party is continuing talks with parties, including MDMK and the CPI(M) and seat sharing with them is expected to be finalised in a few days.

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The Netherlands said Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in an dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.

Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the EU slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government "has decided to recall the Netherlands' ambassador to Tehran for consultations" over the row.

Iran's decision to expel the Dutch officials -- which was not previously announced in public -- was "not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship," Blok said.

He said Iran's move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands' expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 "due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin."



Iran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.

The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.

Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.

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The Election Commission of (ECI) Monday began a two-day visit to to assess the feasibility of holding the and the state assembly polls simultaneously.

The ECI team, headed by Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said.

They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.

The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there Tuesday.

The state has been under the President's Rule since December 20, 2018.

Prior to that, it was under the Governor's Rule for six months.

The PDP-BJP government in the state fell in June 2018 after the party pulled out of the coalition.

Almost all political parties in have advocated holding state assembly polls simultaneously with the elections but the ECI wants to assess the ground situation in the wake of the current state of heightened tension between and
The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier will meet Britain's Brexit negotiating team on Tuesday, an EU spokesman said, as both sides seek a breakthrough in the stalemated talks.

Barnier "will meet tomorrow afternoon" with the UK attorney general Geoffrey Cox and Britain's Brexit minister Stephen Barclay, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular briefing on Monday.

The meeting, to take place in Brussels, comes after Barnier said on Saturday that the European Union was ready to give Britain further guarantees to help push a troubled divorce deal through the British parliament.

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/ -- EuroKids International, one of India's premier early-childhood companies, was conferred the prestigious 'Best Innovative Curriculum' award for 'EUNOIA' at the 9th Indian Awards 2019.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/459122/PRNE_EuroKids_Logo.jpg )



The award was given to EuroKids in recognition of excellence in the sector at a ceremony held in New Delhi on February 12, 2019.

EUNOIA - a new mindful curriculum for pre-schoolers - strikes the right balance between conventional and digital learning. It comprises the three major pillars of mindful learning, spaced learning and blended learning that form the basis of learning in a child's early years and help build a strong foundation for the future.

EuroKids was also, recently, included among the 'Top 100 Franchises' in India by Franchise India, the most comprehensive and widely referenced guide for all franchises. EuroKids was handpicked in the 'Established' category based on several factors including growth and innovation as well as financial strength and stability.

EuroKids Co-founder and Group CEO Prajodh Rajan said, "We are both proud and delighted to receive this coveted award for our new age curriculum - EUNOIA - which is designed to help young children exercise mindful practices, such as Attention, Resilience and Kindness, to reach the heights of academic excellence. EUNOIA forms the bedrock of learning in the early years and prepares children to imbibe the necessary skills and abilities in the digital era. The curriculum is a part of our 'Child-First' ideology and it encourages children to experiment and explore in an interactive and fun-based learning environment. The award is a great testimony to the quality of education that we strive to provide at EuroKids."



About EuroKids Pre-SchoolStarted with an aim to build a trusted Indian pre-school brand that recognises the care and warmth needed to nurture young minds, EuroKids Pre-Schools 'Child First' ideology ensures that growth and engagement needs of a child are met in a home-like environment. Child safety focus and ensuring active engagement with parents during these crucial developmental years of the child is what makes EuroKids, a child's Second Home. Using franchising as a preferred medium of distribution for Pre-Schools segment, EuroKids has ensured its presence in over 350 cities with 1000+ pre-schools and has secured over 25 awards on its journey to making learning fun. To know more: http://www.eurokidsindia.

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: Kerala Tourism Monday launched the first phase of its ambitious Barrier-free Kerala tourism project, making 70 destinations across the southern state disabled and elderly friendly.

Inaugurating Phase One of the project, Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran said that the objective was to make all tourism centres accessible to the differently abled by 2021.

Special tour packages for differently empowered tourists, both domestic and foreign, are being planned together with Responsible Tourism Mission, he said.

Kerala has become the first state in India to implement UN World Tourism Organisations call for 'Tourism for All



Promoting Universal Accessibility in 2016, the Minister added.

He also released the logo of the Barrier-free Kerala project in the presence of differently empowered persons.

Of the 120 centres envisaged in Phase One,70 centres have been equipped for the differently empowered with accessible ramps, special toilets, wheelchairs, walking sticks, folding walkers, crutches, special signages, tactile walkways, touch screen kiosks, Braille brochures, audio guides, to name some.

The outlay for the project is Rs nine crore.

Presiding, Tourism Secretary Rani George said differently empowered people in other countries visit and experience tourist centres all by themselves without any help or assistance.

"Tourism centres in Kerala, which is implementing innovative projects such as 'Human by Nature', should also grow to that level," she added even while calling for the participation of private entrepreneurs to make all centres in the state barrier-free.

Tourism Director P Bala Kiran said that all tourism projects henceforth would be made barrier-free.

In accordance with 'The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016', 261 ramps, 116 toilets, 163 wheelchairs, 170 walking sticks, 958 signages and 159 crutches have been provided in various centres so far.

The event also saw Kerala Tourism enter into a long-term cultural exchange programme with Manchester city in the UK.

The official letter authenticating the Exchange Programme was handed over to the Minister by Wilson Mathews, Former President, Manchester Malayali Association.

Three artists from Kerala will participate in Manchester Day Parade, one of UKs major pageantries.

The expenses of the artists participating in the pageantry will be borne by Manchester City Provincial Art Council.

K G Mohanlal, Chairman and Managing Director, Kerala Tourism Infrastructure Limited, was among those who addressed the gathering.

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Georgia's Minister of Health, Labor, and Social Affairs Davit Sergeenko hosted the delegation from South Korea.

During the meeting, representatives of South Korean delegation expressed readiness to assist Georgia in development of transplantology.

South Korean doctors will be involved in teaching and preparation of surgeons as well as performing operations.

Two memorandums of cooperation will be signed within the framework of the visit, 1tv.ge reported.

According to the World Health Organization, South Korea is recognized as being one of the leading countries in performing transplantation surgeries.
Former BJD lawmaker Baijyant 'Jay' Panda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday, giving a boost to the party in Odisha where it is looking to improve its tally in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Assembly poll in the state is likely to be held along with the parliamentary elections, and the party hopes that the presence of Panda will brighten its prospects, especially in coastal Odisha.

Panda met BJP chief and joined the party at its office in the capital.

Panda, who owns an influential media empire in the state, had been a leading parliamentarian of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led before he fell out with its leadership.

Amid his perceived proximity with the BJP, the BJD suspended him last year for "anti-party" activities.

He then resigned from the BJD and also the Lok Sabha, where he represented Kendrapara constituency twice. He has also represented the state in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJD had accused him of "anti-party activities" to justify his suspension. It later alleged that he was involved in money laundering as it sought a probe.

Panda had denied the charge.

Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies and the BJD had won 20 of them in 2014. The BJP had won only one seat -- Sundargarh, represented by Union minister for tribal affairs Jual Oram.

The BJP has identified Odisha as one of the priority states ahead of the polls. In the 2017 state rural elections, the BJP emerged as the second largest party, pushing the to the third spot.
Ray Kelvin, the founder of British fashion brand Ted Baker, resigned as its chief executive on Monday following allegations of harassment.

Kelvin stepped down "in the best interests of the company", executive chairman David Bernstein said.

Kelvin was forced to take a leave of absence last year after claims that he enforced a "hugging" culture, massaged employees, kissed their ears and asked some to sit on his lap.

Kelvin founded his first store in Glasgow in 1988. had 544 stores in August 2018, with 201 in Britain, 110 in and 108 in North America.

Kelvin, who denies allegations of misconduct, said stepping away was the "right thing to do".

"The past few months have been deeply distressing and I'll now be taking time privately with my family to consider what my next adventure will be. Bye for now," he said.

The allegations against him first surfaced in a petition against him.

Two employees, who did not wish to be identified, spoke to radio.

"There was nothing inherently wrong with the actual hugs, but the uncomfortableness came from what tended to accompany them: unwanted personal comments, kisses on the cheek, neck stroking," said a male staff member.

A female worker said the hugs could go on for 40 seconds and he would whisper in people's ears.

"He would go in for a hug, regardless of any apparent desire from those he was hugging," she said.

"Kissing necks, massaging people's ears. This would happen every day if he was in a good mood." An internal independent committee has been investigating the allegations alongside a firm.

The company is on the FTSE 250 stock exchange. Its shares were up 0.85 per cent shortly after 0900 GMT.

Bernstein said: "Ray Kelvin founded the business 32 years ago and has, together with the fantastic team around him, been the driving force behind it becoming the global brand it is today.

"However, in light of the allegations made against him, Ray has decided that it is in the best interests of the company for him to resign so that the business can move forward under new leadership."



The shockwaves of the movement started to hit British business last year.

A series of very public sackings, suspensions and departures suggested that Britain's finance world was waking up to the toxic implications of sexual harassment and workplace bullying.
The Delhi Police Monday arrested four men in connection with the recovery of a woman's body stuffed in a gunny bag near Sarita Vihar railway line in southeast Delhi last week.

The arrested accused were identified as Dinesh (25), Saurabh Bhardwaj (19), Chanderkesh (30) and Rahimuudin (25), all residents of Sangam Vihar, police said.

After interrogation of the arrested accused, police have added IPC section 376D (gang rape) in the case.

The body of the 25-year-old woman with strangulation marks was found dumped in a sack near the railway line on February 27, police said earlier.

The woman, a resident of Dakshinpuri, had left home on February 25 at around 3 pm and later went missing. She had told her mother that she was going for a job interview with a friend. However, she did not return after which the family filed a missing complaint the next day.

Passersby spotted the body of a woman whose identified was later matched with the one regarding whom a missing complaint was filed at the Ambedkar Nagar police station.

A mobile phone and a hand-written note was also recovered from the spot.

Police collected the handwriting samples from the house of the deceased to match the handwriting of the hand-note which was recovered from the jeans of the woman.

Prima facie, the handwriting of the deceased and that in the note recovered were found to be same.

In the note, the woman mentioned three persons holding them responsible if anything happens to her.

All of them of the were apprehended and interrogated.

On the day she went missing, there were phone calls between her and the alleged persons.

Even after the sustained interrogation, the movement of the alleged persons could not be contradicted with the murder of the woman. Further, all the accused denied knowing the woman, Chinmoy Biswal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast), said.

On March 3, Dinesh was apprehended from Sangam Vihar following raids at several places. On his instance, his associates Bhardwaj, Chanderkesh and Rahimuudin were also arrested from Sangam Vihar, he said.

Dinesh said while he was in Tihar jail, he became friends with Dhirender. During this period, Dhirender had a dispute with an undertrial prisoner Bunty. After being released from the jail, Dhirender, along with Dinesh, hatched a conspiracy to teach Bunty "a lesson" and also wanted to grab property of Bunty, which was allegedly acquired by him through illegal sources, Biswal said.

Dinesh roped his friend Bhardwaj into their plan and purchased a new mobile phone and a SIM card.

On February 25, Dinesh called at his flat the woman, who was already known to him on the pretext of proving a job. When she reached, the trio overpowered her.

They forced her to write a letter and implicate Bunty's brother Aarush, a resident of Burari and two other men from Sangam Vihar, to mislead the police, the DCP said.

In the letter, they allegedly forced her to write that she was in a relationship with Arush and his mother was not happy with this.

It was mentioned that Arush had also made an MMS and "if something happes with me then Arush and his two other friends would be responsible", a senior police officer said.

The arrested accused disclosed during the interrogation that Dhirender hatched a conspiracy in order to take revenge.

They also made calls from the mobile of the victim to the numbers of all the three alleged persons to frame them in the case, Biswal said.

On February 26, they strangulated her and stuffed her body in a sack. Thereafter, they hired a car for Rs 7,800 and hired Rahimuddin and Chanderkesh for Rs 4,000 for dumping the body, he added.

On the same night, they parked the car in basement of the flat and loaded the body and later dumped the body at an isolated spot near the railway line, police added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSC's enlargement is the "first crucial part" towards its reform.

has been calling for the reform of the along with Brazil, Germany and for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

France, a veto-wielding permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, last month moved a fresh proposal in the UNSC along with the US and the UK to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Reiterating its support for India, Germany and as permanent members of an expanded Council, France said that enlargement of the powerful UN organ in both permanent and non-permanent categories is the "first crucial part" towards UNSC reform.

"We want enlargement of the Security Council in the two categories of non-permanent and permanent categories - India, Brazil, Germany and - and equitable representation of Africans and so that is the first crucial part of it," French Permanent Representative to the UN Franois Delattre told reporters here Friday.

Delattre, at a joint press briefing with the German envoy to the UN Christoph Heusgen, said that the key to UN reform is openness through three different areas - the openness of the Security Council that entails expansion of the 15-nation, partnership and openness to civil society.

Germany will take over the Presidency in April.

"That is a strategic aim that France has and I do believe it is Germany's strategic aim as well... If we believe in the UN and the representative nature of the Security Council, we need to ensure that enlargement (of UNSC) be a success sooner rather than later," Delattre said.

He stressed that the UN cannot be recognised as a centre of gravity for multilateralism throughout the world unless it can step-up partnerships and focus should also be made on openness to civil society, business world, NGOs and trade unions, which are all stakeholders that breathe life into the UN.

"The reform of the Security Council through its enlargement is one of the key areas and key priorities of our diplomacy," Delattre said.

The German Ambassador pointed out that the Security Council, in its present composition, does not reflect the realities of this world.

"France and Germany spoke with one voice in this and we need to have reforms," Heusgen said adding that "If you don't reform the Security Council, it will lose legitimacy and therefore I think we should really work forward".

France has maintained that if the crisis of recent times have confirmed the centrality of the UN, they have also reinforced the need to make the organisation more effective and more representative of the current balances in the world.

"That is why France pushes for the expansion of the Security Council by supporting the accession to a permanent seat of Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, as well as a greater presence of African countries," according to the Permanent Mission of France.

is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reforms of the Security Council.

Last week, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said on the issue of 'Categories of Membership', a total of 113 member states out of the 122 which submitted their positions in the Framework Document, support expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter.

"In short, more than 90 per cent of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter," he said during the informal meeting of the plenary on the inter-governmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the UNSC.

Earlier, Akbaruddin had said that while reform at the UN is a process rather than an event, "there is no process known to us here that has traversed winding pathways in the manner as this process of the Reform of the Security Council".

"In terms of inertia too, it has no peer. While the world is not what it was when we began the process, the objections to moving forward remain the same.

"While the global challenges of the 21st century have multiplied, we remain divided even about the process to adopt in order to move forward," he had said.
A fresh landslide halted traffic for nearly 15 hours on the strategic Jammu-Srinagar national highway even as over 3,000 Kashmir-bound vehicles, mostly carrying passengers, crossed the Jawahar Tunnel -- the gateway to the valley on Monday, officials said.

The 270-km highway, the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with rest of the country, is partially open but only stranded vehicles are being allowed to ply to reach their destination, the officials said.

"As many as 2,500 light motor vehicles and 600 trucks including 250 fuel tankers crossed the Jawahar Tunnel into the valley from this side till 4 pm," Deputy Superintendent of Police, traffic (national highway), Pardeep Singh Sen told PTI.

He said a major landslide hit the highway in Panthiyal area of Ramban Sunday evening, forcing closure of the road.

The agency concerned worked overnight and managed to clear the road of the hurdles after 15-hour long operation Monday morning, the officer said adding the vehicular movement was on when last reports were received.

Authorities allowed one-way traffic from Jammu to Srinagar on Saturday after nearly week-long closure but multiple landslides coupled with continuous shooting of stones due to fresh snowfall and incessant rains left thousands of commuters stranded between Ramban to Udhampur.

The traffic was allowed to move towards Srinagar after restoration of the road on Sunday but only a few hundred vehicles managed to cross the problematic 12-km zone from Panthiyal to Ramsu before it was blocked by multiple landslides again.

The authorities did not allow traffic from either Srinagar or Jammu and said the preference would be given to clear the stranded vehicles first, the officials said.

Meanwhile, youth leader and former president of National Students' Union of India (NSUI) Fairoz Khan blamed the unplanned work on the four-lane highway project for the frequent closure of the highway resulting in untold sufferings to the commuters travelling between the twin capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu.

Khan claimed that the construction companies have sublet the work to contractors who have neither experience nor the qualified workforce for the job, while the administration is unmoved.

"Villages are sinking, houses have developed cracks and deforestation has taken place at a large scale," he said, adding "We want development but not at the cost of people's lives.

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Ailing Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar Monday inspected ongoing work on a parallel bridge on the Zuari river at Cortalim village near here, a day after he visited the Goa Medical College and Hospital for check-up.

Parrikar met Town and Country Planning Minister Vijai Sardesai at his private residence before moving out at around 2.30 pm, said an official from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

"The chief minister then went to inspect the parallel bridge on the Zuari river at Cortalim village," he said.

Meanwhile, Sardesai told reporters the chief minister has an exemplary will power.

Responding to a query, Sardesai ruled out the possibility of a leadership change in Goa, saying all allies in the BJP-led coalition are unanimous that Parrikar continue as the CM.

Parrikar, 63, visited the Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Sunday for medical check up.

He remained admitted in GMCH from February 23 to February 26, which was his latest stay in a medical care facility in the last one year.

The BJP leader has been in and out of hospitals in Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and the US.

On January 27 this year, Parrikar had turned up for the inauguration of the 5.1-km long cable-stayed bridge "Atal Setu on the Mandovi river.

He had attended the budget session of Goa Assembly on January 29 and presented the state budget the next day with a tube inserted in his nasal cavity.

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Internet giant on Monday urged the European Parliament to resist approving a planned overhaul of the bloc's online copyright law that the company said would hurt Europe for "decades to come".

European lawmakers could vote as soon as next week on the landmark legislation that is intended to modernise copyright for the digital age but has set off a furious lobbying war in Brussels.

Tech giants, artistic creators and EU member states have battled for three years over the reform, with making a last-minute effort to dissuade MEPs from passing the law this month.

The biggest stumbling block has been a provision that calls for Google-owned YouTube and other platforms to remove illegal content using automatic filters, or face massive liability.

Despite certain benefits, this aspect of the reform "creates vague, untested requirements" that would lead to the websites "over-blocking content", said Kent Walker, Google's senior vice president of global affairs in a blog post.

"This would be bad for creators and users, who will see online services wrongly block content simply because they need to err on the side of caution and reduce legal risks," he added.

These "unintended consequences" may "hurt Europe's creative economy for decades to come," he added.

Another bone of contention is a provision to create "neighbouring rights" -- that opponents call a link tax -- for media publishers.

News organisations, including AFP, have pushed for the move, arguing that giants like Facebook and make billions in revenue from advertising tied to news stories, while publishers suffer.

The planned reform "hurts small and emerging publishers, and limits consumer access to a diversity of news sources," said Walker.

"Under the directive, showing anything beyond mere facts, hyperlinks and 'individual words and very short extracts' would be restricted," he warned.

At first considered a formality, the outcome of the vote in the European Parliament is now highly uncertain.

Firm rejects Australias call for scrutiny

Alphabet's Google has rejected calls by Australia's competition regulator for tougher scrutiny of its operations, denying that it enjoys market power in online searches and advertising, documents published on Monday showed.

The global giant was responding to recommen-dations made late last year by the watchdog, such as increased scrutiny and a new regulatory body to monitor the dominance of tech giants in online advertising and news markets.

"The preliminary report bases many of its recommen-dations on the mistaken premise that Google has market power in search, search advertising, and news media referrals," Google wrote in a February 18 statement.
Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's diplomatic initiatives helped India get an invitation from the OIC for the first time, and secure the release of IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistan's custody.

Heptulla also lauded the way External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj presented India's viewpoint concerning Kashmir and terrorism at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conclave in Abu Dhabi.

In a major diplomatic achievement, India for the first time addressed the OIC meeting on Friday here, and asserted that the war against terrorism, which was destabilising regions and putting the world at great peril, was not against any religion.

India's participation at the OIC meeting came amid heightened tension with Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack and Balakot air strike.

Pakistan had demanded that the invitation to Swaraj be revoked which was turned down by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary.

Addressing the media here, Heptulla said this has happened because of the prime minister's continuous effort over the last five years in creating goodwill and friendship all over the world, especially the Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia.

Despite Pakistan's objection, India was invited and Swaraj attended the OIC conclave, she said.

The diplomatic relation India shares with the UAE and Saudi Arabia was also a factor in the release of Wing Commander Varthaman from Pakistan's custody, the governor said.

"It is a moment to be proud of as Indians," she said.

Before the influential grouping of 57 Islamic countries, Swaraj described Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India, Heptulla said.

She said the country got global support for the recent air strike at terrorist camps at Balakot in the aftermath of Pulwama terrorist attack.

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CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami said on Monday the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir should be resumed at the earliest and called for holding Lok Sabha and state assembly polls together in the state.

"Jammu and Kashmir is without an elected government for the past nine months and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large section of people is increasing," Tarigami said.

"Only effective response to this situation is to initiate democratic process and hold elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously. Any delay to do so will hamper the process of improvement in the situation," he told the Election Commission of India (ECI) at a meeting here.

A team of Election Commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora arrived here on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir for assessing the situation for holding Lok Sabha and Assembly elections simultaneously.

Tarigami, who led the CPI(M) delegation in the meeting, said when the President's Rule was imposed in the state on 19 December 2018, the Union Home Minister said in the Parliament that they will not delay holding of elections in Jammu and Kashmir and it will be held within six months.

"There is no justification whatsoever to delay Assembly elections in J&K politically or constitutionally. Experience confirms that delay will hamper the process of improvement and any excuse to delay can't be justified. Administration will be overburdened if elections are held separately," the four-time MLA from Kulgam said.

Tarigami said the CPI(M) leaders urged the CEC to announce the election dates for the Parliament and Assembly as soon as possible to end the prevailing political uncertainty in the sensitive state.

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The body of one Army jawan, who was among the five soldiers missing for the past 13 days after an avalanche in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur district, was recovered on Monday, an official said.

Rifleman Govind Bahadur Chhetri and five other jawans of the 7 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles were buried under the avalanche at Shipki La near the Sino-India border on February 20.

Chhetri's body was recovered on Monday evening, Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner Gopal Chand said.

His body was taken to Pooh from where it would be sent to his native place at Binnaguri in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal, he added.

Earlier, bodies of two jawans were recovered whereas three were still missing.

Havaldar Rakesh Kumar's body was recovered on the day of the avalanche, whereas the body of Rifleman Rajesh Rishi was recovered on March 2.

About 500 personnel are carrying out the operation to rescue the three other soldiers.

Lt Gen P M Bali, Chief of Staff, Headquarters Western Command said that he was closely monitoring the rescue operations.

He said he visited the site a few days ago and assured that all efforts were underway to find the missing soldiers.

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The Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline project will make Ukraines gas transport system unclaimed, energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO Andrei Kobolev said.

"We will lose entire transit. Because there is also the Turkish Stream pipeline, which will most likely be built and launched by the end of 2019, he told Channel 5.

According to Naftogaz Ukrainy CEO, with the launch of the Nord Stream-2, Ukraine will lose a curbing factor against "Russian aggression," while the probability of a military conflict will significantly increase.

"This gas pipeline should be analyzed not in terms of money loss, but in terms of a military risk," Prime new agency cited him as saying.

"We should attract foreign companies to the management of the Ukrainian gas transport system and share incomes and profit with them in exchange for investments, in exchange for an acquisition of a stake, in exchange for support in the West, for energy efficiency, for many things," Kobolev added.

The Nord Stream-2 project envisages construction of two lines of a natural gas pipeline with an annual capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters, running from the Russian shore to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Russian gas giant Gazprom will implement the project together with Germanys E.ON and BASF, Royal Dutch Shell, OMV, and Frances Engie.

The executive vice-president of NewTech Services, professor of the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, Valery Bessel, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that even the launch of both routes at full capacity will not cancel the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine - it is challenged by a completely different factor. "A total capacity of Nord Stream-2 and Turkish Stream is about 130 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and the Ukrainian gas transportation system is designed to pump 180 billion cubic meters a year. However, it will cease to be in demand for another reason  first, its operation requires additional investments, because it is a very old system which needs to be repaired. Therefore, the gas transmission system through Belarus, launched in 2006, as well as Nord Stream and Turkish Stream are a priority above the Ukrainian route," he explained, adding that with the growth of European purchases, Ukraine's transit of Russian gas will be preserved at least for a while.

"But there is one more reason - a political one. We have no idea what will happen in Ukraine tomorrow. Gas transit is a business, and people prefer to do business in a stable situation. No one wants to take risks. If we manage to defend our business interests, without being in the center of constant scandals all the time, without losing gas in the transit process, the Ukrainian route will be preserved. Gazprom is not a political organization, its task is to extract and sell gas. If the format of the transaction is changed and the gas will be bought by Europeans at the Russian-Ukrainian border, Gazprom will agree to it," Valery Bessel stressed.
Actor John Abraham said on Monday that his upcoming film "Romeo Akbar Walter" is not a chest-thumping nationalist project and he himself would like to stay away from jingoistic movies.

Directed by Robbie Grewal, the espionage thriller chronicles the story of a spy who goes to Pakistan.

"It's very important to make films with good stories. If tomorrow, there's a great patriotic film, I would love to do it. But I would not like to do jingoistic films. I am not anti any other country, I am not anti any other religion.

"I'm very pro-secular and I would like to make films that reflect the true nature of this country," John told reporters here.

The actor said the film looks at people from an objective gaze and doesn't colour anyone with judgements.

"It's a very objective film. No one is bad or good in this, it's just how you look at things. We are not depicting any other side as the bad side. It's a story of a spy who goes across, but it's a different story than 'Raazi' or many of the other stories.

"It's not jingoistic, typical flag saluting film. It's very different and that's why we are proud to be associated with it."



John said the project's key requirement was "extreme research" and the team did just that as it's a sensitive topic and there's a sense of responsibility riding on them.

The actor, however, said there's nothing wrong in making films about war heroes.

"If you look at Hollywood, it makes fantastic war films and they glorify their soldiers, so why can't we? I think it's a great time for India, the audience."



At the event, John also shut down a reporter when he asked the actor will "tempt" people through the film to take action, after the Pulwama attack.

The actor said, "You have to be very careful with the way you ask questions, you have a responsibility. Please apologise to everyone."



"Romeo Akbar Walter" is scheduled to release on April 5.

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IAF chief B S Dhanoa on Monday declined to comment on the death toll in the Balakot strike, saying it was for the government to provide details on the number of terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan on February 27 and released on March 1, would fly a fighter jet if he was fit, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference in his first comments since the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Paktunkhwa province.

The Air Force, he said, is not in a position to clarify many people were inside.

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," he said.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise."



Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement."



India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed.

"Obviously, I think they have lost a F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us," he added.

According to him, had the Indian Air Force dropped bombs in a jungle at Balakot there would have been no need for Pakistan to respond.

"The target has been clearly amplified by the foreign secretary in his statement. And, of course, if we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded," he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief said.

In response to a question regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference, he said, "Honourable Prime Minister has made the statement. I will not comment on that."



When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG-21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," Dhanoa told reporters.

Though he could not comment on the politics, he was happy Abhinandan was home, he said.

"Whether he flies again or not depends on his medical fitness. That is why post ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Thereafter, whatever treatment is required, we have given to him. Once he gets his medical fitness, then only he will get into a fighter cockpit," Dhanoa said.

The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

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The casualty figure in the air strike on the Balakot camp will be given out by the government, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said on Monday while asserting that the Indian Air Force does not count the number of dead.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the death toll depends on the number of people present at the target.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief told reporters in his first comments since the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

Referring to Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan on February 27 as tensions between the countries escalated, he said he can't comment on the but was happy the officer was back home.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said, adding that Abhinandan would fly a fighter jet if he was fit.

All required treatment will be given to Wing Commander Abhinandan, Dhanoa said.

Abhinandan was released by Pakistan on Friday.

The Air Force, Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

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A Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force on Monday shot down a Pakistani military drone in Bikaner sector of the Indo-Pak border using an air-to-air missile, government sources said.

The Pakistani drone was detected by a ground-based radar station and minutes later one of the Sukhoi-30 jets deployed in the area to keep an eye on Indian air space shot it down, they said.

The Pakistani military drone was targeted at around 11:30 AM in Bikaner-Nal sector in Rajasthan, the sources said.

It was the second unsuccessful attempt by Pakistan to send a spy drone inside India in the last six days.

A Pakistani drone was shot down by India on February 27 along the Indo-Pak border in Kutch in Gujarat.

The Indian Air Force has kept all its bases in Western sector on maximum alert after India carried out a strike on the biggest terrorist training camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Pakistan's Balakot on February 26.

Pakistan had attempted to retaliate by unsuccessfully targeting a number of military installations in Kashmir on February 27.

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A fighter jet of the on Monday shot down a Pakistani drone in Bikaner sector of the Indo-Pak border using an air-to-air missile, government sources said.

The Pakistani drone was shot down by a Sukhoi-30 aircraft at around 11:30 AM, minutes after a ground-based radar station detected the flying machine, they said.

It was the second unsuccessful attempt by to send a spy drone inside in the last six days.

The radar station in the area detected the enemy drone following which one of the fighter jets deployed in the area shot it down, they said.

The downing of the jet came in the midst of heightened tension between and after IAF struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistan's Balakot and subsequent retaliation by Islamabad.

A Pakistani drone was shot down by on February 27 along Indo-Pak border in Kutch in
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika pledged Sunday not to serve a full term if re-elected at April polls after huge protests against the bid to extend his 20 years in power.

The ailing leader, who suffered a stroke in 2013, vowed in a letter read out on state television to organise a "national conference" that would set a date for early polls which he would not contest.

"I pledge not to be a candidate in that election which will ensure I am succeeded in undeniable conditions of serenity, freedom and transparency," the letter read.

"I listened and heard the cry from the hearts of protesters and in particular, the thousands of young people who questioned me about the future of our homeland," it said.

Bouteflika's bid to placate demonstrators came after tens of thousands of Algerians took to the streets against his bid for a fifth term in office in the biggest challenge to the authorities in years.

Just after the announcement, his campaign director formally submitted his candidacy for the April 18 poll ahead of a midnight (2300 GMT) Sunday deadline.

Following that move, a fresh demonstration erupted in central Algiers and elsewhere in the country, with several hundred young people marching in the streets, still opposed to Bouteflika's candidacy.

Bouteflika remains in Switzerland, where he has been for a week, undergoing what the presidency describes as "routine medical tests", but there was no legal requirement for him to submit his candidacy in person.

The veteran leader uses a wheelchair and has rarely been seen in public since his stroke.

Hundreds of students staged new demonstrations against the president on Sunday in Algiers and other cities, two days after the tens of thousands of protesters thronged the country.

Chanting "Bouteflika go away", the students rallied near the main city centre campus of the University of Algiers, which was cordoned off by police, AFP journalists said, while others demonstrated at other campuses.

Police fired water cannon to prevent protesters from reaching the Constitutional Council, where presidential bids were formally lodged, security sources said.

Rallies inside and outside campuses in the northeastern city of Annaba also drew hundreds chanting anti-Bouteflika slogans, a local journalist said on condition of anonymity.

The TSA website reported other protests in Algeria's second and third cities, Oran and Constantine.

Bouteflika's announcement in February that he would seek another five-year term despite his failing health has unleashed pent-up frustrations in the North African country.

The presidency has not detailed when will he return from the Geneva hospital.

On Saturday, Bouteflika sacked his campaign manager Abdelmalek Sellal, a former premier who successfully oversaw the president's past three re-election bids, state media said, without giving a reason.

Sellal was replaced by Transport Minister Abdelghani Zaalane.

Alongside Bouteflika, several other candidates have registered, including prominent retired general Ali Ghediri, who was the first to announce he would run and has promised change.

A Sunday editorial in El-Moudjahid newspaper, a government mouthpiece, said protesters would be "disappointed" in their campaign to force Bouteflika to pull out of the April election.

On Friday, clashes erupted between police and protesters in Algiers as tens of thousands of people took to the streets.

Riot police used tear gas and batons to keep some protesters from marching to the Government Palace, which houses the prime minister's office.

According to a police toll, 56 police officers and seven demonstrators were hurt and 45 alleged stone-throwers were arrested in Algiers.

Bouteflika has been in power since 1999, initially gaining respect from many for his role in ending a civil war that officials say killed nearly 200,000 people.

Authorities have warned that the protests risk dragging Algeria into instability, comparing the rallies to those that sparked Syria's ongoing war.

Protesters have been mobilised by calls on social media, as many young Algerians struggle to find jobs in a country where half the population is under 30.

In France, Algeria's former colonial power, several thousand people on Sunday joined anti-Bouteflika rallies in Paris, Marseilles and other cities.

"Out, out," shouted crowds in the Place de la Republique, central Paris, where protesters waved placards and some wrapped themselves in Algerian flags.

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India will collaborate with Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia to increase the population of three species of Asian rhinos, including the Greater one-horned rhinoceros found in the Indian sub-continent.

The five rhino range nations signed a declaration 'The New Delhi Declaration on Asian Rhinos 2019' for the conservation and protection of the species at the recently held Second Asian Rhino Range Countries meeting here.

During the meet, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan affirmed India's commitment towards rhino conservation.

The declaration was signed to conserve and review the population of the Greater one-horned, Javan and Sumatran rhinos every four years to reassess the need for joint actions to secure their future.

"The national strategy will pave the path for long term conservation of the Greater one-horned rhinos in India. I also wish the range country of critically endangered Javan and Sumatra rhinos success in their endeavour to secure the future of the two critically endangered rhinos in Asia," Vardhan said.

The declaration includes undertaking studies on health issues of the rhinos, their potential diseases and taking necessary steps; collaborating and strengthening wildlife forensics for the purpose of investigation and strengthening of transboundary collaboration among India, Nepal and Bhutan for the conservation and protection of the Greater one-horned rhino.

The meet was organised by the environment, forest and climate change ministry in collaboration with IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group, WWF- India and Aaranyak.

It was attended by NGOs such as US-based International Rhino Foundation and Global Wildlife Conservation; Zoological Society of London Nepal Office and the WWF's US, India, Indonesia and Nepal chapters.

The Wildlife Conservation Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation of Nepal, Yayasan Badak of Indonesia and Freeland Foundation of Thailand also participated in the meeting.

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Braving wintery weather, a large number of Indian-Americans held a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters here against the Pulwama attack and demanded that Pakistan take action against terror groups operating on its soil.

On February 14, a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

The protesters from across this city gathered at the UN headquarters on Sunday, holding placards and raising slogans against the terror machinery operating on Pakistani soil and demanded swift action against the JeM and its leader Masood Azhar.

Jagdish Sewhani, President of 'The American India Public Affairs Committee' and one of the organisers of the event, told PTI that Indian-Americans, including professionals and students, were expressing their anger at the "continued state sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan across the world".

The protestors raised slogans against all major terrorist attacks originating from Pakistan such as the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 attack, the Uri attack and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack among others.

The message to Pakistan is that "enough is enough. This time we will not forgive and we will not forget," Sewhani said.

"Pakistan is still shielding terrorists and is refusing to crack down on them. The Pakistan Army continues to support terrorist outfits such as al-Qaeda, Lakshar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network," he said, adding that "time has come to give a befitting reply to Pakistan in a language it understands".

Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party-USA President Krishna Reddy Anugula said the Indian community in the US strongly condemns the "dastardly" attacks.

"We are demanding that the perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice and the terror infrastructure based in Pakistan has to be dismantled," he said, adding that JeM chief Azhar should be handed over to India to face a trial.

"We are protesting Pakistan's cross-border terrorism in India and Afghanistan and sponsorship of global terrorism that has affected many countries around the world," Anugula said.

Several people from other South Asian nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal also joined the protest.

Richard Benkin, a Jewish-American at the protest, said the international community stood in solidarity with India, noting that Pakistan's support for terrorism will not go unquestioned any longer.

The crowd raised slogans and held placards with messages reading 'Handover Masood Azhar-Global Terrorist', 'Pakistan Stop Harbouring Terrorists'and 'Pakistan Export Goods not Terrorism'.

Protestors also spoke about the high casualties resulting from terrorism supported and launched from the Pakistani soil. They demanded that the UN make Pakistan accountable for the Pulwama, Mumbai and other terror attacks.

They also demanded that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav be set free.

The protesting organisations also plan to send a memorandum of their demands to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Pramod Bhagat, President of India World Foundation USA, said that there was a need to reach out to the US lawmakers.

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought the help of a leading Indian cardiac surgeon in determining the treatment of her ailing senior Cabinet colleague.

Hasina called the Bengaluru-based Dr Devi Shetty on Sunday evening and requested him to come to Dhaka to examine the health condition of Bangladesh minister for Road, Transport and Bridge, Obaidul Quader.

Quader, who is also the General Secretary of ruling Awami League, was on Sunday admitted to the Dhaka's Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) after being diagnosed with three blockages in his coronary artery.

He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at first and then moved to Critical Care Unit as his condition deteriorated, the Daily Star reported.

He had also uncontrolled diabetes and electrolyte imbalance.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Hasina and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and many Cabinet members and lawmakers visited him at the hospital, the paper said.

Shetty, who is the chairman of Narayana group of hospitals, arrived at the Dhaka airport on Monday afternoon from where he directly went to the BSMMU, where Quader was on life support.

"I received call from the Bangladesh Prime Minister last evening and was requested to examine the health of the minister. I was told that the condition of the minister was serious," Shetty told PTI over the phone.

He examined the Awami League leader and spoke with the other doctors.

Shetty said that the minister will get a better treatment in Singapore.

"I examined Quader's health closely and have asked BSMMU doctors to shift him to Singapore where he will get better medical facility," Shetty.

The decision to transfer him to Singapore was made shortly afterwards, the bdnews24.com reported.

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An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to nearly three years in prison and ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution for being convicted of mail and embezzlement.

Dinesh Shankar, 41 of San Jose, was sentenced to 33 months in prison as a result of the mail conviction for embezzling from a medical device company, US Attorney David Anderson said.

In addition to the prison sentence and the $2.6 million restitution, he was also ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release.

Shankar will begin serving his sentence this year.

According to the plea agreement, from March 2013 until January 2018, Shankar was an employee of a medical device company. Beginning July 2013 until December 2017, he submitted false expense reports and false invoices to the company's finance department, causing the company to pay more than half a million dollars in excess of the legitimate expenses and expenditures for services provided to the company.

In addition, Shankar admitted that he created false invoices that appeared to be issued by six different entities, which were actually fictitious business names for entities that he controlled.

He prepared the false invoices to make it appear that the entities provided testing and quality assurance services to his employer when, in fact, they had not provided the services. Shankar admitted he caused a total loss to the company of about $2.5 million.

A federal grand jury indicted Shankar in April last year charging him with six counts of mail He pleaded guilty to one count in November and the remaining counts were dismissed.
Vietnamese Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong (right) and DPRK leader Kim Jong-un__Photo: VNA

, , ,

Major newspapers in Japan on March 1 highlighted Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader Kim Jong-uns official friendship visit to Vietnam.The official website of NHK, Japans largest broadcasting corporation, ran an article entitled Chairman Kim Jong-un: First official visit after the DPRK-USA summit in Vietnam, reporting on the Vietnam visit by the DPRK leader with an official welcome ceremony taking place at the Presidential Palace in downtown Hanoi.According to NHK, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong said the visit is of great historical significance while the DPRK leader expressed his thanks for Vietnams wholehearted support for the DPRK during the summit.An article by Nikkei Asia Review analyzed the Vietnam-DPRK relations after the Hanoi summit. It wrote that Kim turns to the friendship with Vietnam and thanked the Vietnamese government for hosting the second summit between the US and the DPRK.Within the framework of his two-day official friendship visit to Vietnam on March 1-2, the DPRK leader held talks with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong and had meetings with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan.Kim is the first DPRK leader who has paid an official visit to Vietnam after 55 years. Earlier, the founder of the DPRK Kim Il-sung visited Vietnam in 1958 and 1964.-
Six couples were publicly whipped in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province Monday for relations outside marriage, with at least two women unable to walk after the painful punishment.

Flogging is common for a range of offences in the region at the tip of Sumatra island, including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex.

It is the only province in the world's biggest Muslim-majority country that imposes Islamic law.

The twelve people whipped Monday were arrested late last year during a raid on a hotel in the province's capital Banda Aceh.

Four people were each flogged seven times after being found with a member of the opposite sex who wasn't a relation.

The others -- who were caught in more compromising positions -- received between 17-25 strokes for having intimate relations outside of marriage, an official said.

All 12 also served several months in prison before the public punishment.

Some women cried out in pain as a masked sharia officer lashed them, and at least two had to be carried from the scene by sharia officers.

Dozens of spectators and journalists watched quietly. Some winced occasionally after the blows, while others used smartphones and tablets to film the spectacle.

"This law is designed to have a deterrent effect, not only for the offenders but for the spectators who watch the caning," said the head of the local public order agency, Marwan, who like many Indonesian goes by one name.

He added: "The pain of being flogged is not that bad, the embarrassment is worse."



Rights groups have slammed public caning as cruel, and Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has called for it to end.

But the practice has wide support among Aceh's mostly Muslim population -- around 98 per cent of its five million residents practise Islam.

Aceh adopted religious law after it was granted special autonomy in 2001, an attempt by the central government to quell a long-running separatist insurgency.

In December, two men caught having sex with underage girls were whipped 100 times each.

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The Indian Penal Code section that prescribes death penalty for repeat rape offenders was rightly introduced by the legislature to impose a deterrent against such crimes, the amicus curiae in the Shakti Mills gangrape case told the Bombay High Court on Monday.

However, the application of this Section 376 (E) in the present case could be questionable, the amicus told a bench of justices B P Dharamadhikari and Revati Mohite-Dere which was hearing a challenge to the constitutional validity of the provision through writ petitions filed by the three death row convicts in the Shakti Mills case.

Section 376 (E) of the IPC that provides for the death penalty for repeat rape offenders was introduced by the Centre through an amendment in existing laws in 2013 following the December 2012 gangrape case in New Delhi.

Advocate Abad Ponda, appointed by the court as the amicus curiae to assist it in the case in 2014, told the HC that the section was in consonance with all legal and constitutional principles.

However, the section's application in the present case could be questionable, Ponda said.

Earlier, during the hearing, the bench had asked the Union government what was the purpose of introducing section 376 (E) of the IPC since another sub-section, sub-section A of section 376, already prescribed the maximum punishment of death for offences of rape.

However, both the Union government and the amicus curiae defended the new section.

They told the HC while sub-section A dealt with a grave case in which the victim died, or was reduced to a vegetative state, section 376 (E) provided that a person previously convicted under any sub-section of section 376 was liable to be sentenced to the maximum punishment of death for the subsequent offence of rape, if the court deemed fit.

However, while the Centre has maintained that such repeat offence can occur anytime after the first offence, Ponda told the court the accused person could be termed a repeat offender only if the second offence was committed after he was convicted for rape for the first time.

The amended law has been challenged by Vijay Jadhav, Mohammad Kasim Bengali and Mohammad Salim Ansari, who were sentenced to death by a sessions court in April 2014 for raping a photojournalist in Shakti Mills compound here on August 22, 2013.

The sessions court had awarded them the death penalty as they were also convicted for having raped a telephone operator in July 2013.

The trials in both cases were held simultaneously and the conviction was handed out the same day. However, the sentences were awarded to the convicts within a period of two weeks from each other.

The sessions court first pronounced the punishment in the telephone operator case, sentencing the convicts to life imprisonment.

It subsequently allowed a prosecution plea to charge the convicts under Section 376E and awarded the death penalty to three out of the five convicts in the Shakti Mills case.

The three, however, challenged the death sentence and the constitutional validity of Section 376 (E).

Their counsel in the HC, advocate Yug Chaudhry, has argued that the first conviction ought to be secured before the second offence was committed for Section 376E to be applicable in a rape case.

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Israel welcomed the Vatican's announcement Monday that it will open the archives of Pius XII next year, a move that could shed light on the church during World War II.

"We are pleased by the decision and hope it will enable free access to all relevant archives," foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said on Twitter.

Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial and research centre, commended the Vatican's decision, saying it expected researchers to "be granted full access to all documents stored in the archives".

Opening the archives "will enable objective and open research as well as comprehensive discourse on issues related to the conduct of the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic Church in general, during the Holocaust," Yad Vashem said in a statement.

Pope Francis said on Monday that "the Church is not afraid of history" as he announced the archives of Pius XII would be opened in March 2020.

Researchers have long sought to examine the archives over why Pius XII did not intervene more against the Holocaust perpetrated by the German Nazis, an attitude denounced as a form of passive complicity.

Historians say six million Jews died in the Holocaust.

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The city-based IT firm, accused of theft of data of voters in Andhra Pradesh through a mobile app, got 'illegal' access to personal and sensitive information of individuals related to Aadhaar and government schemes among others, Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar said Monday.

Quoting findings of preliminary investigations, he also said the information can be misused for illegal purposes and police have issued a notice to the Amazon Web Services, with which the database was said to have been stored, asking for the data.

The police will also write to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which runs Aadhar, the Election Commission, the Registrar of Companies and the the Andhra Pradesh government seeking related details, he told reporters here.

In a related development, one more case was registered against owner of the firm and others by Hyderabad Police and investigations were on, police said.

On Saturday, the Cyberabad police had registered a case against the company and carried out searches at its office here based on a complaint by a data analyst alleging stealing of data of Andhra Pradesh voters through the 'Seva Mitra' mobile app used by the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh (for registered cadre).

The complainant had claimed that while browsing the website and official Facebook page of TDP, he had found the TDP cadre were using certain mobile phone and tab-based software applications especially'Seva Mitra' app for "advancing partys electoral prospects".

Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister N Lokesh, reacting to the search on the company, in a tweet had alleged that the Telangana police was harassing the IT firms that have been hired to curate information whose complete rights were held by the TDP.

Prima-facie, the investigation has revealed" that the company got access of personal information and sensitive data of individuals related to Aadhaar, electoral roll, government schemes and voters information of various political parties "which can be misused for illegal purposes like alleged deletion of voters," the police commissioner said.

"It is reliably learnt that about 45-50 criminal cases have been registered in various places of Andhra Pradesh about deletion of voters, he added.

He said the police would seek information from the AP government on various aspects, including the MoU with the IT firm and the custodian of the data.

When asked if the police will question Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh, the Commissioner said police will not spare anybody who was responsible for this act.

Based on further investigations whoever it is they will be called...e will not leave anybody who is found involved... law will take its own course, Sajjanar said.

He said the case had been registered against the company for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating, theft among others.

Police carried out searches at the company's office on Saturday and Sunday by securing the presence of four employees, the Commissioner said adding electronic gadgets, including central processing units (CPUs) and hard discs were seized.

We also seized mobile phones and written documents. Database is said to be have been stored with the Amazon Web Services... As part of the investigations we have issued a notice to Amazon Web services for production of data base relating to application, Sajjanar said.

The "incriminating materials" seized were being sent to Forensic analysis for detailed analysis and arrests would be made as per law, he added.

Through the 'Seva Mitra' app, data had been collected constituency-wise and voters' affiliation to political parties, the Commissioner said.

The application also has the information of voter ID details, caste details and address of the voter, he said. The company also has got the access to the beneficiaries data of the government related to Andhra Pradesh people and the information was being used to make a profile of voters and use it for various political purposes, he alleged.

The commissioner also said another case had been registered in connection with an allegation by the complainant that some plainclothes police personnel from Andhra Pradesh had barged into his house here and threatened him.

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The IT ministry has submitted responses to queries posed by a Parliamentary panel on various issues, including liability of social media platforms in instances of fake circulation and efficacy of the IT Act in curbing the misuse of such platforms, said a source.

Among the 40 questions that the information technology (IT) ministry has responded to included amendments proposed in the IT Act and its rules to deal specifically with issues related to social media platforms and intermediaries, and purported delay in bringing about the said changes.

A government official privy to the development said the list of questions dealing primarily with the issue of safeguarding citizens' rights on social or online media platforms was sent last month by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on IT, which had recently summoned senior representatives of Twitter, and now Facebook and WhatsApp.

The questions posed ranged from mechanisms with the government to monitor compliance of guidelines by social media platforms to actions taken on instances of misuse.

One of the questions pertained to how an IT intermediary is different from a 'media house' exerting editorial control, and another one on the regulatory scenario in other countries such as the US, China, the UK and the European Union.

It also asked whether the ministry has any mechanism in place to curb misuse of social media platforms, particularly in the view of the upcoming general elections, and the safeguards that are being taken to keep the election process safe.

Other issues pertain to "major challenges" faced by the ministry in the social media domain.

The Committee also sought the ministry's response to whether they have felt any need to have a regulator for social media platforms, in view of the potential of such platforms to influence public perception. It also sought information on actions taken by the ministry to curb the spread of fake news, and to tackle the menace of abusive tweets and trolling.

It also enquired about the privacy norms for social media platforms operating in India, and grievance redressal mechanism available to social media platform users in the country.

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The much loved 'World Sufi Music Festival: Jahan-e-Khusrau', held under the aegis of Rumi Foundation, will be returning to the capital for its 14th edition, after a hiatus of two years.

The three-day festival beginning on March 8, has been designed and directed by filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, and will be held at Arab Ki Sarai in Nizamuddin here.

This year, the event will host a galaxy of music maestros including Satinder Sartaj, Javed Ali, Kanwar Grewal, Minu Bakshi, Roohani Sisters and the Kadamb dance troupe.

"The Sufi way is a way of expressing gratitude, be it just a smile from deep within or creating a thing of beauty as a source of eternal joy. And it is this sense of gratitude that flows like a river of love creating sensitivity for all creations of God - from nature to inanimate things, from mountains to trees and from rivers to oceans," Ali said.

For the first time, the festival will celebrate 'Ganganama' -- the circle of life -- dedicated to the music and the dance of the rivers, organisers said.

"It celebrates the 'Rivers of Love' which hopes to create awareness and spread love towards our environment," Ali added.

'Jahan-e-Khusrau' will conclude on March 10.

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Union minister Prakash Javadekar Monday criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking evidence of the air strike by the IAF on terror camps at Balakot in Pakistan and accused her and other opposition leaders of insulting the armed forces.

Javadekar also asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to provide a "mazboot" (strong) government at the Centre, whereas leaders of opposition alliance like Banerjee and Mayawati want a "mazboor" (weak) government.

"The people of this country would never forgive them for doubting the armed forces of the country. In no other country the opposition questions the achievements of the armed forces," he said.

The Union human resource development minister was addressing a meeting of state BJP's intellectual cell at Bardhaman town in Purba Bardhaman district.

Banerjee last week had demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.

Banerjee, a prime mover of the anti-BJP front, in January had organised a mega opposition rally of 23 opposition parties at Kolkata's Brigade Parade ground and had given the call to oust the Modi government from the Centre.

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Janata Dal (United), a constituent of NDA in Bihar, Monday demanded the central government to bring an ordinance for implementing 200-point old reservation roster system for teaching position in higher education institutions.

JD(U) national General Secretary R C P Singh said an ordinace should be brought to replace the existing 13-point reservation provision in higher education insitutions by implementing 200-point old roster system.

Since House is not in session, so our party demands from the government to bring an ordinance to implement 200-point old reservation roster system replacing the current 13-point roster system in higher education institutions, he said.

Singh along with partys national secretary general K C Tyagi was briefing reporters after the national executive meeting chaired by its national president Nitish Kumar here.

The current 13-point roster system has deprived people of reservation benefit in jobs in higher education institutions, Singh said referring to an Allahabad High Court order in this regard.

The University Grants Commission (UGC) had announced in March last year that an individual department should be considered as the base unit to calculate the number of teaching posts to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates following an order by the Allahabad High Court on April 2017.

The HRD ministry had filed a special leave petition against the court order which was rejected by the supreme court.

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The O P Jindal Global University and the University of Wollongong in Australia have signed a memorandum of understanding for exchange programmes for students and faculty members.

The objective behind the initiative was to provide a strong platform for engagement between the two universities that would qualitatively impact the learning and growth of students and faculty alike, said Prof C Raj Kumar, the vice chancellor of Jindal Global University (JGU).

"We are keen to deepen our ties with Australian higher institutions. And so I am particularly pleased that JGU students will have the unique opportunity to learn at the University of Wollongong, one of the best modern higher institutions ranked within the top 250 global universities," he said in a press release issued by the varsity.

Kumar said the MoU was a part of JGU's efforts to foster partnerships of mutually beneficial value with leading global universities.

Prof Paul Wellings, the vice chancellor of University of Wollongong, said the partnership will strengthen the social, cultural and economic links between Australia and India.

"We view this partnership as a strategic development to help us - within a higher context -- further strengthen the social, cultural and economic links between Australia and India. We feel that JGU is an ideal institution through which to enable that development," he said.

The partnership will allow students of both the universities to undertake exchange opportunities, the JGU said in the press release, adding that for faculty and researchers at both the varsities, it will allow joint research and joint teaching, while encouraging collaboration in international publications.

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To overcome shortage of essential commodities in Kashmir, authorities Monday directed the Food Corporation of India and the coordinator of public sector oil companies to expedite supplies to the Valley taking advantage of fair weather forecast for next week.

The advisor to the Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, has asked traffic and national highway authorities to facilitate swift movement of trucks carrying essential commodities to Kashmir, an official spokesman said.

The coordinator of public sector oil companies, Rajiv Yadav, has informed Ganai that about 2,500 Kl of petrol, 2,500 kl of diesel and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) for over 1 lakh cylinders are in transit, but due to frequent closure of the Jammu-Srinagar Highway, supplies are not reaching in time, he said.

Ganai, is also the in-charge of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department.

Several drivers of Kashmir-bound trucks have demanded that they should be given preference by traffic authorities to move towards Srinagar on the national highway, the spokesman said.

He said there have been reports that truckers are stranded at various locations on the highway and are not being allowed to move towards Srinagar in a hassle-free manner.

The highway is the only all-weather road linking Kashmir to the rest of the country.

The advisor assured truckers that he would take up the matter with traffic and national highway authorities for early redressal of their grievances.

The movement of vehicles on the highway was again affected due to intermittent incidents of shooting stones near the Sharika Mandir and between Ramban and Banihal, a traffic department official said.

"Subject to fair weather and clearance of road on Tuesday, only stranded trucks will be allowed towards Srinagar," the official said.

The official said other vehicles, including light motor vehicles carrying passengers, will not be allowed from either Jammu or Srinagar.

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Apollo Hospitals Monday contended before the Madras High Court that a judicial panel probing the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa cannot decide on the correctness and adequacy of the treatment given to her by it.

The terms of reference of the Justice Arumughaswamy Commission probing the late chief minister's death were only to go into the circumstances that led to her hospitalisation and the panel cannot expand its scope of inquiry, and ascertain if the proper treatment was given to her, it claimed.

The submissions on behalf of the hospital were made by senior counsel Aryama Sundaram before a division bench of justices R Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy.

The bench was hearing the hospital's petition seeking an interim stay on judicial panel's proceedings relating to the medical treatment given to Jayalalithaa.

The commission cannot enquire into the medical treatment and go beyond its terms of reference, said Sundram.

He said the panel of doctors who were asked by the commission was set up only to go into the chronology and verify the records submitted by the hospital.

He said the commission was a fact-finding one and it can only recommend an enquiry if any discrepancy is found by the medical panel, but it cannot decide the correctness of the treatment given by the hospital.

Counsel said the commission had examined nearly 30 doctors of the hospital even before it set up the panel of doctors to verify the hospital's records.

Sundram said the commission was objecting to a decision taken on the treatment when it is not for the commission to go into it.

Apprehending that the judicial panel may pass an adverse order against the hospital, the counsel pleaded that if such an order is passed, it would affect the reputation of the hospital, while the commission cannot judge the correctness and adequacy of the treatment.

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Actor Kangana Ranaut, who advocated the destruction of Pakistan after the Pulwama attack, has suggested Indian films could be stopped from releasing in the neighbouring country in future.

The actor, in the eye of the proverbial storm for her controversial remarks after the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 soldiers were killed, also indicated that releasing Indian films in Pakistan is not a "significant statement".

Kangana's film "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi" opened in Pakistani theatres on January 25, the same day it released in India.

Asked about the movie's release in the neighbouring country, the actor told reporters Sunday night, "When a film is distributed, they have the digital copy. (But) You can stop future releases."



"To get it back from them, we will have to send the army, which we had sent by air. But they didn't get my DCP back," she quipped in an apparent reference to Indian Air Force's air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26.

Kangana had also come down heavily on actor Shabana Azmi and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who cancelled their trip to Karachi for a tribute to Kaifi Azmi, and questioned their decision to organise the event "in the first place when Pakistani artistes have been banned after Uri attacks".

She also said she would take the same route with the films she produces in future, adding "It's not that it (Pakistan) is a very big territory. It's almost insignificant".

Questioned on her remarks on Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, the actor said the film's release in Pakistan was in accordance with the distribution and trade network and she had no say in the matter.

"The distribution and the trade was going like that... Obviously, I am not the minister in-charge of the trade of how things are happening in the country. But if you ask me, the sentiment of the country is very important, of the jawan families.

"Is it (not releasing Indian films in Pakistan) significant statement? No. These are just small steps. But if that's all we can do, we should."



In the wake of Pulwama attack, the makers of films such as "Total Dhamaal", "Luka Chuppi", "Arjun Patiala", "Notebook" and "Kabir Singh" announced they would not be screening their movies the neighbouring country.

Following the Balakot air strike, Pakistan government called for a ban on Indian content, including films and "made-in-India advertisements" in the country.

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The political parties of Kashmir Monday



impressed upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The ECI Monday began a two-day visit to the state to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the assembly polls simultaneously.

Delegations of National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Pradesh Congress Committee and other smaller parties met the EC team headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to put forth their views about holding of assembly elections in the state.

The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there tomorrow.

"We impressed upon the Election Commission that there is no reason why Assembly elections cannot be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. Not holding assembly polls will send wrong signals to people within and outside the state," NC leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who was part of his party's delegation, told PTI after the meeting.

Wani said the NC delegation informed the commission that restoration of an elected government in the state was urgently needed as the Governor's administration was taking decisions on matters with widespread implications.

PDP delegation leader Abdul Rehman Veeri said his party also wanted an early election to the state assembly so that a people's government is put in place.

Asked if PDP delegation had sought assembly polls be held alongside Lok Sabha elections, Veeri was non-committal. "The elections should be held as soon as possible," he said.

Congress leader Taj Mohiuddin said his party delegation highlighted the fact that holding assembly elections together with Lok Sabha elections can lead to higher voter turnout as was witnessed in 2008 assembly polls.

"We told the Election Commission how in 2008 assembly elections a high voter turnout was witnessed when people doubted about holding the polls. Our stand was that the commission has all the data about security deployment in 2008 and it should be easy for them to assess the requirements for this year's election as well," he said.

Mohiudding said while the Governor's administration might be doing its job well, President's Rule cannot be an alternative to an elected government in terms of redressal of problems faced by the people.

"The MLAs are the link between the government and the people and no one can replace this link. The government under President's Rule is bureaucrats' government. They are not accessible to common people," he said.

CPI(M) delegation led by M Y Tarigami told the Commission that the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir should be resumed at the earliest and advocated holding Lok sabha and state assembly polls together in the state.

"Jammu and Kashmir state is without an elected government for the past nine months and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large section of people is increasing," Tarigami said.

"Only effective response to this situation is to initiate democratic process and hold elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously. Any delay to do so will hamper the process of improvement in the situation," he added.

The ECI team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said.

They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.

The state is currently under President's Rule since December 19, 2018 which was necessitated at the end of the six month period under Governor's Rule imposed on 19 June 2018.

The PDP-BJP government in the state fell on June 19 after the national party pulled out of the coalition.

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Union minister Manoj Sinha on Monday accused the ruling BJD government of failing to acquire and hand over land to the railways in time, causing "undue delay" in several projects of the public sector behemoth.

Sinha, who launched a slew of railway facilities at a function here, said the Centre is committed to speedy implementation of the projects, but the Odisha government must cooperate by expediting the process of land acquisition.

"Several railway projects in Odisha have made tardy progress as the state government is yet to hand over the required land," the Minister of State for Railways and Communication said.

"The sooner the required land is made available, the quicker the rail projects will be completed. Our priority is to complete all projects as early as possible," he said.

Noting that there is no dearth of funds, the minister said around Rs 27,000 crore has been allocated for the railway sector in the state during the last five years.

Citing an example, he claimed that adequate land is yet to be given for the ongoing 289-km Khurda-Balangir rail line project.

"While some land has been provided, railways require additional 327.93 acre in Nayagarh, 2,059.43 acre in Boudh, 528.31 acre in Sonepur and 38.96 acre in Balangir, which the state government is yet to provide," Sinha said.

Out of the 289-km, Khurda-Balangir rail line, work has been completed "only on 66 km from Khurda Road to Nayagarh and 15 km from Balangir to Bichhupali", an official said.

Earlier in the day, the student and youth wings of the BJD staged a demonstration near the East Coast Railway (ECoR) headquarters, ahead of the minister's programme, protesting the alleged bifurcation of Waltair division of ECoR.

BJD leader Sanjay Dasburma slammed the Centre for its decision to "bifurcate the ECoR" at a time when it is earning "Rs 20,000 crore as revenue every year".

However, Sinha asserted that not even a "single inch" of railway line in Odisha has been given to any other division.

"There is no reason for Odisha to worry as the Centre will set up a new railway division under the ECoR at Rayagada, which will ensure development of the region," he told reporters on the sidelines of the function.

Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who was also present on the occasion, said bifurcation of Waltair division was done as per provisions laid down for reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh.

"When the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was discussed in Parliament, not a single BJD MP raised any objection... Why are they shedding crocodile tears now," he said.

At the programme, Sinha inaugurated a host of facilities for passenger amenities.

The minister also launched a number of projects of the Ministry of Communication for the state.

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The last rites of CRPF jawan Shyam Narain Yadav, who died fighting terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed with full state honours here Monday.

Uttar Pradesh minister Anil Rajbhar, who attended the funeral as the state government's representative, offered floral tributes to the soldier and met his family members, an official spokesperson said.

Earlier, Rajbhar received the body of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan at the Babatpur airport in Varanasi on Sunday night and accompanied it to Hasanpur here.

The body was taken to the cremation ground, about 20 kms away, in a procession with locals chanting slogans hailing Yadav.

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had Sunday announced Rs 25 lakh ex gratia to the kin of Yadav, who died in an encounter in Kupwara on on Friday.

Rajbhar presented the cheque of Rs 20 lakh to the soldier's wife and Rs 5 lakh to his parents and announced that a government job will be provided to a member of the family.

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Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling, who has been ruling the state for over 24 years, Monday made an appeal to the people to elect him for another term in the next Assembly election.

Chamling, the longest serving chief minister in the country, has been heading the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) government since December 1994.

Addressing the foundation day programme of the SDF here, Chamling said he tried his best to usher in socio-economic development in the small Himalayan state.

"The people of Sikkim must evaluate the difference in their socio-economic condition and overall development between 1994 and now," Chamling said.

The 68-year-old leader urged the people to give him and his party yet another term in power to take development of the state to a new level.

Chamling said he has delivered houses, jobs, education and health infrastructure, and an identity to the state people at national and international level.

"I leave it to the people to judge my performance. If they think that I have done a fair job, I appeal to them to give us a fresh mandate," he said.

Assembly election would be held in Sikkim along with the Lok Sabha polls.

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A group of Delhiites Monday urged the governments of India and Pakistan to look for a peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue.

Banding under the #citizensagainstwar, they gathered at Jantar Mantar and formed a human chain in protest of the airstrikes by India on Pakistan and the counter strikes by Pakistan.

Holding the placards of #citizensagainstwar, protesters, including prominent activist Shabnam Hashmi, called upon the governments of India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue.

"The only way forward in the conflict between India and Pakistan is to find a peaceful solution the Kashmir issue," according to the statement issued by '#citizensagainstwar', a group of Delhi residents.

"War allows conflicts to fester the differences to grow. War causes economic hardship not for the rich but for working people, the poor, the downtrodden," the statement said.

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, 12 days after the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on Wednesday. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.

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The Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition in Karnataka Monday held the second round of talks on the tricky issue of seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with Congress saying they were moving "in the right direction."



The two parties had begun formal talks last week with the JDS insisting that 12 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats be conceded to it, but party supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda indicated Sunday that they were ready to compromise.

The two allies, who had formed the government after striking a post-poll alliance as the May 2018 assembly elections threw up a hung verdict, had announced earlier that they would fight the Lok Sabha elections together.

The Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee chairman and former chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters they had a good detailed discussion about every constituency.

"We are moving in the right direction," Siddaramaiah said after the coordination committee meeting here.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress working president Eshwar Khandre attended the meeting.

JDS has put forth its demand with a list of candidates to contest for 12 seats.

"We have not given a final shape to it. We will give it in the coming days," Siddaramaiah said.

He added that the leaders were zeroing in on who can win and from where. Discussions have not been completed yet, but there was good progress, he said.

"I hope that we will give a final shape in three-four days before March 10," Siddaramaiah added.

The Mandya Lok Sabha seat has become a bone of contention between the two parties with JD(S) deciding to field Kumarasawmy's son and Deve Gowda's grand son Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

The JD(S) leadership, dominated by Vokkaligas, treats Mandya as its bastion, as the constituency has a substantial Vokkaliga population.

On the other hand, multi-lingual film actor Sumalatha, widow of noted Kannada film star Ambarish, has also evinced interest in contesting from there on Congress ticket.

Asked about the JD(S) hinting that Nikhil Kumaraswamy would contest from Mandya even before the list got finalised, Siddaramaiah said, "Can we say no to a candidate who has winnability there?"



Ali said some more discussions were needed, but the final meeting would take place between Deve Gowda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Seat sharing will be a major test for both parties as the JD(S), banking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in ministry formation and allocation of boards and corporations, has demanded 12 seats out of the total of 28.

The Congress is opposed to this, maintaining that sharing of seats will be based on "merit".

Also, there is pressure from within Congress not to cede too many seats to JD(S), especially the 10 seats where the party has sitting MPs.

Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region is expected to be an acid test for both parties, as the JD(S) considers it as its bastion, and the Congress has its sitting members from most of the seats there.

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The Madras High Court Monday set aside a month-long jail term awarded to an AIDS patient in a nearly three-decades old funds misappropriation case on humanitarian grounds.

Justice M V Muralidharan allowed a revision petition filed by the convict considering his health condition.

The judge, however, increased the fine amount imposed on the petitioner from Rs 500 each in the two cases to Rs 5,000 each.

"I am of the view that the punishment of imprisonment for a period of one month has to be modified due to the nature of the disease and the sufferings of the petitioner/accused, on humanitarian grounds," the judge said in his order.

The petitioner, while working as secretary-in-charge of the Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in Vellore district in 1991, had misappropriated funds running into several lakhs of rupees.

The trial courts in 2010 and 2013 awarded one year imprisonment to him in each case and a fine of Rs 500 each.

Challenging this, he had moved the lower appellate courts, which considering his health condition, had reduced the sentence to one month rigorous imprisonment each.

The courts were moved by the petitioner's submission that he was in his last days.

They were also worried that his confinement in prison may further deteriorate his health.

Allowing the revision petition, the judge noted that the government advocate too had not disputed the fact that the petitioner was suffering from AIDS.

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: Hindu shrines in Kerala, dedicated to Lord Shiva, witnessed heavy rush of devotees Monday on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

Cutting across religious and gender barriers, devotees including women, children and elderly, thronged temples since early morning to take part in special poojas and rituals to mark the auspicious annual festival.

Long queues and heavy rush resulted in traffic snarls near many temples including the famed Sree Kandeswara shrine here in the morning.

Elaborate arrangements were made at all major Lord Shiva shrines, including Vadakkunnathan temple in Thrissur, Maha Deva shrine in Vaikom and Ernakulam Shiva temple, to ensure smooth darshan for devotees, authorities said.

Arrangements have been put in place on the banks of River Periyar in Aluva in Ernakulam for 'Balitharppanam', a ritual in which people pay obeisance to their ancestors.

Performing the ritual on the midnight of Shivratri is considered auspicious by devotees.

A number of 'bali taras' (specially erected platforms) have been set up on the banks of Periyar river for devotees to perform the ritual.

Besides hundreds of priests to assist devotees, a large number of police personnel were also deployed to manage the huge crowd, temple authorities said.

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A couple has named their newborn son Abhinandan as he was born around the same time IAF pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman stepped on Indian soil through the Wagah border from Pakistani captivity.

Varthaman, piloting a Mig-21 Bison, shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16 in a dogfight on February 27 before his aircraft took a hit. He ejected, was captured by Pakistan forces and released on March 1 night.

Around the same time, Monica, wife of Akash Jain from Kadappa in Karnataka, gave birth to a boy at a private hospital in the powerloom town of Bhiwandi in Thane district.

Mangilal Jain, father of Akash, told reporters the family decided to name the child Abhinandan after the brave pilot. Everyone in the family agreed that the boy would grow up and excel in life just like his famous namesake, he said.

Jain said the naming ceremony ritual of the child will be held in a few days.

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Even before midnight, devotees from different walks of life and parts of the country began to pour into Sangam city to take holy dip on Mahashivratri, the great night of Lord Shiva and the last bathing day in the one-and-a-half-month-long Kumbh Mela.

Till Monday evening, more than 1 crore devotees had taken a holy dip in the Sangam area, officials said.

The bathing ghats brimmed with colour in the morning. Late-night showers in parts of the holy city failed to dampen the spirit of the pilgrims. As the sun came out, devotees enthusiastically greeted the sun, while some offered obeisance to the Sun God with traditional 'Yoga asanas'.

"Till evening, as many as 1.10 crore devotees have taken a dip in the Sangam area. With Mahashivratri's snaan, so far more than 24.05 crore devotees have taken a dip during this year's Kumbh," Kumbh MelaAdhikari Vijay Kiran Anand told PTI.

Till March 3, the number of devotees who had taken the dip during the Kumbh stood at 22.95 crore, an UP government official said.

As the visitors were heading towards the ghats, chants of 'Har Har Mahadev' rang through the air, albeit the occasional police announcement.

Apart from other information, the police told the crowds about the lost-and-found centre, which could also be seen from a distance by the installed, floating gas-balloon.

A delegation from West Bengal kept all its members together by telling them to follow the large saffron-coloured flags.

A group of visitors from Ajmer used rope barriers to keep its members together.

"Despite showers, my friends and I walked towards the bathing ghats and took a dip," said Dhananjay Singh, who came from Lucknow, adding, "I consider it (the rain) to be a propitious sign."



Content, smiling faces at the Kumbh nagris tell us we managed the last day crowds well, an official said.

With heavy rush on their minds, devotees began arriving at the makeshift kumbh nagris in Prayagraj even before midnight with chants of 'Bum Bhole' on their lips.

UP Sugarcane Development and Sugar Mills Minister Suresh Rana took a dip in the 'sangam', and later visited the media centre.

Speaking to reporters, Rana said, "When I was taking a boat ride after the dip, a sudden shower of petals fell on boatman. His spontaneous reaction was 'waah Yogi ji' (UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath). I was pleasantly overwhelmed by this."



A UP government spokesperson said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will participate in the 'Kumbh Samaroh Samapan Kaaryakram' (formal closing function of the mega event) tomorrow.

He will felicitate the officials who have done exemplary work during the festival. UP Governor Ram Naik and Urban Development Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna are also likely to attend the programme.

According to Hindu mythology, Mahashivratri symbolises the last holy bath of Kalpvasis, who spend the month of Magh -- the period of austerity -- in minimal means.

Ashutosh Varshney, an astrologer who has set up a camp in Sector-6 of Kumbh Nagri, said, "Mahashivratri marks the culmination of the Kumbh and the prominent bathing days. This year, it fell on a Monday, the day dedicated to Lord Shiva, after a long time."



"Also on this day, Lord Shiva got married," said Gunjan Varshney, who runs the Raam Naam Bank, where devotees deposit booklets after writing the name of Lord Ram.

Kumbh is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. It is held once in every 12 years. This time it began on January 15 on Makar Sankranti. There are six bathing dates. Of these, shahi snaans are held on Makar Sankranti, Mauni Amawasya and Basant Panchami. Parv snaans are held on Paush Poornima and Maghi Poornima.

Police and central para-military personnel have been in charge of the movement of people and vehicles and guiding them towards the bathing ghats.

As the Kumbh approached its finale, the mega event etched its name into record books creating a hat-trick of world records, which were certified by the Guinness World Records, an UP government spokesperson said.

One of the records was most contributions made to a handprint painting in eight hours.

The Guinness World Records certificate read, "The most contributions to a handprint painting in eight hours was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh India on March 1, 2019."



Another world record created was the largest parade of buses.

"The largest parade of buses was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India on February 28, 2019," the certificate given by Guinness World Records read.

A UP government official said, "The attempt in Prayagraj involving 500 buses covered more than 3.2 kilometres. It was held at NH-19 between Sahson toll plaza and Nawabganj toll plaza. This demonstrates the traffic plan, which worked very well during the mela with 20,000 police personnel being deployed."



On March 2, the most people sweeping the floor (multiple venues) was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, government of Uttar Pradesh, India on 2 March 2019.

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A major fire ravaged Nainital's famous Metropole Hotel which once counted Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and many prominent film personalities among its key guests but was lying vacant for years after its declaration as an enemy property.

One of the main buildings of the hotel, which housed sales tax office till a few years back, was destroyed in the fire, said Nainital Circle Officer Vijay Thapa.

He said though the exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, it prima facie looked like the handiwork of miscreants.

One of the oldest hotels of Nainital, Metropole was lying vacant for years, following its declaration as an enemy property after its original owner Maharaja Mehmodabad left India for Pakistan.

A litigation is still on in this regard in courts.

Pakistan founder Jinnah was one of its most famous guests who spent his honeymoon here.

Many movie stars and politicians used to frequent it and enjoy its luxuries in its prime.

Staying at this hotel during its prime was considered to be a status symbol.

The abandoned grounds of the hotel are presently used for parking cars. The blaze, however, did not reach the vehicles.

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CEC Sunil Arora Monday asked J&K government officials to ensure that the upcoming Lok Sabha and the state assembly polls are held with "absolute neutrality" and remain "most inclusive" as per the "principles of democracy".

Chief Election Commissioner Arora, who is on a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir along with an Election Commission team to take stock of the state's poll readiness, gave this direction after a high-level meeting with the state government's civil and police officials.

The officials who met the poll panel team included Kashmir Divisional Commissioner Baseer Ahmad Khan, ADGP (Law & Order) Muneer Ahmad Khan, Kashmir IGP S P Pani besides deputy commissioners and district police chiefs of Kashmir and Ladakh divisions.

"Elections are soon going to be held to uphold the principles of democracy. The commission desires that these elections should be the most inclusive (and are held with) absolute neutrality by the people involved in organising them," he said.

CEC Arora asked officials to uphold the "principle of democracy", notwithstanding the fact that, he said, "holding election in any part of India is a challenge because of various factors such as topography, population density, holidays, etc".

The ECI team reviewed the state of preparedness of various departments of civil and police administration for ensuring free and fair elections, an official spokesman said.

The Commission asked state authorities to provide minimum assured facilities at polling booths and ensure that voters are able to reach there without any fear or hinderance, the spokesman said.

Arora also reviewed the poll preparedness in terms of transportation of EVMs and polling material to the booths, besides the deployment of staff on the election day, he said.

The Commission asked the authorities to mobilise people and create an atmosphere free of inducement and intimidation by deploying sufficient security personnel on the ground, the spokesman said.

The Commission also stressed upon the state authorities to strictly monitor the candidates' poll expenditures and ensure that they do not breach the expenditure limits.

"The limit of expenditure is Rs 70 lakh for the Lok Sabha election and Rs 28 lakh for the state assembly poll (per candidate)," Deputy Election Commissioner Sandeep Saxena said.

Saxena said the action should be taken against those indulging in inducement and illegal gratification to voters.

The Commission asked the state administration to demonstrate EVMs and VVPATs operations to stakeholders such as political parties and candidates to ensure transparency.

"You should share the location of strong-rooms with the stakeholders, parties and candidates to prevent any suspicion," Saxena added.

The ECI team left for Jammu this evening where they will be conducting a similar exercise Tuesday.

In Jammu, the ECI team will also meet Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam and DGP Dilbag Singh separately in the state's winter capital.

Before winding up their visit, the ECI team is scheduled to address a press conference at Jammu on Tuesday.

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Capital regulator Sebi has asked the government to amend the to ensure that a director declared by it as a disqualified person should immediately vacate the position, a plea triggered by defaulter businessman Vijay Mallya's reluctance to do so.

Under the Companies Act, the office of a director becomes vacant in case of he or she being disqualified by an order of a court or a tribunal, among other reasons, but there is no explicit mention of an order by the (Sebi), which is mandated with regulation of thousands of listed firms in India.

In a proposal, Sebi has now proposed that the should also clearly mention that a person should vacate the office of a director if it orders his or her disqualification.

Officials said the is in agreement with Sebi on the proposed amendment and has asked the regulator to get it approved by its board and subsequently forward it to the Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is the nodal ministry for the

In its proposal, Sebi has referred to its interim order dated January 25, 2017, through which the regulator had barred and six others from holding directorship in any listed company till further directions.

The Sebi order followed a probe into alleged illegal fund diversions at United Spirits Ltd, an erstwhile firm of business group headed by which he had later sold to global liquor giant and others were also barred from the securities in the same order.

However, Mallya did not comply with the order by not stepping down as a director of United Breweries Ltd, another listed company of his group, for months.

Soon after the Sebi order, Mallya had also criticised Sebi in a series of tweets and had said the allegations of fund diversion were baseless and had alleged that he was a target of "witch hunt".

After refusing to quit the United Breweries Board for months, Mallya finally ceased to be its director in August 2017, presumably after pressure from other directors. In case of United Spirits, he was asked by the new owner in April 2015 itself to quit the board for alleged fund diversion.

Mallya is facing a number of cases against him, including of loan default, and a court in the UK has already ordered his extradition back to India and the same was also approved by the British government last month.

Subsequently, 63-year-old Mallya, who had left India in March 2016 for the UK, has also filed an application for permission to appeal against the extradition order.

Explaining its rationale for seeking changes in the Companies Act, Sebi has said the fact that Mallya failed to comply with its direction has brought forward a "legal conundrum" in respect of whether Sebi has the power to enforce its direction when a director refuses to comply with the same.

At present, Sebi's direction restraining a person from acting as a director is not a ground for vacation of his or her directorship under the existing provisions of Section 167 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Further, Sections 164, 167 and 169 of the Companies Act, dealing with appointment, vacancy and removal of directors, are administered only by the central government through the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

"These provisions have not been delegated to Sebi for administering them in respect of the listed companies," the official said, citing the regulator's proposal for the amendment in the law.

While Sebi is empowered to initiate adjudication proceedings under the Sebi Act for non-compliance of its directions in such cases, it can only be a penal proceeding for non-compliance and not for enforcement of the direction.

In view of these concerns, Sebi has proposed that the issue can be resolved by amending the Section 167 of the Companies Act to include "order of Sebi" as one of the grounds for vacation of office of a director.
Moderate Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq Tuesday expressed grave concern over the current Indo-Pakistan tension.

"War is no solution to the problems between India and Pakistan, especially for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute and its precarious offshoots," the Mirwaiz said here, addressing workers of his Awami Action Committee,a constituent of the Hurriyat.

The Mirwaiz termed the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami as undemocratic.

The Hurriyat chairman also opposed any attempt aimed at diluting or tinkering with Article 35A.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday indicated that last week's air strike in Pakistan won't be India's last such action against terrorism emanating from the neighbouring country.

Addressing a gathering here, Modi said he will target them (terrorists) "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

"If one work gets over, our government doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another," Modi said, in a veiled reference to the February 26 air strike on a terror camp in Pakistan.

The remark elicited a loud roar of approval from the crowd.

"We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and bitter decisions," he said.

Modi asked opposition leaders not to malign India's armed forces and desist from giving statements which may hog limelight in the Pakistani media.

"What our opposition leaders say become headlines in Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said.

Taking a tough stance on terrorism, the PM asserted that he will find out those responsible for such acts in India "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

"It is our principle to kill them by barging into their houses," Modi said.

The PM said the IAF's air attack on the Balakot terror camp, carried out in response to the Pulwama suicide bombing, should not be linked with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

"If this is done for elections, were there elections when we carried out the first surgical strikes (in 2016)," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Modi said, "Should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."



After his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India as a "gesture of peace", Modi had said; Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi.

In his remarks on Thursday, Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said he will find out those responsible for terror acts in India "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

Modi also asked the opposition not to malign India's armed forces.

"What our opposition leaders say become headlines in Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said, addressing a gathering here.

In a veiled reference to India's air strike in Pakistan, Modi said, "If one work gets over, our government doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another."



"We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and bitter decisions," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at Ahmedabad civil hospital, Modi said, "should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."



Minutes after his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said last week that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India as a gesture of peace, Modi had said; Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi.

Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice.

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The Kerala government is building a unique museum that throws light and promotes research on the state's temple arts and allied rituals at an ancient town in Thrissur district.

The proposed repository at an estimated cost of Rs 3.69 crore will be the first of its kind in southern India and is set to come up in Kodungallur town, known primarily for its two-millennium-old shrine, said Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran.

Called Sree Kurumba Bhagavathy temple, the Chera era religious complex is poised for conservation and facelift under the Muziris Heritage Project (MHP), according to the minister, who also holds the Devaswom portfolio.

Steps are on to renovate the dining hall (oottupura) and the administrative wing (kacherippura) of the temple renowned for its deity of goddess Kali and spirit of the shakti cult, he said at a function convened in Kodungallur Sunday to announce the government's package on conservation.

The endeavour is in continuance with the government's efforts to save the region's ancient monuments and traditions.

The revamp will stick to international standards and the rules set by the country's archaeological authorities, Surendran pointed out.

None of the old buildings will be dismantled; instead they would be given reinforcements that provide a fresh lease of life and guarantee longer existence, he was quoted as saying in a release here.

As for the proposed museum, it will be a new structure which the government will build on a plot sanctioned by the Devaswom department that administers the state's temples, the minister clarified.

The seaport of Kodungallur, with its multi-religious culture encompassing Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity, had been among the key belts of human advancement that came to an abrupt end owing to a natural calamity in 1341.

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Five fishermen were rescued by an Indian Navy ship from a sinking fishing vessel off the north Kerala coast Monday, a Defence spokesman said here.

INS Sharda has, while on routine patrol sighted and rescued the five fishermen from a fishing vesselabout 12 nautical miles SW of Ettikulam (Payyanur) this morning, the spokesman said.

The fishing vessel which had left from Cheruvathur, near Kasargod sank after water ingress.

The fishermen were administered first aid and were being brought to Kochi for disembarkation, the spokesperson said.

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Disgruntled BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who was a notable absentee at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Sunday rally here, said Monday the claim by NDA leaders of winning all 40 seats in Bihar is nothing but "wishful thinking".

On his absence from the rally where Modi, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan appeared together and sounded the Lok Sabha poll bugle in Bihar, Sinha said, "I was neither called nor I was interested in attending it."



Gandhi Maidan, the venue of the rally, falls in Sinha's Patna Saheb parliamentary constituency.

Asked if everything was over for him in the BJP, Sinha quipped, "Only time will tell whether my time with the BJP is over or the party's time with me is over."



Sinha, who was a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet, is at odds with the party leadership after being ignored for campaigning in the 2015 Bihar assembly polls, and has been taking potshots at the prime minister and BJP president Amit Shah on issues like demonetisation and crises in insitutions like the CBI and RBI.

The actor-politician dubbed the claim by Nitish Kumar and some other leaders of the coalition of winning all the 40 Lok Sabha seats as "wishful thinking meant to keep the morale of their party cadres high".

"They should have at least left my Patna Saheb seat from boastful claim of 40 out of 40 seats in Bihar," the BJP leader told PTI over phone from Mumbai.

Sinha has repeatedly asserted that he would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from Patna Saheb.

"Location will remain the same even if there is change in the situation," he reaffirmed.

Indications are that Sinha could be denied BJP ticket this time and he might enter the fray as candidate of alliance comprising the RJD, Congress, RLSP and HAM.

Sinha has often praised Congress president Rahul Gandhi and was seen in company of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi Yadav. It is unclear whether he would contest the election as a Congress or RJD nominee in the event of being denied BJP ticket.

Sinha, who had won the Patna Saheb seat in 2014 for a second time with a huge margin, mocked NDA leaders over their claim of winning "40 out of 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar" and Amit Shah's repeated assertion of getting "prachand bahumat" (overwhelming majority), saying they made similar claims during assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh but lost.

The actor-turned-politician Monday tweeted about his meeting with Lalu Prasad in a Ranchi jail on Saturday, a day before the NDA rally in Patna.

"Had the pleasure of meeting a dear family friend, Lalu Prasad Yadav @laluprasadrjd in Ranchi once again. It's so inspiring & comforting to see him bravely fighting despite ailing health in his difficult situation. His determination & cheerful approach is his strength," he tweeted.

"Our discussions were rewarding & beneficial. Wishing Laluji, healing prayers & a speedy recovery soon, sooner the better, for the State & Nation. Once a friend, always a friend, yours affectionately, Shatrughan Sinha / #BihariBabu," he said in another tweet.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
/ -- The New York City Regional Center ("NYCRC") is pleased to announce that construction of projects in eighteen (18) of its EB-5 offerings is now complete. These completed projects have successfully utilized NYCRC EB-5 financing to assist in the construction of over 3.8 million square feet of new development and renovation as well as infrastructure upgrades resulting in thousands of new jobs for New Yorkers.

The latest completed project utilizing EB-5 capital from NYCRC managed funds involved the next phase of redevelopment of the George Washington Bridge Bus Station, an important New York City transportation facility. Through two EB-5 offerings, the NYCRC provided $91 million of EB-5 capital to assist the continued transformation of the bus station into a modern transit and retail hub. The development has brought new construction and permanent jobs to the community as well as increased retail options to Washington Heights.

The NYCRC is also pleased to announce that a total of $224 million in capital has now been repaid to EB-5 investors in previous NYCRC offerings. In addition, 4,672 individuals worldwide have secured permanent green cards through NYCRC EB-5 offerings.

Permanent residency permits EB-5 investors to live and work anywhere in the United States and be protected by the laws of the United States. An EB-5 investor's spouse and children under age 21 are also authorized to live, work, and attend school anywhere in the United States.

"We are proud to announce the completed construction of 18 projects as well as the repayment of $224 million of capital to EB-5 investors in our previous offerings," said Paul Levinsohn, NYCRC Managing Principal. "The NYCRC takes seriously our role in spurring job creation and economic development as well as our responsibility to assist our EB-5 investors and their families achieve their immigration goals."



"This is an exciting achievement for the NYCRC and, of course, for our Indian investors," said Gregg Hayden, NYCRC's Director of Global Markets. "We look forward to assisting many more Indian citizens in the future."



Over the past 10 years, the NYCRC has put over $1.5 billion of EB-5 capital to work across a broad spectrum of infrastructure and real estate projects in New York City.

For more information about the NYCRC, please visit www.nycrc.com.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/452136/New_York_City_Regional_Center_Logo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The newly elected members of the Khasi Hill Autonomous District Council will take oath on Wednesday, officials said Monday.

Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy has summoned the first session of the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council on Wednesday and the 29 newly elected KHADC members will take oath on that day, District Council Affairs department commissioner and secretary T Dkhar said.

The election to the post of the chairman will be held on March 8, he said.

East Khasi Hills deputy commissioner, Matsiewdor War will administer the oath taking ceremony as well as conduct the election to the post of chairman of the council, Dkhar said.

In the February 27 elections to the tribal council, the ruling National Peoples Party won seven seats while its ally the UDP won six seats, the Hill State Peoples Democratic Party two seats and the PDF one seat.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Nigerian has been arrested for posting an advertisement in a website using the name of an European country's consulate here to sell a car, Kolkata Police said Monday.

The Consulate General of France in Kolkata lodged a complaint with the Kolkata Police Cyber section in November 2018, alleging that an anonymous person has used its name in posting an advertisement on a car-trading website to sell a car priced at Rs 25 lakh, a senior police officer said.

Initiating a probe into the matter, the police nabbed a Nigerian national identified as Chidiebere John Ume on February 28 from his hideout at Kharghar in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, the IPS officer said.

"He was staying there for the last three years and during the search several documents and devices were seized during his arrest," the officer said.

Investigating officers said the accused had already taken over Rs one lakh from one person for selling the said vehicle at a price of Rs 18 lakh.

The Nigerian was brought to the city on transit remand and was produced at a court here on Monday. The court remanded him to police custody till February 12.

"His statement and documents like passport and visa are being verified. Investigation into the case is on and we are trying to find out whether he is involved with any car theft racket or not," the officer added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Managing a Kumbh Mela, the world's largest gathering of religious pilgrims, has never been easy -- not now, not 100 years ago when India was still under the British rule, Uttar Pradesh was still United Province and people had limited options to commute.

A British-era communication between railway officials and the United Province



Lieutenant Governor shows the administration went to the extent of suggesting that prospective visitors be denied railway tickets and only a limited number of special trains be run.

However, these suggestion were rejected by the government of India after some religious groups felt such restrictions could "create deep dissatisfaction in the Hindu community" and indirectly interfere with their religious observance.

A letter dated November 8, 1917 from the then Railway Board President Sir RW Gillan to the then Lieutenant Governor of United Provinces Sir James Meston



has been put up at an archival exhibition on Kumbh at the Allahabad Museum and records these suggestions.

The archival documents give an insight on various aspects of arrangements made by the Railways, Public Health Department, Police Department et al during Kumbh Melas.

In his letter to James Meston, Gillan has written that though absolute prohibition of the mela was out of question, some restrictive measures were essential. These are chiefly necessitated by the difficulties in dealing with dispersal alone, he wrote.

"As you are aware, the Kumbh Mela at Allahabad is to take place in January and February 1918, and it is said that 2.5 to 3 millions of people are expected to assemble on the occasion.

"In view of many difficulties of railway transport at the present time, the Government of India has been considering the possibility of taking action to prevent the attendance of such a large gathering at the mela or to reduce it to the minimum," he wrote.

Gillan said some possible ways were discussed in a meeting in Delhi.

"I give below the main conclusions arrived by at the meeting," Gillan wrote.

"That Railways be authorised to refuse issue of tickets to pilgrims intending or believed to be intending to travel to Allahabad and its vicinity to attend the mela.

"That Railways be instructed to run only a limited number of mela specials for the dispersal, which will allow of the handling of coal, Government and essential traffic necessary for the successful prosecution of the war.

"The local governments and the United Provinces Government in particular be notified as to the limited number of specials that railways will be able to run for the dispersal after mela," he wrote.

He has also said that the meeting arrived at the conclusion that the United Provinces government be particularly requested to impress upon local officers superintending the mela that the dispersal must be gradual in view of limited accommodation.

"...and that steps should be taken to regulate traffic accordingly, in as much as railways will not be in a position to increase the number of specials on any particular date."



The exhibition also displays a 1918 telegram, issued by the office of the private secretary to the viceroy but which does not carry a date, conveying the order of the government of India withdrawing the directive prohibiting the issue of tickets for Allahabad. It also suggests to run as many trains as possible.

"The order of the Govt of India prohibiting issue of tickets for Allahabad with the forthcoming Kumbh Mela has created deep dissatisfaction in the Hindu community as it indirectly interferes with their religious observance. The Sanatana Dharma Sabha Allahabad therefore prays that the Govt of India may be pleased to withdraw the said prohibition," the telegram reads.

"It further prays that strong efforts should be made to run between 8th and 16th January and between 5th and 8th February at least as many trains to Allahabad as existed in normal times before the war even if no special trains are possible," it says.

The Kumbh draws tens of millions of pilgrims from across the globe over the course of approximately 55 days to bathe at the Sangam -- the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

About the 2019 congregation, Kumbh Mela Adhikari Vijay Kiran Anand said Monday that over 22 crore people have so far taken the holy dip.

Such is the rush of pilgrims that the entire Kumbh Mela area has been demarcated into nine zones and 20 sectors to be manned by 20,000 police personnel, 6,000 homeguard jawans, 80 companies of central force and 20 companies of PAC, according to Uttar Pradesh Director General of Police (DGP) O P Singh.

Also 40 police stations, 58 outposts and 40 fire stations have been set up.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
NSUI members stopped a metro train at the Vishwavidyalaya metro station on Monday demanding concession in metro fare for students.

Around 10-15 members of the Students Union India (NSUI) jumped on the tracks and raised anti-Modi and anti-Kejriwal slogans.

They were also demanding metro passes for DU students.

According to Rail Corportaion (DMRC), protesters jumped on the tracks at the Vishwavidyalaya Metro station at around 12.26 pm and stopped a train.

The members of the students wing of the Congress were swiftly removed from the tracks and handed over to police at 12.48 pm.

Train services were regulated and were running normally on the entire Yellow line, they said.

Thirteen protesters were detained and brought to Kashmere Gate Metro police station.
State-owned has received just one bid from US oilfield-service company Schlumberger Ltd for its ambitious pilot to raise output from ageing oilfields through the infusion of technology, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.

India's top and gas producer plans to hire international service for the first time to raise output from its mature oilfields. Last year, it had shortlisted Schlumberger, Halliburton and GE subsidiary Baker Hughes for raising output from Kalol field in and Geleki field in

At the close of bids, only Schlumberger made a financial bid for Geleki field, sources said.

No bid was received for Kalol field.

The service providers will be paid a fee for raising output beyond an agreed baseline production.

Sources said Schlumberger has sought certain deviations from the tender conditions, and and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) is discussing them with the company.

top brass, they said, are keen to conclude a contract with Schlumberger soon to get the project going.

Based on experience of the Geleki bidding, the company plans to bring out similar bidding for few other ageing oilfields.

is looking to raise domestic output quickly to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of cutting import dependence by 10 per cent by 2022. currently imports over 83 per cent of its oil needs.

Originally, ONGC had on December 7, 2016, signed a Summary of Understanding (SoU) to give Kalol field to Halliburton and Geleki field to Schlumberger for raising production above the current baseline output.

Though the contracts were signed in presence of Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, ONGC rescinded them in 2017 on fears of courting controversy for handing fields on nomination basis.

Thereafter, the company in June 2017 floated an expression of interest (EoI) from service providers for undertaking production enhancement.

Thereafter Schlumberger Asia Services, Halliburton Offshore Services Inc and Baker Hughes Singapore PTE Ltd were shortlisted as firms were meeting pre-qualification criteria.

Bids were originally sought by May 25, 2018, but saw several extensions and final bids came in a couple of months back, sources said.

The 15-year Production Enhancement Contract (PEC) will require the oilfield service producer to commit to investing in capital expenditure and operating expenditure to increase production from the existing baseline output.

A tariff will be paid in USD per barrel of oil and USD per million British thermal units for gas for any incremental hydrocarbon produced and saved over the baseline.

The baseline will be prepared by ONGC and vetted and certified by a third party of international repute.

All the produced will belong to ONGC and the service provider arrangement is being entered into to get the best technology available, sources said.

Besides Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes, ONGC was also in talks with Weatherford International.

Sources said based on the experience of Kalol and Geleki, the PEC model may be extended to other onshore fields.
Seeking to put the government on the back foot, opposition parties Monday latched on to BJP chief Amit Shah's claim of 250 casualties in the Indian Air Force's air strike in Pakistan's Balakot to ask how he got such top secret information.

The Congress asked the government what was the basis of Shah's claim and why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not giving details of the casualties.

Congress spokesperson RPN Singh accused the prime minister and the BJP leadership of politicising the air strike and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the Indian Air Force (IAF) as being "weaker without Rafale" and undermining its abilities.

He counter-accused the BJP and its leaders of spreading misinformation and "false propaganda" over the air strike ahead of elections and said the people of the country would give them a befitting reply.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also said if Shah is claiming 250 casualties of terrorists in the air strike, why is the prime minister not providing details of the number of deaths.

He cited several international media reports claiming "no proof of militant losses at Balakot" and asked Modi if those media organisations are "pro-Pakistan".

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala referred to Union minister S S Ahluwalia's reported remarks that the government never claimed to have killed 300-350 terrorists in the air strike and asked the prime minister to share the "truth" with the country.

Referring to Shah's statement on the casualties in the air strike, RPN Singh asked, "Where is this number coming from and who is politicising this whole incident."



"Why is the prime minister not giving details and saying how many people have died in the air strike. Why is the government not confirming this," he asked.

The former union minister said Modi is talking about Rafale, Shah about how many people died in the air strike and the BJP Delhi president is wearing army fatigue for his political campaigns.

"Here is the prime minister, who says that the air force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologise for saying that...

"The prime minister has tried to show that the air force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," Singh said.

The BJP hit back asking the Congress not to "mislead" the country and "insult" the armed forces with "fake and fabricated" stories.

Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the Congress and its allies are "crying" while terrorists and their sponsors are hit.

"Is this a coincidence or a partnership? It is unfortunate that when the entire country is speaking in one voice to salute our armed forces' valour, the Congress and its allies are raising such questions," he said.

Amid the raging debate on number of casualties in the strike, IAF chief B S Dhanoa Monday said in Coimbatore that the air force doesn't count human casualties and it was for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed.

The air force doesn't count human casualties, Dhanoa said.

While there has been no official statement on the number of deaths, government sources had earlier said up to 350 terrorists were killed, Shah Sunday put the toll at 250.

Some media reports claimed that the damage has been minimal, prompting opposition leaders to clamour for clarity.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Monday said Shah took a stand contradictory to that of the armed forces.

"The armed forces are also saying this. Amit Shah is saying that the armed forces are lying, 250 (terrorists) were killed. Shah is calling the armed forces a liar. The country will not tolerate this under any circumstances," Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

BSP chief Mayawati attacked Modi for his remarks on Rafale jets, asking why the BJP government at the Centre did not induct even one of these fighters into the IAF during its tenure.

"Rafale fighter could have proven useful in the fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government's tenure.

"Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?" Mayawati said in a tweet.

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said discrepancies in the casualty figures indicates that nothing on the air strike is based on facts and accused the BJP of politicising the air strike.

He alleged that pictures of "martyrs" and Wing Commander Abhinandan were being used in poll campaign.

"The air force has not counted, the government is speaking in multiple voices, but the BJP president is dishing out numbers. If he has access to secret information which even the IAF chief does not have, its a breach of national security. If not, he is lying," he said.

CPI leader D Raja accused Modi and the BJP of "demeaning" the armed forces and questioned Shah's claims of casualties.

He said it is Modi who is "demoralising" the armed forces by dragging them into "dirty and controversies."



"If the air force chief is not giving figures and description of damages, then how come Amit Shah is giving figures of 250 casualties. Who gave him this figure. PM Modi should tell the nation and people," he said.

NCP's Sharad Pawar said if the information on casualty had come from defence personnel, he would have taken it seriously.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union minister Prakash Javadekar Monday criticised opposition parties for questioning the Indian Air Force's bombing of a terror training camp in Pakistan, saying operational details cannot be shared as doing so will only help that country.

He said seeking proof of the operation in Balakot amounted to showing lack of confidence in the armed forces.

"The whole country is proud of our armed forces...the Air Force. When they have conducted air strikes deep inside Pakistan, raising doubt and asking for proof is actually helping Pakistan. Asking for proof amounts to not showing confidence in our Army and Air Force," he told PTI.

Javadekar's comments came in the backdrop of growing chorus by opposition parties, especially Congress leaders, for showing evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp by the Indian Air Force on February 26.

Javadekar is in West Bengal's Burdwan district to attend a meeting of the BJP's intellectual cell.

When asked about the demand by some opposition leaders that the government release evidence of the air strike, the Human Resource Development Minister said,"There are operational details which are never shared beacuse that will directly help Pakistan.

"There is a minmum decorum and it (the strike) should not be politicised the way opposition parties are politicising (it)."



"The whole country stands united with our armed forces and Air Force. It is absolutely untenable that you ask about the details. Which plane? How they did it? Which bombs were used? You are asking for operational details which is untenable and no country does this, he said.

Several senior Congress leaders including Digvijay Singh and Kapil Sibal have sought proof of Indian Air Force's strike that was believed to have destroyed the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pakistan.

"Modi ji must answer as the international media like New York Times, Washington Post, London-based Jane Information group, Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and Reuters, are reporting that there is no proof of militant losses at Balakot in Pakistan," Sibal said.

"You are guilty of politicising terror," Sibal said on Twitter.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clear the doubt as one of his ministers had denied TV that 300 terrorists were killed in the air strike on February 26.

"Modi ji, Your central minister is denying TV that prime minister Modi has never confirmed the killing of 300 terrorists in IAF air strikes in Pakistan.s it true. If not, the prime minister should tell the truth to the country," he said on Twitter.

Surjewala also put out a report about Union minister SS Ahluwalia's comments.

Punjab minister and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu said, "300 terrorist dead, Yes or No? What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick? Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Stop politicising the Army, it is as sacred as the State," he said, adding "Oonchi Dukaan, Pheeka Pakwan" (big talk, no delivery).

Refuting allegations that BJP was trying to gain political mileage from the air asssault ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Javadekar said his party never uses the bravery of jawans to serve its political purposes. For the BJP, he said, national security is above

"We BJP never use the bravery of jawans for political purpose. The fact of the matter is even after 26/11 (Mumbai terror attacks 2008) the Army had shown willingness to act but it was not permitted (by the then UPA government). The present government permitted (the attack)," he said.

Javadekar recollected how the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had allowed nuclear tests at Pokhran in 1998 after four previous prime ministers did not take a call and sign the order on the file.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in northwest Pakistan has allocated Rs 75 million for the construction of five cremation grounds for the Hindu community and creation of seven graveyards for Christians.

According to provincial officials, a total of Rs 24 million has been allocated for the construction of five cremation grounds and Rs 51 million has been set aside for the creation of seven Christian graveyards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They said the purchase of four-kanal (0.5 acre) land for cremation ground in Peshawar and two-kanal (0.25 acre) each in Hangu, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan and Nowshera districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been approved by the department concerned.

The purchase of six-kanal (0.75 acre) land for Christian graveyard in Peshawar, five-kanal (0.62 acre) each in Mardan, Kohat, Swabi and Dir Lower and four-kanal each in Swat and Nowshera districts have also been approved by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

In January, the provincial government had declared the ancient Hindu religious site of Panj Tirath in Peshawar as a national heritage.

Minority religions make up just 4 per cent of Pakistan's 200 million people. Hindus make up the country's second-largest minority, with more than 2 million, living mainly in the southern Sindh province.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation have not been banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch.

According to the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), which was updated on Monday, Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) are organisations under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.

The NCTA website says the notification regarding JuD and FIF putting them under the list of organisation under watch was issued on February 21. However, before that the website had said that both JuD and FIF were placed on the watch list in January 2017.

On February 21, Pakistan government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

"This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said.

The Pakistan government on Monday also put out another order saying it has frozen assets of all UN designated organisations like JuD, FIF.

However, this is nothing but continuation of a decade-old fraud since both the organisations were put in the Schedule-II of the Pakistan's Anti Terrorism Act, 1997, another official said.

Even the Pakistan Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court had rejected any move of freezing of JuD assets in 2018 because of putting it in Schedule-II as none of its assets can be frozen under the Anti Terrorism Act, the official said.

A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on February 21 that the decision to ban these two groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson had said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NCTA has so far declared 69 terrorist organisations as banned and a sizeable number of these organisations are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The NCTA has has turned a blind eye to major militant groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al Badr operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation have not been banned by despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch.

According to the website of the government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), which was updated on Monday, Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) are organisations under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.

The NCTA website says the notification regarding JuD and FIF putting them under the list of organisations under watch was issued on February 21. However, before that, the website had said that both JuD and FIF were placed on the watch list in January 2017.

On February 21, government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

"This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said.

A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on February 21 that the decision to ban these two groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson had said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NCTA has so far declared 69 terrorist organisations as banned and a sizeable number of these organisations are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The NCTA has turned a blind eye to major militant groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al Badr operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations, amid mounting pressure from the global community to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil and curb their financing.

The move also comes amid tensions with India following a suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14 by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

India handed over a dossier to Pakistan to take action against the JeM, as pressure mounted on Islamabad to take action against individual and organisation listed by the UN Security Council as terrorists.

In a statement, the Foreign Office Monday said that the government issued the UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 in accordance with the provisions of Pakistan's United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Act, 1948.

"The objective of the UNSC (Freezing and Seizure) Order 2019 is to streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities," it said.

On Sunday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the government has taken action against the proscribed organisations including JeM in the past and any future action against them will be taken in the light of the National Action Plan (NAP) and Pakistan's commitments in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

However, a top government source said that the Pakistan government has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfits, including Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, in order to de-escalate tensions with India.

The official said the action against JeM is "expected any time soon".

Dawn newspaper also reported on Monday that "a decisive crackdown on extremist and militant organisations in the country looks imminent".

The new law is expected to help Pakistan government to fulfill its obligations towards the UNSC by expediting seizure of properties of banned groups and individuals.

The US last month asked Pakistan to "freeze without delay" the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders.

Pakistan is also under pressure from the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to deliver on its commitments to curb terror financing.

The FATF in June last year placed Pakistan onto its watch list in a bid to push the country to halt support for militant groups.

In June 2018, Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT regime and to address its strategic counter-terrorism financing-related deficiencies by implementing a 10-point action plan to accomplish these objectives.

The successful implementation of the action plan and its physical verification by the APG will lead the FATF to clear Pakistan out of its grey list or else move into the black list by September 2019.

In its statement, the Foreign Office said that it may be recalled that the Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter authorises the (UNSC), acting under Article 41, to decide measures, not involving the use of armed force, to give effect to its decisions for the maintenance of international peace and security.

In Pakistan, such decisions of the Security Council are implemented through the UN Security Council Act (UNSC), 1948, it said.

The FO said over the years the sanctions regime of the United Nations Security Council have evolved.

"A key measure of these sanctions regimes is 'assets freeze' under which States are required to freeze/seize the assets of designated entities and individuals as soon as they are designated by the relevant UNSC Sanctions Committee," it said.

The UN Security Council (Freezing and Seizure) Order, 2019 has been formulated in line with UNSC and the FATF standards, according to FO.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday cautioned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional battle.

Refusing to comment on the casualty figure in the Indian Air Force strikes on a terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan, Singh, who is a former army Captain, said, "Whether it was one killed or 100, the message had gone out loud and clear India will not let the killing of its innocent soldiers and citizens go unpunished."



He asserted that neither country could afford a full-scale war.

"Pakistan will not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it is losing out against India in a conventional war," Singh told the media here.

Pointing out that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers, he said it was not in either country's interest to use the weapons of destruction but Islamabad could "indulge in such a misadventure if faced with defeat in other battles".

The IAF strikes had proven India's resolve to deal with the problem in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, the CM said.

Noting that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess and had been "going around with a begging bowl and surviving on doles from other Islamic nations", Singh said they could "ill-afford a full-fledged war with India".

And though both were nuclear powered countries, Pakistan could act out of desperation to use its nuclear weapons if they found themselves cornered, he warned.

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The in order to de-escalate the tensions with India, has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, according to a top government source while a media report said Sunday that Islamabad may even withdraw its opposition to the move to list him as global terrorist in the UN Security Council.

"The government has decided in principle to launch crackdown on the leadership of the JeM (Azhar)," the source told PTI.

He said the action against JeM in the country is "expected any time soon".

"In order to de-escalate the tensions between India and Pakistan, the Imran Khan government has planned action against the JeM," the source said.

"This will be another significant move of the Imran Khan government to de-escalate tensions after handing over the captured Indian pilot to his country," he said.

To a question about the Azhar's fate, the official source said he cannot confirm whether he would be put under house-arrest or taken into custody.

According to a media report, a security official hinted that Pakistan may withdraw its opposition to the listing of JeM chief as global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

"The state has to decide whether individual is important or the larger interest of the country," the official was quoted as saying in the Express Tribune, when asked if Pakistan would no more oppose the UNSC action against Azhar.

The US, the UK and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Pakistan-based JeM chief Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.



ALSO READ: Has anything changed after bombing of a terror camp in Pakistan by IAF?

The Security Council Sanctions Committee will consider within 10 days on the fresh proposal moved by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council.

The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, 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 the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

When contacted Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said: "The government has taken action against the proscribed organisations including JeM in the past and any future action against them will be taken in the light of the Action Plan (NAP) and our commitments in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and not on Indian pressure," he said.

Asked will the government take action against the JeM any time soon, the minister didn't rule it out, saying "any action against the proscribed organisations will be taken according to NAP."



He said the Punjab government has taken the control of a seminary and a mosque in Bahawalpur as per the NAP requirements.
NCP president Sharad Pawar Monday expressed surprise over BJP chief Amit Shah claim of more than 250 terrorists being killed in the Balakot air strike and said if the casualty figure had come from defence personnel, he would have taken it seriously.

Pawar also said no political benefit should be sought from the February 26 air attack on a JeM training camp at Balakot in Pakistan.

He was speaking to reporters after meeting the family of Indian Air Force pilot Ninad Mandavgane, who died in a helicopter accident in Srinagar recently, in Nashik, around 200km from here in North Maharashtra.

Shah, addressing a rally in Gujarat, had claimed the IAF air strike on the terror camp had killed "more than 250" terrorists.

The government is yet to officially come out with the number of terrorists killed in the operation.

"Had the claim of casualty in the air strike come from any defence person, I would have taken it seriously. In such a situation, no political benefit or gain should be sought.

"I am surprised that Amit Shah makes such a statement on this issue," Pawar said.

"His is an inappropriate statement over the issue," said the former defence minister.

"No one can help if someone wants to seek benefit out of it. This would create a different kind of picture about the society. This is not good," Pawar said.

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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said the person who solves the Kashmir issue will be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, days after a resolution was submitted in Parliament endorsing him for the prestigious award, citing his "efforts to de-escalate" tensions with India.

"I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent," the premier tweeted.

On March 2, a resolution was submitted in Pakistan's National Assembly Secretariat stating that Khan's decision of releasing Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has de-escalated the hostility between Pakistan and India.

According to the resolution, Khan "acted responsibly" in the current tension and "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize".

After the Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan retaliated with a large air formation, comprising 24 fighter jets, including F-16s.

Varthaman, who was in one of the eight MiG-21s that took on the invading Pakistan Air Force jets and shot down an F-16, was captured by Pakistan.

Khan during a joint session of Parliament on February 28 announced to release the IAF pilot as a "gesture of peace" and the "first step" to open negotiations with India.

Varthaman was released at the Wagah border on Friday.

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Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on Rafale was an "insult" to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and its pilots.

Referring to Modi's statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan, Chavan said the PM was politicising the issue.

The former Union minister said the PM's statement indicates India lost the "dogfight" with Pakistan.

He cited a report in a leading US daily which talks about India's "defeat" in the dogfight and raises questions about its "vintage" military.

Chavan said the international media is also raising certain questions about the February 26 air strikes inside Pakistan, but the Centre is unable to come out with answers.

"The report in the international media and the prime minister's statement at the 'India Today Conclave' (on Rafale) is a confession that India faced defeat in the (dog) fight with Pakistan.

"The statement made by PM is condemnable as it was an insult of IAF and its pilots," said Chavan.

He said the PM should stop politicising the issue and apologise for his remarks.

The former Maharashtra chief minister said Modi, by making such statements, also implied that there was a delay in aircraft procurement during the rule of Congress-led UPA.

"However, I would like to say that the delay had taken place in the three years of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and five years of the current Modi government," he said.

He said during the UPA rule, it was the IAF which was at the centre of preparing service agreements.

"There was a delay of one-and-a-half years after 2012 contract negotiations started as UPA was insisting that 108 Rafale aircraft should be made at Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd (HAL)," he said.

"The Modi government delayed the process as they wanted to give offset contract of the Rafale deal to Ambani," he said.

The Congress has been alleging that on the Modi government's insistence, French company Dassault, makers of Rafale, awarded an offset contract to Reliance Defence, a firm owned by industrialist Anil Ambani, overlooking state-owned HAL which has an expertise in aircraft manufacturing.

The government has repeatedly denied the charge. Ambani, too, has rejected the Congress allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

Talking about the Balakot air strike, he said the IAF successfully completed the task assigned to it.

They (IAF) were given particular coordinates about the targets and they hit it on them using 'Spice' bomb but it seems that the ground intelligence failed about the presence of terrorists over there, he said.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said he believed in "barging into the houses of terrorists and killing them" as he vowed to find out those responsible for terror attacks in India "even if they hide in bowels of the earth".

Modi's comments indicated that last week's air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Pakistan won't be India's last such action against terrorism emanating from the neighbouring country.

He targeted the opposition for playing "vote-bank politics" and not taking steps to curb terrorism that has been hurting India for 40 years when they were in power.

"They (the opposition) say it is a game of election. Where was election when we carried out surgical strikes for the first time (in September 2016)? 'Ye hamara siddhant hai, ki ghar mein ghus kar maarenge' (it is our principle that we will kill them by barging into their house)," he asserted.

"I am not going to spare them even if they hide in the bowels of the earth (saatve pataal)," he said in his address, seen as a fresh warning to Pakistan.

Recalling the bomb blasts carried out at the civil hospital premises here in July 2008 and the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Modi said the then government at the Centre should have taken revenge and taught Pakistan a lesson.

"Terrorism came from across the border. Was it not the responsibility of people at the Centre to take revenge?" he asked, referring to the bomb blasts at the civil hospital and other places in Ahmedabad.

"If the government then had courage, it could have avenged the deaths of innocent people at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Innocent people were killed in 26/11 in Mumbai. And we came back to normal after a few days," he said, addressing a gathering here.

Modi asked the opposition not to politicise the issue of strike carried out on terrorist camps in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force, and asked them whether or not they trust the country's armed forces and what they say.

"No country can stay in such helpless condition. For 40 years, terrorism has been hurting India, the hearts of Bharat Ma, innocent people are being killed. But people playing vote-bank are scared to take steps," he said.

"I do not care about the chair (of Prime Minister). I care about our country. I have protected the country's people," he added.

The PM asked opposition leaders to desist from giving statements that hog limelight in the Pakistani media.

"What our opposition leaders say becomes the headlines of Pakistan newspapers. Such leaders say things which are shown on Pakistan TV, are discussed in Pakistan parliament."



"Is it in the interest of the country? Will you say such things over which Pakistan will clap?" Modi asked.

"Do you trust our country's armed forces? Should we not trust what the military says? But there are some people who do not like what the military says."



"I dont ask you to accept what I say, but at least do not distrust military and do not question their courage. They risk their life for the country and come back successfully," Modi said.

He said the opposition would have sought his resignation had something untoward happened to the military during the surgical strikes.

"Suppose if something untoward had happened when our military went on the operation? What would they (the opposition) have done? Whose resignation they would have sought?" Modi asked.

"When we succeeded, they are shouting that Modi should not have named Army, he should not say Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan," he said, adding that his government was committed to protect the country's security and its interests.

"The way we are committed to the country's security and this war (on terrorism) we have waged, do understand that I will do whatever is necessary in the country's interests," he said.

"Should we not fight terrorism and uproot it? Which party can do this? Tell me honestly who will do it? On the one had we are punishing those who do wrong and on the other hand we are punishing those who do their job honestly," Modi said.

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A political row broke out over alleged data theft of Andhra Pradesh voters by an IT firm in Hyderabad with the ruling TDP Monday alleging a cyber conspiracy and seeking transfer of the case registered by the Telangana police to the neighbouring state.

As Telangana police citing preliminary probe claimed the IT company got 'illegal' access to details of voters, TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged it was part of a conspiracy to help opposition YSR Congress headed by Jaganmohan Reddy.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and KCR (Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao were helping Jaganmohan Reddy in executing this 'cyber conspiracy', he alleged in his teleconference with TDP party leaders.

"It is atrocious to steal our data and give it to our rivals," he said.

Naidu alleged "The Bihari gang led by (political strategist and JDU leader) Prashant Kishore is giving such evil advise to the YSRC."



Separately, TDP politburo member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and general secretary Varla Ramaia demanded the case registered by Cyberabad police be transferred to AP as per the CrPC since the alleged theft happened in the state.

The YSRC, however, questioned how confidential data related to the state government went into private hands.

"Why is Chandrababu so scared of the investigation? The data theft is part of a plan to remove names of those against the government from the electors list," YSRC leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged.

The case against the firm was registered on Saturday on a complaint from a data analyst alleging that TDP cadre were using certain mobile phone and tab-based applications especially "Seva Mitra" app for "advancing their party's electoral prospects.

It drew protests from Andhra Pradesh ministers and TDP legislators Sunday with IT Minister N Lokesh in a tweet alleging that Telangana police was harassing the IT firms that have been hired to curate information whose complete rights were held by the TDP.

Hitting back, TRS working president K T Rama Rao Monday asked why the TDP was afraid of a probe if it had not done anything wrong.

Naidu should be "ashamed of" his party's criticism of the Telangana government, Rao said and dared him to face the probe."If you have not done the theft, Chandrababu Naidu ji... why should you fear?" he asked.

"It is the TDP which committed the wrong. The (AP) government which is supposed to keep personal data a secret, gives that data to a party, how should it be seen," he told reporters in Hyderabad.

"What was done was wrong. As if, 'ulta chor kotwal ko dante' (the pot calling the kettle black), they (TDP) are slamming the Telangana government. Chandrababu Naidu and his government should have shame," he said.

Rama Rao, son of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, also alleged the TDP tried to defame the TRS government on social media through "a paid campaign."



Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar told reporters in Hyderabad that police have issued a notice to the Amazon Web Services, with which the database was said to have been stored, seeking the data.

"Prima-facie, the investigation has revealed" that the company got access of personal information and sensitive data of individuals related to Aadhaar, electoral roll, government schemes and voters information of various political parties "which can be misused for illegal purposes like alleged deletion of voters," he said.

The police will also write to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which runs Aadhar, the Election Commission, the Registrar of Companies and the the Andhra Pradesh government seeking related details, he said.

In a related development, one more case was registered against owner of the firm and others by Hyderabad Police and investigations were on, police said.

When asked if Lokesh will be questioned, the Commissioner said police will not spare anybody who was responsible for the alleged theft of data.

Police carried out searches at the company's office on Saturday and Sunday by securing the presence of four employees, he said adding electronic gadgets, including central processing units (CPUs) and hard discs were seized.

The "incriminating materials" seized were being sent for Forensic analysis for and arrests would be made as per law, he added.

Through the 'Seva Mitra' app, data had been collected constituency-wise and about voters' affiliation to political parties, the Commissioner said.

In a related development, the Telangana High Court closed a habeas corpus petition filed by the IT form owner alleging that the four employees were under illegal detention after they were produced by the police in the court Monday.

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After several rounds of talks with DMDK, the AIADMK Monday expressed confidence that the poll deals with potential allies would be concluded ahead of a rally to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi near here on March 6.

Infusing fresh traction to the parleys over seat-sharing, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam called on DMDK chief Vijayakanth at his residence here and told reporters that a 'good decision' will be out soon.

"The talks continue to be on," he said and added that "either today or tomorrow, a good decision will be taken and announced."



On the number of constituencies and the seats to be contested by the DMDK, he said "wait and see," adding it will be made known in a day or two.

Panneerselvam -who is also the Deputy Chief Minister- visited Vijayakanth along with senior party leader D Jayakumar and said they enquired about the DMDK chief's health and wished him well.

Vijayakanth had recently returned from the U.S.A after medical treatment and is largely confined to his residence.

"Before 6th (March 6) the outcome in respect of inking poll pacts with all parties (potential allies) will be announced," Panneerselvam said.

All party leaders in the AIADMK-led front would address the rally, to be presided by Prime Minsiter Modi near here, he said.

A grand public rally is being organised by the BJP and its allies at nearby Vandalur , the first after conclusion of poll deals by the AIADMK with the PMK and saffron parties, in which Modi is all set to participate.

The AIADMK had on February 19 inked poll pacts with the PMK and the BJP and allotted seven and five Lok Sabha seats respectively to them. The PMK will also be getting one Rajya Sabha seat as per the understanding.

The Puthiya Tamizhagam was allotted one seat and the All India N R Congress the lone segment in neighbouring Puducherry by the AIADMK.

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Declaring that the church "isn't afraid of history," Pope Francis said Monday he has decided to open up the Vatican archives on World War II-era Pope Pius XII, who has been criticized by Jews of staying silent on the Holocaust.

Francis told officials and personnel of the Vatican Secret Archives that the archive would be open to researchers starting March 2, 2020.

Pius was elected pontiff on March 2, 1939, six months before World War II erupted in Europe. Pius died on October 9, 1958, at the Vatican summer residence at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome.

The Vatican usually waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open up the relevant archives. But the Holy See has been under pressure to make the Pius XII documentation available sooner and while Holocaust survivors are still alive.

Vatican archivists had already started preparing the documentation for consultation back in 2006, at the behest of Francis' German-born predecessor, Benedict XVI.

The Vatican has defended Pius, saying he used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save lives. Francis indicated he, too, embraced that interpretation.

Pius' actions will be scrutinized as part of efforts underway to decide if he should be declared a saint.

Francis indicated that the church was confident that the papacy would withstand the findings by historians' studying the archives, saying Pius was "criticized, one can say, with some prejudice and exaggeration."



"The church isn't afraid of history, on the contrary, it loves it, and would like to love it even more, like it loves God," Francis told staff at the archive. "Thus, with the same trust of my predecessors, I open, and entrust to researchers, this patrimony of documentation."



Francis expressed certainty that historical research would properly evaluate Pius' legacy "with appropriate criticism."He said the Pius papacy included "moments of grave difficulties, tormented decisions of human and Christian prudence, that to some could appear as reticence."Instead, he said they could be seen as attempts "to keep lit, in the darkest and cruelest periods, the flame of humanitarian initiatives, of hidden but active diplomacy" aimed at possibly "opening hearts.

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Qatar on Monday told rival Saudi Arabia not to meddle in its potential arms purchases from Russia, as the Gulf state weighs the controversial purchase of an air defence system.

"Regarding the arms sales that Qatar has with Russia... we believe that Saudi Arabia, or any other countries, it is none of their business," Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at a conference in Doha with his visiting Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"It's a sovereign decision that should be taken by the state of Qatar," said Sheikh Mohammed when asked about a possible purchase of the S-400, a sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft weapon system.

He said talks on the purchase were ongoing, while Lavrov also confirmed that talks on "bilateral" military cooperation with gas-rich Qatar were taking place.

The possible arms deal first surfaced last year, sparking backlash by Gulf powerhouse Saudi Arabia -- which along with the UAE and their allies cut all ties with Doha in 2017 over allegations of support for Islamist extremists and Shiite Iran.

Qatar denies the allegations and says its rivals want regime change in Doha.

Saudi King Salman last year expressed Riyadh's concern over the potential deal to buy S-400s in a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron, threatening military action if Qatar went ahead with the purchase.

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Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday hinted that his country may not oppose a joint move by France, Britain and the US in the UN Security Council to list Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"Time has come for Pakistan to decide in its own interests. We will do what's in Pakistan's interests," Qureshi told Geo TV in an interview.

Last week, the US, the UK and France moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The Security Council Sanctions Committee has 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three members. It is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

When asked whether Pakistan will request its close ally China to veto the resolution once again in the UNSC, Qureshi said his government will try to build a consensus among all parties and do what's in Pakistan's interests.

"We have some global commitments...We will have to take action which doesn't harm our global reputation," he said, without elaborating.

Describing the situation following the Pulwama terror attack as a "defining moment" for Pakistan, he said Pakistan doesn't want to go for a war with India.

"We want peace. Our people want jobs, they want reforms in institutions, they want us to crackdown on corruption...," he added.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 - the US, the UK and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

It remains to be seen how China will vote on the proposal this time.

India has strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including Azhar, as designated terrorists under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based JeM killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir on February 14. India Wednesday handed over to Pakistan a dossier on "specific details" of involvement of JeM in the attack.

When asked about the dossier on JeM handed over by India, Qureshi said, "We are examining it and we will respond accordingly."



According to a top government source here, Pakistan has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfits, including JeM and its chief Azhar, in order to de-escalate the tensions with India and the action is "expected any time soon".

Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations, amid mounting pressure from the global community to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil and curb their financing.

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Private sector Karnataka Bank Monday said the RBI has slapped a fine of Rs 4 crore on the bank for violating regulatory norms.

The Reserve Bank of India has levied an aggregate penalty of Rs 40 million on the bank for delayed implementation of four of the Swift related operational controls.

Swift is the global messaging software used for transactions by the financial entities.

Notably, the massive Rs 14,000 crore fraud at the PNB was a case of misuse of this messsaging software.

Post the PNB fraud, which came to light in February 2018, the RBI has been tough on banks to tighten all kind of their transactions.

Earlier on Saturday, four banks -- SBI, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank and IDBI -- had informed exchanges about monetary penalty slapped on them by the regulator for non-compliance with various directions.

Fine of Rs 3 crore was imposed on Union Bank, Rs 2 crore on Dena Bank, and Rs 1 crore each on IDBI and the SBI.

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: The Telugu Desam Party Monday demanded that the case relating to the alleged theft of sensitive data of Andhra Pradesh government be transferred to the state from Telangana forthwith as per the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

As the alleged theft happened in Andhra Pradesh, the case should be transferred to the state as per the CrPC, TDP politburo member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy and general secretary Varla Ramaiah told a press conference here.

Lashing out at Cyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar for disclosing details of the investigation into the case, the TDP leaders claimed that Telangana state has no jurisdiction over the case.

"Even the Telangana High Court pointed out to this," they said.

The TDP leaders maintained there was nothing confidential about the data that was stored by IT Grid company in Hyderabad as "everything is available in the public domain".

"Details of beneficiaries of government schemes, the voters' list...everything is available online. So where is the question of stealing the data? they asked.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the opposition YSR Congress, in collusion with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government, was foisting cases against the TDP only out of frustration.

"Is this the return gift that (Telangana Chief Minister) K Chandrasekhar Rao promised to give me? It is atrocious to steal our data and give it to our rivals," Chandrababu said, in a teleconference with his party leaders.

The data was a result of '24 years of hard work' and was the TDP's property, he said.

"This data was not compiled in a day. It is a product of 24 years of our hard work. It is the TDP's property, the property of 70 lakh party workers. No government has the right to steal it," Chandrababu added.

The Chief Minister alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and KCR were helping (YSRC president) Jaganmohan Reddy in executing this 'cyber conspiracy'.

"The Bihari gang led by (political strategist and JD(U) leader) Prashant Kishore is giving such evil advise to the YSRC.

It is out of fear of losing the ensuing elections in the state that the Bihari gang is resorting to such wicked acts," the TDP chief lashed out.

The YSRC, however, questioned how confidential data related to the state government went into private hands.

"Why is Chandrababu so scared of the investigation? The data theft is part of a plan to remove names of those against the government from the electors list.

The TDP leaders are selling critical government data to private parties," YSRC leader and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Buggana Rajendranath Reddy alleged.

"This case is similar to the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal. A high-level inquiry by all agencies concerned, including the Election Commission of India, should be conducted into the data harvesting and theft," Reddy demanded.

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South Korea has proposed semiofficial three-way talks with the United States and North Korea as it struggles to put nuclear diplomacy back on track after the collapse of a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The proposal for the talks came during a National Security Council meeting on Monday led by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said it was Seoul's "outmost priority" to prevent nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea from derailing.

At the meeting in Seoul's presidential palace, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the proposed talks, which could include civilian experts from the US and South Korea, would help settle differences over how much sanctions relief Washington should provide North Korea in exchange for nuclear disarmament steps.

Last week's meeting between Trump and Kim in Vietnam broke down over what the Americans said were North Korea's excessive demands for sanctions relief in exchange for a limited offer to shut down its aging main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.

North Korea reportedly has other sites producing weapons-grade uranium hidden around the country.

Kang said the core issue is determining what disarmament steps North Korea could be persuaded to take in exchange for sanctions relief.

Moon lobbied hard for the revival of nuclear diplomacy between the US and North Korea following elevated tensions in 2017 over North Korea's missile and nuclear tests and Trump's threats to bring "fire and fury" on the North.

Some experts say the breakdown of the Trump-Kim talks in Vietnam raised further doubts about Moon's claim that Kim is genuinely interested in dealing away his nuclear weapons and about Moon's role as mediator.

"We hope that both countries will continue their dialogue and that their leaders meet again quickly to reach an agreement that was held off this time," Moon said at Monday's meeting, which was also attended by the prime minister, spy chief and ministers of defense and inter-Korean affairs.

"In the process, our role has become important once again," Moon said.

"While I believe the United States-North Korea negotiations will eventually reach an agreement, it's never desirable for a vacuum in dialogue or stalemate to be prolonged," he said, urging South Korean officials to find ways for the US and North Korea to narrow their differences.

Moon said South Korea will continue to push ahead with engagement with North Korea within the boundaries of US-led international sanctions against the North.

Moon has prioritized stabilizing bilateral relations with North Korea amid the larger nuclear negotiations between the US and North Korea, saying inter-Korean reconciliation will drive progress in nuclear talks.

But his call for partial sanctions relief to encourage nuclear disarmament steps by North Korea has caused disagreements with Washington, which does not want to give up what it sees as its main leverage with the North.

Moon's government plans to hold discussions with the United States over the possibility of restarting operations at a joint Korean factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and tours by South Koreans to the North's Diamond Mountain resort.

These projects provided much-needed cash to North Korea before the South shut them down during past periods of tensions.

While Moon's spokesman said South Korea will see if there's any possible way to restart the projects under the "framework" of current UN and US sanctions, experts say that would be impossible.

The UN Security Council has so far restricted sanctions exemptions to non-commercial infrastructure projects and would likely need to pass an entirely new resolution on North Korea for inter-Korean economic activities to resume, which is difficult to imagine until Kim takes deeper steps toward completely and verifiably relinquishing his nuclear weapons, said Lim Soo-ho, an analyst at the Seoul-based Institute for National Security.

Under US laws, Trump would need to go through an involved process to soften US unilateral sanctions against the North, which would put South Korean companies doing business in the North under the threat of US boycotts.

Moon helped set up the first summit between Trump and Kim last June in Singapore, where they issued a vague aspirational statement about a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, without describing how or when it would occur.

Moon said the collapse of the second Trump-Kim summit was "very regrettable," but the talks were still meaningful because they included specific discussions of disarmament steps, sanctions and the possible establishment of liaison offices.

Washington and Seoul announced on Sunday that they will eliminate massive annual springtime military drills and replace them with smaller exercises, in what they called an effort to support diplomacy with North Korea.

On Monday, their militaries began a new computer-simulated exercise dubbed "Dong Maeng," or "Alliance," which runs until next Tuesday.

Some analysts say the conversion to smaller exercises and simulations will weaken the allies' military readiness when North Korea has yet to take real steps toward disarmament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Stepping up its offensive, Congress on Monday asked what was the basis for BJP chief Amit Shah's claim of 250 terrorists getting killed in Indian Air Force's air strike in Pakistan's Balakot and why was Prime Minister Narendra Modi or his government not giving the details of casualties.

Congress spokesperson R P N Singh also accused the prime minister and BJP leadership of politicising the air strikes and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the Indian Force as being weaker without Rafale.

He counter-accused the BJP and its leaders of spreading misinformation and "false propaganda" over the air strikes ahead of elections and said the people of the country would give them a befitting reply.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal also said that if Amit Shah is claiming 250 casualties of terrorists in the air strike, why is the prime minister not providing details of the number of deaths.

Singh said, "It is extremely shocking and tragic that the prime minister of this country is pointing fingers at opposition parties for questioning the Army or the Air Force.

"It is completely false, everybody knows that after the tragic Pulwama attack (in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide bomb attack) the Congress President and the Congress Party clearly said that we stand with the Government, we stand with the armed forces and with the people of this country to fight against terrorism."



Referring to BJP chief Shah's statement that 250 people were killed in the air strikes, Singh asked, "Where is this number coming from and who is politicising this whole incident. Why is the prime minister not giving details and saying how many people have died in air strikes. Why is the government not confirming this."



He also said that a minister in the prime minister's council of ministers is claiming that the prime minister or the BJP leader have not claimed the number of deaths being 300. "Then where is the number coming from?" Singh asked.

Amid a raging debate on the number of casualties in the strike, IAF chief B S Dhanoa on Monday said in Coimbatore that the Air Force doesn't count human casualties and it was for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed.

While there has been no official statement on the number of deaths, the government sources had earlier said up to 350 terrorists were killed, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday put the toll at 250 and some media reports have said damage has been minimal, prompting opposition leaders to clamour for clarity.

The Congress leader said the prime minister has repeatedly pointed fingers at the Congress party and the BJP is repeatedly attacking the Congress and opposition for trivialising the bravery of our armed forces.

"Here is the Prime Minister, who says that the Air Force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologize for saying that.....

"The prime minister has tried to show that the Air Force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," he said.

"We have seen posters of the BJP, which has a small photograph of Wing Commander Abhinandan (who was captured by Pakistan and later released) and a big photograph of Prime Minister Modi. Are we politicising it or is it the BJP which is politicising it? The people of this country will give them a befitting reply," Singh said.

The Congress leader said his party has continuously supported the bravery of armed forces and the Air Force pilots and will continue to do so. He alleged the BJP and prime minister Modi were rather spreading "false propaganda" and disinformation against the opposition party.

To a question on Congress leaders Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu demanding proof and evidence about the Balakot air strike, Singh, "We have very clearly articulated what the Congress stand is. We are asking, from where this figure of 250-300-350 is coming out (about casualties), including which Amit Shah is announcing. We have seen people of the BJP campaigning in army fatigues. Are they politicising it or we are politicising it?"



On Rafale comments by the prime minister, Singh said, "... Even when he is sleeping, when he is eating, when he is speaking, he thinks about only Rafale, the Chowkidar (watchman), you know, what he has done. Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa very clearly stated that the MIG-21 Bison had the latest technology and can give a befitting reply to any aero plane of Pakistan and it actually did so."



Speaking in Gujarat on Monday, Modi hit out at the Opposition for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the IAF and said, "I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference, but they say Modi is questioning our air force strike."



"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time, then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he said.

He also lashed out at those demanding proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot and said his objective was to end terror while that of the Opposition was to remove him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Spain signed Monday a fiscal treaty with Britain on Gibraltar as Brexit nears, to fight tax fraud and money laundering via the British overseas territory.

Signed by Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, the text was to be countersigned later in the day by David Lidington, Prime Minister Theresa May's effective deputy, according to a Spanish foreign ministry statement.

It must then be approved by the Spanish cabinet and ratified by the parliaments of both countries.

The treaty was part of a deal sealed in November between London and the European Union (EU) on Brexit, as were four other bilateral deals on Gibraltar.

For Madrid, it is "essential" that Gibraltar's departure from the EU, planned for March 29, takes place "in an orderly way and in keeping with Spanish interests in terms of fighting fraud and tax evasion."



According to the foreign ministry, the text stipulates that individuals and other entities in Gibraltar must register their tax residency in Spain if that's where they earn most of their revenue, own most of their assets or if a majority of their owners or managers live there.

Spain welcomed the treaty, saying it set "clear rules to more easily resolve conflicts of tax residence" and allowed for "the reduction and elimination of tax fraud and (other) effects that harm the Spanish Treasury, deriving from the nature of Gibraltar's tax regime."



Spain has long criticised Gibraltar's low-tax regime, while the tiny territory argues it is a crucial part of its thriving, services-based economy.

Thousands of residents from neighbouring southern Spain, an area with high unemployment, travel to the rocky outcrop every day for work.

Borrell welcomed "the first international agreement signed by Spain and the United Kingdom over Gibraltar since the Treaty of Utrecht," which dates back to 1713 and saw Spain cede the "Rock" to Britain.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Ten flights have been diverted from Delhi airport on Monday morning due to fog, an airport official said.

"These ten flights have been diverted from Delhi airport between 7.45 am and and 9.10 am," the official said.

"The visibility today has been low.... Nine domestic flights and one international flight has been diverted from Delhi airport due to low visibility," the official added.

At Delhi, the minimum runway visibility required for take off is 125 metres.
British musician Keith Flint, vocalist with the Prodigy, was found dead at his home in Essex on Monday. He was 49.

The band released a statement confirming the news, reported the Guardian.

"It is with deepest shock and sadness that we can confirm the death of our brother and best friend Keith Flint. A true pioneer, innovator and legend. He will be forever missed. We thank you for respecting the privacy of all concerned at this time," the band said.

Liam Howlett, who formed the group in 1990, confirmed that Flint's death was a suicide.

"The is true, I can't believe I'm saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend. I'm shell shocked, fu**in angry, confused and heart broken ..... r.i.p brother Liam".

Flint performed the vocals on the Prodigy's best known singles, 'Firestarter' and 'Breathe', which were a huge hit in 1996.

The musician married Japanese DJ Mayumi Kai in 2006 but the couple split later.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Facing flak for donning military fatigues during a rally here, Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari Monday said it was "not a uniform but a shirt" and wearing army colour is a matter of pride for him.

He said he has "10 shirts" like that and he goes for jogging every morning wearing a camouflage shirt. He also asserted that soon he would take out a rally in which all participants would be wearing the uniform.

Tiwari was criticised for attending a BJP bike rally Saturday in his North East Delhi parliamentary constituency wearing an army style camouflage shirt.

"For me, wearing army colours is a matter of pride. Whenever I am happy or I have to felicitate a brave-heart, I put it on," he told reporters Monday.

He said what he wore was not army uniform. "It was a shirt. I have 10 shirts like that. I go to jogging wearing it every morning. Which shop or mall does not sell such shirts."



Many social media users and Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien had slammed Tiwari accusing him of seeking votes wearing army uniform.

Tiwari said he visits paramilitary and army units on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day where he is gifted caps and other such things.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's media advisor Nagendar Sharma said that by wearing the military uniform, Tiwari committed an offence under Section 171 of IPC.

"Delhi BJP President & MP Manoj Tiwari has committed a clear offence under section 171 IPC by wearing military uniform. Post 2016 Pathankot attack, Army warned any civlian wearing its uniform will face action," he tweeted Sunday.

Tiwari said such people also questioned armed forces of the country and sided with those trying to break the country.

"Those who side with Tukde-Tukde gang, are saying that I have insulted armed forces by wearing the shirt. Such people lower the morale of our soldiers through their talks," he said.

He affirmed his highest regard for the armed forces and added that wearing the camouflage was his way of showing solidarity with soldiers of the country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Broadcast regulator TRAI has written to DTH operator Independent TV (formerly Big TV) asking it to justify its current tariff plans in the backdrop of the sector's new regulatory framework.

In a letter to Independent TV, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has also called a meeting with the senior official of the DTH company on the said matter, Tuesday.

The regulator flagged the issue after it received several consumer complaints over lack of clarity on tariff plans and their break-up details for monthly charges, a TRAI source said.

"...You are hereby directed to provide all the information in the prescribed format as sought by TRAI.... Further you are also required to provide detailed justification that the present tariff plans, being offered by Independent TV are in line with the new regulatory framework clearly indicating the bifurcation of the Network Capacity Fee and other charges," TRAI said in its letter dated February 27.

TRAI has also asked Independent TV to clarify its position on complaints received by the regulator. The DTH operator is said to have 0.83 million subscribers.

Independent TV could not be reached for comments.

TRAI recently unveiled the new tariff order and regulatory regime for the broadcast and cable sector, which paves the way for consumers to opt for channels they wish to view, and pay only for them.

It has said every channel should be offered a la carte, with a transparent display of rates on electronic programme guide. Last month, the regulator extended the timeline for consumers to make their channel preferences up to March 31, 2019.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Attacking the ruling TDP on the alleged theft of voters' data in Andhra Pradesh, TRS working president K T Rama Rao here Monday said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu should be "ashamed of" his party's criticism of the Telangana government on the issue.

The issue pertains to a case registered by the Telangana police against a city-based IT firm for allegedly "stealing" data of voters through the "Seva Mitra" mobile application, which was used by the TDP in Andhra Pradesh.

Reacting to the development, Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister N Lokesh had said Telangana Police was "harassing" the companies that were hired to curate the information whose complete rights were held by the TDP.

"It is TDP which committed the wrong. The government (AP) which is supposed to keep personal data secret, gives that data to a party, how should it be seen," Rama Rao told reporters here.

"What was done was wrong. As if, 'ulta chor kotwal ko dante' (the pot calling the kettle black), they (TDP) are slamming the Telangana government. Chandrababu Naidu and his government should have shame," he said.

Rama Rao said the people of Andhra Pradesh should think about keeping confidence in a party whose government had allegedly gave away their data without consent.

"Why should the TDP government have fear to face probe if it has done no wrong," he said.

The Telangana police only acted on a complaint without any bias and "there is nothing the Telangana government did", he said.

The TDP was trying to "get back its lost prestige" among people by making a "cheap attempt" to attack the TRS government in Telangana, he alleged.

There is nothing Naidu has to show on the development front during his tenure, he claimed.

Referring to media reports that Andhra Pradesh police had gone to the residence of the "whistle-blower" on the issue, Rama Rao asked what work does AP police have in Hyderabad.

"Chandrababu Naidu is trying to evoke emotions. He is trying to provoke passions among people. Unfortunately, he will not succeed...Because, people have seen through the designs of Chandrababu Naidu," Rama Rao said.

Based on a complaint from a data analyst, a case was registered against the firm on Saturday, under relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act, police said.

The complainant alleged that after logging into the official Facebook page of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), he found party cadres using certain mobile phone and tab-based software applications, especially 'Seva Mitra' app, for "advancing the party's electoral prospects".

The Andhra Pradesh government utilised the services of the firm in implementation of government schemes, he said in the complaint.

He alleged that the firm was given access to enormous amount of official data with respect to the beneficiaries of various government schemes and also private data of individuals, including their Aadhaar numbers.

TDP ministers and legislators in Andhra Pradesh took turns Sunday to cry foul over the case and blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for hatching a "joint political conspiracy" against Chandrababu Naidu.

The TDP has alleged that the TRS government was "robbing" its data to help the YSR Congress party, on whose original complaint police had registered the case.

The TRS and TDP have often been engaged in war of words, especially since the latter contested the Assembly elections in Telanagna in alliance with Congress and others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump is suggesting that a congressional hearing Democrats arranged with his former personal attorney may have contributed to his failure to reach a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump left his summit in Vietnam with the North Korean leader last week without reaching an agreement after Trump said he wasn't willing to give in to Kim's demand to lift US sanctions at this time.

After sending his national security adviser, John Bolton, to the Sunday talk shows to paint the summit as a success, Trump lashed out at Democrats in a tweet Sunday night, criticizing their decision to hold the hearing featuring his former lawyer Michael Cohen while he was overseas.

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American and may have contributed to the 'walk,'" Trump tweeted.

"Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!"



The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the hearing would have contributed to Trump's decision not to accept Kim's terms or whether members of the North Korean negotiating team indicated they were aware of the split-screen coverage in the U.S.

As Trump wrapped up his trip to the summit last week, he complained that Democrats had scheduled the hearing at the same time as his negotiations.

He described it as a "fake hearing" and said having it in the middle of this "very important summit" was "really a terrible thing."



Trump said they could have held it a few days later and had more time to prepare.

During the House Oversight Committee hearing, Cohen, who has turned on Trump and has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress earlier to protect Trump, was harshly critical of his former boss, calling him a racist, a con man and a cheat.

In his Sunday show appearances, Bolton described the summit as a success despite the lack of an agreement providing for verifiable dismantling of the North's nuclear sites.

Bolton, in three television interviews, tried to make the case that Trump advanced America's national security interests by rejecting a bad agreement while working to persuade Kim to take "the big deal that really could make a difference for North Korea."



The U.S. and North Korea have offered contradictory accounts of why last week's summit in Vietnam broke down, though both have pointed to American sanctions as a sticking point.

Bolton said that the leaders left on good terms and that Trump made an important point to North Korea and other countries that negotiate with him.

"He's not desperate for a deal, not with North Korea, not with anybody if it's contrary to American national interests," Bolton said.

Bolton also sought to explain Trump's comments about taking Kim's word about Otto Warmbier, the American college student who was held prisoner in North Korea and was sent home in a vegetative state and later died.

Trump said he didn't believe Kim knew about or would have allowed what happened to Warmbier.

"He tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word," Trump said at a conference last week.

Bolton said Trump's "got a difficult line to walk to" in negotiating with North Korea.

"It doesn't mean that he accepts it as reality. It means that he accepts that's what Kim Jong Un said," Bolton said.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., a close Trump ally, broke with the president.

"I think Kim knew what happened, which was wrong," McCarthy said. Some have been critical of Trump for letting Kim stand with him on the world stage given North Korea's poor human rights record. Kim will be able to portray himself to his people and supporters as the charismatic head of a nuclear-armed power, not an international pariah that starves its citizens so it can build weapons.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, summarized the summit as a "spectacular failure" made all the worse by Trump's comments on "murder of an American citizen, Otto Warmbier."



But Bolton said that Trump's view is that he "gave nothing away." And Bolton said Trump has "turned traditional diplomacy on its head, and after all in the case of North Korea, why not? Traditional diplomacy has failed in the last three administrations."



An example of that non-traditional diplomacy was formally unveiled Sunday when South Korea and the U.S. announced they would not conduct massive springtime military drills and were replacing them with smaller exercises. They described it as an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

"The reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed," Trump tweeted Sunday.

"That was my position long before I became President. Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!" Bolton spoke on "Fox Sunday," CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS's "Face the Nation."



McCarthy was on ABC's "This Week," and Schiff was on CBS.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two-time Member of Parliament from Ferozepur and rebel SAD leader Sher Singh Ghubaya Monday resigned from the primary membership of the Akali Dal even as the party expelled him for "anti-party activities".

Ghubaya in a press briefing held at Jalalabad in Punjab's Ferozepur district announced quitting the Shiromani Akali Dal and blamed its chief Sukhbir Singh Badal's "wrong policies" for resigning from the primary membership and all posts of the party.

In a letter written to Badal, Ghubaya appealed to him to accept his resignation.

Later, the Akali Dal issued a press note here in Chandigarh through which Badal expelled Ghubaya from the primary membership of the party for his "anti-party activities".

Ghubaya is a two-time MP from Ferozepur parliamentary seat -- first in 2009 and then in 2014.

His relations with Akali Dal had allegedly turned sour after his purported video clip appeared before the 2017 assembly elections. In December 2016, the vigilance bureau under previous SAD-BJP regime had raided private engineering college owned by his family over complaints of embezzlement.

Ghubaya had reportedly even accused the Badal family of "humiliating" him.

Before the 2017 assembly polls, Ghubaya's son, Davinder Ghubaya, joined the Congress and won from Fazilka assembly segment on Congress ticket.

Sher Singh Ghubaya, who is trying for a Congress ticket for Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat, had earlier said he would contest the Lok Sabha polls but not under the leadership of Sukhbir Badal.

He comes from the Rai Sikh community which is a dominant vote bank in the segment. He has twice been MLA from Jalalabad in 1997 and 2007.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday hit out the opposition for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

Modi said India would not sit quietly in the fight against terrorism and would do all to cure it from the root, which lies in Pakistan.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they say Modi is questioning our air force strike," he said, addressing a gathering here.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added.

Lashing out at statements from opposition party leaders who demanded proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, Modi said his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him.

"The root of terrorism disease is in neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its root," he said.

"Even if mentors of those seeking to destroy India are outside, this country won't sit quietly," he said, addressing a gathering after inaugurating an annexe building of Guru Govind Singh hospital and various other development works here.

Modi also flagged off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express and launched development projects, including the 51-km pipeline from Aaji-3 to Khijadia.

He said structural and long-term measures are required to overcome the challenges faced by the country, instead of poorly thought out short term ones.

Hospitals that have come up in the past few years in Gujarat will greatly benefit the poor, he said. The Ayushman Bharat scheme rolled out by the Union Government will ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the poor, he added.

Modi lauded water conservation measures adopted by the Gujarat government. The government has big plans to provide water to people by establishing big desalination plants, he said.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said the party's programme was to announce farm loan wavier every ten years and collect votes by fooling people.

"Our government will give direct financial assistance to farmers every year. When Rs 75,000 crore will go to rural economy every year it will have a positive impact," Modi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Asking opposition parties to use common sense, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday slammed them for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

As the political dogfight over Modi's remarks escalated with the Congress demanding an apology from him for trying to portray the Indian Air Force as being weaker without Rafale, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the statement that the French jets would have made a difference.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they(opposition parties) say Modi is questioning our air force strike," Modi said, addressing a gathering in Jamnagar in Gujarat.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added. India lost one MiG 21 jet during the fierce dogfight in which one F-16 warplane of Pakistan Air Force(PAF) was also shot down.

"If they(opposition) don't understand me what can I do. They have their own limitations," he told the audience during his 40-minute speech rendered in Gujarati.

Congress spokesperson R P N Singh accused the prime minister and BJP leadership of politicising the air strikes and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the IAF as being weaker without Rafale.

"Here is the prime minister, who says that the Air Force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologize for saying that.....

"The prime minister has tried to show that the Air Force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," Singh told reporters in Delhi.

The Congress Sunday claimed that Modi has himself "questioned" the anti-terror air strike in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 by his remarks that the country is feeling the absence of Rafale jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"The prime minister has himself questioned the air strike. He said had the Rafale jets been there (with the IAF), the results would have been different. What is the meaning of this?" Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told a press conference in Delhi.

Modi had on Saturday hit out at the opposition for doubting the armed forces on the anti-terror air strike in Pakistan and said the country was feeling the absence of Rafale fighter jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"India is feeling the absence of Rafale. The entire country is saying in one voice today, if we had Rafale probably the result would have been different. The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now over Rafale," he had said at the India Today Conclave.

Dhanoa told reporters in Coimbatore that the Rafale fighters should come into India's inventory by September.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."



Eventually, Jaguar, MiG29, and Mirage 2000 aircraft will be replaced by Tejas Mk-2 and then the "next step" will be on Advanced Medium Combat Aircrafts, he said.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," said the chief of the Indian Air Force(IAF).

BSP chief Mayawati attacked Modi for his remarks on Rafale jets, asking why the BJP government at the Centre did not induct even one of these fighters into the IAF during its tenure.

"Rafale fighter could have proven useful in fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government's tenure. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?" Mayawati said in a tweet.

The Centre and the Opposition are locked in a massive political row over the deal for procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

Lashing out at statements from opposition party leaders who demanded proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, Modi said his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him.

"The root of terrorism disease is in the neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its roots," he said.

"Even if mentors of those seeking to destroy India are outside, this country won't sit quietly," he said in his address after inaugurating an annexe building of Guru Govind Singh hospital and various other development works.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Asking opposition parties to use common sense, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday slammed them for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the prime minister's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they(opposition parties) say Modi is questioning our air force strike," Modi said, addressing a gathering in Jamnagar.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added. India lost one MiG 21 jet during the fierce dogfight in which one F-16 warplane of Pakistan Air Force(PAF) was also shot down.

"If they(opposition) don't understand me what can I do. They have their own limitations," he told the audience during his 40-minute speech rendered in Gujarati.

Dhanoa told reporters in Coimbatore that the Rafale fighters should come into India's inventory by September.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."



Eventually, Jaguar, MiG29, and Mirage 2000 aircraft will be replaced by Tejas Mk-2 and then the "next step" will be on Advanced Medium Combat Aircrafts, he said.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," said the chief of the Indian Air Force(IAF).

BSP chief Mayawati attacked Modi for his remarks on Rafale jets, asking why the BJP government at the Centre did not induct even one of these fighters into the IAF during its tenure.

"Rafale fighter could have proven useful in fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government's tenure. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?" Mayawati said in a tweet.

The Centre and the Opposition are locked in a massive political row over the deal for procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

Lashing out at statements from opposition party leaders who demanded proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, Modi said his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him.

"The root of terrorism disease is in the neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its roots," he said.

"Even if mentors of those seeking to destroy India are outside, this country won't sit quietly," he said in his address after inaugurating an annexe building of Guru Govind Singh hospital and various other development works.

Modi also flagged off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express and launched development projects, including the 51-km pipeline from Aaji-3 to Khijadia.

He said structural and long-term measures are required to overcome the challenges faced by the country, instead of poorly thought out short term ones.

Hospitals that have come up in the past few years in Gujarat will greatly benefit the poor, he said. The Ayushman Bharat scheme rolled out by the Union Government will ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the poor, he added.

Modi lauded water conservation measures adopted by the Gujarat government. The government has big plans to provide water to people by establishing big desalination plants, he said.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said the party's programme was to announce farm loan waiver every ten years and collect votes by fooling people.

"Our government will give direct financial assistance to farmers every year. When Rs 75,000 crore will go to rural economy every year it will have a positive impact," Modi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Monday met Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi and discussed various aspects on the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) in the state.

The meeting between Chowdhury and Congress president Rahul Gandhi came amid an ongoing impasse between the Congress and the Left party over the issue.

Gandhi has enquired about the positives and negatives of the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) in Bengal, according to Congress sources.

Chowdhury has briefed Gandhi about all the aspects of the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) and the hurdles.

"During the meeting Adhir Chowdhury also said that the Congress workers in Bengal are of opinion that the Congress should either go alone or go for seat sharing with the Left.

"But under no circumstances should the party align with the TMC in Bengal as it would be a severe jolt to the organisation in the state," a senior Congress leader, privy to the development, said.

The CPI(M) on Monday proposed "no mutual contest" for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in six seats currently held by Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal, indicating its willingness for an understanding between the two political blocks in the state to consolidate anti-BJP votes.

The state Congress leadership said there will be no compromise on two parliamentary seats- Raiganj and Murshidabad - and if needed, the party is ready to go it alone.

Though Raiganj and Murshidabad are traditionally Congress bastions, they are represented by CPI(M) leaders. Both the seats were earlier held by the Congress.

The other four seats were won by the Congress. There were several rounds of talks between the two blocks on seat sharing but Raiganj and Murshidabad have remained the bone of contention.

On the proposal by the CPI(M), the Congress has not made any decision officially, but a senior leader privy to the seat sharing discussions with CPI(M) told PTI that the party will not compromise on the two constituencies.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A seven-year-old girl has allegedly been raped by a 12-year-old boy in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, police said Monday.

The incident took place at Nanheda village under Bhopa police station this afternoon when the girl, studying in Class 3, was returning home from school, they said.

The girl has been sent for medical examination and a case has been registered, Circle Officer, Ram Mohan Sharma said.

Police has taken the boy in its custody and further investigation is underway, Sharma added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: A 20-year-old woman college student, set ablaze in Warangal February 27 by a stalker, succumbed to burns at a hospital here Monday, police said.

A 21-year-old man, who had allegedly hurled petrol and set her ablaze as he was irked over her rejecting his proposal, had been arrested, the police said.

The woman had suffered over 70 per cent burns in the attack that took place while she was entering the college campus, they said.

The accused had allegedly been pestering the woman with his proposal for the past six months, but she had spurned him, police had earlier said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Smartphone maker Realme Monday said it would not offer higher margins, which affect prices for end-customers, to brick-and-mortar retailers, even if the decision may result in slower offline sales for the brand.

The company, which spun off as an independent entity from Chinese smartphone major OPPO, said it continues to scout for offline retail partners that are "customer-centric".

"We look for partners who are more user-centric. We cannot offer higher margins at the cost of users. It's a brand ethos, we can't offer a product on differential margins and that is why we are selecting partners who think like us. Because of this, our offline expansion may be slow, but it will be gradual and strong," Realme India Chief Executive Officer Madhav Sheth told PTI.

He added that in less than a year of operations, the company already has a presence in more than 35 cities at over 3,000 retail outlets. Realme also sells its devices online through Flipkart, Amazon, as well as its own website.

Reports had suggested that offline retailers, including large chains like Reliance Retail, are refusing to sell Realme smartphones on account of low margins offered by the handset maker.

Sheth said the company is not rushing to shore up sales through offline channel, which accounts for about 20 per cent of the sales.

"LFRs (large format retail stores) contribute to about 10 per cent in the country's sales and if we go with them, we will definitely see a 10 per cent increase. But we cannot compromise on the cost for a user by giving them (offline retailers) margins at the cost of the customer," Sheth said.

He added that the company offers the same margins to offline retailers as it does to online.

Realme, which has sold over 5 million units in India so far, on Monday launched its latest offering - Realme 3 for Rs 8,999 onwards.

The device features 6.2-inch display, MediaTek Helio P70 chipset, 13MP+2MP dual rear and 13MP front camera, and 4,230 mAh battery. It also includes a rider mode, which when enabled switches off notifications and allows calls only from selected contacts.

The company will unveil a Realme 3 'Pro' version next month.

According to IDC, Realme broke into the top 5 smartphone companies tally in the December 2018 quarter, securing the fourth spot with 7.5 per cent share.

Xiaomi led the market with 28.9 per cent share, followed by Samsung (18.7 per cent) and Vivo (9.7 per cent) in the said quarter that saw a total shipment of 36.3 million units.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Instagram is a popular social media platform that can serve as a valuable marketing tool for your business.

You can create a business account on Instagram by first creating a personal account and converting it.

To get the most out of Instagram, use high-quality photos, respond to comments and use hashtags wisely.

This article is for small business owners and marketers who want to learn how to use Instagram for business.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms, with nearly 112.5 million users in 2020. From gathering insights to selling products, Instagram keeps rolling out tools to help business owners succeed on the photo-sharing social media platform.

It's not too late to join and become successful on Instagram. With the right marketing strategy, businesses can promote products and services, boost their brand, and increase sales on Instagram. Here is everything you need to know about using it to market your business.

Tip: When it comes to setting up Instagram for your business, you can create a new business account from scratch or convert your personal account into a business account.

Creating a business Instagram account

How to create an Instagram business profile from scratch:

Download the Instagram app for iOS, Android or Windows on your smartphone or tablet.



Click Sign up.



Enter your email address. It's a good idea to use your business email, or an email designated specifically for your business's social media accounts. You can also log in with Facebook if you already have a business account there.



Choose a username and password.



You have now created a "personal" Instagram account that can be converted to a business profile. Follow the steps below to convert your account.

How to convert a personal Instagram profile to a business profile:

Go to your profile and press the three bars in the upper right-hand corner.



Tap Settings, and select Switch to business profile. Instagram also recommends that you connect your business profile on Instagram with your business's Facebook page. Add details about your business, including your name, username, profile picture, website URL and a short biography. Be sure to include contact information so your followers can connect with you.

Instagram terminology

To get the most out of Instagram, it is a good idea to be up to date on some of the social media platform's terminology.

Bio: This refers to the biography section in your profile. Businesses can also use their bio to include a call to action.





This refers to the biography section in your profile. Businesses can also use their bio to include a call to action. Direct messages (DMs): Users can privately communicate with each other through direct messages. If a customer has a complaint or question, it's best practice to chat with them via direct message to keep the conversation private. Direct messages are often referred to as DMs.





Users can privately communicate with each other through direct messages. If a customer has a complaint or question, it's best practice to chat with them via direct message to keep the conversation private. Direct messages are often referred to as DMs. Filters: You can apply preset filters to your photos to enhance features and colors.





You can apply preset filters to your photos to enhance features and colors. Follow: When you follow a user on Instagram, you'll see their content in your timeline. You can also view their Instagram Stories at the top of the application.





When you follow a user on Instagram, you'll see their content in your timeline. You can also view their Instagram Stories at the top of the application. Followers: Your followers are people who will see your pictures in their timelines.





Your followers are people who will see your pictures in their timelines. Hashtag (#): Similar to Twitter, a hashtag on Instagram is used to index words or phrases. When you click on a hashtag, you'll see other posts with the same one.





Similar to Twitter, a hashtag on Instagram is used to index words or phrases. When you click on a hashtag, you'll see other posts with the same one. Highlights: A highlight reel of your Instagram Stories appears on your profile above your photo gallery and stays until you remove it.





A highlight reel of your Instagram Stories appears on your profile above your photo gallery and stays until you remove it. Home: Tap the home button to land on your home screen, which is also your timeline or feed. Here you'll see photos from those you follow.





Tap the home button to land on your home screen, which is also your timeline or feed. Here you'll see photos from those you follow. IG: IG is an abbreviation for Instagram.





IG is an abbreviation for Instagram. Instagram handle: Your handle is your username. To mention a user on Instagram, you need to use their handle, which always starts with the @ symbol.





Your handle is your username. To mention a user on Instagram, you need to use their handle, which always starts with the @ symbol. Instagram Stories: Stories is one of the most popular features on the platform. These pictures and videos disappear after 24 hours. Read more about Instagram Stories below.





Stories is one of the most popular features on the platform. These pictures and videos disappear after 24 hours. Read more about Instagram Stories below. Tag: There are a few ways to tag people on Instagram, including in a photo's caption, in Instagram Stories and in photos. Use the @ symbol to tag someone in a caption or an Instagram story. You can tag someone in your photos before you post the picture.

How to use Instagram for business

Between posts, ads and stories, there is no shortage of potential marketing tools on Instagram. Now that you know how to build your profile and understand the common Instagram terminology, here's how to use Instagram to build your business.

1. Add professional-looking photos.

Instagram is a photo-sharing social media platform, so it's important to share visually pleasing content. Generic photos won't cut it. Take photos, edit them, and take the time to make sure you're creating a cohesive grid on Instagram. [Read related article: 12 Best Photo Editing Apps for Business]

To add a new photo, tap the camera button at the bottom of your screen. You can take a new photo or select one from your camera roll. On the next screen, there are multiple options to personalize your post. You can add a filter, tag other users, write a caption and add a location. You can also turn off comments on this page with the advanced settings.

2. Use Instagram Stories.

Instagram Stories is one of the channel's most popular features. These photos and videos disappear 24 hours after they're posted. Instagram offers many tools that make it easy to create engaging and creative stories.

"Small businesses should leverage Instagram Stories to market their products and services, getting their messages to followers that otherwise might not see regular Instagram posts in their feed because of the latest updates to the algorithm," said Laura Kenat, content coordinator at Jo Chicago.

On Instagram Stories, you can post recorded videos, still photos, live videos, boomerangs (videos that loop back and forth), basic text, music and focused photos. You can also add stickers such as your location, the temperature, user tags and hashtags.

The stickers for polls, questions and sliding bars make it easy to interact with your users and get feedback. Some accounts use the questions feature to hold a weekly Ask Me Anything, which is a fun way to answer common questions.

Another way to draw attention to your brand is with Stories Highlights, which stay on your profile until you remove them.

3. Stream live videos.

In addition to Instagram Stories, users can take and stream live video that disappears  sort of like a cross between Facebook Live and Snapchat. You can give customers a live look behind the scenes of interesting aspects of your business, show products or answer live questions through the comments.

Once the video ends, it lives in your Instagram Stories for 24 hours. If you want a video to remain on your Instagram feed, you can upload a video you've taken or shoot one directly through the app to post. If you choose to shoot or upload a video, you can still add filters and change the cover.

4. Interact with other Instagram users.

As with any social media platform, it's important to engage and interact with your followers on Instagram. Here's how.

Liking: Liking is a simple way to connect with other users. To like a photo, either double tap the image or tap the heart button under the post.

Commenting: Next to the like button is a comment button  just tap it, and the app will take you to the comments page for that photo, with a text box where you can enter what you want to say. Hit Post when it's complete.

Mentioning: As on Twitter, you can use the @ symbol to tag other users in your Instagram comments or post captions.

Tagging: Instagram allows you to add tags before you post content. To do so, tap Tag People before sharing your photo, and then tap where in the photo you want to add a tag. The app then prompts you to type in the person's name to search for their account. Once you've tagged other users in your photo and shared the image, other users can tap on the photo to see the people who are tagged.

Direct messaging: To access Instagram Direct, go to the homepage and tap the button in the top right corner. Here, you can send private instant messages, photos and videos to other users. To send a new DM, tap the + button in the top right corner and select Send Photo or Video, or Send Message. Once you've sent the message, you and the recipients can message back and forth. Users who are not already following you will be asked whether they want to allow you to send them photos and videos before they can view your DM.

Earlier this year, Facebook, which owns Instagram, plans integrated Instagram messaging with Facebook Messenger. This allows you to connect with your followers on Facebook and Instagram through one application.

5. Use hashtags.

Hashtags are a great way to help users find content on Instagram. Hashtags can include letters and numbers, but they can't contain any non-numerical characters. For example, #DaveAndBusters works as a hashtag, but #Dave&Busters does not.

Because users can both search for hashtags and click on hashtags they see in posts in the app, relevant hashtags can be a highly effective tool for getting noticed. However, make sure you're using the right hashtags for your brand.

Hashtags such as #nofilter (a photo that hasn't been heavily edited with filters), #selfie (a picture of yourself), and #tbt or #throwbackthursday (old photos) are popular on Instagram, but they may not work for you or your brand. It's a good idea to look at other established brands or even personal users and bloggers in your industry for examples of what hashtags to use.

Instagram allows a maximum of 30 hashtags in a post or comment, but that many would be excessive. The fewer hashtags you can use to get quality responses, the better. Using a lot of popular hashtags might earn you a lot of likes from other users, but it probably won't increase your following all that much, and the interactions you get will likely not be from people who are interested in your brand but rather those who just saw and liked your image.

Once you understand hashtags, you can branch out and experiment to find which ones work best for your brand. It's also smart to create a custom hashtag for your business or even an event you're hosting. This way, customers can follow along with an event, even if they aren't there in person.

6. Advertise on Instagram.

Like on other social channels, businesses have the option to advertise on Instagram. There are three formats for advertising:

Photo ads: These look like regular photo posts, but they have a Sponsored label above the photo. They also have a Learn More button in the bottom right corner under the photo.





These look like regular photo posts, but they have a Sponsored label above the photo. They also have a Learn More button in the bottom right corner under the photo. Video ads: Like the photo ads, these look like regular video posts, but with a Sponsored label on top.





Like the photo ads, these look like regular video posts, but with a Sponsored label on top. Carousel ads: These ads look identical to photo ads but feature multiple photos that users can swipe through.

All three ad formats appear in users' home feeds. These ads support four objectives: video views, click-throughs to your website, mobile app installations and mass awareness. [Need help with your Instagram marketing? Review our best picks for social media marketing tools]

7. Sell products on Instagram.

In November 2020, Instagram added the Shop tab, which allows users to discover and purchase products from brands directly through the app.

All that's required to complete a transaction is your name, email address, billing info and shipping addresses. Facebook, Instagram's parent company, will then save that data for future transactions. Users can pay via Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover and PayPal.

Small businesses can also take advantage of Shoppable posts to sell products through Instagram. A business simply creates a product catalog connected to their account. Then you tag the product, similar to how you tag a person in a post. To create a shoppable post you must have a business account and you must sell physical goods that comply with Instagram's merchant agreement and commerce policies. You can create your catalog through Facebook, Shopify or BigCommerce.

Key takeaway: To maximize Instagram for your business, be sure to interact with other users, use hashtags thoughtfully, post quality photos and use Stories.

Other Instagram tips and tricks

To get the most out of your Instagram account, keep these tips in mind.

Links don't work in Instagram captions. The only place you can share a working link that takes users to a website is in your profile. Links don't work in captions or photo comments, so if you're trying to direct people to a specific webpage, you can change the default link in your bio to that page and note in the caption that the link is in your profile.

Make sure your posts relate to your brand. It can be tempting to share photos of food, fashion and animals because they're popular on the platform. But if your business has nothing to do with those things, it could make you look disjointed and confuse your followers.

Run giveaways and promotions. Post an image advertising your giveaway, sale or contest, and ask users to repost that image with a specific, custom hashtag to enter. You can then search that hashtag to see who has reposted it and pick a winner. Promotions like this allow your customers and followers to market your brand for you by talking about your promotion on their personal pages, and it drives more people to visit your profile. If you do decide to run a contest or sweepstakes, though, make sure you're following rules and guidelines.

Respond to other users' comments. When people comment on your photos, reply to them. Interacting with customers and followers shows you are paying attention and care about what they say. They'll be more likely to continue following you and interacting with your pictures if they feel like they matter.

Embed Instagram posts on your website. From the desktop version of Instagram, you can get an embed code to add specific images and videos to your company's website. This shows visitors that you're active on Instagram and can help you gain more followers. Just select the photo you want to embed, click the ellipsis button in the bottom right corner, and select Embed. This pulls up a box with the embed code and gives you the option to display the caption. From there, copy and paste the code where you want it to go on your website.

Use Instagram influencers to promote your business. Influencers are people who have large followings on Instagram. You can pay influencers to market your products to their followers in a natural way. These sponsored posts typically are subtle and don't look like ads. This is helpful because people typically hate advertisements.

Share posts directly to your story. With this feature, small businesses can interact with their followers while promoting their products or services. If a client posts a photo of your product, you can share the post directly to your story to highlight the product and your client.

Use polls and other features in your stories. Instagram offers many interactive features that you can use to build online conversations and relationships. For instance, you can use the interactive questions sticker in Instagram Stories. This feature lets followers submit questions for you to answer. This is a fun and simple way to interact with your followers.

Use IGTV. IGTV is a feature that shows long-form, vertical videos. IGTV is available in a stand-alone app and within Instagram's app, and each video can be up to an hour long. If you get creative, you can use IGTV to market your business in several ways, including by hosting FAQ sessions and conducting how-to chats. Check out our guide for more ways to use video marketing on social media.

Use Reels. Launched in August 2020, Reels are one of Instagram's most recent updates. Reels are short-form videos (no longer than 15 seconds) that you can edit with audio, effects and creative tools. You can use Reels to feature new products, highlight your employees or recent work, or engage directly with customers.

Additional reporting by Kiely Kuligowski. Some source interviews were conducted for a previous version of this article.
During his address at the India Today Conclave 2019 on March 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "Today there is talk that India is missing the Rafale jets. The entire nation is saying that if India had Rafale jets today, the outcome of the recent incidents would have been something different." He attacked the Opposition for "politicising" the Rafale deal and said India continue to suffer due to this.

This was the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken after Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was returned to India on March 1. He claimed that "the Indian Armed Forces were busy quelling terror, but the Congress and its allies are not convinced with their act of bravery and seek proof of their bravery". "In your stubborn desire to oppose Modi, see that you don't end up strengthening terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed," he stated, referring to the Opposition.

Dear PM, Have you no shame at all? YOU stole 30,000 Cr and gave it to your friend Anil. YOU are solely responsible for the delay in the arrival of the RAFALE jets. YOU are WHY brave IAF pilots like Wing Cdr. Abhinandan, are risking their lives flying outdated jets. https://t.co/BrzAuFTlFu - Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 2, 2019

After Saturday's remark, Rahul Gandhi tweeted with a comeback, "Dear PM, Have you no shame at all? YOU stole 30,000 Crore and gave it to your friend Anil. YOU are solely responsible for the delay in the arrival of the RAFALE jets". He added, "YOU are WHY brave IAF pilots like Wing Cdr. Abhinandan, are risking their lives flying outdated jets".

The Rafale deal has been embroiled in controversy after Congress alleged that India overpaying for them to benefit Anil Ambani's Reliance Defence. Modi in 2015, had signed a deal with France to buy 36 Rafale jets under completely different terms, rather than the 126 that the tender had originally envisioned.

Meanwhile addressing a press conference on Sunday, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari also retaliated by saying that the Congress had never asked for evidence on the airstrikes and has full confidence and trust in the Indian armed forces. He added that it was not the Opposition which who was putting question marks on the airstrike but the Prime Minister himself.

Tewari added the fact that India does not have Rafale jets today is because of Prime Minister Modi. If PM Modi had not canceled the contract and its initial negotiations to accommodate his own cronies, the Rafale jets would have come by now, he said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also alleged PM by calling him "narcissistic" and added, "Latest instances of Modiji's cronyism are the Rafale deal and handing over of 5 out of 6 airports to his crony friends".

"With nearly 50 days to go, India awaits for Modi government's departure," Surjewala added.

(Edited by Rupa Burman Roy)

Also Read:PM Modi in Gujarat: Launch of pension scheme, inauguration of Ahmedabad metro on agenda of his two-day visit

Also Read:China asks for duty-free import of 85% of its products into India
Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday confirmed that the Indian fighter jets had successfully hit targets in Pakistan's Balakot but clarified that the Indian Air Force was not in a position to confirm the number of casualties in the attack.

Dhanoa said giving the count of how many terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strikes was the government's job. "IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not," he said.

Dhanoa also dismissed Pakistan's claim that there were no casualties in the Indian air strike, saying if there was no damage why did they respond.

"If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pakistan PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond," he said.

There have been reports in the Pakistani and international media that there were no casualties during the Balakot air strikes and that the Indian Air Force bombed a hill that resulted in the uprooting of some trees.

Also read: Wing Commander Abhinandan needs to be medically fit before he flies again, says Indian Air Force

Meanwhile, Dhanoa also answered a question on why the Indian Air Force had used MiG-21 Bison was used against Pakistan's superior F-16 jets. "It's in our inventory, why will we not use it? I will not comment on ongoing operations. MiG-21 Bison is capable, it has been upgraded and we fight with all aircraft in our inventory," he said.

Speaking about Wing Commander Abhinandan who returned to India on March 1, Dhanoa said, "Whether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post ejection, he had undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit," the Air Chief Marshal said.

Dhanoa also said that the IAF does not take chances with a fighter pilot's fitness and mentioned that that the condition of a pilot's spine has to be good to fly a jet. Wing Commander Abhinandan had hurt his back when he ejected from the jet. He had also sustained injuries to his ribs.

Also read: IAF strike: PM Modi lashes out at Opposition for politicising Rafale deal; Congress says PM responsible for delay
While a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) passed two strongly-worded resolutions on Kashmir, it did not find space in the joint communique of the Abu Dhabi Declaration, the only document drafted by the host that is adopted by all the 57-member nations. The host country refrained from giving in to Pakistan's demands to include Kashmir in the final draft. According to India Today sources, Pakistan protested in every session on various issues related to India.

Like Pakistan, India too had asserted a lot of diplomatic pressure to ensure that Kashmir is kept out of the communique. Additionally, sources also mentioned that the UAE and Saudi Arabia had an important role to play in ensuring that "the guest" is not "embarrassed" and hence they allowed Pakistan numerous resolutions but ensured that Kashmir does not feature in the final document. There were, however, separate resolutions on Kashmir, India-Pakistan peace process, the recent airspace violation and situation of minorities in India.

According to an official, "The resolutions don't reflect or need a consensus. They are essentially national positions of individual countries. Many countries move resolutions of their own interest, most go unopposed."

When the joint declaration was adopted, two countries stood in protest - Iran and Pakistan. Iran protested the mention of "Iranian occupation of three Emirati islands", calling the process undemocratic and unfair.

The Pakistani delegation led by Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Raja Ali Ejaz had earlier protested at the OIC plenary for inviting India as guest of honour. India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was invited by the UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Pakistan tried to get the invitation rescinded and even reached out to UAE and Saudi Arabia on the matter. Both the countries were conveyed that there would be no change in the decision to invite India and that Swaraj would be welcomed with "full honours" accorded to a guest.

Also read: Pakistan leaves the chair empty as Sushma Swaraj speaks against terrorism at OIC meet

Also read: India rejects OIC resolution on Kashmir, says matter 'strictly internal'
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who returned to India last week after being held in captivity for two days in Pakistan, will need to be medically fit before he flies a fighter jet again, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa has said. He said that if the pilot is declared fit, he could go back immediately.

"Whether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post ejection, he had undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit," the Air Chief Marshal said.

Dhanoa said that ejecting from a fighter jet takes a toll on the body. He said, "We don't take chances with a fighter pilot's fitness," further adding that the condition of a pilot's spine has to be good to fly a jet. Wing Commander Abhinandan had suffered injuries including in his rib and spine. According to ANI, the pilot hurt his lower spine while ejecting from the aircraft.

Abhinandan had returned to a hero's welcome in India after Pakistan released him as a peace gesture amid escalating tensions between the two countries. Abhinandan had landed on Pakistani soil after his fighter jet was struck down in an air duel with Pakistani jets. It is believed that Abhinandan took down a Pakistani F-16 with the MIG-21 Bison which he was flying before his own fighter jet was hit.

Also read: 'If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target': IAF dismisses Pakistan's claim of bombs landing in jungle

Addressing the controversy surrounding the number of terrorists neutralised during the air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed camps, the Air Chief Marshal said that they hit the targets they had identified and it is difficult to say how many terrorists were taken down. He also added that the Indian Air Force is not in a position to declare the number and that it is the government's job. "IAF is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not," he said.

BS Dhanoa also said that they hit the targets, otherwise why would Pakistan PM Imran Khan have responded. "The target has been clearly amplified by FS in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pakistan PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond," he said.

When asked by a reporter why MiG-21 Bison were deployed to take down the F-16 fighter jets, BS Dhanoa said, "The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system."

Also read: IAF strike: PM Modi lashes out at Opposition for politicising Rafale deal; Congress says PM responsible for delay

Also read: US wants to know if Pakistan used F-16 jets to down Indian fighter plane
Abu Dhabi Airports has welcomed GoAir's launch of four new flights between Kannur International Airport (CNN) and Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH), connecting the two cities with flights operating every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, a statement released said.

GoAir's inaugural flight from Kannur to Abu Dhabi was received with much fanfare on March 2, as the Indian subcontinent remains one of the most popular destinations for travellers departing from Abu Dhabi. In addition, Kannur itself is a popular leisure and business destination within the state of Kerala.

Bryan Thompson, CEO, Abu Dhabi Airports, said: "India is a key travel market for Abu Dhabi International Airport and we are always eager to strengthen our connectivity to the Indian subcontinent, enhancing further our services extended to our dear customers."

Maarten De Groof, Chief Commercial Officer of Abu Dhabi Airports, said: "As one of our most promising new partners, we are pleased to welcome GoAir's flights to Abu Dhabi. India has always been one of our largest and most important areas of operations and we look forward to ensuring GoAir's guests enjoy a comfortable and efficient experience throughout Abu Dhabi International Airport, where we continue to deploy world-class smart travel solutions, attractive retail offerings and relaxing lounge spaces."

"This additional service to Abu Dhabi reflects the capital's status as a key destination and transit hub, and forms a part of our strategy to attract new airlines to our network," De Groof added.

Jeh Wadia, Managing Director, GoAir, said Abu Dhabi was the airline's fourth international destination after Phuket, Male and Muscat, and 28th destination sequentially.

"GoAir is delighted to partner with Abu Dhabi Airports. It is heartening to note that both GoAir and Abu Dhabi Airports were established in 2006 and are celebrating 13th anniversaries this year," he said in a statement.

Also read: After IndiGo and SpiceJet, GoAir raises check-in baggage charges beyond 15 kg

Also read: GoAir sues former MD for allegedly stealing sensitive info, sharing with rival IndiGo: Report
After unveiling three A-series phones in India, Samsung has now teased Galaxy A40 in Europe. The price and certain specifications of the phone have been leaked. The phone is expected to arrive with Android Pie OS on top of the new Samsung skin, One UI. The phone is tipped to first launch in Europe and may arrive in the Indian market soon.

As per MySmartPrice, the Samsung Galaxy A40 will be priced at EUR 249 (approximately Rs 20,000). The launch timeline of Samsung Galaxy A40 isn't known yet. The report states that the phone may also arrive in India eventually given that Samsung had claimed earlier that 'Galaxy A' phones will be revealed each month till June.

As far as the specifications are concerned, Samsung Galaxy A40 is tipped to be powered by the Exynos 7885 SoC paired with 4GB of RAM and run Android Pie. The countries where the phone would be launched include UK, Poland, France, and Germany among others, however, as mentioned a definite release date is not known.

There are also rumours of Samsung Galaxy A90 which would come with a sliding and a rotating camera system which will allow the camera to be used as a front and rear camera depending upon the position it is kept in. As per previous leaks, the Samsung Galaxy A90 is expected to run on One UI based on Android Pie. The Galaxy A90 will have a 6.41-inch display and it will be powered by the Snapdragon 710 SoC coupled with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage.

Edited By: Udit Verma

Also Read: OnePlus 7 image leaked! Shows off pop-up selfie camera, triple rear camera

Also Read: WhatsApp to launch cryptocurrency targeting NRIs sending money home
Flight operations resumed at Lahore airport on Sunday after being suspended for over 72 hours as Pakistan's airspace was closed in the wake of escalating tensions with India.

Pakistan on Wednesday closed its airspace for commercial flights and suspended flight operations across major airports, including in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, for an indefinite period.

According to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), domestic and international flight operations resumed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore at 6 am on Sunday, Geo TV reported.

It said that all airlines have been notified about the resumption of flight operations. However, Multan airport is yet to open for commercial flights.

A day earlier, flight operations resumed at Karachi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta airports.

On Friday, Pakistan's aviation authority partially resumed operations for some international and domestic flights as thousands of passengers were left stranded worldwide after Islamabad shut down air travel following escalating tensions with India.

The CAA on Friday announced that flight operations at the eastern side airports - Lahore, Multan, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur - will remain closed till March 4.

The closure of the airspace left thousands of air travellers stranded worldwide and more than 700 international and domestic flights were cancelled during the last three days to and from the country including flights to New Delhi.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir on February 14.

Amid mounting outrage, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan retaliated with a large air formation, comprising 24 fighter jets, including F-16s.

Also read: India Today Conclave 2019: GDP growth rate fastest under NDA government, says PM Modi

PM Narendra Modi at India Today Conclave: If work has to be done, it has to be in totality and not on tokenism, says Modi
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar promised on Friday to resolve a legal "anomaly" that led to the seizure of two small fishing boats from Northern Ireland and drew angry denunciations from pro-British politicians.

A 60-metre armed Irish Naval Service vessel on Thursday impounded two trawlers registered in the British region of Northern Ireland for fishing illegally inside Ireland's six-mile (9.6 km) territorial limit.

Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, a close ally of British Prime Minister Theresa May, reacted angrily, with deputy leader Nigel Dodds on Thursday describing the incident as "outrageous... heavy-handed tactics". Dodds also accused the Irish government of using it as a "bargaining chip on Brexit", something the Irish government denied.

The owners of the trawlers pleaded guilty to breaching fishing regulations at Drogheda District Court on Friday but a judge decided to release them without levying a fine, the BBC reported. A court service official declined comment.

An informal bilateral agreement had allowed fishermen from Ireland and Northern Ireland to fish inside the six-mile limit of each others' jurisdictions, but it was struck down by the Irish Supreme Court in 2016 and Ireland has yet to approve replacement legislation.

As a result Irish fishermen can legally fish along Northern Ireland's coast but Northern Ireland fishermen are prohibited from fishing along the coast of the Republic of Ireland.

"I think we can have that law changed and that anomaly, if you like, corrected, and we can do that in the next couple of weeks," Varadkar told LMFM Radio, saying legislation had got stuck in the upper house of parliament, which Varadkar's government does not control.

But while Ireland's Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed told RTE radio on Friday that the issue had "zero to do with Brexit," Varadkar linked the dispute with Britain's post-Brexit plans for its fisheries and whether or not these it will stay party to the London Fisheries Convention, which governs fishing rights in coastal waters off Western Europe.

"Obviously it would be useful to know from the United Kingdom side that they are not going to pull out of that London Convention," he said.

"It would be unusual to change our law only to find out that the situation on the other side changed."

Britain's withdrawal agreement, which has yet to be ratified by the British parliament, says the two sides would try to agree on the future of fisheries by July 2020, during the transition period after Brexit, to form part of an eventual new EU-UK trade deal. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
A group of Brexit-supporting lawmakers who rejected British Prime Minister Theresa May's European Union exit deal in January have set out the changes they want to see to her agreement in return for their support.

With Britain due to leave the bloc on March 29, May is seeking assurances on the so-called backstop arrangement aimed at preventing a return to hard border controls between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland.

Concerns over the backstop led to parliament overwhelmingly rejecting May's deal in January, with critics saying it could leave the country tied to EU rules indefinitely.

The Sunday Times said a group including former Brexit minister Dominic Raab and Nigel Dodds, the deputy leader of the Northern Irish party which props up May's minority government, had drawn up the tests by which they would assess any changes.

"The mechanism has got to be legally binding, so effectively treaty-level change," one of the group, Conservative lawmaker Michael Tomlinson, said in an interview with the newspaper.

"The second part is the language. It can't be a reinterpretation of the withdrawal agreement or a re-emphasis; it's got to be really clear language as to where we are going ... The third requirement is a clear exit route."

It comes after Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of a pro-Brexit faction in May's Conservatives which set up the group, this week scaled back his opposition to her deal saying he would no longer insist that the backstop be removed.

If May secures the demands, she would win the backing of Northern Ireland's DUP and many Brexit-supporting lawmakers in a vote on the deal promised by March 12, the Times said.

"They have made it very clear that if the effect of any change is to get the guarantees on the Irish backstop that they sought, then that would be sufficient rather than demanding that it has to be done by one mechanism or another," trade minister Liam Fox told BBC TV on Sunday.

"I hope it is a genuine attempt, and I think it is, to try to map out ground where we can have common territory."

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday that the bloc was ready to give Britain more guarantees that the backstop was only intended to be temporary and used for a "worst-case scenario."

In a further sign that former opponents of May's deal might now back a revised version, Graham Brady, a senior Conservative lawmaker, said he would support it with legally binding assurances on the backstop.

"Once we have that, my colleagues in parliament need to recognize the strength of feeling," he wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.

"The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay. When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the European Union on March 29."

Opposition Labour lawmaker Caroline Flint said she believed as many as 30 lawmakers from her party would support May's revised deal if they are allowed to vote the way they want rather than being ordered to vote against it by their party.

"I urge my Labour colleagues to consider voting for an improved deal," she told Sky News. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Enterprise Ireland last week announced the first call for expressions of interest, from seed and venture fund managers, under its new Seed & Venture Capital Scheme (2019-24).

The Scheme was announced in October 2018 by the Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation and is aimed at providing substantial additional funding for high-growth Irish companies with the potential to start and scale their businesses from Ireland and thereby drive a significant increase in export sales and jobs.

Under the Call, Enterprise Ireland proposes to allocate up to 100m to funds focused in three specific areas. Up to 50m will be available to funds focused on Pre-Seed and Seed investments, supporting Enterprise Irelands High Potential Start-Up strategy, and a further 30m to funds making investments at Series A and beyond in companies seeking to scale. Up to 20m will also be made available to funds focused on the Food and Foodtech sectors.

Proposals are being sought from fund managers, both domestic and international, who can bring real added value in terms of commercialisation and connectivity to their investee companies. For those funds focused on the Pre-Seed and Seed Stages of development, under this new scheme Enterprise Ireland can invest an increased maximum of up to 70% of these funds.

Since the Seed & Venture Capital programmes commenced in 1994, the investment provided through Enterprise Ireland commitments has leveraged substantial additional external funding and as a result over 500 Enterprise Ireland clients have received in excess of 900m in investment.

Making the announcement, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys said, "The benefits to businesses of the scheme are twofold. It will provide them with much needed finance during the stages in their business cycle when finance can be extremely difficult to come by. Crucially, it will also introduce young businesses to networks and connections that will provide an invaluable source of mentoring and guidance."

She added, "This scheme builds on the previous Seed & Venture programmes and aims to develop the flow of high-growth and innovative companies in the economy needed to sustain growth and employment."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
U.K. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has abandoned attempts to secure a hard time-limit or unilateral exit mechanism for the Irish backstop, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.

Ministers said Cox's aims that represent central demands of Eurosceptics are considered too "blunt" and have been rejected by the European Union, the newspaper reported.

The "backstop" provision in Britain's European Union divorce deal, widely known as Brexit, aims at avoiding the return of a hard border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The attorney general is trying to secure an enhanced "arbitration mechanism" that allows Britain or the European Union to provide formal notice that the backstop should come to an end, the Telegraph said.

Demands for an "independent" arbitration panel by the negotiators are being resisted by the EU, outside the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, according to the newspaper.

Cox was scheduled to talk to parliament last week, but that was postponed as negotiations continued. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Over 300 delegates attended the Ireland Chapter of Project Management Institutes (PMI) sold-out annual national conference in Cork last week.

The conference, with headline sponsor EY, heard that strategic project management of regional infrastructure is vital to ensure stabilisation and future growth of the Irish economy.

The PMI have warned that with Dublin feeling the worst effects of the housing crisis  rents there are 8.8% higher than just a year ago  this is negatively impacting desired international investment.

The group warns that joined-up thinking  or good project management  is required to ensure the regional investment promises made in Project Ireland 2040 are actioned to make each of Ireland's regional cities a viable option for business.

The group believe that while Ireland should be the default location for companies seeking to relocate from the UK into an EU country, a disproportionate focus placed on Dublin is reducing Irelands competitiveness.

Incentives for regionalisation highlighted at the conference include the long-awaited rural broadband network, and high-speed road and rail links between all Irish major cities, including Cork, Limerick, Galway and Dublin.

Speaking last week at the conference, which was held for the first time outside of Dublin, President of the Ireland Chapter of PMI, Pat Lucey said, "As the national body of project managers in Ireland, it was important for the Chapter to move outside of the capital for its national conference  decentralisation delivers advantages across all sectors; from government departments to multi-nationals. Chronic under-investment in regional infrastructure is placing our economy, and future projects, at risk."

He added, "There is huge opportunity for economic growth in Ireland over the next 20 years. However, over-reliance on the Dublin region is jeopardising this growth as it struggles to meet demand."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Genomics could better match treatments to pancreatic cancer patients

PITTSBURGH, March 4 - Pancreatic cancer is a grim diagnosis, with a five-year survival rate of less than 9 percent. To improve those odds, researchers at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine sought genetic signatures in the largest study of its kind that could be used to better match drugs to patients and for early detection.

The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, involved sifting through the genomes of thousands of tumors, sampled from all over the world. In 17 percent of cases, there was a genetic flag that indicated the tumor should be susceptible to existing chemotherapy drugs. The researchers also found supporting evidence for heritable genes, including some in the BRCA family associated with breast cancer, that can predispose whole families toward pancreatic cancer.

"People have been looking for such markers for a long time, and our study shows that it's possible to break pancreatic cancer patients into different treatment buckets," said senior author Nathan Bahary, M.D., Ph.D., oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine at Pitt.

One reason why pancreatic cancer is so deadly is that the majority of patients often are identified late in their disease course and frequently present with inoperable tumors at the time of diagnosis. For some of these patients, it may be possible to shrink the tumor with existing chemotherapy drugs, but in a disease where 75 percent of patients die within a year of diagnosis, time is of the essence, and unfortunately, there's no way to know in advance which patients will respond to which drugs.

"Every pancreatic cancer is different, and performing molecular profiling of each patient's tumor could help determine the best treatment options," said lead author Aatur Singhi, M.D., Ph.D., surgical pathologist at UPMC and assistant professor of pathology at Pitt. "Rather than blindly giving patients the same chemotherapy, we want to tailor a patient's chemo to their tumor type. A one-size-fits-all approach isn't going to work. Therefore, we would like to make molecular profiling standard-of-care for patients with pancreatic cancer."

Singhi and Bahary's study characterized the genome of 3,594 pancreatic tumor samples from patients around the world, provided by collaborators at Foundation Medicine.

"We believe that this is the largest study in pancreatic cancer conducted using comprehensive genomic profiling to identify a broad set of genomic alterations, and ultimately, therapeutic targets, in this difficult-to-treat disease," said Siraj Ali, M.D., Ph.D., senior director of clinical development at Foundation Medicine.

Besides shrinking tumors with personalized chemotherapy, another way to increase pancreatic cancer survival rates is through increased pancreatic cysts screening, Singhi said, but the problem is that pancreatic cysts are incredibly common, and not all lead to cancer.

Previously, Singhi and colleagues developed a clinical molecular test known as PancreaSeq to evaluate common pancreatic cysts and identify which cases may progress to cancer. Now Singhi and Bahary's newly discovered biomarkers can be added to the PancreaSeq platform, already being used by several institutions, including UPMC.

###

Additional authors on the study include Ben George, M.D., from the Medical College of Wisconsin; Joel Greenbowe, Ph.D., Jon Chung, Ph.D., James Suh, M.D., Alexa Schrock, Ph.D., Vincent Miller, M.D., Jeffrey Ross, M.D., and Siraj Ali, M.D., Ph.D., from Foundation Medicine Inc.; Anirban Maitra, M.B.B.S., and Javle Milind, M.D., from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Samuel Klempner, M.D., and Andrew Hendifar, M.D., from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Talia Golan, M.D., from Tel Aviv University; and Randall Brand, M.D., Amer Zureikat, M.D., and Somak Roy, M.D., from UPMC and Pitt.

This research was funded by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the National Pancreas Foundation and the Sky Foundation.

To read this release online or share it, visit http://www. upmc. com/ media/ news/ 030419-pancreatic-cancer-genomics [when embargo lifts].

Contact: Erin Hare

Office: 412-864-7194

Mobile: 412-738-1097

E-mail: HareE@upmc.edu

Contact: Cyndy Patton

Office: 412-586-9773

Mobile: 412-415-6085

E-mail: PattonC4@upmc.edu

About UPMC

A $19 billion world-renowned health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. UPMC provides more than $900 million a year in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region's most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 87,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 700 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, and a 3.5 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. As UPMC works in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside on its annual Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. UPMC Enterprises functions as the innovation and commercialization arm of UPMC, and UPMC International provides hands-on health care and management services with partners around the world. For more information, go to UPMC.com.

About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support.

Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www. medschool. pitt. edu .

http://www. upmc. com/ media

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Argentina Fires Warning Shots at Chinese Fishing Vessel

By Qin Ziyi, Zhao Runhua / Mar 04, 2019 05:56 PM / World

Argentinas coast guard fired warning shots after a Chinese fishing vessel refused to cooperate with authorities on Saturday.

The coast guard opened fire after the vessel, Hua Xiang 801, was caught illegally fishing in Argentinas exclusive economic zone, and verbal demands failed.

After three hours of pursuit and shooting, the Chinese ship still refused to cooperate  and even tried to collide with coast guard boats on several occasions. Hua Xiang 801 eventually escaped to international waters, where Argentina has no sovereign rights.

Hua Xiang 801 is likely belongs to fishery registered in eastern Chinas Zhejiang province, according to Caixins research  a vessel named Hua Xiang 801 owned by the same company was sent to Peru for fishing last year, a government document showed.

This is not the first instance of illegal activity by Chinese fishing vessels in restricted territorial waters. In 2018, Argentinas coast guard found Chinese vessel Jing Yuan 626 illegally fishing in its exclusive economic zone off the Patagonian coast. Before the vessel fled, the coast guard chased and fired at it for roughly eight hours.

Argentinas coast guard said it has appealed for an international capture order to apprehend Hua Xiang 801.

Related: China Struggles to Reel In Its Illegal Fishing Abroad
The Commemorative Air Force held a groundbreaking ceremony at the site for their National Education Center at Dallas Executive Airport in Dallas, Texas on March 1st, and made the following press release to announce the event.

The Commemorative Air Force (CAF) held a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the start of construction and the naming of its $8 million, 47,000-square-foot National Aviation Education Center at Dallas Executive Airport. The educational center will include a STEM Innovation aircraft hangar, classrooms and exhibit space. This building is the first phase of the organizations plans for an aviation campus, called the CAF National Airbase.

CAF President Hank Coates began the ceremony by remarking Today, as we turn the ground and embark on this building, I am so proud of all the support the CAF has received from across the country. This building will be the flagship of our organization where our mission to educate, inspire and honor, will impact thousands of people who come through the doors. The organizations leadership announced the naming of the center, the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center, in honor of the philanthropist, World War II veteran and long-time CAF Member, Henry B. Tippie. As a Life Member of the CAF, and a WWII veteran, I am excited to see the CAF use the legacy of the past to build bridges to a better future, I am also pleased to see the sacrifices of those who served during WWII be honored and preserved for future generations, said Tippie at the ceremony.

Funding for the project was helped significantly with a contribution of the Ray Foundation, an organization based in Florida established by the late James C. Ray, who also served in WWII and established the foundation to support educational programs, especially those promoting aviation. Chuck Ahearn, Director and President of the Ray Foundation remarked about the project The Ray Foundation is thrilled to support the CAF National Aviation Education Center because it will transform the lives of young people by providing unique aviation education opportunities.

The largest component of the building will be a 30,000 square foot STEM Innovation Hangar. This new hangar space will serve as a large area where youth will interact with the CAFs rare World War II aircraft and learn principles of aviation. This hangar was named after the late Vic N. Agather, World War II veteran and one of the CAFs early members who is responsible for helping the organization acquire the rare flying B-29 Superfortress, known as FIFI. Accepting the honor was local Fort Worth businessman Neils Agather, Vics son, who is also the Fundraising Campaign Chair for the Education Center. My father would be pleased to see the CAF launching into a new era of educating, inspiring, and honoring through flight because he was passionate about preserving history and ensuring that Americans of all ages could experience first-hand the aircraft that had a major impact in the war against tyranny. His passion is shared by many throughout our organization and this Center will help that passion continue to thrive, said Neils Agather.

The ceremony was well attended by hundreds of CAF members from across the country and included appearances by Dallas City Council Member and Mayor Pro-tem Casey Thomas, the City of Dallas Director of Aviation Mark Duebner, and Missouri Congressman and long-time CAF member Sam Graves.

Education is central to the CAFs core mission of preserving and flying historical aircraft. By teaching World War II history through its collection of artifacts, showing students how aircraft fly, and creating STEM educational programming, the CAF will create an education center that provides a one-of-a-kind experience for all who walk through its doors. Construction of the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center is expected to begin this summer, with the goal of being operational in late 2020.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCES HENRY B. TIPPIE NATIONAL AVIATION EDUCATION CENTER INCLUDE:

The James C. Ray Education Wing will provide 10,000 square feet of workshop and classroom space stocked with science and mechanical equipment, distance learning capabilities, and a flight simulator lab. Education Staff will develop and provide science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programming that will be available in Dallas, as well as for deployment in communities across the country by the CAFs 85 local units. The facility is named for James Ray, a decorated B-17 pilot and founder of the Ray Foundation. This foundation supports educational organizations, primarily in the field of aviation, that develop life skills such as work ethic, self-discipline and self-confidence in young adults. The Ray Foundation provided a $2 million grant that was instrumental in reaching the CAFs $8 million project goal.

The 30,000-square-foot Victor N. Agather Hangar will provide space for display and maintenance of aircraft, as well as for educational activities and large events. The hangar is named for Vic Agather, who helped design and test the B-29 Superfortress during the war, and who was instrumental in helping the CAF acquire and restore its famous B-29 FIFI in 1971. Agather later convinced the U.S. Air Force to allow the B-29 to fly again and developed the concept of touring the CAFs aircraft around the country. Vics oldest son Neils Agather is currently on the General Staff (CAF Board of Directors) and serves as Chair of the CAF Museum Board.

The Arsenal of Democracy Atrium will provide 7,000 square feet for display space for many of the unique artifacts that are part of the CAF museum collection, including the one-of-a-kind WWII Nose Art collection. This area will be available for rent for social gatherings and community events.

Funding for the Henry B. Tippie National Aviation Education Center has been provided through the support and efforts of many organizations and individuals and the Commemorative Air Force would like to thank all who have supported the organization. The organization would like to recognize the following:

The City of Dallas

Henry B. Tippie Foundation

Ray Foundation

Neils Agather

Hillcrest Foundation

Hoblitzelle Foundation

Ray and Bonnie Kinney

Ralph B. Rogers Foundation

Frederick and Barbara Clark Telling

The Meadows Foundation

Walton Family Foundation

B-29/B-24 Squadron

Katherine C. Carmody Charitable Trust

Red Tail Squadron

Doug Rozendaal

Southwest Airlines

For those interested in contributing to this important project, please click HERE.
British Columbias moderating housing market will have a domino effect of overall weakness in the provincial economy, the Conference Board of Canada predicted in its study released last week.

Some ongoing energy megaprojects might help alleviate some of the pain, according to the analysis. Among the most promising of these is a $40-billion project based in Kitimat, B.C. by LNG Canada and five investment partners.

With the housing market slowing, investor approval of LNG Canadas liquefied natural gas terminal and pipeline in late 2018 came at an opportune time for the province. The first phase of the development will provide a substantial boost to the provinces real GDP between now and the middle of the next decade, the Board stated in its report, as quoted by Business in Vancouver.

Nevertheless, the market should still brace for considerable real GDP growth slowdown, with housing likely to drag down the economy well into next year.

Read more: Further cooling policies still needed  B.C. Finance Minister

The Board warned that the provinces economy will shrink from 2.6% in 2018 to 2.5% this year, and then down to 2.4% in 2020. These would be noticeably lower than the 2014-17 period, which enjoyed an average of 3.2% growth.

Said slowdown will make itself especially felt in the largest cities, which endured the brunt of weaker housing activity. Data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver showed that the regions sales numbers suffered an annual decline of 39.3% in January, down to 1,103 completed deals.

Much of the blame has been cast upon B-20, which introduced a severely tightened mortgage lending stress test at the beginning of last year.
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Semiotics Club. Angus McGrath. Seen&Heard.; Mikhaila Jurkiewicz. Boreal. Tessa Rex. PhotoAccess at the Manuka Arts Centre, cnr Manuka Circle and NSW Circle, Griffith. Until March 16. Tuesday - Saturday 10am to 4pm. According to his artist statement Angus McGraths Semiotics Club "uses photo and text on ready-made media to place this narrative in a personal context, beyond that of just queerness and into the equally coded realms of dance music and punk culture. The installation consists of photographs (on bricks and paper), T-shirts, Truvada bottles and two pencilled wall texts. One of these Gay Knife Fight dominates the gallery space, occupying the entire end wall with lines of words including Flesh, Blood, Gay, Meat, Death, and Hearts. It holds a menacing tone and for me there is an overall darkness to this installation that imparts a sense of uneasiness (or at least it did with me). Much of the installation is idiosyncratic and, as in the artist statement, personal. The inclusion of bricks (albeit with photographic images on them) is visually OK but Im not sure what they might mean, if indeed they have meaning beyond the artist? This is where it fails for me. In electing to use a visual language whose components might hold particular meaning to himself, McGrath perhaps deliberately subverts or at least obfuscates possibilities for other meanings to be opened to his viewers. The scattered elements of the installation remain just that for me  a sort of visual expletive with an initial impact and nothing after that. McGraths personal did not translate to this member of his audience. In Seen&Heard; Mikhaila Jurkiewicz presents 13 inkjet print portraits focusing on women, trans, nonbinary and gender diverse people who are doing interesting and creative things in Australia. The sitters work in the visual arts, music and writing. The black-and-white photographs are beautifully made, finely tuned and crisply articulated. Another component of the exhibition, but one not necessary in the aesthetic appreciation of the photographs, is the eponymous publication. This includes the photographs in the exhibition with each accompanied by an extended interview with the sitters. The protagonists in the photographs sit in what are presumably their (mostly) domestic environments. Each faces the viewer in a manner that is not confrontational but rather open and inviting of dialogue. The accoutrements of domesticity (both internal and external) give an added dimension of the personal to each of the images. The directness that characterises the protagonists is underscored by the artists technical acuity. The decision to use a black-and-white palette works extremely well. This strengthens the documentary, narrative quality that elides with the essentially objective stance of the genesis and thesis of the entire Seen&Heard; project. Light and shade are also beautifully exploited throughout this fine exhibition. The eight silver gelatine fibre prints and two video loops in Boreal are the result of Tessa Rexs residency in the remote, sub-arctic town of Dakota City in Canada. The prints hold a powerful beauty that speaks of the source of their imagery as much as it does of the sophisticated aesthetic of the artist. Given the subject-matter  snow-covered, human-less landscapes  a comparison with the landscapes of the 18th-19th-century Sublime is inevitable. Briefly the Sublime averred the grandeur of Nature, with man in awe of that grandeur and power. It was also about dealing with the unknown, the terrible aspects of Nature over which man has no control. The idea of a terrible beauty was part and parcel of this philosophical way of dealing with the natural world through the language of the visual arts and in particular painting. Rexs Sublime however is a contemporary and as such is tempered with climate change and global warming. These had a profound effect on the artist and the community of Dawson City. The catalogue tells us that 2018 was the third consecutive year that an ice bridge has failed to form across the river (the Yukon River), severing the community. In addition, since 2006 permafrost around the city has been melting at an accelerating rate. This sort of event and data is unfortunately all too commonplace. They remain something about which constant reminders are a necessity. Rexs images do this in an especially beautiful and embracing way. Her images use a minimalist aesthetic allowing the black-and-whiteness of the landscape to assume documentary precedence while simultaneously intimating a sense of immanent loss, a haunting pointer to a very real possibility. The latter qualities come from the artists thinking eye and are beautifully configured throughout the exhibition. The two video loops are displayed very differently. Dawson City Limits is introduced with the artist dancing in a snow-covered street to the strains of Tina Turners Nutbush City Limits. It is funny but a humorous input subsumed by the more serious imagery and text that follows. The second, Yukon River, has its monitor placed on the floor. The imagery here is accompanied by a soundtrack that I read as the sounds of a person walking through snow. While I enjoyed what was on the screen the placement of the monitor on the floor was totally unnecessary. This is an exhibition where the powerful simplicity of the natural world offered compelling imagery to the artist and allowed her to make equally compelling statements about the current (and future) state of our environment. Rexs Boreal is both visually and politically an important statement.

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The role of the chaplain will vanish in ACT public schools by the end of the year - but those in the job say a misunderstanding seems to lie at the heart of the ban, and schools could now miss out on much-needed extra support. This month, Education Minister Yvette Berry said religious chaplains were incompatible with the secular operation of public schools under the Education Act, and so the ACT would no longer accept federal funding for the positions. Instead, existing chaplains will be turned into youth-worker roles at the territory's expense. But chaplains say the rules of the national chaplaincy program already forbid them from preaching their beliefs or conducting religious education, and some school communities are upset they had not been consulted. Under the program, schools can opt in for grants of up to $20,000 a year for a chaplain, usually providing pastoral care about two days a week. Chaplains are already required to be qualified youth workers but, after controversial changes brought in by the Coalition in 2015, they must also be associated with a religious organisation. Last year, Ms Berry wrote to the federal government requesting funding again be extended to secular workers. When the request was denied, she decided to pull public schools out of the program, though she stressed non-government schools would still be able to access the funding. A year 12 student had collected more than 165 signatures from her peers on Friday for a letter calling on the minister to reconsider the decision, saying her own chaplain made the school a safer place and had helped her get through the stress of exams. School Chaplaincy ACT, which employs 21 of the 22 chaplains in ACT public schools, said many schools fundraised to employ the worker for extra days on campus. "A lot of these schools also have a youth worker or a counsellor, but they've told us they need both, or they've been unable to get a youth worker in and the chaplain's been that vital extra support person," chief executive Peter James said. "Some people are devastated by this." A spokeswoman for the minister said that, while the program had not received any complaints, some stakeholders had raised concerns about the non-secular nature of chaplains. Schools were not consulted prior to the ban, which has been welcomed by the Australian Education Union and the ACT's peak parents' group but has copped federal criticism. "[We're] aware from principals that chaplains often have a valued place in their school community, which is why [they're] being offered direct government employment on a secular basis," the spokeswoman said. Ms Berry said the territory would absorb the "the modest cost impact" of the new positions, but it is unclear how many days they will be funded to work beyond 2019. The territory has ruled out allowing chaplains to continue in public schools under community funding arrangements. Chaplain Mandy Gray, a former social worker in the child protection sector, said donations from parents and community groups helped fund her own position on campus full-time. "It's the best job I've ever had but I don't know what's going to happen now; they haven't told us what [the new roles] will be like," she said. "I'm genuinely concerned for the kids." While chaplains are banned from evangelising, they can express their own views "in good faith" when answering questions. Workers insist parental permission is still required at almost every step. "I have one boy who always wants to chat to me but his parents have said no, so I walk him down to see his coordinator instead," Ms Gray said. "People don't understand what we do. If I [tried to convert anyone], I'd get fired. "But a lot of it does fall outside the typical youth worker role - I'm the [teachers'] chaplain too. Maybe someone is coping with a loss or [questioning] their purpose. I've supported staff through terminal cancer [and] abuse...I helped a Muslim student set up a prayer room, LGBTIQ students came to me to create their own support group." But while chaplains do not have to be Christian, those employed by School Chaplaincy ACT are required to prove they can support a school community "within a Christian framework" and build relationships with churches and community groups. A spokeswoman for the minister said such religious obligations were incompatible with public education. "These chaplains must be active Christians who can articulate the core teachings of the Bible and its message, and from this basis do engage in discussion of religion that may not have parental consent," she said. Ms Gray said she knew of some schools which had previously missed out on funding for a chaplain and were now concerned they would not be able to access a youth worker either. The ACT Council of Parents' and Citizens' Associations said support workers should not be affiliated with any particular religion but stressed there was still not enough mental health professionals in schools. The minister has hinted at more investment in youth workers and counsellors, though her office did not provide further details on Friday. Seventy-three full-time psychologists and 31 youth workers currently work across Canberra's 88 public schools.

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news, act-politics

At first glance, a spike in the matters dealt with in the ACT's criminal courts last year looks like the capital may have seen a sharp increase in crims appearing before judges, with a 46 per cent increase in the number of defendants finalised by the courts in 2017-18. On second look, the picture is slightly clearer, with the majority of that increase caused by those pinged for failing to vote. There was an increase of 2494 matters finalised in the court system in that year, and 2101 of those matters were in the "offences against justice" category, which includes failing to vote. In the year before, that category included just 221 people. The ACT experienced a similar spike in finalised court matters in 2013-14, which like last year was the financial year following a territory election. There was also an increase in 2009-10. But the ACT isn't a hot spot of non-voting, even if the statistics seem to suggest it. "Looking at the other states and territories, were not seeing anything to suggest theres a problem," said Will Milne, the director of the Australian Bureau of Statistics' National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics. Similar spikes in offences against justice were seen in New South Wales and Victoria after elections in those states, though they don't have a similarly sized impact on their overall statistics. Deputy ACT Electoral Commissioner Ro Spence said voter turnout in the nation's capital, where many are employed in the business of governing, was "generally pretty high". "It's certainly not a standout of any other jurisdiction," Mr Spence said. If someone fails to vote in the ACT, they are sent a letter giving them a chance to say they had a reasonable excuse, or pay a $20 fine. If that first notice is ignored, it's sent another two times before someone ends up in court. After the last territory election, 21,372 of these notices went out to electors who appeared to fail to vote, and after the process of notices, summons were issued to 2015 apparent non-voters, ACT Elections statistics show. Of those 2015, 1183 summons were withdrawn prior to their day in court, with just 832 heard by a magistrate. While Mr Spence said he couldn't speak for other jurisdictions, fines and processes surrounding non-voters differed between jurisdictions. An ACT Legislative Assembly committee recommended in 2017 that the fine for not voting be increased to $75. That recommendation has not been acted on.

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comment, editorial

The Mr Fluffy crisis ranks with the 2003 bushfires as one of the worst disasters in ACT's history. The fires, which killed four people and injured another 435, destroyed 488 buildings and caused an estimated $350 million worth of damage. Mr Fluffy, by contrast, has cast a shadow over the future health of more than 17,000 people and has, to date, cost taxpayers almost $1 billion in demolition and remediation work. Of the 1032 homes knocked down under the mandate of the Asbestos Taskforce, 26 were heritage listed. While the final cost will be significantly offset by revenue raised from the sale of remediated blocks - now expected to exceed original estimates thanks to an ongoing property boom - it will still be an expensive exercise. The principal difference between the two disasters, apart from the obvious fact one exploded in days and the other took decades to unfold, is while Andrew Barr has resisted calls for a major Fluffy investigation since 2015, three major inquiries spent years collecting information on the fires. Because of these diametrically opposed responses to two crises of similar magnitude, we know far more about, and have learnt many more lessons from, the fires than we have from Mr Fluffy. Many Canberrans who endured the 2003 cataclysm would be the first to acknowledge the information obtained and the lessons learned from the investigations helped them to come to terms with what had occurred. Those affected by the potentially deadly Mr Fluffy debacle have the same right to answers and closure. The time, as Greens candidate Tim Hollo pointed out this week, is ripe for a long hard look at how the loose asbestos contamination debacle came to be and whether or not the response has been appropriate, effective and carried out to a professional standard. Key questions should include: why the loose-fill asbestos insulation was allowed to be used for a decade after concerns were originally raised about its safety; why the first clean up operation was such an abysmal failure; whether or not the ACT Government's billion-dollar response was warranted and why there has been such a degree of variation in individual outcomes for home owners. It is significant that even as the remediation program was being rolled out problems were being experienced with other sub-standard building materials, including Infinity cabling and flammable building cladding, across the country. While there has not been a spate of deaths directly linked to the Mr Fluffy asbestos contamination yet, we do know more than 17,000 people lived in the affected homes over many decades. The Barr Government's argument the cross-border and multi-jurisdictional nature of Mr Fluffy means an ACT inquiry would be hamstrung does not hold up given the same comments apply to the 2003 fires. They began across the border and then spread to Canberra's suburbs. Federal and interstate authorities co-operated in 2003. There is no reason they should not do the same in 2019. A successful inquiry would deliver two major benefits. It would help us learn how to prevent similar debacles in the future and it would also assist the thousands of people whose lives have been turned upside down to come to terms with one of the worst experiences of their lives.

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A smoke haze over Canberra has drifted north from bushfires in Victoria. Emergency services say there is no bushfire threat in the ACT, though the forecast fire-danger rating for the ACT tomorrow is "very high". More than 2000 firefighters spent the day battling at least 19 significant fires across Victoria. At least nine properties have been destroyed. As of 7pm, there were seven "watch and act" alerts for out-of-control fires across the state, mostly in Gippsland.

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The ACT government has proposed a new park for Coombs as part of a wider plan to stem residents' frustration with development and forge connectivity in the community. The 9379-square-metre play space, which would be located off Edgeworth Parade, has a naturalistic theme and is set into the slope of the land to maximise views of the adjacent Holdens Creek. The development application for the project is expected to be lodged some time in the next few days but the community consultation process had so far been extensive, the suburban land agency said. "Some of the concerns are that it will become an intrusion to [the residents'] view. If this is going to include toilet facilities, that could also be an issue," project director Kuga Kugathas said. "Some people see the nearby water as a good thing, [while] some people say it is unsafe for children. Certainly this will be something we address in the detailed design process to make it safe." The play space, which would be constructed late this year, would include in-ground trampolines, slides, swing sets, climbing structures, a multi-sports court, barbecues, shaded areas, and seating areas. It would also be wheelchair accessible with some play "pods" at ground level. Of the probable 10 parking spaces, some would be for people with disabilities. It has not been decided whether the park will include a toilet block, but if it does it would be somewhat concealed by foliage. "This [play space] actually has all the bits in it. You've got the climbing area, you've got the trampolines, whereas in a lot of other places these are in separate playgrounds," community development manager Jody Gleeson said. "We've tried to combine the barbecues, bubblers, and shade all in one, so that's a bit of a meeting point. "Within a local community [in the ACT], this is probably the first of this style." Local residents were concerned that the park was the ACT government's attempt to compensate for a lack of community development and amenities in the Coombs and Wright area, they said. "A number of residents along the street and in the area are quite upset by what we perceive to be a lack of consultation in relation to what was is quite an overdevelopment of what was meant to be just a local playground area," Peta Langeveld, who lives across the road from the proposed park, said. "We paid a premium to build here and enjoy a particular view and thats going to be taken away from us by the development of, particularly, the [proposed] toilet block." Despite the toilet block appearing in designs to be set back in the far-right corner of the play space, it would only be a matter of metres from homes, Mrs Langeveld said. The ACT Suburban Land Agency said community consultation about the project would be ongoing following the lodgement of the development application. Three developments proposed for the Molonglo Valley have been knocked back in less than a month, and the Coombs shops, which were bought by Canberra developer Renato Cervo in 2015 and built in 2018, remain inactive. An Indian grocer was due to begin operating there within the next month, the building's real estate agent said, but other interested parties had fallen through. Mr Cervo has until April to achieve a certificate of occupancy for the largest of the shops, made for a supermarket, before the project is deemed non-compliant by the ACT government. "But achieving that means he's complied with everything from the government. We can't then regulate or put controls on whether he gets a tenant or not. That's a commercial decision for him," Ms Gleeson said. On Thursday afternoon, rent for the Coombs shops was listed on two real-estate websites at $650 a square metre. After the agent was questioned about this, the listings were removed and replaced. The agent said price point had been a problem but leases had been revised down to about $500 a square metre some 18 months ago. Mr Cervo refused to comment about the development's progress. Despite the lack of activity, the government was hopeful for the future of Wright and Coombs, with the proposed Koko Molonglo development under review and other community projects being started. "We definitely haven't gone outside of any guidelines so were anticipating approval," Koko Molonglo's agent Storm Brearly said. A four-week trial for a pop-up cafe at Stromlo House has so far been a huge success, with about 200 people attending each week. The cafe was expected to continue, with the land agency's facilitation, going ahead. "The pop-up cafe is a massive hit. I think it's a really good initiative and illustrates the fact that there is definitely demand for people to have a place to get a coffee, something to eat, and bump into your neighbours," Save Molonglo administrator Ryan Hemsley said. "[Stromlo] is sort of south-east of the Coombs shops. [The shops] would have been an ideal place but obviously there are some challenges with putting [a pop-up cafe] there." The Coombs play space is being designed by Redbox Design Group. The final details of what it would look like and what amenities it would include will be determined following the lodgement of a development application.

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Rosemary Follett remembers well that chaotic election day which led to the creation of the first ACT Legislative Assembly and, eventually, ushered in self-government for the territory. Monday marks the 30th anniversary of the first Assembly election on March 4, 1989. It was an historic day, often fraught with hostility, when 117 candidates and 22 political parties battled to join a parliament most of the Canberra population did not want. The ballot paper was more than one-metre long. Ms Follett, a public servant and candidate for Labor, would go on to become the first ACT chief minister and the first female head of government in Australia. "It was an extraordinary experience," she said of polling day. "Unless you've had to walk towards a bank of TV cameras running backwards and they're between you and where you want to go, like the polling station, you just can't really guess what it's like. It is really discombobulating." "The whole experience was like that," said Gary Humphries, who was elected for the Liberals and would become chief minister in 2000. "A few members had experience in the old advisory assembly, including Rosemary. [Labor's] Bill Wood was the only person who had actually served in another parliament, so we were all new, we were all plunging into this experiment." Before self-government, the federal territories minister made the decisions about the ACT  and a referendum in 1978 found nearly 64 per cent of residents wanted the status quo to remain. The federal government nevertheless charged on with giving the ACT self-government, and the resulting 1989 Assembly election has been described as the nation's "most farcical". It was certainly circus-like, but that description perhaps plays down the considerable challenges faced by that first Assembly. Well-known Canberra lawyer Bernard Collaery, later attorney-general, was elected to the first Assembly for the Residents Rally party, "a mob of urban greenies" campaigning against a casino for Canberra. "Unfairly, in many respects, we'd often been made a laughing stock by journalists," Collaery said. "Pilloried," Follett agreed. "That was unfair. We were wrestling in those days, I think, with a budget of $2 billion. It didn't matter if you were in government or out of government, you had to make rational decisions and you needed support and day after day, the media served us up. "All our amateurism, our oddities, particularly [with] people like me who'd never been in politics, were amplified." Yet the election was a doozy. Provocateur Emile Brunoro registered six parties to contest the poll, including the Sun Ripened Warm Tomato Party, which promised to ban gas-ripened "fake" tomatoes from the ACT. His other parties included Party! Party! Party! and Surprise Party. The Canberra Times' editorial on polling day urged residents to vote against the no-self government parties, saying it would be a wasted vote and "we can no longer rely on the federal government to do everything for us". But that did not stop four of the 17 members elected in the first Assembly being from those very same no-self-government parties: the Abolish Self-Government Coalition (Dennis Stevenson) and the No Self-Government Party (Craig Duby, Carmel Maher and David Prowse). Gary Humphries, later a senator and now deputy president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, says the other candidates in favour of self-government were well aware of the prevailing mood. "The hostility was palpable. People didn't want this," he said. "They knew it was the end of the Commonwealth-government largess. We weren't any longer going to get fabulous services that no one else in Australia could even dream of." Adding to the strangeness of the election was the fact it was held under a set of electoral rules known as the "modified d'Hondt" system, so complicated it took more than two months to count. Now retired ACT electoral commissioner Phil Green was seven years into a job with the Australian Electoral Commission at the time of the 1989 election. He remembers the tortuous process of counting the votes in the convoluted system. "It was just so complicated and so perverse in the fact that there wasn't really any logic behind it, it just took forever to count," Mr Green said, his good humour still intact. "I was doing, I think, six simultaneous Senate[-style] elections and I was doing them all manually on a sheet of paper with a calculator. There were no computers in those days. "Later that year they sent me to Namibia for that election, because I'd stood out as being good at counting things." Mr Green also had the job of registering the parties and remembers, at the time, there was no legal reason to reject the more obscure. "We were a bit concerned because we didn't want to election to be a laughing stock," he said. "While you could understand the undergraduate humour of it all, we actually wanted the election to be taken seriously. So it wasn't something we were wanting to encourage or give any air-time to, but given what it was, there wasn't a lot we could avoid about it. It became known as the Sun-Ripened Warm Tomato election." The Legislative Assembly sat for the first time on May 11, 1989. Collaery was the ultimate kingmaker, supporting a minority Labor government to lead the first Assembly and Follett to become chief minister, only to dispose of her seven months later and usher in a Liberal-Residents Rally alliance. It's perhaps a mark of the relative civility of ACT politics - and the fact everyone will still see everyone in a small city  that Follett and Collaery can 30 years later sit across from each other, sharing a coffee, with no hint of enmity. Follett, Humphries and Collaery all believe self-government was an experiment that worked. It delivered a mix of local and state functions that was government at the grassroots. "You were 100 per cent visible 100 per cent of the time," Follett said. It has been a system of government constantly under scrutiny, Collaery believed. "There's been no Eddie Obeids," he said. A ceremonial sitting marking the 30th anniversary of the sitting of the first Assembly will be held on Friday, May 10. Elected candidates from the 1989 election:

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Photo: The Canadian Press Meng Wanzhou.

The defence team for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou has filed a notice of civil claim alleging "serious violations" of her constitutional rights.

The suit filed with the B.C. Supreme Court on Friday is against members of the Canadian Border Services Agency, the RCMP and the federal government.

It seeks damages for false imprisonment based on alleged multiple failures of government officials to comply with the rule of law upon her detention, search and interrogation at the Vancouver airport on Dec. 1.

The allegations have not been proven in court and the CBSA, RCMP and the attorney general's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, the Canadian Department of Justice gave the go-ahead for an extradition case against Meng, marking the formal start of the high-profile process that has put Canada in an uncomfortable position between the United States and China.

The U.S. Department of Justice has laid out 13 criminal counts of conspiracy, fraud and obstruction against Huawei and Meng, who is the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei.
Photo: The Canadian Press Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick attend a swearing in ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on Friday, March 1, 2019.

New Democrat MP Charlie Angus says Canada's top civil servant is "deeply compromised" by his testimony in the SNC-Lavalin affair and has to resign.

In an open letter today to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Angus says Michael Wernick, the clerk of the Privy Council, was inflammatory and sensationalist when he told the House of Commons justice committee almost two weeks ago that he worries angry political rhetoric could lead to an assassination in Canada.

Wernick also spoke up for the Liberal government's Indigenous agenda and integrity, which Angus says is inappropriate for a non-partisan public official.

Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould testified that Wernick leaned on her to head off a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin over allegations of bribery and fraud in its dealings in Libya.

Angus says that made Wernick "a central player in a very political controversy."

Wernick has been clerk of the Privy Council since 2016, after a long career in the federal public service.
The week of Presidents Day this year found me, my family, and some close friends spending a week in a beach house on Tybee Island, a low-lying, barrier island just east of Savannah. As always, I spent most mornings out looking for birds, and because the seven of us had only a single minivan to get around, I had to keep my morning outings relatively brief so I was confined to Tybee Island. Not that doing my birding on Tybee Island was some kind of horrible chore but the 5.2 square miles (8.3 square kilometers) was a much smaller area than I am used to when birding. That said, being forced to bird such a small area over multiple days forced me to explore nearly every inch of the island.

Eastern Bluebird at Jaycee Park

And exploring Tybee was mostly a pleasure! The south end of the island at low tide is greatly expanded by a huge expanse of sand bars where shorebirds like Willets and Red Knots feed. At high tide the same area is used by gulls and terns to roost. The north beach featured a host of Ruddy Turnstones around the jetty. Boat-tailed Grackles were ubiquitous and at any time a Brown Pelican could fly overhead. Where you reach the entrance of the gated community on Horsepen Road (circled in green below) was a great spot to find herons, egrets, and ibises roosting at high tide. The road that ran between marsh and a remnant of the maritime forest (circled in red below) was great for flocks of foraging passerines and Clapper Rails called regularly from the marsh. Jaycee Park (circled in yellow below) had Eastern Bluebirds and the slough held an Anhinga on two different visits and a Green Heron on another.

Unfortunately, almost every morning we were on Tybee Island featured some kind of adverse weather condition. Rain two days, heavy winds and rain another, and fog another day made birding conditions less than ideal. Nonetheless, I did my best and ended up with seventy-nine species in the just over five full days we spent there, a list slightly padded by visiting Oatland Island Wildlife Center, about fifteen minutes west of Tybee proper, one afternoon. But I might have eked out a few more species on Tybee Island itself if I hadnt spent the Friday morning of our week there exploring in South Carolina.

How did I find so many species? Mostly, I cruised around Tybee early in the morning looking for likely habitat after having consulted Google Maps to figure out what looked like the best places. The streets of Tybee are often lined with large trees and where there is space between houses there is often some nice habitat. Yellow-rumped Warblers were around in numbers everywhere but if I heard Carolina Chickadees I would usually find other species traveling with them. Northern Parula and Yellow-throated Warbler were each spotted once, both in that red-circled area on the map, and Brown-headed Nuthatches were found in several locations.

The same spot I found the parula surprised me with a Red-breasted Nuthatch one morning, the southernmost one I have ever seen.

The morning that featured high winds and rain had an even nicer surprise. For some reason, I chose that day to try to check out the north jetty in the morning, a location rumored to be the only spot in Georgia where one is likely to find wintering Purple Sandpipers. Not only did I not find the sandpipers but I barely found the jetty as the wind had combined with a very high tide to leave virtually no beach and nearly the entire jetty was underwater. Also effected by the high water was a Clapper Rail that I found strolling through the dunes.

Now this was a nice surprise! You dont normally get looks like this at a rail!

The marshes along Horsepen Road were good habitat and where the gate keeps you from heading further south there was a nice gathering of roosting wader birds at high tide. Great Egrets dwarfed the Snowy Egrets and Tricolored Herons roosted with Little Blue Herons. White Ibis foraged in flooded marshes while Black Vultures soared overhead. It was a very nice spot to park the car and get the scope out and look to see what was around while digiscoping the close stuff.

Will I ever grow tired of confiding Tricolored Herons in the south? I hope not!

Little Blue Herons are not as flashy as Tricoloreds but I think I like them more.

One massively negative aspect of birding Tybee Island is the sheer volume of feral cats and outdoor cats. They are everywhere! It is clear that the trap-neuter-release efforts are doomed to failure, as they always are, and I saw three obviously pregnant cats in my short time there. One obvious colony (technically just off of Tybee), where I twice watched people stop to put food out, had not a single cat ear-tipped, making me wonder if there was even an attempt to neuter. The culture on Tybee seems to be all about outdoor cats and even a peremptory perusal of search results for cats and Tybee Island comes up with a host of results. Though the people caring for the cats are undoubtedly well intentioned it does not bode well for the native fauna that so many introduced predators wander the island. For this reason alone I would recommend that birders spend their tourist dollars elsewhere, in a place that puts the conservation of native species above that of cats. Why spend money in a place that is actively destroying birds?

This Ring-billed Gull was lured to my beach blanket by kids eating chips. It didnt get any.

The beaches and ocean of Tybee Island had the expected species like Royal Tern, Brown Pelican, and Black Skimmer. Waterfowl were surprisingly sparse, with Bufflehead, Double-crested Cormorants, and Hooded Mergansers the only species I saw with any regularity. Gulls were almost entirely of three species  Laughing Gull, Herring Gull, and Ring-billed Gull. Occasionally an Osprey went overhead and other than at the south end of the island the only shorebirds I saw were Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstone. I spotted an occasional Northern Gannet well offshore but no movements of ducks at all except for a single distant flock of scaup heading north on my first day there.

All-in-all, we had a good time at Tybee. The food was good, the company excellent, and the birding pretty good. If it werent for the cats and the weather it would have been a pretty perfect trip. The folks on Tybee Island cant help the latter but they can do a lot better on the former. There are plenty of places you can appreciate the coast in the southeast. Until the cat situation gets better you should not spend your money at Tybee.

Birds that feed on the ground like this Palm Warbler are in particular danger of being predated by cats.


Pakistan's domestic sales continue to slide in February

04 March 2019

The cement industry dispatched 3.325Mt in February 2019 against dispatches of 3.78Mt in February 2018, according to data released by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA). Therefore, domestic consumption contracted by 19.1 per cent YoY.



However, total exports from the country increased by a healthy 69.1 per cent YoY in February. The industry exported 0.508Mt of clinker and cement in February 2019 against exports of 0.301Mt in same month in the previous year.



The domestic consumption in north Pakistan continued to decline to 2.148Mt last month against 2.871Mt same month last year. Exports from the mills based in the north also saw a 8.7 per cent decline to 0.165Mt in February 2019 from 0.181Mt in February 2018.



The south fared comparatively better as local consumption stood at 0.669Mt in February 2019 as compared to 0.609Mt in February 2018. Exports from the south also increased by 185 per cent from 0.12Mt in February 2018 to 0.343Mt in February 2019.



Performance in 8MFY19

Overall cement dispatches in the eight months between July 2018 and Feb 2019 stood at 30.091Mt, 0.1 per cent lower than the dispatches of 30.106Mt achieved during the same period of last year. This total includes exports of 4.649Mt, which was 52.3 per cent higher than 3.053Mt exported in the corresponding period last year.



Mills located in the north continued to be adversely impacted as local consumption declined by 10.6 per cent to 19.98Mt in the first eight months of this financial year from 22.344Mt same period last year.



Indian factor hit exports hard

Exports from north fell 16 per cent to 1.857Mt during the July 2018-February 2019 from 2.212Mt in the year-ago period mainly because India imposed a 200 per cent duty on all items coming from Pakistan. This resulted in a considerable loss to the industry as approximately 300 cement trucks waiting at Wahga border to cross were returned. The same loss was also incurred by the southern factories as cement loaded in container at Karachi port were returned as Indian customers cancelled all orders.



However, mills in the south performed better during July-February 2019, as the local dispatches and exports increased by 16 and 232 per cent to 5.462Mt and 2.792Mt, respectively.



An APCMA spokesman expressed dismay on the constant decline in cement uptake in the country, especially in the northern region, for various reasons. Rains in almost all parts of the country have affected the construction activities. Moreover, the halt in government spending on Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) is also a major concern for the industry. Meanwhile, exports to India have also stopped due to the increasing tension between both the countries.



He appealed the government to support the industry by minimising duties and taxes, especially on exports to help the industry earn foreign exchange in these testing times. He also urged the government to restart spending on PSDP to boost not only consumption of cement and other construction materials but also the work opportunities for skilled and unskilled labour.

Published under
Mar 4, 2019 | By Thomas

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU in Chemnitz, Germany have developed Screw Extrusion Additive Manufacturing (SEAM), a system that is eight times faster than conventional 3D printing.

Fraunhofer IWU

According to researchers, the SEAM system takes only 18 minutes to produce a plastic component 30 centimeters in height, while some FFF 3D printers can take up to an hour to produce a pocket-sized souvenir. The process achieves this production speed by combining 3D printing with machine tool technology. To process the plastic, the researchers use a specially designed unit that melts the raw material and ejects it at a high output rate. This unit is installed above a construction platform capable of swiveling in six axes.

This enables us to print eight times faster than conventional processes, enormously reducing the production times for plastic components, said Dr. Martin Kausch, a scientist at Fraunhofer IWU.

This experimental component is a hybrid of CFRP sheet metal and 3D printed structures  SEAM makes it possible to print on injection-molded components or sheet metal for the first time. Fraunhofer IWU

The hot plastic is deposited in layers on the construction platform. The motion system of the machine ensures that the construction panel slides along under the nozzle in such a way that the previously programmed component shape is produced. The construction platform can be moved at a speed of one meter per second in the X-, Y- and Z-axes and can also be tilted by up to 45 degrees. This enables us to print eight times faster than conventional processes, enormously reducing the production times for plastic components, said Dr. Kausch.

Furthermore, SEAM allows researchers to implement complex geometries without supporting structures. The swiveling platform enables the ability to 3D print on existing injection-molded components. As our construction platform can be swiveled, we are able to print on curved structures with a separately moving Z-axis, says Kausch.

In tests, we were able to process a wide variety of plastics, He explained. They ranged from thermoplastic elastomers to high-performance plastics with a 50% content of carbon fiber. These plastics are materials that are particularly relevant to industry and cannot be processed with traditional 3D printers.

The first SEAM ultrafast 3D printer will be demonstrated at the Fraunhofer Booth C22 in Hall 2 during the Hannover Messe from April 1 through 5, 2019.

Posted in 3D Printer

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Xi Jinping (C, front), Li Keqiang (3rd R, front), Li Zhanshu (3rd L, front), Wang Huning (2nd R, front), Zhao Leji (2nd L, front), Han Zheng (1st R, front), and Wang Qishan (1st L, front) attend the opening meeting of the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2019. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China's top political advisory body started its annual session Sunday afternoon in Beijing, raising the curtain of a key season in the country's political calendar.

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting at the Great Hall of the People.

Wang Yang, chairman of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee, delivered a work report to more than 2,000 political advisors at the session.

Wang commended the political advisory body's work last year, saying new advances have been made under the strong leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core.

"We gave full play to the CPPCC's role as a body dedicated to consultation and carried out our dual responsibility of offering suggestions and building consensus," Wang noted.

Over the past year, the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee has focused on the central tasks of the Party and country and fulfilled its duties with commitment to pursuing unity and democracy.

Political advisors have conducted consultations with a focus on fighting the three critical battles against potential risk, poverty, and pollution, and on promoting high-quality development, according to Wang.

With regard to the CPPCC's major tasks in 2019, Wang said top priority will be given to studying and implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

The second task is offering high-quality suggestions on the central tasks of the Party and the country, which include completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and deepening supply-side structural reform.

Making greater efforts for unity and friendly ties is another important task, said Wang.

Other major tasks include contributing wisdom and strength to the major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics, making solid progress in the self-improvement of the CPPCC, and holding celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the CPPCC's founding.

This year is a critical year in China's bid to build a moderately prosperous society in all respects to reach its first centenary goal.

"Building a moderately prosperous society in all respects is a cause that benefits our population of more than one billion people," said Wang, highlighting the importance of harnessing positive energy for securing a decisive victory in this goal.

Wang encouraged political advisors to focus on hotspot and difficult issues, promptly identify potential risks and dangers, and proactively report on social conditions and popular sentiment, so as to provide the Party and government with valuable proposals and suggestions to help resolve issues and defuse risks.

Describing the formidable tasks, the many problems, risks and challenges, and the complex demands involved in decisively securing a moderately prosperous society in all respects as "unprecedented in scale," Wang pinpointed the need to build consensus and promote unity.

It is necessary to strengthen theoretical and political guidance and build consensus on sensitive issues, points of risk, and matters of public concern in view of the fact that the CPPCC features a diversity of sectors, strata, and interests, he noted.

A total of 5,571 proposals had been submitted by the CPPCC National Committee members over the past year, with 41 percent of them focusing on practicing new development concepts, deepening supply-side structural reform, and promoting high-quality economic development.

As of Feb. 20, 99.2 percent of them had been handled, said Su Hui, vice chairperson of the 13th CPPCC National Committee, when delivering a report on proposals.
The stucco-style building at 3805 Hixson Pike has recently had some renovation work done that has given it a fresh look on the outside and has it ready for the market.

The structure almost looks like a new building now from the outside and might be in line for some kind of beautification award  if one exists -- after sitting vacant for a period.

For many longtime Chattanoogans, the work also refreshes memories of Chattanooga restaurant history, when it was the site of, not one, but two well-known eateries over the years.

Initially it was the location of Herschels barbecue restaurant, operated by unique Chattanoogan Herschel Reece.

Then, for more than 30 years, it was the home of Padrinos, which was one of the first Mexican-style restaurants in Chattanooga.

Dating back to the late 1960s, I ate at both places  Herschels as a child and Padrinos as a single young adult  and have memories of both places.

The building  which has had new stucco work done and new window treatment and new stacked stone on the lower part -- is currently for sale for $325,000, including the billboard on site.

If a buyer does not want the billboard, the cost is $300,000.

It has just over 2,000 square feet of space, and is being marketed for one business, or three separate ones that can be leased. A look in the windows this weekend revealed three large areas that still need some finishing work. The buildings description on a real estate site said an allowance can be included in the sale for the completion of interior flooring and painting.

The home is being listed by Happy Huddleston of the Huddleston Group. Mr. Huddleston said over the phone that the building has not had a lot of interest so far.

I wish it would get more traffic, he said.

Rather than the site of a restaurant again, he sees it more as an insurance or real estate office or some similar facility that does not require a whole lot of parking spaces.

Mr. Huddleston added that the building is owned by Richard Key, now of Florida.

A look at some old city directories and newspaper articles on file at the Chattanooga Public Library downtown reveals that former restaurateur Mr. Reeces connection to the site dates to at least the mid-1950s.

The 1956 city directory says he apparently ran the Rivermont Groceteria at the site and lived in the rear of the building.

By the late 1950s, his business was called Herschels Restaurant, and he continued to live in the rear.

In 1960, his restaurant was there, but so was Golds Used Cars run by the Gold family.

By the early 1960s, though, his eatery started being called Herschels barbecue restaurant and, by about 1964, was called Herschels Oink-In. When it became the barbecue restaurant must have been when a new structure was built, as the current building was built in 1961, according to the real estate ad.

I remember eating there several times with my parents and sister beginning about this time when I was in elementary school. I will never forget Mr. Reeces unusual personality in which he would banter and cut up with people in sort of a direct and biting way.

I recall that his food also had its own unique flavor, including the cornbread that was prepared almost in the shape of pancakes, or something similar to that.

The restaurant at that time was kind of long-shaped on the inside, and the food preparation was done in the open, like at a Waffle House. Some remodeling must have been done before Padrinos moved in, as its seating area seemed a lot different, and the latter business also had a lounge.

In later years, the barbecue restaurant was called Herschels Pork Palace.

Mr. Reece died suddenly in early December 1972 at the age of 50. The U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and lifelong Hamilton County resident was survived by a daughter, Sharon Norris of Sunnyvale, Calif., and two grandchildren. He was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery.

Within six months after his death  in the summer of 1973 -- Padrinos opened at the site in a redecorated building that by then had a Mexican look. The business was started by Jim and Toni McNeese, who thought there was a need in Chattanooga for a Spanish-Mexican restaurant.

They had moved to Chattanooga from California in 1967, and had opened their first local restaurant, El Taco, in Chickamauga, Ga. Mr. McNeese had begun his career cooking American food at a restaurant in Mexico and learned about Mexican food there and at other places.

He had met his wife, Toni, a gunsmith, in Mexico, and her mother provided the interior decorations for Padrinos with items sent from her home.

Padrinos also had a lounge in those early days after liquor by the drink was made legal, and guitarist Greg G. Stevens performed there for a period beginning in the 1970s.

I actually did not frequent Padrinos much in the early days, thinking it was more of a bar. But after I graduated from the University of Georgia in 1983 and was starting to develop a love of Mexican food, I occasionally went there.

And then for a period in the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was single, and not exactly winning any awards for cooking, I would order a beef enchilada dinner to go about once a week and bring it back to my nearby residence to enjoy.

It had a uniquely different taste from the beef enchiladas that have become almost universally similar at the numerous Mexican restaurants here and elsewhere.

I used to order the meal so much that I would just say No. 7, I think, and the friendly hostess, who was apparently Toni McNeese, would recognize me.

The last year Padrinos was listed in the city directory was 2005. The site was later an American Pie Pizza restaurant for a period, and possibly other food-and-beverage-related businesses before sitting idle for a period.

But in contrast with many similar type buildings that are torn down, this one was remodeled and now looks almost like new as it waits for its next chapter in Chattanooga business history.

Jcshearer2@comast.net
Tonight, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee will give his State of the State address and present his conservative budget to a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly at 6 p.m. CT on statewide television.

The following excerpts are from his remarks as prepared for delivery:



State of the State



Now, I think we can all agree that while important things happen in the halls of government, it is actually what happens outside these walls that makes Tennessee truly great.



To our elected leaders in this room and the many Tennesseans watching from their homes, I am proud to report after seeing with my own eyes: the state of our state is hopeful, prosperous, and strong.



Budget



As a conservative businessman, I know a good budget needs to pay for what is needed, take on zero long-term debt, and, perhaps most importantly, save for a rainy day.




The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency will host a public meeting to discuss Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) at Fayette Academy located 15090, Highway 64 in Somerville. The meeting is Tuesday, April 9 at from 7-9 p.m.

The meeting will be the second public meeting to discuss and answer questions in regard to the disease since CWD was confirmed initially in Fayette and Hardeman counties in December. Currently, there have been 185 confirmations with a few more sampling results yet to be received by the TWRA. A total of 2,999 deer have been tested from the eight county CWD Management Zone with 107 confirmations coming from Fayette County, 77 from Hardeman County, and one from Madison County.

A short presentation will be made with any updates and planned monitoring activities in the areas. Following the presentation, TWRA staff along with representatives from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, will entertain questions.

For those who cannot attend in person, the meeting can be viewed on Facebook live and after the meeting on TWRA Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/TennesseeWildlifeResourcesAgency/.

More information on CWD can be found by visiting the website, CWDinTennessee.com.
Reliance Partners (Reliance), a strategically-integrated North American insurance agency based in Chattanooga, is expanding operations into California, acquiring in the Sacramento market.

Officials said, "The combination expands Reliance Partners transportation and logistics footprint to the West Coast and further bolsters their position as a tech-enabled, high-growth industry leader."

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

David Hicks, formerly of CTS, will be leading the new office in Sacramento. I am excited to join the Reliance Partners team and look forward to working together to continue growing the business, he said.

Combining Mr. Hicks key market access and transportation focus with Reliances scale, integrated model, risk management support, and dedicated 3PL expertise strengthens their position as a top-10 insurance agency and extends an innovative, full-service insurance agency offering for the freight marketplace, it was stated.

Reliances acquisition in Sacramento is a calculated venture, said CEO Andrew Ladebauche. Establishing a foothold at the intersection of two of the most traveled freight corridors is critical for us to continue leveraging our deep understanding of the industries we serve to clients. According to the California Transportation Commission, freight movement generates about one-third of Californias $2.2 trillion economy - the sixth largest economy in the world.

Reliance Partners President Chad Eichelberger added, We are focused on pioneering the industry standard, and were bringing next generation, data-driven solutions to our customers. As an industry leader in the 3PL and trucking insurance space, we recognize the value of collaboration among other industry leaders in developing solutions that will benefit the entire industry in the years ahead.





Chattanooga-based Reliance Partners was incorporated by a team of former transportation industry executives and founders of asset-based trucking companies with a common goal: to be the best independent agency in the insurance industry. For more than 10 years, the company has been providing insurance solutions for the transportation and logistics industry and sharing its knowledge across North America. In less than a decade, the company has grown in more than $100 million in transportation and logistics premium, and was lauded as one of the fastest growing insurance companies in the nation by Inc. Magazine. The company was also listed in Inc. Magazine's "Best Workplaces" for three consecutive years, and was recognized by Fortune magazine as one of "America's Best Workplaces."
Area Georgia Sheriffs were holding a press conference on Monday to urge a slowdown in regard to House Bill 324 that will allow for the cultivation and harvesting of cannabis and hemp products for the use in producing low THC oil in the state of Georgia.

The sheriffs said, "This bill is subject for a vote in the Georgia House of Representatives this week and we have great concerns with the way it is being rushed through with many unanswered questions about regulation, oversight, and convicted felons having ownership and/or employed, and unfunded regulation.

The public needs to be better informed."

Taking part were Sheriff Gary R. Sisk of Catoosa County, Sheriff Steve Wilson of Walker County,

Sheriff Scott Chitwood of Whitfield County, Sheriff Ray Cross of Dade County, Sheriff Mark Schrader of Chattooga County and Sheriff Mitch Raulston of Gordon County.

It was being held at 2 p.m. at the Catoosa County Sheriffs Office on Highway 41 in Ringgold..
Metalworking Solutions today announced that Joel Holt has joined the company as vice president of operations. As vice president of operations, Mr. Holt will have full responsibility for manufacturing and leading the company in its LEAN initiatives.



Mr. Holt comes to Metalworking Solutions from Kenco Management Services, where he served from 2008 as corporate director of engineering and, prior to that, corporate manager of logistics engineering.

From 2005 to 2018 he served in various roles at Array, including director of process improvement and plant manager.

Mr. Holt also enjoyed a 23-year career at United Technologies, where he led various LEAN and Six Sigma initiatives during his tenure.



We are pleased to welcome Joel to the Metalworking Solutions family, stated Nick Burrows, president. We have known and followed Joel in his career for many years. We value his work ethic, character and experience. He will be putting all of these to immediate use as we continue to scale our business model and develop our leadership team. 2019 is going to be another record year for our company and Joel is an integral part of our plan going forward.



Mr. Holt received his bachelor of science in industrial technology from Tennessee Technological University and his masters in business administration from Middle Tennessee State University. A longtime Chattanooga resident and McCallie High School alumnus, he and his wife, Deidre, live in Soddy Daisy, while their son, Cameron, finishes his graduate degree at the University of Tennessee.
At Sam's Club on Lee Highway, an officer made contact with a man who had been seen by Sam's staff riding his bike around the cars in the parking lot. The bicyclist stated he was riding through the parking lot looking for loose change. He was told to leave the property and not to return. He left without incident.

* * *

The manager at MRD Wireless on Highway 58 said two black males entered the store and requested to look at two phones. He gave them the phones and they walked around with the phones in their hands before walking out the door passing all points of sale. The manager said he was unsure what direction the pair went. Total lost was $980. Photos of the suspects were provided to police.

* * *

At the Waterford Apartments, Willie told police he was upset with Lillus because she keeps bothering him about his drinking. Lillus said she doesn't care if he drinks, but she is just worried about his health and him possibly falling due to his intoxication. Lillus told officers they weren't needed, that she was heading to bed and that Willie will just fall asleep in his Lazy Boy chair.

* * *

A resident of Tunnel Boulevard said her husband's 2017 Infinity was taken from their driveway sometime during the night. She said the vehicle was locked, but a key was attached to the undercarriage of the vehicle with a magnet. The vehicle has a pink rosary and Virgin Mary sticker on the right side of the rear window. No suspect information or investigative leads were available at that time. Police were later notified that the car was found wrecked in Knoxville

* * *

A resident of Kayla Circle said someone vandalized her door wreath. The wreath appeared to be burnt, and was broken into several pieces on the front porch. She said she did not know who would have done this. Police checked the surrounding area, but were unable to find any suspicious activity/persons.

* * *

The night shift clerk at the Circle K at 4026 Shallowford Road said a black female came into the store and placed a six pack of Michelob Ultra into her purse and walked out without paying. The female left the scene in a newer looking red compact Chevy with a drive out tag displayed. She described the female as about 5'3", 190 pounds, short black hair, and wearing brown scrubs. She said $8.49 of merchandise was stolen.

* * *

A man on Arcadia Avenue said someone entered a house owned by Safeguard Properties LLC that he has been repairing. They damaged the front door frame, put holes in seven of the walls, burned a portion of carpet, and damaged three gutter down spouts. No suspect information or investigative leads were available at that time.

* * *

On 7th Avenue, an officer made contact with the complainant, Frank Spruill, who stated that an old tenant, Billy Drew, who no longer lives at this property, keeps bringing over wheel barrows full of garbage and miscellaneous items to Mr. Spruill's residence and dumping it on his property. Mr. Spruill stated that he has asked him multiple times to stop and he keeps on dumping items on his property. Mr. Drew was unable to be located at this time to officially let him know that he is trespassed from Mr. Spruill's property.
Hospice of Chattanooga Monday announced the creation of Alleo Health System, which will serve as the parent organization of the growing Hospice of Chattanooga nonprofit family of service organizations in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina.

For nearly 40 years, Hospice of Chattanooga has provided family-focused care to meet the medical, emotional, and spiritual needs of its patients during their end-of-life journey, and to support their loved ones through the process and beyond. This commitment to provide compassionate care stands as strong as ever. It is the catalyst for the creation of Alleo Health System, which encompasses each arm of the Hospice of Chattanooga family, from its palliative care program, to childrens care and grief support programs, said officials.

Over the last few years, Hospice of Chattanooga has experienced tremendous growth as we have expanded both in geographic reach and scope of services," said Tracy Wood, president and CEO of Hospice of Chattanooga. "Currently, we are serving 22 counties in Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina. As we continue to grow and make a difference in the lives of even more people, its important to have a name that is reflective of our capabilities and our reach."

The networks name is derived from the word allay, which means to alleviate and provide comfort. As Alleo Health System, it highlights and celebrates the mission of providing comfort and compassion to families in need and promotes both forward-thinking and future-forward expansion of care services in more communities across the southeast.

With a renewed call to be ever future-forward and further-serving of our communities, we set out to find a name that conveys our passion, commitment and inspiration as an organization in the important work we do," said Ms. Wood. "In Alleo, we have been successful in finding a name that reflects all these core principles of Hospice of Chattanooga."

Officials said Alleo Health System will remain true to the Hospice of Chattanooga mission of providing family-focused care which is rooted in compassion, accountability, communication, enthusiasm, and excellence. Alleo will continue to further enrich the community through education, planning, and nurturing the aging process, and will remain the same fully committed, dedicated organization that has made a difference within community all these years  now with the power to help even more people.

"With a renewed call to be ever future-forward and further-serving of our communities, we set out to find a name that conveys our passion, commitment and inspiration as an organization in the important work we do," said Ms. Wood.
Douglas Tyson Cooper, 34 years old, died unexpectedly at his home on Friday, March 1, 2019.

Born on December 28, 1984, Doug was a life-long resident of Ooltewah, Tennessee. He was a 2003 graduate of Ooltewah High School where he was a member of the wrestling team. After graduating, Doug joined the US Marine Corps, where he served from 2004 to 2009. He rose to the rank of corporal and was an F/A-18 fighter mechanic, having served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.



Returning home, Doug married Pamela Manes, his joy and absolute love, on May 28, 2011. He loved the Lord, was a totally devoted husband, a loving son, brother, doting uncle, loyal friend, and patriot.



Doug was larger than life. Ever the comedian, he kept his family in stitches. Doug was incredibly tender-hearted, always stopping to help anyone in need. He never passed a homeless person without offering to give him a ride or buy him a meal. He always took the side of the underdog. Doug was fiercely loyal to his family, friends and country.



From the time he could walk, Doug loved the outdoors. He had an uncanny ability to find and catch a wide assortment of wildlife and loved owning exotic pets. He enjoyed camping, fishing and hunting or just standing around a bonfire with friends. He was adventure personified.



Doug was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Oran and Doris Bates, maternal grandfather, Jack Baker, father, Ron Cooper and infant sister, Shannon Cooper.



Survivors include his wife, Pamela Cooper, mother, Brenda Cooper, sisters, Amy (James) Creamer, Nikki Johnston and Ashely (Scott) Neal, six nephews and nieces, aunts, uncles and cousins.



The family will receive friends from 2-4 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2019 at Apison United Methodist Church, where he was a member. The funeral service will follow at 4 p.m. with Rev. Todd Chancey officiating. Interment with military honors will be at Plowman Cemetery following the service.



In Lieu of flowers please consider donating to the national coalition for homeless veterans at NCHV.org or 800-VET-HELP.



Please share your thoughts and memories at: www.ChattanoogaEastBrainerdChapel.com



Arrangements are made by the East Brainerd Chapel of Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, 8214 East Brainerd Road, Chattanooga, Tennessee 37421.


Derick Dillard and Jill Duggar met and married in a matter of months. Dillard, who was on a mission trip in Nepal when the couple met, headed back stateside to be near his new bride. While their courtship unraveled in front of the cameras, much to the delight of Duggar fans, the shine quickly wore off Derick Dillard. Not only did the 29-year-old Dillard ditch a stable job to take part in missionary work in South America with his new wife in tow, but he famously lost the family income when he went on a Twitter rant aimed at a transgender teen.

Now, more than a year after the famous tweet and its fall out, the family of four continues to trudge along in Arkansas. Fans, however, have been questioning how Derick and Jill are supporting their family without that sweet TLC paycheck.

Derick quit his Walmart job

When Derick and Jill first got hitched in 2014, Dillard was employed by Walmart. Now, Derick was no cashier. Instead, the college-educated Arkansas native was a tax accountant for the retailer. In 2015 Derick abruptly left his job, with an autoreply email alleging he had taken a position outside of the company, according to Radar.

Fans quickly learned that Dillard hadnt taken another job offer. Instead, he quit his job just as his family was expanding to do mission work in South America. Fans were concerned for Jill Duggar and the couples young son, as the family traveled to South America at the height of the Zika Virus outbreak.

TLC pulls the plug

Even without a traditional 9-5 job, fans surmised that the Dillards were fine financially; at least they had money from their show to float the family. According to E! the stars of the show are probably pulling in anywhere between $10,000 and $40,000 per episode. Even split among the siblings, it would be enough money to float the family.

Dericks infamous tweets, however, put the family in financial peril. TLC yanked the pair from Counting On, replacing them with new Duggar households, of which there is no shortage. Dillard then enrolled in law school, making fans scratch their heads about the familys financial situation.

Jill is bringing home the bacon

Back in August, a fan asked Derick directly how he and his wife could afford law school tuition, plus daily expenses and still enjoy date nights. Dillard replied to the fan, alleging that the family makes it work by living on a budget, according to In Touch. But, is it really that simple?

The odds are that the only useful financial decision Derick has made is connecting with Jill Duggar. The reality star comes from a family with plenty of money, and as a former reality star she can still garner sponsorships and makes plenty of money off of her website.

Most recently, Jill has taken to blogging and utilizing Instagram to share her life. Not only does the former TLC queen get paid by advertisers, but shes also connected with several brands as an influencer. It would seem Jill is holding the purse strings, a deviation from the traditional Duggar family dynamic.

If all else fails, Pa Duggar is unlikely to let his Jilly Bean go hungry. The famed family has been known to offer jobs to their kids and sons-in-law. Ben Seewald, for example, is currently attending college and tutoring the Duggars younger kids as a part-time job. Ben and his wife Jessa are expecting their third child in the spring.
Duchess Kate Middleton has been in the public eye since she first began dating Prince Harry in 2001. However, shes been an official member of the British Royal Family giving up her own career and privacy since 2011 when she married the prince. The graceful Brit has done an excellent job in her role as the Duchess of Cambridge, raising her three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis as her husband prepares to be the King of England one day.

Still, Middleton who is a bit more traditional than her sister-in-law, Meghan Markle hasnt been as vocal about her true feeling about being royal. Luckily, the duchess just revealed how she really feels about being a princess.

This is how Kate Middleton really feels about being a princess.

During a recent visit to Northern Ireland with Prince William, Kate Middleton stopped to chat with some young admirers during a walkabout in Ballymena. According to Valentine Low a journalist at The Times one pint-sized fan named Hannah Ritchie asked the duchess how she felt about being a princess. Hannah also revealed that she is writing a biography about Middleton.

The duchess replied, I love meeting special kiddies like you. I meet lots of different people, its really its really great. I love working with young people. Everyones so brave and strong in some of the places we go meet. Its very nice to meet you. Good luck with your biography.

This is Kate telling Hannah what she likes about being a princess. Video courtesy of Bronagh Dobbin. pic.twitter.com/QsVW6BesG0  Valentine Low (@valentinelow) February 28, 2019

How does Kate Middleton approach royal life?

Since Middleton has a more traditional approach to being royal and her husband; Prince William will be King of England one day, she hardly breaks or bends the rules. Royal commentator Rupert Bell explained, In a way, Kate is a traditional, English rose as it were.

Does Kate Middleton want more kids?

Kate Middleton and Prince Williams youngest son, Prince Louis will turn 1-year-old this year, and with a 4-year-old daughter, and 6-year-old son, the royals certainly have their hands full. During her trip to Ireland, the duchess was delighted to talk to all of the adorable little children who came out to greet her and the prince.

During her visit the duchess met an adorable 5-month-old baby, James Barr and she told his father, Alan Barr, Hes gorgeous. It makes me feel broody. This promoted Alan to ask the duchess flat out if she and the duke were planning to have a fourth child to which Middleton replied laughing, I think William would be a little worried. It looks like Middleton and Prince William have their hands very full with their trio of children.

With Meghan Markle and Prince Harry expecting their first child in the coming months it looks like the Cambridge clan can treat Baby Sussex as their fourth sibling.

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In 2018, ABC revived the hit singing competition American Idol, which had run on Fox for 14 years before the network canceled the show. But with a fresh new primtetime slot came some fresh new faces, including three brand new judges: Luke Bryan, Lionel Richie, and Katy Perry. But depending on the judges contract, not all judges are paid the same. So how much does Perry make to be on the show?

Katy Perry is a judge on American Idol.| Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

American Idol was rebooted back in early 2018

American Idol was easily one of the most popular shows in the 2000s. The show premiered in 2002 and has developed some incredibly successful artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Jennifer Hudson. It became wildly popular and featured mentorships and performances by some of the worlds most successful artists. And when it first ended on Fox in 2016, people were sad to see it go. But ABC quickly won the rights for an American Idol reboot, and by 2018, the show was back on the air. But it was on a brand new network, so it got a nice facelift  including three brand new judges.

Ryan Seacrest returned as the shows host, but the judges were all different

When ABC announced it would be picking up the show, there were two immediate questions: Who would be the new hosts? And would Ryan Seacrest return? Seacrest quickly became the face of the show and hosted it for its entire 14-year duration. So when news broke he was coming back, viewers were relieved that at least one thing from the old show would still be the same. ABC wanted to give Seacrest a significant pay cut, but according to reports, the network settled with him on a $15 million per season salary, which is what he was making when the show was on Fox.

Katy Perry gets paid a whopping $25 million per season for Idol

When it comes to hiring the best of the best, ABC didnt skimp on hiring mega star Katy Perry to be one of the shows three judges. Perry reportedly wanted to join the show but would only do so for the right price. After all, it is a big commitment that easily takes some time away from ones independent career. Perry wouldnt settle for less than $25 million per season, and Page Six reported that ABC Network CEO Ben Sherwood signed off on the unbelievable deal because he knew she would appeal to younger audiences.

She makes nearly $20 million more than the other judges

With Perry receiving such a high paycheck, there wasnt much room in the budget for other judges Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan. The two men are reportedly making $7 million per season each. While thats still a significant amount of money, its nothing compared to what Perry is taking home. But the three judges do appear to vibe well on the show, and it doesnt seem like there are any hard feelings. Lets just hope it stays that way.

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Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex | Charlotte Graham  WPA Pool/Getty Images

Despite being almost eight months pregnant, Meghan Markle is keeping a busy schedule. She and Prince Harry have just returned from a trip to Morocco to boost ties between the UK and the North African nation. The Queen herself is impressed with Markles stamina this late in her pregnancy.

The Queen is amazed by the duchesss energy and stamina given that she is so heavily pregnant, a source told Vanity Fair. For the Queen and her generation, you generally hid your bump and put your feet up in this stage of pregnancy, but Meghan hasnt stopped.

Between celebrating Markles pregnancy and keeping up with all the duties of being a duchess, Markle and Harry havent had much downtime.

Meghan and Harry have a date night

But on Saturday night Markle and Harry got to enjoy a night out at the theater. They saw Tina: The Musical in the West End.

The cast and crew of the show were ecstatic to welcome the royals.

We were thrilled and honoured to welcome The Duke and Duchess of Sussex to #TinaTheMusical on Saturday for a private visit, the show wrote on its official Instagram.

Commenters on the post asked if the couple got up and danced during the encore. Another Instagram user wrote Bet that was why it was late starting.

Tina: The Musical

The show the royals chose to see on their date night is a jukebox musical about Tina Turner. The story follows Turner from the time she was a young girl in Tennessee, through her infamous relationship with Ike Turner, and the growth of her career during the 40s. The musical was written by Katori Halll, Frank Ketelaar, and Kees Pins, and is directed by Phyllida Lloyd.

The West End production first began performing at the Aldwych Theatre in 2018. The original cast included Adrienne Warren as Tina Turner and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith played Ike.

What the theater means to Meghan and Harry

As a former actress, the theater is a place of importance to Markle. Since becoming a duchess, The National Theater was named one of her royal patronages. Her other patronages focus on the arts, womens rights, animal welfare, and education. Its no surprise, then, that when the couple has a free date night, its a good bet that they can be seen supporting some form of the arts.

According to E! News, the couple attended a Cirque du Soleil show (Totem) back in January. The outing was connected with one of Harrys charities. Late last year, the couple attended the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, where Markle received a nod from Beyonce and Jay-Z when the couple took home a BRIT Award after winning the International Group award. And, of course, last year the couple was spotted attending the most famous hip-hop musical around, Hamilton.

Read more: The Real Reason Meghan Markle Wants Her Children to Attend an American School

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Prince Charles relationship with Camilla Parker Bowles is one steeped in scandal; from the beginnings of their relationship to how they maintained their relationship during Charles marriage to Princess Diana, their relationship is anything if not tumultuous.



How did Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles Meet?



The two met a polo match in 1970, according to Marie Claire. At the time, Camillas name was Camilla Shand. She and Charles met through a mutual friend, Lucia Santa Cruz, who arranged a meeting between the pair at the polo match.



UNITED KINGDOM  OCTOBER 21: Prince Charles And Camilla Parker-bowles In 1979 (exact Day Date Not Certain) (note: Special Fees Apply For Use Of This Photograph) (Photo by TIM GRAHAM/Getty Images)

He loved the fact that she smiled with her eyes as well as her mouth, and laughed at the same silly things as he did, Penny Junor, a royal biographer, said in The Duchess: The Untold Story, according to People. In short, he was very taken with her, and after that first meeting he began ringing her up.



They broke up when Charles joined the navy



When Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1971, he and Camilla split up but remained close friends. She was seen as a woman with too much experience aka not a virgin and didnt have much of a royal bloodline. Alice Keppel, Camillas great-grandmother, was a mistress of Charles great-grandfather, Edward VII, according to Biography. By royal protocol of the time, Camilla wasnt wife material.



Camilla got married



Camilla became Camilla Parker Bowles after rekindling a romance with ex-boyfriend, Andrew Parker Bowles. Bowles, a known bachelor, proposed after Camillas father and his brother publicly forced his hand by publishing an engagement announcement in a local paper. Camilla and Bowles were married on July 4, 1973.



The news of Camillas marriage reportedly devastated Prince Charles. It seemed to him particularly cruel, he wrote in one letter, that after such a blissful, peaceful and mutually happy relationship, fate had decreed that it should last a mere six months, Junor said.



Charles meets Diana



Prince Charles first met Lady Diana Spencer when she was 16 years old. Charles was dating her older sister, Lady Sarah Spencer.



Camilla and Charles start affair



Charles and Camilla reconnected after the birth of Camillas daughter, Laura, and started having an affair between 1978 and 1979. Camillas husband, Andrew, was reportedly aware of their affair.

Andrew was in no position to complain; and when he discovered what was going on, he wisely didnt make a fuss, reads an excerpt from The Duchess: The Untold Story, according to People.



Some would say that a part of him actually quite enjoyed the fact that his wife was sleeping with the future King; he might have felt differently had Charles been a traveling salesman.



Charles starts dating Diana



In 1980, Diana comes into Charles life once again. She accompanies him to the royal properties, Balmoral and Sandringham, and attends Charles polo matches. Diana attended one of Charles polo matches with Camilla.



Camilla Parker-Bowles (left) and Lady Diana Spencer (later the Princess of Wales) at Ludlow racecourse to watch the Amateur Riders Handicap Steeplechase in which the Prince was competing. (Photo by PA Images via Getty Images)

Charles and Diane get engaged



In February 1981, Diana and Charles announced their engagement. They had only seen each other 12 times before getting married. Five months after announcing their engagement, they get married on July 29, 1981, with the world watching. They welcomed their sons, Prince William in 1982, and Prince Harry in 1984.

KLOSTERS, SWITZERLAND  MARCH 31: Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry pose for photographs during the Royal Familys ski break in the region at Klosters on March 31, 2005 in Switzerland. (Photo by Tim Graham/Getty Images)

Camilla and Charles rekindle affair



In 1986, Camilla and Charles starting their affair back up again, according to Biography. They were both in unhappy marriages.



Diana confronts Camilla



Diana recorded tapes with biographer Andrew Morton. On them, she discusses confronting Camilla the affair with Charles.



I was terrified of her. I said, I know whats going on between you and Charles and I just want you to know that, Diana told Morton.



She said to me: Youve got everything you ever wanted. Youve got all the men in the world fall in love with you and youve got two beautiful children, what more do you want? So I said, I want my husband. And I said, Im sorry Im in the way  and it must be hell for both of you. But I do know whats going on. Dont treat me like an idiot.



Diana and Charles announce split



In December 1992, Princess Diana and Prince Charles announced their separation to the world. A month later, disaster strikes in the form of recorded phone conversations.



Camillagate



Known as Camillagate, sexually explicit phone conversations allegedly between Camilla and Charles were a major scandal for the British royal family in 1993. The recordings included the line to live in your trousers, from Charles and the now infamous line about him wanting to be Camillas tampon. This was the first time the public learned of their affair.



Camilla and Bowles announce divorce



In 1995, Camilla and her husband Andrew, announce their divorce. It was finalized in March 1995. The same year, Diana gave an interview with BBC Panamora and made the famous remark, Well, there were three of us in this marriage, so it was a bit crowded.



Diana and Charles get a divorce



In 1996, after their four-year separation, Princess Diana and Prince Charles get a divorce. The following year, Diana is killed in a car accident. And in 1998, Charles introduces his sons to Camilla. Another year goes by and Camilla and Charles appear in public for the first time.



Camilla and Charles live together



In 2003, Camilla moved in with Charles and reportedly got her own office space. Two years later they get married in a civil ceremony on April 9, 2005, at Windsor Guildhall. The queen and Prince Philip didnt attend the ceremony but they did attend the blessing that followed at St. Georges Chapel and hosted a reception.



Prince Charles and Camilla, who now goes by the Duchess of Cornwall, have been married for 14 years. Its unclear whether or not Camilla will receive the title of Queen Consort when Prince Charles takes the thrown.
Its no secret Meghan Markle has a strained relationship with her sister, Samantha Grant. Grant, who lives in Ocala, Florida, seems to take every possible opportunity to bash her younger half-sister, saying that she is heartless and disrespectful.

Samantha Markle will likely cause more drama for Meghan and Harry | Samir Hussein/WireImage

Grant famously was not invited to Meghan and Prince Harrys wedding, although that didnt stop her from traveling to London during that time to give interviews. Now that Meghan and Harry are expecting their first child, fans cant help but wonder if Samantha has more drama planned for when the baby is born.

Is Samantha Grant looking for her 15 minutes of fame?

It would appear so! Samantha has been extremely open about the fact she is writing a tell-all book about the Duchess of Sussex. She has given many paid interviews and doesnt hold back anything. It seems that Samantha doesnt hesitate to say things that could potentially hurt Meghan, and she has also said negative things about Harry, whom she has never even met. For their part, Meghan and Harry have never publicly commented on the drama Grant has caused, handling the entire situation with the dignity thats expected from the royal family.

Will Harry and Meghan allow Samantha to meet their baby?

That remains to be seen. Since they havent released any statements or made any public comments regarding the rocky situation with Meghans sister and family, its not known what they discuss behind closed doors. Chances are, Meghan and Harry are deeply hurt by Samanthas comments and actions, and they havent made an effort to reach out to her at all. Although reconciliation is always a possibility, its not likely Meghan and Harrys child will have a relationship with Samantha.

Who will be involved in the babys life?

There are plenty of family members who will love and care for the royal baby! Doria Ragland, Meghans mother, is reportedly over the moon about the upcoming arrival of her first grandchild. She will likely spend significant time in London with Meghan, Harry, and the baby, helping out and getting to know the new addition. Also, on Harrys side of the family, Prince Charles and Camilla are very excited, as are Prince William and Kate Middleton. And, of course, Queen Elizabeth is delighted to welcome another great-grandchild to the royal family.

Is Samantha planning more drama?

While there is no way to know what will happen when the baby is born, we wouldnt be too surprised if the drama continues after Meghan gives birth. She will likely look for any possible reason to bash Meghan, and will probably criticize the choice of name, whether the baby is given a royal title, and whether Meghan decides to contact her father. Samantha is never one to stay away from the cameras and the reporters when it comes to Meghans new life as a royal.

Samantha has tried to contact Meghan

Samantha Grant famously went to London in an effort to see her sister. She was turned away from Kensington Palace security, a sure sign that Meghan is not willing to repair the relationship at this time. Fans would not be shocked if Samantha makes another trip across the pond when the baby is born in an effort to either see her new niece or nephew or possibly give interviews and cause even more drama for Meghan and Harry. Samantha is pretty good at creating even more tension and looks for every opportunity to do so. Lets hope she doesnt put a damper on this wonderful time in Meghan and Harrys life.


Broken Hill Pipeline - First Water

Sydney, Mar 4, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited ( ASX:COB ) ( FRA:COH ) ( OTCMKTS:CBBHF ) extends our congratulations to WaterNSW and their project partners John Holland and MPC Group for the successful construction and commissioning of the 270 km water supply pipeline from the Murray River at Wentworth to Broken Hill.The project will provide long term water security for the community by supplying up to 37.4 megalitres per day to the Essential Water treatment plant at Broken Hill. The provision of a secure source of water to Broken Hill significantly de-risks the Thackaringa Cobalt Project. Essential Water has committed to supply up to 1.5 gigalitres per year of water to Cobalt Blue to service the cobalt processing and refining requirements of the Project.About Cobalt Blue Holdings Limited

Cobalt Blue Holdings Ltd (ASX:COB) is an exploration and project development company focussed on green energy technology. Work programs are advancing to enable an upgrade of the Mineral Resource at the Thackaringa Cobalt Project in New South Wales to include Measured Resources.

Cobalt is a strategic metal in strong demand for new generation batteries, particularly lithium-ion batteries now being widely used in clean energy systems.

Potential to extend the Mineral Resource at Pyrite Hill, Big Hill, Railway and the other prospects is high. Numerous other prospects within COBs tenement package are at an early stage and under-explored.
At least two deadly tornadoes ripped through southeastern Alabama on Sunday killing at least 23 people and injuring countless others.

According to the National Weather Service, the first tornado to touch down is predicted to have been an EF3 and more than a half-mile wide in diameter.

A tornado warning was issued when a confirmed large and destructive tornado twisted out of the sky in Birmingham, Alabama around 2:00 p.m. on Sunday the outlet reports.

According to Fox News, all 23 deaths and the more than 50 reported injuries came from the Beauregard community in Lee County, AL. Authorities are anticipating the number of casualties to rise as search and rescue efforts start back up Monday Morning.

According to the Weather Channel, more than 10,000 homes and businesses in Alabama were without power as of 8:00 a.m. Monday.

Among the reported damage in Lee County are flattened homes, overturned mobile homes, damage to the local elementary school, a toppled phone tower across Interstate U.S. 280, destroyed businesses and a damaged gas station.

CNN reports Alabamas Governor Kay Ivey extended last months state of emergency which was issued because of tornadoes and severe weather.

Ivey released a statement on Twitter saying, Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today. Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected. Officials from @AlabamaEma & other agencies are quickly working to provide assistance.

Emergency crews and humanitarian aid organizations are currently on the ground working to clear debris and locate missing people.

Evangelist Franklin Grahams organization Samaritans Purse is currently on its way to Alabama to help provide resources and helping hands.

In a statement on the organizations website, Graham said, We are on the ground providing all the help we can while reminding families that there is still hope. Please pray for families impacted and for first responders who continue to search for people who are still missing.

Tornado warnings were also issued on Sunday in parts of Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

According to AccuWeather, this latest string of tornadoes was the worst outbreak the U.S. has had since May 2013.

President Trump offered his support to the people in Alabama Sunday night writing on Twitter, To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!

Help Samaritan's Purse provide aid in Alabama by donating here.

Photo courtesy: Andrew Seaman/Unsplash
Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Sunday apparently gave Democrats the final vote they need to block President Trumps national emergency declaration to build a border wall, although neither the House nor the Senate have enough votes to overturn a certain veto.

A resolution of disapproval passed the House last week and needs only four Republican votes in the Senate to pass that chamber, assuming that all 47 senators who caucus with the Democrats back it. Paul (Ky.) is the fourth GOP senator to announce support for it, joining Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).

Trump has pledged to veto it. The resolution could come before the Senate in the next two weeks, Politico reported.

My oath is to the Constitution, not to any man or political party, Paul wrote in a column at FoxNews.com. I stand with the president often, and I do so with a loud voice. Today, I think hes wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits. I understand his frustration.

Dealing with Congress can be pretty difficult sometimes. But Congress appropriates money, and his only constitutional recourse, if he does not like the amount they appropriate, is to veto the bill. I look forward to working for a constitutional way to deal with our border security issue.

Further, Paul said, Republicans opposed President Obamas use of executive orders, as did Trump.

I, and many of my fellow members, called out President Obama for abusing executive authority. President Obama famously said that if Congress wouldnt do what he wanted, he had his pen and his phone ready. That was wrong, Paul wrote. Many of those voting now spent a good portion of their campaigns running ads against these words and actions of President Obama. They will and should be condemned for hypocrisy if they vote to allow this because they want the policy or want to stand with the president in a partisan fight.

Meanwhile, Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina penned a column last week explaining why he supports Trumps national emergency declaration.

National security has always been, and continues to be, one of our nations top priorities, Scott wrote. ... Our border security issue has reached crisis levels. In the 2018 fiscal year, there were over 467,000 apprehensions at the U.S.-Mexico border. Claims of asylum are also up 2,000 percent in the last five years alone. In 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services processed roughly 100,000 credible fear claims, an all-time high, but that is not all. A dramatic spike in drugs at the southern border, rising numbers of gang members, criminals and known or suspected terrorists, as well as a rise in vulnerable populations have all brought different threats and issues into our country.

... I support the presidents usage of a national emergency to take the responsible actions to secure our border, which must remain the top priority, Scott wrote.

Michael Foust is a freelance writer. Visit his blog, MichaelFoust.com.

Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Tasos Katopodis/Stringer
In September 2016, a group of students began protesting a required humanities course at Reed College in Oregon. The course covered the ancient Mediterranean world, but the group argued it was Eurocentric and marginalizing to ethnic minority voices. These protests continued for over a year. Student activists would target each Humanities 110 class, holding signs as they sat or stood near the professor for the entire period. In 2018, Reed College expanded its Humanities 110 curriculum to include Mexico City and Harlem; however, the protestors remain unappeased with these changes, submitting additional demands.

While Reed College may be an extreme example, debates over free speech on college campuses have become so heated that some states have passed laws protecting free speech on campus. Our country continues to drift further apart across political, economic, racial, and religious lines, and college campuses have become ground zero for these discussionsbut not without good reason. Colleges and universities produce vital research and educate students, preparing them for the workforce and civic life. The ideologies that guide this research and teaching shape public policy, cultural trends, and voters. Which is why so much seems to be at stake in the debate over what kinds of speech should be permitted on college campuses. Curricula are amended, commencement speeches are canceled, speakers are protested, protests are counter-protested, and classes are interrupted by students who find the material offensive.

In the end, many wonder if free speech is even possible at the university level.

Christian campuses, from colleges and universities all the way to seminaries, are not immune from these culture warsnor from the suspicion that they curtail free speech (although for theological reasons). Between policies prohibiting cohabitation and same-sex romantic relationships and mission statements claiming that Christianity is the Truth, the structures of many Christian schools appear to be antithetical to the entire university enterprise. How can scholars pursue truth wherever it may be found if they begin by assuming they already know that Christianity is true? Its no wonder that some education leaders are calling for the end of Christian school accreditation.

To be fair to the critics, on occasion, Christian schools have stifled scholarly work because it appeared to challenge their faith statement. And sometimes they have censored school papers and pushed hard conversations away rather than inviting them.

Still, in my experience, Christian schools are remarkably open to free speech. Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries have resources to balance the pursuit of truth with the obligation to preserve goodness and justice. It is this balance, in fact, that allows these schools to be far more supportive of free speech than is commonly thought.

Expressive Individualism

Much of the hyper-sensitivity and trolling on college campuses can be seen as an outworking of expressive individualism, which is the widely held belief that life is meaningful only when we discover and express our identityI matter in the world when I know who I am, and I express that identity, usually through consumerism and social media. When it comes to campus free speech, expressive individualism dramatically raises the stakes for debate. Instead of an idea being wrong or even harmful, it becomes an existential threat to students. If an idea challenges one of my closely held beliefs, then it challenges my identity, and if it challenges my identity, it challenges my very existence. Thus, when you disagree with me, you are actually questioning my humanity or right to exist. While this logic usually plays out in more explicit language on the political Left, the Right is just as committed to expressive individualism, and so they are just as likely to elevate their political beliefs into ultimate goods.

Perhaps due to the influence of expressive individualism, some people live in a paradox of desperately needing to announce their beliefs while feeling incredibly sensitive to the beliefs of others.

Here is where Christian colleges and universities have an advantage. By rejecting expressive individualism, schools can provide a better foundation for engaging ideas that offend, challenge, or trouble students. The Christian understanding of identity is grounded in personhood, our unique createdness as humans by a loving God. Because our worth is not contingent upon our ability to express our identity, we should be able to entertain opposing viewpoints without feeling existentially threatened. Our personhood remains an objective fact regardless of what others may say. When faculty teach students to have this confidence in their personhood and avoid the insatiable demands of expressive individualism, Christian campuses can produce the vibrant intellectual debate that ought to define the university.

Language as Power

Another belief prevalent on secular campuses is this: All human interactions are fundamentally about power. If the basic truth about our relationships is that we are always competing against one another, then taking offense and giving offense turn into strategies of leveraging power. When we see ourselves as antagonists, we have no incentive to listen or respect one another and we have every incentive to coerce, shame, mock, and persuade each other into submission.

The Christian alternative is that we see our neighbors as fellow image-bearers of God, those we are called to love, whose interests Paul commanded us to consider. In disagreement and debate, we desire that our opponent is won over by the beauty, truth, and goodness of our argument, for their own good. The purpose of argumentation is not to own someone but to edify and exhort them. Such an approach to public discourse doesnt come any more naturally to students and faculty on Christian campuses than it does to those at secular schools, but Christian schools have the theological framework and vocabulary to make charity the defining characteristic of campus speech.

I have seen this work on my own campus. Burdened by the racial tensions in our nation and the church, last year, student leaders at Oklahoma Baptist University organized an event where we sat, listened, and talked with one another about racism. At times, the conversations were tense and difficult. They required vulnerability and humility. But overall, it was a success. I suspect that in many secular colleges, events like this would either alienate anyone who wasnt already progressive in their understanding of racism or devolve into a yelling match. Our Christian conception of the human person enabled us to speak charitably to each other, evenespeciallywhen we disagreed.

Freedom and Limits

Underlying this debate over freedom of speech is a deeper discussion on the relationship between limits and freedom. In America, we tend to think of freedom as the absence of limits. If someone limits what we are allowed to say, what words we can use, what kinds of arguments we can make, we feel that our free speech has been infringed upon. At the same time, we acknowledge that there are extreme cases where limits are necessary. The University of Chicago released a Statement on Principles of Free Expression in 2012 which has served as a kind of manifesto for Jonathan Haidt (co-founder of Heterodox Academy) and other campus free-speech advocates. The statement calls for speech free from interference. Where the statement does place limits on speech, they are almost entirely legal: defamation, harassment, and threats. These restrictions are presented as unfortunate exceptions to the rule of free and open inquiry, which the statement refers to as one of the defining characteristics of higher education.

By way of contrast, the traditional Christian understanding proposes that proper limits constitute freedom. In John 8, Jesus claims that the truth will set you free, but this is a freedom from sin and toward righteousness (v. 32). When the Jews ask Jesus how he can make them free, he replies that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. . . . So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (v. 34, 36). Limitless freedom does not exist; it is a lie we tell ourselves to conceal our slavery to sin. True freedom, to be free indeed, is to be obedient to Gods law, to live according to his will. Limits are not a necessary evil but a constituent good of freedom.

We can see this dynamic work out in marriage. To a certain secular way of thinking, committing to one person for life in marriage is an infringement upon our freedom. What if your tastes change? What if you want some variety? What if the other person changes? What if you discover some latent desire that only a different sexual partner could fulfill? Christ demands that we deny these impulses. Not only are we to stay sexually faithful to our spouse, but we also are prohibited from even fantasizing about infidelity. And yet it is precisely within these limits that we have the freedom to love. Without these limits, our desires will be swept away by every fleeting passion, enslaving us to the insatiable hunger for novelty or vanity. When we acknowledge these limits, they create a vision for our desires; our spouse ceases to be a hindrance to attaining love and becomes the subject of that human love.

Christian doctrines and practices constitute the good, the true, and the beautiful in which God calls us to live. Freedom is not doing whatever I desire but being given agency by the Holy Spirit to live life in Christthats true freedom. So while Christian schools are willing to study why non-Christians reject the doctrine of the Trinity or Christs atoning work on the Cross, those doctrines are not matters of debate. If a school gives up those essential doctrines, it cannot help students pursue a life of freedom in Christ.

How these limits work themselves out in practice is a matter of prudence and discernment, but the key is that administration and faculty have a responsibility to care for the souls, hearts, minds, and bodies of their studentsnot to stifle them but to help them live in the freedom that is Christ. That means, from a secular perspective, restricting free speech. From a Christian perspective, its what makes true free speech, and freedom itself, possible.

The Statement on Principles for Free Expression assumes that we are autonomous rational agents who are responsible for discovering truth for ourselves. According to this anthropology, it would be offensive for professors or administration to decide what ideas students should adhere tothat would be an infringement on their autonomy and an insult to their reason. But this view of human persons is flawed. We arent autonomous; we are communal, with ties and obligations that bind us. We arent rational agents, but rational, physical, and spiritual. And we dont discover truths for ourselves, but rather we conform to the Truth of reality, a universe made by God.

This may seem like it would lead to a Christian intellectual bubble, where all the difficult and hostile secular ideas are hidden from students or reduced to caricatures. However, in my experience as a graduate student at Baylor University, we read and discussed the best secular thought in our field without misrepresentation or denigration. We read postmodern and queer literary theory in a Christian community of scholars, treating the texts with respect and seriousness, even when they were antagonistic to our faith. Embracing limits did not mean retreating from scholarly discourseit meant engaging that discourse at the right time and with the proper context.

As tense as our public discourse is in 2018, I see glimmers of hope in my teaching. In a recent composition class, I witnessed two students peer review each others papers with charity and grace, even though their chosen topics were at opposite ends of the culture war. One paper made a case for abortion while the other argued against children seeking gender transition. Here were two culturally sensitive subjects that could have easily led to offense, outrage, or protest. But my students not only tolerated views they disagreed with, they helped make those arguments more persuasive for the purpose of the essay. I hope that outside of the class, those students dialogue with that same charity and grace, without sacrificing truth.

The animus that divides our nation is not subsiding, and higher education institutions will continue to struggle to balance the pursuit of truth with justice. Rather than being held back from free speech by religious strictures, Christian campuses can call upon shared values and a more humane conception of freedom to guide campus debates. This is not the safe space many conservatives and liberals seek to create. It involves challenging students beliefs, unsettling their understanding, and pushing them to mature with guidance and love.

Alan Noble is an assistant professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, the editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and author of Disruptive Witness (2018, IVP).
Urging New York to see life clearly

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In response to New York's new abortion law, which effectively allows unlimited abortion until birth, Focus on the Family launched the largest pro-life effort in the organization's history.

The 12-week campaign, dubbed SEE LIFE CLEARLY, will culminate in a May 4 event in Times Square, "Alive from New York," where live 4-D ultrasounds will be broadcast on a jumbotron.

Read more at https://www.christianpost.com/us/focus-on-the-family-live-4-d-ultrasounds-times-square-jumbotron.html
Francis Chan defends Gospel for Asia after legal settlement: 'No money was misappropriated'

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Popular preacher and author Francis Chan issued a strong defense of the nonprofit charity Gospel for Asia following the announcement Friday that the organization will pay $37 million to settle a class action lawsuit over the alleged misuse of donations.

Chan, the author of Crazy Love and former pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, released a statement responding to the news of Gospel for Asias settlement with plaintiffs who accused the organization of mishandling hundreds of millions in donations earmarked for the mission field worldwide.

When I first heard of the accusations against K.P. Yohannan, I was surprised and deeply concerned, the 51-year-old pastor, who has served as a GFA board member since 2015, said in a statement shared with The Christian Post.

I have been let down many times by people I once respected. At the same time, I know that public figures will often be wrongly accused. It goes with the territory.

Chan explained that when the accusations first hit Gospel for Asia over three years ago, he did not race to abrupt conclusions as some of his colleagues did.

He did his own research by traveling to the Texas headquarters and to the mission field in India with a trusted financial expert who was a partner in a large accounting firm. Chan also asked Yohannan and his son, Danny, to send over their tax returns from the previous year.

After careful research, our conclusion was that there was no money misappropriated and that all funds were channeled to the intended areas, Chan assured.

As a result of the ordeal, Chans admiration for founder K.P. Yohannan only grew.

From the start, it didnt make sense that he was misappropriating funds, Chan reasoned. There was no logical motive. I had spent time in his home and driven with him in his car. He lives very humbly. When I saw his tax returns, I was shocked at how little he made and how much he gave.

Gospel for Asia, along with Yohannan, have fought a years-long legal battle to clear the organizations name after accusations that funds meant for charitable purposes were used to build personal residences and a headquarters in Texas, among other things. The lawsuit was brought by former GFA donors Garland and Phyllis Murphy.

GFA will pay $37 million  some of which will be paid over the course of the next year  as part of a legal settlement. But the settlement also shows that the parties agree that evidence demonstrates donations made to GFA earmarked for the mission field did make it to the field and were not used for personal gain or enrichment.

GFA has always maintained that funds were not used fraudulently and the settlement agreement refutes previous claims that only a small percentage of donations made it to the mission field.

In reference to the $37 million settlement fund, Chan said that he is saddened that such a large sum of money had to be given to an attorney.

[B]ut I am grateful that [Yohannan] has been cleared of the accusation, Chan wrote in the statement. K.P. has been a mentor to me for years. The way that he speaks to God and about Him is different from anyone else I know. His words and actions have led to me loving Jesus more consistently and deeply. He is the first to admit shortcomings in his life, but he continues to be an example to me. For this, I am eternally grateful.

Although GFA has agreed to a settlement to the legal case that nearly forced the organization to shut down, the charity will need to reapply for memberships in associations such as the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and National Religious Broadcasters.

Both organizations dropped GFA as a member institution in 2016 after ECFA highlighted several concerns about GFAs financial accountability.

In a September 2015 letter, ECFA took issue with the fact that hundreds of millions of dollars in excess cash was being held in GFA partner field accounts in India. Additionally, ECFA stated that GFA was too delayed in sending donations to the mission field which contrasts with the level of urgency communicated in GFAs donor appeals.

ECFA also voiced concern that: GFAs foreign field partners were completely independent organizations that prevented GFA from exercising any direct control over field partners;" about $20 million in funds gifted to GFA USA by GFA India were used to build the organizations headquarters in Wills Point, Texas; and GFA did not have a foreign grant process in place to oversee the use of donations in the mission field.

GFA instituted a new foreign funding process that was developed with the assistance of a new audit firm in 2016.

The nonprofit has been subject to annual audits by the South Carolina-based CPA firm Payne, White and Schmutz. All audits have come back clean.

The organization has also hired one of the big four accounting firms in the United States to objectively analyze the flow of GFA donations to the mission field.

Johnnie Moore, an evangelical media communications executive who is acting as a spokesperson for GFA, told The Christian Post last week that even before the lawsuit, GFA was working to satisfying many of ECFAs concerns.

"The legal case has further prepared them to complete that process," Moore said. "The organization is confident it can meet the criteria necessary for membership again in accrediting bodies like the NRB, once they choose to pursue it."
IFCJ Rejects Accusation It's Hurting Jewish Immigration to Israel

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A Jewish rabbi who heads an organization, funded mostly by evangelical Christians, that works to resettle Jews from troubled regions to Israel is denying veiled charges that his group's work actually depresses resettlement rates.

Earlier this month, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews released a statement saying they had nearly tripled their share of aliyah  a Hebrew word used for Jews immigrating to Israel  and that in 2016 they were responsible for about one fifth of total immigration to the Jewish state.

The Jewish Agency, claiming to be the only organization officially backed by the Israeli government to facilitate immigration, immediately cast serious doubts on IFCJ's declaration.

In a statement to the Times of Israel, The Jewish Agency said it is almost as if the group, while not mentioning it by name, has "a reverse Midas touch, causing aliyah to shrink wherever they go ... as has been proven time and again, aliyah is not an area in which competition is helpful or productive."

In a phone interview with The Christian Post, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, president of the Chicago-based IFCJ, said the comments from The Jewish Agency amounted to "sour grapes, pure and simple."

"What happened over the years was the Jewish Agency had huge drops in its budget from the Jewish Federation, from the Jewish world, so their budget kept going down and they had to eliminate all sorts of positions and there was a huge gap there. And essentially all The Jewish Agency did was give $350 tickets for the people, but there was no process of absorbing them into Israel and it was just not a great bureaucratic experience," said Eckstein, asserting that IFCJ offers immigrants more money to help with resettlement.

IFCJ first began raising funds from Christians in the early 1990s, through an initiative called On Wings of Eagles, to help Russian Jews immigrate to Israel shortly after the fall of Communism. Eckstein has previously served in executive and board positions with The Jewish Agency, but his organization ultimately decided to pull their funding from the group because they believed they had a monopoly on the process.

"We have money, we can do the job in a better, more efficient way, and the proof is in the pudding," Eckstein said.

"And the people are choosing with their feet to come with us. That's the source of the antagonism, it's not just that [The Jewish Agency is] upset. It's that we've essentially pulled the raison d'etre from them."

CP asked Eckstein to comment specifically on the charge from The Jewish Agency that immigration from most of the countries where IFCJ operates aliyah has either remained static or dropped, likening their work to a "reverse Midas touch."

Eckstein acknowledged that while many of the nations do indeed have the same or lower rates of aliyah as last year  the 2016 figures will not be available until the end of the year  there is more to the story.

"They're claiming that they're bringing the people and they're doing everything, the idea that we have Midas touch that is negative ... you happen to have ups and downs in aliyah every year. If you look at the past five to 10 years sometimes it's up, other times it is down," he replied.

And those rates vary depending on where turmoil is happening, he added, noting that in the past year IFCJ was responsible for bringing 89 percent of Jews from Venezuela and 77 percent from the Ukraine, both current political hotspots, home to Israel.

Jeff Kaye, IFCJ's executive vice president, said in an email to CP Thursday on behalf of Eckstein that, "in the last 15 years, the IFCJ has funded and supported the aliyah of over 560,000 Jews to Israel. Out of that number, the IFCJ has brought by itself 6,300 olim (new immigrants) from countries and communities in distress in the last two years since we began working apart from the Jewish Agency."

Each Jewish immigrant receives "a grant of $1,000 ($500 for a minor), or participation toward their rental costs for the first six months" and fellowship representatives maintain relationships with the families in Israel for a six-month period following their resettlement.

Eckstein told CP that a remarkable shift has occurred between Jewish-Christian relations in the United States in the past several decades.

The perception now is "whereas Christians were our greatest enemies for 2,000 years, today the Jewish community, certainly in Israel, and even in America realizes that these people are our best friends, our only friends," Eckstein added.

Yet not every believer in Jesus reciprocates the warm feelings.

David Brickner, executive director for Jews For Jesus, asserted in an email to CP, "The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is an organization built upon misrepresentation. Here in America they misrepresent themselves as a Christian organization which they most definitely are not."

Brickner argued that Eckstein goes to great lengths to ensure that Jews do not hear about Jesus Christ but their mostly evangelical Christian donor base is unaware of that.

"Apparently now in Israel, according to The Jewish Agency, they continue their misrepresentation on multiple levels. Potential and current donors to this organization would do well to investigate the truth of how they actually spend their money," he said.
Mother of girl who thinks shes a boy speaks out, unpacks lies therapists told her

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A mother whose daughter started believing she was a boy four years ago is speaking out about the many layers of manipulation she encountered at the hands of a gender therapist and through widespread misinformation about transgender medical practices.

For Doreen Smith (not her real name), the ordeal has been an ongoing, torturous nightmare. The Christian Post met Smith in person last month and has verified her story with other reputable sources. This report uses pseudonyms for her and her daughter and has removed other identifying details to maintain their anonymity.

Parents such as Smith who do not agree with or support their childrens belief that they are the opposite sex risk legal repercussions, including being reported to Child Protective Services, should their names be revealed.

Smith's daughter, Michelle (a pseudonym we're using here to protect her identity), announced that she believed she was really a boy when she was 14 years old, after having seen a presentation about transgenderism at her suburban Philadelphia high school.

As a mother, she spent a year hoping it was a phase that would go away. Her daughter's therapist at the time had no idea what to do. They both avoided the issue, but it only got worse. It was only after she sought the help of so-called experts that she became outwardly supportive of her daughter's transgender identity as a boy.

Little did she know then that she would subsequently have a change of heart upon realizing, in utter horror, that she had been systematically misled by many people and institutions she had trusted with her daughter's mental health and well-being. Ever since, she has been relentlessly fighting to get her back from the many forces entangling her in layer upon layer of delusion and severe confusion about her body.

"When this first happened, it made no sense," Smith said, explaining her bewilderment in an interview with CP.

She soon began to search for information but the only seemingly credible voices she found all told her to affirm her daughter as her son immediately. Smith and her husband questioned how they ought to proceed, not knowing what this was or what to do as their daughter grew increasingly hostile and continued to insist she was male. Their relationship was rapidly souring and they had nowhere to go for help.

Distressed and flabbergasted, Smith contacted 10 different therapists who, like the online resources she had reviewed, all told her she needed to start calling her daughter by her new, chosen masculine name, Mike, in addition to speaking with her using her preferred male pronouns.

Her daughter's sudden announcement had shocked Smith, as it came out of nowhere, and all the professional voices they sought out said that by the time children reach their daughter's age, they know who they are. After her relationship with Michelle deteriorated, she and her husband finally decided to visit a local clinic staffed with therapists who specialized in transgender issues and took the professional advice she was given there. Smith ultimately capitulated and started going along with her daughter's new self-identification.

"I outwardly told people that this was my son. I went in public with her identifying her as my son. I purchased my daughter a breast binder. [And] I allowed her to make all of the changes I was coerced into making because I was told she was at high risk of suicide if she didn't do these things," she explained.

Smith went so far as to march in a trans-celebratory parade with her to show her support and would tell other people that her daughter's transition was not to be questioned  including those who dared to express some skepticism and concerns. Privately, however, Smith's gut instincts about how wrong this seemed and other doubts she had were mounting, but she felt she had to keep pretending this was the right thing to do.

Manipulation from therapists, gender clinicians

The notion that children are at greater risk or will take their own lives if they're not allowed to alter their bodies to become their "authentic" selves is the most common manipulation technique employed by gender clinicians and pro-trans therapists. They do this, therapists and doctors who oppose transgender ideology say, to put confused children and teens on the pathway to transition and undergo permanent surgical procedures.

Transgenderism has become so deeply entrenched within certain respected professions that much of the general public now believes that socially and medically transitioning children into these identities is not only completely safe but necessary. As a desperate parent who had for a year been dealing with threats from her daughter, Smith was already fearing she was at risk of hurting herself.

Together with her husband she had a private meeting with a therapist in neighboring New Jersey before they allowed their daughter to see him. They went to his office feeling like they were in over their heads. They trusted that he would offer them helpful, expert guidance after a full year of questioning and fruitless internet searches.

The therapist they saw was kind and he praised them as good parents for wanting to do the right thing for their "son." He cited professional guidelines from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and his long work with the Trevor Project, a suicide hotline for same-sex attracted and trans-identifying youth.

"He came across as very genuine and that he was doing this work to save children," Smith told CP. And he urged them to affirm their daughter's new identity  pronouns and new chosen name included  explaining that the key factor in preventing suicide was parental acceptance.

"And so we did it. We felt it was critical. We had to put away all the doubts in our minds. We had to defer to his perceived expertise," Smith said, noting that their doubts would not go away.

Smith felt strongly at the time that it was important she presented herself as 100 percent supportive and "all-in." She wouldn't allow herself to go online and read anything that had even the appearance of criticism of transgender identities and regarded any such commentary as prejudiced.

In April 2017, Michelle started seeing the therapist in New Jersey that they had met and they were soon told to buy her a binder to flatten her breasts. Around that same time, Michelle came out as transgender at school without their knowledge, and the school officials and teachers immediately started calling her Mike and began using male pronouns when addressing and referring to her.

"We were blindsided at how quickly this all happened. And the therapist pushed this every step of the way. He was planning for the next step, and the next step, and the next step," she said.

They went along with it until they were essentially threatened by the therapist. He informed them that unless they agreed to put Michelle on puberty blockers she would end up in a mental hospital.

"That was my wake-up moment," Smith said, which sent her to the internet again, only this time she found thoughtful voices willing to scrutinize transgender medicalization and the underlying ideology such as 4thwavenow. These perspectives made much more sense to her than anything the therapist or other gender clinicians had said or written.

"And that's when I said: 'Oh my God, what have I done?" Smith recounted with sorrow.

She found the coercive language that the therapist used to frame her choice as between hormone suppressants or a mental hospital particularly disturbing as it caused her to call into question her maternal instincts. The therapist snidely dismissed her questions about the puberty-blocking drugs and gave her misleading assurances that they had been thoroughly studied and were a completely safe way to "explore gender."

"When I expressed concerns he told me I was a highly anxious mother," Smith said, disgusted.

She could no longer bury any of her lingering doubts and decided to reverse course. With Smith no longer in support of her daughter's transgender identity, Michelle has felt and continues to feel horribly betrayed, has screamed at Smith repeatedly, and has threatened to run away several times. She has never gone on the puberty blockers.

A suffering like no other

Ever since she balked at the therapist's threat, Smith has lived month after month in excruciating agony. The stress has yielded immense physical suffering, she recounted; she's lost weight, she's lost hair, and she knows the strain is harming her body in serious ways.

People she thought were friends have abandoned her and she has taken dramatic steps to cut off the flow of pro-transgender influences in her daughter's life.

"The hardest thing is that I didn't have support from anyone throughout this process. This was something that, unlike most issues where there is good information, most issues where you can find a therapist to help you or a support group, or even friends and family who get it and bring you casseroles  there's none of that."

The only place where she has found refuge has been other parents in similar predicaments who converse online, hiding behind pseudonyms. They keep their identities anonymous because of the social and increasingly legal repercussions depending on the state or locality  that they could face for refusing to go along with their childrens confusion.

"To this day, I feel like my closest relationships now are with those parents. And yet, we don't even know each other's real names," Smith said.

Life got so miserable that Smith left her "too liberal, too trans-affirming, too busybody" neighborhood in leafy Philly and moved a few hours away to Snyder County, Pennsylvania, as she could not subject herself to the gossip and the celebration of gender identity ideology she sensed percolating around her family.

"I do worry that the only way for my daughter to see the truth, to come to me as my daughter once again, is to go through some serious medical changes," Smith said.

Michelle, being highly intelligent, has done her own online research and now knows what reputable medical organizations and their guidelines say. In professional, convincing language their words dovetail with who she thinks herself to be. The brainwashing, according to Smith, is all but complete as schools, popular media programming, and authoritative sources cheerlead for her new understanding of herself.

"When a child has been affirmed for years and years ... when they're celebrated at school as special for being transgender... when authority figures treat them like they are the opposite sex and use their male name and pronouns without hesitation ... when they've had experts tell them they should medically transition ... and everything on the internet tells them this is true, how could anyone reach a child who has been victimized by such deep, cult-like indoctrination? How could a parent possibly undo this? Smith asked.

"The only thing I can do right now is love her with all my heart," she continued, choking back tears. "Everything I say to her I say in love. I'm the only person in this world who's willing to accept her wrath of rejection by speaking that truth in love because everybody else will tell her what she wants to hear."

She hopes one day her daughter will desist but has no idea when that will happen.

"I'm the only one who cares and I just pray that my love for her can transcend all of this enormous garbage that is being thrust at her at every direction. And I worry it's not enough and that it's going to take a lot of time for her to get to this place of maturity where she has already made some of these changes out of her own autonomy, her own pocket, and then she's going to come back to realizing that it was a mistake," she said.

"And that she is going to be able to see that her mother loved her the entire time."

Smith does not have a paying job. She now works 24/7 writing, strategizing, and connecting with others who might be able to help her save her daughter.

All the while, the tension and anxiety plaguing their relationship is ever-present.

"I've never screamed back [at her]. But I've screamed privately. I've punched walls. I've wept on the bathroom floor more times than I can tell you," Smith told CP.

"She has no idea what this has done to me."

Accentuating the torment even further is the devastation that Smith's aging mother, her daughter's grandmother, has endured. Smith tried to keep secret her daughter's belief that she's the opposite sex for as long as she could, but it came to a point where she had to tell her what was going on.

"It has taken such an enormous toll on her," Smith said, "and what she has told me is that despite her worries for her granddaughter she is more worried about me. And she even told me that she thinks I would have had an easier time had her granddaughter died four years ago instead of telling me she was transgender."

The Pennsylvania mother was hesitant to make the comparison to a child dying as that is the most horrific kind of pain a parent can experience, but she understood why her mother said that. Had her daughter died there would have been a grieving process, a sense of finality that she was never coming back, love from friends and family, and support groups and therapeutic options. Instead, Smith has experienced the exact opposite.

"There is no grieving process. I don't know the end of this story. I don't know when and if she will come back to me as my daughter. And unless someone has had this experience for themselves you really cannot appreciate the unique toll that this takes, and the isolation that ensues because of this," she said.

Such isolation is a natural defense against people who don't understand and make comments they think are supportive and against those who think by refusing to go along she is contributing to her child's potential suicide. Smith also has to guard against those who might invade her privacy or even report her to authorities for "medical neglect" for objecting to the medicalization of gender and its corresponding social practices, she told CP.

Her concerns about the role of the state in this issue are not without real-life examples. In February 2018, Judge Sylvia Hendon in Hamilton County, Ohio, ruled that a 17-year-old should be removed from the custody of her parents due to their objections to the controversial hormone treatments for trans-identifying teens.

Even now, Smith remains uncomfortable to be out in public with her daughter as she cannot and will not introduce her as her son.

"This very isolated, lonely life is something that does not have a resolution, no support. I don't think there is a single therapist in the whole country who could guide me through this."
Pastor, wife, teenage daughter found dead in home they lost in foreclosure

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Police in Cedar Hill, Texas, have launched a criminal investigation after a prominent local pastor, Eugene Keahey, was found dead along with his wife and their 15-year-old daughter in their family home where a fire broke out.

Two people, including another of the couples daughters, were rescued by police from a second-story window last Thursday shortly after they arrived at the home at about 4:30 a.m., The Dallas Morning News reported.

Keahey, a father of four, shared the home with his wife, Deanna, two daughters and extended family. An older son and daughter were not believed to be in the home at the time, NBC Washington reported.

Members of Keaheys Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Sandbranch who gathered for service on Sunday said they were heartbroken by his passing.

"Part of me has been dreading this all week," Mount Zion Baptist Church Music Director Maurice Hale told NBCDFW. "It's taken a lot of courage to come out for this, but this is what pastor would have wanted us to do We're heartbroken, but we just have to press on.

Jessica Garcia, who only attended Mount Zion Baptist Church for about two weeks, said she decided to show up to pay her respects to the pastor because he was a very welcoming guy. He was very sweet."

Church member Ivory Hall told CBSDFW that he was struggling to cope with the pastors death because he had known him for years. Keahey, he said, regularly visited him and helped the community.

Whenever we needed him, he was here. Hed come around and sit around the patio with us here. He was that kind of a guy, Hall said.

A day or two before the house fire, he recalled how the pastor had worked to make sure he had enough water.

He brought some water around here. He said you told me you need some gallon jugs. I got you some. He unloaded them himself, said Hall.

In 2016, Keahey had lobbied to get safe drinking water to the impoverished Sandbranch community and Hall explained that he really wants to know exactly what happened to such a caring minister.

Hed walk the streets with people showing them about the community, said Hall. I just hope they find out exactly what happened. That is what I am waiting on.

Cedar Hill police Sgt. Chad Cooley told NBCDFW on Friday that investigators do not suspect an intruder in the case but were reviewing Facebook posts made by the pastor himself.

About three weeks ago, Keahey changed his cover photo to a picture with the words, "We all have secrets."

Shortly before the fire was reported, at 3:57 a.m. Thursday, the pastor also posted a cryptic message online referring to "this difficult time in my life" and ended with the phrase, "Good Night Y'all."

It was also reported that Keahey and his wife, who once taught elementary school, were going through financial difficulties prior to their deaths. The home in which they were found dead was sold at a foreclosure auction last month.
Russell Moore: 'Politics Has Become a Religion in America'

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Speaking on the gospel and cultural engagement at a national conference sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Russell Moore complained that politics has become a religion and a source of identity for many evangelicals.

The over-promising that is taking place in the evangelical life in relation to electoral politics has been going on for several years, probably more than in the outside culture, said ERLC President Moore at a Saturday panel Q&A at the ERLC's 2016 national conference at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee.

He said he has heard the statement, "This is the most important election we have faced in my lifetime," from various people every election cycle over the years. And it's often said either we'll win or completely lose our country. This leads to two undesirable things, he added.

One, "the people who are with you become disillusioned and angry, 'Why don't we have all of the things you told us we would have?'" Two, some get burned-over and cynical because of the way the original sin and common grace interact with one another, due to which there are no final victories or final defeats, he explained.

Moore said he's concerned about "what happens to the witness of evangelicalism in the middle of the moment like this," especially as we are looking at a church that in the future is thankfully going to be multi-ethnic and multi-generational and also articulate in what it means to be a Christian.

"We have a responsibility not only to speak truthfully. But we have a responsibility to contextualize not only to the present culture but to the future," he said. "We have to speak in words that we can live with for future generations of evangelical Christians and our neighbors. And as we're doing that, ensuring the fact that the gospel is clear."

Politics across the board has become like a religion, a kind of a transcendent source of authority and identity, in America, Moore continued. Rather than seeing themselves as being part of a church or a movement or a community, people find their primary source of identity in where they are politically and who is with them politically and who's not with them politically.

When that's the case, it's very easy for the gospel "to be a tool to accommodate whatever political agenda is useful at the moment," Moore added. "Part of what we have to do is to dethrone politics as a religion and as a source of identity while at the same time remaining engaged in our responsibilities as citizens, in communities and neighbors, which includes the political process."

Donald Trump's presidential campaign was clearly on the minds of some of the conference speakers.

At the conference Friday, Moore, an outspoken critic of Trump, said, "Evangelicals, who have previously said character matters, who this year are saying character doesn't matter that much, are never going to be able to address the issue of character again. Never  For me the primary issue is not who's up and who's down in the horse race in 2016. It's what is the gospel witness of the evangelical church going to be in 2017 and 2018 and 2028 when you have this variety of problems."

He also said, "What do we do to rebuild after this debacle? Long term though, it could be that this nightmare of an election season is pressing some issues to the forefront and exposing some very real differences in terms of Christian witness and otherwise in this country that can productively lead us toward the future."

David French, a staff writer at National Review who has also strongly opposed Trump, in his keynote address called this year's election cycle a "colossal, miserable, disgusting failure" as voters will have to choose between Republican nominee Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The SBC-sponsored conference, titled "Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel," was aimed at helping believers to be "equipped to take the unchanging truths of the Bible and engage the shifting culture around us." The speakers included Matt Chandler, Andy Crouch, Bryan Lorries, Andy Stanley, Jackie Hill Perry and Gabe Lyons.
Utah passes bill banning abortion of Down syndrome babies

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Utah's state Legislature passed a bill Thursday banning abortion solely based on a Down syndrome diagnosis.

The Down Syndrome Nondiscrimination Abortion Act, also known as HB166, includes exceptions for incest, rape, and medical emergencies that put the mother's life at risk. It's now headed to the desk of Republican Gov. Gary Herbert who hasn't said whether he will sign it or not, according to KSL radio.

The bill also comes with a "trigger" provision stipulating that it would not become law, if signed of the governor, until after a court rules on its constitutional standing.

"This is somewhat of a message bill from the standpoint that we are saying if that is the reason that you want an abortion, that is probably not a good reason," Herbert said.

The governor said he thinks the bill comes with some legal protection because it will not become law until other states have tested it and it's deemed constitutional.

"(That) takes some of the risk out of it," Herbert said.

The final vote in the state Senate was 20-6, with every Democratic senator voting against and every Republican voting in favor of the bill.

Utah previously attempted to pass a bill banning the abortion of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome last year, but it failed to gain the votes needed to pass.

Pro-life advocates have long argued that aborting babies with the condition amounts to a form of eugenics.

In the United States, 67 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted, according to Healthline. In Denmark the number is 98 percent, and in Iceland it's almost 100 percent.

The Christian Post previously reported that the Canadian Down Syndrome Society released a video of individuals who petitioned the International Union for Conservation of Nature Global Species Programme to be included on the "red list" of endangered species, arguing that they meet the criteria to be considered endangered because of significant population declines in several countries.
The second medical opinion service enables customers to get a confidential face-to-face consultation, with a local UK-based specialist to confirm their diagnosis and consider other treatment options. RedArc, who provides this service, allocate a dedicated personal nurse adviser to gather the customers medical history  their diagnosis, current treatment plan and other important information. If a second medical opinion is the right way to go, theyll arrange an appointment with a local specialist. This service complements the existing support services provided to Aegon protection customers, which include a 24-hour health and wellbeing service, a key person replacement service and a funeral payment pledge to help families pay funeral costs in advance of the life protection claim payment due to delays with probate. Simon Jacobs, Head of Claims and Underwriting at Aegon UK, said:Theres more to consider than financial security when taking out a protection policy. The availability of a range of support services during the life of a policy can provide customers with peace of mind and reassurance when they need it most. The second medical opinion service from RedArc is a welcome addition to the range of support services we provide to our protection customers. People shouldnt underestimate the value of the additional support and guidance available with their policy. It might be just what they need when theyre going through difficult times. Christine Husbands, Managing Director for RedArc Nurses said: What really sets our service apart, and what customers tell us they really value, is the specialist support our nurses offer throughout the whole process of a second medical opinion. Our nurses are on hand to support people before, during and after theyve received the opinion. This includes helping people work out what questions to ask a consultant, and afterwards helping them make a decision about next steps, and sometimes coming to terms with a new normal. This support has been crucial in offering a truly holistic service. Were delighted to be working with Aegon to extend this service to their customers.


NewSpring Church battling 2 lawsuits after day care volunteer molests 14 children

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NewSpring Church in South Carolina is fighting back against two lawsuits alleging that lack of church oversight enabled the sexual assaults of at least 14 children at the hands of a former church day care volunteer.

The multicampus megachurch recently issued a public response to a lawsuit filed against it surrounding the arrest of 28-year-old Jacob Hazlett, who had volunteered at the day care of its campus in Charleston for eight months.

Hazlett was caught on camera inappropriately touching a 3-year-old child and was arrested last November.

He has since been charged with 14 counts of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Church security footage that goes back as far as 90 days showed instances of Hazlett assaulting children in the day care bathroom.

Such criminal act was not intended or directed by [NewSpring] and could not be foreseen by [NewSpring], a statement from NewSpring provided to WCIV states. NewSpring performed a screening process that included a criminal background check that showed no prior records."

Hazlett reportedly admitted to perpetrating the assaults to investigators.

A lawsuit filed by the parent of the 3-year-old abused by Hazlett was submitted late last year and accused the volunteer of performing oral sex on the child.

The church is also accused of failing to adequately supervise and monitor the actions of Hazlett. The lawsuit claims that lack of oversight allowed the abuse to occur inside the church even though there are around 40 surveillance cameras monitored by church volunteers.

But NewSpring argues that it has no responsibility in the matter.

The church contends that when concerns about Hazlett were made, it took the appropriate response and called authorities.

NewSpring immediately notified law enforcement, took steps to prevent Hazlett from volunteering in any capacity, and continues to fully cooperate with law enforcements ongoing investigation, the statement asserts.

NewSpring further argues that its liability as a nonprofit in this case is limited because of the South Carolina Charitable Funds Act. Additionally, the church stresses that since Hazlett was a volunteer, its liability is limited by the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997.

The lawsuit stresses that Hazlett knew that there was a security camera near the bathroom where he committed the crimes and was aware of the extraordinary risk he was taking had NewSpring Church simply been monitoring the video feed.

The church, however, maintains that it is not liable for punitive damages.

According to WCSC, the church argues that the facts arent enough to pursue a lawsuit against the church itself and that the plaintiffs lawsuit against the church should be tossed out.

Another lawsuit was brought against the church and Hazlett by seven families earlier this month.

The second lawsuit states that Hazlett volunteered at Cove Church and Elevation Church in North Carolina from 2011 to 2014 but was asked to leave both places of worship because of concerns about his behavior around children.

The lawsuit blames NewSpring for not contacting either church as a reference before allowing Hazlett to serve there.

Josh Slavin, the attorney representing the families, said he is preparing for the case to go to jury trial.

"To know that they took their children to this church, were required to put their sons in day care to attend Sunday services were told their boys would be safe, Slavin said, according to ABC4. Then come to find out that there was rampant abuse happening week in, week out right under New Spring Churchs noses.

Slavin said that to not get justice and consequences for those who allowed this to happen would be unthinkable."

NewSpring has not yet responded to the second lawsuit.
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We Americans now disagree over the construction of a border wall to be placed between the United States and Mexico. In the first week of her Speakership, Nancy Pelosi declared that such a wall would be an immorality. She does not appear to be alone in that assessment. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) compared such a wall to the Berlin Wall while calling it a moral abomination.

Like any human instrument, a wall can serve good or evil purposes. For example, the Berlin Wall was an evil device constructed by a malevolent political system, Representative Ocasio-Cortez got that right at least. But her implication that Americas border barrier is analogous to the communist wall that preserved East German tyranny is dishonest.

That said, walls clearly can be a force for good. The Bible quite clearly demonstrates that truth in its account of the life of one of the Jewish peoples greatest prophets and heroes  Nehemiah. Nehemiahs great physical task was to rebuild the wall and gates that had once protected Jerusalem from invaders, marauders, and criminals. All this was part of Nehemiahs (and Gods) larger project  one of spiritual renewal and recommitment to their covenant relationship with God. The book of Nehemiah describes the prophets bravery, leadership, and holiness.

To tell the story meaningfully, we first need a brief history recap. Recall that the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, completed his conquest of the kingdom of Judah, and its capital, Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (The Kingdom of Israel had fallen to the Assyrians in 722.) Around 586, Jerusalem and the Temple built by Solomon approximately 400 years earlier was destroyed, and a final mass deportation of Jews to Babylon took place.

About fifty years later, Persias Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon and soon issued a decree allowing the Babylonian Jews to return home. The return was a drawn-out process lasting almost a century. In fact, many Jews remained in Babylon forming a large community that would remain there until the advent of the anti-Semitic Baath party following the Second World War. Now, there is essentially no Jewish presence in Baghdad  and very little in Iraq.

Nehemiah begins around 445 B.C.with a report the prophet hears that the Jewish remnant community, the early returners to Judah, was in great trouble. Furthermore, he was told that the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire (Neh. 1:3, ESV). This news thrust Nehemiah into a period of profound despair marked by prolonged prayer and fasting. Such despondency would not have been historically significant except that as Nehemiah reveals: Now I was cupbearer to the king.

This dramatic unveiling is crucial to the course of events because the king, Artaxerxes I, observed his servants depression and asked about its cause. Nehemiah told him the woeful tale and asked to be allowed to return to Jerusalem for a time to rebuild the gates and the wall surrounding the Holy City. The king granted his request and gave him the needed resources because, as Nehemiah notes, the good hand of God was upon me.

Nehemiah returned and quickly met stiff resistance from the enemies of the Jews. Led by two men named Sanballat and Tobiah, they were furious that Nehemiah was leading his people in rebuilding Jerusalems wall. The struggle is vividly retold in chapter four where the wall is deemed to be essential for the survival of a revived Jewish community.

Above all, Nehemiah tells of the prophets faith that God would protect them while they carried out this great work. Nehemiah and his workers were so imperiled that they had to hold their swords and spears while completing this construction project. The project almost failed, but they finished their task in less than two months.

Obviously, the present-day United States is not Old Testament Israel. It is equally clear, however, that despite the span of centuries, building an impregnable barrier was necessary for the prophets plan of Jewish revival in Jerusalem  a highly moral act that has benefited all mankind for millennia.

President Trumps border wall shares many of the society-protecting features that Nehemiahs possessed. Yet, there is a deeply humanitarian aspect to Trumps proposed barrier. By reducing the length of open border and the possibility for large zones of rampant illegality, the proposed wall would protect the most vulnerable of those coming north. Our wide-open border has become a magnet for drug, sex, and labor trafficking. The cartels are run by sociopaths. Their coyotes are not concerned with the safety and sexual protection of the women and girls they exploit. An open border is an inhumane border.

Dr. Chris Gacek is the Senior Fellow for Regulatory Affairs at Family Research Council.
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Last September on BreakPoint, we told you about the constitutional challenge to a World War I memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland, known as the Peace Cross. The Cross was erected on private land in 1925 by the American Legion. It was to be a memorial to 49 men from that area who died in the Great War. Their names are listed on the plaque at the base of the monument.

In 1961, the state assumed control of the land, and therefore responsibility for the memorials maintenance. For more than fifty years, no one protested the Crosss presence on public land or the state paying for its maintenance.

But in 2014, the American Humanist Association challenged the constitutionality of the Peace Cross in federal court. They lost the initial case in Federal District Court, but they prevailed at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In October, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and this past Wednesday heard the oral arguments.

There was a lot at stake. If the American Humanist Association prevails, the implications would reach far beyond this memorial in Maryland to any and all memorials on public land everywhere in the country. Any of them with anything resembling a cross or religious symbol of any kind would be fair game.

The justices, or at least most of them, seemed aware of the stakes and a bit skeptical that after all this time the Peace Cross suddenly presented an immediate threat to our republic. Still, some of the justices comments were less than a ringing endorsement of the place of religion in the public square. Most notably Justice Elena Kagan, who as Solicitor General defended the presence of a cross in the Mojave National Monument, emphasized the historical context. At the time of its erection in 1925, she pointed out, crosses were common in war memorials and were not intended to convey a specific religious message. As she put it, All the words on the memorial are words about military valor and so forth. So why in a case like that can we not say essentially the religious content has been stripped of this monument?

For Kagan, crosses were the preeminent symbol for how to memorialize the war dead at that time.

In a somewhat ironic twist, it was the lawyer for the American Humanist Association who then insisted that a large Latin cross cant be stripped of its religious meaning. I dont think it needs special words to . . . announce that this is . . . a religious symbol, he said.

We should be sincerely grateful that, as The New York Times and the Washington Post both agreed, a solid majority of the justices seem to be for allowing the Peace Cross to remain on this public land. If the case were to go the other way, we could be looking at a scenario raised by Justice Breyer: wholesale demolition of suspiciously-religious historical monuments across the country, possibly starting with Arlington Cemetery across the Potomac and its hundreds of thousands of crosses.

But the argument, like the case itself, underscores the allergy to religion that permeates Establishment Clause jurisprudence, especially from the left. To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, apparently the only kind of godliness thats acceptable these days is one that denies the power thereof. So religious symbols must be, as Justice Kagan put it, stripped of their religious content if its to pass constitutional muster. That would mean that the image of Moses found on the walls of the Supreme Court, must be nothing more than equivalent to the images of Augustus, Hammurabi, John Marshall, and Napoleon  a grouping that would surprise many rabbis, not to mention Moses himself.

So I pray that the New York Times and the Washington Post are correct in their reading of the justice. But we shouldnt break out into our best end-zone celebrations just yet. Even a victory in this case could still leave the public square a little more naked.

Resources

Supreme Court seems to seek narrow way to uphold cross that memorializes war dead, Robert Barnes | Washington Post | February 27, 2019

Supreme Court appears inclined to let 40-foot Peace Cross stand on public land, Bill Mears | Fox News | February 27, 2019

First Liberty website

Originally posted at Breakpoint.
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(JNS) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus foes are cheering. The prime ministers critics werent able to defeat him at the ballot box over the course of his current 10-year run in power. But regardless of the merits of the accusations or the appropriateness of the announcement just weeks before the next national elections, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblits announcement that he will charge Netanyahu with wrongdoing in three separate cases may well put an end to the prime ministers long political career.

The formation of a new centrist coalitionthe Blue and White Party, under the leadership of former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantzhad already called into question whether Netanyahus Likud Party would win on April 9. But with three indictments hanging over his head and the likelihood that if Netanyahu wins, a sitting premier would be put on trial sometime during the term of the next Knesset, the case for change just got that much stronger.

There are four main takeaways from the announcement.

The first is that Netanyahu must take some responsibility for putting Israel in such an unfortunate situation through his arrogance and sense of entitlement.

The second is that the corruption allegations are, in fact, highly questionable, and its hard to believe they can be sustained in a fair court of law.

The third is that the process that led to indictments on the eve of an election after years of discussion and investigation was deeply flawed.

The fourth is that while Netanyahu is certainly down, hes by no means out.

The first point to be considered is that while the prime minister and many of his supporters may consider him to be irreplaceable, after a decade leading the country, he has clearly overstayed his welcome.

The case for term limits for leaders of nations is persuasive. The charges against the prime minister, even if they should never have been pursued as a criminal matter, speak to a certain arrogance and sense of entitlement that is inevitable when the occupant, as well as their families and underlings, start thinking they are untouchable.

That is certainly the case with Netanyahu. Hes served four terms as prime minister, including the last three in a row, and for all of his brilliance, masterminding and achievements, his act long ago starting wearing thin. The era in which Israel was run by ascetic leaders who lived and acted in a modest manner appropriate to a nation built on pioneering valuesDavid Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin wouldnt have been caught dead accepting cigars and champagne by the caseload from wealthy admirers, as Netanyahu has donehas long been over, but that doesnt excuse the Netanyahu clans often inappropriate behavior.

The alleged corruption cases all speak to Netanyahus high-handed manner and willingness to use his power in ways that leave him open to suggestions of wrongdoing, even if it can be argued that he did nothing illegal.

Its also true that the indispensable man argument for keeping him in office is a function of Netanyahus unwillingness to promote allies or countenance the idea of a successor. Greater men than Netanyahu have done the same thingWinston Churchill kept his designated successor waiting for him to retire for nearly a decade after World War II. The roster of talented people he (and reportedly, his wife Sara) has chased out of the Likud is impressive, including leaders of some of the parties that are the Likuds coalition allies. If there is no one of stature waiting to take over the party that has ruled the country for the last decade, its because thats the way the prime minister wanted it. And thats why he has persuaded his supporters that fighting the indictments, rather than sparing the country this ordeal is necessary.

But the three cases for which he will be indicted are not the terrible crimes Netanyahus foes make them out to be.

The first (called Case 1000) claims that Netanyahu is guilty of fraud and breach of trust because of his acceptance of expensive gifts. While the gifts were egregious, its not clear what law he broke when he pocketed the champagne and cigars. Nor is there any proof of a quid pro quo that would make the gifts a bribe. All the prime minister is guilty of is having wealthy friends and a rich mans tastes.

The second charge (Case 2000) is even more flimsy. It alleges that he committed a breach of trust by discussing a possible bargain with the head of a critical newspaper in which the publisher would give Netanyahu favorable coverage in exchange with the prime minister supporting legislation that would hurt Israel Hayom, the pro-Likud newspaper owned by casino magnate and philanthropist Sheldon Adelson. Here again, Netanyahu broke no law, and since nothing came of the conversation, its hard to see how he breached the public trust. The charge is also a joke because the effort to strangle Israel Hayom by the left-wing opposition parties and rival papers was itself an anti-democratic plot against freedom of the press that Netanyahu ultimately foiled.

The third charge (Case 4000) sounds more substantial since it alleges that Netanyahu traded regulatory decisions that favored the Bezeq Company in exchange for favorable coverage on its Walla news site. But since Walla remained critical of the prime minister, its hard to see how that constitutes actual bribery. Even if Walla had flipped to favor the Likud, there is no law that says favorable coverage is bribery.

I find it hard to believe that Netanyahu will be convicted of any of these charges, none of which would ever have been brought in an American court. The latter two charges amount to criminalizing a politicians attempts to gain better coverage in a news media that is well-known to be overwhelmingly biased against him. Thats a shameful interference in the political process.

But whether or not you agree that these charges should never have resulted in indictments, the process that led to their announcement on the eve of the election is outrageous.

The police and the attorney generals office have been investigating these charges for years. The police made their recommendations many months ago after a probe that lasted far longer than it should have. And Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit sat on his decisions, too. If indictments were in the offing, then they should have been announced months ago or held until after the election. Throwing them out nowa week after the deadline for the parties to file their lists for the electionis as much of an unconscionable intervention in the democratic process as former FBI director James Comeys last-minute revival of the charges against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified emails in the days before the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

But fair or not, the indictments and the emergence of Gantz and his new party make it seem as if Netanyahu is finally down for the count. Polls were already trending against the prime minister, and that trend may only accelerate now.

Still, hes not beaten yet. Gantzs views remain a mystery, and the next several weeks will provide him with a tougher test of his political mettle than hes ever experienced. And as unfair as the timing of the indictments may be, it actually reinforces the view of most center-right voters that Netanyahu is being treated unfairly. Though Gantz is a plausible alternative because his stand on the conflict with the Palestinians doesnt seem to differ much from that of the prime minister, the center-right consensus may still feel more comfortable with Netanyahu in charge. Nor would I put it past Netanyahu to mount a comeback once hes acquitted on all chargessomething even his foes concede is more likely than not.

Theres no escaping the fact that Netanyahus time as prime minister may be about to end. If so, he may regret its tawdry finish, but it has still been a career filled with enormous achievements in terms of Israels economy and in safeguarding its security. Throwing a prime minister out of office who is widely acknowledged as having great success in this manner on such flimsy grounds sets an unfortunate precedent. As much as his enemies damned Netanyahu for standing strong against suicidal concessions on the peace process, as well as for alleged corruption, Gantz will be hard-pressed to match Netanyahus record. Even if the outcome of the story was inevitable, Israel will still be the poorer for losing such an able leader in this manner.

Originally posted at JNS.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor in chief of JNS  Jewish News Syndicate. Follow him on Twitter: @jonathans_tobin.
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Let me begin by saying that I know and appreciate many women who have been recognized as pastors. They are diligent, steadfast, and hard-working. Our country has done a great disservice to women over the years by not elevating and supporting women in roles of leadership. Alexander Strauch echoes this same concern, In the minds of contemporary people, excluding women from church eldership is sexist, discriminatory, and one more example of male dominance. But this need not be the case. No one who truly loves people, who is sensitive to Gods Word, and who is aware of the painful dehumanization that women have suffered (and still suffer) worldwide would want to discriminate against women.

Women are one of the greatest gifts that God has given the world. But in our passion to promote women (something I wholeheartedly agree with), have we overstepped the Scriptures? Its not uncommon for the church, as a whole, to over-correct itself when abuse occurs.

First, we must understand that the loving, nurturing role of a woman is vital to the health of the church in the same way that it is vital to the health of a child. God has designed the male-female relationship to complement one another; one gender is not better than the other, but we do have different roles. To reject these God-given differences can lead to an unbalanced view.

Second, many misunderstand male leadership as God designed it; its not a glorified position, it's the position of a servant. A servant is called to protect, lead, and guard the church. We are to serve those God has entrusted to us. If there is a loud noise at home in the dead of night, do we encourage our wives to investigate? I hope not. God has called men to the position of servant leadership and protector.

Third, we see from Genesis 3:16 that God ordained a leadership role for the man. However, when men cower back from their leadership responsibilities, women will step in. Men must rise to the call of servant leadership. This type of leadership is not domineering or abusive; its kind, gracious, and humble. Pastors are to serve those in church, not lord over them. Gods design is not focused on better than or superior even though abuse has tarnished it.

But what does the Bible say?

Some use Chloe in the New Testament as an example of women being pastors. They say that she was a house church leader according to 1 Corinthians 1:11, but the Scripture doesnt say that; it says from Chloes household. Another woman referenced is Priscilla. She and her husband, Aquila, ministered together. Another example is Lydia in Acts 16. Her entire household was baptized and her home became a meeting place for early Christians.

Although these women are mentioned, the context does not support the role of elder/pastor. The terms for pastor, bishop, or overseer were not used to describe them. Deborah, in the Old Testament, is another example used to support the idea of women as pastors. She was a powerful Old Testament figure who judged the nation of Israel for a season, but we cannot use this text to support the New Testament role of pastor, or bishop, of a church.

In the Greek, the word for bishop is episkopos and the word for pastor is poimen; both terms refer to the same office, and they both come from masculine nouns that mean to shepherd or to care for. The qualifications for male leadership are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9. The Bible does not outline character traits for female pastors, nor does it use the words episkopos or poimen when describing their role. For those who agree with the position of women pastors, where does the Bible list the character traits needed for this role?

Men are given the positions of pastors and elders because God gave them the role of leading and dying for their family and the church. I believe that Christ coming into the world as a man was strategic for this very reason: to lead, shepherd, and die for. It has nothing to do with the culture of Pauls day because the male/female role began at creation; its not about better, its about design. How did God design us? First Timothy 2:11-13 talks about women not usurping the headship of men (cf. Genesis 3:16 again).

Can men learn from Bible teachers such as Kay Arthur, Priscilla Shirer, Anne Graham-Lotz, Beth Moore and others? Absolutely. But they should not be the spiritual covering over the man usurping his role. We need more female authors and speakers; both genders complement each other, not compete; we are equal in Christ, but have different roles. To restrict women from church eldership would be unjust and discriminatory if it were done arbitrarily by males for their own selfish ends, but if such restriction was part of the Creators wise plan, then its not discrimination (Alexander Strauch).

Jesus honored and supported the dignity of women; He treated them the way they should be treated, but He never reversed roles. Jesus called Paul, He commissioned Peter, and He encouraged John to lead the church. Women can, and should, teach, administrate, and organize but under the direction of Scripture such as in womens ministry, childrens ministry, office management, and countless other positions. But we should avoid using the masculine noun pastor when outlining their role.

Male leadership should look to the wise advice and counsel of women before making decisions. For example, in our home, we make decisions together. Additionally, all three of my editors for books and articles (including this article) are women. Their advice and suggestions are priceless. All are exceptional writers, far better than me. Women are a true blessing to the church; the glue that keeps everything together. We would not survive or flourish without them.

If the Bible supported women pastors via direct mention and a list of character traits they need to possess, I would be among their biggest fans. My view has nothing to do with opinion, male dominance, abuse of authority, or male chauvinism, but everything to do with the principles given in Scripture that allows each role to complement the whole. Times change, but truth does not.
As a new poll claims to show widespread support, what's wrong with assisted dying?

A survey by right to die campaign group My Death, My Decision made for a brief story in the Telegraph today. It claims that 93 per cent of Brits are in favour of assisted dying 'in at least some situations'. The devil is in the quote marks, of course; look at the actual numbers, and while the headline is not exactly inaccurate, they don't actually provide the ringing endorsement for its agenda that My Death, My Decision might wish.

Opponents of assisted dying have a problem, in terms of PR. It's relatively easy to find someone who is ill, sad and in pain, who thinks they have had enough and is articulate enough to say so, and make a story out of it. Of course we sympathise  how could we not? Some of those stories are heart-wrenching.

Inevitably, those perceived as wanting to stop them doing what they want to do are cast as the villains  The Church among them. It's much harder to embody the counter-argument. Where's the drama in someone saying, 'Actually, I think I'll just let nature take its course'?

So in the nature of things, public opinion is acted on more strongly by one side than the other.

But as well as feeling deeply, we also need to be thinking deeply  and so far, parliament has thought deeply enough about this to resist the (fairly) popular course.

It's not really fair, however, to caricature the church as monolithically opposed to assisted dying on principle. There are some, certainly, who believe it's just wrong, and that it's up to God when we die. That's not, however, a view that's often heard; while it might be a choice Christians feel called to make, it's not something many would wish to see forced on others. And for most of us Christians, I suspect, it's not in any case an argument that has much force. Many of us, like many in society at large, would like to be in control of our own deaths. We don't like the thought of prolonged pain or mental incapacity. We want to spare our friends and relatives the trouble, grief and expense. And after all, we know where we're going, so why should we worry?

What is it, then, that makes Christians so suspicious of the campaign for assisted dying? There are, I think, reasons that are so deeply rooted in the living of our faith that they can be quite hard to articulate. Here goes with three of them.

1. We're suspicious of individualism. 'My Death, My Decision'? Well, yes: but it isn't all about me, is it? We're social beings, tied to one another in intricate webs of intercourse and understanding. We have friends and families, who are also profoundly affected by what we do. And if we might like to see the law changed to benefit us, we are not sure that it would also benefit other people. What are we doing to doctors when we ask them to help kill us? What sort of society are we helping to create? While we might personally gain relief from pain and indignity, what are other people losing?

2. We understand human nature. At least, if we read our Bibles we do. Proponents of assisted dying sometimes seem to live in a coolly rational world of a kind no one really ever did inhabit. In this world, everyone has everyone's best intentions at heart, and no one's motives are mixed. In the real world, it's very different. The aged father in the nursing home is burning through his children's inheritance. What's the point in keeping him alive? If he loves his children, he'll feel it too; better, surely, to end it? And if they love him, they won't want to see him suffer  but how much of that is genuine filial feeling, and how much is a desperate personal desire to be free, and not to feel so broken after every visit? And that's a 'normal', affectionate family  how does the dynamic change with hatred or indifference? Are we, as a society, comfortable with helping someone to die in that state of ungrace?

3. We don't believe people are disposable. We're right, I think, to fear a changed attitude to end-of-life care, with a moral pressure on sick people to do the decent thing and die quickly. After all, shouldn't our scarce resources be applied to caring for the living? But isn't that the point? Everyone's alive until they're dead. And at the very least, surely we should be resourcing communities  including hospitals and hospices  to such an extent that choosing to die early ought to be a vanishingly rare option.

I'm not convinced of the case for assisted dying, no matter how it's finessed. And that's not because of any theoretical objection to an early exit, but because as a Bible-reading Christian I think we need all the protection we can against the consequences of our own desire for autonomy.

Is it likely to happen anyway? Well, yes, I'm afraid so; choice is the great idol of our time, and its worshippers are irresistible in their fanatic zeal. And then Christians will have to develop a new moral awareness, both on our own behalf and that of the weak and vulnerable. We shall have to make even more sure that life is worth living, right up to its end.

Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods
GAFCON gathering claims 'sense of betrayal' at liberal Anglican teaching

A gathering of conservative Anglicans organised by the former Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, has called for liberal bishops not to be invited to the 2020 Lambeth Conference.

A GAFCON meeting for Anglicans in 'restricted circumstances'  where practising Christian faith is difficult or dangerous  in Dubai referred in a closing statement to 'the sense of betrayal they experience when the very gospel for which they are suffering is being undermined and denied in other parts of the Anglican Communion. It grieves us that those who reject the clarity and authority of the Scriptures, the universal teaching of the Church, the classical Anglican formularies and the decisions of the Lambeth Conference undermine the credibility of our witness amongst our fellow citizens of other faiths and of none,' the statement said.

It called for representatives of breakaway groups like the Anglican Church of North America and the Anglican Province of Brazil to be invited and warned that 'the fellowship in the Anglican Communion has been torn at the deepest level by those who preach another gospel and those who urge us to continue to "walk together" with them'.

Among those present were the Primate of All Nigeria, GAFCON chairman Nicholas Okoh, the Primate of South Sudan, the Primate of the Anglican Church in North America, the Moderator of the Church of Bangladesh and other senior bishops, including the Archbishop of Jos, the new general secretary. Together they represent the 'vast majority of faithful Anglicans', according to GAFCON.
Have Christians got Jeremiah 29:11 all wrong?

Jeremiah 29:11 has become the most popular verse on social media, according to a recent analysis.

In the version known by many Christians, it says: 'I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

However, G-d is not prophesying in English. He is actually speaking in Hebrew around 2,500 years ago to a Jewish prophet of exile from Israel called Jeremiah, speaking to the Jewish people in Babylonian exile.

Here is a more accurate rendition of the original, bearing in mind Hebrew grammar and syntax, context, history, Jewish commentaries and what we know about Jeremiah. My own explanations are in square brackets.

'For I [in contrast to the false prophets] know the thoughts that I am thinking about you,' says the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not towards evil, to give you closure and hope' ['closure' here could be 'something to hang on to', but doesn't mean this literally].

So what does Jeremiah really mean in chapter 29:11? How do we go about interpreting G-d's Hebrew word through His Jewish prophets?

A necessary condition for any Bible interpreter  absolutely essential in fact  is to know Hebrew as taught by people who are immersed in Judaism. In the past too many university teachers of Hebrew in this country have come from a classical public school background of Greek and Latin. They were taught to treat the Hebrew Bible as the dead letter of a dead deity that had now been replaced by the living Christian deity.

In addition, and tragically so for those of us who have been involved in clergy training for over 40 years, part of the contemporary mutation of Christian replacement theology is that Christians continue to regard themselves as the new people of G-d.

So a scholarly and reverential approach to the word of G-d, steeped in knowledge of Hebrew and related subjects, is nowadays often replaced by the latest vernacular sound-bite which makes people feel good.

But although Hebrew is essential as a starting point, it is not a sufficient condition for understanding the Bible.

Apart from knowledge of Hebrew, love for the Jewish Bible is also a prerequisite  a mixture of awe and intimacy  and an understanding of G-d's everlasting covenant with the Jewish people, through good times and bad.

So here is a lesson in biblical exegesis.

The personal pronoun 'I' is not necessary but only used for emphasis. It is there to contrast the false prophets of previous verses with G-d Himself. A reasonable interpretation could be: 'Don't listen to the false prophets. Only I, your very own G-d of the Jewish people, actually knows what I am doing and why.'

Next, there is no word for 'plan' in the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew word used means 'thoughts'  no more and no less. 'Prosper' is also a flight of fancy.

'Thoughts of peace and not towards evil'. 'To give you closure and a hope', that is 'something positive to hang on to while you are in exile in Babylon.'

So here is an interpretation based on the Hebrew and the context:

'Your present exile in Babylon, resulting from your constant breaking off your covenant with Me, will not necessarily lead to despair. It is not meant for your harm but for your benefit. Hopefully, having returned to Me in spirit by enduring exile in diaspora, you will one day be ready to leave exile, return to Israel and rebuild the Temple. But this will be only the start.'

Jeremiah does not talk about plans or prosperity. He talks exclusively of thoughts. But what do G-d's thoughts entail?

In Isaiah 55:8, G-d states: 'My thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not My ways'. And then comes a call to repentance.

Isaiah is regarded as less pessimistic than Jeremiah (who is also the author of Lamentations) and Isaiah's passage is read in synagogues during every Jewish fast day. It is famous. This passage immediately springs to mind when reading the Jeremiah passage on 'thoughts'.

We simply do not know G-d's thoughts, so how can we talk about G-d's plans, projects or intentions to prosper the average Christian who isn't conversant with Hebrew, may have scant regard for Judaism and is simply looking for a spiritual 'high'?

On the other hand, the Bible is supposed to be written in 'the language of man', that is, in human language. So we can very humbly try and explain G-d's 'thoughts' by analogy. Let me attempt to do this now.

Some years ago a senior Anglican bishop wrote asking me to pray for him during his upcoming pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I hesitated. It seemed to many of us that the church had broken its covenant with the Jewish people, its promise to safeguard and cherish us and protect us from harm as a miniscule minority in their midst. On the contrary, many church people, it appeared, were ignoring the tiny Jewish communities in their midst and placating all those who would destroy us.

So, as I felt betrayed by the much larger religion, what should I do? Prayer wasn't an option in this situation. And in any case Jewish prayer is not the same as Christian prayer. So I wrote back to my correspondent and stated that I would 'hold' him 'in my thoughts'.

In other words, I wasn't going to give him a plan, a Jerusalem pilgrimage itinerary  that is, suggest he miss out all the normal anti-Israel hotspots and instead visit the Jerusalem Forest, enjoy a Shabbat meal with a Jewish family, walk down George Eliot street, Jerusalem's most elegant (in honour of England's most pro-Israel, and probably greatest novelist), and generally acknowledge that Jerusalem is Judaism's capital city.

I knew that in present circumstances any specific plans or projects I suggested would fall on deaf ears. But his letter was by way of a peace offering, so I was happy to hold him in my thoughts, which meant that I would hope that by appreciating that I had responded at all, he would, during his pilgrimage and thereafter, embrace paths of peace towards the Jewish people and desist from further thoughts and actions of evil towards us. And, if we were very lucky, he might even, on his return, do something positive for the Jewish people to make up for the past.

And this restored relationship would hopefully lead to closure on the past relationship between church people and the Jewish people and open up a better relationship in the future. But that would have to be ongoing, with many stumbling blocks in the way, and not at all a smooth passage. And it is the church who would have to plan out the itinerary for this and not the Jews, who were the offended party.

That is what I thought about a representative of a group who had constantly betrayed us. What I was offering was not any sort of bribe or reward, but simply openness for a restored relationship.

Bearing in mind that G-d's thoughts are not our thoughts, this is the best I can do. After a lifetime of immersion in Bible and commentaries and a career as a translator and interpreter of some of our most revered Bible scholars, I can only approach the Biblical text with scholarship, awe and intimacy. Interpretation is in itself a holy task and should always be approached in fear and trembling, together with anticipation and joy.

But, you might ask, where does this leave the Christian who might feel excluded from this explanation? If Jeremiah is speaking about exile and return to the specific Jewish generation exiled in Babylon, what can the average Christian actually glean from such a text?

I hope to be touching on this question in another article.

Dr Irene Lancaster is a Jewish academic, author and translator who has established university courses on Jewish history, Jewish studies and the Hebrew Bible.
Leading UK charities seek legal clarity on ethical investments

Leading British charities and faith groups called on the government on Monday to review the law governing their investments to ensure they are ethically sound and do not contribute to climate change.

In an open letter to the government, a group of about 19 British charities and faith groups said they needed specific legal guidance on whether charities should invest in companies that contribute to climate change.

'It is now of real importance that charity law should be clarified in a way that acknowledges the need to align investment practice with the imperatives of responsibility to and for our global environment,' Rowan Williams, a former archbishop of Canterbury said in a statement.

The signatories, which include the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility and Quakers in Britain, called for a legal ruling on whether charity trustees have a duty to ensure their investments support their aims and benefit society.

Investments are crucial for charities to bolster their finances but there is no regulatory requirement in Britain for them to have a responsible investment policy.

Case law on the issue is outdated and public opinion is changing amid growing awareness about the dangers of climate change, a draft of the letter sent to media organizations said.

'There is some confusion amongst charity trustees about how they marry their responsibilities to benefit the public and their objects and their responsibility to achieve financial returns,' said Sian Ferguson, trust executive for three Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts, a signatory of the letter.

British charities invested 92 billion in the 2015/16 financial year, up from 81 billion the previous year, according to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the body that represents the sector and has backed the campaign.

These investments have come under increasing scrutiny amid a growing movement within the asset management industry to look beyond purely financial returns and consider the wider environmental and social impact of their investments.

For some investors, a more ethical approach might mean moving their money out of companies and funds they deem unethical, or actively engaging as a shareholder to change these companies from within.

A 2018 report by Arabella Advisors said investors with $6.2 trillion in assets under management have committed to divest from fossil fuels, up from $5.2 trillion in the previous report in 2016.

British conservation charity the National Trust came under fire last year for investing in a fund with holdings in fossil fuel companies, despite warning of the dangers of climate change.

The Church of England, a registered charity, invested in the now defunct payday lender Wonga through a fund, having previously criticised the company.

'It is as if the sector has been sleepwalking a little bit around these issues,' said Luke Fletcher, partner at specialist law firm Bates Wells Braithwaite, which drafted the letter.

'Generally the public hold charities to a very high standard and expects a great deal from them ... Our view would be that the law and practice is somewhere out of step with public opinion.'
Now CofE's Iranian Christians can celebrate Communion in their own language

The Church of England's first Persian language translation of its Holy Communion service was launched on Saturday at Wakefield Cathedral.

The new Farsi liturgy was authorised by the CofE's House of Bishops and features English and Farsi versions side by side.

Around 500 Iranians attended the service, at which the Bishop of Loughborough, Iranian-born Rt Rev Guli Francis-Dehqani, presided. With the Bishop of Bradford, Rt Rev Toby Howarth, and the Bishop of Durham, Rt Rev Paul Butler, who also took part in the service, she supports work with Persian Christians in England.

Francis-Dehqani's father was the late Bishop Hassan Dehqani-Tafti, who was forced into exile after an attempt on his life and the murder of his only son.

She told reporters before the service: 'This translated service is highly significant in the life of the Church of England as we seek to find ways to adapt to the reality where we find minority communities as part of our congregations.

'This enables English speaking and Farsi speaking people to worship alongside each other in an integrated way and is really significant. I hope it will be the first of others to come. There seems to be something happening. Iranians are quite spiritual in nature and if they come to our churches we want them to feel welcomed. This is a really joyful thing for us to celebrate. It is very exciting.'

In a message to the congregation, the Archbishop of Canterbury said: 'The book of Revelation paints a picture of a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne praising God. Today is a tiny foretaste of that glorious vision, and I pray that as you worship together you will catch a glimpse of the worldwide family of faith that we are part of by God's grace.'
Venezuela's Guaido to risk arrest as he returns home to challenge Maduro

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido plans to run the risk of arrest by returning home on Monday, after he ignored a court-imposed travel ban and toured Latin American allies to boost support for his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido's return, details of which his team have kept under wraps, could become the next flashpoint in his duel with Maduro as he seeks to keep up momentum and spur his international backers to further isolate the socialist government.

His arrest could allow the opposition to highlight how the Maduro administration represses political foes and prompt the United States to impose even harsher sanctions. But it could also strip the opposition of a public figurehead who has brought unity after years of infighting.

Guaido, who is recognised as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by most Western countries, said on Sunday he would undertake the 'historic challenge' of returning in time to lead protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period, an unusual time for demonstrations.

'If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make,' Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter, without disclosing his location. Guaido said they had prepared 'the steps to follow' in case he was detained.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on February 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But troops loyal to Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

From Colombia, he then travelled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but has not appeared publicly since, beyond the Twitter broadcast. To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City.

Maduro, who labels Guaido a coupmongering US puppet, has said his arrest depends on the justice system.

'He can't just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country,' he told ABC News last week.

The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials.

'If Maduro took that step, I think it would just hasten the day that he leaves,' US National Security Adviser John Bolton told Fox News on Sunday.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that 'all options be kept open' to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.
Daisuke Suzuki/SUB

WASHINGTON - LNG imports into Japan are expected to drop off 10 percent this year, as the country rebuilds its nuclear sector following the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima power plant, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Last year Japan restarted five nuclear plants, with six more receiving initial authority to resume operation from authorities, after shutting down all its reactors in the aftermath of a tsunami striking the Fukushima power plant.
Carnival rides have been a huge attraction at The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for almost 90 years.

Thrill seekers can be be pushed, pulled, tossed and spun around by a variety of rides.

But there have been several deaths on amusement rides across the U.S. over the past few decades. One of the most prominent occurred in 2015, when 45-year-old James A. Young II, died in Sandusky, Ohio while "attempting to recover his cell phone from a restricted area," per multiple reports.

In 2011, the The Hi Miler, a roller coaster that was previously operated at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, became the subject of a Houston-based wrongful death lawsuit after a man plunged 30 feet to his death on March 20 of that year, according to a Houston Chronicle report.

That ride was dismantled in the ensuing days and did not return to the event, according to that story.

However, several investigations did find issues with the ride and the explanations that followed the tragedy.

In July of 2017, an investigative team from CBS 21 DFW discovered that there are "no federal requirement for inspections."

So, it's up to each individual state to assign the task of ride safety to whichever government department is best-suited to the task.

In the Lone Star state, the Texas Department of Insurance is responsible for overseeing the inspections of carnival, water parks and rides of the like.

RODEO NEWS: Sign up to get updates delivered to your mailbox at HoustonChronicle.com.

However, that report from CBS 21 DFW also revealed that the TDI "has repeatedly said in reports to the legislature that it has "no efficient means of monitoring rides." And, it has "no effective means for recourse when instances" occur.

The TDI website states, "We do not employ or appoint inspectors; you'll need to hire an inspector that your insurance company approves."

Texas rides are inspected by third-party contractors at least once a year. An amusement ride compliance sticker is issued by TDI when the amusement ride meets all of the legal requirements for operating in Texas.

The Texas Department of Insurance has not yet returned a request for comment.

So how can you be sure the carnival rides at the RodeoHouston midway are safe? Both ride operators and rodeo officials say they go above and beyond state requirements for ride safety.

Barry Schaible has been in the ride-inspection industry for 30 years. He currently serves as a field representative for Coulter Associates, which is one of those contractors that performs inspections for the insurance companies in a number of states.

He inspects the rides, which are owned and operated by Ray Cammack Shows, every October at the Arizona State fair.

Chris Lopez, a vice president for Ray Camack Shows says the vendor has provided games, foods and rides to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for the past 26 years.

Ray Cammack Shows hires Coulter and Associates, with Schaible filling the role of inspector.

Paperwork and fees are filed for each ride to the Texas Department of Insurance for the permits.

Coulter and Associates is also hired for performing ride inspections before and during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The team arrives two weeks before the opening of the rodeo in Houston. They look at all the nuts and bolts of the equipment to make sure it is functioning properly and passes the ride's standards, according to Schaible.

On a daily basis, Schaible and his team execute a safety checklist that examines the machines and rider safety protocols.

The one-year inspection might seem like a concerned to those unfamiliar with this process. However, Schaible believes it works, especially compared to a few other states that use other mechanical inspectors who don't have years of experience.

"My whole life has been amusement rides," he said. "I know it, so it's a little bit different."

Schaible called past examples of serious injuries or deaths 'terrible,' and acknowledged machinery can malfunction.

But in his experience, the biggest problems occur when customers (mostly children), carelessly ignore instructions and potential consequences.

"Well, everybody wants their kids to put their hands up in the air and take a picture when they're on a roller coaster," he said. "That's not right. You're teaching your children to do it wrong."

Lopez also said that the requirements, such as height and size, among others, come directly from the manufacturers.

In an attempt to avoid any issues, his organization puts written signs throughout the grounds and at the location of each and every ride.

In addition, recorded audio safety messages can also be heard around all around the ride areas.

Operators of the machines have received extensive, ride-specific training.

Lopez and others at his company also came up with a supervising companion program for parents and guardians.

"We came up with this program to make our riders more responsible," Lopez said. "You would be blown away be people who don't want to hear their child cry or complain."

RELATED: Chron.com lists the most and least-fun rides at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

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.
Editor's Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for the Bahamas. The U.S. State Department has issued a level-2 travel advisory for the Bahamas, not a warning.

The Bahama Ministry of Tourism released the following statement about the advisory:

The Ministry of Tourism & Aviation is aware of the recent update to the U.S. Travel Advisory for The Bahamas. We would note that overall, their guidance to citizens remains a Level Two advisory recommending caution, but not actually urging delay or cancellation of travel plans to our islands. The U.S. has issued 208 Travel Advisories ranging from Level 1 to Level 4; The Bahamas is among 55 countries with a Level 2 advisory and we are in the company of France, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy, Mexico and China. We recommend that travelers to any destination maintain awareness of their surroundings and exercise basic precautions, as they likely would in their home cities and when not on holiday.

In reality, the vast majority of our 6 million annual visitors do so without any incident whatsoever. According to Royal Bahamas Police data for 2018 there were only 43 incidents involving tourists, of which 30 involved U.S. nationals, none (0) involved Canadians, and nearly all were minor offences. The Ministry of Tourism appreciates the efforts of law enforcement and congratulates authorities on the progress they have made in significantly reducing serious crimes like murder (-25%), armed robbery (- 18%), attempted robbery (-19%) and shoplifting (-23%). The safety of residents and visitors is of paramount importance and efforts to maintain and improve security are a constant priority for Bahamas authorities as is true for all governments.

Safety and security efforts include the use of CCTV in addition to a heightened police presence with foot, bicycle and motor patrols across all areas referenced in the advisory and tourist areas, including additional Beach Enforcement Officers that have been deployed to beaches frequented by visitors. Regular communication is in effect between the Royal Bahamas Police Force Land and Marine Units, Royal Bahamas Defence Force Harbour Patrol Unit and the Ministry of Tourism to ensure concerns are addressed quickly.

The Ministry of Tourism supports the various steps taken to address needed changes in regulation and enforcement of measures to ensure the safety of watercraft activities. The Port Department and, by extension, the Ministry of Transport and Local Government have sought to strengthen its laws governing vessels (including enhancements to the Commercial Recreational Watercraft Act) through the adoption of regional safety codes and requirements under the Small Commercial Vessel Code and Caribbean Cargo Ship Safety Code. Such Codes stipulate higher inspection standards, mandatory safety equipment required on board vessels, criteria for domestic or home built vessels, dry docking inspections and increased ship manning requirements.

These measures are being aggressively maintained or pursued by the Ministry of Transport and Local Government and the Port Department to ensure the Maritime Industry is effectively regulated, thus ensuring the safety of visitors and all seafarers. This effort includes joint and coordinated sea patrols by the Police Marine Unit, Defence Force Harbour Patrol Unit and the Port Department, and development of a citation and ticketing system for those not in compliance.

Safety and security on land and at sea is critically important for visitors and for the Bahamian people. Aggressive efforts are underway across all relevant Bahamian ministries and departments to ensure that our islands remain a destination that provides a welcoming environment where visitors enjoy our culture and our citizens enjoy economic opportunity.

Before booking your next summer vacation, be advised that one popular destination is now under a travel advisory for tourists.

The U.S. State Department just issued a level-2 travel advisory  "Exercise Increased Caution" for the Bahamas due to crime. This includes robberies, burglaries and sexual assault.

"Jet-ski operators have been known to commit sexual assaults against tourists," the notice reads.

Another potential hazard are also commercial recreational watercrafts, since a study found that some water-tour boats aren't regularly regulated.

LISTEN at HoustonChronicle.com: How Daddy Duncan's in Katy quickly became a barbecue powerhouse

"Watercraft are often not maintained, and many companies do not have safety certifications to operate in The Bahamas," the study reported. "As a result, U.S. government personnel are not permitted to use jet-ski rentals on New Providence and Paradise Islands."

The vast majority of crimes, the state department explained, occur in New Providence and Grand Bahama islands, both day and night.

More specifically, tourists are asked to avoid the area known as "Over the Hill" (south of Shirley Street), as well as the "Fish Fry at Arawak Cay in Nassau, especially at night."

YUMM: Best places to eat on a Texas road trip (updated)

Additional tips for those traveling to the Bahamas:

1. Don't open your door unless you know who's knocking.

2. Don't resist a robbery attempt.

3. Have a contingency plan for emergency medical situations and enroll in the e-Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you: step.state.gov.

For additional advice, review the department's travelers' checklist at travel.state.gov.

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Isabelle Huppert killed her father in a movie when she was 25, and she has been pretty much on a rampage ever since. She helped wipe out a family with a shotgun in "La Ceremonie" (1995), used crushed glass to wreck the hand of a piano student in "The Piano Teacher" (2001) and committed suicide while having sex with her son in "Ma Mere" (2004)  and this is just scratching the surface of a career that contains 138 screen credits. So it was inevitable that this French actress should eventually play the monster in a Hollywood horror movie, which she does in "Greta."

"Greta" is silly, but two things keep it from losing its audience midway. The first is the elegance of Neil Jordan's direction. The movie looks beautiful.

More to the point, it looks intentional. "Greta" is visually seductive, and every frame of it seems considered and carefully chosen.

And then there's Huppert, who plays Greta right on the line between sincerity and camp, so you can take the movie seriously or be in on the joke, whichever you prefer.

As always with Huppert, she finds the sense of the character without explaining the character, thus finding the psychological truth while remaining mysterious. She plays a tiny widow, who is seemingly French, living in a spacious (when you count the hidden rooms) Brooklyn apartment. She's all by herself, unless you count the dead bodies in the basement, but then, let's not get ahead of ourselves.

One day, on the subway, young Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz) finds a handbag that someone apparently forgot on the train. She takes it home, where her worldly roommate (Maika Monroe) encourages her to keep it, but Frances wouldn't think of doing such a thing.

Instead, she finds the address of the owner  Greta (Huppert)  and brings it to her. And Greta (Huppert), who looks harmless even if you've seen the coming attractions trailer, invites her in for coffee.

Greta is needy and lonely, but not annoying or pathetic. She strikes just the right notes to bring out a filial instinct, and so the two women become friends, for a time.

More Information **1/2 Review "Greta" Rated: R for some violence and disturbing images Length: 98 minutes **** Excellent *** Good ** Fair * Poor See More Collapse

And then  you could write the next sentence, couldn't you?  things go bad, then they go very bad, then they go calamitous and then unimaginably horrible. And Huppert remains blank and breezy, doing a winking version of a typical Huppert performance. Think of it as a kind of classics comics rendition for American audiences.

It's a tribute to both Jordan and Huppert that they can make a woman who is no more than five feet tall (on a hot day) scary just standing there. Jordan provides the eerie lighting and places her dead center of a frame that has movement all around, but she is perfectly still. And Huppert inhabits the stillness. She internalizes it, makes it something unforgiving, implacable, irrational, unreachable, unstoppable.

All the same, "Greta" is not just silly, but obvious, and without any hint of a larger purpose, beyond hitting the various plot points of the human monster genre.

Twenty minutes before the finish, it degenerates into a joke, and not a good one, but just fair enough to see through to the end.
Houstonians don't typically associate tony River Oaks with bank-owned properties, but in a mere six months we've already seen two multi-million-dollar houses under foreclosure in that area.

The half-acre property at 929 Kirby just hit the market and is being sold as-is. According to the listing agent, Julia Wang at Nan Company Properties, the new-construction house across the street from it sold for more than $8 million in 2018.
Standing in Bareback Bar & Icehouse, surrounded by fellow first responders, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman reflected on Deputy Brittney Buchkars service as a law enforcement officer.

She is one of the great female leaders in our department, Herman said. Shes a veteran with us. Shes been with us for quite some time. Not only the female officers I have, but the male deputies, they all look up to her for guidance. Shes a really great human being, a good person and were all here to support her.

Buchkar has been fighting breast cancer since her diagnosis in November 2018, but she hasnt let it slow her down. Even through treatment, she has continued keeping the citizens of west Harris County safe as a patrol deputy, all the while making time to spend with her 10-year-old daughter.

Family, friends, colleagues and even strangers gathered March 3 at Bareback Bar in Spring to help raise funds for Buchkars battle against breast cancer.

I never would have expected this many people, Buchkar said. People I havent even met saying, Well be there, we want to support you. Its amazing. It feels really good to know that Im not fighting alone.

Chaplain Pat Pechacek is with the Emergency Chaplain Group. Among the agencies served by the group is the Harris County Pct. 4 Constables Office. Pechacek met Buchkar for the first time at the benefit, but had heard her story wanted to show his support.

This is quite a journey for her  being a single mom and then facing this, Pechacek said. We want to come alongside her and support her in her situation and what shes having to face.

Buchkar recently finished treatments of Adriamycin, a chemotherapy drug, and started Taxol, another chemo medication, at the end of February. After 11 weeks of Taxol, Buchkar will have surgery, which she expects will take four to six weeks of recovery time  time shell have to take off from work.

Brittneys going through a lot with her health and we in law enforcement are a very close, tight-knit family, Herman said. Its important that we get out and support her during these times. They say that you wont get rich being a police officer (and) thats true. We dont make the best money, so a lot of these folks  Brittney included  work extra employment and she will not be able to do that once she gets to a certain point in this process.

After surgery, she will undergo radiation and then more chemotherapy.

The funds raised from the benefit will help offset medical costs and will allow her to take time off after treatments.

I pay every time I go in, so I dont have to work as many (extra jobs) as I did before, Buchkar said. Now, I can get chemo and just go home and not worry about having to work an EJ.

Buchkars mother, Stephanie Martino, had dyed her hair pink in support of her daughters fight against breast cancer. Only about 30 minutes into the benefit, the building was filled wall to wall.

The people that are here  we are so grateful, Martino said. It keeps her spirits up too. This gave her something to look forward to.

Among the guests were Jacinta and David Long, and their daughter Gabby, who run Pumpd Nutrition 249. Buchkar is one of their longstanding patrons and fan of the shops peanut butter and jelly smoothie.

We have a shop that supports breast cancer as far as donations go so when people that we know, especially our customers and friends, are affect by that, we want to help, David Long said.

Long and his family find inspiration in Buchkars strength, he explained before giving her a tearful hug.

We want all the best for her, for her family, her little girl, Long said. We pray for you every day.

Event guest Morgan Donnell is an avid supporter of law enforcement.

We own a bar in Tomball called Sportin Woodys and we do a benefit every year called K9s4COPs, so were really good friends with all the cops in our area, Donnell said. Weve known Brittney for a couple years now. Cops work hard. We have their back because theyre going to have your back.

Deputy Chief Eric Reinkemeyer with the Klein Fire Department explained why he feels supporting a fellow first responder is important.

Its a stressful job enough as it is, Reinkemeyer said. If we can show support outside of that, it really drives home that were all in this fighting the same fight.

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
The Galveston District-U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining a list of potential flood control measures that might be pursued as part of a Buffalo Bayou and Tributaries Resiliency Study.

And the community will have an opportunity to be part of the process later this spring, according to Sheri Willey, deputy chief of project management of the Galveston District-U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She spoke to a group of more than 100 at the Feb. 26 meeting of Barker Flood Prevention, a nonprofit advocacy group formed last year, at Kingsland Baptist Church.

The Corps is revisiting existing Buffalo Bayou studies because conditions have changed, said Willey. The Harris Count Flood Control District is the agencys nonfederal sponsor for the study, which Willey said will be 100 percent federally funded. The purpose of the $6 million feasibility study is flood risk management, she said.

According to Willeys presentation, the study scope will address residual risks associated with flood risk impacts to structures in the pool area upstream of both reservoirs and downstream along Buffalo Bayou.

Potential flood risk management measures include an additional reservoir/dam, increased reservoir storage capacity, improved outlet discharge capacity, improved inflow and outflow discharge channels and changes to the dam operation plan.

Officials are working to schedule scoping public meetings in April, said Willey that will allow the community to give us your input.

The Corps will identify problems and offer solutions that it has come up with. Tell us if there is something else we should consider, she said.

The three-year study began last October, she said, and more information and details will be available closer to the April meetings. Visit www.facebook.com/GalvestonDistrict or www.swg.usace.army.mil for updates.

The bipartisan budget Act 2018 approved in February included funds for post-hurricane relief for Harvey, Irma and Maria, said Willey. Of the $10.4 billion, the Galveston District-USACE received $4.5 billion.

We got a big chunk of money to help recovery from Harvey, she said.

Willey also address flood-risk management for Greens Bayou, Addicks & Barker dams, Brays Bayou, White Oak Bayou, Hunting Bayou, Sims Bayou, Clear Creek and the Brazos River-Fort Bend County.

In response to an audience question, she said, We do not have a project in Cypress Creek right now.

To several questions raised about Corps operations, Willey said she did not have information to respond.

Work to install new outlet structures at the Addicks and Barker dams is 62 percent complete, she said. The project, which started before Hurricane Harvey after an inspection of the dams revealed needed repairs, should be completed in April 2020.

The three-year Brazos River-Fort Bend County feasibility study is intended to reduce or mitigate erosion losses, to reduce the impact of increased flood risks and provide protection benefits for the public and infrastructure. Options could include levees and shoreline stabilization features, she added.

The corps also is involved in a three-year Houston Regional Watershed Assessment, which Willey said will look at all 22 watersheds, how they interact and if needs exist that require additional study.

The Corps of Engineers does what Congress tells us to do. We get authorization and funding from Congress, said Willey.

karen.zurawski@chron.com
Mardi Gras arrived early in Kingwood with a festival and parade from noon to 7 p.m. Saturday at Town Center Park.

This is the 11th iteration of the event, per Tony Austin, director of Town Center Park Association. He said that the number of floats was reduced this year  from 12 or 13 to six  since businesses in the area are still prioritizing recovery post-Hurricane Harvey.
District E residents are welcome to attend the Capital Improvement Project Town Hall meetings in March, according to press releases from Council Member Dave Martins office.

The first town hall will be at 6:30 p.m. March 19 in the Special Events Building at Space Center Houston (1601 E NASA Pkwy, Houston). It will focus on CIP projects  ongoing and planned  and latest happenings in the Clear Lake and Southeast Houston region.

The second town hall will address similar issues but for the Kingwood and Lake Houston areas on March 21. The venue for this 6:30 p.m. session is the Kingwood Community Center (4102 Rustic Woods Drive, Kingwood).

Both town halls will feature Martin as host and Mayor Sylvester Turner as well as local representatives as speakers.

Various agencies will also be on-site to provide post-Hurricane Harvey updates. Chief Recovery Officer Stephen Costello and Congressman Dan Crenshaw will deliver these at the Clear Lake and Southeast Houston town hall.

Per the press releases, Hurricane Harvey intake specialists will set up an information table at both meetings. This is part of an initiative that Martins office, in collaboration with the City of Houston, launched earlier in February to direct homeowners toward resources needed to recover after Harvey.

Before attending the meeting, please make sure to take the Harvey Recovery Survey online or by calling 832-393-0550 (Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), a line in the press release read.

The Clear Lake and Southeast Houston town hall will also have information tables from the Clear Lake City-County Freeman Branch Library, Clear Lake City Water Authority and METRO set up at 5:45 p.m.

For more information, call Martins office at 832-393-3008 or email districte@houstontx.gov.

nguyen.le@chron.com
Tom McCorkle, For The Washington Post / Tom McCorkle

This meatloaf hits the spot the way the home-style favorite should. It is hearty, moist and meaty, with a tangy tomatoey topping that cooks down to a mouthwatering glaze.

But this recipe has the bonus of being better for you than most for three reasons: It is made with lean meat; it incorporates a whole grain; and it has extra vegetables. Ground beef that is 90 percent lean or more is used in place of the more typical 75 to 85 percent, keeping this meatloaf well in the healthful zone when it comes to saturated fat. (You could substitute ground turkey, but I recommend getting the kind that has at least some dark meat mixed in so that it also is about 90 percent lean.)
A proposed four-year contract to extend the Village Fire Departments emergency services to Bunker Hill Village is under discussion. If approved, the agreement would allow Bunker Hill to rejoin the department as a voting member on Jan. 1, 2024.

Last September, the city of Bunker Hill effectively left the VFD when its council approved the operating portion of the 2019 budget but voted down funds for capital improvements to the firehouse. The heated disagreement began last summer as Bunker Hills leadership wanted to see improved emergency response times to its city.

Piney Point Village Mayor Mark Kobelan presented the proposed agreement at the monthly Village Fire Department Commission meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Kobelan began by describing several meetings and conversations in recent weeks that discussed the situation with officials from the six Memorial Villages the VFD serves. Kobelan said Bunker Hill Village Mayor Jay Williams expressed disappointment that his citys proposal to the commission in December had not been met with better support from the other cities and concern at the clock ticking on Bunker Hills potentially losing emergency services at the end of this year.

A few reasons came up for the four-year contract that would start on Jan. 1, 2020 and extend through 2023. Kobelan said Williams wanted longer than one-year extensions for services currently being contracted through the VFD because that situation would leave the city rushing to build facilities in order to provide services. Also, the commission wanted to make sure that all the planned improvements to the fire station were completed by the time Bunker Hill re-entered, and the work should be completed by the start of 2024.

According to Kobelan, Bunker Hill is still considering the idea of having a separate EMS (Emergency Medical Services) station at its own expense. Although an option for the VFD providing partial services  fire and backup EMS  to Bunker Hill had been floated, Kobelan said the other Villages were not interested in that idea.

We determined that the only thing that made sense was either full service from the fire department or no service, Kobelan said. Partial service was not a realistic possibility, and we felt pretty strongly about that.

The proposed agreement would provide Bunker Hill with contracted emergency services through the end of 2023, require that the city pay its 19 percent share of all of the VFD budget and allow the city to construct an EMS station using its own funds. Additionally, the VFD would still provide Bunker Hill with full services, even if it had its own EMS, and Bunker Hill could re-enter the VFD beginning Jan. 1, 2024, but would need to give the commission notice 18 months in advance or by June 30, 2022.

Kobelan laid out the next steps, including drafting a letter of intent that each of the six Villages would need to approve and then writing a contract for the VFD to provide services to Bunker Hill. Kobelan said after that, changes would need to be made to the interlocal agreement defining that the VFD budget can include both operating expenses and capital improvements, that each city has to approve the whole budget each year to continue as a member of the department and that a city that leaves the department cannot receive any assets from it.

Bunker Hill Village Fire Commissioner Derry Essary offered mixed reactions to the proposed plan.

Most of our city officials are pleased that there appears to be a path to obtaining emergency services from the Village Fire Department for the next four years. Hopefully we can reach a final agreement that both sides find acceptable, he said. Unfortunately, the issue of Bunker Hill Village response times has not been addressed. Therefore, we will continue to develop a plan to address this issue for the citizens of Bunker Hill and particularly the citizens on the southern and western borders of the Village Fire Department service area.

The average response time to all the six cities was 4 minutes, 25 seconds and to Bunker Hill was 6 minutes, 7 seconds, according to David Foster Village Fire Department chief.

While Hedwig Village Mayor Brian Muecke voiced appreciation for the hard work put in my multiple indivdiuals toward finding solutions and the progress thus far, he said the outcome still remains uncertain.

First, I extend my sincerest thanks to the volunteer officials of the five current VFD partner cities for providing overwatch for the residents of Bunker Hill during their leaders recent bewilderment, Mueke said. Progress has been made by the partner cities toward assuring continued protection for Bunker Hill residents, but much work remains to be done. I am hopeful that Bunker Hills current leadership will continue to stay out of its own way as we five go through this process to guarantee their residents safety.

The next meeting of the Village Fire Department Commission should take place in March but as of publication, a date had yet to be decided. For updates, visit http://villagefire.org/.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.com
FBI Violent Crime Task Force

An early morning armed bank robbery has the FBI Violent Crime Task Force asking for help in indentifying and locating the suspect.

The man robbed the Capital One Bank at 1629 S. Voss Road, at the intersection of Voss and San Felipe, shortly after the bank opened on Monday. Crime Stoppers of Houston will offer a reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to the identification and arrest of the bank robber.
courtesy of the Montgomery County Jail

A 23-year-old Arkansas man working in Montgomery County turned himself into law enforcement authorities Sunday after a late-night fatal hit-and-run crash lead to the death of a 17-year-old boy who was found in a ditch in New Caney.

Logan Chase Foster, of Centerton, Arkansas, was arrested and charged with an accident involving death, and as of Monday afternoon was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $100,000 bond, according to jail records.
Feb. 11

At 3:09 a.m., Officer Younger responded to a single vehicle accident that occurred at 4700 Bissonnet St. Officer Younger was first on scene and observed a single vehicle that had crashed into the light pole. The driver was found injured and unconscious in the driver seat of the vehicle. The driver was transported to a hospital for his injuries. Alcohol was located in the vehicle and the strong odor of alcohol could be smelled emitting from the drivers breath. A search warrant was requested and executed for a sample of the drivers blood for possible charges of driving while intoxicated.

At 2:54 a.m., Officer Ortega observed a vehicle in the 6500 block of Second Street to be traveling without headlights and then travel eastbound in the westbound lanes of the 4800 block of Bellaire Boulevard. Officer Ortega placed the driver into custody for driving while intoxicated.

At 2:09 p.m., a subject was involved in a heated verbal confrontation over money while a passenger in a van driving north on 610. Several occurrences happened which drew the attention from other drivers who believed an assault was in progress. The suspect was found with marijuana and he was arrested for paraphernalia. Other potential charges based on the subjects reported behavior were denied by District Attorney.

At 1:42 p.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Station to meet with a reportee who wanted to file a report for burglary of habitation in the 5300 block of Maple. The victim stated items were stolen out of his attached garage.

At 4:03 p.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to the 4600 block of Mimosa Street in reference to a burglary of a motor vehicle call. Upon the Officers arrival he spoke to the victim who stated an unknown person(s) went into his unlocked vehicle and took a wallet and a cell phone.

Feb. 12

At 3:12 a.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to an in progress theft at the 4900 block of Holt Street. Officer Ortega was advised unknown suspects were stealing the wheels and tires of a vehicle parked on the street. Suspects were gone upon Officers arrival.

At 7:40 a.m., Officer Jenkins was notified of a burglary to motor vehicles in the 10 block of Town House Court. The victim stated she parked her vehicle in her driveway on Feb. 11 and when she came out Feb. 12 she found the back passenger window broken out.

At 2:40 p.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Station lobby to meet with a reportee about his ATV being stolen in the 4600 block of Verone.

Feb. 14

At 3:22 a.m., Officer Vorhees was dispatched to the 5100 block of Spruce Street in reference to a burglary alarm. Upon arrival, Officers observed forced entry to the front of the business. Officers made contact with the owner who advised from security video suspect broke door glass at approximately 0322 hours with forced entry into the business but did not take anything.

At 5:52 p.m., Sgt. D. Kerr, was dispatched to the 4500 block of Bissonnet Street in reference to a disturbance in the middle of the street. Upon arrival, Sgt. Kerr observed the suspect banging on the door of a Metro bus. The suspect then stepped in front of the bus and did not allow the bus to proceed further. Sgt. Kerr attempted to get the suspect out of the street but the suspect fled. He was caught and arrested for evading arrest/detention.

At 3:13 p.m., Officer Trujillo was dispatched to the 5100 block of Huisache Street in reference to a theft call. Upon Officer Trujillos arrival he spoke to the complainant who stated an unknown person(s) took his debit card and used it without his permission. The victim also advised Officer Trujillo that a firearm came up missing within the last two weeks prior to this report.

At 3:22 a.m., Sgt. D. Hollie was responding to an alarm for a business in the 7200 block of Rice Avenue. Sgt. Hollie observed a vehicle leaving from the immediate vicinity. Sgt. Hollie checked the Texas temporary license plate attached to the rear bumper. This Texas temporary license plate returned as expired 12/29/18, and did not return to a make or model of vehicle. Sgt. Hollie made a traffic stop on the vehicle for this reason. After further investigation, the driver and front seat passenger were found to be in possession/use of criminal instruments. The rear seat passengers were taken into custody for a Harris County warrant and city of Houston warrants.

At 7:12 p.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the 4400 block of Vivian Street in reference to a theft. Upon arrival, Officer Andrade met with the victim who stated at approximately 1630 hours, a suspect stole a package off of her door step.

Feb. 15

At 3:22 a.m., Bellaire Officers were dispatched to a burglary alarm at a local business at 6300 S. Rice Ave. Officer Bellard and Officer Bailey observed a silver Lincoln leaving the area of the business with the alarm activation. Officer Bellard observed the defendants vehicle to have a defective license plate light. Officer Bellard initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and after further investigation the defendant was arrested for unlawful possession of criminal instruments and a parole violation warrant.

At 3:58 p.m., Officer D. Norman was dispatched to a criminal mischief report that occurred at 4700 Bellaire Blvd. Officer Norman made contact with the victim who advised the driver of another vehicle threw an object at his vehicle which caused damage to the front right passenger door.

At 8:04 p.m., Officer D. Norman was dispatched to 4500 block of Teas Street in reference to a theft of packages from the residence front porch. Officer Norman made contact with the victim who advised he had two packages taken from his front porch between 2 and 4:30 p.m.

At 2:54 p.m., Officer D. Norman was dispatched to 5600 Evergreen St. in reference to a burglary of a habitation. Officer Norman made contact with the victims who advised a Hispanic male approximately 25-30 years old knocked on his door and asked him about some landscaping work in the backyard. As the victim and the male were in the back yard an unknown suspect(s) entered the residence and stole items. Officer G. Carson assisted with this case.

Between 7 p.m. Feb. 16 and 9 a.m. Feb. 17, an unknown suspect or suspects, entered the front yard in the 5200 block of Maple Street and removed approximately 15 concrete landscaping stones. Officer Clisham was dispatched to the location at 3:29 p.m. Feb. 17, and met with the victim and gathered information regarding the theft.

At 4:30 p.m., Officer Clisham made contact with a subject in front of the Bellaire Police Station who was stating a group of people were following him and trying to kill him. After further investigation, the subject was found to be armed with a hand gun and carrying extra ammunition. The subject was also found to be wearing a bullet proof vest. After the above mentioned subject made multiple suicidal statements, he was transported the Neuro Psychiatric Center where he was held for evaluation and treatment after Officer Clisham filed an Emergency Detention Order.

Feb. 18

At 3:34 a.m., Cpl. D. Clawson was stopped at the Shell gas station located in the 5900 block of IH 610 West Service Road. He observed the defendant stopped at the steady red light at the intersection of 4700 Fournace Place. Clawson observed the defendant to rapidly accelerate his vehicle causing the tires to spin and squeal while beside another vehicle. He then began to follow the defendant and observed him unable to maintain a single lane of traffic and drifting into an adjacent lane. Clawson conducted a traffic stop for those offenses and during the course of the traffic investigation it was determined the defendant was driving while his license was invalid with previous convictions. The defendant also had 5 confirmed city of Houston warrants. Officer Younger assisted in this case.

At 12:45 p.m., Officer Schwausch was patrolling the 7500 block of IH 610 SB when he observed a white Corolla travelling in front him with expired registration as of 07/16. Officer Schwausch initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and found the driver was driving with a suspended driver license and without proof of financial responsibility. The driver was arrested for driving while license invalid-enhanced.

Feb. 19

At 9:39 p.m., Officer Vorhees was dispatched to the 6300 block of Elm Court in reference to a robbery in progress. Two unknown suspects walked into the victims garage and robbed them at gun point. Officer Carson assisted in this case.

Feb. 20

At 8:21 a.m., Officer D Rocha conducted a traffic stop on a black-colored four door Jeep vehicle for defective brake lights in the 6600 block of South Rice Avenue. The driver was identified by his Texas drivers license and subsequently found to be operating a motor vehicle while his drivers license was currently invalid /suspended. Driver was also found to have seven outstanding warrants from Harris County Precinct 7 Constable. Driver was arrested and taken to the Bellaire Jail where he was booked for the charge of driving while license invalid suspended / enhanced with no insurance and the confirmed Harris County Constable warrants. Officer Lopez assisted on this scene.

At 4:10 p.m., Officer Trujillo observed a black 2013 Mercedes with expired Texas paper plate in the 5000 block of Bellaire Boulevard westbound. Officer Trujillo initiated a traffic stop in the 5000 block of Bellaire Blvd. The driver was arrested for driving while license suspended.

Feb. 21

At 9:10 a.m., Officer D. Rocha initiated a traffic stop on a gray colored Toyota Tundra pickup for expired registration in the 6700 block of IH 610 West Service Road. The driver was identified by her Texas identification card. The Texas license plate which was displayed on the truck was checked by Bellaire dispatch database and found to be a stolen vehicle. The vehicle was seized and the driver subsequently arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Officers T. Quimby, C. Licketto, H. Lopez and J. Jenkins assisted on this scene.

At 6:33 p.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the Bellaire Police Department lobby to meet with a reportee in reference to theft in the 4300 block of Vivian Street. Upon arrival, Officer Andrade made contact with the victim who stated he was picked up by an UBER from the airport and after arriving to his destination in the city of Bellaire, the UBER driver snatched his phone out of his hands and gave himself a tip and a five-star review. This case is under investigation.

Feb. 22

At 2:57 p.m., Officer D. Norman initiated a traffic stop on a 2000 Black Ford Mustang for expired registration in the 4700 block of Bellaire Boulevard. Upon further investigation, the driver was arrested for driving while license invalid and the passenger for possession of a controlled substance. Officers M. Andrade and J. Trujillo assisted Officer Norman in this case.

At 6:32 p.m., Officer Andrade was dispatched to the 4400 block of Edith Street in reference to a theft. Upon arrival, Officer Andrade made contact with the victim who stated on 02/14/2019 at approximately 1637 hours, a white male suspect stole packages off the front porch. This is an open investigation.

Feb. 23

At 9:44 p.m., the victim contacted the Bellaire Police Department to report an identity theft in the 4900 block of Willow Street. Officer Ortega was dispatched to the station to take the report.

At 2:50 a.m., Officer Younger located a disabled vehicle at 6700 IH 610 Loop South West, occupied by one person. Officer Younger observed the vehicles passenger side tires completely shredded and the rims severely damaged. The investigation revealed the driver to be driving while intoxicated. The driver was placed into custody and processed without incident.

Feb. 24

At 10:30 p.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to the station in reference to a suicidal patient in the 100 block of Whipple Drive. After further investigation, Officer Ortega determined the patient not to be a danger to himself or others at the time of contact.

At 3:09 a.m., Officer Ortega was dispatched to a citizen following an FSGI suspect on the 7500 block of IH 610 East Service Road. Officer Ortega located the vehicle in the 4500 block of Mayfair Street and observed the defendants vehicle to have front end damage. After further investigation, Officer Ortega placed the driver into custody for driving while intoxicated. Officer Bellard assisted in this case.

At 7:36 p.m., Officer Carson was dispatched to 6701 Chimney Rock in regards to the victim having his vehicle stolen with two of his children inside. An unknown black male suspect stole the vehicle, and then abandoned the vehicle in the shopping center of 5608 Gulfton. The children were located inside the. The grandparents of the children came to the scene and they were released to them. Corporal Porter and Officers Norman and Clisham assisted with this case.
Feb. 22

An Officer was dispatched to the 4100 block of Bellaire, to speak with a complainant in regards to an unauthorized purchase on their credit card. A report for credit card abuse was generated.

An Officer was dispatched to the 2900 block of Sunset in reference to a burglary of habitation already occurred.

Feb. 23

An Officer was dispatched to the 6500 block of Buffalo Speedway in reference to a burglary of a motor vehicle that already occurred.

Feb. 24

An officer was dispatched to the 6700 block of East College Street in reference to a theft that already occurred.

Feb. 25

At 1:22 p.m., an officer was dispatched to the 5300 block of Kirby Drove in regards to a theft that already occurred.

Feb. 26

An officer was dispatched to meet with a Harris County Constable Precinct 7 Deputy who had an individual in custody with outstanding warrants with the City of West University Place Municipal Court. The individual (Keith Lewis) was taken into custody and transported without incident.

At 11:15 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the Harris County Joint Process Center to pick up a prisoner with outstanding West University Place Police Department warrants. The officer took custody of the prisoner (Rudolph Salinas) from jail staff and transported him to the West University Place Police Department Jail for booking.

At 1:56 p.m., an officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle with altered paper plates in the 5900 block of Buffalo Speedway. The driver was later arrested for driving while license invalid.

An Officer was dispatched to the Medical Center to meet with TMC- Police in reference to a subject with outstanding warrants. The subject was taken into custody and booked on the warrants without incident.

Feb. 27

An officer observed a vehicle traveling, above the posted speed limit, northbound in the 5600 block of Buffalo Speedway. A traffic stop was conducted and during the subsequent investigation, the driver was found in possession of a vape cartridge possibly containing an illegal substance. The cartridge was seized to be tested for the presence of illegal substances and the driver was released from the scene.

At 9:31 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the 3000 block of Carnegie in regard to a report of an animal biting a resident that had already occurred.

An officer was dispatched to the 4100 block of Amherst in regards to a found license plate. A found property report was generated.

Feb. 28

An Officer was dispatched to the 4200 block of Rice in reference to a found vehicle license plate.
Montgomery County officials are urging residents to prepare for freezing temperatures and issuing a freeze watch through Tuesday morning.

According to information from the Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management the county and surrounding areas will experience cold temperatures falling to between 25 and 30 degrees by early Tuesday morning. Freeze watch should go into effect midnight.

A Freeze Watch means sub-freezing temperatures are possible. These conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation.

MCOEM also urged resident to check on neighbors with limited mobility.

Below are some heating safety tips from the National Fire Protection Association:

Heating equipment is a leading cause of home fire deaths. Half of home heating equipment fires are reported during the months of December, January, and February. Some simple steps can prevent most heating-related fires from happening.

* Keep anything that can burn at least three feet away from heating equipment, like the furnace, fireplace, wood stove, or portable space heater.

* Have a three-foot kid-free zone around open fires and space heaters.

* Never use your oven to heat your home.

* Have a qualified professional install stationary space heating equipment, water heaters or central heating equipment according to the local codes and manufacturers instructions.

* Have heating equipment and chimneys cleaned and inspected every year by a qualified professional.

* Remember to turn portable heaters off when leaving the room or going to bed.

* Always use the right kind of fuel, specified by the manufacturer, for fuel burning space heaters.

* Make sure the fireplace has a sturdy screen to stop sparks from flying into the room. Ashes should be cool before putting them in a metal container. Keep the container a safe distance away from your home.

* Test smoke alarms at least once a month.

Stay informed and monitor conditions for Montgomery County and the surrounding area on the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management website www.mctxoem.org, Facebook or twitter, and NOAA Weather Radio.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
From rock climbing to meeting Smokey the Bear, hundreds of families celebrated Arbor Day and a special occasion Saturday.

The families came out to experience an outdoor-oriented family fun day at the 15th Annual Woodland Expo Spring Fling 2019 that included about 80 vendors, 100 educational booths, Chikawa Aztec Dance performances, an adventure zone and wildlife along with Smokey Bears 75th Birthday Celebration.

This event has gone amazing; everybody was singing Happy Birthday to Smokey the Bear, said Dawn McCook, forester with the Texas A&M Forest Service. Just on that field alone was 400 people.

During the grand-opening celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony, Lone Star College-Montgomery was recognized as a Tree Campus USA. Silvia Wiggins with the Montgomery County Beautification Association read the Arbor Day proclamation and recognized five school district winners for the Arbor Day Poster Contest.

All five of those schools get to take back a tree to plant at their campuses and those five winners are now Arbor Day ambassadors for the year, McCook said.

Attendees had a chance to wear Smokey the Bear hats and get hands-on with snakes, turtles, owls, reptiles at least one Wolfdog and more. Thousands of free trees, plants, and flower seeds were also provided, including about 200 sunflower seeds from various vendors and over 3,000 tree seedlings from the Texas A&M Forest Service.

There was a little daycare class of 20-25 kids and they were all very happy, said Avery Patterson with Lowes who handed out the sunflower seeds.

Sarah Bierhalter of The Woodlands attended with her family for the first time and said the event had activities that appealed to both her toddler and her 12-year-old, including archery.

Im impressed by the variety of vendors here, she said.

Dash Maddox, 10, highlighted his favorite parts too.

I like doing the fun activities and rock climbing, he said.

His mother, Lauren Maddox, said the family traveled from Montgomery to attend for the third time. She enjoyed gathering information about upcoming events from the vendors to plan ahead for family activities.

Our kids get to learn a lot, experience new things and have a good time, Maddox said.

For those who were unable to attend, McCook reminds the community to check out the W.G. Jones St. Forest website and social media for more upcoming opportunities and learning experiences in Conroe.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
Montgomery is close to selecting a new police chief after cutting the search down once again on Saturday.

After a very long and productive day talking to the four candidates the council was provided, we have narrowed it down to two contenders, Councilman Jon Bickford said.

The interviews were conducted in a closed meeting for several hours before the council took the unanimous vote that authorized the City Administrator Jack Yates to move forward with background checks on the finalists and to report back to the council as soon as possible in executive session on the results.

On Feb. 12, City Administrator Jack Yates confirmed the council narrowed down the search to five candidates with an announcement anticipated within six weeks of that day. However, on Saturday morning Yates said one of the candidates withdrew because his personal situation had changed. The names and experience of the candidates were requested, however Yates said the candidates asked that the city officials not disclose that information at this time.

The city is seeking a successor for Jim Napolitano, who retired following administrative leave. The police department is currently under the command of Lt. Joe Belmares, who appeared at the meeting during the closed session. City officials could not release information at this time as to whether or not the interim police chief or any current employees of the department have expressed an interest in the position or applied.

Yates previously said he, along with two local citizens with lengthy law enforcement backgrounds, assisted in the review of the total of 42 applications for the position.

While specific information could not yet be released about the applicants, Yates confirmed in a previous article that most of the applicants have 10 years or more experience with most having the state of Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Master of Law Enforcement certifications, and several who have served in Montgomery County.

They both have more than 10 years of experience, Yates said.

No further information was available.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office is broadening its review of criminal cases to include the work of another officer linked to the botched Pecan Park drug raid that left two residents dead and five officers injured, officials said Monday.

More than 800 cases handled by Officer Steven Bryant  who has been relieved of duty while investigations are ongoing  are now up for review. Of those, about 30 are active cases.

The move comes weeks after prosecutors announced a review of more than 1,400 cases involving Officer Gerald Goines, the embattled narcotics agent behind the Jan. 28 raid that ended in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas.

"We have a duty to the people of Harris County to pursue justice in every instance, no matter how many cases this involves," District Attorney Kim Ogg said Monday in a news release. "We are going to thoroughly review each of these cases to ensure that the arrests and convictions were proper."

Prosecutors are notifying defense lawyers of the expanded review, and putting a hold on resolving any cases until the review is complete, officials said.

A Houston Police Department spokesman said officials there have taken similar actions.

"This review of cases is something HPD had already begun," said spokesman Kese Smith. "The DA's actions as announced today were both anticipated and welcome."

IN-DEPTH: Goines, HPD officer in drug raid, had previous allegations against him. Find the details at HoustonChronicle.com.

HPD officials relieved Bryant of duty as questions mounted about the circumstances behind the raid.

Officers burst into the home at 7815 Harding St. after obtaining a no-knock search warrant. A gunbattle ensued, leaving the two homeowners dead and four officers shot. A fifth officer was injured in the scuffle.

The Pecan Park bust  and the officers' actions  have drawn close scrutiny after the raid failed to deliver the expected heroin and investigators realized they couldn't find the confidential informant reportedly behind the undercover drug buy.

In a search warrant for Bryant's phone data, an investigator with HPD's Special Investigations Unit wrote that Bryant told investigators he had retrieved two bags of heroin from the center console of Goines' police car at the instruction of another officer.

That, however, was not consistent with the affidavit used to obtain the warrant for the Jan. 28 raid, in which Goines wrote that Bryant identified heroin brought out of the house.

Though he took the two bags of drugs for testing to determine that they were heroin, Bryant eventually told investigators he had never seen the narcotics in question before retrieving them from the car.

RELATED: HPD Chief Acevedo says narcotics cop committed likely crime by lying in affidavit for deadly raid

The scandal  one of the worst to hit HPD in years  prompted Chief Art Acevedo to conduct a wide-ranging audit of the narcotics division and promise to equip warrant teams with body cameras and to end the use of most no-knock raids. The FBI also opened a rare civil rights investigation into the circumstances behind the allegedly falsified warrant.

Houston Police Officers' Union President Joe Gamaldi declined to comment on the expansion of the district attorney's case reviews, citing the ongoing investigation, while defense attorneys lauded the broader look back.

"It's a good, sensible move and frankly everybody in that squad should have every case reviewed that they touched," said Pat McCann, a local defense lawyer and past president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association.

It's not clear how long the review process might take. Last month, Ogg said she planned to head back to county leaders with a request for more prosecutors in light of the massive case review.

The push for more positions came just after a failed bid to get funding for 102 new prosecutors, a $21 million budget request slapped down by the Harris County Commissioners Court in February. At the time, Ogg argued that understaffing at all levels in her office could prevent prosecutors from evaluating cases eligible for diversion. In the aftermath of the raid, Ogg argued the new positions could help expedite the wide-ranging case reviews.

"These are individual cases; justice has to be meted out in every one," Ogg said last month. "It takes time; we need some more investigators. We can get there with the understaffing that we have, it's just going to take longer."

Sam Walker, a police accountability expert and professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the review was a "very important" step to determine the extent of potentially compromised cases.

"If you have a sense or some evidence this officer has been involved in similar (cases) its absolutely essential to investigate those incidents," he said. "It's an important way of getting at really systemic misconduct and what we might call repeat offenders ... It may be that some of them are not confirmed as being misconduct; it could be many."

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Pedestrans walk through the Car-Free Zone in Rwanda's Kigali. The country has become an investor magnet because of its stable political climate and its economic growth

Investment levels in Rwanda reached $2 billion since the beginning of this year, according to data recently released by Rwanda Development Board (RDB).

Figures by Rwandas Development Board (RDB) show 173 projects worth US$2 billion had been registered in the country by the beginning of 2019, boosted by major manufacturing and mining projects.

This figure is expected to increase in the coming months.

In the last few years, the country become an investor magnet because of its stable political climate and its economic growth.

Rwanda launched initiatives such as Kigali Special Economic Zone, a designated area on the outskirts of the city, which accommodates manufacturing companies. The zones have attracted international companies such as Volkswagen opening factories.

The government gives investors access to plots at a subsidized rate among other incentives.

About 31 000 jobs were created in the economy related to those investments showing an increase in business activity, said RDBs Chief Investment Officer Guy Baron.

Rwandas economy is expected to grow by 7.8 percent in 2019 helped by farming, mining and construction.

Over two decades after the 1994 genocide, Rwandan president Paul Kagame has been hailed for the economic recovery but rights groups say he has muzzled independent media and suppressed opponents.
"Tornado Alley" could be in for a rougher season than usual.

And Monday's news offered a little bit of proof.

First responders in Lee County, Alabama told reporters that a deadly tornado claimed at least 23 lives, and injured dozens more individuals.

It was the deadliest tornado-related total since May 20, 2013, when 24 people were killed by a twister in Oklahoma, the Storm Prediction Center reported.

Last year, only 10 people were killed by tornadoes in the U.S.

The National Weather Service office in Birmingham told news outlets that the first tornado that landed in Lee County was "at least" an EF-3. That tornado is marked as "severe," with winds 158 to 206 mph.

Could Texas be next?

The answer is complicated.

The northern region of Texas represents the bottom of "Tornado Alley."

The other areas represented, according to Accuweather.com (a weather news service) are "much of northern Texas northward through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and parts of Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Colorado."

Last week, the AccuWeather released a report that predicts Tornado Alley will see more tornadoes than it has the past three years.

RELATED: The Latest: Death toll from Alabama tornado rises to 23

"We believe warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures over the Gulf of Mexico will lead to increased moisture transport from the Gulf over the region and ultimately a higher frequency of severe weather in these areas," said AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok.

The report also predicted that "there will be 1,075 tornadoes in 2019, which is nine percent more than the 987 tornadoes in 2018."

However, some experts have been critical of these projections.

One report from The Washington Post cites a number of weather experts and professors who want AccuWeather to "show their work" its 2019 predictions.

The National Weather Service reported 52 tornadoes hit the entire state of Texas in 2018. That figure was the fifth-highest mark of any state in the U.S.

Five tornadoes took place near the very bottom of the Texas-Louisiana border.

*The data also shows that six tornadoes took place near the greater Houston area.*

While Houston doesn't technically reside in Tornado Alley, the latest incidents in Alabama, as well as the projections from AccuWeather, might be an indicator of what's to come.

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.
Culinary skills of 10 Houston-area chefs will be showcased at the Third Annual Chef Fest noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, March 10, at Harvest Green.

The food festival at the Harvest Green Village Farm, 8939 Harlem Road in Richmond, will demonstrate the interrelationship of local agriculture and commercial kitchens to create innovative food.

There are as many different types of farm-to-table relationships as there are cuisines, said Scott Snodgrass, co-owner of Agmenity, the Houston-based company responsible for organizing Chef Fest. Chefs regularly reach out to farmers asking them to grow new crops or harvest a crop differently. Farmers get to expose chefs to their own favorite crops and even parts of plants that are often considered waste.

Among the chefs dishing out bites to the crowd will be:

Richard Knight: A leader in the Houston culinary scene, Richard Knight opened internationally famous Feast. He is a James Beard Southwest Semi-Finalist. This spring, he will open Atlas Diner within the Bravery food hall.

Paul Lewis: British-born, Paul Lewis has a culinary career that spans four-star restaurants in England, Ireland and the United States. He is the executive chef for Vinnys, Indianola and Miss Carousel in Houston.

Evelyn Garcia: Chopped Champion Evelyn Garcia is the founder of Doyennes Dinner, a woman creative collective supper club, and is the chef and owner of Pop-Up Factory. She also is the Chef in Residence at The Decatur Bar.

Dawn Burrell: The Executive Chef of modern Southern restaurant Kulture in downtown Houston, Dawn Burrell can usually be found at the local farmers market sourcing ingredients for her global comfort food.

Patrick Feges: Patrick Feges is a self-taught pitmaster and graduate of the Texas Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu in Austin. He opened Feges BBQ with his wife Erin Smith in March 2018.

Sky Hanka: Referring to herself as Culinary Wildflower, integrative chef Sky Hanka offers a conscious and restorative herbal approach to cooking. She works at educational farm, Blackwood Land Institute.

Tony Luhrman: The chef and owner of the award-winning El Topo food truck, Luhrman is committed to hand made food, seasonal produce, and responsibly sourced meat.

Jonny Rhodes: After training at high-profile restaurants across Houston, Jonny Rhodes found success with Jensen Chronicles  a pop-up restaurant serving serious southern African American-inspired eats. He recently launched Restaurant Indigo.

Alvin Schultz: MasterChef finalist Alvin Schultz brings his innovative approach to flavors and food to Mind Body Fuel where he has created a meal subscription plan that helps clients achieve overall better wellness.

Jane Wild: Baker extraordinaire Jane Wild is known for the award-winning Jane and John Dough Bakery in Tomball. She currently leads the culinary team at Dunlavy Kitchen.

General tickets including all food and five drink tickets for adults 21 and over are $95 for adults, $30 for children ages 5 to 16 and free for ages 4 and under. A VIP experience is available for $130 and includes access to on-site parking, a unique dessert experience and a private lounge with a bar serving premium cocktails. A portion of the proceeds benefits Ill Have What Shes Having whose mission is to support women's health initiatives. Visit www.cheffesthouston.com for information.
As Fort Bend County Judge KP George brought his Countywide Listening Tour to Precinct 3 on Feb. 28, he learned that residents are concerned about flood mitigation and dispatching by the sheriffs office.

About 100 residents came to Parkway Fellowship Church, 27043 FM 1093 in Richmond, as part of the judges second tour. The tour included Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers, Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Kelly Crow, Precinct 3 Constable Wayne Thompson, Sheriff Troy Nels and other department heads who gave brief introductions and helped answer audience concerns and questions.

Flood mitigation

Victims of Hurricane Harvey wanted to know what the county is doing about flood mitigation.

The countys response to Hurricane Harvey, said George, is the reason he said he reorganized the Office of Emergency Management. Effective Feb. 12, the department now is called the Fort Bend County Homeland Security & Emergency Management office. Mark Flathouse, who had served as fire marshal, is the emergency management coordinator as the county combines the fire marshals office with homeland security. Meyers said he supported the reorganization.

During his campaign for judge, George wrote that During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, we witnessed many of our countys citizens suffer due to a poor emergency management system. That needs to change. People need to know when to get out of their homes when there is a flood. Proper communication needs to be delivered at the right time with the right information. Emergency shelters need to be prearranged well in advance for disaster events.

At the Feb. 28 meeting , George said, A combined department will do a better job. He said the reorganization will save the county $250,000 and result in better response times and communication. We are working to make it better for our residents. People should know in advance where they need to go to be safe.

Flathouse said he is working with other agencies since his appointment and will be busy before hurricane season to continue to improve communication and prepare the county. We need a game plan for the next hurricane season.

Meyers said Fort Bend County applied by the Jan. 31 deadline for federal grants from the Texas Department of Emergency Management for funding of flood mitigation. County Commissioner Court minutes show officials applied for grants for five areas in the county including $40 million for the Bessies Creek Detention Basin and $80 million for the Jones Creek Detention Basin.

The commissioner said he has approached state officials about the possibility of state funds providing the 25 percent local match. Other options include the county providing funds or the creation of voter-approved special districts which would call a bond election to raise the matching dollars.

The county also is looking into the impact of the recalculation for a 100-year event by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meyers said the NOAA standard now is 12 inches in a 24-hour period. NOAA has determined that it should be 16 inches in a 24-hour period. Some people not in the flood plain will be in the flood plain then, he said. The change also could impact premiums for flood insurance, he said.

Sheriff dispatch

The Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office prior to Jan. 1 dispatched the closest deputy to a service call in unincorporated areas. A procedural chance now has dispatchers first call sheriffs deputies. One man from the audience who raised concerns about safety since the change received applause from those around him. Other speakers raised the fact that a number of subdivisions have contracts with the constables office and pay extra for patrols and security. Meyers said 20 subdivisions in Precinct 3 have contract deputies.

Saying he was concerned about the safety and security of Fort Bend residents, Nels said a lot of emotion and misinformation are connected to the dispatching change. Since the change, he said response times have improved. He asked for six months before evaluating the change to see where the situation is at. I believe we will continue to improve service in Fort Bend County.

Thompson said he had asked the sheriffs department to return to the former system but had received no response. According to Thompson, 95 percent of Precinct 3 is unincorporated. Meyers said, I hope the sheriff goes back to dispatching the officer closest to the call.

George told audience members that they would receive answers to their questions. Were looking into it and were looking for a solution.

A Feb. 11 post on on the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Facebook page about the procedural change drew more than 150 comments, not all of them positive.

Other topics

Residents also raised questions or concerns about other topics.

Animal Control: The county said it is open to ideas on how to further lower the number of animals at Fort Bend County Animal Services that are euthanized and said progress is being made.

Online voter registration: Meyers said he opposes allowing people to register to vote online until measures can be implemented to protect and safeguard the integrity of the voting process.

Revenue Caps: In response to a resident question about revenue caps, Meyers said that county commissioners adopted a resolution opposing efforts in the Texas Legislature to impose revenue or appraisal caps upon Texas counties. The resolution adopted in January also asked the Legislature to address school funding and replace the property tax burden. At the meeting, Meyers explained that the county collects about 15 percent of the total property tax revenue in the county. Over the years the state has increased mandates for the county but not provided funding for them, he said. Since the county cant control funding for the mandates, it opposes the revenue cap, he said.

County assistance districts: A resident asked how county assistance districts benefit residents. The districts are created by voters and use sales tax collected within their boundaries for local projects. Meyers said those sales tax dollars have paid for roads and funded patrol officer positions as well as a library and parks.
Whats been a long-standing tradition to raise money for breast cancer research at Mitchell Intermediate in The Woodlands has also seemed to benefit the students. This year, for the 12th annual Paint the Path Pink 5K Run and Walk, the story is no different.

We wanted a way to get our kids here at the school involved in supporting something bigger than themselves, Katie McLean said, who is at teacher at Mitchell and one of the founding members of the event.

The event began when Mitchell Teacher Eric Pattons wife, Ina, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. Another teachers wife was in the same situation at the same time, and so the Mitchell community circled them in support.

It was a way for not only our staff but our kids to rally around and help support something they could be proud of to really make an impact, McLean said.

Though Ina was treated and in remission, last year she developed metastatic cancer as a shock to the community and passed away just a few weeks before the 2018 event.

Now, the Pink Team of teachers who organize the event say that Paint the Path Pink continues in Inas spirit.

Mitchell Principal Paula Klapesky said that by raising money for a cause thats close to home for the school community, her pre-teen students can realize that life is bigger than their own world.

Interested in attending? Visit The Rose website to find more details and register to walk or run. See More Collapse

I want (the students) to realize that your confidence can build by helping others more than helping yourself. This is one way we can make a difference, Klapesky said. Were not just here to teach math and science and language arts and social studies. Were here to make an impact and make (the students) better people.

Klapesky has been the schools principal for 21 years, so shes seen how this event has changed the students, teachers and parents in their community since its inception.

Karen Rincon, a Mitchell teacher, added that through the event, her eyes were opened to just how many students know someone with the disease.

When you first start it, you think about the people who are closest to you (like the Pattons). Then, you start to hear about all the kids in the school who have mothers or grandmothers or aunts who are also suffering from this horrible disease, Rincon said

Even though the event has grown from just 300 runners to over 1,000 with students of all ages and their families coming out to participate, the event still focuses on the Mitchell community.

This year, the Ribbon Cutter who starts the race is a Mitchell teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few months ago. Her name is Georgie Bauer, and shes going through treatment right now. Klapesky said shes proud and honored to have Bauer cut the ribbon this year.

The event is March 30 at the Mitchell Intermediate Campus along Alden Bridge Drive. It is to begin at 8:30 a.m. with preview of the silent auction items, and the race is to start at 9 a.m.

All proceeds raised benefit The Rose, a Houston-based nonprofit dedicated to providing access to screening, diagnostics and treatment services regardless of a patients lack of insurance. Klapesky said they chose to fund this organization because it provides services to local women.

The Rose has purchased mobile vans (for mammogram screenings) in rural communities. Thats one of their initiatives: to reach out to people who arent near a hospital, Klapesky said.

McLean said that in the past 12 years, the community has raised almost $400,000 total. They have a goal this year to raise $30,000. Though the event initially supported the Avon Foundation, McLean said they like that all the money stays local with The Rose.

One in eight women are diagnosed every three minutes. Its pretty mind-blowing when you think about it, and it doesnt matter what socioeconomic background you areit strikes everyone, McLean said. Its pretty powerful when you see all those people out there walking for the same reason.

jane.stueckemann@chron.com








Former Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for the first time in 2013, when he attempted to recruit her as one of his stellar candidates for the 2015 election. We talked about the future of Canada and his convictions with respect to Indigenous peoples, she said, as quoted on the National Post. I came to see formal political participation as a chance to be part of a government whose leader made a solemn commitment to fundamental change with a vision for true reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Following this event, Wilson-Raybould became a part of Trudeaus government, serving as some kind of poster child for the Liberals who saw her as a link to their reconciliation with theindigenous people.

However, the recent story published by Globe and Mailalleging that the Prime Ministers Office had pressured Wilson-Raybouldto help Quebec engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution, would most likely change this relationship forever. Wilson-Raybouldshas now become Trudeaus principal antagonist.

It can be recalled that the indigenous people had voted massively for the Liberals in the 2015 elections, following their campaign which preached a reconciliation message to the indigenous people. With his relationship with Wilson-Raybould now shaky, it is uncertain if Trudeau can gather this kind of support once again from the indigenous people, come October 2019 elections.

For Russ Diabo, a First Nations policy adviser, this development suggest that the welfare of the indigenous people is no longer at the top of the minds of this government. The treatment of Jody Wilson and her demotion, and moving Philpott and all of these things, it all signals that the government is shifting its priorities and Indigenous issues arent up there, he said. He projected that Indigenous people will just stay home during the elections this year.

To be fair, the Liberals have made some efforts towards fulfilling promises made to the indigenous people during the election campaign in 2015. According to National Post, They (Trudeaus government)have launched a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women split the Indigenous affairs department in two, and supported a bill calling for the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). They claim to be on track to eliminate all long-term drinking-water advisories on First Nation reserves by March 2021, and they've invested billions in First Nations education. They've recently tabled long-awaited Indigenous languages and child welfare legislation in the House of Commons.

However, only a few of these efforts have been successful.

Theyve been masters of promising everything but not delivering at the end of the day, said NDP reconciliation critic Romeo Saganash. I hope people will have understood by now. This has been going on for 150 years.

However, a few people still hold faith that there is still room for a reconciliation

Very often, we see that people say that this is the end of reconciliation,said Ry Moran, director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, I personally do not feel that reconciliation is dead, because so long as there remains one single person that holds within their hearts the idea of a fair and just and equitable country that fire of reconciliation is still burning.
Want to get away to Hawaii? Houstonians wishing to take advantage of Southwest Airlines' newest route from California to Hawaii can book now. But you better do it fast if you want a low fare. Real fast.

The Dallas-based airline announced Monday that it will begin flights from California to Hawaii starting March 17. Tickets went on sale Monday, although all flights from California to Hawaii appear booked as of noon.

A news release from Southwest Airlines listed flights from Oakland or San Jose to Honolulu or Kahului as low as $49. But those fares appear to have sold out quickly.

While the airline doesn't offer direct service from Hobby Airport to Hawaii (and we don't expect they ever will), Chron.com found a series of flights between April 27 and May 6 for about $561. That costs, however, does not include two overnight stays in Oakland during layovers on both flights.

By comparison, a Delta Airlines flight on the same date from Houston to Hawaii with layovers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport would cost about $639, according to Expedia.com.

The cheapest non-stop flight from Houston to Hawaii on those dates is with United Airline for $744.

Southwest's flight from California will fly out of Oakland and San Jose, with other airports in San Diego and Sacramento coming later this year.

Although tickets are getting booked fast, (the $561 deal found by Chron.com is probably gone by the time you're reading this), Southwest Airlines is expected to announce more flights from California to Hawaii on March 14.

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
Air Force Major Andre McDonald is a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, Andreen Nicole, 29, who authorities believe is dead and was charged Sunday in connection with the case.

McDonald, 40, was booked on a charge of tampering with evidence because he had torn up a receipt for the purchase of a shovel, an ax, gasoline and other material that investigators believe he intended to use to dispose of her body.

"I love my daughter. I love my family. That's it," said McDonald as he was led away by deputies Sunday afternoon at the Bexar County Justice Intake Center.

More details on ExpressNews.com: Air Force major, based in San Antonio, suspected in wifes death

Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputies already had detained him Saturday for a mental evaluation by the Air Force. Until Sunday afternoon they had refrained from calling McDonald a suspect, though they said there were indications a homicide had occurred and that he was not cooperating with the search.

After developing further information at the McDonald residence Saturday night, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said a second search warrant for the house was obtained.

"We found some things really quite disturbing," Salazar said. "The evidence consisted of a shovel, an ax, some heavy duty trash bags, some work gloves, and two 5-gallon containers of gasoline." He said they also found a portable burn barrel.

RELATED: Husband of missing woman detained for mental evaluation after bizarre gun purchase

Salazar said the items found in the home led investigators to believe that the implements were going to be used to dispose of a body.

"We believe that Andreen McDonald is no longer living," Salazar said.

Andreen McDonald, a local business owner, was reported missing Friday by friends who say she never showed up at the gym or work.



Salazar told reporters Saturday morning that it was a missing person case marked by "very suspicious circumstances."

"There is literally no sign of her anywhere," and her husband had declined to speak to deputies who initially questioned him Friday, asserting his rights and retaining an attorney, Salazar said.

A receipt later discovered in McDonald's home by investigators showed that the items found there had been purchased earlier Saturday, according to Salazar.

"There was quite a bit of effort that went into destroying that receipt to try to prevent us seeing where it was purchased and when it was purchased," Salazar said. "That led us to obtain a warrant of arrest for Andre McDonald for the charge of tampering with evidence."

The couple's 6-year-old daughter is being cared for by a relative. "This little girl is autistic, mostly nonverbal. To us, it's pretty evident she saw something. She saw what happened to her mom, and that's the most heartbreaking part of this case," Salazar said.

This breaking news story will be updated as information becomes available.








Indian students have become the biggest foreign nationality on Canadian campuses, thanks to President Donald Trumps unfriendly immigration policies. Indian students who previously flooded US campuses, now prefer to study in Canada, owing firstly to the ease of obtaining work permits and immigration documents in the country, and also owing partly to the low value of the Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar, says an article on The Globe and Mail.

This began recently, mostly as the United States is proposing stringent new criteria for the issuance of H1B foreign-worker visas.

With the H1B scare, everyone is flocking to Canada, said VivekGirreddy, an investment banker who graduated from McGill University in 2015, quoted in the article

Urvashi Malik, founder of CollegeCore Education, one of the biggest college counselling and advisory firms in Delhi, also confirms that this change is due to the uncertain political climate in the United States.

Its related to Trumps policies as far as migrants are concerned, she said. The result is that Canada is definitely getting more popular.

Last year 172,000 Indian students held a study permit for Canada, topping the Chinese students who held 142,000 study permits, according to figures provided to The Globe and Mail by the Canadian High Commission in India. 107, 795 students arrived in Canada from India last year, while only 85, 825 arrived from China who always topped the list in previous years.

The article states that the University of Toronto witnessed a 225% increase in undergraduate Indian student since 2014.

U of T offers Indian students experiential learning opportunities, including paid professional co-ops and internships in some programs, that allow Indian students to gain valuable North American work experience, said Ted Sargent, vice-president international, quoted in the Globe and mail. The university has recruited Indian students for 13 years, and president MericGertler will travel to Mumbai in March to open an urban research and entrepreneurship centre  but also to meet with alumni and high school students interested in applying to U of T, Mr. Sargent said.

The University of Saskatchewan, witnessed a 128% increase in undergraduate Indian in the past five years, while the number of Chinese undergrads decreased by 13%.

Students from India are increasingly choosing Canada as an education destination over the more traditional destinations of the U.S. and U.K., said Alison Pickrell, the assistant vice-provost of strategic enrolment management at the University of Saskatchewan, in a statement.

As is to be expected, Canadian universities are making a lot of money from becoming the preferred country of study. For instance, in the University of Toronto, Canadian arts and science students paid $6,780 in tuition fees for the year 2019, while international students paid $49,800  this is about seven times the tuition for domestic students. With fees like this, it is unlikely that Canada would tighten up its student visa conditions any time soon.

According to a 2017 report for Global Affairs Canada, in 2015 and 2016, total spending by international students and their visitors reached $28.3-billion, of which $13.9 billion came from Ontario alone.
Key changes also introduced to increasingly popular pathway to permanent residence

Canada extends Atlantic Immigration Pilot Key changes also introduced to increasingly popular pathway to permanent residence

Canada extends Atlantic Immigration Pilot Key changes also introduced to increasingly popular pathway to permanent residence

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Canada is extending its Atlantic Immigration Pilot to December 2021 in a bid to maintain the programs momentum, the federal government has announced.

Launched in 2017 for an initial three-year run, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot (AIP) was created to address labour shortages in the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The pilot allows designated employers in those provinces to hire eligible foreign skilled workers and international graduates of universities and colleges in the Atlantic Canada region.

According to statistics released by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), 1,896 employers in the Atlantic Canada region have made 3,729 job offers through the AIP since its launch in 2017 and 2,535 principal applicants and their families have been approved for permanent residence.

Demand for the AIP last year led IRCC to increase its annual allotment of new admissions to Canada through the pilot by 500 spaces.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

The Atlantic Immigration Pilot is a cornerstone of the Atlantic Growth Strategy, a joint federal-provincial initiative that is focused on economic development in the Atlantic Canada region.

Canadas Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, said extending the pilots lifespan will give the Government of Canada and the Atlantic Provinces more time to experiment with different approaches and to assess the programs medium and long-term impacts on the region.

Since 2017, the Atlantic Immigration Pilot has been very successful in attracting skilled immigrants to the Atlantic Canada region, Hussen said. IRCC and the Atlantic provinces have worked very hard and will continue to do so to ensure the pilot can address the unique labour and demographic challenges of the region.

IRCC also introduced the following strategic program changes to the AIP:

International graduates will now have 24 months post-graduation to apply for the AIP. IRCC said this change will increase the number of eligible international graduates that can participate in AIP and give them the time they need to complete the PR application process.

Employers in the health-care sector will be able to hire internationally trained nurses to work as continuing care and home care support workers in order to fill job vacancies.

The Atlantic provinces will have new authorities to focus their AIP spaces on in-demand labour market needs. This change will lead to better oversight of the pilot and give provinces greater ability to manage designated employers.

Beginning May 1, 2019, IRCC will require that applicants meet the language, education and work experience requirements of the AIP prior to being approved for a work permit.

A key advantage of the AIP is that designated employers do not have to go through the process of obtaining a Labour Market Impact Assessment for jobs endorsed under the pilot program.

In order to be eligible, foreign workers must have a full-time job offer from a designated employer and possess at least one year of full-time (or part-time equivalent) paid work experience in an occupation designated Skill Type 0, Skill Level A or Skill Level B under Canadas National Occupational Classification (NOC).

To consult the full list of eligibility requirements, visit this dedicated page.

Find out if you are eligible for any Canadian immigration programs

 2019 CICNews All Rights Reserved
On a tree-lined road in the heart of Westchester County, it is easy to assume that Brookside Elementary School in Ossining is a stereotypical well-funded suburban school. Property taxes in the county are higher than anywhere else in the country, and the population is still increasing, just like it was in the 1960s when the fictional Sally Draper of Mad Men fame attended Brookside.

Things are very different now though, according to Ray Sanchez, superintendent of the Ossining Union Free School District. Rising enrollment meant the school library was split in two in order to create a new classroom. Students learning English as a second language study in a space behind a curtain as cafeteria workers prepare lunch on the other side. A combination of increasing enrollment, rising poverty and more special-needs students mean that the district needs more state funding to keep up, Sanchez said. Those three things in my opinion should be driving dollars to help address the various needs that exist, he said. The $85,000 funding increase in Gov. Andrew Cuomos proposed state budget is not enough for the districts six schools, according to Sanchez, who has joined with other superintendents to form a group called the Harmed Suburban Five.

There are reasons for Sanchez and other educators to be optimistic about their funding prospects in the upcoming year. Democrats won big majorities in the state Senate and Assembly last year in part on a platform of increasing funding for public schools. Newly elected legislators include state Sen. Robert Jackson, who was the lead plaintiff in the landmark 2006 Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling, and state Sen. Shelley Mayer, who represents a nearby Westchester County district, chairs the Education Committee. The Assembly Democratic conference always fought tooth and nail to get more money for school funding, Mayer said in December. We just couldnt always get all that was deserved. So Im hopeful that this is a great moment to move forward on this very basic priority for every district. Thats the No. 1 issue.

But with just a month until the April 1 state budget deadline, significant disagreements on school funding remain between Cuomo  with his proposed $27.7 billion education budget  and key Democratic lawmakers who want to push that number higher. At the heart of the dispute is the Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling to provide a sound basic education for all students. Legislation enacted after the ruling  the State Education Budget and Reform Act  allocated $5.5 billion in funding for Foundation Aid, which was meant to help poorer school districts, but that funding dried up once the Great Recession hit in 2009. Lawmakers say the state owes more than $4 billion in retroactive Foundation Aid funding to school districts statewide and want $1.66 billion of it this year. Cuomo has disagreed  saying in December that the Foundation Aid program and CFE lawsuit were ghosts of the past  but proposed $338 million in additional funding nonetheless.

Teachers, school officials, activists and the state Board of Regents back the lawmakers, but Cuomo has substantial leverage over the budget process. Plus, an unexpected $2.3 billion budget shortfall makes money even tighter in Albany.

The lawmakers push for more education funding is also complicated by two other proposals in the executive budget. One would increase the states authority over how aid reaches individual schools, and another would consolidate a variety of aid programs  measures that some key lawmakers say need to be dropped before a budget deal can be reached.

We are all talking about the same thing, education equity, Mayer said in a recent interview. This is the path to the middle class for these students, but they have to have the really strong basics (that) an appropriately funded school can provide.

In practice, Cuomo and state lawmakers have very different ideas about what equity means. With the highest per-pupil spending in the nation, Cuomo has argued for months that more needs to be done to ensure that districts allocate increases in education funding to the schools that need it most. Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, New York City schools and 75 other school districts had to report how much they spent per student at each of their schools. A total of 306 districts will do the same this year, with all 674 districts that receive Foundation Aid reporting such data next year.

"It was a scam. You gave money to the poorer district, but they didn't give it to the poorer schools." - Gov. Andrew Cuomo

The data reported by the first 76 districts is at the heart of Cuomos argument that districts must be compelled to direct more to schools with relatively low per-pupil spending. A November report from the the Rockefeller Institute of Government found that the poorest schools in New York City get 12 percent less per student than the wealthiest schools. In Buffalo, the poorest schools received 26 percent less per student than the richest schools. Cuomo called the current school funding formula a scam in January. You gave money to the poorer district, but they didnt give it to the poorer schools, he said.

The governors budget proposal would require districts to prepare equity plans  subject to the review and approval of the state Education Department  to detail how they will increase per-pupil spending at high-need schools, as defined by the state Division of the Budget. The school district is responsible for coming up with a plan, and in doing so, they maintain local control, said Morris Peters, a budget division spokesman. Only if the school district fails in their responsibility to develop an approvable plan would (the state Education Department) intercede as a backstop, but the intent is for the local school district to tackle the important problem of school inequity with their own solution.

Critics like Jackson insist that Cuomos proposal only moves the state further away from its original Foundation Aid targets. The Governors plan to address the supposed inequities within districts is a smoke-and-mirrors game intended to erase the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, he said in a Feb. 4 statement. But the Foundation Aid formula must be fulfilled.

Critics say categorizing which schools count as wealthier than others is all relative. The Buffalo schools that the Rockefeller report classifies as wealthy have student poverty rates as high as 77 percent, the Alliance for Quality Education said in a press release. The same pattern exists in other high need districts included in the report.

Lawmakers, activists and educators are also skeptical of a proposal to consolidate several different funding programs into a single funding source. In past years, this funding was used to reimburse districts for expenses like new school buses, computers and textbooks. But Cuomos plan to cut costs by streamlining the process makes some lawmakers suspicious about how a wide range of expenses would have to compete against each other. Thats just a naked attempt to reduce the overall amount of aid for these functional budgets, said state Sen. John Liu, chairman of the New York City Education Committee.

At a Feb. 6 legislative budget hearing, lawmakers, school administrators and activists were largely opposed to Cuomos changes and the amount of education aid that he proposed. State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia noted in her testimony that she and the Board of Regents recommended $1.3 billion more in Foundation Aid than Cuomo, and multiple advocates and experts argued that judging equity by comparing per-pupil spending can be misleading. School spending isnt like water, according to testimony from the New York State Council of School Superintendents. One glass is a bit low, so pour a little more water in that one. Jennifer Pyle, executive director of the Conference of Big 5 School Districts  which represents Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, Syracuse and Yonkers  said that school-level reporting requirements add another layer of administrative work while providing data of questionable value. New York City schools Chancellor Richard Carranza testified that school administrators have a complex decision-making process to figure out how new school funding should divvied up among 1,600 schools  rather than basing those decisions largely on per-pupil spending.

Democrats may now have strong majorities in the state Legislature, but the dynamics of this years education funding battle could boil down to the same bottom line as in years past. Its always a difficult time trying to find money for all the good things in government, said Assemblyman Michael Benedetto, who chairs the Education Committee. It is not just education, youre also talking about health and transportation too. These are all important needs that our state must somehow fund.  Certainly though, the education of our children is paramount and that has to be one of the principal things we look at. Thats what we are going to be trying to do in the next few weeks and hopefully, by the end, we will find a way to satisfy all of those needs.

How much the state has been shortchanging New York City schools

In 2007, in the wake of the Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling, New York agreed to increase its Foundation Aid funding to New York City schools. But the state has since fallen short of its own formula.
On January 8, a list of 12,000 names arrived in the inboxes of Robert Lewis and Jason Paladino, reporters with the Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California, Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. The reporters had filed public records requests with the states Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training in 2018 for the names of California law enforcement officers and applicants for police jobs who have been convicted of a crime in the past 10 years.

There were many stories in it  the list included current and former officers with serious felonies on their records  but Lewis, Paladino, and their editors werent sure what the story was. Three weeks later, when the journalists received a letter from California Attorney General Xavier Becerras office, telling them to destroy the records and claiming that possessing them was a criminal offense, they knew what the story would be. The headline, as it ran February 26 in both the East Bay Times and the website for the public radio station KQED: California keeps a secret list of criminal cops, but says you cant have it.

In some ways, the story is that letterthe fact that the attorney general doesnt want these records out there, Paladino says.

Paladino and Lewis are still working with the data, checking names to make sure theyve identified the right people and looking up individual cases in county courthouses. Thousands of the names on the list dont belong to police officers, but Paladino and Lewis matched about 3,500 names on the list to officers in state personnel databases, and 2,250 of them have been active within the past five years.

RELATED: The really dangerous precedent for reclaiming public records

The letter from Becerras office isnt slowing them down, though they say it is distressing. Im very hopeful that this is just sort of an idle threat, says Lewis, who works for Investigative Studios, a nonprofit production company affiliated with the university program. Ive been a reporter for more than 15 years, and Ive never had anything like this happen on a story.

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The letter, from Deputy Attorney General Michelle Mitchell, makes two core claims. The first is that the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training released the records inadvertently, and their release should be effectively undone by the UC Berkeley team destroying the records. (The Golden States supreme court ruled in 2016 to protect reclamation of inadvertently released materials; such claims remain rare outside of California.) The records never should have been released, the letter claims, because they were drawn from a confidential law enforcement database of criminal records. Second, Mitchells letter warns Lewis and Paladino, you are hereby on notice that the unauthorized receipt or possession of the records is a misdemeanor (emphasis in the original letter).

I hold the attorney generals office in high regard  but I do not know how this letter got out of the AGs office.

Lewis and Paladino, and their editors and attorneys, dispute both claims. The commissions release of the records was clearly intentional, they say, pointing to a month of back-and-forth between the reporters and the commission about what records to gather and how long they would take to produce. The reporters made their requests on December 6; at no point, they say, did anyone at the commission suggest the records should be exempt from disclosure. The spreadsheet itself is composed of information that is public, available in federal and state court filings.

The threat of criminal liability for possession of the records appears unfounded in California law. Mitchells letter cites a state law that says it is a misdemeanor for an unauthorized person to buy, receive, or possess records or information from the state criminal records database. However, that law has an exemption for anyone covered by the states media shield law, including reporters, editors, and anyone connected with or employed by a news organization.

ICYMI: A reporter asked for 20 years of lottery winner data. After analyzing the records, he noticed something unusual.

Given the plain language of the statute, there is no way they can credibly threaten prosecution, James Wheaton, the founder and senior counsel of the First Amendment Project, says.

I hold the attorney generals office in high regard  but I do not know how this letter got out of the AGs office, Wheaton, who since this storys publication has been retained by Paladino, says. I hate to say it, but its a bullying tactic: send a shot across the bow, throw around words like misdemeanor, and see if you can scare somebody.

The attorney generals office did not make anyone available for an interview. Instead, it provided a statement repeating its position as outlined in the letter. The Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training did not reply to an interview request.

This isnt Becerras only tangle with the media over records of police misconduct. Hes being sued by the First Amendment Coalition for his refusal to turn over records from internal investigations of alleged law enforcement misconduct. Such records have historically been kept secret in California, even from prosecutors and defense attorneys, making it one of the worst states for public access to law enforcement records.

A new law that went into effect January 1 changes some of that, requiring the release of records in cases of officer shootings or other major uses of force, as well as proven sexual assaults and dishonesty on the job.

Police unions claim the law should only apply to records created after January 1. Trial courts in the state have come down on both sides, but most courts in the states large counties have ruled in favor of releasing the records. Becerra has said in court filings that the law should apply to older records, but his office still refuses to turn over its own pre-2019 files.

The attorney general has been really disappointing, John Temple, the director of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, says. I dont know the AG, and Im not trying to cast any aspersions on his character, but Id say as a leader, when it comes to the publics right to know, hes been disappointing at best and terrible at worst.

ICYMI: BuzzFeed reporter discusses controversial scoop

This story has been updated to state that James Wheaton has been retained as counsel for Jason Paladino.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Tony Biasotti is a freelance writer in Ventura, California. Find him on Twitter @tonybiasotti.
A limousine company dispute in Connecticut has resulted in a $750,000 settlement for 23 current and former drivers.

The Connecticut Law Tribune reports that drivers for Connecticut Limousine recently agreed to settle their lawsuit over allegations the New Haven-based company illegally withheld wages by misclassifying the drivers as independent contractors, instead of employees.

A lawyer for Connecticut Limousine said the company would have no comment on the settlement.

The company had filed court papers denying allegations of unjust enrichment and illegally withholding wages.

A lawyer for the drivers, Michael Petela Jr., said the company improperly shifted many business expenses onto the drivers, who had to pay $463 a month for insurance and other costs. He says few drivers earned more than $60,000 a year and some actually lost money.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Rhode Island police have arrested a man they say was driving under the influence when he struck more than 40 other vehicles.

Police say 45-year-old Christopher Paolissi, of Foster, was zig-zagging his pickup truck when he struck 41 vehicles in Providence on Tuesday afternoon.

Police say Paolissi was intoxicated, and he was driving about 15 mph when officers stopped him.

He was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. No other injuries were reported.

Police Chief Hugh Clements says officers are compiling a lengthy report due to the number of vehicles hit.

Paolissi is facing multiple charges, including driving under the influence, reckless driving and failure to stop after an accident.

His case wasnt listed in state records, and its unclear if he has an attorney.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AVON LAKE, Ohio - Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka has decided his re-election run for mayor in November will be his last. He spoke on February 21 about his decision.

Zilka was elected mayor in December of 2011 in interesting circumstances. He won by only about 26% of the vote so a special election was needed, according to the city charter. A change of the city charter had been made by the city council that required a runoff if no one received at least 50 percent-plus-one votes.

The combination of candidates was also interesting in that it included, besides Zilka (who was president of council) both the current mayor at the time as well as the former mayor who was looking to re-claim the office.

"So, it was a matter of having to get supporters out for a special election," said Zilka. "It wasn't easy. I won that election by only about 30 votes. After that election, we changed the charter again to require a primary election with candidates filing their petitions in February." Apparently that charter change took care of the election problems.

Among the city challenges he tackled in his first term was major budget cuts due to the economic recession. Today, he said, Avon Lake is on sound financial footing.

Zilka's current term as mayor comes to an end in December. He said he thought over his decision carefully and decided he would run one more time and it would be his last term, if re-elected.

Why did he run for mayor? "I was retired from teaching," he said, "and I thought I could do a better job than my predecessor."

Council seats have always been part time in Avon Lake. During his 24 years on council, he also taught social studies at the high school for a total of 35 years. He expressed his concern that students may not be getting enough history instruction these days, though he said there are indications they are being given more instruction now in civics. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, civics is "a social science dealing with the rights and duties of citizens."

Reasons for running one more time, he said, included his health. "I am healthy, I go to the gym twice a week and last year I ran my first 5k race and medaled in my age group."

Zilka also believes he has the experience to address some of the changes that have taken place in Avon Lake over the years that have turned the city from mainly a blue collar community into more of a white collar city.

He is proud of the city's lowered crime rate, which he said declined again last year. He credits both the police and fire departments with a lot of ongoing, hard work to deal with the seven percent increase in emergency calls as the city welcomes a higher percentage of retirees--reflected in recent statistics on move-ins.

To further serve the community, Zilka believes his optimism has led him to doing more to help others. He delivers Meal on Wheels to residents and also participates in the Big Brother organization with a "lunch buddy" assigned to him who he meets with frequently.

The mayor also pointed out the 18 weddings he performed last year, not just for the satisfaction he derives from the activity, but also the income generated from the ceremonies that goes to Community Resource Services.

As for priorities for another possible term, Zilka said a review is going on now for land use and city code updates which have not been re-done since 1999. "We have not done a complete study since then, but we have reviewed (the land use plan) every five years. This will be a detailed review and we should be receiving a preliminary report soon."

The cost to the city for the study totaled about $160,000, he said. The study is being done by OHM advisors out of Michigan. They also have an office in Cleveland.

"We want our code to be more streamlined so businesses can have more flexibility with issues such as parking." But he said a new look at mixed uses for businesses that may combine retail and residential units will also be up for discussion.

Zilka also wants to make the city more bicycle friendly and to make the whole process of starting and growing a business an easier one.

The serious issue of opioid use, he said, is being addressed in various ways and he is encouraged by some decreasing numbers in Avon Lake.

Other issues he wants pursue is a fresh look at land the city has purchased over the last five years that is south of the power plant, totaling about 20 acres.

Zilka praised the Bicentennial Committee for their work in the first half of the 12-month program and highlighted some of the events still to come that include a city scavenger hunt and many more activities until the bicentennial year comes to an end on July 4.

When retirement comes, he said, he will continue volunteering as well as doing some traveling and just enjoying his family which includes two children and three grandchildren.

"Avon Lake is a wonderful community, especially for families," he said. "It is safe and there have been a lot of improvements in the city, especially regarding issues pertaining to properties and landscaping."

He also praised the new 2018 Light Up the Park holiday lighting that took place in the park next to the historic Folger Home, and he highlighted land use, the environment and alternative energy as issues he would like to pursue if he is re-elected in November.
AVON LAKE, Ohio -- The Northern Ohio Amateur Radio Society (NOARS), headed up by two Avon Lake residents, brought information, parts and new technology to society members March 3 at the Spitzer Center in Elyria.

There were hundreds of various parts for ham radios and computers, as well as cutting-edge antennas for better reception.

Conversations all around the room centered around interest in ham radios.

Carl Rimmer, president of NOARS, said misconceptions sometimes keep younger people from understanding the efficacy of ham radios, especially in a time of crisis.

"The best examples," Rimmer said, "are (Hurricane) Katrina and (the hurricane that hit) Puerto Rico. People sometimes don't understand that when communications go down, ham radio operators can be of great value. They are not just for chatting with people."

Attendees at the event also found out that ham radio operators learn about electronic components and design. They also build circuits and learn soldering.

Rimmer said the ham operators are also sometimes the ones to provide important aid to first responders, as NOARS sometimes helps out the area's State Highway Patrol.

Dr. Jack Nilsson, one of the vendors at the Hamfest, was displaying ham radio antennas he has invented. A former family practice physician in Strongsville, Nilsson gave up his medical practice to concentrate on the science of the antennas he has been interested in for a long time.

"I have been creating out-of-the-box antenna designs for over 25 years," he said. His antenna technology is based on a three-dimensional understanding of electromagnetic radio waves and their interactions with the world. Nilsson said his antenna can even be placed in attics, as opposed to antennas that need to be placed outdoors.

Stories from members abound at events such as NOARS. One member told of a conversation being held among a "net" of members when someone new began to speak. It turned out that the man was a captain of an airliner who was flying at that very moment in a B52 and wanted to say hello to the members.

Another NOARS Hamfest will be held the third Saturday in July.

For more information, visit www.noars.net.
BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Brooklyn Director of Public Service John Verba has announced that the city is spending nearly $1.1 million this year for asphalt overlays for West Biddulph Road, a portion of Hurricane Alley, Clinton Road and Ansonia Avenue.

These are mill and fills, Verba said. Were finishing up Ansonia Avenue because we did Torrance and Orchard avenues last year. We want to keep going in that neighborhood, and that street is really bad.

Also, Hurricane Alley has been bad for years. Well be doing from the centerline of Ridge Road 400 feet in just around the curve by the library.

The project is slated to begin in the middle of May and finish in October. Last year, the city spent $1.5 million for street repairs.

In addition, Brooklyn recently received nearly $33,000 from Cuyahoga Countys Preventative Maintenance Program, which will reimburse the city for crack-sealing efforts on Biddulph Road and Clinton Road. In addition, the latter will receive curb and base repairs. Verba said those projects will take place in July.

Its only for the material cost, Verba said. We still have to do the labor on our own. Its more of a preventative maintenance thing, so you dont have bigger repairs later on.

The Clinton Road portion, which hasnt received attention since 1996, will coincide with our asphalt work. Crack sealing is definitely needed on both streets. The last time we did Biddulph Road was 2001.

Mayor Katie Gallagher added, Any monetary assistance received by the county, ODOT (Ohio Department of Transportation) or NOACA (Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency) is helpful to ensure we are prioritizing road maintenance and road replacement in our community.

While there are future projects on his radar, Verba said up next is the creation of a five-year capital plan, which is being requested by city Finance Director Tom Raguz.

A major portion of this plan will be for our street repairs and construction, Raguz said. This will provide a blueprint for the future in assessing and understanding our capital needs and budgetary impact while helping us evaluate how and where we may be able to compete for other funding sources such as grant money.
BROOKLYN, Ohio -- Cleveland-based Tap Packaging Solutions has announced plans to lease a Tiedeman Road building from Premier Partners LLC. The site is currently home to Keystone Tailored Manufacturing, which is closing its doors next month.

We obviously feel sorry for the people who are losing their jobs at Keystone, but the quick replacement with Tap Packaging Solutions minimizes that impact, Brooklyn Department of Economic Development Director Andi Udris said. Its a 250,000-square foot building, and Tap Packaging Solutions will be leasing 208,000 square feet.

I think theyre a stronger tenant from a city standpoint of trying to stabilize our tax revenues. Keystone had a $5.1 million payroll and Tap Packaging Solutions is estimating a $6.1 million payroll," Udris said.

Tap Packaging Solutions Chairman David B. Chilcote said the company -- which focuses on general, confectionery, industrial, pharmaceutical and cosmetic packaging -- has been at its current Cleveland location since 1912.

The company needed to expand from its current 180,000-square-foot, multi-level operation on Superior Avenue. The one-floor Tiedeman Road location will be useful in streamlining its production.

I started talking to the guys from Premier Development four years ago, Chilcote said. It took a while to conclude a transaction for our current property. Simultaneously, we had been looking at a couple of different properties with Premier.

To help facilitate Tap Packaging Solutions move into Brooklyn, the city is providing an $86,000 Job Retention and Creation Grant related to the relocation of 125 existing jobs and the creation of 15 new jobs over three years, leading to an estimated annual payroll of $6.1 million.

The deal also requires a $1 million renovation of the Tiedeman Road property, as well as $5 million investment of IT, moving expenses, equipment, furniture, construction and working capital.

We estimate paying $41,000 the first year, $30,000 the second year and $15,000 the third year, Udris said. They have to retain the estimated $6.1 million in annual payroll for 10 years.

Chilcote said the Job Retention and Creation Grant was important in the companys decision to move to Brooklyn.

We had a couple of different communities we were looking at, Chilcote said. We want to feel wanted where were going. The reception we received from Brooklyn has been very welcoming and very warming. I feel very comfortable working with them.

Prior to committing to the move, Chilcote said the company completed a study relative to the location. The results revealed that the move to Brooklyn was good for roughly 90 percent of its employees.

Were committing more than $6 million to the facility in a combination of renovation, purchasing new equipment, and some new furniture and fixtures, Chilcote said.

Udris, who expects Tap Packaging Solutions to complete its renovations by the end of the year, said also playing a role in the deal was the recent Brooklyn Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) sale of an adjacent 6.8 acres of land to Premier Partners LLC for additional parking at 4600 Tiedeman Road.

Were looking forward to Tap Packaging Solutions moving to our community soon and filling the void left by Keystone Tailored, Mayor Katie Gallagher said. Theyre investing significantly in their organization and our community. We hope to help them succeed in expanding their business here.
LAKEWOOD, Ohio -- The immigrant experience via poetry is being celebrated in a new exhibit created through a partnership between the Lakewood Public Library and Kent State Universitys Wick Poetry Center. Traveling Stanzas: Writing Across Borders appears now through April 30 at the Detroit Avenue branch.

Its actually a pretty big deal, librarian Andrea Fisher said. Were the first library to work with the Wick Poetry Center. The exhibit, which celebrates immigrant voices, consists of interactive elements with iPads where theres erasure poetry.

People can actually create their own poetry out of text we selected, but are reflective of the theme and our area in Lakewood. They can print and post them, but then there are also poems within the exhibit that were written by members of the Northeast Ohio immigrant community.

The official exhibit opening takes place at 6:30 p.m. Friday (March 8) in the librarys Grand Reading Room with music by Global Connections, followed by opening remarks and a poetry reading.

At the Wick Poetry Center, we believe that poetry can build bridges between the familiar and the unfamiliar and be the means by which we come to know ourselves, Wick Poetry Center Director David Hassler said. Were thrilled to partner with Lakewood Public Library and to bring our Traveling Stanzas exhibit and outreach program to this community.

Visitors to the exhibit will be inspired by the poems and stories of refugees and immigrants who are their neighbors and will be prompted to share their own voices and reflections through digital and analog tools.

In addition to the Traveling Stanzas: Writing Across Borders exhibit, Fisher said the library will also be hosting related programs throughout the spring and summer.

Library Director James Crawford said Traveling Stanzas: Writing Across Borders is an apropos program for the community.

The city of Lakewood has always been the home of immigrants, and Lakewood has a long and honored tradition of embracing and celebrating diversity, Crawford said. Through poetry, all people -- including new Americans -- can share experiences and discover meaning in their lives.

Yes, poetry and literature are that powerful, and thats why the Lakewood Public Library is proud to host Traveling Stanzas.

Wick Poetry Centers teaching artist Katie Daley worked with numerous groups -- Cuyahoga Community Colleges Aspire ESOL classes at Taft School, ASIA Inc.s after-school program, Garfield and Harding middle schools students and Harrison Elementary School fifth-graders -- to create poetry, some of which is included in the exhibit.

The poetry workshops gave Lakewood community members a chance to express themselves to the community, Daley said. Their poetry infuses the exhibit -- and thus Lakewood -- with unexpected and moving perspectives from immigrants and longtime residents alike.

I imagine most people who grow up in the continental United States, which has never seen modern warfare, will be surprised and moved to read these lines from a group poem written by Tri-C Aspire English Language students: Im from the roar of waterfalls in the Taiwanese mountains, which sometimes sound like the bombs that fall like rain all across Syria.'

She added that many non-native English speakers, as well as anyone whose heart has felt things the mind doesnt understand, will relate to lines from a group poem by Tri-C Aspire students: ... other times, [my heart] feels like its in a foreign country, trying to speak a language I dont understand.

Even if we didnt compose them, poems like these from community members can serve as glimpses into the community mirror and as parts of stories we all share and are constantly in the process of living and re-living, Daley said.
MEDINA, Ohio -- Main Street Medina recently announced its new themes for its monthly First Friday event. The event, started in the fall of 2018, runs from 5 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month, and will now include timely themes for the festivities.

Marchs theme was Lucky You in honor of St. Patricks Day, and guests were encouraged to collect green shamrock tokens, which they could turn in to enter a drawing for a gift basket at the end of the night.

Kelly Parks, owner of Medina Centre for Dance Art and a Main Street Medina board member, said the new themes are meant to center around what is going on that month. One of the themes she said she is most excited for is The Medina Derby, which will be on May 3, before the Kentucky Derby.

Rather than racing horses, Parks said Medinas Derby is going to be a bit different.

Were working on putting together an event where we have each business have a representative, preferably a man, and were going to have a derby relay where the gentlemen race in high heels, Parks said.

Parks said the new themes will help promote First Fridays, and the planning ahead will allow the community to get more invested in the events.

"The goal is to bring consistency, Parks said. We're always looking for ways at Main Street Medina to continue driving activities and community relations here in the historic district. So anything that we can do to create excitement and traffic and activity for our community, that's kind of our goal."

Jessica Hazeltine, chair of Main Street Medinas promotional committee, said the goal for each theme is to plan an event that will be fun for everyone, not just for a specific group.

We want to make sure that there's something adults want to do, and something kids want to do as well, Hazeltine said.

She said the committee meets each Monday, where they brainstorm ideas before assigning tasks to each member. She said the teamwork on the committee helps turn their good ideas into reality.

"Once someone has a great idea, everybodys all in to make this one idea work, Hazeltine said.

Hazeltine said shes excited for Aprils theme, in which businesses will be hiding gnomes in their storefronts as part of Spring into Medina.

"So I am excited about painting the gnomes and hiding the gnomes, she said.
AVON, Ohio -- Theft, Chester Road: Police arrested two juveniles at 10:06 p.m. Feb. 20 after being called to a Walmart store on a shoplifting complaint. The two juveniles were found with a $19 bottle of rum.

Theft, Chester Road: A woman was arrested at 4:45 p.m. Feb. 20 for stealing $33 in groceries from a Walmart store. There was no further information at the time of the report.

Receiving stolen property, Center Road: A North Ridgeville man was arrested at 9:12 p.m. Feb. 24 and charged with receiving stolen property when police responded to a Lowess store regarding a possible theft.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Cleveland police officers whose actions during a 2017 arrest led to their suspensions face an excessive force lawsuit by the man they arrested.

Jo-Nathan Luton says in a suit filed in federal court Friday that officers Steven Fedorko, Joseph Tylka and Lewis Stevens attacked him on March 4, 2017 and failed to report the force and injuries Luton sustained.

The officers also falsely claimed that Luton, 35, kicked Fedorko and broke his toe, which led to criminal charges that were later dropped, according to the lawsuit.

(You can read the lawsuit here or at the bottom of this story.)

Police responded to the home in the 2200 block of Belvoir Boulevard because Luton threatened to kill his mom and smashed her car windows, according to a police report

A report written by Tylka said Luton kicked and broke Fedorkos big toe. An Internal Affairs investigation called that narrative into question.

According to a search warrant sworn out by police Sgt. Mitchell Sheehan, Tylkas report and a form Fedorko filed with the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation said Luton broke Fedorkos toe. However, body camera footage told another story.

Footage from Tylkas camera showed the officer picked up a wooden shelf and tossed it out of the way. It landed on Fedorkos right foot. Footage from another officers body camera, also appeared to show the same thing, Sheehan wrote.

Later, Tylkas body camera shot footage where Fedorko pointed at Tylka, said this is your fault and then pointed at his foot, the warrant stated.

Luton, who has previous criminal convictions for drugs and violence, faced felonious assault on a police officer and other charges following his arrest. Cuyahoga County prosecutors dropped the case in February 2018.

His lawsuit says officers used a Taser on him twice and grabbed him as he tried to run into the house.

Luton then got inside the house, and the officers pressed their knees into Lutons back and neck, kicked him and twisted his ankle, according to the suit. They told his mother that we are going to make sure these charges stick as she screamed that they were hurting Luton. Eventually, they handcuffed Luton and restrained his legs, the lawsuit says.

At one point, they also called him a f---ing piece of s--t, according to the suit.

Each Defendant had the duty and opportunity to intervene to protect Luton and to prevent the unconstitutional use of force against Luton, and failed to do so," states the suit, which was filed by the Cleveland law firms Friedman & Gilbert and Jordan & Sidoti.

Officials later found that Fedorko withheld information about how he was hurt, according to the lawsuit. They also found that Stevens and Tylka were untruthful about how Fedorko was injured and that they violated Lutons constitutional rights. IA also said that Tylka had knowledge of an unreported use of force and didnt report it, the suit says.

In August, Fedorko was suspended for 30 days, while Tylka and Stevens were given 12 and eight-day suspensions, respectively.

Luton, who sued the officers and the city, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages.

City of Cleveland spokesman Dan Williams said the city does not comment on pending litigation.

Lutons lawsuit is the second piece of litigation filed over the incident.

Fedorko filed suit against the city in January, alleging that IA investigators overstepped their bounds when they reviewed more than 67,000 text messages and numerous photographs, even though the search warrant only authorized them to look at data related to Fedorkos injury and Lutons arrest. His suspension was also because of administrative charges unrelated to Lutons case.

Both lawsuits are pending in front of U.S. District Judge Dan Polster.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Mondays crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  A potential decision by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to file for bankruptcy could mean significant delays and complications for thousands of lawsuits accusing the company of significantly contributing to a wave of opioid-addicted deaths that ravaged communities in every corner of the country.

Such a move, which was first reported Monday morning by the Reuters wire service, could mean local and state governments with lawsuits pending before a federal judge in Cleveland would have to wait to try and claw back the billions spent in medical, law enforcement and social services over the past several years.

Purdue is the most prominent pharmaceutical manufacturer named in suits that allege drug companies contributed to thousands of opioid deaths and overdoses nationwide. While such a decision may not end the litigation, it would mean control over all the lawsuits would move  even temporarily  from civil court judges to one in a bankruptcy court.

Theoretically, they could file the day before (a trial) and everything could come to a screeching halt, Case Western Reserve University law professor Andrew Pollis said.

Reorganizing debts

Reuters, citing anonymous sources, says filing for bankruptcy is not a certainty for Purdue, as the company has not made a final decision. The company could instead continue to fight the lawsuits pending in courts across the country.

Filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition would mean the companys current and potential future liabilities would be reorganized. It would also allow the company to negotiate legal claims with governments and organizations under the supervision of a bankruptcy judge, the sources told Reuters.

Purdue Pharma said in a statement that as a privately-held company, it has been Purdue Pharmas longstanding policy not to comment on our financial or legal strategy.

We are, however, committed to ensuring that our business remains strong and sustainable. We have ample liquidity and remain committed to meeting our obligations to the patients who benefit from our medicines, our suppliers and other business partners, the statement continues.

The number of opioid lawsuits, and the potential financial fallout, is massive. The majority of the lawsuits list Purdue Pharma as a defendant. Some are filed in state courts, including ones filed by the state of Ohio, but more than 1,600 federal lawsuits are pending in front of U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland.

The first opioid trial is set for May in state court in Oklahoma. Polster is set to preside over a trial for claims made against drug companies by Cuyahoga and Summit counties in October. The judge ruled last week that claims made by the cities of Cleveland and Akron will be heard at a later date.

How it may go down

Pollis said that when company files for bankruptcy, any potential litigation against it is usually placed on hold. From there, though the litigation and bankruptcy proceedings could go many ways, the professor said.

A bankruptcy court judge would take over the case. Courts would have to decide whether litigation in the pending opioid lawsuits could go forward without Purdue Pharma, a complicated decision since the company may be involved in a claim even if they are removed as a defendant, Pollis said.

At some point, though, the lawsuits would have to be resolved, either through verdicts, settlements or dismissals. This could be done separately or with the other defendant companies and would also be decided by a court, Pollis said.

Polster, who has been on the federal bench in Cleveland since 1998, has pushed for an all-encompassing settlement to resolve the lawsuits in front of him and in state courts. He has yet to be successful in brokering one.

Pollis added that bankruptcy law does not allow a company to discharge some debts incurred as a result of fraud, and that there are claims in lawsuits against Purdue Pharma that allege fraudulent behavior.

However, "the risk and the amount are both high enough that it no one would seriously question the integrity of the bankruptcy filing itself, the professor said.

Pollis said several companies sued in a series of lawsuits over health problems associated with asbestos went bankrupt during the litigation, which caused delays.

A spokesperson for the plaintiffs executive committee did not respond to an email Monday.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who was in Washington, D.C. Monday along with other state attorneys general for a briefing with President Donald Trump, said in a statement that They dont want to have to pay to clean up their mess, but were going to fight to make sure they do.

The lawsuits claim drug manufacturers overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of addiction when treating pain with opioids, and that distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of painkillers.

Drug companies have argued that prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin have legitimate medical uses approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. They have said they are committed to ensuring prescription painkillers are used properly.

The opioid epidemic has hit Cuyahoga County and Northeast Ohio hard, as the region has seen thousands of opioid-related deaths over the past few years.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A judge on Monday handed down a 16-year prison sentence to a man who led an elaborate criminal enterprise that carried out at least 10 smash-and-grab ATM thefts from stores in five Northeast Ohio counties in 2016.

Lamar Speights, who prosecutors described as the ringleader of a group of 11 men, pleaded guilty earlier this year to racketeering and grand theft charges that carried a minimum of 11 years in prison.

Common Pleas Court Judge John Sutula imposed the sentence..

Speights along with Christopher Freeman and Rc Crum, were the main culprits behind the ring that netted close to $200,000 in 10 smash-and-grabs robberies in Cuyahoga, Lorain, Lake, Summit and Stark counties, according to court records.

Ten of the eleven men have pleaded guilty and received sentences of between five and 16 years in prison. One man, Demetrius Street, has yet to be arrested.

Speights organized a criminal enterprise that wreaked havoc on numerous businesses across Northeast Ohio, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael OMalley said in a statement. His career was put to an end thanks to the collaborative effort of Law Enforcement Agencies across Northeast Ohio.

The group started breaking into closed stores with crowbars in 2011 and prying open ATMs to steal cash, prosecutors said in court documents. But over time, they developed a more efficient -- and dangerous -- process of using a stolen van to crash through windows of businesses and into bolted-down cash machines. The impact knocked the ATMs loose, and several men loaded the ATMs into the stolen van and drove away.

The entire process took about 90 seconds.

The group used stolen Ford Econoline vans to haul the ATMs away from the stores, prosecutors said. They stripped the vans of the back row of seats so the machines would fit.

The rash began February 2015 at an Avon Drug Mart. The group did not strike again until a January 2016 heist at a Rite Aid on Superior Avenue in Cleveland, then carried out nine smash-and-grabs between April and August. They robbed stores in Parma, Stow, Macedonia, Westlake, Jackson Township outside Canton, Mentor and Brooklyn.

One customer was almost hurt by flying debris during the final heist, an Aug. 8 robbery at a Strongsville gas station, officials said.

Parma and Cleveland police led the investigation and began tracking suspects. The case broke open when a Mentor police officer in late July spotted a van and pulled it over. Several men got out of the van and ran. Evidence from the van pieced the crimes together, prosecutors said.

Police found a stash house on Pratt Avenue in Cleveland that the group used to crack open freshly stolen ATMs, and raided the house less than a week after the Strongsville heist. Two seats that had been stripped from the van sat on the front porch of the home.

After the raid, the number of smash-and-grab style ATM thefts declined dramatically, prosecutors said.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  A Cleveland man is accused of stealing credit cards during a hospital visit to his comatose roommate, who later died of injuries he suffered in a fall.

John Dembowski, 37, is charged with theft in connection with the Sept. 22 incident at MetroHealth, according to court records.

He waived his right to a preliminary hearing during his arraignment Thursday in Cleveland Municipal Court. The case has been bound over to a Cuyahoga County grand jury.

Dembowski used credit cards he stole from his roommate, Ward W. Buckles II, while the 63-year-old man was unresponsive at MetroHealth, according to court records.

Prior to the theft, Dembowski called 911 after he found Buckles unresponsive at the bottom of the set of stairs at their home. An ambulance took Buckles to the hospital.

Dembowski was visiting Buckles when he took the credit cards from Buckles wallet, court records say. He used them to make a total of $275 worth of purchases from Sept. 22 to 28, court records say.

Buckles died Sept. 26 at MetroHealth. His family and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office asked Cleveland homicide detectives to investigate the death, which they considered suspicious, police reports say.

The cause and manner of Buckles death remain under investigation, a spokesman for the medical examiners office said.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  The search resumed Monday morning for a car reported to be in the Cuyahoga River in Clevelands Flats.

Crews initially searched the river early Monday but did not find the car that a witness reported to be in the water near the intersection of Riverbed Street and Elm Avenue, which is just north of the Center Street Swing Bridge.

Cleveland Fire Department crews returned to the scene just after 10 a.m. They began lowering equipment into the water just after 10:30 a.m., and began pulling debris from the water minutes later.

A CFD boat arrived at the scene about 11:15 a.m. No one has gone into the water at this time.

The fire department did not respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. Coast Guard assisted in the initial search but is not at the scene Monday morning, an agency spokesman said.

This is a developing story that will be updated when more information is available.

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CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio -- Some of the biggest alt rock stars of the 1990s are teaming up for an epic summer tour. Smashing Pumpkins and former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds will play 16 cities across North America starting in August. The tour includes a stop at Blossom Music Center on Monday, August 19.

Tickets for the show go on sale at LiveNation.com on Friday, March 8 at 10 a.m. Citi card members can get a jump on tickets through a pre-sale starting Tuesday.

AFI will serve as opening act on all dates.

The Blossom show marks Smashing Pumpkins first appearance in the Cleveland area since 2010. The group embarked on a reunion tour last year, but made their only Ohio appearance in Columbus. Gallagher played Akrons Goodyear Theater back in February 2018.
Enough is enough, its time for the American people to put a stop to the belligerent, immoral and possibly treasonous behavior thats coming from our President. Mr. Trumps words and actions are reminiscent of Germany circa 1935. Trumps actions look like a dictatorship in the making. His coziness with our arch enemy Russia is shocking. Despite his denials of collusion with the Russians, dozens of his close associates have been convicted in Federal court of illegal acts concerning the 2016 election.

Not surprisingly, his recent visit to North Korea not only failed but turned into a debacle when Trump said he believed North Koreas murderous dictator Kim Jung Un, was unaware of the Otto Warmbier situation. Trumps lack of empathy for Ottos family was stunning. Our President speaks disparaging of our hard working intelligent agencies and publicly belittles them, and trusts the word of Russian leader Putin, our enemy, over the advice of our own agents. It wouldnt surprise me if Mr. Trump declares himself president for life in 2020 or 2024 by way of a loophole, and the 33 percent of Americans who comprise his hard core base will go right along with it! Wake up, America, we are heading for disaster and we have only ourselves to blame.

Robert Pietraroia,

Westlake
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Firefighters were on the West Bank of The Flats early Monday morning after receiving reports a vehicle had driven into the Cuyahoga River and sank.

According to the fire department, the incident occurred near the intersection of Riverbed Street and Elm Avenue, which is just north of the Center Street Swing Bridge.

WEWS Channel 5 reports the U.S. Coast Guard is using an inflatable boat to search the water.

This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

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WASHINGTON  Declaring its very clear President Donald Trump obstructed justice, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says the panel is requesting documents Monday from more than 60 people from Trumps administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the House Judiciary Committee wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the presidents son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn also are likely targets, he said.

We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice, Nadler said. We will do everything we can to get that evidence.

Asked if he believed Trump obstructed justice, Nadler said, Yes, I do.

Nadler isnt calling the inquiry an impeachment investigation but said House Democrats, now in the majority, are simply doing our job to protect the rule of law after Republicans during the first two years of Trumps term were shielding the president from any proper accountability.

Were far from making decisions about impeachment, he said.

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump blasted anew the Russia investigation, calling it a partisan probe unfairly aimed at discrediting his win in the 2016 presidential election. I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start - And only because I won the Election! he wrote.

Nadlers comments follow a bad political week for Trump. He emerged empty-handed from a high-profile summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearization and Trumps former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in three days of congressional testimony, publicly characterized the president as a con man and cheat.

Newly empowered House Democrats are flexing their strength with blossoming investigations. A half-dozen House committees are now probing alleged coordination between Trump associates and Russias efforts to sway the 2016 election, Trumps tax returns and possible conflicts of interest involving the Trump family business and policy-making. The House oversight committee, for instance, has set a Monday deadline for the White House to turn over documents related to security clearances after The New York Times reported that the president ordered officials to grant his son-in-law Jared Kushners clearance over the objections of national security officials.

Nadlers added lines of inquiry also come as special counsel Robert Mueller is believed to be wrapping up his work into possible questions of Trump campaign collusion and obstruction in the Russias interference in the 2016 presidential election. In his testimony, Cohen acknowledged he did not witness or know directly of collusion between Trump aides and Russia but had his suspicions.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Sunday accused House Democrats of prejudging Trump as part of a query based purely on partisan politics.

I think Congressman Nadler decided to impeach the president the day the president won the election, McCarthy said. Listen to exactly what he said. He talks about impeachment before he even became chairman and then he says, youve got to persuade people to get there. Theres nothing that the president did wrong.

Show me where the president did anything to be impeached...Nadler is setting the framework now that the Democrats are not to believe the Mueller report, he said.

Nadler said Sunday his committee will seek to review the Mueller report but stressed the investigation goes far beyond collusion.

He pointed to what he considered several instances of obstruction of justice by the president, including the 1,100 times he referred to the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt as well Trumps abrupt firing of FBI director James Comey in 2017. According to Comey, Trump had encouraged the then-FBI director to drop an investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Trump has denied he told Comey to end the Flynn probe.

Its very clear that the president obstructed justice, Nadler said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has kept calls for impeachment at bay by insisting that Mueller first must be allowed to finish his work, and present his findings publicly  though its unclear whether the White House will allow its full release.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who chairs the House intelligence committee, on Sunday also stressed that its too early to make judgments about impeachment.

That is something that we will have to await Bob Muellers report and the underlying evidence to determine. We will also have to look at the whole body of improper and criminal actions by the president including those campaign finance crimes to determine whether they rise to the level of removal from office, Schiff said.

Nadler and McCarthy spoke on ABCs This Week, and Schiff appeared on CBS Face the Nation.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Several billboards that went up over the weekend near Cleveland Hopkins International Airport have confused  and excited  local travelers hoping for new service to Europe.

This story has been updated: Aer Lingus scouts Cleveland for possible new transatlantic service to Ireland

The billboards feature the words: Aer Lingus, Failte and Cleveland, with an orange map of Ohio and a green outline of Ireland.

Failte in Irish means welcome. Aer Lingus is the Dublin-based airline founded by the Irish government in 1936.

Do the billboards mean that Aer Lingus is planning to fly between Cleveland and Ireland? Its unclear.

Just spotted by the airport. pic.twitter.com/xvXiybtb9d  SgtBarone (@Sgt_Barone) March 3, 2019

Michele Dynia, a spokeswoman for Cleveland Hopkins, said the airport did not pay for the billboard messaging. We cant speak for anyone else. I can just tell you we didnt buy them, she said late Sunday.

Aer Lingus did not immediately respond to questions about the billboards or plans for new service.

In a story last week in the Irish Times, Aer Lingus CEO Sean Doyle said the airline has an extensive evaluation process going on now, as the carrier scouts new destinations.

Were evaluating north of 15 [routes] at the moment, and that will increase with the range capability of the technology thats coming our way, he told the newspaper.

The carrier currently has a fleet of 56 planes, according to planespotters.net, with 27 Airbus aircraft on order.

The airline currently serves 92 destinations, including 11 in the United States. A 12th U.S. airport, Minneapolis-St. Paul, is being added to the Aer Lingus network in July.

In recent years, Aer Lingus has been transforming its headquarters airport in Dublin into a hub, linking travelers between Europe and North America. Aer Lingus is part of the International Airlines Group, the parent company of several international carriers, including British Airways and Iberia.

Several Cleveland-area frequent fliers speculated about the billboards in an online forum.

I wonder if Aer Lingus route planners are scouting in Cleveland, and billboards are meant for courting, wrote one, on airliners.net. Wrote another: Im guessing these wouldnt be plastered all over the city if it wasnt real. My guess is that these are teasers and we will see a formal announcement in the next week or two.

If Aer Lingus were to start flying from Cleveland, it would be the third European-based carrier to launch service from Hopkins in recent years.

Last year, Icelandair and Wow Air, both based in Iceland, started flying from Cleveland to Reykjavik, connecting travelers to dozens of destinations in Europe.

Wow, facing financial trouble, has since pulled out of Cleveland and several other markets. Icelandair is set to restart seasonal service from Cleveland in May.
WASHINGTON, D. C. - Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman hasnt yet decided whether hell vote to reject President Donald Trumps border emergency declaration, even as passage in the Senate appears ensured by support from four other Republicans.

Senator Portman continues to discuss the issue with his colleagues and the administration and will make his decision before the vote, said Portman spokeswoman Emily Benavides.

Last week, Portman told reporters he was waiting for information on where the money to build the border wall would come from and whether it sets a precedent that is troubling.

I do think that the border is a crisis and we do need to address it, Portman said, describing an influx human trafficking and drugs coming into the United States from Mexico. There has to be something done. I agree with the president looking for additional funding ... but Im uncomfortable at this point saying Im going to vote Yes.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 245 to 182 to override President Donald Trumps declaration of a national emergency along the nations southern border, with all Ohios Democrats supporting the effort and all Ohios Republicans voting in opposition.

House votes to cancel Trumps national emergency on the border; Sen. Rob Portman undecided on the issue

Democrats said they didnt believe there was an emergency at the border and said Trumps emergency declaration to get around Congress funding decisions created constitutional issues. Republicans said Trumps decision to declare an emergency at the border was justified to keep drug smugglers, human traffickers and other criminals out of the country.

On Sunday, Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul announced that hell vote against Trumps decision to obtain funding for the border wall by declaring a national emergency, saying in a FoxNews opinion piece I would literally lose my political soul if I decided to treat President Trump different than President Obama. Paul said he opposed it when Obama used executive power to legislate and he thinks it is wrong for Trump to do so.

I support President Trump. I supported his fight to get funding for the wall from Republicans and Democrats alike, and I share his view that we need more and better border security, Paul wrote. However, I cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding, so I will be voting to disapprove of his declaration when it comes before the Senate."

Republicans Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also said theyd support the resolution, which means it is likely to pass the Senate. But Trump has said he will veto the measure, and its unlikely that its backers in the House and Senate will be able to obtain enough votes for an override.
SANDUSKY, Ohio -- On Jan. 28, the Sandusky City Commission legislated an historic change: We authorized city workers to take Election Day as a paid vacation day instead of Columbus Day. The reason is simple. We wanted to make sure each and every city worker can prioritize voting in every election.

Voting is one of our most sacred civic duties. Yet there are so many barriers that make it difficult for working people to vote. For many voters who cant afford to take off work to vote, making Election Day a holiday eliminates an unnecessary barrier to the ballot box.

We are proud that Sandusky is leading the way on this simple but important reform. And we are not the only ones trying to make voting less complicated. The U.S. Congress is considering making Election Day a federal holiday as part of the For The People Act of 2019 (H.R. 1), a bold, comprehensive bill designed to create a democracy thats open to all Americans.

Former state Rep. Dennis E. Murray Jr. is president of the Sandusky City Commission in Sandusky, Ohio.

Ohios congressional delegation should support the For The People Act, because our democracy works best when each and every citizen can fully participate. Making Election Day a holiday for federal workers, and encouraging non-government employers to give some or all of the day off for their workers, is just one reform that will strengthen voting rights. But theres so much more to do to make sure that every eligible voter can cast their vote in a system that for too long has kept those on the margins from the ballot box. The For The People Act will do just that -- make sure that every vote is heard, every vote is counted, and every vote is protected.

This bill would also create a national automatic voter registration system using data from drivers licenses or other government sources, ensuring that more people will be signed up to vote. It also simplifies absentee voting procedures, expands early voting opportunities, requires same-day registration for federal elections, and enables online voting registration.

The For The People Act also creates new rules that states must follow before they are allowed to purge voters from registration lists. Specifically, this bill would stop states from using non-forwardable mail as a way to purge the voter rolls. And, it would keep states from removing an otherwise eligible voter for failing to vote in a previous election -- ending Ohios controversial use-it-or-lose-it system that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld on a 5-4 vote last year.

The For The People Act also restores voting rights to men and women across the country who have completed felony sentences. Fortunately, Ohio already allows these men and women to vote after leaving prison. But we are one of only 14 states that allows these returning citizens to immediately re-register to vote. The For The People Act restores that right to people nationwide, because no one should be stripped of their vote after they have served their time.

America long led the free world in expanding the right to vote and thereby strengthening our democracy. But we have fallen behind many other democracies which have made voting easier. When we put up barriers to the ballot box, our democracy suffers. Too many dont have their interests reflected, their views represented, or their policy preferences debated. And this matters. We cannot effectively address the very real challenges we face as a country without first fixing our broken political system.

A strong democracy begins with establishing voting as a fundamental right and civic responsibility. I am proud that Sandusky has taken a modest step toward protecting that right. But our local government can only do so much. We need bold, comprehensive solutions that not only address barriers to voting, but also enact tougher standards to hold our public officials accountable as well as end the dominance of big money in our politics. Thats why this bill is so important. And its why I urge every Ohioan to call your representative and senators to urge them to support the For The People Act.

Dennis E. Murray Jr. has served as president of the Sandusky City Commission since 2014. From 2009 to 2012, he was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio  A $4.6 million state grant will help pay for a new Cleveland Rape Crisis Center office in Shaker Square, slated to open this summer.

The money, which comes from the victims of crime act program through the Ohio Attorney Generals Office, will provide space for counseling, support groups, victim assistance and crisis intervention.

The new office aims to make it easier for residents of the East Side who have experienced sexual abuse, rape, or sex trafficking to receive help.

Survivors of sexual violence deserve access to healing services, no matter where they live, said Sondra Miller, president and CEO of Cleveland Rape Crisis Center. With free parking and several options for public transportation, this new office will help even more survivors access our specialized support.

The new center will sit between Deweys Coffee Shop and CVS, at 13209 Shaker Square. When the office opens in the summer, it will bring the Rape Crisis Centers number of offices up to 20, across Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties.

The Ohio Attorney Generals Office grant, announced in October, also will help cover the costs of replacing the centers Lake County office, pay for a new case management program and better support victims of sex trafficking. The center is hiring 15 new employees for its new locations and expanded services.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  Cleveland women can soak up advice from local female leaders on topics ranging from self-care to networking this month at Engage! Clevelands Next Generation of Women seminar.

The half-day conference, slated for March 28 at the Cleveland MetroParks Zoo, is designed to allow women professionals to connect with each other and seek guidance from women in leadership. The program will include five, 50-minute talks on subjects like authentic leadership and finances from these Northeast Ohio female professionals:

 Jan Murphy, Senior Vice-President of Mission and Ministry, Sisters of Charity Health System

 Emily Drake, Partner, Fairport Asset Management

 Jennifer Cohen, Senior Vice President, Leadership Development, Ratliff & Taylor

 Margaret Bernstein, Director of Advocacy and Community Initiatives, WKYC Channel 3

 Cathy Belk, President, JumpStart Inc.

The event, in its second year, costs $75 to attend, and includes lunch.

Last year, more than 275 women attended the program.

Our inaugural event far exceeded our expectations and shows that young women in our community are looking for professional development opportunities, Engage! Cleveland President Ashley Basile Oeken said.

Those interested can register online.
Elon Musk, co-founder and chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., speaks during an unveiling event for the Boring Co. Hawthorne test tunnel in Hawthorne, California, U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018.

Tesla will unveil its Model Y SUV on March 14, CEO Elon Musk said in a series of tweets Sunday.

Musk said that the SUV would cost 10 percent more than Tesla's Model 3 sedan and have "slightly less range" for the same battery.

The tweets may exacerbate Musk's tensions with the Securities and Exchange Commission over the CEO's unfettered use of social media.

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Last week, the SEC asked a federal court to hold Musk in contempt over what the agency saw as a violation of an agreement they struck in 2018.

In that motion, the SEC cited an "inaccurate" February 19 tweet about production. Last month, Elon Musk tweeted  then revised  projections for full-year Tesla manufacturing numbers.

Tesla did not immediately reply to requests for more information.

The company said on Thursday that it wouldn't turn a profit in the first quarter and that it was closing its stores as it shifted sales online, a move that would allow it to cut costs and relax its lobbying efforts in states that don't permit auto makers to operate their own dealerships.

Earlier that day, Tesla analyst Adam Jonas of Morgan Stanley said the Model Y crossover SUV would offer Tesla the chance to gain a presence in a larger and faster growing segment of the auto market.

It's not clear where Tesla will build the Model Y or how much preparing for vehicle assembly will cost. Tesla decreased capital expenditures throughout 2018 and plans for only a modest increase this year.

WATCH: How taxpayers have boosted Elon Musk and Tesla
Mehdi Bennis is an associate professor at the University of Oulu in Finland researching 6G.

President Trump isn't the only one talking about 6G.

Trump sent a series of tweets last month mentioning 6G, saying he wanted to see the technology alongside 5G in the U.S. "as soon as possible."

The tweets created a stir because 5G, the fifth-generation wireless network that promises super-fast speeds for consumers and businesses, is just now starting to roll out in some parts of the world, while 6G technology doesn't actually exist yet.

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But at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona last week, 6G wasn't such a far-fetched idea for some industry experts.

"There will be a 6G," Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri told CNBC's Karen Tso last week in Barcelona. "We at Nokia Bell Labs are already starting to imagine what that 6G will look like and what the use cases might be."

To be clear: 6G technology is far from being a reality. Suri said Nokia spent more than ten years researching 5G, adding its practical applications are just starting to show up for consumers and companies. GSMA Intelligence, a research firm, estimates 5G will account for only 15 percent of mobile connections globally by 2025.

"It is the right time to be researching on 6G but not the right time to be productizing anything related to 6G," Nokia's Suri said.
Amazon needs to articulate its policy around health data  but on the whole so far, the e-commerce giant has done a better job around online privacy than Facebook has, tech investor and activist Roger McNamee told CNBC on Monday.

"I would say ... that the impact of [Amazon's] behavior has been less dangerous to this point. But that's not to say we can count on that going forward," said McNamee, co-founder of the Elevation Partners private equity firm and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.

McNamee was an early Facebook investor and an early advisor to co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But since the fallout from Russia's activities on the platform aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election and last year's Cambridge Analytica scandal, McNamee has really been a critic. (McNamee was also an early investor in Google, the search giant that's now part of Alphabet.)

McNamee said in his new book, "Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe," that the social network "remains a threat to democracy" and continues to "prioritize its business model over its responsibilities." For its part, on McNamee's book, Facebook said, "We've fundamentally changed how we operate to better protect the safety and security of people using Facebook."

"I can respect the people without respecting all the things that they do in the business," McNamee said of Zuckerberg in a "Squawk Alley" interview. And he said the same can be said for Amazon founder and chief Jeff Bezos. "In fact, I'm very, very worried about many of the things that Amazon is doing with data. I do think we need to hold them to exactly the same standard."

With Amazon entering the health-care industry, in part through a venture with Berkshire Hathaway and J.P. Morgan, McNamee said it's important that Bezos and company are upfront with how they're going to treat patient data. The Amazon-Berkshire-J.P. Morgan venture is aimed at figuring out ways to reduce health-care costs for their employees and how that may possibly help cut health-care costs in the United States.

McNamee offered an Amazon hypothetical to underscore his point.

"They're going to know from your mouse movements if you have a neurological problem before you do. If all of sudden the mouse movements when you're on Amazon are slowing down or getting more erratic, they are going to know that. Who is their customer in that? Are they going to call you, and say, 'Hey, we think you need to go see your doctor?' Or are they going to go to their insurance side and raise your rates or terminate your insurance? I don't know, but I think we ought to know the answer, and soon."

Amazon was not immediately available to respond to CNBC's request for comments on McNamee's interview.

Earlier Monday, Evercore ISI analyst Anthony DiClemente said Amazon shares still look undervalued. DiClemente said investors should rely less on Amazon's revenue projections and more on its gross profits going forward. Evercore ISI, with an outperform rating, bumped up by 9 percent its 12-month price target on Amazon to $1,965 per share. The stock was higher at midday, trading around $1,700.

Since Amazon's 52-week per-share low of $1,307 on Christmas Eve, the stock gained about 28 percent as of Friday's close.

WATCH: McNamee says Amazon used Whole Foods as a learning experience
Stocks in mainland China advanced on Monday following reports that the U.S and China might be close to finalizing a trade deal, with Beijing offering to lower tariffs on certain U.S. products.

By the end of its trading day, the Shanghai composite rose 1.12 percent to close at about 3,027.58  breaching the 3,000 level for the first time since June 2018. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen component surged 2.364 percent to close at 9,384.42 and the Shenzhen composite added 2.214 percent to finish its trading day at 1,599.48.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index also rose more than 0.7 percent in its final hour of trading, with shares of Chinese telecommunications equipment firm ZTE gaining 1.84 percent.

Other markets in Asia mostly gained. Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.02 percent to close at 21,822.04 as shares of index heavyweight Fanuc jumped 3.48 percent. The Topix was 0.73 percent higher to end its trading day at 1,627.59.

The in Australia rose 0.4 percent to close at 6,217.40, with the materials subindex gaining 0.66 percent. Shares of major miners advanced: Rio Tinto added 1.59 percent, Fortescue Metals Group soared 6.86 percent and BHP Billiton gained 1.18 percent.

In South Korea, however, the Kospi shed earlier gains to close 0.22 percent lower at 2,190.66 with industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics declining 0.55 percent.
After tamping down on shadow banking in the last few years, China will now likely encourage such lending to boost economic growth, a Chinese economist told CNBC on Monday ahead of the country's annual parliamentary session.

"The top agenda of (the) NPC this year is to design policies to prevent further decline (of growth rate)," said Xiang Songzuo, professor at Renmin University in Beijing, referring to the National People's Congress, which kicks off on Tuesday.

"I think this year, regulators will encourage more shadow banking financing, particularly to the private sector," said Xiang, who was previously a deputy director at the People's Bank of China and chief economist at the Agricultural Bank of China.

Shadow banking refers to activities performed by financial firms outside the formal banking sector, and therefore subject to lower levels of regulatory oversight and higher risks.

According to Xiang, Chinese officials have moved from talking about cutting debt to stabilizing the economy.

China's GDP target last year was around 6.5 percent. Sources have told Reuters that Beijing will likely set a growth target of between 6.0 to 6.5 percent in 2019.

Shadow banking is "coming back," Xiang said. In addition to spending more on infrastructure, Beijing will also need to stimulate the economy through lending, particularly to the private sector, he added.

There have been worries that such practices may mask the amount of risk that banks and other financial entities take on, as shadow banking activities are off the balance sheets due to accounting practices.

Those debt concerns have led some to claim that shadow banking in the Chinese economy could eventually lead to a financial crisis if the bubble bursts, although Morgan Stanley has said Beijing will likely better manage the risks of people borrowing from non-official channels this time, compared to years ago.

Beijing will need to tread a tightrope as it faces the dilemma of what increased shadow lending could bring, said Xiang.

"On the one hand, they need shadow banking to finance investment; but on the other hand, they (need to) try to control the potential risks," he added.
Disney CEO Bob Iger saw his potential pay for the year cut by $13.5 million on Monday.

The House of Mouse amended its pay agreement with Iger, reducing his possible total bonuses based on the timely closing of the company's $71 billion deal to merge with Fox's media operations.

It appears Iger and the company came to the decision mutually.

"I am proud to be leading The Walt Disney Company through this important time and believe the changes I, with the Board, have made are in the best interest of the Company," Iger said in a statement Monday.

Iger was awarded $65.6 million for his performance last fiscal year, the result of a pay bump for extending his tenure at Disney through 2021 and stock awards in excess of $35 million.

This year, however, the company eliminated a $500,000 boost to his base salary, keeping it at $3 million. It also cut his potential cash bonus from $20 million to $12 million and reduced his long-term incentive pay from $25 million to $20 million, the company said in a securities filing Monday.

The company did not provide a reason for the change. However, the reduction comes a few months after Disney increased the targets Iger must meet in order to collect his performance bonuses, a move to placate shareholders who pushed back against the CEO's salary last March.

The compensation plan would have given Iger up to $48.5 million a year over four years plus an equity grant worth about $100 million.

Fifty-two percent of shareholders voted against Disney's compensation plan for Iger and other executives, the company said at its annual shareholder meeting in Houston last year. Forty-four percent cast ballots in favor, and 4 percent abstained.

"The board accepts the result of today's non-binding vote and will take it under advisement for future CEO compensation," Aylwin Lewis, chair of the board's compensation committee, said in a statement at the time.

Disney's filing also comes just days ahead of its annual shareholders meeting, in which shareholders will once again hold an advisory vote on executive compensation.

Iger has been Disney's CEO since 2005 and added the title of chairman in 2012.

Disney won the bidding war with Comcast for Fox in July last year and the deal was expected to be complete as early as March 2019. However, the deal hit a snag from regulatory bodies in Brazil, as the country's antitrust regulator took longer than expected to greenlight the deal. It was finally approved last week.

It appears that the deal is still set to close in the first half of the year. Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

As part of the deal, Disney will acquire 20th Century Fox's film and television divisions, including notable franchises, such as "Home Alone," "Alien" and "Predator" as well as "The Simpsons."

Owning the film arm of 20th Century Fox not only grants Disney a number of Marvel characters that had been sold off before it acquired Marvel in 2009, but also the powerhouse Fox Searchlight studio. Fox Searchlight is a sister company that operates independently from 20th Century Fox and has produced films such as "The Shape of Water," "Slumdog Millionaire," "12 Years a Slave" and "Birdman," all of which won best picture at the Oscars in the last decade.

Disclosure: CNBC's parent company NBCUniversal is owned by Comcast.

WATCH: How Pixar's 'RenderMan' software revolutionized computer graphics
"It's the sort of thing you see in a tiki bar," Daniel Blau, a Munich-based art dealer told The New York Times. Another expert in Hawaiian artwork, Smithsonian Institution curator Adrienne Kaeppler, told the newspaper that she previously informed Christie's of her concern that the statue could only be as old as the 1930s. (Christie's said the statue was made "circa 1780-1820" in promotional materials ahead of the 2017 auction.)

Multiple art dealers and experts told The New York Times that the wooden statue depicting a Hawaiian war god could be much less valuable, and created much more recently, than Christie's claimed ahead of the November 2017 auction.

Salesforce CEO and billionaire Marc Benioff might be having buyer's remorse after some art world experts have called into question the value of a supposedly 200-year-old wooden statue he bought for more than $7 million in a Christie's auction two years ago. Now, some experts are saying the statue could only be worth less than $5,000, The New York Times reports.

However, other art experts told the Times that they still believe the statue is as old and valuable as Christie's claimed. Julian Harding, a London-based private art dealer, told the Times that he remains convinced of the statue's authenticity, calling it "a masterpiece of Oceanic art."

Through a spokeswoman, Benioff declined to comment.

In a statement provided to CNBC Make It, a spokeswoman for Christie's pointed to "the body of empirical research, stylistic analysis, and scholarly support that compiled on the figure prior to sale, and which has already been expanded on by an expert in the field of Polynesian art." The spokeswoman also referenced the fact that experts such as Harding have told Christie's that the statue in question is a "probable mate" of a similar wooden artifact that was acquired in Hawaii by the London Missionary Society in 1822 and is currently on display at the British Museum in London. The statue purchased by Benioff is "an important rediscovery that is sure to inspire continued scholarship and interest," according to Christie's.

The statue, which was part of the private art collection of French collectors Pierre and Claude Verite before Christie's put it up for sale, sold at auction for a price of roughly 6.35 million euros (which would be nearly $7.2 million based on current conversion rates), according to the Christie's website.

Benioff, who has an estimated net worth of $6.6 billion according to Forbes, was later revealed to be the purchaser. The billionaire and his wife, Lynne, donated the artifact to the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu.

The museum's president told the Times that the museum is aware of "a question about [the statue's] history and provenance" and that curators are researching the matter.

If it does turn out that Benioff massively overpaid for the statue, he would not be the first billionaire collector to be duped. In 2013, billionaire William Koch won $12 million in damages after he'd paid $320,000 for 24 counterfeit bottles of wine.

Update: This article has been updated with a statement from Christie's.

Don't Miss: Why Marc Benioff makes Salesforce employees do volunteer work on their first day

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He sent Walgreens a letter on Monday requesting a meeting with its management team. Last month, Gottlieb said Walgreens was the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products. Some 22 percent of Walgreens locations inspected by the agency caught employees illegally selling tobacco products to minors, the FDA said in a press release at the time.

The agency named corporate-owned and franchise retailers who were allegedly found selling tobacco products to minors more than 15 percent of the time since the FDA started conducting inspections 2010. These retailers include Walgreens, Walmart, Kroger, 7-Eleven, Family Dollar, BP and Citgo. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement that he plans to ask these companies about what policies they have in place and what more they plan to do.

The Food and Drug Administration called out 15 retailers on Monday for allegedly selling tobacco products to minors and requested information from more than 40 e-cigarette companies the agency thinks may have illegally introduced new products onto the market.

Walgreens in a statement said it welcomes the opportunity. The drugstore chain said it has a "zero tolerance policy" regarding selling tobacco products to minors and any employee caught violating it is subject to immediate termination. Walgreens said it's also promoting tobacco cessation in its stores.

"Retailers are on the frontlines of these efforts to reduce the health consequences of tobacco use and nicotine dependence," Gottlieb said in a statement Monday. "Walgreens, and other retail chains, should take seriously not only their legal obligations, but also the substantial public health importance of preventing tobacco product sales to minors at their stores."

The FDA also sent letters to more than 40 companies the agency suspects may have introduced e-cigarettes to the market without first getting the FDA's permission. Starting in August 2016, the FDA has required manufacturers to submit new products for review before selling them.

Juul, the market leader, hit shelves in 2015. As Juul has gained popularity over the past year or so, dozens of look-a-like products have entered the market, possibly in violation of the FDA's policy. Gottlieb said some of these companies may be trying to "capitalize on the troubling popularity of products like Juul among kids."

"If tobacco products are being unlawfully marketed and sold outside the FDA's compliance policy, we'll take action," he said Monday. "We simply cannot tolerate this behavior and will take additional action as needed."

The FDA also sent warning letters to several companies for selling e-cigarettes without a label warning consumers they contain nicotine.

The agency is trying to stem what public health officials are declaring an "epidemic" of teen vaping, with about one-fifth of high school seniors last year saying they used e-cigarettes. Gottlieb laid out a plan in November to effectively ban convenience stores from selling fruity flavors, a policy he is expected to formally introduce within weeks.

A BP spokesman said the company does not own and operate any convenience stores in the U.S. but that it expects all of its marketers to comply with the law and will take appropriate measures when it believes they have not met expectations or contractual obligations. A spokeswoman for Family Dollar said the retailer takes reports like this "very seriously" and is "fully committed" to complying with tobacco sales regulations.
Rescuers sifted through rubble looking for more dead and wounded after two back-to-back tornadoes touched down in Alabama, killing at least 23 people, authorities said.

The storms inflicted their worst damage on Lee County, Alabama Sunday, an area that includes the state's largest city of Auburn, destroying numerous homes and businesses.

More than 50 people were reported injured and the death toll is expected to rise.

Meanwhile, about 10 inches of snow was expected to fall in the New York City area by Monday morning with the arrival of another arctic blast, prompting all schools in the city to be closed and New Jersey to declare a state of emergency.
A three percent tax on the French revenue of large internet companies could yield 500 million euros ($568.3 million) per year, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.

Le Maire told Le Parisien newspaper the tax is aimed at companies with worldwide digital revenue of at least 750 million and French revenue of more than 25 million euros.

He said the tax would target some 30 companies, mostly American, but also Chinese, German, Spanish and British, as well as one French firm and several firms with French origins that have been bought by foreign companies.

The paper listed Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (the four so-called "GAFA" companies) but also Uber, Airbnb, Booking and French online advertising specialist Criteo as targets.

"A taxation system for the 21st century has to built on what has value today, and that is data," Le Maire said.

He added it is also a matter of fiscal justice, as the digital giants pay some 14 percentage points less tax than European small-and-medium sized companies.

Fairer taxes are a key demand of the "yellow vest" protests seen across France in the past three months.

Le Maire said the tax would target platform companies that earn a commission on putting companies in touch with customers.
In an effort to address wage equity among women and members of minority groups, Google studied its own practices as it does every year. But the results showed the company was underpaying more men than women for doing similar jobs in software engineering.

Google compensated 10,677 employees an extra $9.7 million to offset the underpaid wages found in the study, the company wrote in a blog post, though it's unclear what percentage of those recipients were men. In 2017, Google said it increased compensation for 228 employees it found were underpaid, spending a total of about $270,000.

Google's 2018 analysis found that in one group of lower-level software engineers men "received less discretionary funds than women," according to the post authored by Google's lead analyst for pay equity and people analytics, Lauren Barbato. Nearly half of the adjustment fund was spent on discrepancies in offers to new hires, Barbato wrote, which was the result of a new hire analysis Google conducted in the 2018 study.

Google outlined its methodology for the report, saying it runs statistical analysis to "look for unexplained differences in total compensation (salary, bonus, and equity) across demographic groups." Google analyzed every job group with at least 30 employees total and at least five per demographic group. The analysis included 91 percent of Google employees.

Google's findings come after the company has had to grapple with difficult issues around gender equity in the workplace. Thousands of Google employees worldwide walked out of offices in November after a New York Times report surfaced a $90 million exit package paid to ex-Android leader Andy Rubin after the company found sexual misconduct claims made against him credible.

Employees used the moment to speak out about their own experiences with sexual harassment in the workplace and pressured Google to end the practice of forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, which prevents employees from taking those claims to court. Google responded to employees by pledging to make arbitration optional in these cases.

Google's study, however, is limited to a specific type of pay equity and does not take into account other factors like leveling, which considers whether new employees are paid appropriately at the outset of their career at the company.

Barbato addressed other factors in the blog post, saying, "Our pay equity analysis ensures that compensation is fair for employees in the same job, at the same level, location and performance. But we know that's only part of the story. Because leveling, performance ratings and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees."

But the study is likely to reignite conversation around bias at Google that came to a head when former engineer James Damore was fired after sharing a memo arguing differences in pay between genders was not due to bias alone, but also biological differences. Damore later filed a proposed class-action law suit against the company in January 2018 claiming discrimination against employees for political views, "male gender" and "Caucasian race."

Google is already facing scrutiny over gender discrimination through a class-action suit in California claiming the company underpays women and an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department into the company's compensation practices.

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Watch: Google to spend $13 billion on US real estate in 2019
Republican Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey and Donald Trump rival for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, told CNBC on Monday he wants to help his "friend" the president, but he's content to do it from afar.

"I'm not one of these people who's desperate for a job. I think I turned down seven of them down," Christie said in a "Squawk Box" interview. "I'm not desperate for a title. I'm not looking to run to Washington, D.C. What I'm looking to do is to make the country better and to help my friend."

Among the jobs that Christie said he declined in the Trump administration included Labor secretary, Homeland Security secretary, special assistant to the president, ambassador to Rome and ambassador to the Vatican.

"He hasn't offered me anything that I really wanted to do," said Christie, author of "Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics."

"If there's something I really want to do and I think I bring real value to him and the country I'll step up and do it," he added. "I can certainly help him from where I am. And it's much better for my family if I stay where I am."

In his book, Christie describes the discussions around his support of Trump after dropping out of the 2016 race. The former governor writes that he said,at the time that his endorsement was not conditional, but he was only interested in the vice president or attorney general jobs, which respectively went to then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and then-Sen. Jeff Sessions.

After a tumultuous relationship with Trump over the investigation into Russia's alleged influence in the 2016 election by special counsel Robert Mueller, Trump forced out Sessions last November. William Barr was sworn in as Sessions' replacement last month. The 68-year-old Barr served as George H.W. Bush's attorney general.

Christie told CNBC he advised the president after the firing of James Comey as FBI director in May 2017, a move that eventually led to Mueller's appointment. Christie, himself a former U.S. attorney, suggested a potential replacement for Comey  and the name turned out to be Trump's eventual choice.

"When he fired Jim Comey, we talked extensively about who should replace him. And I brought the name Chris Wray to him," Christie said. "And he became convinced that Chris was the right guy, and has been supportive of Chris as he's moved to really change the FBI."

Wray, who was Christie's attorney in the Bridgegate scandal and served as assistant attorney general for the Criminal Division under George W. Bush, was sworn in as FBI director in August 2017.

Since his book came out, Christie told CNBC, he has spoken to Trump. The president said, "'You're nice to me,'" recalled Christie, who described how best to communicate with Trump. "Sometimes that means telling him something he doesn't want to hear. Sometimes he takes it very well and listens, and takes it all in. Sometimes he tells me, 'Didn't I beat you? Why do I have to listen to you?' It depends on the day."

"That's the ABCs of him, and that's what you've got to get used to if you've been his friend for 17 years. Nothing new," concluded Christie.
PESCARA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 7: Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini attends a political convention for the closure of the upcoming regional election in Abruzzo, on February 7, 2019 in Pescara, Italy. Antonio Masiello | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Italy's relationship with the EU has deteriorated since an anti-establishment government took the reins in Rome last year. And for Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, that breakdown has coincided with a surge in popularity. Tensions between Rome and Brussels have risen on different occasions since the new coalition took power last June. There has been a dispute over how much the Italian government wants to spend; an intense exchange of words over the collapse of a bridge in the city of Genoa during the summer; and an ongoing battle over immigration. In addition, some Italian politicians have recently joined French protesters, creating a rift with its neighboring country. "It is clear that the relationship between Italy and Brussels is much more fractious (now) than in the past," Wolfango Piccoli, a political and policy risk advisor at research firm Teneo told CNBC via telephone. He described the government's attitude toward Europe as a "vote-winning" strategy.

Europe is not helping. Wolfango Piccoli Co-President of Teneo Intelligence

The Italian government is a coalition between the left-leaning Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing and anti-immigration Lega party. Both have taken a strong stance against what could be considered a mainstream view in Europe, particularly when it comes to immigration. Salvini, who heads up the Lega party, closed Italian ports to migrant rescue vessels last year. He has also criticized a European-wide distribution plan for migrants.

"Unfortunately, Italian governments over the past five years have signed agreements (in exchange for what?) so that all these ships disembark immigrants in Italy," Salvini said last year. "With our government, the music has changed and will change." Francesco Papadia, a senior fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, believes Salvini's "macho" approach is in contrast with what's actually needed to deal with migration. However, his stance has clearly bolstered his popularity. Opinion polls show that Lega has constantly gained more support since taking power. Salvini's party is the most popular among Italian voters, according to current opinion polls, ahead of its coalition partner by 10 percentage points. At the start of this new government, M5S was ahead of Lega by five percentage points. In upcoming European parliamentary elections, due in late May, Lega is also polling well. It's set to become the second single-largest party in the European chamber with 28 out of 705 seats, according to a survey by the European Parliament. A poll late last year by Italian newspaper La Repubblica also showed that 58 percent of Italians see Salvini as the country's leader, even though he's just one of the deputy prime ministers. The actual prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was only seen as the country's leader by 16 percent of those surveyed, Reuters reported.

A 'noisy spectator'
A wave of digital retailers is moving from the internet and into some of the empty mall space left vacant by companies in bankruptcy, like Sears and Payless ShoeSource, or trimming back their real estate, like Gap.

One venture capital firm is at the center of the new normal in retail as traditional sellers scale back their footprint while digitally native companies open some of their first brick-and-mortar locations.

Headquartered in Venice, California, Fifth Wall Ventures has backed more than a dozen businesses, including electronic scooter maker Lime, co-working platform Industrious and real estate analytics company VTS. It has $305 million in assets under management, investing mostly in tech and real estate. Now, it has its eyes set on retail.

Fifth Wall has raised $64.5 million as of November, and has a target of $200 million, for a new retail fund, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

So far, the firm has invested in facial company Heydey, shoe maker Taft, furniture brand Interior Define, shirt company Untuckit, hair salon chain Madison Reed and grocer and food delivery platform Foxtrot, according to its website. And it's just getting started, according to the firm's co-founder Brendan Wallace.

"In retail, there's a sea of change happening, where retail landlords are being exposed to the demise of bad brick-and-mortar retail," Wallace told CNBC.

But real estate owners have arguably been slow to move as stores keep going dark at malls. That's partly why Fifth Wall decided it could expand its business and create a new fund structure to raise capital and "promote collaboration" between landlords and burgeoning brands, Wallace said. Up-and-coming retailers  like Taft and Interior Define  want "expertise and connections to large retail landlords," he said. Fifth Wall aims to be the glue between the two industries.

Some real estate owners have been slow to accept the fact that the next wave of growth isn't going to come from traditional clothiers like Victoria's Secret and Gap, but from digital retailers  most of which are privately held. Already this year, roughly 4,300 store closures have been announced across a wide swath of consumer product sellers, ranging from J.C. Penney to Tesla. But online brands like Rebag, Rockets of Awesome and Cuyana are raising money with massive growth ambitions.

"There really isn't a fund that's expressly and explicitly focused on helping brands and technologies that are very young expand into brick and mortar," Wallace said. "There's no shortage of funds that can help with marketing and supply chain ... [but] we have dozens of large real estate corporations that we work with across our funds."

The third-biggest mall owner in the U.S., Macerich, is a limited partner in Fifth Wall and renting space to one of its investments  menswear company Untuckit, helping the apparel brand reach its goal of having 100 stores open in four years.

Building on the strengths of each other, Fifth Wall and Macerich have monthly meetings in Santa Monica to discuss hot brands coming to market  ones that are looking to open stores  and how they can all collaborate.

Macerich is "by far the most forward-looking and innovative" mall owner today, Wallace said. "They're using capital to build relationships with new technologies and new brands." One example of this is its newly launched business called BrandBox, where Macerich is carving out spaces at its malls for a handful of young brands to come together and sell there on a rotating basis.

Fifth Wall has beefed up its staff with former retail executives.

"Eighty-five percent of commerce is still happening offline," said Dan Wenhold, former head of retail at men's formalwear brand Black Tux who's now at Fifth Wall. "The majority of customers still shop offline. Brands have to go offline."

Consumers still sometimes like to go to stores to try things on and pick up orders.

"When you have someone coming into a store, ... you can tell the brand story in a different way," said Kevin Campos, the former chief retail officer at menswear brand Combatant Gentlemen who's also now at Fifth Wall. "If a brand is a religion, then the store is a church."
Oil workers on a rig platform in Colorado. Stephen Collector | Getty Images

Colorado drillers are gearing up for a fight after Democratic lawmakers proposed overhauling the state's oil and gas commission and reforming regulations that could create new roadblocks to fossil fuel development. Two of the state's top Democrats introduced the legislation late Friday. They are calling Senate Bill 181  Protect Public Welfare Oil and Gas Operations  "the most meaningful changes to oil and gas regulations Colorado has seen in over 60 years." The move comes just months after the Colorado oil and gas industry celebrated the defeat of new restrictions on drilling in a referendum in November.

Colorado's communities simply cannot afford to wait any longer. ... These common-sense reforms will ensure the industry operates in an accountable and cooperative manner." Steve Fenberg Colorado state majority leader

The legislation could curtail drilling in one of the nation's top oil and natural gas producing states, where advanced technology like hydraulic fracturing has sparked a production boom over the last decade. That could affect Colorado-focused frackers and larger drillers with a footprint in the state, like Anadarko Petroleum and Noble Energy. The bill would give cities and counties more influence over regulation, including inspecting oil and gas facilities and imposing fines over spills. It would also change the mission of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from fostering the development of the state's fossil fuels to regulating the industry. The lawmakers also propose overhauling the powerful commission's makeup, cutting the number of members required to have industry experience from three to one. They would require at least one member of the commission to have training in several fields, including wildlife and environmental protection, soil conservation and public health. Another measure would raise the threshold for the number of mineral rights holders that would need to give their approval before drillers can tap a shared pool of oil and gas, making it potentially more difficult to develop some reserves. "Colorado's communities simply cannot afford to wait any longer," said Colorado State Majority Leader Steve Fenberg, who co-sponsored the bill with House Speaker KC Becker. "These common-sense reforms will ensure the industry operates in an accountable and cooperative manner," Fenberg said in a statement.
Ochsner's "Connected MOM" program is free to pregnant women. Ochsner Health System

When Lisette Hatamian, a New Orleans resident, learned that she was expecting her first baby last fall, her doctors told her about a new program to monitor her health from home. Ochsner, her local hospital, had just rolled out a new initiative called Connected Maternity Online Monitoring or "MOM," which was available for free to mothers-to-be. Hatamian was intrigued and agreed to sign up. After her first visit with an obstetrician, she went over to the Ochsner "O Bar," a part of the hospital modeled on the Apple Genius Bar. But instead of iPhones, the technologies on display included connected weight scales, blood pressure monitors and activity trackers. The O Bar gave Hatamian a set of devices selected for expectant mothers, including a wireless weight scale and a blood pressure cuff, as well as dipsticks and cups to measure protein levels in urine. Throughout her pregnancy, she took readings of her weight and blood pressure about once or twice a week. If she forgot, her iPhone reminded her. The devices sent the readings to HealthKit, a secure container for storing medical data on her iPhone. (Ochsner's system also supports Google's Android operating system.) From there it went to Ochsner's electronic medical record system, provided by Epic, where it was shared with her doctors. If she had questions, she could reach out to them through Epic's messaging app.

The "O Bar," where patients can pickup connected health devices.

"[My doctors] told me they'd look at all my readings and if something stood out, I'd get a phone call," she said. But so far, Hatamian's results have all been normal, so she'll skip three appointments out of the usual 14. That saves her from having to take time off from her job. For patients like Hatamian, especially those on their second or third pregnancies, it's a relief to get to avoid the hassle of driving to medical appointments just to check their weight and blood pressure. More broadly, the Connected MOM program represents a big step forward for the future of patient care, which increasingly can be administered from the home and not just in the clinic. Ochsner said it has recently enrolled its 1,000th patient in the program. Dr. Richard Milani, Ochsner's chief clinical transformation officer, said the program is reducing in-person visits by an average of 25 percent to 30 percent. The hospital is also seeing some early indicators to suggest that it can identify a condition that occurs in pregnancy known as preeclampsia, although that needs to be studied in a more diverse set of patients. The next step will be to open up the program to mothers with higher-risk pregnancies, to find out whether more regular monitoring can make a difference. "We're realizing that we can keep tabs on our patients using technology at a higher frequency than we would in a purely analog world," Milani said.

Lisette Hatamian with a friend. Lisette Hatamian
OPEC and its allies will probably achieve their goal of draining oversupply from the oil market and boosting prices by next month, says Jeff Currie, global head of commodities research at Goldman Sachs.

The 14-nation producer group and its allies led by Russia set out to balance the market after oil prices plunged more than 40 percent at the end of last year. To do that, they aim to keep 1.2 million barrels per day off the market in the first six months of the year.

"OPEC is pursuing a shock and awe strategy" by slashing output at the start of their production-cutting deal, Currie said on Monday. He noted that OPEC is throttling back output faster than Goldman expected, while Venezuelan supply continues to tank and Russia says it will accelerate its production cuts.

"This market is likely to be rebalanced by April," he told CNBC's "Closing Bell."

That will force OPEC to lay out its plans for lifting the production curbs by May or June, he said. Currie believes that by telegraphing its exit strategy, OPEC can dissuade U.S. drillers from turning on the taps, thereby preventing another price-crushing oil glut.

However, OPEC's "shock and awe" policy, combined with robust oil demand, could easily push Brent crude oil back to $70 to $75 a barrel in the near term, up from current prices in the mid-$60 range, Goldman forecast last week.

Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih recently told CNBC he is leaning towards extending the six-month deal into the second half of 2019. The broader group expects to carry over the production cuts when they meet in June, several OPEC sources told Reuters.
Luca Pacioli's 1494 book "Summa de Arithmetica" introduced bookkeeping methods used today and is considered to have prefigured many aspects of the modern business world. It is estimated by Christie's to fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million at auction.

In 1494 Luca Pacioli, known as the Father of Modern Accounting, wrote the first practical how-to book on succeeding in business. It introduced many bookkeeping methods that are used today and is considered to have prefigured many aspects of the modern business world. Now the Italian mathematician's book is set to go on the auction block  and Christie's specialists claim it could fetch as much as $1.5 million.

Pacioli's "Summa de Arithmetica" represents the pinnacle of mathematical knowledge in the Renaissance and is an icon not just of Renaissance learning but of the history of human knowledge, claims the specialists at Christie's.

Pacioli was one of the first to recognize the study of economics as a liberal art. "Summa de Arithmetica" codifies the mathematical foundations of our modern and technological world and includes mathematics, computing and is the first published description of double-entry bookkeeping.

According to Christina Geiger, head of books and manuscripts at Christie's in New York, Pacioli's achievement is one of the great untold stories of the Renaissance. "As Leonardo and others made revolutionary strides in art and Machiavelli did for politics, so too did Pacioli for business. ... The mathematical principles of the most vital features of contemporary finance are all present in the Summa de Arithmetica," she said.

On Monday through March 8, "Summa de Arithmetica: The Birth of Modern Business" will be on display at Christie's auction house in New York City before heading to San Francisco next month, then Hong Kong in May. The book will be returned to New York City to be auctioned off at Christie's on June 12.

In writing the "Summa de Arithmetica," Pacioli sought to include all the mathematical knowledge available at the close of the 15th century, which saw the European adoption of Hindu-Arabic mathematics and its synthesis with rediscovered ancient Greek knowledge.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at The Great Hall of People on March 3, 2018 in Beijing, China. Lintao Zhang | Pool | Getty Images

Beijing is set to announce its economic growth target and endorse new rules around foreign investment in the next two weeks during its major annual parliamentary meeting: the National People's Congress. The gathering of nearly 3,000 representatives from different strata of Chinese society is typically ceremonial in nature. The real power in the country lies in the Communist Party and its Politburo Standing Committee, headed right now by President Xi Jinping. But announcements made during the congress can shed some light on government policy. This year's meeting also takes place as the international legal battle over Chinese telecom giant Huawei intensifies, and U.S.-China trade negotiations reach a critical point, with some reports saying a trade deal is close at hand. The second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) will kick off on Tuesday morning and end next week Friday (Mar. 5-15), a spokesperson announced during a press conference Monday morning.

Separately, a political advisory body  the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference  will also be meeting at about the same time. As a result, the annual March meetings are typically called "Two Sessions." This year's meetings come as the People's Republic of China celebrates its 70th anniversary, and are accompanied by their own promotional ploys. They include claims of 5G service  the next generation wireless network that provides super fast mobile speeds  in the press area, as well as an awkwardly phrased English rap song entitled "'Two sessions': To the world from China."

Growth target

Investors are awaiting more serious details on Beijing's policies in the year ahead: At Tuesday's opening, Premier Li Keqiang is expected to reveal the official economic growth target for 2019. Many economists predict the figure will be around 6 percent to 6.5 percent, a slower rate than last year. The world's second largest economy reported growth of 6.6 percent in 2018, the slowest pace since 1990. On overall macroeconomic policy, Morgan Stanley economist Robin Xing said in a Thursday note he expects more fiscal easing and a slight increase in broad credit growth, which would help economic growth improve from the second quarter.

Investment law

The congress is scheduled to vote on March 15, the final day of the meeting, on a new law on foreign investment that seeks to increase intellectual property protection and limit technology transfer. If passed, the law will abolish three existing regulations on equity joint ventures, wholly foreign-owned enterprises and contractual joint ventures, according to an English translation of the draft on China Law Translate. "Voting" by the NPC is far more symbolic than the term is understood in the U.S. Last year, the congress of about 3,000 delegates overwhelmingly approved the removal of term limits, allowing Xi to remain in power beyond the conclusion of his second five-year term.

Trade tensions
Reynolds American tobacco is tightening restrictions to buy its Vuse e-cigarettes online and running a national ad campaign to try to position itself as a leader in combating underage use amid a federal crackdown on teen vaping.

A unit of British American Tobacco, Reynolds is debuting its ad campaign on several cable networks, including CNN, The History Channel and AMC, starting Monday. Using the tagline "the perfect puff," the Vuse Alto is appealing to adult smokers to switch from combustible cigarettes. It is limiting customers on its online store from ordering more than $80 per week and three devices per quarter, the company said.

E-cigarette companies have rolled out their own sales restrictions since the Food and Drug Administration threatened banning nicotine vaporizers altogether amid what federal health officials call an "epidemic" of teen vaping." At the same time, they don't want to lose any more market share to start-up e-cigarette company Juul, which has dominated the industry since its debut in 2015.

"As a company, since we began marketing Vuse in the very beginning, we have been committed to preventing youth use of our vapor products," said Christy Canary-Garner, Vuse vice president of consumer marketing.

The Vuse e-cigarette captured about 13 percent of the convenience store market in the 12 months ended Feb. 9, according to Nielsen numbers compiled by Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog. Juul accounted for nearly 69 percent. The data do not include online and vape shop sales.

Vuse Alto looks similar to a Juul. It mirrors Juul's rectangular shape, though it's thicker and rounder. Pre-filled pods contain liquid nicotine in flavors like rich tobacco and mixed berry.

Health officials, including FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, blame flavors for attracting kids to e-cigarettes. In the fall, Juul suspended retail sales of most of its flavors. In January, it started running TV ads aimed at attracting adult smokers to switch from cigarettes.

The FDA in November said it would limit fruit flavors to be sold in age-verified stores like vape shops, while allowing tobacco, mint and menthol flavors to continue to be sold in convenience stores. The agency has not yet published its guidance on the rule.

Canary-Garner said Reynolds will be ready to comply, though it will continue selling the much-criticized fruity flavors in the meantime. She said tobacco, mint and menthol are the most popular Vuse flavors.

"We're unique in this position in that we have 100 years in understanding the adult tobacco consumer, and flavors do play a role in that," she said. "Consumers are seeking choice, not only in their device format but in their flavor and performance and in the satisfaction of that."

Reynolds' new commercial claims the Vuse Alto promises smokers "the perfect puff."

Canary-Garner said Reynolds requires models in its advertising to be at least 25 years and old and be styled to look older. Juul has been criticized repeatedly for using young models who looked like teenagers in one of its early ad campaigns.

Reynolds' ads will run during shows with at least 85 percent of viewers at least 18 years old, Canary-Garner said. The company declined to disclose how much it's spending on the campaign.

The online sales restrictions come on top of the company's existing age verification system. Reynolds picked $80 as the maximum customers can spend per week because it felt like that was enough for adults to buy what they need and allow the company to prevent teens from buying mass quantities and selling them to their friends.

Canary-Garner said Reynolds will also help train more retail employees to check identification through the We Card program.

Correction: Reynolds' ad campaign for the Vuse Alto e-cigarette has the tagline "the perfect puff." An earlier version mischaracterized the campaign. Reynolds' ads will run during shows with at least 85 percent of viewers at least 18 years old, Christy Canary-Garner, Vuse vice president of consumer marketing, said. An earlier version misquoted Canary-Garner.
Roger Stone, a former adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, leaves the Prettyman United States Courthouse after a hearing February 1, 2019 in Washington, DC.

Stone, a self-described "dirty trickster," told Jackson during a court hearing on that post that it was an "egregious, stupid mistake" and said "I am hurtfully sorry for my own stupidity."

Stone, 66, is barred from criticizing Mueller's team of prosecutors under the gag imposed Feb. 21 after the longtime Republican operative posted an Instagram image of Jackson's face next to a rifle scope's crosshair.

Mueller did not ask Judge Amy Berman Jackson to find that Stone broke her gag order.

Special counsel Robert Mueller on Monday notified a federal judge about an Instagram post by President Donald Trump's friend Roger Stone that could be in violation of the judge's strict gag order on Stone.

At the same Feb. 21 hearing, the judge warned him: "Today, I gave you a second chance. This is not baseball, you don't get a third chance."

If Jackson finds that Stone, who is currently free on a $250,000 signature bond, violated that order, she could have him jailed without bail pending his trial on charges of lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing justice.

Stone on Sunday deleted the "Who framed Roger Stone" image from a series of other rotating images on his Instagram story shortly after CNBC sent an email to his lawyer asking about it.

The other images suggested that people donate to Stone's legal defense fund, with one saying, "I am committed to proving my innocence. But I need your help," and another saying, "I've always had Trump's back. Will you have mine?"

"We note for the Court that according to public reporting, on March 3, 2019, the defendant's Instagram account shared an image with the title 'who framed Roger Stone.' A copy of the image is submitted under seal as Exhibit C," Mueller said in the court filing in federal court in Washington, D.C.

CNBC's story on the image is referenced in a footnote in that filing.

Stone posted the "Framed" Instagram image two days after Jackson ordered his defense lawyers to explain why they did not tell her about the planned publication of a book by Stone that could violate her gag order. The book is entitled "The Myth of Russian Collusion: The Inside Story of How Trump Really Won."

Jackson's gag order prohibits Stone from "making statements to the media or in public settings about the Special Counsel's investigation or this case or any of the participants in the investigation or the case."

The gag covers "posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other form of social media," as well as other forms of communication.

In his new book, The Washington Post reported Monday, Stone writes: "I now find myself on Crooked Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller's hit list because I have advised Donald Trump for the past forty years. I am being targeted not because I committed a crime, but because the Deep State liberals want to silence me and pressure me to testify against my good friend."

Mueller's spokesman, who had declined to comment to CNBC on Stone's post Sunday, declined to comment Monday on the special counsel's filing Monday.

Stone's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier Monday, Stone's attorneys told Jackson in a filing that they believed his new book, which has an updated introduction discussing his case, should be allowed to be published because it was written and edited before the judge issued her gag order.

His attorneys write that Stone's publication of the book "should not be viewed as contravening the Court's prohibitions because these prohibitions were not extant and could not have been known prior to February 21, 2019."

But Mueller's filing afterward noted that, "A preview of the defendant's book, including the updated Introduction referenced in the defendant's Motion to Clarify, is currently publicly available on Amazon.com and Google Books."

Stone was arrested in January. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Mueller claims Stone lied to Congress about his alleged effort to get the document collection group WikiLeaks to release emails hacked by Russian agents from Democrats, including Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Stone is alleged to have been in contact with top-ranking Trump campaign officials about efforts to leak damaging information about Clinton.

 Additional reporting by Kevin Breuninger
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court including Brett Kavanaugh, from left, Neil Gorsuch, Elena Kagan Samuel Alito Jr., Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts, listen during a Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, Nov. 16, 2018. Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to review cases concerning whether it is lawful for the government to block historic preservation funds from going to religious buildings such as churches. The cases concerned a decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court last year that said a grant program in the state unlawfully used state funds to repair churches. Because the nation's top court will not review the matter, that decision will remain. But the Supreme Court's decision, announced in an order, is unlikely to be the justices' last word on the matter. Justice Brett Kavanaugh made that clear in a statement in which his fellow conservatives Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Neil Gorsuch joined. Gorsuch, like Kavanaugh, was appointed to the court by President Donald Trump.

"At some point, this Court will need to decide whether governments that distribute historic preservation funds may deny funds to religious organizations simply because the organizations are religious," Kavanaugh wrote. Kavanaugh, who voted to deny the cases on technical grounds, wrote that preventing preservation funds from going to religious organizations "simply because the organizations are religious" raised "serious questions." "Barring religious organizations because they are religious from a general historic preservation grants program is pure discrimination against religion," he wrote. The nation's top court last addressed the matter in 2017, when it found that it was discriminatory for states to block taxpayer funds to religious schools, but limited their opinion in a footnote to the very specific case of playground resurfacing. Justices Clarence Thomas and Gorsuch at the time took issue with that limitation. In its ruling, New Jersey's top court declined to extend the Supreme Court's reasoning to historic preservation grants, saying the cases are distinct because playground resurfacing is not a religious use, but church repairs are. "The Churches are not being denied grant funds because they are religious institutions; they are being denied public funds because of what they plan to do  and in many cases have done: use public funds to repair church buildings so that religious worship services can be held there," wrote Stuart Rabner, the top judge on the New Jersey court. Kavanaugh seemed to take issue with that interpretation, decrying what he called the "No religious organizations need apply" rule that he said "appears similar" to the playground case.
Trump plans to use emergency powers to secure $3.6 billion from the Department of Defense's military construction funds to build his proposed border wall. He will take executive actions to divert another roughly $3 billion toward the project, along with $1.4 billion allotted by Congress last month. Trump declared a national emergency after Congress did not approve the $5.7 billion he wanted for border barriers.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced late Sunday that he would support a measure to terminate the flex of executive power, joining three of his Republican colleagues. The GOP-controlled Senate plans to take up the proposal, which the Democratic-held House already passed, by mid-March. If all 47 Senate Democrats support the measure as expected, four Republicans add up to the simple majority needed to approve it.

A fourth Republican senator plans to vote to block President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration, giving the chamber enough support to reject the president's action barring any changes.

Despite the Senate's support for the resolution, Congress likely will not block the emergency declaration. Trump has pledged to veto it. If he rejects the bill, the House and Senate would have a difficult time finding two-thirds majorities to override the veto.

Paul joins GOP Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in pledging to vote to terminate the declaration. Others such as Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have signaled they could join that group if Trump does not change course.

In a Fox News column, Paul wrote that he backs Trump's effort to put money toward a border wall. But he wrote that he "cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding."

"Every single Republican I know decried President Obama's use of executive power to legislate. We were right then. But the only way to be an honest officeholder is to stand up for the same principles no matter who is in power," Paul wrote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., have both supported Trump's emergency declaration. McConnell acknowledged Monday that the Senate will pass the resolution disapproving it, but stressed that Congress likely will not be able to overcome Trump's veto, according to CBS News reporter Mark Knoller.

Mark Knoller McConnell tweet

In passing the measure to block the emergency declaration, the Democratic-held House fell well short of a veto-proof majority. While 245 House members voted for the resolution, 290 would need to back it to overcome a veto. Democrats currently control 235 seats, while Republicans hold 197 and three are vacant.

Meanwhile, 67 senators would have to support it to reach the two-thirds threshold needed to circumvent Trump.

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Southwest flights between Oakland, California, and Honolulu start on March 17, and already the promotional rates are selling out. Service from San Jose, California, to Honolulu and Kahului will start in May, Southwest said.

Shares of Hawaiian Holdings , parent of Hawaiian Airlines, were down more than 10 percent in early afternoon trading. Hawaiian Airlines serves the islands from the West Coast and offers service on routes between islands similar to those Southwest has planned. Southwest shares were down 1.5 percent.

Southwest Airlines burst into the Hawaiian market on Monday with one-way fares from California as low as $49, less than a quarter of the price for the same route on competitors.

The low-cost airline last week announced it had finally received the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate its Boeing 737 jets on the long overwater routes, where planes will be far from diversion airports.

Southwest had revealed it would start flying to Hawaii in October 2017 and aimed to start selling tickets in 2018, but the partial government shutdown delayed those plans, as it awaited FAA approval.

The new addition is a big part of Southwest's plan to increase flights 5 percent in 2019. Half of that will come from Hawaii, the airline said in January.

The low-cost airline's debut in the Aloha State could drive down costs for vacations to Hawaii. In markets where the airline has nonstop service, average one-way fares are $45 lower than in cities without those routes, in what's been dubbed the "Southwest Effect," a University of Virginia study found.

The lowest fares are going quickly. While one-way fares start at $49 for the Oakland-to-Honolulu service, a flight search showed some fares in March on that route have already gone up to $99. In comparison, a nonstop on Hawaiian was $218 one way for a connecting flight on the same route on the same day and close to $275 for a nonstop flight.

Southwest plans to fly to the islands from four California cities: Oakland, San Diego, San Jose and Sacramento and fly to Honolulu, Kahului on Maui, Kona, and Lihue on Kauai. The airline will also offer flights between the islands, starting April 28 between Honolulu and Kahului on Maui, and starting May 12 between Honolulu and Kona, with fares starting at $29 each way.
Chinese President Xi Jinping with North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un in Dalian, China on May 8, 2018. Xinhua | Getty Images

The bizarre summit meetings between the U.S. and North Korea came to a logical end. Without any security guarantees and relief from debilitating sanctions, Pyongyang refused last Thursday in Hanoi, Vietnam to destroy its nuclear military assets and their delivery vehicles. Why it took two summits and intensive bilateral consultations over a period of seven months to lead to such a predictable failure is a mystery historians will have to ponder. The best result of the two top-level meetings is an apparent North Korean commitment to stop nuclear and ballistic tests, and the U.S. decision to discontinue mock-up North Korea invasions in the form of long and massive military exercises on and around the Korean Peninsula. It seems that Washington-Pyongyang discussions are expected to keep that agreement alive. North Koreans may also wish to use those meetings to avoid the embarrassment of failed summits. But their friends, China in particular, could also have other ideas, such as an initiative within the United Nations Security Council to soften  on humanitarian grounds  the most damaging sanctions affecting the North Korean population.

Beijing holds Korean trump cards

The U.S. would oppose that because those are the sanctions aimed at exerting maximum pressure on Pyongyang to get rid of its nuclear arsenal. Still, a veto-laden impasse at the United Nations Security Council could open doors to more widespread sanctions-busting than is the case now, where the U.S. would have little leverage to intervene. So, for all practical purposes, the North Korean problem will linger as a ticking time bomb until solutions can be found for security guarantees and an acceptable economic and political arrangement for the Korean Peninsula as a whole. A large part of those solutions are in Beijing. WATCH: Trade deal or no deal, the U.S. and China are still fighting for global power

To unlock those solutions, the essential question for the U.S. is to find an acceptable modus vivendi  a sort of tolerable peaceful coexistence  with China. And it is important for Washington to understand that an openly hostile "strategic competition" is a logical opposite of that objective. Especially if that "competitor" is also branded a "revisionist power" keen on upending the American world order. Looking at the existential economic issues of that relationship, it is enough to read the last Wednesday's Congressional testimony of U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to understand that the U.S. and China are on a permanent collision course. Seeking to balance its trade accounts and reduce China's nearly half-a-trillion-dollar surplus on U.S. goods trade, Washington is hitting Beijing's most sensitive red lines. Indeed, the U.S. is demanding enforceable structural reforms to put an end to intellectual property thefts and forced technology transfers. The U.S. also wants to eliminate China's non-tariff barriers to trade, such as industrial subsidies, as well as regulations, licensing procedures, technical standards and other practices that discriminate against U.S. businesses and give an unfair advantage to their Chinese competitors. China denies all that, but the U.S. insists on establishing review procedures with tariffs in case Beijing violates any of the trade rules and practices Washington sets.

A deal Beijing cannot accept

If you stop and think about the nature of China's structural reforms, and the enforcement procedures needed to ensure that those reforms are implemented, it is clear that a U.S.-China trade deal would establish an effective American oversight of China's economy  with a permanent threat of trade tariffs. And then, the U.S. also wants to control China's monetary policy. How? Claiming that China is manipulating the exchange rate to blunt the impact of trade tariffs and maintain a competitive advantage, the U.S. wants China to report its currency interventions. That is a control of monetary policy pure and simple, because currency interventions are executed by increasing or withdrawing the quantity of yuan in China's money markets. Currency intervention and monetary policy are one and the same thing. Apart from that, Washington wants to make sure that China is not manipulating the exchange rate for purposes of deliberately altering its terms of trade. That is technically impossible. First, China and the U.S. would have to agree on the price index used to conduct that analysis (for example, the consumer price index, the producer price index, export prices and unit labor costs). Second, they would also have to agree on the time period deemed relevant for that investigation. Can anyone really believe that a great power like China would agree to such a pervasive American control over its economy? The ongoing trade negotiating process will just reinforce China's conviction that the U.S. is out to disrupt its economy, create dissent within its political system and foment social strife.

Investment thoughts
China and the U.S. are approaching the finish line on trade negotiations that could end later this month, according to three sources.

Negotiations are in the "final stages" as the two sides plan a summit for the end of March at Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump's Florida resort, sources told CNBC. If a deal is reached, the U.S. could roll back tariffs on at least $200 billion in Chinese goods while China could remove or cut industry-specific levies like those on autos.

China's National People's Congress is also expected to pass a new foreign investment law that would change equity ownership rules, and potentially have language about state-owned enterprise subsidies and forced tech transfers. However, CNBC sources are doubtful about how strong the language would be on the latter part.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Politburo  China's policymaking committee  would have to sign off on any deal before it is official, but Trump is said to be pushing for one despite U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer's insistence on stronger concessions out of China, sources say.

However, the U.S. wants the ability to re-implement tariffs on Chinese goods if talks fail on enforcement mechanisms on intellectual property theft and related matters. The sources said this is not sitting well with the Chinese.

Trump administration officials touted significant progress in U.S.-China trade talks last week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday the two sides were getting closer to a deal. White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow also told CNBC "the progress [between the two countries] has been terrific."

The ongoing trade spat between the two countries has kept investors on edge since last year as they assess how tighter trade conditions would impact corporate profits.

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The House Judiciary Committee on Monday launched a large-scale investigation into alleged abuses of power by President Donald Trump, sending requests for documents to 81 individuals and entities, including the president's sons.

The probe will focus on three main topics: alleged obstruction of justice by Trump and others and the "alleged cover-up of violations of the law"; alleged corruption in areas including violations of the Constitution's emoluments clause "and other criminal misuses of official positions for personal gain"; and alleged abuses of power, such as attacking the press and misusing the presidential pardon power.

"Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms," House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a press release.

"Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee," said Nadler, whose committee is in charge of passing articles of impeachment in the House.

Nadler had said on ABC News' "This Week" a day earlier that he believes Trump has "very clearly" obstructed justice.

ABC TWEET "Do you think the president obstructed justice?" House judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler: "Yes, I do. It's very clear that the president obstructed justice"

But Nadler said it was still too soon to make a decision about whether to impeach Trump  an action that Republicans say is the real motivation behind the investigations, regardless of whether sufficient evidence of wrongdoing exists.

The committee's ranking Republican, Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, told NBC: "We don't even know what the Mueller report says, but Democrats are already hedging their bets. After recklessly prejudging the president for obstruction, Chairman Nadler is pursuing evidence to back up his conclusion because, as he admits, 'we don't have the facts yet.'"

Nadler noted in that interview that Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg were among the dozens of people to be sent requests for documents as part of this investigation.

Eric Trump is also included in the list. Trump's two oldest sons have been overseeing the Trump Organization since their father became president.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is on the list, as well. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump is not.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Monday morning that Nadler had sent the request. "The House Judiciary Committee's letter has been received by the White House. The counsel's Office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time," Sanders said in a statement.

Nadler says in the committee's press release that special counsel Robert Mueller's team and federal prosecutors in New York have both been told about the congressional panel's sweeping new initiative.

Mueller is probing Russia's interference and possible Trump-campaign collusion during the 2016 presidential election. Federal prosecutors of the Southern District of New York are investigating campaign-finance issues, as well as Trump's inaugural committee.

Trump, asked about Nadler's probe at the White House, said, "I cooperate all the time with everybody."

The president was hosting the North Dakota State football team in the White House state dining room in celebration of their record seventh FCS championship. The team was treated to a spread of fast-food menu items from Chick-fil-a and McDonald's.

"You know the beautiful thing  no collusion. It's all a hoax," Trump added.

"You're going to learn about that as you grow older. It's a political hoax. There's no collusion," Trump said. "Folks, go and eat up."
NASA's Operational Land Imager satellite image shows the Camp Fire burning at around 10:45 a.m. local time near Paradise, California, U.S., on November 8, 2018. NASA | Reuters

You've read it in the headlines: Temperatures are rising and icebergs are melting. And as more evidence points to the growing influence of climate change, one area is sure to be impacted: big business. As evidence, take PG&E's recent bankruptcy filing following the wildfires that ravaged California over the past two years. The company's equipment has been blamed for contributing to those disasters. But another factor  the hotter climate and drier terrain in California and broader region  also contributed to the problem. "Any utility in those regions can be at risk for fires because they have a ton of infrastructure spread across a very fire-prone landscape," said Julie Gorte, senior vice president for sustainable investing at Impax Asset Management and Pax World Funds. And the potential risks tied to climate change don't end there. "Any company can face climate risk, and I think that is the 800-pound gorilla," Gorte said. The good news for individual investors is that there are ways that you can invest with the intention of helping to make a difference and you can still make a profit doing it.

We are seeing signals that the climate is changing in ways that we don't like that are affecting us now, not a generation from now. Meg Voorhes director of research, US SIF

In 2018, money managers had $3 trillion in assets invested with climate change and carbon factors in mind, according to the US SIF: the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment. "We are seeing signals that the climate is changing in ways that we don't like that are affecting us now, not a generation from now," said Meg Voorhes, director of research at US SIF. There are ways you can align your investments with companies and funds that are making the environment a priority.

Where to start

There are a number of equity and bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that have been created with preserving the environment in mind. The US SIF provides a list of its members' funds on its website, where you can track their performance and get details about how their strategies address climate issues. Before you add any new funds to your portfolio, you should first take a look at what you already own, said Lily Trager, director of impact investing at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

Then, start thinking about how you can realistically adjust your portfolio while still keeping your investment goals in mind. That means keeping in mind how much risk you want to take on, the time horizon for your investments, minimum investment requirements and potential tax implications, Trager said. "[It's] really understanding the traditional tenets of asset allocation, portfolio construction and having a financial partner, an advisor or wealth manager, who can help you navigate this process," Trager said.

Do your research

Before you put your money in a fund and while you're invested in it, you will want to keep tabs on whether the investment managers are fulfilling their promises to keep climate change in mind. Read up on the fund's analysis and selection techniques. You can also look up a fund proxy voting policy and how the management has voted in its past votes. Also monitor individual companies in your portfolio by checking to see what, if anything, they report on climate change, Gorte suggested. A good place to start is the company's Form 10-K, which they file with the SEC, to see what on climate change, if anything, they include.

Beyond that, a company may have filed a sustainability report, or what's known as a Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure, or TCFD. Those reports, which were first created a couple of years ago, are starting to catch hold with more companies, Gorte said. Other resources to check include Morningstar, which now rates funds based on their sustainability, or how well they are making environmental, social and corporate governance strategies a priority. That includes a designation for low-carbon funds. In addition, As You Sow, a non-profit shareholder advocacy group, ranks select publicly-traded companies based on how well they are addressing clean energy.

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The Missourians Opinion section is a public forum for the discussion of ideas. The views presented in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Missourian or the University of Missouri. If you would like to contribute to the Opinion page with a response or an original topic of your own, visit our submission form
May launches 1.6 billion Stronger Towns Fund

1 billion will be directly allocated, and 600 million is for towns to bid for  Daily Mail

She cant just do Corbyn-style giveaways, we need to hear some Conservative policies  The Sun Says

The north needs and deserves more funding  Sam Gyimah, The Times

EU investment in the UK doubles in three years  Daily Telegraph

Kennedy won tea at the Ritz by getting the Prime Minister to say simples  The Times

In my very first speech as Prime Minister I committed to serve the interests of ordinary working class families like yours for whom life is much harder than many politicians realise. You deserve to be rewarded for your hard work and you and your children should be able to go as far as you can in life. But to achieve this, we do need to do much more to spread opportunity more widely. Thats why today I am launching our new Stronger Towns Fund. Its a 1.6billion investment in the future prosperity of our coastal, market and industrial towns  places that have not always benefitted from the changes in our economy over the last few decades. Local people know their areas best. So we want communities to come forward with their own proposals for how this money should be spent to achieve the best outcomes.  Theresa May, The Sun

>Yesterday:

and is accused of bribery to try to secure votes for her deal

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said: This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for its damaging flagship Brexit legislation. The reason our towns are struggling is because of a decade of cuts, including to council funding, and a failure to invest in businesses and our communities. Ruth Smeeth, the Labour MP, told Westminster Hour on BBC Radio 4 that the fund was an extraordinarily pathetic sum of money and a waste of time. Mrs May also faces backbench Brexiteer anger at the move. Sheryll Murray, a Tory MP from the southwest, which would receive the second-lowest allocation at 33 million, said: The fact this money appears to be directly routed to Labour-voting areas smacks of pork-barrel politics. It would be a crying shame if Conservative-voting communities were being disadvantaged because of the way they voted.  The Times

>Today: Chloe Westleys column: Why should MPs get a pay rise when they wont keep their promises to the people?

>Yesterday: WATCH: Flint  If its a choice between an improved deal and no deal I think we should seriously consider supporting an improved deal

Cox abandons hopes of a time limit or unilateral exit clause for the backstop

The Attorney General has abandoned attempts to secure a hard time-limit or unilateral exit mechanism from the Irish backstop Ministers briefed on Geoffrey Coxs approach said those aims, which represent the central demands of Eurosceptics, are considered too blunt and have been rejected by the European Union. Some Cabinet ministers are already resigned to the Prime Minister losing a second meaningful vote on her deal amid concerns that changes to the backstop secured by Mr Cox will not be sufficient to win round Brexiteers. The Attorney General is understood to be focusing on securing an enhanced arbitration mechanism that allows the UK or the EU to provide formal notice that the backstop should come to an end.  Daily Telegraph

>Today:

>Yesterday:

The number of children treated for knife wounds has nearly doubled in five years

Shocking figures today reveal the scale of the youth knife crisis after another weekend of carnage on Britains blood-soaked streets. The families of two more murdered teenagers  a Girl Scout once invited to Downing Street and a pupil at a top private school  were in mourning last night. New statistics show the number of under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has nearly doubled in five years. Doctors are battling to save three children a day on average as knife crime rates soar to the highest level since the Second World War.  Daily Mail

Crown Dependencies protest against efforts to legislate on their affairs without their consent

Small businesses fear additional costs of digitising VAT  Daily Mail

John Lewis staff face bonus cuts  Daily Mail

Resist helicopter money  Roger Bootle, Daily Telegraph

Vestager warns EU against weakening merger rules  FT

New limits on Non-Disclosure Agreements

Leaders of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man will on Monday warn of a major constitutional clash with the UK if Westminster backs a plan for increased financial transparency on the crown dependencies and an end to secret company ownership. The chief ministers of the three islands will travel to London to try to head off a cross-party legislative move by MPs to force them to introduce by 2020 public registers about the real owners of companies based there. Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man claimed that such legislation would be inoperable, adding that they already had robust arrangements for sharing information about the beneficial owners of companies with tax authorities and law enforcement agencies. But a group of MPs, led by former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell and Labour backbencher Margaret Hodge, will push a parliamentary amendment on Monday to require public registers containing details of anyone owning more than 25 per cent of a company based in one of the crown dependencies. The MPs say the move is necessary as part of efforts to tackle money laundering and tax evasion, and the amendment could succeed because it has the backing of at least 20 Conservative MPs.  FT

Employers will not be able to use gagging orders to stop workers from reporting crimes to the police, ministers have said. Toughened-up laws will make it clear that staff will always be able to report harassment or discrimination even if they have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). Business minister Kelly Tolhurst said the aim is to clamp down on abuse, such as employers using confidentiality clauses to intimidate whistleblowers, hide harassment and discrimination incidents. The legal measures, described by Theresa May as a clear message that changes in the law are needed to back under-pressure workers, come after a spotlight was shone on retail tycoon Sir Philip Greens use of NDAs.  Daily Mail

Former Weinstein assistant says the reforms dont go far enough  The Times

We are determined to protect workers  Kelly Tolhurst, Daily Telegraph

Miller adds her voice to calls to go further  Daily Telegraph

Give apprentices a better start  FT Leader

Morgan: We must expose the thugs who threaten politicians and their staff

Police investigate letters sent to Ryan  Daily Telegraph

Corbyn egged  The Sun

Man arrested and charged with assault  Daily Mail

How UKIP fell to extremists  The Guardian

The membership is growing, and changing drastically  The Guardian

Plans for a 9pm watershed for junk food advertising

These protests arent the actions of a few people feeling a bit emotional about Brexit or politics. At their heart is a determined core of people engaged in something much more deliberately unpleasant  an attempt to subvert our democracy and silence our elected representatives through a campaign of harassment, intimidation and threats of violence or death. This is an issue that needs to be confronted, which is why I and other MPs have worked with ITVs Exposure programme to find out who is really behind the most sinister messages and to establish what their motives are Ive always believed that sunlight is the best disinfectant. After tonights programme we are going to need a lot of disinfectant to return our politics to a state where disagreement isnt always a betrayal and ensure that sane and talented people still want to enter public life.  Nicky Morgan, The Times

Junk food TV advertising will be banned before 9pm to tackle childhood obesity under Government plans, The Daily Telegraph has learned. Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, is poised to announce a consultation on a new watershed amid concerns that adverts are shaping childrens preferences for junk food from a young age. Ministers have warned that despite restrictions on advertising around childrens TV programmes they are still being exposed to significant amounts of advertising for products that are high in fat, salt or sugar. The Government will also consult on whether radio stations and the internet should be subject to further restrictions to ensure we are being proportionate.  Daily Telegraph

Health officials appeal to bereaved parents to donate their childrens organs  Daily Mail

>Yesterday: Andrew Selous on Comment: Our children need a 9pm watershed for junk food adverts

Opening rail up to competition would cut fares, the ASI argues

Grayling is a joke at voters expense  The Guardian Leader

Warning that vehicle charging zones are producing multiple taxation for drivers  FT

Network Rail considers week-long closures  The Times

Private companies failings do not justify nationalisation  The Times Leader

Harris: Why do so many antisemites flock to Corbyns party? Labour still has no answer

Rail fares for British passengers could be slashed if the franchise system was dropped in favour of head-to-head competition, a leading thinktank has argued. The free market thinktank the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) said an open access system, which would allow different train companies to compete on the same route, would drive down fares and operating costs, while also boosted innovation. In its new paper, called How to fix Britains railways: The case for long-distance rail competition, the ASI claims the open access model was commonplace in Europe, but not in the UK, where only one per cent of routes conformed to the model. It said on the routes where open for access was in operation, fares were 55 per cent cheaper than on those where there was a single monopoly franchise.  City AM

The whole thing is a case study in how racism works, and the fact that if people constantly deny something, they can easily end up in dangerous moral proximity to it. Those in charge of the party continue to insist that the problem will somehow be rooted out, but the fact that they still seem to be dragging their feet rather undermines such talk, which also ignores two questions that still cry out for an answer. Why do people with antisemitic views think todays Labour party is the right place for them? And why are so many people on the left still averting their eyes?  John Harris, The Guardian

>Yesterday: WATCH: McDonnell claims that only 0.1 per cent of Labour members are involved in anti-semitism

One year on from Russias attack on Salisbury, grieving son demands justice

Frantic comings and goings at Russian embassy before the attack  The Guardian

The government is reluctant to attack Russian financial interests in the UK  Andrew Foxall, The Times

Russian mercenaries accused of further destabilising Libya  The Times

The public in central and Eastern Europe are resistant to Kremlin propaganda  Edward Lucas, The Times

How can we put Northern Ireland veterans in the dock but let the IRA get away with what they did?  Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph

News in Brief

Gapes compares leaving Labour to divorce  New Statesman

Storm Freya brings winter back  Huffington Post

Dylan Thomas, populist  Unherd

What happened to the great Brexit property crash?  The Spectator

Vested interests are killing off future prosperity  1828

The son of Salisbury novichok attack victim Dawn Sturgess has urged Vladimir Putin to hand over the Russian hitmen suspected of killing her. On the eve of the first anniversary of the incident, Ewan Hope appealed directly to the Russian president as a human being to afford his mother the justice she deserves and allow British investigators to speak to the suspects. His call for cooperation from Russia in the murder probe comes after Ms Sturgesss partner, Charlie Rowley, said he wants someone to pay for what theyve done.  Daily Mail
As Ive said before, its a grim measure of the state of anti-Jewish racism within the Labour Party that events which would ordinarily win front pages and end careers currently secure footnote or even mere Twitter anecdote status.

Take the last few days alone. Following the suspension of Chris Williamson, the MP who claimed the Party had been too apologetic for anti-semitism, a Marxist sect is circulating a motion to Constituency Labour Parties which further seeks to downplay the seriousness of the issue. Among others, Diane Abbotts CLP recently passed a version of that motion, a decision that the Shadow Home Secretary has not even mentioned publicly, still less criticised. On Saturday night, Abbott and John McDonnell both attend a rally at which Ken Loach attacked complaints about anti-semitism as smears, but neither intervened to dispute the claim. On Sunday, the Observer published allegations that senior Labour officials and Corbyn advisers had personally intervened in disciplinary processes to limit action against members accused of antisemitism. On and on the horrorshow rolls, on an apparently never-ending national tour.

Two articles from the left make compelling if depressing reading on this topic. Yesterday, Jade Frances Azim wrote for the FT about the degree to which a conspiracist left has become embedded among the Labour grassroots  as evidenced by the fact the audience at Sheffield Momentum applauded the remarks which Williamson has now been suspended for. The implication of Azims argument is that this is a deeply-rooted problem which will be difficult to expunge  but John Harris in The Guardian suggests that such an effort is yet to really begin, given that there is still no interest in answering the question Why do people with antisemitic views think todays Labour party is the right place for them?

It doesnt say much for the state of things that the great hope for a fightback against anti-semitism in a would-be party of government istiny drumrollTom Watson.

Andrew Gimson wrote in 2015 of Watsons under-appreciated importance as the then-newly elected deputy leader of the Labour Party. Armed with thick skin, intellectual heft and campaigning energy, Watson was a rare non-Corbynite in a position of influence at that stage. Unfortunately, he has chosen to sit on his hands until now, three and a half years later.

Better late than never, of course, but decency might perhaps have hoped for a better champion. While Watson won many fans on the left for prosecuting  and surviving  his war against Rupert Murdoch, his heritage on the (relative) right of the Labour Party makes him easy for Corbynites to dismiss, on autopilot, as a Blairite. (Forget all those bitter Brown v Blair conflicts, if you were involved on either side then youre a Blairite in Corbynite terms, because you were in government rather than fulminating on the backbenches.)

Watson is also not quite the ultimate campaigner he is sometimes made out to be. Yes, he can be tenacious and persuasive, but he can also fall victim to wild overconfidence. The mess he got himself into with ill-advised interventions in the case of Leon Brittan, to whose widow he ended up having to apologise, ought to be a cautionary memory, but Watson-watchers could be forgiven for wondering whether he has really pondered his errors all that deeply. Similarly, his judgement in developing a close alliance with  and accepting massive donations from  Max Mosley should call into question whether he is really the person in whom to invest all hope of driving anti-semitism out of the Labour Party.

This in itself points to the woeful state of play among the Oppositions remaining non-Corbynites. Watson is late to the fight and severely flawed, but he might be the only truly big beast willing to take on the leadership and its noxious allies over a serious crisis. That is perhaps the most damning realisation of all.
Bob Seely is a member of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and is MP for the Isle of Wight.

Bloody Sunday was the single most significant failure by the British security forces in Northern Ireland. On 30 January 1972, 13 civilians were killed a protest march in Derry (a fourteenth died later). They were 14 out of the 3,532 civilians, soldiers and paramilitary group members killed on all sides during The Troubles..

I do not for a second dispute that bad things happened that day. This is not a case of my side, right or wrong. Rules of war are there to be obeyed. I have Irish Catholic friends who take a very different approach to The Troubles than I do. I respect their opinion. But I am bemused by how on earth the decision to prosecute members of the Parachute Regiment  if that is what is now planned  serves peace in Northern Ireland today.

Prosecution does not send a signal of justice. It is without a semblance of equality. UK soldiers are being hung out to dry whilst those they fought are treated by different rules. There is a natural and obvious injustice. I do not argue that all the Paras behaved as they should. Some didnt, and people died as a result, but the purpose of the peace process was to accept that while bad things happened in the past, they should stay there. Gavin Williamson is said to be planning legislation to introduce a 10-year limit on alleged historic abuses. Such a law cant come soon enough.

When judging this issue, its helpful to have experience of insurgencies or at least understand their principle. The purpose of the IRA was to force Catholics out of the security forces in Northern Ireland, sectarianise the country, set up rival shadow institutions, to murder members of the (overwhelmingly Protestant) security forces, and then hope for violent reprisals and chaos in Northern Ireland  forcing the UK out and achieving a united Irish state, presumably imbued with a socialist, revolutionary anti-British hostility.

The IRA failed in its aim. That they lost when insurgent paramilitary groups have succeeded in so many parts of the world is testament to the remarkable work of the security forces  the UK Armed Forces, the security agencies and the then Royal Ulster Constabulary. This does not mean that our security forces were always right or that there were no breaches of trust. There were some, but failures in command and standards were rare enough for the forces of law and order to survive and to defeat the IRAs violent aims. By preventing civil conflict on the level of Bosnia or Syria, UK forces that served in Northern Ireland  including the Parachute Regiment  saved the lives of thousands, perhaps tens of thousands. This is not said often enough.

Bloody Sunday was one of those occasions when our ability to police Catholic communities collapsed. It was a moral and political failure. The IRA and Sinn Fein milked the occasion for propaganda for decades. If the British and Irish Governments now had a policy of prosecuting all those involved in the injury or deaths of others, there would at least be a consistent standard by which to put soldiers and former paramilitary members on trial.

But there is no intent to do this. Former paramilitary fighters are out of prison. IRA killers have restarted their lives. Yet British soldiers, whose collective actions in the course of the Troubles saved Northern Ireland from civil war, face the threat of prosecution. They face life imprisonment. Any former terrorist brought before the courts  an almost unthinkable event anyway  would face under the Good Friday agreement a maximum two-year sentence. Every kneecapping and killing was a morally squalid event. Where are former paramilitaries being hauled before the courts? This is not an example of fairness, but of double standards.

The Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) is nowadays repeatedly drummed into servicemen and women. Yet time and time again UK forces feel under-protected by politicians and at the mercy of parasitical lawyers keener to attack the institutions of our state or make a quick buck than they are in the service of justice. The wretched, demeaning spectacle of the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, which allowed multiple trumped-up charges to be thrown at the UK Armed Forces, is just the latest episode in that sorry relationship.

I talked with some former army mates this weekend. The assumption is: no matter what you do on operations, others without experience will judge you years down the line, doing so from the comfort of a legal chambers or a court, and the politicians wont defend you. This is an insidious place for the Armed Forces to be in.

The additional irony is that it will be very difficult to obtain guilty verdicts. No one will be satisfied by the trials. Soldiers will feel betrayed by politicians. The families of the Bloody Sunday dead face failed prosecutions. The trials will open up old wounds in the province just weeks after a recent terror attack in Derry. Those accused will be treated as martyrs or murderers. The trials may provide justification for further acts of violence by dissident republicans. The only winners will be lawyers. The original Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday cost 200 million. The Iraq Historic Allegations Team cost 30 million. Nearly a quarter of a billion pounds for both; what a staggering use of public money.

If this were happening under a government lead by a Marxist IRA fellow-traveller such as Jeremy Corbyn, I would be appalled but not surprised. Instead, it is happening under a Conservative Government. It is an unnecessary, self-inflicted wound. Let the dead rest in peace and let those who survived  on all sides of the conflict  reconcile themselves and their consciences.
Martin Howe QC is a barrister specialising in EU law, mainly Intellectual Property and the free movement of goods and services. He is Chairman of Lawyers for Britain, and a former Conservative Parliamentary candidate.

Key points:

A short Article 50 extension of under 3 months would make no practical difference and fear of one is not a reason for backing the deal.

A long extension of 21 months would have the same practical result as the implementation period in the deal, except the UK would be much better off than under the deal because we would still have a vote and representation in EU institutions and the European Parliament.

Unlike the deal, we would be free to leave on 1st January 2021 without being trapped in the backstop Protocol.

Our financial liabilities during the 21 month extension would be the same as under the deal, but unlike the deal, we would have no obligations afterwards.

Unlike under the deal, we would not be subject to indefinite ECJ jurisdiction after 2020.

We would not be subject to EU state aid controls after 2020, nor to Commission and ECJ long tail powers after that date.

We could line up international trade deals to come into force from 1st January 2021. Under the deal, we could not do this because the backstop Protocol and the commitments on tariffs we have made in the Political Declaration mean we could not assure negotiating partners that we would be in a position to implement deals with them.

We would have more time to prepare for a no deal Brexit, enhancing our negotiating power with the EU, and also more time to develop and deploy alternative customs control methods on goods crossing the Irish border.

An Article 50 extension is obviously being used as a Trojan horse by Remainers and referendum-deniers who want to reverse Brexit. But Brexit supporters should not be swayed by that into supporting Theresa Mays deal which would poison Brexit and create a situation so bad that calls to re-enter the EU would grow in order at least to have a vote on all the areas where we will be rule-takers from Brussels.

The growing calls for an Article 50 extension

The Prime Ministers statement to the House of Commons on 26th February 2019 opened the door to a short, limited extension to Article 50 not beyond the end of June if the House again rejects her deal on 12th March. She thereby abandoned her commitment, repeated in the Commons more than 100 times, that the UK will leave the European Union on 29th March 2019.

Without any apparent consciousness of the irony, she told the House that she would stick by her commitment to hold a vote on extending Article 50 as I have [stuck by my] previous commitments.

But in the background, there is a threat of a much longer extension. On 11th February 2019, Olly Robbins, the Prime Ministers chief Brexit negotiator was overheard by an ITN reporter in a Brussels hotel bar, saying that he expected MPs in March to be presented with the choice of backing a reworked Brexit deal or a potentially significant delay to Brexit.

Opinions differ on whether making comments of this kind in a public bar was an accidental gross indiscretion on the part of a highly placed civil servant, or whether it was said in a Machiavellian bid to send a coded message to MPs without implicating the Prime Minister personally in saying something so contrary to her public stance.

Whatever is the right interpretation on this point, the idea of a long Article 50 extension is emerging from other sources. On 24th February 2019, The Guardian reported:

Brexit could be delayed until 2021, EU sources reveal But sources said the EU was determined to avoid a series of three-month extension requests by the UK, which would cause damaging uncertainty, leaving Brussels unable to plan for the future. The emergence of the idea of a 21-month delay to Brexit will be seen by some as an attempt to push Brexiter MPs into backing Mays deal. The EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barner, had advised ambassadors last week that the threat of a lengthy extension could be used by May as leverage in talks with her Brexiter MPs as she seeks to nudge the deal through parliament.

How should opponents of the deal react to the threat of an Article 50 extension?

Despite her protestations about not wanting an Article 50 extension, it is clear that May is now seeking to use the threat of one as a lever to exert pressure on MPs opposed to her deal. But how should they react to such a threat?

First, an Article 50 extension to late June is no threat at all. A three-month extension provides at most three more weeks of negotiating time, as I (and others) have previously pointed out. This is because the European Parliament will dissolve on 18th April prior to its elections. If a deal is not agreed by then it will no longer be possible for it to be approved by the European Parliament. Such approval is legally required under Article 50 before the EU can formally conclude the deal.

So an extension to late June merely provides three weeks for further procrastination and delay. If a deal is not concluded and approved by the European Parliament before 18th April, the UK will then automatically leave the EU without a deal at the end of June. So, unless the deal is radically altered in order to make it acceptable through removal of, or major surgery on, the backstop, the reasons for voting it down will be just as strong as when the House rejected it by a majority of 230 votes in January.

What of a longer extension?

Lets suppose that there is a threat of a much longer extension, say of 21 months to the end of 2020.

It seems to be assumed by those who utter such threats in Brussels bars and elsewhere that opponents of Brexit ought to quake at such a prospect, and then vote for Mays deal to get Brexit over the line.

But let us calmly compare the actual consequences of such a 21-month extension with the alternative of Mays deal. In objective terms, a 21-month Article 50 extension is miles and miles better from a Leave perspective than Mays appalling deal.

Let us look at the key points in turn.

Transition period: A 21-month Article 50 extension would lock the UK into having to obey EU laws across the board until 31st December 2020. But that is exactly what Mays transition period would do  the one she insists on calling an implementation period even though there will be no concluded trade deal to implement, just more turmoil-filled negotiations taking us up to another mythological cliff edge at the end of the transition period.

The big difference would be that under an Article 50 extension, the UK would continue to be represented in EU institutions, and continue to exercise a vote and veto (where unanimity is required) over new EU rules. Further, we would elect a new phalanx of MEPs, large numbers of whom would be Brexit supporters who would be robust in defending Britains interests and in disrupting the EUs centralising plans.

No backstop: The next huge point is that under the Article 50 extension the UK would not be bound by the backstop Protocol, which under Mays deal would kick in on 1st January 2021. Instead, on 1st January 2021 we would just leave unencumbered. We would be able to negotiate for a trade deal with the EU with a strong hand, and our negotiating position would not be crippled by being prospectively or actually locked into the backstop as it would be under Mays deal.

Financial claims: Under an Article 50 extension, we would automatically be liable to contribute as a Member State to the EU budget up to the end of 2020. But that is exactly what we are obliged to do under Mays deal, up to the end of the transition period which will last at least to the end of 2020 but might be extended for up to two years more. The big difference is that under Mays deal, we would be liable for huge additional ongoing financial liabilities after that date. These will be adjudicated on by the ECJ and not by a neutral independent body.

ECJ Jurisdiction: Under the extension, we would continue to be subject to the ECJs jurisdiction across the board until the end of 2020. But so will we under Mays deal, the difference being that under her deal we will no longer have a British Judge and Advocate-General as members of the court. But the really big difference comes after the end of 2020: at the end of the extension, we shall be free of the ECJ. Under her deal, we shall be subject to its continuing jurisdiction over wide areas for the indefinite future.

State aid controls and level playing field: Under an Article 50 extension, we would be subject to EU state aid control as a Member State but at least we would still have political influence and representation on the Commission. These controls would then cease to apply to the UK after we leave at the end of 2020. By contrast under the May deal, we would have no political influence over the way these controls are exercised during the transition period, and these controls would continue to apply both to Northern Ireland and Great Britain under the backstop. In addition beyond that, she has given a commitment in the Political Declaration that the UK will continue to submit to these controls permanently.

International trade policy: Under an Article 50 extension, we could not operate our own tariffs or implement our own free trade agreements until the end of 2020. However, we could negotiate and line up deals to come into force on 1st January 2021. (Note that there is no validity in the argument that the EU treaties prevent us from negotiating and concluding trade agreements while we are members which come into force after we leave: see Negotiating International Trade Treaties Before Exit).

By contrast, Mays deal would oblige us to apply EU external tariffs up to the end of 2020 in the same way as if were still members, except of course we would have no vote. But in addition her deal would prevent us from negotiating any deals with third countries because we would not be able to guarantee to trade partners that the backstop would not kick in and lock us into an indefinite customs union with the EU. The Political Declarations paragraph 23 on tariffs requires us to negotiate a long term arrangement with the EU which builds and improves on the single the customs territory in the backstop, and is completely incompatible with having a conventional Canada-style free trade agreement with the EU. This and other highly damaging parts of the Political Declaration (such as sharing of fishing waters) cannot simply be ignored as having no legal force, since the Withdrawal Agreement legally commits both the EU and the UK to use their best endeavours to negotiate a long term deal in accordance with the Political Declaration.

More time to prepare for No Deal: The Article 50 extension would give us more time to do what Mays government should have been doing all along during the two and a half years since the referendum. That is to prepare overtly, steadily and determinedly for a No Deal exit, as a twin-track alongside negotiating with the EU. This would strengthen our negotiating position, and with Mays deal in the bin we could actually press for a deal which genuinely protects our ability to forge an independent trade policy and also deals with the Northern Ireland border issue by alternative means.

An Article 50 extension is also compatible with the Malthouse Compromise, since the extended Article 50 period would substitute for the transition period up to the end of 2020. But, as explained above, we would be much better off than in the transition arrangement, since we would retain our vote and voice within the EU institutions.

So whats the threat in an Article 50 extension?

When you want to get someone to do something by threatening them, the normal protocol is that you threaten them with something which is worse than the thing you want them to do. However, in this case, it is the other way round. The threat is manifestly more advantageous in every way than the thing the threatener wants the threatened to do (vote for the May deal).

Of course it can be argued that the practical consequences as set out above of the Article 50 extension are not the only thing to think about, and one must also think about the danger of the extended period being used by unreconstructed Remainers and referendum-deniers to reverse Brexit altogether.

To those who are worried by this issue, I would make two points, one negative and one positive.

The problem with Mays deal is that it poisons Brexit by closing off the freedom of action which is the whole point of Brexit, and drains away its advantages. Those who blithely talk about busting out of the backstop Protocol in the future by breaching treaty commitments gravely underestimate the difficulties of pursuing such a course of action and the damage to the UKs standing and international interests if it were to be attempted.

If Brexit supporters are complicit in miring the UK for a decade or a generation in such a terrible vassal arrangement with the EU, inevitably calls will grow for us to re-join the EU in order at least to get back a vote on the rules which we have to follow.

On a positive note, even if the Remainers were to get the long extension which they crave, it does not mean that the support will be there either in Parliament or still less in the country to hold a second referendum or to reverse Brexit. The Labour party in particular would find it very difficult if it alienates its Leave-supporting voters in the many marginal seats where they are plentiful.

And there are severe difficulties in the way of getting such an extension in the first place. The EU is wary of the problems which would be created by holding the European Parliament elections in the UK. The Conservative Party should be not simply wary, but alarmed across the board, at such a prospect, since a decimation of the Conservative vote in the face of Nigel Farages reinvigorated Brexit Party cannot be ruled out. And if the Brexit party establishes itself with a big vote in the European Parliament elections, it will not go away and will be a real vote-splitting problem for the Conservatives in by-elections and at the next general election  an even greater problem than UKIP was in the past.

The EU may well not be willing to agree to an extension. It only takes one member state to veto it. As I point out above, a long Article 50 extension would materially strengthen the UKs bargaining position and the EU might not wish to facilitate that on top of the European Parliament elections problem. And would a long Article 50 extension actually get through the House of Commons, after the backlash against those who support it from betrayed leave voters is taken into account?

So, if the deal is bad and stays bad, there is no reason for MPs who oppose it to panic and change their position, and every reason why they should stand firm in the face of these Article 50 threats.
Chloe Westley: Why should MPs get a pay rise when they wont keep their promises to the people?

Chloe Westley is the Campaign Manager of the TaxPayers Alliance.

Last week it was announced that MPs will all be receiving a pay rise of 2.7 per cent, which means they would now be classified among the richest by Labours calculations. Naturally, the TaxPayers Alliance was first on the scene to criticise IPSA for being woefully out of touch with the public.

Of course, it must be said that there are some brilliant MPs across the political spectrum, who go above and beyond for their constituents. But I would hardly say that the majority have covered themselves in glory over Brexit. In the same week that it was announced that all MPs in Westminster would be receiving a pay rise, both the Labour and Conservative front benches rescinded on their election pledges on Brexit.

Manifesto commitments have been broken on both sides. Jeremy Corbyn knew that the majority of voters wouldnt accept a second referendum, so he ruled this out resolutely at the 2017 General Election. But now, he is whole-heartedly behind a second referendum. Theresa May knew that the popularity of her party relied very much on the perception that the Conservatives were the party of Brexit, and could be trusted to deliver a hard Brexit. That is why the Conservative manifesto committed to taking Britain out of the EUs Single Market and Customs Union.

Leave voters are being completely ignored by the majority of Westminster. For every noble defence of democracy in the Commons, there are several other condescending calls for another referendum because people didnt know what they were voting for.

Many of these politicians now calling for a second referendum were elected on the platform of delivering Brexit. For example, Dominic Grieve told his constituents that they should vote for him because he would help the Prime Minister to deliver Brexit. In his election address, Grieve wrote that As someone who has always advocated a close relationship between the UK and the European Union, I accept the result of the 2016 Referendum. But now he is leading the charge to stop Brexit, declaring this week that Leave voters had been thoroughly misled over a long period by a form of propaganda that believes that the EU is evil.

Sarah Wollaston told one constituent before the election that she promised to respect the outcome of the EU referendum. On her website she told constituents before the election that Theresa May has confirmed that the Government will not seek to be in the Single Market. She has also been clear that no deal is better than a bad deal. At a local election hustings she said that we must accept the result of the EU referendum. Dr Wollaston is now proudly campaigning for a second referendum.

Heidi Allen passionately told her constituents at an election hustings that we have to respect the result and also tweeted: I was a remainer, but the EU ref result is final and cannot be rerun. Allen now says that we need to check with the British people and have a second referendum.

Before the election Amber Rudd told her constituents, who voted by a majority to leave the EU, that only a Conservative government will deliver the Brexit deal that Britain needs to prosper in the years ahead and also declared to the nation that she was consistent about respecting the result of the referendum. Rudd now claims that there is a plausible argument for a second referendum.

In addition to these personal commitments, every Conservative MP ran on a manifesto which committed to taking Britain out of the Single Market and Customs Union, and also backing the Prime Ministers assertion that No Deal is better than a bad deal. These campaign pledges werent hidden in the back of the manifesto, or added as a footnote. They were highlighted again and again by the Prime Minister and central to the national campaign.

As someone who was leafleting for the Conservative Party in 2017, Im astounded that so many Conservative MPs (and now, I suppose, Independent MPs) seem to have forgotten what they promised constituents on the doorstep.

By misleading voters about their intention to respect the result of the EU referendum, these MPs betrayed more than just their constituents. They are part of an anti-Brexit movement which is causing irrevocable damage to trust in British politics.

There are many Brits asking themselves: why should I give a third of my income to people who wont allow me any say in how that money is spent?

We are moving towards a system of taxation without representation. Voters and taxpayers are told to just shut up and do what theyre told. Citizens are reprimanded by their representatives for committing the thoughtcrime of euroscepticism. How dare taxpayers demand more say over how their money is spent, and how their country is run!

Of course it would not be possible to directly devolve decision making to individuals on all matters of state. But on an issue as fundamental as the governance of the nation, politicians cannot say one thing during an election and another when in office.

I dont think MPs who say theyll deliver Brexit to get votes in an election, and then do the complete opposite when elected, should be rewarded with a pay rise.
Lord Flight is Chairman of Flight & Partners Recovery Fund, and is a former Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

I am shocked that the Remain interest has been so successful in wrongly frightening people about the problems of the UK functioning under WTO if there is no EU deal. The EU accounts for a diminishing part of the world economy and of our trade. Its markets are slow-growing, and its population is ageing. Its share of world output has halved since 1980 and will continue to reduce. The growth markets of the future are outside the EU. The GDP of the Commonwealth is now some 30 per cent more than that of the EU (including the UK).

We are also clear that we do not want to be tied to accepting instructions from the EU and ECJ, unable to establish our own trade agreements; and that it is also undesirable to remain tied to the EU economically with its antiquated and protectionist Customs Union, protectionist Single Market, and its overweight regulation model. Membership of the EU has been a drag on the UK economy for a long time. What we need is a post-Brexit competitiveness boost, which to be effective requires a clean break. Post-Brexit, we also need to be able to decide our own regulatory regimes.

My preference for some time has been a Canada-style managed Free Trade Plus Agreement, but the Prime Ministers negotiations have opted for keeping the UK tied to the EU, in several ways and for a long time. I would, therefore, now prefer the option of a managed, No Deal Brexit, trading under WTO rules. The WTO option is not about falling off a cliff or crashing out. Rather it would provide us with the economic freedoms we need in order to make the best of Brexit. It was this which the citizens of this country voted for in the referendum. Around a half of our international trade (55 per cent) is already conducted under WTO rules, and with non-EU, WTO members.

The WTO has made huge advances in facilitating trade across customs borders: under the Landmark Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) developed countries with adequate resources are expected to install state of the art, border systems to avoid impeding trade. Streamlined, computerised borders are now the norm. The WTOs rule-based trading regime is comprehensive, tried and tested and respected by the worlds trading nations.

Over the last decade Britains exports have grown by over 60 per cent. Exports to the EU grew by only 40 per cent, but to non-EU economies by 80 per cent. It is clear where the growing markets are. Trade and the UK can thrive under WTO rules. Trade is driven by commercial realities, irrespective of the Single Market  to which we would still have access under WTO rules, as a third country. From an EU perspective, the possibility of free trade with the UK should be extremely attractive. The EU has a trade surplus with the UK of approximately 100 billion a year. For Germany, the UK is the second biggest market for its cars.

The WTO fear campaign has hugely exaggerated the potential risks of temporary and short-term crisis in moving our EU trade to WTO rules. Given the preparation that has gone on, I believe there would be very few glitches in practice. For the longer term, just as we conduct our trade successfully with the US under WTO rules, so too we can conduct our trade successfully with the EU under WTO rules.

How are the last-minute negotiations are likely to break? Theresa May is on clear record as saying that no deal would be better than a bad deal. But she does not want No Deal, as it would run the political risk of breaking up the Conservative Party. She has now delayed the meaningful vote in the Commons until March 12th at the latest, when the Prime Ministers deal will be the only option. It is also clear that there is no parliamentary majority for even a managed No Deal.

The EU would also like to achieve a deal, in part to secure the 39 billion UK contribution to the EU; and, longer term, to support EU trade and the EU 100 billion, UK trade surplus. The EU does not, however, wish to make departure from the EU too easy, and wants to discourage others from seeking to depart. This could end up causing the UK to withdraw to WTO, unilaterally, but this now looks unlikely. The key territory is the Northern Ireland backstop terms. An acceptable deal for the UK could be achieved with modern technology. But in the backstop agreement that the Prime Minister has negotiated so far, the UK is left being required to accept ECJ law and rulings, without any appeal. The main reason for the referendum result was a strong objection to being told what to do by EU organisations.

I suspect both the UK and the EU will, at the last minute, manage to agree an unsatisfactory compromise, which sounds just about acceptable to both; although I fear it would be a bad deal for the UK, and could be a sell-out on the crucial issue of having to accept ECJ law.

Whichever way the Prime Minister eventually goes, she will also continue to run the risk of splitting the Conservative Party. For what it is worth, my advice to her would be to stick to principle (which is always defendable) rather than opt for fudge. I anticipate, however, that we will end up with a standard EU, last minute, fudge Deal.
There are three curiousities about the group of eight pro-Brexit lawyers who will pass judgement on any revised deal.

First, while seven of them are Conservatives (of which six are MPs), one is a member of the DUP  Nigel Dodds. The Tories have an common interest, as well as their party membership: they are all aligned to one degree or another with the ERG. Meanwhile, Dodds is not only a DUP but the partys deputy leader. The ERG and the DUP have very good relations, but ultimately different interests. And Dodds will have a responsibility to his partys view if or when a revised deal is agreed.

Second, at least two of the group are opposed to the deal as it stands on wider grounds than the backstop. Bill Cash has broad objections  for example, to Article 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement. On its basis alone, he told the Commons recently, one should not vote for the withdrawal agreement. Martin Howes take is similar. David Jones is at the flintier end of the ERG spectrum. With so much opposition to the deal in the group  and resistance that spreads wider than the backstop  how can it collectively approve any backstop revision?

Finally, Howe, who writes on this site today, has a long history of engagement with EU law. (His chambers says that his practice encompasses intellectual property and extends into wider fields of EU law and commercial and public law.) Cash has been immersed in EU law as an MP for over 30 years. Raab had some engagement with EU law as a junior solicitor and is of course a former Brexit Secretary. Now let us turn to the remaining five members of the group of eight.

Jones is a solicitor who was senior partner of a practice (David Jones & Company) based in North Wales.

Suella Braverman is a barrister who specialised in planning law.

Robert Courts chambers says that he has a general common law practice, principally in the fields of criminal and personal especially Animal Welfare, Aviation, Police and Proceeds of Crime Law.

Michael Tomlinsons is a member of the same chambers, which advertises his work in contract, landlord and tenant, personal injury, property and chancery, public law & regulatory law.

Dodds worked as a barrister in Northern Ireland. (It may be worth noting that he won the university scholarship, McMahan studentship and Winfield Prize for Law.

In other words, perhaps two of the eight can claim to have serious engagement with constitutional law  Howe and Cash. But the latter is primarily a politician. As are the remaining six: Jones, for example, may not have been a senior lawyer but he was certainly a senior politician  at one time a member of that most senior political body of all, the Cabinet.

All in all, this group of eight is constituted to take what will primarily be a political rather than a legal decision. The same is true of Geoffrey Cox  who his chambers describes as appearing in the High Court in civil fraud and asset recovery, commercial, human rights, defamation, and judicial review actions.

Tomlinson gave a skilful interview to yesterdays Sunday Times in which he succeeded in not closing down any options. But the combination of Howes, Cashs and Jones presence in the group of eight, and the absence of any visible breakthrough in the negotiations, should caution one against presuming that it is predisposed to sign up to any revised deal that the Government brings back. Especially in the light of claims today about the state of the negotiation.
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(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest who was kidnapped in Syria in 2013, is among the hostages being held in the last area of territory still controlled by ISIS in the south-east of the country, Vatican news agency reported on Monday citing Lebanese media reports based on Kurdish sources.

Fides mentioned a report by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is considered close to Hezbollah, which said Dall'Oglio was about to be released along with other Western and Kurdish hostages. Last month The Times reported the extremist Islamist group was using Dall'Oglio and two other Western hostages, British journalist John Cantlie and a nurse from New Zealand, as "bargaining chips" in negotiations with with the US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces surrounding them.


When Is Passover in 2021?

In 2021, the Passover Holiday will begin on the evening of Saturday, March 27 and end on Sunday, April 4.

Passover is a traditional Jewish holiday with biblical origins. It is a celebration of the deliverance of the Jewish people by God from their bondage in ancient Egypt under the guidance of Moses. Passover commemorates the story of the Exodus as depicted in the Hebrew Bible, notably in the Book of Exodus.

Passover is a spring holiday and was associated with the sacrifice of the "first-fruits of the barley" during the presence of the Temple in Jerusalem, barley being the first seed to mature and collected in the Land of Israel.

Some Christians recognize a version of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The tradition is observed among Assemblies of Yahweh, Messianic Jews, and some congregations of the Church of God (Seventh Day). It is often associated with the Christian celebration and festivities of Easter. The salvation from the subjugation of sin through the sacrifice of Christ is celebrated, a resemblance of the Jewish Passover's celebration of salvation from slavery in the land of Egypt.

Discover more about the Traditions and History of Passover.

Passover in the Bible

Scripture references to Passover Holiday origins and traditions are mostly found in the Old Testament as it commemorates the liberation of Israelites from slavery in Egypt during the time of Moses conveyed in the book of Exodus. Discover notable Bible verses about Passover in the collection of scripture quotes listed below!

Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssops, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. "Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?' then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' " Then the people bowed down and worshiped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. Exodus 12:21-28

Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch-as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 1 Corinthians 5:7

"'These are the Lord's appointed festivals, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times: The Lord's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the Lord's Festival of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present a food offering to the Lord. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.' " Leviticus 23:4-8

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:26-28

"Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt. "No one is to appear before me empty-handed. Exodus 23:15

"'A foreigner residing among you is also to celebrate the Lord's Passover in accordance with its rules and regulations. You must have the same regulations for both the foreigner and the native-born.' " Numbers 9:14

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus' disciples asked him, "Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?" So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, 'The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, "Surely you don't mean me?" "It is one of the Twelve," he replied, "one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born." While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. "Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." Mark 14:12-15

History and Origin of Passover

The sources of the Passover holiday precede the Exodus. The Passover ceremony, prior to Deuteronomy, is generally thought to have its origins in an evil-repelling ritual, unrelated to the Exodus, to assure the safekeeping of a family home. Hyssop was used to apply the blood of a slain sheep on the house entry to ensure that wicked forces could not infiltrate the building.

The biblical commandments regarding the Passover (also the Feast of Unleavened Bread) emphasize the significance of recognizing the following:

Deuteronomy 16:12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt observe and do these statutes"

Exodus 12:14 commands, in reference to God's sparing of the firstborn from the Tenth Plague: And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations, ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.

Exodus 13:3 repeats the command to remember: Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength the hand of the LORD brought you out from this place.

Passover Traditions

One of the most significant Passover customs for observing Jews is eliminating all leavened food products from their home before the holiday begins and fasting, or withholding, from them throughout the span of the holiday.

In place of bread, religious Jews eat a kind of flatbread called matzo, as pictured above. According to tradition, this is because the Hebrews escaped Egypt in such a hurry that there was no time for their bread to rise, or perhaps because matzo was lighter and easier to carry through the desert than regular bread.

Image above courtesy of PxHere

Should Christian Celebrate Passover?

According to Russ Jones on what Christians should know about Passover: Some might debate whether or not it is appropriate for a Christian to celebrate Passover. Whether one chooses to do so or not is a decision for the individual Christian to make. While Passover remembers the Jews deliverance from slavery, it also is a depiction of Christ's atonement for His people and His deliverance of us from the bondage of sin. The end result is certainly worthy of a Christian's consideration and could provide needed "bread for the journey" - whether it is unleavened or not!

As a final step in the process, allow me to encourage you to speak with a Rabbi about Passover if you have additional curiosities. He can inform you about this important Jewish observation.

Top Article Image is from Flickr

This article is part of our larger Holy Week and Easter resource library centered around the events leading up to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We hope these articles help you understand the meaning and story behind important Christian holidays and dates and encourage you as you take time to reflect on all that God has done for us through his son Jesus Christ!

What is the Holy Week?

What Is Palm Sunday?

What is Maundy Thursday?

What Is Good Friday?

What Is Easter?

Easter Prayers

At Easter, the Son of God took on the worlds sin and defeated the devil, death, and grave. How is it, then, that historys most glorious moment is surrounded by fearful fishermen, despised tax collectors, marginalized women, feeble politicians, and traitorous friends?

In The Characters of Easter, youll become acquainted with the unlikely collection of ordinary people who witnessed the miracle of Christs death and resurrection. This FREE podcast provides a fresh approach to the Lenten season and can be used as a devotional or study for both individuals and groups.




Acapulco has 30 confirmed calls for 2019 so far up from 25 last year. The calls include eight turnarounds by Cruise & Maritime Voyages Magellan, which is homeporting in Acapulco.

According to Alex Casarrubias, port director, the government of the State of Guerrero, the federal government, the Mexico Tourism Board and the Acapulco Tourism Board have been working together to accommodate the cruise line and to promote the cruises, serving mainly the national market.

Cruise & Maritime has stated that if the eight sailings do as well as expected, it will increase the number of cruises for the next season.

While continuing its work to attract more ships, the destinations main cruise customer is Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings with ships from the Norwegian, Oceania and Regent Seven Seas brands scheduled for 2019.

Additional calls will include ships from Phoenix Reisen, Fred. Olsen and Ponant.

The city itself is also undergoing renovations and upgrades.

Meanwhile, the Acapulco Cruise Committee is continuing its work to accommodate ships, passengers and crews, as well as to attract more ships.

Subcommittees coordinate all the details before ships arrive, Casarrubias explained, including the coordination of tours, attractions to be visited, supervision by the tourism police, and port receptions.

Regarding security, we continue to place the safety of our visitors and locals as a top priority, Casarrubias added.

"The implementation of new leadership and oversight by the federal government is a step toward a safer Acapulco. Local law enforcement coordinates security measures on call days with the cruise committee. These measures cover the port, as well as the city and the attractions that passengers are likely to visit, plus the locations visited by shore excursions.

Overall, Acapulco saw more than 770,000 visitors last summer, an 11 percent increase compared to the year before, and hotel occupancy averaged 65 percent, reaching peaks of 94 percent on certain weekends.

The town also recently hosted the Mexican Petroleum Congress with more than 15,000 participants, in addition to other conventions and sporting events.

The destination is also home to five so-called Blue Flag beaches, meeting international environmental standards for sustainable development.
What was once the SkySea Golden Era is becoming the Marella Explorer 2 as a massive drydocking and conversion is well underway for Marella Cruises at Navantia in Cadiz in Spain.

It is just one of a number of large projects scheduled for the Spanish yard this year, including a $200 million conversion of the Carnival Triumph into the Sunrise, according to the 2019 Drydocking and Refurbishment Report by Cruise Industry News.

The World is also due for a large refit later this spring.

The SkySea Golden Era arrived in Cadiz in January and was quickly brought into one of the large drydocks at the yard for her eight-week stay.

She now has a new name, Marella Explorer 2, on her hull, as well as a new paint scheme as interior conversion work is in full swing under the guidance of Trimline.

The technical overhaul and branding is being done under the supervision of Columbia Cruise Services, which is responsible for the ship management of the vessel.

The project will include large-scale paint work to meet the Marella Cruises brand standards, extensive glass refurbishments, upgrades to balconies and life-saving equipment and more.

The size of the Veranda premium sunbathing area will be doubled compared to the one on her sister, Marella Explorer.

She will also feature three brand new venues and a 102-square-meter Royal Suite.

The Marella Explorer 2 expands the British brands fleet to six ships this year, helping open up deployment with more capacity.

After a few itineraries debuting the vessel out of Palma, the 1995-built ship moves to Naples for the summer, a first-time homeport for the company.
The WannaCry and NotPetya ransomware attacks were massive incidents that impacted companies both large and small across large geographic areas. Both propagated quickly and brought massive organizations such as the UKs National Health Service (NHS) and shipping giant Maersk to a standstill.

While the threat from those two individual attacks has been mostly mitigated, variants of both still continue to propagate out in the wild. A new report suggests that another global attack in the same style, if coordinated and executed properly, could cause even more damage and cost companies billions of dollars in damage.

The cost of massive global attacks

WannaCry is estimated to have infected 200,000 computers across 150 countries, spreading through unpatched versions of Microsoft Windows. NotPetya propagated through a compromised update of a popular Ukrainian tax application and affected companies in Ukraine and in other parts of Europe, with Russia accused of orchestrating the attack. Both used the EternalBlue exploit  developed by the NSA and leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacker group  which took advantage of vulnerabilities in the Windows Server Message Block (SMB) protocol.

WannaCry cost the UKs NHS an estimated 91.5 million [$118 million], according to government calculations; 19 million for the attack itself and another 72.5 million in IT support to remediate and upgrade systems in the wake of the attack. Despite actual profits from the attack barely reaching $100,000, cyber risk modeling firm Cyence estimated the total global cost of the attack could be as high as $4 billion.

NotPetya was also widespread and costly. Shipping company Maersk and logistics company FedEx lost approximately $300 million each. Speech and imaging technology company Nuance says its own losses were around $90 million, while law firm DLA Piper paid 15,000 hours of IT overtime to remediate its impact. CyberReasons study of quarterly earnings and investor statements from affected companies puts the global cost of NotPetya attacks at around $1.2 billion

To complicate matters, having cyber insurance might not cover everyones losses. Zurich American Insurance Company refused to pay out a $100 million claim from Mondelez, saying that since the U.S. and other governments labeled the NotPetya attack as an action by the Russian military their claim was excluded under the hostile or warlike action in time of peace or war exemption.

According to the Lloyds of London report, Bashe attack: Global infection by contagious malware, another global attack in the same vein as WannaCry and NotPetya could affect more than 600,000 businesses worldwide and cost $193 billion in lost revenue and remediation.

How the next WannaCry could cripple organizations across the world

The report aims to show how the reliance of the global economy on connectivity significantly increases the scope of the damage caused by malware. In the proposed scenarios, created in conjunction with the Cyber Risk Management (CyRiM) project and Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies (CCRS), a ransomware attack  known as Bashe  enters a network through a malicious email, propagates and encrypts any devices connected to the network, and further spreads itself by automatically forwarding the malicious email to all contacts. In the most severe version of the event, even the backups are erased.

The methodology draws on CCRSs historical datasets around malware and security incidents, including infection rates, replication rates and damage costs. It predicts it would take six programmers to carry out a malware attack on a global scale within a year and assumes the poorly executed parts of previous large-scale attacks  such as the web-based kill switch within WannaCry or the poor decryption and payment processes of NotPetya  are done properly.

Corporations regardless of size and sector find themselves in a panic, reads the report, as they are no longer able to process hard payments, communicate between sites via email, or run essential programs. Traders, police officers and healthcare professionals alike find themselves forced to revert to pen and paper to complete their daily duties. In 24 hours, the ransomware encrypts the data on nearly 30 million devices worldwide.

While the proposed ransom would be relatively low at around $700 per infection (or $350 per device to clean up or replace without paying the ransom) the calculated costs include cyber-incident response, damage control and mitigation, business interruption, lost revenue, and reduced productivity, and vary from $85 billion to $193 billion depending on the severity of the attack. The criminal organization that developed Bashe would bring in $1.14 to $2.78 billion in extortion revenues.

Healthcare, manufacturing and retail are the three most affected industries in each of the different scenarios, losing between $9 billion and $25 billion per sector. Retails reliance on payment systems, healthcares abundance of legacy systems and equipment, and manufacturings need to constantly be in production were cited as the main reasons for their vulnerability.

The U.S. is the most heavily affected region in terms of costs due its large number of what the report describes as premier-sized companies. Europe is close behind in terms of impact due to its high number of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are traditionally have less in terms of security budget and resources.

Is Bashe ransomware a likely scenario?

The report admits a massive attack such as this is an unlikely, and extreme, yet plausible scenario, but one that had recent precedence. Both WannaCry and NotPetya hit multiple large companies in various markets, propagated quickly, and cost affected companies heavily.

The Bashe attack scenario described in the report is entirely feasible, says Dr Simon Wiseman, CTO at Deep Secure. While there are a number of technical challenges the attacker would have to overcome, the core elements of this campaign are common and achievable for a tech-savvy cybercriminal. It would involve some serious backdoor exploit capability, and the speed and ferocity of lateral spread would likely be determined by whether the target had learned from the WannaCry/NotPetya outbreaks and compartmentalized their systems appropriately.

Chris Doman, security researcher at AlienVault, agrees that attack is possible, but unlikely, as the kind of email-based worm would have a hard time spreading as email providers would likely be quick to block it, and such a massive attack would need another high severity EternalBlue-style vulnerability to be developed and released into the wild.

While some questioned the overly apocalyptic nature of the attack, all the security researchers CSO contacted agreed such an attack would likely be perpetrated by a nation state actor. The resources required to find such a serious zero-day vulnerability and launch a wide-ranging attack would be considerable, or at least have been developed by a government and then leaked a la EternalBlue. Also, the fact such an attack would be incredibly visible and attention-grabbing would make it more likely to be state-sponsored as criminals generally prefer to operate quietly where possible.

Have organizations learned their ransomware lesson?

While the Bashe attack is hypothetical, it offers an opportunity to highlight that many organizations still havent learned their lessons from previous real-world widespread attacks and should be looking to shore up their defenses. WannaCry was undoubtedly a huge wake-up call for many organizations and businesses. Anybody hit by an attack like this will unquestionably be considering their processes, especially large organizations such as the NHS, says David Emm, principal security researcher, Kaspersky. It sometimes takes a lot for companies to improve their security processes, but Id like to think that an attack like WannaCry was enough for businesses to take action.

However, companies that were lucky enough not to be affected at the time may incorrectly feel the risk has passed. According to Kaspersky, the original WannaCry ransomware  for which a preventative patch has long been available  hit just under 75,000 users in Q3 2018, almost a third of all ransomware attacks the company saw in that period. Aerospace company Boeing fell victim to a WannaCry attack in March of 2018, over a year after the original attack. Other ransomware strands also use the same EternalBlue vulnerability that WannaCry exploited, as well as Trojan attacks such as Emotet and TrickBot, and continue to spread out in the wild.

The chance of this Bashe type of scenario playing out in the near future may not be as far-fetched as some believe, says Ollie Whitehouse, global chief technical officer at NCC Group. Our own recent research, using a propagation designed to replicate the impact of NotPetya, resulted in hundreds of hosts being infected in a matter of hours.

Researchers at security consultant NCC Group rebuilt the NotPetya attack (with the malicious payload replaced with telemetry data) to help companies test their own susceptibility to a genuine attack. In its first test the attack, dubbed EternalGlue, was able to compromise over 100 hosts in 45 minutes and take down the target domain. In live testing within what NCC described as a 100 billion dollar company, EternalGlue compromised over 200 hosts in 15 minutes, and would have affected the account directory if it was the original NotPetya malware.

Patching continues to be a challenge for organizations; a report from Veracode found more than 85 percent of all applications have at least one vulnerability in them, with the majority of vulnerability remaining unpatched a month after discovery and over half left open three months after discovery.

While not a ransomware attack, vulnerabilities that enabled other major attacks are still prevalent within many companies. The Equifax fax breach  labeled entirely preventable by the U.S. House Oversight Committee  was enabled through an unpatched vulnerability within the companys Apache Struts components and saw the company lose the personally identifiable information of 143 million people. Sonatype found over 18,000 businesses are still using the vulnerable version of Apache Struts, including two-thirds of the global Fortune 100 companies.

Even if companies are patching vulnerabilities that have caused previous attacks, attackers have an increasingly large number of new vectors to exploit. The report notes that IoT and industrial control systems (ICS) would likely experience severe disruption. According to Kaspersky Labs, over 40 percent of the ICS computers it monitors were attacked by malicious software at least once during the first half of 2018, and industrial companies continue to struggle with ICS security despite the sensitive nature of their operations.

The report briefly touches on SCADA/ICS systems, and that is the most concerning to me, says Chris Doman, security researcher at AlienVault. There have been a number of attacks, closely related to NotPetya, that aimed to disrupt the power networks and airports in Ukraine. These could result in loss of life. The silver lining in WannaCry and NotPetya is that it raised cybersecurity on peoples radars and have spawned endless playbooks and response plans.

Howr real-world Bashe-like ransomware can be prevented

While Bashe is a what-if experiment, the logic is based on real events that organizations should try to secure themselves against. Epidemics dont cease as rapidly as they begin. The consequences of these attacks are unavoidably long-lasting, says Kasperskys Emm. Its entirely feasible that such an attack [as Bashe] could cause greater harm, so its vital that companies to take adequate preventive measures before a cybercriminal acts  rather than focus on recovery. Companies need to audit their systems, carry out a risk assessment, question technology processes and procedures, know where they store data and what they do with data, etc.

Eytan Segal, head of threat prevention solutions at Check Point, says to prevent something like the Bashe attack, use strong email security to help block the spread of email-based worms, network intrusion prevention systems to provide a layer of virtual patching to protect unpatched systems, and dedicated endpoint ransomware protection technologies.

A key lesson from Wannacry and NotPetya was the existence of a large shadow internet, linking practically every intranet (local company network) to other networks using VPNs and other site to site tunnels, and a testament to the utter lack of any defensive in-depth systems in these networks, says Ofri Ziv, VP of research at GuardiCore. The basic techniques that would handle such an attack such as network segmentation, least-trust and separation of control and data networks would all help stop, mitigate and handle such an attack.

I've never been a fan of fictional 'doomsday scenario global meltdown' cybersecurity advice, adds Paul Ducklin, senior technologist at Sophos, but the defenses you need against cybercrime in general are great against both today's real world threat and doomsday thought exercises like Bashe. Those defenses are:
(ANSA) - Brescia, March 4 - Brescia prosecutor general Pier Luigi Maria Dell'Osso has taken on the investigation into the death of Sana Cheema, a 25-year-old Italian-Pakistani woman strangled to death in Pakistan in April.

She had reportedly shortly before refused to go through with an arranged marriage wanted by her family. Cheema, who became an Italian citizen in September after living for years in the northern city of Brescia, had returned to her birth country two months before she was killed.

The prosecutor has listed her father, uncle and one of her brothers as under investigation for murder. Her father, brother, an uncle and other relatives had been recently acquitted by a Gujarat court in Pakistan. The Brescia prosecutor's office had opened a case against unknown individuals.


The rapid adoption of new digital networking strategies has utterly transformed how and where we conduct business. Digital Transformation (DX) is expanding the attack surface, and one of the biggest challenges is extending security to all the places and devices where applications, workflows, and critical data need to travel to protect digital assets. The other challenge is that even though this change is happening at unprecedented speeds, the CEO and board are impatient with the time it takes to bring DX business opportunities to market. And of course, this requires top notch security for DX initiatives.

DX is non-negotiablebut so is security. They are tied at the hip. The trick is to enable DX business initiatives without overwhelming the limited resources available to the security team. Because high-profile breaches are almost constantly in the news, those limited resources tend to be focused on keeping the bad guys out. Which is why job number one for most organizations involves deploying and managing security solutions across their expanding attack surface, including IoT, multi-cloud solutions, and SD-WAN deployments.

But as more users with more devices have more access to more resources than ever before, we cannot ignore the reality that many of our risks originate from inside the network. The 2018 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report has documented that a full 30% of breaches experienced by organizations involve insiders.

Part of that challenge is the result of the amount of implicit trust we extend to users and devices. Inevitably, insider threats always involve abuse of that trust of some sortwhether intentionally or unintentionally. But whether the loss of data or digital resources is malicious or due to negligence, the results are the same and need to be guarded against. And that starts by updating that adage, "trust, but verify," to read: "only trust when you have to, and then, make sure you monitor, track, and verify everything." It's maybe not as elegant to say, but it is certainly a darn sight more useful.

Addressing Insider Threats with UEBA

Watching for insider threats requires inverting a lot of security thinking. It starts with the assumption that a breach has already occurred. Implementing things like a zero-trust security strategy, intent-based segmentation, and comprehensive network access control ensure that any violation that occurs is limited in scope. But the real challenge lies in discovering any attack in its very earliest stages, long before any damaging compromise can happen. And that requires implementing User and Entity-Based Behavioral Analytics (UEBA).

Initially, UBA (or User Behavioral Analytics) simply provided granular visibility into user behavior, whether on or off the corporate network to identify potentially malicious anomalous behavior and activities. Adding Entities to the solution, making it UEBA, acknowledged that truly effective security requires a range of entities to be observed and profiled and that those behaviors then need to be correlated with those of the user. This more holistic approach allows the security team to access much more granular information, allowing them to respond more efficiently before a risk can escalate to an incident or breach.

Span of Control

When correctly chosen and deployed, UEBA solutions can cover a wide range of insider threats, including:

Endpoint monitoring, whether on or off the network, to not only provide deep visibility into devices and user behavior, but also track resource access and data movement to better identify aberrant or malicious behaviors.

Data exfiltration attempts, including moving data to web and cloud services or onto removable storage media such as USB drives.

The instantaneous detection of policy violations, including the full range of regulatory compliance requirements.

The prevention of escalating, compromising, or taking over accounts using such techniques as credential stuffing.

Rules-Based and Machine Learning Engines

The most effective UEBA solutions can accurately identify anomalous user and device behavior, policy violations, unauthorized data access, improper data movement and exfiltration, and compromised accounts. They do this by leveraging a combination of two key components: an advanced rules-based engine and behavioral analytics enhanced by Machine Learning.

Rule-based engines help simplify policy adherence and strengthen security controls by immediately detecting policy violations, identifying risky behaviors or activities that could lead to a regulatory breach, and detecting and responding to compliance violations that put IP, PII, and other critical resources at risk. They can also alert on non-compliant user activities such as unauthorized data access; the sharing or distribution of PII; the use of Shadow IT; the installation of unapproved, unlicensed software; and the access or consumption of inappropriate content.

At the same time, the UEBAs Machine-Learning engine automatically learns user behaviors across peer groups, enabling it to detect behavioral anomalies. As a result, it can, for example, rapidly spot when unauthorized users are accessing a compromised user account.

Adding UEBA to Existing Strategies

While UEBA solutions can function as a stand-alone solution to secure endpoints, prevent data loss, or identify unusual behavior, they work best when incorporated as part of an integrated security strategy. Tying UEBA to SIEM solutions, for example, enhance the collection, analysis, and response to threats originating from inside the network. It can also be used to improve more traditional endpoint security applications, support the monitoring for and management of Shadow IT, and can be fully and seamlessly integrated into a larger security fabric framework.

Conclusion

One of the most common outcomes of an aggressive DX strategy is fractured visibility and inconsistent controls for security across the distributed network landscapeespecially when it comes to the behavior of trusted employees and devices. UEBA is a critical tool that can help unify the detection of and response to insider threats, helping close the gap on one of the most seriousand most often overlookedthreats to your business.

Learn more about Fortinet's Security Fabric and AI Predictive Intelligence solutions.

Read more about machine learning-based threat detection for insider threat protection.

Read more about how UEBA solutions can cover a wide range of insider threats.
A Greenwich firm that has been among Norwalks most-active developers has become the first to register a real estate investment trust pegged to a new federal tax incentive designed to unleash development in downtown areas.

Belpointe Capital announced plans on Monday for the its new Opportunity Zone REIT, having filed registration papers with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission in advance of soliciting investments of $10,000 or more. Belpointe REIT does not expect to hold an initial public offering of stock in the fund for at least six years.

Congress and the Trump administration created the Opportunity Zone incentive as part of the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017, allowing qualified investors to take a full deduction from their income taxes on any capital gains they make in the construction or redevelopment of real estate in targeted zones nationally.

In an initial filing with the SEC, Belpointe REIT indicated plans to raise up to $50 million in initial capital for the new fund, while in a Monday press release stating it envisions raising as much as $3 billion in capital over the long term.

Belpointe Capital is run by CEO Brandon Lacoff, with the company having offices in Greenwich and Norwalk where it has been the lead developer of Waypointe, a residential and retail development with four buildings constructed to date and a fifth planned opposite Interstate 95 from the SoNo Collection mall going up on West Avenue. Belpointe also built Baypointe in Stamford, an apartment complex with about 110 units that Belpointe designed with a future conversion in mind to condomiums.

Belpointe REIT is soliciting projects in which to invest on its website at www.belpointereit.com, with the company required under federal rules to plow 90 cents of every dollar it takes in from outside investors into projects that will file for Opportunity Zone tax incentives. In addition to equity-based funding it accumulates, Belpointe REIT plans to borrow additional capital to help finance Opportunity Zone developments.

Belpointe REIT does not plan to restrict its investments to any geography; the U.S. Department of the Treasury awarded Connecticut more than 70 Opportunity Zone districts including Bridgeport, Danbury, New Haven, Norwalk and Ansonia.

Among other features of the Belpointe REIT, investors will be able to cash out their investments quarterly, with many private real estate funds holding investments for years until funds hit contractual maturity dates.

If successful in its goal of an IPO down the road, Belpointe REIT would join a small handful of publicly traded real estate investment trusts created in southwestern Connecticut, including Barry Sternlichts Starwood Property Trust and Urstadt Biddle Properties which focuses its investments on retail buildings throughout Connecticut and the New York City region.

Since March 2009 in the trough of the Great Recession, Urstadt Biddle shares have doubled to trade at nearly $21 as of Monday, with Starwood Property Trust shares up 40 percent since its August 2009 IPO to trade above $22 entering the week.

Includes prior reporting by Justin Papp and Jacqueline Smith.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media

Connecticut landed one neighborhood among the 25 wealthiest in the nation as ranked Monday by a Bloomberg analysis of average incomes according to postal zip codes, with nine in southwestern Connecticut making the top 100.

Greenwich led the state with four inclusions on the list, including the 06831 zip code that includes most of the towns Backcountry estates, which ranked 23rd overall with average adjusted annual gross income of $586,000.
Dozens of New York City business and civic leaders are making a last-ditch effort to try to persuade Amazon and its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, to reconsider its decision to back out of its plans to bring 25,000 jobs to New York City.

More than 70 area leaders, led by the chief executives of Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JetBlue and Mastercard, urged the online retailer to reconsider its decision in a letter published Friday in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times.

"We know that the public debate that followed the announcement of the Long Island City project was rough and not very welcoming," they wrote. "Opinions are strong in New York - sometimes strident. We consider it part of the New York charm! But when we commit to a project as important as this, we figure out how to get it done in a way that works for everyone."

The appeal aligns with efforts by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, to try to talk the company into returning to negotiations, including by placing a call to Bezos, according to the Times. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) As of Friday, though, the company has "given no indication" it would reconsider, the governor said.

The letter was meant to tell other businesses that New York's economic climate is beneficial for them, Cuomo said in a radio interview with WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show. "That was petty politics that governed the day," he said of the deal's collapse. "It was a mistake, it was a blunder. We want business, we're open for business."

The head of the Partnership For New York City, the business group that organized the joint letter, said the letter also was meant to assure the technology industry as a whole that the city was eager to attract investment.

"This isn't just about Amazon," said Kathryn Wylde, the partnership's president and CEO. "The treatment [of Amazon] is a black spot on our record in terms of our hope to continue to be a global commercial capital, specifically for the technology industry. We've gotten feedback from firms that have a presence on the West Coast. They've said the treatment that Amazon received, and their decision that it wasn't worth it, was pretty shocking and caused other firms and entrepreneurs to question whether it was worth it to take on New York."

Amazon representatives declined to comment.

Amazon cancelled the project and its 25,000 jobs two weeks ago amidst an uproar over the company's potential effect on the city and the $3 billion in state and local incentives promised to it by Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat.. Amazon is moving ahead with plans to bring 25,000 to 37,000 jobs to the Crystal City neighborhood of Northern Virginia, and says it will spread jobs that had been planned for New York around other company hubs.

Besides dozens of tech, banking and real estate executives, elected officials including Democratic Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Carolyn Maloney and Max Rose, as well as religious, education and non-profit leaders signed the letter asking Amazon to reconsider.

But opponents of the deal, who succeeded in turning away Amazon in the first place, remain undeterred, as 77 leaders from labor unions, advocacy groups and non-profit organizations quickly responded that they were not backing down.

They still wanted to see economic growth in New York, the advocates argued, but not without first considering the effect on housing prices and racial and economic equality.

Like other big-city tech hubs, housing costs in New York have risen dramatically in recent years as Apple, Google and other internet giants have expanded.

"Rather than pursuing economic development policies that lead to displacement, we demand policies that create housing stability and security. We call for Universal Rent Control that gives people, not the real estate industry, the power to determine where they live - no New Yorker should live in fear of a rapid rent increase or an eviction," they wrote.

Of Amazon, the group added: "We defeated them recently, and we will do it again."

A key critic of New York's Amazon deal said he saw no weakening of opposition that might encourage the company to come back.

"Nothing has changed in the last two weeks," said Sen. Michael Gianaris, D-Queens. "It's the same people saying they support it who supported it before, and the same people saying they have concerns."
HARTFORD  Legislators on the Environment Committee last week were urged to jump on board  quickly  to allow Connecticut farmers, especially the next generation of farmers, to become part of the growing list of states that have embraced cultivation of hemp as a way to revitalize the farming industry.

The committee heard testimony on three different bills that would authorize the growing, cultivation, production and processing of hemp in Connecticut. Currently, only Colorado, Oregon, and Vermont allow farmers to grow hemp under state supervision.

Hemp was grouped with marijuana and was declared a Schedule 1 drug in 1970. That, according to advocates of hemp, increased misconception of the plant, which comes from the same family of plant as marijuana, but does not include enough THC to get a person high.

Connecticut is sitting on top of a huge gold mine, said John Roe, a retired farmer from Canada who lives in Stonington. He told the committee that Connecticut has the right soil conditions, right climate conditions for hemp cultivation.

Hemp will thrive in Connecticut, Roe said.

Rep. Joe Gresko, D-Stratford, told Roe that an emergency room doctor he knows urged him to vote against the legislation.

He feels the majority of the visits he sees is because of some sort of substance abuse issue, Gresko said, in a back-and-forth conversation with Roe. His parting words to me were look at Colorado.

How do you quell the fear that hemp growth will exacerbate the problem, Gresko asked Roe.

Roe said he was a farmer, not a physician, but that he wouldnt classify hemp as the type of dangerous drug in a category with harder substances such as fentanyl.

One concern that farmers, officials and advocates of hemp farming expressed to the committee is that whatever bill finally comes out of committee is one that addresses both current state and federal guidelines concerning hemp cultivation to keep the process from getting bogged down in paperwork.

The 2018 federal Farm Bill legalized industrial hemp and allows states to submit a plan and apply for primary regulatory authority over the production of hemp in their state.

Melody Currey, acting commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, testified that the department has been working with Governor (Ned) Lamonts Administration to determine the most workable pathway forward on this issue that addresses the specific criteria established in the 2018 Farm Bill and can be accomplished within resources available to the Department.

Lamonts budget included three new positions in the Department of Agriculture and $136,000 in funding to develop and regulate a hemp program. In addition, one lab technician position is provided to the Agricultural Experiment Station to conduct testing of the hemp being grown to ensure compliance of mandated restrictions on the product.

She said that over the last several months, the Department has reached out to sister agencies in other states, including Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota and others to determine what has worked successfully in their states, and what has not. There are many ways to stand up a hemp program, and we need to do it in a way that will be workable in Connecticut.

Bryan Hurlburt, executive director of the Connecticut Farm Bureau Association, urged the committee to pass one of the hemp bills quickly and get it to the full General Assembly and the governor for his signature because there is an opportunity for farmers to take advantage of this crop this growing season.

For a farmer to plant hemp in the field by early June, there are a number of steps that need to be taken in advance to meet that deadline, including the USDA waiver, seed procurement, regulation development, financing and field preparation, Hurlburt said.

Hurlburt said Connecticut representatives Joe Courtney and Jahana Hayes are working across party lines to pressure the USDA to develop and adopt regulations quickly on federal hemp growing laws.

Hayes' office said the congresswoman still has not taken a position on the issue.

In the absence of a USDA program, we request that the proposal include language that would allow Connecticut to develop a pilot program under the 2014 Farm Bill, Hurlburt asked the committee. This would still allow farmers to grow hemp this year and allow the state to be prepared to launch the fully legalized program when the federal program is ready for our application.

Many committee members asked those testifying to explain, in laymans language, the difference between hemp and marijuana.

Hurlburt explained: Industrial hemp is not marijuana, although both are members of the cannabis plant family. Industrial hemp is differentiated by the low concentration of THC, set by federal statute at maximum of 0.3 percent THC of the dried weight of the plant, marijuana has a THC level of 5 to 25 percent. Industrial hemp is generally used for fiber and CBD extraction, but has over 25,000 different uses.

Hurlburt said CFBA believes hemp is a lifeline for the agricultural economy, providing a much-needed cash crop to a market that is strapped for cash and markets.

He said research shows that an acre of hemp could generate the following yields: 500 to 1500 pounds of dried flowers; prices between $30 and $100 per pound; estimated revenues between $37,500 and $150,000 per acre.

Having a high value crop would keep farmers on the land, be an incentive for farmers to put more land into production, attract new farmers to the industry, stabilize farm incomes, add business opportunities for agricultural support businesses, employ more people, support the opportunity for value-added production and generate more revenue for the state, Hurlburt said.

Also encouraging the committee to move quickly on legislation was Troy Sprang, vice president at J.E. Shepard Companies, a continually operating farming company in Connecticut for over 126 years.

There are jobs at stake and significant economic development growth opportunities in the manufacturing and production area of hemp for Connecticut businesses, if we move quickly, Sprang said.

But Sprang, like others said the bills need language work to address potential federal roadblocks.

A states plan to license and regulate hemp can only commence once the secretary of the USDA approves that states plan. If Connecticut does not devise a hemp regulatory program, USDA will construct a regulatory program under which hemp cultivators in states like ours must apply for licenses and comply with a federally-run program. Sprang told the committee. We prefer a state-run regulatory framework where the rules are clear, and we can comply easily and prosper. We also ask that a licensing or registration framework is practical and meets the changing and dynamic environment of todays economy.

While bill language was a major concern at the hearing what was repeated over and over again is the potential for job growth in the farming industry if Connecticut moves fast.

Voluntown First Selectman Tracey Hanson urged the committee to not miss the opportunity.

Right now, some of the largest farms in town are struggling dairy farms, Hanson said. Many farmers are aging and are lacking a younger generation to take over current farm businesses.

Hanson said passing a hemp bill will be a key to revitalizing the farming industry in Voluntown and in other Connecticut farm towns.
WASHINGTON - House Democrats sent more than 80 letters Monday demanding documents from family members, business associates, political confidants and others with connections to President Donald Trump, opening a sprawling investigation of whether he and his administration have engaged in obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.

The farthest-reaching request since Democrats took control of the House underscored lawmakers' determination to hold Trump and those around him accountable for controversies that have dogged the president during his first two years in office - and perhaps lay the grounds for impeachment proceedings.

"We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement. "This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do."

But the sweeping document requests also raised immediate questions about House Democrats' strategy for probing the administration. The inquiries touched on everything from the president's business dealings with Russia to multiple controversies regarding the firing of former FBI director James Comey and hush payments made to women. Many of those very issues are already being looked at by special counsel Robert Mueller and prosecutors in the Southern District of New York - not to mention other committees in the House.

House Democrats also appear to be grappling with a question of whether to focus their energy on Trump's actions as president, or probe alleged past misdeeds before he ran for office, too.

Judiciary Committee staff argue there is a constitutional question about whether the party can hold the president accountable for any illicit or morally questionable activities Trump may have committed before he became president. While extremely broad, Nadler's inquiry focuses on abuse of power, public corruption and obstruction of justice since Trump became president, though some of the inquiries also deal with the campaign and the presidential transition.

At an event at the White House later Monday with the North Dakota State championship football team, Trump was asked if he plans to cooperate.

"I cooperate all the time with everybody," he said, adding: "You know the beautiful thing - no collusion. It's all a hoax."

Those receiving letters from the House Judiciary Committee include the president's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; his former personal secretary Rhona Graff; Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization; and former top White House aides Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer and Steve Bannon.

Other demands for documents are directed to institutions including the White House, the Justice Department, the Trump campaign, the Trump transition team and the Trump Organization.

In a statement Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged receipt of Nadler's letter and said officials "will review it and respond at the appropriate time." She did not comment further.

Recipients have two weeks to comply with the requests. Should they not do so, the Judiciary Committee will subpoena the documents, panel staff members told reporters on a call Monday morning.

Trump and Republicans have pushed back, arguing Democrats are on a fishing expedition designed to undermine the president and cripple his reelection effort ahead of 2020.

During a two-hour, campaign-style speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Trump mocked Democrats for the scope of their investigations.

"[T]hey don't have anything with Russia. There's no collusion," Trump said. "So now they go and morph into, 'Let's inspect every deal he's ever done. We're going to go into his finances. We're going to check his deals.' . . . These people are sick. They're sick . . . Where did that come from?

The committee also said Monday's tranche of requests would not be the last, suggesting investigations by House Democrats could become broader still with time. The panel says it will seek not only Mueller's final report but also documents used in the grand jury.

Nadler's request is significant not only because he is seeking an expansive amount of material but because his committee has jurisdiction over impeachment. Any hearings exploring whether Trump committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" would take place before the panel.

The panel is seeking communications between former White House counsel Donald McGahn and the president relating to Michael Flynn, Trump's fired national security adviser, as well as Flynn's statements to the FBI about contacts with Sergey Kislyak, then Russia's ambassador to Washington.

Nadler is also seeking to learn about communications regarding Trump's firing of Comey as FBI director, as well as what occurred at a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York. That meeting included Trump Jr., Kushner, then-campaign manager Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had "dirt" to offer about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to an email that was made public.

Nadler has also asked American Media Inc. and its chief executive, David Pecker, a longtime Trump ally, about hush payments or "any payment" that Michael Cohen, then Trump's personal lawyer, made to assist Trump during the campaign.

The documents Nadler requested are a first step in the committee's effort to explore possible obstruction of justice by the president in connection with Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and whether Trump or anyone close to him coordinated with the Russians during the campaign.

The committee staff coordinated the document request with Mueller's office, federal prosecutors in Manhattan (SDNY) and other committees conducting their own investigations, a House counsel said. Committee counsel said the chairman is requesting materials that in many cases already have been furnished to Mueller or federal prosecutors in Manhattan or to other congressional panels. Many of the recipients' lawyers have already been contacted and are expected to provide the materials, the counsel said.

Though the document demands are sweeping and appear to track over Mueller's probe, a committee counsel said the panel's jurisdiction squarely covers obstruction of justice and abuse of power issues. The House Intelligence panel, by contrast, is investigating Russian interference and counterintelligence matters, the counsel noted. But there inevitably will be some overlap. And Judiciary will share documents it receives with other committees, the counsel said.

Aides said the panel is exploring two other broad issues: public corruption and abuse of power.

The investigation of public corruption includes potential violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits presidents from accepting gifts from foreign states, as well as possible campaign finance violations. Potential abuses of power include attacks on the news media and the judiciary, and the use of presidential pardon power, Judiciary Committee aides said.

Nadler's requests come as House Democrats are ramping up numerous investigations of the president, their first steps in a months-long effort that could lead to impeachment proceedings.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee received testimony from Cohen last Wednesday in a high-profile hearing where the president's former lawyer accused Trump of lying to the public about his business interests in Russia, his role in silencing women who alleged sexual encounters during the 2016 campaign and his knowledge of WikiLeaks's hacked material that was damaging to Clinton.

The oversight panel also has given the White House until Monday to respond to document requests surrounding its clearance process, some of which panel Democrats have been seeking for months.

The latest letter - what House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., warned was his "final" request for voluntary compliance - followed news that Trump had personally instructed his then-Chief of Staff John Kelly to give Kushner a security clearance.

At the same time, the House Ways and Means Committee has created a framework for requesting Trump's tax returns. Although the tax panel has not asked for the documents yet, lawyers for the committee have instructed other panels to help make the case to the public about why the forms are essential to investigating the president.

Nadler's letter to the Justice Department seeks a wide variety of documents that go to the heart of Mueller's work, even as senior department officials have publicly and privately expressed a reluctance to share those kinds of investigative documents.

The list, which asks for materials concerning possible obstruction of justice by the president, or possible conspiracy between Trump associates and Russian officials, marks the opening salvo of what some expect to be a fight between Congress and the Justice Department over Mueller's files.

Nadler's requests include information about some well-known episodes, but also cover some incidents that have received relatively little attention, such as an effort in 2016 by Peter Smith, a now-deceased Chicago-based Republican fundraiser, to reach out to Russian hackers to get copies of Clinton's deleted emails.

The committee sent a request to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London under a grant of asylum, seeking information relating to its alleged receipt of hacked Democratic emails from the Russian government as well as any contacts with members of the Trump campaign or Trump Organization during the 2016 campaign.

Cohen alleged last week that in July 2016, he overheard a phone call between Trump and longtime adviser Roger Stone in which Stone said he had just spoken to Assange, who within "a couple of days" would release "a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clinton's campaign." Stone has repeatedly denied he conspired with WikiLeaks.

- - -

The Washington Post's Karoun Demirjian, Rosalind S. Helderman and Devlin Barrett contributed to this report.
Police say a man hit two women with his van, killing one of them during a dispute in Florida.

The Delray Beach Police Department told local media that 39-year-old Elson Silencieux had been doing work at the womens house when the three began arguing on Friday.
(ANSA) - Rome, March 4 - Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Monday "an a**hole with a drugs record" caused a crash in Porto Recanati Sunday in which two people died.

"I ask myself what you have to do in Italy to stay in jail after committing crimes linked to drugs," he said about the Moroccan alleged drunken driver.

"The druggie who crashed into the family in Recanati was involved in a crime of 225kg of drugs and this a**hole was at large. It's not possible".

The couple's two children, aged eight and 10, survived the crash, as did the Moroccan.


VATICAN CITY - The 105th edition of World Day of Migrants and Refugees will take place on Sunday, September 29 under the theme 'It is not just about migrants', said the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

It said with this theme, "Pope Francis wants to highlight that his frequent appeals for migrants, refugees, displaced and trafficked people should be understood as integral to his deep concern for all the inhabitants of today's existential peripheries. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the incarcerated who knock each day at our door are Jesus Himself asking to be met and assisted".

This reflects what Pope Francis said in his homily on Friday, February 15 in Sacrofano: "It really is Him (Jesus), even if our eyes struggle to recognise Him: with tattered clothes, with dirty feet, with a deformed face, a bent body, unable to speak our language".

In order to facilitate sufficient preparation for the event, the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will launch a communications campaign in March that will provide monthly reflections, informative materials and multimedia supports, through a diversified approach to promote a deeper examination of the pope's chosen theme.
A decade ago, Firefly Federal Credit Union ($1.3B, Burnsville, MN) struggled with what to say when it fielded applications from prospective members with poor credit.

If we couldnt give someone a loan, wed say, Sorry, we are unable to do this, says Geoff Bullock, community engagement and education specialist at Firefly. That was it.

The Minnesota credit union didnt offer financial education. It didnt have financial literacy experts, and asking staff to answer potentially life-altering questions to people in need of assistance was a tall order. But rather than continue to turn away potential members, Firefly instead turned to a trusted partner.

Lutheran Social Service (LSS) provided tax prep services to Firefly members, and in 2007, the credit union became one of the first partners in LSSs Financial Choice program. Since then, Firefly has referred nearly 200 members to the programs qualified financial counselors. In total, these members have collectively paid off more than $3 million in debt, according to the credit union.
On Feb. 26 the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania granted preliminary approval of a proposed settlement in First Choice Federal Credit Union v. The Wendys Company, a data breach lawsuit brought by CUNA, leagues and credit unions affected by a data breach. The parties submitted their proposed settlement to the court Feb. 13, which would conclude the lawsuit stemming from a 2016 data breach at certain Wendys franchise locations.

Notice will be mailed to eligible class members by March 28. Under the settlement, financial institutions have until Sept. 30 to file claims. Valid claims will be paid based on the total number of alerted on cards for this breach.

CUNA will keep members informed of the latest developments.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement:
NCUA headquarters

Deborah N. Peters, who took over a Pennsylvania credit union that had been victimized by internal fraud, was banned Thursday by the NCUA.

Peters became the president/CEO of the Wilkes-Barre City Employees Federal Credit Union after its former President/CEO Jim Payne fatally shot himself at his home in March 2014. Five months later, the credit unions former assistant manager, Amanda Magda, and four members - including two police officers  were charged with conspiracy and bank fraud. All of them pleaded guilty and were sentenced for participating in a $45,000 fake loan scheme.

Peters CEO tenure was short-lived.

She was listed by the NCUA as the president/CEO in the first quarter and second quarter of 2014. Peters was replaced by Joseph Gimble who was listed by the NCUA as president/CEO in the third quarter of 2014.
Welcome to episode seven of The CUInsight Experience podcast. Hosted by Randy Smith, co-founder and publisher of CUInsight.com. Our guest this week is Maria Martinez. Maria is the president and CEO of Border Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Del Rio, TX, serving 13 Texas counties. Maria is currently on the CUNA Board of Directors and a proud Credit Union Development Educator (CUDE). She has been in the credit union industry for over 28 years, 20 of those years as BFCUs President/CEO. You really need to check out Marias bio to see the depth of her passion for credit unions. The best one I found is here (youll notice theres not enough page for her accomplishments if you scroll to the bottom).

The goal of The CUInsight Experience is to dive deeper with the people of the credit union community and find gems from their experiences that add value to all of us. In each episode we have wide ranging conversations with thought leaders from around the credit union community. What issues are facing credit unions? What are they working on to help? What leadership lessons and life hacks have they learned along the way? Whats the greatest album of all time? These questions and more will be asked and answered.

In this episode we discuss the path Maria took to get where she is today. How serving the underserved and hispanic community has been a lifelong passion. We also touched on the importance of Border FCU in the community. Our conversation about engaging and educating young people was the perfect lead in to the leadership and life hacks section of the show. And as always we wrapped it up with the rapid fire questions to get to know Maria a little more.

Listen to the full episode and check out below for the show notes and to read the full transcript. This was a fun conversation. If you listen all the way through youll find out why Maria wishes she could clone herself and why her husband may be against it. I really enjoyed recording this episode. I hope you enjoy listening to it too.

Subscribe on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher

How to find Maria:

Maria Martinez

President and CEO of Border Federal Credit Union

mmartinez@borderfcu.com

www.borderfcu.com

Twitter | Linkedin

Show notes from this episode:

Network of Latino Credit Unions & Professionals Annual Networking Reception at GAC

White paper: Achieving Latino Mobility by Scott Astrada and Gwyn Hicks

Credit Union Development Education (CUDE) program (Maria and I are both DEs. You should be too.)

Marias 2017 Foundation Wegner Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement video

Come hang out with Maria and I at this years NCUF Dinner presenting the Herb Wegner Awards

Make sure to read Marias full bio here (couldnt even scratch the surface of her accomplishments)

Favorite album of all-time: Michael Buble  Its Time

Book mentioned: Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson

Find all past episodes of The CUInsight Experience here.

Full episode transcript:

Randy Smith: Hello boys and girls of credit union land and welcome to this seventh episode of The CUInsight experience. My name is Randy Smith. I am one of the co-founders and the publisher of CUInsight.com and its my job on the show to have conversations with the best and the brightest from around the credit union community to pick their brains and hopefully find a few nuggets that we can all learn from. My guest today is Maria Martinez. She is the president and CEO of Border Federal Credit Union. I was looking forward to this conversation with Maria. Ive watched from afar at all the great work shes been doing around credit unions, but we really had never had that chance to meet and have an in depth conversation, so thats what were going to do on the show today. When I was asking people who I should have as a guest on the podcast over and over and over again I kept hearing Marias name, so I was very thankful that she agreed to be on the show with how busy her schedule is. We talked about a wide range and it doesnt really even scratch the surface of her accomplishments, so make sure you do check out her bio. We talked about Marias path that shes taken to get where she is today. We talked about the credit union serving the underserved and her work in the Hispanic market. We talked about mentoring and the future and the importance she puts on education and financial education specifically with the youth and her community. That leads so well into the leadership and life hack section. And then as always we wrapped it up with the rapid fire questions to get to know Maria a little bit more. Youll even find out, much to her husbands chagrin, why shed like to be cloned. Without further ado, I give you my conversation with Maria Martinez. Enjoy.

Randy Smith: Hi Maria. Thank you very much for being on this episode of The CUInsight Experience. Ive been looking forward to this conversation, so I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day.

Maria Martinez: Thank you. Thank you for having me here.

Randy Smith: Like I said, Ive been looking forward to this, so I just want to jump right into the questions. I have so many to ask you.

Maria Martinez: Im ready for them.

Randy Smith: All right, good. Lets get going. The first question I had was, has your approach to serving your community, specifically the Hispanic market, changed since you first started at Border Federal Credit Union in 1994? And Ill add, I dont know if this is my own commentary, but it does seem like the social and political environment has changed over the past few years. Have you had to change even more?

Maria Martinez: Well, I tell you that and the more get involved in this industry, the more that I feel that credit unions are the perfect fit for Hispanics and I then I think its because we have the services that match their needs, their financial needs especially. And I just dont know why more credit unions dont do this. Theres so much to do for them, for this group. I dont know if you know, but the buying power of Hispanics, its humongous. They are the fastest growing minority. And so theres a need for them to be banked and were not banking them. And thats the thing, you know, I know theres been a lot of sociopolitical issues come through, you know, serving Hispanics is you serve in a group that its, some are low income, but the majority of them, they have good jobs, good jobs. They need a car, they need a home, they need our services and theyre not getting that through us. Theyre getting it through somebody else, maybe payday lenders. And we need to have them on our side because theyre very loyal members, customers, and to us, you know, for me, for my credit union and its been great. Of course Im in the border.

Randy Smith: Yup.

Maria Martinez: So you know, I serve that group that I dont have any choice. You know, I dont have, its not like I can hand pick, but its been grateful for me to serve that group. I dont know if youre aware, but back in 2006 a group of credit union CEOs, we all gathered together. It was in Durham. It was during one of the conferences that were happening there and we started a group is called the network of Latino Credit Union Professionals. And with that group, what we do is we get together and we host an event once a year and this happens to be doing CUNA GAC. And youre invited.

Randy Smith: I saw that.

Maria Martinez: Those people that have listened and theyre invited too. They just have to register.

Randy Smith: Well make sure to link to that event in the show notes below.

Maria Martinez: That is one event that we host and people say, well you just hosting it just to have fun, because I love to have fun, but were hosting it to make others aware that there is the need out there. And if you have any questions about how to service them, this is a networking event where you can come and ask questions. Im proud to say that this years going to be really nice because were going to have a congressman, which is my Congressman Will Hurd and hes from here from Texas and were also having another congress woman and shes a brand new. Its just a freshman congresswoman Escalade and shes from El Paso area. Aside from that were going to have Martha and shes with the NCUA and then we have a Scott Estrada and he wrote a white paper on serving Hispanics. Its going to be a really, really good program. Its probably going to be one of the best programs that Ive, that weve had because we have a really good set of guests that were going to be having.

Randy Smith: That sounds fantastic. Ill have to get the link to the white paper that you mentioned from Scott also and we could link to that. We will do that. Ill tell you that when you mentioned that the payday lenders, a few years back when I was going through DE, we did the mystery shopping and it happened to be over a holiday. So all of the credit unions and banks were closed, but the payday lenders open. So thats where we went and I think all of us were blown away by how easy and welcoming they were. When you walked in the door you didnt feel threatened or bad. Are there particular products and services that credit unions maybe arent offering to the Hispanic market? You said, auto loans, home loans, or is it all the same?

Maria Martinez: You know, we dont do mortgage lending at the credit union, but we do home equity loans. We thought when we first implemented home equities that we were going to do a lot of second liens. Well, if you look at my portfolio right now, I believe we have less than 5% on second liens and majority of them first liens and the delinquency ratio on that is so low. I mean my overall delinquencies under .80 yeah, I think it was .65 we ended the year. .65 so its very low because these people are very loyal. If theyre not going to pay you, theyre not going to pay you for something else before their home for their house. Right. Because theyre very loyal with it. Their car, they, their wheels. And of course if the economy doesnt it, its not there for us or for them either theyre going to default. But more than likely, theyre going to be good, good consumers. One of the things that we do here at the credit union, we provide a lot of financial education and when you provide that, you bring them ahead of time before you do the loan, you counsel them and you tell them were taking a chance on you. So therefore were doing a lot of the, uh, once they default on the first payment, we call them back, that way they can come in. And we counsel them again. So theres a lot of opportunity out there. I think payday lenders make it so quick and so easy for them. For us were regulated. We have to document for everything we do. And so thats the only downfall with with us credit unions that I wish we had and more lenient on that. I think its getting better. Were doing better at that, but I just wish we didnt have all those constraints and thats why its hard to bank them.

Randy Smith: Yeah, a little more flexibility for the members. And when I was doing a little background homework, I saw that since you started as the CEO of Border in 1997 at the time you had 13,000 members and 30 million in assets and now over 26,000 members and wrote 150 million in assets. What has been the biggest driver of growth over the past 20 years and has your membership or community changed over that time as well?

Maria Martinez: When I started with the credit union, we had a three counties that we serviced in Texas. Two of them are border towns, so were right on the border with Mexico. As a matter of fact, if you ever come to visit me, we can take across to Mexico and we could go and have lunch over there, like 10 minutes away. Its so funny. Im going to tell you a funny story. I know were doing something else here, but Im going to tell you a funny story. So my vendors that come visit me, I tell them, hey, you know, if you come visit me bring your passport and well go across the border and go eat. And they get all excited and they bring their passports. And then when were there, I say, if you dont give me a good deal on that contract, I have connections here in Mexico. I can keep you here.

Randy Smith: Youre going to stay.

Maria Martinez: Weve never left anybody. But you know, when we started with them, when I started with a credit union, my goal was to create jobs. I think anybody, any business owner, any CEO that can create jobs in their communities are going to develop a better community and youre going to put food on peoples tables because youre creating jobs and its not just creating a job because you, you have space, but creating a job so those people can also, you know, bring things back to their homes in their kids can get educated. I think job creation should be in mind for every CEO thats out there and for every business owner. So that was the thing when I came here, our members, you know, now they expect more. I think that things that have changed through through the years is now they expect technology, they expect us to make changes. So its becoming harder and harder because you know, you need money to do all those things. They want convenience. We need to provide them with all that because the competition is fierce. So, but one of the things is that they love to come in to our lobbies. Our lobbies are packed because they like to come visit with us. They like our friendly staff and they the prefer to visit or branches versus sometimes going online. Its a very different community. They like the one on one personal business.

Randy Smith: It sounds like youve created a sense of community around the branch. Is that from your involvement in the community outside of the Credit Union?

Maria Martinez: Its a small community. When Im talking to a small community del Rio, its about 48,000 people and then we serve Eagle Pass area, which is another county that Maverick County, their another 50,000 so theres smaller towns and those are the biggest counties that we serve as. And then the other counties that we serve as their big but not that. Not that big.

Randy Smith: Okay. Your family immigrated from Mexico when you were 14 years old. And its been interesting when Gigi Highland was on the show, she talked about being born overseas and we talked about, has that influence not only her career choice and I would ask you the same question. Did your background and immigrating when you were a teenager, has that kind of guided your career and how has that guided you, I guess outside of Credit Union in life as well?

Maria Martinez: My family and I came to the US with a visitors pass. My moms sisters, they lived in San Antonio, Texas and I was the first one to stay here. It was one of my aunts stayed home by herself at night. And before we were leaving, we were going back to Mexico. She approaches and she says, hey, would you want to stay? You want to stay here with me and you know, cause I stay home at night and that way you can keep me company. And I said, yeah, but all my clothes are already in the truck and were leaving. Just dont worry, Ill buy you clothes. Im going to have new clothes. And so I ended up staying and she says, there was a school right across from my aunts house. She said, I will go in on Monday, which was the next day, and well see if we can put you in and go to school here for at least the, it was, that was in like in December. And uh, so, you know, I started school there. Then in the summer I went back home and I told my mom, I said, why dont, why dont we all go, you know, that thing, we can have a good life over there. And then my brother, my older brother, you know, of course, you know, youre talking about teenagers. My, my brother was 16 and then my brother says, yeah, yeah, why dont we give it a try? So we came to the states with a visitors pass and we were undocumented for almost 13 years. We were undocumented. Then there was an amnesty that came through in 1986 and through that we were able to legalize ourselves. But, but in the meantime, we try to make everything the most out of everything. You know, we make sure that, and my mom made sure that we went to school, that we got educated and then we never got in trouble, you know, so that we can not be deported back. It was a hard experience. It was not easy.

Randy Smith: When you were 14 did you speak English?

Maria Martinez: No. But you know what? I was really good in math, you know, coming from Mexico. I dont know what they, what they do over there, but were already doing Algebra and they, when she took me to school, they put me in fifth grade, which I was whatever they were doing addition, subtraction, division. That was way over. You know, for me, I, it was too boring. So I was assistant, the teacher, I was helping her grade papers and all that. And so, but I didnt know any English, but a lot of the kids around me, they wanted to be my friend and they want it to be the one to guide me. So it was, it was really a nice experience. And finally they would fight over me, you know, the new, the new girl and everybody wanted to be around the new girl. Through the years I learned that, you know, youve got to be grateful for those people around you because I had a lot of help. And then at night my aunt was also learning English. So she would go to school and I would go with her. It was an adult education center and we were both learning English. So it was so funny because I ended up being the teacher and I was like 15 years. So when I became the teacher at that adult education center, because you know, I picked it up so quick. When youre that age, I mean you pick it up so quick. Yeah, I was the one teaching the adults and English and, but, but I went to school during the day and then to the adult education center at night.

Randy Smith: You were back at a young age obviously, so it must be in your blood.

Maria Martinez: You know, but then you dont realize that. Yeah. You know, you dont realize that when youre, when you go into things, it just comes natural after a while.

Randy Smith: One of the questions that I had asked when looking through your bio was there was a reoccurring thing about engagement with young people, whether it was working with kids, teaching financial education in teens. You were actually teaching yourself at 15 years old. What is it about community outreach as far as like the kids and the teenagers go that you find so rewarding?

Maria Martinez: Theyre our future. Whos going to pay our social security. You might as well do it now, but I just wish somebody had taken the time when I was young to teach me about just a simple financial tools. You know the tactics we hosting because of all of this. We host, a camp here at the credit union. Weve been doing it for, Gosh, I think were at least over 15 years that weve been doing this and we bring in kids between the ages of 14 through 18 and we teach him anywhere from business etiquette how to get a job, how to buy a car, how to build a good credit report. Those things were never thought and theyre still not being taught at the schools. We need a lot of that. Those are then the daily things.

Randy Smith: I remember going away to college and every credit card company was there, but in high school you never learned anything about personal finances. Right? I mean a program like the camp that you hold to me, thats really cool and it seems like its something that should be taught in the schools as well. Maybe it does now, but its been a few years though

Maria Martinez: Now its so neat because they have so many apps that they can download and they can keep track of their finances. They can keep track of their credit report. Theres so much thats out there that we didnt have.

Randy Smith: Yeah. Oh, thats, that is true. I, Id like to switch it up a little bit. When you get into kind of the second part of the podcast where we talk about leadership and life hacks and just kind of pick your brain to help our listeners. The question I love to ask everybody is there is about the inspiration. So what was it about credit unions that inspired you to, to take the job as president and CEO of Border Federal Credit Union?

Maria Martinez: When I graduated from college, I got an offer for a job the same day from a hospital, which I used to work at. Okay. I mean I hire one of those uh, hiring companies, you know, to give me a job because it was really hard for me to get a job after college. I had an accounting degree and I figured, well there was this agency that it was advertising for jobs. And I said, well, let me go to them. And so they call me for a job and they say, hey, we have a savings and loans that is looking for an accountant. It was actually a data entry clerk that they were looking for. And then so they said, would you want to consider it? They want, they want to interview you. Well, yeah. So I went and did the interview, so they call me in on the same day that they called me they also offered me a job there where I was at. So I had the option of going into banking or hospital. I opted for banking because I liked the way they dress. They always so nice, nice, cute dress and all that. And I said, I want to dress like that. I want to, I want to look cool. And so I opted for that. But when I started with them, uh, I remember one day I was, I was a staff accountant and I wrote down on a piece of paper that I wanted to be a bank president and I would always look at that piece of paper. And I, that was one of the things that I wanted to do. I wanted to be a bank president, but its not just writing it down. You have to do something about it. So I started preparing myself. So as things went through, I joined the credit union. I never knew anything about credit unions. And when I started working for the credit union, I wanted to be a credit union CEO. I said, that is my goal. It just happened. Then my husband gets a job in del Rio and he says, I found a job that they need a city engineer. I want to, I want us to move and Im going wheres del Rio. I didnt know her del Rio was and we, I hadnt never even passed by here. And I said, well, you know, I guess this time well do it for you. Just like any other couples do it, you know, they moved for their, for their significant other, you know, whether you know what I mean,

Randy Smith: From the south to freezing cold Connecticut.

Maria Martinez: So he moves first, and then I start calling all the banks around town around del Rion and I called the credit union also and the CEO of the Credit Union answered and he says, well, we only have teller positions. And I said, well, keep me in mind. And that was like in August of 94 keep me in mind if something comes up, call me. And so it, sure enough, two months later he calls, he says, Hey Maria, are you still interested in, in getting a job here in del Rio? And I says, yes I am. He says, well, my VP of lending is going to be retiring and I would like for you to come and interview. I didnt have any lending experience, but I was comptroller. I knew the accounting side and I knew a lot about credit unions. So I come to the interview, he says, you won the job, its yours, but during the interview. I remember that he made a mention of him retiring and he said, I plan to retire in about two to three years. In my mind. I didnt hear anything else on that interview that ,Im serious. I mean not, I didnt hear anything else. I just thought to myself, okay, I know the accounting side. I know the investments that data processing now its an opportunity for me to learn all the operational side of it. And I did. So he retires and I applied for the job. And its a funny story because when I applied for the job, I also found out that I was pregnant and I went to my husbands office and I said, Im pregnant, and he gets all excited, and I said, no, no, no. You dont know what I mean. Nobody can know that Im pregnant because they wont give me the job. You know? Theyve never had a woman much less a Mexican woman, in the position. Im pregnant, I said, theyre not going to give me the job. So I dont know. I just felt like I had to hide it and I hid it for five months until they announced that I had the job and then I let my tummy go. Thats right.

Randy Smith: I love that story. I have a question. In those couple of years, like from the time that you started at the credit union until you knew that the CEO was retiring, you knew that you wanted to be the next CEO. What did you do to prepare yourself to be ready for that?

Maria Martinez: So I knew my accounting, I knew my finances and I wanted to make sure that I knew everything that had to be done with the operational side. I implemented a few programs. When he said he was going to be retiring and I told them, hey, you know, I, I applied for the job and I said, can you tell me you know how to do it? And I still remember that he was standing by the door and he says, no, Maria, youve got to do it on your own. And that, I think that just gave me more power. I wanted, I wanted to prove to him and to everybody else that I could do it. You know, you just have to learn everything. And Ive always tell even my management team, I tell them, look, if you dont know something that an employees asking, you dont tell them no. You know, research, especially now with so many tools, we, I didnt have all the tools that there are now, but theres always a way to make things yes. Our system should be a system of saying yes instead of no in looking for a way to always make things happen. And I think that thats what helped me, that I prepare myself and I, I went to the interview, well prepare with a big binder and I have questions for them too. It wasnt just, you know, them asking me questions. So I think you just have to prepare yourself for it.

Randy Smith: Has the inspiration changed at all with time on the job?

Maria Martinez: Yes. It seems like I just want to do more every day. I wish I could clone myself. I do, but I dont think my husband would like that or anybody else here.

Randy Smith: When Ive talked to people around credit union world about you, the word role model and kept coming up. So whether it was role model for female leaders or role modeled in the Hispanic community role model for CEOs in general. That idea of you being a role model in the way a credit union is supposed to serve its members. It sounds like its something that you wear as a badge of pride, that you want to be a role model for others in this industry.

Maria Martinez: If classifying me as a role model as a way to inspire others, then lets do it. Yes. Its really hard to wear it a title like that because you have to, you know, always be on the lookout kind of thing. But to me a great compliment. Its food for my soul. Yeah.

Randy Smith: Thats a weight to carry. Is there anything that you do to not let it overwhelm you?

Maria Martinez: Uh, yes. It can be overwhelming. Only if you force yourself to do things. I think if youre forcing yourself to do things, it can be overwhelming, but I dont force myself. I think in the end it just comes natural and when you do things just because they make you feel good, then its going to happen naturally. And the thing, you just got to have passion for it. I just feel like every time youll hug somebody or you know, somebody tells you how grateful they are because you helped them. It energizes my battery. You know?

Randy Smith: This was the question after going through your bio and things like that, that is a 100% scratch my own itch question. How do you decide what to say yes to with the limited amount of time one Maria has and do you say no to things and how do you make those decisions?

Maria Martinez: Ive said no before and I feel that if you cannot commit 100% to do whats required of you, whether itll be on a board or a committee or anything, then you got to say no. You know, because its not fair for that company. Is that fair for that organization to have somebody that is going to be consistently absent and you got to also know when to step back. Lets say youve served on a board for a while and you say, you know what, I just cant commit anymore. I have so much. You know, my first priority is my family or my job, whatever it is. You got to step back and say, no, you know, Im so hyper, Im a hyper person, so I think I dont need medication as long as I stay busy.

Randy Smith: How would your team describe your management style? What is it that you think is your greatest strength as a leader?

Maria Martinez: First of all, I dont like to micromanage. Im very passionate about my job in improving peoples lives, but I like to be in control. I mean, I think it can be a pro, but it can also be something that can go against you. Um, the time that let people do whatever its necessary of them because I know what theyre supposed to be doing. As long as youre supposed to know what their jobs and responsibilities are, you hold them accountable for it and you dont have to be watching out for what theyre doing every single day or whether they come in on time or not. I dont, I dont like to do that. Im very lenient on that. And that could be my, thats probably my weakness. My weakness through my being lenient and then I guess one of my weaknesses could be also that I procrastinate too much. Sometimes I wait till the last minute, you know to do things. They always turn out okay though.

Randy Smith: It all works out. Is there something in your leadership style thats changed over time?

Maria Martinez: I think Ive gotten better at delegating. Before I think I used to do more things and I had to start delegating because of the growth. When your institution is growing is really hard to do it all on your own. But I like to do things on my own because I learned from it and then I can let go because I know what questions to ask, you know? So you know, once you learn the project then you can let go, but then you know, Im going to ask this question because I know this is supposed to be done, so its been good.

Randy Smith: I get that completely when I started to CUInsight. I knew how to do absolutely everything with it. Right. There were things that you would hold on to along the way. And thats something that I talk about with my staff actually quite a is, okay, you got to let some of the stuff goes so you can do the more of the important stuff. Delegate that off. So yeah, I know thats, I think thats a tough one for most people. Right. To keep on the change topic. How have you seen credit unions the strangest since that first day that you walked into the door at a credit union as an employee?

Maria Martinez: You know, Im really sad that smaller credit unions have slowly been disappearing. Im a big advocate of credit unions and as a matter of fact, Ive been very instrumental on helping a couple of them get started or some of them that started the process they never went through. But I always put the word out that if anybody wants me to help them, you know, Im, Im willing to do that. I think credit unions should exist and it will be required to exist. Even like in small communities, even if its not in the big cities, because the big cities have the big credit unions that can do the job, but the smaller credit unions dont. Like for instance, we serve 13 counties and now the 13 counties, were the only credit union thats there in the majority of the counties. And they need us there. They need credit unions were the right fit for those communities.

Randy Smith: I was looking forward to ask of you this. As a leader, is there something that your team has heard you say so many times that they can finish your sentence?

Maria Martinez: Yes. So I always tell him, you know, whenever something happens, I always said, God always looks out for us. And I always say it in Spanish also. Because everything happens for a reason. And sometimes things dont go according to what you want, but they always say that, oh Maria is going to say, oh, God always looks out for us.

Randy Smith: So not a single one of them will be surprised to hear that.

Maria Martinez: Thats right.

Randy Smith: Has there been a piece of advice or a life lesson that you received that you just find yourself carrying throughout your career?

Maria Martinez: My saying has always been, and I think they kind of ride this, you know, when I die they are going to write it on my tombstone then. But if you do good, good comes back to you. I think my mom was a, she was a woman that was very giving and she would always be helping others and I know she didnt have much cause we were really poor growing up. But whatever she has, she always wanted to share it with others. And I think thats something that I learned from her that Im just a firm believer that, you know, God gives some of us a little more so that we can help those that dont have anything. So its always been my belief.

Randy Smith: Did your mom see you become a CEO?

Maria Martinez: Yes she did. But my mom was really, before she passed, my mom was in a wheelchair and she had dementia and shes so really, she was not really there to see all my triumphs. As a matter of fact when I got the Herb Wegner award, I dedicated it to her.

Randy Smith: I remember that.

Maria Martinez: It was her birthday that day when I got it. So it was just like an amazing thing. It was. It was amazing.

Randy Smith: My guess, she had to be very proud of you.

Maria Martinez: Yes. Yes.

Randy Smith: So another leadership style question and one that I really enjoy talking to people about is when youre running into a problem or start butting your head up against a wall, is there anything that you do on a kind of life hacks to take a step back or relook at things?

Maria Martinez: I like to get other peoples opinions. Normally when Im stranded, Ill walk down the hallway and talk to others. It may not be on that topic that Im working on, but it just to get my mind off of it for a little while. But if I know that there is somebody that I can bounce things off from, Ill go to them and Ill say, hey, Im working on this. What do you think? I like to get peoples ideas and peoples opinions because I dont have the greatest ideas. I think ideas come from everywhere and youll be surprised what you come up with. I mean, it works really good.

Randy Smith: So do you primarily do that inside the credit union with your team or do you have a network of people that you kind of depend on outside your credit union as well?

Maria Martinez: I have a lot of credit union friends, and at times, you know, Ill send them an email, hey, or text them, hey, you know, you have a minute to talk. And the networking that Ive developed through the years it within the credit industry, its phenomenal. I mean its, I know I can count on anybody and now, now youre going to be on my list.

Randy Smith: I would love to be on that list. I couldnt agree with you more on that. I will tell you that Ive told people who dont work in our industry, you would not believe just how wonderful the people as a whole are. And how over the years, many of my best friends are all from credit unions. Even my partner is from credit union. Im pretty lucky, dude. Right. I love this industry that were in. Um, if you have a free day, and I dont know if these exist for you, but if you do and theres nothing on your calendar, what passions outside of credit unions do you have? What does work life balance look like to you?

Maria Martinez: No, I dont have too many of those. Youre right. Im always doing something, you know, outside of here, theres always something that I do. I dont watch too much TV, but I love to dance. I love to dance, and I love to socialize. You know, in go to a nice bar and just drinking a good glass of wine and just talk to people. And to me that its amazing. Anytime theres an opportunity to go out there and have some fun, if theres some good music and some good company, I enjoy it.

Randy Smith: So you get recharged from other people. Thats good stuff. As a leader, is there a way that you keep your message fresh to your team and how do you keep your credit unions message fresh to your numbers and your community as a whole?

Maria Martinez: I think once in a while you have to regroup. You have to make sure that were all on the same page. So we have meetings to regroup and to stay connected as we have grown, one of the things that has become harder, it is to stay connected and maintain good communication, but, and we managed to come together. No, no matter what happens, its just really hard sometimes, but its just the communication. I think in every relationship, whether it be a marriage or you know, a company, a partnership, theres gotta be communication and, and thats probably been one of our downfalls at times whenever we fail because there was not enough communication. But if you can keep that intact, I think its going to happen. Good things are gonna happen. Okay.

Randy Smith: When you fail, is there something that you do to bring that back around to start the communication again? Is it just bringing everybody together?

Maria Martinez: Yeah, well regroup. Once again, mistakes, you know, we all make mistakes and theres been things that you wish, oh my God, why didnt I do that? I should have done it differently. But you just learn from it and move forward. Um, you know, I think everything has a solution in life. The only thing that doesnt have it, is death, but everything else has a solution. And I always say, you know, no matter how bad it is, were going to make it through. Well pull this through. I remember back in 2008 when the economy was really bad and you know, our credit union, you know, we lost money because we had a lot of our members that lived in, worked in areas where there were, there were oil rigs. And I remember that at that time it was hard for us. You know, I was down because I dont like losing money. But you know what kept us really good is that our capital was so strong, even at that time, that its almost like youre putting away your savings for the bad days, and thats what we did. We did good during those times because we had prepared ourselves to, to be there.

Randy Smith: We all know they come in cycles, right?

Maria Martinez: yes. Yeah,

Randy Smith: Being prepared for it. Probably one of the things you teach in your financial education classes to the teens. Okay. So Id like to kind of get towards the end of the episode where we have a little bit of fun, the rapid fire questions and the questions are rapid, but your answers do not have to be. Do you have any daily routines that you have to do every day or your day just feels off at the end of the day? I keep mentioning on every show, I journal in the morning.. So yeah, but thats the first thing I do every morning before I checked my phone or email or anything else. If I dont do it, my heads going a million miles an hour. Is there anything that you have that you just have to do everyday?

Maria Martinez: I drink about 20 ounces of water every morning before I even get started to do anything. And I like if, if I dont drink it, like Im not energized, I need that. And then I take my B complex vitamin get that energy going, you know? And then after that you check your calendars, you know, check your phones and make sure that you know, you have a good day. But thats about my, my regular routine. I check social media and see whats going on with everybody.

Randy Smith: The random question of the show, what is the best album of all time? The one you can listen to from the beginning to end and youd take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?

Maria Martinez: I love Michael Buble. He is one of my favorite and he has an album called Its Time and all the songs in that album are so good and Ive seen him in concert a couple of times. And, uh, he just, my heart just drops when I hear.

Randy Smith: Were going to put together one heck of a playlist at the end of the year from everybodys answers.

Maria Martinez: That sounds good.

Randy Smith: So I am a reader. We have a stack of books in our house that had been recommended to us. This is one of my favorite questions because I tend to go on Amazon afterwards and order more books. Is there a book over time that youve either gifted to others or its just like that one that you tell everybody they should read?

Maria Martinez: I guess I could tell you that it was the NCUA rules and reg.

Randy Smith: I dont know if an order that one.

Maria Martinez: I dont know read a lot of books, but the one that Ive really enjoyed is the Who Moved My Cheese. And I know its, its an old book, but I read it over and over and I think its because you can get inspired by it. Have you read?

Randy Smith: I did, but it was years ago for me.

Maria Martinez: But I still have it. I have the same book that Ive had it for years and once in a while I just go back and read it again and Ill just, you know, so that I know that theres going to be change and you, you have to be able to change things in order. Not to become extent. If anything, and that would be my book, not the NCUA right now.

Randy Smith: Well link for anybody who hasnt read the book because they should. Well link to that below in the show notes also so they can and go find it themselves on Amazon. As youve gotten older, whats become more important to you? Has anything become less important to you?

Maria Martinez: I think relationships have become more important. As I think about retirement, I think about, okay do I have friends? Who am I going to call when I retire. So you know, so I always try to be nice to people or you know, cause you never know when youre going to need them. Young professionals nowadays, they have so many tools and resources that I didnt have growing up. I think the opportunities are endless. Young people could do so much now because everything is given to them, its in their hands. All they have to do is turn on a computer or their phone, whatever app they have and they learn from it. We didnt have that growing up, but Im so glad that I have it as I come closer to retirement because I think Im going to be using a lot of them.

Randy Smith: Absolutely. So stay connected. Right. This is a question that I didnt send you. When you hear the word success, whos the first person that pops in your head?

Maria Martinez: Oh Gosh, you know, Im going to say my mom.

Randy Smith: I love it.

Maria Martinez: And its not because she was a professional woman. Its not because she made a lot of money, because she didnt. But I think she, you know, us, the siblings, you know, she did a good job with us and I think you know, with that, I mean I would give her the most successful award of the year because she did it. I know you dont have to have success in a, in an environment of a corporate environment, but as long as youre successful at anything you do, whether youre, you know, the bartender, you gotta be the best bartender, or the person thats sweeping the floor, you got to be the best at it. And I think I, I always give my mom that credit.

Randy Smith: Ah, well thats beautiful. And it seems like shes instilled that in you, so thats probably a good thing. I think thats a perfect place to wrap up the show. Again, thank you very much for taking the time and being on it. Ive really enjoyed this. Do you have any final asks or final thoughts for our listeners today?

Maria Martinez: Well, first of all, I want to thank you for inviting me to be on this podcast. I mean, Im so excited and I want to send shout outs, I could not leave this without sending shout outs to my staff. I owe then my success because of them. I could not be here and most importantly, my family. I mean without my family, I, I wouldnt be nobody because theyve been able to support me in everything that Ive done. There were days when I couldnt make a football game or a soccer game or something because I was working, but now that my kids are grown, I think they understand where Im coming from because theyre going to experience it now. And so I just want to thank my staff and my family and they made me the person that I am today. Thank you for that.

Randy Smith: That is perfect. Well, again, we will link to everything we talked about below in the show notes and I thank you very much again Maria and I will see you at GAC, Im sure.

Maria Martinez: Thank you. Thank you so much. And you put my email out there and Im on social media, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram.

Randy Smith: Youre everywhere. And we will link to all of that. Is there a preferred way? Or is it just any of the above or would you prefer them to go through Twitter or something like that?

Maria Martinez: Email is better because I check my email daily. I mean, even at home or when Im on the road, Im always checking my email.

Randy Smith: If people have additional questions, they will know where to find you. And again, thank you very much and I hope you have a great day.

Maria Martinez: Thank you. Thank you.
For Subscribers Boys basketball preview: Who's primed to make deep playoff runs?

A look ahead to the 2021-22 high school boys basketball season in Somerset County. The top 10 ranked players are also featured.
Bahrain's Shaikha Mai at inauguration of Florence exhibition 'Bahrain Meets the World in Florence' showcases Bahraini culture

(ANSAmed) - FLORENCE, MARCH 4 - An exhibition featuring Bahraini craftsmanship and cultural heritage was inaugurated on Sunday in Florence in the presence of one of the most influential women in the Arab world, Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammed Al-Khalifa, president of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.



The show, titled 'Bahrain Meets the World in Florence', is open to the public Monday and Tuesday at the Auditorium of the Duomo.



The inauguration was part of the conclusion of an international symposium on the topic "World Heritage Sites for Dialogue 2019", and one of the three working days that included over 200 participants from the international network Life Beyond Tourism.  On Sunday local authorities in Florence welcomed Shaikha Mai and gave final greetings in conclusion of the three-day event that has seen Florence at the centre of a crossroads in relations between the international community and the affiliates of the Life Beyond Tourism movement. Among those present at the inauguration were Eugenio Giani, president of the Tuscany regional council; Florence economic development and tourism councillor Cecilia del Re; CNA Tourism and Business President Luca Tonini; and Confcommercio-Florence Business President Aldo Cursano.(ANSAmed).




'Cultural Lighthouses of the Med' kicks off in Tunis Artistic project to include Tunisia, Spain, Greece, and Italy

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, MARCH 4 - The project 'Cultural Lighthouses of the Mediterranean', sponsored by the Italian Culture Ministry under the artistic direction of Maurizio Stammati, will use concerts, plays, seminars, and workshops as a way to build cultural bridges across the Mediterranean through music, art, and theatre.



The project is being promoted by the Bertolt Brecht Collective cultural association in Formia, the Errare Persona cultural association in Frosinone, and the R.A.T.



Centre-Acquario Theatre in Cosenza.



During six weekends from March to November, the cultural lighthouses will turn on in places across the Mediterranean: Manouba, Tunis (March 29-31); Patras, Greece (May 10-12); Cosenza, Italy (July 11-13); Formia, Italy (August 24-26); Frosinone, Italy (October 25-27); and Seville, Spain (November 8-10).



Each weekend will host an intercultural festival with the participation of Italian artists and foreign partners, such as The Lighthouse association in Patras, A.C.POR La Investigation Y Desarollo of the Teatro Profesional en Andalucia in Seville, and Maraya in Tunis.



The festivals will include sunrise readings in some of the most striking archaeological sites in the cities, multicultural roundtable sessions on Mediterranean arts, workshops with students, and evening plays by Italian and foreign companies. The project aims to create a cultural bridge to facilitate educational opportunities, the promotion of joint projects and initiatives to develop a culture of integration, peace, and diversity as an asset and an opportunity for growth.



The Mediterranean is an ideal place for such a project, as it has shaped tradition and art in all their forms for thousands of years.



The Mediterranean also possesses a distinctive "brand" that combines food, landscapes, and customs to form a cultural heritage worthy of conservation.



The project also examines the Mediterranean as a continual site of conflicts, in order to promote investment in culture as a tool for unity and building bridges between peoples and countries.(ANSAmed).




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.
Selcer: We should be more alarmed by Trumps present-day foreign contacts than his alleged past collusion with Russia.
ROME - Father Paolo Dall'Oglio, an Italian Jesuit priest who was kidnapped in Syria in 2013, is among the hostages being held in the last area of territory still controlled by ISIS in the south-east of the country, Vatican news agency reported on Monday citing Lebanese media reports based on Kurdish sources.

Fides mentioned a report by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is considered close to Hezbollah, which said Dall'Oglio was about to be released along with other Western and Kurdish hostages. Last month The Times reported the extremist Islamist group was using Dall'Oglio and two other Western hostages, British journalist John Cantlie and a nurse from New Zealand, as "bargaining chips" in negotiations with the US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces surrounding them.
Dear Editor:

So New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is planning on closing three state prisons to save $35 million.

Im just guessing, but I think hell accomplish this by early release or parole of prisoners, some whom will commit more crimes. As usual, Andy doesnt worry about the consequences faced by the citizens of the state, like his refusal to cooperate with ICE on illegal immigrants who commit crimes and wont be deported, as were a sanctuary state and wont report them.

Recently, there was a killing on a subway platform committed by an illegal immigrants who had been arrested several times, including for planning a murder, but never was turned in to the feds for deportation.

I wonder how long before we have the first victim of crime committed by a criminal who should be in prison but isnt because Cuomo closed prisons so he can waste money elsewhere, like his billion-dollar failure to create jobs upstate.

John Habersberger

New Paltz, N.Y.
Oxfam says worst humanitarian crises in Syria and Yemen Launches campaign 'Water Saves Lives'

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, MARCH 4 - Oxfam Italy said Yemen and Syria are the two hardest-hit countries in terms of humanitarian crises currently underway worldwide.



It has launched a campaign called "Water Saves Lives" that is focussed on the critical role of water resources in war-torn and post-conflict areas.



On the fourth anniversary of the start of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, Oxfam said "the population of Yemen is fighting for survival in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world".



The international NGO said in a statement that "over 17,000 civilians have been killed or wounded and nearly three million have had to leave their homes" between 2015 and now.



"In a country in which 24.1 million residents out of 28.5 million depend on humanitarian aid for survival, the destruction of hospitals, water infrastructure, and the intermittent closure of the main ports and supply points for basic necessities have resulted in nearly 18 million men, women, and children withoutalmost any source of safe water or basic sanitary services," Oxfam said.



It said this has caused "since mid-2017, the most serious cholera epidemic ever, which has thus far infected more than 1.3 million Yemenis".



It said the situation in Syria is also serious, following eight years of violence that broke out in 2011.



"Over one-third of the population survives without access to sources of clean water," Oxfam said.



It said there are 6.6 million internally displaced people in the country, nearly 2.5 million of whom are children.



"The risk of contracting illnesses such as cholera or typhus increases every day, because there are no hospitals and infrastructure is destroyed," Oxfam said.(ANSAmed).




MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa  What do you do if you want to be president and no one has heard of you?

You go to Dewitt, Tipton, Glenwood, Denison, Alba, Knoxville, Perry and Grimes, and nine other places this year alone  emphasizing the small Iowa towns that seldom see a presidential candidate. You take out an ad during the Super Bowl two years before the Iowa caucuses  an unheard-of extravagance that no one dared try before. You open six campaign offices in Iowa  before your better-known rivals have opened even one. You win the endorsement of four county central Democratic committees in Iowa  long before the top-tier candidates have lassoed any.

And you make 24 campaign trips to Iowa and another 14 to New Hampshire, the sites of the first two political tests of the 2020 campaign, states that pride themselves on being the political equivalent of the Cheers bar  places where, the civic folklore says, everyone knows your name.

Everyone in the political world knows your name, unless, of course, your name is John Delaney.

So here, in the sprawling Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown, strides in Delaney, 55 years old, a former businessman and three-term congressman, which means he is more financially secure and served two more terms in the House than Abraham Lincoln. More quixotic than quirky, hes not an eccentric, just a man with exceedingly little impatience for the impossible. Hes an unknown onetime lawmaker with a dream, a plan, an iron will and plenty of time to tool around the back roads, and on this chilly Iowa afternoon he is talking about veterans affairs and the wage gap and  to the bemused bewilderment of the two dozen people in the room, not one of whom fully understands what he is talking about  the earned income tax credit.

But for all that, what he is really doing is making a statement about determination and grit and perseverance.

Hes been out here for a long time, says J.D. Scholten, a Democratic folk hero for coming within 3 percentage points last November of defeating GOP Rep. Steve King, considered by progressives as the congressional face of racism. Weve gotten to know him very well. He has a voice and an avenue to the nomination. Hes done the gritty work a year before others even started.

He has done that, plus build companies and, along the way, write the de rigueur campaign book. His is called The Right Answer: How We Can Unify Our Divided Nation, and since no one will read a book by a presidential candidate, especially a candidate no one has heard of, as a public service here are the two sentences you need to know about the political ethos of presidential candidate John Delaney, taken straight from the volume that bears his name:

Weve got to stop retreating to our corners and complaining about each other. At a crucial moment in our nations history, were looking for arguments when we need to be looking for solutions.

As the forum in the veterans home breaks up, Delaney lingers long enough to speak to every voter who approaches him, beginning with a quiet Im John and then engaging in leisurely conversation. Listen in on his exchange with a retired Marshalltown ophthalmologist as they discuss the characteristics required for presidential leadership:

Dr. John Greather: Character is paramount.

Delaney: Central to everything.

Greather: We hired a guy who is absolutely immoral.

Delaney: It shows how disillusioned people are.

Thats about as far down Trump Road Delaney will go. By temperament and ideology, he is a moderate, which itself should make him stand apart, and he is not given to spending his campaign minutes, hours, days, months and, in his case, years talking about how the other billionaire running in 2020, Donald Trump, is a threat to humankind. If youre going to defeat Trump, you have to run with a positive message, says Monica Biddix, his Iowa state campaign director. We saw what happened when all those candidates in 2016 attacked Trump. Thats clearly not a winning strategy.

A few minutes later, Delaney pulls up a folding chair and talks with an out-of-town columnist, a mixture of specifics  about how Obamacare needs to be fixed, about how the Green New Deal being pushed by liberal Democrats is just not going to happen  and an exposition about the style hed employ to govern:

Im about solutions, bringing the country together so we can start making progress, make a new future. The question is how we start to bring the country together  not to agree on everything, but to get some things accomplished.

Delaney has girded himself for the long run, and indeed hes running the longest campaign since Grover Cleveland vowed to regain the White House just moments after he was defeated by Benjamin Harrison in 1888.

Hes working very hard, says state Rep. Mark Smith, the former Democratic leader in the capitol in Des Moines who started talking with Delaney more than two years ago. He seems willing to work with Republicans, and so I think, eventually, Iowans may be interested to work with him.

And yet for all his good feelings, Smith has not endorsed anyone. And though everybody likes John Delaney, his name is never in the national political conversation. For now hes more a phenomenon than a factor, his appeal concentrated among older voters (who have an avid interest in presidential politics and, in some cases, as much time on their hands as Delaney) and students (who provide a ready audience for any White House candidate).

Historically, dark-horse candidates dont do well here unless they have an extreme position, says Sarah Purcell, a Grinnell College historian who was a Hillary Clinton precinct caucus captain here four years ago. You cant ride in here on a moderation horse and have people flock to you, especially in the kind of crowded field we have this time.

And so Delaney must be content with two historical precedents. One is James K. Polk, the classic dark horse, but one who didnt win the White House on moderation but by taking the most territorial expansionist position in the 1848 field. The other is Jimmy Carter, who had been governor of Georgia but had an exceedingly low profile. His big 1976 breakthrough: the Iowa caucuses.

(David M. Shribman is executive editor of the Post-Gazette (dshribman@post-gazette.com, 412 263-1890). Follow him on Twitter at ShribmanPG.)
Among the defectors from the Tories to The Independent Group is the GP-turned-MP Sarah Wollaston.

By law, she and the other turncoats can keep their seats until the next General Election without having to resign and face a fresh vote with them standing as TIG candidates.

However, the situation is distinctly at odds with Wollastons previous views on rebel MPs.

(back row left to right) Independent Group members, Chris Leslie, Gavin Shuker, Chuka Umunna and Mike Gapes, (middle row, left to right) Angela Smith, Luciana Berger and Ann Coffey, (front row, left to right) Sarah Wollaston, Heidi Allen, Anna Soubry and Joan Ryan

For, in 2011, she co-sponsored a backbench Bill to make it compulsory for MPs who switch parties to resign immediately and face a by-election.

Wollaston was chosen as Tory candidate for Totnes, Devon, in 2010 in a rarely-held primary, with postal ballot papers being sent to every voter in the Totnes constituency rather than just to Tory Party members.

It led to her being regarded with suspicion by some of her former Conservative colleagues.

There has been much talk that the Gang of 11 should follow the example of two previous rebels.

Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless defected from the Tories to Ukip in 2014, but stepped down to face by-elections. Impressed by their principled stand, voters returned both men to Parliament.

So, will Wollaston take the risk, or leave herself open to accusations of hypocrisy?

Lord William Waldegrave was a minister during the Thatcher and Major governments

Youre a riot, Lord Waldegrave

On Saturday, Radio 4 will be broadcasting a documentary to mark the 30th anniversary of the introduction of Margaret Thatchers much-hated poll tax in Scotland. (It was imposed on England and Wales a year later, in 1990.)

Lord William Waldegrave, one of the Cabinet architects of the policy, tells the interviewer with delicious understatement: The rates change had an intellectual beauty.

What about the bloody poll tax riots which led to Mrs Thatcher being forced from No 10 just seven months later?

Jeremy Corbyn's divisive leadership style has caused a steady trickle of Labour Party departures for some time.

Among them is journalist Fiona Millar, who says: I have never felt more pleased that I left the Party six months ago  know of three friends who have done likewise in the past week.

Millar  also a schools campaigner and Remain supporter  is the long-time partner of Alastair Campbell, once Tony Blairs choleric communications chief.

Never a fan of Corbyn, will Big Al be the next to quit?

In the footsteps of Labour defector Luciana Berger (Liverpool Wavertree), three councillors on the Labour group of Wirral Council, next door to her constituency, have quit over public attacks on them from hard-Left parasites.

Wisdom of the week

Wigan Labour MP Lisa Nandy talking about her partys U-turn in support of a second referendum: Large numbers of my constituents are now saying that they want to vote for No Deal.

Not listening to people, not responding to their concerns, is what got us here in the first place.

Blunt advice for Mr Corbyn from Lord (David) Owen, the former Labour foreign secretary who became one of the Gang of Four who created the Social Democratic Party in 1981 . . .

A leader less identified with Trotskyism, Marxism and anti-Semitism would be able to win, he told the New Statesman. Corbyns got to step down, though he cant be forced out. Hes got to face the reality that he cant win.

Is May out for Rudd's blood?

There was a hateful spate of hostile briefings against Work & Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd in the weekend Press.

She was attacked for threatening, with two other Cabinet ministers, to resign unless a No-Deal Brexit was taken off the table by the Prime Minister. A friend of an undaunted Rudd says: She knows No 10 is behind the briefings.

They added sarcastically: It wont affect Ambers relationship with Theresa May. For the truth is that few of the Cabinet have a particularly warm relationship with Theresa.
Nazir Afzal is a former chief prosecutor who helped convict the Rochdale grooming gang

Over 25 years as a prosecutor, I have dealt with hundreds of murders. I have talked to the families of the victims, and their stories have moved me to tears.

But those experiences could never have prepared me for the shock of the phone call I received last Tuesday morning, when my brother told me that his wifes 18-year-old nephew, Hazrat Umar, had been stabbed to the death in the street.

He was the eldest of four siblings, and nothing about him suggested his life might end this way. A popular, warm, kind-hearted teenager who was studying electrical engineering, he was on his way to his local gym in Birmingham at about 2pm last Monday when he was attacked.

He was the third teenager to be killed in the city in 12 days. So far this year, 269 knife crimes have been reported.

But to our family, of course, Hazrat was not a statistic.

The same must tragically apply to the family of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney, who, on Friday evening, became the 18th person to be stabbed to death in London this year, and the fifth teenager to die.

Hazrat was stabbed to death in Birmingham on his way to the gym at 2pm. He was the third teenager to die in Birmingham in 12 days

On Saturday, in another attack, Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef Makki, 17, was stabbed to death.

I have prosecuted hundreds of homicides for the Crown Prosecution Service but nothing can prepare you for what it is like to be a bereaved relative. It is no longer close to home: it is home.

I will never forget the grief and bewilderment in Hazrats mothers voice when I rang to offer her what comfort I could.

What could I do to protect him? she asked me. I couldnt wrap him up in cotton wool.

In those words, she expressed the fears of so many parents.

As the father of four children and, beyond grief, I feel utter outrage that so many young people are dying in alleyways, parks and on our streets.

Thousands more are taken to A&E departments with wounds that bring them inches from death. An investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches to be shown tonight shows that the number of under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has almost doubled in five years.

The day after Hazrats death, a 16-year-old was arrested on suspicion of killing him. Until we know more, it would not be appropriate to comment further, but I can speak about wider factors.

In particular, I am angry that it has taken so long for the authorities to recognise that the increasing number of such deaths constitutes a national emergency. That was the word used by Dave Thompson, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, as he announced that stop-and-searches will be stepped up and more police will patrol the regions streets.

Stop-and-search is a good policy if done appropriately, but this knee-jerk reaction is no substitute for proper policing  something that seems increasingly rare as a result, in part, to budget cuts.

The scene in Bordesley Green where Hazrat was murdered last Monday

The truth is that police are less visible on the streets, adding to a sense that people only see police driving past at high speed, blue lights flashing. Often, the police are viewed as instruments of the State rather than protectors of the public.

That needs to change, not least because of the intelligence-gathering that bobbies on the beat make possible. Such information is vital in combating knife crime.

The reasons for the recent spate of violence are manifold. They include the drug trade via county lines, with young men and even children forced to sell by older dealers.

We must also consider the insidious effects of social media, with online insults moving into the real world, threatening the possibility of violence. Good policing can tackle all of these, but they are symptoms of deeper causes.

Yes, the police can arrest drug dealers and gang members who recruit vulnerable youngsters into lives of crime. And yes, drill videos, which incite acts of violence, can be removed from websites.

But we also need to work to stop young people becoming susceptible to such pernicious influences in the first place.

Further, as Trevor Phillips, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, has said, we must not whitewash this issue. We must have an open and honest discussion about the fact that young men from ethnic minorities are disproportionately both the perpetrators and victims of knife crime.

Class plays a part, too, and a failure of civil leadership. The fears and vulnerabilities that lead youngsters to carry knives are greatest in poor areas.

I discovered this the last time we had a surge in knife crime, around ten years ago. Back then, I was assistant chief crown prosecutor, and youth club volunteers arranged for me to meet a group of about 30 young men to find out what they felt about the problem.

When I asked how many were carrying knives, around two-thirds of them put up their hands. One young man made it clear that poverty is often a factor. When you aint got s***, youre going to do what you can to defend it, he told me.

Others complained of a lack of discipline at school, leaving them at the mercy of bullies, or that the police had allowed parts of their neighbourhood to become no-go areas for gangs. All had one thing in common, however: they saw knives as essential to their survival.

Subsequently, I met senior police officers and helped devise a violent-crime strategy which involved better engagement with the young and educating them about the consequences of carrying weapons. The following year, knife crime dropped by 50 per cent.

Im not saying our strategy was a magic wand, but prevention is the way forward. But where can children find the mentoring and support they need when the only places they can congregate are outside takeaways or on park benches?

When I was growing up in Birmingham, there were youth clubs. Nor did the education system give up on troubled kids  yet, today, disruptive children are simply expelled. And where do they go after that? Sadly, too many just join other excluded young boys and begin criminal lives or become victims of crime.

Worryingly, the judicial system sends confused messages about deterrents. To reduce the prison population, the Government has announced plans to ban sentences of under six months  which is exactly the kind given to first-time knife offenders. The end result may be no sentence at all.

Meanwhile, every time another young man or woman loses their life, their family  like my brothers  is left trying to pick up the pieces.

My late father would never have imagined a tragedy like this befalling our family when he moved here from Pakistan more than 60 years ago.

He came here not just because of the opportunities for work and education, but because he believed that Britain was a safer country than his native one.

I can only wonder what he would say about the death of Hazrat, and the violence that plagues our streets today.

My own way of dealing with grief has been to think about ways of reducing the number of crimes so that others will not have to endure the deep sorrow visited upon my family and the families of Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki over recent days.

Nazir Afzal is the former chief prosecutor who helped convict the Rochdale grooming gang
Were constantly told that the Government is letting the clock tick down to March 29 and a No Deal Brexit. But for Leavers such as me, Brexit seems to be getting further away.

I am convinced that the endgame for my fellow MPs  the majority of whom are Remainers, and who have seized control of the timetable and direction of travel on Brexit  is for a delay on Britains EU departure date, or no Brexit at all.

Huge errors have been made at every turn, which means the delivery of the peoples will is less certain now than ever before.

MP Nigel Evans has backed Theresa May

Naturally, the leaders of the EUs other 27 countries are revelling in this weakness  and who can blame them.

I have long argued that it was foolish for a snap general election to have been held in 2017, which led to the Government losing its Commons majority.

We should never have had pro-EU civil servants negotiating our exit.

We should never have acquiesced to the divorce being negotiated separately from Britains future trading relationship with the EU.

We should not have offered to pay Brussels a 39 billion exit bill without using it as leverage.

We should not have signed up to any Irish border backstop arrangement that alienates DUP allies who are our umbilical cord to governing.

All that said, we are where we are. However, the Prime Ministers deal is no longer the only one on the table.

We now have the possibility of an extension to the date of Brexit, and a fresh drive by the second referendum mob who see it as their best weapon to defy the decision in the 2016 peoples vote.

Meanwhile, Project Fear Two cheerleaders tell us that a No Deal Brexit would be calamitous  leaving the country starving, paralysed and in a worse condition than Venezuela.

Anyone who questions this is considered extremist, bordering on insane.

Mr Evans voted against Theresa May's deal over the Irish border issue. He says failure to deliver Brexit would be a betrayal to the people

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is attempting to obtain legal clarity on Britain's ability to leave the EU

This Establishment orthodoxy is being driven ruthlessly from within the Cabinet and certainly from within Parliament, where I am convinced there is a majority against leaving the EU without a deal.

A Commons vote on the extension of Article 50  delaying Brexit  would be seen as a triumph for Remainers and their campaign to halt Brexit.

I can imagine how they would crack open the champagne in celebration under the crystal chandelier in the Pugin Room.

I voted against Mrs Mays deal for multiple reasons, but the main sticking point was the backstop backstab over the Irish border. We would leave the EU unilaterally  but the backstop could handcuff us to the EU for an indeterminate period.

Whats more, it could be exploited as a bargaining chip by the EU over our fishing rights, Gibraltar and other issues.

However, I also believe that Attorney-General Geoffrey Coxs attempts to obtain legal clarity on our ability to leave  if the EUs best endeavours to find a solution to the Irish border issue come to nothing  are vital if the PMs deal stands any chance of success.

For us Brexiteers, the jury is made up of more than 100 Remainer Tories who voted down the last deal, and ten DUP MPs who will not be bought off with a small sticking plaster masquerading as a water-tight legal certainty enabling us to leave at will.

We will all be looking very carefully at what Geoffrey brings back. If it delivers what Mrs May has promised that she would, and it has the backing of the DUP, I can see myself edging towards pushing this deal over the line.

I know the forces against Brexit are strong and calculating. Delay, too, could mean denial of the goal. But failure to deliver Brexit and honour the result of the 2016 referendum would be a catastrophic blow to British democracy.

It would provide succour to despots around the world.

It would starkly demonstrate that peoples votes arent worth the paper they are written on.

Some on my side of the argument will vote against the deal even with Geoffrey Coxs Brexit guarantee. For there are other issues that they cannot stomach. Meanwhile, there are some Labour MPs who will vote for Mrs Mays deal as it delivers a Brexit that the people voted for  and it finally means the country can move on.

Politically, the next few days will be the most critical of my 27 years in Parliament. The pressure on all of us is intense.

My duty is to the people. They have spoken. I do not intend to betray them.
A man who hired a hitman to strangle his frail ex-wife with electrical cord in the hope of inheriting 475,000 betrayed his guilt with his body language in police interviews, a new documentary has revealed.

Housewife Sharon Birchwood, 52, was found with her hands and feet bound on July 7 2007 after being strangled to death in her bed at her home in Epsom, Surrey.

Vulnerable Sharon, who had ME, remained devoted to her ex-husband, Graham 'George' Birchwood, despite their split in 1989, and he stood to inherit the 400,000 Surrey home she owned and benefit from a 75,000 life insurance policy.

It was George who dialled 999 on July 7 and told police he had found her body, but suspicious investigators found that DNA collected from Sharon's body and the wire used to strangle her belonged not to her ex-husband, but another, unknown man.

But speaking in a new documentary, Who Killed Sharon Birchwood, DC Roger Deacon, one of the officers who interviewed her ex-husband, told how they carefully studied Birchwood's every move during interviews, and noted how he squinted his eyes and touched his head with his hands while lying about his innocence.

'It [was] just a gut feeling that something wasn't quite right, he knew something,' the detective said in the show, describing how officers deliberately built up a rapport with the suspect to encourage him to tease out the information they wanted.

When he let slip that a friend, Paul Cryne - a convicted robber who lived in Thailand - had been staying with him at the time of Sharon's death, which occurred three days before George 'found' her body, investigators contacted Thai police who tracked down Cryne and managed to match his DNA to that found on the victim - allowing officers to unravel the two men's dastardly plot.

Sharon Birchwood, 52, was murdered in July 2007 by a hitman hired by her ex husband Graham 'George' Birchwood

George was the one who made the 999 call and continued to deny he had anything to do with his wife's murder

George denied any involvement in the murder of his ex-wife, but the connection between the two men gave police what they needed to press charges and ultimately see both men convicted of plotting to kill Sharon.

The circumstances of Sharon's death were unusual from the offset as they didn't match the usual signs of a domestic incident; the bounding of her wrists and ankles showed that whoever killed her wanted her to die, while most come from a crime of passion and are an accident.

Sharon's body was in her bedroom and covered in clothes, which police believed to be an attempt to keep it cool and offset the start of rigor mortis to disguise the exact time she died.

Sharon also had no apparent enemies or criminal connections, so it was believed that she had been murdered by someone she knew.

She did have a strangely close relationship with her ex husband, who said he saw her almost every day even after their divorce.

Police took George in for questioning, and he denied having anything to do with her murder.

Paul Cryne attempted to disguise the day he'd killed Sharon by attempting to delay rigor mortis to give him enough time to flee the country before it looked like she died

THE BODY LANGUAGE THAT GAVE GRAHAM 'GEORGE' BIRCHWOOD AWAY In ITV's Who Killed Sharon Birchwood police revealed the body language that gave Graham 'George' Birchwood's guilt away. The signs that he was somehow involved in his ex-wife Sharon's murder were there from the beginning: When he told the truth his face was open, his eyes were wide and he looked police in the eye

When he lied about his relationship with hitman Paul Cryne he would squint his face was closed off

He would squint his eyes and break eye contact with the police when they asked him about when the body was found

When asked if he was involved in the murder he would rest his head in his hands Advertisement

They were immediately suspicious of his body language, as whenever he protested his innocence his body would change; when he was telling the truth his face was open and his eyes were wide, but when he lied he had his head in his hands and he squinted his eyes.

But from the offset they were careful with how they handled the case, and made sure they built up a friendly rapport with George to get him to trust them and mistakenly reveal crucial information.

DC Roger Deacon, who was one of police who interviewed George, said: 'It sounds like an old cliche but in my experience the person who's found the body is either just a passerby or somehow they know more than they let on. It's just a gut feeling something wasn't quite right, he knew something.

'We build up this rapport with them he thinks we're his friend which is what we want because without the trust we're not going to get the information that we want.'

DNA evidence proved that he did not carry out the violent murder himself, but officers remained convinced of his involvement.

George also had an alibi and could be seen on CCTV footage filmed at a local shopping centre at the exact time of her murder.

However, police thought his appearance on the footage was suspicious, as they believed he had gone out of his way to ensure he was caught on camera in another location at the time the murder was taking place.

Police suspected George's guilt when they noticed that his body language changed when he lied

The next step was to have another wade through Sharon's cluttered home in Ashtead, Surrey, to find any clues that would piece together the puzzle.

They found her diary that informed them that she had ran errands on July 4, but not completed everything on her to do list, which made it seem like she had been killed on that day - days before George called the police to tell them he'd found her body.

Police asked to check his mobile phone and found a few unknown numbers, and George said one of them was his friend Paul visiting him from Thailand.

He revealed that Paul had been staying at his mother's house but had already gone back to Thailand, and police were able to collect a DNA sample from a glass in the room where he'd stayed.

Tests revealed that he was Paul Cryne, a man who had been convicted of a bank robbery in the 1970s.

There was none of George's DNA on Sharon's body when it was found in her home in Surrey

The police contacted the embassy in Thailand and, with the help of plain clothes Thai police, were able to track Cryne down and collect a sample from a knife and fork he'd used and match it to the sample on the electrical wire.

CCTV recovered from Heathrow Airport revealed that Cryne had fled back to Thailand just hours after he murdered Sharon.

While he fled the country on the fourth, police believed the body had been subtly preserved in an attempt to make it look like she died later, so Cryne had an alibi by being out of the country.

Who Killed Sharon Birchwood with Susanna Reid gives viewers a look at the police tapes from the case

Police knew that there was no connection between Cryne and Sharon, and so he would have no motive to kill her.

They conducted another search of Sharon's home and found that she had made jottings on scrap pieces of paper about George, with one reading: 'Are you hoping I'm going to die so you can use the insurance money to sort out your mess?

It was at this point that they arrested George, who denied that he had any involvement in her death.

On a search of his computer they found emails between the two men that proved that George had arranged for Cryne to fly over to the UK.

The two men were sentenced to a minimum of 32 years in prison for Sharon's murder, by Cryne died in February this year.

Who Killed Sharon Birchwood airs on ITV, Thursday 5 July at 9pm
Just because your kids haven't been invited for a playdate with Prince George and Princess Charlotte doesn't mean they can't behave like little princes and princesses themselves.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's little ones may not yet be old enough to sit at the grown-ups' table at official dinners  that'll have to wait until they can hold polite conversation like adults for that  but they've certainly been learning good manners since they were babies.

And if George, who turns five this month, and Charlotte, who is three, can practice good etiquette, your kids can, too. But where to start? Etiquette expert Myka Meier, 36, has shared the most important lessons a child should learn by the age of 10, from how to answer a phone to the top rules to follow during a meal.

Follow their lead! Princess Charlotte and Prince George have been learning good manners and proper etiquette since they were born  but non-royal children can learn those lessons, too

Well-behaved! DailyMail.com reveals the top 20 lessons in manners and etiquette that a child should learn by the age of 10

Myka, a dual American and British citizen, trained in London under a former member of The Royal Household of Her Majesty the Queen  and has gone on to to open Beaumont Etiquette to pass on her expertise.

She currently runs The Plaza Hotel Finishing Program, where she teaches people of all ages proper etiquette, with special classes designed for children held in the Eloise Tea Room. She's been flown all over the world to teach royals, celebrities, and other members of the elite (some of whom require that she signs NDAs).

Yet she insists that most of the lessons she imparts are just as useful for kids who aren't visiting palaces and dining at the world's most expensive restaurants.

The expert: Beaumont Etiquette's Myka Meier runs The Plaza Hotel Finishing Program

'As parents, you wish nothing more than to see your child excel in all they do, and the best way to get ahead is to teach them basic dining and social skills while theyre young,' she told DailyMail.com.

'The foundation of etiquette, taught during childhood, is unmatched and considered an investment in your child's future,' she went on.

'Regardless of personal goals, early childhood etiquette instills basic manners, kindness and respect, social skills, and confidence in children.'

'It's never too early to begin etiquette training,' she added. 'Children such as Prince George and Princess Charlotte begin learning dining etiquette the moment they are able to sit at the dining table.'

Of course, teaching etiquette is an ongoing process  and some lessons need to be adapted based on a child's behavior.

'The true meaning of etiquette is always to show respect and kindness to everyone and all living things around you, including people, animals, and the environment,' Myka explained.

An effective way to do that is to learn these 20 things before the age of 10...

Start them young! Myka, 36, who trained in London under a former member of The Royal Household of the Queen, said good etiquette is important for everyone

1. The correct way to hold cutlery

'Often holding cutlery is one of the biggest mistakes children make in dining,' Myka said. 'When they start eating as babies they use their hands, but by toddlers they are expected to progress to silverware and often have a hard time adjusting.'

The rules are also different in British and American dining. Brits keep their fork in their left hand and knife in their right throughout the meal, and in formal settings will push food onto the back of the fork.

Americans cut with their fork in the left hand and a knife in their right, but move the fork to the right hand to take a bite. They also spear food onto the fork, as opposed to placing it on the back.

2. How to properly use a napkin to wipe your mouth

Kid should be taught quickly that sleeves are for wearing, not for sopping up food or spills.

3. To never chew with their mouths open

'Children can begin learning table manners as soon as theyre old enough to sit at the table,' said Myka.

4. How to set the table

'Being able to set a proper dining table goes beyond cutlery placement,' Myka said. She goes into the details in her classes, but parents should at least show children where to place cutlery, napkins, and cups  and can get them to practice by setting the table before family dinners.

Miss Manners: Myka teaches kids proper table manners, including how to hold cutlery, how to use a napkin, and to never put elbows on the table

She's a real life Mary Poppins! She said that kids should learn to say 'please' and 'thank you,' to show positive body language, and to never interrupt adults when the're speaking

5. Not to put elbows on the table

'Putting elbows on the table in western culture is recognized as rude behavior,' says Myka. 'In America and Great Britain, we keep our hands totally under the table until food or drink is served, while in many other countries wrists stay on the table. But no matter what country in the western world, no elbows.

Why the rule? Well, Myka, said, 'When putting your elbows on the table you break posture and curve your back, leaning over the table. Its also possible that your elbows knock into something at the table.'

6. To say 'please,' 'thank you,' and 'excuse me'

'As soon as children have the ability to speak its importance to introduce verbal cues such as please and thank you,' said Myka.

7. How to show positive body language

It's one thing to talk to talk, but a kid also has to walk the walk. Saying 'please' an 'thank you' don't go very far when a child is grumbling, and crossing his arms.

8. To never comment on someone's appearance  unless it's to say something nice

Kids have a habit of being embarrassingly honest. If they know that the only comments they should make about someone's looks are positive ones, you'll never hear, 'Daddy, that lady is so ugly!'

On the flip side, positive remarks should be encouraged, and children should be taught how to give a compliment.

9. Not to point or stare

10. Not to interrupt adults when they are speaking to someone else

11. How to introduce themselves  and others  properly

Teaching them to say their names and offer a handshake is the first step, but it's important that they learn how to introduce one friend to another, too.

The rules: Myka said parents should lead by example and instruct their children in how to answer the phone, write a thank-you note, and knock on a door before opening it

12. Not to call an adult by his or her first name, unless instructed to do so

13. How to write a thank-you letter and why we do it

14. To always knock on a door before opening it

Teaching this to children from an early age can prevent mortifying moments.

'The earlier you start teaching children etiquette, the more it becomes day to day normal behavior to them and is easier to absorb,' said Myka. 'Just as it is easier to learn a language as a child, so it is for any skill set.

15. Why it's important to invite someone to join a group if they are by themselves

Recognizing the needs of others is compassionate and shows good manners  but in the beginning, kids will likely need an adult to point out those who should be invited to join.

Little angels: Good etiquette goes beyond how to eat at the table, covering topics like how to dress and how to speak to adults

16. How to dress and groom themselves for nice outings

17. How to politely answer a phone

According to Myka, children should answer the phone by saying one of the following: 'Hello,' 'Good morning,' 'Good afternoon,' 'Good evening,' or 'Hello, how may I help you?'

When the caller asks to speak to someone, a child should then ask who is calling.

She pointed out that while children used to be taught to introduce themselves when picking up the phone, that is no longer advisable for safety reasons.

18. To make eye contact when speaking to another person

19. To cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing

'Parents should definitely lead by example, as children see what their parents are doing they will copy their behavior,' said Myka.

20. When to use indoor and outdoor voices

This one should certainly be taught when kids are young, but Myka insists it's never too late to begin teaching a child etiquette.

'As a pre-teen or teen, its still a great time for etiquette training,' she said. 'As adolescents begin to develop a sense of self, they are able to comprehend etiquette in a way that is applicable.'

To learn more about The Plaza Finishing Program's Children's and Teens' Etiquette Programs in New York City, and the national tour, as well as private courses, visit www.beaumontetiquette.com.
Actress Olivia Colman learned of a scandalous secret while tracing her family history on the BBC show Who Do You Think You Are?

The BAFTA and Golden Globe winner discovered that her maternal great great great great grandfather, Richard Bazett, went to parliament to get a divorce from his wife Margaret-Anne, after insisting she had been unfaithful with another man.

But as the Broadchurch star, 44, delved deeper into her ancestor's tale of woe, it emerged that - despite Richard having laid the blame firmly on his wife - he had committed adultery also, bearing two sons with the woman who would become his second wife, Sarah.

Upon learning that her relative had been 'having it away' with another woman, stunned Olivia says on the show: 'I liked him a while ago but now I think he is a massive hypocrite.'

Olivia is shocked to learn of her Indian ancestry - joking that she was 'more interesting' than she first thought

Olivia's maternal great grandfather and grandmother times four, Richard and Sarah Bazett had five children in total

(L-R) Caroline Colman, Percy Colman (Paternal Grandparents), Mary Colman (Mother), Keith Colman (Father), Olivia Colman (child in the middle), Patricia Leaky and Alexander Graham Leakey (Maternal Grandparents)

Historian Rebecca Probert explains to Olivia that her great great great great grandfather Richard was a wealthy man who split his time between London and Calcutta.

He found love with his first wife Margaret-Anne, but according to court documents labelled 'Bazett and Bazett', back in 1806 Richard accused his wife of having an affair with a harpist named Frederick Dizi.

At the time the church had jurisdiction over all aspects of married life - including whether or not couples could separate.

He had to progress the request to parliament to get his marriage dissolved, but it was not granted until 1809.

That was three years after his son William and two years later than a second son Charles - according to his application to join the army cadets - Richard fathered with his second wife Sarah, was born.

As the implication of the dates dawns on Olivia she gasps: 'Oh my god!

'So Richard has made a big deal about his first wife being unfaithful and how awful, shocking and terrible, meanwhile he is definitely having it away with Sarah!

'I liked him a while ago but now I think he is a massive hypocrite.'

Richard went on to have three more sons - Henry, Richard, and Alfred - with Sarah, with whom he lived on Saint Helena, an island in the middle of south Atlantic.

Award-winning actress Olivia Colman traces her family history for BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? and learns a surprising secret

Charles Young Blazett and Harriot Slessor are Olivia's great grandparents time three - Harriot is originally from India

Olivia, who lives in London with her husband Ed Sinclair and three children, a daughter who's name she has not disclosed, nearly three, and two sons, Finn, 11, and Hall, nine, is a descendant of Richard's second son Charles.

She says in the programme that all her family were born and bred in Norfolk and were all 'fairly boring'.

'If theres any adventurers in my family theyd be so disappointed - Im the least adventurous person I know. I dont really go out. I like to be at home in my pyjamas with my family.'

Charles had married and retired to Reading by 1871 with his wife Harriot, who was born in East Indies, Kishanganj, north east of India.

This news - which delights Olivia who had no idea of her link to India - sees her travel to south Asia to learn more about her great great great grandmother.

Olivia travels to India where she reads a letter between Charles and his brother that reveals his love for Harriot

What she finds leaves the actress, who is set to take on the role of the Queen in the next series of Netflix's The Crown, in tears.

In 1810, Harriot, was roughly three or four-years-old when her father, British Army captain William Slessor, was killed in a shooting accident.

He was employed by the East India Company and her mother was a local woman from Kisanganj.

Harriot's mother gave her up when she was sent for by her grandmother in Britain, who paid thousands of pounds for her solo passage from India to England - a journey that took six months.

An emotional Olivia wipes away tears as she says: 'The thing I feel saddest about is we dont know more about Harriots mummy, we dont know her name.

'She gave up her daughter, hopefully for the best reasons, knowing she wouldnt see her again.'

'What I knew about my past was all English and now I definitely feel more exotic.'

Olivia Colman's Who Do You Think You Are? episode airs on Monday 9 July on BBC One at 9pm
Meghan stepped away from her blush pink outfits of late by opting for a bright yellow frock at a Commonwealth youth reception last night.

And it appears that the Duchess of Sussex, 36, is taking tips from the Queen - who often wears colourful outfits to ensures she stands out in a crowd.

The 92-year-old monarch opted for a canary yellow coat on the first day of the Royal Ascot in Berkshire last month, on the same day as Meghan made her debut at the horse racing event.

Meghan's 1,392 Brandon Maxwell shift dress bears a striking resemblance to a yellow Roksanda Ilincic dress that the Duchess of Cambridge wore at Wimbledon back in 2016.

Prince Harry's new wife may have also taken inspiration from her own wedding guest Amal Clooney, who commanded attention in a mustard yellow shift dress by Stella McCartney at Windsor Castle in May.

Meghan appeared to take inspiration from the Queen as she opted for a bright yellow shift dress by Brandon Maxwell for a Commonwealth youth reception with Prince Harry

The Queen, 92, is known for her colourful wardrobe, donning a canary yellow coat at Ascot

Meghan made a drastic departure from her more muted wardrobe choices by donning the yellow shift dress by US designer Brandon Maxwell, who has worked as Lady Gaga's stylist since 2012.

She teamed the eye-catching dress with nude heels - one of Kate's signature footwear choices - and minimal accessories as she attended the reception at Marlborough House on Thursday night.

The Duchess appears to have taken inspiration from Her Majesty, who is known for her colourful wardrobe choices.

Along with her canary yellow coat and hat at Ascot, the Queen also wore a bright green coat and hat during her joint appearance with Meghan in Cheshire last month.

The Duchess of Cambridge has also worn yellow on a number of occasions, wearing a Roksanda Ilincic dress at Wimbledon in 2016

Amal Clooney commanded attention in a stylish mustard yellow dress by Stella McCartney as she attended the royal wedding with her husband in May

Meanwhile, the Duchess wore a neutral shift dress by Givenchy for the day of engagements, and has predominantly stuck to a nude and blush colour palette since her wedding day.

Experts say her muted wardrobe choices may be a sign of respect to the Queen, when attending engagements where she is present.

Meghan opted for a blush dress by Prada when attending a Buckingham Palace reception to present awards to winners of the Queen's Young Leaders for 2018 last week.

Stylist Lucas Armitage previously told FEMAIL: 'I feel this is a clever styling tactic as it will always work with the Queen's look; she is known and applauded for her use of bright fun colours.

'The use of neutral colour on Meghan part is also a show of respect to the Queen so she never looks like she is trying to outshine her.'

Meghan has recently been sticking to more muted colours, opting for this neutral shift dress by Givenchy for her first joint appearance with the Queen

Meghan also opted for a blush pink dress by Prada while joining Harry and the Queen at a Buckingham Palace reception last week

However, Meghan appears to now be taking inspiration from the monarch when it comes to her royal wardrobe.

Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, has hinted in the past at why the Queen often chooses bright colours on official engagements.

Speaking in a 2016 documentary to mark the monarch's birthday, Sophie said: Don't forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four, ten, 15 deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen's hat as she went past.

'She needs to stand out for people to be able to say "I saw the Queen."'

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Cambridge has also worn yellow on a number of occasions in the past, including at Wimbledon back in 2016.

Amal Clooney was widely applauded for her choice of mustard yellow shift dress at the royal wedding in May, with many branding her the best-dressed guest.
Students protest against Bouteflika in Algeria Media says marches underway in various cities

(ANSAmed) - ROME, MARCH 4 - Students are once again taking to the streets on Monday to protest against Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision to run for president a fifth time, local media said, after students marched in various Algerian cities late on Sunday evening.



Marches are underway on Monday in Annaba, Constantine, Bejaia, and Guelma.



Activists have posted numerous videos on social media that show demonstrators in the streets chanting slogans against the president.



Thus far there have been no reports of any clashes with security forces.(ANSAmed).




Reading about how their child is a good listener or confident in class is guaranteed to leave any parent bursting with pride.

But one teacher's revelations could throw all of that glowing praise into doubt.

Talking anonymously to the BBC, the British teacher told how some of the positive phrases frequently found in primary school pupils' reports are in fact staff's diplomatic way of describing a child's potential shortcomings.

If expressions like 'full of self-confidence' or 'excellent listening skills' sound familiar, they could actually be revealing something quite different about your child.

Revealed: A teacher has revealed what the phrases in your child's school report really mean

What a school report REALLY says about your child What it says: Displays excellent listening skills A bubbly, fun-loving personality Full of self-confidence Always enthusiastic when working in a group Enthusiastic contributor to class discussions What it really means: Is too shy to say anything in class A child that needs to calm down Arrogant Enjoys bossing other children around a little too much Doesn't let other children speak Advertisement

Buzzwords like 'self-confident' and 'great listener' can actually be code for arrogance, or shyness, respectively, the teacher said.

Similarly, 'enthusiastic when working in a group' could indicate that a pupil takes pleasure in bossing other children around.

Meanwhile an 'enthusiastic contributor to class discussions' could mean a child who simply won't let their peers get a word in edgeways.

The teacher also revealed how traits that parents might want to encourage in their children can actually be unwelcome in the classroom.

Rather than showing a unique personality, a child who is described as 'bubbly' can prove difficult to calm down in class.

Hidden meanings: A lot of the phrases sound positive but are actually negative, such as 'self-confident' and 'great listener', which can be code for arrogant and shy, respectively

Earlier this month teachers revealed the best, the worst and the weirdest presents they have ever been given by students at the end of term.

A survey by Mumsnet revealed how British teachers have been presented with everything from a bag of potatoes to a half empty bottle of wine - and even jewellery they suspect had been stolen.

In another instance, a member of staff said they had been handed a stolen car radio in a carrier bag.

The poll also revealed that the gift most teachers hoped to receive was a personal note, a handmade gift or a voucher from the whole class.
A mother-of-two has started a campaign to raise awareness for organ donation for her four-year-old daughter who requires a heart transplant due to her 'one in a million' condition.

Ellie-Mae Wright, 22, from Scarborough, North Yorkshire, is clinging on to the hope of finding a donor for her 'beautiful' daughter Thalia-Beau so she can undergo the potentially life-saving operation.

The youngster hasn't been given a percentage chance of survival or any time frame at this stage.

Ellie-Mae Wright is in search of a donor for her four-year-old daughter Thalia-Beau who is in desperate need of a heart transplant

But Thalia-Beau has been referred to the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for transplant assessment on March 25.

Ellie-Mae has described how her 'world changed forever' after Thalia-Beau was diagnosed with Restrictive Cardiomyopathy on November 16, 2018.

The condition is an ultra-rare form of muscle disease which stiffens the ventricles around the heart.

Ellie-Mae was told by doctors the only hope for her 'sassy' and 'bubbly' Thalia-Beau was a heart transplant - as the condition currently has no cure or treatment.

Thalia-Beau was diagnosed with the 'one in a million' condition Restrictive Cardiomyopathy in November with doctors claiming her only chance of survival was a transplant

The devastating diagnosis came after Thalia-Beau was taken to Scarborough Hospital with a suspected common chest infection

WHAT IS RESTRICTIVE CARDIOMYOPATHY? In restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM), the heart's muscle cells are replaced with scar tissue. This causes the muscle walls of the ventricles (the lower chambers of the heart) to stiffen, which makes it harder for the heart to beat. In particular, the stiffened muscles cannot relax properly, which means the ventricles cant fill with blood. This lowers blood flow around the body. Some people with RCM have no, or very mild, symptoms. But over time, the restricted function of the heart can lead to heart failure, symptoms for which include tiredness, shortness of breath and palpitations. RCM is relatively rare compared to other types of cardiomyopathy. It is most often diagnosed in children at 56 years of age, although it can develop at any age. Although RCM cannot be cured, treatment aims to reduce and control symptoms, particularly those of heart failure. In some cases where the heart function is very poor, people may require a heart transplant. It can be genetic and run in families. It can also develop following some treatments for cancer, such as radiation therapy. Advertisement

She said: 'When I was told what was wrong with her everything started going slow.

'My whole world crumbled down around me. I couldn't believe it.'

The devastating diagnosis came after Thalia-Beau was taken to Scarborough Hospital with a suspected common chest infection.

Following two days in hospital, the family were preparing to return home after Thalia-Beau was discharged.

However, just minutes before they were due to leave, Ellie-Mae described how hospital staff ran down the corridor to stop them.

Ellie-Mae said: 'We thought everything was fine and she had been discharged, we were just about to leave.

Ellie-Mae had given birth to her son Rudy just three days before being given the diagnosis. Pictured: Rudy and Thalia-Beau

Due to her condition, incredible pressure has been placed on Thalia-Beau's lungs -which 'work overtime' to cope with her heart defect. Pictured: The tot with her younger brother

'I remember being stopped and told something was wrong with the scans.'

Doctors had discovered Thalia-Beau had an enlarged heart and she was immediately rushed to Leeds General Infirmary for further checks.

After the scans were completed, Ellie-Mae was taken into a separate room to be given the news.

She added: 'I remember being taken into the room and being surrounded by doctors.

'At the time I thought Thalia-Beau might need an operation so I was worrying about that.

'However, I never expected to be given the news. The doctors told me she was incredibly unlucky to have the condition as it only affects one in a million children.'

Thalia's grandmother described her as 'gorgeous inside and out' as she aims to raise awareness of organ donation

Due to her condition, incredible pressure has been placed on Thalia-Beau's lungs -which 'work overtime' to cope with her heart defect.

If doctors deem Thalia-Beau suitable, she may be fitted with a 'Berlin heart' - a type of 'Ventricular Assist Device' to sustain her health.

Ellie-Mae, who had given birth to son Rudy just three days before being given the diagnosis, added: 'We haven't been given a percentage chance of survival or any time frame at this stage and we are just holding out hope she can get a new heart.

'She is bubbly, sassy and the most beautiful-natured daughter. She is unreal, I couldn't ask for a better daughter. I can't believe how brave she has been.'

The brave mum is now seeking to raise awareness of organ donation following the devastating news.

Thalia-Beau's grandmother Christine Johnson, 42, said she is the family's 'absolute world' and is 'gorgeous inside and out'.

She said: 'Thalia is our absolute world and is one in a million to everybody that knows and loves her, she is so gorgeous inside and out with the most beautiful little heart and soul.

'She's so bright and absolutely full of sass, she is utterly adored.

'As Thalia begins her journey for a new beautiful little heart, all we can focus on is raising organ donation awareness, we are desperate.

'It's unbearable to think about the other family but we can only hope in their darkest hours they give the gift of life.

'Please help to spread the word by sharing Thalia's story, you never know whose heart her story may touch and please share your organ donation decision with your loved ones.'
A woman who became addicted to drugs as a teenager and spent close to a decade hooked on heroin has revealed how she finally managed to turn her life around.

Boni Newland, from Adelaide in South Australia, has been in recovery for five years from an addiction she claimed saw her spend close to $3,000 a week on drugs - which is an average of $156,000 a year.

She is now hoping to become a drug counsellor and help other addicts get their lives back in order.

'I hated myself and I had no self-esteem. I was in a vicious cycle. I did bad things to good people and I'd sell my soul for my next shot,' the 33-year-old told FEMAIL.

Before finding the strength to dig deep and kick her habit, her life was marred by pain and loss. She went to jail twice by the time she was 21 and the love of her life would die from drugs.

Boni Newland (aged 27) just weeks before she placed herself into a long-term treatment program

Ms Newland has now put the past behind her, and says she couldn't' be more excited about a future which holds the possibility of study and training to become a counsellor to help others.

Ms Newland feels drawn to helping suffering addicts because she understands how devastating addiction can be, and believes she has important insight into what it's like to 'go off the rails' as a young person.

'I started acting up at school first,' she recalled. 'I got kicked out of Year 7 because I really hated school and my behaviour was so out of control.

'I was dealing with a whole bunch of insecurities and inadequacies and I didn't really know how to cope so I turned to drugs at a young age.'

Ms Newland has now been off drugs for five years after battling a decade-long heroin addiction

Marijuana was the first drug she remembers picking up; a drug she believes was a gateway to others she'd subsequently use.

'I smoked a lot of dope as a teenager because I was desperate to fit in and be seen as one of the 'cool kids'. Then, I started to snort lines of speed and take acid,' she said.

'I didn't really have the best upbringing and I didn't have a lot of role models in my life.

'I felt lost, alone, alienated, disconnected, unwanted, unheard, misguided; I felt hopeless and felt incredibly misunderstood by my family.'

'I smoked a lot of dope as a teenager because I was desperate to fit in and be seen as one of the 'cool kids',' Ms Newland said

In and out of school by the the age of 16, Ms Newland discovered heroin after a boyfriend left her heart broken.

'The first time I used [heroin] I gave someone $100 and asked them to score for me.

'The next day when my Centrelink cheque came, I took the money and went back to the same place and scored on my own.'

It's a point in her life she recounts with some emotion, saying she wished she'd found a way to continue her education and not head down the path she did.

'But at that time, all that mattered,' she said, 'was fitting in and getting off my face'.

The 33-year-old is hoping to study at some point in order to train as a drug counsellor

From there her life quickly spiralled into one of squalor, crime and degradation and by 17 she'd moved into housing commission units with a new partner.

It was a living situation that saw her surrounded by poverty, addiction and people suffering from severe mental health problems.

'I would be sitting there with all these people, desperate and waiting to get a fix, and I remember thinking from time to time, there must be something else, something more to life.'

It took Ms Newland three attempts in order to get clean, the first was when she was 22 and the last when she was 27 (Ms Newland is shown aged 27)

Drug-related deaths in Australia * Annual drug deaths almost doubled in the decade to 2016, a period that claimed 13,471 lives. * Legal pharmaceutical painkillers are the leading killer, but most people are dying with a combination of substances in their system, including alcohol, heroin, amphetamines and synthetic cannabis. * Those hit hardest by the countrys overdose crisis include middle-aged Australians (the riskiest age for drug use was 40 to 49) and those living in regional areas. * While men are more likely to die through drug misadventure, drug deaths among women are increasing at greater rates than the overall population. Source: The Penington Institute Advertisement

But by then she had become a slave to drugs and needed them in order to function.

'It was just a sad existence. I was doing crime to get heroin. I sold dope and took whatever drugs I could.

'I lived in an area where prostitution was rife, and I told myself that I would never do that.'

At the height of her addiction, Ms Newland revealed she was spending up to $400 a day on drugs and that over the course of a week she'd spend at least $2,800 to fund her habit.

This would mean crime, as well as prostitution - something she hadn't imagined doing - would become ways she'd make money to buy the drugs she so desperately needed.

She'd go to jail for the first time at 21, after being convicted for theft and breaking conditions related to suspended sentences. However, she said a month-long stint did nothing to curb her addiction.

'I was terribly messy at the time and as soon as I got out I used again.'

A few months later, she'd lose the love of her life, the man she'd lived with for years, to a drug-induced psychosis.

It was an incident which completely upended her world and pushed her past the point of caring about herself.

'My behaviour became more and more reckless, I'd take a lot of drugs and end up in all sorts of situations with all sorts of people and not know what I'd done.'

Ms Newland said losing the love of her life to drugs sent her off the edge and cause her to give up on herself entirely

Later that year, Ms Newland would be jailed again. This time she'd serve nine months for a range of crimes including fraud and other drug-related charges.

Despite the fact she'd had some interaction with community services and later OARS (Offenders Aid and Rehabilitation Services South Australia), it would be a fellow inmate who would spark the flame of hope after telling her about the possibility of treatment.

'I have had social workers and support workers since I was young and no one had ever told me about treatment or 12-step programs,' Ms Newland said.

Living life to the fullest: Celebrating with other revelers at a Holi festival - the significance of the coloured powder, according to Hindu tradition, is that of overcoming

Although she'd return to her addiction after leaving jail, a seed had been planted; four months later she'd check herself into rehab.

'I stayed for six months, I couldn't remember ever laughing so much in my life.'

I was killing myself and knew that I couldn't keep it up for much longer

She said despite wanting to be clean, the power of her addiction was too much and she would use drugs again after she left. The same rehab let her skip the waiting list so she could return just months later.

Ms Newland's second attempt at living without drugs, after spending a further six months in treatment, would last for two-and-a-half years.

She said while she hadn't imagined returning to drugs, she found she lacked the life skills to stay clean and again she relapsed.

Ten months later, now aged 27, she'd again dig deep to find the strength to stop taking drugs and would again check herself into treatment - this time for nine months.

'I was killing myself and knew that I couldn't keep it up for much longer.'

A 19-year-old Ms Newland - she says while recalling memories of her addiction are painful, the life she lives today couldn't be more rewarding

Since that life-changing decision, Ms Newland has found the courage to stay off drugs for five years.

It's been an exciting time, one filled with a host of adventures: travel, new friendships and reconnecting with family.

'I've travelled and lived in Thailand helping other addicts to recover; I've worked in rehabs as a support worker; I've discovered I love hiking, camping and live music and I'm hoping to study to become a counsellor.'

In the five years Ms Newland has been clean her life has been filled with adventures including travelling across Australia in a van

Being reunited with her mother after the two parted ways during the worst of her addiction, has also been one of the many blessings of living life without drugs.

'To be able to be there for other people is pretty powerful stuff,' she said.

Her words of advice to those who may be struggling is to remember there is a way through, no matter how hopeless a situation seems.

'It's worth fighting for. It can be really difficult but it's possible to stop using and to find something worth living for.

'There's a whole new life out there, one that's full of purpose and meaning.'

Where to get help: Narcotics Anonymous on 95196200 or na.org.au

For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14
London's boldest gym chain, Gymbox has announced the launch of the ultimate hangover cure for the festive season: the Hangxiety workout. When post-party anxiety meets the hangover from hell, this class promises that it will leave last nights mistakes dripping from every pore. Exercise meets exorcism in a hardcore burst of HIIT, followed by a juicy yoga flow to steady those alco-shakes and a mediation session to clear your aching mind. Rounding off with an IV Vitamin drip or booster shot administered by a team of medical experts, a rejuvenating dose of vitamins that help ease general worry and reduce oxidative stress in your body  perfect for the morning after the night before. Hangxiety launches just in time for the party season, taking place at the Elephant & Castle club on December 3, 10 and 17.
A luxury London hotel loved by celebrities is at the centre of a war with its neighbours over an alcohol licence.

Blakes Hotel, located in South Kensington, has been a celebrity hotspot since its opening in 1978, with Lady Gaga, Diana Ross, Kate Moss and royalty among its well-heeled guests paying up to 795-a-night.

The hotel bar is currently open from Wednesday to Saturday and closes at midnight, but this could change after Blakes applied for an extended licence to serve drinks around the clock.

Nearby residents fear their 18th century Georgian townhouses will be subjected to noisy 'crazy late' parties on a regular basis if Blakes gets its licence, the Evening Standard reports.

Blakes Hotel in South Kensington is currently causing disquiet among its well-heeled neighbours after applying for a licence to serve alcohol 24 hours a day. It was founded in 1978 and its rooms were designed by socialite and designer Anouska Hempel

The bar in Blakes (pictured) currently only serves alcohol until midnight. Residents are worried their street will be busy and noisy at night if Blakes gets its round-the-clock licence

Kensington and Chelsea council received 12 letters of objection to Blakes extended alcohol licence.

One letter read: 'This is not a nightclub, it's a hotel on a quiet residential street and therefore should not have this crazy late licence.'

The council is now in talks with the hotel over conditions that would need to be applied if the Blakes got the licence.

Keith Mehaffy, an environmental health officer with Kensington and Chelsea said the conditions included smoking and dispersal of customers.

Blakes Hotel's luxurious restaurant, which was opened to non residents a few years ago, so that everyone can experience the 'glamour and decadence' of the hotel

The Corfu suite in Blakes Hotel. There are five signature suites available at the Blakes. Each is designed individually. It's believed that Liam Gallagher and his then wife Patsy Kensit spent their honeymoon at the Blakes

Victoria Beckham leaving Blakes hotel on her way to Battersea too attend the Graduate Fashion Week gala show, in 2007

Lindsay Lohan leaving Blakes Hotel in June 2009. The hotel is well-known for its appeal to international celebrities like Lady Gaga, Kate Moss, Diana Ross and more

'So far, the negative impact for residents has been only from time to time  There is concern that this may now change into a permanent, negative situation,' another resident wrote.

Blake's general manager Neil McMillan said: 'The hotel is in receipt of the residents' objections and is currently reviewing them.

Several celebrities have visited the hotel, and in 1999, the Duchess of York had a select party for her 40th birthday in the exclusive venue.

It is believed that Liam Gallagher spent a night with his then-wife, Patsy Kensit, during their honeymoon in 1997.

The Cardinal Suite in Blakes Hotel. Signature suites at Blakes measure 50 - 65 square meters and are equipped with wifi, bespoke bathroom products and their own individual design

Antonio Banderas leaving Blakes Hotel London in August 2008. Neighbours of the celebrity hotspot are afraid an extended drink licence will turn their street into a nightclub

Lindsay Lohan once resided at the Blakes after she was evicted from her house in Knightsbridge in 2016.

Designed by Anouska Hempel, the fancy hotel signature suites cost 795 a night while regular rooms cost from 600.

The council's licensing committee is set to make a decision on 4 April.

Another view of the Corfu Suite in Blakes Hotel. Lindsay Lohan once resided at the Blakes after she was evicted from her house in Knightsbridge in 2016.
A former Yale student is seen breaking down in tears as he tells Louis Theroux of his pain at being banned from the college after being accused of rape, despite being cleared by a court.

Former neuroscience student Saif Khan, 25, is the subject of Louis' new documentary The Night in Question, which airs tonight, exploring America's controversial Title IX law that allows colleges to ban people they believe are 'likely' to be guilty.

Saif claims he had consensual sex with a fellow student in 2015 and says she may have accused him of rape after he 'hurt her feelings by not cuddling her and staying for breakfast'.

He cries as he tells Louis how he had 30 minutes to get off campus, and says: 'I've lost a lot.'

On face value, the decision to exclude Saif - who was cleared by a court of any wrongdoing in March 2018 - may seem unfair

But Louis is left wondering after speaking to former friends who tell him things that call into questions Saif's sincerity, including one who says: 'He cries for people, and I guess he did that for you.

After hearing Saif's side and accounts from his former friends, Louis admits: 'There are aspects of his version of events which don't really add up.'

In his new documentary, Louis Theroux follows the case of Saif Khan (left) for six months, a former Yale student who was suspended after an accusation of rape, despite being found not guilty by a criminal court

Passed in 1972, Title IX is a federal law that originally barred sex discrimination in education, but which has in more recent years been applied to investigating accusations of rape and sexual assault.

Louis followed Saif's story for six months during which he was banned from campus, while special administrators employed to independently investigate sexual assault allegations at Yale looked into his case.

At the beginning of the documentary Saif, who was still under investigation from Yale, cries when Louis asks him about how the allegation had changed his life.

He says: 'I get woken up by her slapping me, saying "We shouldnt have had sex", at 5pm a text message saying, "You're a piece of s***", a few days later she accused me of rape.

Louis explores Title IX law a federal law, passed as part of the Education Amendments in 1972, which originally prevented sex discrimination at educational establishments

What is Title IX law law? Title IX is a federal civil rights law, passed as part of the Education Amendments in 1972. It was originally designed to prevent sex discrimination 'under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance'. In April 2011, the Office of Civil Rights sent a 19-page document that became known as the Dear Colleague letter to colleges and universities with new guidelines on how to apply the law. It stated that 'when a student has experienced a hostile environment such sexual assault or severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive sexual harassment, schools must stop the discrimination, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects.' The last few years have seen universities across America, including Yale, employ specialist administrators to carry out investigations into alleged sexual misconduct under the Title Nine law, with those found responsible facing suspension from the university. Even if the accused is found not guilty in a criminal court the university can still investigate them under the law. Most use a lower standard of proof than criminal courts, which require a defendant to be proven guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt'. Universities mostly use a 'preponderance of evidence', meaning that they can decided someone is guilty if there's a great than 50 per cent likelihood that they committed the crime. But the law has been criticized by many, as some of the accused are now using the same law to sue the universities for discrimination and winning big payouts. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is currently revising Obama-era guidance on campus sexual assault, which officials say is unfairly skewed against those accused of assault and goes beyond the intended scope of Title IX. Advertisement

'I was suspended and had 30 minutes to leave the campus. And I was thinking "Wow this is huge?" It's rape. I've lost a lot.'

Asking him about the night in question, Louis says: 'Her version of the account is that she woke up from being drunk and youd had sex with her. She found two used condoms on the floor.'

Denying the account, Saif says he didn't think the girl was drunk and believed she had consented to sex. But he does admit that she vomited while performing oral sex.

Saif claims she then passed out on the bed for two hours, while he phoned his then- girlfriend.

Trying to look at the bigger picture, Louis meets a former friend of Saif's - Johnathan Andrews.

Louis Theroux: The Night in Question airs on BBC 2 on Monday and explores Saif Khan's (left) story. After investigating his case, Yale expelled him permanently when special investigators decided he had assaulted a fellow student

They had volunteered together at Face, a group for students who say they have been wrongly been accused of sexual misconduct.

Johnathan was the man who had originally put Louis in touch with Saif. But he says that their friendship has since become strained, accusing Saif of asking him to spy on the the woman who accused him.

'He gave me her Snapchat details and wanted me to spy on her. He wanted me to record her video without her knowledge,' he alleges.

Johnathan Andrews also admitted that he and Saif went on to have a threesome with a woman, declaring it was an uncomfortable experience, where Saif was sexually forceful with him.

Saif denies these allegations when Louis confronted him and the rest of the documentary explores his investigation with the university board.

Saif's lawyer tells Louis: 'I don't know what accounts for this moral hysteria, but Yale is in the grips of it. I think their procedures are a joke.'

In January 2019, after filming ended, Yale Daily News reported that Saif had been permanently expelled after the university concluded he was guilty - despite the never being convicted.

Trying to look at the bigger picture Louis also went on to meet an ex friend of Saif's - Johnathan Andrews

Meanwhile, other men accused of sexual assault, are fighting back by suing the universities.

Louis meets William Norris, a former student at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who in 2016 was accused of sexual misconduct by a friend. He was found not guilty in court, but one of the Title IX investigations did find him guilty.

'I was suspended for 18 months and could apply to go back, but I would have to admit wrong doing and attend a counselling session,' he says. 'It wasn't something I was prepared to do as I don't think I did anything wrong.'

Within the documentary Louis also talks to women, including Molly, who have been sexually assaulted while at university and feel as though the the Title IX law made them feel more secure.

Louis Theroux: The Night in Question airs on BBC 2, at 9pm on Monday
A model and dancer who was involved in a freak fire-breathing accident which left her scarred for life has starred in her first modelling campaign since the terrifying ordeal.

Fire-breather Sophie Lee, 23, from Manchester, was on stage at a charity event in Chicago when the life-changing incident took place on April Fool's Day in 2018.

The influencer, who has 39.6k followers on Instagram, features in the new and powerful 'eliminate girl hate' campaign launched by footwear brand EGO in time for International Women's Day on 8 March.

She appears alongside Lala Andrew - both of whom have experienced hate online due to physical or mental health issues.

'I have been a victim of both online and offline trolling, from girls in particular, and it has had a real impact on my confidence,' Sophie told Femail.

'Since my accident, I've finally accepted myself and it's made me look at the bigger picture. I want to use my social media platforms to inspire young girls not bring them down.'

Fire-breather Sophie Lee, 23, from Manchester, was involved in a freak fire dancing accident which left her with scarring for life

Almost one year on, she has plucked up the courage to star in her first modelling campaign to help eradicate online bullying

Describing the moment she realised she was on fire, Sophie said: 'As I blew it out, I opened my eyes and saw fire everywhere. It was must have been from a blow back of wind. It was a freak accident'

The influencer features in the new and powerful 'eliminate girl hate' campaign (above) launched by footwear brand EGO in time for International Women's Day on 8th March

She added: 'I firmly believe that beauty is skin deep and I hope that this campaign propels a positive movement amongst young people.'

Following the horrifying incident and after suffering facial burns, Sophie was devastated when she started to receive hate online.

'I've received lots of comments like, "if you play with fire what do you expect?" or "you deserve to get burnt" she revealed. 'Others have messaged saying "what happened to her face?"'

'Mostly I ignore it. Trolls want me to send hate back and show a horrible side to me but I'm not like that. They're trying to push my buttons and make me down about things that should be an insecurity of mine, when they're actually not.'

Before the accident (above) Sophie thought she had achieved everything she'd always wanted. Only after did she really appreciate the life she had

Sophie was in hospital for just under a month and during that time, was too traumatised to look in the mirror

Not wanting her body to go through any more trauma, Sophie turned down a skin graft and instead opted for a strong cream which helped her scars to heel

Sophie stars alongside Lala Andrew in the new and powerful campaign. Both have experienced girl hate online due to physical and mental issues

After going through such a traumatic event, Sophie explained that she no longer experiences 'pain' as she's been through it all.' Above, the model pictured following the freak fire accident

Back in April, Sophie was on stage and about to reach the finale of her fire-breathing performance when she realised something was drastically wrong.

'Obviously fire to me was second nature,' she explained. 'In anything you do there's always a risk but you never think it's going to change your life.'

'I was confident I was ready but as I breathed the fire out and opened my eyes, there was fire everywhere. It must have been from a blow back of wind. It was a freak accident.'

But it was only after running off stage that she realised the fire was spreading over her body - and fast.

Sophie revealed that her keloid scar (pictured) is 'really painful' as the veins inside feel like constant 'sharp stabbing pains'

Following her first photo shoot since the freak accident, Sophie said she felt 'liberated' and empowered

'I ran backstage got a damp towel and put the fire out but I didn't realise the extent of my burns,' she explained. 'I was probably on fire for a good minute. I went straight to intensive care.'

The influencer has joined the campaign in the hope of helping others realise that beauty is 'skin' deep. She even got the message tattooed on her finger (above)

In total, Sophie was in hospital for just under a month and during that time, was too traumatised to look in the mirror.

'I was so distraught and I thought it was the end of my career,' she said.

'I thought it was the end of everything I'd worked for and wanted to achieve.'

'All of a sudden everything came crashing down. The doctors told I was extremely lucky to be alive.'

Not wanting to put her body through any more trauma, Sophie declined the offer of a skin graft.

'I was so swollen I couldn't see or breathe so I had to wait until my body was strong enough to do that before doctors could access what procedures I could have,' she explained.

'Initially they wanted to do skin grafts but as it would be causing another injury to my body, I didn't want to go through that again. So I opted for a strong cream which helped my skin to heal.'

Sophie has received cruel comments online from people saying that due to her choice of career, she 'deserved' to get burnt

Almost a year on, Sophie has revealed she now has a different outlook on life. She said: 'It's made me rethink the way I want to live and be the person I want to be. I don't want to be a person that's besotted by myself. I want to be a person that can help people'

While it seemed to heel her injuries at first, by July, the former fire breather had started to develop raised lumps on her face which turned out to be keloid scars - a form of benign tumour.

Being part of this campaign isnt to be accepted by girls and society as a whole, its to promote kindness to others and to highlight the negative affect that hate online can cause people La La Andrews

'It's really painful,' she explained. 'The veins inside the scar are like sharp stabbing pains. I'm due to have surgery soon that will eventually freeze it off.'

Now, it's been almost a a year since that near-fatal day.

Despite rejecting various modelling offers since, Sophie plucked up the courage to star in the EGO campaign as the message meant so much to her.

The campaign aims to be supportive of each other and eliminate girl hate using a unified hashtag #eGOGIRL.

Describing getting behind the camera for the first time since as a daunting experience, she said:

'I had three hours sleep. It gave me such anxiety. I was really nervous because it's the first time I've shown me at every angle.'

'But after seeing the photos, I felt so empowered and liberated. It makes me truly feel like I've found myself as a woman.'

Pictured, Sophie starred in the campaign alongside La La - whose story she said has inspired her. 'When La La told me her story I thought she was amazed,' she revealed. 'I want people to know that you can go through anything in life and it's not about what happened to you, it's about how you come out from that'

The brave women are starring the campaign to help Ego on their mission to be supportive of each other and eliminate girl hate using a unified hashtag #eGOGIRL

She continued: 'In this day and age suicide rates are going up, depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia is going up because we judge ourselves on another lifestyle that's not ours.

'We should just be thankful for ourselves and everything we do have. The campaign is a great message and I'm so proud and honoured to be a part of this for International Women's Day.'

And despite what she has gone through, Sophie is also inspired by La La, who joined her on the inspiring shoot.

What are keloid scars? - When the skin is broken the body produces more of a protein called collagen - Collagen gathers around damaged skin and builds up to help the wound seal over - The resulting scar usually fades over time, becoming smoother and less noticeable - But some scars don't stop growing, invading healthy skin and becoming bigger than the original wound, which are known as keloid scars - They affect around 10-15% of all wounds and are more common on the upper chest, shoulders, head and neck - They can last for years, and sometimes don't form until months or years after the initial injury - Some can cause pain, tenderness, itchiness, a burning feeling or limited movement if located on a joint Resource: NHS Advertisement

'People have always asked me how I get through it but when it comes to other people who have experienced trauma I think the same about them,' she said.

'When La La told me her story I thought she was amazing. I want people to know that you can go through anything in life and it's not about what happened to you, it's about how you come out from that.'

'You can still go out there and achieve anything you want to achieve. Now, nothing will ever faze me.'

She added: 'It's made me rethink the way I want to live and be the person I want to be. I don't want to be someone that's besotted by myself. I want to be a person that can help people. If it means putting myself out there then that's what I'm going to do.'
A mother whose baby daughter was tragically stillborn has shared a heartbreaking picture on the day she would have started school.

Joelle Skinner, from Queensland, was 41 weeks pregnant with her little girl Zayli in December 2013 when she was told the baby no longer had a heartbeat.

The mother-of-six took a poignant photograph to pay a touching tribute to her late daughter on what should have been her first day of kindergarten.

The group snapshot shows her four children - Isi, 13, Eden, 11, Jyrah 10 and seven-year-old Amali, all dressed up in uniform, standing next to a hat - which is where Zayli would have been standing as a five-year-old schoolgirl if she'd survived.

Mother Joelle Skinner shared a picture of her children (from left to right: Isi, 13, Eden, 11, Jyrah 10 and seven-year-old Amali) standing next to a hat - on what should have been the first day of school for her late daughter Zayli who died in the womb at 41 weeks in December 2013

The family spending their final moments with Zayli in hospital in December 2013. From left to right: Jyrah, husband Ben, Eden, Joelle with Zayli, rainbow son Kylan, now three, and Isi

Little Zayli tragically died in the womb, leaving her mother with a few moments to build memories of her in candid photographs

'I knew this day would come, I've been dreading it for the last five years,' the 37-year-old mother told Daily Mail Australia.

'On the day, I just got on with making lunches, brushing hair, doing what I needed to do to get them off to school.

'I dropped off the other kids for their first day. I tried not to look, but I saw them, the little preppies and their anxious parents all ready for their first day. And Zayli wasn't there where she should be.'

The grieving mother said she has been able to find solace by sharing her words via her Facebook page Jedi Mum Tricks.

'Posting how I've been feeling has been very therapeutic for me ever since Zayli died. It helps me so much to get those circling thoughts out of my head,' she said.

'And I've been told quite often that my posts have helped others process their own grief and give them permission to talk about it too.

'I keep busy making lots of toys and DIYs for my business Jedi Mum Tricks. It keeps my mind off the overwhelming weight of grief. But it's still there, it's always there.'

In December 2013, the mother was rushed to hospital where she was told her unborn baby daughter had suffered SIDS - a sudden infant death syndrome.

She gave birth to her stillborn daughter Zayli.

'I was 41 weeks pregnant when I went into labour after a healthy pregnancy. There was no indication of anything being wrong with Zayli ever,' she recalled to Daily Mail Australia.

After giving birth to her stillborn baby Zayli, the family spent some final moments with her

Last Christmas Day, the grieving family got together at the cemetery in honour of little Zayli

'Until we arrived at the hospital and they couldn't find her heartbeat. We were never given any answers, only that it was like prenatal SIDS, just an unexplained death.

'It was like the ground was removed from beneath me and I began free falling, I still feel like I'm in free fall now. Nothing will ever be the same.

'Our world fell apart.'

As the school term returned on January 29, the mother said she wanted to take a snapshot of her children standing next to a hat in memory of little Zayli.

'I knew I needed to include her somehow. It was such a milestone first day and it would just be wrong to not have her part of it,' she said.

'We happened to have a spare hat the kids took home by mistake last year, so I just grabbed it and placed it where she would have been standing.

'The kids had no idea what I was doing and then when I told them, they loved the idea. It was perfect, she is part of our life.'

Ms Skinner's children and her rainbow daughter posing for a picture - as they 'unintentionally' left a space for Zayli, 'right where she would have stood'

'Before our world fell apart': The family took maternity portraits during Ms Skinner's pregnancy with Zayli in late 2013

For any parent going through the same grief, Ms Skinner said: 'Don't expect to ever get over it'

She shared her powerful words online, urging parents who took their kids to school on the first day to 'appreciate what you have, hold onto them that little bit tighter'.

'And to all the little preppies starting school, I wish you well, I hope you love your teachers and find some wonderful friends,' she wrote.

'Signed, grieving Mumma of the most beautiful preppie who will be missing from your class.'

For any parent going through the same grief, Ms Skinner told Daily Mail Australia: 'Don't expect to ever "get over it".

'Grief is a lifelong journey, a scar in our hearts, a limp we walk with, it is the price of love. Other people will expect you to move on, don't listen to them, carry your baby close always,' she said.

'I love my baby girl Zayli with all my heart and will speak of her whenever I get the chance.'
Women have an intense relationship with their handbag, observes designer Emma Hill.

When we were young, we never went in our mums handbag  something Im trying to teach my 12-year-old son  because it was a sacred place. You can tell a womans story in bags, from dancing round them as a teenager, to buying your first job bag.

Hill, 49, was christened Emma because her artist mother wanted a daughter who could kick ass, like Emma Peel from The Avengers.

And shes certainly shown flair. She spent six years as creative director of Mulberry, designing their It bags (most famously the 750 slouchy leather Alexa satchel in honour of model Alexa Chung) and their ready-to-wear lines.

Emma Hill, 49, (pictured) who was awarded a CBE during her time as creative director of Mulberry revealed the inspiration behind her brand Hill & Friends

With Hill at the helm, Mulberry, previously best known for its briefcases and wallets, evolved into a global fashion powerhouse. She introduced catwalk shows after launching their clothing line, realising that without a show its hard for an accessories brand to gain international recognition.

In 2012 she was awarded a CBE. So it caused a sensation when she quit Mulberry a year later, apparently unhappy with the direction of the brand.

But you cant keep Emma down. Three years ago, she co-founded her own accessories company, Hill & Friends, now stocked at Harvey Nichols, Fortnum & Mason and Fenwick.

Designs are classic shapes for grown-up girls. Made of calf leather, goatskin, suede and calf hair, theyre heirlooms, albeit ones that come in leopard print or candy store colours with fun detailing, including a fastening that looks like a smiley face. To lock the bag you wink an eye.

Hills mantra is affordable luxury. Having also worked at Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Chloe and Gap in the past, she can design for varied price points.

You need to have a brand DNA. No matter whether its $29 or $2,000. At Gap we made one of the companys best-selling bags ever, the Trench Bag. It was $29. It was the anti-It bag that became the It bag, she laughs.

She understands the sweet spot  creating handmade bags for around 300, aimed at working women. With slouchy totes for 395 and shoppers for 295, she gives mass-produced bags at rivals such as Michael Kors and Kate Spade a run for their money.

Of course, she knows affordable is a relative term. No one really needs another handbag, she cheerfully admits. Its my job to create things people just really want.

Emma (pictured at Mulberry's 40th Birthday in 2011) co-founded Hill & Friends with former Mulberry colleague Georgia Fendley

At her office, in a black blazer and heels, she exudes glamour, but as soon as she gets a new bag, she says, she likes to roll it in the dirt. I dont want things to be too precious. Ill take my leather bag to the beach. I like the fact its got a splodge of sunscreen on it to remind me of the holiday.

Her gold script necklace spells Hudson for her son. A single parent from soon after he was born, shes about to dash from the office to watch his swimming gala.

Inevitably there was industry speculation when she quit Mulberry in 2013. Many believe Hills vision of more affordable luxury clashed with the direction wanted by Mulberrys then-chief executive Bruno Guillon.

Today Hill calls her departure from Mulberry a divorce. But the upside was she could spend quality time with her son. Id never taken any time off. I went back to work when he was six weeks old.

She had job offers. But she and Georgia Fendley, her former colleague at Mulberry, decided to start their own label. Hill brings creative buzz, while Fendley is the branding and communications expert. Were a female-founded brand and were a brand for women.

Its important to Emma that their sourcing is ethical  leathers used are byproducts of the meat industry and they plan to produce all their bags in the UK. She thinks the great handbag designers are women because they actually carry them. So her bags are practical, with room for phone, keys, make-up.

Emma (pictured in 2012) who lives in West London, revealed it's been a privilege to earn her living doing something she loves

The mini camera bag has a slide pocket on the outside for your travel card, though she jokes that millennials carry a lot less  and no cash.

Emma is Welsh but grew up in Kingston, Surrey. Her mother was a ceramicist, her father a maths teacher. The house was full of art and pots and books.

All I wanted was Mr Kiplings Fondant Fancies and Angel Delight. But we always had slightly wonky bread.

All credit to Mr Kipling: you can see where she gets her neon colour schemes of pink and yellow.

Today she lives with Hudson in a Victorian townhouse in West London, where the decor reflects her cheerful eclectic style. The front door is neon pink with googly eyes.

Fifty this year, shes a believer in attitude not age and says her secret to business success is not to look at the figures too much.

Yes, there are fewer taxis and smaller expense accounts these days, as she grows the brand, but shes not complaining.

My teacher dad adored his job, never had a day off sick and always said: Just find something that you love. He never wanted me to rely on a man for money. Its been such privilege to earn my living doing something I completely love.

And with that attitude, success is surely in the bag.

EMMA HILLS IT BAGS

hillandfriends.com
Dont know about you, but the news that beige is what we should be wearing has not lifted my spirits. Dress it up any way you like  beige, camel, honey  its a shade that works best if you are super polished, shiny-haired and caramel all over.

Melania Trump can pull off beige, but for the rest of us, its a tough call. Cream, on the other hand, is a different matter.

You may have noticed pictures of fashion editors at the recent shows  the chicest among them were wearing a splash of cream. Some were wearing lots of it in subtly different shades (a vanilla shearling coat, over a cream jacket, plus bone white jeans) that looked good, if high maintenance.

But it was the one big hit of cream, roughly a third of your outfit, that stood out. A cream midi skirt with a black jacket and snakeprint boots.

Shane Watson took inspiration from actress Naomi Watts (pictured wearing Armani) for this season's cream trend

A cream coat, with dark denim jeans. Cream straight trousers, worn with a toffee-coloured suede jacket over a cream polo-neck.

Chic is probably the most overused word in the fashion dictionary, but it is the only way to describe this one-third cream look.

This is the time of year when cream punches way above its weight. From March to May, cream looks fresh, smart and unexpected. Its chicer than white, easier to wear than pastels and its the colour that goes naturally with navy or black, or even beige, and gives them instant spring attitude.

Its like turning on a bright light. Make one third of your outfit creamy tailoring and youve moved everything on instantly.

Swap your navy padded coat for a cream double-breasted coat  Mangos double breasted short coat (99.99, mango.com) would be a good choice, or Monkis faux cream shearling (reduced to 50, monki.com), or the Leora belted trench (reduced to 179, damselinadress.co.uk)  and youre looking like youve been to a health farm, and had a head of highlights.

Or put away your black corduroy trousers and try cream cord (69, stories.com) or Uniqlos cigarette high-rise jeans (24.90, uniqlo.com) with your leopard print teddybear coat; thats already a different, lighter brighter look. Its a myth that cream trousers are unflattering  they arent if theyre cut well.

Cream: The new rules The right shade of cream is crucial. You dont want buttery cream or magnolia  bone is a good compromise.

Make a third of your outfit cream, or even two thirds.

A cream funnel neck sweater cools prints and smartens jeans.

Cream livens up black and goes particularly well with snakeprint. Advertisement

Still, Im tempted to get a cream midi skirt instead of trousers, because its what cool women are wearing in Copenhagen. Its also my hunch that the high-waisted, slightly flared cream midi will be the denim skirt of summer.

Mind you, a cream satin biascut midi skirt (129, winserlondon.com), worn with black knee boots and a dark blazer looks surprisingly like the answer to smart casual evenings, before it gets warmer. Cream acts as a cooler for prints: put a longline cream sweater (39, topshop.com) with your animal print skirt and its suddenly perfect for lunch with the in-laws, as well as an instant luxer-upper.

A couple of cream things worn together  a jacket or coat over a funnel neck jumper  with blue jeans and white trainers is the uptown girls favourite look of the moment.

If youre still not ready for cream, trust us you will be. At the Autumn 2019 show for Max Mara, a brand known for its camel coats, models took to the catwalk wearing head-to-toe cream (including boots) topped off with a giant shaved shearling cream coat.

Last, but not least, a word about keeping cream clean. Sit on your bag-for-life on the bus. Dont rest your elbows on the sticky cafe table. Take it off before you make the bolognese. Its worth it.
ISTANBUL - James Jeffrey, the US special representative for Syria engagement and special envoy for the global coalition to defeat ISIL, is in Ankara on Monday with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Palmer for talks with Turkish authorities through Wednesday on cooperation in Syria.

At the centre of the talks is the US troop withdrawal from northern Syria, where Ankara would like to create a buffer zone under its control; as well as the situation of the strategic centre of Manbij, where the Turkish government wants to completely drive out Kurdish YPG militants.

Also on the agenda is the Turkish government's purchase of a 2.5-million-dollar Russian S-400 missile defence system, which the US strongly opposes.

The US offered to sell Turkey a Patriot missile defence system instead.

Turkey has expressed interest but has repeatedly rejected the condition of blocking the purchase of the S-400, according to local diplomatic sources.
An Australian mother has created a 17-rule contract for her teenage son before allowing him to use a mobile phone.

Mel Watts, shared the agreement to her blog The Modern Mumma last month and said it allows her to monitor what Ayden, 12, is doing.

Rules include handing over the phone before bed, not messaging before 7.30am, and paying for any costs if the device is broken or lost.

Mel told FEMAIL on Monday that her son has 'taken the phone contract with full responsibility' and has had his phone taken off him in the past.

'Calls from parents must be answered and passwords accessible at all times': Australian mummy blogger Mel Watts [left] created a 17-rule contract for her son Ayden [right], 12, before allowing him to use a mobile phone

The contract, signed by all parties, features 17 rules that must be followed or the phone will be taken away.

How can you monitor your child's phone use? * Trust your gut - search the phone if you feel your child is hiding something * Ensure you're allowed to access their social media pages * If passwords are changed, ask for the password, or take the phone away Source: The Modern Mumma Advertisement

'By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you understand at any point, you can and will have this phone removed from your hands and reassessment may be done regarding the rules and conditions,' the contract states.

Rules include replacing or fixing the phone at your own cost, should it be broken or lost.

Calls from parents must always be answered, and if they can't, a text message must be sent.

Brood: Mel told FEMAIL on Monday that Ayden has taken the contract with full responsibility. Ayden is pictured with siblings Ivie [top right], six, Indie [below left], three, and Sonny [below right], one

Guidelines: Rules include replacing or fixing the phone at your own cost, should it be broken or lost, and not taking photos or videos of people without their permission

Phones must be handed over to parents before bed, and no text messages can be sent before 7.30am.

Photos and videos taken of other people are only to be done with the person's permission.

If a password has been changed, parents must be notified or the phone will be taken away.

The contract can be amended when Ayden turns 15 in three years time.

The contract states: 'By agreeing to these terms and conditions, you understand at any point, you can and will have this phone removed from your hands and reassessment may be done regarding the rules and conditions.' Pictured: Mel's son Ayden

Mel told FEMAIL on Monday that Ayden has taken the contract with 'full responsibility'.

'He knows this is the only way he is able to have a phone at this stage,' she said. 'He obviously wanted to alter things [on the contract] and we did talk to him about it all in full depth.'

Mel, who is also a mother to daughters Ivie, 6, Indie, 3, and son Sonny, 1, said that mothers have approached her for tips on creating a phone contract.

'Lots have asked for the phone contract and have used it,' she said. 'I created the document to be available on my blog so people could download it and alter it to suit themselves and their situations.'

Mel admitted that while reactions are mostly positive, she has received some backlash.

'I've had some backlash about it invading his privacy, but to me at his age, he doesn't require any social media privacy,' she said.

'We give our children these massive responsibilities such as having a phone with zero instructions on what's required, what's expected and how to use it properly.'

'Privacy for such things is earned, so is trust. A child having the world at their fingertips is scary,' Mel added. 'The things they see and hear can't be stopped unless you put boundaries in place. Sure he's not a little kid, but he's also not an adult.'
It has always been a desirable address, but the leafy north London neighbourhood of St John's Wood has recently seen a flurry of activity as the mega rich rush to snap up luxurious multi-million pound mansions.

Like many parts of the capital, the area has seen the benefit of a weak pound amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty, with foreign investors, led by the Chinese, seeking to capitalise on relatively affordable real estate.

But there is one tree-lined street in particular that has generated a greater buying buzz than others in recent months, leading estate agents to dub it one of the city's 'most desirable destinations'.

Avenue Road boasts the same access to transport links and local amenities as other nearby streets, but has manged to escape the traffic congestion that makes some, such as Bishops Avenue and Winnington Road, less desirable.

More crucially, however, Avenue Road is one of the few thoroughfare's in the area where elite buyers can still purchase substantial plots of land - up to an acre - that are big enough to accommodate the 'trophy homes' they so desire.

It means even relatively 'small' and outdated properties on Avenue Road are seen as premium purchases, as buyers are often able to knock them down to make room for even bigger - and more valuable - homes in their place.

70million: This newly built 25,000sq ft mansion on Avenue Road, St John's Wood is on the market for 70million. It is an example of the luxury properties attracting mega wealthy buyers

13.95million: Local estate agent Aston Chase recently sold this 5,216sq ft 1950s house for 'close to the asking price' of 13.95million. However it will soon be demolished and replaced by a new property, which could be worth as much as 35million once complete

'It gives buyers "a lot of bang for their buck",' explained Mark Pollark, founder of local estate agents Aston Chase.

The issue is compounded as the stock of mansions on nearby roads has also been diluted by property developers who have replaced them with high-end apartments.

Aston Chase recently sold a 5,216sq ft 1950s mansion for 'close to the asking price' of 13.95million but noted it will soon be demolished and replaced by a new property, which could be worth as much as 35million once complete.

For those looking to pick up their own property on the street, there is also a 25,000sq ft Romanesque mansion currently for sale for 70 million, and another just a stone's throw away that is on the market for 25million.

'The current building boom has transformed Avenue Road and elevated the profile of the address as arguably one of Londons most desirable destinations,' Mr Pollack explained.

28.5million: This stunning red brick home on Avenue Road was recently sold for 28.5million. A local agent noted every property is available to buy 'for the right price'

22 million: This impressive three-storey home on Avenue Road recently sold for 22million

'In addition to properties officially for sale, others are often available on an "off market" basis since many of the owners see their homes on Avenue Road as a tradeable asset, meaning that virtually every house is for sale at the right price, reflecting the entrepreneurial spirit of the owners.'

Buyers are also getting a relative bargain with their St John's Wood properties, The Times reports.

In Knighstbridge, you will pay 5,000 to 7,000 per sq ft, while in St John's Wood costs are roughly halved at 2,5000 to 3,500 per sq ft.

Tree-lined Avenue Road was originally built by landowner Henry Samuel Eyre in the 1820s.

22million: This seven-bedroom mansion, built on the site of a previously demolished house, recently sold for 22 million. It is another example of the stunning properties on Avenue Road

The original houses were members of the local gentry and successful self-made people including writer James Bickingham, the landscape painter William Collins and Herbert Spencer the philosopher.

During the 1950s many of the five storey Victorian houses were demolished to make way for large post-war, low rise, 'Hampstead style' residences.

As values have been aligned to square footage these in turn have been replaced by capacious mansions with multiple levels below ground providing every amenity imaginable including spas, private movie screening rooms, wine tasting rooms, sushi bars and sunken garages able to accommodate up to 20 cars.

Aston Chase reports that most of the properties are being sold to families from Britain, the Middle East, India, China or southeast Asia.

25million: This 6,000sq ft house on a 0.41 acre site on Avenue Road is on the market for 25million. However there is potential to create a substantially larger residence on the plot subject to planning consent

'Pent-up demand together with a weak pound and the perception that the market has bottomed out, appear to have lit the touch paper for ultra-high-net-worth dollar based buyers,' Mr Pollack, continued.

'In many cases buyers have been monitoring these opportunities and the London market for some time and have finally swooped.'

He noted discerning buyers are drawn to Avenue Road in particular because of its proximity to Regent's Park, Primrose Hill and St John's Wood High Street.

The area has long been a hotspot for the mega wealthy, with the benefits of fine dining and leading independent schools like the American School.

It also boasts excellent transport links to central London.
Delighted fans have declared Monday 'Fleabag day' as the cult drama written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge returns to screens after almost three years.

The dark comedy's second series debuts on BBC One tonight but is already available on BBC Three, meaning fans desperate for a sneak peek can watch it now.

The series follows Fleabag, a struggling millennial who runs a failing guinea pig cafe, rows constantly with her family and jumps from one dysfunctional relationship to the next.

Its maiden series, starring Olivia Colman as Fleabag's passive-aggressive stepmother, scooped three BAFTA nominations (of which Waller-Bridge won Best Female Performance) with critics hailing it as a 'scathingly funny' portrayal of life as a single woman.

Fleabag finds God: Phoebe Waller-Bridge's character strikes up an unlikely friendship with a priest in series two. The dark comedy's second series debuts on BBC One tonight

'Happy Fleabag day to us all!' Fans have declared Monday 'Fleabag day' as the cult drama written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge returns to screens after almost three years

The final episode of season one, which aired in August 2016, ended with Fleabag, still haunted by the suicide of her best friend, falling out with her sister whose husband had made a pass at her.

The new season will see Fleabag, whose real name is not revealed, turning her back on booze in favour of a healthy lifestyle and turning to religion as she attempts to navigate the highs and lows of adulthood.

Speaking about her character, Waller-Bridge, 33, told BBC News: 'She's really been trying hard to eat avocados and go jogging and live a good, quiet life.

'There's still something inside of her that's roaring and a great sadness as well. She's been rejected by everybody who loves her, so she's deeply lonely.'

She added: 'Sexual candour is how Fleabag controls her environment and conversations. It's a very empowering way to distract from her inner pain.'

A dinner scene in Fleabag series two. The 'deeply lonely' titular character, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge appeared to have destroyed relationships with those closest to her in series one

Sian Clifford as Fleabag's sister Claire, left, will return to screens for series two where fans will finally find out whether the pair were able to repair their fraught relationship

The series stars Olivia Colman as Fleabag's passive-aggressive godmother/ stepmother. Colman recently scooped a Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Favourite

Episode one of the latest series will see Fleabag strike up a friendship with a priest (Andrew Scott) who encourages her to reconsider her bleak outlook on life.

Explaining how season two came to fruition, Waller-Bridge said: 'I was really convinced I wasn't going to do a second series and felt I had a lot of artistic integrity in saying that.

'But a couple of ideas popped into my head that I got excited by and I thought, 'oh, go on then.

'The real bedrock of it was tied up with the idea of religion. I was starting to write jokes about perspectives on the Christian faith and Catholicism, and that bled into the show.

Excitement: Fans struggled to contain their enthusiasm as Fleabag returned to BBC Three on Monday morning. But most will have to wait until it is screened on BBC One later tonight

'Once Andrew said yes, the story really started to take over in my imagination. I liked the idea of Fleabag meeting her match in someone with the same intelligence and wit she has who leads a completely different life.'

It will see the return of Oscar winner Colman, Sian Clifford as Fleabag's sister Claire and Bill Paterson as their father.

New additions to the cast include Kristin Scott Thomas and Fiona Shaw, who also stars in Waller Bridge's hit crime thriller Killing Eve.

Fleabag series two airs on BBC One at 22:35 and is available on BBC Three now
From drinking milk out of the carton to kicking your ex out of your Netflix account, 2019 is awash with perplexing dilemmas for the millennial age.

Luckily, help is at hand thanks to straight-talking etiquette expert William Hanson, who is tackling these burning issues in his podcast, Help I Sexted My Boss, along with co-host and BBC Radio 1 presenter Jordan North.

Now approaching its third series, the show sees the duo answer listeners' questions on everything from minding your manners to texting on the toilet.

Here, the pair reveal some of the modern-day dilemmas they've helped solve along the way - and their very frank responses.

Etiquette expert William Hanson, right, is tackling modern-day etiquette in his podcast, Help I Sexted My Boss, along with co-host Jordan North. The show returns this week for series 3

How and when do you kick your ex off your Netflix account?

Jordan says: 'Netflix isnt cheap these days so Id say do it before you end the relationship; this way you wont forget about it post break up.

'Imagine knowing that your ex had two months free membership courtesy of you, and even worse you might have lost where you were up to on your favourite series.'

William says: 'I am sorry - you cannot kick them off before you actually have "the conversation". That is a huge giveaway as to what is about to happen.

'Give it a few days and then change the password. Get the pain and heartbreak over and done with - dont drag it out.'

Can you read a strangers dirty messages over their shoulder on a train?

William: 'Of course you cannot. That is visual eavesdropping and the straining can play havoc with your eyes. But it happens. I have a screen protector that has a privacy film built for just that reason not that Id ever send a dirty message, mind you.'

Jordan says: 'Absolutely! Ive done this a few times, commuting can be very dull. Once on the bus I spotted a lady who was really going for it on the old sexting front.

'I wont go into too much detail but "Mick" was in for a right treat when he got home. The safe word was a capella. That will always stick with me.'

Is it now socially acceptable to have sex on TV?

Jordan: 'Personally, I would never do it but go for it, its 2019. To be fair its a novelty these days to not see someone bonking on the telly. Theres even a dating show now on Channel 4 where people meet naked!

'I think things have become more acceptable since the "Kinga wine bottle" incident on Big Brother back in 2005 - nothing will ever be as grotesque as that.'

William: 'If you have absolutely no social or professional prospects or aspirations (or wish to never have any) then I guess its any port in a storm.'

William with his podcast co-host Jordan, left. Now approaching its third series, their show sees the duo answer questions on everything from minding your manners to texting on the toilet

Can you phone your partner from the bathroom?

William: 'How common. Bathrooms should be seen and not heard.'

Jordan:'What a stupid question, of course you can. I do most of my emails, texts, and personal phone calls on the bog. Two birds one stone. I wash my hands after though, I wasnt dragged up.'

How do I stop my flatmate from drinking from the carton?

Jordan says: 'I am that flatmate. Its the thrill: the buzz you get from having a cheeky swig from the milk cartoon in hope that no one catches you in the act is second to none.'

William says: 'This is why I am great believer in decanting the milk into a lovely Royal Crown Derby jug. Quality china always detracts feral flatmates.'

How can you tell your neighbours to stop using your parking space?

Jordan: 'Simple, bang on their door and tell them to stop being such a cheeky so-and-so. Go round to their house in your grey joggers (leggings for ladies) and flip flops just to add flair.

'Theres nothing that says "Im willing to fight you for this" than being on the front street in your lounge wear.'

William says: 'What chaos the suburbs clearly are. Civil confrontation is the best. Face to face, like Jordan suggests, but without the tacky athlesiurewear - and with more of a smile.

'Simply point out that you think there must have been an oversight and that the space is actually yours. Kill them with kindness.'

Can you post a photo of you looking good if your friend looks like Shrek with a hangover?

William: 'Always get permission from anyone in a photo before you post it.'

Jordan: 'If youre one of those people who has a face like a melted welly then you need to make the most of a good pic.

'We live in a world where social media is everything and a selfie where you look absolutely banging can sometimes be rare so use it dont lose it.'

Jordan, left, and William are preparing for a series of live shows. Here, the pair reveal some of the modern-day dilemmas they've encountered along the way - and their frank responses

How long can you stay in a coffee shop when youve only bought one bottle of water?

Jordan says: 'Half an hour max, you tight-wad. If you plan on staying there most of the day to finish that novel on your MacBook (eye roll) then buy a refreshment every hour or so.'

William says: 'For each item bought you have 20 minutes to sit and enjoy the table. In very busy periods, 10 minutes per item.'

How often should you wash your gym kit?

Jordan: 'I should really say every time you use it, but Ive been known to reuse my gym kit. For t-tops Id say only once or twice, any more than that and Id spray it with deodorant (or Febreeze spray, if youre doing well in life).'

William: 'If you wear it once, wash it.'

I live next door to a cougar. What should I do to make sure she doesnt get the wrong idea?

Jordan: 'Tell her straight: Look Karen, your son was in the same year as me at school, out of respect for him, and your husband, (who happens to be one of the hardest blokes in Burnley), we will definitely not be going there. Job Done. Completely hypothetical advice, of course.'

William: 'Mincing up and down the road in a pair of peep-toe slingbacks ought to do the trick.'

Series 3 of Help I Sexted My Boss starts Tuesday 5 March. For more information, or to buy tickets to the live shows in London and Manchester, visit sextedmyboss.com
Well-wishers and staff lined the street and one even threw her arms around him

He almost jumped when baby James Chalmer, five weeks, let out a cry

Prince Harry arrived at Birminghams Queen Elizabeth Hospital today - and seemed a little 'nervous' when he came face-to-face with a crying baby.

The Duke of Sussex, 34, visited The Institute of Translational Medicine and was introduced to five-week-old baby James Chalmers and his mother Kornelia.

After leaning in to give the little baby a tickle on his back, the father-to-be, almost jumped when the youngster let out a wail, before taking a step back.

The baby's dad JJ then told Harry, 'It's your turn next, to which the royal, who is expecting his first child with Meghan in late April, flashed a cheeky grin.

But it was a different story when he left the hospital, as Prince Harry received a warm welcome from staff, with one eager well-wisher even throwing her arms around him.

The Duke of Sussex received a warm reception as he was greeted by staff and well wishers when he left The Institute of Translational Medicine at Birminghams Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Harry appeared delighted as uniformed staff and well wishers lined the streets and he was more than forthcoming as he received the offer of a hug.

Others watched on and took their cameras out to capture the endearing moment, before the royal then offered out his hand to others keen to meet him.

Harry visited the Scar Free Foundation Centre for Conflict Wound Research to learn more about the work they do.

The Centre aims to minimise the psychological and physical impact of scarring among armed forces personnel injured in service and civilians wounded in terrorist attacks.

Five-week-old baby James Chalmer, pictured with his mother Kornelia, didn't look too impressed when Prince Harry gave him a little tickle on his back. The royal was introduced to the family during a visit to Birminghams Queen Elizabeth Hospital

It was smiles all around and Prince Harry returned the enthused hug from a well wisher as other members of staff looked on

Donning a smart blue suit, the Duke of Sussex offered out his hand and returned several handshakes as people lined the streets

Prince Harry looked animated as he engaged in conversation with uniformed staff who waited outside in the damp weather for his exit

During his visit, Prince Harry tried out a dressing impregnated with Decorin protein to aid in scar healing.

It was the second of two visits during a busy day of work engagements for the soon-to-be dad as he embarked on his Birmingham tour.

Earlier today, the Duke of Sussex officially dedicated a memorial to the British victims of the 2015 Tunisia terrorist attacks.

He attended the ceremony at Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park, alongside the families of the victims.

Harry visited the hospital to learn more about the work of the Scar Free Foundation (above). The Centre aims to minimise the psychological and physical impact of scarring among armed forces personnel injured in service and civilians wounded in terrorist attacks

He tried out a dressing impregnated with Decorin protein to aid in scar healing, as he toured The Institute of Translational Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Pictured above, the father-to-be at the laboratory he visited during a tour of The Institute of Translational Medicine at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Staff and well wishers waved to the cameras as they waited for Prince Harry to leave The Institute

The memorial was a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, and a hotel beach resort in Sousse on June 26.

Addressing an audience of about 200 family and friends of those who died, Prince Harry said: 'In memory of all those who lost their lives.

And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events.

'I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones.'

Holding a single white rose, he then turned and walked to the memorial's centre-piece, where he laid the flower.

The Duke of Sussex spoke during a visit to Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, to officially open a memorial dedicated to victims of the 2015 terror attacks in Tunisia earlier today
John Stamos teared up onstage while praising his Fuller House co-star Jodie Sweetin for helping him get sober.

The actor, 55, attended the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, California, on Thursday evening to present Jodie, 37, with Writers in Treatment's Experience, Strength and Hope Award after she wrote a memoir entitled unSweetined to discuss her recovery from methamphetamine addiction.

'It took me a long time, a long time disappointing everyone who cared about me, culminating in a terrible DUI where I could have killed somebody,' John said while tearing up during the award presentation, Variety reported.

Heartfelt: John Stamos, 55, attended an event in Los Angeles, California, to present Jodie Sweetin, 37, with the Writer's In Treatment's Experience, Strength and Hope award

Throwback: The co-stars, who played Stephanie Tanner and Uncle Jessie on Full House, showed their support for each other on getting sober

Heartwarming: In an Instagram post, John spoke a little about how Jodie impacted his life almost four years ago and helped him get sober

'I hit rock bottom,' he continued.

'Jodie lovingly allowed me to walk my own path and when I finally humbled myself to ask for your help, I realized that the perky little blabbermouth had become the master of wisdom and was right by my side during some of the most difficult days of my life.'

A friendship between John and Jodie started on the set of popular sitcom Full House where the actor played Uncle Jessie to her character, Stephanie Tanner.

After the show ended in 1995, the cast went their separate ways to focus on other projects. Jodie went on to struggle with addiction after being thrown into the spotlight as a child actor, she candidly revealed in her memoir.

Jodie battled alcohol and drug addiction for years, explaining in her book that she first got drunk at the age of 14 while at her co-star Candace Cameron Bure's 1996 wedding.

This then spiraled into alcohol and substance abuse which would go on for close to a decade, before she sought help in 2005, and began focusing on her recovery.

She then became a drug and alcohol counselor for others during her sobriety before agreeing to return to the screen for Netflix's reboot Fuller House with her old cast members, which first aired in 2016.

And during his speech at the presentation of Jodie's award, John spoke out about how she also helped him to get sober nearly four years ago, explaining that he had hit 'rock bottom' when she stepped in to help him.

John went down a spiral of alcohol and substance abuse when dealing with the death of his father and his divorce in 2004. He then found it especially hard to stop drinking after his mother passed away in September 2014.

Inspirational: John praised Jodie and said because of her his wife and son would never know him as an alcoholic

Supportive: The event on Thursday celebrated Jodie, who got sober eight years ago, among others for helping people in her community get sober. John was the one to present the award

Helping out: Jodie organized 12-step meetings at John's home and on the set of Fuller House (pictured) to help him on his journey to sobriety

In June 2015, he was arrested for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills. The actor later submitted to a 30-day rehabilitation program in July to set his life back on track and was sentenced three years probation for the DUI.

'It just sort of deteriorated my life, and who I was, and my morals and my values,' John said in a candid interview with Howard Stern in January 2016.

'I lost myself, I lost my sense of discipline...more and more I was just dipping into that dark place,' he said. 'I had a horrific DUI, which I am so embarrassed by. I could have hurt somebody, it was really stupid and ignorant of me. And I hated myself for that.'

But John admitted that alcohol wasn't the substance hardest for him to kick. Instead, it was the Ambien.

'I was on some medications, antidepressants and that d*** Ambien, I'm so happy to be off that. Completely off. I don't take anything,' he said at the time.

John's steps towards sobriety reportedly included Jodie organizing 12-step meetings for John, both at his home and then on the set of Fuller House so that he could continue to appear in the show while going through his recovery.

'Thank god, my wife and my new son will only know me as a sober husband and father,' John said during the event on Thursday. 'This is Jodie's legacy in my life.'

John also praised his co-star on Instagram by sharing a picture of the pair together at the beginning of filming Full House and when they both attended the event on Thursday.

For the caption, the actor wrote: 'Proud moment last night honoring @jodiesweetinat the Experience, Hope & Strength Awards. Who knew this little blonde scene-stealer in a side pony-tale would grow up and change so many lives. (Mine included).

'Her sobriety is inspirational to say the least. Congrats Jodie on this award recognizing your extraordinary journey. You give so many people HOPE. Love you! UJ.'

John's life has changed in the past four years after getting sober.

He announced his engagement to model and actress Caitlin McHugh in October 2017. The couple then got married in February 2018 before welcoming their son, Billy, in April of that same year.

Love: 'Thank god, my wife and my new son will only know me as a sober husband and father,' John said in his speech recognizing Jodie. Pictured is the actor with his wife, Caitlin McHugh

Family: After getting sober, John went on to marry Caitlin, and the couple welcomed their son, Billy, in April 2018. Pictured is the family together in November

Jodie also heaped on the praise for John as well as friends and family in her life on her own Instagram after accepting the award from Writer's in Treatment  an organization devoted to helping people in the arts seek treatment for alcoholism and addiction.

'Still feeling all the love from the Experience, Strength and Hope awards Thursday night! A huge and heartfelt thank you to @johnstamos for presenting me with my award and a lovely speech that I will carry in my heart forever.

'I am SO grateful to all of my family and friends for the support!'

During Jodie's acceptance speech, the eight-year-sober actress returned the praise for John, according to Variety,

'John, I'm so proud of you and it's been the greatest thing to watch someone that you love have the light come back on again,' she said.

Jodie continued: 'The biggest thanks I want to give is my mom and dad.

'To say that I am grateful to them is a word and a feeling far too small for what they gave me and the patience and the understanding and the unconditional love that it took to get me on this journey. You guys never gave up and you never told me I was bad.'
It is one of the fiercest debates to be had on the British Isles: jam or cream first on a scone?

Now it doesn't matter if you're camp 'Devon' or 'Cornwall' because former Bake Off judge and national treasure Mary Berry, 83, has settled the argument once and for all - as she has a third option to offer lovers of afternoon tea.

The oft-described 'queen of baking' controversially said that she puts jam first, and then clotted cream in the Cornish style on one side of her scone, and then cream followed by jam on the other side, as Devonshire dwellers do.

Meanwhile Philip Schofield, who grew up in Cornwall, has proved how fierce the debate can be after being criticised for a snap where he is enjoying scones that have jam on top of the cream in the Devon style.

Mary Berry (pictured at the Cath Kidston Largest Cream Tea Party at Alexandra Palace on Sunday) often wades into intense baking debates and yet again she has reignited the age-old argument about whether to put jam or cream first on a scone. She say: both!

Daytime TV host Philip Schofield was criticised for enjoying some scones in the Devon style with cream on the bottom followed by jam (left), despite growing up in Cornwall

The host of This Morning committed the faux pas after uploading a picture to Instagram in support of Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital for the NHS's 70th anniversary.

He received an angry backlash from fans who accused him of forgetting his Cornish roots.

Kay Gough wrote: 'I thought you're supposed to be a Cornish boy! Sort it out. Jam first. The proper Cornish way!'

The daytime TV host enjoyed some in the traditional Cornish fashion however with jam first, and cream on top.

Usually, afternoon tea fans have a Marmite-esque attitude when it comes to putting jam or cream first on a scone, and never switch between the two.

But Mary Berry is offering a peaceful solution to the issue which divides Britain, which could solve tensions between the southwestern counties of Devon and Cornwall once and for all.

Jam first or cream? Cornish cream tea lovers put jam first on their scones, while in Devon, it is only acceptable to spread the cream first before jam

Mary told Country Living as she hosted the Cath Kidston World's Largest Cream Tea Party at Alexandra Palace in north London last weekend that she opts for the diplomatic approach to garnishing scones as she is 'fairly neutral' about most things in life.

The 83-year-old added that the reason for her unusual application of cream and jam is so she doesn't 'upset anyone in either Devon or Cornwall'.

DOES SCONE RHYME WITH 'GONE' OR 'CONE'? A 2016 YouGov poll stated the key to answer was all down to where you grew up. Those who rhyme the word with gone predominantly live in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England, whereas those who pronounce it like cone are found in Southern Ireland, London and the Midlands. Advertisement

However she hasn't always sat on the fence with her opinions on scones. Last year, she told Varsity magazine that she prefers to spread jam on her scone before cream.

But she also added that afternoon tea fans should 'do what they want' - and clearly, she has come around to the Devon way of thinking in the last 12 months.

Mary also revealed that the perfect scone must be made on the day it is eaten, and needs a 'wet mixture' to rise properly.

She said: 'Often when children make them at school, they are handling it so much and it's usually rather dry so they don't get a good result.

'Scones should be a wet mixture that sticks to your hands and then handled very little before it's cut out and then it wants to be baked at a high temperature for a fairly short time.'

In May, Mary also reignited the debate about how to pronounce 'scone' on her show, Britain's Best Home Cook.

The cooking doyenne said that the word must rhyme with 'gone' and not 'cone'.
Junk food advertising could be banned on TV before 9pm as part of Government plans to tackle childhood obesity.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce a consultation on a new watershed for advertising junk food on television, this week.

Radio stations and the internet could also be subject to further restrictions, after demands from childhood obesity campaigners.

Junk food adverts during childrens television programmes have been banned since 2007 (pictured, Gary Lineker, who is the face of Walkers)

Change: Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce a consultation on a new watershed for advertising junk food on television, this week

According to a report in The Telegraph, the new government plans were signed off by ministers last week.

They add that despite restrictions on advertising around childrens TV programmes, youngsters are still being exposed to 'significant amounts' of advertising for products that are high in fat, salt or sugar.

Junk food adverts during childrens television programmes have been banned since 2007.

But research by broadcasting regulator Ofcom has shown that children spend 64 per cent of their TV viewing time watching shows not aimed specifically at them.

Cancer Research UK is among those that have been calling for advertising of unhealthy foods to be banned before the 9pm watershed.

Last year, the charity said that watching one extra junk food advertisement a week beyond the average of six leads to children eating an additional 18,000 calories a year.

The study estimated the additional calories are the equivalent of around 70 Mars bars or 60 cheeseburgers  and could amount to a 5lb weight gain annually.

Obese children are about five times more likely to become obese adults with a much higher risk of health problems including cancers, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, research has suggested.

Fact: Obese children are about five times more likely to become obese adults with a much higher risk of health problems including cancers, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease

But the move has been resisted by broadcasters, who have warned that the plans for a watershed on junk food advertising risk doing permanent damage to the industry, the Daily Telegraph said.

It added that a coalition of television companies including ITV, Sky and Viacom, the owner of Channel 5, has been fighting the move to outlaw advertising for products that are high in fat, sugar or salt before 9pm.

Downing Street has been warned that big food brands are likely to transfer budgets that would have backed British television to websites and apps where there is no watershed and little control over what children see, the Daily Telegraph said.

Broadcasters fear that they are an easy target for campaigners and the Government when compared with Facebook and Google, which also carry advertising for junk food, it added.

A pre-watershed ban could be achieved through changes to existing rules that would not require new laws.

But because the internet is unregulated change would need new legislation, the Telegraph said.

Data from the media regulator Ofcom cited by the Telegraph said four to 15-year-olds are spending 43 per cent less time watching broadcast television than in 2010.

While obesity has continued to increase while, internet usage has increased 44 per cent to 4.7 hours per week.

Research by the Obesity Health Alliance found that junk food companies in the UK spend 143million a year on advertising.

In comparison, 5million spent annually by the Government on its healthy eating campaigns.
Accident and emergency departments should give patients smartphone heart monitors to take home with them, experts say.

People who arrive at hospital complaining of heart palpitations, or who are suspected of having an irregular heartbeat, could be given the mobile technology.

Researchers say these patients often find their symptoms have gone away by the time they get round to having a scan in hospital.

And they found measuring the heartbeat using finger pads connected to a smartphone can be five times as effective at diagnosing heart rhythm problems and save the NHS as much as 900 per patient.

The British Heart Foundation said using the device could be a 'life-saver'.

Sending patients home with the KardiaMobile device (pictured), which can measure someone's heartbeat using their phone and connected fingerpads, could improve diagnoses of irregular heartbeats, which sometimes only have intermittent symptoms, experts say

Use of the AliveCor KardiaMobile device was studied by researchers at the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian, the health authority for the Scottish city.

The study involved 240 patients who turned up at A&E with heart palpitations or feeling light-headed.

Just over half of them (124) were given the device to take home.

It works by the user placing their fingertips on sensor pads which, connected to a mobile app, measure the heartbeat when someone is experiencing symptoms.

This is then logged and can be shown to a doctor for them to analyse.

Other patients in the study had normal hospital tests and, if no problem was found, were told to come back if they felt unwell again.

After three months, 56 per cent of the KardiaMobile patients were diagnosed in an average time of just 9.5 days, while only 10 per cent of the other patients were, and they took an average of 43 days.

Diagnosing patients with the take-home device is also less than half the price, costing just 474 compared to 1,395 for hospital visits.

WHAT IS ATRIAL FIBRILLATION? Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that causes an irregular and often abnormally fast heart rate. A normal heart rate should be regular and between 60 and 100 beats a minute when you're resting. You can measure your heart rate by feeling the pulse in your neck or wrist. In atrial fibrillation, the heart rate is irregular and can sometimes be very fast. In some cases, it can be considerably higher than 100 beats a minute. This can cause problems including dizziness, shortness of breath and tiredness. Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disturbance, affecting around 1 million people in the UK. It can affect adults of any age, but it's more common in older people. It affects about 7 in 100 people aged over 65. You may be aware of noticeable heart palpitations, where your heart feels like it's pounding, fluttering or beating irregularly, often for a few seconds or, in some cases, a few minutes. You should make an appointment to see your GP if: you notice a sudden change in your heartbeat

your heart rate is consistently lower than 60 or above 100 (particularly if you're experiencing other symptoms of atrial fibrillation, such as dizziness and shortness of breath)

See your GP as soon as possible if you have chest pain. Source: NHS Advertisement

GPs are already using the KardiaMobile in some areas but experts want to see them used widely in hospitals.

'Weve shown that this device is an easy, cheap way to diagnose heart rhythm problems which usually see people attending emergency departments several times before theyre diagnosed,' said Dr Matthew Reed, from Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

'For those with harmless palpitations this device can quickly give reassurance, whilst for those with serious underlying heart conditions it can act as a lifesaver.

'We are now calling for this technology to be rolled out in emergency departments across the country.'

The mobile monitor is able to take on-the-spot electrocardiogram (ECG) tests which are used by doctors to measure heart rhythms.

People who experience heart palpitations often find their symptoms have gone away by the time they make it to a doctor, and nothing shows up on their ECG, the researchers said.

And, although the symptoms are often harmless, they can be a sign of an irregular heartbeat  known as atrial fibrillation  which can increase the risk of a stroke.

The British Heart Foundation's associate medical director, Professor Jeremy Pearson said: 'By taking advantage of the tech that we carry around in our pockets every day, this cutting-edge device makes sure that its easy for people experiencing palpitations to directly record their heartbeat.

'They can then relay the information rapidly to a doctor and improve their diagnosis.

'This device could spare people from further anxiety, save the NHS money and, more importantly, save lives.'

NHS England's Dr Matt Kearney added: 'Untreated heart conditions like atrial fibrillation put people at high risk of stroke but can often be difficult to diagnose.

'New technologies such as AliveCor can make diagnosis easier, and thats why in the last year, NHS England has already made thousands of these devices available to GP practices across the country as part of the Long Term Plan commitment to prevent 15,000 heart attacks, strokes and cases of dementia.'

The team's research was published in the journal EClinical Medicine.


The parents of a one-year-old boy who died of sepsis are urging parents to ask doctors for tests if they suspect the deadly condition.

Jack Sands, from Hook, near Hull in Yorkshire, died just three days before his second birthday after having surgery on his skull.

He had a condition called craniosynostosis, meaning he needed an operation on his head to correct the shape of his head, but he developed meningitis and sepsis after the procedure.

Claiming doctors failed to spot the condition despite their own suspicions, parents John and Gemma Sands say others should 'trust their own instincts'.

Jack Sands died in July last year after he developed sepsis following a operation to correct a problem with the development of his skull

When Jack was in hospital his parents thought his condition was improving until he became seriously ill and slept uninterrupted for 30 hours, they claim, just days before he died

Mr and Mrs Sands, aged 30 and 31, say they are heartbroken by their son's death  he died in July last year  and even tried to celebrate his birthday days afterwards.

An inquest is under way into Jack's time at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, where he died just days after his operation.

Mr and Mrs Sands said they thought something was wrong with Jack and, after searching online, they believed it was sepsis.

But staff at the hospital left him to sleep for 30 hours without doing further tests because certain workers weren't available at the weekend, they claim.

'Trust your own instincts,' Mr Sands told the Hull Daily Mail in a warning to other parents.

'Not even just for sepsis. You know the difference when your kids are happy and normal and when he starts recovering and it seems like they are doing well.'

Sepsis is an over-reaction of the immune system which is triggered by a usually more minor infection and can cause the body's organs to shut down.

It requires immediate medical attention but can be hard to spot because symptoms  such as a fever or breathing problems  often resemble other illnesses.

'The problem you've got is when they've had an operation you don't know if [the symptoms are] part of that,' Mr Sands said.

'But if you are worrying about anything else you have got to make sure you try and follow it up.

'If you do think there is something wrong, push for it. You're not going to upset anyone by asking.'

Jack had needed an operation to repair his craniosynostosis, a condition in which the bones in the skull fuse too early, which can affect the shape of the child's head and interfere with brain development

After Jack's operation Mr Sands said it was difficult to tell whether his symptoms were normal signs of recovery from surgery or if he was suffering from something more serious

Mr Sands said Jack was a 'great' boy, adding he was 'just like any other kid, full of mischief and really energetic'

Jack had needed surgery for his craniosynostosis, a condition in which the bones of the skull fuse too soon, leading to a misshapen head and potential problems with brain growth.

The condition is not always serious but can require surgery to repair, as it did in Jack's case. Otherwise, his parents say, he was a healthy and 'mischievous' toddler.

'He was great,' said Mr Sands. 'Just like any other kid, full of mischief and really energetic. It just seems that any minute he's going to come through the door.

'He died three days before his second birthday. So even after he died, three days after, we were still trying to do something for his birthday. It's horrendous.'

After his operation Jack's parents said he seemed to be recovering well for a couple of days until he became ill again.

Doctors believed he had a stomach bug, they claim, and reportedly waited through the weekend to do tests because a specialist wasn't working.

Mr Sands added: 'He was fine but you could tell that he was in a lot of pain. He started eating again on the second day. Then it started going downhill.

'They said he had gastroenteritis and started treating him for that and giving him fluids. Then it got really bad and they let him sleep for 30 hours.

'They tried to take some blood but said they couldn't and needed a specialist but they didn't work the weekend. So they left him the entire weekend which was part of the 30 hours.

'Then Monday night early Tuesday morning that's when he died.'

Mr and Mrs Sands say the inquest into their son's death is ongoing, adding: 'It still doesn't seem real yet.'

Dr Yvette Oade, acting chief executive at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said: 'We are sincerely sorry that Jack died while he was in our care.

'We undertook a full investigation to help us understand the circumstances leading to Jacks death and how we could learn from what happened.

'We met with Jacks parents to share our investigation and we have committed to learn from the findings so that we can improve the care we provide to all of our patients.

'We fully support the familys ambition to raise awareness of sepsis.

'As an organisation, raising awareness and managing sepsis is extremely important and we have introduced a number of initiatives aimed at increasing awareness amongst our own workforce so that we can continue to improve the care that we provide in the future.'
World Migrant Day set for September 29 Pope's concern over inhabitants of 'existential peripheries'

(ANSAmed) - VATICAN CITY, MARCH 4 - The 105th edition of World Day of Migrants and Refugees will take place on Sunday, September 29 under the theme 'It is not just about migrants', said the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.



It said with this theme, "Pope Francis wants to highlight that his frequent appeals for migrants, refugees, displaced and trafficked people should be understood as integral to his deep concern for all the inhabitants of today's existential peripheries. The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, and the incarcerated who knock each day at our door are Jesus Himself asking to be met and assisted".



This reflects what Pope Francis said in his homily on Friday, February 15 in Sacrofano: "It really is Him (Jesus), even if our eyes struggle to recognise Him: with tattered clothes, with dirty feet, with a deformed face, a bent body, unable to speak our language".



In order to facilitate sufficient preparation for the event, the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development will launch a communications campaign in March that will provide monthly reflections, informative materials and multimedia supports, through a diversified approach to promote a deeper examination of the pope's chosen theme.(ANSAmed).




A postman who lost both of his feet after 'flu' developed into deadly sepsis has revealed how he was just hours from death.

Ryan Nulty, 46, felt perfectly healthy on Friday October 12, 2018  completing his eight-mile round at 2.30pm, as usual, before going home to bed.

But, rising the next day at 5.30am, he woke with aching bones and flu-like symptoms  fluctuating between sweats and chills  and was forced to quit his round half way through.

Soon, the father-of-two began to shake uncontrollably, his face became covered in a rash and his feet turned freezing cold.

They are all classic symptoms of sepsis, a serious complication of an infection, which causes the immune system to attack the bodys tissue and organs.

Mr Nulty, of Horsham, West Sussex, who lives with his girlfriend, Shaaron Sargent, 45, revealed his feet became 'totally black' as his body fought against sepsis.

Life-changing: Ryan Nulty, 46, of Horsham, West Sussex, pictured shortly after his dramatic double amputation, which saw him lose both feet in 2018

Slipping in and out of consciousness, Mr Nulty was rushed to Redhills East Surrey Hospital.

He was immediately put into an induced coma in the intensive care unit to help protect his organs from sepsis, which was by then attacking his system.

Recalling the build-up of events, Mr Nulty, who has a daughter Sophie, 22, and a son Joseph, 19, from a previous relationship, said: 'On the Saturday, I felt pretty terrible, but as all men do, I just went home, ran a bath and got into bed, hoping Id be able to sleep it off.

'Then the next morning, I woke up feeling far, far worse and I remember my feet being so cold that I had to put Shaarons fluffy pink slippers on.'

When he finally came to eight days later on October 22  after being brought out of the coma - he had no idea where he was or what had happened, becoming very delusional and unable to distinguish dreams from reality.

He explained: 'I had all sorts of crazy ideas going through my head, like that there was some kind of big conspiracy going on within the NHS and I was there to expose it. I was totally out of it.'

With the sepsis still in his body, on November 3 he was transferred to an intensive care unit at St Helier Hospital in Sutton, as it was closer to home, where he was given dialysis for six hours each day for three days to help his failing kidneys filter the blood.

Support: Mr Nulty lives with his girlfriend, Shaaron Sargent, 45, who has helped him to cope with the ordeal - and first suspected that his life was in danger

Before the incident: Mr Nulty photographed on one of his Royal Mail delivery rounds in Redhills East Surrey, where he's known to the community

Gradually, he began to get better as the sepsis  which doctors put down to a latent case of meningitis, which Mr Nulty had not realised he had  began to recede.

But his ordeal had taken a terrible toll during his two-month hospital stay, which ended on December 4.

While his body had fought to protect his vital organs, the extremities were neglected and his feet were 'black and leathery' as the tissue was effectively dead, because of a lack of blood supply, causing gangrene  leaving the doctors no choice but to amputate.

'By the time the doctors said when I was at St Helier that Id have to have my feet cut off, I wasnt really that shocked as they were in a terrible state,' he said.

'Nevertheless, though, it was still distressing.'

With the operation booked for January 31 at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, Mr Nulty was allowed to return home for a few weeks, where he was nursed by his girlfriend, who had quit her job to look after her partner of three years.

'Shaaron was wonderful,' he recalled. 'She helped me dress, gave me baths and took me around in a wheelchair. Without her, I dont know what Id have done.'

While Mr Nulty admits there were nights when he and Shaaron would burst into tears at the thought of what life would be like for him without feet, as the operation drew nearer, he became more accepting of his fate.

He said: 'I called my feet my Saxon boots because they had become rock hard and they were almost totally black. The skin was like thick leather.

'I knew they had to go and by the time I had the operation I just wanted them off. I went into the operating theatre with a smile on my face and I came out two and a half hours later with a smile, too.

'I felt relieved, even though it was very peculiar to look down and see the space where my feet had been.'

Strong: While Mr Nulty admits there were nights when he and Shaaron would burst into tears at the thought of what life would be like for him without feet, as the operation drew nearer, he became more accepting of his fate

Awareness: Mr Nulty, pictured with his brother-in-law Paul, has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for mobility equipment and to raise awareness for the condition

Now recuperating from the operation - which involved amputating his feet at the shin - in a recovery unit at Horsham Hospital, Mr Nulty is building up his strength in preparation for being fitted with two prosthetic legs which will enable him to walk again.

Though he will not be able to return to his job as a postman, he still hopes to work in a different capacity for the Royal Mail, and despite all he has been though is optimistic about the future.

'My life has been turned upside down in the blink of an eye, but I dont feel any self-pity or bitterness in any way,' he said.

'It could really have been catastrophic, but luckily I have a loving family who supported me all the way through this.

'And Shaaron, in particular, was incredible. When a lot of partners might have turned heel, she was with me throughout.

'Its created a bond between us thats stronger than I could have ever imagined, and together I feel like were about to embark on a new chapter of our lives.

'Things may be difficult for me in the future, but I have every confidence that I will conquer it all. I have plans to mow my lawn this summer and take my Staffordshire Bull Terrier dog for his walk  and I intend to keep them.'

Ms Sargent, who was told on several occasions by doctors to prepare herself for the worst, has nothing but praise for her courageous partner.

'I cannot describe how emotional it was to be told that Ryan may not make it  I felt like my heart was physically breaking.

'It has been humbling how brave and positive Ryan has been throughout this all. He been absolutely astonishing.'

The UK Sepsis Trust, a charity founded with the aim of stopping preventable sepsis deaths, said: 'Sepsis can arise in the body as a result of any infection.

'Although only about one per cent of sepsis cases arise from meningitis, this case demonstrates that sepsis can strike indiscriminately, at any time.

'If you or someone you know shows signs of infection its crucial to seek urgent medical help. With each hour that passes before the right antibiotics are administered, risk of death increases.'

To donate help Ryan raise money for mobility equipment, click here
A personal trainer whose leg was mutilated by a boat propeller has regained some movement because of pioneering treatment.

Danielle Crease, from Miami, almost died when she jumped into the water and was hit by another boat in the horrific accident six years ago.

The boat's propeller tore the 31-year-old's Achilles and severed her sciatic nerve, leaving her paralysed from the knee down in her left leg.

Doctors warned her she may never regain sensation. However, they offered her a life-changing nerve graft, thought to be the first of its kind.

In the experimental procedure, which had to be cleared by Government officials before it was attempted, surgeons grew the severed nerve before implanting it.

And despite still not having any sensation in her left leg, Mrs Crease is now able to move the limb.

Danielle Crease, from Miami, almost died when she jumped into the water and was hit by another boat in the horrific accident six years ago (pictured working out)

'It took two years before anything happened. The doctors were always encouraging me to try to move my foot and toes.

'They explained that I needed to train my mind to not forget how to perform these movements, even if they led to nothing.

'I was laying by the pool in Miami one day and I gave it a try. To my absolute shock and disbelief, it moved slightly. I worked on it all the time after that.'

Mrs Crease, who is married to Jeff, remembers little of the horror accident, which took place on a 'beautiful day' in September 2013.

She was with friends for a weekend trip before planning to fly to Taiwan to become a teacher. But as she climbed into the water, she was hit by another boat.

However, she does recall being tossed around like 'being in a washing machine' in the 'ocean of blood', which pooled around her.

When Mrs Crease was pulled out of the water, she immediately noticed that she couldn't feel her leg. She was rushed to hospital.

Mrs Crease said: 'Apparently the doctors informed my father, who got to the hospital first, that there was little chance I would make it.

The boat's propeller tore the 31-year-old's Achilles and severed her sciatic nerve, leaving her paralysed from the knee down in her left leg (pictured in hospital)

Doctors warned her she may never regain sensation. However, they offered her a life-changing nerve graft, thought to be the first of its kind (pictured, the scars from her accident)

'And things didn't look good. They essentially told him to say goodbye to me. I woke up (a couple of days later) intubated, with straps around my arms.

'Apparently, I was fighting the intubation, so I had to be restrained. The first thing I remember from waking up was seeing my parents.'

The wounds on her leg were so severe that she required a wound vacuum - often used for shrapnel wounds - as the gashes were too deep to heal naturally.

When she had been brought into hospital, doctors collected some of Mrs Crease's sciatic nerve, pre-empting the potential for the surgery.

She said: 'Those first two weeks were the worst weeks of my life, apart from the surgeon asking me to take part in the new nerve surgery.

'That was the only hope I had to hold on to.

Mrs Crease battled depression during her recovery in hospital. She said: 'It wasn't a bad dream, it was real and I couldn't escape it.

Mrs Crease, who is married to Jeff, remembers little of the horror accident, which took place on a 'beautiful day' in September 2013 (pictured after her accident)

When she had been brought into hospital, doctors collected some of Mrs Crease's sciatic nerve, pre-empting the potential for the surgery (pictured in Thailand before her accident)

WHAT WAS THE SURGERY? Mrs Crease was told that she may never regain any feeling or movement in her leg as a result of her severed sciatic nerve. But a team of surgeons at the Miller School of Medicine/Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami had other ideas. The world first procedure to regrow three inches of her sciatic nerve - the largest nerve in the human body - was performed in October 2014. The surgeons decided against traditional donor nerve grafting  and opted for a pioneering procedure involving specialist Schwann cells from her own body instead. They hoped the cells would regenerate and fill in the gap over time. Cells from donor nerves often rapidly deplete, they warned at the time. Professor Allan Levi, who led the operation, had to seek approval from US regulators the FDA to go ahead with the pioneering procedure. Advertisement

'There was a lot of fear for those first few months. I was in a boot, and restricted to a wheelchair, so I didn't leave the house much.

'A month after the accident, I had a hamstring repair, Achilles repair, quad repair, general leg repair, and the amazing nerve surgery.'

Surgeons grew the nerve in a lab while waiting for approval from officials to try the procedure, which was never guaranteed to work.

And once approval for the surgery had been granted, the surgeon took sural nerves from both legs to graft with the sciatic nerve tissue.

Doctors remained optimistic that if Mrs Crease kept trying to flex her muscles, movement or sensation would one day return.

Mrs Crease first regained some movement in her foot in 2015. Feeling encouraged, she worked tirelessly in the gym to gain more.

She said: 'There was no way I should have ever had any movement again below the knee, and I do, regardless how small it is.

Mrs Crease first regained some movement in her foot in 2015. Feeling encouraged, she worked tirelessly in the gym to gain more (pictured climbing a tree after her accident)

Mrs Crease loves working out and being active. Pictured indoor rock climbing after her ordeal

Mrs Crease is pictured at a press conference discussing the historic nerve graft surgery shortly after undergoing it

'I always knew it was never going to be a complete recovery, but it was going to be a stepping stone for the future.'

Mrs Crease now has to wear an ankle-foot brace in case something falls on her foot - because she wouldn't be able to feel it.

Mrs Crease now says the accident was both the best and worst thing to ever happen to her.

She added: 'To be honest, I'm not always mad at the accident anymore. I have met some amazing people because of what happened.

'I learned a lot about myself, but I also learned a lot about my family. This didn't just happen to me, it happened to us.

'Success isn't in how much movement came back, but that movement came back at all. No matter how small it was.

'Life will inevitably knock us all down, in one capacity or another.. But we all have the tools to overcome, because those tools are all within.'

You can see more of Mrs Crease's recovery by visiting @daniellemcrease
A nurse told her multiple sclerosis wasn't serious enough for NHS treatment ended up paying 40,000 for surgery in Mexico.

Clare Mullarkey, 29, has travelled to the nation for stem cell therapy in a bid to treat her MS.

She says she had been denied the same treatment in the UK last year because she didn't meet the NHS's criteria.

Suffering from the relapsing form of the nerve-damaging condition, Ms Mullarkey has had severe bouts of illness which have left her struggling to walk.

Afraid she would be reliant on a wheelchair by the time she turns 30, the paediatric nurse decide to take matters into her own hands and go to Mexico for the treatment with the help of crowd-funding.

Clare Mullarkey, now living and working in Birmingham, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was 22 (pictured receiving treatment in a hospital in Mexico)

She says she had been denied the same treatment in the UK last year because she didn't meet the NHS's criteria

Ms Mullarkey, who is from County Kildare in the Republic of Ireland and works at Birmingham Children's Hospital, is in Mexico at the moment being treated.

She is having haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which works by destroying and rebuilding a patient's immune system.

Multiple sclerosis, with which Ms Mullarkey was diagnosed when she was 22, is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system damages nerves in the brain and spine.

'I saw a programme on the BBC about this stem cell treatment, and it gives you hope,' Ms Mullarkey told the Birmingham Mail.

'It looked really promising  finally news that there was a treatment out there that could work!

'I'd already had three failed treatments, so it was exciting to hear about something that was actually stopping MS in its tracks in 80 per cent of people.'

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

Ms Mullarkey said she felt 'let down' by the NHS's decision to not offer her the treatment in England and decided to raise the $56,000 (42,283) for private therapy.

'My consultant put me forward for treatment in London, but I was declined,' she said.

'Because I didn't have any active lesions, I didn't qualify. I would have to have another relapse.

'But every relapse causes damage to the spinal cord. I decided I just couldn't wait around for that to happen.'

Ms Mullarkey was diagnosed with MS, which affects more than 100,000 people in the UK, after noticing her vision was blurry but an eye test found nothing wrong.

She was referred for an MRI scan and tests on her spinal fluid, when doctors revealed MS was to blame.

It wouldn't be long before her first relapse  the condition often comes in flares and symptom-free periods  left her with club foot and difficulty walking.

Now, over the last few years, her condition has become steadily worse. At work, she stays on the ward because she struggles to escort patients around the hospital.

'After my relapse, it really hit home,' said Ms Mullarkey.

'It's tough to deal with. I'm a really independent person, and the reality was that if I continued going the way I was, I could be in a wheelchair before I'm 30.

'I rely a lot on taxis now because walking to the bus stop is too far, and it often makes me avoid going out at all.

'I worry that if it continues like this, I will have to give up my job, which I love. It's really not much of a future.'

Ms Mullarkey, who has already been left with difficulty walking and fears she will be confined to a wheelchair by the time she turns 30, said the major treatment is worth the risk of infection or of it not working

Ms Mullarkey found out she had multiple sclerosis when she had blurry vision but an eye test did not reveal any problems with her eyes  an MRI scan and test on her spinal fluid revealed she has the autoimmune condition (pictured in hospital in Mexico)

If the treatment works it could prevent multiple sclerosis from causing any further damage to Ms Mullarkey's nervous system, she says (pictured with Dr Ruiz, who is running her programme in Mexico), but it cannot repair any damage already done

Ms Mullarkey travelled to Puebla, Mexico, at the beginning of February and has now finished her first stage of chemotherapy, wiping out her immune system.

She will now spend two weeks on an isolation ward as her immune system rebuilds itself using her own stem cells  building blocks which can become any kind of cell.

'I've had a bit of sickness, but generally I've had it fairly easy,' Ms Mullarkey said.

'A lot of people are travelling to Mexico or Russia for the treatment and there's 11 of us all together here, from all other world.

'It's really working and has been going for around 10 years with incredible results.

Ms Mullarkey, who works at Birmingham Children's Hospital, said: 'For me the risk of getting worse is 100 per cent, so I knew I had to take the chance. My hope is that I can stop the disease before it takes anything more from me, and hopefully I can get my future back'

'For me the risk of getting worse is 100 per cent, so I knew I had to take the chance.

'My hope is that I can stop the disease before it takes anything more from me, and hopefully I can get my future back.'

If the treatment does work and stops Ms Mullarkey's immune system causing more damage, it will not be able to repair nerves which have already been destroyed.

An NHS England West Midlands spokesman said: 'The NHS does fund stem cell transplants for people with MS.

'But it will only be a suitable treatment for small numbers of patients with active inflammatory lesions in their brain and spinal cord which justify the considerable risks of the treatment.

'The evidence for transplants in MS is still developing, and we will continue to monitor this closely to secure the best outcomes for patients.'
Thousands of people have tried to become stem cells donors in a record-breaking bid to save the life of a five-year-old boy with cancer.

Oscar Saxelby-Lee, from Worcester, inspired a total of 4,855 people to go to a testing drive at the weekend to see if they were a match.

Doctors say the schoolboy has just three months to find a donor from whom they can take blood cells to treat Oscar's acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

He has already had chemotherapy since being diagnosed in December, but will need more aggressive treatment in order to overcome the disease.

Nearly 5,000 people turned up for a registration event to see if they could be a stem cell match for Oscar Saxelby-Lee, who needs a donor within the next three months to be able to fend off his leukaemia

Oscar, pictured with his parents, Jamie and Olivia, needs a stem cell transplant to try and cure his acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Volunteers and prospective donors took over two halls at Pitmaston School in Worcester over the weekend

Oscar's parents first became concerned when they noticed unexplained bruising on their son's body, and in December they were told he had ALL.

The family is now in a race against time to find someone who can donate blood stem cells  they say his chances of survival will 'severely diminish' if a donor isn't found within three months.

And crowds of people turned up to an event at Pitmaston Primary School in Worcester, where Oscar is in reception class, over the weekend to see if they could be a match.

The charity which will test the swabs, DKMS, said its previous record for a single event was 2,200 people  meaning Oscar's more than doubled that.

Oscar's teacher Sarah Keating said: 'I've been teaching for 20 years and I've never had a child go through something like this.

'You hear about children getting cancer and you think "that's dreadful", then you move on. In this case we haven't moved on, we will fight this.'

ALL is a rare illness and only affects around 650 people in the UK each year, around half of whom are children.

It is a fast-growing, aggressive cancer which causes large numbers of underdeveloped white blood cells to be released from diseased bone marrow.

These blood cells continue to spread and cause symptoms like tiredness, difficulty breathing, pale skin, fever, and bone and joint pain.

Oscar has had 20 blood transfusions and four weeks of chemotherapy.

Leukaemia, a cancer of the blood, can be treated with stem cells which are taken from a donor and put into the patient's body to replace the diseased blood cells which are killed during chemotherapy

Oscar, pictured before he became ill, was diagnosed with leukaemia in December after his parents noticed unexplained bruising on his body

Oscar has already had chemotherapy in a bid to control his disease but he will need more advanced treatment to get rid of the leukaemia completely

A teaching assistant in Oscar's class, Laura Senter, 22, said he had been his 'usual happy-go-lucky self' before Christmas, and his cancer diagnosis came as a shock to the school

People who went along to the school on Saturday (pictured, a woman named Tammy who was among the crowds) had their saliva swabbed so it can be sent to a lab for DNA testing to see if they could donate their blood cells to Oscar

Local man Jason Knight (pictured) was one of the thousands of people who went along to register as a stem cell donor in the hope of helping five-year-old Oscar beat cancer

Oscar's teaching assistant Laura Senter, 22, said his diagnosis came as a shock to their class because his illness developed so quickly.

She said: 'I couldn't believe it. I saw him before Christmas and he was his usual happy-go-lucky self.

Oscar's mother, Olivia, said he has been 'a true warrior' throughout his illness

'It's a nightmare for this to happen. You can't really do anything about it, it's heart-breaking.

'We have gone into action mode to try and find a donor.'

About 80 volunteers queued outside in the rain and took over two of the school's halls for the weekend, handing out swabs and completing donor registration forms.

Scientists will try to find a donor whose blood cells have a similar structure to Oscar's so his body will accept them if they are transplanted.

He needs a stem cell transplant to replenish his own blood cells, which are being destroyed by chemotherapy  the closer the match is, the more likely the treatment is to work.

Ms Senter added: 'I visited Oscar in hospital last month when it was his birthday. All the parents bought gifts for him.

'Because of all the chemo he was very swollen but you could tell he was very much still him inside.

'When we came out we knew we needed to do everything we could to support him.'

It is unknown whether doctors have already searched the existing stem cell register to find a match for Oscar but Sarah Gray, spokesperson for the charity DKMS told the BBC: 'It's really difficult to find a match, it's essentially like winning the lottery.

'It's very complex and so the more people we can get on that register, the more chances there are to saves lives of patients like Oscar.'

HOW DO STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS WORK? As a treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), stem cell transplants work by replacing blood cells which are diseased or destroyed by chemotherapy. Having a stem cell transplant means the body can withstand higher doses of chemotherapy and other cancer treatments. During chemo, while cancer cells are destroyed by the drugs, so too are healthy blood cells which are necessary for the internal organs and immune system to work properly. If too many of these are destroyed it can be deadly, so doctors must control how much chemotherapy someone has  they want to destroy as many cancerous cells as possible without killing a deadly amount of healthy cells. Having a donor means that cells killed by chemo can be replaced using donor stem cells  which turn into red and white blood cells once injected into the body  helping the patient to recover quicker from the gruelling therapy. Stem cells are taken from a donor's blood sample so are preferable to bone marrow transplants, which have to be done under general anaesthetic. Source: Cancer Research UK Advertisement

The charity which tests swabs collected at registration events, DKMS, said its previous record for a single event was 2,200 people, meaning the turnout for Oscar's more than doubled the record

The school session happened after Oscar's parents, Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee, launched their 'Hand in Hand for Oscar' appeal to try and get as many people as possible to get tested

Oscar's mother, Olivia, said: 'Oscar is a fun, loving, energetic five-year-old boy who deserves to live to the full alongside the other troopers fighting such horrific diseases'

At the registration event, the nearly 5,000 people who turned up filled out forms with their details and had swabs taken so their blood can be tested in a lab to see if it is a match for Oscar's

Oscar's school has 'gone into action mode' to try and find a donor, according to the five-year-old's teaching assistant, Laura Senter

Oscar's desperate parents, Olivia Saxelby and Jamie Lee, of St John's, Worcester, launched an appeal to find a match after his diagnosis.

They aimed to get as many people as possible to sign up to a blood stem cell donor register as part of a campaign called 'Hand in Hand for Oscar'.

Miss Saxelby, 23, said: 'We felt like we could not see light at the end of the tunnel, but when looking at Oscar's cheeky smile, bravery and determination, we managed to pull our strength together again.

'From that moment of fear and confusion, we as a family became stronger than ever. Oscar reminded us how to fight again and just how courageous he is.

'Not once has he shown weakness, nor has he ceased to amaze us throughout the most difficult times and that to us is a true warrior.

'Oscar is a fun, loving, energetic five-year-old boy who deserves to live to the full alongside the other troopers fighting such horrific diseases.

'Not only does he need to enjoy a normal life a child should live, he now needs someone else to save him.'

To join the stem cell donor register visit the DKMS or Anthony Nolan website.
A man has been left unable to smile after being born with a rare condition.

Atholl Mills, 24, from Scotland, was diagnosed with cystic hygroma at birth - a fluid-filled sac that results from a blockage in the lymphatic system.

Due to the nature of his condition, he had to have surgery as soon as he was born, and his parents had to say their goodbyes as his chances of survival were low.

But now - after countless operations - he is defying the odds and living a successful, independent life.

On-going: His condition caused his left ear to grow into a different shape and size, which meant that he had to undergo another surgery in 2007

Defying the odds: Atholl Mills, 24, from Scotland, was diagnosed with cystic hygroma at birth - a fluid-filled sac that results from a blockage in the lymphatic system

Difficult start: Mr Mills pictured shortly after his birth, which saw him whisked away into the operating theatre for a gruelling five-hour procedure

Mr Mills said: 'My mum was told at one of her scans that there was something wrong.

'She was offered the opportunity to abort only me and keep my twin sister, but my mum decided against that. She always knew that giving me up was never an option for her.

'When I was born my parents had a couple of minutes with me before I was rushed to hospital and was told that my chances of survival were very slim.'

During a five-hour operation, doctors had to cut from the right side of his neck round to the left side.

They also cut his left facial nerve to remove more of the cysts; this resulted in him developing facial palsy, a condition that causes a permanent weakness or paralysis of the facial muscles.

Over the years he has faced negative reactions to his look which resulted in him developing so much anxiety, that he would lock himself up in his house, afraid to be mocked by strangers.

He has been called names like a half-chewed apple, disabled boy, Dumbo and he has been called freak on a train.

Mr Mills said: 'It was very difficult; being young I didnt really have a concept that anything was wrong with me but as I got older, I began to realise that there was something different about me and that was hard to deal with.

'I spent a lot of my childhood wishing that I was either someone else or that I would wake up one day and everything would just be fixed.'

A mother's love: Mr Mills pictured here as a baby with his mother, who refused to take medical advice and abort her son - a decision which proved to be wise

Difficulties: Mr Mills pictured when he was around two-years-old following one of many procedures to alleviate the cysts growing in his face

'Living in a small village meant that bullying didnt really happen for me and everyone was really accepting. But venturing out further often meant that I was stared at or pointed at.

'It impacted my confidence a lot. It still does today because it really is an ongoing battle. There are good days and bad days.'

His condition caused his left ear to grow into a different shape and size, which meant that he had to undergo another surgery in 2007 to have them pinned back and have his left ear completely reconstructed.

In 2013 he underwent a 10-hour surgery to move a muscle from his leg to his face, which meant that whenever he clenched his teeth, the muscle contracted and pulled the left side of his face upward to give him more of a smile.

His condition caused his left ear to grow into a different shape and size, which meant that he had to undergo another surgery in 2007 to have them pinned back and have his left ear completely reconstructed (pictured aged two)

Intense: In 2013 he underwent a 10-hour surgery to move a muscle from his leg to his face, which meant that whenever he clenched his teeth, the muscle contracted and pulled the left side of his face upward to give him more of a smile

Today: Mr Mills pictured now with his mother (R), who has encouraged him to be confident in overcoming the tribulations he has faced since birth

What causes a cystic hygroma and can it be prevented? A cystic hygroma forms when the lymph vessels fail to form correctly during the first few weeks of pregnancy. It cannot be prevented as it occurs so early in pregnancy, usually before the pregnancy is confirmed. Nothing done or not done during pregnancy causes the cystic hygroma to develop. The exact cause of cystic hygromas is not clear. They occur in approximately one per cent of children and can affect children of any race and both boys and girls. SOURCE: Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children Advertisement

It wasnt until 2011, when he looked at himself in the mirror after an incident on the train, that he decided to look at himself differently.

He began posting videos on YouTube and pictures on social media, which helped him grow in confidence.

However, he has since changed his perception of himself and says that his more confident attitude has helped him when dating.

'There was an incident where I was on a train and someone pointed at me and said look at that freak he was about the same age as me and with a group of friends, he said.

'In addition to that, the train was also packed, and everyone was looking at me. I remember feeling so low after that and Ive never forgotten about that day. But it was also the day I realised that something needed to change.

'After the incident on the train I really looked at myself in the mirror and I degraded myself. But then I realised that I wouldnt let someone else say these things to me or a friend, so why was I allowing myself to say it?

'It was then I made it my mission to stand in front of the mirror once a day and compliment myself in some way or another.

'Slowly but surely my confidence grew, and I realised that if I looked for someone to look at me or say something about me, I would find it.'

He added: 'So, I just stopped doing that whenever I went out and I focused on what I was doing with my family or friends and my confidence just grew and grew. I still have a way to go but Im so far removed from where I was about seven years ago.

'Starting my YouTube channel was also a major help in gaining confidence because I was able to see that the way I looked was only a small part of who I am because so many people loved me because of my personality. Always be yourself, no matter what anyone else thinks. The right people will always find their way to you.

'I also want to show others who may have a child with cystic hygroma that it isnt all doom and gloom because I was told when I was younger that I would never talk, walk or live an independent life.

'But here I am, twenty-four-years-old; I can talk, walk, drive and Ive even graduated from university.'
Drugmaker Eli Lilly announced plans on Monday to sell a half-price version of its popular insulin injection Humalog, as it fends off criticism about rising drug prices in the United States.

Currently, the life-saving drug costs $274.70 a vial.

But today, the firm said it will soon stock a generic version in the US for an eye-watering, but comparatively cheap, $137.35 a vial.

The news was welcomed by Senator Chuck Grassley as 'good news', but slammed by diabetics advocating for the same access as other countries in the world.

'Charge us what you charge every other country - $20 a vial. Then we will give you kudos. $140 is still $120 too much,' Laura Marston, an attorney and insulin4all advocate, tweeted.

Laura Marston holds up a vial of Humalog, a type of insulin injection she uses for her type 1 diabetes. When she was first diagnosed at 14, the list price for the drug was $21 per vial. Twenty years after its introduction, Humalog's list price is more than $250 for a vial

Lilly, a leading producer of insulin, is one of many firms that has been grilled by US senators in the last week.

Insulin, the life-saving drug for increasingly common diabetes, has been a touchstone topic.

Senator Ron Wyden, leading the committee, called drug companies' pricing 'morally repugnant', and accused companies of 'stonewalling on the key issue.'

On Monday, Lilly was the first to suggest some sort of step in the right direction, which analysts described as a political win for the firm without surrendering much in the way of profits.

'Today's announcement indicates that Lilly has calculated that the resultant impact of the introduction is at worst, economically neutral with the potential for material political gain,' Citi analyst Andrew Baum told Reuters.

The rebranded product will be called Insulin Lispro, while Humalog, which makes $3 billion in annual sales, will remain available for those wishing to access it through existing insurance plans.

The cost of insulin for treating type 1 diabetes in the United States has nearly doubled over a five-year period, leading some patients to put their own health at risk by rationing the medication.

Two senators last month launched an investigation into rising insulin prices, writing to Lilly and other leading manufacturers, asking them why the cost of the nearly 100-year-old medication had rapidly risen.

The price of Lilly's Humalog rose from $35 to $234 per dose between 2001 and 2015, a 585 percent increase, the senators, Republican Chuck Grassley and Democrat Ron Wyden, had said.

Grassley on Monday called Lilly's announcement 'good news' in a Twitter post but added it was 'only one piece of puzzle' and more needed to be done.

Wyden said that Lilly's move would be a part of the Senate Finance Committee's investigation.

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi SA, two other major insulin producers, told Reuters they were already taking steps to make insulin more affordable.

Novo said it was offering insulin at $25 per vial at many national pharmacy chains and had a program to help uninsured patients. Its insulin has a list price of $137.70.

Sanofi said its insulin products were provided to uninsured or commercially insured patients for half their list price under a program launched last year.

Lilly has in the past called insulin a highly-rebated product. Drugmakers often argue they have to keep prices high because of rebates or after market-discounts they must pay to pharmacy benefit managers and health insurers to get products on their lists of covered drugs.

The US government in January proposed a rule to end the industry-wide system of rebates, a change that Lilly says it would welcome.
When seven-month old Hawken Hunt began violently vomiting in August 2016, his parents Shannon and Bob knew something was wrong.

Doctors at the local emergency room in Cleveland, Ohio, insisted the infant had a flu or a flu-like virus.

But when Hawken's condition didn't improve a few days later, the Hunts took him to the Cleveland Clinic.

Medical staff told Shannon and Bob that their son didn't have the flu at all, but was instead battling a rare, fast-growing type of blood cancer, Fox 8 reported.

After an aggressive treatment plan that lasted five months, Hawken, now two, has defied the odds and become among the youngest patients ever to beat the disease.

Hawken Hunt, now two (left and right), was seven months when he began violently vomiting in August 2016. Doctors at the local emergency room in Cleveland, Ohio, insisted he had a flu or a flu-like virus

The Hunts went to the Cleveland Clinic, where Hawken was diagnosed with Burkitt's leukemia, a rare type of blood cancer in which too many white blood cells form in the blood and bone marrow. Pictured: Shannon and Bob Hunt with Hawken and Hawken's sister Emmie

Burkitt's leukemia is a rare type of blood cancer in which too many white blood cells form in the blood and bone marrow.

There are two types: endemic, which is most common among those of African descent, and sporadic, which is most common in the US.

The endemic variant usually begins as a tumor in the jaw while the sporadic, which Hawken had, usually starts as a tumor in the bowel or abdomen.

Other symptoms include fever, fatigue, weight loss, loss of appetite and night sweats.

According to the National Cancer Institute, it's been linked to infection from the EpsteinBarr virus, best known as the cause of mononucleosis.

Burkitt's leukemia accounts for just one to two percent of all cases of leukemia.

Treatment involves chemotherapy and - if the cancer doesn't respond - immunotherapy, a type of treatment that boosts the body's natural defenses to fight cancer.

Hawken is among the youngest - if not the youngest - patients to ever be diagnosed with Burkitt's leukemia so no treatment protocol existed.

Doctors at Cleveland Clinic Children's came up with an aggressive treatment plan that lasted for nearly five months.

Hawken received six 21-day rounds of chemotherapy, 13 blood transfusions, eight platelet transfusions and four bone marrow biopsies.

Hawken (left and right) is among the youngest - if not the youngest - patients to ever be diagnosed with Burkitt's leukemia so no treatment protocol existed. Doctors came up with an aggressive treatment plan that included six 21-day rounds of chemotherapy, 13 blood transfusions, eight platelet transfusions and four bone marrow biopsies

In January 2017, after five months, Hawken was declared to be in remission. Pictured: Hawken with his mother, Shannon

'It's a challenge,' Dr Rabi Hanna, chairman of the pediatric hematology-oncology and bone marrow transplantation departments at the Cleveland Clinic, who treated Hawken, told Fox 8.

'It is the most aggressive cancer that we have. This tumor doubles in size every 24 [to] 48 hours.'

At the end of the complicated treatment plan, in January 2017, Hawken was declared to be in remission.

His immune system is still compromised from his cancer battle, but his parents say the journey has put their lives in perspective.

'The things I used to get worked up about are so meaningless,' Shannon told Fox 8.

'And I think we can all be a little more patient, a little bit more caring 'cause we're all coming with something.'

The Hunts have also founded a non-profit called LifExtraordinary to support families battling cancer and to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
Tooth decay may make colon cancer more aggressive, according to a new study.

The findings add to the growing swell of research that show oral health may be linked to much, much more than just the look and smell of our teeth.

In the last few years, research has shown dental plaque is linked to heart health, neurological disorders, and tumor growth.

And now Dr Yiping Han, a pioneer in this emerging field, has found another connection: people with bowel cancer may be harder to treat if they have poor oral health.

The findings by Columbia University add to the growing swell of research that show oral health may be linked to much, much more than just the look and smell of our teeth

Dr Han, of Columbia University's College of Dental Medicine, said the finding helps explain why some cases advance far more quickly than others.

Ultimately, it suggests we may be blinkering our vision by focusing on the tumor's mutations alone, rather than other factors.

'Mutations are just part of the story,' Dr Han said.

'Other factors, including microbes, can also play a role.'

The research team worked out how F. nucleatum - a common oral bacteria often implicated in tooth decay - accelerates the growth of colon cancer.

A third of colorectal cancers are associated with a common oral bacterium called F. nucleatum.

Those cases are often the most aggressive, but nobody knew why.

In a previous study, Dr Han's research team discovered that the bacterium makes a molecule called FadA adhesin, triggering a signaling pathway in colon cells that has been implicated in several cancers.

They also found that FadA adhesin only stimulates the growth of cancerous cells, not healthy cells.

Dr Han said: 'We needed to find out why F. nucleatum only seemed to interact with the cancerous cells.'

In the new study, the researchers found in cell cultures that non-cancerous colon cells lack a protein, called Annexin A1, which stimulates cancer growth.

They then confirmed both in vitro and later in mice that disabling Annexin A1 prevented F. nucleatum from binding to the cancer cells, slowing their growth.

The researchers also discovered that F. nucleatum increases production of Annexin A1, attracting more of the bacteria.

Dr Han said: 'We identified a positive feedback loop that worsens the cancer's progression.

'We propose a two-hit model, where genetic mutations are the first hit. F. nucleatum serves as the second hit, accelerating the cancer signaling pathway and speeding tumour growth.'

The researchers then looked at an RNA-sequencing data set, available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information of 466 patients with primary colon cancer.

Their findings, published online in the journal EMBO Reports, showed that patients with increased Annexin A1 expression had a worse prognosis, regardless of the cancer grade and stage, age, or sex.

The research team is now looking for ways to develop Annexin A1 as a biomarker for more aggressive cancers, and as a potential target for developing new treatments for bowel and other types of cancer.
The life-saving MMR vaccine does not lead to autism, researchers have confirmed.

Anti-vaxxers have peddled the dangerous myth for almost 25 years, after a now debunked study suggested there was a link between the two.

But scientists have once again shot the controversial theory in the foot, by analysing data from more than 650,000 children given the jab.

The findings, by Danish experts, come amid soaring rates of measles across the world, with cases spiking by 50 per cent in the space of a year.

Andrew Wakefield, the now-disgraced doctor who led a retracted 1995 study that wrongly linked the MMR jab to autism, has reportedly been with supermodel Elle Macpherson, 51, for over a year and is said to be 'infatuated' with her

MMR protects against measles  a highly contagious viral infection which can prove deadly  as well as mumps and rubella.

The number of children in the UK having MMR vaccinations  which are given free by the NHS in the UK  has been falling for years.

The World Health Organization has already this year declared anti-vaxxers as one of the top 10 threats to global health, alongside pollution and climate change.

Researchers at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen looked at every child born in Denmark to Danish-born mothers between 1999 and 2000.

WHAT IS MEASLES, WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS AND HOW CAN YOU CATCH IT? Measles is a highly contagious viral infection that spreads easily from an infected person by coughing, sneezing or even just breathing. Symptoms develop between six and 19 days after infection, and include a runny nose, cough, sore eyes, a fever and a rash. The rash appears as red and blotchy marks on the hairline that travel down over several days, turning brown and eventually fading. Some children complain of disliking bright lights or develop white spots with red backgrounds on their tongue. In one in 15 cases, measles can cause life-threatening complications including pneumonia, convulsions and encephalitis. Dr Ava Easton, chief executive of the Encephalitis Society told MailOnline: 'Measles can be very serious. '[It] can cause encephalitis which is inflammation of the brain. 'Encephalitis can result in death or disability.' Treatment focuses on staying hydrated, resting and taking painkillers, if necessary. Measles can be prevented by receiving two vaccinations, the first at 13 months old and the second at three years and four months to five years old. Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital Advertisement

Ukraine saw 30,000 more cases of measles in 2018 than it did in 2017, while Brazil had more than 10,000 people diagnosed compared with none at all the year before

In hope of spelling an end to the autism fears, they wanted to prove whether or not the MMR vaccine does increase the risk for the spectrum disorder in children.

The children were followed-up age one and until 2013  when some of the youngsters in the study were 14.

Recommended jabs for all children by the age of 18 Vaccinations for various unpleasant and deadly diseases are given free on the NHS to children and teenagers. Here is a list of all the jabs someone should have by the age of 18 to make sure they and others across the country are protected: Eight weeks old 6-in-1 vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and hepatitis B.

Pneumococcal (PCV)

Rotavirus

Meningitis B 12 weeks old Second doses of 6-in-1 and Rotavirus 16 weeks old Third dose of 6-in-1

Second doses of PCV and men. B One year old Hib/meningitis C

Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR)

Third dose of PCV and meningitis B Two to eight years old Annual children's flu vaccine Three years, four months old Second dose of MMR

4-in-1 pre-school booster for diptheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough 12-13 years old (girls) HPV (two doses within a year) 14 years old 3-in-1 teenage booster for diptheria, tetanus and polio

MenACWY Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

Around one per cent of the children went on to develop autism, which affects social interaction, communication, interests and behaviour.

The team found no significant difference in rates of autism between children given the MMR jab and those who weren't.

And there was no increased risk of autism for those children deemed to be at a higher risk because their sibling is already on the spectrum.

The researchers, led by Dr Anders Hviid, published their findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine  a scientific journal.

Dr Hviid and colleagues wrote in the publication: 'We found no support for the hypothesis of increased risk for autism after MMR vaccination.'

Scientists around the world are still trying to get to the bottom of what causes autism, which strikes around one in 100 people.

Currently, the medical community believes the disorder could be caused by a mixture of genes and environmental factors, such as being exposed to alcohol in the womb.

The Lancet published a study in 1995 which showed children given the MMR jab were more likely to have bowel disease and autism.

As a result, MMR vaccination rates in the US and the UK plummeted, dipping below the 80 per cent mark in the UK at the height of the fears.

Dr Richard Horton, editor of The Lancet, publically described the research as 'fundamentally flawed' in 2004  nine years after it was published.

Dr Horton alleged that Andrew Wakefield, the gastroenterologist behind the paper, was paid by a group pursuing lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers.

The prestigious medical journal finally retracted the paper in 2010.

Just three months after his paper was pulled, Wakefield was banned from practising medicine in Britain by the General Medical Council.

In 2011, the British Medical Journal conducted a damning probe into the findings of Wakefield's original study.

Its investigation found only two of the 12 children included developed autistic symptoms after being vaccinated  as opposed to the eight Wakefield claimed.

The study comes after figures in September revealed the number of children being given the MMR vaccine has fallen for the fourth year in a row.

Infants are expected to have their first dose before their second birthday. But only 91.2 per cent of children across England had met the target in 2018.

The number was down from 92.7 per cent in 2014  the highest level of the past decade years  and from 91.6 per cent in 2017, NHS Digital data revealed.

Measles is more contagious than Ebola and, although it usually clears up on its own within a couple of weeks, can cause deadly complications like meningitis and pneumonia
Health officials in New York City have branded a single yeshiva - a Jewish Orthodox school - the driver of new measles cases.

The center in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is linked to 21 of the 31 new cases of measles in the city, driving up the total number of cases to 121 since the outbreak began in October.

Orthodox Jewish communities have been hardest-hit by the spread.

Of the cases, 108 are in children under age 18 and eight people have been hospitalized.

The health department says Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov, and two other schools, disobeyed standing orders to keep out unvaccinated children.

City officials say if the yeshivas had simply complied, the outbreak might have been nearing its end instead of continuing to spread.

Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (pictured), has been linked to 21 of the 31 new measles cases identified in New York City after it disobeyed a standing order and allowed students who were unvaccinated to attend school

The Health Department has doubled down on efforts to promote vaccines in the Orthodox Jewish community, where there has traditionally been some resistance to immunization.

Thanks to the campaign, health officials say they were able to vaccinate an additional 7,000 children.

In December, the health department said students in certain zip codes in Borough Park and Williamsburg who were not up-to-date on the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine would not be allowed to attend school.

Currently, about 1,800 students are not attending school because of the order.

But, according to WNYC, at least three schools disobeyed the order. Among them is the biggest culprit: Yeshiva Kehilath Yakov in Williamsburg.

'This yeshiva went out of compliance with the Health Department's exclusion order in mid-January, allowing an unvaccinated student who had measles but had not yet begun presenting symptoms [to attend school],' the department said in a press release.

Dr Demetre Daskalakis, Deputy Commissioner of Disease Control for the city, told WNYC that if the school had not violated the order, the outbreak would be close to over.

'The unvaccinated kid who got measles wouldn't have been in the school and there wouldn't have been a bunch of other [unvaccinated] students in the school and they wouldn't have gotten measles,' he said.

'So we would actually be at closer to what would be the tail end of this outbreak.'

WHAT ARE THE POSSIBLE COMPLICATIONS OF MEASLES? Most people will recover from measles within one or two weeks, but sometimes complications can develop. People most at risk include teenagers and adults, babies younger than age one and children with weakened immune systems. Common complications include diarrhea and vomiting, middle-ear or eye infections, laryngitis, fits caused by a fever, and lung infections such as pneumonia, bronchitis and croup. About one in every 15 infected children will develop one of these. Less common complications include hepatitis, meningitis and a brain infection called encephalitis. Rare complications include serious eye disorders which can lead to vision loss, heart and nervous system problems, and a fatal brain infection called subacute sclerosing panencephalitis  this is very rare and only happens in one in every 25,000 cases. Having measles during pregnancy increases the risk of the baby having a low birth weight, premature birth, or stillbirth or miscarriage. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children receive the first dose at 12 to 15 months old and the second dose at four to six years old.

However, two weeks ago, the NYC Health Department began recommending that clinicians in Orthodox Jewish communities administer an extra, early dose of the MMR shot in children between aged six to 11 months

It comes on the heels of a congressional hearing last week during which heads of federal health agencies confirmed that the US has counted more measles cases in the first two months of this year than in all of 2017.

So far, 159 cases of measles have been confirmed in 10 states, hitting New York and the Pacific Northwest the hardest.

At the hearing, Dr Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, said the measles vaccine is highly effective and the fact that cases are on the rise 'is really unacceptable'.

He believes the spreading of misinformation about jabs has left many parents vaccine hesitant and, therefore, have raised their child's risk of catching life-threatening diseases.

'Misinformation is an important problem,' Dr Fauci said, according to NBC News.

'The spread of misinformation that leads people to make poor choices, despite their well-meaning, is a major contributor to the problem we're discussing.'

Measles is a highly contagious infection caused by the measles virus.

When someone with measles coughs, sneezes or talks, infected droplets are sprayed into the air, where other people can inhale them and are then infected.

Symptoms present themselves between 10 to 14 days after infection and include fever, cough, runny nose and a total-body skin rash.

Once common, the disease is now rare due to the MMR vaccine.

The vaccine is about 97 percent effective. But those who are unvaccinated have a 90 percent chance of catching measles if they breathe the virus in, according to the CDC.

Before the measles vaccine was available, more than 500,000 cases were diagnosed in the US every year, with about 500 annual deaths.

In 2018, 349 cases of measles were confirmed in 26 states and the District of Columbia, the CDC reported.

It is the second-greatest number since measles was considered eradicated in the US in 2000.
Health officials have ditched a panel of experts reviewing scores of deaths at a scandal-hit maternity unit amid conflict of interest fears.

The Government-ordered inquiry is reviewing around 220 suspicious incidents at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust dating back two decades  including 200 deaths.

However, last week families expressed fury at the supervising panel, accusing some of the experts of being implicated in the scandal.

And now NHS Improvement has disbanded the controversial panel, saying it will ensure that families are given the answers they need.

Rhiannon Davies from Ludlow, Shropshire, pictured with her daughter Kate moments after she was born on March 1, 2009. The infant died just six hours later

Families at the heart of the scandal believe the appointments were put in place to water down the review's findings.

Today the affected families praised the NHS Improvement annoucement, claiming the 'obstruction of truth has been prevented'.

Allegations of a cover-up or conflict of interest have been rejected by those on the panel.

NHS Improvement chief operating officer, Dr Kathy McLean, said the body was committed to ensuring Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust learns as much as it can from the review.

Dr McLean added: 'In response to feedback from families, NHS Improvement has decided to stand down the independent review panel.'

She claimed the intention had 'always' been to provide additional scrutiny to the review, being undertaken by senior independent midwife Donna Ockenden.

Richard Stanton, pictured with his wife Rhiannon Stanton-Davies, pictured, last week accused the NHS trust of trying to cover up the cause of their daughter's death

Maternity staff wouldn't listen to us Devan Cadwallader was admitted to Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, carrying a healthy baby. But in the delivery suite four days later, doctors told her that daughter Quinn had no heartbeat. Mrs Cadwallader, 25, said that before going into labour she told hospital staff that the baby's movement had slowed down, but she was assured everything was normal. Devan Cadwallader pictured with her husband Gavin The findings of an internal review were inconclusive, and a post-mortem examination failed to find a cause of death. Mrs Cadwallader and her husband Gavin, from Shrewsbury, believe their baby's stillbirth last December was preventable. 'If our concerns had been listened to, she could have survived,' she said. The hospital trust said it had asked the couple if they would allow their case to be referred to the independent review of its maternity services. Advertisement

But Dr McLean added: 'It is clear that its role has prompted concerns, which we hope are now resolved.

'The review remains completely independent and NHS Improvement will ensure that families are given the answers they need and that lessons are learnt.'

The panel included the head of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG), which produced a damning report into the trust two years ago that went unpublished.

Instead, the college was allegedly paid by the trust to write up a glowing 'progress update' nine months later which essentially whitewashed their own findings.

Had the college published its first report  or alerted NHS watchdogs  subsequent tragedies may have been avoided.

The review's panel also included the head of the Royal College of Midwives, which for years has been focussed on women having natural births rather than caesareans.

Furthermore, the Royal College of Midwives is the union representing those midwives from the trust whose alleged poor care led to tragedy.

The panel also includes two officials from NHS Improvement, the regulator which failed to pick up on the trust's higher-than-average baby death rate.

And the panel also included staff from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which had previously written reports on the trust.

Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton, the parents of baby Kate, who died at the trust in 2009, praised the intervention.

In a statement to the Health Service Journal, the parents said: 'Thanks again to the incredible strength of bereaved families.

'Working in conjunction with respected media, the obstruction of the truth has been prevented.

'The removal of this so-called scrutiny panel is the right decision, the only decision.

The Government-ordered inquiry is reviewing around 220 suspicious incidents at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust  including 200 deaths

Shrewsbury's maternity services have been in the spotlight since April 2017, when the former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered a review (pictured, a Mail headline last August)

'We can only hope the professionals with whom Donna Ockenden is conducting her review will not have been so grossly insulted by the creation of the panel that they choose to quit.'

Last week, it emerged that a CQC panel member, Nigel Acheson, had previously led an inspection of the trust in 2017.

A year after his 'requires improvement' verdict, the CQC went back to the trust and rated it inadequate with serious safety concerns in maternity.

In a statement, Professor Ted Baker, CQC's chief inspector of hospitals, said the watchdog did not believe Dr Acheson was conflicted.

Both the RCOG and RCM have rejected claims they were compromised by being members of the panel.

Shrewsbury's maternity services have been in the spotlight since April 2017, when the former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered a review.

It was initially investigating 23 cases of alleged poor care but in recent months it has expanded as dozens more families have come forward.

Some claim their babies died after they were encouraged to have natural births, while others accuse midwives of missing fatal infections in their newborns.

The total number of babies who have died or been harmed is expected to eclipse the tragedy at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay in Cumbria.

There, 16 babies and three women died unnecessarily over ten years.

The failures at Shrewsbury have been pinned on a lack of training, a culture of denial and a failure to intervene when labours went wrong.
Smaller countries that spend less on healthcare are healthier and happier than their big-spending peers, according to a new report.

Although Canada was named the happiest and healthiest country in the world in the annual global index, the top 10 was rounded out by small economies.

The US and the UK didn't make it into the top 10 - falling 37th and 15th, respectively - despite their low levels of poverty and groundbreaking medical innovation.

Oman came second, followed by Iceland, the Philippines, the Maldives, and the Netherlands - all boasting low rates of depression, alcohol use, and smoking, and high levels of happiness and exercise.

Ultimately, economists suggest, bigger, more robust economies have not traditionally focused on individuals' wellness and happiness as an important factor, prioritizing general growth of their healthcare systems.

But smaller countries appear to be bucking that trend, with impressive results.

These are the top 25 healthiest and happiest countries in the world, according to a new index

The US falls between Canada (the best) and South Africa (the worst). It was docked points for low levels of exercise, high rates of obesity, and depression

The UK was also docked points for inactivity and obesity, and also for high alcohol use levels

'[A]lthough there are countries in the Top 25 and in the G20 with a high GDP (and hence high healthcare spending), this does not translate into positive lifestyle factors, with rich countries experiencing high rates of depression and obesity,' the authors wrote.

'A striking observation is the finding that while rich countries tend to lead the Index, there are many emerging economies that are doing better than advanced nations.

'This reflects the huge increases in life expectancy in these countries in recent years, and the poor scores for depression and obesity that advanced countries like the United States receive.'

This graph shows how the top 25 countries ranked in each category. Poor scores are marked by a purple dot, average scores by a yellowy-green, and good scores by a deep green

Looking exclusively at the G20 nations, the UK came third, after Canada and South Korea. The US came eighth, behind China, Australia, Indonesia, and France.

South Africa came last in the G20 ranking and overall, despite seeing booming growth and boosts to its healthcare funding in the early 2000s. That result, analysts say, hammers home the point: GDP alone is not enough to boost a nation's wellness.

Looking at the 20 most populous countries, the Philippines came top for its low rates of depression and obesity.

Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia rounded out the top five - all places with low rates of depression, obesity and alcohol use, despite low healthcare spending.

Among the G20 nations, the UK came third, after Canada and South Korea. The US came eighth, behind China, Australia, Indonesia, and France
Nearly 200 students at an Illinois middle school called out sick last week due to a flu outbreak.

On Tuesday, 158 preteens at South Middle School in Arlington Heights called out with possible flu cases and 23 others were sent home.

By Wednesday, the number of students out jumped to 185 and another seven were told to go home.

Officials say that's more than 20 percent of the school's population of 884 kids, reported CBS Chicago.

It comes amid fears that the deadlier H3N2 strain has begun to spread. It's not clear what strain is responsible for this outbreak, but health officials warn that anyone who has not been vaccinated take preventative measures to avoid getting sick.

On Tuesday, 158 students at South Middle School in Arlington Heights, Illinois (pictured), called out with possible flu cases. On Wednesday, that number jumped to 185, which is more than 20 percent of the school's population

A South Middle School spokesman said it's not clear how many of the call-outs are actual flu cases but, so far, 30 students have been confirmed to have influenza A.

School administrators sent letters to parents urging them to keep their children home from school if they're sick.

This includes if they have symptoms such as a sore throat, an ear ache, runny nose, coughing or a temperature of 99.5F or higher.

'Encourage your student to take care of their needs and respect the needs of others by following these guidelines,' the letter read in part, according to CBS Chicago.

The letter also said the school's custodial team is disinfecting certain areas of the school more frequently in an attempt to control the outbreak.

'Several of our teachers had students using their school supplies wipes to address personal items and surfaces around them in the classroom/lockers,' the letter read.

The school will also be planning on teaching students preventative measures such as washing hands and using hand sanitizer.

Parents say they're worried about the uptick in cases and that the outbreak could spread even further.

'The school is a big petri dish, and if one kid comes to school sick, it kind of just snowballs,' Robert Smith, a parent at South Middle School, told CBS Chicago.

'I think the important thing is that the parents learn that, as much as it's convenient to send your kid to school, because of whatever arrangement you have at home, it's more important to keep them home to get well, and not infect other kids.'

Last week, Chicago officials announced the city's first pediatric flu death and third overall in Illinois of the 2018-19 season.

No information regarding the victim's name, age or sex have been released by the health department.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed last week that 19,000 deaths have been recorded so far for the 2018-19 flu season.

It's considerably lower than the more than 80,000 Americans who died the previous season, 179 of which were children.

The CDC said 80 percent of the children who died were not vaccinated.

Additionally, the National Institutes of Health said this year's flu shot is 47 percent effective overall and 61 percent effective for children between ages six months and 17 years old compared with 30 percent overall last year.

However, a weekly report released by the CDC on Friday showed that the second half of this season could be much more deadly.

The report revealed that, two weeks ago, one in 20 doctor' visits were flu-related, which is much higher than normal.
Within seconds of eating chocolate, I sneeze three or four times. Im in my mid-80s and this has only just started. Is it an allergy and, if so, why has it taken so long to develop?

Alan Gardner, Sheffield.

I first came across this phenomenon during my training, while working in the nose clinic at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London  since then, I have seen a surprising number of patients with the issue.

Youll be relieved to hear that it is not believed to be an allergy  so you can still eat chocolate. Thats because the sneezing isnt accompanied by any other symptoms of an allergic response, such as itching in or around the mouth or hives (and allergy tests carried out on my own patients with chocolate reactions confirmed this).

Instead, its thought to be caused by a reflex  possibly a variant of the photic sneeze reflex, where sneezing is triggered by exposure to the sun or bright lights.

Fact: Its thought sunlight-induced sneezes are due to crossed wires in the trigeminal nerve. It is believed that, sometimes, signals about sunlight cross over into the nose branch, which leads to them being mistaken for a tickle in the nose.Something similar occurs with chocolate.

This genetic quirk, passed down through families, affects around one in five people and has long been a source of intrigue. In Ancient Greece, Aristotle asked why the sun provoked sneezing  and there are even tales of knights in armour sneezing when setting their eyes on pretty maidens.

Its thought sunlight-induced sneezes are due to crossed wires in the trigeminal nerve. This large and complex nerve has three branches that transmit information to the brain from the eyes, nose and jaw.

It is believed that, sometimes, signals about sunlight cross over into the nose branch, which leads to them being mistaken for a tickle in the nose  and a sneeze is triggered.

Something similar may occur with chocolate.

It contains theobromine, a bitter-tasting compound known to suppress dry coughs by acting on the vagus nerve  another nerve that carries crucial information between the body and brain.

In this case, erroneous cross-talk between the vagus nerve and the trigeminal nerve may somehow set off a sneeze.

It is also possible flavonoids, antioxidants found in cocoa beans, may be involved  some stimulate the production of nitric oxide, a chemical that helps widen blood vessels.

Did you know? Chocolate contains theobromine, a bitter-tasting compound known to suppress dry coughs by acting on the vagus nerve  another nerve that carries crucial information between the body and brain.

This prompts me to suggest that perhaps, in rare cases, chocolate fuels a brief rush of blood in the capillaries within the nasal lining  this is interpreted by the brain as a tickle, and a sneeze ensues.

Why this should become an issue at this point in your life is unclear, though it might depend upon chocolate type and purity. For example, the milk in milk chocolate may interfere with the absorption of some of the sneeze-inducing constituents.

If this is the case, then dark chocolate may be more likely to make you sneeze.

This is speculation but, if it tallies with your experience, eating milk chocolate  in moderation, of course  may make you less likely to sneeze.

In your opinion, how safe are mammograms and, in particular, the possible risks posed by radiation and trauma damage to the breasts caused by the crushing pressure?

Paula Fielding, Newcastle upon Tyne.

This is an area of concern for many women. However, the mammogram is the only breast imaging technology that is proven to reduce breast cancer-related deaths.

Mammograms are X-rays that can spot breast tumours too small to see or feel. In fact, they may detect cancer between one and four years before a lump is evident. They are offered to all women aged 50 to 70 every three years and to women who have symptoms that need investigation, such as a lump.

During the procedure, the breast is compressed between X-ray plates and images are taken from above and the side.

Write to Dr Scurr To contact Dr Scurr with a health query, write to him at Good Health Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email drmartin@dailymail.co.uk  including contact details. Dr Scurr cannot enter into personal correspondence. His replies cannot apply to individual cases and should be taken in a general context. Always consult your own GP with any health worries. Advertisement

Your concern over radiation is understandable, but the typical dose is only 0.7 millisieverts (mSv), about the same amount you receive over three months from the radiation naturally present in our environment.

Furthermore, the compression  necessary for good-quality images  does not, despite the discomfort (which can be extreme), cause any damage.

The process is not without risk, however. As I see it, the greatest problems are false positives and overdiagnoses.

If a woman has a mammogram every three years from the age of 50, the chance of a false positive result  when healthy tissue is wrongly flagged up as being abnormal  is 20 per cent.

More than one in ten of these will go on to have the lump removed, only for it to turn out to be non-cancerous. This can cause unnecessary anxiety and undermine confidence in the healthcare system.

However, we cant distinguish between women for whom the disease could prove fatal and women who have cancer that may never prove problematic, so the patient can be burdened with gruelling treatments.

Indeed, for every woman whose life is saved by screening, three more are offered treatment they did not need.

But its crucial to remember that screening can detect a cancer that, if not spotted early, could prove life-threatening.

On that basis, surely it does more good than harm.
DR BRONNER'S

140g, 8.74, amazon.co.uk

Proof? sadly, theres no evidence coconut oil is helpful in toothpaste such as this

CLAIM: Made with cinnamon oil and coconut oil  said to clean teeth and freshen breath  plus baking soda to whiten teeth.

EXPERT VERDICT: This might help kill some harmful bacteria in the mouth: a laboratory study in New Zealand showed cinnamon oil can kill Streptococcus mutans, which causes tooth decay, and Lactobacillus plantarum, which can cause gum disease.

Meanwhile, baking soda is a mild abrasive, which will help to clean teeth without damaging them. But theres no evidence coconut oil is helpful in toothpaste.

Crucially, though, none of these will work as well as fluoride, which is missing here. In low concentrations, fluoride is proven to strengthen the enamel surface on teeth, making them more resistant to decay. 5/10

REGENERATE FOAMING

50ml, 10, boots.com

Top tip: Use mouthwash only after eating rather than after brushing, so you dont wash away the protective fluoride from toothpaste

CLAIM: Proven to reverse erosion caused by acid from food and drink. This mouthwash contains sodium fluoride and sodium phosphate, which help to restore enamel. Use after brushing and after eating snacks.

EXPERT VERDICT: There is some evidence the two active ingredients in this strengthen enamel and dentine (the delicate layer inside a tooth). However, most of it comes from their use in toothpaste  not mouthwash  where they stay on the teeth for longer.

Actually, Id recommend using mouthwash only after eating rather than after brushing, so you dont wash away the protective fluoride from your toothpaste.

Rinsing after eating clears the mouth of food debris  which causes bad breath  and dilutes the damaging effect of acids in food, particularly if the mouthwash contains fluoride, like this product does. 7/10

JML DENTAPIC SONIC

19.99, wilko.com

Don't! You shouldnt do dentistry on yourself  its a job for an expert with the correct tools

CLAIM: This battery-operated gadget apparently vibrates 3,000 times per minute to dislodge plaque and remove stains. Used alongside brushing, it comes with a tip for scaling, a tip for flossing and an LED light and mirror. The maker says its safe to use on orthodontics, crowns and veneers.

EXPERT VERDICT: You shouldnt do dentistry on yourself  its a job for an expert with the correct tools. To say it is safe to use on crowns, veneers and orthodontics is a big claim  and not one Id want to put to the test.

The type of ultrasonic scaler a hygienist uses vibrates 18,000 to 50,000 times per second  a lot faster than this. At best, this is probably not powerful enough to remove much in the way of plaque and stains. At worst, it could harm your teeth and gums. 0/10

BELLA BRIGHTON CHARCOAL POWDER

30g, 11.33, amazon.co.uk

Truth: Research has found hyaluronic acid helps with the healing process in the mouth, including with ulcers and inflamed gums

CLAIM: A powder with four ingredients: hyaluronic acid for its gum-healing properties; coenzyme Q10 to reduce the risk of gum disease; MSM, a form of sulphur with anti-inflammatory effects; and activated charcoal to remove plaque and stains. Dip a wet toothbrush in it, then brush for two minutes.

EXPERT VERDICT: Research has found hyaluronic acid helps with the healing process in the mouth, including with ulcers and inflamed gums. Coenzyme Q10 may improve gum health by reducing inflammation, but the evidence isnt conclusive.

Meanwhile, MSM is thought to have an anti-inflammatory effect  but there are no studies to show beneficial effects on teeth or gums. And a review in the Journal of the American Dental Association found no good evidence that charcoal can reduce teeth stains or fight plaque. 4/10

WHITE TEETH BOX CHARCOAL BAMBOO FLOSS

30 metres, 4.95, thewhiteteethbox.com

Fad? The charcoal adds nothing to the oral health benefits of this floss, as there is no evidence that its antibacterial

CLAIM: Most dental floss is made from nylon, which cant be recycled, but this is made from bamboo and plant wax, which can. Its infused with charcoal which, the maker says, is naturally antibacterial and helps to encourage blood circulation.

EXPERT VERDICT: There are no studies looking at the effectiveness of using bamboo thread to floss, but the idea behind it sounds great and the plant-derived wax may help it pass between the teeth more easily than nylon floss.

The charcoal adds nothing to the oral health benefits of this floss, as there is no evidence that its antibacterial  my advice would be to try it and see if you like it.

There hasnt been any significant research into the abrasiveness of charcoal, but theres also no evidence its harmful. 5/10

POLISHED LONDON ALOE MOUTHWASH

200ml, 8.99, polishedwhitening.com

Thumbs-up: Theres some good research to show that an aloe vera mouthwash can have a beneficial effect on gum health

CLAIM: An alcohol-free mouth rinse that contains aloe vera, it is said to neutralise bad breath and oral bacteria and relieve sore gums. Rinse for one minute daily.

EXPERT VERDICT: Alcohol-free is a good thing when it comes to mouthwash, as studies have shown that high concentrations of alcohol can harm the cells on the inside of the mouth, which can lead to oral cancers.

Theres some good research to show that an aloe vera mouthwash can have a beneficial effect on gum health, by killing off the bacteria that cause plaque and lead to gum disease to about the same degree as a standard antiseptic mouthwash that contains chlorhexidine (such as Corsodyl). Id recommend using this  as with all mouthwashes  at a different time to brushing, as using it straight after will wash away most of the protective fluoride in your toothpaste. 8/10

LISTERINE GO! TABS

Pack of 16, 3.50, boots.com

Nope! There is nothing in these tabs that would kill the mouth bacteria to neutralise odours, as claimed...

CLAIM: Essentially a sugar-free chewy mint  with sweeteners  these tabs transform from a solid to liquid in your mouth and freshen breath on the move. You chew one for ten seconds, swish the liquid around your mouth for 30 seconds to clean it, then swallow.

EXPERT VERDICT: There is nothing in these tabs that would kill the mouth bacteria to neutralise odours, as claimed.

While they wont clean your teeth, they will mask bad breath with a minty smell and leave you with a clean and fresh feeling  though nothing will leave your mouth feeling as clean and as fresh as two minutes of brushing with toothpaste.

Granted, the flavour is strong, but any sugar-free mint will do the same job at a fraction of the price. 3/10

RINGANA TOOTH OIL

125ml, 10.80, ringana.com

Complimentary: Some studies have shown turmeric is effective in preventing gum disease. Using this wont do any harm, so long as it doesnt replace normal brushing

CLAIM: Made with sesame oil, which is said to cling to bacteria in the mouth, plus turmeric extract, said to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Designed to replace toothpaste, you swill it around your mouth for a minute, then brush your teeth and tongue with a damp toothbrush and spit out.

EXPERT VERDICT: Oil-pulling, where a natural oil is swished around the mouth, has been used for centuries to clean teeth and gums. There is limited evidence that it reduces the amount of plaque bacteria, but it isnt better than brushing your teeth with a fluoride toothpaste.

Some studies have shown turmeric is effective in preventing gum disease. Using this wont do any harm, so long as it doesnt replace normal brushing. 7/10

CURAPROX BE YOU

A small study found echinacea in the form of mouthwash could help fight gum disease, but the other herbal ingredients wont do much

Six taster pack, 14.95, shop.curaprox.co.uk

CLAIM: Fluoride toothpastes in different flavours  including gin and tonic and grapefruit and bergamot  which promise to clean and whiten teeth. They contain herbs echinacea, devils claw and pennywort, plus panthenol, which the body converts into vitamin B5, which has a healing effect on gums.

EXPERT VERDICT: A small study found echinacea in the form of mouthwash could help fight gum disease, but the other herbal ingredients wont do much.

The different flavours are great for someone who doesnt like the taste of mint and might make them more likely to brush regularly. 5/10
Fiona Solomon complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation on behalf of the Solomon family, including her daughters, Jemma and Stacey, that Mail Online breached Clause 2 (Privacy) of the Editors Code of Practice in an article headlined: Stacey Solomon PICTURE EXLUSIVE: TV star wows in dove grey bridesmaid dress at her sisters wedding yet cant resist stealing a cigarette break before the nuptials, published on 25 August 2018.

The article reported that Stacey Solomon, a television presenter, had attended the wedding of her sister. The article was accompanied by a number of photographs of the wedding party taken in the grounds of the venue.

The complainants said that the photographs had been taken without their knowledge and consent while they had been engaged in private family life. The complainants said that, apart from Stacey Solomon, the family was not in the public eye, and there was no public interest in reporting on the wedding or publishing photos from it.

The publication said that a wedding is the most public aspect of a relationship and no private information was revealed from the photographs. The publication said that weddings can never be private ceremonies and all civil wedding venues must ensure that the premises are open to the public. It said that although the photographer took steps not to intrude on the events on the day by keeping a respectful distance from the wedding party during the ceremony, the grounds would have been open to the public, as not to do so would have meant the venue being in breach of the licence conditions.

The photographer, without permission, had entered the grounds of the hotel, which the complainants had booked out for the purpose of the wedding. In such circumstances, the complainants had a reasonable expectation that the grounds of the hotel would be respected as a place where they could enjoy their private and family lives, without intrusion. The photographer had taken a number of photographs of the complainants in several locations which would not have easily been visible from the public road which ran alongside the hotel. These photographs had been taken, without the complainants knowledge and consent, while they had been socialising together and engaging in their private and family lives. Publishing photographs of the complainants taken in such circumstances represented an intrusion; the publication had not sought to justify the publication of the images in the public interest. The complaint under Clause 2 was upheld.
The Heron

Norfolk Crescent

Paddington, London

W2 2DN

Rating:

The Handlebar Club, founded by a group of wits, swells and raconteurs in 1947, asks only one thing of its members: A hirsute appendage of the upper lip with graspable extremities.

Born in The Windmill Theatre dressing room of comedian Jimmy Edwards, the club argues that being kissed by a smooth face (and members are, as far as I know, exclusively male) is akin to meat without salt.

Although beards are absolutely forbidden.

This aint talking food. This aint even thinking food. Its an edible bloody cattle prod, the filth and the fury made flesh

And at long last we have two west London restaurants that manage to replicate the regional dishes that make Thai food so damned thrilling

Meetings take place on the first Friday of every month, and for the past ten years, exuberantly moustachioed members have gathered at The Heron, a pub whose undoubtedly ugly exterior hides a boozily handsome heart.

Because this is a proper London pub, a daytime drinking delight, where world-weary regulars right various wrongs over cold pints of fizzy lager, sitting in the shadow of carved coats of arms, ornate mirrors, Victorian cash registers, Edwardian ephemera, Art Deco nymphs, Belle Epoque stained-glass lampshades and Coronation china. On the wall, George Best jostles for space with the Queen Mother, while theres a corner reserved for snaps of Handlebar Club notables.

Their extravagantly coiffed creations range from the Super Selleck and Rolling Roosevelt to Double Dali, Nuclear Nietzsche and the truly magnificent triple-pronged Kaiser Wilhelm. Its a stirring sight, even for those of us who favour the razor. For this is a club that wages extravagantly hirsute war with the bland, the boring and the generic.

And that war is a fitting description for the Thai food served downstairs. Because here, in a bleak subterranean room with only marginally more warmth than the average morgue, youll find some of the most thrilling Siamese grub in London. I kid you not. I first went a few years back.

And was blown away. For this was food that honked, hummed and hissed, with dishes cooked with little regard for timorous tongues. Then things changed. For the worse. The menu moved away from the true flavours of Thailand and retreated into mediocrity, taking refuge in the usual bloodless dirge of Bounty-flavoured bland curries, soggy noodles and soups with all the depth of a puddle.

A few months back, though, I heard news that Jo, the chef and co-owner, had tweaked the menu. And things had returned to what they once were. I was back within minutes. And have been back most weeks since. Eat downstairs if you must, but upstairs is better, in the pub, munching fistfuls of Yum Tou Tod, deep-fried peanuts mixed with chopped scud chillies, shards of lime and chunks of raw onion. The ultimate Thai booze food.

Then Goong Chae Nam Pla, raw prawns in a chilli and lime dressing. Topped with fat slivers of raw garlic, this dish is brutal, pure palate GBH, perhaps the fiercest dish Ive eaten in London. This aint talking food. This aint even thinking food. Its an edible bloody cattle prod, the filth and the fury made flesh.

You get an acidic hit first, then the sly whiff of fish sauce, then the punch of garlic, and a slowly building wave of pure capsicum shock and awe. It creeps up on you like a predatory tiger. One moment, alls well. The next, your eyes are streaming, your nose flowing and your tongue little more than a throbbing mass of useless gristle. Every drop of sweat sizzles, and you suddenly feel alive, drunk on endorphins, the whole world drenched in glorious Technicolor. Approach, though, with extreme caution. This baby bites back.

But its not all about the heat. Sure, the Som Tam Pu has a decent kick, but the balance  of the hot, sour and salty  is sublime. The soft chew of dried shrimp melds with the crisp crunch of papaya and peanut, and the brittle, mildly fetid crack of tiny salted crabs. Som Tum as it should be, a bracing cavalcade.

Chicken larb is more in the Isarn style, sharp with lime, and less herby and jungly than it its far northern cousin.

Theres a sigh of the woks breath, and a lusty scattering of roasted sticky rice powder, for that all-important nutty crunch. Things get rather more complex with Gang Som Goong Kai Cha Om, a soft, sour orange curry, with a herb omelette mixed in. Theres the ever-present whiff of fermented fish, but its subtle and gently muted, the polar opposite of those raw prawns, yet blessed with real depth.

Yuk Nam Khao Tod mixes crumbled rice balls with minced pork, chillies, peanuts and raw onion, another dish with soft, mildly spicy aplomb.

Plump home-made Isarn sausages have just the right amount of sour tang. The dishes here tend towards the north, and Bangkok, rather than the more southern-skewed dishes of the great 101 Thai Kitchen. But theres obviously room for both. And at long last we have two west London restaurants that manage to replicate the regional dishes that make Thai food so damned thrilling. So eat it and weep. Tears of pain. Or pleasure. Or both.

About 20 per head
Pack Of Lies

Menier Chocolate Factory, London Until Nov 17, 2hrs 30mins

Rating:

Salisbury was a pretty unlikely place for Kremlin assassins to strike. But then nowhere is too quiet for secret agents. Spool back to 1960, to the leafy London suburb of Ruislip.

The Jacksons are a very ordinary English couple with a schoolgirl daughter. Their humdrum lives are enlivened by their childless friends from Canada, the Krogers, who live next door.

One day a sort of policeman arrives. He wants to use their house as a surveillance post to watch the Krogers, who he believes are top-level Soviet agents. The Jacksons are to carry on their intimate friendship as normal, knowing they must either betray their friends or their country.

This is a juicy spy play with a pedigree cast. Above: Tracy-Ann Oberman as Helen Korger and Finty Williams as Barbara Jackson

This 1983 play  a tale of treachery and net curtains based on real events  is written by Hugh Whitemore, who died earlier this year.

Directed by Hannah Chissick, it is both a labour of love and a family affair. The couple were originally played by Judi Dench and her husband Michael Williams. Their daughter Finty Williams now takes on the lead role of Mrs Jackson.

She is fabulous as the uptight, mousy housewife, plumping cushions on a Fifties set (by Paul Farnsworth) of tasselled lampshades and swirly carpets, with a Ford Consul visibly parked off stage.

By the end she is a nervous wreck, vomiting into the kitchen sink as the act of not tipping off her good friend Helen  spy or no spy, she loves her  becomes an agony.

The plays great success is to show the corrosive effect of lying on a woman with no talent for it. From left: Jasper Britton, Chris Larkin, Macy Nyman, Finty Williams

In Williamss detailed performance you can see her conscience cracking in two. Chris Larkin (Maggie Smiths son  and a real chip off the old block) is also superb as her futile, purse-lipped hubby.

Jasper Britton is the well-mannered intelligence officer with a will of steel, in charge of the two young female lookouts whose presence in the house becomes increasingly resented.

Tracy-Ann Oberman is suitably blaring as the friend who grooms the Jacksons rebellious daughter Julie (Macy Nyman).

The actors double up as narrators  a clunky device. But the plays great success is to show the corrosive effect of lying on a woman with no talent for it and who is driven to the brink by self-disgust.

A juicy spy play with a pedigree cast.

Antony & Cleopatra

Olivier stage, National Theatre, London Until Jan 19, 3hrs 30mins

Rating:

This new modern-day production works a treat, cooking up a real chemistry between the reckless lovers  played by Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo  who let the world burn for the sake of love.

Even if it takes a liberty with the opening scene, it makes clearer than usual the choppy plot that zooms confusingly back and forth between Rome and Egypt. And it comes with a real snake  more anaconda than asp.

Fiennes starts off in a pair of hilarious white flares, spot on for this middle-aged warrior, uneasy in his lovesick, civilian skin. Fienness excellent performance is deepened by a note of permanent grief, as if he knows whats coming.

This new modern-day production works a treat, cooking up a real chemistry between the reckless lovers  played by Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo (above with Georgia Landers)

But it is Okonedo who blazes brightest. Totally spontaneous  as well as imperious, bitchy, funny and flouncy  she inhabits a dictator-ish pad of sunken pools and adoring assistants. Her love feels true and her emotional starvation, as her Antony comes and goes, seems tender and real.

Though with a dollop of old-fashioned Burton-and-Taylor glam, Simon Godwins fluid, film-like version is boldly now. It even features a submarine for the triumvirates at-sea conference, waves crashing on video.

Despite the dizzying over-use of the Olivier stages drum revolve, the plays elements of fake news and war reportage feel especially topical.

Of the cast Id single out Tim McMullans beautifully spoken Enobarbus, while Hannah Morrish gives us a real insight into the cold fate of Octavia and Fisayo Akinade is slyly funny in the small part of Eros. Nicholas Le Prevost is a comically confused Lepidus.

Mixing the private and the political, this impossibly epic play takes you to the heart of its obsession with Ancient Rome and its most famous couple. Humane and intelligent, this version allows Shakespeare to do the real work. The best Ant & Cleo in ages.

Trial By Laughter

Watermill Theatre, Newbury Until Oct 27, touring until Nov 24, 2hrs

Rating:

This is the story of William Hone, a satirist who ended up in the dock in 1817 for seditious libel and blasphemy.

His trial was political: Hones real offence was to ridicule the philandering fatso Prince Regent and the Tory Government.

This bewigged historical romp (like Garrows Law crossed with Blackadder) is written by Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye, and cartoonist Nick Newman  a pair of veteran raspberry-blowers.

This is the story of William Hone, a satirist who ended up in the dock in 1817 for seditious libel and blasphemy. Above: Dan Tetsell as Lord Ellenborough

Characters in this include members of the Royal Family, Cruikshank the caricaturist, Hazlitt the essayist and the vengeful judge Lord Ellenborough, determined to deport Hone to the colonies.

The courtroom scenes work best. An innocent-faced Joseph Prowen plays Hone, in terrible health and fighting three trials in three days, without defence counsel.

Hislop once said at the verdict of his own trial for libel: If thats justice, Im a banana.

Hone is the godfather of scribbling bananas. This enjoyable show is a heartfelt tribute to his subversive humour and sublime courage.

watermill.org.uk

The Unreturning

Theatre Royal Plymouth Touring until Mar 1, 1hr 45mins

Rating:

Three men returning home: a shell-shocked soldier in 1918; a laddish member of the Armed Forces, disgraced for attacking an Afghan civilian in 2013; and a British refugee, trying to get back to a war-torn UK from a refugee camp in Norway in 2026.

All yearn for their home town of Scarborough; brutalised and distraught, all discover the impossibility of going back to the way things once were.

Anna Jordans play moves frenetically between their stories; its relentless and pretty grim.

Anna Jordans play moves frenetically between the stories of three men returning home. Joe Layton (above) gives a particularly wrenching performance as Frankie, back from Afghanistan

The cast of four dont always make the more poetic moments sing but when it finds a groove in one narrative, allowing a character time to breathe, The Unreturning can be devastating.

Joe Layton gives a particularly wrenching performance as Frankie, back from Afghanistan.

This Frantic Assembly production, directed by Neil Bettles, navigates the whizzing eras and locations with an inventive staging: a large shipping container spins, and doors slam, like some extraordinarily bleak farce.

Flashbacks to war zones are conveyed through twisting, wrenching movements, while Andrzej Gouldings video, Zoe Spurrs lighting and Pete Malkins pounding sound design evoke the crash and boom of the sea and the battlefield alike.

Holly Williams

franticassembly.co.uk

Hogarth's Progress: The Art Of Success

Rating:

The Taste Of The Town 2hrs 20mins each

Rating:

Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames Until Oct 21

This double bill about the artist William Hogarth is titled Hogarths Progress  although he doesnt seem to make any.

The Art Of Success, from 1986, is set in 1730s London. A chippy yet arrogant Hogarth muses on art and ownership, but also has run-ins with his favourite prostitute, a female convict and his wife (a memorably vivid Ruby Bentall).

All are indignant at his treatment, and Nick Dears play is topical in tackling toxic masculinity.

This double bill about the artist William Hogarth is titled Hogarths Progress  although he doesnt seem to make any. Above: Keith Allen, a suitably belligerent Hogarth

But director Anthony Banks finds neither the rollicking ribaldry of a historical romp, nor the bite to make more pertinent points about gender politics.

If Bryan Dick lacks swagger as young Hogarth, Keith Allen, is perfect as the older man in new play The Taste Of The Town, as the artist falls out of fashion.

Allen is suitably belligerent and comically foul-mouthed. Its frothy fun, but in the end it doesnt have much to say.

Holly Williams

The Other Place

Park Theatre, London Until Oct 20, 1hr 20mins

Rating:

Neurologist Juliana is delivering a lecture to a room of doctors. Her slideshow is dotted with flashbacks or flash-forwards to a series of episodes: a consultation about the brain tumour she believes is responsible for her mounting cognitive difficulties; a fraught phone call with her daughter; explosive exchanges with her divorce-seeking husband.

But it turns out her daughter has been missing for years, her husband isnt leaving her and she is suffering from dementia, which is  with grim irony  her area of professional expertise.

Karen Archer blazes as the by turns furious, cunning and helpless Juliana, but the minor characters are largely underwritten and performances are correspondingly underpowered.

Despite not realising its considerable ambition, this is a compelling production that is as much about loss, memory and selfhood as it is about dementia.

Gwen Smith
Increasing numbers of local councils are introducing licensing schemes for landlords, costing them up to 1,000 to register.

One in five boroughs are now operating such schemes, which can require all landlords in a given area to obtain a licence or face criminal charges.

Their introduction leads to the question of whether councils are ushering a potential buy-to-let register by the back door, as calls for national landlord licensing have so far not been acted on.

Failing to obtain a licence is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution or fines

In some cases, landlords could have to fork out up to 1,000 to gain a licence, at a time when tax and regulatory changes are forcing many smaller landlords out of the sector.

Meanwhile, figures show that in some locations many more landlords have been prosecuted for not being licensed than for letting substandard properties.

This has led property industry figures to question whether these schemes actually protect tenants, or are just a council money-spinner and added cost to an already squeezed industry.

There are three main types of licensing scheme; mandatory, additional, and selective.

The first two apply only to houses of multiple occupation, such as house shares, while selective licensing can apply to any privately rented home within a designated area.

For this type of licence, the landlord can expect to pay anywhere between 500 and 1,000. Charges are then added if the landlord needs to make changes to their licence type.

A selective licence requires tenants as well as landlords to be vetted, and is usually implemented in boroughs with high levels of anti-social behaviour, low housing demand, poor property conditions, high levels of migration, high levels of deprivation, or high levels of crime.

Failing to obtain a licence in these cases is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution or a financial penalty of up to 30,000.

On conviction, the landlord can face an unlimited fine.

Campaign groups argue that these schemes have been necessary to bring living conditions in certain areas up to acceptable standards - and have in fact led to the prosecution of hundreds of rogue landlords.

As an example, London's Newham Council, which piloted the scheme in 2012, reported that in its first two-and-a-half years it made 611 prosecutions against 492 landlords.

Polly Neate, chief executive of housing charity Shelter, said: 'Too many renters suffer at the hands of landlords who regularly exploit their tenants.

'Licensing schemes, alongside the new national database of law-breaking landlords, and banning orders, are all tools that can help councils to identify and stamp rogues out.'

Dan Wilson Craw, director of campaign group Generation Rent, agreed: 'Providing a home is a huge responsibility so it's reasonable to have safeguards in place to ensure that homes that are let out are safe.

'Licensing also gives councils a streamlined process to tackle criminal landlords that can save them months of work building up a case that isn't guaranteed to be successful.'

Landlords have accused councils of implementing the schemes as a way to increase revenue

Are the councils fleecing landlords?

Trade bodies and lobbyists argue however that the schemes are ineffective at rooting out criminal landlords, with some accusing local councils of viewing licensing schemes as money-making opportunities.

David Smith, policy director for the Residential Landlords Association, said: 'Licensing by its very nature relies on landlords to pro-actively make themselves known to their local authority.

BUY-TO-LET YIELD CALCULATOR This calculator shows the rental return on your investment property as a percentage of its value Property value:  Monthly rent:  ::: Calculate ::: Annual rent: Yield:

'Criminal landlords who fail to provide secure and safe accommodation to their tenants will not come forward.

'Councils need a much smarter system that frees them up to find and root out those criminals who will never willingly make themselves known.'

Chris Norris, of the National Landlords Association, went as far as to suggest that councils were using licensing schemes as money-making operations.

'There has been a noticeable increase in selective licensing schemes across the country,' he said.

'More are likely to be introduced as councils look to increase their revenue under the guise of improving housing standards and cracking down on anti-social behaviour.'

While these schemes do generate plenty of cash for the councils, millions of pounds in some cases, by law the revenue is ring fenced and councils cannot make a profit  the money must be spent on raising standards in the local private rented sector.

Selective licensing does not always lead to a widespread crackdown on rogue landlords

Are tenants better off?

The introduction of selective licensing does not always lead to a widespread crackdown on rogue landlords.

For example, Croydon Council, whose controversial licensing scheme had collected an estimated 6million as of last year, only made a single prosecution in the whole of 2017, according to local reports.

In many other publicized cases, prosecutions tended to result from a failure to hold the correct licence rather than a breach of the housing act - which in no way proves that the landlords were not providing adequate housing to their tenants.

For example, as of 2016 Thanet District Council had made 26 successful prosecutions against landlords, of which only three were for breaches of the housing act, while 23 were for failing to obtain a selective licence.

NLA's Chris Norris said: 'If selective licensing schemes are used appropriately and in a targeted fashion, they can be an effective tool for councils to improve housing standards.

'However, they need to be implemented properly, fully resourced, and enforced.'

Shelter's Polly Neate agreed: 'We know when councils are able to take full advantage of the powers available, including licensing, they can make a big difference.

'But often, they simply don't have the resources to use all of their policing powers effectively.

'With the private rental market expanding, the government must act by giving councils the proper funds needed to get the job done.'
Four out of five property investors based in Hong Kong, Dubai, South Africa and the UK are still investing in British real estate, research claims, with a quarter of UK-based investors suggesting Brexit is their reason for doing so.

A poll of 450 high net worth investors based in these four countries indicated that 85 per cent of those invested in either residential or commercial property were still keen on the asset class and looking for new investment opportunities in Britain.

The cost of buying British property has been pulled down since the Brexit vote by the fall in the pound, however, a tax crackdown has made it more expensive.

Over a fifth of European investors say the UK as their preferred investment market

The poll, carried out by Censuswide, albeit for a property developer Seven Capital, also asked overseas investors how strong they believe the UK's property market will be in the next 18 months.

Just over half, 55 per cent, estimate the UK property market to be 'good to very strong' with that figure rising to 64 per cent when considering prospects in three to five years' time.

Andy Foote, director at Seven Capital said: 'These figures demonstrate that people generally recognise that there are bigger factors to consider over Brexit when it comes to the overall trends in the UK property market.

'Realistically, it's the fear and the perception of Brexit that will have any effect, rather than the physical act of leaving the EU.

Poll Is the UK property market still a good investment? Yes No Is the UK property market still a good investment? Yes 259 votes

No 153 votes Now share your opinion





'Ultimately, if the market were to take a dip after Brexit, seasoned investors will know that this would more likely be a catalyst for the inevitable swing back.'

It comes following several gloomy sets of data released recently, which suggest the UK's property market is grinding slowly to a halt.

A recent survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that levels of home sales and enquiries fell in January with 'little prospect' of a turnaround in the near future.

London and the South East of England have been hit hardest by the slowdown, while nationally the market is hampered by hesitancy over Brexit, the research found.

Meanwhile, over the course of 2018 house prices across the country rose by an average of just 1.02 per cent, according to Zoopla, compared to 5.4 per cent in 2017.

Why might Brexit be making British property more attractive to investors? Seven Capital director Andy Foote Seven Capital's Andy Foote said: 'The fact that one quarter of property investors say that Brexit was the catalyst for their investment is really interesting. 'What it shows is that there's a firm confidence among a good number of UK investors, likely the most seasoned in the property world. 'It follows Warren Buffet's now-famous quote suggesting investors should be "fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful". 'If this is a rule to play by, then now certainly would seem like a good time to invest.'

And in September last year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney told mortgage lenders to stress borrowers' affordability based on house prices plummeting 30 per cent if no deal is reached on Brexit.

While Carney's consideration was for the stability of the banking system in an absolute worst-case scenario, clearly a fall in property values is a genuine concern for the market as the UK approaches 29 March.

But despite the potentially gloomy outlook, the Seven research isn't alone in arguing that conditions might not look so bad to potential investors.

Knight Frank recently published research which found that the UK had reclaimed its position as Europe's leading commercial property investment market in 2018.

Over the course of the year the UK overtook Germany to become the favourite destination for property investors, the research suggested.

Its survey of 155 leading property investors representing organisations with an excess of 500billion of real estate assets under management found that 21 per cent of investors identified the UK as their preferred investment market in 2018, up from 12 per cent in 2017.

While over half do anticipate a reduction in investor demand over the next three to five years, a third of investors see demand for UK assets increasing.

Chris Bell, managing director, Europe, at Knight Frank, said: 'There is a huge weight of capital to be allocated to European real estate, including an unprecedented level of private equity dry powder, and a growing pool of private wealth. The question is where it will be deployed.

'The emergence of the UK as the European market of choice in 2019 is interesting, suggesting many think that pricing looks attractive.'
The second-generation Dacia Duster is a practical, cut-price crossover. This good-looking, five-door, five-seater back-to-basics SUV has a headline-grabbing starting price of 9,995 for the entry-level Access model, making it perhaps the cheapest of its type money can buy.

Deals start at 129 a month. But for that youll have to do without a radio or climate control, though electric front windows and daytime running lights are standard.

The Dacia brand arrived in Britain six years ago as the budget arm of Renault and its cars are built in Romania. The Access trim is one of four specs along with Essential (with digital radio and air-con) from 11,595; Comfort from 13,195 and the top-of the-range Prestige from 14,395  still around half what youd pay for a Japanese or German rival.

Splash out? Hardly, for the revamped Dacia Duster with prices below 10,000

Its plugging the gap left by VW-owned Skoda and Kia since those brands decided to become proper posh. The biggest Duster seller in Britain is likely to be in the mid-range Comfort trim which Ive been testing with two-wheel drive.

Its not luxurious; theres more plastic than youll find in an Airfix kit, and only five gears.

But the fabric seats are comforting and supportive, it feels solidly built, is a pretty decent drive, and you are not bamboozled by myriad controls or on-screen options.

An extra gear would be ideal, but it gobbles up miles on motorways and is fine around town. If youre going regularly off road, choose the four-wheel drive versions.

All mod cons: It feels solidly built, is a pretty decent drive, and you are not bamboozled by myriad controls or on-screen options

Theres no automatic yet, but a diesel and more powerful petrol engine will follow next year.

Theres plenty of space in the back and boot, and its bold looks are a step up in style from the first-generation model.

Running on 16 in wheels, it is powered by a perfectly adequate 1.6-litre 115 hp SCe petrol engine that delivers acceleration from rest to 62 mph in 11.9 seconds up to a top speed of 107 mph, while returning 43.5mpg with CO2 emissions of 149g/km, putting it in a relatively low road tax band.

The key shaft doesnt retract so may punch a sharp hole in your pocket, but it includes a plipper for remote locking and opening. Elements raided from the Renault parts bin include the steering column-mounted finger-tip controls.

Spacious: Theres plenty of space in the back and boot, and its bold looks are a step up in style from the first-generation model

Its bold looks are a step up in style from the first generation model. My usually highly critical, design-obsessed younger teenage son loved its simplicity.

Standard features in Comfort spec include a simple to use 7-inch dashboard touch screen for sat-nav, digital radio and other features, rear-parking camera and sensors, air conditioning, front and rear electric windows, eco-mode and start-and stop cut out to save fuel when stopped at traffic lights.

A couple of options including the bright but fetching Desert Orange metallic paint (495)and an emergency spare wheel (150) pushed the price as tested up to 13,935, but still within my comfort zone.

But if youre looking for a practical everyday family value-for-money SUV that wont break the bank, or a reasonably priced station car to get you to your daily train commute, its got to be a contender.
Fewer than 500 of Britain's 48million motorists - which works out at around 0.001 per cent of all licence holders - have been fined in the last four years by police for leaving their engines running.

This undermines warnings about being slapped with fines for de-icing windscreens.

Leaving your car's engine to idle so the heater can defrost the windows is an offence under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, with motoring organisations and companies seeking publicity regularly using cold snaps to issue warnings it can 'land drivers in hot water' with the law and a 40 penalty.

However, police records suggest this isn't necessarily the truth.

According to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request by This is Money, police forces around the country revealed just 494 fines had been handed out since 2015 for breaches of Section 42 - and many of them won't even be for de-icing a car outside the owner's home.

It is against the law to leave your engine running - even to de-ice your windscreen - but how likely are you to actually be fined for it?

Of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, 34 responded to our FOI request.

Fine statistics were received from some of the largest forces in the country, including the Metropolitan Police, Greater Manchester Police, Thames Valley and South Yorkshire Police.

The Met handed out the most fines, but even covering an area with a population of eight million people, it has only fined 66 motorists since 2015.

It was followed by West Yorkshire Police, who fined 50 people over the same time period, and Merseyside Police, who handed out fines to 48 drivers.

While the daytime temperatures recently experienced in the UK are at record-breaking highs for February, motorists are still having to de-ice their cars in the morning due to chilly nights.

Those clearing their windscreens by leaving their engines running, if they are parked on a public road, could technically be breaking the law.

How many Section 42 fines have been issued by police forces since 2015 where you live? Avon and Somerset: 3 Bedfordshire: 10 Cambridgeshire: 9 Cheshire: 0 Cleveland: 0 Derbyshire: 5 Devon and Cornwall: 11 Dorset: 6 Durham: 0 Essex: 15 Gloucestershire: 1 Greater Manchester: 13 Gwent: 0 Hampshire: 34 Hertfordshire: 22 Humberside: 19 Kent: 14 Lancashire: 30 Leicestershire: 7 Lincolnshire: 0 Merseyside: 48 Metropolitan: 66 Norfolk: 21 North Wales: 6 Northumbria: 12 Nottinghamshire: 11 South Wales: 16 South Yorkshire: 17 Staffordshire: 0 Suffolk: 18 Thames Valley: 16 Warwickshire: 9 West Yorkshire: 50 Wiltshire: 5 Total: 494 Source: This is Money FOI request to police forces in England and Wales

Motoring organisations, car insurers and other companies are often keen to grab some headlines when the weather turns cold, issuing warnings to motorists that they run the risk of a 40 fine for running engines to clear windscreens.

Under Section 42 of the RTA, you can be fined an initial 20 if your vehicle is stationary on a public road with the engine running.

Rule 123 of the Highway Code states: 'You must not leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while that vehicle is stationary on a public road.' This rule is given legal force by the 1988 act.

However, we at This is Money weren't convinced and sent requests to every police force in England and Wales to find out how many motorists had been fined since 2015 for this offence.

Leaving your car's engine to idle for any reason - including to let the heater de-frost the windows - is an offence under Section 42 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, but it's not extensively policed, according to new data obtained by This is Money

If you used the average number of people fined per force and extrapolated it to include all 43 forces, then still only 624 people - or 156 a year - would have been penalised.

In fact six police forces - Cheshire, Cleveland, Durham, Gwent, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire - told This is Money that they had not handed out a single fine to anyone in that time period.

Meanwhile Devon and Cornwall Police's response showed they had prosecuted three men between May 2015 and January 2018, all for leaving their vehicles on a public road unattended with the engine running, along with fining 11 others.

The vast majority of those fined were men - 54 of those fined by the Met, 81 per cent, were male, while 78 per cent of the 50 people who received fines from West Yorkshire Police were too.

Just 16 people were fined by South Wales Police between 2015 and 2018, and all of those who had their sex recorded were male.

Only one of the nine people fined by Cambridgeshire Police in the last four years was a woman.

Just 494 fines have been issued by police to motorists for leaving their engines idling in the last 4 years, with 6 of the 43 forces in England and Wales handing out NONE in that period

Some forces were also particularly fine-happy on certain years.

Leicestershire Constabulary handed out only seven fines over the four years between 2015 and 2018 but five of those were in 2016, while more than half of the 17 fines issued by South Yorkshire Police were issued in 2015.

The data shines a light on the difficulty to police an offence such as leaving a vehicle's engine idling, especially when you consider the number of job cuts at forces across the UK in the last decade.

Latest stats show that the number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by over 20,000 between March 2010 and March 2018.
It turns out someone was listening to business. After weeks of heated argument on Brexit and increasingly loud warnings coming from industry, the Government has cracked open a deal that looks like it will satisfy many (let's just accept that some people will never be happy).

A sensible compromise has been put on the table with a blueprint for free movement of goods  the holy grail of 'frictionless trade'  that business always wanted.

Theresa May will now take the plan that would see Britain remain partially in the European Single Market to the negotiating table and present it to the EU.

Brinksmanship: Let's hope we can work together to avoid the cliff edge, says Neil Wilson

There will be no hard border with Ireland, a promise of increased control of immigration and a freedom to strike trade deals around the world.

There is some nervousness that the details, most of which still need to be hammered out, could prove problematic. That is likely to present the more theatrical of Brexiteers various opportunities to flounce.

In short, there will be twists and turns in the path, even though the end point has been marked.

It's two years late, but never mind. And we have Theresa May to thank for pulling together a Cabinet whose brawls have spilled out on to the streets  and into the pages of newspapers  with entertaining regularity.

But thankfully, Boris did not follow through with his dismissive rhetoric. Like the twilight before dawn, it seems the darkest moments were just before the first rays of light on Britain's future began to shine through.

Business will now be looking to the time when they can press the button on investments that have been put on hold for the past 24 months.

When that happens, we may actually see a real Brexit dividend as pent-up industry spending is released and the rest of us can get to work and look ahead with a little more clarity. But we are not there yet. The hard work begins here.

Breakthrough? A 'no deal' Brexit, which is what some still hanker for, cannot be ruled out

Politicians  and particularly Theresa May  can be praised for their hard work. But rival factions in the Cabinet, and in the wider Government, will still need to be appeased.

Add to that European negotiators, who have tentatively welcomed Friday's Brexit peace deal, but will be no pushovers.

The Government has also promised to devise a plan for service industries, which make up almost 80 per cent of the British economy and have so far not been included in the deal because they do not physically pass borders. But it has given assurances that is high on the agenda.

What we have is a breakthrough. But it is one that was too long in coming and we are still far from a final deal ahead of next year's March deadline. Many business are still taking the cautious view that they will prepare for the worst. Businesses are also still dealing with a weaker sterling  which as a consolation could well receive a lift from Friday night's news.

Worse than all that, in my view, is the toxic divisions that have been exposed in our society. They will fester for years, if not decades, to come. The damage  which many Brexiteers would regard as collateral - has been done.

A 'no deal' Brexit, which is what some still hanker for, cannot be ruled out. Let's hope we can work together to avoid the cliff edge because, if the wisest heads in business are to be believed, there is to be no doubt that economic pain would follow.
Business Secretary Greg Clarke has embraced the cause of probing overseas takeovers

Better late than never. This paper has long advocated tougher scrutiny of mergers and financial transactions where national security might be involved.

The US Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has been examining such transactions for many years.

In 2006, when P&O Ports was sold to Dubai Ports World for 5billion, the Americans blocked the sale of East Coast ports because of fears that allowing strategic assets to fall into Middle East hands could pose a threat.

It is to the credit of Business Secretary Greg Clarke that he has embraced the cause of probing overseas takeovers. This change did not just simply happen.

There has been concern at the Ministry of Defence, which created a song and dance about the Melrose takeover of GKN. And the security services have been unhappy about Chinese involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset.

The big regret must be that the aggressive new policy, which could see as many as 200 transactions a year reviewed and as many as 50 held up, was not in place when Britains leading-edge tech company ARM, designer of smart chips, was sold to Japans Softbank in 2016.

Whitehall was enthusiastic for the 24billion deal, coming as it did in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum.

The Government wanted to show Britain was still the most open economy in the world and would hug all-comers.

The inevitable has since happened and Softbanks boss Masayoshi Son has sacrificed ARMs Chinese offshoot at the altar of Beijing for a knockdown price of 583million.

If ever there was a case of winning political favour at the expense of draining UK-tech genius it was this. No wonder that ARMs former chairman Stuart Chambers wishes the deal hadnt been done.

The worry must be that lowering the drawbridge on overseas takeovers and imposing criminal penalties on entities which seek to pursue them by nefarious means will be seen as a blow against free movement of capital.

This just at the moment that the UK is resetting its sights on the rest of the world. The trigger for scrutiny by ministers under the proposed new law is wide-ranging, from land sales near national security facilities, to loans to sensitive companies to disguised takeovers of assets which could have defence uses.

Sand is being put in the wheels but it is regrettable so much technology, the product of our great research universities at a cost to the taxpayer, has been gratuitously sold by compliant, short-term investors.

Technology and intellectual property transfer overseas is the biggest threat to a Brexit which works.

The change of tack comes none too soon.

Retail therapy

Seems like only yesterday that Hammerson boss David Atkins was extolling the wonders of Intu and his groups skills in turning underperforming shopping centres and retail parks into must-visit destinations for consumers.

With activist investors Elliott Partners looking over his shoulder and the share price going nowhere, Atkins has unsheathed a grand plan to release value for investors.

He wants to sell 13 retail parks, having disposed of Imperial Retail Park in Bristol and Fife Central Park to property investor Leo Noes family controlled Capreon group this week.

The last-ditch survival strategy from Atkins looks familiar. Gavin Patterson unveiled a radical new strategy at BT before being given the heave-ho.

Mark Sebba

A shocking email from Crete informed me that my friend Mark Sebba, aged 69, died suddenly while on holiday with family and friends.

Formerly an investment banker at City firm Charterhouse, Mark moved into the digital world, working in radio and video before starting a new career as chief executive of online fashion retailer Net-A-Porter.

Under his leadership from 2003-14 the upmarket fashion site grew into Britains most brilliant success in e-retailing.

Sebba was a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum, chair of its commercial arm and held a number of non-executive jobs.

Most importantly, Mark was a fine, astute and kind person who balanced business life with unseen charitable and public service.

He leaves a huge hole in the lives of his wife Anne, family and all who knew him.
There is a tendency for big financial groups to think that all wisdom lies outside their own headquarters. So it is reassuring that Aviva has chosen to fix last year's sudden departure of chief executive Mark Wilson from inside.

In choosing Scottish-born Canadian Maurice Tulloch, the insurer is following a well-trodden path.

The Prudential boss Mike Wells is Canadian as, of course, is the boss of their prudential regulator Mark Carney at the Bank of England.

Alex Brummer says it is reassuring that Aviva has chosen to fix last year's sudden departure of chief executive Mark Wilson from inside

Tulloch appears to recognise the need for a shake-up in the way insurance is sold in the UK.

Instead of loyalty being rewarded by discounts and bonuses, Aviva and its cohorts have, until now, regarded it as fine to charge existing customers ever higher prices. Tulloch wants to end the rip-offs.

This, partly, will be addressed by Aviva Plus, which seeks to make insurance more flexible and transparent by putting it on a pay-as-you-go basis.

As the previous head of Aviva's international operations, it wouldn't be a surprise if Tulloch were to bring a halt to some expensive bets on the Pacific to concentrate on core markets in Britain, North America and Europe.

The latter has seen a recent resurgence. The new chief executive should also take a good look at Aviva Investors, which with 350 billion of assets is one of the UK's most significant long-funds.

In choosing Scottish-born Canadian Maurice Tulloch (pictured), Brummer says the insurer is following a well-trodden path

There has been a tendency, presumably intended to drive short-term performance, to back mavericks over established management.

Until the Barclays saga, Aviva was a backer of Edward Bramson of Sherborne as he disembowelled F&C and Electra. It also sided with get-rich-quick executives at Melrose in the winning battle for GKN. None of that is the long view we should expect from the biggest investors on our behalf.

Ted Baker founder, Ray Kelvin

Big squeeze

The departure of Ray Kelvin from Ted Baker, the eclectic billion-pound fashion empire he created, lifted a shadow after disclosures of his over-enthusiastic displays of affection for staff.

At 63, Kelvin might have wanted to take a back seat anyway after a 35-year drive to create an upmarket clothing brand. The removal of an inspiring force from a fashion brand will make life difficult for successor Lindsay Page.

Ted Baker's quirky shirts and other apparel have found a ready market in the UK's better department stores, in the US and at airports.

Not only will Page have to deal with the cultural fallout from the 'hugging' scandal, he has big shoes to fill. In fashion, success is very bound up with ownership and commitment. Arguably Marks & Spencer has never been the same since the departure of Sir Rick Greenbury, the last link to the founding dynasties.

Last week we learned how LK Bennett went downhill after founder Linda Bennett sold out to private equity. Her return came too late to stem the rot.

With 35 per cent of the equity, Ray Kelvin may never be totally banished from the company unless he chooses to sell down his stake.

Alternatively he could plot a comeback with a private equity partner. With the shares sharply down, the company could also attract the attention of one of the other luxury clothing brands.

Kelvin's ability to rebuild his reputation will largely depend on the report commissioned from City lawyers Herbert Smith Freehills.

We have sort of been here before. When WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell agreed to become a 'good leaver', a legal inquiry into his alleged indiscretions conducted by US firm WilmerHale quietly ended, and to this day the report remains unpublished.

The Ted Baker founder is doing the right thing by leaving without a payoff. There are many rich people who think it is fine to squeeze every penny out of their former employers at the expense of co-workers and investors.

There is pathos in the Kelvin story. The entrepreneur who made a fetish of personal privacy, refusing to show his face for publicity shots, is firmly in the public eye.

Precious metal

Gold might seem the most glistening metal of the moment with Barrick seeking to get its hands on Colorado-based Newmont, having recently absorbed Randgold. But the real prize at present is palladium, a vital ingredient for fuel cells, currently trading at $1,524 an ounce and heading towards $1,700.

No wonder miner Anglo-American, with big exposures to the metal (and not just its fat-cat chief executive Mark Cutifani), is doing so well.
A friend gave me some Thomas Cook Travel Bonds worth 350 to go towards paying for a holiday.

It states on the back of each: 'This bond is valid indefinitely.'

My local Thomas Cook said it had not seen them before and would have to make enquiries. It didn't contact me again, so I went back a week later.

This time, I was told that it would accept only the 25 Travel Bonds. I asked why and the assistant replied that she didn't know.

R. B., Rhyl, Denbighshire.

Thomas Cook refused to accept one reader's travel bonds despite them having 'valid indefinitely' printed on the bank

Well, I know. It's because she was wrong. The bonds you held were issued in June 1989  and, 29 years later, they are still valid.

They were rather grand-looking things bearing a picture of Mr Cook.

The 100 bonds featured a drawing of his first steam train excursion, from Leicester to Loughborough, in 1841, while the 25 ones showed the London to Paris Imperial Airways service in the Thirties.

When I contacted Thomas Cook, it resolved the problem swiftly, telling me: 'Travel Bonds are an early version of travel vouchers and were phased out as we introduced our latest gift cards more than 15 years ago.'

It added that it was very sorry for the mix-up in store.

It has contacted you to advise it will be happy to accept your Travel Bonds towards the holiday of your choice.

I must say, given a choice between a gift card as a present and these lovely-looking bonds, I'd pick the bonds every time.

Incidentally, these days, gift cards expire after two years  that's progress, I suppose.

You Have Your Say Every week, Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails about our stories. Here are some from last weeks article about banks charging families thousands of pounds to act as executors of their loved ones wills... I am a qualified solicitor and offer basic wills for 40. Why? Because Im not greedy  unlike every other member of my profession. L. B., Neath, West Glamorgan. Banks are for banking and nothing else. Get a solicitor to draw up your will, take investment advice from an independent financial adviser and get insurance from an insurance company. J. M., Altrincham, Greater Manchester. A lot of this kind of information is hidden in the small print. That is why people get caught out so easily. I. K., Staffordshire. Banks are always saying they have learnt their lesson from past mis-selling scandals. Then another one comes along and they carry on regardless of fines and warnings from watchdogs. N. W., Halifax, West Yorks. A hundred years ago, hardly anyone had any serious assets. Today, many people die with complex estates. Executors should be recompensed, but the very idea that a percentage charge is legitimate is absurd. J. J., Farnborough, Hants.

On January 24, a delivery van pulled into our driveway, then reversed off very fast, hitting our 2005 Ford Fiesta.

Our car has very low mileage and had previously been in excellent condition.

I passed details to our insurer, M&S Insurance, and, after a few days, an accident management firm called to say the incident had been placed in its hands.

We then heard that an engineer's report had said it would be uneconomical to repair the car.

We were told we would receive a cheque and that a salvage agent would contact us to arrange the collection and disposal of the vehicle.

I do not wish my car to be written off! I fail to see how the repair work can be estimated at around 2,500.

Finally, we agreed M&S would send a cheque and I would get the repair work done myself.

This was months ago. But the 'at-fault' insurer still has not raised payment.

It now seems that the delivery driver had been in a hire car, so the management firm has been chasing the wrong insurer.

Mrs S. R., Essex.

Why do insurers insist on adding complexity by employing accident management companies? They regularly seem to be a source of frustration, complication and misunderstanding.

M&S Insurance argues that, despite its excellent condition, the market value of your car is lower than the cost of the repair, hence the initial proposal to write it off.

When someone is involved in a non-fault accident, their insurer will typically pursue the third party's insurer.

So why the delay, then? M&S diplomatically says the insurance status of the third-party vehicle is 'inconclusive'.

Usually, when it is not possible to recover the costs from the third party, customers can claim via their own insurance, but they have to pay the excess agreed on their policy.

Having said this, M&S accepts you have had to wait a long time so, as a gesture of goodwill, it has offered to send you the money and cover the cost of your policy excess, rather than wait for the third party to settle the claim.

Your car is now insured under what is known as Category S, meaning that it is listed as having been written off as a result of structural damage.

As long as M&S is able to recover the money, your policy will not be affected  but if it cannot, then I'm afraid it will affect your no-claims discount.

Straight To The Point I heard that people who applied for power of attorney between April 2013 and March 2017 are entitled to a refund. Will I get the full amount back? And does this apply to people in Scotland? B. H., by email. You can claim a refund only if you applied in England or Wales. Scottish laws are different. If you are eligible, you will get a portion of the application fee back  from 34 to 54. How much you get depends on when you paid to register your document. Youll also get 0.5 per cent interest. For details, visit gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund or call 0300 456 0300. *** I read a recent Money Mail article about equity release that mentioned a guide by editor Dan Hyde. How do I obtain a copy? H. T., Wiltshire. Call 0800 156 0150 for a free copy of the Daily Mail guide, produced in partnership with expert adviser Key Retirement. That number puts you through to someone at Key Retirement who will send you the guide in the post and provide information on how to pursue equity release further. Alternatively, you can visit keyretirement.co.uk/mail *** I am 74 and use my mobile phone very little  my bill averages 4 a month. In March, my daughter gave me her old smartphone. By June, my bill was 84.50. Virgin said I had been charged 3 a day for internet for which I have no use. It is refusing to refund me. A. S., Bognor Regis, West Sussex. Virgin says that it believes your phone automatically connected to the internet due to the existing settings on the handset. A spokesman says the company has written off the full 84.50 bill as a goodwill gesture.

Write to Tony Hazell at Ask Tony, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email asktony@dailymail.co.uk  please include your daytime phone number, postal address and a separate note addressed to the offending organisation giving them permission to talk to Tony Hazell.

We regret we cannot reply to individual letters. Please do not send original documents as we cannot take responsibility for them. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given.
The benefits of having a European Health Insurance Card, or EHIC, are being overestimated by holidaymakers, new research has shown.

While having one gives you access to state-run medical care in the European Union, 59 per cent of travellers wrongly believe it will give them free medical treatment anywhere in the world.

Those who rely on an EHIC rather than buying travel insurance are risking big medical bills along with a lack of protection if they need to cancel their holiday or their belongings are lost, stolen or damaged.

18 per cent of consumers think the EHIC will be scrapped when the UK leaves the EU

The EHIC allows you access to free or reduced cost state-provided healthcare in certain countries while you are abroad.

This will be significantly less than you would pay without the card, and in some cases if the local state-run healthcare is free, then you won't pay a thing.

The research, from comparison website GoCompare, shows that nine per cent of people wrongly believe an EHIC would entitle them to an air ambulance flight home if they were seriously injured or ill and five per cent thought the British Embassy would arrange for them to be flown home if they had one.

While a further four per cent think having an EHIC means you don't need to buy travel insurance for a trip abroad.

If you are seriously injured while abroad, your travel insurance will cover the cost of repatriation back to the UK and if you don't have a policy in place you will have to come up with the funds yourself. The costs can be extremely high too, with a flight back from the Canary Islands, for example, coming in at 23,000.

The cost of treatment abroad varies depending on which country you're visiting, but recent research from the Association of British Insurers listed several example costs.

These included, a bill of 125,000 to pay for surgery following a jet-ski accident in Turkey, 25,000 for an air ambulance from Majorca to the UK, and 74,000 to treat a brain haemorrhage in Cuba.

The website asked 1,461 consumers about the EHIC and their opinion on what will happen to it after Brexit. Of those asked, 18 per cent said they thought the EHIC could be redundant in a year when Brexit happens. While four per cent said they wouldn't now apply for one because the UK was leaving the European Union.

The EHIC gives free or reduced cost state-run healthcare in certain EU countries

Georgie Frost, spokespeson for GoCompare, commented: 'Each year, thousands of holidaymakers use an EHIC to access free or discounted emergency medical treatment in 27 European countries, and everyone travelling to Europe this summer should have one. They are free, so no excuses.

'However, the EHIC is NOT an alternative to having suitable travel insurance. The fact it's called an 'insurance card' is quite confusing.

'It's vital people understand the benefits and limitations of the card to avoid becoming one of the horror stories we read about when people become seriously ill but have no cover and rely on family, friends or crowdfunding to pay for medical bills or an air ambulance home. When you consider that a decent policy can cost less than a pair of flip flops, it's not worth taking the risk.'

The card is valid in all European Union countries plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway. If you are a UK resident you can apply for a card via the NHS website, it's free and lasts for five years.

If you use one, your travel insurer may also scrap the excess you have to pay. This is because with an EHIC your treatments costs are likely to be lower and therefore your insurer won't have to pay out as much.

Our guide to why you need a free EHIC lists exactly how they work and the countries included.

We often write about the high costs of medical treatment abroad and recently reported on Avivas claims figures, as the biggest insurer in the UK.

Medical claims were the most common reason for Aviva customers claiming on their travel insurance last year, used by 33 per cent of customers, followed by 28 per cent claiming for cancellation for a specific circumstance and 13 per cent for lost or stolen personal items or baggage.

Last year one customer made a claim for 182,000 for treatment for a stroke while in the USA while another made a claim for 191,000 for pneumonia in Malaysia. The most expensive average cost of claims at 1,300 were made in the USA, followed by 1,200 in Canada and Mexico.

While in Europe the cost of an average claim in Spain was 600, with the highest recorded last year at 52,000 for a heart attack, and 800 in Cyprus, with the highest at 65,000 for a stroke.
The disappointing slide in the pound means it's more important than ever for holidaymakers to make sure they don't get ripped off when spending abroad.

Sneaky currency conversion traps at the checkout, hidden loaded rates and hefty bank fees mean we routinely hand over more than we need to.

To help cut costs and make your pound go a little further, here's three costly holiday money traps to avoid.

Corfu: A European break could cost holidaymakers more than they bargained for thanks to the weak exchange rate

Say no to paying in pounds

When you pay your hotel bill or spend in shops abroad you are often given the option to pay in pounds, rather than the local currency.

But this allows the retailer to use their own exchange rate for the conversion.

This proves far more expensive as they often load the rate by between 5 to 10 per cent - and in some cases up to 30 per cent - according to currency specialist Caxton FX.

This is on top of any charges made by your bank for overseas spending.

Don't buy your cash at the airport

The most competitive exchange rates are typically found online, so try to compare prices and buy in advance.

Try a comparison tool such as MyTravelMoney to find the best rate.

But, if you forget to do this in time, make sure you at least avoid buying your holiday money at the very last minute, before you fly.

Airport exchange rates can be as much as 20 per cent lower than the market rate, according to Fairfx research.

Pick the card you travel with carefully

Banks charge around three per cent every time you swipe your card in shops overseas and three per cent to withdraw cash.

Our favourites for cheap holiday spending include the Halifax Clarity card, Tandem Bank's cashback credit card which pays 0.5 per cent on all spends and Santander's Zero card.

Remember to pay them off when you get home though to avoid interest.

When it comes to current accounts, Starling Bank comes out on top with limitless fee-free on spending and withdrawals.

Alternatively, Metro Bank also charges nothing, but only in Europe, while rival challenger Monzo has a fee-free ATM cap of 200 but no foreign purchase fees.

Prepaid currency cards are one of the safest options to travel with as they are not linked to a bank account.

You can load up when the rate is good and spend as normal with bank-beating exchange rates and low fees. Check the small print first though, some charge sneaky dormancy fees.

Try currency specialists Travelex, FairFX, Caxton FX, ICE and Revolut for the best cards.

>Find out more about the cheapest credit and debit cards to get in time for your trip
Passengers stranded by striking Ryanair staff must fight for the compensation theyre owed, experts urge.

Under EU rules, holidaymakers are entitled to up to 536 in compensation if they arrive at their destination more than three hours late.

Ryanair claims it should not have to pay out as the delays are a result of extraordinary circumstances.

Around 100,000 Ryanair passengers have been affected by cabin crew and pilots striking

Aviation watchdog, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), says airlines should pay out when disruptions are caused by their own staff striking.

Around 100,000 Ryanair passengers have been affected by cabin crew and pilots striking across Europe.

Martyn James, from Resolver, an online complaints and claims site, says: The rules are clear. These strikes are not extraordinary circumstances.

Submit a claim at contactform.ryanair.com or call 0330 1007 838. Include flight numbers, booking references and passenger names.

f.parker@dailymail.co.uk
Artificial intelligence has undergone rapid growth in the past few years and is set to infiltrate many more and varied aspects of our lives as the technology develops at pace.

Investing is certainly one area at the forefront of AI advancement. More specifically, the machine learning sub-category of AI.

Machine learning is field of computer science that uses statistical techniques to give computers the ability to 'learn'. In saying learn, we mean they progressively increase their ability to perform a given job by analysing and interpreting data sets.

The machine learning sub-category of AI is now being used for stock picking.

Machine learning means robots can surpass human beings in their ability to complete specific tasks.

In the not-so-distant future AI systems could even reach a higher level of all purpose general intelligence than is possible in humans; sometimes dubbed 'superintelligence'.

That level of AI is some way off still, but AI has already got humans beaten at a number of things, such as playing chess for example.

A helpful analogy in understanding how machine learning works is to look at it as a car engine and petrol. The computer hardware and software used is the engine and data acts as the petrol that makes it run.

While there has been consistent advancement in hardware and software over many years and plenty more to come, the game changer is the explosion in the availability of data.

Something fund managers and people with their own money to invest should consider now is, are the robots becoming better stock pickers than humans, just as they are better chess players?

Another question worth asking is whether the robots will be more like R2-D2 from Star Wars or the Terminator, from a fund manager's perspective? In other words, an assistant to humans or a replacement?

AI stock picking should not be mixed up with so-called 'robo-advisers.' The online wealth managers known as robo-advisers have been around for many years already and employ a far lower level of technology.

They simply run numbers and churn out broad asset allocation weightings appropriate for an investor's declared level of desired risk and reward. The models which are used are pre-determined and tweaked by humans along the lines of traditional investment theory. They do not pick individual stocks or bonds.

AI and machine learning is a far more advanced and has much bigger implications for investors and the investment industry itself.

Are fund manager going to be 'terminated' by stock picking AI robots?

At the head of the AI investing race is the world's largest fund manager by assets under management, BlackRock.

It recently rolled out the 'Advantage Series' of funds which offer AI and machine learning capabilities to retail investors.

Our philosophy is that it is not a question of data science or finance, it is data science and finance. Human judgement, plus machines.

BlackRock is adamant that its robots are more R2-D2 than Terminator  here to work with humans not replace them.

Jeff Shen, co-CIO of active equity and co-head of systematic active equity, is at the cutting edge of what's happening in AI investing.

Speaking to me in London on a trip over from San Francisco he said: 'The concept of machine learning has been around for some time, but it was largely theoretical until more recently. Now we have the ability to really let investors make use of machine learning and AI.'

'Humans are still needed because the quality of the questions you are asking is key. It's a combination of the questions you want answered and the data sources you have. The data science is clearly important but also human intuition and investment perspective is critical.'

R2-D2 assisted humans in the Star Wars films rather than working against them.

'Our philosophy is that it is not a question of data science or finance, it is data science and finance. Human judgement, plus machines,' Shen continued. 'If you just left he machines on their own it would not work on a practical level.'

'It's not a replacement game, it's a complementary one. It's not either humans or machine, but there is room for every fund manager out there to improve performance by incorporating AI.'

Shen explained there are two major areas of rapid progress in AI investing; the 'reading' and understanding of text, and 'computer vision' which enables machines to analyse photographs and video.

'Historically machines have been much better dealing with numbers than text but this is changing,' Shen said. 'The systems can interpret sell side analysts' reports for example, news stories, regulatory filings, social media post and conference call transcripts.'

'Computer vision can be used to interpret satellite images to capture physical activity taking place around the world. For example a ship is moving something from one coast to another, or trucks are travelling to and from a site. Images are getting better and better in quality.'

This means the machines can use information on economic activity in real time rather than wait for reports to be generated locally, providing a major speed advantage.

It is a revolution, not an evolution and we shouldn't understate it.

In terms of how the machines actually 'pick' stocks, that takes the form of a sliding numerical scale which runs from -3 for the worst stocks to +3 for the best.

A rating for each stock in a given investment universe, such as UK equities for example, is produced.

BlackRock's AI robots cover around 5,000 stocks globally and between 200 and 300 data sources are used by its systems each day.

While Shen strikes a cautious and measured tone overall, his enthusiasm for the technology comes through. 'It is a revolution, not an evolution and we shouldn't understate it,' he said.
Solid foundation: BlackRock's Mike Prentis

Smaller companies have been a smart place to invest  with returns outpacing those of larger firms for years. Why? Because they are 'more nimble and innovative and find it easier to grow'.

That is the assessment of Mike Prentis, co-manager of BlackRock Smaller Companies Investment Trust. His conclusion is borne out by the spectacular performance of the investment trust, which has beaten its rivals by a large margin over the past 15 years.

Prentis has picked about 170 companies to diversify the risk inherent in smaller firms.

Though all are listed in the UK, much of their sales and growth is in international markets, helping to insulate the fund from the uncertainties facing the UK economy (Brexit for one).

Prentis says: 'We've been changing the mix over the past few years with a shift towards being less domestically focused.'

One of his biggest investments is recruitment agency Robert Walters. He says: '70 per cent of the company's net fee income is from overseas. It's doing well in Thailand and Indonesia.'

Indonesia, for example, is working to attract expats back to work in its fast-growing tech sector. Another profitable area for Robert Walters is to go into businesses and take over their whole hiring process for them.

Another operation with strong global credentials is Alliance Pharma, which recently bought the rights to market the anti-dandruff shampoo Nizoral in the Asia Pacific region.

Prentis says: 'It is really good at acquiring niche brands that do well. More than half of its sales are international.'

Part of the trust's shift involves reducing exposure to retailers with too great a high street presence. It is switching to those who have made internet shoppers their priority  such as musical instrument retailer Gear4music and women's fashion firm Quiz Clothing.

Prentis has picked about 170 companies to diversify the risk inherent in smaller firms

Prentis says: 'Our exposure is quite defensive at the moment. We see the data on economic growth deteriorating so want to be cautious.'

Reflecting this caution is the fund's investment in Ibstock, the brick maker. Prentis says: 'This is a cyclical industry but the reality is that more houses are going to be built in this country whichever government is in power.'

He was impressed by a recent visit to Ibstock's high-tech plant in Leicester which will ratchet up production with capacity to build at least 10,000 houses a year. Prentis also says stock market flotations provide important opportunities.

The fund did well from the flotation of broker Hargreaves Lansdown, a stake it has now sold. Other successes include soft drinks maker Fever Tree, whose shares have rocketed in the four years since it floated.

Earlier this year the trust bought into IntegraFin, owner of the Transact investment platform used by financial advisers to manage client funds. Prentis is optimistic the company has the potential to significantly grow the assets held on the platform.

The 60-year-old, at the helm since 2002, was recently joined by a younger colleague Roland Arnold  with succession planning in mind. In addition, the trust's annual fee was raised but the performance fee scrapped, which should benefit investors.

Though income is an important contributor to the total return  the dividend has risen every year for 15 years  Darius McDermott of broker Chelsea Financial Services believes that should not be a key motivator for investors.

He says: 'The yield is quite low at 1.8 per cent, so if income is what you are looking for, you may be better off elsewhere.'
Maxing out your annual Isa allowance of 20,000 and pension contribution limit of 40,000 with plenty of cash to spare is one of the nicer problems in life to have.

But it is one that enough people are credited with having to have driven a surge of interest in investing in venture capital trusts.

These offer generous 30 per cent income tax relief in return for investing in early stage companies, a reflection of the risk that backing such firms involves.

VCTs must have up to 70 per cent (80 per cent for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2019) of holdings must be in the qualifying holdings - i.e. small companies

Tax breaks on capital gains and dividends are also on offer, but the biggest draw for putting money into VCTs is the 30 per cent income tax relief on investments - meaning a 10,000 investment would cost an individual just 7,000.

But they're not for the uninitiated and experts always advise people never to just invest in something for the tax relief on offer.

The tax carrots are designed to attract money into Britain's fledgling businesses, which the Government say are a vital component of the country's future economic prosperity.

Investing in these involves more risk and the VCT system has been refined in recent years to ensure money is channelled towards that end of the company spectrum.

So are VCTs worth it? We take a look and get some recommendations of venture capital trusts to consider.

What are VCTs?

VCTs are an extension of conventional investment trusts, pooling investors' cash and spreading it across a number of companies, they are traded like shares on the stock market.

Venture capital trusts put investors cash to work backing potentially high growth early stage companies, which can either be unquoted or stock market listed on the Alternative Investment Market, AIM for short.

The largest VCT, Octopus Titan, for example has previously backed property listing website Zoopla, and current holdings include holiday firm Secret Estates and online marketplace, Depop, which has been described as cross between eBay and Instagram.

But for all the successful names, there will be plenty that fall by the wayside. To offset the high risks associated with such small company investments, people are rewarded with generous tax breaks.

The aforementioned 30 per cent income tax credit applies to investments of up to 200,000 each year - but only into newly-listed VCT shares not those bought second hand on the stock market.

You need to have paid at least as much tax as the rebate and must hold the investment for at least five years.

In addition, dividends are tax-free as are any capital gains.

It's also worth mentioning a VCT must continuously have at least 70 per cent of its investments in qualifying holdings (80 per cent for accounting periods beginning on or after 6 April 2019).

The remaining 30 per cent can be invested in essentially any investment. These are often stable investments like cash, listed equities and large company debt instruments.

Why do VCTs launch new offers each year?

Every year, many VCT managers issue new shares for investor to buy. This is because the 30 per cent income tax carrot only applies shares bought when a VCT launches or raises new money - provided that they're held for a minimum of five years.

So if you buy shares on the secondary market (i.e. someone else owned them before you) you cant get the rebate on your initial investment, but you can still get tax-free income and capital gains.

The shortfall in capacity of VCT will always pose a problem for many investors as a number of popular VCTs have always filled very quickly.

The VCT fundraising season has started earlier than previous years, which VCT providers say is due to the huge growth in demand for their products.

How is a VCT different to an EIS?

VCTs shouldn't be confused with another tax-efficient investment mechanism called enterprise investment schemes.

With an EIS, you make a direct investment in one minnow company - although it is possible to spread the risk by investing in a fund that holds several schemes.

You can invest up to 1million a year in one or more EISs and again receive a 30 per cent income tax relief from the taxman for doing so. This cap rises to 2million if you're investing in knowledge-intensive businesses, such as those in the life sciences sector.

The tax relief can be carried back to offset income tax liabilities in the previous year. However, you must hold the investment for a minimum of three years to qualify for the income tax relief.

If the EIS business performs poorly and you lose money on your investment, you may also claim loss relief at the equivalent rate to the highest rate of income tax you pay. So if you pay income tax at a rate of 45 per cent, you can claim up to 45 per cent of your net loss in income tax relief.

There's no CGT payable on any gains, but dividend income will be tax.

Whereas VCT are listed and tend to offer regular dividends, EISs are much less liquid, and cash is usually held for a longer period until gains are realised.

> Read more on EIS investing and crowdfunding

Why people pick EIS or VCT schemes

Investor might opt for EISs over VCTs for two specific reasons according to Jason Hollands, of financial firm Tilney.

Firstly, an investor with a substantial capital gains tax liability - from the sale of an investment property for example - can defer payment of CGT if they reinvest the gain into EIS.

The liability does not disappear, but it becomes payable once you sell the EIS shares.

The other reason is to mitigate inheritance tax liability. Once held for two years, EIS companies potentially qualify for Business Relief, which means they do not form part of an estate for IHT tax purposes.

Hollands adds: 'However, there are many other ways to reduce an IHT liability, including giving assets away while you are alive and maximising pensions, so it is important to consider all your options before embarking on this route.

'For those not looking to defer a CGT liability or to reduce exposure to IHT, VCTs should almost certainly be prioritised over EIS investment.'

Investing in an EIS portfolio means taking direct equity stakes in qualifying unquoted companies and is therefore riskier than investing through VCTs, which are diversified, managed funds that also include non-qualifying holdings.

Although there are firms offering EIS funds that will allocate into a number of EIS companies, these are aimed at sizeable investors and wont achieve anything like the diversification of a VCT, according to Hollands.

Under UK regulations, EIS schemes are treated as only suitable for sophisticated or certified high net worth investors and therefore they cannot be marketed to retail investors.

VCT aren't cheap: They typically charge management fee of between 2 and 2.5 per cent

VCTs do not come cheap

Given the research involved in searching out potential investments  and then monitoring them  venture capital trusts carry high initial and annual charges.

To put this into context, the average cost of an actively-managed funds - those where the holdings are cherry-picked by a fund manager to beat a specified stock market index - is 0.6 per cent annually.

Whereas VCTs typically cost between 2 and 2.5 per cent and most levy an additional performance charge.

Selling trust shares can also prove difficult as a result of the thinness of the market  there are few buyers and sellers.

Top picks

We asked Hollands to pick the best VCT on market. Here are his selections.

Octopus Titan

Ongoing charges - 2.92 per cent

Octopus Titan is the largest VCT of all and its current offer is once again proving the most popular choice with investors.

Titan has consistently invested in early-stage, unquoted companies and has a well-resourced and experienced team whose past successes include Zoopla, the first VCT-backed company to reach a 1 billion valuation and more recently Tails.com, a retailer of nutritious dog food that was successfully sold to Nestle Purina PetCare.

The existing portfolio has around 70 qualifying investments including luxury online holiday club Secret Escapes, learning company Memrise, which has developed an app that makes learning a new language fun, and Depop, an online marketplace for fashion and lifestyle items that has 10 million users worldwide.

The ProVen VCTs

Ongoing charges - ProVen VCT: 2.59, per cent, ProVen Growth & Income VCT: 2.60 per cent

ProVen VCT and ProVen Growth & Income VCT are two long-established generalist VCTs with strong track records.

The VCTs focus on making growth capital investments into unquoted companies with rapid growth potential and where there is a clear path to an eventual exit.

Examples of current holdings include Infinity Reliance, owner of e-commerce site My 1st Years which retails personalised items for babies and children including toys and clothing, and designer jewellery firm Monica Vinader whose accessories have been worn by the likes of Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Keira Knightley.

The Albion VCTs.

Ongoing charges: Albion Venture Capital Trust: 2.40 per cent, Albion Technology & General VCT: 2.75 per cent, Albion Development VCT: 2.70 per cent, Crown Place VCT, Albion Enterprise VCT: 2.40 per cent, Kings Arms Yard VCT: 2.50 per cent.

The six Albion VCTs (Albion Venture Capital Trust, Albion Technology & General VCT, Albion Development VCT, Crown Place VCT, Albion Enterprise VCT and Kings Arms Yard VCT), are jointly raising 38 million and are a relatively more defensive option for investors.

This is because historically these VCTs have invested in a blend of asset-backed investments, as well as higher growth companies. Asset-backed investments, such as Radnor House, a private school near Sevenoaks, provide an element of security because of the property owned by the business.

Five Guys is among the list of holdings in the Pembroke VCT

Pembroke VCT

Ongoing charges: 2.08 per cent

Of the newer, upcoming managers we also like Pembroke VCT, which is managed by Oakley Investment Management, part of the Oakley Capital, a private equity house founded by serial entrepreneur Peter Dubens.

Pembroke focus on four areas of expertise: apparel and accessories, hospitality, media and technology and health and fitness.

Examples of existing investments include Five Guys, a casual dining chain focused on premium quality handmade burgers and fresh cut fries which has expanded to over 90 branches in the UK. Other hospitality holdings include Chucs, an Italian restaurant and cafe group that has four locations in London, including recent openings at Harrods and The Serpentine Gallery, Hyde Park.

The Unicorn AIM VCT

Ongoing charges: 2.20 per cent

While most VCTs invest in unquoted companies, some investors prefer to invest in VCTs specifically targeting companies whose shares are issued on AIM.

The Unicorn AIM VCT is the largest AIM VCT and is highly diversified, with over 100 holdings. These include Cambridge based Abcam, a supplier of protein testing kits to life scientists across the globe; high tech defence group Cohort and Anpario which supplied animal feed to the farming industry.
The property market is one of Britains great soap operas, with plenty of twists and turns and heroes and villains along the way.

At the moment there is a cliffhanger: will house prices start falling?

Steady growth has been swapped for a slide towards stagnation in the headline figures, but how much does that mask a regional divide, with things looking far healthier outside of London and the commuter belt?

In this Investing Show special, Andrew Montlake of mortgage broker Coreco, joins us to discuss whats going on in the residential property and buy-to-let markets.

He also looks at why mortgage rates are near their all-time lows despite a base rate rise and how long that could last.

Shares start the year on a strong run

The stock market has put a bad 2018 behind it and jumped at the start of 2019. Major markets in the UK and US have added between 5 and 8 per cent since the New Year, so whats fuelling that and can it continue?

Richard Hunter, of Interactive Investor, joins Simon Lambert on the Investing Show to discuss it.
A gale is blowing through the UK High Street, and the retail and casual dining industries are feeling the sting.

In this cut-throat, fast-pace environment, household names Toys R Us, Maplin, East, Poundworld and Prescott & Conran have already gone to the wall.

Fitter chains are frantically closing shops in attempt to ease the burden of spiralling property-related costs (such as rents, rates and refurbs), mitigate falling shopper numbers and become more digitally focused.

M&S, for example, is planning to close 100 of its 1,035 shops by 2022, which for the High Street stalwart means giving notice on leases that are drawing to a close, or taking a hit on early termination on a store-by-store basis.

Store closure-related costs wiped 62 per cent off Marks & Spencer's bottom line last year

But for others in a more fragile state, a controlled store closure programme, and the large costs entailed is not an option. Nor is ploughing heedlessly on until they hit the buffers.

And that's where the 'a la mode' company voluntary arrangement comes in.

What is a CVA?

Simply put, a CVA is a deal struck between a company that has run out of money and its creditors.

Unlike administration, it is adopted by businesses that, although extremely distressed, still have a shot at survival.

How is a CVA different from administration? The directors stay in control, unlike in an administration when a firm is called in to take over

Administrations are far more draconian and affect more stakeholders

They are employed by companies that are still viable, albeit struggling

CVAs are more flexible and can be moulded to fit the firm's needs

CVAs are cheaper to instigate than administrations

The business continues to trade

They don't tend to involve an investigation into director conduct.

The agreement puts a legal ring-fence around the firm to ease pressure from its creditors, such as HMRC, the Pension Protection Fund and landlords.

If 75 per cent of creditors agree, the company is granted permission to repay historic debts out of future profits for an allotted period of time  commonly three or five years.

It clears the balance sheet of unsecured debt, in return for paying creditors an agreed percentage - often around 40p in the pound.

And, as is often the case now, a business will be allowed to exit leases on unprofitable stores, and be gifted better terms by landlords.

In exchange for this breathing room, the firm's existing directors must present a convincing and detailed plan on how they will resuscitate the business and restore profitability.

But CVA's divide opinion.

An optimist may view it as a lifeline, rescuing a firm from the brink to save jobs and limit potential losses.

But, a more cynical view is that CVAs can just 'delay the inevitable', enabling a business to kick the can a little further down the road before its demise.

Such was the case for BHS, which launched a CVA in March 2016, just to fall into the hands of administrators only seven weeks later.

A CVA could not save BHS, which was handed over to administrators Duff & Phelps weeks later

The same is true for Toys R Us: creditors gave its CVA plan - which allowed the closure of 26 stores - the go-ahead on December 21 last year, but the business buckled in February, taking more than 100 stores and 3,200 retail jobs with it.

'The year of the CVA'

After a relatively quiet couple of years on the CVA front, 2018 is fast becoming the year of the CVA.

The number of restaurants in financial distress has leapt 143 per cent in the last six months, according to Linklaters data, with 12 restaurant CVAs this year alone, compared with 17 over the whole of 2017.

The eateries in trouble include Byron, Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa restaurants, Carluccio's and Prezzo.

At the end of May, Carluccio's launched a CVA to close 30 under performing restaurants

The same is true for the retail industry, where CVAs are up 42 per cent to include New Look, Carpetright, Mothercare, House of Fraser and, most recently, The Original Factory Shop.

The big brands currently in or mulling a CVA The Original Factory Shop Mothercare Carpetright New Look House of Fraser Select Fashion Byron Jamie Oliver's Carluccio's Prezzo

And there are, no doubt, more to come; Homebase, for example, is understood to be mulling a CVA to close around 80 stores.

'2018 is shaping up to be potentially the worst year for retail failures since 2008, with rising costs and falling demand coalescing to create a very negative environment for retailers,' says Jonathan De Mello, head of retail consultancy at property firm Harper Dennis Hobbs.

'CVA's are increasingly being used in 2018 to ensure fitness for purpose in today's multichannel world, and also as a buffer against the Brexit storm to come,' he says.

But some believe that CVAs are catching.

As this once 'absolute last resort' mechanism becomes more prevalent, landlords, for example, have accused tenants of 'abusing the system', and 'jumping on the CVA bandwagon' as a quick way of dumping unwanted stores.

Who are the winners and losers?

The biggest winner from a CVA is the company itself, as it is gifted another shot at survival.

Carpetright, for example, hopes its CVA to close 92 stores and reduce rents on 113 others will make the future more tenable, as it will release it from legacy lease obligations it believes is holding it back.

Carpetright has raised fresh funds to pay for the CVA and help turn the business around

As Carpetright faces relatively little pressure from the rise of online, and has received a significant cash injection for ongoing refurbishments, it should stand a good chance of reaching the other side and returning to profitability.

It's not an open and shut case, however, because Carpetright has a new rival - Tapi Carpets - which one Thisismoney source says, is 'seemingly on a mission to destroy it'.

CVAs can also benefit the economy in the long run because, if a business is saved, it can generate revenue and pay taxes.

A restored firm can continue to provide employment too  keeping the number of job losses to the absolute minimum.

The process can even benefit the creditors, because they stand a much better chance of getting back what they are owed than if the firm were to go under.

But, it's not win win for everyone.

Over the last decade, as property has become the focus of CVAs, landlords have taken the biggest hit - either earning less income from a property or having to find a new tenant altogether, while other creditors remain intact and directors keep their jobs.

'On the one side, you can say landlords are reaping what they sowed as the leases were decided years ago with upwards only rent,' says Patrick O'Brien, UK retail research director at Global Data.

'However, you could argue that, it's the firm's fault for making a poor strategic decision by signing the long leases in the first place. They did the bad deals, so why should landlords suffer for the bad execution of the retail business?'

Mothercare's CVA to close of 50 of its 137 UK stores is expected to trigger hundreds of job cuts

Mark Faithfull, editor at retail property analyst, says that, vexed landlords are increasingly suspicious that CVAs are being used as a crutch, or seen as 'the easy option'.

REVO, the industry body, thundered in a statement: 'It is beyond doubt that the process is being abused, with CVAs now being used solely to reduce rental liabilities and terminate lease agreements entered into by owners in good faith.'

Faithfull explains that, for some landlords finding a new tenant may not be too problematic, and could even create an opportunity, but for those sitting on a specific site or in a struggling centre 'it's another nail in the coffin'.

He points to House of Fraser's proposed CVA as one that will potentially leave difficult gaps to fill in centres.

House of Fraser wants to axe 31 of its stores, including its Oxford Street branch, which leaves around 5,500 jobs hanging in the balance

'That's a very specific, large space; it's hard to see how it would be filled without completely re-positioning the shopping centre,' he says.

The growing number of CVAs has also enraged other firms, who argue it is creating an unfair playing field.

'Other retailers are looking at ailing competitors getting out of unwanted stores and thinking it's unfair,' Faithfull says.

But, according to an accountant and restructuring expert close to the process, no firm would undergo a painful CVA process unless it were 'completely necessary'.

'You can't embark on it lightly, it's challenging for everyone involved and a very complex, high-profile bit of work. Administrations are easier in comparison,' they argue.

As the debate wages on in the background, the cold, hard CVA stats reveal a high rate of failure.

A list of the major CVAs that took place between 2008 and 2018, and the outcome of each, compiled by property firm Harper Dennis Hobbs

As the table above shows, around half the CVAs in the last 10 years culminated in full administration - a statistic that leaves a question mark hanging over the fates of the firms currently in the depths of the process.

The troubling fact is, for many, solving the property problem won't go far enough.

A CVA may give these firms a leg up, and some room to breathe, but it cannot remedy decades of mismanagement, nor can it wave a magic wand over company culture.

And a CVA certainly can't promise to safeguard any company from the headwinds currently battering the UK's High Streets.
The owner of Mr Kipling, Premier Foods, is under pressure to sell its lucrative Batchelors soup brand amid a spat between the group's chief executive and its second-largest shareholder.

Hong Kong activist investor Oasis Management is calling for Premier to offload the 123-year-old division so it can free-up cash for reinvestment.

Batchelors, which makes Super Noodles and Cup A Soup, was founded in 1895 and makes around 85million worth of sales a year.

Hong Kong activist investor Oasis Management is calling for Premier Foods to offload the Batchelors soup brand so it can free-up cash for reinvestment

Premier also owns the rights to Bisto, Ambrosia custard, Angel Delight and the Homepride and Sharwood's cooking sauces.

The latest call from Oasis, which has a 9.3 per cent stake in Premier, comes ahead of the food manufacturer's AGM later this month.

Oasis recently demanded that chief executive Gavin Darby's 'shocking reign' be brought to an end, accusing him of leaving the group in 'a zombie-like state'.

The firm has been under pressure to improve its performance since rejecting a 2016 takeover bid from US food-maker McCormick. Shares have plunged 36 per cent since the deal fell through.

Oasis said selling Batchelors would put the firm on 'a solid footing' and benefit staff, pension scheme members and shareholders in 'one single swoop'.

One of Premier Foods pension schemes is currently carrying a 437million deficit.

'Oasis does not seek for any of the proceeds to be directly returned to shareholders but instead be used to de-risk the company and improve its business and long-term prospects,' a spokesman said. 'We fail to understand why the current chief executive does not understand this.'

Oasis believes a sale of Batchelors could fetch more than 200million, helping to strengthen Premier's pension scheme and boost its share price by as much as 125 per cent.

But Premier rejected the proposal last night, calling it 'a short-term solution, but not practical'.

A spokesman for the firm said: 'We are not going to sell one of the jewels in the crown of the company.'

It is not the first time Premier has been under pressure to sell Batchelors.

Earlier this year the group confirmed it was in talks with its largest shareholder, Japanese noodle maker Nissin Foods, to sell the brand in a bid to reduce its growing debt pile.

Premier partnered with Nissin to produce Super Noodle Pots last year, which the group said was 'a perfect illustration of how Gavin's strategy is working'.

Sales of Batchelors products increased 11 per cent last year compared to declining revenues three years ago.

A spokesman said: 'This is substantially due to the strategic partnership with Nissin and new product development  Super Noodle Pots  developed with them.'

Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services came out in favour of Darby yesterday.

Its support for the chief executive comes after Glass Lewis and Pensions & Investment Research Consultants recommended that shareholders reappoint him at this month's AGM.

Premier foods chairman Keith Hamill said: 'The board has made a unanimous recommendation to shareholders to vote in favour of the re-election of Gavin Darby.

'The board has confidence in him and firmly believes that he and the management team are best placed to run the business and execute the company's strategy.'
Shares in online estate agent Purplebricks were looking a little grey yesterday as losses widened amid an ongoing row over how many houses it actually sells.

The firm, which does not charge housebuyers commission, made losses of 21.3million in its 2018 financial year  much more than the 5.1million it lost the previous year.

And though it claims 81 per cent of listings on its site 'sold' in the 12 months to April, this also included exchanges and sales that were still subject to contract.

Anthony Codling, an analyst at investment bank Jefferies, said: 'Purplebricks continues to tell us it sells lots of houses, without backing up that rhetoric with actual figures. Sold subject to contract does not mean sold.'

Purplebricks made losses of 21.3m in its 2018 financial year - significantly more than the 5.1m it lost the previous year

Jefferies reiterated its advice to investors to steer clear of the shares, saying that Purplebricks' 'model remains unproven'.

Shares fell by up to 6.3per cent in early trading, but later recovered to end the day up 0.1 per cent, or 0.2p, at 318.8p.

Purplebricks, which has painted itself as the saviour of homeowners sick of traditional estate agents, also revealed that the number of 'local property experts' it employs was down to 630 from 650 six months ago.

The online estate agent focused on the fact that it had built up UK profit from 1.1million to 6.5million.

Its chief executive Michael Bruce said: 'We have doubled revenues in tough markets... as we continue to win over consumers.'

Stock Watch - Elecosoft Elecosoft, a producer of software used to build skyscraper The Shard, announced yesterday that it was buying Shire Systems for 6.3million. The AIM-listed company helps architects, engineers and construction workers visualise projects and evaluate their cost. It ended the day up 9.9 per cent, or 7.5p, at 83p. The Shire deal moves it beyond project-planning into plant, equipment and building management software, which broker Finncap said was a 'very natural progression'.

A bigger hit came for cyber-security company Sophos, as its shares slumped an alarming 20.9 per cent, or 128.9p, to 486.6p.

Its update for the three months ending in June showed that billings grew by only 6 per cent, or an even weaker 2 per cent if currency fluctuations were eliminated.

Nicholas Hyett, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Sophos is meant to be a high-growth stock, so a 2 per cent underlying increase in billings was never going to cut the ice with investors.'

Britain's blue chip companies fared a little better on the whole, as the FTSE 100 ended the day up 0.4 per cent at 7603.22 points.

Ahead of the introduction of tariffs in the US and China today, trade fears kept stocks such as the major miners among the biggest risers.

Russian firm Evraz topped the rankings, as investors got excited when it said it could spend more than 227million on dividends this year. It shares rose 3 per cent, or 14.6p, to 504.8p.

Anglo American followed close behind, closing 2.8 per cent higher, up 47.2p at 1721.6p, helped along by the sale of its 33 per cent interest in the Bafokeng Rasimone platinum mine for 104million.

Sterling rose to its highest level in more than a week just before lunch, after Bank of England governor Mark Carney sounded upbeat on UK growth at a summit in Manchester. By the evening, it had slipped back to around $1.32.

Meanwhile, a row was breaking out at housing and social care firm Mears Group. German fund manager Shareholder Value Management, which owns 8.9 per cent of the business, demanded that chairman Bob Holt step down.

The firm said Holt  who holds ten board seats including six chairmanships  'is unable to devote sufficient time to the company'.

It also claimed that the fact he had been at the company for 21 years meant he was not independent, and that this was leading to poor board decision-making.

It proposed Andy Hogarth, the former boss of Staffline, which gets people off benefits and into work, as a replacement. Shares ended the day up 0.3 per cent, or 1p, at 346p.

Drug discovery company Hvivo's shares were given a shot in the arm as it revealed fund manager Neil Woodford had upped his firm's stake to more than 24 per cent.

Hvivo ended the day up 17.4 per cent, or 15p, at 101p.
Ex Stobart boss Andrew Tinkler has been kicked off the ballot for re-election to the board

The ex-boss of Stobart Group has been kicked off the ballot for re-election to the board as the fight for control of the company reaches boiling point.

Andrew Tinkler, 54, was fired as a non-executive director last month by Stobart  which owns Southend Airport  after starting a campaign to oust the chairman Iain Ferguson, 63.

He wanted to stay on the ballot for re-election at the companys annual general meeting today so shareholders could vote on the firms decision.

But yesterday a Guernsey court backed the move to keep his name off the ballot while his legal battle in London against the company over his sacking continues.

However, he could still force a vote on his re-election by turning up at todays meeting and forcing a resolution on the issue.

He served notice on the company last week saying he would propose himself for re-election at the meeting. It is not clear whether he will try to do so, as it is possible he could then be fired again immediately.

Todays AGM in Saint Peter Port comes after an increasingly bitter row over the future of Stobart Group that has threatened to engulf the company.

Tinkler stepped down as chief executive last year to be replaced by Warwick Brady. He now wants to replace Ferguson as chairman with retail tycoon Philip Day, 52, amid a row over the companys strategy.

The Cumbria-based millionaire was sacked from the board amid accusations he was subverting the company for his own interests and had tried to cash in 30million worth of shares.

The row has dragged in some of the Citys biggest names, with fund manager Neil Woodford backing Tinkler and Invesco backing Ferguson.

Fellow shareholder M&G has also leapt in, putting forward ex-Asda boss Allan Leighton as an interim chairman to defuse the row.

Shareholders are due to vote on Fergusons re-election today. They will then vote on Days appointment at a special meeting on July 18.

Todays vote is set to be close. Tinkler owns nearly 8 per cent of the company while Woodfords funds hold nearly 20 per cent and fellow rebel Allan Jenkinson, a former director, owns 5.5 per cent. But Ferguson-backing Invesco owns nearly 25 per cent.

Other top-ten shareholders declined to comment.

Tinkler was chief executive of Stobart Group for ten years, helping it grow out of the Eddie Stobart haulage firm into a conglomerate worth around 800million.

The infrastructure group, which made profits of 100.6million last year, supplies biomass, maintains railways and provides other support services. Its subsidiary Stobart Air owns airlines Aer Lingus and Flybe.

William Stobart, who helped build the company alongside Tinkler, has said the board is running a vindictive campaign against him, which is damaging the firms reputation.

Tinkler said: I want whats best for the business and the employees that have worked so hard to deliver all that growth in shareholder value over the last ten years. Employees have lost confidence in this board and want change. I hope thats what they get.

Following yesterdays court judgment, a spokesman for Stobart Group said: The board has a duty to ensure to act in the interests of all shareholders and maintain the high standards of corporate governance that it has established over the last four years.
Mining giant Glencore is to buy back nearly 800million worth of shares in a bid to shore up confidence after a corruption investigation saw stock fall more than 12 per cent.

Boss Ivan Glasenberg, 61, lost about 343million from his holding on Tuesday as the US ordered the firm to surrender documents relating to Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela.

It wiped 4billion off the copper and coal producers value in its biggest share price fall in two years. Its shares had enjoyed an incredible 390 per cent rise since 2016.

Ivan Glasenberg, 61, lost about 343m from his holding as the US ordered Glencore to hand over documents relating to work in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Venezuela

The buyback will take place in two stages, starting with 350million in early August. It sent shares up 2.1 per cent, or 6.65p, to 326.1p, pushing Glencores value to around 47billion.

Barclays said the firms response suggested it thought the price plunge was extreme.

The US investigation covers the period from 2007 to the present, but further details have not been disclosed. Glencore, which made sales of more than 150billion last year, said it was reviewing the demand.

It comes as Glencore, which has around 146,000 employees and 150 mining, oil and agricultural sites, has just resolved several legal battles in DRC.

Last month it agreed to pay royalties from its Congo mines owed to Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler.

It also recently settled a dispute with state miner Gecamines to save a copper and cobalt joint venture, effectively writing off a 4.2billion debt under a refinancing plan.

Glencores work in DRC is key to its future because the country is the worlds biggest supplier of cobalt, a key component in batteries and mobile phones.

Glasenberg has made electric cars a key part of the companys strategy. He said last year: This is a phenomenon... that definitely will have a major effect on nickel, cobalt and copper prices and the amount of production that the world is going to need.

With that scenario we are well positioned for the future.

The London-listed firm made profits of 10.3billion last year, its strongest on record.
British satellite maker Inmarsat has fought off interest from an American suitor  but could still fall into the hands of a foreign predator.

Inmarsat, whose shares trade on the FTSE 250 in London, rejected a second bid from Colorado-based rival Echostar of 3.2 billion.

Just hours later the Americans abandoned their pursuit in a major victory for the Inmarsat board.

The 532p a share offer from Echostar put Inmarsat at 2.45 billion, or 3.2 billion including debt, but bosses said it very significantly undervalued the company and its prospects.

Analysts at RBC Capital Markets said: We think it will take an offer of at least 750p to gain any board or shareholder approval. They set a target price for the shares of 850p  which would value the company at 3.9bn.

Inmarsats pioneering technology is used by the British Armed Forces, including by soldiers in Afghanistan, as well as the US military. It was also used in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which is believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean in 2014.

Under City takeover rules, Echostar and its founder, billionaire technology tycoon Charlie Ergen, cannot rekindle their interest in Inmarsat for six months. But analysts said the British company, which has also attracted interest from French rival Eutelsat, still faced an uncertain future as predators weighed up their options.

Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, said: A rival could once again emerge with a better offer.

The interest in Inmarsat comes amid mounting concerns about the sale of British companies to overseas buyers  and in particular technology companies and those linked to national security.

The Government has assumed new powers to block the takeover of technology firms on national security grounds.

Sir Gerald Howarth, a former defence minister, said: The new powers that the Government has taken unto itself to monitor the sale of critical technology is welcome and should be applied in this case.

Aerospace analyst Howard Wheeldon said: It is absolutely imperative that the UK retains sovereign capability in satellite technology. This has to be something the Government looks at.

Our Government must make sure that we are at the forefront of satellite technology for all our needs.

A leading fund manager last month said Britain is failing to produce global tech giants because bosses are too greedy, and sell out early, or lack ambition. James Anderson, who is manager of the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and looks after 7 billion for savers, said: My prevailing belief is that new British companies fail to compete at scale because they deserve to fail, not because they are doomed to do so. To put it more bluntly, they are unsuccessful because they (and we) are unambitious  indeed, unfit for purpose.

Inmarsat, which was set up by the United Nations in 1979 to enable ships to stay in touch with the shore, employs 1,700 staff in 50 locations around the world.

The London-based company was privatised in the 1990s after UN members refused to pay to improve its network. It has 13 satellites in orbit providing services to airlines, broadcasters and the oil and gas industry.
The row over the future of Stobart Group descended into farce last night as the board refused to reveal the results of a fiery annual meeting.

The firm said details of the votes for its AGM held in Guernsey would not be published yesterday. They are now expected this weekend.

The firm is embroiled in a bitter row with former chief executive Andrew Tinkler, who hopes to oust the management team.

Up in the air: The row will affect the future direction of Southend Airport, which is owned by Stobart Group

The vote, which could have seen the departure of the chief executive, chairman and three board members  including the finance Director who unexpectedly resigned hours before the AGM  and Tinkler brought back, was thought to be too close to call.

The row will affect the future direction of Southend Airport, which is owned by Stobart Group.

The AGM earlier erupted with accusations of lies, snooping and defamation.

Tinkler, who had launched a campaign against Fergusons company strategy while with the group, was accused of trying to destabilise the company as he was fired last month by the board. William Stobart, co-founder of the company and son of haulage firm founder Edward Stobart, yesterday defended Tinkler.

He said his phone had been red hot with calls from concerned employees under current management and told the board: You are damaging the brand and the core values of the company.

Tinklers side questioned why seven million shares in the company were moved just before the meeting to an employee benefit trust that was believed to be backing Ferguson.
The three-time National Award winner said after her debut film

New Delhi: Actor Kangana Ranaut Saturday said the system in place in Bollywood helps people with privilege and repels when it is challenged.

At the India Today Conclave 2019, she said her many fallouts in the industry happened because she was always presented do-or-die situations in which she always fought her survival.

"I come from a situation where I really do not have a backup plan. I don't have a plan B. It's not like I wake up in the morning and think about 'Oh wait a minute. How many people can I offend today and how to make my life difficult?' That's not how it is.

"... The kind of story I have I wasn't left with an option. I wish they did. I wish they let me do my thing and I wish there wasn't this do or die situation. I would have preferred it like that. But if one of us has to do die I will make sure that it is not me," Kangana said.

A couple of her past few films have been plagued by controversies. Her 2017 film "Simran" was marred by a spat between her and screenwriter Apurva Asrani, who claimed that she poached his writing credit.

Her latest release "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi" was also embroiled in multiple controversies.

Kangana said the credit for her success is hers only as she is the only actor in the film industry "who has not worked with a big production house or a big hero".

"We all know that Bollywood, the film industry is classist and so is the rest of the society. The system works for certain people the way it is. It is definitely going to resist when you are going to challenge it."

The three-time National Award winner said after her debut film "Gangster", she struggled a lot for work.

"When I came to the industry with a film like 'Gangster', I won the Best Actress award in entire Asia and then I did not have any work at all. They did not know what to do with an actor like that.

"Item numbers were prevalent and so were the patriarchal and chauvinist sort of male depiction in films where actors and actresses are just showing up to get pinched in their butt or get mocked. So I did not had any work. So I like said if it is a do-or-die situation I'm going to ensure that I survive," Kangana said.

She said the power players of Bollywood tried to suppress her voice but she fought every time.

"When you question so many things, they will try to shut your voice because the system has been working for them. It is your prerogative as a person to see what you want to do. Of course they will do what they can to ensure that people like us who question the system do not survive," she said.

On the topic of women empowerment, Kangana lamented that there are women actors in the industry who believe that they do not deserve pay on par with their male counterparts.

"I think you are as empowered as you think you are. It's a very individual choice. I know some women who openly say that 'I don't think I deserve the kind of remuneration my male counterpart does.' It is an individual choice. If you believe that you are not an equal then of course nobody can change that," she said.

Kangana also said that feminism is the most misused word in the current times.

"Feminism is a word which is misused and especially in today's time and age. I know so many people who know nothing about equality and they wear these badges of feminism, pay parity and fighting cause...," she said.

"I don't go by the book definition of feminism. I have made my own definition. Though the word is derived from feminine but why should there be only equalities which is influenced by or related to sex. There should be equality of life... I think with time we need to evolve the definition," she added.
Rolls-Royce is selling the bulk of its troubled marine business to Norwegian rival Kongsberg for 500m.

The marine division designs and makes ship equipment for oil and gas firms, as well as for cargo, fishing vessels and commercial boats.

The falling oil price led to a slump in demand from key oil and gas customers, and the loss-making commercial side was put up for sale in January.

Simplifying the business: The sale is part of boss Warren Easts strategy to concentrate on civil aerospace, defence, and power systems

The sale includes the parts of the business that designs ships and make propellers and deck machinery, as well as the areas that provide technology and equipment for autonomous ships, which Rolls has developed in recent years.

Rolls is keeping its naval division, which sells gas turbines and power generators. Kongsberg, which makes and designs navigation software and equipment for defence, aerospace, oil and gas and shipping companies, will supply Rolls with other products for naval vessels.

Rolls commercial marine division employs about 3,600 people. Most are based in the Nordics, with about 180 in the UK, largely in Dunfermline, who are expected to transfer to Kongsberg. The division made a loss of 70m last year.

The sale is part of boss Warren Easts strategy to concentrate on civil aerospace, defence, and power systems. He said: This transaction builds on the actions we have taken over the last two years to simplify our business. The sale of our commercial marine business will enable us to focus on... the vital power needs of our customers.

Last month he announced 4,000 job cuts, mostly of desk staff in Derby.
Rescue backers are in talks to plough in an extra 50million to save Carillion's crisis-hit hospital project in Liverpool.

Insurance group Legal & General and the European Investment Bank have already committed around 180million to build the 429million Royal Liverpool Hospital.

New funds from the two lenders could ensure the delayed facility is finally completed next year, more than two years behind schedule.

On hold: An artist's impression of the new hospital

The hospital, one of Carillion's biggest failed projects, was left in limbo after the firm collapsed in January with debts of 1.3billion.

Legal & General's chief executive Nigel Wilson recently visited the site and is in talks with Health Minister Stephen Barclay, who has also inspected the project.

The building is 90 per cent complete but a new contractor has yet to be appointed to take over from Carillion. A source close to the negotiations said the two lenders are committed to finishing the project and want to 'get on and get the hospital built'.

The new Royal Liverpool, which will replace the dilapidated 1970s hospital next door, was originally due to open last March but completion has now been pushed back to July next year at the earliest.

Last month, the chief executive of the Royal Liverpool Trust, Aidan Kehoe, said: 'Carillion's collapse has created an unprecedented situation with complex legal and financial issues to resolve.'

Ageing: The new Royal Liverpool will replace the dilapidated 1970s hospital next door

Another backer, the PIP consortium of pension funds, pulled out of the scheme following Carillion's liquidation. Around half the costs for the state-of-the-art, 646-bed hospital have already been met by the Government through public-sector funds.

Carillion's collapse is so far estimated to have cost the taxpayer 148million. A Government spokesman said: 'We are doing everything we can to complete the construction of the Royal Liverpool hospital, while ensuring value for money for taxpayers.'

However Labour MP Frank Field, who led the parliamentary committee into Carillion's failure, said the Royal Liverpool stands 'gathering cobwebs, as a creaking monument to the greed and hubris of Carillion's directors'.

He also claimed the hospital is 'at the forefront of the accountancy tricks Carillion used to convince the outside world that all was rosy'.

Patients at the existing hospital said at the time of Carillion's collapse that the ageing facility was 'falling to bits', and called the situation a 'total nightmare'.

Additional reporting: Mike Owen
Hedge funds are cashing in on the war on plastics by shorting shares in packaging giant RPC.

Bets worth more than 240million have been placed against the FTSE 250 company, whose shares have come under pressure recently because of the clampdown on plastic packaging waste.

City firms can bet against firms by taking so-called short positions  contracts on shares that allow investors to gamble that their value will fall.

Impact: City firms are shorting shares in RPC

Shorting is a risky tactic as investors can lose if the share price rises.

More than 8 per cent of RPCs 3billion stock is out on loan to short-sellers, according to data from the Financial Conduct Authority.

Firms that have taken out multi-million pound wagers against RPC include BlackRock and CapeView Capital, which also cashed in on Carillions demise.

No major short positions existed until October. But there has since been a sharp spike in activity, with RPC shares falling nearly 30 per cent.

In financial results last month the firm played down the impact of new EU rules on single-use plastics, saying it does not make any of those restricted under the proposal, such as straws or cutlery.

Analysts at investment bank Credit Suisse said: The RPC share has been negatively impacted on concerns about the future of plastic packaging.
Brexit donor Arron Banks has registered a firm to pay tax in the UK after coming under fire for his opaque finances.

The self-made millionaires insurance business, which owns the Go Skippy car cover brand, is currently based on the Isle of Man.

Documents filed at Companies House show that the offshore firm, ICS Risk Solutions, has registered a UK establishment of an overseas company.

Tax haven: Millionaire Arron Banks owns the Go Skippy car cover brand

Banks confirmed the move to The Mail on Sunday last night and said it came ahead of a possible flotation of his business, which has more than 500,000 UK car insurance customers.

He said: We are moving the UK establishment for the purpose of paying UK tax on the business in readiness for corporate developments.

Banks previously said he hoped to achieve a stock market listing for Bristol-based subsidiary Eldon Insurance by the start of this year.

Going public would expose his fortune to greater public scrutiny. He is already under fire from the Electoral Commission, which is investigating whether Banks was the true source of his 8.4million Brexit donations via his Leave.EU campaign.

Estimates of his fortune range from 100million to 250million.

Separately, Companies House is looking into Eldon Insurance, after receiving a complaint about its 2015 accounts.

The complaint, filed in May, said Eldon had claimed exemption from preparing group accounts but not complied with... the requirements to file a copy of their parent companys accounts.

At the latest count for the year to December 2016, Eldon posted a 165,000 pre-tax profit on 47.3million turnover. Accounts for offshore parent company ICS are not publicly available. Banks previously said he would comply with Companies House requirements.
A surge in bitcoin trading has boosted IG

BITCOIN BOOST Profits at online trading firm IG jumped 31 per cent to 280.8million in the year to June.

Bosses said it was down to a surge in bitcoin trading in December, and market turmoil earlier this year.

TRADE WARNING Swiss bank UBS says a trade war between Europe, the US and China could damage global growth.

It said international tensions and rising protectionism have hit confidence.

LOANS BACKED A lender support ing growth in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa called The New Development Bank has backed 450million of loans for projects.

TERROR PAYOUTS Car insurers have agreed to jointly shoulder the costs of payouts for terror attacks involving vehicles.

The Motor Insurers Bureau, an industry body funded by member companies, will pay any bills if a firm wrote the policy for a vehicle used by terrorists.

RISK ROLE Shamed accountant KPMG has hired its first chief risk officer in a bid to avoid future scandals, poaching Mary OConnor from rival Willis Towers Watson.

BANKS FINED Five Scandinavian banks have been fined 2.2million by EU regulators for providing credit ratings without official approval.

STAKES SALE Two major investors in finance IT firm FNZ are plotting to sell their stakes in a deal that values the firm at as much as 2billion. General Atlantic and HIG Europe each have 33 per cent of the company.

FLOAT DELAY The 1.5trillion float of Saudi Arabias state oil firm Aramco could be delayed until at least 2020 by an investment programme in the Middle Eastern country.

It would be a blow to London and New York, which are fighting to host the Aramco listing.

TRANSFER PROGRESS Communications giant BT says it has made significant progress in transferring 31,000 workers to the separate Openreach business.

Consultations with unions end in September, with a planned transfer on October 1.

XBOX PROJECT Tech giant Microsoft is developing a cheaper version of its Xbox device, to stream video games from the internet.

TARIFF WOE Motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson says tariffs imposed by the US and EU as trade tensions grow will hit it harder than previously thought. It expects margins to shrink by up to 3 per cent.
Its the claim he will be hoping he will not regret as millions jet off on holiday.

The boss of Heathrow admitted the airport was a national disgrace 12 years ago  but is now something to boast about.

A record 38.1m passengers flew from the west London hub, pictured, during the six months to the end of June, a 2.5 per cent rise.

A record 38.1m passengers flew from Heathrow during the six months to the end of June, a 2.5 per cent rise

Revenues were up 2.3 per cent to 1.4billion.

Just last week passengers were left stranded after a computer meltdown. But chief executive John Holland-Kaye, 53, said: Remember where Heathrow has come from.

'We were a national disgrace 12 years ago when these investors came in.

'They have rebuilt the airport, its now something we can all be proud of.
The Europe-wide carbon dioxide shortage left drinks firm Britvic unable to make the most of a surge in demand due to hot weather.

A wave of temporary factory closures has hit production of the gas, which is vital for fizzy pop such as Britvics Tango and R Whites brands.

The firm, which also makes Pepsi in the UK, said carbonated drinks sales were down 2.9 per cent in the three months to July 8 as a result, despite the heatwave which would normally lead to a major pick-up in sales.

Gone flat: Britvic was forced to switch its marketing efforts to still drinks due to a Europe-wide carbon dioxide shortage

Britvic switched its marketing efforts to still drinks, such as J20, giving this division an 11.7 per cent sales boost.

Overall, worldwide sales fell 0.6 per cent.

Britvic said that carbon dioxide supply is now back to normal, meaning it has been able to rebuild its stock.

Chief executive Simon Litherland said that the strong performance in other divisions meant the impact of the shortage was limited and Britvic remained on course to meet investors expectations.

Investors took a rosy view and shares rallied 4.5 per cent, or 35p, to 814p.
Budget hotel operator Easyhotel has bought a site in Cardiff

CARDIFF HOTEL Budget hotel operator Easyhotel has bought a site in Cardiff and has planning permission at Fitzalan Place for a 120-bedroom hotel to open in 2019-20.

IRISH TIES British lawyers have scrambled to register in Ireland so they can carry on serving overseas clients after Brexit and now make up more than 9per cent of all those listed in Ireland. It means they should face no disruption and will not have to open offices abroad.

PROFITS RISE Warehouse investment fund Tritax Big Box unveiled profits of 107.1million for the first half of 2018, up 33per cent on the same period last year. It hiked the interim dividend 4.7per cent to 3.35p per share.

SHRINKING DEFICIT The pension black hole at Britains top 350 listed firms shrank by 27billion in the last 18 months, says consultant Barnett Waddingham. They now have a collective 35billion pension deficit due to better market performance and life expectancy that is rising more slowly than previously thought.

TRADES TRIUMPH Plumbers, builders and electricians are reporting stronger levels of confidence about their future workloads. Retailer Screwfix claims tradesman were busier than expected in May and June. Its survey of 500 workers revealed higher levels of confidence than a year ago.

BOSS OFF Des Crowley, the UK boss of Bank of Ireland Group, the oldest Irish bank, is to step down next year after more than 30 years there. He will remain a senior executive until his retirement.

DISASTER PAYOUT Miner BHP will pay 38million to settle a class action lawsuit from depositary receipt holders in New York over the Samarco dam disaster in Brazil in 2015, with no admission of liability.

GOLD BOON Londons biggest listed miner, Randgold Resources, said production rose 9per cent during the quarter to 313,302 ounces of gold. It sold for an average price of 1,007 per ounce.

ON BOARD Lucinda Bell, a non-executive director of FTSE 250 components maker Rotork has been appointed as a non-executive director of Derwent London, the FTSE 250 real estate group.

DIAMOND SALES Canada-based Lucara Diamond Corp sold 12 diamonds worth more than 775,000 in the second quarter.
Anglo American's chief executive, Mark Cutifani

Anglo American's chief executive more than doubled his pay in 2018  taking home a whopping 14.7 million.

Mark Cutifani's earnings at the FTSE 100 miner were inflated by a 10.9 million long-term share award.

He has raked in around 38 million since he took over from Cynthia Carroll in 2013 to lead the world's biggest platinum producer.

In 2017 he took home 7 million. His base salary in 2018 was 1.3 million, 2 per cent up from the year before.

Anglo will be hoping to avoid a shareholder rebellion over the payout at its AGM next month.

The share award was set up in 2016, giving Australian father-of-seven Cutifani almost 1m shares at a time when Anglo American's stock had plummeted on the back of a slump in commodity prices.

But its share price has since recovered, with its stock rising some 285 per cent.

Last month, the miner said its revenue rose 5.3 per cent to 21 billion and profit rose 4 per cent to 7 billion in 2018 during a bumper year for the group.

In 2017, investors were outraged at the number of shares that were granted to Cutifani, 60, and other executives. Anglo imposed a 40 per cent cap on the share award.

If the cap hadn't been in place Cutifani would have got a one-off payment of 16.6 million, pushing his total earnings to more than 21 milion last year.

Cliff Weight, a director at investors' organisation Sharesoc, said: 'Anglo's failed remuneration policy has meant chief executive pay is too high this year.'
Shares in British Airways parent IAG nose-dived after the group told investors its free cash flow would fall this year.

The firm was the worst performer on the FTSE 100 yesterday after bosses issued the 'clarification' following finance chief Enrique Dupuy de Lome's mistaken claim the figure would grow.

But in a letter sent to investors and analysts, IAG said it actually predicted its cash flow would be 'lower in 2019 than in 2018' because spending was set to go up and profits to stay flat.

Shares in British Airways parent IAG nose-dived after the group told investors its free cash flow would fall this year

IAG reported an operating profit of 2.8 billion and more than 1.5 billion in free cash last year. It expects spending on one-off projects this year to rise to as much as 2.3 billion.

City broker Goodbody said the confusion about the figures arose in an analyst call on Thursday, partly because of a change in accounting methods.

Analysts had challenged de Lome's calculations but he had insisted that 'at the end of the day, we are foreseeing an improvement in free cash flow'.

The embarrassing statement from IAG sent the group's shares tumbling 4.8 per cent, or 29p, to 574p.

Flybe shareholders have been busy voting for a deal that will see the smaller airline cease trading on the London Stock Exchange from March 11

At the same time, Flybe shareholders were busy voting for a deal that will see the smaller airline cease trading on the London Stock Exchange from March 11.

They waved through a cut-price 2.2 million takeover deal despite the struggling company's board previously saying the 1p per share offer was 'disappointingly low'.

STOCK WATCH: Plexus Holdings Plexus shares surged after it bagged a contract to supply gas exploration equipment to Gazprom. The Aberdeen-based engineer will supply a wellhead, which will be used to drill a well exploring for gas in the Kara Sea Shelf in the Arctic Ocean, and other tools to Gazprom, which is majority-owned by the Russian government. Plexus chief executive Ben van Bilderbeek said it was a 'breakthrough' order. Shares rose 29.7 per cent, or 13.5p, to 59p.

The approval means its holding company and assets are controlled by a Virgin and Stobart Group consortium called Connect Airways.

There were attempts by some shareholders to disrupt the takeover and oust Flybe's chairman but these ultimately came to nothing. One industry source said: 'Shareholders weren't given much of an option  either take 1p per share or liquidate the company.'

Shares fell 16.2 per cent, or 0.23p, to 1.22p yesterday.

Blue-chip cigarette maker British American Tobacco hit turbulence after revealing it had lost an appeal against long-running claims for customer compensation in Canada.

BAT's Canadian subsidiary, along with the Canadian subsidiaries of Philip Morris International and Japan Tobacco, faces having to pay billions of pounds to smokers who say it failed to warn them properly that its products caused cancer and other illnesses. Their lawsuit was first brought in 1998.

BAT had appealed against a decision awarding damages but the ruling has now been upheld by the Court of Appeal of Quebec.

The company stressed that only its subsidiary was affected, with analysts saying they expected the legal battle to escalate further to Canada's Supreme Court.

It sent shares in BAT down in early trading but by the afternoon investors seemed more optimistic about the firm's prospects, with the stock edging up 0.3 per cent, or 8.5p, higher to 2871.5p.

Property website Rightmove's shares were given a boost as analysts sounded more positive notes about the falling number of estate agents using its service.

The figure prompted concern in the City last week, sending the company's shares lower despite it revealing record profits of more than 198 million.

But yesterday they bounced back after analysts at Exane played down the agency fears.

'While risks to Rightmove's model from a disruptive No Deal Brexit are very real we see fears over [agency numbers] as overdone,' they told investors.

Rightmove's shares closed 5.2 per cent, or 24.3p, higher at 496.2p.

The FTSE 100 crept up 0.4 per cent, or 27.66 points, to 7,134.39, while the FTSE 250 was also up, though just by barely 0.1 per cent, or 11.78 points, at 19,411.43.
Air chief said that Indian Air Force hit their target, doesnt calculate casualty numbers; figures are calculated by the government.

Talking about Balakot camp strike, Dhanoa said, 'As far as casualty figures are concerned, it will be given by the government.' (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force chief BS Dhanoa addressed the media on Monday on air strikes conducted and said the MiG-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system.

MiG21 was used in dogfight with Pakistan F16 recently.

BS Dhanoa said, The target has been clearly amplified by FS in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pak PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond.

Talking about Balakot camp strike, Dhanoa said, As far as casualty figures are concerned, it will be given by the government.

Air chief said that Indian Air Force hit their target, doesnt calculate casualty numbers; figures are calculated by the government ,we count what targets we have hit or not.

Commenting about Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, Dhanoa said whether he flies or not, it will be dependent on his medical fitness. He has undergone medical check-up post ejection from the aircraft and whatever treatment required, will be given. Once he clears his fitness check-up, he will get into fighter cockpit.

Answering a question on why MiG 21 Bison was used, Dhanoa said, One is a planned operation in which you plan & carry out. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy.

Responding to current situation at the border, Dhanoa said that it was an ongoing situation and wouldnt comment on that.
Apple appears to be ploughing ahead with plans to build a driverless car.

The Silicon Valley titan has poached Elon Musk's former chief engineer to work on its top-secret automotive project. Doug Field's appointment has reignited speculation about the iPhone maker's car programme after reports it had been dropped.

The 52-year-old has worked at Musk's Tesla for the past five years as vice-president of engineering, and is credited with helping to make the vehicles easier to build.

Apple appears to be ploughing ahead with plans to build a driverless car.

Rumours he had left swirled in May as troubled efforts to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan came to a head. His exit was confirmed last month, despite Tesla initially claiming he was simply taking leave.

Field, previously a vice-president of hardware, will now join Bob Mansfield, a top engineer brought out of retirement in 2016 to head secretive research and development programmes.

These reportedly include the Cupertino-based firm's automotive efforts, Project Titan.

It was claimed last year that Apple had scaled back the project to focus on software for driverless cars. But a recent court case revealed its efforts were far greater than acknowledged.

As many as 5,000 people are potentially involved, with court documents revealing Apple was developing key components such as power and battery systems, as well as suspension mounts.

At Tesla, when Musk took charge of production from Field, he tweeted: 'Doug, who I regard as one of the world's most talented engineering execs, is focused on vehicle engineering. Better to divide and conquer.'

Musk added: 'He has not left Tesla.'

But in July, however, it was announced Field had left.

John Gruber, an Apple expert who writes the Daring Fireball blog, said Field was 'a seemingly perfect fit' for Apple. He said: 'It's an interesting hire, primarily because it suggests that Apple still has an interest in making actual vehicles.'

Apple could yet buy a share in Tesla, the electric car firm founded and run by Elon Musk (pictured).

He said rumours that efforts were being scaled back did not make sense, adding: 'Apple's modus operandi has always been to make the whole widget. It makes products, not components. Field returning suggests that under Mansfield's leadership, the Titan project has regained its footing.'

Recently, some analysts have suggested Apple should buy a stake in Tesla using its vast cash pile. Despite suggestions the tech giant, which recently hit a $1trillion valuation, could consider acquisitions, chief executive Tim Cook has instead ploughed money into a huge share buyback.

But Ross Gerber, boss of US wealth manager Gerber Kawasaki, said: 'On the car side, how Apple hasn't taken a stake in Tesla will go back in history as one of the biggest mistakes in Tim Cook's career.

'This is an opportunity for Apple to buy 10 per cent or 20 per cent of Tesla.

'We really think Apple has to start thinking about this. They are hitting it out of the park completely with everything that they are doing from the past - but it's the future that we're focusing on.'

Tesla declined to comment.
Workers should save at least 12 per cent of their salary into pensions and employers should be made to stump up half of that, according to a new report.

A big ramping up of retirement saving is needed because once final salary pensions become extinct, just three per cent of savers in stingier modern schemes will be able to afford what is presently considered a comfortable retirement, it claims.

Savers should also be given meaningful retirement targets factored on real-life ambitions, such as being able to afford an annual holiday, a reasonable car, meals in restaurants and bottles of wine, recommends an influential pension industry group.

Savings target: Workers should put at least 12% of their salary into pensions - but employers should have to stump up half of that, the report suggests

The big auto enrolment drive means many more people now have a pension, but the minimum savings rate was just two per cent until April this year.

It has now risen to five per cent and will go up again to eight per cent in April 2019, half of which will be paid by the employee. The rest is made up of employer contributions and tax relief.

See below for how contributions are divvied up between savers, employers and the Government

But many people wrongly think the minimum is the 'recommended' amount they should save and has been set to ensure everyone will be comfortable in old age, according to the study by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association.

What are final salary and defined contribution pensions? Generous gold-plated defined benefit - or final salary - pensions provide a guaranteed income after retirement until you die. Most private sector employers have now replaced them with stingier and riskier defined contribution pensions. These take contributions from both employer and employee and invest them to provide a pot of money at retirement, but the worker bears all the investment risk.

The report says: 'The vast majority of savers do not understand retirement savings, do not know what sort of income they should aim for in retirement, and do not know how to achieve it.

'The state pension, private pension savings and property assets are the most significant sources of wealth that most people possess,' it goes on to add.

'Future generations of retirees are, however, much less likely to have sufficient assets to generate an adequate retirement income.'

Workers should therefore be made to pay a bigger proportion of their salary into their pensions, but employers must bear the brunt of the increase, according to the PLSA's proposals.

The chart below shows the minimum that savers, employers and the Government pay into pensions now, what that is already scheduled to increase to next April, and what the PLSA reckons it should rise to by 2030:

Number crunching: Workers currently pay in the most, but employers should bear more of the burden while the Government continues to make up the rest with pension tax relief, according to the PLSA

Previous PLSA research indicates that at the contribution rate of eight per cent of salary, 94 per cent of people are likely to achieve the Joseph Rowntree Foundation's minimum income standard - a commonly used measure of basic living requirements - by the time they retire.

The minimum standard figure was 9,998 a year in 2017.

But just half of savers would have enough to meet the usual yardstick for having a comfortable retirement - two thirds of your income before you stop work, otherwise known as the 'target replacement rate' - by the time they stop work.

And just three per cent of people who only save into defined contribution pots, and have no final salary pensions, would reach this goal, claims the report.

The TRR for someone earning the median - meaning the middle - income of 28,600 in 2017 was 19,162

Who pays what? How pension contributions stack up under auto-enrolment schemes (Source: The Pensions Advisory Service)

The PLSA also gives a list of reasons why future generations of retirees are likely to struggle financially - the decline of final salary schemes, low contributions into defined contribution pots, lower levels of home ownership, increased longevity, and higher social care and housing costs.

In addition to recommending a higher minimum contribution rate, the PLSA is working on new retirement targets based on real-life financial goals people might have for old age, including holidays, meals out, decent clothes and haircuts.

It plans to release more details early next year, but says there should be three target levels roughly corresponding to 'minimum','modest' and 'comfortable' standards.

The PLSA has looked at similar work by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, which has created pension saving targets linked to the affordability of various goods and services . See below for how this might work:

How does Australia promote retirement targets? Savers are given goals like being able to afford an annual holiday, a reasonable car, meals in restaurants and bottles of wine

Nigel Peaple, director of policy and research at the PLSA, said: 'Millions of savers are in the dark about whether they're on track for the lifestyle they want in retirement.

'With future generations unlikely to have the same levels of property wealth, or final salary pensions, as current retirees do, it's vital more is done to ensure people can cover the costs of later life.'
A rising number of financial advocates acting on behalf of people in need are being investigated over their decision-making.

Figures obtained by insurer Royal London show that hundreds more power of attorney cases are being probed by Government body the Office of the Public Guardian this year compared to last  a rise of nearly 46 per cent to 1,647.

Power of attorney is a legal document allowing an individual to manage the finances of someone who cannot undertake ordinary financial tasks themselves  for reasons like dementia or following a serious accident.

On the rise: The number of power of attorney cases probed by Government body

Helen Morrissey, of Royal London, says some investigations are cases of theft and greed, while others are examples of people overstepping boundaries or failing to keep records correctly. She adds: People taking on these responsibilities need clearer guidance on what they can and cannot do.

HOW IT WORKS

Those creating lasting power of attorneys are known as donors. They fill out the paperwork and choose attorneys who can represent them. This must be done while still of sound mind.

There are two types  one covering property and finances, the other health and welfare.

Documents are registered with the Office of the Public Guardian and activated if a donor needs help. For example, if they develop dementia. Multiple attorneys are allowed, and donors decide whether they must all agree on every decision or if they can act independently of each other.

IMPACT ON RELATIVES

Though incidents of attorneys acting questionably do occur, families stuck without licence to act in a crisis say power of attorney is crucial.

Take Jonathan and Carol Smith. The couple had all the responsibility for looking after the finances of Carols mum when she lost mental capacity last year  but no authority.

While Carols mum, Jessie, was still able to, the Smiths tried to arrange a power of attorney because she needed help with day-to-day running of her accounts. But Jessie was advised separately not to allow it.

Struggle: Jonathan and Carol Smith

Jonathan, who lives in Warwickshire, says: I tried to pay some of her bills but was repeatedly asked if I had power of attorney, which I did not. We were left with endless problems.

After Jessie developed Alzheimers, Carol and Jonathan, aged 70 and 69 respectively, found it difficult to pay nursing home fees because they could not access her money  a situation Jessie would never have wished to arise.

With no rights to allocate Jessies money, or authority to sell her home, the Smiths contributed around 200 a month from their own savings to cover fees.

Jessie passed away before the Smiths could apply for deputyship through the Court of Protection, which would have taken months and more money to arrange.

Jonathan says: My advice is to have power of attorney in place because it makes life a lot easier.

Four key steps when you are setting up a power of attorney 1. Get the paperwork. Set up an online account by visiting gov.uk/power-of-attorney and then complete the forms online. Alternatively, download and print off to fill in by hand. You can ask a solicitor for help or contact the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) on 0300 456 0300. 2. Sign the document. This must be done by you  the donor  the attorneys willing to represent you, witnesses and a certificate provider who confirms you are applying by choice and are of sound mind. The latter could be a solicitor, for example. 3. Notify important people in your life. The form to notify people  an LP3 form  tips off anyone you think should know about your plans. They have three weeks to raise any concerns. 4. Register. This can take up to ten weeks. Completed forms should be sent with the correct fee to Office of the Public Guardian, PO Box 16185, Birmingham B2 2WH.

CHOOSING WISELY

Many experts say rare cases of bad behaviour are not symptomatic of a problem with power of attorney itself, but can be a result of who donors pick to represent them.

Gary Rycroft, partner at Lancaster-based law firm Joseph A Jones & Co, says: Individuals need to be brutally honest about whom to appoint.

Adult offspring are typically chosen for the job, but Rycroft says a minority of parents with adult children who are either terrible at managing money or who could potentially steal from them, need to face reality.

Carol's late mother Jessie

Rycroft adds: Parents need to ask whether they trust their children and, if appointing more than one, whether the siblings get on with each other. If answers to these questions are difficult, think again about who you appoint.

Angharad Lynn, associate solicitor at law firm Veale Wasbrough Vizards, champions professional advice to ward off financial abuse. She says: There is potential for abuse with power of attorney. But with legal advice and someone trustworthy appointed as attorney, it is a useful tool for families.

PROS AND CONS

Power of attorney is quicker and cheaper than the alternative. Fees were reduced in April last year from 110 to 82 to encourage take-up and apply to both types  health and finances.

Without power of attorney, a person who has lost mental capacity will not necessarily be able to choose who helps them. In this situation someone volunteers to be deputy, for which the application fee is around 400. There are also ongoing supervision fees, levied by the Court of Protection.

The constant supervision of deputies does give extra protection for vulnerable people.

The same cannot be said for power of attorney, but legal help can add necessary safeguards.

My dad invested his pension but he's too ill to handle it any more - what can we do? Find out how to apply to be a 'deputy', if your loved one is ill and hasn't set up power of attorney.

Lynn adds: A solicitor can explain about adding preferences, such as instructing attorneys to produce accounts, or to take investment advice. It is also possible to notify other family members that lasting powers of attorney are being made. Those notified can keep an eye on how the donor is treated, providing a form of cross-check.

Solicitors can also be appointed as attorneys. Lawyers charge for their services once a power of attorney is activated, but they can remain neutral, act dispassionately and be held accountable for any wrongdoing.

REFUNDS AVAILABLE

Anyone who registered a lasting power of attorney with the Office of the Public Guardian between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2017 could be in line for a refund worth up to 108 plus interest.

This is because Government costs for providing a registration service reduced, but prices did not fall quickly enough by comparison.

Repayment is also due to people who registered enduring power of attorney. These documents were replaced by lasting power of attorney on October 1, 2007 but are still valid if signed before that date.

Refunds vary between 34 and 54 for each type of power of attorney, depending on when you paid the fees. Additional interest is 0.5 per cent. Visit gov.uk/power-of-attorney-refund or call 0300 456 0300 and select option six.
Kino Jimenez, 30 (pictured), was arrested on Thursday and charged with felony theft of a person after he stole a teen's 'Make America Great Again' hat and threw a drink in his face

The 30-year-old Texas man who threw a drink in a teen's face after ripping the young Trump supporter's 'Make America Great Again' hat off his head has been arrested.

Kino Jimenez was arrested without incident at his Universal City home, San Antonio Police said Thursday night.

The former bartender is being charged with felony theft of a person. Bail has been set at $5,000.

Jimenez was the subject of a video that began to go viral on Wednesday, showing him confronting 16-year-old Hunter Richard about a MAGA hat the teen was wearing.

Richard says Jimenez came up to the table where he and friends were eating at a Whataburger and pulled his hat off his head, grabbing some of his hair with it.

Video then shows Jimenez throwing a cup filled with ice and soda at Richard, yelling 'F*** the president!'

Hunter Richard, 16, was dining at Whataburger when he was attacked by a patron identified as Jimenez

Shocked: The teens at the table looked frightened when the patron launched his attack

'You ain't even support s**t n****,' Jimenez says as he walks away with the MAGA hat in hand.

Shaking the hat at the teen one last time he jeers: 'This is going to go great in my mother f****** fireplace, b****'.

'Alright, have fun with it,' one of the teenagers at the table calls out.

The video displays the utterly appalled reaction of one boy at the table.

Richard, pictured above, spoke out on the attack saying: 'I support my President and if you dont lets have a conversation about it instead of ripping my hat off'

Donald Trump Jr. offered to get Richard a new MAGA hat signed by the president

Richard is seen kitted out with other MAGA gear in a photo from Instagram

Video courtesy of News4SA

The boys said the man attacked them without any provocation.

Richard's mother Patricia Spittler posted the since deleted video online, where it racked up more than two million views, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

'Please help ID this "Scum BAG of the Year"! His friend was wearing a Patriotic Hat and this happened! It would be nice to know who he is for someone to let him know his actions are not ok! Real tough guy approaches a group of teenagers minding their own business just having a burger! He kept his hat too! Scum bag!' she pleaded.

The man was later identified by San Antonio bar 'Rumble' as being a part-time employee, who was immediately terminated following the publication of the video.

Jimenez who was fired from his part-time position at bar Rumble following the viral video

The restaurant posted to Facebook saying: 'It came to our attention earlier this evening that a part-time employee was captured on cell phone video assaulting another person at a local eatery. The assault took place, presumably, because this employee did not agree with the other individuals political stance.'

'We have since terminated this employee, as his actions go against everything that this establishment stands for. Rumble has, and always will be, a bar that is as inclusive as any establishment could possibly be,' the post added.

Speaking on the attack Richard said: 'I support my President and if you dont lets have a conversation about it instead of ripping my hat off.'

'I just think a conversation about politics is more productive for the entire whole rather than taking my hat and yelling subjective words to me,' he said to News4 San Antonio.

Speaking on the attack Richard said: 'I support my President and if you dont lets have a conversation about it instead of ripping my hat off.' He is pictured above with his friend

Following the attack, Donald Trump Jr. tweeted that he wanted to get Richard's contact information so he could send him a new MAGA hat 'SIGNED by #potus'.

Whataburger also released a statement saying they 'don't condone this type of customer behavior in our restaurants'.

'To be clear, no Whataburger employees were involved or witnessed the incident, and we ask that questions be directed to San Antonio PD as we continue supporting their efforts,' the statement says.

The hat-grabbing incident unfolded at this Whataburger in San Antonio Texas Tuesday evening

This isn't the first dispute to stem from the blaring red MAGA hat.

An employee at Vancouver restaurant was fired last month after he allegedly asked a customer to remove a MAGA hat in order to be served.

In April a New York Judge dismissed a lawsuit where a man claimed he was denied service at a bar for sporting the MAGA hat, but the judge said the bar was not acting outside the law.

On June 22, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant called Red Hen in Lexington, Virginia.

She tweeted afterwards that she was removed because she worked for the Trump administration.

The Red Hen owner said she politely asked Sanders to leave to make her workers feel comfortable after they took a staff vote and agreed to not serve Sanders.
A very surprising Fourth of July display took over the streets of Brooklyn when a woman began to shoot fireworks at pedestrians - and her reign of terror was caught on camera.

The terrifying video displays the moment the woman struts down the block in Crown Heights, aiming the blazing fireworks at people across the street, sending the group sprinting for cover.

The fireworks explode in dazzling stars of red and green as the woman, who is wearing a white top, skirt, and matching cap, charges after her targets.

A woman was caught on video firing fireworks at pedestrians in Crown Heights, Brooklyn

She pointed her fireworks gun at people across the street Monday evening, sending the colorful sparks their way as they sprinted for cover

The woman, pictured right wearing white, pointed her fireworks gun with confidence, blasting people in her path across the street

Police are now looking for the woman who wreaked havoc in Brooklyn Monday evening

The screams and laughter of young adults and children can be heard running away from the woman.

But she calmly follows them in determined pursuit pointing the rocket launcher at them.

Police are now investigating the mayhem-causing incident that unfolded Monday evening around 11pm.

The incident took place at St. Johns place on Nostrand Avenue at St. Johns Place.

Cops are trying to identify the woman in the video.

She could be hit with charges of reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of fireworks.

'The commanding officer has been made aware and is looking into it,' a police spokesman said to Pix11.

She could face charges of reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of fireworks

Police are investigating the video that displays the dazzling sparks and laughter and screams of the pedestrians running away from the scene

A man, above, is pictured jumping upon hearing the fireworks explode right behind him

'Someone couldve definitely gotten hurt. That couldve been me thats walking by going home, and I could have got hit in the crossfire,' one resident told CBS2.

Another local said the illegal firework displays are common in anticipation of the Fourth.

'Ive lived here about 10 years, and its pretty consistent year to year,' another resident said.

'They do it every other day. People have fun, then they start having too much fun, then everything gets out of hand,' yet another said.
Firefighters led eight Grenfell Tower residents into a 14th floor flat filling with smoke to await rescue, but four did not survive.

Desmond Murphy and Charles Cornelius, a rescue team from Kensington station, unexpectedly encountered the panicked group as conditions were worsening, their watch manager told an inquiry.

They included two-year-old Jeremiah Deen, his mother Zainab, both of whom died, Denis Murphy, who also perished and Syrian brothers Mohammad, who died, and Omar Alhajali, who survived after the pair fled from dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Zainab Deen, left, and her two-year-old son Jeremiah, right, both died in the inferno in Kensington

Grenfell Tower burns in West London. Today an inquiry into the tragedy heard the emotional testimonies of firefights deployed to the scene

Brien OKeeffe, an officer who was organising rescue operations from a base at the bottom of the tower on June 14 last year, told the Grenfell Tower inquiry that the crew were unable to take them back down.

The Kensington rescue team had been dispatched at 1.51am to Flat 111 on the 14th floor, home of Mr Murphy, who had been on the phone to 999 operators. There had been reports of a fire in the flat, as well as smoke.

Denis Murphy (pictured) also died in the blaze

Visibly emotional at times, the officer told a hearing at Holborn Bars: 'They had found the individual in the flat but when they went there they found another seven people from various flats who came to them for help.

'They were unable to take the eight people out.

'Just give me a moment, please,' he said, as he took a sip of water to compose himself.

'I knew I had eight people now on that floor in one flat, they had put people in the flat which they deemed to be the least smokey flat, and they reported that to me.

'As far as I recall I deployed another (breathing apparatus) crew immediately to that area.'

But despite half of the residents eventually making it out alive, four did not. Mr Murphy, Mohammad al-Haj Ali, Ms Deen and her son Jeremiah all died that night.

Mr OKeeffe was reluctant to mention Mr Murphy by name during his evidence on Friday.

Of the initial rescue attempt, he said: 'They kicked the door in, I believe and they found - I dont want to say his name, I dont want to say his name, I dont think its relevant.'

He then paused and was told to take his time by chairman Sir Martin Moore-Bick.

'And so the only thing they could do was place people in a place they considered to be safe at that time,' he continued. 'They told them that somebody would come back to get them.'

Smoke had thickened on the upper levels to the extent that firefighters Murphy and Cornelius could barely distinguish floor numbers on the walls, it was heard.

Student Mohammad Alhajali (left), 23, fled his war-torn home of Daraa with his brother Omar (right), 25

The pair had returned to Mr OKeeffe low on oxygen supplies in their breathing apparatus (BA).

'They were in bad shape,' he said. 'They had abandoned their firefighting kit and didnt think they were going to make it out alive. They looked really shaken.'

Mr OKeeffe said in his written statement that his crew colleague Mr Murphy was in tears about the decision at the end of the night.

By the time the initial rescue attempt had been launched, Grenfell Towers only stairwell was too smoke-logged for a safe evacuation, he said earlier on Friday.

The 25-year veteran of the London Fire Brigade said: 'If people started to evacuate it would become multiple casualties in the stairs and that we would have great difficulty in finding out where people were, because when you have an FSG (fire survival guidance) you know where someone is, and if theyre protected you know you have a destination, x or y flat, number of people.

'But if people start evacuating - when the entire building is on fire or most of it is on fire and the only way down is impossible - that will have been a huge catastrophe.

'It would have really impeded our rescue operations and if my guys didnt know where people were, I couldnt say, Go to this floor, you just have - as you did afterwards - people deceased in the stairwell and various parts of the building.'

A full evacuation was eventually ordered at 2.47am. The inquiry will continue hearing evidence from Mr OKeeffe at 10am on Monday.
Charlie Sheen won a major victory against the woman suing him for exposing her to HIV when a judge recently decided that the case should be taken into arbitration.

But before handing off the case, the judge had some words of advice for Sheen's legal team: stop 'slut-shaming' the plaintiff.

The woman who filed the lawsuit last month, who is identified only as Jane Doe in court documents, claims Sheen forced her to sign a non-disclosure agreement and never told her he was infected with the HIV virus.

A judge recently told Charlie Sheen's (pictured on June 23) legal team not to 'slut-shame' the woman suing the actor for exposing her to HIV

Sheen's lawyers refuted the claims, calling the woman a 'professional hooker party girl' who was well aware of Sheen's diagnosis and didn't care.

'As a professional sex worker, she has hundreds, if not thousands of sexual partners,' his legal team said in court documents. 'Exposure to sexually transmitted diseases is a risk that she knowingly and willingly accepts every time she has sex for money.'

In court documents obtained by TMZ, the judge said such a description 'wins no favor with this Court'.

Sheen, 52, publicly announced he was HIV positive in November 2015.

His former sex partner filed the lawsuit on June 22.

She said 'thuggish' men with weapons escorted her into Sheen's garage and forced her to sign the NDA at the beginning of their two-month relationship.

The Russian native admitted she only skimmed the document because English isn't her first language.
A four-year-old boy who was found floating in a family pool in Delaware on July 4th has lost his life.

The little boy, named Dominic, died just two days after he was rescued from the swimming pool in New Castle County.

His drowning is the first July Fourth death since at least 2016, according to the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.

Police officers originally went to the home to look for a missing child who was found in the pool a short time later.

Authorities are investigating two separate swimming tragedies in Delaware

A four-year-old drowned in his backyard swimming pool and a teenager is fighting for his life after going under the water at an apartment pool

'When the officers got there, they got the information from the family members, and they started to search, and immediately the child was located in the family swimming pool by the patrol officers,' said Master Cpl. Michel Eckerd of the New Castle County Police Department.

Officers began CPR and the child was taken to a local hospital, but was died on Thursday.

Witnesses say there were at least forty adults and children enjoying a holiday cookout.

There were multiple children in the pool and adults were socializing when, around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, chaos erupted after the four-year-old could not be found.

Witnesses say there were at least 40 adults and kids enjoying a holiday cookout at the time when adults lost track of the child who only found when police arrived

Witnesses say they checked the pool but saw nothing.

'One of the children thought they felt something,' a witness said to ABC6. 'That's what made the cop start coming out of his gun and his belt. And as he was getting ready to dive in, a family member jumped in before he did, and found the little fella.'

In a second pool-related incident the county force responded to on Wednesday officers were called to an apartment complex pool in New Castle where a 15-year-old boy nearly drowned.

A lifeguard rescued the teen from the water and performed CPR. The boy remains in critical condition.

'Keep it in the back of your head that this pool could be a blue monster back there, for a lack of better terminology, that you always constantly have to be vigilant over,' Eckerd warned.

About 19 children drown every year during the July Fourth holiday, according to the USA Swimming Foundation.

The foundation reports nearly 90 children younger than 15 years of age drowned in a pool or spa between January and May.

The Centers for Disease Control reports similar statistics with about 1 in 5 people who drown aged 14 years or younger.
The Virginia restaurant that made headlines for asking White House press secretary Sarah Sanders to leave has reopened its doors - and is already fully booked.

The Red Hen, an American eatery located in Lexington, closed its doors after Sanders tweeted that she was kicked out of the restaurant because she works for president Donald Trump.

On Thursday night, two weeks after the incident took place, the restaurant reopened but to reservations only. It later posted a sign saying they had been booked to capacity.

'The Red Hen is fully booked this evening,' a note on the front door of the 26-seat establishment read, according to Fox News. 'Guests please enter via the patio.'

Red Hen, the Virginia restaurant that asked White House press secretary to leave, reopened its doors on Thursday

The restaurant said it was only taking reservations. It later posted a sign on the front door that it had been 'fully booked' for the evening

Trump supporters have taken up shop outside the restaurant ever since the June 22 incident.

In a tweet, Sanders wrote: 'Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so.'

Trump lashed out at the farm-to-table restaurant calling it 'dirty' in a tweet.

'The Red Hen Restaurant should focus more on cleaning its filthy canopies, doors and windows (badly needs a paint job) rather than refusing to serve a fine person like Sarah Huckabee Sanders,' the president wrote. 'I always had a rule, if a restaurant is dirty on the outside, it is dirty on the inside.'

The restaurant's owner Stephanie Wilkinson told the Washington Post that she asked Sanders to leave at the request of her staff.

'I explained that the restaurant has certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation,' she said. 'I said, "I'd like to ask you to leave."

Wilkinson said some of the people on her staff are gay and they did not like that Sanders defended Trump's desire to ban transgender people from the military. She told the outlet that her employees wanted her to ask Sanders to leave, so she did.

The restaurant's owner, Stephanie Wilkinson, said she asked Sanders (pictured) to leave because her restaurant has 'certain standards that I feel it has to uphold, such as honesty, and compassion, and cooperation'

'Her actions say far more about her than about me': The restaurant made headlines after Sanders tweeted about the incident

Trump supporters stood outside the restaurant protesting the owner's decision to have Sanders leave but the backlash has not stopped guests from eating there

'I'm not a huge fan of confrontation,' Wilkinson explained. 'I have a business, and I want the business to thrive. This feels like the moment in our democracy when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals.'

One day after the incident, the Red Hen closed its door as of pro-Trump protestors gathered outside the establishment.

'We're here because actions have consequences,' protester Paul Brockman told CNN. 'We think the place for political statements is at the ballot box, not at the dinner table'.

Sanders is not the only White House official to be confronted in public recently. Earlier this week, former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt was confronted by a woman at DC restaurant and urged to resign 'before your scandals push you out'.

'We deserve to have somebody at the EPA who actually does protect our environment, somebody who believes in climate change and takes it seriously for the benefit of all of us, including our children,' she said in a video of the encounter.

Pruitt resigned on Thursday citing 'unrelenting attacks' on himself and his family, which 'have taken a sizable toll on all of us'.
With her nine-week-old daughter running a high temperature, Laura Daykin rang the NHS 111 helpline and was reassured a doctor would call her back within the hour.

But instinct told her that baby Heidi was gravely ill and so she took her straight to hospital  where doctors spent five days treating her for sepsis.

Yesterday Mrs Daykin said medics told her that her quick action probably saved Heidis life, and urged the NHS to overhaul training for 111 call handlers so that they are better prepared to spot symptoms of the potentially fatal condition.

Mother Laura Daykin, 25, with her 11 week old baby daughter Heidi pictured at home near Doncaster, South Yorkshire

Mother Laura Daykin, 25, with her 11 week old baby daughter Heidi, son Oakley, 4, and husband Tom (L) pictured at home near Doncaster, South Yorkshire

The Daily Mails End the Sepsis Scandal campaign was launched after the death of one-year-old William Mead. He developed sepsis in 2014 following a chest infection but his symptoms were missed by GPs, out-of-hours doctors and the NHS 111 helpline. His family, from Penryn, Cornwall, were repeatedly told not to worry.

Mrs Daykin, 25, a pharmacy assistant from Doncaster, urged other parents to trust their instincts, adding: If I hadnt gone with my gut instinct and got Heidi to hospital I have no doubt she wouldnt be here today.

I was told by the call handler to wait for the doctor to ring me, but I knew time was of the essence and wasnt prepared to take any chances. At hospital I was told several times that without my quick thinking, we would have faced a very different outcome.

Sepsis is caused by the bodys response to an infection. Without quick treatment, it can lead to multiple organ failure and death.

Early symptoms in babies under three months can be a temperature under 36C or above 38C, or any high temperature in a child who cannot be encouraged to show interest in anything. Laboured breathing, grunting noises with each breath, a dry nappy for more than 12 hours, sunken eyes and floppiness could also occur.

Mrs Daykin noticed Heidi wasnt well when she was getting ready to settle her for the night at the start of this month. I was about to give Heidi her last bottle when I realised she was very hot to the touch, she said. Her temperature was 38.4C. I quickly Googled it and read anything above 38C is considered abnormal.

Laura trusted her intuition by taking Heidi straight to hospital when she became ill, where doctors spent five days treating her for Sepsis

So I gave Heidi some Calpol and called 111. After recording all her symptoms the call handler told me I shouldnt have given Heidi the paracetamol because she was under 12 weeks old, despite the fact her temperature had risen to 38.8 in the short time I was on the phone. But I knew it was the best thing to give a child to bring their temperature down.

Mrs Daykin and her husband Thomas, 29, an electrician, drove Heidi to Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Medical staff reassured her that she had done the right thing in giving Heidi Calpol, but within an hour of arrival the infants temperature rocketed.

She was taken to a resuscitation room and suddenly, there were three or four doctors all working on Heidi, Mrs Daykin said.

She was taken to a resuscitation room and suddenly, there were three or four doctors all working on Heidi, Mrs Daykin said

She was wired up to machines and we were told our baby was struggling to fight off an infection. We were absolutely terrified we were going to lose her.

Heidi was given intravenous antibiotics and had a lumbar puncture to rule out meningitis before her parents were told the most likely explanation for her sudden deterioration was sepsis.

Fortunately after five days Heidi successfully fought off the infection and was discharged. Mrs Daykin said: I was just so grateful to the doctors who saved her life.

NHS England said: Health professionals are spotting and treating more cases of sepsis than ever before, but there is still more we can do. We are working closely with the UK Sepsis Trust and medical leaders on awareness-raising, as well as introducing more measures to improve the chances of survival and reduce complications.

Baby Heidi in hospital
Union Minister SS Ahluwalia said neither PM Modi nor any govt spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of the air strikes

Ahluwalia reiterated that neither government officials nor any minister has given out a figure of the casualties. (Photo: Facebook)

Kolkata: Union Minister SS Ahluwalia has said that the aim of the Indian Air Force strike in Pakistan's Balakot was to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines and did not intend to inflict "any human casualty".

Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of the IAF air strikes. Rather, it was the media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorist killed were being circulated, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modi ji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modi ji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask if Modi ji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figures?" Ahluwalia told reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The minister of state for electronics and information technology said the intention of the strike was to send out a message that India is capable of destruction in Pakistan's own backyard if needed. "We didn't want any human casualty," he said.

Minister of State in Modi's cabinet, SS Ahluwalia is saying @narendramodi or @AmitShah never claimed that our #AirStrikes killed 300+ Terrorists & we didnt want any "Human Casualties". Is the Govt now backtracking from its claims that they took out a Terrorist Camp in Pakistan? pic.twitter.com/nstgsWF6sZ  CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) March 2, 2019

A video of Ahluwalia's comments in Bengali was posted by the CPM on its Twitter handle.

Ahluwalia reiterated that neither government officials nor any minister has given out a figure of the casualties.

"I was asked whether I stand by the government's statement or by the reports of Indian media which have said 300-350 terrorists were killed. I stand by the government's statement. How can I vouch for media reports?" he said.
Investigators have seen a sharp rise in the number of grenades seized from criminals trying to smuggle weapons into the UK.

Between January and April this year alone 17 of the devices were seized by UK authorities, compared to 40 that were discovered over the four-year period between 2013 and 2017.

The weapons are mainly from the former Yugoslavia and in the most recent seizures, in Sussex and Scotland, were attached to the bottom of vehicles.

Investigators have seen a sharp rise in the number of grenades seized from criminals trying to smuggle weapons into the UK

In the largest haul, Police Scotland recovered six grenades and 1.5kg of dynamite.

Chris Farrimond, deputy director of investigations at the National Crime Agency, said the devices are generally smuggled over land on lorries or trailers that arrive by ferry.

While the number of grenades coming into the country appears to be on the rise, the number of the devices exploded remains very low, on average one per year between 2013 and 2017.

This has led investigators to fear that there are stashes of unused weapons in the country in criminal hands.

Mr Farrimond: 'If we just work on the figures that we know about, the ones that have been recovered over the past four years and the ones that we know of that have been exploded, then somewhere, somehow in the UK there are a number of grenades that are in criminal hands and have not been used.'

The devices were used three times in buildings and once against a vehicle between 2013 and 2017.

'They don't get used very often but where they have we have fortunately seen them not used in crowded areas, but they've been used quite specifically against either buildings or a vehicles.

The weapons are mainly from the former Yugoslavia and in the most recent seizures, in Sussex and Scotland, were attached to the bottom of vehicles

'Not one of these was actually used against a person, they were used to create fear and or criminal damage. It was almost a warning device.'

Multiple murderer and drug dealer Dale Cregan used grenades as his 'calling card' in three of the four killings he carried out in 2012, throwing grenades at the bodies of his victims after they had been shot.

Mr Farrimond said there are concerns that the weapons could get into terrorist hands.

A grenade currently costs between around 250 and 750 on the street.

He said: 'The bottom line is that firearms do get offered up for sale and so then the question is how accessible is that criminal sale area to somebody who wants to create a terrorist offence of some type.

'Of course there is a concern from our point of view.

'Protecting the public is rightly at the forefront of everyone's mind.

'Of course we have a concern that they could fall into terrorist hands and they could be used in a particular way.'

Of the 17 seized so far this year, 12 were military and viable; one was improvised, three were imitation or deactivated, and one was real but not viable.
Body camera footage shows the moment two policemen shot a man dead as he raised a gun towards the ceiling on his front porch.

William James Hughes was shot numerous times by officers Matthew Jones and Vincent Adams outside his apartment in St Paul on August 5.

The officers heard him say 'I will kill you' from inside and repeatedly shouted at him to put his hands up after knocking on the front door.

William James Hughes, 43, (pictured) was shot numerous times by police officers outside his apartment in St Paul on August 5

Hughes, 43, stepped onto the enclosed porch through another door holding a pistol in his right hand and raised it until it was pointing at the ceiling.

The pistol momentarily pointed toward the officers as he swung it upward and one or both of them opened fire.

Police Chief Todd Axtell gave a slightly different interpretation of the footage when he made the unusual step of releasing it before the investigation was over.

'You will see Mr Hughes begin to raise the gun in a sweeping fashion over the officers, who fired their service weapons,' he told reporters.

Hughes was a member of the White Earth Nation, an Ojibwe tribe based in northern Minnesota.

Relatives told investigators he was suicidal over a terminal illness that limited his quality of life, according to the warrant application.

The officers heard him say 'I will kill you' from inside and repeatedly shouted at him to put his hands up after knocking on the front door

Hughes, 43, stepped onto the enclosed porch through another door holding a pistol in his right hand and raised it until it was pointing at the ceiling

Chief Axtell said the shooting generated 'widespread rumors and falsehoods' that could erode public trust in police and place officers in danger.

Mayor Melvin Carter called for the footage to be released as soon as possible as Native American groups began protesting the shooting.

He later said the footage was 'heartbreaking' and the city wished the shooting never happened.

Native Lives Matter and other community groups held vigils for Hughes and organized protests and marches declaring he didn't need to die.

'Although we are angry beyond belief, we are not surprised as we have been dealing with police brutality since 1492,' it said of the footage.

'We will continue to seek #Justice4Billy and all lives that have been stolen at the hands of... killer cops.

The pistol momentarily pointed toward the officers as he swung it upward and one or both of them opened fire, shooting him dead

'We will continue to seek #Justice4Billy and all lives that have been stolen at the hands of... killer cops,' Native Lives Matter said.

'Today we pray for our fallen brother William James Billy Hughes, his family and friends and all of our brothers and sisters who have been murdered by police violence.'

John Gordon, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, also questioned whether officers had to fire.

'Having a gun, in and of itself, is not reason enough for someone to be shot,' he said.

'Officers need extensive training on how to secure an area and de-escalate dangerous situations so that shootings are a last resort, not a routine practice. That, unfortunately, did not happen for William Hughes.'

Though Hughes' family also questioned the need to kill him, they watched the footage with Chief Axtell and sent letters to the officers.

Native Lives Matter and other community groups held vigils for Hughes and organized protests and marches declaring he didn't need to die

Friend Alicia Smith,left, comforts Melissa Waukazo, the sister of William Hughes after a ceremony for her brother

The police chief held up two envelopes at the news conference saying they contained cards Hughes' sister asked him to deliver to Adams and Jones.

'This is the first time in my 30-year career that I've ever seen such grace by a family met by such a tragedy,' he said.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the video was hard to watch but was just one piece of evidence in the case.

He said the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was relaying information daily and he planned to analyze all the data before deciding whether the shooting was justified.
Criminals have been manufacturing illegal handguns at a 'large-scale, sophisticated' weapons factory hidden on an industrial estate in a Sussex market town, it emerged today.

The gun factory was uncovered in a warehouse disguised as a gearbox repair business, yards from an Argos and a Screwfix store in Hailsham, East Sussex.

Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), often described as Britain's FBI, heard the sound of gunshots coming from the building before they arrested three men earlier this week.

Masked policemen outside an industrial estate unit in Sussex where a gun factory was found

A picture shows the inside of the Hailsham gun factory, hidden on an industrial estate

The NCA said one of the men was tasered during the raid, since which a forensic search of the site has been carried out.

The organisation's Rob Hickinbottom said officers have found around 30 firearms in different stages of production, as well as templates and metal thought to be used to manufacture guns.

He added that his officers believed they have disrupted a group which would have put lethal weapons in the hands of criminals and gangs.

Mr Hickinbottom said he understood that residents of the rural town would be shocked by the discovery, but said criminals seek out quiet industrial units to produce illegal weapons.

The NCA also released these images of ammunition found in the raid in East Sussex

Police have been at the site ever since, and confirmed they have also raided other properties

Mr Hickinbottom said: 'Our investigation is continuing, and much of what we have discovered at this location will now be the subject of careful forensic analysis.

'We suspect that this operation has disrupted a group that would appear to be involved in the criminal production of firearms.

'As a result we have prevented a potentially large quantity of weapons from getting onto the black market and into the hands of criminals.

'I would also like to recognise the superb support and assistance we have had from Sussex Police throughout this operation  their contribution to this investigation has been and will continue to be crucial to its success.'

Business owners based in nearby units told of their surprise at the discovery.

John Saunders, who runs Wealden Installations Ltd, said he arrived to open up at 7am on Monday to find the small corner of the Diplocks industrial estate 'packed with police'.

Officers say the factory was 'large-scale' and they have recovered weapons and ammunition

Mr Saunders said: 'There were armed police watching it. When I learnt what had been found it really surprised me.

'We never saw anything suspicious. It was just a normal business near ours.'

Another nearby business owner claimed to have fitted gearboxes for the workshop.

The 41-year-old man, who asked not to be named, said: 'It was just a normal set-up. I never saw anything unusual.

'It is a complete surprise to hear what was found in this area. Hailsham is a quiet town.

'They supplied the gearboxes and I supplied the time. I worked with the business for about 18 months.'

A police chief said he could understand why residents of the small town would be alarmed

Greg Akehurst, 29, of no fixed address, and Mark Kinman, 63, of Hailsham, were both charged with possessing a firearm.

Kyle Wood, 30, of Littlehampton, was charged with the same offence as well as possessing ammunition.

The trio were remanded in custody and are due to appear at Kingston Crown Court on September 17.
A brave grandmother fought off two dingoes for half an hour using just a stick to protect her daughter and 10-year-old grandson while her son ran for help.

The French family were camping by a lake on Fraser Island, a popular holiday spot off Queensland's coast, on Thursday when they were attacked by the pack of dingoes.

The mother, 24, suffered puncture wounds to her arms while her son had deep cuts to his leg and face. Both were airlifted to hospital and are now in a stable condition.

Fraser Island taxi driver Lisa Walker, who gave a lift to the grandmother the day after the attack, was told how the gruesome attack unfolded.

'Although her English wasn't perfect she described sending her 15-year-old son to run to get help as she had a stick fighting off the two dingoes for about half an hour to help protect her daughter and grandson,' she told the Fraser Coast Chronicle.

A brave French grandmother used a stick to fight off two dingoes who mauled her daughter and 10-year-old grandson (pair are pictured being airlifted to hospital after attack)

Two dingoes were captured by rangers on Fraser Island, off Queensland's coast, and euthanised (stock image)

Both dingoes were caught by Queensland Parks and Wildlife rangers and euthanised.

'Considering the seriousness of the incident, this dingo has been euthanised, in consultation with the Butchulla People,' a spokesperson from the Department of Environment and Science confirmed after capturing the second dingo.

'Visitors are reminded never to approach or feed dingoes, as this can lead them to becoming habituated.'

Queensland Ambulance Service (QAS) spokesperson Michael Augustus said the mother and child had left their vehicle at Eurong Beach - on the east coast of the island - when they came across the animals.

'The couple both panicked and ran back towards the vehicle and it was at that time when the pack actually chased them and attacked,' he said.

Paramedics worked to stabilise the pair before flying them to Sunshine Coast University Hospital where they are understood to be in a stable condition.

Fraser Island taxi driver Lisa Walker was told how the haunting attack unfolded after giving the grandmother a lift the following day

Wildlife authorities have warned people to avoid dingoes and to never feed the animals

The journey was a six-hour round trip and the crew did not return to the base until midnight.

The Department of Environment and Science said the incident would be investigated by parks and wildlife and patrols increased on the island.

'Rangers will also increase patrols at campgrounds and other island arrival points to warn visitors of the dangers associated with dingoes,' a spokesman said.

The incident comes a month after a six-year-old boy was attacked by four dingoes on a family camping trip on Fraser Island.

The young boy was bitten on the leg and was airlifted to hospital.

The mother and child had just gotten out of their vehicle at Eurong Beach - on the east coast of the island - when they came across the animals

'The family had finished swimming when the young boy said he wanted to race up a sand dune,' RACQ LifeFlight Rescue aircrewman Dan Leggat said.

'Unfortunately, when he got to the top, there was a pack of four dingoes.'

Paramedics treated and stabilised the boy to be transported by the Bundaberg-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter.

Dingoes are a protected species on Fraser Island.

'Wildlife authorities recognise that Fraser Island dingoes may become the purest strain of dingo on the eastern Australian seaboard and perhaps Australia-wide,' the Queensland Department of Environment and Science website states.

Thursday's incident was the eight dingo attack at the popular tourist spot in the last 20 years.

One attack resulted in the death of nine-year-old Clinton Gage in 2001.

His death sparked the culling of 31 dingoes and caused an outcry among residents.

A dingo was also responsible for murdering Lindy Chamberlain's baby in the outback in 1980 in a notorious case which divided Australia.

Paramedics treated and stabilised the boy to be transported by the Bundaberg-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopter

In the years since she cried out in the night 'A dingo's got my baby!', there were four inquests and a government inquiry into nine-week-old Azaria's death.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton was jailed in 1982 after being found guilty of slashing her daughter's throat and making it look like a dingo attack.

She was released in 1986 after Englishman David Brett fell to his death while climbing Ayers Rock  known today by its Aboriginal name of Uluru  and landed beside a matinee jacket that was vital to her defence.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton had told police that no dingo saliva had been found on Azaria's jumpsuit because the baby was wearing a matinee jacket over the jumpsuit, but no jacket was found at the time the child disappeared.

A third inquest in 1995 could not determine the cause of death. Mr Chamberlain, who was convicted of being an accessory after the fact of murder but later exonerated, then fought a long legal battle for a fourth inquest.

That inquest heard new evidence of dingo attacks, including three fatal attacks on children since the third inquest.

Mrs Chamberlain-Creighton was finally exonerated in 2012.
An 18-year-old girl has been left with nasty facial injuries after being glassed at a suburban house party.

Lauren Gloede was at a 40th birthday party in Willagee, south of Perth in Western Australia, when she was attacked with what is believed to have been a bottle.

Just moments earlier, Miss Gloede was defending her boyfriend from three men who were hurling racist abuse at him.

Scroll down for video

Doctors have said that the gash was so close to her eye that she could've been blind for life

She said she didn't know that she had been hit with at first.

Doctors said that the gash was so close to her eye that she could've been blinded for life.

'I couldn't see because whatever the alcohol was was burning my eyes, so actually originally I didn't know if it was a bottle, or acid because I was burning up, ' Nine reported.

The teenager said the men made three racial slurs before the glassing occurred

Miss Gloede says while the physical scars will begin to heal, it's the mental scars that will be hardest to overcome.

'I won't be going anywhere there's intoxicated people,' she said.

Glassing laws have come under the spotlight in recent years.

In Victoria, the maximum punishment for glassing someone has been increased from 18 months to three years and six months.

Glassing someone with intent to cause grievous bodily harm can attract a 25-year sentence in New South Wales.
BMX riders found copper wire strung at head height between two trees that could easily have decapitated unsuspecting riders.

A group of riders including Ben Feltell, 20, discovered two head-height traps on 4x4 tracks at Coomera in the Gold Coast.

Mr Feltell issued a warning to dirt bikers and quad bikers who use the track on Facebook on Sunday.

Two copper wires strung between trees at head height were found on Coomera 4x4 tracks in the Gold Coast by a group of riders last night

The wires could decapitate unsuspecting riders if they're driving fast enough. A warning to dirt and quad bikers was posted to Facebook

'Copper wire has been set up across Coomera 4x4 tracks at head height obviously trying to get riders,' Mr Feltell said.

'Be careful around these areas.'

Mr Feltell and his group took down the traps and posted their locations to warn riders.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said the incident has not been reported but 'any report would be treated as a serious matter'.

'A person caught setting mantraps can receive a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment,' she said.

The locations of the two copper wire traps according to Mr Feltell on Facebook

Queensland dirt biker Ben Bird was jerked off his bike by the neck from a metal wire strung across a track last month.

'Almost had my last ride this afternoon thanks to whoever put this up along the road!' he wrote on Facebook.

Mr Bird was left with neck grazes and says he only avoided decapitation because he was riding slowly.
The United States and China are close to reaching a major trade deal that would see both sides lower some of the tariffs imposed during an often-bitter trade war, a report said Sunday.

Negotiators for the two sides have made substantial progress and a final accord is close to being hammered out, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted anonymous sources on both sides.

A deal would be welcomed by financial markets, which have suffered through the often-rancorous trade conflict between the world's two largest economic powers.

Donald Trump and Xi Jinping could sign a deal in late March to bring an end to the trade war that has been raging between America and China, hurting stock markets

The Journal said talks last month in Washington had helped narrow differences, meaning a formal agreement might be ready when President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping meet in late March while Xi is on a European trip.

It stressed, however, that some hurdles remain, and that the pact will likely spark complaints on both sides that too much has been given away.

The report said China had tentatively agreed to lower tariffs or ease restrictions on farm, chemical and auto products, among others.

Chinese negotiators have also offered to speed up the timetable for removing foreign-ownership limits on car ventures and to reduce tariffs on imported vehicles to below the current 15 percent rate, according to the Journal.

In a move meant to respond to Trump's repeated demands for a narrowing of America's trade gap with China, Beijing would also increase its purchases of US goods, including a possible multi-billion-dollar buys of natural gas from the Cheniere Energy group.

The deal would see China drop tariffs on vehicles, farm goods and chemicals and agree to purchase more US products, in return for Trump dropping most of the tariffs he levied last year

In exchange for Chinese concessions, Washington would do away with most of the trade sanctions it imposed last year, the report said.

The paper quoted analysts as saying that the failure of Trump's recent summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi could affect the trade talks in one of two opposite ways.

It could persuade Beijing that Trump is desperate for a win, or China might take it as a sign that Trump, as his advisors say, is willing to walk away from a bad deal.

The year-long tit-for-tat trade war has imposed punishing tariffs totaling many billions of dollars on a large portion of the trade between the two economic powers.
A vice-chancellor from one of Australia's most prestigious universities has called for fewer international students to be accepted.

Education is Australia's third biggest export, and is worth more than $30billion a year to the economy with almost 900,000 foreigners studying in Australia last year.

Universities make money from teaching more students, and fee-paying overseas students have been lucrative for the higher education sector.

A Nobel-prize winning vice-chancellor from one of Australia's most prestigious universities has called for fewer international students to be accepted (Chinese students at ANU pictured)

Australian National University vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt, who won a Nobel prize in physics in 2011, said there was a danger in accepting too many international students.

'Yes, international students are great but there is a limit to how many we can take and we must be getting close to that,' the Canberra-based academic told The Australian Financial Review newspaper.

'We are going to have to be selective.'

Professor Schmidt, an American-born astrophysicist, said the over-reliance on international students, to boost enrolments, was a threat to the quality of university research.

Australian National University vice-chancellor Professor Brian Schmidt, who won a Nobel prize in physics in 2011, said there was a danger in accepting too many international students

'We need to continue as a teaching and a research university,' he said.

Foreign students in Australia China is the number one source of international students in Australia, with their academic presence generating $10billion for the economy in 2017. That was almost triple the $3.4billion generated by Indian nationals studying in Australia. Students from Malaysia, Nepal, Vietnam, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Brazil rounded out the top 10 list. Foreigners were more likely to study in Sydney or Melbourne, with New South Wales and Victoria generating more than two-thirds of the $30billion in export income from education. Source: Department of Education and Training. Advertisement

'But I don't get better if I get bigger.'

In 2017, education exports generated $30.8billion for the Australian economy, with Chinese student demand making up a third of that, data from the Department of Education and Training showed.

This grew to $32.4billion in the 2017/18 financial year, when the first six months of last year were taken into account.

The number of international students continued to surge last year, jumping from 800,000 to almost 900,000.

Students from India, Malaysia, Nepal and Vietnam made the top five list.

In November federal Education Minister Dan Tehan, who represents an electorate in western Victoria, told the Council for International Education more work needed to be done to attract more international students to regional areas.

'International education is Australia's third highest value export, contributing $32.4 billion to the Australian economy in 2017-18 and supporting over 240,000 Australian jobs,' he said.
A Texas teenager was fatally stabbed by another teen girl, reportedly after weeks of feuding on social media.

Authorities said Kaitlin Leonor Castilleja, 18, of San Antonio, Texas, was fatally stabbed Friday at about 1am after she and Vivian Foster, 18, confronted a 16-year-old high school student outside the teen's home, according to My San Antonio.

Police said that while the three teens were fighting, the 16-year-old stabbed Castilleja and Foster.

Kaitlin Leonor Castilleja, 18, of San Antonio, Texas, was fatally stabbed following a confrontation with a 16-year-old former schoolmate outside the girl's home

Castilleja was said to have been mortally wounded by the unnamed teen, while Foster received superficial cuts.

Police said that after the attack, the 16-year-old called authorities to report that she had been assaulted in her driveway when she returned home from work and noted that Castilleja and Foster had been sending her social media messages 'stating they want to fight her.'

At the hospital, Castilleja  who was later declared dead at 2am  and Foster were said to have told police that they were 'stabbed after "jumping" a girl at her house,' according to authorities.

Castilleja and Foster apparently knew the 16-year-old girl because they attended San Antonio's James Madison High School together. While the 16-year-old is still a student, the older girls graduated in 2018.

Officers arriving at the 16-year-old's home that night found the 'murder weapon' at the scene, according to the preliminary police report.

The 16-year-old was then arrested and charged with homicide in connection with Castilleja's fatal stabbing. She is said to have been booked into a juvenile detention facility.

Family member said Castilleja (pictured) and the 16-year-old had been arguing over Castilleja's ex-boyfriend on social media prior to the physical confrontation

Castilleja and the 16-year-old suspect were said to have known each other because they were students at San Antonio's James Madison High School. Castilleja graduated in 2018

Castilleja's aunt said her niece and the 16-year-old girl had been engaged in a lengthy argument on social media prior to physical confrontation.

Marie Fernandez told WCVB that Castilleja 'isn't able to give you her side of the story, but it's been ongoing bullying on both sides,' adding that: 'There's so many factors that have contributed to this, and at the end of the day, whether it was wrong, in all aspects my niece had no intentions of hurting anyone.'

Fernandez told the San Antonio Express-News that Castilleja and the 16-year-old were supposedly fighting over Castillejas ex-boyfriend and said that her niece was 'lured' to the house and 'had no chance.'

Fernandez said that the attack was videotaped and asked 'What kind of person does that?'

In a letter sent to James Madison High School students' parents, school officials said that Castilleja was an employee of the North East Independent School District's Kids Involvement Network, an after-school enrichment program for kindergarten to eighth grade students, My San Antonio reported.

The 16-year-old is being detained until her hearing, which is expected to be next week. San Antonio Police are continuing to investigate the incident as a homicide, according to KENS 5.
Pauline Hanson is demanding lifelong parliamentary pensions be scrapped, describing the lucrative pay outs as a waste of taxpayers' money.

The One Nation leader is outraged at former foreign minister Julie Bishop's retirement benefit, which will see her pocket more than $210,000 a year when she leaves federal Parliament at the next election in May.

She also attacked Defence Minister Christopher Pyne, who will receive $140,000 a year from his time as a minister after he announced on Saturday he is quitting politics after 26 years.

Federal MPs elected before October 2004 are entitled to a generous, lifelong parliamentary pension, which after the election will see a former minister still in his forties entitled to thousands of dollars a year from the public purse.

An angry Pauline Hanson (pictured) posted a Facebook video to express her anger over parliamentary pensions Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne will receive

Former ministers will be receiving more than double Australia's average full-time salary of $82,400, without having to wait until the retirement age of 65 even though they could also be raking in cash as corporate directors.

Senator Hanson said the money would be better invested in coal mining, an industry that provides the livelihood for one in four households in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton.

'They're doing it tough and what makes me angry is that Julie Bishop, who is going to retire from parliament now after 19 years, is going to retire on over a $200,000 a year parliamentary pension,' she fumed in the Facebook video.

'Are you angry? Because I certainly am.'

Ms Bishop, who was also the Liberal Party's deputy leader from 2007 to 2018, is set to receive at least $210,000 a year from her time served as cabinet and junior minister, based on a Department of Finance handbook for members of parliament elected before 2004.

Former deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop (pictured) will receive a parliamentary pension of at least $200,000 a year after she recently announced she'll retire at the next federal election

That is 10 times the aged pension for a single person.

'This is something I've been fighting against the last 22 years when I was first in parliament about parliamentary pensions and former prime ministers getting this payout from the people, the taxpayers that we can least afford,' Senator Hanson said.

Poll Do you think parliamentary pensions should be scrapped? Yes No Do you think parliamentary pensions should be scrapped? Yes 1041 votes

No 40 votes Now share your opinion





Senator Hanson's Facebook video has since attracted 57,000 views and garnered more than 1,000 comments.

'All politicians should put there super away just like all works and live on that just like all workers, no more retirement funds for the politicians they are employees just like us, difference is, we are their employers, get it, what don't they understand when we say, enough is enough,' one woman said.

One man added: 'Truly how do they justify this? What sort of income would a member of the general public need to achieve the same?'

The debate over parliamentary pensions continued on Monday when Ms Hanson went as far as calling MPs who are retiring now to get a bigger payout than they would if they served the next term in Opposition as 'parasites'.

Departing minister Christopher Pyne is also in line for a hefty lifelong retirement pension

For politicians elected before 2004, pensions are calculated on their average wage over the past three years.

Federal MPs elected before October 2004 are entitled to up to 50 per cent of a backbencher's salary for eight years of service.

Those who become ministers get a 6.25 per cent loading for each year of service.

The system was scrapped in 2004 after then Prime Minister John Howard caved in to pressure from Labor Opposition Leader Mark Latham, who nonetheless accepted a lifetime parliamentary pension when he quit politics in 2005.

Steven Ciobo last week quit as defence industry minister and will be entitled to a life-long pension, even though he will be only 45 when he retires from Parliament.

For his three years as a minister, he will be entitled to a parliamentary pension of $67,000 as a bare minimum.

Parliamentary pension entitlements A federal MP or Senator who has served 12 years or more in Parliament is entitled to a generous, lifelong parliamentary pension if they were elected before October 2004. Former cabinet and junior minister get an even more generous 6.25 per cent loading for every year they sat around Australia's most powerful decision making table. Politicians also get extra entitlements for heading up parliamentary committees. Once they leave parliament, they are entitled to these generous benefits without having to wait until the age of 65 like any other Australian worker, who then becomes eligible for the aged pension. While other workers have to wait until they are 60 to access their superannuation, former ministers still in their 40s after the May election will be entitled to largesse that is more than double Australia's average full-time salary of $82,435. Advertisement

Senator Hanson accused Ms Bishop of quitting before the next election to help her qualify for a more generous parliamentary pension.

'She's getting out now because [if] they end up in Opposition, it goes on the previous three years wages  which she'll lose about $70,000 a year,' she told Channel Seven's Sunrise.

Ms Bishop could potentially earn more money if she is, as is widely expected, offered a corporate board position at a bank or a major listed company.

Senator Hanson had this message for her parliamentary colleagues, who are on base salaries of $207,000 a year.

'We've got two days left in parliament. Move the bill to freeze this payout of the previous superannuation that Julie Bishop, Christopher Pyne and eight Labor MPs who are resigning from Parliament are entitled to,' she said.

'It is disgusting and does not pass the pub test.'
Before the Pulwama attacks, Kejriwal had officially said that he favoured an alliance with Congress.

Incidentally, former Delhi chief minister and current PCC chief Sheila Dikshit wants her son Sandeep Dikshit to be fielded from that seat. Mr Dikhit is a former MP from the said constituency.

New Delhi: Seemingly on a back foot politically after the Pulwama attacks and the subsequent airstrikes against Pakistan, top Opposition leaders are now weighing in on Congress to work out a seat-sharing deal with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi.

Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and NCP Sharad Pawar are understood to have asked the Congress leadership, including party president Rahul Gandhi, to rethink their decision of doing it alone in Delhi.

Sources said that at a meeting of Opposition leaders in the national capital last week, the three leaders reportedly asked Mr Gandhi to reconsider the partys decision of no alliance with AAP.

Before the Pulwama attacks, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had officially said that he favoured an alliance with Congress. However, Congress leaders were opposed to it and had almost said no.

Despite the developments after the attacks, AAP announced a list of six candidates for the Lok Sabha polls from Delhi, leaving one for a joint Opposition candidate.

However, sources said that there was still a chance that a 3:3:1 formula will be announced.

One of the bones of contention between the two parties, the sources said, was the East Delhi seat from where Atishi has been announced as the AAP candidate.

Incidentally, former Delhi chief minister and current PCC chief Sheila Dikshit wants her son Sandeep Dikshit to be fielded from that seat. Mr Dikhit is a former MP from the said constituency.

Another issue is that AAP wants the alliance with Congress to be extended to Punjab as well. However, Congress feels that AAP has very little chance in winning as out of four, two of its MPs have already defected.
A California man was arrested Sunday in connection with an explosion that killed his ex-girlfriend at her day spa last year, the FBI said.

Stephen Beal, 59, was arrested Sunday in connection with the May 15, 2018, bombing that killed his ex-girlfriend Ildiko Krajnyak, 48, in her Orange County spa, Magyar Kozmetika, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller.

Eimiller declined to detail the charges against Beal but said they were in connection with the day spa blast in Aliso Viejo, California, and that the FBI was searching his home in nearby Long Beach, California.

Stephen Beal, 59, was arrested Sunday in connection with the May 15, 2018, bombing that killed his ex-girlfriend Ildiko Krajnyak, 48, at her Orange County spa, Magyar Kozmetika

Beal was originally arrested on May 17 on suspicion of having explosives in his house, but the charges were dropped by a judge. He was not named as a suspect in the spa explosion then

Following the explosion last year, Beal was arrested on May 17 on suspicion of having explosives, but prosecutors dropped the charge soon after, saying they had questions about whether material found in Beal's house met the legal definition of a 'destructive device.' Beal was then released on May 27.

At the time, investigators said they found two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material during a search that Beal allowed of his house.

Beal was freed on May 27 after prosecutors dropped the charge and wasn't named a suspect in the day spa explosion.

Beal, a model-rocket hobbyist and father of four, told investigators he had not made any bombs and did not have material for an explosion as powerful as the one he saw in news coverage.

Krajnyak was killed and two female clients were seriously injured when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion at the spa, investigators said.

Krajnyak was killed when she opened a package at her day spa. The fiery explosion seriously injured two female clients, too

Krajnyak had just returned from a trip to her native Hungary and was opening the mail that had piled up while she was way

Krajnyak was a mother of one and licensed cosmetologist who owned her own day spa

Beal and Krajnyak dated for a year and a half before breaking up over issues related to exclusivity and finances, Beal said. They remained business partners after the split, though

The aftermath of the explosion as seen from outside Krajnyak's Magyar Kozmetika day spa

A look at the damage left behind when the suspected package bomb exploded inside the spa

One of the other women injured in the blast told federal investigators that the device was inside one of a number of cardboard boxes on the spa's floor, according to court documents.

When Krajnyak opened the box, it exploded.

The victim said she remembered being thrown backwards onto the floor and seeing smoke and flames and that she saw 'everything on fire' after the blast.

Investigators said they found a nine-volt battery, a cell phone, melted material believed to be duct tape and loose wires, according to the court filing.

The blast blew siding off the walls, exposing insulation and framing and shattering windows at the two-story building.

Authorities suspected that the incident was not an accident and that it had been caused by an explosive device. They were investigating a motive and attempting to figure out how the device was brought to the spa.

Beal, a father of four, was said to be a model rocket hobbyist. Investigators said they found two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material during a search that Beal allowed of his house

Krajnyak, a mother of one and licensed cosmetologist, had just returned to California after visiting family in her native Hungary when she was killed.

It was during her trip to Hungary that the mail at her day spa - including the suspected explosives-laden package, began to pile up.

Following the explosion, Beal told investigators that he and Krajnyak had recently split up over issues of exclusivity and finances, according to an affidavit filed in court by an FBI agent. The two remained business partners.

Court records show Krajnyak and Beal had filed jointly for bankruptcy in 2014 and the case was dismissed and closed.

Beal was listed on the spa's lease because Krajnyak and her estranged husband had filed for bankruptcy, he said. Beal paid the $1,500 monthly rent and half the spa's operating costs. He said hehad to loan Krajnyak money some months to cover her costs.

The two met online in June 2016 and dated about a year and a half.

Beal's wife died in 2008 after she fell down the stairs inside their two-story home. Coroner's records showed her cause of death as 'undetermined,' with other causes listed as 'pancreatitis, electrolyte imbalance and other undetermined factors'.

'Chronic lead intoxication' was also mentioned in the report, and an autopsy described the death as mysterious but said there was no evidence of foul play.

The Orange County Register reported that Beal won a $500,000 settlement from American International Life Assurance Company of New York in 2010.

He said Christine died from traumatic pancreatitis after she fell while carrying a 49lb end-table.

After Beal's home was search in May 2018, an FBI agent wrote a note included in his original court filing which said the materials found in Beal's home were 'not consistent with that of a model rocket'.

Nathan Beal told The Associated Press that his father built sport rockets fueled by a propellant that is legally available at specialty hobby shops. He believed federal agents might have found 'motor cases made out of aluminum'.

He said it was 'highly unlikely' his father was guilty of any charge related to a destructive device.

The biggest of the rockets used about five pounds of fuel in multiple motors.

Stuart Davis, who lives a few doors down from Beals Long Beach home, said he often saw Beal and his adult son working on large rockets on their front lawn. The son told Davis that they built movie props, he said.

Id come home from home sometimes and there would be rockets, but big, like something youd see in a movie, Davis said.
Watchdog groups have questioned whether congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff skirted campaign finance laws.

Saikat Chakrabarti, 33, founded and ran the Tennessee-based PAC Justice Democrats, which spearheaded Ocasio-Cortez's run, prior to joining the freshman New York Democrat's Congressional staff.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid Justice Democrats a total of $41,108.59 for 'campaign services' and 'strategic consulting' in 2017 and 2018.

Now a report in the New York Post questions whether a PAC can also be a vendor, and points out that PACs can only give $5,000 in services to a campaign.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti (with her above) founded and ran the Tennessee-based PAC Justice Democrats, which her campaign paid $41,108.59

Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent told Post that both the campaign and the PAC followed FEC rules and that they sought advice from an elections lawyer.

'It was payment for services,' Trent said of the campaign's payments to Justice Democrats.

Some watchdogs are questioning the legality of the arrangement, however.

'They believe their cause is so great that they don't have to play by the rules,' Tom Anderson, who heads up the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia, a conservative watchdog group, told the Post.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is seen with Saikat Chakrabarti in June

'They believe that they are above campaign finance law,' he added.

Another PAC that Chakrabarti founded to support leftist candidates, Brand New Congress, has already come under scrutiny for paying Ocasio-Cortez's boyfriend Riley Roberts in an alleged cash-funneling scheme.

In the fall of 2017, Ocasio-Cortez's campaign paid $6,191.32 to Brand New Congress, which turned around and hired Roberts as a marketing consultant, making two payments to him totaling $6,000 in August and September of 2017.

Lawyers for the Coolidge Reagan Foundation asked the FEC to review the matter on Wednesday.

Cortez's team paid Brand New Congress LLC $6,191.32 in 2017 around the same time the group paid a total of $6,000 to her boyfriend, Riley Roberts (pictured), for marketing consulting

Chakrabarti founded a Silicon Valley app-building company called Some Character LLC before taking an active role in left-wing politics.

He previously directed social-media for Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign.

Last June, Chakrabarti purchased a $1.6 million home in Montgomery County, Maryland, according to real estate records.

Ocasio-Cortez has imposed a salary cap of $80,000 on her staff however, meaning that Chakrabarti will be paid far less than that the $145,000 average that congressional chiefs of staff make.

The congresswoman says that the salary cap ensures that her junior staffers can make a 'living wage' of at least $52,000.

However, questions have been raised about whether the salary cap is a means to skirt reporting requirements, which mandate that Capitol Hill staff making more than $126,00 report their assets and other income.
Shocking figures today reveal the scale of the youth knife crisis after another weekend of carnage on Britains blood-soaked streets.

The families of two more murdered teenagers  a Girl Scout once invited to Downing Street and a pupil at a top private school  were in mourning last night.

New statistics show the number of under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has nearly doubled in five years.

Doctors are battling to save three children a day on average as knife crime rates soar to the highest level since the Second World War.

New statistics show that knife crime has soared to its highest level since the Second World War

Jodie Chesney, 17, (left and right) was stabbed to death on Friday night in Romford, East London

As a former police chief branded the epidemic of stabbings a national crisis, the figures revealed:

A total of 342 children 16 and under were taken to hospital with stab wounds last year, up from 180 in 2012-13

The number of child knife killers has risen by 77 per cent in two years

Knife-point robberies by teenagers have leapt by more than 50 per cent in the same period, and the number of teens carrying out knife-point rapes has surged by a third

It came after Jodie Chesney, 17, was stabbed in the back as she sat on a park bench with her boyfriend in Romford, east London, on Friday night

Flowers were laid in memory of Ms Chesney in the London suburb of Harold Hill near Romford

Yesterday her distraught mother laid flowers at the scene as relatives said they were struggling to come to terms with a random and unprovoked attack on a beautiful, lovely and quirky young girl with her whole life in front of her.

In another horrific attack, Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef Makki, also 17, was stabbed to death in the Cheshire village of Hale Barns on Saturday. Police were quizzing two 17-year-old private school pupils yesterday.

Yousef Makki, 17, also died from stab wounds on Saturday night. Two private school pupils are being questioned in relation to the incident

The murders follow the fatal stabbings of three teenagers in a fortnight in Birmingham, which led to West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson declaring a national emergency.

Last night Home Secretary Sajid Javid promised to meet chief constables this week as he came under intense pressure to end the bloodshed.

Former Scotland Yard Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe accused ministers of failing to get to grips with a national crisis and of leaving police in the Dark Ages.

An investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches into Wild West Britain, to be broadcast tonight, looked at hospital and police data to uncover the shocking rise in children being caught up in knife crime.

NHS data shows that 1,029 teenagers aged 19 or under were treated for assaults with knives or other sharp objects across England and Wales last year  up from 55 per cent from five years ago.

More than two-thirds of the knife-related injuries were treated in hospitals outside London, the NHS Digital figures show. It follows Office of National Statistics data showing there is almost twice as much knife crime outside of London compared to in the capital.

Separate police data obtained by the programme under Freedom of Information laws demonstrates that the number of teenage perpetrators of crimes involving blades has also risen.

Bright Akinlele, 22, (left) was stabbed to death in Euston two weeks ago. Glendon Spence, 23, (right) was also stabbed to death two weeks ago

The number of knife killers under the age of 18 leapt by 77 per cent between 2016 and 2018, from 26 offenders to 46.

A breakdown of age-related data from 21 police forces shows that the proportion of youths committing knife-point robberies has increased by 50 per cent, from 656 offences in 2016 to 999 in 2018. In the same period, the number of teenage rapes and sexual assaults using a knife increased from 24 to 33.

Nedim Bilgin, 17, was knifed to death in Islington in January

Lord Hogan-Howe told Dispatches: I have to admit to being shocked by the huge rise in the number of young people being stabbed.

Its incredibly worrying and something we should all be concerned about... This is clearly a national crisis.

The retired top officer called for an extra 20,000 police officers to flood socially deprived areas, saying: We need to increase police numbers in these places and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution, including by county lines.

Our technology is in the Dark Ages. What we need is great facial recognition and behavioural science software that helps officers to find who and when to search.

Lord Hogan-Howe added: I just dont see anybody getting a grip of this crisis. The Government needs to appoint somebody who is going to lead it day after day.

Call it a knife crime tsar if you like but somebody who is going to make sure we get knives off the street and save lives.

Policing minister Nick Hurd said: One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

Mr Javid added: Young people are being murdered across the country and it cant go on.

Were taking action on many fronts and Ill be meeting police chiefs this week to hear what more can be done. It is vital that we unite to stop this senseless violence.

Britains Knife Crisis: Young, Armed and Dangerous, tonight at 8pm, Channel 4.

The full list of 20 murders in London so far this year - including five in just the last week Here is a list of of the 20 murders in London so far in 2019: January 1: Charlotte Huggins, 33, is believed to have been the first homicide victim in London in 2019. She was stabbed in Camberwell, south-east London, in the early hours of New Year's Day. January 1: Later that day, security guard Tudor Simionov, also 33, was stabbed to death at about 5.30am as he tried to prevent gatecrashers storming a private party in Park Lane, central London. January 4: Simbiso Aretha Moula, 39, was found murdered in her home in Rainham, east London. Her husband, Garikayi Moula, was found hanged. Police were not seeking anyone else in connection with the murder. January 5: Sarah Ashraf, 35, was found dead in a home in the Isle of Dogs, east London. A 32-year-old man was charged with murder. January 8: Just 14 years old, Jaden Moodie was knocked off a moped and stabbed to death in Leyton, east London. January 11: Asma Begum, 31, was found with a neck injury in a property City Island Way, Tower Hamlets. A 46-year-old man was charged with murder. January 27: Kamil Malysz, 34, was found stabbed to death in a shared house in Acton, west London. January 29: Nedim Bilgin, 17, was the victim of a knife attack in Caledonian Road, Islington, north London. February 3: A 46-year-old man was found dead at a medical facility in Highgate, north London. A 21-year-old was charged with murder. February 5: Lejean Richards, 19, was fatally stabbed in Battersea, south-west London. February 10: A man, believed to be in his 30s, was found fatally stabbed in East Dulwich, south-east London. February 18: Bright Akinleye dies after walking into a hotel reception in Camden, north London, with stab wounds. February 19: Brian Wieland, 69, found dead with multiple head injuries at his home in Chingford, east London. February 21: Glendon Spence, 23, was killed outside a youth club in Brixton, south London. Police have charged two 17-year-olds with murder. February 22: Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck, 19, was murdered in Wood Green, Haringey. Police said that he and a another man, aged 20, were both found with stab wounds. February 25: Spaniard David Lopez-Fernandez, 38, was pronounced dead after being found with stab wounds at an address in Globe Road in Tower Hamlets, east London. A 36-year-old man was charged with murder. February 26: Che Morrison, 20, died after being stabbed to death outside Ilford station in east London. March 1: Jodie Chesney, 17, was stabbed to death in an east London park. March 2: A 50-year-old was found dead with fatal knife injuries at a property in Hendon, north-west London. A 54-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion murder. March 2: A baby girl, aged three months, was found dead at a residential address in Croydon. A 40-year-old woman has been charged with murder. Advertisement

Boy, 17, stabbed to death in a wealthy village was an 'A* student' at 12,000-a-year school who wanted to be a heart surgeon

Yousef Makki, 17, was stabbed to death on Saturday night in Greater Manchester

He was a pupil at Manchester Grammar School and wanted to be a heart surgeon

Two 17-year-old Manchester boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder

Police said there was no evidence the stabbing had any links to gang activities

By RICHARD MARSDEN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Yousef Makki, 17, died of stab wounds on Saturday night. He wanted to be a heart surgeon

A schoolboy stabbed to death in a wealthy Cheshire village was an A* student who wanted to be a heart surgeon.

Yousef Makki, 17, was a sixth-form pupil at the elite Manchester Grammar School, where alumni include former England cricket captain Mike Atherton.

Yousef is thought to have received a scholarship to attend the school, where fees are in excess of 12,000 a year.

Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are both also pupils at prestigious schools in the North West.

Yousef was stabbed at 6.40pm on Saturday in a quiet, tree-lined residential street in Hale Barns, a village known for its well-heeled residents. Those with homes nearby include a string of sports stars and classical singer Russell Watson.

By contrast, Yousef lived in a modest mid-terrace former council house about ten miles away in Burnage, Manchester. His mother is English, while his father is believed to be from Lebanon.

Forensic work continued at the murder scene yesterday.

One resident said of the scene on Saturday night: It was like Blackpool Illuminations with all the lights. The boy was leaning against a tree outside. By the time we came out to the drive the police were there. They told us to get back inside and in the end we werent allowed to leave until about 9pm.

Two forensic tents and emergency services at the scene of the crime on Sunday morning

The police response was excellent  I cant fault that. Staff from two private security firms were also out here so I presume they had been alerted to something going on. Lots of the houses here have CCTV.

There have been a couple of bad break-ins round here so people will have been on the lookout, but this is not what you expect.

Yousef was taken to hospital after the attack, but died soon afterwards.

A neighbour said yesterday: He was a lovely lad, a dedicated A* student who wanted to be a heart surgeon.

He didnt have a bad bone in his body. I think he was in Hale Barns because he has friends there. They are a beautiful family ... its very sad. Everyone here is devastated.

Police said there was no evidence the attack was linked to organised crime or gang activity

The neighbour, who did not wish to be named, added: I used to see him every morning checking his hair before he went [to school]. He could have been someone.

Its just a shame for a young lad with so much potential to have his life taken so young. Police said there was no evidence the attack was linked to organised crime or gangs. There was, however, speculation in Hale Barns that it was linked to a row over drugs.

Detective Superintendent Phil Reade, head of the Greater Manchester Police major incident team, called the case incredibly tragic.

Police seized two mountain bikes on Sunday morning close to the scene of Yousef's stabbing

Yousefs family has understandably been left devastated by his death and the thoughts of the entire team remain with them at this difficult time, he said.

Detectives have been working throughout the night trying to establish exactly what happened. The investigation is in its very early stages and we continue to remain open-minded about why Yousef was attacked.

A string of tributes to the schoolboy were posted online. Tanya Daly wrote: RIP Yousef Makki, what a lovely young man from a loving family.

A gofundme page was set up to contribute to Yousef's funeral. It is aiming to raise 15,000

My love and thoughts go out to them.

Ayla Oglu added: He was such a good lad, very clever and caring. He could have gone to the best universities, why did it have to end like that? Absolutely gutted.

Yousefs family were too upset to comment last night.
Robots and technology could force five million Australians to look for a new job during the next decade, a leading management consultancy fears.

McKinsey and Company predicted that close to half of existing jobs could be lost to automation by 2030.

The American consultancy warned of job losses from construction sites to offices.

One of the world's top management consultancies has revealed the jobs robots are most likely to take in Australia during the next decade (stock image of a brick layer)

Its report, titled Australia's Automation Opportunity, predicted demand 'will fall for workers doing more automatable activities'.

McKinsey estimated 3.5 million to 6.5 million full-time jobs would be redundant, which would require 1.8 million to five million workers to change professions.

Radiologists, who earn generous salaries of $150,000 a year, are regarded as being under threat, as are mechanics, legal research assistants and those in accounts processing.

The report also warned of retrenchments in the construction, mining and transport sectors, adding 31 per cent of jobs in outer suburban and remote areas were at risk, compared with 21 per cent in inner city areas.

McKinsey and Company has identified the occupations most under threat from artificial intelligence by 2030, which would force five million workers to change careers (motor mechanic pictured)

McKinsey estimated that 25 to 46 per cent of existing work could be automated by 2030.

It did, however, forecast an increase in demand for jobs that relied more on human intuition than technology.

Jobs under threat from technology Radiologists - $153,000 average salary Motor mechanic - $60,000 Mining industry engineer - $140,000 Paralegal research assistant - $55,000 Payroll officer - $60,000 Bricklayer - $62,000 Carpenter - $76,000 Sources: PayScale, Neuvoo, Indeed, Minerals Council of Australia on average salaries by industry Advertisement

'Demand will increase for workers in unpredictable and interactive roles such as nurses, care workers and salespeople,' it said.

Despite the upheaval, McKinsey predicted technological change could add $1.1 trillion to $4 trillion to the domestic economy over the next 15 years, giving every Australian with $4,000 to $11,000 in extra income every year by 2030.

'Achieving these benefits depends on ensuring displaced workers can get new jobs,' it said.

McKinsey senior partner Charlie Taylor said the next decade would be one of uncertainty.

'Automation and AI will be disruptive, just as other technology adoptions have been disruptive in the past, and more people will be affected than we might think,' he said.

'Numerous jobs and professions will change.'
New footage has emerged of Sir Philip Green clutching a bottle of Champagne while stroking and kissing a young woman while she sits on his lap.

The video shows the 66-year-old tycoon calling the woman 'Naughty' and saying: 'Didn't know you were going to get so lucky, did you?'

Slouched on a sofa and clutching a bottle of champagne, he even appears to be aware that he is being filmed.

The footage, obtained by The Sun, comes in the wake of numerous allegations of harassment against him.

Sir Philip Green with his wife Tina (left) and daughter Chloe (right) in Cannes in 2017. He has denied wrongdoing and said the non-disclosure agreements remain in place

In what looks like a farewell video for an employee, he pulls the woman towards him and brings her head to rest on his shoulder.

He ruffles her hair and says: 'Behave, Naughty - you've no idea what I'm going to say yet.'

Giving the woman a kiss while he still has his arm around her, he says: 'So Naughty is now going to look after me instead of you.'

When she gets up and moves away from him he motions to her to sit back down and pulls her close again, saying: 'Lucky me'.

Frank Field, one of the MPs who previously called for Sir Philip to lose his knighthood, said the video was the 'sort of behaviour' that led to his demand.

Sir Philip Green giving evidence to the Commons Business select committee on the collapse of BHS in 2016

It comes in the wake of several allegations after Sir Philip - who is facing calls to have his knighthood stripped - was unmasked as the tycoon behind an injunction intended to stop the claims emerging.

The claims, reported in the Telegraph, included allegations that the retail tycoon dragged a woman around in a headlock and smashed a male employee's mobile phone.

It was also claimed that he mocked a male employee's dreadlocks and referred to him 'throwing spears in the jungle'.

Sir Philip also faced allegations that he groped a female executive, paying her more than 1million to stay quiet.

Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery last month called for the retail tycoon's honour to be removed if the reports are accurate.

Sir Philip Green, Chloe Green and Tina Green attend the Fashion for Relief event during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival in 2017

Sir Philip Green's super yacht, Lionheart, arrives in Valletta, Malta in July 2016

Sir Philip has categorically denied the allegations, insisting he never meant to cause offence.

He has accused the paper of 'pursuing a vendetta' against him and the staff of his Arcadia retail empire.

Former employees whose allegations were investigated were under 'ongoing obligations' to honour non-disclosure agreements, he said.

The legal battle began when the Telegraph contacted Sir Philip intending to publish allegations of misconduct by the employees, who all received substantial payments after settling their claims.

Employees had agreed to keep the details of their complaints confidential under NDAs.

Sir Philip obtained the injunction, but dropped the case because it was 'pointless' after he was named in Parliament as the businessman behind it.

Lawyers representing the Topshop owner said the decision was prompted by Lord Hain's identification of Sir Philip in the House of Lords in October last year.

Philip Green, pictured here with Karren Brady, has faced numerous allegations of harassment

Chloe Green , Lewis Hamilton, Tina Green and Sir Philip Green at Cannes in May 2017

Chloe Green, Sir Philip Green, Kate Moss and Nick Grimshaw attend the VIP preview of the Kate Moss For TopShop collection at the business mogul's flagship London store in 2014

Former Cabinet minister Lord Hain used the protection of parliamentary privilege to identify the Arcadia chairman in the upper chamber.

Sir Philip 'categorically and wholly' denied being guilty of any 'unlawful sexual or racist behaviour' in a statement released hours later.

But there were calls for the Honours Forfeiture Committee to consider withdrawing his knighthood  previously challenged in the furore over shortfalls in the BHS pension scheme.

The chairman of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee Frank Field, who led condemnation of Sir Philip over his treatment of BHS pensioners, said at the time: 'The charge sheet against the knighthood is growing.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said last year that Sir Philip 'narrowly and luckily escaped losing his knighthood over the pensions scandal'.

And he added: 'If these allegations are correct, he should certainly be stripped of his knighthood.'

Philip Green speaks during an interview at his new Topshop store in Hong Kong in 2013

Former Las Vegas Topshop manager Auna Irvine (pictured) has previously claimed that when Sir Philip Green was her boss he slapped her bottom and called her fat
A speed camera 'hidden' in a school caught 20 speeding motorists per hour, and drivers are not happy about it.

In two weeks 974 speeders were caught by the camera at Whites Hill State College in Brisbane suburb Camp Hill.

The camera was placed off the road behind trees and down a slope past the school crossing.

Whites Hill State College hosted a speed camera for two weeks in which time 974 speeders were caught

Shadow Transport and Main Roads Minister Steve Minnikin said speed cameras 'should not be positioned in a way that it is mere revenue raising for state government coffers', the Courier Mail reports.

State Labor Member for Greenslopes Joe Kelly said the shadow minister's comments were 'rubbish'.

'The reality is we don't raise revenue from speeding tickets. That money goes back into road safety initiatives,' Mr Kelly said.

'At the end of the day, I prioritise keeping our school kids safe.'

Over half of the 974 speeders were more than 10km/h above the speed limit.

An average of 20 speeders were caught per hour during the camera's short stint at the school (agency image)

The highest detected speed was 69km/h in the 40km/h school zone.

A Queensland Police spokeswoman said 'the camera was not requested by the school'.

'Permission and approval were provided from the school prior to its deployment at that location,' she said.

Whites Hill State College and the Queensland Department of Education declined to comment.

The camera has been taken down after two weeks at Whites Hill State College.
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It's called Billionaire's Row for a reason - the flashest and most expensive apartments in New York City line the streets just south of Central Park.

A new rental listing is giving people a first look inside 220 Central Park South. An apartment can be yours for $59,000-a-month if you feel like renting a place that would otherwise cost hundreds of millions of dollars to buy.

And what do you get for such astronomical pricing? Great views of Central Park, of course!

The bathrooms are lined with black and white marble but also offer floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Central Park

The main living room has huge windows that overlook Central Park and look towards northern Manhattan

The apartment is quite traditional in its basic decor with white oak herringbone flooring

The realtor have helpfully given prospective buyers a look at the view of Central Park from the 40th floor apartment

Incredibly, the developers of the exclusive address have managed to keep the interiors of the apartments a closely guarded secret, until now.

Developer Vornado Realty Trust even refused to release images of the insides of the units according to the New York Post.

This weekend, a new listing was posted showcasing an apartment on the 40th floor which gives the slightest glimpse as to what tens of millions of dollars can buy.

The apartment comes with three bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A corner 36x18 foot living & dining room has views looking north and east giving great views of Central Park and other parts of the Midtown skyline.

This view from overhead shows how the sky scraper dominates over all the other towers and smaller buildings around it

Marble, marble everywhere! No expense was spared on the marble-clad bathroom

The wood flooring continues into the kitchen where a marble island in the center gives plenty of space for budding cooks

The kitchen contains many straight lines and with its light colored wood it makes the space particularly pleasing on the eye

The apartment has three bedrooms each of which has an en-suite bathroom and a powder room

Other windows allow residents to look towards to the Upper East Side, Harlem and in the distance, the George Washington Bridge.

The kitchen, which comes with state-of-the art Miele and Sub-Zero appliances and a white marble center island, overlooks Columbus Circle.

In the bedroom, the master suite comes together with a black and white marble-clad bathroom with a soaking tub that also looks out to Central Park.

But for $59,000-a-month guests get more than just fantastic views. The building comes with an 25-meter saltwater pool, fitness center,squash court, library, screening room and outdoor terraces.

A number of high-profile names have already purchased their own posh pads in the building including hedge-funder Ken Griffin, Albert Behler the chairman and chief executive of real estate investment trust Paramount Group who paid $33.5 million for a place on the 35th-floor.

Two floors below, Brazilian billionaire Renata de Camargo Nascimento $33.5 million paid $30.19 million for an apartment. Also, musician Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler, are reported to have bought a place in the building.

There are three bathrooms in the 3,114-square-foot home which sold for around $21 million and is now available to rent

The pictures are a rare peek inside one of the buildings apartments which until now had no public listings

Superb views of the building can also be had from those looking up from down on the ground - wishing they lived up there!
The U.S. will close its consulate in Jerusalem and merged it with the controversial embassy which opened last year.

The United States officially announced plans to shut down its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel, which has been based in Jerusalem since last May.

The State Department confirmed that the US Consulate General in Jerusalem would become part of the US Embassy in Jerusalem today.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians.

But now that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu (left), his wife Sara, Ivanka Trump and her husband senior adviser Jared Kushner (right) taking a selfie in front or the embassy plaque at the US Embassy in Jerusalem in May 2018

Then U.S. Consul General of Jerusalem Daniel Rubinstein giving a speech during a reception for the July 4 U.S. Independence Day celebrations at the American Consulate in Jerusalem in 2011

The decision to create a single diplomatic mission in Jerusalem was announced last October by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and had been widely expected for early March. The State Department announcement on Sunday gave the official date for the move.

The decision has angered the Palestinian leadership and added to the outrage caused in the Arab world when the U.S. Embassy was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May last year.

President Donald Trump caused outraged and stoked international criticism by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.

The announcement was met by mass protests across in Gaza with dozens of protesters killed.

The announcement from the State Department came early on Monday in Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

Ivanka Trump unveiling engraved stonework carrying her father's name on the wall at the embassy at the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem in May 2018

Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands after delivering a speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on May 27 last year

State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the decision was driven by operational efficiency and there would be 'complete continuity of U.S. diplomatic activity and consular services'.

He said: 'This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations.

'It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.

'The specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties.'

When first announced by U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move 'the final nail in the coffin' for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the U.S. administration's role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

An election campaign billboard of the Likud party reading 'Netanyahu is a different league' shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump shake hands at the entrance to Jerusalem earlier this month

Palestinian protesters set ablaze a poster with a picture of US President Donald Trump during a demonstration in Hebron in the Israeli occupied West Bank last week

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs.

It has cut funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees.

Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious 'Deal of the Century' to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Thousands of protesters, some holding Palestinian and Turkish flags marching in the streets after Friday prayers in Istanbul against Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem at the capital of Israel in December 2017

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April.

The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the U.S. of bias toward Israel.

When Pompeo announced the merger plan last autumn, senior Palestinian leader Saeb Erekat denounced the decision to eliminate the consulate as the latest evidence the Trump administration was working with Israel to impose a 'Greater Israel' rather than a two-state solution.

The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest disputes between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israel regards the entire city, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed, as its 'eternal and indivisible capital,' but that is not recognized internationally.
Business minister Kelly Tolhurst suggested the plan could help prevent employees from being duped into signing gagging

Employers will not be able to use gagging orders to stop workers from reporting crimes to the police, ministers have said.

Toughened-up laws will make it clear that staff will always be able to report harassment or discrimination even if they have signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

Business minister Kelly Tolhurst said the aim is to clamp down on abuse, such as employers using confidentiality clauses to intimidate whistleblowers, hide harassment and discrimination incidents.

The legal measures, described by Theresa May as a 'clear message' that changes in the law are needed to back under-pressure workers, come after a spotlight was shone on retail tycoon Sir Philip Green's use of NDAs.

Miss Tolhurst said workers would be protected for the first time from the threat of these agreements potentially being used to 'silence victims'.

She suggested the Government's plan could also help prevent employees from being duped into signing gagging clauses which they were unaware of and help clarify their rights.

The legal measures have been described by Theresa May (pictured with her husband Philip at a church service near her Maidenhead constituency yesterday) as a 'clear message' that changes in the law are needed to back under-pressure workers

The proposals include clarifying in law that confidentiality clauses cannot prevent people from speaking to the police to report a crime, or halt the disclosure of information in any criminal proceedings.

They call for a clear, written description of rights before anything is signed in confidentiality clauses in employment contracts or within a settlement agreement.

The plan also extends the law so a worker who signs up to a settlement agreement receives independent advice which must cover the limits of any confidentiality clauses so they have all the relevant facts.

The legal measures come after a spotlight was shone on retail tycoon Sir Philip Green's use of NDAs

Five of Sir Philip's employees signed NDAs to keep their complaints quiet, with one paid more than 1million, The Telegraph has reported.

The billionaire businessman, 66, has denied his behaviour was criminal or amounted to gross misconduct.

Mrs May said: 'Sexual harassment is against the law and discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated - in the home, the workplace or in public.

'Over the past couple of years, we have seen brave individuals breaking silence on such behaviour, but too many are still facing the unethical misuse of non-disclosure agreements by their employers.

'We're sending a clear message that a change in the law is needed to ensure workers are able to come forward, be aware of their rights and receive the advice they need before signing up to them.'

Miss Tolhurst added: 'Many businesses use non-disclosure agreements and other confidentiality agreements for legitimate business reasons, such as to protect confidential information.

'What is completely unacceptable is the misuse of these agreements to silence victims, and there is increasing evidence that this is becoming more widespread.'
A New Zealand jihadi who fled his homeland to fight with Islamic State in Syria has been captured and detained in a Kurdish prison.

'Kiwi Jihadi' Mark Taylor, 42, travelled to the Middle East in 2014 and has since been closely monitored by global counter-terror agencies.

He claims he never fought for ISIS, instead standing as a 'guard' during his five-year tenure with terror group.

But last December, he fled the Islamic State and handed himself in to Kurdish forces because life had become 'unbearable'.

'Kiwi jihadi' Mark Taylor (pictured) has been detained in a Kurdish prison after surrendering

Taylor (pictured) said he was 'in a pickle' in the weeks before he fled the Islamic State

Taylor said he was 'in a pickle' in the weeks before he fled Islamic State.

'There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed. I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave,' Taylor told ABC.

'That was a hard decision to call, because people were telling me "you can't leave, you came here for the sake of Allah, you came here to die".'

However, he said he never fought for ISIS, instead working as a guard on the border between the Islamic State and the Syrian Government.

Taylor (pictured) left New Zealand with the intention of being a 'martyr', entering Syria in 2014

In 2015, the US Government declared Taylor a global terrorist.

He had encouraged attacks in Australia and New Zealand, including releasing a YouTube video where he told followers to 'stab a few police officers, soldiers on Anzac Day'.

Taylor lived in Australia sporadically over the course of the past 25 years.

He spent time in and out of prison in the Middle East, including a 50-day stint in an IS jail for tweeting with his location attached.

Forgetting to disable the geo-tagging feature on his Twitter, Taylor took to the social media platform to ask for doctors and dentists to join him in 2014.

A series of 45 tweets send from the handle @M_Taylor_Kiwi were saved by the Canadian based social media jihad monitor Ibrabo.

Taylor got in trouble with Islamic State officials for posting tweets with the location on

Taylor (pictured) said he would be surprised if his native New Zealand did not take him back in

Before leaving the Islamic State, Taylor had said he would be surprised if his native New Zealand would not take him back.

'If they do take me back, most probably I'll be spending a couple of years in jail,' he said.

He did apologise to his home country for being too 'hot-headed and flamboyant', but said it's something he'll 'live with' for the rest of his life.
The IAF Chief said that a statement on the number of terrorists killed would be made by the government.

New Delhi/Coimbatore: Amid the political debate heating up over the success of airstrikes against the Jaish-e-Mohammads terror camp in Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, the Chief of Air Staff, said Monday that the Indian Air Force doesnt calculate casualty figures and that it is for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

The Air Chief asserted that a MiG-21 Bison had indeed shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16. He said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet only if he was medically fit as an emergency ejection from an aircraft takes a toll on your body.

We hit our target. The Air Force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that, he said on the attack at Balakot. The IAF Chief said that the bomb damage assessment that is done after a mission only assesses if the target has been hit or not hit. We cant count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. We see if we have hit the target, he said.

The IAF Chief said that a statement on the number of terrorists killed would be made by the government.

If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded. If we had dropped bombs in the jungle, there would be no need to respond, he said.

BJP president Amit Shah had said 250 terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on the JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the Indian Air Force. Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu sought proof of the IAFs strike destroying the biggest Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot, and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising terror.

The Air Chief declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference. Mr Modi clarified on Monday that he had meant that if the Rafale had been acquired in time, it would have made a difference during the February 27 dogfight between the MiG-21 Bison and F-16s which had intruded into Indian airspace.

On why the MiG-21 Bison had been used in the dogfight with the intruding Pakistani aircraft, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said the aircraft was in the IAFs inventory and when an adversary attacks you, every available aircraft is deployed. The MiG-21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it? I will not comment on the ongoing operation as they are still ongoing. The MiG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded. It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles, he said.

The Rafale jet should come into Indias inventory by September, the Air Force chief said. Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed the contract for 36 Rafale jets.

The IAF Chief told reporters that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet if he was fit. We dont take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot, he said. Wg Cdr Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG-21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and later released on March 1.

Whether he flies again or not depends upon his medical fitness. Post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment is required, we will give it to him.

Once he gets medical fitness, he will get into the fighter cockpit, he said. The Air Chief added: If he is fit to fly a fighter, then he will go back soon. If he is not fit to fly, he will become a low medical category till the time he gets his currency. He will then go back when he gets his fighter currency back.

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, the Air Chief said: I dont know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they violated that end-user agreement.
Married At First Sight star Sam Ball's most recent girlfriend will seek to have charges she stalked and harrassed him withdrawn.

Akila Ahmunett faced Newtown Local Court on Monday when a charge of trespassing on Ball's Sydney property was dismissed.

She is still facing charges of stalking or intimidating Ball, another count of trespass and one of using a carriage service to menace, harrass or offend.

Ball has also taken out an interim apprehended violence order against her.

The 26-year-old tradesman was paired with store manager 'bride' Elizabeth Sobinoff, 27, on MAFS but went on to have an 'affair' with Ines Basic, 28.

Basic was matched with entrepreneur Bronson Norrish, 35, on the program.

Her barrister, Geoff Harrison, said outside court: 'There's two sides to every story'

The pair were in a short-lived relationship from December, after MAFS stopped filming, but it ended in calls to police

Married at First Star star Sam Ball (pictured) sported a curly hairdo as he picked up flowers at a Sydney supermarket on Monday

Ball first contacted police about his short-term partner on February 4.

He called police after his then 30-year-old girlfriend allegedly confronted him inside his inner-city home at Alexandria and the pair had a heated argument.

Ball went to police again on February 21 to apply for an AVO, claiming Ahmunett had been stalking him and subjecting him to unwanted texts, calls and emails.

He also allegedly accused her of taking his phone and vetting his friends on social media, including deleting the profiles of women.

Police were called to Ball's home about 2am on February 22 when they arrested Ahmunett, who lives at Russell Lea in Sydney's inner-west.

It is alleged between 6pm and 11pm on the previous day she 'did use a carriage service, namely phone, email and social media, in such a way that reasonable persons would regard that use as being menacing harassing or offensive.'

Ball (right) alleges Ahmunett took his phone during the course of their relationship and deleted the profiles of other women, and harrassed him with a barrage of calls and messages

Sam Ball has been paired with Elizabeth Sobinoff, 27, (pictured) on Married At First Sight but has been in an 'affair' with Ines Basic, 28. Basic is 'married' to entrepreneur Bronson Norrish

The stalk and intimidate charge relates to the same date and times.

The court heard Ball made three statements to police about what happened between the pair.

Ahmunett's barrister Geoff Harrison said on Monday he would 'make representations' to police about reconsidering the remaining charges.

Ahmunett (pictured) has asked for the charges to be withdrawn, but if they are not, she will plead not guilty

If the charges were not withdrawn Ahmunett would be pleading not guilty.

'There's two sides to every story,' Mr Harrison said outside court.

Ahmunett, who is on conditional bail, will next appear at Downing Centre Local Court on April 15.

Ball began dating Ahmunett in December after MAFS finished filming.

The AVO came just days after it was revealed Ahmunett's real name was Tabbaa.

She appeared under that name on 60 Minutes in 2014 claiming her parents kidnapped her when she was just 13.

Ahmunett told the program she was beaten by her father and kidnapped while holidaying in Egypt in 2002.

She said her brother used to beat her with a belt and a kettle cord.

Ahmunett was tricked into leaving the country and was taken to Syria where she remained in an arranged marriage for five years.

She escaped on her 18th birthday with the help of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Since that program aired, Ahmunett has undergone cosmetic surgery and now runs Akila Laser and Beauty in Darlinghurst.

Akila Ahmunett (pictured) is accused of stalking and harrassing MAFS contestant Sam Ball
Banks are suffering IT failures at the rate of one a day, threatening access to cash and blocking essential purchases for groceries and transport.

Customers were prevented from making payments on 302 occasions in the last nine months of last year, consumer experts Which? said.

They added that efforts by banks and retailers to make customers switch from real money to plastic cards and electronic payments must be resisted, as the data shows how the technology used in the UKs finance system can be fragile.

Barclays banks suffered 41 'significant security breaches' in the last nine months from last year. There was a total of 302 occasions last year where consumers could not access payments online

Since last year, the Financial Conduct Authority has required banks to inform it of operational or security incidents which prevent customers from using payment services.

Which? found the average number of significant breaches across each of the 30 banks and building societies it listed was one a month. It said Barclays reported the most with 41, followed by Lloyds Bank with 37, Halifax/Bank of Scotland had 31, Natwest suffered 26, RBS with 21 and Ulster Bank at 18.

TSB, whose botched introduction of a new IT system last year caused customers to lose access to online banking services, reported 16 incidents.

Research revealed that 'serious banking crashes are even more common than previously thought after figures show banks like Lloyds have fallen victim multiple times

These technical failures often go far beyond minor glitches with people unable to access their money, monitor online accounts or make payments for everyday essentials, such as groceries or bus rides.

Which? said the figures reveal that serious banking crashes are even more common than previously thought.

It is calling on the Government to give a single regulator the statutory duty to protect access to cash and build a sustainable cash infrastructure. This would respond to concerns among millions of customers and small firms that banks are trying to phase out real paper money and coins by stealth.

Recent research found that hole in the wall cash machines are closing at a rate of almost 500 a month while the nations banks are racing to axe branches in order to cut costs  with more than 3,300 closing since 2015.

More than 3,300 hole-in-the-wall machines have closed since 2015 due to cost-cutting

The move against cash is also being pursued by retailers, particularly supermarkets, many of which no longer take cheques.

Transport bodies, such as Transport for London, now refuse to take cash on buses and trams in a wholesale switch to electronic payments through the Oyster card, bank cards or mobile phone apps.

Similar apps are being used on mainline train services.

Editor of Which? Money, Jenny Ross, said the research highlights why it is so important that a regulator is given responsibility to protect cash as a backup when technology fails.

An independent investigation into the future of money, the Access to Cash Review, has also warned of the risks of sleepwalking into a cashless society.

Its chairman, Natalie Ceeney, the former Financial Ombudsman, said: For millions of people in the UK, cash is not a choice, its a necessity. As cash use continues to fall, we need to safeguard the use of cash for those who need it and at the same time work hard to ensure that everyone can participate in this digital economy.

Industry trade body, UK Finance, said: When incidents do occur, firms work around the clock to minimise disruption and get services back up and running as quickly as possible.

Barclays, defending its record, said: We take IT resilience extremely seriously and we welcome transparency for our customers, which is why we report every incident to the regulator  even minor glitches that have minimal impact on customers.
Julie O'Connor, 49, died last month. She is pictured in 1990, starting her nurse training

The hospital that missed six chances to save a nurse's life because of smear test blunders had previously paid compensation to another woman for failing to diagnose her cervical cancer.

The mother of two had to have a full hysterectomy after Southmead Hospital in Bristol failed to spot abnormalities in two smear tests. That led to a negligence payout in 2014.

The compensation from North Bristol NHS Trust came in the same year that nurse Julie O'Connor first dealt with the hospital.

Mrs O'Connor, 49, who was repeatedly assured by pathology unit staff that she did not have the disease, died last month.

Now the woman forced into having a hysterectomy is demanding a 'complete review' of the hospital's pathology department.

The mother, from Bristol, who has asked not to be named to protect her family, said: 'I'm almost certain that there must be other victims, that there must be smears being incorrectly reported all the time.

'The year Julie had her first smear was the year my case concluded and they [the trust] said they had made all these changes. [But] the fact that went on to happen makes me wonder what changes, if any, have actually been made.

A mother of two had to have a full hysterectomy after Southmead Hospital (pictured) in Bristol failed to spot abnormalities in two smear tests. That led to a negligence payout in 2014

'I felt very angry and upset when I read that and thought that could have been me.'

The woman, who also works in the medical sector, went for a routine smear in 2010 and was told a few weeks later that she had cervical cancer.

But a review found her previous smear tests in 2002 and 2006  reported as normal  had shown abnormalities.

In Mrs O'Connor's case, her smear test in September 2014 was reported as normal despite being found later to have 'plentiful' abnormal cells.

Further tests failed to pick up the disease and it was only in March 2017 that she was diagnosed at a private clinic.

Last night Mrs O'Connor's husband Kevin said: 'It's sad there is another victim. If there are other people out there, they need to come forward.'

Chris Burton, of North Bristol NHS Trust, said: 'We have commissioned an independent investigation and we will be open with the overall findings.'

Have you had a similar experience at North Bristol Trust? Email cancer@dailymail.co.uk
Vodafone is to give staff two weeks of extra paid leave if they are victims of emotional abuse or domestic violence.

The mobile operator will introduce the new safe leave policy, after research revealed that three out of ten workers in the UK are subject to abuse at home.

Almost half of the victims are abused by their spouses or partners, and just over half are abused by another family member, Vodafone said.

Vodafone will introduce the new safe leave policy. Its Glasgow offices are pictured last week

And  in a revelation that many people will find shocking  nine out of 20 victims of abuse are men.

The findings come just days after Sally Challen had her murder conviction quashed in a landmark case for domestic abuse victims.

Mrs Challen bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer after years of emotional abuse at his hands, including intimidation and gaslighting  a term used to describe making a partner feel as though they are going mad.

Vodafone will soon give staff extra time off work in order to give them a chance to escape this sort of behaviour  as well as other types of abuse.

Victims can then use the time to making new living arrangements, seek emotional and legal support, or help their children adjust.

The telecoms giant said: They can seek professional advice, move house, attend legal proceedings or attend counselling  all without using official leave so these steps can be taken covertly from their abuser if necessary.

The findings come just days after Sally Challen had her murder conviction quashed

The company has launched a special app, designed to help victims of abuse collect evidence of their tormentors behaviour.

The BrightSky app allows users to secretly record and note down abusive behaviour. The notes are then stored in the cloud so that they can be used to prosecute the abuser, even if the phone is wiped or destroyed.

The police already use the app to help victims of abuse in Britain, but now Vodafone is publicising it more widely.

In addition to helping abuse victims store evidence, it also helps users to identify whether they are being abused in the first place.

Users are asked a series of questions about their potential abuser, such as whether they have been forced to do anything of a sexual nature against their will, or whether the abuser has physically harmed the family pet.

Potential victims are also asked if their partner is excessively jealous, makes them feel that the things they do are not good enough, or humiliates them in front of others.

Other indicators of an abuse are partners who insist on having total control of the finances.

According to an Opinium survey of 4,700 people in nine countries, half of people who are abused at home feel too ashamed to discuss it at work.

However, nearly seven out of ten people said that it had impacted their progression at work, and in the UK almost a fifth said they had quit their jobs amid the abuse.

The research - which was conducted in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Turkey, South Africa, Kenya, India, Italy and Spain  found that 37 per cent of working people have experienced domestic abuse of some kind, compared to 30 per cent in the UK alone.
Police are searching for a middle-aged Asian man who officers say showed porn to a 10-year-old boy on a train.

The man asked the young boy to sit next to him before showing him pornographic images on his phone on a train in Melbourne, according to Victoria Police.

The incident allegedly happened between Sandown Station and Oakleigh Station at 11.20am.

Police are looking to speak with a man who was on a train between Sandown Station and Oakleigh Station

The man was last seen wearing a blue cap, blue short sleeved shirt, blue jeans and runners.

He is of Asian appearance and aged in his 50s.

The alleged offender boarded at Dandenong Railway station, it is believed.

He was on a Cranbourne or Pakenham line train heading to the Melbourne CBD.

A photo of a man police would like to speak to has been released.

Anyone who recognises the man or witnessed the incident should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Diane Abbott stayed silent when high-profile Jeremy Corbyn supporters used a rally to dismiss Labour anti-Semitism claims as smears, it emerged yesterday.

The Shadow Home Secretary did not intervene when filmmaker Ken Loach attacked Jewish MP Dame Margaret Hodge and suggested deputy leader Tom Watson was bringing the party into disrepute by saying bullying was a problem.

Another activist at the event on Saturday said critics used accusations of anti-Semitism to smear their opponents and Mr Corbyn had been a victim of this.

Diane Abbott spoke at a Labour rally defending leader Jeremy Corbyn amid accusations of anti-Semitism within the party

Miss Abbott told the gathering: Im proud to say that in my party we have a leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who has also spent his lifetime fighting racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia  contrary to the impression that some people might want to give.

Her words came just days after she was accused of remaining silent when her local constituency party passed a resolution denying Labour had a problem with anti-Semitism.

Jewish members were reportedly in tears when Labours Hackney North and Stoke Newington branch voted 45 to 35 in favour of the motion last Thursday.

Saturday nights No Pasaran conference  named after the Spanish for They shall not pass, which has become an anti-fascist catchphrase  was also attended by a key member of Jewish Voice for Labour, which describes the anti-Semitism crisis as a witch-hunt.

Filmmaker Ken Loach criticised Jewish MP Dame Margaret Hodge and Tom Watson at the rally

Miss Abbott shared the stage with Walter Wolfgang who called the accusations of anti-Semitism a 'smear'

Loach talked about the smear of anti-Semitism, called for open hearings, and said evidence should be interrogated.

He launched a scathing attack on Dame Margaret, describing the incident where she called Mr Corbyn a racist and anti-Semite as a foul-mouthed slander that should have been dealt with.

The socialist film director also called on Mr Watson to provide evidence of his claims of bullying in Labour. He said: We want open hearings, evidence interrogated and when people are found guilty, absolutely they have to go.

But he added: When you have an MP describing Jeremy Corbyn in public as an effing racist and anti-Semite... thats a foul-mouthed slander that should have been dealt with. The principle of justice is equality before the law.

We must defend the leadership but the leadership must defend the integrity of the party and its members. We know the party is not institutionally racist and the leadership must defend us. Its a change in the leadership stance.

Walter Wolfgang, an anti-war campaigner, told the event: Some people have used accusations of racism, xenophobia, islamophobia, and anti-Semitism to smear their opponents. They accuse them of these things when in fact they are totally innocent. He went on to say that one of the victims of that has been Britains most outstanding anti-racist, the leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

Also on the stage with Miss Abbott was activist Weyman Bennett, who suggested in January that Theresa May should shoot herself. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell was also at the rally, but did not criticise the language used in any way.

Last night it emerged that another local Labour branch, Hastings and Rye, said those concerned with anti-Semitism were crying wolf. The constituency party also called for Corbynite MP Chris Williamson  who was suspended last week after he denied anti-Semitism was a major problem  to be reinstated, and claimed that those concerned about anti-Semitism were running an orchestrated campaign. Mr Watson is set to meet Mr Corbyn for talks tomorrow to discuss anti-Semitism.

Mr McDonnell yesterday criticised Mr Watson for pledging to monitor the way the party was dealing with anti-Semitism cases, but Tony Blair praised the partys deputy leader, saying he had shown really great leadership on the issue. Mr Watson, an ally of Gordon Brown, helped precipitate Mr Blairs downfall in 2006 when he called on him to resign.

Miss Abbotts office did not respond to a request for comment. A Labour spokesman said the leadership had made it clear that anti-Semitism concerns were not smears and should not be dismissed as such.
Donald Trump slammed Democrats and blamed their 'interview' of lawyer Michael Cohen as the reason that the nuclear summit in Vietnam failed - after initially stating that he walked away from a 'bad deal' put forward by Kim Jong-un.

The President took to Twitter to lambaste the party and Thursday's congressional hearing, which consisted mostly of Democrats asking questions pertaining to Trump and Republicans questioning the lawyer's credibility.

'For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the "walk."' Trump said on Twitter. 'Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!'

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The President took to Twitter to lambaste the party and Thursday's congressional hearing of Michael Cohen, which consisted mostly of Democrats asking questions pertaining to Trump and Republicans questioning the lawyer's credibility

'For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the "walk."' Trump said on Twitter. 'Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!'

Last week in Hanoi Trump and Kim met for the second time to try to negotiate a deal that would surrender some of North Korea's nuclear weapons arsenal in return for sanctions relief.

At the same time in Washington, Trump's former aide Cohen was testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee, accusing Trump of ordering his personal attorney to make threats for him about 500 times over the last 10 years.

When asked about Cohen's testimony at a press conference on Thursday in Hanoi after Trump had abruptly decided to end the summit with Kim early, the president called the allegations 'incorrect' and criticized the decision to have the hearing while he was away.

'I tried to watch as much as I could,' Trump said. 'I wasnt able to watch too much because Ive been a little bit busy, but I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing.'

Initially, Trump appeared on Fox News and told Sean Hannity that he and Kim Jong-un could not come to an agreement on what North Korea would have to do to ease sanctions

Initially, Trump appeared on Fox News and told Sean Hannity that he and the dictator could not come to an agreement on what North Korea would have to do to ease sanctions.

'Well, they wanted to denuke certain areas and I wanted everything,' Trump told Hannity.

'And the sanctions are there and I didn't want to give up the sanctions unless we had a real program. And they're not ready for that and I understand that fully, I really do. I mean, they spent a lot of time building it and that doesn't mean the world has to be happy,' Trump said.

Sarah Sanders says Trump walked away from a 'bad deal' with North Korea because he 'didn't want to make the same mistake Obama did with Iran'

The sentiment was reiterated by Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who placed an emphasis that Trump was walking away from a 'bad deal.'

'Well, they wanted to denuke certain areas and I wanted everything,' Trump told Hannity

She tweeted: 'President Obama refused to walk away from a bad deal with Iran. President @realDonaldTrump refuses to make the same mistake with Iran, North Korea, or anybody else. President Trump will always put the safety of the American people above politics.'

Trump claimed Thursday that North Korea was 'not ready' to meet the United States' conditions in order to reduce the sanctions imposed on the country.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho contradicted Trump and asserted that the breakdown came when the United States 'insisted that we should take one more step' beyond the pledge to abandon Yongbyon - where the country has Plutonium and Uranium facilities.

'I tried to watch as much as I could,' Trump told reporters about Thursday hearing. 'I wasnt able to watch too much because Ive been a little bit busy, but I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing'

'Therefore it became crystal clear that the United States was not ready to accept our proposal,' he stated.

Trump's longtime fixer, Michael Cohen, claimed in congressional testimony that Trump ordered him to silence two women threatening to go public with affairs.

Cohen said that a $130,000 payoff to one of them, former adult film actress Stormy Daniels, was chump change to a billionaire like Trump.

In his testimony, Cohen acknowledged he did not witness or know directly of collusion between Trump aides and Russia but had his 'suspicions'.
Akwaeke Emezi, 31, who was born a woman but had their uterus and fallopian tubes removed, is nominated for their debut novel, Freshwater.

A non-binary transgender author has been longlisted for the Womens Prize for Fiction for the first time.

Akwaeke Emezi, 31, who was born a woman but had their uterus and fallopian tubes removed, is nominated for their debut novel, Freshwater.

The judges did not know about the Nigerian novelists gender identity before deciding on the longlist as they are not supposed to research the authors ahead of making their deliberations.

The nomination was heralded as historic by chair of judges Professor Kate Williams.

Were very careful not to Google the authors while judging, so we did not know. But the book found great favour among us, it is wonderful, she told the Guardian.

They are an incredibly talented author and were keen to celebrate them.

Emezi, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, is now in with a chance of winning the 30,000 prize money.

Their novel, Freshwater, follows the story of Ada, a Nigerian woman who develops several selves within her.

The book is narrated by Adas different selves as she grows up and moves to America to study.

Emezi, who has previously described themself as a plural person, has previously written about how their uterus and fallopian tubes were removed by a robot named da Vinci.

Writing in magazine The Cut earlier this year, they said: It was delicate, precise, inserted through my navel to slice my uterus and fallopian tubes into small unimportant pieces, which were then suctioned out of my body.

The novelist came out as transgender five years ago and had a breast reduction two years before their hysterectomy.

They wrote: I wasnt sure then what I was transitioning my body to, but I was clear that the gender Id been raised as was inaccurate  Id never been a woman.

The novelist is up against 15 other authors including Sally Rooney, whose novel Normal People won the Waterstones Book of the Year in November.

The shortlist will be announced on 29 April, while the winner will be announced on 5 June.
A mural which Jeremy Corbyn defended was indefensibly anti-Jewish, according to the lawyer brought in to tackle Labours anti-Semitism problem.

The Labour leader criticised a decision to remove the painting in 2012.

It depicts a group of hook-nosed men sitting around a Monopoly board on a wall in East London.

When the artist Mear One complained on Facebook that it was being painted over, Mr Corbyn replied: Why? You are in good company. Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Vieras [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.

A mural which Jeremy Corbyn defended in 2012 has been labelled 'indefensibly anti-Semitic' by Lord Falconer

Jeremy Corbyn complained about the mural being painted over in 2012

But Lord Falconer  who Labour wants to run its disciplinary procedures  said it was utterly unacceptable to defend it.

When the case of the mural resurfaced last year, Jewish groups condemned the image, saying it contained vile anti-Semitic tropes.

Mr Corbyn claimed at the time that he had not looked at it properly, and was only commenting on freedom of expression.

Former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer has said he is willing to oversee Labour's disciplinary procedures

Yesterday Lord Falconer, the former Lord Chancellor, told BBC Radio 5 Lives Pienaars Politics: The mural is indefensibly anti-Semitic.

Jeremy, I think, made clear that he hadnt looked properly at the mural and that was his defence.

The mural represents a strand of thought in the Labour Party about, as it were, Jewish capitalists being at the heart of a whole variety of things... which is utterly wrong and unacceptable.

Lord Falconer said he was willing to oversee Labours disciplinary procedures and is very keen that the terms are agreed to ensure he has the required resources to be effective.

He also warned Labours electoral chances could be damaged by the row.
Tommy Robinson, pictured last November, is being sued by lawyers of a refugee allegedly waterboarded by a school bully

Lawyers of a Syrian refugee allegedly waterboarded by a school bully delivered legal papers to the 1million home of Tommy Robinson last night.

The family of 16-year-old Jamal are suing the English Defence League founder after he accused the teenager of 'violently attacking' young English girls in a series of poisonous rants.

Jamal's lawyers took the unusual step of hand-delivering the letter after Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, failed to respond to correspondence.

Tasnime Akunjee, Jamal's solicitor, said: 'Mr Yaxley-Lennon made some defamatory comments about my client, a young boy called Jamal from Huddersfield. He spread those across the internet, they were untrue comments so we are [suing] him.

'Our letter gives him two weeks to respond, hopefully he'll get lawyers to respond on his behalf. If we get no response or an unacceptable response then we are instructed to issue proceedings which is to take the matter to court in two weeks' time.'

Shocking footage emerged last October of Jamal being headbutted and dragged to the ground by the neck before his attacker threatened 'to drown him' by pouring a bottle of water over his face as fellow pupils at Almondbury Community School, just outside Huddersfield, cheered.

Jamal was headbutted and dragged to the ground by the neck before his attacker threatened 'to drown him' as fellow pupils at Almondbury Community School (pictured) cheered

Theresa May said she was horrified by the callous attack on the refugee who had sought sanctuary from the horrors of war-torn Syria.

But Robinson, who was made a political adviser to Ukip days earlier, poured scorn on the sympathy shown to Jamal.

Just hours after the video of the attack spread across the internet, Robinson claimed Jamal, then 15, was 'not innocent' and had previously terrorised other classmates.

In one Facebook video, Robinson, 36, said: 'A young girl was beaten badly by Muslim girls.

'While those Muslim girls were beating her up, Jamal was involved in kicking and biting her. She was bitten, she was black and blue.'

He added: 'He's not innocent and he violently attacks young English girls at school. He beat the s*** out of an English kid.'

Robinson even told his one million followers on Facebook that the case went to court, but a spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said they were not aware of any such reports, and Robinson later admitted he had been duped.

But by then the videos had been watched more than a million times. Some of the footage can still be found online.

Last week Facebook and Twitter stripped Robinson of his official accounts for breaking their rules over 'hate speech' but he is still active on YouTube.

Mr Akunjee said Robinson's motivation for the sickening rants about Jamal was a desire to stop well-wishers donating to a crowdfunding page.

'We believe that these comments were designed directly to create a negative feeling towards Jamal,' he said.

'Jamal himself was the victim of a bullying attack which was videoed and went viral.

'Someone unknown to the family had set up a go fund me page which was very successful in that it was raising a lot of funds for the benefit of Jamal and his family and we understand that Mr Yaxley-Lennon took umbrage with that and decided to throw dirt by way of defamatory comments towards Jamal to try to stop the goodwill towards him.'

He said that Jamal was now 'doing a lot better,' adding: 'He's on holiday at the moment with his family, and he has relocated to a place far from where they were in Huddersfield and steps are being made to get him and his siblings into education.'

Mr Akunjee is also taking legal action against Facebook for allowing Robinson to peddle false accusations about Jamal on its site. He said the company is yet to respond.

It was not clear if Robinson was present at a six-bedroom 950,000 house in a quaint Bedfordshire village last night.
In the evening, the cross-LoC shelling and firing started also in Shahpur area of Poonch district.

No casualties were reported on the Indian side in the Pakistani firing and shelling which started around 3 am and stopped at 6.30 am, the Army and police sources said.

Srinagar: Breaking a two-day lull, the Indian and Pakistan armies on Monday again exchanged fire at a few places along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmirs Jammu and Poonch districts.

A defence spokesman in winter capital Jammu said that the Pakistani troops resorted to firing from mortar guns and small arms targeting Indian forwards positions and civilian areas in Akhnoor sector of Jammu on Monday morning.

The Indian Army, he said, retaliated strongly and effectively to the ceasefire violation. No casualties were reported on the Indian side in the Pakistani firing and shelling which started around 3 am and stopped at 6.30 am, the Army and police sources said.

In the evening, the cross-LoC shelling and firing started also in Shahpur area of Poonch district. There also our troops have responded strongly, the defence spokesman said.
Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who was Director General from 2002-2007, is to be questioned about her relationship with Sir Peter Morrison, who she allegedly reported in the 1980s.

A former head of MI5 is set to be the first spy chief to give evidence before the child sex abuse inquiry over her links with a Conservative MP, it has been claimed.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who was Director General from 2002-2007, is to be questioned about her relationship with Sir Peter Morrison, who she allegedly reported in the 1980s.

It is claimed her superiors at the time suppressed the information she passed on, according to the Times.

Dame Eliza is expected to give evidence before the inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICA) next week, which is investigating allegations of paedophile activity in Westminster.

She is believed to be the first spy chief to give evidence at a public inquiry in open session and is expected to be asked whether she spoke about the allegations against Morrison with the MP.

In a memo uncovered in 2015, then-Director General Sir Antony Duff is said to have described Morrisons penchant for small boys in a message to Cabinet Secretary Robert Armstrong.

However, the late spy chief then recommended that no action be taken against the Thatcher aide because of the risks of political embarrassment to the government is rather greater than the security danger.

The letter was part of a cache of files unearthed by the Cabinet Office in 2015 and handed over to an official inquiry into historical abuse allegations.

At the time the Cabinet Office commented that the risk to children is not considered at all.

She is believed to be the first spy chief to give evidence at a public inquiry in open session and is expected to be asked whether she spoke about the allegations against Morrison (pictured with former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher)

When the memo was first released, Lord Armstrong refused to name the MP involved and insisted the allegations were just shadows of a rumour.

He said he believed the decision not to investigate the paedophile claims was correct at the time.

Lord Armstrong told the Daily Mail in 2015: I thought MI5s actions were correct at the time. I think they were right to report the rumour, they were right to make what inquiries they could and they were right to come to the conclusion they did.

I think if there was evidence it would have been properly examined at the time. I dont think this is a matter of important people being protected. You cant pursue inquiries unless you have evidence on which you can base the enquiry. A shadow of a rumour is not enough.

He said he did not know if Mrs Thatcher was told of the MI5 decision.

Dame Eliza studied English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, and worked as a teacher before joining MI5 in 1974.

She specialised in counter security and

Sir Peter Morrison was first elected as an MP in 1974 and was a close aide of Margaret Thatcher until he stood down in 1992.

Morrison died in 1995, at the age of 51.

An IICSA spokesman told the Times: The inquiry wishes to make clear that the fact certain individuals will be named during this public hearing does not mean that the allegations against them are true. This investigation is not examining the truth or otherwise of individual allegations. The inquiry is simply addressing issues of grave public concern.
Army veterans have been stitched up and sold down the river after being investigated over their alleged involvement in Bloody Sunday 47 years ago, a comrade claimed last night.

Police began the criminal probe in the wake of the 12-year, 200million inquiry led by Lord Saville, which concluded in 2010 that soldiers from the Parachute Regiment had lost control during a civil rights march, causing the unjustified and unjustifiable deaths of 14 civilians.

Eighteen former paratroopers were under investigation, but one has died.

The elderly men fear being charged with murder this month in connection with the shootings in Londonderry in 1972, and they could also be charged with attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury.

Police began the criminal probe in the wake of the 12-year, 200million inquiry led by Lord Saville, which concluded in 2010 that soldiers from the Parachute Regiment had lost control during a civil rights march, causing the unjustified and unjustifiable deaths of 14 civilians

Eighteen former paratroopers were under investigation, but one has died.

One now in his late seventies, who served with 1 Para in Londonderry on Bloody Sunday but did not fire his rifle, says senior officers had let soldiers be sacrificed.

Insisting troops returned fire after they were shot at first, he added: Those in the firing line facing potential prosecution are all soldiers. Where are the officers?

'Officers who encourage soldiers to step forward and give evidence have stood back and allowed them to be stitched up and sold down the river by the system which only cares about political correctness.

He said veterans were being relentlessly hunted by the politically correct mob, while terrorists behind the Birmingham pub bombings were not, even though their identities are known.

The elderly men fear being charged with murder this month in connection with the shootings in Londonderry in 1972, and they could also be charged with attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury

Lord Saville granted anonymity to every soldier who fired a shot on Bloody Sunday  January 30, 1972  following a campaign led by the Daily Mail. But the ex-paratroopers fear they will be identified if charged. One veteran identified as Sergeant O faces two possible charges of attempted murder after firing into the air and hitting masonry that may have injured two civilians below.

He told The Daily Telegraph: I am in my late seventies. I am in Gods waiting room. There is not a lot they can do to me.

But he admitted: It is a worry. It just niggles away.

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded troops in Afghanistan, told The Sunday Telegraph: The actions of the Army were not good, but to single out a group of OAPs after all this time is grossly unfair.

End the witch hunts with a 10-year limit on charging veterans with on-duty offences, says Defence Secretary

Former soldiers could soon be covered by a ten-year limit protecting them from prosecution for alleged historic abuses.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson said the prospect of elderly veterans being dragged to court completely turns the stomach of the British people.

He insisted the Government had to do something to make sure our soldiers and veterans have the protection they deserve, and is pushing for the cap on charging former service personnel with alleged offences committed on duty.

The move is designed to tackle fury in the military at what Mr Williamson claims is a witch hunt by prosecutors dredging up historic cases from Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

The Defence Secretary reacted angrily to reports at the weekend that four former paratroopers in their sixties and seventies face murder charges this month over the deaths of Bloody Sunday protesters in 1972.

He now aims to fast-track plans to impose a presumption against prosecuting veterans for alleged offences committed more than a decade ago.

There will also be a new rule requiring the consent of the Attorney General before any prosecution can be brought.

Geoffrey Cox, the current Attorney General, will publish advice setting out the level of evidence required to show that a prosecution is both viable and in the public interest.

The measures have been held up by wrangling between the Ministry of Defence and the Northern Ireland Office, and were further knocked off course by the Brexit gridlock paralysing the Government.

But Whitehall sources said last night that Mr Williamson was pushing for the changes to be included in the Queens Speech this summer.

They also conceded that the proposed protections would make no difference to any cases that are already being considered by prosecutors in Northern Ireland. Some 28 civilians were shot by soldiers on Bloody Sunday during a civil rights march in Londonderry 47 years ago.

Thirteeen were killed on the day, with another man dying of his injuries five months later.

There have been several inquiries into the incident. But 17 ex-soldiers remain under investigation over the shootings, including one man of 77.

Prosecutors in Northern Ireland are due to meet victims and their families on March 14 to tell them the results of the latest police investigation.

Any attempt to bring charges almost 50 years on will provoke a political storm on this side of the Irish Sea. The Mail has been campaigning against a witch-hunt against British troops.

A source told The Daily Telegraph: There are four soldiers most at risk of being charged with murder. I fear prosecutors will throw the book at everybody and see what sticks.

Prosecutors are also said to be considering charges of attempted murder, grievous bodily harm and perjury against some of those involved.

If convicted of murder, the former paratroopers would face life in prison. In contrast, however, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, terrorists subsequently convicted of atrocities during the Troubles can only be imprisoned for a maximum of two years.

Whitehall sources said the outcome of the police investigation against the British former soldiers was not known.

Northern Irelands Public Prosecution Service dismissed media reports suggesting knowledge of the likely outcome of its deliberations on the Londonderry killings. It said that speculating on the fate of any British troops under investigation was likely to cause significant and undue distress.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was heartbreaking that hundreds of children and babies are waiting for an organ

Bereaved parents were asked last night to consider donating their childrens organs after it emerged the rate had not gone up significantly in years.

Donations from adults have risen by a fifth since 2004, but the total from children has remained static.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said it was heartbreaking that hundreds of children and babies are waiting for an organ.

Mr Hancock, who is backing a new NHS campaign to boost the donation figures from under-18s, spoke after it emerged that only half of families approached following the death of a child consent to their organs being used.

There are 177 children on the transplant list after 17 died waiting for one in 2018.

Organs from 57 children resulted in 200 transplant operations last year, but this is barely up on the 55 child donors in 2014.

Young children often need organs that match their size, making it hard to find suitable hearts for infants and babies.

Mr Hancock said: I understand how difficult it is to contemplate losing a child, let alone think about what happens afterwards. But we must not shy away from this potentially life-saving conversation.
The number of pubs, bars and clubs with a 24-hour alcohol licence has fallen 19 per cent in five years as millennials look for other ways to have fun.

Young adults are drinking less than previous generations, with large numbers apparently opting to stay in, order a takeaway and watch channels such as Netflix.

The number of establishments with 24-hour licences fell from 919 in 2013 to 742 in 2018, according to research by commercial law firm EMW.

Young adults are drinking less than previous generations, with large numbers apparently opting to stay in

At the same time as they are seeing a drop in custom, pubs are being squeezed by big increases in costs, such as staff and business rates, which have driven many retailers to the wall.

And now, it seems young adults are turning away from drink.

Some 29 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds described themselves as non-drinkers in 2015, which was up from 18 per cent in 2005, according to research from University College London.

The 24-hour licence was brought in by Tony Blairs Labour government in 2005 amid claims it would create a relaxed approach to alcohol and continental cafe style of drinking culture.

The 24-hour licence was brought in by Tony Blairs Labour government in 2005

EMWs Marco Mauro said the licences were also expected to boost the night-time economy but this has simply not happened.

He added: Cultural changes in the way people interact and socialise, such as through dating apps, and the rise of Netflix, has created less demand for pubs, bars and nightclubs.

For most venues the potential extra revenue from staying open 24 hours is still not enough to make those businesses sustainable operations.

The firms research also suggested that low real wage growth had dampened consumer spending.
A builder who won 76million on the lottery in November has already bought six supercars.

Andrew Clark and his partner Trish Fairhurst, from Boston in Lincolnshire, scooped the 12th-biggest lottery win ever in the UK after buying the ticket in his local Post Office.

He has spent 660,000 of his winnings buying a 121,000 Porsche 911 Turbo and a 128,055 McLaren.





Andrew Clark and his partner Trish Fairhurst, from Boston in Lincolnshire scooped the 12th biggest lottery win ever in the UK after buying the ticket in his local Post Office

128,000 bought Andy a McLaren 540C as part of his brand new fleet of supercars

The 184,000 Ferrari was the priciest of the cars he has splashed out on since November

He has spent 660,000 of his winnings buying a 121,000 Porsche 911 Turbo and a 128,055 McLaren. Stock image

Andy also treated himself to a 70,000 Mercedes-AMG C63S

But Trish will continue to drive her 20,000 Nissan Qashqai, which she bought after their EuroMillions win in November last year.

Ex-F1 engineer Andy, 51, told The Sun, his winning ticket was unchecked in his work van for six weeks.

But Trish will continue to drive her 20,000 Nissan Qashqai which she bough after their EuroMillions win in November last year. Pictured a new car parked outside the couple's home after the win

However wife Trish was content to spend 20,000 on a new Nissan Qashqai for herself

A neighbour said: 'He's always said he was a car nut. It shows how down-to-earth Trish is that she's stuck with the Nissan rather than anything flash.'

The couple's new 700,000 home in Boston, Lincs, includes an indoor pool and gym.

Referring to himself as 'the man who nearly lost 76 million', Mr Clark revealed he stockpiled lottery tickets in the visor of his van and only checked after Trisha nagged him.

Mr Clark bought a four-bed house, an 80,000 Mercedes-Benz AMG C 63 soon after his win.
A drug addict father whose brain was 'fried on ice' has admitted to killing his 22-month-old son after leaving the boy alone to die on a park bench.

Shane Arthur Simpson pleaded guilty on Monday to the manslaughter of his son Baden Bond in May 2007.

The toddler's mother, Dina Colleen Bond, pleaded guilty to two counts of being an accessory to his manslaughter in Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

Baden's body has never been found, and his cause of death is unknown.

Simpson told the court he abandoned the child at a boat ramp near the Logan River at dusk one day in May 2007 because he was 'tired of caring for him'.

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Baden's father Shane Arthur Simpson pleaded guilty to manslaughter after abandoning his son Baden in a park

Simpson told police he had sat and talked to the baby for 15-30 minutes before apologising and leaving his son on a bench without ever turning back. Pictured the park believed to be where Simpson left his son

The grandmother of 22-month-old boy Baden Bond (front, right) and other relatives leave the Supreme in Brisbane

In his final moments with the child, Simpson said he sat with his son on a park bench for 15-30 minutes and said sorry.

Then, without turning back once, he drove away.

The court heard Simpson had told police before he left, his son had looked at him 'like he knew what was going to happen', The Courier Mail reported.

'Just his face, if anything, I just went though with it then and drove away,' he had said after his arrest.

'I didnt even look back in the rear-vision mirror Ive had to live with this for 10 years the look in his eyes I still see, you know.'

Bond was charged with accessory to manslaughter for her efforts in helping to conceal the child's death.

Baby Baden and his siblings were taken into government care after he was born with methamphetamine in his system.

The 22-month-old (pictured) was found in a dirty cot before he disappeared in 2007, and Simpson admitted he was 'fried' on drugs when he abandoned him

Simpson (pictured) and Bond were not arrested until 2017 over the death of their son

BADEN BOND'S LIFE 2005: Baby Baden is born with methamphetamine in his system. He and his siblings are taken into state care. October 2006: The children are returned to their parents, who blame 'difficult' Baden for the loss of their family. March 2007: Baden is last seen May 2007: His father, Shane Simpson, takes Baden to a boat ramp near the Logan River in Eagleby and speaks with him for about half an hour before leaving. He does not turn back to look at the child he abandoned. August 2007: Simpson and Baden's mother, Dina Bond, and their family move out of their Woodridge, QLD, home to NSW in the middle of the night. They do not contact family again for about a year. June 2015: Baden is reported missing after community services in NSW begin to look for him. March 2017: Simpson and Bond are charged over Baden's death after an extensive investigation found no record of the boy attending any school or medical centre in the past 10 years. March 2019: Simpson pleads guilty to manslaughter, while Bond pleads guilty to being an accessory to her son's death Advertisement

During the course of the trial, the court heard how Simpson and Bond called their son 'the devil's child', and would leave him in a locked bedroom with windows that were painted black.

His nappies were reportedly often left unchanged and visitors were discouraged from going into his room.

His mother and father are believed to have blamed the infant for their troubles with their other children, all of whom returned to the family home a year later.

Simpson had called him a 'little c***', a 'dog f*****' and was 'nothing but trouble'.

In 2016, when Simpson finally admitted to police he'd abandoned the toddler, he said Baden was difficult and 'everything just got too much'.

He said he was 'fried off my head' at the time from taking ice.

In a devastating twist, the parents did not face any criminal charges for 10 years.

Baby Baden was last seen in March 2007, but not reported missing until June 2015.

His parents were charged in March 2017 after an extensive investigation found no record of Baden attending any school or medical centre in the past 10 years.

The parents had continually lied about baby Baden's whereabouts, claiming he was either in foster care, or staying with his relatives.

In the middle of the night, about three months after Simpson left Baden on the bench, the couple moved out of their home on Wagawn Street in Woodridge, south of Brisbane.

They told nobody, and did not contact their family again for a year.
An Air Force Major from Texas has been charged in connection with the disappearance of his wife 29-year-old Andreen Nicole, whom authorities believe has been killed.

Andre McDonald, 40, was booked on charges of tampering with evidence after he tore up a receipt for the purchase of a shovel, an ax, and gasoline along with other material that investigators believe he intended to use to dispose of her body.

'I love my daughter. I love my family. That's it,' said McDonald on Sunday afternoon as he as he was led away by deputies.

Air Force Major Andre McDonald, 40, is in custody charged over the disappearance of his wife, Andreen Nicole McDonald, 29,

The Air Force Major was taken into custody on Saturday evening after police found evidence regarding his wife's disappearance

Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputies had already detained him on Saturday for a mental evaluation by the Air Force according to MySA.

It wasn't until Sunday, however, that McDonald was called a suspect after there were indications a homicide had occurred and he was not cooperating with the search to find her.

'We found some things really quite disturbing,' Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said as police conducted a second search of the house.

'The evidence consisted of a shovel, an ax, some heavy duty trash bags, some work gloves, and two five-gallon containers of gasoline.' A portable burn barrel was also found.

Andre McDonald posted about how much he loved his wife on Facebook in months gone by

Andreen Nicole McDonald, 29, was reported missing Friday after she didn't show up to the gym or to her workplace. Her husband, left, was taken into custody on Saturday

All the items that were found in the home led Salazar to believe that they were used to dispose of a body.

A receipt was found in McDonald's home which showed how items had been bought earlier that day.

'There was quite a bit of effort that went into destroying that receipt to try to prevent us seeing where it was purchased and when it was purchased,' Salazar said. 'That led us to obtain a warrant of arrest for Andre McDonald for the charge of tampering with evidence.

'We believe that Andreen McDonald is no longer living,' Salazar said who went onto say that it was a missing person's case marked by 'very suspicious circumstances.'

Salazar went on to say that 'it's pretty evident' that the couple's six-year-old daughter, who is on the autism spectrum and mostly nonverbal, witnessed her mother's death.

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said as police conducted a search of the house they came across some disturbing evidence including items that may have been used to murder

Andreen McDonald ran a local business and was reported missing on Friday by friends who say she never showed up at the gym or work.

'There is literally no sign of her anywhere and her husband had declined to speak to deputies who initially questioned him Friday, asserting his rights and retaining an attorney', Salazar said at the press conference.

At one point, police were considering the case to be a missing person's case, but they now do not believe that Audreen Nicole is alive any longer

On Saturday, authorities began to watch the McDonalds' home and followed Andre to a gun shop where he purchased a weapon and a significant amount of ammunition.

Salazar said that McDonald was in such a hurry, he left behind the firearm he had just purchased and his ID.

'At that point, we were not certain if there were some suicidal thoughts going through the subject's mind,' Salazar said on Saturday. 'Deputies made contact with him outside the residence, took him into custody, detained him at that point due to a possible mental health issue.'

'He's a highly intelligent person, and I think he knows exactly what he's doing,' Salazar said. 'I think that quite frankly, he probably thinks he's smarter than anybody in law enforcement, but he's behind bars right now.'

Investigators with the Sheriff's Office spent Sunday combing through fields in the Wilderness Oak area off of U.S. Highway 281, north of San Antonio with cadaver dogs, searching for McDonald's body.

Salazar said deputies are focused on that area, which is close to the couple's home, because forensic evidence indicates the pair were there at some point.
Small business owners could face a bill of 3.3billion after a major Treasury shake-up of tax collections.

All companies turning over more than 85,000 a year will have to file their VAT returns online for the first time after the new tax year starts in April.

The changes are part of a huge push to move the tax system online, but could force firms to spend thousands of pounds a year on new software, advice and accountants fees.

The changes could force firms to spend thousands of pounds a year on new software, advice and accountants fees

The average company is expected to be landed with a 2,770 bill for the changes, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.

At least 1.2 million firms are due to be affected from the VAT changes, the first wave of the Making Tax Digital programme. If they each end up paying 2,770, the cost would hit 3.3billion.

An HMRC spokesman called the FSB figure childs maths, saying the true sum was closer to 37million, or an average of 31 a year for each business.

Campaigners last night warned the Making Tax Digital switchover could cause chaos and leave the business backbone of Britain struggling to cope.

Labour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the Treasury select committee, said: Making Tax Digital sounds great in principle, but in practice theres plenty of evidence that small businesses arent ready and this is bringing in added cost and uncertainty at an already uncertain time.

Mike Cherry, chairman of the FSB, said: The roll-out has come at a torrid time for small firms, with wages, auto-enrolment contributions and business rates all on the rise at the start of April.

The Making Tax Digital plan has been in the works since 2015, when it was proposed by then-chancellor George Osborne

We also have the small matter of Brexit to think about. Its vital that HMRC takes a light-touch approach to small businesses as they transition to Making Tax Digital.

HMRCs customer services are often found wanting. We need to see tax advisers making a concerted effort to pick up the phone in the coming weeks, providing support where its needed.

The Making Tax Digital plan has been in the works since 2015, when it was proposed by then-chancellor George Osborne.

It is intended to drag the tax system into the modern age but has been heavily criticised for causing uncertainty and tying up companies in red tape.

As part of the change, firms turning over more than 85,000 a year must start keeping digital records of the VAT they collect from April 1.

VAT is paid by consumers when they buy goods and services, and is typically charged at 20 per cent. The sellers collect this money and then pay it to HM Revenue and Customs. Businesses must file four VAT returns a year.

After the change, companies will have to file tax returns using special software compatible with the Government scheme  and this typically comes with a hefty price tag. Most providers charge a monthly fee for using the programs, and in some cases this adds up to more than 3,000 a year.




A West Virginia man is accused of faking a pardon letter from the governor's office, but it was riddled with errors including the misspelling of the state's name.

Authorities issued a warrant for James Justice II, 49, of Nitro, West Virginia, after it was discovered that he allegedly created and sent a fake letter from the West Virginia Governor's Office that pardoned him for all probation and his past crimes, WSAZ reported.

Aside from the fact that the governor's office said that the actual Governor James 'Jim' Justice II, 67  in a remarkable coincidence, the men share the same name  had not, in fact, granted a pardon for the Nitro man, the complaint noted that the forged document contained multiple errors and inconsistencies.

The letter from the West Virginia governor that authorities have accused James Justice II of forging in an effort to have himself pardoned from probation and his past crimes

The letter was rife with errors, including the misspelling of the state's name in the letterhead, a handwritten phone number and grammatical mistakes

Just about the only thing the forger did a semi-passable job at was copying the governor's actual signature. At right, the forged signature, and at left, the governor's actual signature

Coincidentally, both the accused forger and the actual West Virginia governor share the same name, James Justice II. They do not appear to be related, however

Among the obvious issues were spelling errors  including the fact that West Virginia was misspelled in the letterhead  the office's phone number was handwritten and the letter in general was rife with grammatical and punctuation mistakes.

The complaint also stated that Justice II's forged document had two fake West Virginia seals on it.

Just about the only thing that the letter writer appeared to have managed to do a semi-decent job of was forging the governor's signature.

The complaint said the letter, which was dated February 25, was sent to the Putnam County Probation office on February 27.

Justice II had been convicted of burglary previously, but is now charged with forgery of public record and forgery of official seals.
Tony Abbott says he was just being there for an old friend when he stood by Cardinal George Pell after his child sex abuse conviction became public knowledge.

The former prime minister called Pell to offer his support last Tuesday, a day before the clergyman was remanded in custody ahead of his sentencing on March 13 for child sex abuse charges.

Mr Abbott was strongly criticised by radio commentator Ray Hadley for expressing support for Pell after he was found guilty by a 12-person jury.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott (pictured) has admitted to phoning convicted paedophile George Pell moments after the cardinal's 'devastating' guilty verdict was made public

The broadcaster also took aim at another Liberal ex-PM, John Howard, who wrote a character reference for Pell that was used at his pre-sentencing hearing.

Mr Abbott appeared on Hadley's 2GB show on Monday and told the broadcaster that Pell had been a friend of his for a long time and 'at a time like this you've got to feel for people'.

'You've got to feel for the victims, who have been dreadfully betrayed by an institution they should have been able to trust, you've got to feel for the people who are dismayed at this verdict against someone they put up on a pedestal,' he said.

However, Abbott didn't recall going as far as Mr Howard did in writing a reference for his longtime friend, and didn't remember if he was ever asked to do so.

'I have no recall of providing a reference but, just when it comes to the phone call, look, I'm not a fair-weather friend. This was someone who was obviously going through a very, very bad experience,' he said.

'I'm not saying he's the only one who is going through bad experiences, but he has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people... These are tough times for a lot of people.'

Radio broadcaster Ray Hadley (pictured) last week slammed Mr Abbott for standing by Cardinal George Pell despite a jury finding he had sexually assaulted two boys

Hadley on Thursday declared both former prime ministers had made 'gross errors of judgment' in lending any public support to Pell.

'Mr Howard and Mr Abbott in my opinion have shown a complete lack of understanding of victims of paedophiles. Not just in the case we're talking about now, but generally,' he said.

'I think it would have been more prudent to allow justice to take its course before a public exhibition of their support for a now-convicted paedophile.

'I'm trying to understand the call by Mr Abbott, and I'm really struggling here to get a grip on it.'

Hadley restated his distaste for their actions on Monday as he talked out the issue with Mr Abbott, particularly Mr Howard's reference.

'I consider it to be a gushing reference, considering it's for a convicted paedophile,' he said, noting that the jury must have found the evidence from the unidentified victim 'compelling'.

'Everyone has a right to seek an appeal, but usually that doesn't dominate a discussion after a conviction,' Hadley said.

Mr Abbott said he wouldn't speak for Howard, his 'colleague and mentor for many years', then speculated about why the verdict was so hotly debated.

'[It is] very unusual for someone of Cardinal Pell's seniority and substance to be on trial like this and as we all know there's a sense that the church as been on trial in all this,' he said.

Hadley asked if Mr Abbott felt 'compromised' by being so close to a convicted paedophile, particularly after his support for the royal commission into institutional responses to child sex abuse when he was federal opposition leader.

Pell was convicted in December of raping a choirboy and molesting another in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996

'Well, I don't believe so, Ray, I supported the royal commission because I thought it was the right thing to do,' he responded.

'There's a verdict that's been delivered, a damning verdict against a friend of mine. It is subject to appeal, but I absolutely accept that the courts and their judgment are the best means we have of coming to the truth.'

Mr Abbott last Wednesday told Hadley's 2GB colleague Ben Fordham he had called his 'friend' Pell, and accepted that the jury's verdict was 'a shocking result, a devastating result' without acknowledging the victims.

'Certainly for the friends of Cardinal Pell and as you say, I am one. Devastating for all who believe in the Catholic Church, and I'm also one of those,' he said.

Pell was convicted in December of raping a choirboy and molesting another in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.

He was found guilty of sexually penetrating a child under the age of 16, along with four charges of an indecent act with a child under the age of 16.

He has consistently maintained his innocence and has already indicated he will appeal his conviction.
The EC team began a two-day visit to the state Monday to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls simultaneously.

Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, who led the EC team, gave a patient hearing to their concerns and assured they will be taken care of in due time, an official spokesman said.

Srinagar: The mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir have called for holding of the Assembly elections at the earliest, or at least together with the Lok Sabha polls.

The delegations of parties, including the National Conference (NC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Congress and CPI(M), which met the Election Commission team here Monday, were unanimous on their view that the Assembly polls should be held immediately to put an end to the political uncertainly in the state. The EC team began a two-day visit to the state Monday to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and Assembly polls simultaneously.

We told the EC that the state was brought under Governors Rule in June last year. The stopgap arrangement should have ended by now, said former minister Abdur Rehman Veeri, who led the PDP delegation. He added: We also said there is urgent need to put an end to the prevailing political uncertainty in the state by providing the people the opportunity to elect their own government.

NC general secretary Ali Muhammad Sagar said: The three-member delegation of our party, while interacting with the EC, reiterated the NCs resolve that there is no substitute to a democratically-elected government. We also told it the people are yearning for a popular government that could further the cause of development and safeguard their rights. Hence, we urged it to announce the Assembly elections along with the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The CPI(M) delegation led by senior party leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami told the EC that J&K was without an elected government for the past nine months and that, in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large sections of the people is increasing. Mr Tarigami said: We told them the only effective response to this situation is to initiate the democratic process and hold elections to the Assembly and the Lok Sabha simultaneously. Any delay will hamper the process of improvement in the situation.

The Congress also demanded holding of Assembly and Lok Sabha polls simultaneously on the premise that apart from ending political instability in the state at the earliest, it will ensure a higher voter turnout. Senior party leader Taj Mohiuddin said that stretching Presidents Rule was against democratic values. Also, in a democratically elected government, the problems faced by the people can be addressed far more effectively, he said. Similar views are reported to have been expressed by the delegations of other political parties. Chief election commissioner Sunil Arora, who led the EC team, gave a patient hearing to their concerns and assured they will be taken care of in due time, an official spokesman said.

The EC team left for Jammu in the evening. It will hold a similar exercise in the winter capital Tuesday. It will also hold separate meetings with chief secretary B.V.R. Subrahmanyam and DGP Dilbag Singh.
Jason Colton admits he choked to death a Melbourne Airbnb guest over an unpaid $210 bill, as the victim pleaded for his life.

But the 42-year-old says he's guilty of manslaughter, not murder.

Colton pleaded not guilty to the more serious charge in the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday, when prosecutors told a jury he knew his actions were likely to kill or seriously injure his victim.

Ramis Jonuzi (pictured), 36, was punched and choked to death when he didn't have the money to pay a $210 Airbnb bill

Jason Colton (pictured) pleaded not guilty to murder but says he is guilty of manslaughter as he did not intend to kill Jonuzi

Ramis Jonuzi had been renting a room in the Brighton East home in Melbourne where Colton also lived in October 2017.

He first rented a room for three nights on Airbnb, but agreed with head tenant Craig Levy that he'd stay another week for $210, sharing the leased house with Levy, Colton and Ryan Smart.

But when the week was up on October 28 and the money remained unpaid, Colton confronted Mr Jonuzi, threw him against a wall and choked him with his forearm, crown prosecutor Mark Gibson SC told the jury.

He punched Mr Jonuzi in the face. Unconscious, the victim was carried outside onto the front lawn.

The housemates were also involved in the assault, with Smart holding Mr Jonuzi in a leg lock and Levy taking part in the beating.

Mr Jonuzi (pictured) pleaded with Jason Colton 'leave me alone' and was forced to show Colton and the tenants of the property that he had less than $10 in his account

Crying, Mr Jonuzi pleaded "leave me alone" but Colton demanded "get me the money" while forcing Mr Jonuzi to show them he had less than $10 in his account.

Colton took a wrench from Mr Jonuzi's car and asked Levy to hit the victim with it, but he refused and instead went inside to call police.

The next 10 minutes, between 8.20pm and 8.30pm, are in dispute.

"Colton choked or compressed the neck of Mr Jonuzi, thereby preventing him breathing and Mr Jonuzi has died," Mr Gibson said.

But defence barrister Justin Hannebery SC said the act of choking, that prosecutors claim was fatal, was not an act that Colton admitted to or that Levy is expected to confirm.

The court heard Craig Levy and Colton punched Jonuzi (pictured) while Ryan Smart held him in a leg lock. They then carried the unconscious victim outside onto the front lawn

It's in dispute 'whether that particular choke occurred at all', Hannebery said.

Colton also denies the allegation he acted with reckless intent, knowing that act was probably going to kill Mr Jonuzi or cause him serious injury.

He told police he only wanted to subdue Mr Jonuzi so he would pass out.

'You know from the start of this trial that Mr Colton admits being criminally responsible for the death of Mr Jonuzi,' Mr Hannebery said.

'He admits manslaughter, not murder.'

The trial before Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth is expected to take several weeks.

Craig Levy (pictured) refused to hit the victim with a wrench from the car and instead went inside to call the police, the court heard
Authorities say dozens of immigrants, including several teenagers, have been found at a stash house in southeastern New Mexico.

Authorities said Thursday that 67 Guatemalan and Ecuadorian immigrants were discovered earlier this week in Dexter by deportation officers and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The illegal aliens were cramped into an unfurnished and filthy 20-foot by 20-foot wooden shed in addition to a travel trailer. They were given minimal food and water.

The shed-like 'house' was used by a criminal organization to house illegal aliens who had been smuggled into the United States

Deportation officers and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement discovered 67 illegal aliens from Guatemala and Ecuador

Deportation officers and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement discovered 67 illegal aliens from Guatemala and Ecuador

The stash house in Dexter - about 230 miles northeast of the border city of El Paso, Texas.

Special agent Jack Staton described the conditions as deplorable.

There was no working toilet, and a sign was placed on the bathroom door that read in Spanish, 'Don't use the bathroom.'

Authorities say the location was being used by a smuggling organization and that the investigation is ongoing.

In a federal criminal complaint, 38-year-old Tomas Miguel Mateo of Guatemala is charged with harboring the immigrants and with unlawfully re-entering the United States after having been previously deported.
You could be drinking from a stein and chowing down on a currywurst in Berlin for as little as $300.

Budget airline Scoot is offering discount fares from Perth to Berlin starting at $299 one way on select dates from May to September.

Flights from the Gold Coast start at $309 while flights from Sydney and Melbourne are from $319.

You can see Brandenburg gate from $299 if you fly with budget airline Scoot on select dates from May to September. Perth is from $299 while Sydney and Melbourne are from $319

This year marks 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The German reunification in 1990 saw the famous Reichstag building (pictured) begin its restoration

Return flights are equally as cheap meaning you can travel to Berlin and back for less than $600.

'2019 is set to be a huge year for the city. It has been 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall,' said Director of the Australian German Tourist Office Nadja Warner.

Already seen Berlin? You can use the cheap fare as a launch pad to explore the rest of Germany or Europe.

Trains from Berlin Central Station can get you to other major cities like Hamburg or Munich.

The historic old town Cochem with typical half-timbered colorful houses and Reichsburg Imperial castle overlooking it. A train from Berlin Central Station can easily get you there

The Deutsche Bahn can also get you to beautiful historic towns like Cochem with colourful houses along the Moselle river.

If Germany isn't your cup of tea, budget flights with Ryanair can get you to London, Milan or Brussels from $25.

Combined with a $299 return flight from Berlin, you can fly to the UK, Italy or Belgium for less than $700.

Half-timbered houses alongside the Rur River in Monschau, Aachen District. Aachen is another historic town that is easily accessible by train

The Singaporean airline offers cheap flights to Asia including Singapore from $159, Indonesia from $169 and Thailand or Vietnam from $189.

Sale trips do not include checked luggage or food, but do include 10kg carry-on luggage.

Scoot's Berlin on a Budget sale is on now until Sunday March 10.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido plans to run the risk of arrest by returning home on Monday, after he ignored a court-imposed travel ban and toured Latin American allies to boost support for his campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido's return, details of which his team have kept under wraps, could become the next flashpoint in his duel with Maduro as he seeks to keep up momentum and spur his international backers to further isolate the socialist government.

His arrest could allow the opposition to highlight how the Maduro administration represses political foes and prompt the United States to impose even harsher sanctions.

Venezuela's self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido talks during a press conference at the Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Friday

But it could also strip the opposition of a public figurehead who has brought unity after years of infighting.

Guaido, who is recognized as Venezuela's legitimate head of state by most Western countries, said on Sunday he would undertake the 'historic challenge' of returning in time to lead protests on Monday and Tuesday during the Carnival holiday period, an unusual time for demonstrations.

'If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make,' Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter, without disclosing his location.

Venezuelans welcome opposition leader Juan Guaido as part of a tour around Latin America

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido makes a selfie with supporters

Guaido said they had prepared 'the steps to follow' in case he was detained.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But troops loyal to Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores visit the construction site of a hotel complex in Caraballeda, Venezuela on Saturday

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's president, speaks next to a stack of 12 Kilogram gold ingots during a news conference on the country's cryptocurrency in March

From Colombia, he then traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but has not appeared publicly since, beyond the Twitter broadcast.

To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City.

Maduro, who labels Guaido a coupmongering U.S. puppet, has said his arrest depends on the justice system.

'He can't just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country,' he told ABC News last week.

The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials.

'If Maduro took that step, I think it would just hasten the day that he leaves,' U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton told Fox News on Sunday.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that 'all options be kept open' to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.
A 20th race horse has died at the same track in just over two months, and animal rights protesters gathering outside the course have demanded action.

Santa Anita, a famous Southern California thoroughbred track, had only just been reopened after it was temporarily shut down following a spate of 19 deaths.

But a four-year-old filly suffered a serious injury during a race on Saturday and had to be euthanized, the California Horse Racing Board said.

Eskenforadrink injured her right foreleg just days after the park reopened its main track, making it the 20th horse fatality at the racetrack since its winter meet began on December 26.

The latest fatality was the seventh during a race on the dirt track in just over two months and there have been five on turf and eight during training on the dirt.

Animal rights activists gathered near the track in Arcadia yesterday.

Hronis Racing's Edwards Going Left and jockey Joel Rosario, right, outleg King Abner (Tyler Baze), left, to win the $100,000 Tiznow Stakes, at Santa Anita on Sunday

Animal-rights advocates protest the deaths of 20 racehorses in the first two months of this year at the Santa Anita Racetrack in Arcadia on Sunday

At least a dozen protesters held signs that read 'Your bets cause horses' deaths,' 'How many have to die!' and 'It's not sport, it's violence'.

Santa Anita officials announced on Sunday that because of heavy rain forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, racing will not resume until Friday.

Normally, racing would be held on Thursday but the track will remain open for training each day of the upcoming week.

Mike Marten, a spokesman for the state horse racing board, told NBC News a necropsy will be performed on the filly and an investigation will take place, as often happens in similar circumstances.

The latest horse death happened during the third race when Eskenforadrink was in the lead of a $16,000 claiming race.

Stubbins, with Tyler Baze aboard, wins the $100,000 Pasadena Stakes horse race at Santa Anita Park on Saturday

Animal rights activists gathered near the track in Arcadia, California, on Sunday following another death of a horse in horse racing on Saturday at Santa Anita

Jockey Geovanni Franco pulled her up with an injury to her front leg. The filly was vanned off the track and later euthanized.

The dirt surface on Saturday was rated sloppy from rain, but it's unknown whether the track condition played any role in the horse's injury.

Santa Anita had 11 1/2 inches of rain and unusually cold temperatures in February.

Horses resumed training and racing on Thursday and Friday without incident. Training was canceled on Saturday because of rain.

Earlier in the week, Santa Anita closed for two days for extensive testing of its surface. Mick Peterson, a soil and safety expert from the University of Kentucky, proclaimed the track '100 percent ready' to resume racing.

Peterson said radar verified all of the materials, silt, clay and sand, as well as moisture content, were consistent everywhere on the track. Its dirt surface was peeled back 5 inches and reapplied.

Hronis Racing's Edwards Going Left and jockey Joel Rosario win the $100,000 Tiznow Stakes, at at Santa Anita on Sunday

Protesters demonstrating against the deaths of horses at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, on Sunday

Of the 20 deaths, seven have occurred during a race on the dirt, five have occurred on turf and eight came during training on dirt.

The number of deaths since the winter meet began has drawn both concern and criticism.

Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita, issued a statement saying, 'We consider the safety and security of the athletes, both equine and human, who race at our facilities to be our top priority.

'All industry stakeholders, including our company, must be held accountable for the safety and security of the horses and we are committed to doing just that.'

The track will host a major day of racing on Saturday, including the $600,000 Santa Anita Handicap for older horses and the $500,000 San Felipe Stakes for three-year-old Kentucky Derby hopefuls.

Citing record cold temperatures and a deluge of rain this season, the Santa Anita track on the outskirts of Los Angeles shut down on February 25 and 26 as experts assessed the surface.

The shutdown was spurred by an extraordinary 16-hour period in which three horses died on the track, including Battle of Midway, a Breeder's Cup winner who was pulled from the breeding stable to race once again.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) called for the track to be closed due to the high death toll.

The animal rights group said in a statement: 'Twenty dead horses is twenty too many and the only responsible action is for the track to close immediately to stop this spiral of deaths.

'The California Horse Racing Board and Santa Anita must do this now, and law enforcement must begin an immediate investigation of trainers and veterinarians to find out if injured horses were being forced to run.'
Television presenter Andrew O'Keefe allegedly lashed out at a news photographer on his way out of a Sydney court on Monday.

The host of the Seven Network's game show The Chase Australia struck a news photographer on the upper body with a folder when leaving Downing Centre Local Court.

Australian Associated Press photographer Joel Carrett was taking pictures of O'Keefe on the court's steps when O'Keefe allegedly swore and then hit him twice.

'I turned to walk down the front steps and he struck me on the back of my head with his folder,' Carrett said.

'He struck me again before the end of footpath and then he ran through traffic.'

Television presenter Andrew O'Keefe allegedly lashed out at a news photographer on his way out of a Sydney court on Monday. The photographer said he was hit twice in the head

O'Keefe, the host of the Seven Network's game show The Chase Australia, allegedly struck a news photographer with a folder full of documents when leaving Downing Centre Local Court

O'Keefe was quick to deny he'd hit the photographer.

'Mate, if a photographer chooses to get in the way of my folder, that's the photographer's fault,' he told AAP.

O'Keefe had put on his old hat as a lawyer when he represented himself in court to challenge a fine for using an unregistered vehicle on a road in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The 47-year-old had been pulled over driving a green 1968 MGB Mark II convertible about 40km/h in Old South Head Road, Vaucluse on September 3 last year.

Asked if the vehicle was registered O'Keefe said it was in his estranged wife Eleanor's name. The registration had expired one month earlier.

O'Keefe, who once worked as an intellectual property lawyer with Allens Arthur Robinson, pleaded guilty but explained he did not know the vehicle was unregistered.

O'Keefe separated from his wife Eleanor (pictured) in late 2017. The couple share three children: Olivia, Barnaby and Rory. O'Keefe was driving his wife's car when pulled over by cops

O'Keefe had put on his old hat as a lawyer when he represented himself in court to challenge a fine for driving an unregistered vehicle on a road in Sydney's eastern suburbs

Magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim imposed a 12-month conditional release order without recording a conviction.

During the court's morning tea adjournment O'Keefe allegedly hit the photographer Carrett.

AAP editor Tony Gillies said in a statement that Carrett was not physically injured in the incident.

'We are also satisfied that Joel kept a respectful distance and did not obstruct Mr O'Keefe's path as he left the court,' Mr Gillies said.

'AAP will not pursue the matter any further.'

Seven has been contacted for comment.
A pair of convicted Islamic extremists have been placed in an isolation ward inside Australia's highest security prison.

Tamim Khaja, who is behind bars for planning a terrorist attack, and Milad Bin Ahmad-Shah Al-Ahmadzai, who is in jail for shooting at a Sydney gay sex club, allegedly bashed two guards at the Goulburn Supermax prison, in southern New South Wales.

Their violence rampage saw one prison officer rushed to hospital on Sunday as his colleague suffered an injured shoulder.

A pair of convicted Islamic extremists have been placed in an isolation ward inside Australia's highest security prison (pictured is Tamim Khaja, who behind bars for planning a terrorist attack

Corrective Services has confirmed the alleged assaults to the The Daily Telegraph.

The revelations have emerged after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed how murderer Bassam Hamzy, 39, had his sentence for bashing a prison officer quashed because a judge considered the conditions at Goulburn Supermax to be 'oppressive'.

In March, Khaja, 21, was sentenced to 19 years in jail after pleading guilty to planning and preparing a 'lone wolf' terrorist attack in Sydney.

His possible targets included either the U.S. consulate, an Army barracks in western Sydney or at a court complex at Parramatta, also in the city's west.

He is serving a 14-year non-parole sentence for planning an attack in Sydney in 2016 when he was 18.

Fellow extremist Al-Ahmadzai was jailed for 18 years in 2017 for shooting at a gay sex club at Rydalmere in Sydney's west.

Milad Bin Ahmad-Shah Al-Ahmadzai is in jail for shooting at a Sydney gay sex club in May 2013

The 28-year-old prisoner was convicted of conspiring with two other men to steal a car and van, before driving to the car park Aarows in the early hours of May 1, 2013.

The Islamic extremist, who was notorious for refusing to stand for a judge, parked a van in front of a car at this sex-on-premises venue before ambushing a customer as he was leaving.

The hooded men shot the victim in the ankle.

The latest incident alleged to have involved Khaja and Al-Ahmadzai occurred as Daily Mail Australia revealed convicted killer Bassam Hamzy, 39, had won sympathy from a judge.

Hamzy was appealing his 20-month sentence extension for bashing a Goulburn Supermax prison officer.

The revelations have emerged after Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed how murderer Bassam Hamzy, 39, had his sentence for bashing a prison officer quashed because a judge considered the conditions at Goulburn Supermax to be 'oppressive'

Acting Judge Geoffrey Graham told the New South Wales District Court last week he would be quashing the additional sentence, with the revelation published on Sunday, the day Khaja and Al-Ahmadzai are alleged to have bashed two prison officers.

The ISIS sympathiser was originally jailed for the 1998 shooting murder of a teenager outside a Sydney nightclub and has been a menace since entering custody.

He founded the Brothers 4 Life gang from behind bars and ran a drug ring from his jail cell.

Acting Judge Graham told the court Hamzy had been wrongly punished twice for his 2017 attack on a prison officer, first by losing his jail privileges and secondly through the extension to his already lengthy sentence.

The news put a grin on Hamzy's face.
A Maryland woman whose death last year was blamed on an attack by a panhandler was actually killed by her husband and his adult daughter, police said Sunday.

Keith Smith, 52, had told police that his wife, Jacquelyn, an engineer from Harford County, was trying to give money to a panhandler at a traffic light when she was robbed and fatally stabbed.

Her death attracted national attention and prompted many to regard panhandlers warily.

Keith Smith, 52, left) and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28, right, were arrested by Texas State Police near the U.S.-Mexico border while trying to leave the country

The husband, left, and stepdaughter, right, of woman they claimed was killed by a panhandler Jacquelyn Smith, center, were arrested on murder charges in connection with her death

Even Oprah Winfrey, whose early career included several years covering Baltimore news, commented that she would 'think twice' about giving to panhandlers after reading about Jacquelyn's death.

In the days after Smith's killing, some of Baltimore's homeless said they noticed a decrease in the number of people willing to roll down their windows and help.

But at a news conference on Sunday, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the panhandler story was not true and completely made up.

'The information and evidence points it wasn't a panhandler,' Harrison said. 'People take advantage of Baltimore. We want to make sure the truth comes out and justice is done.'

After the December killing, Keith Smith, right, told authorities that his wife, Jacquelyn, left, was knifed to death after she tried to give money to a young woman with an infant

He announced first-degree murder charges against Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28.

Both were arrested in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexico border. Harrison said the two were preparing to leave the country.

Harrison did not explain at the brief news conference what specific roles police attribute to Keith and Valeria Smith, nor did he reveal a possible motive.

He said at the news conference that the concocted story took advantage of negative perceptions of Baltimore crime and credited detectives for their work in solving the crime. Smith's death was one of more than 300 in Baltimore in 2018.

'Often times, we have these negative depictions of our city and it's rather unfortunate when people take advantages of these negative perceptions,' Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said at the news conference.

Keith Smith, 52, and his daughter, Valeria, 28, both made emotional appeals to the public

At one stage, even Oprah Winfrey weighed in on the case saying it would make more wary and less likely to hand over money to panhandlers at a traffic stop

Mayor Catherine Pugh also criticized the killing and alleged cover-up.

'Like everyone in our city, state and across this nation, we mourned the senseless killing of Jacquelyn Smith. To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy,' Pugh said in a statement Sunday.

'They were responsible for taking Jacquelyn's life with unconscionable cruelty and contrived to do so in our city under the guise of random violence, exploiting the legitimate fears of our residents.'

When Jacquelyn's death on December 1st was initially reported, police said she lowered her car's front passenger side window to give $10 to a young woman who appeared to be holding a swaddled infant and a cardboard sign reading: 'Please help me feed my baby.'

It was then that a man supposedly approached the car and struggled to take her wallet. He then supposedly stabbed her and ran off along with the female panhandler.

'This girl actually said, "God bless you"' after the man stabbed Jacquelyn, Keith Smith said to the media in December - but police now say that the entire story was fabricated.

Several members of Jacquelyn Smith's family doubted that story from the beginning with her brother accusing her husband of carrying out the killing

After his wife died, Keith Smith gave numerous media interviews and lobbied the city to pass legislation to ban panhandling at city intersections. He said he wanted the law to be named for his wife.

Several members of Jacquelyn's family, including her brother Marcel Trisvan, say they doubted the story from the beginning.

'I already know it's Keith,' he said to the Baltimore Sun. Trisvan said police provided no information to the family, but detectives had increasingly been asking the family about his sister's relationship with her husband.

'All the questioning has been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it right there,' he said. 'It never made sense. I told detectives from the very beginning there are no suspects out there.

'I'm hopeful this person never sees the light of day, but I mean, to me, that's not closure,' he said. 'My sister was robbed from this world. This didn't need to happen.'

It wasn't immediately known if Keith and Valeria had attorneys who could comment for them.
A former Bandidos bikie boss has once again been accused of posting a fake photo on social media to boast about his alleged lavish lifestyle.

Brett 'Kaos' Pechey, 33, took to Instagram last week to share a photo of his brand 'new toy' - a cherry red Ducati motorcycle - while bragging about needing extra car park space for his flashy bikes.

'The new toy just got back from make over (sic) When u got to rent extra car spaces due to having to many toys... life problems,' he said in a caption.

Eagle-eyed users, however, became suspicious of Pechey's post due to his history of accusations of posting phony posts showing off his 'wealth' and quickly discovered the photo was not original.

The picture of the bike appeared to be taken from Google Images and was even featured on a Ducati Instagram account years ago.

Brett 'Kaos' Pechey, 33, took to Instagram last week to share a photo (left) of his 'new toy'. Users quickly discovered the photo did not belong to Pechey and was taken from Google Images and had previously been featured on other accounts (right)

Pechey denied posting the picture when contacted by Daily Mail Australia and claimed his account had been 'hacked' and he only recently regained access to it

The photo fail was later posted on meme account Flop Hunting where he was ridiculed by users.

He has since taken down the post.

Pechey told Daily Mail Australia that he did not post the picture, and claimed his account had been 'hacked' and he only recently regained access to it.

He said he did not know who the hacker was but alleged that the person had also sent messages from his account and that it had been going on for 'long period of time.'

It is not the first time Pechey has been accused of posting bogus photos.

The 33-year-old often shares photos to Instagram flashing his lavish lifestyle, and previously posted an image of five Louis Vuitton shopping bags to imply he had gone on a spending spree.

But according to ex-bikie Matthew Watson, who was once regularly seen in Brothers 4 Life clothing and had an affiliation with the gang, the image Pechey posted was one he had found on Google.

Mr Watson performed a reverse image search on the platform and adamantly told his followers Pechey's life of luxury isn't all that it seems.

Mr Watson shared Pechey's post and the subsequent Google search to his own Instagram account.

Pechey - a former Bandidos Motorcycle Club president - split with fiancee and Instagram model Rikki Louise Jones earlier this year, and has been showing off his new assets on social media.

Pechey has a history of posting phony posts showing off his 'wealth' and was previously caught faking a Louis Vuitton shopping spree. Left: Pechey's posted image. Right: the same photo found on Google

Pechey - a former Bandidos Motorcycle Club president - split with fiancee and Instagram model Rikki Louise Jones earlier last year (pictured together)

A separate source told Daily Mail Australia Pechey's newfound obsession with sharing 'untrue posts' boiled down to his determination to make his ex jealous, and to sustain his growing follower count.

He recently uploaded an image showing a receipt for the apparent purchase of a $160,000 Range Rover Sport, but the source said the likelihood of the car actually being Pechey's was slim.

'The cars he posts aren't his either, it's all for his followers and to make his ex jealous... to show her that he's "doing well",' the source said.

'He hasn't worked in years.'

Pechey captioned the post 'New Car feels' and accompanied it with the middle-finger emoji as well as a winking face.

The ex-bikie boss then appeared to continue his shopping spree with a trip to Gucci and Louis Vuitton.

Pechey once uploaded an image of a receipt for the purchase of a $160,000 Range Rover Sport

A further Instagram story showed a white box emblazoned with the word 'Gucci' and a bigger, upright brown box bearing the words 'Louis Vuitton'.

'Got to spoil yourself from time to time,' he wrote.

Pechey broke up with his fiancee after just a few months of engagement and it was shortly after this that he was accused of assaulting a police officer.

He was granted bail by Southport Magistrates Court after facing charges of assaulting police, willful damage and public nuisance and will appear again later.

In 2015, Pechey was forced to return to Australia from Thailand, where he had fled to escape a slew of charges.

But while he was on the run, he ran out of money and was forced to turn to his grandmother, who decided against providing him the $25,000 he desperately needed to continue evading police.

Detective Inspector Brendan Smith said police had been pursuing extradition options when negotiations with Pechey led to him boarding a plane and handing himself in at Brisbane airport.

He was charged with 10 counts of extortion, two counts of threatening violence, stalking and assault.
The girlfriend of a man accused of causing a crash that killed a 12-year-old boy has spoken of her shock after he was charged over the death.

John Pagakis, 34, has been charged with 10 offences after allegedly crashing into six cars as they sat stationary at a red light in Baulkham Hills, north Sydney, on Saturday night.

Police allege Pagakis was travelling at 45km/h over the speed limit when his Holden Commodore became airborne and ploughed into the six vehicles, just after 7pm.

Pagakis crawled from the wreckage of his car and allegedly fled the scene after the accident, before turning up at his mother's home at Narraweena, 30 kilometres away, at 2am.

His girlfriend Stella told Daily Mail Australia that the alleged killer called her the next morning from police custody.

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The girlfriend (Stella is pictured) of a man accused of causing a crash that killed a 12-year-old boy has spoken of her shock after he was charged over the death

John Pagakis (left) is facing ten charges over the high-speed crash that killed a 12-year-old boy

Stella said Pagakis was on the way to her house when the crash happened - and that it wasn't until he called that she understood that he wasn't likely to be released from custody.

'He called me from the police station and said: "Babe I'm here with the police",' she said.

'The only time I've seen him is on the news. I couldn't believe it when I saw him with the police.'

Stella said she called her boyfriend about 7pm and he told her was 30 minutes away from picking her up at her place at Bossley Park, in Sydney's west.

The pair had been planning to go out for dinner, but when Pagakis never arrived she repeatedly called his mobile phone until finally someone answered - a police officer.

'I spoke to the police and they told me Johnny had been in a big crash,' she said.

'Then they came over to my house about 9pm and spoke to me. They went through our text messages.

'I just can't believe that he was in a crash. He was a very nice guy, a very good driver and always careful. I can't believe it, I feel so sorry for that poor little boy's family.'

Pagakis made a brief appearance in Parramatta Local Court on Monday morning to face 10 charges, including dangerous driving occasioning death, failing to stop after a fatal crash and speeding.

The government road worker did not apply bail and it was formally refused.

His mother Demetra Pagakis said she was sad for the family of the dead boy, but 'accidents happen every day'.

'I'm not saying this child deserved to be hurt, but these sorts of accidents happen every day. People die on the road all the time,' Mrs Pagakis said.

Pagakis, 34, has been charged with 10 offences including driving occasioning death, failing to stop after a fatal crash and speeding at more than 45 km/h over the limit

A 12-year-old boy (pictured) in a Holden Captiva was killed in the crash before Pagakis allegedly ran from the scene

Police arrived at the home of Mrs Pagakis about 3am on Sunday where they found him asleep in a bedroom.

They tracked him to the address with help from his girlfriend and specilist dog units.

He was arrested and taken to Manly Police Station where he was charged.

TIMELINE OF THE KILLER M2 CRASH Saturday March 2 7pm: Pagakis, travelling on the westbound M2 off ramp, hits a median strip before striking multiple cars on the intersection of Windsor Road Minutes later Pagakis allegedly flees the scene on foot Sunday March 3 2am: Pagakis arrives at his mother's home 35km away in Narraweena, on Sydney's northern beaches 3.30am: Police arrive at the home and arrest the driver Advertisement

Crash investigators are continuing to look into how Pagakis made his way from one side of the city to the other after the crash.

The Daily Telegraph claims that the alleged killer driver told his mother he had been 'running for hours'.

'He said: "Just leave me alone" and went to bed and hid under the doona,' Ms Pagakis said.

It is unclear how Pagakis lost control of his car, but his mother told Daily Mail Australia that 'maybe the steering wheel or his brakes were faulty.'

'John should have spoken up to the police. He was driving all the way out to Bossley Park to see his girlfriend. He was in a good mood, he was going to see his beautiful girlfriend - he wouldn't have caused an accident deliberately,' she said.

'I wish he didn't leave, I wish he stayed in his car until the police arrive.

'I'm so sorry that a little boy was killed, I can't believe that my son could cause an accident like that. We're all feeling sick to our stomach.'

He showed up at his mum Demetra Pagakis's (pictured) home 35km away in Narraweena, around 2am, panting, bleeding, and covered in scratches

Pagakis's mum said her son told her he had been 'running for hours' but did not mention the crash

Pagakis fled the Baulkham Hills area around 7pm, leaving behind his mobile phone and keys, and arrived at Narraweena seven hours later

Police said Pagakis was exiting the M2 around 7pm when he hit six cars, critically injuring the passengers of a Holden Captiva.

A 12-year-old boy in the car was pronounced dead at the scene, while his mother, 36, and five-year-old sister were admitted to the hospital in critical condition.

They are now said to be in serious but stable condition.

The boy's 38-year-old father, who had been driving, was not injured in the crash, but was taken to hospital for assessment.

The man was heard screaming 'my son, my son' when he learned the boy did not survive, according to reports.

Rebecca Simpson, who was a witness at the scene, told Nine News the father 'was in hysterics.'

The driver (pictured) was charged with 10 offences on Sunday including dangerous driving occasioning death, failing to stop after a fatal crash and speeding more than 45 km/h over the limit

A 12-year-old boy, who was sitting in the back seat of a Holden Captiva, was pronounced dead at the scene. His five-year-old sister (pictured together) and his mother are now in serious but stable condition in hospital

Medical teams rushed to the scene at about 7.15pm with 10 emergency crews and two helicopters in attendance. Officials said many passengers had to be 'cut out' of their cars

A total of six people were injured in the collision (pictured)

The driver of another car, a 65-year-old man, and his passenger, a 58-year-old woman, were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The occupants of another four cars escaped unhurt but the drivers were taken to hospital for tests.

Witness Brett Simpson said: 'The first thing I saw, the car in my rear-view mirror off the ground and I heard the crash obviously, next thing and then it was just chaos'.

Fire and Rescue NSW Inspector Kernin Lambert described the scene as 'absolutely horrific' and said five people had to be 'cut' out of their vehicles.

'It was an extremely severe collision. People are fighting for their lives. We have been trying to keep people alive.'
The Naga peace talks had brought a significant change in the insurgency scenario of the Northeast.

Guwahati: The deputy national security adviser and Prime Ministers special envoy for the Naga peace talks, Mr R.N. Ravi, said on Monday that the Naga peace talks were in the concluding stage and the ball was in the court of the Naga groups, adding if they reciprocate with pragmatic flexibility, the final agreement could be signed any day.

In an exclusive interview to this newspaper, Mr Ravi said, The government of India has made its position clear on all the issues to the Naga negotiators, now it is on them to take a call.

Admitting that the demand for a separate Naga flag and constitution had delayed the signing of the final agreement, Mr Ravi said the Government of India was ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the Naga constitution. He, however, hoped the issue would be resolved soon. In the last four years we have made significant continuous progress by resolving several facets of it... like the political parameters of settlement and the specifics of various competencies to be shared between the Naga people and the Government of India. All issues have been mutually understood and agreed, he added.

Saying that during his recent visit to Nagaland, all the stakeholders including civil society groups and all the legislators had fully been briefed on the progress of the peace talks, Mr Ravi said the Government of India was also keen to resolve the issue at the earliest, instead of dragging it on longer.

Noting the Naga peace talks were at the final stage, he said: Political principles of settlement, substantive issue of competencies and structural issues of governance have all been mutually agreed.

Asserting that the peace talks has been inclusive, with seven Naga groups on board, Mr Ravi admitted that no joint meeting between the NSCN(I-M) and six Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) were held, but there was mutual understanding of constructive cooperation in the peace process. He also clarified that there would be only one peace agreement.

Admitting that a section of the Naga people were losing patience over the endless negotiations, he said they had every right to show their resentment and put pressure on the negotiating parties not to delay things any further.

Mr Ravi reiterated that the negotiating parties were trying to thrash out differences on contentious issues, particularly on the Naga flag, on which all the Naga negotiating groups were insisting. We are trying to reach a common position with NSCN(I-M) on the issue of Naga constitution Naga Yehzabo, he said.

Asserting that his endeavour was to have the final deal acceptable to all groups and in the best interest of the Naga people, Mr Ravi said the Government of India was respectful of the Nagas unique history, their rights and identity and had taken significant steps to accommodate the wishes and positions of the Naga negotiators.

The Naga peace talks had brought a significant change in the insurgency scenario of the Northeast. It achieved significant milestone on August 3, 2015 as Naga negotiators signed the Framework Agreement with the Government of India in New Delhi.
Atlanta animal care workers were left horrified after they discovered that more than 700 dogs were living in 'horrible conditions'.

Reason Craig Gray, 58, from Nashville, is facing charges of animal cruelty and obstruction, the Berrien County Sheriffs Office said in a statement late Thursday.

Gray ran a licensed pet-breeding business known as Georgia Puppies. It sold sold miniature breeds including teacup Yorkies and toy poodles for up to $600 per dog.

Investigators with Berrien County Sheriffs Office obtained a search warrant for Georgia Puppies with animal control welfare officers on standby.

They had been informed by Department of Agriculture that he had brought more animals back to his business property on Barney Parker Road.

Authorities said they found about 630 dogs, most of them puppies, living in 'horrific conditions' on the breeders property.

The sherriff's office said in a statement: 'There are numerous charges pending on Gray, and as the investigation continues to unfold, there is no way to tell just how many charges will be filed.

'Due to the extent of this operation and as many documents and veterinary reports that are currently being inspected by the Sheriffs Office, there is no way to know at this time how many charges there will be.'

Releash Atlanta, Atlanta Humane Society and other local groups shared shocking photos of the mangy dogs that were part of an 'extreme hoarding puppy mill case'.

'These dogs were living in filthy conditions and have had zero vetting. Many have medical issues and injuries,' Releash Atlanta said in a Saturday post.

Multiple animal care not-for-profit organizations rushed to a South Georgia property on Thursday to help more than 700 dogs

'These dogs were living in filthy conditions and have had zero vetting. Many have medical issues and injuries,' Releash Atlanta said

The not-for-profit organization was only able to retrieve six of the pups from the South Georgia facility

The not-for-profit organization was only able to retrieve six of the pups from the South Georgia facility, adding that other rescues 'came together to help'.

The Atlanta Humane Society added that a majority of the dogs had 'been living in crates their whole lives- one tiny crate stacked on top of another. Theyre matted, covered in feces and have never been held or walked.'

'Thank you to USA Rescue Team for working tirelessly on site and to Humane Society of Valdosta Lowndes County for bringing these animals to Atlanta,' the Society continued.

A majority of the dogs had 'been living in crates their whole lives- one tiny crate stacked on top of another. Theyre matted, covered in feces and have never been held or walked.'

Most of the dogs will need some fore of medical attention

The Humane Society of Valdosta Lowndes County partook in the largest part of the effort, moving around 250 animals to a staging area.

'Of the 250 dogs that we transported to the staging area, we were able to further transport ten of the 630 dogs found on the property,' the organization said. 'Many of the dogs were coated in feces, had extremely overgrown nails and damaged teeth. They have never known a quiet life of love outside of a cramped cage.'

They continued: 'They were shockingly trusting and calm as if to say "thank you for saving me. I know you are here to help." Please say a prayer for those pups as they set out to find a new life and for every person involved in this, for it was truly a team effort involving many people and many rescue organizations.'

According to USA Rescue Team, photos weren't allowed of the facility where the dogs were

The group shared that the 'breeder' called authorities on Thursday asking for help to close his operation

USA Rescue said that their team was on the scene for 36 hours straight working with the dogs

According to USA Rescue Team, photos weren't allowed of the facility but they shared that the 'breeder' called authorities on Thursday asking for help to close his operation.

'We will not go into details of the operation or how the authorities are handling this because our focus was on removal, placement, and the care of the pets,' they said in their Saturday post. 'You will not see photos of the facility as we were instructed there would be no cell phones or cameras permitted on the premises and we complied!'

USA Rescue said that their team was on the scene for 36 hours straight working with the dogs.

Releash Atlanta has managed to raise more than $3,200 for the dogs while the Atlanta Humane Society raised more than $7,682. The USA Rescue Team has raised more than $700

It is unknown what will happen to all of the dogs

Many people have been asking how they can help send supplies to the shelters

Pups wait in cages until they are seen by medical professionals

Some of the groups had sections on their posts that was dedicated to raising money for the dogs and their medical expenses.

Releash Atlanta has managed to raise more than $3,200 for the dogs while the Atlanta Humane Society raised more than $7,682. The USA Rescue Team has raised more than $700.

The groups have asserted that the dogs will be made available for adoption.

Releash Atlanta posted another photos of the dogs in a separate post, instructing dog lovers to do their research when seeing where their new pooch was coming from.

'We know many of you support rescue, which is why youre following this page, but many of you that read this today may not and you may be considering a new puppy,' they said in the Sunday post.

'If you dont take your time to make sure beyond sure, that your puppies didnt come from parents that look like this - then YOU are responsible for this.'

They added: Take your time and DO YOUR RESEARCH.

The groups have asserted that the dogs will be made available for adoption

The USA Rescue Team shared photos of some of the dogs they've already helped find homes for
Four American tourists and their Kenyan pilot have died after their helicopter crashed in a national park.

Anders Asher Jesiah Burke, Brandon Howe Stapper and Kyle John Forti, all from California, have been named as three of the four who died late Sunday in the crash at Central Island National Park.

A fourth American has been confirmed dead but his identity has not been released.

Brandon Stapper (left) and Kyle Forti (right) have been named as two of the four Americans killed when their helicopter crashed in Kenya on Sunday night

Asher Burke, from California, was also killed in the crash which happened at Central Island National Park. Another American also died, but has not yet been named

The pilot was identified early on Monday as Captain Mario Magonga, the personal pilot of Kenya's deputy president William Ruto.

Mr Burke is an entrepreneur who ran two companies based in San Diego - The Bricks Agency, which did creative and branding work for firms, and Campaign Services Group, a political campaign firm.

During his time with Campaign Services Group, Asher worked with Tim Donnelly, a former Republican representative, and Brian Jones, who still represents a large part of San Diego county.

Pilot Mario Magonga was trying to land on an island in the middle of a lake in the dark before he crashed, reports said

In 2012 he was fined $400 for failing to file statements of economic interests, online records show. Both of his companies now appear to be defunct.

Stapper was also an entrepreneur but worked in the design sector, starting a printing company after moving to San Diego from Michigan as a young man.

He founded two other design companies before starting up his own private equity firm called Crown Grown to acquire and improve businesses.

Kyle Forti was a married father-of-one who was originally from Calremont, California, but moved to Colorado where he co-founded a political consulting firm called D/CO.

Officers said the helicopter carrying the men came down near Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya, around 8pm on Sunday, killing all five people on board.

Police said that two helicopters had landed at Labolo camp on the edge of the lake earlier in the day, but 'only one managed to clear the area safely'.

Burke ran two companies - a branding agency and a political consulting firm. He often traveled, and his social media shows him in exotic locations (pictured in Bali with his partner)

Stapper was a fellow entrepreneur in the graphic design sector, who also ran an equity firm. He traveled frequently (pictured in Barcelona with his partner)

The helicopters had attempted to make a risky nighttime visit to Central Island, in the middle of the lake, before the crash, a source told The Nation.

The helicopters tried and failed to land on the hilly island in the dark, forcing the pilots turned back to Labolo when one of them fell out of the sky.

Magonga's brother, politician Richard Onyonka, said the helicopter disappeared from radar around 8pm before a search operation was launched.

The wreckage was discovered at 2am on Monday.

Investigators have managed to recover the wreckage of the helicopter and the bodies of its passengers, but say the exact cause of the crash is still unclear.

Kyle Forti was a married father-of-one who was born in California but moved to Colorado where he founded a political consulting firm (pictured with his wife)

Mr Magonga was attempting to land on Central Island, in the middle of Lake Turkana, around 8pm on Sunday when his helicopter crashed, according to reports

The crash comes less than a month after three Americans were among five who died in a plane crash in the west of the country.

Mr Magonga is described on his Facebook page as a pilot of exceptional experience and skill, having been trained in the Kenya Defense Forces.

He worked for tour company Tropic Air Kenya until 2015 when he left to join KIDL Helicopters, based in the capital Nairobi.

Speaking to NTV, his cousin described him as 'one of the best helicopter pilots that money could buy' and said he was cleared to fly high-profile guests, such as Mr Ruto.
A man has been found guilty of kidnapping and raping a European backpacker in a dirty pig shed on his farm.

Gene Charles Bristow, 54, lured the girl to his Meningie farm, about 150km southeast of Adelaide, with the promise of temporary employment.

But shortly after the Belgian backpacker arrived at the property, he held her hostage with a fake gun, chained her up and sexually assaulted her.

The 26-year-old woman told the court she posted a Gumtree advertisement searching for temporary farm work in February of 2017, to which Bristow responded.

Bristow initially claimed he hired the girl for farm work, but she refused to continue because she could not handle the hot conditions.

He said he never told his wife about hiring the girl because they were 'a private family'.

Gene Charles Bristow (pictured), 54, lured the girl to his Meningie farm, about 150km southeast of Adelaide, with the promise of temporary employment

A man has been found guilty of kidnapping and raping a European backpacker in a dirty pig shed on his farm (pictured)

Throughout the trial, Bristow admitted using a different name in the pair's online interactions and giving her incorrect details about the farm's name, location and previous employees.

But he said the woman was never held against her will, instead insisting she was free to move about the farm and leave whenever she wanted.

He said he picked her up from a bus stop at Murray Bridge and drove her to the farm, where he showed her the pig shed accommodation and explained the work expected of her.

'She said to me, ''I've been in worse places'',' he said.

'I said ... ''feel free to go and do what you like when you like".'

Bristow (pictured) admitted using a different name in the pair's online interactions and giving her incorrect details about the farm's name, location and previous employees

The court heard Bristow told the woman she could shower inside his nearby home, despite his wife, son and son's partner being unaware she was living in the shed.

'My wife describes us as a private family ... we don't let strangers into our lives very easily,' he said

'I was at that time looking for employment of my own.

'My wife wouldn't have been too happy about me what she might consider wasting money on paying somebody else to help me with the work.'

Bristow said he brought the woman water, food and a book, but that she told him the next day she could not handle working in the heat.

He said he drove her back to Murray Bridge, helped her check in to a motel and left.

A District Court jury returned a guilty verdict after only three hours of deliberation.

Bristow (pictured) initially claimed he hired the girl for farm work, but she refused to continue because she could not handle the hot conditions
Drivers will be refunded a sum of $2.6 million after it was discovered that more than 26,000 parking fines have been incorrectly reviewed over the past decade.

The City of Monash council in Melbourne has confirmed it will hand back the money from parking fines that were not processed properly.

The areas of Port Phillip, Bayside and Glen Eira in Victoria are also said to have been affected by the alleged glitch.

The councils had been using parking contractor Tenix to review fines, however a change in the law meant the council should have been conducting reviews itself, the Herald Sun reported.

The City of Monash council in Melbourne has confirmed it will hand back the money from parking fines that were not processed properly

The Monash council sent out letters to drivers who contested their fines, but didn't have their fees waived between 2006 and 2016.

Monash council was at fault in letting Tenix review parking offences, despite the council being required to have the final word on contested fines.

Monash council are reported to have believed they could still use Tenix to review fines on the council's behalf, however the introduction of the Infringements Act in 2006 altered this process.

'We believed we were following the right process when our contractor undertook the reviews and the fines were paid,' Monash Mayor Shane McCluskey said.

The alleged glitch reportedly stems from the Monash council's decision to let Tenix review parking offences, despite the council being required to have the final word on contested fines (stock image)

'However, after considerable investigation we have now formed the view that those fines were paid under a flawed process not of our making.

'It's our view is that we now have a moral and legal obligation to refund the fines to those motorists.'

The refunds will be paid out of the council's savings.

The Monash council area in eastern Melbourne included the suburbs Chadstone, Glen Waverley, Oakleigh, Burwood and Mulgrave.

The City of Glen Eira, City of Stonnington, Port Phillip and Bayside claim they complied with their legislative obligations.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Tenix for comment.

Anyone who believes they may have been affected within the City of Monash can email infringements@monash.vic.gov.au.
A man is on the run after stealing a front-end loader, driving it down a street, and ploughing through a brick wall before destroying an Adelaide pub.

The stolen truck smashed through the front of the Valley Inn Hotel in Hope Valley just after 5am on Monday, causing extensive damage.

Staff member Anishma Nepal had only just begun her shift when she heard the deafening crash, Nine News reported.

'I heard a loud noise outside, when I came and saw from that door there was a big truck smashed in the wall,' Ms Nepal said.

'I was so scared and I called my manager.'

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A man is on the run after stealing a front-end loader, driving it down a street, and ploughing through a brick wall before destroying an Adelaide pub (pictured)

The driver drove the truck down Grand Junction Road before he ploughed through a brick wall, fence and into the building.

He then dumped the truck on Leeds Avenue before fleeing on foot.

Police have launched an investigation and are trying to track down the man responsible.

The stolen truck (pictured) was driven into the front of the Valley Inn Hotel in Hope Valley just after 5am on Monday

Staff member Anishma Nepal had only just begun her shift when she heard the deafening crash (pictured is the front-loader)

Another worker at the pub, Adam Hill, says the damage to the newly-renovated hotel is 'substantial'.

'I'm in shock, I don't know if I'm going to be able to trade. I don't know,' Mr Hill said.

Police are urging anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
A man charged with assault after Jeremy Corbyn was hit by an egg during a mosque visit says he hopes to meet the Labour leader at parliament.

John Murphy, from Barnet, was charged in the early hours of Monday with assault by beating and will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old told politics blog Guido Fawkes that Mr Corbyn should 'respect the referendum result' and described himself as a 'harmless egg thrower.'

He said: 'Yesterday I squished an egg on Jeremy Corbyn's head. I look forward to coming to parliament to meet with Mr Corbyn. He has invited Hamas and IRA so I am sure he will be happy to invite a harmless egg thrower like me.

'My one request? That he respect the referendum result.

'The suffragettes believed that if you reject democratic rights, civil disobedience is acceptable. Jeremy Corbyn and hundreds of other MPs are seeking to deny the democratic rights of most of our country, so I believe that makes civil disobedience egg-ceptable.'

It is understood that Mr Corbyn has not harmed in the attack, which led to a 41-year-old man to be arrested on suspicion of assault. Mr Corbyn is pictured at the Finsbury Park Mosque yesterday where the attack took place

Mr Corbyn was unharmed and continued with his planned programme of constituency events following the incident during a visit with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott to the Finsbury Park Mosque and Muslim Welfare House in his constituency.

Mr Corbyn was sitting and chatting with community leaders when a man came from behind him and smashed an egg on his head.

The Metropolitan Police said a man was 'quickly detained' by officers and arrested on suspicion of assault after Mr Corbyn was 'struck by an egg'.

After the incident in Seven Sisters Road, a marked police van with uniformed officers was parked in the driveway of the centre.

After egging Mr Corbyn, the attacker was quickly surrounded by people in the room and the police were called.

Witnesses say the egg attacker said 'when you vote you get what you vote for' - a possible reference to the Brexit vote.

There were suggestions the suspect was a pro-Brexit campaigner

Mr Corbyn is believed to have left the mosque with a police escort at around 6.30pm.

Mr Corbyn was visiting the mosque with shadow home secretary Dianne Abbott.

Mr Corbyn's visit was part of the annual Visit My Mosque day, which is facilitated by the Muslim Council of Britain.

It is believed the alleged attacker was one of these visitors, was not a regular guest there, and had been waiting inside the building.

After the incident Mr Corbyn Tweeted about Visit My Mosque Day, but did not mention the attack.

Mr Corbyn was attacked during a visit to Finsbury Park Mosque in North London to mark Visit My Mosque day

His tweet read: 'Every year Muslim communities across the country open their doors to people of all faiths and none on #VisitMyMosque Day. It's a fantastic opportunity to build.'

Labour MP Jess Phillips tweeted: 'Acts of violence against politicians, loses your argument, lessens your cause and demeans our democracy. It's also just horrid. Don't do it. If you don't agree with him raise your voice not your fists. Jeremy &every other representative deserves better than how febrile thing are.'

The event began in 2015 with about 20 participating mosques, and this year over 250 took part all around the UK.

Jayde Russell, former interfaith co-ordinator for Regent's Park Mosque in London, said: 'I would get asked questions about whether Islam promotes terrorism - sometimes it hurts because you see how these stereotypes impact some individuals and wider society.

'That's why I'm so passionate about speaking out and challenging the status quo such as through mosque open days.'

It is the latest incident in which an egg has been thrown at a high-profile politician.

In May 2001 the then Labour deputy prime minister, John Prescott, was targeted during an election campaign event - and famously rewarded the thrower with a sharp jab to the chin.
In a quiet lovers' lane car park in Melbourne, James Dobbie raped two young women, tied up their boyfriends and shot dead a third man in a series of 'horrifying' crimes that went unsolved for decades.

Dobbie wore a balaclava and held a shotgun as he approached his victims in their cars in the three attacks at Rowville's Police Paddocks Reserve in 1980 and 1983.

At gunpoint, he raped two young woman, then aged 18 and 21, after their boyfriends were bound and forced to watch in horror.

James Dobbie has confessed to shooting Rodney Mitchell (pictured) in 1983 as the victim sat in a parked car with a woman in an area known as lovers' lane in Rowville, eastern Melbourne

In the third attack, Dobbie stuck the gun through a car window at father-of-two Rodney Mitchell, who got out naked and lunged for the weapon.

Mr Mitchell, 37, was fatally shot in the armpit. A woman was also detained by Dobbie before breaking away.

Dobbie fled to Cape Tribulation in far north Queensland, remaining free for nearly 40 years.

He was finally caught thanks to an anonymous Crime Stoppers call in 2018, bringing relief to his victims.

'Today is a day to seek justice for what was done,' one of his victims told the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday.

'It gives me the opportunity to take the power back.'

That victim was 18, a virgin and on a date with a new boyfriend when they were ambushed by Dobbie.

'My life changed forever,' she said.

'I ask myself often. What have I done to deserve this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.'

The 65-year-old (pictured) ambushed the pair while wearing a balaclava and carrying a swan-off shotgun

She was 'under his control' and in crippling fear as Dobbie bound her wrists, pulled her hair, tore her clothes and raped her, causing terrible pain.

'Is it possible to feel any more scared?' she said.

'I felt helpless at not being able to help my boyfriend at the time.

'My shirt being ripped sent shivers down my spine and even today the sound of material being ripped has the same effect.'

The other rape victim said she will never forget the 'horrific nightmare' Dobbie put her and her partner through.

'What we had was personal, special and James Dobbie stole what should have only ever been ours,' she said.

The daughter of Mr Mitchell was aged 10 when her father was killed, and her mother withheld the full details to protect her feelings.

A picture of the crime scene in Melbourne where the 35-year-old victim was shot

She had heard whispers, but Kellie Ellaz only found out the whole story while watching an episode of Australia's Most Wanted some three years later.

'I wanted to reach into the TV and touch him,' she said in her statement to the court.

'I couldn't believe what was unfolding in front of my eyes ... my chest ached. My head was spinning.'

Dobbie, a father and former truck driver, pleaded guilty to murder, aggravated rape, false imprisonment and other offences last year.

'They were horrifyingly violent,' Justice John Champion said of the rapes.

'The victims were immobilised, and there was a high degree of horror, humiliation and violence.'

Dobbie will be sentenced at a later date.




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Thousands of dancers from Rio de Janeiro's elite samba schools rolled out their traditional parades of feathers and sequins as the main business of the giant annual Carnival got under way last night.

In total, 14 samba schools from the elite so-called 'special group' will be taking part in the parades last night and on Monday evening at the packed purpose-built stadium known as the Sambadrome, to compete for the prestigious Carnival title.

Each school, featuring up to 4,000 shimmering dancers, elaborate giant floats and deafening percussion, will take 75 minutes to parade down the 700 yards long Sambadrome track.

The Carnival formally kicked off Friday with the traditional symbolic passing of a key to the city to the festival's 'King' - unleashing giant street parties known as 'blocos' in Rio, Sao Paulo and across Brazil.

Authorities expect seven million people - including one and a half million Brazilian and foreign tourists - to participate in this year's edition of the gigantic outdoor party.

Queen of the night: A member of the Salgueiro Samba School performs during the first of two parades at 2019 Brazilian Carnival at Sapucai Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Taking the lead: Drum queen Viviane Araujo of the Salgueiro Samba School performs during the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro

Centre stage: Members of the Salgueiro Samba School bring the glitter and glam as they perform during the first night of Rio's Carnival at the Sambadrome

Political commentary: While many performances are filled with glitter and glamour it is also common to carry a deeper message withing the performances, such as this one showing the slavery withing the Roman empire

History: The Grupo Especial Unidos da Tijua relay a painful part of Brazilian history, the story of how millions of Africans were kidnapped and transported to Brazil as slaves

Painful truths: Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery, in 1888

She's got the moves: A performer dressed in an elaborate butterfly-inspired costume dances down the Sambadrome

Stunning display: Drum queen Quiteria Chagas from Imperio Serrani samba school performs as they parade down the venue

Members of the Joy South (Alegria da Zona Sul) Samba School dance their way through the arena

Time to party! Members of the United Samba School of Bangu are taken down the Sambadrome on a float on Sunday

Some of the several thousand dancers from the United Samba School of Bangu perform during a Carnival 2019 Serie A parade

Muses of dance: Two female dancers show off their incredible costumes as they prepare to take the Sambadrome

A performer from the Imperio Serrano samba school parades during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio

Feast for the eyes: The several thousand strong Salgueiro samba school take part in the traditional carnival parade

The samba schools of the Rio de Janeiro's so-called Special Groups began their parades on Sunday at the Sambadrome, considered the main attraction of the carnival in Brazil

Performers from the Salgueiro samba school parade during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome

The samba schools of the Rio de Janeiro Special Groups began their parades at the Sambadrome, considered the main attraction of the carnival in Brazil

Bop to the top: Two performers look down upon the crowds from atop their Carnival floats

Members of the School of Samba Unidos de Padre Miguel during the 2019 Carnival Series A parade in the Marques do Sapucai Sambadrome

Claws are out: Drum queen Raissa de Oliveira from Beija-Flor samba school performs during the first night of the Carnival parade, which sees the 14 samba schools compete for the title

A performer from the Beija Flor samba school parades during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome

Pure joy: Queen of Percussion Viviane Araujo of Salgueiro performs during Sunday's display as Rio's two nights of Carnival parades began in a burst of fireworks, sequins and feathers

Thrilling: Members of Viradouro Samba School, dressed up as zombies, dance during their parade

The United Samba School of Bangu's performance was inspired by indigenous culture, as seen here

Each school's performance can featuring up to 4,000 dancers in full costume as well as elaborate giant floats

A member of the United Samba School of the Bridge perform in the Sambadrome on Sunday

Each school is allowed 75 minutes to parade down the 700 yards long Sambadrome track to show off their skills

Queen of Percussion Raissa Machado of Viradouro performs during the parade at 2019 Brazilian Carnival to the cheers of thousands of tourists and locals

Animalistic: Dancers dressed as foxes and coyotes from Beija-Flor samba school perform on a float on Sunday evening

The golden girl: A female performer covered in gold diamantes and feathers dances during Viradouro performance at the Rio de Janeiro Carnival at Sambadrome

Wild night out: A lion, a crocodile and a host of other animals were seen dancing as part of the Neija-Flor samba school's performance

Enthusiasm: A young performer from the Imperio Serrano samba school is dressed up as a bunch of flowers
A competitive auntie shows no mercy when it comes to racing her brother's tots as she pushes them to the ground.

In this hilarious clip, filmed in Saltillo, Mississippi, US, the two children, who both look to be under five, start running on 'on your marks' completely ignoring 'get set' and 'go'.

To get her revenge on her cheating nephew and niece their auntie runs quickly up behind her nephew and gently pushes his head so he falls to the ground.

The tot does not even cry but says 'ow' as he falls into the grass.

His auntie then races after her niece who flies to the ground after another not-so-gentle nudge.

Looking up bemused her nephew watches his sister fall to the ground and start crying while his grandma laughs and says 'she pushed him oh no, oh no'.

Aunt, niece and nephew line up ready to race but the children set off as their grandmas says 'on your marks' not waiting for 'get set' or 'go'

As her nephew makes a break for victory his competitive aunt will not allow cheating to go unpunished

The children were having dinner with their grandma and auntie while their father was at a training camp.

And the family were outside sending the children's father short, funny clips to keep him amused while he was away.

But he could not have expected to receive a video of his sister throwing his children to the ground in an effort to win the race.

Their aunt sends her young nephew flying as she pushes his head to take him out of the race

As her nephew sits bemused on the grass the competitive aunt races after her niece

The little girl is sent sprawling to the ground and bursts into tears after her aunt pushes her over

Filmed in Saltillo, Mississippi, US, the family have dinner with the children's grandma, their father and aunty's mother, every Wednesday but this time their father was away.

The video's caption read: 'Every Wednesday evening, my family has dinner at my mother's.

'This particular Wednesday, my brother was at a training camp, so my mother wanted to send him short, funny clips.

'Myself, my niece and my nephew raced. Because they cheated, I jokingly pushed them.

'Of course, my mother got it all on camera to share with my brother because we all thought it was hilarious.'
Flur, 24, was the first person in her family to go to university and had made her brother 'proud'

The family and friends of an 'extraordinary' 24-year-old who took her own life have paid an emotional farewell to 'an intelligent, funny, courageous and beautiful girl'.

Flur Mcdonald was killed by a Merseyrail train in Birkdale just after 2pm on Tuesday, January 29.

The pharmacology student lost both of her parents within a few years of one another, and struggled to come to terms with such a devastating loss.

Flur, from Southport, was a bright and talented young woman who became the first member of her family to go to university, studying at Newcastle after she left college.

Friends and family gathered at Burscough Crematorium on Friday, March 1, to say goodbye to Flur, before holding a celebration of her life at Leyland Road Church in Southport.

Flur's older brother Ryan Mcdonald shared an emotional post on the morning of his baby sister's funeral, in which he urged everyone who knew her to remember the good times.

He said: 'So today is the day we celebrate the short but beautiful life of an extraordinary sister. I want everyone not to be sad that Flurry is gone, but for us all to be thankful and happy that we had such an intelligent, funny, courageous and beautiful girl in our life.

'Flur we had some amazing memories together - you are the sweetest soul I've ever known, and I truly mean that.

'I remember taking you to Newcastle with a transit van loaded with your worldly possessions and dropping you off at university and I was the proudest big brother in the whole universe.

Flowers and seeds were handed out in memory of Flur after she died on January 29, 2019

Flur Mcdonald's family laid her to rest on March 1. The student 'never got over' the death of both her parents, her brother said

'Your dream was to rid the world of [cancer] and I'm sure one day you'd have done it, such was your amazing mind.

'So Flur Mcdonald thank you so much for making our lives a much more beautiful place and so so sorry that I could not have done more to protect your fragile life. I love you so much, you knew that.'

Ryan thanked Flur's loved ones for 'giving her the day she absolutely deserved', with mourners handed flowers and seeds to plant in memory of the 24-year-old.

Speaking shortly after his sister's death, Ryan said Flur 'never really got over' losing her dad, before the family was hit by another tragedy when their mother died a few years later.

Flur's family also expressed their overwhelming gratitude to Tommy and Paula Pearman, the couple who Flur went to live with in November 2018 and who looked after her and tried to offer her the stability she needed.

Flur was one of six siblings, and Ryan was her eldest brother. She was also a much loved auntie to her two nieces Jessica and Ruby and one nephew Clayton.

Flur Mcdonald with her big brother Ryan Mcdonald. The day Ryan took her to university was the day he became 'the proudest big brother'

Big brother Ryan said his sister had four things she wanted to achieve in life - becoming a teacher, getting to see India, going on a cruise and getting to take her niece Ruby on holiday.

British Transport Police were called to the railway line at 2.04pm on Tuesday, January 29 to reports of a person being hit by a train.

A police spokesperson confirmed the death was not being treated as suspicious.

For help and advice any time of the day or night you can contact Samaritans for free on 116 123, or visit the website.
Pointed out that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess, Captain Amarinder said they could ill-afford a full-fledged war with India.

Chandigarh:Even as he asserted that neither country could afford a full-scale war, Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional war.

Pointing out that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers, Captain Amarinder said it was not in either countrys interest to use the weapons of destruction but Islamabad could indulge in such a misadventure if faced with defeat in other battles.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) airstrikes had proven Indias resolve to deal with the problem in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, said the chief minister. He, however, refused to comment on the number of terrorists killed in the strikes, saying, whether it was one killed or 100, the message had gone out loud and clear  that India will not let the killing of its innocent soldiers and citizens go unpunished.

Pointed out that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess, Captain Amarinder said they could ill-afford a full-fledged war with India.

And though both were nuke powered countries, Pakistan could act out of desperation to use its nuclear weapons if they found themselves cornered, he warned.

Asked to comment on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decision to ally with SAD (Taksali) for the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, the Chief Minister said it was their prerogative, but as far as the Congress was concerned, it did not need any alliance. Dismissing the AAP-SAD (Taksali) coalition as of no consequence, he said the Congress in Punjab was fully ready for the polls and was well placed to win on its own, thus making it clear that he was not in favour of an alliance for the party.

In a democracy, it is the performance of the government that matters and people vote for those whom they see working for their welfare, said the Chief Minister.
Murders and rapes in New York are soaring, but overall crime is down, according to official police data.

Since the turn of the year there have been 51 murders in New York City - a rise of around 55 per cent, NYPD figures reveal.

Reported murders and rapes across the five boroughs rose in the first two months of 2019, up to March 2.

According to police data, 34 murders were recorded during the same period of last year.

There were 267 rape cases reported up to March 2, which represents a 23.6 per cent increase compared to last year.

Shockingly there were 31 rapes reported in just a seven-day period from February 18 to 24.

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New York Police Department Crime Scene Unit walk at the Mei Xin Care Incorporated daycare center at the owners home in the Flushing area of Queens, after a female attacker stabbed five people, including three children in September last year

New York City Mayor, Bill De Blasio, and the NYPD have boasted in the past about the continued fall in crime across the city

But despite the surge in rapes and murders, overall crime citywide is down eight per cent, the NYPDs weekly CompStat report states.

The surge in murders has largely been attributed to an increase in violent crime in Northern Brooklyn, which jumped from four to 15.

The number of people shot that did not get killed in the same district also increased, with 25 people gunned down compared to 14 last year - which represents a 69 per cent jump.

Citywide 100 people were shot in January and February, whereas 102 were injured in shootings during the same period of 2018.

Shooting incidents without injury were around the same as well with and increase from 87 to 89 across the five boroughs.

Despite the rise in violent crime, five crimes including felony assault, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto all decreased in 2019.

Kevin Alvarez is one of 14 alleged Trinitarios gang members accused of dragging 15-year-old Lesandro (Junior) Guzman-Feliz from a bodega and stabbing him to death on the sidewalk in Tremont, the Bronx, in June 2018. Prosecutors say it's Alvarez who can be seen dragging Feliz from the bodega door (above)

A witness said a woman and a baby were in the car at the time of the shooting of reputed mob boss Sylvester Zottola at a McDonald's drive-thru in the Bronx last October

One of the other crimes to fall so far this year is robbery, which dropped from 1,953 at the start of last year to 1,694 in 2019.

Burglary also dropped from 1,753 in 2018 to 1,528 for the first two months of this year.

New York mayor, Bill de Blasio, and the NYPD have often boasted about the continued drop in crime across the city.

An NYPD spokesperson told Fox News they will continue to tackle crime of all types and that 'any murder is one too many'.

The statement said: 'The NYPD takes every crime seriously, and any murder is one too many.

'The NYPD will use these proven tactics to address any temporary upticks, so that every New Yorker - regardless of zip code - can live in safety.'

Police Commissioner James ONeill said last month that the department plans to focus more on six precincts where the violent crime rate is more than twice that of the rest of the city, the New York Daily News reports.
She is one of a number of senior Tory MPs with an eye on the prize of becoming prime minister after Theresa May leaves office.

And now Liz Truss has become the latest top Tory to be accused of giving herself a nickname as the rivalry for UK politics top job intensifies.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has been accused of referring to herself in the third person as the Truss while speaking to colleagues, according to the Times.

It came after rivals of Home Secretary Sajid Javid, a leading contender to be the next prime minister, claimed in January that he referred to himself as the Sajid.

Liz Truss has been accused of calling herself 'the Truss' in conversations with colleagues. She is seen as one of a number of top Tories readying themselves to replace Theresa May

In January rivals of Sajid Javid said he had been calling himself 'the Sajid' amid a bitter row over the crisis of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats

Rivals sniped that the Home Secretary had 'lost the plot' amid the migrant crisis.

The wave of briefing came amid tensions with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson, who publicly offered Royal Navy assistance to help deal with the spate of migrants crossing the Channel.

Ms Truss is widely seen as one of a host of senior ministers and backbenchers like Boris Johnson who are on manoeuvres for a leadership battle.

Theresa May is widely expected to step down this year, with senior Brexiteers especially wanting her to quit sooner rather than later to allow a more confident Leave supporter to control the next stage of EU negotiations.

Ms Truss, the MP for South West Norfolk since 2010, attacked Mrs May last week for failing to tackle the threat posed by Jeremy Corbyn.

She effectively accused the Prime Minister of being complicit in allowing the monster of the hard left to grow unchallenged by trying to emulate Corbyns policies rather than staying faithful to the partys Thatcherite soul.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury told a fundraising dinner for a new Museum of Communist Terror last Monday: We need to confront Corbynism, not tack towards him.

Her intervention came amid mounting anger on the partys Right wing over Mrs Mays Corbyn-lite policies, including a price cap on energy bills, billions of extra NHS investment and the targeting of fat cat company bosses over pay and perks.
This is the remarkable moment a newborn baby reaches out and holds onto a doctor's shirt just seconds after being born.

Pictures shared by Phuong Chau International Hospital in Vietnam, show the crying little one tightly gripping a loop of fabric on the medic's gown and refusing to let go.

The doctor was about to leave to get changed when the baby boy suddenly outstretched his hand and grasped the man's clothing.

This is the adorable moment a newborn baby boy grabs hold of a doctor's shirt and refuses to let go after just being born

Almost 1,000 people have reacted to the photographs after they were posted on the hospital's Facebook page early last month.

Social media users were keen to comment on the adorable images, with some suggested the baby was immediately asking for food.

One social media user said: 'Beautiful. Picture of the year,' while another added: '[This] steal's my spirits, so cute!'

The pictures, shared by Phuong Chau International Hospital in Vietnam, show the crying little one firmly gripping a loop of fabric on the doctor's gown

'Lovely! Both the affectionate eyes of the doctor and the hold of the baby's hand,' one online user wrote.

Others suggested what the little one was thinking at the time of the snap, with one commentator saying: 'Doctor! Don't go, I'm here to play with you for a while!'

While no information regarding the baby was disclosed, the newborn was dubbed as 'Baby Strong' and 'Boss Baby' by online users.
Packs of monkeys killled twice in 24 hours in India after a 60-year-old woman and 20-year-old man were chased by the furious primates in two nearby villages.

The mother-of-seven was standing on her open terrace and plunged to her death on Friday in the Kathail village in Chandausi in the densely populated north of India.

The woman named locally as Launshree was rushed to hospital but declared dead on arrival.

Launshree had been cooking food on the veranda before the wild hoard set upon her and as she sought to bat them away stumbled off the edge.

File photo of a monkey in India - their numbers are said to have soared out of control in the Uttar Pradesh state in northern India

The Indian village of Kaithal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh where Launshree lived with her family

Her catastrophic injuries were such that she stood no chance of survival, the Times of India reported.

Her husband Asharfilal said that blood was streaming from her body after the impact.

Just a few miles away Rakesh, 20, died of his injuries after he too was set upon by a vicious posse of the monkeys in the Maulagarth village.

The monkeys are well adapted to live in urban areas and in fact thrive their by stealing food from locals

Rakesh was also perilously close to the edge of his roof when a troop of the deadly primates went after him.

Locals said the phenomenon was a new one but that in recent years the numbers of monkeys has soared.

They have complained to the administration of the province, who told the Times: 'We will soon write to the forest department asking them to make arrangements for capturing monkeys.'
A senior shadow minister and close ally of Jeremy Corbyn has lashed out at 'nasty and divisive' abuse she received for praising former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, 38, was targeted by left-wing hardliners after hailing a Sunday television interview in which Mr Blair talked about Brexit and a second referendum.

She described it as 'one of the best interviews I've seen', adding that 'all shades of red are needed in our UK Labour party to take on this nasty Tory government who are wrecking our Country'

But this mild praise of from the three-time election winner, who was Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007, prompted a wave of abuse on Twitter and she was soon forced to address the problem.

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner hit out at the Twitter abuse she received over a Tony Blair tweet about Brexit

Ms Rayner tweeted mages of the abuse that she had received on Twitter, warning: 'If there is no room for people like me in our party then we will never get Jeremy into Number 10.'

The Ashton-Under-Lyne MP blasted the trolling she received as 'typical of the toxic political landscape we are in', warning: 'If there is no room for people like me in our party then we will never get Jeremy into Number 10.'

She tweeted pictures of the abuse she had received, adding: 'I mentioned today l was being trolled and many followers said l wasn't being trolled they were merely 'disagreeing' with me.

'I beg to differ, these comments are nasty and divisive. If they are from genuine Labour members or supporters, it's indeed a very sad day.'

Among the abuse she received were messages asking 'what the f*** has happened to you' and called her 'a war criminal, Tory enabling, TIG donating Blair supporter'.

Mr Blair appeared on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday.

He used his appearance to say he would not leave Labour to join the Independent Group (TIG) of disaffected centrist MPs, and praised the 'great leadership' of deputy leader Tom Watson over the anti-Semitism crisis.

But is was his comments on Brexit and Theresa May's withdrawal deal than Ms Rayner had praised, in which he spoke in favour of a second referendum

Tony lair told the Andrew Marr programme on Sunday: 'I think you'll get to another referendum when people understand that a hard Brexit is going to be deeply economically painful for the country and a soft Brexit means we just become a rule-taker.'

He told the programme: 'Vote against the deal, use an extension to come to a conclusion - hard versus soft or back to the people.

'I think you'll get to another referendum when people understand that a hard Brexit is going to be deeply economically painful for the country and a soft Brexit means we just become a rule-taker.

'It's in those circumstances that I think you mobilise a majority in Parliament to say the sensible thing in these circumstances is to put it back to the people, or pass her deal subject to a confirmatory referendum.'

Another Labour MP also revealed she had been on the receiving end of toxic abuse over Brexit.

London born and raised Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq shared an email she received from a pro-Brexiteer which demanded she 'return to Bangladesh to ponder your life'.

Ms Huq, who was born and raised in west in London to Bangladeshi parents, tweeted: 'I don't support Theresa May's deal. And won't be taking advice on "returning" to somewhere I've only holidayed to (been to Isle of Wight more often).'
A woman who found out her boyfriend was an undercover police officer paid to spy on her has said she was the victim of a conspiracy to rape.

Some officers from the Metropolitan Police entered into long-term sexual relationships with women after going undercover in order to infiltrate protest groups.

The actions of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), an undercover unit which existed until 2008 and National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), which shut in 2011, are going to be examined at the so-called spycops inquiry.

A woman who found out her boyfriend was a police spy told BBC Wales Investigates: 'If you put all these things together, you have a team of officers conspiring to rape.'

Some officers from the Metropolitan Police entered into long-term sexual relationships with women after going undercover in order to infiltrate protest groups. Stock image

She added: 'They know there was no informed consent.

'It's the whole gang of them, and there's no other way of terming it for me than a gang.

'You've got mentors, you've got handlers, a whole backroom team of people monitoring - and directing, it would seem - their relationships, their activities.'

The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), which was launched in 2015, has already cost more than 10 million, and is not expected to deliver its final report until 2023.

The inquiry is investigating undercover operations conducted by police forces in England and Wales since 1968, involving hundreds of thousands of documents and the evidence of hundreds of witnesses.

Scotland Yard said: 'The historical work, deployment and actions of officers within the now-disbanded Special Demonstration Squad and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit will be fully explored and scrutinised by the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI).

'The Metropolitan Police Service is providing every assistance so the inquiry can fully address the key issues it has identified, and can fulfil its terms of reference.

'The MPS has made clear its position on long-term, sexual relationships some undercover officers are known to have entered into with women in the past. Those relationships were wrong and should not have happened.

'Undercover policing is a lawful and important tactic that takes dangerous offenders off the streets and helps protect communities, but cases such as these demonstrate that some officers abused their positions.'

BBC Wales Investigates Undercover Cops: Abuse Of Duty will be broadcast on Monday at 8.30pm on BBC One Wales.
The father and uncle of murdered toddler James Bulger have lost a High Court bid to reveal the new identity of killer Jon Venables.

James's father and paternal uncle, Ralph and Jimmy Bulger, had challenged a worldwide ban, made in 2001, on revealing the murderer's identity.

But, rejecting their case today, President of the High Court's Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane said: 'My decision is in no way a reflection on the applicants themselves, for whom there is a profoundest sympathy.

'The reality is that the case for varying the injunction has simply not been made.'

Ralph Bulger has lost a bid to make public details of his son's killer's new identity

The judge said the injunction was designed to protect Venables from 'being put to death'.

He added: '(Venables) is 'uniquely notorious' and there is a strong possibility, if not a probability, that if his identity were known he would be pursued resulting in grave and possibly fatal consequences.

'This is, therefore, a wholly exceptional case and the evidence in 2019 is more than sufficient to sustain the conclusion that there continues to be a real risk of very substantial harm to (Venables).'

Anyone who breaches the wide-ranging injunction faces prosecution for contempt of court.

Speaking outside court after the ruling, solicitor advocate Robin Makin, for the Bulgers, said: 'The authorities seem to be hell-bent on protecting (Venables) regardless of the risk to others and this has been a primary driving force behind Ralph and Jimmy's application.'

The judge refused permission to appeal against the ruling but Mr Makin said the Bulgers may consider pursuing a challenge at the Court of Appeal.

Venables, pictured in 1993, was granted lifelong anonymity by a High Court judge and has lived under new identities since his initial release from custody

Venables' lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald QC, previously said he is at risk of being attacked and even killed should his current identity be made public.

Two-year-old James was murdered by Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993.

Venables, now 36, has been living anonymously under a new identity since his release from prison but was convicted of having child abuse images in 2010 and again in 2018.

He remains in jail after receiving a sentence of three years and four months in February 2018 for possessing the images.

Robin Makin, acting on behalf of the Bulgers, argued that personal details and photos of Venables as an adult have been accessible on the internet for years, but the killer has suffered no damage or targeted threats as a result.

Footage from the day of James' murder showed him being led away by the two schoolboys

Mr Makin claimed that authorities are using the anonymity order to avoid scrutiny for failing to keep Venables from re-offending following his release from prison.

The idea behind the lifetime anonymity order for Venables and Thompson, made by Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, was that it would aid the rehabilitation of the killers, who were just ten when they murdered the toddler.

But while Thompson has not re-offended, Venables has twice been convicted of child abuse image offences.

James' mother, Denise Fergus, is not involved in the case at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Theresa May is in Salisbury today, exactly a year on from the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and his daughter which stunned Britain.

The Prime Minister is in Salisbury this morning in a show of support for the city where the Skripals were attacked on March 4.

Mrs May visited two shops close to Salisbury Cathedral and met members of the public on the High Street. She visited local businesses Smith England hairdressers and gift shop Casa Fina in an attempt to reassure owners.

The PM also met with Charlie Rowley, the man who survived the Novichok which he encountered when his partner Dawn Sturgess, 44, picked up a discarded bottle containing the deadly substance. She later died.

Intelligence services now believe an eight-strong assassination squad was behind the failed attempt to kill the former spy and his daughter with a deadly nerve agent, it has been revealed.

The Kremlin has been accused of being behind the botched hit by Theresa May after the pair were found poisoned, slumped on a park bench.

Three Russian men, believed to be agents have been named, but today it has been revealed MI5, MI6 and GCHQ are hunting another five people.

It is also claimed one line of inquiry includes 'frantic comings and goings' at the Russian embassy in London in the days before and after the Salisbury Novichok poisoning.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (L) walks with local Conservative Party MP John Glen (R) in Salisbury on March 4, 2019 to visit a local business

Prime Minister Theresa May waves at Scarlett Ward (2) as she walks through Salisbury with local MP John Glen (right) on the first anniversary of the Skripal poisoning

Officers were investigating 'increased' and 'unusual' activity at the building in Kensington, London, at the time of the attack of March 4, 2018, sources claim.

Both the Skripals survived the attack, although Sergei has not been seen since. A police officer who came into contact with the substance also lived, but Dawn Sturgess who found remnants in a perfume bottle in July, died.

Her former partner Charlie said today the PM asked him how he was coping after her death.

A security source told the Press Association: 'The intelligence agencies have been investigating unusual and increased activity at the Russian embassy in Kensington in the days leading up to and after the attack on the Skripals.'

Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia are pictured in the Zizzi restaurant in Salisbury in 2016, the same place where they dined before they were attacked with the nerve agent

'Human error' blamed for Downing Street Bath picture blunder (... it should have been Salisbury) Downing Street has blamed 'human error' for a social media post about Theresa May's visit to Salisbury being illustrated by a picture of Bath. A message on the Prime Minister's official Twitter feed paid tribute to the 'beautiful, welcoming' Wiltshire city on the anniversary of the poison attack. But rather than a picture of the famous 123-metre spire of Salisbury Cathedral, the message was accompanied by a shot of St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church 40 miles away in Bath. Twitter users and a newspaper editor noticed the wrong image was used by Number 10 The picture was hastily removed and replaced with a picture of the door of 10 Downing Street, but not before it was noticed by Times journalist Matt Chorley, a native of Somerset and former reporter on the Western Morning News. 'That's the trouble with these Westcountry cathedral cities, they all look the same,' joked Mr Chorley. Advertisement

'As would be expected, the UK security services have eyes on known and undeclared foreign intelligence operatives.'

So far, three people have been named in the investigation, with the country refusing to return two men. They are accused of being members of the Russian military intelligence service the GRU.

Moscow has refused to hand over alleged hitmen Dr Alexander Mishkin and Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga  who are in Russian intelligence outfit the GRU and were caught on CCTV in the area at the time of the poisoning.

President Vladimir Putin's country denies any involvement in the attack, despite blame being placed with the Kremlin by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

In September, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service said there was sufficient evidence to charge Chepiga and Mishkin- known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - with offences including conspiracy to murder after they were caught on CCTV in Salisbury the day before the attack.

In February, high-ranking Russian military intelligence service officer Denis Sergeev was reported to have been in Britain during the attack.

The 45-year-old member of the GRU, who uses the alias Sergei Fedotov, arrived 48 hours before the poisoning but it is unclear what role, if any, he played in the attack, the investigative website Bellingcat said.

It is believed there are a further five people who formed a hit squad.

It is also claimed the Novichok was brought over in a diplomatic bag, the Mirror reports.

The PA source also did not rule out the possibility of there being more suspects than those already named and said inquiries were 'not limited to the suspects already publicly declared.'

Dr Alexander Mishkin (left) and Ruslan Boshirov (right) are wanted for questioning in Britain

Dr Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin has denied being a part of the Novichok hit squad

Scotland Yard said there was sufficient evidence to charge Chepiga and Mishkin. The pair (pictured in Salisbury) claimed to be tourists

Denis Sergeev, Russian intelligence, was in Britain at the time of the attack, according to reports

Britain has accused Russia of being behind the attack - something which the state has fiercely denied.

Some two weeks after the attack, Prime Minister Theresa May kicked out 23 suspected Russian spies from the London embassy in the largest mass expulsion of diplomats since the Cold War.

Both Mrs May and Home Secretary Sajid Javid claimed the Russian government had been involved, saying approval came from a senior level in Moscow.

It is understood several Russians are being investigated over the attack on the Skripals.

Detectives believe they first came into contact with the nerve agent when it was sprayed on the door handle of their home in Christie Miller Road, Salisbury.

People dressed in British Army fatigues walk away from the Skripals' house in Salisbury during decontamination works on February 4

Mr Skripal, then 66, and his daughter, then 33, survived the attack, as did Wiltshire Police Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who came into contact with the poison when he searched their home.

But Dawn Sturgess, 44, fell ill in Amesbury months after the incident and died in hospital in July after coming into contact with a perfume bottle believed to have been used in the attack on the Skripals and then discarded.

The specially adapted counterfeit Nina Ricci bottle - which Ms Sturgess handled - is thought to have contained the substance.

Her partner Charlie Rowley was also exposed to the same nerve agent but was treated and discharged.

The 45-year-old demanded justice on Friday as the city was declared 'safe' from Novichok after the decontamination process was completed.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves Smith England hairdresser salon after a visit in Salisbury a year after the Novichok scandal

Mr Rowley said the case was still an 'open book' after counter-terrorism police re-issued an appeal for information about the perfume bottle, admitting they still do not know what happened to it between March 4 and when he said he found it on June 27.

On Sunday, the 20-year-old son of Ms Sturgess, Ewan Hope, urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to hand over the men suspected of being responsible for her death.

His grandparents previously called on the UK Government for answers.

Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement with Mr Putin claiming the two suspects were civilians.

A heavy police presence around Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury. The area has undergone mass decontamination work, including a deep clean of the Skripal house

During an interview the pair said they were tourists visiting Salisbury - particularly its famous cathedral.

A fortnight after the attack, the Russian embassy in the UK's official Twitter account posted a comment which said: 'In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!' with an accompanying picture of actor David Suchet in costume as his famed character.

A week later, Russia's ambassador in London was ridiculed for claiming Britain was behind the attack.

Following a press conference at the embassy, Alexander Yakovenko was said to have been called a Russian 'Comical Ali' by Conservative MPs, after Saddam Hussein's spokesman Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf - who earned the nickname over his claims.

The Home Office and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office both declined to comment.

Neither the Russian Embassy nor GCHQ responded when contacted.

Military teams have spent 13,000 hours on the clean-up since Sergei, now 67, and Yulia, now 34, were found unconscious on a park bench last year.

They took 5,000 test samples from Salisbury and nearby Amesbury  where Dawn Sturgess, 44, was fatally poisoned in July  in the 355-day operation.

A heavy police presence around Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury, Wiltshire, ahead of a visit from Prime Minister Theresa May on the first anniversary of the Skripal Salisbury poisoning

Meanwhile Russian diplomats published a report entitled Salisbury: Unanswered Questions, marking one year since the Novichok attack which later claimed the life of 44-year-old Ms Sturgess.

In a 52-page document, the embassy claims to chronicle the facts and timeline of events and information it knows so far as well as providing commentary on the 'inconsistencies in the British narrative'.

The report said: 'We reiterate our sincere condolences over the tragic death of Dawn Sturgess, who has become an innocent victim of political games.

'We join her loved ones in aspiring for the full circumstances of what happened to her and others involved to be established.'

The embassy also reached out to Ms Sturgess' 20-year-old son, Ewan Hope, after he urged President Vladimir Putin to hand over the men suspected of being responsible for her death.

A statement also published on its website said: 'We feel deep sympathy towards Mr Hope. Just like him, we would like to see his mother's death to be fully investigated.'

A spokesman said the embassy was 'prepared to meet with Mr Hope and to reply to all questions that he may have regarding the official Russian position'.

The embassy has repeatedly accused British authorities of fueling 'anti-Russian hysteria', saying international relationships are at a 'new low'.

It has said the official British version of events has been taken for 'granted', with relatives being 'kept in the dark' and having to 'seek truth in Russia'.

Stating the official position of the Russian government, the report said: 'Russia has nothing to do with the incident that took place in Salisbury on 4 March.

'The UK authorities have made quite serious accusations against Russia without presenting any meaningful evidence.

'Neither Russia nor the Soviet Union have ever developed an agent named 'Novichok'.'

The report also said the incident had caused international relationships to be at a 'new low' but paid tribute to medical staff involved and to journalists pursuing 'the truth'.

A timeline of the key developments in the Salisbury poisoning case Russian agents attacked Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia with Novichok in 2018 2010 - Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence officer jailed for spying for Britain, is released and flown to the UK as part of a swap with Russian agents caught in the United States. He settles in Salisbury. March 3, 2018 - Yulia Skripal arrives at Heathrow Airport from Russia to visit her father in England. March 4, 9.15am - Sergei Skripal's burgundy BMW is seen in suburban Salisbury, near a cemetery, where his wife and son are commemorated. March 4, 1.30pm - The BMW is seen driving toward central Salisbury. March 4, 1.40pm - The BMW is parked at a lot in central Salisbury. A police officer stands guard outside the Zizzi restaurant where Sergei and Yulia had lunch before they collapsed in a nearby park March 4, afternoon - Sergei and Yulia Skripal visit the Bishops Mill pub. March 4, 2.20pm to 3.35pm - Sergei and Yulia Skripal have lunch at the Zizzi restaurant. March 4, 4.15pm - Emergency services are called by a passer-by concerned about a man and a woman in Salisbury city centre. Officers find the Skripals unconscious on a bench. They are taken to Salisbury District Hospital, where they remain in critical condition. March 5, morning - Police say two people in Salisbury are being treated for suspected exposure to an unknown substance. March 5, afternoon - Wiltshire Police, along with Public Health England, declare a 'major incident' March 7 - Police announce that the Skripals were likely poisoned with a nerve agent in a targeted murder attempt. They disclose that a police officer who responded to the incident is in serious condition in a hospital. March 8 - Home Secretary Amber Rudd describes the use of a nerve agent on UK soil was a 'brazen and reckless act' of attempted murder March 9 - About 180 troops trained in chemical warfare and decontamination are deployed to Salisbury to help with the police investigation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow might be willing to assist with the investigation but expresses resentment at suggestions the Kremlin was behind the attack. March 11 - Public health officials tell people who visited the Zizzi restaurant or Bishops Mill pub in Salisbury on the day of the attack or the next day to wash their clothes as a precaution. March 12, morning- Prime Minister Theresa May tells the House of Commons that the Skripals were poisoned with Novichok, a military-grade nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. March 12, afternoon - Public Health England ask everyone who visited Salisbury town centre on the day of the attack to wash all of their clothes and belongings. Officers wearing chemical protection suits secure the forensic tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia fell ill March 14 - The PM announces the expulsion of 23 suspected Russian spies from the country's UK Embassy. March 22 - Nick Bailey, the police officer injured in the attack, is released from hospital. March 26 - The United States and 22 other countries join Britain in expelling scores of Russian spies from capitals across the globe. March 29 - Doctors say Yulia Skripal is 'improving rapidly' in hospital. 'Unknown time in the spring' - Dutch authorities expelled two suspected Russian spies who tried to hack into a Swiss laboratory April 3 - The chief of the Porton Down defence laboratory said it could not verify the 'precise source' of the nerve agent. April 5, morning - Yulia Skripal's cousin Viktoria says she has received a call from Yulia saying she plans to leave hospital soon. Dawn Sturgess died in hospital on July 8 April 5, afternoon - A statement on behalf of Yulia is released by Metropolitan Police, in which she says her strength is 'growing daily' and that 'daddy is fine'. April 9 - Ms Skripal is released from hospital and moved to a secure location. May 18 - Sergei Skripal is released from hospital 11 weeks after he was poisoned. June 30 - Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley fall ill at a property in Amesbury, which is eight miles from Salisbury, and are rushed to hospital. July 4 - Police declare a major incident after Ms Sturgess and Mr Rowley are exposed to an 'unknown substance', later revealed to be Novichok. July 5 - Sajid Javid demands an explanation over the two poisonings as he accuses the Russian state of using Britain as a 'dumping ground for poison'. July 8 - Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, dies in hospital due to coming into contact with Novichok. July 10 - Mr Rowley regains consciousness at hospital, and later tells his brother that Dawn had sprayed the Novichok onto her wrists. July 19 - Police are believed to have identified the perpetrators of the attack. August 20 - Charlie Rowley is rushed to hospital as he starts to lose his sight, but doctors can't confirm whether it has anything to do with the poisoning. August 26 - Charlie Rowley admitted to intensive care unit with meningitis August 28 - Police call in the 'super recognisers' in bid to track down the poisoners September 4 - Charlie Rowley's brother says he has 'lost all hope' and doesn't have long to live. Independent investigators, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, confirm the toxic chemical that killed Ms Sturgess was the same nerve agent as that which poisoned the Skripals. September 5 - Scotland Yard and CPS announce enough evidence to charge Russian nationals Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov for conspiracy to murder over Salisbury nerve agent attack. September 13 - Britain's most wanted men speak to RT and claim to be humble tourists September 26 - The real identity of one of the two assassins, named by police as Ruslan Boshirov, is reported to be Colonel Anatoliy Vladimirovich Chepiga. October 3: New photo emerges that appears to show Col Chepiga on the Wall of Heroes at the Far-Eastern Military Academy, providing more evidence against the Kremlin's denials. Advertisement

The Novichok files: It was a year ago this week - but only now can the full chilling truth of the Salisbury poisoning be told in minute by minute detail... by those who lived through it

Almost a year to the day after the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, the town of Salisbury has finally been declared clear of all traces of the deadly nerve agent Novichok.

It was 24 years ago, in 1995, that Sergei Skripal, a high-ranking member of Russian Intelligence, became a double-agent working for Britain.

After nine years of passing secrets to MI6, Skripal was caught by the Russian authorities and sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony.

Then, in 2010, he was pardoned by President Dmitry Medvedev and sent to the UK as part of a spy-swap deal. Sergei and his wife Liudmila began a new life in Wiltshire. This is exactly what happened last March.

Scroll down for video

Grinning: The suspected Russian assassins caught on CCTV in Salisbury on the day of the Novichok poisoning

Friday, March 2, 2018

3pm

Two Russians who have just arrived on an Aeroflot flight from Moscow pass through Gatwick Airport security. The names on their passports are Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

But their real names are Dr Alexander Mishkin and Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga. Both 39, they are experienced agents in Skripals old agency, the GRU and Mishkin has been decorated by President Putin himself as a hero of Russia.

In their luggage is a fake Nina Ricci Premier Jour perfume bottle containing the deadly nerve agent Novichok, which means the newcomer. The bottle has been especially designed to avoid detection from airport security. The two men catch a train to Victoria Station in London.

6.45pm

Mishkin and Chepiga emerge from Bow Church DLR station in East London and cross the road to the 48-a-night City Stay Hotel, where they have booked a room for two nights. The hotel promises serene accommodation and good access to transport links.

Celebrating: Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2016 at their favourite restaurant, Zizzi - the last place they visited before falling ill that fateful Sunday last year

Saturday, March 3

10.30am

The two GRU intelligence officers leave the Hotel and walk to Bow Road Station where they take the Underground to Waterloo Station.

In Salisbury, heavy snow that fell a few days ago is slowly melting from the streets. On the outskirts of the city, at 47 Christie Miller Road, 66-year-old Sergei Skripal is getting the house ready for the arrival of his daughter Yulia, who is flying in from Moscow this afternoon.

Since the death in 2012 of his wife Liudmila from cancer, Sergei lives a quiet life looking after his guinea-pigs and cats. On his sitting room wall he has a picture from his former apartment in Moscow, and on the shelves are jigsaw puzzles and an Airfix model of HMS Victory. Over the white front door of No 47 hangs a lucky horseshoe.

11.45am

Mishkin and Chepiga arrive at Waterloo Station and catch the 12.50pm train to Salisbury. The aim is to reconnoitre the city and in particular Christie Miller Road.

2.25pm

Sergei Skripal has asked his friends Ross and Mo Cassidy who have a 4x4 vehicle to take him to Heathrow Airport to collect Yulia, as he is uneasy about driving in the snow. Ross, a former submariner, knows about Sergeis past: While I was aware he was a former Russian agent, we never discussed it because I felt it was none of my business. And, besides, we had good fun. As they arrive at Heathrow, the train carrying the two Russian spies pulls in to Salisbury.

The names on the suspected assassins' passports are Alexander Petrov (l) and Ruslan Boshirov (r). But their real names are Dr Alexander Mishkin and Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga. Both 39, they are experienced agents in Skripals old agency, the GRU and Mishkin has been decorated by President Putin himself as a hero of Russia

2.49pm

Yulia Skripal, aged 33, arrives at Heathrow on an Aeroflot flight and is met by her father and the Cassidys. She plans to be in England for two weeks and so has put her pet dog Nuar in a boarding kennel in Moscow.

Yulia has timed her visit so she and her father can mark her late brother Alexanders birthday. An alcoholic, he died of liver failure in 2014 and his ashes are buried in Salisburys London Road cemetery close to his mothers grave.

Russian Intelligence has been aware of Yulias plans to travel to England for some time. It is believed that they hacked into her emails as long ago as 2013. President Putin has no time for double agents like Sergei Skripal and once said: I can assure you they will fall off the perch themselves. They can keep their thirty pieces of silver but it will stick in their throats.

MI6 is unaware that Sergei Skripals movements have been monitored by Russian Intelligence and are not guarding him. The safety of pardoned former spies has always been honoured in the past.

4.05pm

The GRU agents brief day-trip to Salisbury is over. Having established the location of Skripals house, they catch a train back to London to spend a second night at the hotel in Bow.

6pm

Ross and Mo Cassidy drop the Skripals home and they all arrange to meet up later in the week. Yulia knows Salisbury well; out of the three cities suggested by Sergeis MI6 handlers as a place to live, she chose Salisbury as the best place for her parents. MI6 bought the house for them in Christie Miller Road for 260,000.

Sunday, March 4

8am

Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga check out of their hotel and once more head to Bow station and on to Waterloo. Mishkin is wearing a black woollen cap and blue jacket, Chepiga a baseball cap and a black hooded jacket. On his back he has a grey rucksack.

The nerve agent was carried in a perfume bottle

9.15am

Sergei and Yulia Skripal are driving to Salisburys London Road cemetery to pay their respects at the graves of Liudmila and Alexander. This Sunday morning cemetery visit is one of the few fixed points in Sergeis week.

11.48am

After a 90-minute journey from Waterloo, Mishkin and Chepiga arrive at Salisbury station. They go through the barriers and then turn left towards the citys western suburbs. The Skripals are back home.

11.58am

CCTV cameras capture the agents walking at a brisk pace as they make their way up the busy A36 Wilton Road, just a short distance from Sergei Skripals house.

12.10pm

Mishkin and Chepiga walk into Christie Miller Road. They put on gloves and surreptitiously and swiftly take the fake Nina Ricci Premier Jour bottle full of nerve agent out of the rucksack. They unscrew the top of the 5.5ml bottle and place the pump inside, then click the applicator firmly on the top and spray the nerve agent onto the metal door handle of No 47.

As the men walk away, they know that they have to find somewhere to dispose of the bottle which still contains some Novichok. Mishkin and Chepiga have been lucky; Sergei Skripal often watches the front of the house from his window.

1.05pm

Inside the house, Sergei and Yulia get ready to go out for a drink and some lunch.

Mishkin and Chepiga have not gone straight to the railway station but have decided to see the sights in the city centre. They stop to look in the window of a coin collectables shop and, tempted by the displays, are about to go in when they see that it is closed. The men are grinning and relaxed; Mishkin pauses to take pictures on his mobile phone of the river Avon. They make their way towards the station. At some point they throw away the deadly perfume bottle.

1.25pm

The front door opens and Sergei Skripal comes out. As he does so, he gets Novichok on his hands. Yulia follows and she, too, is contaminated with the deadly nerve agent. They get into Sergeis burgundy BMW. Sergei parks on the upper level of Sainsburys car park at The Maltings shopping centre.

1.50pm

As Mishkin and Chepiga catch the first train to London, the Skripals walk into the Mill pub close to the River Avon. The pub is busy with a lunchtime crowd.

2.20pm

Their drink over, the Skripals walk from Mill pub and cross the bridge over the river to the Italian restaurant, Zizzi, on Castle Street. They have eaten there before.

3.00pm

At Bourne Hill police station in Salisbury, the afternoon shift is just beginning. Having had an exhausting week dealing with the snowfall, Sergeant Tracey Holloway says to her team of officers, Lets have a relaxed day.

3.30pm

In Zizzi, the Skripals lunch is finished and Sergei is fed up waiting for the bill. He calls to a waiter impatiently.

Sergei and Yulia finally leave Zizzi and walk out into the cold to a park near the river, just outside the Maltings shopping centre. They have brought some bread with them to feed the ducks. But something is wrong. Sergei is starting to feel unwell; he is sweating and his vision is failing. They quickly find a bench to sit on. Soon Yulia is also feeling ill.

4.03pm

Abigail McCourt, 16, is walking through the Maltings shopping centre with her family. They have been celebrating her brothers birthday. Abigail sees a man on a bench who looks like hes having a heart attack and a woman slumped on his lap. People are looking at them but not bothering to stop.

Abigail points out the couple to her mother Alison, who is an Army chief nursing officer, and together they walk towards the bench. The man and woman both look pale and have lost control of their bodily functions. The woman isnt breathing. Alison and Abigail place her in the recovery position.

4.15pm

An emergency call comes in to Bourne Hill police station in Salisbury reporting that a male and a female have been taken ill in the Maltings shopping centre. Sergeant Tracey Holloway and her colleague PC Alex Collins drive the short distance from Bourne Hill to the Maltings with lights flashing.

As they approach the bench on foot they can see Alison McCourt maintaining the airway of a woman lying on the ground. Collins says later that without Alisons actions, Yulia would have died.

Hazardous: Officers check Salisbury cemetery for the nerve agent Novichok

The man on the bench is lying stiff, his eyes staring into space. He is breathing but unresponsive. Collins, medically trained, puts a pair of gloves on whilst Holloway with her bare hands looks through the mans pockets. She finds a wallet and a mobile phone with what looks like Russian writing on it.

The police are puzzled. They had expected to find two of the drunks and addicts who congregate in the city centre, but these two are well-dressed and unknown to them. It didnt feel right. It wasnt quite normal, Collins said later. Somebody calls an ambulance.

4.20pm

Paramedic Ian Parsons of the South Western Ambulance Service arrives at the park and starts helping Alison McCourt. Aware that there are people close by, Sergeant Holloway and PC Collins erect a cordon around the scene. Collins can see vomit underneath the bench, which makes him feel uneasy. Whatever is in the vomit has probably made this couple ill, so it needs to cleaned up.

4.45pm

The GRU intelligence officers Mishkin and Chepiga arrive back at Waterloo station and take the Underground to Paddington. They are heading home to Russia.

5.00pm

Two ambulances carrying Sergei and Yulia are racing to Salisbury District Hospital, sirens blaring. Sergei has remained in a rigid sitting position, so it has been hard to get him on to a stretcher. In the back of one the ambulances, paramedic Ian Parsons discusses with colleagues what could be wrong with them. Their low blood pressure, respiratory arrest and tiny pupils point to an opioid overdose.

In the city centre, 38-year-old Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is looking around the cordoned-off area around the bench but cant see anything suspicious.

6.00pm

The Skripals have been rushed though the hospitals A&E department and are now in intensive care connected to ventilators. The medical team also assumes that father and daughter have overdosed on opioids.

6.30pm

At Paddington station Mishkin and Chepiga take a fast train to Heathrow. When they get to the airport they pass through security and passport control without being stopped.

8.00pm

The fire brigade arrive in Salisbury town centre. They fear that the toxic drug fentanyl might be responsible for the couples illness, so the firefighters are wearing green decontamination clothing known as hazmat suits. They start hosing down the area.

Meanwhile, Wiltshire police have identified the critically ill man as Sergei Skripal. The Police National Computer has a Dont Stop flag against his name, so they now know this is no ordinary citizen. The phone rings at the home of Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills and an on-duty superintendent says to him: Boss, I hope youre sitting down for this one.

The most severely contaminated site was the Skripal home in a suburban Salisbury street. It is pictured in March last year, shortly after the Skripals collapsed, before investigators realised how badly it was contaminated

9.00pm

Wiltshire Police contact the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down 20 miles from Salisbury, whose scientists are experts in nerve agents. The police describe the patients symptoms, which by now dont match those of a typical overdose.

10.30pm

Aeroflot flight SU2585 to Moscows Sheremetyevo airport takes off with Mishkin and Chepiga.

11.30pm

PC Alex Collins, one of the two policemen who found the Skripals, has finished his shift and arrives home. Instinct tells him to remove all the clothes he is wearing and so he takes them off and puts them in his garage. Collins is too tired to take a shower so he goes straight to bed and falls asleep. Remarkably neither Collins nor his colleague Tracey Holloway were contaminated by the nerve agent.

Monday, March 5

Midnight

The police now know the Skripals home address. Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey and two colleagues drive to Christie Miller Road to check there is no one inside the house who might also be ill. As a precaution, all three are clad head-to-toe in forensic suits. Nick Bailey puts his gloved hand on the front door handle and walks into the house. They look around but cant see anything suspicious. Once they leave, the policemen bag up their suits.

12.30am

Back at Bourne Hill police station, Bailey starts to feel sweaty and hot and notices that his pupils are like pinpricks. He puts it down to feeling tired and stressed and drives home to his wife and children.

10am

The Chief Executive of Salisbury District Hospital holds an urgent board meeting. It is now clear that a former Russian spy and his daughter have been poisoned. The board decide to declare a major incident. The A&E department is closed as decontamination begins. In intensive care, Sergei and Yulia are fighting for their lives.

6pm

BBC News report that a man and woman have been poisoned by an unknown substance in Salisbury and the man has been identified as Sergei Skripal. At Porton Down, blood samples are being analysed.

7pm

At a press conference in Salisbury, Assistant Chief Constable Craig Holden insists the poisoning is not thought to be terrorism related. We would urge people not to speculate. However, I must emphasise that we retain an open mind ... The focus at this moment in time is trying to establish what has caused these people to become critically ill.

Although the police dont believe terrorists are involved, they do suspect it to be the action of a foreign power.

Tuesday, March 6

8am

The morning newspapers are full of the Skripal story; the Daily Mails headline is Spy Swap Russian Poisoned in Britain. As the news spreads, people are starting to arrive at Salisbury District Hospital, concerned that they too have been poisoned. Armed officers are now stationed outside the doors of the intensive care unit in the hospital.

10am

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey is feeling much worse and his wife Sarah is seriously concerned. He is very unsteady on his feet and covered in sweat. Everything was juddering, he said later. I was confused and didnt know what was going on. It was really, really frightening.

He does not know how, despite wearing gloves and a forensic suit, he was contaminated with the poison.

His arrival at Salisbury District Hospital causes alarm. Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing, said: There was real concern as to how big this could get. Have we just gone from having two index patients [ie, the first cases of a new condition] to having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties?

11am

Bourne Hill police station is sealed off as Bailey had accidentally contaminated his locker, computer keyboard and the evidence store. Later, all his familys possessions, including his childrens toys, are destroyed and they have to leave their home.

In Salisbury, nine sites are now cordoned off including the graves of Skripals wife and son at the London Road cemetery.

With the house in Christie Miller Road also cordoned off, no one is feeding the Skripals pets so, within a few days, the guinea-pigs die and the cats are eventually found so starved and distressed that they have to be put down.

3pm

In the House of Commons, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson identifies Yulia as the second victim. He describes Russia as a malign and disruptive force and promises the Government will take whatever measures we deem necessary to protect the lives of the people in this country, our values and our freedoms.

Speculation starts that England may withdraw from the World Cup in Russia in the summer.

5pm

In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman says that Sergei Skripals illness is a tragic situation and denies any involvement. The scientists at the Porton Down laboratories are shocked to discover that the Skripals have been poisoned by a nerve agent.

An expert is dispatched to brief the Cabinet emergency committee in London in the morning. Salisbury District Hospital is told the disturbing news.

The nerve agent found in the Skripals blood, on the bench and Zizzis restaurant will later be identified as Novichok A-234, which was developed in the former Soviet Union in the Seventies.

Novichok is highly dangerous and easily absorbed into the skin.

9pm

The Skripals have been heavily sedated and are being given drugs to protect them from the effects of the Novichok. Dr Stephen Jukes, an intensive care consultant, said: When we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. We would ensure the best clinical care. But all the evidence was there that they would not survive.

Det Sgt Nick Bailey is now in a room next to the Skripals. He is conscious. The nurses who bring him food and medicine all wear protective suits. It will be three weeks before he is well enough to be released from hospital.

Nick doesnt like the term hero, his wife Sarah said, but he has always been a hero to me and our children.

Conclusion

Britain responded to the poisoning of the Skripals by expelling 23 Russian diplomats. The United States expelled 150. Yulia Skripal was discharged on April 9 last year and taken by the police to a secret location.

In a statement, she said: I find myself in a totally different life than the ordinary one I left just over a month ago and I am seeking to come to terms with my prospects whilst also recovering from the attack on me.

Sergei had sufficiently recovered by mid-May to join her in hiding. But while Yulia remains in good health, her fathers has deteriorated. His condition has taken a downturn and he is being treated by doctors.

On June 30, 2018, Dawn Sturgess (above) and Charlie Rowley found the discarded perfume bottle containing the remaining Novichok. Delighted with the discovery, Ms Sturgess put the perfume onto her wrists and smelt it

Ms Sturgess (left) had inadvertently given herself a nerve agent dose ten times stronger than the Skripals received. She was rushed to hospital after falling ill, but died eight days later. Charlie Rowley (right) told the Daily Mail last week: I think we should line them all up in a firing squad, personally'

In the weeks after the poisoning, Putin claimed that Mishkin and Chepiga were innocent tourists and denied any Russian involvement. Of Sergei Skripal, the president said: Hes a traitor to the motherland. He is simply a scumbag.

On June 30, 2018, Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley found the discarded perfume bottle containing the remaining Novichok. Delighted with the discovery, Dawn Sturgess put the perfume onto her wrists and smelt it.

She had inadvertently given herself a nerve agent dose ten times stronger than the Skripals received. She was rushed to hospital after falling ill, but died eight days later.

A distraught Charlie Rowley told the Daily Mail last week: I think we should line them all up in a firing squad, personally. In an ideal world Id like to get a result, for somebody to get charged.
A man was arrested in a Chicago restaurant after his girlfriend allegedly found child porn images on his phone.

Forty-two-year-old Christopher Negrete's now ex-girlfriend suspected he was cheating on her so checked his cell phone, making the shocking discovery.

He was arrested in a restaurant in the South Loop area of Chicago Wednesday.

Prosecutors say that some of the images contained children under the age of five.

Forty-two-year-old Christopher Negrete's now ex-girlfriend turned him into police in Chicago

The children in some pictures found on the phone were also engaging in sexual acts or posing in a lewd manner, according to court records.

Negrete, who most recently worked for a 'bar trivia company', appeared in court on Friday on a charge of possession of child pornography of a person under the age of 13, where a Cook County judge set his bail at $10,000, he remained in custody on Saturday.

His girlfriend contacted police when she found the horrific images last weekend, she found at least five images, say prosecutors.

She checked his phone because of suspicions that he was cheating on her, having found that Negrete had sexual conversations with other women in the past.

Leighton Criminal Courthouse heard Negrete had requested and received 'at least five pictures of child pornography'

She opened the 'Whisper' app on his device. It is an 'anonymous social media, allowing users to post and share photo and video messages anonymously.'

Leighton Criminal Courthouse heard that Negrete had requested and received 'at least five pictures of child pornography.'

He also bragged about being a 'pedo' and having sex with 'with lots of young girls' between 14 and 17 years old, prosecutors said.

A defense attorney for Negrete said he grew up in Kansas and moved to Illinois to attend college but has lived in Cook County for at least 15 years.

His next hearing was set for March 20. Negrete's bail will be reviewed then if he is unable to post bond, his attorney having said his client could come up with the $1,000 needed to post bond while awaiting trial.
A Sydney man has been found guilty of the brutal murder of his new girlfriend's toddler after a jury rejected his claim that she was the culprit.

Mohammed Khazma, 25, had denied murdering the two-year-old girl in December 2016, as well as two counts of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Detectives alleged he burned the toddler with a cigarette lighter and slammed her head into a wall.

Mohammed Khazma, 25, (pictured) has been found guilty of the brutal murder of his girlfriend's toddler after he tortured her for weeks in December 2016

On Monday, a NSW Supreme Court jury found Khazma guilty of the three offences, which occurred in a Sydney granny flat the couple and the girl had moved into weeks earlier.

The girl's mother was originally charged with her murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis she failed to remove the girl from Khazma's alleged abuse, failed to protect her and failed to get medical help.

The couple were caught on CCTV fleeing the apartment with the unconscious girl under a blanket.

The mother then drove to Khazma's parents' house, telling them that he had killed her baby, 7 News reports

She gave evidence that the majority of her disciplining involved sending her two children 'in the corner for five minutes'.

The mother said her back was turned when Khazma slapped the two-year-old to the floor and she became unconscious.

Khazma (pictured) had told the jury he 'never laid a finger' on the girl, insisting her mother was the one who pinched, punched, hit and whipped her

The toddler turned 'a brownish purple colour' and vomited black liquid, she said.

The mother has already served her jail time.

Khazma told the jury he 'never laid a finger' on the girl, insisting her mother was the one who pinched, punched, hit and whipped her.

He said he had wanted to report the girl's abuse to police but 'didn't want to get (the mother) in trouble'.

Khazma and his girlfriend were captured on CCTV leaving with the unconscious toddler before the mother fled to Khazma's parents house, saying he had killed her baby

'But at the same time, I didn't want her doing what she was doing to the kid,' he told the court in February.

He said he'd also seen the mother bite her daughter after a bottle was spilt in the car, hold her by the ankle so her head hit the floor, and whip her legs and feet with a phone charger cord.

A forensic pathologist gave evidence the toddler suffered more than 100 wounds, including about 28 human bite marks on her arms, legs and buttocks, cigarette burns, cuts and bruises.

There was also 'massive bleeding' in her skull consistent with a traumatic injury.

The jury reached a verdict after just eight hours of deliberation.

Khazma is due to face a sentence hearing before Justice Elizabeth Fullerton on March 28.
Panda, 55, quit the BJD last May after a bitter falling out with his party chief, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Jay Panda had been a parliamentarian of the BJD since 2000. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Baijayant Jay Panda, who quit Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 2018, joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Monday in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Panda, 55, quit the BJD last May after a bitter falling out with his party chief, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"I have always admired Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's leadership," Panda told reporters after he was garlanded at a BJP function in New Delhi to welcome him into the party.

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

Jay Panda had been a parliamentarian of the BJD since 2000.

Pandas entry may hurt Patnaiks party in Odisha ahead of Lok Sabha and state elections, especially when the saffron party is making inroads into the state.

Jay Pandas troubles in the party peaked when he was suspended on disciplinary grounds after he openly challenged the leadership after poor performance in 2017s local polls.

He was removed as the BJD's parliamentary party spokesperson over an article he wrote shortly after Panchayat or rural body polls, alleging that the party was being run by "opportunists".
Girls as young as three are being married off in war-stricken Yemen because their families are unable to afford to feed them, according to charity Oxfam.

Starving Yemeni families have revealed how they have had no choice but to force their young daughters to marry much older men, in order to use the dowry for food and shelter to save the rest of the family.

The war in Yemen has triggered what the United Nation has called the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with more than ten million people at risk of starvation.

The war in Yemen has triggered a humanitarian crisis, forcing families to resort to desperate measures, such as marrying off daughters as young as three (file photo)

A recent UN report suggests that more than two-thirds of girls in Yemen are wed before the age of 18, however the five-year conflict is reportedly forcing families to marry them off at a much younger age.

Oxfam said their representatives had met with families in the northern Amran governorate who had been forced to marry off their daughters  in one case as young as three years old  to buy food with the dowry.

Younger girls are usually spared consummating the marriage until they have reached the age of 11, but before that are made to do household work in their husband's home.

Nine-year-old Hanan, from Amran, used to go to school but since she was married, she has had to stop.

'My mother in law keeps beating me, and when I run away back to my father's house, my father beats me again for running away,' she said. 'I don't want to be married. I just want to go back to school.'

Hanan's parents, who also married off her three-year-old sister, said they knew marrying off their daughters at such a young age was wrong, but felt they had no choice because the dowry paid in return was the only way of keeping the rest of the family alive.

Children, pictured here at a malnutrition unit in a Sanaa hospital, are among those worst affected by the humanitarian crisis that has left million starving as a result of the war

Over 24 million Yemenis - more than three quarters of the country's population - are now dependent on some form of aid for survival, according to the UN.

The Red Sea province of Hodeida has witnessed some of the Yemen war's most intense fighting, which has eased since the government and Huthi rebels agreed to a ceasefire in the area in December.

The Iran-backed Huthis have battled the government and its allies in a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for control of the impoverished country for four years.

Hodeida, held by the rebels since 2014, has witnessed intermittent clashes between the Huthis and pro-government forces since the ceasefire went into effect on December 18.

Around 10,000 people - mostly civilians - have been killed and more than 60,000 wounded since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the conflict in 2015, according to the World Health Organization.

Rights groups say the real figure could be five times as high.
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ISIS militants are using civilians as human shields in the fight against US-backed troops in their last remaining Syrian stronghold.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its allies from the US-led coalition rained down a fire storm over the weekend on the dregs of the regime at Baghouz in eastern Syria.

Spokesman for the Kurdish SDF forces Mustafa Bali said that the battle 'will be over soon' despite a painstaking effort to evacuate women and children from the town.

An SDF official said today that some 500 people, including ISIS fighters, have surrendered and evacuated the village and its surrounding areas, with 200 more expected to leave later on.

Dozens of men, women and children, from Bosnia, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Syria, climbed hills on foot and were later seen getting into small trucks after they were searched by SDF fighters manning the evacuation corridor.

But still, the self-proclaimed 'caliphate' which once controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria has been backed into a last remaining citadel of a few hundred fighters.

A shell explodes in Baghouz in eastern Syria as the SDF resumed their brutal siege on the last few hundreds militants of ISIS

The earth around Baghouz shuddered and dust was kicked up as explosives detonated on the IS held territory

Pounds of explosives rained down on the last remaining stronghold as the US-backed forces seek to drive out the extremists from the land

Fragments of hot metal burst from an explosion on the settlement as the extremists prepare to go to the grave for their futile cause

Smoke billows from the town as shelling resumed on Monday as the SDF say that battle 'will soon be over'

A Kurdish SDF fighter scans the battlefield as his forces prepare to make a brave push into the tunnel network of the jihadists

As huge clouds of black some billowed into the air 800 metres away Kurdish Commander Hagit Wamishlo radioed in: 'Well played! That was a jihadist sniper position.'

The SDF militia men stood on buildings to examine the horizon with their machine guns held fast as black smoke and flashes of explosions erupted into the sky.

Troops could be seen taking up positions around the perimeter, loading up machine guns with belts of ammunition and taking a moment to pray before gripping their RPG launchers.

Experts believe there are still hundreds of ISIS militants who have cowered behind their wives and children in caves and tunnels in their last bastion.

Thousands of men - many of them suspected terrorists - women and children have limped from the ruins in the last few weeks.

They have been driven out into the desert, separated and screened by the Kurdish forces before being moved north to camps in al-Hol.

The military campaign to drive out the the militants from the eastern banks of the Euphrates began in September, pushing them down toward this last corner in the village near the Iraqi border.

A Kurd with an assault rifle slung over his shoulder runs for cover as his comrades begin pushing through the town

A Kurdish warrior loads a strap of bullets into his machine gun magazine as he prepares to lay down rounds on Sunday

Surrounded: The beleaguered IS forces now number just a few hundred who are cowering behind women and children

A Kurdish fighter smokes a cigarette as he watches his comrades put a fire storm down range in eastern Syria

A Kurdish SDF fighter stands in the turret of a Humvee as he scans for ISIS fighters who are cowering behind human shields

The military operation was halted on February 12 after the SDF discovered there was still a large number of civilians and hostages in the territory, which sits atop caverns and tunnels where they had been hiding.

The evacuees have told of diminished food supplies, as well as a lack of clean water and medicine.

Last week the SDF spokesman Bali said he expected a 'fierce battle.'

He said the battles are expected to take place in a very small area that includes a complex network of tunnels, as well as suicide bombers and land mines.

Black smoke spreads across the horizon as heavy ordnance is delivered to the ramshackle buildings

'The battle to finish off what is left Daesh has started,' said SDF commander Adnan Afrin, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

The capture of Baghouz would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq.

The once formidable extremist group had minted their own currency, levied taxes, published a wide array of propaganda material and designed its own school curricula.

The caliphate effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost most of its major cities in Syria and Iraq.

It would allow U.S. President Donald Trump to begin withdrawing the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, as he declared in December he would do.

Though last week he partially reversed course and agreed to keep a residual force of perhaps a few hundred troops as part of an international effort to stabilise northeastern Syria.

A Kurdish brave stands with his assault rifle as shells erupt on the horizon in sunny Baghouz

SDF fighters stand on a terrace to watch over the bombardment, as they prepare to enter the town on foot

A fighter for the SDF prays on Sunday as rocket propelled grenades and a launcher rest on the wall beside him

Call it in: A Kurdish fighter holds up his radio as shelling resumed on the ISIS stronghold

A mother shrouded in a niqab holds her young child as evacuated townspeople were processed by SDF forces after fleeing Baghouz in eastern Syria last week

A woman walks carrying a child past members of the Kurdish-led SDF who worked to process thousands of evacuees in the last few weeks

In the last week alone, 13,000 people, most of them women and children, arrived at the al-Hol camp in Hassakeh province which now houses approximately 45,000 people, according to the United Nations.

In a statement on Friday, the U.N. cited reports that more than 84 people, two thirds of them young children under five years of age, have died since December on their way to al-Hol camp after fleeing the extremist group in Syria's Deir el-Zour province.

'Many of the arrivals are exhausted, hungry and sick,' according to Jens Laerke, spokesman of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), at a news briefing in Geneva.

They are in poor physical and psychological health - with many refusing to denounce the barbaric regime despite their surrender.

The foreigners among them are not wanted in their countries of origin and locals are filling camps that the Kurdish administration in the region says it needs more international help to run.
An Australian father who came home from a holiday with a sore throat has been forced to have both his legs amputated after contracting two debilitating infections.

Manly ferry worker Jason Miller, 48 - known to his family and friends as Buddy - was admitted to hospital in October with a stinging throat and aching pains shortly after returning from the Philippines.

Mr Miller had delayed his trip to the doctor by a day because he wanted to wait it out and return to work, but his condition quickly worsened upon arrival at Sydney's Northern Beaches Hospital.

Australian father Jason Miller (pictured with daughter Jhayda), who came home from holiday with a sore throat, was forced to have both his legs amputated after contracting two debilitating infections

Having gone into septic shock, doctors put him (pictured) into a coma and diagnosed him with the bacterial infections streptococcus and aerococcus

He went into septic shock and doctors put him into a coma.

They diagnosed him with the bacterial infections streptococcus and aerococcus.

An infectious disease specialist who worked on the father's case said doctors initially thought he had picked up an imported infection - which penicillin could have cured.

But after five days in a coma, the two infections had Mr Miller's hands and feet swollen.

Doctors told him he may lose his hands and his family said they feared he may not survive.

'We were told multiple times he has a less than 10 per cent chance of survival,' Kate Munn  Jason's sister-in-law  told Daily Mail Australia.

'Not just once or twice. Many times we were told he might not make it through the next few hours.'

Mr Miller, 48 (pictured in hospital with the infections) was admitted to hospital in October with a sore throat and aching pains shortly after returning from the Philippines

Mr Miller (pictured with his daughter) had delayed his trip to the doctor by a day because he wanted to wait it out and return to work, but his condition quickly worsened upon arrival at Sydney's Northern Beaches hospital

In January doctors amputated his legs below the knee - with the infections having limited his circulation so severely Mr Miller could not move either his feet or his ankles (different operation on father pictured)

SEPSIS WARNING SIGNS In the early stages, sepsis can be mistaken for a chest infection, flu or upset stomach. The six signs of something potentially deadly can be identified by the acronym SEPSIS: Slurred speech or confusion.

Extreme shivering or muscle pain.

Passing no urine in a day.

Severe breathlessness.

I feel like I might die.

Skin thats mottled or discoloured. Anyone who develops any of these symptoms should seek medical help urgently  and ask doctors: Could this be sepsis? Advertisement

In January, doctors amputated his legs below the knee - with the infections having limited his circulation so severely Mr Miller could not move either his feet or his ankles ABC News reported.

The father said despite his prosthetics, he still wanted to be able to look after his daughter Jhayda, 7, as she grew up.

'For the rest of my life I want to be that Daddy who's protecting her,' he said.

Mr Miller's family, led by his siter-in-law Kathleen Munn, have raised more than $50,000 towards supporting his ongoing treatment.

'It is a true miracle that he survived. His determination to stay alive rocked the doctors and nurses who couldn't believe he was still hanging on,' Ms Munn wrote on the JustGiving page.
A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped, drenched in petrol, and burnt to death by her neighbour in the latest sickening sex attack to shock India.

The schoolgirl, from Dildarnagar in the Ghazipur district, was alone in her home on Saturday when a neighbouring youth broke into the property and raped her, Indian media report.

In a statement made by the youngster before her death, she told police that the accused tried to force her to elope with him and when she refused, he doused her in petrol and set her on fire.

A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped, drenched in petrol, and burnt to death by her neighbour in the latest sickening sex attack to shock India (file picture)

Hearing her cries, neighbours rushed to the scene and took the terrified youngster to the local police station, where she was transported to the district hospital.

She was later transferred to the trauma centre in Varanasi but died of her injuries during the journey.

Arvind Chaturvedi, the Ghazipur superintendent of police, told The Times of India: 'The girl died on the way to Varanasi and the body has been sent for post mortem.

'On the basis of her statement recorded by the Dildarnagar police before her death and on the complaint of her brother, a named FIR has been lodged in this connection and several teams have been engaged to arrest the accused.'

The schoolgirl, of Dildarnagar in the Ghazipur district, was alone in her home on Saturday when a neighbouring youth broke into the property and raped her, Indian media report (file photo showing activists protesting against rape in India)

India has seen a number of high profile rape cases in recent years, leading to widespread protests (file photo)

India has seen a number of high profile rape cases in recent years, leading to widespread protests.

Last month, a man raped and beheaded a four-year-old girl before peeling off the skin of her face so she could not be identified, police said.

The 27-year-old, from Khopoli town in Maharashtra, India, had wanted to have a sexual relationship with the girl's mother, according to officers.

But he killed the child out of revenge after she rejected his advances and reprimanded him public.

In January, an engineering student was subjected to a two-day gang rape before being left for dead in a wood in the eastern state of Odisha.

The 20-year-old woman was left in critical condition following the attack which started when a man claiming to be friends with her brother approached her at a station as she waited for a train.

The man wrongly told her that, due to repair work on the line, trains were not running to her destination and suggested she travel with him instead.
Six countries in the world, including Sweden, France and Belgium, have truly equal rights for men and women, according to a global report from the World Bank.

These nations, which also include Denmark, Latvia and Luxembourg, were all found to ensure legal and economic equality in eight key areas such as salary, family life and job market access.

Neither the UK nor the United States achieved a top score, with the latter performing so poorly that it did not even make it into the top 50.

The top six nations - Sweden, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Latvia and Denmark - all ensure legal and economic equality in eight key areas such as salary, family life and job market access

The World Bank's Women, Business and the Law report grades countries by how effectively they guarantee legal and economic equality between men and women, with a top score of 100.

Questions posed by the bank include: 'Can a woman travel outside her home in the same way as a man?,' 'Are women able to work in the same industries as men?', 'Does the law mandate nondiscrimination in employment based on gender?' and 'Is there paid paternity leave?'

The UK was fairly close to a perfect score with 97.5 - placing it in the top 15 around the world - while Germany measured at 91.88, and Australia scored 96.88.

The US however, only scored 83.75, putting it below countries such as Malawi, Ecuador and Zimbabwe.

Firmly in the bottom is Saudi Arabia, with a score of just 25.63, meaning women only enjoy a quarter of the same rights as men.

No perfect score: The United Kingdom scored 97.5 out of 100 in the World Bank's gender equality report, and only made the top 15 among global economies

'Gender equality is a critical component of economic growth,' World Bank Group Interim President Kristalina Georgieva writes in the report.

'Women are half of the worlds population and we have our role to play in creating a more prosperous world. But we wont succeed in playing it if the laws are holding us back.

'Economies that failed to implement reforms towards gender equality over the past ten years, for example, saw a smaller increase in the percentage of women working overall and in the percentage of women working relative to men. '

The global average of 74.71 is an increase of more than four and a half points compared to a decade ago, however it still means women have only three quarters of the legal rights of men across the globe.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the average score is 47.37, meaning the typical economy in that region gives women less than half the legal rights of men in the areas studied by the World Bank.

The country which was found to have made the biggest improvement in the past decade was the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which had a score of 42.50 ten years ago and improved by 27.50 points to a score of 70.

This improvement was based, in part, on reforms allowing married women to register businesses, open bank accounts, and choose where to live in the same way as men. The legal requirement that wives obey their husbands has also been removed in the pas ten years.
Theresa May's 1billion fund to regenerate towns in pro-Brexit areas was today blasted as 'bobbins' by Labour MPs she is accused of trying to 'bribe' to back her Brexit deal.

Up to 35 rebels are said to be queasy about the possibility of a second EU referendum as Mrs May tries to woo them and others ahead of next week's make-or-break vote.

Mrs May has set out plans to funnel nearly 1billion into left-behind towns - with most cash going to the North and Midlands - and will pledge to beef up workers' rights as part of a package designed to persuade Labour MPs to back her Brexit deal.

But potential targets have said that their votes 'can't be bought' - and claim that the cash injection is far less than the amount the Tories have cut from public spending since 2010.

Speaking today Labour MP for Redcar, Anna Turley, whose region would receive an extra 105million over six years, said: 'It really is bobbins compared to what we have had taken away from a whole raft of public services'.

Birmingham MP Jess Phillips tweeted: 'I tell you what she can keep her money, what I want is for her to spend just one day in my office, just one day with the public. I just want them to get it'.

Theresa May, pictured speaking to two-year-old Scarlett Ward in Salisbury today, is fighting for votes to get her deal through and could get the backing of up to 35 Labour MPs keen to avoid a second referendum

Mrs May, pictured with local MP John Glen today, is offering a new 1bn fund to rejuvenate towns - but critics have called it a bribe

The new 1billion fund favours the Midlands and the North where more people voted to leave the European Union

As the PM scrambles for votes to secure her fragile EU deal, it emerged today:

Labour MPs insist they won't be bribed into voting for Tory Brexit with 1billion cash fund aimed at towns were the majority voted to leave the EU in 2016;

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox denies that he has 'admitted defeat' on his plans to secure an end date to Irish backstop, calling reports 'misunderstood fag ends';

Chancellor Philip Hammond is poised to promise a 'Brexit dividend' if MPs back the Prime Minister's Brexit deal and avoid no deal;

Mrs May's chances of winning the vote on March 12 looks increasingly precarious today - and she will need to convince Brexiteers in her own party, the DUP and Labour rebels to change their minds.

Labour MP John Mann claims there are 70 colleagues who are opposed to a second referendum and up to 35 may vote for the PM's deal

Last night it was claimed that Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has 'admitted defeat' on his plans to secure an end date to Irish backstop.

He denied this today saying a report in the Daily Telegraph was based on 'misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts'.

But refusing to be drawn further he said: 'Complex and detailed negotiations cannot be conducted in public'.

Cox will return to Brussels with Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay for more negotiations tomorrow.

Labour Leave-supporter John Mann says that a group of rebel MPs willing to vote with the PM in the Commons has increased from a handful of MPs to approaching 35.

Mr Mann, who represents Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire, believes that 70 of his colleagues are opposed to holding another referendum - and 'possibly half as many' may back the Tory deal with Brussels.

He told The Sun: 'The choice facing us all is either to deliver Brexit as we promised or to vote for a second referendum. When the deal comes before Parliament again, the clear choice will be the deal or a second referendum'.

Labour MPs have said the Prime Minister can 'keep her money' and said the money being offered is a bribe

The Prime Minister walks with Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury, and Tricia Glass, Deputy Head Guide at Salisbury Cathedral, as she visited the historic city one year since the nerve agent attack by the Russians on Sergei Skripal

Mrs May was accused of 'bribery' today after setting out plans to funnel nearly 1billion to left-behind towns in the North and Midlands as part of a package of bribes designed to persuade Labour MPs to back her Brexit deal.

A further 600million will be made available for towns across the country to bid for.

Wigans Labour MP Lisa Nandy, who has said her vote is 'not for sale', tweeted today: This Stronger Towns announcement just keeps getting worse. To put it in context in Wigan alone weve had cuts of 134million since 2010 with more in the pipeline'.

But Don Valley MP and former Labour minister Caroline Flint, who has urged Jeremy Corbyn to allow Labour MPs to have a free vote on Theresa Mays Brexit deal, was more receptive.

I have long argued that the voices and concerns of our smaller towns need to be heard, she said.

Too many funding pots are hoovered up by cities or massive infrastructure projects.

The Stronger Towns Fund isnt enough but it is a step forward.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is said to have admitted defeat on getting the EU to agree a firm end date to the Irish backstop

The Prime Minister will unveil details of the new 1billion Stronger Towns Fund as she launches intensive efforts to woo Labour MPs in pro-Brexit seats.

Is a 'Brexit deal dividend' on the way? The Chancellor could be poised to increase public spending as part of a 'Brexit deal dividend' if MPs back the Prime Minister's Brexit deal. Philip Hammond has reportedly pledged to plough billions of pounds into the public purse if a no deal Brexit is averted. In last year's October budget, he said some of the 15.4bn set aside may have to be used in the event of no deal. But buoyed by strong tax revenue, the Treasury could be given more room to increase public spending later this year, the Financial Times reported. Treasury officials told the paper there will be no changes to spending or tax in next week's Spring Statement, which will be announced in the midst of a series of Brexit votes. In October 2018, the Chancellor said there would have to be a new Budget outlined if Britain left the EU without a deal. He told Sky News: 'We would need to look at a different strategy and frankly we'd need to have a new Budget that set out a different strategy for the future.' Advertisement

The proposals will see 1billion allocated directly to towns in England. Details of the towns involved were not available last night, but 90 per cent of the cash is being allocated to areas in the North and Midlands.

The decision over the 1.6billion fund follows weeks of talks between ministers and backbench Labour MPs unhappy at their partys attempts to frustrate Brexit.

She will also use a speech on Wednesday to set out plans to improve workers' rights in what is already being seen as another pitch to rebels.

Today it was claimed the Attorney General admitted defeat in his attempts to secure a guaranteed exit from the Irish backstop.

Geoffrey Cox is said to have abandoned plans to agree a firm end date or provide for a unilateral British withdrawal from the emergency arrangements.

With the EU refusing to back down, Mr. Cox was now seeking an enhanced 'arbitration mechanism' instead, the Daily Telegraph reported.

The plan would create an 'independent' arbitration panel outside the EU's institutions but Brussels has so far rejected the plans, it is claimed.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said today: We are now at a particularly critical stage in these negotiations and the Attorney Generals work is focused on securing legally binding changes to the backstop that can ensure that the EU cannot hold us in the backstop indefinitely.

Asked how well the talks were going, he added: We have definitely been making progress in our discussions with the EU over the past couple of weeks but there definitely remains more work to be done.

The Attorney General and the Brexit Secretary will in Brussels tomorrow continuing that work.

Meanwhile Justice Minister Rory Stewart said hardline Eurosceptics are becoming 'more pragmatic' about Theresa May's deal.

The threat that Brexit could be delayed, softened or even halted was focusing minds among Eurosceptic MPs, he said.

'I think there's been a huge amount of movement,' he told Sky News.

Justice minister Rory Stewart said the threat that Brexit could be delayed, softened or even halted was focusing minds among Eurosceptic MPs

'I think people are becoming more pragmatic, they are recognising much more than they did in the past that there are a limited number of alternatives to this and that the alternatives are worse.'

A number of senior Eurosceptics have indicated they could back Mrs May's deal, provided she is able to secure concessions on the controversial Irish backstop.

What are Tory Eurosceptics demanding to vote for the PM's Brexit deal? Any concession on the Irish backstop must include a 'clearly-worded, legally-binding' clause which 'unambiguously overrides' the Withdrawal Agreement.

The new tests demand the language in any concession 'must go beyond simply re-emphasising/ re-interpreting the temporary nature of the backstop' and lead to a change in Attorney General Geoffrey Cox's advice that it could 'endure indefinitely'.

Brexiteers also insist that the changes must demonstrate 'a clear and unambiguous route out of the backstop if trade talks fail'. Advertisement

Nigel Evans, secretary of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, said Eurosceptics and the DUP would not accept 'some wishy washy sticking plaster'.

But, writing in the Daily Mail, he said: 'I will be looking very carefully at what (Attorney General) Geoffrey Cox brings back.

'On my interpretation that it delivers what Theresa May said she was going to deliver, and on it having the backing of the DUP, I can see me edging towards pushing this deal over the line.'

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, warned that Remainer attempts to remove the possibility of No Deal had undermined Mrs May, but said Eurosceptic MPs could yet help reverse the defeat inflicted on her deal when it returns to the Commons.

He said: 'When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the EU on March 29.'

Government sources are hoping that Mr Cox will achieve a breakthrough in Brussels by the end of this week that will allow him to change his legal advice that the backstop could 'endure indefinitely' ahead of an expected vote on March 12.

A source at the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs warned ministers not to try to 'bounce' them into backing any revised deal at the last minute, saying: 'We want at least 48 hours' notice. That is not an unreasonable amount of time and anything less would be treating Parliament with contempt.'

The ERG has set up a panel of Eurosceptic lawyers, led by Sir Bill Cash, to pass judgment on any concessions secured by Mr Cox.

Yesterday, the group set out three tests the changes must pass. These include a 'clearly worded, legally-binding treaty-level clause which unambiguously overrides' the text of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The language 'must go beyond simply re-emphasising/re-interpreting the temporary nature of the backstop'.

And the changes must demonstrate 'a clear and unambiguous route out of the backstop if trade talks fail'.

Sabine Weyand, deputy to the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, yesterday suggested the demands are 'way beyond' what is on offer.

But Tory MP Michael Tomlinson, who will sit on the new committee, said Eurosceptics had already compromised by accepting that the change did not necessarily have to be written into the text of the Withdrawal Agreement.

Theresa May's office pays tribute to 'beautiful, welcoming' Salisbury a year on from novichok attack by posting a picture of Bath

Downing Street blamed 'human error' for a social media post about Theresa May's visit to Salisbury being illustrated by a picture of Bath.

A message on the Prime Minister's official Twitter feed paid tribute to the 'beautiful, welcoming' Wiltshire city on the anniversary of the poison attack on former Russian double agent Sergei and Yulia Skripal on its streets.

But rather than a picture of the famous 123-metre spire of Salisbury Cathedral, the message was accompanied by a shot of St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church 40 miles away in Bath.

'I hope that moving forward Salisbury will once again be known for being a beautiful, welcoming English city and not for the events of 4 March 2018,' said the PM in her message.

Journalist Matt Chorley spotted the error on Twitter. Downing Street put it down to 'human error' as the Prime Minister was shown around Salisbury

Prime Minister Theresa May waves at Scarlett Ward, 2, as she walks through Salisbury with local MP John Glen (right)

British Prime Minister Theresa May (R) walks with Nicholas Papadopulos (C), Dean of Salisbury and Tricia Glass, Deputy Head Guide at Salisbury Cathedral

The picture was hastily removed and replaced with a picture of the door of 10 Downing Street, but not before it was noticed by Times journalist Matt Chorley, a native of Somerset and former reporter on the Western Morning News.

'That's the trouble with these Westcountry cathedral cities, they all look the same,' joked Mr Chorley.

Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse said: 'Whilst it's always lovely to see a beautiful shot of Bath, I think No 10 may have got carried away with this time... plenty of nice shots of Salisbury to use!'

Mrs May's official spokesman said: 'This was human error. It was corrected as soon as anyone was made aware of it.

'The Prime Minister is in Salisbury today and will be expressing her great admiration for the resilience which the community has shown in response to the attack a year ago.'
China's first female AI anchor has made her professional debut on Sunday as the country's state-run press agency builds its growing team of virtual presenters.

The lifelike robotic news anchor, named 'Xin Xiaomeng', was tasked to present a story about delegates arriving in Beijing to attend the country's annual legislative session, the largest political event of the year.

Modelled after the agency's flesh-and-blood journalist Qu Meng, the newsreader powered by artificial intelligence was jointly developed by Xinhua and search engine company Sogou.com and can 'read texts as naturally as a professional anchor'.

The lifelike robotic news anchor, named 'Xin Xiaomeng', was tasked to present a story about delegates arriving in Beijing to attend the country's annual legislative session

The female AI anchor is modelled after agency's flesh-and-blood journalist Qu Meng. Above, a screengrab of Qu presenting a segment in January 2014

'All delegates attending the meeting have arrived in Beijing. All preparations for the conference are in place,' the anchor, sporting a short haircut and pink blouse, read in a somewhat robotic voice.

'The second session of the 13th National People's Congress will kick off in Beijing on March 5,' she ended the one-minute report by saying.

Xin Xiaomeng joins the digital doppelgangers of English-language anchor Zhang Zhao and his Chinese-language counterpart Qiu Hao, who were unveiled in November during the 2018 World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.

'All delegates attending the meeting have arrived in Beijing. All preparations for the conference are in place,' the AI anchor, sporting a short haircut and pink blouse, read

Modelled after the agency's flesh-and-blood journalist Qu Meng, the newsreader powered by artificial intelligence was jointly developed by Xinhua and search engine company Sogou.com

An AI system has been used to synthesise the presenters' voices, lip movements and expressions based on those of real presenters.

The digital anchors offer certain advantages over humans, Xinhua previously said. They are available to work 24 hours a day on its official website and various social media platforms.

This can reduce news production costs and improve efficiency during breaking news reports, it added.

Xinhua said that its 'new employees' have taken to their roles with enthusiasm and have published more than 3,400 reports totaling over 10,000 minutes in length since November.

Xinhua previously unveiled its first AI anchor (right) based on human presenter Qiu Hao (left)

Xinhua also previously unveiled an improved version of its AI presenter Qiu Hao, named Xin Xiaohao, who is able to gesticulate in a natural manner and read the news while standing up

China has become one of the leading global hubs for AI development in recent years.

Several fields such as finance, healthcare, and manufacturing have adopted machine learning systems for commercial uses.

Automating workplaces in China with AI could add 0.8 to 1.4 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP) growth annually, depending on the speed of adoption, according to a report by McKinsey Global Institute.

Thousands of delegates from around China are gathering in Beijing for this week's annual session of the country's rubber-stamp legislature and its advisory body.

Delegates attend the opening of the second session of the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing

The 'Two Sessions' include the plenary sessions of the National Peoples Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a body that advises the government on a range of issues.

The session provides an opportunity for party leaders to sum up the past year's achievements and lay out their priorities for the coming 12 months.

It also offers a rare glimpse of President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and other top officials going about the business of governing Chinese style, as the world's most populous nation faces challenges from a slowing economy to a radical decline in its birthrate as well as a trade war with the United States.
A former Kurdish asylum seeker has claimed he killed 250 ISIS terrorists while serving as a sniper with Kurdish forces in Syria.

Azad Cudi joined the YPG volunteer army in 2013 and a year later found himself among a 2,500-strong mixed male and female force defending the city of Kobani from 12,000 bloodthirsty jihadists.

Among brutal street-to-street fighting, the 35-year-old was struck by a rocket fired by an ISIS fighter. 'When I was hit I saw the colour of death and experienced its wild emotions,' he wrote.

Azad Cudi writes about his experiences in My Life As A Sniper In The Fight Against ISIS (pictured, him in Kobani and, right, the book's front cover)

Mr Cudi sought asylum in Britain aged 19 after fleeing conscription into the Iranian Army to fight against the Kurds - his own people.

When the Syrian revolution erupted in 2011, allowing ISIS to gain territory for its 'caliphate', he decided he had to return to try and save his homeland.

He began fighting as a sniper in 2013 after a brief period of training using old rifles and sights.

'I was defending my land, my people, civilians,' he wrote in an extract of Long Shot: My Life As A Sniper In The Fight Against ISIS seen by The Express.

He soon found himself facing crazed ISIS fighters high on drugs like ecstasy and carrying keys they thought would be used to gain entry to heaven.

Mr Cudi he killed 250 jihadists - while a fellow sniper shot dead 500.

If that figure is correct, then it is more than the number of kills recorded by US Navy SEAL Chris Kyle, which was portrayed in the film 'American Sniper'.

Mr Kyle killed 160 people - higher than any other US serviceman.

Now back home in northern England, Mr Cudi says he has increased his security in case he is targeted by ISIS sympathisers in Britain.

'There are sleeper cells which could be anywhere but I have my security and I am careful,' he said.

'I am lucky to be living in an open, democratic society and I appreciate my life in Britain.'

Mr Cudi was operated on after being hit by the rocket and has now recovered.
A mother abandoned her seven-year-old daughter in the street when she fell from a fifth-floor apartment building after helping the woman sneak out to a party, local media reports.

Evgenia Balabanova, 30, of Zuyevka in western Russia's Kirov Oblast region, reportedly tied bed sheets together to escape her flat through the window after her husband locked her in their home to prevent her partying ways.

Not wanting to leave her daughter Diana, seven, home alone, Mrs Balabanova was said to have told her to climb down the sheets first.

But the youngster soon fell on the snow-covered ground.

Evgenia Balabanova (left), 30, called an ambulance for her daughter (right) after her fall but then left the scene and headed to a local bar, according to Russian media

The seven-year-old fell from this fifth-floor apartment building in Zuyevka in western Russia's Kirov Oblast region

Witnesses said the mother climbed down the sheets after her daughter, who was lying on the ground and crying in pain, and called an ambulance.

However, instead of staying by her daughter's side Mrs Balabanova was seen leaving the scene and headed to a local bar to party with her friends, according to Russian media.

Luckily, some neighbours waited with the youngster and tried to comfort her. The girl was hospitalised and diagnosed with severe bruises and shock.

Balabanova reportedly tied bed sheets together to escape her flat through the window after her husband (pictured together) locked her in their home to prevent her partying ways. Not wanting to leave her daughter Diana, 7, home alone, she told her to climb down the sheets first

A local resident, who is an acquaintance of the family said: 'After the incident, she [Balabanova] (pictured) danced and drank in the bar all night while her husband was in the hospital with their daughter.'

A hospital spokesperson said: 'Fortunately, the girl fell on a snowdrift and got away without fatal injuries. She spent two days in the hospital then was discharged.'

Reports say Mrs Balabanova had been locked at home by her husband Evgeny Golovin, who wanted to stop her from partying and make her spend time with their daughter.

A local resident, who is an acquaintance of the family said: 'After the incident, she [Balabanova] danced and drank in the bar all night while her husband was in the hospital with their daughter.'

Police are checking the incident.
Jodie Chesney, 17, was brutally stabbed to death in a park in Romford last night

ByRoss Ibbetsonand Zoie O'brienand Tim Stickings For Mailonline

The 17-year-old girl scout stabbed to death on Friday was killed in cold blood as two men walked straight up to her and one of them knifed her in the back, police have revealed.

Jodie Chesney was murdered while playing music with her boyfriend, 18-year-old Eddie Coyle, and four other friends in Harold Hill, Romford.

Friends say the shocking killing may have been a case of mistaken identity and Jodie had no connection to any local gangs.

Police have said the killer was a black teenager who had been in the park with another man earlier in the evening, before returning at 9.30pm and stabbing Ms Chesney in the back.

The two suspects then ran off while her heartbroken boyfriend screamed for help and 'stroked and kissed her face' as she lay bleeding to death, witnesses have said.

Mr Coyle left an emotional message on a card nearby, saying: 'Jodie you are the best thing that could have happened in my life. I will love you always and you will forever be in my heart beautiful.'

Jodie's mother Claire Gillham also left flowers at the scene of the murder today while her grandmother called for an end to 'needless violence'.

Detectives are appealing for further witnesses but have yet to make any arrests.

A post-mortem at East Ham mortuary today confirmed her cause of death as trauma and haemorrhage, Scotland Yard said.

Claire Gillham, mother of Jodie Chesney (far right) pays her respects at the scene at St Neots Road, Harold Hill where Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death

Tributes: People lay flowers for Jodie Chesney after the 17-year-old Scout Explorer was knifed to death in London

Investigation: Police officers search near the scene of the murder on St Neot's Road in Harold Hill

The scene of the crime in Romford where Jodie Chesney was knifed to death. Forensic police officers search the park as flowers and lanterns are left nearby

Ms Chesney was an enthusiastic Scout Explorer who had visited Downing Street in November posting on Instagram that it was 'so much fun' and 'I'm basically famous now.'

She was also selected to honour the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Albert Hall, appearing in a BBC broadcast last year in front of the Queen and Prince William.

Speaking to ITV News her uncle Dave Chesney said the family was 'devastated', adding: 'This was a totally random and unprovoked attack on a beautiful, lovely and quirky young girl with her whole life in front of her.'

Her grandmother Debbie Chesney said: 'This was our youngest granddaughter. How have we come to this point where kids cant have a walk in a park without suffering an unprovoked attack?

'If anyone knows anything about this please contact the police with information. We dont want anyone else to go through what our family is suffering right now.

'This has to stop, there are too many young people having their lives cut short by needless violence.'

Witness Krystle Pasha, who lives close to the scene of the stabbing, told Sky News she heard arguing and shouting before a 'disturbing' scream in the moments before the attack.

Another witness, mother-of-three Teresa Farenden, 49, and her friend Kelly Smith, 36, said two men stabbed the teenage girl in front of her boyfriend before fleeing.

Mrs Farenden said: 'I was trying to do my coat up in the drive and I shouted out 'is everything okay?' as I was worried it could be kids drinking. Then a boy said 'no I need help, my girlfriend has been stabbed' and I just flew over there in my flip flops.

'We tried to compress the wound to stop the bleeding but there was just so much. It was like being in a horror movie. When I got there she was breathing but it was very shallow, she was groaning and there was a slight pulse.

'The boyfriend was holding her and kissing her face. He was whispering and begging her, 'Please, please stay awake'.

Jodie Chesney, 17, (circled in red) is stood next to Explorer Scouts at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2018. Just months later she would be stabbed to death in a London park

Jodie Chesney was stabbed in the back and lay bleeding to death in a park on Friday night. Her boyfriend comforted her as neighbours of the park ran over to try and save her

Police officers remain at the scene of the killing on Sunday as officers try to track down her attackers - believe to be a group of young men

Flowers describing Jodie as an 'angel' were left at the scene near Amy's Park after Jodie was killed on Friday

The park remains closed off with a blue tent still in place as officers comb the area for clues as to who the attackers were

Just hours before her death Ms Chesney posted an Instagram picture which said: 'Happy birthday Dad' and tagged Pete Chesney on his 39th

Friends lay flowers at the scene in Harold Hill, Romford where Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death. Police and forensic teams remain at the scene today

Jodie Chesney with her boyfriend Ed Coyle who comforted her and kissed her face as she lay dying

Mrs Farenden said: 'The ambulance arrived and I told the 999 call handler. She asked me to stay on the phone until the crew had reached us on the park. And in that moment the girl died.

'I turned to look at her and my friend, who had come to help, just said, 'We've lost her'.'

Mrs Farenden - whose house faces the park - began CPR but did not realise the blade remained lodged in Jodie's back. It is believed she was stabbed with such force that the blade snapped, meaning those who tried to help her could not see it.

She added: 'The knife blade was still in her, but I didn't see it because it was dark.

'I didn't realise at the time, but then all I kept thinking once the police told me was 'have I put the knife in further by giving her compressions?''

She added: 'It was horrific, it was just the blood. There must've been two pints of blood. There was so much of it.

'The girl was moaning, but she was mostly silent. We checked her pulse and we could hear her breathing.'

Mrs Farenden went on: 'People are scared to help, but all I was thinking with my mother's instinct was I need to help.

'Her boyfriend did everything he could. When I came over she was on her back so I moved her onto her side.

'Then the boyfriend's friend came over with some kitchen roll.

'Then there was another girl and a man came over in a van to help and took his coat off to keep it on the wound and keep it compressed as much as they could.

'I think he was the dad of one of the boyfriend's friends. I was just trying to keep her legs in the recovery position because she was heavy, like a dead weight.

'Just as the ambulance crew turned up, she had gone. It was devastating. My heart is with the family how something so devastating like that could happen to a young girl.'

Ms Chesney in her girl scouts uniform outside 10 Downing Street, she was described as a 'bright and lovely' A-level student who was involved in the Duke of Edinburgh awards scheme

When emergency services arrived, Jodie Chesney (left and right) still had the blade lodged in her back as horrified neighbours rushed to save her life

A message left today at the park said: 'Jodie, We love you. You are so strong. We will always remember you'

Mourners gathered at the park in Harold Hill on Saturday after she bled to death within an hour of being stabbed on Friday night

A young man arrives to place a bouquet of flowers near the scene of the tragic fatal stabbing - she has been described by other teens from the area as 'the most happy person'

Police were called to reports of a stabbing in children's park close to St Neot's Road in Harold Hill at 9.25pm on Friday, where they found the girl with slash wounds. Pictured: Forensic officers at the scene this morning

Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park as she sat with her boyfriend on Friday night. 'Disturbing' screams were heard by neighbours

Sadiq Khan said he was 'filled with anger' and 'devastated' by the killing of the teenage girl - as murders in the capital soar

Debbie Chesney, Jodie's grandmother, said: 'We don't want anyone else to go through what our family is suffering right now'

Mrs Farenden added: 'It is so traumatic - she is not going to have any children, she is not going to get married - it has all been taken away.

'She was such an attractive girl and her boyfriend was a lovely looking lad.

'It just seems so random; it must've been horrific for her boyfriend and those other young people there to experience.

'It is just unreal - I think God, it could have been my daughter.'

Acting Detective Chief Superintendent John Ross, of the Met's East Area Command Unit, said: 'Yesterday a 17-year-old girl lost her life, and I want to express my deepest sympathies to this girl's family and friends.

'Her death is a tragedy. I can reassure them and the whole community that we are doing everything possible to identify and bring to justice the person or persons responsible.'

Sadiq Khan said he was 'filled with anger' and 'devastated' by the killing of the teenager.

In a tweet this morning, the Mayor of London said: 'Devastated by the fatal stabbing of a 17 year-old girl in Havering.

'My thoughts are with her loved ones. It fills me with anger that violent criminals are targeting young Londoners with their whole lives before them. I encourage anyone with information to contact the police.'
'Please use common sense', said PM Modi. He stated if IAF had Rafale today, the situation would have been different.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the public meeting in Jamnagar on a two-day visit to Gujarat. (Photo: ANI/ twitter)

Jamnagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the public meeting in Jamnagar on a two-day visit to Gujarat. PM Modi inaugurated various development works and a hospital building in a medical college campus here.

In his speech, PM Modi emphasised on eliminating the menace of terror. He said, The nation agrees that the menace of terror has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say? We should be proud of our armed forces. Yet, I dont understand why some people still want to question the forces.

Talking about the ongoing Indo-Pak situation, he mentioned, Please use common sense. What I said was if the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved. I can't do anything if some people fail to understand this.

After inaugrating the hospital, PM Modi said, "In Ayushman Bharat, India is home to one of the biggest healthcare programmes in the world. The coming of this initiative ensures top quality and affordable healthcare for the poor."

PM assured people that hospitals with modern facilities will come across the state which will benefit the poor.

Commenting on farmers issue, Modi stated that the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi would bring substantive benefits for Indias farmers. It is a long term and comprehensive effort for farmer welfare.

He also said, India needs structural and long term measures to overcome the challenges we face. The time for poorly thought of short term measures is over.

Sending a message for water conservation that benefits the present and future generations both, Modi asserted, having seen the hardships we face due to water shortage, it becomes our responsibility to conserve every drop of water.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam has brought much relief to the people of Gujarat. This project was completed despite neglect from earlier state governments and adversities from various quarters. I was certain that I cant allow Tanker Raj to carry on in Gujarat, he added.

PM Modi would also visit Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj in Gandhinagar and will launch several projects in Vastral, Ahmedabad during the visit.

The Prime Minister started his two-day visit from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region where he dedicates to the nation a 750-bed annexe of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital and inaugurates its PG hostel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also flagged off Humsafar Express train between Jamnagar and Bandra Terminus via video conference.

Gujarat is Modis home province where he was the Chief Minister till 2014 and is conventional for unmatched clout in the politics.
Over 1,500 exotic turtles worth 65,626 were found wrapped in duct tape and packed in suitcases at Manila airport after being smuggled from Hong Kong.

The creatures were discovered squirming in four bags when they were run through the X-ray machine at Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

The bags were owned by one passenger travelling from Hong Kong and included star, redfoot and sulcata tortoises as well as red-eared terrapins worth 4.5 million Philippine peso (65,623) on the black market.

The turtles were packed into boxes after being taped up and flown to Manila from Hong Kong

The Filipino passenger had spread the rare turtles throughout numerous bags and bound them with tape

A customs official holds one of the confiscated turtles above a group of dozens of the little creatures in a cardboard box

One of the terrified little turtles sits inside its shell as it is handled by customs officials at Manila airport

The Filipino traveller who owned the bags left them unclaimed in the arrivals area, but could face a prison sentence of one to two years or a fine of between 291 and 2,916.

The 1,529 live animals were turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit, the authorities said.

Convictions for the illegal trading of wildlife are punishable by a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to 200,000 pesos (3,000).

A box packed with turtles (left) nad a bag packed up with clothes and other goods is littered with tortoises and terrapins (right)

Some of the valuable animals were packed into this oblong cardboard box and wrapped in duct tape

The haul included star, redfoot and sulcata tortoises as well as red-eared terrapins which would have fetched tens of thousands of pounds on the black market

One of the little creatures is held aloft by a customs official, they were handed over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources' Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit

In 2018, Philippine authorities turned over a total of 560 wildlife and endangered species, including 250 geckos and 254 corals smuggled through air parcels, baggage and shipments.

The airport has also apprehended 63 iguanas, chameleons and bearded dragons this year.

The reptiles were turned over by the Bureau of Customs NAIA to the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit.
A furious mother says will be forced to home school her twins after they were given places at secondary school more than two hours apart.

Jacqueline Brookes, 40, was 'devastated' after her children, who have never been separated, were denied places in her chosen school.

The mother-of-four, from Worthing, West Sussex, says ten-year-old Leon and Tiggy now face dangerous solo commutes to schools six miles from each other.

Ms Brookes, who cannot drive, said she would rather home school the twins than let them travel on a train on their own.

Jacqueline Brookes, 40, was 'devastated' after her children, who have never been separated, were denied places in the same school

More than 600,000 children across England and Wales were told on Friday which secondary school their children would attend.

But as many as one in four families did not get their first preference in England last week.

The three schools Jacqueline applied for were - all rated 'good' or 'outstanding' - were not chosen.

But the schools the twins were allocated were St Andrew's C.E. High School for Boys and Angmering School - both of which are rated 'requires improvement'.

Ms Brooke's twins broke down in tears when they learned the news that it would take more than two hours to walk from Leon's assigned school to Tiggy's.

The single mother said: 'I opened the letter on Friday and called the twins over.

'I was expecting their faces to light up and for it to be an amazing day but they ended up in tears - they were devastated.

Leon (right) and Tiggy (left) now face dangerous solo commutes to schools six miles apart

Leon will go to a school in Worthing while Tiggy has been sent to a school six miles away in Angmering

'It's shocking, Leon is going to a school in Worthing that had a bad Ofsted report and Tiggy is going to a school in Angmering.'

The teaching one of the schools was described as 'not consistently good' and inspectors said 'teachers do not provide enough challenge for the most able pupils or give sufficient focus and support for low-attaining pupils'.

Ms Brooke has appealed the decision and said she would rather home-school the twins than have them torn apart by the council's decision.

But West Sussex County Council today said it offered the twins the option to go the same school.

Ms Brooke works as a full-time carer for her six-year-old son Aston, who has special needs, and is unable to do the school run.

She said: 'You have to walk up a dual carriageway to get there - there is no way I'm letting my ten-year-olds walk up a dual carriageway.

'The two of them have been together since birth and nine months in the womb before that.

Ms Brooke said the pair had never been apart and feared the effect it could have on her son who suffers from anxiety

'Secondary school is hard enough - they could be each others' rocks but have been put on opposite ends of the town.

'There is no way I will let this happen, if they can't go to school together I'll take them out and home-school them.'

The council has claimed more than 96 per cent of children got their chosen school but Jacqueline branded this as 'rubbish'.

She said: 'I was speaking to a parent from Goring Primary, where the twins go, and she thinks only five children got their chosen school so that is absolute rubbish.'

Ms Brooke said the pair had never been apart and feared the effect it could have on her son who suffers from anxiety.

She said: 'My daughter is the leader, so if they were split up it would be devastating for my son. He relies on her. What she says, he does - she is the lead twin.

'My son suffers from anxiety and there's no way he can travel all that way on the train on his own. He would be a nervous, gibbering wreck by the time he got home.

'They would both be going home in the dark on their own in winter. It's not even entertainable.'

The mother thinks it is 'unacceptable' that her children will have to travel such a huge distance on their own.

She said: 'My children are still 10 years old - they're two of the youngest in their year and only turn 11 in June.

'No parent would let an 11-year-old travel that far on their own. It's just not acceptable. I'm not going to take this lying down.'

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: 'A letter was sent to Leon and Teagan's parents on 1 March offering places at their nearest schools with space, in line with the Admissions Code and oversubscription criteria.

'We were not able to offer the children a place at one of their three preferred schools.

'This letter was clear that if the parents want the twins to go to the same secondary school, they should contact the Admissions Team as this could be offered at The Angmering School.

'We always give the option for parents with twins or multiples to go to the same school where possible, as in this case.

'The vast majority of West Sussex applicants - 96.5 per cent- were offered a place at one of their three preferred schools, with 84.2 per cent given their first preference.

'A small number were not able to be offered one of their preferences. This could be for a number of reasons and we do appreciate how disappointing this can be for these families.'

Ms Brooke said: 'The problem still remains - two young 11-year-olds travelling all the way to Angmering on their own.

'The catchment school is Durrington and that's a stone's throw away - if it's over subscribed it's not my fault.

'If they don't change the decision I will pull them out if school I refuse to let them travel that distance alone - they're very vulnerable and if anything happens the buck will stop with the school.'

She added: 'They want to put my twins in Angmering, a failing school no one wants to be in.'
White House national security adviser John Bolton has said that New Jersey-born 'ISIS bride' Hoda Muthana needs to prove her citizenship if she is to return to the US.

His comments come after President Trump said on Twitter that he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo agree that she shouldn't be allowed to return.

The 24-year-old from Hackensack left to join ISIS in November 2014, using funds her parents had provided for her college tuition.

She traveled to Syria on an American passport and married a succession of ISIS fighters.

She allegedly posted a series of tweets encouraging attacks on the west and she now says she wants to return with her 18-month-old son.

The American-born ISIS bride told NBC News on Friday that she anticipates 'no problem' in returning to the U.S

Muthana, who grew up in Alabama, said she regrets her actions and that the tweets were sent from someone using her account.

The family of Muthana filed suit last week against the Trump administration after the government said she wasn't a citizen.

She was born in New Jersey in 1994, where her father - a Yemeni - was on diplomatic duty.

In conversation with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation on CBS News, Bolton said: 'My understanding is that she is not a U.S. citizen. That's the take of the State Department at this point.'

Hoda Muthana is pictured with her 18-month-old son. She left Alabama for Syria aged 19

Pompeo said Hoda Muthana, who is now in a refugee camp in Syria along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State, has no legal claim to citizenship in the United States

He added that 'Americans can renounce their citizenship by their words and by their actions aligning with foreign powers' when Brennan faced him with the fact that Muthana was issued with a US passport.

He also said that if Muthana can present evidence of her citizenship 'we will take a look at it'.

Brennan posed him with the question of where Muthana should face trial, to which he responded that 'it's a possibility' that she could be hauled before US courts.

Speaking more broadly about ISIS elopers in Syria and other countries outside the US, Bolton said that the government is working with European allies on the matter.

He said: 'We're not eager to have simply pick up that responsibility we think others have the responsibility too, and that's the approach we're taking.

President Donald Trump said that he told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to refuse her entry

Bolton said that if Muthana can present evidence of her citizenship 'we will take a look at it'

Donald Trump tweeted last Wednesday: 'I have instructed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and he fully agrees, not to allow Hoda Muthana back into the Country!'

He previously called for European countries to take back their fighters but his position on Muthana is clear.

Her family are continuing to fight to get her back into the US.

The case mirrors an ongoing on in the UK where another ISIS bride, also in the al-Hawl camp, is fighting to return home.

Shamima Begum joined ISIS when she was 15 and is currently in a highly publicized to and fro with UK authorities over whether she can return home.

The UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid said she's not a citizen and that she has Bangladeshi citizenship through her mother.

Bangladesh don't want to take the now 19-year-old but she can't be left stateless under UK law so her fate is unclear.
Police confiscated assortment of dangerous weapons in London in one week

The statistics come as two 17-year-olds are stabbed to death on Saturday night

Knife point robberies by teens increased by more than 50 per cent in five years

Under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has nearly doubled in five years

These are the terrifying blades police have seized in London in just one week - as the extent of the country's knife crime epidemic is laid bare.

Police forces across the capital have used their social media accounts to highlight the deadly blades that they have confiscated.

In just one week, 15 of the weapons - which range from a meat cleaver to a frightening lock knife - have been seized and posted online by police. The true number of confiscated weapons is likely to be much higher.

It comes after two teenagers, a Girl Scout and a pupil at a top private school, were stabbed to death in Wild West Britain at the weekend.

During a weapons sweep police in Regents Park found a meat cleaver and small amount of cannabis

Police in Haringey arrested two people this morning for possession of an offensive weapon. They were seen with a knife in the N15 area

After walking past a plain clothes officer with a joint in his mouth a male was searched and allegedly found to be in possession of a knife

Firearms officers were called to assist Greenwich Police a number of males involved in a large fight involving knives where people had been injured

Charlton Police received calls to a male with a knife in Abbey Wood, and chased a male matching the description, then recovering this knife

Islington Police search an individual who was found with a large quantity of cash, pills and a knife

The assortment of knives recovered by police officers in Camden, Islington, Shoreditch, Enfield, Haringey and Charlton come as new statistics show the number of under-16s treated in hospital for stab wounds has nearly doubled in five years.

Doctors are battling to save three children a day on average as knife crime rates soar to the highest level since the Second World War.

The figures revealed:

A total of 347 under-16s were taken to A&E with stab wounds last year, up from 180 in 2012-13

The number of child knife killers has risen by 77 per cent in two years

Knife-point robberies by teenagers have leapt by more than 50 per cent in the same period, and the number of teens carrying out knife-point rapes has surged by a third

These weapons were found in a rucksack by Camden Police and wwere discarded by a group of males running from police

Plain clothes patrolling Shoreditch & observed a male acting suspiciously, he made off and was swiftly detained, found in possession of cannabis and this nasty looking lock knife

Enfield Town police recovered this large kitchen knife in the park near the Enfield Town Library

This knife was found by a resident and was seized and destroyed by police in Enfield

Lambeth police chased a male who made off on foot and seized this knife and cannabis

On late patrols, officers from the Brentford team arrested a male for possession of class B drug and possession of an offensive weapon (left). Officers in Camden found a this knife concealed in some stairs at a local estate

Haringey Police without a doubt saved a life if not lives after finding this zombie-style blade

Haringey Police arrested two people for possession of this blue handled steak knife

It comes as yet more shocking violence erupted on Britain's streets at the weekend.

Jodie Chesney, 17, was stabbed in the back as she sat on a park bench with her boyfriend in Romford, east London, on Friday night.

Yesterday her distraught mother laid flowers at the scene as relatives said they were struggling to come to terms with a random and unprovoked attack on a beautiful, lovely and quirky young girl with her whole life in front of her.

In another horrific attack, Manchester Grammar School pupil Yousef Makki, also 17, was stabbed to death in the Cheshire village of Hale Barns on Saturday. Police were quizzing two 17-year-old private school pupils yesterday.

The murders follow the fatal stabbings of three teenagers in a fortnight in Birmingham, which led to West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson declaring a national emergency.

New statistics show that knife crime has soared to its highest level since the Second World War

Jodie Chesney, 17, (left and right) was stabbed to death on Friday night in Romford, East London

Sajid Javid will meet police chiefs to discuss violent crime amid a series of brutal stabbings around the country.

The Home Secretary will chair the Chief Constables roundtable following the high-profile deaths of two 17-year-olds.

The event on Wednesday will include police chiefs from the areas most affected by knife crime.

An investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches into Wild West Britain, to be broadcast tonight, looked at hospital and police data to uncover the shocking rise in children being caught up in knife crime

NHS data shows that 1,029 teenagers aged 19 or under were treated for assaults with knives or other sharp objects across England and Wales last year  up from 55 per cent from five years ago.

Yousef Makki, 17, also died from stab wounds on Saturday night. Two private school pupils are being questioned in relation to the incident

More than two-thirds of the knife-related injuries were treated in hospitals outside London, the NHS Digital figures show. It follows Office of National Statistics data showing there is almost twice as much knife crime outside of London compared to in the capital.

Separate police data obtained by the programme under Freedom of Information laws demonstrates that the number of teenage perpetrators of crimes involving blades has also risen.

The number of knife killers under the age of 18 leapt by 77 per cent between 2016 and 2018, from 26 offenders to 46.

A breakdown of age-related data from 21 police forces shows that the proportion of youths committing knife-point robberies has increased by 50 per cent, from 656 offences in 2016 to 999 in 2018. In the same period, the number of teenage rapes and sexual assaults using a knife increased from 24 to 33.

Lord Hogan-Howe told Dispatches: I have to admit to being shocked by the huge rise in the number of young people being stabbed.

Its incredibly worrying and something we should all be concerned about... This is clearly a national crisis.

The retired top officer called for an extra 20,000 police officers to flood socially deprived areas, saying: We need to increase police numbers in these places and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution, including by county lines.

Our technology is in the Dark Ages. What we need is great facial recognition and behavioural science software that helps officers to find who and when to search.

Britains Knife Crisis: Young, Armed and Dangerous, tonight at 8pm, Channel 4.
A Canadian ex-diplomat detained by China has been accused of stealing state secrets for overseas entities helped by another Canadian citizen, according to Chinese state media.

Michael Kovrig was working for a non-profit organisation when he was detained in Beijing last December on suspicion of carrying out activities that harmed the China's national security.

It is said that the intelligence had been passed onto Kovrig by Canadian businessman, Michael Spavor, who was also detained by China in December.

Michael Kovrig (pictured) has been accused of stealing state secrets for overseas entities by China, according to Chinese state newspaper Global Times citing a relevant government body

The Chinese authorities alleged that Kovrig had obtained state secrets and intelligence from another Canadian citizen Michael Spavor (pictured), who was also detained in December

Chinese authorities claimed that they had achieved a breakthrough in the investigation of Kovrig's case, according a report on state-run Global Times today, citing information released by a relevant government body.

Kovrig has been accused of stealing and spying on state secrets and intelligence from China for overseas entities through his contacts inside China.

Authorities alleged that Kovrig had carried out such activities since 2017 by entering China with an ordinary passport and business visas.

Michael Spavor, a Canadian businessman who was also detained on suspicion of harming China's national security, is said to have been 'an important contact' for Kovrig and provided intelligence for him.

The article claimed that Kovrig's behaviour had 'seriously violated the Chinese law' and that China 'will resolutely crack down on any illegal and criminal activities that seriously endanger national security'.

The relevant government body also promised to provide Kovrig and Spavor's legal rights, the article said.

The arrests of the two Canadians came after Meng Wanzhou, a top Chinese executive, was arrested in Canada on December 1 last year at the request of the United States.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump denounced China's 'arbitrary detention' of two Canadians during a telephone call last month, officials said.

The arrests of the two Canadians came after Meng Wanzhou (pictured), a top Chinese executive, was arrested in Canada on December 1 last year at the request of the United States

The arrest of Meng, the CFO of Chinese tech-giant Huawei, has sparked political tensions between China, Canada and the United States. Meng is awaiting extradition proceedings

Washington accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to sell equipment to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Meng is facing extradition to the United States.

The arrest of Meng has sparked ongoing political tensions between China, Canada and the United States.

Another Canadian, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, was sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking last month amid the diplomatic row after the court changed his original 15-year jail sentence.

China has not drawn a direct link between its detention of the two Canadians and Meng's arrest, but Beijing-based Western diplomats have called the cases a tit-for-tat reprisal.

Last month, more than 100 academics and former diplomats are calling on China to release Kovrig and Spavor in a letter addressed to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The letter says the arrests of the two Canadians sends a worrisome signal to those who work in policy and research in China.

Another Canadian, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg (pictured), was sentenced to death in China for drug trafficking last month. The court had changed its original 15-year jail sentence

It notes Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank. It notes that Spavor devoted his time to building relationships between North Korea and China, Canada and United States.

It praises Kovrig and Spavor as bridge-builders between China and the world and said their arrests make writers 'more cautious' about travelling to China.

The International Crisis Group, the organisation Kovrig works for, said they were aware of the report but had not heard any official charges laid against Kovrig.

A spokesperson from the Brussels-based non-profit said: 'Michael's work for Crisis Group has been entirely transparent and in the open as all who follow his work can attest.'

The spokesperson added: 'Vague and unsubstantiated accusations against him are unwarranted and unfair.'

On the other hand, Meng has sued the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force over her arrest as the United States continues their bid to get her extradited to face charges

Meng claimed that the Canadian authorities had detained, searched and interrogated her before telling her she was under arrest.

Lawyers for Meng said yesterday that they filed a notice of civil claim in the British Columbia Supreme Court.

Meng is out on bail and living in Vancouver awaiting extradition proceedings.
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A humpback whale accidentally caught low-flying seagulls as it took a huge mouthful of fish.

Surprised herring gulls desperately tried to flee the enormous whale's mouth after it rose out of the water to catch a school of bait fish.

As the 44ft-long whale sank back below the surface it realized its mistake and released the 'frantic' gulls back into the sky.

But the whale still managed to keep hold of the school of bait fish as it released the three or four gulls from its jaws.

Photographer Brendon Bissonnette captured this rare moment in the Salish Sea off the coast of Sooke, Canada, and said the whale rose 15ft out of the water.

The 25-year-old marine naturalist from Cornwall in Ontario, Canada, said he 'watched in awe' as this whale and other humpbacks made spectacular 'lunges' to catch fish.

A humpback whale making an enormous lunge to catch a mouthful of fish accidentally captured some unfortunate gulls (circled) inside its mouth

Waling: The 'frantic' gulls managed to get out of the enormous whale's mouth as it scooped up an school of bait fish and snared the birds as well

He said: 'I was watching three humpback whales offshore of Sooke when I noticed some intense lunge-feeding behaviors taking place.

'The humpback whales were working the area independently, each one going back-and-forth between balls of bait fish.

'The humpbacks would lunge horizontally or diagonally, as they often do, in order to capture large mouthfuls of tiny schooling bait fish in their baleen, which are hairy bristles made out of keratin that allow humpbacks to filter their food, instead of having teeth for chewing.

'They have parallel throat grooves that run from their mouth down their body that allow them to billow out their mouths like bullfrogs, allowing them to capture more food.

Feed Willy: The 44ft-long whale rose out of the water and grabbed the herring gulls and the school of bait fish in its mouth, cleverly releasing the unwanted birds

Open wide: The humpback whale made spectacular 'lunges' to catch fish, but soon released the low-flying gulls is grabbed at the same time. Photographer Brendon Bissonnette said: 'Luckily for the gulls, this humpback whale realized the situation and allowed them to escape without harm, just a little wet and shaken-up'

'As I was watching in awe, one of the whales lunged out of the water but this time the individual came straight up - vertically.

'A vertical lunge-feed is not something I often see and as such I was extremely excited.

'It truly seemed to happen in slow motion. The whale rose about 15ft out of the water at its peak and, as it began closing its mouth, I noticed a few frantic gulls trying to escape from inside the baleen.

'As the whale sank back into the water it opened its mouth, allowing the birds to escape but it also managed to retain the fish in its lower mouth.

'It then dove and surfaced closer to a different bait ball, likely unfazed.'
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman (pictured) was hailed for his heroic stoicism

The Indian pilot captured in Pakistan who was released to a heros welcome on Friday has become an unlikely trendsetter after sparking an increase in handlebar moustaches.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was at the centre of cross-border tensions after his plane was shot down last month - prompting pleas from world leaders for the two countries to step back from the brink of war.

The pilot was praised for his stoic professionalism after he ate sensitive documents so they would not fall into his captors' hands and has been hailed as a national hero.

So much so, that men across India have rushed to mimic the pilot and his signature moustache in tribute to his actions.

The design, which joins the style of a gunslinger-styled moustache with a mutton chop beard, has been dubbed the Abhinandan throughout India, with men sharing their best looks across social media.

Men across India have rushed to mimic the pilot and his signature moustache

The design, which joins the style of a gunslinger-styled moustache with a mutton chop beard, has been dubbed the Abhinandan throughout India, with men sharing their best looks across social media

The design, which joins the style of a gunslinger-styled moustache with a mutton chop beard, has been dubbed the Abhinandan throughout India, with men sharing their best looks across social media

Even companies have joined in on the act, with Indian dairy giant Amul paying tribute to the pilot's characteristic look in an advertisement branded Mooch Nahin Toh Kuch Nahin.

The video, which was posted online on Saturday and liked more than 6,000 times, implies that you're better with a moustache and ends on a school girl with a 'milk-tache'.

Wing Commander Varthaman was handed over at the Wagah border crossing on Friday in what Pakistan's PM called a 'peace gesture', intended to defuse military tensions between the nuclear-armed nations.

This customer asked his barber to trim him a moustache similar to the one sported by the pilot

Even companies have joined in on the act, with Indian dairy giant Amul paying tribute to the pilot's characteristic look in an advertisement (pictured) branded Mooch Nahin Toh Kuch Nahin

Abhinandan Varthaman (right) standing at Wagah border crossing during his elaborate handover ceremony in eastern Pakistan's Lahore

Thousands of flag-waving supporters gathered at the border to welcome him home on the morning but crowds had dwindled by nightfall as the handover dragged on for hours without explanation.

Shortly before 9.30pm Indian time (4pm GMT) he finally appeared at the border checkpoint escorted by military officers and crossed the frontier into India.

As Islamabad released him they also published another video of the pilot, in which he apparently praised his 'very professional' Pakistani military captors, who had rescued him from a mob.

Despite the move to de-escalate the crisis both sides fired barrages of shells across the frontier on Friday, with reports of attacks on Indian police officers in the province.

Bring him home: People shout patriotic slogans before the arrival of the Indian Air Force pilot on Friday

Here for the ride: Motorcyclist carry Indian flags near the Wagah border crossing near the northern city of Amritsar on Friday

War Hero: Indians flocked to the streets in anticipation of the Wing Commander's arrival on home soil, waving flags and chanting in celebration

Men gathered on streets of New Delhi to dance and cheer the arrival of the pilot, who was said to have acted quickly to swallow sensitive documents

In a brief statement after his release the Indian Air Force, who greeted him on his return, said they were 'happy to have him back'.

'Wing Commander Abhinandan he has just been returned to us as per the standard operating procedure of the IAF,' they said.

'He will now be taken for a detailed medical check up, particularly because he had to eject from an aeroplane which would have put his entire body under great stress.'

Abhinandan was shot down over Kashmir after a dogfight in the skies over the disputed Himalayan region, and footage of the pilot being beaten by locals went viral in both countries.

A Pakistani soldier stands guard near the wreckage of Wine Commander Varthaman's plane after it was shot down by the Pakistan military

A video released by the Pakistani military later showed Abhinandan sipping tea, his face swollen and sporting bruises but otherwise collected and calm.

His father, a retired air force officer, told the Times of India newspaper, 'Just look at the way he talked so bravely... a true soldier... we are proud of him.'

While India has consistently accused its neighbour of supporting extremist groups, Pakistan has equally vehemently denied any role in attacks in India.

Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. The countries have fought three wars against each other, two directly dealing with the disputed region.
A New Jersey police union has cancelled a raffle that listed a semi-automatic rifle and a tactical shotgun as prizes.

Bergenfield police say a state statute bars giving away weapons as prizes and the event has been cancelled, according to NorthJersey.com.

Det. Dave Tortora, president of Bergenfield PBA Local 309, said Thursday the firearms raffle was a way to help his 46-member organization raise money. Tickets were sold for $10.

'We're a small local, so raising money can be tough,' Tortora said. 'I would raffle off pet rocks if people would buy tickets for it.'

M&P15 modern sporting rifle is manufactured by Smith & Wesson and was one of the raffle prizes before its cancellation

The KSG tactical shotgun is manufactured by Kel-Tec and is advertised as having 'dual tube magazines that hold a dozen 3-inch, 12-gauge shells'

The Bergenfield Police Department says New Jersey law prohibits giving away weapons as prizes and the raffle event was canceled

Bergenfield police say anyone who purchased tickets will be refunded.

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office became involved after a NorthJersey.com reporter was seeking comment about the legality of the raffle. Tortora apologized in his prepared statement Thursday.

'After consultation with Police Administration, we believe it to be in the best interest of the public, Bergenfield Police Dept., and members of PBA local 309, to withdraw the raffles for the weapons,' said Tortora.

'We understand the gravity of these weapons and the means to which they've been used. We sincerely apologize to anyone we may have offended as a result of this raffle.'

Det. Dave Tortora (left) president of the Bergenfield PBA Local 309 (right) apologized in a prepared statement for the raffle prizes

AR-15 rifles specifically manufactured by Colt are restricted in the state of New Jersey, but the M&P15 Sport, are legal if manufacturers alter the design to fit state regulations.

The rifle and shotgun that were being offered in the raffle were an M&P15 and a Kel-Tec KSG and are both legal in New Jersey. The two weapons were being raffled alongside a Samsung 55-inch TV as well.

Legality aside, the raffle ran into criticism from gun control advocates.

'It is just a little difficult to see two extremely powerful pieces of weaponry on either side of a TV, as if they are in fact similar items,' Eytan Stern Weber, spokesman for the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said.

Variants of the AR-15 rifle have become particularly controversial with mass shootings from Newtown, Connecticut, to Parkland, Florida, seeing that use of that style of weapon in the massacres.

The union was offering two guns as a raffle prize to help fund a scholarship for Bergenfield High School students.
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Prince Harry has officially dedicated a memorial to the British victims of the 2015 Tunisia terrorist attacks as he urged the bereaved friends and relatives to talk about their loss.

The Duke of Sussex today attended the ceremony at Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park, alongside the families of those who had lost loved ones.

Afterwards he spent more than half an hour chatting with the relatives, telling them: 'Talk about it'.

Harry previously admitted publicly he had 'never' spoken enough to his brother or anyone else about the death of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales.

The memorial will be a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, and a hotel beach resort in Sousse on June 26.

Watched by family and friends of the victims of the terror attacks in Tunisia in 2015, the Duke of Sussex laid a single white rose at the memorial

The Duke of Sussex lays the floral tribute following his dedication at the memorial in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham. The memorial will be a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, and a hotel beach resort in Sousse on June 26, 2015

Addressing an audience of about 200 family and friends of those who died, Prince Harry said: 'In memory of all those who lost their lives. 'And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events. 'I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones'

Addressing an audience of about 200 family and friends of those who died, Prince Harry said: 'In memory of all those who lost their lives.

'And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events.

'I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones.'

Holding a single white rose, he then turned and walked to the memorial's centre-piece, where he laid the flower.

At Sousse, 30 British tourists staying at the Hotel Rui Imperial Marhaba complex in Port el Kantaoui were among 38 killed, with dozens more injured.

Prince Harry meets with relatives of the victims of the 2015 Tunisian terrorist attacks following the dedication ceremony for the Sousse and Bardo Memorial in Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham

The Duke of Sussex arrives at Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, to officially open a memorial dedicated to victims of the 2015 terror attacks in Tunisia

The Duke of Sussex is at Cannon Hill Park to attend a dedication ceremony and officially open the memorial today

Sally Adey, a 57-year-old solicitor from Caynton near Shifnal, Shropshire, was the sole British victim of the deadly museum attack, which left 22 dead.

The Sousse terrorist attack was the deadliest on British citizens since the July 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Islamic State claimed at the time that it was behind the attack by Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui.

When Prince Harry met family members, he said his 'biggest message' was talking, 'instead of keeping it to yourself', according to brothers Ross and Brad Naylor.

The white rose laid by the Duke of Sussex at Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, where he officially opened a memorial dedicated to victims of the 2015 terror attacks in Tunisia

Prince Harry arrives for a memorial service in Birmingham today for the memorial to 31 Britain's killed in terror attacks in Tunisia in 2015

Prince Harry laid a single white rose at the memorial as he officially unveiled it today. Addressing an audience of 200 family and friends of those who died, he said: 'I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones'

The centre piece of the memorial, designed by George King Architects, is a sculpture titled Infinite Wave made up of 31 individual streams

The centre piece of the memorial is a sculpture titled 'Infinite Wave' made up of 31 individual stainless steel rods, each representing the Britons who lost their lives

The siblings, from Derby, lost their father Scott Chalkley, 42, in the Sousse beach attack.

Mr Chalkley's partner, 43-year-old Sue Davey, was also killed.

Ross Naylor, 26, and a tattooist, said: 'Harry's biggest message was just saying 'talk about it'.

'That is the key thing, instead of keeping it to yourself.

'He's said, very publicly, he didn't do enough of that, he didn't talk about his mother's death for 20 years, so that's what he was saying.'

Later today the Duke of Sussex (pictured arriving at the memorial) will visit The Scar Free Foundation Centre for Conflict Wound Research based at Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Owen Richards, (left) who lost his uncle, brother and grandfather in the terror attack in Sousse, arriving with his mother Suzanne

Pictured: the 30 Britons murdered by an ISIS gunman while on holiday in Sousse, Tunisia on June 26, 2015

Speaking alongside his brother William in 2017 for their mental health charity Heads Together, the duke had said: 'I always thought to myself, 'what's the point of bringing up the past?'

''What's the point of bringing up something that's only going to make you sad? It ain't going to change it. It ain't going to bring her back'.'

But, adding he had been wrong to think that way, he had said: 'When you think like that it can be really damaging.'

Among those killed in the Tunisia terror attacks were three members of the same family; Charles Patrick Evans, 78; his son Adrian Evans, 49, and grandson Joel Richards, 19.

The Sousse terrorist attack was the deadliest on British citizens since the July 7/7 London bombings in 2005. Pictured: ISIS gunman Seifeddine Rezgui on Sousse beach

Joel's brother Owen Richards, then 16, survived and was later praised for his bravery at the scene by a coroner at inquests into the deaths.

After the attacks, he and his mother Suzanne Richards set up the Smile for Joel Charity, providing support for other victims of terrorism.

Speaking after the ceremony, Mrs Richards said: 'We're looking forward to seeing the memorial being officially unveiled. We had a sneaky peak yesterday and it was beautiful.

'It's lovely to think people can actually come and see all the names of those killed and reflect on what happened.

'It is very difficult and also today is my Dad's (Charles') birthday.'

Islamic State claimed at the time that it was behind the attack by Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui. Pictured: Tourists laying floral tributes at the scene of the massacre

Owen Richards, now 19 and studying at university, said: 'Its really important not just for the families but also generally for the wider public to take an interest and be able to remember what happened, and not forget it.

'Because there were things that should have been learned from that day and by remembering it hopefully those lessons (will be learned) and it will stop it happening again.'

He added: 'It's a bit of a hectic, intense day.

'It's Grandad's birthday today which is kind of nice but obviously makes it a little bit harder.'

Owen Richards (left) who was at the memorial today with his mother, pictured alongside Sousse massacre victims Adrian Evans, Charles 'Patrick' Evans and Joel Richards

Mother-of-two Sally Adey (centre) was on a luxury cruise with her husband (right) when they went into Bardo museum. She was among 21 tourists killed

Two gunmen, pictured on CCTV during the Bardo Museum attack in Tunis on March 18, killed 21 foreign tourists and a Tunisian security guard. Sally Adey, a 57-year-old solicitor from Caynton near Shifnal, Shropshire, was the sole British victim

Mrs Richards added that the charity, Smile for Joel, set up 18 months ago was also now reaching out to families affected by murder in the UK as well as terrorism, particularly given the recent spate of gun and knife attacks.

'Infinite Wave': How the memorial pays tribute to the 31 innocent victims of the 2015 Tunisia terror attacks The memorial unveiled today is called 'Infinite Wave' and was designed by London and Gloucester based George King Architects. It remembers the 30 Britons who died in Sousse in June 2015 and one who died at the Bardo Museum in March 2015. The design was selected by an independent panel following the shortlisting of seven designs from 19 entries, in consultation with family members affected by the attacks. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: 'The single wave in the memorial structure is formed of 31 different threads, one for each British national who lost their lives, with the ripples surrounding the wave representing the effect this has had on the survivors, families and friends of the victims, and the impact on the wider community.' The location of Cannon Hill Park was also selected following a consultation with the families of the victims. George King, Principal of George King Architects said: 'Together with our team of expert consultants, fabricators and contractors we have focused on translating our unique design into reality with a focus on craftsmanship, quality and fine detailing in order to create a meaningful place of reflection and contemplation within the beautiful setting of Cannon Hill Park.' Advertisement

'It's lovely because every week, we get requests for help and it's lovely to be able to give help in their names,' she added.

The mother and son also performed a reading at the dedication, called 'We Remember Them'.

Mrs Richards said: 'We chose a reading about remembering them, because that is what this is all about.

'We want to make sure that people never forget that people went on holiday and never came home.

'The work I'm doing with the travel industry I'm hoping to make changes so that never happens again.'

Seven people were sentenced to life in prison in Tunisia, in February, in connection with both attacks.

The park site was selected in consultation with the families due to its central location, its 'seclusion and tranquillity' and as 'being a place of public prominence', the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said previously.

The memorial has been designed by George King Architects and overlooks the park's boating lake.

The centre piece of the memorial is a sculpture titled 'Infinite Wave' made up of 31 individual stainless steel rods, each representing the Britons who lost their lives.

From the side, the memorial also takes the shape of a dove of peace taking flight, while concentric rings of stone and turf ripple outwards.

The FCO developed the memorial, consulting with families on the design and location.

In 2016, Prince Harry attended a service at Westminster Abbey for the victims, and gave a reading.
This is the heartwarming moment Batman surprises a little boy in hospital.

The clip shows a three-year-old boy walk out of his ward in Brazil, helped by two people believed to be his parents.

The unnamed boy is attached to a small, mobile machine which has fluid sacks running into his arm.

The man dressed as Batman embraces the three-year-old boy at the hospital in Brazil

The young boy looks down the corridor as he stands next to his machine. The adults in the picture are believed to be his parents

The father taps the young boy on the shoulder, waves, then skulks off back into the child's ward.

The camera pans round to the end of a long, dim corridor where a man - dressed as Batman - is seen striding towards the child.

Batman lifts his arms to open up his cape as he slowly walks towards the boy.

Batman strides down the hospital corridor towards the boy and lifts his arms to spread his cape

He gets down on one knee and beckons the boy over to come and talk to him. Piano music plays in the background

He stops halfway down the corridor, opens up his cape again, and gets down on one knee.

The Caped Crusader beckons the boy over to him as piano music plays in the background.

The young boy, helped by the woman believed to be his mother, nervously shuffles over to Batman.

The boy - assisted by the woman believe to be his mother - shuffles over to Batman and then rests his head in the Caped Crusader's shoulder

They appear to say hello, then the boy rests his head in the comic book character's shoulder and they hug.

Batman places his hand on the back of the boy's head and appears to say something into his ear while smiling.

The short clip ends with the pair still embracing each other.
On Sunday, in Amethi, the PM had said that some people go around giving speeches of made in Ujjain, made in Jaipur, made in Jaisalmer.

New Delhi: War of words intensified after Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying over the inauguration of an ordnance unit in the Congress presidents parliamentary constituency Amethi.

Union minister Smriti Irani hit back saying Mr Gandhi is scared and could not see that the new facility in Korwa area of Amethi was a joint venture between India and Russia which will manufacture AK-203 rifles for armed forces.

Prime ministerji, I had myself laid the foundation stone of the Ordinance factory in Amethi in 2010. In the last many years, small weapons are being manufactured there....You went to Amethi yesterday and spoke a lie, which you are used to doing. Are you not ashamed a bit, Mr Gandhi asked in a tweet in Hindi.

His attack came a day after Mr Modi accused the Congress president of lying and ignoring the ordnance factory in Amethi, and had a dig at him, saying the rifles manufactured at the unit will be known as Made in Amethi.

Soon after Mr Gandhis tweet, the Union minister, who had unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in the 2014 general election, responded in Hindi on Twitter.

You are scared to see development in Amethi, that you did not see what was inaugurated in Korwa was a JV. Under this agreement between India and Russia, AK-203 rifles will be manufactured, she said, tagging Mr Gandhi in the tweet.

On Sunday, in Amethi, the Prime Minister had said that some people go around giving speeches of made in Ujjain, made in Jaipur, made in Jaisalmer.

This is Modi. Now Made in Amethi will be AK-203 rifles. It will help our jawans, Mr Modi had said without mentioning the name of the Congress president.
Trevor Noah has been slammed as 'racist' for saying that a war between Pakistan and India would be 'the most entertaining ever' then impersonating Indian soldiers on The Daily Show after dozens of people were killed in violent clashes between the two countries.

Noah made the joke on his Comedy Central show on Wednesday night after Indian jet fighters bombed a Pakistani facility that it claimed was training terrorists, and Pakistan captured an Indian pilot in retaliation for the strike.

Tensions in Kashmir have been a source of conflict since the Partition Of India in 1947, and the two countries have come to blows over in the past. In addition to Pakistan and India having a stake in the mountainous region, militant groups which have been there since the 80s have also contributed to bloodshed.

In the most recent clashes, at least six civilians and 40 soldiers have been killed.

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Trevor Noah joked on Wednesday that a war between India and Pakistan would be 'the most entertaining ever' then impersonated an Indian soldier by performing a Bollywood song and dance while pretending to hold a machine gun

Noah, who is South African, tried to explain the escalating situation to viewers by compared it to a war between rappers Cardi B and Nicki Minaj.

'If you're not familiar with the situation between India and Pakistan, just think of it this way. Imagine Cardi B and Nicki Minaj, now imagine they both have nuclear weapons. This is slightly less dangerous than that. That's what I'm saying,' he said.

He continued: 'And obviously, I hope India and Pakistan don' go to war. But if they did go to war, it'd probably be the most entertaining war of all time.'

Noah then impersonated an Indian soldier on the battlefield by saying they would likely perform a Bollywood song.

'The Indian soldiers would run out onto the battlefield and be like, "Time for you to die!"' he sang, before acting out a Bollywood dance while pretending to hold a rifle.

'It would also be the longest war of all time,' he continued, joking: 'Another dance number?!'

The joke was admonished around the world and labeled 'racist', 'crass' and 'f*****g disgusting'.

Noah said the conflict between India and Pakistan was 'slightly less dangerous' than if 'Cardi B and Nicki Minaj had nuclear weapons'

Noah prefaced his jokes by saying: 'Obviously I don't want India and Pakistan to go to war. But if they did, it would be the most entertaining war ever.'

Noah was slammed online for his 'racist' joke which was also dubbed 'shockingly unintelligent'

'I don't f*****g understand how ANYONE can find this funny. He said it would be "entertaining"...the entire world has to mourn for the loss of an American life but it's funny when it's for brown people?' said one Twitter user.

'War isn't funny or entertaining. Hindi is not gibberish. Ur (sic) stereotype of indo-pak is ignorant & racist. Ur (sic) set smacks of essentialism & patronising generalisation & and is v #FirstWorld.

'Human lives were lost and at stake. SO disappointing,' said the actress Swara Bhaskar.

Piers Morgan labeled the joke 'despicably crass & racist' while Indian gender-equality activist Trisha Shetty said: 'This is so disappointing.

'Here we are worrying about war, about the escalating tensions and lives being lost and you choose to lean on apathy and jokes laced with racism.

Noah ignored much of the criticism but responded to one user to defend himself. He said he was 'sorry' that the joke hurt her and others

Minutes later, he claimed his joke 'trended' more than the conflict itself

'Surely you and your writers can come up with better content to entertain and get laughs.'

Actress Malika Dua called it 'shockingly unintelligent and tone deaf'.

Noah did not reply to much of the criticism but he did hit back when one user asked how he would feel if jokes were made about his mother being shot in the head by his stepfather.

'@Trevornoah 's mother was shot in the head by her husband(Trevor's stepfather).Imagine someone making fun of it with a Xhosa stereotype - the tribe his mum belongs to,' writer Zainab Zikander wrote.

In response, Noah quipped: 'Actually if you watch my stand up you'll see that I did make jokes after my mother was shot in the head.

'As a comedian I use comedy to process pain and discomfort in my world but I am sorry that this hurt you and others, that's not what I was trying to do.'

He then claimed that his joke received more attention than the conflict itself which inflamed followers' fury.

His claim that the joke 'trended more' than the conflict was equally admonished

'It's amazing to me that my joke about the conflict in India and Pakistan trended more than the story of the actual conflict itself. Sometimes it seems like people are more offended by the jokes comedians make about an issue than the issue itself,' he said.

Indian and Pakistani followers were quick to point out that the conflict had been trending on Twitter in the region for weeks before he mentioned it in his show.

'Mate, your racist joke was criticised by a small section of people on social media.

'Dont be under the impression that it mattered more than the conflict itself.

'Most people dont even know you here. People have lost lives,' said one user.

At least 46 people have died since tensions erupted in Kashmir on February 14. Pictrured, Al-Badr Mujahideen protest against India in Peshawar

Civilian Mohammed Younis is pictured in the hospital after being injured in cross-border fighting on March 2, three days after Noah's joke

''This is a seriously s***y take. Also factually incorrect. In the nations that were involved in potential conflict, the soldiers trended far more than your joke. It's surprising to see that racist stereotypes aren't a problem for you when it comes to other cultures,' another replied.

Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was captured by Pakistan after having his plane show down. He has since been freed

'So you're going to continue being a d**k about it. Cool,' was another user's comment.

Comedy Central has not commented on the controversy. Representatives for Noah and the show did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's inquiries on Monday morning.

Noah is not the only public figure to come under fire for wading in on the subject.

Indian actress Priyanka Chopra was criticized for praising India's air strikes against Pakistan on Twitter.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the Indian pilot who was captured by Pakistan last week, was released on Wednesday to a hero's welcome.

He ate sensitive documents while in captivity so they would not fall into Pakistan's hands.

The exact death toll from the most recent conflict is unknown but at least six civilians and around 40 soldiers have died as a result of the clashes.

Tensions appear to have calmed for the moment, with both Pakistan and India reopening commercial air spaces and resuming train travel between the two nations.

While the conflict is not fresh, the most recent stand-off is particularly alarming because it is the first time both countries have been equipped with nuclear weapons.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of torturing a US citizen who was locked up by the Arab kingdom more than a year ago as part of a crackdown on dissent.

Dr Walid Fitaihi, who was born in Saudi but lived and studied in the US for years including at Harvard, told friends he was beaten and electrocuted shortly after his arrest in November 2017.

News of Dr Fitaihi's torture comes after Saudi Arabia admitted its agents murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist and US resident.

Dr Walid Fitaihi is believed to have been locked up in Saudi Arabia since 2017, with US diplomats confirming his detention this weekend after visiting him for the first time

American intelligence services have pinned the murder directly on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - something the country denies.

Fitaihi, 54, was one of around 600 prominent Saudis detained inside the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman consolidated his power.

The majority of those arrested were released shortly after, some of whom paid huge sums to secure their freedom, but Dr Fitaihi is believed to be among around 60 people who are still in jail.

Dr Fitaihi's detention was reported at the time, but only confirmed at the weekend when US diplomats went to visit him in detention for the first time.

While Dr Fitaihi has never been charged, it is thought he was jailed as part of a crackdown on dissidents by Mohammed bin Salman

The visit came after the New York Times published a report in which a source close to Fitaihi claimed he had been tortured shortly after he was locked up.

Saudi guards were accused of taking Fitaihi to a hotel room where he was slapped, stripped, blindfolded, and strapped to a chair.

He was then given electric shocks and whipped across the back during a torture session than lasted an hour, the paper reported.

John Bolton, the White House national security advisor, was asked about Fitaihi's treatment, in an interview with CNN's 'State of the Union.'

'As of this moment, my understanding is we've had what's called consular access, meaning American diplomats in Saudi Arabia have visited with him.

'Beyond that, we don't really have any additional information at this point,' Bolton added.

Dr Fitaihi has never been charged with a crime, but friends say he was questioned about a relative of his, Adel Fakeih, after his arrest.

Fakeih was a former top aide to the crown prince and has also been arrested.

After months of quietly trying to secure his release, the family of Dr. Walid Fitaihi is now seeking to publicly pressure both the Saudi government and the Trump administration on the issue.

'There is an American citizen being tortured in a Saudi prison,' said Howard Cooper, a lawyer working with the Fitaihi family.

Dr Fitaihi's friends say he was tortured shortly after being locked up by Saudi guards who stripped, slapped, beat and electrocuted him inside the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh

'He has been not only psychologically tortured but physically tortured and he can't hold out much longer.'

Fitaihi gained his American citizenship while studying and working in the U.S. for years. He received undergraduate and medical degrees from George Washington University and a master's in public health from Harvard.

He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2006 to help found a hospital built by his family and also became a popular motivational speaker on television.

President Donald Trump has faced sharp criticism for favoring the Saudi crown prince as a key regional ally even after the October 2 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and White House advisor, met last week with the crown prince in Riyadh to rally support for a Middle East peace proposal.
Pope Francis is to open up secret Vatican archives on Second World War-era pontiff Pius XII after he was accused by Jews of staying silent about the Holocaust.

Francis told employees of the Vatican Secret Archives that documents spanning the 1939 to 1958 pontificate would be open to researchers from March 2 next year.

In his announcement, Pope Francis insisted that 'the Church is not afraid of history', adding that Pius' legacy had been treated with 'some prejudice and exaggeration'

Pope Francis delivers his speech during a Mass in the St. Crispino parish church, in the Labaro neighbourhood, Rome, Sunday, March 3

The Vatican usually waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open archives but it has been under pressure to make the Pius XII documentation available sooner, while Holocaust survivors are still alive.

The Vatican has defended Pius, sometimes derided as 'Hitler's Pope' because of his reluctance to condemn Nazi war crimes, saying he used behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to save lives.

His actions will be scrutinised as part of efforts to decide if he should be a saint.

The American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the world's leading Jewish groups, welcomed the move.

In his announcement, Pope Francis said he will be opening up the Vatican archives on pontiff Pius XII (pictured)

'For more than 30 years, the AJC has called for the full opening [of the] Secret Archives from the period of World War Two,' said Rabbi David Rosen, the AJC's International Director of Interreligious Affairs.

'It is particularly important that experts from the leading Holocaust memorial institutes in Israel and the U.S. objectively evaluate as best as possible the historical record of that most terrible of times, to acknowledge both the failures as well as the valiant efforts made during the period of the Shoah,' Rosen added, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

Israel also welcomed the Vatican's announcement, with the foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon writing on Twitter: We are pleased by the decision and hope it will enable free access to all relevant archives.

Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial and research centre, commended the Vatican's decision, saying it expected researchers to "be granted full access to all documents stored in the archives".

Opening the archives "will enable objective and open research as well as comprehensive discourse on issues related to the conduct of the Vatican in particular, and the Catholic Church in general, during the Holocaust," Yad Vashem said in a statement.

Researchers have long sought to examine the archives over why Pius XII did not intervene more against the Holocaust perpetrated by the German Nazis, an attitude denounced as a form of passive complicity.

A 1999 work by British journalist John Cromwell accused Pius of doing too little to speak up for Hitler's victims during the war, and a failure to explain himself afterwards.
Downing Street blamed 'human error' for a social media post about Theresa May's visit to Salisbury being illustrated by a picture of Bath.

A message on the Prime Minister's official Twitter feed paid tribute to the 'beautiful, welcoming' Wiltshire city on the anniversary of the poison attack on former Russian double agent Sergei and Yulia Skripal on its streets.

But rather than a picture of the famous 123-metre spire of Salisbury Cathedral, the message was accompanied by a shot of St John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church 40 miles away in Bath.

'I hope that moving forward Salisbury will once again be known for being a beautiful, welcoming English city and not for the events of 4 March 2018,' said the PM in her message.

Journalist Matt Chorley spotted the error on Twitter. Downing Street put it down to 'human error' as the Prime Minister was shown around Salisbury

Prime Minister Theresa May waves at Scarlett Ward, 2, as she walks through Salisbury with local MP John Glen (right)

British Prime Minister Theresa May (R) walks with Nicholas Papadopulos (C), Dean of Salisbury and Tricia Glass, Deputy Head Guide at Salisbury Cathedral

The picture was hastily removed and replaced with a picture of the door of 10 Downing Street, but not before it was noticed by Times journalist Matt Chorley, a native of Somerset and former reporter on the Western Morning News.

'That's the trouble with these Westcountry cathedral cities, they all look the same,' joked Mr Chorley.

Bath's Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse said: 'Whilst it's always lovely to see a beautiful shot of Bath, I think No 10 may have got carried away with this time... plenty of nice shots of Salisbury to use!'

Mrs May's official spokesman said: 'This was human error. It was corrected as soon as anyone was made aware of it.

'The Prime Minister is in Salisbury today and will be expressing her great admiration for the resilience which the community has shown in response to the attack a year ago.'
Fnu Syedyaseen-Asher, 19, has been arrested and charged with molesting two students. Investigators say Asher (above in his mugshot) admitted to touching the girls because he found them 'beautiful and attractive', according to an arrest affidavit

A 19-year-old substitute teacher accused of molesting two students at a Florida elementary school allegedly told investigators that he found the girls 'beautiful and attractive'.

Fnu Syedyaseen-Asher was arrested after a seven-year-old student told her mother that her substitute teacher touched her private parts in two different classes at Boggy Creek Elementary School on Thursday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.

In one class, the girl said she was taking a test and had a question, so Asher summoned her to his desk, where she sat in a chair next to him.

He allegedly told her to stand up and began touching her behind the desk while restraining her hands with his arm, deputies wrote in the affidavit.

In the other class, the eight-year-old victim said Asher began touching her while explaining an assignment as he was sitting at his chair and she was standing next to him, the affidavit says.

She told her mother that she made excuses about needing to drink water so she could get out of class and avoid being touched by Asher.

The victim also claimed to have seen Asher inappropriately touch her friend and possibly another student while they were behind his desk.

The girl's mother contacted police, who interviewed her before questioning Asher.

He initially denied having touched the girl, but later admitted it, saying that he 'made a mistake', according to the affidavit.

Asher allegedly told investigators he thought the girls were 'beautiful and attractive', the affidavit says.

The suspect was booked into Osceola County Jail on three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on victims younger than 12. He has been released on $45,000 bond, according to jail records.

Asher was booked into Osceola County Jail on three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation on victims younger than 12. He is seen above (left) during an arraignment before being released on $45,000 bond

Officials with the Osceola County School District are cooperating with law enforcement in the investigation.

A district spokeswoman said Asher will no longer be allowed to teach at its schools and that parents have been notified of the allegations against him.

Asher had been a substitute teacher since December and had passed a background check, officials say.

He reportedly told police that he had taught at Boggy Creek and Floral Ridge elementary schools eight or nine times in February.

Asher had been a substitute teacher at Boggy Creek Elementary (above) since December and had passed a background check, school district officials say

Investigators believe there may be additional victims in this case, causing concern among parents.

Yamerys Zayas told WFTV: 'The first thought that comes to mind, was my kid involved?'

Zayas said that she and other parents have talked with their children and asked them if they'd been touched inappropriately.

She said that when the district notified her and her husband about the allegations, they were told that the parents of the children involved had already been contacted.

Authorities have asked anyone with information about these incidents or additional victims to call 407-348-2222, or Crimeline at 1-800-423-8477.
A mother who watched on as her drag racer son's car burst into flames during a racing event has revealed she knew he wouldn't survive.

Brody Ford, 26, died after his Ford Mustang failed to stop at the end of a drag strip during a Racewars event in Albany, in Western Australia's south, at around 11.30am on Sunday.

The car, which was travelling at extreme speeds, careened off the track, smashed through a fence and burst into flames in front of horrified on-lookers, including his mother and father.

'We just jumped in our car and just flew down there. It's devastating. No parent should ever have to see their child having CPR in a paddock that is on fire and a mangled wreck,' Mr Ford's mother Lynda told Perth Now.

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Brody Ford, 26, (pictured) died after his car crashed during a Racewars event in Albany, in Western Australia's south, at around 11.30am on Sunday

His car (pictured) failed to stop at the end of the race strip and crashed through a fence before erupting into flames in a field - all while his family looked on

Plumes of black smoke filled the air as emergency services were called to the scene.

After he was pulled from the wreckage, he was rushed to the Royal Perth Hospital.

The extent of the 26-year-old's injuries were so severe, his parents said they knew they had lost their son.

'We sat with him until the early hours and then we took him off the ventilator and that was it,' she said.

His devastated family have now been left to wonder what could have been in store for a passionate life taken too soon.

His devastated parents and former girlfriend, Maddison Shanhun (pictured left) have all paid tribute to Mr Ford, calling him was 'courageous, ambitious and loving'

'He was just so young. The world was his oyster. He worked hard and he had the cash to go out and do the things he wanted to do, but he still had a lot of stuff up his sleeve that he wanted to tick the boxes for as well,' Lynda said.

Mr Ford's former girlfriend, Maddison Shanhun, who still remained close to him, wrote a heartfelt tribute on Facebook, telling friends that she had lost her 'courageous, ambitious and loving' friend.

'I never thought this day would come, not until you were old and frail,' she wrote.

'You flew into the stars doing something you loved so dearly. You gave me 4 years of laughter and adventures. You're now onto this adventure without me.'

'I hope heaven is filled with luxury cars, the bluest beaches, and the most beautiful sunrises. Until I see you again, fly high,' she wrote.

The incident was the second crash at the event within two hours.

A man injured his neck after the parachute on his Supra failed to open when he reached speeds of 338km/h.

Racewars organisers issued a statement after deciding to cancel the event

'Motorsport is a cruel mistress at times but we all understand the risks of participation,' they said in a statement.

'We remain committed to grassroots Motorsport and the social and safety benefits of taking speed off the streets.'
A Boston man who was arrested in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Jassy Correia could face the death penalty after her body was found 'wrapped in a sofa cushion cover inside of a large suitcase' that had been stuffed in his trunk.

Louis D. Coleman III, 32, was arrested on Interstate 95 in Delaware on Thursday following a multi-state manhunt after police named him as a suspect in Correia's kidnapping.

The body of the 23-year-old mother was found in the trunk of the suspect's car after he was captured, according to police.

Coleman is now facing a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death in connection to the womans death, according to the US Attorney's Office.

That charge could also result in the death penalty.

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Louis D. Coleman III (right), 32, who was arrested in connection to the kidnapping and murder of Jassy Correia (left) could face the death penalty after her body was found in his trunk

Last Thursday, police surrounded Coleman's red Buick Verano sedan (pictured) on the side of the highway following a short pursuit at about 2pm. Officers ordered him out of the car and asked him if anyone else was in the vehicle. It's alleged that he stated: 'Shes in the trunk'

Last Thursday, police surrounded Coleman's red Buick Verano sedan on the side of the highway following a short pursuit at about 2pm.

Authorities said she died from strangulation and blunt force trauma.

'She was a mother, she was brave, she was strong,' Correia's cousin Katia Depina told the Boston Globe.

'She did not deserve this. She went out to celebrate her birthday and never returned home. We want justice for her death.'

Correia, who is the mother of a two-year-old girl, was last seen on surveillance video leaving a Boston nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning and getting into a red car with a man.

Police later publicly identified the man in the surveillance as Coleman.

Police released surveillance video showing Correia leaving the nightclub with a man. They later publicly identified the man (seen left and right) in the surveillance as Coleman

Surveillance footage from Colemans Providence, Rhode Island, apartment building showed him parking and exiting his vehicle around 4.15am on Sunday, February 24.

He then returned a short time later carrying a blanket. Coleman walked from the car to the front of the building 'carrying a body with long hair and clothing' consistent with the description of Correia, the US Attorney's Office said.

Once inside the building, authorities said the surveillance video shows him dropping the victim on the floor, dragging her towards the elevator and then towards his apartment unit.

The victim was not moving and her body was limp, prosecutors said.

Two days later, surveillance video from Coleman's apartment showed him entering his building with Walmart shopping bags.

Coleman worked as a systems engineer for Raytheon, according to police

Police later obtained a receipt from a Walmart in Providence showing that Coleman had 'purchased three Tyvek suits, duct tape, two candles, electrical tape, one mask, surgical gloves, two pairs of safety goggles, an odor respirator and CLN release bleach bath'.

On the night of February 27, Coleman was again captured on video entering the apartment building with what appeared to be a new, large suitcase.

Around 1.15am on February 28, he's seen wheeling that new suitcase from his apartment to his car.

'Coleman appeared to have difficulty lifting the suitcase into the trunk of his car,' prosecutors said.

Authorities said other surveillance video showed him leaving the apartment with other items, 'including trash bags, cardboard boxes, a bottle of bleach, a laptop case, a computer tower and a small duffle bag'.

Authorities searched the area near Coleman's home just hours before his capture.

They scoured the dumpster area at the apartment complex where Coleman, who worked as a systems engineer for Raytheon, lived.

Correia was not found inside the building and was never seen leaving it.

While in the apartment, police said they found two packages of hooded coveralls and two respirator masks.

'A sofa with four large cushions, one of which was missing a cover, was also observed,' the US Attorney's Office said in a statement.

'In a dumpster outside of the apartment complex, white trash bags, a bag containing plastic sheets, mens jeans with bleach stains and a belt, a white nylon hooded coverall, an empty box of baking soda, clear safety goggles, a respirator mask, duct tape packaging, rubbing alcohol, Walmart bags, used plastic gloves, an empty package from a car air freshener, three empty packages of purifying charcoal and a sponge were recovered,' the statement read.

Coleman was later stopped by Delaware authorities on February 28.

Officers ordered Coleman out of the vehicle and asked him if anyone else was in the vehicle with him.

It is alleged that Coleman stated words to the effect: 'Shes in the trunk.'

Authorities searched the area near Coleman's apartment complex (pictured above) in Providence, Rhode Island, on Thursday just hours before his capture. Surveillance video had captured Coleman carrying a woman into his building and later leaving carrying two suitcases

Correia's family set up a GoFundMe page to help raise her two-year-old daughter and it raised more than $45,000 in less than 24 hours

Her family became worried when her father tried to contact her for her birthday on Tuesday and was unable to reach her. They filed a missing person's report on Wednesday

Officers then discovered the victim's body in the trunk of his vehicle, 'wrapped in a sofa cushion cover, which was inside of a black trash bag, inside of a large suitcase'.

'The victim had significant bruising, a bloodied face, was bound with gray duct tape, and was covered in what is believed to be baking soda,' prosecutors said.

Other items recovered from his vehicle include, 'a duffle bag, a pair of new long-handled loppers, plastic garbage bags, clothing, a red plastic gas container, a green butane lighter, black gloves, charcoal air purifiers, air fresheners, tinted safety glasses, plastic Walmart bags, work towels, cloth work-gloves, a new set of DeWalt pliers, a laptop, a computer hard-drive/tower, and disinfectant wipes'.

Correia's family became worried when her brother and father tried to contact her for her birthday on Tuesday and were unable to reach her.

They filed a missing person's report on Wednesday.

Her father, Joaquin Correia, had earlier told WBTS-TV: 'If I don't see my daughter, I don't know how I'm going to live.

'I feel bad. She told me, "Daddy, I'm going to go out."'

Following the discovery of Correia's body on Thursday, her friend Joao DePina told the Globe: 'Women should have a right to go to any nightclub, and wear whatever they want to and not worry about being kidnapped and murdered at the end of the damn night.

'This is not what any family should ever have to go through.'

Her family set up a GoFundMe page to help with raising her two-year-old daughter and it raised more than $45,000 in less than 24 hours.

The account has since raised more than $136,000.
This is the distressing moment a bear is dragged out of the 40ft well it fell into during a desperate search for food.

The skinny bear was dragged from a well in Bedhasahi village near Balasore in Odisha, India, yesterday.

Officials tied ropes around its paws and prepared a cage for the bear when it was safely out.

The bear is dragged into a cage after he is rescued from a 40ft well in a village in India

Gnawing on the rope the bear tries to free itself from its restraints

Villagers gathered to watch and cheer as the bear was finally brought out of the well.

A four-hour operation ended with the malnourished bear desperately thrashing around a cage in a terrified effort to rid itself of its restraints.

It bites on the rope that ties its paws together to try to free itself and then lunges towards an official.

The confused animal fell into the well after straying from the Swarnachuda jungle in search of food.

And it was found by villagers who saw the wild bear inside the well and told the local forest department.

A team of officials rushed to the spot and rescued the bear from the well after a four-hour operation.

An official said: 'We will release it back in the jungle after a medical checkup.'
A woman in central China has been detained for attacking a bus driver after he called her 'uncivilised' for letting her toddler son urinate on the vehicle.

Surveillance footage filmed inside the bus travelling in Dazhi, Hubei province on Saturday shows the mother, 44, helping her two-year-old son as he urinated into a small garbage bin in front of other passengers.

The driver, who saw the pair, complained that the woman's actions were 'uncivilised', prompting the enraged mother to charge at the man, bash on the protective partition and grab the man's clothes while he was driving.

Footage filmed inside the bus travelling in Dazhi, Hubei province shows the mother helping her two-year-old son as he urinated into a small garbage bin in front of other passengers

The driver, who saw the pair, complained that the woman's actions were 'uncivilised', prompting the enraged mother to bash on the protective partition and grab the man's clothes

'The suspect, surnamed Chen, was travelling on the bus with her two-year-old son when the boy said he needed to go to the bathroom,' an unnamed police officer told video news site Pear.

'Chen then told her toddler to urinate in the rubbish bin on the bus,' he said.

'The driver saw them and called her behaviour uncivilised, which led to an argument between the two,' the officer said. 'Chen became enraged and repeatedly slammed on the partition and reached around to attack the driver while he was driving.'

The driver, surnamed Luo, was seen calmly pulling over and calling the police.

The woman has been detained by police amid ongoing investigations, the report added.

'Chen then told her toddler to urinate in the rubbish bin on the bus,' a police officer said

'The driver saw them and called her behaviour uncivilised, which led to an argument between the two,' the officer said. 'Chen became enraged and repeatedly slammed on the partition and reached around to attack the driver while he was driving'

Social media users slammed the woman's actions, calling her an irresponsible parent and said she has set a poor example for her child.

'Such an embarrassment!' one user said.

'You should not touch the bus driver under any circumstances,' another said. 'I call for relevant authorities to have the partition modified to protect the driver completely.'

'If the child needed to use the toilet, they should get off the bus and find a bathroom,' another person commented.

Passenger-driver disputes recently came under the spotlight in China after a fight between a driver and a commuter caused a bus in Chongqing to plunge into a river in October, killing at least 13 people on board.

In a similar incident, a man in Yinchuan was caught dragging a bus driver by his arms and grabbing the steering wheel after he missed his stop.

He was convicted of endangering public safety by dangerous means in a court and was sentenced to three years and two months in prison.

There were 223 criminal cases involving disputes between passengers and bus drivers from 2016 to Oct 31 last year, according to Xinhua news agency citing the Supreme People's Court.

Nearly 30 per cent of passengers involved were found to have grabbed the steering wheel from drivers, the report added.

About 60 per cent of the disputes were caused by misunderstanding over charging and the location of bus stops. Nearly 70 per cent of offenders were passengers, and about 20 per cent were drivers.
A mother whose two daughters were raped by a Catholic priest says she's in 'awe of the judicial system' following Cardinal George Pell's child sex abuse conviction.

Chrissie Foster's primary school-aged daughters, Emma and Katie, were sexually assaulted in the 1980s by Father Kevin O'Donnell, and the family's ordeal was laid out in her book Hell on the Way to Heaven.

Speaking to ABC's Q&A panel on Monday night, Ms Foster spoke of how the process leading up to Pell's conviction was one that had to be fought 'inch by inch'.

A mother whose two daughters were raped by a catholic priest has said she is in 'awe of the judicial system' following Cardinal George Pell's child sex abuse conviction

'I was really, really happy,' she said when asked by host Tony Jones about her reaction when she found out about the ruling.

'I felt as though justice had been done. I felt as though the wheels of justice had turned.

'I did not think this would happen - it (the verdict) really filled me with confidence in the judicial system.'

Ms Foster and her husband Anthony met Pell, the then-Archbishop of Melbourne, in 1997 to tell him about how their daughters had been raped by Father O'Donnell, in an encounter detailed in her 2010 book.

Mr Foster later told a Victorian abuse inquiry in 2012 Pell had demonstrated a 'sociopathic lack of empathy' towards their grievances.

Ms Foster and her husband Anthony met Pell (pictured), the then-Archbishop of Melbourne, in 1997 to tell him about how their daughters had been raped by Father O'Donnell, in an encounter detailed in her 2010 book

Chrissie Foster's primary school-aged daughters Emma (left) and Katie (right)were sexually assaulted in the 1980s by Father Kevin O'Donnell, and the family's ordeal was laid out in her book Hell on the Way to Heaven .

O'Donnell was convicted in 1995 of indecently assaulting 10 boys and two girls below the age of 16.

He spent 15 months in jail and died in 1997.

Ms Foster, an advocate for sexual abuse survivors, was in court for Pell's trial and criticised his lawyer Robert Richter's defence of his crimes as 'no more than a vanilla sexual penetration case'.

Pell was convicted in December of raping a choirboy and molesting another in the sacristy of St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne in 1996.

The comments by Ms Foster on the Pell verdict, which was made public knowledge last week following the lifting of a suppression order, came during the Q&A panel discussion largely dedicated to discussing the culture of the Catholic church.

Earlier in the program, US rabbi Shmuley Boteach said he thought Australians had been left 'deeply traumatised' by Pell's conviction.

The advocate for sexual abuse survivors (left in Rome to witness Pell's commission appearance in 2016) was in court for Pell's trial, and criticised his lawyer Robert Richter's defence of his crimes as 'no more than a vanilla sexual penetration case'

'As someone who has visited Australia for three decades, I think the country is deeply traumatised by this story,' he said.

Labor senator Kristina Keneally, meanwhile, said she had 'long lost faith in the institution of the Catholic church.

'I think the nation is traumatised, particularly the Catholic portion,' she said.
The capsule successfully separated from the rocket about 11 minutes after the launch.

SpaceXs 16-foot-tall (4.9 meter) Crew Dragon capsule, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, lifted off from Floridas Kennedy Space Center at 2:49 a.m. (0749 GMT), carrying a test dummy nicknamed Ripley.

A SpaceX rocket with an unmanned crew capsule blasted off on Saturday for the International Space Station, in a key milestone for Elon Musks space company and NASAs long-delayed goal to resume human spaceflight from US soil later this year.

SpaceXs 16-foot-tall (4.9 meter) Crew Dragon capsule, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, lifted off from Floridas Kennedy Space Center at 2:49 a.m. (0749 GMT), carrying a test dummy nicknamed Ripley.

The capsule successfully separated from the rocket about 11 minutes later, sparking cheers in the control room, and began its journey to the space station.

I almost thought we would fail. I thought maybe wed have a 10 percent chance of reaching orbit starting out, Silicon Valley billionaire Musk said of his feelings when he founded the space company in 2002.

Im a little emotionally exhausted because that was super stressful, but it worked, he told reporters after Saturdays launch.

The space stations three-member crew was expected to greet the capsule, carrying 400 pounds (181 kg) of supplies and test equipment, early Sunday morning, NASA said.

During its five-day stay, US astronaut Anne McClain and Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques will run tests and inspect Crew Dragons cabin.

NASA has awarded SpaceX and Boeing Co $6.8 billion to build competing rocket and capsule systems to launch astronauts into orbit from American soil for the first time since the US Space Shuttle was retired from service in 2011.

Either SpaceX or Boeing will have bragging rights as the first private company to launch humans into space on its own rocket, although plans call for rockets built by both companies to carry astronauts into space.

The launch systems are aimed at ending US reliance on Russian rockets for rides to the $100 billion orbital research laboratory, which flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, at about $80 million per ticket.

While Saturdays SpaceX test mission is a crucial step in the oft-delayed project, there are questions about whether NASA can achieve its 2019 flight goal of manned flight.

Reuters reported on Feb. 21 that SpaceX and Boeing both must address significant design and safety concerns before they can fly humans.

Early on Friday, Musk, who is also chief executive officer of electric carmaker Tesla Inc, tweeted a photo of the inside of Crew Dragon capsule with Ripley strapped inside.

SpaceX said the spacesuit for Ripley, apparently a reference to the protagonist in the science fiction movie Alien, has been embedded with sensors around its head, neck, and spine to monitor how a flight would feel for a human.
Bungling Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is facing criticism after failing to appear before MPs to explain the no-deal Brexit ferry debacle that led to a widely criticised 33 million payment to Eurotunnel.

Labour had demanded Mr Grayling explain Fridays payout to settle a legal case over contracts worth 108 million handed to three ferry companies to run emergency cross-Channel services in the event of a no-deal departure from the EU.

But Downing Street revealed on Monday morning that Health Secretary Matt Hancock would be the minister who would appear in the Commons this afternoon to face the music and answer the urgent question from furious MPs.

Mr Grayling will also avoids answering questions about changes to the probation service during his time as Justice Secretary, with current incumbent David Gauke taking the heat instead.

Labour had demanded Chris Grayling come to the Commons on Monday to answer for the payment to Eurotunnel unveiled last Friday

Eurotunnel had launched a legal challenge to the Government's decision to hand contracts worth 108 million to ferry firms without offering it a chance to bid for them

Labour was less than impressed by the decision to allow Matt Hancock to answer the statement

Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: 'Chris Grayling told us that Brexit would allow Parliament to take back control, yet he is running scared of questions over his latest costly blunder.

'The government are no longer prepared to defend the indefensible so the Secretary of State has been sent into hiding.

'The Transport Secretary remaining in post is an insult to taxpayers and an international embarrassment.'

Mr McDonald added: Even in this golden age of ministerial incompetence, the Transport Secretary stands out from the crowd.

The plan was designed to ease pressure on shipping capacity at nearby Dover if the UK crashes out of the EU without a deal next month

'He leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, causing chaos and wasting billions of pounds, yet he shows no contrition, no acknowledgement of his mistakes nor any resolve to learn and improve.

This country cannot afford this Transport Secretary. He should be sacked without delay.

Ferry contracts were awarded by the Government in December to DFDS, Brittany Ferries and Seaborne Freight to lay on additional crossings to ports other than Dover.

The 14 million deal with Seaborne - which was a start-up company with no ships - was terminated last month after its financial backer Arklow Shipping pulled out, before any money changed hands.

Matt Hancock was drafted in to answer the Urgent Question, much to the fury of Labour, which has made repeated calls for Grayling to be sacked

Labour called for Mr Grayling to be sacked for overseeing 'serial failure and routine incompetence' in everything from Brexit planning to late-running train services affecting large parts of the country last year.

Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, also weighed in to criticise Mr Grayling on Monday.

He said: 'As Shadow Transport Secretary I faced off against several incompetent Tory Ministers. But they at least had the guts to come to the House to answer Urgent Questions.

'Chris Grayling and this Government are showing a complete and utter contempt of Parliament and the taxpayer.'

Even former Labour deputy prime minister John Prescott weighed in to the debacle, contrasting the difference in attitude from his time in the Commons

The Government on Friday said the deal with Eurotunnel was to 'deliver improvements which will ensure the Channel Tunnel is ready to continue to keep passengers and freight moving post-Brexit' such as better security and traffic flow at the border.

At the same time Eurotunnel dropped its legal case over the contracts, which it claimed should have been more openly tendered to companies like the Channel Tunnel operator.

Theresa May's official spokesman said that the decision was because the response to the no-deal Brexit ferries decision involved more than on minister.

He said: 'There is a statement due to be given today. My understanding is that it will be the Health Secretary.

'Friday was a joint statement by a number of ministers, which is entirely proper given the issue that is being discussed.'
A jihadi who left his peaceful home in New Zealand to fight with Islamic State says his biggest regret about joining the caliphate was never being able to afford a slave.

Mark Taylor, 42, who was widely mocked as the bumbling 'Kiwi Jihadi' after alerting ISIS' enemies to the location of fighters by enabling geo-tagging on a social media post, travelled to Syria in 2014.

But he now claims he never fought for ISIS and only acted as a guard during his five-years with the terror group on the border between the Islamic State's territory and that controlled by the Syrian Government.

Taylor - who is now being held in a Kurdish jail after being captured in Northern Syria in December 2018 - told the ABC's Middle East correspondent Adam Harvey that one of his regrets was never being able to afford a Yazidi slave because a 'decent one' was too expensive.

He fled the Islamic State in December 2018.

Taylor (pictured) left New Zealand with the intention of being a 'martyr', entering Syria in 2014

'To buy a slave, you're looking at least $4000 American to buy an older woman, at least past 50-years-old,' he told ABC.

'And to buy a decent one, at least (USD) $10,000 or $20,000.'

ISIS took thousands of Yazidi women and girls hostage as sex slaves during their reign of terror.

Taylor told the ABC he would be surprised if New Zealand refused to take him back.

The nation doesn't have the same duel citizenship laws as Australia or Britain, who are able to revoke a person's citizenship so long as it doesn't leave them stateless.

He said upon his return to his home country, he would expect to serve time in prison.

'I'm sorry for causing too much trouble and being a bit hot-headed and flamboyant in my approach. I don't know if I can go back to New Zealand, but at the end of the day it's really something I have to live with for the rest of my life.'

'Kiwi jihadi' Mark Taylor (pictured) has been detained in a Kurdish prison after surrendering

Taylor (pictured) said he was 'in a pickle' in the weeks before he fled the Islamic State

Taylor said he was 'in a pickle' in the weeks before he left Syria.

'There was no food, no money, basic services were pretty much collapsed. I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave,' Taylor told ABC.

'That was a hard decision to call, because people were telling me 'you can't leave, you came here for the sake of Allah, you came here to die'.'

In 2015, the US Government declared Taylor a global terrorist.

He had encouraged attacks in Australia and New Zealand, including releasing a YouTube video in which he told followers to 'stab a few police officers, soldiers on Anzac Day'.

Taylor has lived in Australia sporadically over the course of the past 25 years.

He spent time in and out of prison in the Middle East, including a 50-day stint in an IS jail for tweeting with his location attached.

Forgetting to disable the geo-tagging feature on his Twitter, Taylor took to the social media platform to ask for doctors and dentists to join him in 2014.

A series of 45 tweets send from the handle @M_Taylor_Kiwi were saved by the Canadian based social media jihad monitor Ibrabo.

Taylor got in trouble with Islamic State officials for posting tweets with the location on
An American man has been arrested after being found in a child sex brothel in Cambodia, where he allegedly gave a girl $100 a month.

Danny Pope was in a private room inside the massage parlor in capital Phnom Penh when officers raided the building on Saturday morning.

Police said they had been monitoring the brothel as well as the 59-year-old suspect, from Statesville, North Carolina, for two days before raiding the two-story property.

An orange sign outside the building advertises massages for 10,000 Cambodia Riel ($2.47) and says the shop is open 24 hours a day.

Five prostitutes - including three children - were discovered inside the building and taken into care.

American Danny Pope as he was arrested after being found inside a child sex brothel in Cambodia

One young woman and three children who were found inside the Cambodian 'massage parlor' during a police raid on March 2

Pope was lead away by Cambodian police on a moped to be taken to a police station and questioned

Footage showed Pope - wearing a white shirt and with a grey mullet - being lead away and put onto a police motorcycle.

He was interviewed at the police station where he told officers that he had been giving one of the young girls '$100 a month for food and clothes'.

Asked if he had given money to any of the other children, he said 'no just her'.

It is not known if Pope was questioned about his social media profile, which shows him posing with different Asian children over a number of years.

Police took Pope, then wearing a black check shirt and black hat, back to the brothel named Srey Nean 871 and also back to his rented room on a police parade.

He has since been remanded in custody while police prepare the case to give to prosecutors.

The Srey Nean 871 where Pope rented a room and admitted given one girl $100 a month. A sign outside advertises massages for 10,000 Cambodia Riel ($2.47)

Police lead Pope, who was wearing a black check shirt and black hat, away from the child sex brothel to be interviewed after officers had been watching him for two days

Pope has been remanded in custody while police prepare the case to give to prosecutors. His social media profile shows him posed with young Asian children

The Anti-Human Trafficking and Minor Protection Office said in a statement that Pope was facing charges of 'rape, aggravating circumstances and soliciting child prostitution'.

A spokesman said: 'The police force of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Minor Protection Office conducted an investigation into the detention of an American citizen involved in the case of child prostitution.

'The operation was held on the evening of March 2, 2019 at the Srey Neang massage parlour at 871 Sangkat Kakap 2, Khan Por Sen Chey, Phnom Penh.

'The operation was under direct command of Lieutenant General Seth Thorn and Phnom Penh Police Commissioner, facilitated by Keo Sothea, Prosecutor of the Trial Monitoring, and led by General Chun Kakamom.

'Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Counter-Trafficking and Minority Protection of the Police of the Royal High Commission.'

When questioned by police Pope told officers he had been giving one of the young girls in the brothel '$100 a month for food and clothes'
A 17-year-old girl in China has reportedly had a live cockroach pulled out of her ear canal after going to the hospital to treat pain in her ear.

The young patient experienced discomfort after waking up from her sleep last Wednesday. Doctors said the insect could have crawled into her ear during her sleep before getting stuck.

It is thought that cockroaches crawl into people's ears in search of food.

The unnamed girl, from the city of Nanchang in Jiangxi Province, told doctors she felt something was moving in her ear and it was painful.

Footage released by Chinese video site Pear shows the patient screaming 'it hurts' whenever a doctor touched her head during examination.

After checking the patient's ear using a microscope, doctors saw a 'small insect' in her ear canal.

'We immediately removed it and realised that it was a live cockroach,' one doctor told Pear.

Doctors in Jiangxi, China, have removed a live cockroach (right) from a 17-year-old girl (left)

It is not uncommon to see media reports of people having cockroaches removed from their ears.

In May last year, a man from Florida woke up and realised there was a live cockroach in his ear. ER doctors later discovered that the roach had already laid eggs in his ear before having the insect removed.

In the same month also in Florida, a woman had a cockroach stuck in her ear for a week after it crawled into her head during her sleep.

A human's ear is a 'safe place' for cockroaches to eat and rest, Professor Coby Schal, from North Carolina State University, who studies insects, previously told The Verge.

Cockroaches are attracted by human's earwax which could be tasty snacks for the insects

Professor Schal said cockroaches were attracted by human's earwax, especially its smell. A human's earwax could be tasty snacks for cockroaches, according to the article on The Verge.

A doctor who treated the Chinese girl in Jiangxi said all small insects, such as cockroaches, spiders and mosquitoes, could crawl into a human's ears.

He urged the public to seek medical assistance instead of poking their ears under the circumstances.
A Labor Party branch president has been charged with attempting to import child pornography he allegedly made in the Philippines back into Australia.

Peter Andrew Hansen, 61, was arrested at Sydney International Airport when he arrived from Vietnam on October 6 last year, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Hansen, who speaks fluent Vietnamese and once ran for local election in Cabramatta in Sydney's west, had spent the previous four months teaching English at a Vietnamese school.

A Labor Party branch president has been charged with producing child pornography outside of Australia and importing the material into the country

Peter Andrew Hansen (right), 61, was arrested at Sydney International Airport when he arrived from Vietnam on October 6 last year

He has been charged with three offences - producing child pornography outside Australia, possession of child abuse material, and intentionally import prohibited tier-2 goods without approval.

He has been held in jail since his arrest and is due to make a bid for release to the New South Wales Supreme Court on Thursday.

The ALP revoked his membership on Monday after the media informed a party official of the situation.

'NSW Labor this afternoon became aware that Peter Hansen will appear before the Supreme Court on Thursday. As such his membership has been suspended,' a spokesman told The Daily Telegraph, adding his presidency had lapsed.

A magistrate had granted Hansen bail a day after his initial arrest, saying he had no criminal history.

'He comes before the court as a lawyer, he would know more than most people that this type of behaviour was serious,' the magistrate said in Parramatta Bail Court.

He was taken back into custody the following day, however, after Australian Federal Police raided his residence and added an additional two charges.
An Australian man with known links to Middle Eastern terror organisations quietly slipped back into the country in 2018.

The unnamed man is believed to have travelled to Syria in the fledgling years of the caliphate's reign.

Upon his return to Melbourne, Australian authorities were unable to charge him with terror related offences due to the lack of solid evidence on his whereabouts and activities.

An Australian man with known links to Middle Eastern terror organisations quietly slipped back into the country in 2018 (stock)

The man remains under heavy police scrutiny, but authorities do not appear to believe he was a fighter or member of Islamic State.

The man is believed to have associated with al-Qa'ida and Jabhat al-Nusra during his tenure, The Australian reported.

News of his return to Australia comes as Syrian Democratic Forces lead a final assault against the Islamic States final stronghold in Baghouz, near the Syrian and Iraqi border.

The Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led militia backed by the United States, are on the brink of ejecting ISIS from its last known territory.

The unnamed man is believed to have travelled to Syria in the fledgling years of the caliphate's reign (pictured is Baghouz on Saturday)

At least one Australian jihadi bride has already been identified in the camps as Zehra Duman (pictured)

Droves of civilians, jihadi brides and fighters fled the tiny region, which spans no more than two kilometres in width, and have been taken in by refugee camps near the border.

At least one Australian jihadi bride in the camps has already been identified as Zehra Duman.

Duman fled her hometown of Melbourne in 2014 for Syria, where she married fellow Melburnian Mahmoud Abdullatif.

Last week, she told American humanitarian workers outside the Syrian town of Baghouz that three of Khaled Sharrouf's children are alive and well. Sharrouf is Australia's most notorious ISIS fighter.

Sharrouf (pictured with three of his children) gained worldwide notoriety when he published a photo of then nine-year-old Abdullah holding the severed head of a victim of ISIS

Sharrouf was the first Australian foreign fighter to be stripped of his Australian citizenship under new counter-terrorism laws

She believed they were still trapped in the ISIS held town, and wasn't certain they would leave.

Jihadi brides from other western countries have also been found hiding in camps, including the UK's Shamima Begum (pictured)

Lowy Institute Middle East expert Rodger Shanahan said the expectation at this stage is that most escapees will be women and children - as ISIS fighters prepare for a final battle to maintain possession of the land.

'One of the things we've seen from the coalition reports about airstrikes over the last two weeks is an increasing number of targets are tunnel networks. You would assume that the remaining fighters are heavily dug in and many will be buried underground,' Mr Shanahan said.

The Australian government has doubled down on efforts to keep fleeing jihadi's as far away from Australian soil as possible.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton previously said: 'Anyone fighting with or providing support or associating with ISIS or other terrorist groups has committed a serious crime and will face the consequences should they return to Australia.

Jihadi brides from other western countries have also been found hiding in camps, including the UK's Shamima Begum and the United States Hoda Muthana.
Former Daily Show host and ardent Trump critic Jon Stewart has shocked his fans by praising the President's handling of the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.

In the past, Stewart has been famously opposed to the Commander In Chief, even branding him a 'giant turd asteroid' on Stephen Colbert's show last year.

But the comedian made a point of praising Trump's Justice Department last week for its managing of the compensation fund, a cause Stewart has championed for more than a decade.

The fund compensates first responders and relief workers who have developed chronic health problems from injuries and toxins they breathed in while digging through the rubble of the World Trade Center after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001.

Trump capitalized on the positive remarks from one of his harshest critics, retweeting a clip of Stewart on Sunday.

Scroll down for video

Jon Stewart praised Donald Trump's U.S. Justice Dept. on Sunday for its management of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund for 9/11 first responders

Funding for the 9/11 victims program has faced opposition from fiscal conservatives on Capitol Hill in previous years

Stewart said: 'I'm going to say this now. Are the cameras on? Is everybody on me? The Trump Justice Department is doing an excellent job administrating this program. The claims are going through faster and the awards are coming through.'

He then tapped the microphone as members of the audience laugh, before adding; 'I don't know about anything else, I'm not going to comment about anything else'.

VCF leaders on Friday announced the program has 'insufficient money,' CBS News reported.

Only $2 billion of the $7.3 billion Congress allocated for the program remains. And future payments to the estimated 40,000 program applicants will be cut by 50-70 percent unless new funds are allocated by lawmakers.

Previously, the VCF program has faced resistance from fiscally conservative lawmakers in Washington who have been hesitant to permanently fund it.

Stewart has called on Congress to pass a proposed bill that would permanently fund the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund, preventing Congress from ever debating whether or not to fund the program ever again

In 2010, House Republicans voted against a bill proposed by Democrats to fund the program, according to the New York Times.

That resistance has angered Stewart, who has spent the last week in Washington D.C. encouraging lawmakers to pass a new VCF funding bill dubbed the 'Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act'.

The measure would prevent lawmakers from halting related aid for the 9/11 families ever again.

'Let's stop the nonsense,' Stewart said on Sunday, standing in front of a group of 9/11 first responders. 'Ultimately we're going to get to a point where the light shines and shame is brought.'

He went on to praise the Trump administration for its management of the VCF program.

Stewart spent Monday morning continuing to campaign for the funding bill, saying it was an opportunity to write a final chapter on the 9/11 saga.

'We cannot force the men and women that so heroically went down to Ground Zero and stayed there for nine, ten months disrupting their lives as well, we can't force them to have to fight for this anymore,' he told Fox News Monday morning.

'I know Congress is a bastion of fiscal responsibility as you can tell from the marble and gold rotunda that we're standing in. They've got to understand in the larger scheme of things, this is not a lot of money. But what it will do for these families is enormous. This is a national embarrassment and crisis. And they've got to step up.'

Stewart spent Monday morning continuing to campaign for the funding bill, saying it was an opportunity to write a final chapter on the 9/11 saga




Jeff Bezos' camp tried to keep him and his wife together with a $12,500-a-week 'intensive' couple's therapy retreat in Hawaii, it has been claimed.

When news of his affair with Lauren Sanchez broke in January, the Amazon mogul's head of security, Gavin De Becker, urged him to take a 30-day break from seeing Sanchez.

He also tried to convince him to go to Maui Intensives with his wife MacKenzie, according to Vanity Fair.

Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie were urged to go to a week-long couple's therapy retreat in Hawaii when news of his affair emerged

Bezos was told to not see Lauren Sanchez, his mistress, for 30 days but the pair are still together

Maui Intensives is a $12,500 retreat in Maui where therapists Judy Gabriel and Rae Ariel offer services for 'individuals, couples and families'. They pride themselves on their discretion and on the fact that they are 'word of mouth only'.

De Becker, who spearheaded an investigation into who leaked details of their affair, is quoted on its website heaping praise on the pair.

'Their innovative approach accomplishes in a week what typical 50-minute sessions take years to address.

The retreat is run by therapists Rae Ariel (left) and Judy Gabriel (right) and prides itself on its discretion

'The people I have referred to Rae and Judy have experienced profound value, clarity and healing. I am so grateful that such a practice exists,' he said.

It is unclear whether or not Bezos and his wife ever went to the retreat but they were hired, according to Lauren's brother Michael.

Bezos' private plane was in Hawaii from February 16 until February 22nd.

'Once Judy and Rae were hired, I told Lauren, "Watch out. Were f****d. Gavin is going to get Jeff back together with MacKenzie,"' Michael is quoted as saying.

He has vehemently denied being the source of the leak which led to the National Enquirer's expose on the pair's affair in January, but has since lashed out at Bezos and his camp for its handling of the scandal and treatment of him.

While De Becker has never stated on-the-record who he believes the source was, he confirmed that Michael was interviewed as part of his investigation into it and has not shared the names of any other subjects.

Multiple sources at AMI have told The Daily Beast and Vanity Fair that it was Lauren's brother who gave over photographs that Bezos sent her and explicit text messages.

Maui Intensives is a $12,500-a-week retreat in Maui, Hawaii. Its HQ is shown above

On the company's website, Bezos' 'fixer' Gavin De Becker is quoted giving it praise

Gavin De Becker is Bezos' head of security. He has launched an investigation into who leaked details of the affair and has confirmed he interviewed Sanchez's brother, Michael (right). Michael has lambasted De Becker for his probe

On Monday, Michael, who previously said he has been trying to protect his sister from the beginning, told DailyMail.com: 'As an Amazon shareholder, Im appalled Jeff Bezos allowed Gavin de Becker, his CIA-connected fixer, to present himself as an Amazon Investigator while leaking false information about me and Bezos' extramarital love affair; as revealed by two Daily Beast reporters.'

Unnamed sources cited by Vanity Fair claims De Becker is due to publish a 90-page investigative report that will claim AMI was motivated by investment from Saudi Arabia to publish its story on Bezos.

The Saudis dislike him and his newspaper, The Washington Post, in part because of its coverage of its regime.

Jamal Kashoggi, the journalist who was murdered in Turkey in October allegedly because he spoke out against the country, also worked for the Post as a columnist.

AMI has repeatedly denied claims that it was motivated by anything other than publishing details of the affair because it is a newsworthy story.

It has dismissed a second theory that its reporting was fueled by a desire to curry favor with President Trump who has had a years-long friendship with AMI publisher David Pecker.

Trump is a vocal critic of Bezos and the Post.

Bezos, aside from publishing an essay on Medium where he slammed the Enquirer, AMI and its journalists, has not commented on his affair or his marriage.

Sanchez, a former actress and helicopter pilot, has said nothing.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that President Donald Trump has offered him more than a half-dozen high-profile jobs in his administration and he's passed on all of them.

'I'm not one of these people who's desperate for a job,' Christie said on CNBC's Squawk Box. 'I've turned down, I think, seven of them now.'

'I'm not desperate for a title. I'm not looking to run to Washington, D.C.,' the Republican said. 'What I'm looking to do is to make the country better and to help my friend.'

Christie said he and Trump began 'as peers' before they were rivals for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

But now Trump isn't always eager to see eye-to-eye with him when he says 'something he doesn't want to hear.'

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that he could have had his pick of seven different Trump administration jobs including two Cabinet secretary positions and a pair of ambassadorships

President Trump fired Christie after just three days chairing his post-election transition team after learning that Christie had put lobbyists in charge of hiring at top agencies

'Sometimes he takes it very well and he listens and takes it all in,' Christie said. 'And other times he tells me, "Didn't I beat you? Why do I have to listen to you?" It depends on the day.'

Christie was at one point in 2016 considered a front-runner to be Trump's vice presidential running mate.

He ultimately chaired his presidential transition for just three days. Trump fired him after he learned he had put lobbyists in key positions staffing of Cabinet agencies they had previously appealed to for political help.

The GOP field in September 2015 included 14 serious candidates; Christie is shown at right and Trump is sixth from the right

Additional pressure to purge Christie and his inner circle came from Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose father he had successfully prosecuted a decade earlier on tax evasion and witness tampering charges.

More than two years into the Trump presidency, however, Christie suggested that a number of brass rings had been his for the taking.

'He hasn't offered me anything that I really wanted to do,' he said Monday.

'You know, like he's offered me secretary of labor, secretary of homeland security, special assistant to the president, ambassador to Rome, ambassador to the Vatican  just nothing that I've been interested in doing.'

'I've had great titles. My obituary is squared away. I'm alright,' Christie said in his typical no-nonsense style.

Trump, Christie says, sometimes dismisses his advice by asking, 'Didn't I beat you? Why do I have to listen to you?' Christie was among Trump's 2016 Republican primary opponents

Trump and Christie have partnered on domestic issues like opipod addiction since the beginning of the president's term

'If there's something I really want to do and I think I'd bring real value to him and the country I'll step up and do it,' he added.

'And if I don't, I can certainly help him from where I am. And it's much better for my family if I stay where I am right now.'

He cited the appointment of FBI director Chris Wray as an example of his consulting with Trump from afar.

'When he fired Jim Comey, we talked extensively about who should replace him. And I brought the name Chris Wray to him,' Christie said Monday.

'And he became convinced that Chris was the right guy, and has been supportive of Chris as he's moved to really change the FBI.'

Christie isn't always complimentary toward the president: He told late-night host Stephen Colbert that he would have made a better president.

The two were downing shots of tequila on national TV at the time.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez continued her tour of the movie festival circuit as a film that documented her unlikely primary win made its way through New York.

The first-term New York lawmaker, who plaudits for her grilling of Michael Cohen in his high-profile congressional appearance last week, attended Sunday's Athena Film Festival at Barnard College in Manhattan.

Ocasio-Cortez is one of four progressive candidates featured in the documentary film 'Tear Down the House.

Ocasio-Cortez was there for the showing and also panel discussion at the school's Athena Center for Leadership Studies.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the showing of a film that chronicled her 2018 campaign in New York Sunday

She was seated in the audience by her live-in boyfriend Riley Roberts and her brother Gabriel.

In the panel discussion, she told audience members that, 'It's too much work to not be yourself,' the Columbia Spectator reported.

Speaking about things that motivate her, Ocasio-Cortez said: 'It's really about finding what rejuvenates you,' adding she is most capable when she is at home, she feels more capable.

Later this month, Ocasio-Cortez is set to attend the South By Southwest annual music, film, and media confab in Austin, Texas.

She is a 'featured speaker' at the event. Others taking pat include actress Olivia Wilde, rapper A$AP Rocky, and Endeavor CMO Bozoma Saint John.

Ocasio-Cortez attended the 2019 Athena Film Festival closing night film, "Knock Down the House" at the Diana Center at Barnard College on March 3, 2019 in New York City

Ocasio-Cortez heads to South by Southwest later this month

She participated in Sundance, where the film won the audience award, by video

Ocasio-Cortez attended the event with her boyfriend Riley Roberts and her brother Gabriel

ENCORE! Ocassio-Cortez attended the showing of the film in New York. Later she speaks at South By Southwest

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, producer Sarah Olson, producer and editor Robin Blotnick, director Rachel Lears and AFF co-founder Melissa Silverstein on stage during the 2019 Athena Film Festival closing night film, "Knock Down the House" at the Diana Center at Barnard College on March 3, 2019 in New York City

Earlier Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez marched in New York's annual St. Patrick's Day parade, although the New York Post spotted the New Green Deal backer jumping into a gas-guzzling mini-van. The paper reported her campaign spent three times more on Uber and car services than it did on subway and rail travel.

Ocasio-Cortez mocked the report on Twitter, writing that her tia  her aunt  was 'very upset' that the paper 'insulted' er vehicle.

Ocasio-Cortez had been slated to attend the Sundance Film Festival, where the film about her stunning upset of former New York powerhouse Rep. Joe Crowley won the audience award.

However she cancelled her appearance, citing the government shutdown, and participated by video instead.
Trump complained often of getting no credit for his achievements as he proudly drifted off script at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Oxon Hill (US): In a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, US President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of the socialist nightmare, relitigated his crowd sizes back to the inauguration and took on sick, lunatic and dirty foes at every turn, earning him the unvarnished adoration of cheering conservatives.

After a trying week of tumult and setbacks, Trump delivered a stem-winder on Saturday that extended beyond two hours and hardly left him winded. Trump let loose against House Democrats, who are broadening their probes of him, predicted he would win re-election by a greater margin than his 2016 victory, taunted his potential White House challengers and sounded themes that are staples of his rallies.

He complained often of getting no credit for his achievements as he proudly drifted off script at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

On the stage, he was a prideful and at times profane figure as he complained that past political appointments had allowed a situation where political foes were trying to take him out with bullshit.

It took him more than an hour to get to the message that Republicans and members of his administration were emphasising in recent weeks as they try to brand Democratic policy ideas as socialism.

America will never be a socialist country, he said.

Socialism is not about the environment, its not about justice, its not about virtue.

He said its about power for the ruling class. For every prepared line like that, there were multiple improvisations from a president on policy and personality.

This phony thing, Trump said of the Russia probe, looks like its dying so they don't have anything with Russia there, no collusion. So now they go in and morph into Lets inspect every deal hes ever done. We're going to go into his finances. We're going to check his deals. Were going to check'  these people are sick.
Stephen Waterson, 25, from Croydon, allegedly twice reversed his chair into his girlfriends young son on February 1 last year

The son of an ex-government minister faces a retrial over the death of three-year-old Alfie Lamb, who was allegedly crushed by a car seat.

Stephen Waterson, 25, from Croydon, twice reversed his chair into his girlfriends young son on February 1 last year, it is claimed.

Alfie had been placed in the rear footwell of Watersons Audi convertible on the way back from a shopping trip to Sutton, south London, the Old Bailey had heard.

He collapsed by the time the car reached Croydon and he died in hospital three days later.

Last month, a jury failed to reach a verdict on a charge of manslaughter.

Waterson, adopted son of Nigel Waterson, was found guilty of intimidating a witness, having earlier admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by telling lies to police about what happened.

Alfies mother Adrian Hoare, 23, was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of child cruelty and assaulting another witness, Emilie Williams, 19.

Both Hoare, from Gravesend, Kent, and Williams, from Croydon, had also admitted plotting to pervert the course of justice.

Alfies mother Adrian Hoare, 23, was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of child cruelty and assaulting another witness, Emilie Williams, 19

Hoare returned to the Old Bailey for a sentencing hearing before Mr Justice Kerr on Monday.

Waterson attended via video link from Belmarsh jail while his lawyer Tana Adkin QC listened in by mobile phone on loud speaker in court due to an administrative oversight.

The judge set a retrial to start on April 23 to be heard before him.

He adjourned sentencing of all the defendants until the conclusion of Watersons retrial.
A former West Virginia Capitol staffer is disputing anti-Muslim comments a lawmaker said she made in response to an Islamophobic display outside the House of Delegates chamber.

Anne Lieberman issued a statement Sunday on Facebook, two days after she resigned as House sergeant at arms.

Lieberman said she was summoned to a disturbance outside the chamber on Friday when she encountered Delegate Michael Angelucci, who asked her to remove an anti-Muslim poster.

Anne Lieberman, center, the former sergeant at arms for the West Virginia House of Delegates, denies saying an anti-Muslim statement during a confrontation in the state capitol

The poster displayed in the West Virginia state capitol sparked a great deal of emotion from Democratic legislators who viewed it as hateful and bigoted

The poster falsely connected the Muslim U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, of Minnesota, to the 2001 U.S. terrorist attacks and was displayed prominently in the rotunda at as part of a GOP event, according to West Virginia MetroNews.

In a subsequent House floor speech, Angelucci said he recalled 'The sergeant at arms had the nerve to say to us, "All Muslims are terrorists."'

'That's not freedom of speech. That's hate speech, and it has no place in this House,' he continued angrily. 'I don't want to see her representing the people of this state in this House again.'

According to Lieberman's statement, she told Angelucci, '"Not all Muslims are terrorists," but that THOSE (9/11) terrorists WERE all Muslim, trying to bring the discussion back to his original complaint.'

Anne Lieberman (center, in long coat) in a 2016 Facebook photo. Lieberman says she would not have spoken up about her side of the story if it wasn't for 'vile and repugnant messages' from people over the alleged remarks

Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a first-time Congresswoman, was the target of the display likening her to the 9/11 terrorists. Omar is a Muslim originally from Somalia

Lieberman said Angelucci misunderstood or misheard her. Angelucci didn't immediately return a phone message Sunday.

Lieberman said that after speaking with Angelucci, she went to her office and did not attend the floor session. She said that as she sat in her office, she was not immediately aware 'that I was being falsely accused and defamed on the floor of the House.'

The duties of the sergeant at arms include maintaining order in the House chamber, galleries and outside lobby.

According to House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, a House doorkeeper was injured in a separate incident Friday when another lawmaker, Democratic Delegate Mike Caputo, angry over the display kicked a door open.

An unidentified woman set up the display in the West Virginia state capitol for ACT for America, an organization known for strong anti-Muslim rhetoric and listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center

The ACT for America table also displayed pamphlets making additional extreme comments about Muslims

'I'm the one who kicked the door open. That's how angry I was. I went over to that poster and I said it was a racist poster,' Caputo said.

Lieberman said she later met with Hanshaw and offered to resign 'if it would help (defuse) the situation.'

Lieberman said Hanshaw accepted her offer and he announced the resignation in a motion on the House floor.

'The vile and repugnant messages I have received from total strangers in response to something I did not say, now compels me to submit this account of what led up to my resignation,' Lieberman wrote.

Rep. Omar connected the rhetoric seen in the West Virginia state house display to other threats that have been made against her life as Muslim in Congress

Omar retweeted graffiti found in a men's bathroom that made a threat to her along with a reference to the 'hitlist' written by Coast Guard officer Christopher Hasson that targeted her among other Democrats and liberal figures

The poster was over a table loaded with other Islamophobic flyers and bore an image of the burning World Trade Center juxtaposed with a picture of Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American and one of the first Muslim congresswomen ever elected.

''Never forget' - You said,' was written over the Twin Towers.

Pamphlets accompanying the display read 'The Four Stages of Islamic Conquest' and 'Readin', Writin' and Jihadin.'

A woman who had set up the table would not discuss the contents of her table with Democrats in an exchange caught on video.

Brigitte Gabriel, founder of ACT for America, has been continually attacking Rep. Omar on Twitter with this particular list of accusations pinned to the top

Today at @WVGOP day, a vendor displayed a sign promoting HATE towards Muslim Americans. Heres what she had to say... #wvpol pic.twitter.com/ph2bWJAvuf  WV Democratic Party (@wvdemocrats) March 1, 2019

The group whose name appeared on a sign next to the display, ACT for America, has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Founded by Brigitte Gabriel, born Hanan Qahwaji, in 2007, it was listed by the SPLC as a hate group because it 'pushes wild anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, denigrates American Muslims and deliberately conflates mainstream and radical Islam.'

The organization, which describes itself as a national security advocacy group, issued a statement Saturday saying it was not behind the images. Gabriel has attacked Rep. Omar repeatedly on Twitter.

As photos of the display went viral Friday, Omar, a Minnesota Democrat, wrote on Twitter, 'No wonder why I am on the 'Hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and 'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations. Look no further, the GOP's anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them!'

The display drew strong rebukes from local and national lawmakers. On Saturday, the West Virginia Republican Party said it does 'not endorse speech that advances intolerant and hateful views.'

The House of Delegates has already been roiled with controversy already this session due to remarks by freshman Republican Delegate Eric Porterfield, who equated LGBTQ organizations to 'a modern day version of the Ku Klux Klan, without wearing hoods with their antics of hate.'




Attorney General Geoffrey Cox today denied he has given up hope the EU will give Britain a guaranteed exit from the Irish backstop that could help get Theresa May's Brexit deal over the line next week.

The Tory MP, who will return to Brussels tomorrow hoping for a breakthrough, insists claims he is now pursuing a Plan B are based on 'misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts'.

The QC is fighting the EU to secure legally-binding changes to ensure that the UK is not trapped permanently by backstop arrangements designed to keep the Irish border open if trade talks fail.

With the EU refusing to back down on setting an end date, Mr Cox is now seeking an enhanced 'arbitration mechanism' instead, the Daily Telegraph reported, in the hope Brexiteers, the DUP and rebel Labour MPs will help vote through Mrs May's deal on March 12.

The focus is on plans for how alternative arrangements  including technological ones for cross-border trade combined with bilateral agreements on customs  could be reached that would allow the backstop to cease if triggered.

One senior source said: Its a thing that needs work, but of course in order to retain the insurance element for the Irish this has to be carefully drafted because on one hand, it cant look like a unilateral escape clause for the UK, but on the other hand it cant look like its permanently locking in the UK.

'That is semantically quite a challenge. Its a difficult circle to square.

The source added: What they are looking at is something that has a legal value and that is credible enough so that the attorney-general can demonstrate to MPs that yes, the backstop is not a prison.

'The name of the title of the document doesnt matter, its the content. So the UK is now calling it a codicil, but you can call it an additional protocol, an annexe, an interpretative text.

It will be used by Geoffrey Cox to demonstrate the point they want to make  that there is life after the backstop.

Responding to the story today Mr Cox crypically tweeted: 'Some of it is accurate, much more of it isn't and what is not is far more significant than what is.

In a humorous twist on the crunch talks Mr Cox included 'Get Outlook for iOS' on the bottom of his Twitter rebuke - a hint that he had copied and pasted the tweet from an iPhone. Responding to a suggestion he needs someone to proof-read his social media he said: 'Good idea'.

Mr Cox is due to meet EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels tomorrow and is taking Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay with him just eight days until the crunch Commons vote.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has denied he has admitted defeat on getting the EU to agree a firm end date to the Irish backstop as he prepares for more talks with Michel Barnier in Brussels

Mr Cox said claims that EU won't budge on Britain being able to end the backstop are based on 'misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts'

It is claimed that Mr Cox is arguing for an 'independent' arbitration panel outside the EU's institutions - but Brussels has so far rejected the plans.

A Number 10 spokesman said: 'The Attorney General continues to pursue legally binding changes to the backstop that are necessary to ensure it cannot be indefinite.

A number of senior Eurosceptics have indicated they could back Theresa May's deal (pictured today in Salisbury)

'We will not however comment on the specifics of the negotiations at this critical stage.'

Meanwhile Justice Minister Rory Stewart said hardline Eurosceptics are becoming 'more pragmatic' about Theresa May's deal.

The threat that Brexit could be delayed, softened or even halted was focusing minds among Eurosceptic MPs, he said.

'I think there's been a huge amount of movement,' he told Sky News.

'I think people are becoming more pragmatic, they are recognising much more than they did in the past that there are a limited number of alternatives to this and that the alternatives are worse.'

A number of senior Eurosceptics have indicated they could back Mrs May's deal, provided she is able to secure concessions on the controversial Irish backstop.

Nigel Evans, secretary of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, said Eurosceptics and the DUP would not accept 'some wishy washy sticking plaster'.

But, writing in the Daily Mail, he said: 'I will be looking very carefully at what (Attorney General) Geoffrey Cox brings back.

'On my interpretation that it delivers what Theresa May said she was going to deliver, and on it having the backing of the DUP, I can see me edging towards pushing this deal over the line.'

Mr Cox's 'Get Outlook for iOS' error on the bottom of his tweet caused mirth among some who responded to the pay-off with jokes

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee, warned that Remainer attempts to remove the possibility of No Deal had undermined Mrs May, but said Eurosceptic MPs could yet help reverse the defeat inflicted on her deal when it returns to the Commons.

He said: 'When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the EU on March 29.'

What are Tory Eurosceptics demanding to vote for the PM's Brexit deal? Any concession on the Irish backstop must include a 'clearly-worded, legally-binding' clause which 'unambiguously overrides' the Withdrawal Agreement.

The new tests demand the language in any concession 'must go beyond simply re-emphasising/ re-interpreting the temporary nature of the backstop' and lead to a change in Attorney General Geoffrey Cox's advice that it could 'endure indefinitely'.

Brexiteers also insist that the changes must demonstrate 'a clear and unambiguous route out of the backstop if trade talks fail'. Advertisement

Government sources are hoping that Mr Cox will achieve a breakthrough in Brussels by the end of this week that will allow him to change his legal advice that the backstop could 'endure indefinitely' ahead of an expected vote on March 12.

A source at the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs warned ministers not to try to 'bounce' them into backing any revised deal at the last minute, saying: 'We want at least 48 hours' notice. That is not an unreasonable amount of time and anything less would be treating Parliament with contempt.'

The ERG has set up a panel of Eurosceptic lawyers, led by Sir Bill Cash, to pass judgment on any concessions secured by Mr Cox.

Yesterday, the group set out three tests the changes must pass. These include a 'clearly worded, legally-binding treaty-level clause which unambiguously overrides' the text of the Withdrawal Agreement.

The language 'must go beyond simply re-emphasising/re-interpreting the temporary nature of the backstop'.

And the changes must demonstrate 'a clear and unambiguous route out of the backstop if trade talks fail'.

Sabine Weyand, deputy to the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, yesterday suggested the demands are 'way beyond' what is on offer.

But Tory MP Michael Tomlinson, who will sit on the new committee, said Eurosceptics had already compromised by accepting that the change did not necessarily have to be written into the text of the Withdrawal Agreement.
The World Wildlife Fund financially supported anti-poaching units who tortured, sexually assaulted and killed villagers, it has been claimed.

WWF are accused of working with ruthless forces in their fight against poaching at Nepal's Chitwan National Park and Cameroon's Lobeke National Park.

Shikharam Chaudhary was allegedly beaten to death by park officials in 2006, after he was suspected of poaching, BuzzFeed News reported.

Chaudhary was taken into custody on suspicion of helping his son to bury a rhino horn in his yard - but the contraband was never found.

Nepali army personnel burn wildlife parts seized from poachers at Chitwan National Park in 2017 - there is no suggestion that these men are involved in abuse

A mahout with his elephant returns from collecting wild grass at Chitwan National Park in the early hours

Hira Chaudhary

Shikharam's wife Hira told the police, 'They beat him mercilessly and put saltwater in his nose and mouth.'

She had gone to visit him during his detention and claims her husband told her that he was being subjected to constant beatings.

Three park wardens were charged with murder and BuzzFeed claim that WWF used their influence to ensure the charges against the rangers were dropped.

WWF continued to support the Nepalese rangers and in 2009, Kamal Jung Kunwar - one of the accused - wrote a memoir detailing beatings, water tortures and pouring chilli powder into people's eyes.

BuzzFeed claim this was not an isolated incident but was systematic across national parks supported by the charity in Asia and Africa.

In 2017 forest rangers at the Lobeke National Park in Cameroon are alleged to have tortured an 11-year-old boy.

Villagers submitted a complaint to the conservationist charity who reportedly gave no response.

The bombshell investigation by BuzzFeed claims to have uncovered abuse across six countries, including tortures, killings and the use of a vicious intelligence network to penetrate deep into the poaching trade.

They claim that WWF-backed anti-poaching units have carried out whippings, bamboo stick beatings, machete attacks, sexual assaults, shootings and killings.

The sun rising over the Rapti River in Chitwan National Park in Nepal, where rangers battle to stop poaching, particularly of the rhinocerous

Elephants at Cameroon's Lobeke National Park are highly sought after by poachers who kill them for their ivory

WWF field staff are accused of signing off on a proposal to permit the killing of trespassers at a park.

They are allegedly so deeply embroiled that not only have they provided rangers with batons, knives and riot gear, but BuzzFeed further accuse them of involvement in a bungled arms deal to buy assault rifles from the Central African Republic.

They were allegedly doing business with the country's army who are said to have chopped people's heads off and paraded them through towns.

These rangers are supported by WWF-backed espionage in these regions which terrorise the local populations through 'fear' and 'revenge.'

In another allegation against practices at the Chitwan National Park, a soldier allegedly attempted to rape a woman out cutting grass.

Although the story made national news, WWF did not contact her family, indeed, they gave that soldier's battalion an award for dealing with rhino poaching months later.

National park rangers are employed by the state, but rely on support from and allegedly work closely with WWF.

It is company policy that workers report abuse to the head offices in Switzerland.

BuzzFeed claim that WWF staffers coordinate for the rangers and direct their raids alongside the governments, turning a blind eye to wrongdoing.

A WWF spokesperson said: 'At the heart of WWFs work are places and the people who live in them. Respect for human rights is at the core of our mission.

The stunning Chitwan National Park in Nepal with views up to the Himalayas - elephants, rhinos, leopards and tigers can all be found at the park

'We take any allegation seriously and are commissioning an independent review to look into the cases raised in the story.

'We have asked BuzzFeed to share all evidence it has obtained to support these claims, to help inform and strengthen this review.

'WWFs work relies on deep community support, engagement and inclusion.

'We have stringent policies designed to ensure both we and our partners are safeguarding the rights and well-being of indigenous people and local communities in the places we work.

'Any breach of these policies is unacceptable to us and, should the review uncover any, we are committed to taking swift action.'
Germany will strip ISIS fighters of their citizenship, after the government agreed on a new anti-terror law, local media reports.

The new law will apply to adult German nationals with dual citizenship, who take part in future battles for any terrorist 'militia'.

This means it will not apply to foreign ISIS fighters who have fled its territories in recent weeks or are already imprisoned.

A woman looks on as she waits to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after fleeing ISIS's last holdout in Syria

The expanded Nationality Act would see citizenship stripped of anyone who 'takes part in combat operations abroad for a terrorist militia,' in order to 'establish a new state or state structures,' Deutsche Welle reports.

The fall of ISIS in Syria and the increasingly publicised desires by foreign fighters to return to their home countries have seen several Western nations take action against homegrown jihadists.

The UK stripped 19-year-old Shamima Begum, who left east London's Bethnal Green to join ISIS aged 15, of her British citizenship after she was tracked down by a Times journalist in the Al Hol refugee camp and spoke of her desire to return to her home country.

Last week, Sweden moved to make it illegal to join a terror organisation as the government seeks to punish 'returning' jihadist fighters.

Men and boys suspected of being Islamic State (IS) group fighters wait to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after leaving ISIS' last holdout of Baghouz, in the eastern Syrian Deir Ezzor province on Friday

The new law, set to enter into force in August, 'will allow us to prosecute and try many more of them than we've been able to until now,' Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said.

However, the legislation will not be retroactive and therefore cannot be applied to the dozens of fighters who have already come back to Sweden.

Under the current laws, Sweden can only prosecute foreign fighters if it can prove that they have been involved in crimes violating the Geneva Convention.

This comes after the Kurdish government suggested that if foreign fighters could not return, then international tribunals similar to the ones used to convict Nazis after the Second World War could be set up to deal with the problem.
A husky bit a 4-year-old Utah boy's hand off after he stuck his arm through a fence to try to play with two dogs belonging to his neighbor

The child was airlifted on Sunday to a Salt Lake City hospital and was in serious but stable condition after the encounter with the Siberian huskies, Layton Fire Department officials said.

The boy lost his entire hand, as well as a portion of the lower part of his arm, below the elbow, Battalion Chief Jason Cook told KSL.

The child's hand has not been found and 'may have been ingested by the dog,' Cook said.

The dogs were not known to aggressive, their owners said.

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One of two Siberian huskies bit off the hand of a Utah boy, age 4, after he stuck his arm through a fence to try to play with the animals. Layton Fire Department Battalion Chief Jason Cook is shown demonstrating how much of the child's arm was lost in the bite, along with his hand

The boy was wearing a sock on his right hand when he reached through the chain-link fence from his family's backyard toward two Siberian huskies living next door, Cook said.

One of the dogs bit down, severing the child's limb from his body, about 2-3 inches above his wrist.

'I think this is one of those innocent child play moments where the dogs have probably been in the backyard many, many times. Hes seen them and maybe even done something similar with them before, but for whatever reason this one kind of took a tragic turn today,' he said.

His family tried to limit the bleeding until emergency workers arrived.

The child was then taken by air to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was declared to be in serious but stable condition.

The boy was wearing a sock on his right hand when he reached through the chain-link fence from his family's backyard toward two Siberian huskies living next door, Cook said. One of the dogs bit down, severing the child's limb from his body, about 2-3 inches above his wrist. A file photo of a Siberian husky is shown

His family tried to limit the bleeding until emergency workers arrived. The child was then taken by air from his home (shown) to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was declared to be in serious but stable condition

The dogs are in the custody of animal control officers, and have been quarantined pending an investigation.

Neighbor Stacey Taft expressed her sadness for both families involved.

'No parent wants to go through that,' Taft said. 'They dont want to see that kind of stuff happen and to not be able to stop it.'

The owners of the dogs said neither animal had an aggressive history.

The breed is generally thought to be friendly, alert and gentle, and are not typically possessive or suspicious of strangers, according to the American Kennel Club.

The future of the dogs is not know at this time.
Six adorable and rare South China tiger cubs are set to make their first public appearance at a zoo in central China.

The cubs, three male and three female, were born to two mothers on January 10 and 11 at the Wangcheng Park in Luoyang, Henan province, marking an important step in the conservation of the rare animal.

The South China tiger is listed as 'critically endangered' on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list and is guarded under first-class state protection in China.

The South China tiger cubs, three male and three female, were born to two mothers on January 10 and 11 at the Wangcheng Park in Luoyang, Henan province, marking an important step in the conservation of the rare animal

Adorable images show the hungry cubs rush to gulp down bottled milk during feeding time

Since their birth, the cubs have been under the care of the keepers since the mothers had difficulty nursing the cubs on their own during the cold season, according to the zoo

Since their birth, the cubs have been under the care of the keepers since the mothers had difficulty nursing the cubs on their own during the cold season, according to the zoo.

'After two months of nursing and feeding, the average weight of the tiger cubs have exceeded 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds), compared with 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) when they were born,' Liu Zhaoyang, deputy head of the Wangcheng Park told state broadcaster CCTV.

'Currently, the six tiger cubs are all in good health,' he added. 'They have been getting lots of exercise and are in good spirits.'

After two months of nursing and feeding, the average weight of the tiger cubs have exceeded 2.5 kilograms (5.5 pounds), compared to 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) when they were born

The tiger cubs have been getting lots of exercise and are in good spirits, their keeper said

Liu said they would be allowed to meet visitors next month if they are in good health.

Adorable images and video footage show the hungry cubs fighting each other as they rush to gulp down bottled milk during feeding time. Others are seen staring curiously at the camera.

'We feed them six times a day,' keeper Wang Huiqin told CCTV. 'It's a lot of work but we're very happy to see them getting bigger every day.'

Cute as they are, the tiny tigers are expected to boost the population of the endangered animal in China.

The World Wildlife Fund considers the South China tiger to be extinct in the wild - only 177 of them live in captivity in zoos or breeding bases

An adult South China tiger is seen at a breeding base in Luoyang Wangcheng Park. With the six newborns, the province is now home to the largest population of South China tigers in China

The World Wildlife Fund considers the South China tiger to be extinct in the wild - only 177 of them live in captivity in zoos or breeding bases.

The last time a South China tiger was seen in the wild was in the 1990s in the Xishui Nature Reserve in south-west Guizhou province, according to CGTN.

With the six newborns, Luoyang province is now home to the largest population of South China tigers in the country, with 38 in total.
A mountaineering expert has warned that the conditions on Pakistan's 'Killer Mountain' are 'very difficult to survive' as the search for the missing British climber and his Italian counterpart enters its second week.

Tom Ballard, 30, whose mother Alison Hargreaves died on K2 in 1995, has not made contact since last Sunday when he was 20,000ft up Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain, with 42-year-old Italian Daniele Nardi.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, explained: 'It's very difficult to survive in that condition and it's a big challenge for a mountaineer to climb in winter.'

Tom Ballard, 30, whose mother Alison Hargreaves died on K2 in 1995, has not made contact since last Sunday when he was 20,000ft up Nanga Parbat

Tom (pictured left) was climbing with 42-year-old Italian Daniele Nardi (right) who is also missing

A map of the Nanga Parbat mountains in Pakistan (pictured above) which shows where Tom went missing and where his mother went missing in 1995

He added: 'Unfortunately, no sign of climbers or a camp site was found during the aerial reconnaissance.'

As the search continues into its second week, military helicopters found no trace of the two climbers after taking off from the northern town of Skardu today with four Spanish rescuers on board.

Spaniard Alex Txikon and three colleagues, including a physician, are joining Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara, who is already at base camp.

Mr Haidri hopes the improved weather will allow the rescue team to search during the day, with rescuers also planning to use a drone in their efforts amid the harsh weather.

Tom (pictured above) from Derbyshire, is an experienced climber and the first person to solo climb all six major north faces of the Alps in one winter

Italian ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo tweeted that the team reached Camp 1 and was setting up necessary equipment to fly the drones as visibility was good.

Mr Ballard was born in Derbyshire but moved to the Scottish Highlands in 1995, the year his mother, Alison Hargreaves, died on K2 when she was 33, months after becoming the first woman to conquer Everest unaided.

Friends of the climbers have raised more than 109,682 towards the search effort in two days through a GoFundMe page. The target of the fundraiser is 150,000 euros (128,500).

A message on the page states: 'We are so grateful for everyone who has led these rescue efforts on the ground.

Pictures from Tom's Instagram account detail his various training efforts for his climbs where he seems to be having a great time getting to grips with different heights

Tom (left and right) went on to follow in his mother's footsteps and both him and his sister are keen mountaineers

'The helicopter rescue operation costs roughly 50,000 euros (42,846) per day. Donations to help support these costs are graciously appreciated.

'Any unused donations will be donated to the schools of Pakistan where Daniele has regularly donated school materials and medicine on this and past expeditions.'

Despite being dubbed 'Killer Mountain' because of its dangerous conditions, the summit of Nanga Parbat has long drawn climbers.

Located in Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan area, it is the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 metres (26,660 feet).

Nardi and Ballard set out on the climb on February 22, making it to the fourth base camp by the following day.

Alison Hargreaves - who was also a climber - and Jim Ballard with their children Tom and his sister Kate

Mr Ballard's mother Alison Hargreaves, pictured with her children left, died on the mountain in 1995. Mr Ballard, right, was just six-years-old at the time

The pair last made contact on February 24 from an elevation of around 6,300 metres (nearly 20,700 feet) on Nanga Parbat.

Pakistan dispatched search helicopters last week despite the closure of its airspace amid tensions with neighbouring India over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Sadpara, who joined the search team, saw a snow-covered tent on Thursday. Nardi's team had said in a Facebook post that traces of an avalanche were evident in the area.

Nardi, 42, from near Rome, has attempted the Nanga Parbat summit in winter several times in the past.

In 2015 Ballard became the first person ever to solo climb all six major north faces of the Alps in one winter
Some hard left Labour factions will never be able to take anti-Semitism seriously because it is a core part of their anti-capitalist beliefs, one of the partys MPs has claimed.

Siobhain McDonagh said that hardline entryists into the party had a mindset to be against capitalists and to see Jewish people as the financiers of capital.

The Mitcham and Morden MP, a critic of party leader Jeremy Corbyn, hit out as the partys furious long-running row over anti-Semitism showed no sign of calming down.

Asked by BBC Radio 4s Today programme whether she thought the party was dealing with the problem seriously, MS McDonagh said: Im not sure that some people in the Labour Party can.

Siobhan McDonagh attacked some anti-Capitalits who 'see Jewish people as the financiers of capital' as she attacked 'entryists' into the Labour Party

Mr Corbyn has found himself and his leadership at the centre of an ongoing and furious row over allegations of anti-Semitism in the party and how they are dealt with

Chris Williamson was suspended by the party last week after saying it had been 'too apologetic' about the issue, sparking a massive backlash from MPs

Because its very much part of their politics, of hard left politics, to be against capitalists and to see Jewish people as the financiers of capital. Ergo you are anti-Jewish people.

She added that while not all anti-Capitalists were anti-Semitic there was a certain strand of it among people who were not Labour, have never been Labour, but we now find them in our party.

The interview came after the Observer reported that internal documents showed senior Labour members last year opposed recommendations to suspend several party activists accused of anti-Semitism.

The correspondence, dating from March to May 2018, reveals that an official opposed recommendations from the party's investigations team to suspend the members, the newspaper said.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: 'Since becoming general secretary, Jennie Formby has made procedures for dealing with complaints about anti-Semitism more robust.

'Staff in the investigations team have always led on investigations and recommendations on individual cases.

'Any suggestion that staff in the Leaders' Office opposed recommendations on individual cases is categorically untrue.'

A Labour peer drafted in to put out the flames of its hugely damaging anti-Semitism crisis has warned 'clear-cut' cases where no action was taken will be reopened.

Lord Falconer, a former lord chancellor and flatmate of Tony Blair, said that he was prepared to dive into the party's old cases to boot out anti-Semites who deserved it.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said 'we clearly do' when asked asked if the Labour Party had a problem with anti-Semitism but rejected claims of an institutional problem.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the party needed to be 'more ruthless, more severe' in tackling anti-Semitism

He told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday the party needs to be quicker to react, adding on some occasions it needs to be 'more ruthless, more severe, and we're doing that'.

Asked if there was a blind spot for some on the left when it came to anti-Semitism, Mr McDonnell replied: 'There's blind spots on left and right - the right have been virulently, violently anti-Semitic in our community, but yes, there is an issue on the left.'
A young boy has reportedly became stuck in a toilet for around two hours after playing mobile games while sitting on the loo for too long.

Firefighters had to remove the toilet seat from the toilet - with the crying boy in it - before carefully cutting apart the plastic rim to rescue the child.

The boy sustained bruises as a result, according to firefighters.

The boy became stuck in a toilet seat after apparently playing games on the loo for too long

The incident took place in the city of Wuhan in central China last Friday, said a social media statement from the Wuhan Firefighting Department.

He had been stuck in the toilet for about an hour when the firefighters arrived and the rescue effort took another hour or so, the statement said.

Zhou Dao, a supervisor from the local Yangchahu fire brigade, said the boy's thighs, buttocks and waist had all sunken into the toilet seat when officers got to his home.

His mother had called the police after failing to remove him from the toilet herself.

After the firefighters dismantled the toilet seat from the toilet, supervisor Zhou consoled the boy by chatting with him while his colleagues used pliers and their hands to break the rim.

'We couldn't use large tools in fear of causing secondary injuries on the child,' supervisor Zhou told Pear Video.

A firefighter who took part in the rescue operation said the boy's thighs, buttocks and waist had all sunken into the toilet seat when he and his colleagues arrive at the child's home

The boy was freed in the rescue effort that lasted for an hour, the firefighter department said

Supervisor Zhou said the boy was locked from inside in the bathroom when he was found stuck. It remains unknown why the boy had been locked in.

He said it was most likely that the boy had played on the phone for too long while sitting on the loo.

He became jammed after sinking downwards while shaking his body from side to side, it is said.

The boy reportedly had bruises on the buttocks and thighs after being freed.

Phone addictions among children has become an increasing problem in China.

A study from last year reveals that nearly 70 per cent of children in the country have their own smartphones and nearly half of the children aged between seven and nine are given access to internet.
Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor, was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair.

Fitaihi was one of about 60 who were held for prosecution. (Photo:Twitter)

Washington: US diplomats have visited a dual US-Saudi national who was reported to have been tortured while imprisoned in the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, a top White House official said Sunday.

The New York Times, citing the detailed account of an unnamed friend, said guards dragged Walid Fitaihi, a Harvard-trained doctor, to a room in the hotel where he was slapped, blindfolded, stripped to his underwear and bound to a chair.

They then proceeded to torture him with electric shocks in a session that lasted about an hour, according to the friend, the Times said.

John Bolton, the White House national security advisor, was asked about Fitaihi's treatment, in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union."

"As of this moment, my understanding is we've had what's called consular access, meaning American diplomats in Saudi Arabia have visited with him.

"Beyond that, we don't really have any additional information at this point," Bolton added.

President Donald Trump has faced sharp criticism for favoring the Saudi crown prince as a key regional ally even after the October 2 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident, by Saudi agents in Istanbul.

US intelligence has concluded Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi's killing despite Riyadh's insistence it was a rogue operation.

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and White House advisor, met last week with the crown prince in Riyadh to rally support for a Middle East peace proposal.

Fitaihi, 54, was one of about 200 prominent Saudis who were locked up in the Riyadh luxury hotel as part of a sweeping crackdown on corruption under Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler.

Many of those detained were reported to have been tortured and abused, and some were forced to turn over large sums of money to gain their release.

Fitaihi was one of about 60 who were held for prosecution after the 15-month-long crackdown, which was seen as cementing Prince Mohammed's power.

Fitaihi, who received undergraduate and medical degrees from George Washington University and a master's in public health from Harvard, founded a private hospital in Jeddah after his return from the United States around 2006.

He has no record of political activism inside the kingdom, according to the Times.

The Times said the reason for Fitaihi's detention was unclear, but the friend who described his torture said he was primarily asked about a relative by marriage, Adel Fakeih, a former top aide to the crown prince who had also been detained.
Robert Keegan, 34, has been jailed for stalking

A stalker who sent unwanted Instagram messages to a Paralympic television presenter on an almost daily basis for nine months has been detained in a secure psychiatric hospital.

TV host and model Sophie Morgan said the messages from Robert Keegan, 34, left her 'very scared' and pleading that it 'stop'.

In one message Keegan told the Channel 4 presenter year-old that he wanted to lift her out of her wheelchair and carry her around as 'because it would be romantic'.

After being reported to the police last year and admitting charges of stalking Keagan was given handed with a restraining order and given a suspended sentence.

However he then broke the conditions of his suspended sentence when he tried to make contact with Ms Morgan last October.

At a previous hearing at Camberwell Green magistrates in South London Keegan was accused of sending a large number of unsolicited messages to Ms Morgan via Instagram.

Sophie Morgan said the messages left her at her wits' end and worried what might happen

Reporting Keegan to the police again, Ms Morgan said: 'I am at my wits' end with this now. He will not leave me alone and I just want him to stop.'

The Evening Standard reported that at Inner London crown court on Friday, Judge Mark Bishop ordered Keegan to be held in a secure psychiatric hospital until May for assessment and treatment, after advice from doctors.

He has been in prison since his initial arrest in October last year.

Keegan, who has never met Ms Morgan, sent her a vast number of messages on social media between October 2017 and June last year.

Keegan was spared jailed after his initial conviction, but within weeks had contacted her again, calling repeatedly from an unknown number on September 20. When she picked up, he stayed silent before hanging up, the court heard.

He left her three rambling voicemails that night and a further message in October. He also told Ms Morgan he was contemplating suicide and mentioned seeing her in her car.

Keegan, of Redhill in Surrey, has admitted breaching a restraining order. He has also breached his suspended sentence by committing the new offence. Judge Bishop will decide in May if Keegan is well enough to be sentenced.

Ms Morgan told the court: 'He will not leave me alone and I just want him to stop'

Gordonstoun-educated Ms Morgan was in a devastating car accident when she was 18 that meant she will never walk again.

The day before the crash in 2003, she was told she had achieved the A-level grades she needed to study law at Manchester University but her life-changing injuries forced a rethink and she stayed at home in Brighton and studied art.

Her big break came ten years ago when she was runner-up on Britain's Missing Top Model, a BBC3 show where eight disabled young women competed for a modelling contract.

She is best known as the face of Channel 4's coverage of the 2012 and 2016 Paralympic Games in London and Rio.

She also modelled Stella McCartney's Adidas range for Team GB at the London Games.

She has said that despite her disability, her life was 'better than a lot of people's because I'm just happier and more fulfilled'.

She also said that before the accident she 'wasn't so passionate about much  I was a bit like, yeah, whatever. And now I have a mission'.
Russia has battle plans for a 'full-scale invasion' of Ukraine with 100,000 troops able to swoop into the country in just four hours, a female defector has claimed.

Tank commander Svetlana Dryuk says she has handed the plan, which she claimed was drawn up last year, over to Kiev after switching sides and is now willing to fight against her old comrades.

The 40-year-old, who once fought for pro-Vladimir Putin rebels before apparently defecting to Ukraine, said 'special ID documents' have been created for 'every single Russian soldier who will enter' Ukraine.

These falsely indicate that the soldiers are citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions - meaning under International law that they are Ukrainian citizens, she said.

She is ready to give evidence to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, she added, and said she would now be ready to take up arms for Ukraine.

Svetlana Dryuk, 40, was a famous tank commander fighting for pro-Putin rebels in eastern Ukraine but has now defected

Dryuk, who is now living in Kiev with her daughter Natalya (left) and son Dmitro, says she has handed over Russian battle plans for an invasion of Ukraine

Dryuk (pictured with Natalya and Dmitro) says she decided to switch sides after falling in love with a Ukrainian spy

Dryuk is also credited with providing her Ukrainian spy lover with information which led to the destruction of eight modern Russian T-72 tanks during the bloody conflict.

Her reported defection is a blow to the Kremlin since a propaganda film on her rise from paramedic to tank commander and rebel regimental supremo is due to be aired in May in Russia and pro-Moscow eastern Ukraine.

Meanwhile Dryuk, the heroine who inspired the movie's main character, is living in Kiev with her daughter Natalya, 19, and teenage son Dmitro.

Dryuk, whose nickname on the battlefield was Veterok, appeared on Ukrainian channel 1+1 saying her 'love' for the Ukrainian intelligence officer changed her life.

'I have a very special friend now,' she said. He is 'much more important for me' than her previous loyalty to pro-Moscow rebels in her eastern Ukrainian homeland.

The Ukrainian spy's identity was not divulged.

Dryuk was a 'legendary commander of a female tank crew' and a 'symbol of Novorossiya' (eastern Ukraine), said the Kiev channel.

Dryuk claims the battle plans detail how Russia would sneak 100,000 troops into the country using fake passports within four hours

News of Dryuk's defection will be a major blow to Russia, which was poised to release a propaganda film about her life in May

Dryuk also claims she provided Ukrainian forces with information that led to the destruction of eight Russian T-72 battle tanks

She then rose higher to command a rebel regiment, it is claimed.

'People say to me - you were fighting, you were killing people,' she said.

'Yes, (and) in 2014 I became commander of the regimental headquarters. I do not justify myself. It was that sort of time. I did what I was ordered to do.'

Dryuk said she would now be ready to take up arms for Ukraine.

'If they tell me to take a machine gun  I will take a machine gun,' she said. 'If they tell me to go in a tank  I will go in a tank. It will be a Ukrainian tank.'

Former commander of rebel forces Igor Strelkov branded her a 'Judas' for switching sides, but confirmed her story about the destruction of the eight tanks.

Another source claimed she had been snared by a 'honeytrap' sting operation from Ukraine.

'Probably she did fall in love,' said blogger 'Chervonets Andryukha'. 'God will judge her but if she starts betraying her brothers and they are killed  it will be her personal tragedy and she will have to pay for it, so we can only sympathise with her.'

Having swapped sides, Dryuk says she would be willing to pick up arms against her former comrades, including leading tanks against them

Pro-Russian rebels say she has not defected and was instead captured by Ukraine while visiting family in Moldova before being forced into a staged confession

But the pro-Moscow rebel government in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) claimed their heroine had been kidnapped by Ukrainian intelligence from Moldova after she went there to visit relatives.

'Ukrainian special services and propagandists are actively working with Svetlana, using savage methods of influencing her through children and relatives and people close to her,' said a statement.

She was being forced to mouth 'ridiculous' statements.

She had been discharged from rebel forces at her request last year after serving from 2014-18 due to a medical condition for which she was hospitalised in Russia, said the DPR.
Hartley Wiseman. 18, said he left the scene of an accident because 'people were shouting at him'

A new driver has admitted carrying out two hit-and-run offences in the space of three weeks, leaving an injured motorist at the scene of one crash.

Hartley Wiseman, 18, claimed in court he 'did not realise' he had a duty to stay after crashing his Renault Clio twice and fled one scene because 'people were shouting at him'.

A court heard the teenager smashed into a bin, a bench and then a road sign in New Milton, Hants, before fleeing.

Three weeks later Wiseman swerved into the path of an oncoming vehicle in New Milton, causing a crash which left another driver with a hairline fracture in his wrist.

Despite stopping at first, the teenager fled the scene as the injured driver went back to his car to get his insurance details.

Now Wiseman, from New Milton, faces sentencing and could even be jailed.

Prosecutor Liam Hunter told Southampton Magistrates' Court, Hants, last Monday, that on August 2 2018 Wiseman crashed into the bench before two people were seen 'running from the vehicle'.

Mr Hunter said Wiseman was driving the same car on August 24 when witnesses saw him swerve into the path of oncoming traffic and crash into a vehicle.

Southampton Magistrates Court heard Wiseman 'ran away' from the scene of one crash

Wiseman failed to inform police about either crash and Jane Hiatt, defending, told the court Wiseman 'did not realise' he had a duty to stay at the scene.

Ms Hiatt said Wiseman clipped a kerb and lost of control of the vehicle, sending him into a skid before the crash.

Addressing Wiseman's departure from the scene, she said: 'He said there was a group of people shouting at him - that's why he left.'

Wiseman admitted two counts of failing to stop at the scene of a crash.

The teenager in his 'probationary period' for new drivers as he is within the first two years of passing his practical test.

If drivers in this probationary period receive six points on their licence it will be revoked by the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency. In order to get the licence back drivers need to take a complete re-test.

Punishments for hit-and-run offences range from 5 to 10 penalty points, disqualification, fines of between 1,000 to 5,000 or even six months imprisonment. He will be sentenced on March 13.
Wesley Kaster, 42, of Missouri, is facing federal charges for allegedly trying to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic

A 42-year-old Missouri man has been charged with trying to burn down a Planned Parenthood clinic last month with a Molotov cocktail.

Wesley Brian Kaster, of Columbia, was arrested on Saturday after investigators searched his vehicle and found evidence linking him to the fire at the Planned Parenthood-Columbia Health Center on the morning of February 10.

No one was hurt in the attack, which happened in the pre-dawn hours when the building was empty.

Kaster faces a preliminary charge of using fire or an explosive to maliciously damage a building that receives federal funding, but that could change. The FBI had said it was investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.

'All I can say at this point is that it is an ongoing investigation and we are early in the process,' Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said Monday.

'A complaint is a temporary charge; this case will be presented to a federal grand jury in the near future, which could return an indictment with different or additional charges,' Ledford added.

No one was hurt in the attack pre-dawn attack on the Planned Parenthood-Columbia Health Center (pictured during an anti-abortion protest in 2016)

Kaster (pictured as a US Navy sailor, left, and with his wife, right) is accused of using a Molotov cocktail to damage the clinic

Wesley is married to wife Cris (pictured on his left) and has four daughters

Kaster's public defender, Troy Stabenow, said on Monday that he had just been assigned to the case and couldn't immediately comment. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

In an affidavit included with the charging documents, FBI agent Curtis Bryant said surveillance video showed a distinctive Toyota Sienna minivan with a missing hubcap park in the clinic's lot at around 2.30am on February 10 and a suspect, believed to be Kaster, break the clinic's framed glass door, place what appeared to be two stacked 5-gallon buckets inside the building and then throw a Molotov cocktail through the door.

After watching from the sidewalk for a few minutes, Kaster then went back inside the building, as no fire or smoke could be seen in the videos.

An affidavit filed in Kaster's case mentions that in 2015, his wife shared this meme targeting Planned Parenthood

Kaster works as a floor supervisor at a light manufacturing business in Jefferson City

Kaster then fled as two unidentified pedestrians approached but returned at around 4am holding an 'undiscernible' item and approached the broken door. Smoke began billowing out about a minute later and Kaster fled, Bryant wrote.

The clinic's sprinkler system extinguished the blaze before firefighters arrived. Only the front room with the broken door was damaged, Bryant wrote.

Firefighters found the remains of the Molotov cocktail and two 5-gallon buckets near spilled gasoline inside the clinic.

Bryant wrote that investigators used surveillance video to connect the minivan and items left at the scene to Kaster, who was working as a floor supervisor at a light manufacturing business in Jefferson City.

Online court records don't show any past criminal charges against Kaster, who is married and has four daughters.

Investigators used surveillance video to connect a minivan spotted at the scene and items left behind to Kaster

It is mentioned in the affidavit that Kasters wife, Cris Kaster, posted a meme on her Facebook in 2015 that read 'Guns Dont Kill People, Planned Parenthood Kills People.'

Dr. Brandon Hill, who heads Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement Monday that the organization was grateful for law enforcement's swift response to the fire.

'Let this send a clear message: Blocking access to essential health care is against the law, whether it takes the form of violence and vandalism or threats against our patients, our providers, or our supporters' Hill said. 'With sexual and reproductive health care under attack in Missouri, our mission is more important than ever before.'

The Columbia clinic, which reopened February 18, does not currently provide abortions.

US Western District Court Judge Brian Wimes ruled on February 22 that state restrictions on abortion were not 'undue' burdens on women seeking abortions in Missouri.

Regulations that took effect last year require doctors that perform abortions to have admitting physician privileges at nearby hospitals. The Columbia clinic has not been able to finding a doctor with such privileges since the University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia stopped offering the privileges in 2015.
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A stunning Mayfair flat that was once the home of Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks Jr. has been put up for rent for a staggering 500,000 a year.

The London property, situated on Park Lane and overlooking Hyde Park, was built in 1823 and is now a Grade II listed property.

A step inside the iconic 5,921 square foot luxury property reveals a private swimming pool and sauna, four bedrooms, five bathrooms and three reception rooms.

The apartment, that once saw the likes of actor Laurence Olivier, playwright Noel Coward and banking tycoon Sir Moses Montefiore walk through its doors, is now on the market for one lucky person looking to rent in the capital.

The Mayfair flat on Park Lane, that was once the home of Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks Jr., has been put up for rent for 500,000 a year

A step inside the luxury London property on Park Lane reveals an open plan living room which comes with polished wooden floors and superb lighting

One of the kitchens inside the property, which was formerly owned by Douglas Fairbanks Jr, reveals glossy white cabinets and plenty of storage room

Inside the 99 Park Lane Georgian residence, which costs 11,500 per week to rent and comes fully furnished, is a stunning terrace, an open plan dining room and walk through wardrobes.

The expensive property also features a passenger lift, its own private driveway and marble floors.

The property was once the home of American actor and producer Douglas Fairbanks Jr, best known for the Hollywood hits The Prisoner of Zenda, Gunga Din, and The Corsican Brothers, and his second wife Mary Lee Eppling from 1934 to 1941.

The star, who is the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks, is known to have thrown an array of Hollywood parties during his time at the posh residence.

The property, which was built in 1823 and is now a Grade II listed property, also comes with a private swimming pool and sauna

One of the many bedrooms inside the property comes with an en suite bathroom, a mirrored wall and a TV attached to the wall

The 99 Park Lane Georgian residence comes fully furnished and also features a passenger lift, its own private driveway and marble floors

The apartment was once the home of American actor and producer Douglas Fairbanks Jr and his second wife Mary Lee Eppling from 1934 to 1941

Sir Moses Montefiore, who was born in 1758, was a British banker who rose to fame during his work on the London Stock Exchange.

In 1837 he was also elected sheriff of London and knighted.

Chief executive Peter Wetherell of the estate agents Wetherell told The Evening Standard: 'This is Park Lane's only maisonette with the benefit of a private swimming pool and spa, its own carriage driveway and private off-street parking.

'It is one of the most interesting and special lettings opportunities in Mayfair at present.'

The property can be viewed here: https://wetherell.co.uk/
Philip Hammond will warn MPs next week they risk years more austerity if they vote to leave the EU without a deal.

The Chancellor is expected to reveal that soaring tax receipts have allowed him to build up an 'insurance fund' worth billions.

But if the cash is spent on countering the impact of No Deal, it won't be available to spend on ending austerity and investing in public services.

Philip Hammond will make his Spring Statement on March 13, the day after a meaningful vote and on the same day as MPs are expected to vote on whether to allow the Government to pursue a no-deal departure, assuming they continue to reject a deal agreed with Brussels

Mr Hammond will deliver the warning during his Spring Statement on the economy next Wednesday.

It will come the day after MPs vote on Mrs May's deal and hours before a possible Commons vote on whether to leave without a deal.

Whitehall sources last night said if Mrs May's agreement goes through, the Chancellor will set out plans for a 'deal dividend', with billions poured into the UK's public services this autumn.

But if the Prime Minister's deal is defeated, the Chancellor is expected to issue a stark warning on the risks of a No Deal exit.

'If they vote down the deal then he will set out how he has set aside lots of headroom to deal with uncertainty,' the source said. 'But he will also make it clear that that money can only be spent once.

'If it has gone on mitigating the impact of No Deal then it is not available to spend on ending austerity and investing in public services.'

In October 2018, the Chancellor said there would have to be a new Budget outlined if Britain left the EU without a deal

The tax surplus for January alone was 15billion.

Brexiteers may get just 24 hours to study blueprint Eurosceptic MPs could be given just 24 hours to assess legal changes to Theresa May's Brexit deal before voting on it. Mrs May has pledged to secure concessions on the Irish backstop before putting her deal to the Commons for a second time no later than next Tuesday. Brexiteer MPs have warned that anything less than 48 hours' notice to assess any proposal would be treating Parliament 'with contempt'. But the PM's official spokesman could not say whether MPs would get the time requested. One Government source said Mrs May was not expected to sign off any changes with Brussels chiefs until next Monday  just 24 hours before the vote. The European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs has now established a 'star chamber' of eight Brexiteer lawyers to assess the legal implications of any change. Advertisement

Mrs May pledged last year to 'bring austerity to an end' after Brexit, but Mr Hammond is understood to believe this will only happen quickly if a deal is passed by Parliament.

Last night business group the CBI urged MPs to unite behind Mrs May and back her Brexit deal.

John Allan, president of the employers' organisation, warned Eurosceptic MPs that a No Deal Brexit could wipe eight per cent off the UK's long-term growth, 'leaving us a poorer, less competitive country'.

But he also issued a warning to Remainer MPs pushing for a Brexit delay that their tactics could increase uncertainty for business, resulting in 'more circling... perhaps only to be flung off a steeper cliff in the summer'.

Mr Allan said: 'Delay won't unite a divided Parliament. Delay won't build a consensus for the future. So our message to politicians is clear  unite around the Prime Minister's deal.

'Or unite around something else, urgently. Something the EU will agree to and that works for the economy.'

The interventions came as ministers faced fresh questions about their ability to command a majority in the Commons after they were forced to abandon a key piece of legislation designed to protect the financial services industry in the event of a No Deal Brexit.

And a charm offensive designed to win the support of Labour MPs backfired after they complained a 1.6billion fund for 'left behind' towns was too little, and critics condemned it as a 'bribe'.

Mrs May 'must whip her MPs to keep a no-deal Brexit on the table' Theresa May has been warned that she must whip her MPs to keep a no-deal Brexit on the table in a Commons vote next week, it has emerged. Senior Eurosceptics are convinced she will lose the vote on her deal next Tuesday because they do not expect Mr Cox, the Attorney General, to win meaningful concessions on the Irish backstop. Two Cabinet ministers are reportedly among senior figures who have told the Prime Minister that allowing MPs to block a no-deal would be a disaster because the EU will treat Britain as a soft touch. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader, added: 'It is crystal clear that the Government has to keep no-deal on the table and whip against an extension. 'That's what she has said for two years. She has to op-pose anyone trying to take it off the table and to reject an extension. That will make the EU sit up and understand that we are serious.' Two Cabinet ministers agreed with the sentiment, with one telling the Daily Telegraph it was the 'right approach' and in line with Mrs May's policy to keep no-deal on the table. Advertisement

Cash from the Stronger Town Funds will be distributed on a 'needs-based' formula to areas across England.

More than 90 per cent of the cash will go to areas in the North and Midlands, leading to Tory complaints that the deal has been deliberately skewed towards Labour areas.

Shailesh Vara, the Tory MP for North-East Cambridgeshire, said: 'It is always good news when the Government is able to provide more funding for the regions, but I'm personally disappointed that my own region is to receive such a small sum.'

Sheryll Murray, Conservative MP for South East Cornwall, criticised the fact that the entire south-west region will get just 33million, while the north-west will receive 281million.

Mrs Murray said: 'The fact this money appears to be directly routed to Labour-voting areas smacks of pork-barrel politics, and the public will know that.

'It would be a crying shame if Conservative-voting communities were being disadvantaged because of the way they voted.'

Former Treasury minister Lord O'Neill, who is vice-chairman of the Northern Powerhouse  the Government's strategy to boost economic growth in the North of England  described the cash as 'a pittance'.

Labour MPs sympathetic to Mrs May's deal were also critical of the fund, which will be spent over six years.

Wigan MP Lisa Nandy said the sums on offer suggested the Government was 'not serious', adding: 'I think it's been so badly handled that it's possible that it will cost [Mrs May] votes rather than gain them.'

Stoke MP Gareth Snell added: 'The whole West Midlands is getting 212million  that is less than the total amount that Stoke City Council alone has had to cut from its budget in the last nine years because of austerity.'

Downing Street dismissed claims the money amounted to a bribe, saying it was 'not conditional' on Mrs May's deal passing.

Communities Secretary James Brokenshire, said the money would be 'transformative', adding: 'This funding is there regardless of the outcome, but obviously we want to see a deal happening, we believe that is what is in the best interests of our country.'

The decision over the 1.6billion fund follows weeks of talks between ministers and backbench Labour MPs unhappy at their party's attempts to frustrate Brexit.

Mrs May has said the new fund was needed to address the 'unfair spread' of prosperity across the country.

The money will be used for improving infrastructure and putting in place retraining schemes for people in traditional industries that have closed down.
Theresa May has been slammed by the Police Federation of England & Wales chairman after claiming there was no direct correlation between police cuts and the rise in knife crime

The Prime Minister has been accused of contributing to the rise in violent crime by presiding over cuts to police numbers and youth services.

The knife crime epidemic has been thrown into renewed focus this week by the killings of two 17-year-olds, Jodie Chesney and Yousef Makki.

Speaking during a visit to Salisbury to mark a year since the Novichok attacks, Mrs May said there was 'no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers'.

John Apter (pictured) of the Police Federation said Theresa May's comments were an insult to the public.

But John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said that Mrs May's comments were an insult to the public.

When he was being interviewed on BBC News this evening, he said: 'I am really staggered beyond belief that the leader of this country has got her head so firmly stuck in the sand that she is not seeing the reality in front of her. It really is a very very bad situation.

'She again continues to have this contempt for the police and those that deliver policing by saying we have to question the responses to these cases.'

He also called for more officers to be recruited to deal with violent crime and said that neighbourhood policing teams, who could help tackle this by speaking to communities, had been 'stripped to the bone'.

The head of the Police Federation suggested before the interview that rising crime was the 'true cost of austerity'.

Mrs May rejected a link but the union boss called her 'delusional' and said she was 'steadfastly refusing to acknowledge what is plain for everyone else to see'.

It comes amid renewed focus on Britain's knife crime epidemic after two 17-year-olds were stabbed to death within 24 hours.

Prime Minister Theresa May, pictured today in Salisbury, has been branded 'delusional' after rejecting a correlation between rising knife crime and cuts to police forces

Speaking during a visit to Salisbury to mark a year since the Novichok attacks, Mrs May said there was 'no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers'.

She went on: 'What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.

'But what also matters is, as a Government, that we look at the issues which underpin, that underlie, this use of knives and that we act on those.

'That's a cross-Government approach, it's not just about the police, it's about the whole of Government and it's the whole of Government that's responding.

'A lot of this is gang-related, some of it will be drugs-related, there are a wide variety of issues that need to be addressed here and that's what the Government is doing'.

Girl scout Jodie Chesney, 17, was murdered in cold blood in Romford on Friday night by an attacker who marched up and knifed her in the back.

Police today admitted they have 'no idea' why the teenager, who had appeared on the BBC and posed in Downing Street, was targeted.

Victims: The knife crime epidemic has been thrown into renewed focus this week by the killings of two 17-year-olds, Jodie Chesney (left) and Yousef Makki (right)

On Saturday night Yousef Makki, a pupil at the private Manchester Grammar School, was stabbed in a wealthy Greater Manchester village.

Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of murdering Yousef, who hoped to become a heart surgeon.

Mr Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, also slammed the PM for denying a link to the Tories' post-2010 austerity policies.

He said: 'Our Prime Minister is delusional, steadfastly refusing to acknowledge what is plain for everyone else to see, and in the face of a national crisis that is deeply concerning.

He said: 'Policing has been stripped to the bone and the consequences are clear, splashed across newspaper front pages and TV news bulletins - children being murdered on our streets.

'This is the true cost of austerity that we warned of but were ridiculed for doing so. Theresa May herself accused the Police Federation of crying wolf when we highlighted our concerns.

'Those concerns have become a reality but still the Prime Minister fails to accept the harsh truth.'
Cut for time from the original broadcast, Saturday Night Live's sketch poking fun at California Senator Dianne Feinstein's not-so-lovable moment with kids has been shared on YouTube.

SNL cast member Cecily Strong portrays the Democratic senator in a parody of the lawmaker attempting to make amends for her seemingly grumpy interaction with children last month.

'Now recently, some of you may have seen a disastrous video lecturing schoolchildren about the Green New Deal,' Strong as Feinstein begins, 'but I want to make things right because I believe children should be heard'.

This leads to a scene where Feinstein gestures towards a little girl among a group of kids in a classroom to start talking.

Cecily Strong portrays Dianne Feinstein trying to connect with young people after a video that went viral last month appeared to show her smugly snapping at middle and high school kids

Strong starts off trying to attentively listen to the school kids in the classroom setting, but finds it impossible to stay cool as one little girl keeps interrupting

It begins well for the faux senator as the girl asks for support of the Green New Deal, but as Feinstein attempts to explain how unrealistic it is, the girl interrupts her stating that 'our planet is dying'.

'Oh I see what's happening, okay, you're gonna tell me how to do my job,' Strong responds channeling Feinstein's frustration. 'Okay well I don't come into your first grade classroom and knock the Elmer's glue out of your mouth, do I?'

As the young questioner gets visibly disturbed by the change in tone, Feinstein then lashes out further.

'So why don't you stay in your lane, and step the *bleep* off?' she vents before realizing what she just did. 'Okay I need a do-over, I need to do that over, D-O!'

The next take has Feinstein asking the kids to play a game where she closes her eyes, holds out her hand asks them for $93 trillion to fund the Green New Deal.

In an attempt at playing a game, the Feinstein parody asks the children for $93 trillion, the alleged figure estimated that would pay for AOC's Green New Deal

When the children say they do not have any money, Feinstein laughs maniacally at them before realizing that she needs another do-over

When the children say they have no money she sarcastically responds, 'oh you don't? Then we all lose!'

She begins to laugh maniacally at the kids before again asking for a do-over.

When the camera's back on, Melissa Villasenor, playing one of the students, admonishes Feinstein to take action because climate change will affect her generation.

Feinstein then challenges her to run for office if she's so concerned and Villasenor replies that she will.

'You know what, let me be the first to donate to your campaign,' Feinstein says as she pretends to reach into her pocket, and then pulls out a blurred middle finger shouting, 'hey!' at the shocked kids.

When confronted by another young person saying the senator needs to do more, Feinstein offers to fund her campaign by giving her the middle finger

Feinstein also sarcastically dismisses a little boy who drew up a poster for her to convince her to sign on with the Green New Deal

In the next do-over, a little boy shows Feinstein a poster he made for her, to which she responds with more sarcasm that she is convinced to support the Green New Deal. When the smiling boy asks 'really?' she shakes her head no.

When another boy then tells her that she's mean, she rips into him.

'Yeah, well your dad wishes you were bullied more, toughen you up a little bit,' she says before cutting herself off with a series of bleeped expletives.

Then in the following take Feinstein takes her anger out on the schoolteacher with the group, claiming the educator is 'putting words in these kids mouths.' Feinstein then throws a tantrum trying to get the other woman to trade places with her saying, 'you should be the senator, b---h.'

The sketch concludes with Strong stating, 'I'm Dianne Feinstein,' before the she and the kids say in unison 'and we approve this message'.

After a group of schoolchildren (left) confronted Senator Dianne Feinstein last month, she was accused of 'smugness' and 'disrespect' in her response

One holdout child says, 'I don't,' and the temperamental senator responds 'well then why don't you take your ass home?'

The real Sen. Feinstein drew criticism for snapping at a group of schoolchildren who demanded that she vote 'yes' on the Green New Deal last month.

The 20 middle and high school students organized by the Sunrise Movement confronted her regarding the resolution championed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

'You know what's interesting about this group? I've been doing this for 30 years. I know what I'm doing,' Feinstein replied to the young people.

'You come in here, and you say it has to be my way or the highway. I don't respond to that,' she continued.

'I've gotten elected, I just ran. I was elected by almost a million vote plurality. And I know what I'm doing. So you know, maybe people should listen a little bit.'

Feinstein's supporters argue that she handed out copies of her own proposed resolution (left) and even offered one of the teens an internship (right)

LIVE: Were inside Senator Dianne Feinstein's San Francisco office with 15 middle and high schoolers asking her to stand with our generation and support AOC and Sen. Ed Markey's #GreenNewDeal resolution. Watch her condescending response, share with your friends, and CALL her office at (415) 393-0707 to ask her to support the Green New Deal! Posted by Sunrise Movement Bay Area on Friday, February 22, 2019

Sunrise Movement accused Feinstein of responding to the children with 'smugness' and 'disrespect.'

But the senator's supporters point to the full version of the video, in which Feinstein says she might vote in favor of the Green New Deal, which offers an ambitious and costly plan to contend with climate change and inequality.

Feinstein went on to explain she has drafted her own resolution, believing it will have a meaningful impact and a chance of passing in the GOP-controlled Senate.

'Unfortunately, It was a brief meeting but I want the children to known they were heard loud and clear. I have been and remain committed to doing everything I can to enact real, meaningful climate change legislation,' Feinstein said in a later statement.
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This magnificent photograph captures the moment a cage diver and a mammoth great white shark appeared to share a private joke - grinning together for the camera.

While it's easier to relax around a 16ft predator with a metal barrier protecting you, the woman diver appears very laid-back as the pair exchanged a smile 60ft deep on the ocean floor.

The ultra-close encounter was captured in crystal-clear waters off the Neptune Islands of South Australia in 2017, but uploaded to social media for the first time this week.

The ultra-close encounter between a cage diver and a mammoth great white shark was captured in crystal-clear waters off the Neptune Islands of South Australia in 2017, but uploaded to social media for the first time this week

Underwater photographer Andrew Fox, 53, said such scenes are needed to show the softer side of sharks and breaking down the stereotype they are fearsome man-eaters.

Mr Fox, who runs Rodney Fox Expeditions, said: 'What else can you do when a shark smiles at you? It was perfect timing that when the shark came up I could lean the camera outside and angle the two of them together.

'Seeing sharks is much more intimate at those depths, they are warier on the surface. She was moving very slowly and intimately. It's important for people to see this side of sharks to properly admire their beauty.'

Mr Fox's father, Rodney, was infamously attacked by a Great White during a spear fishing competition in 1963.

He was left with 462 stitches in his chest and 92 in his right hand and arm, in what is regarded as one of the worst survived attacks by a Great White in history.

But in fascinating twist, he became a leading shark conservationist and now Mr Fox is carrying on his father's life work in the expeditions and non-profit Fox Shark Research Foundation.

Mr Fox said: 'After my father was attacked, he was back in the water at the earliest opportunity. This is the only place in the world we lower cages to the ocean floor, which allows you to appreciate them safely.

'These expeditions are invaluable as they fund our research operations. The more you understand something you more you appreciate and want to protect it.'
This is the moment a bungling criminal tries to throw a homemade bomb at a building but misses and explodes over a parked car instead.

Late night CCTV footage shows the masked man lighting a Molotov cocktail on an empty street in what appears to be a targeted attack.

The incident happened in the town of Kedzierzyn-Kozle in southern Poland.

In the video, a man can be seen standing on the side of a darkened street, his face covered in a balaclava.

He then lights a Molotov cocktail, a glass bottle containing petrol or alcohol, and takes aim at a building on the other side of the road.

After taking a few steps forward he throws the incendiary device high into the air towards the intended target.

Street lighting man: The criminal lights his Molotov cocktail across the street from his intended target of a house in Kedzierzyn-Kozle, a town in southern Poland

Stopping to take aim, the masked man looks up at the house and steps into the road with his flaming bottle of what is believed to be either petrol or a high volume alcohol. The weapon's named was coined during the Second World War

He launches the Molotov cocktail over his right shoulder towards the building, as the small rag hanging out the top of the bottle sets alight

However, the man gives the weapon too much upward force, and after a short trip into the sky the bottle hurtles back down to the ground, and knocks outwards from the building towards a line of parked cars

Miss and a hit: The criminal looks surprised to have missed the house, and instead has to stare at the cocktail burst into flames on a BMW car before he flees the scene

However, he appears not give the weapon a good enough aim, and the lit bottle misses his target and lands on a white BMW 1 series.

Police said that they have arrested a 29-year-old man, who has not been named. He is expected to be charged with destroying property

According to local media, it hit the building but bounced back.

The bottle explodes in a burst of flames as it hits the car bonnet, and the fire spreads across two other cars.

The criminal, not particularly happy with the result, sprints away as the car sets on fire.

Police were called and a suspect was quickly identified using the footage and statements from witnesses.

A 29-year-old man, who has not been named, was arrested and is believed to have been charged with destroying property and causing an event which endangers the life or health of many people or property of great size.

He faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. No motive has been provided for the crime but reports state the building - a house - was the intended target.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On March 4, Renault Brilliance Jinbei Automotive Co.,Ltd (Renault Brilliance) and Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com officially signed a strategic agreement that allows both parties to conduct in-depth cooperation in such areas as e-commerce, finance, logistics, aftermarket and IoV (Internet of Vehicles).

Ou Li, vice president of JD.com, stated that the online retail group will team up with Renault Brilliance to carry out O2O (online-to-offline) business modes with a trial effort to joint launch new car models. In addition, they are going to execute the innovative marketing mode integrating the gene of Internet and the creativity of human brain.

At the ceremony, the automaker announced that its 7-seater intelligent SUVGuanjing will be co-launched with JD.com in April. The online presale of the new model is about to start in late March at the carmaker's flagship store based on JD.com's platform.

As the first SUV product launched after the establishment of Renault Brilliance joint venture, the Guanjing made its debut at the 2018 Auto Guangzhou.

Large size single banner air intake grille is adopted on the front face of the view, which meets the aesthetic needs of large size 7-seat SUV consumers. The irregular headlamp modelling for both sides looks pretty sharp, according to the automaker's official introduction.

The length, width and height of the scenery reach 4745*1820*1790mm, the wheelbase of 2,780mm is matched with 2+2+3 seat layout. The second and third rows of seats of the new car can be folded, which can create a large space of 1500L and provide users with more diversified use layout and imagination space. At the same time, The Guanjing has a large panoramic skylight of 1050mm*680mm, which provides users with a broad view of the sky and the sea.
China reported 6.6 per cent growth in 2018, the slowest in nearly three decades.

Beijing: Chinas rubber-stamp parliament opens its annual session on Tuesday as President Xi Jinping faces growing concerns about the slowing economy, a major challenge to the countrys pre-eminent leader.

One year after the legislature abolished presidential term limits and etched Xis name on the constitution, his new era vision of a resurgent China at the centre of world affairs has hit road bumps. Economic growth is slowing, a festering trade war with the US has eroded confidence and Xis signature Belt and Road global trade infrastructure initiative has faced setbacks in some countries.

Bubbles of discontent have appeared as the state has pushed deeper into the economy and peoples lives. This will be a much more difficult situation for Xi Jinping than last year. Last year he was riding high, said Hong Kong-based political analyst Willy Lam.

Premier Li Keqiang is expected to open the National Peoples Congress by announcing a lower GDP growth forecast for 2019, setting the tone for a session heavy on economic legislation and expected to last two weeks. Nearly 3,000 delegates will ratify a raft of bills in a session expected to last two weeks, including a foreign investment law that could address some US demands and possible tax cuts. Xi Jinping has been criticised by party members for not handling the economy well, and failing to tackle the challenges posed by Donald Trump, said Lam. Lam believes Xi avoided holding a fourth plenum of the partys Central Com-mittee last autumn because of his weakened position. But he convened a meeting with hundreds of provincial and ministerial leaders in Beijing in January to warn them on the need to prevent major risks in politics and the economy.

We must increase our readiness for unexpected developments, take precautions, and properly prepare for major risks that may arise in the economic field, Xi warned.

China reported 6.6 per cent growth in 2018, the slowest in nearly three decades. Independent analysts estimate it was worse. Three-quarters of provinces have lowered annual growth targets for 2019. Delegates from around the country will convene for the NPC session and the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that runs simultaneously and begins discussions on Sunday. Behind closed doors NPC members will demand Xi Jinping do something about reviving the economy, Lam said.
The wife of an Al Qaeda chief had her human rights breached by UK airport police, European judges have ruled.

Sylvie Beghal, 49, was stopped at East Midlands Airport while returning to Leicester after a visit to her husband Djamel Beghal in a French jail.

The mother of three said she was detained without reasonable suspicion  violating her right to private and family life.

Sylvie Beghal (left), 49, was stopped for questioning after flying to France to visit Djamel Beghal (right), who was behind bars for plotting to blow up the American embassy in Paris

Her claims were rejected by the High Court and Supreme Court but the European Court of Human Rights eventually ruled in her favour.

The Home Office said it was disappointed by the ruling, which it has three months to challenge.

The airport incident in 2011 had led to Mrs Beghal being charged with failing to help officers  an offence under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Lord Carlile of Berriew, who was the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation from 2001 to 2011, said: 'Schedule 7 is absolutely key to the protection of the public in the UK and to national security.

'It has to be used carefully and proportionately, as recognised when the law was amended in 2014. But I'm very surprised that this case has resulted in such a ruling, particularly given the factual background.

'I fear we have to put this down to a questionable decision by the ECHR. In my view the British courts were right and correctly took their decisions in this case.'

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, whose constituency covers the airport, said: 'It's sickening. These people are big on human rights but not so much on their responsibilities.

'We all have a duty to cooperate with the police with regards to terrorism and anyone who doesn't want to is breaking the bond of loyalty to our country.

The mother-of-three claimed she was stopped at East Midlands Airport (pictured) 'without reasonable suspicion' and that her right to respect for private and family life was violated

'It's great she can use the law to protect her own right to family life, but she has strong links with a convicted terrorist and Al Qaeda have not shown any regard to human rights in the past with their victims.'

According to court documents lodged at the ECHR, Mrs Beghal was stopped at the airport after visiting her husband with their children.

Officers said they wanted to talk to her to establish whether she might be 'a person concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism'.

She refused to answer questions until a lawyer was present and after 30 minutes was told she was free to go. But she was later charged under Schedule 7 and pleaded guilty at Leicester Magistrates' Court in December 2011.

Beghal is said to have radicalised other terrorists while in jail, including Charlie Hebdo killer Cherif Kouachi (pictured)

She then launched a legal action, claiming the powers given to police under Schedule 7 did not have adequate safeguards to be 'in accordance with' the European Convention on Human Rights.

Her case reached the ECHR in January 2016, which last week ruled in her favour. Judges told the Government to foot her 21,531 legal bill.

Mrs Beghal has previously claimed her husband, one of Al Qaeda's top recruiters in Europe, was a victim of French injustice.

He is said to have radicalised other terrorists while in jail, including Charlie Hebdo killer Cherif Kouachi, one of two brothers who murdered 12 during the gun attack on the magazine's Paris offices in January 2015.

He is also said to have mentored Amedy Coulibaly, who shot a policewoman and four shoppers dead at a kosher supermarket two days after the Hebdo attack.

Algerian-born Beghal settled in France in 1987 and married in 1990. He became a French citizen which allowed the couple to move to Leicester seven years later.

He regularly travelled to London and was allegedly radicalised at the Finsbury Park Mosque under the influence of Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada. He is also said to have flown to Afghanistan to receive orders from Osama Bin Laden.

Beghal was banned from the UK in 2009 after being jailed by the French for a plot to blow up the US embassy in Paris.

His wife is believed to have cost taxpayers more than a quarter of a million pounds in handouts since moving to the UK.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We will now consider the implications of this judgment carefully.'
An Arkansas high school senior saved for two years to help out his disabled friend by buying him an electric wheelchair.

Tanner Wilson noticed that Brandon Qualls, of Caddo Hills High School in Norman, was struggling to get around in his manual chair.

'My arms would get really tired and I would have to stop and take rests,' Qualls told KTHV.

So Tanner started saving to buy his friend a new set of wheels that would make his life a lot easier.

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After two years of saving, Arkansas high school senior Tanner Wilson (right) gave his classmate Brandon Qualls (left) the gift of better access to mobility with an electric wheelchair

It took Wilson two years of working a part-time job to earn enough money to buy the thoughtful gift for his friend.

'Hes just been a really good friend and I wanted to do him a favor,' Wilson said. 'I just felt like I needed to do it and I wanted to do it.'

The gift had been even longer in the making.

'For the past three years I've wanted to get him one and I mean, I've been trying,' Wilson told KARK.

'They came in and my face just blew upcrying everywhere,' Qualls said. '[I was] just like "Wow, cant believe he did that for me!"'

Qualls (right), who can now get around a lot easier, was overwhelmed with emotion at the gift from Wilson (left). Wilson presented him with the new wheels in class on Tuesday

On Tuesday when Wilson finally presented the gift to Qualls during class, the teen's emotions overwhelmed him.

'They came in and my face just blew upcrying everywhere,' Qualls said. '[I was] just like "Wow, cant believe he did that for me!"'

After receiving the already epic gift, one of Qualls' teachers stepped in to customize his new ride in orange, which is Qualls' favorite color.

'When he came by I said "Brandon, you got to have some flames on there because you're going to be buzzing down these halls in no time!"' teacher Ginger Wray said.

'So I went home and made him some flames.'

Qualls (right) is shown hugging Wilson (left) in the hallway at Caddo Hills High School in Norman, Arkansas

Wilson said the look on Qualls' face was more than worth the effort to make this happen for him. Qualls is pictured seated in his manual wheelchair

Wilson said the look on Qualls' face was more than worth the effort to make this happen for him.

'Theres many people out here that have troubles and need a little bit of help. Sometimes they cant do it for themselves,' he said.

The teachers at Caddo Hills High couldn't be prouder of the friendship between the two young men, both of whom will graduate this year.

And if you ask teachers at the school, they'll tell you Wilson's kind gesture is just typical behavior.

'He loves to do for others. He loves to take up for others,' teacher Kathy Baker said. 'He is just a great young man.'
Thousands of wealthy families are borrowing money from the taxpayer to help them buy new homes.

Some 20,512 households earning more than 80,000 have been handed loans through Help to Buy, according to analysis of official figures.

This includes 8,078 with incomes in excess of 100,000 a year.

Help to Buy offers loans to buyers of new-build homes costing up to 600,000. A development in Essex is pictured

The revelations will fuel concerns that the government scheme - which was set up to help struggling first time buyers - is being exploited by the relatively well-off.

Critics argue many families have been locked out of the housing market because Help to Buy has pushed up prices.

And they claim taxpayers' money is boosting profits and pay at Britain's biggest builders.

Persimmon this week posted record profits of 1.1billion, while rival Taylor Wimpey banked 856.8million.

The bumper results came despite the industry facing a backlash over fat cat pay, shoddy workmanship, poor quality housing, and the sale of new homes with rip-off leases.

Former Persimmon chief executive Jeff Fairburn, who was ousted following a row over his 75million bonus, was this week replaced by Dave Jenkinson, one of his key lieutenants, who was paid 40million in the same bonus scheme.

Labour MP John Mann, a member of the Treasury Select Committee, said Mr Jenkinson's promotion 'suggests Persimmon has learnt nothing from the outcry over Jeff Fairburn's pay'.

And turning his fire on Help to Buy, he said the scheme is 'not supporting the people it was intended for'.

Persimmon posted record profits of 1.1billion, while rival Taylor Wimpey banked 856.8million

Help to Buy offers loans to buyers of new-build homes costing up to 600,000.

The buyers must raise a deposit of 5 per cent - or 30,000 on a 600,000 home - while the Government provides a loan of 20 per cent or up to 120,000.

In London, where houses are typically more expensive, the Government stumps up as much as 40 per cent of the value of the house, or 240,000.

Figures from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) show 195,219 households have used the programme since its launch. They have borrowed a total of 10.7billion from the taxpayer.

But around one in ten families handed public money earn over 80,000 a year.

The report also shows that around a fifth of borrowers - or 37,206 - were already on the property ladder and were not first-time buyers.

Mr Mann said: 'Help to Buy is clearly not supporting the people it was intended for. Taxpayer money should not be going to families with six-figure incomes.

'It's outrageous and just drives up prices, making it harder for ordinary people to get on the ladder.'

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse said the scheme was 'helping to make the dream of home ownership a reality for a new generation'

Paula Higgins, chief executive of the Homeowners Alliance, said: 'Help to Buy is pushing up house prices and is being used by people who don't really need it.

'We shouldn't be giving taxpayers' money to families earning six figure salaries when so many are struggling to afford a decent home.'

Reuben Young, director of campaign group Priced Out, said: 'Help to Buy has been disastrous for housing affordability from the start.

'It helps a lucky few - many of whom either already own a home or would have bought one soon anyway - while pushing house prices even further out of reach for average people.'

The government has extended the scheme beyond 2021 to 2023 but only for first-time buyers purchasing newly built homes. It is also introducing regional price caps.

The MHCLG pointed out that the majority of households using Help to Buy - 111,347 or 57 per cent - had a total income of less than 50,000.

Housing Minister Kit Malthouse said the scheme was 'helping to make the dream of home ownership a reality for a new generation'.

A spokesman for the Home Builders Federation said: 'Help to Buy has transformed the lives of thousands of people by enabling them to get onto the housing ladder.

'The scheme is delivering as intended by helping first time buyers, driving unprecedented increases in house building, creating jobs and boosting the economy.'
A young father is set to be fined for parking his ute in his own driveway after his neighbour complained that the vehicle blocks the footpath.

Perth man Brad Hill was told that he will be fined if he continues to park his Ford Ranger in the driveway at his home in Piara Waters.

His neighbour told the council that the car protrudes over the footpath and a city ranger visited Mr Hill on Sunday to warn him.

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Perth man Brad Hill (pictured with wife Khrystal) was told that he will be fined if he continues to park his Ford Ranger in the driveway at his home in Piara Waters

'She gave me a verbal warning and she said if it keeps happening... fines can be given,' he told Seven News.

'[The neighbour is a] bit of a busybody yes, someone with a bit of time on their hands.'

Mr Hill said he parked his ute as far has he could in his driveway but it sticks out over the footpath by about 600mm.

He said he is unable to park his vehicle inside his garage as that is where he stores his lawn-mowing equipment.

'We cant even park one car on the verge and do a diagonal because obviously we've been told we can't park on the verge,' Mr Hill said.

His neighbour told the council that the truck (pictured) protrudes over the footpath and a city ranger visited Mr Hill on Sunday to warn him

His driveway measures 4.8m from the garage to the footpath, and his truck is 5.3m long.

Mr Hill said he has no choice but to continue breaking the law as no stopping lines are in place for 150m either side of his property.

He suggested to the council to build a parking area into a nature strip in the middle of the road but this proposal was rejected.
Two Chinese nationals have been charged for allegedly kidnapping a California car dealer and holding him hostage while they negotiated a $2million ransom from his family.

The US Attorney's Office has indicted Guangyao Yang, 25, and Peicheng Shen, 33, on federal charges in connection to the kidnapping of 28-year-old Ruochen 'Tony' Liao, who is also a Chinese national.

Police said the victim had been living in California at the time. The two suspects were also living in West Covina, California.

Authorities said they have arrested in China for the alleged crime.

According to court documents, Shen, using an alias, met the victim several times on the pretense that Shen would help the victim collect a debt from another individual.

Chinese nationals Guangyao Yang (left), 25, and Peicheng Shen (right), 33, have been charged for allegedly kidnapping a California car dealer and holding him hostage while they negotiated a $2million ransom from his family

According to court documents, Shen, using an alias, met Liao (pictured) a few times on the pretense that Shen would help the victim collect a debt from another individual. During their third meeting on July 16, 2018, Shen and Yang allegedly kidnapped Liao

During their third meeting, at a San Gabriel shopping center on July 16, 2018, Shen allegedly kidnapped Liao.

Shen and Yang then held the victim hostage at a house in Corona, authorities said.

It was there that Shen and Yang allegedly tied Liao up by binding his legs together, taping his eyes shut, restraining his arms behind him and placing him in a closet.

Just 24 hours after Liao was kidnapped, his father received a demand for $2million in exchange for his life.

The men reportedly asked for the money to be deposited into three Chinese bank accounts within three hours.

According to court documents, Liao's father also received photographs of the victim, who was physically restrained in a closet.

Investigators believe the victim died during the course of the kidnapping and they are seeking the publics assistance in locating his body.

On July 18, 2018, Shen and Yang allegedly attempted to conceal evidence of the crime.

Shen and Yang then transported the victim in a Land Rover (above) to a house in Corona, authorities said. It was there that Shen and Yang allegedly tied Liao up by binding his legs together, taping his eyes shut, restraining his arms behind him and placing him in a closet

Investigators believe the victim died during the course of the kidnapping and they are seeking the publics assistance in locating his body

Authorities said they drove to Mojave, California, 'to bury or otherwise dispose of the victims body or other physical evidence involved in the crime'.

On the same day, Shen allegedly 'had the closet of the Corona house re-carpeted'.

Yang also performed an Internet search to determine how fast a corpse decomposes in soil, court papers state.

They have been charged with conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping, attempted extortion in violation of the Hobbs Act, and threat by foreign communication.

The two kidnapping charges carry a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. The extortion and threat by foreign communication charges each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The investigation into the kidnapping and extortion is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The FBI is seeking information to determine the whereabouts of the victim. Anyone with information may call the FBIs Los Angeles Field Office at (310) 477-6565.
House Democratic leaders are preparing to hold a vote Wednesday on a resolution condemning anti-Semitism after a Muslim first-term congresswoman refused to apologize for her latest statements that drew fierce protests from Jewish groups.

An aide to a senior Democrat said Monday that the substance of the resolution is still under discussion.

One version is a direct condemnation of statements last week by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, a former Somali refugee. Another is softer, denouncing anti-Semitism in general.

Omar, 37, said last week during a public event in Washington that she wanted to discuss 'the political influence in this country that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country.'

Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, a former Somali refugee and one of two Muslim women in Congress, said last week that she condemned 'political influence' in America 'that says it is okay to push for allegiance to a foreign country'  a line her audience took to as a slur on American Jewswho support the nation of Israel

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is planning to hold a vote Wednesday on a House resolution but it's unclear how strongly worded it will be or whether it will condemn Omar by name

That remark came immediately after an audience member shouted a line Omar apologized for using last month, suggesting moneyed Jews' power in D.C. is 'all about the Benjamins.'

New York Rep Nita Lowey, a senior Democrat who chairs the powerful Appropriations Committee, blasted Omar over the weekend as pressure for her to issue a new mea culpa intensified.

'Lawmakers must be able to debate w/o prejudice or bigotry. I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel. I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful,' she tweeted Saturday.

Jewish Democrats in Congress including New Yorkers Eliot Engel (left) and Nita Lowey (right) slammed Omar's 'slur'

Lowey tweeted that Omar's comment played on an old stereotype about Jews in America beying loyal to Israel first

Omar spokesman Jeremy Slevin said last Wednesday that the congresswoman was objecting to 'the undue influence of lobbying groups for foreign interests.'

But she turned the temperature up on Sunday.

'I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee,' she tweeted, adding later that 'I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone.'

'I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks.'

Lowey replied: 'No member of Congress is asked to swear allegiance to another country. Throughout history, Jews have been accused of dual loyalty, leading to discrimination and violence, which is why these accusations are so hurtful.'

Omar turned up the heat in her own tweets, saying she shouldn't have to jave 'allegience' to a foreign country  meaning Israel

The Democratic aide said Lowey was pushing for strong language in the resolution that reaches the House floor.

American Jews have long faced discrimination based on the sterotype that their first loyalty is to Israel and the expectation that they must prove their patriotism in order to participate in U.S. politics.

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel, a Jewish New Yorker, said Friday that Omar should apologize for her 'vile anti-Semitic slur.'

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is beginning to face pressure to remove Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, largely from Jewish advocacy groups.

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt wrote to Pelosi that she should 'give the entire Congress an opportunity, through a House resolution, to voice its rejection of her latest slur and make clear that no matter what may divide the 435 members of the House of Representatives, they are united in condemning anti-Semitism.'
This is the shocking moment a masked thug with a knife walks up to pupils outside a college in Lancashire as police arrest six people following the 'targeted attack'.

Horrifying footage shot from a car parked outside Runshaw College in Leyland, shows a man in a quilted jacket walk from the gate of the college whilst trying to conceal a knife in his jacket.

He appears to reveal the knife to others stood in front of him before taking a step back and walking away. Other footage also shows a car reversing after witnessing the incident, while the passenger of the car screams and shouts 'drive back now'.

The footage emerged following the incident at the college which resulted in a 17-year-old boy being nicked on the arm. Police were present at the college today and have now found a machete close by.

The man can be seen striding towards the others (left) and brandishing the blade before he seems to conceal it with his hands (right)

Police were pictured that evening at Leyland train station following the incident at the college

The others seemed to stand still (left) while the man with the blade approached

Lancashire Police were pictured outside Runshaw College today and the force has officers in and outside the building

On Facebook Lancashire Police Dog Unit said: 'It didn't take the team long to recover the weapon and other pieces of valuable evidence.'

The weapon was found by a police dog search following the 'pre-arranged' fight on Monday evening.

Staff at the college called police on Monday at 10.40am after they received an anonymous report stating a group with weapons were heading to the college by train from Manchester.

Officers were sent to the site and shortly before 4pm they witnessed a group of males walking into the grounds while students were leaving.

Some of the group were seen carrying knives and making threats towards students, said Lancashire Police.

Police arrested five people at Runshaw College in Leyland, after an armed gang arrived

A police car can be seen parked outside the college where the incident was filmed by horrified onlookers

A 17-year-old boy was nicked on the arm during the incident and was taken to Chorley Hospital.

His injury is not thought to be serious. No-one else was injured during the incident, police added.

The group made off from the college when police patrols arrived.

Three people who were inside a parked Nissan Micra close by were arrested. A fourth person who made off on foot was also arrested.

A Peugeot 306 was later stopped on the M55 and a fifth person was arrested in connection with the disorder.

Chief Inspector Gary Crowe, from Leyland Police, said: 'We believe this was a targeted attack in that we think the group have gone to find someone and a separate student has received a minor injury. This was not a random attack.

Police (pictured above) remained at the college in Leyland today are are investigating the incident

'I would like to reassure people that the incident has now come to a close. The safety of the college's students and staff remains our priority and so we have stepped up patrols in the area and this will continue. We have and will remain in close contact with the college.

'If you have any information, or any mobile phone footage of the incident, please make contact with us. You can call 101 quoting incident reference 933 of today (March 4).'

British Transport Police authorised the use of Section 60 Stop and Search Powers at Leyland Train Station until 10pm on Monday.

Runshaw College tweeted it would be open on Tuesday as usual for classes.
A brave father who rescued his 13-month-old daughter from her bed as fire tore through his home has died from his injuries.

Businessman Neil Thompson, 35, suffered serious injuries in the blaze at his home in Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland.

He died on Saturday at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, ten days after the fire.

Businessman Neil Thompson rescued his 13-month-old daughter Hailey from her bed as fire tore through their home has died from his injuries. He is pictured holding Hailey

In a Facebook post, Natalie described Neil and her three girls as 'My World'. She also posted pictures of him holding Hailey and of the couple kissing.

Baby Hailey and her mother Natalie, who also escaped the home, were taken to the the same hospital with serious injuries and it is thought they have now been released.

In a Facebook post, Natalie described Neil and her three girls as 'My World'.

She also posted pictures of him holding Hailey and of the couple kissing.

The post was met with a flood of sympathetic messages.

Anne Masson said: 'Och Natalie I'm heartbroken for you all.

'Please know I'm thinking of you and the girlies. Lots of love and hugs to all.'

The Sun reported that almost 50 firefighters battled the blaze at 3.45am.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said six fire engines and other support appliances attended the incident.

A neighbouring property was also evacuated as a precaution.

Police say there are 'no suspicious circumstances about the incident'. Pictured the home which was gutted by fire

To escape the inferno, Natalie, 31, jumped our of an upstairs window of the home, according to The Daily Record.

Police say there are 'no suspicious circumstances about the incident'.

Detective Inspector Norman Stevenson said: 'My thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragic incident.'
In this March 23, 2018, photo released by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is serial killer Juan Vallejo Corona, who died of natural causes on Monday at age 85

Juan Corona, who became the nation's most prolific serial killer when he was convicted in 1971 of raping, killing and burying the bodies of 25 California farm workers, died of natural cause Monday. He was 85 years old.

Corona breathed his last at 8.15am at an undisclosed hospital, Vicky Waters, of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported. He had been serving a life sentence at a state prison in Corcoran, California, before he was hospitalized.

The farm laborer contractor, who suffered from dementia and schizophrenia, was convicted of stabbing and hacking to death 25 laborers, including many he himself had hired, and burying their bodies in shallow graves in orchards and on farms along the Feather River, north of Sacramento.

Corona was arrested after a peach farmer who had contracted with him for hired pickers became suspicious upon finding a hole that had been freshly dug and then quickly filled in.

The farmer called authorities, suspicious someone was burying garbage in his orchard. Instead they found the body of a man whose head had been hacked and his torso riddled with stab wounds.

Corona had been serving a life sentence at a state prison in Corcoran, California (pictured)

Corona (left and right) was arrested in 1971 after the body of a man whose head had been hacked was found in an orchard

In this 1973 photo, Corona waves to supporters as he leaves the Solano County Hall of Justice after being sentenced to 25 consecutive life terms for murdering 25 farm workers

Corona was arrested a week later and subsequent searches turned up the bodies of 24 more people, including several Corona had recruited for farm work.

A machete, a meat cleaver, a double-bladed axe and a wooden club, all stained with blood, were all found in Corona's home, earning him the moniker 'the Machete Murderer.'

Corona nearly died in a prison stabbing two years later that cost him the sight in his left eye (pictured in 1987 during a parole hearing

Among the graves, investigators found receipts signed by Corona and a ledger book containing the names of seven of the victims.

Four of the bodies have never been identified. The bodies of 14 of Corona's victims were never claimed by family members after they were discovered in 1971.

They were all ready to go to the next world, Corona, a native of Mexican, was quoted as saying of his victims in 2003.

He was convicted of 25 counts of murder in 1971 and sentenced to 25 concurrent life sentences.

He was not eligible for the death penalty because California's capital punishment law had been ruled unconstitutional at the time.

Corona nearly died in a prison stabbing two years later that cost him the sight in his left eye.

In 1978 an appeals court overturned Corona's conviction, ruling he had received incompetent representation from his attorney.

He remained incarcerated while he was retried and was convicted again in 1982 on the same 25 counts.

Corona would be denied parole eight times, most recently in 2016.

Corona was denied parole eight times over the course of his incarceration, most recently in 2016 (pictured in mugshots from different years)

'It was a gruesome manner of killing. He hacked these people to death,' Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper told The Associated Press after attending Corona's last parole hearing.

Corona's had been the worst known killing spree in US history, until John Wayne Gacy Jr was convicted in 1980 of murdering 33 young men and boys in his Chicago home. Gacy was executed in 1994 in Illinois.
Furious residents have slammed fire authorities and claimed they didn't do enough to protect their homes as bushfires continue to ravage parts of Victoria.

More than 2,000 firefighters were fielded across south-eastern Victoria to battle the fast-moving blazes on Monday.

Already thousands of hectares of land have been destroyed and scores of houses razed to the ground as 19 active bushfires continue to burn.

At least 11 properties have been destroyed - nine in Bunyip and two in Yinnar - with many more expected as residents are slowly allowed back in some parts of the fire-affected areas.

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Furious residents have slammed fire authorities and claimed they didn't do enough to protect their homes as bushfires continue to burn in parts of Victoria (pictured, Rex Newtown of Tonimbuk, a remote town southeast of Melbourne)

'That's the roof,' Mr Newtown says, holding a jagged piece of steel (pictured)

Other residents have claimed more could have been done in the lead-up to the fire season to better protect homes (spotfire on the Bunyip side of the Princes Highway in Victoria)

Rex Newtown was one person who lost his property at Tonimbuk, a remote town south-east of Melbourne.

The 70-year-old had been living in the house for 40 years. Though all those decades went up in flames in a matter of hours.

In a video uploaded to Twitter, Mr Newtown - covered in black ash - assessed the damage.

'That's the roof,' he said, holding a jagged piece of steel. 'That was the roof of the house. It melted. That is hot.'

As Mr Newtown and other residents lament the damage, they have aimed criticism at fire authorities for not doing enough.

'I got to the corner and the fire brigade [were] all sitting up on the corner - not one truck attended,' Mr Newton told 9News.

'There was trucks sitting 450 metres away from my place doing nothing. That was all they did, was nothing.'

'They didn't come in, they did not one thing. They came in yesterday putting out spot fires which you could put out with a cup of tea.'

'It's all unions, and the local chaps that have been fires all their life around this area weren't allowed to do anything and they were prepared to do things.'

Other residents have claimed more could have been done in the lead-up to the fire season to better protect homes.

On that matter, they said authorities did not do enough hazard reduction fire burn-offs.

Andrew Clarke lost his Jinks Winery in the fire at Bunyip Park and he pins the blame on Parks Victoria and Forest Fire Management Victoria.

'We've had a lot of issues trying to get them to burn off the back of our property, Parks Victoria, because after they had the royal commission one of the biggest recommendations was a lot, a lot, a lot of burning off and they just basically sit on their hands. They haven't done any really in our area,' he said.

Authorities have responded to the concerns of the residents, but said at this stage safety was their top priority.

'I quite well understand some of the community sentiment but the important thing for us, we've still got the potential threat to life, threat to properties and we will stay focused around that,' Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

Andrew Clarke (left, with son) lost his Jinks Winery in the fire at Bunyip Park and he pins the blame on Parks Victoria and Forest Fire Management Victoria

Despite the criticism, fire authorities have worked hard to bring the fires under control

All emergency warnings have been downgraded to watch-and-act, with six currently in place

'I do understand some of the sentiment, I do know when people are talking about - in particular the Bunyip fire - I know there were planned burns there in 2016 and 2017.'

A Forest Fire Management Victoria (FFMVIC) spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia planned burning was just one method used to reduce bushfire risk.

'We are using a risk-reduction target to focus our fuel management strategies on areas that will have the greatest impact.

'This target means we are burning smarter, rather than focusing on a number of hectares target.

'Under this approach, FFMVIC aims to keep bushfire risk at or below 70 per cent of maximum levels across Victoria - which significantly reduces the risk of a major fire and the impact that would have on people, property and the environment.

'In some areas, this may mean less planned burns  in other areas it may mean more  but communities can be assured that our activities are focused on making them safer and protecting their local environment.'

Despite the criticism, fire authorities have worked hard to bring the fires under control.

All emergency warnings have been downgraded to watch-and-act, with six currently in place.

The Princes Freeway has reopened with residents allowed to get through to fire-ravaged areas near Bunyip State Park.

Though some local roads remain closed, such as Bessie Creek and Fogarty roads.

Fire authorities count as many as 11 lightning strikes overnight sparked numerous spotfires throughout the Gippsland area.

Though these were in unpopulated areas and quickly brought under control.

A watch and alert remains in place for three fires near Dargo in the state's east.

Two blazes north-west of Dargo continue to move towards each other.

Two watch and act alerts remain in place for a 17,000 hectare fire east of Licola.

Fire breaks are currently being built around private properties in a bid to protect them from the raging blaze.

Communities around Valencia Creek, south-east of the fire near Licola are on high alert.

Fire authorities count as many as 11 lightning strikes overnight sparked numerous spotfires throughout the Gippsland area

A watch and alert remains in place for three fires near Dargo in the state's east

The Bunyip State Park continues to burn out of control with two watch and act alerts imposed in the area

Warnings are in place for surrounding areas like Blore, Boisdale, Briagolong, Bulldog Junction, Bushy Park, Cobbannah, Culloden, Gillum, Glenfalloch, Glenmaggie, Huggett, Koorool, Maffra West Upper, Monomak, Moornapa, Morgan, Nap Nap Marra, Newry, Stockdale, Toolome, Valencia Creek, Woolenook, Worrowing, Wrathung and Wrixon.

The Bunyip State Park continues to burn out of control with two watch and act alerts imposed in the area.

Warning alerts have been issued for the suburbs of Basan Corner, Cornucopia, Garfield North, Gentle Annie, Labertouche, Longwarry North, Maryknoll, Nar Nar Goon North, Tonimbuk and Tynong North.

Some roads remain closed such as Sand road, Ole Sale Road, Princes Way and Nar Nar Goon-Longwarry Road.

On Saturday night, Country Fire Authority Assistant Chief Officer Trevor Owen said the fire at Bunyip was more dangerous than 2009's Black Saturday bushfires, which killed 173 people and also started from a lightning strike.

Warning alerts have been issued for the suburbs of Basan Corner, Cornucopia, Garfield North, Gentle Annie, Labertouche, Longwarry North, Maryknoll, Nar Nar Goon North, Tonimbuk and Tynong North

On Saturday night, Country Fire Authority Assistant Chief Officer Trevor Owen said the fire at Bunyip was more dangerous than 2009's Black Saturday bushfires, which killed 173 people and also started from a lightning strike

'It's not a matter of if or may for further property damages that we might see today, it's a matter of we will,' he said.

'Under those very strong conditions experienced on that day (in 2009), it travelled neatly, whilst it damaged some property it was a very narrow finger compared to what we're facing with this fire, because this fire has been growing.'

A separate fire is burning at nearby Gembrook State Park Whites Corner, though has been kept within containment lines.

A Watch and Act warning has been issued for Budgeree East, Jeeralang Junction, Jumbuk, Yinnar South and Jumbuck Road in the vicinity of the Morwell National Park.

Authorities at Yinnar South in La Trobe Valley continue to battle a fire that has grown to 1,820 hectares.

The eastern and northern areas of the fire are currently active.

Two properties have already been lost and residents have been told evacuation is the safest option.

A grassfire at Bangholme was brought under control in an hour since it started on Monday.

Cooler temperatures are expected to bring welcome relief, but a severe thunderstorm warning could bring flash flooding and dry lightning.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for East Gippsland and North East districts on Monday night, and is expected to provide some much-needed relief for firefighters battling the blaze in Dargo.

But those battling the Bunyip fire may not see any relief until early on Wednesday morning, with the cool change predicted to arrive then.

A Watch and Act warning has been issued for Budgeree East, Jeeralang Junction, Jumbuk, Yinnar South and Jumbuck Road in the vicinity of the Morwell National Park
US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggis body was possibly burned in an oven at Saudi consulate generals residence.

Traces of the Khashoggis blood were also found on the walls of the Saudi consuls office. (File Photo)

Ankara: US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggis body was possibly burned in an oven at Saudi consulate generals residence, reported Al Jazeera.

An investigation by Al Jazeera into the assassination of the journalist also revealed that the burning of the outdoor furnace was monitored by the Turkish authorities.

Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 last year.

Bags believed to be carrying his body parts were transferred to the Saudi Consuls house situated a few hundred meters away, according to the report.

The worker who constructed the furnace stated that the furnace could withstand temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius, and was built according to specifications from the Saudi consul.

Traces of the Khashoggis blood were also found on the walls of the Saudi consuls office.

According to the US intelligence agencies, the murder was enacted upon orders by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud.
The man convicted in the vicious murder of a gay man in 1999 in Alabama that drew national outrage has himself been killed 20 years later.

Steven Eric Mullins, 45, an inmate at St. Clair Correctional Facility in Alabama died after an assault on Tuesday, according to AL.com.

Mullins was treated for multiple stab wounds after being airlifted to a hospital, but officials say he died from the injuries on Thursday.

Mullins had been serving a life sentence in the February 19, 1999, murder of Billy Jack Gaither, a gay man from Sylacauga, Alabama.

The homophobic murderer was in turn stabbed to death by a man serving a 25-year sentence in a 2008 murder for hire.

Gay Alabama man's murderer Steven Eric Mullins pictured in 1999, left, and the more recent photo of him before his own murder, right

Billy Jack Gaither (seen here) was 39 when Steven Mullins and Charles Butler brutally murdered him on February 19, 1999

Christopher Scott Jones, 50, is being charged with the fatal stabbing of Mullins by the Alabama Department of Corrections Investigations and Intelligence Division.

Jones was found guilty for being among six people involved with killing five men in 2008 over a matter of $450,000 in missing money for a drug cartel.

Christopher Scott Jones (pictured) in prison for a 2008 murder for hire of five people is suspected in the stabbing death of Steven Mullins

Mullins, then 25, and Charles Monroe Butler, then only 21, told investigators they were going to kill 39-year-old Gaither because he made a pass at Mullins the previous week.

The two then denied the murder was premeditated, changing their story later to say that they killed Gaither because he came on to Butler on the night of the crime.

The men lured Gaither from the Tavern bar and night club in Sylacauga to a boat launch where he was stabbed, his throat was cut and then he was bludgeoned with an ax handle.

'Billy Jack started talking about some gay issues .... wanting to have a threesome, or whatever,' Butler told Frontline in a 2000 interview. 'Tempers flared up. Steve jumped on him, and cut his throat there.'

Mullins and Butler placed him in the trunk of a car trunk and drove him to a nearby creek, where they doused two tires in kerosene and lit them on fire. Gaither then tried to make a run for it, before Mullins admitted to beating him again.

Charles Butler seen here in 1999, left, and a more recent photo, right, is also serving a life sentence for the murder of Billy Jack Gaither after aiding Mullins in the crime 20 years ago

'I was still beating him and when I gave out of energy and couldn't do it anymore, um, the fire got to going and the tires started burning real well,' Mullins said in a 1999 interrogation transcript shared by Frontline, 'and I drug him into the flame and uh, we stood there for a few minutes and then we left.'

Butler, considered Mullins' sidekick, is also serving a life sentence for aiding in the brutal crime.

'Alabama has come a long way through the hard work of a lot of people and grass-root groups and while things may have changed for the better, there are kids still suffering,' State Rep. Neil Rafferty, an openly gay former Marine, said on the anniversary.

'We have in Alabama a legacy of bias-motivated violence against marginalized communities. What makes those acts of violence different is that the intention is to terrorize and silence a marginalized community.'
Emanuela Orlandi was the daughter of a member of the Vatican's police, and was last seen leaving a music class aged 15.

Theories have circulated for decades about who took her and where her body lies.

In the latest anonymous tip-off, her family's lawyer was told to look inside the tomb, which lies in a German cemetery within the Vatican walls.

Protesters hold posters with Emanuela Orlandi's image calling for 'truth and justice' for the 15-year-old who vanished in 1983, in a demonstration in St Peter's Square in 2012

'I can confirm that the letter by Emanuela Orlandi's family has been received... and the requests it contains will be studied,' Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said in a statement.

That followed the publication in Italy's Corriere della Sera daily on Monday of the request by lawyer Lauro Sgro.

Sgro received a note last year telling her to 'look where the angel is pointing', along with a photograph of the tomb, it said.

A poster calling for information on Emanuela Orlandi, who disappeared aged 15 from a Rome street in 1983

The grave in question features a marble angel holding a tablet reading 'Rest in Peace' in Latin, above a tombstone with an inscription dedicated to a German prince who was nominated archbishop by Pope Pio IX in 1857, and his wife.

Tests done on the tomb since the tip-off show that it has been opened at least once, and the date of the tablet is different to that of the tombstone, the Corriere said.

Sgro said she had also been able to 'verify that some people knew there was a chance Emauela Orlandi's body had been hidden in the German cemetery,' her letter to the Vatican read.

People had also been leaving flowers on the tomb, she said.

According to some theories, the teenager was snatched by an organised crime gang to put pressure on Vatican officials to recover a loan.

Another claim was that she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope Jean Paul II in 1981.

The family braced for a breakthrough in October when human remains were discovered on a Vatican property, only to be disappointed when tests showed the skeleton did not belong to a teenage girl.
The former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa wants to have his trial moved to a more diverse county.

Cristhian Bahena Rivera's lawyers filed the motion seeking a change of venue on Friday.

They argue the Mexican national should be tried outside Poweshiek County to allow for more minority representation in the jury pool, The Des Moines Register reported.

Rivera, 24, is accused of killing Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run on July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa.

Investigators recovered her body a month later in a cornfield. A medical examiner has said Tibbetts was stabbed to death.

Rivera also is accused of being in the country illegally.

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Cristhian Bahena Rivera, 24 (left), the farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of Mollie Tibbetts, 20 (right), in Iowa wants to have his trial moved to a more diverse county. Rivera is pictured at left arriving for his initial appearance at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa, on August 22

Rivera had been living in the US without a visa and working as a dairy farmhand so he could send money to his parents in his native Mexico.

The dairy farm where he worked is located a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.

Rivera was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in late August, a month after Tibbetts went out for a solo run and never returned.

Tibbets' body wasn't found until more than one month after she went missing, on August 21

A map shows the location from where Tibbets went missing on July 18 and where her body was eventually found on August 21

Right-wing Republican politicians, led by President Trump, quickly seized upon Tibbetts' case to call for tougher immigration laws and increased border security.

At a rally that was staged shortly after Rivera's arrest, Trump told his supporters that 'the incredible, beautiful young woman's death should never have happened.

You heard about today with the illegal alien coming in very sadly from Mexico and you saw what happened to that incredible, beautiful young woman, Trump said, referring to Rivera and Tibbetts.

'Should have never happened. Illegally in our country.

Mollie's family, including her father, Rob (pictured with his daughter, Mollie), have been railing against right-wing politicians, led by Donald Trump, who have used Tibbetts' murder to advance tougher border controls policies

Iowas Republican governor Kim Reynolds sounded a similar note, tweeting that a 'broken immigration system allowed a predator to live in our community...'

Tibbetts family were horrified by the thought that Mollies brutal death was being used to attack undocumented immigrants.

Tibbetts' father, Rob, later published a scathing op-ed in the Des Moines Register, excoriating right-wing politicians and pundits for using his daughter as a pawn' to advance an anti-immigrant agenda that he said his daughter believed was 'profoundly racist.'

And ultimately, it was Mollie Tibbett's open and accepting nature that inspired her mother to open her home to another undocumented immigrant, Felix.

One of Rivera's co-workers, Ulises Felix, age 17, moved in with Tibbetts' mother not long after she was murdered, The Washington Post reported in December.

New house guest: Laura Calderwood (left), the mother of Mollie Tibbetts, who police say was killed by an illegal immigrant, took in 17-year-old Ulises Felix (right), who was the murder suspect's co-worker and is also living in the US illegally

It was Mollie's younger brother, Scott (pictured left as a toddler), who offered to let Felix stay at his mother's home; the two teens attended the same school and are friends. Scott is pictured here with brother Jake (center) and sister Mollie (right)

Felix is an undocumented immigrant whose family had worked on the Yarrabee Dairy Farm alongside Rivera.

Following Rivera's arrest on murder charges in August, Felix's parents fled to Illinois to escape the outpouring of anti-immigrant vitriol, leaving their teenage son behind so he could finish high school.

Mollie's younger brother, Scott, who attended the same school as Felix and was friends with the teen, immediately said he could stay in his mother's spare bedroom.

After briefly grappling with the decision, Laura Calderwood, 55, concluded that her late daughter, who in life was welcoming to all and supportive of the rights of immigrants, would have wanted her to help Felix.

Over the course of the last few months, Calderwood has learned that her young houseguest's ties to Rivera were closer than first thought: Felix's female cousin shares a daughter with the suspected killer.

Felix also revealed to Calderwood that both of Rivera's parents were in Mexico, and that before the arrest, Felix's mother had taken it upon herself to look after him and feed him every night, since he had almost no other family in Iowa.

In September, Rivera pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His trial is set for April 16, 2019.

If convicted, the 24-year-old will be sentenced to life in prison.
Connor Kerner, 17, was charged with the murders after confiding in a friend about them

A teenager has been arrested for the murders of a young couple who he allegedly killed then set on fire while their bodies were locked in a car trunk after a drug-deal gone wrong.

Connor Kerner, 17, has been charged with the murders of 19-year-old Molley Lanham and her 18-year-old boyfriend Thomas Grill.

According to police, Kerner killed the couple at his grandparents' house in Valparaiso, Indiana, after Grill tried to rob him while buying drugs.

He allegedly shot Grill first then beat him with a pipe wrench and then shot Lanham, who had been driving her boyfriend because he did not have a valid license.

Police say he then took drove the black Honda Civic they were in to a field and set their bodies on fire.

The pair were found on Saturday after an anonymous tipster called police to report that Kerner had confided in them about doing something 'bad'.

The bodies have not been formally identified but police believe it is the teens.

It is not known what kind of drugs Grill was allegedly buying off of Kerner.

Molley Lanham, 19, and her boyfriend Thomas Grill, 18, were both shot and then set on fire

According to charging documents, the 17-year-old confessed to the tipster: 'I killed someone and I killed an innocent girl.'

Molley's family said she was a 'spunky' and 'fashionable' daughter

His grandparents were out of town when he allegedly killed them.

When confiding in the tipster, he warned them that he would also kill them and their family if they told anyone about it.

The tipster ignored him and called the police on Thursday.

Molley and Thomas had been missing since February 25.

Molley's family said in a statement: 'Molley was a beautiful, loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and friend. She will be deeply missed by everyone that knew her. Molley was so unapologetically herself.

'She was spunky, fashionable, and unique in every way imaginable. Molley will be remembered for her love and kindness for all, especially animals.

'The family continues to grieve and appreciate privacy and space during this horribly tragic time. The family appreciates the condolences, well wishes, and love that has been sent to them.

'Hug your kids, tell them you love them, and always cherish every moment you have with them.

'Details for a memorial service will be released as they become available.'

Kerner is in custody on murder charges.
Missing: Belinda Peisley (pictured) vanished from her home in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains in 1998

A missing woman's muddy clothes have been found in her home 20 years after she mysteriously vanished.

Belinda Peisley, 19, disappeared from her home in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains in 1998.

Police suspect the mother-of-two was murdered but have never found her body.

On Monday detectives released images of lingerie, a skirt and a dress which they found during a forensic search of her home in December.

Officers said analysis of the clothes has given them new lines of inquiry for the cold case.

The last person known to have seen Belinda alive was a nurse at Blue Mountains Hospital on September 26, 1998.

Two years before, the teenager had inherited a large amount of money and bought a weatherboard home in Katoomba's Trow Avenue.

But by the time she disappeared Ms Peisley was a drug addict, in considerable debt and the only money coming into her account was welfare payments.

A coroner said in 2013 there was 'considerable suspicion' three people had some knowledge or involvement in her suspected death - but no-one has ever been charged.

Last month it was revealed Belinda's ex-boyfriend had been been heard referring to a 'dead chick' in a phone call to his mother in 2011.

On Monday detectives released images of lingerie (pictured), a skirt and a dress which they found during a forensic search of her home in December

A dress and woman's underwear have been discovered buried at the former home of Ms Peisley, in December

Officers said analysis of the clothes (pictured) has given them new lines of inquiry for the cold case

A summary of the tapped phone call was presented to an inquest into Ms Peisley's death in 2012 and 2013.

In the conversation, obtained by ABC podcast Unravel, the ex-boyfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is thought to be talking about his brother.

'If he says something silly about the dead chick from Sydney he'll sink me,' he said.

The telephone call was part of the brief of evidence handed to the inquest, but was not explicitly mentioned at the hearing.

Neither the ex-boyfriend nor his parents were questioned on the matter when giving evidence.

The inquest found that the former boyfriend and his father were both persons of interest and said Ms Peisley, who had two young sons aged one and three at the time, was likely to have been a homicide victim.

Ms Peisley's former boyfriend was the last person to see her alive.

He claimed the night she disappeared he went over to her house but they had an argument and so he left.

Ms Peisley (pictured) who had two young sons (both pictured) aged one and three at the time she disappeared

Ms Peisley had been suffering withdrawals from heroin at the time, and the ex-boyfriend's father is thought to have been unimpressed with his son dating a person from the 'junkie' crowd.

However, when the conversation transcript was put to him by police, the ex-boyfriend denied the woman he was discussing was Ms Peisley.

He claimed the conversation was about another women his father had advised him to stop seeing.

He also refuted the claims he'd said 'dead chick' and stated he'd thought he had said 'dead sh*t'.

And referring to the phrase 'he'll sink me' the ex-boyfriend said he'd used it as his brother didn't know what he was talking about.

An inquest found that the former boyfriend and his father were both persons of interest in the inquest for Ms Peisley's (pictured) disappearance

A summary of the tapped phone was presented to an inquest into Ms Peisley's (pictured) death in 2012 and 2013

When asked why the recording hadn't been used at the inquest, the counsel assisting the coroner, Phil Strickland, said in 'retrospect' the phone tap should've been bought up.

But he added that judgments had to be made on the relevance of evidence due to time constraints.

New South Wales police has not released the telephone intercept audio or transcript publicly.

A spokesman said they were unable to issue a comment regarding the intercepted phone call but added the inquest found a number of discrepancies in the evidence.

State coroner Paul McMahon found that the ex-boyfriend was unlikely to have been involved in the disappearance and suspected death of Ms Peisley.

He added that although he had made mistakes he was honest and therefore was found to have a good character.

The coroner was also satisfied that there was no evidence implicating the ex-boyfriend's father and nor was there an opportunity or motive.

Ms Peisley was reported missing a few days after her disappearance, but it took police seven years to open an investigation into her suspected murder.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crimestoppers.
State schools are asking parents to donate hundreds of pounds each year to help pay for staff salaries, building repairs and textbooks.

Some are asking for up to 1,200 per child annually while others let families choose how much cash they donate.

Although no taxpayer-funded school can force parents to make payments, requests for voluntary donations are becoming commonplace as budgets are squeezed.

Headteachers are managing to raise up to 100,000 a year through advertising campaigns to highlight their plight.

Sir Thomas Rich's in Gloucester received 96,000 in parental donations last year and said it suffered 400,000 worth of cuts and cost increases in the academic year 2017-18

School funding was debated in Parliament yesterday after a petition on budget cuts, started by headteachers, garnered more than 100,000 signatures.

Growing numbers of schools are adopting a four-and-a-half-day week to save money, with one saying last week that it would charge parents for their children to stay in school on Friday afternoons.

Heads say they are also having to clean school toilets, sweep floors and wash up.

A survey of 700 schools via Freedom of Information requests found 200 had asked for parental donations in the past year.

The poll, carried out by The Times, found about half of those asked for specific amounts.

Some requested only payments for school trips, but many were now using donations and PTA fund-raising for classroom basics.

Swimming is a compulsory part of the curriculum but more than one in ten of those seeking donations asked parents to pay for lessons or transport.

Others asked children to bring in their own stationery, glue sticks, exercise books and tissues.

Many wanted cash for repairs and heating systems, with one needing a stairlift for a disabled pupil.

The highest request, for 1,260 a year per family, came from Rosh Pinah, a Jewish primary in north London.

Donations go towards running costs of the school, security and Jewish studies.

Sir Thomas Richs, a grammar school in Gloucester, received 96,000 in parental donations last year, which it spent on building maintenance and staffing minority subjects.

On its website, it appeals to alumni as well as parents, saying: As you are no doubt aware, funding for schools is very tight and Sir Thomas Richs has been hard hit, with 400,000 worth of cuts and cost increases for the academic year 2017-18 alone.

It aimed to raise 120,000 in that academic year and asked supporters to set up regular donations.

A Department for Education spokesman said: We have protected the core schools budget overall in real terms since 2010, and put an additional 1.3billion into core schools funding across 2018-19 and 2019-20, over and above plans set out at the last spending review.

But the Institute of Fiscal Studies said last year that total school spending per pupil in England fell by about eight per cent between 2009-10 and 2017-18.
A pretrial hearing took place on Monday in the sexual assault case against Kevin Spacey, and the actor got a bit of good news.

Lawyers for the disgraced Oscar winner presented multiple motions to the judge, and while none of those motions was ruled on today, the judge did order that the man accusing Spacey of assault and his girlfriend-at-the-time preserve their phone and cloud records.

The defense wants to extend the time period for which they can obtain any texts of saved information in the accuser's cloud from January 2017 to December 2017.

That was the lone decision handed down on Monday, with the judge promising to rule on the other motions at the next hearing on April 4 in Nantucket.

Spacey was not in court, after being told back in January that he would not be needed for the appearance.

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Lawyers for Kevin Spacey (Spacey and Alan Jackson pictured above in January) appeared in a Nantucket court room on Monday for a pretrial hearing, with the actor excused from attending

The defense team for the disgraced actor submitted five motions to the court last Wednesday, requesting that the young man who said he was sexually assaulted by the actor be required to hand over the entire contents of his cloud along with all relevant passwords.

Spacey's team is also seeking all correspondence regarding the case that was sent by the civil attorney hired by the victim's family.

That section of the 70-plus pages of court filings states that Mitchell Garabedian was hired to pursue a lawsuit for the family, and accuses the teen of using the criminal case to try and confirm his 'lies.'

Alan Jackson, the Los Angeles lawyer that is representing Spacey stated that the boy and his family 'have a significant financial motive to fabricate the instant allegations.'

Garabedian is being asked to hand over all correspondence between himself and the other lawyers at his firm with the district attorney's office.

Jackson also asked that judge that a copy of the contract with the victim's family and and the date, time and length of all appointments between the family and the law firm be turned over as well.

There is also concerns about an an investigation Garabedian did into the claims, with the defense expressing concern that they have not seen these reports.

Garabedian had stated that he turned his findings into law enforcement, and now the defense wants to make certain that detectives independently investigated all his findings.

This is nothing new for Garabedian, who was a key attorney for victims of the Catholic Church who sued the diocese.

That case was later made into the Oscar-winning film Spotlight, in which Garabedian was played by Stanley Tucci.

The filing also makes it clear that Spacey and his lawyers are looking to do a very deep dive into the accuser's personal accounts and phones.

As was already stated in earlier filings, Spacey and his team want access to every text the young man sent for the months before and after the dates of the alleged incident.

'Text messages consistent with statements provided to law enforcement are likely to reveal that [redacted] joked about the incident with friends for months after the incident and that his mother is the driving force behind these allegation,' states the court filing.

Home: The defense had filed five motions in the case on Wednesday, but the judge did not rule on any at the hearing on Monday (Spacey's Baltimore bolthole)

The defense also wants the credit card receipts for everyone who was at the bar that night so that they may try and contact potential witness.

That move comes two weeks after a key witness Spacey had in the case passed away.

Joe Pantorno, the owner of The Club Car who sold the restaurant and bar shortly after the alleged incident, died at the age of 68 in Florida.

He had told detectives that he witnessed no groping on the night of the incident and might have testified about the accuser joking around just one day later while recounting was happened.

Jackson also requested employment records and surveillance footage from The Club Car.

The actor stated in a previous motion obtained by DailyMail.com that the teenager 'claimed he was a 23-year-old student studying business at Wake Forest University' after he 'sought out a friend for the specific purpose of introducing him to [Spacey].'

It goes on to state that the teen 'welcomed drinks from [Spacey], let [Spacey] put his arm around him near the piano while they did sing-a-longs and even left the bar to smoke with [Spacey].'

That behavior, combined with the fact that the teen gave Spacey his number, suggests 'mutual and consensual flirting' states the motion.

At no point does Spacey deny groping the young man.

The motion states that once Spacey began to grope his accuser the teen 'did not object to the alleged touching, he did not ask [Spacey] to stop and he did not remove himself from the situation.'

Spacey is referred to a Mr Fowler (his real surname) in the motion.

In the initial filing the accuser said that this was because he froze, and suggested his lack of an erection as proof he was not enjoying the sex act.

The motion also claims that the young woman who was in communication with the accuser was never even told about an assault.

'Although M.D. recounted in her statement that [redacted] appraised her of nearly all of the interactions between the two men during the course of their encounter, [redacted] never suggested that he had in any way been sexually assaulted,' states the filing.

It goes on to state that the young woman was never told about the assault later either, and had instead told police that the accuser was 'simply drunk.'

She heard about the allegations when the accuser's mother, Heather Unruh, held a press conference stating that her son had been sexually assaulted by Spacey.

That motion was filed in support of the defense's request to obtain all messages exchanged between the defendant and his then-girlfriend between the time of the alleged incident and now.

Don't delete: The judge did order that the man accusing Spacey of assault and his girlfriend-at-the-time preserve their phone and cloud records (Spacey after he was spotted by DailyMail.com for the first time in December)

The prosecution has tried to limit that scope to the day of and after the alleged incident.

It is noted by the defense that they believe this discovery will uncover the fact that 'the complainant joked about the incident with his friends for months after the incident, and his mother is a driving force behind the emergence of the allegations.'
A member of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang has been charged with allegedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl.

Police allege that the 27-year-old man met the girl at a train station on Valentine's Day and lured her to his Chester Hill home in western Sydney where he sexually assaulted her.

He was arrested two weeks later after a violent struggle at his property that left two officers injured.

Police allege that the 27-year-old-man met the girl at a train station on Valentine's Day and lured her to his Chester Hill home where he sexually assaulted her (stock image)

Detectives from Child Abuse and Sex Crimes received a report about the sexual assault of a young girl at a man's home in Chester Hill.

The investigation conducted by the police led them to a man who was a member of the gang.

Police raided his home where two officers were injured, as well as the Nomads member who had to be taken to the hospital.

Detectives have charged the man with having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14 and resist or hinder a police officer in execution of their duty.

The home of the Nomads member was raided where he was arrested after a violent struggle that left two officers injured in Sydney's south-west (stock image)

The man was taken to Bankstown Police Station after his arrest and was taken to hospital for treatment.

He remains in hospital under police guard and has been refused bail after a bedside hearing.

The Nomads member will appear at Liverpool Local Court on March 13.




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A six-year-old boy and ten-year-old girl have been identified as two of the 23 people killed by tornadoes that hit Alabama and Georgia on Sunday.

Armando Hernandez, known as AJ, became separated from his mother in Beauregard when a tornado struck and was later found dead.

His mother, Kayla Melton, had earlier appealed for information on his whereabouts on Facebook, writing: 'Please look for my baby he's 6 years old his name is Armando Hernandez he goes by AJ last seen on lee road 38. Anyone in the area please help me find him please!!!!!'

His death was later confirmed by friends and family on social media.

Relative Tina Melton wrote on Facebook: 'Little AJ didn't make it. He was found but he didn't survive... He was always eager to give hugs and loved his family. They are headed to the children's hospital with his brother. They also lost their home in the tornado with all belongings. Fly high AJ. You have your wings!'

A GoFundMe campaign to raise money for his funeral costs has raised more than $1,100 as of Monday afternoon.

A second victim was identified as Beauregard fourth grader Taylor Thornton, the daughter of Ashley and David Thornton.

A description on her GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $23,000 for her funeral costs, says: 'Taylor was an amazing example of a child of God. She brought so much joy to all that knew her. She was loved dearly and will forever be missed.

'Our hearts are mourning with you Ashley and David. You raised an amazing daughter that fulfilled her purpose on this earth and it now with her creator. This community loves you both, and baby McCrae so much and will continue to walk through this by your side.'

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Six-year-old Armando Hernandez (left) and ten-year-old Taylor Thornton have been identified as two of the 23 people who were killed by the tornadoes that hit Alabama and Georgia on Sunday. Both youngsters were from Beauregard, a small community in Lee County, Alabama, where the worst tornado damage was reported

A GoFundMe campaign set up for Taylor Thornton has raised more than $23,000 as of Monday afternoon. The description on the site says: 'Taylor was an amazing example of a child of God. She brought so much joy to all that knew her. She was loved dearly and will forever be missed.' The youngster is pictured with her parents, Ashley and David Thornton

Rescue crews in the ravaged community of Lee County are continuing to search through the rubble for victims of Sunday's deadly tornado, the worst to hit the US since 2013. A man is seen surveying the damage at his home on Monday

This aerial photo shows the extensive damage caused by the Beauregard tornado. Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said rescue crews have canvassed areas with the worst damage, but the search is ongoing and the death toll could rise

Friends in eastern Alabama are helping tornado survivors retrieve belongings from the wreckage of their homes

Lee County Coroner Brian Harris confirmed at least 23 people had died, including three children aged six, nine and ten.

At a press conference on Monday afternoon, Harris said that 17 of the victims have been identified and their families will be notified later in the day.

The six remaining victims will be identified via fingerprints. Harris said that they are all suspected to be persons who were reported missing.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said rescue crews have canvassed areas with the worst damage, but the search is ongoing and the death toll could rise.

Devastating images show the extent of the destruction caused by an F4 tornado that tore through Beauregard on Sunday

Family members can be seen consoling each other outside their damaged mobile home in Beauregard on Monday

The remains of a home that was torn from its foundation are seen scattered across a wooded area several dozen feet away

Debris from a friend's home stands in the background as Ashley Griggs wipes dirt from a photo of what it used to look like

Hundreds of volunteers from across Alabama arrived in Lee County on Monday to help repair damage from the tornado

National Weather Service spokesman Chris Darden announced that the tornado had been upgraded from an F3 to an F4 on the Fujita scale as preliminary assessments indicated that winds reached up to 170mph.

The tornado was the deadliest to hit the US since 2013, when an F5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, killed 24 people.

Darden said the twister left a path of destruction 24 miles long and nearly a mile wide along Alabama Highway 51 in Lee County, about 60 miles east of the state capital in Montgomery.

Sheriff Jones said of the damage: 'It looks almost like someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground.

'There are slabs where homes formerly stood. Whole forested areas, trees are just snapped and lying on the ground.'

Darden said the NWS is assessing at least two other tornado paths from F1 twisters in Macon County and Barbour County. He said the Macon County twister appeared to cross paths with the one in Lee County.

At least a dozen tornadoes were reported in the southeastern US on Sunday afternoon as a massive storm system tore across parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida, leaving more than 40,000 people without power.

Darden noted that the NWS had begun issuing tornado warnings 72 hours early on Thursday morning.

Volunteers from the community worked to clear debris from an area affected by the F4 tornado on Sunday afternoon

Beauregard resident Julie Morrison looks through a mountain of debris at her destroyed home on Lee County Road 63

Brittney Downs surveys the damage at a family member's property where a home was completely obliterated by the tornado

A home with broken windows and part of its roof torn off stands among splintered trees snapped by the devastating winds

Buildings were razed, trees uprooted and power lines torn down by winds clocking in at up to 170mph

Debris is seen strewn across the interior of the Buck Wild Saloon in Smiths Station, Alabama, after the storms blew through

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones (above) told reporters on Monday morning that the death toll is expected to rise as the search resumes. He said emergency crews are committed to finding everyone reported missing or possibly trapped in the rubble

A search and rescue team made up of law enforcement and volunteers is seen Monday morning in Beauregard

President Trump reacted to the tornado reports on Twitter

First Daughter Ivanka Trump also tweeted about the storms

At the Monday afternoon press conference, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey thanked state and federal emergency response teams for their support thus far.

She described how President Donald Trump called her in the morning to extend his condolences and ask if there was anything he could do to help.

Trump announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was on the ground in Alabama in a tweet on Monday morning, writing: 'FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes.

'@GovIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).'

The president first reacted to reports of the tornadoes on Sunday night, writing on Twitter that his thoughts and prayers were with all those affected.

'To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe,' he wrote.

'Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!'

His daughter Ivanka later wrote on Twitter: 'Keeping all affected by the tornados in Georgia and Alabama in our prayers.'

A tornado is seen in Dothan, Alabama, on Sunday. At least 23 people have been killed by the tornadoes that hit the state

Homes were completely destroyed in Talbotton, Georgia, and the death toll is feared to climb after a deadly tornado

One Twitter user shared this photo of her grandmother's house in in Pine Mountain, Georgia, after a tornado hit

Jack Tibbs, mayor of Eufaula, Alabama, shared photos of an airport on Facebook, writing: 'Eufaula was hit by a pretty strong tornado. Fortunately, we have had no injuries reported. The Eufaula airport and northern industrial park were hit pretty hard'

Mayor Tibbs said Lieutenant Ethan Parrish and Engineer Corey Crozier of the Eufaula Fire Department were inside the station when the tornado hit, so they took shelter in a bathroom

A Eufaula Fire Department engine is seen buried under rubble in this image shared by Mayor Tibbs on Facebook

An aerial view shows trees snapped like toothpicks after a 'catastrophic' tornado roared through Talbotton, Georgia

First responders attempt to search for survivors in Georgia after a deadly tornado ripped through the area

A vehicle is pictured under downed trees along Lee Road 11 in Beauregard, Alabama, on Sunday

Powerful winds ripped the roof off of the Buck Wild Saloon located on US Highway 280, east of Smiths Station, Alabama

Dozens of emergency responders were called in to assist in Lee County amid reports of at least 40 people injured in Beauregard and surrounding areas.

'We've got about 150 first responders out there,' Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, told The Associated Press. 'They are doing a phenomenal job. Sadly, we know that we have two known confirmed fatalities and many, many injuries.'

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2pm Sunday, according to meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the National Weather Service's Birmingham office.

The destruction was captured in harrowing photographs that show roofs ripped off of buildings, toppled trees with their roots torn from the ground and debris littered across miles.

An emotional video shows 72-year-old Beauregard resident Earnestine Reese sitting in the ruble of her home after it was destroyed along with her daughter's trailer.

Reese suffered a broken hip and was scheduled to go in for surgery this morning. She can be heard in the video talking to her grandson, who is away at college, via FaceTime and telling him to thank God for sparing her life.

'I thank the Lord. You tell God: "Thank you God." You hear me? You hear me? Tell God thank you. Tell God thank you,' she tells him.

Reese' niece Delrico Eiland shared the video on Facebook.

AP spoke to another resident, Dax Leandro, who was helping clean up his friend's mom's property, where two structures were obliterated, including the family's house.

Leandro sifted through debris scattered in surrounding trees looking for valuables.

He said some people who were inside the house ended up 'hundreds of yards away' beneath rubble but survived.

An emotional video shows 72-year-old Beauregard resident Earnestine Reese sitting in the ruble of her home after it was destroyed along with her daughter's trailer. Reese, who suffered a broken hip and was scheduled to go in for surgery Monday morning, can be heard in the video thanking God for sparing her life

A fallen cell tower lies across US Route 280 highway in Lee County, Alabama, outside the town of Smiths Station

The roof of a house in Beauregard can be seen lying on the ground after being completely torn off by a tornado

A piece of sheet metal torn off a structure by 165mph winds can be seen wrapped around a tree in Beauregard

The roof of the Buckwild Saloon is seen ripped clean off after a tornado touched down in eastern Alabama on Sunday

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.

'The last check I had was between six and eight injuries,' Erenheim said in a phone interview. 'From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken.'

She said searches of damaged homes and structures in that area had turned up no serious injuries or deaths.

Beauregard resident Scott Fillmer posted this photo of a large tree ripped from the ground lying in the middle of a road

The National Weather service shared these images, writing: 'TORNADO EMERGENCY for southern Lee & northern Russell Counties! Large & EXTREMELY DANGEROUS TORNADO ON THE GROUND near Dupree, moving East. PLEASE TAKE SHELTER NOW if you live between Dupree & Smiths Station!!'

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon.

A portion of Interstate 10 on the Florida Panhandle was blocked in one direction in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

'There's a squall line moving through the area,' Harrigan told AP. 'And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It's a favorable environment for tornados.'

The threat of severe weather was expected to continue until late Sunday.

A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.

In Lexington County, South Carolina, about 150 people hunkered down together at the Red Bank Baptist Church to wait out the storms.

The State reported that children sang 'Jesus Loves Me' during a regular Sunday night service before the group had to move from the sanctuary to a long hall during the storm, which knocked a column down in the front of the building and damaged another.

Derrec Becker with the South Carolina Emergency Management Division said no deaths or serious injuries have been reported in the state because of the storms, but about 8,000 people lost power.

A view of a tornado seen in the distance beyond a truck stop in Warner Robins, Georgia, on Sunday
Chris Watts murdered his elder daughter after she witnessed him killing her mother according to an interview that will air Tuesday on The Dr Phil Show.

Steven Lambert, the lawyer who is representing the family of Shanann Watts in their wrongful death lawsuit, claims that his clients were informed of just how Watts carried out the brutal murders.

It started with Shanann threatening to keep their children from him after she learned of his affair, and ended with the mom and both daughters dead.

Bella reportedly spent her final moments begging her father to spare her life.

The full interview will air Tuesday on Dr Phil, check local listings for times.

Victims: Chris Watts killed his daughter Bella after she witnessed him strangling his pregnant wife Shanann according to a lawyer for Shanann's family (Watts and the three women he murdered just months before the incident)

'The night in question Shanann came home. She and Chris had got into a fight. They made up. They were getting along really well,' Lambert tells Dr Phil in a clip obtained by DailyMail.com.

'Later on, they got into a fight again. In that fight he essentially confessed to having an affair, that he wanted a divorce. That it was pretty much over between them, and she had said something to the effect of, "well you're not going to see the kids again."'

Lambert then adds: 'As a consequence of that conversation he strangled her to death.'

The clip ends with Lambert revealing: 'Bella walked in and asked what are you doing to mommy.'

Watts spoke with agents from the FBI and CBI as well as a member of the Frederick Police Department on February 18, though what exactly was said during that meeting has not yet been shared with the public.

But Shanann's parents, the Rzuceks, have been briefed on what Watts said.

The will be released on March 7, and now many are speculating as to what it could mean for the case and if it might bring some closure following the tragic deaths of Shanann, Bella and Celeste.

The interview was conducted at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where Watts was transferred back in December.

It is unclear however if he is still there, or if he may have leveraged his interview with authorities to be moved to another facility.

Authorities do not believe that Watts ever gave a factual account of what happened the night of the murders.

He only confessed to murdering his wife Shanann, claiming he did this in an act of rage after she murdered their two young daughters.

Watts had claimed he saw the couple's daughter Bella dead in her bed and Shanann in the process of strangling Celeste on the baby monitor.

Local police and the FBI did not believe that, and ultimately charged the father with three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation, two counts of first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 and by a person in a position of trust, three counts of tampering with a deceased human body and one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy.

There is also a possibility that evidence in the case could perhaps exonerate Watts or even implicate a second or third person.

The release last week of doorbell footage that showed Shanann arriving home on the night she was murdered also suggests that the Weld County District Attorney may have come across new video evidence.

Behind bars: The details of that interview will be released on March 7 along with audio from the meeting

Caught: Watts told authorities that he murdered Shanann after watching her strangle their daughters Bella and Celeste in a fit of rage (Watts watching himself load the bodies into his truck on a neighbor's surveillance camera)

Recovery: He then dumped the bodies of Celeste and Bella into oil tanks and buried Shanann in a shallow grave (officials removing the bodies of Celeste and Bella)

If footage was obtained from that system it would be able to confirm or deny his allegation.

Upon watching Shanann 'on top of' Celeste, Watts said he ran into the room but it was too late.

He then strangled Shanann he told police and agents.

It is the same three officials who worked the case for the FBD, FBI and CBI who visited Watts in prison.

He only admitted to murdering Shanann and then burying her in a shallow grave.

He said that he also dumped his two daughters' lifeless bodies in oil tanks after failing a polygraph test.

In November, Watts pleaded guilty to to multiple first-degree murder charges in order to avoid a possible death penalty trial.
According to medical sources "they were playing" outside their home when they were hit by the explosion. At the moment there are no further details on those responsible. Eight children die every day. UK Foreign minister warns: the peace plan "dead within a few weeks".

Sana'a (AsiaNews / Agencies) - At least five children have died in an attack on their home in the province of Hudaydah, Yemen, confirming the fragility of the truce reached by the government and rebels in the port city. According to medical sources, relaunched by UNICEF, the small children "were playing near their home" when they were hit by an explosion that killed them.

At the moment there are no further details on the nature of the attack or those responsible. According to the executive director of Unicef Henrietta Fore "every day at least eight children are killed or injured in the 31 areas of the country where conflicts are taking place".

Medical sources in the Tuhayta district, in the southern sector of Hudaydah, refer to the transfer of the dead and injured children to the Khokha government hospital. A devastating humanitarian tragedy is taking place in the area which has been the epicenter of the conflict. The withdrawal from Hudaydah was first achieved on 18 December, during the peace talks in Sweden. The first phase of the withdrawal should have started two weeks later, but neither side kept their commitment.

Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt, on a mission to Yemen, has raised the alarm for the possible failure of the peace agreement in the port city. The plan, says the diplomat, "could be dead within a few weeks". The Yemeni government, supported by the Arab countries and recognized by the international community, and the Houthi Shiite rebels close to Iran still have to apply the points envisaged by the ceasefire, which include the redeployment of troops outside the city.

Since March 2015 to date, this conflict has left an estimated 10 thousand dead and 55 thousand injured. Independent bodies set the toll (between January 2016 and end of July 2018) at about 50 thousand deaths. Since it only concerns the combatants, not the "indirect victims" (civilians) who have died from malnutrition or cholera.

Among the first victims there are children, who have died as a result of bombs or very serious malnutrition: at least 85,000 children under the age of five, according to various international humanitarian agencies. Recently UN experts have said that at least 14 million people are at risk of starvation.
An Australian designer has been arrested in Bali after her American friend allegedly sent her a vial of cannabis oil in the mail.

Kim Anne Alloggia, from Taree, in New South Wales, was arrested on Saturday and is in custody at Denpasar police station, in south Bali.

The 51-year-old is facing drug possession charges and could face a maximum 12 years' jail, The Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

Kim Anne Alloggia was arrested on Saturday and is in custody at Denpasar police station, in south Bali

The 51-year-old is facing drug possession charges and could face a maximum 12 years' jail

Alloggia's Facebook shows her as a tie-dye designer and fabric artist.

The vial of cannabis is alleged to have been found among her tie-dye equipment and fabric.

The publication reports that the parcel was addressed to Kim E Artist and sent to the her manager, Komang Gede Happy Darmawan, address in Bali.

Alloggia was not in Bali at the time, and Mr Darmawan was under surveillance when he picked up the package and delivered it to Alloggia's address in Seminyak.

Her lawyer, Made Suardika Adnyana, explained that his client had a liver problem and would stay in Bali to have access to the herbal medications

Her lawyer, Made Suardika Adnyana, explained that his client had a liver problem and would stay in Bali to have access to the herbal medications, the publication reported.

Mr Adnyana said his client's friend in America sent her the vial to help her with her pain and alleges Alloggia didn't know the vial contained marijuan.

Allogia said she is ready to take responsibility for her actions.

She is currently in custody for the suspicion of possession of drugs made from a plant under Indonesias drugs laws, the publication reported.
Ministers and police chiefs clashed last night over whether a surge in knife deaths is linked to tumbling officer numbers.

The families of the latest teenage stab victims  girl scout Jodie Chesney and private school pupil Yousef Makki, both 17  yesterday told of their horror and devastation.

In an impassioned Commons statement, Jodie's constituency MP Julia Lopez, a Tory backbencher, warned that the public was losing faith in the Government's ability to keep the streets safe.

From left to right: Sami Sidhom, 18, Jodie Chesney, 17, Yousef Makki, 17

Lyndon Davis, 18, Keelan Wilson, 15, Abdi Ali, 17

Her Labour colleague Stella Creasy, whose east London seat has been blighted by knife killings, joined her call for urgent action.

She told Home Secretary Sajid Javid: 'The taskforces, the consultations, the more reports, it isn't working. This is an emergency that requires an emergency response.'

Over the past 12 months, 27 under-19s have been stabbed to death. There were 285 knife killings in all  the highest toll since the Second World War.

Twenty people  including Jaden Moodie, who was just 14  have been murdered in London in the first three months of 2019.

Official figures show that in the year to September, 'Wild West Britain' suffered 110 knife crimes a day  including attacks with deadly 'zombie' weapons fashioned with serrated blades.

Theresa May, who spent six years at the Home Office, which oversees the police, yesterday claimed it was a mistake to link the knife epidemic with police cuts, insisting there was 'no direct correlation'.

Israel Ogunsola, 18, Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17

John Ogunjobi, 16, Jay Hughes, 15, Hazrat Umar, 18

Ministers pointed out that in the early 2000s, when serious violent crimes were at their highest, police numbers were rising.

But senior police officers and opposition MPs said the Government's austerity drive was among the reasons for the spiralling bloodshed.

Ex-Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe said an extra 20,000 officers were needed.

That would almost make up for the decline in numbers in the past decade from around 143,700 to 122,400.

Jodie, a popular A-level pupil who had recently been invited to Downing Street with her scout group, was killed in an unprovoked attack as she sat with her boyfriend and three friends listening to music in a park in east London on Friday evening.

Her family yesterday appealed to her killer to have the 'decency' to hand himself in.

Latwaan Griffiths, 18, Ozell Pemberton, 16, Jay Sewell, 18

Jordan Douherty, 15, Katrina Makunova, 17, Jamie Brown, 17

Yousef, a pupil at Manchester Grammar School who had dreams of becoming a heart surgeon, was murdered in the affluent Cheshire village of Hale Barns on Saturday.

His family, from Burnage in Manchester, said: 'We are absolutely devastated and cannot believe that our son has gone. This senseless loss has affected the whole community.'

Two 17-year-old boys have been arrested on suspicion of his murder.

Mrs May rejected the link to falling officer numbers when answering questions from reporters in Salisbury yesterday.

She said: 'There's no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers.

'What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.

Jaden Moodie, 14, Danny Gee-Jamieson, 16, Nedim Bilgin, 17

Sidali Mohamed, 16, Hazrat Umar, 18, Connor Brown, 18

'But what also matters is, as a Government, that we look at the issues which underpin, that underlie, this use of knives and that we act on those.

'Why it is that so many young people are carrying knives?'

Experts have warned that youths carry blades for status and protection, and are increasingly desensitised to the realities and dangers.

But Mrs May's remarks will anger those who say cuts to police and youth services are a key factor.

The National Audit Office has said that since 2010-11, police funding has fallen 19 per cent in real terms to 12.3billion a year.

The Prime Minister also reduced stop and search while at the Home Office. Police chiefs blame an increase in stabbings and gang violence on the move.

Louis-Ryan Menezes, 17, Samuel Baker, 15, Aron Warren, 18

Flowers near the scene yesterday in Harold Hill, East London, where Jodie was fatally stabbed

Graham McNulty, Met deputy assistant commissioner, said: 'I can't magic officers out of thin air, but we are lucky that we have got officers who are professional and committed and want to make a difference at the moment.'

He said an increased police presence in London had allowed officers to conduct 2,500 stop-and-searches in the past three days alone.

Policing minister Nick Hurd said an extra 460million was being invested to recruit 2,500 more officers nationwide.

But Lord Hogan-Howe said: 'When are they going to be here?

'Even if you press the button today and, I would argue, get the 20,000 back, you're not going to get them tomorrow. You've got to recruit them, you've got to train them.'

Twenty people  including Jaden Moodie, who was just 14  have been murdered in London in the first three months of 2019

John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents the rank and file, said: 'Policing has been stripped to the bone and the consequences are clear, splashed across newspaper front pages and TV news bulletins  children being murdered on our streets.

'This is the true cost of austerity that we warned of but were ridiculed for doing so. Those concerns have become a reality but still the Prime Minister fails to accept the harsh truth.'

In a statement to the Commons, Mr Javid said he was taking action to tackle the 'cycle of senseless violence that is robbing young people of their lives'.

He described knife crime as a 'complex' issue with more than one reason behind the bloodshed, including changes in the drugs market.
The family of stab victim Jodie Chesney yesterday said they were caught in a 'nightmare'.

The 17-year-old Explorer Scout was murdered in a random and unprovoked attack as she sat with her boyfriend and three other friends in a park.

Police say the teenage killer and an accomplice were spotted watching the five friends, who were socialising on Friday evening in a playground in Harold Hill, east London.

Jodie's grandmother Debbie Chesney wrote on Facebook yesterday: 'This is a nightmare as you can imagine. I just hope that they catch the boy who did it. We are all still trying to come to terms with it. Please share the post in the hope that the boy who did this or his friends or family have the decency to tell the police who he is'

'I'm basically famous now': The innocent caption Jodie Chesney posted on the day she visited 10 Downing Street months before she was brutally stabbed in the back in a park in Romford

The duo left but returned at 9.30pm wearing balaclavas and one of them stabbed Jodie once in the back, all without saying a word.

The apparently motiveless nature of the killing has led to speculation that it might have been a gang initiation rite.

Friends from Havering Sixth Form College said Jodie had no enemies and suggested she could be the victim of mistaken identity.

Eddie Coyle, her 18-year-old boyfriend, screamed for help as his girlfriend lay bleeding with the knife lodged in her back. She was pronounced dead an hour later.

The Metropolitan Police Service has not yet issued a detailed description of the killer, who was a black youth. 'We don't have any idea who killed Jodie,' said Detective Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri, who is leading the inquiry.

'At this stage what we have is two males. There are no descriptions at all.'

Close friends and family have been leaving flowers and tributes to Jodie as they mourn her death

A message left at the park said: 'Jodie, We love you. You are so strong. We will always remember you'

Jodie's mother left flowers and a lantern for her daughter, as friends and relatives hugged one another at the scene of the devastating killing

Tributes: People lay flowers for Jodie Chesney after the 17-year-old Scout Explorer was knifed to death in London

She refused to comment on the gang initiation theory and said that investigators were 'focusing totally' on trying to appeal for information from witnesses.

Forensics officers were seen removing a bench from the playground, apparently in the hope of recovering DNA evidence.

A friend of Jodie's said she was 'the nicest, loveliest, kindest person you could meet with everything to look forward to in life'

Jodie's grandmother Debbie Chesney wrote on Facebook yesterday: 'This is a nightmare as you can imagine. I just hope that they catch the boy who did it.

'We are all still trying to come to terms with it. Please share the post in the hope that the boy who did this or his friends or family have the decency to tell the police who he is.'

One Harold Hill resident said: 'Nothing said by the perpetrators? Sounds like gang initiation.' Jodie appeared on the BBC in her Scouts uniform at a Festival of Remembrance in November.

She marched on the stage in front of the Queen and Prince William and earlier in the day posted on social media a photo of herself in Downing Street.

Jodie's father Peter, 39, viewed the murder scene yesterday before visiting the home of Teresa Farenden, a 49-year-old first aider who tried to help his daughter.

Anyone with information is urged to contact police or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Jodie Chesney, 17, (circled in red) is stood next to Explorer Scouts at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2018. Just months later she would be stabbed to death in a London park

The scene of the crime in Romford where Jodie Chesney was knifed to death. Forensic police officers search the park as flowers and lanterns are left nearby
Invasions of non-native creatures are the main reason that animals become extinct, destroying more species than hunting and fishing, scientists say.

The invaders, from black rats to giant snails, have helped to wipe out 300 species of animals and plants, a study has found.

That is more than ten times the global extinctions caused by native species, showing the harm humans cause when they take animals to countries where they do not belong.

Black rats (rattus rattus) are larger much less common versions of brown rats. They are a pest to farmers as they eat most agricultural crops. They most probably spread across Europe at the time of the Roman conquest

Experts from University College London looked at global extinctions from the year 1500 within the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, which explains why animals are dying out.

They found alien species have been solely responsible for 126 extinctions  roughly one in eight of those recorded. They are partially responsible for destroying another 174 species.

The 300 species wiped out by invaders compares to just 28 killed off by native species, according to the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Foreign species helped to kill off a third of animals, while hunting and fishing wiped out less than 19 per cent. Non-native animals kill off natives by spreading diseases, competing with them for food or simply by eating them.

The rosy wolfsnail has driven at least 134 snail species to extinction, while experts fear Britains storm petrels, the seabirds which lay their eggs on the ground, are at risk of being eaten by rats.

Professor Tim Blackburn, of UCL, said: There needs to be better biosecurity to prevent future invasions.
Rapid growth in humpback whales in the Australian Southern Ocean could lead to a 'population explosion' before an even bigger fall in numbers, according to scientists.

Populations are growing at a rate which could cause a 'significant crash' in numbers because of increased competition for food between 2021 and 2026.

The population was brought to the brink of extinction in the 1960s, with just a few hundred surviving in the wild, a result of commercial whaling.

However, conservation efforts and the introduction of the Endangered Species Act saw the humpback population almost totally recover by 2015, to more than 25,000.

While this is positive news for the species, experts are now warning that the population could become too large for the ecosystem to support because of declining food sources in our oceans due to climate change.

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Rapid growth in humpback whales in the Australian Southern Ocean could lead to a 'population explosion' and an even bigger fall in numbers, according to scientists. They warn that they are growing at a rate which could get too high causing a 'significant crash'

Researchers from the University of Queensland have been monitoring whale populations during their annual migration since 2004 from a platform at Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island off Brisbane on Australia's Gold Coast.

They also looked at data collected for decades before that but the authors of the study note that there is not enough on large mammals that saw their population go up after almost going extinct.

Scientists had expected the growth rate to slow as whale numbers stabilised.

'That hasn't happened,' said Dr Michael Noad, who led the study.

'Whale numbers are still steaming ahead at a tremendous rate  the population is virtually doubling every seven years.

'They're either going to go up to a fairly high number and level off, about 40,000 or 50,000, or they could peak and then crash.'

'If that peak is going to happen it's not far away. We reckon anywhere between 2021 and 2026 and there could be a significant crash in the whale numbers after that.'

The researchers used the example of the population increase in grey whales in US waters after a steep decline.

About a decade of conservation efforts numbers surged before dead grey whales were sighted floating in the ocean and interfering with shipping.

By 2015, the humpback population had almost totally recovered to more than 25,000 whales because of conservation efforts and the introduction of the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Scientists are now warning that the population could become too large for the ecosystem to support (file photo)

This is believed to be because of the population correction but Dr Noad said there wasn't 'good data' on the grey whales' population spike, slump and levelling off.

Dr Noad said however that the grey whale decline could serve as a warning to the humpback whale population, which could seen an even larger fall in number.

'So there is a precedent for this in whales, and the rate of increase in east Australian whales is higher than the grey whale, so we fear if there is a correction it will be significantly larger,' he said.

A sudden population slump in humpbacks could see dead whales at sea, and an increase in beachings, as was the case in grey whales.

HUMPBACK WHALE POPULATIONS AND THEIR THREATS Humpback whales live in oceans around the world. They travel incredible distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet. Some populations swim 5,000 miles from tropical breeding grounds to colder, plentiful feeding grounds - this is why it is difficult to estimate population size, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Of the 14 distinct populations, 12 are estimated to number more than 2,000 humpback whales each and two are estimated to number fewer than 2,000. Humpback whales live in oceans around the world. They travel incredible distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal on the planet Some populations (such as those off eastern and western Australia) are believed to number in excess of 20,000 animalsa remarkable recovery given that the same populations were almost eradicated by whaling almost sixty years ago. By contrast, the smallest known population is one which inhabits the Arabian Sea year-round, and may number as few as 80 individuals. Threats to humpback whales include decline in food like Krill due to a combination of climate change and industrial-scale fishing. Humpback whales can become entangled by many different gear types including moorings, traps, pots, or gillnets. Once entangled, if they are able to move the gear, the whale may drag and swim with attached gear for long distances, ultimately resulting in fatigue, compromised feeding ability, or severe injury. There is evidence to suggest that most humpback whales experience entanglement over the course of their lives, but are often able to shed the gear on their own. Inadvertent vessel strikes can injure or kill humpback whales. Humpback whales are vulnerable to vessel strikes throughout their range, but the risk is much higher in some coastal areas with heavy ship traffic. Underwater noise threatens whale populations, interrupting their normal behaviour and driving them away from areas important to their survival. Sound has been shown to increase stress hormones in their system and mask the natural sounds humpback whales require to communicate and locate prey. Advertisement

A population crash could have several consequences for Queensland tourism.

'The whale watching industry would take a hit not only because there'd be fewer whales at sea, but the whales that were there would be thin, stressed, mums would be struggling to feed the calves,' Dr Noad said.

'And that then raises the question of whether whale watching vessels should be approaching these animals. They might simply be too sick to put up with the added stress of vessels near them.'

'We are very likely to see an increase in the number of strandings as well  possibly sick whales beaching themselves, and also whales that die at sea will represent a shipping hazard.'

Dr Noad said that the best approach would be to monitor humpbacks and put in measures to help them if they started to show the population began to slump.

He stressed that it would be extremely counterproductive to start hunting whales again or to introduce a controlled cull of numbers.

'The last thing they need is more stress on the population, especially if the population does start to decline,' he said.

'It's about what happens next. We shouldn't just drop the ball and stop worrying about them and assume everything will be fantastic from here on in.'

The findings were published in Population Ecology.
A chunk of a Denisovan skull has been identified for the first time.

It is being heralded as a dramatic contribution to the handful of known samples from one of the most obscure branches of the hominin family tree.

Paleoanthropologist Bence Viola from the University of Toronto will discuss the as-yet-unpublished discovery at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Cleveland, Ohio, at the end of March.

Very little is known about the Denisovans, an extinct branch of hominins that was a sister group to Neanderthals.

Only four individual Denisovans had been identified previously, all from one cave in Siberia.

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Much about the Denisovans remains a mystery; though their existence at the site is known from fragments of bone, teeth and now skull. Only four individual Denisovans had been identified previously, all from one cave in Siberia (pictured in this file photo)

The first Denisovan was described in 2010 from the fragment of a pinky finger bone, and three more were identified from teeth.

This skull piece, excavated about three years ago in that same Siberian cave, represents a fifth individual, a new report in the open source journal Sapiens has revealed.

'It's very nice that we finally have fragments like this,' says Dr Viola. 'It's not a full skull, but it's a piece of a skull. It gives us more.

'Compared to the finger and the teeth, it's nice to have.'

But, he adds, it's hardly a full skeleton. 'We're always greedy,' he laughs. 'We want more.'

The new discovery consists of two connecting fragments from the back, left-hand side of the parietal bone, which forms the sides and roof of the skull.

Together, they measure about three inches by two inches (8cm by 5cm). DNA analysis proves that the piece is Denisovan, though it's too old to date with radiocarbon techniques.

Dr Viola and colleagues have compared the fragments to the remains of modern humans and Neanderthals, according to the conference abstract, although he is unwilling to discuss the details of what they learned until the work is published.

The new discovery from the Denisova cave (pictured) consists of two connecting fragments from the back, left-hand side of the parietal bone, which forms the sides and roof of the skull. Experts have long been working to narrow down the timeline of hominin occupation of the site

The first Denisovan was described in 2010 from the fragment of a 'pinky' little finger bone, and three more were identified from teeth (pictured). The new discovery is the time a skull fragment has been uncoverd

Researchers hope the discovery of the Denisovan skull fragment will allow for better understanding of hominin evolution and the timeline of when the earliest ancient relatives of modern-day humans migrated out of Africa

It is commonly believed that a common ancestor of Neanderthals and Denisovans migrated from Africa to Eurasia between 400,000 and 300,000 years ago and then split into two separate species

'This is exciting,' says Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who wasn't involved with the work but will be presenting in the same upcoming conference session about Denisovans.

'But, of course, it is only a small fragment. It's as important in raising hopes that yet more complete material will be recovered.'

Sadly, the newfound piece is not large enough to use to identify other skulls found elsewhere as Denisovan without genetic information to back the diagnosis up.

Researchers are still waiting for a find like that, which would likely help to boost their collection and understanding of Denisovans.

Researchers think the extinct hominins once roamed widely across Asia, but since most fossils aren't well enough preserved to allow for genetic analysis, it has been hard to identify Denisovans elsewhere.

In 2017, some researchers wondered whether two partial skulls found in China might be Denisovan, but this remains unconfirmed.

'It should be possible to see how well this [new find] matches with Chinese fossils such as those from Xuchang, which people like me have speculated might be Denisovans,' says Dr Stringer.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee's successor at CERN believes the internet has morphed into a 'completely out-of-control monster.'

The World Wide Web was invented nearly 30 years ago at the Swiss physics institution to let scientists openly share data between themselves.

Francois Fluckiger says privacy threats, fake news and online bullying threaten to turn the web into an uncontrollable force.

He took over the reins of CERN's web team from Sir Tim when the British pioneer began working at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1994.

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Mr Fluckiger (pictured, right) hailed Sir Tim Berners-Lee's (pictured, left) invention of the internet as one of three major inventions from the 20th century that enabled the birth of the digital society. He has now spoke out about its negative uses

Mr Fluckiger, now retired, hailed the invention as one of three major inventions from the 20th century that enabled the birth of the digital society, alongside the Internet Protocol (IP) and Google's search algorithms.

He lamented the 'online bullying, fake news, and mass hysteria' that flourish online as well as threats to privacy.

'One has to ask oneself if we did not, in the end, create a completely out-of-control monster,' he said.

Sir Tim invented the world wide web 30 years ago this month, before it spluttered into life at the end of 1990 when the first web navigator servers sprung into action.

The browser was released outside of CERN in early 1991, first to other research institutions and later to the public.

Primitive forms of the internet - a network linking computers - had been tried before, but it was the World Wide Web that allowed web pages to be accessed from a browser.

Sir Tim was responsible for CERN's internal directory but was interested in ways to let the thousands of scientists around the world who cooperated with the lab to more easily share their work.

His vision for 'a decentralised information management system' soon gave birth to the web.

'Very early on, we had the feeling that history was in the making,' Mr Fluckiger told AFP.

'Tim worked a lot. The lights were always on in his office.'

Mr Fluckiger (pictured) lamented the 'online bullying, fake news, and mass hysteria' that flourish online as well as threats to privacy. 'One has to ask oneself if we did not, in the end, create a completely out-of-control monster,' he said (file photo)

Reservations about the use of the internet 30 years after its creation have affected Sir Tim as well as his ex-colleagues.

He has even launched his own campaign to 'save the web'.

At the Web Summit in Lisbon in November 2018, he called for a new 'Contract for the Web', based on access for all and the fundamental right to privacy, among other rights.

'The web has been hijacked by crooks and trolls who have used it to manipulate people all over the world,' Sir Tim warned in a New York Times op-ed in December, citing threats ranging from the dark web, to cyber crime, fake news and personal data theft.

In January, the man dubbed the 'father of the web' urged the global elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos to join the fight against the 'polarisation' of online debates.

He called for discussion platforms that connect people with different opinions and backgrounds, contrary to today's common practice of creating online ghettos, filter bubbles and feedback loops where people rarely encounter opinions different from their own.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres also voiced concerns at Davos over the direction the web was taking.

He warned of the impact 'of the dark web and the deep web and all the problems of cyber security', and called for the creation of 'soft mechanisms' to help rein in countries using this technology to violate human rights.

HOW DID TIM BERNERS-LEE CREATE THE INTERNET? The World Wide Web was created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist born on June 8, 1955. Having studied physics at Queen's College Oxford, graduating in 1976, he started as an engineer in the telecommunications and microprocessor software industry. In 1980, while working as an independent contractor at CERN, Berners-Lee described the concept of a global system based on using hypertext to share information between researchers. Tim Berners-Lee wrote (pictured) the blueprint for what would become the World Wide Web, and said he is alarmed at what has happened to it in the last year He built a prototype system called Enquire, which formed the conceptual basis for the World Wide Web. In 1989 he published his landmark paper, 'Information Management: A Proposal', built the first WWW server and web browser 'WorldWideWeb.app'. In 1994, he founded the World Wide Web Consortium, the main international standards organisation for the internet. Advertisement

CERN has held onto only a few souvenirs from the early days, includng the first memo that Sir Tim drafted about his invention, his black NeXT computer station and his keyboard.

The only indication that history was in his old office comes in the form of a small commemorative plaque and a page from an old CERN directory hung on the door, with 'MOMENTARILY OUT OF OFFICE!' written in jest next to Sir Tim's name.

CERN has since focused on preventing the web from falling into the wrong hands.

In 1993, the organisation announced it was putting the web software into the public domain, which could have allowed any individual or business to claim it as their own and control its development.

But researchers at CERN, including Mr Fluckiger, decided in 1994 to launch a new open source version of the web.

That allowed CERN to retain the intellectual property rights to the invention while giving access to anyone to use and modify the web freely and without cost.

In 1995, the intellectual property rights were transferred to a consortium set up by Sir Tim, based out of MIT, called W3C.

'We were lucky that during those 18 months, no one seized the web,' he said. 'Otherwise, there might not have been a web today.'
An autonomous 'robot shark' has been deployed at a harbour in the UK to devour plastic waste before the tide takes it out to sea.

The 'WasteShark' was designed to tackle the scourge in ocean pollution and protect the marine area's local wildlife and ecosystem.

The high-tech aquatic drone was released in lfracombe Harbour in Devon, the first test in the UK.

It follows on from successful launches in five countries, including South Africa and the UAE.

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An autonomous robot 'shark' has been deployed at a Devon harbour to eat up plastic waste before the tide takes it out to sea. The 'WasteShark' was designed to tackle the scourge in ocean pollution to protect the marine area's local wildlife and ecosystems

WasteShark can 'swallow' up to 130lbs (60kg) of debris in one trip and if running five days a week could clear 15 tons of waste from waterways every year, according to experts.

The device can roam distances of up to three miles (five kilometres), or for eight hours, before it needs to be charged.

Its inventors, Dutch environmental technology company RanMarine, used the whale shark, a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark, as inspiration for the drone model.

Much like the whale shark, which swims around with its mouth open to capture plankton and small fish, its robot counterpart scoops up plastic waste.

WasteShark emits no pollution, poses no threat to wildlife and doesn't produce any noise as it navigates the water 'eating' any waste that crosses its path.

The robot can pick up rubbish as deep as one foot (300 cm) below the surface. Once gathered, it is delivered to a nearby collection point.

It can be directed by remote control or an iPad, or set up to run autonomously, and its movements are tracked by GPS satellite.

WasteShark is fitted with a collision-avoidance system that uses laser imaging to spot nearby objects and adjust its positioning if it senses one.

The drone can also measure water quality and capture data such as depth, salinity, chemical makeup, pH balance and water temperature.

WWF and Sky Ocean Rescue launched the robot at the harbour in north Devon as part of an ongoing campaign to protect the local environmental and 'keep North Devon a very special place'.

WasteShark can 'swallow' up to 130lbs of debris in one trip and if running five days a week could clear 15 tons of waste every year

Its inventors, Dutch environmental technology company RanMarine, used the whale shark as inspiration for the drone model. The whale shark, the world's largest fish, swims around with its mouth open to capture plankton and small fish

Ilfracombe Harbour is within a Marine Protected Area (MPA) that is home to diverse species - including grey seals and pink sea fan corals.

Collecting waste in the harbour prevents it damaging the immediate area and from being taken out to sea and threatening the important wildlife in surrounding MPAs.

WWF is a partner in the North Devon Marine Pioneer, working in partnership with local and national organisations to develop innovative approaches for management of the marine environment.

'The marine protected areas in north Devon are home to some of the country's most incredible coastlines and marine life, but plastic is having a devastating effect on our oceans,' said Dr Jenny Oates, UK seas programme manager at WWF.

'The WasteShark will help us fight the rubbish that enters the harbour, snapping it up before the tide takes it out to sea and it ends up threatening wildlife in other precious marine areas.'

It is programmed with GPS points to ensure that it covers hotspots where waste gathers, and its path can be programmed and monitored remotely.

It is programmed with GPS points to ensure that it covers hotspots where waste gathers, and its path can be programmed and monitored remotely. As well as plastic it will extract oils, other pollutants and pest plants such as types of algae

As well as plastic it will extract oils, other pollutants and pest plants such as types of algae.

'WasteShark is cheaper, greener, more effective and less disruptive than other methods of dealing with marine litter,' said Oliver Cunningham, chief commercial officer at RanMarine.

'We hope to see our drone in cities and towns  wherever humans live on water  around the world.'

Eight million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the oceans each year, with catastrophic consequences for wildlife, according to WWF.

Ninety per cent of the worlds sea birds have fragments of plastic in their stomachs, while up to 80 per cent of mussels taken from a number of British beaches were found to contain microplastics.

The high-tech aquatic drone was released in lfracombe Harbour in Devon, the first test in the UK
Sea defences built to protect Scotland during the Napoleonic wars have been unearthed by a team preparing to create 400 waterfront homes.

The former military fortress, used to protect Edinburgh during the war, was revealed for the first time in more than 150 years at the historic port of Leith.

Housebuilder Cala said it will protect the discovery - part of the old Queen's Dock - which archaeologists have said is of 'national significance'.

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Excavations Old West (Queen's) Dock are revealing part of the port's Napoleonic defences. The remains of sea defences created two centuries ago have been uncovered during work on the development of 400 new homes

The remains of the former military construction which was used to protect Edinburgh during the Napoleonic wars. It was revealed for the first time in more than 150 years at the historic port of Leith

The find gradually emerged during several months of work at the Waterfront Plaza development, with Cala now altering plans for the project in order to protect it.

Archaeology experts AOC are undergoing painstaking research at the site which is earmarked for dozens of townhouses.

They say it will shed new light on the city's maritime history, which dates back well over 1,000 years.

John Lawson, an archaeologist at Edinburgh City Council, said: 'Leith has actually been used as a harbour since the early medieval era and it became Scotland's main trading port, but there weren't any proper docks there until John Rennie's designs for the port were published in 1801.

'The work on the first docks, which we have uncovered, was carried out in phases up until 1817 and included sea defences built in response to the Napoleonic Wars.

'But these remains would have been covered up in the middle of the 19th century as the docks expanded and it became a shipyard.

'They're of national significance due to the quality of preservation and their links to a historic event.

'In terms of industrial and maritime heritage, it's up there with anything in Scotland.'

Archaeology experts AOC are undergoing painstaking research at the site which is earmarked for dozens of townhouses

Archaeologists say it will shed new light on the city's maritime history, which dates back well over 1,000 years

The first docks were built in response to concerns about a lack of suitable facilities in Leith to cope with the growing number of boats importing and exporting goods during the Industrial Revolution

The former military construction, used to protect Edinburgh during the war, was revealed for the first time in more than 150 years at the historic port of Leith. Housebuilder Cala said it will protect the discovery

Part of the old Queen's Dock has been described by archaeologists as of 'national significance'. The find gradually emerged during several months of work at the Waterfront Plaza development, with Cala now altering plans for the project to protect it

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE NAPOLEONIC WARS? The start of the 19th century was a time of hostility between France and England, marked by a series of wars. Throughout this period, England feared a French invasion led by Napoleon. Ruth Mather explores the impact of this fear on literature and on everyday life. Following the brief and uneasy peace formalised in the Treaty of Amiens (1802), Britain resumed war against Napoleonic France in May 1803. The start of the 19th century was a time of hostility between France and England, marked by a series of wars. Throughout this period, England feared a French invasion led by Napoleon (left). The Duke of Wellington (right) defeated him in battle The return to war required the resumption of the mass enlistment of the previous ten years, especially as fears of a Napoleonic invasion once again intensified. The Corsican general Napoleon, soon to become emperor, had made no secret of his intentions of invading Britain, and in 1803 he massed his huge Army of England on the shores of Calais, posing a visible threat to southern England. Hostilities were to continue until the British victory at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June that year between Napoleons French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher. The decisive battle of its age, it concluded a war that had raged for 23 years, ended French attempts to dominate Europe, and destroyed Napoleons imperial power forever. The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June that year between Napoleons French Army and a coalition led by the Duke of Wellington (pictured on horseback) and Marshal Blucher The French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had escaped from exile in March 1815 and returned to power. He decided to go on the offensive, hoping to win a quick victory that would tear apart the coalition of European armies formed against him. Two armies, the Prussians led by Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher and an Anglo-Allied force under Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, were gathering in the Netherlands. Together they outnumbered the French. Napoleons best chance of success was therefore to keep them apart and defeat each separately. Attempting to drive a wedge between his enemies, Napoleon crossed the River Sambre on June 15, entering what is now Belgium. The next day the main part of his army defeated the Prussians at Ligny and drove them into retreat, with losses of over 20,000 men. French casualties were only half that number. Pursued by Napoleons main force, Wellington fell back towards the village of Waterloo. Unknown to the French, the Prussians, although defeated, were still in good shape. They retreated northwards towards Wellingtons position and were able keep in contact with him. Emboldened by their promise of reinforcements, Wellington decided to stand and fight on June 18 until the Prussians could arrive. The victorious allies entered Paris on July 7. Napoleon surrendered to the British and was exiled to St Helena. Advertisement

The sea defences and the Georgian dock were known to have existed thanks to 19th-century maps but it was not known if there were any intact remains.

Excavations began at the old Henry Robb shipyard, which operated between 1918 and 1984.

The first docks were built in response to concerns about a lack of suitable facilities in Leith to cope with the growing number of boats importing and exporting goods during the Industrial Revolution.

Work got underway in November at the gap site earmarked for the development opposite the Ocean Terminal shopping and leisure complex.

Tom Mitchell, technical director with Cala, said: 'What we've unearthed in the last few months is really fascinating and provides a rare glimpse into our seafaring past.

'Working hand-in-hand with archaeology experts at AOC and the council, we've been able to subtly adapt plans to ensure we protect as much of the remains as possible.

'That way, should future generations ever wish to dig and find out more they'll still be able to do so.'

The discovery has emerged weeks after a former custom house in Leith was earmarked for a 7 million attraction that would celebrate the port's maritime history.

Donald Wilson, the council's culture convener, said: 'This archaeological work shows the historic importance of the busy port of Leith to the defence of Edinburgh and Scotland.

'Still in good condition, it's important we continue to work with Cala and AOC to enable the protection of the remains under the new development.'

The sea defences and the Georgian dock were known to have existed thanks to 19th-century maps but it was not known if there were any intact remains. Excavations began at the old Henry Robb shipyard, which operated between 1918 and 1984
A fabled 'Elixir of immortality' mentioned throughout ancient Chinese texts has been discovered in a bronze pot hidden inside in a 2,000-year-old burial tomb, experts say.

China's rich and powerful searched for a magical potion over thousands of years that would bring them external life.

The mythical quest for the non-existent cure was inevitably unsuccessful and instead yielded a drink which is thought to have spelled like alcohol.

The container was unearthed in the tomb of the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) noble family and contains six pints (3.5 litres) of the concoction.

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Archaeologists in central China's Henan province said have found a bronze pot which they believe contains a sampleof the legendary 'Elixir of Life' referred to in ancient Chinese text

The mythical "immortality medicines" were found in the city of Luoyang in Henan province, where the burial site is being excavated. A large number of colour-painted clay pots, jadeware and bronze artefacts were also unearthed from the tomb

'It is the first time that mythical "immortality medicines" have been found in China,' said Shi Jiazhen, head of the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology in Luoyang, where the burial site is being excavated.

'The liquid is of significant value for the study of ancient Chinese thoughts on achieving immortality and the evolution of Chinese civilisation'.

Archaeologists initially thought that the six pints (3.5 litres) may be liquor as it gave off an alcoholic aroma.

A large number of colour-painted clay pots, jadeware and bronze artefacts were also unearthed from the tomb, which covers 2260 square fee (210 sq m).

The remains of the tomb's occupant have also been preserved.

The liquid, unearthed from the tomb of a noble family in Western Han Dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) tomb contains 3.5 litres of potassium salts that have now been confirmed by lab testing

A large number of colour-painted clay pots, jadeware and bronze artefacts were also unearthed from the tomb, which covers 2260 square fee (210 sqm) as well as the remains of the deceased

In ancient Chinese text, the 'Elixir of Life' gave mortals eternal life, and caused many a noblemen and emperor to go in search of it for hundreds of years. Archaeologists in central China said have found a bronze pot which contains a liquid they believe to be a sample of it

Pan Fusheng, an archaeologist on the project, said: 'The tomb provides valuable material for study of the life of Western Han nobles as well as the funeral rituals and customs of the period

Lab results revealed the potion is largely made up of potassium nitrate and alunite which are not poisonous but are nevertheless used in pesticides, fertilisers and rocket propellants

Pan Fusheng, an archaeologist on the project, added: 'The tomb provides valuable material for study of the life of Western Han nobles as well as the funeral rituals and customs of the period'.

Lab results revealed the potion is largely made up of potassium nitrate and alunite which are not poisonous but are nevertheless used in pesticides, fertilisers and rocket propellants.

Cases of high ranking officials and emperors drinking toxic elixirs are not uncommon in China.

The most famous of these being that of the First Emperor of China Qin Shihuang, who sent an expedition to find the legendary island which contained high quantities of the liquid.

The emperor was known to believe the elixir came in the form of silver mercury and supposedly died from drinking the poison, like many other historical figures.

A scan of the emperor's main burial chamber previously revealed higher than usual levels of mercury and his tomb has been described in historical text as containing 'rivers and lakes of mercury'.
by Kamran Chaudhry

Vigils are held simultaneously in Lahore and New Delhi. Human rights advocates call for genuine peace talks to solve the conflict in the disputed area. As a result of the arrogance of both countries military budgets are up.

Lahore (AsiaNews)  More than 100 activists have held two parallel vigils in India and Pakistan for peace between the two countries.

In Pakistan, the anti-war rally was held at Lahores Liberty market roundabout. in India, human rights advocates held their rally at New Delhis Red Fort.

The Catholic Church of Pakistan also called for fresh peace talks, whilst saying nothing about alleged meetings with its Indian counterparts in Pakistan. Church groups are said to be organising meetings in Nepal, Dubai and Thailand.

Meanwhile, tensions between the two neighbours remain high along the Line of Control, the border that separates the two countries in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

Over the week-end, artillery fire was reported, despite Pakistans good-will gesture to release the Indian pilot shot down on Wednesday of last week, and repatriated on Friday.

Fighting resumed following an attack against Indian troops near Srinagar, which caused the death of 44 soldiers.

Christians joined the Lahore rally, promoted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

Indian intellectuals and leaders have been called for lectures in Lahore but now our voice has weakened. This is tragic, said Hina Jilani, a member of the HRCP council who spoke to AsiaNews.

Arrogance on both sides of the border has resulted in expansion of military budgets as well as poverty, she added.

For Imtiaz Alam, general secretary of the South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA), the narrative of war supports extremist forces.

In our 19 years of struggle for Indo-Pak peace, the last year was toughest, he explained. The authorities view us as enemies for organising anti-war rallies.

The focus instead should be on stopping terrorists from playing havoc with regional peace and jeopardising the peaceful struggle of Kashmiris for their rights, he added.
Humans are set to drive hundreds of bird and animal species towards extinction by destroying their natural habitat within the next fifty years, a study warns.

As humans continue to expand our use of land around the globe, wildlife could lose so much habitat that it could drive numerous species to extinction.

By the year 2070, researchers have forecast that up to 1,700 species of amphibians, birds, and mammals will be threatened due to being driven from their homes.

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Humans are set to drive 1,700 bird and animal species towards extinction by taking their natural habitat within the next fifty years, a study warns. Pictured is the endangered Lombok Cross Frog, which lives in Indonesia

Ecologists at Yale University examined how land-use changes will impact future biodiversity, the variety of plant and animal life found in a particular habitat.

They examined different scenarios based on population growth and economic changes in global society that could lead to an increase in land use.

They then compared the most likely areas for human expansion to regions 19,400 species call home.

Researchers found that 886 amphibians, 436 birds, and 376 mammals would lose so much of their natural habitat that they would be at much higher risk of extinction.

Species living in Central and East Africa, Mesoamerica, South America, and Southeast Asia will suffer the greatest loss, according to the study.

The research team said that the potential paths for expansion represent 'reasonable expectations' about future societal developments, demographics, and economics.

Study co-author Yale Professor Walter Jetz said: 'Our findings link these plausible futures with their implications for biodiversity.

'Our analyses allow us to track how political and economic decisions - through their associated changes to the global land cover - are expected to cause habitat range declines in species worldwide.'

Man is poised to drive 1,700 bird and animal species towards extinction within the next 50 years, warns a new study. As humans continue to expand our use of land around the globe, we leave other species little ground to stand on. Here, the habitat of the Lombok Cross Frog lives

The study shows that under a 'middle-of-the-road' scenario of moderate changes in human land-use, about 1,700 species will likely experience marked increases in their extinction risk over the next 50 years.

The findings suggest that they will lose roughly 30 per cent to 50 per cent of their present habitat ranges by 2070.

Among them are species whose fates will be particularly dire, such as the Lombok cross frog in Indonesia, the Nile lechwe in South Sudan, the pale-browed treehunter in Brazil and the curve-billed reedhaunter found in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

All of them are predicted to lose around half of their present day geographic range in the next five decades.

Researchers have forecast that, by the year 2070, increased human land-use is expected to put 1,700 species of amphibians, birds, and mammals at greater extinction risk by shrinking their natural habitats (file photo)

The projections and all other analysed species can be examined at the 'Map of Life' website.

The maps show the impact on species at a kilometer-scale resolution.

'The integration of our analyses with the Map of Life can support anyone keen to assess how species may suffer under specific future land-use scenarios and help prevent or mitigate these effects,' said Dr Ryan P. Powers, co-author and former postdoctoral fellow at Yale.

Species living in Central and East Africa, Central America, South America, and South East Asia will suffer the greatest habitat loss and increased extinction risk, according to the study.

But Professor Jetz cautioned the global public against assuming that the losses are only the problem of the countries within whose borders they occur.

'Losses in species populations can irreversibly hamper the functioning of ecosystems and human quality of life,' he said.

'While biodiversity erosion in far-away parts of the planet may not seem to affect us directly, its consequences for human livelihood can reverberate globally.

'It is also often the far-away demand that drives these losses - think tropical hardwoods, palm oil, or soybeans - thus making us all co-responsible.'

The findings were published by the journal Nature Climate Change.
Apocalyptic asteroids heading for Earth may be harder to destroy than the Hollywood sci-fi films would have us believe.

Scientists studying just how easy it would be to blow up a life-threatening space rock found they are stronger and more resilient than previously imagined.

They say the discovery could aid in the creation of asteroid deflection weapons and for designing efficient asteroid mining techniques.

Researchers found the fallout from the enormous collision would be split into two different stages. This image shows frame-by-frame how gravity causes asteroid fragments to re-accumulate in the hours following impact

'We used to believe that the larger the object, the more easily it would break, because bigger objects are more likely to have flaws,' says Charles El Mir, a recent PhD graduate from Johns Hopkins University, who led the study.

'Our findings, however, show that asteroids are stronger than we used to think and require more energy to be completely shattered.'

A rock's strength and its physical properties are known on the small-scale but researchers have had difficulty scaling up the research for asteroids capable of wiping out humankind.

The research, due to be published in the journal Icarus later this week, analysed a specific scenario.

It looked to find out what would happen if an asteroid about a kilometre in diameter collided head-on with another space rock measuring 15 miles (25 km) across and was travelling at an impact velocity of 0.6 miles per second (five kilometres) per second.

Previous studies found this would completely obliterate the asteroid but Dr El Mir and his team added extra information to the test.

They discovered previous research had neglected to include the limited speed of cracks in the asteroids.

Asteroids heading for Earth feature heavily in the plot of Hollywood Sci-fi films, such as the Bruce Willis 1998 blockbuster Armageddon (pictured), but scientists say they may be harder to destroy than the movies would have us believe (file photo)

'Our question was, how much energy does it take to actually destroy an asteroid and break it into pieces?' says Dr El Mir.

They found the fallout from the enormous collision would be split into two different stages.

The first would see millions of cracks form and ripple throughout the asteroid and there would be significant damage to the core.

But the entire rock would not be fragmented and it would remain largely intact.

The largely surviving rock would then exert significant amounts of gravity on the discarded remnants from the collision and eventually pull them back in.

Explained: The difference between an asteroid, meteorite and other space rocks An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt. A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system. A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up. This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere. If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite. Meteors, meteoroids and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets. For example, if Earth passes through the tail of a comet, much of the debris burns up in the atmosphere, forming a meteor shower. Advertisement

Patterns and understanding how the damaged core would be covered up by the second stage would allow future space miners to more accurately target a specific region of the asteroid.

'It may sound like science fiction but a great deal of research considers asteroid collisions,' Dr El Mir said.

'For example, if there's an asteroid coming at earth, are we better off breaking it into small pieces, or nudging it to go a different direction? And if the latter, how much force should we hit it with to move it away without causing it to break? These are actual questions under consideration.

'We are impacted fairly often by small asteroids, such as in the Chelyabinsk event a few years ago,' added K. T Ramesh, director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute.

'It is only a matter of time before these questions go from being academic to defining our response to a major threat. We need to have a good idea of what we should do when that time comesand scientific efforts like this one are critical to help us make those decisions.'
Three previously undiscovered animals have been discovered after being digested by crocodiles in the Cayman Islands.

Analysis of fossilised bones eaten by the reptiles found they belong to three new species of mammal that roamed the archipelago more than 300 years ago.

They likely went extinct when human settlers brought rats, cats and dogs to the remote islands.

Their closest living relative is thought to be the Cuban Capromys and the species existed nowhere else on Earth.

The bones had been previously collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Cayman Islands between the 1930s and 1990s.

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Fossils that were found digested by Cuban crocodiles and found in Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park, Grand Cayman. The bones had been previously collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Cayman Islands between the 1930s and 1990s

Fossils of capromys skull and limbs and bird bones found in Little Cayman. Researchers describe two new large rodents and a small shrew-like mammal

A team led by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the American Museum of Natural History and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History studied the bones from collections in British and American museums.

Published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, the team describe two new large rodents (Capromys pilorides lewisi and Geocapromys caymanensis), as well as a small shrew-like mammal named Nesophontes hemicingulus.

Fossil remains of the land mammal have been previously reported from the Cayman Islands, but have not been scientifically described until now.

The three mammals were unique to the Cayman Islands, existing nowhere else in the world.

The scientists calculated that they would have probably become extinct around the 1700s, likely due to the arrival of European settlers and introduced mammals such as rats, cats and dogs.

Animals described as 'coneys' and 'little beasts like cats', which were probably the now-extinct rodents Capromys or Geocapromys, were seen and recorded by Sir Francis Drake when he visited the Cayman Islands in 1586, the ZSL said.

Grand Cayman fossils of a crocodile. The reptile is thought to have eaten and digested the mammals and their fossilised remains were later found

Illustration of a Bahama Coney. The three mammals were unique to the Cayman Islands, existing nowhere else in the world

Cuban hutia Capromys pilorides, closest living relative to the newly described mammals. Fossil remains of the land mammal have been previously reported from the Cayman Islands, but have not been scientifically described until now

New subspecies of Cuban hutia found on Cayman Islands. Analysis of fossilised bones eaten by the reptiles found they belong to three new species of mammal that roamed the archipelago more than 300 years ago

Professor Samuel Turvey, senior research fellow at ZSL's Institute of Zoology, and co-author of the paper, said: 'Humans are almost certainly to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals, and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean.

'Nearly all the mammal species that used to live on these tropical islands, including all of the native Caribbean sloths and monkeys, have recently disappeared.

'It's vitally important to understand the factors responsible for past extinctions of island species, as many threatened species today are found on islands.

'The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique vanished world and represent some of the world's top conservation priorities.'
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British Airways has unveiled the second design in a series of retro liveries as part of its centenary celebrations.

The Airbus A319 touched down at London Heathrow today after being painted in the colours of the carrier's short-haul predecessor, British European Airways (BEA), at Shannon Airport, Ireland.

The BEA livery was predominantly used on domestic and European routes between 1959 and 1968.

A British Airways Airbus A319 has been repainted in the colours of the carrier's short-haul predecessor, British European Airways (BEA). It landed at Heathrow Airport for the first time today

Modern aviation safety standards for heat reflection mean the wings were repainted grey, rather than the traditional red colour.

The design will remain on the aircraft until it retires next year.

Until then, it will fly routes across the UK and Europe. It can be followed using tracking website Flightradar24, which will feature a special image of the livery.

Last month a British Airways Boeing 747 was repainted in the colours of British Overseas Airways Corporation.

Modern aviation safety standards for heat reflection mean the wings were repainted grey, rather than the traditional red colour. The design will remain on the aircraft until it retires next year

British Airways staff members (left to right) Alan Lowe, Laura Molloy, Captain Julian Hall, First Officer Holly Sims, Katherine Williams and Diane Lewis, stand in front of the BEA design plane

Another Boeing 747 is also due to be repainted with the Landor livery, which adorned the British Airways fleet from 1984 to 1997.

Details of one more plane to be painted in a retro livery has yet to be disclosed.

British Airways chief executive Alex Cruz said: 'It was another really special day as we welcomed our BEA-liveried A319 in to Heathrow this morning, which forms part of our centenary heritage fleet.

'Yet again there were huge crowds lining the perimeter fence to see the aircraft coming in, which shows just how excited people are about these designs.

A BEA plane pictured in 1962 at Heathrow Airport. BEA started operations in 1946 but merged with BOAC in 1974 to form British Airways

'We've been overwhelmed with positive feedback from customers and colleagues.'

Aircraft Transport and Travel Limited (AT&T) launched the world's first daily international scheduled flight between London and Paris in August 1919.

British Airways was created in 1974 but describes AT&T as its 'forerunner company' due to a series of mergers and takeovers.
The mighty Stubai glacier shines down on the village of Neustift, a permanent reminder that, however balmy it gets up here (temperatures can reach 80F in the summer), you are still in one of Europe's most popular ski regions.

Opinions are divided about the correct spelling of this little corner of paradise  locals stick with Tirol, while outsiders tend to go with Tyrol, or even Tyrole.

Either way, I'm here to enjoy some gentle hiking across some of Austria's most celebrated peaks. There are more than 15,000 miles of trails in the Tyrol, with many of the most spectacular in the Stubaital valley.

Flower power: The pretty village of Neustift and its lush meadows

Through late spring and summer, the alpine meadows, ridges and valleys teem with hundreds of different species of wild flower. To reach them, head out of the village and take a cable car to the top of the Mieders mountain range, and enjoy magnificent views as you go.

My guide, Eustachius Ragg, is straight out of The Sound Of Music, with his feathered cap, extravagant lederhosen and eccentrically twirled moustache.

As we head up the mountain, we first spot the evocatively named devil's hand, a flaming, red-clawed beauty more commonly found in Mexico.

Keep your eyes peeled and you might be lucky enough to stumble upon one of the region's most iconic flowers, the rare but short-lived edelweiss. This protected national symbol is the elusive celeb of the plant world, hiding out among limestone outcrops above 6,500ft.

Quick getaway: James Innes-Smith says if you're feeling brave, grab a toboggan and hurtle down the famous Mieders run

When we chance upon a small cluster, I immediately burst into a rendition of the famous song.

Even rarer than the white-petalled edelweiss, but just as pretty, is the acorn-shaped red vanilla orchid (one of Eustachius' favourites). In a lush meadow high above the tree line, we also happen upon a blaze of blue monkshood.

Our hike continues through a hazy, sun-dappled pine forest and on into a heavenly glade carpeted with purple rampions, made famous by the classic children's fairytale Rapunzel. In among the sea of purple, bright yellow mountain arnica fight for our attention.

After a hearty lunch of speckknoedel (boiled bread dumplings stuffed with bacon), you can either play it safe and take the cable car back down the mountain or, if you're feeling brave, grab a toboggan and hurtle down the famous Mieders run (don't worry, you're on a safety rail and have a brake).

Back at my hotel on the outskirts of Neustift, the flower theme continues. Every balcony of the Jagdhof Spa Hotel has been decked with thousands of blowsy red geraniums.

After a long day of hiking, relax in the Jagdhof's vast spa and enjoy stunning views of the distant glacier from the heated outdoor pool. Bliss.
James 'Arg' Argent has admitted it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black when he took to Instagram to 'fat-shame' his girlfriend Gemma Collins last week.

Speaking to the new issue of OK! Magazine, Arg attempted to explain the circumstances, which saw him upload a video of Gemma snoring to social media.

This resulted in a war of words and Gemma, 38, kicking him out of their home, claiming that they were finished.

James 'Arg' Argent has admitted it was a case of the pot calling the kettle black when he took to Instagram to 'fat-shame' his girlfriend Gemma Collins last week

'I deeply regret what I said but Gemma gave as good as she got, we both said some very nasty, hurtful things to each other.' Arg, 31, told the publication.

'I actually thought she looked really cute [in the snoring video] and assumed she'd see the funny side!

Im ashamed of what I said to Gemma  I love her with all my heart. I have problems with my own weight so I'm the last person who should be trying to fat-shame.

'It's a bit pot, kettle, black as Gemma lost two stone doing Dancing on Ice so I actually weigh more than she does now.'

Pot, kettle, black! Arg attempted to explain the circumstances, which saw him upload a video of Gemma snoring to social media

Out of order: The furore surrounding the duo kicked off last month after Gemma dumped him for posting an embarrassing video of her snoring online, which he swiftly deleted

Shedding light on what happened next, Arg went on: 'I tried to talk to her but she was so angry that she wasnt having any of it, she told me it was over and kicked me out.'

Arg concluded: 'I want to spend my life with Gemma and I want us to have kids, but for that to happen we need to change the way we can be with each other.

'We havent spoken about it but I think it would be good for us to have some couples counselling if we do get back together.'

Cancelled: It's been reported that Gemma has cancelled a make or break holiday to Portugal with Arg

It's off: A source told The Sun - 'Gemma had planned to go to Portugal with Arg, but she has changed her mind. She said she does not need the toxic energy'

Arg was accused of sending a string of abusive texts in the wake of the break-up to Gemma, saying she has 'more rolls than Greggs'.

Out now: The full chat can be read in the current edition of OK! Magazine

He was also accused of calling his ex 'an embarrassment' and 'a fat horrible lump' in a series of abusive messages seen by The Sun.

According to the publication, 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.'

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'.

MailOnline previously contacted representatives for James and Gemma for comment.
She's made several catwalk appearances during Paris Fashion Week.

And Kaia Gerber stunned once again as she took to the stage for the Givenchy in Paris on Sunday.

The model, 17, ensured all eyes were on her as she took to the runway in a flowing black, strapless dress with an intricately detailed diamond embellishment.

Style: Kaia Gerber stunned once again as she took to the stage for the Givenchy in Paris on Sunday

Her brunette locks styled into an updo, Kaia sported a pair of oversized shades as she walked the catwalk.

Her hands tucked into her pockets, Kaia wore minimal make-up as she posed alongside her fellow models during the show.

Kaia has already appeared in the pages of Vogue, Teen Vogue and Pop Magazine.

In 2017, she made her runway debut for Raf Simons' Calvin Klein Collection and has also walked for Prada, Marc Jacobs and Alexander Wang.

Glamour: The model, 17, ensured all eyes were on her as she took to the runway in a flowing black, strapless dress with an intricately detailed diamond embellishment

Career: In 2017, she made her runway debut for Raf Simons' Calvin Klein Collection and has also walked for Prada, Marc Jacobs and Alexander Wang

Head turner: Her brunette locks styled into an updo, Kaia sported a pair of oversized shades as she walked the catwalk

She landed her first solo cover last year when she appeared on the February issue of Vogue Paris and was also awarded model of the year at The Fashion Awards.

Kaia also modelled in the Valentino AW19 show earlier on Sunday.

She expertly worked the runway in a very unique number complete with an oversized orange coat over a pixelated white hoody.

Success: She landed her first solo cover last year when she appeared on the February issue of Vogue Paris and was also awarded model of the year at The Fashion Awards

Wow: Kaia looked sensational as she also took to the stage for the Valentino Fall Winter show on Sunday in Paris

She sported a quirky white hat lace hat atop her head while donning a pair of tights to go with her pointed black heels.

The beauty looked world's away from her usual glamorous self as she dyed her brunette brows blonde and commanded attention with vibrant red eyeshadow.

Kaia's look was complete with a red leather handbag as she expertly led the models at the fashion show.

Model material: The model expertly worked the runway in a very unique number complete with an oversized orange coat over a pixelated white hoody

Unique: She sported a quirky white hat lace hat atop her head while donning a pair of tights to go with her pointed black heels

Made up: The beauty looked world's away from her usual glamorous self as she dyed her brunette brows blonde and commanded attention with vibrant red eyeshadow

Famous face: The beauty is a deadringer for her supermodel mother Cindy Crawford

Catwalk queens: Kaia earned her place on the prestigious catwalk as she joined a line-up of stunning models to showcase the fashion house's latest collection

The outing comes as Kaia, daughter of supermodel Cindy Crawford, was spotted in the heart of the French capital in a more relaxed number earlier in the day.

And earlier on the weekend Cindy, 53, hit back at claims her teen daughter's success is down to nepotism.

The veteran supermodel has enjoyed a 30-year career in the industry and is happily married to her husband of 21 years, Rande Gerber, with whom she raises Kaia and Presley, 21.

Style: Kaia's look was complete with a red leather handbag as she expertly led the models at the fashion show

Fashion: The show marks the seventh day of Paris Fashion Week which earlier saw a heartfelt memorial for designer Karl Lagerfield who passed away last month

Picture happy: The audience were in awe of the stunning show complete with plenty of unique designs

Pals: Pixie Geldof and Alexa Chung showed off their chic style in black numbers as they took their places on the FROW

Fashionista: Pixie, 28, used her model experience to expertly work her black dress while showing off her fresh faced beauty

Cindy says that while her fame has surely given Kaia 'some advantages,' it hasn't opened as many doors as people might think.

She told NET-A-PORTERs PorterEdit: 'Kaia had some advantages. She is my daughter and people know that.

'But when people say that I bought her a cover of a magazine, I think, if I was going to buy a cover for someone, it would be me!

Chic: Alexa, 35, highlighted her slim figure in a sequin black dress and socks

Blonde beauty: Also at the event was heiress Nicky Hilton Rothschild who oozed sophistication in a form-fitting black number with feather sleeves

Work it: The mother-of-two, 35, looked her usual stunning self as she highlighted her blue eyes with plenty of heavy makeup and swept her hair back into a side parting

Lady in red: While Janelle Monae commanded attention in a chiffon red dress and quirky pointed heels

Beaming: Derek Blasberg showed off his style in a grey tweed coat and shirt

Trio: (L-R) Liya Kebede, Janelle Monae and Katherine Langford all got the memo about coming brightly dressed

'If I could get someone into a fashion show, I would be getting it for myself.'

But Cindy said she's a real overprotective mother when it comes to people attacking her children on social media.

'I cant believe how hateful people can be. As much as people put garbage on my Instagram, it doesnt bother me. But when they do it to my kids I think, grrr.

'But youre not supposed to go after [the haters]. Its shocking.'

Beauty queen: Disney channel star Sofia Carson wowed in a full-length red number with hidden pockets
They recently returned home from their first family getaway together, enjoying some quality time with her two daughters in holiday hotspot Abu Dhabi.

And Ant McPartlin and his girlfriend Anne-Marie Corbett put on a loved-up display as they enjoyed a romantic stroll around London earlier this week.

Accompanied by their two new pet pooches Milo and Bumble, the presenter, 43, and his former PA, 42, appeared in great spirits as they shared a passionate smooch during their refreshing walk.

Smitten: Ant McPartlin and his girlfriend Anne-Marie Corbett put on a loved-up display as they enjoyed a romantic stroll around London with their their two new pet pooches earlier this week

Wrapping up against the chilly climes of the English capital, the BGT host donned a padded longline jacket, baggy trousers and simple black trainers.

Meanwhile, Anne-Marie opted for comfort as she rocked a brown shearling jacket, semi-sheer leggings and sporty footwear.

With her tresses worn in a half up half down style, the blonde beauty complemented her features with minimal make-up, and accessorised with aviator-style sunglasses.

Ant, who is embroiled in a dog custody battle against ex-wife Lisa Armstrong over Hurley, is said to have bought Milo and Bumble - which are a cross between a Maltese terrier and a poodle and typically cost 1,000 each - a few weeks ago.

Sealed with a kiss: The presenter, 43, and his former PA, 42, appeared in great spirits as they shared a passionate smooch during their refreshing walk

Warm embrace: The cute couple appeared delighted to enjoy some quality time together as they kissed throughout their casual trip

Their recent 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.'

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.

Off he goes: Wrapping up against the chilly climes of the English capital, the BGT host donned a padded longline jacket, baggy trousers and simple black trainers

Outfit choice: Meanwhile, Anne-Marie opted for comfort as she rocked a brown shearling jacket, semi-sheer leggings and sporty footwear

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.

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.

Radiant: With her tresses worn in a half up half down style, the blonde beauty complemented her features with minimal make-up, and accessorised with aviator-style sunglasses

Fresh from the sun: They recently returned from their first family getaway together, enjoying some quality time with her two daughters in holiday hotspot Abu Dhabi

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.'

Ant's romance Anne-Marie was revealed in June of last year. And makeup artist Lisa soon hinted of betrayal on Anne-Marie's part when she tweeted soon after their relationship was revealed: 'Yeah My Friend and OUR Pa who I let into OUR home?'

He was quick to back Anne-Marie by noting people 'had to be careful' when it came to judging the relationship of others.

New addition: Ant, who is embroiled in a dog custody battle against ex-wife Lisa Armstrong over Hurley, is said to have bought Milo and Bumble - which are a cross between a Maltese terrier and a poodle and typically cost 1,000 each - a few weeks ago

Complimenting his girlfriend yet again, the Geordie added: 'She is the most wonderful true woman. And the way we are and when people see us together theyll see how honest and kind and happy we make each other.'

Speaking of ex Lisa, who he was married to for 12 years, Ant admitted they 'don't talk' and 'haven't for a while.'

During the interview, he also hinted at not agreeing with the way make-up artist Lisa, 41, handled their break-up, following her slew of 'liked' tweets regarding their failed romance and personal issues.
Their break-up is the worst kept secret on Married At First Sight.

But Daily Mail Australia can reveal that Jessika Power and Mick Gould's split is even nastier than viewers could possibly imagine.

Despite still technically being 'married' on the show, the pair 'passionately hate each other' and even refuse to do media appearances together.

EXCLUSIVE: 'They passionately hate each other': Married At First Sight's Jessika Power (left) and Mick Gould (right) 'can't even be in the same room together'

A source close to the production said: 'Things have reached a point between them where they can't even be in the same room together.'

'He wants nothing to do with her and she's happy to never see him again,' they added.

While MAFS couples are usually contracted to promote the show on TV and radio regardless of whether they are still together, Mick has apparently 'refused' to do so.

Not a happy ending! After filming wrapped in November, Mick 'wants nothing to do with' Jessika. Meanwhile, she is 'happy to never see him again'

In recent weeks, even as their happier times have been airing on TV, the plasterer is believed to have said 'no' to any joint appearances with Jessika.

'There's no way in hell he was ever going to sit next to her on the Today show or something and pretend they're still loved-up,' said the source.

Daily Mail Australia understands the situation has also caused a huge headache for Channel Nine's publicity department.

The network's social media team in particular is believed to be working overtime to conceal Mick and Jessika's 'hatred' for each other.

'No way in hell': While MAFS couples are usually contracted to promote the show on TV and radio regardless of whether they are still together, Mick has apparently 'refused' to do so

'They're both constantly going at each other on Instagram with bitter remarks and comments, not to mention posts they've been liking,' added the insider.

'There is only so much Nine's social media team can monitor and delete.'

Last week, it was revealed that Mick had been 'liking' comments on Instagram branding Jessika a 'dumb b***h' and 'gross'.

The Queensland native also became embroiled in a bitter spat with Jessika's aunt Rebecca, telling her: 'Check your story before running your mouth.'

Busted! Last week, it was revealed that Mick had been 'liking' comments on Instagram branding Jessika a 'dumb b***h' and 'gross'

Just hours after choosing to 'stay' in her marriage during Sunday's episode of MAFS, Jessika confirmed on Monday morning she was dating her co-star Dan Webb.

'Dan is a good kisser, yeah,' she cheekily admitted on Nova FM's Fitzy & Wippa.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.
She was described as 'toxic' by Married At First Sight viewers on Sunday, after she called her husband Billy Vincent 'too small' and 'not a man'.

But Susie Bradley has blamed 'editing' for her villainous portrayal on the show, insisting she is 'not as bad as people think'.

Speaking to the Courier Mail this week, the 25-year-old nurse from Brisbane said: 'Viewers are seeing about seven per cent of 100 per cent of mine and Billy's time.'

'I'm not as bad as people think I am': Married At First Sight's Susie Bradley (pictured) has blamed 'editing' for her villainous on-screen portrayal

The mother-of-one added: 'They are forming their opinions on that and that's not enough to form an opinion on so cut me some slack.'

Susie confessed she is 'not feeling great' about her portrayal on the show, and said the negative response from the public is taking its toll.

Addressing photos that surfaced recently of her kissing NRL player Todd Carney, she claimed fans don't understand MAFS was filmed months ago.

'They think that's just happened and they're all thinking I'm married and seeing Todd Carney at the same time and that's not the case,' she said.

Speaking out: Speaking to the Courier Mail this week, the 25-year-old nurse from Brisbane said: 'Viewers are seeing about seven per cent of 100 per cent of mine and Billy's time'

Susie also explained that she was a 'vulnerable mess' during filming because she missed her three-year-old daughter, Baby.

On the show, Susie is 'married' to mild-mannered personal trainer Billy Vincent, 28.

But she came under fire from viewers during Sunday's episode, after she said Billy was 'too small' and 'not a man'.

Backlash: Susie was described as 'toxic' by Married At First Sight viewers on Sunday, after she called her husband Billy Vincent (pictured) 'too small' and 'not a man'

Susie explained how Billy's affectionate nature makes her feel 'uncomfortable and awkward', before listing all the things she dislikes about him.

Fans took to Twitter to criticise her 'toxic' behaviour, with one person saying she is an even worse 'villain' than former contestant Ines Basic.

'Ines feels the weight lift from her shoulders for being the most despised woman on Australian television. Congrats, Susie,' tweeted a furious viewer.

Summarising the opinions of many, another social media user wrote: 'Let's get one thing straight... Susie you're an abusive person. End of!'
by Nirmala Carvalho

The bishops deplore the Kerala Church (Properties and Institution) Bill 2019. Secretary of Government: "People with partisan interests spread speculation". Former president of the Supreme Court: "Everything with an eye to the elections".

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - The Kerala government, led by the Communist-Marxist party of India (Cpi-M), denies it wants to control the local properties of the Catholic Church. According to party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, it is mere speculation. Already there are laws to look into it and hence a new law is not required. Some people with vested interests are spreading rumours about this".

Last week the Indian media released the news that the administration had approved a bill entitled Kerala Church (Properties and Institution) Bill 2019. The diatribe was born with the publication of the bill on the site of the State Commission for Reforms laws, led by former supreme court president KT Thomas (now retired), with the request to the population to present opinions.

The legislation has aroused deep disdain among local hierarchies, who denounced the move as "unfortunate and deplorable". A circular circulated on the website of the Episcopal Council of Kerala (Kerala Catholic Bishop's Council) states that the "proposal may seem harmless, but instead constitutes a serious danger". In fact, the bishops point out, it starts from the preconception that there are no mechanisms for controlling the Church's property, nor any way to complain about the bad management of houses, churches and land. The Council, on the other hand, points out that complaints can be filed in civil courts.

After criticism, the government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan denies wanting to change legislation. For his part, the former supreme president Thomas declares that "everything that has been affirmed is pure speculation, which comes to light with an eye to the next general elections of Lok Sabha [Lower House of Parliament, ed.]".
Billy Baldwin has been open about his love and support of his niece Hailey Baldwin's relationship and marriage to Justin Bieber.

But in a new interview with Us Weekly, the 56-year old actor suggested that he wished the couple had slowed things down and not rushed it.

'I love them as a couple and I would've loved to see them get married if they waited a couple more years, maybe that would have been better,' Baldwin confessed.

Family advice: Billy Baldwin gave his love and support to niece Hailey Baldwin and Justin Bieber but admitted he wished they had waited a couple of years to marry

The Northern Rescue star added: 'But they didn't want to wait because they're both devout in their faith and  that wasn't the right fit for them so that's really none of my business.'

He also revealed that he advised the couple to enjoy their married life before starting a family.

'I said to them, I hope you dont jump right in and start having two and three and four kids right away,' adding that they can have 'the next few years together where they can rampage and just globe trot and just tear it up and have fun.'

Enjoy the married life: Baldwin also advised the couple not to 'jump right in and start having two and three and four kids right away'

Billy Baldwin currently stars on the Netflix original series Northern Rescue, and has a lengthy film resume that includes Internal Affairs (1990), Backdraft (1991), Bulworth (1998) and The Squid And The Whale (2005).

He is the older brother of Hailey's father, Stephen Baldwin, 52. The Baldwin brood also includes fellow actors Alec, 60, and Daniel, 58.

Bieber and Baldwin got engaged while on holiday in the Bahamas July 7, 2018.

They had previously dated from 2015 to 2016 and then reunited just a few weeks before they got engaged.

The tied-the-knot in a quiet New York City courthouse ceremony in September 2018.
Stephanie Davis, Emma McVey and Charlotte Dawson have all expressed their heartache at the sudden death of their friend, Manchester club promoter Craig Bieszke.

Craig was well-known in the city and described himself as an actor and TV presenter on a talent finding website, alongside his successful career working for top club Panacea.

Stephanie, Charlotte and model Emma all led tributes to their close friend, whose cause of death is not known.

Tribute: Stephanie Davis has expressed heartache at the sudden death of her friend, Manchester club promoter Craig Bieszke

Craig ran Panacea Manchester club nights with his twin brother Chris and the pair also appeared on BBC series Prized Apart in 2015.

Stephanie shared an Instagram photo of herself over the weekend with Craig where he can be seen lifting her up and laughing.

Alongside it, she wrote: 'Cannot believe you're gone. Heartbroken. Life is so unfair.'

Meanwhile, Celebs Go Dating's Charlotte wrote on Instagram: 'I cant even believe Im writing this... I feel sick. Rest in peace to one of the funniest, kindest, craziest beautiful souls Ive ever met @craigbieszke.

Memories: Model Emma McVey also posted a tribute to Craig, who was popular on the Manchester club scene

'You are a ray of sunshine you always cheered me up! Im going to miss you squishing my face that much my pea face nearly falls off & squeezing me that hard you nearly break my ribs.

'You are so special & Manchester will not be the same without you. Thank you for the memories that Ill never forget.'

Gaz Beadle's girlfriend Emma McVey also posted a heartfelt tribute to Craig.

Friend: Celebs Go Dating's Charlotte wrote on Instagram wrote: 'Rest in peace to one of the funniest, kindest, craziest beautiful souls Ive ever met' (pictured in 2016)

Sharing a snap of herself alongside Craig, she wrote: 'It took me a while to actually believe the news was true yesterday.

'You were the happiest soul, there would never be a sad face from anyone around you.

'So many heartbroken people right now, you will be missed deeply & Manchester will never be the same.'

Craig was a well-known face on the Manchester social scene thanks to his work at celebrity-frequented club Panacea, where he was regularly snapped out and about with his famous pals.

He appeared alongside his twin brother Chris on the BBC's Prized Apart adventure game show in 2015, where they were the runners-up.
It may have taken a while for Khloe Kardashian to lay the blame solely at the door of Tristan Thompson.

But her sister Kim has no doubt who is to blame for the cheating scandal which rocked the family for the last week.

The 38-year-old reality television star is 'livid' about the way the love rat has treated her sister, reports People on Sunday.

Angry: Kim Kardashian West (center) is 'livid' at Tristan Thompson (left) cheating on her sister Khloe (right)

'Kim is the one who is really upset about this. Shes livid. Shes so angry, and shes 100 percent on Khloes side,' the source told the publication.

She's reportedly angry that Tristan - who shares 11-month-old daughter True with Khloe - hooked up with youngest sister Kylie's best friend Jordyn Woods and has offered her support to Khloe.

'Shes there for Khloe, letting her vent and talk about it. Theyve been in constant contact, and Kim is totally supportive. Guys may come and go, but the bond between the girls is never going away, and theyre committed to supporting each other,' according to People.

Cut out: Kim is reportedly angry that Tristan - who shares 11-month-old daughter True with Khloe - hooked up with youngest sister Kylie's best friend Jordyn Woods and has offered her support to Khloe

Not only did Kim quickly unfollow Thompson, 27, and Woods, 21, on Instagram after the news of their hookup first broke, but Kim also whisked her sister and best friend Malika Haqq, 35, away to Palm Springs, California.

After Woods gave an interview on Friday in which she denied it was a passionate kiss, Khloe slammed the family friend on social media for lying.

However, she changed her mind on Saturday and made it clear that she blames father-of-two Tristan - a position which Kim agrees with, says the website.

Happier times: Kim has since unfollowed the father-of-two on Instagram

History: Kim has never been a huge fan of Tristan after he cheated when Khloe was heavily pregnant

'Kim is putting the blame squarely where it belongs, on Tristan. She is telling Khloe to move on and to focus on being the best mother she can be to True,' they report.

The source adds: 'But Kim isnt going to talk about this much publicly. This isnt her battle to fight in the public eye. But behind the scenes, shes definitely making her opinion known.'

Kim has always been openly critical of Tristan's philandering, even gesturing a 'cut throat' sign behind his back in Khloe's birthing room, after the promiscuous sportsman played away previously - which was shown on their E! series.

The source added that Kourtney Kardashian, 39, 'also says that its Tristans fault.'

'Hes the one who made commitments to Khloe and hes the one who broke his promises. What Jordyn did was bad, but she didnt have the obligations and the promises that Tristan had,' the source said.

Sibling support: The source added that Kourtney Kardashian, 39, 'also says that its Tristans fault'

Meanwhile, Kanye West, 41, has reportedly taken his own 'protective' stance in solidarity with his sister-in-law Khloe.

'Kanye thinks of himself as the godfather in this family, and he has the mindset that if anyone messes with one of them, they mess with them all. So right now, Tristan and Jordyn are on his list,' the source explained.

'If he never talks to them again, its fine by him. He wasnt close to them in the first place.

'Hes protective of the Kardashian women, all of them, and if anyone hurts them, he will always be their biggest advocate,' the sources added.

Khloe was present for Kanye's Sunday service this week, as the Kardashians came out in a large show of solidarity.

Less than 48 hours before True was born last April, DailyMail.com broke the story of Tristan's alleged infidelity with New York City strip club bartender Lani Blair.

Khloe co-founded the apparel brand Good American and has used Jordyn, 21, as a model for the firm, helping the younger woman kick off her career.

The Kardashian-Jenner family have now unfollowed Jordyn on social media, and a series of competing stories have done the rounds about what happened at the party.




She's best known for playing Queen Victoria, who famously had nine children.

But actress Jenna Coleman, 32, isnt quite ready to follow in the footsteps of the British monarch just yet as she wants to see more of the world before starting a family.

The British star is currently in a relationship with her co-star Tom Hughes, 32, but isnt starting to feel the pressure just yet and feels its important to look after her own life having spent so much of last year playing other people.

Not broody: Jenna Coleman, 32, isnt quite ready to follow in the footsteps of the British monarch just yet as she wants to see more of the world before starting a family

Half of my friends have babies, and half dont, so it doesnt feel like a pressure. I want to take my time, she told Harpers Bazaar.

Theres a whole lot more of the world for me to see first. Id love to have children one day. But not nine of them. I can tell you that as a fact.

Having previously dated Bodyguards Richard Madden, Jenna is now reluctant to discuss her relationship with Hughes. I think its been very wise not to speak about it, she said.

When the time is right: The British star isnt starting to feel the pressure just yet and feels its important to look after her own life having spent so much of last year playing other people

Opening up: Half of my friends have babies, and half dont, so it doesnt feel like a pressure. I want to take my time, she told Harpers Bazaar

Jenna posed in a series of appropriately regal outfits for the magazines new cover shoot - the first to take place inside Kensington Palace.

I love touching base with normal life. I worked out that last year, I literally spent more time in other peoples clothes than in my own, but youve got to look after your own life, too, so you can come to work and bring some sense of reality to it, she said.

According to Jenna, a royal adviser taught her that playing power was all about how the other members of the cast treated her rather than how she played the role of Queen Victoria.

Read all about it: The April issue of Harpers Bazaar UK is on sale from Thursday March 7, 2019

What Ive learned about playing power is, you dont have to. We had a royal adviser in for a few days, and he didnt give any notes to me, she said.

He just said to the others, You have to imagine theres an aura round this person. Thats the only way you can ever capture it, I suppose.

Speaking about the monarch, she added: She was always curious. She wasnt a snob; she was very human and craved anything that really touched her. Very much the Mother of the Nation.

Having played Queen Victoria in ITVs acclaimed show since 2016, as well as starring roles in The Cry and as the Doctors assistant in Doctor Who, Jenna is set to tread the boards in the West End in a production of All My Sons.

Ive definitely got the fear. But its the good fear you get when youre excited by something, and not quite sure you can do it, she said.

I went for the part because of the nuance. Things appear a certain way, but underneath, there are politics, and family dynamics and push and pull.

The April issue of Harpers Bazaar UK is on sale from Thursday March 7, 2019.
She's the darling of Australia's fashion industry.

And Jessica Gomes reminded fans why she's still an in-demand model at 34 when she attended a rehearsal for David Jones's Melbourne Fashion Festival runway show on Monday.

The brunette, who is of Portuguese and Singaporean-Chinese descent, looked sensational as she strutted the catwalk in a semi-sheer blue silk dress.

A sheer delight! Jessica Gomes looked sensational in a blue silk gown while posing on the runway for Melbourne Fashion Festival rehearsals

Revealing her toned legs beneath the garment's diaphanous silk drapery, Jessica posed up a storm at the end of the catwalk.

The eye-catching garment featured delicate ruching around the thigh and a single balloon sleeve.

She completed her runway look with a pair of nude strappy heels and blue chandelier earrings.

Beauty in blue! Revealing her toned legs beneath the garment's diaphanous silk drapery, Jessica posed up a storm at the end of the catwalk

Looking swish! The brunette, who is of Portuguese and Singaporean-Chinese descent, looked sensational as she strutted the David Jones catwalk in a semi-sheer blue silk dress

For makeup, Jessica enhanced her stunning complexion with a swipe of orange eyeshadow, while carving out her cheek bones with a brush of bronzer.

Her hair was styled in a middle parting, and cascaded down her shoulders in voluminous curls.

At the closing of the rehearsal show, she was joined by a group of stylish models for a photo session at the end of the runway.

Feminine: The eye-catching garment featured delicate ruching around the thigh and a single balloon sleeve

The details: For makeup, Jessica enhanced her stunning complexion with a swipe of orange eyeshadow, while carving out her cheek bones with a brush of bronzer

And, pose! At the closing of the rehearsal show, she was joined by a group of stylish models for a photo session at the end of the runway

Other guests at the exclusive preview included E! Australia host Ksenija Lukich, 28, who was dressed to impress in a patterned halterneck jumpsuit.

Posing in front of the media wall, the brunette was the picture of sophistication.

Celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson was also in attendance, clad in a one-shouldered white mini dress and silver heels.

Jumpsuit joy! Other guests at the exclusive preview included E! Australia host Ksenija Lukich, 28, who was dressed to impress in a patterned halterneck jumpsuit

Elegant: Posing in front of the media wall, the brunette was the picture of sophistication

The queen of style! Celebrity stylist Lana Wilkinson was also in attendance, clad in a one-shouldered white mini dress and silver heels

Details: She completed her look with a wide-waist belt that featured a gold buckle and fan-inspired detailing at the front

She completed her look with a wide-waist belt that featured a gold buckle and fan-inspired detailing at the front.

Elsewhere, model Tess Shanahan posed up a storm outside the venue in a sleek pinstripe pantsuit and pink camisole.

She kept her look simple and sophisticated, adding a simple leather clutch and a pair of nude heels.

Suits her! Elsewhere, model Tess Shanahan posed up a storm outside the venue in a sleek pinstripe pantsuit and pink camisole
She and her long-term partner Chris Walker welcomed their daughter Adelaide into the world in early December.

And on Monday, The Project host Carrie Bickmore shared a sweet snap of herself cuddling up to her baby girl.

The post came just hours before the 38-year-old returned to work to host her Hit Network radio show with comedian, Tommy Little.

Scroll down for video

'Spending the morning with this cutie!' Carrie Bickmore shared a sweet snap of herself cuddling up to her baby girl Adelaide on Monday

Little Adelaide, who is the spitting image of her famous mother, looked as cute as a button in a pastel-hued pinafore.

Meanwhile, smitten mother Carrie, who was clad in a black cap and top, couldn't contain her joy while she spent quality time with her darling daughter.

Carrie joked in the caption that everything went wrong at home last week as she headed back to work for the first time since giving birth.

'Week one back on radio certainly packed a punch! The household had gastro, colds and nits,' Carrie wrote in the caption.

'Welcome back to work mummy!': The media personality, (pictured) returned to co-host her Carrie & Tommy radio show last week

'Welcome back to work mummy!!!! What will week two bring?!' she added in jest.

The media personality went on to reveal she is currently broadcasting her drive time radio show from her home.

'Spending the morning with this cutie. See you at 3pm across the Hit Network broadcasting from my house,' she added.

'Instagram vs reality!' Carrie revealed the less-than-glamorous side of motherhood last month by sharing this candid photo of herself sleeping alongside her newborn daughter Adelaide

The magic of Instagram! She contrasted this with a posed picture of herself and her baby girl to demonstrate that photos on social media don't always reflect reality

Last month, Carrie revealed the less-than-glamorous side of motherhood.

She shared a candid photo of herself sleeping on the couch alongside her newborn daughter.

She contrasted this with a posed picture of herself and her baby girl to demonstrate that photos on social media don't always reflect reality.

'Instagram versus reality,' she wrote in the caption.

'The first picture was taken on a flattering angle, with some props, some casual hand positioning, some clever cropping and a nice little filter added.

Motherhood: Carrie welcomed her third child, daughter Adelaide, with her long-term boyfriend Chris Walker in December last year. The couple also share a three-year-old daughter, Evie

'The second was the real moment, captured without my knowledge, a couple of weeks after Adelaide was born before I woke up and suggested we take a nice shot.'

Carrie's followers praised her for being so honest about motherhood, with one person writing: '[It can be] sheer exhaustion! Thanks for sharing this real life picture. I can definitely relate!'

In addition to baby Adelaide, Carrie and Chris share a three-year-old daughter named Evie.

Carrie also has an 11-year-old son, Oliver, from her previous marriage to Greg Lange, who died of cancer in 2010.
One of Offset's babymamas - Tampa rapper Shya L'amour - spoke out Sunday about how much the Migos rapper has matured since she welcomed his daughter Kalea back in 2015.

'I think [his wife Cardi B] helped him grow tremendously,' the 30-year-old mother-of-two told TMZ.

'Since he's been with her, I've seen a lot of growth. She does [embrace Kalea], she does. I can see her heart. She has a really good heart.'

Breaking her silence: One of Offset's babymamas - Tampa rapper Shya L'amour - spoke out Sunday about how much the Migos rapper has matured since she welcomed his daughter Kalea back in 2015 (pictured April 3)

The 30-year-old mother-of-two told TMZ: 'I think [his wife Cardi B] helped him grow tremendously. Since he's been with her, I've seen a lot of growth. She does [embrace Kalea], she does. I can see her heart. She has a really good heart' (pictured February 10)

The 27-year-old hip-hop star name-dropped little Kalea - turning 4 this month - in the title track of his debut solo album Father of 4, which features his blended brood on the cover.

Offset (born Kiari Cephus) rapped: 'Kalea, you my first, first daughter / I missed the first years of your life, I'm sorry / Tell the truth, I ain't really know if I was your father / Tell the truth, I really don't even know your mama.'

Indeed, Shya admitted she had Kalea after a one-night stand with the Georgia native on the Fourth of July, and he 'blocked' her after she initially demanded a DNA test.

'[Kalea] loves him. They're really good now,' L'amour said of her formerly estranged babydaddy.

'I missed the first years of your life': The 27-year-old hip-hop star name-dropped little Kalea - turning 4 this month - in the title track of his debut solo album Father of 4, which features his blended brood on the cover

Formerly estranged: Shya admitted she had Kalea after a one-night stand with the Georgia native on the Fourth of July, and he 'blocked' her after she initially demanded a DNA test (pictured Wednesday)

L'amour said: '[Kalea] loves him. They're really good now. He has stepped up and he has been around, as of lately, to show that affection that she needs - that parental love that her mother can't do that for the father'

'He has stepped up and he has been around, as of lately, to show that affection that she needs - that parental love that her mother can't do that for the father.'

The One of One rapper added: 'In an ideal scenario, just get on the same page, man. Just gotta have an understanding and keep an understanding. I feel like communication is key to a lot of misunderstandings.'

Curiously, Shya's interview came as both Offset and his 26-year-old wife (born Belcalis Almanzar) shared Instagram snaps of themselves giving the camera the one-finger salute.

The Legacy rapper wed the groundbreaking Grammy winner in September 2017 after only seven months of dating, and they share seven-month-old daughter Kulture.

'F*** off': Curiously, Shya's interview came as both Offset and his 26-year-old wife shared Instagram snaps of themselves giving the camera the one-finger salute

February 24 family portrait: The Legacy rapper wed the groundbreaking Grammy winner in September 2017 after only seven months of dating, and they share seven-month-old daughter Kulture

'I cried to myself while I was doing this album because I was talking about my story and my kids,' Offset - who also has sons Jordan, 9; and Kody, 3; - told Esquire last month.

'When I did a song, I started getting memories of my grandma, my struggles, my partner that was killed, the thoughts I had while I was incarcerated, and my kids' faces were there in my head. I love my kids, this is who I do it for.'

The Red Room rapper is next scheduled to join his Grammy-nominated trio onstage next Friday at Drai's Beachclub and Nightclub in Las Vegas.

And the Bronx-born Latina will next perform on March 13 at Texas' Beach Bash Music Festival, which takes place at the Isla Grand Hotel & Resort in South Padre Island.

Migos: Offset is next scheduled to join his Grammy-nominated trio onstage next Friday at Drai's Beachclub and Nightclub in Las Vegas (pictured February 16)
They've been called Married At First Sight's 'golden couple'.

And on Monday, Jules Robinson and Cameron Merchant enjoyed a day out at The Star Gold Coast to celebrate the launch of the Logie Awards voting period.

The reality TV lovebirds put on affectionate display as they posed for photos together, with Jules, 36, looking sensational in a figure-hugging red dress.

Still going strong! Married At First Sight's 'golden couple' Jules Robinson (right) and Cameron Merchant (left) looked smitten at the Logies voting launch at The Star Gold Coast on Monday

The glamorous redhead wore a midi dress which featured short sleeves and a plunging neckline.

The business owner completed her look with beige heels and a bold red lip, and styled her hair in loose curls.

Meanwhile, Cameron looked dapper in a white shirt and dark trousers, which he teamed with leather boat shoes.

Striking: The glamorous redhead wore a midi dress which featured short sleeves and a plunging neckline

Good vibes only! The couple appeared in high spirits at the launch, smiling and laughing as they soaked up the sun by a rooftop pool

The couple appeared in high spirits at the launch, smiling and laughing as they soaked up the sun by a rooftop pool.

They were joined a handful of local celebrities and TV stars at the exclusive event, including The Block's Shelley Craft.

The 42-year-old, who posed with a Logie statuette, cut a stylish figure in a black silk top and a high-waisted patterned skirt.

Familiar face: They were joined a handful of local celebrities and TV stars at the exclusive event, including The Block's Shelley Craft (pictured)

Selling Houses Australia host Andrew Winter was also in attendance, looking smart in a beige blazer.

Meanwhile, Travel Guides stars and identical twins Stack and Mel lived up to their 'cowgirls' nickname in country outfits.

The sisters wore jeans, boots, hats and shirts, looking they that had just stepped out of a rural cattle ranch.

Dapper chap: Selling Houses Australia host Andrew Winter was also in attendance, looking smart in a beige blazer

Rural chic: Travel Guides stars and identical twins Stack and Mel lived up to their 'cowgirls' nickname in country outfits

Stefan Dennis, 60, also played up for the cameras, at one stage even posing with a Logie Award on his head.

The actor is best known for playing the villainous Paul Robinson on Neighbours.

The 2019 Logie Awards will take place on June 30 at The Star on the Gold Coast. Voting officially opened on Monday.
Endeavour

Rating:

Ice Age: Return Of The Mammoth

Rating:

The clue was in the name.

Like the cryptic solution to one of Morses fiendish crosswords, the key to unlocking the best series yet of Endeavour (ITV) has been dangling right in front of our faces.

While an embittered Fred Thursday seemed intent on ploughing his career and his marriage into the ground, and dogged Jim Strange was obsessed with finding the gang that murdered young copper George Fancy, Detective Sergeant Morse has been busy becoming the character we first knew from the John Thaw era in the Eighties.

Shaun Evans as Endeavour, Roger Allam as DI Fred Thursday and Jaems Bradshaw as Dr Max Derbryn in ITV's Endeavour

The short temper, the inability to hold his tongue, the contempt for authority  all the flaws that held him back, yet made him the detective he was, have emerged this year.

It appeared to be his boss, bent DCI Ronnie Box, who was shaping Morses mistrust of his superiors. But in a climactic shoot-out, with the good guys facing the villains like cowboys in a frontier town, DS Jago (Richard Riddell) emerged as the real villain.

Thats Jago, as in Iago the traitor of Othello  which is not only a Shakespeare play, but an opera by Verdi, one that has featured in the Endeavour soundtrack. What a hidden clue ... you might almost call it Morse code.

This episode, the last in a batch that has never been less than brilliant, opened with a grimly spectacular sequence. It was all the more shocking for the way it left the worst to our imaginations.

Morse was called to a disturbance at a newly built tower block, where residents were panicked by strange rumblings. As he arrived, part of the building collapsed in a deafening thunder of rubble.

Rather than showing a sensational collage of screaming and horror, the screen blacked out and left us with our ears singing until the sound of sirens faded in.

Superintendent Bright (Anton Lesser), a man who has suffered a catalogue of humiliations and tragedies this year, was seen in an unfamiliar heroic light as he directed the rescuers.

Paternity test of the weekend: Crafty French detective Julien (Tcheky Karyo) in Baptiste (BBC1) tricked his young colleague into giving a DNA sample, by buying him a coffee and keeping the cup. Turns out the lad is Baptiste Jnr. Ooh la la! Advertisement

Inspector Thursday (Roger Allam) touched bottom before redeeming himself  and earning promotion. For one terrible moment it looked like he had decided to end it all, after getting maudlin drunk and leaving a note for his wife. Then he rode to the rescue in his battered black Ford Zephyr. Hell surely be back for the next series.

The clues are ever ingenious, the interwoven mysteries gripping, but its gruff old Fred who is the shows beating heart.

A beating heart was the one thing archaeologists couldnt uncover in Ice Age: Return Of The Mammoth (C4) as they went in search of prehistoric animals preserved in the Siberian permafrost.

Though the Russian ivory hunters leading the hunt were excavating the ancient landscape with high-pressure hoses, which is like looking for Easter eggs with a mallet, they revealed some incredibly undamaged remains. The legs of a bull mammoth, which apparently got stuck in freezing mud 30,000 years ago and was mauled to death by wolves, might yield enough DNA to enable scientists to recreate the species.

Thats mind-boggling enough, but the find that really made me gape was the cave-lion cub. This Siberian big cat, extinct for 8,000 years, was a bigger cousin of todays African lion, but the baby was no bigger than a modern moggie. Its teeth, its claws, even its whiskers and tongue were still perfectly intact  protected by millennia in the frozen ground.

Never mind sampling its DNA, this thing looked like a competent vet might be able to revive it.
She has starred in two hit television series since she made her Hollywood debut in 2002.

Now Sophia Bush is hoping to score another breakout in the lead role in the upcoming CBS spy drama series, Surveillance.

With the production well underway, the actress took a much-needed break to enjoy a meal at Craig's in West Hollywood, a restaurant known for its celebrity clientele.

Hot spot: Sophia Bush dropped by Craig's, a restaurant known for its celebrity clientele

The 36-year old star look stylishly youthful in black dress pants and a vintage black rocker t-shirt with: 'Tour Of The World, Van Halen 1984' on the front.

To give the ensemble a blast of color, she wore a pair of pointed white leather boots and a long red overcoat.

On this night, she styled her dark brown tresses long with some soft waves and added volume.

Glowing: The 36-year old star look stylishly youthful in black dress pants and a vintage black rocker t-shirt with: 'Tour Of The World, Van Halen 1984' on the front

Stylin': To give the ensemble a blast of color, she wore pointed white boots and a red overcoat

Making her mark: The Pasadena, California native first made waves in Hollywood when she starred as Brooke Davis on The WB/CW drama series One Tree Hill from 2003 to 2012

The Pasadena, California native first made waves in Hollywood when she starred as Brooke Davis on The WB/CW drama series One Tree Hill from 2003 to 2012.

She also gained prominence on the cop drama Chicago P.D. as Detective Eric Lindsay (2014-2017).

Sophia has also starred in a number of major film roles that include: John Tucker Must Die (2006), The Hitcher (2007), The Narrows (2008) and Acts Of Violence (2018).

In the upcoming series Surveillance, Bush plays a charming NSA operative who finds her loyalties torn between protecting the government's secrets and her own in the complex spy thriller.

She's also starring alongside Patriot star Michael Dorman in the upcoming indie flick Hard Luck Love Song in 2019.

TV star: She also gained prominence on the cop drama Chicago P.D. from 2014 to 2017
by Louis Raphael Sako*

The Chaldean cardinals proposal is directed at the president, the prime minister and the speaker of the Council of Representatives (parliament). It is based on the principles of citizenship, law and institutions. Sovereignty, security and economy are its "red lines", a common basis for overcoming tensions, divisions and encouraging reconciliation.

Baghdad (AsiaNews)  Card Louis Raphael Sako, is proposing a National Covenant as a common basis for all of the countrys groups, Shias, Sunnis, Christians, founded on sovereignty, security and economy, to overcome the divisions, violence and extremism that have stained Iraq with blood.

The Chaldean primates message was published on the Chaldean patriarchate website and sent to AsiaNews for wider circulation. In it, the cardinal says that the countrys problems can be solved only from within, starting with a document that will serve as a pledge by all the parties involved to create a state "based on citizenship, law and institutions".

Here is Patriarch Sakos message.

For a National Covenant

His Excellency President of the Republic of Iraq Dr. Barham Salih

Your Excellency,

I put forward to your Excellency a national proposal entitled National Covenant that may help us getting out of the current crises. The focus is on certain important red lines such as sovereignty, security and economy that should protect our homeland and its unity.

As I am so enthusiastic about the revival of Iraq the Cradle of Civilization, I call upon the three presidencies to organize a round-table meeting, where political and parliamentary alliances gather for a civil and responsible dialogue, which will lead to reconciliation; forgiveness; and understanding, away from regional and international tensions, differences and shattering. Especially that the current ministerial cabinet is not complete yet and people are still waiting to be provided with services (electricity, water etc.).

Certainly, the solution should be internal, means Iraqis should solve their own problems. It is possible to do that, based on the good will, and when we rely on a National Covenant founded on: sovereignty, security, economy, the interest of the nation and its unity. Such document will serve as a pledge for all parties, enabling them to build, in a sound manner, a state of, citizenship, law and institutions, away from quotas (sectarianism) and disputes over power and money. It is also important to eliminate extremism that weakens the state; stops its progress; violates the dignity of citizens; and delays the availability of services.

Iraqis of all ethnicities and religions will definitely derive from this document: mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and solidarity. Ultimately, they will stand firm and steadfast, facing all those who may offend them.

National unity does not mean, at all, the removal of differences of view that are natural, but it helps people to accept each other and live in harmony. This way, we will be able to keep up with the rest of the civilized world.

I hope that your Excellency will share this idea with the Prime Minister and the Parliamentary Leader.

* Patriarch of the Chaldean Church and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Iraq
Last week, Married At First Sight star Susie Bradley admitted to having lip fillers, anti-wrinkle injections and a boob job to alter her look.

And now cosmetic surgery clinic CosMediTour, who performed her breast enhancement, has seized the opportunity to spruik their business in Thailand on Instagram, by using a sexy picture of the 25-year-old reality star.

In the image, the stunner flaunts her cleavage in a plunging pink swimsuit while emerging from a swimming pool.

'Get implants like Susie Bradley for $4000!' Cosmetic surgery clinic CosMediTour, who performed the Married At First Sight star's breast enhancement, has seized the opportunity to spruik their business in Thailand on Instagram, by using a sexy picture of the 25-year-old reality star. Both pictures taken in November 2018

Taking to the social media platform, the post read: 'Are you watching Married At First Sight Australia?

'CosMediTour client @susiepearll from @MAFS underwent a breast augmentation in Phuket, Thailand with our renowned Plastic Surgeon Dr Veerawat!'

It continued: 'From $4,125 (payment plans from $25 p/ week) ENQUIRE NOW for a FREE quote.'

Who's that girl? The mother-of-one admitted to having lip fillers, anti-wrinkle injections and a boob job to alter her look. She's pictured with a petite frame, smaller bust, noticeably less-plump lips and brunette locks in 2015 (left) and after her cosmetic overhaul in 2018 (right)

It comes after the mother-of-one opened up about her dramatic surgery transformation over the past four years.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle on Wednesday, Susie admitted she had used cosmetic enhancements to give herself a self-confidence boost.

Photos of the aged-care nurse in 2015 show the reality TV star with a petite frame, smaller bust, noticeably less-plump lips and brunette locks.

'I had no top lip back in the day so thats perfected my smile': Susie claimed her cosmetic enhancements have helped boost her self-confidence (Pictured left in 2016, right in 2018)

'Ive had my lips done. I had no top lip back in the day so thats perfected my smile,' she happily told the publication.

Susie added: 'Ive had anti-wrinkle [treatment] but that obviously doesnt really change how you look and Ive had my boobs done. I had them done after I had Baby because breastfeeding annihilated what I had.'

The single mother became one of four new intruders to debut on Married At First Sight's sixth season last week.

She has been paired with personal trainer Billy Vincent, 28.

Married At First Sight returns on Monday night from 7.30pm
Celebrities of all stripes came out in support of The 2nd Annual Compassion Project Gala hosted by The Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation in the Culver City neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday.

Actress Nikki Reed and comedian Whitney Cummings were among the stars who shined under the bright lights of the red carpet.

And on this festive night to raise funds and awareness, the two ladies both donned multi-patterned ensembles that were completely free of any animal products.

Animal lover: Nikki Reed, 30, and Whitney Cummings, 36, shined on the red carpet at The 2nd Annual Compassion Project Gala hosted by The Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation

Reed, best known for her role in the super-successful Twilight film franchise, opted for a wrap-around skirt that consisted of an array of colors.

For contrast and consistency, she paired it with a form-fitting long sleeved top that had similar colors but a different pattern scheme.

The Los Angeles native rounded out the eye-catching outfit with a pair of black sandals and her dark brown tresses pulled up into a bun.

Eye-catcher: The Twilight star wore a wrap-around skirt that consisted of an array of colors with a form-fitting top that had similar colors but a different pattern scheme

Wow factor: The top had a sheer detailing

Stunner: Cummings also went with a busy pattern that consisted of draw-string pants, a matching long sleeve shirt and black heels

Mr. Piggy: At one point, during their red carpet entrance, Cummings and Reed got to meet one of the star animals on site, Pickles the Pig

Cummings went with a pair of a draw-string pants that came up above the ankle and a matching long sleeve shirt.

Her busy pattern scheme focused more on various shades of brown.

The creator of the hit TV sitcom 2 Broke Girls matched it with a pair of black heels and wore her dark brown tresses long and wavy, but pulled back off of her face.

At one point, during their red carpet entrance, Cummings and Reed got to meet one of the star animals on site, Pickles the Pig.

The two ladies even bent down to pet and feed the friendly pig.

Ladies time: Reed and Cummings were book ends to 90210 actress Shannen Doherty

Happy times: Whitney closely embraced Shannen at the gala event

Showing the love: The comedian stopped to hug it out with Doherty

Animal lovers: Doherty chatted with Marc Ching, the founder of the Animal Hope & Wellness Foundation

Some of the other stars that also made waves on the red carpet included Clueless star, Alicia Silverstone, who looked elegant in a one-shoulder black dress and 90210 actress Shannen Doherty, who went with a more casual all-black ensemble.

Plus-size model Tess Holliday looked stylish in black faux leather pants with a black tank top and button-down shirt.

No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal looked rocker-cool alongside and his wife Erin Lokitz, while Moby was a no-brainer to be at the event considering he has been a huge animal rights proponent for many years.

Kanal's No Doubt band member, Adrian Young, will be teaming up with Moby to perform live at Adopt the Arts: Moby and Friends concert, Thursday March 7, at the Wiltern in Los Angeles.

Also on hand was Transparent actress Trace Lysette and American Pie star Shannon Elizabeth.

Classy: Clueless star, Alicia Silverstone, looked elegant in a one-shoulder black dress

Making her mark: The 42-year old actress also made waves in The Crush and Batman & Robin

Cool cats: No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal and his wife Erin Lokitz looked super-stylish together

Activist: Musician Moby has been at the forefront of the animal rights movement

The event focused on the various animal-related legislative acts the foundation is currently working on.

It also included a fashion show, where some of the celebrities and activist models wore cruelty-free designs, to show that cloths can be just as, or even more beautiful than products made from animals.

Proceeds for the event benefit the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation.

Rockin': Plus-size model Tess Holliday rocked some black faux leather pants

Floral fun: Tess had 'compassion' emblazoned across the back of her garment in big white letters

Good spirits: Tess seemed in good spirits as she smiled for the cameras

Showing support: Shannon Elizabeth of American Pie fame looked casual cool

Dark side: Designers Dalia MacPhee (left) and Matt Sarafa sported very fashionable black looks

Shining star: Transparent star Trace Lysette, 32, went with an youthful, midriff-revealing, look

Striking: Alicia added a red lip to her look to bring a pop of colour to her black ensemble

Horsing around: The blonde bombshell posed up a storm with a model horse at the animal charity gala in Los Angeles
Ben McKenzie stepped out with his Gotham co-star and wife, Morena Baccarin, at the premiere of Netflix's Triple Frontier.

The happy couple, who have been married since June 2017, were all smiles, rocking smart black ensembles at the premiere.

The premiere was held at Jazz at the Lincoln Center in New York City, ahead of the March 13 release on the Netflix streaming service.

Couple in black: Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin look bold in black at the premiere of Netflix's Triple Frontier

McKenzie, 40, stepped out wearing a black on black suit with no tie and black shoes, while posing on the red carpet with his wife.

Baccarin, 39, was wearing an elegant black dress with a slit up the leg and tan cuffs, while wearing black pumps.

She completed her outfit by carrying a white handbag on the red carpet, which featured a backdrop that appeared to be made of $100 bills.

Ben and Morena in black: McKenzie, 40, stepped out wearing a black on black suit with no tie and black shoes, while posing on the red carpet with his wife

Baccarin was previously married to filmmaker Austin Chick, but she filed for divorce in July 2015.

The actress revealed in September 2015 that she planned to marry her Gotham co-star McKenzie once her divorce was finalized.

She also revealed that she was pregnant with McKenzie's child, who was born in March 2016, around the same time her divorce was finalized.

Co-stars turned couple: The actress revealed in September 2015 that she planned to marry her Gotham co-star McKenzie once her divorce was finalized

McKenzie plays Detective James Gordon in Gotham, which debuted in 2014 and is in the midst of its fifth and final season.

Baccarin came aboard as Leslie Thompkins in the second season of the hit Fox series, while also providing the voice for Gideon on The CW's The Flash.

'The actress also starred as Vanessa in the 2016 R-rated superhero hit Deadpool and its 2018 sequel Deadpool 2.

Gotham stars: McKenzie plays Detective James Gordon in Gotham, which debuted in 2014 and is in the midst of its fifth and final season

Both McKenzie and Baccarin have movies coming out in 2019, aside from their work on the final season of Gotham.

McKenzie stars in the upcoming action-thriller Live along with Aaron Eckhart, Giancarlo Esposito and Dina Meyer.

Baccarin voices Gamemaster in To Your Last Death and plays Francesca in Ode to Joy, neither of which have release dates confirmed.

Busy couple: Both McKenzie and Baccarin have movies coming out in 2019, aside from their work on the final season of Gotham

New movie: McKenzie stars in the upcoming action-thriller Live along with Aaron Eckhart, Giancarlo Esposito and Dina Meyer
Susie Bradley got to see a whole new side to her 'husband' Billy Vincent on Monday night's episode of Married At First.

As the couple headed to his apartment in Lennox Head, the male model showed his 'wife' his naked calendar shoot.

'You need to appreciate it in its normal habitat,' Billy, 28, said referring to his manhood.

He's not shy! MAFS' Billy Vincent showed 'wife' Susie Bradley a whole new side to him during Monday's 'home stay' week by revealing he had appeared in a naked calendar

Susie replied: 'It's definitely not the worst looking thing I've seen in my life.'

After gathering her thoughts, the blonde added: 'When I saw Billy's penis I certainly wasn't not impressed, let's just put it that way.'

'You need to appreciate a flaccid penis': Male model Billy, 28, bared all in the photographs which were taken around his home in Lennox Head by photographer John Bortolin

'It's definitely not the worst looking thing I've seen': Susie was left speechless after viewing the calendar, with Billy revealing they were released to raise money for male suicide prevention

The pictures were all taken by photographer John Bortolin, who also featured in the episode and is Billy's close friend.

Although the images may surprise some, Billy revealed during the segment that the calendars was released to raise money for male suicide prevention.

'When I saw Billy's penis I certainly wasn't not impressed, let's just put it that way': Susie later gushed over Billy's manhood after gathering her thoughts

Gushing about his friend on Instagram, photographer John recently wrote: 'Very proud of my friend and Manscapes model Billy in Married At First Sight.

'Great to see you on the screen and can't wait to see more.'

Fans of Billy can order the raunchy calendars from John's website directly.
Alpha beheaded a challenger as Daryl Dixon tracked down and rescued Henry from the Whisperers on Sunday's episode of The Walking Dead.

The sesaon nine episode titled Guardians opened with Alpha, played by 41-year-old English actress Samantha Morton, interrogating her own daughter Lydia.

'I lied to get them to trust me. Except for one thing. I said they shouldn't cross you,' Lydia [Cassady McClincy] told her abusive mother.

Search mission: Daryl Dixon tracked down Henry and the Whisperers on Sunday's episode of The WalkingDead

'What did you find out?,' Alpha demanded.

Lydia mislead her mother who was left unsatisfied by her answers.

'I broke my own rules coming to get you. What do I get in return? Excuses, wasted words,' Alpha said.

'Is that the only reason you came to get me. For information?,' Lydia said.

Whisperers challenge: A member of the Whisperers was decapitated by group leader Alpha

Zombie walk: Lydia moved like a walker while her mother Alpha interrogated her

'Stupid question,' Alpha replied.

Back in Alexandria, security chief Michonne [Danai Gurira] clashed with the governing council.

She was furious that Gabriel, Eugene and Rosita went on an unauthorized mission to set up relay stations that resulted in both the death of Jesus and their clash with the Whisperers.

Not happy: Michonne was outraged that Gabriel, Eugene and Rosita went on an unauthorized mission to set up relay stations that resulted in both the death of Jesus and their clash with the Whisperers

Aaron [Ross Marquand] stood up for Michonne's veto power over council decisions.

'There is a new enemy out there and they are exactly what Michonne was afraid that we'd find. ...We put Michonne in charge for a reason,' Aaron reminded the council.

Siddiq [Avi Nash] also questioned Michonne's decision to skip the Kingdom's upcoming fair and trade and said Carol Peletier [Melissa McBride] told him their situation was worsening.

Good point: Aaron reminded the Alexandria council members that Michonne was given authority for a reason

'What does it meanfor Alexandria to survive if it means the Kingdom falls?,' Siddiq askedher.

'It means Alexandria survives,' Michonne replied.

Rosita Espinosa [Christian Serratos] struggled putting on her pants as her baby bump continued to grow.

Baby bump Rosita Espinosa struggled putting on her pants as her baby bump grew larger

Shetalked briefly with council leader Gabriel Stokes [Seth Gilliam] who wasn't in the mood after being emasculated by Michonne.

'I know. It's OK. I'm sorry, too,' Rosita told him. 'We were just getting started. You didn't sign up for this, but it's happening.'

Rosita got pregnant by Siddiq before getting in a relationship with Gabriel and told him the 'ball is in your court'.

Short talk: Gabriel Stokes after the meeting talked to pregnant Rosita

Henry meanwhile caught up with the Whisperers in his inauspicious attempt to rescue Lydia.

He was soon taken prisoner by the hulking Beta who had been tracking Henry as he pursued the Whisperers.

'Who are you?,' Alpha asked Henry.

Bad idea: Henry was captured by the Whisperers who were tracking him

Beta grabbed his arm when Henry failed to answer.

Alpha said she would let Beta break his arms and legs and leave him for walkers to feast on.

'OK. Stop,' Henry said. 'I'm from Hilltop, but they didn't send me. I came for her.'

Menacing presence: Beta loomed large as Alpha's right-hand man

He pointed to Lydia who promptly strode toward him.

'So stupid,' Lydia said as she punched Henry in the face knocking him to the ground.

Eugene Porter [Josh McDermitt] visited Gabriel and encouraged him to stay with Rosita despite Siddiq being the father of her baby.

'If you love each other stop wasting time, it's all we have in the end,' said Eugene who again confessed his own love for Rosita.

Fast walk; Henry told Alpha that he came alone for Lydia

Big punch: Lydia walked up and called Henry 'stupid' before she punched him in the face

Alpha questioned her daughter about her 'friend' who followed her and Lydia said he was in the adjacent cell and she only knew that his name was Henry.

'He thought it was worth risking his life,' Alpha said.

'I guess he's dumber than I thought,' Lydia said.

More information: Alpha asked her daughter for more information about Henry

'Don't sell yourself short, maybe you're a good liar,' Alpha said.

Michonne back at Alexandria agreed to Negan's request and spoke with him after he willfully went back into his cell.

Negan swore that he changed and asked Michonne to 'trust me a little bit'.

In jail: Negan after voluntarily returning to jail asked for and received an audience with Michonne

She wasn't buying it, but Negan said he could help her maintain control.

'I know a thing or two about keeping people in line,' said Negan who also admitted to eavesdroppng on council meetings from his window.

Michonne told Negan that he was going to be tied up while they fortified his cell and the windows were going to be closed.

Listening in: Judith listened in on Michonne and Negan's conversation

She saw young Judith scrambling away after listening to their conversation.

Daryl and his dog named Dog along with Connie followed Henry's tracks and figured out the Whisperers grabbed him.

Alpha was challenged by a man and woman who were upset about the prisoner exchange at Hilltop for Lydia.

Two dissenters: A man and woman challenged Alpha's leadership

'We don't go back for the lost, never have,' the man told her.

'If you have a problem with me as leader, you know what to do,' Alpha said.

'I challenge you. You're not fit to lead anymore,' the man said.

Alpha however told the group that she saw the woman plotting in the woods with her boyfriend.

Challenge time: Alpha told the group that the woman was really behind the challenge

She then accused the woman of being the true challenger.

The woman stepped up and accused Alpha of leading all of them into danger and risking their safety by keeping Henry.

'You failed all of us,' she said.

Major fail: The woman stood her ground and accused Alpha of failing all of them

Alpha said everyone follows her by choice because she makes them strong.

'I don't want to fight you,' the woman said as Alpha circled her.

'Too late,' she responded as she put a sharp wire around her neck and cut her head off.

Throat slice: Alpha sliced the woman's head off with a wire

Alpha held up the skull and then gave it to the boyfriend who cradled it as he began to cry.

She wiped away a tear and held him near.

'Crying is weak,' she whispered and then stabbed him in the torso as Henry looked on.

The boyfriend: The Whisperers leader gave the man his girlfriend's head

Tear wipe: Alpha wiped away a tear as the man cried

Side stab: The man was stabbed after Alpha whispered that crying was weak

Michonne confronted Judith and asked why she was spying on her.

'I wasn't. I went there to see Negan,' Judith admitted.

Judith said she feels sorry for him and Michonne said he wasn't her friend.

Jail visit: Judith admitted that she went to visit Negan

'He listens to me. Not everybody does,' Judith said.

Michonne ordered Judith to 'never go near him again' and called him a 'monster'.

Judith said he was a 'human being' and Michonne said if he ever got out that he would kill again.

Feeling sorry: The daughter of Rick Grimes admitted that she felt sorry for Negan

'He did get out,' Judith reminded her.

Alpha was cleaning up back at Whisperers camp and Beta helped take off her mask.

'It felt different this time,' Alpha said.

Felt different: Alpha admitted that the challenge to her authority felt different

Beta assured her that the 'pack' believes in her and it was good to remind them.

Alpha then shared a horrific story about finding Lydia when she was about age three in a closet suffocating from plastic arond her face.

'I just stood there watching her skin turn blue,' Alpha admitted.

Blue skin: The Whisperers leader shared a horrific story about abusing Lydia

Lydia fell to the floor and she tore the plastic off her face and then asked if she was OK.

'She nodded and then I hit her so hard so she'd remember never to do it again,' Alpha said.

Beta said they needed to be ready since they have Henry and told Alpha that she needed to be sure of Lydia's allegiance.

Helping hand: Beta helped Alpha wash up after she decapitated a dissenter

'You need to know,' he said.

'Let's find out,' Alpha replied.

Gabriel brought a gift for Rosita that Eugene got for him while going to meet with her along with Siddiq.

Heartfelt gift: Eugene Porter gave a gift for Gabriel to give to Rosita

Michonne talked to Aaron and informed him that she would not veto the council if they decided to send a delegation to the fair.

'I think it's a terrible idea, but people can weigh the risks and choose,' Michonne said.

'I hope we don't regret this,' Aaron said.

Fair plan: Michonne told Aaron that she would not veto the council's decision to attend Kingdom's fair

'Yeah, me too,' Michonne said.

Henry was grabbed by Beta at night and taken to a forest clearing where Alpha and Lydia were waiting.

Alpha tossed a knife on the ground.

Loyalty test: Alpha tested the loyalty of her daughter Lydia

'Pick it up. Pick it up,' she said.

Lydia reached down and picked up the blade.

'Now kill the boy,' Alpha said.

Murder weapon: Lydia was ordered to pick up a knife and kill Henry

Hard choice: The girl struggled with her mother's order to kill Henry

'What?,' Lydia said.

'You weren't gone long, but maybe it was long enough,' Alpha said.

'For what?,' Lydia asked.

Too much: Lydia was overcome with emotions as her mother tested her loyalty

'To forget which side you're on,' Alpha said.

Lydia held the knife as Henry begged for his life.

'Don't be weak like your father You know what happened to him,' Alpha said.

Dead father: Alpha told Lydia to not be weak like her father

'I know what happened,' said Lydia who watched her mother kill her father.

Alpha told Lydia to kill Henry or Beta would kill both of them.

A herd of zombies interrupted the moment as Daryl and Connie wearing zombie masks blended in.

Rescue mission: Daryl and Connie moved in with a herd of zombies and rescued Henry who refused to leave without Lydia

'Keep your head down. We're leaving,' Daryl told Henry.

Henry refused to leave without Lydia and she decided to flee with them.

The Walking Dead will return next week on AMC.
She went topless in an Instagram post on Friday.

But Sofia Richie wore considerably more clothing on Sunday, when the 21-year-old pinup went for a date with 35-year-old Scott Disick at Marmalade Cafe in Calabasas.

The daughter of Lionel Richie wore an RTA brand white hoodie, emblazoned with the words 'CHOKING HAZARD'.

Making a statement: Sofia Richie wore distinctive clothing on Sunday, when the 21-year-old pinup went for a date with 35-year-old Scott Disick at Marmalade Cafe in Calabasas

The blonde beauty paired the statement garment with a pair of black leggings, which hugged her incredibly pert posterior.

Sofia wore a pair of white sneakers on her feet and carried a black leather purse.

The sister of reality TV star Nicole Richie wore her straight blonde tresses loose and went with a minimal amount of makeup, including a dab of nude lip.

Danger: The daughter of Lionel Richie wore an RTA brand white hoodie, emblazoned with the words 'CHOKING HAZARD'

Her man: The catwalk queen was joined by her reality TV star boyfriend, Scott Disick

The catwalk queen was joined by her reality TV star boyfriend, Scott Disick.

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians mainstay kept it casual for his weekend date, pairing a gray sweater with beige cargo pants.

The pants seemed to give the father-of-three a few problems, with Scott snapped trying with some apparent difficulty to extract the garment from a crevice.

Digging deep: The pants seemed to give the father-of-three a few problems, with Scott snapped trying with some apparent difficulty to extract the garment from a crevice

Gorgeous gams: The blonde beauty paired the statement garment with a pair of black leggings, which hugged her incredibly pert posterior

Last week Richie wore a bra and black opaque tights as she leaned on a sofa in her living room.

And the Vogue model tried to show some street cred by quoting the 1983 film Scarface which was about Tony Montana's rise from Cuban immigrant to drug lord.

'The eyes Chico they never lie,' she wrote in her caption.

The line was uttered by Al Pacino's Tony as he talked about how Michelle Pfeiffer's Elvira likes him.

Sofia could have been referring to how her eyes reveal she likes her beau Scott Disick. The unlikely couple have been dating for nearly two years.

Well-heeled: Sofia wore a pair of white sneakers on her feet and carried a black leather purse

Perfection: The sister of reality TV star Nicole Richie wore her straight blonde tresses loose and went with a minimal amount of makeup, including a dab of nude lip

Gray day: The Keeping Up With The Kardashians mainstay kept it casual for his weekend date, pairing a gray sweater with beige cargo pants

Her star status is on the rise as she's been featured in a number of fashion campaigns, including Chanel, Michael Kors and Adidas.

Richie's biggest role as of late has been on the arm of her boyfriend.

Scott and Sofia dodged relationship rumors for months before confirming their status on Instagram in September 2017.

They've since been staples on each other's social media accounts and are regularly spotted on lavish holidays and at star-studded events.

They've since traveled the world together and even vacationed with his ex Kourtney Kardashian, who is the mother of their three children together; son Mason, nine, daughter Penelope, six, and son Reign, four.

Coupling: Scott and Sofia dodged relationship rumors for months before confirming their status on Instagram in September 2017
Vanderpump Rules star Scheana Shay has been enjoying a vacation in Australia and while in town, she has set her sights on a local celebrity.

The 33-year-old American has told Confidential she's been sending messages to Love Island Australia and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Australia star Justin Lacko, 28.

She told the publication that she'd noticed the Chadwick model, who hails from Melbourne, on social media and asked to meet him later that evening.

Love on the island: In an interview on Monday, Vanderpump Rules' Scheana Shay (pictured) revealed she and I'm a Celebrity star Justin Lacko have made plans to meet up

'We've been DMing (direct messaging), he's this really hot Australian guy who's on reality shows,' she told the publication.

Scheana added that while Justin was unavailable for a date, he may meet with her when she is back in America.

'He said he was getting on a flight back to Melbourne but he said he was maybe going to be in the States soon. Reason to come back.'

Perfect match: 'We've been DMing (direct messaging), he's this really hot Australian guy who's on reality shows,' she told Confidential

Looking good! She told the publication that she'd noticed Justin on social media and asked to meet him later that evening. Justin Lacko is pictured in a social media snap

Rain check: Scheana added that while the model was unavailable for a date, he may meet up with when she is back in America. Justin Lacko is pictured in a social media snap

Justin told the publication that the pair had a 'Sliding Doors moment' when Justin saw the brunette disembark from an elevator.

The beauty may have have had Justin on her mind when she took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of herself at Sydney's Bondi Beach.

She captioned that photo, in which she's wearing a skimpy orange swimsuit: 'I'm not coming back... Au'.

Like a local: The beauty may have have had Justin on her mind when she took to Instagram on Monday to share a photo of herself at Sydney's Bondi Beach (pictured). Scheana captioned that photo: 'I'm not coming back... Au'

On her own: Late last year, Scheana confirmed she was single following her split with Rob Valletta (left) at the beginning of 2018

Single: Justin failed to find romance while appearing on Love Island last year, and has been the subject of rumours surrounding his sexuality

Late last year, Scheana confirmed she was single following her split with Rob Valletta at the beginning of 2018.

Justin failed to find romance while appearing on Love Island last year, and has been the subject of rumours surrounding his sexuality.

While appearing on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! Australia earlier this year, Justin revealed that he no longer speaks to his grandmother because she believes he is gay.

A new episode of Vanderpump Rules is available each Tuesday on Foxtel and hayu, same day as the U.S.
He got women swooning with his on-screen role of Ross Poldark.

And Aidan Turner scooped the Best Actor In A Play award for his stellar performance in The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the WhatsOnStage Awards on Sunday.

The Poldark hero, 35, swapped his period costume for a dapper suit when he attended the awards at The Prince of Wales Theatre, in London.

Swoon: Aidan Turner looked worlds away from Poldark in a suit as he won Best Actor In A Play at the glitzy WhatsOnStage Awards on Sunday

While he opted for a bearded look instead of his on-screen character's stubble, the Irish actor looked incredibly handsome as he styled his wavy locks in a tousled style.

Aidan was bestowed the award for his portrayal of Mad Padraic, a man too violent to be a member of the IRA in The Lieutenant of Inishmore.

The Lieutenant of Inishmore transports audience members back to Ireland 1993 when the Northern Ireland peace process was underway.

A dark sequence of events unfold when Padraic (Turner), the 'mad' leader of an Irish National Liberation Army Splinter group, finds out his cat has been killed.

He's a winner! The star scooped the Best Actor In A Play award for his stellar performance in The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the WhatsOnStage Awards

Exciting: Loyal fans have been eagerly awaiting the fifth and final installment of the series, while filming has been wrapped up but the release date has yet to be made public

Aidan courted attention for his role as the dashing titular character Ross Poldark in the Cornish love story which spans five seasons.

In the beginning, Ross returns from the American Revolutionary War to find out his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth is betrothed to someone else.

Romantic scenes see the soldier falls madly in love with the fiery red-head servant girl Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) who he makes his wife.

Different look: The Poldark hero, 35, swapped his period costume for a dapper suit when he attended the awards at The Prince of Wales Theatre, in London

He's fabulous: While he opted for a bearded look instead of his on-screen character's stubble, the Irish actor looked incredibly handsome as he styled his wavy locks in a tousled style

Poldark's past four seasons document their love and their marital struggles against the backdrop of 18th century Cornwall.

Loyal fans have been eagerly awaiting the fifth and final installment of the series, while filming has been wrapped up but the release date has yet to be made public.

However, Aidan revealed he would 'love' to take on more theatre roles after starring in hot television series Poldark.

Winning: Aidan was bestowed the award for his portrayal of Mad Padraic, a man too violent to be a member of the IRA in The Lieutenant of Inishmore

Storytelling: The Lieutenant of Inishmore transports audience members back to Ireland 1993 when the Northern Ireland peace process was underway

Big role: A dark sequence of events unfold when Padraic (Turner), the 'mad' leader of an Irish National Liberation Army Splinter group, finds out his cat has been killed

He told The Evening Standard in July 2018: 'Id love to do more but it is finding time, there is one more year left of Poldark to do and then were open.

'It is great doing a comedy, especially a comedy thats getting the reaction it has been getting from the audience.

'Its just the best kind of comedy, its really dark, its what Martin does well. You laugh at something and then five minutes later you have to check yourself. Its so dark, its so poignant and its so on the nose but you do crucify yourself for laughing at things you can only laugh at in the theatre.'

Strictly a night out! Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips, 75, looked incredibly youthful when she attended the event

Strictly stylish: Arlene showcased her wonderful figure in a sophisticated black dress which she paired with PVC trainers

Winner! Marianne Elliott looked elegant in her pleated dress when she showed off her WhatsOnStage award
Love Island's Kem Cetinay shared his BFF Chris Hughes has been 'really happy' with his new girlfriend Jesy Nelson while he appeared on Lorraine on Monday.

While he expressed his happiness for the new couple, the Love Island hunk warned the Little Mix pop star not to take his best friend away from him 'too much'.

The Dancing On Ice star, 22, divulged Chris says 'really nice things' about Jesy but he admitted he has yet to be introduced to the No More Sad Songs hitmaker.

Love (Island) is in the air! Kem Cetinay revealed his BFF Chris Hughes has been 'really happy' with Jesy Nelson (but he warned her not to take him away!)

He said: 'I don't know the ins and outs. I know he posted the couple photo. He seems really happy. I have never met Jesy before. He says really nice things about her.

'They went to a bar where they had to pretend to be prisoners. He seems happy. As long as she doesn't take him away from me too much, I don't mind.'

Chris and Jesy recently confirmed their romance with an incredibly cosy snap from inside the Alcatraz prison cocktail bar.

Honesty is the best policy: While he expressed his happiness for the new couple, the Love Island hunk warned the Little Mix pop star not to take his best friend away from him 'too much'

They were first seen tangoing tongues at a kebab shop before The Sun reported the couple had called it quits on their romance.

However, it was evident their love story wasn't over when they were seen trying to board a plane at London's City airport.

While the flights were cancelled, the pair enjoyed a lush 42 cinema date to cheer themselves up when they didn't manage to make it to Dublin until later on.

Start of something new: Chris and Jesy recently confirmed their romance with an incredibly cosy snap from inside the Alcatraz prison cocktail bar

Good together: The Dancing On Ice star, 22, divulged Chris says 'really nice things' about Jesy but he admitted he has yet to be introduced to the No More Sad Songs hitmaker (pictured)

While his BFF has found new love, single Kem maintained he was happy for his 'talented' ex-girlfriend Amber Davies who is currently starring in 9 to 5 musical.

The couple won Love Island together in 2017 but their romance was in tatters by Christmas just months after leaving the idyllic Mallorcan villa.

However, Kem proved there was no bad blood between the pair as he praised the brunette for 'doing so well' with her career.

He said: 'She's doing really well. Yeah, do you know what, she's doing so well. She wasn't sure what path she wanted to go on. Good on her and she has done so well.

Inseparable: They have been flaunting their new romance all over social media since going public with their relationship

Not ex-pecting that: While his BFF has found new love, single Kem maintained he was happy for his 'talented' ex-girlfriend Amber Davies who is currently starring in 9 to 5 musical

History: The couple won Love Island together in 2017 but their romance was in tatters by Christmas just months after leaving the idyllic Mallorcan villa (pictured in October 2017)

'She knows she's good at. She's really talented. I think she'll go onto bigger and better things.'

As Amber takes to the West End stage, Kem has been filming more reality television with his former Love Island co-star Chris.

The cheeky personality recalled how the duo end up stripping off completely starkers at a nudist resort which didn't impress his mother.

He said of the show: 'Mum didn't like watching it, she said, "I thought Love Island was bad, this is ten times worse".'

Good man: However, Kem proved there was no bad blood between the pair as he praised the brunette for 'doing so well' with her career
She has gone from Hollyoaks to Game of Thrones, and Nathalie Emmanuel's 30th birthday bash attracted a guest list to match her incredible career.

The actress marked her milestone birthday with a luxury party at Ours Restaurant in London's Knightsbridge on Saturday, with Henry Cavill and Vin Diesel among the a-list guests helping her celebrate.

The birthday girl hired a trapeze artist to entertain her pals, before her Fast and Furious 7 co-star Vin Diesel delivered an emotional toast.

Inside the party: She has gone from Hollyoaks to Game of Thrones, and Nathalie Emmanuel's 30th birthday bash attracted a guest list to match her incredible career

The actor had guests in tears as he described Brit actress Nathalie as his 'sister' and told the story of how they first met.

According to Instagram posts from inside the bash, he told the packed room: 'I had to put all the kids to sleep and fly over here for my sister Nathalie.

'So it all started . . . I was looking for someone new for Fast and Furious 7, and I was doing read throughs with lots of people and then I did a read through with Natalie Emmanuel.

It's my party: The actress marked her milestone birthday with a luxury party at Ours Restaurant in London's Knightsbridge on Saturday, with Henry Cavill and Vin Diesel among the guests

Inside the party: The guests were sure to capture the fun inside the event on Instagram, snapping a contortionist who performed in a rope suspended from the ceiling

'It was love at first sight. I knew she was special, I knew she was talented.'

Hugging Nathalie, he added: 'I said to her "You're gonna do Fast and Furious", before imitating the star's Brit accent and saying: 'She was like - "I've got other commitments. I'm on this show called Game of Thrones."'

'I said "you better call your agent" I was like - "you better talk to your agent. We need you."' You are the representation of multiculturalism that we are all so proud of.'

Yum! There was a delicious-looking cake covered in flowers for the guests to feast on

Snap happy: There was also a fairy-lit tree, bedecked with photos of the actress

Guests were treated to a huge vegan and gluten free buffet at the bash while floral centrepieces adorned the tables.

The guests were sure to capture the fun inside the event on Instagram, snapping a contortionist who performed in a rope suspended from the ceiling.

There was a delicious-looking cake as well as a fairy-lit tree, bedecked with photos of the actress.

Long-time pals: A bright pink flower wall was also in place for photos, with the birthday girl posing for a snap with old friend London Hughes

Outpouring of love: Vin Diesel shared a photo from inside the bash showing him hugging Nathalie as he told her in the caption: 'the world is a better place because of you'

As well as Vin Diesel and Superman himself Henry Cavill, Big Brother star Nikki Grahame was also pictured at the party making for an eclectic guest list.

According to source speaking exclusively to MailOnline, the reason for the mesh of unlikely characters at the party was due to Nathalie extending an open invite to her comedian pal London Hughes who happily took along some of her reality TV star friends.

The party-goer said: 'London knew her [Nathalie] from back in the day.'

The birthday girl, 30, looked effortlessly stylish for her big night opting for a in a gold pleated tiered maxi skirt which she dressed down with a plain white t-shirt and chunky Stella McCartney trainers.

A-list pals: Vin Diesel, 51, and Henry Cavill, 35, were invited to the birthday party alongside a host of stars from both the UK and US, thanks to Nathalie's stellar acting career
In announcing his decision, Francis stressed that the Pacelli Pope fought to "keep the flame of humanitarian initiatives lit during periods of more intense darkness and cruelty, of hidden but active diplomacy, of hope in possible good openings of hearts"

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Vatican Archives for the pontificate of Pius XII will be opened next year, Pope Francis announced today during a meeting this morning with the Vatican Secret Archives officials, on the 80th anniversary of the election of Pope Pius XII.

In announcing the opening of the archives will take place on 2 March 2020, Francis noted how "The figure of that Pontiff, who found himself guiding the Barque of Peter at one of the saddest and darkest moments of the twentieth century, agitated and lacerated by the last world war, with the consequent period of reorganization of the nations and post-war reconstruction, has already been investigated and studied in many aspects, sometimes discussed and even criticized (it could be said with some prejudice or exaggeration). Today he has been appropriately re-evaluated and indeed placed in the correct light for his many qualities: pastoral, above all, but also theological, ascetic, and diplomatic."

Affirming that "the Church is not afraid of history; rather, she loves it, and would like to love it more and better, as God does!" The Pope added that "that serious and objective historical research will be able to evaluate, in the proper light and with appropriate criticism, the praiseworthy moments of the Pontiff and, without any doubt, also moments of serious difficulties, of tormented decisions, of human and Christian prudence, which to some might have seemed to be reticence, and which instead were attempts, humanly also very hard-fought, to keep the flame of humanitarian initiatives lit during periods of more intense darkness and cruelty, of hidden but active diplomacy, of hope in possible good openings of hearts."

Francis also recalled that the project for the inventory and preparation of the substantial documentation produced during the pontificate of Pius XII was elaborated by wish of Benedict XVI, after part of the documentation was already made available by Paul VI and John Paul II.

In the picture: Pius XII among the victims of the bombardment of San Lorenzo. (Rome, 19 July 1943).
He has been absent from breakfast television for the past three weeks.

But upon his return to Good Morning Britain, Piers Morgan claimed he was 'so happy to be back' as he shared an animated snap of himself with co-host Susanna Reid and Charlotte Hawkins.

However he joked that not everyone was as elated by his reappearance on the show, poking fun at Susanna's grumpy face on the group shot.

The gang's back together! Piers Morgan claimed he was 'so happy to be back' as he shared an animated snap of himself with co-host Susanna Reid and Charlotte Hawkins

Piers briefly returned to the show as he hosted the morning television programme live from LA with Susanna the day after the Academy Awards.

However Monday marked the first time he had filmed Good Morning Britain from the London studio with the celebratory snap.

He captioned the image which he posted on Twitter: 'So happy to be back! Well, some of us anyway.....'

What a joker! However he joked that not everyone was as elated by his reappearance on the show, poking fun at Susanna's grumpy face on the group shot

Live from LA: Piers briefly returned to the show as he hosted the morning television programme live from LA with Susanna the day after the Academy Awards

Back together: However Monday marked the first time he had filmed Good Morning Britain from the London studio with the celebratory snap

Good to see Theroux! Piers and Susanne also interviewed Louis Theroux during their first show back together

Cheesed off: Piers was certainly back with a bang as during the show he told Katie Price to 'grow up', as she continued her angry tirade against ex-husband Peter Andre

Piers was certainly back with a bang as during the show he told Katie Price to 'grow up', as she continued her angry tirade against ex-husband Peter Andre during a segment on the programme.

Katie's spat with the father of two of her children, Junior, 13, and Princess, 11, rumbled on as she claimed that he won't let the two kids film for her show, My Crazy Life.

She said: 'Well, I'll tell you about husband number one. I'm really cheesed off with Pete. He wont allow me to film with them or do photo shoots with the children.

She said: 'Well, I'll tell you about husband number one. I'm really cheesed off with Pete. He wont allow me to film with them or do photoshoots with [the children.]' (pictured in 2004)

So when people watch my show, theyre going to think Well, wheres Junior and Princess?

He wont allow me to film with them, he wont allow me to do photoshoots with them and hes being such a hypocrite.

'But unfortunately at this stage, you need both parents permission. So I just want to put it out there that hes really selfish and the kids miss out on it.

But Piers didn't give her an easy time of it on the show and said her life was 'one of perpetual chaos' and said: 'Is there one time when you think, "I should grow up?"'

Mad: Katie believes Peter is getting in the way of the children having a good time, saying: 'He's really selfish and the kids miss out on it' although he feels he has their best interests at heart

Outspoken: Meanwhile, Katie has been campaigning in Parliament to make online trolling illegal after her son Harvey was a victim of bullying and spoke about being his 'sole carer'

Piers didn't hold back at all during the show and asked her at the start: 'Whats going on with your love life? Do you want to get back with your husband? The last one?

But Katie didn't want to talk about love rat Kieran Hayler, which she has children Jett, five and Bunny, four.

Katie took to Instagram on Friday to share several furious cryptic Instagram posts aimed at Peter about 'hypocrite parents'.

There may be trouble ahead: Katie and Piers shared a selfie before the show aired, with Piers saying: 'oh-oh'

A source told the MailOnline: 'Hes using the kids as a weapon to try and control her.'

However, a second source close to Peter snapped back to the MailOnline: 'There's nothing in particular that has triggered this series of posts.

In the seven posts, which have since been deleted, Katie claimed she had been 'silenced', with a source exclusively telling MailOnline they're about Peter, 46.

Katie's Instagram showed several different memes about separated parents using their children against each other as 'weapons' just days after she wished her second ex-husband a happy birthday, calling him a 'great dad'.

Children: Katie has son Junior, 13, and daughter Princess, 11, with Peter (pictured together)
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Karlie Kloss led the celebrity attendees for Stella McCartney's Paris Fashion Week show, held at the Opera Garnier on Monday.

The model, 26, cut a sophisticated figure in a red maxi dress by the designer as she made a head-turning arrival for Stella's Autumn/ Winter 19/20 collection debut.

Once inside, Karlie rubbed shoulders with Alexa Chung, 35, who showed off her fashion prowess in an aqua blue Victoriana-inspired dress.

Catching the eye: Karlie Kloss and Alexa Chung (centre) led the celebrity attendees for Stella McCartney's Paris Fashion Week show on Monday

Karlie complemented the monogram dress, which sheathed over her slender physique, with a black tailored coat and pointed court shoes.

The businesswoman wore her blonde locks in a sleek centre-parting and accessorised the look with simple gold hoop earrings.

While Karlie wasn't strutting her stuff on the catwalk, she certainly caught the eye with her natural beauty, which she accentuated with blush-swept cheeks, smoky brown eye-shadow and a deep pink lip.

Drop-dead gorgeous: The model, 26, cut a sophisticated figure in a red maxi dress by the designer as she made a head-turning arrival for Stella's Autumn/ Winter 2019 collection debut

Catwalk queen: Karlie paired the look with a black tailored coat and pointed court shoes

Granny chic: Once inside, Karlie rubbed shoulders with Alexa Chung, 35, who showed off her fashion prowess in an aqua blue Victoriana-inspired dress

Fashion mavens: The pair appeared in high spirits ahead of the showcase as they idled away time by chatting and posing for photos

Best seats in the house: Karlie and Alexa got coveted front row tickets and sat next to British Vogue magazine chief editor Edward Enninful, center, and Oprah Winfrey (right)

Mission: Stella's show accompanied her #SaveTheTree social media campaign, and told celebrities about her goal to protect the Leuser Ecosystem, which is an ancient tropical rain forest that covers more than 6.5 million acres

Admirable: Stella's campaign asks those to save a tree in the tropical rainforest that is under threat from logging and development and dedicate it to someone special (pictured with Karlie)

Head-turner: Alexa also turned heads as she showcased her signature quirky style in the sheer teal blue chiffon floor-length dress (the pair sat next to Karen Elson (L) and Janelle Monae (R)

Vision in white: Karen Elson wowed in a Grecian one-shouldered dress with a pleated hemline. She posed with Doutzen Kroes (centre) who also opted for an all-white ensemble as she showed off her sartorial flair in a boilersuit

Feminine chic: Harry Potter actress Clemence Poesy looked equally as stylish in Stella's grey checked blazer, white shirt and flared jeans

Trendsetters: Sofia Carson (L) showcased her tremendous figure in a pleather pink a-line dress while Maisie William (R) complemented her blazer dress with chunky black boots

Pink-haired beauty: The Game of Thrones star showed off her leggy frame in the grey tartan minidress as she sat next to Sofia (R)

New romance? Maisie sparked further romance rumours as she posed with director Reuben Selby. The pair were first linked last month as they strolled hand-in-hand in New York

Alexa also turned heads as she showcased her signature quirky style in the sheer teal blue chiffon floor-length dress.

Jumping on the granny chic trend, the presenter paired the look with a pearl necklace and blush pink velvet pumps.

The fashionista opted to forego her usual winged eyeliner in favour of a softer make-up look and wore her brunette locks in soft tumbled waves.

Stylish display: Oprah, 65, looked every inch her superstar status as she arrived in an all-black ensemble

Having a giggle: Oprah posed with Stella (L) and Lewis Hamilon (R) and soon fell into a fit of the giggles after the show

High spirits: Oprah beamed with delight as she posed with Stella, Lewis and Edward inside the fashion bash

Showing her support: The friendly star also posed with her arm around Edward (L), before clutching onto Stella's husband Alasdhair Willis' hand (R)

Karlie and Alexa got coveted front row tickets and sat next to British Vogue magazine chief editor Edward Enninful, center, and Oprah Winfrey.

The group appeared in high spirits ahead of the showcase as they idled away time by chatting.

Other notable attendees were Game Of Thrones Maisie Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Clemence Poesy and Sofia Carson.

Oprah, who wore a gown designed by the fashion house to Harry and Megan's Royal Wedding, also showed her support as she sat front row.

The TV host, 65, opted for a simple but chic look in a navy polo-neck dress, which she accessorised with a knotted black leather belt.

He's got style: The Formula One driver, 34, cut a dapper figure in a grey checked tracksuit and black hoodie

Model looks: Lewis had plenty of swagger about him as he made his entrance

Leggy display: Tina Kunakey flashed plenty of leg in a her champagne silk skirt with thigh-high split

Fashion lovers: Tina got front row tickets next to Clemence (picture left) while Lewis posed with Carine Roitfeld (L) and Anna Dello Russo (R) (picture right)

Royal blue: Janelle Monae ensured all eyes were on her in pair of bright red trousers and a kooky hat

Stunning: Halima Aden (L) looked the picture of sophistication in a silk Stella poncho, while Calu Rivero (R)paired a pleather grey studded jacket with white mom jeans

Oprah also added a monochrome bangle to her look, along with a section of black and white rings and a rectangular-faced watch

On her shoulder, Oprah toted a chain strap Stella McCartney bag, as she further proved her loyalty to the famous brand.

The friendly star also posed with her arm around American singer-songwriter Janelle Monae, before clutching onto Stella's husband Alasdhair Willis' hand.

Military-inspired: Kaia Gerber strutted down the runway in a khaki boilersuit and black chunky boots

Getting along well: Kaia Gerber, 17, posed with rumoured boyfriend Wellington Grant, 21, backstage

Catwalk collection: Model Anja Rubik walked the runway in an array of grey ensembles, while Natalia Vodianova (centre) cut a striking figure in a forest green dress with embellished neckline

Sartorially-savvy: The catwalk was awash with different patterns, colours and trench coats

Environmentally-friendly: A lifelong vegetarian, McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs and has gone on to influence designers Burberry, Versace, Calvin Klein and Gucci to go fur-free

Kaia Gerber meanwhile was pictured backstage with rumoured boyfriend and fellow model Wellington Grant.

The pair were first pictured holding hands during an afternoon stroll last month.

Kaia, 17, commanded attention in a khaki boilersuit as she took to the runway for the fall/winter 2019/20 presentation and Wellington was in an outfit in the same colour.

Model of the moment: Cindy Crawford's daughter Kaia made a quick outfit change as she was spotted leaving the show after walking the runway

Western cowboy vibes: Constance Jablonski made a stylish exit in a white fringed coat and flared jeans

The one to impress: Vogue editor Anna Wintour wasn't afraid to clash prints as she stepped out in a blue and white patterned coat and snakeskin print ankle boots

Casually-clad: Natalia changed out of her runway looks as she made her exit in a stylish green trench coat, white kit and ripped hem jeans

Making changes: Stella's sister Mary ensured she got a front row seat to the show, which goes alongside Stella's social media campaign #ThereSheGoes to save Indonesias Leuser Ecosystem.

Stella McCartney has stepped out of her father Paul McCartney's shadow and has carved a fashion empire on ethical thinking and recycled fabrics.

A lifelong vegetarian, McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs and has gone on to influence designers Burberry, Versace, Calvin Klein and Gucci to go fur-free.

In the run-up to the Stella show, the British designer launched a social media campaign #ThereSheGoes to save Indonesias Leuser Ecosystem.

Paving the way: Stella has stepped out of her father Paul McCartney's shadow and has carved a fashion empire on ethical thinking and recycled fabrics

The campaign asks those to save a tree in the tropical rainforest that is under threat from logging and development and dedicate it to someone special.

While Stella dedicated it to her late mother Linda, she went onto nominate close pal Gwyneth Paltrow who planted a tree for her father bruce.

The goal is to protect the Leuser Ecosystem, which is aancient tropical rain forest that covers more than 6.5 million acres.
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Kaia Gerber was pictured backstage with rumoured boyfriend and fellow model Wellington Grant at the Stella McCartney show during Paris Fashion Week at the Opera Garnier on Monday.

The pair were first pictured holding hands during an afternoon stroll last month.

Kaia, 17, commanded attention in a khaki boilersuit as she took to the runway for the fall/winter 2019/20 presentation and Wellington was in an outfit in the same colour.

Getting along well: Kaia Gerber, 17, posed with rumoured boyfriend Wellington Grant, 21,at Stella McCartney's Paris Fashion Week show on Monday

High-fashion: She continued to commanded attention as she took to the runway for McCartneys Paris Fashion Week fall/winter 2019/20 presentation in the French capital on Monday morning wearing a khaki boilersuit

The supermodel's all-in-one featured large pockets on the knees and a zip detail along the collar and lapels.

A sage green shirt could be seem peeking out the top of the show-stopping piece that was styled with chunky brown heeled boots.

Expertly strutting down the runway, her beauty was highlighted with natural make-up and her thick brows were fluffed up.

Kaia's brunette locks were sleekly style in a slicked back pony tail that tied up at the nape of her neck as she appeared in the showcase alongside Wellington, 21.

Ruling the runway: The fashionista, 17, modelled a chic khaki ensemble of an over-sized tailored body suit that belted around the waist as she led the catwalk parade

Beauty: The supermodel's all-in-one featured large pockets on the knees and a zip detail along the collar and lapels

Following her stunning showcase, Kaia was spotted leaving the venue and she continued her chic display as she slipped into a pair of black low-rise wide leg trousers, a white t-shirt and a tailored blazer.

Nailing her off-duty look, she sported bright green trainers and shielded her eyes behind square framed sunglasses.

Kaia kept her hair in the same do that she took to the catwalk in and carried a book under her arm.

She kept her essentials in a black satchel that she effortlessly slung over her shoulder as she was ferried away from the event with a bodyguard.

Job done! Following her stunning showcase, Kaia was spotted leaving the venue and she continued her chic display as she slipped into a pair of black low-rise wide leg trousers, a white t-shirt and a tailored blazer

Attending the British designer's presentation of the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 women's ready-to-wear collection was a host of A-listers, including Oprah Winfrey, Lewis Hamilton, Alexa Chung and Karlie Kloss.

Oprah kept it classy in a navy knit dress that she nipped in at the waist with a black leather belt, the TV star peered through round-rimmed glasses as she took in the fashion looks.

Lewis Hamilton sported a casual look for the front row in checked tracksuit bottoms and matching bomber jacket.

The F1 driver kept warm with a hooded Stella McCartney black jumper and posed for pictures in chunky green trainers.

Time-out! Kaia kept her hair in the same do that she took to the catwalk in and carried a book under her arm

Alexa Chung was a vision in a demure pale green chiffon maxi dress and ensured all attention was on her dress by pairing it with nude shoes.

Leading the way for the model set was Doutzen Kroes, the blonde upped the fashion stakes in a white jumpsuit that was adorned with gold zips, the supermodel kept the look relaxed with a pair of black leather army boots.

Ever the siren, Karlie Kloss wowed in a bold red dress that hugged her slim frame and was emblazoned with the designers name Stella McCartney in an intricate print.

Showcasing her elegant style, Karen Elson looked ethereal in a silk white dress that draped down one shoulder and boasted subtle ruffles along the hemline.

Front row: Attending the British designer's presentation of the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 women's ready-to-wear collection were a host of A-listers, including (L-R) Lewis Hamilton, Oprah Winfrey and Alexa Chung

She accessorised with a gold bag that was in the shape of a shell and boosted her height in white and court shoes.

Stella McCartney has stepped out of her father Paul McCartney's shadow and has carved a fashion empire on ethical thinking and recycled fabrics.

A lifelong vegetarian, McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her designs and has gone on to influence designers Burberry, Versace, Calvin Klein and Gucci to go fur-free.

Model behaviour: A host of models were attending the high-profile fashion event including (L-R) Karen Elson, Karlie Kloss and Doutzen Kroes




They've only been dating for a few weeks, but Vicky Pattison and Ercan Ramadan enjoyed a very romantic break in Budapest, Hungary last week.

The couple were spotted departing their luxury hotel on Sunday after their holiday, following one last boozy night out in the city.

As well as enjoying some last night drinks, the reality star couple also enjoyed the spa, with Vicky posting a sizzling swimsuit selfie.

Heading home: Vicky Pattison and Ercan Ramadan enjoyed a very romantic break in Budapest, Hungary last week, departing for the airport on Sunday

Vicky dressed down for her flight home on Sunday, teaming comfy green sweats with a loose white t-shirt and trainers.

The I'm A Celeb star wore barely a scrap of makeup and piled her brunette locks up into an effortless top knot.

Her TOWIE star beau was equally casual in skinny jeans and a padded jacket as the couple jumped in their car to the airport.

Spa trip: As well as enjoying some last night drinks, the reality star couple also enjoyed the spa, with Vicky posting a sizzling swimsuit selfie

The couple have heavily documented their romantic break on social media, with Vicky taking to Instagram on Sunday to show off their final night.

First up was a trip to the spa, with Vicky posing in a skimpy black swimming costume as she pouted for a mirror selfie.

'Miserable cow... God knows why my face is like this Im actually l having a wonderful time- maybe Im an inside smiler) Trying to freshen up in the beautiful spa before we head home... Worked a treat!!' she captioned the post.

Jet-set style: Vicky dressed down for her flight home on Sunday, teaming comfy green sweats with a loose white t-shirt and trainers

Her new man: Her TOWIE star beau was equally casual in skinny jeans and a padded jacket as the couple jumped in their car to the airport

Helping hand: The couple's luggage was carried to their waiting car by hotel staff

A boozy night followed with Vicky sharing photos of the couple's drinking session before posting a video as she downed a pint before her man.

'The escalation of our last day/night in Budapest... Ive honestly had such a wonderful time and would recommend it to anyone!' she gushed.

'The perfect city break! We met so many lovely people and barely scraped the surface for all the amazing things to do and see! Also, THANKYOU for being a great travel buddy !! Im very sad to be going home...  (my liver is thrilled it might finally get a rest however!)'

The brunette recently admitted she got together with TV personality Ercan, whose previous screen credits include Life On Marbs and The Only Way Is Essex, after he 'slid into her DMs' following her split from businessman ex John.

What a break! After a boozy couple of days Vicky joked to her Instagram followers that her liver was thanking her for heading home

Night out: The couple hit a local bar for their final evening, sharing a cosy photo on Instagram

She told new! magazine: 'We've followed each other for a long while on Instagram. It was one of those ones where you just follow good looking fellas.'

Vicky said nothing ever came to fruition between the pair because Ercan got a girlfriend and she met John, but both of them split from their respective partners in the space of a month.

She added: 'He [Ercan] slid into me DMs over Christmas and it's gone from there. He's lovely and fun.'

Vicky went public with her new man in February during a trip to Dubai - three months after calling off her engagement to John.

This is the life: 'The escalation of our last day/night in Budapest... Ive honestly had such a wonderful time and would recommend it to anyone!' she gushed

Cheeky! Vicky looked gorgeous in a colourful dress and baker boy hat as she enjoyed a luxurious looking drink
Johnny Depp believes he has a number of witnesses that can prove Amber Heard's domestic abuse allegations were false.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor, 55, has filed a $50million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife, 32, in which he claims her accusations were an 'elaborate hoax'

His legal team have apparently interviewed a number people under oath, who all claimed they saw no visible injuries on the Danish Girl star when they interacted with her following an alleged altercation.

It rumbles on: Johnny Depp believes he has multiple witnesses who can prove Amber Heard's domestic abuse allegations are false amid his $50m defamation lawsuit (pictured in 2016)

In transcripts obtained by The Blast, four employees and one neighbour from the couple's former apartment building were deposed and asked about any sign of abuse they may have seen between the pair and all insisted there were none.

Trinity Esparaza, who owns the building's concierge services company, encountered the actress a number of times following an alleged incident on May 21, including two days afterwards, when she did not see any visible injuries to Amber's face or body.

But he noted on May 27 - the day the Aquaman star filed for a temporary restraining order and accused her then-husband of spousal abuse - that she was sporting a 'red cut underneath her right eye and red marks by her eye.'

Something to say: The latest news comes after Johnny accused Amber of starting a relationship with Elon Musk just a month after they married in 2015

After seeing pictures which were released when Amber filed for the order against Johnny, Trinity went back and reviewed security footage from the building because she suspected the allegations were 'false' as the 'time didn't add up' and she had seen the actress 'several times' without marks on her face.

Security guard Alex Romero also admitted he had serious doubts about Amber's account because he had seen her a number of times during the week and saw nothing to suggest the actress had been 'punched by anyone' or had anything thrown at her.

He added: 'I saw the pictures and the next day I saw her. I was like come on, really. I couldn't believe. When I saw her in person, I didn't see anything.'

Happier times: In transcripts obtained by The Blast, four employees and one neighbour from the couple's former apartment building were deposed and asked about any sign of abuse they may have seen between the pair and all insisted there were none. (pictured in 2014)

Two other employees, including the building's general manager Brandon Patterson - also testified they had seen the actress multiple times after the alleged assault and was seen 'without bruises, cuts, redness, swelling or any other injuries to her face'.

And the couple's neighbour, Isaac Baruch - who has been friends with the Black Mass actor for 37 years - told how he saw Amber the morning after the alleged fight and claims she shouted: 'He hit me! He threw a phone and hit me!'

While the actress 'stretched her neck' to show him her alleged injuries, he didn't see anything and though he saw her mark-free throughout the week, on May 27, there were visible marks on her.

Johnny's attorney has also provided 87 different pieces of recorded video, taken from different cameras before and after the alleged incident.

Abuse: In May 2016 Heard said that Depp had been 'verbally and physically' abusive towards her. Images emerged at the time (above) showing Heard with a bruised eye and face

Amber's lawyer has branded the lawsuit 'frivolous' and insisted his client won't be silenced.

MailOnline has contacted a spokesperson for both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard for comment.

The latest news comes after Johnny accused Amber of starting a relationship with Elon Musk just a month after they married in 2015.

In the lawsuit obtained by People, the actor alleged that Heard would receive 'late night' visits from Musk while Depp was out of the country filming.

Depp also claims that the Tesla founder was allowed into the couple's Los Angeles home on the same night Heard 'presented her battered face to the public'.

Heard and Depp separated in May 2016.

According to People, a representative for Musk claims that 'Elon and Amber didnt start seeing each other until May 2016'.

'Their relationship didnt become romantic until some time later,' the representative said.

Heards attorney, Eric M. George said in a statement to the magazine: 'This frivolous action is just the latest of Johnny Depps repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard.

'She will not be silenced. Mr. Depps actions prove he is unable to accept the truth of his ongoing abusive behavior.'

Last December, Heard wrote an article for the Washington Post in which she said she had received death threats and lost out on work after accusing Depp of domestic abuse.

'The op-ed's clear implication that Mr Depp is a domestic abuser is categorically and demonstrably false,' Depp's lawsuit states.

'Mr Depp never abused Ms Heard. Her allegations against him were false when they were made in 2016.

'They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms Heard and advance her career.'

The lawsuit goes on to say that the allegations made by Heard against Depp were refuted by 'two separate responding police officers, a litany of neutral third-party witnesses, and 87 newly obtained surveillance camera videos'.

'Ms Heard is not a victim of domestic abuse, she is a perpetrator,' the lawsuit states.

The Aquaman actress filed for divorce from the Pirates of the Caribbean star in May 2016 stating that he had been 'verbally and physically' abusive towards her.

Their divorce was finalized in January 2017, with Heard later donating a portion of her $7million divorce settlement to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

They were married for 15 months before she filed for divorce.

Images emerged at the time showing Heard with a bruised eye and face. She claimed Depp threw a phone at her face and struck her in their home.

Depp has long denied the allegations and has instead claimed that his ex-wife repeatedly violently attacked and severely injured him.

In the defamation lawsuit, Depp claims Heard threw a glass vodka bottle at him and caused the bones in the tip of his right middle finger to shatter.

He claims the incident occurred one month into their marriage and resulted in him having to have his finger 'surgically reattached'.

'Ms Heard then disseminated false accounts of this incident, casting Mr Depp as the perpetrator of his own injury'.

Depp claims in the lawsuit that he was dropped from Pirates of the Caribbean just four days after Heard's op-ed was published in the Washington Post.

'Ms Heard also knew that her elaborate hoax worked: as a result of her false allegations against Mr Depp, Ms Heard became a darling of the #MeToo movement, was the first actress named a Human Rights Champion of the United Nations Human Rights Office, was appointed ambassador on womens rights at the American Civil Liberties Union, and was hired by LOreal Paris as its global spokesperson.'
Call The Midwife has been renewed for at least three more seasons, taking it to 2022.

The highly-popular BBC series - which follows nurses working in London's East-End in the 1950s and 1960s - will be back for a minimum of two additional seasons in 2021 and 2022, after the current contract expires in 2020.

The announcement was made on Sunday by the BBC - after the series' eighth season came to a close.

Renewed: Call The Midwife has been renewed for at least three more seasons, taking it to 2022

The new deal means the show will reach it's 10th birthday on the air, having debuted in 2012.

Season 8 has raked in excellent audience numbers, and has been the highest-rating returning drama of the year, with an average audience of nine million.

Executive producer Dame Pippa Harris has lauded the 'extraordinary creativity' of writer Heidi Thomas, and said: 'We are delighted and humbled by the continued warmth of the audience response.'

The drama's current plot-line is set in 1964, and the new seal will take it up to 1967 - poignant due to this being the year the Abortion Act was passed and it was made legal to terminate unwanted pregnancies in England, Scotland and Wales.

Good news: The announcement was made on Sunday by the BBC - after the series' eighth season came to a close

Not going anywhere: The new deal means the show will reach it's 10th birthday on the air, having debuted in 2012

The show has never shied away from difficult topics, having returned to the controversial subject of backstreet abortions this past season.

After touching on this earlier in the series, a season 8 plot featured the death of a woman who was forced into having the procedure illegally after being turned down by her doctor.

The tragic storyline featured rousing pro-choice speeches by a number of characters as the programme explored the legalisation of abortion - with mother-of-two Jeannie, played by Molly Chesworth, too scared to tell her husband and doctor she had visited an illegal abortionist.

Gripping: The show has never shied away from difficult topics

Hard-hitting: The show returned to the controversial subject of backstreet abortions this past season

In harrowing scenes, she died in an ambulance after catching an infection.

Speaking to Nurse Trixie, played by Helen George, about her pregnancy, she said: It isnt what I wanted. Are women not allowed to want or not want things? I thought it was going to be different for us, that we were going to be able to choose.

And what I dont want is to end up like my mother did, seven kids in 11 years and in and out of hospital with her head falling apart.

Dramatic: Frank Tennant (Bryan Parry) and Jeannie Tennant (Molly Chesworth) in season 8 of the BBC drama

They'll be back: Season 9 of Call The Midwife will start shooting in May, set to air in early 2020

Viewers were moved to tears earlier in the series when Cath, played by Emily Barber, had an illegal abortion in the first episode.

Valerie Dyer, played by Jennifer Kirby, also uncovered that her grandmother was a back-street abortionist.

Season 9 of Call The Midwife will start shooting in May, set to air in early 2020.
She has relentlessly been storming the catwalks at Paris Fashion Week.

And it was back to business for Kaia Gerber on Monday as she walked in her second show of the day for Sacai, while Naomi Campbell sat in the front row at the show.

The 17-year-old model looked super chic in a frilly white dress with embroidered detailing as she sashayed down the runway on Monday.

Catwalk queen: It was back to business for Kaia Gerber on Monday as she walked in her second show of the day for Sacai, while Naomi Campbell sat in the front row at the show

Kaia, who walked for Stella McCartney earlier in the day, teamed her stylish look with a pair of flat black boots, while also adding a quirky woolly brown snood to her striking ensemble.

She parted her glossy chestnut locks in the centre, while opting for a neutral pallet of make-up which offered a natural look.

Watching intently from the sidelines was fashion maven Naomi, who rocked a statement red fur jacket as she took her place on the FROW.

FROW favourite: Watching intently from the sidelines was fashion maven Naomi, who rocked a statement red fur jacket as she took her place on the FROW

Chic: The 17-year-old model looked super chic in a frilly white dress with embroidered detailing as she sashayed down the runway on Monday

Stylish: Kaia teamed her stylish look with a pair of flat black boots, while also adding a quirky woolly brown snood to her striking ensemble

Underneath the striking garment, Naomi wore a pleated emerald dress and a pair of huge rounded shades as she sat chatting to Vogue editor Edward Enninful.

Naomi rocked a sleek black bob wig, while highlighting her glowing complexion with a glamorous coat of make-up and a glossy pink lip.

Her latest outing comes after she reportedly was seen 'getting close' to rapper Drake - despite having apparently been enjoying a 'mind-blowing' relationship with Liam Payne.

Natural: She parted her glossy chestnut locks in the centre, while opting for a neutral pallet of make-up which offered a natural look

The English model was said to be flirting with the American star while attending Jay Z and Beyonce's annual Gold Oscar party at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles.

An onlooker told The Mirror: 'Naomi was having the time of her life. At the party she was getting quite close to Drake  they ended up dancing together.

'She doesn't want to be in a serious relationship and hasn't been inviting Liam to events. She just doesn't seem that fussed and likes her space.'

Glam: Naomi rocked a sleek black bob wig, while highlighting her glowing complexion with a glamorous coat of make-up and a glossy pink lip

Amid the swirling romance rumours, Naomi and Liam will both attend the WE Day charity bash at Wembley Arena on Wednesday evening.

However sources speculate that because it is a work commitment they are unlikely to draw attention to their relationship and will likely leave separately.

Rumours of the pairs fledging relationship have been circulating since Liam commented on a social media snap posted by the supermodel, writing: Perfection in a person...dont give me those eyes.

Pals: Underneath the striking garment, Naomi wore a pleated emerald dress and a pair of huge rounded shades as she sat chatting to Vogue editor Edward Enninful

The catwalk queen then wrote alongside a shirtless picture of Liam, Beautiful soul, to which he replied: Takes one to know one.'

They were later seen together at Londons O2 Arena where they were trying to stay under the radar during afrobeat artist Davido's concert.

MailOnline previously contacted a representative for further comment
Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian has married her actor boyfriend David O'Mahoney in London, surrounded by family and her friends from the Channel 4 soap.

A source has told MailOnline that the happy couple, who announced their engagement last April, tied the knot on Sunday at the Star & Garter in Richmond.

Ali's Hollyoaks co-stars Sarah-Jayne Dunn and Jodi Albert both posted Instagram images over the weekend as they got ready for the big day, which Ali and David counted down to on Instagram earlier this year.

Hitched! Hollyoaks actress Ali Bastian has married her actor boyfriend David O'Mahoney in London, surrounded by family and her friends from the Channel 4 soap

Jodi was excited as she shared a shot of her glam look on Sunday before leaving her London hotel. 'Ready for a very special day with all my favourite people!' she captioned her outfit snap.

Sarah-Jayne added her own selfies on her pretty floral dress, before raising a glass of bubbly in one Insta shot.

The couple married at The Star & Garter which boasts a Victorian ballroom with views over the Thames.

Congratulations: A source has told MailOnline that the happy couple, who announced their engagement last April, tied the knot on Sunday at the Star & Garter in Richmond

To you! Ali's Hollyoaks co-stars Sarah-Jayne Dunn and Jodi Albert both posted Instagram images over the weekend as they got ready for the big day

Stunning: Sarah-Jayne, who got married last year, looked gorgeous in a floral dress, showing off her long legs for her close friend's big day

The stunning venue hosts civil weddings as well as wedding breakfasts and evening celebrations.

On January 2 actor David posted on his social media that he would be marrying Ali in 60 days writing alongside a photo of his gorgeous fiancee.

'60 Days until #AliAndDavidGetHitched and this beautiful, Strong, fearless and amazing woman makes me the happiest man in the World... heres to more long walks in beautiful #sunsets and a lifetime of #adventure.'

Representatives for the couple have been contacted by MailOnline for comment.

Close friend: Jodi was excited as she shared a shot of her glam look on Sunday before leaving her London hotel. 'Ready for a very special day with all my favourite people!' she gushed

Pals: Ali celebrated Sarah-Jayne's hen do last April, with the three actresses remaining close since their Hollyoaks days

The couple revealed to OK! Magazine last April that they were engaged after an 18-month romance, teasing that they were planning three celebrations, including a blessing in Bali.

David was planning on proposing to Ali, who used to play Becca Dean on the Channel 4 soap, during a romantic holiday to Bali, but instead he spontaneously decided to pop the question when he returned from a musical.

Talking to the publication, the stage actor revealed: 'I was 99.99 per cent sure that shed say yes, but there was still a scary but exciting feeling.

Countdown: On January 2 actor David posted on his social media that he would be marrying Ali in 60 days writing alongside a photo of his gorgeous fiancee

'Moments after I proposed to Ali I felt this huge amount of relief that I didnt have to keep the secret any more!'

While Ali added: 'Even though wed discussed marriage, it took me completely by surprise. I still think, has this really happened?'

'Were planning three celebrations. We want to get married in London followed by a cocktail party and then a blessing in Bali,' she continued.

'I love Davids kindness  he is so kind and thoughtful, to a point where sometimes Im like, how could I ever be so thoughtful? He makes me want to hold up my side of the deal every day.'

Meanwhile, David revealed that his love for Ali has gone back years as he revealed to the publication: 'I had Alis poster on my wall at uni! I wish I could go back to my 19-year-old self and say: "Itll be great, dont worry!"'
She never fails to turn heads with her sensational sense of style.

And Elizabeth Hurley brought the glamour as she attended the Turn The Tables Cancer Research charity event held at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in London on Monday.

The actress, 53, looked the picture of elegance in a pale pink dress, while Georgia Toffolo, 24, cut a stylish figure in a Victoriana-inspired shirt as they joined a host of politicians for a champagne three-course lunch.

Gorgeous: Elizabeth Hurley brought the glamour to the Turn The Tables Cancer Research charity event held at BAFTA 195 Piccadilly in London on Monday

Liz dressed her hourglass figure in the feminine midi dress, which featured fluted sleeves, pleats and eyelet buttons on the skirt.

She complemented the look with a pair of pink suede kitten heels with perspex detailing and diamond studded earrings.

The Royals star wore her brunette locks in voluminous waves and showcased her youthful visage with her signature black eyeliner, blush-swept cheeks and a glossy pink lip.

Feminine chic: The actress, 53, looked the picture of elegance in a pale pink dress, which featured fluted sleeves, pleats and eyelet buttons on the skirt

Sophisticated lady: Georgia Toffolo, 24, cut a stylish figure in a Victoriana-inspired shirt

Her happy place: The Made In Chelsea star has a passion for politics and looked excited to watch politicians get their chance to take revenge on their journalistic foes

Plenty to talk about: Liz joined Boris Johnson and a host of politicians for a champagne three-course lunch

Georgia teamed her smart floral patterned blouse with tailored trousers and a furry bag and wore her blonde bob in a sleek straight centre-parting.

The Made In Chelsea star has a passion for politics and looked excited to watch politicians get their chance to take revenge on their journalistic foes in front of a live audience.

The reality starlet was joined by a host of well-known celebrities from the Mayfair circle, including Trinny Woodall, Tamara Beckwith, Kay Burley and Anthea Turner.

Glam: The Royals star wore her brunette locks in voluminous waves and showcased her youthful visage with her signature black eyeliner, blush-swept cheeks and a glossy pink lip

She loves politics: Liz has also been vocal about her previous political beliefs. Back in 2016, the actress threw her support behind the campaign to leave the UK campaign by stripping off

It girls: The reality starlet was joined by a host of well-known celebrities from the Mayfair circle, including Trinny Woodall (L) and Tamara Beckwith (R)

Ladies who lunch: Liz rubbed shoulders with Trinny, who was the epitome of style in flared jeans and a silk blue shirt

Cheerful: The pair appeared deep in discussion as they chatted away ahead of the politicians taking to the stage

Having fun: The duo couldn't resist posing for a photo together at the three-course lunch

Smile for the camera! Liz, Trinny and Toff all posed for a snap with Tania Bryer

Legally blonde: Tamara rubbed shoulders with Jenny Halpern Prince, who looked lovely in a bright blue dress

Glam: Victoria Derbyshire (L) rocked a leopard print skirt while Heather Kerzner (R) looked pretty in a white floral patterned dress

High spirits: Anthea Turner beamed with happiness as she chatted away to skincare mogul Liz

Let the interview commence! Nick Ferrari and Eamonn Holmes shook hands at the dinner ahead of their interviews

His time in the spotlight: Eamonn was interviewed by Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Emily Thornberry

Trinny was the epitome of style in flared jeans and a silk blue shirt, while Tamara rocked red tartan trousers and crisp white shirt.

The charity event sees politicians throw journalists out of their comfort zones by reversing their interviewer- interviewee roles.

While 2018 saw former Home Secretary Amber Rudd take on Piers Morgan, Boris Johnson stepped into the hot seat to grill This Morning's presenter Eamonn Holmes.

Under the spotlight: The charity event sees politicians throw journalists out of their comfort zones by reversing their interviewer- interviewee roles. Kay Burley and Boris had to face the hot seat

Elegant: Kay looked stylish in grey suit trousers, a white t-shirts and pink heeled boots

In the hot seat: The news reader was grilled by Boris for one interview

Girls' day out: Anthea Turner, Deborah James, Liz Earle and Harriet Scott (L-R) all attended the charity event

Showing their support: Maureen Lipman and Ewan Venters also attended the event

Celebrities were then asked to donate 'cash for questions' to raise money for Cancer Research.

Liz has also been vocal about her previous political beliefs. Back in 2016, the actress threw her support behind the campaign to leave the UK campaign by stripping off.

With just a Union Jack cushion protecting her modesty, she told her Instagram followers: 'Every voice matters, vote tomorrow- whatever your persuasion.

'I'm voting #Brexit#voteleave No gloating from the winners- no whinging from the losers VOTE!!'

Some fans joked the racy snap, which gained a 4,000 likes in two hours, was enough to persuade them to join the Leave campaign.
They confirmed their engagement last month after four years together.

And Jude Law and his new fiancee Phillipa Coan looked happier than ever as they took a romantic stroll in the Trastevere neighbourhood of Rome, Italy, on Monday.

The actor, 46, and the psychologist, 32, looked relaxed as they strolled arm in arm through the cobbled streets of the city.

How Rome-antic! Jude Law and his new fiancee Phillipa Coan looked happier than ever as they took a romantic stroll in the Trastevere neighbourhood of Rome, Italy, on Monday

Jude cut a casual figure for the outing, opting to wear a black bomber jacket, black jogging bottoms and black pumps.

Phillipa looked chic in a cream hooded jacket, dark skinny jeans and a pair of white trainers, while wearing her blonde hair tied back in a neat bun.

The couple's appearance in Italy comes amid filming for Jude's new drama series The New Pope.

The actor has reprised his role as Pope Pius XIII (born Lenny Belardo), with filming taking place on location in the European country.

Wedding bells: The actor, 46, and the psychologist, 32, looked relaxed as they strolled arm in arm through the cobbled streets of the city

The eight-part series, which also stars John Malkovich, documents the election of Lenny, the first American pontiff, into the highest position in the Catholic church.

Phillipa and Jude are said to be planning a springtime wedding in France, surrounded by their showbiz pals.

The couple have been dating for four years and confirmed their engagement last week when Phillipa was seen out sporting a huge diamond on her ring finger.

The Sun recently reported that the Sherlock Holmes star has asked his eldest son Rafferty, 22, whom he shares with ex wife Sadie Frost, to be his best man.

A source revealed to the publication: 'The wedding itself will be a good old fashioned knees up with plenty of booze and dancing.

Next step: The couple have been dating for four years and confirmed their engagement last week when Phillipa was seen out sporting a huge diamond (pictured in February 2016)

'All his old pals are going from when he was growing up in London and just starting out in his career.

'Jude and Phillipa have been going out together for years and get on really well, so this is the next natural step.'

It appears as though the nuptials will be an A-list affair with several of Jude's actor pals reported to attend including Jonny Lee Miller, Ewan McGregor, Brad Adams and Sean Pertwee.

Jude previously opened up about his romance with Phillipa in an interview with Modern Living.

He said: 'Shes mine and no one elses. Im very, very happy. Our relationship is a very private thing, and I think part of the fact it works so well is exactly because of that.'

Sweet: The Sherlock Holmes star is said to have asked his eldest son Rafferty, 22, to be his best man at the couple's French wedding this spring (pictured last month)

This will be the second time lucky for father-of-five Jude, who was previously married to designer Sadie from 1997 until their divorce in 2003.

The former couple share three children together, Rafferty, 22, daughter Iris, 18, and son Rudy, 16.

Jude also has a daughter Sophia, nine, with model former flame Samantha Burke and Ada, three, with musician Catherine Harding.

The Captain Marvel star previously dated fellow A-lister Sienna Miller, 37, with Jude famously issuing a public apology to her after having an affair with his children's nanny.
The scaled down exercises will support " diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Key Resolve and Foal Eagle will be replaced by Dong Maeng. US President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly complained about the costs of US troop deployment in South Korea. Seoul has agreed to increase its contribution to US$ 924 million dollars.

Seoul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  South Korea and the United States have confirmed that they would no longer hold their annual springtime Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises.

North Korea has always seen the manoeuvres as preparation for an invasion and always opposed them.

South Korean Defence Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan announced that a smaller series of exercises called Dong Maeng (Alliance) would be carried out.

Planned to support "diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Dong Maeng began this morning until 12 March.

The new exercise involves staff and troops from the South Korean Defence Ministry, Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and operations commands of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and those from the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command (CFC), US Forces Korea and Indo-Pacific Command.

Dong Maeng will focus on strategic, operational and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula," the two militaries said in a joint statement.

Foal Eagle was the largest of the regular joint exercises held by the two countries. In the past, it has involved as many as 200,000 South Koreans and the 30,000 US personnel based in South Korea.

Key Resolve was a computer-simulated exercise alongside Foal Eagle.

President Trump has previously complained of the cost of such exercises and South Koreas small contribution.

The South Korean government recently agreed to increase its contribution to US$ 924 million, putting an end to a dispute with its long-term ally.

The negotiations ended on 10 February with the announcement by South Koreas Foreign Ministry that Seoul would pay about 8.2 per cent more than what it paid in the previous five-year agreement, which expired at the end of last year.
She's starring as the title character in the West End production of All About Eve.

But Lily James made time to support the younger acting generation on Monday, as she attended the Into Film Awards at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square, which highlight the creative work of five to 19-year-olds.

The actress, 29, looked effortlessly chic in a black and cream polka dot Petar Petrov dress, which featured a high neckline and cap sleeves as well as a pleated skirt.

Chic: Lily James made time to support the younger acting generation on Monday, as she attended the Into Film Awards at ODEON Luxe Leicester Square

Lily teamed her dress with a pair of stylish platform heeled black boots, which gave her svelte frame some added inches as she posed for snaps.

The Downton Abbey star accessorised her look with a simple gold bangle and a selection of rings, as well as a pendant necklace, which she toyed with while smiling for shots.

Lily wore her blonde tresses in natural beachy waves, while opting for a full coat of make-up in natural tones with a hint of pink blush.

Wow: The actress, 29, looked effortlessly chic in a black and cream polka dot a Petar Petrov dress, which featured a high neckline and cap sleeves as well as a pleated skirt

The Into Film Awards aims to showcase the work of young filmmaking talent, offering a variety of categories in a bid to peak the interest of lots of young creatives.

Following the announcement of nominees, famous actors are enlisted to help present the gongs to the winners of each category.

The Mamma Mia star joins Gillian Anderson to tread the boards in Ivo van Hove's new stage adaptation of the 1950 Bette Davis film, All About Eve.

Stylish: Lily teamed her dress with a pair of stylish platform heeled black boots, which gave her svelte frame some added inches as she posed for snaps

Smoulder: The Downton Abbey star accessorised her look with a simple gold bangle and a selection of rings, as well as a pendant necklace, which she toyed with while smiling for shots

Stepping in: The Mamma Mia star joins Gillian Anderson to tread the boards in Ivo van Hove's new stage adaptation of the 1950 Bette Davis film, All About Eve

Chilly: Following the event Lily wrapped up warm in a grey overcoat as she attempted to beat the London chill

Johnny English actress Gillian, 50, plays legendary Broadway star Margo Channing, whose career is threatened by her number one fan Eve, portrayed by Lily.

As ruthless and ambitious as she is beautiful, Eve has to contend with cynical theatre columnist Addison DeWitt on her rise to the top.

X Files star Gillian has big shoes to fill as she takes over from screen legend Davis, while Lily's role was played by Anne Baxter in the original film.

Busty: Camilla Thurlow put on a busty display in a black floral dress as she attended the event with boyfriend Jamie Jewitt

I'm with him! Jason Isaacs and Andy Serkis caught up during the event

Lady in red: Edith Bowman opted for a frill red smock dress and Jack Lowden wore a denim shirt jacket

Suited and booted: David Walliams and Bill Nighy both looked dapper in navy two-piece suits

All About Eve received a total of 14 Academy Award nominations, winning six Oscars in total including Best Film, and remains the only film in history to receive four female acting nods.

Directed and written by Belgian experimental artist van Hove, the play features music by PJ Harvey, set and lighting by Jan Versweyveld, costume design by An DHuys and sound design from Tom Gibbons.

Completing the cast in the highly anticipated production are Monica Dolan, Ian Drysdale, Tsion Habte, Jessie Mei Li, Julian Ovenden, Sheila Reid, Rhashan Stone, Stanley Townsend and Philip Voyzey.

Sweet: Eddie Redmayne (C) presents Best Film: 11 Years and Under to these talented winners

Winner! Rhys Ifans (L) presents Teacher of the Year, sponsored by Working Title Films
Blac Chyna was spotted in Cuba on Sunday.

The 30-year-old reality star shared an Instagram video leaving a building dressed in a sensational scarlet frock with the caption: 'Cuba was a life-changing experience to celebrate my 5 year anniversary of @lashedcosmetics.'

And she shared a racy snap of herself an hour earlier in the same dress giving a leggy display on top of a baby grand piano.

Tickle the ivories: Blac Chyna, 30, shared a racy snap of herself via Instagram on Sunday

Daring to impress, the stunning beauty flaunted her famous curves in the plunging strapless couture.

As she walked outside to a shiny red classic car, Blac Chyna said hello to her fans and flashed a package of one of her branded cosmetics.

Meanwhile, Blac Chyna and her ex Rob Kardashian are said to be working on their relationship for the sake of their two-year-old daughter Dream, according to a new report from TMZ.

Sources close to the former couple say they underwent at least seven mediation sessions together to help finalise a custody agreement for Dream, and they've continued to be in direct contact since regarding their daughter's care.

Red hot: The reality star also shared an Instagram video leaving a building dressed in a sensational scarlet frock with the caption: 'Cuba was a life-changing experience to celebrate my 5 year anniversary of @lashedcosmetics.'

Flash the goods: As she walked outside to a shiny red classic car, Blac Chyna said hello to her fans and flashed a package of one of her branded cosmetics

Impressive: Daring to impress, the stunning beauty flaunted her famous curves in the plunging strapless couture

The insider adds to TMZ that they plan to eventually make face-to-face hand overs with Dream.

It's thought the current custody situation sees Rob have their daughter for the majority of the week but they are splitting holidays equally and working around their schedules.

TMZ also report that during mediation if was agreed that neither party would introduce a new partner to Dream unless it is a long-term relationship.

Amicable: Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian are back on speaking terms, and are working on their co-parenting relationship for the sake of their daughter Dream, two ; (pictured 2016)

Rob took to Twitter last week to clarify the pair's status 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, 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!'

The former reality stars endured a highly contentious split a month after the child's birth.
They went public with their romance in January after being introduced through mutual friends in New York.

And Sienna Miller, 37, and her art gallery owner boyfriend Lucas Zwirner, 28, enjoyed their first overseas trip together as they arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport for Paris Fashion Week on Monday afternoon.

The actress pulled off effortless glamour in a colourful retro printed blouse worn tucked into black skinny jeans.

Going strong: Sienna Miller, 37, and her art gallery owner boyfriend Lucas Zwirner, 27, arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport for Paris Fashion Week on Monday afternoon

The Factory Girl star boosted her height in a pair of black heeled boots and pulled along a Louis Vuitton suitcase.

Giving a nod to 50s fashion, the mother-of-one shielded her eyes with a pair of retro Kenmark Eyewear x Gemma Style shades and toted a classic large black leather handbag.

Sienna left her golden locks to hang down loosely in tousled waves and she appeared to be make-up free as she travelled to the fashion capital ahead of her expected appearance at the Louis Vuitton presentation on Tuesday.

Lucas, a Yale-educated art gallery owner, sported a bold red and blue rain coat over a black jumper and pink T-shirt.

Stylish: The actress pulled off effortless glamour in a colourful retro printed blouse by Sezane worn tucked into jeans by Mother

Come fly with me: The Factory Girl star boosted her height in a pair of black heeled boots and pulled along a Louis Vuitton suitcase

So chic: Giving a nod to 50s fashion, the mother-of-one shielded her eyes with a pair of retro Kenmark Eyewear x Gemma Style shades and toted a classic large black leather handbag

Ensuring he was relaxed for his flight, he sported denim jeans and brown boots as was seen strolling through the arrivals terminal alongside his girlfriend.

Lucas is a gallery owner who joined the family business to grow his father's eponymous art gallery, David Zwirner Books.

He currently oversees 25 book releases a year as editorial director of the company and revealed he plans to extend the gallery to publish more than books.

Whilst it's not known exactly when Sienna and Lucas began dating, he was the star's date when she attended her actor ex fiance Tom Sturridge's birthday party.

Stylish jaunt: Sienna left her golden locks to hang down loosely in tousled waves and she appeared to be make-up free as she travelled to the fashion capital ahead

Keeping it casual: Lucas, a Yale-educated art gallery owner, sported a bold red and blue rain coat over a black jumper and pink T-shirt

Girl about town: The mother-of-one is expected to attend the Louis Vuitton Paris Fashion Week autumn-winter 19/20 presentation on Tuesday

Sienna and Tom co-parent daughter Marlowe, six, and have remained on great terms since their split over three years ago.

Last year, Sienna gushed to Harper's Bazaar magazine that Tom was her 'best friend in the entire world' - and that while they don't share a property, they often stay together to spend mutual time with their little girl.

Admitting their close bond has not broken since they cut romantic ties in the summer of 2015 after four years together, she explained: 'We still love each other...

'I think in a break-up somebody has to be a little bit cruel in order for it to be traditional, but its not been acrimonious in a way where you would choose to not be around that person.'

Plenty to smile about: Sienna went public with her new romance in January after being introduced to Lucas through mutual friends in New York

City Of Light: The actress looked happy and relaxed as she made a solo stroll through the Parisian streets later on Monday




Formula E TV Presenter Nicki Shields has revealed she is expecting her first child - a baby boy - with her husband Mark Sainthill.

The 33-year-old London native confessed that she didn't throw a fashionable gender reveal party, but instead waited to share the news at an intimate dinner with Mark, during an interview with Hello! magazine.

Nicki, who co-hosts the racing programme with Vernon Kay, attended her 20-week scan with her other half and asked the nurse to write down the gender of her baby.

Expecting: Formula E TV Presenter Nicki Shields has revealed she is expecting her first child - a baby boy - with her husband Mark Sainthill

The couple then waited until later that evening once they were settled at dinner to open the piece of paper where they excitedly learned they are expecting a boy.

Nicki said that Mark was thrilled she is carrying a son, she recalled: 'His first reaction was "great, we can get a go-cart", but I like to think he'd have had the same reaction if it had been a girl', adding that he is a huge supporter of women in Motorsport.

Nicki, who married Mark in Ibiza in 2014, said that there is no way her husband is getting away with not being there and believes her pregnancy has brought them closer together.

Romantic:The 33-year-old London native confessed that she didn't throw a fashionable gender reveal party, but instead waited to share the news at an intimate dinner with Mark

She said: 'I'm lucky as he's caring and thoughtful. I return from trips exhausted and he's good at looking after me, which is lovely.'

The mother-to-be, who is due to give birth in June, admitted that she suffered morning sickness for the first 15 weeks of her pregnancy but know feels full of energy.

However one thing Nicki has struggled with throughout the pregnancy is the hormones, admitting that she broke down after talking to Sir David Attenborough.

Exciting: Nicki, who co-hosts the racing programme with Vernon Kay, attended her 20-week scan with her other half and asked the nurse to write down the gender of her baby (pictured in 2018)

She said she felt completely starstruck when chatting to the broadcaster and found herself unable to converse properly, admitting that she didn't say anything intelligent throughout the whole conversation.

Nicki said: 'Afterwards I was quite overwhelmed with emotion and burst into tears.'

She plans to return to work in time for the Formula E season in December later this year, but says she isn't concerned about returning to the 'male-dominated industry' because everyone is so kind and considerate.
Sheridan Smith will play the mother of a murder victim in a new BBC drama based on the crimes of the Grindr serial killer, Stephen Port.

The actress, 38, transformed into Sarah Sak, the mother of Port's first victim Anthony Walgate, as filming got under way in Salford, Manchester on Monday.

Sheridan was spotted clutching her script as she chatted to crew members before she shot the harrowing scenes.

Harrowing: Sheridan Smith transformed into the mother of a murder victim in the new BBC drama based on the Grindr serial killer, Stephen Port as filming got under way on Monday

Sheridan looked worlds away from her usual glamorous self as she donned an auburn wig, pink shirt, trainers and loose fitting cream trousers.

The actress appeared to be comforted as she chatted to a crew member ahead of filming.

The drama will be told from the point of view of the families of the victims amidst a now widely-criticised police investigation.

Filming: Sheridan was spotted clutching her script as she chatted to crew members before she shot the harrowing scenes

Port, 44, drugged, raped and murdered four young men-Anthony, 23, Gabriel Kovari, 22, Daniel Whitworth, 21, and Jack Taylor, 25 - between 2014-2015.

He met his victims online using dating apps including Grindr leading to him being dubbed The Grindr serial killer.

Sheridan will star alongside Stephen Merchant as Stephen Port. Also joining the cast is Jaime Winstone (Five Daughters, Babs) as Donna Taylor, one of the sisters of Jack Taylor. The director is David Blair (Care, Reg).

Sheridan said: 'I love playing real life characters - especially an inspirational woman like Sarah Sak - but with it comes responsibility.

'Along with the other families, Sarah went through so much heartache and it would have been easy for her to just accept what she was being told by the police, but something inside made her keep fighting for her son.'

Port had a fetish for sex with the unconscious so drugged and raped his victims to 'satisfy his lust' after meeting them on dating app Grindr.

Role: Stephen Merchant will play the serial killer in the new drama

Between June 2014 and September 2015 he abused and killed them using date rape drug GHB before dumping their bodies in the street or his local graveyard in Barking, east London.

With each of the murders Port tried to cover his tracks and he even wrote a fake suicide note for Daniel Whitworth and stuffed it into his hand,

He was sentenced to serve a whole life term for his crimes in November 2016, joining a list of killers including Fred and Rose West, the Moors Murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Robert Black, and Mark Bridger who were handed this sentence.

Evil: Stephen Port, now 44, drugged, raped and murdered four young men between 2014-2015.

Posing: Port's Facebook site and other social media profiles contained dozens of selfies showing himself clothed or with his shirt off

Port first came to the attention of the police in June 2014 when a young man he had drugged collapsed next to him at Barking train station in East London. Despite admitting that both he and his companion had taken illegal drugs, he was released without charge.

Two weeks later Port raped and murdered his first victim, Anthony Walgate, before dumping the body outside his flat. He then called 999 anonymously and pretended he had merely come across the lifeless body of the 23-year-old fashion student.

Police realised that Port was lying and charged him with perverting the course of justice after he claimed that Mr Walgate died of an accidental overdose after consensual sex.

The Metropolitan Police spent 25,000 and 980 man-hours on the investigation - but crucially never opened a murder investigation.

Map: Port lived in a flat in Cooke Street, Barking, and one body was found in the same street last year. Two bodies were later found in the nearby grounds of St Margaret's Church and another was found on North Street, next to the Abbey Ruins. All the deaths happened in the space of 15 months

While on police bail, Port raped and killed two more victims, his Slovakian flatmate Gabriel Kovari, 22, and chef Daniel Whitworth, 21.

The bodies were found within a month of each other in the summer of 2014 in the same graveyard by the same dog walker only 400 yards from Port's flat in Barking.

Port's first three victims were all found in a seated position with their clothes pulled up to expose their stomachs which was caused by the bodies being dragged.

In each case, their mobile phones were missing and post-mortem examinations found the cause of death to be a GHB overdose.

Scotland Yard had faced allegations that it failed to link Port to all four murders, despite their marked similarities.

It was only after the death of his final victim, Mr Taylor, that a full investigation was launched.

The serial killer was finally caught in October 2015 after the family of his fourth victim Jack Taylor carried out their own research and showed police the striking similarities between Mr Taylor's death and the previous three murders.
Liam Gallagher has slammed his brother and former bandmate Noel for allegedly signing up to his record label.

The former Oasis frontman, 46, hit out at his older sibling, 51, after it was claimed he's been working with the band's old producer Dave Sardy again.

He also claimed that his brother has joined Warner Music, despite Noel insisting he does 'everything on his own' in the past.

Hitting out: Liam Gallagher has slammed his brother and former bandmate Noel for allegedly signing up to his record label (pictured in 2018)

Taking to Twitter, Liam wrote: 'So news reaches me all the way across these fine shores that the little mug is working with Dave Sardine again now tell me this would this be the record your putting out on a major label ie Warners ooh thought you were mr independent mr I do everything on my own mr I am the boss (sic)'.

In another tweet, he wrote: 'Hes just signed to Warners my f*****g major record label company ting the 1 he slagged of about a thousand times because hes a real independent artist he does everything on his own he is so real its like realism its so f*****g real its Laer backwards Dya get me bruvs.'

Dave previously worked with Liam and Noel on Oasis' albums Dont Believe The Truth in 2005 and Dig Out Your Soul in 2008.

The producer later worked with Noel again on his debut solo album Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds in 2011.

Tension: The former Oasis frontman, 46, hit out at Noel, 51, after it was claimed he's been working with the band's old producer Dave Sardy again (pictured in 2018)

Speaking out: Liam claimed on Twitter that Noel signed with Warner Music despite allegedly saying he 'does everything on his own'

Liam and Noel have been feuding since the break-up of Oasis in 2009.

After trading public jibes for years while in the band, things came to blows at the Rock En Seine festival in Paris where they had a heated argument.

Noel said in a statement at the time: 'It's with some sadness and great relief to tell you that I quit Oasis tonight.

Better days: Liam and Noel have been feuding since the break-up of Oasis in 2009 (pictured in 2005)

'People will write and say what they like, but I simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer.'

Liam recently claimed his brother has an issue with him using footage of him performing Oasis song 'Live Forever' at Ariana Grande's 'One Love Manchester' in his 'As It Was' documentary.

Liam tweeted: "So it's the footage of me singing live forever at the one love concert that's upset team NG maybe it's the shame of the not so mighty little fella not showing up because he was too busy supping bubbles on a dingy with what's her face AS YOU WERE LG x (sic)"
Peyton List plays the fun camp counselor on the Disney show Bunk'd.

And this week the 20-year-old blonde beauty shook up her image by posing in black Latex for a new makeup ad.

The looker is the star of Too Faced Better Than Sex no-smudge, waterproof liquid eyeliner.

Wow: Peyton List plays the fun camp counselor on the Disney show Bunk'd. And this week the 20-year-old blonde beauty has shaken up her image by posing in black Latex for a new ad for makeup

The whole ad: The looker is the star of Too Faced Better Than Sex no-smudge, waterproof liquid eyeliner

'Im so excited. The eyeliner is truly wonderful. I remember at the shoot, the makeup artist was freaking out because it lasted so long,' she told People.

Too Faceds Better Than Sex Eyeliner launches March 17 at Ulta, Sephora and TooFaced.com.

She said she recalls when she first started using the mascara.

Dramatic: 'Im so excited. The eyeliner is truly wonderful. I remember at the shoot, the makeup artist was freaking out because it lasted so long,' she told People . Too Faceds Better Than Sex Eyeliner launches March 17 at Ulta, Sephora and TooFaced.com

Her day job: Here she is seen on Bunk'd with Tessa Netting, Kevin G Quinn, Nina Lu and Skai Jackson

'Oh my gosh. The makeup artists on Jessie [another Disney show] actually used that mascara on me. I remember thinking when I was a kid, "Ooh, Im kind of edgy on this Disney set wearing this mascara,"' the actress told the site.

'It not only became my favorite mascara, but also all of my best friends favorite too.'

This comes months after she split from Cameron Monaghan.

The stars of Anthem Of A Teenage Prophet went their separate ways during the holidays, according to E! News.

Cameron, 25, was on Shameless and is now starring on Gotham.

So over: List and Cameron Monaghan have split up. The stars of Anthem Of A Teenage Prophet went their separate ways during the holidays, according to E! News. Seen in October

Though the two are reportedly no longer romantic, they have been civil in public.

They looked close as they posed at the premiere of Anthem Of A Teenage Prophet, about a teen who foresees the death of his best friend and isolates himself after being dubbed The Prophet of Death by a local reporter.

They were also side by side the next day at a special screening in Los Angeles.

The two are co-starring in the project. They started dating in 2017.

A-OK: Though the two are reportedly no longer romantic, they have been civil in public. Last week they looked close as they posed at the premiere of Anthem Of A Teenage Prophet

'The whole cast, we all shared a trailer and were all in the same hotel. It was a small town, two and half hours away from Vancouver, so we all really got to know each other and all became so close,' said Peyton.

'And then sort of in the middle of it, Cameron and I started realizing we liked each other and started dating after,' she added.

'He's so understanding which is so nice and I am too,' List said.

'We're always like, "If work comes up, that's fine, that comes first."

'I can't imagine having someone who isn't [an actor], but I'm sure they would understand eventually, but it would be difficult.'
Michelle Williams made her way to set for another busy day of filming for the new TV series she stars in, titled Fosse/Verdon, in New York City on Monday.

The actress was seen walking through the snowy city streets donning a green parka, baggy brown trousers and burgundy boots.

The show, which is airing on FX, is all about filmmaker and choreographer Bob Fosse and dancer Gwen Verdon, his beautiful wife.

Another day in the life: Michelle Williams strolled down the streets of New York as she headed to set on Monday

The actress rocked her blonde pixie cut.

She was also wearing shades to protect her eyes from the bright snow and carrying a large, white purse.

Set to premiere on April 9, Michelle will portray the stunning dancer and her life with her Tony award winning husband, played by Sam Rockwell.

On the show's Instagram, viewers get a sneak peak of the series through shots that show Michelle all dolled up in a red haired, curly wig, sitting next to actor Sam as Bob.

Winter style: The actress was seen walking through the snowy city streets donning a green parka, baggy brown trousers and burgundy boots

A love story: Michelle and Sam Rockwell posed for a beautiful film shot while on the set of Fosse/Verdon together

After meeting on Broadway for the 1955 production of Damn Yankees, the two icons of their age began a complicated relationship.

Their dramatic tale is explored throughout the miniseries, starring the Oscar nominated actress and Oscar winning actor.

Becoming a showbiz powerhouse, the real-life couple went on to win six Tony Awards for the 1960 Broadway musical, Redhead.

Beautiful: The esteemed actors portray filmmaker Bob Fosse and his iconic dancer wife, Gwen Verdon

Having similar success, the lovebirds continued working together for Broadway's Sweet Charity and Chicago, making quite a name for themselves.

And it's a name worthy of re-creating, which Michelle and Sam aim to successfully do in the short series.

The stars, along with Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda are among the executive producers on the miniseries, and Fosse and Verdon's daughter Nicole Fosse is a producer and creative consultant.
One of Luke Perry's biggest fans shared a heartwarming story about the late star as news of the actor's failing health rocked Hollywood.

After stories surfaced last week that the 52-year-old had suffered a stroke, Santina Muha, an actress and comic, took to social media with a sweet story.

Perry died Monday, according to a statement from his representative.

Heartwarming: Actress Santina Muha, one of Luke Perry's biggest fans, shared a touching story about the late star as news of the actor's failing health rocked Hollywood

Muha, who can currently be seen in the Netflix hit One Day At A Time, posted a smiling photo with Luke and his dog from her hospital bed.

'I'm praying for #LukePerry,' she captioned the grainy image which was shared last week.

'This is a man who drove to Chatsworth, CA to visit one of his biggest fans in the hospital, stayed for an hour, called later to check in - with no agenda or press,' she continued.

Adding: 'He's a great person & I'm just sad for him & hope he has a full & fast recovery.'

'This is a man who drove to Chatsworth, CA to visit one of his biggest fans in the hospital, stayed for an hour, called later to check in - with no agenda or press,' the One Day At A Time star wrote

Longtime love: Muha has been a fan of the late star since his 90210 days and shared sweet throwback images of the actor in the past

Unfortunately, the Riverdale star succumbed to his health problems and died days after being rushed to the ER last Wednesday.

'Oof this one hurts,' Muha tweeted Monday. 'I'm shook. I will always love you, #LukePerry.'

As Hollywood and fans reacted to the passing of the 1990s heartthrob, a friend re-posted Muha's story.

Tragic: Luke Perry died Monday at the age of 52 after suffering a 'massive stroke'

'Luke Perry visited my friend in the hospital and brought his dog,' writer Sara Benincasa tweeted. 'She posted about it the other day and it really touched my heart. @SantinaMuha is an awesome person and clearly so was he.'

After being hospitalized last week, Perry passed away surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, his fiancee and ex-wife, his parents, siblings and other close family and friends.

'The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning,' his agent said in a statement.

Loved: Perry passed away surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, his fiancee and ex-wife, his parents, siblings and other close family and friends

Reactions: 90210 star Ian Ziering took to social media to express his grief

Friends and co-stars of the Ohio born actor took to social media to grieve the loss of the nineties icon.

Ian Ziering, who starred opposite Luke for ten years on their iconic 90s high school show, wrote: 'Dearest Luke, I will forever bask in the loving memories we've shared over the last thirty years.

'May your journey forward be enriched by the magnificent souls who have passed before you, just like you have done here, for those you leave behind.'

Likewise, Molly Ringwald, who played Luke's onscreen wife on the hit show Riverdale, wrote on Twitter: 'My heart is broken. I will miss you so much Luke Perry. Sending all my love to your family.  #LukePerry'

Co-star: Molly Ringwald, who plays Luke's onscreen wife on the hit show Riverdale, wrote on Twitter that she was heartbroken
Their private issues have been played out publicly for half of a decade.

And Bethenny Frankel is hoping to gain full primary custody of her daughter Bryn, eight, with ex-husband Jason Hoppy, according to People.

The 48-year-old reality television star accused her ex of manhandling their daughter and abusing Frankel's dog, according to Page Six, and she is seeking full 'decision-making power' over Bryn nearly two years after Hoppy was arrested for harassing Frankel stemming from an incident outside of the little girl's school.

Strong: Bethenny Frankel is hoping to gain full primary custody of her daughter Bryn, eight, with ex-husband Jason Hoppy, according to People; seen in January

'[He was] physically pulling the child away from Ms. Frankel, leaving negative articles out about Ms. Frankel, [and] doesn't flush the toilet,' Frankel's attorney Allan Mayefsky said.

Page Six also reported that her attorney said, '[He] locked up Cookie (Frankel's late dog), in a storage closet and wouldn't reveal her whereabouts for hours.'

Hoppy's attorney countered that her claims were false and the former couple are 'doing a great job' co-parenting.

'The idea the relationship between the parties is so broken is not true,' his attorney Robert Wallack said.

Still battling: The 48-year-old reality television star accused her ex of manhandling their daughter and abusing Frankel's dog, according to Page Six; seen in 2012

Working it out? Hoppy's attorney countered that her claims were false and the former couple are 'doing a great job' co-parenting; seen in 2015

Bethenny canceled Real Housewives of New York press obligations for the week due to the proceedings.

'RHONY is kicking off its new season on Wednesday, but Bethenny wont be doing any press or interviews this week to promote the show,' a source told People. 'Shes really excited for the new season, but her focus this week is her daughter.'

Frankel and Hoppy have waged very public wars against each other since their split in December 2012 after just two years of marriage.

Their divorced was finalized nearly four years later in July 2016, and six months later, he was arrested after threatening her outside of their daughter's school.

Not good: Frankel and Hoppy have waged very public wars against each other since their split in December 2012 after just two years of marriage; seen in 2010

People reported in January 2017 that 'Hoppy was charged with one count of harassment in the second degree, one count of aggravated harassment in the second degree, and one count of stalking in the fourth degree.'

Two months later, Hoppy rejected a plea offer and was arraigned on additional charges in June 2017 which included 'one count of stalking in the third degree and another count of stalking in the fourth degree.'

Their whirlwind romance was documented for Bravo cameras with a televised wedding in 2010 followed by Bryn's birth in May of the same year.
EastEnders actress Danielle Harold confirmed her return to the Square three years after she quit her role as Lola Pearce.

The actress, 26, was pictured leaving the Elstree studios in Borehamwood on Monday after bosses confirmed she'd make a return in December.

Danielle was back to channelling her on screen character as she sported a padded black jacket with fur hood typical of her character.

Back with a bang: Danielle Harold, 26, was pictured leaving the Elstree studios in Borehamwood on Monday after bosses confirmed she'd make a return in December

The blonde paired her look with black leggings and brown boots before sweeping her dazzling locks back away from her face.

In July 2015 Danielle's character Lola left to live in Newcastle with her daughter Lexi, despite an emotional plea from her grandfather Billy Mitchell begging her to stay.

And her time on EastEnders has been nothing less than exciting, with Lola giving birth during a live episode of the soap while Billy carried the Olympic Torch across Walford.

Alter ego: Danielle was back to channelling her on screen character as she sported a padded black jacket with fur hood typical of her character

Return: The blonde paired her look with black leggings and brown boots before sweeping her dazzling locks back away from her face

Goodbye: In July 2015 Lola left to live in Newcastle with her daughter Lexi, despite an emotional plea from her grandfather Billy Mitchell begging her to stay (pictured October 2012)

In December bosses announced that Lola would be returning to the show, with Danielle adding: 'I can't wait to get back and find out what Lola has been up to.'

Earlier this month the first pictures of the Lola's ex the new Ben Mitchell, Max Bowden, were released as he shot his first scenes.

His comeback comes over a year after he fled Walford after stealing the New Year's heist money, which Phil and his pals stole from Ciara Maguire.

Back to the square: Earlier this month the first pictures of the Lola's ex the new Ben Mitchell, Max Bowden (L), were released as he shot his first scenes

New face: His comeback comes over a year after he fled Walford after stealing the New Year's heist money, which Phil and his pals stole from Ciara Maguire

However, the loot was secretly switched at the last minute by Ben's step-mum Sharon Mitchell, with the character only leaving with a small proportion of the cash.

The character hadn't been seen on screens since, although he's often referred to by his onscreen family.

Max is the sixth actor to play the role of Ben, after taking the helm from previous star Harry Reid.
She recently played the tough family matriarch, Eleanor Young, in Crazy Rich Asians.

And Michelle Yeoh showed off her softer side as she dazzled in a white ballgown at the Shiatzy Chen show for Paris Fashion Week on Monday.

The former Bond girl, 56, looked sensational as she flaunted her age-defying physique in the full-length number which came complete with lace trimming and embroidered flowers at the waist.

Glamorous: Michelle Yeoh showed off her softer side as she dazzled in a white ballgown at the Shiatzy Chen show for Paris Fashion Week on Monday

She paired the look with chunky gold and white shoes and toted her belongings in a feather clutch bag.

Michelle wore her brunette locks loose around her shoulders and sported plenty of dazzling diamonds in her ears for the event.

She was in high spirits despite Crazy Rich Asians losing out on the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture Musical Or Comedy in January.

Looking good: The former Bond girl, 56, looked sensational as she flaunted her age-defying physique in the full-length number which came complete with lace trimming

Dazzling: She paired the look with chunky gold and white shoes and toted her belongings in a feather clutch bag

The former Miss Malaysia shot to fame when she won the beauty pageant at the age of 20 in 1983.

The accolade lead Michelle to go on to represent her home country at the Miss World 1983 pageant in London.

The model turned her hand at acting and shot to Hollywood fame when she starred alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond flick Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997.

Sensation: Michelle wore her brunette locks loose around her shoulders and sported plenty of dazzling diamonds in her ears for the event

Co-stars: The model turned her hand at acting and shot to Hollywood fame when she starred alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond flick Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997

And last year she spoke to Stellar magazine to share her pride at staring in Crazy Rich Asians before adding that she strives not to endorse 'stereotypes' when it comes to Asian characters on screen.

'I will not endorse any stereotypical cliches of what an Asian woman should be,' the Malaysian Chinese star tells the magazine.

She has praised the runaway hit, in which she plays the stern matriarch of a wealthy Singaporen family, with showing Asian characters in a 'contemporary' light.

'It's a long time overdue. I've been waiting a very long time for something like this to happen,' she says.

She added: ' This is a good representation of who we Asians are. It's not a period piece, it's not a martial arts piece; it's contemporary, it's today, and it's inclusive.'
Kourtney Kardashian announced her new business venture with a very racy picture on social media on Monday.

The mother-of-three stripped naked to announce her new project Poosh, inspired by her daughter Penelope's nickname, on Instagram.

The 39-year-old used a tea cup and strategically placed laptop to preserve her modesty while perched on a bathroom counter top with her hair wrapped in a towel.

Naked ambition: Kourtney Kardashian teased her new business venture called Poosh on Instagram on Monday

Proud of their star: Poosh's official Instagram page teased: 'This isn't a monologue, it's a dialogue'

She didn't reveal any details about the nature of the company, simply asking fans to sign up to her website to find out more.

Poosh's official Instagram page teased: 'This isn't a monologue, it's a dialogue.'

All she wrote in her caption, 'C O M I N G. S O O N.'

This is her latest venture after working onPrettyLittleThings and representing Manuka Doctor.

A photo collage: Here there was work done to her photo which was split into a grid

Kourtney was last seen heading to church in Calabasas, California on Sunday with her kids Mason and Penelope.

Also with her were sisters Kim and Khloe. And Kanye West could be seen.

The day before Kourtney took her kids to the movies in the same neighborhood.

Celebrate: Kourtney joined ex partner Scott Disick when she headed to Nobu in Malibu to help TV star Jonathan Cheban celebrate his 45th birthday with a sushi and a cake that looked like a plate of sushi

And earlier in the week Kourtney joined ex partner Scott Disick when she headed to Nobu in Malibu to help TV star Jonathan Cheban celebrate his 45th birthday with a sushi and a cake that looked like a plate of sushi.

Before that, she joined Khloe, Kendall and Kim in Palm Springs for a racy photo shoot where they were not wearing much clothing.

This isn't the first time Kourtney has dabbled with a lifestyle brand, with her and other Kardashian sisters launching their own apps.

Oh Kourt! Before that, she joined Khloe, Kendall and Kim in Palm Springs for a racy photo shoot where they were not wearing much clothing

Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kendall Jenner launched their own apps in September 2015, with Kourtney not launching hers until December 2015.

The apps featured plenty of content about each of the sisters, everything from their favorite recipes and life hacks, with Kourtney promising insights into her flair for 'interior design,' and 'insight into my mom life.'

In December 2018, all of the sisters announced they were shutting down their apps, effective January 2019, so the sisters could create even more new ventures.

She made it too: Kylie Jenner, who has ended her friendship with Jordyn Woods, was also present at the getaway

The family has been reeling ever since they learned family friend Jordyn Woods 'made out' with Khloe's beau Tristan Thompson on February 17 at his home in Los Angeles.

Woods made the situation ever more tense when she gave an interview to Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk on Friday.

The beauty - who was given her start in the modeling world by Khloe - cried as she claimed all she did was briefly kiss Tristan on the lips after she partied with him until 7 am.

Khloe quickly called Woods a 'liar' and also said she was hurt that someone she considered a sister would do this to her.

Real tears? Woods made the situation ever more tense when she gave an interview to Jada Pinkett Smith on Red Table Talk on Friday. The beauty - who was given her start in the modeling world by Khloe - cried as she claimed all she did was briefly kiss Tristan on the lips after she partied with him until 7 am

The 34-year-old Good American designer also set blame on Tristan, with whom she has daughter True, aged 11 months.

The couple have since split up.

Kourtney doesn't seem to have publicly commented on the scandal.

But Kim has told friends she is 'livid' with Woods and Thompson.

And on Monday People reported that West has cut them out of his life. It was added he feels like the 'godfather' to the family and wants to protect Khloe.
She reduced her 'husband' Billy Vincent to tears on Monday's episode of Married At First Sight, leaving viewers outraged on Twitter.

But Susie Bradley, 25, has shamelessly defended her behaviour, blaming her mild-mannered spouse for provoking her with 'constant' little lies.

Speaking to Nova 96.9's Fitzy & Wippa on Tuesday, the Brisbane-based nurse said that viewers only saw one side of their tumultuous relationship.

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'You don't just crack over whether someone surfed yesterday or a month ago': Married At First Sight's Susie Bradley (right) has BLAMED her 'husband' Billy Vincent (left) for her vile outburst

When asked about her verbal tirade against Billy after he told a harmless lie about the last time he went surfing, Susie went on the defensive.

'All I can say is, there's obviously a lot to it,' she said.

'You don't crack over whether someone surfed yesterday or a month ago. There's a lot of build up that yous don't see. That's all I can say.'

Making excuses: Speaking to Nova 96.9's Fitzy & Wippa on Tuesday, the Brisbane-based nurse said that viewers only saw one side of her tumultuous relationship with Billy

Susie insisted that her portrayal on screen 'isn't who I am', adding that only a fraction of their honeymoon was featured on the show.

She also hinted that Billy received a more favourable edit than perhaps he deserved.

When asked to explain her over-the-top reaction to the surfing incident, Susie acknowledged that the scene when Billy bursts into tears at the beach was 'awful' to watch.

But the single mother clarified that she wasn't aware at the time he had been crying.

'There's a lot of build up that yous don't see': When asked about her verbal tirade against Billy after he told a harmless lie about the last time he went surfing, Susie went on the defensive

In her defence, she claimed that her anger was the result of Billy being 'constantly' dishonest, albeit in a non-malicious way.

She said that his little lies - like saying he hadn't surfed for two years when he had actually been catching waves only 'a couple of months' ago - 'happened a lot'.

During Monday's episode, Billy kicked Susie out of his home after she reduced him to tears with her relentless bullying.

Abuse: During Monday's episode, Billy kicked Susie out of his home after she reduced him to tears with her relentless bullying

The 28-year-old barista broke down during a heated argument at the beach in Lennox Head, which was sparked by an innocent slip of the tongue.

'You're lying,' raged Susie, after Billy said he hadn't surfed for a 'couple of years' - despite previously admitting it had only been a 'couple of months'.

'You're a liar and I have to deal with it. You're getting called out and you don't like it. You've lied to me and you're not honest.... you talk s**t!'

Susie also yelled at Billy for saying he had sweetener in his pantry for her cup of coffee, before realising his flatmate had used the last of it.

Blaming the producers: Susie insisted that her portrayal on screen 'isn't who I am', adding that only a fraction of their honeymoon was featured on the show

Billy, who seemed confused by her behaviour, responded: 'If I lied to you and I was cheating on you, yes we'd have a problem - but this is ridiculous.'

He then shouted, 'I don't like being treated like I'm worthless and a piece of s**t,' before storming off the beach and crying in the nearby bush.

Later, after the couple returned to his apartment, Billy told Susie to pack her bags and leave. It is unclear if their time in the experiment is officially over.

Married At First Sight continues Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel Nine
She recently said she has 'never been so happy to be single', following her bitter split with Matthew Bennett.

And Married At First Sight's Lauren Huntriss looked more confident than ever during a trip to the beach in Sydney last month.

The 31-year-old makeup artist, who has lost 10kg since filming MAFS, showed off her sensational figure in a plunging swimsuit.

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Now THAT'S a revenge body! Married At First Sight's Lauren Huntriss flaunted her 10kg weight loss in a plunging swimsuit at the beach last month. Pictured on February 17 in Sydney

Lauren flaunted her 'revenge body' while strolling down the beach, looking like she didn't have a care in the world.

She appeared noticeably slimmed down compared to her appearance on Channel Nine's social experiment.

The singleton was spotted going for a dip in the ocean before joining her friends on the sand for a game of volleyball.

Confident: Lauren looked like she didn't have a care in the world as she strolled down the sand

What a transformation: The makeup artist has lost 10kg since filming Married At First Sight last year. She shared these before and after photos to Instagram on February 22

Lauren revealed on Instagram over the weekend that she has 'never been so happy to be single'.

She shared the inspirational message alongside a photo of herself sipping coffee at a Sydney cafe.

It is believed her social media post was a thinly-veiled response to her 'ex-husband' Matthew Bennett, 30, going public with his new girlfriend.

Girl power! Lauren was accompanied at the beach by two glamorous friends, who both wore skimpy bikinis

Fit and fabulous! Lauren appeared noticeably slimmed down compared to her appearance on Married At First Sight

Good vibes only! The singleton was spotted going for a dip in the ocean before joining her friends on the sand for a game of volleyball

Single and ready to mingle! Lauren revealed on Instagram over the weekend that she has 'never been so happy to be single'

Matthew, who lost his virginity to Lauren on MAFS, is dating a British woman named Annabel Jameson who he met during pro wrestling training.

The Queensland-based videographer has said he is 'crazy about' Annabel and is 'optimistic' about their future together.

Matthew and Lauren's relationship fell apart on Married At First Sight soon after they slept together for the first time.

Despite a promising start, the mild-mannered groom realised he was not actually attracted to his 'wife' and so didn't want to be physical with her.

Bad experience: Lauren was paired with Queensland-based videographer Matthew Bennett on Married At First Sight, but their relationship ended badly

Soaking up the sun: After going for an afternoon swim, Lauren and her friends dried off
Snooki is far along in her third pregnancy.

And on Monday the Jersey Shore vet showed off just how big her baby bump is when she hit the How I Get It Done event hosted by The Cut in Brooklyn, New York. The reality TV favorite seemed like she was stretching her white semi-sheer top to its full extent.

The star, who's real name is Nicole LaVelle, already shares son Lorenzo LaValle, six, and daughter Giovanna, four, with husband Jionni LaValle.

Far along: Snooki is far along in her third pregnancy. And on Monday the Jersey Shore vet showed off just how big her baby bump is when she hit the How I Get It Done event hosted by The Cut in Brooklyn, New York

Gotta love Lycra: The reality TV favorite seemed like she was stretching her white semi-sheer top to its full extent

The petite star added a blue jacket with black leggings.

And proving she still has a wild streak, the brunette bombshell wore leopard print boots with a pointy toe.

The TV vet also wore a light pink manicure and had on flattering frosty pink lipstick.

At one point she was seen posing with Nana Agyemang and Nadia Aboulhosn.

New friends: At one point she was seen posing with Nana Agyemang and Nadia Aboulhosn

Before the event: The mini siren gave a better look at her bump while at home

Home shoot: She had herself photographed in her kitchen in New Jersey

Snooki became a household name with her outrageous behavior and oftentimes drunken blackouts on the MTV reality series Jersey Shore.

And last month the 31-year old mother wanted her 11.9 million Instagram followers to know she has come a long way since her alcohol-infused days in Seaside Heights, New Jersey.

Snooki shared before and after photos on her Instagram, with the caption: '2009-2019.

Her bestie: Snooki posted this photo with JWoww last week with the caption, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOO! You are the strongest woman I know and never cease to amaze me on what a wonderful person, friend & mother you are!'

Transformation: Snooki shared before and after photos on her Instagram to let her followers know she has matured from her drunken days on Jersey Shore to wife and mother of two

In a nod to her life transformation, the snap on left shows her extremely drunk and covered in sand as she crawled along the beach back a decade ago.

It was one of many times that she drank herself to a blackout state, which has resulted in her being arrested for public intoxication.

In contrast, the photo on the right of the before-and-after snaps shows her lovingly snuggled up next to her two young children on a couch.

She shared that very same picture in another Instagram post on Saturday with the caption:' I love Saturdays,' with the hashtag #3nuggets.

Feeling no pain: The reality star was blackout drunk in several episodes of Jersey Shore

The self-proclaimed hot-mess mom says she has curbed her party-girl ways since becoming a mother and wife.

'When Im home I never go out and drink just because I know I have to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and be a parent,' she shared in an interview with People.

'Being hungover  I did that twice and Ill never do that again. Its the worst! You are not there for your kid, you are laying on the couch you are being a bum.'

In interview on Live with Kelly and Ryan she added: 'I always say that moms need to be good for themselves, and when you're good with yourself, you could be a great mom.'

Now: The reality star now takes pride in being clear-headed for her growing family; she is pictured with son Lorenzo LaValle, six, and daughter Giovanna, four

The reality star announced in November 2018, via Instagram, that she was expecting her third child.

She later revealed she was expecting a boy.

She currently stars in Jersey Shore: Family Vacation, a reboot of sorts with the seven housemates from the original Jersey Shore, and serves as co-host for the reality series How Far I Tattoo Far?
She shot to fame when she was cast as a Victoria's Secret model in 2008.

And Doutzen Kroes looked every-inch the catwalk queen as she put on a leggy display to join pal Janelle Monae at a party in Paris on Monday evening.

The Dutch model, 34, oozed glamour in a thigh skimming floral embellished dress complete with plenty of bright bead work.

Sensational: Doutzen Kroes looked every-inch the catwalk queen as she put on a leggy display at a party in Paris on Monday evening

She flaunted her toned legs to perfection and added height to her already statuesque frame in a pair of peep-toe black sandals.

The beauty nailed the tousled hair look as she wore her caramel locks in messy waves to frame her stunning face.

While Janelle, 33, nailed androgynous chic in a pinstripe suit which she paired with a white shirt and grey tie.

Wow: The Dutch model, 34, oozed glamour in a thigh skimming floral embellished dress complete with plenty of bright bead work to join pal Janelle Monae on the night out

Glamorous: She flaunted her toned legs to perfection and added height to her already statuesque frame in a pair of peep-toe black sandals

The songstress finished off her look with a baker boy hat and 875 white Louboutin heels.

She swept her hair up into her hat and added an air of mystery by hiding her eyes in a pair of round sunglasses while toting her belongings in a chic mini briefcase.

Meanwhile model Doutzen spoke out about how she was 'very lucky' to be born with such an incredible figure as she discussed her success in the modelling world.

Suit up: While Janelle, 33, nailed androgynous chic in a pinstripe suit which she paired with a white shirt and grey tie

Designer: The songstress finished off her look with a baker boy hat and 875 white Louboutin heels

Speaking to FASHION magazine she also acknowledged that the fashion world is completely different to when she first started, and that younger models are now at an advantage.

'When I started out, the [fashion] industry was more playful and not as calculated,' she explained.

'Now, because of social media, everyone knows everything - there's all these 15-year-old girls who know all the big photographers and fashion designers.'
Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel remains in hospital in Melbourne after a jailhouse stabbing allegedly carried out by two young men who have faced court on attempted murder charges.

Mokbel, 53, was stabbed three times in a yard at the high-security Barwon Prison on Monday, in an attack that allegedly involved makeshift knives.

He was in a serious condition at Royal Melbourne Hospital on Friday, as his accused assailants Teira Bennett and Eldea Teuira faced Geelong Magistrates Court by video link.

The pair, both aged 21, appeared in white t-shirts and handcuffs as their lawyers raised concerns for their safety while in custody.

"There is high tension in the prison system, particularly at Barwon," Bennett's lawyer Stephanie Joosten said.

"There is a risk to safety."

As well as attempted murder, the duo is charged with intentionally causing serious injury to Mokbel in circumstances of gross violence by stabbing him "whilst he was incapacitated".

Bennett and Teuira were remanded in custody and their matters return to court on May 10.

The attack took place a day after a newspaper reported Mokbel intervened in a standover racket run by Pacific Islander inmates.
A sexual misconduct report into former Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle could take months to be released despite a withdrawn bid in court to stop it being shared.

The City of Melbourne announced on Friday night that Mr Doyle pulled the action in the Supreme Court over alleged sexual misconduct at a Melbourne Health event in 2016.

A trial had been scheduled in the court for two days, starting on Monday.

"We welcome Mr Doyle's decision to withdraw the Supreme Court action as this means we can now proceed with finalising Dr Freckelton QC's independent investigation," council chief executive Justin Hanney said in a statement.

Mr Doyle has strenuously denied all claims against him.

It is not yet known how long it will take for the contents of the report to be released as the council will hold off until a police probe is over.

It was revealed earlier this week that third person, Kharla Williams, formally complained to Victoria Police relating to the event.

"When the police investigation is concluded, the findings of Dr Freckelton's investigation can be made public and we reserve the right to do so in the best interests of all parties," Mr Hanney said.

Police are still to interview her husband, his daughter and the waiter on the night, Mrs Williams noted.

"(Council) Will not publish findings until criminal investigation is over. This will be another 12 months," she told AAP on Friday.

"And police advised due to the variance in balance of probability versus within all reasonable doubt, findings via the civil investigation will not have any weight to outcome."

An investigation into the allegations of sexual misconduct was commissioned by the council's then-chief executive Ben Rimmer, following claims made by two councillors.
A woman has been tasered after she allegedly threw a television at two police officers while resisting arrest at an inner Sydney home.

Police say the 29-year-old verbally abused a male and female officer and spat in the male officer's face when they visited the Woolloomooloo home for a stolen property matter late on Friday.

When police tried to arrest her she allegedly closed the door on the female officer, injuring her forehead.

The woman then allegedly threw a television at the pair before running at the male officer, who stunned her with a taser.

She continued to resist arrest while being taken to Kings Cross Police Station, where she was charged with assaulting an officer in the execution of duty and resisting a police officer in the execution of duty.

The woman is due to appear in the Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday.
Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has met with families, advocates and victims of disability abuse in Melbourne, making an emotional plea for a royal commission.

Mr Shorten heard stories of the violence and abuse suffered by people with disabilities at schools and institutions, including the tale of a Melbourne mother whose young autistic son was tied up with rope and put in an enclosed space.

He said a royal commission into such abuse was "tremendously overdue", calling on the government to vote for the "king of all inquiries" in a motion on Monday.

"There is no more unexamined corner of the life of Australia than the abuse and violence experienced by people with disability," he said on Saturday.
Jonh Isner has ended the run of Australia's Jordan Thompson at the New York Open, taking out their quarter-final clash in straight sets.

A day after eliminating Aussie Bernard Tomic in the round of 16, the big serving American proved too strong winning 6-4 6-1 in one hour and three minutes.

The top seed and world No.9 took the first set in 33 minutes after breaking in the 10th game.

Thompson, the No.7 seed and world No.60, was then broken in his opening two service games of the second set to trail 4-0 and never recovered.

Isner slammed down 16 aces and won 45 of 49 first serves and will face compatriot Reilly Opelka in the next round after Opelka reached his first tour-level semi-final in nearly three years by beating Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3 6-4.

The 6'11" Opelka beat Isner earlier this year at the Australian Open in four sets - all in tiebreakers - but Isner beat Opelka the last time they met in a semi-final, at the 2016 Atlanta Open.

The other semi will feature No.6 seed Sam Querrey, a finalist last year in the tournament's debut on Long Island, against Canadian Brayden Schnur.

Querrey hit 23 aces and didn't face a break point in beating Jason Jung of Taiwan 6-3 3-6 6-3, while Schnur outlasted Italian Paolo Lorenzi 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) 7-5.
An unpredictable bushfire is threatening two small Queensland communities near the NSW border.

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services are urging residents in the towns of Wallangarra and Eukey to leave now if it is safe to do so, before conditions worsen.

The bushfire is heading in a northwesterly direction through Girraween National Park.

It is expected to impact Eukey in the coming hours.

Fire crews and water bombing aircraft are trying to contain the fire but may not be able to protect every property.

QFES is encouraging people who are leaving to head in a westerly direction towards the town of Stanthorpe.
Doctors are coming forward with more complaints against a Brisbane surgeon accused of asking his female colleagues for sexual favours, the Liberal National Party says.

Dr William Braun has been suspended from practising in public health facilities while health officials investigate allegations of malpractice and sexual misconduct.

He was identified in a dossier of letters written by medical practitioners who accused him of bullying his colleagues, verbally abusing them and asking his female peers to engage in sex acts with him.

Those documents were tabled in parliament by LNP MP Ros Bates, who says the complaints were ignored by government and regulatory bodies for years.

"They were frustrated, they were scared to actually make allegations, because they had been making them and have gone nowhere at all," she said.

Ms Bates says she has been "flooded" with more complaints this week.

The public documents claim some of Dr Braun's patients needed life-saving surgery after complications stemming from procedures he carried out.

"On one occasion he lowered his pants in an operating theatre in front of nurses and medical equipment representatives and then stood in his underwear while another man proceeded to measure his waist and legs for a suit fitting," one of the letters says.

Comment has been sought from Dr Braun, who practised at a number of public and private hospitals.
The identity of Lawyer X, supergrass lawyer whose information helped convict hundreds of gangland criminals and drug traffickers, is set to be revealed.

A court order suppressing her identity has been enforced for years but is due to be lifted shortly after 4pm on Friday, March 1.

The police informant scandal is now the subject of a royal commission and opened a window of appeal for some of Victoria's most serious criminals including drug lord Tony Mokbel.

The royal commission's scope was widened after police revealed Lawyer X - also known as informer 3838 or "EF" - was first recruited in 1995, not 2005 as previously thought, and other people who held obligations of confidentiality were also used as informants.

After years of court battles, her identity will be revealed despite fears held by Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton for her safety.
Incoming ABC chair Ita Buttrose won't have to wait long to help make a decision that will hold weight at the broadcaster for years to come.

The 77-year-old, who Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed on Thursday as the next chair of the ABC, will soon have a hand in picking its next managing director.

Applications for the position close on Friday, with acting managing director David Anderson among those in the running.

"We'll have to look at the acting managing director's credentials in line with all the other people that have applied. I'm assuming they have quite a few," Ms Buttrose told reporters in Sydney.

Ms Buttrose replaces Justin Milne, who left the taxpayer-funded broadcaster six months ago after clashing with former managing director Michelle Guthrie.

The former editor of Cleo and Australian Women's Weekly magazines and 2013 Australian of the Year has vowed to restore stability to the broadcaster's management.

Her relationship with the new managing director will be key to that goal, she stressed.

"If there's not a close relationship between the chair and the managing director, you cannot make an organisation work efficiently and well," she said.

"It's time to get the ABC functioning again with proper, stable management and good frank discussion between the chair and whoever is the managing director."

Mr Morrison said Ms Buttrose, whose media career spans more than 60 years, has the "strength, integrity and fierce independence" needed to lead the ABC.

"Australians trust Ita, I trust Ita, and that's why I've asked her to take on this role," he told reporters.

The prime minister said he would recommend the appointment, under a five-year contract, to the governor-general.

Labor has wished Ms Buttrose well but is not pleased the coalition spent $163,000 on a recruitment process - required through legislation brought in by a Labor government - that it then ignored.
Wests Tigers veteran Chris Lawrence will miss the start of the NRL season after suffering a badly broken jaw at pre-season training.

Lawrence was injured during the Tigers' trip to Auckland ahead of their last pre-season hit out against the Warriors on Saturday.

At this stage it's unclear how long the 30-year-old second-rower will miss, but he will be required to see a surgeon in New Zealand before returning to Australia.

Meanwhile, Benji Marshall appears to be winning the race for the Tigers' five-eighth spot, after winning the No.6 jersey for Saturday's clash.

Josh Reynolds will come off the bench as a utility, after he missed the majority of last year through injury.

Robert Jennings will also play for the club just a week after signing from South Sydney, and he will play in the centres ahead of Mahe Fonua after playing on the wing last year.
A western Sydney man has been charged with allegedly trying to procure a child for sex.

In December, detectives began talking online to a man who believed he was communicating with a 14-year-old girl.

Police allege the man suggested he form a relationship with the girl's mother to gain access to the child before arranging to meet her for sex.

A 52-year-old man was arrested near Westmead Railway Station about 9.15am on Thursday and charged with using a carriage service to procure a person under 16 years of age for sexual activity.

He was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Friday.
A sawn-off shotgun has been seized from a 22-year-old man who led police on a wild car chase through Adelaide's western suburbs.

Police tried to stop the man about 1.30am on Sunday at a drug and alcohol testing station but he drove through, sparking the chase.

The car kept driving after two tyres were punctured by police-laid road spikes before it crashed into a patrol car.

The man got out, ran off jumping fences and onto the roof of a house at Croydon but was eventually brought down by police dog Iggy.

The Murray Bridge man was arrested and charged with multiple offences including dangerous driving to evade police and firearms offences.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Li Shufu, delegate to the NPC and chairman of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, announced two proposals during the Two Sessions, China's biggest political meeting of the year. One of highlights about his proposals is to promote the popularization of methanol fuel and methanol-powered vehicles.

He said the scale application of methanol fuel and methanol-powered vehicles has not been promoted yet mainly because of industry's misgiving on the usage of methanol fuel and inadequate policy support. Meanwhile, the nature of the methanol fuel has not been understood scientifically and objectively enough.

To promote popularization of methanol fuel, he suggested that the methanol fuel's legal status as a new type of clean and renewable energy should be clarified on the national level and it should be listed in the catalogue of clean fuel. In addition, the management of market access and operation of methanol-powered vehicles should be strengthened at the same time.

As to technology innovation, he said government should increase the number of national-level science & technology special programs. Besides, government and industry should make joint effort to shore up the development and application of multiple clean energy technologies, such as the methanol-powered extended-range vehicles that boasts high thermal efficiency and environmentally friendly attribute.

Moreover, he also advised the government and the industry to promote methanol fuel's scale application in thermodynamics and power fields, to establish the testing and checking standards for different types of motor vehicle emissions and to scientifically and objectively build relevant environmental protection standards.
Today's Birthday, March 5: American model Taylor Hill (1996 - )

A self-described tomboy who was discovered at a dude ranch in Colorado, Taylor Hill has become one of the fashion industry's most in-demand models, working for the likes of Balmain, Chanel, Givenchy, Fendi, Miu Miu and Valentino.

The March cover girl of Harper's Bazaar Australia told the magazine she used to visit the ranch she was scouted at to ride horses.

"It's actually a very popular spot for photo shoots, which we were unaware of at the time. It just happened to be the closest place to my house to ride horses," Hill said.

Hill admits she has rarely had the time to ride horses since. After agent Jim Jordan handed her his card, the then-14-year-old and her mother flew to New York to meet agents and she was soon signed to IMG. Jordan remains her agent today.

The girl who had never seen a fashion magazine until she appeared in one, soon became the youngest ever Victoria's Secret model at just 18, as well as being Lancome's youngest ever face at the age of 20.

In 2018 she was chosen to open that year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She told US Weekly her pre-show ritual was "to remind myself that I worked really hard to get here and that I've got this".

Hill has been dating fellow model and actor Michael Stephen Shank for five years and the couple recently starred in the campaign for Ralph Lauren's Romance fragrance, of which she is the face.

Scouted at such a young age, Hill told Harper's Bazaar Australia she is unsure what she wants to do in the future.

"I was scouted at such a young age that I still had no idea what I wanted to do or who I was going to be," she said.

"I want to be passionate about and love whatever I decide to do, and I've concluded I still have some time to figure that out. I'm not rushing it - so we'll see what happens."
US Senator Bernie Sanders (left) and his onetime Senate colleague Joe Biden, the former vice president, have remained on the sidelines of the 2020 presidential race, even as several other Democrats have thrown their hats in the ring

With nine prominent Democrats already declared as 2020 presidential hopefuls, and more than a dozen others mulling campaigns, are heavyweights Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders waiting too long to enter the fray?

Last weekend two more Democrats -- both female US senators -- formally launched their bids, joining a historically diverse field as the party prepares to mount its battle against President Donald Trump.

As the field expands, potentially to its largest in the modern era, experts are splitting the Democratic nomination race into two camps: the haves -- featuring several US senators including Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren -- and the have yets, starring Biden and Sanders.

Both men have said they will announce in due course whether they pursue the presidency.

Some observers openly question whether Biden or Sanders, both losing presidential candidates in the past, are the right men for the job, given the potential changing of the guard underway in the party.

Lesser known candidates like Obama-era cabinet member Julian Castro, 44, and congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, 37, were under pressure to enter early, thereby boosting their name recognition, building campaign networks and wooing donors.

Former vice president Biden and independent Senator Sanders are no strangers to high-stakes politics, and observers say they are patiently waiting for the best opportunity to jump in.

"I think they both have time. They're looking for the right windows," Celinda Lake, a veteran Democratic pollster, told AFP.

- Mighty crowded -

Beto O'Rourke, a 46-year-old former congressman from Texas, is also mulling a run, and said he will announce his intentions this month.

Biden and Sanders are seen as being among the best chance for the Democrats of beating the incumbent, Donald Trump

Others considering jumping in include billionaire New York ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg, other senators, and several current and former governors.

Even establishment figures and former presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have not shut the door.

Amid a mad scramble to scoop up talented staff in early-voting states like Iowa, and to lock in deep-pocketed donors, Biden and Sanders are playing the long game, avoiding early slugging matches with rivals.

Biden has run twice before and tops 2020 polls, including a recent Emerson College survey that found he has support from 29 percent of expected Iowa Democratic caucus voters.

Harris earned 18 percent, followed by Sanders at 15 percent and Warren at 11.

Biden and Sanders would be among the best candidates in one crucial quality, Lake said: the ability to defeat Trump.

"We have a lot of good candidates, but in terms of who can beat Donald Trump," Biden and Sanders "have an advantage," she said.

Both are seen as having the potential not only to lure Trump voters fed up with the president, but to engage in the fierce combat with Trump that will mark 2020.

Lake downplayed concerns that Biden or Sanders, both in their 70s, would face younger, more energetic candidates on the trail.

"People want change, but that doesn't necessarily mean youth," she said, noting that a viable economic plan such as Biden's back-to-basics pitch to middle-class workers would resonate with voters across the political spectrum.

- 'Adept enough?' -

But the party is clearly shifting leftward, and getting younger.

Some of the most influential new congressional Democrats are in their early 30s, pushing a progressive agenda in Washington.

"There's a debate about the young guard versus the old," acknowledged longtime Democratic strategist Jim Manley.

"We are now a party of big ideas, and the question is whether some of the elder statesmen of the party are adept enough" to lead a new generation of Democrats.

Democratic US Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is one of the "haves" who has already entered the 2020 presidential race

Biden and Sanders importantly bring formidable fundraising prowess to the table, and can rely on a virtual cottage industry of loyal aides and volunteers.

But as the race heats up, some strategists wonder whether Biden, who carries policy baggage from decades in the Senate, would be a winning political savior, given strong voter appetite for change.

"I'm just not convinced he's the right choice for us as a party at this point in time," Manley said.

Another Democratic strategist, Pittsburgh-based Mike Mikus, said the party is focused on a singular mission: finding the candidate best prepared to defeat Trump.

"These ideological and generational battles may wait until beyond 2020," he said.

While lesser-known candidates feel compelled to enter early while running the risk of peaking too soon, Biden and Sanders have the "luxury" of delay, Mikus said.

But they risk waiting too long. "I don't think we're there yet, but we're approaching it," he said.

Senator Tom Carper, from Biden's state of Delaware, told AFP he has advice for his friend: "No need to rush."

Asked about the diverse field Biden would face, Carper chuckled: "There are a lot of great prospective vice presidents in that group."
With defeat of IS's self-declared 'caliphate' imminent, American troops are set to withdraw from Kurdish-controlled areas

Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan struggled Friday to convince sceptical allies in the coalition fighting the Islamic State militia to help secure Syria once American soldiers pull out.

President Donald Trump said the United States will announce the end of the IS group's once-sprawling "caliphate" within 24 hours, with US-led Arab and Kurdish forces close to capturing the last IS territorial holdout in Syria.

As the end neared for the proto-state that once controlled large areas of Iraq and Syria, 13 defence ministers of the anti-IS coalition met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Shanahan, the US acting defence secretary, pledged ongoing backing for the fight -- but kept allies guessing as to how that would be achieved once US forces pull out, and won no solid pledges of support.

"While the time for US troops on the ground in northeast Syria winds down, the United States remains committed to our coalition's cause: the permanent defeat of ISIS, both in the Middle East and beyond," he said.

Shanahan pledged that the US would "maintain our counterterrorism capabilities in the region" and "continue to support our local partners' ability to stand up to the remnants of ISIS" -- but gave no details about how this would be done.

- 'In together, out together' -

IS fighters have been boxed into an area of around one square kilometre (less than half a square mile) in a last battle over the jihadists' remaining patch of territory in northeastern Syria.

Once they are defeated, US troops are set to withdraw from Kurdish-controlled areas after Trump in December announced the pullout of around 2,000 US troops.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said the US had told coalition partners its soldiers would leave in "weeks rather than months".

The decision has stunned allies including France, which contributes artillery and about 1,200 forces in the region, including soldiers who train Iraqi troops.

"It is totally out of the question to have French troops on the ground without the Americans there," one French government source told AFP. "It's just no."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian asked in a Munich conference panel why the US would create a vacuum in Syria that could benefit its enemy Iran, calling the approach a "mystery".

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, whose country has helped with surveillance flights and logistical support, stressed that the idea of the anti-IS mission should be "in together, out together".

A senior US defence official said that none of the allies had made any "specific commitment... either whether they would stay or (whether) they would leave when we have left".

There was "a tremendous desire to have a security arrangement or mechanism," the official said, but conceded that no concrete solution had been found to "resolve the security vacuum".

- 'Going underground' -

The imminent collapse of the IS "caliphate" in Syria has increased concerns about experienced militants and foreign fighters escaping and forming new cells in Syria or beyond.

Von der Leyen stressed that "the IS is now changing its face and is going underground and building networks, including with other terror groups and including global networks".

Shanahan said the anti-IS coalition was evolving "to meet the global threat posed by ISIS's offshoots and its murderous ideology" as far away as Afghanistan and the Philippines.

Civilians flee the last pocket of IS group territory

However, the key concern of US allies now is Syria, where major powers -- crucially Russia, Iran and Turkey -- are jostling for influence.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leading supporter of the Damascus regime, has called the expected US withdrawal "a positive step that would help stabilise the situation in this region".

Once US forces leave, another complication emerges: the future of areas in northern Syria controlled by the Kurdish YPG militia, a key US ally in the fight against jihadists but branded terrorists by Turkey.

- Observation force -

Kurdish YPG forces are a key US ally in the fight against jihadists but a militia branded as terrorists by Turkey

Istanbul and Washington have called for the creation of a "security zone" to separate YPG-controlled areas from the Turkish border as the US and Turkey increasingly align their positions.

Washington's suggestion of installing an observation force in a buffer zone in Syria's north has the twin objectives of avoiding a Turkish assault on Kurdish forces and halting any jihadist resurgence.

British defence minister Gavin Williamson at a NATO meeting this week did not rule out a UK role, saying that "we will continue to do all that is required to ensure that Britain and our allies remain safe".

Istanbul and Washington have suggested the creation of a 'security zone' to separate YPG-controlled areas from the Turkish border, once US troops withdraw

However, one high-ranking European military official pointed to the massive challenge of creating such a security zone.

"Securing a buffer zone of an estimated 400 kilometres (250 miles) in length and 30km in width would require around 20,000 troops," said the official.

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At least 41 paramilitary troops were killed on Thursday as explosives packed in a van ripped through a convoy

India and Pakistan's troubled ties risked taking a dangerous new turn on Friday as New Delhi accused Islamabad of harbouring militants behind one of the deadliest attacks in three decades of bloodshed in Indian-administered Kashmir.

At least 41 paramilitary troops were killed on Thursday as explosives packed in a van ripped through a convoy bringing 2,500 troopers back from leave not far from the main city Srinagar, police said.

Local media reported that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility, with the vehicle driven by a known local militant, Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 with both nuclear-armed countries, which have fought three wars, claiming it as their own.

The husband of Mamta Rawar (C) was killed in the attack on the convoy, which was bringing 2,500 troopers back from leave

Jaish-e-Mohammed is largely considered to be one of the most active Pakistan-based insurgent groups fighting in Kashmir.

India's foreign ministry said that Jaish-e-Mohammed head Masood Azhar "has been given full freedom by... Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity".

"I want to tell the terrorist groups and their masters that they have committed a big mistake. They have to pay a heavy price," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday after an emergency cabinet meeting.

"Security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terrorists," Modi said, adding that the "blood of the people is boiling".

Arun Jaitley, finance minister, promised to isolate Pakistan in the international community.

Islamabad, however, hit back at the suggestion it was involved.

"We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," the Pakistan foreign ministry said.

- Body parts -

The attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp

The United States condemned the attack in "the strongest terms", and called on "all countries...to deny safe haven and support for terrorists". China urged "relevant regional countries" to work for peace.

Two buses of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the 78-vehicle convoy on the Srinagar-Jammu highway bore the brunt of the blast, heard miles away.

"No one from the first bus survived," a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, predicting the death toll could rise.

Blackened, mangled remains of at least one vehicle littered the highway. Reports said bodies and body parts were strewn around, making victims' identification difficult.

Afterwards, hundreds of government forces cordoned off around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and conducted house-to-house searches, a police officer and witnesses said.

After the attack, hundreds of government forces cordoned around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and conducted house-to-house searches

Authorities suspended or slowed internet services across the Kashmir region as thousands of security men patrolled the streets.

Several parts of Jammu city, the largely Hindu majority region in the south of the Kashmir, were under curfew after protesters allegedly attacked Muslim properties.

Protesters in many cities chanted slogans against Pakistan and burnt effigies of Azhar.

The shock attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp.

India responded to that with the now-famous "surgical strikes" -- an expression used in the title of a new Bollywood movie -- across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border, several miles into Pakistan-administered Pakistan.

- Hawks -

Kashmir, where an armed conflict erupted in 1989, has seen increased violence in recent years

"The current situation has all the making of an India-Pakistan crisis," said Moeed Yusuf from the US Institute of Peace. "The next 24-48 hours are crucial. This could get bad."

"The hope was that India and Pakistan will get back to talking after the Indian elections later this year. I think the hawks on both sides are going to make it very difficult for that to happen now."

On Friday India announced it was withdrawing its Most Favoured Nation Status -- covering trade links -- on Pakistan.

India's foreign ministry summoned Pakistan's envoy to lodge a complaint. India also recalled its envoy from Islamabad for consultations, reports said.

But beyond these moves, Modi has "no easy options", Manoj Joshi from the New Delhi based Observer Research Foundation think-tank told AFP.

Military action could "escalate into something big", he said.

"Diplomatic action against Pakistan is another option. But the United States is cosying up with Islamabad to seek an exit from Afghanistan. China has also deep interests in Pakistan."

Kashmir, where an armed conflict erupted in 1989, has seen increased violence in recent years. Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with rights monitors saying almost 600 people died -- mostly civilians.
Saturday's vote will be sixth election in 20 years since Nigeria returned to democracy after decades of military rule

Nigeria made final preparations Friday on the eve of a presidential election, with continuity pitted against reform in a battle between incumbent Muhammadu Buhari and his main rival Atiku Abubakar.

Buhari, the 76-year-old leader of Africa's most populous nation, was elected in 2015 on a wave of hope he could defeat Boko Haram Islamists, tackle rampant corruption and boost the economy.

But he faces a stiff challenge from former vice-president Abubakar, 72, amid fears about widening insecurity, claims of creeping authoritarianism and economic incompetence.

Analysts were split over who would win Saturday's ballot, which is the sixth in the 20 years since Nigeria returned to democracy after decades of miliary rule.

"It's likely to be very, very tight," said Nnamdi Obasi, senior Nigeria researcher at the International Crisis Group think-tank.

"Initially the president and the ruling party were way ahead in the race but in recent times the opposition has been seen to make a more vigorous and more robust campaign.

"We can't say exactly how it will go," he told BBC World Service radio.

A record number of 73 candidates are on the ballot but Buhari, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Abubakar, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), are considered the main contenders.

Over 84 million people are registered to vote -- up 18 percent on 2015 and another record, which has been taken as a sign of Nigeria's developing democracy.

Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bills himself as a dynamic, modern, pro-business leader

Also up for grabs are 360 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 109 in the Senate.

Nearly 120,000 polling units are set to open at 0700 GMT and close at 1600 GMT.

No date has been given for the results, but an announcement is expected from early next week.

- Either/or -

Electors face a choice between two elderly candidates who have both been part of the political elite for decades and do not mirror the country's increasingly young demographic.

Just over half the registered voters are aged 18-35.

Chief among the criticisms against President Mohammadu Buhari is security in a country plagued by jihadist violence

Chief among the criticisms against Buhari is security, with signs of a resurgence of Boko Haram in Nigeria's remote northeast and new conflicts elsewhere.

His anti-corruption campaign has been described as one-sided, unduly targeting political opponents.

Economic growth picked up last year after a recession in 2016 but remains sluggish. The cost of living is high in a country where most of the 190 million people live in poverty despite billions earned from oil.

Abubakar, 72, bills himself as a dynamic, modern, pro-business leader. But the former vice-president faces allegations about links to corruption.

Buhari said in a televised address Thursday that reelection would give him the chance to fulfil his initial promises and complete vital infrastructure projects.

Nigerian presidential election: key candidates

"There is no best candidate among them," said Aliyu Jibrilla, a 70-year-old retired teacher in the Adamawa state capital, Yola, adding: "Intellectually... they're not up to it".

"It's about time these old people go," added Modibbo Sadiq, a 23-year-old university graduate.

In Buhari's home town of Daura, in Katsina state, Abdulaziz Abdullahi agreed. "Ideally, the young generation should be in charge of country," said the 25-year-old, who sells glasses.

"But they are not ready for the job."

- Security and fraud -

Security is a constant threat in Nigeria, after previous outbreaks of deadly election-linked violence.

A total of 73 candidates are on the ballot for Saturday's election in Nigeria

As a precaution, all vehicles have been ordered off the roads from 6am to 6pm Saturday.

Nigeria's police chief Mohammed Adamu said the restrictions were designed to prevent "hoodlums and criminally-minded elements from hijacking and disrupting the electoral process".

With a reinforced police and military presence on the streets Friday, the interior ministry announced that land borders will shut for 48 hours from midday.

Candidates have pledged to conduct peaceful elections and to accept the results, but there have been clashes in the southern state of Rivers.

With security a key concern during the weekend vote, there was a reinforced police and military presence on the streets

APC candidates have been prevented from running in the parliamentary and governorship elections in Rivers because of a dispute over their selection.

Vote-rigging has marred previous Nigerian elections, and this year concerns have been raised both the APC and PDP may have sought to buy votes.

Red flags also went up after voter cards were distributed late, or not at all, and three fires in 12 days Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) offices.

Ahmad Ado Hasan, 21, a tailor and first-time voter in the northern city of Kano, said: "As a citizen, you should vote your choice, not sell your vote.

"God has already destined the winner, we are only to confirm through our votes. So, vote buying is not the answer."
British teenagers (L-R) Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum were caught on camera at Gatwick Airport as they prepared to fly on their own to Turkey

A pregnant London schoolgirl's wish to return home after joining the Islamic State group in Syria splintered Britain on Friday as reports emerged of more UK women fleeing the war zone.

Shamima Begum's fate has prompted soul searching in Britain since she and two friends created international headlines by running away to join the terror network in 2015.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid told The Times newspaper that people like Begum "were full of hate for our country".

"My message is clear -- if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return," he said.

However Alex Younger, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence agency, MI6, said that being a British national she had the right to return but could expect possible prosecution if she did so.

Quoted by British media at the Munich Security Conference, Younger said he was "very concerned" about returning British nationals who had fought for or supported IS.

"All experience tells us that once someone's put themselves in that sort of position they are likely to have acquired both the skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous," he added.

Younger also warned that IS was "a resilient organisation" even though it had lost the territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria.

"It is reorganising, returning to its natural state as an asymmetric transnational terrorist organisation. We see it morphing, spreading out," he was quoted as saying.

- 'No entry' -

The girls' decision to join the IS group created initial resentment and disbelief in a country that has been a frequent target of bloody strikes linked to jihadists.

Their fate was uncertain until The Times newspaper managed to find an unrepentant Begum -- now 19 and about to give birth for the third time after seeing her first two children die -- at a refugee camp in eastern Syria.

"I just could not endure any more," she told the paper.

"I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

Former MI6 chief Richard Barrett argued on Begum's behalf in an opinion piece for the left-leaning Guardian paper.

"Like it or not, these individuals were products of our society, and it would make sense to take a good, hard look at why they turned their backs on it in such dramatic fashion," Barrett wrote.

But right-leaning newspapers called on the authorities to keep Begum out.

"No regret. No remorse. No entry," The Sun tabloid declared on its front page.

The government does not have the power to ban Begum because she still has a British passport and has not been convicted of a crime.

But authorities could prosecute her or issue a special security notice that would see her detained on arrival at a UK airport.

- 'Had no choice' -

Mohammed Rahman, whose brother is married to Begum's sister, and other relatives of the surviving teens pleaded for mercy.

"I can understand why people in this country are angry and don't want her back," Rahman told The Times.

"But she was only 15 when she went to Syria. We are appealing for compassion and understanding on her behalf."

Begum fled together with two friends: Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase.

The jihadists have staged a last stand in Baghouz in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border

Sultana has since been reported killed. Begum said Abase stayed in a village where IS fighters are making a final stand against US-backed fighters.

Abase's father Hussen asked for forgiveness for the teens.

"They should be allowed to learn from their mistakes," he told The Daily Telegraph.

"They are no threat to us."

The Telegraph reported from eastern Syria that seven British women and 15 of their children are believed to have fled Baghouz -- the village where IS fighters are located -- for two refugee camps.

The paper spoke to two British women at the camps who wanted to return.

A mother-of-four from London named Nassima Begum -- no relation to Shamima Begum -- said she "had no choice but to follow" her husband's decision to leave.

"Some of the women here believe in (IS). I can promise you I am not one of them," she said.

But another Londoner named Reema Iqbal was more reserved.

"The security services came to speak to me and I was honest, I told them my whole story so now it's up to them to judge," Iqbal said.
Kurdish-led forces say that concern for the truckloads of civilians who are pouring out of the Islamic State group's last redoubt is slowing their advance on the final square kilometre still held by jihadist diehards in Syria

Kurdish-led forces cleared landmines and searched for tunnels blocking their advance Friday on the final patch of an east Syria village defended by a few hundred Islamic State jihadists.

Rain and concern for civilians trapped in IS's last redoubt were delaying a push that will wipe out the last shred of the jihadists' once-sprawling "caliphate".

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he will announce the end of the jihadist proto-state within the next day.

The Syrian Democratic Forces have been closing in on the holdout jihadists since September last year and a few hundred surviving IS members are now boxed into an area of around one square kilometre (less than half a square mile).

"The large number of landmines and tunnels is hindering attempts by the SDF to secure complete control over the area," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said.

Civilians flee the last pocket of IS group territory

Diehard jihadists were still launching sporadic attacks on SDF positions around their last stronghold in Baghouz, near the banks of the Euphrates river.

"IS fighters are refusing to hand themselves over and they are still putting up a fight. We do not know what is the point of this resistance," SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said.

Speaking to AFP in Al-Omar oil field, the SDF's main staging area, he said this week the jihadists had been using ambushes and explosive-laden motorbikes to inflict casualties on the SDF.

The UK-based Observatory said the corpses of 26 IS fighters had been found by SDF troops on Thursday alone as they combed the area before resuming their advance.

The "caliphate" IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in mid-2014 once spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people.

- Eating grass -

It printed its own schoolbooks, produced oil, collected taxes and minted its own currency, in a brief but unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood.

Close to 40,000 people have fled the jihadists' dwindling enclave in recent weeks, enduring a perilous journey to the nearest collection point held by Kurdish-led forces, dodging boody traps and sniper fire

Successive offensives in Iraq and Syria have shattered the proto-state, which lost its key cities one after the other.

An official declaration of victory against IS is expected in the coming days, a move of mostly symbolic value that will go down as the death certificate of the "caliphate".

Estimates vary on the number of fighters and families left inside the last IS pocket but accounts from women who escaped with their children in recent days suggest some civilians are left inside.

"To avoid any harm to the wives and children of IS fighters, we are forced to be cautious," Afrin said.

Close to 40,000 people have left the jihadists' dwindling enclave in recent weeks, in the latest humanitarian emergency of an eight-year conflict that has killed 360,000 people and displaced 11 million.

IS group's last bastion in eastern Syria

Those who flee Baghouz have a perilous journey to the nearest SDF-held collection point, dodging booby traps and sniper fire.

Women veiled from head to toe carrying scant belongings and dirty children often have to spend one night or more sleeping out in the cold.

"These people haven't had any proper food in weeks... I've heard accounts of people making some kind of soup with grass," said Jean-Nicolas Paquet-Rouleau, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria.

- Humanitarian burden -

Adult men are among those who have left the neighbourhood where IS is making its desperate last stand. They are screened and often detained by the SDF.

Adult men who have fled the jihadists' desperate last stand are screened and often detained by Kurdish-led forces

Abdel Karim Omar, the top foreign affairs official in the autonomous administration the Kurds have set up in northeastern Syria, argued jihadists preferred to surrender to the SDF than risk being captured by Iraqi or Syrian government forces flanking the battlefield on either side.

"IS fighters prefer to come to us because we treat them in accordance with international law," he told AFP.

"Even if they are tried one day in this area, they know that we do not impose the death sentence," he said.

What happens next to the hundreds of suspected jihadists of all nationalities held by the SDF -- and the fate of their families -- is a complex question.

The Kurds are keen to send all foreign jihadists back to their countries of origin for trial but court systems and public opinion in Europe and elsewhere are ill-prepared.

The Kurdish official also complained that the international community is falling short in providing humanitarian assistance to the growing number of displaced.

Kurdish officials say the international community is not doing enough to help them care for the thousands of civilians, many of them children, fleeing the Islamic State group's last stand

"Unfortunately, international aid agencies, the international community and even the global coalition (against IS), are not taking responsibility for these displaced people," Omar said.

"What they are providing does not cover even five percent of their needs," he said, calling for increased support.
A Pakistani man waits for transport in front of billboards showing portraits of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, ahead of the Salman's state visit from February 16 - 17

Pakistan was rescheduling flights, blocking-off luxury hotels, and -- according to one report Friday -- collecting 3,500 pigeons and colourful balloons to release during a welcome ceremony for Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Islamabad is hoping to sign a raft of investment deals and other agreements during the two-day visit, which begins Sunday and will include talks with Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan and the powerful army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

The crown prince had originally been due to arrive on Saturday, but late Friday the Pakistan foreign ministry released a statement saying the visit had been delayed by one day, with the programme unchanged.

Banners heralding the crown prince were already lining the streets of the capital Friday, while the Express Tribune newspaper reported that authorities were trying to catch so many pigeons for a welcome ceremony that they were forced to collect birds from other cities.

Police, the armed forces, and the Saudi Royal Guards will provide security, a senior Islamabad police official told AFP.

The capital's "red zone", which houses Parliament House and the Presidency, was to be sealed off, while civil aviation authorities have been told to reschedule flights during the prince's arrival and departure.

Authorities in the capital said two five-star hotels had been ordered to cancel all advance bookings as the rooms will be reserved for the prince's entourage.

Earlier in the week local media reported that the crown prince's personal belongings -- including luxury vehicles and his own gym -- were flown to Pakistan in two C130 airplanes.

The visit came as regional tensions spiked after neighbouring India accused Islamabad of harbouring militants behind a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir.

At least 41 paramilitary troops were killed in a suicide blast Thursday, with Indian media reporting that the Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility.

The crown prince, who is due to visit India after Pakistan, also continues to be tarnished by his alleged links to the brutal murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Saudi Arabia is reportedly preparing to sign a record investment package with Pakistan, including a $10 billion refinery and oil complex for the strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea.

Pakistan's foreign office spokesman said Islamabad is seeking to sign a number of other deals, including one "combating organised crime".

Khan has been courting Pakistan's Gulf allies for months as he seeks to stave off an ongoing balance of payments crisis and reduce the size of any potential bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have together offered Islamabad some $30 billion in investment and loans.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are also participating in talks with the US and other countries seeking to bring the Taliban to the table for peace negotiations with Kabul after more than 17 years of war.

The Taliban have claimed their representatives will visit Islamabad on Monday, after Salman leaves.
US President Donald Trump is considering a compromise federal spending bill that funds border security, but he must sign it by midnight February 15, 2019 in order to avoid a partial government shutdown

President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency Friday to fund his long-sought US-Mexico border wall, after agreeing to a measure that prevents a new government shutdown but excludes the billions he demanded for the barrier.

Trump's plan, announced by the White House on a chaotic political day Thursday, alarmed US lawmakers, including those in his Republican Party who warn that the move would set a dangerous precedent, and Democrats who fumed about an abuse of presidential power.

The massive spending measure will keep federal agencies operational through September 30 -- a relief for lawmakers who had fretted about the possibility of a second crippling shutdown this year.

But it falls wells short of the $5.7 billion that Trump has been demanding for a wall on the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) southern border, and Trump's emergency declaration would help him bypass Congress and get the money that lawmakers refused to give him.

Signing the spending bill will bring an end to a rolling, two-month battle over government funding.

But by declaring an emergency, Trump opens a new confrontation -- and creates some of the riskiest legal peril of his term.

Under the National Emergencies Act, the president can declare a national emergency, providing a specific reason for it.

That allows the activation of any of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws, which can permit the White House to declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, expand the military, seize property and restrict trade, communications and financial transactions.

Recent presidents -- including Trump -- have used emergency powers on such issues. But the expectation that Trump will use the authority to raid billions of dollars from government accounts for the funding of a wall is sounding alarm bells on Capitol Hill.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Trump's Democratic nemesis in Congress, said declaring such a national emergency would be "a lawless act (and) a gross abuse of the power of the presidency."

- Dangerous 'threshold' -

Members of her caucus were "reviewing our options" about how to respond to Trump's move, she told reporters Thursday.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (pictured February 13, 2019) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that declaring a national emergency would be "a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency"

"I'm not advocating for any president doing an end run around Congress," Pelosi added.

"I'm just saying that the Republicans should have some dismay about the door that they are opening, the threshold they are crossing."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he backs the president's emergency intent, but several others in the Republican camp have expressed deep reservations.

"I have concerns about the precedent that could be set with the use of emergency action to re-appropriate funds," veteran Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said in a statement.

Senator Susan Collins said it "would be a mistake" for the president to declare such an emergency, warning it would "undermine" lawmakers' all-important role as holders of federal purse strings.

Article 1 of the US Constitution states Congress gets to decide how money is appropriated. Many lawmakers have said they have no idea where Trump will draw the funding from.

Democrats in particular have signaled that the move would open the door to future presidents declaring emergencies on various topics, from gun violence to climate change to the opioid crisis.

There is broad expectation that Trump's move would be challenged in court.

And House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler expressed support for a joint congressional resolution of disapproval to "terminate" Trump's emergency declaration.

Chart comparing the $1.4 billion preliminary deal for the US-Mexico border wall to other government expenditures/budgets

Such a move has a chance of passing both chambers of Congress, but Trump would almost certainly veto it.

Lawmakers could try to override the veto with a two-thirds majority but that would be tough going in the Senate, where several Republicans may not wish to cross the president.

The spending measure includes only $1.375 billion for border barriers or fencing, far from the $5.7 billion that Trump has sought for his long-promised border wall -- a demand that led to the recent 35-day government shutdown, the longest in US history.
About 740,000 of the Muslim minority fled to Bangladesh as a result of a military crackdown in August 2017, condemned by the UN as ethnic cleansing

The United Nations on Friday called for $920 million in aid for around a million Rohingya taking shelter in Bangladesh after bloodshed in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

About 740,000 of the Muslim minority fled to Bangladesh as a result of a military crackdown in August 2017, condemned by the UN as ethnic cleansing.

They joined another 300,000 Rohingya who were already living in overcrowded camps in Cox's Bazar following previous bouts of violence.

In a joint statement the UN refugee agency and the International Organization of Migration said they were looking to raise $920 million (817 million euros) to meet "the massive needs of more than 900,000 refugees from Myanmar and over 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis in host communities".

"Critical aid and services such as food, water, sanitation and shelter represent more than half of the funding needs this year.

"Other key sectors of the appeal include health, site management, protection activities including child protection and addressing sexual and gender-based violence, immunisation education and nutrition," it added.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi called on Myanmar "to take urgent action to address the root causes of this crisis which have persisted for decades, so that people are no longer forced to flee and can eventually return home in safety and dignity."

In Myanmar, the Rohingya are widely seen as interlopers from Bangladesh and have been denied citizenship, rights and access to services for decades.

Aung San Suu Kyi's civilian government remains in a fragile power-sharing agreement with the military, which has denied abuses and said its operations were justified to root out Rohingya insurgents following a series of deadly attacks on police posts.

Suu Kyi's refusal to stand up for the Rohingya has left her international reputation in tatters.

This is the third appeal for aid issued jointly by UNHCR, IOM and Bangladesh.

They said the situation of the refugees had improved vastly with money raised earlier.

Acute malnutrition has falling from emergency levels in late 2017, immunisation coverage has grown to 89 percent, and women delivering their babies in health facilities has risen from 22 percent to 40 percent, the UN joint statement said.

But Bangladeshi State Minister of Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam insisted the goal remains repatriation.

"We have signed (an) agreement with Myanmar but unfortunately the situation in Myanmar is still not conducive for voluntary safe and dignified return," he said.

"So we urge on the international community to put pressure on Myanmar and engage with them constructively, so as a responsible... member of the United Nations they take their citizens back without further delays."
Plummeting auto production dragged down overall US industrial output in January, although it remains solidly above the 2018 rate

American manufacturing plunged in January, largely on a drop in vehicle assembly, cutting overall industrial production in its biggest decline since mid-2018, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

Even excluding the sharp drop in vehicle output, manufacturing -- which is at the center of President Donald Trump's aggressive trade policies -- still declined, albeit by a smaller amount.

That was only partially offset by the slight rebound in utilities, while the volatile mining sector edged slightly higher.

Manufacturing fell 0.9 percent last month compared to December, although it is still 2.9 percent higher than January 2018, according to the Fed report.

That drove overall output down 0.6 percent -- in both cases the biggest declines since May of last year.

Economists had been expecting a 0.2 percent gain in production.

"In one line: Horrible, with further decline in manufacturing to come," Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said in reaction to the report.

"Manufacturing is under real pressure from the slowdown in China and the trade war and we expect output to drift down over the first half of the year, putting the sector into a mild recession."

- 'Dramatic' decline -

The auto industry, which has struggled to adapt to changing technology and consumer tastes, competition and rising steel prices due to the steep tariffs Trump imposed last year, saw production of vehicles plunge 14.4 percent, while output of parts dropped 3.6 percent.

Excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing still declined 0.2 percent, the report said.

Adding to the signals of a slowing industrial sector, overall production in December was slower than originally reported, rising just 0.1 percent rather than 0.3 percent. But output in January was 3.8 percent better than a year earlier.

Economist Mickey Levy of Berenberg Capital Markets blamed the decline on the polar vortex.

"Extremely frigid weather and a fire in late January halted operations at some auto plants in the Midwest," he said in a research note.

However, Shepherdson noted that the jump in December "always looked unsustainable" while the January decline was "more dramatic" than implied by other data.

Mining output, which includes oil and gas, edged up just 0.1 percent last month, while the return of winter weather after the unseasonably warm temperatures in December pushed utilities output up 0.4 percent, after a nearly seven percent drop off in the prior month.

With the decline in output, industrial capacity in use in January dropped six tenths to 78.2 percent -- below a consensus forecast for 78.7 percent -- with a similar drop in manufacturing to 75.8 percent, according to the data.
Those targeted for sanctions are aligned with "illegitimate former" President Nicolas Maduro, according to the Treasury Department

The US Treasury announced Friday it was imposing sanctions on five intelligence and security officials close to crisis-hit Venezuela's "former" President Nicolas Maduro.

Those targeted are "aligned with illegitimate former President Nicolas Maduro, who continue to repress democracy and democratic actors in Venezuela," a Treasury Department statement read.

Among the five men is Manuel Quevedo, described by the Treasury as the "illegitimate" president of Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, PDVSA.

The sanctions mean the Treasury is freezing all assets in US control of the men, and blocking any US person from doing business with them.

Also included is Ivan Rafael Hernandez, commander of Maduro's presidential guard and head of the military counter-intelligence service, which the Treasury said "is responsible for serious human rights abuses and the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition."

The sanctions also hit Manuel Ricardo Cristopher, the head of Venezuela's intelligence service, who has overseen "mass torture, mass human rights violations and mass persecution" of the Venezuela opposition.

The other men are the commander of a special police unit and the first commissioner of the intelligence service.

The US last month announced that it recognized self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described Maduro as part of an "illegitimate mafia state" responsible for Venezuela's economic collapse.
Human rights groups have regularly criticised Sisi's government for cracking down on secular and left-wing activists, as well as the Islamist supporters of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group

Rights group Amnesty International on Friday slammed a "ban" it said Egyptian authorities have imposed on family visits to scores of detainees.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has regularly been accused by rights groups of repressing opponents.

At least 60,000 have been detained in a crackdown since Sisi took power after leading the military ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, according to another campaign group, Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty said it had obtained "an official document which confirms there is an open-ended ban on family visits in a number of sections at two major prison complexes in Cairo and Alexandria".

"These sections are known to house people being held in pre-trial detention and prisoners convicted for expressing their political opinions or otherwise exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," Amnesty said in a statement.

The number of prisoners affected at the Tora prison in Cairo and the Borg al-Arab in Alexandria was "not clear", it added.

"The Egyptian prison authorities must urgently lift the cruel and punitive restrictions on family visits," said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty's campaign director for North Africa.

Amnesty said human rights lawyer Mohamed Ramadan, political activist Shady al-Ghazali and satirist Shady Abu Zeid are among those recently denied family visits.

Former president Morsi "has only been allowed three visits since he was first detained more than five years ago", it said.

Egyptian authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Human rights groups have regularly criticised Sisi's government for cracking down on secular and left-wing activists, as well as the Islamist supporters of Morsi's banned Muslim Brotherhood group.

Activists have been increasingly detained in Egypt in recent months.

Authorities insist that such measures are needed to maintain stability and counter jihadism in the country.

Sisi has repeatedly claimed there are no "political prisoners" in Egypt.
Guven launched her hunger strike on November 8

Turkish police on Friday prevented supporters from rallying outside the home of a pro-Kurdish lawmaker on hunger strike for 100 days.

The protest bid coincides with the 20th anniversary of the capture of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is jailed in a notorious prison island near Istanbul.

Leyla Guven of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), launched her action on November 8 while in jail to protest against Ocalan's prison conditions.

She was freed last month under judicial supervision but continued her protest, refusing any treatment. Guven, 55, is consuming only sugared or salted water.

Police on Friday blocked supporters from approaching Guven's house in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir after a rally called by the HDP, an AFP correspondent said.

"The biggest task ahead of us today is to turn every aspect of life into an arena for struggle and support hunger strikes at the highest level," HDP MP Dilan Dirayet Tasdemir said.

"This dark picture and severe conditions of fascism can only be broken through our organised struggle," Tasdemir said.

More than 200 prisoners are on hunger strike to protest what they call Ocalan's isolation, according to the HDP.

Ocalan, one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, has not been allowed to see his lawyers since 2011.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

Ocalan was caught in Kenya outside the Greek embassy in Nairobi on February 15, 1999 by Turkish secret service agents after attempting to seek asylum in Europe.

- 'Fundamental right' -

Turkish authorities last month allowed Ocalan's brother Mehmet to see him, the first visit in over two years, but the jailed leader's lawyers said it was not enough.

"We cannot see a family visit that came in two years as something that ends isolation. That was a meeting which came after the reaction of democracy advocates and hunger strikes," Emran Emekci, one of Ocalan's lawyers, told an Istanbul press conference.

"Meeting with family members is a fundamental right. There should be no need for hunger strikes... but unfortunately we need that resistance," he added.

An international peace delegation made up of unionists, human rights activists and former politicians on Friday met with Ocalan's lawyers in Istanbul.

The delegation met with Guven in Diyarbakir this week but they said no government official would meet with them.

"The situation of the hunger strikers is at a dangerous point and it is imperative that Turkey acts to end the isolation (of Ocalan) now before there is further violence and bloodshed," said Ogmundur Jonasson, former Iceland justice minister.
Nigerians prayed Friday for peaceful elections amid claims of vote-rigging and fears of violence

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari joined fellow worshippers Friday to pray for peaceful elections, amid claims of possible vote-rigging and fears of violence.

The 76-year-old leader waved at hundreds of jubilant supporters in his home town of Daura, in the northwestern Katsina state, where he will vote on Saturday.

Buhari, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), is expected to face a stiff challenge from former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, 72, from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Abubakar is a fellow Muslim from Adamawa state, in northeast Nigeria.

Buhari arrived at the Daura mosque in a festival atmosphere, with crowds cheering his convoy and security detail.

Inside, the Emir of Daura, a traditional ruler, told the congregation: "I call on all people of Daura to come out en masse tomorrow and vote."

President Mohammadu Buhari prayed with other worshippers at the Central Mosque in his native town, Daura

Buhari enjoys fanatical support in his home town and across the wider north, where he is seen as a humble man of the people, unlike Abubakar who is viewed as an elite businessman.

Security was tight in Daura and in the northwest, with armed personnel present at several new checkpoints after a spate of attack by bandits on local communities.

As election officials transported ballot boxes and voting equipment to polling stations around the country, millions prayed for a peaceful vote.

In Lagos, some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from Daura in the southwest, the imam at the city's Central Mosque said: "We are pleading for God's protection for all of us at this important moment."

He called on the hundreds listening to show "peace of mind", adding: "When you see them snatching ballot boxes, stealing or scattering, I'm saying now... don't be a part of them."

Fatu Aluko, a market trader near the mosque on Lagos Island, said she felt the result was in "God's hands".

Religion plays a key role in Nigerian life, including its politics. The country is almost evenly split between a mainly Muslim north and a largely Christian south.

Buhari's Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo is a church pastor while Abubakar's running mate, Peter Obi, is a devout Roman Catholic, whose sister is a nun and brother is a priest.
Based in Johanesburg, MTN is Africa's largest mobile operator which operates in 22 countries

Kampala has deported the Belgian CEO of the Ugandan branch of MTN on security grounds, in the fourth such expulsion targeting the South African telecoms giant within a month.

Police spokesman Fred Enanga said MTN's Wim Vanhelleputte had been deported on Thursday evening for reasons of "national security".

MTN on Friday confirmed the deportation but said it was unclear why Vanhelleputte had been asked to leave.

"MTN has not been notified of the grounds for the deportation and is working hard to establish precise reasons" for it, said communications manager Valery Okecho.

"We are understandably concerned about these developments and are engaging with the authorities to seek understanding that would lead us to resolve this matter."

MTN operates in 22 African countries and Vanhelleputte has served as CEO of its Uganda branch since July 2016.

The company said Friday it had appointed its Ugandan chief technology officer Gordian Kyomukama as acting chief executive in order "to ensure business continuity".

Last month, Kampala expelled three other foreign nationals serving as senior executives at MTN, accusing them of using their positions to "compromise national security."

They included Olivier Prentout, a French national serving as chief marketing officer, Rwandan Annie Bilenge-Tabura, who was head of sales and distribution, and Elsa Mussolini, an Italian who headed MTN's mobile financial services.

- Espionage claim -

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official from the Ugandan police told AFP that the intelligence services had discovered last year that "a neighbouring country had infiltrated the police and was in the process of intercepting our communication lines."

"On investigating, we discovered a link between that country and MTN, where some foreigners were recruited specifically to carry out espionage and subversion," he said, without naming the country in question.

Last month's expulsion of the Rwandan executive had raised questions about whether the matter was linked to ongoing tensions between Uganda and Rwanda who regularly accuse each other of espionage.

"It was further discovered that the recently-deported MTN managers were behind that infiltration by a foreign country and were in the habit of allowing third parties to hack into communication channels of senior government officials including State House," he said.

- Museveni points the finger -

Days after the first three managers were expelled, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni met Rob Shuter, MTN's chief executive, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos where the pair discussed the Ugandan telecoms market.

Following the meeting, Museveni accused MTN of under-declaring call volumes to avoid tax.

He demanded shares in the company to be floated on the Ugandan stock exchange or transferred to the national social security fund "to allow for local ownership."

MTN Uganda's 20-year licence expired last year and it is currently operating under an interim licence.

In July 2018, the company said armed men claiming to be from Uganda's Internal Security Organisation "kidnapped" two of its contractors and forced them to open up the company's main data centre, where they made an unsuccessful attempt to access servers.

At the time, MTN denounced the incident as "criminal" and reported it to the authorities but said it had no reason to believe it was under investigation. evs-cyb/hmw
A South African UN peacekeeper with the MONUSCO mission on patrol in the eastern DR Congo town of Oicha

DR Congo's new President Felix Tshisekedi called Friday for a "better armed" UN peacekeeping force in the troubled country, in his first formal meeting with foreign diplomats after taking power.

Tshisekedi also called for "healthy cooperation" with Europe, following tensions during the latter half of his predecessor Joseph Kabila's 18-year rule.

He said the Democratic Republic of Congo wanted to work jointly with the UN to draw up a withdrawal plan for the MONUSCO peacekeeping mission, one of the biggest in the world which has been present in DRC for 20 years.

In the meantime, its troops "should be reduced and better armed and prepared" to fight the numerous rebel and militia groups which hold sway over large areas of the country, he said.

On December 27, DR Congo expelled the European Union's head of mission, Bart Ouvry, a Belgian national, after the 28-nation bloc reimposed sanctions on 14 officials over a brutal crackdown on protests during Kabila's rule.

Tshisekedi said he wanted a mutual exchange of ambassadors "as soon as possible," but underscored Kinshasa would "protect its political independence... and sovereignty."
Youth join a rally in support of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan on February 15, 2019 in Syria's northeastern Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli

Thousands took to the streets in Syria's northeastern city of Qamishli on Friday to mark 20 years since the arrest of Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is jailed in Turkey.

Under a grey sky, men and women of all ages marched through the Kurdish-majority city waving yellow flags bearing a picture of Ocalan.

Donning puffer jackets and coats, they flashed victory signs as onlookers watched from their balconies.

Labelled the "nemesis" of the Turkish state, Ocalan remains a revered figure for Kurds not just in Turkey but across the region, despite being cut off from the outside world.

Arrested 20 years ago, Ocalan is serving a life sentence on Turkey's prison island of Imrali, close to Istanbul

Ocalan is the only detainee at Turkey's prison island of Imrali, nearly 60 kilometres (35 miles) southwest of Istanbul.

"They put our leader in prison for no reason, and no country raised its voice against it," said Turkiya, a 60-year-old Kurdish protester in Qamishli.

Ocalan is one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.

He was caught in Kenya outside the Greek embassy on February 15, 1999 by Turkish secret service agents after attempting to seek asylum in Europe.

The Kurdish leader was sentenced to death on charges of treason, separatism and murder that same year, but the sentence was commuted to life in prison when Turkey dropped the death penalty in 2002.

Labelled the "nemesis" of the Turkish state, Ocalan remains a revered figure among Kurds cause across the region

The rally aimed to show "once again that our leader has humanist ideas and that we support him", said Chahouz Hassan, who co-heads the Democratic Union Party, a Syrian offshoot of the PKK.

In the chaos of Syria's brutal eight-year war, the long-oppressed Kurdish minority has carved out a semi-autonomous region in the north of the country.

That has prompted a backlash in Ankara, which fears an entrenched Kurdish presence across the border will stoke separatist ambitions at home.

Turkey sees Syrian Kurdish fighters as "terrorists" and has repeatedly threatened to attack Kurdish-held areas along its southern border.
Thai Army chief Apirat Kongsompong (R back) dismissed talk of a coup in Thailand, and said he was "very close" to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha (L)

Thailand's powerful army chief on Friday dismissed rumours of a coup ahead of next month's scheduled national elections, insisting he was "very close" to junta leader Prayut Chan-o-Cha.

Speculation over a fresh military takeover coursed through Thailand this month after the failed prime ministerial candidacy of Princess Ubolratana.

She was disqualified by the country's election commission after a stern rebuke from her brother, King Vajiralongkorn, raising concerns of fresh political instability in a country that has seen a dozen successful military coups since 1932.

But Apirat Kongsompong, who was appointed by the king to head the army last October, waved away suggestions of a fresh putsch ahead of long-delayed polls.

"A coup is not going to happen now in Thailand," he told AFP. "There will be elections on March 24."

Apirat said he was "very close" with Prayut and the general now had to "follow his own path leading our country back to democracy".

He vowed that the army would "step back" for the election.

Princess Ubolratana had sought the candidacy of Thai Raksa Chart party, a political party linked to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Prayut -- himself a former army chief, who is contesting next month's election as the lead candidate of a military-aligned party -- took power in 2014 after the army toppled the administration of Yingluck Shinawatra, the sister of the former premier.

The Constitutional Court is mulling whether to dissolve the Thai Raksa Chart party after the palace rejected Ubolratana's candidacy as "highly inappropriate".

Thailand has some of the harshest lese majeste laws in the world and the king's orders are considered final.
US President Donald Trump says putting drug traffickers to death as China does is "smart"

President Donald Trump on Friday praised China's use of capital punishment for drug dealers, suggesting that the United States would deal better with narcotics trafficking if it put offenders to death.

In China, drug dealers get "a thing called the death penalty. Our criminal drug dealer gets a thing called 'how about a fine?'" Trump told reporters at the White House.

"So if we want to get smart, we can get smart. You can end the drug problem. You can end it a lot faster than you think."

It is not the first time that Trump has advocated capital punishment for drug related crimes.

Last March, he suggested the United States could bring in the death penalty for drug dealers.

Officials indicated there would be no attempt to change the law to make the death penalty mandatory for trafficking alone, a move that would could well run afoul of Supreme Court rulings on proportional punishment.

In those rulings, the high court suggested that nothing other than murder can be considered a capital offense.
Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld said he was mulling a challenge to Donald Trump in 2020, calling the president a "schoolyard bully"

Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld said Friday he is mulling becoming the first Republican to challenge Donald Trump as the party's candidate in the 2020 elections, slamming the president as "schoolyard bully."

"In every country, there comes a time when patriotic men and women must stand up and speak out. In our country, this is such a time," said Weld, announcing that he was forming an exploratory committee to look into a possible presidential run.

Weld said Trump "acts like a schoolyard bully, except of course when he's around other bullies like Mr Putin [the Russian president], and then he turns ingratiating, all smiles, kicks the American press out of the Oval Office and has his summit meeting with Mr Putin, with no news media present except TASS, the state organ of Russia," he said.

Exploratory committees allow prospective candidates to raise money to test their chances of successfully running, first in their party's primary and then for the White House.

Weld would face an uphill battle in the primary election, as Trump remains extremely popular in his own party. A recent Gallup poll showed 89 percent of Republicans support him.

That popularity, combined with his bare-knuckles attacks on rivals and critics, have made it hard for Republican challengers, even though more than a dozen Democrats have announced their intention to run or are reported to be contemplating it.

In January, the Republican Party adopted a symbolic declaration stating its "undivided" support for Trump, whom it described as a "pragmatic, energized president."

Hoping to tap into unrest stirring among some Republicans at Trump's presidency, Weld said, "I encourage those of you who are watching the current administration nervously, but saying nothing, to stand up and speak out when lines are crossed in dangerous ways."

Weld served as governor the progressive state of Massachusetts from 1991 until 1997, being reelected twice with a comfortable majority.

He later joined the Libertarian Party, serving as running mate to the party's 2016 candidate Gary Johnson, before returning to the Republican ranks earlier this month.
A vigilante clutches his weapon in the village of Bakin Kogi, in Kaduna state, northwest Nigeria -- a region that has long been a centre of unrest fuelled by ethnic and religious tensions

Authorities in northwest Nigeria on Friday said police had discovered the bodies of 66 people, including women and children, in an area known for ethnic and religious clashes.

Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai said the grim find was made in eight villages in the Kajuru area, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the state capital, Kaduna city.

"Security agencies today reported the recovery of 66 bodies that were killed in attacks by criminal elements," he said in a statement.

"Among the victims were 22 children and 12 women. Four wounded persons rescued by the security agencies are now receiving medical attention.

"(The) government condemns the attacks and commiserates with the families of the victims."

There was no immediate comment from the police but El-Rufai, a close ally of President Muhammadu Buhari, said officers had been sent and arrests made.

He urged community, traditional and religious leaders to warn local people not to launch reprisal attacks.

"The killings are being investigated and residents are assured that indicted persons will be prosected," he said.

Kaduna has long been a centre for deadly unrest, fuelled by long-standing ethnic and religious tensions, as well as election-related violence.

But Maisamari Dio, president of the ethnic Christian Adara community, which is dominant in the Kujuru area, blamed the killings on ethnic Fulani Muslims.

He told AFP Fulanis attacked a village on Sunday, killing up to 12 people. Angry Adara people mounted reprisals in recent days.

"The people found by the Kaduna state government today were likely those killed (by the Fulani) and some Adara, a mix, but I am not sure of the extent," he added.

"The situation in the last three years has been recurring, with kidnapping, killings, people being attacked. These people will sometimes give advanced threats."

The announcement by El-Rufai, who is seeking re-election, is unusual and a possible indication of deaths from both communities.

But his statement will also be designed to try to defuse anger before Saturday's vote.

- Calls for peace -

El-Rufai's spokesman Samuel Aruwan said Kaduna residents should "uphold peace and harmony, shun violence and allow the elections to be held in an atmosphere of calm".

Hundreds of people were killed in 2011 when then-opposition candidate Buhari, a Muslim former military ruler from the north, lost to Goodluck Jonathan, a southern Christian.

Buhari stands for re-election on Saturday. His main challenger is Atiku Abubakar, another ethnic Fulani Hausa-speaking Muslim, from northeast Nigeria.

Security is a major election issue, with no sign of an end to Boko Haram's Islamist insurgency in the northeast and renewed violence between farmers and herders in central states.

Northwest Nigeria -- and particularly Zamfara state -- is also in the grip of spiralling attacks by criminal gangs involved in cattle rustling and kidnapping for ransom.

Kaduna state borders Zamfara. Local leaders in the Birnin Gwari region of Kaduna told AFP in January they suffered deadly attacks by armed bandits on an almost daily basis.
Fox News commentator Sean Hannity (L) has been described as President Donald Trump's 'shadow' chief of staff

He holds no official government position but has been called US President Donald Trump's "shadow" chief of staff.

Fox News commentator Sean Hannity is one of several conservative media personalities who exert enormous influence over the president.

Their clout has been on display as Trump fights to make good on his signature campaign promise -- building a wall on the border with Mexico.

Having failed to secure congressional funding for the barrier, Trump's declaration of a national emergency on Friday is being viewed by many political analysts as a bid to save face with right-wing pundits.

"The president could not handle being labeled a loser by conservative commentators like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity," The New York Times said in an editorial.

"He wants to make sure that Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and others on Fox News are happy so that they calm down, although some of them won't," said David Gergen, an advisor to four previous US presidents.

"But fundamentally this is about politics of the base, that he needs to shore up his base," Gergen said on CNN.

Right-wing author Ann Coulter displaying a copy of her book, 'In Trump We Trust'

Hannity, 57, is perhaps the most prominent voice in Trump's ear but the president also seeks counsel -- and approval -- from several other media figures whose shows he regularly tunes into.

Coulter, a right-wing author and blogger, and Lou Dobbs, a Fox Business Network host, have been fulminating about illegal immigration for years.

Other prominent conservative media personalities pushing for tougher immigration policies include Ingraham and Tucker Carlson of Fox News and radio talk host Rush Limbaugh.

Pressure from Coulter, Dobbs, Hannity and the others has been cited as one of the driving forces behind Trump's decision to shut down the government for weeks in the fight with Congress over funding for the wall.

- 'They don't decide policy' -

Trump was directly asked by a reporter on Friday how the conservative pundits helped shape his decision to declare a national emergency.

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh before introducing President Donald Trump at a 'Make America Great Again' rally

"Sean Hannity has been a terrific, terrific supporter of what I do," Trump said. "Rush Limbaugh, I think he is a great guy.

"Laura Ingraham has been great," Trump said. "Tucker Carlson has been great."

But, he added, "they don't decide policy."

Coulter has been particularly critical of Trump for failing to build the wall and she lashed out at the president for signing a government funding bill that does not include all of the $5 billion he wanted for the barrier.

"NATIONAL EMERGENCY WON'T HELP," Coulter tweeted. "IT'S OVER IF HE SIGNS THIS BILL!"

Last month, Coulter called Trump a "wimp."

"Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today, he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States," she tweeted.

Trump responded to Coulter's criticism on Friday by saying that he "hardly knows" her, that she was "off the reservation" and he hasn't spoken to her in "way over a year."

"If I did speak to her she may be very nice," he said. "I have nothing against her.

"I like her for one reason," Trump added. "When they asked her right at the beginning who is going to win the election, she said Donald Trump."

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham at the 2016 Republican National Convention

Hannity, the Fox News host, is seen as the most influential among the stable of conservatives cultivated by Trump.

"He's got Hannity and Coulter all these people in his head full-time -- rent-free," CNN host Chris Cuomo said.

"He's incredibly persuasive and powerful," Cuomo said of Hannity. "I would argue he is without question the most powerful person in the media because what he says the president does.

"What he says the president does," Cuomo repeated for emphasis during an interview with Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida who is one of Trump's biggest supporters in the House of Representatives.

"Hannity is unlike anyone else in the media now," Gaetz agreed.

"They have exchanges and robust discussions," he said of Trump and Hannity.

"I think it's good that we have a president that bounces ideas off a lot of different people," Gaetz said. "He's not just stuck in the cocoon of the West Wing.

"He seeks advice from all over the country."
US President Donald Trump said he expected a legal fight over his border wall but predicted he would prevail

President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency Friday to build a border wall immediately drew legal challenges that could easily escalate into a landmark test of the balance of power between the White House and Congress.

Legal experts said it was "unprecedented" for a president to use his emergency powers to overcome Congress's refusal to fund his wishes, in this case a barrier on the US-Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants.

They also questioned Trump's categorization of the immigration issue as a national emergency and his tapping military funds for a non-military project.

Hours after the announcement, the Trump administration faced an investigation by the House Judiciary committee and lawsuits from New York, California and the American Civil Liberties Union.

"President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up 'national emergency' in order to seize power and subvert the constitution," said California Governor Gavin Newsome.

"California will see you in court."

Trump said he expected a legal fight and predicted he would prevail.

"We will have a national emergency, and we will then be sued," Trump said Friday.

"Then we will end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we will get a fair shake, and we'll win in the Supreme Court."

- Dangerous precedent -

A family of Central American migrants look through the US-Mexico border fence near Tijuana, Mexico

Trump invoked the 1976 National Emergencies Act after Congress refused to allocate his requested $5.7 billion for a wall in a spending bill.

The White House says the emergency order empowers it to pull around $6.6 billion from other sources, mostly already-allocated funds in the Defense Department budget.

Democrats accused the president of an unconstitutional power grab.

"The president's actions clearly violate the Congress's exclusive power of the purse," Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leaders in Congress, said in a joint statement.

It is a precedent-setting move, said American University law professor Jennifer Daskal, adding that the National Emergencies Act had "never been used in that way, for good reason."

Critics warn that Trump opened the door for future presidents to call on the act whenever they fail to get their way with Congress. A frustrated Democratic president might some day invoke it to get funds to fight ongoing "emergencies" of climate change and gun proliferation.

The White House dismissed this argument, underscoring how a court showdown might proceed.

"This actually creates zero precedent. This is authority given to the president in law already," said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney.

"It's not as if he just didn't get what he wanted, so he is waving a magic wand and taking a bunch of money."

- A real 'emergency'? -

US workers building a border wall between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Any legal battle will focus on the definition of "emergency."

The emergencies act "does not provide any explicit limitations on what does and does not constitute a national emergency," Daskal told AFP.

Previous governments have declared emergencies based on the act due to immediate threats such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and the 2009 outbreak of swine flu.

Trump said the emergency now is the flow of drugs and violent criminals across the border.

In the abstract, he appears within his rights.

However, said Bobby Chesney, the associate dean at the University of Texas School of Law, "litigation won't be in abstract."

"The pretext issue looms large here," he said in a comment on Twitter.

He was referring to the problem of Trump resorting to declaring the border issue an emergency after spending two years in a losing political battle for wall funding.

Trump himself appeared to undermine his argument as he announced the emergency on Friday.

"I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster," he said.

- Land, military issues -

Daskal expects border landowners also to sue to protect their property rights.

"A lot of the land that's at issue is not federal land, it's private land," she said.

Chesney points to a challenge over the use of military funds. Defense Department rules say that, even if diverted, construction funds must be for a project that "requires the use of the armed forces."

The wall, however, has been cast from the outset as a civilian project.

"That is the main point of litigation vulnerability," said Chesney.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro accuses the US administration of being white supremacist imperialists over its support for oppsition leader Juan Guaido

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro hit out at the United States on Friday for "stealing" billions of dollars and offering "crumbs" in return as humanitarian aid.

Tons of US aid is piling up in Colombia close to the border with Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to defy Maduro's efforts to block the supplies from entering the country.

"It's a booby trap, they're putting on a show with rotten and contaminated food," said Maduro, speaking at an event in the southeastern town of Ciudad Bolivar.

"They've stolen $30 billion and are offering four crumbs of rotten food," added the beleaguered socialist leader, referring to the United States.

Opposition leader and self declared acting president Juan Guaido is recognized by 50 countries as Venezuela's interim president

Venezuela is in the midst of an economic crisis that has left millions in poverty and facing shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

Guaido, who is recognized by 50 countries as the interim president, accuses Maduro of causing economic hardship through mismanagement.

Among those countries is Costa Rica, whose foreign affairs ministry on Friday gave three Maduro-appointed diplomats "60 calendar days" to leave the country.

Maduro meanwhile blames Venezuela's woes on US sanctions, claiming they have cost the country $30 billion.

The 56-year-old, the hand-picked successor to socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, branded it the "war of the oligarchy."

US sanctions mostly target regime individuals and state oil company PDVSA, the government's main source of income.

Humanitarian aid has become a key issue in the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.

The opposition leader, who last month declared himself acting president, has promised to bring in the aid on February 23.

Venezuelans protest against the Maduro government at the Simon Bolivar International bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela

Maduro refuses to let it in. And his loyal military has barricaded a border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia.

The socialist leader insists the aid is just a cover for a planned US military invasion, while Guaido says 300,000 people could die without the desperately-needed aid.

Speaking on Friday, Maduro said six million families had benefitted from subsidized food boxes and claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies.

"We paid for it with our own money because we're beggars to no one," he said.

Maduro has refused to let truckloads of foreign aid to enter Venezuela, and his loyal military has barricaded the Tienditas International Bridge on the border with Cucuta, Colombia

Guaido accuses Maduro of being a "usurper" over his controversial reelection last year in polls widely branded fraudulent.

Maduro says the 35-year-old National Assembly speaker is a puppet to the US, which is trying to secure access to Venezuela's gold and vast oil reserves -- the largest in the world.

He said Guaido's challenge to his authority is "treason."

"The worst thing is stimulating the imperial madness of an extremist Ku Klux Klan government in the White House," said Maduro.

US national security advisor John Bolton announced on Thursday that 25 countries had "pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance."
A girl selling water waits for costumers at a market, which was attacked last year by Boko Haram Islamists, in the Nigerian city of Mubi

A string of bombed-out bank branches are a reminder of the not-so-distance bloody past in Mubi, in northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state.

Nearly five years ago, Boko Haram fighters overran and looted the city, as they captured territory across the remote region and declared an Islamic caliphate.

The jihadists even renamed Mubi "Madinatul Islam" or "City of Islam", before they were finally driven out in a military counter-offensive in late 2014.

A twin suicide bombing in May last year that killed 86 brought bloodshed to Mubi once again. There have also been hit-and-run raids in nearby towns.

But largely, life has returned to normal .

Electoral posters are among the signs that life in Mubi has largely returned to normal

No clearer sign of that is preparations for presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, where residents say they're more than ready to line up and cast their votes.

Two names on the ballot paper will stand out: President Muhammadu Buhari, who pledged to defeat Boko Haram, and Atiku Abubakar, the former vice-president who hails from the state.

"God brought Buhari for us and Buhari fought the insurgency and now we're living in peace," said Mohammadu Malla, an onion trader.

Since 2009, the Islamist group has killed more than 27,000 people and left some 1.8 million others homeless in its quest to establish a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria.

- Confidence -

Buhari, a former military ruler, swept to power in 2015 on a vow to end the fighting but as he seeks re-election faces a tougher task.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (l) could see his tradtional support base in the north weakan as former vice-President Atiku Abubakar campaigns on the head of state's failure to quell insecurity

Abubakar has campaigned hard on the 76-year-old head of state's inability to end the violence -- and his failure to quell insecurity elsewhere.

That could see him chip away at Buhari's traditionally strong support base in the wider north.

"I will vote for him because he's from here and therefore we will support him," Hagatu David, who sells cashew fruits, said of 72-year-old Abubakar.

"Our children have no jobs. They finish school, and then there are no jobs for them. If we cry to him, he's going to help."

Remote, semi-arid northeast Nigeria was impoverished even before Boko Haram emerged. But Mohammadu Malla, who stayed in Mubi during the jihadist occupation, said they made it worse.

"Life was so bad back then. Now God has made things much easier," he added.

Despite recent attacks in the Madagali area, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the north, election officials expect the vote to be safe.

On Friday, heavily guarded convoys fanned out from the Adamawa state capital, Yola, to deliver ballots and voting materials to polling units.

Special polling units have been set up to cater for many of the internally displaced who have fled to places like Mubi to escape the fighting.

"We are confident of the security," said Deborah Luka, from the Independent National Electoral Commission in Mubi.

The mosque targeted in last year's suicide bombing has been rebuilt, with fresh concrete and tinted blue windows.

Standing outside, Baba Ahmadu, who was injured in the blast, reflected on his close call, with the endurance of many in the region who have seen so much.

"Life has continued and God has kept me here," he said.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says one of his top officials secretly met with a US diplomat

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has admitted one of his top officials held two meetings with a prominent US diplomat.

Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, a harsh critic of the United States, traveled recently to New York to meet with the US special envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams.

The first meeting lasted "two hours and the second three hours, a day later," Maduro told news agency Associated Press in a video released on Thursday.

"I invited Elliott Abrams to come to Venezuela -- in private, in public, in secret. All he has to do is say where, when and how, and I'll be there," added Maduro.

Washington is one of the driving forces behind Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's bid to drive Maduro from power.

The United States was also one of the first countries to recognize Guaido as interim president after his self-declaration last month.

Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of wanting to launch a military invasion of Venezuela to gain access to its vast oil reserves.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played down the significance of Maduro's offer for talks.

"The fact that he has publicly said he wants to talk with the United States is not new, but I think it demonstrates his increasing understanding that the Venezuelan people are rejecting him and his model of governance," said Pompeo during a visit to Iceland.
A Sudanese protester flashes the victory sign during an anti-government demonstration in Khartoum on February 15, 2019

A Sudanese policeman died of wounds after protesters pelted rocks at a vehicle he was travelling in during anti-government demonstrations in Khartoum, a police spokesman said Friday.

General Hashim Abdelrahim said the police vehicle was returning from a training centre in the capital on Thursday when it came upon a roadblock comprised of rocks.

"When they stopped the vehicle, groups of people ambushed the vehicle and started throwing rocks," Abdelrahim told reporters.

"Two policemen were seriously wounded. One of them died yesterday night," he said.

Hundreds of protesters had taken to the streets on Thursday after campaigners called for a show of support for millions affected by conflicts in the war-wracked regions of Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan.

Sudan has been rocked by deadly protests since December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

The unrest quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir's iron-fisted rule.

The policeman's reported death brings to 31 the number of people killed in protest-related violence so far, according to officials.

Human Rights Watch says over 50 people have been killed in clashes with security forces during the weeks of demonstrations, including children and medical staff.

Sudan's acting Information Minister Mamun Hassan on Thursday accused the leaders of the protest movement of threatening national security and advocating violence.

Bashir, who swept to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, has remained defiant in the face of the protests, promising to promote development and peace across the country, including in conflict-hit states.
A US judge has issued a partial gag order on Trump advisor Roger Stone

A US judge issued a gag order on Friday in the case against Roger Stone, the Trump advisor who has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the investigation into whether the president's election campaign colluded with Russia.

Stone, 66, is charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction stemming from his contacts with WikiLeaks, whose publication of Russian-hacked communications from Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign gave a boost to Donald Trump.

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered government and defense attorneys to refrain from "making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case."

Stone was told not to speak to the media or to make public statements around the courthouse or in its immediate vicinity.

The federal judge cited the "size and vociferousness of the crowds" attending Stone's court appearances and the "risk that public pronouncements by the participants may inflame those gatherings."

Stone's court appearances have been rowdy affairs featuring supporters and opponents and a large media contingent.

Stone, a veteran Republican consultant, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington last month to the seven charges against him.

Stone is the sixth campaign associate of Trump indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 vote.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Moscow and denounced the probe by Mueller, a former FBI director, as a "political witch hunt."

Stone, who launched his career as a campaign aide to Richard Nixon and has a tattoo on his back of the first US president to resign from office, has spent decades advising political campaigns.

His association with Trump dates back to 1979, and he was one of the first to enlist when the billionaire real estate magnate launched his run for the presidency in 2015.

Stone left the campaign months later but the indictment shows he remained in active communication with Trump's team, providing support and information.

Mueller's team has indicted a total of 34 people -- but so far, no charges of outright collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow have been filed.
Smoke rises from the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center in New York, one day after the Septmber 11, 2001 attacks

The $7.4 billion fund for victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks faces a sharp surge in claims and will cut back individual payouts by as much as 70 percent, the fund's manager announced Friday.

Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special master running the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, said it has already paid out about $5 billion for 21,000 claims by people who suffered injuries or losses, or who later came down with diseases such as cancer that resulted from the Al-Qaeda attack.

But a recent surge in claims ahead of the December 2020 end of the fund has made clear that they cannot be honored in full, she said, forcing them to make only partial payouts of half or even just 30 percent of what claimants deserve.

"The VCF is an extraordinarily successful program," Bhattacharyya said.

But claims have increased "dramatically" and the fund does not have sufficient funding.

Since October, when the looming shortfall became public, claims have rocketed, taking the backlog to 20,000.

And they expect "thousands" more claims to be filed before the December 2020 deadline.

To meet them, she said, the fund needs another $5 billion, which Congress has yet to agree to.

"We are painfully aware of the unfairness of this plan," she said of the cutbacks.

"I sincerely regret that I made a promise that I cannot keep," she said.

The program was organized by the government to compensate for economic losses, injuries, family deaths, and illnesses arising from the attacks, in which Al-Qaeda operatives flew two passenger jets into New York's World Trade Center towers, a third jet into the Pentagon in Washington, and crashed a fourth jet in a field in Pennsylvania.

Nearly three thousand people were killed immediately in the attacks. Thousands more, especially among emergency responders, have been sickened by exposure to toxins released in the World Trade Center collapse and fires, and from the clean-up afterward, with multiple cancers linked to the exposure.

So far, 8,000 cancer-related claims have been accepted.

In recent months, there has also been a jump in survivor claims from the families of people whose deaths can be tied to the attacks.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (pictured February 14, 2019) said that Turkey hasn't "given all the elements we have at our disposal" about journalist Jamal Khashoggi's killing

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.
Media reported that a suspected gunman who opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago was killed soon after local police and federal agents flooded the area

At least one person was killed and several others, including police officers, were wounded on Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago.

US media reported that the suspected gunman was killed soon after police and federal agents flooded a manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois -- 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Chicago.

The Kane County Coroner's office said that it could confirm "at least one fatality."

Four injured officers were said to be in stable condition, and one local hospital said it had treated three patients for "non-life threatening injuries."

Witnesses said they had locked themselves into nearby buildings as a man in his 30s or 40s began firing off rounds.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as local officers with shields entered the complex alongside the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. "We were just scared."

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police said four Aurora police officers were wounded.

"These four heroes willingly ran into harm's way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price," union leader Chris Southwood said in a statement.

Police urged the public to avoid the area, announcing that they would give further details at a news conference later in the day.

- Threat neutralized -

Aurora city spokesman Clayton Muhammad told the local CBS TV affiliate less than two hours after the shooting began that "the immediate threat to the community has been neutralized."

"The officers are in stable condition, those that were injured," he said.

Multiple news outlets said the person killed was the shooter.

Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so "went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors."

The local school district put campuses on lock down, but students were released later in the day.

The shooting comes just a day after the first anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former pupil killed 14 students and three staff.

Nearly 1,200 children lost their lives to gun violence in the year since and there have been 37 mass shootings -- those with at least four victims, not including the assailant -- recorded already in the US this year.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring for news from the latest rampage.

In a presidential message Thursday to mark the Parkland anniversary, Trump recommitted to "ensuring the safety of all Americans."

"Let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," Trump said.
Retail giant Amazon reported that it did not owe federal tax on its US income for 2017 and 2018 -- and in fact was due rebates from the federal government for those years

A tweet by a popular US Congresswoman spotlighted a report about US tech behemoth Amazon's tax burden for the past two years. While the company paid no US federal income tax, it reported "cash taxes paid" of $1.2 billion last year and $957 million in 2017. These numbers are not broken down geographically, so it is difficult to know which government received the cash.

- What are we verifying? -

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising Democratic star in the US Congress, tweeted (1) about media reports on research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank, stating Amazon paid no US federal income tax for two years.

The company also found itself in the headlines after suddenly pulling out of a planned New York City corporate expansion amid controversy over local tax incentives that critics said would drain public coffers.

"Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?" Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. She represents a congressional district next to the site of the now-scrapped expansion.

The Fortune Magazine article (2) reported that Amazon paid no federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018 year -- even though domestic profits in that time doubled to more than $11 billion.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter this meant "$0" for schools, firefighters, infrastructure, research and health-care.

- What do we know? -

Amazon reported last month that it did not owe federal tax on its US income for 2017 and 2018 -- and in fact was due rebates from the federal government for those years.

And its US pre-tax income jumped 100 percent to $11.2 billion, the company said in regulatory filings (3). Its tax burden was lighter because of deductions for stock-based compensation and assets that are depreciating in value.

As a result of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, which slashed US corporate tax rates to 21 percent from 35 percent, Amazon also calculated it would receive a $789 million benefit.

But that is not to say it paid no taxes at all.

For 2018, it reported owing $322 million in taxes to US state governments and another $563 million in the rest of the world.

Under a separate accounting category, Amazon reported "cash taxes paid" -- or the amount of funds actually paid in taxes -- of $1.2 billion last year and $957 million in 2017. But these numbers are not broken down geographically, so it is not possible to know which government received the cash.

- What can be concluded? -

ITEP's central claims (4) are supported by Amazon's own reports. However, more context is helpful to understand the situation.

The company does pay some taxes but has courted controversy in the United States and across the Atlantic for finding ways to reduce its overall tax burden -- something common among many corporations.

For state taxes, Amazon's tax burden is about 2.9 percent, according to Matt Gardner, a senior fellow ITEP who produced the report on Amazon.

"That's certainly bigger than zero," he said.

And Sabuhi Sardarli, a professor of finance at Kansas State University who has researched corporate tax avoidance, said Amazon has been setting aside funds against possible higher tax payments in the future.

"In other words, focusing on Amazon's recent tax burden may not show the full picture," he told AFP.

Amazon told AFP on Friday it had invested more than $160 billion in the United States since 2011, building an intricate distribution network as well as cloud computing infrastructure.

"Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the US and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expense over the last three years," a spokesman said.

"Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits remain modest given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment."

(1) https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1096194174301495296

(2) http://fortune.com/2019/02/14/amazon-doesnt-pay-federal-taxes-2019/?utm_campaign=fortunemagazine&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE&utm_medium=social

(3) https://ir.aboutamazon.com/sec-filings

(4) https://itep.org/amazon-in-its-prime-doubles-profits-pays-0-in-federal-income-taxes/
Ana Suda (R) and Martha Hernandez claim were detained after a US border patrol agent heard them speaking Spanish in a grocery store

Two US women detained by a border patrol agent in the state of Montana after he heard them speaking Spanish in a grocery store have sued the country's border protection agency.

Video of the incident -- which took place last May in the small town of Havre -- showed Agent Paul O'Neal tell Ana Suda and Martha Hernandez that he had asked to see their identification as it was unusual to hear Spanish speakers in the state, which borders Canada.

"It has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store in a state where it's predominately English speaking," he said.

"It's not illegal, it's just very unheard of up here," he told the women.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday filed suit against US Customs and Border Protection on behalf of the women, who live in Havre.

Suda and Hernandez say in the lawsuit that O'Neal detained them for 40 minutes.

California native Hernandez and Suda, who was born in Texas, said they were standing in line to buy milk and eggs when the agent -- who was standing behind them -- commented on Hernandez's accent, and asked the women where they were born.

"I asked, 'Are you serious'?" Suda said, according to the lawsuit. "Agent O'Neal responded that he was 'dead serious'."

The two women say they were then asked to show identification and questioned outside the store, before eventually being released.

"The incident itself is part of a broader pattern that we've seen of abusive tactics by border patrol which has gotten worse since the Trump administration, which has left border patrol officers feeling emboldened to take actions like this," Cody Wofsy, an attorney with the ACLU, told AFP.

- 'Ostracized and humiliated' -

"This has been devastating for (Suda and Hernandez)," he added.

"Havre is a small town, they felt ostracized and humiliated and made to feel unwelcome in their own town and in their own country."

He noted the United States has no official language, with Spanish by far the most common language spoken after English.

Mother-of-two Suda, who has been living in Havre for five years, said in a statement that she and Hernandez have faced harassment since the encounter gained media attention.

She said she has been called "an illegal" in restaurants and bars and her eight-year-old daughter is now scared to speak Spanish.

The American Civil Liberties Union on Thursday filed suit against US Customs and Border Protection on behalf of the women, who live in Havre

"In some ways, it would have just been easier to stay quiet about the incident... but then I think about my kids," she said.

"I want them to not only be proud of being bilingual, but also to know that they live in a country where people can't just be stopped and interrogated based on how they look and sound."

A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment on the case.

"As a matter of policy, US Customs and Border Protection does not comment on pending litigation," he told AFP in a statement. "However, lack of comment should not be construed as agreement or stipulation with any of the allegations."
A supporter of Jadhav holds a photograph of himself and the alleged spy along with other friends from the Mumbai neighbourhood where they all grew up

India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court.

The International Court of Justice urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague.

The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after Thursday's suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

New Delhi's lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistan's on Tuesday.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was accused of working for the Indian intelligence services in the province bordering Afghanistan, where Islamabad has long accused India of backing separatist rebels.

After a closed trial he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 10, 2017, on charges of "espionage, sabotage and terrorism".

India insists Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence.

It accused Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking human rights law.

If Pakistan is unable to quash Jadhav's death sentence, Islamabad should be found in violation of international law and treaties, and be told to "release the convicted Indian national forthwith", India said.

- 'Release the convicted Indian' -

India accused Pakistan in 2017 of harassing Jadhav's family during a visit, saying their meeting was held in an "atmosphere of coercion".

Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order to stay Jadhav's execution at the time, saying it "has not changed the status of commander Jadhav's case in any manner".

The ICJ's decision will likely come months after this week's hearings.

The death row spy case comes as the troubled ties between India and Pakistan risked taking a dangerous new turn following the bombing near Srinagar.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned that Pakistan would pay a "heavy price" after local media reported that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility.

At least 41 paramilitary troops were killed as explosives packed in a van ripped through a convoy bringing 2,500 troopers back from leave not far from the main city Srinagar.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 with both nuclear-armed countries, which have fought three wars, claiming it as their own.

India and Pakistan also routinely accuse each other of sending spies into their countries, and it is not uncommon for either nation to expel diplomats accused of espionage, particularly at times of high tension.

Death sentences however have been rarely issued in recent years.

The last time India and Pakistan took a dispute to the ICJ was in 1999 when Islamabad protested at the downing of a Pakistani navy plane that killed 16 people.

The tribunal decided that it was not competent to rule in the dispute and closed the case.
A Washington judge ruled that Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort broke his plea deal by lying to investigators

President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort faces up to 24 years in prison after being found to have violated his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, a court document filed Friday said.

Mueller's office said it agreed with a Justice Department calculation that Manafort should face "235 to 293 months, a fine range of $50,000 to $24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of $24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of $4,412,500," the filing said.

Earlier this month, federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had "intentionally" lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, in 2016 and 2017 -- despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement.

Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm, and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe.

The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Manafort is one of seven former Trump campaign associates who have been charged by Mueller's team.

He was convicted in August in a Virginia court on eight charges of banking and tax fraud related to his work for Russia-backed political parties in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014.

He was separately charged in Washington with money laundering, witness tampering and other offenses, which were consolidated into the two conspiracy charges in the plea bargain.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has imposed a state of emergency across the country after two months of anti-government protests

A prominent Sudanese editor detained by security agents amid anti-government protests has not been allowed to see relatives and his whereabouts remain unknown, his family said Thursday.

Osman Mirghani, editor-in-chief of independent daily Al-Tayar, was taken away by security agents from his office on the night of February 22 after making televised comments on President Omar al-Bashir's decision to impose a state of emergency.

"It's been a week now and the authorities have still not informed us where he is being detained," Jihad Mirghani, the editor's son, said in a statement issued to journalists in Khartoum.

"The family has also not been allowed to visit him. We are really concerned about his health."

Mirghani was arrested soon after an interview with Sky News Arabia in which he said Bashir's measures would "spark a new wave" of protests and send a message that the public "can exert more pressure to achieve its goal of removing this regime".

The US-educated engineer turned journalist has often been targeted by security agents, who have detained him several times, confiscated copies of his newspaper or barred its publication without giving any reason.

The NISS regularly seizes entire print runs of newspapers over articles it deems inappropriate, especially those criticising the authorities or government policies.

Sudan is ranked 174th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

Bashir, 75, declared a state of emergency across the country on Friday in an attempt to quell the demonstrations that have rocked his rule for more than two months.

He also dissolved the cabinet and provincial governments of all 18 provinces, and gave sweeping powers to security forces to carry our raids and personal searches.

Protests first erupted on December 19 after a government decision to triple the price of bread, and quickly escalated into a widespread campaign calling for Bashir to resign.

Officials say 31 people have died in protest-related violence, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.

Bashir, who swept to power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, has remained defiant in the face of unrest.
The World Trade Organization on Thursday sided with Washington in a dispute it filed three years ago over "unfair" Chinese subsidies to producers of wheat and rice.

Back in 2016, the United States alleged that China doled out $100 billion in "market price support" for wheat and rice as well as corn production, above levels agreed at the Geneva-based WTO.

A panel established by the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body to rule on the matter found Thursday that the grain subsidies provided by Beijing exceeded the accepted level, and that China had "acted inconsistently with its obligations" under international trade rules.

The experts said they had found that each year from 2012 to 2015, China's market price support for wheat, Indica rice and Japonica rice "exceeded its 8.5 percent de minimis level of support for each of these products."

The WTO panel said it had not considered whether China had also exceeded the acceptable subsidies for corn producers, since it found China had removed the challenged subsidy before the US launched its complaint.

Both sides have up to 60 days to appeal Thursday's ruling.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue hailed the ruling in a statement as a "significant victory for US agriculture that will help American farmers compete on a more level playing field".

"The United States proved that China for years provided government support for its grain producers far in excess of the levels China agreed to when it joined the WTO" in 2001, Lighthizer said.

"We expect China to quickly come into compliance with its WTO obligations," he added.

China is the world's largest producer of wheat and rice, holding significant sway over world markets.

The news of the WTO ruling comes as Washington and Beijing strive to reach a new trade agreement to avoid escalating their trade war.

After exchanging punitive tariffs on more than $360 billion in total two-way trade, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping declared a truce in December and agreed to hold off on further tariffs or retaliation for 90 days.

Trump announced Sunday that he would delay a planned further hike in tariffs on Chinese goods this week after he and Beijing both hailed "substantial progress" in trade negotiations.
Men suspected of being Islamic State group fighters wait to be searched by members of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces after leaving the last IS holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria

The journey out of the Islamic State group's last holdout in eastern Syria begins with a steep climb eastwards, towards a position manned by US-backed forces.

The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has plucked thousands of people out of the enclave in five batches since February 20.

Here's a detailed look at the complex process, part anti-terrorist operation and part humanitarian evacuation:

- Baghouz -

Holdout IS fighters and civilians, mostly relatives of jihadists, are trapped in less than half a square kilometre in the village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.

They are besieged and crammed in a makeshift riverside camp.

To the north and west of the settlement, jihadists and their relatives are surrounded by the SDF.

Iraqi forces are positioned across the border, to the east of the shrinking pocket.

Hundreds flee last pocket of IS group in Syria

Syrian government forces are based across the river, on the western banks of the Euphrates, in the towns of Mayadin and Albu Kamal.

- Civilian collection point-

In the past week, jihadists have allowed men, women and children, especially the wounded, to leave, several evacuees have told AFP.

Those wanting to escape walk up a steep incline towards a hilltop on the eastern outskirts of the village, where the SDF has opened a corridor for civilians.

At the civilian collection point, they are taken in double-trailer trucks to a screening outpost 20 kilometres north (12 miles).

- Screening point -

The SDF screening point is an open-air position located in a rocky and arid plain. Only a handful of tents are erected in the area.

Members of the US-led international coalition backing the SDF stroll around the area, but it is not immediately clear what their role is in the screening process.

They are often seen displaying pictures of wanted foreigners to evacuees.

US-backed SDF fighters sort new arrivals as soon as they disembark from evacuation trucks with the men and the women shuffled into separate queues

An AFP correspondant also saw them using retina scans to identify potential jihadists.

SDF fighters start sorting new arrivals as soon as they disembark from evacuation trucks.

The men and women are shuffled into separate queues, where they wait to be searched by SDF fighters.

The Kurdish-led force scrupulously inspects baggages and belongings carried by all new arrivals, confiscating weapons, phones and other electronic devices.

The women who are usually veiled from head to toe are required to reveal their faces to female SDF fighters.

The men are all required to record their fingerprints with a small digital reader. The SDF also take their photo, and jot down their name and nationality.

Suspected fighters among them are then singled out for further interrogation.

The SDF only takes pictures and fingerprints of foreign women, not Syrians and Iraqis.

Following initial search and registration procedures, the SDF then separate the foreigners from the rest of the arrivals.

- Camps and detention centres -

After being vetted, women, children, and men not suspected of belonging to the extremist group are transported north to Kurdish-run camps for the displaced.

Wives of suspected IS jihadists and their children are kept in a special section of the Al-Hol camp for the displaced in Syria's Hasakeh province after leaving the Islamic State group last redoubt

Most are trucked to the Al-Hol camp in Syria's Hasakeh province, which hosts more than 50,000 displaced persons.

The overpopulated settlement contains a special section designated for foreigners, mainly wives of suspected jihadists and their children.

Unlike the rest of the displaced population in the camp, these women are not allowed to exit the shelter.

A smaller number of civilians are trucked to the Roj camp, also in Hasakeh province, which hosts more than 1,500 people and the Ain Issa camp, which hosts more than 12,000.

Meanwhile, suspected combattants are sent to SDF detention centres, also located in northeastern Syria.

Their exact locations are not all known.

The Kurds say their prisons are overflowing.

Beyond routine interrogation procedures, SDF fighters inspect suspects for a callus on a trigger finger or marks on the shoulder from carrying a cartridge pouch.

They also cross-reference names and nationalities with a list of wanted jihadists.
Mozambique is going after Credit Suisse over a $2 billion default

The Mozambique government has launched legal action against banking giant Credit Suisse in London amid a deepening scandal over the country's default of $2 billion in loans, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

The Swiss lender is being sued along with shipbuilder Privinvest and three individuals for potential breaches of commercial contracts, according to papers filed to the High Court on Wednesday.

It is alleged the Mozambique government took out loans amounting to $2 billion to buy a tuna-fishing fleet and surveillance ships, but hid the transaction from parliament and international donors.

An independent audit found that a quarter of the loan amount was diverted, and unaccounted for.

The United States alleges at least $200 million was spent on bribes and kickbacks, including $12 million on ex-finance minister Manuel Chang, who allegedly signed off on debt guarantees.

Chang was arrested last year on a US extradition request.

The US Department of Justice has accused three former Credit Suisse workers of helping to create $2 billion in maritime projects as a front.

They were arrested in London in early January and their extradition to the US is due to be heard shortly.
United Nations envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen is proposing that major powers create a common international forum to move the war-battered country toward peace

The new United Nations envoy for Syria proposed Thursday that major powers create a common international forum to move the war-battered country toward peace.

Geir Pedersen, who took up his post in January, made the proposal during his first appearance before the UN Security Council, which remains deeply divided over the way forward in Syria.

"There is a shared sense that battlefield developments might be winding down," Pedersen told the council. "Nevertheless, the conflict is far from over."

"If we are to see how issues can be unblocked and how to help the parties move in a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned process, a common forum where key states engage seriously on those issues may be needed," he said.

Russia, a veto-wielding council power whose backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been a decisive factor in the war, has taken a lead role in diplomatic efforts through the Astana group with Iran and Turkey.

UN diplomacy on Syria has been largely sidelined by the Astana group, while the United States has shifted its attention away from the Syria conflict.

President Donald Trump has announced that he is pulling out the bulk of US forces sent to battle Islamic State jihadists.

Pedersen noted that five international armies operate across Syria's land and air space, creating daily risks for escalation and pledged to focus on improving international dialogue and cooperation.

Addressing the council, Russia appeared to welcome the proposal, even if it questioned the West's motives in Syria.

"We are open to cooperation with all interested parties that want sincerely -- and I underscore that word sincerely -- to facilitate stabilization and progress on a political settlement in Syria," said Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.

Pedersen, a Norwegian diplomat who took over the Syria file from Swedish-Italian envoy Staffan de Mistura, has traveled to Damascus for talks and worked hard to establish good relations over the past few weeks.

The envoy said a much-discussed constitutional committee to pave the way to elections in Syria should be convened as soon as possible, although disputes continue over lists of participants.

"I am conscious of the need to end this conflict for the sake of Syria, the region and the world," Pedersen told the council. "I know you all understand the scale and the difficulty of my task."

The war in Syria will enter its ninth year in March, with more than 360,000 people dead and half of the country's pre-war population displaced.
A member of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces supervises a crowd of people who left the Islamic State group's last holdout in Syria

The top commander of the Kurdish-led force fighting the Islamic State group in Syria said Thursday that the jihadists' last bastion would be crushed within about a week.

Mazloum Kobani, the general commander of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), was speaking to some of his men who had been held hostage by IS for three weeks.

"In around one week, we will declare complete victory over IS," he told the men, who were among the 24 SDF fighters whose release was announced earlier Thursday.

The SDF are poised to storm the pocket held by jihadists on the edge of the village of Baghouz, the last patch of the organisation's once sprawling "caliphate".

The operation to flush out the jihadists from the Euphrates Valley was launched nearly six months ago but it has been slow moving.

Kobani himself had said on January 25 that IS would be defeated within a month and the epilogue of the battle on the last jihadist redoubt is dragging on.

One reason, according to the SDF, has been the presence of an unexpectedly high number of civilians among the jihadist fighters in Baghouz, some of them used as human shields.

The fate of SDF members captured by IS is another, according to Mazloum, who was speaking in a video released by the SDF's media office on Thursday.

"We stopped military operations for your safety and now we have stopped the war for the safety of the rest of the comrades," he told the released hostages.

It remained unclear how their release was secured and how many members of the SDF, an alliance of Kurdish troops and fighters from local Arab tribes, are still held in Baghouz.
Nanga Parbat, a peak located in the western Himalayas known as "Killer Mountain," is Pakistan's second-highest mountain after K2

The search for a missing Italian climber and his British partner in Pakistan will resume Friday with the help of a team from Russia.

Four Russian mountaineers who are currently at K2 base camp have volunteered to join the search for Daniele Nardi and Tom Ballard.

The pair were last heard from on Sunday as they climbed Nanga Parbat in the western Himalayas, a peak known as "Killer Mountain".

The Russian team will be flown by helicopter from K2 base camp and left as close as possible to the missing climbers' last known position following discussions with the Pakistan airforce, Nardi's team reported on the climber's Facebook page.

Ballard is the son of British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to conquer Mount Everest solo and without bottled oxygen.

She died descending K2, the world's second highest peak, in 1995.

Nardi's team said on Facebook that the climbers' tent had been "spotted from a helicopter, buried under snow. Traces of avalanches can be seen".

The search mission was delayed because rescue teams were forced to wait for permission to send up a helicopter after Pakistan closed its airspace on Wednesday in response to escalating tensions with India.

The searchers have also called in Pakistani Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who climbed the peak two years ago, Nardi's team said.

The British Foreign Office said it was "assisting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Pakistan".

Chris Bonington, mountaineer and a family friend of Ballard, told BBC Radio 4 earlier Thursday that the pair were "attempting a very, very difficult route up Nanga Parbat, up the Mummery spur, which is the most direct route up".

"And they were trying to do it in winter, which is by far the toughest time. They'd certainly been having bad weather throughout, a lot of snowfall and it was also bitterly cold."

He said the temperature was believed to be minus 40, which may have drained the batteries on their phones.

"There's still hope that they are alive, and that they are ok, admittedly in very dangerous circumstances," he said.

Bonington said Ballard was "very much an extreme climber, taking after his mum".

"It is a very, very dangerous game.

"I am very lucky to be alive. I've been climbing for what, 60 years, very nearly and... I was just unbelievably lucky to get away with it," he added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly denied the corruption allegations against him, dismissing them as a "witchhunt"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will have a last chance at heading off a corruption indictment at a hearing beginning on Wednesday.

Here is a look at the cases against the veteran premier, who denies all the allegations:

Champagne, Cigars

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit intends to indict Netanyahu for fraud and breach of trust in what is known as Case 1,000.

It involves allegations Netanyahu and his family received gifts including luxury cigars, champagne and jewellery from wealthy individuals, estimated to be worth more than 700,000 shekels ($200,000, 185,000 euros), in exchange for financial or personal favours.

According to police, Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan was responsible for some 478,000 shekels-worth of gifts, while the remainder came from Australian billionaire James Packer.

Netanyahu is suspected in return to have sought to help Milchan receive tax benefits that some reports said could have been worth millions of dollars and assisted him with obtaining a US visa.

Netanyahu argues there is no problem with receiving gifts from friends and denies having acted inappropriately in exchange.

Newspaper 'secret deal'

A second investigation, known as Case 2000, concerns allegations Netanyahu sought a deal with the owner of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper that would have seen it give him more favourable coverage.

In exchange, Netanyahu allegedly raised the possibility of pushing for legislation to limit the circulation of Israel Hayom, a free newspaper that is the main rival to Yediot.

Police based their investigation on recordings of meetings between Netanyahu and Yediot's publisher Arnon Moses.

Ari Harow, a former Netanyahu chief of staff, agreed to testify in exchange for leniency.

Netanyahu says he acted against the legislation concerning Israel Hayom, and broke up parliament over it despite any behind-the-scenes discussions.

Mandelblit intends to indict Netanyahu for fraud and breach of trust in that case.

'The big one'

The third investigation, known as Case 4,000, is considered the most serious and also relates to alleged attempts to seek positive media coverage through favours.

Mandelblit intends to indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in this case.

Netanyahu is alleged to have negotiated with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israeli telecommunications giant Bezeq, to get positive coverage on his Walla! news site in exchange for policies benefiting Bezeq.

Shlomo Filber, a Netanyahu ally for more than 20 years and a former communications ministry director general, has become a state witness.

He is accused of mediating between Netanyahu and Elovitch and promoting regulatory changes worth millions of dollars to Bezeq.

Netanyahu dismisses the allegations, saying he received nothing from Elovitch and that Walla's coverage of him has been negative.

He says experts were in support of arrangements for Bezeq.

Mandelblit described a long list of Walla coverage decisions allegedly taken on behalf of Netanyahu.

They included downplaying stories Netanyahu viewed as harmful to him or his family and publishing negative coverage of opponents.

In one case, Netanyahu allegedly pushed for a story about the wife of a political rival having worked in a non-kosher restaurant.

Another allegedly saw the Netanyahus order the publication of a story about his wife Sara attending a Mariah Carey concert and her meeting with the singer.

In alleged communications regarding such coverage, Netanyahu was referred to as "the big one."
The train crash that killed 22 people and wounded 41 at Cairo's Ramses station sparked a major fire

The death toll from a crash and fire at Cairo's main railway station rose to 22, Egypt's health minister said Thursday, adding that six of the wounded were in a critical condition.

On Wednesday a hurtling locomotive crashed, derailed and caught fire at the Ramses train station.

The health ministry soon after reported that at least 20 people were killed and 40 injured.

Hours after the latest disaster to strike Egypt's rundown railways, the transportation minister resigned.

Health Minister Hala Zayed told state television Thursday that the death toll had risen to 22 and the number of wounded now stood at 41, six of them in critical condition, suffering "90 to 100 percent burns" which could be fatal.

Authorities have arrested the train driver after the engine appeared to have slammed into the buffers at the end of the track at high speed, sparking a major blaze that blackened the walls of Ramses station.

The prosecution said the driver had left his cabin without turning the engine off, causing the train to career onwards at full speed before smashing to a violent stop.

Photos that emerged after the crash showed several scorched bodies scattered around the wreckage.

Several people were seen in videos running around and screaming for help after catching fire.

There have been several train accidents in Egypt in recent years, the deadliest of which took place in 2002 when 373 people died in a fire that ripped through a crowded train south of the capital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces a strong challenge by a centrist alliance at elections on April 9

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called corruption allegations a "witch hunt" meant to topple him after the attorney general announced plans to indict him.

Speaking in a televised statement a couple of hours after the attorney general's announcement, Netanyahu said he planned on being prime minister for a long time to come despite the allegations.

"The left knows it cannot beat us at the polling booth, so for the past three years they have been carrying out an unprecedented witch hunt which has one aim: to topple the right-wing government which I lead," he said.

In the statement from his official residence that lasted about 20 minutes, Netanyahu's voice seemed to break with emotion as he spoke of his family, which he said had been smeared by the investigations.

Standing before a campaign banner reading "Netanyahu Strong Right", he mentioned his relationships with US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as being good for Israel.

He alleged his political opponents "applied unceasing and inhuman pressure on the AG so that he would say that he is considering laying charges against me, subject to a hearing, even though it is clear that there is no substance".

"The main thing was to influence the elections, even if we know that this house of cards will completely collapse after the elections," Netanyahu said.

The attorney general's announcement comes ahead of April 9 elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance led by a former military chief of staff, Benny Gantz.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said in a statement earlier Thursday that he intended to indict the premier for bribery, fraud and breach of trust pending a hearing, where Netanyahu would be given a chance to defend himself before charges are filed.
Andre Previn was known for his broad repertoire, working as a jazz pianist, film composer, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Tributes poured in Thursday for Andre Previn, the multifaceted artist renowned for his mastery of classical music as well as jazz, who has died at 89 years old.

The prolific German-American musician with four Oscars, 10 Grammys and a coveted Kennedy Center honor was known for his broad repertoire, working as a jazz pianist, film composer, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

"We are deeply saddened to hear of the death this morning of our Conductor Emeritus Andre Previn," the London Symphony Orchestra said in a statement. "He will be hugely missed by everyone at the LSO and remembered with great affection."

"May he always play all the right notes in the right order."

Born in Berlin on April 6, 1929, Previn's father enrolled him at the German capital's Conservatory of Music at age six upon realizing his son had perfect pitch.

The family fled Nazi Germany in 1939, moving to Los Angeles where Previn's great-uncle was the music director for Universal Studios.

An accomplished jazz pianist, he began working at MGM in 1946 while still in high school, launching an illustrious career in film composing that won him four Academy Awards for his work on films, including 1964's "My Fair Lady."

But he left the studio in the 1960s to focus on classical music; in addition to the LA Philharmonic he served as music director of the Houston and Pittsburgh Symphonies, and frequently guest conducted worldwide.

His mercurial tastes for music also applied to women: Previn married five times, most famously to actress Mia Farrow, with whom he had three biological children.

He also adopted three more children with Farrow, including a daughter Soon-Yi who married film director Woody Allen in 1997. The marriage resulted in a public feud with Farrow, who had had a long relationship with Allen.

"See you in the Morning beloved Friend," tweeted Farrow, who posted several photos of the pair together. "May you rest in glorious symphonies."
People paddle a boat through a flooded neighborhood on February 27, 2019 in Guerneville, California

Two California towns have been turned into islands as a river swollen to its highest level in a quarter century flooded some 2,000 homes and forced evacuations.

The record-breaking floodwaters from the Russian River on Wednesday cut off the wine-country towns of Monte Rio and Guerneville, located in northern California.

A playground sits under water in a flooded neighborhood on February 27, 2019 in Guerneville, California

"Guerneville is land locked. You cannot get into or out of town," the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said.

"Guerneville is officially an island."

Residents of the town, many of whom ignored orders to evacuate, were forced to use kayaks and canoes to ride out the flood waters -- some as high as eight feet.

The water was slowly receding on Thursday but the sheriff's office said access to the town would not be possible for up to two days.

A kayaker paddles through a flooded neighborhood on February 27, 2019 in Forestville, California

The National Guard was called in to help as some people got trapped by mudslides or the rising waters.

The National Weather Service said another storm was set to hammer the region this weekend with heavy rain and mountain snow expected on Saturday.

California has had one of the wettest and coldest winters in years with conditions made worse in areas scorched by fires and prone to dangerous mudslides.
The second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un ended without a deal

So what comes next? After President Donald Trump's long-awaited second summit with North Korea ended inconclusively, the adversaries enter a period of deep uncertainty, if not fresh crisis.

Trump, who had built up expectations for months over his second outing with leader Kim Jong Un, left Hanoi early with no deal -- and no agreed plan for another summit.

North Korea said it offered to close its Yongbyon nuclear plant in return for a partial easing of sanctions, but Trump -- the self-styled master negotiator -- called for complete denuclearization in exchange for full sanctions relief.

"The fact that there was no deal -- and not even a partial deal, despite the fact that President Trump indicated that a small deal was possible -- I think that is a significant disappointment," said Frank Aum, a former top adviser on North Korea to US defense secretaries.

"All that shows to me that everyone came up empty-handed without a clear picture of where we're going in the future," said Aum, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace.

With Trump already having taken the unorthodox approach of personally negotiating with Kim, observers wondered whether other officials, even Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, could make progress in the face of disagreement between heads of state.

"It's hard to see credible negotiations continuing. The whole point of leader-level talks was to meet with the person who can make actual decisions. That cuts both ways," said Abraham Denmark, director of the Asia program at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars.

But Aum said that diplomacy still remained viable, seeing as how North Korea made clear it would not resume missile testing and that the United States is keeping its freeze on joint exercises with South Korea -- a goodwill-building dual suspension that had been proposed by China.

"That means there is still hope that over the next couple of years" more progress can be made, Aum said.

- Limited downside to walking away -

US President Donald Trump walks with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un during a break in talks in Hanoi

The stalemate in Hanoi could paradoxically be a political plus for Trump as members of his Republican Party base had quietly been voicing concern that he sounded desperate for a crowning achievement with North Korea.

"It's better to walk away than sign a bad deal," said Senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, who also tweeted that it would be time to "end the nuclear threat from North Korea -- one way or the other" if future negotiations fail.

Bruce Klingner, a North Korea expert at the conservative Heritage Foundation, voiced pleasant surprise that Trump "correctly emphasized principles and longtime allies over a premature peace declaration."

Klingner hoped that Trump would stand firm in future negotiations against any quick easing of sanctions or formal declaration of peace with the totalitarian state, a US foe for seven decades.

- No progress, or reversals -

An empty table in Hanoi is set up for a working lunch between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

The summit -- which followed Trump and Kim's historic first meeting in June in Singapore -- again appeared to struggle over the meaning of denuclearization, with North Korea seeking a broader end to weapons in the peninsula.

Despite his boasts that he is making progress like no US president before, "Trump's approach has yielded nothing new and has not even come close to resolving the North Korea nuclear threat," said Paul Haenle, a former White House official now at the Carnegie Tsinghua Center think tank in Beijing.

"Once again, Trump returns to Washington without a specific timeline or roadmap for future talks and China's 'suspension for suspension' proposal as the status quo," he said.

But Chris Green, a Korea expert at the International Crisis Group, said that the broad outlines of a deal remained.

"Both parties likely concluded that it would be alright to walk away this time, looking tough for their respective domestic audiences by going home empty-handed," he said.

"Today is a setback, but dialogue seems set to continue. Let's see where we are in another six months."
Suspected Islamic State group fighters have been detained by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as they have left the final scrap of the "caliphate"

Kurdish-led forces battled jihadists defending their last village on Saturday as operations were relaunched to flush out the Islamic State group from eastern Syria after several days of humanitarian evacuations.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces pushed into Baghouz, a tiny hamlet near the Iraqi border where IS fighters have been making a desperate last stand.

An official for the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which forms the backbone of the SDF, on Saturday said they had breached the jihadists' perimeter.

"The assault is underway -- the forces have started to enter the last (IS) pocket," said Aram Kojeir, a YPG official on the ground.

"The advance on the ground is taking place on three axes," he said, adding that the SDF had also taken control of a hill overlooking the last redoubt.

Final assault on last pocket of Islamic State group territory

AFP reporters near the front line could see thick black smoke rising above the heart of the village, which SDF units approached through outlying farms.

"The intense fighting continues," spokesman Adnan Afrin told reporters, adding that eight SDF fighters had been seriously wounded in the first few hours of the battle.

"It's closer combat now, the distance between us and the jihadists is gone," he said, explaining that a one-kilometre (half-mile) buffer had been maintained in recent days.

An AFP journalist near Baghouz saw military planes in the sky.

The SDF launched the assault late on Friday after a week-long exodus that saw thousands of people flee the enclave.

While IS fighters, who have been besieged for weeks in an ever-shrinking pocket, are vastly outgunned, their use of tunnels, booby-traps and suicide bombers is hampering the SDF advance.

- 'Surprises' -

Men and boys suspected of being Islamic State group fighters wait to be searched by Kurdish-led fighters before being taken away for further screening

"We can't put a timeframe on this battle -- two weeks, three weeks or a week -- it will depend on the surprises we get along the way," Afrin said.

"Those who have not surrendered by now will meet their fate there," he said.

Most of the more than 50,000 people who left the very last rump of the IS "caliphate" in recent weeks were women and children.

Some of the evacuees, however, were suspected fighters either surrendering to the SDF or attempting to slip back into civilian life.

The jihadists are cornered in a bend of the Euphrates, with Syrian government forces and their allies on the west bank of the Euphrates blocking any escape across the river and Iraqi government forces blocking any move downstream.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said seven IS fighters were shot dead by Syrian government forces and allied Iranian militiamen.

Only a few dozen people were evacuated by the SDF on Friday in the smallest convoy in days, prompting the Kurdish-led force to close the humanitarian window and resume their offensive.

This toddler was among just a few dozen people evacuated from the last dreg of the "caliphate" on Friday, prompting Kurdish-led forces to close the humanitarian window and resume their offensive

The assault will deal a final death blow to the "caliphate" which IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in mid-2014 and which once covered territory larger than Britain.

At its peak, the proto-state covered large parts of Iraq and Syria, administered millions of people, minted its own currency, levied taxes and produced its own textbooks.

- Yazidis -

It effectively collapsed in 2017 when IS lost major cities such as Mosul in northern Iraq and Syria's Raqa following massive offensives by government armies and their respective international allies in both countries.

While the last remains of IS' statehood experiment are about to disappear, the group remains a potent force in both Syria and Iraq, where it carries out deadly attacks.

Its brutal legacy is still raw and the scope of the atrocities committed under its rule continues to emerge, even in areas where its fighters were defeated long ago.

The SDF this week announced that yet another mass grave was discovered, this time near Baghouz, and that the severed heads of women were found in it.

Women and children wait to be searched by members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after leaving the Islamic State (IS) group's last holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria

While the victims were not immediately identified, local fighters believe the executed women are likely to be members of the Yazidi minority.

Members of the mostly Iraq-based religious minority are considered heretics by IS, which tried to exterminate them in 2014.

Many of the thousands of women abducted and enslaved by IS in the early years of the "caliphate" are still missing today and it is feared some may be held captive in Baghouz.

Nadia Murad, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and herself an Iraqi Yazidi who was kidnapped and raped, urged the US-led coalition backing the SDF to help secure their safe return.

"The Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS must have a plan to help rescue Yazidis that are still missing," she said in a statement Friday, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Some Yazidis managed to slip out with the thousands of civilians evacuated over the past 10 days.
Algerian security forces drag a man away as they respond to protests in the capital Algiers on Friday

Algerians on Saturday watched for the presidency's response to the biggest rallies yet against Abdelaziz Bouteflika's re-election bid, as the ailing and absent head of state turned 82.

Driven by rising frustration, tens of thousands took to the streets on Friday.

Many attempted to march on the seat of government and the presidential palace, but were repelled by police truncheons and volleys of tear gas.

A day after the unrest, state-news agency APS reported Saturday that Bouteflika had replaced his veteran campaign manager, but no immediate explanation was given for the dismissal.

The president himself, who has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, has remained invisible and mute on the demonstrations since they broke out last week.

His declaration three weeks ago that he would stand for a fifth term came in the shape of a written statement published by state media, rather than a speech to the people.

Adding fuel to concerns about his fitness for office, the president has been in Switzerland for nearly a week undergoing what his office describes as "routine medical checks".

- 'Right to protest' -

One 56-year-old protester died after being caught in a stampede by "rioters" seeking to confront police, his family said on social media.

An Algerian policeman holds a rock in his hand as security forces respond to tens of thousands of people protesting in the capital on Friday

AFP journalists saw a number of others wounded, including some by police throwing stones back at demonstrators who had intially hurled them at officers.

According to a police toll, 56 police and seven demonstrators were hurt and 45 arrests made in Algiers.

Interior minister Noureddine Bedoui visited wounded officers on Friday night, saluting what he called "the professionalism of the forces of order".

Bedoui did not mention a Sunday night deadline for presidential hopefuls to formally submit their candidacies for the April 18 election at the constitutional court.

There is no legal requirement for a candidate to be physically present for the lodging of his or her bid for the poll.

Ahead of Friday's demonstrations, the presidential camp had repeated all week that protests would not delay the election or prevent the formal submission of Bouteflika's candidacy.

The authorities are looking "to hold on until Sunday, in the hope that once Bouteflika's candidacy is confirmed, the ballot box will prevail and protests will run out of steam", one observer told AFP.

A policeman wounded in clashes with protesters in Algiers on Friday

It is difficult to say whether Friday's events are a game changer.

"It is not within the habit of the regime to give in to streets," added this observer, who did not want to be named.

"If they withdraw the candidacy (of Bouteflika)... how much further would they then be forced to retreat?".

- Disconnect -

The protests have unfolded peacefully across the country, aside from the clashes between police and young people late on Friday in Algiers.

But there is a disconnect between the formal opposition parties -- which tried and failed to agree on a single candidate -- and the social media savvy of the street movement.

So far, APS says only two little-known challengers have formally submitted their election bids: Ali Zeghdoud from the tiny Algerian Rally part and independent Abdelkrim Hamadi.

Businessman Rachid Nekkaz is one figure to have cultivated a mass following among young people, including on social media.

But he will likely fall foul of electoral laws on nationality, because he once held French citizenship.

Bouteflika's main opponent in 2004 and 2014 was his former prime minister Ali Benflis, who is expected to confirm on Sunday whether he will attempt another run.

Retired general Ali Ghediri threw his hat into the ring in January, but has gone quiet in recent weeks.

This handout picture on Rachid Nekkach's facebook account shows the Algerian businessman and political activist during protests against President Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term in the capital Algiers on March 1, 2019

Contacted by AFP on Saturday, his camp did not want to say whether he will formally submit his candidacy.

The main Islamist party, the Movement for the Society of Peace, earlier said it will field its candidate Abderrazak Makri, but the candidacy has not been confirmed.

Far-left Workers' Party announced Saturday that it would not field a candidate for the first time since 2004, saying the presidential election could not fulfil "the real desire for change".

Once Sunday's midnight (2300 GMT) deadline passes, the court has ten days to rule on candidates' validity.
Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been in Switzerland for nearly a week for "routine medical checks" according to his office

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika sacked his veteran campaign manager Saturday, state media reported, following mass protests against the ailing leader's decision to stand for a fifth term in office.

Former premier Abdelmalek Sellal -- who oversaw Bouteflika's past three successful re-election bids -- was removed just hours ahead of a deadline for election hopefuls to formally submit their candidacy.

Sellal was replaced as campaign manager by Abdelghani Zaalene, the transport minister, APS news agency said, citing Bouteflika's campaign team.

While no reason was given for the decision, it comes after tens of thousands of Algerians protested Friday against the 82-year-old president standing for re-election.

Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, has been in Switzerland for nearly a week for "routine medical checks" according to his office.

There is no legal requirement for election contenders to be in the country on Sunday to meet the midnight (2300 GMT) deadline to submit their candidacy for the April 18 vote.
Protests in Kashmir where violence continues to rage, with both India and Pakistan firing mortars and artillery over the Line of Control (LoC) frontier

Tensions between India and Pakistan raged Saturday as heavy firing by their armies killed at least seven people on either side of their fiercely disputed Kashmir border.

The nuclear-armed rivals fired mortars and artillery at each other despite the release of an Indian pilot who had been shot down by Pakistan but then sent back as a "goodwill gesture".

In a fearsome 24 hour spell, two soldiers and two civilians died on the Pakistan side, its military said. On the Indian side, a woman and her two children died after their house was pulverised by a mortar shell.

Indian army chief Bipin Rawat dashed to Udhampur in his country's sector of Kashmir on Saturday to review border security.

Across the region villagers huddled in makeshift bunkers while police ordered non-essential traffic off roads, an AFP reporter said.

At least 12 civilians have been killed on either side of the frontier since the start of the week.

The release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman to Indian authorities late Friday following 60 hours in Pakistani custody boosted hopes of a de-escalation.

But a furious backlash erupted in India over a video in which Abhinandan can be seen praising his captors and criticising Indian media.

- Pilot returns -

Abhinandan was shot down in his MiG fighter Wednesday as he chased Pakistani jets over disputed Kashmir. His capture had become the centrepiece of hostilities between the arch-rivals after a February 14 suicide bombing in Kashmir killed 40 Indian paramilitaries.

Abhinandan, who ejected to safety but was set upon by a crowd on the Pakistani side of the Kashmir ceasefire line, had a noticeable black eye when he returned and was immediately taken for a medical checkup before a debriefing by military and intelligence agencies.

Media reports said Abhinandan's return was held up because he was forced to make the video before being freed.

In the heavily edited video distributed by the Pakistani military just before his release, he praised the professionalism of the Pakistani army and criticised Indian media for creating war hysteria.

Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, said the video tainted Pakistan's gesture to return the pilot so quickly.

"Sadly the image you paint for us is marred terribly by the video he's forced to record just before you sent him back," Abdullah said on Twitter.

"That high moral ground you had bequeathed to yourselves slipped at the end."

India's feverish social media also slammed the video, which was tweeted by the Pakistan government but later taken off its official account.

- War rhetoric -

There was no let-up in war rhetoric with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying no-one could "dare threaten" a "new, fearless and decisive" India.

Modi also told an India Today media group conference the country needed the Rafale fighter jets it wants to buy from France. The deal has been embroiled in corruption allegations levelled by the opposition Congress party.

"If India had the procured the Rafale on time then the result of the recent skirmish with Pakistan could have been different," Modi said.

In a bid to defuse the tensions, Adel al-Jubeir, minister of state for foreign affairs for Saudi Arabia, a key Pakistan ally, was to arrive in Islamabad Sunday, underlining global concern over the showdown.

Saudi Arabia has offered to help to end the new hostilities.

"He is visiting us and and will also visit India. He is our friend and we have historical relations with them (Saudi Arabia)," Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told reporters.

Pakistan media praised the government for releasing the pilot but some social media users criticised the military video, calling it "cheap" and "unnecessary".

Abhinandan was captured a day after Indian planes bombed what New Delhi said was a militant camp in Pakistan, in retaliation for the Kashmir suicide bombing claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group.

Kashmir has been divided between the two countries since their independence and bitter split in 1947. It has been at the centre of two of their three wars since then.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, grand imam of Egypt's famed Al-Azhar institution, said polygamy was the result of a "lack of understanding of the Koran"

The grand imam of Egypt's famed Al-Azhar institution, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, has described polygamy as an "injustice" for women.

"Polygamy is often an injustice to women and children," said the influential cleric, in quotes published on Twitter late Friday by Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's most prestigious seat of learning.

The practice is the result of "a lack of understanding of the Koran and the tradition of the Prophet," he added.

Tayeb also addressed the issue in a weekly Friday television show, telling viewers: "Those who say that marriage must be polygamous are all wrong".

He added the Koran says that in order for a Muslim man to have multiple wives, he "must obey conditions of fairness -- and if there is not fairness it is forbidden to have multiple wives".

After the grand imam's comments sparked fervent debate on social media, Al-Azhar on Saturday clarified that he did not call for polygamy to be banned.

In his Friday comments, Tayeb called more broadly for the way women's issues are addressed to be revamped.

"Women represent half of society, if we don't care for them it's like we are walking on one foot only," he said in the remarks published on Twitter.

The grand imam's approach was welcomed by Egypt's National Council for Women.

"The Muslim religion honours women -- it brought justice and numerous rights which didn't exist before," said the Council's president Maya Morsi.
Israeli forces stand guard next to a destroyed car after two Palestinians were shot dead as they tried to run over troops in the occupied West Bank village of Kafr Nama according to police

Israeli security forces said they shot and killed two Palestinians who carried out a car-ramming attack on Monday in the occupied West Bank that injured a soldier and a policeman.

A senior Palestinian official claimed the initial incident was likely an accident, with the car colliding into an Israeli military vehicle as it rounded a bend.

The army said security forces fired at three assailants, "neutralising two of them and lightly injuring a third", while police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two of the Palestinians were killed.

"Assailants ran over a number of soldiers who had stopped at the side of the road on their way out of the village" of Kafr Nama, northwest of Ramallah, a military statement said.

"An (army) officer was severely injured and a border police soldier was lightly injured as a result," the army said.

Rosenfeld said that the policeman injured in the pre-dawn attack was subsequently released from hospital.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised soldiers for having swiftly "eliminated" the attackers and vowed to fast-track the demolitions of their homes.

"I have ordered that the demolitions of these homes be speeded up," he said.

"We are determined to continue our vigorous struggle against the murderers and against terrorism everywhere."

Israel regularly razes the homes of Palestinians accused of carrying out attacks against Israelis.

Rights groups criticise the practice as collective punishment since family members suffer from the actions of relatives.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem also says "it is carried out without trial and without any requirement to present evidence."

The Palestinian health ministry named the two men killed as Amir Mahmoud Darraj and Yussef Anqawi, both 20.

Kafr Nama's mayor said that troops were leaving the village on foot after a raid to arrest a Palestinian suspect there when the incident occurred.

Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian supreme judge and advisor to president Mahmud Abbas, later questioned the Israeli version of events.

"It is inconceivable that three young men carry out an operation to run over the occupation soldiers in a car. One driver would be enough," he said in a statement carried by official news agency Wafa.

The evidence, he added, suggested it was "a normal traffic accident between the Palestinian car and an occupation vehicle," calling the subsequent shooting a "deliberate killing."

- Firebombs -

Israel's army said its troops had arrested 11 alleged operatives of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Ramallah area overnight.

It added that "an initial inquiry suggests that earlier in the evening, the assailants of the car-ramming attack also hurled firebombs at a crossing".

Israeli forces circle a destroyed car after two Palestinians were shot dead as they tried to run over troops in the occupied West Bank village of Kafr Nama according to police

"Additional firebombs were later found in the vehicle that had been used in the terror attack," the army statement said.

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and has fought three wars with Israel, praised the car-ramming but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

A statement hailing the attack said the Palestinian people "will continue their struggle against the occupier until they achieve complete freedom and free their land".

Palestinian car-ramming, knife and gun attacks against Israelis occur sporadically in the West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to the media in February 2019

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau voiced strong concern Monday that China suspects a detained former Canadian diplomat of spying and stealing state secrets.

The allegations against Michael Kovrig mark a new escalation in the diplomatic row between Beijing and Ottawa stemming from Canada's arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.

"We are obviously very concerned with the position that China has taken," Trudeau told reporters.

China's official news agency Xinhua had earlier reported the allegations against Kovrig and said that businessman Michael Spavor, another Canadian in Chinese detention, was one of Kovrig's main intelligence sources.

The pair were detained in December in what observers see as retaliation just days after Canada arrested Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei, at the request of the United States.

Chinese authorities had previously said the two Canadian men were under investigation on suspicion of endangering national security, and spying charges could expose them to tough prison sentences.

Trudeau reiterated that Canada considers China to have arbitrarily detained both Kovrig and Spavor.

"The safety and security of Canadians is always first order for this government, and that's why we've been engaging and standing up for the two Canadians who've been arbitrarily detained by China from the very beginning," Trudeau said.

Kovrig, who now works for the International Crisis Group think tank, had often entered China using a non-diplomatic passport and business visas and has been gathering intelligence since 2017, Xinhua said.

The new allegations come three days after Canada launched the extradition process against Meng, angering Beijing, which called the action a "severe political incident."

Meng is set to appear in court in Vancouver on Wednesday to schedule a date for her extradition hearing.

The United States wants to put her on trial on fraud charges for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks.

- Meng files lawsuit -

Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig now works for the International Crisis Group think tank

Ottawa has said interrogations of Kovrig breached the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations -- allegations Beijing flatly rejected.

A group of Canadian parliamentarians had earlier complained to Chinese authorities that Kovrig and Spavor have been denied access to lawyers and remain in "completely unacceptable" detention conditions.

"China's approach is no different from the rest of the world in dealing with such cases involving national security cases," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said at a regular briefing Monday.

China will handle their case in "strict accordance with the law, guarantee the legitimate rights of Kovrig and Spavor," and arrange for consular visits, a Communist Party organ overseeing state and public security said on a news website it operates.

Meanwhile, Meng, 47, has filed suit against Canadian authorities for violating her constitutional rights when she was detained at Vancouver International Airport.

Her lawyers charge impropriety in the conditions under which Meng was interrogated for three hours by the customs officers, officially as part of a routine inspection, before being served with her arrest.

During those three hours, the customs officers searched her phones and computers as well as her luggage in violation of her rights, the lawyers said.

The US Justice Department accuses Huawei and its chief financial officer of circumventing US sanctions against Iran, but also, via two affiliates, stealing trade secrets from US telecommunications group T-Mobile.

The daughter of Huawei's founder, Meng was released on parole in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences, on a bond deposit of C$10 million ($6.6 million), wearing an electronic bracelet and handing over her passports.

The extradition procedure can take months or even years because of the many appeal possibilities.
Would anyone - anyone at all - like to thank the academy?

This is normally the time of year when Oscar hopefuls are readying acceptance speeches that almost always begin with a few words of gratitude for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. But that sentiment has been hard to come by in the torturous and troubled lead-up to the 91st Academy Awards.

After a litany of public-relations disasters, backtracks and missteps, the latest dust-up surrounds the film academy's plans to remove four categories from the live portion of Feb. 24's broadcast, including cinematography and editing, arguably the two most foundational components of moviemaking. The academy, desperate to reverse sliding ratings, says a shortened show must go on.

On Wednesday evening, dozens of Hollywood heavyweights - including Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee, Brad Pitt, cinematographer Roger Deakins and director Damien Chazelle - issued an open-letter to the academy's leadership blasting the decision to not air the four awards, which also include live-action short and hairstyling and makeup, live on the ABC telecast.

"Relegating these essential cinematic crafts to lesser status in this 91st Academy Awards ceremony is nothing less than an insult to those of us who have devoted our lives and passions to our chosen profession," the group wrote. "When the recognition of those responsible for the creation of outstanding cinema is being diminished by the very institution whose purpose it is to protect it, then we are no longer upholding the spirit of the Academy's promise to celebrate film as a collaborative art form."

The academy responded with a letter of its own, blaming "inaccurate reporting and social media posts" for "a chain of misinformation." Signed by academy president John Bailey, a cinematographer, and other officers from the academy's board of governors, the letter sought to assure members that the four winning speeches will be included in the broadcast (just not live, or with a walk to the stage) and that in future years, four to six different categories will be similarly truncated.

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2017 file photo, Oscar statuettes appear backstage at the Oscars in Los Angeles. Responding to widespread backlash to the fact that four Oscars will be presented during commercial breaks at the 91st Academy Awards, the film academy has issued a statement reiterating that all Academy Award winners will still be included in the broadcast on Feb. 24, just not all live. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

After years of #OscarSoWhite backlash, one infamous envelope mix-up and the reckoning that followed the expulsion of Harvey Weinstein from the academy, this year's Academy Awards drama has been self-inflicted. In response to last year's all-time low of 26.5 million viewers, the Oscars - the grandest and most glamorous award show ever created - are shrinking. And nobody likes it.

"People in general have a hard time with change. Change is sometimes hard to swallow. And I think the way that the news came out, it came out in the wrong way," says Mary Zophres, one of the 54 members of the board of governors and a costume designer nominated this year for "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs," at an event celebrating nominees hosted by industry site The Wrap. "But there is a need to make sure that the ratings are competitive."

The academy's headaches began after it last summer trotted out the induction of a "popular film Oscar." The plan sparked such outrage (Rob Lowe pronounced the film industry dead, "survived by sequels, tent-poles and vertical integration") that the new award was scuttled within a month.

Then Kevin Hart announced, himself, that he was hosting this year's awards. When many took issue with his old homophobic tweets, the comedian initially "chose to pass on the apology," inflaming the backlash. Within hours, he withdrew as host and, finally supplied an apology to the LGBTQ community. The Oscars are now host-less for only the fifth time in its 91-year history. The most recent, in 1989, resulted in an infamous duet between Snow White and Rob Lowe.

Other plans to tweak tradition also backfired. After first planning to limit the best song nominee performances, the academy confirmed that all songs will indeed be performed. "They made the right decision to include all the songs," said Diane Warren, a nominee for the "RBG" song "I'll Fight." ''It wouldn't be fair to just have two songs. That's basically saying those other songs don't matter."

Some have blamed ABC, which owns the Oscar broadcast rights for the next decade, for pressuring the academy into some of these measures. ABC declined to comment.

Still, the negative response from prominent academy members was more than the academy's leadership was expecting. Alfonso Cuaron, who's nominated for four Oscars including best cinematography, has been among the most vocal critics, declaring: "No one single film has ever existed without CINEMAtography and editing." Guillermo del Toro, whose "The Shape of Water" won best picture and best director at last year's ceremony, said cinematography and editing "are cinema itself."

"I don't like it. I don't think that's a cool deal. I'm an artist so I believe we've all worked really hard, we've nurtured our gifts and we should all be able to celebrate them with the world," says Regina King, a nominee for best supporting actress. "It just doesn't seem like 15 minutes is gonna make that big of a difference."

But the academy is insistent on getting the normally four hour-plus telecast down to three hours. Ratings for all award shows have declined in recent years, but it remains to be seen whether a shorter show will have any effect on larger viewing habit transformations.

What is clear is that the challenges of producing a big-tent, for-everybody broadcast are growing as mass audiences continue to fracture. For an institution like the academy, which has year-round involvement in things like film preservation and a much-delayed $400 million Los Angeles museum, the Oscar broadcast is the primary revenue generator.

"They make about six or seven million dollars a year off of the Academy Awards on television which pays for the academy," says Michael Douglas, a two-time Oscar winner. "How do you put together an entertaining show versus (honor the winners)? So, I understand as far as a television viewing audience show, they don't do a very good job."

"I just saw the Grammys - best opening I've seen in a long time," Douglas added. "Theirs is a three-and-a-half hour show that only has nine awards, you know? Because it's all musical productions."

But like the Oscars, Hollywood is getting smaller. This year, the 83-year-old 20th Century Fox, one of the "Big Six" major studios, will become part of the Walt Disney Co. More change is afoot. Netflix could this year win its first best picture Academy Award thanks to Cuaron's "Roma."

The irony is that all the attention on the host-less, controversial Oscar broadcast has meant no one is talking about the movies. And this year's nominees, including the year's No. 1 domestic hit, "Black Panther," are one of the most-watched groups in years - exactly what the academy craves.

But with less than two weeks to go, some worry that the dust won't settle by show time.

"People need to calm down about it before the Oscars and we only have like 10 days," says Zophres. "What worries me more is actual unrest in the building before, during or after. So they need to make sure that everybody is under control."

___

Jill Dobson contributed to this report.
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside an El Paso immigration detention center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.

The dramatic reversal came Thursday as public pressure was mounting on ICE to halt the practice, which involves feeding detainees through nasal tubes against their will. Last week, the United Nations human rights office said the force-feeding of Indian hunger strikers at the facility could violate the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Earlier this week, a U.S. district judge said the government had to stop force-feeding two of the detained Indian immigrants, but warned that if their health started to decline he would consider ordering force-feeding again, their attorney said. On Thursday, all force-feeding at the detention center near the El Paso airport had stopped, according to ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa.

"This is a win for us," said Louis Lopez, who is representing Malkeet Singh and Jasvir Singh, two detainees who are Punjabi Sikhs in their early 20s. "They have a First Amendment right to protest."

Detained immigrants have sporadically staged hunger strikes around the country for years, protesting conditions they face while seeking asylum. ICE said Thursday there were a total of 12 detainees refusing food, nine from India, three from Cuba. Force-feeding, which began under court order earlier this year, had not previously been reported, and advocates involved said they weren't aware it had happened before.

In a federal courtroom Wednesday in El Paso, U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama heard from Dr. Michelle Iglesias about how men detained in the El Paso facility are restrained and have feeding tubes pushed through their noses. The judge asked whether they had some other way they could protest, and sought details about the Singhs' physical condition.

FILE - This June 2018 file photo shows protesters walking along Montana Avenue outside the El Paso Processing Center, in El Paso, Texas. The U.S. government has suddenly stopped force-feeding a group of men on a hunger strike inside a Texas immigration detention center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The dramatic reversal comes as public pressure was mounting on ICE to halt the practice, which involves feeding detainees through nasal tubes against their will. (Rudy Gutierrez/The El Paso Times via AP, File)

"What are the physiological and psychological effects of allowing a hunger strike to continue unabated by force-feeding?" he asked.

In addition to Guaderrama, U.S. District Judges David Briones, Philip R. Martinez and Frank Montalvo at the El Paso courthouse have issued orders for force-feeding in recent weeks.

Those orders are secret, under seal, because they contain "highly sensitive and personal medical information," Montalvo told The Associated Press in a letter declining a request to unseal the orders.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said last week the office views force-feeding as potential "ill treatment" that would go against the convention, ratified by the United States in 1994.

The statement by the Geneva-based office echoed concerns raised by 14 Democratic lawmakers who have asked ICE for more information.

Texas Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar, who toured the El Paso Processing Center and met with the hunger strikers two weeks ago following the initial AP reports, found them "deeply traumatized" and frail. She said she asked them why they were refusing food.

"It was so sad," she said. "They told me 'We would rather die in America than be deported.'"

Friday afternoon, about 30 supporters of the hunger strikers gathered for a protest along a crowded street near the ICE processing center close to El Paso's airport. While some passing cars honked in support, other drivers rolled down their windows to yell obscenities, chanting "USA! USA! USA!" or "He's still your president."

Protestors chanting "Free El Paso Nine" hoisted red and white kites painted with forks fashioned to look like prison bars being grasped by human hands, a symbol, organizers said, of people being force-fed.

"We don't force feed human beings," said one of the organizers, Elizabeth Vega, a grandmother from Las Cruces, New Mexico. "That's torture and we know it's torture. I don't care what a federal judge says."

___

Mendoza and Burke reported from San Francisco.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A member of Portland's city council said Thursday a newspaper's report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city confirms collusion exists between some police and right-wing extremists.

"I am not shocked, and I am not surprised at today's reporting of Lt. Jeff Niiya's collaboration with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson over text to provide aid and support for their hate marches," Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement.

Willamette Week obtained text messages through a public records request between Niiya and Gibson. The texts purportedly show Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson, frequently discussing Gibson's plans to demonstrate.

In one text reported by the newspaper, Niiya tells Gibson that he doesn't see a need to arrest his assistant, Tusitala Toese, who often brawls with antifascist protesters, even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime.

"Just make sure he doesn't do anything which may draw our attention," Niiya texted Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017, Willamette Week reported. "If he still has the warrant in the system (I don't run you guys so I don't personally know) the officers could arrest him. I don't see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there is a reason."

A police spokeswoman said it is not unusual for officers to suggest people turn themselves in to avoid being arrested on a warrant, Willamette Week reported.

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2018, file photo, counter protesters tear a Nazi flag, in Portland, Ore. A member of Portland's city council says she is shocked by a newspaper report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city. Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said the reporting in Willamette Week on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, confirms there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes, File)

"In crowd management situations, it may not be safe or prudent to arrest a person right at that time, so the arrest may be delayed or followed up on later It is not uncommon for officers to provide guidance for someone to turn themselves in on a warrant if the subject is not present," Lt. Tina Jones said.

Portland police were accused at a protest last August of being heavy-handed against people, injuring some, who were protesting a rally of extreme-right demonstrators organized by Gibson.

Hardesty said the "broken policing system in Portland" must be addressed.

"This story, like many that have come before it, simply confirms what many in the community have already known - there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists," she said.
BEIJING (AP) - President Donald Trump said that "there's a possibility" he would extend a March 2 deadline in trade talks with China if the two countries are closing in on a deal.

Trump made the remarks after two days of high-level negotiations broke up in Beijing Friday, and the two countries announced plans to resume talks next week in Washington. The world's two biggest economies are locked in a dispute over China's aggressive push to challenge American technological dominance.

The U.S. is scheduled to hike import taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on March 2. But Trump told reporters that he might extend the deadline "if I see that we're close to a deal or the deal is going in the right direction." He had made similar comments on Tuesday.

Earlier Friday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told Chinese President Xi Jinping negotiators "made headway" in talks this week in Beijing.

Economists said this week's two days of talks were too brief to resolve the sprawling dispute that extends to cyber-spying and China's trade surplus. They said Beijing is trying to persuade Trump enough progress is being made to postpone the penalties.

. "I hope you will continue to work hard to promote a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement," Chinese President Xi Jinping told Lighthizer in a meeting after the negotiations ended, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, second from left, talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping as U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, left, and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, right, look on before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

The decision to hold more talks suggested they were making progress. But there was no indication of movement on the thorniest dispute: U.S. pressure on Beijing to scale back plans for government-led creation of Chinese global leaders in robotics and other technologies.

"We feel we have made headway on very, very important and difficult issues," Lighthizer told Xi. "We have additional work we have to do but we are hopeful."

Xi said Beijing and Washington "share broad mutual interests" in promoting global economic prosperity and stability.

"We shoulder important responsibilities," the Chinese leader said.

Washington, Europe, Japan and other governments say Beijing's industry plans violate its market-opening obligations. Some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Trump raised tariffs in July over complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. He imposed 25 percent penalties on $50 billion of goods from China and 10 percent on $200 billion.

China retaliated by raising duties on American soybeans and other imports and ordering its companies to find other suppliers. Imports of American goods plunged 41.2 percent in January compared with a year earlier, according to customs data.

Trump agreed Dec. 1 to postpone further penalties by 90 days while the two sides negotiate. Once that expires March 1, the charges on $200 billion of goods are due to rise to 25 percent.

Both governments face growing pressure to make peace as global economic growth weakens and the cost to their companies increases.

Beijing has offered to narrow its trade surplus by purchasing more American soybeans, natural gas and other exports. But the government has resisted pressure to cut back development plans it sees as a path to prosperity and global influence.

"From politics to economy to ideology, the United States hopes to intervene in China's affairs," said the newspaper Global Times, published by the ruling Communist Party.

Companies on both sides have been battered by penalties. Foreign manufacturers in China are starting to shift production of goods bound for the U.S. market to other countries to avoid Trump's tariffs, suggesting they anticipate an extended conflict.

A possible sticking point is Chinese reluctance to agree to an enforcement mechanism demanded by American officials to monitor whether Beijing carries out its promises.

Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by emphasizing China's growth as an export market. It has announced changes over the past year to open finance and other fields, including allowing full foreign ownership in its auto industry for the first time.

The U.S. delegation also included Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trump's nominee for World Bank president.

The Chinese delegation was led by Vice Premier Liu He, Xi's chief economic adviser.

Chinese regulators also have announced plans to improve protection of foreign patents and copyrights.

It is unclear whether that will satisfy Washington and other governments that complain the system is rigged to extract technology from foreign companies and to use official industrial standards to shield Chinese enterprises from competition.

___

Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this story.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, meets with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, fifth from left, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, fourth from left, and delegations from both countries at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, speaks as U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, third from left, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, second from left, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, fourth from right, and delegations from both countries listen during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, second from left, speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, next to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, left, during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, photo, a Transformer's Bumblebee mascot helps a woman carries paper bags at a shopping mall in Handan in north China's Hebei province. U.S. and Chinese envoys are holding a second day of trade talks after the top economic adviser to President Donald Trump said he has yet to decide whether to go ahead with a March 2 tariff increase on imports from China. (Chinatopix via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Winter weather enveloping California's mountains for a fourth straight day Friday kept skiers from hitting the slopes at the start of the Presidents Day holiday weekend, with snow so deep that plows could not tackle it and cities scrambled to find places to pile it.

Several routes to the ski mecca of Lake Tahoe shut down, including about 70 miles (110 kilometers) of Interstate 80 from Colfax, California, to the Nevada state line.

I-80 was reopened to passenger vehicles Friday evening.

Chains were required for travel in many other parts of the towering Sierra Nevada.

"All avid skiers are itching to get out on the mountain, but the roads are pretty treacherous right now," said Kevin Cooper, marketing director for Lake Tahoe TV.

The storm was expected to dump between 3 and 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) of fresh snow in a region where some ski resorts reported getting 3 feet (1 meter) since Thursday. Officials warned of avalanches in the greater Lake Tahoe Area, where heavy snow and high winds were expected through Sunday.

This Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, photo released by Heavenly Mountain Resort shows snow covering chairs and ski equipment at Heavenly Mountain Resort near South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Skiers eager to hit the slopes had to sit out a Presidents' Day holiday weekend as heavy snow and rain fell for a fourth straight day Friday in California's mountains, where the snow was so deep in some areas plows couldn't go out and cities were running out of places to pile it. (Duncan Kincheloe/Heavenly Mountain Resort via AP)

Storms also have swamped much of the state with heavy rain that crumbled roads and flooded a resort north of San Francisco where a kayaker paddled through a meeting room after a nearby river swelled over its banks. The onslaught extended into Arizona and other parts of the U.S. West, with a winter blast also hitting Missouri.

In California, the heavy snow forced some skiers to cancel their plans.

Aura Campa of Oakland and her partner were hoping to take advantage of their season passes and the fresh powder at Squaw Valley-Alpine Meadows resort, but a near-accident on an icy road last weekend made them reconsider.

When a main highway through the Lake Tahoe area was crushed with traffic, she drove her SUV on a side road. Her vehicle didn't have chains, and when it was going uphill, the vehicle went into reverse.

"That was really scary for us. It was on a tiny hill with a small amount of ice but that was enough for us to think twice about traveling through a snowstorm again," Campa said. "We're not going to risk it."

Authorities told people to stay home as snow kept piling up.

"State Route 267 is so deep that plows can no longer plow. They have ordered up a large blower to try and clear the pass," Placer County sheriff's Lt. Andrew Scott said in a tweet with a video of the snow-covered road.

About 140 miles (225 kilometers) southeast of Lake Tahoe, Mammoth Mountain was about to break a more than 30-year record for monthly snowfall, resort spokesman Justin Romano said. Skiers and snowboarders should be able to reach the slopes as long as they have chains or snow tires, he said.

The resort has already gotten 163 inches (414 centimeters) of snow this month, just 5 inches shy of its snowfall record for February, set in 1986.

The storms heavily damaged - and in some places destroyed - parts of roads leading to Idyllwild and other mountain communities about 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, but access was not cut off.

Crews were starting repairs on State Routes 74 and 243. A route combining surviving portions of the two mountain highways and a county road kept the communities connected to the world, but authorities urged outsiders to leave the tenuous route to residents.

"We're discouraging tourism and snow play up there this weekend," California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Terri Kasinga said.

Highways also were damaged in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains, where ski resorts around Big Bear Lake have an abundance of snow. Kasinga said those routes would be open to the public.

In other parts of California, crews turned to cleanup after a storm Thursday led to at least three deaths.

A woman pulled from rising water in a flood-control channel in Corona, southeast of Los Angeles, had a heart attack and died. About 50 miles (80 kilometers) east, a man was found dead after floodwaters swept him away in a rural community. A man's body also was recovered from a fast-flowing creek in Escondido, northeast of San Diego.

Winter weather extended into Arizona and the Rocky Mountains.

Firefighters rescued a motorist who called 911 to report that runoff swept his car down a wash in Tucson, Arizona. In northern Arizona, a handful of popular recreation areas around the red-rock resort town of Sedona closed because of heavy flooding. More storms were expected to drop snow in northern Arizona this weekend.

In parts of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, road crews worked to clear avalanches that had closed mountain highways and to ease the threat of more slides.

___

Antczak reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Daisy Nguyen in San Francisco; Amanda Lee Myers in Los Angeles; Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona; Paul Davenport in Phoenix; and Bob Moen in Cheyenne, Wyoming, contributed to this report.

Two men snowboard down a steep street in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Skiers eager to hit the slopes had to sit out a Presidents' Day holiday weekend as heavy snow and rain fell for a fourth straight day Friday in California's mountains, where the snow was so deep in some areas plows couldn't go out and cities were running out of places to pile it. (Ryan Hoffman/The Tahoe Tribune via AP)

Jay Michael Tucker kayaks through the flooded Surrey Resort as the Russian River flows through it in Guerneville, Calif., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Streets and low-lying areas flooded as the Russian River swelled above its banks Friday. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Jay Michael Tucker kayaks through the flooded Surrey Resort as the Russian River flows through it in Guerneville, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Streets and low-lying areas flooded as the Russian River swelled above its banks Friday. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Jay Michael Tucker kayaks through the flooded Surrey Resort as the Russian River flows through it in Guerneville, Calif., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Streets and low-lying areas flooded as the Russian River swelled above its banks Friday. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Owner Alex Yarosheno holds onto a tree as the Russian River flows through Surrey Resort in Guerneville, Calif., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Streets and low-lying areas flooded as the Russian River swelled above its banks Friday. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

This Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, photo released by Caltrans District 8 shows storm damage to the San Jacinto Mountains Highway 243 near Idyllwild, Calif. Rainwater continues to drain Friday from California's saturated landscapes, and road crews in parts of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming are working to clear avalanches. The damage included a collapse of about 75 feet (23 meters) of pavement in the San Jacinto Mountains. (Caltrans District 8 via AP)

This Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, photo released by Caltrans District 8 shows storm damage to the San Jacinto Mountains Highway 243 near Idyllwild, Calif. Rainwater continues to drain Friday from California's saturated landscapes, and road crews in parts of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming are working to clear avalanches. The damage included a collapse of about 75 feet (23 meters) of pavement in the San Jacinto Mountains. (Caltrans District 8 via AP)

A woman walks along a flooded road in Guerneville, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. In California, rainwater drained from saturated landscapes even as a new system moved into northern areas of the state and more heavy snow fell in the Sierra Nevada. (AP Photo/Josh Edelson)

Drivers make their way up and down a snow-packed street in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Skiers eager to hit the slopes had to sit out a Presidents' Day holiday weekend as heavy snow and rain fell for a fourth straight day Friday in California's mountains, where the snow was so deep in some areas plows couldn't go out and cities were running out of places to pile it. (Ryan Hoffman/The Tahoe Tribune via AP)

This Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, still image taken from video and courtesy of KSBW station shows the damaged Lone Cypress tree in Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey County, Calif. Gusty winds during a recent storm broke a branch of the famous cypress tree believed to be more than 250 years old on California's northern coast. The Pebble Beach Company said Friday that despite the damage, an arborist has recently examined the Lone Cypress and confirmed it's "healthy and remains secure on its rocky perch." (KSBW via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The process behind Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to ask about people's citizenship status on the 2020 U.S. census was "rotten to its core" and failed to consider that the question would cost California a substantial amount of money and at least one Congressional seat, an attorney for the state said Friday.

The state and some cities have filed lawsuits that seek to keep the question off the census.

Matthew Wise said during closing arguments in the lawsuits that census officials warned Ross the question would reduce the percentage of immigrants who respond to the survey. The state says that would lead to an undercount that would jeopardize its federal funding and representation.

Census numbers are used to determine states' distribution of congressional seats and billions of dollars in federal funding.

Wise said Ross was determined to add the citizenship question and made up a justification to support it.

"The decision-making process in this case was not just unusual, it was extraordinary," he said.

FILE - In this May 4, 2018, file photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, at podium, announces at a news conference in Los Angeles that the city and county of Los Angeles, as well as four other cities have joined a lawsuit the state previously filed challenging the Trump administration's plan to ask people if they are U.S. citizens during the 2020 census. A U.S. judge in San Francisco will hear closing arguments Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in a trial over the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census for the first time in 70 years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

An attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Brett Shumate, said the census has historically included a citizenship question. All households were last asked whether individuals were U.S. citizens on the 1950 census.

"It's obvious why any country would want to know who the citizens are and who the noncitizens are in its country," he said.

There was no evidence that Ross would have added the question without a request from the Justice Department, and a court can't override the secretary's judgment, Shumate said. Ross said in March that he was responding to a Justice Department request that the census ask about citizenship to improve enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act.

The hearing came as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a separate court ruling in New York that has so far blocked the administration from adding the question. That decision by U.S. Judge Jesse Furman came out last month.

Attorneys for the Justice Department, California and other plaintiffs before Seeborg said he should still rule so their cases might also go before the Supreme Court. Seeborg did not immediately issue a decision following closing arguments, but he appeared inclined to rule for California and the other plaintiffs on at least one of their claims.

The judge rejected Shumate's argument that Ross was only responding to a request from the DOJ, pointing to an email Ross wrote in May 2017 to Commerce Department officials in which Ross said he was "mystified" why nothing had been done in response to his "months old request that we include the citizenship question."

"You're in a tough position because the record is just extraordinary in terms of the degree to which there was a mission as reflected in these comments to get this question on there come hell or high water," the judge said.

The lawsuits by California and cities in the state say asking people whether they are citizens of the U.S. is politically motivated and would discourage Latinos in particular from participating in the population count.

The Justice Department argues that census officials take steps such as making in-person follow-up visits to get an accurate count.

Households that skip the citizenship question but otherwise fill out a substantial portion of the questionnaire will still be counted, Justice Department attorneys said in court documents.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - India's prime minister warned of a "crushing response" to the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 41 people and was the deadliest in the divided region's volatile history.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday's bombing squarely on neighboring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir.

"Our neighboring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialize," he said Friday, adding that government forces have been "given total freedom" to deal with the militants.

"Security forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response," he said.

Pakistan's ruling party rejected Modi's allegation, saying India's governing party was blaming Islamabad for political gains in the upcoming national election.

"The Indian allegations against Pakistan over yesterday's incident are part of the election campaign," said Naeemul Haq, a senior leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which came to power in last year's parliamentary election. He said the violence in Kashmir was "the result of the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Kashmir."

A protestor shouts slogans against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy, in Jammu, India, Friday, Feb.15, 2019. The death toll from a car bombing on the paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed at least 40, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

The attack has ratcheted up already high tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who both administer parts of the disputed territory but each claim it entirely.

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced Friday that New Delhi was withdrawing the most-favored nation trade status given to Pakistan and would take all possible diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident."

India's Foreign Ministry also summoned the Pakistani ambassador to protest the attack.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the country condemns acts of violence anywhere in the world and denied any involvement. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," it said in a statement.

Rebels, many of whom want Kashmir united with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian control since 1989. But the Muslim-majority region has experienced renewed attacks and repeated public protests in recent years as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, has challenged New Delhi's rule with a mixture of violence and social media.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. Last year's death toll was the highest since 2009, with at least 260 militants, 160 civilians and 150 government forces killed.

In Thursday's attack, a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a bus traveling in the paramilitary convoy. In addition to the dead, the attack wounded nearly two dozen other soldiers, India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force spokesman Sanjay Sharma said.

Police said the bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility. A pre-recorded video circulated on social media sites showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades.

Authorities imposed a security lockdown in the southern Kakapora area to stop people from assembling at the home of the militant who allegedly attacked the convoy. Still, hundreds of people were able to reach his home by crossing rice fields and orchards, and offered prayers there.

Authorities suspended security convoys in the Kashmir Valley on Friday and Home Minister Rajnath Singh arrived in Srinagar to review the security situation. He said civilian traffic would be stopped during the movement of convoys in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, three top Kashmiri leaders known as the Joint Resistance Leadership who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir said they regretted the killings. They said in a statement that India's "muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and human problem is wreaking havoc in Kashmir, especially on the next generation."

"Those who are here to execute this policy are also under stress and paying a price with their lives," they said.

The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying India's national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighborhoods, officials said. Authorities imposed a curfew and appealed for restraint.

Some people were reported injured in the mob attacks.

Nearly 100 protesters chanting slogans such as "Pakistan down, down!" and "Attack Pakistan, Attack," burned an effigy of Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in a park close to India's Parliament in New Delhi. They later dispersed.

The U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," the statement from the White House press secretary's office said.

It said the attack strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation with India.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947 and regularly exchange fire along their highly militarized border in Kashmir.

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Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijaz

Protestors throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir, in Jammu, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday's bombing squarely on neighboring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir. The attack has raised tensions elsewhere in Hindu-majority India. Hundreds of residents carrying India's national flag in Hindu-dominated Jammu city in the Muslim-majority state burned vehicles and hurled rocks at homes in Muslim neighborhoods, officials said. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers hold candles and pay tribute to their colleagues killed in Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The death toll from a car bombing on a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday. (AP Photo /Mahesh Kumar A.)

Indian muslims burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Jaish-e-Mohammed leader Masood Azhar, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40, in Mumbai, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed the blame for Thursday's bombing squarely on neighboring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Activists of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan and shout slogans against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, in Hyderabad, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The death toll from a car bombing on a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday. (AP Photo /Mahesh Kumar A.)

Protestors shout slogans against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy, in Jammu, India, Friday, Feb.15, 2019. The death toll from a car bombing on the paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed at least 40, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Indian paramilitary soldiers patrol near the site of Thursday's explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Security officials say the death toll from a car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40 after rebels fighting against Indian rule struck a paramilitary convoy in the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Officials from Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL) inspect the wreckage of a bus at the site of Thursday's explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Security officials say the death toll from a car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40 after rebels fighting against Indian rule struck a paramilitary convoy in the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Indian army soldiers arrive at the site of Thursday's explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Security officials say the death toll from a car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40 after rebels fighting against Indian rule struck a paramilitary convoy in the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

An officer from Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL) holds a debris for examination near the site of Thursday's explosion in Pampore, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Security officials say the death toll from a car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed to at least 40 after rebels fighting against Indian rule struck a paramilitary convoy in the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

An Indian student holds a candle as she pays tribute to paramilitary soldiers killed in Thursday's explosion in Kashmir, at a school in Ahmadabad, India, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The death toll from a car bombing on a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir has climbed at least 40, becoming the single deadliest attack in the divided region's volatile history, security officials said Friday. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)
ROME (AP) - France's ambassador returned to Italy on Friday, professing confidence that the two neighbors could deal with disagreements and work through their most serious diplomatic dispute since World War II.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella received the returning ambassador, the presidential Quirinal Palace in Rome said.

Ambassador Christian Masset gave him a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron inviting Mattarella to France.

"President Mattarella, in expressing thanks, has cordially accepted the invitation," the palace said in a statement.

France recalled Masset last week to protest perceived Italian meddling in French domestic politics, after Italian Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio met with French yellow vest activists seeking to run for the European Parliament.

"I was very happy to turn the lights back on in Palazzo Farnese," home of the French embassy in Rome, Masset told reporters Friday evening in a frescoed salon of the 16th-century Renaissance palace. "And I want them always to be on."

Five star movement leader and deputy Premier Luigi di Maio talks during a press conference, in Rome, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. France is sending its ambassador Christian Masset back to Italy Friday following the biggest diplomatic dispute between the two countries since World War II after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio met with French yellow vest activists seeking to run for the European Parliament, causing France to recall the ambassador to protest perceived Italian meddling in French domestic politics. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

In response to France's decision, Di Maio, who heads the populist 5-Star Movement, said he was glad France sent the ambassador back to Rome.

"I'll ask him for a meeting," Di Maio told reporters.

Masset for his part welcomed what he perceived as openness by Di Maio to dialogue and the Italian leader's distancing, in remarks on Friday, from any violent elements in the French opposition movement to Macron.

As for relations between Italy and France, which share a border and are major trading partners, Masset said: "We don't deny that there are differences or disagreements on themes, but all can be faced through dialogue and in reciprocal respect" in the interest of both countries.

In remarks in Rome earlier on Friday, Di Maio appeared to want to tamp down speculation the 5-Stars were making alliances with violent elements in the French movement.

"We don't have any intention of dialoguing with that mind-set (of the movement) that speaks of armed struggle or civil war," Di Maio said.

Di Maio has been courting support from fellow populists elsewhere in the European Union with the aim of creating a like-minded faction in the European Parliament after elections this spring.

Adding to the French-Italian tensions, Di Maio's fellow deputy premier, Matteo Salvini, has sharply attacked France lately on migrant policies. Salvini has also demanded France extradite to Italy several Italians who were convicted of domestic terrorism decades ago but who took refuge in France.

Earlier this week, Macron called Mattarella to discuss the removal of Masset. At the time, Mattarella's office said the two presidents "re-affirmed the importance, for each of the two countries, of the French-Italian relationship, which nourishes itself with historic, economic, cultural and exceptional human ties."

Both men further noted that the two countries "have a special responsibility to work in concert for the defense and relaunching of the European Union," the Italian presidential office said.

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Corbet reported from Paris.
MUNICH (AP) - Germany's foreign minister on Friday slammed U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist trade measures as creating a "lose-lose" situation and defended Europe's attempts to keep a nuclear deal with Iran alive after the unilateral American withdrawal.

Heiko Maas fired back after harsh criticism from U.S. Vice President Mike Pence of some of Washington's closest European allies.

Maas told a conference of world leaders and top diplomats and defense officials that Germany, Britain, France and the European Union as a whole were committed to preserving the 2015 deal meant to prevent Iran from obtaining a bomb.

"Without it, one thing is clear, the region would be no safer but instead a step closer to an open confrontation, with all of the implications that would have on Europe's own security," he said.

The comments at the Munich Security Conference came the day after Pence, at a conference in Warsaw, accused the three European NATO allies of trying to "break" American sanctions on Iran and called on them to pull out from the nuclear deal.

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve," Pence said.

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas talks to the media at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Tobias Hase/dpa via AP)

The U.S. withdrew unilaterally last year from the deal offering Iran incentives in exchange for limiting its nuclear capability and re-imposed tough sanctions, leaving the Europeans, as well as China and Russia, scrambling to try and keep it alive.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also defended the deal, saying that the bloc would do whatever possible to keep it alive.

"We believe it is fundamental and crucial to our security, and a fundamental pillar for the nuclear non-proliferation architecture globally," she said.

In Paris, France's foreign affairs ministry issued a statement in response to Pence's call, saying that the country was standing by its commitment to the implementation of the Iran deal.

Iran wasn't represented in Warsaw, but Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is in Munich for the weekend meetings. He told NBC's "Today" show in comments broadcast Friday that even if the U.S. wanted to renegotiate the nuclear deal, he wouldn't trust the Trump administration to honor any new agreement.

"Why should we negotiate?" he said. "Why should we trust President Trump that he would abide by his own signature?"

The U.S. and Europe have been at odds over a host of other issues, including American criticism that Germany and other allies are shirking their NATO obligations by not spending enough on defense budgets - something Pence is expected to again emphasize in a speech Saturday in Munich - and European concerns over new tariffs levied by Washington as well as its decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord.

Initially, Europeans took a wait-and-see approach to see how things would play out with Trump, but have been recently taking a more aggressive stance in pushing back.

Maas said that Germany has "no interest in a division of the West," but he said the U.S. needed to work with its partners to seek multilateral solutions to international issues, like the rising power and influence of China.

He singled out Trump's tariffs on steel, saying they had cost jobs in the U.S., raised the cost of steel and are threatening jobs in Europe.

"For me, it's a classic case of lose-lose," he said.

He rejected the suggestion that Germany wasn't doing its part internationally, noting several military deployments but also other engagements.

"We actively promote much closer cooperation in all policy areas, from security, trade and digital to climate and the environment," he said. "But I also say very clearly, for us security is not measured solely in increasing defense budgets."

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Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Sylvie Corbet in Paris, contributed to this report.

United States Vice President Mike Pence delivers his speech during the John McCain Dissertation Award Ceremony at the Bavarian State Parliament in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Pence arrived Thursday to attend the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at a news conference in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. An American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation. Zarif on Wednesday predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S. "I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Police officers secure the area around the Hotel 'Bayerischer Hof' at the first day of the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

German foreign minister Heiko Maas, right, talks to Russian foreign minister Sergej Lawrow at a bilateral meeting at the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

A police officer secures the area around the Hotel 'Bayerischer Hof' at the first day of the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

German minster of Defense Ursula von der Leyen, right, looks to United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan at a press conference during the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Tobias Hase/dpa via AP)

United States Vice President Mike Pence delivers his speech during the John McCain Dissertation Award Ceremony at the Bavarian State Parliament in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Pence arrived Thursday to attend the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Ivanka Trump, left, daughter of the US President, talks to Ursula von der Leyen German Minister of Defense, during a meeting on the first day of the 55th Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Friday Feb. 15, 2019. The annual Munich Security Conference hosts many heads of state and government ministers for the three day security policy meeting. (Tobias Hase / dpa via AP)

Ivanka Trump, left, daughter of the US President, is greeted by Ursula von der Leyen German Minister of Defense, on the first day of the 55th Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, Friday Feb. 15, 2019. The annual Munich Security Conference hosts many heads of state and government ministers for the three day security policy meeting. (Tobias Hase / dpa via AP)
MOSCOW (AP) - A veteran U.S. investment fund manager was detained in Moscow on Friday and faces fraud charges in a case that's likely to rattle the Russian business community.

Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained alongside two other fund managers in the morning.

The Basmanny court said Calvey, who has been working in Russia since 1994, and five other people, including two Baring Vostok managers, face fraud charges. The Interfax news agency cited an investigator telling the court that Calvey is suspected of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37 million) from Vostochny Bank, where Baring Vostok has a controlling stake.

The court on Friday afternoon ordered that he be held in detention for another three days.

Calvey has long worked in Russia and invested heavily in the country's technology sector, including in the web search company Yandex.

The charges follow a protracted dispute between Vostochny shareholders, and come as Russia is holding a major investment conference in Sochi attended by President Vladimir Putin. Russian news agencies cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Putin didn't know about Calvey's arrest.

Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey sits in a cage in the court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges. A Moscow court said on Friday that Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained alongside two other fund managers. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

"Baring Vostok believes that the detention of its employees and the charges that have been brought are a result of a conflict with shareholders of Vostochniy Bank," the fund said, using an alternative English spelling of the bank's name. "We have full confidence in the legality of our employees' actions and will vigorously defend their rights. Baring Vostok's activities in the Russian Federation are fully compliant with all applicable laws."

Baring Vostok added that the fund is continuing to work despite the arrests.

Baring Vostok, which says it has more than $3.7 billion in committed capital for its investments, began investing in Russia during the chaotic 1990s transition to capitalism after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Its best-known investment was the 2000 acquisition of a 35.7 percent stake in the then-startup Yandex, which grew to become a giant in Russian-language internet searches, advertising and commerce. By the time Baring Vostok sold its last Yandex shares in 2016, it had earned vast profits.

Baring Vostok's investments have tended to focus on tech companies, telecoms and retail, rather than getting involved with the state-owned companies of the oil and gas sector.

That contrasts with the strategy favored by the U.S.-born British fund manager Bill Browder, whose Hermitage Capital Management was raided by Russian authorities in 2007. Browder had often invested in state-run companies where he sought to expose alleged corruption to make them more efficient and profitable.

Browder, once a major foreign investor in Russia, ran afoul of the government in the late 2000s while investigating an alleged large-scale tax fraud scheme with his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Authorities seized Browder's company, Hermitage Capital, and denied him entry to Russia. Magnitsky was thrown into a Moscow prison, where he died in 2009.

Browder has since campaigned globally for sanctions against Russian human rights violators. Russia has placed him on the Interpol wanted list.

Calvey's arrest shows that Russia is "entirely corrupt," Browder wrote on Twitter on Friday. "Of all the people I knew in Moscow, Mike played by their rules, kept his head down and never criticized the government."

Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey, centre, is escorted to the court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges. A Moscow court said on Friday that Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained alongside two other fund managers. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey sits in a cage in the court room in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges. A Moscow court said on Friday that Michael Calvey, founder and senior partner at Baring Vostok equity firm, was detained alongside two other fund managers. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Israeli government said Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was misquoted by a newspaper on the extremely sensitive issue of Polish behavior during the Holocaust, seeking to defuse a diplomatic crisis.

However, the Polish government said it considered that response insufficient and expects a clearer explanation.

Netanyahu said a day earlier during a visit to Warsaw that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis" - wording suggesting that some Poles during the German occupation of Poland took part in killing Jews.

However, the Jerusalem Post quoted him as saying "the Poles," which could be taken as blaming the entire Polish nation.

The matter threatened to spark another major spat between the two countries, which clashed last year over a new Polish law that made it illegal to blame the Polish nation for collaboration in the Holocaust.

Poland has even threatened to withdraw from a meeting of Central European leaders that is to take place next week in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts during a bilateral meeting with United States Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Netanyahu was clearly eager to avoid another potential crisis.

"The Prime Minister's comments concerning Poland were misquoted by the Jerusalem Post, which quickly issued a correction clarifying that an error had been made in the editing of the article," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The Polish Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli ambassador for an explanation. But a deputy foreign minister, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek, said the explanations given by Israel so far are "unclear" and that Warsaw is still awaiting a clarification that would leave it without any doubts.

Poland has expressed an "expectation that the Israeli side will say in a clear way what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meant when he said the words that were quoted by the Israeli media," Szynkowski vel Sek said.

He added, though, that this did not impact on the leaders' upcoming meeting slated to start Monday in Jerusalem, where Netanyahu hopes to strengthen Israel's political and economic ties with central Europe, a region that is a strong supporter of Israel.

Later, Netanyahu's office weighed in with another statement, saying: "Netanyahu spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland. This was misquoted and misrepresented in press reports and was subsequently corrected by the journalist who issued the initial misstatement."

The Holocaust is still an extremely sensitive subject in Poland, even nearly 80 years after World War II.

Nazi Germany subjected the country to a brutal occupation, killing nearly 6 million citizens, about 3 million of them Jewish, but almost as many of them Christian Poles.

Poland had an underground resistance movement that fought the Germans and more than 6,800 Poles have been recognized by Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial, for helping Jews at risk to their own lives, more than from any other country.

However, there was anti-Semitism in Poland before the war and some Poles welcomed the removal of the large Jewish population from their society, while some blackmailed Jews or participated in the killings.

Emotional debates rage to this day over how to characterize the Polish responses to the murder of Jews on their soil.

United States Vice President Mike Pence, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, from left, stand on a podium at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
MUNICH, Germany (AP) - The top Pentagon official said Friday he foresees a "bigger and stronger" American-led international coalition combatting the Islamic State group globally as the U.S. withdraws its troops from Syria.

Pat Shanahan, on his first trip abroad as the acting secretary of defense, made his comment after meeting in Munich with representatives of the dozen or so countries that provide troops in Iraq and Syria.

"While the time for U.S. troops on the ground in northeast Syria winds down, the United States remains committed to our coalition's cause, the permanent defeat of ISIS, both in the Middle East and beyond," Shanahan said in remarks to reporters.

The U.S. has about 2,000 troops in Syria and about 5,200 in Iraq.

President Donald Trump said on Feb. 6 that the Islamic State was within a week of losing all the territory it once controlled in Syria and Iraq. He seemed to suggest Friday that the job had been completed.

"We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate and that'll be announced over the next 24 hours and many other things," the president told reporters.

United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan talks to the media at a meeting of ministers of Defense during the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Tobias Hase/dpa via AP)

Trump's decision in December to pull out of Syria angered some allies, confounded U.S. military officials and prompted Jim Mattis to resign as defense secretary.

Gen. Joseph Votel, who as head of U.S. Central Command is overseeing military operations against IS in Syria and Iraq, said last week that he was not consulted before Trump made his decision.

In an interview with CNN on Friday, Votel went a step further, saying, "It would not have been my military advice at that particular time ... I would not have made that suggestion, frankly."

CNN quoted him further as saying IS "still has leaders, still has fighters, it still has facilitators, it still has resources, so our continued military pressure is necessary to continue to go after that network."

Votel is leaving his post shortly.

Shanahan said the United States will "continue to support our local partners' ability to stand up to the remnants of ISIS," but he did not explain how that will be done.

A senior defense official, speaking later, said Shanahan did not discuss a timetable for the U.S. withdrawal from Syria, which other officials have said is expected to be completed in April. The coalition partners did not take issue with the U.S. withdrawal, indicating they see it as an irreversible decision, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks.

The focus of the meeting, on the topic of Syria, was how to avoid a security vacuum once U.S. troops are gone, the official said. No representatives committed to keeping troops there after the U.S. leaves, raising the possibility of clashes between Turkey - a U.S. NATO ally - and the U.S.-backed Syrian fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, which suffered heavy casualties in fighting IS. The Turks view the Kurdish members of the SDF as terrorists and a treat to Turkey.

In his public remarks, Shanahan said that in Syria, IS has lost most of its leadership and resources - though he didn't say it's lost 100 percent of its territory.

"Together, we have eliminated the group's hold over 99 percent of the territory it once claimed as part of its so-called caliphate," he said. "We have ensured ISIS no longer holds the innocent people of Syria or Iraq in its murderous iron fist."

IS militants are holed up in the last sliver of land in eastern Syria as U.S.-backed forces are closing in.

As IS retreats in Syria, some worry that substantial numbers of its fighters could migrate beyond the Middle East, to Africa, for example.

Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, commander of U.S. Africa Command, said in an interview with a small group of reporters Friday that he is not yet seeing evidence of IS movements into Africa, although he said this cannot be ruled out.

Shanahan said he and his counterparts discussed the future of their coalition, which was developed during the Barack Obama administration after U.S. forces took on IS directly in 2014 with a return of U.S. troops to Iraq as advisers and the start of a bombing campaign against IS in Syria.

"I, for one, envision an even bigger and stronger coalition going forward - one that has evolved to meet the global threat posed by ISIS's offshoots and its murderous ideology," he said. It needs to look beyond Syria and Iraq to face the militants' broader threat in other parts of the world including Afghanistan and the Philippines, he said.

The senior defense official said Shanahan was not referring to increasing the number of members in the coalition - now totaling 79 - but rather adding to the quality of their contributions, including non-military offerings.

Ursula von der Leyen, the German defense minister and host of the Munich meeting, said there was agreement among participants that the fight in Iraq and Syria is not over.

"IS is changing its face at the moment, going more underground and building up networks there, including with other terror groups, partly in a global network that they are trying to expand underground," she said.

German minster of Defense Ursula von der Leyen, center, smiles when United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, left, shakes hands with the Turkish minster of Defense Hulusi Akar, right, during the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Tobias Hase/dpa via AP)

German minster of Defense Ursula von der Leyen, right, looks to United States Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan at a press conference during the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Tobias Hase/dpa via AP)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited the memorial site of Auschwitz on Friday along with the Polish president and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, viewing a train car, crematoriums and the hair of victims that make it such a powerful testament to the evil that befell Europe in the last century.

It was the first visit for Pence, a conservative Christian, to the site where German forces murdered 1.1 million people, most of them Jews but also Poles, Roma and others, during the Nazis' occupation of Eastern Europe during World War II.

Pence and his wife Karen were joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda and first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda.

"It seems to me to be a scene of unspeakable tragedy, reminding us what tyranny is capable of," Pence said hours later during an event Friday evening on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany. "But it seems to me also to be a scene of freedom's victory."

"I traveled in our delegation with people who had family members who had been at Auschwitz - some had survived, some not. But to walk with them and think that two generations ago their forebears came there in box carts and that we would arrive in a motorcade in a free Poland and a Europe restored to freedom from tyranny is an extraordinary experience for us, and I'll carry it with me the rest of our lives," Pence said.

They began their visit by walking under the notorious gate with the German words "Arbeit Macht Frei," the Nazi slogan meaning "Work sets you free."

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, walk with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

There, they paused and turned toward reporters, who took their photos.

Pence toured an exhibition hall that includes human hair and personal belongings of the victims before a wreath-laying at the Death Wall in a courtyard where prisoners were executed. Many of those shot there were Poles who were part of the underground resistance against the German occupation.

The two couples walked side-by-side to the wall for the wreath laying. The Pences held hands and the vice president adjusted a banner reading "From The People of the United States of America."

Kushner was among a second group that then approached the wall and wreaths.

The second part of the visit took them to the nearby satellite camp of Birkenau, the site of the murder of Jews from across Europe. Pence knelt and bowed his head, placing his hand on a historic red boxcar on the train tracks used to bring Jews to their deaths there.

The couples also placed candles at a memorial to the Holocaust victims, with Pence wearing a Jewish skullcap. Poland's chief rabbi recited a prayer to the dead and a Christian prayer was also recited.

The visit came a day after Pence accused Britain, France, Germany and the European Union as a whole of trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran and called on the EU to join the Trump administration in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

He made those comments during a conference on the Mideast in Warsaw focused largely on Iran and which Tehran denounced as a hostile act.

Several times during his visit Pence compared the evil of the Nazis to that of Iran today.

He accused the regime in Tehran of "breathing out murderous threats with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe."

He added that "to be there to see the end result of that and understand all that happened there, I think will better prepare us and strengthen the resolve of the free world to oppose that kind of vile hatred and to confront authoritarian threats of our time."

Pence was on a four-day visit to Europe that also included meeting with Polish soldiers and American troops in Poland.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

United States Vice President Mike Pence kneels beside his wife Karen, right, at a historic freight car during their visit to the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The freight car was used to transport Jews to the death camp. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, walk with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, with lights in their hands during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, right, stand with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, left, under the gate during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The sign over the gate reads 'work makes one free'. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, stand with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, in front of wreaths at a death wall during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, walk with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, to wreaths at a death wall during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, 2nd from left, stands in front of wreaths at a death wall during a visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner, left, stands in front of wreaths at a death wall during a visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence, left, walk with Poland's President Andrzej Duda and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, to lay wreaths at a death wall during their visit at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Oswiecim, Poland, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) - The offensive on the last enclave held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria has been blunted by the discovery of hundreds of civilians still living there, a commander with the Kurdish-led force fighting the extremists said Friday.

The U.S.-backed force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, launched the offensive to liberate the IS-held village of Baghouz a week ago, after more than 20,000 civilians, many of them foreign wives of IS militants, were evacuated through a corridor from the area in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said the White House will make an announcement about Syria and the fight against IS by Saturday. His did not give details but his comments contrasted with the picture painted by SDF commanders, who said the battle has been progressing slowly.

"We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate and that will be announced over the next 24 hours," Trump told journalists at the White House.

Adnan Afrin, the Kurdish commander, told The Associated Press that in the last three days IS militants brought up hundreds of civilians from underground tunnels to make the SDF and U.S.-led coalition aware of their presence.

He estimated that around 1,000 civilians, including women and children, are still in the area. He added that militants were hiding among them and using them as human shields.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Adnan Afrin, poses for a photo in the in Omar oil field base, Syria, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Adnan Afrin told The Associated Press that in the last three days, the Islamic State group has brought up from underground tunnels hundreds of civilians, to let them be known to the SDF and the U.S.-led coalition. He says the discovery has blunted the offensive. "We do not want to cause a massacre." (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

"This was a surprise. We did not imagine there would be this number of civilians left," Afrin said.

He said they were likely to be families of IS militants, but their discovery nonetheless has blunted the offensive. "We do not want to cause a massacre against civilians in the last (IS) pocket," he said.

A blitz of airstrikes and shelling last week was believed to signal the end of the campaign against IS in its last toehold in Syria. Thousands of people, including many foreign fighters and their families, emerged from the area amid ferocious fighting as the SDF closed in from three sides under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

IS militants are now clinging to their last square kilometer (mile) of land in Baghouz. The anticipated declaration of victory against the group, however, has been delayed by this discovery of a large number of civilians in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported late Friday that a convoy of seven trucks, three ambulances and other vehicles including Humvees for the U.S.-led coalition headed toward the IS-held area. The group said it believes that the aim is to draw out the remaining IS gunmen and their families.

"The convoy is likely to come back with at least 200 Islamic State group members of different nationalities," the Observatory said, adding that it was not clear if they would agree to surrender. Hundreds of IS fighters have surrendered over the past weeks and were apprehended by members of the U.S.-led coalition and SDF fighters.

Organized access to the front line has been restricted for journalists amid security concerns, particularly after the injury of an Italian photographer earlier this week.

U.S.-backed forces are now conducting precision operations targeting the militants' outposts in and around the village of Baghouz and working to clear surrounding villages of remaining fighters, SDF officials said.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the conclusion of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq, their so-called "caliphate," which at the height of the extremists group's power in 2014 covered nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

President Donald Trump has said the group is all but defeated. He announced in December that he would withdraw the 2,000 American troops in Syria.

It is not clear whether the Islamic State group is holding any civilian prisoners in the enclave, beyond their own families.

"We aim to save any prisoners, but we have no information about them. They can be among the civilians, or in underground prisons, we have no information," said Afrin, the SDF commander.

The Observatory said SDF fighters discovered late Thursday the bodies of 26 IS gunmen who were killed in recent clashes near Baghouz.

The group added that some families of IS members tried to flee Thursday night into areas held by the SDF but did not succeed.

The DeirEzzor 24, an activist collective that covers events in eastern Syria, reported that U.S.-led coalition warplanes struck several suspected IS positions outside Baghouz on Friday. It added that SDF fighters sporadically shelled the IS-held area.

The Kurdish Hawar news agency, meanwhile, reported that SDF fighters advanced slowly on the northern parts of Baghouz village because of the large number of mines and explosives planted by the extremists, who it said were also using civilians as human shields.

Hawar added that SDF fighters discovered an arms depot and a clinic used for treating IS gunmen.

Syrian opposition activists also reported that SDF spokeswoman Lilwa Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt Thursday when gunmen opened fire at her car as she drove between Deir el-Zour and the northeastern province of Hassakeh.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters sit atop a hill in the desert outside the village of Baghouz, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. U.S.-backed Syrian forces are clearing two villages in eastern Syria of remaining Islamic State militants who are hiding among the local population, and detaining others attempting to flee with the civilians, the U.S.-led coalition said Thursday. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
RAVENNA, Ohio (AP) - A judge has set a $1 million bond for a man charged with setting an Ohio sheriff's deputy on fire, causing serious burns when the deputy and other officers tried to arrest him on a felony warrant.

Forty-five-year-old Jay Brannon appeared in court Friday afternoon in Ravenna after being charged with attempted aggravated murder and aggravated arson.

The Record-Courier reports Portage County Sheriff David Doak says Sgt. James Acklin suffered burns to 20 percent of his body when Brannon ignited a container of flammable liquid and threw it at him. That happened Thursday in a garage in Rootstown Township, 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Cleveland.

A message seeking comment was left with Brannon's attorney.

Two deputies were treated for smoke inhalation.

Doak says Acklin is just 70 days from retiring.
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Boil-water advisories have ended for the Dayton, Ohio, area.

City authorities said late Friday morning that water samples were clear of bacteria, and Montgomery County followed later in the day after concluding water was safe to drink without boiling first.

Some 100,000 people began their day under a boil-water advisory.

Crews located a water-line leak Thursday under the Great Miami River , but high river levels have hindered repair work and efforts to determine the break's cause.

Schools resumed Friday, a day after many closed. The Dayton school district said bottled water was available in all buildings.

As many as 400,000 people were initially affected by water outages that began Wednesday.
BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) - Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, little-known on the national stage but well-respected among veterans in the GOP establishment, announced an exploratory committee for president on Friday, becoming the first Republican to move toward a serious primary challenge against President Donald Trump.

There are new signs he won't be the last.

Immediately after the 73-year-old Weld's announcement at a breakfast event in New Hampshire, a senior aide for former Ohio Gov. John Kasich indicated Kasich is likely to launch a primary challenge as well.

"All of our options remain on the table, and we're leaning toward a primary run," Kasich aide John Weaver told The Associated Press.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, meanwhile, met privately last week with conservative leader Bill Kristol, who's driving an effort to recruit a top-tier Trump primary challenger and operatives on the ground in key states.

Hogan aides acknowledge that the two-term Republican governor is openly considering a Trump challenge. Hogan is expected to spend the next two months focused on his state legislative session to be followed by a more active exploratory phase likely to include appearances in key primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld gestures during a New England Council 'Politics & Eggs' breakfast in Bedford, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Weld announced he's creating a presidential exploratory committee for a run in the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Weld's move makes Trump the first incumbent president since George H.W. Bush in 1992 to face a notable primary challenge.

"I think he deserves a lot of credit for being the first one in the pool. The water's pretty cool at this point," Kristol said of Weld. "But he won't be the last."

While Trump's overall approval ratings have been poor for much of his presidency, he remains popular with Republican voters. Yet some Republican operatives have taken steps to protect the president from a serious primary challenge, which historically has foreshadowed trouble.

Bush and Jimmy Carter lost their bids for a second term after facing challenges from inside their party.

Speaking in New Hampshire, Weld blasted Trump for leaving the nation in "grave peril."

"We have a president whose priorities are skewed toward promotion of himself rather than for the good of the country," Weld said. "He may have great energy and considerable raw talent, but he does not use that in ways that promote democracy, truth, justice and equal opportunity for all. To compound matters, our president is simply too unstable to carry out the duties of the highest executive office in the land."

Asked to comment on Weld's campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded: "Who?"

The Republican National Committee last month issued a nonbinding resolution to declare the party's undivided support for Trump.

"The RNC and the Republican Party are firmly behind the president," said RNC spokeswoman Cassie Smedile. "Any effort to challenge the president's nomination is bound to go absolutely nowhere."

Stephen Stepanek, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, pointed to Weld's past support of President Barack Obama and said he didn't expect Weld's campaign to get very far among Republican primary voters.

Weld "really needs to think about how welcome he is in the Republican Party," Stepanek said.

Fiscally conservative but socially liberal, the 73-year-old Weld ran on the Libertarian party ticket in 2016 with former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, receiving about 4.5 million votes, or a little more than 3 percent of the national popular vote.

Despite a pledge that he would remain a loyal libertarian, Weld on Jan. 17 walked into the clerk's office of the Massachusetts town where he lives and reregistered with the GOP.

Weld has not won a political race since his landslide re-election in heavily Democratic Massachusetts in 1994. He was first elected to the office in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate, and quickly became one of Massachusetts' most popular governors in recent history.

While holding the line on spending and taxes, Weld embraced liberal positions at odds with national Republicans on abortion and gay rights. His low-key style and sharp wit seemed to play well with voters, as did his penchant for the unexpected: He once ended a news conference touting progress in cleaning up Boston's polluted Charles River by diving fully clothed into the waterway.

When Matt Mayberry, former vice chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, introduced himself to Weld on Friday as a veteran who is gay, pro-abortion rights and a lifelong Republican, Weld exclaimed "You're my guy!"

But Mayberry didn't reciprocate.

"It bothers me that you left the party, ran for vice president and came back. Please talk to me and other Republicans, moderate Republicans, about how, as Republicans, we can trust you to govern as a Republican," Mayberry said.

Weld pointed to his record as governor and said that while he considers himself a "small L" libertarian, the only way to effectively challenge Trump is to run as a Republican.

"I want to not dribble around the court but go right to the hoop. If you want to go one-on-one here, it's got to be as an 'R,' that can't be helped. That's the way this race has to be run. It feels good to be back here with the 'R' on my name," Weld said.

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Peoples reported from New York. Salsberg reported from Boston. Associated Press writer Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld signs autographs during a New England Council 'Politics & Eggs' breakfast in Bedford, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Weld announced he's creating a presidential exploratory committee for a run in the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
ATLANTA (AP) - The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage said in an interview aired Friday that he didn't talk about his British citizenship before because he didn't want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested Feb. 3. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called it a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Abraham-Joseph, now 26, told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. His visa expired in 2006.

"I knew I wasn't born here," he said. "But I didn't know like, what that meant as far as when I transitioned into an adult, how it was going to affect my life."

The rapper said he wasn't hiding the fact that he isn't a U.S. citizen, but "I didn't want to get deported so I'm not going to just come out and say, 'Hey by the way, I wasn't born here.'"

His lawyers have said he applied for a new visa in 2017, and his case remains pending. One of his lawyers, Charles Kuck, said earlier this week that if the case follows the normal trajectory, it could take two to three years.

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2018, file photo, 21 Savage poses in the press room at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. A lawyer for 21 Savage says Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, that the Grammy-nominated rapper, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, has been released on on $100,000 bond from the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

While Abraham-Joseph was in immigration custody, his lawyers became aware of an outstanding warrant in Liberty County, along Georgia's coast, and made arrangements for him to turn himself in, attorney Abbi Taylor said Friday.

News outlets report the warrant was for theft by deception. It stemmed from what Taylor said was essentially a civil dispute. Abraham-Joseph performed a concert in Liberty County several years ago and the person who had booked the concert didn't feel he had done enough and sought a warrant rather than suing him, she said.

After turning himself in Friday morning, Abraham-Joseph was released on his own recognizance. His legal team is working to resolve the underlying issue, Taylor said.

Abraham-Joseph said he believes the way immigration policy is enforced is broken, that he doesn't think people "should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long."

Attorney Alex Spiro said on "Good Morning America" that he believes Abraham-Joseph was targeted "because he's both a celebrity and they can use this as a way to send a message and also, perhaps, because of his music."

He said he hopes the attention can help others held in immigration detention.

"There's people that are just totally forgotten that exist in these detention centers," Spiro said, later adding, "I'm hoping people like 21 Savage will bring light to these issues and help the people that are forgotten."

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said shortly after Abraham-Joseph was taken into custody that he was arrested in a targeted operation that had been planned weeks to months in advance.

Cox said at the time that Abraham-Joseph had overstayed his visa and also was convicted on felony drug charges in Fulton County, Georgia, in October 2014.

Abraham-Joseph's lawyers have disputed that he has a felony conviction on his record.

"He has a singular offense for marijuana when he was a college-age person," Spiro said in the television interview. "That's vacated, sealed. There's no issue."

Fulton County prosecutors have said they can't comment on the case, which they say was handled under the state's first offender law and is sealed.

An Atlanta police report from August 2014 says Abraham-Joseph was riding in a car driven by another man when officers stopped the car after an illegal U-turn in four lanes of traffic. During a search of the car with a police dog, officers found a jar containing 22.6 grams (0.8 ounces) of marijuana, 89 hydrocodone pills, a scale in plain view, two loaded guns and $1,775 in cash the report says.

Both men were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the report says.

A notice of seizure and forfeiture filed in Fulton County Superior Court in October 2014, says the $1,775 seized during the arrest is to be forfeited. It says the violation of law alleged is that Abraham-Joseph and the other man possessed marijuana.

Abraham-Joseph was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for "Rockstar" alongside Post Malone. His second solo album "I Am I Was," released in December, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
BEIRUT (AP) - The U.N. and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent have delivered badly-needed humanitarian assistance to more than 40,000 displaced people in a tent settlement near the Jordanian border, the U.N. said Friday, as Russia offered to help relocate those willing to move to government-held areas in Syria.

The World Health Organization said that the delivery to the Rukban camp in southeast Syria concluded Thursday. It was the second time aid reached the area; the first was in November.

The U.N. children's agency UNICEF described the delivery as the largest ever humanitarian convoy since the start of the Syria crisis nearly eight years ago.

Jordan closed the border over security concerns and the Syrian government and its ally Russia have blamed U.S. troops stationed nearby for failing to provide security for aid shipments - allegations denied by the Americans.

Many of the people staying in Rukban "are women and children who have been stranded in the desert in extremely harsh conditions for years," said Mr. Sajjad Malik, the U.N. resident and humanitarian coordinator in Syria.

The UN and SARC teams distributed a one-month food ration to over 8,300 families, along with shelter materials and core relief items, including blankets, sleeping mats and water containers, WHO said.

It also said some 10,000 dignity kits were distributed to women and girls, while critical nutritional supplies were provided to young children. Essential medicine and equipment were provided, it added, and thousands of children were vaccinated.

UNICEF said 30 of the convoy's 118 trucks were loaded with UNICEF's life-saving supplies for children, including health and nutrition supplies for an estimated 20,000 children and mothers, hygiene kits for more than 40,000 people and recreational kits and education supplies for over 8,000 children.

It added that during a nine-day mission, UNICEF-supported vaccinators were able to immunize thousands of children.

WFP spokeswoman Marwa Awad, however, lamented that "there is not a single doctor inside this settlement to assist with treatment of people who are sick." She said the estimated 40,000 people living or stranded in the settlement are relying on nurses that are not always well trained.

The delivery came two weeks after U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock urged Syria's warring parties to ensure the delivery, as cold winter months are exacerbating an already dire situation for Syrians stranded in the Rukban camp.

The Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria, in coordination with the Syrian government, will set up temporary accommodation centres for refugees in the Rukban camp, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said Friday.

The centres will open in the Jleb and Jabal al-Ghurab areas on Feb. 19, he said, adding that warm accommodation, hot meals, basic necessities and medical assistance would be provided.

Motor vehicles will also be allocated to safely take refugees to their places of permanent residence in areas controlled by the Syrian government, added Konashenkov.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration announced new rules Friday to scrutinize petitions to bring in underage spouses to the U.S. after data showed thousands of requests by men to bring in child and adolescent brides had been approved.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it was updating guidance to adjudicators that stresses marriages involving minors warrant special attention. They must ensure the marriage was lawful where it was celebrated, and is legal in the state where they will live, and that it is bona fide and the minor consented freely to it.

The Associated Press last month obtained data showing more than 5,000 cases of adults petitioning on behalf of minors and nearly 3,000 examples of minors seeking to bring in older spouses or fiancees.

The approval of the petitions is the first of a two-step visa process, and USCIS had already said it has taken steps to better flag and vet the petitions.

They are legal. The Immigration and Nationality Act does not set minimum age requirements for the person making the request or for that person's spouse or fiancee. By contrast, to bring in a parent from overseas, a petitioner has to be at least 21 years old.

And in weighing petitions, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services goes by whether the marriage is legal in the spouse's or fiancee's home country and then whether the marriage would be legal in the state where the petitioner lives.

FILE - In this June 5, 2015, file photo, the Homeland Security Department headquarters in northwest Washington. The Trump administration has announced new rules for scrutinizing petitions to bring in minor spouses to the United States. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Marriage between adults and minors is not uncommon in the U.S., and most states allow children to marry with some restrictions.

But the data raise questions about whether the immigration system may be enabling forced marriage and about how U.S. laws may be compounding the problem despite efforts to limit child and forced marriage.

The USCIS changes will not stop child marriage - age limits must be set by Congress and states - but officials hope it will help detect instances in which a spouse is in the marriage against her will.

"USCIS is taking action to the maximum extent permitted under current immigration law to highlight special considerations in the adjudication of marriage-based immigrant petitions involving a minor," said USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna. "While these are steps in the right direction, ultimately it is up to Congress to bring more certainty and legal clarity to this process for both petitioners and USCIS officers."

But advocacy groups say the idea in the guidance that parental consent can be used as evidence the underage bride consented to the marriage ignores that many parents coerce their children into the relationship.

To obtain U.S. immigration visas and green cards, petitions are first considered by USCIS. If granted, they must be approved by the State Department. Overall, 3.5 million petitions were received from budget years 2007 through 2017.

Over that period, there were 5,556 approvals for those seeking to bring minor spouses or fiancees and 2,926 approvals by minors seeking to bring in older spouses, according to the data. Additionally, there were 204 for minors by minors. Petitions can be filed by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. In nearly all the cases, the girls were the younger person in the relationship.

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson said he was pleased to see the guidance.

"Despite this improvement, Congress still needs to act to close this loophole - I look forward to continue working with my colleagues on legislation to do just that," the Wisconsin Republican said.

USCIS didn't know how many of the approvals were granted by the State Department, but overall only about 2.6 percent of spousal or fiancee claims are rejected. There are no nationwide statistics on child marriage, but data from a few states suggest it is far from rare. State laws generally set 18 as the minimum age for marriage, yet every state allows exceptions. Most states let 16- and 17-year-olds marry if they have parental consent, and several states - including New York, Virginia and Maryland - allow children under 16 to marry with court permission.

Fraidy Reiss, who campaigns against coerced marriage as head of a group called Unchained at Last, said in a statement there must be a change in the law.

"What we need is strong legislation that closes the dangerous immigration loophole that currently allows children of any age to petition for a foreign spouse or fiance(e) or to be the beneficiary of a spousal or fiance(e) visa," she said. "We need to stop incentivizing child marriage."
NANTERRE, France (AP) - Where once she felt isolated, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen feels she is now part of a crowd of populist parties on the rise around Europe that she thinks can make new inroads in European elections less than 100 days away - and start restructuring the EU from within.

"Things have changed a lot," Le Pen said Friday at a news conference. "We are no longer isolated at all on the European scene."

She noted that parties of the same ilk as her renamed National Rally are now holding or sharing power, from the League in Italy, which is part of the government, to Austria with its far-right chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

She made no mention of U.S. President Donald Trump whose victory fueled her own battle for the French presidency in 2017 when she often invoked his name. She lost by a landslide in the runoff to upstart centrist Emmanuel Macron, and derides him, still, as the symbol of what she is fighting - a system that sacrifices national sovereignty, borders and identity for a globalized world.

Steve Bannon, the former chief White House strategist who played a central role in Trump's 2016 campaign, is looking to boost far-right parties in Europe. However, his foundation, The Movement, which Le Pen described as a think tank to discuss larger issues - not an electoral advice platform - has yet to schedule an event, she said. Bannon made a surprise appearance at a major rally last year of Le Pen's party and she said they remain in touch.

Bannon has pointed to the Italian interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini - a longstanding ally of Le Pen - as the future of European politics.

FILE In this Jan. 13, 2019 file photo, French far-right leader Marine le Pen arrives for a campaign meeting in Paris. Where once she felt isolated, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen feels she is now part of a crowd, populist parties on the rise around Europe that can make new inroads in European elections less than 100 days away _ and start to restructure the EU from within. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

"Today, Europe has taken a turn," Le Pen said, claiming that "we can legitimately envision today to change Europe from inside, to modify the very nature of the European Union, because we consider ourselves powerful enough."

Le Pen was the first French political leader to open the campaign for the European Parliament election, held May 26 in France, the last day of four days of voting across the 27 EU countries, one less after Britain leaves the EU on March 29. She has hit the campaign trail with the "very clear" idea: "The EU is killing Europe."

Her party, then called the National Front, was victorious in the 2014 election, winning 23 parliamentary seats, more than any other French party. She hopes to do better this year, along with other "patriotic" parties and build what she calls a "European alliance of nations" that respectfully cooperate.

Speaking to the Anglo-American Press Association, she predicted better results this year for her party and for European allies.

The French political landscape is recomposing itself, she noted, with the near-collapse of the Socialists and dwindling support of the mainstream conservatives, and the rise of Macron from the sidelines to the center of power.

Until recently, polls have given Le Pen's party a lead over Macron. However, a January sounding by the Ifop firm put Macron ahead, despite a deep crisis triggered by the yellow vest protest movement seeking a voice for have-nots, and fairer fiscal burden-sharing.

Le Pen would doubtless like votes from the yellow vests, but conceded that "I know nothing" about protesters' voter intentions, and said some may vote for her, and some for her archrival, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, and others will likely abstain.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - An Illinois man has pleaded not guilty in the bombing of a mosque in Minnesota, three weeks after two of his alleged accomplices pleaded guilty.

Federal prosecutors allege 47-year-old Michael Hari was the ringleader of an Illinois-based militia and that the trio drove more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) to bomb a mosque in Bloomington, Minnesota, in hopes of scaring Muslims into leaving the U.S.

No one was injured in the August 2017 attack at the Dar al-Farooq Islamic Center. The attack occurred as morning prayers were about to begin.

Hari entered his plea Thursday in federal court in St. Paul. His trial is scheduled to begin April 22 before U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank.

The next hearing in the case is March 28.

FILE - This undated photo provided by The Ford County Sheriff's Office in Paxton, Ill., shows Michael Hari, who pleaded not guilty, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in federal court in St. Paul, Minn., in the bombing of a Minnesota mosque, three weeks after two of his alleged accomplices pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors allege Hari was the ringleader of an Illinois-based militia and that the trio drove more than 500 miles to bomb the mosque in hopes of scaring Muslims into leaving the U.S. No one was injured in the August 2017 attack. (Ford County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - Police in Virginia say four men have been charged in a shooting inside a downtown Norfolk mall, including one of the two people shot.

Norfolk police said in a statement Friday that the shooting happened during a fight between two groups of people inside the MacArthur Center on Thursday afternoon.

When officers arrived, police found an 18-year-old and 16-year-old with gunshot wounds. Both are expected to be OK. The mall was placed on lockdown for about two hours before reopening.

Police say three of the men range in age from 18 to 22 and are charged with offenses including assault and discharge of a firearm in a public place. An 18-year-old is charged with having a concealed weapon. Police aren't saying which of the men was shot.

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, police search the area around the mall after a shooting incident inside MacArthur Center in Norfolk, Va., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Police say four men have been charged in a shooting inside the downtown mall, including one of the two people shot. Norfolk police said in a statement Friday, Feb. 15 that the shooting happened during a fight between two groups of people inside the MacArthur Center on Thursday afternoon. (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)

FILE - In this Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, police search the church grounds across from the mall after a shooting incident inside MacArthur Center in Norfolk, Va., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Police say four men have been charged in a shooting inside the downtown mall, including one of the two people shot. Norfolk police said in a statement Friday, Feb. 15 that the shooting happened during a fight between two groups of people inside the MacArthur Center on Thursday afternoon. (L. Todd Spencer/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - A two-day security conference in Warsaw was supposed to be a crowning achievement for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stamping a seal on his long-held goal of pushing his behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders into the open. Instead, the publicity-seeking Israeli leader made one embarrassing misstep after another, distracting attention from his main mission and sending his aides into a nonstop cycle of damage control.

Political opponents at home hammered a string of Netanyahu's comments on the diplomatic journey, accusing him of politicizing the military for electoral purposes, leaking a sensitive video that embarrassed Arab Gulf states and apologizing to Poland for another dustup over its role in the Holocaust. Meanwhile, Netanyahu's spokespeople were sent scrambling to clarify he didn't mean to encourage war with Iran and that a low-level assistant had accidentally shared the sensitive video.

The missteps began even before takeoff late Tuesday, when before his flight to Poland he told reporters traveling with him that Israel was constantly acting against Iran in Syria, adding "even yesterday." It was an apparent reference to an undeclared airstrike that again chipped away at Israel's increasingly crumbling policy of ambiguity about its actions in Syria.

"There's one line that must never be crossed. Breaching military confidentiality and bragging about Israeli secret operations can pose a threat to our soldiers," said Benny Gantz, a former military chief and Netanyahu's primary challenger in the upcoming April elections. "Leveraging Israel's security, the highest and most sacred of values, for the sake of campaigning is where we draw the line - and it has to stop."

It didn't get much better for Netanyahu on Polish soil, where some 60 countries took part in the summit, including five Arab foreign ministers making a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu in a joint show of unity against Iran.

In an off off-the-cuff interview with reporters on a Warsaw street shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister, Netanyahu appeared to call on other participants of the conference to unite around "the common interest of war with Iran." Although he used the Hebrew word "milchama," or war, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland. A two-day security conference in Warsaw was supposed to be a crowning achievement for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stamping a seal on his long-held goal of pushing his behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders into the open. Instead, the publicity-seeking Israeli leader made one embarrassing misstep after another, distracting attention from his main mission and sending his aides into a nonstop cycle of damage control. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File)

Then on Thursday, his office briefly leaked a video to journalists showing Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, and representatives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates playing down the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and harshly criticizing Iran. All three nations are well-known critics of Iran, but sharing their addresses to a closed gathering could nonetheless prove embarrassing.

Netanyahu's office said the video's release was a "technical error" and quickly deleted it. But others didn't believe it.

"Bibi's filming and leaking of things said in a closed meeting for internal electoral needs is an act that is not done," tweeted former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname and adding that relations between nations depend on trust between their leaders. "Foreign policy is not internal politics."

Adding to his troubles, his office was forced to clarify he was not singling out his Polish hosts as a nation when he told reporters during a briefing that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis." Some media outlets reported him saying "the Poles," which set off an angry rebuke from Polish authorities, including a summoning of the Israeli ambassador.

Last year, Poland and Israel were embroiled in a bitter dispute over a Polish law that made it a crime to blame the Polish nation for complicity in the Holocaust. Israeli officials saw it as an attempt by Poland to suppress discussion of the killing of Jews by Poles during and after the wartime German occupation. Netanyahu faced criticism from historians in Israel for not opposing the law, which critics said distorted history.

In the briefing, Netanyahu rejected the suggestions. His office said he was misquoted, though, and blamed the misunderstanding that had upset the Poles on an editing error in an Israeli newspaper.

"Instead of the Poles apologizing to us for the millions who perished in Poland during the Holocaust and for their assistance to the Nazis, Netanyahu for the second time apologizes to them," responded Yair Lapid, leader of the opposition Yesh Atid party and the son of a Holocaust survivor. "This visit of his to Poland has turned into a complete disaster."

If Netanyahu was seeking a respite from the trip's various snafus with a pleasant flight home, he didn't get that either. He was forced to spend an extra night in Warsaw after his plane was damaged shortly before takeoff, marking an inauspicious ending to the turbulent visit.

The prime minister, his wife and the entire entourage were on-board an El Al-chartered Boeing 777 early Friday when a vehicle towing the aircraft on the runway crashed into it. A photo circulated to traveling journalists showed large scrapes in the underbelly of the aircraft.

Netanyahu and his wife were taken off the plane and escorted back to their hotel in the city. Other aides, including Netanyahu's national security adviser and his military secretary, spent the night on the damaged aircraft, saying they did not want to go through the hassle of pre-boarding security checks again.

A replacement plane was dispatched from Israel to urgently return the prime minister, and the observant Jews in his delegation, before the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, when travel is prohibited for Orthodox Jews.

At least that went according to plan. The plane landed back at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport in the late afternoon, about an hour and a half before the Sabbath began at sundown.

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 file photo, United States Vice President Mike Pence, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United State Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, from left, stand on a podium at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland. A two-day security conference in Warsaw was supposed to be a crowning achievement for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stamping a seal on his long-held goal of pushing his behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders into the open. Instead, the publicity-seeking Israeli leader made one embarrassing misstep after another, distracting attention from his main mission and sending his aides into a nonstop cycle of damage control. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
PARIS (AP) - A prominent figure of the French yellow vests has gone on trial in Paris for allegedly organizing illegal demonstrations, as the movement prepares for a 14th consecutive weekend of protests.

Eric Drouet was arrested for organizing demonstrations on Dec. 22 and Jan. 2 in Paris without declaring them to authorities.

He acknowledged he didn't follow the rule, saying Friday he doesn't consider himself a protest organizer.

The Paris prosecutor requested a 500-euro ($563) fine and a one-month suspended prison sentence. The court's decision will be announced on March 29.

Drouet is a known figure of the movement, repeatedly calling for demonstrations on social media.

Yellow vest protesters are planning new protests on Saturday and Sunday in Paris and other cities to denounce French President Emmanuel Macron's economic policies.

Eric Drouet, a prominent and divisive figure of the yellow vest movement, walks out of the Court after his trial for organizing an unauthorized demonstration, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Drouet, who has organized several yellow vest events in Paris via Facebook, was detained on Jan. 2 near the Place de la Concorde in central Paris, prompting outcry from supporters who said he was being unfairly targeted for his outspoken criticism of the government. If convicted the charge carries a risk of up to six months in prison, but the prosecutor is only seeking a one-month suspended sentence. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Eric Drouet, a prominent and divisive figure of the yellow vest movement, walks out of the Court after his trial for organizing an unauthorized demonstration, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Drouet, who has organized several yellow vest events in Paris via Facebook, was detained on Jan. 2 near the Place de la Concorde in central Paris, prompting outcry from supporters who said he was being unfairly targeted for his outspoken criticism of the government. If convicted the charge carries a risk of up to six months in prison, but the prosecutor is only seeking a one-month suspended sentence. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
LONDON (AP) - London is taking its turn in the style spotlight with the opening of London Fashion Week, an extravaganza that will feature up-and-coming young designers along with big names like Victoria Beckham, Vivienne Westwood and Burberry.

More than 100 catwalk shows are scheduled along with countless crowded, fizzy parties and dozens of presentations.

BORA AKSU

The London-based Turkish designer used his catwalk show Friday to display a series of layered, asymmetrical dresses in quiet shades of white, cream and soft blue. Many of the outfits had an ethereal, otherworldly look, set off at times by pale, almost Arctic makeup.

Aksu said the look of his show was inspired by Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian cosmonaut who was the first woman to fly into space. He said he was seeking a "mystical feel" that paid tribute to both her village roots as well as her space travel.

Some of the coats, boxed jackets and puffer jackets were meant to invoke space flight, and the use of iridescent organza and tulle at times gave the show a stratospheric glow. There were fun bomber jackets, some with knit cutouts in the back, and one outfit with multi-colored Nordic-style knit shorts.

A model wears a creation by designer Matty Bovan at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

Aksu outfitted many of the models in elaborate, butterfly-shaped masks. He only exhibited a handful of more traditionally cut dresses, but several had strong impact, including a purple, floral-themed dress and a few carefully embroidered black outfits.

CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS

The students at one of Britain's most renowned art and design colleges - Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney are but two of Central Saint Martins' famous alumni - put on a rousing show Friday night, using their "final projects" to set out their vision for fashion's future.

The results were anything but predictable and certainly didn't conform to traditional notions of beauty, or even gender. The result was a glorious mix, with some epic fails but more than a few memorable offerings, including menswear with unusual style.

Some of the men wore animal-themed facemasks, gnarly jackets, and off-the-shoulder, diagonally cut tops. Others wore three-quarter length frock coats, Russian style, cinched by bright red belts, or skintight superhero type outfits set off by billowy sleeves.

Womenswear was all over the board, with some bondage style outfits and very revealing, jagged tops. There was a series of brightly colored dresses with cutouts - the colors reminiscent of the Amazon jungle - and a sprinkling of more classic outfits that would have been appropriate in a 1958 edition of Vogue.

The overall effect of the show was tantalizing - so many ideas, so many colors, such a strong desire to flout convention. It's hard to tell who Britain's next breakout star will be, but it's quite possible their work was on display.

BREXIT WARNING

London's diverse, up-from-the-streets fashion scene is thriving, generating about 32 billion pounds ($41 billion) last year, but industry leaders warn that Britain's planned exit from the European Union in March could jeopardize the flow of creative people and ideas between continental Europe and Britain.

British Fashion Council chairwoman Stephanie Phair said Friday that Brexit is a chief concern for British designers. She urged the industry to focus on "what is important" for fashion: the free movement of people, tariff-free access to EU countries, and intellectual property rights.

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

Designer Bora Aksu acknowledges applause following his Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Bora Aksu at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Marta Jakubowski at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Marta Jakubowski at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Marta Jakubowski at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Matty Bovan at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Matty Bovan at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)

A model wears a creation by designer Matty Bovan at the Autumn/Winter 2019 fashion week runway show in London, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.(Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

The Trump administration has sanctioned Venezuela's oil chief and key intelligence officials under President Nicolas Maduro, tightening pressure on the embattled leader.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Friday that PDVSA head Maj. Gen. Manuel Quevedo has been instrumental in propping up what he called Maduro's illegitimate regime.

The announcement follows recent sanctions targeting the state-run oil company amid a sweeping move to force Maduro from office and support opposition leader Juan Guaido.

The new sanctions also target four high-ranking officials of Venezuela's national intelligence service and a special police force.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Even while criticizing Donald Trump's confrontational stance toward his socialist government, Maduro said he holds out hope of meeting the U.S. president to resolve an impasse over his recognition of opponent Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Mnuchin says they're responsible for corruption and repressing Venezuela's democracy.

Maduro frequently blames the White House for mounting a coup against him to colonize Venezuela and steal its vast oil resources.

___

12:05 p.m.

The Trump administration is sending another large shipment of humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan border in Colombia, this time using U.S. military aircraft to pressure Nicolas Maduro to give up power, according to a leaked State Department email to Congress.

The 250 tons of emergency supplies will begin arriving Saturday to the border city of Cucuta, where tons of boxes of emergency supplies stamped with the U.S. flag are already warehoused waiting for delivery into Venezuela.

The email sent Friday was provided to The Associated Press by a congressional aide who isn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

While the U.S. military has long supported civilian-led humanitarian assistance missions around the world this is the first time they are being used to deploy aid for Venezuela.

___

12 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he sees obvious signs that President Nicolas Maduro is starting to understand Venezuelans reject him as their leader.

Pompeo's spoke with reporters Friday in Reykjavik, Iceland following an exclusive AP interview with Maduro, who said he's willing to meet President Donald Trump - any time or place.

Maduro says he holds out hope of a meeting to resolve a crisis over America's recognition of opponent Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader.

Pompeo says Maduro's request isn't new, but it reflects that he's realizing his crisis-riddled nation rejects his "model of governance."

Pompeo wouldn't say whether he would send envoy Elliott Abrams to meet Maduro in Caracas.

Maduro told the AP that his foreign minister has met Abrams twice in New York for talks.
Several Democratic presidential candidates are spending the long holiday weekend on the campaign trail, while a Republican has announced he's creating an exploratory committee for a possible 2020 run.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Kamala Harris of California are visiting early voting states on Friday that will be critical to securing the Democratic nomination next year.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, who ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016, said Friday that he was considering challenging President Donald Trump in a 2020 Republican primary.

A look at midterm campaign activities ahead of Presidents Day weekend:

___

GILLIBRAND

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, smiles as she listens to a patron while visiting a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Gillibrand, in New Hampshire, participated in a walking tour of downtown Concord before visiting businesses in Dover and meeting members of the LGBT community in Somersworth.

On Friday, she called Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border "inappropriate" and said Trump manufactured a crisis to justify the move.

The only national emergency, she said, "is the humanitarian crisis that President Trump has created at our border from separating family from children and treating people who need our help inhumanely."

Gillibrand visited a coffee shop in downtown Concord before stopping to listen to a homeless man, Kevin Clark, play a song by Cat Stevens called "Father and Son." She praised his singing and gave him a hug before heading off to a consignment shop, where she bought a vase and a small plate.

Later Friday, Gillibrand spoke at Teatotaller, a cafe in Somersworth that refers to itself as an "oasis of queer, hipster, tea, coffee and pastry goodness."

She told the crowd that she would advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ community and called it "an outrage" for Trump to tell transgender people what bathrooms they can use or whether they are qualified to serve in the military. She said she would support the addition of a non-binary or third gender classification.

Gillibrand also spoke out in favor of the Green Neal Deal, a set of proposed programs that aim to address climate change.

___

HARRIS

Harris, who is campaigning in South Carolina, visited Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of the 2015 shooting that killed nine African-American churchgoers.

Speaking to reporters after a lunchtime stop, Harris said she'd visited the church, known as Mother Emanuel, earlier Friday and called it a "very tragic symbol of failure of people, in particular in the United States Congress, to pass smart gun safety laws."

Mother Emanuel is one of the oldest black churches in the South. During her visit, Harris paid her respects and left flowers. The church has been a pillar of African-American and spiritual life in South Carolina.

At a town hall in North Charleston later Friday, the scoreboard overhead in the gymnasium was changed to reflect the date of South Carolina's Democratic primary: Feb. 29, 2020. The crowd swelled, and some attendees climbed on top of folded bleachers for makeshift seating.

Harris talked about the bill that the Senate passed this week that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. Harris, one of three black members of the Senate, introduced the bill with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina. Booker is also running for president.

Harris says lynchings are "a stain on America's history."

While in South Carolina, she received an endorsement for president from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said on MSNBC: "I think the American people could not do better" than Harris.

___

WELD

Weld, who is little-known on the national stage but well-respected among veterans in the GOP established, announced the creation of an exploratory committee for president on Friday.

The move makes Trump the first incumbent president since Republican George H.W. Bush in 1992 to face a notable primary challenge.

Weld served as Massachusetts governor from 1991 to 1997 and was popular despite being a Republican in a heavily Democratic state. He held the line on spending and taxes but embraced liberal positions on abortion and gay rights.

Trump remains very popular with Republicans so he faces little risk of losing the GOP nomination.

But primary challenges often foreshadow trouble ahead for incumbent presidents. Bush and Democrat Jimmy Carter lost their bids for a second term after facing challenges from inside their own party.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld addresses a gathering during a New England Council 'Politics & Eggs' breakfast in Bedford, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Weld announced he's creating a presidential exploratory committee for a run in the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, sings along with street musician Kevin Clark, who plays a Cat Stevens' song, while touring Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. Clark said he's performed on the street since 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, shakes hands with Eric Tembas, originally from Somalia, while touring Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, talks with a patron as she is surrounded by reporters and photographers while visiting a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Nearly a year in space put astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared to his Earth-bound identical twin, researchers said Friday.

Scientists don't know if the changes were good or bad but results from a unique NASA twins study are raising new questions for doctors as the space agency aims to send people to Mars.

Tests of the genetic doubles gave scientists a never-before opportunity to track details of human biology, such as how an astronaut's genes turn on and off in space differently than at home. One puzzling change announced Friday at a science conference: Kelly's immune system was hyperactivated.

"It's as if the body is reacting to this alien environment sort of like you would a mysterious organism being inside you," said geneticist Christopher Mason of New York's Weill Cornell Medicine, who helped lead the study. He said doctors are now looking for that in other astronauts.

Since the beginning of space exploration, NASA has studied the toll on astronauts' bodies, such as bone loss that requires exercise to counter. Typically they're in space about six months at a time. Kelly, who lived on the International Space Station, spent 340 days in space and set a U.S. record.

"I've never felt completely normal in space," the now-retired Kelly said in an email to The Associated Press, citing the usual congestion from shifting fluid, headaches and difficulty concentrating from extra carbon dioxide, and digestive complaints from microgravity.

FILE - In this March 26, 2015 file photo, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly, right, crew member of the mission to the International Space Station, stands behind glass in a quarantine room, behind his brother, Mark Kelly, also an astronaut, after a news conference in the Russian-leased Baikonur, Kazakhstan cosmodrome. Nearly a year in space put Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared to his Earth-bound identical twin, according to a report released on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

But this study was a unique dive into the molecular level, with former astronaut Mark Kelly, Scott's twin, on the ground for comparison. Full results haven't yet been published, but researchers presented some findings Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

A number of genes connected to the immune system became hyperactive, Mason said. It's not a change in DNA but in what's called "gene expression," how genes turn off and on and increase or decrease their production of proteins. Mason also spotted a spike in the bloodstream of another marker that primes the immune system. Yet at the same time, Kelly's blood showed fewer of another cell type that's an early defense against viruses.

It's not a surprise that gene activity would change in space - it changes in response to all kinds of stress.

"You can see the body adapting to the change in its environment," Mason said.

The good news: Most everything returned to normal shortly after Kelly got back on Earth in March 2016. Those immune-related genes, however, "seemed to have this memory or this need to almost be on high alert" even six months later, Mason said.

"On the whole it's encouraging," said Craig Kundrot, who heads space life and science research for NASA. "There are no major new warning signs. We are seeing changes that we didn't necessarily anticipate" but don't know if those changes matter.

From four Russians living in space for more than a year, NASA already knew prolonged time off Earth is possible, Kundrot said, adding, "We also aim for more than just possible. We want our astronauts to do more than just survive."

Ultimately, the twin study gives NASA a catalog of things to monitor on future missions to see if other astronauts react the same way. Astronauts on future missions will be able to do some of this testing in space instead of freezing samples for scientists back home, Mason said.

Immune issues sound familiar to Dr. Jerry Linenger, an American astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir. He said he was never sick in orbit, but once he came back to Earth "I was probably more sick than I was in my life."

Astronauts launch into orbit with their own germs and get exposed to their crewmates' germs and then after a week with nothing else new in the "very sterile environment" of a space station "your immune system is really not challenged," Linenger said.

A human mission to Mars, which NASA hopes to launch in the 2030s, would take 30 months, including time on the surface, Kundrot said.

Radiation is a top concern. The mission would expose astronauts to galactic cosmic radiation levels higher than NASA's own safety standard. It's "just a little bit over," he said.

On Earth and even on the space station, Earth's magnetic field shields astronauts from lots of radiation. There would be no such shielding on the way to Mars and back, but tunnels or dirt-covered habitats could help a bit on Mars, Kundrot said

Kelly, who turns 55 next week, said he'd go to Mars. He said a trip that long "wouldn't be worse than what I experienced. Possibly better. I think the big physical challenge, radiation aside, will be a mission where you are in space for years."

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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.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The city of Portland, often in the spotlight for its liberal leanings, has been roiled by the revelation that a police lieutenant in charge of containing protests texted repeatedly with the leader of a far-right group involved in those demonstrations.

The mayor asked the police chief Friday to investigate "disturbing" texts between Lt. Jeff Niiya, who is the head of the Police Bureau's rapid response team, and the leader of a Washington-based group called Patriot Prayer that has repeatedly crossed into Oregon to stage right-wing rallies and marches.

The events in Portland and other West Coast cities routinely draw crowds of self-described anti-fascists, who show up in force to try to shut down leader Joey Gibson and his followers.

Police have struggled to contain the violent clashes and residents have grown used to events that shut down streets for hours, leave downtown windows shattered and end in open brawls, fires, injuries and dozens of arrests.

The text messages , first obtained by the Willamette Week newspaper through a public records request, show Niiya communicating with Gibson before, during and after those clashes.

In texts spread over months, Niiya at times details the movement of a rival anti-fascist protest group, warns Gibson by text that a friend of Gibson who is a member of a documented hate group could risk arrest by showing up in Oregon and congratulates Gibson on his decision to run for an open U.S. Senate seat in Washington state.

FILE - In this April 27, 2017, file photo, Joey Gibson speaks during a rally in support of free speech in Berkeley, Calif. The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has asked the police chief to investigate "disturbing" texts between the commander of the department's rapid response team and Gibson the leader of a far-right group involved in violent protests in the city. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

"The hate against me will multiply because I am running for office, so when I come into Portland and Seattle the energy will be high. I know it's a pain in the ass for you guys, but I will do the best I can to work with you," Gibson texted Niiya on Jan. 22, 2018.

After learning Gibson was a candidate, Niiya responded: "I won't say anything. Thank you for trusting me and letting me know. I appreciate it."

It's not unusual for police to talk with those organizing protests in advance to work on planning, which makes it harder to say if these texts were out of line without hearing Niiya's account, said Heidi Beirich, director of the intelligence project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that tracks hate groups and extremist activity.

But the texts did seem "odd for their chattiness," she said, and warrant an investigation.

While Patriot Prayer is not considered a hate group, its members often align themselves with known hate groups and white supremacists, she added.

The Portland Police Commanding Officers Association said in a statement Friday that Niiya was following orders by establishing communication with Gibson. The Willamette Week reported that Niiya texted with an anti-fascist protester as well in 2017 - communications that led to that person being disowned by her fellow activists.

"Everything was about de-escalating and avoiding conflict. It was his job and he does that with several activists," Gibson said in a phone interview on Friday.

"There were several times when he was literally begging for me to leave Portland - and on numerous occasions, I would do it."

Niiya did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.

In a statement, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said police must remain objective and that the texts appear to "cross several boundaries."

"They also raise questions about whether warrants are being enforced consistently and what information is being shared with individuals who may be subject to arrest," he said.

In one text, Niiya tells Gibson he does not see a need to arrest Gibson's assistant, Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, who often brawls with anti-fascist protesters, even if he was the target of a warrant, unless Toese committed a new crime. Toese is a member of the Proud Boys, a documented hate group.

"Just make sure he doesn't do anything which may draw our attention," Niiya texted Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017. "If he still has the warrant in the system (I don't run you guys so I don't personally know) the officers could arrest him. I don't see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there is a reason."

Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw said in a statement that an internal review would be conducted to determine if policies were violated.

"If anything is identified that is deemed outside of our values and directives, it will be addressed," Outlaw said.

Niiya will no longer work with police department's rapid response team during the investigation, police said in a statement, and a community "listening session" was scheduled by the police for next week.

City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty said the "broken policing system in Portland" must be addressed.

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Follow Gillian Flaccus on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/gflaccus

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2018, file photo, counter protesters tear a Nazi flag, in Portland, Ore. A member of Portland's city council says she is shocked by a newspaper report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city. Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said the reporting in Willamette Week on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, confirms there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Tichina Arnold knew as a tot she was meant to perform.

"I told my mom at the age of 3, 'I want to sing.' And of course my mom being a mother, she said, 'Well, my baby wants to sing.' So they put me up on a chair," Arnold recalled.

She's been honing her talent since, but credits more than that for a career that's paired her with comedy stars Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock and in her latest project Cedric the Entertainer for CBS' "The Neighborhood" (airing 8 p.m. EST Monday).

Listen to the comedic actress explain and it's apparent she could moonlight as a life counselor.

"Acting is beyond acting. You have to be able to deal with people," Arnold said, something she learned from her father, a police officer, and her mom. "Actors don't realize a lot of time you don't get hired because you did the best job - you got hired because you were nice. You got hired because you came in with a great attitude."

Arnold started her professional career at age 11, appearing first at the Public Theater in New York City, then in regional productions and, in her first movie role, in 1986's "Little Shop of Horrors." She played Crystal, a member of the combo Greek chorus-backup trio that included Michelle Weeks and Tisha Campbell.

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2018 file photo, Tichina Arnold arrives at the Television Academy's 2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Arnold stars in the CBS comedy series "The Neighborhood." (Photo by John Salangsang/Invision/AP, File)

During a year of filming in London, during which she turned 16, she and Campbell made a splash off the set.

"Tisha and I would go to Hyde Park and make up dance routines, kind of pretending we were in Central Park. A crowd would gather around, and we brought a little bit of New York to London," Arnold said.

She's worked in film - she has three indie movies awaiting release, including "The Last Black Man in San Francisco" - and more steadily on TV, moving from daytime serials "Ryan's Hope" and "All My Children" to prime-time series including "Martin" with Lawrence; "One on One"; the Chris Rock-produced "Everybody Hates Chris," with Crews and Tequan Richmond; and "Survivor's Remorse."

The cast of "Martin" made work fun, Arnold said.

"If you listen to the laugh track, you can hear us laughing at each other because we would watch each other's scenes all the time," she said.

In the freshman comedy "The Neighborhood," Arnold plays Tina, the wife and foil to Cedric the Entertainer's Calvin, who is appalled by the prospect of gentrification when a white family (Max Greenfield, Beth Behrs, young actor Hank Greenspan) moves into his African-American neighborhood. Sheaun McKinney and Marcel Spears co-star.

His TV wife makes her character authentic and funny, said Cedric the Entertainer. "She just brings that perfect balance to 'The Neighborhood.' You believe it," he said.

Arnold, 49, born in Queens, New York, said she drew on her own mom's example in creating the warm but forthright Tina.

Diane Arnold is "no-nonsense, with a different way of mothering," the actress said. She recalled taking part in a mediocre play at age 16, with most parents heaping excited, debut-night praise on their kids. Her mother's reaction: "We've got to get you out of this show."

"The Neighborhood" was created by executive producer Jim Reynolds ("The Big Bang Theory") and is loosely based on his own experience as a white odd-man-out. The series is one example of how CBS, after prolonged criticism about a lack of ethnic diversity, is broadening its lineup.

Good for them, said Arnold.

"It's never too late to change, never too late to go in another direction," she said, adding that such growth has to be reflected on-screen and among writers, directors and others involved in a production, both as a matter of equal opportunity and authenticity.

As a black woman, she looks to black writers and directors to be "an extension of my voice," Arnold said, and she's found that on "The Neighborhood." If a script strikes the wrong note, she said Reynolds is responsive. The result, she said, is a show that deserves to be seen.

"It's about humanity and how we all can figure out some way to respect each other, learn to love each other, and always find the funny in everything. It makes things easier," Arnold said.

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Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/elber
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - A Catholic mother accuses a federally funded South Carolina foster agency of not working with her because she's "not the right kind of Christian," her lawyers say.

In a federal lawsuit filed Friday, Aimee Maddonna and her lawyers say Miracle Hill Ministries is unconstitutionally discriminating against non-Protestants. The lawsuit challenges a waiver granted this year to the Greenville agency, which previously has come under fire for denying services to same-sex couples and non-Christian families.

Last year, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster requested a waiver exempting the state from an Obama-era regulation preventing publicly licensed and funded foster care agencies from servicing specific religions. That request was granted last month.

But years before Miracle Hill's actions toward non-Christians became an issue, Maddonna says the agency first encouraged her to become a foster parent but then cut off ties when they realized the Simpsonville mother is Catholic and not a "born-again" Protestant, as the agency's rules require.

Maddonna first reached out to Miracle Hill in 2014, when the mother of three decided that it was time to welcome more children into her home. Maddonna, who grew up in a household full of foster children, many with special needs, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview she wanted her children to be able to develop the same foster sibling bonds she had.

"I wanted to open up my family and my home to kids in need," Maddonna said. "I have the view that every child has the ability to enrich the lives of adults around them, too."

In this 2019 photo provided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Aimee Maddonna smiles while sitting with her children at her home in Simpsonville, S.C. The South Carolina mother has sued both the state and federal government, saying she's a victim of religious discrimination on the part of a federally funded foster-care agency that turned her down because of her Catholic faith. Maddonna says the agency in 2014 initially encouraged her to become a foster parent but cut off ties once realizing that she is Catholic and not a "born-again" Christian, as the agency's internal rules require. (Courtesy of Aimee Maddonna/Americans United for Separation of Church and State via AP)

For weeks, Maddonna says conversations continued with Miracle Hill officials, who set up a final interview before she was to be approved as a foster parent. In a conversation ahead of that meeting, Maddonna says she was asked to give the name of her church.

"By the name, you can tell it's a Catholic parish," Maddonna said. She says the Miracle Hill representative "immediately responded back with, 'I'm sorry, we only employ volunteers and mentors who are Protestant Christian.'"

"I've never considered myself a religious minority until that moment," Maddonna said. "I had to tell my kids that, because we're Catholic, we can't take these kids out for ice cream and cheer them on at their games. I was devastated."

In the last fiscal year, Miracle Hill received nearly $600,000 in state and federal funding, the organization's president has said.

Rachel Laser - president and CEO for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, whose lawyers are handling Maddonna's case - says that despite the waiver's specific language concerning Christianity, Miracle Hill is unconstitutionally discriminating against non-Protestants.

"This is a problem that the government has caused. If Miracle Hill were a private entity not accepting state and federal money, then they could decide with their private money whom they served," Laser said. "Aimee isn't the right kind of Christian, so they don't serve her."

Named in the lawsuit are Gov. McMaster, the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the federal Department of Health and Human Services. A spokesman for McMaster did not immediately return messages Friday seeking comment on the lawsuit.

Federal officials declined to comment on pending litigation, instead pointing AP to a statement issued when the waiver was approved in which Lynn Johnson, assistant secretary for children and families, said the "agency should not - and, under the laws adopted by Congress, cannot - drive faith-motivated foster care providers out of the business of serving children without a compelling government interest."

On an online form used to request more information about the foster care program, Miracle Hill describes itself as "a non-denominational, Christian organization based upon a protestant statement of faith." An informational sheet provided to AP describes a viable foster parent as "a born-again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as expressed by a personal testimony and Christian conduct," going on to note further that the applicant must be an active participant of a protestant congregation.

An online frequently-asked-questions section notes that, while Jews or Catholics "wouldn't be a good fit for Christian leadership roles at Miracle Hill, such as in our foster-care and mentoring programs," the organization can help connect them with other groups where they can serve.

Maddonna recently reached out to Miracle Hill again, to see whether their policy had changed, but she said she received no response.

"When most people think of people being turned away, they think of equally despicable circumstances where a gay couple or a Jewish couple is turned away," Maddonna said. "If you don't protect the rights of everybody, it sets a precedent that will eventually touch on you."

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Meg Kinnard can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP .

In this 2019 photo provided by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Aimee Maddonna poses in a yarn store in Simpsonville, S.C. The South Carolina mother has sued both the state and federal government, saying she's a victim of religious discrimination on the part of a federally funded foster-care agency that turned her down because of her Catholic faith. Maddonna says the agency in 2014 initially encouraged her to become a foster parent but cut off ties once realizing that she is Catholic and not a "born-again" Christian, as the agency's internal rules require. (Courtesy of Aimee Maddonna/Americans United for Separation of Church and State via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced a $3.9 billion bailout for the country's cash-strapped, state-owned oil company Friday and promised it an additional $1.6 billion in revenue, making it a rescue package of up to $5.5 billion.

Lopez Obrador has made rescuing Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, a centerpiece of his first 100 days in office, launching an offensive against fuel theft gangs that drill illegal taps into Pemex pipelines. The extra revenue is expected to come from increased sales for the company as sources of stolen fuel dry up.

The government package includes assuming pension debt, injecting cash and cutting taxes for the company. But the assistance plan is tiny in comparison to the staggering $43.8 billion in debt the company has incurred since 2013.

Lopez Obrador sees the company, which was nationalized in 1938 by his hero, ex-President Lazaro Cardenas, as a national symbol and engine for the economy.

"In Pemex there has been bad management and a lot of corruption, looting," Lopez Obrador said in announcing the plan. "If we end the corruption, Pemex will be reborn and that will apply to the country, as well."

In January, the Fitch ratings agency lowered the company's credit rating one step to "AA," with a negative outlook. It says Pemex is essentially insolvent, with negative cash flow and a debt exceeding the value of proven oil reserves.

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)

On Friday, Fitch said the bailout "would likely not be enough to prevent continued deterioration in company's credit quality."

"The announced support measures are less than the $12 billion to $17 billion of additional annual cash requirements Fitch estimates Pemex needs to halt production and reserve level declines," the company said.

Mexico City-based oil analyst and consultant David Shield said: "They don't have the policies in place to turn around Pemex, but at least they're doing something."

To regain its position as a viable business, Pemex needs to invest more in exploration and production even though it has limited funds.

"Somebody will have to bring it (money) in and that somebody will probably be private," Shields said.

Lopez Obrador has said that his goal is to raise crude output 45 percent by 2025 to 2.4 million barrels per day, from the current 1.65 million barrels per day.

But he has been highly critical of oil and gas concessionary contracts granted under the energy reform of former President Enrique Pena Nieto, saying that private companies have been slow to make promised investments or produce much oil.

The president has also stressed the importance of investing government money in doing things like building refineries to reduce Mexico's dependence on imported gasoline, although those plans involve huge investments that don't immediately boost the company's output.

Lopez Obrador has also not shown a willingness to take on the oil workers' union, which has kept Pemex payrolls swelled with more workers than needed, siphoned off money and saddled the company with huge liabilities.

"I think there is still a battle to be fought there," said Shields. "I think the union issues may be coming to a head in the short term."

A dissident group formed earlier this month to try to organize a new union at the oil company.

Many pro-market critics in Mexico question the wisdom of sinking so much government money into the cumbersome giant.

"They are now saying it can't be done, that Pemex's debt is too big, that it is going to be impossible to rescue Pemex," said Lopez Obrador. "I accept the challenge. We are going to get Pemex back on its feet and it is going to be a productive company, a profitable one."

A rise in oil prices could help him prove the critics wrong. "If oil prices rebound, he may look like a genius," Shields said.
MUNICH (AP) - The Latest on Munich Security Conference (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Germany's foreign minister is calling for a return to multilateral solutions, criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump's go-it-alone approach as counter-productive.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told Munich Security Conference delegates on Friday that, with the increasing power of China, Europe and the United States should be working with each other. He says Trump's steel tariffs cost jobs in the U.S., increased steel prices and are threatening jobs in Europe.

He says "for me, it's a classic case of lose-lose."

Maas also criticized the U.S.'s unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Iran. He said Germany, France and Britain are trying to preserve the deal because if it collapses, it will bring the region "a step closer to open confrontation."

German foreign minister Heiko Maas, right, talks to Russian foreign minister Sergej Lawrow at a bilateral meeting at the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Sven Hoppe/dpa via AP)

He urged a return to cooperation, saying Germany has "no interest in a division of the west."

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6:30 p.m.

Germany's finance minister is calling on China to be more transparent about its lending to developing countries amid worries about debt.

Minister Olaf Scholz said Friday at the Munich Security Conference that officials have urged China "to have a better understanding that possibly the next big crisis in the world may come from too much debt coming from China to many of the development countries."

He called on China to join the Paris Club of creditor countries that aims to find coordinated solutions to problems faced by debtors, and said greater transparency is also in China's interest.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said she agrees with "Olaf's invitation that all respectable, sensible, reasonable lenders belong to the Paris Club." She said "it would also clear the air a lot" about allegations of obscure and non-disclosable terms and conditions with the Chinese loans.

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6 p.m.

The head of NATO says there's growing concern about China's increasing investment in critical infrastructure systems in countries around the world and that alliance nations need to address it together.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a meeting of world leaders, top diplomats and defense officials on Friday that China's interest in the lucrative contracts to provide new superfast mobile networks called 5G is a cause for concern for many allies.

He says "we have to better understand the size and scale of China's influence, what it means for our security, and we have to address it together."

He spoke at the Munich Security Conference.

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12:20 p.m.

A London-based think tank says last year's election in the German state of Bavaria was the subject of concerted social media campaigns designed to benefit a far-right party.

In a report Friday at the Munich Security Conference, researchers said they identified online tactics used by overlapping networks of German and international far-right activists to promote the Alternative for Germany party and smear its opponents.

The party, known by its acronym AfD, received 10.2 percent of the vote in the October election, sapping support from the governing Christian Social Union.

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue's report found the election meddling wasn't driven by foreign countries, but rather by non-state networks of international far-right activists "using English language instruction manuals, meme banks and targeted trolling hit-lists."

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11 a.m.

Iran's foreign minister says that even if Tehran decided to negotiate with the United States, he wouldn't trust that President Donald Trump would honor any deal the two nations made.

Mohammad Javad Zarif's comments in an interview to NBC's "Today" broadcast Friday came before an annual security conference in Munich that brings together more than 30 heads of state and government and 80 defense and foreign ministers.

Zarif said Iran spent years negotiating a nuclear agreement with the U.S. and other world powers, which exchanged sanctions relief for Tehran's pledge to rein in its nuclear program.

Trump pulled out of the deal and the U.S. re-imposed harsh economic sanctions on Iran.

Zarif said Iran isn't interested in sitting down with Trump, saying: "Why should we negotiate? ... Why should we trust President Trump that he would abide by his own signature?"

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks to journalists during a press conference at the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif speaks at a news conference in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. An American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation. Zarif on Wednesday predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S. "I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Police officers secure the area around the Hotel 'Bayerischer Hof' at the first day of the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

A police officer secures the area around the Hotel 'Bayerischer Hof' at the first day of the International Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma Highway Patrol captain accused of using cellphone audio recordings to try to blackmail the commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety and further his career has been charged with extortion.

Attorney Mike Johnson said Capt. Troy D. German "100 percent" denies the accusations, calling his client "a whistleblower who exposed corruption at the highest levels at the highway patrol."

A grand jury charged German on Thursday with extorting Commissioner Rusty Rhoades to gain a promotion or appointment to a state office, The Oklahoman reported.

According to a court affidavit, Rhoades told Highway Patrol investigators that he and German had three meetings during which German made verbal and written attempts to extort him. Rhoades said German alleged he has six audio recordings on his personal iPhone that would incriminate the commissioner and two other Highway Patrol officials.

Rhoades told investigators that German sought his backing for his appointment to director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, the affidavit says. He said German threatened to release evidence of Highway Patrol misconduct if the commissioner rejected his proposals.

The Highway Patrol completed search warrants of German's iPhone and Apple user ID. The grand jury assessed the evidence in the case before returning with an indictment.

Johnson said German has overwhelming proof that he was attempting to transform the culture at the Highway Patrol in which "the good ol' boys were making sure their friends got promoted."

"We look forward to presenting all of our evidence in front of an impartial jury because I doubt seriously that all the evidence was presented to the grand jury," he said.

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This story has been corrected to show German is a captain, not the chief.

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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Illinois congressional Democrats have asked Wisconsin's new Democratic governor to re-evaluate the environmental impact of a sprawling plant that Foxconn Technology Group plans to build near the states' border, saying they are concerned it could exacerbate flooding in Chicago's northern suburbs.

Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth along with Reps. Brad Schneider and Lauren Underwood sent Gov. Tony Evers a letter on Friday saying stormwater run-off from the plant would drain into the Des Plaines River watershed and could worsen flooding in Illinois' Lake County, which covers the northeastern corner of Illinois and is just north of Cook County, which includes Chicago.

The Lake County Board, the county's Stormwater Management Commission and several Lake County towns have passed resolutions disapproving of the project, the Illinois lawmakers wrote, noting that the Illinois state Senate also adopted a resolution urging Wisconsin officials to reconsider the project's environmental and health impacts.

"We ask that you submit forthcoming construction plans to stringent environmental review," they wrote. "Economic development is a top priority in our region, and it does not have to come at the cost of environmental degradation."

Evers' spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, didn't immediately respond to an email Friday seeking comment. Foxconn spokeswoman Myranda Tanck also didn't immediately respond to an email.

Foxconn plans to build a flat-screen manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, which is in Racine County, Wisconsin, about 70 miles north of Chicago. The Taiwanese electronics giant has said the facility eventually could employ up to 13,000 people.

Local officials and Republican state lawmakers - led by then-Gov. Scott Walker - extended the company an unprecedented $4 billion in incentives to lure the plant to Wisconsin.

The package exempted Foxconn from a host of environmental regulations, allowing to the company to fill wetlands without a permit and to proceed without an environmental impact statement, which is a typically routine study of a construction project's potential effects on the environment.

The state Department of Natural Resources also approved the city of Racine's request on behalf of Mount Pleasant to draw 7 million gallons (26.5 million liters) of water per day from Lake Michigan to serve the plant.

Wisconsin DNR documents also show that emissions from the plant would increase smog in Racine County. Former Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit last year along with conservation groups and the city of Chicago challenging a federal rule that found a number of areas across the country, including Racine County, to be in compliance with air quality standards for smog. Madigan argued that the rule would allow Foxconn to avoid stricter emissions standards, which could harm Chicago residents. That lawsuit is pending in federal court in Washington.

Evers, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Walker in November's elections. He said earlier this month he has directed the DNR to review Foxconn's air permits, which the Illinois Democrats called "heartening" in their letter.

Foxconn has come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks after the company said it planned to scale back and possibly shelve its plans to build display screens in Wisconsin. The company shifted again two days later and reaffirmed that it does plan to make such screens at the plant.

"We have been skeptical of this development from the beginning and Foxconn backpedaling from its initial offer has only deepened our concerns," the Illinois Democrats wrote in their letter.

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Follow Todd Richmond on Twitter at https://twitter.com/trichmond1
PARIS (AP) - A gay French writer has lifted the lid on what he calls one of the world's largest gay communities, the Vatican, estimating that most of its prelates are homosexually inclined and attributing much of the current crisis in the Catholic Church to an internal struggle.

In the explosive book, "In the Closet of the Vatican," author Frederic Martel describes a gay subculture at the Vatican and calls out the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops and cardinals who in public denounce homosexuality but in private lead double lives.

Aside from the subject matter, the book is astonishing for the access Martel had to the inner sanctum of the Holy See. Martel writes that he spent four years researching it in 30 countries, including weeks at a time living inside the Vatican walls. He says the doors were opened by a key Vatican gatekeeper and friend of Pope Francis who was the subject of the pontiff's famous remark about gay priests, "Who am I to judge?"

In an interview Friday in a Paris hotel, Martel said he didn't tell his subjects he was writing about homosexuality in the Vatican. But he said it should have been obvious to them since he is a gay man who was researching the inner world of the Vatican and has written about homosexuality before. He said it was easier for him, as a gay foreigner, to gain the trust of those inside the Vatican than it would have been for an Italian journalist or Vatican expert.

"If you're heterosexual it's even harder. You don't have the codes," he told The Associated Press. "If you're a woman, even more so."

Martel says he conducted nearly 1,500 in-person interviews with 41 cardinals, 52 bishops or monsignors, and 45 Vatican and foreign ambassadors, many of whom are quoted at length and in on-the-record interviews that he says were recorded. Martel said he was assisted by 80 researchers, translators, fixers and local journalists, as well as a team of 15 lawyers. The 555-page book is being published simultaneously in eight languages in 20 countries, many bearing the title "Sodom."

French writer Frederic Martel gestures during an interview with Associated Press, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. In the explosive book "In the Closet of the Vatican" author Frederic Martel describes a gay subculture at the Vatican and calls out the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops and cardinals who in public denounce homosexuality but in private lead double lives. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

The Vatican didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Martel appears to want to bolster Francis' efforts at reforming the Vatican by discrediting his biggest critics and removing the secrecy and scandal that surrounds homosexuality in the church. Church doctrine holds that gays are to be treated with respect and dignity, but that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered."

"Francis knows that he has to move on the church's stance, and that he will only be able to do this at the cost of a ruthless battle against all those who use sexual morality and homophobia to conceal their own hypocrisies and double lives," Martel writes.

But the book's Feb. 21 publication date coincides with the start of Francis' summit of church leaders on preventing the sexual abuse of minors, a crisis that is undermining his papacy. The book isn't about abuse, but the timing of its release could fuel the narrative, embraced by conservatives and rejected by the gay community, that the abuse scandal has been caused by homosexuals in the priesthood.

Martel is quick to separate the two issues. But he echoes the analysis of the late abuse researcher and psychotherapist A.W. Richard Sipe that the hidden sex lives of priests has created a culture of secrecy that allowed the abuse of minors to flourish. According to that argument, since many prelates in positions of authority have their own hidden sexual skeletons, they have no interest in denouncing the criminal pedophiles in their midst lest their own secrets be revealed.

"It's a problem that it's coming out at the same time (as the summit)," Martel acknowledged in the AP interview, adding that the book was finished last year but its release was delayed for translation. "But at the same time it's, alas, the key to the problem. It's both not the subject, and the subject."

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "Building a Bridge" about how the Catholic Church should reach out more to the LGBT community, said that based on the excerpts he had read, Martel's book "makes a convincing case that in the Vatican many priests bishops and even cardinals are gay, and that some of them are sexually active."

But Martin added that the book's sarcastic tone belies its fatal flaw. "His extensive research is buried under so much gossip and innuendo that it makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction."

"There are many gay priests, bishops and cardinals in ministry today in the church," Martin said. "But most of them are, like their straight counterparts, remaining faithful to a life of chastity and celibacy."

In the course of his research, Martel said he came to several conclusions about the reality of the Holy See that he calls the "rules," chief among them that the more obviously gay the priest, bishop or cardinal, the more vehement his anti-gay rhetoric.

Martel says his aim is not to "out" living prelates, though he makes some strong insinuations about those who are "in the parish," a euphemism he learns is code for gay clergy.

Martin said Martel "traffics in some of the worst gay stereotypes" by using sarcastic and derogatory terms, such as when he writes of Francis' plight: "Francis is said to be 'among the wolves.' It's not quite true: he's among the queens."

Martel moves from one scandal to another - from the current one over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington to the priest-friendly gay migrant prostitute scene near Rome's train station. He traces the reasons behind Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, and devotes a whole chapter to the cover-up of the Mexican founder of the Legion of Christ, the pedophile Rev. Marcial Maciel. In each, Martel parses the scandal through the lens of the gay-friendly or homophobic prelates he says were involved.

Equal parts investigative journalism and salacious gossip, Martel paints a picture of an institution almost at war with itself, rife with rumor and with leaders struggling to rationalize their own sexual appetites and orientations with official church teachings that require chastity and its unofficial tradition of hostility toward gays.

"Never, perhaps, have the appearances of an institution been so deceptive," Martel writes. "Equally deceptive are the pronouncements about celibacy and the vows of chastity that conceal a completely different reality."

Martel is not a household name in France, but is known in the French LGBT community as an advocate for gay rights. Those familiar with his work view it as rigorous, notably his 90-minute weekly show on public radio station France Culture called "Soft Power." Recent episodes include investigations into global digital investment and the U.S.-China trade war.

As a French government adviser in the 1990s, he played a prominent role in legislation allowing civil unions, which not only allowed gay couples to formalize their relationships and share assets, but also proved hugely popular among heterosexual French couples increasingly skeptical of marriage.

His nonfiction books include a treatise on homosexuality in France over the past 50 years called "The Pink and the Black" (a sendup of Stendhal's classic "The Red and the Black"), as well as an investigation of the internet industry and a study of culture in the United States.

Martel attributes the high percentage of gays in the clergy to the fact that up until the homosexual liberation of the 1970s, gay Catholic men had few options. "So these pariahs became initiates and made a strength of a weakness," he writes. That analysis helps explain the dramatic fall in vocations in recent decades, as gay Catholic men now have other options, not least to live their lives openly, even in marriage.

Martel said no special interests financed the book, other than his advance from the publisher.

___

Winfield reported from Boston.

French writer Frederic Martel gestures during an interview with Associated Press, in Paris, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. In the explosive book "In the Closet of the Vatican" author Frederic Martel describes a gay subculture at the Vatican and calls out the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops and cardinals who in public denounce homosexuality but in private lead double lives. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The sinking of a towboat in the Mississippi River was probably caused by a boat pilot's mistake and lack of oversight of the vessel, federal officials said.

The National Transportation and Safety Board reported the pilot had decided to operate the boat with unsecured deck hatches when the 66-foot (20-meter) Ricky Robinson capsized and sank near Memphis, Tennessee, on Dec. 8, 2017.

The pilot went at a speed that resulted in water on deck and aft flooding, resulting in the death of the deckhand, whose body was found inside the wreckage nine days after the vessel sank, NTSB said. The pilot is presumed dead.

WMC-TV identified the boat captain as Keith Pigram, and the deckhand as Anquavioius Newson, his stepson.

The NTSB said the boat company, Wepfer Marine, had inadequate oversight over the crew's handling of the hatches, contributing to the sinking.

About 200 gallons (757 liters) of diesel oil were released into the river and damage to boat was estimated at $1.5 million, the report released in December said.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The new U.N. envoy for Syria said Friday that the long-delayed formation of a committee to draft a new constitution for Syria is "a potential door-opener for the political process" and he hopes to see it meet in Geneva "as soon as possible."

But Geir Pedersen stressed that the constitutional committee needs to work "in parallel" with efforts on other issues. He cited governance, U.N.-supervised elections, refugees and internally displaced Syrians, humanitarian challenges, reconstruction, detainees and missing persons.

Pederson said he told the Syrian government and opposition leaders and their supporters during his recent travels that "confidence-building is needed," cease-fires must be respected, terrorism must be fought and only a negotiated solution to the seven-year conflict is possible.

One of the key issues is building trust between Syrians, he said, and for this a change is needed on the ground "to be able to move forward."

He spoke in Geneva in his first meeting with reporters since taking up the post in January; a transcript was circulated to U.N. media in New York.

Pedersen said he hopes to build on the work of his predecessor Staffan de Mistura, saying his aim is "a negotiated outcome where two parties agree, with international support - and that will be the beginning for a new Syria."

De Mistura said at his last press conference in December that an "an extra mile" is needed to form a committee to draft a new constitution for the conflict-torn country because a list of participants submitted by Russia, Iran and Turkey has not been accepted by the United Nations.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters here this week that he expects the differences to be resolved.

Pedersen said he hoped a meeting of the constitutional committee "would then be the start of some serious discussions that could be the door-opener to a political process that will lead to a negotiated outcome for the conflict."

He said an agreement reached last October by Turkey, which backs the opposition, and Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad, avoided "a humanitarian disaster" in Idlib, the last opposition-held stronghold - "and I am pleased to see that the focus now is on finding a peaceful solution to the crisis."

Pedersen said control of the area by the al-Qaida affiliated group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham "is not something that can be sustained for the future," but he welcomed the commitment by Turkey and Russia to a peaceful solution.

U.N. experts said in a recent report that an unnamed U.N. member state estimated that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham has approximately 20,000 fighters in Idlib province and "remains the largest terrorist group in the country."
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - As Ilhan Omar's political star was rising last year on her way to becoming one of the first Muslim women in Congress, several Minnesota Jewish leaders invited her to talk privately about past statements they considered anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. Gathering at a state senator's home, they hoped to get a better sense of her views while expressing their concerns.

Most came away dissatisfied by what they heard.

Those concerns were confirmed this week when Omar suggested on Twitter that members of Congress support Israel for money, igniting a bipartisan uproar in Washington that included criticism from President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"There seems to be a pattern developing which indicates more of an attitude than mistakes," said Ron Latz, the Democratic state senator who hosted the meeting. "And that's what's most troubling. I mean, I'm grateful that she seems to be willing to be engaged in conversations with the Jewish community, but she doesn't seem to be learning from those conversations."

Omar's liberal Minneapolis-area district includes the largest Somali-American community in the U.S. as well as the suburb of St. Louis Park, a historical hub of the region's Jewish community - making it a revealing listening post for the debate that Omar's comments sparked. Where many saw a repeat of blatant anti-Semitism, others saw a young politician done in by her own rush to agitate on social media. And others - Jewish and Muslim - said their support for her is unshaken.

In tweets this week, Omar said she is learning.

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., listens to President Donald Trump's State of the Union speech, at the Capitol in Washington. In Omar's Minnesota district, both Jews and Muslims voiced concern about an inflammatory tweet on Israel that had the congresswoman apologizing within hours. While some Jews said she was being unfairly judged, others said they feared she was being slow to learn from previous criticism. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

"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," she said in an apology Monday.

But she quickly pivoted back to offense after Trump called her apology "lame."

"You have trafficked in hate your whole life - against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more," she tweeted about the president Wednesday. "I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you?"

Omar made history as the first Somali-Minnesotan elected to the Legislature in 2016 before winning her congressional seat in November. She built her campaign on her back story as a refugee, with a progressive platform that emphasized education, immigration, aid for the poor and criminal justice reform.

Some in her progressive base had no problem with her remarks.

Isaiah Breen, of Minneapolis, said Omar is being held to a double standard given that Republicans often trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes depicting billionaire philanthropist George Soros as a puppet master during the 2018 campaign.

"None of these people have ever apologized, and none have endured the scrutiny that Ilhan faces," he said.

His co-worker at a local Jewish nonprofit, Aaron Berc, of Minneapolis, said he admires Omar for learning and being willing to listen.

"It's striking to me that when a strong woman of color, a Muslim of color, starts speaking out on these issues she's attacked for it," he said.

For Latz, from St. Louis Park, Omar's troubling statements go back to a tweet from 2012 when she said "Israel has hypnotized the world." Omar apologized for the tweet just last month.

He also believes she was not candid about her position when she told a largely Jewish audience at a campaign forum last August that she considered the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which targets Israel's treatment of Palestinians, to be unhelpful toward achieving a two-state solution. Omar later said she supports the movement. Latz said those and other tweets and statements by Omar reinforce anti-Semitic attitudes that have dogged Jewish people for thousands of years.

"These words have meanings. And they have impact. And they're hurtful. And they contribute to a general atmosphere that allows people who really do have those kinds of anti-Semitic feelings to act out on them," he said. "That creates fear within the Jewish community," he said.

Abdul Basit, chairman of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the criticism unfair and said she raised a legitimate point about politics, lobbyists and money.

"I don't believe that in any way Representative Ilhan Omar meant to disrespect our Jewish brothers and sisters," said Basit, who immigrated to Minnesota from Pakistan. "She was specifically talking about the impact that lobbyists have in this country when determining their own interest, and the tweet specifically talks about the neglect that has been in this country when it comes to the Palestinian people and their plight."

Some in the city's Somali community said Omar should focus on their concerns rather than getting embroiled in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At the Karmel Mall, a hub of Somali-owned shops and restaurants, Abdirisak Hassan said he wished Omar would think more before she tweets, adding that he and many in the community "feel bad" about because the tweets "go too far."

"She's new to the politics," he said.

Hassan said Somalis elected Omar to represent them and speak out against Trump and that they expect her to talk about the issues that are important to Minnesota. When it comes to Israel and Palestine, he said that's not something she should be talking about.

"In the Somali community, we have many things we need to talk about - our own issues, so we don't need other issues," he said. "We have to talk about our issues first. We have to fix a lot of issues we have."

Faysal Abdi, who works at a clothing shop in the mall and drives an Uber, called Omar's comments "a rookie mistake" and said that he thinks she'll learn from them. He said it's up to the Israelis and the Palestinians to sort out their disputes.

Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman of Temple Israel, a large Minneapolis synagogue, said she had heard from many people concerned that Omar's messages have eroded trust. She spoke with the congresswoman by phone Thursday and set a date for a face-to-face meeting, but declined to provide other details. Interfaith dialogue, Zimmerman said, is an antidote to stereotyping and hatred.

"I hope she really hears the concerns of her constituents in the Jewish community and our allies, and begins a listening tour of what the community's concerns are," Zimmerman said.

___

Karnowski reported from St. Paul. Jeff Baenen contributed from St. Paul.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2019 file photo, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., walks through the halls of the Capitol Building in Washington. In Omar's Minnesota district, both Jews and Muslims voiced concern about an inflammatory tweet on Israel that had the congresswoman apologizing within hours. While some Jews said she was being unfairly judged, some others said they feared she was being slow to learn from previous criticism. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2019 file photo, people leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill in Washington. In Omar's Minnesota district, both Jews and Muslims voiced concern about an inflammatory tweet on Israel that had the congresswoman apologizing within hours. While some Jews said she was being unfairly judged, some others said they feared she was being slow to learn from previous criticism. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2019 file photo, people leave post-it notes of support outside the office of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Capitol Hill in Washington. In Omar's Minnesota district, both Jews and Muslims voiced concern about an inflammatory tweet on Israel that had the congresswoman apologizing within hours. While some Jews said she was being unfairly judged, some others said they feared she was being slow to learn from previous criticism. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

In this Feb 13, 2019 photo, Minnesota state Sen. Ron Latz expresses concern over recent tweets by U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota that he and other political and Jewish community leaders have criticized as anti-Semitic, at the state Capitol in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Steve Karnowski)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Lawmakers in coal-loving Kentucky have approved a bill that could make solar panels less lucrative for residential customers beyond 2020.

The House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 100 on Friday in a 71-24 vote. It would let the Public Service Commission, a board appointed by the governor, decide how much utility companies must pay to purchase power from people who have solar panels installed on their homes.

The state Senate has already passed the bill, but they will have to vote on it again because the House made some changes. If it becomes law, it would take effect Jan. 1, 2020. Anyone who has solar panels installed before then would be exempt from the law for the next 25 years.

The bill could become a campaign issue in the 2019 governor's race. Democratic candidate Rocky Adkins, the House minority floor leader, voted for the bill. But Democratic candidate Adam Edelen, Kentucky's former auditor who is developing a solar power project on a former coal mine in eastern Kentucky, said the bill would make Kentucky irrelevant in the new economy.

"Legislation that demonstrates a hostility to renewable energy is akin to putting a closed-for-business sign on the state," Edelen said. "You are simply not relevant to a new economy without new energy."

Adkins said the bill is not perfect, but said he voted for it because he knew it was not the final version. House and Senate negotiators will have to reach a compromise before it becomes law.

"My job as House Democratic leader is to bring about compromise whenever possible, and that's exactly what we saw happen today," Adkins said.

People with solar panels on their homes sometimes generate more power than they need. When that happens, the utility company buys the power back from them. Customers don't get cash, but a credit toward their power bill.

State law currently says utility companies must buy that power at the same price they sell it. Senate Bill 100 would let the Public Service Commission decide how much utility companies must pay. That would likely lead to lower credits because the commission would consider how much it costs the utility company to maintain the equipment that supplies the power to homes.

"Not one instance does the state of Kentucky put in statute that somebody has to buy everything that you produce," said Republican Rep. Jim Gooch. "This bill does not put the solar industry out of business. It doesn't really prevent anyone from buying rooftop solar in the future."

But critics warn the bill would hurt the small but growing solar industry, which would have a harder time selling the panels if people don't know how much they would get for the excess power they sell. That's why Republican Rep. Jim DuPlessis proposed some changes to the bill, which lawmakers approved.

"Just imagine you are a small business owner who has invested your savings to build a business based on a business model that our statutes created," DuPlessis said. "And then sometime later, because we realize there is some issues with the bill, we completely gutted what they are doing and eliminate their business model to the point it will be very hard for them to continue."

The House version would let the Kentucky Solar Industry Association intervene in the ratemaking process on behalf of customers, giving them more firepower when they face off against the utility companies. And when setting the rates, the House version would require the commission to consider not just the utility companies' costs, but also the benefits they get from solar power generated by their customers. The House passed the amendment on a voice vote.

Kentucky Solar Industries Association President Matt Partymiller said he likes the changes and urges "the Senate to concur on this very fair House compromise."

Still, it wasn't enough to win support from some lawmakers who fear it is will damage the solar industry.

"There is still a disincentive to install these panels because they can never be sure what the rates are going to be now," said Democratic state Rep. Angie Hatton, who voted against the bill.
The Latest on Democratic presidential candidates on the campaign trail(all times local):

9:30 p.m.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is endorsing Sen. Kamala Harris for president in 2020.

The Democrat said in an MSNBC interview Friday: "I think the American people could not do better" than Harris. He added later in a tweet: "Kamala Harris is a fearless fighter. A voice for the voiceless and vulnerable."

Harris' campaign said in an email touting the endorsement that Newsom will join Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta as California co-chairs for her campaign.

Among the other Democrats who have announced bids for president are Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, flanked by Attorney General Xavier Becerra, right, answers a question concerning a probable lawsuit the state will likely file against President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom and Becerra both say there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Harris was campaigning in South Carolina on Friday, holding a town hall and visiting Mother Emmanuel church, where nine churchgoers were slain during a 2015 Bible session.

___

8:45 p.m.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has told a crowd at a New Hampshire cafe that she will advocate for the rights of the LGBTQ community and work on climate change issues.

The New York Democrat says it's "an outrage" for President Donald Trump to tell transgender people what bathrooms they can use or whether they are qualified to serve in the military.

Gillibrand spoke Friday at Teatotaller, a cafe that refers to itself as an "oasis of queer, hipster, tea, coffee and pastry goodness."

She says she would support the addition of a non-binary or a third gender classifications. She also says she will support the Green New Deal, a set of proposed programs that aim to address climate change.

Gillibrand will continue campaigning in New Hampshire on Saturday with stops in Exeter, Keene and Hanover.

___

6:15 p.m.

California Sen. Kamala Harris has held her first South Carolina town hall since announcing her 2020 presidential bid. The crowd swelled, and some attendees climbed on top of folded bleachers for makeshift seating.

The scoreboard in the gymnasium in North Charleston was changed Friday to reflect the date of South Carolina's Democratic primary: February 29, 2020.

Harris talked about a bill passed by the Senate this week that would explicitly make lynching a federal crime. Harris, one of three black members of the Senate, introduced the bill with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott. Booker is also running for president.

Harris says lynchings are "a stain on America's history."

Another 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, is campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday.

___

2:10 p.m.

Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris of California is in Charleston, South Carolina, making her second trip to the state since announcing her 2020 presidential campaign.

Ahead of a North Charleston town hall on Friday, Harris visited Rodney Scott's Whole Hog BBQ for lunch, where she ordered whole hog, collard greens and cornbread.

Speaking to reporters after lunch, Harris said she will vote in favor of the Green New Deal, Democrats' plan to combat climate change. Harris says that the underlying principles behind the plan are "sound and important" and that President Donald Trump is engaged in "science fiction instead of science fact."

While in South Carolina, Harris said she earlier visited the church known as Mother Emmanuel, where nine black members were fatally shot during a 2015 Bible study session.

___

12:50 p.m.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is calling President Donald Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border "inappropriate" and says Trump manufactured a crisis to justify the move.

Gillibrand, a Democratic presidential candidate, said during a visit to New Hampshire that the only national emergency "is the humanitarian crisis that President Trump has created at our border from separating family from children and treating people who need our help inhumanely."

Trump declared a national emergency on Friday that allows him to bypass Congress and use billions of dollars from other agencies to build the wall. Congress approved far less money than Trump had sought, and the move drew bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.

Gillibrand visited a coffee shop in downtown Concord before stopping to listen to a homeless man, Kevin Clark, play a song by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), "Father and Son." She praised his singing and gave him a hug before heading off to a consignment shop, where she bought a vase and a small plate.

___

11:35 a.m.

Several Democratic presidential candidates are spending the long holiday weekend on the campaign trail.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris are visiting early voting states on Friday that will be critical to securing the Democratic nomination next year.

Gillibrand is in New Hampshire to participate in a walking tour of downtown Concord before visiting businesses in Dover and meeting members of the LGBT community in Somersworth. New Hampshire is home to the nation's first presidential primary.

Harris is in South Carolina, where she'll hold a town hall in North Charleston. The South Carolina primary is the nation's first-in-the-South contest and is a crucial test of African-American support.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, shakes hands with a patron while visiting a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, smiles as she listens to a patron while visiting a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, talks with a patron as she is surrounded by reporters and photographers while visiting a coffee shop on Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

US Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, shakes hands with Eric Tembas, originally from Somalia, while touring Main Street in Concord, N.H., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Gillibrand visited New Hampshire as she explores a 2020 run for president. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Authorities in Nigeria's Kaduna state are reporting at least 66 deaths in a wave of violence just before the country's presidential election.

Samuel Aruwan, a spokesman for Kaduna state's governor, said Friday that the victims include 22 children.

He blamed a "criminal element" for the deaths, which have taken place this week, in the Kajuru local government area.

One resident blamed the killings on fighting between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herdsmen.

Deadly clashes between the two communities have erupted in recent years in southern Kaduna as the groups compete for land and water.

Nigerian voters are headed to the polls Saturday amid concerns about violence in many parts of the country.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A U.S. Department of Justice legal opinion that could threaten online gambling and state-run lotteries is being challenged in court by the state of New Hampshire and the company that supports its iLottery system.

In a reversal from 2011, the department issued an opinion in November re-interpreting the federal Wire Act, which was enacted in 1961 to target the mob and prohibits interstate wagering. During the Obama administration, the department said online gambling within states that does not involve sporting events would not violate federal law, but in the November opinion, the officials said the law applies to any form of gambling that crosses state lines.

That raised concerns about the viability of multi-state online poker agreements, as well as state lotteries, and department lawyers acknowledged in their opinion that it was likely to be challenged in court. That happened Friday, when the New Hampshire Lottery Commission filed a lawsuit in federal court Friday saying the opinion subjects its employees to prosecution, creates uncertainty about whether it should cease operations and could cost the state more than $90 million a year.

Only a small portion of that total comes from the "iLottery" platform the state launched in September and is expected to bring in $4 to $6 million in the fiscal year that starts in July. But the broadest interpretation of the opinion would prohibit all lottery-related activities that use the internet, Attorney General Gordon MacDonald argued in the complaint. That includes transmission of data to backup servers set up in other states.

New Hampshire law requires that all net lottery profits go toward education funding. Since 1964, that has amounted to more than $2 billion.

"Today New Hampshire is taking action to protect public education," Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement. "The opinion by DOJ puts millions of dollars of school funding at risk, and we have a responsibility to stand up for our students."

The lawsuit calls the opinion arbitrary, capricious and an abuse of discretion and cites a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court regarding the 10th amendment to argue that Congress must make its intent clear when it legislates in areas traditionally regulated by the states.

"There is no indication in the plain language of (the Wire Act), its structure, its purpose, or its legislative history of an unmistakable Congressional intent to outlaw state-conducted lottery activity," MacDonald wrote. "If Congress wishes to criminalize the interstate transmissions required to operate state-conducted lotteries, it must do so in clear, unmistakable language. Congress has not done that in the Wire Act. "

The Department of Justice declined to comment.

Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware legalized online gambling after the 2011 opinion, and the three states have agreements allowing poker players to compete online across the states. Pennsylvania became the fourth state to legalize online casino gambling in 2017. New Hampshire is among at least nine states that allow lottery tickets to be purchased online, according NeoPollard Interactive, which provides New Hampshire's iLottery hardware and software and filed a similar suit.

The company's attorney, Matthew McGill, called the justice department's opinion a "lawless act."

"This opinion would subject to felony prosecution conduct that two court of appeals, including the First Circuit, have said is lawful," he said in a statement. "This is an outrageous and dangerous usurpation of authority."


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Blog Birding #398 Kaeli Swift of Corvid Research considers the bird of many names, the Canada Jay. On May 23rd, 2018 the American Ornithological Society announced that Perisoreus canadensis, the bird formerly known as the gray jay, would be officially recognized as the Canada jay. Although this change felt disruptive to some, for the folks spearheading the campaign, including foremost Canada jay expert Dan Strickland, this was the righting of a historical wrong more than a half-century in the making. Maines official state bird is the chickadee, but some in the state want to clarify whether thats Black-capped or Boreal. Steve Mistler has more at Maine Public.

Brian Olsen, an associate professor of biology and ecology at the University of Maine, refuses to take sides in the great chickadee debate, but he does want state lawmakers to know there are big differences between the boreal chickadee and the black-capped chickadee, which are both found in Maine. He says the black-capped has a song in the springtime, which he demonstrated for the State and Local Government Committee. Birding or Birdwatching? Thats the predicament Erika Zambello at 10,000 Birds finds herself in these days. Sliding the glass door to my Florida backyard, I shuffled my slipper-clad feet and closed the opening behind me. The sun had broken through an early morning haze, warming my backyard to over 70 degrees F  a bright spot in what had been a generally gloomy February. Plopping myself down on a bright blue chair, I carefully placed my binoculars on my lap and picked up my knitting. My view? A straight shot to my bird feeder. Audubon , and how birding your patch can make you a better birder. Georgia Silvera Seamens at explores the joys of patch birding , and how birding your patch can make you a better birder. The first time I heard the term patch birding, I was chatting with author and bird guide Heather Wolf in a coffeeshop overlooking Washington Square Park in New York City. She used the term to describe birding regularly in a place close to home, whether it be in Manhattan or her previous stomping grounds on the Florida Gulf Coast. A novice urban birder myself, I was intrigued by what the method entailed. Researchers studying bird migration have found that climate changes has encouraged some species to migrate earlier than others. Learn more at Phys.org. According to a new study, migratory birds in Europe and Canada have substantially advanced the timing of their spring migration due to climate change. The average migratory bird has advanced its spring migration by approximately one week in five decades, and the duration of the migration season has increased. The greatest advances were found among short-distance migrants that winter in Europe or North America: about 1.52 days per decade. Long-distance migrants that winter in the tropics have also advanced the start of their migration, but only by approximately 0.61.2 days per decade.
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Unusually heavy snow in the Spokane area has caused snow plow rage: Two plow drivers clearing streets this week were threatened by people infuriated when their driveways ended up blocked with mounds of snow.

In one incident, a man with a holstered handgun yelled obscenities at a plow driver and climbed onto the plow truck, trying to open a door, said Spokane County spokeswoman Martha Lou Wheatley-Billeter.

And on Thursday morning, another man threatened to get a gun while ordering a plow driver not to block a driveway with snow from the street, Wheatley-Billeter said.

The man with the holstered gun was not charged by sheriff's deputies because he had a permit to carry it and no charges were filed against the other man, said sheriff's spokesman Mark Gregory.

Spokane has received 21 inches (53 centimeters) of snow since Feb. 1, making the first two weeks of February this year the seventh snowiest for that period since record keeping began in 1893, the National Weather Service said. More snow was falling Friday.

People with driveways blocked by snow from plows should make complaints to county officials if they are upset, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich said in a statement.

In this Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 photo, Spokane County Sheriff's deputies respond to a call where a Spokane County plow driver said a local man brandished a firearm and told him to step out of his plow in Spokane, Wash. Unusually heavy snow in the Spokane area has caused snow plow rage: Two plow drivers clearing streets this week were threatened by people enraged after their driveways ended up blocked with mounds of snow. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review via AP)

"There are proper ways to address the snow plow concerns and intimidation is not one of them," he said.

The threats have prompted authorities to consider putting cameras on the snow plows, Wheatley-Billeter said.

"Hindering public employees from doing their jobs will not be tolerated," said County Commissioner Mary Kuney.

The county's plow drivers must clear about 2,500 miles (4,023 kilometers) of roads.

"Our crews have been working 10-14 hour shifts around the clock since last Thursday," county engineer Chad Coles said. "We understand that the level of frustration is rising, but please allow them to do their job."

The county is testing devices on plows that prevent snow from being plowed into driveways by keeping the snow in front of the plows as they pass driveways and then letting it go to the side of streets just past the driveways, Wheatley-Billeter said. They cost $25,000 each.
COBLESKILL, N.Y. (AP) - Ahoy, beer lovers: A bottle from a 133-year-old shipwreck may yield yeast for a new brew in upstate New York.

Biotechnology students at the State University of New York at Cobleskill uncorked a bottle from the shipwrecked SS Oregon on Thursday. Serious Brewing Company of Howes Cave plans to develop a new brew if the students successfully extract yeast.

Bill Felter, of Serious Brewing, acquired the beer from a customer who owns an assortment of artifacts recovered from the Oregon.

The ship was en route from Liverpool, England, to New York City with 852 people aboard on March 14, 1886, when it collided with a schooner near Fire Island, New York, and sank. All but one person survived.

Last year, an Australian brewer produced beer from yeast recovered from a 220-year-old shipwreck.

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This story has been corrected to show all but one of the 852 people on board survived.
MOSCOW (AP) - A Russian scientist who says he developed a nerve agent suspected to have been used against a Russian ex-agent and his daughter says he's been questioned by police after flyers appeared in his home city accusing him of pedophilia.

Vladimir Uglev told The Associated Press that police had taken fingerprints from him Friday and that officers had searched his home in the city of Anapa and computer Thursday.

He denies the pedophilia accusations and said that no charges have been filed, but that he was forced to resign from his work at a chemical company because of the scandal.

Uglev claimed to have synthesized a deadly liquid in 1975 which Britain says poisoned Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Britain last year. Russia denies involvement in the poisoning.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview posted Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein broached the idea of using the Constitution to oust President Donald Trump, saying the Justice Department official "discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort."

McCabe, in his interview with "60 Minutes," said Rosenstein was discussing "counting votes or possible votes" to invoke the Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows Cabinet members to seek the removal of a president if they conclude that he or she is mentally unfit.

Though McCabe wouldn't confirm that Rosenstein was plotting to get rid of Trump, he said: "What I can say is the deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time."

The Justice Department issued a statement Thursday that did not deny the conversation but that said Rosenstein believes "there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was (he) in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment."

CBS News posted the excerpt of its interview after ex-FBI official McCabe issued a statement saying comments of his on the subject had "been taken out of context and misrepresented." The interview will air Sunday on "60 Minutes."

CBS released a story Thursday about its interview in which correspondent Scott Pelley said McCabe had confirmed a discussion about the Constitution's 25th Amendment. But the transcript of that section of the interview was not released until Friday, after McCabe spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz sought to downplay McCabe's involvement in any discussions about a potential removal of the president.

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)

"Certain statements made by Mr. McCabe, in interviews associated with the release of his book, have been taken out of context and misrepresented," the statement said. "To clarify, at no time did Mr. McCabe participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions."

The interview was done ahead of the release next week of McCabe's book about his time in the FBI, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump."
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The new leader of the nation's largest sheriff's department on Friday further limited when inmates in Los Angeles County jails can be transferred to U.S. authorities for deportation.

The department has reduced the number of misdemeanor charges that can trigger an inmate's transfer to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation from 151 to 101, spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said.

One example of a charge removed from the list is vandalism with prior convictions, she said.

Under its so-called sanctuary law, California already limits which crimes can trigger the transfer of someone held in a county jail to federal deportation agents. The Los Angeles County sheriff's department further reduced the list of misdemeanors that qualify.

The department also limited the timeframe for these convictions to three years from five, she said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who won an upset election victory last year, previously said he would bar ICE agents from entering department facilities to conduct civil immigration matters.

FILE - In this Dec. 3, 2018 file photo newly-elected Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks during a swearing-in ceremony in Monterey Park, Calif. Villanueva will limit when inmates in the county's jails can be transferred to federal authorities for deportation. Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida said on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, the agency will reduce the number of misdemeanor charges that can trigger an inmate's transfer. She could not immediately say which misdemeanor charges would no longer qualify. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

That directive took effect this month, Nishida said. Previously, federal immigration agents would interview inmates suspected of being in the country illegally while they were still in jail.

Thomas P. Giles, acting field office director for ICE's enforcement and removal operations in Los Angeles, said in a statement that the changes would encourage criminal activity by immigrants without legal status. He said agents would keep making arrests elsewhere in the community of those suspected of being in the country illegally.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said she welcomed a reduction in the number of misdemeanor charges that can lead to deportation.

She said immigrants convicted of crimes already serve their sentences and the question is whether deportation is an appropriate enhancement for the offenses committed.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California is likely to sue President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, the state attorney general said Friday.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, told reporters that there is no emergency at the border and that Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration.

"No one in America is above the law, not even the president of the United States," Becerra said. "The president does not have power to act frivolously."

Trump declared a national emergency earlier in the day to bypass Congress to use money from the Pentagon and counterdrug efforts to fulfill his promise of completing the border wall. The president said immigrants entering the U.S. illegally were invading the country.

The announcement was immediately met with resistance from members of Congress. Becerra and Newsom said they were reviewing the emergency declaration but were likely to join other states in suing. They did not say when the state plans to file a lawsuit or what specific legal arguments it will use.

But both challenge the notion that there was a true emergency. Becerra said past presidents used such declarations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, flanked by Attorney General Xavier Becerra, right, answers a question concerning a lawsuit the state will likely file against President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom and Becerra both say there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Becerra pointed to Trump's comments earlier in the day that he did not need to issue the emergency declaration but was doing so to accelerate plans for his border wall. He suggested Trump hopes any legal challenges will ultimately be determined by the U.S. Supreme Court. Republican presidents appointed five of the court's nine members.

"He knows he will lose in court and that he is hoping to use the U.S. Supreme Court as a tool in his game to fulfill a campaign promise," Becerra said.

Newsom argued that Trump's plan to use money on the border wall that had been dedicated for military installations and combating drugs would hurt California.

Newsom on Monday signed an executive order to pull most of California's 360 National Guard troops from the southern border but said 100 will remain there to help federal officials combating transnational drug crime.

"Interdiction policies we are engaged in that we want to advance in California now are being put at risk because of this political crisis that's being manufactured," Newsom said.

Building a wall, he argued, will not stop the flow of illegal drugs that come across ports of entry in vehicles or by other means.

Becerra has filed at least 45 lawsuits against the Trump administration.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, right, accompanied by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California will probably sue President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Becerra says there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, flanked by Attorney General Xavier Becerra, right, answers a question concerning a probable lawsuit the state will likely file against President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom and Becerra both say there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, right, accompanied by Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California will probably sue President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Becerra says there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

California Gov. Gavin Newsom discusses the lawsuit the state will likely file against President Donald Trump over his emergency declaration to fund a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Sacramento, Calif. Newsom says there is no emergency at the border and Trump doesn't have the authority to make the declaration. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
DALLAS (AP) - A Texas jury has awarded more than $37 million to a woman who sued Honda after being paralyzed in a 2015 car crash.

Sarah Milburn sued the automaker over its seatbelt design after her Uber driver ran a red light and the Honda was struck by a pickup truck in Dallas.

Milburn's lawyer argued that the seatbelts in the Honda Odyssey were poorly designed and contributed to her injuries. The crash broke the 27-year-old's spine, leaving her a quadriplegic.

A Honda spokesman said Friday that the company will appeal. Honda had argued it wasn't liable for Milburn's injuries because the Odyssey's seatbelts met federal safety standards.

Milburn's lawyer argued the seatbelts where Milburn was seated in the minivan had a two-part system that was unfamiliar and difficult to use for many people.
Amazon's breakup with New York was still fresh when other cities started sending their own valentines to the online giant.

Officials in Newark, New Jersey, one of the 18 finalists that Amazon rejected in November when it announced plans to put its new headquarters in New York and northern Virginia, sent a giant heart that read, "NJ & Newark Still Love U, Amazon!"

Representatives of other jilted suitors, such as Chicago and suburban Maryland, tried to get Amazon's attention and say they're still interested in a relationship, too.

The love notes came even though Amazon said it doesn't plan to pick a new city to replace New York, where the HQ2 project was supposed to produce 25,000 jobs. Instead, the company said it will spread some of those jobs around at other Amazon sites in the U.S. and Canada and expand its existing New York offices.

But why woo a company that says it's not interested?

For one, the allure of potential jobs is just too much to pass up for many politicians, said Nathan Jensen, a University of Texas government professor who has criticized how economic development incentives are used.

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2017, file photo, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, right, speaks while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stands behind him during an announcement in Newark, N.J. Officials in Newark, which was one of the 18 finalists that Amazon rejected in November when it announced it would split its HQ2 between New York and northern Virginia, sent a giant heart that said "NJ & Newark Still Love U, Amazon!" The love note came despite Amazon saying it's not seeking a new site. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

And even if Amazon spurns them, this is a low-risk way for politicians to show they are looking out for their constituents.

"The 'losing' cities can continue to publicly talk about everything they are doing for HQ2 even if they know they don't have a shot. If they know HQ2 isn't coming, there is no real cost to doing this," Jensen said.

More than 230 municipalities in North America competed for HQ2, taking part in a months-long bidding war that Amazon eagerly fomented. Cities offered billions in inducements. In New Jersey, state and local governments put $7 billion in incentives on the table as part of the Newark bid.

New York ultimately won the competition by promising nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and grants in addition to access to the nation's media and financial capital and its educated workforce. But on Valentine's Day, Amazon abruptly canceled the project after running into fierce opposition to those incentives from lawmakers and political activists on the left.

That shows that the company cared little about getting community input, said Richard Florida, an economic development expert.

"After searching across 200 plus communities and identifying NY (and greater DC) as the places it needed to be, it pulls out as soon as local residents and politicians question the billions in incentives it does not need and asks it do more for the community," Florida said in an email.

Florida and Jensen predicted some cities will now begin to push back when companies seek tax subsidies. But Greg LeRoy, executive director of the nonpartisan think tank Good Jobs First, said there is little likelihood that will happen any time soon.

"Look, this is deeply learned behavior," LeRoy said. "There's an 80-plus-year history to this tax-break-industrial complex."

In the meantime, the mayor of Warren, Michigan, posted online about his town being available. Upstate New York cities, like Rochester, made it clear they, too, are open for business.

"Nassau County welcomes your investment and would like to discuss siting your project here," state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Long Island Democrat, told the company.

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Associated Press writer David Klepper in Albany, New York, contributed.

FILE - This April 10, 2018, file photo shows part of the skyline in Newark, N.J. Officials in Newark, which was one of the 18 finalists that Amazon rejected in November when it announced it would split its HQ2 between New York and northern Virginia, sent a giant heart that said "NJ & Newark Still Love U, Amazon!" The love note came despite Amazon saying it's not seeking a new site. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

In this Feb. 14, 2019 photo provided by Newark Alliance, Laurie Ross, an actor with the event planners at Life 'O the Party, holds a message reading "NJ & Newark Still Love U, Amazon!" while arriving at an Amazon office in New York. The love note came despite Amazon saying it's not seeking a new site. (Matthew Cossel/Winning Strategies for Newark Alliance via AP)
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana officials say they have nailed down the voting registration method they'll use for convicted felons whose rights will be restored under a law effective March 1.

Some lawmakers Friday said the multiple-step process for the estimated 36,000 felons is too complicated. They also want more outreach to announce the voting rights restoration.

Lawmakers voted last year to allow people on probation or parole for a felony to register to vote if they haven't been in prison for five years.

Under plans devised by elections and corrections officials, felons will have to get a form from their probation or parole officers and bring that to their local registrar of voters office.

New Orleans Democratic Rep. Gary Carter suggested automating registration. Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said that requires law changes.
ECRU, Miss. (AP) - A northeast Mississippi man is charged with three counts of second-degree arson in a furniture factory fire.

Pontotoc County Sheriff Leo Mask says 30-year-old Jason Lee Doss of Pontotoc is jailed awaiting a hearing on bail. It's unclear if Doss has a lawyer to speak for him.

Thursday's blaze at American Furniture in Ecru was the third fire there in just over a year. An October fire was ruled arson, while the cause of a January 2018 fire is unknown.

Local news outlets report Doss has confessed and that all three charges are related to Thursday's fire.

Sheriff Mask says employees followed Doss down a road, leading to his arrest.

No employees were injured, but company officials estimate more than 5,000 pieces of finished furniture were destroyed.
HOUSTON (AP) - Authorities say a man gunned down his girlfriend at a Houston Dunkin' Donuts where she worked and then killed himself.

A police investigator told KTRK television that the man went into the shop west of downtown Houston just before noon on Friday and fired several shots, killing his girlfriend in a "senseless and tragic act of domestic violence." He then killed himself.

Another employee witnessed the shootings.

Police say the woman was a manager at the store and that the shooter had previously acted violently toward her.

Police withheld the identities of the dead pending notification of their families and didn't immediately reply to an Associated Press phone message seeking further details.

A man watches as the Houston Police officers investigate the scene of a fatal shooting at the Dunkin' Donuts on the 5800 block of Memorial Drive Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Houston. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Houston Police officers investigate the scene of a fatal shooting at a Dunkin' Donuts on the 5800 block of Memorial Drive Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Houston. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Houston Police officers investigate the scene of a fatal shooting at a Dunkin' Donuts on the 5800 block of Memorial Drive Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Houston. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The Latest on closing arguments in lawsuits before a U.S. judge in San Francisco challenging the Trump administration's decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. Census (all times local):

4:30 p.m.

An attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice says Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross decided to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census because he believed another government agency needed better data.

California and several cities have sued to stop the question from being asked.

Brett Shumate said during closing arguments in the lawsuit on Friday there was no evidence that Ross would have added the question without the request from the DOJ, and a court can't override the secretary's judgment. Ross said in March that he was responding to a Justice Department request that the Census ask about citizenship to improve enforcement of the federal Voting Rights Act.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg said evidence showed Ross was determined to add a citizenship question regardless, but he did not immediately rule. The hearing came as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a separate court ruling that has so far blocked the administration from adding the citizenship question.

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12:10 p.m.

An attorney for the state of California says the process behind Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross' decision to add a citizenship question to the U.S. Census was "rotten to its core."

Matthew Wise said Friday during closing arguments in a lawsuit brought by the state and others in federal court in San Francisco that Census officials warned Ross that the question would reduce the percentage of immigrants who respond. California says that would lead to an undercount that would jeopardize federal funding and its representation in Congress.

California wants U.S. Judge Richard Seeborg to keep the question off the Census. Seeborg was not expected to rule immediately.

The hearing came as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review a separate court ruling that has so far blocked the administration from adding the citizenship question. Attorneys for the Justice Department and plaintiffs said Seeborg should still rule so the cases before him might also go before the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department says census officials take steps to guard against an undercount. Its attorneys were expected to make its closing argument later Friday.

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8:15 p.m.

The Trump administration will try to persuade a U.S. judge to let it add a citizenship question to the 2020 U.S. census.

Lawsuits by California and numerous cities in the state say asking people whether they're U.S. citizens would discourage immigrants and Latinos from participating in the population count.

Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco isn't expected to issue a ruling immediately after Friday's closing arguments.

The lawsuits say a lack of participation by immigrants and Latinos would result in an undercount that would jeopardize federal funding and the state's representation in Congress.

The U.S. Justice Department says census officials take steps to guard against an undercount.

A federal judge in New York last month barred the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question in a separate set of lawsuits.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge on Friday placed some limits on what President Donald Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone and his lawyers can say publicly about his criminal case in the special counsel's Russia probe.

But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson stopped short of imposing a broad ban on public comments by the outspoken political operative, issuing a limited gag order she said was necessary to ensure Stone's right to a fair trial and "to maintain the dignity and seriousness of the courthouse and these proceedings."

The order bars Stone from commenting about his pending case near the courthouse, but it does not constrain him from making other public statements about the prosecution. It does generally bar his lawyers, prosecutors and witnesses from making public comments that could "pose a substantial likelihood" of prejudicing potential jurors.

Jackson's order comes after a string of media appearances by the attention-seeking political consultant since his indictment and arrest last month. In several of those interviews, Stone had blasted special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference as politically motivated and criticized his case as involving only "process crimes."

Jackson had cited those media appearances in raising the prospect of a gag order, warning Stone at a hearing not to treat his case like a "book tour."

Stone's lawyers had argued that any limits on his public comments would infringe on his First Amendment right to free speech. They wrote in a filing last week that Stone's comments wouldn't merit a "clear and present danger to a fair trial." Mueller's prosecutors didn't oppose a gag order.

In this Feb. 1, 2019 photo, former campaign adviser for President Donald Trump, Roger Stone, leaves federal court in Washington. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has issued a gag order in the case of Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone. Jackson said in an order Friday that both sides must refrain from making statements to the media or the public that could prejudice the case. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

In her order, Jackson said she considered not only the potential impact of public comments on jurors but also the need to maintain order at the federal courthouse in Washington.

Citing the "size and vociferousness" of crowds already attracted to Stone's court proceedings, Jackson barred Stone, lawyers and witnesses from making any statements to the news media while entering and exiting the courthouse.

Jackson left open the possibility that she could amend the order in the future and reminded Stone that he is not permitted to contact any witnesses in the case. She also said if Stone complained about pretrial publicity at a later date, she would consider whether he had brought it on himself.

The 66-year-old Stone was arrested in an FBI raid at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home last month. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. The charges stem from conversations he had during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released material stolen from Democratic groups, including Hillary Clinton's campaign.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia was the source of the hacked material, and last year Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officers in the hacking.

Stone is not accused of directly coordinating with WikiLeaks. But Mueller's team did confirm in a court filing Friday that investigators have evidence of communication between Stone and WikiLeaks and between Stone and Guccifer 2.0, who purported to be a Romanian hacker responsible for the intrusions but who authorities say was actually a front for Russian intelligence.

Mueller did not provide details of the communications, though The Atlantic last year published what it said were Twitter direct messages between Stone and WikiLeaks, including one in which WikiLeaks appeared to scold Stone for suggesting in his public comments an association with the organization.

The messages that have been made public were exchanged after WikiLeaks had begun releasing the hacked material, and they don't show Stone coordinating with the anti-secrecy group.

Stone has been outspoken since his arrest, declaring his innocence in a news conference following his first court appearance in Florida and accusing Mueller of heavy-handed tactics by having him arrested in a pre-dawn raid.

He's been more muted outside the courthouse in Washington, though he did hold a hotel news conference - accompanied by a host from the conspiracy theory website InfoWars - in which he said he would respect any gag order from the judge but also expected to appeal it.

He maintained he had no negative information about the president to share with Mueller and insisted he hadn't done anything wrong.

"I am not accused of Russian collusion, I am not accused of collaboration with WikiLeaks, I am not accused of conspiracy," Stone said. "There is no evidence or accusation that I knew in advance about the source or content of the WikiLeaks material."

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Read the order: http://apne.ws/DZtnY0b

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This story has been corrected to reflect that the gag order bars Stone from making comments about his case only near the federal courthouse in Washington, not in media appearances or elsewhere. It also applies more broadly to lawyers and witnesses, not just Stone.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - An Arkansas lawmaker is proposing that a star on the state's flag no longer represent the Confederacy, saying it should instead commemorate the contribution of Native Americans to the state.

Democratic Rep. Charles Blake's legislation filed Friday wouldn't change the design of Arkansas' state flag. Instead, it would eliminate language from Arkansas law that says the blue star above the state's name on the flag commemorates the Confederate States of America.

Under Blake's proposal, the star would commemorate the Quapaw, Osage and Caddo tribes and the other Native American nations that inhabited Arkansas.

The proposal comes two years after Arkansas' Republican governor signed a law removing Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the state holiday that honors civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - The Latest on text messages between the commander of the Portland, Oregon Police Bureau's rapid response team and the leader of the far-right group Patriot Prayer (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

Portland, Oregon, police say commander will not work with a specialized rapid response team he leads while the city investigates texts between him and the leader of a far-right group.

The text messages show Lt. Jeff Niiya communicating with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson during protests that have rocked the liberal city.

Attempts to reach Niiya for comment were not immediately successful.

In the texts, Niiya details the movements of a rival anti-fascist protest group and warns Gibson that a Patriot Prayer ally with a possible warrant for his arrest needs to be careful.

FILE - In this April 27, 2017, file photo, Joey Gibson speaks during a rally in support of free speech in Berkeley, Calif. The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has asked the police chief to investigate "disturbing" texts between the commander of the department's rapid response team and Gibson the leader of a far-right group involved in violent protests in the city. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Mayor Ted Wheeler has asked the police chief to investigate the "disturbing" texts and says they appear to encourage Patriot Prayer and contribute to the distrust of the police.

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8:51 a.m.

The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has asked the police chief to investigate "disturbing" texts between the commander of the department's rapid response team and the leader of a far-right group involved in violent protests in the city.

The text messages show Lt. Jeff Niiya communicating with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson during protests, detailing the movement of a rival anti-fascist protest group and warning Gibson a Patriot Prayer member with a possible warrant for his arrest needed to be careful. The messages were first reported Thursday by the Willamette Week newspaper.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said the messages appeared to encourage Patriot Prayer and contributed to distrust of the police.

The police were accused last August of being heavy-handed and injuring some people who were protesting a rally organized by Gibson.

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2018, file photo, counter protesters tear a Nazi flag, in Portland, Ore. A member of Portland's city council says she is shocked by a newspaper report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city. Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said the reporting in Willamette Week on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, confirms there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes, File)
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Air Force to temporarily stop discharging service members who are HIV-positive, ruling that it's working under a policy that is "irrational" and "outdated."

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, issued her decision as a lawsuit moves forward against the U.S. Military.

Service members in the Air Force claim they're being discharged solely because of their HIV status and despite the recommendations of their doctors and commanding officers, who say they are fit to serve.

For now, the ruling keeps at least two HIV-positive men in the Air Force who were days and weeks away from being formally discharged.

Air Force policies had prevented the service members with HIV from deploying to places outside the U.S., such as Iraq and Afghanistan, without a waiver. That, in turn, resulted in the men being considered "unfit" for continued military service.

Because of advances in medicine and treatment for HIV, Judge Brinkema wrote that the disease "does not impose unreasonable burdens on the military when compared to similar chronic conditions."

She also said that HIV "does not seriously jeopardize the health or safety of the service member or his companions in service."

The judge added that the service members are likely to have some success in arguing their case as it moves forward.

The military has argued that the lawsuit is premature because the personnel have not explored all of their options within the military to fight being discharged. The military has also argued that such policy questions fall under the discretion of the federal government's executive branch.

The Department of Justice is representing the military. Spokeswoman Kelly Laco said its attorneys are reviewing the judge's decision. She declined to comment further.

The service members are being represented by lawyers from the LGBT rights groups Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN as well as the law firm Winston & Strawn.

The service members' attorneys said a judge's ruling against the military is rare, and framed the decision as a significant legal victory.

"These decisions should be based on science, not stigma, as today's ruling from the bench demonstrates," said Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal.

Schoettes added: "We still have to prove at trial that people living with HIV are deployable. But in the meantime they're not going to be able to get rid of any of those service members."
LONDON (AP) - The family of a pregnant British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group urged the government Friday to help bring her home.

Shamima Begum's family issued a statement appealing for government assistance "as a matter of urgency." Begum, now 19, resurfaced this week at a refugee camp in Syria where she gave an interview to the Times of London saying she didn't regret her decision, but wanted to come home.

"Given Shamima's four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured," the family said in a statement to Britain's ITV, describing her words as those of child who had been groomed by IS recruiters.

Begum was one of a group of schoolgirls from London's Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to marry IS fighters in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Her comments raise larger questions about how Western societies will deal with others who joined IS, but want to return to their home countries now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse.

Though it is unclear whether Begum has committed any crime, her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism from many who believe her decision makes her a permanent pariah in Britain.

This undated photo issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Shamima Begum. A pregnant British teenager who ran away from Britain to join Islamic State extremists in Syria four years ago has said she wants to come back to London, but her path home is not clear. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London. (Metropolitan Police via AP)

The head of Britain's MI6 security service, Alex Younger, has warned that Britons returning from Islamic State are likely to have acquired "potentially very dangerous" skills and connections.

Though he didn't comment on the Begum case, Younger said that while U.K. nationals have a "right" to come home, public safety was the first priority.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid told the Times he "will not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who "supported terrorist organizations abroad." But others have appealed for mercy, noting Begum's age when she fled.

Though the family said they were "shocked" by her comments, they said she should "be returned to the U.K. and be dealt with under the British justice system."

"The welfare of Shamima's unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events," they said in the statement. "Shamima's child who will also be British has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home."
WASHINGTON (AP) - White House press secretary Sarah Sanders has been interviewed as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Sanders says in a statement released Friday that she was "happy to voluntarily" sit for the interview. It was unclear when Sanders was interviewed but she says her boss, President Donald Trump, urged her to "fully cooperate."

CNN was first to report on Sanders' interview.

Mueller is believed to be close to wrapping up his investigation into possible collusion between Trump's presidential campaign and the Russian government. Trump has denied collusion and has denounced the investigation as a political "witch hunt." Sanders has also used the "witch hunt" language to describe Mueller's inquiry.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Justice Department can't deny Philadelphia millions in public safety funding because of its status as a "sanctuary city."

The ruling echoes others that block the department from withholding funds to cities that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agencies.

City officials have refused to give immigration agents access to prison inmates suspected of being in the country illegally or notify agents before the inmates are released.

In her ruling, U.S. Circuit Court Judge Marjorie Rendell said the Justice Department exceeded its power in attaching those conditions to the approximately $2.5 million in annual grants the city receives.

Mayor Jim Kenney said Philadelphia will continue to welcome immigrants, calling the Justice Department's efforts "an unconscionable attempt to bully the city and its residents."

An email seeking comment was sent to the Justice Department.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - Kyle Busch had been sprayed with champagne and hoisted his winner's trophy last July at Pocono Raceway when fans sitting high above the stage shouted his name so they could snap a quick photo.

Busch craned his neck to oblige the requests and the signage on the premium seating structure was impossible to miss: the Richard Petty 200 Victory Circle.

NASCAR drivers for a generation have looked up at Petty's record win total, a number as synonymous with The King as his feathered cowboy hats, dark glasses and cowboy boots.

"It's just a bunch of wins," Petty said.

A whole bunch that add up to one big number that Busch is primed to zip past this season.

It's Kyle vs. The King in the battle for winningest driver in NASCAR history.

Kyle Busch, right, poses for a selfie photo with a race fan before the first of two qualifying auto races for the NASCAR Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Sort of.

Petty is NASCAR's undisputed leaders in victories with 200 and each checkered flag was collected in the elite Cup series. He won his first race in 1960 and his last one in Daytona in 1984. Not only is Petty in first, he has no peer - David Pearson, who died in November, is up next with 103. Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon was the only other driver within striking of distance of 100 with 93 Cup wins.

The 33-year-old Busch has 194 NASCAR wins across three series and sits a solid 11th on the career Cup list with 51.

"If he's not the best, he's one of the best," long-time Petty crew chief Dale Inman said.

The debate is raised because Busch accumulated his wins in two other NASCAR series that weren't available in Petty's heyday: Busch has a record 51 wins in the Truck Series (formed in 1995) and 91 more in the second-tier Xfinity Series (1982).

Busch said he would never compare his win total with Petty's.

"Absolutely not because his number is obviously Cup wins and mine's not," Busch said.

Busch seems a lock to pass Petty for the overall mark at some point this season. He won eight times in Cup in 2018 and that total alone would push him past Petty. He is scheduled to race five times this season in Trucks and seven in Xfinity.

Even as Busch posted big Cup seasons, he continued to dip down to the lower levels and race each Friday and Saturday. Busch was the class of each series from 2008 to 2016. He'd sweep race weekends and take his customary bow to thousands of fans booing the outlier who had essentially spoiled a shot at a win for a rising star or lower-series stalwart.

When some teenager or some 20-something prospect would trudge into the media center with another runner-up behind Busch, the question would inevitably arise - is it fair for a veteran like Busch in top equipment to come down and run roughshod over the field?

Mike Trout doesn't moonlight in Triple-A. Joel Embiid doesn't mess around on off nights in the G-League. Tired of the complaining, NASCAR implemented rules for 2017 that restricted the number of Trucks and Xfinity races for Cup drivers. It was basically a Kyle Busch rule.

Petty earned his first victory in 1960, his third season on the Grand National circuit, and his 27 victories in 1967 still stand as a single-season record. While Busch has only competed in a 36-race season, Petty drove in 61 races - 61! - in 1964. He made 52 and 54 starts in consecutive seasons (1962-63) and crushed the competition in an era when NASCAR was still a regional series racing on short tracks in the South.

The races themselves were also much different. Among the wins for Petty is the 1961 World 600 Qualifier No. 1 (67 laps, 100.5 miles), and he even won 50-milers in 1962 at Roanoke, Huntsville and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

"If you go back and look at some of the older guys, Red Farmers and all that, they've won thousands of races in Saturday night deals. Sunday deals. Different kinds of cars. It's just a number," Petty said. "Just like me winning 200 is just a number. I just happened to be in the same kind of car."

Petty won his 200th race in his 915th career start but he failed to win again over the final eight years of his career. Busch, who is only racing this weekend in the Daytona 500, has 51 Cup wins in 498 starts.

Three-time NASCAR champion Darrell Waltrip said different eras make it unfair to compare Petty's 200 vs. Busch's 194.

"I could look at Richard Petty's wins and say, 'Well, they weren't quality wins because some of those were on dirt tracks, some of them came when they ran five, six nights a week, short tracks, half mile, quarter mile, little race tracks up in the north,'" he said. "If I looked at quality wins, most of Kyle Busch's wins are quality wins in the top three series. I could go in a lot of different directions."

Busch has set a goal of 100 Cup victories.

"I feel as though I'm chasing Jeff Gordon or maybe even David Pearson," Busch said. "I don't know if I can get there. I like to think I can get there. I'm at, what is it 51 or something? I'm at 51 right now, so if I can get another 50 in the next 10 years, that would certainly be nice to go out with 100 Cup wins."

Petty towered over his peers and set records that endured for decades, and his mighty Cup victory total will likely forever stand as the peak of NASCAR's magic numbers.

"Nobody will ever touch 200," Busch said.

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Retired radio talk show host Diane Rehm testified in favor of a Maryland measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor's help, describing the misery her husband suffered during his final days. Opponents, however, say the measure is dangerous and could enable vulnerable people to kill themselves, even if they aren't terminally ill.

Rehm, a former NPR host, has supported assisted-death legislation since her husband, John, died while in hospice care in Maryland 2014. She told a crowded hearing room filled with supporters and opponents that her husband felt betrayed that the law would not allow a physician to end his suffering, even though he only had months to live. His doctor told him he could stop eating and drinking, and that's what he did the next day.

"I sat by my husband's side day and night for 10 days as he slowly died," Rehm said. "You could see the agony expressed in his face, though he made no outcry and no request for water. But why did our laws infringe on an individual's decision to die peacefully when dying was inevitable within a few months?"

Paul Okerblom wore a sticker that read "No Assisted Suicide," as he and other opponents to the legislation listened outside the crowded hearing room. He said elderly people could choose to end their lives because they feel they have become a burden. Okerblom also said doctors can make mistakes in their prognosis, and he noted an example of that in his own family, after his mother-in-law was given six months to live two years ago.

"It has a slippery slope to it for sure," Okerblom said of the legislation.

The measure would allow adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs, if a doctor finds they have six months or less to live. The physician must certify that the person has the capacity to make the decision, and the prescription can only be self-administered by the individual.

Retired radio talk show host Diane Rehm testifies in favor of a measure in Maryland that would allow the terminally ill to end their lives with the help of a doctor during a hearing on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Annapolis, Md. At center is Kim Callinan, CEO of Compassion & Choices, which supports the bill. The Rev. Charles McNeill, of Unity Baptist Church, left, also testified in favor of the bill. (AP Photo/Brian Witte)

Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he would take a close look at the bill, if the Democrat-controlled General Assembly passes the measure.

"That's an issue that is one that we're going to take a very close look at," Hogan told reporters Thursday. "I'll be honest with you, it's one that I really wrestle with from a personal basis. I understand the passion and concerns on both sides of the issue."

Supporters of the measure in Maryland have been trying for several years to pass the legislation, but the bill has stalled. Supporters are hoping the start of a new term with 60 new legislators may change the political dynamics this time. Also, supporters say they have increased safeguards to try to address concerns by opponents.

For example, a person would have to make three requests for a life-ending prescription from a doctor, and at least one of those must be made with the individual alone with his or her doctor.

Medically assisted deaths are legal in seven states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington as well as the District of Columbia.
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - The Latest on a shooting at a business in Aurora, Illinois (all times local):

9:50 p.m.

Police say the gunman who killed five people at a suburban Chicago business was a 15-year employee who was being fired.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman says 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" Friday afternoon before he opened fire at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora.

Five police officers also were shot and wounded before Martin was located in the warehouse. Ziman says Martin was shot and killed.

Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

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7:10 p.m.

Police have taped off a suburban Chicago apartment unit where the suspect in the fatal shootings of five people in an industrial warehouse was believed to have lived.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman identified the gunman Friday as 45-year-old Gary Martin. She said he was believed to have been an employee at Henry Pratt Co. Ziman said Martin killed five people before he was fatally shot by police.

Neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with the shooter. The multi-unit complex is a mix of apartments and condos.

Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks. "This is a strange thing to come home to," she said.

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6:25 p.m.

President Donald Trump says law enforcement officers did a "great job" handling an active shooter situation at an industrial park in suburban Chicago.

Police say the gunman killed five people and shot and wounded five police officers Friday afternoon at the Henry Pratt Co. plant in Aurora.

Authorities then shot and killed the suspect, who has been identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman says a sixth officer was wounded but not by gunfire.

Trump sent a tweet as news of the casualties was unfolding, sending his "Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families," adding "America is with you!"

Trump is spending the weekend at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

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6 p.m.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has commended the "amazing" work of law enforcement officers who responded to the scene of a shooting in suburban Chicago that left five people dead and five police officers shot and wounded.

Pritzker told reporters after the shooting in Aurora Friday afternoon that the officers "rushed toward danger, and in doing that ... saved countless lives."

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Zimen said a sixth officer was hurt but not hit by gunfire.

Pritzker extended his sympathies to the victims' families, saying there is nothing he can say to reduce their pain, but that they should "know our state grieves with you"

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5:50 p.m.

Police have identified the gunman who killed five people at a suburban Chicago business and shot and wounded five police officers.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters that 45-year-old Gary Martin also shot and wounded five police officers in the attack Friday afternoon at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora.

Ziman says Martin was shot and killed.

Workers at the plant earlier said Martin was employed there.

Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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5:45 p.m.

The chief of police says five people were killed and five officers were wounded in a shooting at a business in suburban Chicago.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters that the officers were fired upon Friday afternoon as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora.

Ziman says the gunman was also killed.

Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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4 p.m.

A spokesman for the coroner's office says at least one person is dead following a shooting at a business in suburban Chicago.

Kane County coroner's office spokesman Chris Nelson says at least one person was killed in the attack Friday afternoon at the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora.

City spokesman Clayton Muhammad earlier told ABC7 that the suspect had been "neutralized." He did not elaborate.

Muhammad also says four officers were wounded in the shooting and are in stable condition.

Muhammad did not say the officers had been shot or if anyone else was hurt.

Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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3:50 p.m.

A city spokesman says four police officers were wounded in a shooting at a business in suburban Chicago.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, told ABC7 that the officers are in stable condition following the shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. building Friday afternoon.

Muhammad did not say the officers were shot or if anyone else was hurt.

Authorities say a suspect has been apprehended.

Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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3:40 p.m.

The White House says President Donald Trump has been briefed on a shooting in Illinois and is monitoring the situation.

Spokesman Sarah Sanders issued her statement Friday as Trump prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Authorities in Aurora, Illinois, have been monitoring an active shooter situation at an industrial park. City officials report that a shooter has been apprehended.

Police have not said if anyone has been shot. Aurora is about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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3:17 p.m.

A suburban Chicago school district is keeping all of its students in their classrooms as police investigate an active shooter situation at an industrial park in Aurora.

West Aurora School District 129 says on its webpage that officials Friday afternoon are "holding all district students in place for their safety."

The district also says that per directions from the county sheriff, the district has been advised to go into soft lockdown situation and that "teaching will continue with reduced movement."

A building housing that houses the Henry Pratt Co. has been swarmed with police and paramedics after reports of the shooting.

It isn't clear if anyone has been wounded in the shooting.

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3:15 p.m.

City officials in Aurora, Illinois, say a shooter has been apprehended.

The city sent a tweet Friday afternoon saying there was an active shooter in an industrial park and that police were on the scene.

They say the shooter is in custody and the area still is on lockdown.

Live TV reports show dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co.

Police have not said if anyone has been shot.

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3:05 p.m.

An employee at the Illinois company where a shooting has been reported says the gunman is a co-worker.

John Probst told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door of the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon.

Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works at the company. He said the gunman has "a pistol with a laser."

Probst says he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

Aurora is 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

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14:45 p.m.

City officials say there is an active shooter situation at an industrial park in Aurora, Illinois.

The city sent a tweet Friday afternoon saying police are on the scene.

Live TV reports show dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co.

Police have not said if anyone has been shot.

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

This image from video provided by ABC 7 Chicago shows the industrial park in Aurora, Ill., where officials say a gunman opened fire at the Henry Pratt Co. building on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (ABC 7 Chicago via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - El Salvador's Supreme Court has overturned a 30-year sentence for a woman convicted in July of aggravated homicide for allegedly having an abortion.

The court ordered a new trial for Evelyn Beatriz Hernandez Cruz, who was released Friday after almost three years in jail. She was greeted by activists chanting "Evelyn, you are not alone!"

Hernandez said she was raped and didn't realize she was pregnant. She also said she felt pains and passed out during what may have been a miscarriage in April 2016.

The Associated Press normally doesn't name victims of alleged sexual assault, but Hernandez has spoken publicly about her case.

Abortion is illegal in all situations in El Salvador.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - Fear washed over Travis Kauffman as he wrestled with a thrashing mountain lion that attacked him on a Colorado mountain trail, but then his fighting instinct took over as he found its neck with his foot and suffocated the young cat.

The 31-year-old trail runner recalled Thursday his encounter with the silent cat that lunged at him from behind, clamped its jaws down on his wrist and clawed at his neck, face and body. Striking the mountain lion on the head with a rock didn't get it to release its grip. Neither did his attempts to stab the animal in the neck with twigs.

"There was a point where I was concerned that I wasn't going to make it out," Kauffman told reporters. "I had that wave of fear roll over me and thought I could end up there."

It was the first time Kauffman publicly recounted the Feb. 4 ordeal that left him with 28 stitches and a reputation for toughness and bravery that overshadows his wiry frame.

"I will never be able to live up to the reputation," said Kauffman, who is 5-foot-10 (1.5 meters) and weighs about 155 pounds (70 kilograms). "The story is bigger than my puny form."

Kauffman said he was running on a trail in the mountains west of Fort Collins when he heard pine needles rustle behind him. He turned to see the mountain lion about 10 feet (3 meters) away.

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

"One of my worst fears was confirmed," he said.

The cat lunged, and Kauffman raised his hands and screamed. The animal locked its teeth onto his wrist and they tumbled off the side of the trail.

Kauffman grabbed a rock with his free hand and beat the cat on the back of the head. He also tried stabbing it with twigs, but nothing worked.

"It really clicked after I hit it in the head with a rock and it still didn't release my wrist that at that point, more drastic measures were necessary," he said. "I was able to kind of shift my weight and get a foot on its neck" until it succumbed.

Bleeding from his face and wrist, he jogged back down the trail, where he met other runners who got him to a hospital.

"I was just thankful that he had his eyes and his fingers and all his parts, and it didn't look as bad as I maybe would have thought that it could," said Kauffman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers retrieved the dead cat. They said their investigation and a necropsy confirmed Kauffman's account.

"Travis is a pretty amazing young man," said Ty Petersburg, a wildlife manager for the agency.

Kauffman became the 22nd person attacked by a mountain lion in Colorado since 1990, Parks and Wildlife said. Three of the attacks were fatal.

A necropsy report said the cat that attacked Kauffman was male, 4 or 5 months old and weighed 35 to 40 pounds (16 to 18 kilograms). The cat had limited fat, indicating it was hungry but not starving.

It showed no sign of rabies or other diseases, the report said, but many of its organs had been scavenged by other animals before the body was recovered.

Adult male mountain lions average about 150 pounds, Parks and Wildlife said.

Petersburg said officers set up cameras and traps in the area for several days after the attack. They saw no large mountain lions but captured two young ones in good health. He said both are in a rehabilitation center, and the agency hopes to release them back into the wild.

Kauffman, who is an environmental consultant, described himself as an avid runner, cyclist and skier who has a pet cat at home. He said he doesn't plan to retreat from the outdoors.

"I will go run those trails again," he said, but added, "I will go with a buddy there."

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Associated Press writer Dan Elliott in Denver contributed to this report.

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This story has been corrected to show that Travis Kauffman's last name was misspelled.

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on at left. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on at left. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Mark Leslie, manager of the northeast region of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about a runner's encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
NEW YORK (AP) - President Donald Trump's inaugural committee received a sweeping request for financial records this week from prosecutors in New Jersey, the second subpoena the group has received in as many weeks as its fundraising and spending draws mounting scrutiny.

The committee said Friday that it is in contact with the New Jersey Attorney General's Office, which issued the request for documents on Monday as part of a civil inquiry into how the committee raised and spent $107 million on inaugural events.

The inaugural committee has told the AP its finances were independently audited and that all funds were spent in accordance with the law. Leland Moore, a spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, declined to comment.

The inquiry marks the latest in a series of investigations into Trump's campaign and presidency. The special counsel, Robert Mueller, is investigating whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president obstructed the investigation. In a separate case, federal prosecutors in New York have alleged that Trump directed his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, to make illegal hush-money payments to two women in a bid to quash potential sex scandals during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump denies wrongdoing and has called Mueller's probe a "witch hunt." He also has said he was not involved in the operations of the inaugural committee.

The subpoena, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, resembles the wide-ranging request for documents the committee received last week from federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who are investigating, among other potential crimes, whether foreigners illegally contributed to the inaugural events. Among other materials, the New York prosecutors asked for documents related to any payments made by donors directly to contractors and vendors who worked for the committee.

FILE- In this Jan. 20, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. State authorities in New Jersey have subpoenaed a host of financial records from the committee that organized President Donald Trump's inauguration, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The latest subpoena contains similar language but specifically asks for records relating to fundraising events and "solicitations" conducted in New Jersey. It also requests copies of ledgers, tax forms, contracts and "all documents related to any benefits provided to donors."

The subpoena gives the inaugural committee two weeks to provide the materials to the attorney general's consumer protection division.

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Associated Press writer Mike Catalini contributed to this report from Trenton, New Jersey.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - California corrections officials say a riot broke out among nearly 50 inmates at a San Diego prison and that 10 were injured, one of them seriously.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says the riot happened Friday morning in a medium-security yard at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.

The department says multiple fights and attacks broke out at the same time.

The department says guards used pepper spray to quell the fighting but did not use lethal force.

The seriously injured inmate suffered head injuries and was taken on a helicopter to a hospital.

No officers were seriously injured, though some were exposed to the pepper spray.

Guards recovered inmate-made weapons in the prison yard. The reason for the riot is under investigation.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Federal authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia.

The natural gas pipeline's parent company said in recent corporate filings with the SEC that it has been informed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia of a criminal investigation.

EQM Midstream Partners says in filings that the pipeline joint venture had received a grand jury subpoena for documents Monday.

The scope of the inquiry is unclear. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office did not immediately return a request for comment.

An EQM spokeswoman says the company is complying with the subpoena.

Last month, two local attorneys called for a federal investigation into whether pipeline crews violated laws by continuing construction on the 300-mile (483-kilometer) pipeline after a permit suspension.
AURORA, Ill. (AP) - A 15-year employee being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company started shooting Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. - which makes valves for industrial purposes - in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.

Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Police said they did not know the gunman's motive.

"May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.

Investigators enter an apartment building Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., where a man who police say fatally shot several people and injured police officers at a manufacturing plant in Aurora is believed to have lived. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," Probst said.

Probst said he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life," Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.

At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.

Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.

"This is a strange thing to come home to, right," she said. She had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.

Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mother's Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom on Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.

Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mother's house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch stoop. it was only when they flipped on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.

"In Aurora, period, we'd never thought anything like this would happen," Fonseca, a lifelong resident of the Chicago suburb, said as she looked out at the factory.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. "America is with you," he said.

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For The Latest on the shooting: https://bit.ly/2EcHSOO

Investigators work at the apartment complex of the alleged shooter from the Henry Pratt Co. on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. An employee of a manufacturing company opened fire in its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing several people and wounding several police officers before he was fatally shot, police said. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

A law enforcement officer works at the scene of a shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Officials say several people were killed and at least five police officers were wounded after a gunman opened fire in an industrial park. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)

Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

This image from video provided by ABC 7 Chicago shows the industrial park in Aurora, Ill., where officials say a gunman opened fire at the Henry Pratt Co. building on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (ABC 7 Chicago via AP)

First responders and emergency vehicles are gathered near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)
BEIRUT (AP) - Lebanon's parliament gave the new government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri a vote of confidence after days of heated debates and harsh verbal exchanges.

Late Friday, 111 legislators voted in favor while six voted against of the 128-member legislature. Eleven were absent.

A government policy statement focused on improving the country's economic conditions. Hariri began the meetings Tuesday by reading the statement, which calls for reforms in state finances and economy.

The statement also said that Lebanese citizens have the right to "resist Israeli occupation and repel its aggression." This was in reference to the right of the militant Hezbollah group to keep its weapons.

The new Cabinet was announced late last month, breaking a nine-month deadlock that had deepened Lebanon's economic woes.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (AP) - With prime Peeps season about to get underway, the Pennsylvania city where they're "born" is honoring the man who brought marshmallow chicks to the masses.

The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez proclaimed Friday as "Bob Born Day" in a ceremony at company offices.

Born, now 94, joined his father's candy business in 1946 and figured out a way to automate production of Peeps, which had been made by hand. Today, Just Born produces about 5.5 million Peeps per day.

The city's proclamation says Peeps are "an iconic symbol of Easter."

Just Born CEO Ross Born, Bob Born's son, says "we are thankful for his many years of service to Just Born."

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FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Peeps move through the manufacturing process at the Just Born factory, in Bethlehem, Pa. With prime Peeps season about to get underway, the Pennsylvania city where they're "born" is honoring the man who brought marshmallow chicks to the masses. The (Allentown) Morning Call reports that Bethlehem Mayor Robert Donchez proclaimed Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, as "Bob Born Day" in a ceremony at company offices. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com
PITTSBURGH (AP) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have activated defenseman Justin Schultz off injured reserve.

Pittsburgh made the move on Friday, clearing the way for Schultz to play for the first time since fracturing his left leg four months ago in Montreal. He's expected to be in the lineup on Saturday when Pittsburgh hosts Calgary.

Schultz hasn't played since he was injured in the first period of a shootout loss to the Canadiens on Oct. 13. The 28-year-old has four assists in four games this season.

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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) - North Macedonian officials say they have carried out a series of raids in an operation against suspected radical Islamic terrorists.

The Interior Ministry said late Friday that searches were conducted at several locations in the country targeting suspects. It said police confiscated "objects and devices related to the possible attack."

No arrests were announced.

The announcement follows a warning from the U.S. Embassy in Skopje saying that there was a "heightened risk of terrorist attacks inspired by extremist ideology in North Macedonia." The embassy also warned U.S. citizens in North Macedonia to maintain a high level of vigilance.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Mel Watt, the former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, misused his position when he attempted to coerce a female employee of the agency to engage in a personal relationship with him, according to a report from the agency's inspector general.

The report found that Watt, who stepped down as director last month, misused his official position in an effort to obtain a personal benefit and was not candid in answering questions about the incident.

Watt, who served for 21 years as a congressman from North Carolina before taking the FHFA job, said in a response included in the report that he strongly disagreed with the findings.

The IG report was released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Washington Post. The name of the employee was redacted in the IG report, but her attorney released a statement to The Associated Press and gave permission for her name to be used.

In the statement, the employee, Simone Grimes, said, "Standing up for myself against the director of a federal agency of the U.S. government has not been an easy thing to do. I hope all of this will make future complaints against high-powered individuals easier for the next employee (male or female) that finds themselves in a similar position."

In his response to the IG report, Watt said the investigation was aimed at protecting the inspector general's office from political criticism "instead of making an effort to obtain and fairly report the facts."

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2012 file photo, Rep. Mel Watt of North Carolina addresses the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Mel Watt, the former director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, misused his position when he attempted to coerce a female employee of the agency to engage in a personal relationship with him, according to a report from the agency's inspector general. The report finds that Watt, who stepped down as director in Jan. 2019, misused his official position in an attempt to obtain a personal benefit and was also not candid in answering questions about the incident. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The IG report said that Watt had met alone in his apartment with the employee, a subordinate who the director knew desired a promotion at the agency. The report said in a recording of a portion of their conversation in the apartment, Watt can be heard to intermingle comments about his attraction to the employee and his admiration of her physical appearance with a discussion of possible paths by which she could get promoted.

"We find that there are no circumstances under which it would be appropriate for the head of FHFA to induce a subordinate employee to meet with him alone, in his apartment, for a conversation in which he professes his attraction for that employee and holds out opportunities for the employee to serve in specific executive positions over which he exercises total control," the report said.

The FHFA was created to oversee the operations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after the government took control of the two mortgage giants during the 2008 financial crisis.

Watt took the director's job in 2014 after being nominated by President Barack Obama and he left office last month when his term ended.

The Trump administration has nominated Mark Calabria, the chief economist for Vice President Mike Pence, to succeed Watt.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A note found in a 16-year-old boy's pocket indicated that he had planned to kill his ex-girlfriend and others on Valentine's Day, when he fired a gunshot inside his high school, according to documents filed by authorities in court.

No one was injured in the shooting that happened Thursday morning before classes started at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque.

A witness had told authorities in a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Albuquerque Journal on Friday that the 16-year-old suspect had approached three other students sitting in an alcove before opening fire.

The Associated Press is not naming the suspect because of his age. He is facing charges of attempting to commit murder and unlawfully carrying a deadly weapon onto school grounds. Online court records do not yet list a defense attorney who could provide comment on the boy's behalf.

He is being detained at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center after being questioned Thursday.

Police have not said where the suspect got the gun he carried onto school grounds on the anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre that killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School - the deadliest high school shooting in the nation's history.

A school bus evacuates students from Sue V. Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, after a shot was fired on the campus. Police and school officials said no one was injured and a suspect was taken into custody. (AP/Russell Contreras)

In New Mexico, it is a misdemeanor offense for a person younger than the age of 19 to be in possession of a firearm.

Citing school surveillance video, police said the teen wore a ski mask that he took off before entering the building around 7 a.m. Thursday.

The witness, who was among the students in the alcove, said the boy pointed the handgun at the group, and at first, it did not go off.

A shot then went off after the suspect manipulated the weapon and pulled the trigger, the witness told officers.

Police said the boy also intended to kill himself, but instead he put down the weapon after firing a shot and ran to a dry wash where he was arrested.

A teacher told police she received a text from the suspect in which he reportedly said "the voices won't stop." He also said "sorry" in the message and asked if anyone had been hurt.

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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com

A Sandoval County sheriff's deputy stops a motorist near Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, N.M. on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Rio Rancho police say a gunshot was fired at the high school in that Albuquerque suburb but that nobody was injured and that one person is in custody. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Beto O'Rourke said Friday during a visit to Wisconsin that before deciding whether he will join the increasingly crowded field of Democrats running for president in 2020, he wants to meet with voters in the "most honest, raw, real way possible."

The former Texas congressman met with about 20 students at Milwaukee Area Technical College before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for a similar event on campus that attracted more than 200 students and faculty.

"I came here with not much of an agenda other than to listen to you," he told students at Madison, before speaking against President Donald Trump's border wall and immigration policies as well as urging action to combat climate change.

"Are we going to become a country of walls, are we going to turn back asylum seekers?" he said. "Whatever we care about, it is being decided right now. ... To me that is thrilling."

O'Rourke's first visit to the battleground Midwest was to continue Saturday when he's scheduled to address the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute's national conference in Chicago. Also Saturday, announced Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of neighboring Minnesota, was to launch her first campaign swing in Eau Claire, in western Wisconsin. Klobuchar was then to campaign in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

O'Rourke reiterated to reporters in Milwaukee that he hoped to make a decision about whether to get into the race "as soon as the end of this month." He called Wisconsin an "extraordinarily important" state for Democrats to win and even said it would be "amazing" if Milwaukee were chosen to host the Democratic National Convention even though Houston in O'Rourke's home state of Texas is also a finalist. Miami is the third city under consideration.

Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke stops by an overflow room to thank University of Wisconsin-Madison students who came to hear him speak at an event that attracted more than 200 people on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

"It's an extraordinary opportunity for the people of Milwaukee to tell their story," O'Rourke said. "I think there are far too many communities that have been under-represented in the national conversation."

Trump carried Wisconsin in 2016 by less than a percentage point, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Hillary Clinton was heavily criticized for not campaigning in Wisconsin during the general election and Democrats are eager to take it back.

O'Rourke said Wisconsin is "too often overlooked, the conversation does not begin until too late." He said that is what is motivating his visits there and a similar swing that took him through Texas to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado in recent weeks.

"Before even deciding or announcing, I want to make sure to get a chance to meet people on a human-to-human level, not in a crowd, not as part of a campaign, but in the most honest, raw, real way possible," he said. "I have so much to learn, and I want to make sure I'm learning it from anyone who wants to participate and share their stories."

The Wisconsin Republican Party called O'Rourke "an unabashed liberal who has no interest in moving to the middle."

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Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sbauerAP

Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke tells reporters he plans to make a decision soon on whether to get in the race on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Madison, Wis. O'Rourke's first visit to the battleground Midwest was to continue Saturday when he's scheduled to address the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute's national conference in Chicago. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) - North Macedonian officials said Friday they have carried out a series of raids in an operation against suspected radical Islamic terrorists.

The Interior Ministry said that searches were conducted at several locations in the country targeting suspects. It said police confiscated "objects and devices related to the possible attack."

No arrests were announced.

The announcement follows a warning from the U.S. Embassy in Skopje saying that there was a "heightened risk of terrorist attacks inspired by extremist ideology in North Macedonia." The embassy also warned U.S. citizens in North Macedonia to maintain a high level of vigilance.

The ministry announcement said the searches related to "potential plans and intentions to commit a terrorist act in the territory of our country by members of radical structures supporting of ISIS."

North Macedonian officials say about 130 of the country's citizens have fought with the Islamic State, or ISIS, group in Syria. Some have returned to North Macedonia.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - The union representing teachers in Oakland, California, says it will make an announcement Saturday about a potential strike, a day after a neutral fact-finding report was issued.

The Oakland teachers' union could announce Saturday whether its 3,000 members will strike after negotiating and failing to reach agreement with the Oakland Unified School District for more than a year.

Teachers in the district say they are paid below their peers it the area, which has one of the highest cost-of-living rates in the nation. They are seeking a 12 percent raise over three years as well as smaller class sizes. The district has offered five percent and says it is squeezed by smaller budgets and declining enrollment.

A strike in the city of 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco would follow one by Denver teachers, who ended a three-day walkout after their union reached a tentative deal Thursday.

The strike in Colorado was the latest win in a national movement by teachers demanding better wages and classroom reforms. Teachers in the nation's largest school district, Los Angeles, reached a deal following a six-day strike in January.

Meanwhile, the teachers' union in Sacramento, California voted Thursday night to seek authorization from members for a strike there, the Sacramento Bee reported Friday.

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2019, file photo, teachers carry placards as they walk a picket line outside South High School in Denver. The union representing Oakland, California teachers says it will issue a "major announcement" Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, about a potential strike, a day after a neutral fact-finding report was to be issued. Denver teachers ended a three-day walkout and returned to their classrooms Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

In Oakland, a fact-finding report from the Public Employment Relations Board was due Friday, with recommendations for compromise.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in a message posted to the district's website that she was "pleased with the recommendations" and hope to use the report to bring the union back to bargaining.

Union officials did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press Friday.

But Chaz Garcia, the union's second vice president, told the San Francisco Chronicle that members are not waiting for another offer from the district based on the report. "We're going to make our decision based on the fact-finding report and what we feel is best for our students and teachers," Garcia said.

The union said it will release the fact-finding report at its news conference Saturday.

The city of Oakland is preparing for a strike, although Mayor Libby Schaaf is urging both sides to continue negotiating to avoid a walkout. The city plans to open recreation centers and all public libraries for the families of about 37,000 students in the district who would be affected by a strike.

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This story has been corrected to show the number of members who belong to the union.
NEW YORK (AP) - Italian fashion house Gucci announced a major push Friday to step up diversity hiring as part of a long-term plan to build cultural awareness at the luxury fashion company following an uproar over an $890 sweater that resembled blackface.

Gucci also said it will hire a global director for diversity and inclusion, a newly created role that will be based in New York, plus five new designers from around the world for its Rome office.

It also will launch multi-cultural scholarship programs in 10 cities around the world with the goal of building a "more diverse and inclusive workplace on an ongoing basis."

The announcement came after Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri met in New York City's Harlem neighborhood with Dapper Dan, a well-known African-American designer, and other community members to hear their perspectives.

Dapper Dan, who collaborated with Gucci in 2017 on a menswear line, has emerged as a leading voice demanding accountability from Gucci over the sweater, which was black with a pull-up neck featuring a cutout surrounded by cartoonish red lips.

Bizzarri said Gucci has spent the past days conducting a "thorough review of the circumstances that led to this" and consulting with employees and African-American community leaders on what actions the company should take.

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2018, file photo, a model wears a creation as part of the Gucci women's Fall/Winter 2018-2019 collection, presented during the Milan Fashion Week, in Milan, Italy. Italian fashion designer Gucci is announcing a major push to step up its diversity hiring following an uproar over an $890 sweater that resembled blackface, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. The company also says it will hire a global director for diversity and inclusion, a newly created role. Gucci also is promising to launch a scholarship program to cultivate diverse design talent. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

"I am particularly grateful to Dapper Dan for the role he has played in bringing community leaders together to offer us their counsel at this time," Bizzarri said in statement.

Earlier Friday, Dapper Dan tweeted that the participants at the meeting "made great demands" of Gucci. He said he would announce a town hall meeting in Harlem "for us to talk about what they have proposed."

In May, Gucci said it will begin conducting annual one-day unconscious-bias training sessions for its 18,000 employees around the world.

The design scholarship program will be launched in New York, Kenya's capital of Nairobi, New Delhi, Beijing, the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Seoul, Tokyo, Beirut, London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company described it as a 12-month fast-track program leading to full-time employment.

Gucci has apologized for the sweater, which creative director Alessandro Michele said was not inspired by blackface but by the late Leigh Bowery, a performance artist, club promoter and fashion designer who often used flamboyant face makeup and costumes.

"I look forward to welcoming new perspectives to my team and together working even harder for Gucci to represent a voice for inclusivity," Michele said in statement Friday.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A prominent leader in the Southern Baptist Convention said he was wrong to support a Kentucky pastor accused of covering up sex abuse.

The Rev. Albert Mohler first addressed the issue Thursday in an interview with the Houston Chronicle . Earlier this week, that paper and the San Antonio Express-News published an investigation detailing hundreds of sex abuse cases in Southern Baptist churches.

In a public statement released on Friday, Mohler apologized and asked for forgiveness for his support of C.J. Mahaney, founder of the Sovereign Grace Ministries network of churches, now called Sovereign Grace Churches. They are not affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention but Mohler and some other prominent Southern Baptists have worked closely with Mahaney in the past.

Mohler's Friday statement says he cut all ties with Mahaney last year after meeting with advocates for the victims. Although he issued a statement at the time calling on any ministry facing sex abuse allegations to submit to an independent investigation, he did not mention Sovereign Graces Churches by name.

"I wish I had spoken more forcefully," Mohler's statement reads.

Mahaney and his ministry were sued in 2012 by former church members who said pastors had covered up the abuse they suffered as children. The lawsuit was dismissed for technical reasons including the statute of limitations.

FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 5, 2015 file photo, The Rev. R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, speaks to reporters about a conference in Louisville, Ky., focusing on homosexuality and how to offer pastoral care to gays. Mohler, a prominent leader in the Southern Baptist Convention says he was wrong to support a Kentucky pastor accused of covering up sex abuse. The Rev. Albert Mohler first addressed the issue Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in an interview with the Houston Chronicle .(AP Photo/Bruce Schreiner, File)

Despite the dismissal and denials of wrongdoing from Sovereign Grace leaders, the ministry has continued to be dogged by accusations of abuse and cover-up. An administrative assistant at Mahaney's Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville, Kentucky, said in an email that the pastoral team there was working on a statement but it was not available Friday evening.

Heather Thompson Bryant was the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against Sovereign Grace. She said seeing prominent Christian leaders defend Mahaney and vilify victims felt like a "violation." And she is concerned that the way she was treated has prevented other victims from coming forward.

Mohler is president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and one of the people who helped organize a conservative takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention decades ago.

In his statement, he addresses "survivors who were hurt by my errors" saying he is "grieved." And he encourages survivors who have not spoken up to report their abuse to "proper legal authorities."

The Nashville-based Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination with 15 million members and 47,000 affiliated churches.

Last year, the SBC formed a sexual abuse study group but it has not yet announced what concrete steps it will recommend.

Past proposals to create a database of sexual predators within the denomination were shot down. Southern Baptist leaders said it would be impossible because Southern Baptist churches are autonomous and the convention that binds them together is one of voluntary cooperation. Instead, they urged SBC churches to conduct background checks.

Critics say the autonomy of local churches should not prevent the SBC from taking action.

Christa Brown said she was abused by a Southern Baptist minister as a child and has been pushing for change in the denomination for years. She notes the convention has acted against individual churches in other circumstances.

"If they can interfere with churches that hire women pastors or are too welcoming to LGBT people, why can't they do anything about churches that keep sexually abusive pastors in the pulpit?"
DETROIT (AP) - A 24-year-old Detroit man will stand trial for murder in the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy on a Detroit freeway during a case of road rage.

Judge Ronald Giles bound over Derrick Durham on Friday during after a preliminary hearing. Durham is charged in the death of 3-year-old Christian Miller, who was shot Jan. 24 while riding in his godmother's SUV on the Southfield Freeway on Detroit's west side. The boy died the following morning.

The Detroit News reports defense attorney Wyatt Harris argued Dunham should be tried on a lesser charge of manslaughter because he didn't intend to shoot the child and didn't know there were children in the vehicle driven by the godmother, Charmaine Strickland. Harris said Durham was provoked by Strickland when she cut Durham off.

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Information from: The Detroit News, http://detnews.com/
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Washington state lawmakers advanced a measure Friday that would remove parents' ability to claim a personal or philosophical exemption to vaccinating their school-age children for measles as the Pacific Northwest struggles with an outbreak of the contagious virus.

The House Health Care and Wellness Committee approved House Bill 1638 on a 10-5 vote. The full House could vote on it in the coming weeks.

The legislation comes amid an outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people in the Pacific Northwest and led Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency. Health officials have reported at least 54 known cases in Washington state and four in Oregon.

Washington is among 17 states, including Oregon, that allow some type of non-medical vaccine exemption for "personal, moral or other beliefs," according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Washington now allows vaccination exemptions for children at public or private schools or licensed day-care centers based on medical, religious and personal or philosophical beliefs. Unless an exemption is claimed, a child is required to be vaccinated against or show proof of acquired immunity for nearly a dozen diseases - including polio, whooping cough and mumps - before they can attend school or a child care center.

Hundreds of people who oppose ending the exemptions, including environmental activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., showed up at a public hearing on the legislation last week.

CORRECTS SPELLING OF ABEL, NOT ABLE - As his mother Wenyi Zhang holds him, one-year-old Abel Zhang looks at the book being given him by Dr. Lauren Lawler, right, as his grandmother Ding Hong helps with his clothes moments after the child received the last of three inoculations, including a vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), at the International Community Health Services Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Seattle. A recent measles outbreak has sickened dozens of people in the Pacific Northwest, most in Washington state and, of those, most are concentrated in Clark County, just north of Portland, Oregon. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency over the outbreak last month. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

A broader measure introduced in the state Senate, which would not allow personal or philosophical exemptions to be granted for any required school vaccinations, is scheduled for a public hearing next Wednesday.

Four percent of Washington secondary school students have non-medical vaccine exemptions, the state Department of Health said. Of those, 3.7 percent of the exemptions are personal, and the rest are religious.

In Clark County - an area just north of Portland, Oregon, where all but one of the Washington cases are concentrated - 6.7 percent of kindergartners had a non-medical exemption for the 2017-18 school year, health officials said.

California removed personal belief vaccine exemptions for children in both public and private schools in 2015 after a measles outbreak at Disneyland sickened 147 people and spread across the U.S. and into Canada. Vermont also abandoned its personal exemption in 2015.

FILE - In this Feb. 8, 2019, file photo, people hold signs at a rally at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., to oppose a proposed bill that would remove parents' ability to claim a philosophical exemption to opt their school-age children out of the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. A House committee advanced the measure Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, and it could come up for a vote before the full House in the coming weeks. The vote comes amid a measles outbreak that has sickened more than 50 people in the Pacific Northwest. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

CORRECTS SPELLING OF ABEL, NOT ABLE - Abel Zhang, 1, smiles after receiving the last of three inoculations, including a vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), as his mother Wenyi Zhang checks on him at the International Community Health Services Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Seattle. A recent measles outbreak has sickened dozens of people in the Pacific Northwest, most in Washington state and, of those, most are concentrated in Clark County, just north of Portland, Oregon. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency over the outbreak last month. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Philadelphia prosecutors say they're fighting an order that gives prison activist Mumia Abu-Jamal a new court hearing because the ruling is so broad it could undo countless other cases.

District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a motion Friday outlining his challenge. The issue is now with the Pennsylvania Superior Court.

The 64-year-old Abu-Jamal is serving a life sentence for a 1981 police officer's slaying.

A Philadelphia judge recently granted him a chance at a new appeal because a judge who heard his initial appeal had a passing involvement in the case as Philadelphia district attorney. Krasner says the U.S. Supreme Court has granted new hearings only when there's a more direct conflict.

Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Judith Ritter, says the city judge's ruling was not as broad as Krasner maintains and found clear bias against her client.
ATLANTA (AP) - Three months after a much-disputed election for Georgia governor, lawmakers have filed a bill to make the state use voting machines that have electronic ballot markers and print a paper ballot.

The House bill, filed Thursday, addresses some aspects of election law criticized during Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's successful race against Democrat Stacey Abrams last year. It tweaks the state's strict standard for verifying voter registration and clarifies when polling places can be closed or moved.

Both issues flared during the race between Kemp and Abrams, who lost her bid to become the first black woman elected governor of any state.

Abrams accused Kemp of using his previous position as the state's chief elections officer to suppress votes, especially from black and minority Georgians. Kemp vehemently denied the claim, said he followed state election law and counter-accused Abrams of advocating for "illegals" to vote.

The voting machine change follows the recommendations of a commission formed by Kemp, but disregards advice from cybersecurity experts and voting integrity activists who say hand-marked paper ballots would be the cheapest and most secure option.

Systems using electronic ballot markers include touchscreen computers where voters make their selections, then print a paper ballot that's counted after being scanned. Under the legislation the paper ballot printout would have to include a human readable list of a voter's selections. Cost estimates approach $150 million for these types of systems, the same amount included in bond funding in Kemp's 2020 budget proposal. Initial costs for hand-marked paper ballots would be closer to $30 million.

Republican Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem, who authored the bill and co-chaired the commission, said Friday that electronic ballot markers would be more expensive initially but could save money on printing and operating in the long run.

Fleming also said he believes electronic ballot markers capture voter intent better than hand-marked paper.

"If I type you a letter, you're going to be able to read it for sure," Fleming said. "If I hand write it, well you'll probably be able to read it - depends on how badly I mess it up in some areas with my cursive." Fleming said he's concerned that stray marks on hand marked ballots could cause a problem.

Marilyn Marks, executive director of the nonprofit election integrity group Coalition for Good Governance, criticized the proposal in an interview.

Marks said there's no data that entering information on a touchscreen is more accurate, as Fleming suggested. "All you need to do is look at the mistakes people make on an iPhone when they are dialing a number or typing a message to see that touchscreens are not exactly 100 percent accurate."

Marks said that despite the call for human readable lists of a voter's selections to be printed on the paper ballot, there's no evidence that voters would take the time to or were capable of verifying their selections.

"Imagine that you are voting on 50 different things, and then someone hands you a piece of paper and says 'Was this everything on the ballot?'" Marks said.

Marks' group is involved in two ongoing lawsuits challenging the state's use of its current outdated voting machines, which produce no auditable paper trail.

In one of the cases, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg ruled in September that state elections officials had "buried their heads in the sand" and warned them not to delay in tackling concerns about the security of the machines. But she declined to force an immediate switch.

The legislation, which could see some amendments, also requires the board of registrars to review any voter registration applications held for failing to pass the state's "exact match" verification process for "data entry error or other fault of the board."

Current state law says information on voter registration forms must precisely match information on file with the Georgia Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. Election officials can place non-matching applications on hold.

An Associated Press analysis in October found that 70 percent of the 53,000 applications then on hold were from black Georgians.

The proposal also says polling places could not be changed or closed 60 days or less before a primary, general election or runoff.

Fleming said those proposals are not a reaction to any criticism Georgia received, but have been in the works as lawmakers look to improve the system.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked the Trump administration from imposing conditions that police departments cooperate with immigration authorities to receive law enforcement grants.

The Department of Justice exceeded its authority and violated the constitution by requiring grant recipients to allow immigration authorities into jails and provide advance notice before releasing detainees suspected of being in the country illegally, Judge Manuel Real said.

Real said he agreed with a related ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that said: "The attorney general in this case used the sword of federal funding to conscript state and local authorities to aid in federal civil immigration enforcement. But the power of the purse rests with Congress, which authorized the federal funds at issue and did not impose any immigration enforcement conditions on the receipt of such funds."

As a sanctuary city, Los Angeles does not provide the cooperation required by the grants.

City Attorney Mike Feuer sought the permanent injunction in a lawsuit after LA didn't receive Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants in 2017 for the first time in 20 years. The city had received more than $1 million each year from the grant that goes toward hiring, equipment, training and other needs.

"We've got to stand up for public safety in Los Angeles and against the Trump administration's efforts to arrogate to itself authority it does not have," Feuer said in a statement. "No matter who holds the presidency, the constitution is still the supreme law of land."

A Justice Department spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The ruling applies nationwide and includes another grant program aimed at fighting juvenile gang crime.

In a similar case, Real ruled in the city's favor in April over a grant program for hiring police officers.

The grant rules were imposed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said cities endangered public safety if they didn't help enforce immigration laws.

Los Angeles is one of many U.S. cities that have implemented sanctuary laws aimed at focusing law enforcement officers on local crime rather than detaining people suspected of being in the country illegally.

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Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this story.
MUNICH (AP) - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday the response by the United States to China detaining two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese Huawei executive has not been strong enough.

Graham also told Munich Security Conference delegates the international reaction to China's arrest of ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor hasn't been enough to persuade China that its apparent use of hostage diplomacy won't be tolerated.

"The president has been tough on China but this is one area where I think we need to make a more definitive statement, because the two people arrested in China had nothing to do with the rule of law. It was just grabbing two Canadians," Graham said.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who appeared on the panel with Graham, mouthed the words "thank you" to Graham after he said it. Roland Paris, one of the delegates and a former foreign policy adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, asked Graham about it.

U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft said last Saturday her country is "deeply concerned" about China's "unlawful" detention of the two Canadians in what was her first public comments on the cases since China detained them on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng is the chief financial officer of the Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The U.S. wants her extradited to face charges that she committed fraud by misleading banks about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of President Donald Trump, leaves the Senate after voting to confirm William Barr to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

China also re-sentenced a convicted Canadian drug smuggler to death after the Meng arrest as part of an apparent campaign of intimidation and retribution against Canada.

Some analysts have said the U.S. response to China's arrests of the two Canadians has been muted. Trump himself has not commented on the Canadians. But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has, saying China ought to release them. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and the State Department have issued brief statements of support.

Beijing threatened grave consequences for America's neighbor and longtime ally after Meng was arrested at Vancouver's airport.

Canada has embarked on a campaign with allies to win the release of Kovrig and Spavor and many countries have issued statements in support.

"These are human beings and they only thing they did was be Canadian in China," Freeland said. Freeland said she would be grateful if more countries spoke out.

"We will all be stronger and safer if we all can do that for each other," she said. "We can't descend to a might makes right world and that's especially essentially for middle powers."

The two Canadians were detained on vague allegations of "engaging in activities that endanger the national security" of China. They remain locked up without access to lawyers.

Meng is out on bail in Canada and awaiting extradition proceedings.

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Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
CLOVIS, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico teenager convicted of opening fire and killing two people at a public library will spend decades in prison before being eligible for parole under a sentence imposed Friday by a state district judge.

Judge James Hudson made his decision after hearing emotional testimony during a three-day proceeding. He sentenced Nathaniel Jouett as an adult to two life sentences that will run concurrently plus 40 years in prison for carrying out the 2017 shooting at the Clovis library.

The Eastern New Mexico News reports that the earliest Jouett could be eligible for parole would be 2051.

Jouett previously pleaded guilty to 30 felony counts, including two first-degree murder charges for the deaths of library employees Wanda Walters and Krissie Carter. He seriously wounded four other people.

Jouett, who turned 18 last month, addressed the court Wednesday in his first public statement since the shooting. He apologized to the numerous victims who made statements at the start of the week.

The sentencing hearing followed a decision by the judge in December in which he denied a motion to conduct a hearing to determine if Jouett is amenable to treatment. That could have made him eligible for release when he turned 21.

FILE - In this Aug. 31, 2017, file photo, Nathaniel Ray Jouett, accused of fatally shooting two workers inside a public library and wounding four others, enters a courtroom in Clovis, N.M. Jouett was convicted as an adult to two life sentences that will run concurrently plus 40 years in prison for carrying out the 2017 shooting at the Clovis library, killing two people under a sentence imposed Friday, Feb. 15, 20190, by a state district judge. (Tony Bullocks/The Eastern New Mexico News via AP, File)

The judge said Friday he believes Jouett has the potential to be rehabilitated but he acknowledged that there are some questions about the potential for success. He also said in deciding the punishment that it would hold Jouett accountable for his actions as well as promote and protect public safety.

The judge took a few moments to recount what happened at the library on Aug. 28, 2017. He described the events that unfolded as horrific, as Jouett stood with a gun in his hand and shouted at victims before he stalked and shot at more victims before surrendering.

"The quiet of the Clovis-Carver Library was shattered as gunshots rang out. Bullets pierced the quiet, leaving in their wake tragedy, heartbreak and death," the judge said.

The result was what the judge described as "a tsunami of harm" for the victims and their families.

Hudson said there appeared to be two sides to Jouett - one a caring and compassionate young man; the other an isolated teen who was struggling with anxiety, depression and substance abuse. Still, he said he would not ask why Jouett did what he did.

"I do not ask why because there is no why that would ever suffice. No one will leave today with that question answered," the judge said.

Prosecutors had asked that Jouett be sentenced to 96 years in prison, which would have effectively meant a life sentence without parole. The judge said such a sentence would exceed his authority.

Defense attorney Stephen Taylor asked that his client serve only 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation. The judge said that would not provide enough accountability for the crimes.

The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes as a matter of policy. It has identified Jouett, however, because of the seriousness of the crime.

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Information from: The Eastern New Mexico News, http://www.easternnewmexiconews.com

FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2017, file photo, police take Nathaniel Jouett into custody after a shooting at a public library in the eastern New Mexico community of Clovis. Nathaniel Jouett was convicted as an adult to two life sentences that will run concurrently plus 40 years in prison for carrying out the 2017 shooting at the Clovis library, killing two people under a sentence imposed Friday, Feb. 15, 20190, by a state district judge. (Tony Bullocks/The Eastern New Mexico News via AP, File)
ATLANTA (AP) - The Latest on saga involving Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage has surrendered to Georgia authorities on an outstanding warrant and been released on his own recognizance.

Attorney Abbi Taylor says the Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, turned himself in Friday morning on a warrant in Liberty County, along Georgia's coast.

Taylor says they learned of the warrant while his client was in immigration custody and made arrangements for him to surrender.

News outlets report the warrant was for theft by deception. It stems from what Taylor said was essentially a civil dispute. She says Abraham-Joseph performed a concert in Liberty County several years ago and the person who had booked the concert didn't feel he had done enough and sought a warrant rather than suing him.

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2018, file photo, 21 Savage poses in the press room at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. A lawyer for 21 Savage says Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, that the Grammy-nominated rapper, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, has been released on on $100,000 bond from the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

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8:20 a.m.

The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage says he didn't talk about his British citizenship before because he didn't want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was interviewed by ABC's "Good Morning America" for a Friday broadcast.

He was arrested Feb. 3 in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said was a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Now 26, he says he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. That visa expired in 2006. He says he "wasn't hiding it," but "didn't want to get deported," so he "wasn't going to just come out and say 'Hey by the way, I wasn't born here.'"

The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage said in an interview aired Friday that he didn't talk about his British citizenship before because he didn't want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested Feb. 3. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called it a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Abraham-Joseph, now 26, told ABC's "Good Morning America" he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. His visa expired in 2006.

"I knew I wasn't born here," he said. "But I didn't know like, what that meant as far as when I transitioned into an adult, how it was going to affect my life."

The rapper said he wasn't hiding the fact that he isn't a U.S. citizen, but "I didn't want to get deported so I'm not going to just come out and say, 'Hey by the way, I wasn't born here.'"

His lawyers have said he applied for a new visa in 2017, and his case remains pending. One of his lawyers, Charles Kuck, said earlier this week that if the case follows the normal trajectory, it could take two to three years.

Abraham-Joseph said he believes the way immigration policy is enforced is broken, that he doesn't think people "should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long."

Attorney Alex Spiro said on "Good Morning America" that he believes Abraham-Joseph was targeted "because he's both a celebrity and they can use this as a way to send a message and also, perhaps, because of his music."

He said he hopes the attention can help others held in immigration detention.

"There's people that are just totally forgotten that exist in these detention centers," Spiro said, later adding, "I'm hoping people like 21 Savage will bring light to these issues and help the people that are forgotten."

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said shortly after Abraham-Joseph was taken into custody that he was arrested in a targeted operation that had been planned weeks to months in advance.

Cox said at the time that Abraham-Joseph had overstayed his visa and also was convicted on felony drug charges in Fulton County, Georgia, in October 2014.

Abraham-Joseph's lawyers have disputed that he has a felony conviction on his record.

"He has a singular offense for marijuana when he was a college-age person," Spiro said in the television interview. "That's vacated, sealed. There's no issue."

Fulton County prosecutors have said they can't comment on the case, which they say was handled under the state's first offender law and is sealed.

An Atlanta police report from August 2014 says Abraham-Joseph was riding in a car driven by another man when officers stopped the car after an illegal U-turn in four lanes of traffic. During a search of the car with a police dog, officers found a jar containing 22.6 grams (0.8 ounces) of marijuana, 89 hydrocodone pills, a scale in plain view, two loaded guns and $1,775 in cash the report says.

Both men were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the report says.

A notice of seizure and forfeiture filed in Fulton County Superior Court in October 2014, says the $1,775 seized during the arrest is to be forfeited. It says the violation of law alleged is that Abraham-Joseph and the other man possessed marijuana.

Abraham-Joseph was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for "Rockstar" alongside Post Malone. His second solo album "I Am I Was," released in December, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Paul Manafort, the one-time chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, could spend more than 19 years in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, prosecutors said Friday.

Court documents filed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office reveal that Manafort faces possibly the lengthiest prison term in the Russia investigation. The 69-year-old Manafort is also at serious risk of spending the rest of his life in prison if a federal judge imposes a sentence within federal guidelines.

The potential sentence stems from Manafort's conviction last year on eight felony counts related to an elaborate scheme to conceal from tax authorities the millions of dollars he earned overseas from Ukrainian political consulting. It is one of two criminal cases pending against Manafort in which he faces prison time.

Manafort, who led Trump's campaign for months during the 2016 presidential campaign, is not charged with any crimes directly related to Russian election interference, the thrust of Mueller's probe. But prosecutors have recently revealed that they remain deeply interested in his contacts during and after the campaign with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a 27-page court filing Friday, prosecutors did not recommend a precise sentence for Manafort, but they agreed with a calculation by federal probation officials that his crimes deserve a punishment of between 19.5 and 24.5 years. They also lay out in great detail for U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III how they say Manafort's greed drove him to disregard American law.

"In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," the prosecutors wrote. "The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."

FILE - In this April 4, 2018, file photo, Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Manafort has been jailed for months as he awaits his formal sentencing. His lawyers have said the incarceration has created a mental and physical strain on Manafort, who has recently used a wheelchair in court appearances and will turn 70 in April.

But Mueller's team made clear that Manafort's age should not be a consideration, nor does it eliminate the risk that he could still commit new crimes.

"Nothing about the defendant's age is unusual," they wrote. "Tax offenders are often older and often, like the defendant, wealthy, but they nonetheless receive substantial terms of incarceration notwithstanding age and health issues."

Prosecutors often acknowledge mitigating factors that a judge may consider on a defendant's behalf in favor of a more lenient sentence. But none exist here, prosecutors said.

They note that "his pattern of criminal activity" lasted more than a decade, that he conspired to tamper with witnesses despite facing indictments in two different districts and that he repeatedly lied to the government and to a grand jury even after he agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.

They also argued that Manafort deserved a sentencing enhancement reserved for defendants who lead or organize others in criminal activity.

"Manafort controlled the money at issue, he recruited others to facilitate these crimes, and he claimed a larger share of the proceeds," they said. "Further, Manafort was plainly the leader. He involved numerous individuals who were both knowing and unknowing participants in the criminal scheme."

The filing by prosecutors came just days after a judge in Manafort's other criminal case ruled that he breached his plea agreement by lying to investigators and a federal grand jury about several topics, including his discussions of a Russia-Ukraine peace plan with the associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

That plea-agreement dispute has revealed that Mueller's team considers Manafort's contacts with the associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, to go to the "heart " of the ongoing investigation into any links between Russian election interference and Trump associates.

Manafort faces up to five years in prison in that separate case in Washington, where he admitted to illegally lobbying on behalf of Ukrainian political interests.

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Read the sentencing memo: http://apne.ws/dLZcjNu
NEW YORK (AP) - Some people have been arrested while protesting President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration outside a New York City hotel that bears his name.

The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody Friday night outside the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan.

Video shows protesters going peacefully with their hands zip-tied behind their backs as officers lead them to police vans. They'll likely be charged with disorderly conduct and blocking traffic.

Trump declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday in a move to secure more money for his long-promised wall.

Protesters outside the Columbus Circle hotel held signs with slogans such as "Abolish I.C.E." and 'Trump Is The Emergency."

Trump developed the 44-story hotel, but it is owned by other investors.

A protester is taken into custody outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. Some people have been arrested while protesting President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration. The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody outside the hotel. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration block traffic near Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration gather outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters are taken into custody near Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. Some people have been arrested while protesting President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration outside a New York City hotel that bears his name. The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody Friday night. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration are taken into custody outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. Some people have been arrested during the protest. The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody Friday night. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Tump's national emergency declaration gather outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. Some people have been arrested at the protest. The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Tump's national emergency declaration gather outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. Some people have been arrested at the protest. The NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Protesters of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration gather outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama law that prohibits cities from removing Confederate monuments will remain in effect while the state appeals a judge's ruling that declared the statute constitutional, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday.

Justices granted the request of Attorney General Steve Marshall to stay a judge's order striking down the law , Marshall's office announced.

"The Supreme Court's stay allows the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to remain in effect until the Supreme Court resolves this appeal over the act's constitutionality," Marshall said in a statement.

Marshall said he believes a judge erred when he ruled the law unconstitutional.

The 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act prohibits relocating, removing, altering or renaming public buildings, streets and memorials that have been standing for more than 40 years. Cities can be fined for violations.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo last month ruled that the law violates the free speech rights of local communities and declared it void.

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2016 file photo, a statute memorializing veterans of the Spanish-American War and other conflicts stands near a Confederate monument in Linn Park in downtown Birmingham, Ala. The Alabama Supreme Court ruled on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, a state law that prohibits cities from removing Confederate monuments will remain in effect while the state appeals a judge's ruling that declared the statute constitutional. Alabama sued the city of Birmingham in 2017 after officials erected a wooden box that obscured the view of a 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate veterans. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves, File)

The state law doesn't specifically mention Confederate monuments, but it was enacted as some Southern states and cities began removing such monuments and emblems.

Alabama sued the city of Birmingham in 2017 after officials erected a wooden box that obscured the view of a 52-foot-tall (16-meter-tall) obelisk honoring Confederate veterans.

In his order declaring the law unconstitutional, Graffeo said it was indisputable that most citizens in the majority black city are "repulsed" by the memorial. He rejected the state's claims that lawmakers had the power to protect historical monuments statewide.

Justices on Friday also agreed to stay any fines against Birmingham as the court case plays out over the law's constitutionality.
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - A Costa Rican Justice Ministry official has resigned after the country's vice-minister of economy reported him for alleged sexual abuse.

Laura Pacheco said Friday via Twitter that the day before his resignation she had reported the case to prosecutors. She says she was doing what women should when someone else believes they have a right to your body.

The Justice Ministry announced Friday that Julio Solis, director of Citizen Peace and Coexistence Promotion had resigned.

Pacheco did not provide details of what occurred with Solis.

The accusation follows two formal sexual assault complaints against two-time Costa Rican president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias. At least seven other women have denounced sexual abuse or harassment by Arias.

One of the most recent accounts came from Arias' one-time personal trainer.
KANO, Nigeria (AP) - The Latest on Nigeria's election (all times local):

2:50 a.m.

Nigeria's electoral commission says the presidential election is delayed until Feb. 23 over unspecified "challenges" amid reports that voting materials have not been delivered to all parts of the country.

Commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu spoke to reporters a little over five hours before polls were supposed to open in Africa's most populous country and largest democracy.

The commission promised more details at a 2 p.m. briefing in the capital, Abuja.

Yakubu said that "this was a difficult decision to take but necessary for successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy."

Muslims make traditional Friday prayers at a mosque near to the Emir's palace in Kano, northern Nigeria Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, pitting incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari against leading opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In 2015, Nigeria delayed the election by six weeks over insecurity.

A young boy scavenges for re-sellable items from garbage on the streets, as he walks past a sign showing incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, left, and local party official Mustapha Dankadai, right, in Kano, northern Nigeria Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, pitting incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari against leading opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A Nigerian woman attends Friday prayers at the central mosque is security checked a day prior to the election, in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria surged into the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday's election, as President Muhammadu Buhari made one last pitch to stay in office while top challenger Atiku Abubakar shouted to supporters: "Oh my God! Let them go! Let them go!" (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Young Muslim boys wait for traditional Friday prayers to begin at a mosque near to the Emir's palace a day prior to the start of the elections, in Kano, northern Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, pitting incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari against leading opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Muslims make traditional Friday prayers in front of a police riot truck, providing security due to the ongoing general threat of attacks by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, at a mosque near to the Emir's palace in Kano, northern Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, pitting incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari against leading opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Muslims make traditional Friday prayers in front of a police riot truck, providing security due to the ongoing general threat of attacks by Islamic extremist group Boko Haram, at a mosque near to the Emir's palace in Kano, northern Nigeria Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, pitting incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari against leading opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

An electoral worker takes stock of ballot papers to be transporters at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Yola, Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria surged into the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday's election, as President Muhammadu Buhari made one last pitch to stay in office while top challenger Atiku Abubakar shouted to supporters: "Oh my God! Let them go! Let them go!" (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A Nigerian woman attending Friday prayers at the central mosque is security checked a day prior to the election, in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria surged into the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday's election, as President Muhammadu Buhari made one last pitch to stay in office while top challenger Atiku Abubakar shouted to supporters: "Oh my God! Let them go! Let them go!" (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

People cross the roads near the Independent National Electoral Commission office in Yola, Nigeria, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of possible vote rigging ahead of upcoming Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Authorities on the outskirts of Mexico's capital are investigating a homemade explosive device found in a shopping mall bathroom.

The Mexico state security secretary said in a statement Friday that the device discovered inside a mall in Tlalnepantla included a battery detonator and analog clock, as well as nuts and screws. It was housed in a small wooden box.

State police disarmed the device and turned it over to federal prosecutors.

Local press reported that the device was found inside a bathroom and was housed in a cigar box. Janitors allegedly found it about an hour before it was set to detonate.
NEW YORK (AP) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art says it's returning a prized artifact to Egypt after learning it was stolen from the country in 2011.

The Met said Friday that the Manhattan District Attorney's office found evidence that the museum was given a false ownership history for the gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh.

The Met bought the piece from a Paris art dealer in 2017 and displayed it until this week. Nedjemankh was a high-ranking first century BC priest.

Investigators say the Met was given fraudulent documents, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license.

Met president Daniel Weiss apologized to Egypt. He said the museum was a fraud victim and unwitting participant in the illegal trade of antiquities.

The Met says it's cooperating with the DA's investigation and revising its acquisitions process.
NEW YORK (AP) - Police arrested a man Friday suspected of being the lookout during a robbery that led to the friendly fire death of a New York City police detective, an official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press.

The man was taken into custody in Queens hours after NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill revealed on a radio show that police were looking for a second suspect in Tuesday night's stick-up, the official said.

The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity. The suspect's name wasn't immediately available Friday night.

Detective Brian Simonsen was hit once in the chest by crossfire as he and six other officers fired 42 shots at robbery suspect Christopher Ransom, who police say charged at them from inside a T-Mobile store pointing a fake handgun.

Simonsen, 42, will be laid to rest next week.

Ransom, who was wounded eight times, was arraigned Friday by video from his hospital bed on murder, manslaughter and other charges.

Investigators look over the area after a few New York City police officers were shot while responding to a robbery at a T-Mobile store in the Queens borough of New York on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. An official said one of them was killed. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

A judge ordered him held without bail. His next court date is scheduled for Tuesday. Ransom faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

The Legal Aid Society, which represents Ransom, cautioned people not to "demonize" him.

"The loss of life and the serious injuries suffered by all are tragic," the an indigent defense organization said in a statement. "But we ask the public to respect Mr. Ransom's right to due process and a presumption of innocence."

Ransom, 27, has a long rap sheet and a habit of bizarre stunts, styling himself on social media as a comedian and prankster in the vein of Sasha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame.

Ransom has been arrested at least 11 times since 2012, records show, and he was wanted by police in connection with a Jan. 19 robbery at another cellphone store. After one arrest, court papers show, Ransom was taken to a psychiatric ward.

Ransom pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and was sentenced to 20 days in jail in 2016 after allegedly climbing over a gate and walking up to a desk at a Brooklyn police station while wearing a fake SWAT vest and police badge. Police records listed his alias as "Detective."

Four years earlier, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to jail time for pretending to be an intern to gain access to a judge's chambers.

A funeral for Simonsen, a 19-year veteran of the NYPD, is scheduled for Wednesday in Hampton Bays on Long Island, with viewings on Monday and Tuesday.

Simonsen's supervisor and partner, Sgt. Matthew Gorman, was wounded in the leg . He was discharged from the hospital on Thursday.

Simonsen, Gorman and six uniformed officers swarmed to the T-Mobile store at around 6:10 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller standing outside reported seeing a man take two employees to a back room at gunpoint, police said.

According to a criminal complaint, Ransom ordered the employees to remove iPhones and money from the cash registers and back room safes.

Simonsen and Gorman, who were both in plainclothes and not wearing bulletproof vests, were working on another case nearby when the call came and arrived around the same time as patrol officers, police said.

Gorman and two of the uniformed officers went into the store, but retreated when Ransom emerged from a back room and came at them, police said. The gunshots blew out the store's doors, showering the sidewalk with glass.

Simonsen stayed outside as Gorman and the uniformed officers went in, police said. Simonsen fired two shots. Gorman fired 11 times. It's not clear who fired the shots that struck them, police said.

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Follow Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak

Officers salute a procession as the remains of slain Detective Brian Simonsen are removed from Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in the Queens borough of New York. The NYPD detective and a NYPD sergeant were shot while responding to an armed robbery at a T-Mobile store in Queens. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen)

Officers salute a procession as the remains of slain Detective Brian Simonsen are removed from Jamaica Hospital Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in the Queens borough of New York. A NYPD detective and a NYPD sergeant were shot while responding to an armed robbery at a T-Mobile store in Queens. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen).

In this image taken from surveillance video provided by the New York Police Department, a man, identified by police as Christopher Ransom, is shown robbing a cell phone store, Saturday, Jan. 19, 2019 in the Queens borough of New York. Police say that Ransom is also a suspect in the robbery of another cell phone store in Queens that led to the fatal shooting of a detective on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/NYPD)

A makeshift memorial is placed near the 102nd precinct Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in New York. Brian Simonsen, a New York City police detective was shot and killed by friendly fire Tuesday night as officers confronted a robbery suspect who turned out to be armed with a replica handgun, Commissioner James O'Neill said. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

The entrance to the 102nd precinct is shown Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in New York. A New York City police detective was shot and killed by friendly fire Tuesday night as officers confronted a robbery suspect who turned out to be armed with a replica handgun, Commissioner James O'Neill said. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistani officials said Saturday a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad has been delayed by a day, a sudden announcement that surprised many Pakistanis, who were preparing to welcome the Saudi delegation amid extraordinary security in the capital.

Without giving any explanation, the Foreign Ministry said Prince Mohammad will now arrive in Islamabad on a two-day visit Sunday and that his program remains unchanged. It will be the crown prince's first visit to Pakistan since he was appointed heir to the throne in 2017.

The prince was originally scheduled to come to Pakistan later Saturday along with a delegation of businessmen. But Pakistani officials confirmed Saturday that an upcoming conference of Pakistani and Saudi business leaders was postponed "due to unavoidable circumstances." It suggested that Prince Mohammad will now visit Pakistan with a reduced number of business officials.

Pakistan expects a $7 billion Saudi investment over the next two years after Prince Mohammad's visit

The prince will also travel to neighboring India amid heightened tension between Islamabad and New Delhi over this week's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 41 people. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed Pakistan for Thursday's bombing. Pakistan rejected the allegation. Saudi Arabia has also strongly condemned the attack in Kashmir.

Last year, Pakistan voiced its support for the prince when he faced international outrage following the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. The kingdom quickly signed an agreement for a $6 billion assistance package after Khan attended an investment conference in October that saw a wave of cancellations linked to the Khashoggi killing.

Khashoggi, who had written critically about the prince, went missing on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. After denying any knowledge of his death for weeks, Saudi authorities eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed in an operation aimed at forcibly bringing the writer back to the kingdom. Saudi prosecutors say the plan was masterminded by two former advisers to the crown prince. The kingdom denies the crown prince knew of the plot.
WASHINGTON (AP) - When you want results in a polarized Washington, sometimes it pays to simply leave the professionals alone to do their jobs.

That seems to especially be the case now in an era in which liberal House Democrats are sharing power in Washington with a GOP-led Senate and President Donald Trump.

It's a lesson relearned after a hard-won deal on border security sailed through the House and Senate by sweeping votes on Thursday as part of a $333 billion catchall spending bill to close the books on the bitter shutdown battle.

The results defied skeptics' expectations that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., would be hemmed in by her party's ascendant progressive wing or that Trump would be unable to bring himself to sign a bill handing him a defeat on his $5.7 billion demand for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The 300-128 House vote on Thursday revealed strong unity among Democrats - who lost the votes of only 19 of their members - and the isolation of the tea party Republicans who drove the train during GOP control of the House over the past eight years.

The border compromise, part of an 1,100-page-plus catchall government funding bill negotiated by a quartet of Capitol Hill old-timers, was driven through by a powerful coalition of Democrats and the GOP's more pragmatic members. Nobody was wholly pleased by the agreement, but there was widespread acceptance that it represented a fair compromise and was what the current balance of power could produce.

In this Feb. 13, 2018, photo, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joins supporters of President Donald Trump and family members of Americans killed by undocumented immigrants as they gather to to promote their support for a border wall with Mexico, at the Capitol in Washington. When you want results in a polarized Washington, sometimes it pays to simply leave the professionals alone to do their jobs. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

"You're not compromising your values. You're just going according to democracy," said New York Rep. Peter King, a veteran GOP pragmatist. "In divided government you have to get less than you want, and you have to accept more that you don't want. That's divided government."

Or, as preschool teachers sometimes say when handing out treats: "You get what you get, and you don't get upset."

While Pelosi garnered much of the attention, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was a key force as well.

After taking his cues from the White House during most of the 35-day partial shutdown, McConnell decided to largely cut the White House and Trump loose, deputizing Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala. - a 40-year veteran of Congress - to work out a deal within parameters that Trump would hopefully accept.

McConnell and Pelosi don't have a warm relationship, but they regard each other as professionals, and the huge margins of support for the bill - the Senate passed it 83-16 - show that the two seem unstoppable if their interests align.

Pelosi displayed her pragmatic streak as well, instructing her negotiators to drop a demand to limit the number of immigrants living illegally in the country who could be detained. She argued, said a senior Democratic aide, that the stance was politically unsustainable.

"I thought it was a pretty good example of the ways things should work," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. "The best thing to do is to leave it to the members of Congress to work out our differences. If we do our job well, that's what we do."

Alexander and other veteran members of the Appropriations committees hope the agreement sets the stage for another successful round of spending bills this year. The must-do measures not only set budget priorities but also can often be used as vehicles to address mid-tier issues that can get snagged when advancing on their own. First, Pelosi, McConnell and the White House need to come together on a broader budget framework, which is doable but tricky.

But the relative comity that produced the border agreement may be difficult to replicate on other agenda items. It was forged under intense pressure, with GOP leaders and Trump desperate to avoid another shutdown. Most of the underlying $333 billion spending bill had been worked out last year, and even the border security piece pretty much resembled an agreement forged last year.

Perhaps a better indicator of the future came on Wednesday, when, in a bitterly partisan all-day Judiciary hearing, Democrats approved legislation to establish universal background checks for gun purchases, one of their top agenda items.

For 10 hours the two sides slugged it out before approving the measure on a straight party-line vote. The bill is likely to pass the whole House soon but appears destined to get buried by the GOP-controlled Senate.

While high-profile issues such as taxes, universal health care and climate change legislation are mountains that are too high to climb, especially with the 2020 presidential campaign already revving up, veteran lawmakers see promise in middle-tier topics such as infrastructure and addressing the high cost of prescription drugs.

"Look, we don't control the Senate, we don't control the White House, so if you're going to get things done, you're going to have to deal," said Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., a Pelosi loyalist.

That means legislating the old-fashioned way: Build support across the political spectrum and pass bills with a big vote.

"We're looking to do things that D's and R's will support in both houses and that the president will sign," said powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J. "The president hasn't really vetoed anything, so I think the main thing is to get the Republicans on your side."

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EDITOR'S NOTE - Andrew Taylor has covered Congress for The Associated Press since 2005.

In this Feb. 11, 2019, photo, House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters as she arrives for a closed-door meeting at the Capitol as bipartisan House and Senate bargainers trying to negotiate a border security compromise in hope of avoiding another government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington. When you want results in a polarized Washington, sometimes it pays to simply leave the professionals alone to do their jobs. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - A western Michigan police officer has been placed on administrative leave after activists accused him of racial profiling by notifying immigration officials about the arrest of a mentally ill Latino war veteran who is actually a U.S. citizen.

Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington on Thursday announced Lt. Curt VanderKooi's leave pending a city review of whether he "was properly held accountable."

Activists called for VanderKooi's firing after Immigration and Customs Enforcement held Jilmar Ramos-Gomez for three days in December before releasing the Michigan-born man.

VanderKooi told ICE about Ramos-Gomez' November arrest at a hospital, referring to him as "loco," or crazy. Interim police Chief David Kiddle says VanderKooi was reprimanded for "unprofessional language."

Dozens of people attended a city commission meeting Tuesday to express displeasure with how Ramos-Gomez was treated.

In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019 photo, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss reacts to protestors during a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting in Grand Rapids, Mich. Civil rights groups allege Grand Rapids police officials acted on racial profiling not fear of terrorism when they called federal immigration authorities on a former U.S. Marine who is Latino. Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was arrested in November 2018 after setting a small fire inside Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital and then standing on the rooftop helipad. He was later held for three days by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even though he was arrested with a U.S. passport. Grand Rapids Interim Police Chief David Kiddle said his department acted properly. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)

In this Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019, Interim Police Chief David Kiddle speaks during a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting that had a crowd of protesters in Grand Rapids, Mich. Civil rights groups allege Grand Rapids police officials acted on racial profiling not fear of terrorism when they called federal immigration authorities on a former U.S. Marine who is Latino. Jilmar Ramos-Gomez was arrested in November 2018 after setting a small fire inside Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital and then standing on the rooftop helipad. He was later held for three days by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even though he was arrested with a U.S. passport. Kiddle said his department acted properly. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)
LONDON (AP) - Net migration into Britain from the other 27 European Union countries has fallen to near-decade lows, suggesting Brexit uncertainty has made the country a less attractive destination for the bloc's workers. However, net migration from non-EU countries has risen to its highest level since 2004.

Figures released Thursday by the Office for National Statistics show that the difference between those entering the country from the EU and those heading back fell in the year to September to 57,000, its lowest since 2009.

Net migration from the EU has fallen from a peak of 189,000 in the year to June 2016, when Britain voted to leave the EU. Immigration and its impact on wages and communities was one of the big issues behind the Brexit vote.

"The overall story the data tell on EU migration is clear: Britain is not as attractive to EU migrants as it was a couple of years ago," said Madeleine Sumption, Director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford.

One of the perks of being a member of the EU is that people can live and work anywhere in the bloc. That right was taken up enthusiastically in many of the former Soviet bloc countries after they joined the EU at different times since 2004.

After Brexit, or at least after any transition after the scheduled Brexit day on March 29, that freedom will ostensibly end. However, as with so many other Brexit-related issues, it's still unclear what a future immigration system in Britain will look like. There's now speculation that Brexit will be delayed or even that a second referendum could be held on whether to leave the EU.

The flag of the European Union and the British national flags are flown on poles during a demonstration by remain in the EU outside spporters the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May says she will give British lawmakers a choice of approving her divorce agreement, leaving the EU March 29 without a deal or asking to delay Brexit by up to three months. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

If and when Brexit does happen, uncertainty will be acute for companies that have in recent years relied on workers from the EU, while Britain works on new immigration rules.

"Many areas of the labor market, particularly sectors like hospitality, who are reliant on the free movement of EU workers, are going to have to adjust to lower migration well before the new system is in place," said Stephen Clark, senior economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation.

The decline in net migration is not just about Brexit.

The fact that many EU economies, particularly those in the 19-country eurozone, have recovered economically has lessened the need for many to search for opportunities abroad.

The relative attraction of Britain financially has also diminished. After the Brexit vote, the pound's value sank, lowering the value of any remittances.

Sumption noted that EU net migration happened to be unusually high in the run-up to the referendum, "so at least some of this decline would probably have happened anyway even without Brexit."

At the same time, net migration to Britain from non-EU countries rose in the year to September to its highest level since 2004, due in part to an influx of students.

Overall, net migration into the country stood at 283,000 in the year to September.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia first lady Pam Northam has expressed regret after the mother of an African-American teenager complained that a tour of the governor's mansion was racially insensitive.

Northam said Wednesday that is she is working to make sure the stories of slaves who worked in the mansion's historic kitchen before the Civil War are told properly.

Northam's statement comes amid heightened racial tension in Virginia politics. Gov. Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring have recently apologized for wearing blackface decades ago. The state's highest elected black official, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, has compared himself to Jim Crow-era lynching victims after two women accused him of sexual assault.

State employee Leah Walker made the complaint. Her eighth-grade daughter toured the mansion this month as a part of the Senate page program. Walker says Pam Northam singled out African-American students when passing out cotton and discussing the horrors of slavery.

Northam's office said the first lady did not single anyone out.

Walker's account differs from an account of the tour written by her daughter. Her daughter did not explicitly say only African-American pages were singled out by the first lady.

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2019 file photo, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, right, and his wife Pam, watch as the casket of fallen Virginia State Trooper Lucas B. Dowell is carried to a waiting tactical vehicle during the funeral at the Chilhowie Christian Church in Chilhowie, Va. Virginia First Lady Pam Northam has expressed regret after the mother of an African American teenager complained about a tour of the governor's mansion she said was racially insensitive. Northam said Wednesday, Feb. 27 that is she is working to make sure the stories of slaves who worked in the mansion's historic kitchen before the Civil War are told properly. Northam's statement comes amid heightened racial tension in Virginia politics. Gov. Ralph Northam has recently apologized for wearing blackface decades ago. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool, File)

Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell and Republican Sen. Bill Stanley said both their daughters, who were also on the tour, said Northam did not single anyone out.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to advance President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on a high-profile appeals court.

The committee voted 12-10 along party lines to endorse Neomi Rao for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Trump nominated Rao for the seat left vacant when Kavanaugh joined the Supreme Court last fall.

Rao, 45, heads the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where she plays a key role in Trump's efforts to roll back federal rules and regulations. She also worked in the George W. Bush White House but has never tried a case in state or federal court.

Rao's confirmation was in doubt after two Republican senators expressed concerns about her past writings.

But Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley and Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst joined with GOP colleagues to move Rao's nomination to the Senate floor. All 10 Democrats opposed her.

Hawley has said he's unsure about Rao's position on abortion, which Hawley opposes. He also questioned her views on judicial activism and individual choice.

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2017 file photo, Neomi Rao, President Donald Trump's nominee for a seat on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to advance President Donald Trump's nominee to replace Brett Kavanaugh on a high-profile appeals court. The committee voted 12-10 along party lines Thursday to endorse Neomi Rao for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

But he said Thursday that after meeting with Rao he is convinced she would interpret the Constitution "according to its text, structure and history" and not current social mores.

Hawley, a freshman, was criticized by conservative groups and the Wall Street Journal editorial page for raising questions about Rao, but said he will vet all judicial nominees thoroughly, regardless of ideology.

"There are some inside this building and outside of it that would prefer I would do as instructed and go along to get along. That is not going to happen," he said.

Ernst also endorsed Rao, despite concerns about her past writings on sexual assault. Rao suggested in undergraduate articles that intoxicated women were partly responsible for date rape.

Ernst, who recently revealed she was raped in college, called Rao's 1990's opinion pieces "absolutely abhorrent and reprehensible at best," but said she was reassured after Rao wrote a letter to senators repudiating her past views. Rao said at a confirmation hearing that the articles do not reflect her current thinking and that she cringes at some of the language she used.

Rao's work on federal regulations qualifies her for the D.C. circuit, which handles many administrative appeals of executive branch actions, Ernst said. But she and other Republicans said they might view Rao differently if she is nominated to the Supreme Court.

Rao, widely seen as a future candidate for a Supreme Court seat, is a member of the conservative Federalist Society. The legal policy group has played a key role in Trump's judicial nominations, including Kavanaugh's elevation to the high court.

Democrats staunchly opposed Rao, citing her lack of experience and publicly stated pride at rolling back federal rules on Trump's behalf. Rao said at her confirmation hearing that she and Trump have successfully pushed deregulation that "gets government out of the way" and helps small businesses and other companies create jobs.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the panel's top Democrat, said Rao has a "troubling and aggressive record" on deregulation, particularly on rules that protect health and the environment. She was especially troubled at Rao's efforts to dismantle a rule to increase fuel economy standards for cars, Feinstein said. The rule is based on a law Feinstein co-authored.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Rao's expansive views on presidential power were "alarming" and said Rao had expressed "hostility to settled law" on gay rights and other issues.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - When a suicide bomber blew himself up in India's insurgency-wracked Kashmir region on Feb. 14, killing more than 40 soldiers, the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad was quick to take responsibility. The Pakistan-based group's attack sent tensions soaring between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The disputed region, divided between the two countries and claimed by both in its entirety, has been the cause of two past wars between India and Pakistan. Although the bomber was from Indian Kashmir, the claim by the militant group caused India to launch what it called a pre-emptive strike against Jaish-e-Mohammad inside Pakistan, saying they killed a "very large number" of militants. Pakistan retaliated with a strike of its own that hit six positions inside India on Wednesday, downing two Indian planes and taking one pilot into custody. Here's an explanation of the militant organization, its origins and agenda:

THE GROUP's FOUNDATION

Jaish-e-Mohammad was formed in 2000 by Masood Azhar, originally a member of an al-Qaida affiliate. Azhar was arrested by Indian authorities in the late 1990s when he returned to Indian controlled Kashmir after reportedly fighting with the al-Qaida affiliate in Somalia. His militant compatriots tried unsuccessfully to free him from jail until they hijacked an Indian Airline aircraft with 176 passengers on board in December 1999. They held the aircraft and its passengers hostage in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar during the rule of the Taliban, which lasted for five years until 2001. On Dec. 31, 1999 India agreed to free Azhar and two other prisoners who would also become members of Jaish-e-Mohammad. They are Omer Saeed Sheikh, a British national who is now on death row in Pakistan for his part in the killing in 2002 of American journalist Daniel Pearl in southern Pakistan, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zarghar who was released in exchange for the hijacked plane but was killed later in Indian Kashmir by Indian troops.

THE GROUP'S AGENDA

Jaish-e-Mohammad's activities are focused almost exclusively on Indian Kashmir and the group has been linked to Pakistan's powerful intelligence agency, known as InterServices Intelligence, or ISI. Following the Sept, 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. and the decision of Pakistan's president and military dictator at the time, Pervez Musharraf, to join with the United States in it anti-terrorism war, the ISI outwardly distanced itself from the militant group, although they were accused of providing covert assistance. Jaish-e-Mohammad was declared a terrorist group by the United Nations and outlawed in 2002 but Azhar remained untouched. After 2002, the organization's leadership became unclear and some elements turned against Pakistan, with the group taking credit for two assassination attempts against Musharraf.

ATTACKS BLAMED ON JAISH-E-MOHAMMAD

FILE - In this Jan. 27, 2000 file photo, Masood Azhar, center, (wearing glasses and white turban), leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad arrives in Islamabad, Pakistan. When a suicide bomber blew himself up on Feb. 14, 2019, killing more than 40 soldiers in India's insurgency wracked Kashmir region, the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad was quick to take responsibility. The Pakistan-based group's attack in Kashmir sent tensions soaring between the two nuclear armed neighbors. (AP Photo/Mian Khursheed, File)

The militant group was involved in a 2000 suicide bombing at an Indian army camp outside Srinigar, the capital of Indian Kashmir and in December 2001 was blamed for an attack on India's Parliament in New Delhi that also resulted in a tense standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors. In 2002, Jaish members were blamed for trying to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Attacks in 2013 and 2014 in Indian ruled Kashmir were blamed on members of Jaish-e-Mohammad, including a 2013 attack on an Indian military base. Members of the organization have also been implicated in assassinations and attempted assassinations of Indian Kashmiri leaders.
NEW YORK (AP) - If and when the Mueller report is released, publishers will have books ready.

On Thursday, Scribner and The Washington Post announced a joint project for an "instant" bound and e-book edition of special counsel Robert Mueller's highly anticipated summation on alleged ties between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Skyhorse Press also plans a book. Government reports are not copyrighted and can be released by multiple publishers.

Once Mueller turns in his findings, at a date still undetermined, Attorney General William Barr will decide what to make public.

Previous government releases have become best-sellers, including "The Starr Report" on President Bill Clinton, and the Warren Commission study on President John F. Kennedy's assassination. The 9/11 commission report on the 2001 terrorist attacks received a National Book Award nomination in 2004.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A clergy sex abuse survivor has ended his hunger strike a week after saying he would not eat until the Vatican acknowledged Pope Francis had received messages he sent from several Massachusetts victims and their families.

Olan Horne tells The Berkshire Eagle that although he never got the response he sought from Rome, the actions of a Massachusetts prosecutor prompted him to start eating again. The 59-year-old Chester man had gone a week taking only water.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni on Tuesday announced the creation of a telephone hotline for survivors and their families to report priest abuse. Horne had requested such a hotline for years.

Horne in a letter to Gulluni says his hunger strike was about giving victims a voice, and the hotline gives them that voice.

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Information from: The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle, http://www.berkshireeagle.com
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) - A Fort Campbell soldier has admitted to having his ex-wife killed and to helping hide her body.

The Leaf-Chronicle reports Sgt. Jamal Williams-McCray entered into a plea agreement during a hearing Wednesday at the Army post on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. Williams-McCray pleaded guilty to charges including premeditated murder in the death of Pfc. Shadow McClaine. In exchange, he won't face the death penalty.

Another soldier, Spc. Charles Robinson III, pleaded guilty previously to charges including murder in the case and was sentenced to 25 years. Robinson said McClaine's ex-husband offered to pay him $10,000 to kill her and help hide the body.

McClaine disappeared in September 2016. Her remains were found the following January and flown home to Yuba City, California.

McClaine's mother, London Wegrzyn, says the family is "glad we are getting justice finally."

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Information from: The Leaf-Chronicle, http://www.theleafchronicle.com
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Law enforcement authorities on Thursday pledged a "thorough investigation" into allegations against an intensive-care doctor accused of ordering painkiller overdoses for dozens of Ohio hospital patients.

In addition, the state attorney general's office confirmed it is conducting a Medicaid fraud investigation related to the doctor.

At issue are accusations against William Husel, a doctor fired by the Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System in December. The hospital found he ordered potentially fatal doses for 29 patients and doses for six more patients that were excessive but not likely what caused their deaths.

Police and prosecutors said Thursday they are investigating the 29 deaths, with dozens of interviews to be conducted. Those include doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and patients' families.

Investigators and then medical experts must also obtain and review thousands of pages of medical reports, said Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and Tim Becker, the acting Columbus police chief.

Authorities "intend to conduct a thorough investigation of complex ethical, medical, and legal issues," the two said in a joint statement.

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2019 file photo, the main entrance to Mount Carmel West Hospital is shown in Columbus, Ohio. The Ohio hospital system investigating a doctor accused of ordering painkiller overdoses for dozens of patients says five who died may have received excessive doses when there still was a chance to improve their conditions with treatment. The Columbus-area Mount Carmel Health System said Friday, Feb. 22 it's notifying those patients' families. (AP Photo/Andrew Welsh Huggins, File)

Husel voluntarily surrendered his passport to authorities during the investigation, according to Thursday's statement. "We're continuing to cooperate with the prosecutor's office," said Richard Blake, an attorney representing Husel.

Mount Carmel has apologized , put 23 other employees on leave and said it changed its medication protocols to prevent similar situations.

Information will be shared with authorities and family members as the hospital learns more, Mount Carmel said Thursday.

"The deaths of patients under the care of Dr. William Husel are tragic," the hospital said in a statement. "The facts of these cases are complex, and the ongoing nature of the investigations means that new information can continue to surface."

Mount Carmel operates four hospitals around Columbus. It is part of parent organization Trinity Health, one of the country's largest Roman Catholic health care systems.

The investigation is being conducted with the state medical, pharmacy and nursing boards. The Medicaid fraud investigation is being conducted by Attorney General David Yost, said Yost spokeswoman Bethany McCorkle, without providing details.

Husel is set for a July hearing at the State Medical Board before it decides whether to take further action against his suspended license.
JERUSALEM (AP) - The Latest on decision to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges (all times local):

9:10 p.m.

Benjamin Netanyahu's chief challenger in upcoming elections is calling on the Israeli prime minister to resign to fight corruption allegations.

Appearing on nationwide TV, Benny Gantz said Thursday that being prime minister cannot be a "part-time job" and said Netanyahu should conduct his legal battle as a private citizen.

He also called on Netanyahu to stop attacking state institutions, such as police and prosecutors, who have investigated him.

"The state of Israel is worthy of more than this," he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his wife Sara pose for a photo after talks in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. Israel's prime minister vowed to prevent Iran from securing a lasting presence in Syria as he visited Moscow Wednesday for talks focusing on regional security. (Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Gantz, a former military chief, leads a centrist party that is in a close race with Netanyahu's Likud Party. He said his "Blue and White" party would not sit in a coalition with Netanyahu after the election.

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8:25 p.m.

Israel's prime minister has rejected the latest corruption allegations against him as a politically motivated "witch hunt" meant to defeat him in April elections.

Benjamin Netanyahu went on nationwide television Thursday night, shortly after the attorney general recommended indicting him in a series of corruption cases.

Netanyahu called the timing of the announcement, six weeks ahead of elections, "outrageous" and accused his leftist opponents of carrying out an "unprecedented witch hunt."

"The pressure of the left worked," he said, saying the attorney general's recommendations threatened the country's democracy.

He called the accusations lies and a "blood libel" and said he would debunk all charges against him.

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6:50 p.m.

Israel's attorney general says he has decided to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a series of corruption charges.

Avichai Mandelblit said Thursday he has accepted the police recommendations to file charges against Netanyahu in three different cases, pending a final hearing.

In a Justice Ministry statement, Mandelblit says he plans to charge Netanyahu with bribery for promoting regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to telecom giant Bezeq in return for positive press coverage in Bezeq's popular subsidiary news site Walla.

He will also charge Netanyahu with fraud and breach of trust in two other cases. The first involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a major newspaper in return for favorable coverage.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing. He called a press conference for Thursday evening.

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9:05 a.m.

Israel is awaiting the attorney general's decision on whether to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a series of corruption allegations.

Avichai Mandelblit is expected to announce his decision on Thursday, after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations.

An indictment would mark the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister has been charged.

Police have recommended indicting Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases. Mandelblit is expected to inform Netanyahu's lawyers he intends to press charges pending a final hearing for the suspect.

Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and calls the allegations a media-orchestrated witch hunt aimed at removing him from office. He has vowed to carry on and is deadlocked in the polls ahead of the Apr.9 national elections.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump said Thursday he takes North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "at his word" that Kim was unaware of the alleged mistreatment of an American college student who died after being imprisoned there.

Kim "tells me he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word," Trump said in Vietnam.

The president's comments about the Otto Warmbier case called to mind other times when he chose to believe autocrats over his own intelligence agencies, including siding with the Saudi royal family regarding the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and supporting Russia's Vladimir Putin's denials that he interfered with the 2016 election.

He drew a rebuke from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "There is something wrong with Putin, Kim Jong Un - in my view, thugs - that the president chooses to believe," Pelosi said.

A lawyer for the Warmbier family declined to comment.

But some prominent Republicans spoke out to condemn North Korea and express support for the Warmbier family.

FILE - In this March 16, 2016, file photo, American student Otto Warmbier, center, is escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea. President Donald Trump says he doesn't think North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was involved in the mistreatment of American college student Otto Warmbier, who died after being detained in the North. Trump says of Kim: "He tells me that he didn't know about it, and I will take him at his word." The Ohio native was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea on suspicion of stealing a propaganda poster. Warmbier died in 2017, shortly after being sent home in a coma. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin, File)

"We must remember Otto, and we should never let North Korea off the hook for what they did to him," Ohio's Republican senator, Rob Portman, said in a statement.

Portman has been in contact with Warmbier's family since the suburban Cincinnati youth was imprisoned in early 2016 for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. Warmbier died in June 2017 after being returned home in a vegetative state. His parents say he was tortured.

Trump's former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said on Twitter that "Americans know the cruelty that was placed on Otto Warmbier by the North Korean regime. Our hearts are with the Warmbier family for their strength and courage. We will never forget Otto."

Warmbier, a University of Virginia student had been visiting North Korea with a tour group when he was detained. A court there sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor for the alleged offense.

Last year, a U.S. judge ordered North Korea to pay more than $500 million in a wrongful death suit filed by Warmbier's parents.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington harshly condemned North Korea for "barbaric mistreatment" of Warmbier, awarding punitive damages and payments covering medical expenses, economic loss and pain and suffering to parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier.

Trump has claimed credit for freeing American prisoners abroad and had used Warmbier's death as a rallying cry against the North Korea's human rights abuses before softening his rhetoric ahead of talks with Kim.

--

Eric Tucker contributed from Washington D.C. Sewell reported from Cincinnati.

President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un take a walk at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri's secretary of state announced Thursday that his office didn't find evidence to back up allegations Josh Hawley used public resources as the state attorney general to bolster his successful U.S. Senate bid.

Jay Ashcroft said he's closing the investigation , which centered on political consultants' work giving direct guidance and tasks to official Attorney General's Office staffers. Those consultants later went on to work for Hawley's campaign against former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Missouri law bans public officials from using taxpayer resources for their personal benefit.

"The consultants were used to advance Attorney General Hawley's priorities as Attorney General for the State of Missouri," Ashcroft wrote in a letter to the complainant. "There is nothing showing that the consultants were used to promote him as a candidate."

Ashcroft's investigation stems from a November complaint by the liberal group American Democracy Legal Fund.

In the complaint, group President Brad Woodhouse wrote that it appears Hawley misused state resources "by instructing political consultants to direct state, taxpayer-paid staff to undertake tasks that would raise Hawley's profile in his bid to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate."

FILE - IN this Jan 15, 2019 file photo, Senate Judiciary Committee committee member Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questions Attorney General nominee William Barr during a Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Hawley is facing conservative backlash after raising concerns with President Donald Trump's nominee to a high-profile appeals court. The Judicial Crisis Network on Monday announced plans to spend $500,000 on Missouri ads to sway Hawley to support D.C.-area U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Neomi Rao. Hawley on Monday told KFTK 97.1 FM Newstalk's Marc Cox that Rao doesn't have a strong record on abortion. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Woodhouse's complaint followed reporting by The Kansas City Star, which obtained records showing the consultants' work with official staffers.

The Attorney General's Office has previously dismissed the complaint as "frivolous."

"As expected, the Secretary of State report completely vindicated Josh Hawley," said Kelli Ford, Hawley's Senate spokeswoman, in a statement. "This marks the latest failed attempt by partisan Democrats."
EL PASO, Texas (AP) - A museum dedicated to the history of the U.S. Border Patrol has reopened after officials say protesters vandalized exhibits during an organized demonstration earlier this month.

The U.S. Border Patrol Museum in El Paso announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that the museum was welcoming visitors following a protest by immigrant advocates upset over the detention of migrant children at the now-closed detention center in Tornillo, New Mexico.

Protesters posted stickers throughout the facility that included images of migrant children who have died recently in Border Patrol custody, according to museum officials. The stickers were posted on an exhibit for fallen border patrol agents and on other displays throughout the museum on Feb. 16. Activists also left expletive messages in the museum's guest book.

"It was chaos. They weren't really violent, but they were extremely organized," David Ham, the museum's director, told the El Paso Times after the museum closed. "They knew where to go; they knew where a lot of our cameras were, they knew we were short-staffed on the weekend."

The demonstrators, who called themselves Tornillo: The Occupation, denied that the protest left behind any permanent damage.

"We took action because the museum and spaces like it exhibit a one-sided perspective of what is happening on the border," the group said in an emailed statement a few days after the protest.

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2018 photo, is the entrance of the U.S. Border Patrol Museum in El Paso, Texas. The U.S. Border Patrol Museum in El Paso announced on its Facebook page Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, it reopen after officials say immigrant rights advocates damaged some exhibits during a protest earlier this month. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras,File)

El Paso police are investigating. No arrests have been made.

It was unclear how much the damage cost the museum. Ham did not immediately return a phone message Thursday from The Associated Press seeking comment.

The privately funded museum, which is near one of the busiest U.S. ports of entry, seeks to tell the history of the Border Patrol as the nation's views on immigration, travel and border security have changed.

Congress created the U.S. Border Patrol in 1924. The agency slowly grew as its mission transformed from stopping Chinese immigrants crossing in from Mexico to its current role at a time of massive migration, cartel drug smuggling and political skirmishes.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - A former Albanian interior minister accused of links to drug trafficking has denied charges of being part of organized crime rings.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged Saimir Tahiri with drug trafficking and involvement in criminal groups.

Tahiri called the allegations a political setup. He did not elaborate.

The investigation started in 2017 when he was a Socialist Party lawmaker, a post he resigned last year.

Tahiri was interior minister from 2013-2017 in Albania's Socialist government.

He is accused of links to a criminal group suspected of trafficking large amounts of cannabis. Some of the network's leaders have been arrested in Italy and Albania.

Tahiri says he has been told by Italian prosecutors that he is not part of their investigation.
NEW YORK (AP) - Dozens of community and nonprofit theaters across the U.S. have been forced to abandon productions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" under legal threat by Broadway and Hollywood producer Scott Rudin. The combative move has prompted calls for a boycott of Rudin's work.

Rudin is arguing that author Harper Lee signed over to him exclusive worldwide rights to the title of the novel and that Rudin's current adaptation on Broadway - written by Aaron Sorkin - is the only version allowed to be performed.

That means different adaptations have had to be scuttled in such small venues as the Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City; Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, Massachusetts; and the Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo, New York, as well as a planned United Kingdom and Ireland tour. They had licensed the rights for a different version, written by Christopher Sergel and licensed by The Dramatic Publishing Company or DPC.

In a statement, Rudin defended his position. "We hate to ask anybody to cancel any production of a play anywhere, but the productions in question as licensed by DPC infringe on rights licensed to us by Harper Lee directly," he said.

"The Sergel play can contractually continue to be performed under set guidelines as described in detail in its own agreement with Harper Lee - and as long as those guidelines are adhered to, we have no issue with the play having a long life."

Anger over the move has triggered an online revolt using the rallying cry #BoycottRudinplays. Chris Peterson, founder of the OnStage Blog , wants ticket buyers to steer clear of all current and upcoming Rudin productions on Broadway, including "Hilary and Clinton," ''Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus," ''King Lear," ''The Ferryman" and "The Book of Mormon."

This combination photo shows Hollywood and Broadway producer Scott Rudin at The National Board of Review Motion Pictures awards gala in New York on Jan. 11, 2011, left, and the cover of Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird." Dozens of community and non-profit theaters across the U.S. have been forced to abandon productions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" under legal threat by Rudin. The combative move has prompted calls for a boycott of Rudin's work. Rudin is arguing that author Harper Lee signed over exclusive worldwide rights to the title of the novel and that Rudin's current adaptation on Broadway is the only version allowed to be performed. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

"If a theatre was consciously stealing creative license, that would be one thing. This is something else entirely. This is wrong," he writes. "Prohibiting others to perform this piece goes against everything the novel is about in the first place."

The all-volunteer Curtain Call Theatre in Braintree, Massachusetts, said it received a letter threatening damages of up to $150,000, a staggering amount for a venue where tickets for plays are $20 and $25 for musicals.

"Due to the substantial financial impact defending such an action would have on our small theatre group, we have no choice but to comply and, thus, cancel our upcoming production of 'To Kill a Mockingbird.' Not doing so would put our theatre at great risk," the theater said in a statement.

In Ohio, the Dayton Playhouse, an active community theater since 1959, had to abruptly cancel its "To Kill a Mockingbird." The cast and crew have been hard at work on the production for weeks.

"I feel terrible for our artists, onstage and backstage, who poured their hearts into making something beautiful and meaningful, only to have it ended so suddenly," said Matt Lindsay, chair of the Dayton Playhouse's board of directors.

The Broadway adaptation by Sorkin, creator of TV's "The West Wing" and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "The Social Network," stars Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch, the Alabama lawyer who defends a black man from a false charge of raping a white woman.

A spokesman for the American Association of Community Theatre said Thursday the organization would not weigh in on the dispute.

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - A onetime aide to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be resentenced next month for her role in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.

A judge set sentencing this week for March 29 for Bridget Kelly.

Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Christie, was sentenced two years ago to 18 months in prison for the plot to create traffic jams in 2013 to punish a mayor who didn't endorse Christie.

An appeals court threw out civil rights convictions against Kelly and co-defendant Bill Baroni last fall but upheld the most serious counts and ordered a resentencing.

Kelly was the author of the infamous "time for traffic problems in Fort Lee" email a month before access lanes to the bridge were realigned without notice to the town.

The four days of gridlock paralyzed Fort Lee and the subsequent fallout became known as "Bridgegate."

Christie wasn't charged, but the scandal damaged his chances for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. At her trial, testimony by Kelly and others contradicted Christie's account of when and what he knew about the traffic jams.

A judge this week reduced Baroni's sentence from 24 months to 18 months.

Kelly is pursuing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Greece's judicial authorities have refused, for the third time, to indict the country's former statistics chief for allegedly inflating the 2009 budget shortfall to force the country to seek its international bailouts.

An Athens council of judges on Thursday found no evidence to try Andreas Georgiou on criminal charges of alleged false certification.

Similar decisions had been taken twice since Georgiou was first charged in 2013, but twice the Supreme Court ordered the politically charged case re-examined. It was unclear whether this would happen again.

Georgiou took the helm at the statistics agency at an inopportune time, just months after Greece had revised upward its previously misreported budget deficit data. A former agency board member claimed the new data were artificially inflated.

European Union officials have repeatedly defended his work.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of admitted con-man Kyle Sandler in the Round House investor fraud (all times local):

12:45 p.m.

A federal judge has delayed sentencing for a con-man who bilked investors in Alabama of nearly $2 million.

U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins says he needs to see what federal law says about Kyle Sandler's request to do his time in home confinement, where he can use a computer to make more money and provide restitution to his victims.

Sandler apologized to the victims in court on Thursday, telling them, "I'm disgusted with myself."

The judge said the fraud charges Watkins pleaded guilty to call for up to six and a half years in prison.

In this March 31, 2015 photo provided by Art Meripol, Kyle Sandler poses for a photo at The Round House in Opelika, Ala. Sandler, who launched the business incubator called the Round House plead guilty to charges of taking about $1.9 million from investors. Authorities say Sandler used the money to pay for child care, rent, cars and more. Sandler now admits falsely portraying himself as a one-time Google executive to reel in a whole town. (Art Meripol via AP)

Sandler's lawyer didn't object to the length of the sentence, but Sandler himself asked to serve it at home. Prosecutors want him behind bars.

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1:06 a.m.

A man who used an internet pioneer and a teen inventor in a scam that cost investors in an Alabama town nearly $2 million was due in federal court Thursday to find out how long he will go to prison.

Kyle Sandler, 43, moved to the east Alabama town of Opelika (Oh-puh-LIE-kuh) in 2011 and later opened a business incubator called the Round House. He pleaded guilty last year to fraud for taking about $1.9 million from more than 50 investors.

Sandler told The Associated Press in a series of recent telephone interviews from jail that he falsely portrayed himself as a one-time Google executive and acted out of greed.

He said he used John McAfee, who developed early internet security software, and Taylor Rosenthal, a teen who had an idea for a new kind of first aid vending machine, to help gain publicity for his operation.

"I don't want to be this horrible person. I am disgusted with myself for doing this," Sandler said recently from the city jail in Montgomery, where he is being held in federal custody.

It was unclear whether any of Sandler's victims would be in court.

Prosecutors are recommending a lighter sentence because Sandler cooperated with authorities and pleaded guilty quickly. U.S. District Judge W. Keith Watkins could either accept the suggestion or sentence Sandler to a maximum 20 years in prison on each of two counts of fraud.

Sandler will probably get four to five years total, said defense attorney Richard Keith, and he still faces a theft charge in state court.

"He got money, got greedy, got caught, goes to prison," Keith said in an interview before the hearing.

Watkins already has ordered Sandler to repay the money lost by investors, and Sandler told AP he hopes to return to Opelika and make back the money in an internet-based business.
LONDON (AP) - A British court has overturned the murder conviction of a woman serving a life sentence for killing her husband.

Sally Challen was convicted in 2011 of killing her husband Richard with a hammer. She admitted the slaying but denied murder, saying her spouse had controlled and humiliated her for 40 years.

On Thursday three Court of Appeal judges said a psychiatrist had testified that Challen was suffering from two mental disorders at the time of the killing - evidence that was not available during her trial.

The judges quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.

Outside court, Challen's son David said it was "an amazing moment."

He said "the abuse our mother suffered, we felt, was never recognized properly and her mental conditions were not taken into account."
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's attorney general recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery, fraud and breach of trust on Thursday in a series of corruption scandals that have dogged his recent years in office and overshadowed his current re-election campaign.

The scandals have engulfed Netanyahu's family and his inner circle, with at least three former close confidants turning state's evidence and testifying as a witness against him. Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit says he has sufficient evidence to press charges against Netanyahu in three separate cases, pending a pre-indictment hearing where Netanyahu will be given the opportunity to defend himself. His political opponents, and indeed the entire country, have been eagerly awaiting the decision of Mandelblit - a Netanyahu appointee - with the April 9 election day fast approaching.

Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, have long been saddled with a penchant for expensive tastes and questionable use of public funds. Mrs. Netanyahu has been indicted for graft, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly overspending more than $100,000 in public funds on private meals at their official residence.

However, polls have consistently shown Netanyahu to still be the public's preferred candidate to be prime minister and he remains deadlocked in the polls, 40 days before Israelis go to vote.

Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the allegations as a media-orchestrated witch hunt aimed at removing him from office. With the indictment, however, and the prospect of a sitting prime minister standing trial, the election has become a referendum on Netanyahu as he seeks to become the longest serving premier in Israeli history.

Here's a look at the current cases facing the longtime Israeli leader:

FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement in Ramat Gan, Israel. The attorney general's decision on whether to indict Netanyahu on a series of corruption allegations is expected to be delivered Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. Avichai Mandelblit is expected to announce his decision after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)

TELECOM TRADE-OFF

The most damaging case involves an influence-peddling scandal in which two of Netanyahu's closest aides are testifying against him on suspicion of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel's Bezeq telecom company. In return, Bezeq's popular news site, Walla, allegedly provided favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family. Nir Hefetz, a former Netanyahu family spokesman, and Shlomo Filber, the former director of the Communications Ministry under Netanyahu, cut deals with prosecutors after they were arrested along with Bezeq's controlling shareholder Shaul Elovitch, his wife, son and other top Bezeq executives. Former journalists at the Walla news site have attested to being pressured to refrain from negative reporting of Netanyahu. Mandelblit said he recommends charging Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust.

LAVISH GIFTS

Police recommended indicting Netanyahu over accepting nearly $300,000 in gifts from Hollywood mogul Arnon Milchan and Australian billionaire James Packer. Police say that in return for lavish gifts that included jewelry, expensive cigars and champagne, Netanyahu had operated on Milchan's behalf on U.S. visa matters, tried to legislate a generous tax break for him and sought to promote his interests in the Israeli media market. Police have not commented on what Packer, who reportedly sought Israeli residency status for tax purposes, may have received, and Netanyahu has said everything he received were gifts from friends. Longtime aide Ari Harow is a state witness in this case. Mandelblit recommends charging Netanyahu with fraud and breach of trust.

MEDIA MEDDLING

Police have also recommended indicting Netanyahu for supposedly offering a newspaper publisher legislation that would weaken his paper's main rival in return for more favorable coverage. Netanyahu reportedly was recorded asking Arnon Mozes, the publisher of the Yediot Ahronot daily, for positive coverage in exchange for helping to weaken Israel Hayom, a free pro-Netanyahu newspaper that had cut into Yediot's business. Israel Hayom is financed by Netanyahu's American billionaire friend Sheldon Adelson and largely serves as the prime minister's mouthpiece. Netanyahu has noted that a proposed law to weaken Israel Hayom never passed and that he had even dissolved his coalition and called a new election in 2015 because of his opposition to the proposal. Harow is a state witness in this case, too. Mandelblit recommends charging Netanyahu with fraud and breach of trust.

GERMAN SUBMARINES

Netanyahu was questioned, but not named as a suspect, in a probe related to a possible conflict of interest involving a $2 billion purchase of German submarines that implicated some of his closest associates. Netanyahu's personal attorney, who is also his cousin, represented the German firm involved and is suspected of using his influence over the prime minister in return for a hefty cut of the deal. Israel's Supreme Court rejected a final appeal Thursday to question the prime minister under warning, saying there was no basis for suspecting Netanyahu in the scandal.

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Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Prosecutors say a man who stabbed his father 71 times and dumped his body in an Alabama river has been convicted of manslaughter.

News outlets report Eric Ray Jones was found guilty on Wednesday in the killing of his father Anthony Ray Jones. He had been charged with murder, but Madison County prosecutor Paul Barnett says jurors found him guilty of the lesser offense.

The 33-year-old killed his 55-year-old father at a cabin in New Hope in 2017, then strapped cinder blocks to sink the body in the Paint Rock River.

Defense attorney Reta McKannan says Jones didn't mean to kill him. Jones testified he was defending himself in a fight after wrecking his father's truck.

Jones could get up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing hasn't been scheduled.
SEATTLE (AP) - The Chinese tech giant Huawei pleaded not guilty Thursday to U.S. trade-theft charges in a case that has heightened a trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

The pleas were entered in federal court in Seattle, where a 10-count indictment was unsealed in January against two Huawei units, Huawei Device Co. and Huawei Device USA.

Charges include conspiracy to steal trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. The conspiracy charge carries a potential fine of $5 million or three times the value of the stolen trade secret, whichever is greater, the U.S. Attorney's office said Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez set a March 2020 trial date.

The U.S. has accused China of using predatory tactics to turn Chinese companies into leaders in tech fields such as robotics and electric vehicles.

From 2012 to 2014, prosecutors allege, Huawei engaged in a scheme to steal the technology behind a robotic device that Bellevue, Washington-based T-Mobile used to test smartphones, according to the charges.

FILE - This Dec. 18, 2018, file photo, shows company signage on display near the Huawei office building at its research and development center in Dongguan, in south China's Guangdong province. The Chinese tech giant Huawei has pleaded not guilty to U.S. charges that it stole trade secrets from T-Mobile. A company representative entered the pleas Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in federal court in Seattle, where a 10-count indictment was unsealed in January. Charges include conspiracy to steal trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

Prosecutors say one Huawei worker even removed the robot's arm from T-Mobile's lab, took detailed measurements and photos of it, and then sent the information about it to China; the company says the worker acted independently and was later fired.

A federal jury in Seattle awarded T-Mobile $4.8 million in damages in 2017.

Huawei, the No. 2 smartphone maker and an essential player in global communications networks, has also been charged in New York with lying to banks about deals that violated economic sanctions against Iran. The daughter of the company's founder has been arrested in Canada and is awaiting extradition to the U.S. No arraignment has been set in the New York case, but Huawei denies the charges.

Trade talks between the United States and China are far from completion, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told lawmakers Wednesday, but President Donald Trump raised hopes earlier in the week when he said he would postpone a scheduled March 2 increase in tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports.
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City's mayor has been cleared of criminal charges stemming from a fight outside a casino last year.

Frank Gilliam Jr. was caught on video in November in a brawl with several people outside the Golden Nugget casino on Nov. 11.

A judge hearing the case Thursday in nearby North Wildwood, where it had been transferred to avoid a conflict of interest, dismissed assault and harassment charges against the mayor.

A city councilman who also was present, Jeffree Fauntleroy II, was fined $500 fine for impeding traffic in a public space.

Both are Democrats.

After the court session, Gilliam told reporters the decision validates his claim that he did nothing wrong.

"The justice system basically proved itself on what we stated from the very beginning," Gilliam said.

His lawyer, Vincent Campo, said the mayor's conduct was found not to have constituted a crime.

"The mayor was accosted and attempted to protect himself," Campo said. "He's entitled to do that."

Prosecutors declined to file charges after investigating, but two citizen complaints were filed against the pair by casino nightclub staff members, alleging harassment and simple assault.

According to the complaints, Gilliam "swung a punch but missed but kept trying to attack" one man. Fauntleroy was accused of punching a man in the face before throwing him on the ground.

The fight came less than a month before FBI agents raided Gilliam's house, removing cardboard boxes and computer equipment while carrying out a search warrant. Federal authorities have not said what they were looking for, and no charges stemming from the raid had been announced as of Thursday.
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) - The Latest on Syria related developments (all times local):

8:45 p.m.

The U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group says a prominent French extremist linked to the 2015 attacks on Paris has been killed.

The coalition tweeted Thursday that a strike killed Fabien Clain in the Syrian town of Baghouz. It gave no details of when the strike occurred or how he was identified.

French authorities did not immediately comment on the announcement, but said last week they were working on verifying reports that Clain had been killed.

The day after the Nov. 13, 2015 attacks on Paris, Clain's voice announced in a recording that the Islamic State group claimed responsibility. The attacks killed 130 people at the Bataclan concert hall, cafes and the national stadium.

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2:30 p.m.

A spokesman for U.S.-backed forces fighting the Islamic State group in Syria says they have uncovered a mass grave near the last IS-held pocket in the country's east.

Adnan Afrin said Thursday that the grave unearthed outside the village of Baghouz contains the remains of men and women but said the number of bodies and their identities remain unclear.

A video published by Kurdish-run Furat FM TV station emerged showing several bodies dug out from a pit.

The Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces has been locked in a standoff with remaining IS militants holed up in Baghouz with civilians since early February.

Afrin says his forces managed to free 24 SDF fighters over the course of evacuating civilians from the area.
DENVER (AP) - Colorado's dairy and livestock industries backed bipartisan legislation Thursday to expand a state program in which residents who are in the country illegally can obtain drivers licenses and identification cards.

The Senate Finance Committee voted 5-2 to advance the bill , which would increase the number of Department of Motor Vehicles offices offering the special licenses and other documents from three to 10 across the state.

Agriculture and immigrant rights advocates have long lobbied for an expansion of the program, which under its current form has produced months-long wait times for immigrants seeking licenses and often requires them to leave their jobs for days at a time to drive hundreds of miles for a DMV appointment.

The scarcity of DMV slots also has led to illegal sales of appointment times, a practice targeted several years ago by then-Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and cited on Thursday by Brock Herzberg, director of government affairs for the Colorado Dairy Farmers Association.

"Most of our dairies are in northeast Colorado and they're having to send employees to Grand Junction" to get an appointment, Herzberg said. "Some of these appointments are being sold for up to $1,000 for a time slot."

"Our system is kind of lagging behind the demand for this and the need for it," said Herzberg, who also was speaking for the Colorado Livestock Association. Dairy, cattle and produce farmers run around-the-clock operations and need their workers to legally operate farm and ranch machinery.

FILE- In this Aug. 1, 2014, file photo, an immigrant and longtime resident of the United States, left, is processed for her permanent driver's license at a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Denver. On Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, Colorado lawmakers are poised to consider a bill to expand the program that issues state driver's licenses to immigrants in the country illegally, a measure Republicans have stopped in previous attempts. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)

"This is the life that we lead every day," said Republican Sen. Don Coram of Montrose, whose southwestern Colorado district includes thousands of immigrants working in agriculture and construction. "I truly believe that this is a matter of public safety so we can get these individuals licensed."

The program was enacted to help Colorado's $8 billion agriculture industry and, by licensing drivers and inducing them to get insurance, help make roads safer. The program is paid for by fees paid by license applicants than are higher than those charged U.S. citizens.

Applicants must prove they live in Colorado and can use Social Security Numbers or individual taxpayer identification numbers issued by the Internal Revenue Service to obtain the documents. The licenses are clearly marked to ensure the holders cannot use them vote.

Colorado began issuing the licenses in 2014. Since then, more than 61,000 licenses and nearly 11,000 learners' permits have been issued to people unable to demonstrate they are in the U.S. legally, said Sarah Werner, spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue, which oversees the DMV.

A 2018 law sought to alleviate the DMV crunch by allowing people to renew the three-year licenses online or by mail. This year's bill allows DMV immigrant services to be offered in Alamosa, Glenwood Springs, Lamar, Montrose, Pueblo and Sterling, as well as in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction and Lakewood.

The DMV hopes all 10 offices will be operating by sometime in 2020.

Twelve states and the District of Columbia offer special licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - A federal control board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances says it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a recent ruling that found the board's members were illegally appointed.

The board said Thursday it also will ask for a stay of the federal appeals court ruling pending Supreme Court consideration.

The board said a majority of its board members voted to appeal the ruling and said all seven have been legally appointed.

The appeals court had said its decision would not invalidate any of the board's actions and gives U.S. President Donald Trump and the Senate 90 days to decide whether to keep the board members or appoint new ones.

The board has overseen a couple of multimillion-dollar debt restructuring deals for the U.S. territory.
Over nearly three decades on Capitol Hill, Sen. Bernie Sanders has refused to formally identify as a Democrat. His 2016 primary challenge against Hillary Clinton exposed deep divisions among Democrats and fundamentally reshaped the party.

But as the Vermont independent seeks the Democratic presidential nomination again, he is taking steps to assure skeptical party faithful that he's one of them.

A self-declared democratic socialist, Sanders told a nationally televised town hall this week that he would support the eventual Democratic nominee even if it's not him. He also has indicated he will commit to the Democratic National Committee that he will run as a Democrat and remain loyal to the party.

Sanders has established himself as one of the early front-runners in the primary. He took in more than $10 million, overwhelmingly from small donors, in the first week since he announced his candidacy, while wresting away the media spotlight from others. As he prepares to hold his first campaign rally this weekend, Sanders is testing a dual strategy of holding onto his most enthusiastic backers while luring traditional Democrats whose support is crucial.

For now, his pledges don't satisfy some Democratic stalwarts who are still raw from the 2016 fight and worry that Sanders' left-flank policy pursuits could make it impossible for the party to reclaim the White House.

"Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat, and his ideology will not sell in the industrial belt in November," said Bob Mulholland, a national committeeman from California who pointed to such traditionally Democratic states as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania where Donald Trump prevailed over Clinton and clinched the race.

FILE - In this Jan. 30, 2019, file photo, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Sanders is working to convince Democratic Party faithful that he's one of them as he makes his second presidential bid. Sanders is promising national party officials and voters that he'll back the Democratic nominee no matter who wins the 2020 nomination. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

"You cannot run on the Venezuelan socialist program and think you can be elected president of the United States," added Mulholland, who backs his home-state senator, Kamala Harris, in 2020.

In South Carolina, home to the first Southern primary, state Sen. Marlon Kimpson said it's "hard to take someone seriously who flirts" with a party yet keeps his distance. Sanders "takes credit for shaping the Democratic platform, but will not commit to actually being a Democrat," said Kimpson, who backed Clinton in 2016 and is uncommitted for 2020.

Sanders has carefully calibrated his approach, emphasizing that he's functionally a Democrat in Congress, even if he doesn't officially join the party.

"I am a member of the Democratic leadership in the United States Senate," he said at a CNN town hall this week.

Yet last year, he turned down Vermont Democrats' Senate nomination, a move that allowed him to win his third term as an independent - without a Democrat on the ballot against him. Independence, he argues, attracts disenchanted voters.

"We can bring them into the Democratic Party to help create a party which will stand with the working families" against "the very powerful special interests who wield so much economic and political power," Sanders told CNN.

Several other presidential candidates, including Harris and Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, acknowledged Sanders' appeal last year by signing on as co-sponsors of his single-payer health insurance bill. Many of them echo some version of his call for tuition-free college and a "living wage" for all Americans.

Yet they draw distinctions.

"I'm not a democratic socialist," Harris said recently in New Hampshire, which holds the first presidential primary.

Warren, who has built a reputation as a working-class advocate, told a New England business and civic group, that she is "a capitalist to my bones." Former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is considering a presidential run, recently offered the same assurances of capitalist fealty.

Most presidential hopefuls spent the 2018 midterm campaign traversing the country to speak at state and local party fundraisers and events for establishment favorites. Warren sent $5,000 to every state Democratic Party.

That ingratiates candidates with rank-and-file party leaders, many of them "superdelegates" who overwhelmingly favored Clinton in 2016. Those party leaders have since had their first-ballot 2020 convention votes stripped under a DNC rules change that Sanders and his supporters helped push. But those officials still are free to endorse candidates and wield their influence in fundraising and recruiting volunteers.

Sanders counters that he has helped candidates in dozens of states since 2016. But true to his outsider status, his slate featured fewer incumbents, and he is rarely, if ever, a featured speaker for any Democratic function.

One of his early 2016 backers, South Carolina legislator Justin Bamberg, said party brass grousing over Sanders should remind themselves how successful he's been in pulling other Democrats toward his policies. "I don't see how you can support a Cory Booker or a Kamala Harris or a Tulsi Gabbard or an Elizabeth Warren and talk trash about Bernie Sanders," said Bamberg, who remains uncommitted for 2020. Gabbard is a congresswoman from Hawaii.

Still, Sanders' most immediate concerns may come in Bamberg's state. After battling Clinton essentially to a draw in Iowa, defeating her in New Hampshire and losing a competitive caucus in Nevada, Sanders met his defining setback in the South's first primary. African-Americans and white moderates who dominate the contest delivered Clinton a 47-point margin of victory, and she repeated the trouncing through the South to build an early pledged delegate lead that Sanders could not close.

Any improvement hinges on Democrats such as Chandra Dillard, a legislative black caucus member from Greenville, South Carolina. "As long as your voting record is with me and my issues and what my people see as issues," she said, "I don't have a problem with what you call yourself."

A former Iowa Democratic Party chairman, Scott Brennan, said a fair assessment finds a mixed party record for Sanders. "Party building comes in many forms," Brennan said, crediting the senator for bringing "a lot of energy and new folks."

As to whether that's a net gain for Democrats in 2020, Brennan offered a simple measure.

"You've got to win," he said. "Four more years of Trump, that's unsustainable. That's the issue."

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Follow Barrow and Kinnard on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and https://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - The Native American tribe leading the fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline said Thursday that an Army Corps of Engineers document shows the agency concluded the pipeline won't unfairly affect tribes before it consulted them.

Standing Rock Sioux officials say the document, which they shared with The Associated Press, bolsters the tribe's claim that the Corps disregarded a federal judge's order to seriously review the pipeline's potential impact on the Standing Rock Sioux and three other Dakotas-based tribes and to not treat the study as a "bureaucratic formality."

"This was a rigged process intended to justify a dangerous and illegal pipeline," Standing Rock Chairman Mike Faith said in a statement to the AP.

The Justice Department declined to comment Thursday. The Corps has said previously that the four tribes suing to shut down the pipeline that began delivering North Dakota oil to a shipping point in Illinois two years ago have been difficult to work with. And the agency did meet with the tribes before it presented its study findings to U.S. District Judge James Boasberg.

The tribes fear the pipeline could spill oil into the Missouri River and pollute water they rely on for drinking, fishing and religious purposes. Boasberg said the Corps "largely complied" with environmental law when permitting the pipeline, but he also ordered it to further study the pipeline's impact on the tribes.

Boasberg later said he "expects the Corps not to treat (this) as an exercise in filling out the proper paperwork" after the fact, though he also said he thought there was a "serious possibility" that the agency would be able to substantiate its prior conclusions.

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2017 file photo shows the town of Cannon Ball, N.D., on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. The Native American tribe leading the fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline said Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, an Army Corps of Engineers document shows the agency concluded the pipeline wouldn't unfairly affect tribes before it consulted them. The Standing Rock Sioux officials say the document bolsters the tribe's claim that the Corps disregarded a federal judge's order to seriously review the pipeline's potential impact on the Standing Rock Sioux and three other Dakotas-based tribes and to not treat the study as a "bureaucratic formality." (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

The Corps in August 2018 announced that it had completed the work and that it confirmed the agency's earlier determination that the pipeline does not pose a higher risk of adversely affecting minorities. The four tribes have since challenged that conclusion, and the Corps in early February turned over to the tribes the documents it used to make its decision. The records are shielded from the public because some contain pipeline information that might be useful to vandals or terrorists.

One of the documents is a Feb. 4, 2018, draft memo from the Corps to the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. It states that the agency performed the additional analysis ordered by the judge and "has identified no new information."

"Therefore, decisions made by the (Corps) were in accordance with the law and neither arbitrary nor capricious," the memo states.

The draft memo is dated more than three months before the Corps met with the tribes to hear their concerns.

"How could they conclude that there is 'no new information' before they even talked to us?" Faith said.

The Corps, which has said it had a hard time obtaining information it needed from the tribes, did meet with them in late May 2018.

The official memo it gave Boasberg three months later mirrors the February draft memo in structure but is more detailed and includes two references to having met with tribes. It states that the agency "considered the comments and concerns expressed by the tribes" but that its overall review did not uncover "significant new circumstances or information relevant to environmental concerns."

Standing Rock attorney Jan Hasselman said the tribe believes the February memo shows that the Corps didn't seriously seek tribal input and that its findings were preordained.

"I don't think it's any new fact to anybody that this was a sham from the beginning, but it was a little startling to see it written down so plainly," he said.

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Follow Blake Nicholson on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NicholsonBlake
BAGHDAD (AP) - Iraqi security officials say two bombs have exploded in the city of Mosul, killing one person and wounding 17 others.

The first explosion, a road side bomb, went off Thursday in an area southwest of Mosul near a vehicle belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias, wounding four.

Another car bomb went off near the cultural center, killing one person and wounding 13, the officials said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. There was no immediate claim for the bombings, the latest in a string of attacks along roads and in villages in areas north and west of Baghdad.

The Islamic State group has claimed many of them. Iraq claimed victory over the organization in 2017 after a four year war.
YORK, Pa. (AP) - Police have captured an emu that's been on the run in Pennsylvania.

Northern York County Regional Police say the large bird was caught Tuesday after residents spotted it walking through backyards and on roadways.

Police say animal wranglers with Ellis Animal Services walked the bird to a local emu farm where it has been corralled with other emus.

The bird was first spotted walking down the middle of a road Feb. 18, scaring a man who was working in his yard. Police have yet to locate the bird's owner.

The emu farm's owner has volunteered to take the bird if the owner never comes forward.

Anyone missing an emu is asked to contact police.
BERLIN (AP) - A German court has rejected a bid by the heirs of a Jewish French art collector to seize a painting that a Houston museum has loaned to Germany.

A regional court near Berlin said Thursday it sees no grounds to grant the request by heirs of Gaston Levy to seize Henri Edmond Cross' "Regatta in Venice."

The painting was loaned by Houston's Museum of Fine Arts for a show on the French artist at the Barberini Museum in Potsdam.

The Texas museum has said it "stands by its ownership" of the painting, which the heirs say was looted by the Nazis.

The Potsdam court ruled that the heirs aren't entitled to sue the Barberini, which only has the painting temporarily.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma appellate court has upheld a white former police officer's conviction on a misdemeanor weapons charge related to the fatal off-duty shooting of his daughter's black boyfriend.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals Thursday rejected former Tulsa officer Shannon Kepler's appeal of a reckless-conduct-with-a-firearm conviction. A jury found Kepler guilty on that charge in the first of four trials involving the case.

He was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced in 2017 to 15 years in prison following three trials in which juries deadlocked. An appeal on that conviction is pending.

Kepler shot 19-year-old Jeremey Lake in 2014. Kepler claimed Lake was armed and he fired in self-defense. Police never found a weapon on Lake or at the scene.

Kepler's attorneys said he was trying to protect his adult daughter .
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An investigation into a police shooting in Tennessee has found that an officer was wounded by friendly fire during a call in which a black man was fatally shot, a local broadcast report says.

Authorities have said officers responding last October to a reported assault located a man matching the suspect's description in an apartment. Instead of calling for SWAT team assistance, investigators say, an officer opened a door to the apartment, leading 31-year-old Sershawn Martez Dillon to flee and fire his weapon. Officers returned fire.

Dillon was killed and Nashville Police Officer Samuel Galluzzi was wounded.

WSMV-TV reports its review of the internal probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation found fellow officers shot Galluzzi. The bureau says ballistic findings show Dillon only fired once.

Galluzzi was hit twice.

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Information from: WSMV-TV, http://www.wsmv.com/
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Two organizations are fighting over the display of a Bible at the Manchester VA Medical Center.

The Bible was carried by a prisoner of war in World War II and became part of a memorial at the medical center. It was removed after the Military Religious Freedom Foundation objected. WMUR-TV reports another group, the Northeast POW-MIA Network, wants to put it back.

The Missing Man Table memorial honors missing veterans and POWs. The foundation said the Bible's presence was intolerable and unconstitutional. The medical center put the Bible in a display case.

Paul Martin of the POW-MIA network said the donated Bible is not just a religious artifact but that it means that the prisoner of war held onto faith and hope that he could be brought home.

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Information from: WMUR-TV, http://wmur.com
NEW YORK (AP) - Health officials say further research has not found a miscarriage risk for women who get annual flu shots.

Two years ago, a puzzling study found women who had miscarriages between 2010 and 2012 were more likely to have had back-to-back annual flu shots. So experts urged more research.

This week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said a larger and more rigorous study found no link over three subsequent flu seasons.

Meanwhile, the CDC raised a question about a new shingles vaccine. A preliminary study found two cases of a rare paralyzing condition among more than 100,000 people who got a Shingrix shot. But one of the two may have started developing symptoms before the shot. Officials say they're doing more research.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - After a decades-long career as a TV weather forecaster, a New Orleans meteorologist is signing off Friday due to vision problems.

Carl Arredondo, 55, announced Feb. 19 that he had a rare genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa that was eroding his peripheral vision, and that his last day at WWL-TV would be March 1.

The station aired a segment Tuesday detailing Arredondo's condition and showing him negotiating the city's streets with a white cane that he's learning to use.

"It's tough because I love forecasting - not necessarily being on TV. I love sitting down with the computer models and trying to figure out what's going to happen, but I've noticed in the last year especially, it's not as easy to do the things that I need to do," Arredondo said.

He said he has struggled with genetic eye problems since his 20s, including detached retinas that required surgeries after which he couldn't move for weeks at a time. He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa several years ago.

Arredondo studied meteorology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston and then worked briefly for a private weather company providing offshore clients with weather data. After various stints with television stations in Texas, Arredondo joined The Weather Channel in 1988 and then WWL-TV in 1991.

Carl Arredondo, WWL-TV's Chief Meteorologist, at the news station in New Orleans on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Arredondo announced February 19 that he had a rare genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa that was eroding his peripheral vision, and that his last day would be March 1. (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune via AP)

During his time at the station he's covered numerous weather events and hurricanes including 2005's Hurricane Katrina. In the aftermath of Katrina, the station aired a story about his return to his storm-damaged neighborhood and home in Slidell.

After leaving the station, Arredondo will join Lighthouse Louisiana, a nonprofit that works with people who are visually and hearing impaired.

"I'm lucky that I'm stepping away while I can, and it's my decision to do it. There are times that I am uncertain and nervous and probably a little bit scared, but I know that carefully walking and maneuvering I can find my way to where I need to be," he said.

Carl Arredondo, WWL-TV's Chief Meteorologist, puts on makeup as he prepares for a live newscast at the station in New Orleans on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Arredondo announced February 19 that he had a rare genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa that was eroding his peripheral vision, and that his last day would be March 1. (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune via AP)

Carl Arredondo, WWL-TV's Chief Meteorologist, works in front of a green screen during a live newscast at the station in New Orleans on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019. Arredondo announced February 19 that he had a rare genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa that was eroding his peripheral vision, and that his last day would be March 1. (Brett Duke/The Times-Picayune via AP)
PARIS (AP) - Fabien Clain was the voice of Islamic State for his home country of France - and above all for its capital city, terrorized by squads of extremists who blew themselves up outside the national stadium, and opened fire on concert-goers and cafe diners in November 2015.

In a recording released the day after those Paris attacks, it was Clain who announced to France that the Islamic State group was responsible for the worst terrorist violence in France's modern history.

Clain, one of Europe's most-wanted members of the extremist group, was killed in a strike by the U.S.-led military coalition in Syria, the coalition announced Thursday in a tweet. Coalition spokesman Col. Sean Ryan said the strike on Baghouz occurred Feb. 20, but released no further information on how Clain was killed or how his remains were identified.

French authorities did not comment on the coalition announcement, but had said last week they were verifying reports of Clain's death.

Born in the southern French city of Toulouse in 1978 and raised in Normandy, Clain converted from Catholicism in his early 20s, persuading his future wife, his younger brother Jean-Michel, his half-sister and his mother to join him in his new religion.

In 2009, Fabien Clain was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in a network that sent recruits to fight with jihadis in Iraq. Five years later, he is believed to have left for Syria with his extended family to join the Islamic State group.

FILE - In this Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016, file picture, a screen grab from the Interpol wanted persons web page shows a portrait for Fabien Clain. French jihadist Fabien Clain known as the "voice" of the group has been killed in an airstrike in Syria in the extremists' last pocket there. (Interpol via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

But first, he had an errand to run.

As France was convulsed by the January 2015 attacks against the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket, a clerk at a hi-fi store in the south of France said Fabien Clain came in to buy more than 3,500 euros worth of studio recording equipment. According to the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, he requested that it be easily "transportable." He is believed to have taken off for Syria soon afterward.

All trace of his family was lost until Nov. 14, 2015, the day after the deadly attacks in Paris, when Clain's voice floated across French media from Syria.

"Eight brothers with explosive belts and assault rifles targeted places chosen with the greatest care ahead of time in the heart of the French capital," he said. His brother Jean-Michel's voice sang an Islamic nasheed in the background.

Fabien Clain was now "the voice of Daesh" for the country he, his brother and their families left behind. Interpol has kept him on its most-wanted list ever since.

Most recently, on Dec. 28, Clain's voice was heard again, in a diatribe addressed to France's yellow vest protesters, calling on them to turn against their government, "which spends your money indiscriminately." Especially, he noted, on wars.

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Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Peek into any U.S. hospital's baby ICU, and you'll see sick and premature newborns covered in wired monitors that tear at fragile skin and make it hard for parents to cuddle their kids.

Now researchers have created tiny skin-like wireless sensors that may finally cut those cords.

"This need was so compelling," said John Rogers, a Northwestern University bioengineer who led the sensors' development. "Without the wires, it's much easier for the parents, mothers in particular, to interact and hold their babies."

Nearly 300,000 U.S. newborns wind up in neonatal intensive care units each year, because they were born prematurely or with serious health problems. It's critical to track their heartbeat and other vital signs so doctors and nurses can rapidly spot if their youngest patients are in trouble.

But today, that means sticky electrodes tethered by wires to a variety of beeping monitors that surround the incubator. The nest of wires impedes skin-to-skin contact with a parent that's known to help preemies thrive, much less rock a baby or breast feed, said Dr. Amy Paller, a Northwestern pediatric dermatologist.

And no matter how carefully doctors and nurses remove the electrodes, preemies whose skin isn't fully developed are prone to injuries and scarring.

This 2019 photo provided by Northwestern University shows a soft, flexible wireless sensor applied on a foot of a family's baby, who is involved in the clinical trial at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. This kind of sensor could replace the tangle of wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals' neonatal intensive care units. (Northwestern University via AP)

Going wireless in the NICU is a lot harder than, say, measuring a jogger's heart rate with a FitBit.

First, Rogers' team developed ultrathin sensors made of a flexible silicone that moves like skin and clings without any strong adhesive.

Then the researchers embedded the sensors with spring-like electronics that flex as the body moves, and are waterproof and made with materials that - unlike today's NICU monitors - don't interfere with X-rays or MRI scans.

And key to being lightweight, they don't need batteries. Under the crib mattress sits a transmitter that wirelessly charges the sensors much like some smartphone chargers - while simultaneously relaying all the sensors' measurements to hospital computers.

Replacing today's multiple monitors takes just two wireless sensors - one made for the chest or back, and one to wrap around a foot - that work together. For example, the upper sensor measures heart activity, while the foot sensor uses light to measure blood oxygen levels. How long it takes a heartbeat's pulse to reach the foot corresponds to blood pressure, Rogers explained - no bruising blood pressure cuff required.

How reliable are they? Researchers put the wireless sensors on the bodies of 20 babies in Northwestern-affiliated NICUs who also had the normal wired monitoring. The wireless sensors worked just as well, Rogers and Paller reported Thursday in the journal Science.

"This is a promising technology and may eliminate stick-on sensors," said Dr. Rosemary Higgins, a neonatologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, who wasn't involved with the research.

The studies are continuing and Rogers said the sensors now have been used on about 80 babies with similar results and no sign of skin trouble.

"It's really amazing," said Theodora Flores, as she held one of her twin daughters, Genesis, in the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago this week. Genesis is part of the wireless testing and the new mom said fewer wires would mean, "I can move freely with her a little bit more."

It would take far more testing for Food and Drug Administration approval of wireless sensors.

But Rogers said the bigger need is in developing countries that can't afford today's wired monitoring even for preemies. He estimates the new sensors could be made for about $10 to $15. With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Save the Children, Rogers is preparing for a pilot trial of the wireless sensors in Zambia in April, with the goal of testing up to 20,000 sensors in India, Pakistan and Zambia by year's end.

The technology "has great potential impact on monitoring practices all over the world and may give many neonates a more equitable opportunity to survive," Dr. Ruth Guinsburg of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, wrote in a commentary in Science.

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AP video journalist Teresa Crawford contributed to this report from Chicago.

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This 2019 photo provided by Northwestern University shows a soft, flexible wireless sensor applied on the chest of a family's baby, who is involved in the clinical trial at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. This kind of sensor could replace the tangle of wire-based sensors that currently monitor babies in hospitals' neonatal intensive care units. (Northwestern University via AP)

Theodora Flores holds one of her twin daughters, Genesis, in a patient room at the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019. Genesis is wearing wireless sensors developed by researchers at Northwestern University to monitor newborns without hurting their skin or blocking parents' cuddles. (AP Photo/Teresa Crawford)
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - The Latest on tensions between India and Pakistan (all times local):

9:20 p.m.

Pakistan's foreign ministry says the world's largest body of Muslim-majority nations has adopted a resolution urging India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions and resolve their issues "through peaceful means."

The ministry said in a statement Saturday that at the end of a meeting in Abu Dhabi, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation "reaffirmed its unwavering support for the Kashmiri people in their just cause."

It said the OIC expressed concern over this past week's "Indian violation of Pakistani airspace; affirmed Pakistan's right to self-defense; and urged India to refrain from the threat or use of force."

The resolution came a day after Pakistan's foreign minister skipped the meeting to protest the host's decision to invite India, a non-member.

A family member of a Pakistani prisoner Shakir Ullah, who was killed by Indian inmates in an Indian jail, sits next to his body in an ambulance arriving from India at Pakistani-India border post Wagah, near Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, March 2, 2019. Indian authorities have handed over the body of a Pakistani prisoner Ullah who was beaten to death by Indian inmates this month at an Indian jail apparently in retaliation for the Dec. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

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8 p.m.

India's defense minister has met with the air force pilot who was released from Pakistani custody.

The Press Trust of India news agency reported that Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met with Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman at the Indian air force medical facility in New Delhi on Saturday, with Varthaman debriefing the minister about his detainment in Pakistan.

The news agency said the pilot was undergoing medical tests at the facility.

Varthaman was captured on Wednesday after his plane was shot down by the Pakistani military amid high tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals over the disputed Kashmir region. Pakistan handed Varthaman back to India at a border crossing on Friday.

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7:15 p.m.

India has handed over the body of a Pakistani prisoner who was beaten to death by inmates at an Indian jail last month apparently in retaliation for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers.

It was unclear on what charges Shakir Ullah had been held at the jail.

Pakistani government officials say border guards received Ullah's body Saturday at the same Wagah border crossing in the eastern city of Lahore from where an Indian pilot was handed over to Indian officials a day before.

The pilot was captured this past week after his plane was shot down by the Pakistani military amid high tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals over the disputed Kashmir region.

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6:45 p.m.

Pakistan's foreign minister says Russia has offered to serve as a mediator to ease tensions between Pakistan and India.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Saturday that Pakistan was ready to accept the Russian offer, but he did not know whether India would agree as well.

Qureshi said at a news conference that Pakistan wants "peace, we don't war and we have said that war is not solution to problems."

Qureshi also said a top Saudi diplomat would soon visit Pakistan and India in a bid to ease tensions.

Pakistani officials said China is also expected to send an envoy to Pakistan and India next week.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

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6:15 p.m.

A Pakistani Cabinet minister says a key train service between Pakistan and neighboring India will resume on Monday, a sign on easing tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

The train service, known as Samjhauta Express, was suspended by Pakistani authorities this past week, stranding people on both sides.

On Saturday, the minister for railways, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, told reporters that the train link would be restored on Monday. The train links Lahore with the Indian border town of Atari.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

Officials said Saturday that soldiers from both sides again targeted each other's posts and villages along their volatile frontier in disputed Kashmir, killing at least six civilians and two Pakistani troops.

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4:15 p.m.

Pakistan's military says two of its soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire with Indian forces near the Line of Control that separates the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between the rivals.

It marked the first fatalities for Pakistani troops since Wednesday, when tensions dramatically escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbors over Kashmir, which is split between them but claimed by both in its entirety.

Pakistan's army said in a statement Saturday that the soldiers were killed in the Nakiyal region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours. It said there were reports of troop casualties on the Indian side.

Since overnight Friday, a total of at least six civilians have been killed on both sides of Kashmir.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

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4:15 p.m.

Indian police say two paramilitary soldiers and two counterinsurgency police officials have been killed in a gunbattle with militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, while troops fatally shot a civilian during anti-India protests.

Police said Saturday that the fighting began Thursday night in a forested area in the northwestern Handwara area after Indian troops surrounded the area on a tip that militants were hiding there.

Since then, fighting has been on and off. In addition to the fatalities, at least eight soldiers and police have been wounded.

Police said a young man was killed Friday when government forces fired at anti-India protesters who threw stones while trying to reach the site of the fighting. Several people were also injured in the clashes.

The fighting comes amid tensions between India and Pakistan that have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

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2:05 p.m.

Pakistan's military says Indian troops have fired across the Line of Control into the Pakistan-controlled portion of the disputed region of Kashmir, killing two civilians and wounding two others.

The casualties Saturday bring to six the number of people killed on both sides of Kashmir since overnight Friday.

Pakistan's military said in a statement that its troops "gave a befitting response by targeting Indian posts."

The Indian army said Pakistani soldiers attacked Indian posts at several places along the militarized line later Saturday.

The latest exchange of fire between the nuclear-armed rivals came a day after Pakistan released an Indian pilot to defuse tensions. Pakistan arrested the pilot this past week after shooting down two Indian planes in Kashmir, which is split between the countries but claimed in its entirety by both.

Tensions have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

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11:30 a.m.

Hundreds of people who were forced to flee border villagers this week amid a dramatic escalation of hostilities between Pakistan and India have urged the international community to play its role in resolving the issue of Kashmir so that they can live peacefully.

Mohammad Latif, a laborer who is taking refuge at a government building vacated for sheltering displaced families, says, "Whenever India fire mortars, it's we who suffer."

Parveez Kazmi, a woman whose married daughter lives in Indian Kashmir, was weeping on a road in Muzafarabad city. She cannot travel to Indian-controlled Kashmir because of recent suspension of a key bus service by New Delhi.

She says people living on both sides of Kashmir often miss funerals and weddings of their dear ones because of tension between Pakistan and India.

On Saturday, people in Pakistan's part of Kashmir continued fleeing border villages for safety amid a resumption of deadly shelling.

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10 a.m.

A Pakistani government official says Indian troops with heavy weapons have "indiscriminately targeted border villagers" along the two countries' Line of Control in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a boy and wounding three others.

The official, Umar Azam, said Saturday that Pakistani troops are "befittingly" responding to the Indian fire.

He says several homes were destroyed in Pakistan's part of Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. India said earlier that Pakistani fire killed two siblings and their mother on its side.

Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.

Saturday's exchange of fire came a day after Pakistan handed over a captured Indian air force pilot to India as a "gesture of peace" to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the disputed Kashmir region.

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9:45 a.m.

Officials say two siblings and their mother have been killed in cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in disputed Kashmir.

Indian police say the three died overnight after a shell fired by Pakistani soldiers hit their home in Poonch region near the so-called Line of Control that divides the Himalayan territory of Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Indian army says its soldiers responded.

Tensions have been running high since Indian aircraft crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday, carrying out what India called a pre-emptive strike against militants blamed for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a MiG-21 fighter jet Wednesday and its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday in a peace gesture.

Family members of a Pakistani prisoner Shakir Ullah, who was killed by Indian inmates in an Indian jail, mourn while they wait for his body at Pakistani-India border post Wagah, near Lahore, Pakistan, Saturday, March 2, 2019. Indian authorities have handed over the body of a Pakistani prisoner Ullah who was beaten to death by Indian inmates this month at an Indian jail apparently in retaliation for the Dec. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 soldiers. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
The opening months of the Democratic presidential primary have been dominated by senators who have staked their campaigns on personal narratives and sweeping liberal policies.

Now here come the governors.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was the first state executive to enter the presidential field, launching his campaign Friday by declaring climate change the nation's most pressing task and his campaign's defining issue. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is expected to join soon. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe are considering bids, as well.

Most of them will use some variations of an argument that governors from Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton and George W. Bush have used to reach the Oval Office: We get things done, unlike those Capitol Hill peacocks. "If America wants to see a Washington that actually works, look west to Washington state," Inslee, a former congressman, said Friday in his Seattle announcement.

Yet governors face notable headwinds in the era of President Donald Trump.

Many Democratic voters are transfixed by the daily saga in the nation's capital, and that allows presidential candidates including Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to remain front and center in the battle for attention.

In this March 1, 2019, photo, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee takes part in an interview on an outdoor patio in Seattle. Democrats' growing presidential primary has expanded beyond Capitol Hill and the diverse, women-dominated group of senators that have dominated the race so far. Inslee on Friday became the first governor in the race, and he declared climate change his top priority. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

"I don't want to diminish being a governor, but it's just not as important as it used to be," said Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor.

Richardson ran for president in 2008 but never gained traction, as a freshman senator from Illinois named Barack Obama won the nomination and the general election. Eight years later, Republicans went even further afield from Obama's thin resume when they nominated Trump, who'd never held elected office at any level.

Adding to the governors' challenges, they are middle-aged to older white men at a time when the Democratic Party base is dominated by women nonwhites and young voters - an electorate that may not be clamoring for the offerings of conventional politicians. Inslee and Hickenlooper are in their late 60s. McAuliffe is 62. Bullock is the youngest, at 52.

For those Democrats looking for a white man, they've already got Sanders, who is anything but conventional, as a 77-year-old democratic socialist. Potentially joining the fold soon: former Vice President Joe Biden, a 76-year-old with decades in the limelight, and Texas Democrat Beto O'Rourke, a 46-year-old who built a national following in his unsuccessful bid to topple Republican Sen. Ted Cruz last year. Both men would bring an immediate fundraising jolt that governors might not match.

"Things are so audience-driven. Who's on fire? Who gets the crowd?" said Boyd Brown, a South Carolina Democrat who is part of the "Draft Beto" operation. "A no-name governor from a small state isn't drawing that enthusiasm. They've got to do something to catch fire."

Added Richardson: "Voters want an inspirational candidate."

For Inslee, action on climate change is his attempt to do just that. "I'm the only candidate who is saying very clearly this has to be the No. 1 priority for the United States," he said in an interview after his announcement. "This is a compelling passion of my life, in public life. I'm the only person who's been working on this literally for decades."

Inslee argues that his focus, besides policy necessity, is good politics given the increasing attention climate change is getting from the left. His theory: Once he gets noticed for his signature issue, Democratic voters will see his liberal record in Washington.

Colorado's Hickenlooper has a different approach, basing his nascent campaign around the argument that he has a record of uniting divided constituencies to get things done in a two-party battleground state. He regularly touts new limits on energy emissions, gun control laws and Medicaid expansion that he implemented during his two terms.

At an Iowa house party in January, Hickenlooper described himself as "having strong progressive values, but also being willing to compromise to make progress." He argued against a primary that revolves around who loathes Trump more.

"If everyone yells at Trump, he wins," Hickenlooper said when asked about the president. "You have to laugh at him and joke along and say, 'Hey, this is what I did.'"

Bullock and McAuliffe would be arguing on a slate of accomplishments in statehouses controlled by Republicans. Bullock successfully expanded Medicaid in Montana. McAuliffe was unable to persuade GOP lawmakers to do that but took executive action on liberal priorities such as restoring most felons' voting rights.

For their parts, senators are still sensitive to assessments of their management abilities - and the Senate's reputation for doing more talking than anything else.

Harris notes that her previous posts as California attorney general and local prosecutor made her an executive branch official responsible for guiding an office or an agency. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who would become the second black man to hold the presidency, talks extensively of his tenure as the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Even Sanders, who has been on Capitol Hill for almost 30 years, brings up actions he took as mayor of Burlington, Vermont.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar's aides this week touted her rankings in Vanderbilt University's assessment of the most effective senators based on 15 metrics of how successful senators were in advancing impactful legislation. Klobuchar was the highest-ranking Democratic senator and fifth overall.

For all the challenges, Democratic observers remain wary about writing off governors who may start from seemingly nowhere.

"The divide will not be between people with executive and legislative experience but between people who have fine ideas versus those who want to be transformational presidents," said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which backs Warren. Green put Warren and Sanders in the transformational category but said Inslee's approach on climate change could qualify.

Another former governor, Michigan's Jennifer Granholm, said governors still can marry old-school retail campaigning - like a little-known former Georgia governor, Jimmy Carter, used in Iowa in 1975 - with the social media savvy that senators like Harris and Warren have used to build massive followings. Then governors must capitalize in the initial summer debates, Granholm added, saying it's all possible if they shed the conventions of already being an executive.

"Anybody who says they know what's going to work and who's going to figure it out is lying," said Brown, the O'Rourke supporter from South Carolina. "Donald Trump is president, isn't he?"

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Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Sara Burnett in Chicago and Rachel La Corte in Seattle contributed to this report.

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Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP .
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - America's newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX.

The only passenger was a life-size test dummy, named Ripley after the lead character in the "Alien" movies. SpaceX needs to nail the debut of its crew Dragon capsule before putting people on board later this year.

This latest, flashiest Dragon is on a fast track to reach the space station Sunday morning, just 27 hours after liftoff.

It will spend five days docked to the orbiting outpost, before making a retro-style splashdown in the Atlantic next Friday - all vital training for the next space demo, possibly this summer, when two astronauts strap in.

SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk said the launch was "super stressful" to watch, but he's hopeful the capsule will be ready to carry people later this year.

"To be frank, I'm a little emotionally exhausted," Musk told reporters barely an hour after liftoff. "We have to dock to the station. We have to come back, but so far it's worked ... we've passed the riskiest items."

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine called it "a big night for the United States of America."

"We're on the precipice of launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil again for the first time since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011," said Bridenstine, who got a special tour of the launch pad on the eve of launch, by Musk.

An estimated 5,000 NASA and contractor employees, tourists and journalists gathered in the wee hours at Kennedy Space Center with the SpaceX launch team, as the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off before dawn from the same spot where Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles once soared. Across the country at SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California, company employees went wild, cheering every step of the way until the capsule successfully reached orbit.

Looking on from Kennedy's Launch Control were the two NASA astronauts who will strap in as early as July for the second space demo, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken. Shortly after liftoff, Musk asked them, "How do you feel about flying on it?"

It's been eight years since Hurley and three other astronauts flew the last space shuttle mission, and human launches from Florida ceased.

NASA turned to private companies, SpaceX and Boeing, and has provided them $8 billion to build and operate crew capsules to ferry astronauts to and from the space station. Now Russian rockets are the only way to get astronauts to the 250-mile-high outpost. Soyuz tickets have skyrocketed over the years; NASA currently pays $82 million per seat.

Boeing aims to conduct the first test flight of its Starliner capsule in April, with astronauts on board possibly in August.

Bridenstine said he's confident that astronauts will soar on a Dragon or Starliner - or both - by year's end. But he stressed there's no rush.

"We are not in a space race," he said. "That race is over. We went to the moon and we won. It's done. Now we're in a position where we can take our time and make sure we get it right."

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The white crew Dragon is slightly bigger - 27 feet (8 meters) tip to tip - and considerably fancier and safer. Musk said the redesigned capsule has "hardly a part in common" with its predecessor.

It features four seats, three windows, touch-screen computer displays and life-support equipment, as well as eight abort engines to pull the capsule to safety in the event of a launch emergency. Solar cells are mounted on the spacecraft for electrical power, as opposed to the protruding solar wings on cargo Dragons.

"It's an incredibly sleek looking vehicle from the inside and it's very easy to operate," Hurley told reporters just hours before liftoff. He marvels at how the Dragon has just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpit's 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.

For the test , the Ripley dummy was strapped into the far left seat, wearing the company's snappy white spacesuit. The other seats were empty, save for a small plush toy resembling Earth that was free to float upon reaching zero-gravity. "Super high tech zero-g indicator added just before launch!" Musk tweeted. True to his word, the toy rose weightlessly above the seat once the capsule was in orbit.

As many as seven astronauts could squeeze in, although four will be the norm once flights get going, allowing for a little cargo room. About 450 pounds (200 kilograms) of supplies are going up on this flight.

The capsule is designed to dock and undock automatically with the space station. Cargo Dragon must be maneuvered with the station's robot arm.

Like Ripley, the capsule is rigged with sensors. Engineers will be carefully watching sound, vibration and other stresses on the spacecraft, while monitoring the life-support, communication and propulsion systems. Some of the equipment needs more work - possibly even redesign - before serving human passengers.

"We're going to learn a ton from this mission," said NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders.

Flight operations team members - some of them new to this - also need the six-day trial run, according to Kennedy Space Center's director, Robert Cabana.

The objective is to make the next demo flight, with Hurley and Behnken, as safe as possible. The more immediate goal is to avoid harming the space station and its three occupants: an American, Canadian and Russian.

"Seeing a success like this definitely gives us a lot of confidence in the future," Behnken said.

At Saturday's post-launch news conference, Musk said he'd be happy to fly on the revamped Dragon. "You guys think it's a good vehicle, right?" he asked Behnken and Hurley, seated alongside him. Musk jokingly said they better wait a week, until the Dragon returns, before responding.

Despite SpaceX's success at recovering and reusing its rockets, NASA is insisting on brand new boosters from SpaceX for the crew capsule flights. The first-stage booster used Saturday landed on a floating platform in the Atlantic, following liftoff. SpaceX plans to recycle the newly flying capsule for a high-altitude abort test this spring, along with a booster launched and retrieved a week ago.

Musk anticipates eventually selling Dragon rides to private citizens, much as the Russians have done, first to the space station and then perhaps beyond. "That would be pretty cool," he said.

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Demo 1 crew capsule lifts off from pad 39A, Saturday, March 2, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule launch from NASA pad 39A as seen in a time exposure from Viera, FL. on March 2 with a lone, untrimmed palm tree in the foreground. (Tim Shortt/Florida Today via AP)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Demo 1 crew capsule lifts off from pad 39A, Saturday, March 2, 2019, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, speaks during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Elon Musk, left, CEO of SpaceX, speaks as NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, center, and Doug Hurley, right, listen during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, and Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, answer questions during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, speaks during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, speaks during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, speaks during a news conference after the SpaceX Falcon 9 Demo-1 launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA astronaut Eric Boe, assistant to the chief of the astronaut office for commercial crew, left, and Norm Knight, deputy director of flight operations at NASA's Johnson Space Center watch the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company's Crew Dragon spacecraft on the Demo-1 mission from firing room four of the Launch Control Center, Saturday, March 2, 2019 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. America's newest capsule for astronauts rocketed Saturday toward the International Space Station on a high-stakes test flight by SpaceX. (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

The launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center Saturday morning, March 2, 2019, in Florida. (Malcolm Denemark/Florida Today via AP)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a demo Crew Dragon spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left, speaks at a news conference with astronauts, from second left, Doug Hurley, Bob Behnken, Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover before Saturday's Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken answer questions during a news conference before the Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The astronauts are assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 flight test later this year. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken attend a news conference before the Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The astronauts are assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 flight test later this year. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

NASA astronauts Doug Hurley, left, and Bob Behnken attend a news conference before the Falcon 9 SpaceX Crew Demo-1 rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The astronauts are assigned to fly in the SpaceX Demo-2 flight test later this year. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

In this image released by NASA, a Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The spacecraft's unmanned test flight with the Dragon capsule is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (Joel Kowsky/NASA via AP)

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

A Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket, ready for launch, sits on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, March 1, 2019. The Crew Dragon spacecraft unmanned test flight is scheduled for launch early Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)
OUTSIDE BAGHOUZ, Syria (AP) - The ground assault into the last area held by the Islamic State group intensified Saturday as U.S.-backed Syrian fighters made "remarkable progress" amid heavy clashes, including the capture of a hill overlooking a tent encampment for the extremists, officials with the Kurdish-led forces said.

The capture of the last pocket still held by IS fighters in Baghouz village would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq - their so-called "caliphate" that at the height of the group's power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

Since the last push by the Syrian Democratic Forces began Friday night, the Kurdish-led force has been advancing slowly on two fronts as the extremists used snipers and booby traps to slow the push on the last area they control, SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said. He added that IS tried to detonate a suicide car bomb against advancing fighters but the attempt failed.

Bali tweeted that "heavy clashes" were taking place in the area on the east bank of the Euphrates River. Later in the day, he tweeted that heavy fighting continued at outskirts of Baghouz, adding that "SDF made a remarkable progress since yesterday evening (and) recaptured many positions from ISIS."

Zana Amedi, an SDF commander, told The Associated Press that "an active ground force" is advancing into IS-held territories as the extremists resort to sniper fire and booby-traps.

Another SDF commander who goes by his nom de guerre, Aram, said the assault into the last IS sliver of land intensified later Saturday.

A woman is frisked by a U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter at a screening area after being evacuated out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in the desert outside Baghouz, Syria, Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

Two helicopters for the U.S.-led coalition were seen circling the area of fighting around noon Saturday. A loud explosion later was heard from a distance and thick black smoke billowed into the sky, apparently a coalition airstrike.

The SDF on Friday evening resumed military operations to liberate the last piece of territory held by IS in the province of Deir el-Zour after evacuating thousands of civilians and hostages who had been besieged inside.

The military campaign to uproot the militants from the eastern banks of the Euphrates began in September, pushing them down toward this last corner in the village of Baghouz, near the Iraqi border. The military operation was halted on Feb. 12 as the SDF said a large number of civilians and hostages were holed up in the territory, which sits atop caves and tunnels where they had been hiding.

By Friday, more than 10,000 civilians had left the IS held area and the extremists released some SDF fighters they had taken prisoner in earlier battles.

"We expect it to be over soon," Bali said.

Another SDF commander, Adnan Afrin, said "there are fierce battles" with IS fighters firing thermal missiles at advancing troops and using drones. Afrin said eight SDF fighters were wounded, some critically.

Afrin said the buffer area between IS and SDF had been closed after the SDF's advance. He said there have been no suicide attacks but that some land mines went off.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said 10 IS gunmen were killed in fighting in the Baghouz area. It added that Syrian government forces and their allies clashed with IS gunmen who tried to cross to the west bank of the Euphrates river leaving seven IS members dead.

Amedi, the SDF commander, said the Kurdish-led force cannot rely on airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition because IS gunmen are trapped everywhere "so if you just rely on airstrikes and then advance on the ground that will cause heavy casualties."

"At least now, we are trying to advance on the ground with rare airstrikes," he said. "Now it's mostly clashes. There are almost no airstrikes this morning. There were few airstrikes in the morning and nothing else after that."

A girl waits to be screened by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) after being evacuated out of the last territory held by Islamic State militants, in the desert outside Baghouz, Syria, Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)
WARRI, Nigeria (AP) - More than 50 people are missing after a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caused a stampede in southern Nigeria, a local official said Saturday.

The blast early Friday caused massive oil spillage in the Nembe kingdom in Bayelsa state, the Nembe Chiefs Council spokesman, Chief Nengi James-Eriworio, told The Associated Press.

The Nembe trunk line is operated by the Port Harcourt-based Aiteo Group and carries crude to the Bonny export terminal. Aiteo had yet to comment on the explosion. It was not immediately clear if the pipeline had been shut down.

Video obtained by the AP shows a large blaze from the ruptured pipeline at night as villagers look on. "If they turn off the oil well from the station, the pressure inside the pipeline would reduce, causing the flame to burn out," one person is heard in the background explaining.

The Niger Delta is highly polluted. Nigerian oil companies usually assert that the majority of oil spills are caused by sabotage, theft and illegal refining.

Deadly accidents caused by leaking pipelines are alarmingly common. In January, an overturned oil tanker exploded in Odukpani in Cross River state while dozens of people were scooping up the leaking fuel. Police said at least 12 people were killed while some witnesses estimated up to 60 were dead.

In this image made from video on Friday, March 1, 2019, fire is seen from a pipeline explosion in Nembe, Nigeria. More than 50 people are missing after a leaking oil pipeline exploded and caused a stampede in southern Nigeria, a local official said Saturday. The blast early Friday caused massive oil spillage in the Nembe kingdom in Bayelsa state, the Nembe Chiefs Council spokesman, Chief Nengi James-Eriworio, told The Associated Press. (AP Photo)

Hundreds of people have died in similar accidents in recent years in Africa's largest oil producer as impoverished people risk their lives to collect fuel leaking from pipelines or trucks.

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This version corrects by removing reference to Agip, Oando and Shell Petroleum Development Company as joint owners of the pipeline.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
LONDON (AP) - The U.S. ambassador to Britain has attacked what he described as a "smear" campaign against American agriculture by interests with a protectionist agenda.

Woody Johnson said in an article published in the Daily Telegraph on Saturday that U.S. food products are safe, and that scare stories about "chlorine-washed chicken" and "hormone-pumped beef" are being used to mislead the public. The comments come as Britain prepares to negotiate its own trade deals with the U.S. and other countries after Britain's departure from the European Union set for later this month.

"You have been presented with a false choice: either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality," Johnson wrote. "Inflammatory and misleading terms like 'chlorinated chicken' and 'hormone beef' are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light. It is time the myths are called out for what they really are: a smear campaign."

Johnson says American producers use "scientific" and "technological" tools to feed a growing global population, in contrast to the European Union's "Museum of Agriculture."

Chlorinated chicken - or chlorine-treated chicken - refer to chicken carcasses that have been treated with antimicrobial rinses to remove harmful bacteria. The practice is common in the U.S. but banned in the EU.

When asked about allowing the import of such chicken in 2017, Environment Secretary Michael Gove told the BBC flatly that it would not be allowed, saying that the U.K. would not "dilute our high animal welfare standards" in pursuit of a trade deal.

The U.K.'s National Farmers Union has raised concerns about U.S. practices, saying trade deals shouldn't allow imports produced "to lower standards than those required of British farmers."

While the president of the union, Minette Batters, did not dispute that chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef were "safe," she said other factors were worth considering in the debate about whether it should be allowed.

"Our consumer has demanded high standards of animal welfare, we've risen to that challenge," she told the BBC. "(Johnson's) right to make the point that food security is crucially important, we would say the same. But all we're saying is: 'Produce the food to our standards and we'll have a trade deal.'"

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This version corrects that the comment from Michael Gove was made in 2017, not last year.
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - A Serbian man reported to be a contract killer sought by authorities in three countries has been arrested in the Czech Republic, police said Saturday.

The man is suspected of murder using guns and is sought by authorities in the Netherlands, Hungary and Serbia, Czech police said.

A Serbian police statement said authorities are seeking to extradite the man, identified only by his initials D.C., born in 1980, from the Czech Republic. It says he was arrested on Friday evening in a Prague hotel as part of cooperation between several countries.

The suspect was arrested with false documents, two guns and ammunition, as well as a wig and glasses, police said.

Serbia's Blic daily reported that the man is well-known contract killer Caba Der.

Serbian media published footage in January allegedly showing the suspect coming out of a car and shooting down his victim in a Belgrade suburb in broad daylight after ordering him to kneel down.

He also reportedly shot a Croatian man in an Italian restaurant in Amsterdam in June, and was said to have killed a Hungarian businessman in Budapest in September.

Serbian media reported that he was sentenced to 14 years in jail in 2004 in Serbia for killing a man and that after release he became a contract killer with no specific ties with mafia gangs.
WASHINGTON (AP) - One by one, the Republican senators floated their ideas. They were trying to find a way out of a seemingly impossible dilemma: how to support President Donald Trump's U.S.-Mexico border wall without approving the national emergency declaration he invoked to build it.

And one by one, during a private lunchtime meeting that ran hot at times, they found no easy answers.

As a deadline for voting looms, it's increasingly clear that Republican senators are deeply uncomfortable with Trump's use of executive power to build the wall and desperate to devise a way around the vote.

Senators know whatever they decide will make history. It's the first time Congress is voting to terminate a national emergency. Even if Trump vetoes the measure, as expected, it will set precedent for other money grabs by future occupants of the White House.

This is why they tried to talk Trump out of invoking national emergency powers and why they're now in a no-win situation as they prepare to vote.

"People are caught between the need for border security - and agreeing with what the president's trying to do - but not how he's trying to do it," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the senior-most Republican senator.

In this Feb. 26, 2019, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. As a deadline for voting looms, it's increasingly clear that Republican senators are so uncomfortable with President Donald Trump's use of executive power to build the wall with Mexico they're desperate to devise a way around it. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

In the days ahead, senators will be required to vote on a resolution, already approved by Democrats in the House, to terminate Trump's executive action.

Senate Republicans don't have the votes to stop what Trump is doing, nor do they necessarily want to. Many of their constituents want the wall, and senators, especially those up for re-election in 2020, don't want to run afoul of the president whose supporters they'll need.

But they're trying at least to provide some distance between Trump's effort to build the wall and what many see as executive overreach that could echo for years to come.

Trump, in a speech Saturday to conservatives, said: "A lot of people talk about precedent, precedent, that if we do this the Democrats will use national emergency powers for something we don't want. They are going to do that anyway folks. The best way to stop that is to make sure I win the election."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, presented colleagues during the lunchtime meeting with a proposal to revisit the 1976 National Emergencies Act, clawing back some of the authority Congress ceded decades ago that paved the way for Trump's action.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has been working on a plan suggesting Trump could do away with his declaration completely by simply repurposing existing money to build the wall rather than invoking the emergency orders to take more dollars.

Other senators are swapping other ideas.

"This has been a little bit of a wake-up call," said Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the GOP leadership.

Cornyn said most lawmakers were simply not aware that Congress over the years has been "so willing to delegate our authority" to the president. "I wouldn't be surprised if some changes are made," he said.

A guiding touchstone for some has been to draw on the principles of a conservative giant: What would the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia do?

Republicans have railed against executive reach long before Trump. They criticized President Barack Obama's executive actions, particularly those involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, that shielded young immigrants in the country illegally, known as Dreamers, from deportation.

Now, though, Republicans are loath to allow Trump to go even further, by encroaching on the authority the Constitution specifically grants Congress for appropriating funds.

Trump's declaration allows him to dip into billions of Defense Department dollars for already-approved military construction projects and shift that money, along with other funds, toward the border wall. Senators worry what the next presidents will do, invoking such power grabs for Democratic priorities to fight climate change or lessen the strains of income inequality.

"Many folks don't like the idea of the precedent it sets, but they realize it's the centerpiece of President Trump's (2016 campaign) - what he ran on - and it causes a little bit of heartburn," said Sen. Mike Braun, a newly elected conservative from Indiana.

"I kind of would fall in that camp," he said. Braun said he probably will back the president. He supports Trump and believes there's a crisis on the border. But he said the reach of executive authority does "give you pause."

Senators are quickly running into the procedural roadblocks that show how difficult it will be to change course.

Because the resolution is a first of its kind, efforts to alter it are posing all sorts of parliamentary questions that have yet to be answered. Even if the senators can agree with an alternative plan, they'll also have to clear the procedural hurdles that so far have been high. And, for now, it's unclear if they can come up with an idea that does both.

"There're procedural problems that we haven't figured out yet," Cornyn acknowledged.

When Vice President Mike Pence and administration officials visited senators privately on Tuesday to buck up support for Trump's action, it provoked a lively discussion.

The White House officials made the case for the border emergency and insisted Trump's action would not open the floodgates for future presidents to take similar steps for their priorities.

The senators peppered the vice president with questions. And the next day at their own private lunch - and in public - they started airing their work arounds.

"Everybody's blaming the president," Grassley said. "The president doesn't deserve any blame. Congress delegated this authority to him. So we're delegating away our legislative authority. We've probably done too much of it."

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EDITOR'S NOTE - AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro has covered Congress since 2010.

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) - A Harvard University choir group that rejected author W.E.B. Du Bois when he was a student because he was black will celebrate his work through a musical tribute.

The Harvard Glee Club will perform a concert inspired by Du Bois' 1903 book "The Souls of Black Folk" on Saturday at the Ivy League school's Cambridge campus.

The book begins its chapters with musical notations from black spirituals alongside European poems. The concert will feature some of the same spirituals alongside European choral pieces.

Last year marked the 150th anniversary of Du Bois' birth in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In 1895, He became the first black student to earn a doctorate from Harvard.

While at Harvard, Du Bois auditioned for the Glee Club but was turned away by the all-white group.
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Tribes battling the Dakota Access oil pipeline in court are accusing the Army Corps of Engineers of withholding dozens of documents that could bolster their case that the pipeline could unfairly impact them.

Many of the records that attorneys for the four Sioux tribes allege are missing relate to the pipeline's crossing beneath the Lake Oahe reservoir on the Missouri River in the Dakotas, which the tribes rely on for drinking water, fishing and religious practices. Fears of a spill into the river sparked prolonged protests in 2016 and early 2017 that drew thousands of pipeline opponents from around the world to southern North Dakota.

The Corps, which permitted the $3.8 billion pipeline that began moving North Dakota oil to Illinois in June 2017, "produced a fragmented and incomplete record designed to defend a flawed agency action, one that omits key documents important to the tribes' legal challenge," attorneys for the Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Yankton and Oglala Sioux tribes wrote in a Wednesday court filing. They implored U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to order the Corps to turn over the requested documents.

The Justice Department, which represents the Corps, declined comment.

Boasberg in June 2017 ruled that the Corps "largely complied" with environmental law when permitting the pipeline built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, but he ordered more study on tribal impacts. The Corps in August 2018 said it had finished more than a year of additional study and that the work substantiated its earlier determination that the pipeline does not pose a higher risk of adverse impacts to minorities.

The tribes are challenging the assertion, hoping to persuade Boasberg to shut down the pipeline.

FILE - In this Feb. 13, 2017 file photo shows the town of Cannon Ball, N.D., on the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. The Native American tribe leading the fight against the Dakota Access oil pipeline said Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, an Army Corps of Engineers document shows the agency concluded the pipeline wouldn't unfairly affect tribes before it consulted them. The Standing Rock Sioux officials say the document bolsters the tribe's claim that the Corps disregarded a federal judge's order to seriously review the pipeline's potential impact on the Standing Rock Sioux and three other Dakotas-based tribes and to not treat the study as a "bureaucratic formality." (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP, File)

The Corps in early February turned over to the tribes documents it used in making the determination. The tribes allege records are missing that impact not only their case but also "masks" information that could influence Boasberg's eventual decision on whether the Corps study is adequate.

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A portrait long thought to be of George Washington's enslaved chef, who cooked for the former president at Mount Vernon and Philadelphia before escaping, is actually not of Hercules, and isn't even of a chef, art experts concluded after a two-year study.

Experts who gathered in 2017 at Mount Vernon, Washington's Virginia plantation, unanimously agree the 18th-century portrait believed to be of Hercules wearing a chef's toque is not actually of the man, Philly.com reported Friday. The findings are now public.

"There is a real sense of loss there. It's such a powerful portrait," Mount Vernon senior curator Susan P. Schoelwer told Philly.com.

Hercules had cooked for Washington for a number of years before escaping in 1797. He wasn't heard from again.

Schoelwer helped coordinate the gathering to discuss the mystery of "Presumed Portrait of George Washington's Cook." The portrait had long been attributed to Gilbert Stuart, best known for his unfinished portrait of Washington. But that also doesn't appear to be true.

Dorinda Evans, a Stuart scholar, said the portrait is "very different from how Stuart would have done it."

The experts agree the painting is from the 1700s and say the subject must be notable if a portrait was commissioned. Experts also said what was thought to be a toque is actually a headdress similar to ones worn in by free Dominicans in other paintings.

When journalist and author Ramin Ganeshram, who used the image on the cover of her novel "The General's Cook," was told of the experts' new realization, she couldn't let it go. Ganeshram is executive director of the Westport Historical Society in Connecticut and gathered information on Hercules, hoping to prove the portrait was of him.

Instead, the quest led her to documents about a "Hercules Posey." Posey is the surname of a previous owner of Washington' chef. She and her historical society colleague, Sara Krasne, who is a trained genealogist, recovered a death notice from New York City. They believe Hercules was left behind at a Manhattan cemetery when bodies were moved to Brooklyn in the early 1800s. He's most likely still buried under what is now sidewalk, they said. Two historians agree.

"I would totally feel comfortable speculating that it was him," said Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a history professor at Rutgers University.
NEW YORK (AP) - JetBlue has taken down a poster of a convicted murderer that it had included as part of a Black History Month tribute at New York's Kennedy Airport.

The airline said Saturday it removed the poster paying tribute to Assata Shakur last month after being alerted via Twitter that Shakur is "a convicted cop killer."

"The intention was always to unite our crewmembers and customers around the importance of Black History Month and we apologize for any offense the poster may have caused," a JetBlue spokesman said in a statement.

Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted of murder for her role in a 1973 shootout that resulted in the death of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. She escaped from prison in 1979 and is living in Cuba, where she was granted asylum.

President Donald Trump demanded that Cuba return "the cop-killer Joanne Chesimard" in 2017 when he announced plans to reverse some Obama-era Cuba policies.

The poster paying tribute to the now 71-year-old Shakur at the JetBlue terminal at Kennedy was first reported in the New York Post, which noted that one of the bullet points listing Shakur's accomplishments said, "Became the first woman to be placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list after escaping to Cuba from prison where she was serving a life sentence for the 1973 murder of a police officer."

FILE - In this April 25, 1977 file photo, Joanne Chesimard, member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, leaves Middlesex County courthouse in New Brunswick, N.J. The New York Post reports that JetBlue removed a poster honoring Chesimard at New York's Kennedy Airport after being alerted via Twitter that she is "a convicted cop killer." Now known as Assata Shakur, she escaped prison in 1979 and has been living in Cuba. (AP Photo, File)

The poster also read, "Many people believe Shakur to be a political champion who is innocent of the criminal accusation against her."

JetBlue said in its statement that the poster was part of a "ready-made batch of posters" that the airline bought from a third party.

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Information from: New York Post, http://www.nypost.com
Cris Bautista teaches high school in Oakland, California, but to afford to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, he commutes an hour or more to an apartment he shares with another teacher and works weekends at a coffee shop.

The English and history teacher is among the Oakland educators who went on strike for a week, winning an 11 percent pay raise with the argument that their salaries were not nearly keeping up with the soaring cost of living in a region flush with technology industry money. As evidence, they point to the district's above-average turnover rate.

Their predicament has been so illustrative of a national inequity problem in America's wealthiest communities that the tentative contract - which also comes with a one-time 3 percent bonus - is a triumph that stands out among the dozen major teacher strike movements that have swept the country in the past year.

"The contract will help ensure more teachers stay in Oakland and that more come to teach in our classrooms and support our students," said Oakland Unified School District Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell in a statement.

Educators' struggles to afford housing have also been at the heart of union strife in other high-priced cities from Seattle to Los Angeles, part of a wave of teacher activism that has swept the country since a statewide teachers' walkout last spring in West Virginia.

It's an issue that school districts, community groups and others have been working to address in affluent areas to help retain teachers, and to make it easier for them to live in and stay involved with the communities they serve.

Oakland Technical High School teacher Cris Bautista pickets in front of the school, Friday, March 1, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. Bautista teaches high school in Oakland, but to afford to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, he commutes an hour or more to an apartment he shares with another teacher and works weekends at a coffee shop. Bautista is among Oakland educators who are currently out on strike to push for a 12 percent pay raise, arguing their salaries are not nearly keeping up with the soaring cost of living in a region flush with technology industry money. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

In California, where the affordability crisis is especially acute, school districts from Santa Clara in Silicon Valley to Los Angeles have created affordable housing programs to serve their staffs. The Los Angeles Unified School District started offering apartments on or near its school campuses in 2015, but affordable housing income guidelines have limited the number of teachers living in the units, which are leased instead to lower-paid support staff like bus drivers and teacher assistants.

In January, the Los Angeles teachers union won a 6 percent pay raise after a six-day strike.

A business group called Landed launched in 2015 to offer down payment assistance to teachers and has contributed to the home purchases of nearly 200 educators in California, Washington state and Colorado, according to founder Alex Lofton, who said the startup was inspired by a Stanford University program to help its staff. Landed takes a cut of either the profit or loss when the home is resold. The real estate program began with seed money from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's philanthropy to help teachers and it hopes to eventually broaden to other "essential" community professionals like firefighters and nurses.

The Oakland Education Association and its 3,000 teachers walked out on February 21 to demand increases in what they say are some of the lowest salaries for public school teachers in the Bay Area. Salaries for Oakland teachers start at $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.

Bautista said if he could afford to live in Oakland, he would offer more after-school tutoring to his students. But he can only afford to live an hour away in Fremont, where he pays $1,300 for his share of an apartment. By comparison, Oakland's median rental housing price is $3,380 for a two-bedroom home, according to Zillow.

"I would like for my career to be in Oakland," said Bautista, who said he left a position in a wealthier school district that paid him $10,000 more, in order to work with Oakland's diverse, underserved student population. "At the same time, money is a concern."

The teachers say the income gap is forcing many of them to leave the district or profession entirely.

Desiree Carver-Thomas, an expert on teacher turnover at the Learning Policy Institute in Palo Alto, said about 20 percent of educators leave the district annually, but some schools, particularly in poorer east and west Oakland see up to 30 percent of their teachers disappearing. Ismael Armendariz, first vice president of the Oakland teachers union, said it's the worst at West Oakland Middle School, which over a three-year period retained only 9 percent of its teachers.

"That's a problem because that kind of instability has an effect on student achievement," Carver-Thomas said.

An Oakland school district spokesman said it recently began exploring the possibility of facilitating more affordable housing in the city.

"It's very much in our mind because we know how expensive it is to live here," spokesman John Sasaki said.

But Oakland teacher Grace Bigler says the concept of "teacher housing" or assistance programs are insulting to the profession and don't address the inequity issue at the root of the problem.

"Teacher housing is kind of Band-Aid on a deep wound," Bigler said.

In some areas, solving the issue of affordable housing for teacher has been a decades-long effort.

Eagle County Schools, which serves the ritzy ski-town areas around Vail, Colorado, has for the past twenty years sought a developer to build on district-owned property because it struggles with teacher recruitment and turnover, which hovers around 12 percent. But that on-going proposal has been hampered by dueling interests: making a profit alongside affordable housing for teachers.

"It's a real crisis for everyone in our community to have this situation," said Dan Dougherty, a district spokesman.

The school system has recently turned to the Habitat for Humanity nonprofit to create below-market price homes for teachers who must help build it. The district also offers eight temporary housing units to get new teachers into the district.

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Follow Sally Ho on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_SallyHo

Oakland Technical High School teacher Cris Bautista waves to motorists as he pickets in front of the school, Friday, March 1, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. Bautista teaches high school in Oakland, but to afford to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, he commutes an hour or more to an apartment he shares with another teacher and works weekends at a coffee shop. Bautista is among Oakland educators who are currently out on strike to push for a 12 percent pay raise, arguing their salaries are not nearly keeping up with the soaring cost of living in a region flush with technology industry money. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Oakland Technical High School teacher Cris Bautista, left, gestures to motorists as he pickets in front of the school Friday, March 1, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. Bautista teaches high school in Oakland, but to afford to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, he commutes an hour or more to an apartment he shares with another teacher and works weekends at a coffee shop. Bautista is among Oakland educators who are currently out on strike to push for a 12 percent pay raise, arguing their salaries are not nearly keeping up with the soaring cost of living in a region flush with technology industry money. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
PARIS (AP) - French police are investigating after a memorial stone marking the site of a former synagogue destroyed by the Nazis was vandalized in the eastern city of Strasbourg.

The prefecture of the Bas-Rhin region said in a statement the heavy memorial stone was discovered moved from its base Saturday morning.

Strasbourg mayor Roland Ries denounced "a new anti-Semitic act."

"Anti-Semitism undermines the values of the Republic", the prefecture said.

The monument commemorates a synagogue built in 1898 that was set on fire and razed to the ground by the Nazis in 1940.

The incident comes amid an uptick in anti-Semitic acts in France in recent months. Last month, about 80 gravestones were spray-painted with swastikas in a Jewish cemetery close to Strasbourg.
ISLAMABAD (AP) - A Pakistani mountaineering official says the country's military is expected to resume a search for a pair of climbers from Italy and Britain who went missing on a Himalayan peak amid bad weather.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Pakistan's army could not send out search helicopters on Saturday because of heavy snowfall.

He said Pakistani and French climbers will participate in Sunday's search operation to find Italian Daniele Nardi and Briton Tom Ballard, whose mother died on K2 in 1995. The climbers have been missing for almost a week.

In a tweet, Italian ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo also expressed his hope that the search would resume when the weather improves.

Despite being dubbed "Killer Mountain" the Nanga Parbat peak has long drawn thrill-seeking climbers.
It has been a wrenching season for three of America's largest religious denominations, as sex-abuse scandals and a schism over LGBT inclusion fuel anguish and anger within the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches. There's rising concern that the crises will boost the ranks of young people disillusioned by organized religion.

"Every denomination is tremendously worried about retaining or attracting young people," said Stephen Schneck, a political science professor at Catholic University. "The sex-abuse scandals will have a spillover effect on attitudes toward religion in general. I don't think any denomination is going to not take a hit."

For the U.S. Catholic church, the clergy sex-abuse scandal that has unfolded over two decades expanded dramatically in recent months. Many dioceses have become targets of investigations since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August detailed hundreds of cases of alleged abuse. In mid-February, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was expelled from the priesthood for sexually abusing minors and seminarians.

The Southern Baptist Convention, America's largest Protestant denomination, confronted its own sex-abuse crisis three weeks ago in the form of an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. The newspapers reported that hundreds of Southern Baptist clergy and staff had been accused of sexual misconduct over the past 20 years, including dozens who returned to church duties, while leaving more than 700 victims with little in the way of justice or apologies.

For both denominations, allegations of cover-ups and insufficient sympathy for victims have been as damaging in the public eye as the abuse itself.

The United Methodist Church, the largest mainline Protestant denomination, ended a pivotal conference Tuesday in a seemingly irreconcilable split over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy. About 53 percent of the delegates voted to maintain bans on those practices and strengthen enforcement, dismaying centrists and liberals who favored LGBT inclusion and now are faced with the choice of leaving the UMC or considering acts of defiance from within.

FILE - In this Feb. 26, 2019, file photo, Ed Rowe, left, Rebecca Wilson, Robin Hager and Jill Zundel, react to the defeat of a proposal that would allow LGBT clergy and same-sex marriage within the United Methodist Church at the denomination's 2019 Special Session of the General Conference in St. Louis, Mo. The church ended a pivotal conference on Feb. 26 in a seemingly irreconcilable split over same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBT clergy. (AP Photo/Sid Hastings, File)

The Rev. Adam Hamilton, whose Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, is the nation's largest UMC congregation, said the outcome would push youthful pastors and other young adults away.

"Three out of four of millennials who live in the U.S. support same-sex marriage and do not want to be a part of a church that makes their friends feel like second-class Christians," he told the conference. "Many of you have children and grandchildren who cannot imagine that we're voting this way today. They wonder, have these people lost their minds?"

Since long before the current crises, most Christian denominations in the U.S. have been losing members. The most recent survey of the religious landscape by the Pew Research Center found that the biggest growth was in "unaffiliated" - people who described themselves as atheists, agnostics or "nothing in particular."

That latter group is known among contemporary religious leaders as the "nones." Their ranks include many young people who want spirituality in their lives but are disenchanted with institutionalized religion.

"The 'nones' want their lives to make a difference, and they're trying to figure out how," said the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of the Christian social justice organization Sojourners. "They're not going to join a religion that's not making a difference or, worse yet, is full of hypocrisy."

There have yet to be comprehensive surveys gauging how the latest crises have affected church membership and attendance. Nancy Ammerman, professor of the sociology of religion at Boston University's School of Theology, suggests the impact will be significant.

"We see young adults who are overwhelmingly on the progressive side of sexuality issues and overwhelmingly not sitting still for sexual abuse of all kinds," she said. "When they see religious leaders who aren't on the right side of that, they're more likely to say, 'I'm done.'"

Any such developments will reinforce existing trends, Ammerman said. "If you're already only going to church three or four times a year, if you're moving from one place to another, your ties (with a church) have already gotten weak."

While the three ongoing crises vary in key respects, there is important common ground: the increased outspokenness, organizing skills and social-media prowess of Catholic and Southern Baptist sex-abuse survivors and LGBT United Methodists.

"We're in a historical moment where the marginalized voices will not be silenced," said Natalia Imperatori-Lee, a religious studies professor at Manhattan College in New York. "Victims of sex abuse and LGBT communities have reached the breaking point."

In the case of the Catholic and Southern Baptist churches, there's been extra motivation for some critics because of those churches' insistence on a male-only clergy.

"You have very top-down, patriarchal institutions representing a kind of power that civil society has left behind," Imperatori-Lee said.

The months ahead will be challenging for the three denominations, notably for liberal United Methodists who must decide if they can abide under the LGBT bans they opposed.

U.S. Catholic bishops hold a national meeting in June. They will be weighing the exhortations of Pope Francis at the Vatican's recent summit on sex-abuse prevention.

David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame political science professor who studies religion's role in U.S. civic life, believes the exodus of white Catholics from the pews will be offset by an increase of Latinos even as the abuse crisis persists. But he predicts the church will suffer a significant drop in donations.

As for the Southern Baptist Convention, it formed a sexual-abuse study group last year that has not yet announced recommendations. Advocates for victims are watching closely to see if substantive steps are taken.

The Rev. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, takes heart from record-high enrollment at SBC seminaries.

"I do not believe the students on our campus represent a majority of their generation," he said. "But they are the minority that is committed to the church."

Yet Mohler says the SBC shouldn't take these young people's commitment for granted.

"They will be and should be offended if we do not handle the challenge of sexual abuse well," he said. "We must do the right thing and do it without delay."

At Howard University's School of Divinity, Christian ethics professor Cheryl Sanders tells students aspiring to the ministry that they will be held more accountable than their predecessors. But she exhorts them to believe, despite the challenges, that their work will be essential.

"The fact is that people turn to the church when they have needs," she said. "The church has a role even in spite of itself."

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FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2019, file photo, sex abuse survivor Peter Isely, of the U.S. founded Ending Clergy Abuse organization, speaks during a twilight vigil prayer near Castle Sant' Angelo, in Rome. A wrenching season for three of America's largest religious denominations as sex-abuse scandals and a schism over LGBT inclusion fuel anguish and anger within the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) - Tens of thousands of revelers are celebrating Carnival in Bolivia.

The largest parade took place Saturday in the Andean city of Oruro, which is located 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of La Paz.

Bolivia's President Evo Morales and Paraguay's President Mario Abdo Benitez attended the mining city's festivities after agreeing to a deal increasing Bolivian exports of liquefied petroleum gas.

They looked on as streets filled with people dancing along a 5-kilometer (3-mile) route to the Catholic church of the Virgen of Socavon.

The Oruro procession brings together more than 20,000 dancers and musicians, attracts streams of visitors and has been included on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Carnival celebrations in Bolivia end Tuesday with an offering to Pachamama, or Mother Earth.

Women perform in the traditional "Inca" dance during Carnival, in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Women perform in the traditional "Morenada" dance during Carnival, in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Musicians play during the Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Traditional "Morenada" dancers perform during the Carnival, in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Dancers perform the traditional "Diablada" or Dance of the Devils during the Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Dancers perform the traditional "Diablada" or Dance of the Devils during the Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. The unique festival features spectacular folk dances, extravagant costumes, beautiful crafts, lively music, and up to 20 hours of continuous partying with lots of tourists, drawing crowds of up people annually. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

Musicians play during the Carnival in Oruro, Bolivia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
BATH, Pa. (AP) - An eastern Pennsylvania school bus driver is facing charges after police allege she drove erratically while under the influence of alcohol with 26 juveniles aboard, then abandoned them and the bus at a gas station.

State police in Bethlehem said Lori Ann Mankos, 44, of Walnutport is charged with child endangerment, driving under the influence, and careless and reckless driving.

Mankos was transporting 26 students for the Northampton Area School District on Friday but was alleged to have been driving erratically while under the influence, police said. She eventually parked at a Sunoco station, handed the keys to a gas station employee and walked away from the scene.

The bus and 26 juveniles were left unattended until school officials, Moore Township police and state police arrived. Mankos was later arrested at her home. A listed number for her wasn't in service Saturday and it's unclear whether she has an attorney.

Northampton eighth-grader Stephanie Shiller told The (Allentown) Morning Call that Mankos had been transporting her and other students for two weeks. On Friday afternoon, students noticed she wasn't following her route, missing stops and driving on the wrong side of the road, she said.

"We were freaking out," Shiller said. "We didn't know if she was drunk or what."

A spokesman for the bus contractor, Cincinnati, Ohio-based First Student, told the paper that the company is cooperating with investigators. "This is not what we expect of any of our drivers," he said.

Northampton School District Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik said officials are "extremely upset" but "very thankful" no one was hurt. He said the district has been contracting with the bus company for more than 20 years, and nothing like that has happened before.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (AP) - The Latest on the aftermath of Hurricane Michael, which devastated the Florida Panhandle in October (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

Residents of a Florida Panhandle county devastated by a monster storm are feeling forgotten.

Private fundraising on behalf of Hurricane Michael survivors is well short of fundraising for victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Florence.

Bay County, Florida, officials say they are thankful for the help they've already received, but they need more.

The global attention the Category 4 storm first received quickly faded as national and international news media moved on to cover the midterm election and disastrous fires in California.

Kathryn Welch burns a pile of branches she cut off the trees that fell around her home from Hurricane Michael in Cottondale, Fla, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2019. Welch has spent hours everyday clearing her yard of downed trees since the storm hit. Life is still a struggle in the areas hardest hit by Michael four months after the Category 4 storm cut a wide swatch of devastation through the Florida Panhandle. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

There were no celebrity-studded telethons for Hurricane Michael victims as there were for victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, or more than a dozen years ago for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

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Life is still a struggle in the Florida Panhandle county hardest hit by Hurricane Michael.

Everyday tasks that residents of Bay County used to take for granted now require a combination of planning, patience and luck. The Category 4 storm cut a wide swath of devastation through the area in October.

Drivers who have lived in the county for years second-guess themselves about whether they're going the right way since street signs, trees or houses that served as points of reference have disappeared.

One of the county's two hospitals was closed, even though Bay County residents are experiencing hurricane-related health problems such as respiratory illness.

Students in schools damaged by the storm have moved into other facilities.

And many doctors' offices and retailers haven't reopened yet.

Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao stands in what used to be her bedroom before her home is torn down that morning due to irreparable damage from Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The Sebastiaos, along with two other neighbors, were the only residents who had returned to their beachside street where homes were either blown off their foundations during the hurricane or intentionally knocked down after the storm because they were deemed too damaged. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao descends from the missing top floor of her damaged home from Hurricane Michael on the morning it is torn down in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The Sebastiaos paid $290,000 for the three-story house and had moved into it just two months before the storm hit. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao steps out of the trailer she's been living in after her home was damaged from Hurricane Michael on the morning it is torn down in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. After Michael destroyed the house, Bela and her husband, Jaques Sebastiao, lived in a tent in their front yard and then a camper. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao lights a BBQ while waiting for her damaged house from Hurricane Michael to be torn down in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. Since the storm destroyed their home, every two weeks Bela and her husband drive to their son's place in Georgia to do laundry hundreds of miles away. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jaques, left, and wife Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao watch as their house is torn down next to paintings of boats and beach chairs they found amidst debris in the neighborhood from Hurricane Michael in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jaques, right, and wife Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao watch as their damaged house from Hurricane Michael is torn down in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. "We're ready to move on," said Bela Sebastiao as they couple plans to rebuild the house. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jaques, left, and wife Paulina "Bela" Sebastiao watch as their damaged house from Hurricane Michael is torn down in Mexico Beach, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. The Sebastiaos, along with two other neighbors, were the only residents who had returned to their beachside street where homes were either blown off their foundations during the hurricane or intentionally knocked down after the storm because they were deemed too damaged. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

An excavator tears down a damaged home from Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla, Friday, Jan. 25, 2019. In some cases, county residents have been hindered in their efforts to rebuild and repair. Mexico Beach _ which became the visual symbol of the storm with its rows of empty cement foundations where houses once stood _ had a moratorium on new construction until mid-February so new flood maps could be figured out. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Patrick Muth sifts through debris in what used to be his office of his fifth-generation plumbing business he continues to operate in Panama City, Florida, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. "You have two options," said Muth, who plans to rebuild the office. "You can lay down and cry or you can keep marching." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Ilea Faircloth, principal of Springfield Elementary School walks across a bare foundation where classrooms were destroyed by Hurricane Michael and since torn down in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. As the county's student population has decreased, the school board has approved closing at least three schools for the time-being. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Daylight pours in through the damaged roof of a classroom at Springfield Elementary School which has remained closed since Hurricane Michael hit Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt said the county's student population has decreased by 14 percent since the storm, with some individual schools down by more than 40 percent. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A student walks past empty seats in the Northside Elementary School cafeteria during lunchtime in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. The county's student population has decreased by 14 percent since the storm, with some schools down by more than 40 percent. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Mold grows on the wall and food left behind in a classroom since Hurricane Michael damaged Springfield Elementary School in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. The school remains closed as the county deliberates how best to operate schools with a decreased student population. A lack of housing has forced some students to move out of the county and enroll in other school districts. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A broom closet in Northside Elementary School is filled with donated shoes for students whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. With 4,700 students among the homeless since the hurricane, principals and teachers at Bay County schools are on the lookout for students who are wearing dirty clothes or missing shoes. Northside Elementary School was given industrial washers and dryers so students can get their clothes cleaned. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A newly installed street lamp stands amidst the debris from Hurricane Michael as an American flag blows in the wind in Mexico Beach, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Garbage collectors aren't even close to removing the 15 million cubic yards (11.5 million cubic meters) of sheet-rock, insulation, tree limbs and appliances strewn everywhere by the storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Bimyall Leroy Burke smokes a cigarette outside a damaged home in the neighborhood where he now resides in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Burke just returned from Tennessee where he had been waiting for the trailer to become available since the hurricane hit and destroyed his home. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Clothespins hang on a line outside a boarded up housing development damaged from Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Officials in Bay County, Florida estimate almost three-quarters of the households in this county of 183,000 residents were impacted in some way by the storm. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Rickie Keith stands in the FEMA trailer he just moved into after his home was damaged by Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. "I'm lucky to be here," said Keith, "The wind tried to blow us away. We got nothing." (AP Photo/David Goldman)

A bible sits on a stained mattress on a pile of debris outside a damaged motel from Hurricane Michael in Panama City, Fla, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
OREM, Utah (AP) - Police in Utah say the suspect in a fatal shooting at an apartment complex near Utah Valley University in Orem has turned himself in.

Orem police announced in a brief statement Saturday that 19-year-old Elbert Paule was in custody without providing details of the circumstances of the surrender.

The complex where 26-year-old Dominique Barnett was fatally wounded Thursday night is off campus but it prompted the university to issue a shelter-in-place alert for about two hours.

Online court records don't indicate whether Paule has an attorney who could comment on his behalf.

University spokesman Scott Trotter said Friday that Paule was admitted for the spring 2019 semester but didn't register for any classes and that Barnett was never a student.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva left prison Saturday to attend his 7-year-old grandson's funeral, taking advantage of his temporary release to reiterate his innocence before political leaders and relatives who had gathered to mourn.

Da Silva, who is serving a 12-year sentence for corruption and money laundering, was released at 7 a.m. local time from a prison in the Parana state capital of Curitiba. He then flew to Sao Paulo by plane before taking a helicopter to Sao Bernardo do Campo, where the funeral took place.

He will return to his cell later in the afternoon.

A note on da Silva's website said he spoke at the funeral.

"Ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at his grandson's funeral that when they meet in heaven, he will bring proof of his innocence for all the bullying that Arthur suffered in school for having a grandfather in prison," the note said, adding that da Silva said he would prove that the prosecutor and judge who jailed him had lied.

"Lula was very sad, in a lot of pain, destroyed inside, like any human being who has to bury their child who dies in a tragic way," Joao Pedro Stedile, coordinator of the far-left Landless Workers' Movement, told The Associated Press. "But politically, it's impressive...he said to us, 'Stay strong, I'm going to get out, I am innocent.'"

Brazil's Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attend the wake of his 7-year-old grandson Arthur, who died of meningitis on Friday, in Sao Bernardo do Campo, Brazil, Saturday, March 2, 2019. (AP Photo/Nelson Antoine)

Da Silva's grandson, Arthur Lula da Silva, died of meningitis Friday. Arthur is the child of Sandro Luis Lula da Silva, one of the sons of the ex-president.

The funeral marked the first time da Silva has left prison since being jailed in April 2018.

Leaders from the Workers' Party, including ex-President Dilma Rousseff, came to pay their respects, while around 200 supporters gathered outside the cemetery chanting, "Free Lula!"

Others said that the man popularly known as Lula should not have been allowed to attend.

"Lula is just an inmate and he should be at a common prison. When the relatives of other inmates die will they also be escorted by the federal police for the funeral?" President Jair Bolsonaro's son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, wrote on Twitter on Friday. "It is absurd to even contemplate that. It only lets him pose as a poor thing."

He later deleted the tweet.

In January, da Silva wasn't allowed to go to his brother's funeral despite Brazilian laws which grant inmates permission to leave for the funerals of close family members.

Da Silva's arrest has divided the country: Some believe justice is being served to a corrupt politician, while others say he's been unfairly persecuted by Brazil's elite and a partisan judiciary.

Da Silva served as president between 2003 and 2010.

He was poised to run for president again in October's election but was barred due to his criminal conviction.

His Workers' Party says he is a political prisoner.

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Video journalist Victor Caivano contributed to this report from Sao Bernardo do Campo.

FILE - In this July 5, 2017 file photo, Brazil's Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends the inauguration ceremony for the new leadership of the Workers' Party, in Brasilia, Brazil. Chairwoman Gleisi Hoffmann said that the party will ask a judge to release da Silva from prison to attend the funeral of his 7-year-old grandson, who died of meningitis on Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
The Latest on the 2020 presidential campaign (all times EST):

2:20 p.m.

Democrat Sherrod Brown hasn't decided yet whether he'll run for president in 2020, but the Ohio Democrat is spending time in early-voting South Carolina, where he's promoting higher wages for workers and more robust health care.

Brown attended a Darlington County Democratic women's event, and said he values the important role that black women play in the nominating process. South Carolina holds the first contest in the South, and the state's Democratic primary electorate is largely African-American.

On Friday, Brown stopped at a Columbia job training facility. He later went to Florence, where Mayor Stephen Wukela (woo-KEY-lah) said he would support Brown if he jumps into the race.

Later Saturday, Brown plans to speak at Dorchester County Democrats' oyster roast. A 2020 candidate, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, also is set to be there after a town hall discussion in Charleston.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks as he kicks off his second presidential campaign, Saturday, March 2, 2019, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. Sanders pledged to fight for "economic justice, social justice, racial justice and environmental justice." (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

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2:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump is telling supporters that he will win re-election in 2020 and by a bigger margin than his 2016 victory.

During a wide-ranging speech before an appreciative audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, Trump has mocked Democrats for their framework to combat climate change and said House lawmakers pushing to expand their investigations of him are "sick."

Trump also has rehashed his outsider campaign that overcame long odds and a crowded field of established politicians to claim the White House over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

When he made his prediction of a second term, the crowd responded with chants of "USA, USA, USA."

Trump praised the conservative movement, saying "Our movement and our future in our country is unlimited."

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2 p.m.

Bernie Sanders has launched his second presidential campaign with a call for Americans from all walks of life to join his fight for a political revolution - one that he's been waging for four decades.

Sanders is calling Donald Trump the most dangerous president in modern U.S. history, with the Vermont senator saying his campaign is built to defeat Trump.

Sanders also says his Democratic campaign will create an economy and government that works for all people, and says the government will be based on economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

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12:30 a.m.

Democratic presidential hopefuls are introducing themselves to voters in some of the earliest states that will weigh in on their campaigns to take on President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Candidates are fanned out in South Carolina and Iowa on Saturday, spending time with voters in two of the states that hold the earliest balloting next year. Sens. Cory Booker and Sherrod Brown are both in South Carolina, site of the South's first primary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren will be courting voters in Iowa.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar attends a Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an event where politicians traditionally poke fun at the press and other politicians. Sen. Bernie Sanders is in Brooklyn to officially launch his campaign.

The visits come as Trump addresses a gathering of conservatives near Washington.
ATLANTA (AP) - Atlanta city officials are pushing back against a proposal in the Georgia Senate for a state takeover of Atlanta's airport, one of the busiest in the world.

Michael Smith, press secretary for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, said the plan amounted to "theft" from the city in a statement Friday.

The legislation, introduced by Republican state Sen. Burt Jones of Jackson, would create the Georgia Major Airport Authority, a board appointed by state officials to oversee operations at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The airport is currently owned and operated by the city of Atlanta.

Jones said in an interview Friday that state oversight was needed because of past issues with corruption.

"For decades now the airport, while it has had plenty of success, has had a lot of investigations, indictments and things that have taken place, particularly at the procurement and vendor selection process, that are really troubling," Jones said.

FILE - In this Oct. 13, 2016 file photo, a Delta Air Lines jet sits at a gate at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta. Atlanta city officials are pushing back against a proposal in the Georgia Senate for a state takeover of Atlanta's airport, one of the busiest in the world. Michael Smith, press secretary for Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, said the plan amounted to "theft" in a statement Friday, March 1, 2019. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

He said a structural change was needed in the airport's operations to help deal with those issues.

But the mayor, who last year took a series of steps to revamp the procurement process for airport food and retail contracts, is fighting back against Jones' proposal.

"The attempted theft of the Atlanta airport is leading Georgia down a reckless path toward irreparable harm to both the City and State's economies and relationship," Smith said, adding that the "region will suffer with the disruption and uncertainty that this theft will create."

Jones said that, while it was a "tough conversation to have" with city officials, he thought it was an issue that needed to be addressed. Jones said he had not been in direct contact with the mayor's office about the bill in recent weeks, but that he had "an open door policy."

The airport's website calls it "the economic jewel of Georgia" and says the facility generates $34.8 billion in economic impact for metro Atlanta and provides more than 63,000 on-site jobs.

The legislation, which has 29 Senate co-signers in addition to Jones, cleared a hurdle on Tuesday when it was approved by the Senate Transportation Committee by a vote of 5 to 4.

Jones said he believes the bill will see a vote on the Senate floor by Thursday, a legislative deadline by which bills must generally have passed one chamber or the other.

An amendment added in committee would give the city until July 1, 2020 to come up with a "joint governance plan" agreed to by the city and state legislature to avoid a full takeover by the state.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - A Roman Catholic diocese in Wisconsin, says it's removing the name of a former bishop from a center at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in downtown Green Bay.

According to the Green Bay diocese's newspaper, The Compass, Bishop David Ricken wrote a letter to parishioners saying Bishop Aloysius Wycislo failed to adequately address claims of clergy abuse while he was bishop from 1968 to 1983. The letter said Wycislo has not been accused of sexual misconduct.

The facility will be renamed Cathedral Center.

Ricken wrote that he hopes removing Wycislo's name will help victims in their healing as the diocese tries to be more accountable for the issue of clergy abuse. The diocese in January released the names of 46 clergy members with substantiated allegations they sexually abused a minor.
The Latest on the 2020 presidential candidates campaigning throughout the country this weekend: (all times EST):

4 p.m.

Presidential hopeful Cory Booker is urging fellow Democrats not to be distracted by vitriol directed at the party's candidates from the man whom they seek to replace.

Booker was asked Saturday during a campaign visit to Charleston, South Carolina, how best to campaign against President Donald Trump without turning overly negative. The New Jersey senator said Democrats need to look inward and focus on issues important to them, such as health care and education.

Booker said Democrats "have got to understand this is not about him, it's about us" and that they should be motivated by what they are for, not what they are against.

Booker also urged the audience of activists not to become complacent just because Democrats enjoyed successes in the 2018 midterm elections.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker speaks to a crowd of several hundred during a campaign stop Friday, March 1, 2019, in Simpsonville, S.C. Booker is spending two days in the state, which holds the first 2020 Democratic primary in the South, holding town hall-style discussions as he continues to introduce himself to the largely African-American primary electorate. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)

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3:45 p.m.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is emphasizing the need for Democrats to focus on policies over personal attacks, and to remain united in order to win the 2020 presidential race.

Campaigning in Waterloo, Iowa, on Saturday, Warren criticized Vice President Mike Pence when asked by a reporter about former Vice President Joe Biden's remarks earlier this week calling Pence a "decent man."

The U.S. senator from Massachusetts said she had followed Pence's history on LGBTQ rights and that she didn't think it was a "decent position."

On other subjects, Warren focused heavily on policy but refused to draw any contrasts between her own proposals and those offered by other Democrats running for president.

Warren said she supported "Medicare for All" but that there were many ways to achieve universal coverage.

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2:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump is telling supporters that he will win re-election in 2020 and by a bigger margin than his 2016 victory.

During a wide-ranging speech before an appreciative audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, Trump on Saturday mocked Democrats for their framework to combat climate change and said House lawmakers pushing to expand their investigations of him are "sick."

Trump also rehashed his outsider campaign that overcame long odds and a crowded field of established politicians to claim the White House over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

When he made his prediction of a second term, the crowd responded with chants of "USA, USA, USA."

Trump praised the conservative movement, saying "Our movement and our future in our country is unlimited."

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2:15 p.m.

In the final swing of a listening tour as he decides whether to enter the 2020 presidential primary race, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio is spending time in South Carolina, sharing his message of advocacy for higher wages and more robust health care.

At a Darlington County Democratic women's event on Saturday, Brown told attendees he values the important role black women play in the Democratic primary process. South Carolina holds the first southern voting, and its Democratic primary electorate is largely African-American.

On Friday, Brown stopped at a Columbia job training facility. He later went to Florence, where Mayor Stephen Wukela (woo-KEY-lah) said he would support Brown if he jumps into the race.

Later Saturday, Brown was expected to speak at Dorchester County Democrats' oyster roast, an event New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker was also scheduled to attend following a town hall discussion in Charleston.

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2 p.m.

Bernie Sanders has launched his second presidential campaign with a call for Americans from all walks of life to join his fight for a political revolution, one he's been waging for four decades.

Sanders is calling Donald Trump the most dangerous president in modern U.S. history, with the Vermont senator saying his campaign is built to defeat Trump.

Sanders also says his Democratic campaign will create an economy and government that works for all people, and says the government will be based on economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

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10:15 a.m.

Democratic presidential hopefuls are introducing themselves to voters in some of the earliest states that will weigh in on their campaigns to take on President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Candidates are fanning out in South Carolina and Iowa on Saturday, spending time with voters in two of the states that hold the earliest balloting next year.

Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Sherrod Brown of Ohio are in South Carolina, site of the South's first primary. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts plans to court voters in Iowa.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is scheduled to attend the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an event where politicians traditionally poke fun at the press and other politicians. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is making Brooklyn the official launch site of his second run for the White House.

Trump plans to speak to a gathering of conservatives in suburban Maryland, where he is expected to emphasize the White House's political message that Democrats are rallying behind what his team is calling the policies of "socialism."

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to local residents during an organizing event, Friday, March 1, 2019, in Dubuque, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) - Actor Johnny Depp is suing his ex-wife, actress Amber Heard, in a $50 million defamation lawsuit, citing a piece she wrote for The Washington Post about domestic abuse.

The complaint, filed Friday in the Circuit Court of Fairfax, Virginia, said that, while Depp was not named in the Post article, it was clear Heard was talking about him. The lawsuit called her ongoing allegations of domestic abuse "categorically and demonstrably false."

"They were part of an elaborate hoax to generate positive publicity for Ms. Heard and advance her career," the lawsuit said, claiming that "she is the perpetrator."

The suit said Depp, 55, has suffered financial losses because of the accusations, including being dropped from his role as Capt. Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

In her article, published in the Post in December, Heard also said she lost an acting role and contract with a major fashion brand because went public with her claims of abuse.

"I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture's wrath," the 32-year-old actress wrote, adding that she felt as those she was "on trial in the court of public opinion."

Heard's publicists and attorney did not return phone calls or emails from The Associated Press seeking comment on Saturday.

In a statement to People magazine, her attorney Eric M. George called the lawsuit "frivolous" and "just the latest of Johnny Depp's repeated efforts to silence Amber Heard."

Depp's attorney, Adam Waldman, responded to People that he and his client looked forward to presenting "overwhelming video, photographic and eyewitness evidence" that would clear Depp's name.

Heard first accused Depp of domestic violence in May 2016, the year after they were married. After Heard brought a photo of her with a bruised face to court, a judge ordered Depp to stay away from her. The couple met on the set of their 2011 film "The Rum Diary." Their divorce was finalized in 2017.
NEW YORK (AP) - A teenager has been charged with opening fire on a crowded New York City street, sending several people running for cover.

A video circulated by the New York Police Department showed bystanders including a little girl running as the gunman fired several shots in the Bronx on Feb. 22. No one was hit by the gunfire.

Police say 16-year-old Edgar Garcia was arrested Friday and is suspected of being the gunman in the video.

Police say Garcia was aiming at another man who was down the block.

Garcia faces charges including attempted murder, criminal use of a firearm and reckless endangerment. It's not clear if he has and attorney who can speak for him.

In this Feb. 22, 2019 image taken from surveillance video released by the New York City Police Department, a gunman identified by the NYPD as 16-year-old Edgar Garcia opens fire on a crowded street in the Bronx borough of New York. No one was hit by the gunfire. (New York City Police Department via AP)
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region.

Pakistan Railways spokesman Ejaz Shah said the train service, known as the Samjhauta Express, left the eastern city of Lahore for India's border town of Atari, with some 180 passengers on board.

Pakistan suspended the train service last week as tensions escalated following India's airstrike on Tuesday inside Pakistan. India said it targeted militants behind a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a fighter jet the next day and detaining its pilot, who was returned to India two days later.

Also Monday, schools in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir opened after seven days of closure amid the heightened tensions.

Raja Jaleel, head teacher at a secondary school in Chakothi, which is close to the Line of Control border in the disputed region, said classes resumed but attendance was thin.

A passenger looks out from a train on her way to India, after being stranded in Pakistan for a week, at Lahore Railway Station in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railways official says a key train service between Pakistan and neighbouring India has been resumed, a sign on easing tensions between the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

He lauded the courage of the students who attended, as many of the area's parents are keeping their children home for their safety.

"We have started our day with prayers for peace," said the head teacher, adding that the students also chanted slogans in support of the army.

Schools were closed when Indian and Pakistani troops were trading fire across the Line of Control. At least eight civilians and two soldiers have been killed in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir since tensions soared following India's airstrike last Tuesday.

The reopening of schools on the Pakistani side of Kashmir and the resumption of the train service amid the lull in the crossfire for the second consecutive day suggests that the two nuclear-armed rivals have heeded international calls to exercise restraint. But Pakistan hasn't yet opened its airspace for flights to or from the east.

Senior civil aviation official Aamir Mahboob said that there was "no change yet in our aviation policy toward east but the west corridor is open for all flights."

After the suicide bombing on Feb 14 in the Pulwama district of Indian-controlled Kashmir, Indian jets crossed into Pakistani Kashmir and then into the Balakot section of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where they dropped bombs. India claimed its jets struck the militants behind the Pulwama attack. Pakistan denied that any such militant base existed in the area or that was hit by jets. Next day Pakistan shot down two Indian jets and detained a pilot who landed on the Pakistani side. He was handed back to India in a gesture of peace two days later.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both countries claim the territory in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it. The rivals struck a cease-fire deal in 2003 but regularly trade cross-border fire.

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Mughal reported from Muzaffarabad, Pakistan. Associated Press writer Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.

A passenger waves from the doorway of a train, on her way to India, after being stranded in Pakistan for a week, at Lahore Railway Station in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railways official says a key train service between Pakistan and neighbouring India has been resumed, a sign on easing tensions between the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Passengers onboard a train on their way back to India, after being stranded in Pakistan for a week, at Lahore Railway Station in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railways official says a key train service between Pakistan and neighbouring India has been resumed, a sign on easing tensions between the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

A Pakistani man, right, hugs his Indian relative who is preparing to return to India, after being stranded in Pakistan for a week, at Lahore Railway Station in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railways official says a key train service between Pakistan and neighbouring India has been resumed, a sign on easing tensions between the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Pakistani soldiers carry a coffin of Pakistani soldier Khuram Ali who reportedly lost his life during heavy shelling from Indian troops at the Line of Control in Pakistani Kashmir, during his funeral in Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Asim Tanveer)

Family members mourn the death of a Pakistani soldier Khuram Ali who reportedly lost his life during heavy shelling from Indian troops at the Line of Control in Pakistani Kashmir, in Dera Ghazi Khan in Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Asim Tanveer)

Pakistani protesters beat an effigy of Indian prime minister during a rally in Karachi, Pakistan, Monday, March 4, 2019. A key train service with neighboring India resumed and schools in Pakistani Kashmir opened Monday in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over the disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)

Passengers from Pakistan unload their belongings from the Samjhauta Express train as it arrives in Atari, India, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railway official said the key train service with neighboring India has resumed in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)

An Indian policeman and passengers from Pakistan look on from the Samjhauta Express train as it arrives in Atari, India, Monday, March 4, 2019. A Pakistani railway official said the key train service with neighboring India has resumed in another sign of easing tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since a major escalation last week over disputed Kashmir region. (AP Photo/Prabhjot Gill)
A dozen or more Government ministers could quit by the end of the month if Theresa May refuses to extend the Brexit negotiating period beyond March 29, a leading Tory opponent of EU withdrawal has said.

Former attorney general Dominic Grieve said that the next round of Brexit votes on February 27 would be a high noon moment when resignations on this scale  which he said could include six Cabinet members  might bring Mrs Mays Government down.

He was speaking as Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt made clear his unwillingness to accept a no-deal departure, telling hardline Brexiteers in a tweet: We are not leaving without a deal. If you want to leave, youd better agree one. In the next fortnight would help.

Angry Tory loyalists have turned on the partys Brexiteers after Mrs Mays plans suffered another humiliating Commons defeat on Valentines Day.

Business minister Richard Harrington accused the European Research Group (ERG), led by Jacob Rees-Mogg, of treachery and said they were not Conservatives and should join former Ukip leader Nigel Farages new Brexit Party.

Defence minister Tobias Ellwood accused the ERG of acting as a party within a party and described their behaviour as provocative.

Meanwhile, Margot James became the latest minister to rule out remaining in the Government if it allowed a no-deal Brexit.

The Digital Minister told Channel 4 News: I could not be part of a government that allowed this country to leave the European Union without a deal.

Tobias Ellwood has accused the ERG of operating as a `party within a party (PA)

Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister would continue with her negotiating strategy, with ministers dismissing Thursdays vote as no more than a hiccup.

Number 10 said Mrs May spoke to the Polish President Mateusz Morawiecki, the Estonian Prime Minister Juri Ratas and the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite on Friday afternoon.

Leader of the Commons Andrea Leadsom acknowledged that Thursdays defeat had not strengthened Mrs Mays hand in her effort to persuade the EU to change the proposed backstop arrangements to keep the Irish border open after Brexit.

But she told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: The Prime Minister carries on. She will continue to seek those legally binding changes to the backstop that will enable Parliament to support our deal.

The one problem with last nights vote is that it allows the EU to continue with this pretence that they dont know what we want. They do know what we want.

Ms Leadsom did not discount the possibility of ministerial-level resignations, telling Today: Resignations from Government do happen People have very, very strong, heartfelt views about leaving the EU or remaining within it. That is a matter for them as individuals.

No. We wont. We are not leaving without a deal. If you want to leave, youd better agree one. In the next fortnight would help. https://t.co/c10w17TPCd  Rt Hon Alistair Burt (@AlistairBurtUK) February 15, 2019

But she insisted: The vote yesterday didnt change anything. The Governments position remains to resolve the issues of the backstop and then come back to Parliament with a fresh meaningful vote. Its essential we crack on with that work, and thats what we are doing.

There was fury among some Conservative MPs after an announcement by the pro-Brexit ERG moments before the crucial vote on Thursday evening that its members had taken a collective decision to abstain.

With some Remainers also failing to vote, and five Tory MPs voting with the opposition, the Government fell to a 303 to 258 vote defeat.

Mr Grieve said the ERG seem to be completely cavalier about the risks that the country might run if we leave with no deal, something which he said the overwhelming majority of MPs were not prepared to accept.

He told Today that he understood a number of ministers had already told Mrs May that if she was unable to secure a Withdrawal Agreement which could command the support of the Commons, she should extend the two-year Article 50 negotiating period.

If she refused, he said a dozen or even more ministers may resign, including up to half a dozen from the Cabinet.

Asked whether this could bring down the Government, Mr Grieve said: Yes it could, and this isnt a desirable outcome.

The irony of all this is that most of us in the Conservative Party are sufficiently united to want to try to operate a coherent Government. But the truth is were finding it harder and harder to do.

It starts to bring into question whether in fact the Government is able to operate in the national interest at all.

We are facing a great crisis and we are not really looking at all the options for trying to resolve it.

ERG deputy chairman Steve Baker dismissed the row over Thursdays vote as a storm in a teacup.

Steve Baker has dismissed the furore over the ERG as a `storm in a teacup (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Brexit-backing MPs who abstained were not prepared to be associated with the catastrophic and foolish negotiating error of taking a no-deal Brexit off the table, he said.

He accused Mrs May of reinterpreting last months vote, which authorised her to replace the backstop with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border in Ireland.

Im afraid people didnt want to be treated like that twice, Mr Baker told Today.

I really do rather object to being called hardline when what we are doing is trying to deliver an exit with a deal which works for everybody, with a transition period. We are making enormous compromises to work across the party.

(PA Graphics)

Greek foreign minister George Katrougalos told Today that Thursdays vote was part of the contradictory message that we are receiving as the 27 from the UK.

Mr Katrougalos said: It complicates even further the situation. Its very, very difficult to be optimistic about Brexit under these circumstances.

I cannot exclude a miracle. Miracles happen, but I cannot see what kind of miracle it is that could save the day.

It was not foreseeable that the EU would reopen negotiations or take the backstop out of the UKs Withdrawal Agreement, he said.
The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall could meet some of Cubas most celebrated music stars when they make an historic visit to the country.

Charles and Camillas official four-day trip to the communist state in March, part of a Caribbean tour, will be a first by members of the monarchy.

At a Havana recording studio, the prince and his wife may meet members of the Buena Vista Social Club, although details are yet to be finalised.

The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will visit St Lucia , Barbados, St Vincent and The Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Cuba and The Cayman Islands from 17th March  29th March 2019. pic.twitter.com/vtUIEMeXFL  The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) February 15, 2019

The group became worldwide celebrities when their 1997 album became a surprise global hit and Grammy award winner.

Other highlights of the Cuban trip will see the couple meet Havana owners of the famous vintage cars still running in the capital, although these will be British classics.

There are no plans for the royal couple to meet Raul Castro, the brother of Cubas former Communist leader Fidel Castro who died in 2016, but they will be guests of honour at an official dinner hosted by the countrys president Miguel Diaz-Canel.

Scott Furssedonn-Wood, the royal couples deputy private secretary, said they were visiting the country at the request of the British Government.

The Cuban band Buena Vista Social Club performing in Londons Hyde Park in 2000 (Yui Mok/PA Wire)

He added: The prince and the duchess visit will highlight cultural and academic connections, links between the people of the UK and Cuba, and explore key themes, such as the arts, youth entrepreneurship, heritage restoration and sustainable agriculture.

Charles met Cubas president in November last year at his London home, Clarence House, when the foreign leader visited the UK with a delegation of senior ministers.

The couples 13-day tour of the Caribbean will begin on March 17 and see the couple travel to St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada and the Cayman Islands, with the Cuban leg beginning on March 24.

Camilla confirmed she would be travelling to Cuba with her husband when they visited the Supreme Court earlier in February, but confessed she wasnt so sure about the food.

Camilla, pictured with Charles during their recent visit to the Supreme Court, talked about Cuba when she toured the legal building (Victoria Jones/PA)

Mr Furssedonn-Wood said: Both their royal highnesses are looking forward to all sorts of things in Cuba  the music, the dance, and food is certainly one of those things, Im sure theyre looking forward to sampling the local produce.

Cubas Communist regime survived attempts to topple Fidel Castro through sanctions and this year it will celebrate 60 years since the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista that ushered in the one-party state.

Charles and Camilla will begin their visit to Cuba by laying a wreath at the memorial to Cubas national hero, the essayist and poet Jose Marti.

The following day they will make a joint visit to a community and arts centre and later Charles will meet some of Cubas young entrepreneurs in Havana.

During the tour the prince will visit one of Cubas leading dance studios and travel out of Havana to learn more about renewable energy and organic farming in Cuba.

The prince and duchess tour the Fond Doux cocoa plantation during a 2008 visit to St Lucia (Lewis Whyld/PA)

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: The visit is happening because there was an invitation to the Prince of Wales when the president visited the UK back in November. The British Government requested that their royal highnesses accept the invitation.

This is part of our long-standing approach towards Cuba of engagement and open and frank dialogue over the issues that divide us like human rights, but also engagement towards progress on the matters that were interested in.

He added that Philip Hammond, when Foreign Secretary, had visited Cuba in 2016 and there had been regular ministerial trips to Cuba and high-level engagement with Cubans for some considerable time.
More than 820,000 worth of drugs have been seized in a four-week operation in the Highlands and Islands.

Search warrants were carried out with heroin, cocaine and illegally obtained tablets among the substances seized in a number of locations as part of Operation Ram in January and February.

The locations include Shetland, Orkney, Caithness, Wester Ross, Easter Ross, Inverness, Badenoch, Nairn and Lochaber.

A large-scale cannabis cultivation was also uncovered.

Police said eight people have or will be reported in connection with the supply of controlled drugs  and the figure is expected to rise with ongoing enquiries.

Detective Inspector Peter Mackenzie said: We are committed to disrupting the activities of those involved in serious crime at all levels and Operation Ram is an established means of doing that.

(Andrew Milligan/PA)

This operation brought together officers from a number of departments including local policing officers, officers from the Community Investigation Unit, as well as colleagues from the Specialist Crime Division and the Operational Support Division.

Time and again the public tell us that they are sick of the way that drugs are destroying young people, families and neighbourhoods.

This is a message that we are listening and responding to these concerns, and we are taking action against the criminals who cause this damage.

While we are encouraged by these recent seizures, we will never become complacent and will continue to work every day to tackle the drug trade and the problems it brings and causes.

We want to ensure that the Highlands and Islands are a hostile environment for drug dealers.

DI Mackenzie said:"Time and again the public tell us that they are sick of the way that drugs are destroying young people, families and neighbourhoods. This is a message that we are listening to these concerns and taking action against the criminals who cause this damage." #OpRam  Northern Police (@northernPolice) February 15, 2019

Approximately 17,000 in cash was also seized by officers.

Mr Mackenzie added: Much of the recent Operation Ram activity is a direct result of intelligence shared by members of the public who do not tolerate drugs in their community.

I would take the opportunity to thank the public for their continued support and offer the assurance that every piece of information we receive is fully assessed and thereafter acted upon where appropriate.

This community intelligence is used to shape our operational activity  if you let us know of your concerns then we will do the rest.
A plane was involved in a near miss with a commercial drone near Glasgow Airport, it has been revealed.

The tail of the Loganair aircraft was inspected because the crew thought it may have been hit as it approached the airport, according to a report by the UK Airprox Board (UKAB).

The incident was rated as having the highest degree of risk.

The near miss happened on November 24 last year when the plane was nine miles from Glasgow Airport at an altitude of 3,000 feet.

Loganair chief operations officer Maurice Boyle said: Our Saab 2000 aircraft was carrying 22 passengers and three crew from Sumburgh in Shetland and was approaching Glasgow Airport when the captain and first officer both saw the drone in very close proximity.

Fortunately there was no collision, but this was potentially a very serious incident.

A drone was involved in a near miss with a plane near Glasgow Airport (Andrew Matthews/PA)

He added: Penalties should be substantially increased for flagrant misuse of drones near airports, where they represent a very major hazard.

The aircrafts captain and first officer described the drone as dark or black and around one metre wide.

It passed about five metres above the captains window and was moving at high speed in a straight line.

The near miss was reported to air traffic control. Police officers met the crew after landing to file a report.

The UKAB stated that a definite risk of collision had existed.

It was one of 11 near misses between an aircraft and a drone or unknown object analysed by the board in its latest monthly meeting.

Other cases involved flights landing or taking off in Belfast, Bristol, Hampshire, Liverpool, London and Perth.

There has been growing concern about drones after sightings of the devices caused flights to be grounded over 36 hours at Gatwick Airport in the run-up to Christmas.

Aviation Minister Liz Sugg said: Flying drones illegally puts others at risk. The law is clear that these are serious criminal acts that hold lengthy prison sentences.

The Government is further strengthening the law by extending the no-fly zone around airports, and from November all drone users must be registered and tested  which will help hold illegal drone users to account.
The Brexit process should not be a barrier to restoring powersharing in Northern Ireland, the DUP leader has said.

Arlene Foster said devolved government could be restored despite the ongoing uncertainty around the UKs departure from the European Union.

Mrs Foster called on Sinn Fein to get serious about restoring the institutions as she arrived for roundtable talks with the four other Stormont parties and the UK and Irish governments.

The latest bid to resurrect the administration comes two years after the last Democratic Unionist/Sinn Fein-led coalition imploded amid a row over a botched green energy scheme.

A no entry sign outside Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast (David Young/PA)

The wrangle over the renewable heat incentive (RHI) was soon overtaken by disputes over the Irish language, the regions ban on same sex marriage and the toxic legacy of the Troubles.

A number of attempts to find a negotiated deal to restore the institutions have ended in failure.

Many believe the prospects of an imminent return to powersharing are bleak, with the crisis seemingly in drift as political attention focuses on Brexit.

Mrs Foster said that did not need to be the case.

I dont think Brexit should prevent us from having a government in Northern Ireland, she said.

I wish that we had had a government up and running since March 2017, thats when we should have been back into government, instead, because Sinn Fein has refused to go back in, we have to deal with that.

The DUP leader expressed hope that there would be a Brexit deal before March 29.

We want to see a deal in relation to Brexit because we believe a deal that works for the whole United Kingdom and one that deals for the European Union is good for everybody, she said.

With the UK Government reluctant to reintroduce direct rule from Westminster, Northern Ireland has operated in a political limbo land for two years, with senior civil servants being left to run public services.

A locked gate outside Stormont (David Young/PA)

Those civil servants are seriously hamstrung, with ongoing uncertainty over what decisions they are able to make in the absence of elected ministers.

As a consequence, numerous governmental decisions are in abeyance with many major policy initiatives in cold storage.

We need devolution back in Northern Ireland, said Mrs Foster as she arrived at Stormont House for the meeting.

It should have been back in after March 2017, after that election.

It didnt and its a source of great frustration at this point, not just for us but for the whole population of Northern Ireland, that we are still talking about talks rather than actually dealing with government issues.

Mrs Foster repeated her claim that Sinn Fein was holding the process to ransom.

Arlene Foster said Brexit should not distract from restoring powersharing at Stormont (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

She reiterated that her party would go back into devolved government immediately, insisting the outstanding political disputes could be resolved in parallel.

Ahead of the talks, Sinn Fein branded the engagement a sham.

On Thursday evening, Sinn Fein negotiator Conor Murphy said: There is no indication that the DUP or the British government are serious about resolving the outstanding issues and removing the obstacles to power-sharing.

This is not a serious or credible attempt to restore the political institutions of the Good Friday Agreement.

On Friday, Mrs Foster criticised Mr Murphys remarks.

Thats very disappointing to hear Sinn Fein put out their stall like that, she said.

I think most people in Northern Ireland want to see us getting back in to deal with all the issues that affect them in their everyday lives, instead of dealing with very narrow sectional issues.

Sinn Fein have held Northern Ireland to ransom these past two years, I deeply regret that.
Mounted police were used to move protesters off the roads as they blocked traffic during a climate change demonstration.

As protesters in London took part in the UK-wide Youth Strike 4 Climate action, some took to the citys famous buses to demonstrate.

Others scaled traffic lights or statues in Parliament Square, or sat down in front of double-deckers, prompting the Metropolitan Police to intervene.

A number of protesters were led off in handcuffs after being removed from the road by police.

The Metropolitan Police later said three people were arrested including a 17-year-old boy for a public order offence, along with a 19-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl who were each arrested for obstruction of the highway.

One group, who looked to be in their late teens, took over an open-top tourist bus, climbing to the top deck and conducting their protest from there.

The students took their protest to Downing Street, stopping in front of the gates to chant save our planet.

The action has been taking place across the country with youngsters  some wearing their school uniform  carrying banners bearing slogans such as There is no planet B.

A handcuffed man is led away by police (Nick Ansell/PA)

Other signs read: When did the children become the adults? and Why should I clean my room when the world is in such a mess.

In Belfast, a small but passionate crowd of young people gathered outside City Hall.

Maia Willis Reddick, a 17-year-old student at Belfasts Methodist College, said her school had been supportive of her joining the action.

She said: Us leaving school means we show we value the climate the same as we value our education.

We are still very conscious about school. I have A-levels, I have stuff to do, we just want to make the point that we are willing to take drastic action in order to highlight the problems of climate change.

Mounted police officers at the protest in London (Nick Ansell/PA)

Rosamund Kissi-Debrahs nine-year-old daughter Ellas death in February 2013 has been linked to unlawful air pollution.

After addressing the demonstrators, she told the Press Association she felt very emotional speaking on the sixth anniversary of her daughters death.

She added: It has been a very hard day but I had to talk to them so they got what today was all about. Its not about skipping school.

Climate change needs to be part of the national curriculum.

Demonstrators during a climate change protest in Bristol (Ben Birchall/PA)

Nico, 13, was protesting at Parliament Square in Westminster.

She said protesting about climate change was not a chance to bunk off school, but a push for a better future.

Ten-year-old Zachary Hird, a pupil at Cambridges Newnham Croft Primary School, was at the protest in Cambridge with his mother Diane Hird.

He said: We dont want climate change and people just have to change their ways as we dont want the world as it is right now.

We just want to make people aware of it.

We were talking about it in our class so we just came along.

Feeling quite emotional! Incredible turnout in #Brighton for #climatestrike.



This is most hopeful thing that's happened in years.



Exciting thing is positive policies like #GreenNewDeal are taking off too.



We can win this fight for a safer, fairer future!#schoolstrike4climate pic.twitter.com/TA8edUjSC7  Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) February 15, 2019

Children also gathered in Brighton, with some waving banners refusing to take exams and calling for immediate action on climate change.

They cheered as they were joined by Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas.

She told them they should only miss school in exceptional circumstances, adding: The evidence is really shocking, we have less than 12 years to get off the collision course that were on, my generation has let you down.

In the last 12 months theres only been one debate on climate change in Parliament.

There is a better way forward.

Protesters climb a statue during the Youth Strike 4 Climate action (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

However, the strikes were not welcomed by school leaders and Education Secretary Damian Hinds, who said missing class was not the answer.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: While we admire the determination of these young people to make their voices heard over climate change, missing school is not the right approach.

The problem is not only the disruption and loss of learning time but the fact that schools have responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of pupils, and it is a serious concern if pupils are off site and unsupervised.

We appeal to all involved in the protests not to repeat the exercise, particularly as many students will soon be taking exams which are crucial to their life chances.

Three-year-old Violet Wicks, from London, joined the protest in Westminster (Nick Ansell/PA)

Downing Street said that while it was important for young people to engage with issues such as climate change, the disruption to planned lesson time was damaging for pupils.

Everybody wants young people to be engaged in the issues that affect them most so that we can build a brighter future for all of us, a No 10 spokeswoman said.

But it is important to emphasise that disruption increases teachers workloads and wastes lesson time that teachers have carefully prepared for.

That time is crucial for young people, precisely so that they can develop into the top scientists, engineers and advocates we need to help tackle this problem.

Students protest in Westminster (Nick Ansell/PA)

But the demonstrators gained the support of Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who described their actions as a cause for optimism in an often dark world.

The movement has already seen school strikes in Australia and European countries including Belgium, and was inspired by teenager Greta Thunberg, who protests every Friday outside Swedens parliament to urge leaders to tackle climate change.

It comes in the wake of a UN report which warned that limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, beyond which climate impacts become increasingly severe, requires unprecedented action.

That includes cutting global carbon dioxide emissions by almost half within 12 years.

Lots of students headed to Parliament Square (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Students in the UK are demanding the Government declare a climate emergency and take active steps to tackle the problem, communicate the severity of the ecological crisis to the public and reform the curriculum to make it an educational priority.

Anna Taylor, of UK Student Climate Network, said: Were running out of time for meaningful change, and thats why were seeing young people around the world rising up to hold their governments to account on their dismal climate records.

Unless we take positive action, the futures looking bleak for those of us that have grown up in an era defined by climate change.
John Stalker, who was one of Britains most high-profile police officers, has died aged 79, his family announced.

Manchester-born Mr Stalker served as an officer for more than three decades, rose to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable and led a major inquiry into policing in Northern Ireland, which became known as the Stalker Inquiry.

Mr Stalker, who is survived by his two daughters, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, had been in poor health following the death of his wife 14 months ago.

Colette Cartwright, his eldest daughter, led tributes to him.

John Stalker was regularly in the news during his police career, for his roles in high-profile investigations, and afterwards in true crime TV programmes (PA)

She said: Our dad John was a beloved husband, grandfather and great-grandfather who enriched the lives of many.

After marrying my dear mum Stella in 1961 he spent his life as a devoted police officer, proudly serving the people of Greater Manchester for over 30 years.

He is fondly remembered by many as going above and beyond the call of duty and was committed to making a difference for those most in need.

As testament to this, he devoted his life to a career in CID where he worked for 16 years, rising to the rank of Detective Superintendent.

Respected by many of his colleagues, he had a varied career and held posts in the Serious Crime Squad and the Bomb Squad. He also became the first head of the drugs squad.

In 1978  aged 38  he was appointed head of Warwickshire CID, the youngest Detective Chief Superintendent in the country  later becoming Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police in 1984, the biggest police force in the provinces.

This is something that my dad worked so hard for and we, as a family, will always be immensely proud of his accomplishments.

During his time as a police officer Mr Stalker travelled around the world studying terrorism and crime in Europe, the USA and South America and on his return he worked for two years in Northern Ireland, investigating an alleged state shoot to kill policy targeting members of the Provisional IRA.

After his retirement in 1987 he carved out a new career as a journalist and pursued his passion for writing, publishing an autobiography in 1988.

He also enjoyed travelling the world with his wife and spending time at their holiday home in North Wales.

Mrs Cartwright added: Id like to thank all those at Greater Manchester Police who are helping us through this incredibly difficult time and I think their support is reflective of the spirit of my dad and his commitment to policing throughout his life.

My dad will be sorely missed by all lives he has touched both professionally and personally. We will always be proud of him and everything he achieved.

We love him and will miss him so much.
Britons returning from Islamic State are likely to have acquired potentially very dangerous skills and connections, the head of MI6 has warned.

Alex Younger, who did not comment specifically on the case of runaway schoolgirl Shamima Begum, said UK nationals have a right to come home but that public safety was the first priority.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he will not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS.

Mr Younger told reporters at the Munich Security Conference: They are likely to have acquired both the skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous and also experienced extreme radicalisation, either in their journey to that place or when they are there. That fact needs to be uppermost in our minds.

As we approach this admittedly extremely complex and difficult problem, public safety is the first thing that we will consider.

It follows from that that anyone who has put themselves in this situation can expect to be questioned and investigated and potentially prosecuted if they return to our jurisdiction.

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said: Anyone who returns from Syria or other conflict zones, having gone in support of any proscribed terrorist group  whether thats fighting for or against Daesh  or for any other illegal purposes, can expect to be investigated by the police.

Any investigation is carried out with an open mind and based on the evidence available. This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UKs national security.

UKs head of counter-terrorism policing Neil Basu said anyone returning from conflict zones would face stringent limitations (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

There can be no hope of repatriation without these investigations taking place, and anyone who does return to the UK from conflict zones can, at best, expect to live under stringent limitations set out in the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM) Act.

We as a society must learn that we can stop this from happening in the first place by trusting our Prevent strategy, reporting our concerns early and stopping people being radicalised, investigated and, most likely, criminalised by the poisonous rhetoric spewed by terrorist organisations of any ideology.

Mr Javid said those who left the UK to join IS were full of hate for our country, while security minister Ben Wallace warned that runaways who now want to come back must realise that actions have consequences.

Ms Begums family have pleaded for the 19-year-old, who is heavily pregnant, to be shown mercy and to be allowed to return to east London.

Shamima Begum left the UK in 2015 to join Islamic State (Metropolitan Police/PA)

Speaking to The Times at a refugee camp in northern Syria, Ms Begum said she would do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Her case has received high-profile backing, with a former MI6 chief saying the teenager should be given a chance if we are to stand by our values.

Meanwhile Anthony Loyd, The Times correspondent who found Ms Begum, said she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who made a terrible mistake and we must do our best to rehabilitate her amongst our own people.

But her plea has been strongly rejected by others  including the brother of Alan Henning, the British aid worker beheaded by Jihadi John, who said she should absolutely not be allowed back.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Javid said: We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh (IS) were full of hate for our country.

My message is clear  if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return. If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.

Labour shadow home secretary Diane Abbott responded: We are not in favour of making people stateless. However, if there are reasonable grounds to suspect that anyone who is entitled to return to this country either committed or facilitated acts of terrorism, they should be fully investigated and where appropriate prosecuted.

Our priority must always be public safety. We need proper safeguards, particularly if the individual is associated with an international terrorist group. All significant risks must be thoroughly assessed.

Any hopes of a rescue mission by British officials were swiftly quashed on Thursday as the Government ruled out an effort inside Syria to assist Ms Begum.

Sajid Javid said he would not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who leave the UK to join IS (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

While no official operation to remove Ms Begum from Syria will be carried out, questions have been raised over whether Britain would be able to prevent Ms Begums eventual return to the UK.

Former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile told the BBC that if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country, she will have to be allowed back to her homeland because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made stateless.

Meanwhile, Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution is the most likely outcome for such captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.

Writing for The Guardian, he said: Governments have a responsibility to address the problems created by their captured nationals and also to look more closely at why they made the choices they did.

He added: Even (Ms Begum), as unrepentant as she may be, should be given a chance, if we are to stand by our values  and if we believe our society is strong enough to reabsorb a 15-year-old who went badly off the rails.

Ms Begums admission that she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria, and her assertion that she is not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago has been highlighted as a cause for concern by some.

Dr Kim Howells, a former counter-terrorism minister, told the Daily Mail: She sounds to be completely unrepentant, she sounds cynical.

Mr Hennings brother Reg told The Sun: The authorities should take her passport off her. She made her choice, didnt she? She made her bed and she should lie in it.

However, Ms Begums brother-in-law Mohammed Rehman told Mail Online that her family want her to be allowed to return and be re-educated.
Sinn Fein accused the UK Government of indulging in a sham merry-go-round after a meeting to take stock of Stormonts powersharing crisis failed to chart a way forward.

Sinn Fein President Mary Lou McDonald claimed the roundtable talks involving the five main Stormont parties and UK and Irish governments were only called to give a false impression that Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley was proactively trying to resolve the impasse.

We are open to any credible proposition to restore powersharing, but what we had today was not that, Mrs McDonald said after the 90-minute exchanges at Stormont House in Belfast.

Ahead of the meeting, DUP leader Arlene Foster laid the blame for the two-year political deadlock squarely at Sinn Feins door, accusing the republican party of holding Northern Ireland to ransom with unreasonable demands.

Arlene Foster speaks to the media as tourists watch on (David Young/PA)

I think most people in Northern Ireland want to see us getting back in to deal with all the issues that affect them in their everyday lives, instead of dealing with very narrow sectional issues, she said.

Sinn Fein have held Northern Ireland to ransom these past two years, I deeply regret that.

Fridays meeting came two years after the last DUP/Sinn Fein-led coalition imploded amid a row over a botched green energy scheme.

The wrangle over the renewable heat incentive (RHI) was soon overtaken by disputes over the Irish language, the regions ban on same sex marriage and the toxic legacy of the Troubles.

A number of attempts to find a negotiated deal to restore the institutions have ended in failure.

The latest discussions involved Mrs Bradley, Irelands deputy premier Tanaiste Simon Coveney and the leaders of the five main parties.

They ended, as expected, without a meeting of minds on any of the outstanding issues.

Met today with Sec of State Bradley and the 5 main NI parties to discuss finding a way forward on getting the #GFA institutions operating again. Not straightforward, but shared sense of importance and urgency. pic.twitter.com/VIaljiYCiJ  Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) February 15, 2019

Mrs McDonald said the two governments had failed to put forward any credible proposition to navigate a way of out the impasse.

It is a disgrace that for two years we have not had our powersharing institutions, she said.

We have established again that, without a shadow of doubt, the DUP remains wedded to an agenda of denial of rights.

We have established that the British Government remains in a position where they are happy to facilitate that veto on rights and we have made very, very clear that any serious attempt to restore the powersharing institutions has to be based on the principles of powersharing and at the core of that is a recognition of peoples rights, at the core of that is a commitment to full powersharing and sustainability.

A locked gate outside Stormont (David Young/PA)

Flanked by party colleagues in the Great Hall of Parliament Buildings, Mrs McDonald added: There is a point at which honesty has to enter into the equation and for the Secretary of State to call a meeting to give the impression of action, when in fact the reality is one of inertia, is that helpful?

We dont believe that it is. We want more than that.

There is no appetite to go around on a merry-go-round again in a circular conversation that winds up with the DUP either unable to deliver an accommodation or unwilling to deliver solutions to what are very legitimate asks, made in the spirit of equality and the spirit of powersharing.

The republican leader continued: We are open to any credible proposition but we will not participate in anything that amounts to a sham.

People two years on deserve so much more than that, so much better.

With the UK Government reluctant to reintroduce direct rule from Westminster, Northern Ireland has operated in a political limbo land for two years, with senior civil servants being left to run public services.

Those civil servants are seriously hamstrung, with ongoing uncertainty over what decisions they are able to make in the absence of elected ministers.

As a consequence, numerous governmental decisions are in abeyance with many major policy initiatives in cold storage.

Mrs Foster called on Sinn Fein to get serious about restoring the institutions.

We need devolution back in Northern Ireland, she said as she arrived for the talks with party MEP Diane Dodds.

It should have been back in after March 2017, after that election.

It didnt and its a source of great frustration at this point, not just for us but for the whole population of Northern Ireland, that we are still talking about talks rather than actually dealing with government issues.

Mrs Foster reiterated that her party would go back into devolved government immediately, insisting the outstanding political disputes could be resolved in parallel.

Many believe the prospects of an imminent return to powersharing are bleak, with the crisis seemingly in drift as political attention focuses on Brexit.

Mrs Foster said that did not need to be the case, insisting the Brexit process should not be a barrier to restoring powersharing.

I dont think Brexit should prevent us from having a government in Northern Ireland, she said.

I wish that we had had a government up and running since March 2017, thats when we should have been back into government, instead, because Sinn Fein has refused to go back in, we have to deal with that.

The UK is leaving the European Union (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The DUP leader expressed hope that there would be a Brexit deal before March 29.

We want to see a deal in relation to Brexit because we believe a deal that works for the whole United Kingdom and one that deals for the European Union is good for everybody, she said.

On Brexit, Mrs McDonald said: Brexit sets the scene and the tone for everything that happens now in Irish politics.

Here in the North people voted to remain, as Arlene (Foster) is well aware, she defies that democratic decision, she advocates what, in our view, is a very, very reckless position in respect of Brexit.
Prosecutors have met the family of a girl who was sexually assaulted by a teenager to explain their decision not to appeal against his sentence.

Christopher Daniel, 18, was found guilty of repeated sexual assaults on the young girl but was granted an absolute discharge by Sheriff Gerard Sinclair.

The decision at Dumbarton Sheriff Court means that Daniel, who was between 15 and 17 at the time, will not be on the sex offenders register or have any criminal record.

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service officials met the girls family on Friday to update them on the handling of the case.

It comes after prosecutors decided previously that they could not appeal against the sentence on the grounds of undue leniency because the case does not meet the high legal test required.

The girls mother told STV news she spent much of the meeting in tears.

Dumbarton Sheriff Court, where Christopher Daniel was given an absolute discharge despite sexually assaulting a young girl (John Linton/PA)

She said: Today they confirmed that they wont appeal.

The reason they gave was that in law the sentence is deemed to be not unduly lenient. It seems that it does not tick enough boxes to be successful.

I asked them do you think this is right? and you could tell from their body language that they did not.

A Crown Office spokesman said: Officials from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service have met with the family to provide them with information about the handling of this case and the Crowns role in appeals against sentencing.

The Crown has previously stressed that sentencing is a matter for the sheriff who acts independently on the basis of the facts of a particular case.

In an earlier statement, it said: The Crown has a limited right of appeal against sentence. In order to appeal the law sets a high test. The sentence must not only be lenient, but it must be unduly lenient, i.e. outwith the reasonable range of sentences that could have been imposed by the court.

Having given careful consideration of the full facts and circumstances of this case, Crown Counsel decided that this was not a case in which the high legal test was met.

Following the sheriffs decision, a Judicial Office for Scotland statement said: The sheriff considered the offence to be the result of an entirely inappropriate curiosity of an emotionally naive teenager rather than for the purpose of sexual gratification.

It added any recorded conviction for the offence would have serious consequences in terms of the accuseds future career and any sentence would mean Daniel would probably be unable to continue his university course.

Scottish Labour is now demanding the sentencing guidelines for sexual assault are changed, particularly for young people.

In a letter to the Scottish Sentencing Council, justice spokesman Daniel Johnson wrote: The response to the verdict and subsequent written report has been one of shock and confusion, not only from the public but also organisations like Scottish Rape Crisis.

A spokesman for the Scottish Sentencing Council said: While the council does not comment on individual cases, which are a matter for the presiding judge, we are aware that sexual offending has increasingly become an area of public concern in recent years.

Sentencing in such cases often involves difficult decisions in complex circumstances, particularly where the victim, offender, or both, are children.

We recently announced our intention to develop sentencing guidelines in relation to sexual offences, which we believe will bring significant benefits both to the judiciary and to the public, particularly in explaining how sentencing decisions are reached.

We are also developing a separate guideline specifically in relation to the sentencing of young people. Any guidelines developed will be subject to a public consultation in due course.
Donald Trump has said Japans Prime Minister nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to open up a dialogue with North Korea.

At a White House event to discuss the proposed border wall, Mr Trump spoke about his upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam.

The president said early exchanges with Mr Kim were filled with fire and fury but since their first meeting last year, the two have established a good relationship.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is said to have nominated Donald Trump (Dan Kitwood/PA)

Mr Trump said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize.

He said, I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has also credited Mr Trump with starting negotiations with North Korea, has endorsed him for the prize as well.

In 2009, President Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for laying out the US commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.

Ill probably never get it, but thats OK, Mr Trump said. They gave it to Obama. He didnt even know what he got it for.
Runaway schoolgirl Shamima Begum should be allowed to return to the UK as a matter of urgency to safeguard her unborn child, her family has said.

In a statement issued to ITV News, they said the revelation the 19-year-old is still alive came as a shock to them, and they urged the Government to help her return to Britain four years after she travelled to Syria to join Islamic State.

Given Shamimas four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured, they said.

Now, we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamimas two young children have died  children that we will never come to know as a family.

This is the hardest of news to bear.

The welfare of Shamimas unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events.

Speaking to The Times at a refugee camp in northern Syria, Ms Begum said she would do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

During the interview she admitted that she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria, and asserted she is not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

The statement her family issued on Friday evening said they were shocked by her comments in the interview, but her words were those of a girl who was groomed.

We are also mindful that Shamima is currently in a camp surrounded by IS sympathisers and any comments by her could lead directly to danger to her and her child, they added.

Her family said her unborn child, who will be British, has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home.

We welcome an investigation in what she did while she was there under the principles of British justice and would request the British Government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency, the statement said.

Alex Younger, the head of MI6, said public safety had to be the first priority (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

Ms Begum, who says she has lost two children to illness, also told The Times of her fears about what would happen to her baby.

I dont want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family, she said.

I knew that coming back to the UK wouldnt be a quiet thing, she added. Its uncomfortable. If I ever do go back, itll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop.

The head of MI6 had earlier warned that Britons returning from Islamic State are likely to have acquired potentially very dangerous skills and connections.

Alex Younger, who did not comment specifically on the case of Ms Begum, said UK nationals have a right to come home but that public safety was the first priority.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he will not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS.

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said: Anyone who returns from Syria or other conflict zones, having gone in support of any proscribed terrorist group  whether thats fighting for or against Daesh  or for any other illegal purposes, can expect to be investigated by the police.

Any investigation is carried out with an open mind and based on the evidence available. This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UKs national security.

There can be no hope of repatriation without these investigations taking place, and anyone who does return to the UK from conflict zones can, at best, expect to live under stringent limitations set out in the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act.

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Neil Basu, said society must stop people being radicalised (Nick Ansell/PA Wire)

We as a society must learn that we can stop this from happening in the first place by trusting our Prevent strategy, reporting our concerns early and stopping people being radicalised, investigated and, most likely, criminalised by the poisonous rhetoric spewed by terrorist organisations of any ideology.

Mr Javid said those who left the UK to join IS were full of hate for our country, while security minister Ben Wallace warned that runaways who now want to come back must realise that actions have consequences.

Anthony Loyd, The Times correspondent who found Ms Begum, said she was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who made a terrible mistake and we must do our best to rehabilitate her amongst our own people.

But her plea has been strongly rejected by others  including the brother of Alan Henning, the British aid worker beheaded by Mohammed Emwazi, who said she should absolutely not be allowed back.

Any hopes of a rescue mission by British officials were also swiftly quashed on Thursday as the Government ruled out an effort inside Syria to assist Ms Begum.

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

While no official operation to remove Ms Begum from Syria will be carried out, questions have been raised over whether Britain would be able to prevent Ms Begums eventual return to the UK.

Former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile told the BBC that if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country, she will have to be allowed back to her homeland because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made stateless.

Meanwhile, Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution is the most likely outcome for such captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.
A suspect has been arrested after at least one person was killed and four police officers wounded during a shooting in an industrial park near Chicago.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, said the officers are in a stable condition following the shooting at the Henry Pratt building on Friday afternoon.

Witness John Probst said that he ran out of the back door of the building as the shooting unfolded.

He said he recognised the gunman, who had a pistol with a laser, as someone who works at the company.

He said he was not hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

The company makes valves for portable water, waste water, power generation and industrial purposes.

Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP)

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that it was keeping all students in their classrooms as police investigate but that teaching will continue with reduced movement.

Aurora is city of about 200,000 people about 38 miles west of Chicago.
Five people have been killed and five police officers wounded in a shooting at a business in the suburbs of Chicago.

Police chief Kristen Ziman said that Gary Martin shot at officers as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building in Aurora.

Ms Ziman said that Martin, 45, was also killed.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, said the officers were in a stable condition.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions were not released.

Live TV reports showed dozens of emergency vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people about 40 miles west of Chicago.

Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP)

John Probst, an employee at the company, said that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded. He said he recognised the gunman and that he works for the company.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it, Mr Probst said.

The company makes valves for industrial purposes.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
A father seeking asylum in Europe has described how brutal conditions in Calais have traumatised his daughter as he re-lived their failed bids to cross the English Channel in a small dinghy.

Ahmad, his wife and his two children, Maryam, seven, and Benjamin, two, have attempted the perilous journey across the English Channel  one of the worlds busiest shipping lanes  three times.

They were stopped on the beach by police during their first attempt, and made it 1km offshore the second time before waves started to sink their boat and they were forced to swim back.

On a third occasion, just before Christmas, they travelled about 10km (6.2 miles) in a fishing boat before armed police intercepted them.

The family were taken to hospital in Calais after their ordeal.

Maryam, 7, lies in hospital after attempting to cross the English Channel by boat with her family (PA)

Ahmad, 36, said he will not try to get to England by boat again because it is too dangerous and distressing for his daughter, who is now being seen twice a week by a psychologist.

A few months ago the little girl was happy and playing all the time but now she is scared and cries about having no friends or school, he said.

Speaking through a translator, he said: Now my daughter is not normal, not good.

Shes (in a) very bad situation, she feels not good at all and the doctor told me we need to take good care of her because she dont feel good because shes lonely, she doesnt have any friends, no school, no child to play with or have the same language to talk.

Ahmad spoke to the Press Association outside temporary accommodation the family has been placed in after a doctor said they needed shelter.

Maryam, 7, sits huddled in the January snow in Calais (PA)

But within a few days, their time will be up and Ahmad said the family is very frightened about having to return to hiding in the woods in tents.

He said: We have no home, but there is no other choice  we are forced to go back.

Describing the effect it has had on his children, he sighed and said: Two weeks ago here in the snow my son and my daughter all night cry: Here it is cold, we cannot sleep here.'

Referring to it as the Jungle  the name given to the large migrant camp demolished in 2016  he said: Here is hell in the jungle, hell. Not for living with a family, not for living with my daughter, my son, here (is) very, very dangerous in the jungle.

Ahmad, his wife and two children are waiting in Calais for help (PA)

While he speaks some English, Ahmad said he will happily live in any country that will accept him and his family.

He said his asylum claim was rejected in Denmark, and he has been told by lawyers in France that he could be sent back there.

Ahmad from Iran, outside temporary accommodation his family have been placed in (Gareth Fuller/PA)

He said he is afraid the family will then be deported to Iran, which he left due to fearing for his safety after converting to Christianity.

But, with no money, all he can do is wait.

He said: I am happy to go anywhere where they accept me. I need only one country (to accept me and not send me back to Denmark)  no problem for me going to Africa, going to Australia, going to Japan.

Clare Moseley, from charity Care4Calais which has been helping the family, said their plight was a symptom of a system that was quite widely seen as not working.

The Dublin Regulation, which covers the EU, aims to prevent multiple asylum applications, known as asylum-shopping, by making one country responsible for an asylum application.

Dolls lie scattered on the muddy ground in Calais (PA)

She said: We are ending up more and more now with people wandering around Europe who havent been able to claim asylum (successfully) but are stopped from making a further claim because of the Dublin laws.

Ms Moseley added that she was horrified to see the way Maryam had been affected.

She said: I cant even begin to describe how shocked and sad that made me feel, that basically the system is letting people down she ran to us for protection and look what weve done to her. Its absolutely devastating that we cant do more to help people.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could spend nearly two decades in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, prosecutors have said.

The potential sentence stems from Manaforts conviction last year on eight counts related to an elaborate scheme to conceal from tax authorities the millions of dollars he earned overseas from Ukrainian political consulting.

Court documents filed by special counsel Robert Muellers office reveal that Manafort faces possibly the lengthiest prison term in the Russia investigation.

Manafort, who led Donald Trumps campaign for months during the 2016 presidential campaign, is not charged with any crimes directly related to Russian election interference, the thrust of Mr Muellers probe.

But prosecutors have recently revealed that they remain deeply interested in his contacts during and after the campaign with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a 27-page court filing, prosecutors did not recommend a precise sentence for Manafort, but they agreed with a calculation by federal probation officials that his crimes deserve a punishment of between 19.5 and 24.5 years.

They also lay out in great detail for US District Judge T S Ellis III how they say Manaforts greed drove him to disregard American law.

Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing (Kevin Wolf/AP)

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, the prosecutors wrote.

The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

Manafort has been jailed for months as he awaits his formal sentencing.

His lawyers have said the incarceration has created a mental and physical strain on Manafort, who has recently used a wheelchair in court appearances and will turn 70 in April.

But Muellers team made clear that Manaforts age should not be a consideration, nor does it eliminate the risk that he could still commit new crimes.

Nothing about the defendants age is unusual, they wrote. Tax offenders are often older and often, like the defendant, wealthy, but they nonetheless receive substantial terms of incarceration notwithstanding age and health issues.

Prosecutors often acknowledge mitigating factors that a judge may consider on a defendants behalf in favour of a more lenient sentence but none exist here, prosecutors said.

They note that his pattern of criminal activity lasted more than a decade, that he conspired to tamper with witnesses despite facing indictments in two different districts and that he repeatedly lied to the government and to a grand jury even after he agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.
A balaclava-clad Italian hooligan who destroyed the life of a Liverpool supporter and his family in a brutal and vicious attack ahead of a Champions League tie has been jailed for three and a half years.

AS Roma supporter Simone Mastrelli, 30, picked out father-of-three Sean Cox, 53, from the Liverpool FC scarf he was wearing and knocked him unconscious to the floor with a single heavy blow to the face near to Anfield stadium.

Mastrelli, a married man with children, was at the fore of a group of between 50 and 60 ultras in distinctive clothing with many covering their heads and faces, and some carrying belts in their hands as weapons.

As Mr Cox, from Dunboyne in Co Meath, Ireland, lay motionless, the defendant quickly disappeared into the crowd and then removed his balaclava and hood before he callously returned to the ground and watched the first leg of the semi-final tie on April 24 last year.

Simone Mastrelli (Merseyside Police/PA)

He flew back to Italy the next day and remained at large until he was arrested in October and placed under house arrest following painstaking inquiries by Merseyside Police to identify his movements from CCTV footage.

Mastrelli fought extradition in several appeals before he was finally brought to the UK last month.

On Thursday, he was produced from custody at Preston Crown Court and pleaded guilty to unlawfully and maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Cox.

The court heard Mr Cox was undergoing treatment at Irelands National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire for a profound brain injury which had left him unable him to communicate his needs, wants and wishes.

Prosecutor Keith Sutton said sales director Mr Cox was before the incident a busy husband and father of three children with a wide circle of friends and many active interests who would be unlikely to live independently again.

His daughter, Shauna, 20, entered the witness box to read out a victim personal statement as Mastrelli watched on from the dock, flanked by an interpreter.

She said: Before this brutal and vicious attack my dad was a fit and confident man, a man of integrity with a huge passion for life who represented everything which is good.

A mentor, a proud family man with great community spirit.

Sean Coxs wife Martina (Peter Powell/PA)

This violent and unprovoked attacked left dad in a dire situation.

His future is uncertain. We dont know how he will progress and that really frightens us.

Over the past 10 months we have spent all our time at dads bedside and have celebrated birthdays and Christmas when all we want is our dad to be home.

We hope and pray every day to see improvement in our dad. The focus is on getting dad the proper care he needs.

Liverpools Georginio Wijnaldum (left) and Andy Robertson hold a banner for Liverpool fan Sean Cox (Niall Carson/PA)

My dad went to watch his beloved team, Liverpool, and he never came home.

Sentencing, the Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, told Mastrelli: There is no doubt in my mind that you went to the stadium as a group to sort out the Liverpool supporters and in doing so you have destroyed the life of an innocent man and his family.

This was on any view a dreadful offence. It has had a profound impact on Mr Cox and his family.

Outside court, Mr Coxs wife Martina said: Today brings to a close to the court process. However the effects of the attack on Sean will remain with us for a lifetime.

While it is pleasing to know that Mr Mastrelli will serve three-and-a-half years, he has given Sean and our family a life sentence.

I would like to thank the police and all those that have been involved in the case and to all who have given us so much support.

Earlier the Cox family were praised by the judge for their commitment and dedication to Mr Cox.

Judge Brown said: They are facing the future with with huge courage and determination.

Alison Gurden, defending, said Mastrelli was a family man himself and was distraught at the suffering he had caused.

She said: He is a man who over the past few months has appreciated the impact it has had. He is a Catholic and has taken Communion since the incident. He has attended church whenever possible to try to atone.

A separate count of violent disorder against Mastrelli was allowed to lie on file by the Crown Prosecution Service after it accepted his not guilty plea to the charge.

Another Roma fan, Filippo Lombardi, 21, was cleared of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Cox in October, though he was jailed for three years for violent disorder.

A third man, Daniele Sciusco, 29, from Rome, admitted violent disorder ahead of the match and was jailed for two-and-a-half years in August 2018.
Vallarta Living



March News from Puerto Vallarta's PuRR Project Shelter



Donations and fund raising events are the only source of financing to provide food, shelter and veterinary care for the 200 + cats and kittens at PuRR Project, a no-kill shelter located just north of Puerto Vallarta. Share Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - Here's the latest news from PuRR Project, a non-profit, no-kill feline shelter located just north of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico that provides homeless cats and kittens a recuperative stay with the ultimate goal of adopting them out to loving homes sterilized, vaccinated and disease free. EVA AND THE OCELOT

Together with biologist Carolina Reyes and vet Alberto Cervantes, Dra. Eva Torres has an association dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife in this region. Last month, they received a call from PROFEPA that an ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) had been hit by a car on the highway in Punta Mita. These cats are strongly protected by international wildlife and trade laws. In Mexico, it is listed as an extinction-threatened species, and it is a crime to have, damage or kill one. Together with biologist Carolina Reyes and vet Alberto Cervantes, Dra. Eva Torres has an association dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of wildlife in this region. Last month, they received a call from PROFEPA that an ocelot () had been hit by a car on the highway in Punta Mita. These cats are strongly protected by international wildlife and trade laws. In Mexico, it is listed as an extinction-threatened species, and it is a crime to have, damage or kill one. Brought in to the clinic, the ocelot was examined and determined to be a male of about 3 years, weighting 12 kg. He was in bad shape but fortunately had no broken bones. In addition to being struck by a vehicle, he had been shot in the side, had injuries to his legs and his chin, lesions on the tongue, a broken tooth, bite marks and many ticks... this little boy had led a rough life! After a month of treatment (at Eva's home!) we are happy to report that "Coqueto" recovered and was released by Eva and the proper authorities back into the wild in the mountains of Nayarit where their know territory is. The film of the release shows a very FAST young cat bounding up the trail and his calls could be heard in the distance. MEOW? ROSA'S RESCUE AND HER MIRACLE BABIES

A very friendly Calico was being fed by a tourist at a resort in Vallarta, where she had given birth to a litter of five little ones. The resort management was not happy with the situation, so Karen O'Shannacery contacted PuRR about taking in the family. Before arrangements could be made, the tiny week-old kittens disappeared. Maintenance workers told Karen that they had been killed on instructions from a manager. So she brought "Mama Rosa" to Dra. Eva's office to be examined and moved to the shelter. A very friendly Calico was being fed by a tourist at a resort in Vallarta, where she had given birth to a litter of five little ones. The resort management was not happy with the situation, so Karen O'Shannacery contacted PuRR about taking in the family. Before arrangements could be made, the tiny week-old kittens disappeared. Maintenance workers told Karen that they had been killed on instructions from a manager. So she brought "Mama Rosa" to Dra. Eva's office to be examined and moved to the shelter. The next day, after a complaint to the resort manager, the story changed and they said the kittens had not been killed, just "moved down by the rocks near the beach!" After THREE DAYS of searching by a whole group of resort guests who had heard the story, the babies were located and rushed to the PuRR shelter. Mama Rosa took a few moments to figure out what was happening, then quickly folded the kittens in her furry arms and they started nursing. We were amazed when all five survived and seem to be thriving! SHELTER UPDATE: NURSERY It's been very busy days at the shelter with 42 cats & kittens taken in over the last three months! Many are very young kittens who were rescued with their mother or were just tossed over the shelter fence. So Dra. Eva's limited time is full with testing, deworming, bathing, vaccinating and spaying or neutering - plus record keeping! In that same period we had 21 adoptions - 14 at PetCo, 4 at Daiquiri Dick's, and 3 through volunteers. We are hoping that as local people become more aware that there are cats (and dogs) at PetCo EVERY WEEKEND the adoption rate will continue to rise. UPCOMING EVENTS

SHELTER TOURS: The March 6 Kitty Kraziness. The comfortable van picks up at three convenient locations in Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. You'll see some interesting little towns and a lot of countryside before arriving at the ranch where you'll be greeted by a bevy of cats who want your attention... and your treats! Get all the information and The March 6 Shelter Tour is already full! That just leaves Wednesday, March 20 as your last opportunity this season to join one of our volunteers (Marilyn Khan) on a morning ofThe comfortable van picks up at three convenient locations in Vallarta and Nuevo Vallarta. You'll see some interesting little towns and a lot of countryside before arriving at the ranch where you'll be greeted by a bevy of cats who want your attention... and your treats! Get all the information and book online on our website, or contact us at visit(at)purrproject.com for a day you'll never forget! KITTY BINGO: It's hard to believe, but we only have two Kitty BINGO dates left this season! (March 13 & 27) So come on down to Nacho Daddy on Basilio Badillo in Old Town and join us for a fun hour and help raise money for the PuRR felines. It's only $100 pesos to play and cards go on sale at 3:30 with games beginning at 4:00 pm. GARAGE SALE APRIL 6: Our second annual Spring Garage Sale is set for Saturday, April 6th in the Marina. This is a huge event and helps fund the shelter through the long summer. We've already got lots of good stuff, but we still need YOUR good stuff! So get busy doing that Spring cleaning you've been putting off and gather up your gently used clothing, appliances, kitchenware, bedding, electronics, office supplies, tools and games, Just about anything you no longer use or need will be welcome. Contact Marilyn Khan for information about drop-off location or pick-up scheduling: exkhan(at)usfamily.net. For more Kitty News, please visit PurrProject.com.

PuRR Project is a Non-Profit shelter in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico that provides homeless cats and kittens a recuperative stay with the ultimate goal to adopt them out to loving homes. All of our residents have been sterilized, vaccinated and are disease free. We accomplish this through our own efforts as well as collaboratively with other animal welfare organizations. Both monetary donations as well as donations of dry cat food are most welcome  and much appreciated. Donations 501(c)(3) tax-deductible in the U.S. For more information, visit PuRRProject.com or send an email to info(at)PurrProject.com.



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The Scottish Government has been urged to apologise over its decision to delay the full devolution of major benefits.

Speaking at Holyrood on Thursday, Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville indicated that full control over 11 social security benefits would be maintained by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) until Social Security Scotland has the capability to administer them in 2024.

Opposition MSPs criticised the Scottish Government for delaying the process, with Ms Somervilles predecessor, Jeane Freeman, having previously pledged to implement the change by the end of the current Parliament.

What is clear to me  what weve heard repeatedly from people with direct personal experience of the current system  is that we must ensure that people entitled to these benefits are protected during this transition.@S_A_Somerville tells @scotparl pic.twitter.com/h9Pp8bRRy1  Scot Gov Fairer (@ScotGovFairer) February 28, 2019

Scottish Conservatives welfare spokeswoman Michelle Ballantyne accused the SNP of hypocrisy over the delay.

The transition of these benefits must be handled properly. This is about making sure that people get the support they need, they are the priority in all of this, she said.

But the minister must see the utter hypocrisy this statement exposes. For two years, the SNP has slammed the DWP, you have used highly charged language on the UK Governments administration of benefits, you have raised expectations and promised the earth to some of Scotlands most vulnerable people.

The Scottish Government has been criticised by oppositon MSPs over its timescale for devolving benefits (David Jones/PA)

And after repeated promises that the new system would be up and running by the end of this Parliament, we now learn that it will be 2024 before PIPs successor is in place.

And this is from the party that said it could set up an independent country in 18 months.

Can the minister not see that this is deeply embarrassing? She must apologise to the Scottish DWP staff she has repeatedly denigrated.

Scottish Labour social security spokesman Mark Griffin described the delay as a betrayal.

The SNP Government has left vulnerable people at the mercy of the callous DWP and the Tories for far too long already, he said.

Ministers must apologise to everyone in Scotland entitled to social security who is being left at the hands of the Tories.

Delaying full control of the powers until 2024 is a betrayal of vulnerable people who were told the Scottish Government would assume responsibility within this parliamentary term.

It also makes a mockery of SNP promises in 2014 that a separate Scottish state could be set up within 18 months  vulnerable people will have been waiting a decade for the devolution of social security powers.

Todays announcement also fails to make any mention of the SNPs pledged income supplement. With almost a quarter of a million Scottish children living in poverty that just is not good enough.

Ms Somerville indicated that changes made to social security would have to be implemented without being rushed.

She said: The timescales Ive set out remain very challenging and there are many unknowns, both within our work on social security devolution and beyond.

We will therefore keep our plans under careful review and I will keep Parliament updated on our progress.

We shouldnt forget that we are the first government to begin the separation of a highly integrated welfare system between two countries.

This cannot be done without taking difficult decisions on timing. But every day, as we break new ground, we gain more experience of how to accomplish the most complicated feat of devolution attempted since this Parliament was reconvened.
Israels attorney general has recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with bribery and breach of trust in a series of corruption cases.

The move has shook up Israels election campaign and could spell the end of the prime ministers illustrious political career.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced his decision after more than two years of intense investigations and deliberations.

Police had recommended indicting Mr Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in three different cases that ranged from accepting expensive gifts from wealthy allies to allegedly trading influence for more favourable press coverage.

The attorney general has reached his decision after thoroughly examining the evidence, his statement said.

The final decision on indictment will only take place after a hearing, where Mr Netanyahu is given the opportunity to defend himself.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Abir Sultan/AP)

That process is expected to take many months and be completed long after the April 9 elections.

But the recommendations immediately cast a cloud over the campaign and Mr Netanyahus future.

An indictment would mark the first time in Israeli history that a sitting prime minister has been charged with a crime.

Former prime minister Ehud Olmert served time in prison for corruption, but had already resigned by the time he was charged.

Mr Netanyahu denies any wrongdoing and calls the various allegations a media-orchestrated witch hunt aimed at removing him from office.

He has vowed to carry on and is deadlocked in the polls, 40 days before Israelis go to vote.

Mr Netanyahu scheduled a press conference later on Thursday to respond to the attorney generals decision.

In a last-ditch effort to prevent the public release of an indictment, Mr Netanyahus Likud party petitioned the Supreme Court to have it delayed until after the elections.

But the court rejected the request on Thursday afternoon, potentially clearing the way for an announcement from the attorney general.

Despite opposition calls for Mr Netanyahu to step down, Likud and his other nationalist coalition partners have lined up behind him so far, all but ruling out sitting in a government led by his primary opponent, retired military chief Benny Gantz.

While Israeli prime ministers are not required by law to resign if charged, the prospect of a prime minister standing trial while simultaneously running the country would be unchartered territory.

Mr Mandelblits decision could either galvanise Mr Netanyahus hardline supporters who see him as a victim of an overzealous prosecution or turn more moderate backers against him who have tired of his lengthy rule tainted by long-standing accusations of corruption and hedonism.

President Donald Trump, with whom Mr Netanyahu has forged a close connection, offered the Israeli leader a boost ahead of the expected announcement.

I just think hes been a great prime minister and I dont know about his difficulty but you tell me something people have been hearing about, but I dont know about that, he said in response to a question in Hanoi, where he was holding a summit with the leader of North Korea.

I can say this: that hes done a great job as prime minister. Hes tough, hes smart, hes strong, President Trump said.

Mr Netanyahu rushed back on Wednesday from a diplomatic mission to Moscow, and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, to prepare for his expected rebuttal to the charges on Thursday.

The most serious allegations against Mr Netanyahu involve his relationship with Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of Israels telecom giant Bezeq.

Mr Mandelblit recommended a bribery charge in the case based on evidence collected that confidants of Mr Netanyahu promoted regulatory changes worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Bezeq.

In exchange, they believe Mr Netanyahu used his connections with Mr Elovitch to receive positive press coverage on Bezeqs popular subsidiary news site Walla.

Police have said their investigation concluded that Mr Netanyahu and Mr Elovitch engaged in a bribe-based relationship.

A related charge against Mr Netanyahus wife, Sara, was dropped.

Mr Mandelblits statement said there was a unanimous opinion among investigators that the relationship between Mr Netanyahu and the Elovitches constituted bribery.

Everyone agreed there was enough evidence to prove that benefits were given to Netanyahu by Elovitch and his wife Iris Elovitch and were taken by Netanyahu in return for actions he took as part of his job, it said.

Mr Mandelblit also filed breach of trust charges in two other cases. One involves accepting gifts from billionaire friends, and the second revolves around alleged offers of advantageous legislation for a major newspaper in return for favourable coverage.

Mr Mandelblits office said the timing of Mr Netanyahus hearing would be set in the near future in coordination with the prime ministers lawyers.
The UK cannot continue to accept the unequal application of a deal with the Republic of Ireland over fishing rights, a Government spokesman has said.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) representative was speaking on Thursday evening after two UK fishing boats were seized by the Irish Navy amid an ongoing impasse over their right to fish in Irelands waters.

The Northern Ireland-registered vessels were detained by the Irish Naval Service in Dundalk bay and have been impounded at nearby Clogherhead port.

No arrests have been made over the matter, which is set to be heard by Co Louth District Court on Friday morning.

The move by Irish authorities comes amid an ongoing fishing dispute caused by the demise of an informal deal between the UK and Irish governments.

The Voisinage agreement, which collapsed months after the Brexit referendum, was a reciprocal understanding between the UK and Irish Republic dating back to the mid-1960s that allowed vessels from Northern Ireland to fish in Irish inshore waters (zero to six nautical miles from shore) and vice versa.

The boats are moored at the port of Clogherhead in Co Louth (Niall Carson/PA)

But the agreement hit the rocks in late 2016 when a number of Irish fishermen brought a case to the states Supreme Court, challenging the right of Northern Ireland vessels to fish in their waters.

The court ruled Voisinage was an informal agreement of insufficient legal standing to formally grant access to foreign registered boats.

That decision effectively banned Northern Ireland boats from fishing in Irish inshore waters  a move that impacted fishermen north of the border who traded in species such as lobsters, crabs, mussels and whelks.

The UK has continued to recognise the Voisinage agreement so Irish vessels remain free to fish inshore waters around Northern Ireland.

After the Supreme Court decision, the Dublin government pledged to introduce legislation to give legal effect to Voisinage.

But two years on, the law change has not yet materialised, with many politicians south of the border opposed to draft proposals forwarded by the government.

Fishermen in Northern Ireland have accused the Irish authorities of stalling, claiming the issue has become caught up in Brexit and is potentially being used as a bargaining chip for future negotiations on how Irish vessels would access UK waters once it leaves the EU.

The Defra spokesman said: The UK Government wants to see continued co-operation between Northern Ireland and Ireland over fisheries matters.

However, we cannot accept the current unequal application of this arrangement indefinitely and continue to explore solutions to reinstate a level playing field as quickly as possible for the benefit of all our fishermen.

Irelands Department of Defence earlier confirmed in a statement that it was tasked to Dundalk bay by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), in accordance with a Service Level Agreement.

It said: The alleged offences for both vessels were: Vessels illegally fishing within the Exclusive Fishery Limits of the State, contrary to Section 10(1) of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006, and illegal entry into the Exclusive Fishery Limits of the State at a time when prohibited so to do, contrary to Section 8(1) of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jurisdiction Act 2006.

A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in Dublin highlighted the SFPA is an independent body which enforces sea fisheries law in Ireland.

He stressed Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Creed has no role in the execution of SFPAs functions.

The spokesman said it is important to note the Supreme Court had ruled the Voisinage arrangements are not invalid, only that there is currently insufficient provision for them in domestic Irish law.

The Supreme Court in fact noted that the arrangements were a sensible recognition at official level of practice and tradition, where fishing boats traditionally fished neighbouring waters, he said.

The Government approved the publication of the Sea-Fisheries (Amendment) Bill to address issues raised by the Supreme Court judgment, in so far as it relates to access for Northern Irish vessels.

If enacted and commenced, the Bill will give the Voisinage arrangements a proper legal footing. The Bill was published in February 2017, commenced debate in the Seanad shortly thereafter and remains before the Oireachtas.

The Department of Defence said that in 2018, the Irish Naval Service detained seven fishing vessels, two of which were UK registered.

A Garda spokesman said on Thursday: An Irish naval vessel the LE Orla detained two UK-registered boats fishing in Dundalk bay.

They were escorted to port in Clogherhead where they were detained by Gardai under the 2006 Fisheries Act on February 27, 2019.

An order was issued at Dundalk district court for 48 hours in respect of both vessels. They remain at Clogherhead.

Jim Allister, leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, said it is time to stand up for Northern Irelands fishermen.

He said: The reciprocal basis of the Voisinage agreement has been breached, so why are we still pretending it exists and operating it to the disadvantage of local fishermen?

He called on the authorities to ban Irish boats from Northern Ireland waters, adding: Doing nothing is no longer an option.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, speaking in the House of Commons, said it appeared the crews had been seized without a huge amount of justification.

DUP MP Jim Shannon added he had lodged a request for an urgent question on the matter, noting: I am also appalled at the actions of the Republic of Ireland Government  seizing boats which belong to this great nation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

DUP Assembly member Jim Wells, whose constituency office is close to Kilkeel harbour in South Down, said many local fishermen once relied on the waters around Dundalk bay for their livelihoods.

The Irish authorities have taken a very high-handed approach to people trying to earn a living, he said.

I really do hope this issue can be resolved.
A leading group of universities has called on the Home Secretary to scrap bizarre plans for non-extendable three-year visas for EU nationals following a no-deal Brexit, to avoid affecting students.

The Russell Group wants Sajid Javid to drop plans for the European Temporary Leave to Remain (ETLR) scheme, claiming it is a kick in the teeth for both Scottish universities, where standard undergraduate courses last four years, and future EU students on longer courses, such medicine and engineering.

The group said one in four EU students coming to study in the UK in 2017/18 started a course expected to last more than three years  a total of 15,000 students.

ETLR would create a new temporary immigration category for EU nationals arriving between a potential no-deal Brexit and the introduction of the UKs new immigration system, planned for 2021.

EU arrivals during this time would be able to stay for three months before requiring the visa, which would enable them to stay for 36 months.

The Russell Group claimed the scheme backtracks on commitments that any EU citizens arriving before the end of 2020 would be eligible to apply for settled status.

The Russell Group has called for no deal three-year EU visa plans to be scrapped (Chris Radburn/PA)

The groups policy head Jess Cole said: Introducing a non-extendable, three-year visa for EU nationals would be bizarre.

Its a kick in the teeth to Scottish universities, given nearly every undergraduate course in Scotland is four years, and to courses such as medicine and engineering, which are also longer. This makes no sense for the NHS and industry, given the doctors and engineers we need.

These are most likely the unintended consequences of an ill-considered Government policy  but even so, we have repeatedly made our concerns clear to the Home Office and have still received no reassurances.

Its time to scrap these plans and come good on the promises made to the EU citizens who contribute so much to our society and economy  whether they are here already or planning to come in the next few years.

Scotlands Higher Education Minister said the visa scheme must be dropped immediately and pledged to raise the issue at an education ministers meeting on Friday.

Richard Lochhead said: Brexit is already the single biggest risk to Scottish universities, and with 9% of our university students coming from the EU this damaging policy further threatens our ability to attract and retain EU staff and students.

He said the policy ignores the fact that the majority of undergraduate courses in Scotland last four years and is just a further example of how Scotlands distinct and specific needs have been totally ignored by the UK Government throughout the entire Brexit process.

This is a very important point - the U.K. Government has forgotten that Scotland has four year degrees & many courses relevant to delivering vital skills (eg. Doctors!) are longer than three years! @uni_scot @JohnSwinney https://t.co/f1600JaGpy  Richard Lochhead (@RichardLochhead) February 28, 2019

Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson has written to Mr Javid calling for the scheme to be scrapped.

She said: The Home Secretary is asking students who want to study in Scotland to commit to a four-year course with only a guarantee of a non-extendable three-year visa.

He has a degree in economics, so he doesnt need me to tell him that four into three just doesnt work.
Police numbers had been cut to just 15 officers across busy Birmingham city centre on the night of the 1974 IRA pub bombings, an inquest jury has heard.

Manpower had been denuded, according to an official police report from the time, in order to cover funeral transport arrangements for provisional Irish Republican Army bomber James McDade.

The inquest also heard that, when the bomb warnings were phoned in at 8.11pm on the night of November 21, police reinforcements were only called in after the explosions.

It was not until 9.10pm that extra officers started arriving at the scenes.

Inquests at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre into the 21 victims killed in the blasts got under way this week after a 44-year wait for the bereaved families.

Opening the proceedings, coroner Sir Peter Thornton told jurors they would hear evidence of how the two bombs ripped apart two pubs on what was a perfectly ordinary evening.

The former site of the Mulberry Bush pub off St Martins Queensway, Birmingham, as it looks today (Richard Vernalls/PA)

The blasts, detonating in massive explosions just minutes apart inside the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern in the Town, brought devastation, jurors heard.

At the time, the West Midlands was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign, the jury was told.

There had been 53 separate explosive and incendiary devices used between 1973 and the pub attacks.

Two separate bombs had gone off previously at the Rotunda, where the Mulberry Bush was, in both April and July 1974.

Jurors heard from barrister Lesley Thomas QC, representing several of the bereaved families, that the city would have been busy that night.

Thursday was late-night shopping day, and many people had also received their wages, he said.

Seven days before the blasts, McDade had been killed while planting a bomb at the Coventry telephone exchange.

Security arrangements for the cortege taking McDades remains to Birmingham Airport for flight back to Ireland had seen police leave and training cancelled, jurors heard.

In all, West Midlands Police had gathered 1,680 uniformed officers for the operation, while 352 officers from Staffordshire, West Mercia and Warwickshire forces were held in reserve.

On Thursday, the inquests heard that 135 of those officers were taken from A division, the unit which policed the city centre where both pubs were.

That night, just 10 officers were at the nearest police station in Digbeth, and five more at the divisions other base in Steelhouse Lane.

In an official police report following the pub blasts, a force superintendent said: The bomb incidents in Birmingham occurred while the city centre was denuded of uniformed police officers who were engaged at Birmingham Airport, but it is felt that this in no way affected the organisation and efficiency of the police at the scenes.

On receipt of information at the airport that serious incidents had occurred in Birmingham city centre, the A division contingent and special patrol group were immediately directed there, thus providing more officers at short notice than would normally have been available.

The report and other documents on officer numbers were formally introduced as evidence by Anthony Mole, an ex-police officer with 30 years experience  unconnected with events  who is giving professional evidence to the hearings.

Asking questions on behalf of three of the bereaved victims families, Heather Williams QC asked Mr Mole about a passage in an official police report regarding A divisions staffing of the funeral, and its impact.

The report stated that officer numbers had been partly achieved by reducing strength of second day watch and night duty, leaving the nearest police station with just six constables, not including other ranks, to respond to city centre incidents.

Mrs Williams asked: So what is being said is not just that these figures were achieved by simply cancelling leave and training but some of the officers due to be on duty that day  either on second day shift or night shift  were deployed in relation to the McDade funeral rather than on the city centre as they normally would be?

She went on: What is being said is these were the only officers available on outside duty in the city centre on the early evening of 21 November 1974?

The jury heard that Digbeth police station alone had sent 60 constables to the funeral.

Mrs Williams asked: So we can conclude thats six constables in all, as against 60 constables that were to deploy to the McDade funeral arrangements?

Mr Mole replied: Yes, although I dont know what the normal strength is on a night shift.

Jurors also heard that both pubs were busy that night, with about 40-50 in the Mulberry Bush and some 200 in the Tavern in the Town.

A report by a chief superintendent, after the bombings, said the first police officers to be pulled back from the McDade funeral detail only arrived at 9.10pm, 59 minutes after the warning call.

It then emerged that the McDade officers were not called back until after the explosions.

Jurors also heard that the warning call code word XX or double X had been used previously ahead of a bomb attack on the Rotunda in July.

Mrs Williams asked: So, just to give context, there is no suggestion that any of those officers were available until an hour after that (warning call) was made?

Mr Mole said: From what I read, the call for assistance wasnt made until after the explosions.

The coroner then added: It would seem that was after the flight when the coffin actually left on the Aer Lingus flight at 8.30pm.

Earlier in the day, jurors were taken to visit the former sites of both pubs.
North Korea has disputed Donald Trumps account of why the summit between the US president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed.

North Koreas foreign minister says the North demanded only partial sanctions relief in exchange for closing its main nuclear complex, and that the discussions collapsed after the US demanded further disarmament steps.

Ri Yong Hos comments during an abruptly scheduled news conference in Hanoi on Friday contradicted the explanation by President Trump, who hours earlier told reporters that the North had demanded a full removal of sanctions in exchange for shuttering the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

Mr Ri says the North was also ready to offer in writing a permanent halt of the countrys nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and that Washington wasted an opportunity that may not come again.

North Korea Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, centre, talks during a press conference (Vincent Yu/AP)

He says the Norths position would not change even if the United States offers to resume another round of dialogue.

Mr Trump had said in Hanoi that there had been a proposed agreement ready to be signed.

However, he said after the summit was cut short, Sometimes you have to walk.

Asked about the North Koreans claim that they only demanded partial sanctions in exchange for shutting down its main nuclear facility, White House press Secretary Sarah Sanders said: Ill refer you back to the president and Secretary Pompeos remarks at the press conference in Hanoi.

Mere hours after both nations had seemed hopeful of a deal, the two leaders motorcades roared away from the central Hanoi summit site within minutes of each other, their lunch cancelled and a signing ceremony scuttled.

The presidents closing news conference was hurriedly moved up, and he departed for Washington more than two hours ahead of schedule.

President Donald Trump speaks to service members at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska., during a refuelilng stop as he returns from Hanoi (Evan Vucci/AP)

The disintegration of talks came after Mr Trump and Mr Kim had appeared to be ready to inch toward normalising relations between their still technically warring nations and as the American leader dampened expectations that their negotiations would yield an agreement by North Korea to take concrete steps toward ending a nuclear programme that Pyongyang likely sees as its strongest security guarantee.

In something of a role reversal, Mr Trump had deliberately ratcheted down some of the pressure on North Korea, abandoning his fiery rhetoric and declaring that he wanted the right deal over a rushed agreement.

For his part, Mr Kim, when asked whether he was ready to denuclearise, had said: If Im not willing to do that I wont be here right now.

The breakdown denied Mr Trump a much-needed triumph amid growing domestic turmoil back home, including congressional evidence this week by his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, who called Mr Trump a racist and con man and claimed prior knowledge that WikiLeaks would release emails that would damage Hillary Clintons campaign in 2016.

Mr Trump insisted his relations with Mr Kim remained warm, but he did not commit to having a third summit with the North Korean leader, saying a possible next meeting may not be for a long time.

Though both he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said significant progress had been made in Hanoi, the two sides appeared to be galaxies apart on an agreement that would live up to US stated goals.

Basically, they wanted the sanctions lifted in their entirety, and we couldnt do that, Mr Trump told reporters.

Mr Kim, he explained, appeared willing to close his countrys main nuclear facility, the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Centre, if the sanctions were lifted.

But that would leave him with missiles, warheads and weapon systems, Mr Pompeo said.

There are also suspected hidden nuclear fuel production sites around the country.

We couldnt quite get there today, Mr Pompeo said, minimising what seemed to be a chasm between the two sides.

Longstanding US policy has insisted that US sanctions on North Korea would not be lifted until that country committed to, if not concluded, complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation.

Mr Trump declined to restate that goal, insisting he wanted flexibility in talks with Mr Kim.

I dont want to put myself in that position from the standpoint of negotiation, he said.

White House aides stressed that Mr Trump stood strong.

President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in Hanoi (Susan Walsh/AP)

The failure in Hanoi laid bare a risk in Mr Trumps unpredictable negotiating style.

Preferring one-on-one meetings with his foreign counterparts, his administration often eschews the staff-level work done in advance to assure a deal and envisions summits more as messaging opportunities than venues for hardline negotiation.

There was disappointment and alarm in South Korea, whose liberal leader has been a leading orchestrator of the nuclear diplomacy and who needs a breakthrough to restart lucrative engagement projects with the impoverished North.

Yonhap news agency said that the clock on the Korean Peninsulas security situation has turned back to zero and diplomacy is now at a crossroads.

The two leaders had seemed to find a point of agreement when Mr Kim, who fielded questions from American journalists for the first time, was asked if the US may open a liaison office in North Korea.

Mr Trump declared it not a bad idea, and Kim called it welcomable.

Such an office would mark the first US presence in North Korea and a significant grant to a country that has long been deliberately starved of international recognition.
A new unit to speed up the process of hearing inquests into some of the Troubles most controversial deaths has been given the green light.

Stormonts Department of Justice has released 55 million to finance the initiative after years of political stalemate.

In 2016, Northern Irelands Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan proposed the beefed-up unit as a way of progressing more than 50 investigations mired in the coronial system for years.

But the proposal became caught up in a wider political dispute about how to deal with the toxic legacy of Northern Irelands Troubles.

The DUP effectively vetoed the establishment of the 50 million unit pending resolution of a row on the structure of other mechanisms, outlined in the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, designed to bring truth and justice to bereaved families.

With many of the legacy inquests touching on killings linked to the state, the DUP argued that pushing ahead with the unit, amid deadlock over other proposals to reinvestigate paramilitary murders, would have resulted in an unbalanced approach.

Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan (Paul Faith/PA)

But last year, Belfast High Court, ruling in a case taken by Troubles widow Brigid Hughes, found that former DUP first minister Arlene Foster had acted unlawfully in blocking a Stormont request for UK Government funds to set up the inquest unit.

A year later and the DoJ, which like other Stormont departments continues to operate in the absence of elected ministers, is pushing ahead with the plan.

It has announced 55 million to fund the initiative over the next six years.

The first tranche of funding has been factored into Stormonts 2019/20 budget, which was unveiled earlier on Thursday.

There are 52 legacy inquest cases in Northern Ireland, relating to 93 deaths.

The cases are at various stages of the investigation and inquest process.

Peter May, permanent secretary of the Department of Justice, said: The delays in progressing legacy inquests have been unacceptable to families involved and to the justice system.

In the Hughes Judicial Review judgment, the court ruled that progress on securing funding for legacy inquests should not be linked with agreement on the overall legacy package but taken forward as a separate issue.

This initiative takes account of that judgment and will support a significant expansion of capacity to clear the outstanding legacy inquests over the next six years.

A new Legacy Inquest Unit will be set up within the Coroners Service, under the remit of the Lord Chief Justice.

The money will also ensure the PSNI, the Public Prosecution Service and other justice agencies have the added capacity to keep pace with the unit.

Sir Declan welcomed the move.

Legacy inquests have an impact on bereaved families, those who have served in the police and armed forces, other state agencies; and very often the wider communities in which these deaths occurred, he said.

I am pleased that funding is now going to be provided to implement the plan for dealing with legacy inquests which I proposed over three years ago.

There is clearly a great deal of preparatory work to be done to establish the Legacy Inquest Unit and deliver my plan.

Sinn Fein vice president Michelle ONeill said the release of the money was long overdue.

Some families have been waiting almost five decades on a coroners inquest, the most basic of investigations into the killings of their loved ones, she said.

And it is almost a year since Arlene Foster was found by the courts to have acted unlawfully in blocking the release of this funding.

Those delays continued to deny the families of victims of the conflict access to truth and justice. That is deplorable and disgraceful.

It is Sinn Feins firm hope that the Lord Chief Justice will now have the resources to clear the backlog in legacy cases on around 100 killings.

DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said it was important legacy issues were dealt with in a balanced and proportionate manner.

Ninety per cent of deaths were at the hands of terrorist organisations yet there often is a disproportionate focus on the 10% of deaths attributed to the state, he said.

We will engage with the Department of Justice in coming days to discuss the initiative that has been announced.

This discussion will include the costs allocated by the department towards its establishment.

We must move forward in Northern Ireland on a basis where everyone is equal under the law and where there is a proportionate focus on all the deaths which occurred during the Troubles.

Whilst some cases receive continued focus there are others which have had no further investigation or review.

We will continue to engage in this process to pursue the fairness and balance that is required.
A killer who knifed another man outside a pub following a row over a punch-bag machine has been ordered to serve at least 23 years.

Carlton Junior Donaldson, 24, stabbed 26-year-old Daniel Baird in the Digbeth area of Birmingham in 2017.

The victim was knifed through the heart during violent clashes outside the Forge Tavern pub in the early hours of July 8.

Detectives believe trouble flared at around 4am when another man stumbled into a group containing Donaldson and 25-year-old Sashon Brown, after taking a swing at a punch-bag machine.

Brown, aged 25, produced a folding knife and flicked open the blade in a threatening gesture caught on CCTV.

West Midlands Police said officers spent hundreds of hours painstakingly trawling through CCTV footage before identifying Donaldson as a suspect.

Still taken from CCTV of Calrton Donaldson lashing out with a knife at a man in the street shortly before he murdered Daniel Baird. (PA/West Midlands Police)

He was interviewed at HMP Durham in July last year, having been jailed for drugs offences in Scotland just weeks after the murder.

Donaldson was jailed for life at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday after being found guilty of murder, violent disorder and two counts of wounding.

Carlton Junior Donaldson stabbed Daniel Baird in the chest in Fazeley Street, Digbeth, after a clash between two groups in the Forge Tavern pub in the early hours of 8 July 2017. pic.twitter.com/mxGjD6qgMy  West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) February 28, 2019

Brown, from Woodington Road in Sutton Coldfield, was found guilty of violent disorder and knife possession and was jailed for two and a half years.

Detective Chief Inspector Ed Foster said: This is an extremely tragic case in which another young man has lost his life to knife crime.

The trigger for this murder was simply someone stumbling into another person.

There was no bad blood between the two groups but that minor incident quickly escalated into a fatal fight.

Donaldsons group were the main aggressors and, with around 20 men in total, significantly outnumbered the other group.

I hope the verdicts and jail terms handed down to the offenders offer the family some comfort for their tragic loss.

In a statement, Mr Bairds mother, Lynne Baird, said: Our lives have been destroyed and we will never recover from the devastating loss of Dan.

He had a bright future ahead with his beautiful partner Gemma and told me the last morning I saw him of his plans to marry.

He was so happy.

Sadly, it was not to be, and I never saw Dan again.

We miss his beautiful smiling face, which brightened up our lives.

We miss Dan so much.

He is gone from our lives but will be forever in our hearts.
A pub bombings survivor has told of escaping through a hole blasted in the wall  as inquests heard there were just 15 police on duty in Birmingham city centre that night.

On Thursday, David Grafton, then 20, told how he was standing at the bar of the Tavern In The Town pub when he was knocked flat by a 30lb (13.5kg) high explosive bomb, planted just yards from where he stood.

Factory worker Mr Grafton, who was meeting a friend at the pub for a pint, told jurors he had just raised his drink off the bar when there was a flash followed by total blackness.

The 30lb bomb planted at the Tavern In The Town detonated with such force it blew out the floor above, as pictured here (PA)

After helping others escape, he scrambled up a pile of rubble, through the hole and into the basement of the neighbouring HMV record store before getting up to the street above.

Mr Grafton is the first survivor to give evidence at the hearings.

The inquests at Birmingham Civil Justice Centre into the 21 victims killed in the blasts got under way this week after a 44-year wait for the bereaved families.

Opening the proceedings, coroner Sir Peter Thornton QC told jurors they would hear evidence of how the two bombs ripped apart two pubs on what was a perfectly ordinary evening.

The devices, detonating in massive explosions just minutes apart inside the Mulberry Bush and the Tavern In The Town, brought devastation, jurors heard.

Earlier in the day jurors were told how police numbers had been cut to just 15 officers across busy Birmingham city centre, that night.

As it looks today, the alcove where the IRA bomb was placed on the night of November 21 1974, in what was then the Tavern In The Town. The site is now a Chinese buffet restaurant (Richard Vernalls/PA)

Manpower had been denuded, according to an official police report from the time, in order to cover funeral transport arrangements for provisional Irish Republican Army bomber James McDade.

The inquest also heard that, when the bomb warnings were phoned in at 8.11pm on the night of November 21, police reinforcements were only called in after the explosions.

It was not until 9.10pm that extra officers started arriving at the scenes.

At the time, the West Midlands was in the grip of an IRA bombing campaign, the jury was told.

There had been 53 separate explosive and incendiary devices used between 1973 and the pub attacks.

Two separate bombs had gone off previously at the Rotunda, where the Mulberry Bush was, in both April and July 1974.

The former site of the Mulberry Bush pub in the base of the Rotunda off St Martins Queensway, Birmingham (Richard Vernalls/PA)

Jurors heard from barrister Lesley Thomas QC, representing several of the bereaved families, that the city would have been busy that night.

Thursday was late-night shopping day, and many people had also received their wages, he said.

Seven days before the blasts, McDade had been killed while planting a bomb at the Coventry telephone exchange.

Security arrangements for the cortege taking McDades remains to Birmingham Airport for flight back to Ireland had seen police leave and training cancelled, and shift manpower cut, jurors heard.

In all, West Midlands Police had gathered 1,680 uniformed officers for the operation, while 352 officers from Staffordshire, West Mercia and Warwickshire forces were held in reserve.

The Mulberry Bush in the aftermath of the powerful blast. (PA Wire/PA)

On Thursday, the inquests heard that 135 of those officers were taken from A division, the unit which policed the city centre where both pubs were.

That night, just 10 officers were at the nearest police station in Digbeth, and five more at the divisions other base in Steelhouse Lane.

In an official police report following the pub blasts, a force superintendent said: The bomb incidents in Birmingham occurred while the city centre was denuded of uniformed police officers who were engaged at Birmingham Airport, but it is felt that this in no way affected the organisation and efficiency of the police at the scenes.

Documents on officer numbers were formally introduced as evidence by Anthony Mole  who is unconnected to the bombings but is an ex-counter terrorism police commander with 30 years experience.

Sir Peter Thornton QC (right), in New Street, Birmingham, during visits on Thursday to the sites of both 1974 pub bombings (Richard Vernalls/PA)

Asking questions on behalf of three of the bereaved victims families, Heather Williams QC asked Mr Mole about a passage in an official police report regarding A divisions staffing of the funeral, and its impact.

The report stated that officer numbers had been partly achieved by reducing strength of second day watch and night duty, leaving the nearest police station with just six constables, not including other ranks, to respond to incidents.

Mrs Williams asked: What is being said is these were the only officers available on outside duty in the city centre on the early evening of 21 November 1974?

The jury heard that Digbeth police station alone had sent 60 constables to the funeral.

Mrs Williams asked: So we can conclude thats six constables in all, as against 60 constables that were to deploy to the McDade funeral arrangements?

Mr Mole replied: Yes, although I dont know what the normal strength is on a night shift.

Police link arms as the police driven hearse with the coffin of IRA bomber, James McDade, leaves Coventry mortuary on the first stage of its journey to Belfast (PA)

Jurors also heard that both pubs were busy that night, with about 40-50 in the Mulberry Bush and some 200 in the Tavern In The Town.

In the Mulberry Bush, at the foot of the Rotunda, the blast was so violent the 25lb (11kg) device left a metre-wide crater, shattered windows, and blew-out the staircase and bar.

A report by a chief superintendent, after the bombings, said the first police officers to be pulled back from the McDade funeral detail only arrived at 9.10pm, 59 minutes after the warning call.

It then emerged that the McDade officers were not called back until after the explosions.

Earlier in the day, jurors were taken to visit the former sites of both pubs.
Chelsea will not face any punishment over alleged anti-semitic chanting, UEFA has announced.

The Blues were charged by the European governing body for alleged racist behaviour of supporters during a Europa League match against Hungarian side Vidi in December.

At the time the club issued a strong statement condemning offensive chanting but UEFA has decided to close the disciplinary proceedings against Chelsea FC following a meeting of its control, ethics and disciplinary body.

The chanting was alleged to have taken place during Chelseas 2-2 group draw with Vidi at the Groupama Arena in Budapest on December 13.

Anti-semitism and any kind of racial or religious hatred is abhorrent to this club and the overwhelming majority of our fans, a club spokesman said after the chanting was first reported. It has no place at Chelsea or in any of our communities.

Any individuals that cant summon the brainpower to comprehend this simple message and are found to have shamed the club by used using anti-semitic or racist words or actions will face the strongest possible action from the club.

Chelsea will not face action from UEFA over alleged anti-semitic chanting (Adam Davy/PA)

The matter, however, will no longer be pursued by UEFA.

Manchester United, meanwhile, have been fined 13,700 relating to crowd problems at their Champions League last-16 first leg clash against Paris St Germain earlier this month.

Charges against United concerned the throwing of objects and blocking of stairways at Old Trafford.

PSG have been fined 35,000 over incidents involving their supporters at the same match, including the setting off of fireworks and acts of damage. The French club have also been told to contact United within 30 days to settle the costs of the damage.

Other disciplinary matters dealt with include the banning of Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos for two matches for getting booked on purpose.

Ramos received a yellow card in the latter stages of Reals Champions League last-16 first leg against Ajax, earning a ban for the return match.

It was deemed this was an attempt to ensure a ban would not be hanging over him later in the competition. The punishment includes the automatic one-match suspension for repeated yellow cards.

Real, the European champions, have also been fined 1,280 for the setting off of fireworks by supporters.
Police have recovered two vehicles believed to have been used in the theft of a cash machine from a shop in Aberdeenshire.

The ATM was taken during a break-in at the Scotmid store on Craigour Road in the village of Torphins.

It was recovered nearby, as were a dark Ford Galaxy and a gold Chrysler Voyager which are believed to have been involved in the incident in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A red Manitou telehandler vehicle which had been stolen from a Torphins building site earlier in the night was abandoned at the scene during the incident, which happened at around 1.30am.

Officers are appealing for info following a break-in & theft of an ATM machine from the Scotmid store, Craigour Rd, #Torphins in Aberdeenshire. It occured at around 1.30am today (Thurs 28 Feb). See or hear anything? If so call 101 Ref 0184 of 28 Feb. https://t.co/6IrwhsjdIK pic.twitter.com/g3tBIiq5Q5  North East Police (@NorthEPolice) February 28, 2019

Police are urgently trying to trace a blue Mini One, with the registration number SB63 XDJ, which was also stolen from the Torphins area overnight and asked anyone with information to contact them.

Detective Inspector Fionnuala McPhail said: I continue to appeal to anyone with information relating to this incident either before, during or afterwards to get in touch as soon as possible if you havent spoken to the police yet.

Police are investigating the incident in Torphins, Aberdeenshire (PA)

We are particularly interested in establishing the movements of a gold Chrysler and dark Galaxy people carrier as well as receiving any information about the individuals involved.

Some degree of planning and organisation obviously went into committing this crime, however the resulting attempt was crude.

While our investigation continues I would ask all retailers who have ATM machines not to panic but to use this as an opportunity to ensure you have appropriate security measures in place.

The north east is a low crime area but it doesnt mean criminals wont come into our communities and take advantage of the law-abiding people who live and work in them.

She also thanked those who captured footage at the scene during the break-in, though she stressed police would never encourage anyone to put themselves in harms way.

She added: I must commend the brave attempt of one woman in particular who put her own safety to one side to take pictures of the incident taking place.

From reviewing the footage available to us I dont believe that those involved in this crime intended on causing any harm to a person, however this lady wasnt to know this at the time. I am just extremely thankful that no-one was injured.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police, quoting reference number 0184 of February 28, or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 where anonymity can be maintained.
The charity set up by rugby great Doddie Weir has committed a further 1.4 million towards research to help fund a cure for motor neurone disease (MND).

The My Name5 Doddie Foundation trustees have agreed a series of grant awards to MND research projects at centres of excellence across the UK.

The foundation said this brings the total amount committed by the trustees to more than 2 million and, subject to contracts being finalised, will support research projects over the next three years.

Weir announced in 2017 that he had been diagnosed with MND and went on to found the My Name5 Doddie Foundation.

He said: I am delighted that we are making such an important contribution to vital research work.

Id like to thank everyone who has made this possible, but especially the thousands of fundraisers who have given their time, energy and imagination to help us raise such significant funds.

Doddie Weir set up the My Name5 Doddie Foundation in 2017 (Jane Barlow/PA)

Our advisory panel has really helped steer our thinking and given us direction  we greatly appreciate their input.

Weir began his rugby career at Melrose RFC before going on to play for Scotland and Newcastle Falcons.

The work of Chris Shaw, professor of neurology at Kings College London, has already benefited from the foundations support and this has been extended, while further investment has been awarded to Ammar Al-Chalabi, professor of neurology, also at Kings College.

Dame Pam Shaw, professor of neurology at the University of Sheffield, also welcomed the support announced by the foundation.

She said: We are absolutely delighted at the support given to the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience by the My Name5 Doddie Foundation.

We will use this generous support to enable our team to build the manpower needed to conduct the pipeline of exciting clinical trials on the horizon for patients with MND.

Our goal is to find therapies which protect motor neurones and slow down the progression of MND symptoms and also to give as many patients as possible the opportunity to participate in new treatment trials.

The foundation is keen to encourage collaboration between the centres and also announced further investment into drug re-purposing research.
The US ambassador to Britain has attacked warnings that a post-Brexit trade deal will see chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-pumped beef arrive on supermarket shelves, branding them inflammatory and misleading smears.

In a strongly worded rebuke to critics of a proposed deal, Woody Johnson dismissed negative claims over agriculture as myths concocted by people with their own protectionist agenda.

The billionaire diplomat, whose fortune derives from the Johnson & Johnson dynasty, said a transatlantic trade deal would provide a great opportunity for both countries.

But the British public has been led to believe otherwise, he wrote in an article for the Daily Telegraph.

Woody Johnson dismissed negative claims over agriculture as `myths (PA)

You have been presented with a false choice: either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality. Inflammatory and misleading terms like chlorinated chicken and hormone beef are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light.

It is time the myths are called out for what they really are: a smear campaign from people with their own protectionist agenda.

As Donald Trumps man in London, Mr Johnson has made several interventions in the Brexit debate, as well as commenting on issues such as military spending and foreign police involving Iran.

His missive in defence of American farmers was reminiscent of his bosss plain-speaking approach to diplomacy and echoed Mr Trumps own criticism of EU protectionism.

Warning Brussels Museum of Agriculture approach is not sustainable, Mr Johnson said: American farmers are making a vital contribution to the rest of the world. Their efforts deserve to be recognised. Instead, they are being dismissed with misleading scare-stories which only tell you half the story. The reality is, as ever, a lot more nuanced.

On chlorine-washed chicken, he said the process was the same as that used by EU farmers to treat their fruit and vegetables.

Describing it as a public safety no-brainer, he insisted it was the most effective and economical way of dealing with potentially lethal bacteria such as salmonella and campylobacter.

Mr Johnson said American cattle farmers been had been unfairly attacked for decades, explaining that US ranchers want to produce meat using fewer resources at a lower cost to both the environment and the consumer.

While the EU claims the moral high ground for its choice not to use growth hormones in cattle production, scientific consensus has been very clear that it remains completely safe to eat the meat, he said.

The picture you are being painted of American agriculture bears no resemblance to the reality on the ground, he said.

The fact is that farmers in America have the same priorities as farmers in Britain. They pass on their farms from one generation to the next. They care deeply about their land and livestock and they take tremendous pride in the food they produce.

The National Farmers Union (NFU) raised concerns over food safety and animal welfare standards when the negotiating objectives were announced on Friday.

It is imperative that any future trade deals, including a possible deal with the USA, do not allow the imports of food produced to lower standards than those required of British farmers, NFU president Minette Batters said.

Jim Moseley, chief executive of the Red Tractor farm and food standards assurance scheme, said the UKs food standards are now under threat from the commercial appetites of the United States food lobby.

British people deserve better than having their world-leading food standards sold out from underneath them, he added.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: We have always been very clear that we will not lower our food standards as part of a future trading agreement.

But Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a new referendum, said: Its clear that the US wants to flood us with chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-pumped beef.

But the British people wont be force-fed low-quality products or a bad Brexit deal.
Concerned residents have gathered to protest against plans to build a 1,400-capacity jail near their homes, amid concerns the facility would turn their community into a mega prison village.

Some protesters fear the proposed development, put forward by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), would negatively impact upon the beauty and safety of the village of Full Sutton, in Yorkshires East Riding.

There are also concerns the new prison could increase traffic and potentially drive up drug use in the area.

The village, which was recorded as having a population of 1,072 in the 2011 census, is already home to HMP Full Sutton, a maximum security facility which in March 2018 was estimated to have a capacity of 558 male prisoners.

Residents gather in the village of Full Sutton (Henry Clare/PA)

In July 2017, the MoJ was granted outline planning permission for a new 1,017-capacity prison next to the existing jail.

Since then, a fresh application has been made to increase the size of the proposed prison to 59,500sq metres in order to house 1,440 adult male inmates, sparking protests from residents.

Around 100 of them gathered in the nearby village of Stamford Bridge on Saturday, singing chants and holding up banners reading: No to mega prison.

One protester, 70-year-old Colin Clarke, who has lived in the area for more 20 years, said of the proposed jail: Structurally, its going to spoil the village. Its going to make it a place thats less desirable for people to want to live.

Besides all that, the traffic impact of having more than 500 staff working there, and visitors, is going to impact on the local road network.

Its really a terrible situation, and thats the basis of objecting to it.

Mr Clarke has compiled a list of 16 objections to the proposal, writing at the bottom of the document: Dont turn Full Sutton into a mega prison village.

There is already a prison in Full Sutton (Henry Clare/PA)

Another concerned resident at Saturdays protest was Fiona Roberts, 61, who said: There is a big problem with drug use in prisons, particularly in mega prisons like Wrexham, and the drugs have got to get into the prison somehow if theyre going to be used.

That will attract drug dealers, because the drugs can be lobbed over the fence, or flown in with drones.

In its planning statement to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, the MoJ said investment in the proposed facility would provide a significant boost to the local economy and create 389 jobs for people from the local area.

It adds: The proposed new prison will provide greater opportunity for offenders from the region to be held closer to their home areas, which is an important factor in reducing re-offending rates.

The decision to promote a new prison at Full Sutton is based on a national priority of promoting modernisation and efficiency in the operational prison estate.

A spokesman for the MoJ said of the protest: We continue to engage with local stakeholders and the community regarding our plans for the new prison and have submitted a planning application to the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

This new prison is part of a significant investment across England and Wales to modernise prisons, it will boost the local economy and create jobs.
Concern is growing for a missing woman who has not been seen for almost a fortnight, police have said.

Pin Yun Lin, 37, was last seen on Stevenson Street, in the Calton area of Glasgow, at around 2pm on Sunday February 17.

Officers say it is possible the missing woman, who does not speak much English, may have travelled north of the city.

She is described as being Asian, around 5ft tall, with a slim build, black collar-length hair and brown eyes.

Pin Yun Lin has links to the Inverness area (Police Scotland/PA)

When last seen, she was wearing a blue shirt but may now be wearing different clothing.

Detective Sergeant Cheryl Gebbie said the missing woman has links to the Inverness area and may have travelled north.

We are working with various transport companies in efforts to trace her. However, we would appeal to anyone who may have seen her to get in contact, she added.
Two senior Scottish Tories have issued a joint call to MPs from all parties to back the Prime Ministers Brexit deal.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell and Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Conservative partys interim leader, described the deal to leave the EU as the right plan for Britain and Europe.

The SNP described the pairs support for the deal as sickening, saying every Brexit outcome will see Scotland worse off.

The Conservative politicians spoke out just days after Prime Minister Theresa May accepted that the UK may not leave the EU on March 29, offering MPs a chance to vote to delay Brexit if her deal is rejected again later this month.

Jackson Carlaw said the deal delivers on the UKs decision to leave (Jane Barlow/PA)

Mr Mundell and Mr Carlaw said: The time for debating and negotiating is nearly over. The time to decide is here. Our clear position is that, over the coming days, MPs should decide to back the Prime Ministers Brexit deal.



It delivers on the decision the country made. It hands back control of our money, laws and borders.

It gives us control over our waters, offering us the chance to revitalise our fishing sector. And, while we will be able to strike new trade deals around the world, the deal will also set the basis for a strong and abiding new friendship with our allies across the continent.



Its the right plan for Britain and Europe. Supporting it will mean we can all move on to meet the pressing and urgent challenges we all face.

Meanwhile, at Holyrood, a Scottish Government debate on the EU withdrawal negotiations is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

The senior Conservatives claimed First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will be making one last attempt to wring yet more grievance out of Brexit and boost support for Scottish independence.

Mr Mundell and Mr Carlaw added: The best way now to stop the SNPs separatist games is to back the deal, leave the EU in a smooth and orderly fashion, so we can all get back to the real task of creating a fairer, more prosperous United Kingdom.

Stephen Gethins described it as a `botched deal (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA)

The SNPs Europe spokesman Stephen Gethins responded: The Prime Ministers deal is bad for Scotland and the support from the Scottish Tories is sickening  they are clearly rattled and saying anything to try and deflect from their shambolic handling of Brexit.

They have no higher ambition for Scotland than meekly accepting whatever Brexit disaster awaits the UK. Or as one of Mr Mundells own Cabinet colleagues put it  Once youve hit the iceberg, youre all on it together.

Every single Brexit outcome will see Scotland worse off  our nation overwhelmingly rejected Brexit at the ballot box and it beggars belief that Tory MPs and MSPs could advocate backing a botched deal that would see jobs, living standards and household incomes slashed and threatens the growth of our economy.

There is a better future for Scotland, as an independent nation, and the fiasco of Brexit only serves to show how Scotlands interests are ignored by Westminster.
A paraglider has been airlifted to hospital after crashing into a hillside.

Police were called to the Tap o Noth hill fort near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire shortly before 10.30am on Saturday morning.

The injured man was rescued from Tap o Noth hill fort near Rhynie in Aberdeenshire (Police Scotland/PA)

Officers from Huntly and Alford, helped by members of the public, found the 26-year-old man with a suspected broken leg.

He was then airlifted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary by a coastguard helicopter, Police Scotland said.

The 26-year-old is thought to have suffered a broken leg (Police Scotland/PA)

Anyone who witnessed the accident or can assist with the investigation is being asked to contact officers on the 101 number, quoting incident number 1394 of March 2.
Manuel Pellegrini saluted West Hams past and their future after the 2-0 win over Newcastle.

Youngster Declan Rice nodded the opening goal shortly after West Ham had officially opened the Billy Bonds Stand in honour of their former captain and record appearance maker.

Mark Noble added West Hams second from the penalty spot before half-time to inflict only a second defeat in seven matches on Newcastle.

It was fitting that two tenacious midfielders were on the score sheet on the day West Ham paid tribute to their original enforcer.

And 20-year-old Rices performance was reminiscent of Bonds in his heyday as he shielded the back four, snuffing out attacks and snapping into tackles.

England assistant Steve Holland was in the stands to watch Rice, who switched allegiance from the Republic of Ireland last month.

West Ham United manager Manuel Pellegrini stands in a cloud of bubbles during the Premier League match at London Stadium.

He is expected to receive a first Three Lions call-up when Gareth Southgate names his latest squad on March 13, providing the paperwork goes through in time.

Rices seventh-minute header was only his second career goal, but Hammers boss Pellegrini said: I think that for every player it is important to score goals, but in Declans position that is not the most important thing.

I think he has improved a lot this season. If you compare from the beginning and now, the view he has of the pitch, his deep passes, not playing back or to the sides.

Those are the things he must work on every day of the week. He does it, and that is why he has improved so much.

Is he a future captain? Maybe. He is a young player, he must learn a lot, to keep him in this level.

To be a captain you need many games behind you, so in the future, maybe he will do it.

Im very happy for Billy because he deserves the stand, he was a very important player for this club.

Newcastle, who never recovered from conceding two early goals, are six points above the relegation zone.

However, manager Rafael Benitez said: We are still in the relegation battle and have to approach every game like a final.

We tried to tell the players, explain we have to do what we were doing when we were winning games, and we didnt do that. We started with a lack of concentration.

I am disappointed. Hopefully we will learn and not make the same mistake in the next nine games.
The UK is still  officially  expected to leave the European Union on March 29.

But with the prospect of Brexit Day being delayed, key questions remain unresolved.

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is heading back to Brussels for more talks on the Brexit backstop (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

 What is happening in Brussels?

Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is back in Brussels on Tuesday as he continues efforts to find legal assurances over the temporary nature of the backstop arrangements for the border with Ireland. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay will also be present for the talks with the EUs Michel Barnier.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Cox has abandoned efforts to secure either a fixed time limit for the measures or a unilateral exit mechanism which would allow the UK to terminate the arrangements which Brexiteers fear will trap the UK within the EUs customs union.

Whatever concessions he does manage to secure in Brussels will be closely scrutinised by Tory and DUP Eurosceptics before Theresa May faces a showdown with MPs over the revised deal.

(PA Graphics)

 What is happening in Westminster?

The Prime Minister has promised to bring her revised Withdrawal Agreement and Political Declaration back for another meaningful vote by March 12 at the latest. The last time her Brexit deal was voted on by MPs, Mrs May suffered a humiliating 230-vote defeat.

Labour has indicated it will use the meaningful vote to support a call for a referendum on a Brexit deal.

If Mrs Mays deal is rejected again, MPs will vote by March 13 at the latest on whether they want to leave the EU without a deal.

Should MPs reject a no-deal Brexit, there will be another vote on March 14 on whether Parliament wants to seek a short, limited extension to Article 50  delaying the UKs departure beyond the current March 29 deadline.

The aim of a delay would be to give extra time to reach an agreement with Brussels that can be accepted by MPs, but Mrs May stressed that it would not take the prospect of a no-deal Brexit off the table, but would instead create a new deadline.

 How could Brexit be delayed and for how long?

To secure an extension to Article 50, Mrs May would need the support of the 27 other EU states. They are likely to agree to an extension as long as there was a prospect of a deal being reached  or a referendum or general election which could change the political picture at Westminster.

The looming European elections in May present a problem, with the UK currently not expected to take part.

That would limit any extension of the UKs membership of the EU until the end of June, as the newly-elected parliament sits in July.

If a longer extension was sought, that would mean taking part in the elections, something likely to fuel Eurosceptic anger  and potentially see Nigel Farage standing for the new Brexit Party.

-So what happens on March 29?

Impossible to say at this stage. If there is a deal, with a transition period, then although the UK will formally leave the EU at 11pm, very little will change.

If there is a delay, the UK will still be in the European Union until the extension period expires.

But if there is a no-deal Brexit, things are a lot more uncertain  the Government has been ramping up preparations to try to prevent shortages of food and medicine amid fears that increased bureaucracy will clog up key ports where goods arrive from the Continent.
With a bag full of development projects that will cost the Centre an estimated Rs 538 crore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Amethi  his political rival Rahul Gandhis constituency  on Sunday, March 3.

The work done by the NDA Government for Amethi should have been done years ago.Sadly, it was not done. pic.twitter.com/fnVjZs8Ur3  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 3, 2019

The BJP had set its eye on Amethi first in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and it pitted Smriti Irani in a direct contest with the Gandhi scion. Despite the fact that Irani lost to Gandhi back then, the party has not given up on its efforts to wrest the seat from the Congress. With Modi himself campaigning in the constituency for Irani ahead of the big electoral fight, the message from the BJP is clear  Amethi is winnable.

The BJP has not won Amethi since 1998 when Sanjay Singh defeated Satish Sharma of the Congress to wrest the seat from the party. He was, in turn, defeated by Sonia Gandhi in 1999. She later vacated the seat for her son Rahul and contested from Raebareli instead.

When the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) announced their seat-sharing deal in January this year, they decided not to field any candidates from the two seats  this makes the battle in Amethi a direct fight between the Congress and the BJP.

In 2014, Irani had given Rahul Gandhi a tough fight in the constituency. Irani has been regularly visiting Amethi since then. Not only Irani, senior BJP leaders, including party president Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, have also been addressing rallies in Amethi, giving a clear indication that the party is not ready to let its guard down in what many see as the Gandhis' pocket borough.

In 2014, Smriti Irani gave Rahul Gandhi, who won by a little over one lakh votes, a strong challenge in Amethi. (Source: PTI)

The result of the BJP's relentless efforts in Amethi bore fruit in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh elections, when the party mananged to win three of the four Assembly seats. Sitting MLA Rakesh Pratap Singh from the SP retained his Gauriganj seat  the Congress instead drew a blank.

To consolidate on the gains made during the Assembly elections now, PM Modi on Sunday said that one of the most advanced rifles in the world  the AK-203  will be manufactured in Amethi.

Taking a jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi, PM Modi said, Some people just travel around the world and talk about 'Made in Ujjain', 'Made in Jaipur', 'Made in Jaisalmer'... but nothing happens and talks remain just talks, it's under the Modi government now when 'Made in Amethi' AK-203 rifles will be manufactured.

Rahul Gandhi has said that he had laid the foundation of the ordnance factory at Amethi in 2010. (Source: India Today)

A day later, Rahul Gandhi tried to refute Modis claims by saying he had laid the foundation of the ordnance factory of Amethi in 2010. In a quick rebuttal, Smriti Irani reminded Rahul Gandhi that the new thing about the facility was a JV (joint venture) between India and Russia agreed on for the manufacturing of advanced AK-203s, as opposed to the small arms being so far made at the site.

 ,      2010                                      ?  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 4, 2019

                       JV              AK 203    @RahulGandhi  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) March 4, 2019

Irani recently won praise in the area for organising a trip to the Kumbh for the people of Amethi. She apparently arranged their travel to Prayagraj where the Kumbh is currently underway.

What gives Irani an advantage over Rahul Gandhi now is the fact that while the Gandhi scion has to divide his time addressing rallies across the country being the president of the Congress party, Irani can remain focused on Amethi. Also, with her party being in power at the Centre, Irani can give out more to the constituency than Rahul Gandhi.

The backwardness of Amethi, despite years of Congress rule, is often raked up by Congress detractors to show that the party did little for the people of this Uttar Pradesh seat.

With Amit Shah, Smirit Irani, Yogi Adityanath and Modi himself now gunning for votes in Amethi, Rahul Gandhi indeed has a considerable challenge ahead of him.

Also read: Priyanka, interrupted? How the IAF air strike has blunted the Congress' Brahmastra
Staatsangehorige der Mitgliedstaaten der Europaischen Union (Unionsburger) 1 und ihre Familienangehorigen genieen Freizugigkeit und haben das Recht auf Einreise und Aufenthalt in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Dasselbe gilt fur Angehorige der Staaten des Europaischen Wirtschaftsraums (EWR) 2 und ahnlich auch fur Staatsangehorige der Schweiz.

Belgien, Bulgarien, Danemark, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Griechenland, Grobritannien, Irland, Italien, Kroatien, Lettland, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Niederlande, Osterreich, Polen, Portugal, Rumanien, Schweden, Slowakische Republik, Slowenien, Spanien, Tschechische Republik, Ungarn, Zypern

2 Norwegen, Island und Liechtenstein

Uberblick

Einreise und Aufenthalt

Arbeiten

Recht auf Daueraufenthalt

Freizugigkeitsbescheinigung

Integrationskurs

Staatsangehorige der Schweiz und ihre Familienangehorigen
The release of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman from Pakistani captivity underscores several issues.

First, the Wing Commanders conduct during captivity was exemplary  despite being badly injured by a local Pakistani mob on ejecting across the LoC from his MiG 21 fighter jet, he behaved with the impeccable professionalism the Indian armed forces are known for.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans conduct during captivity was exemplary. (Source: India Today TV grab)

Second, the fact that Pakistan released him unconditionally is testament to Indias muscular diplomacy  not only with the Western powers, but also with Pakistans all-weather allies Saudi Arabia and China.

This augers well for Indian foreign policy which, in the past, has often been inconsistent and anaemic. Those days are clearly over as Indias ascent within 10 years to become the worlds third-largest economy is now widely acknowledged as inevitable.

Third, Indias display of lethal military capability and political will to destroy the Jaish-e-Mohammeds (JeM) six-acre terror camp deep inside Pakistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Prime Minister Imran Khan first came to power in provincial elections, has sent Pakistan a clear message  sponsoring terror groups will now incur a heavy cost.

The Pakistani army uses jihadis such as Hafiz Saeed as its proxies. (Source: Reuters)

To target and demolish a facility with over 350 terrorists in residence demonstrated the Indian Air Forces capability. The skill of the IAFs fighter pilots hadnt been tested in combat for two decades. Flying a MiG 21, Wing Commander Abhinandans success in bringing down a faster, more lethal F-16 in an aerial dogfight finally allowed the IAF to show its mettle.

Following the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had the option to use air strikes on Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror camps in Pakistan. After days of prevarication, the option was ruled out  this led to the belief among Pakistani jihadi groups, and the Pakistani army that funds and arms them, that India continued to be a soft state.

This encouraged the Pakistani army to establish low-cost proxy terrorism as state policy with plausible deniability. The much misused phrase non-state actor became a veil behind which terror attacks were waged by the military-jihadi complex.

Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to release Wing Commander Abhinandan not as a peace gesture as he claimed, but out of compulsion.

The demolition of the JeM terror facility in Balakot has shocked the Pakistani establishment  there were between 325 and 350 terrorists and their commanders in the facility when 12 Mirage 2000 IAF fighter jets struck. The camp has a capacity for 650-700 jihadis. It is inconceivable that heavy casualties running into hundreds did not take place.

Factories of terrorism: The Balakot terror camp has a capacity for 650-700 jihadis. (Source: Reuters/Photo for representation)

Significantly, while denying the Balakot carnage, Pakistani authorities have refused to take independent journalists to the site.

To lose as many terrorists in one night as Indian security forces have eliminated in the last one year will be a lesson the Pakistani army, the JeMs patron, wont forget. The loss to the Pakistani army is not just in terrorist manpower. It is in loss of face. The Punjabi-dominated Pakistani army prides itself on machismo  that has been punctured.

Equally disconcerting to the Generals in Rawalpindi is the lethal precision, secrecy and professionalism with which the IAF strikes on the JeM were carried out. Many had over the years been seduced into thinking that the Indian military had neither the firepower, not the gumption to attack terrorists deep within Pakistan.

The Pakistani army is not battle-hardened in the traditional sense. Jihadis fight its proxy battles, leaving the top army brass to amass wealth. The Pakistani military has interests in real estate, manufacturing and trading. By most credible estimates, the army owns or runs one-third of Pakistans economy.

A common error Indian policymakers make is that India has no quarrel with Pakistan but only with the terrorists it creates and nurtures.

Not a leaf moves in the Pakistani factories of jihad without approval of the Pakistani military. Every terror attack on Indian targets has the clear fingerprints of Rawalpindi. If India wants to build on its success after the strike on the JeMs Balakot camp, it must target the Pakistani military across economic and other domains.

Transport minister Nitin Gadkaris pledge to divert waters from the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has caused consternation in Pakistan. Water shortages pose an existential threat. The IWT holds two possibilities. One, India can redirect to itself the seven per cent of water legally due to it under the IWT but which it has, illogically, allowed Pakistan to use for decades.

A hydropwer project on river Chenab. Water shortage could pose an existential threat to Pakistan. (Source: Reuters)

Two, as Gadkari says, when dealing with a state sponsor of terrorism like Pakistan, the IWT can and should be renegotiated. The United States, Russia, China and other major powers routinely do this. China has ignored multiple international treaties. The US has torn up the nuclear treaty with Iran. And Britain is seeking to change key clauses in the Brexit agreement with the European Union (EU).

The IWT is now nearly 60 years old. It was midwifed by the World Bank and leans heavily in favour of Pakistan in allocating waters of key rivers that serve India and Pakistan. The treaty is ripe for key changes. Water is a weapon with greater leverage for India than even the nuclear option, given Pakistans geography.

What then is likely to be the outcome of the air strikes on the JeMs terror camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? First, Pakistans days of enjoying immunity for sponsoring terror are over. Second, the cost of sponsoring terror has just gone up for a country whose economy is in a shambles.

Third, the hyphenation of India and Pakistan has been decisively broken. Fourth, the dialogue a chastened Imran Khan seeks with India will not take place until the Pakistani army dismantles verifiably the infrastructure of terror that has taken countless Indian lives.

However, the fruits of the last few days will be lost if India does not continue to pursue a multi-pronged strategy to deter Pakistans decades-long unhinged use of terror in order to slow Indias rise as a global power.

The tumour of terrorism originates in Rawalpindi. With Wing Commander Abhinandan safely back home from Pakistani captivity, India must not lower its guard. Balakot should mark the beginning, not the end, of a new policy to impose a cost for terrorism that the Pakistani military will not be able to bear.

Also read: Why Modi must not play the statesman and agree to enter into dialogue with Pakistan
The Balakot air raid is a wake-up call for the Modi government to modernise its defence forces rather than putting the blame on previous regimes. Otherwise, it would cut a sorry figure during encounters with age-old weapons against its adversaries

After the Pulwama massacre, where more than 40 CRPF jawans were martyred by Pakistani terrorists, as claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, the Modi Government gave a befitting reply to the Pakistani terrorists. In the early hours of February 26, 12 Mirage-2000 combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF), armed with Israeli Precision Guided Munitions (PGM), also known as SPICE-2000 and Crystal Maze Mk2, called AGM 142 Popeye PGMs, retaliated by taking off from their Gwalior airbase on a crucial mission, cloaked in the highest secrecy to keep an element of surprise.

The terror launch pads along the Line of Control (LoC) were moved deep inside after the Pulwama attack. The camp in Balakot, which was targetted, is the JeMs major training camp. Its close to Abbottabad, infamous because of Osama bin Laden. Balakot is situated about 60 km from the LoC, in the Mansehra district of Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and is about two hours drive from Abbottabad. It is believed that a large number of JeM terrorists, trainers and senior commanders were eliminated in the air strikes launched at the camp in Balakot.

The IAFs air strike sent a robust but calibrated message to Islamabad. The latter is manifest in New Delhis diplomatic utterances. Indias Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale referred to the action as a non-military, pre-emptive strike. This phrase is indicative of the fact that action was completely based on an assessment of an imminent threat to our national security, ensured that Pakistans military personnel and infrastructure were not targetted and avoided civilian casualties at all cost. In effect, New Delhis line has been that the operation was an intelligence-driven, counter-terror strike; rather than an escalatory military aggression.

On February 27, Pakistan crossed the LoC with three F-16 jets to undertake strikes in Jammu & Kashmir. Indian officials said Pakistani F-16 fighter jets violated the Indian air space in Jammu & Kashmirs Poonch and Nowshera sectors but were pushed back by Indian MiG-21 jets. However, the Pakistan foreign office said in a statement, Pakistan Air Force undertook strikes across LoC from within the Pakistani airspace. This was not a retaliation to continued Indian belligerence but an action in self defence. If India is striking at the 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. We do not wish to go to that route and wish that India gives peace a chance to resolve issues like a mature democratic nation.

The aerial skirmish began when three Pakistani jet fighters, out of a fairly large formation of over 10 F-16s, JF-17s and Mirage-5 attack jets, crossed the LoC in the Kalal area in Nowshera region of Rajouri in Jammu around 10.20 am. A media report said four military installations were being targeted  the Brigade headquarters in Krishna Ghati (Poonch), a battalion headquarter in Nangi Tekri, supply dump and ammunition point in Niyari. A small number of these fighters then proceeded to cross the LoC when eight IAF jets, which included four Sukhoi 30s, two-upgraded Mirage 2000s and two MiG-21 Bisons, intercepted them. The Air Force fighters chased the Pakistani jets on their return leg after they had dropped a handful of laser-guided bombs that narrowly missed their military targets along the LoC.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was in hot pursuit of a Pakistani F-16 jet, which he engaged with an R-73 air-to-air missile. The state-of-the-art Pakistani fighter, thought to be a two-seater variant of the jet, was shot down. Both pilots were seen parachuting down on the Pakistani side of the LoC.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan offered talks with Prime Minister Modi to de-escalate a war-like situation between the two countries and promised that Wing Commander Abhinandan would be released soon. India, on February 27, responded to Khans offer for talks with a demarche, which stated, It is unfortunate that instead of fulfilling its international obligation and bilateral commitment to take credible action against terrorist entities and individuals operating from its soil, Pakistan has acted with action against India.

To the satisfaction and great solace to every Indian, brave and bruised hero Wing Commander Abhinandan returned on March 1 after an agonising day-long wait as Pakistan rejected Indias request to allow IAF to fly him in a special aircraft. A confession video having 20 cuts praising Pakistan was extracted from Abhinandan at an ISI facility in Lahore. Indian officials said it was extracted under duress and only undermined Khans peace gesture of releasing him. This video delayed the homecoming of Abhinandan by four hours.

Pakistan denied that the Indian strike caused any damage on the ground. Surprisingly, even Opposition parties in India doubted the IAF having caused severe damage to the JeM terrorist camps in Balakot. The photographic proof of the target strikes are available with the IAF and can, therefore, be released by the government.

The computer memories of Sice-2000 precision guided bombs with satellite images and exact geographical coordinates of the major JeM camps were loaded on Mirage-2000 fighters. With their navigation/seeker systems, the fire and forget 1000 kg Spice-2000 laser guided bombs homed into the four to six targets selected within the JeM facility with an error margin of 1 metre. Some civilians and even Azhars youngest brother Maulana Ammar confirmed IAF hitting the Jaish factory and ambulances carrying dead bodies. How can we make our Opposition parties believe the strike capability of our highly professional defence forces?

The whole incident is a wake-up call for the Modi government to modernise its defence forces rather than blaming the previous governments. Or else it would cut a sorry figure during encounters with age-old weapons against its adversaries. India is the fastest and sixth largest economy in the world. However, its defence budget is 1.44 per cent of the GDP, which is the least since 1962. How long will the IAF continue flying 50-year- old vintage jet fighters for combat and how long will the soldiers continue sacrificing their lives with old rifles, carbines, sniper rifles, light machine guns and without latest night firing devices?

The Armed forces must have a Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) for coordination of operations during war and he must be a member of the Cabinet Committee on Security CCS for authentic and expert strategic military advice at such crucial times.

(The writer is a retired professor in international trade)
The lack of will has allowed a non-disputed issue like the Ram Janmabhoomi to acquire such dimensions. Its high time we get over old complexes and act as free citizens

Many an onlooker would be laughing at the manner in which India has dealt with the Ram Janmabhoomi issue. Until 1947, it was understandable that the Hindus held no trumpcard to win at Ayodhya, but why the lackadaisical handling of the issue thereafter? In 1949, the local court allowed the mahants to place the idol of Rama on the chabutara so that the worshippers would have access to the deity. That was sufficient to delight most devotees until 1983 when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) appealed to every village to send a brick or Rama shila to Ayodhya. This was symbolic of their desire to build a Rama temple. Other members of the Sangh parivar kept aloof until 1989, when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) included the temple in its manifesto. On December 6, 1992, the demolition of the Babri edifice took place. A fortnight later, the BJP distanced itself from the demolition. Thereafter, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board claimed ownership of the land and dragged the dispute to court and still after 27 years, it remains unresolved. This despite the Archaeological Survey of India testifying that there was a stone temple below which the Babri structure had stood.

This writers associates overseas are amazed at the lack of will which allows everybody to make a mockery of a non-dispute. Experts have identified about 3,000 temples, which over the centuries, were either converted or recycled into mosques. Hardly a single place of worship has been restored to the Hindus despite seven decades of our Independence. On the contrary, over 100 temples have been desecrated in Kashmir over these seven decades. It is distinctly possible that easy conquest, again and again over centuries, introduced a sadistic habit into the psyche of the conquerors, who then perpetrated a variety of crimes and cruelties on the conquered. They acquired an inclination to obtain pleasure out of inflicting pain on others. Nearly seven centuries of the invaders rule may have reduced the vanquished to acquire a slave mentality. Such a state of mind could well have affected the conquered people in the absence of any alternative source of political pressure.

To obtain pleasure by being subjected to pain has been classified by psychologists as masochism. This is a psycho-sexual disorder in which erotic release is achieved through having pain inflicted on oneself. The term derives from the name of Chevalier Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian, who wrote extensively about the satisfaction he gained by being beaten and subjugated. The amount of pain involved can vary from ritual humiliation with little violence to severe whipping or beating. While pain may cause a certain amount of excitement in many people, for the masochist, it becomes the chief end of activity. The term is frequently used in a looser social context in which masochism is defined as the behaviour of one, who seeks out and enjoys situations of humiliation or abuse. More commonly, the association of pain with sexual pleasure takes the form of both masochism and sadism, the latter obtaining sexual pleasure through inflicting pain on others. Often, an individual will alternate roles, becoming aroused through the experience of pain in one instance and through the infliction of pain in another. Perhaps, this explains why we have yielded ground so easily.

Ever since Professor Max Mueller, German philosopher, delivered his lecture in Westminster Abbey, London, in 1873, the six great religions of the world have been broadly classified into two categories. Missionary religions: Buddhism, Christianity and Islam; and non-missionary religions: Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. In the case of the missionary religions, it is a sacred duty cast on the followers to spread faith among the non-believers until, as it were, it is accepted by all members of the human family. It is only in the case of Islam that its followers have resorted to forcible means to convert non-believers.

For example, Professor Sir Thomas Arnold, who was the principal of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh in the 19th century, recorded the following: India is a country where Islam owes its existence and continuance in existence to the settlement of foreign conquering Muhammadan races, who have transmitted their faith to their descendants and only succeeded in spreading it beyond their own circle by means of persecution and forced conversions.

Ever since Islam was born in Arabia, it came into conflict with Judaism and Christianity. The clash mainly occurred because of the common characteristics of the two faiths rather than the differences. One book of faith; one leader; one religion and, in the latter, a similar missionary zeal. Professor Bernard Lewis, the eminent American scholar, observed: The see-saw attack and counter-attack between Christianity and Islam had begun with the crusades and they ended with a conclusive Christian defeat. Besides, for almost a 1,000 years, from the first Moorish landing in Spain to the second Turkish siege of Vienna, 1682, Europe was under constant threat from Islam. In the early centuries, it was a double threat not only of invasion and conquest but also of conversion. Having conquered large parts of southern Europe, Muslims imposed their Sharia on Christians.

For a millennium, from the Arab invasion of Sind in 712 AD till the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, Hindu society was equally under the threat of conversion and conquest. This happened because after the death of Harsh Vardhana in 647 AD, Hindu rulers of north India generally embraced one idea: Self-aggrandisement, which spelt but only ruin.

It is well-known that Mahmud Ghazni had led several expeditions into India but Hindus seemed to think that history teaches but one lesson, namely, there are no lessons to be learnt from history. Alberuni, the distinguished astronomer, who had accompanied Mahmud, wrote that Anand Pala, after his own defeat at the hands of Mahmud, wrote to him. I learn the Turks have rebelled against you. If you wish, I shall come to you or send my son with 500 horses, 1,000 soldiers and 100 elephants. I have been conquered by you and, therefore, wish that another man should not conquer you. Such examples of Hindu mindset abound. In this context, an eminent Indian historian said, The people en masse seldom act except as they are led. Given effective leadership, they are capable of achieving almost anything.

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited the distinguished historian, Sir Arnold Toynbee, to deliver the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad memorial lectures. In the course of them, he expressed surprise that two prominent mosques stood on the bank of the Ganges at Benaras so many years after Independence.

He went on to quote the example of Warsaw, whose biggest church had been converted from Catholic to an Eastern Orthodox place of worship when the Russians conquered

Poland. When, however, a century later, the Poles were able to free themselves, they demolished the Russian church. They promptly replaced it with a Roman Catholic edifice of worship. That is what Sir Arnold expected of Indians too. Indeed, it is high time, Hindus got over their old complexes and became self-confident free citizens.

(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author)
The international response to the IAFs air strike in Balakot reflects not only the changed course of Indias foreign policy but also its growing clout

In the midst of a troublesome war hysteria in the Indian sub-continent, the release of Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman was heartening. This is not only indicative of Indias determination to fight terrorism but also speaks volumes about a very successful foreign and defence policy as we were able to expose and isolate Pakistan at international fora. Despite urging both India and Pakistan to exercise restraint, Chinas keenness for Indias participation in the 16th meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Russia, India and China in Wuzhen on February 27, and the issuance of a joint communique to bring countries who back terrorism to justice, reflect Pakistans complete isolation.

Statements issued by China are important as they came at a time when Pakistan violated Indian airspace and captured our pilot in the wake of IAFs pre-emptive strikes at the JeM camp in Balakot. The condemnation of all forms of terrorism as a threat to humanity by the three Ministers signifies the success of Indias foreign policy in isolating Pakistan, an aim which India always failed to achieve in earlier wars/disputes with Pakistan. The best example is the 1971 India-Pakistan war, wherein despite awareness and knowledge about cases of grave violation of human rights, the US sided with Pakistan in support of its policy of triangular relationship with Pakistan and China. The Cold War mindset was so much dominant that the US not only gave a cold shoulder to Indias then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi but also sent its seventh fleet enterprise in the Bay of Bengal to demoralise and terrorise India with its gunboat diplomacy. India neutralised this threat with an all-out support of the erstwhile Soviet Union. However, the diplomatic advantage of good relations with the USSR was lost with the end of the Cold War and the disintegration of the Soviet Union. India was left on its own. The new economic stratagem  nuclear power status and Look East policy  provided India an opportunity to register its presence in a fast changing, power-hungry world.

Chinas resurgence as an aggressive power after the fall of the Soviet Union, policies of territorial aggrandisement and encirclement of India through the Belt and Road Initiative led to a close collaboration between India and America. Though the US pivoting of Asia and its stress on the Indo-Pacific paradigm highlight the importance of India in the US designs to check Chinas growing influence, the kind of support reflected by its current statements was not available earlier. During the Kargil war of 1999, the US policy of equating India and Pakistan and the two-country visit was intact even though India was confronting terrorists and the Pakistani Army. Although during his South Asia visit after the Kargil crisis, the then US President, Bill Clinton, refrained from meeting the then Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf, he did visit Pakistan and gave a message of four Rs to both India and Pakistan, which was not in good taste for us. However, this time, even though the US insisted on exercising restraint and avoiding escalation to both India and Pakistan, in contravention to the previous administrations policies, it did acknowledge Indias right to conduct punitive action against terrorist camps and shifted the onus on Pakistan to take a significant action against the terrorist groups it hosts.

In a press conference held by the three chiefs of the Indian armed forces, where they showcased the pieces of missiles loaded in F-16 planes  sold by the US to Pakistan for the purpose of fighting terrorism  as a proof of Pakistans military misadventure, Islamabad stood completely exposed. Further more, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs participation and address as a guest of honour in the organisation of 47 Islamic Countries association for the first time put Pakistan in a disadvantageous situation. The non-participation of Islamabad in this forum to protest Indias participation, which generally extends its support to Pakistan on Kashmir issue, is a big diplomatic victory for Indias foreign policy. The opportunity provided to India after a long gap clearly means that Modis hugging diplomacy has been successful. Although Modis stage-managed town hall-type gatherings at foreign countries and his gesture of receiving important dignitaries at the airport received criticism as being wasteful and useless, they have surely reaped benefits. The consensus of France and other countries to support the proposal of identifying JeM chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist in the UN further confirms the same.

The use of F-16 against India instead of counter-terrorism operations has also put Pakistan in a bad light. The support received by India from the international community for its non-military pre-emptive strike against Pakistan was unprecedented. This not only reflects the changed course of Indias foreign policy but also its growing clout. India has entered a new path and phase of activist foreign policy, which needs to be appreciated and not criticised.

(The writer is professor of political science, HNB Garhwal University, Uttarakhand)
Braving wintery weather, a large number of Indian-Americans held a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters here against the Pulwama attack and demanded that Pakistan take action against terror groups operating on its soil.

On February 14, a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

The protesters from across this city gathered at the UN headquarters on Sunday, holding placards and raising slogans against the terror machinery operating on Pakistani soil and demanded swift action against the JeM and its leader Masood Azhar.

Jagdish Sewhani, President of 'The American India Public Affairs Committee' and one of the organisers of the event, told PTI that Indian-Americans, including professionals and students, were expressing their anger at the "continued state sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan across the world".

The protestors raised slogans against all major terrorist attacks originating from Pakistan such as the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 attack, the Uri attack and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack among others.

The message to Pakistan is that "enough is enough. This time we will not forgive and we will not forget," Sewhani said.

"Pakistan is still shielding terrorists and is refusing to crack down on them. The Pakistan Army continues to support terrorist outfits such as al-Qaeda, Lakshar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network," he said, adding that "time has come to give a befitting reply to Pakistan in a language it understands".

Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party-USA President Krishna Reddy Anugula said the Indian community in the US strongly condemns the "dastardly" attacks.

"We are demanding that the perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice and the terror infrastructure based in Pakistan has to be dismantled," he said, adding that JeM chief Azhar should be handed over to India to face a trial.

"We are protesting Pakistan's cross-border terrorism in India and Afghanistan and sponsorship of global terrorism that has affected many countries around the world," Anugula said.

Several people from other South Asian nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal also joined the protest.

Richard Benkin, a Jewish-American at the protest, said the international community stood in solidarity with India, noting that Pakistan's support for terrorism will not go unquestioned any longer.

The crowd raised slogans and held placards with messages reading 'Handover Masood Azhar-Global Terrorist', 'Pakistan Stop Harbouring Terrorists'and 'Pakistan Export Goods not Terrorism'.

Protestors also spoke about the high casualties resulting from terrorism supported and launched from the Pakistani soil. They demanded that the UN make Pakistan accountable for the Pulwama, Mumbai and other terror attacks.

They also demanded that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav be set free.

The protesting organisations also plan to send a memorandum of their demands to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Pramod Bhagat, President of India World Foundation USA, said that there was a need to reach out to the US lawmakers.
Post-Pulwama, while Indias counter-terror offensive has been predominantly aimed at Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the fact remains that it is the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) that is more lethal with a global footprint and direct support from Pakistans covert agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in planning, incubation and execution of terror attacks on targets in the Indian hinterland.

While the LeT had killed as many as 166 people at one go during the terror hit in Mumbai on 26/11 in 2008, the number of fatalities inflicted by the JeM during the last two decades is less than the casualty figure recorded by the former in just one incident in 2008.

ISI officers were directly involved in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and two of them are accused in the case. This is a clear pointer of the ISIs direct patronage of the LeT and its insidious plans against India. On the other hand, the Jaishs operations are largely independent with limited cooperation of the Pakistan military-ISI combine in the execution of terror attacks by the group.

The Jaish has developed a mini industry of making weapons through reverse engineering in Darra Adam Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and buys orphans like the LeT from areas hit by natural calamities like cyclone and tsunamis who are subsequently trained as suicide bombers at various facilities in Pakistan, including the one that was destroyed during the air strike by the Indian Air Force at Balakot.

While the JeM has presence in Jammu & Kashmir and certain areas of Pakistan, the LeT has a major footprint in countries in the region like Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Maldives, Bangladesh and even in the European countries.

Retired Intelligence officials pointed out as to why any action like a drone strike was not conducted against LeT chief Hafiz Sayeed who has travelled in the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK) over a dozen times during the last five years.

They also rued the lack of a sustained and comprehensive counter-terror offensive against the Pakistan-sponsored terror directed against India.

India has been pushing a ban against JeM chief Masood Azhar at the UN but has so far been stalled singlehandedly by China.

The combined death toll inflicted by the JeM since the Parliament attack of 2001, attack on the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly (2001), Uri, Pathankot and Pulwama during the Modi Government at the Centre is a little over 100.

The then IB special director Ajit Doval who is presently the National Security Advisor was part of the Indian team that escorted Masood Azhar along with Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar and Ahmad Omar Saeed Shaikh to Afghanistan in exchange for the passengers of the hijacked IC 814 passengers.
As the bitter family feud in the Chautala family continues to play out in public after the split in Indian National Lok Dal, Hisar MP and Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala on Monday made it clear that there is no possibility of reconciliation and JJP will move forward with its ideology.

Dushyant, however maintained that the blood relations will remain intact and can never be broken.

We did not leave the Indian National Lok Dal but were expelled from the party. We now have different paths as political parties, said JJP leader Dushyant, during meet-the-press programme at Chandigarh Press Club here.

Dushyant also hinted at going it alone in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls with talks of seat-sharing with Aam Aadmi Party remaining inconclusive so far.

Terming the split in INLD and creation of JJP as biggest turning point and a new beginning in his life, Dushyant said, His father Ajay Chautala alongwith other supporters decided to form a separate political outfit JJP, which was floated in December. We took a risk and even contested Jind bypoll and got a huge support.

INLDs chief OP Chautalas elder son- Ajay Singh Chautala -is patron of the JJP while his two sons  Hisar MP Dushyant and INSO chief Digvijay -- are spearheading the party in the absence of Ajay, who is serving a 10-year jail term in connection with the teachers recruitment scam in Haryana.

Commenting on the status of Leader of opposition being enjoyed by senior INLD leader Abhay Chautala despite four party MLAs joining the JJP, Dushyant said that people have greed of having a gunman, house, red beacon on car among other facilities that is why they are still LoP.

I was expelled from the party. But four MLAs who have joined the JJP have not been expelled because of the issue related to LoP status, he said attacking his uncle Abhay Chautala.

On a query why JJP MLAs have themselves not resigned from the INLD, Dushyant said that they were elected by the people of their constituency and they will not resign. 4 INLD MLAs are with JJP and SADs lone MLA Balkaur Singh has also extended his support to JJP. In the recently concluded budget session of Haryana Assembly, the JJP leaders did not support the LoP, he added.

In the 90-member State Assembly, while the ruling BJP has 48 MLAs after the Jind bypoll win, both Congress and INLD have 17 members each, one each member belongs to the SAD and BSP, five are independents while one seat fell vacant after demise of INLD's Jaswinder Singh Sandhu.

Reacting to his grandfather OP Chautalas accusations that he did not meet him even once after the split in INLD, Dushyant said that he has met the INLD chief thrice after the split.

Taking a dig at INLD chief OP Chautala, Dushyant said that earlier, we were called BJP and Congress agents but people making such accusations against us are now ready to form an alliance with the ruling BJP.

Our candidate in Jind bypolls managed to get second spot, he said while adding that Congress heavyweight candidate (Randeep Surjewala) somehow managed to save his security deposit while the other party (INLD) faced a humiliating defeat and could not even save its security deposit.

On JJPs future in a multi-cornered contest in Haryana, Dushyant said that the around 93 lakh voters in Haryana are below the age of 45 years and this generation is above caste and creed. The JJP has an advantage as youth voters are with us. We are hopeful that even if we go alone in election without any alliance, we will emerge as a winner and a strong political party in the state, he added.

We are also working for extension of JJP in Delhi and Rajasthan. If things go well, the party might field its candidate on one seat in Delhi, he said.
The Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the first review of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme would be done later this year. She said this while addressing a programme organised to felicitate the family members of the martyrs at Survey of India auditorium here on Monday. Notably, at the time of implementing OROP, the Centre had announced that it would be reviewed every third year.

The announcement of the Defence Minister on review of OROP is, thus, significant in view of the fact that it would result in an increase in the pensions of the ex-servicemen among whom the BJP enjoys a groundswell of electoral support.

Sitharaman claimed that a major part of OROP has already been implemented by the Government. Comparing the UPA Governments decision on OROP with that of NDA, the Minister said that UPA had shown just tokenism on OROP as a meager Rs 500 crore was provided on the count while the NDA Government has so far transferred a sum of Rs 35,000 crore to the ex-servicemen under OROP. We have given four installments to the ex-servicemen in two years and now, no arrear is left pending, she said.

Sitharaman added that the country had had no war memorial in the last 70 years. But now, a magnificent National War Memorial in New Delhi has been dedicated to the nation, she said. Requesting the ex-servicemen and Veer Nari not to believe in the mischievous messages being circulated on the social media, she said that the Union Government has decided not to appeal against the ruling of Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on disability pensions of the armed forces personnel and has withdrawn the notification on equivalence in 2016.

Inviting the girl cadets of NCC who were present at the auditorium to join the armed forces, Sitharaman said the women officers would now be provided with permanent commission in the army.

At present, the women officers at end of 14 years of service are retired.

She said that the Prime Minister has announced that three super-speciality ECHS hospitals on the lines of AIIMS with capacity of 200 beds each would be set up. She assured the gathering that the Narendra Modi Government is sensitive towards the issues of the armed forces personnel.

In his address, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat declared that the State would soon have a directorate for the para-military forces. Attacking those who had cast question on the visits of PM Modi to foreign countries, Rawat said that the whole nation has now seen the effect of these visits when Pakistan found itself isolated in the world community following the Pulwama attack.

He said that the country is in safe hands today and the Prime Minister has given a clear message that India would not tolerate terrorism any longer.

Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank said that apart from being the land of the gods, Uttarakhand is a land of warriors too. Lt General O P Kaushik (Rtd) said that history shows that every sixth martyr hails from Uttarakhand.
A delegation of a little over 200 families hailing from Gujarat which have been residing in Haridwar for the past many decades has met the Gujarat chief minister and the deputy chief minister recently and demanded non-resident Gujarati (NRG) benefits. Notably, they have been running a number of pharmaceutical and other companies in the state.

On returning from Gujarat, members of the delegation Pawan Dave and Rajesh Pathak said on Monday that NRG cards would be made available for all the Gujarati residents of Haridwar soon. Notably, NRG Foundation issues such cards which help the people of Gujarati origin now settled outside the state to remain connected with their original state and the people living there.

It is learnt that there are some special privileges extended to the non-resident Gujaratis who have the cards like certain discounts at hotels, garments stores, jewelry shops and hospitals.

Speaking to The Pioneer on the visit, Kirtan Desai said, We met the CM Vijay Rupani and the deputy CM Nitin Patel there. The chief minister appreciated our role in the progress of the state and asked us to be associated with the foundation to avail the benefits.

He further said that the Uttarakhand government should take cue from the initiative. It would give a sense of security to the natives of Uttarakhand who are settled outside the state. Besides, it would help them to maintain their emotional connection to the state they hail from.
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij on Monday said that an advanced lithotripsy machine of about Rs 3.50 crore would come from France which would be able to remove kidney stones without operation.

This machine would reduce the expenses and would also not adversely affect the health of the patient, said the Health Minister after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone of facilities to the tune of about Rs 6 crore at Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantonment.

Vij said that a blood bank with 300 units capacity has been set up in the hospital to ensure to provide blood at the time of need.

He said that machines have been arranged for the safe preservation of platelets, where they could be stored safely for up to five days. Two deep freezers have been installed for storing plasmas and there is an arrangement of three refrigerators for storing blood, Vi said.

The Health Minister also encouraged the blood donors, pinned badges and distributed certificates to them, during a blood donation camp organised by Red Cross in the hospital.
Bahujan Samaj Party fired a fresh salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying Rafale jets could have given better results for India in hitting a Jaish camp in Pakistan.

She asked why the National Democratic Alliance government headed by Modi had not purchased a single Rafale fighter to induct it into the Indian Air Force during its rule.

Rafale fighter could have proved useful in the fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale was inducted into IAF fleet during his government. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of countrys safety and security? Mayawati said in a tweet.

Last week, after the IAF struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot, about 80 km from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi had said, Rafale fighters could have delivered even better results.

His reference was apparently to the stealth of Rafale, an air-dominance aircraft.

The IAF had deployed a dozen Mirage-2000 aircraft to hit the target.

A Jaish terrorist camp was destroyed and up to 350 terrorists were killed in the air strike on February 26, officials sources have said.

On Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah had said that more than 250 terrorists were killed.

Modi had also said the Rafale jet deal was not finalised by the previous government for vested interests and now an effort is on to hamper it for political reasons.

The first of the 36 Rafale fighters purchased from France is expected to arrive in India by September this year.
The Odisha Milk Farmers Association (OMFA) has thanked the State Government for fulfilling three of its seven demands on Monday. OMFA president and Samajwadi Party State president Rabi Behera said the Government has hiked the incentive and would provide Rs 6,250 to farmers and Rs 6,250 for cow-shed under the KALIA scheme. Agriculture Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera has also assured to take strong steps against adulteration of cattle feeds, he added.

The association hoped that the remaining demands like providing Rs 30 MSP per litre of milk, service condition of 6,159 Milk Cooperative Secretaries, including milk and milk products in ICDS and MDM and creating opportunities for self-employment would be fulfilled in due course.

OMFA vice-president Dusasan Mahapatra and secretary Narayan Dalua also hoped that the Government would fulfil the other demands soon.
The small farmers of the State acknowledge that the loan waiver scheme introduced by the State Government has proved as a big support at the time of major crisis. Some farmers envisage Jai Kisan Fasal Wrin Maafi Yojana as a blessing and believe that if it was not introduced then the crisis would have become more severe because of the debt.

Ajab Singh, a farmer of Talod village of Dewas district had taken a loan of Rs 1.60 lakh from the Jamgod Cooperative Society. He was worried how the debt will be settled.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Kamal Nath has started the loan waiver scheme and his entire loan was waived off. Similarly, Kripal Singh, a farmer of Harnavda village of Dewas too had taken a loan of Rs 78,000 from the Cooperative Society of Budlai. He could not receive a good yield and not even repay a loan but the debt waiver scheme saved him from getting entangled in debt trap. They both say that the government has saved us from the crisis.

A small loan of Rs 49,000 was taken by Gangaram, a farmer of Bijala village-Badodiya tahsil of Shajapur district, he was worried about loan repayment. After the loan waiver he is planning again for cultivation. Gangaram says that the government has freed me and my family from the anxiety.

The debt of Rs one lakh of Ramlallu of Singrauli district has been waived off. He says that the state government has taken a right step at the right time. Several farmers like me were in debt and now they are planning further for cultivation. Ramllalu says that many farmers like him were thinking to obtain a new loan but were upset that they will not be eligible for new loans unless they pay the old loan. Now we all are happy and have engaged ourselves afresh in cultivation with new zeal.

The members of the Solanki family, which resides in Badwah of Gogawan tahsil of Khargone district was in trouble owing to the old loan. Lakhan and Ramchandra, the two members of the family were in debt of Rs 1.15 lakh and Rs 88,000 respectively. They were not feeling comfortable to live under the debt. Lack of good farming and low production was causing delay in repaying the loan. Now the entire family is appreciating the step of loan waiver of the state government. Lakhan says that this step of the government has saved us from the crisis.
The Odisha Government has opposed the move of the Union Government to treat Indian Railways like a power distribution company. Energy Secretary Hemant Sharma on behalf of the State Government has presented a memorandum to the Union Government in Ministry of Power in this regard, while urging to shelve such proposal.

Earlier he had raised the issue in recently held All Power Ministers Conference, which was attended by the Ministers and Secretaries of the State Governments. Sharma has pointed out that Centres proposal to treat Indian Railways as Deemed Distribution Licensee shall seriously affect the business model and financials of the DISCOMS.

Odisha has four DISCOMS such as Cesu, Nesco, Southco and Wesco, which are supplying power to Indian Railways as consumer and, accordingly, they have entered into long term power purchase agreements for the requirement of the railways.

Sharma pointed out that under the Electricity Act, 2003, there are certain technical, operational and commercial considerations, which need proper adjudication in matter of Indian Railways to have licence for the distribution and supply of electricity. So, the Indian Railways cannot get such a status and the issue is being contested in different judicial and regulatory forums, pointed out Sharma.

It is relevant to mention that in States like Telengana and Madhya Pradesh, the respective State Electricity Regulatory Commissions have not exempted Indian Railways from payment of cross subsidy surcharges.

The National Electricity Policy lays down that the amount of cross-subsidy surcharge and the additional surcharge to be levied from consumers who are permitted open access. Indian Railways is having open access for power consumption. Accordingly, the State Government has suggested that the decision to consider Indian Railways as a DISCOM is considered to be shelved.

The proposal of Union Government will prove detrimental to the DISCOMs and may not be in the overall interest of the power sector in the country. Raising another issue of importance, Sharma said cess collected by the Union Government on coal used for power stations are not shared by the State, which is producing coal.
To provide better safety for women in the campus, Ranchi University will launch a toll free number for the Womens Grievance Redressal Cell of the university. The toll free number, set to be launched on the occasion of International Womens Day on March 8 is likely to help female students reach out for help without hesitation.

Member secretary of Womens Grievance Redressal Cell, Renu Diwan said, Till date the aggrieved people used to call up on my personal number or give a complaint in writing. Once the toll free number is released, they will have an easier way to lodge their complaints.

The grievance redressal cell does not just get cases from students but also from female teachers. Recently, a female teacher of a constituent college of RU filed a complaint against a male teacher of the same college for passing indecent comments on her.

In another case, few students of another college had lodged a complaint against the principal about him smoking while talking to girls.

In the second case the principal was given a warning and transferred. Most of the cases are about sexual harassment and people passing lewd comments.

We initially try to counsel the people alleged of harassing women but if they do not change, action is taken against them, Diwan said.

At present only the university level complaints are entertained by the cell while the college level complaints are dealt at the respective colleges.

Only those cases which are not solved at college level come to us. However, once the toll free number is launched, cases from colleges can also be registered directly with us and we can follow up with colleges to know whether action is being taken in these cases, Diwan said.

The idea of a toll free number is being appreciated by the students.

When we have a toll free number we would know where to contact in case of emergency. Also, we will not have to run from pillar to post to lodge our complaints, said Manisha Kumari, student of PG department of RU.

Meanwhile, there is also a plan to install eight sanitary pad wending machines at various places in the RU campus on March 8.

While Womens College and Nirmala College have these wending machines, there are no such machines in the university campus.

The machines are being installed on the demand of the new students union as it is the need of the hour, the member secretary said.
In a shocking incident of lawbreakers losing fear of the khaki in the city, unidentified miscreants barged into the Saheed Nagar police station here and ransacked it late on Sunday night. They also severely thrashed on-duty police personnel.

Four police personnel, including police station IIC Biranchi Narayan Pati and an ASI, were injured in the attack.

As per reports, the miscreants had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint, but, instead, they started beating up the on-duty police personnel and also vandalised the police station.

The miscreants broke the flowerpots and pelted stones at the police personnel.

Sources said that three youths on a motorcycle had an accident with a car at VSS Nagar which led to a brawl. Later, the police rushed to the spot and brought the three youths to the police station.

Later, the car owner along with 20 to 25 of his supporters rushed to the police station and attacked the youths, which was protested by the cops. Enraged by this, the miscreants attacked the policemen with iron rods and lathis and also indulged in heavy brick batting in which an ASI suffered head injuries.

The police scutinised the CCTV footages and have identified the miscreants but are yet to make any arrests.

All the miscreants were identified based on a probe initiated by us after verifying the CCTV footages. These kinds of activities wont be tolerated. Stringent action will be taken against all accused, said Police Commissioner Satyajit Mohanty.

However, the targeting of police personnel, who are supposed to provide security to the citizens, has sent shockwaves among the city residents.
With the arrest of four people, the Delhi Police on Monday solved murder mystery of a 25-year-old girl, whose body was found in a sack last week on Wednesday in Sarita Vihar of Delhis South-East area. The accused were also known to the girl and killed her due to their personal enmity with a prisoner lodged in Tihar jail.

The accused have been identified as Dinesh (25), Saurabh Bhardwaj (19), Chanderkesh (30) and Rahimuudin (25) all residents of Delhis Sangam Vihar area.

According to Chinmoy Biswal, the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), South-east district, on February 27, at about 3.40 pm, Sarita Vihar police station was informed about a gunny bag found in suspicious condition near Sarita Vihar U-turn near railway line and on reaching the spot, police found body of a woman with apparent injury marks over the neck, police said.

A mobile phone and a hand-written note were also recovered from the spot. The woman was a resident of Dakshin Puri whose missing report was filed at Ambedkar Nagar police station on February 26. Police collected the hand writing samples from the house of the deceased to match the handwriting of the hand-note which was recovered from the jeans of the woman, said the DCP.

In the note, the woman alleged three persons were responsible for her death. All of them were apprehended and interrogated and they confessed of their crime, he said.
The Delhi Polices massive hunt for the criminals indulging in drug trafficking, led to the arrest of five persons including a woman.

The woman popularly known as Baazi among drug traffickers used to supply heroin to drug peddlers in national Capital and its peripherals.

The special search operations conducted by the sleuths of Delhis Crime Branch at four different locations in Delhi led to the recovery of contraband worth Rs 50 lakhs in International market.

The accused have been identified as Pankaj (31) a resident of Swaroop Vihar, Delhi, Mohammad Iqbal Ali (24) a resident of village Behra in district Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh UP, Sarwar Ali (32) a resident of Jahangir Puri, Delhi, Pradeep Dabas (42) a resident of village Mangolpur Kalan, Delhi and the woman Mehnaaz alias Baazi (37) a resident of village Behra in Bareilly (UP).

According to Dr Ajit Kumar Singla, Additional Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, in first raid conducted in Delhis Bhalswa Diary on February 20, the police arrested Pankaj who used to procure heroin from Baazi of Bareilly, UP and sell it in National Capital.
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CARBO Ceramics Inc., a technology company, provides products and services to the oil and gas, industrial, and environmental markets worldwide. It operates through two segments, Oilfield and Industrial Technologies and Services, and Environmental Technologies and Services. The Oilfield and Industrial Technologies and Services segment manufactures and sells oilfield ceramic technology products, base ceramic proppants, and frac sand proppants to pressure pumping companies, and oil and gas operators for use in the hydraulic fracturing of natural gas and oil wells. It also provides technology to design, build, and optimize the Frac; sells fracture stimulation software under the FracPro brand; and offers fracture design and consulting services to oil and natural gas exploration and production companies under the StrataGen brand name. The Environmental Technologies and Services segment provides spill prevention, containment, and countermeasure systems for the oil and gas industry. CARBO Ceramics Inc. was founded in 1987 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

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John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund is a closed ended equity mutual fund launched and managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC. It is co-managed by John Hancock Asset Management and Analytic Investors, LLC. The fund invests in the public equity markets of the United States. It seeks to invest in stocks of companies operating across diversified sectors, with an emphasis on the utilities sector. The fund primarily invests in dividend-paying common and preferred stocks of companies which have dividends that qualify for a more favorable long-term capital gains tax rate. It invests in stocks of companies across diversified market capitalizations. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against a composite benchmark comprised of 55% Bank of America Merrill Lynch Preferred Stock DRD Eligible Index and 45% S&P 500 Utilities Index. John Hancock Tax-Advantaged Dividend Income Fund was formed on February 27, 2004 and is domiciled in the United States.

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Hong Kong: CE boosts ties in Beijing

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today met China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) Chairman Yi Huiman and Minister of the National Health Commission Ma Xiaowei in Beijing.

The meetings strengthened co-operation with the Mainland in finance and medicine sectors, with the officials exchanging views on follow-up work for the Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

During her meeting with Mr Yi in the morning, Mrs Lam expressed her gratitude to the Central Government and the CSRC for their long-standing support for Hong Kong in consolidating and enhancing its status as an international financial centre and global offshore renminbi business hub.

She noted that the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, the Bond Connect and the Mutual Recognition of Funds arrangement implemented in recent years have deepened Hong Kongs capital markets.

Mrs Lam said as the country continues to promote the opening up of the financial industry and as more RMB assets are included in major international indexes, Hong Kongs capital markets will be able to play a bigger role and make further contributions.

She also expressed the hope that, with the CSRCs support, Hong Kong will contribute to project financing and risk management of the Belt & Road Initiative, as well as better leveraging its financial advantages in the bay area development.

In her afternoon meeting with Mr Ma, Mrs Lam said the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is committed to promoting innovation and technology, adding that healthcare technology has been selected as one of the two research clusters to be set up in the Hong Kong Science Park.

Thanking the health commission for its support and guidance, Mrs Lam said she hopes that an innovation system for collaboration in medical services is made available in the bay area development, including the promotion of clinical medical research.

She added that the HKSAR Government is actively advancing the integration of Chinese medicine into the local healthcare system, so that it will assume a more prominent role in local public health.

She thanked the health commission for its support over the years, adding that Hong Kong will have to draw on the Mainlands experience and strengthen co-operation and exchanges in Chinese medicine-related areas such as hospital design, manpower training and medicine testing.

The Chief Executive also gave interviews to China Central Television, Phoenix TV and people.cn today, and toured the Phoenix International Media Center.

She will attend the opening ceremony of the second session of the 13th National People's Congress tomorrow.

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
The January 5 edition of the South China Morning Post reported that the US passed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) to reaffirm and reassure its allies that America is committed to protecting and promoting democracy in the Asia-Pacific. To do so, America will spend US$1.5 billion annually for five years to show its presence and increase freedom of navigation operations (FNOPs).

The US will also recruit countries in the region and beyond to help keep the East and South China Seas safe for freedom of navigation operations.

Uncle Sam will impose penalties on individuals or countries stealing US technology.

The US claims the ARIA did not specify China, but few if any believe it. Indeed, some analysts even suggest that the act might, in fact, be a new tactic to contain China.

Is China the aggressor in the Asia-Pacific?

Critics and security analysts were quick to point out that the ARIA could be a headache for China. Singapore-based analyst Colin Koh assumed US regional allies would rally to join the US in countering China. Tony Nash, chief of Complete Intelligence, said the act shows the US has friends in the region. Derek Grossman, a senior analyst at the Rand Corporation, suggested the ARIA demonstrates the US commitment in the Asia-Pacific. All three analysts suggested that Asian countries would choose the US over China.

However, the reality on the ground might tell a different story, in that most countries  except for Australia and New Zealand  might, in fact, be wary of US intrusion in the region.

China is the biggest trade partner for most, if not all, countries in the region. Contrary to accusations of China using predatory economics or debt traps to win influence, Chinese investment is largely responsible for the regions relatively high economic growth rates and dynamism. Choosing the US over China amounts to cutting the hand that feeds them.

Contrary to US claims, China has never blocked FNOPs because a big chunk of the US$5 trillion of trade transiting the waterways is Chinese imports and exports. If one bothers to check, FNOPs were never a problem until then-secretary of state Hillary Clinton declared the South China Sea (SCS) a US national interest, even though America is thousands of kilometers away.

Further, history is on Chinas side. The territorial claims were made by past Chinese governments. It was the Nationalist government that drew the Nine Dash Line in the SCS in 1947, two years before the evil communists founded the Peoples Republic of China.

The US was a signatory and major force behind the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations, demanding Japan return all territories it annexed to their rightful owners after World War Two. Although the declarations did not specifically name the Diaoyu Islands (Senkakus to Japan), they are within Taiwans exclusive economic zone. And Taiwan was mentioned.

China was exempted from the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which erased all historical claims because those of China were made long before UNCLOS became effective.

According to Singaporean political observer Chua Chin Leng, the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that ruled against China is not affiliated with the UN, but an administrative organization having permanent resources to settle disputes between two parties. He dismissed the PCA as a US-inspired kangaroo court whose ruling was rejected not only by China but Taiwan as well.

Han Dongping, a professor at Warren Wilson College in the US, concurred. He claimed that the PCA existed only because it serves the USs interest. Ruling against China did just that, giving legitimate cover to US meddling in the SCS.

In light of Taiwan siding with the mainland government to reject the PCA ruling, no future government  Communist, Nationalist or multi-party democracies  will recognize claims within the Nine Dash Line.

Asian countries unwilling to join US

It is difficult to fathom why any Asian nation, including Australia and New Zealand, would side with the US to contain China, being fully aware that siding with America could risk their economic well-being and security.

A proxy war between China and the US would be fought in the South or East China Sea, crushing the neighborhood like two elephants on a rampage.

Because of national interest risks, the majority of businesses and people in the region would likely oppose any formal alliance with the US. Indeed, the opposition to join the US is already in motion, in that businesses are forcing the anti-China Abe government in Japan to seek rapprochement with its neighbor.

Even US businesses are urging their government to cooperate with rather than fight China. The latest is Apple, which has lost almost 10% of its value because the Chinese are switching from iPads and iPhones to Chinese-made electronic gadgets. Apple is losing its shine because its products are overpriced and overrated, although the economy slowing down played a role.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states, including ones making territorial claims against China, have agreed to establish a code of conduct on the SCS and platforms to jointly develop the region. India seems to be walking away from the Quad proposal, seeking closer economic and security relations with China.

Vietnam has no reason to love America after it relentlessly bombed the country, killing hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese over a lie. In light of reports of American soldiers committing crimes, it is also doubtful that the majority of South Korean and Japanese people want their countries to host US military bases.

In short, few if any countries in the region want to choose sides. They only want to left alone to develop their economies and improve their peoples lives, preferring to settle territorial claims with China through dialogue.

Past US attempts

Past US attempts to contain China failed miserably. The pivot to Asia was largely responsible for China building islands to reinforce its claims. US FNOPS caused China to install military assets on the islands. Senior US officials warnings of Chinese predatory economic practices and aggression culminated in more Chinese investment and were largely ignored. The list goes on.

In this regard, there is no reason to believe ARIA will be anymore successful. The fact of the matter is that China is too big and strong to be coerced. The latest FNOP was conducted by the USS Campbell in Chinas exclusive economic zone. The destroyer was quickly chased away by Chinese forces. It would seem that China is determined to defend its core interests, with force if necessary.

Besides, it is doubtful that China did what the US claims: stealing US technology, practicing predatory economics, and other evil deeds.

Ken Moak Ken Moak taught economic theory, public policy and globalization at university level for 33 years. He co-authored a book titled Chinas Economic Rise and Its Global Impact in 2015. HIs second book, Developed Nations and the Economic Impact of Globalization, was just published by Palgrave McMillan Springer.
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Past Event - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 This page may be updated if the event is repeated

Help fund research to find a cure for juvenile diabetes

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JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research worldwide.
With DBIL, DBS will accelerate its growth plans, expand its operations and build greater scale in India through a phygital model to further serve large corporates, SMEs and individual customers.

Mumbai: Singapore headquartered DBS Bank on Monday announced the launch of its locally incorporated wholly owned subsidiary, DBS Bank India (DBIL) along with plans to scale up operations. The bank intends to establish over 100 customer touch points a combination of branches and kiosksacross 25 cities in the next 12-18 months. Currently the bank operates out of 12 cities and in March this year, it would open 9 branches.

With DBIL, DBS will accelerate its growth plans, expand its operations and build greater scale in India through a phygital model to further serve large corporates, SMEs and individual customers.

We felt that a presence in 12 cities is not enough and therefore applied for subsidiarisation to expand. Currently our balance sheet is `50,000 crore and we intend to triple it in the next five years, said Surojit Shome, CEO of DBS Bank India.

Currently the business is skewed more toward corporate loans while consumer business is less than 10 per cent and the aim is to get the share of retail business, both on liability plus asset side, to about 30 per cent of our revenue and profitability. In the next three years, corporate loans would constitute 40 per cent, while SME and consumer loans would be 30 per cent each added Shome.

DBS Bank so far has put in Rs 7,700 of capital, including Rs 1,800 crore it invested in calendar 2018 and would be spending another Rs 125-150 crore in expanding the network.

Speaking about profitability Shome said, Last year we had a loss while this year we hope to close the year with a marginal profit and from hereon our profitability will go up and in the next 5-7 years we could catch up with the Groups return on equity level.
Mumbai: Tiger Shroff, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Saturday, has been faring well in both his professional and personal life. With Baaghi 2 being a spectacular success last year, his career path seems bright and is lined up with a number of projects including the much awaited Karan Johars Student Of The Year 2.

While most of the shooting of Student Of The Year 2 is completed, Tiger is yet to shoot a dance number with Alia Bhatt who will be making a cameo appearance. Weve just one more song to shoot. Its the introductory song. And I guess it will be spectacular. How could it be otherwise, when it is (Karan Johars) Dharma Production? Tiger wonders rhetorically. He further adds that he does not know the details of the song, but assures the shooting will be fun.

While the first film of the Student Of The Year franchise saw Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan, and Sidharth Malhotra as debutants, the second film will also see Ananya Pandey and Tara Sutaria debuting as the two leads along with Tiger. Talking about stepping in the shoes of the actors of the first film, Tiger reveals, It was enjoyable. There was also a lot of pressure on the three of us, especially the two new girls Ananya and Tara who have Alia Bhatt from the first Student Of The Year to be compared with. Both the girls have worked hard. Hopefully, we will encore the success of the first film of the frothy franchise.

Additionally, Tiger has also been shooting for an action film with Hrithik Roshan. Audience can expect both the expected that is a lot of action featuring Hrithik sir and I  and the unexpected. I cant reveal more about the film, not even its title because we dont have any as yet, reveals the tight-lipped actor. Its no secret that Tiger has always idolised Hrithik, and now that he is starring in a movie with him, he cant stop gushing. Shooting with my idol Hrithik sir has been an experience that I will never forget. He lived up to all the expectations, and then some more. He spent a lot of time, sharing his experiences with me. I came away enriched.

Tigers next project will be Baaghi 3. The plot is in place, and of course Ahmed (Khan) sir is directing it. The pressure to deliver another high-octane action film after the first two Baaghi films is immense. All I can tell you is, we are trying our best, he says.

Despite the busy schedule, Tiger will also be squeezing in another action film Rambo which is an official remake of the Sylvester Stallone franchise. Talking about it, he reveals, Its a remake of Rambo. Sylvester Stallone tweeted about it. Would he make a guest appearance in our film? That would be a dream come true!

There isnt the slightest doubt that the actor has set himself up with some ambitious projects, but when it comes to the ambitions of the heart, he chooses to tease rather than confirm his relationship with former co-star Disha Patani. Well, we are seen together at restaurants for dinner and for coffee. She is a dear friend and we do go out together. Beyond that, let people speculate. Some amount of speculation is good, he signs off.
Mumbai: Salman Khan's protege Zaheer Iqbal who is all set to step his feet in Bollywood, expressed his experience of being mentored by none other than Superstar Salman Khan himself.

The debutant actor has received a warm welcome by the audience, critics as well as the industry insiders ever since the trailer released.

Talking about the character in Notebook, Zaheer shared, "So my character in the film Notebook, Kabir is completely different from the way I am in real life. Kabir is not very confident, he is not very outgoing. He is more like an introvert person and I think these characteristics can be seen in a person's body language very easily. The way they walk, for example, the person who is confident enough they would usually walk upright with their legs more wider, shoulders up face is straight up etc.. here the case was different, I had to make sure that I walk descent and not show more confidence in my body language to portray Kabir".

Giving insights into his transformation to slip into the character, Zaheer said, "As a part of my 3 months workshop with Hemant Kher and Nitin sir prior to the film I had to make sure that I change my body language completely according to Kabir's characteristic. I had to change the way I hug the way I walk I sit I had to change entirely. In my voice tone, I had to change as I could not be as loud as I am in real life I could not be as expressive as I am in real life and all of this has become possible because Nitin sir was very much clear about the character exactly what the character would and would not do and that's what made it slightly easier for me to learn and change myself".

After assisting on several films, Zaheer Iqbal bagged the role of Kabir in Notebook with the well wishes of Salman Khan. Talking about his mentor Salman Khan Zaheer expressed his feelings, " I learned how to deconstruct myself for the character. Salman Sir has trained me enough for all the possible roles in the future I would do and to last long in the industry".

Notebook has been shot in the exquisite valleys of Kashmir bringing the authentic love story of two lovers Firdaus and Kabir, along with a strong support cast with the child artists, who play a vital role on the story.

Helmed by Nitin Kakkar, Notebook is presented by Salman Khan Films and is a Cine1 Studios Production. It is produced by Salma Khan, Murad Khetani and Ashwin Varde and is all set to hit the screens on 29th March 2019.
Mumbai: Actress Pranutan who is all set to mark her Bollywood debut with Salman Khan's Notebook visited Kashmir for the first time during the shoot of her debut film.

Granddaughter of veteran actress Nutan, the debutante is a lawyer by profession. The actress who visited Kashmir for the first time during the shoot is smitten by the beauty of the place.

Pranutan who belongs from an educational background, her first working tour to Kashmir with the crew filled her with the positive aura and energy that the place has. Pranutan was enthralled to witness the heaven like view of Kashmir, she visited the place even before she started her shoot.

Talking about Kashmir the actress says, "I was bowled over not just by the beauty of the place, but also by the people who are extremely caring and hospitable. In October we did a workshop for 10 days with kids and other members of the cast. We connected on another level. The Kashmiri actors would go out of the way to give me cues, help me out, and do the scenes. I think there was a lot of positive energy for the film".

Notebook has been shot in the exquisite valleys of Kashmir bringing the authentic love story of two lovers Firdaus and Kabir, along with a strong support cast with the child artists, who play a vital role on the story.

Helmed by Nitin Kakkar, Notebook is presented by Salman Khan Films and is a Cine1 Studios Production. It is produced by Salma Khan, Murad Khetani and Ashwin Varde and is all set to hit the screens on 29th March 2019.
The official announcement about Alis candidature is due any moment now and in the meantime, the actor has already kick-started his publicity campaign in east Guntur.

Initially, the actor was expected to contest from Rajahmundry. However, the party has now allotted him to east Guntur. With this, the speculations about him switching parties also come to an end.

Interestingly, Pawan Kalyan and Ali have been good friends for many years now. And although Pawan Kalyan is aware that Ali is going to contest on a Telugu Desam Party ticket, the actor hasnt complained and wants to keep their friendship separate from politics. Recently, a picture of the actor with YS Jagan Mohan Reddy made the rounds on social media. This caused a widespread assumption that the actor might switch to YSRCP.

Ali and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy were traveling on the same flight and also on the same bus from the flight to the airport terminal. Someone may have clicked a picture of them and uploaded it on social media, which caused many to speculate about the possibility that the actor might be joining YSRCP. However, that is clearly not the case, says a source close to the actor.

Besides, Ali has known YS Rajasekhar Reddys family for a long time. Because Ali had lived in the vicinity of YS Rajasekhar Reddys residence for a long time, they would meet casually sometimes. That is when he got to know the rest of his family as well. So he spoke to YS Jagan in good spirit, thats all, added the source.

There is one more reason that the party has asked the comedian to contest from east Guntur. Majority people in this area belong to the Muslim community, so it definitely helps Ali, added the source. When we contacted Ali for his comments, he said, I respect the partys decision and am willing to contest from wherever the party would like me to.
Rudin, an Oscar-winning film producer argued that Lee signed over to him exclusive worldwide rights to the title of the novel. (Photo: AP)

Los Angeles: The dozens of community and non-profit theatres across the US forced to abandon productions of To Kill a Mockingbird under legal threat were offered an olive branch in the form of Aaron Sorkins script for the Broadway version.

Scott Rudin, producer of the New York adaptation of Harper Lees novel, had cited an agreement with Lees estate in demanding that what he called improperly licensed productions be shut down. Following a backlash in recent days, Rudin said the theatre companies could perform the Sorkin play as long as they use his adaptation.

The offer is intended to ameliorate the hurt caused here, Rudin said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. For these theatres, this is the version that can be offered to them, in concert with our agreement with Harper Lee. We hope they will choose to avail themselves of the opportunity. Maybe, maybe not, said the artistic executive director of one of the affected theatres.

We are interested in the offer and intrigued, said Seth Miller of the Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City. But Rudin has yet to respond to questions that would need to be answered first, including how long the offer is good for, Miller said Saturday.

At this point, he said, its too late to stage it during the plays allotted three-week run, which was to begin March 26. Miller said he has yet to see the Sorkin version and would have to evaluate the script before making a decision.

Ive heard good things about the show, Ive heard people that werent thrilled with some of the changes, Miller said. Im not going to commit to doing something I havent read.

Rudin, an Oscar-winning film producer (No Country for Old Men), had argued that Lee signed over to him exclusive worldwide rights to the title of the novel and that Rudins current adaptation is the only version allowed to be performed. Lee died in 2016 at age 89.

Rudins demand forced the scuttling of adaptations in small venues such as the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and the Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo, New York, as well as in Salt Lake City and a planned United Kingdom and Ireland tour. They had licensed the rights for a different version, written by Christopher Sergel and licensed by the Dramatic Publishing Company, or DPC.

The all-volunteer Curtain Call Theatre in Braintree, Massachusetts, said it received a letter threatening damages of up to $150,000, a burdensome amount for a venue where tickets for plays are $20 and $25 for musicals. The Grand Theatres estimated loss is $20,000, a considerable sum for a community theatre, Miller said. Options are being weighed to fill the Mockingbird run.

Rudin had defended his original position in a recent statement: We hate to ask anybody to cancel any production of a play anywhere, but the productions in question as licensed by DPC infringe on rights licensed to us by Harper Lee directly, he said. The Sergel play can contractually continue to be performed under set guidelines as described in detail in its own agreement with Harper Lee  and as long as those guidelines are adhered to, we have no issue with the play having a long life.
Paris: Many guests invited to the Elie Saab show were held up by snaking traffic caused by the yellow vest demonstrations in Paris that began by the nearby Arc de Triomphe. But the display, held at the exclusive Hotel Salomon de Rothschild, started almost on time and without incident.

Paris Fashion Federation has held top level meetings with police to assess the threat of any potential disruption to shows, especially because luxury Parisian boutiques were smashed in previous marches. No major incident has yet occurred.

Some guests gasped as shouts erupted on the street ahead of the show  but the fracas, it transpired, came from excited fans of VIP attendees who included American socialite Olivia Palermo.

This is the second time Paris Fashion Week has coincided with the protests. Activists argue the French political system is stacked in favour of the elite and big businesses. An infectious, retro soundtrack had fashion editors smiling as their tapped their feet at Elie Saabs fun collection that channelled this seasons top trend: The 70s.

Bright lighting banished any grey mood caused by the French capitals overcast weather and angry demonstrations. It illuminated a typically-feminine array of colour-rich gowns.

Charlies Angels-style jabot collars and high necks led the eye down to tight-fitting dresses with floppy ruffles across the bust or down the side. Later, sparkly disco gowns dazzled.

Thigh-high leather boots  another big Paris trend  were delivered in eye-popping colors such as vivid blue, carmine red and cadmium green. They matched the hues of the gowns in a total look effect.

The collection, the house said, was filled with a little bit of romance and a whole lot of love. That mantra translated as an overly busy heart print on skirts and gowns that diverged from the retro musing and fared less well.
Recently, on a dating website, independent researcher Koonal Duggal stumbled upon a profile that had a man looking for someone from the scheduled chamar caste.

Koonal contacted the man online, only to learn something that further anguished him. On questioning, he said he was looking specifically for someone who could do dirty sex, the speaker recalled at a discussion organised as part of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale. Such a search is de-humanising.

The story didnt end there. For, the man on the portal countered Koonal by saying that he meant only a type of sex he associated with people from an oppressed caste. Koonal summarised the damage of the pervasive idea that a Dalit can do all dirty things.

The anecdote was shared at an interactive session organised at the biennales main Aspinwall House venue in Fort Kochi on Sunday evening. The hour-long discussion titled Disidentifications: Conversations on Everyday Caste and Queerness at the exhibit space of artist Aryakrishnan R. was addressed also by queer Dalit activist Aleena Akashamittayi.

A third panelist, intersex activist Chinju Ashwathi, could not turn up at the event as she was attacked by an unidentified person at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. Chinju is the first intersex person to be represented on Keralas State Transgender Justice Board.

The Sunday event focusing on Dalit queer and transgender people was hosted as a platform for public discourse on gender fluidity and caste.

Koonal, who is working on a project awarded by Sher-Gil Sundaram Art Foundation and Asia Art Archive Grant for histories of ideas, art writing and visual culture, said certain myths associated with caste continued to plague society. Growing up in the 1980s and 90s, it did take a while for us to understand (the dynamics of caste and gender), he added.

Aleena, addressing the gathering at Aryakrishnans exhibition space that is a tribute to queer rights activist Sweet Maria who was murdered in Kerala seven years ago, noted that Dalits had always been kept away from the mainstream in multiple ways. When people get to know you are queer as well, the troubles get worse, she added.

Kerala, like the rest of India, has historically suppressed Dalits. Untouchability continues to be practised today  even in urban areas, though in forms less direct, she said. It is only that now they just have found new ways.

The speaker noted that society forces one to use the caste tag. She spoke of a general trend in the fields of education and employment, where even though we will qualify in the merit quota, we are forced to get a seat under SC/ST category.

Koonal recalled an incident when his professor asked him why he did not apply through quota, noting that another student could have anyway enrolled in the general category. It seemed like they want fewer Dalit students, he added.

Delhi-based Malayali Aryakrishnans biennale work, Sweet Maria Monument, addresses queer and gender issues through creation of a communal space for reflection. The space houses a growing and ephemeral archive that recounts the experiences and life of his friend, Maria, who was an outspoken transgender activist.
Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman as he is released by Pakistan authorities at Wagah border on the Pakistani side, Friday, March 1, 2019. (Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan, conveyed to the IAF brass that he wants to return to the cockpit as soon as possible, officials said Sunday.

For the last two days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here.

Varthaman told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest, the officials told PTI.

On Wednesday, he became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force. Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dogfight.

He returned to India to a heros welcome on Friday night.

His health condition is being monitored by a group of doctors at the Armys Research and Referral hospital, the officials said.

The efforts have been to ensure that he returns to the cockpit soon, said a military official.

The officials said Varthaman has been in high spirits despite the harassment he suffered in Pakistan.

Varthaman arrived in the national capital on an IAF flight around 11:45 pm Friday, nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed over to India through the Attari-Wagah border.

The IAF pilot was first taken to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), a compact and specialised medical evaluation centre for aircrew of all the three services.

Later he was brought to the Armys Research and Referral hospital. After he was captured, Varthaman showed courage and grace in handling the most difficult circumstances for which he was praised by politicians, strategic affairs experts, ex-servicemen, celebrities and people in general.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa met Varthaman separately on Saturday during which he apprised them about the mental trauma he was subjected to during his captivity in Pakistan.

During the meeting, the defence minister commended him on his valour and expressed the nations gratitude for his selfless service.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on Wednesday. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.

The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 soldiers.
Ahluwalia reiterated that neither government officials nor any minister has given out a figure of the casualties. (Photo: Facebook)

Kolkata: Union Minister SS Ahluwalia has said that the aim of the Indian Air Force strike in Pakistan's Balakot was to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines and did not intend to inflict "any human casualty".

Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of the IAF air strikes. Rather, it was the media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorist killed were being circulated, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modi ji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modi ji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask if Modi ji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figures?" Ahluwalia told reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The minister of state for electronics and information technology said the intention of the strike was to send out a message that India is capable of destruction in Pakistan's own backyard if needed. "We didn't want any human casualty," he said.

Minister of State in Modi's cabinet, SS Ahluwalia is saying @narendramodi or @AmitShah never claimed that our #AirStrikes killed 300+ Terrorists & we didnt want any "Human Casualties". Is the Govt now backtracking from its claims that they took out a Terrorist Camp in Pakistan? pic.twitter.com/nstgsWF6sZ  CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) March 2, 2019

A video of Ahluwalia's comments in Bengali was posted by the CPM on its Twitter handle.

Ahluwalia reiterated that neither government officials nor any minister has given out a figure of the casualties.

"I was asked whether I stand by the government's statement or by the reports of Indian media which have said 300-350 terrorists were killed. I stand by the government's statement. How can I vouch for media reports?" he said.
There was no official word on Azhar's fate from the Pakistan government. (Photo: File)

Lahore/New Delhi: India's most wanted terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is "alive", a Pakistani media report said on Sunday, quoting unnamed sources close to his family.

The media reports claiming that JeM leader is dead are false, Geo Urdu News reported.

The report came amid speculation on social media that JeM founder has died.

However, there was no official confirmation.

Quoting unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief, the channel said Azhar is "alive", without elaborating on his health condition.

There was no official word on Azhar's fate from the Pakistan government.

"I don't know anything at this moment," Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told PTI, when asked about media reports claiming death of Azhar.

A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000.

The 50-year-old Azhar, who was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike.

Meanwhile, Intelligence agencies in New Delhi were trying to ascertain reports on the social media about the death of Azhar in Pakistan.

The Indian officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.

Jaish terror group's Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was targeted by the IAF in an air strike last week, following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The Indian government has claimed that it achieved a spectacular success by destroying the facility.

In an interview to CNN, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in his country and is "very unwell", but said the government can act against him only if India presents "solid" and "inalienable" evidence that can stand in a court of law.

"He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can''t leave his house, because he's really unwell," Shah Mehmood Qureshi said.

The US, the UK and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The proposal was moved Wednesday by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council. The Security Council Sanctions Committee will have 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three permanent members.
Shah spoke about the two major terror strikes of the last five years and outlined the central government's response against them. (Photo: ANI)

Ahmedabad: BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday said over 250 terrorists were killed in the airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the "13th day of dastardly Pulwama Terror attack."

Addressing the Lakshya JITO program here, Shah spoke about the two major terror strikes of the last five years and outlined the central government's response against them.

"In 5 years two major incidents happened...In URI and Pulwana.....after Uri attack our army entered Pakistan and did a surgical strike and took revenge of our soldiers' death."

"After Pulwama attack, everyone thought surgical strike can't be done this time..now what will happen?... At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government did an airstrike on the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists without any harm on our side," Shah said.

On February 28, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the government to spell out "details" of the exact place where the air raid was carried out and the casualties inflicted, stating that international media claimed that there was no damage in the strike.

In the wee hours of February 26, the anti-terror operations carried out by the IAF targeted camps of dreaded terror outfitJaish-e-Mohammedin Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A day later, on February 27, India foiled an attempt by Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir by shooting down an F-16 fighter jet.
'I had said that he (the pilot) joined the IAF during our tenure. I had only stated the truth,' he told reporters. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Former Union minster and Congress leader Salman Khurshid said IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman earned his flying badge in 2004 and matured as a fighter pilot during the UPA rule, remarks which attracted criticism on the social media.

Many kudos for Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the face of Indias resistance to enemy aggression. Great poise and confidence in face of adversity. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA, Khurshid tweeted Saturday.

Many kudos for Wing Commander abhi Varthaman the face of Indias resistance to enemy aggression. Great poise and confidence in face of adversity. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA  Salman Khurshid (@salman7khurshid) March 2, 2019

After attracting criticism on the social media for taking credit, Khurshid Sunday said that he had only stated the truth.

I had said that he (the pilot) joined the IAF during our tenure. I had only stated the truth, he told reporters.

After being held in captivity for nearly 60 hours, Wing Commander Abhinandan was released by Pakistan and handed over to India at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday night.

Days after Pulwama attack of February 14, which left 40 CRPF personnel dead, the Indian Air Force carried out an air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp inside Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to bomb Indian military installations on Wednesday morning. The attempt was foiled by the Indian Air Force. In an ensuing dogfight, Varthamans MiG-21 was shot down after he brought down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet.
This is the second drone which has been shot down. The first drone was shot down on the morning of February 26 after it intruded Indian air space in Kutch district of Gujarat. (Photo: Representational)

New Delhi: Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft on Monday shot down Pakistani drone opposite the Bikaner-Nal sector in Rajasthan using its air-to-air missile.

The Su-30 aircraft was scrambled after the Pakistani drone was detected entering the Indian air space to survey the Indian Defence positions in the desert sector, sources said.

The ground radars stationed there had seen the drone on the radar first.

This is the second drone which has been shot down since the Indian Air Force carried out air strikes Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26.

The first drone was shot down on the morning of February 26 after it intruded Indian air space in Kutch district of Gujarat.

The drone was downed by the Spyder air defence system using its Derby missile.
But, the buffalo meat requires 16,840 cubic metres of water to produce one tonne of meat and sheep/ goat meat requires 11,879 metres cube of water to produce one-tonne meat.

CHENNAI: India, one of the biggest beef and rice exporters of the world, is exporting 162 tmc ft of water every year in virtual form, researchers found out in a new study.

As one of the measures to save depleting groundwater resources in the country, the researchers from Anna University have suggested the scaling down of the export of beef, rice, maize and other items to conserve groundwater.

By using the data of exports and imports of food and livestock products of India, the researchers studied the virtual water trade from 2006 to 2016.

The study on Temporal variation in export and import of virtual water through popular crop and livestock products by India was sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.

It was found that India has exported 496.7 billion cubic meters of virtual water (the water required or consumed in the production of goods) during the study period.

It has imported 237 billion cubic metres of water by importing products such as cashew nuts, pulses from 2006 to 2016.

On an average, India exported every year 49.79 billion cubic metres of virtual water (162 tmcft).

It also imported 23.72 billion cubic metres of water (77.8 tmc ft), thus becoming a net exporter with an average of 25.9 billion cubic metres of virtual water (roughly 84 tmcft) every year.

The maximum export of virtual water was mainly through rice, maize and buffalo meat while the imports were through cashews, pulses and wheat. The rest of the food items contributing negligible amounts, Professor L. Elango from Anna University and leading researcher of the study said.

Among the agricultural products, coffee and walnut, pulses and groundnuts, rice, maize and wheat require more water to get yield per one tonne. But, the buffalo meat requires 16,840 cubic metres of water to produce one tonne of meat and sheep/ goat meat requires 11,879 metres cube of water to produce one-tonne meat.

Though the water products for the crops is very high, the water requirement for producing meat and processed products consumes 5 to 20 times more virtual water per kg for compared to crop products. The water consumed by the animal from the day it is born until its slaughter is high which includes the water required for producing its feed, drinking, cleaning and servicing the land where the animal was raised, researchers pointed out in the article published in a leading journal Groundwater for Sustainable Development recently.

The per capita availability of surface water would considerably be reduced from 1902 cubic metre in 2001 to 1401 cubic metre in 2025 and 1191 cubic metre in 2050. The use of groundwater for agricultural and farming purposes is about 85% and the remaining only is used for industrial and domestic purposes. Hence, it is important to reduce the export of products including rice, maize and buffalo meat which requires more water. The other way to reduce the export of water in virtual form from India is through the production of food products by water efficient methods, Professor Elango said.

Water efficient methods include effective irrigation techniques, proper irrigation scheduling, suitable crop selection according to the land, climate conditions and using alternative sources of water for irrigation. Judicious mixing and growing of different crops with lower water demand at the national level need to be taken up to reduce the export of virtual water from India, especially in the current scenario of wide-scale depletion in groundwater resources and climate change induced rainfall variability, Professor Elango said.

Erratic monsoons, droughts, floods, increase in population, increase in mean atmospheric temperature and depletion of groundwater resources will intimidate food and livestock production. Here, the need to keep up with the demand for export the producers will be forced to increase groundwater exploitation which will threaten the sustainable goals of the country, the researchers warned in their study. This study will enable the water managers of the country to prioritise the export and import of products by considering virtual water form which will result in sustainable management of groundwater resources which is under threat in India.
Alappuzha: The sponsors of banned Chooral Muriyal ritual are luring parents of children to pierce their bodies with huge amounts of money.

Local people say they offer as high as `70 lakh as Dakshina and 26 kids are ready to undergo the painful ritual on March 11.

The parents receive money during the handing over ceremony at the Chettikulangara temple. They started bringing their kids to the temple from 6 pm on Monday.

They were first taken to the temple pond for a bath, made to wear a white dhoti, garlanded and handed over with the blessings of priests. DC was able to film the act of cash exchange between sponsors and parents in front of the temple.

While handing over ceremony was progressing right in front of the temple, a lady who held a wad of currency notes was seen fearlessly giving it to guardians of the kid she bought.

Most of them seemed to belong to underprivileged families, and both kids and parents looked tense as the ceremony took place. Some stood sombre, letting their kids to be taken away. The ceremony lasted till 9 pm.

These kids henceforth will be kept in isolation at the residence of the sponsor for seven days. All these days the Asans (masters) will engage in squeezing their flanks so that they could pierce the needle easily. Apart from this, they will be part of fasting and several other rigorous rituals.

Though DC tried to ask questions to the parents who left kids in turn, they refused to reveal either their bane or address. They appeared tutored by the Asans with the offer of inducements including cash, gold ornaments and garments.

These kids will miss the school for a week, local people say. "This regressive ritual survives in this modern age due to the lust for money of people, despite a High Court ban," one of them said insisting anonymity. "The irony is that no children from the sponsors family will be used for this purpose."

There was a Devaprasnam (a ritual to know the will of the deity) a couple of years ago which concluded that the children should be a blood relation. But, it has never been followed. "The organisers dont want to stop this as its a money-spinning business. Nowadays, the devotees found no difficulty to get children," he said."And there is social taboo still exists in the society that the children once used for this ritual will lose their grace."
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday clarified that he meant that if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference during the dogfight between MiG-21 Bison and F16 which had intruded into Indian airspace. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved, said the Prime Minister while addressing a gathering in Jamnagar.

On why the MiG-21 Bison used in the dogfight with Pakistans intruding aircraft, IAF chief asserted the aircraft was in the IAFs inventory and when an adversary attacks you, every available aircraft goes. The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles, he said.

The Rafale jet should come into Indias inventory by September, the Air Force chief said.

Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets.

The IAF chief told reporters the Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet if he was fit. We dont take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot, he said.

Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG-21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and released on March 1.

Whether he flies again or not depends upon his medical fitness. Post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment is required, we will give it to him. Once he gets the medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit, he said.

The IAF chief further said If he is fit to fly a fighter, then he will go back soon. If he is not fit to fly, he will become a low medical category till the time he gets his currency. He will then go back when he gets his fighter currency back.
New Delhi: Amid political debate heating up over the success of the air strikes against Jaish-e-Mohammads terror camp in Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa said on Monday that Indian Air Force (IAF) doesnt calculate number of casualties and it is for government to provide details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

The IAF chief asserted that a MiG-21 Bison indeed shot down a Pakistan Air Forces F-16. He also said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet only if he is medically fit as emergency ejection from aircraft takes a toll on your body.

We hit our target. The Air Force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that, he said. The IAF chief said that bomb damage assessment that is done after a mission only calculates whether targets have been hit or not. We cant count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. We see if we have hit the target or not, he said.

If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would Pakistan have responded. If we had dropped bombs in the jungle, there would be no need to respond, he said.

He also said that the operation is still on. I will not comment on the ongoing operations because they are still ongoing, he said.

BJP president Amit Shah had said that 250 terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by the IAF.

Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu have sought proof of IAFs strike destroying the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot, Pakistan and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising terror.

The IAF chief declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modis statement that Rafale would have a made a difference.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi recently discussed the issue regarding regularisation with chief secretary S.K. Joshi and informed him about the fixation of new rates for regularisation of occupants.

Hyderabad: Families of soldiers in the erstwhile Nizams Army are yet to realise their dream of owning the quarters in which they have been residing for over half a century.

More than 500 families reside in quarters located in five prime areas of the city Banjara Darwaza (Golconda), Band Lanes (Nampally), Mohammadi Lanes, Masab Lanes (Asifnagar) and AC Guards (Asifnagar)  at concessional rents.

The issue of transferring property rights arises in the election season when politicians and bureaucrats show interest. Once elections are over, the issue is not taken up for the next five years. After the merger of Hyderabad State with the Union, Hyderabad Army units were disbanded and the soldiers of the Nizams Army who were not required for defence purposes were temporarily allowed to reside in the quarters.

The Hyderabad administration surveyed these areas and identified 285 occupants as authorised and 452 as unauthorised, bringing the number to 737.

Several public representatives and residents of the areas, who were in possession of these lands along with structures for the last few decades had approached the government for regularisation of their occupation on payment of nominal amount to enable them to have a clear title over the land.

The government decided to consider the cases of all occupants in the above five areas under the provisions of G.O. Ms No. 166, revenue (POT) department, dated February 16, 2008 and transfer the rights of the properties occupied in favour of the occupants and their legal heirs subject to payment of the value as fixed by government in the above G.O.

The Government then issued GO Ms. No. 264 on February 24, 2009 to regulate the occupations of the former military quarters of the Nizams along with the site to the original solders or their kith and kin as per the rate fixed under GO Ms. No. 166.

Unfortunately, GO No. 166 was challenged in the High Court and government has withdrawn it, but the High Court did not suspend the regularisation of these areas. Regularisation at Mohammadi Lanes was held up in GO No. 264 due to objections from military officials.

According to residents of these quarters, different rates were fixed based on the locality and occupied extent. They complained that though the occupants had already paid the fixed amount, the matter is still pending as officials have adopted dilatory tactics. They said that the titles were not transferred to them, but lands of others who had either encroached government land or purchased lands without proper documents were regularised under GO No. 166 and they were enjoying the properties.

Meanwhile, government issued various orders in connection with the regularisation of the occupants and fixation of rates.

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had recently discussed the matter with chief secretary S.K. Joshi and informed him about the fixation of new rates for regularisation of occupants. He asked the chief secretary to treat these occupants as a special case and transfer the property on the old rates.

Residents of these quarters were taken aback when they came to know about the enhancements in the regularisation amount.

They asked government not to treat them as illegal occupants or grabbers as their elders served the state and could not get the benefits of retirement while their Army units were disbanded.
Guwahati: The deputy national security advisor and Prime Ministers special envoy for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, said on Monday that the Naga peace talks were in the concluding stage and the ball was in the court of the Naga groups, adding if they reciprocate with pragmatic flexibility, the final agreement could be signed any day.

In an exclusive interview to this newspaper, Mr Ravi said, The government has made its position clear on all the issues to the Naga negotiators, now it is on them to take a call.

Admitting that the dem-and for a separate Naga flag and constitution had delayed the signing of the final agreement, Mr Ravi said the government of India was ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the Naga constitution.

During his recent visit to Nagaland, all the stakeholders including civil society groups and all the legislators had fully been briefed on peace talks, Mr Ravi said.
New Delhi: War of words intensified after Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying over the inauguration of an ordnance unit in the Congress presidents parliamentary constituency Amethi.

Union minister Smriti Irani hit back saying Mr Gandhi is scared and could not see that the new facility in Korwa area of Amethi was a joint venture between India and Russia which will manufacture AK-203 rifles for armed forces.

Prime Minister ji, I had myself laid the foundation stone of the ordinance factory in Amethi in 2010. In the last many years, small weapons are being manufactured there....You went to Amethi yesterday and lied, which you are used to doing. Are you not ashamed a bit, Mr Gandhi asked in a tweet.

His attack came a day after Mr Modi accused the Congress president of lying and ignoring the ordinance factory in Amethi, and had a dig at him, saying the rifles manufactured at the unit will be known as Made in Amethi.

Soon after Mr Gandhis tweet, the Union minister, who had unsuccessfully contested from the constituency in the 2014 general election, responded in Hindi on Twitter.

You are scared to see development in Amethi, that you did not see what was inaugurated in Korwa was a JV. Under this agreement between India and Russia, AK-203 rifles will be manufactured, she said, tagging Mr Gandhi in the tweet.

On Sunday, in Amethi, the Prime Minister had said that some people go around giving speeches of made in Ujjain, made in Jaipur, made in Jaisalmer. This is Modi. Now 'Made in Amethi' will be AK-203 rifles.
Vijayawada: TD president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was on Monday closeted with Advocate General Dammalapati Srinivas and DGP R.P. Thakur to reportedly discuss the implications of the case that was booked by Telangana police regarding the data of AP voters.

Later in the evening, Mr Naidu said on Twitter that the data was the property of the Telugu Desam and he would not spare anyone who had stolen it. He said the Telangana government would have to pay a heavy price for the crime being committed on the TD. Their roots will be shaken, he said.

Earlier, at a teleconference with party cadre, Mr Naidu said the TD had built the databank over the years since the 1990s. The TD data includes the welfare details and insurance data of the cadres. This is partys hard-earned data over last 24 years and a reflection of our hard work. By 1984 itself, we had computerised details of our 6 lakh cadres, he explained to party workers.

In 1995, we have started e-Seva and Mee Seva centres. Over last two-and-a-half decades, the state leadership and cadres worked hard and this data is the reflection of every bit of that effort. This data belongs to the Telugu Desam. Its the sole property of our 70 lakh cadres. No government has the right to steal our data, Mr Naidu said.

You can copy our data. But this data theft by opponents will have serious consequences. We will take action against this heinous act. Data is property of an individual, property an organisation. We will file complaint with Central Election Commission against data theft, he added.

The removal of votes was KCR technology in the last election, Mr Naidu said, referring to the deletion of about voters names in the Telangana state elections.

The Bihari gangs doing worse fearing defeat, he said. Bihari Prashant Kishor is giving wrong advice to YSRC, Modi and KCR support for Jagans cybercrimes. Jagan Mohan Reddys evil thoughts will never change and he has become an anarchist in the state. Everyone in the YSRC are frauds and loot ATMs, exchange of currency and encourage cyber criminals, he said.

He said wrong activities such as registering false votes and removal of genuine names should be condemned. A conspiracy was hatched in AP to remove 8 lakh votes, all thieves have to be identified and should face seven years imprisonment for forgery, Mr Naidu said, 74,000 false claims were made in Visakhapatnam district. All of them should be properly investigated and those who made false statements should be punished, he said.

He said that Hyderabad had become and insecure place to live because of cybercriminals.

He alleged that YSRC leaders were masters in committing crimes, doing recce operations and creating suspicions. "This election is full of criminals in the opposition, TD should work with more alertness, he told the cadre.

The Chief Minister said, I assured the companies and brought them to Hyderabad, I have brought the companies with hard work and strength, but such companies and institutions are feeling insecure now. In future all companies may face this kind of raids in Hyderabad. Companies are being destroyed in the YSRC and TRS conspiracy. People should teach a lesson to YSRC for their sneaky activities.

He condemned the raids by the Telangana police on the Telugu Desam app service provider in Hyderabad and alleged that efforts were being made to hand over the data to Opposition parties. The cases were registered in Hyderabad against those who are working for the TD in AP, asked whether that was the "return gift" of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. "When the property is in AP, cases were registered in Hyderabad," he alleged, adding he is ready to take such return gifts.

For the last 25 years I have backed and encouraged technology. Basing on these technologies, I have built systems both for the government and the party. I have integrated technology to further the cause of welfare of the poor. I have used technology to bring transparency and accountability in administration, he added.
A source told Deccan Chronicle that the seven others assigned to carry out strikes in India have airports and tourist spots in their sights. (Representational Image)

Hyderabad: The Intelligence input on possible terror strikes on important installations in cities along the coast has also indicated potential attacks on major airports in India.

The inputs gathered after the Pulwana attack that killed 49 CRPF jawans in the Valley, have revealed that there may be seven more suicide bombers who have been assigned the task of carrying out attacks. In the wake of this, all operational Indian airports have been put on high red alert.

It is independently learnt that the Delhi Metro Rail network is among the potential terror targets.

The Metro Rail junctions have been put on high alert. A large number of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has been deployed at the Delhi Metro, said a CISF official.

A source told Deccan Chronicle that the seven others assigned to carry out strikes in India have airports and tourist spots in their sights.

The input revealed that the aim is not to sabotage infrastructure or human targets as happened at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Railway Terminus in Mumbai, but a possible plane hijack. The moto was to begin negotiations with the government.

There are 100 operational airports in the country, of which 60 are under CISF security cover. Delhi airport witnessed the highest air traffic in 2018, ie, 67 million travellers, followed by Mumbai  46 million, Chennai  27 million, Bengaluru  26 million, Kolkata  24 million and Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Hyderabad  20 million.

The CISF and 23 government stakeholders which include the Director of Revenue Intelligence, officials with the Airport Authority of India, Bureau of Civil Aviation, and Customs, have tightened manual frisking of air travellers. Private airline operators have been asked to carry out a separate round of checks.

Passengers may find increased local police and dog sniffing at airports. Travellers have been asked to cooperate with the staff if they are asked to remove their belts or garments embedded with metal. It is also advised to carry a hard copy of the ticket as it may come handy in case the CISF staff refuses to accept the soft copy, said a top CISF official. The alert is likely to continue until the Lok Sabha elections, said an official.

The possible attacks on airports was also indicted in the statement issued by foreign secretary Vijay Gokhali on February 26, after the strike on the JeM training camp at Balakot.

The statement 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.
Chennai/Tuticorin: Congress senior and former Union Minister P.Chidambaram on Monday asked the Centre to stop opposition-bashing and instead get the world believe the government version of Indias February 26 air strikes.

As a proud citizen I am prepared to believe my government. But if we want the world to believe, government must make the effort, not indulge in Opposition-bashing, Chidambaram said in a tweet, responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modis attack at an NDA rally in Patna on Sunday accusing the Opposition of helping Pakistan and demoralising the Indian forces by asking for evidence of the surgical strikes and destruction of the terrorist launch-pads.

Retaliating, Chidambaram in another tweet pointing out that his party boss Rahul Gandhi was the first to hail the IAF for the strikes. Congress President Rahul Gandhi was the first to salute the Indian Air Force for its splendid achievement. Why has Mr Modi forgotten that? asked PC in the tweet.

And in yet another twitter missile to justify the Opposition doubts, he said, IAF Vice Air Marshal declined to comment on casualties. MEA statement said there were no civilian or military casualties. So, who put out the number of casualties as 300-350?

On a visit to Tuticorin, Union Minister Piyush Goyal thought it fit to take on local man PC for his anti-Modi tweets. It is thoroughly condemnable and I am ashamed that we have such leaders like P Chidambaram in this wonderful state of Tamil Nadu, he told reporters, adding that Chidambaram and his Congress bosses seemed to believe in Pakistan propaganda, but not the Indian armed forces.

He said it was shameful that the Indian opposition was raising questions about the armed forces. It is an insult to the Air Force, an insult for our jawans who are willing to lay down their lives to protect the country, he said.

Not just the rebuke from Railway Minister, Chidambaram ended up in getting some heavy bashing from several other twitterati, with Vijayan P. @typical_mallu, posting: Proud citizen - with never ending INTERIM BAIL. Another said even the Pak terrorists had admitted to the IAF jets hitting the Jaish training camp at Balakot and posted newspaper clipping as his proof.

Incidentally, on Monday, IAF Chief BS Dhanoa said the figure on casualty will be given by the

government, even as Union Minister SS Ahluwalia had said the purpose of the strike was not to cause human casualties but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines. Neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of air strikes. Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorists killed were being circulated, he had said.

Last Tuesdays air strikes were seen as retaliation to the February 14 attack on CRPF jawans in Pulwama in Kashmir, in which 40 personnel were killed.

At his Patna rally on Sunday, PM Modi had accused the Opposition of speaking a language that suits Pakistan. Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully, the PM had said.

Meanwhile, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet on Monday said, Modi-ji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday had demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.
The Pakistani drone was targeted at around 11.30 am in the Bikaner-Nal sector in Rajasthan, the sources said.

New Delhi: A Sukhoi-30 fighter jet of the Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani military drone in Bikaner sector of the Indo-Pak border using an air-to-air missile.

The drone was detected by a ground-based radar station and was shot down minutes later by a Sukhoi-30 jet deployed in the area to guard Indian air space, government sources said.

The Pakistani drone was targeted at around 11.30 am in the Bikaner-Nal sector in Rajasthan, the sources said.

It was the second unsuccessful attempt by Pakistan to send a spy drone inside India in the last six days.

A Pakistani drone was shot down on February 27 along the Indo-Pak border in Kutch in Gujarat, the day after the strikes on the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot.

The IAF has kept all its bases in the Western sector on maximum alert after the strike. Pakistan had attempted to retaliate by unsuccessfully, targeting military installations in Kashmir.
The state government has issued instructions to collectors to keep on hold distribution of food security cards to those owning 10 acres land and more and drawing the benefit of the Rythu Bandhu scheme.

Adilabad: The state government is likely to set ownership of 10 acres of land as the ceiling for beneficiaries to get food security cards. This may also extend to the Rythu Bandhu scheme in the near future.

The state government has issued instructions to collectors to keep on hold distribution of food security cards to those owning 10 acres land and more and drawing the benefit of the Rythu Bandhu scheme.

The agriculture department has found many persons having these cards but also owning more than 10 acres.

The decision was taken at a review meeting conducted with officials concerned and officials of the NIC, Hyderabad, on February 25 by the civil supplies department.

Officials concerned discussed the food security cards being enjoyed by ineligible candidates.

On March 2, civil supplies commissioner Dr Akun Sabharwal issued instructions to all collectors to keep the cards in dormant mode in case the beneficiary had more than 10 acres and was benefiting from Rythu Bandhu. He asked DSDOs to verify such food security cards with the respective mandal officers and deactivate such cards. Such card holders have to submit their pattadar pass book to activate their FSCs.

The state government gives 6 kg rice for each family member without a cap under the Food Security Act 2013. News is making rounds in political circles that the state government is planning to place restrictions on extending financial help to farmers under Rythu Bandhu.

The government is exploring avenues to reduce the Rythu Bandhu scheme to cover only those owning up to 10 acres in the coming days as part of streamlining the scheme.

The Centre has set ownership of five acres of land for the PM-Kisan scheme that was unveiled in the vote-on-account Budget.
Coimbatore: Amid political debate heating up over success of air strikes against Jaish-e-Mohammads terror camp in Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa said Monday that Indian Air Force (IAF) doesn't calculate numbers of casualty and it is for government to provide details on the terrorists killed in the operation.

IAF chief asserted that a MiG-21 Bison indeed shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-16. He said that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet only if he is medical fit as emergency ejection from aircraft takes a toll on your body. We hit our target. The air force doesn't calculate casualty numbers, the government does that, he said on attack on Balakot. IAF chief said that bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit. We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. We see if we have hit the target, he said.

IAF chief said that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government. ...., if we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded. If we had dropped bombs in the jungle there would be no need to respond, he said.

BJP president Amit Shah had said that 250 terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a JeM camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by Indian Air Force. Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Kapil Sibal and Navjot Singh Sidhu sought proof of IAFs strike destroying the biggest camp of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Balakot, Pakistan and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of politicising terror.

Air chief Dhanoa declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference. Mr Modi on Monday clarified that he meant that if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference during the February 27 dogfight between MiG-21 Bison and F16 which had intruded into Indian airspace. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved, said the Prime minister while addressing a gathering in Jamnagar.

On why the MiG-21 Bison used in dog fight with Pakistan's intruding aircrafts, Air chief Dhanoa asserted the aircraft was in the IAF's inventory and when an adversary attacks you, every available aircraft goes. The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles, he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief said. Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets.

The airforce chief told reporters the Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman would fly a fighter jet if he was fit. We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot, he said. Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG 21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and released on March 1.

Whether he flys again or not depends upon his medical fitness. Post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Whatever treatment is required, we will give it to him. Once he gets the medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit, he said. Air chief further said If he is fit to fly a fighter, then he will go back soon. If he is not fit to fly, he will become a low medical category till the time he gets his currency. He will then go back when he gets his fighter currency back.

Underlining that medical fitness is a topmost priority for the IAF, the Air Chief Marshal explained, Ejection is something that takes a toll on your body and if you are not perfectly fit and God forbid you have to eject again, you will be spending the rest of your life in a wheelchair. We do not take a chance with the fitness of a fighter pilot.

When we select people at the entry-level, the medical rejection is very high. Your physical condition and curvature of spine has to be very good to take that kind of ejection injury, he said.

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, I don't knowwhat is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan.

If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement. India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed. Obviously, I think they have lost a F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us, he added.
Ian Rowe is CEO of Public Prep , a network of single-sex elementary and middle public schools in New York City. Public Prep enrolls nearly 2,000 students in grades PreK-8. Ian has held a number of roles, from directing a public service initiative at the White House, to serving as a senior executive at MTV, to working as leadership at Teach For America and the Gates Foundation. Ian will be writing about how family structure impacts education outcomes, and what that means for schooling and what schools can do.

In a recent brief , the Harvard University Center on the Developing Child stated that The science of child development shows that the foundation for sound mental health is built early in life, as early experienceswhich include childrens relationships with parents, caregivers, relatives, teachers, and peersshape the architecture of the developing brain. Disruptions in this developmental process can impair a childs capacities for learning and relating to others, with lifelong implications.

As CEO of a network of elementary and middle schools in the South Bronx and the Lower East Side of Manhattan, I understand Harvards emphasis on the relationships children have with caring adults. This focus is timely given that the primary source of a childs early relationshipshis or her familyis in the midst of a seismic, downward shift in stability, creating potentially devastating consequences for the next generation.

I thank Rick Hess for the opportunity to guest blog a three-part series on how this shift in family structure has adversely impacted outcomes for children; how K-12 and early childhood educators must break the firewall to reach todays vulnerable infants and toddlers before formal schooling begins; and how to mobilize educators to teach the next generation the sequence of life decisions most likely to result in individual success, strengthen future families, and avoid these conditions in the first place.

***

In a remarkable new report, The State of Babies Yearbook 2019 , the organizations Zero to Three and Child Trends provide a sobering analysis of what is happening in the lives of 12 million infants and toddlers nationwide. Forty-five percent live in households with incomes less than twice the federal poverty level. Twenty-one percent live with a single parent; 9 percent live in grandparent-headed households.

The Yearbook affirms similar findings from prior studies, such as the Pew Research Center analysis on how the American family has changed. As the chart depicts, there has been a decades-long transformation in the family environments in which children are raised.

The rise in homes without resident, married fathers has created a whole new category of fragile families that contributes to the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage from parent to child. A key element driving this generational change in family structure is the five-decade explosion in non-marital births, across race.

As it relates to race, this is an equal opportunity tsunami, especially for younger women. In each of 2017 , 2016 , 2015 , 2014 , and 2013 , the non-marital birth rate to women of all races aged 24 and under held steady at an astronomical 71 percent. While there are exceptions, this community is most vulnerable to raising young children in unstable environments, often with absent fathers, and overwhelmingly likely to live in poverty and achieve poor academic outcomes.

It does not have to be this way.

***

The impact of family structure on a range of student outcomes is intuitively obvious and factually irrefutable. Yet among educators, it is status quo to discuss reading, suspension, graduation, or other academic gaps by the usual suspects of race, class, or gender. That comfort level vanishes when it comes to the taboo topic of family structure.

Our collective silence is capitulation. We cannot accept that rampant non-marital births are inevitable in the neighborhoods we serve. Or that we cant talk about it because that would stereotype already marginalized populations. Or that we cannot risk blaming the victim by suggesting the pain in communities is self-inflicted by poor choices rather than due only to poverty or racism. Whatever the reasons, not talking about a problem does not make it go away.

It is time for education leaders to openly and honestly acknowledge the impact of this unprecedented shift in family structure. We need courage. The staggering growth in non-marital births is certainly correlated, and likely causal (especially compounded with poverty), to the increased number of Adverse Childhood Experiences and toxic stress that lead to child trauma many of us have committed our lives to resolve.

Educators cannot control the families into which our students are born. But we can influence how our students think about the families they form and the series of life choices that will likely lead to their life success and that of their children. If we truly want to step off the hamster wheel of mediocrity in which we find ourselves, as evidenced by another disappointing round of NAEP results , we need a new way.

As the Harvard brief concludes, For society, many costly problems, ranging from the failure to complete high school to incarceration to homelessness, could be dramatically reduced if attention were paid to improving childrens environments of relationships and experiences early in life.

***

In the next two posts, I will share Public Preps unique 18 to 18" approach that engages siblings as young as 18 months old through an innovative two-year, home-visiting partnership, all the way through supporting alumni through age 18. This includes efforts to help our alumni build a sense of personal agencythe power to control your own destinyto make life decisions, particularly related to the sequence of education, work, and the timing of family formation.

This is crucial as graduating 8th graders embark upon the next 12 years of their lives in high school, college, and young adulthood, when critical choices are made that will have lifelong rewards or consequences.

I hope you find the posts enlightening and worthy of your time.

Ian Rowe
TRS working president K T Rama Rao, who responded to the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy's allegation that the TRS has 'purchased' two of its MLAs, referred to various instances of lawmakers joining the Congress. (Photo: File)

Hyderabad: Ahead of the Legislative Council elections in Telangana, the ruling TRS and the Congress were engaged in a bitter war of words on Monday over two opposition party MLAs deciding to join the TRS.

A day after the Congress announced that it would wage a full-scale Constitutional battle against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accusing him of "engineering" the defection of two party MLAs, TRS working president K T Rama Rao hit back, asking whether the instances of other public representatives joining the Congress were also a "purchase".

TRS working president K T Rama Rao, who responded to the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy's allegation that the TRS has "purchased" two of its MLAs, referred to various instances of lawmakers joining the Congress.

Two Congress MLAs  Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka) and Atram Sakku (Asifabad)  announced on Saturday night that they had decided to join the ruling TRS in the interest of welfare and development of STs, especially Adivasis.

Rama Rao referred to media reports of a sitting BJP MP in Uttar Pradesh joining the Congress in the presence of its president Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday. "One sitting BJP MP in Uttar Pradesh joined the Congress in the presence of your (Congress) president and general secretary. Have you followed the same policy there?" Rama Rao said.

He also cited instances in the past when MLAs and other public representatives joined the Congress. He referred to the reported comments of a Congress MLA that the party's leadership "lacked effectiveness".

Rama Rao said the TRS has the strength for five candidates to win in the Council election. "I had said...we already have the number of MLAs to win all the five in the Legislative Council election.

We automatically have the win with second preference (voting). We don't have to invite anyone afresh for this election," he said.

The switch-over of the two Congress MLAs to the TRS is seen as a setback to the Congress for the March 12 Legislative Council elections (MLAs quota).

In the election to fill five vacancies in the Council, the TRS has fielded four candidates, leaving one seat to its ally MIM.

The strength of the TRS in the assembly is 88 and two other MLAs (an independent and MLA of AIFB) have also announced support to the ruling party.

On Sunday, TDP MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah announced his decision to join the TRS.

The TDP's strength in the assembly is two and it would be left with only one MLA when Veeraiah joins the ruling party.

The Congress' strength was 19 and it was banking on the support of two TDP members.

However, its chances have been seriously dented with the decision of two Congress MLAs and the TDP MLA to join the TRS.

The Congress' strength would be reduced to 17 with the two MLAs leaving the party.

The two Congress MLAs, Rega Kantha Rao and Atram Sakku who announced their decision to quit the party, hit out at the Congress for alleging that they were "purchased" to join the TRS. Saying that they are joining the TRS in the interest of development and welfare of STs, especially Adivasis, they reiterated that they are ready to quit membership of the assembly if necessary.
However, a final decision would be taken by Deve Gowda and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. (Photo: File)

Bengaluru: The Congress-JD(S) alliance has started negotiations for the 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka on Monday. The negotiations are expected to tough but HD Kumaraswamys father HD Deve Gowda assured that his party wouldnt be rigid about its demand.

Kumaraswamys JD(S) wants 12 of 28 seats  proportional to seats won by two parties in 2018s assembly elections.

However, the Congress wants to give it less than 10 seats and is likely to face resistance.

After the meeting, senior JD(S) leader Danish Ali said they were in favour of following the formula of one-third for JD(S) and two-third for the Congress that has been followed with Board appointments.

Another issue which is expected to be discussed is Mandya Lok Sabha seat, on which JD(S) has a stronghold.

This time, the JD(S) wants to field Kumaraswamys son Nikhil Gowda from the seat. But Congresss Sumalathaa, the wife of late superstar Ambareesh wants to contest the seat.

However, a final decision would be taken by Deve Gowda and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi.
Jay Panda had been a parliamentarian of the BJD since 2000. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Baijayant Jay Panda, who quit Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in 2018, joined the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Monday in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Panda, 55, quit the BJD last May after a bitter falling out with his party chief, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

"I have always admired Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's leadership," Panda told reporters after he was garlanded at a BJP function in New Delhi to welcome him into the party.

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

Jay Panda had been a parliamentarian of the BJD since 2000.

Pandas entry may hurt Patnaiks party in Odisha ahead of Lok Sabha and state elections, especially when the saffron party is making inroads into the state.

Jay Pandas troubles in the party peaked when he was suspended on disciplinary grounds after he openly challenged the leadership after poor performance in 2017s local polls.

He was removed as the BJD's parliamentary party spokesperson over an article he wrote shortly after Panchayat or rural body polls, alleging that the party was being run by "opportunists".
Mayawati tweeted, 'better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?' (Photo: Mayawati)

Lucknow: Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying Rafale jets could have given better results for India in hitting a Jaish camp in Pakistan, BSP chief Mayawati Monday asked the BJP government at the Centre why not a single Rafale fighter was inducted in the IAF during its rule.

"Rafale fighter could have prove useful in fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?" Mayawati said in a tweet.

Last week after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot, about 80 km from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi said, "Rafale fighters could have delivered even better results".

His reference was apparently to the stealth of Rafale, an air-dominance aircraft.

The Indian Air Force had deployed a dozen Mirage-2000 aircraft to hit the target.

A Jaish terrorist camp was destroyed and up to 350 terrorists were killed in the air strike on Feb 26, officials sources have said. On Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah said "more than 250 terrorists" were killed.

Modi had also said the Rafale jet deal was not finalised by the previous government "for vested interests and now an effort is on to hamper it for political reasons."

The first of the 36 Rafale fighters purchased from France is expected to arrive in India by September this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the public meeting in Jamnagar on a two-day visit to Gujarat. (Photo: ANI/ twitter)

Jamnagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday addressed the public meeting in Jamnagar on a two-day visit to Gujarat. PM Modi inaugurated various development works and a hospital building in a medical college campus here.

In his speech, PM Modi emphasised on eliminating the menace of terror. He said, The nation agrees that the menace of terror has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say? We should be proud of our armed forces. Yet, I dont understand why some people still want to question the forces.

Talking about the ongoing Indo-Pak situation, he mentioned, Please use common sense. What I said was if the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved. I can't do anything if some people fail to understand this.

After inaugrating the hospital, PM Modi said, "In Ayushman Bharat, India is home to one of the biggest healthcare programmes in the world. The coming of this initiative ensures top quality and affordable healthcare for the poor."

PM assured people that hospitals with modern facilities will come across the state which will benefit the poor.

Commenting on farmers issue, Modi stated that the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi would bring substantive benefits for Indias farmers. It is a long term and comprehensive effort for farmer welfare.

He also said, India needs structural and long term measures to overcome the challenges we face. The time for poorly thought of short term measures is over.

Sending a message for water conservation that benefits the present and future generations both, Modi asserted, having seen the hardships we face due to water shortage, it becomes our responsibility to conserve every drop of water.

The Sardar Sarovar Dam has brought much relief to the people of Gujarat. This project was completed despite neglect from earlier state governments and adversities from various quarters. I was certain that I cant allow Tanker Raj to carry on in Gujarat, he added.

PM Modi would also visit Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj in Gandhinagar and will launch several projects in Vastral, Ahmedabad during the visit.

The Prime Minister started his two-day visit from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region where he dedicates to the nation a 750-bed annexe of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital and inaugurates its PG hostel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also flagged off Humsafar Express train between Jamnagar and Bandra Terminus via video conference.

Gujarat is Modis home province where he was the Chief Minister till 2014 and is conventional for unmatched clout in the politics.
Bhubaneswar: Putting all speculations to rest, former BJD Lok Sabha member Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday formally joined the BJP in New Delhi in the presence of senior party leaders.

He later met BJP national president Amit Shah and held a discussion on the state of affairs in Odisha.

Senior state leaders  K.V. Singh Deo, Basant Panda, Union petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram  were also present during the mishran parba.

Baijayant Pandas induction to BJP is a signal of partys growing strength in Odisha. BJP will definitely benefit from this, Mr Pradhan said on this occasion.

Mr Pradhan then invited Mr Panda to address media on the occasion.

I accept the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national president Amit Shah and I believe their leadership will take India forward. It is no secret that I have admired Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership and the direction in which he is taking the country and Amit Shah jis leadership has made the party not just the largest in the country but the most effective political party in the whole world, Mr Panda said after the induction programme.

The former lawmaker said governance in Odisha had sharply deteriorated in recent years and there was anarchy all around.

In the early years, when it was an ally of the BJP there were certain norms that had been followed which have all been lost in recent years. You have seen the extremely high rise in crimes, especially against women and children, extremely high levels of corruption. After a very long period of four terms of continued rule by one party you can see the situation where pregnant women and people that have passed on had to be carried on shoulders across rivers that dont have bridges, and many other such very disappointing sights. This needs changing and only the BJP is capable of doing this. Prime Minister Modi has demonstrated that he is capable of taking extremely difficult and tough decisions which are in the long term interest of the country. Whether they be economic or you have seen in very recent times whether they have to do with the defence of our nation against the scourge of 30 years of terrorism, he added.

Mr Panda was touted to join the saffron party ever since he fell from the grace of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik.

The former Kendrapara MP courted controversy on numerous occasions for his opinion pieces in national newspapers praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and criticising the style of functioning of Mr Patnaik.

The 55-year-old leader, who claimed to be one of the founding members of the BJD, alleged that the party had deviated from its core ideology and the government was being run by bureaucrats.

In January 2018, Mr Panda was suspended from the BJD on the charge of anti-party activities. He resigned from the BJD on May 28, 2018.
Hyderabad: TRS working president K.T. Rama Rao on Monday dared Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to stand up to scrutiny and a probe in the alleged data theft case rather than accusing the Telangana state government of seeking vengeance.

While addressing a press conference here in Telangana Bhavan, he said, Whenever Mr Naidu is caught red-handed, he seeks stay orders from the court or uses reverse propaganda. We have seen his modus operandi during the cash-for-vote scam and again now in the confidential data theft case. Let Mr Naidu go to the court again as he has got stays already in 18 cases.

He said Mr Naidu will never clarify or deny allegations made against him in the cash-for-vote scam or for that matter even in the data theft case. Mr Naidu and his son Mr Lokesh need not fear for crimes that they have not committed, he added.

Referring to the accusation made by Mr Naidu and Mr Lokesh that the TS government was being vengeful in the data theft investigation, Mr Rama Rao questioned, Why would the TS government seek vengeance against the people of AP or AP government? What would we gain out of it?

He demanded to know how the AP government could give confidential data, including voters list and Aadhaar data, to a private company which developed an app for the Telugu Desam. Has there been data theft or not? Let the courts decide, he said.

He accused Mr Naidu of trying to provoke people and their emotions in order to cover up his own failure in development of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr Rama Rao said that the TS police registered a case under Sections 66 and 72 of the IT Act against four employees of a private firm accused of data theft, as per the Cyber Security laws, based on a complaint by a resident of Kukatpally, T. Lokeswara Reddy, who is a native of AP.
The no interruptions-no pauses campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party as the only political choice on the ballot for the 2019 general election exposes its nervousness on the one hand and its obsession, on the other, over winning another term in office with Narendra Modi as Prime Minister. Like in chemistry, the negative reaction is effectively a confirmation of just how dangerous the Sangh Parivar perceives the Mahagathbandhan to be as a challenger of its cherished dreams of power.

The nervousness is natural; because the Mahagathbandhan is positioned to reflect the dust, dirt and grime of India as it is understood from down below, whereas the BJP has positioned itself to represent the Sangh Parivars version of the soul of a homogenised India. The Mahagathbandhan has also demonstrated an unexpected capacity to add more and more parties to the anti-BJP platform, irrespective of historical and ideological differences between the parties on the one hand, and the competition and rivalry that remains over seats, on the other.

The Congress and the CPI(M) have been co-opted in February as part of the coalition of regional parties against the BJP. These additions indicate that powerful state leaders like Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee have chosen to swallow the unpalatable in order to fulfil a larger purpose.

Before Pulwama and Balakot, the reinvention of protection of cows from slaughter as a device to leverage sentiment and then convert it into a beef story, with lynch mobs, was the sort of politics that the alliance of the Opposition parties had been formed to defeat. In the wake of Pulwama and Balakot, the alliance of the Opposition has a near-impossible mission  to contain the surge in the BJPs popularity without damaging its own. The exercise is not easy; for every question raised against the Modi governments management and politicisation of the crisis, there is the danger that it could backfire politically.

The 2019 general election is turning into a contest between the idea of a multi-party democracy as more representative of the peoples will versus a single party that has appropriated to itself the role of representing the nation; it is a fight between the narrow idea of nationalism as constructed by the Sangh Parivar and the BJP and the majesty of a diverse but united country, replete with contradictions, contestations and complexities. Sceptics had every reason to speculate, as did leaders within the constituent parties of the Mahagathbandhan, on whether the unwieldy coalition could survive the strains of seat adjustments and sharing, whether the rivalries will be contained long enough to fight the elections collectively and whether the rivalries would not spawn the sort of betrayals that could destroy the essence of alliance formation.

Before the crisis precipitated by the Pulwama bomb attack, the precision-bombing in Pakistans Balakot and the prisoner of war return from Pakistan, the Modi government was being challenged by the united Opposition over its deliberate deployment of divisiveness to deflect attention from its failures and to leverage sentiment, particularly religious sentiment, to mobilise support. After the crisis, the Opposition alliance has the infinitely difficult job of challenging a frenetic nationalism and a narrative controlled by the BJP.

Direct and tactless as former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa may have been in revealing how the BJP hoped the crisis with Pakistan would add to the number of seats it could hope to win this summer, the Opposition alliance too has been working overtime to calculate the impact on the number of seats that it can win and how much more difficult the contest against the BJP has become. There is a scaling down of expectations. From winning big against a diminished BJP, the Opposition alliance is now considering the possibility that it needs to work very hard to prevent the BJP from winning a clear majority of the 543 elected seats in the Lok Sabha.

The Congress has become pivotal to the exercise of keeping the BJP in check, and as the principal challenger. There is a realisation that the tactics of one candidate/party-one seat, which seemed to be a winner before Pulwama, is not nearly as strong as it needs to be in the changed circumstances. Quite apart from strategising on fighting against the BJP in every constituency, the alliance is also facing the need to fight off the perception of being unstable. In that fight too, the presence of the Congress as a linchpin has become far more attractive than it was just a month ago. A single-party majority government at the Centre in these troubled times with Pakistan would have greater appeal for the voter than a shaky, squabbling coalition, even if the collective experience and past track record of such alliances is better than that of the BJP for certain parties, and perhaps even the Congress.

The Opposition alliance against the BJP therefore needs to reassess how it will work towards the aggregation of votes in every constituency where the BJP is the key challenge. In West Bengal, as in Uttar Pradesh, this means working out an effective vote management plan with sworn enemies. Both Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee will need to decide on how they prepare to face the challenge of a revived BJP. It will mean making adjustments with the Congress and then enabling the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal to make further adjustments with the Congress to contain the BJP.

The Opposition alliance is also a work in progress. It will probably remain a work in progress for as long as it lasts. And its strength and its value lies in the fact that it is an alliance composed of well over 25 political parties with different histories, enemies and friends  that reflects the choice that the people have made and will continue to make on who best represents their concerns and aspirations at the national level. A mandate for an MP from a regional party is a mandate against either another regional party or one of the two big national parties. It is a complex decision by the voter, and reflects the layers and layers of complexities that is political reality in India.
Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, the Chief of Air Staff, made a categorical statement at a press conference in Coimbatore on Monday which has the effect of puncturing any claim by any quarters whatsoever about the number of Jaish-e-Mohammed cadres killed as a result of the airstrike carried out by IAF fighter jets at the Jaish facility at Balakot in Pakistan on February 26.

The BJP as a party, as well as leading lights of the current government had strenuously tried to promote the idea of having avenged the deaths of 40-plus CRPF jawans in the Pulwama attack on their convoy  for which the JeM claimed responsibility  by taking out a large number of JeM terrorists at Balakot.

Immediately after the February 26 pre-dawn attack, television news channels filled the airwaves with the claim of around 300 terrorists dead. Some raised the figure to 350, while some others cautiously put out 250. Any of these is several times the number of the CRPF men who had died at Pulwama, and that fact could be shown as highlighting the parakram, or valour, of the present leadership.

For the ruling side, the idea of revenge  an eye for an eye  seemed crucial as a vote-mobilising technique when the Lok Sabha election is possibly just weeks away. The TV journalists didnt dream up a number. It is evident that some source high up in the government fed the figure on a non-attributable basis to all the channels in order to promote the electoral prospects of the ruling party.

The journalists grievously erred in accepting at face value the casualties data fed to them, and were guilty of violating the first principle of journalism. According to that basic rule, if a claim cant be verified the source must be named, and especially so in a fraught political atmosphere.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoas observation doesnt have the imprimatur of the government. Its not Indias official position. And yet, its authoritative status can hardly be challenged.

When asked repeatedly how many terrorists had perished at Balakot, the Air Chief said that was for the government to state. He added that it was the job of the Air Force to deliver the payload over the designated target and not count the dead. He also noted that the numbers killed would depend on the numbers present.

This raises questions about the figure of 250 given out at a public meeting in Ahmedabad by BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday. No leader of the government has publicly stated any specific figure. No figure has been put out officially. So where does Mr Shahs information come from? Has he just cooked it up and is engaging in false propaganda, or is he peddling official secrets without having the authority to do so?
As external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj addressed the foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), there was a palpable sense of history and pervasive consciousness that the OIC was not just opening a new chapter in its relationship with India, it was also at the cusp of reinventing itself. The Indian minister understood well the significance of the moment and rose to the challenge of the occasion.

Her address was marked by an extraordinary graciousness towards the forum that had unceremoniously expelled India at its inauguration half a century ago and, over the past three decades had allowed itself to be used by Pakistan to heap unrestrained abuse and calumny upon India. In fact, even as Pakistan chafed at Indias intrusion as the guest of honour into its exclusive preserve, it convened just before Ms Swarajs landmark speech an emergency meeting of the OICs contact group on Jammu and Kashmir.

And, true to form, this group trotted out the words that Pakistan had inscribed  it strongly condemned the recent wave of repression, brutal killing of innocent Kashmiri civilians by the Indian security forces and of Indian threats to regional peace and security.

But the Indian minister refused to be provoked. Unperturbed, she applauded the OICs key role in shaping our world, recalled its roadmap for prosperity and development, and expressed Indias support and solidarity in your quest for stability, peace, harmony, economic growth and prosperity for your people and the world.

The ministers remarks resonated with the history, values and interests of the entire assemblage. She began with references to Indias close ties with Islam and Muslim civilisation, but noted that Indias Muslims were an integral part of Indias diverse but harmonious culture, and had categorically rejected the allure of extremist violence.

She spoke at length about the substantial ties that India has developed with individual member-countries of the OIC  a shared history of the anti-colonial struggle, joint shaping of global institutions, joint trade ties of $230 billion, new links opened up by connectivity projects being promoted by India to Central Asia, deep security and strategic ties with the Gulf countries, and shared concerns relating to contemporary global challenges, such as climate change.

She noted that the international order was changing. Asia is emerging as a major influence in international economic affairs and large sections of the global community now have access to affordable technologies and can enjoy the benefits of freedom, opportunities, connectivity, education and prosperity.

She then came to the core of her message  that all these achievements are threatened by the terrible face of terror. She described its wellsprings as a distortion of religion. But she rejected the security approach to combating this scourge and instead advocated using the strength of our values and the real message of religions. She gave central importance to engagement and dialogue across faiths and cultures so that moderation, harmony and respect for pluralism could inform our world order. She extended Indias hand of partnership to the OIC, placing at its disposal Indias markets, resources, opportunities and skills and, above all, the promotion of bridges across cultures to achieve understanding and accommodation.

Finally, she noted that the OIC, now 50 years old, was making a new beginning and that the choices you make... will have a profound impact on humanity. Does this address mark a new beginning in Indias ties with the OIC? Though the Abu Dhabi declaration did not specifically refer to Kashmir, some other things have not changed. The OIC secretary-general, in published remarks, added lines that he had not uttered at the plenary  he now referred to bloody events and transgressions against the people of Jammu and Kashmir, and called for restraint and peaceful resolution of conflicts, in line with international legitimacy resolutions; however, India was not specifically named in this statement.

Again, Pakistan pushed through two resolutions  on the Kashmir issue and on India-Pakistan relations. These referred to human rights violations by India, called for a plebiscite in Kashmir and saw the Kashmir issue as the core dispute between Pakistan and India. They also sought third party mediation by the international community. Another Pakistan-sponsored resolution referred to the destruction of the Babri Masjid and forced conversions of Muslims in India.

These resolutions have a very dated reek about them, as if they are being tiredly pushed through to complete a formality, with little expectation that anything will come of them. Quite appropriately, India responded dismissively, pointing out that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.

Ms Swarajs host, UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, said what was important was that India had been able to deliver a positive, strong, dedicated speech at the OIC platform. The OIC, he said, had sent a very clear and positive sign to India... that the OIC appreciates the relationship with India and looks forward to strengthening such a relationship with India. He looked forward to full membership for India.

The invitation to India to address the OIC foreign ministers affirms the shift in balance of influence within Islamic counsels from Pakistan to India  50 years after Pakistan had succeeded in getting India evicted from this Islamic forum, India was now the guest of honour, while its foreign minister was absent.

India is speaking of contemporary achievements and challenges  of technology, equitable economic growth and social justice, and of uncertainty, tensions and violence engendered by conflicts within and between societies. Pakistan appears mired in a time warp, talking mechanically of plebiscites and mediation, as if 70 years have not passed since this verbiage was trotted out. Above all, India speaks of commitment to moderation, accommodation, pluralism and multi-culturalism. Pakistan instead is synonymous with faith-based doctrines of hate, revenge and violence, and sponsorship of organisations that wreak havoc upon the innocent and the vulnerable in the name of their belief system. The choice before the OIC is clear  does it seek a new beginning, or does it wish to remain in the quagmire of outdated postures and animosities and continued irrelevance.
Apple is still reviewing Absher and Rep. Speier told the publication that the responses by both the tech giants are deeply unsatisfactory. (Photo: PCMag)

Google has reportedly declined to remove the controversial app called Absher that allows men in Saudi Arabia track and control womens movements.

After review of the app, Google has concluded that it does not violate any agreements and hence, can remain on the Google Play Store. According to Business Insider, Google communicated the decision to the office of Representative Jackie Speier, a California Democrat who, with other members of Congress, demanded the removal of the app.

Meanwhile, Apple is still reviewing Absher and Rep. Speier told the publication that the responses by both the tech giants are deeply unsatisfactory.

Absher, backed by the Saudi Arabia government, has received severe criticism from womens rights group for being oppressive in nature. The app has been primarily designed for Saudi citizens to access e-government services. However, it also allows men to track women or migrant worker and control where they travel, the duration and set restrictions to their movements through passport data.

Absher is presently available on Google Play Store as well as Apple App Store.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Last week in Hanoi Trump and Kim met for the second time to try to negotiate a deal. (Photo:AP)

SEOUL: US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the Democrats' decision to interview his longtime fixer, lawyer Michael Cohen, on the same day as a meeting with Kim Jong Un may have led to the North Korea summit ending with no deal.

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk.'" Trump said on Twitter, referring to his decision to walk away from what he previously said was a bad deal with Kim.

"Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!"

Last week in Hanoi Trump and Kim met for the second time to try to negotiate a deal that would surrender some of North Korea's nuclear weapons arsenal in return for sanctions relief.

At the same time in Washington, Trump's former aide Cohen was testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives' Oversight Committee, accusing Trump of ordering his personal attorney to make threats for him about 500 times over the last 10 years.

When asked about Cohen's testimony at a press conference on Thursday in Hanoi after Trump had abruptly decided to end the summit with Kim early, the president called the allegations "incorrect" and criticised the decision to have the hearing while he was away.

"I tried to watch as much as I could," Trump said. "I wasn't able to watch too much because I've been a little bit busy, but I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing."
Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors, but the dangerous conditions halted the search, Sheriff Jones said. (Representational Image)

Beauregard: Rescuers prepared on Monday to tear through the rubble of mobile homes and houses in search of survivors of a powerful tornado that rampaged through southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people.

The trail of destruction was at least half a mile wide and overwhelmed rural Lee County's coroners' office, forcing it to call in help from the state. "The devastation is incredible," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors, but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Sheriff Jones said.

Rescuers planned to resume the search at daylight on Monday. The Sunday tornado was part of a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

Levi Baker, who lives near the hard-hit area in Alabama, took a chain saw to help clear a path for ambulances and other first-responder vehicles.

He said some houses were demolished and trees were uprooted or snapped in half. One house was swept off its foundation and was sitting in the middle of the road. "It was just destruction," Baker said. "There were mobile homes gone. Frames on the other side of the road." Jones said the twister travelled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard reducing homes to slabs.

The National Weather Service confirmed late on Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating caused the destruction in Alabama. Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph (254-331 kph).

After a nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard.

Two sheriff's vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places. In a tweet late on Sunday, President Donald Trump said: "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming.

To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!" Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to help search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard.

At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area. No deaths had been reported on Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties other than Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the storm system raced across the region.

Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

News footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere.

Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches. "The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Erenheim said in a phone interview. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken."

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities in southwest Georgia were searching door-to-door in darkened neighbourhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 33 miles (53 kilometers) north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries. Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late on Sunday afternoon.

A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
Beginning July 2013 until Dec. 2017, he submitted false expense reports and false invoices to the company, causing the firm to pay more than half a million dollars in excess of the legitimate expenses and expenditures for services provided to the company. (Representational Image)

New York: An Indian-origin man has been sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $2.6 million in restitution for being convicted of mail fraud and embezzlement. Dinesh Shankar, 41 of San Jose was sentenced for embezzling from a medical device company.

According to plea agreement, from March 2013 until Jan. 2018, Shankar was an employee of a medical device company. Beginning July 2013 until Dec. 2017, he submitted false expense reports and false invoices to the company, causing the firm to pay more than half a million dollars in excess of the legitimate expenses and expenditures for services provided to the company.
Traces of the Khashoggis blood were also found on the walls of the Saudi consuls office. (File Photo)

Ankara: US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggis body was possibly burned in an oven at Saudi consulate generals residence, reported Al Jazeera.

An investigation by Al Jazeera into the assassination of the journalist also revealed that the burning of the outdoor furnace was monitored by the Turkish authorities.

Khashoggi was assassinated in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul on October 2 last year.

Bags believed to be carrying his body parts were transferred to the Saudi Consuls house situated a few hundred meters away, according to the report.

The worker who constructed the furnace stated that the furnace could withstand temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius, and was built according to specifications from the Saudi consul.

Traces of the Khashoggis blood were also found on the walls of the Saudi consuls office.

According to the US intelligence agencies, the murder was enacted upon orders by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud.
This, he said, was in accordance with the political consensus contained in the National Action Plan. (Photo:AP)

Islamabad: Days after Financial Action Task Force rapped Pakistan for its inaction on terror funding and money laundering, Islamabad has spun into action and decided to launch a crackdown on terrorist groups including Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

According to Dawn, Pakistan's Information Minister, during an interview, said that the government had taken a firm decision that there would be a stern action against all terror groups. This, he said, was in accordance with the political consensus contained in the National Action Plan (NAP).

However, the information minister refused to give any deadline for the operation against terror groups by saying that "the timeline was something for the security forces to decide." The achievement of FATF's 27 targets under a 10-point action plan has now become a top priority for the government, said sources.

While condemning the Pulwama terror attack of February 14, the Paris-based global financial watchdog, FATF, last month in a stern warning has reprimanded Pakistan for not doing enough to curb terrorism financing and money laundering.

Soon after the FATF condemnation, Pakistan ordered re-imposition of the ban on Jamaat ud Dawa (JuD) and Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation (FIF).

It is to be noted that Pakistan was put on FATF's 'grey list' between 2012 and 2015 as well.

Reportedly, India had made a strong case against Pakistans non-compliance in curbing terror funding, in the wake of the Pulwama attack on February 14 that left about 40 CRPF personnel dead, in an attack orchestrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the worst in three decades.

Pakistan's inclusion in the 'blacklist' would mean serious implications for the country's debt-ridden economy. Such a move will lead to less international investment and downgrading of ratings by international banking and credit rating agencies, thereby, affecting the international image of the country.

The FATF is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday questioned Congress-led Opposition as to why, instead of boosting the morale of the defence personnel, it wanted proof of Indian Air Force (IAF) strike in PoK.

By asking for proof of air strike, you (Opposition parties) are doing great disservice to the nation. You are only making Pakistan happy. Earlier also, these leaders had questioned surgical strike. Instead of helping in wiping out terror, they want to wipe out Modi, said the PM, while sounding poll bugle here at Gandhi Maidan.

Modi was addressing the gathering at National Democratic Alliance's (NDA )Sankalp rally in Patna on Sunday where he praised Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and blasted Opposition for not backing him in his fight against terrorism.

When it was time to stay united, at least 21 Opposition parties gathered in New Delhi to pass a censure motion against the NDA Government in the Centre. Main aatankwaad khatam karna chahta hoon, yeh log Modi ko khatam karna chahte hain. (I want to wipe out terrorism. They want to wipe out Modi). I want to eradicate poverty. They want to eradicate Modi. My fight is against corruption. Their fight is against Modi, said the PM, on the similar lines of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. She had said in the 70s, Main garibi mitana chahti hoon. Aur yeh log Indira ko mitana chahte hain. (I want to eradicate poverty. And they want to eradicate Indira).

APPEASING MUSLIMS

Flanked by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish, Modi made a bid to appease Muslims when he narrated how he persuaded Saudi Prince to increase the quota for Haj pilgrims. He also said how on his request the Saudi Prince agreed to release 850 Indians lodged in a Saudi jail.

Asking the gathering not to vote for the Maha-milawat wali Sarkar, a reference to Mahagatbandhan, Modi said a strong Government like NDA regime had been successful in giving gas connections to seven crore subscribers, free medical treatment to 50 crore beneficiaries, provided life insurance to 21 crore people and helped open bank accounts of 35 crore customers.

I want to make India self-dependent. But the Congress wants self-development. They are not bothered about Indias growth. All development works initiated by Atal Bihari Vajpayees Government were stalled by the UPA regime from 2004 to 2014, said Modi, as crowds cheered on his diatribe against the Opposition.

Nitish, who last addressed a political rally with Modi in Ludhiana (Punjab) in 2009, on Sunday shared the political dais with Modi after a gap of ten years. Paswan too spoke on the occasion.
NORWOOD-Celebrate Mardi Gras at 10 a.m. March 5 at Norwood Public Librarys Preschool Connections program with stories and activities and fun surprises!

Also

* Kids Klub for Grades K-5 will explore the reasons why and how they spend their allowance or gift money so quickly with a shopping experience, among other activities on Tuesday after school at 3:30 p.m. on March 5.

* Dont forget, young teens get to play some PS4 or Wii games every Wednesday beginning at 3:30 p.m.

* Toddler Storytime will begin on 10 a.m. Thursday, March 7.

Norwood Public Library is located at 513 Welcome Ave. For more information on upcoming events, please call 610-534-0693, email for youth services is nocsd@delcolibaries.org, check the website at norwoodpubliclibrary.com, or go to delcolibraries.org and check the events calendar.

Wallaby Tales in Aston

ASTON-Eyes of the Wild and Wallaby Tales will visit the Aston Public Library at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21. Mammals from around the world will be featured, while behaviors, habitats, adaptations, survival strategies and relationships with humans will be introduced.

This program focuses on behavior and adaptation using the life stories of each unique animal, their often humorous personality, fun facts, anecdotes and animal eye-views as instruction.

Also, Dr. Daisy Century will present a living biography of Bessie Coleman, Saturday, March 16, at 11 a.m. The first African-American woman to become a licensed airplane pilot and the first American to hold an international pilot license, Bessie Coleman was a woman who didnt give up. Dr. Century will embody the persona of Ms. Coleman, portraying her personality and providing details of her life.

For more information about the Aston Public Library, go to www.astonlibrary.org . The Library is located at 3270 Concord Road in Aston.

XXX

CONCORD The Rachel Kohl Community Library, 687 Smithbridge Road in the Glen Mills section of Concord, is hosting a number of events, including a block party at 10:30 a.m., and a Safety for Seniors program including tips from the Delaware County Senior Exploitation Unit at 1 p.m., on March 5; Lego Club at 3:30 p.m. on March 6; Preschool Storytime at 10:30 a.m. on March 7; and Baby Storytime at 10:30 a.m. on March 8.

For more information, call 610-358-3445, or visit www.kohklibrary.org, on follow on Facebook or Instagram.

St. Pattys Parade flick

RIDLEY TOWNSHIP Plan to join in at 6 p.m. Monday, March 11, for a screening of a new documentary film on The History of The St. Patricks Day Parade in Philadelphia.

The first Philadelphia St. Patricks Day Parade was celebrated in 1771, five years before the signing of The Declaration of Independence. The parade has endured continuously in various forms through the Revolutionary War, the Industrial Revolution, the Civil War, War World I and World War II, the Great Depression, the Vietnam and Korean conflicts, several periods of mass immigration, and periods of egregious prejudice towards Irish immigrants.

The Philadelphia St. Patricks Day Parade film utilizes extensive parade footage and archival materials along with interviews with several prominent members of the Irish American community in the Delaware Valley. Several interviewees and people featured in the film are from the local AOH (Ancient Order of Hibernians) Division that covers Delco, primarily Ridley Township and Prospect Park.

The film also explores how significant events in Irish history have manifested themselves in themes, demonstrations and protests throughout the parades history. The soundtrack features several musical compositions from prominent members of the Irish American musical community. After the films screening, one or more of its producers will have a question and answer session with the audience. Register for the program by calling 610-583-0593, emailing reference@ridleylibrary.org, or by visiting the library, located at 100 E. MacDade Blvd., Folsom.

Also:

If you are over 50 and having trouble finding meaningful work, Ridley Township Public Library and Resource Center is offering a workshop that may be helpful. Join career counselor Virginia Neumer at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 6th, to learn tips to help you to get back to work. Virginia is a Job Developer and Career Counselor within a federal program designed to find jobs for people 50 plus. During the nine years that she has been in that job, 450 participants in the Senior Community Service Employment Program became employed. Virginia will speak, and reserve time for participants questions. She will also distribute handouts with links, book titles and other resources helpful to job seekers. To register for this event, call 610-583-0593, email reference@ridleylibrary.org, or visit the library, located at 100 E.MacDade Blvd.,Folsom. Walk-ins are also welcome.

The last of three seminars on navigating the college planning process is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. Monday, March 18. Dr. Lou Anne Bulik, who is a college admissions advisor, and founder of Red Brick Educational Consulting, will host College Financing 101. Discussion will include how to increase your chances of merit aid, student debt and default and financial steps to take now.

Pajama Story Time, is scheduled for 6:30-7 p.m. on March 6, April 3, and May 1. The event is suitable for ages 3-6, but all are welcome. Put on your jammies and join Ms. Amy from Jitterbugs Music and Movement for stories, music, bubbles, parachute play, and more! Contact Lauren Longbottom 610-583-0593 or at children@ridleylibrary.org.

Makin Music is set for April 6 and May 4, from 1-1:45 p.m.

Register for programs by calling 610-583-0593, by email at reference@ridleylibrary.org or by visiting the library at 100 E. MacDade Blvd., Folsom.

Read to animals

RIDLEY PARK-Read to the Animals is scheduled for Wednesdays, March 6, and April 3 at 7 p.m. for grades 1 to 5, at the Ridley Park Library. Reluctant readers choose a book and read to animals.

Also:

* Yoga for children will be on Wednesdays, March 13, April 10, and May 8 at 6:30 p.m. in Borough Hall. Children should bring a yoga mat or towel.

* A Young Author Club will begin March 5 at 6:45 p.m. Students in grades 1 to 5 will write and illustrate their own story.

For a complete list of programs, inquire at the circulation desk at the library for a Winter/Spring program brochure. All programs require registration. Call the Ridley Park Library to register, (610) 583-7207.

The Ridley Park Library is located at 107 E. Ward St.

Yoga in Yeadon

YEADON-Activities scheduled at the Yeadon Public Library include:

* Every Wednesday at 7 p.m., join in for Vinyasa Yoga. Come out and distress.

* Every Monday at 10 a.m., join in for Toddler Story Time. And at 5 p.m., join in the 1000 Black Girls Book Club.

* Every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m., start your morning with stretching, strengthening and toning class.

* Every Wednesday and Thursday, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., join in for Story Time, Arts and Crafts for preschool children. From 3:30 to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, writing tutor Dr. Susan Chast provides volunteer assistance with creative, informative and persuasive writing for all ages. From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Thursday, the library hosts a Girls Who Code program for girls ages 11 to 15. Learn how to design a website using code.

* Every Friday from 5 to 6 p.m., join in for an hour of fun.

All are welcome. The library is located at 809 Longacre Blvd. The phone number is 610-623-4090.

Kids Build in Aston

ASTON-The Kids Can Build Club meets at the Aston Library on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. Children can learn to build things using the librarys Lego collection and other materials as well! All ages are welcome.

Also

* 3D Printing Services are available at the library. Ask Debbie or Stephen at the desk to find out how you can get your first small 3D printed item for free! Check out the designs the staff have made for ideas, which are on view in the display case.

* Storytime! Your young child can learn basic literacy skills while having fun! The library offers story times every week, open to everyone! Join Ms. Debbie for toddler time (ages 2-3) on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m.; infant time (up to 24 months) on Wednesdays at 10:30; and preschool time (ages 3-5) on Thursdays at 10:30!

* Stop by Tuesdays at 11 a.m. to learn the Art of Crochet with our diverse group with many levels of experience. Stop by Thursdays at 6 p.m. to participate in a wide variety of crafts with an even more diverse group.

* Need help with an e-book reader, laptop or tablet computer? Stop by for our drop-in help time on Friday mornings  10 a.m. is the time for eBook readers and 11 a.m. is the time for laptops and tablets.

For more information about the library, go to www.astonlibrary.org.

The library is located at 3270 Concord Road.

Movies in Chester

CHESTER The J. Lewis Crozer Library presents movies for kids and teens in the community room at 2 p.m. on the first and third Thursday of each month. The program is free; registration is appreciated.

Call the library at 610-494-3454 to reserve a spot. The library is located at 620 Engle St.
SALT LAKE CITY  Marie Kondo is an author and organizing consultant  and now, thanks to her Netflix show Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, she's also a TV and pop culture star. It seems like everyone, including major media outlets like The Atlantic and The New York Times, have been talking about what NPR called an organizational renaissance sparked by Kondo's decluttering approach, the KonMari method.

On the show, Kondo takes people through the method, which helps them declutter their lives by only keeping items which spark joy.

The KonMari method has been around much longer than the Netflix series, and it may seem odd for the show to create this much buzz. But according to some experts who spoke to the Deseret News, aspects of the KonMari method may be exactly what people need today.

The helped becomes the helper

Dr. Jessica Louie was experiencing burnout in her career as a critical care pharmacist. She'd also been dealing with a death in her family, and coped with the stress by shopping. Then she discovered Kondos bestseller, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

Louie said the KonMari method was transformative in her life. It affected her home, relationships and personal finances. It also helped her recognize what was making her happy and what she could do without.

After experiencing the KonMari method, Louie became one of many certified KonMari consultants and started her own business, Clarify Simplify Align. KonMari consultants work personally with clients to help them through their tidying process. Louie said she offers support and facilitation to her clients to help them finish the method in the timeline they want. Louie has seen her clients experience transformations in their own lives, just as she did.

Some have ended relationships after going through the process, Louie explained. They realized that they were just not happy in them and that they were holding on to the past instead of thinking about the present moment and the future.

The psychology of tidying

Christopher Davids, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, said the KonMari method could affect relationships just as Louie found in her clients.

When we slow down and we're more present to things like the relationships that we have, that naturally gives us more opportunity for moments of connection, which helps us experience emotional intimacy, Davids said. It also helps us slow down and have gratitude for the people who are around us.

Davids agreed with Louie on many of the benefits of the KonMari method, but gave the caveats that there is no psychological research specific to tidying, and the method would not work the same for everybody.

Even in the show, Davids said, referring to Kondo's Netflix series, there are certain principles that she follows. But then the people that use them, when they engage in the practice, they're creating their own rituals. They're finding their own ways of modifying those strategies to meet their needs and to work within their life's context.

Davids said there is scholarly research, however, about expressing gratitude as a daily practice for maintaining a positive outlook, and research on how mindfulness practices reduce anxiety and depression. A mindfulness practice can be anything that allows you to be in the present moment with a mindset of non-judgment, he said. The KonMari method has many aspects of mindful gratitude, including thanking your home and even thanking items you decide to throw out.

I don't think the psychological benefit of that is literally the practice of folding something in a certain way or meticulously trying to organize a drawer in a certain way.  Christopher Davids, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, Westminster College

An article published by The Atlantic, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo Isnt Really a Makeover Show, addressed this mindset of non-judgment. Author Sarah Archer says that although the Netflix series is outwardly about tidying up, it's really about empathy instead of judgment  an empathy for the things around us that naturally blossoms into appreciation for the people surrounding us.

Archer writes, Theres no sense of competition, and the ostensible makeover at the heart of every episode simply involves regular people becoming happier and more at ease in their own home. Kondo doesnt scold, shame or criticize. Things spark joy or they dont, and its fine either way.

According to Davids, the motives behind the method are probably more important than the specific process.

I don't think the psychological benefit of that is literally the practice of folding something in a certain way or meticulously trying to organize a drawer in a certain way, he said.

It just looks better

Beyond the mental and social benefits, tidying also has the obvious aesthetic appeal. In the past five years, designs have moved toward minimalism, according to LaMar Lisman, an interior designer and founder of Lisman Studios Interior Design in Midvale. Lisman said that in Utah specifically, he has seen more requests for clean interiors and less excess.

We really have stepped away from all the clutter, and froufrou and overdone rooms, Lisman said.

In How to Choose Happiness, an opinion piece for The New York Times, Kondo attempts to explain this more minimal trend.

We live in a disorganized and chaotic world, much of it outside our control, Kondo wrote. As peoples buying habits shift and technology moves most everything to the cloud, people have been valuing experiences over material things. Some have even pointed out that we may have reached a critical point in terms of mass consumption  weve reached peak stuff.

Lisman has seen this critical point and need for change in his clients.

We're seeing our clients coming to us now and saying I need to change, I need simplicity, I need uniformity, I need function, but I still want it to be beautiful,' Lisman said.

Lisman has also seen a shift in why people buy furniture. In the past, he said, people bought furniture and housewares with the intention of passing them on to future generations. This mindset is going away as people focus more on what brings them joy in the present.

It's more about fulfilling our own needs, which I think is good, very healthy, he added. It's OK to say, That's not for me. I don't want these things. Thank you, I'm glad grandma loved it but I don't want it.  It all ties in with  getting rid of clutter in our lives, to just help us breathe and feel free and open to live in our space.

Despite its simple premise, Kondo's show and accompanying ethos have struck a chord. It seems many have reached a point of overload  and if simplifying their lives starts with their closets, then they're willing to try.

As Davids put it, Whether it's a physical clutter or mental clutter, those are things that can drag with us.
Last week, the Utah House of Representatives advanced legislation that aims to add another layer of protection against predation for college students. HB287 is not a comprehensive solution to a frightening problem of sexual misconduct on college campuses and elsewhere; however, it is a step in the right direction that should be paired with increasingly vigilant campus policies against exploitation of minors and young adults.

The bill specifically expands who is included in Utahs criminal code as an adult in a position of special trust. This language is intended to address people, such as elementary and secondary schoolteachers, who are in a position of authority over a minor and abuse that power, elevating the crime to an aggravated sexual abuse charge with more severe sentencing.

Currently, professors, instructors or teaching aides at colleges and universities arent included in the criminal code. The original drafters of the legislation likely operated under the assumption that students of higher education are 18 and older. But legislators, thanks to the advocacy of university administrators, have realized many students arrive at college while still underage and are vulnerable to the predation of professors and other administrators in their new environment. This bill affirms legally the impropriety of a coercive relationship, harassment or misconduct between professors and underage students.

While this amendment is a relatively minor semantic addition, it would have significant implications should it pass the Senate and gain the governors signature. Primarily, it would signal to students, parents and university staff members that the state and its institutions of higher learning take seriously abuses of power, as they should. The nature of power, and its ability to coerce, control and harm, has been an essential focus of the #MeToo movement, and cementing these advancements into legislation is necessary for positive change.

The Legislature is right to consider a more expansive assessment of who might constitute the definition of authority figure, hopefully deterring would-be predators from engaging in inappropriate and unwelcome behavior. More importantly, however, the amendment would send a clear message to professors and instructors to think critically about the appropriateness of their interactions with students. It should encourage all to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Universities across Utah have fallen under scrutiny during the past year for cases of sexual assault and the way some have handled investigations, with many students demanding more from their schools. These students have advocated for more responsiveness to complaints of stalking, harassment and misconduct, from both peers and professors. This is critical to addressing those needs and helps chip away at a pervasive culture of shame that too often silences victims who need the most attention.
SALT LAKE CITY  If we can trust good old Punxsutawney Phil, were in for an early  and much needed  spring. But in the meantime, if your kids are a little stir crazy and youre looking to add a bit of charm and pep into your life, here are seven plays or musicals opening this month that the whole family can attend.

Once Upon a Mattress at Heritage Theatre

Think you know the story of The Princess and the Pea"? Once Upon a Mattress says think again. This musical takes Hans Christian Andersens childrens tale and turns it upside down  including letting audiences know that it wasn't the pea at all that caused the princess a sleepless night, according to Rodgers and Hammerstein, the company that licenses the show. Gasp!

Even with the plot twists, the familiar elements of the storyline are ones kids will recognize, making the upcoming production at Heritage Theatre in Perry an option for the whole family. It runs March 1-23, dates and times vary, 2505 S. Highway 89, Perry, $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and children under 12 (435-723-8392 or heritagetheatreutah.com).

Mary Poppins Jr.

If a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, then two spoonfuls  or two chances to see Mary Poppins Jr. this month  are sure to help brighten your March.

Based on the 1964 Disney film, which was based on the 1934 P.L. Travers book, Mary Poppins the musical brings all the magic you know and love, plus a few additional songs. And the Jr. version shortens the whole thing down to an easy-to-digest 60 minutes.

Two youth theater companies in Utah County will mount the production this month, with Hale Center Theater Orems youth theater program leading out and starting March 7. As an added bonus, the show runs at a great time of day for kids too. The production runs March 7-8 and 11-15, 4:30 p.m., HCTO, 225 W. 400 North, Orem, $10 for adults, $8 for children (801-226-8600 or haletheater.org).

Arches Academy, a private school in Orem, is also preparing for a production of Mary Poppins Jr., this time to be performed at Covey Center for the Arts. See it March 13-15, 7 p.m., Covey Center for the Arts, 425 W. Center, Provo, $10-$14 (801-852-7007 or coveycenter.org).

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Utah Childrens Theatre

Before there was Finding Nemo, there was Captain Nemo in Jules Vernes 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Utah Childrens Theatres is setting out to sea to introduce kids to the original Nemo in a format reminiscent of the way Vernesnovel was initially published: serialized.

Utah Children's Theater's melodramatic adaptation of '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' is written as an episodic, movie serial adventure format , according to the theater companys website. At the end of each scene, the characters are in peril, only to be saved heroically at the top of the next chapter.

Embark on the sci-fi adventure March 9-April 13, dates and times vary, Utah Childrens Theatre, 3605 S. State, $16 (801-532-6000 or uctheatre.org).

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at CenterPoint Legacy Theatre

Brothers/composing duo Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, aka the Sherman Brothers, captivated audiences for generations with their movie musical compositions, including the songs for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Aristocats. In addition to being able to hear their Mary Poppins tunes two places this month, you can also hear more of their musical magic through CenterPoint Legacy Theatres stage adaptation of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Caractacus Potts may be a crazy inventor but when he and his children, Jeremy and Jemima, bring a magical car to life, they soon discover that anything is possible  even the car taking flight! according to the theaters website.

Hear the Sherman Brothers work and see that infamous flying car March 15-April 13, dates and times vary, CenterPoint Legacy Theatre, 525 N. 400 West, Centerville, $19.75-$28.25 for adults, $17.75-$26 for seniors, students and children (801-298-1302 or centerpointtheatre.org).

The Little Mermaid at SCERA

What says family-friendly theater better than another Disney classic onstage?

SCERA Center for the Arts youth theater group, Acting Up, brings The Little Mermaid to the stage this month. The company, geared toward performers in 10th through 12th grades, will take on well-known tunes such as Part of Your World, Kiss the Girl and Under the Sea as they tell the tale of the mermaid Ariel who abandons her tail (see what we did there?) to seek true love on land. The performances are open to patrons ages 3 and older, making this a show even little ones can enjoy.

The show runs March 15-30, dates and times vary, SCERA Center for the Arts, 745 S. State, Orem, $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and children (801-225-2787 or scera.org).

Freezin' at Desert Star

With the trailer for Frozen 2 hitting the internet in the last few weeks, the world has been abuzz yet again with talk of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and the loveable snowman Olaf, and Desert Star Playhouse wants to contribute to the hype  albeit in a more satirical way.

Desert Star, the Murray playhouse that has been delivering comedies since 1989, is set to launch its latest parody Freezin March 28-June 8. Its based, you guessed it, on Frozen and promises to be an ice-cold comedy.

Youll be frozen in your seats with our zany cast, including Anna, the Mountaineer and the Snow Queen, the theater companys website states.

You can catch it during its over two-monthslong run starting March 28-June 8, dates and times vary, 4861 S. State, Murray, $26.95 for adults, $15.95 for children (801-266-2600 or desertstar.biz).
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SALT LAKE CITY  A West Jordan lawmaker hopes to see the creation of an app that offers a way for domestic violence and sexual assault victims to seek help anonymously and create a record of the assaults.

The sponsor of HB427, Rep. Cheryl Acton, R-West Jordan, said "no one should live in fear" is her motto for the bill.

"I think that theres more we could do to help people not live in fear, thats my goal," Acton said.

She wants to pattern it after the SafeUT app offered to teens in crisis and considering suicide. Acton introduced her bill last Tuesday but she said Friday she wants to put it on hold and work on it more between Legislative sessions.

Jennifer Oxborrow, executive director of the Utah Domestic Violence Coalition, said she was not sure that an app would be able to adequately address the issue. She compared it to using an app to help someone with a heart attack.

"Were very concerned about potential unintended consequences when it comes to any sort of technology. Domestic and sexual violence are very complicated, and so we always think about survivor safety first," Oxborrow said.

Oxborrow has concerns that the idea was not developed by professional advocates.

"Anytime were creating any sort of technology approach to survivor safety, that needs to be vetted very carefully to make sure that we arent exacerbating risks for a survivor," Oxborrow said.

After speaking about the bill with Oxborrow, Acton said she thinks there is potential for the bill but understands the concerns, particularly the worry that current services in Utah would not be able to accommodate the increased demand.

"You dont want to turn someone away whos calling," Acton said.

The bill was suggested to Acton by Jeremy Roberts. He said he worked with legislators on the SafeUT app and he has helped with other domestic violence prevention bills this year as well.

Roberts said 65 percent of women who are murdered in Utah are killed by their husband or partner. Roberts said making a tool like the SafeUT app for women to report would be very beneficial.

"Domestic violence in Utah is just insanely underreported," Roberts said.

Because Utah has already developed the platform with the SafeUT app, the new app would be less expensive, Roberts said. One of the notable aspects of the app would be the ability to log instances of domestic violence for those who are not yet ready to report to police.

Oxborrow said calendaring is not a new approach, advocates have used various approaches for this based on what is the safest. She expressed concerns an app would allow an abusive person or stalker to gain access to a survivor's plan for safety.

"I think the SafeUT app is wonderful for people who are struggling with suicide risk, but the difference  is a person who is struggling with suicide is considering harming themselves, a person who is dealing with a domestic violence situation is being harmed by someone else," Oxborrow said.

Roberts said a large purpose of this app would be to increase reporting of sexual and domestic violence. He said if the app is able to increase reporting by even 3 percent or 5 percent it will be worth the effort.

According to Oxborrow, the state funded hotline for reporting sexual violence receives more than 40,000 calls every year and refers people to services in their communities.

The Utah Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-897-5465) is open 24/7 for anyone to speak confidentially to a professional victims advocate. There are also resources available at udvc.org.
SALT LAKE CITY  Steven Burt, Engels Tejeda and Austin Baird are three Utah attorneys in their late 30s who recently traveled to south Texas to represent people who couldnt afford them.

For a week, they met with women seeking asylum for themselves and their families in the United States. They heard their stories, their rationale, their reasons, for fleeing their homelands and landing at the U.S. doorstep.

Most of the women they met came from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, the violent Northern Triangle countries in Central America where drug cartels and gangs make daily life difficult if not downright unbearable. All had children with them. A majority were married, but their husbands were in another facility. Only women and children are allowed at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas.

It was the extensive publicity early last summer about migrant families being separated at the Mexican border that got Burt, Tejada and Baird to Texas.

Burt, a University of Utah law school graduate who is in-house counsel for Vivint Solar in Lehi, saw the news reports of the thousands of people seeking asylum at the border and wondered if there was something he could do besides just worry about it.

He did a Google search and found out about the Dilley Pro Bono Project, a nonprofit group that solicits volunteer lawyers to come to the Dilley facility for a week at a time, drop their rates to "free," and represent asylum-seekers as they make their way through the system.

This is the project's recruiting pitch as stated on the American Immigration Council website (immigrationjustice.us):

"DPBP is only able to uphold its promise to provide legal counsel with the help of volunteers who are flexible, willing to step outside their comfort zone, and dedicated to working long and difficult hours (12-15-hour days, full of physically and emotionally exhausting work).

When Steve Burt read that, he thought, perfect."

He called his friend from law school, Engels Tejeda, an attorney at the Salt Lake law firm of Holland & Hart, and asked him to join him. The two spent the week between Christmas and New Years at a place Tejeda described as this giant trailer in the middle of a field in south Texas. Their emotional Facebook posts about the experience inspired their friend, Austin Baird, who works with Burt at Vivint Solar, to do a volunteer week of his own in early February.

They all three came away discouraged  and encouraged.

Discouraged by what they heard: horrific stories about cruelty and abuse spelled out in the womens Credible Fear Interviews that made it hard to fall asleep at night.

Encouraged by what they saw: women by the hundreds who didnt come across as people looking for a handout, but as people trying to find a better way of life for them and their children.

These women who hitchhiked three weeks with their kids to get here; I cant think of anyone who Id rather hire to work for me, said Baird. You just know someone like that is going to roll with the punches.

Bringing them in (to America) would be an injection of resilience, an injection of perseverance and hard work, said Burt. Apart from seeing these women and their kids as great kids who Id love to have in my house and play with my kids, I would love to have those kids be in a classroom and tell their stories so other kids could realize how lucky they have it.

These kinds of statements, and more, they were able to say directly to the immigration judges considering the womens appeals for asylum.

Will they all get in? Thats not for the three good-hearted lawyers from Utah to say. But they did their bit, at least for a week, and in the future theyd like to do more.

Its a crisis situation where you need folks to come and step up, said Tejada. People forget that behind all the headlines, all the discussions, certainly behind all the politics, that these are real human beings here.
SALT LAKE CITY  When a judge asked Catie Cartisano's father what it was like to see his daughter in handcuffs, his reply was that it "was better than a funeral."

"I will never forget that," said Cartisano, 33.

That same judge ordered Cartisano to attend treatment for a third time, which, at the time, seemed insurmountable to her.

She was begging for a jail sentence.

"I remember who I used to be. I felt like I had no choice," she said. "I never ever thought I would be where I am today."

Cartisano was 23 at the time and had already spent time in jail twice for charges related to her drug addiction, a habit that began with marijuana and cocaine use at age 15. She said the judge's trust in her gave her hope.

"I don't know where I would be," she said. "I would probably still be in there, if I was even alive."

Cartisano said, "Getting sober was like the hardest thing I have ever had to do, to have to change every part of my life when I already felt so far behind."

Drugs had consumed every part of her life. Even though she did everything she could to clean up her habit and all the mistakes it led to, Cartisano couldn't escape her record.

"It was this shameful, dark part of me that I didn't want to tell," she said, adding that each time she applied for something, "it was so traumatizing and embarrassing to bring up what I had done.

"I just quit trying because I knew I would be judged for something I was so desperately trying to change. It followed me everywhere."

The Utah expungement process requires a person to remain crime-free for a certain amount of time, but also apply for eligibility, petition the courts in the jurisdictions where offenses were committed and pay according fees. It can be intimidating and cumbersome, take a long time and get quite costly, depending on the severity and number of offenses a person has.

And if time runs out on Utah's 90-day eligibility certification, the whole process has to start over.

We all want these people to be able to move on, get good housing, get good jobs. They have shown they are no longer a threat to society ... Let's let them move on.  Noella Sudbury, director of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Advisory Council

"A lot of people start and never finish because there are a lot of steps to it," said Noella Sudbury, director of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Advisory Council, which hosted an event last year to help about 100 people expunge their records.

In fact, thousands of Utahns are eligible to have their records cleared, but each year, only a small percentage of them apply and many never complete the process.

Sudbury is behind a bill, HB431, sponsored by Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, at the Utah Legislature that would automatically expunge certain misdemeanor crimes after so much time has passed, freeing up time for the courts to work on the weightier cases that need more consideration and study.

"Too many Utahns are serving what amounts to a life sentence of being unemployed for minor offenses," Hutchings said. "When there's no light at the end of the tunnel, people give up. When that happens, our communities lose, families lose, taxpayers lose."

Whenever someone applies for housing or a job or for a promotion, they legally have to answer a question on the application of whether they've been convicted of a crime, felony or misdemeanor. And unless it has been expunged, any such conviction will appear on a background check, limiting the potential for a person to move on.

"I just wanted to die," Cartisano said. "I had lost hope in thinking that my life was going to be anything other than it was at that time. I was in a box. A very, very small box."

Three years and $3,000 later and Cartisano ultimately needed the help of an attorney to decipher the process and successfully clear her criminal record.

"People deserve second chances," Sudbury said. "But mistakes in the past continue to hold people back. And if you don't have a lot of resources, if you don't have transportation or if you don't have the money, the reality is that (expungement) is not going to be a reality for you."

Cartisano visited the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification the day after her expungement was granted because she couldn't believe it had finally happened.

"After having pages of a criminal record before, with the details of all my arrests, it said 'no record found,'" Cartisano recalled. "That was one of the best days of my life."

HB431, Sudbury said, has bipartisan support, including backing from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office, Utah Department of Public Safety, the Sutherland Institute, and more. As of Friday, it had yet to be assigned to committee for a hearing.

"We all want these people to be able to move on, get good housing, get good jobs. They have shown they are no longer a threat to society," she said. "Let's let them move on."

HB431 would utilize technology already in place to identify people who are eligible and put them on an automated track to a clean slate. And, Sudbury said, research shows that just a year after a person's record is cleared, they are 11 percent more likely to be employed and earn 22 percent higher wages.

People deserve second chances.  Noella Sudbury, director of the Salt Lake County Criminal Justice Advisory Council

Only Pennsylvania has implemented similar clean slate legislation, so if approved by local lawmakers, Utah would be the second state in the country to do it.

Just six months after the expungement event in Salt Lake County last April, the majority of participants had obtained better housing situations, better employment opportunities, and all of the participants reported feeling happier, less stressed and having a more positive outlook on life, Sudbury said.

"These are people who have gone years without another action in violation of the law, people who have been working, raising families and have the additional burden of their record when facing promotion or a new position," said Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, who supports the bill. She said it has long been the county's priority to move people toward self-sufficiency.

"In this day and age, we recognize that if someone has gone five, six or seven years without committing a crime, that is a person who is doing well," Wilson said. "This will help make it easier and allow them to get back to the basics."

Since achieving sobriety and maintaining it for nearly 10 years, Cartisano has received bachelor's and master's degrees and has become a licensed clinical social worker, with extra certification to help people with substance use disorder and/or who have experienced trauma. She's also clinical director for Balance House, an outpatient treatment facility in Salt Lake City.

"I'm glad I persevered and had the dedication to do what I had to do," Cartisano said, adding that reminders of her past are still everywhere, but "the more I do and excel at makes it all worth it."

Not only have her experiences made her better at her job and more reputable with her clients, she has the opportunity to show people that it can be done, that life can be re-made.

And, whether her relationship status is related to her record or not, Cartisano is excited to be getting married in the Virgin Islands in May.

"The impacts this will have on people are widespread and so positive," Sudbury said. "It opens up opportunities for people."

Ten years ago, Cartisano was pleading with the judge to send her to jail again, but the judge had something greater in mind and he ordered the young woman to treatment, which ended up being the right thing.

"He saved my life, without a doubt," Cartisano said. "I almost gave up. I felt it was pointless to keep trying. But, I'm seen differently now. I feel like two different people.

"I was able to let that Catie go and focus on what I really wanted to do with my life."
SALT LAKE CITY  A massive rock fall shut down a popular scenic highway near Moab on Sunday, one of several slides that blocked access to trails and vistas in Utah's red rock country over the weekend.

Crews on Sunday used explosives to blast through some boulders as big as motor homes, according to the Utah Department of Transportation, clearing one lane by evening and allowing alternating traffic.

Earlier in the day, rocks and rubble were strewn across both lanes of state Route 128, which traces the Colorado River, near the juncture with U.S. 191, Grand County sheriff's deputies said.

No injuries were reported in the slide about a mile outside Moab.

A smaller slide sent rocks onto the same road Saturday near Dewey Bridge, deputies said, but was cleared early Sunday.

Rock falls in recent stormy weather have also affected Zion National Park.

On Saturday, a retaining wall broke under a two-lane highway that leads visitors to the park, severely undercutting 8 feet of roadway, park officers said. The Zion-Mount Carmel Highway was closed until further notice but alternate routes remained open.

Wet weather and landslides at the park also shut down nearby trails and canyoneering routes, including the popular Upper Emerald Pools trail.

Zion Canyon has logged just over 10 inches of precipitation since October, more than a threefold increase from a year ago, park officers said in a statement.

"It's all due to the freeze-thaw cycle, and we've had a pretty extreme winter with a lot of storms," said UDOT spokesman John Gleason. "All of that can really cause rocks to come loose, jar loose."

Grand County deputies also urged travelers to be cautious in venturing off of pavement in the muddy conditions, providing a picture of a sedan stuck in mud in Arches National Park.

Contributing: Sean Moody
A tax reform bill was a major focus at the end of the fifth week of the 2019 legislative session. Though a number of business representatives voiced their concern about the bill, members of the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, in a 12-2 vote, advanced HB441 to the House floor on Friday.

Other important issues included a proposal aimed at dismantling the Utah Science, Technology and Research initiative, a push to toughen penalties for drug dealing near homeless shelters and a bill that would strengthen Utah's stand-your-ground law.

Here's a brief look at five other major legislature stories from last week:

Gov. Gary Herbert endorsed HB399, a bill that would ban the practice of conversion therapy on minors in the state of Utah, the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Craig Hall, R-West Valley City, announced during a House Judiciary Committee meeting on Friday.

However, some legislators found the bills definition of conversion therapy to be too restrictive, especially as it limits what therapists are allowed to say when they are administering talk therapy.

READ MORE: Gov. Gary Herbert endorses bill to ban conversion therapy in Utah. But some legislators disagree on definition

A bill that would raise the minimum age cutoff for legal marriage in Utah won approval from the Utah House of Representatives on Friday. It's a watered-down version of a bill that would have initially raised the minimum age from 15 to 18. Instead, the bill would raise Utah's legal age to 16, while requiring 16- and 17-year-olds to marry only with permission of parents and a juvenile court judge.

READ MORE: Bill raising minimum age for marriage in Utah from 15 to 16 clears the House

The Utah House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill that would put popular flavors of electronic cigarette cartridges further out of the reach of teens. The hope is to prevent nicotine addiction in rising generations, said HB274 sponsor Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City.

READ MORE: Utah lawmakers take another step toward banning flavored e-cig cartridges from teens

A bill banning abortions solely based on a Down syndrome diagnosis passed the Senate without debate Thursday and now goes to Gov. Gary Herbert for his action. The governor, at his monthly KUED news conference Thursday, said he will weigh the pros and cons of HB166 like any other bill that comes to his desk and then make a decision.

READ MORE: Bill outlawing abortions solely for Down syndrome diagnosis passes Utah Legislature

A Utah Senate resolution with the endorsement of Gov. Gary Herbert received unanimous approval in a legislative committee Wednesday encouraging the pursuit of a new federal designation for the Wasatch canyons.

READ MORE: Utah Senate committee gives tentative nod to federal designation in Wasatch canyons
Sen. Mike Lees amicus brief arguing that the United States Supreme Court should have overturned the verdicts of the district and circuit court rulings in favor of SB54, which established Utahs current dual-track party nominating system, is, in many respects, exactly the kind of engagement with social science we wish were more often a part of the discourse. He cites excellent political science research and makes his case well. We were lucky enough to be considered part of the literature he cites, a fact for which we are quite grateful.

But our enthusiasm for the senators engagement with political science makes this next comment a bit awkward: We do not agree with the way he cited our research. We argued in a 2015 article in The British Journal of Political Science that primary elections are more reflective of the broad swath of voters who identify with a political party than are caucuses. Both observational and experimental evidence showed that caucuses attract not only a smaller group of participants, but also those who are more ideologically extreme. Voters who took more moderate issue positions were, by contrast, substantially more likely to prefer the primary to the caucus system. In this sense, primary electorates were clearly more representative of the party at large in the country. These results were based on a national study, and not anything particular to Utah, but obviously recent changes in Utahs nomination system are relevant.

To be clear, we do not believe caucuses are inherently worse (or better) than primaries. Indeed, one of the things we found was that people who participated in caucuses liked such procedures very much and preferred them as an institution  a fact that is echoed in the enthusiasm of proponents of the Utah neighborhood caucus system.

But the problem is that these beliefs are not shared by most voters. In our study of a representative sample of Americans, most people thought caucuses were likely to be worse in a number of ways  less fair, less open to different points of view, more favorable to special interests and less likely to make the best decision about the partys nominee. In sum, people rated primaries more positively than caucuses on every evaluative measure we examined.

This brings us to our disagreement with Sen. Lee.

He argues in the amicus brief that we found that caucus goers are far more similar to the partys core, and accordingly its values, than are general primary voters. It is certainly true that we believe caucus goers are more ideologically consistent  this was one of the key findings of the paper  but we do not really know how to decide what the partys core is. Indeed, this is not a term we used in the article because it is so difficult to define. And it is precisely the question at stake in the debates over SB54.

Should the partys core be considered the broad swath of voters who identify with the party? The elected officials who adopt the partys label? Only certain elected officials or certain voters? Perhaps only the official paid employees of the party? We have no idea how to settle that particular question, and this is why political scientists typically speak of several different faces of the party (the party in the electorate, the party in government, and the party as an organization). The core of the party has several different and potentially conflicting meanings, and ideological consistency is not the only standard for making this determination.

While we respect Sen. Lees argument that the true core is the type of people who show up at caucuses, the Utah Legislature, by passing SB54, has shown that it favors a different view. And while we certainly agree with Sen. Lees argument that rights of free association are to be taken very seriously, one also has to balance that argument against the equally old and equally important tradition that The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof (U.S. Constitution, Article I, section 4). This tradition actually predates the drafting and ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Colonial legislatures typically required certain amounts of property for a candidate to be placed on the ballot (and other amounts for voters). While we might find some of these restrictions unacceptable in todays world, they do inarguably establish the tradition that legislatures may place restrictions on who does or does not get onto an election ballot.

This returns us to the heart of the question about who is considered eligible or ineligible to vote in a particular states elections. Any decision a legislature  or a court  makes about who is or is not allowed to participate will involve drawing some lines that include or exclude people. Our argument in the cited article was never designed to prove who was or was not a core member of a party. Reasonable people disagree about this important question. No doubt some people of good will would put the line in one place, and others would put it in another place. A state legislature (backed by the U.S. Congress) is tasked with the decision of setting up the rules for any electoral system and so we are not surprised that a representative body, like a legislature, privileges representation as a value in elections.

And that was the main point of our article: Representation is a core value for our political system. And on that point, we wrote that our analysis raises the concern that caucuses do not meet even the minimal standard of fairness in representation: they systematically deter the moderate, less consistent voters, and people appear to have misgivings about the procedure. Put differently, the choice of nominating institutions is not neutral. The features of the nominating institutions we adopt will attract (or repel) some types of voters, affecting not only the size of the group that nominates but its characteristics as well. As legislatures and now courts make their decisions, it is worth reflecting on how the choice of institutions shapes who participates (and who doesnt) and how that participation will affect the relationship between elected officials and their constituents, regardless of whatever we believe about the core of the party.
OREM  An Orem man charged with murdering an acquaintance who knocked on his door turned himself in to police over the weekend  in California.

Elbert John Paule, 19, surrendered to officers in San Diego County on Saturday. He had apparently fled to his mother's house in California, according to court records.

Paule was charged Saturday in 4th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony, in the Thursday shooting death of Dominique Barnett. A judge signed a warrant on Sunday to begin the extradition process, according to court records.

Bail was set at $500,000 cash only and the extradition process could take "a few weeks," according to Orem police.

Paule shot Barnett, 26, at point-blank range without saying a word, according to charging documents. Barnett went to Paule's apartment that night, specifically to see him.

"Once he arrived to Mr. Paules apartment, Barnett knocked on the door. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Paule opened the door and, without warning, shot Barnett point-blank in the torso with a 12-gauge shotgun," the charges state.

"After throwing the shotgun off the apartment balcony, Mr. Paule fled from the complex."

A witness inside the apartment told police that Paule looked through the peephole before opening the door and exclaimed, Ah, hell no!" according to the charges.

Barnett had arrived at the apartment complex, along with his girlfriend and their infant child, "to confront Paule regarding an ongoing dispute over a drug deal," according to the arrest warrant signed by the judge. Paule opened the door and shot Barnett without any words being exchanged, the warrant states.

"Prior to fleeing, another witness heard Mr. Paule state, 'I just shot that (N-word)!" investigators wrote in the charging documents.

After the shooting, Paule threw the shotgun off his third-story balcony, and then ran out the front door, stepping over Burnett's body as he ran away, according to the warrant.

Witnesses also told police that earlier in the day, Paule was "acting agitated" and threatened to "'blow Dominique away' if he came over there," the warrant states.

The shooting prompted university officials to issue a "shelter in place" advisory for several hours Thursday and issue alerts to students as police searched for the gunman.

According to court records, Paule was charged with misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia in January, convicted of misdemeanor drug possession in May 2018, and is scheduled to go to trial in April for charges out of Vernal. In December, Paule was arrested for investigation of failing to stop for a police officer, according to Utah County Jail records.
SALT LAKE CITY  The House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee voted 7-4 Monday to approve a bill that would allocate $20 million to affordable housing.

HB386 would create housing vouchers, funding for single-room occupancy housing and create a new Affordable Housing Preservation Fund to maintain or rehabilitate affordable housing.

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, said the vouchers are useful for immediate help while the other funding programs help increase housing availability.

Some members of the committee, including House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton, and Rep. Timothy Hawkes, R-Centerville, expressed concern about the large amount of money requested and the effectiveness of affordable housing in encouraging low-income individuals and families to become self-sufficient.

Briscoe said SB34 should be the first priority among the bills allocating funding to affordable housing. The funding requested in this bill would address different issues.

The bill will now go to the House floor for debate.
NEWTOWN >> On Dec. 3 at approximately 3 p.m., a Newtown Township Police School Resource Officer received information from Council Rock High School North officials regarding a potential threat by a student, which was allegedly made two to four weeks earlier, as reported by other students. Police immediately initiated an investigation into the matter, and investigators, over the course of...
SALT LAKE CITY  A bill setting new requirements for local voter referendums and initiatives in the wake of the contentious battle over developing housing on the former Cottonwood Mall site cleared a House committee Monday.

HB119, sponsored by Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, was passed to the House floor by the House Government Operations Committee with Rep. Jen Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, opposed.

The bill had been held by the committee after a previous hearing so Daw could come back with some changes, including to spell out that elected officials can use their staff to gather data about an issue.

However, Daw said any information communicated by an elected official about a referendum or initiative must be "perfectly balanced.  you have to send out both sides equally."

An effort to alter that provision failed. So did a proposed amendment to limit the areas of voter participation that must be represented in the signatures, which Daw said helps prevent issues with limited support from "bogging down" government.

Tracy Taylor, of the Wasatch Taxpayers Association, said there have been "some really positive improvements" in the two years the legislation has been discussed, but it will still be "very, very difficult for a grassroots citizens' group."

She said the new requirements may be prohibitively expensive to carry out without hiring professional signature-gatherers, making it harder to utilize a "useful tool" to get issues before voters, especially when it comes to those involving land use.

Daw originally came up with the bill in response to conflict over the Provo-Orem bus rapid transit line, but it failed to get a Senate vote before time ran out in the 2018 Legislature.

In Holladay, residents were able to get a referendum on last year's ballot to challenge the city's approval of the controversial Cottonwood Mall housing development. The issue passed, effectively bringing a halt to that planned project after the state Supreme Court ruled the referendum was valid in late November.

Also Monday, the committee advanced a bill already passed by the Senate dealing with statewide voter initiatives. SB151, sponsored by Sen. Deidre Henderson, R-Spanish Fork, requires initiatives to state a funding source up front.

Henderson told the committee she got the idea from Proposition 3, the Medicaid expansion initiative approved by voters and replaced this session by lawmakers. The initiative included a sales tax increase to cover the state's share of the expansion.
PROVO  A Midvale man was formally charged Friday with shooting his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.

Shon Brian Blake, 23, is charged in 4th District Court with attempted murder, a first-degree felony, criminal mischief and five counts of discharge of a firearm, third-degree felonies, and criminal mischief, a class A misdemeanor.

Blake has been held without bail in the Utah County Jail since his arrest on Feb. 12. On that day, Blake's former girlfriend, who lives in Lehi, contacted him and accused him of throwing a rock through her window. Her new boyfriend, Dakota Oliver, then told Blake "to come over and they would handle the issue like men," according to charging documents.

The woman went outside her apartment and noticed that the tires on her car were flat. Blake surprised the woman and her new boyfriend by showing up in the parking lot, police say. During an argument that ensued, Blake "took out a handgun he had concealed in his pants and showed it to her, then put it back," according to the charges.

When Oliver tried to intervene, Blake "pulled the gun back out and fired at (her) car, hitting the car five times," the charges state.

Blake then turned around to leave and Oliver followed "to make sure he was leaving," charging documents state. That is when police say Blake turned around and fired three more times, striking Oliver twice in the arm.
SALT LAKE CITY  Luke Perry, who rocketed to stardom as an actor on the show Beverly Hills, 90210, passed away on Monday at age of 52, The Associated Press reports.

Perrys publicist Arnold Robinson said Perry died after suffering a massive stroke. He was surrounded by friends and family at the time of his death.

The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning, Robinson said in a statement.

Twitter shared thoughts and memories about Perry in the hours after his death.

Luke Perry was a great actor and truly one of a kind. Watching him on 90210 was one of the reasons why I wanted to move to LA. Thinking of his family and friends on and off the set. Rest in peace.  Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) March 4, 2019

Luke Perry... you were a joyful and vibrant soul. You will be missed but most certainly your legacy will be remembered forever. Rest in love and peace, friend. #Riverdale  Riverdale Writers Room (@RiverdaleWriter) March 4, 2019

Rest in Peace Luke Perry and Keith Flint. Grew up watching 90210 and listening to Prodigy. Sad news.  Zak Bagans  (@Zak_Bagans) March 4, 2019

Heartbroken over Luke Perry. Never met him but the 90210 kids graduated from high school when I did and went to college when I did. He felt like somebody I went to school with. Thats what storytelling does ... it makes you feel connected. Rest in power, Dylan. #RIPLukePerry  Gloria Calderon Kellett (@everythingloria) March 4, 2019

Actor Luke Perry has died at age 52. The former Beverly Hills, 90210 star and current actor on the show Riverdale has died, his publicist confirmed. He experienced a massive stroke last week pic.twitter.com/YQYIvdJA1E  Sherman (@Shermanbot) March 4, 2019

Im truly saddened by the news of Luke Perrys death . He did an incredible job as Fred Andrews in Riverdale and it will never be the same without him. My heart goes out to his family, friends, and co-stars through this difficult time #RIPLukePerry pic.twitter.com/6ZWz7d5ekr  Cameron Junge (@cam_junge) March 4, 2019

You were the childhood, adolescent, and even adult years of millions and millions of people around the world. You were the kindest soul who always saw the good in people. You left an everlasting mark on pop culture, and the world. Youll be gone, but never forgotten, Luke Perry. pic.twitter.com/RYQsvqC9tb  RIVERDALE NEWS! (@CWRiverdaleNews) March 4, 2019

I am so so saddened by the news of Luke Perrys passing. He will be greatly greatly missed. My heart goes out to his family, friends and all those close to him. #RIPLukePerry  mama herron (@mytaherron) March 4, 2019

I recently started re-watching 90210 + realized how great of an actor Luke Perry was. So sad to hear of his death. An old INK song appeared in one of his movies "DishDogz" + I'm proud that we were involved in something he was in.

My heart goes out his family #RIPLukePerry pic.twitter.com/5XZjtsn5kw  Spencer Charnas (@SpencerICE9K) March 4, 2019

Noooooo! Luke Perry, noooo! My first huge tv crush, had Dylan Mckay posters all over my room. This is heartbreaking. May he Rest in Peace. Life really is so fragile. Much love to his family  Melissa Claire Egan (@MClaireEgan) March 4, 2019
SALT LAKE CITY  The Senate passed a bill Monday intended to force the recently decertified BYU Police Department to follow the same open records rules that all other law enforcement agencies are subject to in Utah.

SB197, sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, was sent to the House on a 26-0 vote. Bramble has said the bill is the "result of the ongoing litigation between BYU and the media" related to the Government Records Access and Management Act.

The bill spells out that the state's definition of a law enforcement agency includes "a private institution of higher education whose law enforcement entity or division is certified by the Commission of Public Safety."

Last month, the BYU Police Department was decertified by the state beginning on Sept. 1. Utah Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson cited issues including failure "to conduct an internal investigation into specific allegations of misconduct by a BYU" police officer.

The issues stem from a records request made under the act by the Salt Lake Tribune for emails sent by BYU police regarding rape allegations made by a 19-year-old student in 2016.

BYU declined to release information from what it termed a "privately funded, managed and operated police department within a private university" and is appealing a lower court ruling to the Utah Supreme Court.

University attorneys said GRAMA was not intended "to allow access to private records of private institutions such as BYU, or internal departments of private institutions, such as university police."

Yet last week, BYU's police chief and its general counsel urged support of the bill.

The university's police department remains active until a deadline of Sept. 1 while BYU appeals the decertification decision.
BOTHWELL, Box Elder County  A man accused of stabbing his wife to death and then trying to take his own life has been arrested for investigation of aggravated murder.

Jose Gutierrez-Torres, 39, was arrested Sunday but remained hospitalized Monday. He is accused of killing his wife, Maria de Jesus Cervantes, 53, then turning the knife on himself.

Sunday morning, Gutierrez-Torres called his brother-in-law and "told him that he had done something stupid and that he needed medical (attention) and that his wife needed medical as well," according to a Box Elder County Jail report.

Guiterrez-Torres first called about midnight and allegedly said he was going to "join" another relative who had passed away a week earlier. About 5:45 a.m., family members got another call from Guiterrez-Torres "who stated 'they are dying' and (family members) could hear Maria groaning in the background," according to the report.

The brother-in-law called the Box Elder County Sheriff's Office, which responded along with Tremonton police to the unincorporated area of Bothwell. The first arriving officer found Gutierrez-Torres covered in blood and tried to help him, but he "started to fight" the officer, the report states.

After calming him down, paramedics attended to Gutierrez-Torres and found Cervantes deceased on a bedroom floor. A steak knife was also found wrapped in a washcloth, the report states.

"All the evidence indicates the decedent was murdered by Jose, who then attempted to take his own life by repeatedly slashing his own throat," police wrote in the report.
SALT LAKE CITY  Though critics argue Utah's toughest-in-the-nation DUI law restricts personal freedom and criminalizes social drinking, a new study concludes that it is not only ethically defensible but desirable.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Pennsylvania say their analysis shows setting the legal limit for driving at .05 percent blood alcohol concentration is likely to prevent substantial harm with minimal restrictions.

"Policymakers in other states should follow Utahs lead to reduce alcohol-related traffic deaths, and Congress should incentivize these changes," wrote Stephanie Morain, assistant professor in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Utah became the first state in the country to adopt the .05 percent standard, lowering it from .08 percent. The stricter law took effect Dec. 30.

The study came in response to a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report last year proposing that lowering the legal blood alcohol concentration level would reduce alcohol-impaired driving deaths.

Morain and co-author Emily Largent, an assistant professor of medical ethics and health policy at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, say they recognize their paper takes a controversial approach to the issue.

"We make the distinction in our arguments that this law would not penalize or prohibit social drinking, but rather penalize alcohol-impaired driving. A person can still drink as much as they like, just not get behind the wheel," according to Morain, adding it's increasingly easier to find safe rides home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that a 160-pound man would need to consume three alcoholic drinks in an hour to reach a .05 blood alcohol concentration.

The American Beverage Institute, which mounted an ad campaign to derail the Utah law, says the paper's assertion that .05 laws would reduce traffic deaths is questionable at best.

"The problem with .05 laws isnt that theyre morally unjustifiable. The real issue is that lowering the legal limit is an ineffective policy that will only siphon limited traffic safety resources away from the real problem of high-BAC and repeat drunk drivers," said Jackson Shedelbower, spokesman for the organization based in Washington, D.C.

Studies citing a significant drop in traffic deaths are "deeply flawed" because they rely on a broad deterrence effect, meaning that drivers at all blood alcohol concentration levels, especially high ones, would be persuaded to not get behind the wheel after consuming too much alcohol after a .05 law is implemented, he said.

"This is an argument that defies logic," Shedelbower said.

Even though the law could effectively reduce alcohol-related injury and death, many critics claim such a law restricts individual freedom and criminalizes responsible social drinking, according to the authors of the study.

Morain and Largent say they made an ethical argument supporting .05 laws, which include preventing harm to both drinking drivers and to others. They then considered and rejected liberty-based objections, concluding the law is "not only ethically defensible but desirable."

"In the public health ethics field, it is acceptable to restrict individual freedom in order to prevent harm to others, and the BAC .05 laws are a shining example of this philosophy," according to Morain.

"With Utah passing legislation to reduce the legal BAC level, we hope this signals a window of opportunity for similar legislation to be adopted across the country."

California, Oregon and New York are among states considering lowering the limit from .08 to .05. Utah and Oregon were the first states to go to .08 percent in 1983.
SALT LAKE CITY  The Utah House approved a bill Monday allowing victims of domestic and sexual violence who have an approved protective order to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

Rep. Christine Watkins, R-Price, the sponsor for HB243, said the bill doesn't change when or where a victim can carry a gun, but just that it can be concealed.

This bill is a pro-choice bill, every woman should be able to choose whether or not she needs, or wants, to provide a means of self-protection and, if so, she should be free to choose the means that suits her particular circumstances, Watkins said.

Rep. Andrew Stoddard, D-Sandy, presented a substitute bill that would have given victims a "fast track" to a concealed carry permit after the initial ex-parte protective order is given. He said this would likely be quicker than the process in the original bill, which allows concealed carry after the protective order hearing.

"Once a firearm is introduced into a domestic violence situation, the victim is 500 percent more likely to die. Thats why I feel its important to follow the process we have set up through law," Stoddard said.

He said after people have gone through the trauma of domestic violence, it is important for them to have the proper training. He said the concealed carry permit process we have is respected and works well.

Watkins disagreed saying the substitute would require more money and the original bill only makes a change to how a victim can carry.

"If you see a person drowning, you dont say to them, You should go take swimming lessons, you throw them a lifesaver. Such is the case here, if someone has been threatened and they feel unsafe, they should be able to  cover (a weapon) up so that its safer for them while they work on getting a permit," Watkins said.

Stoddard's proposed substitute failed.

Watkins' bill  which passed in a 58-16 vote  allows a victim 120 days after the protective order is issued to conceal carry before they receive a permit.

HB243 will now go to the Senate for consideration.
Telecom Egypt has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Nokia to introduce 5G network and test use cases.

Under this MoU, collaboration between the two sides will focus on 5G deployment as well as the evaluation of appropriate use cases of the 5G technology in the Egyptian market. The memorandum represents a turning point for Telecom Egypts digital transformation strategy, particularly because the company already has a set of state-of-the-art 5G-ready solutions and services from Nokia.

Adel Hamed, Managing Director & CEO of Telecom Egypt, said: "This MoU marks a new chapter of the partnership between the two companies as it will allow our company to support the realisation of the digital transformation strategy in Egypt. This is also an ideal opportunity for us to put a strategic roadmap to develop our network capabilities and make sure of its readiness to deploy 5G technologies."

Amr K. El Leithy, head of the Middle East and Africa market at Nokia, said: "5G solutions will allow Telecom Egypt to proactively address the increasing data traffic, create new revenue streams as well as continue working on the improvement of customer experience".

Nokia and Telecom Egypt are working together to deploy 5G network with Nokia's end-to-end 5G solutions that provides ultra-fast connectivity with ultra-low latency. This will allow the operator to flexibly support various use case scenarios and many business models in addition to connecting billions of Internet of Things (IoT) devices to enable smart cities and improve the quality of life for citizens.
John Sinfield has joined the BMI Group as its new Regional President North.

Sinfields overarching responsibility is BMIs businesses in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the UK & Ireland; and his primary focus on new commercial opportunities. Sinfield has 30 years of sales experience in the building materials sector, most recently as Managing Director  Northern Europe for Knauf Insulation.

He will be based in Milton Keynes, and report to Mark Andrews, BMI Groups Chief Commercial Officer.
Gov't contracting show set for March 7

PUYALLUP  Alliance Northwest bills itself as the largest business-to-government conference in the Pacific Northwest.

The event will be held from 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. March 7 in the Mattress Firm Showplex at the Washington State Fairgrounds.

It's expected to bring together more than 1,000 representatives from small businesses, prime contractors and government agencies for a full day of workshops and networking. There will also be a trade show with more than 100 booths.

Admission is $115 through March 5. Tickets at the door are $135.

For more information or to register see http://www.alliancenorthwest.org.




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KALAMA (AP)  Port of Kalama commissioners have awarded a $5.59 million contract to a Kelso contractor for street improvements at its Spencer Creek Business Park.

The Daily News reports that Commissioner Randy Sweet said C&R Tractor and Landscaping's bid, including sales tax, was well under the engineer's estimate of $6.37 million.





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Photo by Koz Development [enlarge] Mountain View Hall has 120 furnished units that are leased to Everett Community College.





A privately owned and developed student-housing complex at 1004 Broadway in Everett has sold for a little over $17.5 million, according to CBRE, which brokered the deal.





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SEATTLE  Plymouth Housing Group has sold the air rights for the Pacific Apartments, at 317 Marion St., for just over $2 million, according to King County records.

The buyer in the transfer of development rights (TDR) was an LLC associated with Urban Visions.





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SEATAC  The Hanover Apartments, 3117 S. 192nd St. in SeaTac, have sold for $29.4 million, according to King County records.

The seller was FPA5 Emerald Place LLC, associated with FPA Multifamily of San Francisco, which acquired the property in 2015 for $18.1 million.





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Over the last nine months Grace Kelly's life has changed dramatically having donated a kidney to her husband, Seamus and having retired from her position with the HSE on February 22.

Originally from Laghey, Grace attended national school in Ballintra before attending the convent in Ballyshannon.

She completed her education in the convent in 1981 and entered a career in nursing in Letterkenny in the same year.

I have worked with the mental health services in Donegal since 1981, she said.

At that time, nurses acquired their education and training in St. Conal's hospital in Letterkenny.

Grace qualified in 1984 - which was a great year for Grace as it was the same year she married Seamus.

Grace and Seamus met for the first time in the Milford Inn and they have enjoyed a wonderful life together.

Grace donated a kidney to her husband, Seamus, last year, surgery was carried out on May 14, and proved successful.

Seamus had chronic renal disease.

Grace said: We went underwent surgery on May 14 in Beaumont. So, that was a bigger decision than the decision I made to retire.

Grace didn't hesitate in donating her kidney to Seamus when she heard that she was compatible with her husband.

She said: When you know that a kidney would give him a better quality of life, there really is no decision.

The operation was a success and Seamus is doing well.

Grace said: It's all about quality of life and long may it last.

Grace has not entirely retired from work.

Being the first Advanced Nurse Practitioner for Dementia Care in Ireland, Grace has a lot to offer in terms of support, training and advice to those who care for older people with dementia.

She will focus on her private practice which will focus on dementia training and consultancy.

Most of her work will be carried out in nursing homes and areas such as this.

However, she will do this on a part-time basis as she and Seamus now hope to travel and enjoy life to the full.

I am blessed to be able to retire and work part-time, Grace said.

Grace has an abundance of education, having obtained a Masters and post graduate qualifications.

Grace knew from a very young age that she wanted to care for others and become a nurse.

I am blessed to have had such a fabulous career and I have been privileged to work with so many good people. I am also privileged to have been allowed to be part of people's lives and had the opportunity to guide and support them, she said.

Grace enjoyed working in many roles over the course of her long career in the HSE.

Each day presented new challenges for Grace but she took them in her stride, overcame them and enjoyed every day of her working life.

She said: When I look back, I have never had a bad day at work.

It may have been challenging, at times, but I always enjoyed it.

Grace's work colleagues will miss her bright and warm personality in the hospital.

I will be out there. I won't be working five days but I will not be far away, she said.

Grace was passionate and motivated in her work and is greatful for the support she received from management over the years.

Grace will now focus on her family and enjoy life with Seamus. She will continue to attend the Alzheimer's Cafe which takes place in the Silver Tassie once a month.

Grace has been attending the event since it was first established.

I have been involved with that event since it was launched, she said.

The future looks bright now for Grace, Seamus and her family.

Grace hopes to travel more, spend time with her family, enjoy life with her husband and work part-time over the coming years.
Leah OShaughnessy from St Vincents Secondary School in Dundalk stood out from over 150 entries to reach the Final of the national ActionAid Speech Writing Competition.

The increasingly popular competition, now in its fifth year, received entries from students aged 14 to 17, from almost 50 schools across the country. This was the highest number of entries to date.

Leah is one of ten Finalists selected to deliver their speech at the Final in Dublins Royal Irish Academy on 20th of March 2019.

ActionAid provides long term support to the poorest and most marginalised women and children in developing countries, so they can overcome the obstacles holding them back. Their Womens Rights programme, funded by Irish Aid, works to eliminate violence against women and girls by engaging with women, men and girls to. The programme has been very successful to date, for example in communities in Kenya, female genital mutilation amongst girls has decreased by almost a third.

Gender inequality is a fundamental barrier to achieving sustainable development and improving the lives of young people around the world. Every 10 minutes, somewhere in the world, an adolescent girl dies as a result of violence, according to the UNFPA in 2014.

ActionAid has created the competition as a platform for young people to offer their contribution to achieving gender equality. The Finalists will have the task of delivering their speech based on one of three topics relating to womens rights to a panel of esteemed judges.
Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) and medical cybersecurity specialist and spin-out company, Nova Leah have received almost 4 million (3.7 million) to support two industry projects aimed at driving disruptive innovation in the areas of medtech and connected health cybersecurity.

The projects were confirmed as part of the governments Disruptive Technology Innovation Fund, a 500 million fund established under the Project Ireland 2040 capital investment plan, which aims to provide finance to projects that tackle national and global challenges in a way that will create and secure jobs into the future. 

During a recent visit to DkIT, Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell OConnor, T.D. spent some time speaking with representatives from Nova Leah and the Regulated Software Research Centre about the project. Speaking today, the Minister said,

These projects highlight the importance of strong collaboration between research in Higher Education and regional industry. By drawing on the mutually-beneficial expertise held within both organisations, DkIT and Nova Leah are working together to develop new technologies to drive increased efficiencies and cybersecurity mechanisms which will transform global healthcare as we know it. Innovation in this area will create more opportunities for our graduates today and will reinforce Irelands position as an emerging global hub for medical device innovation.

Also speaking today, President of DkIT, Michael Mulvey, PhD, added,

Nova Leah is a fantastic enterprise success story for the North Leinster South Ulster region. A recent spin-out from DkITs Regulated Software Research Centre, the company, under the leadership of CEO and Founder, Anita Finnegan, has already established a reputation as a world leader in the provision cyber security solutions for medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers. As an Institute, we are delighted to continue our relationship with Nova Leah through research collaboration to develop technological advancements in medtech.

The first funded project, Connected Medical Device Cybersecurity Transparency is a joint collaboration between the Regulated Software Research Centre at DkIT and Nova Leah. The project which received 1.5m in funding, aims to develop a hosted software platform, Select IS which will facilitate the timely sharing of security related information across the medical device and healthcare industry to enhance the security posture of the industry as a whole.

Speaking about the project, Dr Fergal McCaffrey, Director of the Regulated Software Research Centre and Co-Founder of Nova Leah said,

The funding allows us to advance our capability in the area of artificial intelligence, data analytics and blockchain techniques to develop and provide a real-time platform for the two-way communication of safety-critical security information between medical device manufacturers and hospitals. The project aims to dramatically enhance how healthcare providers can manage and prevent security-related incidences for their medical devices.

The second project, Medical Imaging Ireland is a broader collaboration between the RSRC/DkIT, Nova Leah Ltd, IBM Ireland, UCD and Davra Networks Ltd. This project Medical Imaging Ireland (MED-I) will disrupt the Irish medical imaging market by delivering a platform offering enabling technologies which can host, manage, process and analyse image and text data and brings together the entire ecosystem of actors in the medical imaging domain.

Also speaking today, Peter Finnegan, Co-Founder of Nova Leah added,

One in two people will be diagnosed with cancer during their life time, and four in five will suffer from cardio vascular diseases. These disease types, and at least fifteen others are diagnosed and managed using complex imaging modalities that produce both structured and unstructured data at an ever-increasing volume and velocity. Medical Imaging Ireland will provide much-needed technology solution for the market to host, manage, process and analyse this data.
More often than not, your web site is the first form of contact prospects will have with your business, so are you putting your best face forward?

For some businesses, theyre powerful assets while for others theyre little more than a stake in the electronic sod.

Having one of the latter variety can be a liability. A sub-par web site may leave potential customers feeling lukewarm about moving into purchasing mode. Conversely, a user experience which provides them with the information and motivation they need to advance the relationship can be a powerful asset.

High value content is critical. Demonstrating an understanding of customer challenges and providing the right resources at every stage of the buying journey is the key to turning interest into action, online.

It pays to get it right. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing generates three times more leads than paid search marketing per dollar spent. And thats not allit also has a conversion rate six times higher than other marketing methods.

Here are some tips for optimising your web site experience and turning browsers into buyers.

With them all the way  creating content that counts

A relationship with customers shouldnt begin and end at the Point of Sale. Striving to provide them with high quality, relevant content at every stage of the buying journey will up the odds of their filtering through the sales funnel towards conversion  and the cash register.

Posting interesting blog articles can be an effective means of capturing interest in the initial stages, while white papers, e-books, infographics and case studies may provide the detail and reassurance prospects need to progress towards assessment, trial and purchase.

Sound like some serious effort is required to commission or create content that fits the bill at every juncture of the journey? It may be worth your while making it  research suggests more than 50 per cent of business buyers now rely on content to research their buying decisions. Most buyers viewed three to five pieces of content before engaging with a sales agent.

Who are you, anyway?

According to marketing lore, the customer has always been king but in the digital era they really want to be made to feel like one. Companies which dont give buyers the respectful, personalised attention they demand may find themselves whistling for business  according to one PwC report, a third of customers will ditch a favourite brand after just one bad experience.

Getting to know customers more deeply  their needs, wants, likes and dislikes and business pain points  is the key to effective engagement that will keep them coming back.

It can be helpful to create buyer personas  detailed profiles of the ideal or typical customer. Tailoring personalised journeys to reflect the market segments these personas represent and crafting content to match ups the chances of converting interest into action and one-time purchasers into loyal customers.

Some of the requisite data is already to hand  users leave a digital trail every time they visit a web site and this intelligence can be used to inform decisions around the type of content most likely to appeal.

Going with the flow  it pays to organise your content carefully

Fancy tucking in to a four-course spread where the dessert is wheeled out first? Thought not. When it comes to executing a successful content marketing strategy, serving your material up to customers in the optimum order is every bit as important as creating killer content.

Shorter formats and narrative story techniques which evoke an emotional response typically work well early in the buying cycle, while white papers, webinars and case studies are best introduced later on, to provide factual justification that reinforces the urge to purchase.

Magic metrics  why the best always test

You cant manage what you cant measure  and you cant improve it either. Generating customer demand via your web site isnt a one-off event; its a process and one which can be optimised by testing the effectiveness of offers and campaigns and tweaking them accordingly. Defining your strategy at the outset and the Key Performance Indicators youll use to measure success will help ensure your efforts stay on track.

All aboard now

Bringing more business into the company isnt just the responsibility of the sales department or the content marketing crew. Its everyones business. Closer collaboration between those responsible for branding, marketing, demand generation and sales can result in the creation of richer customer journeys and a web site experience thats comprehensive and compelling.

Seizing the opportunity to shine

In todays hyper-connected digital world, almost every buying journey begins online; more often than not on the company web site.

Whether business or consumer focused, Australian companies can ill afford to neglect this powerful channel for connecting with potential customers and commencing the conversations that lead to new and repeat business.

About the author

Nicole Stirling, Director of Marketing Asia Pacific and Japan, Acquia
Une rue de Bamenda, le 15 novembre 2017 au Cameroun AFP/Archives/-

A pregnant woman has been raped, her husband wounded, by two unidentified gunmen in a neighbourhood in Bamenda, early today, March 4, at their residence.

Reports say the expecting mother of a 4 months old baby, WS raped in the presence of her husband. Reports say two gun men had terrified some houses within the neighbourhood, leading to the incident. The victim is said to have been transported to a hospital in Bamenda three hours later for medical attention. Another witness say the husband to the victim sustained injuries and was taken along with his wife for treatment. She was transported by Doctors Without Border, during the curfew hours.

Another witness narrated how it was by the grace of God that his own 8 months old wife wasnt raped, probably because she had a protruding stomach and his continuous plea to the attackers. He was however injured in the process. It hasnt been confirmed yet , which exact group orchestrated the attack.

Recently, human rights and gender activists have reported on cases of rape and sexual violence in both the North West and South West regions, following the ongoing sociopolitical unrest. Both Cameroonian and separatist fighters have been accused of carrying out sexual attacks on women and girls.

Last year, a police officer raped a 17 year old around Veterinary junction in Bamenda. The minister of defense, Joseph Beti Assomo had promised the police officer would face the law for his actions. Arthur Mbida reportedly dragged away the 17-year old lactating mother at a check point for not possessing a national identification card before taking her to a filling station where she was allegedly raped.

In January, the BBC reported the case of a 24 year old lactating girl, who claimed she was raped by two Cameroonian soldiers in Jakiri, Bui Division of the North West. There have been alleged reports of young girls, sexually violated by separatists in the bushes and some villages since the crisis escalated.


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The Samsung Galaxy S10, scheduled for launch on Feb. 20, likely will incorporate a cryptocurrency wallet.

Samsung last month filed applications in the EU for trademarks on three terms:

Blockchain Key Store

Blockchain Key Box

Blockchain Core

Samsung also filed applications in Korea for the same three terms.

Live images of the Samsung Blockchain Keystore app running on the Galaxy S10 were posted on Sammobile. The app is in the phone's "Biometrics and Security" portion of the S10 "Settings" menu.

The wallet setup screen shows that users can import an existing wallet or create a new one. The wallet supports the Ethereum cryptocurrency, but it reportedly also will support Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and ERC20 (derived from Ethereum).

There will be a cold wallet for saving digital currencies and public and private keys, and for signing private keys for transactions. There also will be a crypto wallet for viewing account information, transfers, and transaction history, according to Sammobile.

"Samsung has a long history of throwing everything it can think of, technology-wise, into its flagship Galaxy S series smartphones," remarked Ken Hyers, research director at Strategy Analytics.

"The reviewer guide Samsung sends out with their latest releases to document all the features are often well over 50 pages long," he told the E-Commerce Times.

Hyers "would not be surprised to find that Samsung adds a crypto wallet to the Galaxy S10, even if 99.9 percent of people who buy the phone never use it," he said, noting that the majority of users "never use, or are even aware of, all -- or even most -- of the capabilities of their Galaxy S smartphones."

Samsung is expected to announce the three main Galaxy S10 phones and a foldable smartphone, all with 5G support, at the Unpacked press event in San Francisco on Feb. 20.

The cryptocurrency applications also might be on the coming Galaxy A30 and A50, according to Dutch e-zine Galaxy Club.

Size Matters More Than Pole Position

Taiwanese smartphone manufacturer HTC became the first company to launch a device that supports cryptocurrency, with its Exodus 1, which hit the market last month.

However, Samsung's release is likely to have more of an impact on the market.

"Samsung is the segment leader," noted Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"If they do something, every other smartphone vendor will certainly consider following," he told the E-Commerce Times. That said, "whether they actually follow will likely have a lot to do with how safe cryptocurrency looks when the decision is made."

Crypto and Security

Hackers have stepped up attacks on crypto sites. A record-setting number of crypto crimes took place last year, according to Chainalysis, including the following:

Etherum-based scams fluctuating with crypto prices;

Darknet markets, which show resilience against market trends; and

Hacks carried out by professional organizations with distinct tactics and methods.

Two hacker groups stole about US$1 billion last year -- at least 60 percent of all publicly reported hacks, according to Chainalysis. They took about $90 million per hack on average.

Cryptomining malware took the top four places on Check Point Software's December Top 10 Most Wanted Malware list, and accounted for a fifth.

Cryptocurrency-related malicious activity will increase dramatically this year, Proofpoint has predicted. Many banking Trojans and information thieves have built-in coin mining modules and wallet-stealing capabilities.

Hackers already have begun targeting smartphones to mine cryptocurrencies, through a technique called "cryptojacking," which involves the installation of cryptocurrency mining malware via an infected or malicious app. Games are a favor attack vector because of their popularity.

"If you put enough resources on anything you can breach it, and cryptocurrency has been a very attractive target for some time," Enderle said, "but you'd expect full encryption [from Samsung], and that it would likely use the technology they have in Knox and the technology they've licensed from BlackBerry."

The large number of expected breaches may reduce the lure of Samsung's crypto support as a marketing tool.

"Before the breaches, [a cryptocurrency wallet] could have been the killer app for the Samsung Galaxy line," Enderle said. "Now there's a lot of concern and fear surrounding this technology, which has undoubtedly eroded its attractiveness to the average smartphone user."

Crypto and E-Commerce

The impact a crypto wallet in smartphones might have on e-commerce is not yet clear.

"Cryptocurrency is about what you can do with it," Enderle said. "Uses are pretty limited, but you'd think it would play well with pot stores, which likely would be the ideal retail target for this wallet."

The carriers "may or may not allow Samsung to include [a crypto wallet] on the devices sold through carrier channels" in the United States, observed Strategy Analytics' Hyers.

On the other hand, if Samsung includes a crypto wallet in the international version of the new Galaxy smartphones, he said, "buyers of unlocked Samsung smartphones would have access to it."

Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology. Email Richard.




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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.




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Google unveiled its game plan for fighting disinformation on its properties at a security conference in Munich, Germany, over the weekend.

The 30-page document details Google's current efforts to combat bad dope on its search, news, YouTube and advertising platforms.

"Providing useful and trusted information at the scale that the Internet has reached is enormously complex and an important responsibility," noted Google Vice President for Trust and Safety Kristie Canegallo.

"Adding to that complexity, over the last several years we've seen organized campaigns use online platforms to deliberately spread false or misleading information," she continued.

"We have twenty years of experience in these information challenges, and it's what we strive to do better than anyone else," added Canegallo. "So while we have more work to do, we've been working hard to combat this challenge for many years."

Post-Truth Era

Like other communication channels, the open Internet is vulnerable to the organized propagation of false or misleading information, Google explained in its white paper.

"Over the past several years, concerns that we have entered a 'post-truth' era have become a controversial subject of political and academic debate," the paper states. "These concerns directly affect Google and our mission -- to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful. When our services are used to propagate deceptive or misleading information, our mission is undermined."

Google outlined three general strategies for attacking disinformation on its platforms: making quality count, counteracting malicious actors, and giving users context about what they're seeing on a Web page.

Making Quality Count

Google makes quality count through algorithms whose usefulness is determined by user testing, not by the ideological bent of the people who build or audit the software, according to the paper.

"One big strength of Google is that they admit to the problem -- not everybody does -- and are looking to fix their ranking algorithms to deal with it," James A. Lewis, director of the technology and public policy program at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told TechNewsWorld.

While algorithms can be a blessing, they can be a curse, too.

"Google made it clear in its white paper that they aren't going to introduce humans into the mix. Everything is going to be based on algorithms," said Dan Kennedy, an associate professor in the school of journalism at Northeastern University in Boston.

"That's key to their business plan," he told TechNewsWorld. "The reason they're so profitable is they employ very few people, but that guarantees there will be continued problems with disinformation."

Hiding Behind Algorithms

Google may depend too much on its software, suggested Paul Bischoff, a privacy advocate at Comparitech, a reviews, advice and information website for consumer security products.

"I think Google leans perhaps a bit too heavily on its algorithms in some situations when common sense could tell you that a certain page contains false information," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Google hides behind its algorithms to shrug off responsibility in those cases," Bischoff added.

Algorithms can't solve all problems, Google acknowledged in its paper. They can't determine whether a piece of content on current events is true or false; nor can they assess the intent of its creator just by scanning the text on a page.

That's where Google's experience fighting spam and rank manipulators has come in handy. To counter those deceivers, Google has developed a set of policies to regulate certain behaviors on its platforms.

"This is relevant to tackling disinformation since many of those who engage in the creation or propagation of content for the purpose to deceive often deploy similar tactics in an effort to achieve more visibility," the paper notes. "Over the course of the past two decades, we have invested in systems that can reduce 'spammy' behaviors at scale, and we complement those with human reviews."

More Context

Adding context to items on a page is another way Google tries to counter disinformation.

For example, knowledge or information panels appear near search results to provide facts about the search subject.

In search and news, Google clearly labels content originating with fact-checkers.

In addition, it has "Breaking News" and "Top News" shelves, and "Developing News" information panels on YouTube, to expose users to authoritative sources when looking for information about ongoing news events.

YouTube also has information panels providing "Topical Context" and "Publisher Context," so users can see contextual information from trusted sources and make better-informed choices about what they see on the platform.

A recent context move was added during the 2018 mid-term elections, when Google required additional verification for anyone purchasing an election ad in the United States.

It also required advertisers to confirm they were U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents. Further, every ad creative had to incorporate a clear disclosure of who was paying for the ad.

"Giving users more context to make their own decisions is a great step," observed CSIS's Lewis. "Compared to Facebook, Google looks good."

Serious About Fake News

With the release of the white paper, "Google wants to demonstrate that they're taking the problem of fake news seriously and they're actively combating the issue," noted Vincent Raynauld, an assistant professor in the department of Communication Studies at Emerson College in Boston.

That's important as high-tech companies like Facebook and Google come under increased government scrutiny, he explained.

"The first battle for these companies is to make sure people understand what false information is," Raynauld told TechNewsWorld. "It's not about combating organizations or political parties," he said. "It's about combating online manifestations of misinformation and false information."

That may not be easy for Google.

"Google's business model incentivizes deceitful behavior to some degree," said Comparitech's Bischoff.

"Ads and search results that incite emotions regardless of truthfulness can be ranked as high or higher than more level-headed, informative, and unbiased links, due to how Google's algorithms work," he pointed out.

If a bad article has more links to it than a good article, the bad article could well be ranked higher, Bischoff explained.

"Google is stuck in a situation where its business model encourages disinformation, but its content moderation must do the exact opposite," he said. "As a result, I think Google's response to disinformation will always be somewhat limited."

John P. Mello Jr. has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2003. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, IT issues, privacy, e-commerce, social media, artificial intelligence, big data and consumer electronics. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Phoenix, Megapixel.Net and Government Security News. Email John.


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HALIFAX  The Association of Suppliers to the British Clothing Industry (ASBCI) will host a conference on 8th May with a focus on sustainability and ethics in the fashion supply chain, posing the question: is it up to the industry to change the way consumers shop, or up to consumers to change the industry?

The event  which takes place at the Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel  is titled Time for change  facing up to fashions sustainability and ethical challenges and will examine if and how brands can continue to meet rapidly increasing consumer demand while operating in a sustainable and ethical manner.

The UK governments recent Environmental Audit Committee report  covered in detail by Ecotextile News  is sure to be a hot topic at the event. There will be a focus on how brands and retailers can make sustainability pay, so that doing the right thing will also benefit their bottom line.

Names from across the industry will be present to speak at the conference. Mark Sumner, lecturer in sustainability, fashion, and retail from the University of Leeds, will focus on consumer psychology and behaviour, and whether there are any rewards for brands and retailers working to make their businesses greener.

Also present will be Phil Townsend from Marks & Spencer, sharing the companys experience on its mission to only source sustainable cotton. Daphne Guelker from UL Consumer Retail Services will aim to tackle the complex issue of modern slavery in the fashion industry, which the Global Slavery Index 2018 listed as the second biggest contributor to the problem.

The conference will be hosted by Dr Julie King, ASBCI event director and deputy dean at the University of South Wales on Wednesday 8th May.

Web: asbci.co.uk
Les Brasseries du Cameroun Archives

The leading brewery company in Cameroon, Brasseries of Cameroon has released communiques, announcing a 50frs price increase on most of their alcoholic drinks, making a bottle of Export or Booster that used to cost FCFA 600, to be now sold at FCFA 650.

Exceptions are for Beaufort and Pelforth, whereby the prices have been maintained. Consumers havent welcomed this news, following an earlier declaration by government officials there will be no increment this year. January, the Minister of Trade Luc Magloire Mbarga Atanagana dismissed fears of an increases in beer prices as well as basic commodities in Cameroon this year. The minister reacted to rumours that beer prices had gone up by 15frs increase. A meeting called by the minister with brewery companies same month arrived at the decision, not to step up prices.

This decision however was just to cold down tempers at the time , since the hike in beer prices has not only gone up by 15 FCFA, but by 50 FCFA

The increase comes as a result of the 2019 Finance Act, which lays out new tax measures relating to the calculation of excise duties. The financial impact duties, combined with other taxes such as VAT( 19.25%) and the 2.2% withholding tax have an average total impact. With this burden, the Cameroon Alcohol Producers Association (CAPA), sent an open letter to the minister of Finance, stating that in order to guarantee financial balance to producers, an average increase of 100FRS to 150FRS per bottle should be implemented

This decision doesnt really affect those in the war torn areas of the country, as most beer products had only gone up to at least 100frs. Some of the products like that of Brasseries are now being smuggled to an area that a group of persons have declared it outlaw.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee entered the 2020 Democratic primary Friday as the first presidential contender to base his campaign primarily around fighting climate change.

"I'm Jay Inslee and I'm running for president because I'm the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation's number one priority," he said in a video announcing his run.

Inslee is the first governor and 13th candidate to enter a crowded primary field, BBC News reported. Of the 13 candidates, five others have embraced a Green New Deala plan to transition to 100 percent renewable energy while promoting green jobs and greater equality, The Washington Post's Energy 202 pointed out. But Inslee has a unique focus on climate: it was the only thing he mentioned in the video announcing his run, and he launched his campaign at a solar panel factor, BBC News reported.



"Nobody until Inslee has flatly said, this is my issue," Yale Program on Climate Change Communication Director Anthony Leiserowitz told The Energy 202.

In an interview with Vox, Inslee said it was time for a candidate to do just that.

"The Center for American Progress [Action Fund] did a poll in the first four primary states among likely Democratic voters, and for the first time, they ranked climate change as the number one priority, in a dead tie with health care. This is a pretty significant dynamic. And obviously, it bodes well for my candidacy!" he said.

Inslee has a long-running commitment to sustainability. The League of Conservation Voters called him "our nation's greenest governor." During his two terms as governor, he has worked to promote electric vehicles and ferries, fund clean energy research and pass legislation requiring Washington State utilities to get more energy from renewables. His policies have partly been the reason that Washington ranks just below California in rates of adopting electric vehicle adaption and generating renewable energy, according to The Energy 202.

In 2007, he also co-wrote a book with Bracken Hendricks that prefigures the Green New Deal. Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy, argued for a transition away from fossil fuels coinciding with an increase in green jobs. When Vox's David Roberts asked if he endorsed the Green New Deal, he had this to say:

Well, I don't get to vote on it, but I am totally in sync and believe that it is exactly what I have said for decades. I think these aspirational goals are appropriate to the time and the scale. I love the fact that it is embracing economic justice issues as well. I think we have come to understand more about how marginalized communities have been the victims of climate change.

However, some of his constituents say his record does not support his rhetoric.

Zero Hour founder and 17-year-old Seattle climate activist Jamie Margolin was one of 12 young people who sued Inslee, arguing Washington was not doing enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Grist reported. She criticized Inslee for fighting the youth lawsuit, which was dismissed in August 2018, and not listening to indigenous communities when approving a liquid natural gas terminal in Tacoma.

Inslee has also failed in attempts to pass a carbon tax, both in the legislature and via a voter initiatives, the most recent of which was rejected in November 2018 after oil companies paid a record $30 million to defeat it



In response, Inslee has shifted course and is working with Washington State Democrats to pass five pieces of legislation that would bring state emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2035 by improving clean fuel and building energy efficiency standards. The Energy 202 reported, adding that his flexibility may be to his advantage:

That kind of nimbleness, moving from one proposal to the next, may be necessary in Washington, D.C., which saw the high-profile failure to pass a cap-and-trade program early in President Obama's first term.

In addition to climate change, Inslee told Vox he was passionate about criminal justice reform, raising the minimum wage, ending the death penalty, protecting net neutrality and reproductive rights. He also wants to end the Senate filibuster, which the Energy 202 pointed out stopped a 2009 cap-and-trade bill from passing at the national level.

"I believe the filibuster is an artifact of history that no longer fits American democracy," Inslee told Vox. "It is such an impediment to our ability to respond to multiple challenges. We know how it would prevent climate change legislation of any dimension from moving through the Senate."
The introduction of invasive species has been the primary cause of plant and animal extinctions over the past 500 years, a new study from University College London's (UCL) Center for Biodiversity and Environment Research found.

The study, published Monday in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, looked at 953 extinctions since 1500 and found that 126 of them, or 13 percent, had been caused entirely by alien species, while 300 were caused partly by the arrival of new species, according to a UCL press release published by EurekAlert!

"Some people have suggested that aliens are no more likely than native species to cause species to disappear in the current global extinction crisis, but our analysis shows that aliens are much more of a problem in this regard," head researcher and UCL Biosciences professor Tim Blackburn said in the press release. "Our study provides a new line of evidence showing that the biogeographical origin of a species matters for its impacts. The invasion of an alien species is often enough to cause native species to go extinct, whereas we found no evidence for native species being the sole driver of extinction of other natives in any case."

The researchers used data from the 2017 International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, which lists species that have gone extinct and why. They found that invasive species were a factor in 33.4 percent of animal species extinctions and 25.5 percent of plant species extinctions. Native species, on the other hand, had caused relatively little harm, contributing to just 2.7 percent of animal extinctions and 4.6 percent of plant extinctions. Alien species were by far the greatest factor in animal extinctions, followed by biological resource use, like hunting and harvesting, which was the driver for 18.8 percent of extinctions.



The study also listed key examples of invasive species that had proved especially destructive, as iNews reported:

1. The rosy wolfsnail or 'cannibal snail': Introduced from the Southeast U.S. to islands around the Pacific, including Hawaii, to wipe out the African land snail in the 1950s, the snail has gone on to wipe out eight native Hawaiian snails and contribute to driving out dozens of snail species in the wider Pacific.

2. The black rat: The black rat has been spread around the world by boat and has led to the extinction of birds, mammals, reptiles and plants, especially on islands.

3. The red fox: When the British brought the red fox to Australia, it drove out several mammal species, including the lesser bilby.

4. Feral cats: The introduction of cats to New Zealand led to the extinction of the flightless Stephens Island wren as early as 1900.

5. The brown tree snake: When the snake was accidentally brought to Guam after the Second World War, it resulted in the loss of more than half of Guam's bird and lizard species and two of three native bat species.
At least 23 people have died after a tornado barreled through Lee County, Alabama on Sunday, leaving behind damage that Sheriff Jay Jones described as "catastrophic," CBS reported.

"I cannot recall, at least in the last 50 years, and longer than that, a situation where we have had this type, this loss of life that we experienced today," Jones told CBS affiliate WRBL-TV.

There are children among the dead, Jones further told The Associated Press. He said the death toll could rise, but that search and rescue efforts had to pause Sunday night because the amount of debris made the work unsafe in the dark.



The National Weather Service (NWS) in Birmingham, Alabama issued a tornado emergency at 2:09 p.m. Sunday for Lee County, AccuWeather reported. The tornado was part of an extreme weather event Sunday that saw several tornadoes touch down across the Southeast as part of a series of storms, The Associated Press reported.

The incident comes a little less than six months after a Northern Illinois University study found that tornado frequency was trending away from the traditional "tornado alley" of the Great Plains towards the more densely populated Midwest and Southeast. This is bad news for the South, where tornadoes are more deadly because of higher population density, a high number of vulnerable mobile homes and a greater chance of tornadoes occurring at night.

Researchers told CBS at the time that the eastward shift of tornadoes was related to the eastward push of dry air from the desert into the plains, shifting the "Dry Line" between dry desert air and warm, wet Gulf of Mexico air along which most tornadoes occur.



Study author Dr. Victor Gensini of Northern Illinois University told CBS this shift could be due to climate change.

"It's not a big jump to say that climate change is causing this shift east. The hypothesis and computer simulations support what we are observing and what we expect in the future," Gensini told CBS.

Sunday's tornado was at least half a mile wide and measured an F3 on the Fujita scale according to initial NWS calculations. The Fujita scale assesses tornado wind speed and corresponding destruction from zero to five. An F3 tornado has a wind speed of 158 to 206 miles per hour.

The storm destroyed homes and knocked out power in Beauregard, Alabama and destroyed around 20 homes in Smiths Station, Alabama, CBS News reported.

"Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today. Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected," Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said in a Tweet Sunday, as CBS reported.



Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Sunday's tornado as the first in Lee County, AL. There have in fact been 40 tornadoes in Lee County since 1950, according to NOAA's Storm Events Database, not including Sunday's storms.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny)Orthodox Jews worship at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Feb. 11, 2016.

An extremist man from a group of anti-secular Jews known as haredi has been indicted by an Israeli court for attempting to attack the head of the Israel Defense Force Manpower Directorate, and for issuing threats against him.

His case at the Nazareth Magistrate's Court highlights a conundrum for Israeli authorities trying to enforce the country's conscription laws.

The indictment sheet says 40-year-old Moshe Iraam, a Jerusalem resident, traveled on May 5 to Moshav Kfar Tavor in the Lower Galilee. There he accosted Maj.-Gen. Moti Almoz outside a synagogue after the Friday night prayer service, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Iraam is part of a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews who reject the concept of military conscription imposed on all Israelis.

On June 12 in New York close to 20,000 Orthodox demonstrators gathered at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn to protest against the Israeli law that mandates Orthodox conscription into the IDF, describing it as "Israel's persecution of religious Jews."

Rabbi David Niederman, a liaison for the Central Rabbinical Congress, one of the groups involved in the event, told The Jerusalem Post he views Orthodox military conscription as a violation of religious freedom.

HAREDI AGGRESSION

Haredi extremists have conducted a fierce campaign of incitement and aggression towards haredi men enlisting in the IDF and those who recruit them over the last four years, a campaign which has increased in intensity in recent months, VosIzNeias reported.

"Since 1948, when the government was founded, they understood that there is such a thing as [yeshiva] students who are studying, and they are exempt of military services," said Rabbi Niederman.

"But for the past few years, [Israeli politicians] have been trying to tighten the screw and are basically forcefully recruiting and forcefully bringing them in for military service, to which they object.

"Unprecedented things happened: There are people who protest those conditions, people who are upset that [Israel] violates their right to their religious adherence."

Haredi extremists compared senior IDF officer General Almoz to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

After some of the protests and Israeli State Attorney banned haredi protests outside IDF officers' homes.

Iraam spat at Almoz, and hurled abuse at him based on Iraam's opposition to drafting haredi men into the IDF.

He also accused Almoz of "torturing," because of IDF regulations allowing for women soldiers to be put in military prison.

Amongst other insults, Iraam told Almoz that "there is justice and there is a judge."

Iraam, together with another individual, stayed in Kfar Tavor for three days to harass the Israeli general close to the synagogue where he prays, and threatened violence against him.

Later in May, several dozen haredi extremists descended on Almoz's private residence and protested against the enlistment of haredi men, although the indictment did not mention Iraam in connection with these events.

The protestors distributed flyers that read: "Moti Almoz, head of the Manpower Directorate, who sells his soul for money: How long will you burn the souls of the sons and daughters of Israel in the crematorium of Auschwitz  the army of destruction. Know that there is justice and there is a judge.

"Your end will be bitter, like Hitler's and his friends,'" they said.
With this years wave of teacher strikes, theres been a lot of finger-pointing at whos to blame for teachers pay being so low: governors, county and city mayors, superintendents, charter schools.

But their opponents might be much more familiar than they think: Its their next door neighbors, its their co-workers, its their friends and family and, in some cases, its them.

Over and over again, Americans have told their politicians that they think their state income, sales, and property taxesthose dollars that school districts are most heavily dependent uponare entirely way too high.

Elected officials have responded by slashing away at their state and local tax rates. In 2012, according to a Pew Charitable Trust survey, states spent $9 billion less than they had the previous year, the first decline in more than half a century. That burden has fallen directly on the backs of Americas public schools.

So whats the most efficient way to get more money for schools? Ask taxpayers to loosen up their pocket books. But thats easier said than done.

Almost half the nations taxpayers today think their taxes are too high, according to a 2019 Gallup center poll. Complicating matters, almost 1 out of 3 counties in America have more residents 65 and older than they do school-aged children, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fiscally conservative politicians have charged school officials with wasting taxpayers dollars, and theyve cracked down on spending by more closely dictating spending methods.

For public school advocates, the biggest challenge in recent years is tying something as politically appealing as tax cuts to something as disasteful as school budget cuts.

Were finally coming out of the recession and our economy is healthy, but were in a state where politicians have over many years divorced the conversation about tax policy from the cost of funding different parts of government, said Christine Thompson, the president and CEO of Expect More Arizona.

There are signs that the tide is turning.

As my colleague Madeline Will pointed out last year, teachers most recent strikes have received a surge of public support , though that support could be wavering.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pointed out last year that Wisconsin voters (typically hostile toward new taxes) voted through their local referendums to pour more than $1.3 billion into their local public schools coffers, a record.

And several Democratic governors, including in Arizona, Florida, and Georgia, last year ran explicitly on a platforms to raise taxes on the rich in order to provide billions more for schools (none of those candidates won).

Youre seeing this confluence of larger political trends of income inequality and concerns about local government struggling after the Great Recession and not keeping teachers and school districts whole, said Tracy Gordon, a senior fellow with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. The politics of that have been fascinating.

Following are some of the nations fiercest fights over taxes that have severely hampered school spending:

Alaska: Alaska residents will receive a $1,600 check from the state this year as a share of oil-related tax revenues just for living in the state. The program, known as Permanent Dividend Fund, is wildly popular, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican and a longtime educator, ran on a platform last year of balancing the states budget while protecting the program. His budget proposal this year will result in the state cutting more than a quarter of the states $1.6 billion K-12 budget. The proposal has outraged the states school officials who say if the budget is passed as it stands now, they will be forced to lay off scores of teachers and cut crucial programs.

Arizona: Arizonas Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, promised during his campaign to cut taxes every year that hes in office and, hes mostly delivered on that promise. In 2016 alone, the state allowed $13.7 billion to go uncollected through a series of income, sales, and other tax exemptions, deductions, allowances, exclusions, or credits, according to the states department of revenue. Last year, the states supreme court, because of deceptive language, knocked a measure off the ballot that would have provided more than $690 million toward schools. Ducey was re-elected last year on a similar campaign promise. His opponent, longtime educator David Garcia, ran on a campaign to increase taxes on the rich for schools.

California: In 1978, two-thirds of Californians voted to reduce their property tax liability by more than 57 percent. Today, the state cant tax more than 1 percent of property value, a move thats severely limited the amount of money school districts receive. An effort to overhaul the states school spending formula in 2013 has resulted in school districts receiving more than $15 billion in state revenue, but districts have used much of that money to pay down a $100 billion pension fund. Teachers in L.A. and Oakland this year have gone on strike in order to receive higher pay.

Colorado: In Colorado, a Taxpayer Bill of Rights severely restricts the amount of money the state can spend and the amount of taxes it can collect without voter approval. Thats resulted, public school officials say, in a $6 billion shortfall over the last decade. A group of activists earlier this month gathered enough signatures to place on the ballot this fall Initiative 93, which, if passed, would raise the tax rate on corporations and those making more than $150,000 in order to bring more than $1.6 billion to the states public schools.

Kansas: Kansas former Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican,promised after being elected in 2010 that he would start a march to zero campaign to rid residents of their tax burden and wean them off government services. School districts sufferedand they promptly sued, winning a series of court cases that have resulted in the state reversing some of those tax cuts. Last year, Laura Kelly, a Democrat, beat out Republican fiscal hawk Kris Kobach in the race for governor. Kelly ran on a platform of keeping taxes low, but providing schools with $300 million more in state money in order to abide with a court order. This year, despite having a $900 million surplus, the states Republican-controlled legislature is in the process of passing a new tax cut worth more than $190 million.
Celestine Ketcha Courtes, nouveau ministre de l'Habitat et du Developpement Urbain archives

The government of Cameroon through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MINDUB), has dispatched at least FCFA 3Billion to some councils to rehabilitate road projects within their municipalities

These councils will focus on road maintenance, give a facelift to its roundabouts, and provide street lights to some parts of their jurisdictions. This was declared by the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Celestine Ketcha Courtes, during a ceremony to launch projects to be carried out with resources transferred to councils this year by the MINDUB.

The event that took place at the Yaounde Conference Centre, falls in line with the countrys 2004 law of decentralisation, that pushes government to devolve power down to local governing bodies. In the past, the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, had been handing this money over to City councils, who were responsible in handling these developmental contracts.

Some municipal authorities have revealed it was discussed during one of their meetings on decentralisation in Yaounde, that it was about time for councils to handle these projects directly.

However 3bilion to an unspecified number of councils, has been the worry of some pundits, who think that the rehabilitation of these projects could cost more than what has been previewed.

Recently, the ministry declared the intention to increase this yearly package to councils, depending on the interest mayors put in developing their communities. They are to use the little they have to produce good results for the benefit of their people. Cameroon has 374 councils. Despite calls for the acceleration of decentralisation as provided for in the 1996 Constitution, it is still limited to some ministries. President Paul Biya has in various outings reassured Cameroonians that the country will one day succeed in the process, although all work has been going on to see it completely achieved.
Students preparing for GCE Exam W. Musa

A presidential decree signed on 4th of March has ordered for the modification of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education(GCE) board, with the inclusion of the Vice chancellor of the University of Buea, representative of Parents-Teachers Associations (PTA), as part of the Board of Directors.

According to this decree,11 members will make up the board of directors , with a came-back for the Vice Chancellor of the University of Buea and representative of Parent Teachers Association. A representative of teachers of secondary education, another representative of proprietors of private secondary schools, all elected by their peers, will also constitute of the board.

This decision comes after various leaders of five teachers' trade unions had written a memorandum to the Head of State, asking him to review his decision which could be seen as a dissolution of the Anglophone sub system of education. They were disgruntled that other key actors were sidelined by another presidential decree last year, reorganising the GCE board. Many thought the institution had been transformed to a parastatal. The March 4 decree, therefore answered some of their worries.

The general role of the board would be to organise the GCE Ordinary level, GCE Advanced level, Technical and Vocational Education and professional certificate examinations.

The Board will have as other roles to offer technical advice on the design and other aspects if the learning syllabuses for Secondary Education, collaborate with other organisations responsible for similar examinations in Cameroon and abroad, enter into contracts, borrow establish trusts or act as trustees.

The board has been authorised to undertake income generating activities as long as it is approved by the Ministry of Secondary Education
Intel has ended its partnership with the Chinese chip manufacturer Unisoc in the 5G modems sector.

Intel could want to avoid problems with the American government with this step, as Nikkei Asian Review suspects. Just a year ago, Intel wanted to gain access to the Chinese chip market through its collaboration with Unisoc, which was set up by the then CEO Brian Krzanich. The agreement was scheduled to run for several years.

At present, however, the American government is unlikely to be enthusiastic about American companies helping the Chinese semiconductor industry with technology transfers to set up their own chip industry. Intel denied that the decision had been made in response to political pressure, but that economic considerations were the only decisive factor. "We both decided not to continue the partnership," said Robert Topol, general manager of Intel's 5G Strategy and Program Office at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The pro-government Chinese newspaper Global quotes Xiang Ligang, whom she introduced as an analyst for the communications industry in China, saying that while the end of the cooperation was a shame, it could not stop Unisoc from continuing to develop 5G chips independently. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Unisoc presented the 5G platform "Malaku" and its first 5G modem "Ivy510".

By 2014, Intel had invested $1.5 billion in a 20 percent stake in Tsinghua Unigroup, from which Unisoc had emerged. According to TrendForce, Unisoc achieved a turnover of around 1.6 billion dollars last year. The IC manufacturer supplies companies such as Vivo, ZTE, Lenovo, Micromax, Lava and Samsung.

Currently, the US wants to exclude Chinese companies such as Huawei and ZTE from building the 5G infrastructure for security reasons and is urging allies to do the same. In addition, the US government is defending itself against espionage and IP theft, which it accuses Chinese companies of.

This has already had an effect in the case of Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, a Chinese manufacturer of DRAMs who wanted to start production of the memory ICs in its own Fab Ender in 2018. Micron accuses the company of stealing IP. The affair has also had an impact on Foundry UMC, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit's technology partner. American companies are no longer allowed to supply machines for IC production to Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit. Because large parts of the equipment for semiconductor manufacturing are manufactured by American companies, Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit cannot start DRAM production as planned.
vbw Managing Director Bertram Brossardt.

In the future it will not be academics who will be lacking in the first place, but experts with vocational training, reports the Association of Bavarian Business on the basis of a Prognos study.

According to the study, there will be a shortage of 2.9 million skilled workers on the German labor market in 2025. The demand for skilled workers will fall in most sectors by 2025, for example by 130,000 employees in the retail sector throughout Germany, as well as in public administration. In other sectors, on the other hand, demand is rising, for example in the IT sector, in the manufacture of electronic and optical devices, motor vehicles and their components, in the information and communications sector, in business-related services and in the health and social services sector. The picture is also heterogeneous for individual occupations.

At the same time, the number of people of working age will shrink considerably in the coming years, resulting in a shortage of skilled workers, according to vbw Managing Director Bertram Brossardt.

The shortage is particularly evident among those with vocational qualifications. According to the study, their percentage share of the gap will rise significantly to over 80 percent by 2025. By contrast, academics and people without vocational qualifications account for only seven and eleven percent, respectively, of the gap. In the case of academics, the shortage is mainly due to a lack of skilled workers in the engineering sciences.

The demand for labour in Bavaria will remain almost constant until 2025 at almost 7.5 million people - not least thanks to the strong industry. The ageing of society is also reducing the supply of labour in Bavaria, although the demographic development here is generally more favourable than in Germany. But Bavaria will also have a shortage of 350,000 skilled workers by 2025,' says Brossardt.

If it is not possible to meet the demand for skilled workers, vbw estimates that production and growth potential cannot be fully exploited and that investments at the location will have to be stopped. The vbw has therefore launched the initiative Fachkraftesicherung+ together with the Bavarian state government. The common goal is to recruit around 250,000 additional workers for the Bavarian economy by 2023.
Consultation on rates system is a 'sham' says Ramsey MHK

A consultation regarding the rates system on the Isle of Man has been branded a sham by a Ramsey MHK.

Lawrie Hooper has launched a full scale attack on the Policy And Reform Minister Chris Thomas over the issue.

Mr Hooper is questioning why Thomas is revisiting proposals that where rejected in a previous public consultation.

He also claims that the omission of any free text boxes for people to make their own views is further evidence of a 'sham consultation'.

Social media users are claiming that Chris Thomas' consultation is a front for something that is a done deal and that Treasury will press ahead with their preferred option no what the outcome of the consultation.

Mr Hooper rounds again on Mr Thomas saying, Its a joke and you know it.

Chris Thomas said there was a need to create an "appropriate and fair system".

An eight-week consultation which asks for views on the unequal distribution of non-domestic rates around the island and the use of domestic properties for business or charitable reasons, runs until 21 April.

The results will be published ahead of a debate at June's sitting of Tynwald.
Crown Dependencies set to clash with Westminster today

Chief Minister Howard Quayle is in London this morning to hold discussions and meetings with MPs ahead of a vote which could see the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey have to publish the names of corporate owners in a bid to end secret company ownership.

Currently, the Island is exempt from EU rules requiring countries to publish registers of the real owners of companies.

Tory MPs have pushed a parliamentary amendment, demanding that the crown dependencies introduce public registers by the end of next year.

If backed, it would mean revealing who owns assets in the islands.

A joint statement by Howard Quayle, Senator John Le Fondre and Deputy Gavin St Pier has called the move wholly unnecessary because they already have a robust existing approach to the retention and sharing of beneficial ownership information.

Howard Quayle has sent a letter to MPs in Westminster in which he states the Island does not accept that it is legitimate for the UK Parliament to seek to impose upon the Isle of Man and its democratically elected representatives a policy choice made by the UK.

"To act in such a manner would be to set aside a fundamental principle that underpins our constitutional relationship."
| BY Ricki Green |

Australias favourite ice-cream brand Peters has added independent Melbourne creative agency SDWM to its roster of agency partners following a competitive pitch.

The collaborative partnership will see brand and agency join forces to shape the future of Drumstick, from brand through to innovation, with SDWM assuming responsibilities effective immediately.

Says Andrea Hamori, head of marketing: Its an exciting time for Drumstick, as we celebrate over 55 years of heritage while setting our sights on the next 55 years. In SDWM weve found a like minded and relentlessly driven partner to help us tackle this challenge. They share our values and think big while moving fast and we cant wait to unleash the potential of it.
Huawei plans to announce a lawsuit against US

Chinese telecoms equipment company Huawei plans to announce a lawsuit against the United States government on Thursday on grounds related to a defense bill.

Huawei is preparing to announce that it is suing the US government in a court in Texas by challenging an addition to the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) signed last year, according to the source.

The new NDAA act, which Beijing had condemned as targeting China, controlled US government contracts with Chinese companies including Huawei and strengthened the role of the panel that reviews foreign investment proposals.

The New York Times first reported Huaweis planned legal move on Monday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

HUAWEI DECLINED TO COMMENT

It had invited Reuters and other international media to a press conference at its Shenzhen headquarters in China on Thursday.

Such a move would be the latest in a series of responses from the Chinese company as Washington tries to persuade allies to ban Huawei from business alleging espionage risks. Huawei has repeatedly denied the claims.
| BY Kim Shaw |

Following Ara Hampartsoumians promotion to CEO of TBWA\Group Singapore earlier this year the agency has appointed Mandy Wong as managing partner, effective immediately.

In addition to her current role as a key business lead, she will be responsible for building the companys multiple disciplines, integrating new capabilities into the business, developing brand management standards, and helping to drive efficiencies across agency operations for sustained success.

Wong (pictured) has over 18 years experience handling communication strategies and creative output for some of the regions largest brands, including Standard Chartered Bank, Airbnb, Caltex, and now, Singapore Tourism Board.

Wong first joined TBWA\ Kuala Lumpur in 2001 as an entry level account executive and within five years was moved to Singapore to handle one of the companys largest global accounts, Standard Chartered Bank. Steadily moving up the ranks, Wong was then selected to lead the revamp of Singapores destination brand for Singapore Tourism Board across the globe.

Throughout her career, Wong has helped produce campaigns that have won global awards including Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, and EFFIES; and in leading the agencys largest brands, she has played an integral role in helping TBWA win agency titles in recent years, including Campaigns 2018 Southeast Asia AOY and Marketing Magazines 2018 Overall AOY.

TBWA has an established strategy of growing and elevating talent from within, and Im thrilled Mandy will partner me in setting the vision and building our agency for continued success, said Hampartsoumian. Having been with TBWA for nearly two decades, she truly embodies our disruptive spirit  from her unrivalled commitment and dedication to our clients brands, to

her passion, energy and rigor in producing industry-defining work.
May launches 1.6billion fund for towns in Labour strongholds

Theresa May sets out plans for a 1.6 billion pound fund to help to boost economic growth in Brexit-supporting communities with ministers denying it was a bribe to win support for her EU exit deal.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May has launched a 1.6billion fund for deprived towns in Labour strongholds in what has been called a "Brexit bribe" to win over opposition MPs.

The Stronger Towns Fund, details of which appeared in newspapers last month, is seen by many as part of Mays efforts to win support for her Brexit deal from opposition Labour lawmakers who represent areas, particularly in northern England that voted strongly in favor of leaving the European Union.

"THE FUNDS ARE TO BOOST ECONOMIC ACTIVITY"

The government said the fund would be targeted at places that had not shared fairly in the countrys prosperity and would be used to create new jobs, help to train people and boost economic activity.

Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change; that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control, May said in a statement. These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them.

"THE FUND IS A BREXIT BRIBERY"

The opposition Labour Partys finance spokesman, John McDonnell, said the fund was Brexit bribery. This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing Members of Parliament to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation, he said in a statement.
Mosque in Netherlands vandalized with racist banners

3 attackers linked to Islamophobic group Pegida caught on security cameras committing an attack, says mosque official.

A mosque in the Netherlands was attacked by members of the Islamophobic German group Pegida, who defaced the building with racist banners, according to a mosque official on Sunday.

THREE ATTACKERS LINKED TO ISLAMOPHOBIC PEGIDA

At the entrance of the As Soennah mosque, frequented by Moroccan worshippers, the attackers hung banners and figurines including insults to the Prophet Muhammad. Abdelhamid Taheri, the head of the mosque, told Anadolu Agency that he told police about the attack when he saw the banners after morning prayers.

Taheri said security cameras around the mosque show that the attack was carried out by three people linked to far-right Islamophobic group Pegida.

He added that he had also reported previous attacks to the police, but that they had continued.

Islam is the second-largest religion in the Netherlands, with many believers living in The Hague.
US special envoy for Syria to visit Turkey on Monday

US pullout from Syria and Manbij roadmap to be discussed during Jeffrey's meetings.

The US special envoy for Syria will arrive in capital Ankara on Monday. James Jeffrey will hold meetings with a delegation of Turkish Foreign Ministry and military officials in his two-day visit.

The US pullout from Syria and Manbij roadmap will top the agenda during the meetings.

MANBIJ DEAL FOCUSES ON THE PKK/YPG WITHDRAWAL

In line with the Manbij roadmap, joint investigations by Turkey and the US are ongoing for the restructuring of civil and military councils in the northern Syrian town of Manbij. The Manbij deal between Turkey and the US focuses on the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from the city to stabilize the region, which is located in the northern part of Syrias Aleppo province.

The last meeting of a bilateral Turkish-US group to coordinate the American troop withdrawal from Syria took place in Ankara on Feb. 28-March 1.

The group meeting in Ankara operated as a sub-unit of the Syria Working Group established in February 2018 between Turkey and the US.
With more than 500 sessions at RSA Conference 2019, its a daunting task for attendees to decide which to catch.

The sessions are organized under more than a dozen core topics: Analytics, Intelligence & Response; Application Security; C-Suite View; Cloud Security; Cryptography; DevOps; Compliance; Hackers; Human Element; Identity; Law; IoT; Machine Learning; and Privacy. If there is an issue or concern you have with IT security, its likely covered in a session somewhere at the RSA conference.

If youre looking for an overview of what to expect in general at RSA Conference 2018, check out our preview of the 2019 RSA Conference and our overview of the 10 finalists for the RSA Innovation Sandbox contest.

In this preview, we outline our picks for the top 10 sessions at RSA Conference 2019, listed in the order in which they occur in the schedule.

Building DevSecOps

Speaker: Noopur Davis, Comcast SVP, Chief Product and Information Security Officer

Date: Tuesday, Mar 05 | 02:20 p.m.  03:10 p.m.

Location: Moscone West 2003

Integrating developer, security and operations practices into a unified workflow is the domain of the emerging concept known as DevSecOps. Getting those different groups to work together is no easy task, but its one that Comcast has been able to implement. Comcast SVP, Chief Product and Information Security Officer Noopur Davis will detail in her session how DevSecOps works and outline a six-part process that attendees can apply in their own environments.

How United Airlines Stays Cyber-secure

Speaker: Emily Heath, VP & CISO, United Airlines

Date: Tuesday, Mar 05 | 02:20 p.m.  03:10 p.m.

Location: Moscone South Esplanade

It stands to reason that a sizable number of attendees who come to RSA Conference fly into San Francisco, and of those a certain percentage will travel with United Airlines. United Airlines VP and Chief Information Security Officer Emily Heath is set to discus how her airline is constantly changing to stay ahead of cybersecurity risks in a session titled Security at 36,000 Feet.

Reverse Engineering

Speaker: Robert Joyce, Senior Advisory, National Security Agency

Date: Tuesday, Mar 05 | 03:40 p.m.  04:30 p.m.

Location: Moscone West 2005

The National Security Agency (NSA) has long built its own tools for a number of cybersecurity activities. Now its making a new tool for reverse engineering known as Ghidra available as open source. The Ghidra tools and their usage will be detailed in a session titled Come Get Your Free NSA Reverse Engineering Tool! led by NSA senior advisor Robert Joyce. Joyce will explain the capabilities of Ghidra and how attendees can use it to help reverse engineer potential malware.

ERP Security

Speaker: Juan Pablo Perez-Etchegoyen, CTO, Onapsis

Date: March 5, 5:10 p.m.  5:30 p.m.

Location: South Expo Briefing Center

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software platforms are often among the most critical enterprise applications deployed within an organization, and not surprisingly, they are also actively attacked. In a session titled Dissecting ERP Breaches: Theyre More Common Than You Know, Onapsis CTO Juan Pablo Perez-Etchegoyen will outline some of the attacks that have occurred against ERP systems in recent years and how attackers were able to exploit systems. The session will also provide attendees with insight into what can be done to prevent ERP breaches and ensure application security.

Inside the Timehop Breach Response

Speaker: Nick Selby, Director of Cyber Intelligence & Investigations, New York Police Department

Date: Wednesday, Mar 06 | 09:20 a.m.  10:10 a.m.

Location: Moscone West 2003

Back in July 2018, social media service Timehop reported that it was the victim of data breach that affected 21 million users. In a session at the RSA conference, Nick Selby, Director of Cyber Intelligence & Investigations for the New York Police Department, will offer insight into the breach and the breach response process. Attendees will learn what some of the best practices are for breach notification.

NSA Chief on Strategic Competition

Speaker: General Paul Nakasone, Commander, United States Cyber Command, National Security Agency (NSA)

Date: Wednesday, Mar 06 | 01:30 p.m.  02:20 p.m.

Location: Moscone South Esplanade

Among the many federal officials at RSA Conference talking about the national security impact of cybersecurity is General Paul Nakasone, Commander of the United States Cyber Command at the National Security Agency. In a session titled Strategic Competition: The Rise of Persistent Presence and Innovation and moderated by CBS News reporter Olivia Gazis, Nakasone will discuss how the NSA acts to help defend the U.S. in the current cyber environment.

Threat Hunting

Speaker: Vernon Habersetzer, Sr. Enterprise Technical Expert, Walmart

Date: Thursday, Mar 07 | 08:00 a.m.  08:50 a.m.

Location: Moscone West 2007

Threat hunting is a core component of cybersecurity operations, but it is often not well understood by IT security practitioners. In a session titled Threat Hunting Using 16th-Century Math and Sesame Street, Vernon Habersetzer, Senior Enterprise Technical Expert at Walmart, will offer guidance into how to conduct threat hunting exercises that will yield results and identify risks.

Purple Team at Scale

Speaker: Jason ODell, Director of Incident Response and Hunt, Walmart

Date: Thursday, Mar 07 | 01:30 p.m.  02:20 p.m.

Location: Moscone West 3002

Red Teams conduct adversarial exercises against organizations while Blue Teams are tasked with defensive operations. Bringing the two teams together is an integrated approach to cybersecurity exercises commonly referred to as Purple Teaming.

In a session at the conference, Jason ODell, Director of Incident Response and Hunt at Walmart, will explain how the worlds largest retailer has experimented with the Purple Team concept and how the approach can be used to improve overall cybersecurity effectiveness.

Top 10 Security Risks

Speaker: Min-Hwei Liu, Director, Information Security, Aetna

Date: Friday, Mar 08 | 08:30 a.m.  09:20 a.m.

Location: Moscone West 2011

Risk mitigation is a complicated topic in an increasingly challenge cyber threat landscape. In a session titled Do You Know Your Organizations Top 10 Security Risks? Min-Hwei Liu, Director of Information Security at Aetna, will explain how organizations can build and make use of a list of risks to help make companies more secure.

Cloud Security

Speakers: Amin Vahdat, Google Fellow and Networking Technical Lead, Google; Suzanne Frey, Vice President, Engineering, Google Cloud

Date: Friday, Mar 08 | 11:10 p.m.  12:00 p.m.

Location: Moscone South Esplanade

Few organizations have as much experience operating cloud-scale operations as Google. In a session titled Engineering Trust and Security in the Cloud Era, Based on Early Lessons, Google executives will outline what works and what doesnt for cloud security, based on Googles own experience operating one of the worlds largest public cloud infrastructures.

Coming Next: Vendor News

Aside from 31 keynotes and more than 500 sessions, the exhibit hall is home to some 700 exhibitors. The RSA Conference is often the place where many cybersecurity vendors make major announcements for new products and innovations. Be sure to look for eSecurity Planets upcoming list of vendors making news at RSA Conference 2019.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eSecurityPlanet and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.
1. No link found between MMR vaccine and autism, even among children with other risk factors for autism

Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M18-2101

Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-0596

URLs go live when the embargo lifts

A nationwide cohort study of all children born in Denmark to Danish-born mothers between 1999 through 2010 concluded that the mumps, measles, and rubella (MMR) vaccine does not increase the risk of autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases following vaccination. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

The hypothesized link between measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism continues to cause concern and challenge vaccine uptake. Currently, there is a concerning increase in measles cases in Europe and the U.S., and the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 threats to global health.

Researchers from Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark used a Danish population registry to evaluate whether the MMR vaccine increases the risk for autism in children, subgroups of children, or time periods after vaccination. Of the 657,461 children included in the analysis over a decade of follow-up, 6,517 were diagnosed with autism. Comparing MMR-vaccinated with MMR-unvaccinated children yielded a fully adjusted autism hazard ratio of 0.93. Similarly, no increased risk for autism after MMR vaccination was consistently observed in subgroups of children defined according to sibling history of autism, autism risk factors (based on a disease risk score) or other childhood vaccinations, or during specified time periods after vaccination. According to the researchers, this study adds to previous studies through significant additional statistical power and addresses questions about susceptible subgroups and autism clustering.

Media contact: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org. To interview the lead author, Anders Peter Hviid, DrMedSci, please contact Michael Gjlbye Madsen at migm@ssi.dk or +45 3268 8173. 2. Low-dose aspirin does not seem to improve survival after prostate cancer diagnosis

Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M17-3085

Editorial: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M19-0525

URLs go live when the embargo lifts

Low-dose aspirin use does not seem to reduce the overall risk for prostate cancer death at the population level. However, results for extended exposure periods suggest that low-dose aspirin might be inversely associated with prostate cancer mortality after 5 years from cancer diagnosis. Findings from a nationwide cohort study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Recent studies suggest that aspirin use may improve survival in patients with prostate cancer, but study results are inconclusive.

Researchers from the Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Aarhus University Hospital, Copenhagen University Hospital, and University of Southern Denmark used nationwide registries in Denmark to assess the association between postdiagnosis use of low-dose aspirin and prostate cancer mortality. Their analysis did not find convincing evidence of an overall protective effect of low-dose aspirin for men with prostate cancer. However, they did find a reduced risk for prostate cancer mortality with low-dose aspirin use among patients with low Gleason scores, meaning that their prostate cancer was unlikely to progress, and among those who took low-dose aspirin for an extended period of time.

The authors of an accompanying editorial from Tampere University and Tampere University Hospital in Finland speculate that improved prostate cancer-specific survival among aspirin users with low Gleason scores might be explained by inaccurate tumor grading occurring less frequently in aspirin users than nonusers. Aspirin is an anti-inflammatory drug that lowers serum prostate-specific antigen levels; however, whether this leads to accurate determination of tumor aggressiveness in aspirin users remains to be determined in further studies, according to the authors. They suggest that future research evaluate aspirin exposures longer than those studied to date and investigate the effects of aspirin exposure on disease classification.

Media contact: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org. To interview the lead author, Charlotte Skriver, MSc at skriver@cancer.dk. The lead author of the editorial, Teemu J. Murtola, MD, PhD, can be reached directly at teemu.murtola@tuni.fi. 3. Methanol toxicity can be a rare consequence of occupational exposure

Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/L18-0584

URLs go live when the embargo lifts

Clinicians should be aware that methanol toxicity can be a rare consequence of occupational exposure. A case report is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Methanol toxicity is a potentially life-threatening condition that usually occurs by ingestion of household products, such as solvents, antifreeze, or fuel. It may cause mild symptoms, such as drowsiness and headaches, but could develop into a significant illness that includes vision changes, blindness, coma, convulsions, and respiratory arrest.

Researchers from Genesys Regional Medical Center; Grand Blanc, Michigan reported the case of a 42-year-old man who came to the emergency department complaining of flank pain and headache. He described 1 day of nausea, multiple episodes of emesis, and blurred vision leading to bilateral vision loss. While taking a detailed history, the clinicians learned that the patient had taken a new job as a materials handler at a propane company 6 weeks earlier where his job was to inspect, fill, and load propane cylinders. Two weeks after starting the new job, he had begun having lapses in memory and atypical behaviors, such as leaving his car running or the lawn sprinklers on overnight. Since methanol is routinely added to propane to prevent valve freezing, the clinicians deduced that the patient had occupational exposure to a mixture of propane and methanol and developed methanol toxicity secondary to inhalation and dermal absorption. Based on their diagnosis, the clinicians were able to successfully treat and release the patient.

Media contact: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Lauren Evans at laevans@acponline.org.To interview the lead author, Michael Beattie, DO, please contact him directly at michael.beattie@ascension.org.

Also New in this issue:

Should a Prison Salt Trial Be Federally Funded?

Paul P. Christopher, MD, and Michael D. Stein, MD

Ideas and Opinions

Abstract: http://annals.org/aim/article/doi/10.7326/M18-3382

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Quarks, the smallest particles in the universe, are far smaller and operate at much higher energy levels than the protons and neutrons in which they are found. In 1983, physicists at CERN, as part of the European Muon Collaboration (EMC), observed for the first time what would become known as "the EMC effect": In the nucleus of an iron atom containing many protons and neutrons, quarks move significantly more slowly than quarks in deuterium, which contains a single proton and neutron.

Now physicists from Tel Aviv University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility know why quarks, the building blocks of the universe, move more slowly inside atomic nuclei.

"Researchers have been seeking an answer to this for 35 years," says Prof. Eli Piasetzky of TAU's Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Physics & Astronomy. Prof. Piasetzky; Meytal Duer, also of TAU's School of Physics; and Prof. Or Hen, Dr. Barak Schmookler and Dr. Axel Schmidt of MIT have now led the international CLAS Collaboration at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility to identify an explanation for the EMC effect. Their conclusions were published on February 20 in the journal Nature.

The researchers discovered that the speed of a quark depends on the number of protons and neutrons forming short-ranged correlated pairs in an atom's nucleus. The more such pairs there are in a nucleus, the larger the number of slow-moving quarks within the atom's protons and neutrons.

Atoms with larger nuclei intrinsically have more protons and neutrons, so they are more likely to have a higher number of proton-neutron pairs. The team concluded that the larger the atom, the more pairs it is likely to contain. This results in slower-moving quarks in that particular atom.

"In short-range correlated or SRC pairs, an atom's protons and neutrons can pair up constantly, but only momentarily, before splitting apart and going their separate ways," Duer explains. "During this brief, high-energy interaction, quarks, in their respective particles, may have a larger space to play in."

The team's new explanation can help to illuminate subtle yet important differences in the behavior of quarks, the most basic building blocks of the visible world.

For the research, the scientists harnessed a Large Acceptance Spectrometer, or CLAS detector, a four-story spherical particle detector, in an experiment conducted over several months at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The experiment amassed billions of interactions between electrons and quarks, allowing the researchers to calculate the speed of the quark in each interaction based on the electron's energy after it scattered, and to compare the average quark speed among the various atoms.

"These high-momentum pairs are the reason for these slow-moving quarks," Prof. Hen explains. "How much a quark's speed is slowed depends on the number of SRC pairs in an atomic nucleus. Quarks in lead, for instance, were far slower than those in aluminum, which themselves were slower than iron, and so on."

###

The research was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Israel Science Foundation, and the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. The team is now designing an experiment in which they hope to detect the speed of quarks, specifically in SRC pairs.

American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's most influential, comprehensive and sought-after center of higher learning, Tel Aviv University (TAU). TAU is recognized and celebrated internationally for creating an innovative, entrepreneurial culture on campus that generates inventions, startups and economic development in Israel. TAU is ranked ninth in the world, and first in Israel, for producing start-up founders of billion-dollar companies, an achievement that surpassed several Ivy League universities. To date, 2,500 US patents have been filed by Tel Aviv University researchers -- ranking TAU #1 in Israel, #10 outside of the US and #43 in the world.
WASHINGTON -- Researchers have proposed a new idea that may explain why some Antarctic icebergs are tinged emerald green rather than the normal blue, potentially solving a decades-long scientific mystery.

Pure ice is blue because ice absorbs more red light than blue light. Most icebergs appear white or blue when floating in seawater, but since the early 1900s explorers and sailors have reported seeing peculiar green icebergs around certain parts of Antarctica.

The green icebergs have been a curiosity to scientists for decades, but now glaciologists report in a new study that they suspect iron oxides in rock dust from Antarctica's mainland are turning some icebergs green. They formulated the new theory after Australian researchers discovered large amounts of iron in East Antarctica's Amery Ice Shelf. Watch a video of the new findings here.

Iron is a key nutrient for phytoplankton, microscopic plants that form the base of the marine food web. But iron is scarce in many areas of the ocean.

If experiments prove the new theory right, it would mean green icebergs are ferrying precious iron from Antarctica's mainland to the open sea when they break off, providing this key nutrient to the organisms that support nearly all marine life.

"It's like taking a package to the post office. The iceberg can deliver this iron out into the ocean far away, and then melt and deliver it to the phytoplankton that can use it as a nutrient," said Stephen Warren, a glaciologist at the University of Washington and lead author of the new study in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, a journal of the American Geophysical Union. "We always thought green icebergs were just an exotic curiosity, but now we think they may actually be important."

A mystery of color

Warren started studying the phenomenon on an Australian expedition in 1988, when he took a core sample from a green iceberg near the Amery Ice Shelf on the coast of East Antarctica.

Interestingly, the green ice he saw was a deep emerald hue much darker and clearer than that of normal icebergs - a signal to scientists that green ice might be different from regular iceberg ice.

"When we climbed up on that iceberg, the most amazing thing was actually not the color but rather the clarity," Warren said. "This ice had no bubbles. It was obvious that it was not ordinary glacier ice."

Icebergs break off of glaciers and ice shelves that jut out into the sea. Typical glacier ice forms when layers of snow build up and solidify over time, so it naturally has air pockets that reflect light.

But in Antarctica, some icebergs have a layer of what's called marine ice: ocean water frozen to the underside of an overhanging ice shelf. Marine ice is clearer and darker than glacier ice because it doesn't have any air pockets to reflect light.

When Warren and his colleagues analyzed that iceberg and other green icebergs sampled by Australian expeditions in the 1980s, they found the green parts were made of marine ice and not glacier ice. They suspected an impurity in the ocean water underneath the Amery Ice Shelf was turning some marine ice green.

Their first thought was that dissolved organic carbon, microscopic particles of long-dead marine plants and animals, was getting trapped in the ice as the water froze to the underside of the ice shelf. Dissolved organic carbon is yellow, so if pure ice is blue, the addition of yellow particles could turn the ice green, according to Warren.

But when Warren and his colleagues sampled icebergs on a subsequent expedition in 1996, they found green marine ice had the same amount of organic material as blue marine ice, so something else had to be responsible for the green color.

Rock dust in the sea

The problem nagged at Warren until a few years ago, when an oceanographer at the University of Tasmania tested an ice core from the Amery Ice Shelf for its iron content. She found marine ice near the bottom of the core had nearly 500 times more iron than the glacial ice above.

Iron oxides found in soil, rocks, and common rust tend to have warm, earthy hues - yellows, oranges, reds and browns. So Warren began to suspect iron oxides in the marine ice could turning blue ice green. But where was the iron coming from?

As glaciers flow over bedrock, they grind rocks to a fine powder known as glacial flour. When the ice meets the sea, this glacial flour flows into the ocean. If the rock dust becomes trapped under an ice shelf, the particles could be incorporated in marine ice as it forms.

Warren now suspects iron oxides in glacial flour from rocks on Antarctica's mainland are responsible for creating the stunning emerald icebergs. He and the Australian iron researchers now propose to sample icebergs of different colors for their iron content and light-reflecting properties. If their theory proves correct, green icebergs could be more important than scientists thought.

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Founded in 1919, AGU is a not-for-profit scientific society dedicated to advancing Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. We support 60,000 members, who reside in 135 countries, as well as our broader community, through high-quality scholarly publications, dynamic meetings, our dedication to science policy and science communications, and our commitment to building a diverse and inclusive workforce, as well as many other innovative programs. AGU is home to the award-winning news publication Eos, the Thriving Earth Exchange, where scientists and community leaders work together to tackle local issues, and a headquarters building that represents Washington, D.C.'s first net zero energy commercial renovation. We are celebrating our Centennial in 2019. #AGU100

AGU press contact:

Lauren Lipuma

+1 (202) 777-7396

llipuma@agu.org

Contact information for the researchers:

Stephen Warren, University of Washington

+1 (206) 543-7230

sgw@uw.edu

Notes for Journalists

This paper is open access. Journalists and public information officers (PIOs) can download a PDF copy of the article by clicking on this link: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2018JC014479

Media files accompanying this press release can be downloaded at: https://aguorg.sharepoint.com/:f:/s/newsroom/Egnv09E-109KkoReeRTyNx4B6QNo47GqyIx8l6VghQhEPA?e=ePntJ6

Journalists and PIOs may also request a copy of the final paper by emailing Lauren Lipuma at llipuma@agu.org. Please provide your name, the name of your publication, and your phone number.

Neither the paper nor this press release is under embargo.

Paper Title: "Green Icebergs Revisited"

Authors: Stephen G. Warren: Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.;

Collin S. Roesler: Department of Earth and Oceanographic Science, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, U.S.A.;

Richard E. Brandt: Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, University at Albany?State University of New York, Wilmington, NY, U.S.A.;

Mark Curran: Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia.
| BY Kim Shaw |

Tiger Beer, in partnership with brand experience agency The Lab, has launched its first brand video and website in Japan.

Following the introduction and implementation of its nationwide Trade Activation Platform, YUKI in 2018, the brand has successfully created Tiger YUKI bar in Tokyo and YUKI Habitat in Fukuoka, and is on track to continue moving into other key Japanese cities in 2019.

Deviating from conventional celebrity endorsements by Japanese beer brands, Tiger Beer Japan has given a voice to up-and-coming artistes who demonstrate YUKI (courage) and are not afraid to be different. The YUKI platform is Tiger Beer Japans answer to the global proposition of Here come the Uncaged.

Tiger Beer Japan also paid homage to the Singaporean brand by symbolically launching the brand film at 1932hrs on 2nd March 2019. The film features four emerging artistes as the main characters of the 2019 YUKI platform in Japan. The 120s spot stars Nishigaki Yoshitaka , an unorthodox watercolourist, Ryota Hagiwara , a fashion stylist turned Ikebana artist, ethereal DJ Sapphire Slows and sustainable chef Koji Tamura , each selected based on their personal courage to stand out from the norm. The film was shot and produced on location in Tokyo, Japan with acclaimed production house, Cutters Studio.

Tiger Beer Japan will also be featuring these artistes in their upcoming Japan activations as part of the greater YUKI campaign planned for 2019. These activations will focus on allowing its Japanese consumers and business partners to be introduced to Tiger Beer in a curated human experience.

By putting people first and product second, Tiger Beer has created a platform unlike any other in the Japanese market. said Johnny Tan, Regional Manager (Commercial), Heineken Asia-Pacific Export. With the consumer and brand experience in mind, we aim to communicate differently to our Japanese consumers by giving a life to the individuals and their stories, via a meaningful experiential engagement, versus traditional static advertising messages.

Coupled with the release of the brand film is the launch of Tiger Beer Japans official website, further expanding their digital presence in the Japanese market. The one-stop digital destination provides an immersive experience for the Japanese audience to learn more about Tigers brand story, heritage, collection of beers, as well as the entire YUKI platform.

Tiger Beer will also be releasing exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage of the 4 YUKI heroes on the website in a series titled YUKI Personified. The series, filmed and produced in-house by THE LAB, journeys deeper into each heros YUKI story and hopes to inspire fellow Japanese to embody their personal YUKI spirit. Bite-sized cuts of these interviews will also be released on Tiger Beer Japans social platforms as part of their always-on content.

Credits:

Heineken Asia-Pacific Export

Regional Manager (Commercial): Johnny Tan

Regional Marketing Manager: Meryl Ho

Assistant Regional Marketing Manager: Ng Yunxuan

THE LAB

Business Lead & Executive Producer: Leon Lai

Project Lead & Senior Account Manager: Benedict Lim

Creative Lead & Creative Group Head: Zac Tan

Digital Lead & Senior Account Director: Foong Minmei

Chief Creative Officer & Art Director: Aaron Koh

Creative Director & Copywriter: Pradeep DSouza

Digital Creative Director & Art Director: Ngai Arh Chun

Account Director: Kevin Seah

Senior Account Executive: Chiyomi Nakagawa

Account Executive: Nicole Lim

Content Manager: Charissa Kow

Social Media Manager: Nicolette-Clare Ong
Researchers at Florida Atlantic University have created a new method for selecting only the creme de la creme sperm -- work that may help to improve IVF success rates

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 4, 2019 -- Faster, cheaper and less damaging to DNA, a microchip device that pits sperm racing against one another is being developed by Afrouz Ataei from Florida Atlantic University and may help to improve IVF success rates in the future.

Ataei is presenting the fitness stats on the sperm sorted by her device this week at the American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston, and she will also participate in a press conference describing the work. Information for logging on to watch and ask questions remotely is included at the end of this news release.

"An integral part of in vitro clinical procedures is the isolation of motile and morphologically normal viable sperm from the semen," said Ataei, who explained that this step increases the chances of successful egg fertilization in plastic dishes outside the body (in vitro).

However, the conventional method used to sort the speediest sperm involves centrifugation and several high-speed, G-force inducing spinning steps, which can damage the delicate DNA encased within a sperm's head. And an egg fertilized with sperm damaged in this manner is unlikely to progress to a viable embryo for implantation into the womb.

In women under 35 there is only a 21.5 percent chance of a single round of in vitro fertilization, or IVF, resulting in a full-term live birth. And with each round of IVF in the U.S. costing an average of $10,000-$15,000, this makes improving the odds of IVF success key for the financial and emotional well-being of many of the couples who experience fertility problems.

Ataei's device manages to select the faster swimmers without any damaging centrifugation steps. Instead, her device exploits the observation that sperm swim against an opposing flow of liquid at certain flow rates. The microchip is designed to induce hydrostatic pressure, which generates liquid flow without the use of other equipment.

"No other devices generate the flow in this way, and our device is much easier to use," said Ataei.

An unprocessed semen sample is injected into the chip's inlet until it fills the lower microchamber, and the sperm gradually swim upstream against the flow. If fit and fast enough, the sperm make it past the ultrathin membrane filter, which acts as the finish line, and into the top chamber. Ataei has analyzed the winner's fitness stats.

"After 45 minutes we collect the sample from the top retrieval chamber and start observing and analysing the sperm's velocity, whether they have DNA fragmentation, and what's the percentage of this compared with current methods like centrifugation," said Ataei. "We found that at a specific flow rate, we get the most motile sperm with highest motility."

"I think this device has potential for clinical use," Ataei added.

The team at Florida Atlantic University is continuing to optimize the microfluidic device, hoping to increase the concentration of sperm collected in the top chamber before they file a patent on their design.

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The 2019 APS March Meeting presentation "Development of a Microfluidic Device to Sort Sperm based on their Swimming Potential against the Flow," by Afrouz Ataei, Andy W.C. Lau and Waseem Asghar, will take place Monday, March 4, at 8:12 a.m. in room 251 of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Abstract: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR19/Session/A48.2

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

The American Physical Society (APS) March Meeting is a major international conference and the largest physics meeting of the year. In 2019, the APS March Meeting will convene March 4-8 at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.

USEFUL LINKS

Register as Press: https://goo.gl/forms/ur9dE24zCO1IVsLu2

Press Site: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/press.cfm

Meeting Abstracts: http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/MAR19/APS_epitome

Main Meeting Page: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/

Hotel and Travel: https://www.aps.org/meetings/march/hotel-travel.cfm

PRESS REGISTRATION

APS will provide free registration to all staff journalists representing media organizations, professional freelance journalists on assignment, and student journalists who are attending the meeting for the express purpose of gathering and reporting news and information. Press registration grants full access to all scientific sessions, to the press room, and to the press conferences. We will also provide complimentary press registration to university press officers, PIOs and other professional media relations staff. For press related questions about the APS March Meeting, email media@aps.org.

PRESS CONFERENCES

A series of press conferences on newsworthy research will be webcast live from the conference on Monday, March 4 through Thursday, March 7. A schedule will be released the week before the conference. Members of the media should register in advance at https://webcast.apswebcasting.com/go/aps-march-19.

ABOUT APS

The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance and diffuse the knowledge of physics through its outstanding research journals, scientific meetings, and education, outreach, advocacy, and international activities. APS represents over 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Society offices are located in College Park, Maryland (Headquarters), Ridge, New York, and Washington, D.C. Read more: https://www.aps.org/
Chestnut Hill, Mass. (3/4/2019) - A recently discovered Weyl semimetal delivers the largest intrinsic conversion of light to electricity of any material, an international team lead by a group of Boston College researchers reports today in the journal Nature Materials.

The discovery is based on a unique aspect of the material where electrons can be separated by their chirality, or handedness -- similar to DNA. The findings may offer a new route to efficient generation of electricity from light, as well as for thermal or chemical sensing.

"We discovered that the Weyl semimetal Tantalum Arsenide, has a colossal bulk photovoltaic effect - an intrinsic, or non-linear, generation of current from light more than ten times larger than ever previously achieved," said Boston College Associate Professor of Physics Kenneth Burch, a lead author of the article, titled "Colossal mid-infrared bulk photovoltaic effect in a type-I Weyl semimetal."

"Furthermore this is in the mid-infrared regime, which means this material can also be used for chemical or thermal sensing, as well as waste heat recovery," Burch added.

Typically, light is converted to electricity by creating a built-in electric field in a semiconductor, Burch said. "This is achieved through chemical modulation, and results in a fundamental upper limit to the potential efficiency - known as the Shockley-Queisser limit."

The alternative approach taken by the team explored exploiting the handedness of the electrons in the material to intrinsically generate direct current through the nonlinear mixing of the waves of light, Burch said.

This approach has typically been too small to be useful. But researchers recently realized it is closely connected to the topological properties of the electrons. That prompted predictions that the unique, DNA-like behavior of electrons in Weyl semimetals could produce enormous nonlinear effects.

"We focused on answering whether Weyl semimetals live up to the predictions of large, intrinsic nonlinear responses to generate current," said Burch, co-author of the paper with Philip Moll of Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and Ni Ni of UCLA.

He added that the team was surprised at the magnitude of the electronic effect, which was provoked by a new fabrication approach.

"The size of the effect was far larger than we dreamed," said Burch. "A previous group from MIT found their response was dominated by thermal, or extrinsic, terms, our use of the focused ion beam fabricated devices and symmetry allowed us to uncover the colossal bulk photovoltaic effect at room temperature."

Burch said the team is working to determine the "sweet spot" for the effect, specifically what is the ideal device configuration and wavelength of light.

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For hundreds of millions of years, plants and fungi have formed symbiotic relationships to trade crucial nutrients, such as phosphate and fatty acids. This relationship is extremely important to the growth and survival of both organisms, and solving the mystery of how they transfer molecules to each other could eventually help reduce the use of fertilizer in agriculture.

Now, researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) have uncovered structural networks of tubules at the plant-fungal interface that could shed light on the mechanisms of this natural partnership. Details of the study were published in Nature Plants on February 8.

An estimated 80% of vascular plant families form symbioses with a type of soil fungi called arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. The fungi penetrate the outermost cells of a plant's roots and grow intricate branch-like structures called arbuscules. Each host plant cell then grows a membrane that envelops an arbuscule, and nutrient exchange takes place within the space between the plant membrane and the fungal cell wall.

In an attempt to understand the fundamental interaction between plants and the fungi, BTI faculty member Maria Harrison and postdoctoral scientist Sergey Ivanov joined forces with R. Howard Berg, director of the Donald Danforth Center's Integrated Microscopy Facility. They used advanced electron microscopy techniques to image arbuscules present in the roots of the legume Medicago truncatula colonized by the fungus Rhizophagus irregularis, and were surprised by the results.

"Our understanding of the sub-cellular structural basis of the interaction relies on studies performed 30-40 years ago. Many of them indicated that the material around the fungus but inside the plant membrane would be an amorphous matrix of carbohydrate material," said Harrison, the paper's corresponding author. Instead, the researchers found a network of round, tubular and dumbbell-shaped structures constructed of lipid membranes, nearly all of which appeared to connect back to the plant cell's membrane.

The researchers were further surprised to find another network of membrane tubules in the space between the fungal cell membrane and the fungal cell wall. "It was totally unexpected to see such an extensive proliferation of fungal membrane, particularly knowing that the fungus is starving for lipids," explains Ivanov, the paper's lead author.

Harrison and Ivanov speculate that the networks are related to the transfer of lipids.

"Somehow lipids are released from the plant cell and fed to the fungus, and we wondered how they move through what we thought was an aqueous matrix between the plant cell membrane and the fungal cell wall," says Harrison. "But maybe this space isn't so aqueous after all, and perhaps this membrane-rich environment facilitates the movement of lipids between the organisms."

Given the plant and fungal membrane networks' close physical proximity to each other, the fungal network could be involved in lipid absorption in order to optimize the process. The researchers suspect the network is not involved with transferring phosphate to the plant because the membrane networks are more abundant near the larger branches of the arbuscule, whereas phosphate uptake likely occurs near the smaller branches.

Harrison believes that newer technologies are to thank for finding these networks of tubules. "High-pressure freezing fixation of samples gives better membrane preservation than older techniques. I think that is the reason that these extensive membranes were not seen before," she says. "Plus, 3D electron tomography is very powerful and let us visualize the networks, which didn't look connected on 2D images."

Ivanov worked closely with Berg, who has expertise with cryofixation and electron microscopy, and Jotham Austin II at the University of Chicago, who is an expert in tomography. Financial support for this project was provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation grant #IOS-1353367 and by the TRIAD Foundation.

Another research group led by Uta Paszkowski of the University of Cambridge in the UK performed similar imaging studies in rice colonized with R. irregularis, and found similar structures. Those results were published in the same issue of Nature Plants.

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It's time to strengthen support for the 28% of people who provide care for an ageing family member, friend or neighbour in Canada, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Our ability to support informal caregiving remains one of Canada's most pressing health care and societal issues," says Dr. Nathan Stall, associate editor, CMAJ.

The pool of caregivers in Canada is shrinking as the ageing population increases, while the need for caregiving will increase.

Caregiving has become increasingly demanding and stressful as many untrained people provide medical and nursing care, help with daily living and navigate the complexities of the health and long-term care system. Many caregivers are stressed, which negatively effects their mental and physical health and can lead to increased risk of death.

More than one-third (35%) of the population is both working and providing caregiver support, with more women juggling both roles.

As well, caregivers often provide financial support to their loved ones and may miss out on full-time employment, raises and other monetary benefits. We must support these people by protecting caregivers from financial and retirement insecurity.

While financial support exists, mainly through tax breaks, it is difficult to access and varies by province.

"Addressing this pressing health care and societal issue is undoubtedly complex, but innovative, effective and potentially scalable programs and policies already exist in pockets across the country. It's time Canada cared more about its caregivers," he concludes.

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A research team led by the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created a nanoscale "playground" on a chip that simulates the formation of exotic magnetic particles called monopoles. The study - published recently in Science Advances - could unlock the secrets to ever-smaller, more powerful memory devices, microelectronics, and next-generation hard drives that employ the power of magnetic spin to store data.

Follow the 'ice rules'

For years, other researchers have been trying to create a real-world model of a magnetic monopole - a theoretical magnetic, subatomic particle that has a single north or south pole. These elusive particles can be simulated and observed by manufacturing artificial spin ice materials - large arrays of nanomagnets that have structures analogous to water ice - wherein the arrangement of atoms isn't perfectly symmetrical, leading to residual north or south poles.

Opposites attract in magnetism (north poles are drawn to south poles, and vice-versa) so these single poles attempt to move to find their perfect match. But because conventional artificial spin ices are 2D systems, the monopoles are highly confined, and are therefore not realistic representations of how magnetic monopoles behave, said lead author Alan Farhan, who was a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley Lab's Advanced Light Source (ALS) at the time of the study, and is now with the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland.

To overcome this obstacle, the Berkeley Lab-led team simulated a nanoscale 3D system that follows "ice rules," a principle that governs how atoms arrange themselves in ice formed from water or the mineral pyrochlore.

"This is a crucial element of our work," said Farhan. "With our 3D system, a north monopole or south monopole can move wherever it wants to go, interacting with other particles in its environment like an isolated magnetic charge would - in other words, like a monopole."

A nanoworld on a chip

The team used sophisticated lithography tools developed at Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry, a nanoscale science research facility, to pattern a 3D, square lattice of nanomagnets. Each magnet in the lattice is about the size of a bacterium and rests on a flat, 1 centimeter-by-1 centimeter silicon wafer.

"It's a nanoworld - with tiny architecture on a tiny wafer," but atomically configured exactly like natural ice, said Farhan.

To build the nanostructure, the researchers synthesized two exposures, each one aligned within 20 to 30 nanometers. At the Molecular Foundry, co-author Scott Dhuey fabricated nanopatterns of four types of structures onto a tiny silicon chip. The chips were then studied at the ALS, a synchrotron light source research facility open to visiting scientists from around the world. The researchers used a technique called X-ray photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM), directing powerful beams of X-ray light sensitive to magnetic structures at the nanopatterns to observe how monopoles might form and move in response to changes in temperature.

In contrast to PEEM microscopes at other light sources, Berkeley Lab's PEEM3 microscope has a higher X-ray angle of incidence, minimizing shadow effects - which are similar to the shadows cast by a building when the sun strikes the surface at a certain angle. "In fact, the images recorded reveal no shadow effect whatsoever," said Farhan. "This makes the PEEM3 the most crucial element to this project's success."

Farhan added that the PEEM3 is the only microscope in the world that gives users full temperature control in the sub-100 Kelvin (below minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit) range, capturing in real time how emergent magnetic monopoles form as artificial frozen ice melts into a liquid, and as liquid evaporates into a gas-like state of magnetic charges - a form of matter known as plasma.

The researchers now hope to pattern smaller and smaller nanomagnets for the advancement of smaller yet more powerful spintronics - a sought-after field of microelectronics that taps into particles' magnetic spin properties to store more data in smaller devices such as magnetic hard drives.

Such devices would use magnetic films and superconducting thin films to deploy and manipulate magnetic monopoles to sort and store data based on the north or south direction of their poles - analogous to the ones and zeros in conventional magnetic storage devices.

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The ALS and the Molecular Foundry are DOE Office of Science user facilities.

The work research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Founded in 1931 on the belief that the biggest scientific challenges are best addressed by teams, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and its scientists have been recognized with 13 Nobel Prizes. Today, Berkeley Lab researchers develop sustainable energy and environmental solutions, create useful new materials, advance the frontiers of computing, and probe the mysteries of life, matter, and the universe. Scientists from around the world rely on the Lab's facilities for their own discovery science. Berkeley Lab is a multiprogram national laboratory, managed by the University of California for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
As cultural successors, hedgehogs reside in close proximity to humans. Close contacts, however, are not only beneficial but also bear risks for animals and humans. Road traffic, lawn mowers and infectious agents threaten the prickly insect eaters. Some infectious agents can be transmitted to humans. Considerate treatment of wildlife and appropriate hygiene measures minimize the risk of infection, though. A recent study, initiated by the National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria (CL-Diphtheria) in Germany and conducted in close collaboration of five federal state laboratories and the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), identified Corynebacterium ulcerans - a close relative of the diphtheria causing bacterium - in hedgehogs. The study is published in Emerging Microbes & Infections".

Diphtheria is a bacterial disease of humans affecting the upper respiratory tract. The etiologic agent Corynebacterium diphtheria can harbor a specific diphtheria toxin gene. Diphtheria is very rare in countries with high immunization coverage such as Germany, although C. diphtheria associated skin or wound infections occur more frequently over the past years in long-distance travelers. Germany has recognized an increase of infections with Corynebacterium ulcerans too, a close relative to C. diphtheria that often carries a diphtheria-like toxin gene and has now been found in hedgehogs. A bulletin published from the National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria concluded that C. ulcerans occurs in a variety of animal species without or with disease symptoms such as lymph node abscesses, wound or respiratory infections. There are clear transmission events from infected pets to the owners of dogs and cats ", comment the initiators of the study Anja Berger and Andreas Sing from CL-Diphtheria. Corresponding case numbers are low but the risk of animal-to-human transmission should raise public health awareness towards emerging C. ulcerans infections. The bacterium has already been detected in different native wildlife species such as red fox, wild boar and roe deer. This study provides the first evidence of diseased hedgehogs infected by C. ulcerans.

"The results should raise a greater awareness and responsibility for our neighborhood", explains Kristin Muhldorfer, researcher at Leibniz-IZW's Department of Wildlife Diseases. Wild animals can carry infectious agents and parasites relevant for human health. Likewise, infectious agents from humans and domestic animals can affect the health of wild animals. Considerate care and hygiene measures are mandatory to safely handle wild animals such as hedgehogs. This includes proper hand washing with soap and warm water or appropriate use of hand sanitizers after animal contacts. Particularly people at higher risk working with wild animals should be aware - which includes veterinarians, professionals and volunteers in wildlife rehabilitation and sanctuaries", state the authors. Adequate vaccination is essential for protection against diphtheria and should be refreshed regularly.

A respectful distance from wildlife enables cohabitation between humans and animals even in close proximity. Weak, sick or injured wild animals should only be handled and nursed by experienced people, who have animal specific knowledge and approval. Wildlife samples from animals showing signs of bacterial disease can be shipped on request to the participating federal state laboratories or the Leibniz-IZW for investigation. In addition, the German CL-Diphtheria would further characterize confirmed Corynebacterium isolates on request.

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Contact participating institutes

Dr. Anja Berger & Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Sing

Approved specialists for medical microbiology and epidemiology

National Consiliary Laboratory for Diphtheria

Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority, Oberschleiheim

E-Mail: anja.berger@lgl.bayern.de; andreas.sing@lgl.bayern.de

Dr. Martin Peters

Approved specialist for veterinary pathology and microbiology

Chemisches und Veterinaruntersuchungsamt (CVUA) Westfalen, Arnsberg

E-Mail: Martin.Peters@cvua-westfalen.de

Dr. Kristin Muhldorfer

Approved specialist for veterinary microbiology

Department Wildlife Diseases at the Leibniz-IZW, Berlin

E-Mail: muehldorfer@izw-berlin.de

Dr. Silke Braune

Department Bacteriology, Mycology and Parasitology

Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety

Food and Veterinary Institute, Hannover

E-Mail: silke.braune@laves.niedersachsen.de

Dr. Tobias Eisenberg

Approved specialist for veterinary microbiology

Department Bacteriological and Mycological Diagnostics

Landesbetrieb Hessisches Landeslabor (LHL), Gieen

E-Mail: Tobias.Eisenberg@lhl.hessen.de

Dr. Jorg Rau

Department Food of Animal Origin

Expertise in MALDI-TOF MS and FT-IR

Chemisches und Veterinaruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart (CVUAS), Fellbach

E-Mail: Joerg.Rau@cvuas.bwl.de

Press contact at the Leibniz-IZW

Jan Zwilling

Science Communication

Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW)

At the Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V.

Alfred-Kowalke-Strae 17, 10315 Berlin

Tel: +49 (0)30 5168121

E-Mail: zwilling@izw-berlin.de
Eventually, your phone charger is going to die.

Month after month of getting pushed and pulled into and out of its port will degrade the protective film that coats the connector. And then, usually when you need it the most, your charger kicks it, your phone soon follows, and life as you know it comes undone. As least for a while.

This inevitable breakdown happens of course to everything, from industrial systems to vehicles to nanoelectronics. Friction causes parts to drag against each other, which wastes energy and wears out materials.

In fact, these losses due to friction are estimated to cost developed countries 0.5 to 7 percent of their annual GDP. A report from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) states that better tribological practices could save one quadrillion BTUs annually, or the equivalent of about 1 percent of the United States' yearly energy consumption. (Tribology is the study and application of the principles of friction, lubrication, and wear.)

One such practice is creating stronger, more wear-resistant protective films. In an interdisciplinary collaboration, Lehigh University researchers Dr. Nicholas Strandwitz and Dr. Brandon Krick who are on the faculty of Lehigh's P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science and affiliated with the university's Institute for Functional Materials and Devices (I-FMD), believe they've discovered the hardest, thinnest, most wear-resistant coatings yet--plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposited titanium and vanadium nitrides.

"This new material beats commercial coatings by orders of magnitude in wear performance," says Krick.

In August 2018, the National Science Foundation (NSF) granted Strandwitz, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and Krick, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, a Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award to work with an industry partner to study what exactly makes these nitride films so good.

A GOALI award supports shared research interests between academic and industrial partners. It's meant to further knowledge that could lead to breakthroughs in critical industrial needs. The award lasts three years, and totals over $500,000. Funding for the nitrides project began January 1, 2019.

Low temps, conformality, and precision yield a diamond-like toughness

Titanium and vanadium nitride films are already known to be extremely hard and wear resistant. Traditionally, they're grown by sputtering, pulsed laser deposition, or chemical vapor deposition methods. In a first, the group's collaborators at Veeco/CNT grew their nitride films using plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition, or PE-ALD. Veeco/CNT is a leading supplier of ALD systems based in Waltham, Massachusetts.

"In atomic layer deposition, you're building one layer of atoms at a time," says Strandwitz. "It's a technique that's already used in microelectronics, like on those in your phone, where you might need a film that is exactly three nanometers thick. If the film is four, or two, nanometers thick, your transistor switch won't work. And you have a few billion transistors in your phone."

The technique involves a vapor process that uses two or more self-limiting chemical reactions to grow one layer of film at a time. In this case, a titanium precursor enters the system's chamber as a gas, reacts with the substrate, and forms a monolayer. Excess titanium gets sucked out, then the second gas, nitrogen plasma, gets pumped in. It bonds with the titanium, and forms a second monolayer. This two-step process is repeated until the film reaches the desired thickness.

The technique is enhanced by a plasma generator, hence the PE in the PE-ALD.

"For growing nitrides, you need a lot of thermal energy, like 800 degrees Celsius," says Strandwitz. "Or, you need a plasma to make the nitrogen more reactive. Generating plasma means we're knocking electrons off the nitrogen molecules as they're flying around in the gas, making the nitrogen more reactive so it will bond to the surface and become part of the film. If you just float nitrogen gas through there, nothing would happen because the N2 molecule is super stable. So with plasma, we can grow these films at 50 degrees Celsius, just slightly above room temperature."

The ability to grow films at that temperature is key. Too-high temps can melt sensitive materials like plastic and aluminum and make even fairly stable metals more brittle, says Strandwitz.

"Having the capability to deposit at low temperatures opens up more materials that you can deposit on," he says.

PE-ALD is also notable for its conformality and precision. Unlike with line-of-sight deposition techniques that can leave holes or shadows, the gases used in PE-ALD ensure the entire surface of a substrate is covered, no matter its shape or the complexity of its features. And the self-limiting reactions ensure that coverage takes place a single layer of molecules at a time--no more, no less.

When Krick performed preliminary testing of the hardness and wear properties of the titanium and valdium nitride films grown using PE-ALD, he was impressed by the results.

"These films are approaching the wear resistance of diamonds," says Krick. "They're 100 times better than the commercial nitride coatings. For example, if you're trying to wear 10 nanometers, it would take 50 cycles of sliding back and forth to wear that much into the commercial coating. It would take 5,000 with this material. Everything is cycle dependent, how long something lasts depends on how many of these duty cycles it goes through. So think about that plug in your phone charger. Something like that could go from wearing out in a year or 18 months, to never wearing out within your lifetime."

Lowering the barriers to discovery

With the GOALI award, Strandwitz and Krick will work with Veeco/CNT. The multidisciplinary team includes Strandwitz whose expertise includes ALD and thin films, Krick the specialist in tribology, and collaborators Mark Sowa at Veeco/CNT and Alexander Kozen at the United States Naval Research Laboratory, both world renowned scientists in the field of ALD instrumentation and processing. The team also includes a group of talented graduate and Ph.D. Lehigh students, including NSF Fellow Tomas Babuska and Guosong Zeng, a Ph.D. alum from Krick's lab who is now at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The scientists will grow the films while Strandwitz's team will examine their microstructure and Krick's team will measure their mechanical properties. They'll "turn the knobs" as Strandwitz says, on variables such as temperature, the amount of titanium they use relative to vanadium, and the use of oxygen in the films.

All to determine what makes these films so special.

"If we know why they're so good, we could design a new material that exploits it even further," says Strandwitz. "So if we wanted a film that had certain hardness properties or wear properties, if we understand how the system works, we can tune it for that."

They can see numerous potential applications for the films--which are also corrosion-resistant superconductors--especially in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

"This technique is useful for anything that has a lot of small, moving parts that need really thin coatings," says Strandwitz.

That includes a lot of things in a lot of fields: aerospace, medicine, communications, transportation, defense, industry. Pretty much anything that moves. And when all that stuff can move easier and last longer, energy use and material waste decreases, benefiting both the economy and the environment.

"What's awesome is that we've measured a lot of materials in our lab and this is by far the best," says Krick. "It's really exciting to dive in deeper and understand why it's so good, and how it can be used to actually impact these various applications."

It's no surprise that such a profound impact requires the melding of disciplines. And it's possible Strandwitz and Krick would never have gotten this far if they weren't such good collaborators--and buddies. They were hanging out one day when Strandwitz mentioned a cool material he was researching, and pretty soon, Krick was testing it in his lab.

"I think if each of us worked in a vacuum, no one would have ever measured the mechanical properties of these films," says Krick. "I would never know about this deposition technique. The materials are there, the guys at Veeco/CNT can make all sorts of materials, but without the interdisciplinary aspect, you would never know what they're good for. It really lowers the barriers to discovery."

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Related Links:
Rice University physicists Matthew Foster and Seth Davis want to view a vexing quantum puzzle from an entirely new perspective. They just need the right vantage point and a place colder than deep space.

"There's a process in strongly interacting physics where fundamental particles, like electrons, can come together and behave as if they were a fraction of an electron," said Davis, a graduate student in Foster's research group. "It's called fractionalization. It's a really exotic, fundamental process that shows up theoretically in many places. It may have something to do with high-temperature superconductivity, and it could be useful for building quantum computers. But it's very hard to understand and even harder to measure."

In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, Foster and Davis, both theoretical physicists, proposed an experiment to measure fractionalization not in electrons but in atoms so cold they follow the same quantum rules that dictate how electrons behave in quantum materials, a growing class of materials with exotic electronic and physical properties that governments and industry are eying for next-generation computers and electronic devices.

Quantum materials include high-temperature superconductors, one of the most puzzling mysteries in physics, and materials that exhibit topological phases, which earned its discoverers the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics. The latter is the only place physicists have unambiguously measured fractionalization, in an exotic electronic state called the fractional quantum Hall effect. In this state, flat two-dimensional materials conduct electricity only along their one-dimensional edges.

"That's a 2D example," said Foster, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Rice. "And it's clear that fractionalization is occurring there because if you measure the conductance of these edge states they behave as though they're made of particles that behave like one-third of an electron.

"There are no real particles carrying one-third of the electric charge," he said. "It's just the effect of all the electrons moving together in a such a way that if you create a local excitation, it will behave like an electron with one-third of a charge."

Foster and Davis said the main motivation for describing their ultracold atomic test was to be able to observe fractionalization in a system that is very different from the fractional quantum Hall example.

"What we're aiming at is just seeing this physics in one other context in an unambiguous way," said Foster, a member of Rice's Center for Quantum Materials (RCQM).

Their proposed experiment calls for laser-cooling atoms to act as stand-ins for electrons. In such experiments, lasers oppose the motion of atoms, progressively slowing them to colder and colder temperatures. The cold atoms are trapped by other lasers that form optical waveguides, one-dimensional channels where atoms can move left or right but cannot go around one another. The quantum behavior of the atoms in these one-dimensional guides mimics the behavior of electrons in 1D wires.

"All of the individual elements of the experiment have been developed, but we don't believe they've been put together in a single experimental setup," Foster said. "That's where we need the help of experimentalists who are experts in laser-cooling."

To observe fractionalization in an ultracold system, Foster and Davis propose creating a set of parallel 1D waveguides that are all in the same two-dimensional plane. A few additional atoms would populate the 1D guides near the center of the experiment.

"So we'll start with the 1D 'wires,' or guides, and the initial density in the middle, and then we'll drop some of the lasers and allow the atoms to interact between the wires in a kind of 2D mesh," Foster said. "We can very accurately describe the 1D system, where strong interactions cause the atoms to behave in a correlated way. Because the whole system is quantum mechanical and coherent, those correlations should get imprinted on the 2D system.

"Our probe is letting go of that extra bump of density and watching what it does," he said. "If the atoms in the 1D guides are not interacting, then the bump will just spread out between the wires. But, if there was initial fractionalization due to correlated effects in the wires, what we can confidently calculate is that the density will do something completely different. It will go the other direction, flying down the wires."

Foster said he's interested in discussing the feasibility of the test with ultracold atomic experimentalists.

"We know it can take years to build and perfect some of the experimental setups for these kinds of experiments," Foster said. "As theorists, we know the ingredients we need, but we don't know the ones that will be most challenging to implement or if it may be easier to modify some setups as opposed to others. That's where we'll need the help of our experimental colleagues."

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The research was supported by the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office and the Welch Foundation. The researchers used the National Science Foundation-supported DAVinCI supercomputer administered by Rice's Center for Research Computing and procured in a partnership with Rice's Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology.

RCQM leverages global partnerships and the strengths of more than 20 Rice research groups to address questions related to quantum materials. RCQM is supported by Rice's offices of the Provost and the Vice Provost for Research, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, the Brown School of Engineering, the Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the departments of Physics and Astronomy, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Materials Science and NanoEngineering.

High-resolution IMAGES are available for download at:

https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/03/0227_FOSTER-mfsd05-lg-z2hnpf.jpg

CAPTION: Rice University physicists Seth Davis (left) and Matthew Foster have proposed a new experiment to measure quantum fractionalization in ultracold atoms. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

https://news.rice.edu/files/2019/03/0305_FOSTER-waves-lg-2buxlf5.jpg

CAPTION: In an ultracold atomic experiment proposed by Rice University physicists Matthew Foster and Seth Davis, quantum fractionalization would be observed by density waves propagating in the direction of 1D quantum waveguides (left). In the absence of fractionalization (right), density waves would spread in a perpendicular direction. (Image courtesy of Matthew Foster/Rice University)

The DOI of the Physical Review Letters paper is: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.065302

A copy of the paper is available at: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.065302

This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,962 undergraduates and 3,027 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 2 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.
New research from DTU Biosustain and Rigshospitalet suggests that disease-causing microbes in young cystic fibrosis (CF) patients change rapidly within two to three years after first infection

A new study, recently published in Nature Communications, has looked at infections in Danish youth with CF over a period of 10 years. This is the largest longitudinal study to date of the evolution - both involving traits and genes - of the disease-causing microbes that persistently infect young CF-patients.

CF-patients have a genetic defect which results in dehydrated sticky mucous in the lungs, leading to severe and persistent lung infections often caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The research shows that within the first two to three years after infection with P. aeruginosa, the bacteria are already adapting rapidly to the environment, growing slower and optimizing their fitness to survive.

"Across all of our patients within the first three years, the bacteria on average slow their growth rates significantly and they reduce their susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, a first line drug in treatment of CF-patients. This means that one should pay extra close attention in this period of time to avoid the infection becoming persistent," says Jennifer Bartell, Postdoc at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (DTU Biosustain) and co-first author.

Looking beyond antibiotic resistance

Clinicians usually focus on detecting antibiotic resistance during infections, and this appears to be an effective way to follow the development of short-term acute infections.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are identified by their ability to survive above a specific concentration of an antibiotic. The researchers saw a rapid increase in the concentration of antibiotics that the bacteria could tolerate. But at the same time, few bacteria achieved detectable antibiotic resistance in the early infection period of CF. The researchers suspect this pre-resistance adaptation to be an underused marker of progression in the infection. This pre-resistance adaptation likely occurs in other persistent infections, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Besides looking for antibiotic resistance, clinicians also monitor bacterial mucoidity - a trait where bacteria produce a protective, slimy coating, as a marker of a chronic infection.

But according to the new study, bacteria can become persistent and resilient to treatment regardless of the appearance of mucoidity. Other bacterial traits such as the ability to attach to surfaces and aggregate in biofilms - hefty structured layers of adherent cells - evolve more consistently in these persisting infections than mucoidity and may serve as a better sign of early chronic infection.

"We can see which traits might actually be valuable for the clinicians to monitor in addition to antibiotic resistance," says Lea Sommer, Postdoc at Rigshospitalet and co-first author.

Potential for new diagnostic tools

The researchers identified these important evolving traits of P. aeruginosa by screening 443 isolates from 39 young cystic fibrosis (CF) patients over a ten-year period and mapping traits adapting in tandem using statistical modeling approaches. Usually, studies focus on bacterial isolates collected from older CF-patients with chronic infections, who have become multi-drug resistant and already have adapted to the human lungs.

These results emphasize that trait evolution measurements are important and should not be neglected, even though genomic tests are advancing.

"In this early phase, the bacteria change a lot and become much more robust, but the doctors do not necessarily see this with current clinical measurements," says Lea Sommer.

Going forward, the researchers wish to find out how the adapting bacteria respond to a larger panel of antibiotics that are used to treat patients. Armed with this comprehensive map of evolutionary pathways, clinicians would have a much better chance of categorizing the infection and, hence, take the necessary precautionary steps.

"In the clinic, doctors would potentially be able to take a single patient's bacterial screening data and analyze how this patient responds to the current treatment. As we gain experience with more patients, it will be easier to assess what can be done to stop the transition to chronic infection, "says Jennifer Bartell.

Thus, this could pave the way for developing more fine-tuned personalized treatments for all patients suffering from continuous persisting infections, such as CF, COPD, and perhaps diabetics with chronically infected wounds.

###
Recent large fires in California may be harbingers of things to come

Wet winters no longer predict possible relief from severe wildfires for California, according to a new study from an international team that includes a University of Arizona scientist.

From 1600 to 1903, the position of the North Pacific jet stream over California was linked to the amount of winter precipitation and the severity of the subsequent wildfire season, the team found. Wet winters brought by the jet stream were followed by low wildfire activity, and dry winters were generally followed by higher wildfire activity.

After 1904, the connection between winter moisture brought by the jet stream from December through February and the severity of the wildfire season weakened. The weakened connection between precipitation and wildfires corresponds to the onset of a fire suppression policy on U.S. federal lands, the team reports in the March 4 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The connection disappeared altogether after 1977.

Now, fuel buildup from decades of fire suppression in the 20th century plus rising temperatures from climate change means any year may have large fires, no matter how wet the previous winter, the team writes.

"The moisture availability over California is still strongly linked to the position of the jet stream, but fire no longer is," said co-author Valerie Trouet, an associate professor of dendrochronology at the University of Arizona Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

The finding surprised Trouet.

"I didn't expect there to be no relationship between jet stream dynamics and fire in the 20th century. I expected it to be maybe weaker than before, but not to completely disappear." Trouet said.

California's wet winter of 2016-2017 is a good example, she said. That winter was followed by many large fires in 2017, including the Tubbs fire in October and the Thomas fire in December. Twenty-four people died and 6,699 structures burned in those two fires, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire.

"It's not either climate change or historical fire management--it's really a combination of the two that's creating a perfect storm for catastrophic fires in California," Trouet said.

To reconstruct California's fire and moisture patterns and the position of the North Pacific jet stream for the past 400 years, the researchers combined instrumental and historical records of temperature, precipitation and fires with the natural archives of climate and fires stored in tree rings that go back in time for centuries.

Lead author Eugene R. Wahl of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, "The method we used to determine the average winter jet stream conditions is a real advance. Coupled with independent precipitation and fire records, this is a state-of-the-art coupling of paleoclimate and paleoecology."

The study is the first to show the close connection between winter precipitation in California and the position of the jet stream back to the year 1571, Trouet said. The study is also the first to examine the relationship of past winter precipitation, the position of the jet stream and past fire activity stretching back to 1600, she said.

The paper by Wahl, Trouet and two co-authors is, "Jet Stream Dynamics, Hydroclimate, and Fire in California: 1600 CE to Present." Funding information is at the end of this release.

Initially, Wahl and co-author Eduardo Zorita of the Helmholz-Zentrum Geesthacht in Germany were working independently of Trouet and co-author Alan Taylor.

As part of a larger project to extend global reconstructions of temperature, precipitation and atmospheric circulation further into the past, Wahl and Zorita were figuring out how the North Pacific jet stream affected precipitation in California for centuries. Wahl, a paleoclimatologist at NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information in Boulder, Colorado, was a co-leader for the North America part of the larger project.

Trouet and Taylor of Penn State in University Park, Pennsylvania, had already reconstructed California's fire history back to 1600, and Trouet had reconstructed the behavior of the North Atlantic jet stream back to 1725.

After Wahl heard Trouet give a presentation about her North Atlantic jet stream research, the four scientists joined forces to see whether there were links between the past behavior of the North Pacific jet stream and California's fire and precipitation history.

"When the jet stream is positioned over California, it's like a fire hose--it brings storms and moisture straight over California," Trouet said. "What we see post-1900 is that the position of the jet stream is still an important driver of moisture to California --it brings moisture to California when it's in the right position--but there's a disconnect with fire."

The likelihood that every year may be a high-fire year will be a significant societal challenge, Taylor said.

"Fire not being influenced by moisture anymore? That is surprising. It's going to be a problem for people, for firefighters, for society," he said. "The only thing we can control is fuels, so what it suggests is that we take that very seriously.

"The last three years may be a harbinger of things to come," he said. "Between 1600 and 1903 there was not a single case of a high-precipitation year coupled with a high-fire year as occurred in 2017."

The research team's next step is to expand this research to see how the jet stream patterns correspond with fire in other types of forested ecosystems farther north.

###

The U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey's Southwest Climate Science Center, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, the German Science Foundation Cluster of Excellence Clisap, a George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant and the Swiss National Science Foundation funded the research.

Researcher contact:

Valerie Trouet

University of Arizona

520-626-8004

trouet@ltrr.arizona.edu

Languages spoken: English, Dutch, French, German

Eugene Wahl

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

303-497-6297

Eugene.R.Wahl@noaa.gov

Alan Taylor

Penn State

aht1@psu.edu

Media contact:

Mari N. Jensen

University of Arizona

520-626-9635

mnjensen@email.arizona.edu

John Leslie

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

301-713-0214

john.leslie@noaa.gov
Electronic devices such as transistors are getting smaller and will soon hit the limits of conventional performance based on electrical currents.

Devices based on magnonic currents -- quasi-particles associated with waves of magnetization, or spin waves, in certain magnetic materials -- would transform the industry, though scientists need to better understand how to control them.

Engineers at the University of California, Riverside, have made an important step toward the development of practical magnonic devices by studying, for the first time, the level of noise associated with propagation of magnon current.

Noise, or fluctuations in a current's flow, is an important metric in gauging whether an electronic device is suitable for practical applications. Because noise interferes with a device's performance, a better understanding of how noisy magnons are will help engineers develop better devices.

All existing electronics are based on conductors of electricity such as metals or semiconductors. As electrons move through these materials, they experience scattering, which results in electrical resistance, heating, and energy dissipation. When current passes through a wire or semiconductor, the inevitable heating causes energy loss. Smaller devices and chips with a higher density of transistors accelerate the loss of energy due to heating. Devices using conventional electronic currents are almost at the point where they can't be made any smaller.

A new class of materials possess magnetic properties that originate from spin, a type of innate momentum. Individual "chunks," or units of spin waves, are called magnons. Magnons are not true particles like electrons, but they behave like particles and can be treated as such.

A ripple of energy called a spin wave can move through an electrically insulating material to transmit energy without moving any electrons -- like people doing the wave in a stadium. This means that magnons can propagate without generating much heat and losing much energy.

A new field of electronics called magnonics attempts to create devices for information processing and storage, as well as sensory applications, using currents of magnons instead of electrons. While electron noise has been known for a long time, no one has investigated magnon noise -- until now.

A team led by Alexander Balandin, a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering in UC Riverside's Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, created a chip that generated a magnonic current, or spin wave, between transmitting and receiving antennae.

Experiments revealed that magnons are not that noisy at low-power levels. But at high-power levels, the noise became unusual, dominated by broad fluctuations researchers called random telegraph signal noise that would interfere with a device's performance. The noise was noticeably different from that made by electrons and identifies limitations on how to build magnonic devices.

"Magnonic devices should be preferably operating with low-power levels," Balandin said. "One can say that the noise of magnons is discreet at low power but becomes high and discrete at a certain threshold of power. This constitutes the discreet charm of the magnonic devices. Our results also tell us possible strategies for keeping the noise level low."

Would the discovery of unusual noise characteristics inhibit development of magnonic devices?

"No, the goal for information processing is to go to low power," Balandin said.

For now, Balandin's research group is conducting experiments with generic components in order to understand the fundamentals. Their first experimental devices are relatively large. They plan to investigate the physical mechanisms of magnon noise and test a substantially downscaled version of such devices.

###

The paper, "The discrete noise of magnons," is a feature story in Applied Physics Letters, and will also appear on the cover of an upcoming issue. In addition to Balandin, the authors are Sergey Rumyantsev, Mykhaylo Balinskyy, Fariborz Kargar, and Alexander Khitun.

The work was supported as part of Spins and Heat in Nanoscale Electronic Systems, an Energy Frontier Research Center at UC Riverside funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences.
Before civilization can move off world it must make sure its structures work on the extraterrestrial foundations upon which they will be built.

University of Central Florida researchers are already laying the groundwork for the off-world jump by creating standards for extraterrestrial surfaces. Their work was detailed recently in a study published in the journal Icarus.

"I'm firmly convinced that by the end of the century there will be more economic activity off planet Earth than on planet Earth," says Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at UCF and lead author of the study.

According to the wealth management company, Morgan Stanley estimates the space economy will be worth more than $1.1 trillion by 2040.

"With economics moving in that direction, it's important for us to get a head start trying to create the regulatory and engineering environments to make sure everything is done safely and justly," Metzger says.

In the study, Metzger and the team of researchers outlined standards for simulated extraterrestrial surface material and then applied the standards to a simulated extraterrestrial surface material created in the Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science's Exolith Lab housed at UCF.

While extraterrestrial surface material can range from lunar soil to Martian dirt, Metzger and the researchers created standards specifically for asteroid surfaces in this study.

The team measured mineralogical composition; elemental composition; densities of rocks and crushed rocks known as regolith; mechanical strength; magnetic susceptibility; volatile release pattern; and particle size destruction.

This standardization is highly needed, Metzger said, as previous attempts at creating simulated extraterrestrial surface material have used everything from floral foam to beach sand.

If tests are performed on simulant that isn't similar to the real thing or is not suited for that test, then it makes the test results invalid, Metzger said.

"We have to communicate what the properties are so everyone knows its limitations so they won't use it for a test it wasn't designed to simulate," Metzger said.

Standardization will also allow researchers to more accurately compare test results across studies as standardized simulants will have properties that will not vary test to test.

The researchers also applied their standards to a simulant created in UCF's Exolith Lab called UCF/DSI-CI-2. They compared the results to measures of Orgueil, a meteorite that fell in France in 1864.

Meteorites are meteors that survive entry through Earth's atmosphere and land on the surface. Meteorites are often correlated to certain asteroid types and may be used as reference material for creating asteroid simulant in lieu of having access to an actual asteroid for comparison.

The simulant UCF/DSI-CI-2 received a magnetic susceptibility score, or figure of merit, of .96, which means it is a 96 percent match with Orgueil. Similarly, it received an elemental score of .94 and a mineralogical score of .83. The other five properties the researchers measured also had high scores.

"We're delighted we could get such a high-fidelity simulant," Metzger said. "The fact that we were able to replicate those eight properties with such high fidelity tells us that these simulants will be very valuable for companies doing asteroid mining, doing tests of constructions of facilities and landing pads, metal extraction and more."

UCF researchers were able to create the simulant using particle-size data from the meteorite while also creating the grading standard, said Dan Britt, a Pegasus professor of astronomy and planetary sciences in UCF's Department of Physics. Britt is head of the Exolith lab and a co-author of the study.

"I think we did a good job of producing a simulant that mimics the parent asteroidal material pretty well," Britt said. "The limitations are really expense and safety, as some components can be toxic, so we use a lower-fidelity alternative. This gives the meteorite and space resources communities material that they can experiment on with some assurance that it is close to the real thing. That way they are not constrained by the scarcity of meteorite material or its high price."

Metzger said the research team will continue to grade simulants created in the Exolith Lab as well as offer their grading system to simulants created in other labs. They will also be receiving feedback from the community about improvements in the grading system and will work with the American Society of Civil Engineers for consensus on having the grading standards adopted.

###

Co-authors of the study included Stephen Covey, retired director of research and development with Deep Space Industries (now Bradford Space); Cody Schultz, a UCF mechanical engineering graduate; Kevin M. Cannon, a postdoctoral scholar working with the Exolith Lab; Kevin D. Grossman, a materials science and engineering scientist with NASA; James G. Mantovani, a planetary scientist with NASA; and Robert P. Mueller, a senior technologist with NASA.

Founded in 1963 with a commitment to expanding opportunity and demanding excellence, the University of Central Florida develops the talent needed to advance the prosperity and welfare of our society. With more than 68,000 students, UCF is one of the nation's largest universities, offering more than 220 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations in Central Florida and online. For more information, visit ucf.edu.
PITTSBURGH, March 4 - Pancreatic cancer is a grim diagnosis, with a five-year survival rate of less than 9 percent. To improve those odds, researchers at UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine sought genetic signatures in the largest study of its kind that could be used to better match drugs to patients and for early detection.

The study, published in the journal Gastroenterology, involved sifting through the genomes of thousands of tumors, sampled from all over the world. In 17 percent of cases, there was a genetic flag that indicated the tumor should be susceptible to existing chemotherapy drugs. The researchers also found supporting evidence for heritable genes, including some in the BRCA family associated with breast cancer, that can predispose whole families toward pancreatic cancer.

"People have been looking for such markers for a long time, and our study shows that it's possible to break pancreatic cancer patients into different treatment buckets," said senior author Nathan Bahary, M.D., Ph.D., oncologist at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center and associate professor of medicine at Pitt.

One reason why pancreatic cancer is so deadly is that the majority of patients often are identified late in their disease course and frequently present with inoperable tumors at the time of diagnosis. For some of these patients, it may be possible to shrink the tumor with existing chemotherapy drugs, but in a disease where 75 percent of patients die within a year of diagnosis, time is of the essence, and unfortunately, there's no way to know in advance which patients will respond to which drugs.

"Every pancreatic cancer is different, and performing molecular profiling of each patient's tumor could help determine the best treatment options," said lead author Aatur Singhi, M.D., Ph.D., surgical pathologist at UPMC and assistant professor of pathology at Pitt. "Rather than blindly giving patients the same chemotherapy, we want to tailor a patient's chemo to their tumor type. A one-size-fits-all approach isn't going to work. Therefore, we would like to make molecular profiling standard-of-care for patients with pancreatic cancer."

Singhi and Bahary's study characterized the genome of 3,594 pancreatic tumor samples from patients around the world, provided by collaborators at Foundation Medicine.

"We believe that this is the largest study in pancreatic cancer conducted using comprehensive genomic profiling to identify a broad set of genomic alterations, and ultimately, therapeutic targets, in this difficult-to-treat disease," said Siraj Ali, M.D., Ph.D., senior director of clinical development at Foundation Medicine.

Besides shrinking tumors with personalized chemotherapy, another way to increase pancreatic cancer survival rates is through increased pancreatic cysts screening, Singhi said, but the problem is that pancreatic cysts are incredibly common, and not all lead to cancer.

Previously, Singhi and colleagues developed a clinical molecular test known as PancreaSeq to evaluate common pancreatic cysts and identify which cases may progress to cancer. Now Singhi and Bahary's newly discovered biomarkers can be added to the PancreaSeq platform, already being used by several institutions, including UPMC.

###

Additional authors on the study include Ben George, M.D., from the Medical College of Wisconsin; Joel Greenbowe, Ph.D., Jon Chung, Ph.D., James Suh, M.D., Alexa Schrock, Ph.D., Vincent Miller, M.D., Jeffrey Ross, M.D., and Siraj Ali, M.D., Ph.D., from Foundation Medicine Inc.; Anirban Maitra, M.B.B.S., and Javle Milind, M.D., from University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; Samuel Klempner, M.D., and Andrew Hendifar, M.D., from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; Talia Golan, M.D., from Tel Aviv University; and Randall Brand, M.D., Amer Zureikat, M.D., and Somak Roy, M.D., from UPMC and Pitt.

This research was funded by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, the National Pancreas Foundation and the Sky Foundation.

To read this release online or share it, visit http://www.upmc.com/media/news/030419-pancreatic-cancer-genomics [when embargo lifts].

Contact: Erin Hare

Office: 412-864-7194

Mobile: 412-738-1097

E-mail: HareE@upmc.edu

Contact: Cyndy Patton

Office: 412-586-9773

Mobile: 412-415-6085

E-mail: PattonC4@upmc.edu

About UPMC

A $19 billion world-renowned health care provider and insurer, Pittsburgh-based UPMC is inventing new models of patient-centered, cost-effective, accountable care. UPMC provides more than $900 million a year in benefits to its communities, including more care to the region's most vulnerable citizens than any other health care institution. The largest nongovernmental employer in Pennsylvania, UPMC integrates 87,000 employees, 40 hospitals, 700 doctors' offices and outpatient sites, and a 3.5 million-member Insurance Services Division, the largest medical insurer in western Pennsylvania. As UPMC works in close collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside on its annual Honor Roll of America's Best Hospitals. UPMC Enterprises functions as the innovation and commercialization arm of UPMC, and UPMC International provides hands-on health care and management services with partners around the world. For more information, go to UPMC.com.

About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support.

Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu.

http://www.upmc.com/media
PITTSBURGH, March 4, 2019 - If mitigating racial disparities in those who contract pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis and pneumonia, is a top public health priority, then recommending that all adults get a pneumococcal vaccine at age 50 would likely be effective guidance, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine analysis published today in the journal Vaccine.

However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not make race-based vaccination recommendations, and, unless lowering the age for universal vaccination prompts double-digit increases in vaccination rates or the vaccine protects against more types of pneumonia than it has been proven to, it isn't going to be cost-effective to change the current recommendation, the researchers found.

"It's a nuanced issue, but nuanced vaccine recommendations typically don't result in high immunization rates," said senior author Kenneth J. Smith, M.D., M.S., professor of medicine and clinical and translational science in Pitt's Division of General Internal Medicine. "Since there isn't any major danger to getting the pneumococcal vaccine, a simple recommendation that everyone get it at age 50 is going to be easiest to implement. The main barrier then becomes cost."

There are two types of pneumococcal vaccine. Currently, the CDC recommends that all children under age 2 be immunized with pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (Prevnar 13) in four doses spread out over slightly more than a year. All adults over age 65, all adult smokers and those with certain chronic medical conditions - including heart or lung disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS and diabetes - are urged to receive one dose of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (Pneumovax23), with those over 65 and the immunocompromised additionally advised to receive Prevnar 13.

Underserved minorities are considerably more likely to have the kinds of chronic medical conditions for which the CDC recommends they get pneumococcal vaccination before age 65. However, only 23 percent of people ages 50 to 64 with these chronic illnesses get the vaccination.

"In a busy medical practice, it is easy for an early pneumococcal vaccination for someone with a chronic disease to fall through the cracks when you're also dealing with the patient's high blood pressure and other health issues," said Smith. "That is why a simple age-based recommendation - where every patient at age 50 receives the vaccination - is much more likely to be adhered to."

Smith and his colleagues ran several computer models to forecast the effect of changing the pneumococcal vaccine recommendation to include all people at age 50. In all models, that recommendation would likely reduce the annual number of pneumococcal disease cases in the U.S. by several thousand and save a few hundred lives, disproportionately among minorities.

To calculate the cost-effectiveness of lowering the age recommendation for pneumococcal vaccination, Smith's team used the benchmark of $100,000 per quality-adjusted life-year. This is a measure that is generally accepted as representing reasonable value for health in the U.S. The current recommendation that all people receive pneumococcal vaccination at age 65 carries a $42,000 quality-adjusted life-year cost, which is under that benchmark.

The researchers found that, if a simple recommendation that all people get the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine at age 50 drives vaccination rates in 50- to 64-year-olds up to 33 percent, from the current rate of 23 percent, then the cost would be $144,000 per quality-adjusted life-year in the general population, above the benchmark. But it would be $80,000 per quality-adjusted life-year in the black population, a reasonable value.

"Vaccinating the general population against pneumococcal disease at age 50 doesn't quite reach the U.S. benchmark for cost-effectiveness, but it's not too far off," Smith said. "It isn't unreasonable to assume that vaccination rates will climb even higher than 33 percent - and each percent gained will improve the cost-effectiveness. If the priority is to mitigate racial disparities, then changing the recommendation to include all people at age 50 seems to be a good strategy. If controlling costs is key though, such a recommendation doesn't quite meet the threshold."

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Additional authors on this research are Angela R. Wateska, M.P.H., Mary Patricia Nowalk, Ph.D., R.D., Chyongchiou J. Lin, Ph.D., Lee H. Harrison, M.D., and Richard K. Zimmerman, M.D., M.P.H., all of Pitt; and William Schaffner, M.D., of Vanderbilt University.

This research was funded by National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant R01 AI11657503.

To read this release online or share it, visit http://ca.upmc.com/media/news/030419-smith-pneumococcal-vaccine [when embargo lifts].

Contact: Allison Hydzik

Office: 412-647-9975

Mobile: 412-559-2431

E-mail: HydzikAM@upmc.edu

Contact: Courtney Caprara

Office: 412-647-6190

Mobile: 412-592-8134

E-mail: CapraraCL@upmc.edu

About the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

As one of the nation's leading academic centers for biomedical research, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine integrates advanced technology with basic science across a broad range of disciplines in a continuous quest to harness the power of new knowledge and improve the human condition. Driven mainly by the School of Medicine and its affiliates, Pitt has ranked among the top 10 recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health since 1998. In rankings recently released by the National Science Foundation, Pitt ranked fifth among all American universities in total federal science and engineering research and development support.

Likewise, the School of Medicine is equally committed to advancing the quality and strength of its medical and graduate education programs, for which it is recognized as an innovative leader, and to training highly skilled, compassionate clinicians and creative scientists well-equipped to engage in world-class research. The School of Medicine is the academic partner of UPMC, which has collaborated with the University to raise the standard of medical excellence in Pittsburgh and to position health care as a driving force behind the region's economy. For more information about the School of Medicine, see http://www.medschool.pitt.edu.

About Vaccine

Vaccine is unique in publishing the highest quality science across all disciplines relevant to the field of vaccinology - all original article submissions across basic and clinical research, vaccine manufacturing, history, public policy, behavioral science and ethics, social sciences, safety, and many other related areas are welcome. http://www.journals.com/vaccine

http://www.upmc.com/media
Fossilised bones that appear to have been digested by crocodiles in the Cayman Islands have revealed three new species and subspecies of mammal that roamed the island more than 300 years ago.

An expert team led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London), the American Museum of Natural History, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History studied the bones from collections in British and American museums including the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. The bones had been previously collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Cayman Islands between the 1930s and 1990s.

Published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History today (March 4, 2019), the team describe two new large rodents (Capromys pilorides lewisi and Geocapromys caymanensis), as well as a small shrew-like mammal named Nesophontes hemicingulus. Fossil remains of the land mammal have been previously reported from the Cayman Islands, but have not been scientifically described until now.

The three mammals were unique to the Cayman Islands, existing nowhere else in the world. The scientists calculated that they would have probably become extinct around the 1700s, likely due to the arrival of European settlers and introduced mammals such as rats, cats and dogs.

Professor Samuel Turvey, Senior Research Fellow at ZSL's Institute of Zoology, and co-author of the paper, said: "Humans are almost certainly to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals, and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean. Nearly all the mammal species that used to live on these tropical islands, including all of the native Caribbean sloths and monkeys, have recently disappeared.

"It's vitally important to understand the factors responsible for past extinctions of island species, as many threatened species today are found on islands. The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique vanished world and represent some of the world's top conservation priorities."

Animals described as "coneys" and "little beasts like cats", which were probably the now-extinct rodents Capromys or Geocapromys, were seen and recorded by Sir Francis Drake when he visited the Cayman Islands in 1586. Despite the major marine barrier separating the Cayman Islands from other Caribbean lands, the extinct mammals described in this study are similar to those on Cuba, and other subspecies of Capromys pilorides still survive on Cuba today. The Cayman Islands may have originally been colonised by mammals carried across from Cuba on floating rafts of vegetation, which in some cases have been documented to float as far as 100 kilometres in less than a week.

Professor Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History's Mammalogy Department, a co-author of the study, said: "Although one would think that the greatest days of biological field discoveries are long over, that's very far from the case. With only one possible sighting early in the course of European expansion into the New World, these small mammals from the Cayman Islands were complete unknowns until their fossils were discovered. Their closest relatives are Cuban; how and when did they manage a 250-km journey over open water?"

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Morgan. G. S., MacPhee, R. D. E., Woods, R., Turvey, S. T. (2019) Late Quaternary fossil mammals from the Cayman Islands, West Indies. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7

Notes to editors

Media contact

Emma Ackerley, emma.ackerley@zsl.org / +44 (0)20 7449 6288

Related images available here: https://zslondon.sharefile.com/d-sc492234bb004b969

The Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands consist of three islands (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac) in the north-western Caribbean Sea, separated by significant deeps of nearly 2000m of water for more than 20 million years.

Though it is rare that islands are successfully colonised by mammals other than bats, this is not the case for the West Indies - or the islands of the Caribbean Basin. During the late Quaternary record (i.e., 0.5-1.0 million years ago) the islands comprised of nearly 130 different species, including sloths, insect eating mammals, ancient mysterious monkeys, rodents and bats.

However, due to the arrival of European humans, only 13 endemic mammal species now survive in the West Indies, along with 60 species of bat. Calculations from the study indicate that several species might have survived into present day if they had not suffered at the hands of man - altering their habitat and introducing exotic creatures over the last 500 years.

ZSL (Zoological Society of London)

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BREXIT POUND LIVE UPDATE: Mondays session saw UK construction data underwhelm, with the PMI for the sector dipping below 50 for the first time since March 2018s snow-spurred disruption. Anecdotal feedback from purchasing managers highlighted Brexit as a key factor limiting activity, with clients abstaining from committing to projects amid continued uncertainty over the UKs economic future.

Pound Sterling, ever-sensitive to Brexit-related developments, found gains capped in the wake of the release before sliding lower in lieu of fresh support with the Pound-to-Euro (GBPEUR) and Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) exchange rates both hitting fresh weekly lows.

Tuesdays session will see the latest UK services PMI. Given the larger relative proportion (compared to construction) the service sector makes up of UK economic activity overall, Tuesdays PMI has the potential to prompt an even greater market reaction.

The current forecast calls for a marginal dip in the index to 50.0, the neutral line between expansion and contraction. A miss would see the release print in contraction territory and could spur GBP depreciation.

Commenting on the releases and the GBP impact thereof, Lloyds Commercial Banking strategist, Hann-Ju Ho wrote Weaker UK construction PMI yesterday, falling to contraction territory, failed to make much of a dent to the pound, but the services survey this morning will have much greater importance. However, the currency remains sensitive to ongoing Brexit negotiations.

BREXIT LIVE UPDATE: Mondays session saw the Pound Sterling edge higher against the Euro and US Dollar before turning south in the wake of the latest UK construction PMI which, dipping into contraction territory for the first time in 11-months, highlighted Brexit as a key limiting factor on activity in the sector.

Nevertheless, the Pound Sterlings declines were short lived, with overriding Brexit optimism keeping the Pound Sterling supported above key levels against both the single currency and Greenback.

At the time of writing, the Pound-to-Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate was last seen trading at 1.1651, up 0.27% on last weeks close.

The Pound-to-Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate meanwhile traded at $1.32150, up a marginal 0.08% from the previous weeks close.

Regarding the UK construction PMI, Mondays sub-50 printing (49.5) marked the end of a ten-month run of expansion for the sector with a decline in both commercial and residential projects attributed to subdued demand as clients await a meaningful Brexit resolution.

Economics associate director of IHS Markit, Tim Moore commented that The UK construction sector moved into decline during February as Brexit anxiety intensified and clients opted to delay decision-making on building projects.

We're 25 days from exit day, there's no sign of a plan that will deliver a deal, and businesses... not super happy.



The @CBItweets Brexit and @CBI_Economics teams were in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Nottingham and Leeds last week talking to companies and... some observations (1/x)  Nicole Sykes (@NicoleSykes_) 4 March 2019

Nevertheless, rising Brexit optimism capped the Sterlings losses and at the time of writing, the GBP was seen to be rebounding against both the Euro and US Dollar. In a note to clients, ING analysts wrote rising odds of PM Mays deal succeeding (albeit we still think it is a below 50 percent probability event) are now helping GBP.

Looking to next weeks vote or series of votes commencing on March 12th, both the most likely outcomes are expected to support the GBP with a backing of the PMs deal or an extension to the Article 50 deadline both positive for the Pound Sterling.

MPs Soften on PM Mays Deal as Investors Eye Crucial March 12th Meaningful Vote

Last week saw the Pound Sterling (GBP/) rally strongly against all majors before partially trimming gains later in the week as investors booked profits. This week, the GBP gapped higher against a majority of peers and held firm or extended gains in early trading, with Brexit-based optimism still playing a GBP-supportive role.

The Pound-to-Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate remained broadly in line with the session open and was last seen trading at $1.32404 following last weeks multi-month high of $1.33503.

The Pound-to-Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate was last seen trading at 1.1678, up half-a-percent from last weeks close. Last week saw the cross hit a twenty-one month best of 1.1723.

Prime Minister May Accused of "Brexit-Bribery" Over 1.6B Fund For Brexit-Backing Communities

On the Brexit front, the Prime Minister is expected to unveil plans on Monday regarding the provision of a 1.6 billion fund to help support economic growth. The Stronger Towns Fund has been critiqued as a thinly veiled bribe to garner support for the PMs deal - which will be voted on on March 12th  given the fund is only available to communities which backed the UKs exit from the EU in the 2016 referendum.

The Labour Party finance spokesman, John McDonnell, called the fund Brexit-Bribery, adding This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing Members of Parliament to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.

Meanwhile, a clique of pro-Brexit MPs who down-voted the PMs deal in the January meaningful vote have laid down terms  amounting to the changes they require  under which they could back the PMs deal when its re-tabled on March 12th.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Conservative MP Michael Tomlinson said they had three tests by which they will assess the PMs revised deal.

The mechanism has got to be legally binding, so effectively treaty-level change, Tomlinson said, adding The second part is the language. It cant be a reinterpretation of the withdrawal agreement or a re-emphasis; its got to be really clear language as to where we are going ... The third requirement is a clear exit route.

Over the channel, the EUs chief negotiator, Michel Barnier said on Friday that the EU is prepared to offer guarantees on the finite nature of the Irish backstop component, commenting that such arrangements would temporary and only implemented in the worst-case scenario.

Should the PM be able to secure legally-binding assurances, the chances of her deal passing next week seem substantially higher than they were in January when MPs massively ejected the deal.

Senior Conservative MP and head of the 1922 committee, Sir Graham Brady said he would throw his weight behind the PM should she secure the legally binding assurances. Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Brady wrote The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay. When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the Prime Minister and help her to deliver our exit from the European Union on March 29.

Further support for the PMs deal could potentially stem from the Labour Party according to Labour MP Caroline Flint who told Sky News that as many as 30 Labour MPs would support Mays revised deal if allowed a free vote, she added I urge my Labour colleagues to consider voting for an improved deal.

Looking ahead, MPs have a potential series of votes to contend with next week with the perceived outcome of these likely to determine the GBPs direction.

March 12th - 14th Votes to Determine Brexit Route Ahead

March 12th will see MPs vote on the PMs revised deal  should MPs reject the deal then they will be afforded a vote on whether to let the UK slide into a no-deal by default scenario at the end of the month. Its expected MPs would reject such a move and so a March 14th vote on whether or not to extend the March 29th deadline is expected to be passed with speculation on the length of the extension a key focus for investors.

INGs developed markets economist, James Smith, expects a longer delay to be more favourable for the GBP.

Smith wrote While a short delay could generate a temporary 1-2% rally in GBP (e.g. EUR/GBP to 0.85, GBP/USD to 1.33), the return of no-deal fears in a few months could see gains quickly evaporate.

On the other hand, Confirmation of a 9-12 month delay, buying time for alternative policy paths, could trigger 4-5% GBP gains (EUR/GBP to 0.83, GBP/USD to 1.36).

Both the PM and EU officials have stated a short extension would be their favoured route  in lieu of a deal beforehand.
Following the Pound Sterlings (GBP) substantial rally last week, the GBP trimmed gains against the US Dollar (USD) and Japanese Yen (JPY) and amid a lack of fresh Brexit stimulus and a certain degree of profit-taking as investors unwind GBP longs ahead of next weeks critical Brexit votes. Versus the Canadian and Aussie Dollars (CAD, AUD) the GBP continued to appreciate while against the Euro (EUR) and Kiwi (NZD), the British Pound was virtually flat for the week thus far.

Percentages given below are with respect to the change since last weeks close.

Pound-to-Euro (GBP/EUR) exchange rate - 1.1621 +0.01%

Pound-to-Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate - $1.31411 -0.49%

Pound Canadian Dollar (GBP/CAD) exchange rate - CA$1.75752 +0.11%

Pound Australian Dollar (GBP/AUD) exchange rate  AU$1.86970 +0.29%

Pound New Zealand Dollar (GBP/NZD) exchange rate  NZ$1.94002 -0.09%

Pound Japanese Yen (GBP/JPY) exchange rate - 147.012 -0.49%7

Commerzbank Commenting with respect to the mid-March parliamentary votes which will determine the near-term direction for the Brexit process, FX strategist, Esther Maria of Commerzbank wrote that even if MPs vote to avoid a no-deal outcome on March 13th, uncertainty regarding whether a Brexit delay will yield any significant progress should keep the GBP subdued. Maria wrote Even if a no-deal Brexit is taken off the agenda next week, the uncertainty of what would happen in case of a postponement remains. Pound traders cannot ignore this fact ... things remain tense for sterling,

Lloyds Commercial Banking Global cross-asset strategist at Lloyds Commercial Banking, Robin Wilikin, noted that Brexit remains a key driver for GBP rates amid a distinct lack of hard economic data releases, writing we are at the mercy of Brexit headlines as we have no more data this week. For the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) exchange rate, Wilkin remains upbeat on the British Pound, the underlying structures remain more positive for a move into an upper medium-term range, although he added We dont think a move through the key long-term 1.45 resistance region will be seen just yet. Lloyds Banking put the Cable at $1.35 over the next six months with the cross expected to trim gains to $1.35 in September.

Rabobank While not providing specific near-term forecast for the British pound, Rabobanks Jane Foley wrote that current market pricing of the GBP may be overly optimistic given that regardless of whether MPs vote to avoid a no-deal and in turn opt for an extension, a no-deal scenario nevertheless remains on the table as the default outcome should an EU-UK agreement fail to be reached. Commenting on the Sterlings recent performance, Foley wrote GBP may be holding on to its position as best performing G10 currency in the year to date, but it has lost ground over the past few sessions. Insofar as GBP continues to behave as a gauge of investors expectations regarding Brexit, the recent losses in the value of the pound appear to be a reflection of nervousness ahead of next weeks key parliamentary votes. Foley added that buying into the GBP rally could leave investors exposed to downside risk should the spectre of a no-deal Brexit re-emerge as a likely outcome, One thing that worries me about the way sterling trades is - it always seems to be more biased toward downplaying the risks of a hard Brexit, adding The market was very confident that there would be a Remain vote and it got it wrong and sterling tumbled.

Bloomberg Poll Findings of a poll of 16 banks conducted by Bloomberg indicated suggested that insititutions are attributing a 54% probability to a brexit delay beyond March 29th, with median GBPUSD forecasts in such an event putting the cross at $1.33. With a 37% perceived probability, banks see the passing of PM Mays Brexit deal next week as the most positive outcome for the Sterling with median forecasts in such a situation putting the Cable at $1.38. Meanwhile, should MPs fail to avoid a no-deal outcome at the end of the month, median institutional forecasts expect the Cable to tumble towards the $1.12 level

Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Analyses from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking yields a pound-favourable forecast with the GBP projected to appreciate against the US Dollar (USD/$) in the short, mid and longer-term timeframes. Regarding recent GBPs performance, Lloyds Nikesh Sawjani wrote The pound continues to remain supported, consolidating above key levels against both the euro and US dollar. Commenting on the technical setup of the Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) cross, Lloyds analysts wrote as long as prices hold over 1.2440 and then the 1.21/1.20 key support, for an eventual move through 1.45. We are expecting a range under 1.4500 to persist in the medium-term before that break though. Nearer-term, they see the GBP/USD at $1.35 March through June.

Maybank While near-term risks remain skewed to the downside, Maybanks Pound Sterling analysis remains upbeat amid intact bullish momentum on the daily, weekly and monthly chart against the US Dollar (USD/$) leading to potential opportunities to buy the dips. Regarding recent GBP price action, Maybank analysts wrote Receding fears of hard brexit and rising hopes of a delayed brexit has seen GBP move higher by 2% last week. Looking ahead, We continue to call for 2 -way trades in the range of 1.30  1.34, with risk of overshooting the upper bound should disorderly exit be averted We argue that a re -distribution of risks away from fears of a no -deal brexit and towards a delayed and softer brexit should reinforce our call to accumulate GBP on dips.

ING Near-term, INGs chief EMEA FX and IR strategist, Petr Krpata, anticipates upside potential for the GBP to be limited in expectation of a weak UK services PMI (Tuesday, 0930GMT). On the Brexit front, despite news-flow indicative of more support for the PMs deal, viewed as GBP-positive, Krpata expects the probability of the agreement receiving a majority backing in parliament to be below 50%. In their daily brief, Krpata wrote Despite news over the weekend that some members of the European Research Group are willing to back Prime Minister Theresa Mays deal (if three tests are met) we still see it as more likely that the PMs deal wont get passed in Parliament next week and that Article 50 will need to be extended to allow for further negotiations. Regarding the GBP, the rising odds of Mays deal succeeding are helping (although we still think the probability is below 50%), but the likely soft UK Services PMIs tomorrow should limit the near-term upside. Beyond the coming sessions, INGs developed markets economist James Smith anticipates a potential 5% jump for the Sterling should a longer (9-12 month) extension be sought which could free up capital expenditure for businesses and alleviate consumer concerns near-term.

Hantec Markets Richard Perry of Hantec Markets views the technical Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) setup as indicative of near-term consolidation as markets unwind their GBP long positions to book profits following the sub $1.28 to over $1.33 rally over last week. Beyond the current unwinding, Perry eyes a close above Fridays multi-month high of $1.3285 as a key development with the potential to open the door for another run on key resistance levels. Perry wrote How the bulls respond to a retreat into the breakout support band $1.3110/$1.3215 will be an interesting indication of how strong the bulls are in this market. Moving back over the past couple of sessions, the market has turned corrective, but essentially this is an unwinding move that has taken some of the big profits built up over the past couple of weeks. He added that momentum indicators remain GBP-supportive and that a close above Fridays high, would improve prospects again, with the big resistance still $1.3300/$1.3350.

Citibank Given their base case scenario sees UK parliamentarians push for, and secure, an extension to the Article 50 deadline, Citibank analysts expect the GBP to remain supported. However, given that technically a no-deal outcome remains the default scenario over the coming week (until MPs vote on whether ot extend the deadline), GBP upside is expected to be limited and should MPs fail to block a no-deal outcome, the GBP could depreciate sharply. In their weekly FX strategy reports, Citibank analysts wrote To us, extension of Article 50 remains the highest probability outcome, which may underpin GBP mildly. Importantly though, nodeal remains the default legal position; hence a significantly large expected depreciation in this outcome remains probable. They added Since Jun 2018, GBP/USD resumed downtrend after rising above 1.32 level. GBP spot is currently at 1.30, implying limited upside and the pair may range trade between 1.2773-1.3217.
- The Pound to Euro exchange rate is +0.02% higher @ 1.16401 today

- The Pound to US Dollar exchange rate is -0.45% lower @ $1.31787 today

Ahead of the meaningful vote scheduled to take place on March 12th, in which MPs will undertake a second round of voting on PM Mays EU withdrawal agreement, expectations thereof and regarding what comes next should MPs reject the deal  as they did in January  have led to an increase in the perceived probability of an Article 50 extension.

For the Pound Sterling, recent developments have seen expectations of a no-deal outcome pared significantly as UK politicians move towards consensus on how best to proceed with Brexit in a fashion which avoids a no-deal outcome.

At the time of writing, the Pound-to-Euro (GBPEUR) exchange rate was seen trading at 1.1640, up marginally from open and on the back of two successive weeks of GBP gains which saw the cross reach a twenty-one best and maintain gains above the key 1.16 level last week.

The Pound-to-Dollar (GBPUSD) x-rate was last seen trading at $1.31955, relinquishing early session gains to trade flat against last week's close.

In January, MPs rejected the Prime Ministers EU withdrawal agreement by an overwhelming majority of 230 votes with pro-Brexiteers and the DUP rejecting it on the basis of concerns over the Irish backstop component.

The upcoming re-tabling of the deal is expected to be a closer call with institutional forecasts leaning towards a second rejection  although by a smaller margin. For one, the anti-EU European Research Group (ERG) announced they could back the deal this time round should the concessions gained by the PM offer a firm deadline for the Irish backstop arrangements.

Plans by the opposition Labour Party could see Labour MPs abstain from the vote, therefore allowing it to pass, should the PM offer a second in/out referendum based on the terms of her deal versus no Brexit at all. Furthermore, according to Labour MP Caroline Flint, as many as 30 Labour MPs could back the PMs deal.

Nevertheless, INGs developed markets economist, James Smith, assessed the implications for UK economic activity and the Pound Sterling (GBP/) should MPs reject the deal and reject the subsequent motion on whether to leave the EU without a deal at the end of March, instead opting for a push towards an Article 50 extension beyond March 29th.

Short Term (2-3 Month) Brexit Delay to Spur Temporary 1-2% GBP Gains

With this in mind, Smith speculated on the potential impact both a short, technical extension of two to three months and a longer (9-12 months) delay could yield for the UK and GBP and found that a longer delay could potentially see the Pound Sterling (GBP) gain another 5% against peers.

Regarding a shorter delay  which finds favour among EU officials as well as PM May  Smith suggested that given the short time period, activity and sentiment for both UK businesses and consumers would likely remain subdued. Concerns over whether a short delay would provide adequate time to secure a deal also heightens the risk of the UK being forced to extend the already extended period  something which the EU have no obligation to agree to.

Smith wrote a 2-3 month delay would keep the no deal risk alive, adding For businesses, a series of small extensions would also mean they are theoretically never more than 3-4 months away from no-deal which will increasingly take its toll on investment.

Regarding consumers, the same risks apply with the potential for a no-deal outcome expected to weigh negatively on decision-making when it comes to big-ticket purchases.

For monetary policy, Smith anticipates that a short delay which results in a deal being reached could bring rate hikes back into play before the year is out, August may be too early, but if wage growth continues to perform strong, a November rate rise is possible.

On the other hand, a series of short extensions  with Brexit uncertainty persisting throughout  is expected to keep the Bank of England (BoE) side-lined in terms of any tightening of monetary policy.

For these reasons, Smith anticipates that a one-off short Brexit delay could generate a temporary 1-2% rally in GBP (e.g. EUR/GBP to 0.85, GBP/USD to 1.33), however, should UK and EU officials fail to make progress towards a deal, gains could quickly evaporate with the return of no-deal fears.

Longer (9-12 Months) Delay Could Prompt a 5% Rally for the Pound Sterling

Looking at a longer delay of 9-12 months, Smith anticipates that such a period would be more realistic in terms of providing adequate time to secure a deal. Considering the current situation is the result of well over two-years of negotiations, a 2-3 month delay seems inadequate to yield meaningful progress.

In terms of the UK economy, a longer delay while not resolving the issue outright  could allow a bit of breathing space for both UK businesses and consumers.

Smith wrote A longer extension would provide more reprieve for businesses, which may unlock some hiring and capital spending (particularly with a short investment horizon), and with the imminent no deal threat off the table (at least temporarily), consumer spending may modestly recover.

In terms of monetary policy, a longer extension could tempt Bank of England (BoE) policy makers to conduct a Summer hike to rates  given the improving fundamental backdrop and the central banks intention to gradually tighten policy as the economy continues to operate with little to no spare capacity.

However, should economic activity falter, a longer delay  incurring a longer period of uncertainty  could result in a prolonged pause at the Bank of England, with Monetary Policy Members (MPC) assessing the Brexit fallout before undertaking any adjustments to monetary policy.

Overall therefore, a longer delay is expected to be more favourable for the Pound Sterling, with Confirmation of a 9-12 month delay, buying time for alternative policy paths, could trigger 4-5% GBP gains (EUR/GBP to 0.83, GBP/USD to 1.36).

Looking at the coming weeks, whether or not Parliament backs the PMs deal on March 12th is likely to be the next crucial Brexit development. Even if the PMs deal is backed, the Article 50 schedule leaves little over 2 weeks to finalise and ratify the deal before the UKs March 29th exit from the EU meaning an extension, regardless of the March 12th votes outcome could be on the cards  although this would likely be the shorter technical extension to finalise terms.
If you think the fictional Forrest Gump did it all, you havent heard the true life story of Taiz Ochoa. When shes not committed to her studies, the high school senior from Roma volunteers for her local fire department, raises a line of grand champion show pigs and just so happens to be one of the best young pitmakers in Texas.

Ochoa was showing off her latest barbecue masterpiece at the 2019 Junior Agricultural Mechanics Show during the recent San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. She was one of many high school students showing off projects that showcased welding, metal fabrication skills and large-scale projects presented to a panel of judges. Many of the projects focused on barbecue pits, both freestanding and trailer-mounted, and they rivaled anything you would see from a major grill manufacturer.

The skills needed to fabricate a barbecue device are the same skills that are needed for all sorts of things, said Marcus Demel, chairman of the San Antonio agricultural mechanics committee. If you can build me a pit, you can build a gate, fence or whatever.

Ochoa has created four pits for the JAM show. The smoker she made as a freshman was sold to finance her sophomore project. She gave that one away and secured sponsors to make her junior year pit. That one was sold, too, funneling cash into her 2019 setup. Ochoa plans to keep this one for the long haul, after spending more than 400 hours building it since April.

On ExpressNews.com: Beef shoulder clod reigned before brisket became the Texas barbecue king

The made-from-scratch trailer pit, which she named Living & Grilling, is outfitted with a built-in picnic table with a blue metallic color infused into the wood through a chemical process. The smoker pit, outfitted with an 8-inch exhaust pipe, is big enough to hold about 100 pounds of meat, and she even added a wood-burning pizza oven to it that can be fueled with hot wood coals.

The pizza oven was my own little touch, Ochoa said. I wanted to do something that I havent seen done before.

The fact that Ochoas amazing pit didnt place in her division speaks to the high level of the competition.

First place for the towable equipment division went instead to a full-blown gourmet kitchen on wheels from sisters Kassidy, 15, and Caroline Langley, 12, from Hico. Their creation featured a massive wood-burning grill, small refrigerator, sink and a granite prep station along with a vertical smoker thats big enough to fit at least 20 full briskets. And all of the lighting is powered by solar panels.

The kitchen is equipped with a hydraulic system that allows the floor to be lowered to the level of the ground when parked. The Langleys parents work in the metal fabrication and agricultural mechanics fields, but the sisters did 100 percent of the work, dedicating about 300 hours of labor into the project.

We did all the welding and set the project up where we could do the work in stages that made sense, Kassidy Langley said.

They were leaning toward keeping the unit after the show, but were open to a possible sale. Caroline Langley said it would definitely depend on the offer. The Langley sisters were awarded a $14,000 scholarship that they will split.

Whether they placed or not, these kids packed a lot of ingenuity into the Morris Activity Center on the grounds of the AT&T Center.

Tony Angelini, 18, pulled a rusted-out 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne from the scrapyard, cut the vehicle in half and turned the trunk space into an outdoor kitchen that features a flat-top grill with a four-burner setup. He said it can cook up to 50 hamburgers at any given time.

A trio from the Boys Ranch FFA created a box-shaped grill made to resemble an old chuckwagon that looked like it was ready to navigate the Chisholm Trail.

On ExpressNews.com: 1 smoker, 10 store-bought sauces. Which got smoked?

Alejandro Salinas, Ochoas Roma classmate, built a trailer pit that he sunk about $6,000 into. Its equipped with a built-in television set and a centerpiece dining table that uses a large piece of treated mesquite wood that he estimates is 110 years old.

When you are building these pits, you always find those little extra things that you can add to them, said Salinas, who named his pit the All-in-One.

Dillon Bartts, a senior at Steele High School in Cibolo, created an elevated octagonal unit with a firebox in the middle that heats eight personal grills, each with their own wood bar. The idea was to create the perfect device for a party of eight to cook their own food and have plenty of personal space.

I had seen something like this before, but havent seen it approached with a design where everything was up at bar level, said Bartts, who put in about $2,000 and three months of work.

There were plenty of hearty, classic pits, too, that were ready for the Texas competition barbecue circuit. David Aguirre, Manuel Padilla and Joel Rios sunk about $8,500 and 245 production hours into a towable unit that will be used for high school barbecue competitions, as well as for community and school fundraisers.

The pit, which is large enough to hold a whole hog, is designed to operate with a reverse-airflow system that flows through the horizontal pit space into a vertical smoker that hovers over the firebox. It also has a separate grill, sink station and a pair of propane burners that are perfect for a big pot of beans or a crawfish boil.

Its definitely built to last, and everything was done by hand, Aguirre said. We spent some time looking at other pits, and this is our attempt at hitting on everything anybody would need in a pit.

I agree, as in: I need it in my driveway. The pits on display at the JAG show rival some of the very best in Texas barbecue. I cant wait to see whats in store for next year.
An Air Force major assigned to a cyberwarfare unit at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland is a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, who is believed dead, said officials who charged him Sunday in connection with the case.

Andre Sean McDonald, 40, was booked on a charge of tampering with or fabricating evidence because he had torn up a receipt for the purchase of a shovel, an ax, gasoline, a metal barrel and other material that investigators believe he intended to use to dispose of his wifes body.

Andreen Nicole McDonald, 29, was reported missing Friday. Her husband bought the items Saturday morning, Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said at a Sunday news conference.

Deputies detained Andre McDonald later Saturday for a mental evaluation by the Air Force. Until Sunday afternoon, they had refrained from calling him a suspect, though they said there were indications that a homicide had occurred and that he was not cooperating with the search.

McDonald was taken to jail about 5 p.m. Sunday. Asked by reporters if he had anything to say, he replied: I love my daughter. I love my family. Thats it.

Salazar said McDonald works in cyberwarfare at Lackland. Though McDonald underwent a mental health evaluation over the weekend in Air Force custody, Salazar said he believes that the major is of pretty sound mind and highly intelligent.

I think hes treating this as a game, Salazar said. His attitude has been one of, kind of smirking, kind of laughing, like he got one over on everybody. But I think its pretty evident were not joking around with him. Hes behind bars.

Andreen McDonald, a local business owner, was reported missing by friends who said she didnt show up at her gym or work.

Salazar told reporters Saturday morning that it was a missing person case marked by very suspicious circumstances and that McDonalds husband, asserting his rights and calling an attorney, had declined to speak to deputies who tried to question him Friday.

Hours later, deputies detained McDonald. The sheriff, flanked by Bexar County District Attorney Joe Gonzales, detailed how investigators had set up surveillance of him and followed him to a gun store, where an undercover deputy observed him buying a handgun and ammunition.

When Andre McDonald hurriedly left the store  leaving the gun and his identification on the counter and taking only the ammunition  deputies decided to detain him, turning him over to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Salazar said.

We did speak to him regarding his mental health, Salazar said. I couldnt go into too much what was discussed there due to privacy issues.

A Sheriffs Office spokesman said Sunday that McDonald was receiving a mental evaluation and treatment, but he was booked into jail at 5 p.m. on the tampering charge.

Deputies twice searched the couples home. On Friday, they recovered Andreen McDonalds purse, wallet, keys and what seemed to be her cellphone. They could not find her passport. Both McDonalds have ties to Jamaica, and investigators contacted family members in the Caribbean who told them that Andreen McDonald was not there, Salazar said. The FBI said it had no evidence that she had left the country, the sheriff said.

After obtaining a second search warrant for the house Saturday evening, Salazar said, law enforcement saw new evidence in plain view, including blood. He said FBI agents were assisting with searches of the McDonalds vehicles.

The second search also turned up a shovel, an ax, some heavy-duty trash bags, some work gloves and two 5-gallon containers of gasoline, and a burn pit, a portable burn pit or burn barrel, Salazar said.

It led us to believe that these were implements that were going to be used to dispose of a body, Salazar said. The find really drives home to us: We believe that Andreen McDonald is no longer living.

The sheriff said investigators also found pieces of a receipt that Andre McDonald had torn up.

There was quite a bit of effort that went into destroying that receipt to try to prevent us seeing where (the evidence) was purchased, Salazar said. That led us to obtain a warrant of arrest for Andre McDonald for the charge of tampering with evidence, which is a felony charge.

Investigators restored enough of the receipt to identify a local store where the items were purchased, and deputies were going to review surveillance videos there, Salazar said.

As part of the search for Andreen McDonald, the Sheriffs Office used social media to circulate photos of three vehicles and asked anyone who had seen them in a remote area or driving suspiciously to contact authorities.

Salazar said deputies Sunday were searching wooded areas along U.S. 281 in North Bexar County and had set up a mobile substation along Overlook Parkway as part of the investigation. The station would welcome members of the public who want to help.

Today our investigation has consisted of literally scouring creek beds and drainage ditches and ravines with cadaver dogs looking for Mrs. McDonald, Salazar said. Every last one of us has been out there in the cold, braving the elements and conducting this physical search.  Ive been out there leading one of the search parties.

The couples 6-year-old daughter is being cared for by a relative. Salazar said authorities have not yet questioned the child, who he said has autism and is mostly nonverbal.

The fact that this young lady, mom to this beautiful little child, is out in the woods somewhere quite possibly doesnt sit well with me, Salazar said. Im not going to rest until we find her and we get her back to her family.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Andreen McDonald or who wants to help search is asked to contact 210-335-6070, missingpersons@bexar.org or bcsotips@bexar.org.

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
Early voting begins Monday in the runoff to decide San Antonios next representative in the Texas House.

Republican Fred Rangel and Democrat Ray Lopez are vying to represent District 125, which covers a swath of the West and Northwest Sides.

Heres what you need to know.

Why is there an election?

Former state Rep. Justin Rodriguez vacated his seat in the Texas House when he accepted an appointment in January to replace the late Paul Elizondo on the Bexar County Commissioners Court.

A special election was held Feb. 12 to fill the seat, but none of the five candidates received 50 percent of the vote, triggering the runoff.

Rangel, the lone Republican in the race, used consolidated GOP support for a strong first-place finish with 37.91 percent of the vote.

Lopez, running against three fellow Democrats, garnered 19.49 percent to advance to the runoff.

Who is running?

Polling sites Elections Department: 1103 S Frio St. Great Northwest Library: 9050 Wellwood Las Palmas Library: 515 Castroville Road Leon Valley Conference Center: 6421 Evers Road Maury Maverick, Jr. Library: 8700 Mystic Park Memorial Library: 3222 Culebra Northside Activity Center (conference room): 7001 Culebra Voting Hours Monday-Wednesday: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. See More Collapse

Rangel, 64, has previously run for City Council and other positions within the Republican Party. He owns two small companies  Adco Master Builders and Adco Professional Services  and has emphasized his business experience in his pitch to voters, saying he could make the most of taxpayers money and rein in inefficiencies in state government.

Lopez, 69, represented part of the West Side on City Council for eight years, the maximum allowed by San Antonios term limits. He also served on and chaired the Northside Independent School District and the Metropolitan Transportation Organization. He most recently worked as chair of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition. He has said he would bring two areas of expertise critical to San Antonio: education and transportation.

Where is the election?

District 125 covers a diagonal swath of the city spanning from South Zarzamora Street on the West Side to Loop 1604 on the Northwest Side. In between Loops 410 and 1604, the district loosely follows Bandera Road.

An interactive map is available here.

Can I vote?

Voters can verify whether they live in the district, check their registration and polling places on the countys website.

Where can I vote?

There are seven early voting sites: the Bexar County Elections Department, Great Northwest Library, Las Palmas Library, Leon Valley Convention Center, Maury Maverick Jr. Library, Memorial Library and the Northside Activity Centers conference room.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Wednesday; and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday

Unlike election day (March 12), voters can go to any of the sites to cast a ballot during early voting.

What do I need to bring?

Voters should have an acceptable photo ID, and elections officials also recommend taking your voter registration card to expedite the process.

Acceptable IDs include a passport, a Texas drivers license and a Texas Department of Public Safety-issued personal identification card, among others. These IDs are acceptable even if theyre expired, so long as theyre not more than four years out of date. For voters who are 70 or older, the four-year limit doesnt apply. To see a full description of the ID requirements, click here or go to bexar.org/elections

If a voter doesnt have one of the approved photo IDs and cant reasonably obtain one, there are several other ways to establish identification, including a current utility bill with the correct address, a bank statement or government check, among other documents. But these voters must sign a reasonable impediment declaration. Visit sos.state.tx.us for complete details.

What else do I need to know?

Heres everything the Express-News has written about the runoff:

- HD-125 candidates offer opposite views on just about everything in Leon Valley forum

- For San Antonio Democrats, Tuesday was the latest in a troubling track record in special elections

- Businessman and former city councilman head to runoff in race for Texas House District 125

- Heres everything you need to know about Feb. 12s special election

- Gilbert Garcia: San Antonio Democrats determined to break special-election losing streak

Dylan McGuiness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness
A new San Antonio Express-News reporter, Marina Starleaf Riker, was named the recipient of the Charles E. Green Award for her reporting and writing last year while working for the Victoria Advocate.

The award was announced Sunday in Austin at the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors convention, which had given Riker a first place finish as the Star Reporter of the Year for the Victoria papers circulation category. Express-News Staff Writer Silvia Foster-Frau won the same honor for the largest circulation papers.
San Antonio police officers killed a suspected armed robber Monday afternoon after he fired on them from outside a car parked on a East Side residential street, authorities said.

Less than 12 hours earlier, in a separate incident, officers killed a 27-year-old man who had also shot at an officer after his parents sought help from police.

The fatal shootings are the third and fourth by San Antonio police this year, according to a state database. On Friday, a man was hospitalized in critical condition after he allegedly pulled a shotgun on a Bexar County Sheriffs deputy.

The swell of violence Monday began about 2:50 a.m. after the parents of the 27-year-old man called police from their home in the 11700 block of Spring Dale Drive on the Northwest Side to report their son was throwing things around the house causing a disturbance, Police Chief William McManus said.

Police responded to the home and went inside, where one officer confronted the suspect in a back bedroom. The man was holding a shotgun and almost immediately fired at the officer, McManus said.

On ExpressNews.com: Man killed by police officer recently released from jail

The officer returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times. Paramedics took the man to University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

About 2 p.m., a man robbed another man in his home near Iowa and South Pine streets, shooting the man before fleeing in a black Honda Accord, police said.

Street Crimes Unit officers spotted the car and tried to pull it over. The man eventually stopped the vehicle at Westfall Avenue and South Pine Street. He got out of the car and began to fire at the officers, according to McManus.

One bullet struck the windshield of the squad car while another hit the passenger door, McManus said. The officers returned fire, hitting him.

A woman and a 4-year-old child were in the car at the time of the shooting. No one else was injured.

The man was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

McManus said all three officers, who have not yet been identified, were placed on administrative duty during internal investigations, as is standard with officer-involved shootings.

On Jan. 2, a San Antonio police officer shot and killed Arron Thomas Lambert, 33, after Lambert allegedly shocked an officer with his own stun gun. Lambert had a criminal history and was out on bail when officers encountered him.

On ExpressNews.com: Man struck multiple times in deputy-involved shooting

Less than 24 hours later, two San Antonio police officers killed Samuel Garcia, 39, who had been shooting a handgun indiscriminately as he walked south on Pleasanton Road near Harlandale High School.

When the three officers responded, Garcia fired at one of the cars, striking the windshield and sending glass shards into one officers eye, police said.

On Friday, a man was hospitalized in critical condition after he allegedly pulled a shotgun on a Bexar County Sheriffs deputy.

The man, later identified as Joseph William Woolard, 35, has been charged with evading arrest and attempted capital murder of a police officer, both felonies.

Woolard remains in jail in lieu of a $525,000 bond.

Staff Writer Fares Sabawi contributed to this report.

Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice reporter in the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eeaton@express-news.net | Twitter: @emilieeaton

Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media

BRIDGEPORT  Bridgeport Hospital, 267 Grant St., will offer an administration of medicine class for day care providers and camp counselors Thursday, March 14, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., or 6:30 to 8 p.m. for injectable medications only, in the fourth-floor Hollander Auditorium. The course is for three-year certification and teaches proper administration of oral, topical, inhalant, and injectable medications. Instruction is provided by a registered nurse. To register, call 888-357-2396 or visit www.bridgeporthospital.org/events.
GREENWICH  Greenwich residents woke up Monday to 8 inches of fresh snow, hundreds of power outages and closed schools. But by mid-afternoon as temperatures rose above freezing under a bright sunny sky.

At 4 p.m. Monday, the Board of Selectmen lifted a parking restriction after the roads in town were cleaned up.

But for some kids, it was a day to get outside and play as thousands of students enjoyed their first snow day of the school year as public and private schools in Greenwich closed for the day.

Hundreds of Greenwich residents have lost power due to the overnight snowstorm, with about 800 customers in the dark at about 6 a.m., the peak of the outage. Power was restored to all but about five customers by late afternoon.

Town Emergency Management Director Dan Warzoha attributed the disruptions to damage from falling tree limbs and wires because of the heavy, wet snow. He reminded residents to assume that any downed wire is live and avoid them. Anyone who sees a downed wire or a fallen tree should call 203-622-8001 immediately.

No major accidents were reported in town, but Warzoha had warned residents: Its sloppy and slippery out there. Its going to take some extra time for people to get where they need to go today.

Greenwich crews had been out since Sunday night clearing the roads.

Town Hall opened at 10 a.m.  two hours later than usual  for government business. Greenwich Library and the Byram Shubert Library opened at 11 a.m.  just a few hours later than normal to allow for parking lots to be cleared.

The snow emergency lasted overnight and for much of Monday in Greenwich, which restricted on-street parking throughout town in order to allow town DPW crews and private contractors to plow the roads. Municipal lots were open and free for people to use throughout town for the duration of the emergency. That restriction was lifted at about 4 p.m.

The Greenwich Fire Department is reminding residents who have fire hydrants near their houses to remove any snow and ice from them and clear a perimeter of about 3 feet around the hydrants. Also, clear a path from the hydrant to the street.

Additionally, the town is making sure homeowners know that they are required to keep all sidewalks along their property clear of snow and ice. Plow contractors are prohibited from pushing snow from driveways and parking lots onto town streets.

Early Monday, according to the Greenwich Police Department, there were road closures on Stanwich Road in the 400 block as well as on Barnstable Lane and Skyridge Road. Additionally, one lane was blocked at the southern end of Round Hill Road.
ProPetro Holding Corp. is an oilfield services company that engages in the provision of hydraulic fracturing and other complementary services. It operates through the following segments: Hydraulic Fracturing, Cementing, Coil Tubing, Flowback, and Drilling. The Hydraulic Fracturing segment intends to optimize hydrocarbon flow paths during the completion phase of horizontal shale wellbores. The Cementing segment provides isolation between fluid zones behind the casing to minimize potential damage to hydrocarbon bearing formations or the integrity of freshwater aquifers, and provides structural integrity for the casing by securing it to the earth. The Coil Tubing segment involves injecting coiled tubing into wells to perform various completion well intervention operations. The Flowback segment consists of production testing, solids control, hydrostatic testing and torque services. The company was founded by Dale Redman and Jeffrey David Smith in 2005 and is headquartered in Midland, TX.

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Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns and leases freight railroads. It operates through three segments: North American Operations, Australian Operations, and U.K./European Operations. The company transports various commodities, including agricultural products, autos and auto parts, chemicals and plastics, coal and coke, food and kindred products, lumber and forest products, metallic ores, metals, minerals and stone, petroleum products, pulp and paper, waste, and other commodities. It owns or leases 122 freight railroads, including 105 short line railroads and 2 regional freight railroads located in the United States, 8 short line railroads located in Canada, 3 railroads located in Australia, 1 railroad located in the United Kingdom, 1 railroad in Poland and Germany, and 2 railroads in the Netherlands with a total of approximately 16,200 miles of track. The company also operates 6,200 additional miles of track that is owned or leased by others. In addition, it operates deep sea maritime containers and provides bulk haulage, including coal, aggregates, cement, and infrastructure services. Further, the company provides rail service at approximately 40 ports; rail-ferry service in North America, Australia, and Europe; and contract coal loading and railcar switching for industrial customers. Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded in 1899 and is headquartered in Darien, Connecticut.

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Randgold Resources Limited is engaged in gold mining, exploration and related activities. The Company's activities are focused on West and Central Africa. The Company operates through the gold mining segment. The Company operates various mines, such as Morila, Loulo, Gounkoto, Tongon and Kibali. The Company is exploring in African countries, such as Mali, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Company also holds an interest in the Massawa project. The Company holds Morila Limited, which holds interests in the Morila mine in Mali. As of December 31, 2016, Morila mine has produced 122,370 ounces (oz) of gold. The Company holds a controlling interest in the Loulo mine, located in Mali, through Societe des Mines de Loulo SA (Loulo). The Loulo mine is mining from over two underground mines. As of December 31, 2016, Loulo mine has produced 350,604 oz of gold. It has a controlling interest in the Gounkoto mine through Societe des Mines de Gounkoto SA.

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iShares MSCI Switzerland ETF's stock was trading at $35.66 on March 11th, 2020 when COVID-19 reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, EWL shares have increased by 42.4% and is now trading at $50.78.

View which stocks have been most impacted by COVID-19.
British pig farmers have highlighted their 'thorough disappointment' to learn that a 'Great British' pork brand has been using imported ingredients.

The company behind the iconic Mr Trotters Great British Pork Cracklings brand has said it is hoping to find British suppliers of bacon rind again, after it admitted it had been importing its ingredients since last year.

In a statement, Mr Trotter's said the company found it could no longer be assured of British supplies in 2018 due to the companys high specifications and the diminishing size of the British pig herd.

As a result, continental rinds are of necessity making up the main percentage of that companys supply, it said, adding that it has removed references to 100% British rind on its packaging and now references continental pork.

The company recently signed up to the Happerley traceability scheme, which requires companies to state the details of where their ingredients come from.

It said the scheme had raised the question of whether it could sensibly call itself British, or if that was misleading the customer.

Rupert Ponsonby, the co-founder of the company, said it was now hoping to find regular supplies of high quality British rind, although he stressed it was tough to find the right specification.

It is time we worked together to find a solution, so we can again raise our percentage of British pork, he said.

Mr Trotters was established in November 2011 with the intention of being the first commercially available pork cracklings of the present era to be made with British pigs.

Two of the original founders, food writers Matthew Fort and Tom Parker Bowles, resigned as directors when the company started using imported ingredients, as their purpose from the outset was to find a way of supporting British farmers.

The National Pig Association (NPA) said British pig farmers were thoroughly disappointed with the move.

NPA chief executive, Zoe Davies said: I am saddened that they failed to come to us first to look for alternative solutions before making the switch, such as sourcing British Red Tractor assured pork, but assume this decision has largely been driven by cost rather than issues with sourcing British and to suggest as much is wholly disingenuous.

We will certainly be in touch with the company to see what we can do to bring this hugely iconic brand back into repute.
Around 200 vegan activists from across the UK who descended on a pig farm over the weekend caused the death of two piglets, the owner claims.

Campaigners from Meat the Victims UK stormed Lincolnshire-based business Sandilands Farm in Newark Road, Laughterton, at around 11am on Saturday March 2.

The protesters, who said they wanted to 'expose factory farming', stayed on the site for eight hours, with around 100 of them in the pig pens and another 100 at the roadside, according to Lincolnshire Live.

Joint owner of the farm, Sylvia Hook, claims they were responsible for the deaths of two piglets and subsequent damage to the hut.

Ms Hook told the paper: About 50 of them all piled into a farrowing house, immediately the sows are jumping up and down.

It's caused the death of two young piglets through being squashed and two other piglets I've had to be taken away to get up and running again.

However, activist Chris Hines called the claim 'baseless'.

Lincolnshire police told members of the public to avoid the area during the protest. We are in attendance at Sandilands Farm, Newark Road, Laughterton, where a protest is taking place, a statement by the force said.

We have a positive obligation to facilitate lawful peaceful protest and officers will remain on the scene until the protest has concluded.

Activists refused to leave the farm until national media show up. At 7pm, they left the premises and no arrests were made.

Farmers have repeatedly highlighted how the industry is getting 'increasingly frustrated' at the attempts of individuals and activist groups who use 'misinformation and inaccuracies' to tarnish its reputation

It follows the release of an online map created by vegan activists showing the addresses of thousands of UK dairy farm businesses.
Farmers are 'increasingly frustrated' with the lack of clarity on the UK's exit form the EU and are 'desperate' for stability, a union has said.

The Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) has recently met with EU figures to discuss Brexit and its implications, highlighting the 'worries and concerns' farmers have.

Farmers cant forward plan their business and the constant changes and proposed amendments to the exit deal are causing a 'real headache'.

Nobody knows what is going to happen and we are just days away from supposedly making this exit, FUW President Glyn Roberts said.

The union has called for the government to revoke Article 50 to 'protect' the nation from a 'no deal' Brexit scenario.

France has already indicated that it would object to an extension to Article 50, which leaves the UK in a vulnerable position.

Mr Roberts said: Extending the Article 50 period by weeks or months could weaken the UKs position and merely lead to the UK limping on until the next political crisis and standoff and no-deal is not off the table.

No responsible government should ever lead a country into the a situation where the police and army are involved in contingency planning for civil unrest, and the most sensible way of taking control over the process is to revoke Article 50 with a view to submitting it once we have a coherent plan that has broad political support.

The union president stressed that, whilst the overall responsibility for stability to the economy remained with Westminster, the Welsh government also needed to take action to reduce the levels of uncertainty, which he said is causing 'unnecessary stress and worry' to the agricultural community.

There is not a single farmer in Wales currently not worried about their export markets, tariffs. I call on both governments to act in the interests of our farmers and rural economies immediately.
With Japan lifting its long-standing ban on UK beef and lamb, this years Foodex trade show is expected to offer opportunities to help boost the countrys red meat exports.

The UK's three meat levy bodies, AHDB, and Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and Hybu Cig Cymru  Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), will join 3,500 exhibitors and 85,000 buyers across the globe.

A trade delegation of British processors will also attend the show to gain insight into the local Japanese market.

The show comes as Japan lifts its import restriction on UK beef three years earlier than planned following the 1996 BSE ban.

The ban was implemented 23 years ago after the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as 'mad cow disease', in the UK.

Japan is a major importer of beef with a growing demand for high quality lamb. The lifting of the ban is estimated to be worth almost 130 million over the first five years of gaining market access.

To take advantage of the Japanese market, meat levy bodies will showcase premium cuts of UK beef and lamb, as well as pork products, to demonstrate quality and versatility to key influencers in the Asian marketplace.

'Major boost'

AHDBs International Market Development Manager, Dr Phil Hadley said attending this years Foodex Japan show is 'more important than ever before' if the UK is to reap the rewards of the new deal.

He added: Gaining market access for UK beef and lamb was a major boost for the industry, but it is critical that we build on our existing work within the Japanese marketplace to find opportunities for our red meat exporters.

Foodex Japan is Asias largest exhibition dedicated to food and drink across Japan and the rest of the world, therefore its vital that we attend this event and make full use of the resources and networking opportunities this show presents.

With a population of 127 million, Japan is the eleventh biggest country in the world and the third biggest economy.

But with a lack of sufficient agricultural land to feed its population, the country relies on imports for around 60 per cent of the food it consumes.

The UK has enjoyed strong growth in pig meat exports to Japan  with latest figures showing volumes of fresh and frozen pig meat up almost 80 per cent in 2018 compared to the previous year, according to HMRC.

As part of ongoing work to grow exports to Japan, AHDBs Consumer Insight team produced a new Country Focus Report earlier this year, which provides a topline look at consumer eating habits and buying behaviour in Japan.
Applications to Northern Ireland's Business Development Groups (BDG) scheme must be submitted by tomorrow and farmers are encouraged to act fast.

BDGs aim to improve the technical and business efficiency of farm businesses, and working in groups encourages farmers to learn from each other.

Research showed that farmers in discussion groups were up to 20% more likely to adopt new technologies and best management practices and as a result, achieve higher profit margins.

Each farmer will be offered the opportunity to attend a number of group training events each year, benchmark the performance of their business and produce a development plan tailored to their farm.

Sharing their farm performance information with other group members and hosting a group training event are important elements of the scheme.

The groups are open to all farmers who are interested in improving the efficiency of their farm, working together, sharing ideas and learning how other farmers solve problems.

They aim to help give farmers the skills to assess how their farm is performing and plan for the future development of their business.

New applications to the scheme must be submitted before 4pm on Tuesday 5 March 2019.
Some farmers still struggling with the impact of last year's severe weather along with continued financial uncertainty have been placed on 'suicide watch', according to the NFU.

Speaking to The Guardian, NFU's Cumbrian council delegate and sheep farmer Alistair Mackintosh said there have been 'worrying telephone calls' to crisis networks over the last few weeks.

Farmers have made 'dozens of calls' to the NFU and rural-based charities such as Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institute (RABI) and The Farmer Network, and some have been placed on 'suicide watch'.

Mr Mackintosh said: Ive had many worrying telephone calls just in the last two or three weeks from farmers who want to give up, and who are on suicide watch. But what I fear most is those who do not telephone you.

When youre aware of the suicide rate for UK farmers and their exceptional difficulties, there is every reason to fear we will see more such acts, he said.

Continued political uncertainty along with rising costs are just some of the reasons behind the increase in telephone calls to crisis networks, charities say.

'Mind Your Head'

Mental health is the biggest health topic in the UK at present - one in four people have been diagnosed with a mental illness and in farming, mental health issues continue to be of great concern.

The Farm Safety Foundation, the charity behind Farm Safety Week, advises farmers to start looking after themselves mentally as well as physically.

A survey released in February as part of their week-long initiative called 'Mind Your Head' showed that 81% of farmers under the age of 40 believe that mental health is the biggest hidden problem facing farmers today, and 92% believe that promoting good mental health is crucial if lives are to be saved.

The overall illness rate for agricultural workers is 46% higher than the industry average, and stress, depression and anxiety are significant causes of ill health.

'Seeking support'

In January this year, RABI gave out over 47,000 in grants to working farmers and their dependants  a 171% increase on last years figure of 17,000 for the same period.

Trish Pickford, head of welfare, said: Year on year, more working people are seeking our support and this trend was highlighted in January.

Weve seen an increase in the number of people contacting us through our helpline this year. Were consistently raising awareness about what we do and its encouraging that people are reaching out to us when they need support.

In January, the charity received 93 new requests for help, compared to 44 in December 2018. Of these new referrals, 58 came from working farmers.

They cited a number of reasons for their current financial difficulties, with injuries and illnesses being one of the highest causes.

Ms Pickford added: Theres no one reason why more farming people are getting in touch. Many need support following a physical or mental illness, and some are still suffering the effects of the hot, dry summer last year.

Whatever the reason, RABI remains in a position to support those in the farming community who are struggling financially and have little savings.
Britain has been urged by the United States to leave the EU's 'Museum of Agriculture' and dismiss 'misleading scare-stories' about American agriculture, the US ambassador to the UK said.

Last week, the United States government published its negotiating objectives for a future trade deal with the UK, including comprehensive access for agri goods and a demand to pull down unwarranted barriers, such as rules which regulate the UK food and farming industry.

The demands, which runs to 18 pages, fuelled concern within the farming industry over potential lowering of food and farming standards once the UK leaves the EU.

In the US, the government permits such practices as chlorinated chicken, which consists of dipping meat into chlorinated water to prevent microbial contamination.

But this practice is banned in the EU, which fears the practice could actually worsen safety standards.

However, Ambassador Woody Johnson, writing in the Daily Telegraph, said such 'inflammatory' language criticising US food production is a 'smear campaign' against American farming.

You have been presented with a false choice: either stick to EU directives, or find yourselves flooded with American food of the lowest quality, Mr Johnson said.

Inflammatory and misleading terms like chlorinated chicken and hormone beef are deployed to cast American farming in the worst possible light. It is time the myths are called out for what they really are: a smear campaign from people with their own protectionist agenda.

'Museum of Agriculture'

The UK government has repeatedly denied it will accept lower food standards once the UK leaves the EU.

A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said: We have always been very clear that we will not lower our food standards as part of a future trading agreement.

Mr Johnson, however, criticised the European Union's approach to farming, saying it belonged in the 'Museum of Agriculture'.

He said: American farmers are making a vital contribution to the rest of the world. Their efforts deserve to be recognised.

Speaking about chlorine-washed chicken, Mr Johnson said the method is a public safety no-brainer. On allowing growth hormones for cattle, he said it allows the production of more meat at a lower cost to the consumer and environment.

The fact is that farmers in America have the same priorities as farmers in Britain, he said.

It would be a genuine missed opportunity to buy into the idea that the EUs traditionalist approach to agriculture is Britains only option for a quality and efficient agriculture sector moving forward.

'High standards'

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme, NFU President Minette Batters said that whilst chlorine-washed chicken is 'safe' to eat, there are concerns over differences in welfare standards and environmental protection standards.

Our consumer has demanded high standards of animal welfare, we've risen to that challenge - he's right to make the point that food security is crucially important, we would say the same - but all we're saying is: 'Produce the food to our standards and we'll have a trade deal, she said.

For example, she said US poultry farms were not required to include windows in their sheds or clean out in between flocks.

Last week, Mrs Batters said the US's trade demands 'comes as no surprise'. She said it is 'imperative' that any future trade deals do not allow the imports of food produced to lower standards than those required of British farmers.
New high-path bird flu outbreak confirmed in Wales

Third case of avian influenza in Wales so far
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.
Learning, giving and good works are byproducts of several scheduled mission trips for student groups and registered student organizations throughout Ferris State Universitys spring break, which begins Saturday, March 9.

Alumni will join second-year Dental Hygiene students from Ferris College of Health Professions and other volunteers for a trip, beginning Thursday, March 7. Students and other dental professionals are participating in an annual trip to Guyana, a South American country on the Atlantic Ocean. Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene Catherine Archer said that this effort is affiliated with Chicago-based Partners in Evangelism International and Hastings Baptist Church, in Barry County.

The team will set up a clinic in a church, then offer a weeks worth of care, free of charge to patients, Archer said. A pastor with PIEI picks out where they will be working, in a different location in Guyana each year. In my experience, teams have been well cared for during each visit, while we provided a variety of dental services.

Archer is not participating in the 2019 trip but explained that students who agree to this learning opportunity are expected to raise $2,000 to cover travel expenses and other costs.

It takes a year to get first-year Dental Hygiene students apprised of the need in Guyana, and what will be required of them to participate in the program, Archer said. We share the stories of students who have gone in previous years, which is an important part of pointing out the value and scope of this experience.

Emily Hodges is a registered dental hygienist who graduated from Ferris Dental Hygiene Associate of Applied Science, in 2017, and Bachelor of Science programs, 2018, for Dental Hygiene. Her father, Scott, is a Grand Rapids-based dentist and has led and chronicled this service program for more than a decade. Hodges report indicates nearly 5,800 patients were seen from 2008 to 2018, with dental cleanings and other services provided there being valued at more than $600,000. Emily Hodges believes this will be her sixth trip to Guyana, and her first visit was as a high school student.

It is a thrill to see our contacts in Guyana, Andy and Kathleen Girwarnauth, we have become close friends, Hodges said. Each trip there is different, and riding a bus along a two-track for five hours into the jungle, along a tributary of the Amazon will certainly be a unique experience. To bring out a patients smile, or to end a toothache they have had for years, is very satisfying.

Margaret Gingrich, DDS has been a colleague of Hodges and Steven Hall, an adjunct Dental Hygiene faculty member, for the Guyana trips and is now focused on supporting student fundraising.

The sheer value of Ferris students offering this assistance accentuates their educational experience, Gingrich said. They are providing important care to patients who sorely need it. It is definitely life-changing for those who take part, and while I am currently obligated by my professional and family circumstances, I look forward to returning to Guyana someday.

Second-year Dental Hygiene student Whittnie Smillie of Millersburg, Michigan will graduate in May with an AAS in Dental Hygiene and her Bachelor of Science in Allied Health. She is making her first trip to Guyana with this team.

This is too good a learning opportunity to pass up, Smillie said. Being a dental hygienist is, at its heart, about offering service. I know Guyana is a country with many difficulties, but I am going in with an open mind, ready to help as much as I can, knowing that our hosts will do everything possible to support us and keep us safe.

Aubrey Archer, of Naperville, Illinois, a 2015 alumna of Ferris Health Care Systems Administration program, has made two trips to Guyana with this team. Her mother, Catherine, a Dental Hygiene assistant professor is an organizer of this program.

I got involved in my senior year, I admit that I didnt know all that I was getting into, Archer said. We did a great deal of work in 14-hour days, but there was a great emotional reward. It is very grounding to see what these people have in their life circumstances, and to be able to serve them as a fellow human being.

Other alternative spring break service programs, involving Ferris registered student organizations include:

Wesley House, affiliated with the United Methodist Campus Ministry, will send a contingent of 27 volunteers to Panama City Beach, Florida which was devastated by Hurricane Michael in October 2018. This is the largest group we have ever assembled, and the earliest response to a disaster scene, in our experience, Director Devon Herrell said. We expect that debris removal and assisting with drywall will keep us busy.

The Ferris chapter of His House Christian Fellowship will support a 45-person contingent building single-family homes in Juarez, Mexico for Casas Por Christo, an El Paso, Texas-based nonprofit. Twenty-five Ferris students, freshmen to seniors, are participating. We raised the funds to cover costs of three of the homes being built, His House Administrative Assistant Kate Hogoboom said. We know the stories of the families being supported, and we added a home to our plan and gathered the support needed to build it. We can make an amazing difference in Juarez in a weeks time.

The Newman Center Campus Ministry of St. Pauls Catholic Church will send 10 students along with Fr. Jegar Fickel to the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels in Chicago, Illinois. The Franciscans of the Eucharist serve one of the poorest areas of the Midwest, and we join their staff during spring break, Fickel said. We will leave Saturday, March 9 and return on Sunday, March 17.

Ferris Spring 2019 semester classes resume on Monday, March 18.



PHOTO CAPTION: Assistant Professor of Dental Hygiene Catherine Archer (left) and her daughter, 2015 Health Care Systems Administration alumna Aubrey Archer (right) provide care to a native of Guyana, in the South American continent, as part of a spring break service trip. The students affiliate with Partners in Evangelism International, with more than a decade of support, offered in that country. (Photo courtesy of Lauren Mammina)


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Actor Kangana Ranaut, who advocated the destruction of Pakistan after the Pulwama attack, has suggested Indian films could be stopped from releasing in the neighbouring country in future.

The actor, in the eye of the proverbial storm for her controversial remarks after the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 soldiers were killed, also indicated that releasing films in Pakistan is not a 'significant statement'.

Kangana Ranaut LASHES OUT at Karan Johar & Hrithik Roshan; Check Out | FilmiBeat

Kangana's film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi opened in Pakistani theatres on January 25, the same day it released in India. Asked about the movie's release in the neighbouring country, the actor told reporters Sunday night, "When a film is distributed, they have the digital copy. (But) You can stop future releases."

"To get it back from them, we will have to send the army, which we had sent by air. But they didn't get my DCP back," she quipped in an apparent reference to Indian Air Force's air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26.

Kangana had also come down heavily on actor Shabana Azmi and lyricist Javed Akhtar, who cancelled their trip to Karachi for a tribute to Kaifi Azmi, and questioned their decision to organise the event "in the first place when Pakistani artistes have been banned after Uri attacks".

She also said she would take the same route with the films she produces in future, adding "It's not that it (Pakistan) is a very big territory. It's almost insignificant".

Questioned on her remarks on Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar, the actor said the film's release in Pakistan was in accordance with the distribution and trade network and she had no say in the matter.

"The distribution and the trade was going like that... Obviously, I am not the minister in-charge of the trade of how things are happening in the country. But if you ask me, the sentiment of the country is very important, of the jawan families.

"Is it (not releasing Indian films in Pakistan) significant statement? No. These are just small steps. But if that's all we can do, we should."

In the wake of Pulwama attack, the makers of films such as Total Dhamaal, Luka Chuppi, Arjun Patiala, Notebook and Kabir Singh announced they would not be screening their movies the neighbouring country.

Following the Balakot air strike, Pakistan government called for a ban on Indian content, including films and 'made-in-India advertisements' in the country.

Credits - PTI
Told You Guys...!!!

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That look On His face Says All

That He is our pigeon NOW#AbhinandanReturns pic.twitter.com/ocVrhlDLYp  VEENA MALIK (@iVeenaKhan) March 2, 2019

Veena Malik On Abhinandan Varthaman

As sad and disgusting as it might sound, Veena Malik is constantly attacking the Indian armed forces on her Twitter handle.

Veena Malik - A Social Media Bully

Veena Malik's cheap shots against India is nothing but social media bullying. Twitter must take strict action against her for spreading negativity and hate towards our country and its people.

The Strange Case Of Veena Malik

It's funny yet surprising to see Veena Malik praise Pakistan this much, while the fact is that she ran away from the country in the fear of persecution a few years ago. She's now in Dubai with her husband and child.

Swara Bhaskar Had Slammed Veena Malik For Her Cheap Tweets

"Veena ji.. Shame on you and your sick mindset. Your glee is just gross! Our officer is a hero- brave, gracious and dignified in the face of capture. At least some decency from that major in your army who was questioning #WingCommanderAbhinandan or the many Pakistanis suing for peace #sick," slammed Swara Bhaskar on Veena Malik's disgusting tweet.
Shoojit Sircar On Casting Vicky Kaushal

The filmmaker said, "If you look at Vicky's track record, he is taking brave steps and making some really fabulous choices. I wanted an actor who is ready to give his heart and soul to the film. Plus, he is a Punjabi boy and my film is a story of a Punjabi man. So, in many ways, he turned to be the obvious choice."

To Play Uddham Singh Is A Surreal Feeling, Says Vicky

"It's a surreal feeling because it's like a dream come true as I am finally getting to work with him. I have always been a big admirer of how Shoojit sir looks at his stories."

'It Will Take Some Time To Sink In'

Vicky said, "Plus, it's also a big honour for me that finally, I am going to be directed by him. Honestly, that's something that will take time to sink in."

Vicky Is Excited To Start This New Journey

The 'Uri' actor added, "Since the time I started working as an actor in the industry, there was a wish list of the directors I wanted to work with. Shoojit sir was always on top of that list. So it is like a dream come true that he is finally directing me. And, what better story than Udham Singh!

Being a Punjabi, I have always heard about his stories, heard about his life as I was growing up and he has always come across as a mysterious character. The more mysterious a character, the more stimulating it becomes for an actor and for the director as well.

I am so looking forward to becoming Udham Singh and translating Shoojit sir's vision. I just feel that this is one person whose life story India should know and I am really excited for this journey to start."

The Film Was Originally Supposed To Star Irrfan Khan

Speaking about Vicky Kaushal replacing him in the film, Shoojit Sircar revealed, "Irrfan and I have had a discussion on this. He is recovering well and is in a good mood. He wants to start work on films but for now, he would like to do a film that does not require the kind of strenuous physical action that this film would. He told me to move on since we have waited for long on this film. He and I are in touch and we are working on something else together."
Vidyut Jammwal's action-packed avatar in the 'Commando' series has always been loved by the audience. Now, the actor is all set to be back with the third installment of this franchise. Co-starring with him this time, is Adah Sharma, Angira Dhar and Gulshan Devaiah.

This morning, the makers dropped the first sneak-peek to make the official announcement of Commando 3. Vidyut Jammwal took to his Twitter handle and wrote, "Action x 3 Drama x 3 Thrill x 3 #Commando3 releases on 20th September 2019 #IAmEnough #Kalaripayattu @adidatt @RelianceEnt #VipulAmrutlalShah #SunshinePictures @MPC_UK @adah_sharma @angira_dhar @gulshandevaiah."

Check out his tweet here-

Speaking about the action in Commando 3, the actor earlier told Mumbai Mirror, "The Commando franchise is all about action, so the aim has been to introduce something new with every film. In the first instalment, we incorporated one form of Kalaripayattu in the stunts, while for the second one, I hit the gym to bulk up. Since the film revolved around black money, it was essential to get rid of my lean frame.

Malang: Aditya Roy Kapur, Disha Patani, Anil Kapoor & Kunal Kemmu Confirmed For Mohit Suri's Next!

I wasn't particularly a fan of beefy bodies, but I trained hard to acquire the look for the film. Now, I return with Commando 3. It required another form of Kalaripayattu for which I had to return to my lean frame and reacquaint my body with flexibility, which was compromised while bulking up."

Meanwhile, a source had earlier revealed, "The makers have taken lessons from the non-performance of the second part and have made drastic changes in the way the storytelling was. Vidyut has improved slightly as an actor but the makers want the action to be at another level altogether.

So, the stunts are very high octane and they have roped in an international cameraman Mark Hamilton for the cinematography apart from a few international actors as well. And, yes, all the stunt coordinators are ones that have worked in big international projects before."

Helmed by Aaditya Dutt, Commando 3 will release on 20th September, 2019.

Saif Ali Khan, Fatima Sana Shaikh & Ali Fazal Team Up For A 3D Horror Comedy Titled 'Bhoot Police'
Sandalwood actor Shivrajkumar will be next seen in the film Kavacha. The movie which was supposed to initially release in December 2018, got postponed time and again. With the start of the new year, the Hatrick Hero's fans expressed their excitement assuming that the film would finally be out. But, much to their disappointment, Kavacha's release has been pushed further one more time. Apparently, the makers have now decided to release the film on the occasion of Ugadi, which is in April, 2019. However, the official statement is awaited.

Previously, reports were making rounds that the movie was scheduled to release on January 18, 2019. Due to possible technical issues, the release date got pushed further. According to Chitraloka, Kavacha was also dealing with the censor board regarding one of its dialogues. Apparently, the makers combined another phrase with the previous dialogue and also dubbed it in other languages. This could be one of the reasons for the delay in its release.

MOST READ : Darshan & Sudeep To Come Together For THIS PERSON? The Actors Might Face Each Other Soon!

Kavacha is the remake of Malayalam film Oppam. But, nearly 50 per cent of the script has been altered to meet the needs of the Kannada audience. Talking about the same, director Vasu told in an interview, "Malayalam and Kannada audiences are different, which is why I took my time with altering the script. Since I had a ready script, I could look at what worked and didn't with the original, and alter it accordingly."
Samrajyam

Yes, we are talking about the film Samrajyam, which featured Mammootty in the lead role. This movie, which had come out in the theatres in 1990 was directed by Jomon. The movie had turned out to be a trendsetter upon its big release.

The Huge Success

Samrajyam and its lead character Alexander portrayed to perfection by our own Megastar, went on to gain huge popularity upon the release. It did set the cash registers ringing and the movie even did wonders in places outside Kerala.

The Debut Filmmaker

Interestingly, Samrajyam was also the debut movie of its director Jomon, who had earlier worked as an assistant to veteran filmmaker IV Sasi. In a recent interview given to Mathrubhumi Star & Style Magazine, the filmmaker opened up a few details regarding the events that happened upon its release.

Amitabh Bachchan Met The Director

The filmmaker opened up that upon the success of Samrajyam, Amitabh Bachchan had called him via producer Goodnight Mohan to Mumbai for a meeting and they had met in a studio there.

Supposed To Be Remade In Hindi

The filmmaker also recollected the fascinating memories about meeting Amitabh Bachchan for the first time. He mentioned that the film was supposed to be made in Hindi with Amitabh Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan and he even received the advance but the project didn't work out later.
Helly Shah, who got popular with her role of Swara on Colors' show, Swaragini, is all set to return with Star Plus' Sufiyana Ishq. Post Swaragini, the actress was seen in Colors' show, Devnashi. After being part of a reality show and an episodic format project, Helly will be seen in Sufiyana Ishq, which will be produced by Prateek Sharma's LSD Films. It is a Muslim social drama which will also have Rajveer Singh playing the male lead role.

As per the latest report, Helly Shah will be seen playing dual role in the show! The shoot of the show has already begun and the cast has extensively shot in Delhi at Qutub Minar, Safdargunj Railway Station, Humayun's Tomb and also the Ring Road. A few days ago, Helly had posted a picture, where she was seen holding a script and posing in front of Humayun's Tomb.



Helly captioned the picture as, "Lets pose with the Shawl , my Saviour throughout in Jaipur and delhi ki thandi during shootok wait , actually this was just to hide my look " - (sic). Helly also shared the picture of her team and wrote, "Saare PAGAL ek saath ."

Regarding her comeback, the actress said in a statement, "I'm happy to be a part of Sufiyana Ishq as the makers are giving me an opportunity to play a great and extremely challenging role. I wanted to wait for the correct time to return on screen. I was in no hurry as I needed a break to enjoy my life."

She further added, "Even after my show Devanshi went off air, I was flooded with offers but I wasn't keen on playing similar characters... I always look for something new, fresh and challenging."

Most Read: Latest TRP Ratings: Colors TV Is Back On Top Spot; Kulfi Kumar Bajewala Enters Top 10 Slot!
Salman Advised Kapil To Refrain From Commenting On The Controversy?

It is also being said that Salman has advised the channel and Kapil Sharma to refrain from commenting on the controversy. As per DB post, "When this entire controversy happened; the channel was still not sure on what decision to make. It was the producer of the show, Salman Khan's immediate decision to ask Sidhu to step down from the show."

Salman Took A Call!

"Obviously, as a producer, Salman did not want to take a chance especially when so much money has been involved in its production. The show is doing well in terms of TRP and Salman doesn't want to lose it just for the sake of one person. And so, he decided to take a call immediately."

Archana Puran Singh Signed Only For 20 Episodes

As the viewers are aware, Archana Puran Singh has taken Sidhu's place. But apparently, the actress has been signed for only 20 episodes. This indicates that the channel never had an intention to permanently sack Sidhu.

Sidhu Makes Netizens Angry Again!

Just when things were going on fine, Sidhu has gone ahead and made yet again made another controversial comment against the Surgical Strike 2.0, which has made netizens angry!

Sidhus Yet Another Controversial Comment

He wrote, "300 terrorist dead, Yes or No? What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick? Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Stop politicising the army, it is as sacred as the state.    |" - (sic)

Sidhu Slammed Again

Sidhu's comment has not gone well with the netizens who have slammed him on social media. Well, it has to be seen whether this has further ruined his chances of re-entry on the show!

Kapil Sings Romantic Song For Ginni

Meanwhile, in the latest episode, which was a musical one, as big musicians - Daler Mehndi, Mika Singh, Jasbir Jassi and Hansraj Hans - graced the show Kapil's wife also was present on the sets. While the guests were seen singing their heart out, Kapil too sang a romantic song, 'Oh Meri Hansini' for his wife Ginni, as she sat with the audiences.
Moka, a Chinese software startup which helps companies recruit, has closed its Rmb180 million $26.8 million Series B funding.

Hillhouse Capital led this round of investment, along with GGV Capital, GSR Venture and Xiang He Capital. Proceeds will be used to grow the business.

Founded in 2015, Moka is a human resources and recruitment system provider. Based around a software subscription service, the Software-as-a-Service SaaS company helps HR departments to post jobs on all major recruiting sites with one click.

It now serves more than 500 companies with clients that include Xiaomi, Sogou, YY Inc., McDonalds and China Pacific Insurance...
ISTANBUL, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

Turkish Jewelry, with its 7000-year-long heritage, continues to increase export volumes with more than 35,000 retail brands, 6,000 producers and 1,000 service firms. Turkey is one of the leading jewelry markets in the world together with the United Kingdom, the USA, China, the UAE, and India.

Turkey has the 11th largest stock of gold in the world. In 2017, it was the 10th highest global exporter of jewelry, reaching a value of $4.1 billion and constituting 4.5% of the world jewelry exports.

A new record was set in 2018, with total exports amounting to $4.54 billion, a 35% increase compared to the previous year. Boosted by this continuous increase, Turkey's Jewelry sector has set its target for 2023 to $12 billion in exports which China contitutes $61 million of it.

30,000 Jewelry Specialist from 120 Countries

To reach the targets, Jewelry Exports Association is organizing Istanbul Jewelry Show twice in a year which hosts the global jewelry brands in Istanbul.

48th Istanbul Jewelry Show which will occur between 21st & 24th of March at CNR Expo will host 1,250 brands and over 30,000 business people from 120 countries. This year, Istanbul Jewelry Show is getting ready to welcome the group of International Buyers Committee of 1,500 people from target markets.

Craftmanship and heritage

Did you know that haute couture jewelry set its roots during the Ottoman times? Buyers and designers all around the globe have been trading jewelry in Grand Bazaar for centuries. Turkish jewelry has evolved and influenced many jewelry designers throughout history. All around the globe, there are many successful Turkish jewelry designer labels that are globally sold in well-known department stores from Saks Fifth Avenue to Selfridges, such as Roberto Bravo, Kismet by Milka, Sevan Bicakci, Gurhan, and Tohum.

"Globally, appreciation and awareness for the design and quality of Turkish jewelry are rising. Jewelry designs and private Turkish labels are standing out in the global arena. More specifically, Istanbul is becoming the new heart of jewelry trade with increasing B2B visitors. Every year, in March and October, Istanbul Jewelry Shows gathers buyers, influencers and decision-makers from all around the globe," stated Mustafa Kamar, Chairman of both the Istanbul Jewelry Exporter Association and the private Turkish Jewelry brand Roberto Bravo. He added: "In 2019, we aim to increase export volumes to China and make Istanbul Jewelry Show the 3rd biggest jewelry trade show in the world."
Auplata (Euronext Growth - FR0010397760 - ALAUP) is pleased to report the results of a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate completed for the El Santo polymetallic epithermal deposit (El Santo, Suyckutambo and San Miguel Properties) and to announce filling of a NI 43-101 Technical Report on its Condoroma Property, Peru.

El Santo - NI 43-101 resource estimates highlights

The El Santo Project is located on the El Santo, Suyckutambo and San Miguel Properties nearby the town of Caylloma and approximately 260km north-northwest of Arequipa (Peru). Mined ore material from the El Santo mine is processed at the Ana Maria mineral processing plant located in the Suyckutambo property nearby the historic Suykutambo mine.

The resource estimates include five (5) polymetallic epithermal veins: El Diablo, El Angel, El Santo, Gianina and Vanessa.

Based on a cut-off NSR of 80 US$/t:

Measured and Indicated Resources represents a total of 296,000 tonnes at a NSR of 175 US$/t, and grades of 0.21 g/t Au, 52.77 g/t Ag, 0.33% Cu, 3.61% Pb, and 6.34% Zn;

Inferred Resource represents a total of 187,500 tonnes at a NSR of 154 US$/t, and grades of 0.17 g/t Au, 60.30 g/t Ag, 0.30% Cu, 3.59% Pb, and 4.86% Zn.

The resource estimates follow NI 43-101, Canada Institute of mining (CIM) definitions and guidelines and have been completed by independent and qualified persons;

Recent extension drilling (not included at the resource database cut-off date) illustrates the potential for extension at depth. At this stage, it is reasonable to believe that an exploration potential somewhere between 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes of mineralization at grades between 0.1 to 0.3 g/t Au, 30 to 60 g/t Ag, 0.1 to 0.3% Cu, 1.5 to 3.5% Pb and 3 to 5% Zn may be added by drilling the extensions of currently defined mineralized zones. This exploration target is not a mineral resource estimate and is conceptual in nature. There has been insufficient exploration to define this as a mineral resource, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the exploration target being designated as a mineral resource.

The mineralization found at El Santo is typical of low-sulfidation epithermal deposits. Mineralization in the property is mainly hosted in El Diablo, El Santo and Gianina veins. These structures have an approximate E-W orientation and subvertical inclination. Between these structures occur other tensional mineralized structures such as El Angel, Sheila, Yuliana, as well as several splays from the previous ones.

Condoroma - NI 43-101 Technical Report highlights

The Property is located approximately 12 km northeast of the town of Condoroma and about 50 km east of El Santo Property. InnovExplo conducted a site visit that included validation of the Property's mineralization. The geological setting of the Property is highly favourable for several styles of mineralization such as epithermal and intrusion-related deposits (porphyries and skarns).

The Property is located in the historical Condoroma mining district where the mineral potential is evidenced by Ag-rich base metal low-sulphidation epithermal vein mineralization at the past-producing Condoroma, Cata and Antonio Raymondi mines. Several prospects and abandoned exploration pits have also been documented in the Property area. InnovExplo believes that the Property is underexplored.

Further exploration work is warranted as the Property contains several surface indications of a possible porphyry deposit at depth, in particular in the Don Paul I and Don Paul Il concession areas. This geological environment is also characteristic of high-sulphidation epithermal deposits and further exploration efforts should also contemplate this style of deposit. The potential for additional low-sulphidation epithermal vein mineralization should be assessed by modern exploration methods such as geophysics, coupled with structural interpretations and directional drilling. The Condoroma Property could also be reassessed for its bulk tonnage potential.

Quality control and qualified person

The geological and technical information contained in this press release have been validated by Claude Savard, P.Geo. (OGQ #1057), Harold Brisson (OIQ #41433), Gustavo Durieux (OGQ #1148) and Alain Carrier, M.Sc., P.Geo. (OGQ #281) from the InnovExplo firm, all qualified and independent persons under NI 43-101. The Technical Report compliant to NI 43-101, supporting El Santo resource estimates (this press release) which will be entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the El Santo, Suyckutambo and San Miguel Properties (Peru) and Mineral Resource Estimate for the El Santo Mine", will be available within the regulatory deadlines. The Technical Report compliant to NI 43-101 for the Condoroma Property (Peru), entitled "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Condoroma Property, Espinar Province, Cusco Department, Peru", is available on Auplata website (https://auplata.fr/fr/) and Brexia website (http://brexia.pe).

About Auplata

Based in French Guiana, Auplata is the largest French, stock-market listed gold producer. The Company has more than 700 sq km of mining permits and titles in French Guyana. Auplata operates an innovative industrial and financial strategy, aimed at developing and exploiting Guianese gold resources with the strong involvement of local players. The Company's objective is to offer sustainable exploitation for the Guianese mining industry. Since June 2015, Auplata is a shareholder in the Co?te d'Ivoire mining company OMCI, which owns two mining projects in Co?te d'Ivoire.

Auplata's share are listed on the Euronext Growth market in Paris (Euronext). ISIN: FR0010397760 - ALAUP; ICB: 1777 - Gold Mining.

For more information about Auplata, go to: www.auplata.com.

Contacts

ACTUS FINANCE

Mathieu Omnes Investor relations momnes@actus.fr +33 (0)1 53 67 36 92 Nicolas Bouchez Press relations nbouchez@auplata.fr +33 (0)1 53 67 36 74

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SUNRISE, Florida, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ReloQuest is delighted to announce that we have been shortlisted for Best Use of Technology, Best Service Provider, Best Short-Term Rental Platform Operator, and Darin Karp, ReloQuest, CEO & Founder has been nominated for the distinguished Industry Inspiration, Lifetime Achievement award. Winners will be announced at the Serviced Apartment Award Gala on March 14th, held at the Park Plaza Riverbank in London.

At ReloQuest we attribute much of our success to our in-house engineering team who continually advance the ReloQuest platform by working hand-in-hand with our product team to transform concepts to completed solutions. Lead by our CTO, Ilan Berkner, a skilled strategist, the team looks ahead to solve today's client challenges and prepare for the future.

Our team of skilled engineers, designers, product owners and project managers work in a highly collaborative cross-functional environment in order to continuously improve and transform how ReloQuest serves its clients and in turn, how the industry does business.

ReloQuest is the industry leader and the only housing platform that provides an independent, unbiased and fully transparent solution to global mobility clients and individuals in need of sourcing serviced apartments, corporate housing and hotels, worldwide.

As a multi-functional platform, ReloQuest has become the largest open global marketplace and altered the competitive landscape for temporary housing by giving suppliers equal visibility and facilitating global reach to corporate housing and serviced apartments in most cities around the world. ReloQuest represents a network of verified suppliers in 85+ countries including North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

ReloQuest Founder, and CEO stated, "We are delighted to receive these nominations from Serviced Apartment Awards and proud to be among the industries best in the global mobility sector. We strive to lead the way with industry firsts. ReloQuest patent pending technology constantly evolves creating solutions where none existed. We look forward to continuing to bring the most state-of-the-art platform in our industry."

This award is a testament to the ground-breaking technology pioneered by Darin Karp and his steadfast commitment to operational excellence. ReloQuest is a comprehensive technology providing competitive analysis and metric driven sourcing critical to the socio-economic well being for corporate business.

About ReloQuest:

ReloQuest integrates clients, suppliers, and guests throughout the process of their relocation. This transparent and intuitive business solution increases efficiency up to 80%, assists in determining best options, reports data providing actionable insight and impacts ROI. Select and manage a global supply chain, analyze reservation data, create flexible workflows, and integrate with relocation management software.

Based in Sunrise Florida, ReloQuest is online at http://www.ReloQuest.com. To request a demo call: 855-ReloQst (735-6778).

Contact: Jgiordano@reloquest.com

Global Director of Marketing Communications

www.ReloQuest.com/954-982-7997 US

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/829573/Darin_K_ReloQuest.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/510115/ReloQuest_Logo.jpg
Clean Invest Africa plc

("CIA" or the "Company")

Final Audited Results to 30 September 2018

4 March 2019

Clean Invest Africa plc, the NEX Exchange Growth Market ("NEX") quoted investment company, focused on delivering an attractive return through acquiring stakes in clean energy companies, remediation/restoration technologies, waste-to-energy technologies and other clean energy related projects throughout Africa is pleased to announce that it has today filed at Companies House its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the period ended 30 September 2018. A copy will be available shortly on the Company website at www.cleaninvestafrica.com.

The financial results for the period since incorporation on 18 September 2017 to 30 September 2018 show a loss after taxation of 204,078.

The directors do not recommend a payment of a dividend for the year to 30 September 2018.

Since admission to NEX in November 2017 the Company has furthered its investment strategy through its initial US$500,000 investment in February 2018 whereby it acquired a 2.5% equity stake in CoalTech Limited ("CoalTech") and Coal Agglomeration South Africa (Pty) Ltd ("CASA").

During the year the Board was strengthened with the appointment of Paul Ryan as a non-Executive Director.

As announced to the market on 17 December 2018, the Company has further advanced its investment strategy through the execution of a binding Sales and Purchase Agreement ("SPA") to acquire the remaining 97.5% of CoalTech and the remaining 97.5% of CASA, that the Company does not already own.

The SPA values the 97.5% interests at approximately 24.6m and values the entire CoalTech and CASA business at approximately 25.2m, based on the Company's closing bid price on 14 December 2018.

In view of the size of the acquisition relative to the Company and voting control of the Company, NEX determined that the acquisition constitutes a reverse takeover under the NEX Exchange Rules and is therefore conditional, amongst other things, on the approval of Shareholders. Relevant and necessary documentation is being finalised, and subject to regulatory approval, concluding this process in the near term is a priority for the Company.

Noel Lyons Director of CIA commented "Our first year since listing has proved to be very fruitful and successful. I am delighted that we have also strengthened the Board with the addition of Paul Ryan in October 2018. My fellow directors and I believe that the very substantial investment in CoalTech and CASA will prove transformational and potentially highly value accretive for the Company and directly follows through on our investment strategy. We intend to continue to seek complimentary and accretive investments in accordance with our Investment Strategy once this extremely significant acquisition has been completed and the Company's shares are re-admitted to trading. The Board expresses its thanks to shareholders for their continued support in what is a very exciting time for the Company."

The directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.



Contacts:

Clean Invest Africa plc

info@cleaninvestafrica.com

Noel Lyons, Director



Peterhouse Capital Limited

Tel: 0207 469 0930

Guy Miller/Mark Anwyl



Income Statement for the period ended 30 September 2018 GBP Continuing operations Revenue - Administrative expenses (204,415) Operating loss (204,415) Finance income 337 Loss before income tax (204,078) Income tax - Loss for the period (204,078) Earnings per share expressed in pence per share: Basic and diluted (0.15)

The Company was incorporated on 18 September 2017; therefore, no comparative figures are presented

Statement of Other Comprehensive Income for the period ended 30 September 2018 GBP Loss for the period (204,078) Other comprehensive income - Total comprehensive income for the period (204,078)

Statement of Financial Position

As at 30 September 2018

30 September 2018

GBP Non-current assets Investments 358,362 Current assets Trade and other receivables 5,080 Cash and cash equivalents 68,602 Total current assets 73,682 Total assets 432,044 Current liabilities Trade and other payables 22,622 Total current liabilities 22,622 Net current assets 51,060 NET ASSETS 409,422 Equity attributable to the owners of the Company Share capital 402,750 Share premium 210,750 Retained earnings (204,078) TOTAL EQUITY 409,422

The Company was incorporated on 18 September 2017; therefore, no comparative figures are presented.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on 1 March 2019 and were

signed on its behalf by:

S T Preece

Director

Statement of Changes in Equity

for the period ended 30 September 2018

Share

Capital Share

Premium Retained Earnings Total

Equity GBP GBP GBP GBP Balance at 18 September 2017 - - - - Issue of share capital 402,750 236,250 - 639,000 Cost of shares issued - (25,500) - (25,500) Total comprehensive income - - (204,078) (204,078) Balance at 30 September 2018 402,750 210,750 (204,078) 409,422

Statement of Cash Flows

for the period ended 30 September 2018

2018

GBP Operating activities Loss before income tax (204,078) Increase in trade and other receivables (5,080) Increase in trade and other payables 22,622 Net cash used in operating activities (186,536) Investing activities Purchase of investments (358,362) Net cash used in investing activities (358,362) Financing activities Proceeds from issue of shares 639,000 Issue costs (25,500) Net cash from financing activities 613,500 Increase in cash and cash equivalents 68,602 Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period - Cash and cash equivalents at end of period 68,602

The Company was incorporated on 18 September 2017; therefore, no comparative figures are presented.
ROLLING MEADOWS, Illinois, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE: AJG) today announced the signing of an agreement to acquire the global aerospace operations of Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group plc (JLT). The acquisition, subject to European Commission approval, is scheduled to close this spring in connection with the closing of the JLT purchase by Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.

The agreement provides for the acquisition of all assets within JLT's global aerospace retail and wholesale insurance broking division, which includes operations in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 10 other countries spanning Europe, Latin America and Asia. The agreement also includes the assets of Hayward Aviation, a UK insurance broker that specializes in aviation for high-net worth individuals and smaller airlines.

Approximately 250 employees from JLT's global aerospace division will join Gallagher as part of the agreement. This includes around 100 employees within JLT's London Market operations who will become part of Gallagher's existing aviation division, which most recently added independent aviation insurance and reinsurance broker, Boston Marks, to its growing London-based aviation operations.

"The addition of JLT's global aerospace broking operations will firmly position Gallagher as a leading broker in the extremely attractive and dynamic aviation and aerospace sector," said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., Chairman, President and CEO. "The business portfolio is a highly complementary geographic fit with Gallagher's existing footprint and will provide significant growth opportunities for our international businesses. We look forward to welcoming the team to Gallagher later this spring."

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG), a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is headquartered in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. The company has operations in 35 countries and offers client service capabilities in more than 150 countries around the world through a network of correspondent brokers and consultants.

Investors: Ray Iardella Media: Todd Woodward VP - Investor Relations Chief Communications Officer 630-285-3661/ ray_iardella@ajg.com 574-339-4337/ todd_woodward@ajg.com



UK media contacts:





Sarah Griffiths, Director of Communications, Gallagher

+44 (0) 20 7204 6257 sarah_griffiths@ajg.com



Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/597229/Arthur_J_Gallagher_Logo.jpg
Thunder Bay, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) - Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX) ("Benton" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that Benton has received assays for the first 5 of 7 drill holes completed on the Panama Zone in the Red Lake Mining district. Each hole exhibits anomalous gold values over significant thickness and is consistent with the results of historical work. Benton's drilling has identified an extensive, 5+ metre quartz flooded shear zone containing variable amounts of pyrite and silicification associated with gold mineralization. Highlights for the first five holes at the Panama zone are as follows:

Hole From (m) To (m) Interval Gold (g/t) Composite PL-19-01 79.6 87.2 7.6 1.58 1.58g/t over 7.6m incl 79.6 84.3 4.7 2.34 2.34g/t Au over 4.7m PL-19-02 148.5 155 6.5 1.23 1.23g/t Au over 6.5m PL-19-03 79.6 85.4 5.8 1.21 1.21g/t Au over 5.8m incl 82.4 84.4 2 2.55 2.55g/t Au over 2m PL-19-04 72.8 78.6 5.8 1.07 1.07g/t Au over 5.8m incl 75.8 78.6 2.8 1.67 1.67g/t Au over 2.8m PL-19-05B 77.5 93.6 16.1 0.57 0.57g/t Au over 16.1 incl 89 91 2 2.07 2.07g/t Au over 2m

Note: Reported intercepts are core lengths not true widths

Drill-hole 8 in the program is underway and will test the Slate Zone where Benton had grab samples grading from trace to 6.17gpt gold. This sampling was located approximately 120m north of the area where a glacial till sampling survey by the Geological Survey of Canada, 1999 (Open File 3038) identified 107 gold grains in till sampling, the highest count in the survey. Benton believes that the grab samples may represent the source of the till anomaly and hole 8 will test this zone at depth. Results from the remaining holes will be released as they become available.

Nathan Sims (P.Geo.), Senior Exploration manager for Benton Resources Inc., is the qualified person responsible for this release and has prepared or supervised the preparation of or reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

About Benton Resources Inc. (TSXV: BEX)

Benton Resources Inc is a well-funded Canadian-based project generator with a diversified property portfolio in Gold-Silver, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. Benton holds multiple high grade projects available for option which can be viewed on the company's web site. Most projects have an up to date 43-101 report available. Interested parties can contact Stephen Stares from the contact below.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Inc.,

"Stephen Stares"

Stephen Stares, President

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements."

Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

For further information contact Stephen Stares @:

684 Squier Street,

Thunder Bay, ON

P7B 4A8

Phone (807)475-7474

Cell (807)474-9020

Fax (807)475-7200

www.bentonresources.ca

sstares@bentonresources.ca

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43193
LAS VEGAS, NV / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Patriot Gold Corp ("Patriot") (CSE:PGOL) (OTC QB: PGOL) today announced that it has completed an initial phase of drilling exploration at the Windy Peak Project in Churchill County, Nevada, commencing in September of 2018. The Windy Peak deposit is currently interpreted as a low-sulfidation, epithermal gold deposit located marginal to and likely associated with a caldera ring fracture zone. Intersections between ring fractures and regional normal faults in the Windy Peak Project area are particularly favorable exploration targets, as they offer the unique combination of fluid conduits and structural controls known to concentrate high-grade mineralization. Gold mineralization at Windy Peak is well documented, both through reported historic production of roughly 300 ounces in the 1970's and subsequent rotary drilling exploration carried out by a variety of operators in the 1980's and 1990's.

Patriot's 2018 drilling program consisted of a single diamond drillhole, PG18-01, in the East Breccia target area, a zone of intense brecciation, silicification, and veining up to an estimated 600 ft wide along the East Breccia fault. The target area trends to the northwest for a strike length of roughly 2,500 ft and is truncated at either extent by faults; the Bonn fault to the northwest and the Windy fault to the southeast.

The drillhole was designed at an azimuth of 225 and inclination of 45, with the intent of intersecting the East Breccia fault in the vicinity of the inferred contact between two similar but discrete lithologic units: a densely compacted quartz-biotite-feldspar latite tuff (Tcl) in which the silicification and veining occurs, and an uncompacted, lithic-rich latite tuff (Tul) known from mapping to be receptive to silicification, and thus a potentially favorable host of disseminated gold mineralization.

Due to extremely difficult drilling conditions in highly fractured, silicified bedrock, the hole was terminated at a depth of 759 ft, well short of the target depth of 1200 ft. Despite the abbreviated depth of the hole, the drilling returned positive results:

From ground surface to a drillhole depth of 170.5 ft, drilling encountered strongly silicified, brecciated Tcl with low-grade gold mineralization, confirming similar results reported from previous RC drilling programs.

A significant fault zone (FZ) was encountered from 354.0 to 504.0 ft. Analytical results from samples of pulverized Tcl within the fault zone show elevated arsenic and strontium, indicating strong potential for gold mineralization at greater depth. Minor fault zones with similar geochemistry are observed intermittently up-hole of the FZ.

High grade silver was encountered over a 15-ft interval, 723.0 to 738 ft, at depths coincident with the projected East Breccia target and Tcl/Tul contact.

Windy Peak Drillhole PG18-01, Significant Intercepts



Drillhole Interval (ft) Grade From To Length Au (opt) Ag (opt) Au (ppm) Ag (ppm) PG18-01 0.0 170.5 170.5 0.001 0.0 0.028 1.1 Including 0.0 38.5 38.5 0.002 0.1 0.052 1.9 Including 30.0 34.6 4.6 0.007 0.1 0.228 2.3 Including 35.6 38.5 2.9 0.003 0.1 0.116 3.8 Including 46.0 47.0 1.0 0.004 0.0 0.137 1.3 Including 165.0 166.7 1.7 0.003 0.1 0.114 3.1 Including 167.0 170.5 3.5 0.005 0.0 0.188 1.1 PG18-01 723.0 738.0 15.0 0.000 5.7 0.002 196.6 Including 723.0 728.0 5.0 0.000 0.4 0.001 12.7 Including 728.0 733.0 5.0 0.000 11.0 0.003 375.0 Including 733.0 738.0 5.0 0.000 5.9 0.002 202.0

Anomalous arsenic, antimony, and silver values provide support for the current conceptual deposit model, as these elements are typically enriched in the upper reaches of epithermal systems. The highly fractured drilling interval in conjunction with the anomalous elements may well represent a "leakage' zone on the fringe of the primary target. Patriot interprets the drilling results as a positive indication of potential mineralization at depth, sufficient to warrant further drilling exploration.

About Patriot Gold Corp

Patriot is exploring its 100%-owned gold projects in Nevada, which include the Windy Peak project and the Vernal project. Patriot owns a 3% royalty in the Moss Mine in Arizona, now in commercial production. Patriot also owns a 2% royalty in the Bruner gold project in Nevada.

On Behalf of the Board of Patriot

Trevor Newton

President, Director

Contact: 702-456-9565

www.PatriotGoldCorp.com

Qualified Person:

The foregoing technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and verified by Zachary J. Black, Director and a Qualified Person ("QP") for National Instrument 43-101 (Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects).

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the information contained herein.

Disclaimer: This news release includes certain forward-looking statements or information. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release may include statements in relation to the timing, cost and other aspects of future plans, objectives or expectations of Patriot Gold Corp. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Patriot's plans include the risk that actual results of current and planned exploration activities will not be consistent with Patriot's expectations; the geology, grade and continuity of any mineral deposits and the risk of unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade and/or recovery rates; fluctuating metals prices; unanticipated costs and expenses; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests; availability of capital and financing required to continue Patriot's programs and preparation of geological reports and studies; delays in the preparation of geological reports and studies; general economic, market or business conditions; competition and loss of key employees; regulatory changes and restrictions including in relation to required permits for exploration activities (including drilling permits) and environmental requirements; timeliness of civil government or regulatory approvals; and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Patriot with securities regulators. In connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Patriot has made numerous assumptions, including that Patriot's future exploration programs will proceed as planned and within budget. Patriot expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by applicable securities legislation. More information is included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and may be accessed through the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov.

SOURCE: Patriot Gold Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/537726/Patriot-Gold-Reports-on-Windy-Peak-Gold-Project-Drilling-Program
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) - Mundoro Capital Inc. (TSXV: MUN) (www.mundoro.com) ("Mundoro" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has entered into a Generative Program Agreement (the "Strategic Alliance") in the Republic of Bulgaria ("Bulgaria") with Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC").

The purpose of this Strategic Alliance is to establish a generative program between Mundoro and JOGMEC, whereby Mundoro will carry out mineral exploration activities in Bulgaria under the direction of a joint Technical Committee with the view to identifying areas of interests that merit additional exploration and/or development work. JOGMEC will solely fund the Strategic Alliance. The term of the generative program under this Strategic Alliance continues until December 31, 2019, subject to extension with consent of both parties. Upon JOGMEC determining that one or more properties merit additional exploration and/or development work, JOGMEC has the right to establish a joint venture on that property with Mundoro.

Teo Dechev, CEO and President of Mundoro commented, "We are very pleased to expand our relationship with JOGMEC for project generation in Bulgaria. This Strategic Alliance between Mundoro and JOGMEC is a natural progression for further exploration along the Tethyan belt. Mundoro is pleased to continue to work with JOGMEC which has a strong reputation as a long term, strategic partner in mineral projects globally. We believe that local knowledge and experience are essential components of operating in a foreign jurisdiction such as Bulgaria, and Mundoro has successfully demonstrated its capacity in this regard by securing exploration contracts and operating two exploration licenses in Bulgaria since 2012."

About Bulgaria

Bulgaria has a long-established mineral resources industry that Mundoro believes will provide opportunity for investors with a long-term view into this precious metals belt. Bulgaria has three mineral belts that comprise the Tethyan Metallogenic Belt: (i) Northern Proterozoic Belt (Balkan Belt); (ii) Central Cretaceous Belt (Srednogorie Belt); and (ii) Southern Tertiary Belt (Rhodopean Belt). The Srednogorie Belt has copper-gold porphyry and epithermal deposits while the Balkan belt has potential for copper massive sulphide, Pb-Zn and Fe deposits. The Tertiary Belt to south is well known for Pb-Zn polymetallic deposits and more recently for Au epithermal deposits as well as porphyry copper deposits.

The Srednogorie Belt hosts the Panagyurishte district where the Bulgaria's most important porphyry and epithermal Cu-Au deposits are located. Significant examples are Elatsite, Asarel, Medet and Tzar Asen porphyry deposits and the Chelopech, Krassen, Radka and Elshitsa epithermal deposits some of which are active mining operations during the last 50 years. Currently in production are Elatsite, Asarel and Chelopech.

The Rhodopiean Tertiary belt hosts the Madan district which has several Pb-Zn polymetallic replacement deposits in operation. The eastern Rhodopian belt is an emerging belt for low sulphidation epithermal gold deposits with the Chala mine and two developing projects Ada tepe and Rozino.

About JOGMEC

JOGMEC was established in February 2004, following the integration of the former Japan National Oil Corporation (JNOC) and Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ). It is a corporation under the Japanese Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry (METI), with a mandate of investing in developing minerals projects worldwide to help secure a stable supply of natural resources for Japanese industry.

About Mundoro

Mundoro is a Canadian mineral exploration and development public company focused on building value for its shareholders through directly investing in mineral projects that have the ability to generate future returns for shareholders. The Company holds a diverse portfolio of projects in Serbia and Bulgaria as well as an investment in a producing gold mine in Bulgaria. There are eight licenses in Serbia, four of which are optioned to JOGMEC, two licenses are optioned to Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation and two licenses are available for joint venture. Mundoro's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "MUN".

Qualified Person

Technical information contained in this Press Release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. G. Magaranov, P. Geo., Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of the Company,

Teo Dechev, Chief Executive Officer, President and Director

For further information please contact:

Teo Dechev, CEO, President and Director of Mundoro Capital Inc. at +1-604-669-8055

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking words such as "will", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe" or "continue" or similar words or the negative thereof, and include the following: (i) completion of the Strategic Alliance expenditures by JOGMEC; and (ii) identification of one or more properties that merit further exploration and completion of a definitive joint venture agreement by the parties for each of those properties. The material assumptions that were applied in making the forward looking statements in this News Release include expectations as to the mineral potential of the Timok North Properties, the Company's future strategy and business plan and execution of the Company's existing plans. We caution readers of this News Release not to place undue reliance on forward looking statements contained in this News Release, as there can be no assurance that they will occur and they are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include general economic and market conditions, exploration results, commodity prices, changes in law, regulatory processes, the status of Mundoro's assets and financial condition, actions of competitors and the ability to implement business strategies and pursue business opportunities. The forward-looking statements contained in this News Release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this News Release are made as of the date of this News Release and Mundoro undertakes no obligation to update such forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Shareholders are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and for a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to the Company's filings with the Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.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.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43186
Lonza Provides Adjusted Mid-Term Guidance and Emphasizes Growth Along the Healthcare Continuum

Basel(CH),4 March 2019 - Lonza announced today the adjustment of its Mid-Term Guidance 2022 to reflect the divestment of its former Water Care business unit and to emphasize Lonza's focus on growth along the Healthcare Continuum. The adjustment consists of excluding the Water Care Mid-Term Guidance from the Lonza Group financial projections prepared in 2017. The Water Care Mid-Term Guidance was disclosed (https://www.lonza.com/~/media/Files/Investor%20Relations/CMD_2018/CMD_2018_CFO_Lonza_Finance.ashx?la=en) at Lonza's Capital Markets Day 2018.

In addition, Lonza is now taking the opportunity to reflect not only the Water Care divestment but also the latest strategy development. The Mid-Term Guidance 2022 was first issued in 2017. Lonza is now factoring in growth investments in its newly formed Pharma Biotech & Nutrition segment in order to participate in the anticipated market growth.

The adjusted Mid-Term Guidance for Lonza's continuing operations (excluding the Water Care business unit) is the following:

Sales of CHF 7.1 billion

CORE EBITDA margin of 30.5%

CORE RONOA 35%

Double-digit ROIC

"This adjusted Mid-Term Guidance clearly demonstrates our focus on growing our businesses along the Healthcare Continuum while continuing to aim for operational excellence, productivity improvements and attractive margins," said Marc Funk, CEO Lonza.

Lonza's Mid-Term Guidance is based on the present business composition, the present macro-economic environment, current visibility and constant exchange rates.

Lonza already announced the acceleration of its portfolio review to further strengthen the company's position along the Healthcare Continuum. This process is ongoing; an update on the portfolio review is currently expected to be provided in H2 2019.

About Lonza

Lonza is an integrated solutions provider that creates value along the Healthcare Continuum. Through our Lonza Pharma Biotech & Nutrition segment and our Lonza Specialty Ingredients segment businesses, we harness science and technology to serve markets along this continuum. We focus on creating a healthy environment, promoting a healthier lifestyle and preventing illness through consumers' preventive healthcare, as well as improving patient healthcare by supporting our customers to deliver innovative medicines that help treat or even cure severe diseases.

Patients and consumers benefit from our ability to transfer our pharma know-how to the healthcare, hygiene and fast-moving consumer goods environment and to the preservation and protection of the world where we live.

Founded in 1897 in the Swiss Alps, Lonza today is a well-respected global company with more than 100 sites and offices and approximately 15,500 full-time employees worldwide at the end of 2018. The company generated sales of CHF 5.5 billion in 2018 with a CORE EBITDA of CHF 1.5 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.lonza.com&d=DwMFAw&c=qQy84HidZKks1AzH1tNzCKFxsPy43_OhvfM1avj4FME&r=SNaTECIuD9tOlQUW74Q-UT3xhRFOeyBjJ1YgJdLkpa8&m=KwEYyycEwSWc8hv3BbIqkok5RFTlcrFDAimWkA_RH_4&s=Gfoym-CxuWLpDMU9x3X7Y0Nwtwutk8OMCAINl0lzUyY&e=).

Lonza Contact Details Dirk Oehlers, Investor Relations Officer Lonza Group Ltd Tel +41 61 316 8540 dirk.oehlers@lonza.com

Dr Kristin Kohler, Senior Manager Investor Relations Lonza Group Ltd Tel +41 61 316 8782 kristin.koehler@lonza.com Constance Ward, Head External Communications Lonza Group Ltd Tel +41 61 316 8840 constance.ward@lonza.com

Additional Information and Disclaimer

Lonza Group Ltd has its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. It has a secondary listing on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited ("SGX-ST"). Lonza Group Ltd is not subject to the SGX-ST's continuing listing requirements but remains subject to Rules 217 and 751 of the SGX-ST Listing Manual.

Certain matters discussed in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and estimates of Lonza Group Ltd, although Lonza Group Ltd can give no assurance that these expectations and estimates will be achieved. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainty and are qualified in their entirety. The actual results may differ materially in the future from the forward-looking statements included in this news release due to various factors. Furthermore, except as otherwise required by law, Lonza Group Ltd disclaims any intention or obligation to update the statements contained in this news release.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) -TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (XETR: TH8) (FSE: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has appointed Arni Johannson as President.

Mr. Johannson has over thirty years operating and investing in both private & publicly traded companies throughout Canada and the USA. Mr. Johannson's has had numerous successful exits across a number of different sectors and has served on more than 20 corporate board of directors during this time.

"Once we presented TransCanna's vision to Arni he immediately understood the potential, and agreed to not only be a director, but also President of the company. I firmly believe his operating knowledge and vast network and experience will assist in expediting our growth as being arguably the largest self-contained, vertically integrated company owning up to fifteen premium brands in California," states Jim Pakulis, CEO of TransCannna.

The company has retained the services of Rok Marketing, Inc. for investor relations and marketing activities over one month term for fee of US$150,000 and the issuance of 25,000 common shares. The common shares issuable will be issued at the end of the agreement term and will be subject to resale restrictions pursuant to applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

About TransCanna Holdings Inc.

TransCanna Holdings Inc. is a Canadian based company providing branding, transportation and distribution services, through its wholly-owned California subsidiaries, to a range of industries including the cannabis marketplace.

For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.transcanna.com or email the Company at info@transcanna.com.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

James Pakulis

President and Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: (604) 609-6199

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to: the expected purchase of the facility, the terms of the facility acquisition, the payment of finders fees in relation thereto, the ability of the Company to secure financing and the acquisition of appropriate licenses for the facility. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.

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/43206
PRINCETON, New Jersey, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MIAX Emerald, the newest U.S. equity options exchange, successfully launched trading operations on March 1st with the rollout of options on its first symbol, IBM. MIAX Emerald will continue listing options on IBM for its first week of trading and begin rolling out additional symbols thereafter. With its launch, MIAX Emerald joins current options exchanges MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL as part of the MIAX Exchange Group. All three exchanges are subsidiaries of Miami International Holdings, Inc.

"We are thrilled to welcome MIAX Emerald to the MIAX Exchange Group, the third exchange we have successfully launched since 2012," said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIAX. "Over the last few weeks our company has reached some significant milestones starting with the launch of SPIKES Index options volatility trading on MIAX Options in February and now MIAX Emerald. I would like to commend the MIAX team for its efforts as we continue to grow and scale our businesses to address the changing needs of our member firms and bring efficiencies to the entire trading community."

Continued Douglas M. Schafer, Jr., Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of MIAX, "All systems performed as expected on MIAX Emerald's first day of trading, and we look forward to rolling out additional symbols in the coming weeks. As additional symbols are made available, we expect our member firms to truly experience the lower latency and increased determinism that MIAX Emerald was designed to provide firms trading in this particular sector."

"With the launch of MIAX Emerald, the MIAX Exchange Group now has access to approximately 80% of the overall U.S. options market volume, representing a combined average daily volume of approximately 20 million contracts," said Joseph S. Bracco, Senior Vice President, Head of Sales for MIAX. "Additionally, the MIAX Exchange Group now offers three different pricing and allocation models, giving member firms a choice, regardless of their current or future preferred trading strategy."

Added Barbara J. Comly, Executive Vice President and General Counsel of MIAX, "The SEC was very helpful throughout the entire MIAX Emerald launch process. We would like to thank all of the SEC Commissioners and Commission Staff for their assistance and enabling us to launch trading operations on March 1st."

For further information regarding MIAX Emerald or the MIAX Exchange Group, please visit www.MIAXOptions.com or contact Sales at Sales@MIAXOptions.com or MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@MIAXOptions.com.

Corporate Communications Contact:

Dominique Prunetti-Miller

(609) 897-1465

dprunetti@miami-holdings.com

JConnelly Media Contact:

Tony Kono

(973) 525-6855

tkono@jconnelly.com

About MIAX Emerald

MIAX Emerald, LLC (MIAX Emerald) is Miami International Holdings, Inc.'s (MIH) third fully electronic options trading exchange. MIAX Emerald is a member of the MIAX Exchange Group along with Miami International Securities Exchange, LLC (MIAX Options) and MIAX PEARL, LLC (MIAX PEARL).

The MIAX Exchange Group has assembled a team with deep-rooted experience in developing, operating and trading on options exchanges, and its trading platforms have been developed in- house and designed from the ground up for the unique functional and performance demands of derivatives trading. MIAX Options, MIAX PEARL and MIAX Emerald leverage the MIAX Exchange Group's industry-leading technology and infrastructure to provide their member firms with traditional pricing and pro rata allocation (MIAX Options) and maker- taker pricing and price-time allocation (MIAX PEARL) market structures, as well as a hybrid market structure with maker-taker pricing and pro rata allocation (MIAX Emerald). The MIAX Exchange Group's executive offices and National Operations Center are located in Princeton, New Jersey. The MIAX Exchange Group also maintains a Miami Operations Center in Miami, Florida, which contains the Miami Annual Meeting and Conference Center and the offices of MIAX Technologies and MIAX Global.

In addition to MIAX Emerald, MIAX Options and MIAX PEARL, MIH is the parent holding company of Miami International Technologies, LLC (MIAX Technologies) and MIAX Global, LLC (MIAX Global). MIAX Technologies is MIH's technology subsidiary for the sale and/or license of the trading technology developed by the MIAX Exchange Group. MIAX Global focuses on merger, acquisition and joint venture activities of MIH.

Disclaimer and Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any securities of MIH, and shall not constitute an offer, solicitation or sale in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer; solicitation or sale would be unlawful. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements that are not historical or current facts of MIH, together with its subsidiaries, including MIAX Emerald (collectively, the Company). Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the possible or assumed future results of operations of the Company; the competitive position of the Company; potential growth opportunities available to the Company; the expectation with respect to securities, options and future markets and general economic conditions; the effects of competition on the Company's business; and the impact of future legislation and regulatory changes on the Company's business. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements.

All third party trademarks (including logos and icons) referenced by the Company remain the property of their respective owners. Unless specifically identified as such, the Company's use of third party trademarks does not indicate any relationship, sponsorship, or endorsement between the Company and the owners of these trademarks. Any references by the Company to third party trademarks is to identify the corresponding third party goods and/or services and shall be considered nominative fair use under the trademark law.
EP Global Opportunities Trust plc (the "Company")

Total Voting Rights

As a result of the purchase of 50,000 Ordinary 1p shares placed into Treasury on 4 March 2019 and in conformity with Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rule 5.6.1A, the issued share capital and voting rights of the Company are as follows:

Class of share Total number of shares in circulation Number of voting rights attached to each share Total number of voting rights of shares in circulation Number of shares held in treasury (carrying no voting rights attached until issued) Total number of shares in issue Ordinary 1p Shares 42,237,725 1 42,237,725 22,271,917 64,509,642

The above total voting rights figure may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine whether they are required to notify their interest in EP Global Opportunities Trust plc under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

4 March 2019

LEI: 2138005T5CT5ITZ7ZX58

Enquiries:

Kenneth Greig

Edinburgh Partners AIFM Limited

Tel: 0131 270 3800

The Company's registered office address is:

27-31 Melville Street

Edinburgh

EH3 7JF
- PepsiCo's Former Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, Former President of Global R&D, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, to Lead Longevity Biotech -

BOSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Biosciences Inc. today announced Dr. Mehmood Khan, former PepsiCo Vice Chairman and Chief Scientific Officer, is incoming Chief Executive Officer and member of its board of directors. Dr. Khan will lead the Boston-based biotech company, which has raised more than $75 million to pursue the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD). The company was co-founded by former hedge fund manager and global institutional investor, Tristan Edwards and David Sinclair PhD, AO, Professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and co-Director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biological Mechanisms of Aging.

"We are proud and humbled by Mehmood's decision to join and lead our company," said Edwards, former Chief Executive Officer of Life Biosciences, who remains President and assumes the position of Chief Investment Officer. "He brings a remarkable depth of business and scientific expertise to our team, and is exactly the right leader for Life Biosciences as we enter our next phase of growth. His contributions to our work will be immense."

In his prior role with PepsiCo, a company which generated more than $64 billion in revenue in 2018, Dr. Khan led research and development efforts and oversaw PepsiCo's global sustainability initiatives. He was challenged to create breakthrough innovations across the food and beverages category, including helping to drive growth for its nutritious offerings across the portfolio.

"Tristan and David have done a remarkable job establishing Life Biosciences as the leader in the longevity space," said Khan. "Under their guidance, the company has grown tremendously and has already made much progress in tackling the issues of age-related decline. I'm excited to now work beside them in this next phase, continuing to grow and advance Life Biosciences."

Prior to joining PepsiCo, Dr. Khan was President of Takeda Global Research & Development Center, overseeing Takeda's worldwide R&D efforts. Before this, he was a faculty member at the Mayo Clinic and Mayo Medical School where he served as Director of the Diabetes, Endocrine and Nutritional Trials Unit in the endocrinology division. Dr. Khan also spent nine years leading programs in diabetes, endocrinology, metabolism and nutrition for the Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

- Life Biosciences Overview -

Life Biosciences is dedicated to tackling the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as the cause of the systemic breakdown of the body, rather than a series of isolated symptoms, events and conditions. The company brings together the world's leading scientists and researchers to increase health spans and reduce disease for everyone, including companion animals.

When Edwards co-founded Life Biosciences in 2017, he developed its innovative structure as Chapter Two in his life, after a highly successful career as a global institutional investor, working across all asset classes. There are six Daughter companies working independently and together within the Life Biosciences research environment.

The company also recently announced a significant investment in Prana, a publicly traded Australian biotech company, the closing of its Series B round of investment, and the acquisition of Lua, Life Biosciences' HIPAA-compliant medical technology platform. Life Biosciences provides Daughter companies with the resources required to maximize human potential, including experienced management, drug development experience, and a 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art vivarium, robotics and drug screening facility in Cambridge, Mass, in addition to laboratories and offices on four continents connected by Life Lua's communications and data analysis platform.

Founded in 2017 by David Sinclair, PhD, AO, and Tristan Edwards, Life Biosciences addresses the eight pathways of age-related decline (ARD) as a systemic breakdown of the body, not a series of isolated symptoms and conditions. It has established Daughter companies around the world to independently and collaboratively attack these pathways through pioneering research and product development. The company provides Daughter companies with the full resources of Lua's data communications and analytics platform; LifeLab, its 24,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art research facility that includes a vivarium, robotics, and drug screening capabilities. Life Biosciences seeks to increase healthspans for everyone, including companion animals.

For more information on Life Biosciences, please visit www.lifebiosciences.com.

Press Contact:

media@lifebiosciences.com

susanm@lifebiosciences.com

erinf@lifebiosciences.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/830310/Life_Biosciences_PEP_AR17_MehmoodKhan.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/821764/Life_Biosciences_Logo.jpg
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) - Bayhorse Silver Inc. (TSXV: BHS) ("Bayhorse" or the "Company") conducted its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") on Thursday, February 28, 2019 in Vancouver, BC.

The four directors up for nomination, Graeme O'Neill, Clay Conway, Corey Klassen and John Cerenzia were reelected as directors with over 99% of the votes counted. Also approved were the appointment of Charlton and Company, auditors, and the Company's rolling stock option plan.

Holding Silver. Bayhorse President & CFO Rick Low and Bayhorse Consultant & QP Dr. Stewart Jackson, P.Geol

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5015/43213_be2d0c24f42bf942_002full.jpg

Since the first silver pour, there has been interest generated in buying future production of silver from the Company. The production of silver of .9999 fineness gives the Company flexibility to sell its production directly to a mint or other interested parties. The Company intends to make available for future sales and delivery from the current test processing/refining program, the first 1,000 ounces of .9999 fine silver in 10 ounce bars on a first come, first served, basis.

Bayhorse CEO, Graeme O'Neill, expressed how pleased he was with the results of the first silver pour from the Bayhorse mineralization. Mineral Solutions LLC and Liberty Refiners LLC (together, "Minerals") are able to produce silver of .9999 fineness, as it crystalizes out of solution at that fineness in their ordinary course of refining. For comparison, "Good Delivery" bars as determined by the London Bullion Metals Association (LBMA) are 1,000 ounces +/- at .999 fineness, so the Bayhorse silver, as delivered, is of a higher quality.

Graeme O'Neill commented, "I am very pleased to see that our first pour has generated interest from buyers for our silver. I look forward to working closely with Minerals in other areas of upgrading, processing and refining of the Bayhorse mineralization, to ensure we meet our goal of 98% plus silver recovery, for further production and future sales."

The silver fineness is guaranteed by Minerals, and comparison assays are conducted by Christopherson Umpire Assayer of Osburn, Idaho. The analytical method used for the silver analysis consists of 1 Assay Ton (AT) samples subjected to fire assay with gravimetric finish.

Silver has stubbornly traded at over 80 ounces to 1 ounce of gold for over a year now, and is currently back over 85:1. Will it stay there? No one really knows, but we suggest reading Erfle's recent silver market analysis at https://www.kitco.com/commentaries/2019-03-01/Silver-Stocks-Remain-Buoyant-as-Merger-Mania-Heats-Up.html

The Company is not basing any decision to produce on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, and also advises there is an increased uncertainty and specific economic and technical risk of failure with any production decision. These risks include, but are not limited to, a drop in price of commodities produced, namely silver, copper, lead and zinc, from the pricing used to make a production decision. Failure of grades of the produced material to fall within the parameters used to make the production decision and increase in mining costs due to changes within the mine during development and mining procedures. There are also metallurgical recovery changes that cannot be anticipated at the time of production.

This News Release has been prepared on behalf of the Bayhorse Silver Inc. Board of Directors, which accepts full responsibility for its contents. Dr. Stewart Jackson, P.Geo., a Qualified Person and Consultant to the Company has prepared, supervised the preparation of, and approved the technical content of this press release.

On Behalf of the Board.

Graeme O'Neill, CEO

604-684-3394

Bayhorse Silver Inc., a junior exploration company, has earned 100% interest in the historic Bayhorse Silver Mine, Oregon, USA. The Company has an experienced management and technical team with extensive exploration and mining expertise.

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/43213
RICHARDSON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Optex Systems Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: OPXS), a leading manufacturer of precision optical sighting systems for domestic and worldwide military and commercial applications, today announced a multi-year Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) award from Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime for periscopes for up to $1.3 Million over a 3-5 year period and a Firmed Fixed Price award for $0.7 Million for 2019 and 2020 delivery.

Danny Schoening, CEO of the Optex Systems Holdings Inc., commented, "Optex continues to be the supplier of choice for periscopes by the Department of Defense and the major Primes producing Armored Vehicles. Optex continues to support our customers with product for new production and spares for those units in the field or currently going through refurbishment."

With this order, Optex's current backlog stands at over $28 Million.

ABOUT OPTEX SYSTEMS

Optex, which was founded in 1987, is a Richardson, Texas based ISO 9001:2008 certified concern, which manufactures optical sighting systems and assemblies, primarily for Department of Defense (DOD) applications. Its products are installed on various types of U.S. military land vehicles, such as the Abrams and Bradley fighting vehicles, Light Armored and Armored Security Vehicles, and have been selected for installation on the Stryker family of vehicles. Optex also manufactures and delivers numerous periscope configurations, rifle and surveillance sights, and night vision optical assemblies. Optex delivers its products both directly to the military services and to prime contractors. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.optexsys.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including those relating to the products and services described herein. You can identify these statements by the use of the words "may," "will," "could," "should," "would," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "continue," "estimate," "project," "intend," "likely," "forecast," "probable," and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, continued funding of defense programs and military spending, the timing of such funding, general economic and business conditions, including unforeseen weakness in the Company's markets, effects of continued geopolitical unrest and regional conflicts, competition, changes in technology and methods of marketing, delays in completing engineering and manufacturing programs, changes in customer order patterns, changes in product mix, continued success in technological advances and delivering technological innovations, changes in the U.S. Government's interpretation of federal procurement rules and regulations, changes in spending due to policy changes in any new federal presidential administration, market acceptance of the Company's products, shortages in components, production delays due to performance quality issues with outsourced components, inability to fully realize the expected benefits from acquisitions and restructurings or delays in realizing such benefits, challenges in integrating acquired businesses and achieving anticipated synergies, changes to export regulations, increases in tax rates, changes to generally accepted accounting principles, difficulties in retaining key employees and customers, unanticipated costs under fixed-price service and system integration engagements, changes in the market for microcap stocks regardless of growth and value and various other factors beyond our control.

You must carefully consider any such statement and should understand that many factors could cause actual results to differ from the Company's forward-looking statements. These factors include inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of other risks and uncertainties, including some that are known and some that are not. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. The Company does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement. You should carefully evaluate such statements in light of factors described in the Company's filings with the SEC, especially on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. In various filings the Company has identified important factors that could cause actual results to differ from expected or historic results. You should understand that it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors. Consequently, you should not consider any such list to be a complete list of all potential risks or uncertainties.

Contact:

IR@optexsys.com

(972) 764-5718

SOURCE: Optex Systems Holdings, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/538026/Optex-Systems-Announces-20-Million-Orders-from-DLA
Photo: The Canadian Press

A preschooler has been awarded $560,000 by a B.C. Supreme Court judge for the loss of her father in a motor-vehicle accident.

The lawsuit against DCT Chambers Trucking Ltd. of Vernon and driver Terrance Edward Brown was brought on behalf of Kayleigh Duncan, who was born in 2010.

Kayleigh's father, Randy Duncan, was killed in an April 28, 2011, collision involving a semi-trailer owned by DCT Chambers. He was travelling on Highway 6 between Nakusp and Vernon.

The lawsuit claimed that the losses include love, guidance, future financial support, household services and child care.

The girl and her mother, Meagan Shaw, were also in the car. Shaw was injured and has filed a separate lawsuit.

The mother and daughter have since moved to Alberta.

Duncan worked as a heavy-equipment operator in the mining industry and moved to Kamloops for work so he could be closer to his family, rather than travelling to a mine in the Northwest Territories.

"I conclude that Mr. Duncan was devoted to his family and, in particular, Kayleigh, and wished to spend as much time with her as he could," Justice Hope Hyslop ruled.

Lawyers acting for the trucking company, which admitted liability in the accident, argued the award to Kayleigh should be reduced because Shaw is now living common-law with another man. The couple has another child together.

Kayleigh's lawyer argued for $775,000 while the company's lawyers said the award should be about $200,000.

An economist prepared a report as part of the lawsuit, estimating items including future income and value of household services.

Duncan "pitched in and did household chores, described as '110 per cent,' which includes dishes, vacuuming and laundry," Hyslop wrote.

The loss of her father's love, care and guidance was estimated at $35,000, while loss of his household services and child care was set at $124,000. The largest component was loss of financial support, pegged at $260,000.

The award is invested and disbursed through the Public Guardian and Trustee of B.C.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) - Gunpowder Capital Corp., (CSE: GPC), (CSE: GPC.PR.A), (OTCQB: GNPWF), (FSE: YS6N), ("Gunpowder" or the "Corporation") announced today that it is conducting a non-brokered private placement financing of up to One Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ("$1,500,000.00") CDN via the issuance of up to Thirty Million ("30,000,000") Units at price of Five Cents ("$0.05") CDN per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one Common Share (a "Share") in the capital of the Corporation and one Common Share Purchase Warrant ("Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share of the Corporation at an exercise price of Seven and a Half Cents ("$0.075") CDN per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the financing, subject to accelerated expiry in the event the closing price of the Corporation's Common Shares close at or greater than Ten Cents ("$0.10") CDN for ten consecutive trading days.

All Common Shares issued in connection with this placement will be subject to a four month plus one day hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws. In connection with the offering, a finder's fee may be paid consisting of a cash commission equaling up to 8%. All proceeds from the financing will be used for acquisitions and general working capital purposes.

The Corporation is pleased to announced that it has closed the first tranche of this non-brokered private placement raise. In total Four Hundred and Forty-Five Thousand Dollars ("$445,000,00") CDN was raised in this tranche, via the sale of Eight Million, Nine Thousand ("8,900,000") Units. In connection with the closing of this tranche of the private placement offering, the Corporation paid finder's fee totaling Thirty-Five Thousand, Six Hundred Dollars ("$35,600.00") CDN in connection with certain subscriptions for the Corporation's Units.

Upon the completion of the issuance of the 8,900,000 Common Shares contained in the Units issued in this first tranche, the Corporation will have 92,911,750 Common Shares issued and outstanding.

About Gunpowder Capital Corp.

Gunpowder Capital Corp., is a merchant bank and advisory services firm based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Gunpowder invests in both publicly traded and private businesses that have successful management teams and attractive economic models. Gunpowder partners with these businesses to support their growth initiatives with its proven methodology of appropriate financing and structured exits. Gunpowder offers debt financing, including mezzanine and bridge loans, equity financing and advisory services. Gunpowder is also building a portfolio of companies in which it takes a long term position and view. For more information please visit www.gunpowdercapitalcorp.com.

For further information please contact:

Mr. Frank KordyCEO & DirectorGunpowder Capital Corp.T: (647) 466-4037E: frank.kordy@gunpowdercapitalcorp.comMr. Paul HaberCFOGunpowder Capital Corp.T: (416) 363-3833E: paul.haber@gunpowdercapitalcorp.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made as of the date of this document and the Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable securities legislation. Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. 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 CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

- 30 -

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/43209
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Far Resources Ltd (CSE:FAT) (FSE:F0R) (OTC:FRRSF) ) announces that Ms. Shastri Ramnath has resigned as a director of the Company.

The Company wishes to thank Ms. Ramnath for her service to the Company and wishes her the best of luck in her future endeavours.

About Far

Far Resources Ltd. is a Canadian battery and technology metals exploration and development company with projects in Canada and the USA. More information on Far is available at www.farresources.com.

Information Contact

Terri Anne Welyki

+1-833-327-7377

corpcom@farresources.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release and accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy hereof.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance, including planned exploration, and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the company. Readers are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. All of the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required under applicable securities legislation. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell securities and the company is not soliciting an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

SOURCE: Far Resources Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/538032/Far-Resources-Announces-the-Resignation-of-Ms-Shastri-Ramnath-from-the-Board-of-Directors
To promote startups, a public private partnership platform in the name of Bahrain Fintech Bay has been created that provides physical space for fintech companies.

Manama (Bahrain): In a bid to promote Bahrain as financial tech hub, the Middle Eastern country is seeking participation from Indian firms to become a part of the growing fintech space in the region.

Bahrain provides a plethora of opportunities to Indian fintech firms for open banking, blockchain, crypto assets, robo advisory and remittances.

Financial service sector is the second-biggest contributor to the GDP behind oil and gas and the effort is to grow the sector further, Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) Senior Manager (business development - financial services) Dalal Buhejji said.

"Central Bank of Bahrain has put in the right ecosystem to support growth and innovation. We have seen different new regulations coming out recently to support open banking, crypto asset trade regulation and draft regulation on robo advisory," she said.

Bahrain acts as the test bed for innovations in financial services space as the country provides many advantages including low cost of doing business, right accelerator and incubators, among others, she said, adding some Indian companies have applied for sandbox.

Generally, sandbox is seen as a safe zone to test financial innovation which sees a limited rollout of new products to select customers.

Terming India as a key market, Buhejji said EDB had a roadshow in Mumbai to attract fintech companies in December.

The EDB, the investment promotion arm of Bahrain, also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra government to provide a framework for co-operation to promote fintech in their respective markets.

To promote startups, a public private partnership platform in the name of Bahrain Fintech Bay has been created that provides physical space for fintech companies.

Established last year, it has now become a home for 36 companies from 15 different countries, Bahrain Fintech Bay CEO Khalid Saad said.

"India is absolutely key market. We do have couple of companies founded by Indian entrepreneurs in Bahrain and the other Malaysian-Indian company in the cryto asset space," he said.
Alok Industries and Bombay Rayon Fashions are the two other stressed assets that lender wants to get rid off.

New Delhi: State-owned Central Bank of India has put up for sale four stressed accounts, including Bhushan Power and Steel and Essar Steel India, to recover dues of Rs 3,321 crore.

"In terms of the bank's policy on sale of financial assets in line with the regulatory guidelines, we place the following accounts for sale to banks/ARCs/NBFCs/FIs," Central Bank of India has said in a bids invite document on its website.

Alok Industries and Bombay Rayon Fashions are the two other stressed assets that lender wants to get rid off.

According to the bid document, Bhushan Power & Steel has an outstanding of Rs 1,550.07 crore towards the bank. Alok Industries owes Rs 1,251 crore, Essar Steel India Rs 423.61 crore, while Bombay Rayon Fashions has an outstanding due of Rs 96.30 crore.

The e-auction of all these accounts will take place on 20 March.

The auction of these accounts is through the Swiss challenge method, under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest (SARFAESI) Act, 2002, on the without-recourse basis based on an existing offer of firm bid from an investor, who will have the right to match the highest bid, the bank said.
Essar Oil & Gas has been awarded an exploration lease for shale gas, CBM and hydrocarbons in the Raniganj block

New Delhi: Essar Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Ltd (EOGEPL) has received environment clearance for exploring shale gas reserves in its Raniganj block in West Bengal, an official said.

This follows the governments decision to allow operators freedom to explore both conventional oil and natural gas as well as non-conventional sources like coal-bed methane (CBM) and shale reserves within a exploration acreage.

Previously, companies could explore only oil and natural gas or CBM depending on their licence for the block.

The official said the expert appraisal committee (EAC) in 29 January meeting allowed Essar to drill 20 wells to explore shale gas in its Raniganj CBM block.

It has been awarded an exploration lease for shale gas, CBM and hydrocarbons in the Raniganj block.

EOGPL has got approval to drill 20 shale wells at a cost of Rs 10 crore. To start with, it will drill five wells in the block to test the shale potential.

We will start off with collecting the data. For this, we will need to drill the coal, identify the sweet spot and then drill horizontally for almost a kilometre," said Vilas Tawde, managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of EOGEPL.

If this exploration is successful, we plan to drill around 220-250 wells that will require an investment of Rs 7,000 crore," he added.

The official said the company could spend up to $1 billion in development of shale reserves if the exploration programme was successful.

EOGEPL has invested around Rs 4,000 crore in the Raniganj block, which will produce 1.7 million standard cubic metres per of gas from coal seams (CBM) in the next two years and ramp up to 2.5 mmscmd in the next three to four years.

With the policy for simultaneous exploration of unconventional resources in place, EOGEPL is looking into the shale prospect in the same blocks which is in the range of 7.7 trillion cubic metres.

The official said the company could spend up to $1 billion in development of shale reserves if the exploration programme was successful.

Essar has already signed an agreement to sell entire production from Raniganj East CBM block to state gas utililty GAIL India Ltd.

Besides Raniganj CBM block, the company also has a Mehsana CBM block in Gujarat where it plans to drill 6 wells. The project will be completed in 18 months.
LONDON (Reuters) - It is not possible that the European Union will offer Britain a long delay to Brexit because of upcoming European elections, British trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday. Fox said it was still 'entirely possible' Britain leaves the bloc as scheduled on March 29 but an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period may be necessary in order to deliver a smooth exit from the bloc

LONDON (Reuters) - It is not possible that the European Union will offer Britain a long delay to Brexit because of upcoming European elections, British trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday.

Fox said it was still "entirely possible" Britain leaves the bloc as scheduled on March 29 but an extension to the Article 50 negotiating period may be necessary in order to deliver a smooth exit from the bloc.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said any extension should not be beyond the end of June.

Asked how he would react if the EU insisted on a much longer delay of 21 months or two years, Fox told BBC TV: "I would be shocked because I think it is actually not a possible outcome."

"The European Union does not want Britain to fight the European elections."

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan; editing by Jason Neely)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The government has approved a Rs 14,000-crore special economic zone (SEZ) project of Adani Power in Jharkhand, which will export entire power generated to Bangladesh, an official said

New Delhi: The government has approved a Rs 14,000-crore special economic zone (SEZ) project of Adani Power in Jharkhand, which will export entire power generated to Bangladesh, an official said.

The project was approved by the highest decision-making body on SEZ - Board of Approval - chaired by the commerce secretary, in its meeting on 25 February, the government official said.

Adani Power (Jharkhand) Ltd has sought approval for setting up of sector specific SEZ for power at villages - Motia, Mali, Gaighat and adjacent villages in Godda district, Jharkhand over an area of 425 hectares.

It has received formal approval for the land in possession of 222.68-hectare area and in principle approval for remaining 202.32 hectares.

Two supercritical units of 800 MW each would be set up with an investment of Rs 14,000 crore which would include setting up of a water pipeline and power evacuation system.

It will be ready by the end of 2022. The company has already signed a power purchase agreement for the supply of 100 percent power generated from this plant to Bangladesh.

The SEZs are major export hubs in the country as the government provides several incentives including tax benefits and single window clearance system.

The developers and units of these zones enjoy certain fiscal and non-fiscal incentives such as no licence requirement for import, full freedom for subcontracting, and no routine examination by customs authorities of export/import cargo. They also enjoy direct and indirect tax benefits.

Exports from special economic zones grew by about 15 per cent to Rs 5.52 lakh crore in 2017-18.
The IDBI Bank has received government nod to handle import and export transactions with Iran, a move which would help in promoting two-way trade amid US sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation

New Delhi: The IDBI Bank has received government nod to handle import and export transactions with Iran, a move which would help in promoting two-way trade amid US sanctions on the Persian Gulf nation, industry sources said.

US President Donald Trump had in May last year withdrawn from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran, re-imposing economic sanctions against the Persian Gulf nation. Some sanctions took effect from 6 August, 2018 while those affecting the oil and banking sectors started from 4 November, 2018.

According to sources, IDBI Bank has been identified to route the payments. UCO Bank had in the previous round of sanctions handled rupee payments.

India used to pay its third largest oil supplier in euros using European banking channels. But this channel is also blocked from November last year.

Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier after Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was India's second biggest supplier of crude oil after Saudi Arabia till 2010-11 but sanctions by the West over its suspected nuclear programme relegated it to the seventh spot in the subsequent years. In 2013-14 and 2014-15, India bought 11 million tonnes (MT) and 10.95 MT of crude, respectively from Iran.

Bilateral trade between India and Iran increased to $13.8 billion in 2017-18 from $12.9 billion in the previous fiscal. However, India's exports were only worth $2.5 billion to that country.

The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that more banks should get permission for trade with Iran.

"This will generate healthy competition between UCO and IDBI encouraging them to be more customers friendly and thereby benefitting exim community," FIEO President Ganesh Kumar Gupta said.
Pepperfry aims to touch a GMV of $1 billion by March 2021 as it scales up its operations across metros and tier I and II cities

New Delhi: Furniture and home products marketplace Pepperfry expects to pump in about $12 million (over Rs 85 crore) this year as it sets up over 100 offline stores and strengthens its supply chain operations to reach more customers.

The company aims to touch a GMV (gross merchandise value) of $1 billion by March 2021 as it scales up its operations across metros and tier I and II cities.

"The omnichannel strategy has worked well for us. Our studios (offline stores) drive tons of engagement and also see 1.8X repeats. Most studios break even within 4-7 months," Pepperfry COO and founder Ashish Shah told PTI. He added that currently, the company has 42 such studios with 12 under franchisees and the remaining 30 are owned and operated by the company.

Pepperfry, which has 10,000 sellers on its platform, has more than 4.5 million registered users. The marketplace claimed it gets over seven million monthly visits, and the average ticket size (for furniture) is about Rs 17,000-20,000.

Through its 'Studio Pepperfry', the company showcases a curated range of furniture from its online portfolio. It also offers interior designing consultancy at these stores.

The company has raised over $150 million in funding from Goldman Sachs PE, Norwest Venture Partners, Bertelsmann India Investments and others.

"We are looking at smaller format stores (1,500 sq ft). The idea is to be in residential catchment areas and solve for access than be present in just high street areas. By March 2020, we are looking at over 100 new stores in top eight cities and more than 20 in tier I and II, taking the total to well over 150 stores," he said.

Shah explained that many of these stores will also be dedicated stores for its in-house brand 'Clouddio' (for mattresses and pillows) with the first of such store being launched in the coming weeks.

"Over 20 percent of the 100 Studios being planned will be standalone Clouddio stores... We are also looking at launching standalone studios for Casacraftone of our in-house furniture brand," he added.

Pepperfry has a number of in-house brands like Woodsworth, Mintwud, Casacraft, Amberville, Bohemiana, Mudramark, Mollycoddle, and Clouddio.

The company is looking at tapping into locations like Goa, Lucknow, Vadodara, Imphal, Hubbali, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, and Mysore among others with its retail expansion.

"We expect the capex to be about $11-12 million in the next one year as we set up these new stores as well as invest in a new warehouse in Bengaluru," Shah noted.

The Mumbai-based company, which has two warehouses in Mumbai and Gurugram, is also keen on tapping new-age technologies and will invest in areas like augmented reality/virtual reality to enhance the customer's shopping experience.

It has recently launched a new gift registry service on its platform that allows consumers to gift home and furniture products.
Razorpay's existing investors Y Combinator, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners India and Apoletto Managers are likely to participate in the latest round of the fundraising

Payments solution provider Razorpay is reportedly in talks with the American venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and others to raise around $75-$100 million, a media report said.

Following the fundraiser, Razorpay will be valued at about $425-$450 million, according to a report in The Times of India. The Bengaluru-based company's existing investors Y Combinator, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners India and Apoletto Managers are likely to participate in the latest round of the fundraising, the newspaper said.

Last month, in a list published by CB Insights, a firm that tracks startups globally, Razorpay was listed in the top 50 private companies in the world that are on the path to a $1 billion valuation. Razorpay is one among five Indian companies that made it to this prestigious list.

Over the last 4 years, Razorpay has witnessed tremendous growth, both, in terms of market share and mind space, with customers and industry peers.

The company currently powers digital payments for more than 2,00,000 small and large businesses; over 60 percent of businesses use more than one product. They have clocked in a healthy growth rate of 15-20 percent month-on-month and are geared up to increase their merchant count to 3,00,000 by 2019.

In January 2018, Razorpay raised $20 million in funding led by Tiger Global and Y Combinator. The series B round also saw participation from Matrix Partners.

The company had raised $11.5 million in series A round from the same marquee investors along with 33 angel investors, and strategic investment by MasterCard in 2016.

In December 2018, the Company announced the launch of three new financial products and an exclusive community for Indian start-ups to thrive. Razorpay X (Business Banking), Razorpay Capital and Razorpay Flash Checkout along with The X Club are the new additions to the existing Razorpay 2.0 product suite of payment gateway, subscriptions, disbursements, B2B collections, payment links and GST enabled invoices.

The converged payments solution company expects a five-time growth in its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year.

Last year, while around 4 percent of the country's GDP was derived from digital products and services using digital technologies, it is estimated that within the next four years, nearly 60 percent of India's GDP will have a strong connection to the digital transformation trends.

Founded in December 2014, Razorpay began operations by offering online businesses in India the technology to accept all payment modes.

With PTI inputs
Photo: Hope Volunteer Search and Rescue Volunteer search and rescue crews spent the night searching for a missing skier near the Coquihalla Summit on March. 3, 2019.

A nighttime rescue mission involved numerous volunteers after a backcountry skier got separated from their group on Zoa Peak near the Coquihalla Summit.

Hope Search and Rescue received a call for the missing skier at 4:30 on Saturday and rushed members out on a helicopter with Valley Helicopters to see if they could spot the person.

Unfortunately members were unable to locate the person, said Noelle Hartt, media officer for Hope SAR.

HSAR members set up a staging area at Falls Lake just off the Coquihalla Highway.

With falling temperatures, boots on the ground were essential. HSAR was soon joined by members from Chilliwack Search and Rescue, Nicola Valley Search and Rescue, Kent Harrison Search and Rescue and Central Fraser Valley, said Hartt.

Teams then headed out to search the area where the skier was last seen.

At about 3:30 a.m., one of the search and rescue ski teams made contact with the skier.

The subject who was okay, but extremely cold. The team worked to warm the subject with blankets and hot packs so they could make their way to another team who were waiting with snow machines, said a Hartt.

Once the skier was brought to the staging area all the search and rescue members were eagerly met with big, thankful hugs.

Best outcome, ever, said the spokesperson.
Private sector Karnataka Bank on Monday said the RBI has slapped a fine of Rs 4 crore on the bank for violating regulatory norms

New Delhi: Private sector Karnataka Bank on Monday said the RBI has slapped a fine of Rs 4 crore on the bank for violating regulatory norms.

The Reserve Bank of India has levied an aggregate penalty of Rs 40 million on the bank for delayed implementation of four of the Swift related operational controls.

Swift is the global messaging software used for transactions by the financial entities.

Notably, the massive Rs 14,000 crore fraud at the PNB was a case of misuse of this messaging software.

Post the PNB fraud, which came to light in February 2018, the RBI has been tough on banks to tighten all kind of their transactions.

Earlier on Saturday, four banks -- SBI, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank and IDBI -- had informed exchanges about monetary penalty slapped on them by the regulator for non-compliance with various directions.

Fine of Rs 3 crore was imposed on Union Bank, Rs 2 crore on Dena Bank, and Rs 1 crore each on IDBI and the SBI.
The Reserve Bank has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 3 crore on Union Bank, Rs 2 crore on Dena Bank, and Rs 1 crore each on IDBI and the SBI for non-compliance with various directions, regulatory filings said on Saturday

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 3 crore on Union Bank, Rs 2 crore on Dena Bank, and Rs 1 crore each on IDBI and the SBI for non-compliance with various directions, regulatory filings said on Saturday.

Union Bank said that the apex bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 30 million (Rs 3 crore) on it for the delay in adherence to its directives on 'Time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT-related controls' contained in the RBI circular of 20 February, 2018.

In a filing to the BSE, Dena Bank said the Reserve Bank has imposed a penalty of Rs 20 million on it for non-compliance with the directions issued on 20 February, 2018.

In another filing, IDBI Bank said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 10 million on the Bank for contravention of its regulatory directions on time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT-related operational controls.

"The Bank has put in place necessary corrective actions to strengthen its internal control mechanisms so as to ensure that such incidents do not recur," IDBI said.

The SBI said the RBI has levied an aggregate penalty of Rs 10 million on the bank for delayed implementation of the daily reconciliation of Swift transaction logs with effect from 20 February, 2018 at 226 "low-intensity branches" of the bank.
Reliance Industrial Investments has entered into agreements to acquire logistics services platform Grab and software firm C-Square Info Solutions

New Delhi: RIL-arm Reliance Industrial Investments has entered into agreements to acquire logistics services platform Grab and software firm C-Square Info Solutions.

Reliance Industries, in a regulatory filing, said its wholly owned subsidiary Reliance Industrial Investments and Holdings has entered into an agreement for acquisition of equity shares of

Grab A Grub Services Private Limited ('Grab') for a cash consideration not exceeding Rs 106 crore.

"RIIHL will further invest an amount of up to Rs 40 crore and is likely to be completed by March 2021. The total investment will translate into 83 percent of equity capital in Grab on a fully diluted basis," RIL said.

Logistics services platform Grab was incorporated on 29 October, 2014. It provides technology-enabled asset light logistics services for various verticals.

"The aforesaid investment will further augment the group's digital commerce initiatives and strengthen its logistics services, catering to both B2B and B2C segments," RIL said, adding that no regulatory approvals are required for this investment.

In a separate filing, RIL said RIIHL has entered into an agreement for acquisition of equity shares of C-Square Info Solutions Private Limited ('C-Square') for a cash consideration not exceeding around Rs 22.04 crore.

"RIIHL will further invest an amount of up to Rs 60 crore and is likely to be completed by March 2021. The total investment will translate into 82 per cent of equity capital in C-Square on a fully diluted basis," RIL said.

C-Square is a software company, incorporated on 18 July, 2002. It provides software solutions with specific focus on pharma sector for various stakeholders including C&F, distributors, retailers, online ecommerce, sales force automation, etc.

"The aforesaid investment will further enable the group's digital commerce initiatives and solutions," RIL said, adding that no regulatory approvals are required for this investment.

The investment does not fall within related party transactions and none of RIL's promoter/promoter group/group companies have any interest in the transaction, it said.

(Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.)
In its proposal, SEBI has referred to its interim order dated 25 January, 2017, through which the regulator had barred Mallya and six others from holding directorship in any listed company till further directions.

New Delhi: Capital markets regulator SEBI has asked the government to amend the Companies Act to ensure that a director declared by it as a disqualified person should immediately vacate the position, a plea triggered by defaulter businessman Vijay Mallya's reluctance to do so.

Under the Companies Act, the office of a director becomes vacant in case of he or she being disqualified by an order of a court or a tribunal, among other reasons, but there is no explicit mention of an order by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which is mandated with regulation of thousands of listed firms in India.

In a proposal, SEBI has now proposed that the Companies Act should also clearly mention that a person should vacate the office of a director if it orders his or her disqualification.

Officials said the Finance Ministry is in agreement with SEBI on the proposed amendment and has asked the regulator to get it approved by its board and subsequently forward it to the Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is the nodal ministry for the Companies Act.

In its proposal, SEBI has referred to its interim order dated 25 January, 2017, through which the regulator had barred Mallya and six others from holding directorship in any listed company till further directions.

The SEBI order followed a probe into alleged illegal fund diversions at United Spirits Ltd, an erstwhile firm of the business group headed by Mallya which he had later sold to global liquor giant Diageo. Mallya and others were also barred from the securities markets in the same order.

However, Mallya did not comply with the order by not stepping down as a director of United Breweries Ltd, another listed company of his group, for months.

Soon after the SEBI order, Mallya had also criticised SEBI in a series of tweets and had said the allegations of fund diversion were baseless and had alleged that he was a target of "witch hunt".

After refusing to quit the United Breweries Board for months, Mallya finally ceased to be its director in August 2017, presumably after pressure from other directors. In the case of United Spirits, he was asked by the new owner Diageo in April 2015 itself to quit the board for alleged fund diversion.

Mallya is facing a number of cases against him, including of loan default, and a court in the UK has already ordered his extradition back to India and the same was also approved by the British government last month.

Subsequently, 63-year-old Mallya, who had left India in March 2016 for the UK, has also filed an application for permission to appeal against the extradition order.

Explaining its rationale for seeking changes in the Companies Act, SEBI has said the fact that Mallya failed to comply with its direction has brought forward a "legal conundrum" in respect of whether SEBI has the power to enforce its direction when a director refuses to comply with the same.

At present, SEBI's direction restraining a person from acting as a director is not a ground for vacation of his or her directorship under the existing provisions of Section 167 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Further, Sections 164, 167 and 169 of the Companies Act, dealing with appointment, vacancy and removal of directors, are administered only by the central government through the Corporate Affairs Ministry.

"These provisions have not been delegated to SEBI for administering them in respect of the listed companies," the official said, citing the regulator's proposal for the amendment in the law.

While SEBI is empowered to initiate adjudication proceedings under the SEBI Act for non-compliance of its directions in such cases, it can only be a penal proceeding for non-compliance and not for enforcement of the direction.

In view of these concerns, SEBI has proposed that the issue can be resolved by amending the Section 167 of the Companies Act to include "order of Sebi" as one of the grounds for vacation of office of a director.
A college professor in Karnataka was allegedly forced to kneel down and apologise on Sunday for praising Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on social media. The incident took place at the BLDEA's VP Dr PG Halakatti College of Engineering and Technology in the Vijayapura district of Karnataka.

A college professor in Karnataka was allegedly forced to kneel down and apologise on Sunday for praising Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on social media. The incident took place at the BLDEA's VP Dr PG Halakatti College of Engineering and Technology in the Vijayapura district of Karnataka.

According to reports, Sandeep Wathar, the civil engineering professor, praised Imran for releasing Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman and also accused the BJP government of creating a war-like situation in the country in a Facebook post. Wathar also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even called Pakistan an intelligent nation, The Times of India reported. He was later made to delete the post.

Enraged over his statement, ABVP activists forced Wathar to apologise and kneel down with his hands folded, while also demanding his resignation. According to the reports, the professor was asked by the college management to apologise as ABVP activists began a demonstration. Reportedly, the ABVP workers even made Wathar promise that he would not post such comments on social media again.

However, the police refused to look into the incident as the professor did not lodge any complaint with them. Meanwhile, ABVP members insisted on police lodging a suo motu complaint against the professor.

The college authorities, on the hand, have decided to meet on Tuesday to look into the matter and take appropriate action, The Times of India report said. ABVP leaders Sachin Bagewadi, Kalmesh Sahukar, Vinod Maniwaddar, Basavaraj Lagali and others led the protests, the report stated.

ABVP Karnataka, however, tweeted in response to the video of the incident shared by journalist Samar Harlarnkar and said that the lecturer gave an "anti-national" statement which was condemned by the student community.

Being responsible student wing we always stands with National Security, lecturer of particular college gave a Anti National statement which was condemned by student community. #NationFirst  ABVP Karnataka (@ABVPKarnataka) March 3, 2019

The college in question is run by a society owned by Karnataka home minister and Congress leader MB Patil, who also serves on its board of governors, said reports.
For the Indian Armed and Security forces, who have been struggling with the obsolete INSAS rifles, Modi's Sunday announcement of opening a manufacturing unit in Amethi will come as a good news.

Since coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his first rally in Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency Amethi and inaugurated a manufacturing unit for AK-203 rifles, an India-Russia joint venture. The political rally on Sunday prompted Congress chief Rahul Gandhi accusing Modi of lying regarding the ordnance factory. Rahul tweeted:

???????????? ??, ????? ?? ????????? ???????? ?? ????????? 2010 ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ????  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 4, 2019

The AK-203/103 rifle, which will soon be manufactured in Korwa area of Amethi after Modi laid the foundation stone of its manufacturing unit, is the latest derivative of the legendary AK-47 rifle. Reports have said that the project, in collaboration with the Russians, will be undertaken at the Korwa ordnance factory, which was established in 2010. Around 7.5 lakh units of the latest version of AK-47 will be manufactured in the new unit.

#MakeInIndia in defence - Taking India's defence production to next level. Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in joint venture with Russia's Kalashnikov Concern will manufacture the 7.62x39 mm caliber AK-203 guns at Korwa (Amethi) U.P.@nsitharaman @makeinindia @DrSubhashMoS @sjaju1 pic.twitter.com/NsitUXbGny  Defence Production India (@DefProdnIndia) March 3, 2019

After the rifles are supplied to the defence forces, the government, in the next phase, will provide them to paramilitary and the state police forces. There is a possibility that 15 to 20 years down the line, all the forces would be using this assault rifle as their standard weapon, ANI reported. Apart from this, the defence ministry has already signed a contract with American Sig Sauer for the supply of 7.69mm 59 calibre advanced assault rifles. These would be given to soldiers directly engaged in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.

The rifles will progressively replace the Indian Army's in-service INSAS (India Small Arms System) and AK-47 rifles. The 200-series of AK rifles represents the next generation and evolution of the 100-series of AKs.

How does INSAS rifle compare with AK-203

The Indian Army has been looking for an all-weather durable assault rifle for a while as its mainstay weapon INSAS has been reportedly riddled with problems. Issues including, gun-jamming, rifle going to automatic mode when it was set for three-round bursts and oil falling on user's eyes during combat, have been reasons behind the system being prone to serious accidents.

According to a report in The Times of India, during the 1999 Kargil war, soldiers had complained of INSAS guns jamming or magazine cracking in freezing temperatures during combat.

The 200-series Kalashnikov rifles have same basic design, layout and major features (including famous reliability and durability), but feature improved ergonomics and modern accessory interfaces.

The AK103 has plastic folding buttstock that ensures convenience on the march, during transportation and landing operations. The weapon can fire with buttstock folded. According to the Kalashnikov website, the AK103 can carry a 40-mm under-barrel grenade launcher or a knife-bayonet.

The AK103 can carry a 40-mm under-barrel grenade launcher or a knife-bayonet. There is a side dove-tail mounting rail for optical, collimator or night sights. New muzzle brake provides for cyclic fire accuracy and further reduces muzzle climb and burst recoil.

Manufactured in the Thiruchirappalli ordnance factory, Kanpur small arms factory and rifle factory Ichhapur in West Bengal, INSAS was predominantly not meant to kill, but only incapacitate. Bullets fired from INSAS have an effective range of 400 metre and the gun magazine can hold 20 rounds. Though its magazine is translucent, it sometimes breaks when it hits the ground.

AK 200 series is 100 percent accurate and will be lighter and shorter than an INSAS. It can host an under barrel grenade launcher and all versions can be equipped with quick-detachable tactical sound suppressors. The rifle, which can fire 10 bullets in a second (means 600 bullets in a minute) is a NATO-grade ammunition. Kalashnikovs can work under extreme climatic conditions and are effective in sand, soil and water and they never get jammed.

Hunt for reliable rifle for forces ends?

"The Indian defence-industrial sector will have the opportunity to fulfil the needs of national security agencies in this category of small arms, resting upon advanced Russian technologies." Russian president Vladimir Putin said in a message which was read out by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

He said military and technical cooperation has traditionally been one of the key areas of the special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India. "For more than seven decades, we have been supplying reliable and high-quality armaments and equipment to Indian friends. Around 170 military and industrial facilities have been set up in India with assistance from our country," Putin said.

Favoured by the military around the world and operational in all conditions, the AK-47 rifles is much in demand because of their reliability and operational ease  militaries of 50 couyntries use AK-47 and over 30 countries have the licence to manufacture the Russian assault rifle.

Reports in 2018 stated that soldiers were trying innovative ways to modify their INSAS rifles to reduce overall length and weight of the existing weapons so as to lessen fatigue and enhance accuracy. "The modification of INSAS/AK-47 weapon has been done to include corner shot capability. The modified weapon is more stable while firing, compact, easy to carry and has better accuracy," sources in defence were quoted as saying.

Modi's Sunday announcement of opening a manufacturing unit in Amethi will likely translate into a few votes and jobs in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the statement will definitely bolster the Indian security forces who have been struggling with an obsolete INSAS.

Soldiers deployed in counter-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir and North East have started using either the AK-47 or imported guns. The Times of India reported that even the CRPF had switched over to AK-47 in militancy-infested areas.

Special forces like Para commandos, Marine Commandos (popularly known as Marcos), Garuda Commando Force (IAF special force) and National Security Guard (anti-terror force) also rely on German or Israel automatic rifles like Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine guns and Tavor rifles.
The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.

Washington: The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.

US President Donald Trump's administration has been publicly focused on lowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a 14 February suicide car bomb in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir triggered the first Indian air strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.

Senior US officials told Reuters that as the United States spoke with senior Pakistani officials, emphasising the need to lower the risk of conflict with India, Islamabad privately offered warnings on Afghanistan. Pakistani officials said their ability to support Afghan peace talks could be in jeopardy in the event of a full-blown crisis, US officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Theyll stop being a facilitator, they will stop the pressure they are applying" on the Taliban, one US official said, recounting Pakistani warnings conveyed to Washington.

Pakistan has publicly denied any role in the suicide bombing. But the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility for it, and India has long accused Islamabad of supporting them.

The United States has likewise accused Pakistan of ties to Taliban militants who are fighting in neighboring Afghanistan against American and US-backed Afghan government forces.

Reuters has previously reported, however, that US officials have recently seen a positive shift in Pakistans behavior.

Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan, has played a behind-the-scenes role in supporting US peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, including by facilitating travel to negotiations.

Current and former US officials caution that Islamabad could again choose to act as a spoiler.

I dont believe that Pakistan has the capability to straight out make peace happen in Afghanistan, but they definitely have the capability to make peace not (happen), said Laurel Miller, a former senior State Department official.

Movement Of Troops

In the past several days, India and Pakistan have appeared to dial down hostilities that brought the arch enemies to the brink of another war. But its unclear whether the calm will hold.

A Pakistani official in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that unless the tensions were reduced, there was a very strong likelihood that Pakistani troops would be moved from the border with Afghanistan to reinforce positions near India.

Pakistans UN Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told Reuters that Islamabads focus could completely shift to its eastern border with India.

If the crisis with India continues, Pakistan will be obliged to keep our entire focus on our Eastern border. That may affect our efforts on our Western front, Lodhi said.

The Pakistani official in Washington said Pakistan had not been focused on Afghanistan since tensions with India increased last month, and it would have implications for peace talks.

Some current and former U.S. officials say Islamabad may be over-stating the risks of fallout on Afghan peace talks, which resumed over the weekend in Doha. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they noted that Islamabad has its own self-interests in mind as it seeks to influence the peace process in neighboring Afghanistan.

But other U.S. officials acknowledge a major crisis involving India would be all-consuming for Islamabad, and say its another reason why lowering tensions is so important.

In Afghanistan, which fears its country is being used as a proxy for tension between India and Pakistan, the foreign ministry summoned Pakistans envoy to Kabul after he made similar warnings.

Veteran diplomats say that if the United States pushes Pakistan too hard on combating militants, Islamabad could diminish its support for the peace process.

Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said many of the Pakistani officials who dealt with India were also responsible for Afghanistan, and that tensions could impact peace talks.

He said a lack of U.S. focus on South Asia was problematic.

We need much more focus and strategic thinking from the Trump Administration on this region, and an effective way of implementing that strategy, Feldman said.
Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah hit out at the Opposition parties, alleging that they 'raised doubts' on the courage of the Armed Forces and their demand for proof of the IAF air strike brought a 'smile on Pakistan's face'

Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah hit out at the Opposition parties, alleging that they "raised doubts" on the courage of the Armed Forces and their demand for proof of the IAF air strike brought a "smile on Pakistan's face". Shah said that these parties should "keep quiet" if they were unable to appreciate what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the country's Armed Forces had achieved through "non-military" "pre-emptive" air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot.

Praising the prime minister's leadership, Shah claimed Modi went about his work routinely even as he thought up a plan to punish the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack on February 14 which killed 40 CRPF personnel. He claimed Modi made the country understand what "zero tolerance" for terror meant by ordering the surgical strike and air strike.

Shah also said that over 250 terrorists were killed in India's "non-military, pre-emptive" air strikes on 26 February. The Indian Express quoted Shah as saying, "After the Uri attack, the army did a surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, people said there could not be a surgical strike due to the high level of alertness. But on the 13th day, the Narendra Modi government carried out an airstrike, and more than 250 terrorists were killed without suffering any losses, Shah said.

"Opposition leaders do not know what happened. Mamata di asks for proof. Rahul baba says it is being politicised. Akhilesh asks for a probe. Be ashamed that your statements have brought a smile on Pakistan's face," Shah said. "Pakistan smiled only after the press conferences of the opposition leaders where they raised questions on the courage of the armed forces," Shah claimed.

"We can understand that you do not have the courage of Modi ji, but if you cannot support and praise what Modi ji and the armed forces did, then at least keep quiet," he said.

"After the Pulwama attack, people said surgical strike was not possible, as army could not go (to bust terror camps). Modiji, while going about his routine work quietly, decided and planned (the counterattack) and our brave air force jawans killed hundreds of terrorists in an air strike and came back safely," the BJP chief said.

Shah said with these strikes on terror camps, India has become only the third country in the world after the US and Israel to avenge attacks on its armed forces personnel.

"Now, the world accepts that India cannot be taken lightly. The entire world accepts that one cannot tamper with India's borders. The entire world now accepts that it is not easy to touch Indian soldiers. They will get the response for a bullet with a cannon," he said.

Addressing a gathering of PM's Modh Vanik community in Surat, Shah said that the prime minister had come from a humble background and had become the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy. He said while Modi "does not believe in casteism", the fact remains that he comes from the same community which has made its presence felt across the country through sheer hard work and good behaviour.

Shah said he knew Modi since 1980, when the latter was an unknown political entity to most, and claimed the PM has worked tirelessly to ensure ordinary workers like him (Shah) rose in the party.

"Modi ji does not believe in casteism. Ever since he accepted public life, he always worked to remove the pollution of caste from politics. But it a fact that Modi ji also comes from the same community," he told the gathering.

Shah said the Modi government took several decisions to promote small businesses like waiving GST for firms with a turnover of up to Rs 40 lakh.
Officials said that there are around 32,000 people who come in the range of mortar and small arms fire along the LoC in Kashmir's Uri

As the shelling between Indian and Pakistani troops started along the border, 30-year-old, Syed Maqsood Ahmad, was worried about the safety of his family.

At a distance of nearly 10 miles from his house, which lies among a cluster of brick and mud houses on a hillside at Saidapora in Uri, snow-capped mountains separate parts of Kashmir. The village of Saidpora lies in the range of artillery fire along the Line of Control (LoC), while in the other areas, cross-border shelling has already triggered migration. As shells landed in the village of Kamalkote in the garrison town of Uri on March 1, civilian Riyaz Ahmad was injured outside his house, while three houses were also damaged. Firing was also witnessed in the areas of Madian and Kundi Barjala in Uri where six other houses were also damaged.

Officials said that there are around 32,000 people who come in the range of mortar and small arms fire along the LoC in Uri. "There are around 29 villages which come in the range of mortar firing. Although there was a lull along the border today, the mortar shells earlier landed in three villages of Madian , Kundi Barjala and Kamalkote. In the firing, one civilian was injured and is recovering at a hospital in Srinagar," said Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Uri, Riyaz Ahmad.

After a brief lull along the LoC yesterday, firing resumed between Indian and Pakistani troops in Akhnoor on Monday. The heavy mortar shelling from Pakistani side was retaliated to "effectively" by Indian troops, army officials said.

Maqsood said that he would have moved to a safer place, but was too poor to afford any rented house. "I have four children and I am too poor to move to a safer place," he said, "If the tense situation along the border persists, we may be on the receiving end."

In main town Uri, many families have migrated from Kamalkote, along with women and children, and are living with their relatives, while some have been staying at a government school. The situation was so tense that the government pressed into service ambulances to transport the families to Uri town. "We have designated two schools in Uri to shift the families. We provide bedding at the safe shelter and have also made heating arrangements. In the two schools at Uri, we can accommodate at least 4,000 people," said Riyaz.

He added that even as the border firing has stopped in Uri, the government was still running "a control room" that was manned by over 20 people where the "people's calls for evacuation are being attended to". Riyaz went on, "We have pressed into service nine ambulances to transport the families to the Uri town. We have asked the people to move to safer places, but there are many who didnt want to leave behind their cattle and houses."

Following the killing of at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in a blast on 14 February at Awantipora, India and Pakistani troops resorted to the intense shelling along the border.

On 27 February, while Pakistani aircraft crossed into the Indian territory along the LoC in Poonch, army officials said, the ground troops of Pakistan assisted their air force by carrying out heavy mortar shelling along the border at around 20 places. Army officials, who didn't wish to be named, said that after the airstrikes the entire LoC remained active and over 100 incidents of shelling by Pakistani troops have been reported.

Defence spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Devinder Anand, said that the Pakistani troops resorted to firing along the border in Akhnoor for over three-and-a-half hours. He said that the small arms and mortar fire started at 3 am, adding that the troops "retaliated effectively" to Pakistani firing.

Amjad Ali, a resident of the border area of Dachi in Uri, said that people were "apprehensive" that they may bear the brunt during the intense border firing. "We dont have the bunkers in which we can stay during the firing. Although the matter was brought to the notice of the government many times, it has not done anything," he said.
Amid the India-Pakistan tensions, the need of the hour is for both BJP and the Opposition to set aside their political motives in national interest. Careful thought and diplomacy needs to pave the forward, not a political blame game.

On 26 February, India woke up to the news of the air force bombing Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camps in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. From saluting the Indian Air Force pilots who carried out the operation to calling it a "befitting reply" to Pakistan's violent orchestrations in Kashmir, leaders from across the political spectrum hailed what was dubbed as "surgical strikes 2.0". But it didn't take long for them to pull a 180.

In the hours after the Ministry of External Affairs confirmed the air strikes in Balakot  though without revealing the extent of the damage inflicted and restricting the figure on casualties to "a very large number"  reports in foreign media contradicted the information doing the rounds in India. They questioned whether any terrorist camp was targeted in the first place, in a way backing Pakistan's claims that a hillside forest was hit with no casualties.

"We saw fallen trees and one damaged house, and four craters where the bombs had fallen," Reuters quoted a villager from near Jaba Top  the site of the air strikes  as saying. In another report, Reuters quoted a number of villagers as saying that only one local resident "was hurt by something or hit by some window".

The New York Times quoted Rahul Bedi, an analyst at the London-based Jane's Information Group that tracks the defense industry, as saying: "What they hit is speculation for now  they say they hit a terrorist camp, but a lot of intelligence sources say those camps in Pakistan had been cleaned out in recent days. This is more political symbolism than anything else. Modi had to show some demonstrable action on India's part, ahead of elections."

As is the case in most such incidents, speculation and contradictory reports will continue to emerge till authorities present their version of the event with proof. But Opposition parties caught on to these reports raising doubts about the authenticity of the Indian government's claims and are now demanding proof of the air force mission.

"After the air strikes, we were told there were 300 deaths, 350 deaths. But I read reports in The New York Times and Washington Post that said no human was killed. Another foreign media report said only one person was injured... The people of this country want to know how many were killed (at Balakot), where the bombs were actually dropped and whether they were dropped on the target," West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said, though she clarified that she did not "want politics over the blood of jawans".

On Monday, Congress leader Kapil Sibal tweeted a list of foreign publications that had reported on "no proof of militant losses at Balakot", questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi whether he was "guilty of politicising terror".

In response to demands for proof of the IAF air strikes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said "no security agencies ever share operational details". Modi himself has accused the Opposition of demoralising security forces by casting doubts on the operation, saying: "In their fixation with criticising Modi, they are opposing the country and comprising its interests."

The politically charged environment in India today is clashing with the wave of nationalism triggered by the JeM's suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, fuelled by the now-debated IAF air strikes. But if we look at how India and Pakistan were nearly at the brink of a war last week, with cross-border tensions worse than in years, is colouring the defence action in political light the right way to go?

Pollsters believe the BJP is likely to benefit from the Balakot operation, a possibility of which the Opposition is well aware, no matter how many times it clarifies that it is not questioning the defence forces (as it seemed to after the 2016 surgical strikes). But leaders in the NDA cashing in on the air strikes in the context of the approaching elections is not helping matters in any way.

BJP president Amit Shah, on Sunday, said Opposition parties were bringing "a smile on Pakistan's face" by questioning the courage of the armed forces. Shah used the occasion of an election campaign rally to say that "more than 250 terrorists were killed" in the air strikes  a figure no government representative has revealed yet  and in the same breath, he accused Congress president Rahul Gandhi of politicising the military operation. The irony is not lost here.

It wasn't long after news of the Balakot operation broke that Karnataka BJP president BS Yeddyurappa said the mission would tilt things in Modi's favour and help the party win 22 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming elections. He tried to clarify his statement later, but the damage was done.

Similarly, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said at the NDA's Sankalp Rally in Patna, which even Modi addressed, that "the way we won the battle of bullets, we will also win the battle of ballots in the Lok Sabha polls". Another political reference to the IAF air strikes.

In fact, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took it to another level, by saying: "If we do not bring Modi sarkar back to power in India and Assam again, the Pakistan Army or terrorists will probably come and attack the Indian Parliament and Assam Assembly, and the prime minister will not have the courage to retaliate."

Jaitley may dismiss suggestions that the military action against Pakistan had anything to do with politics ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, but his own NDA colleagues are betraying the ill-concealed agenda.

To say that the situation between India and Pakistan is delicate at the moment would be an understatement. After Pakistan returned IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Friday "as a goodwill gesture", it said the ball was now in India's court to de-escalate the tensions, though the Pakistani army chief told top military leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia that they would "surely respond to any aggression in self-defence".

Similarly, the Indian Army chief has also asked soldiers to remain vigilant to "counter the nefarious designs of the enemy and anti-national elements", indicating that the neighbours are far from being free of the threat of the situation spiraling into a war.

India-Pakistan hostilities need delicate handling, and adding political colour to the sensitive situation is not what the country needs right now. This is precisely what families of soldiers have been reminding the public of amid the warmongering that followed the Pulwama terror attack. It's easy to sit behind a phone or a desktop and cry "destroy Pakistan" and point fingers at the administration. But this is war we are talking about. The need of the hour is for both the ruling party and the Opposition to introspect and set aside their selfish motives in national interest. Careful thought and diplomacy need to pave the forward, not a political blame game.

"Stop politicising the army. It is as sacred as the State," Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu tweeted, summarising what the country needs (amid more political accusations directed at the BJP-led government).
Photo: Contributed

The Province has announced more than 600 supportive modular homes have opened in Vancouver.

Hundreds of people who are experiencing homelessness in Vancouver will now have a warm and safe place to live.

On Sunday, the City of Vancouver and the Province celebrated the grand opening of Nora Hendrix Place as part of the B.C. governments commitment to building more than 2,000 supportive homes throughout the province.

Named after a prominent member of the Black community, Nora Hendrix Place prioritizes Black and Indigenous residents who are experiencing homelessness. Located in the Hogans Alley neighbourhood, the name also recognizes and honours the legacy of Strathconas former Black community.

Working together towards a common purpose, we can achieve true progress. This is clear in how our partnership with the City of Vancouver has brought more than 600 people in off the streets and into new homes and a hopeful future, said Selina Robinson, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Fifty-two new homes at 258 Union Street, built by Horizon North, will each have a bathroom and kitchen. Six of the units are fully wheelchair accessible. Residents will pay a monthly rent of $375, which is the social assistance shelter allowance provided by the provincial government.

We are seeing the transformative power of housing for people in Vancouver, and we will continue to work with communities and partners to help people struggling with homelessness, here and throughout British Columbia, said Robinson.

More than 900 supportive homes are now open throughout the province, with a further 1,100 underway in 22 communities throughout B.C.

We know that when people have the basics, like a safe, warm place to call home and access to the support they need to get back on track, we are building healthier communities in Vancouver and throughout British Columbia, said Melanie Mark, MLA of Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

The supportive housing will be managed by the PHS Community Services Society and will be working with Hogans Alley society to ensure the temporary modular homes reflect the long-term vision of the site.

A livestream of the announcement can be found online here.
US senator Bernie Sanders returned to his hometown on Saturday to deliver the first rally speech of his presidential campaign, vowing to defeat 'the most dangerous president in modern American history', Donald Trump.

New York: US senator Bernie Sanders returned to his hometown on Saturday to deliver the first rally speech of his presidential campaign, vowing to defeat "the most dangerous president in modern American history", Donald Trump.

The Vermont independent voiced confidence at the address in the New York borough of Brooklyn that he would first beat the crowded field of his rivals for the 2020 nomination, with much of his liberal, populist agenda now considered mainstream Democratic policy.

"I want to thank all of you for being part of a campaign which is not only going to win the Democratic nomination, which is not only going to defeat Donald Trump, who is the most dangerous president in modern American history," Sanders told the crowd of several thousand people.

"But, with your help, we are going to transform this country and finally create an economy and a government which works for all of us, not just the one percent." His promised that his campaign would say "loudly and clearly that the underlying principles of our government will not be greed, hatred and lies."

Sanders returned to Brooklyn College, which he once attended, for a rally emphasizing his personal story, as the working class son of a Jewish immigrant who grew up in poor housing. "I did not have a father who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers, casinos and country clubs," Sanders said in another dig at Trump.

"I did not come from a family that gave me a $2,00,000 allowance every year beginning at the age of three."

'Too radical'

Sanders spelled out his big ticket items for 2020, his second presidential campaign after losing the nomination to Hillary Clinton in 2016  "Medicare for All," a $15-an-hour minimum wage and climate change.

Many are long-held principles previously dismissed as too radical by more moderate Democrats, but are now more widely accepted talking points as he squares off against several other progressives who have embraced many of his issues. Following November's midterm elections, the Congressional Progressive Caucus  co-founded by Sanders in 1991  wields more power than at any time in its history.

Senators Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, all 2020 candidates, co-sponsored his Medicare for All legislation in 2017. Julian Castro, another Democratic hopeful, joins Gillibrand in supporting universal early childhood education.

And Warren, Booker and Harris have all proclaimed support for the Green New Deal, an ultra-progressive platform to combat climate change that was unveiled this month by congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising liberal star.

Sanders was an outsider candidate three years ago. But with his massive political network, muscular fundraising capacity and resilient message, he is now a frontrunner. He would need to best multiple formidable rivals  including former vice president Joe Biden, should he enter the race  and victory is anything but assured.

On Sunday, Sanders heads to Selma, Alabama, to mark the anniversary of the 1965 clash known as "Bloody Sunday" and will also visit Chicago, where he graduated from college and was active in civil rights protests.
People from different nationalities held a protest outside the United Nations building in New York on Sunday against Pakistan for sponsoring cross border terrorism in India and Afghanistan.

New York: People from different nationalities held a protest outside the United Nations building in New York on Sunday against Pakistan for sponsoring cross border terrorism in India and Afghanistan.

While condemning the 14 February Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, the protestors demanded that the UN should make Pakistan accountable for Pulwama, 2008 Mumbai and other terror attacks. Around 400 people from India, the Caribbean countries, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Israel, Balochistan (part of Pakistan) expressed staged the protest.

Speaking to ANI, Richard Benkin, a Jewish American said, "Pakistan long has been cancer on the international body politic. It was allowed to get away with sponsored attacks on India for decades, but that time has passed. A new and strong Indian resolve defends the nation. We all must stand with India and let Pakistan know that its cowardice and support for terror will go unanswered no longer. While it oppresses its own minorities, it lashes out against other, peace-loving nations. Failure to stop Pakistan now only means greater problems and more deaths later."

Protesters raised slogans about against Mumbai 26/11 attacks, Pulwama and Uri attacks, 2001 Indian Parliament attack, 9/11 US attacks, Kabul US Embassy attacks, London bus and subway bombings, Germany embassy attack, extra-judicial killings of activists from Balochistan province of Pakistan, perpetrated by those who are nurtured, protected and funded by Pakistani establishment.

They also urged UN and the world community to sanction Pakistans army generals and ISI leadership, freeze their assets around the world, declare Pakistan as a global terrorist state and JeM Chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. A memorandum was also mailed to Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres in this regard.
A day after BJP president Amit Shah said the Balakot air strikes killed 'more than 250 terrorists', IAF Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa said the air force does not don't count casualties, it only hits targets.

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa on Monday said the Indian Air Force's (IAF) job was to hit its targets, not count casualties. He made the statement at a press briefing in response to a question on the number of terrorists killed in the IAF's 26 February air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

"We hit our target. The air force doesn't calculate casualty numbers, the government does that," he said.

Besides the obvious India-Pakistan tensions, his statement holds significance as it comes a day after BJP president Amit Shah claimed "more than 250 terrorists" were killed in the air strikes in Balakot on training camps of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which carried out the suicide attack on a CRPF convoy on 14 February, killing 42 troopers.

"After the Uri attack, the army did a surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, people said there could not be a surgical strike due to the high level of alertness. But on the 13th day (after the Pulwama attack), the Narendra Modi government carried out air strike, and more than 250 terrorists were killed without suffering any losses," Shah said at an event in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

It must be noted that no government representative has revealed the number of casualties in the Balakot operation yet, yet the BJP president presented the figure to his audience with confidence.

On the day of the air strikes, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale steered clear of mentioning how many terrorists were killed in the IAF air strikes, only mentioning that the IAF had "struck the biggest training camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Balakot", and in this intelligence-led operation, "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and jihadis were eliminated".

The ambiguity around this figure, as well as conflicting reports on the extent of damage inflicted by the air strikes in Balakot, are the primary reasons why the Opposition has been demanding proof of what is being called "surgical strikes 2.0". But the government has been on the defence on this front, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claiming that "no security agencies ever share operational details".
Slamming the prime minister, Rahul tweeted, 'Dear Prime Minister, I laid the foundation stone for Amethi's Ordinance Factory in 2010. For the last several years there has been production of small arms. Yesterday, you went to Amethi and due to force of habit, lied again. Do not you feel ashamed at all?

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "lying" in his election campaign in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Modi addressed rallies in politically-crucial states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and slammed the Opposition for doubting the IAF air strike in Pakistan and trying to "finish" him off while he works for development of the country.

In his first visit to Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul, since coming to power in 2014, Modi inaugurated a manufacturing unit for AK-203 rifles, an India-Russia joint venture. The Congress president has been alleging that his constituency was receiving step-motherly treatment from the Centre with various projects being stalled since the BJP-led government came to power.

The prime minister, who announced development projects worth Rs 538 crore for the constituency, said Amethi will get a new identity now and be known by the new venture of AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles which will be made at the Korba ordnance factory.

Slamming the prime minister, Rahul tweeted, "Dear Prime Minister, I laid the foundation stone for Amethi's Ordnance Factory in 2010. For the last several years there has been production of small arms. Yesterday, you went to Amethi and due to force of habit, lied again. Do not you feel ashamed at all?"

???????????? ??, ????? ?? ????????? ???????? ?? ????????? 2010 ??? ????? ??? ???? ??? ????? ?? ????? ?? ???? ???? ???????? ?? ??????? ?? ??? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?? ????? ???? ???? ??? ??? ????? ???? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ???? ????  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 4, 2019

Modi, who landed after addressing a rally some 350 km away in Bihar's Patna, said that Amethi, which has traditionally been loyal to the Gandhi family, was the best example of his 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas' (together with all, development for all) motto and his government has done full justice to the constituency in terms of the development.

"We were not able to win elections the last time (2014) but won your hearts. Smritiji worked for the development here and did more work than that done by the one who (Rahul Gandhi) has won from here," he said, referring to Union minister Smriti Irani who unsuccessfully contested the last election from Amethi.

"Those who voted for us and those who did not, all are ours...This is the mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'," Modi said.

The AK-203 will replace the INSAS rifles being used by the Army and other forces. The immediate target is to produce 7,00,000 AK-203 rifles in the facility, official sources said.

"The AK-203 rifles will be manufactured in Amethi under Russia-India joint venture...these rifles will be known as 'made in Amethi' and will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists," Modi said.

In a message read out by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Russian President Vladmir Putin said the joint venture will be able to fulfil Indian security agencies' requirement for small arms.

Without naming Rahul, Modi said, "Some people go around giving speeches of 'made in Ujjain', 'made in Jaipur', 'made in Jaisalmer'...this is Modi. Now 'Made in Amethi' will be AK-203 rifles. It will help our jawans." He said the rifles will be made in bulk and exported also, thus presenting employment opportunities to the local youths.

Modi alleged the previous government sat on the Rafale deal for years. "When our government assumed office, we finalised it in one-and-a-half years...and the first Rafale aircraft will be in our skies soon," he added.

In Patna, where he shared the stage with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a political rally first time since winning the 2014 elections, Modi said the opposition parties were speaking a language that "suits" Pakistan.

"Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully," Modi said.

He said there seemed to be a competition among the opposition parties led by the Congress for hurling abuse at the "Chowkidar". "But the people of the country have made up their minds. They are going to punish these parties once again and teach them a few more lessons."

The two states jointly send 120 members to the 545-member Lok Sabha. In 2014 elections, the BJP-led NDA had won majority of seats in the states.

At the Patna rally, Modi also questioned the opposition over their February 27 resolution expressing "deep anguish" over the ruling party's "blatant politicisation" of the sacrifices made by the armed forces.

"When the country needed to speak in one voice, 21 opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning us. They are demanding proof from the armed forces for their act of bravery," he stated.

Without naming Congress chief, who has coined the slogan "Chowkidar chor hai" (the watchman is the thief), Modi said, "Those who run their political shops in the name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynasties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job."

Modi also took a veiled dig at jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, saying, "The people of Bihar have seen a lot in the name of purchase of fodder. Our government has worked for doing away with middlemen who siphon off public money."

The NDA government is working on all departments including roadways, railways and airways to improve infrastructure in Bihar, he said.

Modi also spoke about India's rising stock in the eyes of Islamic countries which he said was reflected in the increased quota for Haj pilgrims and Saudi Arabia agreeing to free more than 800 migrants lodged in its jails.

He said the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as the guest of honour at the recent Organization of Islamic Cooperation conference exemplified that. "Such an honour was bestowed on India after five decades during which mostly the Congress and its allies were in power. Why the voice of India was not heard in Islamic nations during that period?"

"My government is taking care of the concerns of every section of the society," he said.

With inputs from agencies
Amid the ongoing dogfight between India and Pakistan and tensions at the border, the fake news network is on a roll, peddling 'facts' that are confusing the public and some even borderline provocative.

Amid the ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan, the fake news network is on a roll, peddling "facts" that are confusing the public and some which are outright provocative. Given the current circumstances, the latest story it spun went viral within minutes  that Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar is dead.

Reports across social media even went into detail about the JeM chief dying of liver cancer and having been at the terror camp in Balakot when the Indian Air Force carried out its air strikes on 26 February.

We could say that the story might have been believable amid other reports that he is undergoing dialysis regularly for renal failure, and even more so after Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi himself said the JeM chief is "unwell to the extent that he can't leave his house".

Soon after the fake news on Azhar's death created a frenzy on social media, more reports emerged that reported that the JeM chief is alive and reports of his death are incorrect.

Azhar's JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which killed 42 CRPF troopers, on 14 February. In retaliation for the attack, the Indian Army carried out air strikes on the group's Balakot terrorist training camp in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early on 26 February.

The next day, there were a number of developments within minutes of each other  Pakistan claiming it had shot down two Indian aircraft and arrested a pilot; an Mi-17 chopper crashing in Budgam; and India claiming it had shot down a Pakistani F-16 in Nowshera  which altogether created much circulation on social media. This left journalists scurrying to get reports confirmed and compete with the fake news network to get the real information out there.

Pakistan military spokesperson Asif Ghafoor's tweet on India's "LoC violation" near instantly set off the fake news brigade, which fished out images and videos of previous aircraft crashes in India to project them as the Pakistan Air Force's retaliation against Indian aircraft violating their airspace. A number of these fake videos and images were shared even by the mainstream media in Pakistan, including dailies Dawn and Express Tribune and news channel Pakistan Television Corporation.

Among these images was one of Wing Commander Vijay Shelke, one of the pilots who had ejected safely after a midair collision between two Surya Kiran aircraft at the Yemlur grounds in Bengaluru. The other pilot died in the crash.

Videos and images of an IAF Mikoyan MiG-27MU's crash in Jodhpur on 12 June, 2016, as well as of a crash of a Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer on 3 June, 2015, in Odisha's Mayurbhanj were widely shared on social media, purported to be the Pakistani Air Force's action against IAF jets.

It didn't help that several reports, including one by the Express Tribune, shared images of the IAF chopper that crashed in Budgam as those apparently of the Indian aircraft that Pakistan shot down across the border.

In India, too, people buoyed by the IAF air strikes shared scores of unverified images and videos  from footage of video games to photographs from the devastation caused by an earthquake in Balakot in 2005. Among the fake news peddlers here was the 'I Support Amit Shah' fan group on Facebook. Images from various blasts and bombings were also shared as the purportedly destruction that the IAF left behind in its wake.

The emotional outburst in reaction to the Pulwama tragedy, the euphoria on both sides after the strikes carried out by the two air forces and the pace with which news  fake or otherwise  was churned out all added to the confusion of readers and viewers. This was in addition to media speculation and the uncertainty over a lot of facts, such as the extent of damage caused by the Balakot air strikes and the number of casualties.
Former Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Jay Panda today joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after nine months of introspection and widespread consultations with colleagues and public

Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda today joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after nine months of introspection and widespread consultations with colleagues and public.

Panda addressed a press conference at the BJPs headquarters in Delhi on Monday quoted many instances of poor infrastructure impacting the lives of people of Odisha. Expressing confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi to turn around the state of affairs in the BJD-ruled state, the 55-year-old leader said he will serve Odisha and India to the best of his ability.

At the press conference where Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan welcomed Panda to the party, the latter said, I admire Modi and Amit Shah's leadership.

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

Panda had quit BJD in May 2018 after a fall out with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has been a prominent leader from the state and has been with the BJD since 2000. In January last year, he was suspended from the party on disciplinary grounds after he questioned the partys abysmal performance in the 2017 Panchayat elections.

Panda is a four-time MP and was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009 and 2014. He also served as a Rajya Sabha MP in 2000 and 2006.
Responding to a motion in the Pakistan Parliament calling for nomination of Imran Khan for the Nobel Peace Prize, the prime minister said he is not a worthy candidate.

Responding to a motion submitted in the Pakistan Parliament calling to have Prime Minister Imran Khan nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf chief said he was not a worthy candidate.

He tweeted saying the person "who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people" is worthy of the Noble Peace Prize.

I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent.  Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 4, 2019

Information and Broadcasting Minister Fawad Chaudhry submitted a motion in Parliament on Saturday, calling for Khan's nomination for the Peace Prize for his attempt to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan.

The hashtag #NobelPeaceForImranKhan began to trend on Twitter after Pakistan released Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on Friday as a gesture of peace, two days after capturing him after his MiG-21 crashed on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control.

Tensions mounted between India and Pakistan after the 14 February suicide attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, in which 40 troopers died. In retaliation, on 26 February, India carried out pre-emptive air strikes in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, decimating what was believed to be JeM's "largest terrorist training camp".

The day after the IAF air strikes, ceasefire violations across the border with Pakistan were reported, and Pakistani fighter jets violated Indian airspace. After one of these aerial combats, the Pakistani military captured Wing Commander Abhinandan.
Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa in a press briefing in Coimbatore on Monday said that the Indian Air Forces (IAF) job is to hit their targets and not count casualties

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa in a press briefing in Coimbatore on Monday said that the Indian Air Forces (IAF) job is to hit their targets and not count casualties.

When asked about clarity on the number of casualties caused by the precision air strikes carried out on 26 February, Dhanoa said, We hit our target. The air force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that. He added that Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan responded because the targets were hit. If we dropped bombs in the jungles, why would he (Khan) respond? he asked.

Responding to a question on why the MiG-21 Bison was used against Pakistans F-16 when Pakistan retaliated on 27 February to Indian air strikes, Dhanoa said that the IAF fights with all aircraft in its inventory. The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system, he said. He further said that what aircraft is used in a planned strike can be decided. However, when an adversary does strike, every available aircraft goes in.

Dhanoa also said that the plan to replace Indias ageing fleet, including its Jaguar and Mirage-2000 aircraft. The Rafale fighter jets are likely to be inducted by September this year, he said.

Commenting on Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans return to the cockpit, the IAF chief said that the pilot will only fly a fighter jet when he clears all medical tests. Ejection takes a heavy toll on the body. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into the fighter cockpit, Dhanoa said.

When asked about the accidents involving IAF aircraft, Dhanoa said that India has lost only the Mi-17 helicopter in Budgam on 27 February and two aircraft in the mid-air collision during rehearsals for the Aero India show in Bengaluru last month. However, he also said that the IAF has to get its act together and find out the cause behind the mid-air crash.
India is set to sign a deal on Thursday with Russia to lease an Akula-class submarine for the Indian Navy. The nuclear submarine  that is being called INS Chakra III  is likely to be ready, after refurbishment, by 2025

India is set to sign a deal on Thursday with Russia to lease an Akula-class submarine for the Indian Navy. The nuclear submarine  that is being called INS Chakra III  is likely to be ready, after refurbishment, by 2025.

According to The Economic Times, the deal worth $3 billion deal entails the lease of a nuclear attack submarine "that will be customised and fitted with indigenous communications systems and sensors". The report adds, "While the mothballed nuclear submarine had been shipped to the Russian port town of Severodvinsk in 2014, sources said that it will be akin to a new vessel once ready, given the extent of work required to make it operational." As reported by Sputnik News, it was in November last year that naval chief Admiral Sunil Lanba had "discussed with Russian authorities the co-production of a conventional submarine at Indian shipyard and leasing of an Akula-class submarine".

It may be recalled that the first INS Chakra was a K-43 Charlie-class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine that was in the Indian Navy's service from 1987 to 1990. INS Chakra II is the Nerpa (K-152), an Akula-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, that has been in active service under the Indian Navy since April 2012.

The Akula  Russian for shark  submarines were widely credited as being a game changer in the Cold War era, as a post on defence technology and policy blog Foxtrot Alpha points out: "With the Akula's arrival the American submarine fleet would no longer enjoy the dramatic undersea advantages they had possessed since the end of the World War II... [It] stunned NATO with its high-level of stealth, especially compared to any Soviet submarine before it... [the] ability to make their submarines as quiet, or nearly as quiet, as American subs had long eluded them. The Akula dramatically changed that."

Impact

So how much of a difference will the 2025 arrival of the latest 'shark' make to the Indian Navy and indeed the country's aspiration for greater sea power?

At first glance, the arrival of Chakra III will provide a robust enhancement to India's deterrence capabilities. While Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT)  both of which include Russia, but not India, as a signatory  compulsions mean Moscow will not fit the vessel with nuclear missiles, the submarines are believed to be capable of carrying and launching missiles with nuclear warheads.

However, it's worth also bearing in mind that in six years, or by the time 2025 rolls around, if Chakra III does arrive on time, it will need to undergo sea tests. And by the time it is finally commissioned, a handful of India's older submarines  including four Sindhughosh-class (Russian Kilo) and two Shishumar-class (German HDW) submarines  will be undergoing upgradation and refitting work. While there may be other new submarines in India's naval arsenal midway into the next decade, the direct benefits to be gained by Chakra III's presence will not be massive by any means.

Messaging

The more pertinent message to draw from this deal that is set to be signed in three days is in terms of the geopolitical messaging. Over the years, and over political regimes, India has been expanding its strategic and defence relations with a handful of western countries, with whom relations were cordial at best in the Cold War era. One of the biggest strides forward in India's foreign policy has been the expansion  real and notional  of India-US relations.

So much so that the fate of the $5-billion deal for India to procure the S-400 Triumf missile defence system from Russia hinged on whether or not Washington would waive clauses of its Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for New Delhi. As it stands, the Akula deal is set to be the biggest India-Russia deal since the S-400.

Simultaneously, there has also been a thaw between Cold War rivals Russia (then USSR) and Pakistan, with Moscow demonstrating some openness to striking defence deals with Islamabad. The effect of these two not-completely-unrelated developments has led to the questioning of India-Russia ties in the modern era, opining that as a non-aligned partnership, it worked in the past, but it may be time for New Delhi to look to other partners in today's world.

This is where context is useful. Barring, to an extent France  and the modifications being made to the Rafale jets to accommodate Indian concerns, no other western country is willing to sell India with nuclear-capable weapons platforms. A desire not to fall afoul of the NPT and CTBT is at the heart of this reluctance. With India and Russia, there is history, and the recognition of that history is reflected in defence ties between the two countries.

The message sent out is clear: New partnerships are fantastic, but trust takes time to build.
The fishermen from Kerala remained afloat without any life saving devices from 6.30 am till they were rescued. They were unable to swim or to seek help from other boats.

Kochi: Five fishermen were rescued by an Indian Naval ship from a sinking fishing vessel off the north Kerala coast Monday, a Defence spokesman said here.

"INS Sharda, based at Kochi, rescued the five fishermen who were found floating in the sea after their fishing vessel FV Omkaram sank, some 35 km North West of Azhikal port," he said in a release in Kochi.

A lookout on the naval vessel, which was on patrol in the area Monday morning, spotted the fishermen in the waters at around 9.30 am following which the ship altered course, lowered the life boats and rescued them.

"Two of the fishermen had sustained minor injuries and were administered first aid by the medical team, after which the ship headed for Kochi," the release said.

The fishermen said they had cast off from Cheruvathur in Kasargod at 4.00 am on Monday. Sometime later water started entering their 13 foot boat, which they were unable to control and the heavy flooding caused the boat to sink.

"The fishermen remained afloat without any life saving devices from 6.30 am till they were rescued. They were out of mobile range and were unable to swim or to seek help from other boats," the release said.

All the survivors, including the boat owner, hail from Kanjanghad in Kasargod.

"Efforts were on to inform their next of kin, as well as the local coastal police station at Trikkaripur," it said.

INS Sharda is an offshore patrol vessel of the Indian Navy and presently is in its 26th year of commission.

It was actively deployed for coastal surveillance and patrolling off the Kerala and Lakshadweep islands and has also undertaken regular anti-piracy deployments in the Gulf of Aden.

The ship was earlier involved in the rescue of 21 fishermen during Cyclone Ockhi and was also used to distribute relief material during Op Madad, launched by the Southern Naval Command at the time of the Kerala floods, the release said.
Photo: The Canadian Press

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try to shift the focus from the SNC-Lavalin affair to his preferred campaign battleground  climate change  with the release this week of the Liberal party's first election-year ads.

Radio ads will air in the four provinces where the federal government is imposing a carbon tax after their conservative provincial governments refused to levy their own price on carbon: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and New Brunswick.

The ads stress that the money raised from the tax will be rebated directly to residents in those provinces.

Trudeau will set the stage for the ad campaign with a "climate action" rally in Toronto on Monday night.

The ads will then begin airing Tuesday morning, aimed at commuters.

The message, delivered by Trudeau, is identical for the four provinces  aside from the amount of money to be rebated to residents, which varies depending on the amount of carbon emissions to be taxed in each province.

According to the ads, an average family of four will receive more than $600 this year in Saskatchewan, more than $300 in Ontario and Manitoba and more than $250 in New Brunswick.

"Climate change is a real and serious problem," Trudeau says in the ads.

"We have a strong plan to fight it, one that leading scientists and economists support. It makes polluters pay and gives the money back to people."

In a jab at the federal Conservatives and their provincial cousins, Trudeau concludes: "Now, some politicians want to go back to the Harper years when pollution was free. We have to do better than that. Our kids are counting on us."

The Trudeau government is requiring provinces to impose a price on carbon emissions, starting at $20 per tonne this year and rising by $10 per tonne annually until it hits $50 in 2022. It is imposing its own tax on those provinces that have refused to meet the federal threshold.

The first payments will be visible to residents in the four provinces when they file their taxes this spring  in plenty of time to register with voters before they head to the polls in October.

Trudeau is also scheduled to visit Monday with a Mississauga family to "highlight the climate action incentive payment."

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna is also set to make a climate-related announcement in Ottawa on Monday, as the start of what a spokeswoman calls the start of an "Ontario tour." The prime minister and other Liberal MPs will be making similar appearances across the country this week.

Liberal party spokesman Braeden Caley says the rally and the radio ads have been planned for months  long before the SNC-Lavalin affair engulfed Trudeau's government this month with allegations of political interference in the justice system. But the timing is felicitous as the Liberals seek to change the channel from the controversy.

In bombshell testimony before the House of Commons justice committee last week, former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould said she was improperly pressured last fall by the Prime Minister's Office, the finance minister's office and the country's top public servant to prevent a criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.

Trudeau has insisted that he and others only wanted Wilson-Raybould to consider the impact of a prosecution on the viability of the Montreal engineering giant and its 9,000 Canadian employees, but they were always clear that it was up to her alone, as attorney general, to decide whether to intervene.

The director of public prosecutions, Kathleen Roussel, decided last September not to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin, a legal option that would force the company to pay stiff penalties without the risk of a criminal conviction that could cripple it financially.

It is legally permissible for the attorney general to override the director of public prosecutions. Wilson-Raybould has said she considered the pressure on her to do so "inappropriate," although she concedes it was not illegal.

Until the SNC-Lavalin affair exploded last month, climate change was anticipated to be the pivotal issue in the looming federal election campaign.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has warned that the carbon tax will drive up the cost of everything for consumers. He has yet to unveil his own plan for battling climate change  a fact which Liberals have ridiculed on a party-sponsored website that professes to be about the Conservative leader's climate plan.

Anyone visiting the website gets an error message  "No plan found"  and an updated count of the number of days that have gone by since Scheer promised a plan (308 as of Sunday).
From Februarys crisis, both India and Pakistan ought to learn that the walk from the status quo to the apocalypse isnt as long as we imagine

Editor's Note: This article first appeared in Firstpost Print on 2 March, 2018

***

In 415 BCE, the high noon of the power of the greatest empire the world had known, Athens dispatched its massive naval forces to punish the rebellious citizens of Syracuse. For the next several years, Thucydides, son of Olorus, owner of gold mines and survivor of the great plague of Athens, fought weapon in hand for the city he lovedand watched as its wealth, power and values were slowly extinguished in a relentless march to annihilation. In exile, he would reflect on the lessons in a work that, today, ranks among the greatest works of the philosophy of war:

Think, too, of the great part that is played by the unpredictable in war, Thucydides wrote, and think of it now, before you are actually committed. The longer a war lasts, the more things tend to depend on accidents. Neither you nor we can see into them; we have to abide their outcome in the dark.

But when people are entering upon a war, they do things the wrong way around. Action comes first, and it is only when they have already suffered that they begin to think.

Februarys India-Pakistan crisis has taken both countries on to pathways littered with minefields and traps. Following Prime Minister Narendra Modis decision to strike at terrorists across the Line of Control in 2016, Pakistan responded with well-tested covert toolsratcheting up the levels of violence against Indian forces in Kashmir to levels not seen in over a decade. The 26 February air strikes were meant to demonstrate that India was willing to inflict pain on Pakistan in returnbut that country has demonstrated it is willing to risk all by escalating even further.

Modi has shown an instinctive grasp of Thucydides realism. Holding promises from the international community that it will now compel Prime Minister Imran Khan to act against terrorists, he has chosen to step back from the brink.

For both India and Pakistan, though, the infinite darkness of war still lies ahead. This much is certain: the end of this crisis does not herald the coming of peace.



Epics do not have neat beginnings: the story of India-Pakistan war can be traced just as easily to 1971, or 1947, or even pre-colonial communal hatred. Late one night in the summer of 2009, four improvised 107-millimetre rockets arced over the Pul Kanjari border outpost, and exploded in the wheat-fields outside the Punjab village of Attari. For the first time since the war of 1971, there was an attack across the India-Pakistan border. In September that year, four more rockets were fired; then, in January 2010, there was a third assault.

For the first time since the war of 1971, there had been an attack across the India-Pakistan border. The march to the 26 February airstrikes had, unnoticed by almost anyone, begun.

In 2001, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had mobilised the army, threatening war against Pakistan to punish the Jaish-e-Muhammads attack on Parliament. The decision wasnt a casual one. Even though India had won the Kargil war in 1999, Pakistan had stepped up covert warfare in Kashmir. Fatalities of security force personnel, inside Kashmir, surged from 183 in 1999, to 241 in 2000 and 248 in 2002.

Ten months later, India backed downapparently deterred by Pakistans nuclear weapons.

But then, something unexpected happened. Fatalities of Indian forces in the Kashmir conflict fell every year to 2008, all the way down to 39 in 2008. Firing on Indian troops on the Line of Control ceased, making infiltration difficult for terrorists. Pakistans military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, had turned off the terror tapdespite apparently winning the showdown.

From his confidante General Moinuddin Haider, we have the only inside account of why that happened. In an interview to scholar George Perkovich, General Haider said 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, Haider said, saying, Mr. President, your economic plan will not work, people will not invest, if you dont get rid of extremists.

From 2007, though, new army chief General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani turned the screws on India againa bid to heal the rift General Musharraf had created between the military and its jihadist allies. There were 28 ceasefire violations in 2009, 44 in 2010, 60 in 2011rising to a staggering 2,936 last year. Even worse, from Indias point of view, terrorist strikes in Kashmir intensified. Fatalities of Indian forces rose steadily, from 39 in 2008, to 62 in 2009and on to 136 last year, the worst since 2004.

In a strategic sense, these attacks achieve little. Tragic as each loss of life is, Indias economic growth, or its military capabilities, arent significantly eroded by terrorism. The question is: why does the Pakistan army risk war for vanishingly meagre gains?



In 1918, Hungarian-born magician, Erik Weisz, better known by his stage name Harry Houdini, premiered the Make-the-Elephant-Vanish Trick. An elephant was shut into a box with raised wheels, thus ruling out the use of a trapdoor. When the box opened, the elephant had disappeared. The key to the trick was rediscovered by author and magician Jim Steinmeyer. The elephant was, in fact concealed behind a diagonally-placed mirror: what the audience saw as the entire empty box wasnt one.

The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate has mastered the vanishing-elephant trickand now, as Imran offers Modi action against terrorists, this is worth remembering.

In 2002, as war loomed, General Musharraf cracked down the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. In 2008, President Asif Ali Zardari did the same thing. And in 2018, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif again moved against terrorists. Each time, the Pakistan Army ensured they emerged, magically, from the box.

Early in 1939, on the eve of the great war that would lead on to the death of the British empire and the birth of his homeland, the politician and religious ideologue, Abdul Ala Maududi, delivered a lecture that has become a foundational text for South Asia Islamism. Faith, Maududi insisted, was more than a hotchpotch of beliefs, prayers and rituals. Islam was, in fact, a revolutionary ideology which seeks to alter the social order of the entire world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals.

Pakistans 1956 constitution declared the country an Islamic republica notion unknown to classical theologyand mandated that no laws repugnant to the Koran be passed. General Ayub Khan appointed a council of clerics to guide the state. The hard-drinking General Yahya Khan allied with Islamists in Bangladesh and Kashmir. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, profoundly influenced by Maududi, rebuilt the state on the foundations of his ideas.

The Pakistan Armys jihadism, diplomat and scholar Husain Haqqani has argued, was not just the inadvertent outcome of decisions by some governments. Instead, the Pakistani states use of Islam gradually evolved into a strategic commitment to jihadi ideology.

In The Green Books, classified internal volumes where Pakistan army officers are invited to discuss strategy and geopolitics, the influence of the Islamist world-view is evident. Brigadier Saifi Ahmad Naqvi, writing in the 1994 Green Book, argued Pakistan is an ideological state, based on the ideology of Islam. In his view, the Army is responsible for the defence of the country, to safeguard [its] integrity [and] territorial boundaries, and the ideological frontiers to which the country owes its existence.

Fighting against India, thus, isnt just a tactical imperative for Pakistans army; its a core ideological value.The Generals arent about to give up the belief-system that sustains their primacy in Pakistan.

And that has profound implications for what comes in the next India-Pakistan crisis, whenever it breaks out.



The most fantastic wargame the world can ever have seen, an excited magazine called it. In the summer of 1955, the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force, along with the United States Sixth Fleet and 49th Air Division, hurled itself at Belgian, British and Dutch forces, supported by the Second Tactical Air Force. Exercise Carte Blanche was the first effort to simulate what would happen when NATO used its new tactical nuclear weapons to beat back Soviet armour driving towards the heart of Europe.

In less than a week, the answers were in: 1.7 million dead, 3.5 million injured, large swathes of Europe levelled by 335 nuclear bombs.

Four years ago, after terrorists struck in Gurdaspur, the United States held out a stark message to Pakistans visiting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Prime Minister Modi, he was warned, was almost certain to authorise strikes against jihadist infrastructure inside Pakistan in the event of a mass-casualty terrorist strike. The Generals didnt listen: Pulwama followed Pathankot, in grim succession.

Prime Minister Modis 2016 cross-Line of Control strikes were premised on the belief small air strikes or shallow infantry actions would not give Pakistan enough reason to escalate a conflict, mired as it is in economic meltdown and internal crisis.

Last week, Pakistan demonstrated that assumption was misplaced. From private messages sent by Lieutenant-General Tariq Khan, former commander of the Mangla-based I Corps, we know what the Generals were thinking. Each Indian cross-border strike, General Khan argued in notes obtained by Firstpost erodes our position of deterring war through our nuclear capability. General Khan argued that meant we become more and more vulnerable to an asymmetric conventional threatin other words, to future Indian strikes.

Deterrence, General Khan argued, is a mindset and never a tangible posture, It is an outcome of a possibility [emphasis added]. Islamabad, General Khan went on, needed to ensure that this possibility remained on Indian mindsand for that,our response should be to escalate and push the envelope of hostilities so that nuclear war is a likely outcome.

Through their own cross-Line of Control strikes on February 27, Pakistans military planners have done just that: India knows that, unlike in 2016, the Generals are now willing to raise the stakes. The thing is, no one knows how far theyll go.

For demagogues in India, theres an easy answer: call Pakistans nuclear bluff. But Prime Ministers and Generals, unlike Twitters armchair brigades, have responsibility for the consequences of their actions.



There are obvious lessons for India from how the February crisis has played out, key among them that the goddess of the battlefield is fickle with her favours. If the military art could be reduced to arithmetic, Soviet nuclear theoretician General Andrian Danilevich observed, we would not need any wars. You could simply look at the correlation of forces, make some calculations, and tell your opponent, we outnumber you 2:1, victory is ours, please surrender.

But Pakistan, too, needs to ask hard questions. Faced with enough provocation, Indian leaders may take their chances, and risk escalation. Although cultivating ties with anti-India jihadists may seem attractive to a military establishment whose legitimacy is under challenge from hostile Islamists, it is a high-risk strategy.

From Februarys crisis, both countries ought to learn the walk from the status quo to the apocalypse isnt as long as we imagine. Islamabad needs to ask if forcing India to walk that road is truly in its interest.
Villagers in Jharkhand's Khunti district don't lodge police complaints as human traffickers threaten the safety of their families. As a result, very few cases reach the state's anti-human trafficking cell.

Editor's Note: A network of 60 reporters set off across India to test the idea of development as it is experienced on the ground. Their brief: Use your mobile phone to record the impact of 120 key policy decisions on everyday life; what works, what doesn't and why; what can be done better and what should be done differently. Their findings  straight and raw from the ground  will be combined in this series, Elections on the Go, over a course of 100 days.

Read more articles from the series here

***

Khunti: Meena (name changed), a 23-year-old from Karanjtoli village of Kodakel panchayat in Jharkhand's Khunti district, is happily married today and expecting. She was one of the lucky ones who was able to return to her village after being lured to Delhi eight years ago with promises of a good job and salary.

"A girl from my village, who was working in Delhi, had come home on vacation and had convinced me to go to Delhi with her," Meena recalled. "My family situation was not good then, and going to Delhi, where I was promised Rs 2,000 a month, seemed like a good opportunity."

But the dream quickly turned sour. Meena returned home after not getting a single rupee for the five years she worked in the National Capital.

"The employers used to say the money was being sent to my parents, but I figured out later that they were duping me. They didn't even allow me to go home for a vacation. I ran away from there and contacted my brother in the village, who then took me home," she said.

Meena is the exception. There are scores of others from villages in Khunti district who have not been able to return home.

Jeeran Devi, a resident of the same village, said another girl was taken to Delhi a long time ago, "but when her father recently went to Delhi to meet the person who had taken her, he was not allowed to meet his daughter and had to return empty-handed".

Limra panchayat of Khunti's Karra block has around 13 villages with over 200 families. Around 25 girls from different families here have gone missing, some for over five years.

This includes Samru Munda's (name changed) daughter, who has been missing for over three years now. "When she was 15, she went to the market with her friend, and neither of them returned," he said.

After asking around in nearby villages and markets for a few days, Samru lost all hope of getting her back. When asked why he did not go to the police, he said he did not want the legal hassles  a common response from villagers who are reluctant to even talk about the problem.

One villager, whose daughter has been missing for over a year, said: "I approached the person who took my daughter away and requested him to send her back, but he refused. When I insisted, he warned me that if I create a scene or go to the police, the lives of my other children will be at stake."

Such threats from the traffickers is a major reason that deters villagers from lodging complaints with the police.

"During my work at the panchayat, I myself received several threats from traffickers and the so-called powerful people of the villages, who asked me to mind my own business," said Ravi Kumar Yadav, a social activist who has been working closely with the villagers.

Baidnath Kumar, a child rights activist and member of the district's Child Welfare Committee (CWC), said there was a time when a girl used to go missing from every second house in Khunti, and every village had at least one trafficker.

"Khunti district was probably the most affected in terms of human trafficking," Kumar said. "In the past two to three years, over a thousand girls were rescued from various metropolitan cities, and 127 traffickers were arrested. But trafficking has, once again, increased. Being a CWC member, I deal with at least 10 to 15 such cases every month, wherein trafficked girls are rescued and brought back home. They share the physical, sexual and economic exploitation they underwent during their stay in the big cities."

Strangely, even though the problem has persisted in the district for years, only a very small number of cases get registered with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of Khunti Police Station  only nine cases in 2017, 10 in 2018 and one till date in 2019. Data from Jharkhand's Central Investigation Department shows that from 2013 to 2018, only 82 cases related to human trafficking were registered in Khunti district, with the entire state registering 855 cases.

Why leave Khunti?

Extreme poverty is what makes families send their daughters to the cities.

"With just one crop grown during the monsoon, there are no other employment opportunities in the villages here," said Arti Kujur, chairperson of the Jharkhand State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, adding that poverty makes villagers vulnerable to traffickers. "In such a situation, traffickers lure the girls and their families with a meagre amount of Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 and take the girls to Delhi, Mumbai and other cities, where these girls are then exploited."

The parents are told that their daughter will do household chores and send back money every month.

"The traffickers are invariably known to the parents, and no money ever reaches them," said Aradhana Singh, a retired police officer and former in-charge of the AHTU in Khunti. "Traffickers often target victims at local haats (markets), organised twice a week in the semi-urban areas of the district where they lure young girls with the dreams of a modern lifestyle, good clothes and money."

Fear of left-wing extremists (LWE) is another reason why people in this area send their children away. "LWEs take young children away from villages to make them a part of their team," Kumar said. "This fear and the need for money forces parents to send their children with traffickers."

Superintendent of Khunti Police Alok said: "Human trafficking is definitely a big problem, and we are trying hard to combat it. We have rescued many children and arrested a number of traffickers, and all police stations in the area have been directed to take immediate action whenever they find that a child from a village has gone missing."

Alok admitted that speedy arrests and convictions will deter traffickers. But he is also puzzled by the villagers' reluctance to approach the police.

"I do not understand why as the police are now sensitised and very supportive in such cases," he said, adding that villagers of Khunti have a big emotional issue, as well. "Maybe the hardship they face have made them like this, but they do not display any emotion when their child goes missing."

The case of the missing girls continues even though the Jharkhand government has launched many schemes to empower girls from the village and their families, both economically and emotionally. This includes the recently launched Mukhyamantri Sukanya Yojna, which offers money to parents of a girl child from her birth till she turns 18 and gets married, as well as the Tejaswini Yojna, which teaches girls life and vocational skills.

Besides rescue and rehabilitation of the children, "our focus now is to empower girls at an early age so they are not trafficked in the first place", said DK Saxena, director of Integrated Child Protection Scheme.

"The Tejaswini Yojna, presently functional in 17 districts of Jharkhand, is a major step towards achieving this aim. The programme is exclusively for girls aged 14 to 24, which is when they are most vulnerable," he said, adding that the objective is to provide such skills to at least 10 lakh girls. "Life skill training includes information on the rights and protection of children, health and nutrition and also financial literacy."

These are all laudable aims, but Saxena's claim that 20,000 village-level child protection committees have been formed to prepare a database of missing children is an exaggeration. A visit to several villages by this correspondent found that while these committees had been set up, they were non-functional.

Lack of political will

Laxmi Bakhla, a social activist working against trafficking in Khunti, revealed that no activist, including her, has never received any support from political parties or sitting MPs and MLAs in Jharkhand.

"They do raise the issue of trafficking in their speeches, but they don't really seem to care about it in reality. Some people have even told me, 'These things keep happening; how many people can you stop?" she said.

Bakhla added that making the issue part of a political agenda won't be of any help till elected representatives take the problem seriously and work against it.

Meanwhile, international NGO Save the Children recently organised a dialogue between leaders from various political parties on the inclusion of issues related to child rights in their election manifestos, in which trafficking was among one of the major issues. Girls' rights activist Rumi Kumari helped make a child-friendly manifesto, which was distributed among all leaders at the programme. She strongly advocates the need to make human trafficking a political agenda, as she herself is a survivor.

"I was forced to work as a domestic help at the age of eight, so I know the pain of falling prey to human trafficking. I believe that political parties should consider this as a challenge and include it in their manifesto for the upcoming elections," she said.

Rumi turned 18 this year and will be exercising her franchise for the first time.

The author is a Ranchi-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters
Juan Guaido called for mass protests across Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro as he announced his return after touring Latin American allies

Caracas: Opposition leader Juan Guaido called for mass protests across Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro on Monday as he announced his return after a week touring Latin American allies.

His reappearance in Venezuela would pose an immediate challenge to the embattled Maduro, who will have to decide whether to arrest him for defying a travel ban -- thereby provoking strong international condemnation - or allow him to enter unmolested, which would undermine his authority, analysts say. "I'm announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilize all over the country tomorrow at 11:00 am (1500 GMT)," Guaido wrote Sunday on Twitter.

Guaido, who has been recognised by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's interim president, did not say how or when he would return, though speculation is rife that a flight from the Colombian capital Bogota to Caracas is the most likely route.

However, it is possible that he plans to slip across the border with Colombia in the same way he left Venezuela, claiming on that occasion that he had help from Maduro's military.

In a second tweet, Guaido said he would provide an account of his tour and announce the opposition's "next actions" on social networks at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Monday).

Guaido held talks in Salinas - a coastal resort town west of Guayaquil - on Saturday with President Lenin Moreno, and met with Venezuelan refugees. On Sunday, around noon, he flew out of Salinas without revealing his destination.

Defying a Venezuelan government travel ban, Guaido slipped across the border to Colombia on 23 February in an attempt to escort in truckloads of international humanitarian aid. While in Colombia, he met with visiting US Vice President Mike Pence.

The 35-year-old political newcomer then travelled to Brazil, where he met the country's new right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, and on Friday, travelled to Paraguay and Argentina. In a poke at Maduro during his trip, he said he was invited to visit Chile later this month.

Guaido, who heads the opposition-led National Assembly, stunned the world on 23 January when he proclaimed himself Venezuela's acting president after the legislature declared Maduro a usurper and illegitimate over his May 2017 re-election, which was widely criticised as fraudulent. Maduro's new term in office began on 10 January.

Guaido wants to oust Maduro and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections.

Guaido "must return to Venezuela and continue to press internally, as the international support is enormous", Eufracio Infante, 64, a Venezuelan lawyer and history teacher, told AFP. "We are facing a very delicate situation and every minute we are approaching an outcome, we hope will not be catastrophic," he said.

Maduro - who retains the support of Venezuela's powerful military - enjoys strong support from Russia, which accuses Washington of interventionism, and China, which is concerned over the fate of billions of dollars in loans to Maduro's regime.

The socialist president warned last week that Guaido should "respect the law" and would have to "face justice" if he returned to the country.

Guaido said last week he intended to return to Venezuela, "despite threats" to arrest him. The United States and other allies have expressed concern for his safety. "The challenge has gone very far," political analyst Luis Salamanca told AFP. "If he comes in and they stop him, it will generate strong internal reaction as well as internationally. Maduro is at permanent risk."

European Union Foreign Policy chief Federica Mogherini warned on Saturday that any measure that would put at risk Guaido's "freedom, safety or personal integrity would represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of international community". "Guaido has grown so much politically that they haven't been able to touch him, in the traditional ways... which is to put him in prison or force him to flee the country, harass him," said Salamanca.

Separately, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera sharply criticised UN rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet - Chile's president 2006-2010 and 2014-2018 - on Sunday for failing to condemn Maduro for human rights violations.

Pinera, a Chilean billionaire elected president for the second time in 2017, is a key supporter of Guaido, and joined the Venezuelan opposition leader in Cucuta, Colombia last weekend in a failed attempt to send international humanitarian aid into Venezuela.

Pinera said in an interview published in the El Mercurio newspaper that Bachelet's predecessor at the UN, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein of Jordan, "was much clearer, more categorical in condemning human rights abuses".
The NSG's core efficiency is in counter-terrorism, counter-hijacking operations and proximate security for the VVIPs. They were used during the 90s in limited operations in Kashmir. The force uses state of the art weapons such as corner shot rifles and wall radars to neutralize targets.

Five security personnel including three CRPF jawans and two officers of the Jammu and Kashmir Police were killed on Sunday in a three-day-long encounter with terrorists in Kupwara. Eight others including a commandant were injured in the operation, which the police officials said was prolonged due to difficult terrain and presence of civilians in the area.

And even though two terrorists were eliminated in the encounter, there was also large scale collateral damage which involved several houses and other buildings where terrorists took shelter. Reportedly, one civilian was killed in the firing as well and several others were injured following clashes near the encounter site on Friday.

The encounter began on Friday morning when security forces launched a search operation in the area in north Kashmir, following information about the presence of militants.

Where are the 'Black Cats'?

However, the large number of casualties suffered by the armed forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir recently, have raised questions as to why the government hasn't yet taken the help of National Security Guards (NSG) commandos for high-end operations like these.

There were reports in 2018, of 'Black Cat' commandos of the NSG being deployed in Jammu and Kashmir to help security forces in dealing with encounters and hostage-like situations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs was examining a proposal to deploy a contingent of the elite counter-terror force in the Kashmir Valley so that they can join the Indian Army, the CRPF and the state police when a high-risk militancy related incident takes place.

However, despite the security forces suffering subsequent casualties on the frontline, NSG has rarely been used in such situations.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had said that the government was planning to see as to how the NSG's role could be "enlarged" vis-a-vis the new security challenges faced by the country, as NSG commandos can play a "big role" in operations such as those where terrorists take a human as shield and enter civilian premises. Their special skills of carrying out house intervention and hostage rescue can act as "clincher" during a terror siege and house intervention in densely populated areas, officials had said.

NSG faced resistance from other forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir

However, in October 2018, Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik said that there was no plan to deploy 'Black Cat' in counter-terrorism operations in the state, saying that the elite force could be used only in the "gravest of grave" situations.

"This is absolutely wrong. The NSG chief had met me recently. God willing, I am sure that we may not have any such situation where we require a specialised force but may be in the gravest of the grave situation, we may request them and that too after consulting the Centre," Malik said in an interview.

When asked that some of the NSG commandos were deployed in Jammu and Kashmir for training and other purposes, he said, "They have come for training and impart training as well to police personnel, but so far there is no involvement in anti-militancy operations."

The NSG had also trained commandos of the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police (JKP) at its Manesar headquarters near Gurgaon for anti-terrorism operations.

Reportedly, the proposal to deploy NSG commandos in the Valley could not materialise as the state forces had opposed the deployment of special force in the region.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought an opinion from the forces on the ground. "There is no immediate need to add a new force on the ground as there is already a thick presence of forces in the Valley which is why we are still mulling the move," a senior ministry official had told NDTV.

Usually, security forces try to tire out terrorists by continuous firing using high-calibre weapons. The rate of firing is such that the structure collapses or catches fire causing property damage. In light of all these operational roadblocks in tense scenarios, the NSG had been asked to be stationed in Budgam and Srinagar. But the local police opposed the proposal.

Therefore, after Malik refuted the possibility of NSG's deployment in the state, it sought the intervention of the home ministry, according to a report by The Hindustan Times. The force, which was asked in May 2018 to handle specialised house intervention actions in the Valley, was not used in the Fateh Kadal encounter in October 2018, and was told to be on standby by the state police, the report said.

Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed by a special operations group team of the state, and one Jammu and Kashmir Police commando lost his life while two others were injured in that encounter.

NSG director general (DG) Sudeep Lakhtakia, who has handled Naxal and Islamist insurgency in stints with the Andhra Police and the Central Reserve Police Force, flew down to Srinagar a day after the encounter and met Governor Malik well as state Director General of Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh apparently to remind them that the decision to deploy house intervention teams of NSG was taken by the home ministry and under the explicit directive of the National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, the report stated. As per the report, the home ministry took serious note of Maliks interview.

Limited use of NSG commandos in terror operations in Valley

The NSG's core efficiency is in counter-terrorism, counter-hijacking operations and proximate security for the VVIPs. They were used during the 90s in limited operations in Kashmir. The force uses state of the art weapons such as corner shot rifles and wall radars to neutralise targets.

However, in the last few years, the NSG has rarely been used in anti-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab with Army Para commandos doing the job. In fact, in some of the operations, Indian Air Force's Garud commandos and Indian Navy's elite fighters Marcos were involved in the Valley.

Normally, a small NSG team comprises five commandos led by a non-commissioned officer along with bomb experts and crack marksman. The commandos use sophisticated Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine guns, sniper rifles, through-the-wall radar and C-4 explosives to eliminate holed up terrorists without causing much damage to the structure.

NSG commandos were deployed to tackle the terrorists who carried out the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, January 2016 terror attack at the Pathankot air base as well as eliminating the terrorists who attacked the Akshardham temple in Gujarat.

The NSG was raised in 1984 in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star, which was carried out to flush out terrorists hiding in the Golden Temple in Punjab's Amritsar. There are around 7,500 personnel currently working with the NSG, PTI reported.

With inputs from PTI
The Sangam is all set to witness the last dip of the Kumbh Mela on Maha shivaratri on Monday, after more than 22 crore devotees took a holy bath over the duration of the festival.

Prayagraj: The Sangam, which is the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, is all set to witness the last dip of the Kumbh Mela on Maha Shivaratri on Monday, after more than 22 crore devotees took a holy bath over the duration of the festival.

"This day symbolises the last holy bath of the Kalpvasis and is directly related to Lord Shiva. As per the mythology, this day is awaited in the heavens as well," Gunjan Varshney, president of Ram Naam Bank situated at Civil Lines, told PTI. She also said it was on this day that Lord Shiva got married, and hence is eagerly awaited by his followers, who worship him.

Explaining the significance of Maha Shivaratri, Ashutosh Varshney of Grah Nakshtram, who has set up his camp at the mela, said, "Maha Shivaratri marks the culmination of the Kumbh and the prominent bathing days. And this time Maha Shivaratri is falling on a Monday  the day dedicated to Lord Shiva, which is falling after a long time."

The Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, was held in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj from 15 January on Makar Sakranti to 4 March 2019. "This is a very rare coincidence and the Sangam area will remain more crowded than previous years since it is the last bating day," he said.

He also said 'Rudrabhishek' of 'shivling' is also done on this day. In the Kumbh held in Sangam city, there were six bathing dates. "Of these, shahi snaans were held on occasions of Makar Sankranti (15 January), Mauni Amawasya (4 February) and Basant Panchami (10 February).

"Apart from this, 'parv snaans have been held on the occasion of Paush Poornima (21 January) and Maghi Poornima (19 February)," Varshney said. Elaborate arrangements have been made by administration for the last bathing ritual of the Kumbh, which expects around one crore devotees at the mega event held at the Sangam.

"Around one crore devotees and pilgrims from different walks of life are expected to take a dip in Sangam on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. More than 22 crore people have so far taken dip in the ongoing Kumbh," Kumbh Mela Adhikari Vijay Kiran Anand said. The Uttar Pradesh Police has also geared up for a seamless and incident-free Kumbh, spread over 3,200 hectare land in Sangam city.

"The entire Kumbh Mela area has been demarcated into nine zones and 20 sectors with the deployment of over 20,000 police personnel, 6,000 homeguards, 40 police stations, 58 outposts, 40 fire stations, 80 companies of central force and 20 companies of PAC," Director General of Police (DGP) of UP OP Singh had earlier told PTI.

With a view to counter any terrorist activity, Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) commandoes, anti-sabotage commandoes with snipers, bomb disposal units, sniffer dog squads and intelligence units have also been pressed into service, Singh said. The Kumbh draws lakhs of pilgrims over the course of approximately 55 auspicious days to bathe at the Sangam. It is celebrated four times over a course of 12 years.
Amid speculations about Masood Azhar's health, Pakistani province Punjab's Information and Culture Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan claimed on Monday that the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief is alive.

Amid speculations about Masood Azhar's health, a minister in Pakistan's Punjab province claimed on Monday that the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief is alive.

"Maulana Masood Azhar is alive. We have no information of his death," Punjab's Information and Culture Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan was quoted as saying by ANI.

Punjab(Pakistan) Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan: He is alive, Maulana Masood Azhar is alive, we have no information of his death. #Lahore pic.twitter.com/Z3zNWvBjNe  ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

His comments come a day after social media was abuzz with reports about the JeM chief's 'death', with many quoting liver cancer as the reason for his supposed demise. The Pakistani media, however, had claimed that Azhar is alive, quoting sources close to his family.

JeM had claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on 14 February, which claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF personnel.

Admitting that Azhar was in Pakistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said on 1 March that the Imran Khan government can act against the JeM only if India presents "solid" and "inalienable" evidence that can stand in a court of law. "He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can't leave his house, because he's really unwell," he told CNN.

Meanwhile, PTI quoted Indian officials as saying that Azhar is suspected to be afflicted with renal failure and is under regular dialysis at an army hospital in Rawalpindi.

Following the Pulwama attack, there has been mounting global pressure against Islamabad to stop harbouring terrorism on its soil, with the US telling Pakistan to stop providing support and a "safe haven" to terrorists and terror outfits in the immediate aftermath. India conducted an anti-terror strike on a major JeM camp in Pakistan's Balakot on 26 February.

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, India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had stated.

Countries like Russia, France, United States and, United Kingdom, amongst others, have extended their support to India in its fight against terrorism after the JeM assault.

With inputs from agencies
The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden. A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Masood Azhar was arrested for preaching jihad in Jammu and Kashmir in 1994

Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, social media was recently abuzz with unconfirmed reports about Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar's supposed death. Days earlier, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had stated that the JeM chief is "unwell to the extent that he cannot leave his house." Some reports even mentioned that Azhar was present at the terror camp in Balakot when the Indian Air Force (IAF) had carried out its air strikes on 26 February.

Two days later, on 3 March, Geo Urdu News, however, quoted unnamed sources to report that the JeM chief was "alive", without elaborating much on his health.

When asked about media reports claiming Azhar's death, Pakistan's Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry also said that the administration was "not aware" about it, even as Indian officials claimed that the JeM chief is afflicted with renal failure and undergoes regular dialysis at the Pakistan Army Hospital.

On Monday, again, Pakistan minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan said that Azhar was alive.

Azhar among India's most wanted terrorists

The Jaish-e-Mohammad chief was a close associate of Osama bin Laden. A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Azhar was arrested for preaching jihad in Jammu and Kashmir in 1994.

One of India's most wanted terrorists, he was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange for the hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814. He has since been accused of masterminding the 2001 Parliament attack, the suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state Assembly, the attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base in 2016 and the 14 February Pulwama terror strike.

Possible new faces of JeM

While reports concerning Azhar's supposed death cannot be substantiated as of now, his mysterious illness may in fact compel the terror organisation to look for a new face to head it. Here are some of the known probables:

Abdul Rauf Asghar

Azhars younger brother Abdul Rauf Asghar is a jihadist leader and deputy chief of the JeM. He is believed to be the head of JeM's operations against India. Along with several other leaders of the outfit, Asghar had attended an annual conference at the Madrassa Teleemul-Quran at Jaba Top in April 2018, reported Hindustan Times. JeM journal al-Qalam had quoted Asghar telling the gathering there about jihad's importance and how it has helped repulse those fighting against Islam.

Asghar, a primary accused in the Pathankot airbase attack, was quoted as saying, "The youth who rise from this madrasa have broken the arrogance of the mountains of Kashmir and lit the torch of jihad there, and they will, God willing, continue to keep it alight."

In 2017, Asghar had threatened to conduct a bigger strike than Pathankot. He was heard saying, in a footage accessed by the India Today, that "people will again remember Pathankot and Nagrota". It is believed that Asghar is even more actively involved in the outfit's activities than brother Azhar. Days before the Pulwama attack, on the 'Kashmir Solidarity Day', he is quoted to have said that he was looking to terrorise India, reported The Times of India.

India and France are likely to suggest the listing of Asghar as a global terrorist to the United Nations Security Council.

Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri

The conference at Jaba Top mentioned earlier was also attended by Azhar's brother-in-law Maulana Yusuf Azhar alias Ustad Ghauri. Another influential member of the JeM, Yusuf reportedly ran the training camp in Balakot. Foreign Secretary of India Vijay Gokhale had even said that Yusuf was the main target of the IAF air strike.

Yusuf is also the one who had led the hijacking of IC-814 that eventually made way for the release of Azhar and two other JeM members in exchange for the passengers aboard the Kathmandu to New Delhi flight.

In 2002, the Indian government had handed over a list of 20 fugitives to Islamabad which featured Yusuf's name, The Hindu reported. The same year Interpol, on the basis of a request by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), also opened a red corner notice against him.

The Interpol notice mentions his place of birth as Karachi, Pakistan, and says that he is wanted in India for "hijacking, murder and kidnapping", even as Indian intelligence officials recently said that Yusuf may have been killed in the air strike at Balakot.

Mufti Asghar Khan Kashmiri and Mufti Mansoor Ahmad

Next in line to becoming the JeM chief could also be either one of Azhars most trusted aides  Mufti Asghar Khan Kashmiri and Mufti Mansoor Ahmad. Both men were also part of the conference at Jaba Top in 2018.

A secret conclave was organised in Rawalakot (in Pakistan occupied Kashmir) in 2017 to commemorate the "martyrdom" of several terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. One among several influential leaders there was Kashmiri, a resident of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and head of Kashmir operations.

With inputs from agencies
Other countries celebrate their mythical animals. Garuda belongs to Indian mythology but is the national bird and symbol of Indonesia.

Other countries celebrate their mythical animals. Garuda belongs to Indian mythology but is the national bird and symbol of Indonesia. The Phoenix or Homa is revered in Iran. Here are some we should know:

Byangoma/Byangomi are the legendary birds of Bengal. They look like hoopoes, are wise, strict and assist those who they consider deserving. They are born blind and need a few drops of blood from a donor to activate their sight. When they tell the future to someone, that person hears voices, a bird song and suddenly has an intuition about something which is to happen.

Gandaberunda is a two headed, long tailed mythological bird who possesses immense, magical strength. The bird is depicted as clutching elephants in its talons and beaks. In the ancient coins of Madurai, it is shown holding a snake in its beak. In the Chennakesava temple there are depictions of a chain of destruction : A deer is eaten by a python who is destroyed by an elephant who is attacked by a lion who is destroyed by Shiva in his incarnation as Sharabha. Sharabha is then destroyed by Narasimha (man-lion) as Gandaberunda.

The tale is like this : The demon Hiranyakashipu is killed by Vishnu who comes as Narasimha. But even after he was slain, Narasimha, who had tasted blood, did not change back his form to Vishnu. The gods grew scared of his raging form and they appealed to Shiva. Shiva turned himself into Sharabha  a combination of man, lion, bird  in order to subdue Narasimha. But Narasimha changed into Gandaberunda, with two heads, fearful rows of teeth, black in complexion, and with wide blazing wings, and fought with Shiva-Sharabha for eighteen days, killed him and then died in a massive explosion of energy.

Gandaberunda was first adopted by the Vijayanagara empire in 1510, and as the royal insignia of the Wodeyar rulers of Mysore 500 years ago. Coins from the rule of Achyuta Deva Raya are thought to be the first to use the Gandaberunda on currency. Found in the sculptures of many temples in the south of India, it is the official emblem of Karnataka.

The Homa bird, of Vedic times, lives and breeds in the air, lays eggs in the air, and, before the eggs reach the earth, they hatch and the baby bird flies upwards to join its mother. They never touch the earth. Persian, Turkish and Sufi poets praise them as divine birds, and birds of paradise.

In Vedic literature, there are references to birds bringing the divine Soma plant from the mountains. S and H have been interchanged in Greek and Persian: the term "Hindu" originally referred to those living on the banks of the river Sindhu. "Six" becomes Hexa in Greek. Perhaps the Soma bird is the mythical Homa bird. In Persian mythology, it was believed that if this bird flew over someones head, and its shadow fell on him, he would become a mighty king. This belief made Tipu Sultan of Mysore create a golden throne with the Homa bird, in gold and jewels on the canopy .

The mythical Hansa or Swan/Goose represents purity, perfect union with the universe and divine knowledge. The Hansas, also called Aryannas, live in Manasasaras (Mansarovar) in the Himalayas. They dont like rain, so they come to Earth when it rains in their abode, and return as soon as rain begins here. They are the children of Dhritarashtri, who is the daughter of Kashyap and Tamra, according to the Valmiki Ramayana. The Hansas were first black and white, but they became pure white as a boon from Varuna the god, who once took their form to hide from Ravana. The gods had assembled for a havan and had to change into various bird forms when Ravana attacked them. The hansa eats pearls and separates milk from water from a mixture of both. The Hansas play an important role in the story of Nala and Damayanti.

In the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Navagunjara is a creature composed of nine different animals/birds. Navagunjara has the head of a rooster, and stands on three feet - those of an elephant, tiger, deer or horse, the fourth limb being a raised human arm carrying a lotus or a wheel. The beast has the neck of a peacock, the back or hump of a bull, the waist of a lion, and the tail of a serpent.

Navagunjara is a common motif in the Odisha Pata-Chitra style of painting. The creature is considered a form of Vishnu.

Once, when Arjuna was meditating on a hill, Navagunjara appeared. Arjuna was terrified, as well as mesmerised, by the strange being, and raised his bow to shoot it. But he realised that Navagunjara was a manifestation of Vishnu, and dropped his weapons, bowing before the bird creature.

The Chakora is a legendary immortal partridge/crow pheasant that lives on moonbeams. On the full moon night, the Chakora cries passionately for the moon, shedding tears of unrequited love for the moon in all her glory shining high in the sky. In the Mahabharatam, when Kuchela was on his way to meet Krishna, he saw the Chakora. By the time he returned home after meeting him, he was rich! The Chakora is believed to bring good luck. The association of Chakora and Chandra, the moon god, has inspired a number of love stories in India.

The Chataka is a mythological cuckoo, who is unwilling to drink water found on earth, choosing to drink only fresh pure rain water as it falls from the sky. It has a shrill voice. The Chataka pleads with the clouds to bring in the rain so that its thirst can be quenched. A black/yellow/white bird, smaller than the dove, it has a long tail. The long crest on its head is shaped like a bow with an arrow stretched tight on it. References to this bird are made in works of Kalidasa and Adi Shankaracharya.

The chataka and chakora depend on natural resources  rain water and moonlight, a lesson that nature needs to be preserved without destruction.

These are only very few of our mythological birds, but you need to tell your children about them.
Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi hinted that Islamabad may not oppose a joint move by France, Britain and the US in the UNSC to list Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist

Islamabad: Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday hinted that his country may not oppose a joint move by France, Britain and the US in the UN Security Council to list Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"Time has come for Pakistan to decide in its own interests. We will do what's in Pakistan's interests," Qureshi told Geo TV in an interview.

Last week, the US, the UK and France moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The Security Council Sanctions Committee has 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three members. It is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

When asked whether Pakistan will request its close ally China to veto the resolution once again in the UNSC, Qureshi said his government will try to build a consensus among all parties and do what's in Pakistan's interests.

"We have some global commitments...We will have to take action which doesn't harm our global reputation," he said, without elaborating.

Describing the situation following the Pulwama terror attack as a "defining moment" for Pakistan, he said Pakistan doesn't want to go for a war with India.

"We want peace. Our people want jobs, they want reforms in institutions, they want us to crackdown on corruption...," he added.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 - the US, the UK and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

It remains to be seen how China will vote on the proposal this time.

India has strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including Azhar, as designated terrorists under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based JeM killed 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir on February 14. India Wednesday handed over to Pakistan a dossier on "specific details" of involvement of JeM in the attack.

When asked about the dossier on JeM handed over by India, Qureshi said, "We are examining it and we will respond accordingly."

According to a top government source here, Pakistan has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfits, including JeM and its chief Azhar, in order to de-escalate the tensions with India and the action is "expected any time soon".

Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations, amid mounting pressure from the global community to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil and curb their financing.
The Poonch-Rawalakot route in the Jammu region was started on 20 June, 2006 to facilitate easier trade and travel between the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir and PoK

While Pakistan restored the Samjhauta Express train services between Lahore and Delhi, the neighbouring country refused to open the Rah-e-Milan Gate at Poonch on Monday, forcing the weekly cross-LoC (Line of Control) Rawalakot bus service to return without crossing over to India, reports News 18.

#JustIn -- Pakistan administration refuses to open Rah-e-Milan Gate at Poonch. Rawalakot bus returns without crossing over, reports @News18Urdu. pic.twitter.com/JI2VBN4qdh  News18 (@CNNnews18) March 4, 2019

The weekly service was earlier suspended following escalating tensions between the two nations after the Pulwama terror attack on 14 February in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. But it was subsequently resumed.

The tension between the two nations, however, escalated following the Indian Air Force's attacks on Jaish-e-Mohammed's training camp at Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on 26 February. A day later, on 27 February, Pakistani fighter jets had violated Indian air space in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. During a dogfight with Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman had shot down a Pakistani F-16 before he was downed and captured by Pakistan Army personnel. Abhinandan was later handed over to Indian authorities on 1 March at the Wagah-Attari border.

The service was first started on the 170-kilometre-long Srinagar-Muzaffarabad route in Kashmir on 7 April, 2005 and billed as one of the biggest confidence-building measures.

The Poonch-Rawalakot route in the Jammu region was started on 20 June, 2006 to facilitate easier trade and travel between the divided families of Jammu and Kashmir and PoK.

The Poonch-Rawalakot service ferries passengers from Poonch town to the Chakan-Da-Bagh crossing on the Rah-e-Milan, a 10 km stretch of road.

The bus service had been suspended several times in the past too. In 2017, the facility remained suspended for nearly 17 weeks due to heavy firing and shelling from the Pakistani side. About 119 passengers from both sides were left stranded in Poonch and PoK at that time.
Photo: Flickr - B.C. gov't

Boundary-Similkameen MLA Linda Larson is joining the calls on the federal government to hold a referendum on a proposed South Okanagan national park reserve.

Larson has written to Osoyoos town council urging them to follow the lead of Oliver, which made a formal request for a referendum last week.

My office has been deluged with phone calls and emails and I have been approached by many constituents asking for a referendum, she writes. As MLA for the Boundary-Similkameen representing our mutual constituents in the Legislative Assembly of BC, I am writing to ask your Mayor and Council to also request the Federal Government and Parks Canada hold a referendum during the next Federal Election in October of 2019.

I strongly feel that it is in the best interests of the people that reside in the South Okanagan-Similkameen, she continued.

Larson has been a long-standing and vocal opponent of a national park in the South Okanagan.

A poll released in January found that 76 per cent of Oliver, Osoyoos, Cawston and Keremeos residents want a referendum to be held on the proposed park.

Opponents of the park are worried about a loss in access to the backcountry as well as hunting and grazing rights.

Parks Canada is accepting public comment on the concept until March 15.
President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest at the 25th Maha Shivratri celebrations at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore today.

Coimbatore: President Ram Nath Kovind will be the chief guest at the 25th Maha Shivratri celebrations at Isha Yoga Centre in Coimbatore on Monday.

Kovind, along with Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev, will also pay tribute to the soldiers who died in Pulwama by planting saplings at the Isha Yoga Centre, a release from the Centre said on Thursday.

The president will visit the 'Dhyana Linga', the 'Linga Bhairavi Devi' as well as the 'Suryakund', a energised water body that can enhance one's receptivity, before proceeding to Adiyogi, where the Maha Shivratri event will unfold, it said.

The silver jubilee celebration is expected to be bigger and grander than ever with several well-known artistes performing through the night on Shivaratri.

Musical performances by Amit Trivedi, Hariharan, Karthik and other popular artistes, including drummers from Azerbaijan, classical dance performances, folk art and culture and meditation sessions will be part of the nightlong festivities planned, the release said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled a 112-foot tall bust of Adhi Yogi (Lord Shiva) as part of the Shivaratri celebrations at the Isha centre in 2017.
For many centuries, the Valmiki community has suffered oppression and been deprived of opportunities because of a caste-ordained occupation  cleaning sewers and human waste

Translated from Hindi by Bishaldeb Halder

Every second, the Valmiki community's dignity and rights are murdered.

Our history has been written with tears of blood. For how long will our truth be obscured? On your pages lies our truth that nobody else has bothered to know. I want to place this important truth before society, in the light of recent events.

I am aware that when I state this, I will immediately be met with replies like yes, this is a very grave issue, it must be highlighted', or 'it is time to shatter the silence around it. But the fact remains that there is no one who wishes to work for the emancipation of this community. An example of this was seen at an exhibition on 24 February, at the Kumbh Mela.

Two ladies from the Valmiki community, Jyoti and Chhavi Devi, and three gentlemen, Pyarelal, Naresh Chandra and Horilal, had their feet washed  a 'great' deed, apparently. It has only instilled a sense of inferiority in us.

This act only serves to make us more untouchable.

There is a very old custom in this society of immediately taking a bath upon being touched by an untouchable, in order to purify oneself. How cruelly ironic that the same custom should be practiced on the people from our community in order to respect them!

We belong to a community that is considered untouchable even among the Dalits. It is such beliefs and views that need to be cleansed, not our feet.

It is this same set of beliefs that has led to this grand gesture. Since these people are from untouchable communities, care must be taken to see that their feet are not filthy, lest the entire arrangement should be polluted. That is why the gesture was made.

Why were they not honoured inside the temple where the worship occurs? Because, even today, members of our community are not allowed inside temples. After washing our dirty feet, you are honouring us. Is this honour or insult? What answer do we give to our raging minds?

Touching our feet is a bit excessive. We dont even need you to make our community a vote bank; we sacrifice millions of votes for you anyway. If you are ready to become a great leader, pick up your pen and write that no one from the sanitation worker communities will engage in sanitation work and scavenging henceforth, in the country.

Did the Prime Minister not feel inclined to listen to the Mann ki Baat of these workers? As for them, why did they not speak about their problems: their childrens education, their own health, their financial condition and the grossly unhygienic conditions of their work?

Why is such honour bestowed upon us around the time of the elections and not at all the other times when our people clean toilets and pick up others leftover food and utensils at railway stations with their own hands?

There is no proper protective clothing provided at all. Our mothers and sisters are forced to listen to remarks like Cant you see Im walking here; my clothes will be soiled now while at work. What do you think they feel at being told off by young children half their age? Why is this so?

This is because the Valmiki community, on account of the work they are engaged in, are considered dirty and polluting. This issue has been relegated to the sidelines. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan was inaugurated on 2 October 2014 with a budget of Rs 1.95 lakh crore, that was meant to be spent on building 1.2 lakh toilets in order to end the practice of open defecation. How many sanitation workers were honoured then? On the contrary, there was greater recruitment of such workers for cleaning these toilets.

Can there not be greater deeds than washing feet? And why now? So much money has been spent in the name of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. But has there been any provision made for educating the children of these families? Has there been any explanation or basis given for this historically unhygienic custom?

There have been so many universities built in the name of society. Have there been any martyr memorials built for those who sacrificed their lives in order to make the country clean?

Have their children been provided with jobs, or have any leaders offered consolation to such families?

In the heated cauldron of Indian politics, the Kumbh Mela is organised, where people take a dip in the Ganga, the Gita is read  and members of the Valmiki community only are given the job of cleaning. Of all these people, only three men and two women were chosen to have their feet washed by the Prime Minister in bronze vessels. It escapes comprehension as to why this was done right before the 2019 General Elections.

To this day, hundreds of thousands of people have died in the sewers due to inhaling toxic gases and ingesting the filth and nightsoil. Nobody has even bothered about their families. There are countless women who fall prey to several diseases while doing sanitation work, as a result of which their children are forced to take up the profession in their stead. There are no fixed timings for sanitation workers; they usually start their work before daybreak and have to continue working till late at night, in order to make ends meet.

If I speak in the context of Haryana, where I hail from, the Valmiki community has very little access to education. In villages, girls from the Valmiki community have to carry the filth and garbage of the rest of society, when they should actually be studying. Thus, the hope and promise of a bright future is snuffed out by this dirty custom.

For women of our community, this act of cleaning garbage begins in the dark of the night. Before daybreak, the mud, refuse and nightsoil of the entire village are already on the heads of the women and men of our community. Even all the refuse and nightsoil has a higher status than that of the members of our community. For I have always seen them weighed down by it. Everyday we are humiliated with the slur choorha, meaning an insect crawling in muck. What sort of dignity do we have?

Why does the act of carrying refuse begin at 4 am? So that nobody sees us in this act.

I have mostly seen the members of my community cursing governments for leaving them in such a condition. But when there was talk of an era of development, there were high hopes within the community. They believed they would progress too, and that their children would have brighter futures. Why has this ended up as a mere dream for my community?

Education is the only means by which the Valmiki community can bring about its intellectual development, by which it can hope for more gainful employment, and to break free of the shackles of such a profession. It is tragic that the situation of the sanitation workers with regard to education remains so worrying. A research study conducted by the Indian Social Institute across the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and southern states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh concluded that a mere 0.6 percent of youth from sanitation worker communities manages to reach higher education. The study makes it clear that after the intermediate level, these students are forced to drop out.

The main reason for this is the lack of access to schools. Even when there is access, there are other reasons for the overwhelming dropout rates, such as the discrimination practised by teachers, weak financial condition and the negative self-esteem that these students develop as a result of constantly working with their parents in this profession. Even today, there is open and public discrimination practised by teachers towards children coming from sanitation worker families. Nothing has changed despite such discrimination being punishable by law. To this day, these children are forced to do sanitation work in schools.

For children from such families, the only source of education is the state government-run school. But the aforementioned study has also revealed that these schools are bereft of even the minimum facilities mandated by the Right to Education Act. Even after studying in these schools, these students cannot prepare themselves for good employment opportunities and competitive examinations, and have, perforce, to stick to their caste-ordained occupation.

Another reason for this is that our community has been denied any opportunity to acquire technical and professional skills such as mechanical work, electrical work etc. In such a scenario, having relinquished their caste-based unskilled work, they can find no other opportunities. The community continues to be trapped in this profession, generation after generation.

In the last few years, through the efforts of the Safai Karmachari Andolan and several other human rights organisations, new laws were passed in Parliament that made manual scavenging a crime. In spite of this, neither have the deaths in septic tanks stopped nor has the number of people recruited in other forms of sanitation work reduced. What is it that keeps people from these families from leaving their caste-ordained professions?

On 25 February, 2019, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured the five sanitation workers, Darshan Ratna Raavan, chief of the Aadi Dharm Samaaj (AADHAS), had gathered along with thousands of members of the Valmiki community at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, in order to protest the deaths of sanitation workers and to fight for the rights of the community. There were thousands of women demanding justice for their family members, who had lost their lives in the sewers.

They were demanding that sanitation workers be given reservations. Till date, they have not been given any accommodation. Neither have their children been given any government jobs. They are far away from receiving any monetary compensation or damages. Such a situation only exists because there has been no implementation of our constitutionally guaranteed rights. If their demands could be met, it would lead to a very welcome social change.

As a female leader from the Valmiki community, I can clearly see that there has been a huge contribution by the sanitation worker communities in bringing you to power. Is it not the responsibility of the present administration that new schemes are devised for the development of our community, so that we too may join the mainstream? Or will we always be seen as a vote-bank? This attitude needs to change; we cannot see any more people lose their lives by drowning in filth. Otherwise, there is going to be large-scale opposition from our community, which will not be favourable to the current administration.

The practice of manual scavenging was banned by law in 1993, and yet it persists tenaciously. It was Bezwada Wilsons initiative to fight for the rights and dignity of sanitation workers that spread the movement to every corner of the country. The movement highlighted the failure of implementation of this law in everyday life. It brought the attention of the government to this issue. In this context, here are a few questions that I would like to raise:

Since the practice of manual scavenging and manual cleaning of sewers is banned by law, what has been done to ensure the implementation of this law? Because both these practices continue to exist in full force. Is it not the responsibility of the administration to check this?

Does the administration not feel the need to look at the data on the number of people from the community who have lost their lives while working in sewers?

Will the responsibility for the continuation of this dirty custom, that is being done by the administration, be taken up by the present government? Or will they introduce mechanical cleaning of sewers? Are there any machines for this purpose in your records? If there arent, what do you say is the basis of these suicides that occur in the gutters and manholes? Because there is a law against this in our Constitution.

Are these workers committing suicide in the sewers?

Does the self-respect and education of the Valmiki community in this country have no meaning for you?

If those in charge of running the country are themselves encouraging these practices, who do we go to in order to press for the implementation of these laws?

The practice of keeping sanitation workers deliberately on contract and making them work in the sewers must be stopped. It is clearly evident that the state and administration have failed in implementing and upholding the rule of law. Nothing else can explain the continuation of these practices even after so many years of them being banned by law.

We would be happy if the Prime Minister would grant members of our community special reservations, through which we can avail of special positions in education and employment.

I would like to propose the following provisions and safeguards regarding employment opportunities and practices of the Valmiki community:

Appointing some members of this community as judges

Those sanitation workers who have lost their lives while working be granted the status of sanitation soldiers (Safai Sainik)

There should be a provision by which all education of children belonging to sanitation worker families, from primary to higher education, be completely free

The wages of those from our community who are engaged in this profession must be four times those of Grade A government officers. Since the pursuit of this profession involves humiliation at every moment, it is an exceedingly difficult job, one that they do by causing harm to their own self-respect

Sewers must be cleaned using machines. The practice of sacrificing people from our community like animals must be stopped.

It is very important to provide those engaged in scavenging with reservations based on economic, social, educational and political backwardness. Our community has been cleaning the filth of society for thousands of years in the face of such contempt and humiliation, to the extent that we have internalised this within our own community.

We have been excluded from every kind of institution. We want a life of dignity in this country. Provide us with alternative opportunities, and make us part of the mainstream.

Till date, the mothers in my community have not been able to impart good education to their children, because the garbage of your society was being cleaned by them  for which they have never ever received fair and necessary wages. Society, as a whole, is responsible for this. But this debt lies in your hands; you can repay it if you want to. We are asking for our rights from the government of our country at the Kumbh Mela this year. This is not charity; these are our rights. Just give us our rights! Understand the value of our community or at least try to.

There cannot be a bigger deed during this Kumbh Mela than the present administration accepting our demands.

All images from Facebook unless specified otherwise
Tribal outfits across states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and north-east have called for a peaceful bandh.

Tribal groups across the country called for a Bharat bandh on Tuesday to protest against the 13 February Supreme Court order directing 21 states to evict 11.8 lakh illegal forest and tribal dwellers, whose claims over the forest land have been rejected by the authorities.

On 28 February, a Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Naveen Sinha and MR Shah stayed the eviction order and directed the state governments to file affidavits providing details of the process adopted in rejecting the claims made by the Forest Dwelling Scheduled Tribes (FDSTs) and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs).

The Tribal groups are demanding that the Centre bring an ordinance to ensure their rights are protected.

According to The Times of India, Adivasi and Dalit groups across states have called upon political and social activists to join them in their march from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar, Delhi on Tuesday to highlight the issue of restoring the Forest Rights Act.

They will protest also against Supreme Court upholding an Allahabad High Court order over reservation of SC/STs in the appointment of faculty members in universities, The Indian Express reported.

Tribal outfits across states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and north-east have called for a peaceful bandh. On 27 February, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Centre's plea seeking withholding of its 13 February. The Centre had rushed to the top court for modification of the order saying the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 was a "beneficial" legislation and should be construed liberally to help "extremely poor and illiterate people" who are not well informed of their rights and procedure under the law. Earlier on 1 March, a fresh petition was filed in the top court seeking direction to the authorities not to evict any forest-dweller and setting up of a SIT to look into illegal acquisition of tribal land in the country. The plea, filed by Chhattisgarh-based Tarika Tarangini Larka, also sought a direction to the Centre not to allot possession of any forest land belonging to tribals to anyone other than 'Adivasis' residing in that particular area. Advocate ML Sharma, appearing for Tarika Tarangini Larka, mentioned the petition on Friday for urgent listing before a bench comprising Justices AK Sikri and SK Kaul. In the petition, Tarika Tarangini Larka alleged that authorities in Tamnar of Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh have forcefully grabbed a large area of tribal land and handed it to outsiders and are now trying to oust Adivasis from the area. "For this, they adopted simple strategy declaring forest-dwellers as non-Adivasis to grab their land in the forest and village by rejecting their claim upon the land," the plea said. The plea has also sought restoration of land acquired by the government from tribals in Chhattisgarh for mining and other purposes and to provide them with a value of mined minerals. The petition has also sought setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) comprising retired judges of the apex court to look into the illegal acquisition of land belonging to tribals throughout the country. With inputs from PTI

Updated Date:
Amid the Opposition's demand for proof on the Centre's claims of terror camp strikes in Pakistan, Union Minister SS Ahluwalia has said the purpose of the strike was not to cause casualties but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.

Kolkata: Amid the Opposition's demand for proof on the Centre's claims of terror camp strikes in Pakistan, Union Minister SS Ahluwalia has said the purpose of the strike was not to cause casualties but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.

Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on casualty of air strikes. Rather, it was the Indian media and social media where the unconfirmed figures of terrorist killed were being circulated, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modiji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modiji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask whether Modiji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figures?" he asked reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology said the intention of the strike was to send out a message that India is capable of destruction in Pakistan's own backyard if needed. We didn't want any casualties, he said.

The video of Ahluwalia's comments was posted by the CPM on its Twitter handle with a question: "Is the Govt now backtracking from its claims that they took out a Terrorist Camp in Pakistan? (sic)" When contacted, Ahluwalia reiterated that neither the government officials nor any minister has given out a figure of the casualties.

"I was asked whether I stand by the government's statement or by the reports of Indian media which have said 300-350 terrorists were killed. I stand by the government's statement. How can I vouch for media reports?" he told PTI. The Darjeeling BJP MP's comments come soon after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee questioned the Modi government over the air strike.

Banerjee on Thursday demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.
The United States said on Sunday it was trying to find out if Pakistan used US-built F-16 jets to down an Indian warplane, potentially in violation of US agreements, as the stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours appeared to be easing.

Islamabad/Srinagar: The United States said on Sunday it was trying to find out if Pakistan used US-built F-16 jets to down an Indian warplane, potentially in violation of US agreements, as the stand-off between the nuclear-armed neighbours appeared to be easing.

Pakistan and India both carried out aerial bombing missions this week, including a clash on Wednesday that saw an Indian pilot shot down in an incident that alarmed global powers and sparked fears of a war. A Pakistan military spokesman on Wednesday denied Indian claims that Pakistan used F-16 jets.

Pakistan returned the captured Indian pilot on Friday in a high-profile handover Islamabad touted as a "peace gesture", which appeared to significantly dial down tensions, but both sides remain on high alert.

At the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the two countries in Kashmir, there was relative calm in the past 24 hours, both armies said on Sunday. But Indian security forces said they were carrying out major anti-militancy operations on their side on Kashmir and had shot dead two militants.

The US Embassy in Islamabad said on Sunday it was looking into reports that Pakistan used F-16 jets to shoot down the Indian pilot, a potential violation of Washingtons military sale agreements that limit how Pakistan can use the planes.

We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information, a US Embassy spokesperson said. We take all allegations of misuse of defence articles very seriously. While Pakistan has denied using F-16 jets during a dogfight that downed an Indian MiG-21 warplane over Kashmir on Wednesday, it has not specified which planes it used, though it assembles Chinese-designed JF-17 fighter jets on its soil.

Pakistan has a long history of buying US military hardware, especially in the years after 2001 when Islamabad was seen as a key partner in the US-led war on terror.

Pakistan bought several batches of F-16 planes, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, from Washington before relations soured and the United States cut off subsidised sales in 2016. It is not clear what exactly these so-called end-user agreements restrict Pakistan from doing. "The US government does not comment on or confirm pending investigations of this nature," the US Embassy added.

On Thursday Indian officials displayed parts of what they called an air-to-air missile to reporters that can only be fired from F-16 jets, alleging they were used to bomb its side of the disputed Kashmir border on Wednesday.

A Pakistan military spokesman told reporters on Wednesday that Pakistani jets locked on Indian targets to demonstrate Pakistans capacity to strike back at India, but then chose to fire in an empty field where there would be no casualties.

Pakistan said its mission on Wednesday was in retaliation for India violating its airspace and sovereignty a day earlier, when Indian jets bombed a forest area near the northern city of Balakot.

India said it struck at militant training camps, but Islamabad denied any such camps existed, as did some villagers in the area when Reuters visited.

Militancy Operations

Cross-border shelling in the past few days has killed seven people on the Pakistani side and four on the Indian side of Kashmir. But on Sunday it was relatively quiet near the de facto border of Kashmir, the source of two of the three wars India and Pakistan have fought since independence from Britain in 1947.

By and large the LoC was calm last night but you never know when it will become active again, said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, a minister in Pakistani Kashmir. Tension still prevails.

In Indian-administered Kashmir, troops on Sunday shot dead two militants after a three-day gun battle that also killed five security force personnel, taking the total death toll to 25 in the past two weeks.

The fresh anti-militancy drive was launched after a Kashmiri suicide bomber, a member of a Pakistan-based militant group, killed 40 Indian paramilitary police on 14 February. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has also come down hard on separatist groups operating in Kashmir, including by banning the Jamaat-e-Islami party, two of whose clerics were detained in raids on Saturday night.
Even as a Pakistan minister dismissed reports of Masood Azhars death, the risk of fake news and its perpetuation on social media is increasing.

Even as Punjab (Pakistan) Information and Culture Minister Fayyaz-ul-Hassan Chohan denied reports of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhars death, the risk of fake news and its perpetuation on social media is fast increasing.

Only a day after WhatsApp group messages, Twitter posts and Instagram videos circulated claims that one of the most dangerous terrorists in the world died of liver cancer, not many looked at verification of its source. The same shortcoming plagued the news of Indian Air Force's Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans capture, stay in Pakistan and homecoming. Irresponsible handling of information was also seen in the cases of the 14 February Pulwama attack and the Indian air strikes in the recent times. Several mob lynching incidents have taken place in recent times following social media rumours since around two years ago.

In fact, a public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court last week seeking framing of guidelines to curb the spread of fake news through news and social media. The petition said that the amount of fake news has left fact-checkers grappling and has also resulted in the breakdown of law and order. There are no set laws to restrict fake news on social media and no defined penalties for those who circulate it, the petition contends.

WhatsApp, too, has started a campaign to discourage fake news, apart from limiting the number of people a message can be sent to at one time and the number of times it can be forwarded.

With the Lok Sabha elections coming up, drafting laws and adopting stricter social media policies are basic but necessary steps. How can program codes successfully sift out all the fake news online? As the law takes its course, how can punishment to agents of fake news reverse the impact already caused?

As per a report in Quartz India, research has found that people care less about the validity of a messages source and content, and more about the sender and its potential to entertain or reinforce a sense of identity. This proves why the video of IAF pilot Vijay Shelke, who ejected safely after two Suryakiran fighter jets crashed mid-air ahead of the Aero India show, was liked almost 8,000 times on Twitter when it was falsely shared as a video of an Indian pilot arrested alive after his aircraft crashed in Pakistani territory.

An article in The New York Times argues that people often support outlandish or demonstrably false claims that align with their political ideology, and that not much critical thought is given to the information encountered. The blame, according to this research, can rest either with our tendency of rationalisation or cognitive laziness. The former school of thought consists of people using their intellect to rationalise what they have heard, instead of checking the veracity of the news. The latter holds that information is often just glanced through and not thought about.

Failing to question the content encountered adds to a persons online gullibility, leading to incessant reliance on search engines, which display information on the basis of keywords, not facts, a Time report argues. False stories, in fact, travel six times faster on Twitter than true ones, a study quoted by this report found.

Fake news, especially in the form of doctored photos, may change the way people remember incidents, a Vox report said. Once you expose people to such a powerful visual presentation, how do they get it out of their minds? Elizabeth Loftus, a professor of psychological science at University of California Irvine is quoted as saying.
Amid speculations, the extended winter break in Kashmir schools is majorly seen as the governments way to thwart the possible campus protests over harassments of Kashmiri students outside the Valley and the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)-run Fala-i-aam Trust schools

The two-month-long winter break has come to an end in Kashmir and the lifeless educational institutions are waiting to come to life as students plan to return to their classes. But this time around, students across the Valley might have to wait a bit more, after government extended the winter break. The decision has already become a new talking point in Kashmir.

The extension has come amid larger events unfolding in the Valley, in the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections. And this is exactly what makes the government order a subject of speculations. Its normal March in Kashmir and I dont see any reason why government should extend a winter break," said a parent, Mir Mustafa in Srinagar. "Given the times we live in, education should be a priority for this government. But then it seems theyve some other plans."

Amid speculations, the extended winter break is majorly seen as the governments way to thwart the possible campus protests over harassments of Kashmiri students outside the Valley and the ban on the Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI)-run Fala-i-aam Trust schools.

"Apparently the government fears that JeI might mobilise its students to stage a massive protest in Kashmir against the ban and other atrocities, says Rameez Khan, a doctor and an alumnus of JeI school. Thats why the government is still mulling whether they should ban schools or keep it out of it."

Sensing the simmering build-up in the Valley, the advisor to Governor Satya Pal Malik, Khursheed Ganai recently said that the government is still examining the order  whether or not ban JeI-affiliated schools.

#JeI Ban# J&K Government Spokesman, Rohit Kansal @kansalrohit69 clarifies:

Schools, mosques & orphanages so far kept outside the scope of seizure  DIPR-J&K (@diprjk) March 3, 2019

The clarification came on Sunday after over 200 alumni of JeI-run schools under Falah-e-Aam Trust, currently studying and working in different countries across the world, came together to ask the government to revoke its orders.

"We, the alumni of Jamaat-e-Islami run schools known as Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT) working across the world and in the institutions of State of Jammu and Kashmir are shocked to read the news reports suggesting that the government is imposing ban and closure on the schools run by Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT)," the alumni said in an open letter to Centre.

Falah-e-Aam Trust (FAT) is non-political in nature and is dedicated to education and service in Jammu and Kashmir, the letter said. "Presently, Falah-E-Aam Trust runs over 350 schools across the state of Jammu and Kashmir, with an enrolment of over 1,00,000 students and 10,000 staff members," it said.

"We have been educated in the schools of Falah-e-Aam Trust and we are witness to its struggle for educating the weaker sections of the society and its efforts to uplift the society in a peaceful and constructive manner. No schools run by FAT have ever taught us to breach the law or engage in anti-social activities. FAT schools have created lakhs of civilized citizens holding almost every office in the J&K State. From legislators to jurists, and from doctors, engineers, teachers, administrative officers to multi-rung office-bearers in the state, FAT has made its students earn influential positions in running the government. FAT-school pass outs have a massive contribution in good governance in Jammu and Kashmir," it added.

In case, the government of the day imposes the ban, the letter further added, it would plainly mean that the current dispensation wants the destruction of the already ailing education system in Kashmir. "The sealing of schools belonging to FAT will jeopardize the career of thousands and render many jobless. It would be a clear message to Kashmir that India cares little about Kashmirs education and upliftment," it said.

Even as government sources reveal that the regional political parties might be fishing in troubled waters by inciting campuses against the government, many of them have already sought a review on the JeI ban. "While the government may take some time to review the need to ban JeI, there is a need to urgently review the ban on schools and the sealing of mosques," former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.

"Schools with 10s of 1000s of students, employing 1,000s of teachers are being sealed," Omar added. "Sealing schools risks forcing so many young kids out on the streets rather than studying to make a future for themselves."

These schools have been providing education to the poorest of the poor and they have been getting positions, PDP chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti said on Saturday when her party members staged a protest against the ban in Srinagar.

They are meritorious students. Where will these kids go? The government is playing with their future. This is very bad, Mehbooba said. But despite clearing air about the ban on JeI-run schools, many believe, that government is possibly extending the winter break to test waters in Kashmir.

In past, the government had to face the ire of campuses and therefore, given the unfolding polity, in the run-up to upcoming Lok Sabha elections in J&K, the government is taking great precautions, said Bashir Lone, a commentator based in Srinagar. But again, theyre repeating the same old mistake in Kashmir, which is bound to breed a sense of alienation.
Modi's rallies since the Balakot strikes have been aimed at solidifying the national sentiment that seeks to teach Pakistan a lesson for bleeding India relentlessly.

Why does political consensus in India have a very short shelf-life when it comes to a response against Pakistans proxy war? This question assumes importance considering the political wrangling over the Balakot strikes and its aftermath. This wrangling is set to intensify as the polls draw near, and the emergent narrative may in some ways inform and shape Indias strategic culture vis-a-vis Pakistan.

As India gradually adopts a more proactive and offensive posture against Pakistan over the doctrine of deterrence and strategic restraint, it will be wrong to interpret this shift purely in doctrinal terms. Political considerations shape geopolitics because ultimately, all nations act in self-interest, but in Indias rambunctious democracy, it perhaps acts as a greater determinant of grand strategy than is conventionally assumed.

An article in The Indian Express points out that 2019 could be Indias first instance of national security elections. According to him, the old postulations of national security being the purview of only elite politics and not mass considerations no longer hold because Indias middle class is now larger than ever and has learnt to make itself heard through social media.

While the tremors of Kandahar (1999) could not travel far and wide, and Mumbai (2008) did not penetrate the consciousness of the rural electorate, the current national security discourse has a much wider ambit. The urban population is also rapidly growing, the article argues.

Stripped to the bone, this argument implies that Indias growing middle class is becoming more influential in shaping political discourse, and as Indias economy continues to grow at a fast clip, this trend will be irreversible. But why is this important? And in what way does the growing middle class shape discourses and even grand strategy?

As the sixth-largest economy in the world, and one that is poised to rise higher, India is creating opportunities and value that can lead to shared prosperity for its citizens. A young India, with a large digitally enabled middle class is asking for growth and change, as PwC writes in its report 'Future of India - the Winning Leap.'

A simultaneous churn that emanates from this growth in a demographically young nation is a clamour for power projection. The pride and prestige of a nation is seen as a reflection of the self. Ambition and reputation are core considerations that define an amorphous group that is slowly getting used to power projection. As the economy grows and the middle class expands, this will for power projection will continue to grow. Politicians and policy makers must accordingly adjust their outlook.

This will for power projection is driving Indias doctrinal shift towards adopting a more proactive stance that prioritises compellence over deterrence to mitigate Pakistans use of terror against India. When Narendra Modi says during his public rallies that India will no longer tolerate Pakistans proxy war and will respond in kind to each attack on Indian soil, he is essentially tapping into this changing mood of the nation.

C Christine Fair, in this Firstpost article, explains why India can never return to the policy of "strategic restraint" to deal with Pakistan any longer. After Balakot, there will be little appetite in India to return to the status quo of strategic restraint. Unless this crisis spirals out of control and leads to a war in which Pakistan defeats India, there will be a demand to respond to subsequent Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks. Pakistan has not changed but India has, and Pakistan has only itself to blame. The implications of India and Indians becoming comfortable with power projection will have an enormous impact on the region and beyond.

A perceptive politician will discern these changes ahead of others. Modi seems to have caught on to the shift and is using it to his advantage. The prime ministers rallies since the Balakot strikes  one in Churu, Rajasthan and another one in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh  have been explicitly aimed at solidifying this national sentiment that seeks to teach Pakistan a lesson for bleeding India relentlessly.

Away from the arena of politics, the prime minister, the national security adviser and their team seem to be working on a retaliation mechanism against Pakistan that seeks to punch holes in Islamabads nuclear doctrine and expose the space that lies between its nuclear trigger and sub-conventional war. Balakot had called out Pakistans nuclear bluff, and India, by virtue of using air power across the Line of Control, has pushed the envelope beyond the post-Uri precision strikes.

This article in The Indian Express points out that Modi and Ajit Doval have shown that that it is possible to strengthen Indias deterrence against major terror attacks from Pakistan  and a commitment to break out of the constraints imposed by nuclear weapons. They also refused to accept the mythology that there is some kind of 'divine sanctity' to the LoC.

In this context, the Congress and other Opposition parties have completely misread the script. By questioning the validity of the strikes and raising suspicion against the armed forces and the governments version of events, they have questioned the raison detre of "New India" that refuses to turn the other cheek when slapped. The Opposition has also misread the sentiment associated with the armed forces, who are kept on a higher pedestal in the political discourse.

When Air Marshal C Hari Kumar, who stepped down as Chief of Western Air Command (WAC) on Thursday just after overseeing the Balakot air strikes, says, What was the task set to us we have achieved. The rest of it is for the government to decide, the discourse is set against politicians who question this version.

When Air Chief BS Dhanoa says in a presser that the IAF has completed its mission in Balakot, politicians such as Mamata Banerjee, Digvijay Singh or Kapil Sibal, who question the claims, indicate that they do not believe in the armed forces. That is a political point, and the Opposition is losing it.

There might be sound ground for skepticism and the government will eventually have to come up with evidence instead of feeding source-based reportage. Open display of skepticism against the government at this point might be a political necessity for the Opposition, but it will likely be counterproductive.

The Oppositions stance is also quite confusing. They have congratulated the armed forces for their valour  refer to Rahul Gandhis tweet commending the IAF, or Mamata Banerjees post, calling the IAF Indias Amazing Fighters  yet they have questioned the government and blamed Modi for politicising a questionable strike.

IAF also means India's Amazing Fighters. Jai Hind  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) February 26, 2019

This apparent contradiction in narrative weakens the Oppositions case. They are walking into the trap set by Modi.
HD Kumaraswamy, JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress working president Eshwar Khandre attended the meeting.

Bengaluru: The Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition in Karnataka on Monday held the second round of talks on the tricky issue of seat-sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with Congress saying they were moving "in the right direction."

The two parties had begun formal talks last week with the JD(S) insisting that 12 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats be conceded to it, but party supremo and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda indicated Sunday that they were ready to compromise.

The two allies, who had formed the government after striking a post-poll alliance as the May 2018 Assembly elections threw up a hung verdict, had announced earlier that they would fight the Lok Sabha elections together.

The Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee chairman and former chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters they had a good detailed discussion about every constituency.

"We are moving in the right direction," Siddaramaiah said after the coordination committee meeting.

Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao and Congress working president Eshwar Khandre attended the meeting.

JD(S) has put forth its demand with a list of candidates to contest for 12 seats.

"We have not given a final shape to it. We will give it in the coming days," Siddaramaiah said.

He added that the leaders were zeroing in on who can win and from where. Discussions have not been completed yet, but there was good progress, he said.

"I hope that we will give a final shape in three-four days before 10 March," Siddaramaiah added.

The Mandya Lok Sabha seat has become a bone of contention between the two parties with JD(S) deciding to field Kumarasawmy's son and Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy.

The JD(S) leadership, dominated by Vokkaligas, treats Mandya as its bastion, as the constituency has a substantial Vokkaliga population.

On the other hand, multi-lingual film actor Sumalatha, widow of noted Kannada film star Ambarish, has also evinced interest in contesting from there on Congress ticket.

Asked about the JD(S) hinting that Nikhil Kumaraswamy would contest from Mandya even before the list got finalised, Siddaramaiah said, "Can we say no to a candidate who has winnability there?"

Ali said some more discussions were needed, but the final meeting would take place between Deve Gowda and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Seat sharing will be a major test for both parties as the JD(S), banking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in ministry formation and allocation of boards and corporations, has demanded 12 seats out of the total of 28.

The Congress is opposed to this, maintaining that sharing of seats will be based on "merit".

Also, there is pressure from within Congress not to cede too many seats to JD(S), especially the 10 seats where the party has sitting MPs.

Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region is expected to be an acid test for both parties, as the JD(S) considers it as its bastion, and the Congress has its sitting members from most of the seats there.
Two days after Union minister SS Ahluwalia said neither Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of Balakot air strikes, the Congress asked the prime minister to come out with the truth on the number of terrorists killed.

New Delhi: Two days after Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology SS Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of Balakot air strikes, the Congress on Monday asked the prime minister to come out with the truth on the number of terrorists killed.

"Modiji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet Monday.

Ahluwalia, said on Saturday in Siliguri that neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of air strikes.

Rather, the Indian media and social media users were circulating an unconfirmed figure of terrorists killed, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modiji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modiji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask if Modiji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figure?" he asked reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The Darjeeling BJP MP's comments come in the wake of West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee questioning the Modi government over the air strike.

Banerjee on Thursday demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation.
Photo: The Canadian Press Michael Kovrig (left) and Michael Spavor, the two Canadians detained in China, are shown in these 2018 images taken from video.

UPDATE 9:50 a.m.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is dismissing reports in China that two imprisoned Canadians tried to steal state secrets from the People's Republic.

Trudeau says it is unfortunate China continues to push forward with detentions of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor.

They were arrested in December by Chinese authorities and accused of violating the country's national security more than a week after Canada arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, at the request of the U.S., which wants to extradite her for fraud.

"We are a country of the rule of law. We will ensure that that rule of law is fully respected and we will go through those processes in a proper and rigorous way," Trudeau told reporters in Prince Edward Island.

"It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions."

An anonymously sourced report in China's state-controlled Xinhua News Agency reported Monday that Kovrig and Spavor worked together to steal state secrets, linking their cases for the first time.

Kovrig and Spavor have been imprisoned without being formally charged or granted access to lawyers, and their Canadian consular visits have been limited to approximately one a month  while Meng has been released on bail and is living in a Vancouver mansion.

Meng's lawyers said Sunday she would file a civil lawsuit against the Canadian government over her Dec. 1 arrest.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang was asked Monday at a briefing in Beijing whether that amounted to a double standard, but he brushed aside the suggestion.

"China has strictly fulfilled our due obligations as required in the China-Canada Consular Agreement," Lu said, according to a translated version of his remarks posted to his department's website.

He said China "took compulsory measures" against Kovrig and Spavor, because they were suspected of undermining China's national security.

ORIGINAL 5:31 a.m.

Chinese official media on Monday accused two Canadians detained in China of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

The Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing Chinese state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor.

Both Canadians were arrested on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Canada said last Friday that it will allow a U.S. extradition request for Meng to proceed. Meng is chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The U.S. is seeking Meng's extradition to face charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran.

Xinhua accused Kovrig of often entering China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquiring information from his "main contact," Spavor.

"Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security," Xinhua said.

The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think-tank . Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he has been photographed shaking hands and laughing.
By questioning the Balakot air strike, Opposition leaders helped the BJP in giving a nationalist and pro-forces twist to the February crisis between India and Pakistan

With its new pre-poll catchphrase Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai, the ruling BJP would be hoping to turn its Phir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar slogan into a reality. An improvement on the earlier catchphrase, "Namumkin ab Mumkin", the key decision makers in the BJP have decided to introduce the new catchphrase following the post-Pulwama attack surgical strikes 2 when Indian Air Force jets went deep inside Pakistani territory to destroy Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps in Balakot.

The new catchphrase aims to convey the strength and decisiveness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The focus is to connect the electorate with the way Modi gave a free hand to the armed forces to cross the Line of Control and the International Border and hit intended targets in Pakistan, as well as, convey, a multitude of messages on the speed and scale of developmental projects and anti-corruption measures.

The two public rallies held by Modi on Sunday, first in Patna where he shared the dais with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as an ally after a decade and second in Congress president Rahul Gandhi's home turf Amethi, was high on nationalist fervour. In both the places, all leaders who spoke from the podium talked about the Pulwama attack and the decisiveness of Modis leadership.

Based on the manner in which the speakers addressed the crowd and the crowd's response at both these places, it is clear that BJP would be going to the polls with two broad topics: first, the strong leadership of Modi, and how it would make everything possible, and second, the post-Pulwama response by Indian armed forces. Both these topics are being pitched in a manner that they emotively polarise the voters in favour of the BJP.

The clamour for "proof" by senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh for the Indian air strike at Balakot and the barrage of questions raised by Opposition leaders like Arvind Kejriwal, Kapil Sibal, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati, Mehbooba Mufti, Salman Khursheed and others, seem to have only helped the BJP in shaping its response and giving a nationalist and pro-forces twist to the February crisis.

Modi began his speech in Patna and in Amethi  telling the crowd and those on the podium to chant Bharat Mata ki Jai thrice with their full vocal strength. And each time, the slogan was dedicated to a particular theme converging into a patriotic fervour: Parakrmi Bharat Ke Liye Bharat Mata Ki Jai, Vijayi Bharat Ke Liye Bharat Mata ki Jai and Veer Jawano Ke Liye Bharat Mata ki Jai".

Modi then lashed out at the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, in particular, saying they were indulging in competition to abuse the "chowkidar (Modi)", but, he added, the "Chowkidar chaukanna hai, surakhsha chahe garib ki ho ya desh ki... Jitne bade faisle hain who danke ki chot par liye jaa rahe hain who aage bhi liye jayenge (Chowkidar is awake and alert, whether for the poor or for the country. Big and bold decisions that are being taken now with the beat of a drum and will be taken in the future as well)".

The fact that the statements made by Arvind Kejriwal, and Rahul Gandhi reading out a joint statement of 21 parties in which the Opposition parties expressed anguish over the politicisation of the Pulwama attack by the BJP, became headlines in the Pakistan media, gave Modi the ammunition to target the Opposition leaders, albeit without naming them. The prime minister criticised his political adversaries by saying, "Pakistan me unke liye taaliyan baj rahi hai (They are clapping for them in Pakistan)."

In the current heat, when a lot is being talked about Indias capabilities  the bombing of JeM camps in Balakot by aged aircraft like Sukhoi Su-30 MKI and Mirage 2000 jets and later another ageing jet Indian MiG 21 Bison shooting down a Pakistani F-16, Modi has talked twice about Rafale in the last two days. Each time, the prime minister highlighted the difference the Rafale jets would have made if they were part of the Indian Air Force. He first spoke about it at the media conclave on Sunday and again on Monday at a public function in Jamnagar. Modi didnt elaborate about the deal but him making a brief mention about the sixth generation fighter aircraft which would be inducted in September appeared to have punctured all the charges made by Gandhi against him and the Rafale deal.

Given the current mood of the nation, the politics over Rafale appears to have taken a whole new turn. It's advantage Modi and BJP. In any case, India has not acquired any advanced fighter jets for decades.

The Modi government has also made a big change in Indias policy that was prevalent since the India-Pakistan 1971 War that it would not cross the LoC or the International Border with Pakistan no matter what the provocation  1999 Kargil War, 2001 Indian Parliament Attack, 26/11 Mumbai Attack and so on  to defend its sovereign rights. In the past two and half years, Indian armed forces have crossed the LoC and the International Border twice for surgical strikes.

The BJP's new catchphrase, therefore, appears to have set the defining electoral agenda and possibly the electoral outcome as well.
Speaking at the rally, Modi launched a veiled attack on the Opposition as he said that even as the nation is proud of the armed forces and believes in them, he doesn't understand why some people want to question their valour and sacrifice. Starting his address with chants of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', Modi said that the whole country believes that the menace of terror needs to be eliminated.

Addressing a public rally in Gujrat's Jamnagar district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that the aim of the Opposition is to remove him even as he aims to remove terrorism from the country. The prime minister also inaugurated various development and infrastructure projects in the state and greeted the people on the occasion of Mahashivratri.

Speaking at the rally, Modi launched a veiled attack on the Opposition as he said that even as the nation is proud of the armed forces and believes in them, he doesn't understand why some people want to question their valour and sacrifice. Starting his address with chants of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', Modi said that the whole country believes that the menace of terror needs to be eliminated.

The prime minister once again mentioned that if the country's air force had Rafale fighter jets, the result of its skirmish with enemy forces would have been different. He said that no country can move forward without power and strength and that wiping out terrorism from its root is the need of the hour.

Turning to highlight BJP government's achievements in the state, Modi said that he was certain that he wouldn't allow 'Tanker Raj' to carry on in Gujarat. He said that the state government courageously took on corruption channels as it was necessary for the state's overall development.

"The Sardar Sarovar Dam has brought much relief to the people of Gujarat. This project was completed despite neglect from earlier state governments and adversities from various quarters," Modi said.

Modi then talked about the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, which he said has allowed for Rs 6,000 to be given directly to the accounts of farmers. However, he said, some people are spreading lies about the scheme. "We will work together to make the mantra of 'Sabka Saha Sabka Vikas' for a permanent settlement of people's problems," Modi said.

He also reiterated the benefits of the Central government's pilot healthcare project, the Ayushman Bharat scheme and said that India is home to one of the biggest healthcare programmes in the world and the coming of this initiative ensures top quality and affordable healthcare for the poor.

As he inaugurated the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital in Jamnagar, the prime minister said that Gujarat has always had a special relationship with the tradition of guru and that the hospital only adds to that value chain.

Talking about other projects, Modi said, "Our government's aim is that by 2022, every family in the country should have their dream house. And to fulfil the dream, the government has launched the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said he believed in 'barging into the houses of terrorists and killing them', indicating that Balakot air strike on JeM camp in Pakistan won't be India's last such action

Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday said he believed in "barging into the houses of terrorists and killing them" as he vowed to find out those responsible for terror attacks in India "even if they hide in bowels of the earth".

Modi's comments indicated that last week's air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp in Pakistan won't be India's last such action against terrorism emanating from the neighbouring country.

He targeted the opposition for playing "vote-bank politics" and not taking steps to curb terrorism that has been hurting India for 40 years when they were in power.

"They (the opposition) say it is a game of election. Where was the election when we carried out surgical strikes for the first time (in September 2016)? 'Ye hamara siddhant hai, ki ghar mein ghus kar maarenge' (it is our principle that we will kill them by barging into their house)," he asserted.

"I am not going to spare them even if they hide in the bowels of the earth (saatve pataal)," he said in his address, seen as a fresh warning to Pakistan.

Recalling the bomb blasts carried out at the civil hospital premises here in July 2008 and the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks, Modi said the then government at the Centre should have taken revenge and taught Pakistan a lesson.

"Terrorism came from across the border. Was it not the responsibility of people at the Centre to take revenge?" he asked, referring to the bomb blasts at the civil hospital and other places in Ahmedabad.

"If the government then had courage, it could have avenged the deaths of innocent people at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Innocent people were killed in 26/11 in Mumbai. And we came back to normal after a few days," he said, addressing a gathering here.

Modi asked the opposition not to politicise the issue of strike carried out on terrorist camps in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force and asked them whether or not they trust the country's armed forces and what they say.

"No country can stay in such helpless condition. For 40 years, terrorism has been hurting India, the hearts of Bharat Ma, innocent people are being killed. But people playing vote-bank politics are scared to take steps," he said.

"I do not care about the chair (of Prime Minister). I care about our country. I have protected the country's people," he added.

The prime minister asked opposition leaders to desist from giving statements that hog limelight in the Pakistani media.

"What our opposition leaders say becomes the headlines of Pakistan newspapers. Such leaders say things which are shown on Pakistan TV, are discussed in Pakistan parliament."

"Is it in the interest of the country? Will you say such things over which Pakistan will clap?" Modi asked.

"Do you trust our country's armed forces? Should we not trust what the military says? But there are some people who do not like what the military says."

"I don't ask you to accept what I say, but at least do not distrust military and do not question their courage. They risk their life for the country and come back successfully," Modi said.

He said the opposition would have sought his resignation had something untoward happened to the military during the surgical strikes.

"Suppose if something untoward had happened when our military went on the operation? What would they (the opposition) have done? Whose resignation they would have sought?" Modi asked.

"When we succeeded, they are shouting that Modi should not have named Army, he should not say Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan," he said, adding that his government was committed to protecting the country's security and its interests.

"The way we are committed to the country's security and this war (on terrorism) we have waged, do understand that I will do whatever is necessary in the country's interests," he said.

"Should we not fight terrorism and uproot it? Which party can do this? Tell me honestly who will do it? On the one hand, we are punishing those who do wrong and on the other hand we are punishing those who do their job honestly," Modi said.
Referring to Modi's statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF, Chavan said the prime minister was politicising the issue.

Pune: Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on Rafale was an "insult" to the Indian Air Force (IAF) and its pilots.

Referring to Modi's statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the IAF during the 27 February aerial engagement with Pakistan, Chavan said the prime minister was politicising the issue.

The former Union minister said the prime minister's statement indicates India lost the "dogfight" with Pakistan.

He cited a report in a leading United States daily which talks about India's "defeat" in the dogfight and raises questions about its "vintage" military. Chavan said the international media is also raising certain questions about the 26 February air strikes inside Pakistan, but the Centre is unable to come out with answers.

"The report in the international media and the prime minister's statement at the `India Today Conclave' (on Rafale) is a confession that India faced defeat in the (dog) fight with Pakistan."

"The statement made by the prime minister is condemnable as it was an insult of the IAF and its pilots," said Chavan.

He said the prime minister should stop politicising the issue and apologise for his remarks.

The former Maharashtra chief minister said Modi, by making such statements, also implied that there was a delay in aircraft procurement during the rule of Congress-led UPA. "However, I would like to say that the delay had taken place in the three years of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and five years of the current Modi government," he said. He said during the UPA rule, it was the IAF which was at the centre of preparing service agreements.

"There was a delay of one-and-a-half years after 2012 contract negotiations started as UPA was insisting that 108 Rafale aircraft should be made at Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd (HAL)," he said.

"The Modi government delayed the process as they wanted to give offset contract of the Rafale deal to Ambani," he said.

The Congress has been alleging that on the Modi government's insistence, French company Dassault, makers of Rafale, awarded an offset contract to Reliance Defence, a firm owned by industrialist Anil Ambani, overlooking state-owned HAL which has an expertise in aircraft manufacturing. The government has repeatedly denied the charge.

Ambani, too, has rejected the Congress allegations and emphasised that the government had no role in Dassault picking up his company as a local partner.

Talking about the Balakot air strike, he said the IAF successfully completed the task assigned to it.

They (IAF) were given particular coordinates about the targets and they hit it on them using `Spice' bomb but it seems that the ground intelligence failed about the presence of terrorists over there, he said.
The Election Commission on Monday began a two-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls simultaneously.

Srinagar: The political parties of Kashmir on Monday impressed upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The ECI on Monday began a two-day visit to the state to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the Assembly polls simultaneously.

Delegations of National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Pradesh Congress Committee and other smaller parties met the Election Commission team to put forth their views about holding of Assembly elections in the state.

The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there on Tuesday.

"We impressed upon the Election Commission that there is no reason why Assembly elections cannot be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. Not holding Assembly polls will send wrong signals to people within and outside the state," National Conference leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who was part of his party's delegation, said after the meeting.

Wani said the National Conference delegation informed the commission that restoration of an elected government in the state was urgently needed as the governor's administration was taking decisions on matters with widespread implications.

PDP delegation leader Abdul Rehman Veeri said his party also wanted an early election to the state Assembly so that a people's government is put in place.

Asked if PDP delegation had sought Assembly polls be held alongside Lok Sabha elections, Veeri was non-committal. "The elections should be held as soon as possible," he said.

Congress leader Taj Mohiuddin said his party delegation highlighted the fact that holding Assembly elections together with Lok Sabha elections can lead to higher voter turnout as was witnessed in 2008 Assembly polls.

"We told the Election Commission how in 2008 Assembly elections a high voter turnout was witnessed when people doubted about holding the polls. Our stand was that the commission has all the data about security deployment in 2008 and it should be easy for them to assess the requirements for this year's election as well," he said.

Mohiuddin said while the governor's administration might be doing its job well, President's Rule cannot be an alternative to an elected government in terms of redressal of problems faced by the people.

"The MLAs are the link between the government and the people and no one can replace this link. The government under President's Rule is bureaucrats' government. They are not accessible to common people," he said.

CPM delegation led by MY Tarigami told the commission that the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir should be resumed at the earliest and advocated holding Lok sabha and state Assembly polls together in the state. "Jammu and Kashmir state is without an elected government for the past nine months and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large section of people is increasing," Tarigami said.

"Only effective response to this situation is to initiate democratic process and hold elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously. Any delay to do so will hamper the process of improvement in the situation," he added.

The ECI team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said.

They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.

The state is currently under President's Rule since 19 December, 2018 which was necessitated at the end of the six month period under Governor's Rule imposed on 19 June, 2018. The PDP-BJP government in the state fell after the national party pulled out of the coalition.
The underlying message from the 'Sankalp rally' was that the NDA will use the India-Pakistan standoff as an issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Patna: The NDA's "Sankalp rally" at Gandhi Maidan on Sunday was all about assertions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "56-inch chest." The underlying message from the rally was that the NDA will use the India-Pakistan standoff as an issue in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

Union minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan said to the large crowd at the venue, "The way the prime minister handled the terror attack in Pulwama, I will say that his chest is not of 56 inches but of 156 inches." Not a single NDA leader who spoke at the rally missed out on applauding Modi for taking on terrorism.

The Patna rally signifies shifting of gears by the BJP. Modi did not disappoint the crowd, as he attacked 21 Opposition parties for holding a meeting to censure his government amid tensions between the armed forces of India and Pakistan.

Modi told the crowd, "They were demoralising the armed forces. Their images were broadcast on television in Pakistan, and they were applauded in that country...The chowkidar is fully alert in terms of ensuring the country's security and battling corruption." Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar also congratulated Modi for his "appropriate response" to the Pulwama terror attack.

However, the NDA's promise to make the Sankalp rally the mother of all rallies did not work, as the crowds were spread over only half of the 62-acre Gandhi Maidan. There were more of the JD(U)'s green flags than the BJP's saffron ones.

BJP minister Pramod Kumar, who hails from West Champaran, said, "There was uncertainty over the rally due to the war-like situation at the borders. We thought that the event would be cancelled. I started making preparations for the rally quite late."

The NDA has been seeking votes on the basis of the law and order situation and a 11.03 GSDP growth in the state. However, after the standoff with Pakistan, the fight against terrorism has become the priority. State BJP president Nityanand Rai remarked, "Terrorism is a major issue, and Modi is the only person who can fight it."

Not surprisingly, posters and banners put up in Patna after the surgical strike by the Indian Air Force highlighted the "56-inch chest" of the prime minister.

Prior to the rally, the RJD had been questioning Modi and Nitish Kumar for failing to give Bihar special status, and for failing to combat crime and corruption. On Sunday, a post by Lalu Prasad Yadav read, "I pull crowds like the one at the NDA rally even when I stand outside a paan shop."

However, RJD MLAs are concerned. An MLA from the party who hails from Vaishali district remarked, "Before the Indian Air Force's surgical strike, when I visited villages which had voted for the NDA in 2014 and taunted them about the 56-inch chest, they remained silent. But after the strike in Pakistan, the same people began to taunt me. They said that Modi ji is a man who has the guts to fight terrorism."
Targeting Modi, Siddaramaiah tweeted saying that the prime minister's ' insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you.'

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his purported political potshot at Congress president Rahul Gandhi while answering a question by a student on dyslexia.

Targeting Modi, Siddaramaiah tweeted: "Just came across a video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people. Shame on you Modi!! You just can't go below this. Your insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you."

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao also hit out at Modi for the reported jibe.

Posting a video of the prime minister making that comment, Rao tweeted Sunday, "If there was ever a classless crude Prime Minister India has seen, here's one. Yuck!"

During a video interaction, a girl Sunday sought to know from Modi the measures taken by the government to benefit dyslexic children.

Before she even finished her question, the prime minister made a comment purported to be a political jibe at Rahul Gandhi.

Modi asked the student whether the scheme for dyslexic people she was talking about would benefit a 40 or 50-year-old child. He then said the mother of such children would be very much happy.
Union minister SS Ahluwalia said on Saturday that neither Modi nor BJP president Amit Shah ever claimed that the air strikes killed over 300 terrorists. Amid the demands for proof of the air strikes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refused to give numbers for the toll and said on Saturday 'no security agencies ever share operational details'.

The 26 February air strike in Pakistan's Balakot killed "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis", Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had said soon after reports broke last week about the attack. However, a week after the air strike, the Narendra Modi government is yet to give an exact count of terrorists killed in the attack, triggering the Opposition to raise questions about the damage inflicted on terrorists.

As the actual figures continue to remain a mystery and international media continue to question India's claims, here is look at what different leaders from the ruling BJP have had to say about the issue:

Union minister SS Ahluwalia said on Saturday that neither Modi nor BJP president Amit Shah ever claimed that the air strikes killed over 300 terrorists.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modiji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modiji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask whether Modiji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figures?" he asked reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

Ahluwalia further added that the purpose of the air strike was not to cause casualties but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines.

The CPM tweeted a video of the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology's comments.

Minister of State in Modi's cabinet, SS Ahluwalia is saying @narendramodi or @AmitShah never claimed that our #AirStrikes killed 300+ Terrorists & we didnt want any "Human Casualties". Is the Govt now backtracking from its claims that they took out a Terrorist Camp in Pakistan? pic.twitter.com/nstgsWF6sZ  CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) March 2, 2019

Amid the demands for proof of the air strikes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refused to put a number on the toll and said on Saturday "no security agencies ever share operational details".

"The armed forces must have, and our security and intelligence agencies must have, a full leeway in dealing with situations, and if anybody wants operational details to be made public... he certainly does not understand the system," said Jaitley at a conference organised by India Today.

However, Shah said at a rally on Sunday that over 250 terrorists were killed in the "non-military, pre-emptive" air strikes.

"After the Uri attack, the army did a surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, people said there could not be a surgical strike due to the high level of alertness. But on the 13th day, the Narendra Modi government carried out an air strike, and more than 250 terrorists were killed without suffering any losses, Shah was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The BJP chief also said that the Opposition parties should "keep quiet" if they were unable to appreciate what Modi and the country's armed forces had achieved through the air strike.

"Opposition leaders do not know what happened. Mamata asks for proof. Rahul 'baba' says it is being politicised. Akhilesh asks for a probe. Be ashamed that your statements have brought a smile on Pakistan's face," Shah said.

Prime Minister Modi, too, criticised the Opposition leaders on Sunday, and said, "Now they have even started asking for proof of the air strike. Why are Congress and its allies demoralising our forces? Why are they giving statements which are benefiting our enemies?"

Meanwhile, air chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa said during a press conference on Monday that the Indian Air Force's job was to hit its targets, while it is the government who counts the casualties.

"We hit our target. The air force doesn't calculate casualty numbers, the government does that," he said.

What Opposition has said

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee was among the first ones from the Opposition to demand the casualty figures in the Balakot attack.

Citing foreign media reports which said that not much damage was done by the Indian Air Force's pre-emptive strike on terror camps at Balakot, she said last week, "The force should be given an opportunity to come up with facts." "After the air strikes, we were told there were 300 deaths, 350 deaths. But I read reports in The New York Times and Washington Post which said no human was killed. Another foreign media report said only one person was injured," Banerjee told reporters at the state secretariat in Kolkata.

Asserting that the force should be given an opportunity to come up with facts, she said, "We have the right to know, people of this country want to know how many were killed (at Balakot). Where were the bombs actually dropped? Was it dropped on the target?"

The Congress on Monday asked the prime minister to come out with the truth on the number of terrorists killed. "Modiji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of the country," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet Monday.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien also took a dig at Modi and Shah on Monday and said that the armed forces were being used for political posturing.

We all believe the Armed Forces. Are proud of them. We dont believe the Jumla Jodi. Are U sending our soldiers to die without a plan?Or purpose?... Or is your purpose only to win an election? U shamelessly reduce precious pics of martyred jawans to a backdrop at your pol rally) https://t.co/hjCWkU4Zmj  Derek O'Brien |   (@derekobrienmp) March 4, 2019

With inputs from agencies
The TMC on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and said that the armed forces were being used for political posturing.

New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and said that the armed forces were being used for political posturing.

Minutes after the press conference of Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, in which he said that the Indian Air Force does not count the number of dead, the prime minister's office tweeted that everyone should believe the armed forces and be proud of them.

"We all believe the armed forces. Are proud of them. We don't believe the jumla jodi. Are you sending our soldiers to die without a plan? Or purpose?... Or is your purpose only to win an election? You shamelessly reduce precious pictures of martyred jawans to a backdrop at your political rally," tweeted TMC national spokesperson Derek O'Brien.

In another tweet, O'Brien also targeted Shah over a speech made by Shah in Assam, and said, "In this speech , you shamelessly reduce the armed forces to being the private property of a political party."

Shah, in his speech on 17 February, had said that the sacrifices of the forces will not be in vain because the BJP is in power at the Centre.
tech2 News Staff

Social media giant, Facebook, has been trying to influence politicians across parts of the world into joining its lobbying campaign against data privacy laws.

A fresh set of documents have come to the fore, spotted by the likes of the Observer and Computer Weekly, which reveal that Facebook tried to influence politicians and legislators in the UK, India, Canada, Vietnam, Brazil, Malaysia, as well as, all 28 member states of the EU.

The internal documents revealed that Facebook's secretive global lobbying operation was strategically laid out to tackle legislation which affected Facebook in any way, including data privacy  Europe's GDPR legislation being a key area of focus. The document also alleges that Facebook chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, asked the then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to "help shape the (GDPR) proposals" at the time by being "more vocal."

Osborne speaking to the Observer stated, "I dont think its a surprise that the UK chancellor would meet the chief operating officer of one of the world's largest companies Facebook and other US tech firms, in private, as in public, raised concerns about the proposed European Data Directive. To your specific inquiry, I didnt follow up on those concerns, or lobby the EU, because I didnt agree with them."

Facebook even threatened to withhold investment from countries unless they promised to support or passed Facebook-friendly laws. Facebook even threatened to pull out investments in Canada and Europe if its lobbying demands weren't met.

In fact, the memo also goes on to state that Sandberg's memoir named Lean In (launched in 2013) was also perceived as a lobbying tool by the Facebook team and a means of roping in support from female legislators for Facebook's wider agenda.

The documents which have cropped up after a court case against Facebook by app developer Six4Three in California, reveals that the Facebook CFO considered the GDPR legislation a "critical" threat to the company. To further try and sway the balance in Facebook's favour, the CFO was also in a talk with Enda Kenny, the Irish prime minister at the time, and also an individual who happens to be one of an elite list of "friends of Facebook".

As pointed out in a report by The Guardian, the reason why Facebook's relationship with Ireland is under the scanner here is that Ireland plays a key role in regulating technology companies in Europe because its data protection commissioner acts for all 28 member states.

A Facebook spokesman speaking to The Guardian said the documents were still under seal in court and that he could not respond to them in any detail. The spokesman, however, did say, "Like the other documents that were cherrypicked and released in violation of a court order last year, these by design tell one side of a story and omit important context."
Photo: The Canadian Press CF-18 Hornets fly in formation on their the departure for Operation IMPACT, in Cold Lake, Alberta on Tuesday October 21, 2014.

The federal government will invest billions of dollars less in new military equipment than promised this year, raising concerns about the readiness of the Canadian Forces and the prospect that Canada will fall short on another NATO spending target.

The Trudeau government in 2017 released a defence policy that included dramatic increases in the amount of money to be spent on new aircraft, ships, armoured vehicles and other military equipment each year for the next two decades.

The investments are considered vital to replacing the Canadian Forces' aging fighter jets, ships and other equipment with state-of-the-art kit.

Yet while the government is on track to invest more in new equipment for the second year in a row, budget documents show the Defence Department will still fall short more than $2 billion on the government's plan to spend $6.5 billion.

The government spent $2.3 billion less than planned last year, largely because of delays in projects such as the government's huge plan to buy new warships, though also because some things ended up costing less than expected.

The department's top civil servant, deputy minister Jody Thomas, told a House of Commons committee last week that about $700 million was because some projects came in underbudget and other "efficiencies, so we didn't need that money."

But Thomas acknowledged the department was to blame for some of the other underspending and industry has also faced challenges in delivering on projects  though she said it shouldn't be a surprise there have been some problems given the number of projects underway.

"There are going to be some slowdowns by us," she said, adding: "If money isn't moving quite quickly enough because of a problem with a particular supply chain, a particular supplier, a contract, the way we've defined a project, we work with industry to try to resolve that."

While the fact the department saved money on some projects was seen as a positive development, Conservative defence critic James Bezan said he is nonetheless concerned that hundreds of millions of dollars in promised new investments aren't being realized.

"Despite the explanation that was given by officials at committee, we still feel projects are falling behind, promises are going to be broken and ultimately the Canadian Armed Forces will not get the equipment that it needs in a timely manner," Bezan told The Canadian Press.

"The whole idea that they're finding efficiencies is good news. But at the same time, those dollars should be getting re-invested in other capital projects that aren't off the books yet."

Thomas did not say which projects will be affected by the underspending.

And the underspending doesn't just mean delivery of some promised equipment will be delayed, said defence analyst David Perry of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute; it also threatens Canada's ability to meet a key NATO spending target.

All members of the military alliance agreed in 2014 to spend two per cent of their gross domestic products on the military within a decade  a commitment that has since taken on new importance with U.S. President Donald Trump's demanding all NATO allies spend more.

While Canada has long resisted that target and the Liberal defence policy shows spending only reaching 1.4 per cent of GDP by 2024-25, the Liberal government has said it will achieve another NATO target to direct 20 per cent of defence spending to new equipment.
tech2 News Staff

Oppos latest smartphone the F11 Pro is all set to debut in India on 5 March. The core details of the phone are already known given that most of the information has been officially revealed by the Chinese smartphone maker itself.

Oppo has confirmed that the new F11 Pro will feature a display with a screen-to-body-ratio of 90.9 percent. The phone will have a 3D gradient back panel and will house a 48 MP rear camera (as on the Redmi Note 7 Pro). The new Oppo F11 Pro will have a sliding camera mechanism up front, similar to the one seen on Vivo Nex or the new Vivo V15 Pro.

The Oppo F11 Pros launch event will be held in Mumbai at 5.30 pm tomorrow. Heres everything you need to know about the upcoming Oppo smartphone.

Oppo F11 Pro: Build and design

The new Oppo F11 Pro flaunts a sleek design with a curved body and minimal bezels on the front fascia. Unlike the original Oppo F11 device, the Pro version replaces the dew-drop notch and now offers a notch-less panel for extra screen real-estate. The phone has a capacitive rear-mounted fingerprint sensor and dual cameras aligned at the centre of the back panel. Leaked hands-on images suggest that the phone will have a gradient dual-tone glass back panel.

As for the colour schemes, Oppo F11 Pro is rumoured to come in two colour options  Aurora Green and Thunder Black. From the leaked images, it appears that the colour on the rear changes based on the angle of the light reflecting off it.

Oppo in an official poster revealed that it will be the first in the industry to apply something called Nano printing and create effects like ink-wash paintings.

As with the Vivo V15 Pro, the new Oppo F11 Pro is said to the feature the old micro-USB port and not USB-C.

Oppo F11 Pro: Camera

As mentioned earlier, Oppo has already teased and confirmed that the F11 Pro will feature a pop-up front camera. The phone will have a 16 MP front camera for shooting selfies and making video calls. It will have dual camera setup at the back comprising a 48 MP primary sensor and a 5 MP depth sensor.

Besides mentioning the front camera slider mechanism, Oppo has revealed that the camera on the phone will come equipped with a Super Night mode and some form of image stabilisation. The Super Night mode on the F11 Pro will function with an in-house "AI-Clear Engine" that includes AI Engine, Ultra-clear Engine and Colour Engine.

Oppo claims that the AI Engine and Ultra-clear Engine will intelligently recognise scenes, optimise settings and also help optimisation for image-stabilisation during long exposures.

Oppo F11 Pro: Specifications, features, expected price

In regards to other aspects of the new Oppo F11 Pro, the phone is said to be powered by MediaTeks Helio P70 processor. It is tipped to run ColorOS 6.0, although the Android OS on top of which the custom skin will be layered is not known yet. Oppo F11 Pro is rumoured to pack a 4,000 mAh battery and include a Hyper Boost feature that will optimise for games, apps, etc.

Oppo had earlier confirmed that its new F-series smartphone will support the proprietary VOOC 3.0 fast charging technology. The phone will feature a 6.5-inch all-screen panel dubbed as Panoramic Screen.

The phone is said to come in single RAM/storage variant  6 GB RAM and 64 GB onboard storage.

As for the price, reports suggest that the new Oppo F11 Pro might sell at Rs 25,999. The phone is said to go on sale on 16 March.
tech2 News Staff

Teslas CEO, Elon Musk on Sunday announced via his Twitter handle that the company will make official its much-awaited Model Y SUV on 14 March. The announcement will be made in Los Angeles at Teslas own design studio.

The news comes a few days after the Tesla finally brought down the price tag of its Model 3 sedan (as a separate variant) to the earlier promised $35,000, which comes a year and half after production commenced in 2017.

Musk was quick to point out the similarities between the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV.

Through his tweets, the Tesla CEO pointed out that the Model Y being an SUV would be 10 percent bigger than the Model 3. The Tesla Model Y is to the Model X as the Model 3 is to the Model S, which basically makes the Model Y a more affordable SUV offering from Tesla after the Model 3.

Model Y unveil event on March 14 at LA Design Studio  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

Musk also confirmed through his tweets that the SUV being similar to the Model 3 will cost about 10 percent more and will also pack in slightly lesser range considering that it uses the same battery as the Model 3.

Giving out details about the launch event, Musk also confirmed that brand will have production-ready vehicles not just to showcase on stage, but also for test-rides.

Detailed specs & pricing will be provided, as well as test rides in Y  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

Replying to a tweet the CEO also confirmed that a pickup truck would be unveiled later this year.

On the same day, Musk also tweeted out that Tesla will announce a new version of its Supercharger car charging stations in the coming week. The new charging system will be able to charge electric vehicles at a rate 350kW or more.

Tesla was recently in the news for shutting down a majority of its showrooms in an effort to bring down the price of the Model 3 to a promised $35,000.
An tornado roaring across southeast Alabama killed at least 22 people and injured several others Sunday as severe storms destroyed mobile homes, snapped trees and scattered destruction and weather warnings into Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Beauregard (Alabama): A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

"Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV of the death toll. He added that two people were in intensive care.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. An intense ground search would resume Monday morning.

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a key local artery in Beauregard and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least a half mile wide.

He said single-family homes and mobile homes were destroyed, adding some homes were reduced to slabs. He had told reporters earlier that several people were taken to hospitals, some with "very serious injuries." Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told The Associated Press that he had to call in help from the state, because there were more bodies than his four-person office can handle.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating and a track at least half a mile (.8 kilometers) wide caused the deadly destruction in Alabama.

Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph (254-331 kilometers per hour).

Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in hard-hit Lee County after what forecasters said they think was a large tornado touched down Sunday afternoon, unleashed by a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service. "It appears it stayed on the ground for at least a mile and maybe longer," Jones told the AP.

After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriff's vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places.

President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday, "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. ... To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to efforts to search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard.

At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches. "The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Erenheim said in a phone interview. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken." She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities in southwest Georgia are searching door-to-door in darkened neighbourhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 53 kilometers north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon. A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

"There's a squall line moving through the area," Harrigan told AP. "And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It's a favorable environment for tornados." The threat of severe weather continued into the late-night hours.

A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.
By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has submitted official papers confirming he will seek re-election, Ennahar TV said on Sunday, despite mass protests against the move.

By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has submitted official papers confirming he will seek re-election, Ennahar TV said on Sunday, despite mass protests against the move.

There was no official confirmation, but state news agency APS published his asset declaration, which is a formal requirement to run in the election.

Tens of thousands of protesters had been rallying throughout the day in cities around Algeria to call for Bouteflika to step down. Numbers were approaching the levels of Friday when demonstrators filled the centre of the capital Algiers in one of the biggest outpourings of dissent - rare in Algeria - since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Bouteflika, 82, in shaky health for years, submitted his official election papers at the Constitutional Council in Algiers on Sunday, the private TV channel said.

He did not have to do so in person, state news agency APS had said earlier. Bouteflika, rarely seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013, was still in Switzerland for unspecified medical checks at the weekend, Swiss media reported.

A Reuters witness said trucks from Bouteflika's campaign arrived at the Constitutional Council on Sunday afternoon

Opponents of Bouteflika say is no longer fit to lead, citing his poor health and what they call chronic corruption and a lack of economic reforms to tackle high unemployment that exceeds 25 percent among people under the age of 30.

Analysts say the protesters, who began hitting the streets 10 days ago, lack leadership and organisation in a country still dominated by veterans, like Bouteflika, of the 1954-62 independence war against France.

But traditionally weak and divided opposition and civic groups have called for protests to go on should Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, continue pursuit of re-election.

The government has played on fears among many Algerians of a return of bloodshed seen in the 1990s when an estimated 200,000 people were killed after Islamists took up arms when the military cancelled elections they were poised to win.

But the new series of protests have been generally peaceful, apart from Friday when scuffles with police left 183 injured.

Thousands of students gathered on Sunday at university faculties, one of them near the Constitutional Council where presidential candidates filed their papers, chanting: "No to a fifth term!" or "A free and democratic Algeria!"

There was heavy security around the Constitutional Council, and police prevented restive students from leaving the campus nearby, keeping the main gates shut.

But thousands were later marching through the centre like on Friday. A diplomatic source estimated as many as 70,000 people had massed in Algiers, including a rally at Bab Ezzouar university, the country's biggest.

"We will not stop until we get rid of this system," said Aicha, a 23-year-old student.

MORE PROTESTS AROUND THE COUNTRY

According to witnesses and local television footage, protesters also turned out in their thousands in other cities around the North African country, such as Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Batna, Blida, Skikda and Bouira.

The first candidate to submit his papers was Ali Ghediri, a retired general who is taking on the elite of military, ruling FLN party and business leaders. "I tell the people a new dawn has started," he told reporters.

Another candidate, Rachid Nakkaz, a businessman and activist, arrived in a taxi and said: "We should remain peaceful to give a good image of our democracy."

By afternoon, seven candidates had registered.

Opposition groups failed to agree on one candidate, making any campaign a tough uphill challenge in a country dominated by one party - the FLN - since independence.

Bouteflika changed his campaign manager on Saturday, state media said. He has not addressed the protests against him - the largest since 2011, when popular revolts ousted long entrenched elites in a number of Arab countries.

Many Algerians eschewed public political activity for years, for fear of trouble from the pervasive security apparatus or out of disillusionment with the lack of change in the leadership.

After the decade-long Islamist insurgency that Bouteflika crushed early in his rule, Algerians generally tolerated a political system leaving little room for dissent as a price to pay for relative peace and stability.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi, Hamid Ould Ahmed, Ulf Laessing and Tarek Amara; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich and David Goodman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has submitted official papers confirming he will seek re-election next month, Ennahar TV said on Sunday, despite mass protests against the 82-year-old extending his 20-year rule.

By Lamine Chikhi and Hamid Ould Ahmed

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has submitted official papers confirming he will seek re-election next month, Ennahar TV said on Sunday, despite mass protests against the 82-year-old extending his 20-year rule.

There was no official confirmation, however, although state news agency APS published a declaration of his assets, which is one formal requirement for him to run in the April 18 presidential election.

Adding to the confusion, election commission head Abdelwahab Derbal said that each candidate must appear in person at the Constitutional Council in Algiers by midnight on Sunday if they wish to stand.

On Sunday evening, Bouteflika's campaign manager Abdelghani Zaalane arrived at the council in Algiers, a Reuters witness said. He did not speak to reporters as he went into the building.

Tens of thousands of protesters had been rallying throughout the day in cities around Algeria to call for Bouteflika to step down after his 20 years in power. Bouteflika has not spoken about the protests or addressed the protesters' concerns.

On Friday demonstrators filled the centre of the capital in one of the biggest displays of dissent - rare in Algeria - since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings which unseated rulers in neighbouring countries.

Official election papers were submitted for Bouteflika, 82, in shaky health for years, at the Constitutional Council in Algiers on Sunday, the private TV channel said.

A Reuters witness said trucks from the elderly leader's campaign team arrived at the Constitutional Council on Sunday afternoon.

But there was no sign of Bouteflika, who Swiss television said on Saturday night had been in a hospital in Geneva that day. The president has rarely been seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013

Addition to the confusion, Al-Arabiya television quoted an official in Boutleflika's team as saying the papers had yet to be submitted. They would be read out after the formal move, the station added.

His opponents say he is no longer fit to lead, citing his health and what they call chronic corruption and a lack of economic reforms to tackle high unemployment, which exceeds 25 percent among people under the age of 30.

Analysts say the protesters, who began hitting the streets 10 days ago, lack leadership and organisation in a country still dominated by veterans, like Bouteflika, of the 1954-62 independence war against France.

But traditionally weak and divided opposition and civic groups have called for protests to go on should Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, continue pursuit of re-election.

The government has played on fears among many Algerians of a return of bloodshed seen in the 1990s when an estimated 200,000 people were killed after Islamists took up arms when the military cancelled elections they were poised to win.

But the new series of protests have been generally peaceful, apart from Friday when scuffles with police left 183 injured.

Thousands of students gathered on Sunday at university faculties, one of them near the Constitutional Council where presidential candidates filed their papers, chanting: "No to a fifth term!" or "A free and democratic Algeria!"

There was heavy security around the Constitutional Council, and police prevented restive students from leaving the campus nearby, keeping the main gates shut.

But thousands were later marching through the centre like on Friday. A diplomatic source estimated as many as 70,000 people had massed in Algiers, including a rally at Bab Ezzouar university, the country's biggest.

"We will not stop until we get rid of this system," said Aicha, a 23-year-old student.

MORE PROTESTS AROUND THE COUNTRY

According to witnesses and local television footage, protesters also turned out in their thousands in other cities around the North African country such as Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Batna, Blida, Skikda and Bouira. Some 6,000 also protested in central Paris, where many Algerians live.

By evening, seven candidates running against Bouteflika had registered. The first to arrive was Ali Ghediri, a retired general. "I tell the people a new dawn has started," he told reporters.

Another candidate, Rachid Nakkaz, a businessman, came in a taxi and said: "We should remain peaceful to give a good image of our democracy."

Opposition groups failed to agree on one candidate, making any campaign a tough uphill challenge in a country dominated by one party - the FLN - since independence.

Many Algerians eschewed public political activity for years, for fear of trouble from the pervasive security apparatus or out of disillusionment with the lack of change in the leadership.

After the decade-long Islamist insurgency that Bouteflika crushed early in his rule, Algerians generally tolerated a political system leaving little room for dissent as a price to pay for relative peace and stability.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi, Hamid Ould Ahmed, Hesham Hajali, Ulf Laessing, Tarek Amara, Tom Miles, Geert De Clerq and Stephanie Nebehay; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Mark Heinrich and David Goodman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
As China's president and head of the ruling Communist Party, Xi wields more authority than any leader since Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s and looms large over the annual legislative session that starts on Tuesday.

Beijing: A year since effectively making himself China's leader for life, Xi Jinping appears firmly in charge, despite a slowing economy, a trade war with the United States and rumbles of discontent over his concentration of power.

As China's president and head of the ruling Communist Party, Xi wields more authority than any leader since Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s and looms large over the annual legislative session that starts on Tuesday.

Since assuming the party helm in 2012, Xi has eliminated rival factions, gutted civil society and brought the party under his firm control by way of a sprawling anti-corruption campaign and the opening of party committees in private businesses and foreign companies. Still, with the economy's go-go years firmly in the past and local governments mired in debt, the horizon remains littered with challenges. "Global sources of turmoil and risks have increased and the external environment is complicated and grim," Xi told officials in a speech in January.

This year's legislative session is expected to be considerably less dramatic than last year's when Xi's move to amend the constitution to remove term limits on the presidency opened the way for him to remain head of state for as long as he wants. The move reversed a trend toward greater restraint on the leadership, advertising Xi's willingness to upend what tenuous rules and structures the party had institutionalized in recent decades.

Chief among them is the tradition that, by his second five-year term, the leader should begin pointing to a likely successor. Xi has made no moves in this area while arrogating to himself ever-greater authority over government, from the economy to foreign policy and the military. As party general secretary, Xi is head of its all-powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee. "To my mind, the most important question now is: Which norm is the next to fall?" Carl Minzner, a professor at Fordham Law School in New York City and author of a recent book on Chinese politics, said in an email. For now, though, more immediate concerns predominate.

At a wide-ranging news conference Monday, Congress spokesman Zhang Yesui reiterated Beijing's desire to find a mutually acceptable resolution to the tariff dispute with the U.S. and touted the advantages of a draft law that he said would mark a "fundamental change" in how China manages foreign investment. While the foreign investment law is the only item on the congress' agenda, Zhang said its standing committee would be taking on new legislation in the areas of drug regulation, veterans' affairs and protection of the Yangtze River, China's most important internal waterway. The standing committee meets every two months to deal with the bulk of the congress' legislative chores.

As with last year, Zhang declined to disclose the planned increase in China's defense budget, the world's largest behind the US, but appeared to indicate it would continue the trend of single-digit percentage growth in place since 2016. "When it comes to whether a country poses a military threat to other countries, the key is that country's military and foreign policies, not how much its defense budget increases," Zhang said. "China's limited defense spending is for safeguarding the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of the country. It is not a threat to other countries," he said.

China's armed forces have undergone a thorough expansion and modernization program in recent years, raising concerns in Washington and among its neighbours, particularly those sharing overlapping territorial claims in the strategically vital South China Sea. China also claims ownership of East China Sea islands controlled by traditional rival Japan and threatens to attack self-governing Taiwan to take control of what it regards as a breakaway Chinese territory. Xi has cast himself as an ardent nationalist and foreign policy hawk, protecting himself from accusations of being too soft toward the West.

Yet while he appears solidly in control, University of Oxford China specialist Patricia Thornton says discontent lies under the surface, citing criticism over the removal of term limits and Xi's heavy-handed management of foreign policy and trade, along with reports showing an erosion of confidence in the economic outlook. "There have been signs of discontent brewing among political and socioeconomics elites that could translate into some backpedalling on current central policies," Thornton said.

Cheng Li of the Brookings Institution says Xi finds himself in a "delicate situation" and may make a show of including others in the decision-making process, as long as his leadership isn't challenged. "He will not change the way he is already above the Standing Committee," Li said. "But in some of the other things, Xi may give other leaders more chance."

Independent commentator and veteran observer of Chinese politics Zhang Lifan questions whether Xi may have overplayed his hand, leaving him open to more direct criticism. "Xi's power peaked at the time of the constitutional revision last year, but the centralization of power may not be as complete as he thinks," Zhang said. "As more and more problems crop up, questions about his governing ability held in private will be placed on the table," he said.

As with every year, this week's meetings have brought a sweeping security crackdown, with neighbourhood committees mobilized to patrol for trouble and construction work suspended to avoid accidents. Known government critics were confined to their homes or taken on what are euphemistically called "holiday trips" by the security forces to ensure they couldn't be contacted.

Such concerns may be heightened because this year marks several sensitive historical dates, including the 70th anniversary on 1 October of the founding of the People's Republic and the 60th anniversary this month of an uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet. June will see the 30th anniversary of the military's crushing of the 1989 pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, and the 10th anniversary of deadly anti-Chinese riots in Xinjiang that has led to the internment over the past two years of an estimated 1 million members of Muslim minority groups.
Donald Trump is riding out his third year in power encircled by a rising list of investigations coming at him from multiple flanks. At this time, in March 2109, the Robert Mueller report is still not out in its entirety although the jigsaw has begun falling into place. We bring you a round up where the investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him.

US president Donald Trump is riding out his third year in power encircled by investigations coming at him from multiple flanks. At this time, in March 2109, the Robert Mueller report is still not out in its entirety although the jigsaw has begun falling into place. We bring you a round up where the investigations related to Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him.

What's this all about?

Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking into whether the Trump 2016 campaign coordinated with Russia and whether the president obstructed the investigation. Trump also plays a central role in a separate case in New York, where prosecutors have implicated him in a crime. They say Trump directed his personal lawyer Michael Cohen to make illegal hush-money payments to two women as a way to quash potential sex scandals during the campaign. New York prosecutors also are looking into Trump's inaugural fund.

What do I need to know right now?

A key Democratic lawmaker says it's "very clear" President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says the panel is requesting documents Monday from more than 60 people from Trump's administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation. Nadler said the Judiciary Committee wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn also are likely targets, he said.

Asked if he believed Trump obstructed justice, Nadler said, "Yes, I do."

Did the Trump campaign collude with Russia? No smoking gun yet

There is no smoking gun when it comes to the question of Russia collusion. But the evidence so far shows that a broad range of Trump associates had Russia-related contacts during the 2016 presidential campaign and transition period, and several lied about the communications. There is evidence that some people in Trump's orbit were discussing a possible email dump from WikiLeaks before it occurred. American intelligence agencies and Mueller have said Russia was the source of hacked material released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks during the campaign that was damaging to Democrat Hillary Clinton's presidential effort.

What about obstruction of justice

That is another unresolved question that Mueller is pursuing. Investigators have examined key episodes such as Trump's firing of FBI Director James Comey and Trump's fury over Attorney General Jeff Sessions' recusal.

What is Trump saying?

Trump has repeatedly slammed the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt" and insisted there was "NO COLLUSION" with Russia. He also says Cohen lied to get a lighter sentence in New York.

When's it all going to end?

It's unclear. Then-acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said in January that the probe is "close to being completed," the first official sign that Mueller's investigation may be wrapping up. But he gave no specific timetable.
Heavy snowfall and rains have killed around 10 people in different parts of Balochistan province, with nearly 1,500 stranded families rescued by Pakistan Army helicopters.

Quetta: Heavy snowfall and rains have killed around 10 people in different parts of Balochistan province, with nearly 1,500 stranded families rescued by Pakistan Army helicopters.

Rescue officials said heavy flooding caused by rains and snowfall had affected most parts of Chaman, Bolan, Khuzdar, Pishin, Lasbela, Dalbandin, Qila Abdullah, Khuzdar and Kech, where hundreds of families were rendered homeless after their houses were swept away. "We have reports of some 10 deaths from different areas due to the extreme weather conditions," an official said.

The media has reported around two dozen deaths due to snowfall, rains and flooding in other parts of Pakistan, which is witnessing an unusually long winter.

The official said two children of a family were killed and their parents injured in Chaman when the roof of their house caved in, while heavy downpour in Khuzdar led to the collapse of a house, killing three children and injuring others. He added that deaths were also reported from Bolan due to torrential rains and due to flooding in Mastung and Uthal, Lasbela.

"Two persons got swept away in floodwaters and are feared dead in Dalbindin and Pishin, while a coaster carrying 42 pilgrims to the Shah Noorani shrine in Lasbela was swept away by heavy flooding but later, the pilgrims were rescued with some of them injured," another official said.

Security forces were moved to assist the civil administration in rescue-and-relief operations for flood victims in various parts of the province, the military's media wing said on Sunday.

An update shared by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said nearly 1,500 families had been rescued by Pakistan Army aviation helicopters in the Dureji (Lasbela) and Qila Abdullah areas. Also, rations have been provided to some 3,500 families in the rain-affected areas of the province. Additionally, security forces have rescued the vehicles that were stranded at different places in the province.
France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for India as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSC's enlargement is the 'first crucial part' towards its reform.

United Nations: France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for India as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSC's enlargement is the "first crucial part" towards its reform.

India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. France, a veto-wielding permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, last month moved a fresh proposal in the UNSC along with the US and the UK to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Reiterating its support for India, Germany and Japan as permanent members of an expanded Council, France said that enlargement of the powerful UN organ in both permanent and non-permanent categories is the "first crucial part" towards UNSC reform. "We want enlargement of the Security Council in the two categories of non-permanent and permanent categories - India, Brazil, Germany and Japan - and equitable representation of Africans and so that is the first crucial part of it," French Permanent Representative to the UN Franois Delattre told reporters on Friday.

Delattre, at a joint press briefing with the German envoy to the UN Christoph Heusgen, said that the key to UN reform is openness through three different areas - the openness of the Security Council that entails expansion of the 15-nation, partnership and openness to civil society. Germany will take over the Presidency in April.

"That is a strategic aim that France has and I do believe it is Germany's strategic aim as well... If we believe in the UN and the representative nature of the Security Council, we need to ensure that enlargement (of UNSC) be a success sooner rather than later," Delattre said. He stressed that the UN cannot be recognised as a centre of gravity for multilateralism throughout the world unless it can step-up partnerships and focus should also be made on openness to civil society, business world, NGOs and trade unions, which are all stakeholders that breathe life into the UN.

"The reform of the Security Council through its enlargement is one of the key areas and key priorities of our diplomacy," Delattre said. The German Ambassador pointed out that the Security Council, in its present composition, does not reflect the realities of this world. "France and Germany spoke with one voice in this and we need to have reforms," Heusgen said adding that "If you don't reform the Security Council, it will lose legitimacy and therefore I think we should really work forward".

France has maintained that if the crisis of recent times have confirmed the centrality of the UN, they have also reinforced the need to make the organisation more effective and more representative of the current balances in the world. "That is why France pushes for the expansion of the Security Council by supporting the accession to a permanent seat of Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, as well as a greater presence of African countries," according to the Permanent Mission of France. India is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reforms of the Security Council.

Last week, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said on the issue of 'Categories of Membership', a total of 113 member states out of the 122 which submitted their positions in the Framework Document, support expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter. "In short, more than 90 per cent of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter," he said during the informal meeting of the plenary on the inter-governmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the UNSC.

Earlier, Akbaruddin had said that while reform at the UN is a process rather than an event, "there is no process known to us here that has traversed winding pathways in the manner as this process of the Reform of the Security Council". "In terms of inertia too, it has no peer. While the world is not what it was when we began the process, the objections to moving forward remain the same.

"While the global challenges of the 21st century have multiplied, we remain divided even about the process to adopt in order to move forward," he had said.
Photo: The Canadian Press A close-up of the chest patch of a worker at Barrick's Ruby Hill Mine, outside Eureka, Nev.

The board of directors of Newmont Mining Corp. has unanimously rejected a hostile takeover offer from Barrick Gold Corp. and countered with a proposal of its own.

The board says the unsolicited, all-stock proposal is not in the best interests of Newmont's shareholders.

Instead, Newmont, which is in the midst of acquiring Vancouver-based gold miner Goldcorp Inc., is proposing a joint venture with Barrick in Nevada where the companies both have extensive operations.

Barrick would hold a 55 per cent economic interest in the joint venture, while Newmont Goldcorp would hold 45 per cent.

Newmont says its proposal would enable the companies to realize the available synergies while avoiding the risks and complexities associated with Barrick's unsolicited proposal.

Barrick made an all-stock bid for Newmont last month valued at roughly US$18 billion.
Pulwama attack was a huge intelligence failure and reflected poorly on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, however, after the Balakot air strike, the narrative has changed with the media influencing peoples minds in favour of the ruling party

On 26 February, the day Indian Air Force struck JeM camps in Balakot in Pakistan, I was in Bastar, one of the conflict-ridden districts in south Chhattisgarh. After the expected polarised reactions, the debate on social media soon descended into what kind of impact the IAF strike would have on the Indian General Election to Lok Sabha looming ahead.

On 14 February, more than 40 security personnel were killed in a ghastly attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a terror group led by Masood Azhar with a base in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Pulwama was a huge intelligence failure and reflected poorly on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After the Balakot strikes, however, the narrative changed.

Would it help Narendra Modi for taking an aggressive route against Pakistan? Would it sweep the domestic issues like unemployment and agrarian distress under the carpet?

I had left my room early in the morning to report on a story. After returning to the hotel, I decided to step out for the evening tea and snacks, instead of ordering in. With the idea of eavesdropping on conversations around Balakot, I reached a busy tea stall near the hotel in Jagdalpur, a town in Bastar.

The atmosphere was celebratory. Pulwama had been avenged.

Sahi sabak sikhaye Pakistan ko, said the tea vendor. There was a sense of justice at the thought of nearly 300 Pakistani terrorists being killed. A piece of information that still remains dubious and uncorroborated over a week later.

In fact, in a joint press conference four days ago, the Indian Air Force said it would be premature to peg the number of people killed in the attack.

Union Minister SS Ahluwalia later said there were no human casualties in the air strike, and the purpose of the attack was not to kill, but to send a message. While death toll figures in India ranged from 200-600, several international publications reported no casualties.

But it did not matter. Over the next week, I heard the number 300 peddled with joy by several people on the ground.

As one often sees on social media, the clarification of fake news is not even retweeted half the number of times as the original fake news. What mattered on the ground was that Pakistan had been taught a lesson.

"Ghar mein ghus kar maara," as my driver put it the next morning after the strike. I had to go to Dantewada, about 200 kilometres from Jagdalpur, and he kept telling me how this is the only "ilaaj (solution)" for Pakistan during the two-hour drive.

In trying to engage him further, I pointed out that we have still not received answers regarding intelligence failure at Pulwama.

He said, Toh kya hua. Badla toh le liya na (So, what! We have taken our revenge.

All was apparently well because Pakistan was supposedly on its knees.

These phrases that I heard through the casual conversations during that period were eerily similar to the phrases used by the media while reporting the story. I do not watch television. But just like other tragedies in the world, I end up following it through several mediums. This time around, it was a journalist friend who showed me several clips from various news shows.

Kaap gaya Pakistan, Pakistan Nestanaboot, "Nakshe se Pakistan saaf", and so on.

Immediately after the attack, Pakistan captured an Indian Air Force pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, addressing his countrymen, spoke of dialogue and peace with India and later released him as a "goodwill gesture".

When I asked a waiter at a hotel I had stopped for lunch about what Imran Khan said, he responded, "Darr gaya hai woh, toh abhi peace ki baat kar raha hai."

And sure enough, "Darr ke maare baatchit chahta hai Pakistan (Pakistan wants to talk out issues out of fear) was a headline in one of the papers.

Whenever I countered the revenge talk with tensions on the border, I was told that collateral damage was unavoidable to fix Pakistan permanently.

A lot was being said about who won the battle of optics between Imran and Modi. In global terms, Imran may have come across looking like a bigger man, despite the Geneva Conventions. He was technically bound to release Abhinandan. However, I do not think it has affected Modi's image domestically. Modi's appeal is that of an alfa male. Toxic masculinity does not value the idea of tolerance. In Modi's India, being a bigger person is misconstrued for being weak. And the media conveys this message more than adequately.

This is not to suggest that people are so gullible that they have only been parroting what they read or saw. But this carpet bombing aimed at influencing peoples minds subconsciously or consciously works in favour of the ruling party. It helps set a narrative.

Also, we have a tendency to hear what we want to hear. During that week in Chhattisgarh, I visited several villages, stopped at tea stalls and eateries in different localities. I heard Ravish Kumars voice only once. It was not in the homes of people I had visited. Nor did I see him on the TV sets mounted at eateries and nukkads, The only time I saw Ravish Kumar on TV was at a senior journalists home in Jagdalpur, who had hosted me for dinner one of those nights.
British prime minister Theresa May emphasised the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups in a call with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday, May's office said.

London: British prime minister Theresa May emphasised the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups in a call with Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday, May's office said.

India and Pakistan came to the brink of war this week as tensions escalated following a suicide car bombing that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India accusing Pakistan of harbouring the Jaish-e-Mohammed group behind the attack, which Islamabad denied.

"She welcomed his commitment to reducing tensions with India," May's office said of the call with Imran.

"The leaders discussed the need to address the causes of this conflict. The prime minister emphasised the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups, in support of global efforts to combat terrorism."
Mark Taylor is among a half-dozen or so New Zealanders thought to have joined the militant group. He remains a citizen, but New Zealand officials say his detention abroad and apparent lack of travel documents are obstacles to his return and he may face legal consequences for his actions

Wellington: A New Zealand man who joined the Islamic State group has been captured in Syria and told journalists he regrets not being able to afford a slave and expects to return home.

Mark Taylor is among a half-dozen or so New Zealanders thought to have joined the militant group. He remains a citizen, but New Zealand officials say his detention abroad and apparent lack of travel documents are obstacles to his return and he may face legal consequences for his actions.

Known by the Twitter handle "Kiwi Jihadi," Taylor notoriously forgot to turn off Twitter's geotagging function in 2014, alerting outsiders to the location of Islamic State fighters.

Taylor told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from a Kurdish prison that after five years with the Islamic State, he fled in December, 2018 and surrendered to Kurdish forces because life had become unbearable. He said there was no food or money and basic services had collapsed.

Taylor said he wasn't a fighter and instead worked for the group as a guard on the border between the Islamic State and Syrian government forces. He said he was jailed three times by Islamic State, including once for 50 days over the geotagging incident.

He said he witnessed beheadings and executions.

"They had a lady they took out of a truck and shot her in the back of the head," Taylor told the ABC.

"There was a big crowd gathering around. I asked, 'What's going on?' but no one answered."

Taylor said he regretted not being able to afford a Yazidi slave. The Islamic State took thousands of Yazidi women and girls as sex slaves, viewing female members of the religious minority as heretics worthy of subjugation and rape.

"To buy a slave, you're looking at least $4,000 American to buy an older woman, at least past 50 years old," he told ABC.

"And to buy a decent one, at least (US) $10,000 or $20,000."

Taylor said he got stuck being married to two Syrian women, and that neither relationship worked out.

He told the ABC that he would be surprised if New Zealand did not take him back, although he expected he'd be spending a couple of years in jail back home.

"I'm sorry for causing too much trouble and being a bit hot-headed and flamboyant in my approach . I don't know if I can go back to New Zealand, but at the end of the day it's really something I have to live with for the rest of my life."

Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern said on Monday that Taylor's actions in joining Islamic State and traveling to Syria created potential legal consequences for him if he does manage to return.

She said New Zealand had plans in place for any Islamic State fighters that might return.

"The safety of New Zealand and New Zealanders is our priority," she said.

In 2015, Taylor posted a video calling on Islamic State supporters in New Zealand and Australia to commit terrorist acts at home, "even if it means you have to stab a few police officers or soldiers."

The Department of Internal Affairs said Taylor does not appear to have a valid New Zealand passport or travel documents, and Ardern noted that obtaining the documents "in his current situation will be difficult to do."

But, she added, Taylor remained a New Zealand citizen and had rights under international law.

Before he left New Zealand, Taylor, who is in his mid-40s, told television network TV3 that he had been lonely his whole life, and that he'd been used and abused by people.

Taylor, who also goes by the names Muhammad Daniel and Abu Abdul-Rahman, acknowledged listening to the sermons of the late US-born al-Qaida preacher Anwar al-Awlaki.

In 2015, New Zealand mosque elder Mustafa Farouk told The Associated Press that when Taylor arrived in Hamilton, they allowed him to park the old truck he lived in near the mosque and offered to find him accommodation and mental-health services. But he said Taylor wanted to remain independent and declined their offers.

If Taylor had radical thoughts, Farouk said, he kept them to himself.

"The only thing he ever talked about was wanting to get married," Farouk told the AP. "He didn't seem like he could pose any danger to anyone at all. More that he might need someone to look after him, really."
A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on 21 February that the decision to ban JuD and FIF was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Imran Khan.

New Delhi: Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) have not been banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch.

According to the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), which was updated on Monday, JuD and FIF are organisations under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.

The NCTA website said the notification regarding JuD and FIF putting them under the list of organisation under watch was issued on 21 February. However, before that the website had said that both JuD and FIF were placed on the watch list in January, 2017.

On 21 February, the Pakistan government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the 14 February Pulwama terror attack that killed over 40 CRPF jawans.

"This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said.

A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on 21 February that the decision to ban these two groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson had said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June, 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a $10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December, 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November, 2017.

The NCTA has so far declared 69 terrorist organisations as banned and a sizeable number of these organisations are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The NCTA has has turned a blind eye to major militant groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al Badr operating in Jammu and Kashmir.
By Maria Vasilyeva MOSCOW (Reuters) - In pre-war Syria, Safaa Al-Kurdi sold wedding dresses. Fed up with the conflict, the mother-of-three fled Damascus four years ago and sought asylum in Moscow. Now, Russia is saying she must go home

By Maria Vasilyeva

MOSCOW (Reuters) - In pre-war Syria, Safaa Al-Kurdi sold wedding dresses. Fed up with the conflict, the mother-of-three fled Damascus four years ago and sought asylum in Moscow. Now, Russia is saying she must go home.

Safaa is one of thousands of Syrian refugees that Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, is urging to return. Large parts of Syria are safe, Russian officials say, and there is no reason for asylum seekers like Safaa, 55, to remain.

The Russian stance is creating problems for Syrians here who are seeing their asylum requests rejected. Banned from working, they face the threat of arrest and deportation.

"Since my children are there and Syria is my country, I would naturally like to return," Safaa, whose two eldest sons were drafted into the Syrian army, said through tears.

"But it's not possible for anyone to return in this situation. People know that there is poverty, that people are dying of cold or from hunger, or from bombing."

According to the U.N. refugee agency, nearly 5.5 million Syrians have fled a war that has raged over seven years.

In 2015, when Moscow launched a military operation in Syria, Russia granted temporary asylum to 1,924 Syrians.

That number has fallen every year since, according to statistics agency Rosstat, hitting a low of 823 asylum applications in 2018.

The Civil Assistance Committee, an NGO working with refugees, says Russia wants the Syrians out.

"DON'T COME BACK"

"Most of them get rejected, and the ones that don't are told: We warn you, this is the last time we will extend your documents, next year don't come back," said Yevgeny Yastrebov, a co-ordinator with the committee.

Some Syrians have already left, he said, adding that others are forced to bribe the police to stay.

"It's a constant game of hide-and-seek you have to play with the government, which is not a fun thing to do if you have kids and you need to feed them," he said.

When Safaa left Damascus in 2015, she had a little money from selling her garments workshop. Her youngest son, Al-Amir, 23, followed her to Russia afterwards.

Their asylum applications have been repeatedly rejected and so far their appeals have also been refused.

With her savings gone, Safaa makes ends meet by selling jewellery at a Moscow market. Her son declines to talk about his employment situation for fear of official reprisals.

Their joint income is just enough to rent a small apartment in a village some 50 km (31 miles) east of Moscow.

"I want to stay for a while before returning, I want to try to save a little bit of money to be able to open a little venture, to be able to live off of it in Syria," said Safaa.

When her asylum appeal process is exhausted, she says she will return home, but wants her son to stay away from Syria.

"Life is not possible there. It's like the war is over but it's not over at the same time."

(Additional reporting by Ahmad El-Katib in Moscow; Editing by Andrew Osborn and William Maclean)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Photo: The Canadian Press Actor Kevin Spacey departs from district court after arraignment on a charge of indecent assault and battery in Nantucket, Mass.

Attorneys for Kevin Spacey are heading back to court in the case accusing the disgraced actor of groping an 18-year-old man at a Massachusetts bar in 2016.

A pretrial hearing is set for Monday in the Nantucket District Court. The judge has said that Spacey is not required to attend, but must be available by phone.

The 59-year-old former "House of Cards" star pleaded not guilty in January to felony indecent assault and battery. His lawyers filed motions last week seeking the accuser's cellphone, surveillance footage from the bar and other records. They've called the accusations "patently false."

Spacey is accused of sexually assaulting the son of a former Boston TV anchor on the resort island of Nantucket.

It's the first criminal case brought against Spacey after several sexual misconduct allegations crippled his career in 2017.
Photo: The Canadian Press Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in Norfolk, England.

Britain's royal family is warning that it will block trolls posting offensive messages on its social media channels  and may report offenders to the police.

Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace issued new guidelines on Monday, spelling out the policy banning offensive, hateful and racist language.

The guidelines come amid concern about the online abuse aimed at the wives of Prince William and Prince Harry. Much of the social media abuse has centred around rival fans of the Duchess of Cambridge and the Duchess of Sussex.

The royals say guidelines were introduced to try to maintain a safe environment on their social media channels and calls for users to show "courtesy, kindness and respect."

The Royal Family site on Twitter has some 3.87 million followers.
Photo: The Canadian Press Employment and Social Development Canada Chief Data Officer Sandy Kyriakatos poses for a photo in Gatineau, Quebec.

The department that oversees the federal social safety net has quietly started testing artificial-intelligence systems that could one day make it faster and easier to get answers about benefits and services.

A small team inside Employment and Social Development Canada is experimenting with ways to simplify navigating one of the largest service organizations in the country, handling public pensions, employment insurance, family benefits and disability supports. The department has a mix of offices, call centres and correspondence centres.

It's hoping to have people directly interact with bots instead of humans, including in online chats for people seeking information about government programs.

An early draft of the department's artificial-intelligence strategy, obtained by The Canadian Press under access-to-information laws, suggests the risks of chatbots, in particular, include "providing incorrect information to Canadians," "producing incoherent content," "or the reproduction of undesirable behaviour."

The worst-case scenario? Internally, a chatbot could tell an employee to "explore a 'catastrophic' action"  think a Terminator-like order to kill all humans  while externally a bot could start replicating hate speech. A Microsoft-created Twitter bot did that three years ago after interacting with enough users and "learning" to mimic things they wrote. The decline was driven by people deliberately messing with the bot but it took only one day.

The strategy notes that ESDC needs to manage legal risks, ethical questions and logistical issues, not to mention "public perception"  and rapid technological advances that mean "the answers to these risks are moving targets."

"We have a higher standard. We must meet a higher standard. Like it or not, I can decide not to go buy stuff (at one store) and go (to another). That's not an option with government," Sandy Kyriakatos, the department's chief data officer, said in a recent interview.

On Monday, the government set the ground rules for how departments and agencies can use artificial intelligence to make decisions about benefits and services, or finding new uses for the technology for long-term projects like preserving and teaching Indigenous languages.
There's been no industry hotter to start the new year than marijuana. Now a legitimate business model following the legalization of adult-use cannabis in Canada this past October, the highly followed Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, which holds around four dozen pot stocks, is up 60% year to date through the end of February.

Of course, the basket approach has taken a back seat to a number of top-performing individual pot stocks, such as Aurora Cannabis ( ACB 6.87% ). Since uplisting from the over-the-counter exchange to the New York Stock Exchange in October, Aurora Cannabis has gained quite the following of optimists. Recently, it surpassed Apple to become the most widely held stock on free online trading app Robinhood, which is extremely popular with millennial investors.

Curious what it is about Aurora Cannabis that makes it such a popular stock to own? Well, it boils down to three things that the company simply does better than its weed-growing peers.

Check out the latest earnings call transcripts for the companies we cover.

1. It can out-produce any other company

Easily the biggest differentiating factor between Aurora Cannabis and every other pot company is its production capacity. According to more recent press releases from Aurora, management has been conservatively calling for "over 500,000 kilograms" in annual output, when running on all cylinders. But this is probably low-balling the company's capacity by a longshot.

Before its roughly $200 million purchase of South America's ICC Labs last year, and following its acquisition of Ontario-based MedReleaf, the company was touting peak production of roughly 570,000 kilos per year. Although ICC Labs doesn't bring a lot of immediate production to the mix, with 92,000 square feet of operational greenhouses, it had approximately 1.1 million square feet under construction at the time of the buyout. With most of Aurora's facilities averaging closer to 125 grams per square foot -- about 25% higher than the industry average -- this leads me to estimate up to 700,000 kilos in peak annual yield.

Just how much marijuana is this? Although production figures remain fluid with Health Canada continuing to work through its backlog to issue cultivation licenses and sales permits, it wouldn't be out of the question for Aurora to produce 15% to 20% of the total annual cannabis output from Canadian growers.

By comparison, the only remotely close competitor Aurora Cannabis has is Canopy Growth ( CGC 4.83% ), the largest pot stock by market cap. Canopy Growth has been tight-lipped with peak production estimates, but does have 5.6 million square feet of growing capacity, more than 4.3 million square feet of which is already licensed. Assuming industry average yields, Canopy Growth could see anywhere from 500,000 kilos to 550,000 kilos of annual peak yield. After that, it's a big drop-off to the No. 3 and No. 4 growers, Aphria and The Green Organic Dutchman, with 255,000 kilos and 195,000 kilos in respective projected annual production.

Having such impressive annual output should help Aurora nab long-term supply deals and make it a logical target for brand-name beverage, food, tobacco, or pharmaceutical industry companies looking for a partner.

2. Its international reach is unparalleled

Last week, Aurora Cannabis announced that it had comes to terms with Gaia Pharm in Portugal to acquire a 51% interest in the company. This follows Gaia (soon to be renamed Aurora Portugal) receiving approval from the EU to construct a cannabis cultivation facility on Feb. 21, 2019. Although the facility will be relatively small in terms of peak output at 4,000 kilos a year, it nonetheless marks the 24th country that Aurora Cannabis has a growing or sales presence in.

When compared to its peers, no other top weed grower comes anywhere near Aurora in terms of its international reach. Canopy Growth has operations in just over a dozen countries, whereas Aphria is around a dozen, and Cronos Group has far fewer than a dozen markets overseas where it has growing or sales ties.

What's the big deal about international markets? If Colorado, Washington, and Oregon in the U.S. serve as examples, dried cannabis flower tends to be oversupplied and commoditized over time. As production ramps up throughout Canada, it wouldn't be surprising to see supply outpacing demand by as early as 2021. To sell domestic excess supply, Canadian growers like Aurora will be looking to medically legal, but still nascent, overseas markets. With a presence in two dozen countries, Aurora has substantially reduced the likelihood that domestic oversupply will hurt its margins. The same can't be said for Cronos Group and a number of other producers.

3. It generates more in ancillary revenue than other pure-play growers

A third and final thing that Aurora does better than other growers is generate revenue from ancillary sources.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking, and you'd be right: there are other marijuana stocks that generate a boatload of ancillary revenue. An example would be Village Farms International, which has generated $111.2 million in sales from vegetable production through the first nine months of fiscal 2018. But Village Farms International, and these other pot stocks in question, aren't pure-play growers like Aurora Cannabis. If we want to stick to apples-to-apples comparisons, Aurora Cannabis generates more icing on the cake than its peers.

In Aurora's second-quarter operating results, it recorded nearly 47.6 million Canadian dollars in net cannabis revenue, with an additional CA$6.6 million derived from its ancillary businesses. These include Larssen, an engineering and construction firm for greenhouses that was acquired by Aurora in November 2017, patient counseling services, analytical testing services, and its horizontally integrated businesses. Net of excise tax revenue, ancillary sales accounted for 12.2% of sales in the fiscal second quarter.

Although these secondary revenue channels will minimize over time (in terms of total sales percentage) as medical and recreational pot sales soar, they're providing more of a boost to Aurora than any other pot grower.
Forty-two percent of Americans have nothing saved for retirement, according to the Center for Financial Services Innovation. That's a large percentage of citizens who are in effect relying on Social Security to provide them with a safe retirement.

There's just one problem. Social Security was never designed to be the primary vehicle supporting older Americans. Currently, Social Security benefits replace about 40% of Americans' pre-retirement income. Meanwhile, retired people will need roughly 80% of their final salary each year to live on. In other words, people with a zero balance in retirement savings face a significant shortfall of about 40% -- between what they'll receive from the government and the income they'll need to provide themselves with by saving during their working years.

Planning and saving for a comfortable retirement is crucial, or you'll struggle in the later years of your life. Here are four steps to build your balance for the future if you have an empty retirement nest egg right now.

1. Start saving immediately

Do not delay: The first step is to open a retirement account at a brokerage firm or bank and then start saving a good portion of every paycheck immediately.

It doesn't matter how old you are. The sooner you start saving, the more you'll benefit from exponential growth over time. Don't fret if you're not in your 20s; compound returns can propel a retirement nest egg well above its initial value over even a few years.

Imagine this scenario: You are 40 with a $60,000 salary and no retirement savings. By trimming your expenses to save 3% of your annual income for retirement, you'll put away $1,800 a year, which comes out to only $150 per month -- an achievable amount for most people. By the time you reach age 67, you will have saved $48,600, assuming the amount you save holds steady. That's your principal amount, or the balance you put in of your own money.

Ah, but by investing this money, you get to add a 7% average appreciation on that money over 27 years, which is the historical average for stock market returns. Tying your money's fate to the market's means that you'll be looking at about $123,618 in your retirement account -- between two and three times what you actually managed to save. In other words: Compound returns are your friend.

If you are one of the roughly 78% of Americans who have access to a 401(k) plan through your employer, it's a good idea to check out your workplace plan, as most provide a range of investment options.

If your employer offers matching contributions, it's really to your advantage to use this plan. Any kind of match means your employer adds an extra amount of the company's money to your account, usually based on a certain percentage of the amount you contribute of your own money. In other words, if you're saving 3% of your pre-tax income -- assuming that $60,000 income -- and you are entitled to a 50% match, your employer will be kicking in an extra $900 per year in addition to what you're saving.

If you don't have access to a 401(k) plan, consider opening an Individual Retirement Account (IRA). IRAs come in two flavors, traditional and Roth. Both are self-directed and allow you to invest in individual stocks, mutual funds, and fixed-income investments like bonds and certificates of deposit (CDs).

The primary difference between traditional IRA and Roth IRA is their respective tax treatment. With a traditional IRA, you can deduct the amount of your contribution from your taxes in the year you make it. Qualified withdrawals, which can take place when you're 59 1/2 and must begin when you're 70 1/2, will be subject to tax, at your ordinary income rate the year you take withdraw it. A Roth IRA contribution is not tax deductible so you are taxed on the money before you save it, but the money grows tax free until you withdraw them, and then qualified withdrawals are not subject to tax.

2. Make catch-up contributions if you're 50 or older

Both 401(k)s and IRAs allow catch-up contributions for people 50 and older. These are amounts above the contribution limits for people younger than 50. If you are 50 or above, catch-up contributions allow you to jumpstart your retirement savings.

For 401(k) accounts, the contribution limit for folks 50 and older in 2019 is $25,000, versus $19,000 for everybody else. For both types of IRAs, the contribution limit for folks 50 and up is $7,000 in 2019; it's $6,000 for people younger than 50.

3. Plan to work as long as possible

If you've saved nothing for retirement, the next step depends on how old you are. If you're in your 20s or 30s, you have decades to create a robust nest egg if you start now. If you're middle-aged or older, though, your plan likely involves working longer.

If you're in your 40s or 50s, make a long-term goal of moving to a higher-paying job or pursuing a promotion. The more income you receive, the more you can save to ensure a comfortable retirement. It may be tougher to get raises or promotions once you're in your 60s, so if you envision being older in the workforce, be sure to keep up with current trends in your field to remain a valuable employee and avoid being laid off.

Income from your job is one reason to work as long as possible. But a more hidden reason, though, is that the amount of your Social Security benefits grow the longer you delay starting to take them -- and working longer is the primary way to defer them since you have paychecks to live on in your later years.

Americans become eligible for Social Security benefits at age 62, but the amount you receive is reduced a certain amount for every year you're under your full retirement age (FRA), which is 66 for people born between 1943 and 1954. It rises incrementally a few months for people born after that, until it hits 67 for folks born in 1960 and after. Because of the reduction in benefits if you're under FRA, it's to your financial advantage not to draw benefits earlier.

There's another way to maximize Social Security benefits: By delaying starting to claim. You receive a roughly 8% increase in benefits every year you delay between your FRA and age 70, when the bonus maxes out. So if your FRA is 67, and you don't take Social Security benefits until 70, your benefit check when you start taking it at age 70 will be approximately 24% higher than if you took it at your FRA.

4. Take a hard look at your expenses to see where you can save

So far, we've looked at ways to maximize retirement savings and income, but there's another part of the equation: paring down your expenses.

Cutting expenses can be helpful if you are young or middle-aged and you feel like you don't have enough money to put toward retirement savings. Study your budget closely to see where you can rein in spending, and then increase the amount of your regular retirement contributions so the savings actually go there.

But if you're facing retirement fairly soon and you have zero saved, cutting expenses in major categories will be essential.

Fortunately, there are multiple ways to spend less in retirement. Consider relocating to a lower cost-of-living (COL) area. Some states are more affordable for retirees thanks to lower taxes or cheaper real estate. The 3 best states for retirees in 2019 are South Dakota, Florida, and New Hampshire; for a complete list, see here.

Downsizing your living space is another tried-and-true formula for soon-to-be retirees or retirees. A condominium or smaller house can help you save significantly on living expenses. Downsizing combined with moving to a cheaper region can pack a significant punch to your budget. There are both pros and cons to this approach, though, so be sure to weigh both. Calculate your expected savings from current expense levels, and be honest about whether you'd be happy moving. Your financial security shouldn't come at the expense of your happiness.
Photo: CTV News

Treasury Board president Jane Philpott has resigned from the federal cabinet, saying she's lost confidence in the way the Trudeau government has dealt with the SNC-Lavalin affair.

"A minister must always be prepared to defend other ministers publicly, and must speak in support of the government and its policies," her resignation letter says. "Given this convention and the current circumstances, it is untenable for me to continue to serve as a cabinet minister."

Philpott's resignation comes just less than a month after former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet amid allegations that the Prime Minister's Office had improperly pressured her to stop a criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.

Like Wilson-Raybould, Philpott says she's staying on as a Liberal MP  for Markham-Stouffville outside Toronto, in her case.

She has been widely seen as one of Trudeau's most capable ministers. As minister of health, she concluded health-funding agreements with provincial governments one at a time after they and the federal government had been unable to reach a sweeping national accord. As minister of Indigenous services, she oversaw drastic reductions in the number of long-term advisories on water safety on First Nations reserves.

Treasury Board is a less visible ministry concerned with the nuts and bolts of government operations but it's also ripe for scandals if it fails in its responsibility for overseeing federal spending. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Philpott to Treasury Board in mid-January, after Scott Brison left the post and retired from politics.

Philpott is good friends with Wilson-Raybould, who delivered bombshell testimony last week accusing officials of relentlessly pressuring her and even issuing veiled threats to try to get her to co-operate in helping SNC-Lavalin, a pillar of Montreal's business community and a major player in infrastructure projects both in Canada and globally, avoid a criminal prosecution.

Philpott says she has serious concerns about evidence of inappropriate interference in the attorney general's prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases.
Marco's Pizza Franchise Owner Wins Veteran Entrepreneurship Award

Joe Walker, Army Veteran and Multi-Unit Owner, Recognized for Leadership and Innovation

March 04, 2019 // Franchising.com // RICHLAND, S.C. - Recognized for outstanding service to his business, team, and country as a combat veteran, Marco's Pizza multi-unit franchise owner Joe Walker was recently announced the winner of the Veteran Entrepreneurship Award Category for the 2019 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference and Magazine Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards.

The Multi-Unit Franchisee Conference and Magazine MVP Awards honor the best and the brightest multi-unit franchisees - the power operators, the innovators, the creative thinkers who have demonstrated outstanding performance in growing both their organizations and their brands. The Veteran Entrepreneurship Award is earned by a veteran and top performing multi-unit franchise owner who has paved the way to success for their business. As the owner of 19 Marco's Pizza locations across South Carolina, Walker's smart and aggressive leadership exemplified the qualities of this recognition.

"Deciding to enlist in the U.S Army made me the leader I am today," Walker stated. "Serving alongside some of America's finest for over eight years, I learned how to manage a team to protect lives and represent the best values of the United States. It was with this experience I have been able to lead an amazing team within my business and move the Marco's brand toward success."

Walker's dedication to his country and his community also played a large role in receiving the award. Most recently, he went above and beyond for a Marco's Pizza customer and donated $10,000 to go towards a hypertension implant. Walker has also shut down one of his stores for multiple days to make over 2,000 pizzas for families in need throughout his community.

Walker's dedication to the Marco's brand is matched by his dedication to the Unites States, another reason why Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine wanted to award recognition. Walker's served in the U.S Army from 2004 to 2008 and in the U.S Army National Guard from 2008 to 2012. In addition to leading operations in the hot spots of Iraq, Walker received many awards and citations for his leadership and management skills and earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his bravery.

Marco's Pizza is committed to supporting military veterans and offers a discount on the franchise fee to veterans' candidates. The brand has also developed a special outreach program to facilitate passionate, disciplined leaders' entry into the Marco's management and apprenticeship pipeline. Military veterans can enter at general manager level and receive extensive training for Marco's Pizza locations nationwide.

"The Marco's Pizza family has always welcomed U.S. Veterans with open arms to let them achieve their greatest entrepreneurial ambitions," stated Tony Libardi, President and Chief Operating Officer of Marco's Pizza. "As a veteran myself, it is always incredible to see fellow soldiers like Joe Walker get the recognition they deserve. Marco's Pizza truly sees the value in hiring veterans as they bring a unique skill set of leadership, accountability, teamwork and self-discipline. Veterans understand the importance of structured operating systems as it is ingrained in them to do so from day one in the military. We believe there is a direct correlation to success in the military and success at Marco's Pizza."

Opening a new store every three to four days, Marco's Pizza is committed to increasing that pace significantly in 2019, and aims to have 1,500 locations open by late 2020. As the only national pizza franchise chain founded by a native Italian, Marco's Pizza has carved out a niche in the industry for authentic Italian quality pizza, known for its fresh dough made daily onsite, a proprietary cheese blend that is fresh, never-frozen, and a secret original pizza sauce recipe from its founder Pat Giammarco.

Those interested in employment opportunities, or entering the apprenticeship program should visit https://www.marcos.com/ and look for Career Opportunities.

About Marcos Pizza

Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives by making authentic Italian quality pizza with fresh ingredients. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate 900 plus stores in over 34 states and in three countries. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 5 in Forbes "Best Franchises to Buy" 2018 Study/Medium Investment, and No. 39 on Entrepreneur's 2019 Franchise 500 ranking. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 2 on Entrepreneur's 2018 Top 200 Food and Restaurant Franchises in the pizza segment, and No. 8 on the Military Times Best: Franchises 2018 list.

Media Contact:

Kathryn Frakes

Fishman Public Relations

(847) 945-1300

kfrakes@fishmanpr.com

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Union Minister Prakash Javadekar slammed the opposition parties for questioning air strike conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) in Balakot area of Pakistan on February 26.

"Pakistan accepted that Indian planes entered in Pakistan, not only Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. A terror camp was functioning in the name of Madarass where more 350 terrorists were getting trained including around 12 chief commanders and 25 master trainers. This was the centre for sending terrorists to Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir and rest parts of the world. And no one was left alive in the bombing," he said.

Addressing BJP Mission 2019 programme at Balgandharva Rangmandir, the minister said, "Our opposition parties are asking for proofs. This complete bankruptcy of some opposition parties,"

"Their statement was welcomed by Pakistan. This was also discussed in their parliament. Their media also picked up this," he added.

"Post 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, armed forces want to teach lessons to Pakistan, they did not get permission that time. But they got the permission by our government. This is a difference," Javadekar said while underlining the difference between Congress-led UPA government and BJP-led government at the Centre.

Setting the tone for 2019 general elections, the BJP leader said, "What do we need a Majboot (Strong) government or like Mayawati said Majboor (helpless) government where the Prime Minister will change after every six months. This is the central issue of 2019 elections."

"Some people have started preparing for saying that there is some fault in Electronic Voting Machine (EVM'. It means they have started preparing explanations for their defeat in upcoming polls," he added taking a jibe at political parties who had earlier question EVM use.

Taking a potshot at Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) of the opposition parties, Javadekar said, "An opposition leader told me that the Common Minimum Programme of their Mahamilawat (Adulteration) alliance is 'Modi hatao' (Remove Modi) and nothing else."

"Two bomb attacks happened in Mumbai. 26/11 and train blasts where 250 died. In UPA time then a big Congress had said 'small incidents used to happen in big cities.' Where did you find incidents of bomb blasts, except Jammu and Kashmir, under our government? This all become possible with strong leadership," he added.

Underling the success of many BJP government schemes at the Centre, he said, "Under Congress rule, they had opened the bank account of the unborn child, had taken financial help for marriage, scholarships and took even pensions by declaring them as widows. There were many such cases. We save Rs 90,000 after linking Aadhaar to bank accounts that totally eliminated bogus people."

"Today India was the chief guest at OIC. 50 years ago, at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference. The Indian representative Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed went there to attend the conference. But due to Pressure from Pakistan, Ahmed was not allowed to enter the conference. Today India is there and Pakistan is not," he said speaking of India's representation at the recently concluded conference at OIC in Abu Dhabi.

Javadekar highlighted the success of many government schemes like Jan Dhan Yojna, Atal Pension Scheme, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, rural electricity, new infrastructural projects including new airports, highways and expressways and many others.

"We were at 11th position in the economy under UPA regime and today we stand at 6 and in the coming time under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we will reach at 3rd position," he said.

-ANI
The Camp Transformation Center Taps Catia Morgan as Vice President of Franchise Operations

International Fitness Franchise Welcomes Industry Veteran to Team

March 04, 2019 // Franchising.com // CHINO HILLS, Calif. - The Camp Transformation Center, a national brand featuring fitness centers that focus on inspiring powerful physical and emotional transformations, announced today that it has hired Catia Morgan as its new vice president of franchise operations.

Morgan, a franchise industry veteran, will play an integral role in growing The Camps franchise footprint in the upcoming years and will also strategically support new and existing franchisees, guiding them toward success.

We are thrilled to welcome Catia to The Camp family. Her proven passion for growing brands and commitment to helping franchisees make her the perfect fit as we continue to expand nationally, said Alejandra Font, co-founder of The Camp Transformation Center. Her impressive background in franchising makes her a strong asset to our team.

Morgan brings more than 20 years of franchising experience to the Southern California-based fitness franchise. Prior to joining The Camp, she worked in high-level operations roles in a variety of industries including restaurant and beauty concepts. It was through these roles that she learned to manage and develop relationships with franchisees to drive unit profitability and finetune business operations.

This is such an exciting time to be joining The Camp given its recent and continued growth, said Morgan. The Camp is disrupting the fitness industry and has transformed the lives of thousands of members with its proven effectiveness and sense of community. Im eager to join its exceptional leadership team and support its impressive franchisees.

The Camp blends a positive group training setting with dynamic interval workouts, nutrition and supplement plans and highly qualified trainers. Franchisees drive membership through seven annual challenges. Successful challengers most often endear themselves to The Camp and become long-term members.

To learn more about The Camp Transformation Center, visit www.thecamptc.com.

About The Camp Transformation Center

Founded in 2010, The Camp Transformation Center has over 100 locations open or in development across 13 states and Mexico. Each gym employs the companys signature Challenge, a six-week initial entry point for members, which aims to be a transformative moment in the lives of those who join and a launching pad for long-term membership. The Camp Transformation Center is known for its enthusiastic staff members; a clean environment, an open, spacious, and colorful design; nutrition and supplement plans; and fitness training that is motivating and affordable.

Media Contact:

Jenna Giragosian

All Points PR

Office: 847-897-7474

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United Real Estate Expands Its Presence in Pacific Northwest

United awards franchise to an established office in Eugene, Oregon.

Eugene, OR - February 28, 2019 - (PR.com) - United Real Estate, one of the nations fastest growing real estate brokerage and franchising organizations, announced today the addition of United Real Estate | Properties. Located in Eugene, Oregon, United | Properties is owned and operated by Principal Broker, Simon Smith. Uniteds model provides real estate agents with the latest training, marketing and technology and affords agents the ability to keep more of their earnings with its 100-percent commission concept.

In an industry where agents can struggle to cost effectively stay up-to-date with ever-changing marketing, technology and training, United Real Estate provides reliable support for agents and brokers to differentiate themselves from their competition. Real estate trends show agents are migrating rapidly away from traditional, expensive brokerage operations to join more cost efficiently run companies. Thus giving agents more choices and freedoms to operate in the manner they see fit for individual clients. This trend and new model companies allow for more creativity and the entrepreneurship spirit to thrive.

The United brokerage and agent platform gives agents flexibility, freedom and a plethora of support services and tools while allowing them the opportunity to earn more. After years of seeking a solution to challenges my agents face on a daily basis I am thrilled to have found United Real Estate, says Simon Smith. Ive seen the successes of Uniteds current franchises and know this will be a great fit for our market as well. Our area is perfectly positioned to introduce a brokerage that solves the challenges agents are facing with traditional brokerage brands but offers more tools and allows agents the freedom to run their own business. With an innovative 100% commission structure along with the tools and marketing services United provides its agents, the choice was clear and I am excited to see what the future holds.

The expansion that United Real Estate has experienced in recent years is astounding. We are excited to welcome Simon and his growing team at United Real Estate | Properties as the newest member of our network, says Rick Haase, president, United Real Estate. Our goal is to help existing brokerages across the country embrace real estate industry changes and grow by attracting new and experienced top-performing agents to their offices. We believe that every time we grow in this manner we expand our intellectual capital and operational expertise in our efforts to deliver unmatched service excellence to clients across the nation.

Agents interested in learning about career opportunities with United Real Estate | Properties can visit JoinUnitedProperties.com.

A Closer Look at United Real Estate

United Real Estate - a division of the United Real Estate Group - was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to the challenges facing agents in the residential real estate brokerage industry. Providing the latest training, marketing and technology tools to both agents and brokers under a 100-percent commission strategy, United Real Estate makes it more profitable for an agent to sell real estate and for real estate brokers to leverage a complete system to better grow a successful, thriving real estate brokerage. Named as a "frontrunner" in the real estate industry in 2013, "part of the next generation of real estate brokers" in 2014 by the Swanepoel TRENDS Report, as well as being listed in the "Power 200 Most Influential" from 2015-2018 by Swanepoel Power 200. United Real Estate has more than 85 offices and over 3,800 agents. Through a worldwide franchise solution, United continues to rapidly expand and was named to the Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies in 2015-2017 and 2018 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 - Ranked in Top 100 New Franchises, Top Franchises & Top Brands. Driven by an unwavering commitment to giving back, a pillar of United's core values and guiding principles, United Real Estate is proud to support and partner with Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, as United's charity of choice.

Media Contact:

Mike Jones

United Strategic Client Services, LLC

800-485-8214

SOURCE United Real Estate

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United Real Estate Welcomes First Broker-Owner Team to Join Richmond Office

United Real Estate | Richmond sets significant growth expectations for 2019.

Richmond, VA - February 28, 2019 - (PR.com) - United Real Estate, a fast-growing real estate franchise, announces the addition of a new Broker-Owner team joining its Richmond office. Following the successful launch of their second office in 2018, United Real Estate | Richmond continues to be one of the fastest growing office in Central Virginia. In accordance with this growth, a new Broker-Owner team set to join, United | Richmond will be led by Charles Futrell, previous Principal Broker with The Universal Real Estate Group. The team specializes in residential resales and represents several investors.

The newest addition will be the first of several small to mid-size brokerages expected to move to United Real Estate, under their new Broker-Owners Program. Uniteds business model attracts teams and brokerages who are searching for a way to sustain their well-established brands but are seeking affordable tools and training. The Broker-Owners Program provides state-of-the-art technology to keep up with the ever-changing real estate market. According to the real estate service BrokerMetrics, United | Richmond has become central Virginias second largest real estate office in less than four years. Its innovative model paves the way to success for both agents and brokers in the local real estate market.

The United model disrupts the traditional model of the real estate industry, says Managing Broker, Charles Futrell. Its innovative approach, the incredible back office and technology platform as well as the family environment the Finn brothers have created has made this merger an easy decision for our team.

"With the way real estate is moving, most brokerages have 10 or less agents. United is uniquely positioned to help agents grow their business by keeping up with the changes in marketing and providing the tools, technology and training to help our agents succeed," said John S. Finn, senior managing broker of United Real Estate | Richmond. "We are excited Charles and his team are now with United and we look forward to our future success together."

A Closer Look at United Real Estate

United Real Estate  a division of the United Real Estate Group  was founded with the purpose of offering solutions to the challenges facing agents in the residential real estate brokerage industry. Providing the latest training, marketing and technology tools to both agents and brokers under a 100-percent commission strategy, United Real Estate makes it more profitable for an agent to sell real estate and for real estate brokers to leverage a complete system to better grow a successful, thriving real estate brokerage. Named as a "frontrunner" in the real estate industry in 2013, "part of the next generation of real estate brokers" in 2014 by the Swanepoel TRENDS Report, as well as being listed in the "Power 200 Most Influential" from 2015-2018 by Swanepoel Power 200. United Real Estate has more than 85 offices and over 3,800 agents. Through a worldwide franchise solution, United continues to rapidly expand and was named to the Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies in 2015-2017 and 2018 Entrepreneur Franchise 500 - Ranked in Top 100 New Franchises, Top Franchises & Top Brands. Driven by an unwavering commitment to giving back, a pillar of United's core values and guiding principles, United Real Estate is proud to support and partner with Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, as United's charity of choice.

Media Contact:

Mike Jones

United Strategic Client Services, LLC

800-485-8214

SOURCE United Real Estate

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Vijeta Mandavgane, wife of an Air Force pilot who was killed in a Mi-17 chopper crashed in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam has sent out a strong message to those who are using social media to vent their anger and shed tears over the India-Pakistan tension. Vijeta Mandavgane's husband, Squadron Leader Ninad Mandavgane, among the seven killed in the pilot crash. IAF pilot was cremated with full military honours in Maharashtra's Nashik on Friday.

In a strong message to social media users who are showcasing anger on India-Pakistan, Vijeta urged netizens to show restraint and not whip up sentiments.

"There is a lot happening on social media and on TV. Media acts responsibly and sometimes don't. You shout slogans. Instead of that, if you truly want to bring about change, for my Ninad, for WC Abhinandan and the martyrs, do a small thing. Either join the forces or make your family members join the forces. If you can't, then at least bring about small changes around you to help the nation. You can keep your surroundings clean, not litter the roads, not urinate in the public, not harassing girls," Ms Mandavgane told reporters. The message was widely shared online.

Squadron Leader Ninad Mandavgane was killed after a Russian made Mi-17 crashed in an open field near Garend Kalaan village in Budgam in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday. A civilian was killed too.

Also read:
Pakistan has been trapped under pressure by India after terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) or Jaish carried out a suicide bombing attack on security personnel in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama, in which over 40 CRPF jawans were killed. However, not only India but Pakistan is also facing international pressure over sheltering terrorist organisations on its soil. As India on February 26, bombarded Jaish camp in Balakot in PoK, in revenge to Pulwama, now Pakistans another neighbouring country Iran, threatens to take action against the terrorist groups on its soil. Amid tensions with India, Pakistan cornered the notice by the Iranian government leaders and armed forces in which they have threatened to act against the Pakistani terror groups since the country fails to act against them.

Reportedly, three of Pakistan's neighbours - India, Afghanistan, and Iran are tormented by the countrys cross-border terror attacks.

According to TOI, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of IRGC Quds Force, has issued stern warnings to the Imran Khan-led Pakistan government and its military establishment.

I have this question for the Pakistani government: where are you heading to? You have caused unrest along borders with all your neighbours and do you have any other neighbour left that you want to stir insecurity for," Gen Soleimani was quoted as saying.

Are you, who have atomic bombs, unable to destroy a terrorist group with several hundred members in the region? he asked, adding that Pakistan should not test Irans resolve.

In recent years, India and Iran have enhanced their counter-terrorism co-operation speedily. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale was scheduled to travel to Iran over the weekend, however, the trip was postponed amid India-Pakistan crisis.

In a major move by Iran, chairman of Iranian parliaments foreign policy commission Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh reported said that the country wanted to build a wall on its border with Pakistan. Falahatpisheh also promised that Tehran would take action inside Pakistan if it fails to stop cross-border attacks into Iran.

Also read: Pakistan may 'not' oppose Jaish chief Masood Azhars listing as global terrorist in UNSC
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.
TBC Bank co-founder Mamuka Khazarade says he received threatening letter from Interior Minister - GeorgianJournal
Nokia Pro Wireless earphones launched in India for Rs. 5,499 News oi-Abhinaya Prabhu Nokia Pro Wireless earphones is now available in India.

HMD Global announced the launch of the Nokia True Wireless earphones and Nokia Pro Wireless earphones in October last year. Following the same, the wireless earbuds was launched in India for Rs. 9,999. Now, it looks like the company has brought the other pair of earphones as well to the Indian market.

As per the listing on the official Nokia India online store, the Nokia Pro Wireless earphones carrying the model number BH-107 is available in the country for Rs. 5,499. This accessory is compatible with the Nokia smartphones as well as other devices. And, it is touted that these wireless earphones can be used for listening to music and answering calls.

Nokia Pro Wireless earphones

When it comes to its specifications and features, the Nokia Pro Wireless earphones is available in a Black color variant. It is touted to provide up to 10 hours of usage on a single charge and weigh in around 45 grams. There is a USB port and the package comes bundled with a USB Type-A to micro USB cable, three pairs of ergonomic ear tips and three pairs of earbuds.

As per the company, the earbuds measure 25.6mm in height and the neckband has a dimension of 178 x 131 mm. It is said to take two or three hours to be charged completely.

Talking about its features, the Nokia Pro Wireless earphones has functions such as magnetic clipping of the earbuds similar to that of the other models in the market. Users can clip the earbuds together in order to pause music and end calls and unclip the same to resume music and answer calls. This is similar to what we have seen on the OnePlus Bullets Wireless earphones.

Other aspects of the Nokia earphones include Bluetooth 4.2, support for Qualcomm aptX for HD audio over Bluetooth and splash and sweat resistance.

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Realme 3 launch event: Watch the live streaming here News oi-Vivek Realme 3 will feature a massive 4230 mAh battery

Realme is all set for the launch of the first significant smartphone in 2019, the Realme 3. The Realme 3 is expected to offer improved camera performance, compared to the previous Realme smartphones.

The company is hosting a launch event on the 4th of March 2019 at 12:30 PM, which will be live streamed across various social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Watch the live streaming of the Realme 3 launch event here.

Realme 3 specifications

The company has officially confirmed that the Realme 3 feature a 6.3-inch IPS LCD screen with FHD+ resolution, with a water-drop notch, similar to the Realme U1. The smartphone is expected to come with a polycarbonate back panel with a gradient design, which should improve the overall aesthetics of the smartphone.

The MediaTek Helio P70 SoC will power Realme, which is the latest mid-tier chipset from MTK, which is also seen on the Realme U1, the first selfie-centric smartphone from the brand. The smartphone will have a rear-facing fingerprint sensor with support for Face Unlock using the front-facing selfie camera.

According to Realme India official website, the smartphone will feature a 4230 mAh battery, which is the highest capacity battery that we have seen on a Realme smartphone, with a capacity to last an entire day on a single charge. As of now, there is no information on the charging port on the Realme 3 (a micro USB or a USB type C).

The Realme 3 is the first Realme smartphone from the brand, which will offer a new set of features like app drawer, smart assistant, Motorbike Mode, Gamespace, and No Boundary concept.

Lastly, the base variant of the Realme 3 is expected to cost around Rs 10,000 with 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage, and the device is most likely to compete against the recently launched Redmi Note 7 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 AIE SoC.

Best Mobiles in India
China planning for Mars after accomplishing Moon far side mission News oi-Vishal Kawadkar China wants to reach the Red Planet.

China seems to be gearing up to send a probe to Mars next year, confirmed a top scientist of the agency. The space agency, successfully sent a probe to the far side of the moon, registering its name in the history books.

"Over the past 60 years, we've made a lot of achievements, but there is still a large distance from the world space powers. We must speed up our pace," Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, said. "Next year, we will launch a Mars probe, which will orbit around the Mars, land on it and probe it."

Besides, China will also send another probe to Moon that will gather samples and bring back to Earth. If everything goes according to the plan, China will become the third country after the USA and Russia to accomplish such a task.

China has successfully launched six crewed mission into space and launched two space labs into Earth's orbit, since 2003. The country also landed a rover on the moon in 2013. The space agency is also the first to land a rover on the far side of the moon.

"Due to the moon's rotation and revolution, the night on the moon is 14 days long. This reduces the temperature on the moon to minus 190 degrees Celsius, a temperature that all components, parts, and electronic components cannot stand," Wu said. "So we let it sleep for a while, ensuring it can spend the night safely. A few days ago, it woke up automatically ... and started to work. Currently, it is in normal condition."

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WikiLeaks Whistle-blower Manning Subpoenaed to Testify in Case Against Assange

Sputnik News

19:26 03.03.2019

Earlier, The Daily Beast reported that another WikiLeaks volunteer, David House, had agreed to testify before the grand jury in the case in exchange for immunity, noting that he was "walking around on the street [and] not [sitting] in an embassy".

Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence officer who leaked secret State Department cables and army field reports to Julian Assange, has been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in the case against the WikiLeaks founder. Manning revealed that he had been subpoenaed in an interview with the New York Times and said that she would fight it.

"I object strenuously to this subpoena, and to the grand jury process in general. We've seen this power abused countless times to target political speech. [] I resent being forced to endanger myself by participating in this predatory practice", she said in a statement, as cited by The Washington Post.

Manning noted that she was not aware of "the parameters of the subpoena" and what she would be questioned about.

The case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was opened in 2010, after the scandalous release of State Department cables and other secret documents. However, the administration of former President Barack Obama decided not to pursue Assange and WikiLeaks, citing the possibility of making a precedent of suing media for publishing classified documents.

The case was reopened in the Eastern District of Virginia under Donald Trump's administration. The charge remains sealed, so it remains unclear what Assange is charged for.

According to David House, a former WikiLeaks volunteer who agreed to cooperate with the investigation in exchange for immunity, the grand jury was interested in WikiLeaks' goals and Assange's connection with Manning. The jury was also curious about the potential for collateral damage in some of Assange's leaks, such as exposure of WikiLeaks' sources of information.

Julian Assange is currently residing in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, hiding from British authorities that could arrest him for breaching bail conditions from when he was a subject to rape allegations in Sweden. Assange and his team of lawyers believe that the arrest could be used to later extradite him to the US to face prosecution there.

 Sputnik

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US, South Korea Announce End to Joint Military Drills

By VOA News March 02, 2019

The U.S. and South Korea announced late Saturday the two countries will end annual large-scale joint military exercises as part of diplomatic efforts to "achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

In a statement, the Pentagon said acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korea Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo in a phone call Saturday decided to end the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises.

Shanahan tweeted Saturday:

The Pentagon statement added, "Both the Minister and Secretary agreed that close coordination between the military activities of the United States and Republic of Korea will continue to support diplomatic efforts."

The decision comes three days after a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Vietnam that ended without an agreement to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Seoul's Defense Ministry released a similar statement, according to the Associated Press.

North Korea has denounced the U.S., South Korea joint exercises as aggressive provocations and rehearsals for war.

Good-faith gesture

Ending the exercises could be seen as a good-faith gesture to keep nuclear talks with North Korea alive following the failed Hanoi summit, and to address Trump's concerns about the high cost of these massive demonstrations of force.

The annual joint drills, which are usually conducted in the spring, were first postponed in 2018 to facilitate North Korea's peaceful participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics that were held in South Korea.

Trump suspended the exercises indefinitely after meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June in Singapore, where the two leaders agreed to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

Trump critical of cost

The president had long been critical of the cost of these joint exercises that bring in thousands of troops, fighter jets, warships and other military assets from U.S. bases around the world.

He was asked about the future of the military drills at the recent Hanoi summit, where he and Kim failed to agree on specific measures to reduce the North's nuclear capabilities, nor to ease crippling economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang.

"You know, the military exercises, I gave that up quite a while ago because it costs us $100 million every time we do it. We fly these massive bombers in from Guam, and when I first started a certain general said, 'Oh, yes, sir, we fly them in from Guam. It's right next door.' Right next door is seven hours and then they come and drop bombs and go back," Trump said.

U.S. military leadership is planning to replace the large-scale drills with a series of smaller exercises and training, and implementing technology based virtual exercises instead of deploying thousands of actual troops for the war games.

Brian Padden, Connie Kim of VOA's Korean service and White House bureau chief Steve Herman contributed to this report.

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350 Taliban members killed in 1 week

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Kabul, March 3, IRNA -- Afghanistan Defense Ministry in a statement announced that 350 members of Taliban, including 12 commanders, have been killed in various areas of the country.

Despite heavy rain which is an obstacle for air raids, heavy damages were inflicted to the enemies' positions and some ammunition were seized.

Earlier, a suicide attacker targeted Logar governor's car with a bomb-laden vehicle, killing five people and injuring five others, the province's Police spokesman Shahpour Ahmadzei said adding that the governor survived from the assassination.

He added that the governor and his delegation were on their way to Kabul when the accident happened.

Meanwhile, 27 Taliban forces were killed in an operation in Ab Kamari District, Badghis Province.

9376**2050

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Commissioning Ceremony Breathes Life into USS Charleston

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190303-01

Release Date: 3/3/2019 8:44:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Natalia Murillo, LCS Squadron 1 Public Affairs

CHARLESTON, S.C. (NNS) -- As clouds passed overhead, shipboard alarms echoed across the Cooper River and the crew of USS Charleston (LCS 18) ran aboard their ship and brought it to life, March 2. More than 5,000 guests gathered at the Columbus Street Terminal in the ship's namesake city, officially welcoming the U.S. Navy's newest littoral combat ship into the fleet.

LCS-18 is the 16th littoral combat ship to enter the fleet and the ninth of the Independence variant. The ship is the sixth to be named after Charleston, South Carolina, to honor a long history, from the decades of work at the Charleston Naval Shipyard to Charleston Marine Container, Inc., building mission modules for the littoral combat ship program today.

Charleston Mayor John T. Tecklenburg welcomed the audience to the commissioning of what he identified as a symbol of the city of Charleston. Tecklenburg added that since the founding of Charleston almost 350 years ago, the sea has been part of the Holy's City's economy and culture.

"The sea is history," said Tecklenburg. "Nowhere will you find a people who understand those words more fully than the people of Charleston."

In honoring the state of its namesake city, LCS-18 adopted South Carolina's motto  As I Breathe, I Hope  and made it its own adding a combative twist  As We Breathe, We Fight!

Rear Adm. John Neagley, program executive officer for unmanned and small ships, spoke of the fighting power of LCS-18, the final ship commissioning Neagley will oversee as a Navy officer.

"If called upon, she'll be ready to fight and win," said Neagley. "She is a lethal ship."

Adm. James Foggo III, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, and commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Italy, shared his admiration for littoral combat ships like LCS-18 saying that "we need more like her."

But he saved his greatest charge for Charleston's crew.

"This ship was made to defend America," said Foggo. "Take care of her, so you in turn can take care of all of us."

Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer reflected on the importance of the ship to the Navy mission and the changes ahead. He said USS Charleston contributes to giving the American people "the Navy the nation needs."

Spencer added that cooperation with industry and production were two key elements to deliver the changes needed in the Navy, such as more powerful ships like LCS-18.

He recognized South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott for his contributions as a fellow leader in the ship's commissioning and as an impactful representative for the state.

Scott delivered the commissioning ceremony's principal address for the ship named after the state's oldest and largest city.

"There is a reason more than 40 ships have been named for South Carolina, whether it's our places or our people," said Scott. "It's because so many South Carolinians have been dedicated to making sure that America remains the safest nation on Earth."

Scott spoke about the magnitude of LCS-18.

"USS Charleston has the ability to tackle asymmetrical threats like mines, quiet diesel submarines, and at the same time, fast surface ships," said Scott. "We have been blessed to have our Charleston defending this nation."

Soon after these words from South Carolina's Senator and the setting of the ship's commissioning by Spencer, Cmdr. Christopher K. Busca, USS Charleston's commanding officer, gave Cmdr. James H. Hoey, the ship's executive officer, orders to hoist the ship's colors and commissioning pennant. His orders to command the ship followed.

Next, the traditional setting of the first watch was ordered by former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. After 10 consecutive terms leading the Holy City, Riley is one of the longest serving mayors in the United States. He and his wife Charlotte, who serves as the ship's sponsor, maintain strong ties in the Lowcountry.

Mrs. Riley christened then, future USS Charleston on Aug. 26, 2017, during a ceremony at the Austal shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Alabama. She was also in her hometown of Charleston for this ceremony to give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

Since her christening, Charleston demonstrated a culture of excellence when she completed her New Construction Light Off Assessment (LOA) in three-and-a-half days, half the time allotted for the visit. LOA is an assessment which ensures the ship is able to safely light-off and operate its engineering plant both in port and at sea. The ship accomplished more than 70 percent of her material checks in the two weeks leading up to the LOA, which greatly facilitated that early completion.

Recent revisions to the Surface Force Training and Readiness Manual now permit ships' crews to certify early when they demonstrate full proficiency during certification events. Charleston is one of three surface ships to satisfy certification requirements under these changes, which increases commanding officer's discretionary crew training time.

Busca, recognized his success as a leader is predicated on the foundation of support, vision and teamwork built with his crew as they worked toward this milestone. He said the crew seemed to never lose their positive attitude. They strived for excellence in all assessments and chose to prove that excellence in all areas, even when it meant staying late to do so.

"It didn't take long to know that there was something special. They had an infectious attitude that seemed to never end," said Busca. "I am a proud captain."

Falling in line with his pride as their leader, Busca added a surprise element to the commissioning ceremony calling one of his crew to the stage. Electronics Technician 1st Class Jeremiah Hughey, from Biloxi, Mississippi, was meritoriously promoted to the rank of first-class petty officer during the ceremony.

Busca did not hold back on calling out the contributions his multifaceted crew makes to the success of the ship.

The 74 Sailors aboard come from places like Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, China, Haiti and the Philippines, just to name a few. The education on deck included the ship's chief engineer with a PhD. and a chief quartermaster with a Master's degree from Harvard. Busca pointed out that this diversity makes them special and the solidarity as one team under the same flag is what makes the crew of LCS-18 so powerful against any threat.

In closing, he had these words for any threat contemplating hostile action.

"I will bring up all four engines online, come to full power and steam right at you with that gun blazing and my eventual missiles launching. Charleston will not turn and run. We will not run because while we breathe, we fight!"

After the ceremony, the ship will transit to join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1 and 10 other littoral combat ships currently homeported at Naval Base San Diego.

The littoral combat ship is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, while capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, minesa and swarming small craft. They are capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.

As clouds passed overhead, shipboard alarms echoed across the Cooper River and the crew of USS Charleston (LCS 18) ran aboard their ship and brought her to life. More than 5,000 guests gathered at the Columbus Street Terminal in the ship's namesake city, officially welcoming the U.S. Navy's newest littoral combat ship into the fleet.

LCS-18 is the 16th littoral combat ship to enter the fleet and the ninth of the Independence variant. The ship is the sixth to be named after Charleston, South Carolina, to honor a long history, from the decades of work at the Charleston Naval Shipyard to Charleston Marine Container, Inc., building mission modules for the littoral combat ship program today.

Charleston Mayor John T. Tecklenburg welcomed the audience to the commissioning of what he identified as a symbol of the city of Charleston. Tecklenburg added that since the founding of Charleston almost 350 years ago, the sea has been part of the Holy's City's economy and culture.

"The sea is history," said Tecklenburg. "Nowhere will you find a people who understand those words more fully than the people of Charleston."

In honoring the state of its namesake city, LCS-18 adopted South Carolina's motto  As I Breathe, I Hope  and made it its own adding a combative twist  As We Breathe, We Fight!

Rear Adm. John Neagley, program executive officer for unmanned and small ships, spoke of the fighting power of LCS-18, the final ship commissioning Neagley will oversee as a Navy officer.

"If called upon, she'll be ready to fight and win," said Neagley. "She is a lethal ship."

Adm. James Foggo III, commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, and commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Italy, shared his admiration for littoral combat ships like LCS-18 saying that "we need more like her."

But he saved his greatest charge for Charleston's crew.

"This ship was made to defend America," said Foggo. "Take care of her, so you in turn can take care of all of us."

Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer reflected on the importance of the ship to the Navy mission and the changes ahead. He said USS Charleston contributes to giving the American people "the Navy the nation needs."

Spencer added that cooperation with industry and production were two key elements to deliver the changes needed in the Navy, such as more powerful ships like LCS-18.

He recognized South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott for his contributions as a fellow leader in the ship's commissioning and as an impactful representative for the state.

Scott delivered the commissioning ceremony's principal address for the ship named after the state's oldest and largest city.

"There is a reason more than 40 ships have been named for South Carolina, whether it's our places or our people," said Scott. "It's because so many South Carolinians have been dedicated to making sure that America remains the safest nation on Earth."

Scott spoke about the magnitude of LCS-18.

"USS Charleston has the ability to tackle asymmetrical threats like mines, quiet diesel submarines, and at the same time, fast surface ships," said Scott. "We have been blessed to have our Charleston defending this nation."

Soon after these words from Scott and the setting of the ship's commissioning by Spencer, Cmdr. Christopher K. Busca, USS Charleston's commanding officer, gave Cmdr. James H. Hoey, the ship's executive officer, orders to hoist the ship's colors and commissioning pennant. His orders to command the ship followed.

Next, the traditional setting of the first watch was ordered by former Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. After 10 consecutive terms leading the Holy City, Riley is one of the longest serving mayors in the United States. He and his wife Charlotte, who serves as the ship's sponsor, maintain strong ties in the Lowcountry.

Mrs. Riley christened then, future USS Charleston on Aug. 26, 2017, during a ceremony at the Austal shipbuilding facility in Mobile, Alabama. She was also in her hometown of Charleston for this ceremony to give the order to "man our ship and bring her to life!"

Since her christening, Charleston demonstrated a culture of excellence when she completed her New Construction Light Off Assessment (LOA) in three-and-a-half days, half the time allotted for the visit. LOA is an assessment which ensures the ship is able to safely light-off and operate its engineering plant both in port and at sea. The ship accomplished more than 70 percent of her material checks in the two weeks leading up to the LOA, which greatly facilitated that early completion.

Recent revisions to the Surface Force Training and Readiness Manual now permit ships' crews to certify early when they demonstrate full proficiency during certification events. Charleston is one of three surface ships to satisfy certification requirements under these changes, which increases commanding officer's discretionary crew training time.

Busca, recognized his success as a leader is predicated on the foundation of support, vision and teamwork built with his crew as they worked toward this milestone. He said the crew seemed to never lose their positive attitude. They strived for excellence in all assessments and chose to prove that excellence in all areas, even when it meant staying late to do so.

"It didn't take long to know that there was something special. They had an infectious attitude that seemed to never end," said Busca. "I am a proud captain."

Falling in line with his pride as their leader, Busca added a surprise element to the commissioning ceremony calling one of his crew to the stage. Electronics Technician 1st Class Jeremiah Hughey, from Biloxi, Mississippi, was meritoriously advanced to the rank of first-class petty officer during the ceremony.

Busca did not hold back on calling out the contributions his multifaceted crew makes to the success of the ship.

The 74 Sailors aboard come from places like Jamaica, Costa Rica, Mexico, China, Haiti and the Philippines, just to name a few. The education on deck included the ship's chief engineer with a PhD. and a chief quartermaster with a Master's degree from Harvard. Busca pointed out that this diversity makes them special and the solidarity as one team under the same flag is what makes the crew of LCS-18 so powerful against any threat.

In closing, he had these words for any threat contemplating hostile action.

"I will bring up all four engines online, come to full power and steam right at you with that gun blazing and my eventual missiles launching. Charleston will not turn and run. We will not run because while we breathe, we fight!"

After the ceremony, the ship will transit to join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 1 and 10 other littoral combat ships currently homeported at Naval Base San Diego.

The littoral combat ship is a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments, while capable of open-ocean tasking and winning against 21st-century coastal threats such as submarines, minesa and swarming small craft. They are capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.

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Russia says ready to consult with U.S. on Venezuela based on UN Charter

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 15:46, March 03, 2019

MOSCOW, March 2 (Xinhua) -- Russia is ready for consultations on the Venezuela crisis with the United States in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

According to a statement by the ministry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the situation around Venezuela with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a telephone conversation.

"In connection with Washington's proposal to hold bilateral consultations on Venezuelan issues, it is indicated that we are ready for this, but it is necessary to strictly follow the principles of the UN Charter, since only Venezuelans have the right to determine their future," the statement said.

On Thursday, the UN Security Council failed to adopt two competing draft resolutions on Venezuela, sponsored by the United States and Russia respectively.

Lavrov condemned Washington's threats against the legitimate Venezuelan leadership, which is "blatant interference" in Venezuela's internal affairs and a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Incitement and destructive external influence under the hypocritical pretext of rendering humanitarian aid has nothing to do with the democratic process, he said.

The two sides also agreed to continue contacts on international issues including Syria, Afghanistan and the Korean Peninsula, the statement said.

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India Says It Will Not Share 'Operational Details' Of Air Strike Inside Pakistan

By RFE/RL March 03, 2019

An Indian government minister says New Delhi will not share proof that a large number of militants were killed in a compound inside Pakistan late last month, after Islamabad raised doubts that any insurgents were harmed in the air strike.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, a top ally to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on March 2 said that "no security agencies ever share operational details."

"It's a very irresponsible stand," Jaitley told a news conference.

India on February 26 launched what it called a "preemptive" air strike against Pakistan-based militants following a suicide bombing in India-administered Kashmir earlier in the month that killed at least 41 Indian paramilitary personnel.

The Pakistan-based Jaish-e Muhammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack.

India said the raid against the compound used by JeM killed "a very large number" of militants, with some estimates reaching 400.

Pakistani officials dismissed the claims that the site was a terror base, saying Indian aircraft had dropped their bombs in a wooded area, causing no damage or casualties.

Pakistani officials and some Indian opposition leaders have asked New Delhi to share evidence of the results of the strike.

"The armed forces must have, and our security and intelligence agencies must have, a full leeway in dealing with situations, and if anybody wants operational details to be made public...he certainly does not understand the system," Jaitley said.

Indian Air Force officials have said it was up to political leaders to decide if evidence of the strike is made public.

Tensions and violence have resumed between the two bitter rivals after potentially hopeful signs emerged that the latest crisis over the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir was easing.

On March 1, Pakistan released a captured Indian pilot in what its prime minister said was a "peace gesture."

That came after Pakistan's military said its air force shot down two India Air Force jets in its airspace and captured a pilot on the ground in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on February 27.

India confirmed the loss of one of its MiG-21s and the capture of its pilot. It said it also foiled an attack by Pakistan warplanes over Kashmir and shot down one Pakistani plane. Islamabad denies any of its aircraft were shot down.

However, Indian and Pakistani forces continued their fierce artillery barrages across the Line of Control (LoC) that acts as a de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, with several deaths.

The United States and other global powers, including China, have urged both sides to exhibit restraint to prevent a major conflict from breaking out between the two nuclear nations.

Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both sides claim all of the Muslim-majority divided territory.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/india-not-to-share -details-pakistan-jem-raid/29800405.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.

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Estonia's Liberal Opposition Party Declared Winner In General Election

By RFE/RL March 03, 2019

The opposition liberal Reform Party has scored a victory over the ruling center-left Center Party of Prime Minister Juri Ratas, according to final results of the March 3 election in which the far-right also emerged with increased support.

The Baltic nation's election commission reported early on March 4 that the pro-West Reform Party took 28.8 percent of the vote, winning 34 seats in the 101-seat parliament, known as the Riigikogu.

The party had 30 seats in the previous parliament.

The Center Party took 23.9 percent for 26 seats, down from 27 in 2014.

The nationalist, far-right Estonian Conservative People's Party, also known as EKRE, was third with 17.8 percent and 19 seats.

The percentage more than doubled the party's 8.1 percent showing in the previous election and was an increase of 12 seats in parliament.

Two parties in the governing coalition, Isamaa and the Social Democrats, took 11.4 percent of the votes (12 seats) and 9.8 percent (10 seats), respectively.

The results could be considered a mild upset. Pre-election surveys had indicated Center would win in a tight race over Reform.

The potential for a coalition appears to be wide open.

Isamaa and the Social Democrats could again team up with Center or switch to Reform. Or Center and Reform could choose to govern together in an effort to reduce EKRE's influence.

Election officials said turnout was 61 percent, with 562,000 of the country's nearly 1 million eligible voters casting ballots. About a quarter of eligible voters cast their ballots online.

Reform held the prime minister's post 2005-2016. The party is led by 41-year-old Kaja Kallas, the daughter of party founder and former Prime Minister Siim Kallas. She is a member of the European Parliament and an outspoken europhile.

"Now the real work begins to put together the government and start running the country with common sense," Kallas told broadcaster ETV/ERR.

Saying that "EKRE is not a choice for us," Kallas said her party would "keep all coalition options on the table" while noting her party had "strong differenes" with the rival Center party.

Ratas said "of course" when asked if Center would consider joining a coalition with Reform as a junior partner, but he did not elaborate.

Center has supporters among the ethnic Russians who make up 25 percent of the population.

In 2016, Ratas took over as party leader and established a three-party coalition government that took office in November 2016.

Center signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in 2004. Ratas has said the deal is "frozen," but he has refused to rip it up.

Russia has kept close watch on the military and security affairs of Estonia and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania since they became NATO members in 2004, just 13 years after breaking free from the collapsing U.S.S.R.

The United States never recognized the Baltic states as Soviet republics.

NATO placed a multinational battalion in Estonia in 2017 as it beefed up its presence near Russia's borders after the Baltic state expressed concerns over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/estonia- reform-declared-election-winner- over-center/29801128.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.

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European Parliament Urges Kosovo To Drop 100 Percent Tariff On Serbian Goods

By RFE/RL March 03, 2019

The European Parliament has urged Kosovo to withdraw its 100 percent tariff on goods from Serbia to help restart normalization talks between the Western Balkan neighbors.

On March 2, David McAllister, the leader of a European delegation visiting the two countries, said the group had brought up the suspension of the tariff during meetings with Kosovar leaders "as the only way to success."

Kosovo has said the tariff will be lifted only when Serbia recognizes its sovereignty and stops blocking it from joining international organizations.

Belgrade responded by saying the tariff is hurting its businesses and that it will not participate in further dialogue until the measure is lifted.

Kosovo, a former province of Serbia, imposed the import tax in November in retaliation for what it called Belgrade's attempts to undermine its statehood.

Belgrade has never recognized Kosovo's independence, proclaimed in 2008 after a 1998-99 guerrilla war.

More than 10,000 were killed in the war, which prompted NATO to launch an air campaign in the spring of 1999 to end the conflict.

The United States, a close ally of Kosovo, has also pressed Kosovo to repeal the 100 percent tariff on imported Serbian goods.

During a visit on February 27, John Erath, the director for European affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, and the council's Balkans director, Brad Berkley, urged Pristina to withdraw the duties, which have also been placed on Bosnian goods.

Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj said Pristina requires that any negotiations be based on "principles of mutual recognition" with Belgrade if it is to drop the tariffs.

"It is our desire that a comprehensive and legally binding agreement between the two countries can be concluded in 2019leading to mutual recognition and Kosovo's membership of the United Nations," Haradinaj said in a letter to global prime ministers that he posted on Facebook.

With reporting by AP and BalkanInsight

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/europe-urges-kosovo- drop-tariff-serbian-goods/29800406.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.

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Yemeni National Army controls new locations from militia in Sa'ada

Saudi Press Agency

Sunday 1440/6/26 - 2019/03/03

Aden, March 03, 2019, SPA -- Yemeni National Army on Sunday captured strategic positions from Houthi militia in Razih district in Yemen northern province of Sa'ada.

Forces affiliated with the 7th Border Guards Brigade fought fiercely fierce battle against militia, taking full control over the area of "Kulat-Zaid area, and the two villages of "Al-Kad and Alhisn", located in the district of Razih west of Sa'ada.

Amy's engineers have already started demining the liberated areas, and so far managed to extract more than 50 Houthi-laid landmines and explosive devices.

--SPA

22:23 LOCAL TIME 19:23 GMT

0028

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Indian PM Convenes National Security Council to Discuss Kashmir - Sources

Sputnik News

20:24 03.03.2019(updated 20:26 03.03.2019)

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a meeting of the National Security Council to assess the security situation in the country, especially in Jammu and Kashmir bordering Pakistan, Prime Minister Office sources told Sputnik on Sunday.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley are also present in the meeting.

India and Pakistan have been facing off in the disputed Kashmir region after a deadly attack by Jaish-e-Mohammad on the Indian paramilitary police force in Kashmir in mid-February. While India has accused Pakistan of supporting the militants and having a "direct hand" in the incident, Pakistan has rejected the allegations, accusing India, in turn, of being responsible for human rights violations taking place in Kashmir.

India struck targets inside Pakistan, while Pakistani air defences shot down several Indian planes and captured an Indian pilot before releasing him.

 Sputnik

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US Seeks to Form Coalition For Gov't Change in Venezuela - Bolton

Sputnik News

17:30 03.03.2019(updated 18:23 03.03.2019)

Earlier, in February, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has described Guaido as a "US puppet" and accused Washington of trying to stage a coup in Venezuela, said that the opposition leader must be tried if he returns. Guaido may now face up to 30 years in prison for violation of the travel ban.

The United States is seeking to form a coalition for a change of government in Venezuela, US National Security Adviser John Bolton has stated.

"We are trying to rally support for the peaceful transition of power from [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro to [self-proclaimed interim President of Venezuela] Juan Guaido, whom we recognise as president I'd like to see as broad a coalition as we can put together to replace Maduro, to replace the whole corrupt regime. That's what we are trying to do", Bolton said in an interview with CNN.

The statement comes amid a failed attempt by the opposition to deliver US-sponsored humanitarian aid to the country. The move was not authorised by the government and sparked clashes between police and protesters on the Colombian border with Venezuela.

Tensions in Venezuela escalated last month when US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido illegally declared himself interim president. The United States immediately recognised Guaido, seized billions of dollars' worth of the country's oil assets, and threatened to use military action against incumbent President Nicolas Maduro's government.

Maduro has accused Guaido of conspiring with the United States to overthrow the country's legitimate government, including by organizing the delivery of so-called humanitarian aid as part of a plan to justify a US military intervention. Russia, China, Cuba, Bolivia and a number of other countries have reaffirmed their support for Maduro as Venezuela's only legitimate president.

On Trump-Kim Jong-un Summit

According to the senior official, US President Donald Trump offered to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un the best possible deal at their latest denuclearization summit.

"If you can't get a good deal  and the president offered to North Korea the best deal it could possibly get  no deal is better than a bad deal," Bolton said in an interview with the CNN broadcaster.

He also recalled that Trump said at a press conference held after the summit that a third summit had not yet been scheduled.

"Would he want another one without some manifestation that the North was gonna move, that will remain to be seen," Bolton added.

Although the two leaders have not arrived at any concrete agreement at their second summit, held in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi last week, Trump praised progress in talks and said that negotiations would continue at the level of experts. He also noted that since North Korea was not willing to denuclearize the exact areas that Washington wanted while seeking full sanctions removal, it was not appropriate to sign an agreement at this point.

At his first summit with Trump in Singapore last June, Kim pledged to make efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula in exchange for gradual sanctions removal and the suspension of US-South Korean military drills.

 Sputnik

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Decommissioned F-117 Nighthawks Were Used in Syria, Iraq in 2017  Report

Sputnik News

16:17 03.03.2019

The once famous F-117 stealth attack jets were decommissioned several years after one was shot down over Yugoslavia in March 1999 by a Soviet-made S-125 missile defence system and after the F-22 took over some of the F-117's roles, when precision strikes were deemed essential for a mission.

Four of the now decommissioned attack jets F-117 Nighthawk were deployed for operations in the Middle East in 2017 due to an "operational need" that emerged, Dutch aviation magazine Scramble reported citing "very reliable information" obtained.

According to the magazine, the jets were conducting missions over Iraq and Syria using Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs). One of them was even reportedly forced to make a landing far away from its base due to an in-flight emergency. Scramble indicates that the jets were likely deployed in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, or Qatar. The US Department of Defence has not officially confirmed this report.

F-117 Nighthawks were decommissioned in August 2008, according to some estimates due to the introduction of the F-22, which is capable of firing guided missiles. However, the US Congress ordered the planes to be kept in a condition "that would allow recall of that aircraft to future service". The 2017 National Defence Authorisation Act ordered the "demilitarising" of four F-117s each year, meaning some of them are still capable of participating in operations.

A total of 64 F-117 stealth jets were built since it was introduced in 1983 with only one being officially lost in combat. One F-117 was shot down by the Soviet-era S-125 missile defence system during the war in Yugoslavia. The pilot ejected from the plane and was later rescued by the US military.

 Sputnik

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As Pakistan Calls for Peace, India Refuses to Reveal Air Raid Details  Report

Sputnik News

13:41 03.03.2019

Earlier, Islamabad stated that the Indian strikes hit an empty hillside and denied the existence of the militant camps that Delhi allegedly targeted during the air raid. At the same time, India insists that Pakistan is harbouring militants, including those responsible for a terrorist attack on a security convoy on 14 February.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that security agencies will not publish any operational details about the air raid against militant groups in Pakistan, the newspaper Dawn reported. The statement comes following calls to release evidence that the Indian Air Force hit militant camps in airstrikes on 26 February, which led to an escalation in tensions between the two neighbours.

"The armed forces must have, and our security and intelligence agencies must have, a full leeway in dealing with situations, and if anybody wants operational details to be made public [] he certainly does not understand the system", Jaitley said.

India's finance minister also denied allegations that the Indian military activities were connected with the upcoming general elections in May.

At the same time, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi called for a resolution to the escalating tensions between Pakistan and India via dialogue and diplomatic channels instead of military power.

"Peace is our priority and we do not desire war with India", Qureshi said.

Calls to publish proof of striking militant camps came after Pakistan stated that the Indian airstrike on 26 February had hit an empty hillside. The air raid over Pakistani territory, which led to an escalation in tensions between Delhi and Islamabad, came in wake of a deadly attack on a security convoy that claimed the lives of 40 servicemen on 14 February carried out by the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

New Delhi insists that Islamabad is harbouring and supporting militants that commit terrorist acts on Indian territory. Pakistan denies both the accusations and the existence of militant camps.

 Sputnik

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IAF Used Decoy Jets to Distract Pak in Raid on Alleged Terror Base - Reports

Sputnik News

09:51 03.03.2019

On 26 February, India's Air Force carried out an attack on an alleged Jaish-e Mohammad terrorist organisation base in Balakot, Pakistan-administered-Kashmir in retaliation for a suicide attack claimed by the group earlier in the month that killed some 45 Indian soldiers.

During the aerial strike on the alleged training base of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jaish-e Mohammad, in late February, the Indian Air Force deployed a "decoy package" of fighters, The Times of India reported, citing an unnamed source.

The fighters purportedly headed towards the organisation's headquarters in Bahawalpur in the Punjab province in order to lure Pakistani combat air patrols away from the actual strike package deployed to attack the Balakot camp.

"The decoy package of Sukhoi-30MKIs, in turn, took off from our Punjab to fake a strike operation towards Bahawalpur. Pakistan was taken in by the decoy formation and vectored its fighters in the air towards it. Consequently, there was no Pakistani fighter anywhere near the actual strike package the closest one would have been well over 150 km away. This also nails Pakistan's claim that IAF fighters hastily dropped their bombs without achieving anything, much like its other factually incorrect statements like it did not use F-16s in the air intrusion on February 27", the source said.

In a parallel development, the Hindustan Times has reported that an audio message ostensibly issued by a senior leader of Jaish-e Mohammad appeared to confirm that Indian aircraft had reached their target in Balakot, and inflicted significant damage.

The audio was reportedly tweeted by a France-based Pakistani journalist, and its authenticity was allegedly verified by Indian security officials. If true, this information contradicts Islamabad's official version that the Indians hit only a patch of trees.

A voice resembling that of Maulana Ammar, who has been identified as the brother of Jaish-e Mohammad founder Masood Azhar, can reportedly be heard in the recording:

"The enemy announced a war by crossing its borders to enter an Islamic country and launching bombs on Muslim schools. So, raise your weapons and show them if jihad is still an obligation or a duty", the man is reportedly heard saying.

The message is believed to have been recorded two days after the Balakot air raid and played out as a call for action to militants at the Madrassah Sanan bin Salma in Peshawar, the Hindustan Times reported.

"Let me remind you that the Indian aircraft did not bomb the safe house of any agency, they didn't attack any headquarters, they didn't attack the meeting point of agencies, they attacked the schools where students were being trained to understand jihad better and vowed to help 'oppressed' Kashmiris. By entering our territories and attacking our schools, India has ensured the beginning of jihad against them", he reportedly said.

The Hindustan Times cited a senior Indian security agency official as saying that the address was a "clear confirmation of the effectiveness of the airstrikes".

"The tone and tenor of the message also indicate that the strikes have hit the group hard forcing a senior functionary to issue a message to their cadre", the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The developments come amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, triggered by a suicide attack claimed by Jaish-e Mohammad on 14 February that killed more than 40 Indian soldiers.

Following the attack, India blamed Pakistan for harbouring and protecting terrorists, also accusing Islamabad of having a "direct hand" in the deadly incident. As a punitive measure, India withdrew Pakistan's most-favoured nation (MFN) status and raised customs duties on goods imported from Pakistan to 200 percent.

Although Pakistan denied the allegations of its involvement in the suicide attack, India's Air Force carried out an assault on the alleged Jaish-e Mohammad base in Pakistan-administered-Kashmir, destroying several facilities on 26 February.

The following day, Islamabad announced it had intercepted two Indian warplanes over the disputed Kashmir border, and captured Abhinandan. The Indian Air Force, in turn, stated that one of its MiG-21 Bison jets had shot down a Pakistani F-16 during the dogfight, while Islamabad maintained it never deployed an F-16, or sustained any losses.

Over the last week, there have been at least 60 ceasefire violations in the forward areas of Poonch, Rajourim Jammu and Baramulla districts, NDTV cited police sources as saying.

 Sputnik

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Guaido Vows to Return to Venezuela After Ecuador Visit - Reports

Sputnik News

03:23 03.03.2019(updated 03:45 03.03.2019)

The self-proclaimed interim president of Venezuela Juan Guaido crossed into Colombia in late February in defiance of a Venezuelan Supreme Court order barring him from leaving the country due to an ongoing investigation.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said earlier this week that Guaido must face trial after his return for breaking the travel ban.

According to Reuters, Guaido visited Paraguay and Argentina on Friday to shore up Latin American support for a transition government for the crisis-torn country. Guaido said Saturday, cited by Reuters, he would return to Venezuela from Ecuador, where he is meeting with the country's president Lenin Moreno. Guaido also said that he was calling for new protests next week in Venezuela. However, the opposition leader did not specify the particular timeline of his return, according to Reuters.

US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told reporters during a press briefing on Friday that Washington is concerned about Guaido's ability to return to the country and warns about a major international reaction in case of the self-proclaimed president's arrest.

Similarly, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned on Saturday that any possible measure that could put at risk Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's freedom and safety would lead to a new escalation of crisis around the Latin American country and face a strong international condemnation.

After unsuccessful attempts to deliver US-sponsored humanitarian aid to Venezuela from the neighboring country, Guaido said that he plans to return home. According to the deputy judge of the Venezuelan Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Juan Carlos Valdez, Guaido could face up to 30 years in jail for breaching foreign travel ban.

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 recognized by the United States and some other countries. Russia, China, Mexico, Iran, Turkey among other nations, voiced support for constitutionally elected Maduro, who, in turn, accused Washington of orchestrating a coup.

 Sputnik

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Foreign Secretary visits Yemen to bolster support for UN peace process

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has visited Yemen as part of a wider tour of the Gulf.

3 March 2019

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt visited Aden today on the first visit to Yemen by a Western foreign minister since the start of the conflict in 2015, and the first by a UK Foreign Secretary since 1996.

In a display of the UK's support to the Government of Yemen and for UN efforts to secure peace, the Foreign Secretary met Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister Salem Ahmed Saeed Al Khanbashi and Foreign Minister Khaled Al Yamani.

In the previous 48 hours, in Riyadh and Muscat respectively, Mr Hunt met Yemeni President Hadi and Houthi Spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salem.

While visiting the port of Aden Mr Hunt saw humanitarian aid being delivered and met aid workers, including representatives of the Aden Office of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to discuss the humanitarian response.

Mr Hunt's visit to Aden was part of a Yemen-focussed Gulf tour during which he also engaged regional leaders including Sultan Qaboos in Oman, Foreign Minister al Assaf in Saudi Arabia, and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in UAE, as part of a sustained UK diplomatic campaign to support the UN-led peace process. The Foreign Secretary previously attended the UN's Stockholm talks in December, and Quad (Saudi, UAE, US, UK) ministerial discussions in Warsaw in February.

Speaking from Aden the Foreign Secretary said:

"We are now in the last chance saloon for the Stockholm peace process. The port of Hodeidah was supposed to be cleared of militia and left under neutral control by the beginning of January. The process could be dead within weeks if we do not see both sides sticking to their commitments in Stockholm."

"People in Yemen are on the brink of starvation and none of the parties really want a return to hostilities - so now is the time to take a deep breath, put aside the anger and mistrust after four years of terrible fighting and take the risks that are always necessary at the start of any peace process."

The UK is the largest Western contributor of aid to the Yemen crisis. The additional 200million of aid announced by the Prime Minister on 25 February will support basic needs for over 3.8 million people, treat 20,000 vulnerable children for malnutrition and provide 2 million people with improved water supply and basic sanitation. This brings the UK's total humanitarian contribution to the Yemen crisis to 770m since 2015.

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Trump Cites Cost as Reason for Halting US-South Korea War Games

By VOA News March 03, 2019

President Donald Trump says the reason he canceled large-scale springtime military drills with South Korea is to save "hundreds of millions of dollars" that the U.S. is never reimbursed.

"That was my position long before I became president," Trump tweeted Sunday while adding "reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing."

Pentagon officials say instead of the massive war games, the U.S. and South Korea will hold a series of small-scale exercises.

Washington and Seoul have traditionally held the exercises every spring to test military readiness in case tensions with North Korea should boil over.

The war games have always angered the North, which usually responded with its own military exercises. North Korea has denounced the U.S., South Korea joint exercises as aggressive provocations and rehearsals for war.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor John Bolton was all over the Sunday morning talk shows to say last week's summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was not a failure, even though talks fell apart with no agreements.

"He's not desperate for a deal  not with North Korea, not with anybody if it's contrary to American national interests," Bolton told Fox News Sunday, while also telling CBS's Face the Nation. "The president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected."

Bolton said Kim was willing to make "a very limited concession" to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear weapons complex in exchange for "substantial" sanctions relief.

Bolton described Yongbyon as "an aging nuclear reactor and some percentage of their uranium enrichment plutonium reprocessing capabilities." He said Kim was unwilling to make a "big deal" with Trump.

"It was the sanctions that brought the North Koreans to the table. It's the sanctions they want relief from and relief they can get if they denuclearize," Bolton said.

Bolton conceded that North Korea is continuing to produce nuclear fuel and said while "there is no expiration date" on further talks, future negotiations with North Korea are in limbo.

Bolton also appeared on CNN's State of the Union, where he defended Trump who said he took Kim "at his word" when the North Korean leader claimed knew nothing about the alleged torture of imprisoned U.S. student Otto Warmbier.

The Ohio student fell into a coma in a North Korean prison and died shortly after he was sent home two years ago.

Bolton said while Trump accepts what Kim said, it does not mean he accepts it as reality.

"The president's been very clear he viewed what happened to Otto Warmbier as barbaric and unacceptable and I think the best thing North Korea could do right now would be to come up with a full explanation of exactly what happened to him," Bolton said on CNN.

The Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff called the entire summit a "spectacular failure" and said Trump made things worse with his comments about Otto Warmbier.

"This the result of a president who is not prepared for these kind of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and that is essentially flying by the seat of its pants," Schiff said on Face the Nation.

Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.

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Guaido Calls for Protests in Venezuela Ahead of His Return

By VOA News March 03, 2019

Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido called on the Venezuelan people to take to the streets Monday to coincide with his planned return after touring Latin American allies.

"I'm announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilize all over the country tomorrow at 11:00 am (1500 GMT)," Guaido wrote on Twitter.

The opposition leader is expected to reach Caracas Monday. On Sunday, he left the Ecuadorian coastal town of Salinas aboard an Ecuadorian air force plane after meeting with Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno. His travel plans have not been made public, but a spokesman said Guaido would be in Caracas in time for the Carnival season, which begins Monday.

Guaido has said he expects to be arrested upon his return.

Guaido, recognized by the U.S. and 50 other countries as Venezuela's interim leader, heads Venezuela's National Assembly. He used his authority to invoke the constitution to declare President Nicolas Maduro's leadership illegitimate because of election fraud and declare himself interim president.

Last week Guaido met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and other regional leaders in Bogota, Colombia, and later traveled to Brazil and Paraguay.

The United States increased its pressure on Venezuela Friday, imposing sanctions on six high-ranking security officials as well as revoking the visas of dozens of other high officials.

Last week Guaido met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and other regional leaders in Bogota, Colombia, and later traveled to Brazil and Paraguay.

The United States increased its pressure on Venezuela Friday, imposing sanctions on six high-ranking security officials as well as revoking the visas of dozens of other high officials.

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Top Democrats Vow to Intensify Trump Probes

By Ken Bredemeier March 03, 2019

Top Democratic lawmakers vowed Sunday to step up their investigations of U.S. President Donald Trump and his connections to Russia during the 2016 presidential election.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC News that on Monday his panel would be issuing requests for documents to 60 people, "to begin the investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power."

He said the requests would be sent to officials at the White House and Justice Department, along with Trump's oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization, the president's global business empire.

Nadler said he believes the president has obstructed justice during his two years in office. He said that Trump's former long-time personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in his lengthy public testimony to Congress last week, "directly implicated the president in  in various crimes, both while seeking the office of president and while in the White House."

"We don't have the facts yet," Nadler said. "But we're going to initiate proper investigations."

Cohen, who called Trump "a racist, a con man, a cheat," showed a House panel two $35,000 checks  one signed by the president and one signed by the younger Trump and Weisselberg  to Cohen to partly reimburse him for $130,000 he paid shortly before the 2016 election to adult film star Stormy Daniels as hush money, to keep her quiet about an alleged affair she claims to have had with then real estate mogul Trump more than a decade ago.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN that after hearing Cohen's testimony, "We've got to dig deeper" about the extent to which Trump pursued construction of a skyscraper in Moscow during the 2016 campaign even as he told voters he was not involved in any Russian business deals.

Cohen has been sentenced to prison for three years after pleading guilty to financial crimes and to lying to Congress that Trump's Russian business overtures ended in January 2016 at the outset of the presidential campaign. Now, Cohen says Trump's Russian business involvement extended for months after that.

Warner said he will reach his decision on whether Trump colluded with Russia to help him win the election after more investigation. But he said, "The claim that there is no evidence is factually wrong."

Nadler's committee would be first to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump, but he said that no decisions have been reached on that. His Judiciary committee and other panels in Congress are awaiting release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on his 22-month investigation of Trump campaign links to Russia and whether Trump, as president, obstructed justice by trying to thwart the investigation.

Mueller's report could be turned over to Attorney General William Barr in the coming days, but how much of it will be made public is uncertain. Democratic lawmakers have called for its full release, but Barr has said he would only do so to the extent that Justice Department regulations allow him to.

Nadler said, "The Republicans spent two years shielding the president from any proper accountability." He said Republican lawmakers "threatened to impeach people in Justice Department, they threatened the  the Mueller investigation. It's our job to protect the rule of law. That's our core function."

Trump, since returning from his collapsed summit in Hanoi last week with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has resumed his attacks on Mueller's investigation and the growing number of inquiries in Congress.

"After more than two years of Presidential Harassment, the only things that have been proven is that Democrats and other [sic] broke the law," Trump said on Twitter Sunday.

"The hostile Cohen testimony, given by a liar to reduce his prison time, proved no Collusion!" Trump said. "His just written book manuscript showed what he said was a total lie. but the Fake Media won't show it. I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start - And only because I won the Election! Despite this, great success!"



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Algeria's Bouteflika Seeks Fifth Term as President Amid Protests

By VOA News March 03, 2019

Longtime Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika said Sunday that he would not serve a full term if elected again in April, as protests against his intention to run for another fifth term continued.

Bouteflika's campaign manager Abdelghani Zaalane said the president would call for new elections within a year if he won a fifth term, in televised remarks after he submitted the 82-year-old president's papers to confirm his bid for April's elections.

Anti-government protests had continued in Algeria Sunday as Bouteflika faced a midnight deadline to formally declare his candidacy for a fifth term as president.

Bouteflika, president since 1999, traveled to Switzerland late Sunday for what his office called routine medical checks.

Rallies in the streets of cities across Algeria began roughly ten days ago when Bouteflika announced his intention to run for another term as president. The protests have been largely peaceful, but on Friday there were reports of violence that left at least one person dead.

Bouteflika has been largely confined to a wheelchair and rarely seen in public since a serious stroke in 2013.

Algeria will hold its presidential election on April 18.





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After The Caliphate: To Repatriate Or Not To Repatriate?

By Ron Synovitz March 03, 2019

As international coalition forces seize the last vestiges of territory in Syria under the control of Islamic State militants since 2015, authorities in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Central Asia are grappling with a new dilemma.

How should they deal with their own citizens  both men and women -- who traveled to the Middle East to join the extremist group?

And what should they do about the hundreds of children born to such IS fighters and their brides?

Trump Says Take Them Back, Put Them On Trial

U.S. President Donald Trump has asked European Union countries to take back more than 800 IS (aka ISIS) fighters captured by U.S.-backed forces in Syria in order to put them on trial.

"The caliphate is ready to fall," Trump tweeted on February 17. "The U.S. does not want to watch as these ISIS fighters permeate Europe, which is where they are expected to go."

Trump's remarks followed a similar call from U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds who warned they don't have the resources to guarantee that captured IS fighters won't escape.

Trump specifically called upon "Britain, France, Germany, and other European allies" to "step up and do the job" to ensure that captured IS extremists face trial in their countries of origin.

"The alternative is not a good one in that we will be forced to release them," Trump tweeted.

But in the two weeks since Trump tweeted those remarks, many EU countries have said that captured IS fighters and their family members should be prosecuted where their alleged crimes occurred.

That means mostly in Syria or Iraq.

The European Commission says more than 42,000 foreign fighters joined terrorist organizations from 2011 to 2016 -- mostly the so-called Islamic State.

It says about 5,000 were thought to be from Europe.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has ruled out any EU role in the repatriation dispute. She says the issue is one to be decided by national governments.

Britain Revokes Citizenship

British Prime Minister Theresa May's government has said IS "foreign fighters" should be tried where they are captured and, where possible, in the region where crimes were committed.

The case of Shamima Begum, a British-born schoolgirl who fled her home in London in 2015 at the age of 15 to join IS militants in Syria, illustrates how the dilemma is complicated by children born to IS couples.

In February, Begum gave birth to a baby boy whose father, an IS fighter, was killed in Syria.

After being sent to the Al-Hoq refugee camp in Kurdish-dominated northern Syria, Begum said last month that she wants to return to Britain for the health of her child.

But British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has ordered her British citizenship to be revoked and the British government has ruled out any effort to extract Begum and her child from Syria.

Meanwhile, since speaking out about her plight, Begum and her son have received death threats from others at the camp  forcing authorities to move her to another location closer to the border with Iraq.

Begum's case is not unique.

Two former London residents from an IS cell dubbed The Beatles also have had their British citizenship revoked after being captured in 2018 by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Alexanda Kotey and El-Shafee Elsheik are accused of beheading Western journalists and foreign aid workers in Iraq and Syria for IS propaganda videos.

The British government has said it does not want the two returned to the U.K. for trial -- a position opposed by Washington, which insists that terrorists' "countries of origin keep responsibility for them."

Washington also has ruled out sending detained IS fighters to the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspected terrorists have been detained indefinitely without trial.

Policy Shift In Paris?

More than 150 French citizens and their wives are now thought to be held by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the largest number of European IS fighters held in the country.

Concerned about the risk of repatriated fighters carrying out terrorist attacks in France, Paris has long refused to take back IS militants and their wives.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has called them "enemies" who pose a threat to the nation.

Melina Boughedir, a 27-year-old French woman who joined IS fighters in Iraq in 2015, stood trial in 2018 in an Iraqi court that was fully backed by the French government.

Le Drian said it was "normal logic" for Boughedir to be "judged where her actions took place."

But Trump's announcement of a pending U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria may prompt a policy shift in Paris.

In late January, French authorities said they were considering whether to bring back about 130 French IS fighters and their wives to put them on trial.

"If the forces detaining these French fighters decide to deport them to France, they would be immediately handed over to the judicial authorities," Le Drian said after Trump's withdrawal announcement.

More than a month later, there still has been no apparent progress on French repatriations.

As for the children of IS fighters, French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet says decisions will be made on a case-by-case basis.

Berlin's Concerns

In Germany, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has said it would be "extremely difficult" to arrange the repatriation and prosecution of all German citizens who fought for IS.

Maas says returns would only be possible if authorities can "guarantee that these people can be immediately sent to appear in court" and that they will not be allowed to go free.

Some German authorities have expressed concerns that evidence against repatriated fighters may not be admissible in European courts and could lead to dangerous militants being freed.

Germany's Interior Ministry said in February that one-third of an estimated 1,000 German citizens who joined IS in Syria and Iraq since 2013 have returned.

Many, it said, have been prosecuted or enrolled in rehabilitation programs.

But Syrian Kurdish authorities say Germany is "shirking" its responsibility to repatriate Germans who joined IS, along with their wives and children.

Belgian Court Order

A Belgian judge on February 27 overturned a judgment forcing Brussels to repatriate two Belgian brides of IS fighters in Syria, saying the state is not obliged to bring them back.

Belgium's Justice Ministry said it still would take in the women's six children and any other IS children who are younger than 10.

The Belgian government said the children cannot be punished for crimes committed by their parents.

A Belgian court in 2018 convicted both mothers in absentia -- 26-year-old Tatiana Wielandt and 25-year-old Bouchra Abouallal  on charges of being members of IS.

Like France, Brussels has resisted calls for the repatriation of IS fighters and their wives.

But after the court ruling, Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders said the government intends to repatriate children under the age of 10 whenever possible.

Ready To Repatriate

North Macedonia was the first European country to carry out a significant repatriation program from Syria and Iraq when it took back and prosecuted seven IS fighters in August 2018.

Russia also has repatriated more than 100 children and dozens of IS brides since August 2017.

A study published in 2017 by the International Center for Counter-Terrorism at The Hague praised Russia and Georgia for helping to repatriate family members of IS fighters.

That study says most IS children were exposed to horrific acts of violence -- including roles in execution videos -- and were desensitized to violence through endless indoctrination and paramilitary training.

It says Russia's repatriation policy calculates that it is better for the children to be raised in Russia by their grandparents than to grow up in refugee camps and, possibly, return to Russia as radicalized adults.

But the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation has warned that there is no short-term or long-term strategy for reintegrating returnees to Russia.

"Instead, regional leaders such as Chechnya's Ramzan Kadyrov are simply using the process to paint a dovish picture of themselves for Caucasian Muslims," it says.

Since December, dozens of IS children have been flown to Moscow from Iraq where their mothers are imprisoned as IS extremists.

The Kremlin says all of their fathers have been killed on the battlefields of Iraq and Syria.

There also has been a steady trickle of former IS fighters and their families returning to their homelands in Central Asia in recent years.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/after- the-caliphate-to-repatriate-or-not-to -repatriate-/29800688.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.

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SpaceX Dragon 2 Successfully Docks With ISS - NASA

Sputnik News

14:14 03.03.2019(updated 15:06 03.03.2019)

Dragon 2, also known as Crew Dragon, atop a Falcon 9 rocket, was launched at 2:49 am EST (07:49 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center for its first unmanned test mission to the ISS.

NASA and SpaceX confirmed on Sunday that SpaceX's new Dragon capsule had successfully docked with the International Space Station.

"We can confirm hard capture is complete", NASA said.

Under a contract with NASA, SpaceX developed Crew Dragon on the basis of the Dragon cargo ship that has been flying to the ISS since 2012. The company sent the spacecraft for its first unmanned test mission with a dummy, named Ripley, on board.

The United States has not launched astronauts from its soil since 2011 when the Space Shuttle programme ended. Currently, it is Russian-made Soyuz spaceships that send US astronauts to the ISS.

If successful, the mission launched on Saturday and the upcoming manned launch will allow NASA to certify the new spacecraft for regular flights to the space station.

 Sputnik

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Space X Crew Capsule Reaches Space Station

By VOA News March 03, 2019

The first American commercially built-and-operated crew spacecraft in eight years docked successfully Sunday at the International Space Station.

There was, however, no crew aboard the spacecraft, just a test dummy named Ripley, in a nod to the lead character in the Alien movies.

The docking was carried out autonomously by the Crew Dragon capsule, as the three astronauts on board the International Space Station watched.

The Space X Crew Dragon capsule lifted off atop a Falcon 9 rocket early Saturday from Florida's Kennedy Space Center.

The Dragon brought supplies and test equipment to the space station where it will spend five days as astronauts conduct tests and inspect the Dragon's cabin.

NASA has awarded millions of dollars to Space X and Boeing to design and operate a capsule to launch astronauts into orbit from American soil some time this year.

It is not immediately clear whether that goal will be reached.

Space X is entrepreneur Elon Musk's company. Musk is also the CEO of electric carmaker Tesla.

Currently, America relies on Russia to launch astronauts to the space station.

Russia charges about $80 million per ticket.

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Australia to Expand Military Activity in Space  Report

Sputnik News

03:02 04.03.2019

An Australian Air Force chief said Canberra should exploit its geography to increase its presence in space, admitting however that the country lags behind the world's superpowers.

The Australian military will join the new space race, as space becomes an increasingly contested domain, Radio New Zealand report says.

Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Chief Marshal Leo Davies said the country's unique geography is ideally suited to play a greater role, while acknowledging that Australia lags behind the world superpowers in the "space game."

"Space is one of those domains that needs to expand  our understanding of what is in the sky above us is important," Davies said. "We have begun modestly  as we begin to understand the part we play, the importance of that is growing very quickly."

Davies predicted that the RAAF will commit a "significant investment" in space in the next twenty years.

The Australian government predicts that by 2030 the national space industry will represent some $12 billion to the economy, the report says. Last year it established a dedicated Australian Space Agency.

Davies commented on rumors that Canberra would launch a "big military satellite," saying that it is unlikely that something like that will "happen imminently."

"As we look at what we are able to do, that would include increased satellite launches, increased sophistication about what's onboard the satellite," he said.

Recently, the Defense Force initiated two projects intended to form the foundation for the nation's military space support.

One project, named DEF-799, seeks to allow the military direct and timely access to commercial imaging satellites. It will also seek to acquire new space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capability, Radio New Zealand reports. The project cost is estimated at roughly US $355 million.

Another, JP-9102B, will develop next-generation Defence Force satellite communications systems, which will improve the command and control of deployed forces using space assets.

Davis said that the Australian military does not plan to create its own version of a Space Force, like US President Donald Trump recently did.

"I don't think so, not at this point," he said about the idea. "That might be some time off and something that both Defence and successive governments could think about."

 Sputnik

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CPPCC starts annual session

Global Times

By Wang Cong Source:Global Times Published: 2019/3/3 23:13:40

Political event to rally unity, build consensus for policy goal

China's top political advisory body said Sunday that it has played a positive role and offered valuable input to the country's social and economic development over the past year and will continue to rally unity and support for the country this year, as it faces many challenges.

The 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee convened its annual meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, marking the start of this year's two sessions - the annual meetings of the CPPCC and the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature - the most important annual political event in China.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Wang Yang, chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, said the body has made "new progress" in taking on its responsibility of making suggestions to the government and building consensus for major policy goals.

New progress

"We gave full play to the CPPCC's role as a body dedicated to consultation and carried out our dual responsibility of offering suggestions and building consensus," Wang told more than 2,000 members of the CPPCC National Committee in the televised speech.

Specifically, Wang said, the CPPCC National Committee focused on three areas of work in 2018: studying President Xi Jinping's thought on improving the CPPCC's work, Party building within the CPPCC system and improving the quality and efficiency of CPPCC work.

"We shifted our focus on what we did and how much we did to what is the result of our work," he said.

The CPPCC, whose members include government officials, members of other political parties in China, business leaders and other celebrities, plays an advisory or a think tank role to the government. CPPCC members bring proposals for areas they have expertise, including education, technology and economic policies.

In 2018, CPPCC National Committee members submitted 5,571 proposals and 4,567 were assigned to 165 responsible government agencies to address, according to Su Hui, vice chairwoman of the CPPCC National Committee. As of February 20, 99.2 percent were resolved, she said in an address at the opening ceremony.

"With the efforts of all sides, the results of the proposals have been adopted effectively and played an important function of serving policies and pushing for work," she said, adding the proposals were mostly focused on the country's three battles against major risks, poverty and pollution as well as promoting high-quality growth.

"This year's CPPCC work report was very pragmatic. It includes a very vivid description of specific things. There were no empty words," Xu Ziqiang, a member of the CPPCC National Committee from Central China's Hunan Province, told the Global Times on Sunday after the opening ceremony. "For me, the most important thing is for our proposals to be implemented and take effect."

New priority

To continue to improve the quality of the proposals of CPPCC members and the efficiency of implementing the proposals will be one of the top priorities this year, Wang said.

As the country faces challenges, this year's top priority will be helping the government achieve a moderately prosperous society in all aspects - the first centenary goal of the country, he added.

"At the moment, the task of reaching a moderately prosperous society is so heavy, contradictions, risks and challenges are so many, demands of different interests are so complicated. It is unprecedented," Wang said, adding that all CPPCC members' proposals this year will focus on the CPC and the government's central goals.

"The basic challenge is implementing the vision laid out in the 19th CPC National Congress, how to transition to high quality growth, how to transition well-being and in the shorter-term challenge is how to maintain macroeconomic stability during that transition," Ben Bingham, China country director at the Asian Development Bank who was invited to observe the CPPCC session, told the Global Times.

The Chinese economy continues to face downward pressure and a worsening external environment including an ongoing trade war with the US. Apart from economic woes, the country is also battling pollution and poverty.

CPPCC members struck a confident note on Sunday.

"I think if we all do our jobs and unite behind the leadership, we will be successful," Wei Shizhong, a member of the CPPCC National Committee from Central China's Henan Province, told the Global Times, "and our job is to offer some suggestions for the country and help better implement these policies."

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Sino-US cooperation is 'best option' for all

People's Daily Online

By CAO DESHENG and JING SHUIYU (China Daily) 13:10, March 03, 2019

CPPCC session spokesman: Trade pact would benefit two nations, rest of world

The signing of a mutually beneficial trade agreement at an early date will not only benefit China and the United States, but also will be good for the world economy, a spokesman for China's top political advisory body said on Saturday.

The two countries have made substantial progress in their trade talks on specific issues such as technology transfers, protection of intellectual property rights, nontariff barriers, the service industry, agriculture and exchange rates, said Guo Weimin, spokesman for the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, at a news briefing.

The briefing was held in the leadup to the annual session of the CPPCC National Committee, which will open on Sunday.

The two nations will continue to strengthen communication in accordance with the guidance of the consensus reached by the two heads of state, and jointly advance the next-stage work, Guo said.

China and the United States concluded their seventh round of high-level trade negotiations in Washington on Feb 24, which generated positive progress after a months-old rift in bilateral trade.

Beijing and Washington share "more common interests than disputes, and more need for cooperation than friction", Guo said.

He added that experience has proved that the two countries stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. "Cooperation is the best option for the two sides," he said.

As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the world's two largest economies, Guo said, both countries assume especially important responsibility in safeguarding world peace and stability and promoting global development and prosperity while having extensive shared interests.

Guo said China-US relations are at a crucial stage and added that maintaining sound and steady development of bilateral relations conforms to the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples and also the universal expectations of the international community.

Both sides should make joint efforts to expand cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit, manage their differences based on mutual respect and advance bilateral ties on the basis of coordination, cooperation and stability so as to enable their cooperation to benefit the two countries and the world, Guo said.

Also on Saturday, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said in a statement that it was aware of the announcement of the Office of the US Trade Representative to postpone a planned tariff hike on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports and keep the tariff rate at 10 percent until further notice.

The US government had planned to raise the 10 percent tariff imposed on the Chinese imports to 25 percent starting Saturday.

The tariff commission said it welcomes the step taken by the US.

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US, S Korea Suspend Joint Drills to Boost DPRK Denuclearization - Pentagon

Sputnik News

02:18 03.03.2019(updated 03:18 03.03.2019)

The news comes on the heels of the recent DPRK-US Summit in Hanoi. According to the Yonhap news agency, a permanent end to the annual joint US-South Korean military maneuvers near the Korean Peninsula could facilitate a much-anticipated denuclearization by North Korea.

The US Department of Defense confirmed Saturday the permanent end of two major joint exercises, dubbed Key Resolve and Foal Eagle.

"Following close coordination, both sides decided to conclude the KEY RESOLVE and FOAL EAGLE series of exercises", the US Department of Defense (DoD) said in a readout of a phone call between US Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and his South Korean counterpart, Jeong Kyeong-doo.

According to Yonhap, the allies agreed to maintain robust military readiness through new command post exercises.

"The minister and secretary made clear that the alliance's decision regarding the adjustment of the exercise and drills reflects both countries' expectation to back diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions and achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through a final, full verified method", the South Korean Ministry said, cited by Yonhap.

NBC News reported Friday, citing two unidentified DoD officials, that the annual exercises would be curtailed as part of the US President Donald Trump's efforts to reduce tensions with North Korea. However, Key Resolve and Foal Eagle could be replaced with smaller, mission-specific training drills, according to the US-based broadcaster.

In past years, Pyongyang has repeatedly slammed the US-South Korean drills as practice runs for a US-led invasion of the North, warning of a possible firm response to the maneuvers and military activity.

Following his historic June 2018 summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, Trump, apart from sanctions relief, pledged to suspend annual military exercises in exchange for Pyongyang's efforts of a complete dismantling of the country's nuclear weapons program.

A second summit between Trump and Kim was held in Hanoi on February 27-28. The meeting finished several hours before scheduled with no agreement or declaration. Trump said afterward that he decided to leave the talks because Kim demanded full sanctions relief. North Korean and US State Department officials said, however, that Kim asked for partial sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling North Korea's main nuclear reactor in Yongbyon.

The abrupt end of the Hanoi summit raised concerns among the international community of further steps by Pyongyang on dismantling its nuclear and ICBM facilities. Notably, the US-based media, citing senior US officials, have repeatedly suggested that the US-DPRK talks on denuclearization stalled after the 2018 Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore.

Pyongyang reportedly conducted its last missile launch in November 2017. In late April 2018, Kim announced that the country would suspend ICBM launches and missile tests ahead of summits with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Trump.

 Sputnik

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India Reportedly Used Israeli GPS-Guided Bombs in Air Raid on Jaish-e-Mohammed

Sputnik News

16:53 03.03.2019

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley previously said that New Delhi would not reveal details about the operation against an alleged militant camp in Pakistan amid reports that the air strike hit an empty hillside without hurting any militants.

The Indian Air Force used Israeli made Spice-2000 bombs with pre-set GPS-coordinates of targets at a major Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp allegedly located in Balakot, Pakistan in the 26 February airstrike, The Times of India reported, citing an anonymous military source.

"With their navigation\seeker systems, the fire-and-forget Spice-2000 bombs homed into the four to six targets selected within the JeM facility around 50 to 60 km away. The error margin was less than 3 metres", the source said.

While acknowledging the difficulties in determining the precise number of casualties that the militant group sustained, the source noted that the bombs had penetrated the roofs of the targeted buildings in the camp and "killed all the inmates in them with shock and blast waves".

The media outlet's source further added that the aerial strike group had used the high-resolution synthetic aperture radars on the jets, which are capable of providing pilots with 2D and 3D reconstructions of the surface below in order to verify whether the bombs had successfully struck the marked targets with the intended precision.

The report by The Times of India comes after Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government wouldn't disclose the details of the airstrike on the JeM camp allegedly located in Balakot, despite calls to do so. Earlier, Pakistan stated that the Indian airstrike on 26 February had hit an empty hillside.

The operation by the Indian Air Force, which led to an escalation in tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, came as a response to a deadly attack on a security convoy on 14 February that claimed the lives of 40 servicemen, carried out by the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

India insists that Pakistan is harbouring militants, who are conducting terrorist attacks against Indian personnel. Islamabad denies these accusations.

 Sputnik

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Russia, India Open AK-203 Assault Rifle Production Plant - Official

Sputnik News

15:49 03.03.2019(updated 16:29 03.03.2019)

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia and India on Sunday inaugurated a plant that will produce AK-203 Kalashnikov assault rifles in the northeastern Indian town of Korwa, Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Director Dmitry Shugaev said.

"Today, the opening of a plant manufacturing AK-203 assault rifles at an arms factory in the Indian town of Korwa in accordance with the agreements reached earlier at the highest level and the intergovernmental agreement took place", Shugaev told reporters.

According to the director, over 700,000 rifles will be manufactured under the agreement.

"The plant's capacity allows [the Indian authorities] to fully equip personnel from the Indian security forces [with the rifles], and the sides can agree on an increase of output and production upgrade if necessary", Director General of Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport Alexander Mikheev said.

Commenting on the plant's launch, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed gratitude to Russia and President Putin for the joint venture, saying that the AK-203 assault rifle will not only provide major support to the Indian infantry but will also be a revenue earner in terms of exports to third countries.

"I express my gratitude to my friend President Vladimir Putin, this venture was made possible in such a short time by his support", Modi said.

The Russian president, in turn, sent a letter to the official ceremony's participants and guests, where he said that "military and technical cooperation has traditionally been one of the key areas of special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India".

Putin qualified the plant as a new symbol of friendship and constructive cooperation between Russia and India.

Russian-Indian talks on the production of Kalashnikov rifles in India started back in 2015.

 Sputnik

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Iran reject's UAE FM's false claims at OIC meeting

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun / 3 March 2019 / 09:52

Tehran (ISNA) - Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi says some countries have got used to making false claims in order to cover up their destructive policies.

In a statement, Bahram Qassemi expressed regret over the recent remarks made by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), at the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

"The raison d'etre of the establishment and completion of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was to create unity and convergence among member states," Qassemi said.

"Cashing in on the meetings of this organization and bringing up divisive and false issues against other member states are inappropriate and against the objectives and philosophy of this organization and will deal serious blows to interaction among members and their trust in one another," said Qassemi.

"Basically, when member states host meetings and gatherings of the organization, they should take steps towards further strengthening unity and solidarity in the Muslim community, not abuse the opportunity and bring up policies dictated by countries outside the Muslim world," said the spokesman.

He dismissed as false and untrue allegations made against the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Emirati foreign minister, saying, "Unfortunately, some countries have got used to rehashing such claims in order to cover up the damage caused by their policies to the Muslim world."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran's right to sovereignty over the [three] islands is an issue over which there is no doubt, and making such claims will not change or affect the legal status of these islands and the Islamic Republic of Iran's ownership of them," Qassemi noted.

He also rejected allegations of Iran's interference in other countries' internal affairs.

"Claims that the Islamic Republic of Iran is meddling in other countries' domestic affairs are unfounded, and I recommend this Emirati official take a look at the situation in Yemen and the humanitarian crisis caused by the military aggression of the UAE and several other countries and get to realize the real meaning of his respective country's interference in other Islamic countries' affairs and the destructive human and material consequences of the aggression against Yemen," he said.

The spokesman concluded by touching upon the presence of the Iranian delegation at the meeting.

"Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs is present at the meeting, heading a political delegation. While actively participating in the conference, he will give the necessary reactions to the mischief and non-constructive actions and behaviour of certain countries as well," he said.

End Item

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Major Challenges Loom Amid IS 'Last Stand'

By Heather Murdock March 02, 2019

Heavy fighting continued throughout the first full day of the final assault on the Islamic State militant group's last bit of land, according to Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustafa Bali.

Victory may be near, with the militants surrounded and all civilian "human shields" believed to be safe in camps beyond the fighting in Baghuz, soldiers say. But some local leaders warn that with this victory will come a new set of problems.

"The battle will end temporarily," said Sheikh Humaydi Daham al-Hadi, a prominent tribal and provincial leader within Syria's semi-autonomous Kurdish region. "But the negative impact will continue for years."

The Internationally backed SDF pushed forward slowly Saturday, reclaiming parts of what is a tent city on the banks of the Euphrates River next to Baghuz. While not illustrious in nature, the camp has ended up being the scene of IS's last attempt to hold land in Syria or Iraq. Locals caution, though, that IS attacks in the region continue almost daily.

About an hour's drive away, in a small town called Tel Hamees, Suliman, 17, a junior military volunteer, recently returned from the front lines in Baghuz. Almost all the locals in his town fled ahead of the first militant group that overran Tel Hamees years ago, and returned only when the third group, IS, was forced out in 2017.

Suliman also serves at one of the many checkpoints that dot the roads between cities and towns across the country. These checkpoints in parts of Syria's northeast have become a constant target, where the archenemies of IS are out in the open, exposed in small numbers.

"Sometimes they attack briefly and then disappear," explained Suliman, as his young cousins played on the remnants of a bombed-out house, "just so we know they are there."

Historical problem

In a camp a few hours away, about 400 families of foreign IS fighters are trying to make homes for themselves, with no knowledge of whether or when their countries or families will take them back. Children run with kites on the muddy roads lined with tents covered in blue tarps to keep out the winter rain.

Sabina, a 30-year-old Bosnian woman, says she has nothing to hide. Her husband joined IS because he was a witness to the ethnic cleansing campaign and genocide against Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s. She followed him to what was then becoming an Islamic "State" because it seemed like a good idea to ensure their safety and the safety of their future children.

"I was young and crazy and said, 'OK,' " she said Friday in the camp manager's office.

At the time, however, it seemed anything but crazy to her husband, who went on to become an IS fighter. Even today, she sees the Islamic State as collapsing and never to return, but because of its constant state of war  not its reputation as a brutal group that terrorized people in Iraq, Syria and around the world.

"You know, the women who I know didn't know anything about this," she said. "I never saw this. And I was there a long time."

Beyond IS

A peaceful future, according to al-Hadi, means breaking this cycle of violence with negotiations, education and reconstruction. Mothers of slain militants need to be persuaded not to teach their children to follow in their fathers' footsteps. Destroyed cities and towns need to be rebuilt. Bodies of victims in former IS territories need to be found, buried and mourned.

"It's good that they are winning the battles now," Sheikh al-Hadi said, as the group grew ahead of lunchtime. "But if it all ends this way, the problem will continue."

And as the civil war's eighth year nears an end, the future of the region is increasingly insecure. International conflicts are on the verge of playing out in northeastern Syria, and its semi-autonomous government does not have the size or the resources to secure every road and town.

"Individual attacks are more dangerous than comprehensive attacks," the sheikh warned. "At least when you are attacked by a group, you know who the enemy is."

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Report: Iran Forming All-Syrian Militia in Syria

By Sirwan Kajjo, Mehdi Jedinia March 02, 2019

Iranian military advisers in Syria are reportedly forming a new militia in the country under their supervision with the aim of boosting an Iranian agenda in the region, a rights group said in a recent report.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor that has researchers across Syria, said in a recent report that Iran has recruited at least 1,200 militiamen from different parts of Syria to form the new military force.

Iranian and Syrian officials have been considering the building of such a force for a long time, sources in Iran also said.

"This is part of a bill agreed upon between Tehran and Damascus in May 2017," an Iranian defense reporter, who requested anonymity for security reasons, told VOA.

"The formation of any coalition with the aim of adding strength to the axis of resistance against Israel is welcomed," the reporter said.

Axis of resistance

The axis of resistance is a term used by pro-Iranian groups that refers to an ideological-military alliance between Iran, Syria and other Shiite groups, with the goal of countering U.S. and Israeli interests in the region.

Since the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011, Iran has been a major backer of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has been involved in major battles across the country, providing support to Syrian regime troops against rebel forces.

Iran has also deployed Shiite militias to Syria, including the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and several other Pakistani and Afghan Shiite groups.

An Arabic-language, pro-Syrian opposition news website, Zaman Al Wasel, reported in late 2018 that it had obtained a Syrian defense ministry document approving a plan to give Iran more operational autonomy inside Syria.

Ali Alfoneh, a Middle East analyst who closely monitors IRGC's activities in Syria, said he thinks the formation of this unit is highly conceivable.

"During my observations, I have identified several members of Hezbollah who were born and raised in Syria," Alfoneh told VOA. "These signs invigorate the likelihood of this brigade."

The Syrian Observatory report indicated the vast majority of this new militia's fighters are Syrian nationals, functioning differently from the other Iranian-sponsored brigades that have been formed to fight in Syria in recent years.

Since January 2013, more than 2,100 members of the IRGC or affiliated militants have been killed in Syria, according to Iran's Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.

Tehran insists its forces are present in Syria to protect the Zainab Shrine, a Shiite holy site in Damascus, and other Shiite religious places in the country.

Western and some regional countries, however, say that the Iranian presence in Syria has been chiefly to support the Assad regime.

Indigenous Syrian militias

Seth Frantzman, executive director of the U.S.-based think tank the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis (MECRA), says Iran's plans to form additional militias in Syria are part of an overall strategy to put down roots for the long term in the war-torn country.

"More bases and more militias, including indigenous Syrian militias allied to Iran further Tehran's goal of building a corridor of influence via Iraq and Syria to Lebanon," he told VOA.

Frantzman added, "With the U.S. announced withdrawal, Iran is seeking to hammer out a deal with Turkey and Russia regarding the future of Syria."

On Dec. 19, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the roughly 2,000 U.S. forces in Syria would be withdrawn.

Last month, the administration adjusted its withdrawal plans and said that several hundred U.S. troops would remain in Syria to maintain stability in the war-torn country.

The U.S. troops have been instrumental in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants.

The Trump administration has often accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East, particularly in countries where Iran maintains a strong presence.

"In Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, Iran already has local allied militias. [A similar militia in Syria] would be in line with that model," researcher Frantzman said.

During a recent meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised bilateral ties between Syria and Iran.

"The establishment of complete stability and security in Syria is one of Iran's most important regional and foreign policy objectives," Rouhani said.

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Syrian Army foils terrorists' attack on northern Hama

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, March 3, IRNA -- Syrian Army's units clashed with terrorist groups which attacked in large numbers military points on the directions of al-Masasneh in northern Hama in a new violation of the de-escalation zone agreement in Idleb.

A military source said that terrorist groups on Sunday attacked military points along the direction of al-Masasneh in northern Hama using various types of weapons after firing the points of al-Madajen, Zor al-Hisa and Khirbet Ma'rin exploiting the bad weather conditions, Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

The army units operating in the region, the source added, bravely confronted the terrorists, killed a number of them and destroyed their equipment and weapons.

The source said that the terrorist attack left some of 'our army members wounded and others martyred'.

The source stressed the army's readiness and high alert to deal with terrorists' attacks on the remaining directions of its war against terrorism.

9376**2050

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Netanyahu: Israel, Russia To Cooperate On Pullout Of Foreign Forces From Syria

By RFE/RL March 03, 2019

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel and Russia have agreed to establish a joint team to advance the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria.

Netanyahu made the announcement on March 3, days after he visited Moscow to try to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin that Iran must not be allowed to establish a presence in Syria.

Russia and Iran have given Syrian President Bashar al-Assad crucial military and diplomatic backing throughout the eight-year war in Syria, which began with a government crackdown on protesters in March 2011.

Israel has pledged to stop Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, carrying out hundreds of air strikes there against what it describes as Iranian targets in Syria and those of allied militia, including the Lebanon-based Shi'ite militant group Hizballah.

Addressing a weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said that he and Putin had "agreed on a common goal: the withdrawal of foreign forces that arrived in Syria after the outbreak of the civil war."

"We agreed to establish a joint team to advance this goal, together with other elements," the Israeli prime minister added.

Netanyahu did not elaborate, and Russian officials had no immediate comment.

The Israel prime minister also said that he had made "unequivocally clear that Israel will not allow the military entrenchment of Iran in Syria" and will "continue to take military action against it."

In recent months, Assad's forces, supported by Moscow and Tehran, have regained vast territory in the war-torn country from rebel groups and Islamist militants.

The White House said last month that the United States will withdraw the bulk of its forces from Syria, leaving 400 troops in the east of the country, where Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are battling the last pocket held by fighters of the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

Turkey, which is backing differing antigovernment forces, has said that it wants to move in coordination with Russia to establish what it called a "safe zone" in northern Syria.

The Israeli and Russian militaries have established a hotline to avoid accidental clashes with Russia.

But 15 Russian servicemen were killed in September when Syrian forces accidentally shot down their plane while responding to an Israeli air strike, straining ties between Russia and Israel.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/netanyahu-israel -russia-to-cooperate-on-pullout-of-foreign- forces-from-syria/29801050.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.

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Syrian Army Repels Militant Attack in North Latakia, 2 Soldiers Injured - Source

Sputnik News

20:50 03.03.2019(updated 21:14 03.03.2019)

DAMASCUS (Sputnik) - The Syrian military forces repelled the second in 24 hours massive terrorist attack targeting their positions  this time in the western province of Latakia, a Syrian military source told Sputnik, specifying that two servicemen were wounded, and several militants were killed in the attack.

"A group of terrorists attacked our positions in the north of the province of Latakia, using mortars, artillery shells, shooters and medium- and heavy-caliber weapons Our servicemen repelled the attack, having done significant damage to the militants Several militants were eliminated, while the others ran away, and two of our servicemen were injured," the source told Sputnik, specifying that the attack started at 4:30 p.m. local time (14:30 GMT) and lasted for an hour.

Earlier in the day, the Syrian military forces repelled a massive terrorist attack on their positions in the north of the Hama province, which borders Idlib, as well as Latakia does. The attack resulted in several soldiers being killed and several being injured.

 Sputnik

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US-Led Coalition Denies Preventing Exit of Refugees From Rukban Camp - Spokesman

Sputnik News

19:59 03.03.2019

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US-led coalition, fighting against Daesh had not prevented the exit of refugees from the Rukban camp, located in the US-controlled area in Syria's al-Tanf, a spokesman of the coalition, VR Col. Sean Ryan, told Sputnik on Sunday.

"The Coalition has never denied anyone regarding anything related to humanitarian efforts or the return of IDP's [internally displaced persons], and the Coalition mission is still the enduring defeat of ISIS," Ryan said.

The head of the Russian Defence Ministry's Center for Syrian Reconciliation accused the coalition on Saturday of refusing to allow bus convoys for evacuating refugees enter al-Tanf.

On Friday, Russia and Syria sent convoys to the Rukban camp, which houses around 40,000 displaced people, so that the refugees could return to the places of their permanent residence.

In January, the World Health Organization (WHO) described people residing in the camp as "trapped," adding that they live "in deplorable conditions." Limited water supply, bitterly cold weather and poorly functioning health care facilities contribute to the rise of diseases, which include influenza, measles, tuberculosis and chronic respiratory diseases, the WHO stated.

 Sputnik

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Several Syrian Soldiers Killed in Terrorist Attack in Hama Province - Reports

Sputnik News

12:41 03.03.2019(updated 21:08 03.03.2019)

A terrorist attack earlier this week on a city in the Syrian province of Hama left one civilian dead and five more injured.

The Syrian army repelled a massive terrorist attack on its positions in the north of the Hama province on the border with Idlib in the early hours of Sunday, with several soldiers killed and injured, Syrian state television reported, citing a military source.

"Terrorist groups attacked our positions at 1:30 am local time (11:20 pm GMT) after a weapons training in the north of Hama Province", Syrian TV says, quoting its source.

According to reports, the militants used bad weather conditions to successfully attack the area.

"Our forces heroically repelled the attack the attack, killed several militants and destroyed their equipment and weapons. Several of our soldiers have been killed and several injured as a result of the attack", the source added.

The Syrian Armed Forces' General Staff intends to continue to resist militant attempts to penetrate the positions of the army, he added.

Idlib is one of the Syrian areas where terrorists and militants, particularly those who are part of the Jabhat Nusra terror group (banned in Russia) or affiliated with it, are active. Moreover, thousands of militants have been transported to the province from other Syrian regions under deals with Damascus.

In late February, Bouthaina Shaaban, political and media adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, said in an interview with Al Mayadeen broadcaster that the Syrian leadership had decided to retake the Idlib province under its control and was discussing the time frames and ways to implement this decision.

On September 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed an agreement on setting up a demilitarized zone in Idlib along the contact line between the armed opposition and the government forces.

 Sputnik

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Taiwan ready to share experience as victim of China's hostility: MOFA

ROC Central News Agency

2019/03/03 18:46:14

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) As country that has been subjected to China's political belligerence for many years, Taiwan would be willing to share that experience with other nations that might be facing a similar problem, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in its latest report to the Legislature.

In the report that was submitted to the Legislature Saturday, MOFA said China is now turning its aggression on other countries besides Taiwan, trying to buy off their politicians, spreading fake news, and attempting to hack into their computer systems to steal classified information.

Some of those countries are aware of the "attacks" from China and are seeking ways to protect themselves, the report stated, adding that Taiwan would be willing to share its experience and the strategies it has employed in response to China's aggression.

Having survived many difficulties that arose from China's hostility, Taiwan has learned how to turn challenges into opportunity in the diplomatic arena, the ministry said in its report.

It said China is still engaged in efforts to suppress Taiwan, trying to exert influence on Taiwan's diplomatic allies, to quash any efforts to that might lead to improved relations between Taiwan and other countries, and to standardize its "one China" principle in the international community.

China has also been attempting to weaken Taiwan's sovereignty and squeeze Taiwan's international space by spreading fake information, the ministry said.

In the report, MOFA said China is likely to step up its efforts to snatch Taiwan's diplomatic allies and exclude Taiwan from international activities.

In the face of such challenges, Taiwan will seek to strengthen its ties with its diplomatic allies and improve its dialogue and relations with like-minded countries such as the United States, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and countries in Europe, MOFA said in the report.

MOFA officials are scheduled to answer questions about the report in a hearing of the Legislature's Foreign and National Defense Committee on Monday.

(By Yu Kai-hsiang and Elizabeth Hsu)

Enditem/pc



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Taiwan protests exclusion from WHO flu vaccine meeting in Beijing

ROC Central News Agency

2019/03/03 20:53:14

Taipei, March 3 (CNA) Taiwan was unable to attend a recent World Health Organization (WHO) meeting on flu vaccines because of political interference from China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Sunday, expressing dissatisfaction with the invitation process.

The ministry said Taiwan received a letter of invitation to the WHO consultation meeting on the Composition of Influenza Virus Vaccines at 1 a.m. on Feb. 20, the same day it was due to be held in Beijing.

Because the invitation arrived so late, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) could not send any representatives to Beijing for the meeting, MOFA said.

Through its representative office in Geneva, Taiwan has filed a protest with the WHO secretariat, MOFA said.

The ministry said the WHO continues to exclude Taiwan from its meetings due to political considerations. Such actions are a serious violation of the Taiwan people's right to health and may create gaps in the global epidemic prevention network, it complained.

MOFA said that on behalf of MOHW, it had instructed Taiwan's representative office in Geneva to file a letter of intent with the WHO secretariat office to attend the flu vaccine meeting.

However, the WHO relayed Taiwan's request to China, in accordance with a secret memorandum signed between them in 2005, and decided not to send Taiwan the invitation until the day of the flu virus meeting, MOFA said.

The WHO should remain professional, resist political pressure, and allow Taiwan's normal participation in its activities, MOFA said.

It was the first time since 2014 that Taiwan was excluded from the WHO's biannual consultation on the Composition of Influenza Virus Vaccines.

Each year, one meeting is held in the Northern Hemisphere, and the other in the southern Hemisphere.

(By Yu Kai-hsiang and Emerson Lim)

Enditem/pc

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Detained Ukrainian Church Archbishop Released In Crimea, Lawyer Says

By Current Time March 03, 2019

Authorities in the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula have released the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine in the region after briefly detaining him, a Russian lawyer says.

The reason for the arrest on March 3 is not clear.

Archbishop Klyment was detained at a bus station in the Crimean capital of Simferopol, according to a press statement by the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Klyment confirmed his arrest in a phone call with AFP during which he said he was speaking from a police station in Simferopol.

Police did not tell him why he was being held, he said.

Hours later, Russian lawyer Nikolai Polozov wrote on Facebook that Klyment had been released without charges.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Kateryna Zelenko had earlier voiced concern over Klyment's detention and what she called religious freedom violations on the Crimean Peninsula.

"Russian occupants continue their systematic attack on Ukrainian Orthodoxy in Crimea," Zelenko tweeted.

The detention came weeks after the Orthodox Church in Ukraine was granted independence, or autocephaly, ending more than 330 years of Russian religious control in Ukraine.

Russia long opposed such efforts by the Ukrainians for an independent church, which intensified after Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and began supporting separatists shortly thereafter in parts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Klyment, who heads the Orthodox mission to help victims of human rights violations and persons deprived of their freedom, said last month that Crimean authorities were set to revoke a lease on his church because he failed to register the parish in the Russian Federation.

He reportedly planned to attend court hearings on the case of a Ukrainian citizen in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.

Pavlo Hryb, who is facing charges of abetting terrorism, has denied any wrongdoing.

His father has argued that the case was Russian retaliation for Internet posts that were openly critical of Russia's interference in Ukraine.

The European Union has called on Moscow to release Hryb and other Ukrainian citizens "illegally detained" both in Russia and in Crimea.

With reporting by AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-orthodox- archbishop-arrested-in-crimea/29800830.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.

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Silicate glass has many applications, including the use as a nuclear waste form to immobilize radioactive elements from spent fuel. However, it has one disadvantage - it corrodes when it comes into contact with aqueous solutions. Scientists at the University of Bonn were able to observe in detail which processes take place.

The mineralogists and geochemists at the University of Bonn used the so-called confocal Raman spectroscopy for their study, where a laser beam is focused on a sample through a microscope. The light interacts with the molecules in the material, causing them to vibrate. Individually backscattered photons change their color depending on the structure and the chemical properties of the sample. This phenomenon is known as the Raman effect. The originally monochromatic light now also contains other color components. The color spectrum provides detailed insights into the structure and composition of the matter that is excited by the laser beam.

What makes this method even more interesting: The laser can be focused to a specific point in the space with an accuracy of a few thousandths of a millimeter. This facilitates studying the sample point by point, but not only on its surface: If the sample is transparent, the beam can also be focused into internal areas. And that's exactly what we did, explains Prof. Dr. Thorsten Geisler-Wierwille from the Institute for Geosciences and Meteorology at the University of Bonn.

Opal layer at the glass surface

The researchers used a small piece of silicate glass as a sample that reacted with an aqueous solution in a specially developed heating vessel. It was possible to move the vessel in steps of one thousandth of a millimeter under the Raman microscope - to the right, left, forward, and backward, but also up and down. We scanned the glass point by point and recorded a Raman spectrum while it reacted with the solution, says Lars Dohmen, who is currently completing his doctorate under the supervision of Geisler-Wierwille. This allowed us to investigate the reaction almost in real time. This currently works at temperatures of up to 150 degrees, which, for instance, are also expected in a nuclear repository.

The results indicate that silicate glass quickly dissolves when it comes into contact with aqueous solutions - almost like a sugar cube in a cup of coffee. However, while the sugar molecules are quickly distributed evenly in the water by diffusion, this is not the case during glass corrosion: Part of the resulting dissolved silica seems to remain near the surface of the glass. At some point, its concentration becomes so high that it solidifies.

We then also speak of silica precipitation, explains Prof. Geisler-Wierwille. Silica molecules in the solution interlink to form aggregates only a few millionths of a millimeter in size, which are deposited at the glass surface and mature into an opal-like state. However, the researchers were able to show that this opal layer does not provide perfect protection against water. Instead, the dissolution-precipitation front continues to eat its way into the glass. As a result, the glass is gradually replaced by opal, although at a decreasing velocity. For the first time, we have experimentally demonstrated that a boundary solution with dissolved silica forms between the opal layer and the underlying glass, explains Geisler-Wierwille. As the thickness of the opal layer increases, it increasingly prevents the silica solution from being transported away from the reaction interface. We suspect that it eventually gels to a viscous mass, which dramatically slows down glass dissolution.

In the study, this was already the case after 25 thousandths of a millimeter. Even though the reaction became very slow, it cannot be ruled out that this corrosion process will release radioactive elements over long periods of time, emphasizes Geisler-Wierwille. However, glasses used for the vitrification of nuclear waste are by far more stable against water than the investigated glass. We want to extend our experiments to these glass types in the near future, emphasizes the researcher. Studies with silicate glass in which radioactive elements are already incorporated are also planned. The researchers and their partners want to investigate the influence of self-irradiation damage in the glass on its corrosion resistance. The current work should mainly prove that our new method can provide far-reaching insights into these processes, says Geisler-Wierwille.
The German STOCKMEIER Group acquires the industrial chemicals distribution division of Indukern, company of the Spanish INDUKERN Group on 01.03.2019. The business is taken over by the newly founded STOCKMEIER Quimica SLU.

INDUKERN is a Spanish company belonging to INDUKERN Group and Diaz-Varela family, headquartered in Barcelona and dedicated to the distribution of chemical products and greater added value activities of formulation, production and technical advice for several industrial sectors. The agreement of selling its Industrial Chemicals division to Stockmeier Group responds to Indukerns growth strategy, prioritizing the activities of its other four divisions: Flavours & Fragrances, Food Ingredients, Animal Nutrition and Pharma and animal health

STOCKMEIER, a family-owned company based in Bielefeld, not only has a strong presence in its home market of Germany, but also has locations in Benelux, France, Austria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. The expansion course will now be continued. "We are very pleased that the Diaz-Varela and Stockmeier families have come to an agreement and that Stockmeier will in future also occupy a leading position in chemical distribution in Spain. The business fits perfectly into our group of companies," says Peter Stockmeier, Managing Partner of the STOCKMEIER Group.

With its "Quimica Industrial"/Industrial Chemicals division, INDUKERN last generated sales of 80 million euros with 70 employees. Daniel Diaz-Varela, managing director of Indukern, states we have decided to sell this division as it considered not being strategic in Indukerns structure and as it considered not finding enough synergies with the rest of the activities of our company. Our goal is to focus in another priority areas, as Flavours & Fragrances or Food Ingredients for example, which have grown most lately. Maintaining this division without not developing all its potential and without strong inversions would have been a mistake. With this decision, Indukern will focus on its other four divisions: Flavours & Fragrances, Food Ingredients, Animal Nutrition and Pharma and Animal Health.

The warehouses in Barcelona and Valencia will be taken over by STOCKMEIER and will continue to serve as transhipment points for inorganic, organic products and specialty chemicals. With the additional sales offices, STOCKMEIER Quimica SL will be represented throughout Spain.

The STOCKMEIER Group is thus further expanding its position in Europe. Most recently, the group had grown significantly in Central Eastern Europe through the acquisition of the Austrian company HDS-Chemie. Just recently, a new sales office was opened in Hungary. The owner-managed group of companies is thus continuing its targeted expansion strategy in the European market.

"We want to be among the top three chemical distributors in Europe. With this acquisition we have taken another big step in this direction", says Matthias Mirbach, Managing Director of STOCKMEIER Holding GmbH. "We will now further expand our business in Spain and exploit the synergies between our various companies in Europe. This makes us an attractive partner for customers and suppliers throughout Europe."
Across the country, many health systems have been involved in data breaches. At least 57 incidents involving at least 500 patients have been submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights so far this year. That office is tasked with investigating such breaches and may levy fines against health systems, depending on a breachs severity, said Rachel Patrizzo, vice president of cyber liability underwriting with TDC Specialty Underwriters, a subsidiary of The Doctors Company, which sells medical malpractice insurance.
Bennisons Bakery: Choose from 11 flavors available through Tuesday, including apricot and custard, for $1.75, or go all out with praline chocolate mousse and German chocolate for $2.75. Advance orders can be made before Monday, though the fresh banana cream and fresh strawberries with cream varieties are only available to preorder if you buy four for $11. 1000 Davis St., Evanston, 847-328-9434, bennisonscakes.com
I'm not going to lie  I've always been Team Brandon Walsh. He was brilliant, honest, compassionate and a newspaperman. He was my favorite part of "Beverly Hills, 90210, but I had a soft spot for Dylan McKay as well. Dylan is the first TV character that I can recall struggling with alcohol and drugs. He seemed like he had it all  money, looks and book and street smarts. As a kid, it was tough to watch him fight his addictions. I remember being thrilled when he proposed to Antonia Marchette in Season 6. He seemed like he finally had it together, and I was devastated when she was shot and killed. Although he wasn't among the cast members announced last week for the upcoming "90210" revival, I was hoping that he would make an appearance or two. I wanted to see his character's growth, and I hoped he would finally answer the question: Brenda or Kelly?  Tracy Swartz
GREENWICH  The Boys & Girls Clubs of America on Monday said there is no evidence to suggest Jeff Starcher ignored indications of ongoing sexual abuse at the Greenwich club chapter when he worked there decades ago.

And family and friends came forward to defend the former local leader against allegations in a lawsuit that a young boy told Starcher he was being sexually abused by a counselor at the Boys Club in the early 1980s. Starcher, according to the lawsuit, did nothing more than put the alleged abuser on time out.

Greenwich Time reported on the lawsuit this weekend.

When the lawsuit was originally filed, a thorough review was conducted and there was no evidence that Mr. Starcher was aware of the alleged abuse, the national organization said in a statement sent to the newspaper Monday. Boys & Girls Clubs of America will continue to review in a way that prioritizes safety and fully cooperate in the judicial process.

A product of the club himself, Starcher eventually served as director, taking the position over from his father, Jim. He has spent his career bolstering the efforts of Boys & Girls Club of America regionally and nationally.

My husband, Jeffrey Starcher, is the most ethical and honorable man you might ever have the pleasure of meeting, his wife, Kathy Starcher, said in a letter to the editor of Greenwich Time in response to the story. As can be attested to by the many youth he has served in Greenwich, he would never allow abuse of anyone to go unchecked.

After a long career in Greenwich, starting when the organization was just the Boys Club, Starcher was hired as executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Southeastern Connecticut in 2002, according to his LinkedIn account. In 2014, he was named director of organizational development for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. He still holds the position, according to the organization.

The lawsuit, filed against the Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich in Stamford Superior Court, states a young man named Andrew Atkinson sexually assaulted, molested and raped at least five boys hundreds of times from 1975 through 1984 at the clubs facility on Horseneck Lane and at off-site locations the club members traveled to. Attorney Phillip Russell, who filed the lawsuit, said there are at least two more alleged victims of Atkinson.

A licensed clinical social worker who used to work at the club also came forward Monday, saying Jim and Jeff Starcher helped her begin her career.

Both Jim and Jeff taught me and modeled for me how to advocate for kids, they taught me what was right and what was wrong, and they taught me how to report suspicion of abuse, (sexual, physical, or verbal) and to (always) report, the social worker, Mina Bibeault, wrote in a letter to the editor. To read Jim and Jeff Starchers name get dragged through the mud is something I will not stand for.

Bibeault said she worked as a counselor for about 14 years at the club when the Starchers ran it.

If this person  did any of the alleged said harm to anyone ... I am confident the Starchers wouldve act immediately and they wouldve followed state mandates, she said. Blame is being inappropriately displaced on two people who worked tirelessly in their mission to care for, protect, and provide a safe space for kids.

Starcher did not return several requests for comment last week.

In previous Greenwich Time stories over the years, he said he pretty much lived at the club when growing up. In those stories, he talked about the club being a place where children learn about moral values, honesty, character and integrity.

I really do believe in that stuff, he said in a 2002 story.

In the same article, Bob DeAngelo, former executive director of Greenwich Boys & Girls Club, praised Starchers leadership in the club.

Because he himself was a product of the Boys Club he knows what good and what value it brings to children, DeAngelo said. Hes bought into it.

DeAngelo added, He cares for kids  I think thats the greatest compliment you can give Jeff.

Kathy Starcher declined to comment further when reached on Monday.

Boys & Girls Club of Greenwich Chair George Fox said the organization is taking the claims of child sexual abuse very seriously.

Any allegation of harm to a child is extremely upsetting, and BGCG and legal counsel are working diligently to investigate these allegations, he said.

Fox said its of paramount importance that the parents of current members are aware and comfortable with the clubs safety policies and protocols.

We have a full-time director of safety on-site, numerous cameras strategically placed throughout the premises, and regular staff training and development with regard to the safety of our children, he said. In addition, we conduct background checks on all employees and long-term volunteers. We are confident that our children arrive every day into a secure and nurturing environment as the safety, protection and well-being of the youth we serve remains our No. 1 priority.

Likewise, the national organization in its statement said security has been improved.

In the last two decades, Boys & Girls Clubs of America has significantly enhanced all safety policies and guidelines, and continuously updates practices and procedures as part of our vigilant commitment to the safety of all youth. Local Boys & Girls Club staff are required to immediately report any instance of a safety concern to the authorities, the statement said. Any allegation of harm to a child is a serious matter, and it is our hope a forthcoming resolution will allow closure and healing for all parties involved.
DANBURY  The training wheels are coming off for dozens of Danbury High School students taking on the biggest challenge of their educational careers this month: preschool.

Throughout March, 84 students in the high schools child development and early childhood workshops will make the leap from student to teacher to try to implement their custom-built lesson plans for the citys youngest students in the Little Hatters preschool program.

It will be the first chance for the older students to experience the delight and chaos of a preschool class filled 3- and 4-year-old children and will provide them with valuable hands-on experience that could propel some to become teachers themselves, said Erica Keane, DHS consumer science teacher and workshop facilitator.

Its really their preschool, Keane said. They get to take over and lead.

For more than 30 years, the Little Hatters program has offered low-cost preschool for families with young children, including about a dozen 4-year-old students who come to the high school three days each week and another class of 3-year-olds who come the other two days each week.

But it also offers the high schools child development students an opportunity to work through a real-life example of how teachers develop lesson plans, incorporate developmental science and then actually teach young students, Keane said.

The workshop students have spent months studying how toddlers develop physically, intellectually, socially and emotionally to begin to develop their own lesson plans for their four-hour preschool session.

They have studied nutrition, technologys effects on young brains, and practiced sensory and fine-motor skill activities to learn about how they help challenge and develop those skills in preschool children, Keane said. The high school students then incorporate healthy snacks, physical activities and interactive projects to develop a well-rounded lesson plan for their session with the toddlers.

Senior Marissa Volpe attended the Little Hatters with her siblings when she was young and now shes developed a sea-animal themed plan with classmate Sofia Rizk.

We studied how their brains develop and how to deal with other challenges, like how to teach kids who may need a nontraditional approach, Volpe said.

Their lesson will include memory cards, a sea animal book and a sensory table with water absorbent beads and toy sea creatures.

Our biggest challenge has been making the activities easier or harder for those who are advanced or those who may need more time, Rizk said.

The hope is that the students who participate might find their calling in teaching, potentially returning to a district that is looking toward its own students to develop a new generation of minority teachers for the rapidly changing demographics of Danbury schools.

Both these workshops and a teaching pipeline through a partnership with Western Connecticut State University give local teenagers the exposure to the everyday work of teaching to potentially hook them on the career, officials have said.

Some really fall in love with the idea of teaching and others are surprised at how hard it is, Keane said.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com
BROOKFIELD  A local historian will detail Connecticuts connection to the countrys military past at a program on Monday.

The Brookfield Historical Society will host Greg Van Antwerp, also known as The Urban Archeologist, at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Brookfield Museum.

Antwerp will detail military history by sharing his discoveries from the Civil War to the Vietnam conflict. Most stories will describe Connecticuts connection to the wars.

Antwerp searches basements and attics of New York and New England to find treasures and stories.

Refreshments will be served at the free event.
GREENWICH  Connecticut is one of the few states in the country that does not offer early voting  and Secretary of the State Denise Merrill wants that to change.

Too many times in 2018, even here in Connecticut, we have long lines, said Merrill, a Democrat. Im talking two or three hours long to vote. That is simply unacceptable. Thats like denying someone their right to vote. Who has two hours so they can stand in line to vote? Its just not right.

Merrill, who is pushing for a state constitutional amendment that would permit early voting, made her case at a discussion at Town Hall last Thursday put together by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee.

Currently, 39 states and the District of Columbia offer early voting, and support for it is rising in polls. Early voting could make it easier and more convenient for citizens to vote, Merrill told a bipartisan crowd of nearly 75 people.

Under her proposal, the amendment would set aside a minimum of three days of early voting, probably a week before Election Day, and would allow all voters to use absentee ballots. Currently, Connecticut offers no early voting, and absentee ballots are limited to members of the armed forces, voters who are out of town for all hours of voting, anyone who is ill or has a physical disability, those limited by religious beliefs from performing secular activities and voters performing duties as an election official.

This has been a nonpartisan and bipartisan issue, Merrill said. In Vermont, it passed unanimously from both houses. All Democrats and Republicans voted for this bill.

In Connecticut, the issue is somewhat partisan, much to my surprise, she said. I think support is growing, but I need all of you to get the word out to your representatives and senators. This issue underpins all others. We need to make sure people can exercise their right to vote.

To amend the state Constitution, 75 percent of the members of both the state House and state Senate must approve the measure. Then it would go to a statewide ballot for a vote.

A proposal is pushing its way through the legislature now, aiming for a ballot question in Connecticut for the 2020 presidential election.

State Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-36, and state Rep. Stephen Meskers, D-150, attended the speech and offered their support for early voting in Connecticut. State Reps. Livvy Floren, R-149, and Fred Camillo, R-151, did not attend but spoke afterward about the possibility.

I have always supported initiatives which increase voter participation and have voted to put the early voting proposition on a referendum for Connecticut residents to decide, Floren said. I will support the effort again this year.

Making in-person voting available for a few additional days at city and town halls should be fine, Camillo said, as long as there was a limit to it.

Merrill, who was re-elected last November to her third term as secretary of the state, pointed to her accomplishments in office, including the voter registration systems online and at the Department of Motor Vehicles, where she said a vast majority of registrations are completed.

These things, I think, are working and its better  but you have to remember that the statistics we cite are all about people who are registered, Merrill said. Theyre not talking about eligible voters. We think theres still about a third of the eligible voters, even in Connecticut, that are not registered to vote. Weve got a problem out there.

The problem cant be solved with administrative changes, she said. Every resident needs to understand that their vote matters, she said.

Another important issue in voting is security, Merrill said. In 2016, Connecticut was among 21 states targeted by Russian agencies as part of an attempted attack on voter registration databases. She said she was very concerned that the state was only told later about the attempt.

Since then, weve come a long way and have a much better communication, shall we say, with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and all the other agencies that are now dealing with this, Merrill said. Its very real.  There is going to be even more of this activity for the 2020 election. Its extremely well-funded. Its really focused on creating distrust in the American people ...

Were doing everything we can at the state level to make sure our systems are secure and that people can trust in the election, she said. That is the bottom line because if we lose that trust, weve lost our democracy.

Merrills appearance was the first in a planned series of talks organized by the DTC about state, local and national issues.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
But let's take a step back from this claim that seemed to take forever. Why entrust your bag to an airline in the first place? OK, it's true that airlines are losing fewer bags, thanks to better tracking technology, but they haven't fixed the problem. So you still pay the airline to check your bag and then wait 50 days for them to tell you what you already know? There's something wrong with this picture.
Blowing smoke? Clearing the haze? Gone to pot? Getting into the weeds? Profits getting higher? Its all the buzz?

With many billions of dollars of business and tax revenue and many jobs at stake, as well as an emerging national debate about legalization, the U.S. cannabis industry has received quite a bit of media coverage. This has been especially true since Colorado and Washington were the first U.S. states to legalize cannabis adult use in 2012, and has morphed into a crescendo of content since California fully legalized in January 2018. And yes, in many cases, in todays super-competitive world of selling words, at times it seems more about the punny headlines than the substance underneath.

Last month I was privileged to moderate a panel at the Cannabis Media Summit here in New York City. It was the first gathering of journalists and media executives to discuss coverage of this emerging and fast-growing industry. The audience and speakers through the day included, among others, reporters from Forbes, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Boston Globe, but also more cannabis-focused outlets like The Green Market Report and High Times (and Green Entrepreneur). The New Yorker covered the event with a piece called, Dont Call it Weed  and Other Tips from the Cannabis Media Summit. Sadly they quoted several bad jokes I like to tell along with my comment that These are not going over well. Said a colleague after seeing the article, Stick to your day job.

Related: 6 Secrets to Getting Media Coverage for Your Cannabis Brand

The title of my panel was Ethics in Cannabis Coverage. Who knew this needed to be a topic? I was able to question a number of experienced journalists in the space. Several interesting questions, themes and challenges emerged from the discussion. Here are some of the highlights:

Positive bias is a challenge.

Many who offer to cover the industry at their publication more likely than not are users or supporters of the product. They are less likely, therefore, to write critical or hard-hitting investigative pieces showing the growing pains the industry is facing. Issues like impaired driving, keeping cannabis from children and teens, proper product testing and the like arguably do not receive enough attention.

Prioritizing story choices is difficult.

Is it better to cover weed weddings or the medical benefits of cannabis? Social justice issues or the latest big company to go public? The consensus was that media should cover it all, but some admitted that editors tend to focus more than they should on what cute headline will attract eyeballs.

Public company coverage may not be strong enough.

The SEC has issued a warning about investing in cannabis companies. Valuations are extremely high compared to other industries and normal metrics. It does not appear that journalists covering these companies are relaying these warnings as strongly as they might as trends, and instead just cover the daily or weekly ups and downs in these fairly volatile stocks.

Cannabis is a business story.

It has not been clear exactly who should cover this rapidly growing industry. Is it about criminal justice? Pharmaceuticals? The war on drugs? Lifestyle? It appears the media has determined that the business reporters should be the ones focused on these stories. Over time the lifestyle aspects of the path to ending Prohibition likely also will receive more and more coverage.

A prominent Columbia journalism professor, Mike Hoyt, has focused on the need for more coverage of the critical trends the industry is facing. A NiemanReports piece on cannabis coverage quotes Hoyt saying, The country is in the midst of a major cultural, legal, and economic shift on cannabis. What are the implications of this shift -- for the economy, for the culture, for our health and safety? How should this stuff be regulated and what are the potential costs of poor or nonexistent regulation? Who is getting rich and who is getting jobs? There are a million stories, many of them complicated, that all cry out for sharp arms-length journalism.

What are we seeing at the major news outlets? The NBC News website has a storyline called Legal Pot. Its subhead: Ongoing coverage of states legalization of marijuana, marijuana effects and medical marijuana usage in the US. Most of the stories are positive but some are focusing on the challenges, such as the recent study indicating that developing teen brains could be negatively impacted by using cannabis.

Related: Should Your Cannabis Company Hire a Publicist?

Fox News, known as a conservative outlet, on the other hand, appears to have consistently pushed an anti-cannabis message. Fox & Friends brought on a Florida sheriff talking about middle schoolers handing out cannabis gummies in school. In the same segment Fox anchor Brian Kilmeade declared THC addictive. Fox commentator Tucker Carlson has also implied that cannabis makes people lazy and even suggested that the Canadian government is distributing marijuana to keep people passive and compliant.

Against this backdrop remember that Foxs most ardent viewer, President Trump, has stated he is 100 percent in favor of medical cannabis and that adult use should be decided by the states.

In general, negative stories appearing in the cannabis (as opposed to mainstream) media are run either when a lawsuit is brought and it is hard for them to avoid it, or when something unfavorable happens in the regulatory environment, or when a mainstream outlet runs a negative story. With very few exceptions, we have not really seen any cannabis media moving ahead with investigative pieces dealing with some of the challenges the industry faces. In fact, with the deluge of content hitting industry professionals, the majority of outlets are simply aggregating stories appearing elsewhere.

I am no media expert (I know, watching Reliable Sources doesnt count), though I did own a radio station in Florida when I was a young lawyer. And yes, most are excited to learn that I was editor of both my high school (the Woodmere Academy Echo) and law school (the Penn Law Forum) student newspapers. I am, however, an author, and also an armchair observer of the media and its coverage choices. As a supporter of smart, well-regulated legal cannabis, I still believe it is important for the media covering this pre-K level industry to be unafraid to call out its issues, challenges, troubles, obstacles and yes, of course all the good stuff as well.

Related:

Is Cannabis Media Coverage Fair and Balanced?

How Startups can Utilise Public Relations to Attract Investors

'Shark Tank' Investors Reveal Top 5 Tips to Make Your Business Famous



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Through the ashes came an unexpected miracle at a West Virginia church.

Just before 1 a.m. Sunday, a massive fire erupted at the Freedom Ministries Church in Grandview, which is about 75 miles southeast of Charleston, the Coal City Fire Department wrote in a Facebook post.

"Picture this, a building so hot that at one point in time, firefighters had to back out," the department wrote. "In your mind, everything should be burned, ashes."

Remarkably, though, the department said several Bibles and crosses survived the blaze.

The department said none of its firefighters were injured.

"It just goes to show that God's word is more powerful than the devil's fire and fury no matter how hot it gets," one commenter wrote.
WASHINGTON - Former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper identifies as a progressive, but he emphasizes that compromise is needed "to make progress."

"I'm running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done," Hickenlooper, a Democrat, said in a video announcing his candidacy on Monday morning. "I've proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver."

Hickenlooper's rollout should be viewed as the opening salvo in a broader battle to pull the center of gravity in the Democratic debate back toward the middle and to emphasize the importance of electability if President Donald Trump is going to be defeated in 2020.

"If everyone yells at Trump, he wins," Hickenlooper said on his most recent trip to Iowa, where he's been testing the waters. "You have to laugh at him and joke along and say, 'Hey, this is what I did.'"

The first two months of this year have been dominated by the left, starting with Elizabeth Warren's New Year's Eve campaign launch and continuing through this past Thursday, when freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatened a roomful of House Democrats with primary challenges if they vote with Republicans.

A procession of more moderate figures has been waiting anxiously in the wings. Consider The Five B's:

1. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is believed to be leaning toward an impending bid for the Democratic nomination, and the billionaire has signaled that he's willing to draw heavily on his personal fortune to make his case. His top advisers have reportedly been interviewing potential hires in early states and looking for office space.

2. It would be very surprising if former vice president Joe Biden decides not to move forward with a third try for the White House. "The timetable remains in question," Dan Balz wrote in Sunday's paper. "Biden has been in no rush to declare his intentions. He resisted recommendations from some advisers to announce early in an effort to shape the race in his favor. He has chosen to wait, preferring to make himself less of a target and to see whether any of the other early entrants would significantly change the landscape. . . . Biden will be betting that this isn't a normal election but rather one that will turn far more on questions about fundamental values than on the specifics of Medicare-for-all or the Green New Deal - or on votes or actions from three or four decades ago."

3. Former congressman Beto O'Rourke, who came surprisingly close to toppling Ted Cruz last year in Texas, is expected to run and may announce later this week. "I'm a capitalist," O'Rourke told reporters recently when asked about climate change. "I don't see how we're able to meet any of the fundamental challenges that we have as a country without in part harnessing the power of the market."

4. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who won a second term in 2016 even as Trump carried the state by 21 points, is widely expected to throw his hat in the ring soon. He just wrapped up a term as chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association.

5. Michael Bennet, one of the most moderate Democrats in the Senate, also continues to explore a potential run. "We don't have to settle for disgraceful politics. We don't have to settle for being as terrible as Donald Trump," Bennet said during a visit to Iowa the weekend before last. "We don't have to settle for Freedom Caucus tactics - those guys are tyrants. We don't have to accept that."

Interestingly, the senator was Hickenlooper's chief of staff during his tenure as mayor of Denver. Hickenlooper encouraged Bennet to take over the city's public schools. Bennet then beat out Hickenlooper to get appointed to the Senate seat that opened in 2009 when Barack Obama appointed Ken Salazar as interior secretary. Both wanted that job. Hickenlooper got elected governor the next year, instead, and just wrapped up his second term. The Denver Post recently highlighted the similarities between them and wondered how they'll differentiate themselves if both get in.

The question now is whether these five white guys, The Five B's, can match the energy level on the left and draw the kinds of crowds that their more progressive competitors have been getting for months. (Sherrod Brown, who has been touring the early states, is one of the more liberal members of the Senate, but he's gotten elected statewide in Ohio several times and has pushed back recently against the lurch to the left.)

Others to watch in the pragmatist lane are former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe and current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Both are watching carefully to gauge Biden's intentions. WhileCuomo insists he's deferred to Biden, "it's obvious to some who've talked to him that White House dreams still lurk in his head, and that a part of him would like to be running," the Atlantic's Edward-Isaac Dovere reports. "When he looks at the Democrats who are already in the race, he makes a point of noting how many of them he knows, even as he makes clear that he doesn't think any of them measure up."

The 67-year-old Hickenlooper has figured out how to thread the needle in a swing state. After losing his job as a geologist during the 1980s, Hickenlooper opened a successful brewpub and grew the business. He ran for mayor of Denver after leading a citizen's campaign to stop the renaming of Mile High Stadium. After two terms, he was elected governor during a wave year for Republicans in 2010 and (narrowly) reelected in 2014 during another wave.

Hickenlooper worked with a Republican-controlled legislature after he took office. "He signed off on austere budgets that attracted bipartisan support; he allied with Republicans to boost natural gas exploration, and with Democrats to legalize civil unions," Dave Weigel notes. "In 2012, when a man shot and killed 12 people in a suburban Denver movie theater, Hickenlooper began to advocate a ban on extended magazines. . . . In 2017, he and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, led a bipartisan group of governors to oppose Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. . . . In 2018, Hickenlooper threatened to call a special legislative session to undo an anti-fracking ballot measure, if voters passed it; he backed down only after the measure failed."

In materials sent to reporters, Hickenlooper's campaign team highlights his efforts to woo GOP support for expanding Medicaid in Colorado and his success as mayor in partnering with Republicans in the suburbs to expand mass transit. He was initially opposed to legalizing marijuana, fearful that it would lead to more kids using drugs, but he's evolved and worked to make the recreational sale of pot as safe as possible. He supported the death penalty when he ran in 2010 but changed his mind before running for a second term. The issue made his reelection race much tighter in 2014 than it would have been otherwise.

The former mayor and governor will hold a "send-off" rally on Thursday night in the Greek Amphitheater at Denver's Civic Center Park before flying to Iowa for events on Friday and Saturday. Then he will head to South by Southwest in Austin on Sunday.

The narrative continues to cement that the Democratic Party is moving into territory that could make it hard for the eventual nominee to beat Trump. Consider these three stories that posted over the weekend:

1. Pennsylvania Democrats fear the party's leftward drift could cost them victories next year, Trip Gabriel reports in the New York Times: "It is probably no coincidence that most of the Pennsylvania Democrats who won Republican-held congressional seats last year were moderates who had defeated progressives in primary contests. The one progressive who made it to the general election in a competitive district, Scott Wallace, lost to the Republican, Brian Fitzpatrick, in Bucks County, which Hillary Clinton carried. Leading Democratic and Republican strategists in Pennsylvania said the most likely nominees to carry the state, at this early stage, appeared to be [Biden], a native of Scranton, and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, both of whose centrist policies fit comfortably with the state's voters."

2. "When did everyone become a socialist?" That's the question posed on the cover of next week's New York magazine: "Coolheaded Obaman technocracy is out; strident left-wing moral clarity is in. And while this atmospheric shift is felt most acutely among the left-literary crowd, it's also bled into the general discourse, such that Teen Vogue is constantly flacking against capitalism and one of the most devastating insults in certain corners of the internet is to call someone a neoliberal."

3. "John Anzalone, an Alabama-based Democratic pollster, said the perception that the party's primary voters are enthusiastically liberal is not based on data," The Washington Post reported Saturday. "There is, without a doubt, a myth that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez somehow represents the narrative of Democratic primary voters in the country," Anzalone said. "Almost half of them identify themselves as moderates or conservative."

- - -

The Washington Post's Joanie Greve and Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.
MANCHESTER, N.H. - In the most acrid and divisive political environment in recent memory, Cory Booker is gambling his presidential hopes on the unlikely proposition that it is still possible to summon people to grace.

Indeed, that is the word the Democratic senator from New Jersey uses more often than any other as he travels the early primary states.

"What's called me to run for president is because I think we need a revival of civic grace. We need to reignite a more courageous empathy," Booker told a recent Democratic gathering at a downtown arcade here, where his presentation was punctuated by eruptions of video games. "We need to understand that old African saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together."

On the stump, Booker weaves a spellbinding argument with his call to unity and collective decency. He starts with how his own destiny was changed by a volunteer lawyer who helped his parents buy the home of their dreams at a time when New Jersey real estate agents steered African-Americans away from white neighborhoods. He touts his work with unlikely allies, such as conservative Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, with whom he advanced recent criminal-justice reforms.

His appeal to our better selves sets him apart in a combative Democratic field that now features nearlya dozen candidates and is growing by the week. Booker is not answering the populism of the right with an equally fierce version from the left.

And he stands in even sharper contrast from the utter lack of grace that has defined the presidency of the White House's current occupant.

"I think this campaign is an opportunity to be more than about an election, but trying to return our country to the ability to address persistent injustices that existed long before Donald Trump," Booker told me during an interview. "We had toxic water crises across our country that proliferated before Donald Trump. We had a criminal-justice system that was broken before Donald Trump, and low wages in this country as a percentage of GDP."

If the election becomes "all about what we hate, and what we're against, and we can't find a way to reunify our country or to reignite that quest for a more beloved community, then I think we lose an opportunity here," he added.

This antidote to cynicism is not the message some Democrats want to hear as they are looking for their champion to take on Trump and the Republicans.

"Maybe we should think about kicking them out first and loving them later," Wendy Thomas, a state representative from Merrimack, New Hampshire, told Booker.

It was not the first time Booker has heard that kind of skepticism. "I know that some people might think this messaging is a risk. I had a friend of mine this morning send me some social science data about how outrage is so much more motivating than a message of love. They literally sent me social science stuff," he told me. "But I do not believe you can campaign wrong and then hope to govern right."

Then again, virtue is a fragile platform for a politician, particularly one who made his way in the brutal world of big-city politics. Booker's rivals for the nomination will no doubt point to where they say his own record stands at odds with the values he embraces.

When Booker was mayor of crime-ridden Newark from 2006 to 2013, the police department there aggressively employed the "stop and frisk" policy that disproportionately subjects racial minorities to baseless searches. He worked with Betsy DeVos, the Trump education secretary reviled by the left, on school choice. And his political career benefited, as his city did, from his close ties to Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

Still, the real test for Booker will likely come when the country gets a chance to see the Democratic contenders side by side on the debate stage beginning in June. Once the candidates start throwing elbows, will his uplifting message shine by comparison, or will it disappear?

"I do believe that there is a large enough core of Americans - decent, kind and aspirational people - who are hungering for us to get back to work with dignity, the kind of work that produces better results for everyone," Booker said.

Grace, surely, is what the country needs right now. What is far less clear is whether that is what it wants.
I feel sorry for Lynne Patton. How humiliating it must have been to be dragged before the public as Donald Trumps token black friend.

Thats not why I pity her, though. Most African-Americans, at one time or another, have been called upon to vouch for a white friends authenticity. If not that, weve certainly been held up as the token African-American in our workplace.

Most black people know when they are being used. Patton, no doubt, knew it too. But for some reason, she was willing to put her self-respect aside and stand before a national television audience as living proof that Trump is not a racist.

While the issue of race is not new in regard to Trump, it took an unusual twist last week when Michael Cohen, Trumps former personal lawyer, testified before the House Oversight Committee that he had first-hand knowledge that Trump is racist.

To counter that claim, Rep. Mark Meadows, a North Carolina Republican who has his own set of racial baggage, invited Patton to Capitol Hill to prove Cohen wrong.

So when he mentioned her name at the hearing, Patton stood up in her stylish white cape and didnt say a word, as Meadows spoke for her.

She says that as a daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Ala., that there is no way that she would work for an individual who was racist, Meadows said. How do you reconcile the two of those?

Cohens answer was revealing. Ask Miss Patton how many people who are black are executives at the Trump Organization. And the answer is zero.

Days later, Patton is still defending Trump publicly. But she seems to realize that she has been damaged. By allowing herself to be used, this smart woman who managed to work her way up from a Trump family aide to a regional administrator at the Department of Housing and Urban Development diminished her own accomplishments and settled for being merely a FODT (Friend of Donald Trump).

Later, on Instagram, she tried to set the record straight.

AP Rep. Mark Meadows, left, brought Lynne Patton, right, to make a point during Michael Cohen's testimony, Feb. 27, 2019. Rep. Mark Meadows, left, brought Lynne Patton, right, to make a point during Michael Cohen's testimony, Feb. 27, 2019. (AP)

Im highly educated. Im not a racist. Im not low-info. Im a professional. Im not brainwashed. Im not part of a cult. I dont live in a bunker, she posted. I hate political correctness. Im a leader  not a follower. I believe we need a big change. I dont blindly believe the liberal media. Im tired of politicians who lie & cheat. I support Donald Trump.

Who knows why Patton agreed to vouch for Trump. Maybe she feels as though she owes him something. Maybe she enjoys being on the periphery of the presidents inner circle. Maybe she just really, really likes him.

More important, though, is why Meadows thought that one African-American could magically transform Trumps prejudiced persona into a man of great tolerance. Unfortunately, thats not unusual either. Even some white people who arent racist have a token black friend, and often they dont even realize it. If you ask them, they will insist that they are open-minded and inclusive. But when they start naming their black friends, its only one person.

When they can point to one black person as a good friend, they can navigate through the world proudly as an obviously broad-minded person who is colorblind. But its impossible not to see color because each of us, regardless of race or ethnicity, is a conglomeration of our life experiences, and many of those are steeped in our racial and cultural identities. That is, in fact, what makes everyone unique.

Meadows obviously didnt realize that his ploy would deeply offend some of his colleagues who are people of color. But in this testy climate of racial politics, the fresh, diverse crop of newly elected congresswomen told him in no uncertain terms that the stunt he had just pulled was racist.

Just because someone has a person of color, a black person working for them, does not mean they arent racist, said Rashida Tlaib, who is Palestinian-American. And it is insensitive that someone would ... actually use a prop, a black woman, in this chamber, in this committee is alone racist in itself.

Visibly upset, Meadows suggested that she had called him a racist and insisted that her words be stricken from the record. Then he turned to his own African-American friend for validation.

If anyone knows my record as it relates  it should be you, Mr. Chairman, he said, looking for backup from Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings. I need to be clear. I have defended you

Mr. Meadows, Im the chair, Cummings said. I will clear this up. He then asked Tlaib if she wanted to rephrase her comment. Eventually, she said that she had not intended to call the congressman a racist, but rather express her feelings about what happened.

But that wasnt enough for Meadows. He needed everyone, especially his Democratic critics, to hear Cummings acknowledge that they are friends. You and I have a personal relationship thats not based on color. To even go down this direction is wrong, Mr. Chairman, Meadows said.

For good measure, he threw out the old, Ive got people of color in my family explanation for why he couldnt possibly do anything racist.

Theres nothing more personal to me than my relationship, my nieces and nephews are people of color. Not too many people know that, Meadows said. You know that, Mr. Chairman.

Then came the reverse racism card that African-Americans are all too familiar with.

To indicate that I asked someone who is a personal friend  who knows this particular individual, that she is coming in here as a prop. It is racist to suggest that I asked her to come in here for that reason, he said.

Finally, Cummings gave Meadows what he so desperately wanted.

Mr. Meadows, you know of all the people on this committee, Ive said it and got in trouble for it, that you are one of my best friends. I know that shocks a lot of people. Ive gotten into a lot of trouble for it, he said. And I could see and feel your pain. I feel it.

As it turns out, they are apparently nothing more than work friends. But maybe Meadows will invite the Cummings family to vacation with his family during the next break. And maybe Patton will get to hang out with Trump and the first lady at Mar-a-Lago one weekend.

Who knows what will come of these two great friendships? But at least we learned something from the hearing. It gave us terrific insight into whether Trump and Meadows are actually racists.
In recent weeks, there have been sustained mass protests against two long-ruling autocratic leaders south of the Mediterranean. In Sudan, three months of demonstrations prompted President Omar al-Bashir to declare a year-long state of emergency and dissolve the country's federal and state governments in a bid to consolidate his rule.

But protests have persisted, and his position still may be weakening. Some see the end of his three decades in power looming on the horizon. "Many in Sudan's streets see Bashir's decision in the past week as a classic mistake repeated by desperate dictators in their final throes, and it raises their hopes that his days are numbered," The Washington Post reported March 3.

Meanwhile, in Algeria, protests across the country swelled over the past two weeks, calling for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to abandon his run for a fifth term in April's elections. Bouteflika turned 82 over the weekend and has been in power since 1999. He suffered a stroke in 2013 that left him using a wheelchair, and he has not spoken publicly in seven years.

Bouteflika's ill health offers something of a metaphor for the gerontocracy ensconced in Algeria. Since winning a bloody independence from France in 1962, the once-revolutionary National Liberation Front (FLN) has never relinquished power. Now, the ailing Bouteflika is at the helm of what critics view as a stale regime, buttressed by the military's top brass, intelligence services and a clique of wealthy businessmen.

In 2011, as political upheaval rocked the Arab world, Bouteflika's government preserved itself even as dictators were swept away in Egypt and neighboring Tunisia and Libya, using generous subsidies to calm economic tensions, Bloomberg columnist Bobby Ghosh wrote Feb. 25. But a drop in global oil prices has forced the government to cut back its social spending. "Memories fade, however, and government handouts lose their value with time," Ghosh added. "Eight years after the Arab Spring, some Algerians may be ready for another revolution."

Analysts caution against declaring the advent of a new Arab Spring, not least because the unrest in Sudan and Algeria is taking place in rather different contexts. But across North Africa and the Middle East, the conditions for greater upheaval remain - indeed, they may be worse.

"The political, economic and social challenges facing almost every Middle Eastern regime today are worse by orders of magnitude than they were in 2011 - and the structural factors enabling protest contagion remain potent," Marc Lynch, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, wrote Feb. 26 in an analysis for The Post. The events in Algeria and Sudan were part of "a broader sequence of popular protest movements that hit more than a third of the countries in the region over the past two years," including major anti-corruption and anti-government protests in Jordan, Iraq, Tunisia and Iran, Lynch said.

In both Algeria and Sudan, the governments have long and brutal legacies of repression. "Human rights groups say more than 50 people have been killed by [Sudanese] security forces since the protests began in mid-December," The Post reported March d from Khartoum. "Thousands more - including prominent opposition figures, lawyers, doctors and journalists - have been held indefinitely in a constellation of detention centers run by Sudan's intelligence service."

The government in Algeria, in particular, has for decades styled itself as a bulwark against Islamist militant groups in North Africa. Its image as a putative anchor of regional stability and its partnership in counterterror operations with European governments led many in the West to overlook its democratic shortcoming and its stifling of dissent.

Since the uprisings of 2011, monarchies on the Arabian peninsula - especially in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi - moved to suppress Islamist or pro-democracy movements in various parts of the Arab world, arguing that they needed to restore order. And they extended sustained support to strongmen, such as Bashir, ignoring their grisly records.

But no matter these regimes' very real abilities to quash dissent, their survival no longer seems a fait accompli. "As economic and demographic challenges mount, and political institutions have been stripped of legitimacy, regimes that are already exercising maximal repression have few options for escalation," wrote Lynch. "Even if protests will not diffuse as easily as they did in 2011, there are always potential triggering events - the death of an aging leader, controversial constitutional changes, unavoidable subsidy cuts, even the end of civil wars - lurking on the horizon."

Bouteflika's allies may be hoping to buy time as they ready for his eventual departure. But their legitimacy is being challenged by an angry, disillusioned young generation fully aware of Bouteflika's infirmity. "The president is incapable both of managing the state, and of naming officials," Mustapha Bouchachi, a human rights lawyer in Algiers, told the New York Times. "This person can no longer read or write. He's been taken hostage by a mafia band."

On Sunday, it seemed the popular pressure in Algeria had won protesters a kind of victory. In a letter read by his campaign manager, Bouteflika announced that he was, indeed, running for a fifth term - one he is likely to win, given Algeria's less-than-democratic political system. But he indicated he would use his mandate to lead a "national dialogue" that would result in new elections next year, when he will no longer participate.

"This letter is Bouteflika's first response to the protests, and a clear acknowledgment that, in effect, their reasons are valid," tweeted Andrew Lebovich, an expert on North Africa at the European Council on Foreign Relations. But, he added, it "doesn't leave a lot of room for maneuver if the protests continue despite this."

In Sudan, experts warn that Bashir may find his decision to hand temporary power to military proxies to be his undoing. "The officers entrusted now with government are more or less the ones you would be worried about to mount a coup," Magdi el-Gizouli, a Sudanese political analyst, told The Post.

If not, protesters still vow to return to the streets. "Bashir's latest move is nothing but an attempt to stay in power in order to avoid prosecution for the crimes he committed" said Salah Shoaib, a spokesman for the main organization driving the protests. "We will continue the struggle to get rid of the regime and rebuild the country with new democratic institutions."

- - - Tharoor writes about foreign affairs for The Washington Post. He previously was a senior editor and correspondent at Time magazine, based first in Hong Kong and later in New York.
President Donald Trump's hypocrisy seldom comes packaged in such a neat bundle as it did recently, when he insisted that European governments "take back" hundreds of their citizens captured while fighting for the Islamic State. Five days later, he proudly asserted that the United States refuses to do the same in the case of an American woman who married three Islamic State fighters and is now in custody in Syria.

In fairness to the president, he is not alone in struggling to balance the competing demands of security, international law and morality in this matter.

Security argues against repatriating former fighters, who present a credible threat - whether as potential terrorists if free, or as agents of radicalization in prisons on their home soil if prosecuted and convicted. International law and morality suggest that nations have a responsibility to their own citizens, who cannot be cavalierly rendered stateless and thereby foisted on to someone else's list of thorniest problems.

For most Western nations, inertia has served as policy until now. They were content to watch as U.S.-backed forces captured foreign fighters who had flocked to Syria when the Islamic State was ascendant, often embracing the group's radical agenda and acting as cogs in a caliphate they imagined would last forever.

Now, most are prisoners of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in a remote corner of northeastern Syria, where the looming drawdown of U.S. troops, ordered by Trump, puts the status quo in question. As the U.S. presence wanes, so will the Kurds' ability to detain the foreign fighters and their families.

On a menu of bad choices, among the worst would be to release the fighters or allow them to escape - a recipe for instability that would pose long-term dangers in a region that has already consumed too many Western resources and lives. The threat of reconstituted Islamic State forces is real; feeding that threat would be folly.

The least bad option is to subject as many of the fighters as possible to prosecution in functioning and fair courts. That precludes the Kurds, who have no real judicial system. It means that Western countries, including the United States, need to step up.

In a limited and wrongheaded way, U.S. officials are starting to come to terms with that eventuality. Pentagon officials, along with a handful of Republican senators and Trump himself, have raised the prospect of transferring a few high-value foreign fighters to Guantanamo, which has received no new prisoners since 2008. That would hand a propaganda bouquet to radical groups the world over while doing very little to bring the fighters to justice. (Guantanamo's military commissions have struggled to conduct trials.) Moreover, European allies, who condemned the indefinite detentions of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo in the past, are unlikely to cooperate in the case of their own citizens being held there.

Britain and other countries have tried when possible to offload the fighters to third countries where they might have dual citizenship. That's also not likely to work in many instances. Countries are ultimately responsible for their own citizens, even when those citizens are a danger. It is likely to be expensive, difficult and politically unpopular for European nations and the United States (from which only a relative handful of former Islamic State militants originate) to repatriate and prosecute the fighters. Those who cannot be convicted and go free will also impose a burden on intelligence and domestic security agencies. Unfortunately, there's no better option.
Honor revealed the View 20 at the beginning of January, and now were looking forward to the non-View flagship. According to leaksters from China, the Honor 20 is on its way with a 48 MP main shooter and a 6.1 OLED screen.

The Honor 20 will have a Kirin 980 chipset, which is hardly a surprise. It will be coupled with 6 or 8 gigs of RAM and will have either 128 GB or 256 GB storage. Being an Honor smartphone and a Huawei subsidiary, we should expect Gaming+, Link Turbo, CPU Turbo, and GPU Turbo, all of them boosting the smartphone performance one way or another.



Rumored Honor 20 specs in Chinese

Looking back to the triple setup on the back, the 48 MP shooter will be coupled with a 20 MP sensor and a third 8 MP camera, but we are yet to see what will be their specialty. The leakster says it would reach DxOMark scores of 108, which would put the Honor 20 right behind the Mate 20 phones and the Galaxy S10+.

The current Honor flagship - the Honor View 20

Even though Huawei announced 40W fast-charging, the Honor 20 will stick to the 22.5W SuperCharge for the 3,650 mAh battery. We expect to see EMUI 9.0 on Android Pie, plenty of AI features and an under-display fingerprint scanner since none is visible on the back panel. Prices are rumored to start from CNY2,999 and will go as high as CNY3,799 for the 8/256 GB version of the Honor 20.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
It looks like Huawei won't stand it much longer. After a series of bans across the globe, Huawei is looking for some justice on US soil where the fiasco first began. According to two separate sources, the Chinese company will announce that it's going to court with the US government by the end of the week.

Reportedly, the lawsuit will be filed in the Eastern District of Texas, where Huawei's US headquarters are. The lawsuit will be all about the US government banning the use of Huawei's equipment for the 5G infrastructure and the use of company's smartphones by US officials.

The USA continues to argue that Huawei might be giving the Chinese government a backdoor. But since there is no solid evidence, for now, Huawei says that the government had no right to ban the use of Huawei's equipment without a trial. The Constitution doesn't allow Congress to pass such bills.

Source
Right on time, as it's the first Monday of the month, Google has today sent out the March security update for its Pixel devices. Except this time around it's not all about security, the company's phones should also be receiving some functional updates.

Yes you get the usual vulnerability fixes, but you can also expect to see improved startup times and responsiveness of the camera app on the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, better storage performance, improved Bluetooth reliability, and better playback of encrypted media in some video apps. Finally, recovery in the case of OTA update failure should be smoother now too.

These are all definitely nice things to have, hopefully the general sluggishness some people have seen will be gone with the improved storage performance. The same goes for the camera experience - while the Pixels still produce some of the best images out there, a lot of people have been complaining about app launch times being slow and the viewfinder not appearing very snappy either.

As usual, expect the update to roll out over-the-air in the next few days to all of the devices Google still supports.

Unsurprisingly, the Essential Phone is receiving the March security update too. The company may not be making the handset anymore, but over the past few months it has consistently released security patches at the same time as Google - and it still stands alone in this regard.

The Essential Phone is adding the Digital Wellbeing features that Google announced at last year's IO developer conference. You'll find these in the Settings menu once you've updated. You can expect to see a dashboard showing you how you spend your time on the device, as well as extra options such as app timers (to place a daily cap on how much you use them) and Wind Down mode, which turns the display grayscale at night.

Via 1 | Via 2
What the show does reveal is that the smooth-skinned, glass-walled buildings of the Bauhaus, and the dazzling objects created within them, are now as much a part of history as any Ionic column or Gothic flying buttress. They were expressions of their time, not just its technology or its materials, but its spirit  the desire to remake the world after the unprecedented carnage of World War I. Even if such utopian aims were guilty of naive overreach there is still great value in imagining a better future, provided it blends the universal with the particular.




Haiti - Security : The IACHR concerned about violence and the shortage in Haiti





The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expressed its profound concern about the worsening violence and scarcity in Haiti. The IACHR calls on the State to respect demonstrations and urges it to launch talks with all the actors involved, to seek a peaceful solution to the serious political and economic crisis that is currently affecting the country. In response to such serious events, the IACHR decided to deploy a Rapid and Integrated Response Coordination Unit (RIRCU), to monitor the human rights situation in Haiti and to respond to that situation.



The Commission has been monitoring events and the use of force since February 7 in Haiti. Protests against corruption and the economic situation have coexisted with street and road blockades; violence against demonstrators; occasional shots; arrests; problems for the supply of goods and services essential to provide food, drinking water and healthcare to the population; petrol, gas and power shortages; a partial or total halt in economic activity; school shutdowns; closed customs in ports and airports; and a serious impact on public services. Such events have left at least 26 people dead and more than 77 injured, according to UNICEF information.



The IACHR observes that, in response to the countrys serious situation, Prime minister Jean Henry Ceant adopted 9 emergency measures on February 16 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26955-haiti-flash-prime-minister-ceant-reveals-9-emergency-measures.html : a 30% cut in the prime ministers budget and the elimination of privileges for high officials of the State; an audit of autonomous State-owned firms by the High Court of Auditors; recovery of at least 50% of the financial losses caused by smuggling of goods through customs and across the border; the end of monopolies; wage improvements for factory workers; the recovery of funds lost over the PetroCaribe affair, through the appointment of new heads for the Central Financial Information Unit and the Unit to Fight Corruption, rapid action by the Government Commission on the investigation and report concerning the Hight Court of Auditors, and the appointment of more judges by the Superior Council of The Judiciary, to deal with the PetroCaribe investigation; the creation and operation of a Supervisory Board; the launch of industrial development funds to boost the economy and increase access to loans; and price cuts for basic products.



"In the countrys current context, there is an essential role for mechanisms for dialogue that ensure peace and reconciliation and enable the truth, justice and reparations victimsespecially families who have lost their loved onesare entitled to," said the IACHRs President, Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitino.



"There is great concern about the rapid deterioration of the countrys socioeconomic and political situation, which has led to violence and to shortages of power, fuel, oxygen and medication to provide basic services involving water, food and healthcare, said Commissioner Flavia Piovesan, IACHR Rapporteur for Haiti. That compromises the States ability to protect peoples lives, personal integrity and safety and directly impacts living conditions, so the State must take action to facilitate access to basic services and to effectively protect those rights," Commissioner Piovesan stressed.



The IACHR expresses its solidarity with the families of the people who have died and calls on the Haitian State to investigate those deaths with due diligence and full respect for due process, in order to ensure accountability and to do justice. Further, the Inter-American Commission urges all parties to reject violence and put an end to it. The IACHR urges the authorities to seek a way out of the crisis through a process of peaceful, inclusive dialogue and strict respect for human rights.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2019/03/03 | Source

The number of deaths hit a record 298,900 last year and is expected to surpass the 300,000 mark for the first time this year.

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Figures had been between 200,000 and 300,000 since 1970. As a result, Korea's population is expected to begin a natural decline in 2021, eight years earlier than Statistics Korea had projected before.

Some 298,900 people died last year, up 13,366 or 4.7 percent from 2017, Statistics Korea said Wednesday. People aged 70 and older took up 70.1 percent of those who died, slightly up from 69.3 percent in 2017.

"The number of population aged 80 and older is increasing by 100,000 each year thanks to a longer lifespan", a Statistics Korea official said. "At the same time, the number of those who die of old age is also rising".

As a result, the number of deaths will likely exceed 300,000 this year and is expected to increase by about 10,000 each year from next year. Some 423,000 Koreans are expected to die in 2030.

The number of births meanwhile is falling fast. In 2008, births still outnumbered deaths by as much as 600,000, but that has fallen to 27,900.

Prof. Lee Sam-sik of Hanyang University said, "The natural population decline will likely begin in 2021 even if we project that the total fertility rate will stay at about 1, a little higher than last year's 0.98".
Havre Police Department

Officers were called to a vehicle crash on 12th Avenue Friday at 9:50 a.m.

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Officers were called to Second Street at 10:11 a.m. Friday for a vehicle crash.

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Friday at 12:11 p.m., officers were called to a Fifth Avenue vehicle crash.

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Officers were called at 3:29 p.m. Friday to a vehicle crash on First Street.

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A Second Street caller reported Friday at 3:36 p.m. that tires were slashed on a vehicle.

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Friday at 5:10 p.m., a 12th Avenue caller reported a hit-and-run vehicle crash.

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At 6:56 p.m. Friday a Fifth Street caller reported a boy in a gray-hooded sweater and black glasses, with no coat, was standing outside staring at the caller's house and truck, and then he left, northbound. At 7 p.m. a Havre area caller asked for assistance finding his 10-year-old grandson, matching that description.

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A caller at the hospital's emergency room reported Friday at 7:59 p.m. finding drug contraband.

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David Kris Martens of Havre, 35, was arrested on a charge of partner or family member assault, reasonable apprehension, after police dispatch had a 911 caller on First Avenue hang up Friday at 9:58 p.m.

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Kaleb Steven Dobrenz of Havre, 22, was arrested on a charge of violation of conditions of release, during a vehicle stop on 14th Avenue Friday at 11:32 p.m.

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Megan Michelle Mountain of Havre, 22, was arrested on two Justice or City warrants Saturday at 1:57 a.m. at a First Street West establishment.

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An officer initiated investigation of a hit-and-run vehicle crash on 10th Street Saturday at 3:30 a.m.

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Saturday at 9:51 a.m., a caller at a First Street West establishment reported finding possible drug paraphernalia.

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An officer initiated investigation of a vehicle crash on 12th Avenue Saturday at 4:32 p.m.

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A Seventh Avenue caller reported a vehicle crash at 5:17 p.m. Saturday.

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A knife was reported stolen Saturday at 5:26 p.m at a First Street establishment.

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A gas drive-off involving a maroon or red Oldsmobile was reported at 6:39 p.m. Saturday at an 11th Avenue West business.

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Tasheena Cree Lewis of Hays, 26, was was issued a summons on a charge of partner or family member assault, after a Third Avenue caller reported Saturday at 8:49 p.m. his son's ex had pushed him to the ground and was taking too long to remove her things.

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Anita Jo Eagleman Onco of Yakima, Washington, 43, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a First Street Northeast caller reported at 9:20 p.m. Saturday an intoxicated woman was yelling.

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A bike was found at a First Street business Sunday at 1:29 p.m.

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A Fourth Street caller reported a vehicle had crashed into a pole Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

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Claudine Chiefstick of Havre, 55, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a caller reported suspicious activity at 1:16 a.m. today.

Hill County Sheriff's Office

Fabian Joel Saddler of Rocky Boy, 20, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant at Hill County Detention Center Friday at 8:07 a.m.

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A Chouteau County caller asked Friday at 1:33 p.m. for assistance locating the owner of a horse.

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Deputies investigated a 25th Avenue Southeast report of a suspicious vehicle Friday at 3:46 p.m.

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Friday at 3:55 p.m., a call from 16th Avenue West reporting a vehicle fender bender was referred to another agency.

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Ruth Lydia Reyes of Havre, 50, was arrested on a partner of family member assault charge, after a Fifth Avenue North caller reported a domestic disturbance in progress at 8:54 a.m. Saturday.

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Jona Jo Bear of Great Falls, 29, was issued a summons on charges of failure to stop for traffic control signal, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, reckless driving and driving under the influence, after suspicious activity was reported Saturday at 2:10 p.m. on U.S. Highway 87.

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A U.S. Highway 87 caller reported Saturday at 6:08 p.m. that a four-door black and gray Dodge Ram pickup truck with four teenagers inside was reported speeding up and slowing down on the highway and the vehicle occupants threw some cans out the window, and Montana Highway Patrol was notified.

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Anita Jo Eagleman Onco of Yakima, Washington, 43, was arrested on a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia at the detention center Saturday at 10:39 p.m.

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A shoplifting charge was reported at 1:58 p.m. Sunday at a U.S. Highway 2 West business.

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Joshua Robert-Monroe Guyton of Havre, 22, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a caller on U.S. Highway 87 reported an intoxicated man Sunday at 2:56 p.m.

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A caller north of Box Elder reported Sunday at 7:04 p.m. that a tire from a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck flew off and hit the front of the caller's Toyota van. Montana Highway Patrol was notified.

Havre Fire Department

Emergency medical personnel responded to four calls Friday, four calls Saturday, three calls Sunday and three calls this morning.

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Firefighters responded to a fire alarm at Havre High School Saturday at 5:31 p.m. and only had to reset the alarm, which was set off by dust from cleaning in a room.

Havre Animal Shelter

The Havre shelter this morning held two medium-hair cats, two long-hair 7-month-old kittens, one long-hair 10-month-old kitten and a medium-hair 6-month-old kitten all of unknown gender, four medium-hair male cats, one short-hair male cat and one short-hair female cat.

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The Havre shelter also held this morning a female mixed-breed dog, a male Rottweiler-German shepherd dog, female shepherd-Labrador retriever dog, a male golden retriever dog, a male mixed-breed 14-week-old puppy, two male pit bull terrier dogs and a male mixed-breed 25-week-old puppy.

Births

A girl and a boy were born Friday, March 1, 2019, to Brooke McLean and Kris Probert of Havre.
Carol Lamey, right, speaks to members of the Pachyderm Club during a lunchtime meeting Friday at the Duck Inn in Havre.

Havre Job Service Manager Carol Lamey said Friday that even though several businesses closed in 2018, such as the Herberger's, Sears and Kmart, there was no drastic spike in unemployment.

Lamey addressed the North Central Pachyderm Club during its monthly meeting at the Duck Inn Vineyard Room.

She said the impact of the closures was handled by the local economy.

"That worked out really well," she said.

She said that, according to the numbers calculated by the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, December of 2018 Hill County had a 3.6 percent unemployment rate. She added that Liberty County had 2.7 percent, Blaine had 4.5 percent, Chouteau had 3.4 percent, Fort Belknap Indian Reservation had 10.2 percent and Rocky Boy's had 11.9 percent.

"What that means is that everyone that is looking for a job has a job, so we are really close to that right now," she said.

Lamey said the Indian reservations calculate their unemployment differently on the reservations from the state and federal government, although the number they have from DOL calculates it the same way.

Unemployment in Hill County fluctuated throughout the year between 3.4 and 3.7 percent, she said, with Job Service not seeing any drastic change during the business closures.

She said the reason they didn't observe any drastic change was due to these employees being absorbed into the economy. Once the employees heard their companies were going to close, she said, they began searching for jobs ahead of the closure.

Many of the former employees of these businesses have also found jobs outside of retail, she said. She added that she notices that these employees, who have been working for years in the retail industry, have taken the opportunity to change their career paths.

She has noticed, she said, that out of the employees from Herberger's, Kmart and Sears, many people who were generally working low-paying jobs have found employment with companies that are paying higher wages.

Some of the employees of Kmart retired, she said, but Herberger's employees did not have a retirement plan set up within the company so many of them had to find jobs.

Lamey said Job Service offers programs to help retrain employees as well as help them purchase uniforms or work clothes. She said they had four former Kmart and two former Herberger's employees enroll in these programs. The former Herberger's employees also are receiving assistance to finish their college degrees, she said.

She said that, in her opinion, this is a sign that employees in general are becoming more savvy within the job market. Some employers or people complain that this generation of workers have no loyalty to the businesses they work for, she said, but this is not the case.

"We see that more and more now is it's just a different culture, you know, since 20, 30 years ago," Lamey said.

In this generation, she said, people have seen friends and families work for companies or business for years and then one day lose their jobs for no reason at all.

With companies within the past 20 to 30 years closing or having large lay off periods, the employees have become aware that jobs are not always stable, she said.

"We've always encouraged employers to check references for their potential employees, their applicants," she said. "I think that applicants are doing a better job at kinda scouting out, you know, which would be the best employers to work for and it's that market, it's their market, they get to pick right now."

She said employees have become more selective in the jobs they are applying for and want something that they will be able to live with.

What they are also seeing, Lamey said, is employers stealing employees from other employers, companies marketing themselves better to possible employees in order to recruit more people.

Job Service can advertise many types of jobs, from positions requiring high education and highly qualified employees to entry level positions, she said. Even with the minimum wage being raised to $8.50 an hour, she said, most of the jobs advertised at Job Service are anywhere between $10 to $11 an hour so companies can stay competitive. Lamey added that Job Service also tells employers to list the wage of the job on their advertisements because when people see a job without any wage listed, they often pass it without consideration.

She said that they also advise businesses to advertise benefits of the job, even if it is just a free meal. She said any benefit makes a large difference to people who are seeking employment.

"It's so difficult to recruit people and ... you've got to cover all of your basis," she said.

Lamey added that they are also advising businesses to watch their reputations - lay off or a high turnover in employees - because that can directly affect the desirability of the position.

"This is an applicant market right now, and I don't see it changing," she said. "Well, nobody sees it changing, the numbers just aren't there. ... 'It's going to get worse, it's going to get harder for employers. The employers willing to change will do better."

She said because everything is so accessible currently, with advancements in technology, anyone can easily find employment within or outside of the state or country.

The job service usually has approximately 180 jobs open at any given time within Blaine, Hill, Liberty and Phillips counties and part of Chouteau County, she said.

She added that this is a large territory and Havre Job Service recently acquiring Phillips County for its coverage.

Several offices were closed over the past year, she said, including the loss of the Glasgow office.

She added Havre Job Service Center will be holding a youth job fair at Havre High School this year on April 16. She said there are no plans to have a youth job fair in Chester or Chinook at this time.

The job fair will prepare kids for entering the workforce with a lunch prep class before the job fair begins, she said, adding that hopefully this job fair will fill employers' needs for the summer or part-time work during the school year.

She added that the Havre Job Service Center also recently paid off its building. She said with the closures of other offices across the state, the center owning its own building will help ensure that Havre will have a job service center for years to come.

"We are excited that building is paid for," she said. "That was quite an undertaking that (former director Pam Harada) worked extremely hard to get that building built."
Press release

District 4 Human Resources Development Council is inviting people to visit its booth at the 70th Annual Montana Seed Show in Harlem at the Harlem High School.

Doors will open Thursday, March 14, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, people can come visit District 4 HRDCs booth starting at 6:30 a.m. and running to 7 p.m.

People can ask how to register to win a door prize when visiting HRDCs Seed Show booth.

...
The United States is now headed by someone pathologically incapable of admitting defeat. This doesn't bode well for the 2020 presidential election .

Among the most chilling words uttered last week by Michael Cohen , Donald Trump 's former personal lawyer and fixer, were "given my experience working for Mr. Trump I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power, and this is why I agreed to appear before you today."

Cohen should know better than anyone, but we already had reason to worry. In 2016, when polls showed Hillary Clinton with a wide lead, Trump claimed the election was rigged against him.

He refused to commit to honoring the election results if he lost, warning that he'd "reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result." He added that he'd accept the results of the election "if I win."

Throughout the summer of 2016, Trump's claim of election rigging was echoed on Fox News. Newt Gingrich spoke of "a long tradition on the part of Democratic machines of trying to steal elections." Rudolph Giuliani declared that "Hillary and [Tim] Kaine are right in the middle of the Washington insider rigged system."

Trump's campaign manager at the time, Paul Manafort, said federal officials couldn't be trusted to prevent voter fraud, warning that "if you're relying on the Justice Department to ensure the security of the elections, we have to be worried."

By early August 2016, according to a Bloomberg poll, 56 percent of Trump supporters believed the election would be rigged. (Among all voters, only 34 percent predicted a rigged election; 60 percent rejected the idea.)

Even after the election, Trump refused to accept that he had lost the popular vote. Still claiming election fraud, he established a presidential commission to find it. When the commission came back empty-handed, he abruptly dissolved it, saying (wrongly) that it had uncovered "substantial evidence of voter fraud." No such evidence emerged.

For Trump, losing is the deepest form of humiliation, and humiliation is intolerable.

Every time he has lost a legislative or legal battle during his presidency he has blamed the other side, and has lashed back: shuttering the government, declaring a national emergency, whipping up his followers against recalcitrant judges, Democrats, the media or whomever he holds responsible.

Imagine it's November 2020 and Trump has lost the election. He charges voter fraud, claiming that the "deep state" organized tens of millions of illegal immigrants to vote against him, and says he has an obligation not to step down.

Only this time he's already president, with all the powers a president commands.

Traditionally, Americans have trusted our system of government enough that we abide by its outcomes even though we may disagree with them. Only once in our history, in 1861, did enough of us distrust the system so much we succumbed to civil war.

Typically, when an election is over, the peaceful transition of power reminds the public that our allegiance is not toward a particular person but to our system of government.

Five weeks after the bitterly contested election of 2000, and just one day after the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of George W Bush , Al Gore graciously declared: "I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country."

But what happens if an incumbent president claims our system is no longer trustworthy?

Trump's emissaries have already seeded the battlefield. Last April, Sean Hannity of Fox News predicted that an attempt to impeach Trump (or presumably remove him from office any other way) would cause "fighting and dividing this country at a level we've never seen ... those that stand for truth and those that literally buy into the corrupt deep state attacks against a duly elected president."

Trump's former consiglieri, Roger Stone, has warned of "an insurrection like you've never seen" and claimed that any politician who voted to oust Trump "would be endangering their own life."

Just last week, Steve Bannon, another of Trump's bottom feeders, predicted that "2019 is going to be the most vitriolic year in American politics since the Civil War, and I include Vietnam in that." He didn't make a prediction about 2020, but we can guess.

We should take seriously Michael Cohen's admonition that if Trump is defeated in 2020, he will not leave office peacefully.

Republican leaders as well as Supreme Court justices and civic and religious leaders across the land must be prepared to assert the primacy of our system of government over the will of the man who refuses to lose.

(Robert Reich's latest book is "The Common Good," and his newest documentary is "Saving Capitalism.")

(c) 2019 By Robert Reich; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
Larry Lease, 30, has joined the Havre Daily News staff as a new reporter.

"I like the news and I like writing, so I kind of just put them together," Lease said.

Lease grew up and spent most of his life in Wasilla, Alaska, population of more than 10,000 people, he said, and while he lived there he became interested in politics. He added that the area he grew up in was political and was something people just got involved in. He said that he enjoys discussing politics.

He said one of his parents served in the U.S. Air Force, and his family, inclduing him and his three older sisters, moved a...
FROM Dunkirk to Darkest Hour, Second World War dramas remain a mainstay of British cinema. Yet the immediate fallout after the war, with an Allied victory in 1945, is an area less examined on film.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Rhidian Brook, James Kents film The Aftermath redresses that balance with a heartbreaking story of loss and love.

Keira Knightley, fresh from her superb turn in Colette, plays Rachael Morgan, who arrives in Hamburg just after the war.

Meeting her from the train is her husband, Lewis (Jason Clarke), a colonel in the British army who has been posted to the war-ravaged city to help oversee its reconstruction.

Understandably, Rachael feels great antipathy towards the Germans (for reasons that become even clearer). Its exacerbated when she discovers she and her husband have been assigned a large and beautifully designed house, formerly owned by German architect and widower Stefan Lubert (Alexander Skarsgard) and his troubled young daughter, Freda (Flora Thiemann).

Although Stefan and Freda confine themselves to an attic room until they can move out to a camp, things change when Lewis invites them to stay on in the house, much to Rachaels chagrin.

Tensions begin to bubble, although it soon becomes clear that Rachaels anger  with both Lewis and Stefan  is really masking the tremendous pain of her own losses suffered during the war.

Halfway through, an intriguing twist in the plot  no spoilers here  sends the story spinning in a surprising but electric direction. By the time it has played out, the film has acquired an almost tragic dimension as it spotlights a number of characters, all of whom have been devastated by the impact of war.

As much as it treads in romantic-drama territory, The Aftermath is really a look at grief and the almost involuntary way in which a person reacts in the most challenging circumstances.

Kent, whose previous films include 2014s well-received Testament of Youth, fully gets to grips with the subtext of his story here, in what unfolds as an increasingly sad, poetic tale.

With Martin Phippss exquisite score lending real resonance, The Aftermath comes into its own in the final act, with revelations and reconciliations.

Somehow, Kent forges a happy ending of sorts against the wintry backdrop, one that will heal some wounds  although, as the film makes clear, there are no real winners in life after war.

 The Aftermath is showing at Henleys Regal Picturehouse cinema from today (Friday).
A COUPLE who lost their life savings and their home in a botched deal with a currency dealer have warned others not to make the same mistake.

Darrel and Suri Poulos, from Remenham, have spent 18 months living in a boat on the River Thames after losing 160,000.

They were trying to get back on their feet after a failed plan to build an eco-house in their village by buying a Dutch barge to run as a floating bed and breakfast business.

But after agreeing a fee for the boat, the money they gave to currency dealer Frank Deal and his company did not reach the sellers.

The couple only found out when they travelled to Belgium to pick up the barge and were unable to cross the border. They couldnt contact Mr Deal and eventually had to return to the UK in ruin.

Mr and Mrs Poulos were left homeless by the ordeal but managed to buy a riverboat on which they have been living ever since.

Their attempts to recoup the money have been fruitless after Mr Deals company filed for bankruptcy and went into administration.

Mr Poulos, 66, and his 62-year-old wife moved to the UK in 1985 from their native America and came to Remenham a year later.

The couple, who ran a consultancy business and educational company respectively, lived in a large house until September 2013 when they sold up and plunged most of their savings into designing and building a mini Eden Project as their new home.

The property, called Arcadian Waters, was to be an exceptional and innovative country house with four bedrooms, built on a plot of land near their old home.

But in 2015 the couple were refused planning permission by Wokingham Borough Council on the grounds the development would breach its green belt policy.

The Pouloses, who were then renting a house in Blandy Road, Henley, appealed but a planning inspector upheld the councils decision, which left them with no permanent home.

Mr Poulos, who is a member of Remenham Parish Council and chairman of the Henley Players, said he had been advised by planning officers that they were likely to win the appeal but he had wanted a plan B in case and investigated the barge B&B plan.

He said: This was a reasonable fallback because we didnt want to leave the area. We are strongly invested in the community and had no desire to leave.

We had talked on and off about having a boat to cruisein and maybe going to Europe. I grew up around boats. We didnt get the final resolution on whether we could build or not until May 2016 and thats when I thought to activate the back-up plan, which was buying a nice, big Dutch barge to use as a bed and breakfast.

At that point it seemed to be our only real option. We only had enough money to get something like a boat, not a flat.

We had used a lot of capital on the project and we couldnt get back on the property chain.

If you dont have the money for a deposit you cant get a house but you can get a nice boat. I had been quietly researching boats in the background.

The couple came across the barge, called Agnes of Bruges, and visited the Belgian city twice before agreeing to buy it for 175,000 euros, about 160,00 at the time.

Mr Poulos said: The guy who built it had died and the family had decided to sell it.

It was a gorgeous boat, beautifully engineered with four en suite bedrooms.

I could have brought it over and, once I had a licence in place, put people in it. I wouldnt have had to change anything, it was that well done.

I saw other boats in Amsterdam but I knew this was the one. I met the family and they were pleased and thought we would be the right kind of people to own the boat.

We came back with a sales contract and put up 10 per cent and some other expenses and then set about pulling together money for the second payment. We were very excited about it.

The couple cashed in all their investments and savings accounts as well as borrowing money from family and friends to pay for the barge.

They used Mr Deal, of Foreign Exchange in Croydon, as Mr Poulos had used him for other deals.

Nevertheless, they checked his credentials with the Financial Conduct Authority, which confirmed he was registered and was also an agent for a larger company, Plutus FX.

Mr Poulos said: I had used Frank Deal many years before for transferring some payments and never had any problems with him.

At one level I had experience with him but we also checked with the FCA as it was a lot of money. We were a bit nervous about it.

The couple transferred the deposit for the boat, which went through without any problems.

However, before they could pay the full amount the UK voted to leave the European Union, causing the value of the pound to fall and leaving them needing to find more money.

Mr Poulos said: We were then even more stretched because the pounds we had werent worth as much as they had been five days before.

However, we got the money together and locked in a date. We were due to pick up the boat at the end of July or start of August.

We didnt give up Blandy Road until we thought we had the boat. In the August the couple went over to Belgium with a skipper to pick up the barge.

This was two-and-a-half weeks after the transfer of the money had allegedly taken place but the money never reached the vendors.

Mr Poulos said: At the end of August we had to give up the rental property and we were homeless. We didnt have the boat and we no longer had the rental property.

Frank was making all kinds of excuses and said the money had been sent through an old, antiquated system that might take a month to get it back out.

I was checking with people I knew and they said it did take time sometimes.

The couple returned to the UK and stayed with friends, ending up in a flat in Burnham. They were then unable to contact Mr Deal or anyone at Foreign Exchange.

By the November they realised the payment would not be going through and approached the FCA for help.

However, they were told it had no power to act after Plutus FX denied being involved and Foreign Exchange had filed for bankruptcy.

They were advised to take their case to the Financial Ombudsman.

Mr Poulos said: Initially, it looked like they were going to rule in our favour. The FCA database says Plutus are Mr Deals principles and it looked pretty clear. Plutus asked for a week or two more and then it all went quiet.

It wasnt until March last year that the ombudsman came back and said it couldnt find any evidence that Plutus was the principle and it couldnt say it was liable.

We tried to go through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme but they dont cover this situation, only bankruptcy.

We were burned. That was it, there was nothing left.

The ordeal left Mr Poulos depressed and he even considered suicide.

He said: On the day when we finally figured it out I was ready to kill myself. It wasnt just my money but it had been my decision to use them.

I have a good friend and my wife called her and said, Darrel is really losing it. She came over and had a long talk with me to calm me down.

The friends we were staying with also gave us a lot of support.

Its terrible that it could drive you to that. You feel like you have let down friends and family.

It was everything we had plus we borrowed from relatives. It was bad enough to lose your own money but we have ended up with a moral mortgage to all those people. Thats a horrible burden.

To try to get back on their feet, the couple left their friends property and bought a 59ft Dutch cheese barge called Arcadia, which has been their home ever since.

Mr Poulos said: Our friends were trying to let us recover and giving us advice and support. At one point we talked about whether we could find another boat.

I found a couple around 45,000 to 50,000 but I couldnt get that kind of money.

I found this boat lying in Maastricht with a ridiculous price of 19,000 euros. It was a 60ft steel boat with a big diesel engine.

My first thought was whats wrong with this thing? It was so far outside the average price for boats this size.

We had seen others in the UK for 25,000 and been disappointed because they looked nothing like their pictures.

I went over with really low expectations and was shocked that it wasnt that bad.

It needed a lot of work and had a lot of rust but I could see you could make it work as a small living boat.

After buying the vessel, they sailed to Antwerp with the owner before travelling on to Calais and contracting the same skipper, Mark Montgomery-Smith, to pilot it across the Channel. They moored along the Thames in Henley as they stripped it back and rebuilt it before moving in permanently in September 2017.

Mr Poulos said: Its livable for both of us. I say its the ultimate downsizing before they move you into a coffin!

Instead of council tax you pay an Environment Agency fee which is pretty much like for like. Its a very different lifestyle but not all bad.

We are now in our second winter and we are pretty much off-grid from April to October.

Its solar powered so in the winter I have to run heating oil and some electricity. You are much more involved in your home as you have to get up and make sure you have water.

At the same time, were in a lovely location. Life on the river is gorgeous and everyone on the footpath is in a good mood, not like rush hour. Im making the best of a really bad deal.

Mr Poulos said he was still angry with the FCA for the advice it gave him prior to deciding to use Mr Deal and Foreign Exchange.

He said: They gave us information and reassurance that was not proper. If Id known they didnt offer any cover we wouldnt have touched it with a bargepole.

Having been told he was regulated and an agent for another organisation with protection we thought we were doubly protected.

I can never forgive the FCA for holding themselves out as something protecting consumers and then not doing it at all. How can it be fit for purpose?

Mr Poulos said that while he had lost hope of getting his money back, he didnt want others to make the same mistake and urged people to be vigilant when sending money through currency dealers.

He said: For almost 12 months Ive tried not to talk about it. Ive got to get on with my life and I cant afford to get depressed and frustrated about it.

Weve exhausted everything and given all these organisations a chance to do their job and none of them has come through.

Lets name and shame them and hopefully there will be people in Henley and other parts of the country who read this and see that just because it says its authorised by the FCA that doesnt mean anything at all.

An FCA spokeswoman said: We have been in contact with Mr and Mrs Poulos to explain our rules and how the financial services compensation scheme protection does not apply to firms that provide money remittance services.

We have also reviewed the activities of Foreign Exchange and engaged extensively with the firms administrators and other authorities but unfortunately at this time we cant provide an update.

Clive Wolman, a barrister representing Plutus FX, said: We appreciate how devastating such losses can.

However, as the contractual documentation at the time made clear, the Pouloses transacted with Foreign Exchange as a small payments institution in its own right.

FXL was registered as such under the EU payments services directive with the Financial Conduct Authority.

In other words, the Pouloses dealt with FXL as a principal counter-party, not as an agent for Plutus FX.

It is correct to say that FXL was also registered with the FCA as an agent for Plutus FX.

That, however, was for the purpose of allowing FXL, with Plutus FXs approval and under its supervision, to carry out very large, or very large volumes of, transactions if and when FXL needed Plutus FXs regulatory cover and oversight to do so.

FXL did not need Plutus FXs regulatory cover for the Pouloses transaction and indeed, as it turned out, in the course of its short history, FXL never actually carried out any transactions as the agent for PlutusFX.

The above explanation of Plutus FX was investigated, accepted and endorsed by the Financial Ombudsman Service, to whom the Pouloses made an unsuccessful complaint two years ago.
THE owner of the White Lion pub in Crays Pond has been ordered by the High Court to stop living there illegally.

Timothy Straker QC upheld an enforcement notice issued by South Oxfordshire District Council which requires Satwinder Sandhu and his family to vacate the premises.

Mr Sandhu, who represented himself in court, was warned he could be jailed if he does not move out by April 23. He was also ordered to pay the councils legal costs of 20,000.

Mr Sandhu, 45, who moved into the former Greene King pub after buying it in 2013, has already been prosecuted twice for failing to leave the premises and ordered to pay a total of more than 6,000 in fines and legal costs.

The council escalated the issue amid complaints from villagers that not enough was being done.

The High Court hearing was due to take place in November but was postponed at the last minute after Mr Sandhu complained that the council hadnt spelled out what he needed to do to comply.

He claimed that his use of the premises was lawful as he had

re-opened the business as Whisky Haveli, a bar selling a small selection of whiskies and mixers from a converted front room. He claimed to have a second room available for private hire.

Members of the Crays Pond Action Group, who want the pub to return, visited the bar and said it resembled a pop-up business more than a permanent one.

They said they could only see the second room by looking through the blinds from outside and it appeared to be the familys living area.

The councils planning enforcement officers carried out an inspection and concluded that Mr Sandhu was still in breach of the notice as the residential use was not ancillary to its intended main function as a pub.

Mr Straker, a planning barrister who sat as a judge at the High Court in London, agreed with the council, saying the whisky bar could no more be called a pub than a fig leaf on a naked statue could be called clothing.

He advised Mr Sandhu to sell the property and buy a new family home with the proceeds.

If Mr Sandhu doesnt leave he could be prosecuted for contempt of court, which carries a prison sentence of up to two years or an unlimited fine.

Peter Dragonetti, chairman of Goring Heath Parish Council, which opposed Mr Sandhus use of the pub, said: We are very pleased with this outcome.

It has taken five-and-a-half years to reach this stage but we, along with the action group, feel vindicated that the judge agreed with us and the district council that Mr Sandhu was acting unlawfully.

Mr Straker had clearly seen the written statements from members of the action group, which the district council put forward as part of its evidence.

The so-called whisky bar was very sparsely furnished and looked more like a living room, the only similarity to a bar being the small number of whiskies available.

I think the judges comments about the fig leaf summed it up perfectly. The next steps will be down to Mr Sandhu but ideally he will sell to an individual or group within the community who wishes to run it as a pub.

Bill Pechey, a member of the action group who lives in the village, said: Were very pleased that the law has finally been upheld and the right thing is being done.

I hope we can continue to get the pub back. We had a remarkable response when we looked into whether anyone locally was interested in buying it.

Ultimately, its up to Mr Sandhu and those other parties as to what happens next but we can only hope.

I believe a pub would still be viable in that location as the success of a pub is dependent on the quality of the landlord and the better ones are almost always successful.

It would be highly likely to succeed under some form of community ownership. If youve got, for example, 100 shareholders, theyre more likely to visit their pub when they want a drink as theyre personally invested in it.

The White Lion was successful under the ownership of Stuart and Caroline Pierrepont but after they left in 2008 it struggled under a rapid succession of managers.

Shortly after moving in, Mr Sandhu was ordered to submit a retrospective planning application which was rejected so he appealed but was again unsuccessful.

He told a planning inspector that he bought the pub intending to open an Indian restaurant but discovered that this wouldnt be viable as staff would struggle to get there.

He considered re-opening the pub but declined after hiring a consultant who concluded the location wasnt viable due to changing tastes and the presence of competing pubs in Woodcote, Whitchurch and Goring. The district council commissioned a report which reached the same conclusion but the council disowned this, saying its consultant hadnt properly researched the issue.

Mr Sandhu proposed several schemes to re-open the pub with additional businesses on the site such as bed and breakfast units, which he said were necessary as the pub would make a loss and needed to be subsidised. These were refused.

The district council said it was delighted by the High Court ruling.

Mr Sandhu, who used to run a pharmaceutical business in Huddersfield, declined to comment.
Part of what it means to be an animal that has a long life, that has a rich culture, that has good memory, is the space they occupy. Its an important part of what allows them to flourish, said Gruen, author of the book Ethics and Animals: An Introduction. So to truncate that basic capacity to travel the way they travel is really welfare-impacting. ... Maybe you can improve their welfare within captivity, but ultimately the impact of captivity on them is going to be overall negative.
'Dublin District Court heard Reilly was seen smashing one of the car's windows in Kings Inn Court, Phibsboro, last July 25. As he was leaning into the car, he was confronted by the passer-by' (stock photo)

A "relentless" thief who broke into a parked car was restrained by a brave passer-by until gardai arrived.

Shane Reilly (42), described by a judge as a "career criminal", hurled abuse at the man when he was confronted.

Reilly, of St Fintan's Terrace, Cabra, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and breach of the peace.

The father-of-one was also charged with the theft of 199 worth of Oil of Olay products.

He was given a five-month suspended sentence.

Dublin District Court heard Reilly was seen smashing one of the car's windows in Kings Inn Court, Phibsboro, last July 25. As he was leaning into the car, he was confronted by the passer-by.

Convictions

Reilly became threatening and abusive to the man, who restrained him until gardai arrived.

In another incident, Reilly went to Boots in Phibsboro and stole 199 worth Oil of Olay products.

The court heard he had 130 previous convictions.

Judge Brian O'Shea remarked that the passer-by "thankfully had the fortitude" to restrain the accused until gardai arrived.

Reilly had been committing offences on "effectively a relentless basis" up until a few months ago, the judge added.

The court heard the Oil of Olay was stolen to help finance a drug habit.

Reilly had an "outrageous" list of convictions, the judge said.

He suspended the prison sentence for a year.
Tragic Nicola Kenny (inset) was killed when a lorry veered off the road and hit her vehicle

The family of a young mum who died in a crash while on her way to see her day-old baby in hospital has pleaded with drivers to be aware of how tiredness kills.

Nicola Kenny (26) was killed by a truck driven by a man who had had less than five hours' sleep and who gardai believed had not taken the proper breaks.

The tragic mum was being driven to see her baby Lily Rose, who had been transferred to hospital in Dublin for specialist care after her birth in South Tipperary General Hospital.

While on the M8 at Dogstown, between the Cahir and Cashel exits, Nicola received a phone call and her aunt Irene, who was driving, pulled in to the hard shoulder so she could take the call.

Impact

It was a staff member from Temple Street Hospital telling her Lily Rose was fine and there was no need to travel to Dublin.

But moments later, the truck veered off the motorway and crashed into the back of the car. Nicola was in the back seat and bore the brunt of the impact.

She died at the scene, on September 5, 2016.

Irene and Nicola's mother Ann, who was in the front passenger seat, were injured.

An inquest last week found Nicola's death was accidental, as a result of multiple traumatic injuries consistent with a road traffic collision.

Tipperary coroner Paul Morris issued a special appeal for commercial vehicle operators to comply with all tachograph safety guidelines as he stressed the case underlined the appalling consequences of fatigue.

Ann Kenny echoed that call yesterday, saying it only takes a split second for a tragedy to happen.

"It's obvious that driver fatigue happened that day. Everyone knows that," Ann told the Herald.

"The coroner said people need to be more aware of the dangers of driver tiredness and I agree with him.

"This is very hard on our family. I didn't go to the inquest myself. I stayed at home and looked after Lily Rose.

"She comes first. I have to look after her, she is number one.

"The inquest is out of the way now, but it's not getting any easier for us. It's something we have to live with. Lily Rose is none the wiser. Thankfully she's thriving."

Truck driver Ciaran McBride, from Keady, Co Armagh, was given a suspended prison sentence last year after he pleaded guilty to careless driving causing death.

The Circuit Court trial heard the tachograph on his lorry was found not to be working properly because the recording disc had been incorrectly inserted.

The driver had gone to bed at midnight and got up at 4.30am to go to work.

He drove from his Armagh home to Kells, then on to Cork and was on his way back to Kells when the collision occurred.

He had driven a total of 470km since he left home.

The driver insisted to gardai that he had taken the required breaks of 15 minutes and 30 minutes during that period.

Because the tachograph was not working properly, gardai could not verify the details.

However, the Circuit Court heard that officers disputed the stop periods claimed as the lorry was equipped with a toll scanner.

When they recreated the journey from its details, they found the trip did not match the claimed driver breaks.
Gardai are probing whether a small-time gangster was shot dead for his suspected involvement in the murder of Mark 'Guinea Pig' Desmond in December 2016.

David Lynch was targeted as he left his home in Foxdene Avenue, Clondalkin, shortly after 2pm on Friday.

He was shot a number of times in the head and neck and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Hitman

Gardai suspect that an expierenced hitman was involved due to the nature of the shooting, and the way the two vehicles used were disposed of.

Detectives are probing a number of possible motives for the killing, and are investigating whether Lynch was targeted by associates of his former pal, notorious gangster Desmond, who died in a brutal gangland execution on December 2, 2016.

Desmond (41) was shot dead at Griffeen Valley Park in Lucan, west Dublin.

He died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest and groin.

Lynch was suspected of "logistical" involvement in that killing.

However, gardai have stressed that this is only one line of inquiry.

Lynch's links with several criminals in Kildare and Dublin could also have made him a target for several organised criminal gangs.

The 42-year-old was repeatedly shot by the gunmen and died at the scene.

He was closely connected to a number of major criminals across Dublin and Kildare but kept a low profile and had no major criminal convictions.

Following Lynch's murder, his killer fled the scene in a white van, which was found burnt out a short distance away outside Lucan National Community School.

A firearm with a silencer attached was discovered beside the van.

Dozens of children on their way home from school saw Lynch's dead body lying in the road.

Callous

Superintendent Paul Doran, of Lucan Garda Station, said: "It was a cold, callous crime on a busy day with a man going about his business in a residential area.

"It's a cause of serious concern to An Garda Siochana.

"We do have patrols in the area and areas close by. I would be revisiting those patrols to alleviate public concerns."
Marcin and Aleksandra with son Piotr at his First Communion

Loving mother Aleksandra Filak's dream is to hug her children again after a stroke left her paralysed and mute.

Aleksandra (34) has locked-in syndrome caused by the stroke, which came just three weeks after she gave birth to her second child, Anastasia, 17 months ago.

Previously in excellent health, she can now only communicate with her eyes and is in need of 24-hour care.

Her husband Marcin has been forced to leave a job he loved so he can take care of his wife and children, the eldest of whom, Piotr (13), has autism.

"Everything was perfect," said Marcin, of Kildalkey, Co Meath. "Aleksandra never had a problem with her health. She never smoked, looked after herself, we can't understand it.

Muscles

"The stroke didn't affect her brain itself but destroyed the part that sends signals to the muscles to move.

"She can only move her eyes up and down or from left to right because the optic nerve wasn't affected.

"We communicate at the minute with a special alphabet board and with colours but she knows everything that is going on. Inside, she is the same Aleksandra."

Aleksandra spent nine months in the Mater Hospital and a further four months in the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, where she remains.

But her biggest wish is to be able to hug Anastasia and Piotr again.

"She's a warrior," said Marcin. "Despite everything, she hasn't lost her sense of humour and fighting spirit and above all her involvement in the family.

"But she hasn't held our daughter since she was three weeks old. It's her biggest desire to be able to hug them again.

"Our son is now 13 and attends a special school.

"Aleksandra played a key role in providing him with the services and supports he needed and they were very close. He is doing well at school but he has difficulty understanding and expressing feelings about what happened to his mother."

Marcin had to give up his job at Alfco in Trim, where he says his bosses and colleagues have been hugely supportive.

However, he needs funds to take care of his family while they are waiting for HSE to approve a home care package.

"Aleksandra desperately wants to get home and I know she will progress even further at home," he said. "But she will need specialist equipment.

"I loved working at Alfco. My two bosses and all the staff were so good to me.

"Fr Sean from Trim and Fr Janusz from Navan, alongside the Polish community, have also helped hugely.

"I loved my job. We rented a house and our dream was to buy a house in Ireland in 2018. That was the plan but that plan and our life changed in 20 minutes when my wife got that stroke.

"I dream of going back to work because it will mean that my wife is OK again and I can again provide and care for my family like it should be. But at the moment, that is impossible and we just need money for everyday living."

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help Marcin at gofundme.com/please-support-ola-amp-family.
Workers will receive a 29 payment if they are called into work but then told they are not needed under a new law that comes into force today.

The new legislation, designed to protect employees in precarious employment, will also restrict the use of zero-hour contracts.

It includes the compensatory payment if staff are called on to work but then are not required to do their shift.

This payment is set at three times the hourly minimum wage.

Rates

The minimum wage increased to 9.80 an hour from the start of this year so workers in this situation will be entitled to a payment of 29.40.

However, some industries, including contract cleaning, have different statutory minimum wage rates which will be used to calculate the payments.

The compensation payment is designed to discourage the practice of employers calling a group of employees into work when there is only work for a few of them.

The first five to show up might get the work and the rest would be sent home.

The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Law also restricts the use of zero-hour contracts.

These are contracts where an employer is not obliged to provide a minimum number of working hours to their employee.

However, the legislation does allow this type of arrangement in some circumstances.

They include cases defined as "genuine casual employment", or where employers need cover in emergency situations or short-term absences.

Employees whose contracts do not reflect the hours they work will also get a right to minimum hours.

This will reflect the hours they worked over a period of 12 months.

In addition, employers are obliged to give their staff the terms of their employment within five days of starting.

Employment Affairs and Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has launched an advertising campaign to inform workers of their new entitlements.

She said the act was one of the most significant pieces of employment legislation in a generation.
A Smithsonian Channel documentary that premiered in April 2019 makes the case that Pulaski may have been intersex, or with a body that doesnt fit neatly into standard definitions of male and female. In The General Was Female? scientists use skeletal remains and DNA testing to make a case that a skeleton with female features was Pulaskis. The debate over the skeleton is really his has been raging since as far back as 1854, when his remains were moved to a monument in Savannah, Ga.
After Hayes was brought to the station following his release from the hospital, detectives working the investigation disagreed over what to do with him, according to Lambert. Some detectives and supervisors wanted Hayes charged with aggravated assault or another crime because of Muhammads claim that Hayes had threatened him, the suit alleged. But Lambert said he ordered that Hayes not be charged and instead be released to his family.
A Tribune investigation later found that while he was on the lam, Hicks repeatedly conducted financial transactions in Chicago to enrich himself and the people closest to him. Two years after he vanished, his signature appeared on land records giving his son  also a Chicago police officer  the South Side property that Hicks had used to secure his release on $150,000 bond.
Although Chicagoans might feel that this winter has been never-ending, it has only been since late January that the weather has been unusually cold. A warm start to winter meant that even with near record-cold temperatures starting in late January, Chicagos mean temperature for the winter season was 0.3 degrees above normal, with the average highs and average lows also above normal, according to the National Weather Service.
An uneasy holiday season began here in 1941. Then the war crashed in.
Police tried to pull over the 1999 black Chrysler around 8:45 p.m. in the 10700 block of South Michigan Avenue, authorities said. The car sped off and was northbound in the 10700 block of South Calumet Avenue when it ran a stop sign, colliding with a 2002 white Acura that had been going west on 107th Street, police said.
The two had been arguing in the 100 block of East 60th Street before the man allegedly shot the woman in the head, police said. He then shot himself, also in the head, according to police.
The Vermont senator launched his 2020 presidential election tour with stops in his native Brooklyn and in Chicago where hes working to move beyond the familiar 2016 presidential trail themes of economic and social justice and sharing his personal story, the New York Times reported. He opened up about being the child of immigrants who saw their family killed in the Holocaust, about growing up in a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn and the time he was arrested while a student at the University of Chicago. At Navy Pier on Sunday night, the 77-year-old recalled how he was taken into custody while protesting the squalid conditions of mobile trailers used as overflow classrooms at South Side schools  a move to stave off integration, the Tribunes Elyssa Cherney reports. You can read the story here.
During the struggle, a shot rang out in the back seat. At this point, a Ford Explorer that had been circling the block struck the Fusion, Guzman said. The witness who drove the Fusion ran away from the vehicle but saw two gunmen from the SUV fire into the car through the windshield. One of the gunmen then opened a rear passenger door and fired shots inside, she added.
There is little doubt that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will seek political mileage from the air strikes the Indian Air Force conducted in Pakistani territory on February 26 after the killing of 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in Jammu and Kashmir 12 days prior.

Statements by senior BJP leaders, including the Prime Minister and the party president Amit Shah, are already suggesting that the September 2016 surgical strikes across the Line of Control and last months air strikes under the BJP-led government are a marked departure from the policy followed by previous dispensations in dealing with Pakistan-sponsored terrorism.

Will this bring significant political gains to the BJP in the forthcoming elections? No one can answer the question. Electoral outcomes, especially in a parliamentary democracy, depend on a multitude of factors.

There is no way of ascertaining whether national security issues dominate over other factors. One way to approach the question is to look at how parties in power have fared in elections after important military conflicts.

India has fought four fullscale wars since independence: in 1948 against Pakistan, 1962 against China, 1965 against Pakistan and 1971 against Pakistan. There was a limited military conflict after the Pakistani intrusion into Kargil in 1999.

Except the 1962 war against China, India has not lost any of these conflicts. However, there does not seem to have been any direct relation between the outcome of these wars and the fortunes of the ruling party. India won (1965) and lost (1962) a war between the 1962 and 1967 general elections. The Congress, which was the ruling party in both the elections, lost both in terms of vote share and seat share between these elections. However, in the 1971 elections, the party almost recovered the losses it logged between the 1962 and 1967 polls.

The 1971 war led to the creation of Bangladesh from what was East Pakistan and was one of the biggest strategic achievements for India. Indira Gandhi achieved this feat within months of her election in March 1971. This goodwill, however, was frittered away with the imposition of emergency in 1975, and the Congress slumped to its worst (until then) defeat in the elections held in 1977.

The Kargil war was fought under a BJP-led government and the country went to polls within months of Indias military success in reclaiming its territory in Kargil. While the BJP came back to power in 1999, its seat tally remained the same in the 1998 and 1999 elections.

To be sure, Indias response to terror attacks is a different ball game from direct military conflicts, as opting for a military response is a matter of choice for the government. For example, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Manmohan Singh governments decided against overt military attacks after the terror attack on Indias parliament in 2001 and the Mumbai attacks in 2008. Vajpayee lost the 2004 elections while the Congress was re-elected in the 2009 polls.

Even after the 2016 surgical strikes, the BJPs electoral performance has been a mixed bag. It achieved a big victory in the first round of elections after the surgical strikes, wresting Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand from its opponents and retaining Goa despite winning a fewer number of seats. However, its performance dipped in subsequent elections. The BJP retained Gujarat with a lower number of seats in 2017, and in the following year, it could not from a government in Karnataka despite emerging as the single largest party in the assembly and lost the three Hindi belt states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

There is another way to look at how the recent air strikes in Pakistan could affect politics in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP will try to use the strikes to attract voters who may not be its core supporters but can swing to its side on matters of national security. This might also trigger better opposition unity on the ground to pre-empt such consolidation behind the BJP. The joint statement by 21 opposition parties lauding the armed forces and criticising the BJP for politicising the action is an indication of such thinking in the anti-BJP camp. Which one of these outdoes the other would only be known when the election results are out.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping have each championed a model of authoritarian capitalism (call it development with a dictators face). But what neither leader seems to have anticipated is that the Russian and Chinese commercial sectors are becoming political forces in their own right, increasingly bringing pressure to bear on policymaking.

Over the past two decades, Russian and Chinese multinational corporations  many of them awash in cash  have become powerful foreign policy tools for their respective regimes. But they were once seen as modernising forces that would help open up business and society alike. With energy giants like Gazprom and Rosneft promising to bring commercial values to backward Russia and the newly independent former Soviet states, Anatoly Chubais, a key architect of Russias privatisation programme, touted them as the vanguard of a new liberal empire. (Insofar as these firms also bound the former Soviet republics closer to Russia, so much the better.)

Likewise, in China during the presidencies of Jiang Zemin (1993-2003) and Hu Jintao (2003-2013), the rise of banks like the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China, and of energy and heavy industry firms like Sinopec, Sinochem, and the China Railway Construction Corporation, were seen as harbingers of modernisation. Yet today, no one could mistake these firms for the equivalent of an ExxonMobil or a Microsoft. With top executives often parachuting directly into the boardroom from high political office, Chinese mega corporations have long represented a merger of business and the state.

Moreover, as Gazprom, Rosneft, and the Chinese technology giants ZTE and Huawei have grown more essential to their respective governments, business and state interests have become even harder to disentangle. In the interest of their national champions, both the Russian and Chinese governments now seem to be pursuing policies they might not have chosen otherwise.

This dynamic is clearly on display in Venezuela. Through its affiliation with Venezuelas state oil monopoly, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Rosneft has funnelled upward of $17 billion in loans to the Chavist regime over the past decade. Meanwhile, Rosneft gained three million tons of oil in 2017 from its operations in Venezuela; more generally Russia has invested in many Venezuelan industries, from banking to bus assembly. At the same time, Venezuela has been one of the largest buyers of Russian weapons among Latin American countries.

Owing to these debts and other economic ties, Putin has little choice but to back the Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduros crumbling regime, even as public support in Russia for the Kremlins foreign interventions declines. Rosnefts interests in Venezuela are simply too deep for it to withdraw, especially now that Western sanctions have crippled the firms ability to secure financing in international markets.

Russias support for Maduro does not rise to the same level as its commitments in Syria, where its relationship with the Assad family goes back decades. Rather, its continued engagement in Venezuela reflects a cold, hard business calculation. According to Reuters, private security contractors with close ties to the Kremlin have been sent to defend Maduro. At the same time, there have been unverified (but plausible) reports of Russian planes departing Venezuela with shipments of gold, as payment for the countrys debts. Putin knows that if National Assembly President Juan Guaido takes power, those who stood with Maduro will likely be ousted, and Russias privileged access to Venezuelas oil fields revoked.

In monetary terms, Maduros fall could mean even larger losses for China, which has investments in Venezuela estimated to be worth around $60 billion  at least three times more than Russias. Like Russia, China got into bed with the Venezuelan regime in the 2000s, when the country was flourishing under former President Hugo Chavez. While China secured a sorely needed source of oil for its fast-growing economy, Chavez was able to reduce Venezuelas reliance on the US as one of its leading export markets. In the meantime, Chinese tech giants have aided the Maduro regime in its domestic surveillance efforts, and (like Russia) China has sold Venezuela expensive weapons.

Still, should Maduro fall, China may be less exposed than Russia. The Chinese have been careful to cultivate contacts among various elements of Venezuelan society, including the opposition. And while China still supports Maduro officially, it has not followed Russia in accusing the US of an attempted coup.

This suggests that China wants to avoid the kind of radical steps that Russia is taking. The Kremlin is now actively competing with the US to influence the course of events in Venezuela, and has described the US attempt to deliver humanitarian aid across the Colombia-Venezuela border as a ruse to smuggle in weapons for the opposition.

Chinas moderate behaviour no doubt owes something to its ongoing trade negotiations with the US. Before extending his deadline for imposing higher tariffs on Chinese imports, US President Donald Trump indicated that Huawei and ZTE might be included in a final Sino-American trade deal. That would certainly please Xi, whose paramount interest is to protect both firms economic might.

With the ability to bar US companies from selling crucial inputs to Chinese firms, the Trump administration could inflict serious harm on both ZTE and Huawei. Huawei already stands accused of conspiring to violate US sanctions on Iran, leading to the arrest of its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada this past December. And ZTE has pleaded guilty to similar charges, paying penalties of $1.4 billion in 2017.

At the end of the day, Venezuela cant hold a candle to the strategic importance of these two firms. And for the Kremlin, the calculus is the same: the prerogatives of business define the national interest. But, perhaps to Putins chagrin, in Venezuela that calculus has produced the opposite outcome.

@PROJECT SYNDICATE

Nina L Khrushcheva is Professor of International Affairs at The New School, New York

The views expressed are personal
In September 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced some new faces to his cabinet of ministers. Some of them have had previous expertise in a particular area of governance. However, the portfolios allotted to them had nothing to do with their expertise. Hardeep Singh Puri, a former diplomat, was sent to the ministry of housing and urban affairs; KJ Alphons, who had experience in housing and urban affairs, was allotted tourism, and electronics and information technology; Satyapal Singh, a former police commissioner, was given the twin portfolios of human resource development, and water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation; and RK Singh, Indias former home secretary, found his new offices in the power ministry and the ministry of new and renewable energy. This cabinet reshuffle reminded me of a problem in a school mathematics textbook: In how many ways can four different letters be put in four distinctly addressed envelopes such that no letter goes in the right envelope?

The Indian polity has traditionally been uncomfortable with the idea of expertise. Most politicians dont have expertise in any area of governance, and they are assisted by career bureaucrats who are not just generalists but also quite unwelcoming of specialists as lateral entrants. Some of this has begun to change and experts have been inducted in key government positions, especially in the domain of economic policy making. As a result, we have seen the likes of Raghuram Rajan, Arvind Subramanian, Arvind Panagariya and Kaushik Basu serve in the government of India. Even some state governments have shown openness to expert voices. For instance, the Kerala chief minister had appointed Gita Gopinath as his economic advisor before she was called on to become the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. However, the idea of involving experts has not percolated to political parties and individual legislators in any significant manner.

This is the reason why the Congress president Rahul Gandhis decision to ask Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda to head a task force on national security should be applauded. The immediate mission of the task force will be to draft a national security strategy document. Once approved by the Congress president, this document will a valuable resource to understand the policy positions of the Congress party. Given that political parties in India are quite flexible ideologically, there is no way to ascertain their views on different issues of importance. And the problem is not restricted to defence and security policies. One does not know, for instance, which political party in India sees slums as cheap entry points into the urban landscape and which sees them as ugly outgrowths of the countrys haphazard urbanisation. It will, therefore, be great if all political parties find some mechanism to embed experts in framing of their policy positions.

Indian legislators lack resources to hire advisors and staff members. Under the Members of Parliament (Office Expense Allowance) Rules, 1988, a Member of Parliament (MP) gets merely 40,000 per month for obtaining secretarial assistance. This is clearly insufficient to hire a sufficient number of research assistants, leave alone experts. A few independent initiatives, like the LAMP fellowship by PRS Legislative Research, have filled the vacuum by providing young researchers to legislators. The problem of finding experts, however, remains.

Advanced democracies have found a number of ways to support both their legislators as well as political parties. Each member of the House of Representatives in the US is provided an allowance to hire 18 full-time, permanent employees. The size of a US Senators staff can go as high as 60. Besides, there are staff members for all the congressional committees and also non-partisan support in the form of Congressional Research Service, the Government Accountability Office, and the Congressional Budget Office. In the UK, each MP is allowed to hire up to four staff members. There is also a Royal Society Pairing Scheme in which 30 research scientists are paired every year with individual parliamentarians and civil servants.

Think tanks also play a vital role in formulating a political partys policy positions. The US has conservative and progressive think tanks which provide the backbones to the Republican and Democratic agendas respectively. Their influence should not be taken lightly. For example, Mandate for Leadership, a book published by The Heritage Foundation, formed the bedrock of President Ronald Reagans governance principles. Credible estimates suggest that more than 60% of the 2,000 recommendations in the book were acted upon. The UK has research facilities for different political parties operating out of Parliament itself. Policy Research Unit, for instance, provides research support to Conservative MPs. There can be think tanks outside Parliament affiliated to political parties. An example is the Fabian Society affiliated to the Labour Party. Germany has political foundations attached to six main political parties and are funded out of the federal budget. Among other tasks, these foundations conduct empirical studies on the behalf of their respective political parties.

India does have a few think tanks closely associated with political parties. However, the range and quality of work done could be more robust. It would be great if the latest step taken by the Congress president sets a new trend, and each political party and legislator devotes more energy and resources to developing concrete policy positions.

kunal.singh@htlive.com
The ceremonial handover by Pakistan of a captured Indian Air Force pilot might make for good television, but Pakistans increasing global isolation is the story that has greater significance. Talking heads on television in both countries claim victory for their side on an almost daily basis. Amid this noise, and well after the current heat dissipates, it is Pakistans loss of friends abroad that will have strategic consequences.

The day Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman returned, Pakistan failed to attend a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), of which it is a founding member, for the first time ever. This was Pakistans way to protest the refusal by OIC foreign ministers to rescind their invitation to Indias foreign minister to address the conference in Abu Dhabi.

That Indias external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, addressed the 57-member body of majority-Muslim countries while Pakistan was absent speaks volumes about the state of Pakistans ties even with traditional allies. The host, United Arab Emirates (UAE), had only recently helped bail Pakistan out of its economic difficulties. But it chose India over Pakistan as the preferred guest at the OIC meeting within a couple of weeks after the Pulwama terror attack and just a few days after the Indian air strike inside Pakistan.

India-Pakistan crises are not new, nor are terrorist attacks by Pakistan-based groups or Indias attempts to coerce Pakistan in their aftermath. What has changed this time is the regional and global reaction to both the February 14 terror attack at Pulwama, where a Jaish e Muhammad suicide bomber attacked an Indian paramilitary convoy, and Indias punitive action against Pakistan.

Almost every major country, as well as the United Nations Security Council, have been unequivocal in condemning the terrorist attack and most have not minced words in assigning the blame to Pakistan. Even China disregarded Pakistans usual ploy of linking terrorism to the situation in Jammu and Kashmir or demanding more evidence about those who orchestrated the attack in Pulwama.

This global condemnation was also visible at the February 17 meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) where Pakistan was kept on the grey list  meant for countries that have not done enough against money laundering and terrorist financing.

Pakistan has reacted to global opprobrium with predictable denials but there seem to be no takers for the disavowal outside Pakistan. In the eyes of the world, there is no question that terrorist groups continue to freely operate, recruit, and obtain financial support in Pakistan and the countrys government is not doing enough to control them.

Even after the Mumbai terror attacks of 2008, statements by countries that used to be allies of Pakistan  the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union, as well as Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates  provided some leeway to Pakistan. Words such as non-state actors were sometimes used alongside expressions of faith in Pakistans promises of acting against the terrorists.

That seems to have changed. No one is now willing to praise the Pakistan governments actions against domestic terrorists while asking for action against terrorists targeting India and Afghanistan. Iran has joined Pakistans other two neighbours in alleging that Pakistan serves as a safe haven for terrorists, including those operating in Iran.

The US and Iran seldom agree on foreign policy these days but they are speaking in the same voice in terms of criticising Pakistans behaviour. Even after the Indian punitive raid on Balakot, the US State Department did not equate Indian and Pakistani conduct. Its statement stated, We reiterate our call for Pakistan to abide by its United Nations Security Council commitments to deny terrorists safe haven and block their access to funds.

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs went farther when it said, 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.

Statements by the Germans and Russians were no different. When Pakistan attempted to use the heightened India-Pakistan tensions to argue that Indian actions would hurt the Afghan peace process, Afghan leaders and the government called out Pakistans bluff and openly supported India.

India can now count on its economic and strategic partnerships to pressure Pakistan with the help of the international community. Pakistan is increasingly isolated in a world that is regionally integrated, economically interconnected, and has reduced tolerance for terrorism. That is Indias victory.

Aparna Pande is director of the Initiative on the Future of India and South Asia at the Washington-based Hudson Institute. She is the author of Escaping India: Analyzing Pakistans Foreign Policy and From Chanakya to Modi: The Evolution of Indias Foreign Policy.

The views expressed are personal
They may have gone their own ways but Deepika Padukone and Ranbir Kapoor continue to create magic onscreen, even if it is for a few seconds. According to a report in DNA, the former couple has shot for a new coffee commercial, stills of which are now online. The publication shared a few stills featuring Ranbir and Deepika, which soon went viral.

In one of the pictures, Ranbir and Deepika are seated on a sofa and are seen sipping coffee. While Deepika is wearing a dull brown dress, Ranbir is casually dressed in a dull blue T-shirt and a pair of jeans. In another picture, they look into each others eyes and it is hard not to notice the warmth they share.

Deepika and Ranbir have earlier worked together in films like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, Tamasha and Bachna Ae Haseeno. After their break-up, Deepika went on to date Ranveer Singh and later married him while Ranbir is currently dating Alia Bhatt.

Meanwhile, on the work front, both remain busy -- while Deepika is getting back to work with Meghna Gulzars directorial Chhapaak, Ranbir has Ayan Mukherjis ambitious Brahmastra and Yashraj Films Shamshera in his kitty.

Also read: Priyanka Chopra sings Sucker for husband Nick Jonas in this behind-the-scenes video and he cant stop fawning

Chhapaak is based on the life of acid attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal; this will be her first film after Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Padmaavat. Incidentally, Chhapaak is also Deepikas first production. She was reportedly so moved on hearing the story that she decided to produce it as well. In Chhapaak, she will star opposite Vikrant Massey of A Death In The Gunj fame.

Ranbirs Brahmastra, meanwhile, has been progressing steadily having completed long shooting schedules in Israel and Bulgaria. It boasts of a huge cast including Alia Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Nagarjuna apart Ranbir.

The Sanju actor has been maintaining a low profile for a while reportedly because of his father, actor Rishi Kapoors ongoing treatment in the US for an undisclosed illness. The veteran actor left for the US in September last year and has been based there since. His wife, actor Neetu Kapoor, also accompanied him.

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In each of the robberies, the suspects, wearing ski masks and black hooded sweatshirts, showed a black handgun or handguns, said "Give me all you got!" and took items at gunpoint, according to police.
Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, who celebrated the success of her directorial debut Manikarnika The Queen of Jhansi on Sunday with a party, spoke at length about Bollywood celebrities largely trying to avoid political issues. Calling such behaviour responsible, Kangana said it was the money from the people of this country that lets stars sit in Mercedes.

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Ham politics ke bare mei kyu bolein? Hamne kya kiya? Hamne kuch nahi kiya. Aise nahi chalta, you have to be responsible. Ranbir Kapoor was telling somebody ki mere ghar mei toh bijli pani ata hai, mai kyun politics se? You know, so how, ye desh ne, ap desh ki wajah se aapka ghar hai. Ye deshvasiyon ka hi paisa hai jisse aap Mercedes mein baithte hain. How can you talk like that? (We cannot say that we work in films and will not talk about politics. You have to be responsible. Ranbir Kapoor was telling somebody that why should he discuss politics when he gets water and electricity at his home. This is your country, this is where you live and it is the money of our countrymen that enables you to sit in a Mercedes.), she told media before the success party of the Rani Jhansi biopic.

She also said that she is not someone who will refuse to discuss politics just because she is in the business of cinema. Ham toh filmo mei kam karne wale hain? Ham kaise politics ki bat karein? This is irresponsible.Kya mai waisi insan hu? Nahi. Isse mera career bhi chala jaye toh chala jaye. Mere ghar mei bijli pani ajaye toh iska matlab ye nahi ki mujhe kisi ki padi nahi hui. (It is irresponsible not to discuss politics just because we work in films. I am not such a person. Even if it ends my career, I will speak about issues).

Addressing the media, she further said, This has to change. How can you listen to mujhe mere haal pe chor dijiye, mujhe to logo se bana k chalna hai It is according to the work done in five years that we decide whom to vote for.

Reacting to Kareena Kapoor Khans statement that she is looking forward to Kanganas biopic, the Manikarnika star said, Kareena is lovely and she is one of those graceful and dignified people I always admire. Wife ho to aisi ho, maa ho to aisi ho. She is the epitome of the perfect woman. She often encourages me and sends me sweet messages.

Kangana Ranaut with Ankita Lokhande at Manikarnika success party. (Photo: Varinder Chawla)

After cancelling her success bash in solidarity with the Pulwama martyrs in February, Kangana finally celebrated the success of the film on Sunday. She was also celebrating the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was in Pakistan custody after his MiG-21 was shot down in an aerial combat. The celebration was cancelled the last time because of the Pulwama attack. But this time around, it is a double celebration for us because our hero pilot Abhinandan is back. Manikarnika is Kanganas directorial debut and reaching the Rs 100 crore mark is an achievement, Kanganas spokesperson had said.

Also read: Sushant warns fans against dubbed versions of Sonchiriya

Kangana attended the bash dressed in her films character and was seen in a white and red sari draped in Maharashtrian style. She was accompanied by sister Rangoli Chandel and Manikarnika co-star Ankita Lokhande. Kangana entered the venue carrying her nephew Prithviraj in her lap.

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Actor Ranveer Singh has said that even if one soldiers mother believe that we should not engage with Pakistan, we should honour those wishes. The actor was answering a question about the ban on Pakistan artistes in India in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The ban was imposed by cine organisations such as All Indian Cine Workers Association after the February 14 attack.

Speaking at India Today Conclave, Ranveer said, Now, I am very cognizant that there is this school of thought that one should not mix art with it, or sport with it. These are different realms.

Ranveer Singh in a still from his film, Gully Boy.

But, at the same time, us as artists, or us as sportsmen, or us as spectators, we are not sacrificing the way some of our compatriots are. If there are people in the forces or their near and dear ones, loved ones, what their sentiments are, how they feel about it should have the highest value and highest importance. I am saying if there is even one mother of a soldier who believes that we should not engage, then we should respect that sentiment. I think what they want should be of utmost importance to us, he explained.

Also read | Ranveer Singh on Abhinandan Varthamans return: Rejoice, but dont forget Pulwama

At the same event, Ranveer said how the attack had left him frustrated and angry, Gully Boy had come out on the same day as the Pulwama attack. The response to Gully Boy was staggering and overwhelming. I should have been on top of the world. But I was actually down in the dumps. I was disillusioned. I was frustrated and angry.

It may be recalled that some time back, actor Vidya Balan too was asked about the issue. She was quoted by IANS as saying that though she believed that there was no better way of bringing people together than arts, after Pulwama attack, there was a need to take a break from this practice.

She has said, Though I have always believed that art should be kept away from all boundaries and politics, I think we have to take a stand now. Enough is enough.

As an individual I believe that there is no better way to bring people together than arts, be it music, poetry, dance, theatre, cinema or any other art form. But this time I think we should just take a break from this practice and see what can be done for the future. As I said, some tough calls have to be taken at some point, she had added.

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Actor Varun Dhawan has shared a new video in which he takes part in a twerking contest with his Street Dancer 3D co-star Nora Fatehi. The video shows Varun observing as Nora and dancer Sheetal Pery show their moves, before he turns around and twerks himself.

The moment Varun begins twerking, other crew members enter the frame and cheer loudly, with some even hooting and clapping at Varuns moves, and touching his backside. Varun stops dancing to reveal that he has a sweatshirt stuffed into his jeans, to accentuate his posterior.

Street Dancer 3D was initially announced as the third installment in the ABCD series, with Varun and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles. Katrina later departed the project due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Shraddha Kapoor.

According to reports, Varun will play a Punjabi dancer, while Shraddha will play a character from Pakistan. The film also stars Prabhudeva, Aparshakti Khurana and Shakti Mohan.

Varun will also appear the period drama, Kalank. Shraddha, who celebrated her birthday on Sunday, has several films in the pipeline, including her south debut, Saaho, Chhichhore, and Saina Nehwals biopic. Street Dancer is directed by Remo DSouza, produced by Bhushan Kumar, Lizelle DSouza and Krishan Kumar, and is set for a November 8 release.

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Even as fans continue to speculate about Irrfan Khans health and when he will return to work, we have learnt that Uri The Surgical Strike star Vicky Kaushal has replaced Irrfan in Shoojit Sircars Udham Singh. Currently in Mumbai, Irrfan had gone to London for treatment after he was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumour in March last year.

Elaborating on why he had to replace Irrfan, Shoojit said in a statement, Irrfan and I have had a discussion on this. He is recovering well and is in a good mood. He wants to start work on films but for now, he would like to do a film that does not require the kind of strenuous physical action that this film would. He told me to move on since we have waited for long on this film. He and I are in touch and we are working on something else together.

Also read: Kangana Ranaut rips into Bollywood for refusing to discuss politics, says this is irresponsible

The biopic will tell the story of the martyr who killed Michael O Dwyer, the former lieutenant governor of Punjab in pre-Independence India, in revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in 1919. It was during ODwyers tenure as Lieutenant Governor that the massacre occurred. Singh was subsequently tried and convicted of murder and hanged in July 1940. The film will be produced by Ronnie Lahiri under the banner - Rising Sun Films.

I have been waiting to tell the heroic tale of Shaheed Udham Singh for a very long time. It is a story very close to my heart. For it, I needed an actor who could give his heart and soul to the film, be with me and tell the story together. Vicky fits the bill perfectly. I have seen his work and the dedication he brings to it. Im very happy he is on board this project, Shoojit added.

Also read: Deepika, Ranbir shot for a coffee ad, their chemistry is unmistakable

Vicky Kaushal is also elated to be a part of the project and said in a statement, Since the time I started working as an actor in the industry, there was a wish list of the directors I wanted to work with. Shoojit sir was always on top of that list. So it is like a dream come true that he is finally directing me. And, what better story than Udham Singh! Being a Punjabi, I have always heard about his stories, heard about his life as I was growing up and he has always come across as a mysterious character. The more mysterious a character, the more stimulating it becomes for an actor and for the director as well. I am so looking forward to becoming Udham Singh and translating Shoojit sirs vision. I just feel that this is one person whose life story India should know and I am really excited for this journey to start.

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Namaskar, I read your article, felt a little disappointed. The idea of revenge in the frenzy of war will give immediate satisfaction but not a permanent solution. Manmohan Singh did not take revenge but Kashmir became peaceful to a large extent. If the terror attacks did not stop even after that, then will Islamabad be attacked? The surgical strike is not the solution, it is the problem. But in this age, its blasphemous to say so.

This message was sent to me by a friend after reading my quick comment on the recent airstrike by the Indian Air Force. Finally we have learnt to avenge the death of our sons was the title of this article in which I had supported the airstrikes. I feel that self-defence is our right and that when dialogue doesnt succeed then there is nothing wrong in taking up the arms. In fact, leaders from more than 50 countries expressed the same sentiment.

The world has changed rapidly in last few years. The new emerging equations have changed the old limitations of diplomatic courtesy. Twenty five years ago, who would have thought that China will be looking the US in the eye, that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will be shaking hands with the US President, and that the Russian army will be conducting joint drills with the Pakistanis? Why should India continue to follow old dictums?

No matter what claims Pakistan makes, it cannot be denied that with the airstrikes on February 26, and the way Pakistans planes were forced to withdraw, India made it clear that we will not back off. India now is not going to stop. The Pakistani regime committed another mistake by making viral the photos of bloodied and wounded Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman. The whole country was consumed by a strong wave of anger and the ruling regime was also not left untouched by this sentiment.

India made it clear that Varthaman should be returned immediately. Clearly, the backdoor efforts for peace were in full swing. Be it Pakistans ally China or the self-declared custodian of the world the US, the conflict between two nuclear states that are large emerging markets was not considered in the best interests of the world economy. To defuse the tension, the US President Donald Trump announced that some good news was about to come from India and Pakistan. He also said that there is hope of resolving the decades-old dispute between the two countries.

Prime minister Imran Khan who was already offering talks did announce the release of Varthaman. But we need to remember that in the excitement of his coming back we should not stray from our original goal. All of this started with the Pulwama terror attack. Masood Azhar, the architect of Pulwama massacre, is still safe under the protection of the Pakistani army. The US has declared a huge reward on Hafiz Saeed, but he is roaming free in Pakistan. India will have to increase pressure on Pakistan to hand over Dawood Ibrahim, Saeed, Azhar and other anti-India elements.

History is witness to the fact that incomplete battles have proved fatal to the winners.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have definitely considered this fact. That is why in the first public speech after PM Khans announcement, PM Modi said that the pilot project was completed. It is quite clear that New Delhi is ready to take this conflict to its conclusion. Past experience shows that Pakistan does not change its colours, even in defeat.

Even after 1971 war, when Pakistan was divided into two, it did not stop spreading terrorism in Punjab and Kashmir. Pakistani generals knew that they cant win a straight fight with India. And so they chalked out a strategy of inflicting a thousand wounds on us.

It is necessary here that India, along with the rest of the world, frees Islamabad from the clutches of Rawalpindi. The military establishment in Rawalpindi has not let democracy take root in Pakistan. Pakistans prime minister was announcing the release of Varthaman when the Pakistan army started firing at the Line of Control.

If you look at the history of the past 70 years, our neighbour has always opted for a strategy of two steps forward and one step back. Four wars and innumerable terror attacks are testimony to this. In 1999, when Nawaz Sharif was pledging friendship between the two countries with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his army chief Pervez Musharraf was preparing for the Kargil war.

Now the time has come to stop this forever. India has this time retaliated in a befitting manner. Now is the time for robust diplomacy. We must remember that the final outcome of the two world wars were not taken on the battleground but on the chessboard of diplomacy. Obviously, one more war between both the countries is not the solution. The virtual warriors on social media should keep this in mind.

Shashi Shekhar is editor-in-chief, Hindustan

The views expressed are personal
Auto-rickshaw fares in the national Capital could go up by as much as 14.3%, according to a report submitted to the Delhi government by a state-appointed fare revision committee. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the 11-member committee has recommended that auto-rickshaw fares in the national capital be increased to 9.15 per kilometre as against the current rate of 8 per km.

However, the committee  formed in November last year  has not recommended any change in the flat rate of 25 that is charged for the first two kilometers on every auto-rickshaw ride.

As per the formula used initially, we had estimated an increase of 50 paise per kilometre. But, later the committee agreed that auto drivers should be brought under the category of skilled labour. So, to include their wage earning, the rate was finally set at 9.15 per kilometre. At present, TSR drivers are considered unskilled, said a member of the committee.

The committees report will now be reviewed by the transport minister, Kailash Gahlot, after which the final rates would be approved.

Auto fares were last increased in May, 2013 by the then Congress government led by Sheila Dikshit.

A strong vote base of the Aam Aadmi Party, there are around 98,000 registered auto-rickshaws in the city. Faced with stiff competition from app-based cab aggregators in the city, the Kejriwal government had attempted to revise auto fares once in 2016, but the plan was rolled back after auto-rickshaw unions opposed any change in fares.

On Sunday, auto-rickshaw unions said the panels recommendation is not in sync with the promise made by the AAP government last year.

In July last year, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had himself met representatives of auto unions and given in-principle approval to our demand of revising the rate to 25 for the first kilometre, followed by 10 for each subsequent kilometre. We will meet transport minister Kailash Gahlot and request for a

review, said Santosh Pandey, president, Aapka Apna Auto Taxi Union.

Another committee member said the panel has not recommended any revision in the fares of RTVs, gramin sewas, Metro feeder buses, eco-friendly cabs and maxi cabs. Rates of these public transport vehicles were last revised in November 2009. Operators of these transport modes on Sunday threatened to go on strike if their fares remain unchanged.

We had submitted our demand of increasing the rates. There has been no revision in almost a decade. There are 8,675 such vehicles in total and the Aam Aadmi Party would face the music in the upcoming

Lok Sabha elections if our demands are not heard, said Shyam Lal Gola, general secretary of the State Transport Authority (STA) Operators Ekta Manch.
A mechanic changing a cars flat tyre was killed and three others were wounded when a speeding sedan, allegedly driven by a 21-year-old woman, crashed into their vehicle parked on the Ring Road in south Delhis Lajpat Nagar in the early hours of Sunday, police said.

Eyewitnesses said the impact of the accident threw the man, 24-year-old Mohammad Afaq, on to the bonnet of the speeding Chevrolet Cruz that then drove on for several metres before coming to a halt.

The alleged driver of the errant vehicle, Ananya Khurana, a resident of Lajpat Nagar, has a diploma from a college in California, said deputy commissioner of police (south-east) Chinmoy Biswal. The eyewitnesses said she abandoned the vehicle and fled.

She was arrested on Sunday evening, 15 hours after the crash, police said.

The DCP said that the investigators will only know whether she was drunk at the time of the incident after they get the report of her blood test in a day or two.

The police registered a case of causing death due to negligence and rash driving.

The mishap occurred a few hundred metres from the Moolchand underpass at 1.40am where three friends returning from a wedding in Moti Nagar in a Chevrolet Aveo were stranded due to a flat tyre, the police said.

Afaq, who works at a car repair shop near Ashram, had been called to the spot to replace the cars flat tyre, by the cars occupants, Biswal said. The three people injured in the crash were rushed to AIIMS Trauma Centre and are now out of danger. NEW DELHI: A mechanic who was preparing to fix a flat tyre was killed when he was hit allegedly by a speeding car on the Ring Road in south Delhis Lajpat Nagar on Sunday morning. Four others were injured in the incident, police said.

According to eyewitnesses, the impact of the hit was such that the 24-year-old mechanic, Mohammad Afaq, fell on the bonnet of the allegedly speeding car, a Chevrolet Cruze, and was dragged for some distance before it came to a stop. Its driver, 21-year-old Ananya Khurana was later arrested.

At around 1.30 am, three friends were returning from a wedding when their car, a Chevrolet Aveo, suffered a flat tyre close to the Moolchand underpass. We parked on the side and switched on the parking indicators, said Rudra Ashish Panda, one of the occupants of the Aveo.

He said they contacted Afaq who was referred to them by a mechanic they found on a mobilebased app.

Afaq and I came in an autorickshaw with a new tyre, said Afaqs brother-in-law Mohammed Afzal. We were negotiating the price when a speeding car hit the Aveo, then its three occupants, the auto driver and Afaq.

Afaq was thrown into the air and landed on the cars bonnet. He was dragged for about 50 metres before the car stopped. I escaped unhurt and began moving the injured, said Afzal.

Ananya and her friends got down from the vehicle and blamed us, said Panda who suffered minor injuries. They then abandoned the car and left.

The injured, except the auto driver who suffered minor injuries, were moved to AIIMS trauma centre where Afaq died during treatment. One of Pandas friends was discharged, while another underwent surgery.

The police registered a case of causing death due to negligence and rash driving. Khurana, a resident of Lajpat Nagar, was arrested almost 15 hours after the mishap, prompting Afaqs family to suspect a cover up attempt. DCP Chinmoy Biswal denied this.

He said that the breath test of the woman did not indicate she was inebriated. We have, however, sent her blood sample for testing, said the officer, adding that she had a valid driving licence. During questioning, seh said that the Aveo was parked in the middle of the road and there was no indicator. She said she left the spot because she was afraid of the crowd.

A resident of Zakir Nagar, Afaq is survived by his wife, a daughter, parents and five siblings.
The Delhi government may soon grant more autonomy to school management committees (SMCs) in state-run schools, provided that students parents make up 75% of its membership.

This was stated in an affidavit that the governments directorate of education filed with the Delhi high court last month.

The Right to Education Act, 2009 mandates an SMC in every government-funded school. It should consist of 16 members of which 12 are elected representatives of parents, and the rest would be the head of the school, a teacher, a social worker, a local councillor or MLA. A monitoring body, the SMC also prepares and recommends the school development plan.

The affidavit was filed on February 22 in reply to a petition that claimed that the SMCs were defunct in government schools.

Rejecting this, the DoE said in the affidavit, Circulars have been issued from time to time for effective functioning of SMC and the SMCs have been performing the functions as laid down in the Act and Rules.
The symbolism couldnt have been starker. An empty chair for founder member Pakistan as external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, representing India as a guest of honour at the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi, spoke of New Delhis deepening engagement with states in the 56-member grouping. Pakistan stayed away from the meeting on Friday over the invitation extended to India at a time of heightened tensions between the two sides. India used the forum to send out a message on dismantling terrorism infrastructure in states that shelter terrorists, and Ms Swaraj also spoke about Indias long-standing relations with many OIC members and the recent boost in economic and security ties with West Asian nations.

Pakistan hit back a day later with resolutions that spoke of atrocities and Indian terrorism in Kashmir, with language similar to that of past OIC resolutions. The UAEs foreign minister sought to balance this with talk of Indias historic presence at the meet and the desire for stronger ties.

Almost 50 years ago, India had, with Saudi Arabias blessings, received an invitation to the Morocco meeting that laid the foundations of the OIC. However, the manoeuvring of Pakistans then president Yahya Khan put paid to Indias chances of becoming a member of the grouping. Since then, Pakistan has regularly used the OIC to snipe at India, usually on the issue of Kashmir, something that caused considerable heartburn in South Block. However, India has worked hard in recent years to build robust economic, political and security cooperation with key OIC members from West Asia and also bolstered its engagement with members in Asia under its Act East policy. This has resulted in efforts by members such as Bangladesh to push for observer status for India at the OIC.

After all, if Russia, with some 16 million Muslims can be an observer, India, with the worlds third largest Muslim population, is a deserving candidate. There are also some eight million Indians in West Asia, which continues to be the most important source of energy for the country. Indias presence at the OIC meeting could open doors for a broader engagement between the country and the Muslim world that could shore up New Delhis interests in areas ranging from energy security to counterterrorism cooperation at a time when the world order is in a flux and new partnerships are being actively forged.
India-Pakistan hostilities may have de-escalated but New Delhis is sticking to a tough stand in Jammu and Kashmir. Last weeks ban on the state chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami for five years for allegedly indulging in activities prejudicial to internal security and public order fits the pattern of the Centres new strategy of dealing with the internal dimensions of the states troubles.

The crackdown on Jamaat, soon after detention of hundreds of its leaders and the withdrawal of security cover for top rung separatists, is the most significant and potentially controversial step rolled out to stabilise the security scenario. With its pro-Pakistan leanings, Jamaat has long been the ideological fountainhead of the decades-long armed militancy in the Valley. Since its Kashmir unit was founded in 1942, the public face of Jamaat has been that of an education-cum-religious organisation that runs schools and mosques across the state. A cadre-based organisation with thousands of workers, it holds considerable sway, particularly in South Kashmir, the hub of new age militancy.

The government ban focuses on Jamaats insidious agenda of supporting extremism in J&K. This stems as much from Jamaats close affiliation with its counterpart in Pakistan as from its long-standing ties with the pro-Pakistan Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, a predominantly Kashmiri militant outfit that was floated by Pakistan to edge out the pro-azadi Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front . Since then, Hizb, allegedly at the instance of Jamaat, has killed hundreds of pro-India political workers. Most of the top separatist leaders, including Syed Ali Shah Geelani, owe their allegiance to Jamaat which has a long running feud with the National Conference in Kashmir.

Turning the heat on Jamaat is a part of the Centres newly crafted push to choke home-bred militancy which forms the lifeline of Jaish and Lashkar. The main objective is to create a conducive security environment in the Valley that will inspire political activities ahead of the general elections. However, considering Jamaats sway in Kashmir, the crackdown carries the risk of stoking public anger and making political outreach of mainstream parties that much harder. This was evident from the irate reaction that the ban provoked in the Valley with the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party deploring it. The ban may not pay the dividends that the Centre hopes it will.
The weather service found evidence that two tornadoes struck the area. Meteorologist Chris Darden said the one that did most of the destruction was a "monster tornado" classified as an EF4. He said it was the deadliest to hit the U.S. since May 2013, when an EF5 killed 24 people in Moore, Oklahoma.
The Railway Recruitment Board on Monday declared the RRB Group D result on its regional websites. The examination was held between September 17 and December 17, 2018.

Here is the list of 14288 candidates who have qualified for Physical Efficiency Test (PET) form RRB Allahabad.

Here is the link to check RRB Allahabad list of qualified candidates for PET

Here is the link to check RRB Allahabad normalised score and Shortlisting status for PET

Here is link for normalised cut off marks of candidates shortlisted for Physical Efficiency Test (PET)

Here are the regional websites of the RRB along with their links for checking Group D Results:

Link for RRB Ahmedabad: http://www.rrbahmedabad.gov.in/

Link for RRB Ajmer: http://rrbajmer.gov.in/

Link for RRB Allahabad: http://rrbald.gov.in/

Link for RRB Bangalore: http://www.rrbbnc.gov.in/

Link for RRB Bhopal: http://www.rrbbpl.nic.in/

Link for RRB Bhubaneshwar: http://www.rrbbbs.gov.in/

Link for RRB Bilaspur: http://www.rrbbilaspur.gov.in/

Link for RRB Chandigarh: http://www.rrbcdg.gov.in/

Link for RRB Chennai: http://www.rrbcdg.gov.in/

Link for RRB Gorakhpur: http://www.rrbgkp.gov.in/

Link for RRB Guwahati: http://www.rrbguwahati.gov.in/

Link for RRB Jammu: http://www.rrbjammu.nic.in/

Link for RRB Kolkata: http://www.rrbkolkata.gov.in/

Link for RRB Malda: http://www.rrbmalda.gov.in/

Link for RRB Mumbai: http://www.rrbmumbai.gov.in/

Link for RRB Muzaffarpur: http://www.rrbmuzaffarpur.gov.in/

Link for RRB Patna: http://www.rrbpatna.gov.in/

Link for RRB Ranchi: http://rrbranchi.gov.in/

Link for RRB Secunderabad: http://rrbsecunderabad.nic.in/

Link for RRB Siliguri: http://www.rrbsiliguri.org/

Link for RRB Trivendrum: http://rrbthiruvananthapuram.gov.in/

The shorlisting has been done on the basis of their performance in the Computer Based Test (CBT). Candidates can view their normalised marks and shortlisting status for PET by logging in through the link provided above by duly entering their registration number and date of birth in DDMMYYYY format.
Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson hilariously spoofed Bradley Cooper and Lady Gagas now infamous Oscars performance of their A Star is Born hit, Shallow.

In an appearance on the Jonathan Ross Show, Brie was reminded of her origins as a would-be pop star. How dare you, she joked when Ross brought it up. She suggested they hold a mock reality show audition, but when Bries performance left Ross unimpressed, Jackson launched into an impromptu rendition of Shallow.

He moved near her, in the same manner as Cooper at the Oscars, as the two of them sang the song with full gusto. Cooper and Gagas performance attracted a lot of attention for its sizzling chemistry. Cooper at one point during the performance got up and sat beside Gaga, moving his face inches away from hers. Gaga even responded to the reaction, telling TV host Jimmy Kimmel, Yes, people saw love, and guess what? Thats what we wanted you to see.

Brie Larson and Samuel L Jacksons effortless chemistry on the Captain Marvel press tour is already attracting attention. The two star as Carol Danvers and Nick Fury in the Marvel superhero film, the first from the studio to feature a female lead. Captain Marvel is set in the 90s, and is said to directly tie into the plot of Avengers: Endgame, which arrives a month later.

The film is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, and also stars Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Annette Bening, Gemma Chan and others. Captain Marvel releases in India this Friday.

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Six months after a devastating flood crippled Kerala, the state is in the grip of a severe drought and experts have warned that heat wave conditions will persist in many areas of north Kerala for more than a month.

According to the Kerala Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA), some of the districts like Palakkad, Kozhikkode and Malappuram temperature is likely to go up by 6 degrees above normal. It has also warned of sunstroke and other heat-related maladies during this period.

On Monday, at least four districts recorded maximum temperature above 36 degrees Celsius, which is quite unusual at the beginning of summer months. Cattle and goat deaths were reported from the worst-affected Palakkad district.

The state labour department has rescheduled working hours, preventing outdoor work from 12 pm to 3 pm until further orders and asked construction sites and farmers to comply with the order strictly.

With mercury level soaring, the KSDMA has listed necessary measures for people to follow during the scorching days ahead. Since humidity levels are quite high in the state, the high temperatures will compound woes of people who are exposed to the sun.

Experts said vast destruction of green cover during the August floods, difficulty in groundwater recharging due to topsoil removal, El Nino effect and changing construction models are to be blamed for the hike in temperature. If the situation continues like this, the state is likely to witness a scorching summer and water scarcity, they warned.

Every year, temperature is going up steadily. But nothing is there to panic, said atmospheric science expert Dr S Abhilash of the Cochin University of Science and Technology, adding that the KSDMA warning was an exaggeration.

The world has warmed up by 1-1.5 degrees in the last three decades or so. Going by the El Nino possibility and global warming, it can go up to 2 degrees in the state. Going by indications El Nino effect is likely to be partially harsh in 2019, said Abhilash.

El Nino is the periodic warming of the water in the Pacific Ocean. When it occurs, more energy is available to storms to form there. It also affects wind shear which is when air currents at a lower altitude blow in different directions from winds higher in the atmosphere. It also affects temperature and wind pattern, experts say. El Nino and monsoon are strongly related  it weakens winds and triggers pressure difference lowering the wind speed considerably.
State-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chairman G Satheesh Reddy is the joint winner of the 2019 Missile Systems Award given by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the US, said the Virginia-based aerospace technical society on Sunday.

Reddy was selected for his over three decades of national contributions to indigenous design, development and deployment of diversified strategic and tactical missile systems, guided weapons, advanced avionics and navigation technologies in India, said the society in a statement.

Reddy, 55, is also the Defence Secretary and Director-General of DRDOs aerospace arm Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in Bengaluru.

Reddy contributed to the Agni-5, the 5,000km range surface-to-surface, long-range strategic missile.

The other winner of the missile award, Rondell J Wilson is the retired principal engineering fellow of Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona.

Wilson was selected for his technical leadership and innovation that has advanced the performance and capability of the worlds premier missile defence systems, said the statement.

Though the award will be presented at the societys Defence Forum on May 7-9 at the Kossiakoff Centre at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, Reddy will receive his award in India.

The award also recognises excellence in developing on implementing missile system technology or for inspired leadership of missile systems, said the statement.

The society presents the award biennially to those who demonstrated expertise in fundamental technical disciplines that has led to substantial improvement in missile systems.

The society also awards those who led a major programme milestone by a state-run agency or an industry team.

With about 30,000 individual members from 85 countries and 95 corporate members, the society brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defence.

As Director-General of the Missiles and Strategic Systems, Reddy spearheaded Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex and other labs in Hyderabad.

As the chief architect of advance missile technologies, Reddy also contributed for design, development and deployment of diversified missiles and strategic systems, guided weapons and avionics.

Under restrictive international control regimes, Reddy evolved strategies for indigenous design and development of advanced avionics and paved the way for inducting a range of missiles and smart guided weapons, DRDO said in a statement here.

Reddy joined in 1986 the state-run Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) in Hyderabad and later joined the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), the brain child of former President Kalam.

After graduating in engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technology University (JNTU) at Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh, Reddy did M.S. and PhD, from JNTU in Hyderabad.
Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda, who was first suspended and then quit the party last year after being marginalised in the organisation, has joined BJP on Monday.

Panda took to Twitter to announce his joining BJP, saying he had made the decision after nine months of introspection and widespread consultations with colleagues and the public. He would now work under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

He joined the ruling party in the presence of Union minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi. He later met BJP president Amit Shah at the BJP headquarters in the capital.

At a press conference, Panda tore into his former party, saying the governance under Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik had deteriorated sharply in recent years.

I have admired Prime Minister Narendra Modis leadership and direction in which he is taking the country and also BJP president Amit Shahs leadership that has made this party not just the largest in the country, but the largest and the most effective party in the whole world, he said.

In the early years, when it (BJD was an ally of the BJP, there were certain norms that had been followed which have been lost in the recent years, he said.

Panda stressed on the crimes against women and children and corruption in Odisha and recalled disappointing sights which needs changing and said BJP is the only party that can change this.

Panda, who won from Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 on BJD ticket, was first suspended in January last year over charges of anti party activities. He subsequently resigned from the party as well as Lok Sabha in May and June last year following serious differences with chief minister.

The articulate and widely networked MP became the most visible face of BJDs dissenters in mid 2017 after he called for introspection in the wake of BJPs sterling performance in 2017 panchayat elections. Since Modi became PM, Panda has been heaping praise on him while questioning Patnaiks working style.

The BJP has identified Odisha as one of the priority states ahead of the polls. The assembly polls and the parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously, and the BJP hopes that Panda will brighten its prospects, especially in coastal Odisha.

Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies and the BJD had won 20 of them in 2014. The BJP had won only one seat  Sundargarh, represented by Union minister for tribal affairs Jual Oram.
Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in Bengal on Monday complained to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that former Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar being given fresh charge of a department contravenes EC directives that prohibit officers who have served in a post for three continuous years as on May 31, from being involved in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Since 53-year-old Kumar took over as Kolkatas police chief on May 21, 2016, the TMC government last month transferred him the post of additional director-general of West Bengal police (CID).

The BJP claims this isnt really a transfer because on March 1, Kumar, who is perceived to be close to the CM Mamata Banerjee, was entrusted with two additional charges including that of the Kolkata Polices Special Task Force (STF).

Kumar is under a cloud for his alleged role in a chit fund scam which he investigated in 2013-14 and over which he faced interrogation by the CBI last month.

Congress, too, has decided to appeal along the same lines. ...will seek his removal from poll-related duties, said state unit president Somen Mitra.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday questioned former ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar for the fourth consecutive day in the ongoing probe into the alleged irregularities and corrupt practices in sanctioning a 1,875-crore loan by the bank to the Videocon Group.

Chanda Kochhars questioning began at EDs office after she deposed before the investigators around noon.

The ED questioned Chanda Kochhar for the first time on March 1 at her south Mumbai residence along with her husband Deepak Kochhar. On Sunday she was questioned for the third straight day.

The agency on Sunday also quizzed Nishant Kanodia, chairman of Matix Group and son-in-law of Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia, regarding investments made by his Mauritius-based firm Firstland Holdings in NuPower Renewables Pvt Ltd, a company run by Deepak Kochhar.

Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group promoter Venugopal Dhoot were on March 2 were quizzed till late night in the case.

The ED on March 1 also carried out raids under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) at five offices and houses owned by the Kochhars and Dhoot.

The ED started the probe after registering a criminal case under the PMLA in February against the Kochhars, Dhoot and others, taking cognizance of a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The FIR named the Kochhars, Dhoot and his companies -- Videocon International Electronics Ltd and Videocon Industries Ltd. It also included names of Supreme Energy, a company founded by Dhoot, and NuPower Renewable, a firm controlled by Deepak Kochhar.

The authorities are trying to determine whether any wrongdoing was involved in the sanctioning of the 1,875 crore loan by the ICICI Bank as part of a consortium.

The CBI has alleged the ownership of the two companies changed hands through a complex web of share transactions between Deepak Kochhar and Dhoot.

It is alleged Dhoot invested in NuPower through his firm Supreme Energy, a quid pro quo to loans cleared by the ICICI Bank after Chanda Kochhar took over as the Chief Executive Officer on May 1, 2009.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
Scientists and conservationists who have been studying forest fires in India say the only way to prevent devastating fires, like the one in Karnatakas Bandipur last week, is to restart controlled burning of dry and moist deciduous forests in the cold season. This is not done in India currently, as all forest fires are deemed illegal.

If you look at the history of when intense fires occur, they happen only when a particular set of climatic and environmental variables come together: low humidity, high temperature, high wind speed, and high fuel load (dead biomass). When these occur, the ignition source is almost irrelevant. So the most pragmatic way to reduce intense fires is through controlled burning, says professor Raman Sukumar of Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science , Bengaluru.

Sukumar is best known for his work on Asian elephants but has also researched forest fires in Mudumalai national park, Tamil Nadu. The fire in the Bandipur forests, which is home to tigers, leopards, civets, sambar deer and four-horned antelopes, raged for at least five days from February 21 and was put out only after the Indian Air Force flew in helicopters to pour thousands of litres of water. By then, the fire had claimed 40 sq-km forest land.

Conservationists say it might take more than two decades for the flora in the region to completely recover. In deciduous forests growth rate of trees is slow. So when a one or two meter tall tree burns, we assume the system is set back by 10 to 15 years. What we found though is that the root systems remain intact in moderate and low fires, and the trees bounce back in one or two years, says Sukumar.

A hurdle in the way of starting controlled fires is the popular perception against the practice. Ankila Hiremath, a plant ecologist at Bengalurus Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), says, There should be a change in how fires are viewed... We need to understand that fires, whether natural or anthropogenic, have been part of the historical dynamic of dry forests and savannas... We need to distinguish between severe... fires and those that may have a positive ecological role to play.
Union minister of state for urban development Hardeep Singh Puri on Sunday said the government would release at the right time evidence about air strikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp in Balakot deep inside Pakistan .

Puri said defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had already made this position clear and it was the right way to go about it. The minister was speaking to reporters at the circuit house in Kanpur.

He said evidence, however, had started emerging from Pakistan where relatives of Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar were admitting that the Indian Air Force struck their training bases.

But political leaders like Digvijaya Singh (Congress) and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee were asking for evidence of air strikes, he said.

Taking a dig at Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, Puri said, He was playing pappi-jhappi politics in Pakistan when the Kartarpur corridor was opened.

I had advised him to be extra cautious, he said.

Meanwhile in Varanasi, BJP national general secretary Muralidhar Rao said the air strike by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on terror camps in Pakistan indicated that India would not hesitate in crossing its boundaries to ensure action against terrorists and their activities in neighbouring countries.

There was a notion that India would not cross its border to ensure action against terrorists. But India dumped this notion into the dustbin and the IAF carried out air strikes on terror camps going on in the heart of Pakistan, Rao said while addressing students at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University (SSU).
With annual exams of Class 10 and Class 12 set to begin on March 6, the Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education (HPBoSE) has sought the help of Indian Air Force (IAF) and state government to deliver question papers in snowbound areas.

Due to frequent spells of snow, roads in several parts, particularly Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti district, are blocked.

The question papers have been sent to the collection centres set up in these parts and will be airlifted to the examination centres in Pangi valley of Chamba and Lahual-Spiti district.

We have sought the help of IAF and the state government chopper to deliver question papers in areas which are cut off from rest of the state due to snow, said HPBoSE chairman Suresh Kumar Soni. He said other alternatives to deliver question papers were also being explored.

More than 2.35 lakh students will be appearing for Class 10 and Class 12 exams being conducted by HPBoSE.

Meanwhile, after remaining shut for a day, the 294km long arterial Jammu-Srinagar national highway was partially restored on Sunday afternoon to clear the stranded vehicles.

The highway was closed on Saturday after landslides triggered by rain blocked the highway between Ramban and Jawahar tunnel. Massive landslides at Mompassi and Panthyal left more than 3,000 vehicles stranded at different locations. Though the men of Hindustan Construction Company carrying four-laning works Ramban-Banihal section managed to clear the debris from both locations after working overnight, a fresh landslide on Sunday morning, delayed the highway reopening.
But his supporters say that those portrayals are unjust and that he worked behind the scenes to help Jews. The Rev. Peter Gumpel, a Vatican official who has advocated for Pius XII's sainthood and explored portions of the Vatican's paperwork on the pontiff, said Pius XII's actions to help Jews may have been kept off the books.
A fighter jet of the Indian Air Force on Monday shot down a Pakistani military drone in Bikaner sector of the Indo-Pak border using an air-to-air missile, government sources said.

The Pakistani drone was shot down by a Sukhoi-30 aircraft at around 11:30 AM, minutes after a ground-based radar station detected the flying machine, they said.

It was the second unsuccessful attempt by Pakistan to send a spy drone inside India in the last six days.

The radar station in the area detected the enemy drone following which one of the fighter jets deployed in the area shot it down, they said. The downing of the drone came in the midst of heightened tension between India and Pakistan after IAF struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot and subsequent retaliation by Islamabad.

A Pakistani drone was shot down by India on February 27 along Indo-Pak border in Kutch in Gujarat.
Hackers from Pakistan attacked over 90 Indian government websites and critical systems within hours of the Pulwama suicide strike by a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist in which 40 soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed, senior officials in the security establishment said on condition of anonymity. There was an unusual surge of activity, attempts to breach systems, one of these officials added.

So ferocious was the attack that India had to resort to offensive measures in the cyber domain to counter them, a second official said.

The officials added that the attackers were not able to breach firewalls and protective measures of critical systems. Financial systems and power grid management ones were specially targeted, they said.

Interestingly, the attacks on the Indian networks came from Bangladesh  a country that is friendly to India. The coordinated manner in which the attacks were carried out and the use of facilities in Bangladesh leaves us with no doubt about the nature of the attack, the second official said.

After successive waves of attacks were thwarted, the government advised all departments to not violate Standard Operating Procedures and be on the alert. The exact nature and extent of Indias offensive operation, and the agencies behind this arent known, and none of the officials would elaborate on this point.

Offensive capabilities did help India get a grip of the situation. There was damage in Pakistan too, a cybersecurity professional working in the private sector, and who advises the government, said on condition of anonymity.

With the hacking attacks countered, the attackers tried another approach, a third Indian official said. They sought to manage information flow, this person said, to create chaos and confusion. This took the form of rumours and fake news, he added.

For instance, a day after Indias strike on a Jaish camp in Pakistan, and on the same day as Pakistans attempted counter-strike, social media buzzed with the alleged sacking of Commander-in-Chief of the Western Air Command Air Marshal C Hari Kumar. Even as this was dying down, another rumour surfaced, talking of huge casualties to Indian forces in Rajouri. The Indian army is hard on the heels of a person or group of people who were behind this, the third official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi often takes swipes at Congress president Rahul Gandhi. But an effort to take a dig at his 48-year-old rival during an interaction with students has drawn sharp criticism from opposition leaders who criticised him for being insensitive towards dyslexic kids.

PM Modi had made the remark during an interaction with students at the Smart India Hackathon organised by IIT Roorkee on Saturday.

A student told PM Modi about her project to help dyslexic kids and gave an example of the movie Taare Zameen Par. Modi asked her if the project will help a kid who is 40-50 years old. When she applied in the affirmative, the PM said then the mother of such kids would be very happy.

At the event, the comment drew applause from the students. The criticism from the opposition and others came later.

Former Karnataka chief minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah joined PM Modis critics on Monday, saying it was a heartless to take political potshots in the name of dyslexic people.

You just cant go below this. Your insensitivity cant be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you, Siddaramaiah tweeted.

CPM general secretary said that Modis comments were both shameful and distressing. Some of us have dyslexic or disabled relatives, friends, children and parents. Sattar saal mein pehli baar, a person with this crassness occupies the chair of the PM. Enough, Mr Modi. Yeh hain sanskar aapke? Yechury tweeted.

Former lawmaker Shahid Siddiqui also took offence to PM Modis comment. My daughter Tania is a special person and I am proud of her, She is doing her best to coop (cope) with learning disabilities & I wont allow anyone to look down upon her he tweeted.

The National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled (NPRD) has issued a statement condemning the disrespectful and insensitive remarks made by PM Modi.

The statement said that instead of answering a question posed by a student, the PM sought to take potshots at his political rivals and called it all the more unpardonable as it comes from a person holding such a high office.

It also displays scant respect for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 according to which this constitutes an offence. The least the PM can do is apologies for his remarks, the statement added.
Umesh Jadhav, one of four Congress rebel MLAs in Karnataka submitted resignation to Karnataka Assembly speaker KR Ramesh Kumar on Monday.

The reason for his resignation was not immediately clear. Jadhav, a two-time MLA from the Chincholi constituency, is expected to join the BJP. His resignation brings down the strength of the house to 223. The Congress-JD(S) coalition now has 116 members plus the Speaker. The opposition BJP has 104 members.

A senior BJP leader said it was not yet confirmed when Jadhav would join the party, but there is speculation that it would happen on March 6 in Gulbarga where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to addresses a rally. It is almost confirmed that he will be our candidate in Gulbarga against Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge , the BJP leader said.

Jadhav is said to have been disgruntlement after being denied a cabinet berth while Kharges son Priyank was made a minister in the current government.

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao said Jadhavs resignation was expected. He grew because of the Congress and we did not do any injustice to him. He betrayed the party for his selfish needs, he said. As far as I know nobody else is planning to leave the party, he added.

Also read: Four Karnataka Congress MLAs refuse to budge despite issuing whip

Jadhav was one of four MLAs who had skipped two Congress Legislature Party meetings. The Congress had complained to Speaker Ramesh Kumar to take action against the four under anti-defection laws

The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in Karnataka has been accusing the BJP of trying to lure their MLAs into the saffron camp.

Also read: Far from truth: Yeddyurappa on audio clips released by CM H D Kumaraswamy

Last month, BJP leader and former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, was purportedly recorded trying to entice a JD (S) MLAs son at a government guest house in Devdurga in Raichur.

Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy released the clip claiming it was proof of the BJPs attempts to topple the JD(S)-Congress government in the state.
One of the four rebel ruling Congress lawmakers in Karnataka on Monday submitted his resignation to the state assembly speaker KR Ramesh Kumar, the latter confirmed. This is expected to pave the way for his entry into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Umesh Jadhav, the lawmaker, rebelled after he failed to get a ministerial berth when the Congress allied with the Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), to form the government in Karnataka in May 2018.

The two parties joined hands to keep the BJP out of power even as it emerged as the single largest party with 104 seats in a 225-member assembly. The Congress managed to get 79 while the JD(S) got 37 seats. The ruling coalition, which includes the Bahujan Samaj Party, has 117 while the BJP-led Opposition has 106 members in the assembly.

A Congress leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the party fears the three other rebels  Ramesh Jarkiholi, Mahesh Kumathahalli and B Nagendra  might also quit the party.

The ruling coalitions strength would be down to the halfway mark in the assembly  113  if the other three do so.

Repeated attempts to reach Jadhav went unanswered. However, speaking to the press, Ramesh Kumar said he had received the resignation and the matter would looked into.

He came to my house [in Kolar district] to submit the resignation. Now I will speak to my officers and go about it based on the laws, he said.

At present, a Congress petition is pending with Ramesh Kumar calling for the disqualification of the four rebel MLAs for not attending two Congress Legislature Party meetings and not attending the beginning of the state Budget session last month, violating a whip issued by the party in the process.

Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who is mononymous , said Jadhav has the freedom to resign.

But as he violated the Congresss whip, we petitioned to the Speaker for action [against Jadhav] under the anti-defection law. This matter is pending. As a result, the Speaker is the final authority and he will take a decision, Siddaramaiah said.

State BJP vice-president, N Ravikumar, said Jadhav, a two-time lawmaker, would join his party.

It is not confirmed yet that he will be the candidate for the party [BJP]. Talks are ongoing, Ravikumar said when asked about reports that Jadhav could be the BJPs candidate from Gulbarga against Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

Former Karnataka Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar said even if the MLAs are disqualified based on the Congresss petition, it would mean that they would be disqualified from their membership of the House in the current term.

This will not stop them either from contesting any election or from taking membership of another House, Kumar said.

Karnataka Congress chief, Dinesh Gundu Rao, said Jadhavs resignation was expected.

He grew because of the Congress and we did not do any injustice to him. He betrayed the party for his selfish needs, he said. As far as I know, nobody else is planning to leave the party.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had on Sunday criticized the opposition party while touring the Gandhi bastion Amethi months ahead of the Lok Sabha elections .

I laid the foundation stone for Amethi ordnance factory in 2010 and for the past many years it has been manufacturing small arms. Yesterday you went to Amethi and, as usual, lied, the Congress president tweeted

 ,



      2010     



           



             



      ?  Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 4, 2019

Watch | Those concerned about Amethi did nothing for it: Nirmala Sitharaman

Minister of state for external affairs VK Singh, responding to Rahul Gandhi, said nothing came out of the factory.

Wish you were right, fact remains that nothing came out of the factory. Your stooges didnt let it function,nor did they care about the armed forces or the security of the nation, Singh tweeted.

.@RahulGandhi,wish you were right, fact remains that nothing came out of the factory



Your stooges didnt let it function,nor did they care about the armed forces or the security of the nation



Grateful that with the efforts @narendramodi ji we are revitalizing defence production https://t.co/KaxoJnX3sE  Vijay Kumar Singh (@Gen_VKSingh) March 4, 2019

Union textiles minister Smriti Irani hit back with a picture on Twitter, asking whether he had done the inauguration in 2007 or 2010. In a picture, she highlighted that the inauguration date was 2007 whereas Rahul Gandhi was claiming he had done in 2010.

With another picture, she pointed out that Rahul had inaugurated an institute which another Congress leader had launched two decades back.

                         2      @RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/UpmrYU6wbI  Smriti Z Irani (@smritiirani) March 4, 2019

Prime Minister Modi on Sunday stormed the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul Gandhi, inaugurating a number of projects and attacking the Congress on development and national security issues.

Announcing the launch of a joint venture between India and Russia for the manufacture of AK 203 Kalsahnikov assault rifles in Amethis Ordnance factory, Modi said Amethi was the perfect example of the BJPs policy of Sabka saath, sabka vikas.

The PM flayed the Congress for misusing the countrys resources saying that the Amethi ordnance factory, launched in 2007, was supposed to begin production from 2010 but nothing happened.

Read: Oppn Common Minimum Programme may include urban job guarantee law

Tall promises were made. Your local MP promised that he would ensure employment to 1,500 locals in this ordnance factory but merely 200 got jobs. Imagine those who couldnt ensure jobs to people in Amethi are now lecturing on employment, Modi said, adding that the AK-203 would be the best publicity for Amethi.

Now, Amethi will not be known for a famous family but for AK 203, Made in Amethi. These rifles will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists, he said and added that those who cheated Amethi also ignored the countrys defence needs.

The PM alleged that the Rafale deal was bitterly opposed by the Congress for the sake of commission and added that the first Rafale jet would be seen flying on Indian skies soon.

Rahul Gandhi has been representing the Amethi constituency in the Lok Sabha since 2004 and before him his mother Sonia Gandhi held the seat for one term.

After Amethi district was created in 1967, the Congress has won all Lok Sabha elections barring two -- 1977, when Janata Party won and 1998 when BJP won. Former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and his brother Sanjay have also represented the seat in the past.
BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said over 250 terrorists were killed in the airstrike carried out by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on the 13th day of dastardly Pulwama terror attack.

Addressing the Lakshya JITO program in Ahmedabad, Shah spoke about the two major terror strikes of the last five years and outlined the central governments response against them.

In 5 years two major incidents happened...In URI and Pulwama.....after Uri attack our army entered Pakistan and did a surgical strike and took revenge of our soldiers death.

After Pulwama attack, everyone thought surgical strike cant be done this time..now what will happen?... At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government did an airstrike on the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists without any harm on our side, Shah said.

On February 28, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the government to spell out details of the exact place where the air raid was carried out and the casualties inflicted, stating that international media claimed that there was no damage in the strike.

In the wee hours of February 26, the anti-terror operations carried out by the IAF targeted camps of dreaded terror outfitJaish-e-Mohammadin Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A day later, on February 27, India foiled an attempt by Pakistan Air Force to carry out strikes in Jammu and Kashmir by shooting down an F-16 fighter jet.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)
The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recommended that teachers who are members of Parliament or legislative assemblies be allowed to teach and do research when their respective House sessions are on, according to two commission officials familiar with developments.

The higher education regulator held discussions on the matter on a reference from Rajya Sabha regarding the salary and perquisites given to such MPs, one official said. At least two Rajya Sabha MPs  Rakesh Sinha of BJP and Manoj Jha of RJD  are teachers in Delhi University.

According to the recommendations, such teachers may draw their salaries from the university they are teaching in and their allowances from the parliamentary or legislative secretariat. They should be marked on duty when they attend House sessions or undertake any parliamentary or legislative assignments.

Moreover, the university/college should appropriately assign their workloads to ensure their teaching assignments do not suffer, the recommendations, which will shortly be placed before the Rajya Sabha secretariat, said.

However, such teachers should not hold any administrative position in the university/ college during their term as MPs/ MLAs so their legislative work does not suffer, the first UGC official said.

According to the second official, the UGC has opted not to go into matters relating to office of profit and suggested that they be looked into and decided by the parliamentary or legislative secretariat.

According to Articles 102(1)(a) and 191(1)(a) of the Constitution, an MP or MLA is barred from holding an office of profit as it can put them in a position to gain a financial benefit.

Two years ago, former PM Manmohan Singh  an RS MP from Assam  had sought clearance from the parliamentary panel on office of profit to accept a teaching offer from Panjab University. The panel gave him clearance, noting that teaching in educational institutions would not attract office of profit provisions.

It also suggested that teachers who wish to take leave of absence during their term as MPs/MLAs may be allowed to do so, but it has to be ensured that they do not lose their seniority or increments.
A meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) passed two strongly worded resolutions on Kashmir a day after it was addressed by Indias foreign minister, including a reference to Indian terrorism, prompting the Congress on Sunday to attack the government over its participation in the Abu Dhabi meet.

The two resolutions, one on the Kashmir issue and another on the India-Pakistan peace process, were part of the overall political resolution passed at the end of the meeting of OICs Council of Foreign Ministers on Saturday.

The first described Kashmir as the core dispute between the two countries and expressed concern at rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir. It also described the gunning down of terrorist commander Burhan Wani as an extra-judicial killing and spoke of Indian terrorism in the state.

Watch | Sushma Swaraj at OIC meet: States that back terror must be stopped

The second welcomed Prime Minister Imran Khans offer of dialogue with India, and the gesture of releasing the Indian pilot captured after warplanes from the two sides engaged each other along the Line of Control on February 27. It called for restraint and de-escalation as well as the resolution of outstanding issues through peaceful means. It also expressed concern over the violation of Pakistani airspace and affirmed Islamabads right to self-defence.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said the governments claims that the OIC inviting India to attend the meeting was a diplomatic success had fallen flat with the 56-member grouping adopting a resolution that supported Pakistan on Kashmir issue and condemned alleged Indian barbarities.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj attended the OIC meeting in Abu Dhabi. The NDA-BJP government touted it as a huge diplomatic success for India that it has been invited to attend the plenary...But what happened in Abu Dhabi is extremely disturbing for India, he told reporters.

Tewari said the Congress would like to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Swaraj whether this was a diplomatic achievement.

Swaraj became the first Indian minister to address such a meeting. Her participation came despite a strong demand by Pakistan to rescind the invitation to India, resulting in Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary.

The Congress reacted strongly to the Indian government giving legitimacy to OIC by attending the meet and accused it of surrendering Indias national interest.

The Modi government touted the invitation to the OIC as a great diplomatic success but it has turned out to be a huge embarrassment for India. The OIC resolution not just condemned Indian terrorism in Kashmir but also called India an occupier in Kashmir, Tewari said.

We condemn this abject surrender of national interest, in the strongest possible terms, Tewari said.

Reacting to the resolution, India on Saturday asserted that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of the country and the issue is strictly internal.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, As regards the resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir, our stand is consistent and well known. We reaffirm that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and is a matter strictly internal to India.

However, Tewari said this was just a face saving exercise.

People familiar with developments said these resolutions were drafted weeks ahead of the meeting and used language that was similar to that which appeared in past OIC resolutions. The people said the invitation to India despite Pakistans opposition was a big breakthrough.

The Abu Dhabi Declaration, the main communique negotiated at the meeting, made no mention of India or Kashmir. This was because of the efforts of OIC members who are friendly with India, said a person who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Former Union minster and Congress leader Salman Khurshid said IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman earned his flying badge in 2004 and matured as a fighter pilot during the UPA rule, remarks which attracted criticism on the social media.

Many kudos for Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the face of Indias resistance to enemy aggression. Great poise and confidence in face of adversity. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA, Khurshid tweeted Saturday.

After attracting criticism on the social media for taking credit, Khurshid Sunday said that he had only stated the truth.

I had said that he (the pilot) joined the IAF during our tenure. I had only stated the truth, he told reporters.

After being held in captivity for nearly 60 hours, Wing Commander Abhinandan was released by Pakistan and handed over to India at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday night.

Days after Pulwama attack of February 14, which left 40 CRPF personnel dead, the Indian Air Force carried out an air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp inside Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to bomb Indian military installations on Wednesday morning. The attempt was foiled by the Indian Air Force. In an ensuing dogfight, Varthamans MiG-21 was shot down after he brought down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet.
Most of those detainees were eventually released after agreeing to pay massive financial penalties, but Fitaihi and a small handful of others were instead transferred to a prison in Riyadh. Cooper said Fitaihi was recently moved to a different prison in the coastal city of Jeddah and that he was now in the prison hospital after suffering "an emotional breakdown" after months of physical and psychological torture.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday got Kochi in Kerala and Karachi in Pakistan mixed up in a slip of the tongue but quickly covered it up by saying that his mind these days is preoccupied with the neighbouring country.

Extolling the virtues of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, Modi said it allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country, be it Kolkata or Karachi.

Almost in the same breath, the PM set things right by telling the gathering he meant Kochi and not Karachi.

Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if a resident of Jamangar has gone to Bhopal and falls sick, he need not come back to Jamnagar for treatment. If he shows his (Ayushman Bharat) beneficiary card, he will get free treatment even in Kolkata and even in Karachi, Modi told a gathering in Jamnagar.

Also read: Use common sense: PM Modi lashes out at Oppn over Rafale attack

He, however, added, Not Karachi but Kochi. Nowadays my mind is preoccupied with the thoughts of the neighbouring country. But that (air strike in Pakistan) was also necessary.

Should that be done or not? he posed to the crowd which replied its assent with a round of applause.

Modi was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe building of Guru Govind Singh Hospital in Jamnagar.
Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday addressed a function five-six yards away from railway crossing of Amritsar-Khemkaran rail line, which passes through Bhagatanwala garbage dump.

Sidhu had come under fire after Amritsar train tragedy in which 62 people, standing on railway tracks to watch Dussehra celebrations near Jaura Phatak in Amritsar in October last year, were mowed down by a speeding train and over 140 were injured.

Sidhus wife Navjot Kaur had attended the celebrations, organised by his aide Saurabh Mithu Madan, as the chief guest. Kaur reached the event late, thereby delaying the burning of Ravanas effigy. The delay was one of the reasons behind the tragedy as the people could not spot the train in dark.

Despite that incident, the function on Sunday was organised close to the track and few people, including children, who came to attend it were seen standing on the track.

Apart from local bodies minister , MLA from Amritsar south Inderbir Singh Bolaria, Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla and mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu were also present on the stage of the function, organised to lay the foundation stone for giving facelift to the dump.

During the function, a DMU also passed through the track.

Though cops were deployed near the track to keep the people away from it, but despite their efforts, people were seen wandering on the track.
Indian fighter jets were scrambled front a frontline base in the Rajasthan sector on Monday morning to engage an incoming threat from Pakistan, a senior official in the security establishment said on condition of anonymity.

Russian made Su-30Mki  a twin-engine air dominance fighter  scrambled from a base along the international border at about 11.30 am after air-defense radars picked up an incoming unmanned aerial vehicle or drone. Indian fighters engaged it with air-to-air missiles, the official added. Besides the Su-30MKi, there were other fighters in the package as well, this person said without elaborating.

India and Pakistan have been on the edge following an attack against Indian troopers by a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on February 14. On February 26, Indian fighter jets struck a Jaish facility at Balakot in Pakistan. Pakistan responded with a strike by its own fighters that was repulsed on February 27.

Mondays attempted air-intrusion was over Anupgarh that is located along the International Border a few kilometers east of Bahawalpur , the base of the banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The Indian Air Force, however, refused to comment on the drone intrusion.

The incident comes after a Pakistani drone was shot down on February 26 in the Gujarat sector. Earlier on Monday Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said operations against Pakistan were ongoing.

All three services  Indian Army, Air Force, and Navy  are in a heightened state of alert. All ground formations especially those along the Line-of-Control (LoC)  the disputed de-facto border between India and Pakistan  and the settled border  International Border  are in a state of alert.

Air Bases in Western India  for instance, Suratgarh, Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, Bhuj in Gujarat Sirsa, Halwara, Ambala, Adamour, Bhatinda and Pathankot in Punjab and those in Jammu and Kashmir including Jammu, Awantipora and Srinagar  are launching Combat Air Patrols to ward off any incoming threats. Air bases and radar stations like those Amritsar are also on an alert.
Two Congress lawmakers crossed over to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Monday, effectively crashing Congress hopes of cornering one of the four seats that would have been up for grabs in next weeks legislative council elections.

The exits are also seen to indicate a fresh effort by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Raos party to lure opposition lawmakers to its fold. A source in the TRS told HT that more opposition lawmakers are in touch with Chief Minister KCR and could join the ruling party at any time.

The Congresss two tribal legislators to quit the party and cross over to the TRS are Athram Sakku from Asifabad seat in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district and Regula Kantha Rao from Pinapaka constituency in Bhadhradri Kothagudem district. A third opposition legislator, TDPs Sandra Venkata Veeraiah, has already issued a statement to make it clear that he wanted to switch sides and join the TRS.

The defection, a huge jolt to the Congress-TDP combine that had suffered a humiliating defeat in the recent state elections, will reduce the strength of the Congress and its allies in the 119-member house to 18.

This may not be enough to win any of the four seats in the March 12 legislative assembly elections.

The TRS has allotted one of the four legislative council seats for its ally, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). It will contest the other three.

But the legislative council election may not be the only reason for KCR, as Chandrasekhar Rao is widely known in Telangana, racing against time to poach lawmakers from the opposition parties.

Rao has grand plans to win 16 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats and that is why he is out to demoralise the Congress by encouraging defections, says T Lakshminarayana, a political analyst.

Though the Congress had ended up with just about 21 seats in the 2018 assembly election against the 88 seats won by the TRS, the gap between the two parties narrows down in terms of vote share. The Congress had managed to poll 32.32 per cent votes against 47.4 per cent votes polled by the TRS.

Besides, there are certain pockets such as Khammam district where the Congress continues to be strong. The TRS won only one of the 10 assembly seats in this district. In this context, Lakshminarayana reasoned, KCR was trying to strengthen his party by chipping away at the Congresss foundation in these areas.

It is a strategy that KCR had adopted in his earlier tenure as chief minister from 2014 to 2018. During these four years, 8 of the 21 MLAs from the Congress and 12 out of 15 from the TDP had defected to the TRS.

The latest defections have angered the Congress that has planned protest rallies in constituencies represented by the defectors from March second week, said its president N Uttamkumar Reddy.

State Congress leaders have also asked the Telangana Legislative Council Chairman K Swamy Goud to disqualify the two MLAs from voting in the council elections. N Uttamkumar Reddy reminded the council chairman about his previous ruling disqualifying three members when they crossed over from the TRS to the Congress in January this year.
Two more western disturbances (WDs), the 16th and 17th such occurrences this season, will likely bring rainfall and chilly winds to the northern plains and snowfall in western Himalayas on March 6 and March 11, the India Meteorological Department said on Sunday, adding to the number and intensity of these weather phenomena that have surprised scientists.

The western disturbances are storms with cold air at their core that originate in the Mediterranean region and bring rain to north and northwestern India. At the most, five to six western disturbances usually affect northwestern India during the winter. The intensity of WDs is unusual this year. Though we arent expecting heavy or widespread rainfall associated with the WD on March 6 because it appears to be a feeble one. Snowfall is likely in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, while in the plains there will be cloudy skies and light rain. We are expecting a stronger WD on March 11 and 12, which is likely to bring widespread rain and snowfall but it is too early to give specific details, said M Mohapatra, director general of meteorology, IMD.

On Sunday, several parts of Delhi reported rainfall and the day temperature in the national capital was 22.7 degrees Celsius, four degrees below normal, while the minimum was 11.5 degrees C, 2 degrees below normal. The IMD has predicted a generally cloudy sky and light rain for Monday.

Following the latest WDs, the temperatures may fall by 2 to 3 degrees temporarily, prolonging the winter feel, according to the weather departments predictions. On March 3, following a western disturbance, the maximum temperature in Delhi was 19.3 degrees C, 8 degrees C below normal, while the minimum temperature was 11.5 degrees C, 2 degrees C below normal. The minimum temperature in Srinagar was 0.8 degree C, Lucknow 14 degrees C, Chandigarh 11.3 degrees C, Manali -1.4 degree C and Dehradun 10.6 degrees C.

Delhi experienced its second coldest March day in 27 years on Saturday, almost breaching yet another decades old record after Friday morning saw the coldest overall March temperature since 1979. Earlier in 2018, Delhi had witnessed the third coldest December in 50 years. IMD data showed that the average monthly minimum temperature in December 2018 was 6.7C.

Mohapatra said the frequency of WDs this season was high because of the weakening of the polar vortex. The WD system develops due to a temperature difference between northern and southern latitudes. They are more intense this time because of the higher temperature gradient, which is a result of the weakening of the polar vortex, he said.
The Alwar district administration suspended the warden of hostel of Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) in Kishangarh Bas area and her husband after two girls accused them of sexual harassment. The wardens husband is a government teacher.

Police detained the man after registering a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Posco) Act and SC/ST Act. Another accused is on the run. But the police have not taken action against the warden yet.

Two girls of the KGBV in Baskripal Nagar told the school principal about sexual harassment by the wardens husband and another man when he went to the hostel on Saturday to distribute sweets to celebrate return of wing commander Abhinandan Varthanam to India.

Principal Sukhi Ram said the two girls came to him crying and told him about their sexual harassment. We informed the police, he said. Kishangarh Bas police station SHO Ravindra Kavia said they have registered a case and are investigating into it. We have detained the wardens husband for questioning.

Warden Neel Kamal Yadav has been removed from her post, the principal said. The police officer said the statement of the two girls had been recorded. A police team has been sent to Haryana to bring other accused, Ramkesh Sharma.

RPS officer Neha Agarwal will investigate the case. Case of molestation registered against accused after two girls complained of molestation by wardens husband. Questioning underway, Agarwal told ANI.

Alwar collector Indrajeet Singh said the warden and her husband Naresh Yadav have been suspended. A letter has been sent to education secretary for issuing notice to them and terminating their service. .

Ex-union minister Jitendra Singh and state labour minister Tika Ram Jully visited the hostel.

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The Indian Air Force does not count casualties in an operation, only the targets, said Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday, steering clear of a political row over casualties in the IAFs strike at the Jaish-e-Mohammeds biggest terror camp in Pakistans Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

That statement will be made by the government. Air Force is not in a position to clarify how many people were inside... We dont count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not hit... We cant count how many people have died. It depends on how many people were there, the Air Chief said in his first comments since the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp.

The pre-dawn air strike on February 26 on the Jaishs biggest terror camp in Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province came 12 days after the Pulwama bombing that killed 40 CRPF soldier. Pakistan had attempted to carry out a retaliatory strike last week but had not been able to cause any significant damage.

In the hours after the air strike carried out 12 days after the Pulwama bombing that killed 40 CROF troopers, government officials had estimated that 325 Jaish terrorists, many of them fresh recruits and their trainers, were killed.

When media reports from Pakistan contested this claim, opposition leaders asked the government to put a number to the casualties in the strike. Junior IT minister SS Ahluwalia attempted to distance the government from the speculation around casualties, underlining that the government hadnt spelt out a number.

BJP chief Amit Shah, however, waded right into the row on Sunday when he announced in Gujarat that more than 250 Jaish terrorists had been killed in the air strike carried out by the IAF. The remark renewed the political debate on the topic.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal was the first one to target the ruling party, wondering if the government had given him this information. If the government and the Defence services have shared this information with him, why doesnt the government share this information with the Opposition leaders of the country? he asked, accusing the top BJP leader of trying to politicize the counter-terror strike.

Air Chief Dhanoa said it was obvious that the strikes had hit its targets. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan PM Imran Khan) have responded if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond, he said.

It was during the IAFs operation to block the retaliatory strike by Pakistan air force that Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans MiG-21 Bison crashed seconds after he shot down the F-16 jet he had engaged in an aerial dogfight. The IAF officer was captured by Pakistan authorities. He returned to India on Friday after spending nearly 60 hours in Pakistans custody.

There have been reports that the IAF officer was raring to fly again. Air Chief Dhanoa said this is a decision that would be taken on the basis of an assessment of injuries sustained during ejection from the MiG 21.

Whether he (Wing Commander #Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. Thats why post ejection, he has undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit, Dhanoa said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday accused past regimes of failing to crack down on terrorism, and said his government would not hesitate to hunt down terrorists in their safe havens if India was attacked.

Modi also targeted the Opposition for indulging in vote-bank politics. They [the Opposition] say it is a game of election. Where was election when we carried out surgical strikes for the first time [in September 2016]? Ye hamara siddhant hai, ki ghar mein ghus kar maarenge (It is our doctrine that we will hunt them down on their own turf), he said at a public rally in Ahmedabad. I am not going to spare them even if they hide in the bowels of the earth [saatve pataal], he added.

Recalling the bomb blasts at the Ahmedabad civil hospital premises in July 2008 and the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Modi said the then government at the Centre should have taught the militants a lesson. Terrorism came from across the border. Was it not the responsibility of people at the Centre to take revenge? he asked.

If the government then had courage, it could have avenged the deaths of innocent people at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Innocent people were killed in 26/11 in Mumbai. And we came back to normal after a few days, he said.

Modi also said the Opposition must not politicise the air strike carried out in Pakistan by the Indian Air Force on February 26, and asked whether or not they trust the countrys armed forces.

Congress spokesman Manish Doshi said, To hide law and order failure, which is a state subject, the PM is blaming then UPA [United Progressive Alliance] government for the 2008 Ahmedabad bombings.

Earlier in the day, speaking at a rally in Jamnagar, Modi attacked his rivals for questioning his statement that Rafale jets would have made a difference during the dogfight with Pakistani jets.

I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference [during the February 27 dogfight], but they [opposition parties] say Modi is questioning our air force strike, the Prime Minister said. Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time [of the dogfight], then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved, he added.

The Indian Air Force said it shot down a Pakistani F-16 jet but lost a MiG21 plane during the engagement, which occurred a day after Indian fighter jets hit a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror camp in Pakistan. An Indian fighter pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured by Pakistani forces after his MiG 21 was shot down during the air skirmish, but released on March 1.

If they [Opposition] dont understand me, what can I do? They have their own limitations, he told the audience during his 40-minute speech in Gujarati.

The tense India-Pakistan stand-off has given way to a political tussle in recent days, with Opposition leaders blaming the BJP for politicising the aerial strikes, and demanding proof that the terror camp was damaged, and 250 people  as claimed by BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday and several media reports  died in the attack.

Modi pushed back on those demands on Monday, saying his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him. The root of terrorism disease is in the neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its roots, he said.
The decision on whether Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will ever fly a fighter jet will depend on his medical fitness, Indian Air Force chief BS Dhanoa said on Monday. The 35-year-old pilot had ejected from his MiG-21 fighter jet last week after an aerial engagement with an F-16 of the Pakistan air force that had transgressed into Indian air space. He returned to India on Friday after spending more than 50 hours in the custody of the Pakistan Army.

The IAF chief said no chances are taken with the medical fitness of a pilot. Whether he flies or not again depends on his medical fitness. Thats why post ejection he has undergone medical fitness test. Once he gets his medical fitness then only will he get into a fighter cockpit, said Dhanoa.

News agency ANI had reported that Abhinandan suffered an injury in his lower spine when he ejected from his MiG-21.

Watch: IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman arrives in India to a heros welcome

Also read: IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman suffered spine, rib injury after ejecting from plane: Report

The MRI scans revealed that though no bugs had been found on the IAF pilot, there were signs of two injuries. While one injury was on his lower spine when he ejected from his plane, the other injury was on a rib, ANI quoted sources as saying. The second injury was possibly suffered when he was assaulted by some locals when he parachuted into Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) after his plane was shot down.

For the last two days, Abhinandan has been undergoing medical treatment at Armys Research and Referral hospital in New Delhi. PTI reported that he has told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest.

Wing Commander Abhinandan became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force. Abhinandan was captured by the Pakistani Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dogfight.

Abhinandan was among the first pilots whose fighter jets had been scrambled to repulse a package of Pakistani war planes that had transgressed into Indian airspace to target military installations. The PAF assault came a day after Indian Mirage 2000 jets bombed a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp at Balakot in an unprecedented, peace-time cross-border air strike.
The national executive of ruling Janata Dal (United) on Monday decided to take a shot at expanding its national presence by contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in several states, saying its tie-up with BJP was limited only to Bihar.

The national executive members were unanimous in authorising party president and chief minister Nitish Kumar to take a decision on the issue.

The meeting, which was expected to announce the likely seats to be contested by the JD(U), did not take up the issue. The specific seats for the three alliance partners would be announced shortly, said RCP Singh, JD(U) national general secretary and Rajya Sabha member.

The JD(U), BJP and LJP will contest 17-17-6 seats as part of their deal.

JD(U)s national general secretary KC Tyagi said there was a consensus on the need for the party to explore options for expanding outside Bihar.

The meeting gave its nod for the constitution of a three-member committee, comprising KC Tyagi, RCP Singh and Prashant Kishor, for holding preliminary talks with the heads of respective state units for evaluating prospects and apprising the chief minister on the issue.

While JD(U) national president had announced the candidate for lone LS seat from Lakshadweep, we will explore the option of contesting some of the seats in Northeast, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh, he said.

JD(U)s stand on Citizenship Amendment Bill and its opposition to its passage in the Rajya Sabha has brought the party in reckoning in states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur, Tyagi claimed.

However, partys electoral foray in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat in assembly elections had not yielded desired results.

It also failed in Assam and Kerala, whereas it has decided to opt out of the UP assembly elections in the past. In Nagaland, the party won one seat.

The Election Commissions criteria mandates a party to get at least 6% of the votes from a minimum of four states, or 2% of the total seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three states, or be recognised as a state party in at least four states to qualify as a national party.

Tyagi said the partys views on disputed issues, when it joined NDA in 1997, remained the same. We are opposed to any murmur for the dilution of Article 370 and 35A in J&K and believe that SC verdict on Ramjanambhoomi was the only way forward as the prospect of resolution through negotiation has dimmed completely, he said.

The JD(U) also demanded that the Centre come out with an ordinance for the reinstatement of old roster system in the appointments in central universities after Supreme Courts rejection of appeal against a judgment of the Allahabad High Court.

Tyagi said the party would not compromise its stand with any attempt to dilute existing quotas. JD(U) president Ntish Kumar is a strong votary for reservation in judiciary as he believes it to be an instrument for social change, he said.
WASHINGTON  Opponents of President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border appear to have enough Senate votes to reject his move, now that Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he can't go along with the White House.
The junior partner in Keralas ruling Left Democratic Front, Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday became the first party to finalise its candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, naming four leaders for the seats it will contest from the state.

The party has fielded two legislators and dropped its lone MP, from Thrissur, C N Jayadevan. Former minister C Divakaran, currently an MLA, will enter the fray from the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram constituency where author-politician Shashi Tharoor is set to seek re-election for the third time.

Another legislator, Chittayam Gopakumar will be trying his luck from Mavelikkara (reserved) constituency. Senior Congress leader Kodikunnil Suresh is the sitting MP here.

Rajaji Thmoas Mathew has replaced Jayadevan in Thrissur, and in Wayanad, P P Suneer has been fielded.

In Thiruvananthapuram, many names were floating around to take on Tharoor. Student leader Kanhaiya kumar and senior leader Annie Raja were some of them, but the party finally decided to field local leader C Divakaran.

The partys national council will have to approve the names chosen by the state leadership before the candidacy is finalised.

For both Left parties, CPI(M) and CPI, Kerala is crucial this time because their prospects are not looking good in former pocket boroughs like West Bengal and Tripura.

In the 2014 polls, Thiruvananthapuram had witnessed a tough three-cornered contest in which BJP candidate O Rajagopal came a close second, pushing the CPIs Bennet Abraham to a third slot. Tharoor had retained the seat with a margin of 15,700 votes. This time, the BJP is yet to announce its candidate from the state capital.

The CPI(M) is likely to announce its candidates by the end of this week after the state committee meet. Two factions of the Janata Dal have also sought one seat each from the LDF.

In opposition UDF, a tiff is continuing following the demand of Kerala Congress (Mani) for one more seat other than Kottayam, which it holds now. Congress is likely to retain all sitting MPs.

PCC chief Mullapally Ramachandran has, however, decided not to contest. The Wayanad seat is also vacant due to the death of M I Shanawas. Out of the 20 seats in the state, UDF has 12 and LDF 8.
Nikhil Kumar, son of Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, on Monday confirmed that he will contest from the Mandya constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The move follows a day after his grandfather, former prime minister and Janata Dal (Secular) president HD Deve Gowda, had announced he had no objection to Kumar contesting from the Mandya seat.

The JD(S) leadership, dominated by Vokkaligas, treats Mandya as its bastion, as the constituency has a substantial population from the community.

With this, the third generation of the Gowda household will be marking their formal entry into electoral politics, as Deve Gowda had already announced that Prajwal Revanna (28), son of Deve Gowdas elder son and public works department minister HD Revanna, will contest from the Hassan seat as the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalitions candidate. The former PM represented the Hassan constituency in the outgoing 16th Lok Sabha.

Confirming the development, Nikhil Kumar told reporters in Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district on Monday that as a dedicated party worker he will abide by Deve Gowdas decision.

The party senior and national president Deve Gowda is an inspiration to youths like me. As a dedicated worker of the party, I will fulfil the duty he has given me. He has announced the ticket for me, Kumar, 31, said.

Political analyst Narendar Pani said it might not be all smooth sailing for the two newcomers as their entry could create frictions within the party.
Representatives of almost all political parties sought simultaneous national and assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir as they met an Election Commission (EC) team in Srinagar on Monday, officials said.

The Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora-led team arrived in the state for a two-day visit to review security preparedness for the polls amid an escalation of violence in the state, which has been under the Presidents rule since December 19. Assembly elections have to be held within six months of the imposition of the Presidents rule while the national polls are due next month.

National Conference leader Ali Mohammad Sagar, whose party has been out of power in the state since 2015, said he led a delegation that met the team and asked the EC to conduct both assembly and Lok Sabha polls together.

Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Rehman Veeri, whose party led a coalition government in the state with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)s help until June 2018, said they asked the EC to hold both elections as soon as possible. BJP spokesman Altaf Thakur said the partys delegation told the EC team that they were ready for Lok Sabha as well as assembly polls.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Mohammad Yusuf Tarigami said: ...the people will like to have their own elected government and both Parliament and assembly elections should be held at a time.

Earlier on Monday, the EC team was briefed about the security situation in Kashmir in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack.
As the confusion between Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) over Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency continues, Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader on Sunday said the seat will remain with the NCP.

Pawar was speaking to media persons at an event in Pune.

Sharad Pawar, NCP chief, was reported to have said on Friday that his party was willing to give up the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat to the Congress, raising hope in the Vikhe Patil family of the entry of its third generation in electoral politics. Congress member and leader of opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patils son Sujay is keen to contest Lok Sabha polls from Ahmednagar seat, which as per seat-sharing quota is with the NCP.

Within hours, the NCP clarified that Sharad Pawar had made no such statement. Jayant Patil, Maharashtra NCP chief said the party had not given up on the Ahmednagar seat and no decision has been taken so far.

Appealing to the media to not create confusion, Ajit Pawar said, Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat was with the Nationalist Congress Party in the past and will remain so in the future as well. He further added that he has personally spoken to Jayant Patil and Sharad Pawar and has made it clear that the Ahmednangar seat will remain with the NCP.

On being asked about the talks among the Congress and NCP to exchange the Ahmednagar seat for Pune, Ajit Pawar said there was no truth in it.

Sujay Vikhe Patil, a doctor by profession, has already made it clear that he will contest polls from Ahmednagar seat even if he has to change his party. The Ahmednagar district has two constituencies - Ahmednagar, and Shirdi, which is a reserved constituency.

Meanwhile Congress leaders from Sangli have opposed any attempts to give up its claim over Sangli Lok Sabha seat with alliance partners NCP or with Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana in absence of any strong candidate in the party. The party is finding it difficult to find a strong candidate to field against Sanjay Patil, sitting Member of Parliament (MP) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress leaders from the district passed a resolution last week saying that the party will fight the election with all its might.
After prolonged discussions, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress seem to have decided to fight separately in the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi, although some people suggest the last hasnt been heard of on this subject. Statements by the AAP say that its overtures for alliance have been rejected by the Congress.

Hindustan Times had, on March 2, reported that both Sheila Dikshit and Rahul Gandhi communicated their refusal for an alliance to the AAP leadership. Arithmetic suggests that this is a bad move.

The combined vote share of the AAP and the Congress would have been enough to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in six out of seven seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. (see chart 1).

Also, while the 2015 assembly results would suggest that the Congress was virtually wiped out from the city state, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections held in 2017 suggest otherwise.

The Congress polled 21.1% of the total votes, only five percentage points less than what the AAP could get. Once again, the combined vote share of the AAP and the Congress was significantly greater than the 36% of the BJP. A split in anti-BJP votes allowed the BJP to win two-thirds of the MCD seats with a vote share just above the one-third mark. (see chart 2).

The fact that both the Congress and AAP were almost at par in the MCD elections should have been reason enough to settle seat sharing questions had the two parties been serious about forging an alliance. To be sure, people may vote differently in national elections than they do in municipality ones.

What then explains the failure of the two parties to force an anti-BJP alliance? It might be the Congresss grudge against the AAP, as the former was the main loser in the growth of AAP as a political force in Delhi. Even though the BJP won all seven seats in Delhi in the 2014 elections, its performance in terms of vote share was better in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The Congress, on the other hand, recorded its lowest ever vote share in the 2014 elections, as it lost a large chunk of its voters to the AAP. (see chart 3).

To enter into an alliance with the AAP would mean that the Congress accepts its reverses in the post-2013 phase as a permanent setback. That the Congress has brought in Sheila Dikshit as its Delhi president suggests that the party hopes to restore status quo ante and regain its pre-AAP dominance in Delhi.

This can only happen if the AAP were to disappear. BJP after all has shown greater resilience in retaining its support base in the post-AAP phase.

The question is how would almost half of Delhis anti-BJP voters react to this acrimony between the Congress and the AAP? If they are equally or slightly split like they were in 2017 and 2014, the BJP is bound to win a majority of seats in Delhi.

However, if the AAP is successful in convincing voters that the Congresss subjective grudge against it is the reason why the two parties could not form an anti-BJP alliance, the Congresss strategy of regaining its lost ground in Delhi might backfire.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using India-Pakistan tensions following the February 14 Pulwama attack to hide their failures and incompetence.

People feel the countrys security and dignity is not in strong and safe hands. Narendra Modi and BJP leaders are using the tension between India and Pakistan to hide their failures and incompetence, she said in an address to BSP office-bearers in Lucknow. Mayawati said the people are concerned over the terror attack as well as tensions on the India-Pakistan border.

The BJP leadership should have desisted from indulging in politics after the death of over 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama terror attack, she said.

She said Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans return to India had reduced tensions between India and Pakistan. Varthaman was captured a day after India carried out an air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan in response to the Pulwama attack. She also called for a longterm policy to ensure the countrys security and dignity so that no country can dare to ignore or intimidate India.

Also read | Ahead of party meet, Mayawati invokes Indo-Pak situation to attack PM Modi, BJP

She called for a long-term and reliable policy to ensure national security and dignity so that no country can dare to ignore or intimidate India.

She paid tributes to the CRPF jawans and urged her party leaders to share the grief of their families and extend all possible help to them.

Party leaders should meet the family members often to know their well-being as the government forgets them after completing the formalities. The central and state government should fulfil the promises made to the families of jawans, said Mayawati, who returned to Lucknow on Friday to review the BSPs preparations for the national elections.

Mayawati said the SP-BSP alliance was gaining strength and popularity. She said it has made the BJP jittery and called upon the BSP workers to forget their differences and work hard to make the alliance successful.

Mayawati said the people were fed up with the BJP-led governments anti-poor and pro-rich policies and wanted to get rid of it. The BSP-SP alliance is capable of defeating the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The people will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha election, she said.

Mayawati accused BJP of being anti-Dalit and anti-OBC. She added the BJP has made the reservations provided to the SC and OBC ineffective by keeping reserved posts vacant.

Mayawatiji is getting desperate. It shows. She is today holding a placard with moral slogans. But she herself knows the countless immoral acts when she was in power. Unscrupulous, she would do well to remember that the party she is now opposing not only made her chief minister thrice but also saved her life. Need we say more, UP BJP spokesman Chandramohan said.

Also read | On Rahul Gandhi turf, PM Modis jibe with Made-in-Amethi AK-203 rifles
Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying to the people of Amethi, and said that the ordnance factory in the Congress presidents constituency, where the PM on Sunday launched an India-Russia joint venture for production of AK-203 rifles, was already functioning for the past many years.

Addressing a rally in Amethi on Sunday, Modi had said the work at the ordnance factory there had been delayed and the number of jobs promised had not been provided to the local people.

Mr Prime Minister, I had laid the foundation for the Ordnance Factory in Amethi in 2010. Small arms are being manufactured there for the past many years. You went to Amethi yesterday [Sunday] and spoke lies, Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.

In his speech, Modi said that Gandhi had promised the work will begin soon at the factory. He asked people why they should believe someone who could not get even this much done during the tenure of his partys government. They promised employment to 1,500 people but only 200 got jobs.

Modi also targeted Gandhi for failing to arrange gas for a steel factory in Amethi and said the same had been done to a food park there. Gandhi, in turn, has been accusing the Modi government of cancelling the food park project.

On Monday, Congress lawmaker Deepak Singh released a picture of Gandhi laying the factorys foundation stone in December 2007 and added that production had already begun there.

The Amethi Ordnance Factory was set up in 2010 and is already manufacturing Mac guns and Pennsylvania guns. The Modi government has constructed no building, set up no machine or units. The Prime Minister has lowered the dignity of his office by indulging in petty politics on such issues, Singh said, adding that the party would hold an exhibition about the development works carried out in Amethi.

But BJP leader Uma Shankar Pandey said the PMs comments were spot on, and said that Gandhi only laid the foundation stone for the ordnance factory. He added the Congress government was unable to start production there. We have started work on manufacturing the worlds best AK rifles there.

India has signed a deal with a Russian firm to manufacture 750,000 AK-203 rifles, the latest derivative of the legendary AK-47 rifles, at the Indian Ordnance Factory at Amethis Korwa, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said in Amethi on Sunday. Rahul Gandhi won from the Gandhi bastion in 2014, even as UP was swept by the BJP in the 2014 general elections.
Tabassum Bano Mirzas life was largely confined to her locality in Thane Wests sprawling slum  Hajoori  until she landed a job at an upscale salon when she was 18. The job gave her financial independence, exposed her to a wider world and inspired her to engage with it. All of this may not have been possible had not Mumbai provided her an enabling atmosphere to overcome her disadvantages.

As Muslim women, we live protected lives. Still, we are lucky that we are in Mumbai. We move around until 11 pm without fear. It is not like that in Gorakhpur, where my parents come from..., said Mirza, 28, who underwent a three-month beautician training course after dropping out of high school.

Fight to vote

Mirza first tried to register as a voter when she turned 20. But she was unsuccessful despite filling registration forms four times. She would eagerly check voter lists; go from one voting station to another hoping to vote in municipal, assembly and even in the last national elections in 2014. But each time she returned home dejected to find her name missing from voter lists . It happens a lot in my locality, Mizra said.

Mirza, who married a man she was in love with and now lives in Vikhroli, finally made it to the list in 2017.

What is in it for me?

As a 28-year-old now, Mirzas priorities have changed. She is now a married woman and a mother of a one-year-old daughter. Her in-laws do not allow her to work and the things she stands for matter even more than ever before. For generations, her fathers family voted for the Congress. It has been a legacy she grew up with but not the one she would necessarily continue. Mirza wants to evaluate candidates based on what they have done for her family and locality as she looks forward to voting for the first time.

Mirza is upset how politicians left them to their fate last year in February when municipal authorities demolished 106 houses and shops in the name of widening a road that remains unrepaired. The road has been a source of much trouble for the residents. It causes water logging every time it rains. Mirza said no local leader showed up with aid, food or money in the last monsoon season when the residents were for days forced to wade through chest-high filthy waters. The flooding coincided with the Muslim fasting month of Ramzan when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk. Mirza said most families could not make sehri or the pre-dawn meal and went hungry.

The societys polarisation on communal lines bothers Mirza as much as the civic issues. The Society is communally divided in a way that it has not been before, she said. in the middle of Ramzan, when we needed help the most, we are abandoned, Mirza said. My question today is  who is standing with us? When we have to put our names on electoral lists, on ration cards, deal with flood waters, we have to run from pillar to post ourselves. Today, I have a daughter, who would not get admission to an English-medium school without a donation, and I want a better life for her. So, I think hard about that vote now. I will keep evaluating my options until I get to the booth, she said.

Voting

Mirza grew up in a Shiv Sena stronghold, where she said residents could walk up to the partys local unit or shakha for help even in solving family disputes. Except for Shiv Senas offshoot, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, few other parties have been able to replicate that reach. But today even these shakhas are in decline. Even the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not match the Shiv Senas reach. But Shiv Senas inconsistency with alliances also makes Mirza wonder if it deserves her vote. The Shiva Sena sealed a deal with the BJP this month after much speculation whether their alliance would last. The two parties have been at loggerheads with the Shiv Sena having taken on the BJP on issues like the Rafale jet deal .

Mirza said there is no leader  national, state, or at the local level in any political party who deserves her unconditional support. She wants action. Women have become mature now. We did not have the knowledge earlier. We voted how our families voted. We agreed with whatever was being discussed, she said. You would listen to a national level leader giving a speech at a rally somewhere in Delhi and assume that he will help you. But now we look around and ask: Are they helping you? Are their schemes reaching us? Where are their workers? I do not see any Congress workers here. I do not see any BJP workers here, said Mirza.

Mirza said today they can tell politicians what they want to hear and still go into the ballot box and make their own decision. They cannot control who I vote for. They can only do that if they keep me ignorant. I am no longer ignorant. In a way, I am glad that I am only able to vote for the first time now. Now I know what it means, she said.

No toilet, no vote

She has a list of issues that will decide her vote. Top among them is her familys concerns. Her father migrated to where he lives now over 45 years ago and found work as a turner in a company that later shut down. He is now a watchman and earns 8,000 a month.

Mirzas parents own the house where they live, but it does not have a toilet. They have submitted forms for a personal toilet under Maharashtras Souchalay Nirman Yojana. But they are yet to get one or the money to do so. Mirza said toilets were being built rapidly under the Uttar Pradesh Souchalay Nirman Yojana in her native Gorakhpur. She says they sometimes get inflated electricity bills of as high as 5000 and her old parents have to run around to get them corrected.

Cluster development is due in their slum block, but their relocation means a lease that does not acknowledge her or her sisters right to the property. Under the rules of the Slum Rehabilitation Authority, the ownership will revert to the government, but the house has belonged to her father since he first came here as a migrant. Laws are made for people, but the people are not considered or consulted when they are implemented, said Mirza.

Tabassum Mirza says laws such as the Triple Talaq Bill will not be passed if everyone waits for a consensus, and is happy the BJP is pushing it. (AP File )

Daily battles

Mirza said her family gave women freedoms within the framework of their religion.  [But] people tend to stereotype us. We are Muslim but because my father has been a vegetarian all his life, we are all vegetarians too, said Mirza, whose sister Hina has a bachelors degree in history. But Mirzas in-laws are different. They do not allow her to work and she does not know how much husband,who works as a driver, earns. These are battles  for space, identity, future, her ageing parents, her daughter  that she fights daily in her two homes.

Mirza is happy the BJP is pushing to get the practice of instant divorce or triple talaq among a section of Muslims criminalised. The BJP-led central government issued an executive order in January to make the practice an offence punishable with up to three years in jail.

The order was issued after a bill that had sought to make the practice a nonbailable offence could not be passed in Parliaments upper house  Rajya Sabha. The bill was passed in Lok Sabha or Parliaments lower house late last year.

For Mirza, any law that protects women from unfair treatment is welcome. She added the triple talaq was never meant to be three words uttered in anger and heat of the moment for divorce and cause irrevocable harm to families, women, and children. Mirza said it was being used to undermine the rights of women as equal partners. What the BJP government is doing is good, she said. She added it matters in homes where women are not treated well. Where women suffer, women suffer alone.
A 21-year-old college student was crushed by a tanker after a 20-year-old switched lanes and crashed his motorcycle into the victims scooter, causing her to fall onto the road and her head coming under the wheels of the vehicle behind her, in Andheri on Sunday, police said.

According to the MIDC police, the 20-year-old was speeding, did not have a helmet nor a driving licence, while the woman, Ayesha Sarah, saw her helmet come off her head when she hit the ground after the head-on collision with the biker. The incident took place at 1.20 pm on Makwana Road near Marol Bhavan. Police said pedestrians and other personnel chased and caught the biker, Raju Mandal, and the tanker driver, Mahendra Yadav, 27, who were trying to escape.

Sarah was rushed to hospital where she was declared dead before arrival. She had sustained severe head injuries, police said.

She was riding in her lane and was following all rules. Mandal was speeding, said a police officer.. According to the police, Yadav did not keep a safe distance behind the scooter.

Police arrested Mandal and Yadav under sections 304 A, 184 and 279 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They were also booked under section 134 A of the Motor vehicle act. Police said they arrested Yadav as he should have maintained a safe distance from the two-wheeler.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal and chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday inaugurated phase-2 of the Monorail  extending from Wadala to Jacob Circle  operationalising the entire 19.5-km (Chembur to Jacob Circle) stretch after a delay of eight years.

The Monorail will no longer be a joyride, as now the ridership will increase, said Fadnavis, flagging off the train at Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk station in Saat Rasta. The ridership for phase-1 was around 4.5 lakh a month. With phase-2, we expect it to go up to 30 lakh a month.

Mumbai will become the first city in the country to have a Monorail, Metro and suburban rail services, said Goyal.

We have also asked Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) to connect Monorail and railway stations through subways and skywalks. The planning process will begin soon, he added.

The first phase of the Monorail, from Chembur to Wadala, became operational in 2014 but has faced several roadblocks, including temporary closures, since then. Mumbaiites can now take the Monorail from Chembur to Jacob Circle, starting Monday. Four trains will be operated at a frequency of 22 minutes from 6am to 10pm. RA Rajeev, metropolitan commissioner, MMRDA, said it was a historic day for Mumbaiites and the Monorail would help ease traffic on roads.

Additionally, MMRDA plans to add two more rakes by the end of April, said additional metropolitan commissioner Sanjay Khandare.
Cohen had been slated to appear publicly before the Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 but canceled, citing potential threats against his family. On Feb. 20, the committee said that it had rescheduled Cohen's testimony for Wednesday. The president had announced the dates for his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.
The Bandra police on Saturday arrested three men for allegedly attacking and slashing a 20-year-old mans throat with a broken beer bottle at a Bandra Reclamation club.

According to the police, the incident took place early on Saturday between 12.30am and 12.45am. While dancing in the club, the victim, Gurnihal Singh, clashed with the three accused, Fardeen Sayyad, Mushek Qureshi and Ahmed Memon. This led to an argument between the accused, the victim and his friends, said a police officer.

According to the police, as Singh tried to intervene between one of his friends and the three accused, they started hitting Singh with their hands.

One of the accused, Sayyad, 21, then broke a beer bottle and slashed Singhs throat. Singh was rushed to a nearby hospital by his friends, said the officer.

Before police could reach the club, the accused had fled the spot, police said.

With the help of CCTV footages, the detection staff of Bandra police managed to catch one of the accused a few hours after the incident. The other two accused were arrested late on Saturday.

The victims father, Captain (retired) Bikramjit Singh, said, I was on my way to Chandigarh but came to Mumbai after I changed my flight schedule. I had met my son for lunch. At around 2am, I received a call that he was attacked.

Gurnihal received multiple internal and external stitches. He was discharged from the hospital but has been advised rest, he said.

The accused have been arrested under section 307 (punishment for attempt to murder), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and other sections of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Two locks of hair belonging to a widely revered Ethiopian emperor will be repatriated after a request from Addis Ababa, the National Army Museum in Britain announced Monday, as more countries seek to reclaim heritage they say was taken decades, even centuries, ago.

An outcry erupted last year in Ethiopia over the display of the hair belonging to Emperor Tewodros in an exhibit by the Victoria and Albert Museum on the 1868 British expedition to what was then called Abyssinia. During that campaign, in which 13,000 troops were deployed to free several British hostages, the emperor killed himself and his fortress was captured and looted.

Even at the time, this episode was regarded as a shameful one, the Victoria and Albert Museum noted.

Ethiopians were appalled, with the government saying it would use whatever legal and diplomatic instruments to secure the return of items including an intricate golden crown. Displaying human parts in websites and museums is inhumane, Ethiopias minister for culture and tourism, Hirut Woldemariam, told The Associated Press last year.

The hair was donated in 1959 by relatives of an artist who painted the emperor on his deathbed, the National Army Museum has said.

Our decision to repatriate is very much based on the desire to inter the hair within the tomb alongside the emperor at a monastery in northern Ethiopia, Terri Dendy, the museums head of collections standards and care, said in a statement.

It was not clear when the formal handover would occur. The Ethiopian Embassy in London said it would hold talks with the museum on Thursday about the repatriation, which comes at the end of a yearlong commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the confrontation known as the Battle of Maqdala.

The embassy in a statement commended the museums decision as an exemplary gesture of goodwill, adding that a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when (the hair) is returned to its rightful home.

Now Ethiopians say they seek the return of the bones of the emperors son, Prince Alemayehu, who was taken to Britain and died there at age 18. He was buried at St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The decision to return the emperors hair is a great start, both in encouraging the British toward looking into the possibilities of returning our looted antiquities and also the Ethiopian stakeholders whose decades-long, painstaking efforts actually can bear fruit, Yonas Desta, director-general of Ethiopias Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, told the AP.

The bulk of what was taken, however, remains in the hands of the descendants of the British soldiers, according to Alula Pankhurst, a former professor at Addis Ababa University and an expert on Ethiopian studies.

Some items in private collections have already been returned but the bulk of the items are in public collections within the UK and those cannot be restituted without an act of Parliament, and that is something that requires a big change in popular opinion and a bill has to be presented by members of Parliament, he said last year. This is something that cannot be done overnight.

Some in Africa expect the momentum to grow in repatriating heritage from institutions overseas.

Late last year, a study by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, recommended that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them.

That could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit. The experts estimated that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts.

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Theresa May is promising a 1.6 billion-pound ($2.1 billion) boost for poorer areas of the UK as she steps up efforts to get her Brexit deal over the line.

The Stronger Towns Fund was immediately attacked as an attempt by the prime minister to buy the support of opposition politicians in Leave-supporting districts to back her proposals in crunch House of Commons votes.

For too long in our country prosperity has been unfairly spread, May said in a statement released by her office. Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change -- that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.

But Mays opponents claimed shes merely offering sweeteners to tempt opposition Labour politicians to back her unpopular withdrawal agreement. Investment in skills and training is always welcome but we need to go behind this new fund and see it for what it is - a desperate measure to buy votes, said Anna Soubry, who defected from Mays Conservative Party in February to join the new Independent Group of MPs.

With 26 days to go until Britain is due to leave the European Union, May is still battling to find a deal with the bloc that is acceptable to the British Parliament after her original agreement was rejected in a crushing defeat in January.

She has promised to put a revised deal to the House of Commons by March 12, and if that is rejected members of Parliament will be offered votes on whether to exit the EU without a deal or to delay Brexit.

May is hoping to convince Brexiteers in her own party, many of whom fear that any delay could mean no Brexit. But if she fails she will need the support of Labour Party lawmakers who represent constituencies that voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.

They include Caroline Flint, who on Sunday urged leader Jeremy Corbyn to offer MPs a free vote. Speaking on Sky News, she said dozens of Labour lawmakers were ready to back an improved Brexit deal and warned that as many as 70 were opposed to the second referendum now favored by the party leadership.

Hopes that more of Mays own Conservatives could back a revised deal were boosted over the weekend with news that the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Tories has softened its red lines for supporting her plan. The ERG laid down three tests that must be met, according to the Sunday Times:

A committee of eight senior euroskeptics will scrutinize the governments revised backstop proposals, which Attorney General Geoffrey Cox is seeking to renegotiate in Brussels. On Sunday, Trade Secretary Liam Fox welcomed the ERGs new stance as a genuine attempt to map out common ground with May, though there is skepticism that the EU would agree to any of the concessions.

In a separate development, Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of rank-and-file Tory lawmakers, expressed optimism that a breakthrough on the backstop is near. Brady urged his Tory colleagues to pull together behind the prime minister if she offers the right compromise.

Of the funds being pledged by May, 1 billion pounds will be allocated using a needs-based formula, with more than half going to towns across the north to help create jobs and the Midlands getting over 300 million pounds. Another 600 million pounds will be available through a bidding process to communities in any part of the country.

Support for Brexit was strongest in areas such as northeast England and the Midlands, which have some the highest unemployment and the lowest incomes in the country.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text.)
China on Monday refused to comment on Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mohammed Qureshis statement that Beijing was preparing to send a special envoy to Islamabad and New Delhi to mediate in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack and rising tension between the two nuclear-powered neighbours.

Qureshi was widely quoted in Pakistani media over the weekend as saying that China had decided to appoint and send a special envoy to meet the Indian and Pakistani leadership to ease tensions.

The Pakistani minister didnt give a timeframe but the surmise was that the Chinese envoy would visit the two capitals soon.

India has consistently maintained that the dispute over Kashmir is a bilateral issue and that theres no need for a third party to intervene or mediate.

Also read | Russia, Pakistan, US, others condemn Kashmir attack

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson didnt comment on Qureshis claim and instead responded in broader terms, saying China was always ready to help.

Asked about Qureshis remarks, spokesperson Lu Kang said: As to your question, like we said before, we really hope India and Pakistan, both important countries in South Asia, can resolve the relevant issues through friendly consultations and negotiations.

In order to ease the tensions, China has maintained close communication with both India and Pakistan. Whatever is conducive to regional peace and stability, China will try to do that, and we will continue to do so, Lu said at the regular ministry briefing on Monday.

In reference to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying Russia is also ready work with India, Pakistan to ease the tension, Lu said: We welcome all the efforts that are conducive to easing tensions and promoting peace and stability in this region.

Also read | India gets support from Russia and China in combating terror

To a separate question about the reported remarks by Lavrov that the counter-terrorism mechanism under the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) could be a forum where India-Pakistan issues could be discussed, Lu said he had seen the reports.

We encourage anything as long as it is conducive to promoting the peace and stability in this region and easing tensions. We will encourage anything to this end, he said.

The Russian news agency TASS reported on March 1 that Lavrov had a telephonic conversation with Qureshi on India-Pakistan tensions.
US president Donald Trump accused Democrats of planning a socialist nightmare with their extreme agenda, reeling out an attack line for the 2020 election, and disparaged the Russia meddling probe and former officials in a speech to supporters at an annual convention of a leading conservative body.

We believe in the American dream, not in the socialist nightmare, the president said at the convention of the Conservative Political Action Committee Saturday, taking aim at specifically at the Green New Deal climate strategy. America will never be a socialist country.

Socialism is not about the environment, its not about justice, its not about virtue. He said its about power for the ruling class.

The attack-line thats been taking shape in recent weeks was reprised by other speakers at the conventions as well, chiefly, Vice-president Mike Pence, as a new rallying point for their supporters. And it is gaining traction, evident from the thunderous applause Trump got for it.

The Green New Deal, which is a set of ideas more than a plan, takes a comprehensive, all-in approach to climate change, education, healthcare, job creation and labour laws. It has been endorsed by most Democrats who have either announced they are running for president or plan to.

Trump and Republicans have sought to the deal as socialism to keep their flock together and bring back moderate conservatives who seemed to have been driven away by the presidents divisive politics, as was seen in the November mid-term when Democrats won control of the House of Representatives.

President Trump has enjoyed speaking at the CPAC convention, and his well-received 2011 address there is widely understood to have kickstarted his foray into politics. On Saturday, he was back, and in his elements. He spoke off-script, and for more than two hours, the lengthiest of his presidency.

Trump attacked the ongoing Russia probe for finding nothin, and disparaged Special Counsel Robert Mueller for leading a motivated investigation, mocked his former attorney general Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the investigations and attacked Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general for starting the probe.

This phony thing, Trump railed about the Russia probe. looks like its dying so they dont have anything with Russia there, no collusion. So now they go in and morph into Lets inspect every deal hes ever done. Were going to go into his finances. Were going to check his deals. Were going to check  these people are sick.
Google has refused to pull out a controversial government app from Saudi Arabia which lets men track and control women who travel, saying it does not violate its Play Store policies.

According to a report in the Business Insider on Sunday, the tech giant told the office of California Democrat Representative Jackie Speier, who had called for the removal of the app called Absher, that the app does not violate its terms of service.

The US Representatives Speier, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and 11 others have demanded that Apple and Google must both remove the app.

Speier called Googles response deeply unsatisfactory.

The responses received so far from Apple and Google are deeply unsatisfactory. As of today, the Absher app remains available in both the Apple App store and the Google Play Store even though they can easily remove it, Speier was quoted as saying.

Apple was yet to announce its decision.

Absher allows Saudi users to access government services and also offers features which allow Saudi men to grant and rescind travel permission for women and to set up SMS alerts for when women use their passports.

An earlier report suggested Saudi men could use the app to control female dependents.

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have also criticised Google and Apple for allowing the app on their platforms.
China will make an appropriate increase in its 2019 defence outlay for national security and not pose a threat to other countries, a government spokesperson said on Monday.

The release of Chinas defence budget this week will be closely followed worldwide as Beijing rapidly modernises its massive army, shedding numbers but building aircraft carriers and stealth jets besides shoring up military infrastructure along the border with India.

A proper increase in the defence budget is needed to safeguard national security and transform Chinas military with Chinese features, Zhang Yesui, a spokesperson for Chinas National Peoples Congress (NPC) said at a briefing on Monday.

Also read: Chinas growth forecast could be lowered at annual Parliament session

The NPC will commence on Tuesday when Premier Li Keqiang reads out the government work report and announces the economic outlook for 2019.

The budget will be scrutinised in India  it is possibly the only official number related to the countrys military available in the public domain.

Though much below that of the US, Chinas defence budget is already more than three times that of Indias. It grew at 8.1 percent in 2018, crossing the 1 RMB trillion-mark (around $175 billion) for the first time in 2018.

The same year, Indias was around the $ 50 billion-mark.

According to a report in the Al Jazeera television channel, US President Donald Trump has backed plans to request $750 billion from Congress for American defence spending in 2019.

Also read: Military reforms have put Chinas combat capability way ahead of Indias

Beijing doesnt give a breakdown of its defence budget, raising questions of transparency.It is widely believed that Chinas actual spending on defence exceeds the allocation that is made public.

Zhang said China only spent about 1.3 percent of the gross domestic product on its military last year, compared with more than two percent for certain major developed countries.

Last year, official media said though Chinas defence budget had been increased to USD 175 billion, slightly higher than the previous two years, the growth rate for the third time had dipped into the single digit since 2013, following 7.6 per cent in 2016 and 7 percent in 2017.

Chinas limited defence spending, which is for safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, poses no threat to any other country, official news agency, Xinhua said in a report on Monday.

Whether a country is a military threat to others or not is not determined by its increase in defence expenditure, but by the foreign and national defence policies it adopts, spokesperson Zhang said.

Earlier this year, President Xi Jinpingwho heads the powerful Central Military Commissionordered the Chinese armed forces to enhance their combat readiness from a new starting point and open new ground for developing a strong military.

The world is facing a period of major changes never seen in a century, and China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development, Xi said at a meeting of the militarys top brass, warning that various risks and challenges were on the rise.

The Chinese president said the entire armed forces should have a correct understanding of Chinas security and development trends, enhance their awareness of danger, crisis, and war, and make solid efforts on combat preparations in order to accomplish the tasks assigned by the (Communist Party of China) Party and the people, Xi said.
Pakistani authorities detected 8,707 suspicious financial transactions last year in the countrys banking system, an increase of almost 57% over the previous year, at a time when the country is facing growing pressure from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to curb terror financing.

The Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU), Pakistans central agency for probing information related to money laundering and terror financing, issued 8,707 suspicious transaction reports (STRs) last year, as against 5,548 STRs in 2017. A total of 1,136 STRs were issued in January and February alone, Dawn newspaper reported on Monday.

During a recent meeting, authorities reported to PM Imran Khan that terror financing is a serious issue from a global perspective, and it is in Pakistans interest to put its house in order, the report said.

At its plenary meeting in Paris last month, FATF said Pakistan has made limited progress in curbing terror financing and didnt show proper understanding of the terror financing risks posed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, Lashkar-e-Taiba, al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD). Pakistan was placed on the multilateral watchdogs grey list and must comply with an action plan by September.

FATFs warning to Pakistan to deliver on commitments to curb terror financing has virtually put the countrys entire machinery into an aggressive mode to show tangible progress within two months, Dawn reported.

The achievement of 27 targets under a 10-point action plan has become a top priority for the government, which last month announced a move to ban JuD and its front Falah-e-Insanyat Foundation (FIF) to address concerns raised by India that Pakistan supported these organisations or considered them low-risk entities, the report said.

JeMs claimed of responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack allowed India to increase pressure on Pakistan at last months meeting of FATF, which condemned the assault, saying such incidents could not occur without the movement of funds between terrorist supporters.

The report said inter-ministerial consultations were being held almost on a daily basis to address weaknesses pointed out by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of FATF. ICRG assessed a progress report on Pakistan submitted by the Asia Pacific Joint Group, a regional associate of FATF.

Six banks have also been fined and 109 bankers are being investigated for opening fake bank accounts. MoUs are being signed with the UK, Qatar, UAE and Australia for financial intelligence-sharing and Pakistan is trying to improve coordination among government agencies through centralised software.
Pakistan appears to be preparing for a crackdown on extremist and militant groups, with the imminence of action being confirmed by information minister Fawad Chaudhry against the backdrop of mounting international pressure to counter terrorism.

The government has made a firm decision that there will be action against all militant groups and this is in line with the political consensus in the National Action Plan (NAP), Chaudhry told a programme on Dawn News channel on Sunday. The NAP was finalised after a 2014 Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar killed nearly 150 people.

Chaudhry refused to set a time-frame for operations against groups such Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed the Pulwama attack that triggered the recent stand-off with India, Jamaat-ud Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF), and said this would be decided by security forces.

The action would soon be visible as things progress, a person familiar with the plan was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper during a background briefing for journalists on Sunday.

The person said there could be law enforcement actions against JeM, JuD and FIF. Pakistan will also review its stance on the listing of JeM chief Masood Azhar by the UN Security Council.

No individual is more important than Pakistan, the person said, adding, Pakistan wont make it a matter of ego. Referring to China, which has blocked Azhars listing on technical grounds, he said, We wont test our friends either.

France, the US and Britain recently moved the Security Council for listing Azhar as a global terrorist. Pakistan has faced growing pressure from world powers since the Pulwama attack, which killed 40 troopers on February 14, with the UN Security Council naming the JeM in a statement that condemned the strike and called on all states to cooperate with India to bring the perpetrators to justice.

People familiar with matter in Islamabad said grounds would be prepared before launching any operation and Pakistan is keen to ensure the move doesnt create the impression that it is acting only because of pressure from the international community.

A meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Pakistan PM Imran Khan on February 21 decided to accelerate action against proscribed organisations and ordered the imposition of a ban on JuD and FIF. Khan said at the time the state couldnt be allowed to become hostage to extremists.

However, the list of banned groups posted on the website of Pakistans National Counter-Terrorism Authority still lists JuD and FIF as being on the interior ministrys watch list.

The person cited by Dawn said the decision to crack down on extremist groups was taken before the Pulwama attack, although it became public later. The dossier given by India to Pakistan on the Pulwama attack, he said, contained only an iteration of the narrative on alleged Pakistan-based groups and nothing that suggested a Pakistani role.
A US congressional panel launched Monday a sweeping investigation into President Donald Trumps administration, family businesses, foundation and presidential inauguration committee for possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.

The judiciary committee of the House of Representatives, which is dominated by Democrats, sent letters demanding documents to more than 80 family members, political contacts, business contacts and institutions connected to the president.

The presidents two adult sons  Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump  and son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner were among the recipients of these letters.

Documents sought include White House communications regarding the firing of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians, the dismissal of FBI director James Comey and about a Trump Tower meeting that Trump Jr had with a Russian lawyer who had promised political dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Letter recipients have two weeks to respond.

We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people, Congressman Gerrold Nadler, chairman of the committee, said in a statement. This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do..

This investigation it the broadest yet of the president and comes amidst an intensifying face-off between him and the Democratic-led House, which conducted a high-profile public hearing last week at which Michale Cohen, a former personnel attorney of the president and fixer, called his former boss a racist, a conman and a cheat.

President Trump is fighting back. He blamed the hearing for the abrupt end of his second summit meeting with North Koreas Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam last week For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk,  he wrote on Twitter Sunday. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!

He also railed against the Russia probe and House probes and hearings in a speech Sunday at the annual meeting of conservative body. This phony thing, Trump said about the Russia probe by Special Counsel Robert Mueller., looks like its dying so they dont have anything with Russia there, no collusion. So now they go in and morph into Lets inspect every deal hes ever done. Were going to go into his finances. Were going to check his deals. Were going to check  these people are sick.
The United States is trying to prevent simmering tensions between India and Pakistan from impacting a third country: Afghanistan, where a fragile peace push is underway to try to end more than 17 years of war with Taliban insurgents.

US President Donald Trumps administration has been publicly focused on lowering tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals since a Feb. 14 suicide car bomb in Kashmir triggered the first Indian air strikes inside of Pakistan since a 1971 war.

Senior U.S. officials told Reuters that as the United States spoke with senior Pakistani officials, emphasizing the need to lower the risk of conflict with India, Islamabad privately offered warnings on Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said their ability to support Afghan peace talks could be in jeopardy in the event of a full-blown crisis, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Theyll stop being a facilitator, they will stop the pressure they are applying on the Taliban, one U.S. official said, recounting Pakistani warnings conveyed to Washington.

Pakistan has publicly denied any role in the suicide bombing. But the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group claimed responsibility for it, and India has long accused Islamabad of supporting them.

The United States has likewise accused Pakistan of ties to Taliban militants who are fighting in neighboring Afghanistan against American and U.S.-backed Afghan government forces.

Reuters has previously reported, however, that U.S. officials have recently seen a positive shift in Pakistans behavior.

Pakistan, long at odds with the United States over the war in Afghanistan, has played a behind-the-scenes role in supporting U.S. peace talks with the Afghan Taliban, including by facilitating travel to negotiations.

Current and former U.S. officials caution that Islamabad could again choose to act as a spoiler.

I dont believe that Pakistan has the capability to straight out make peace happen in Afghanistan, but they definitely have the capability to make peace not (happen), said Laurel Miller, a former senior State Department official.

Movement Of Troops

In the past several days, India and Pakistan have appeared to dial down hostilities that brought the arch enemies to the brink of another war. But its unclear whether the calm will hold.

A Pakistani official in Washington, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that unless the tensions were reduced, there was a very strong likelihood that Pakistani troops would be moved from the border with Afghanistan to reinforce positions near India.

Pakistans U.N. Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi told Reuters that Islamabads focus could completely shift to its eastern border with India.

If the crisis with India continues, Pakistan will be obliged to keep our entire focus on our Eastern border. That may affect our efforts on our Western front, Lodhi said.

The Pakistani official in Washington said Pakistan had not been focused on Afghanistan since tensions with India increased last month, and it would have implications for peace talks.

Some current and former U.S. officials say Islamabad may be over-stating the risks of fallout on Afghan peace talks, which resumed over the weekend in Doha. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they noted that Islamabad has its own self-interests in mind as it seeks to influence the peace process in neighboring Afghanistan.

But other U.S. officials acknowledge a major crisis involving India would be all-consuming for Islamabad, and say its another reason why lowering tensions is so important.

In Afghanistan, which fears its country is being used as a proxy for tension between India and Pakistan, the foreign ministry summoned Pakistans envoy to Kabul after he made similar warnings.

Veteran diplomats say that if the United States pushes Pakistan too hard on combating militants, Islamabad could diminish its support for the peace process.

Dan Feldman, a former U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said many of the Pakistani officials who dealt with India were also responsible for Afghanistan, and that tensions could impact peace talks.

He said a lack of U.S. focus on South Asia was problematic.

We need much more focus and strategic thinking from the Trump Administration on this region, and an effective way of implementing that strategy, Feldman said.
T he Mayfair apartment where one of the leading stars of Hollywoods Golden Age threw wild parties attended by the likes of Laurence Olivier and Noel Coward is being offered for rent in one of the most expensive lettings in London this year.

The huge four bedroom maisonette at 99 Park Lane occupied by Douglas Fairbanks Jr and his second wife Mary from 1934 to 1941 has been put on the market by agents for 11,500 a week  or more than 500,000 a year.

The Georgian property which overlooks Hyde Park, became one of Londons most fashionable addresses during the Thirties when the star of swashbucklers such as the Prisoner of Zenda and Gunga Din hosted gatherings for the elites of high society and showbiz.

Famous guests of Fairbanks, who was first married to Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? star Joan Crawford, included actors Rex Harrison, David Niven and Cary Grant and the last Viceroy of India Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Douglas Fairbanks Jr, a lifelong Anglophile and son of the King of Hollywood silent movie actor and director Douglas Fairbanks, moved to London when studios were trying to slash the salaries of their stars during the Depression.

He was fired by Warner Brothers when he refused the demanded 50 per cent cut.

The couple had a Los Angelese-style 14 ft long plunge pool and health spa installed on the lower ground floor, one of the first to be built in a private home in London.

Other surviving features from Fairbanks time include a cocktail bar finished in backlit Onyx where he served drinks.

Douglas Fairbanks: the actor as Sinbad the Sailor

After the Second World War the couple gave up the lease on 99 Park Lane and moved to another London home at No.8 The Boltons in Kensington.

The Grade II-listed corner house was originally constructed between 1823 and 1825 by Thomas Martin, the builder of Portman Square to a design by designed by architect John Goldicutt and is one of the few Georgian buildings surviving on Park Lane.

The first resident was stockbroker Sir Moses Montefiore who lived there between 1826 and 1885 and whose six decades at the property is marked by a blue plaque.

The second resident was Countess Grosvenor, widow of Victor, Earl Grosvenor, and her second husband, the statesman George Wyndham. It also served as the childhood home of the second Duke of Westminster.

The 5,921 sq ft stucco fronted house also has three reception rooms with marble floors, six bathrooms, a passenger lift, two outside terraces and its own private driveway with off-street parking with enough space for two limousines.

Peter Wetherell, chief executive of agents Wetherell said: With its iconic Park Lane address and Hyde Park views this expansive Mayfair residence has been home to banking tycoon Sir Moses Montefiore, the Grosvenor family, and Hollywood legend Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Renovation

4 March 2019

The announcement coincides with the International Hotel Investment Forum (IHIF) in Berlin, Europe's most important hotel investment conference. The upgrade of the 558 luxurious guest rooms and the beautifully designed public areas of the hotel will cost around EUR 60 million. The hotel will remain open during the works, which will be managed to ensure a continued high level of hospitality and uninterrupted guest services.

The renovation will take place in several phases while making sure that guests will be able to enjoy their usual pleasant experience at InterContinental Berlin. The strategic development of the hotel is expected to begin in May 2019 with the renovation of the large ballroom, with complete refurbishment of the guest rooms in the south and east wings of the hotel scheduled to start towards the end of the year. Work on the west wing will follow once these areas are completed. The lobby and reception space will also be refurbished while retaining their high-quality standards.

First opened in 1958, InterContinental Berlin is one of the most established and internationally renowned hotels in the German capital and has been upgraded several times during its history. Given Union Investment's extension to the hotel's lease with IHG to a term of 30 years, there is no question that one of Germany's top revenue-generating hotels will remain a long-term fixture close to famous Berlin Zoo. These measures will secure the presence of InterContinental Hotels & Resorts in Berlin for decades to come, ensuring that this important icon in Berlin remains the favourite choice for guests looking for a luxurious and distinguished hotel experience.

InterContinental Berlin has been part of the portfolio of UniImmo: Deutschland, one of Union Investment's open-ended real estate funds, since 2000. From a fund perspective, the planned refurbishment is intended to bolster the hotel's profitability and protect the long-term value of the building. The 70,000 sq m InterContinental Berlin currently has a market value of around EUR 185 million.

A team from Hogan Lovells, led by Marc Werner, assisted Union Investment in the project. IHG was assisted by a team from DLA Piper headed by Dr Martin Haller.
Appointment

4 March 2019

Marriott International veterans Gerrit Graef and Sandeep Walia will take on the positions of area vice president premium & select brands and area vice president luxury brands in the United Arab Emirates respectively. The appointments reflect the company's new direction to split its portfolio into 'Premium & Select' and 'Luxury' brands - done specifically to meet the market demands of a diversifying travel and tourism sector in the UAE.

For the company's luxury portfolio, Walia will bring his extensive luxury experience to the region in his new role. He has worked with Marriott International since 2005 and most recently held the position of area vice president luxury brands for Western Europe, overseeing the company's luxury portfolio across Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and the UK.
Appointment

4 March 2019

Marriott International veterans Gerrit Graef and Sandeep Walia will take on the positions of area vice president premium & select brands and area vice president luxury brands in the United Arab Emirates respectively. The appointments reflect the company's new direction to split its portfolio into 'Premium & Select' and 'Luxury' brands - done specifically to meet the market demands of a diversifying travel and tourism sector in the UAE.

In his new position, Graef will oversee Marriott's UAE premium and select brands hotel portfolio. After working at Marriott International for more than 22 years, he has taken on a plethora of roles across brands including Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott and Marriott Executive Apartments in markets such as Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
Supplier News

4 March 2019

Cushman & Wakefield's EMEA Hospitality team continues its strategic expansion across Europe by entering the Spanish market with the recruitment of the entire senior team of Magma Hospitality Consulting, a leading independent advisor to the hotel sector in Spain.

Magma Hospitality Consulting founding partners Albert Grau and Bruno Halle join as Co-Heads of Cushman & Wakefield Hospitality Spain, with two Senior Consultants, Marga Claret and Ana Rojas, also joining the global real estate services firm.

Grau and Halle set up Magma Hospitality Consulting in 2004, building a highly-successful business focused on hospitality real estate advisory, development and operational advisory. They will build a full service offering at Cushman & Wakefield, which will include capital markets, advisory, development and operator selection, alongside operational hotel advisory and asset management.

Jonathan Hubbard, Head of EMEA Hospitality, Cushman & Wakefield, said: "The Spanish hotel market has been one of the most dynamic in Europe over recent years and we are seeing continued strong investor and operator demand. I am delighted that we have been able to bring on board such an established and experienced team to help drive our growth in this specialist market and, along with our existing hospitality team in Portugal, greatly add to the service we can provide our clients in Spain, Andorra and Portugal."

Bruno Halle, Co-Head of Hospitality Spain at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "We are really excited to be joining Cushman & Wakefield's Hospitality team as it strengthens its reach across Europe. The region continues to offer significant opportunities for the growth and development in the hospitality sector and our local expertise, combined with Cushman & Wakefield's specialist national teams, means that we are well placed to capitalise on these exciting opportunities."

Oriol Barrachina, Head of Spain, Cushman & Wakefield, said: "Cushman & Wakefield has enjoyed spectacular growth in Spain over the last five years and recruiting the leading independent hospitality team continues this momentum. We are proud to be expanding our range of services to meet client demand."

The recruitment of the experienced Spanish hospitality team follows on from last month's appointment of Katell Bourgeois, to head Cushman & Wakefield's Hospitality team in France. The expansion in Spain and France is the latest step since Hubbard joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2017 as Head of EMEA Hospitality with a remit to significantly grow its EMEA Hospitality practice. Since then Cushman & Wakefield made several senior hires to expand the firm's hospitality capabilities, including four new Partners in London, Frankfurt and Prague.
Opinion Article

3 March 2019

Turnover of Chief Executives at the world's 50 largest hotel groups (as per HOTELS 325 2018 Listing) remained flat for 2018, with new faces appearing at the head of four companies, the same number as for the prior year. Changes in CEO positions were seen at G6 Hospitality, Extended Stay, Millennium & Copthorne and B&B Hotels. Of these, three were planned moves. Jennifer Fox's three-month stint at Millennium & Copthorne, though, can only be assumed to have been anything but planned. A sector turnover rate of 8% is well under the average for the general industry and speaks to a current period of leadership stability that has run since we last saw a spike of 14% in 2015.

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This sense of stability is enhanced further when we carve out the majors, the ten largest global hotel brands. Among this group there was not one change in the CEO role in 2018, and the two in the previous year had been very smooth, well-planned, succession events at Choice (Pat Pacious) and InterContinental Hotels Group (Keith Barr). Having tracked CEO turnover for the hotel industry since 2004, we have discerned a correlation between market conditions and the profile of required leadership. The days of the Global Financial Crisis witnessed a surge in new CEO appointments as boards sought the requisite executive direction to steer them out of economic difficulties - seven changes in 2018. Once out of recovery mode, stabilised and firmly into expansion mode, another spike in turnover was seen five to six years later when firms went after leaders who could deliver aggressive growth - eight changes in 2012.

Photo: AETHOS Consulting Group

Click for larger image

As David Mansbach, Managing Director at AETHOS Consulting Group, recently highlighted in his article on the lack of diversity at US restaurant groups (click here), so too is the hotel sector under-delivering in its representation of women in CEO roles. We are pleased to see a gradual climb in the number of female CEOs, having risen from 2% in 2011 to 16% in 2018, with the addition of Sabina Fluxa at Iberostar and Avia Mizrachi-Magen at Fattal. The pace of change however is glacial and, more disturbing, when we look at our Top 10 group, there is not one woman on the list. This issue seems especially pertinent in North America, where none of the largest hotel groups has a woman in the driver's seat.

The time to be a CEO is clearly in one's 50s. Most assume office at the beginning of their sixth decade and leave shortly before hitting 60. The youngest CEOs are to be found in Asia and at private companies as opposed to publicly listed firms in which a few extra years of experience appear to be valued. When it comes to experience, boards of directors have shown a stronger preference for in-depth knowledge of and track record in the hospitality sector. The number of CEOs from the hotel space has gone up, particularly during the past few years of dynamic sector growth.

If we focus on the Top 10 largest multinationals, we see that industry expertise has become much more highly valued over the past 15 years, with every CEO in this group having cut their teeth in the hospitality sector prior to taking the top job. The days of opting for a CEO hire from alternate sectors, such as FMCG, appear to be a thing of the past. Similarly, as global expansion has been at the forefront, the individuals holding these leadership positions have become increasingly better travelled than their predecessors.

Photo: AETHOS Consulting Group

Click for larger image

The percentage of CEOs with prior experience working in a foreign country rocketed from 20% to 60% over the 2004 to 2018 period. A positive trend has been the increased separation of CEO and Chair titles. When we began surveying, half of the CEOs were also Chairs of the board of directors. The pressure for better, more transparent, corporate governance has - we are pleased to say - resulted in clearer distinctions between the role of the Chairperson and CEO and their related accountabilities. The average tenure of CEOs at these Top 10 firms is heading back to tracking with the industry average of nine years. This had slipped in 2012 to an average tenure of three years, but the past few years of stability have seen this climb to six.

According to industry talk, we may be at or near the peak of the cycle. If that is true, we should not be surprised to see turnover potentially picking back up in 2020/2021. As we have seen, economic adversity typically triggers a higher degree of scrutiny placed on those running businesses by their shareholders and owners, which often results in a new nameplate being fixed to the door of the CEO office.
Illinois rose to 80 pedestrian fatalities in the first six months of 2018 from 67 in that period the year before, while Indiana and Wisconsin showed notable improvements. Indiana tended to walkways, lighting and audible signals, yet suffered a tragedy in October when a driver killed three young siblings heading to their school bus. This led to demands for enforcement of stop arm laws that are already on the books.
Prior to joining IHG in 2005, Willemijn was Development & Acquisitions Director for Europe at Louvre Hotels Group.

IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group) has today announced the promotion of Willemijn Geels to Vice President of Development, Europe.

In her new position, Willemijn will be responsible for driving the expansion of the group's brands across the European Business Unit, encompassing luxury, upscale and mainstream opportunities through managed and franchised deal structures. In addition to identifying new opportunities, Willemijn's team will continue to work closely with owners and investors in a support and advisory capacity to drive long-term revenue.

Willemijn, who is fluent in five European languages, will remain based in IHG's Paris office though will travel extensively across the region. Her wider development team is located throughout key markets in offices in Europe including London, Frankfurt and Moscow, with further expertise on the ground in other markets applying local knowledge.

Willemijn brings to the role 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management. Prior to joining IHG in 2005, Willemijn was Development & Acquisitions Director for Europe at Louvre Hotels Group. She also gained experience in Deloitte's Transport, Hospitality and Leisure team in Paris, where she led multiple hotel valuations, feasibility studies, and transaction and strategic advisory assignments.

The move comes at an exciting time for IHG's European business, which has played a significant role in driving the highest number of signings and openings in the region for 10 years. Further opportunities lie in the strong growth of new upscale brand voco and new mainstream brand avid the expansion of luxury boutique brand Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and the recent acquisition of wellness and sustainability brand Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spas, which sits in the top-tier of luxury.

Karin Sheppard, Managing Director Europe, IHG, commented: "Willemijn's promotion reflects IHG's focus on building further momentum and capitalising on the significant growth opportunities we see across Europe. With her extensive background in operations, consulting and development, Willemijn is perfectly positioned to further drive growth with our owners at this dynamic time for the business."

Willemijn Geels added: "It is a privilege to move into this role at a time of such strong and diverse growth for Europe. My team and I look forward to working in close partnership with our existing owners and developers to drive stronger returns, as well as bringing new partners into the IHG family."

The news follows the recent announcement of two new senior appointments in the Europe Development team: Josh Littman, Head of Luxury Development, Europe and Jon Colley, Head of Development UK&I, who will both report into Willemijn and further reinforce IHG's development presence across Europe.

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Backlinks are incoming links to your website from other websites. These links to your website are viewed as votes of confidence to search engines. It means your propertys website is important and relevant enough for other websites to link to and associate themselves with. Quality vs. Quantity of Backlinks:

Backlinks are incoming links to your website from other websites. These links to your website are viewed as votes of confidence to search engines. It means your propertys website is important and relevant enough for other websites to link to and associate themselves with. Quality vs. Quantity of Backlinks:

In the past, backlinks were a major factor for how well a website ranked. It was more of a numbers game: the more backlinks a site had, the better the search rankings were. As Google got smarter and updated their algorithms, it became more about the quality of backlinks over the quantity. Rather than rewarding sites that paid for a few thousand links from irrelevant, low-quality sites, Google started paying attention to the quality of sites linking back to your site.

For example, say you want your propertys website to rank for the convention center located down the street. Does the convention center have a list of nearby hotels? Is your property mentioned on that list with a link back to the website? If the convention center thinks youre important, then Google thinks your property is important for people looking for hotels near the convention center. This carries much more weight than 30 backlinks from sites that have nothing to do with travel or the propertys location.

Acquiring More Backlinks:

Finding quality link targets takes a lot of time and research. Reaching out to quality targets and asking for inclusion doesnt always yield a link, but its important to ask and reach out to make connections. If your property does get quality links from a nearby business, its good practice to reciprocate and link to their site from yours as well if relevant.

Its important not to get hung up on the number of links as a measure of a good backlink profile. A small bed and breakfast in Iowa wont have as many backlinks as a resort hotel in a big city. No backlink profile will look the same, its unique to the business or property. There is no measurable quantity that equals success.

Protecting Your Backlink Profile:

Link management is more than just acquiring links from local businesses and travel directories. Unfortunately, you cant help who links to you, which means you could get useless low-quality backlinks.

With clients in the past, weve seen shady tactics from their competitors who hired an SEO agency to send bad links to the clients website in hopes theyd get penalized or de-ranked. For reasons such as this, its important to protect your backlink profile. If you notice poor quality or spammy links, disavow them and let Google know you do not want to be associated with those sites linking to you.

Monitoring Quality Links:

Along with monitoring unwanted links, its also important to make sure the links that you do want are still working and making a difference. If you change a pages URL that other sites were linking to, all those links would be broken. If the page is redirected, majority of links will still carry over but its best if the link goes directly to the intended destination page without sending the search engine through a redirect. Stay on top of your well-earned links to make sure they remain live and accurate.

High-quality links will help the propertys site domain authority. Think of the saying, you are judged by the company you keep. The same applies with a sites backlink profile. If a website that search engines consider important and reputable links to the propertys website, it passes some of that authority over to your site. The higher your domain authority, the better your rankings will be.

For more tips on how to rank higher on Google, download our Search Engine Optimization Fundamentals Guide here.

About Vizergy Digital Marketing:

Vizergy serves the worlds hospitality industry with stunning website design and fiercely competitive tools to maximize revenue. Our formula for success includes cutting-edge technologies, proven digital marketing programs and the best professionals in the industry.

At Vizergy, hospitality marketing is not only our mission, its our sole focus. For more than 20 years, Vizergy has relentlessly developed and deployed the best technologies and talent to serve thousands of hospitality clients with excellence. We deliver best-in-class solutions and the most meaningful results for our clients" bottom lines. From complete responsive website design and development, to proven awardwinning digital marketing programs, strategies, and media campaigns, Vizergy deploys turnkey online marketing solutions to empower clients to win in todays complex and competitive hospitality industry.

For more information, please visit www.vizergy.com

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Adidas and Yeezy have been teasing three new colorways of the Adidas Yeezy Boost 350 V2. The three colorways are dubbed "clay," "true form," and "hyperspace." What's special about these colorways and their release, is that they will be released regionally. The "clay" model will see a North and South America release, while the "true form" version will be in Europe and Africa. Finally, the "Hyperspace" colorway will see an Asia and Australia release. In anticipation of this hyped up release, we are now getting some official images of the "true form" and "hyperspace" colorways courtesy of Adidas.

As you can tell from the above image, the "true form" model comes in a reverse "Beluga" colorway of sorts. The shoe comes in a sandy beige, while orange accents are found on the heel tab, as well as on the inside of the midsole.

Image via Adidas

Meanwhile, the "hyperspace" colorway uses hues we haven't really seen on a Yeezy before. The upper is an all-over light grey that appears to have some yellowish tint to it. A gum colored tint is found on the outsole, as well as on the translucent stripe on the side.

These will be released on March 16th for $220 USD but remember, these particular colorways will be region-locked for those overseas.

Image via Adidas

Image via Adidas
If you're a sneakerhead who has the money to spare and typically misses out on copping hyped up releases for retail, you probably know all about Stock X. The website acts like a stock market for sneakers, with resellers selling their kicks through the website, who legit checks them and then sends them to the buyer. The Detroit-based company has sold thousands upon thousands of sneakers at this point, so they have a pretty solid grasp on what the most valuable releases of the year were. Stock X recently teamed up with Highsnobiety for an informative video which points out exactly which shoes were not just the most expensive, but also the most coveted.

According to the video, the Air Jordan 1 was the highest selling sneaker silhouette on the website, as there were 60 unique drops last year. Amongst those, of course, was the Off-White Air Jordan 1 "UNC," and the Union LA collaboration just to name a few. In terms of best-selling colorway, that title went to the AdidasYeezy Boost 350 V2 "Butter" which was one of the most widely released Yeezy colorways of all time.

While it didn't release in 2018, the highest-priced sneaker that sold was the Nike Air Mag which ended up going for $25,000. As for the most expensive shoe of 2018, well, that honor went to the "Flight Jacket" Undefeated x Nike Zoom Kobe I Protro. Only 10 pairs were released and they sold for an average of $3,900.

Did you cop any of the shoes mentioned in the video?
Chance The Rapper's Coloring Book solo project arrived in May of 2016, featuring appearances from Kanye West, Young Thug, Future, Jay Electronica, Lil Wayne, and Justin Bieber among others and gave fans hits like "No Problem" and "Juke Jam."

While fans patiently await its follow-up, reportedly set to arrive this year, Coloring Book has still been in heavy rotation, recently surpassing the 1.5 billion mark in streams on the Spotify platform. The rapper took to the socials to announce the news.

"I just went platinum on @Spotify," he penned in a tweet.

It's another win for the independent rapper, who has continuously set an example for the successes artists can experience when choosing to keep their catalogs outside of major label rotation.

This year, in addition to the album, Chance also is making plans to tie the knot with longtime girlfriend and co-parent Kirsten Corley. While he preps the new effort, Chance has been busy focusing on his family, even closing down Barneys in Chicago last month, in order to allow Corley to go on a private shopping spree.

"Life is good so you gonna get that shit when I'm ready," he recently said on Instagram when confirming the arrival of his album. "July though."
Kanye West filed a lawsuit against Roc-A-Fella and EMI a few weeks back in an attempt to gain ownership of his music and receive unpaid royalties. However, more than that, it looks like 'Ye's legally trying to "obtain his freedom" from both companies. EMI's made their first countermove against him but in the legal documents obtained by Hollywood Reporter, the company's contract with Kanye West reveals that he's not forbidden from retiring.

"You (Mr. West) hereby represent and warrant that to [EMI] that You will, throughout the Term as extended by this Modification, remain actively involved in writing, recording and producing Compositions and Major Label Albums, as Your principle occupation. At no time during the Term will you seek to retire as a songwriter, recording artist or producer or take any extended hiatus during which you are not actively pursuing Your musical career in the same basic manner as You have pursued such career to date. (The preceding representation shall not be deemed to prevent You from taking a vacation of limited duration."

He argues that the California Labor Code section 2855 limits personal service contracts to lock in for more than seven years. The rapper's been with EMI since 2003 when he signed with them while working on College Dropout. Once the album was released to critical and commercial acclaim, EMI exercised the option to extend the contract with additional terms.



Paul Hawthorne/Getty Images

"The seven-year period ended under this contract on October 1, 2010. For more than eight years thereafter  more than double the maximum seven-year period California law allows  EMI has enforced rights in violation of California law, depriving Mr. West of the 'breathing period' that California law mandates," the complaint reads.

Kanye West wants to be able to sign other deals with record labels and publishers but he also claims that EMI gained millions of dollars unjustly. He wants a declaration barring them from exploiting the composition he delivered to EMI after 2010.
Timing is everything and the fact that Offset just dropped off his first ever solo album Father of 4 and his son Kody just turned 4, pretty much means that everything happened for a reason. The "Wild Wild West" rapper shared an image on Instagram of young Kody Cephus to celebrate his born-day and the resemblance to Offset is crazy.

"HAPPY BDAY KING KODY BIG 4 YOUR MY TWIN I LOVE YOU," Offset captioned the photo that sees Kody wearing three chains, and a gold watch probably worth a year of my rent, at least.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BukWsiHF_Il



The subject matter of Offset's solo tape revolves heavily around being a father and is an open letter to his children, if you will.

"Each time, you get wiser and smarter, and learn the ropes of being a father. Each one after is actually easier," Offset told Billboard when discussing being a dad.

"The hardest one was my first son, Jordan. I was 17 and I aint have no job, and I was roaming the streets and trying to find myself. It was hard, and I was scared when I first had him, because out of all my homies I was the first one to have a kid. Everyone was like, Bro, you have a kid on the way, and at first it was like a joking matter. I was scared and didnt know what to do, and I had to try different things to get the money and survive. But God let it happen."
The Chicago-based woman who paid the $100,000 bond that got R. Kelly released from police custody reportedly received a bomb threat at her place of business.

It was Chicago reporter Brad Edwards who took to social media to reveal that multiple people called in a bomb threat at a local daycare to which Valencia P. Love has been connected. A local bomb squad soon responded, clearing the area and investigating the threat. Chicago police soon confirmed that that multiple calls did, indeed, come in. The daycare was evacuated and authorities ultimately did not find any explosive device at the daycare center.

https://twitter.com/_/status/1102341382121902082



Love is currently listed as a "registered agent" with the daycare under the Illinois Secretary of State. But, daycare personnel, as well as the Department of Children and Family Services, say Love no longer works at the daycare after social media posts went viral, tying Love to the daycare center.

Depite pushback, Love, who claims to be a friend of R. Kelly's, issued a statement in which she asserted that the money she used was not her own and asks critics why the media has not placed any focus on the stories of women and young girls who have been missing or kidnapped.

"I'm not in support of any pedophile. I don't support that at all. He was going to get out regardless. I just went out there to help my friend," Love penned.
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FCUK, FUBAR, FWORD, FD UP, F*WORD FRIDAY and PHUC LONG SINCE 1968 are all approved trademarks. But for some reason, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has drawn the line at FUCT.

Erik Brunetti, who founded the Los Angeles streetwear company in 1991, has fought for decades to register his brand as a trademark. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear him out.

The justices will balance what Brunettis attorneys call a free-speech case against the trademark rules created in 1946 by a Texas congressman. U.S. Rep. Fritz Lanham made it illegal for people to trademark phrases that are scandalous, disparaging or immoral.

Predictably, defining scandalous, disparaging and immoral is harder than you think. Trademark office rules provide guidelines, saying marks should be rejected if they are shocking to the sense of truth, decency, propriety; or if they are disgraceful, offensive, disreputable or giving offensive to the conscience or moral feeling.

The office has quite a bit of latitude, and many critics, including perhaps a majority on the Supreme Court, question whether the government should make those kinds of judgments.

When musician Simon Tam tried to register the name of his Asian-American dance-rock band, The Slants, the trademark office also said no. The bureaucrats declared the name was racially disparaging to Asian-Americans, even though Tam, whose is Asian-American, said he was trying to reclaim the phrase from the bigots.

The Supreme Court agreed with Tam in 2017, explaining that whether a word or phrase was disparaging depended on a persons viewpoint, which is protected by the First Amendment. Therefore, the trademark office can no longer reject a registration because they think it is disparaging.

Its not that social mores have changed. Its more that the court is looking more skeptically at when the government can curtail particular types of speech, said Justin Cohen, an intellectual property attorney with Thompson & Knight.

Brunettis attorneys used Tams case as a precedent and won before a federal appeals court, but the government appealed. The bureaucrats said FUCT was scandalous, not disparaging, and should not be trademarked.

The federal circuit applied Tam appropriately, and the most likely outcome is that the Supreme Court would affirm the federal circuit and find that the prohibition on immoral and scandalous trademarks would be the same as disparaging trademarks and unconstitutional, Cohen added.

Registering a trademark is vitally important for a business, and Brunetti says he has suffered because other companies have sold products with the FUCT logo. He wants equal protection.

You do have some discrimination against particular trademarks, and its essentially a First Amendment argument because some people get more protection than others, Cohen explained.

Another outmoded section of the Lanham Act forbids companies from registering trademarks on illegal products. The provision has major implications for marijuana growers, ranging from entrepreneur Snoop Dogg to multibillion Canadian corporations to a Texas start-up helping children with epilepsy.

These brands are being developed, and companies are investing millions of dollars into their brands and products, ensuring quality, safety and all those things that go along with a company and a brand, Cohen explained. But they cannot obtain the protection they deserve.

The Supreme Court is not going to solve the marijuana industrys problem, though; it must rely on legislation. Forty states have legalized marijuana for at least some uses, including Texas, but federal law is what matters when it comes to trademarks.

The easiest fix is to move marijuana from a Schedule 1 substance, which is illegal in all cases, to a lower schedule where the government recognizes it has some legitimate uses. Or better yet, legalize it entirely and let the states decide how to regulate it.

Trademarks are powerful business tools that take years to develop. A famous trademark is also valuable. Forbes says Googles trademark is the most valuable in the world at $44.3 billion.

When Ford Motor Co. needed a $23.5 billion loan in 2006, CEO Alan Mulally included the iconic blue Ford oval as one of the assets put up as collateral.

Before the year is out, hopefully, the Supreme Court will take away the governments power to judge proposed trademarks. If someone wants to name their business something obscene, thats his or her business.

Unfortunately, there is little chance of Congress addressing the myriad of obstacles to the burgeoning marijuana business, including trademark protection. The inaction will likely cost entrepreneurs millions of dollars.

Tomlinson writes commentary about business, economics and policy.

chris.tomlinson@chron.com

twitter.com/cltomlinson
You dont have to travel down to New Orleans to get in the Mardi Gras spirit. Head to one of these nine spots to shake off the chill of Chicagos winter with a taste of the Big Easy.
Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan is preparing to drill a series of oil wells in the Permian Basin where it will inject carbon dioxide deep underground to boost their production  a technique known as enhanced recovery.

Kinder Morgan is seeking permission from the Railroad Commission of Texas to drill four directional wells and one vertical well on its SACROC lease in Scurry County. Located about 4.5 miles northeast of Snyder, the wells target the Kelly-Snyder field down to a depth of 7,800 feet.

As the largest transporter of carbon dioxide in North America, Kinder Morgan uses pipelines to move 1.2 billion cubic feet of carbon dioxide per day from southwest Colorado and northeast New Mexico to the SACROC lease and other enhanced oil recovery projects in the Permian Basin.

Kinder Morgan has filed for 842 drilling permits for projects on the companys SACROC lease since June 2003. Wells on the lease produced nearly 9.8 million barrels of crude oil and more than 29.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas during the first 11 months of 2018.

The Houston company closed 2018 with a $1.48 billion profit on $14.1 billion of revenue. The SACROC lease accounted for $435 million of earnings before depreciation and amortization in 2018, figures show. Kinder Morgan set a $186 million capital expenditure budget for projects on the SACROC lease in 2019.

Top 10 Drilling Permit Filers (Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 through Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2019) EOG Resources 15 Jagged Peak Energy 12 Pioneer Natural Resoruces 12 Occidental Petroleum 12 Exxon Mobil 11 Magnolia Oil & Gas 10 QEP Resources 10 CrownQuest Operating 7 PDC Permian 6 Diamondback Energy 6 Source: Railroad Commission of Texas See More Collapse

We have the carbon dioxide, we have the people who can turn the carbon dioxide to oil and who can do so in attractive returns, CEO Steve Kean said during the presentation.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Kinder Morgan sets 2019 budget with emphasis on natural gas projects

Permian Basin

Denver oil company Jagged Peak Energy is preparing to drill 10 oil wells and two saltwater disposal wells in West Texas. The oil wells on the companys UTL 2635-17 lease target the Phantom field of the Wolfcamp geological layer down to a total depth of 15,000 feet. The saltwater disposal wells target the Tunstill field of the Delaware geological layer down to a depth of 10,000 feet on its TweekTweak lease in Pecos County and its Lemmiwinks lease in Reeves County.

Eagle Ford Shale

Tulsa oil company RAM Energy Resources continues to make inroads in the South Texas shale play. The company filed a pair of drilling permits to develop horizontal wells on the companys Cash and Cash B leases in Fayette County. The gas wells target the Giddings field of the Austin Chalk geological layer down to a total depth of 14,000 feet.

Haynesville Shale

Dallas oil company Covey Park Resources is planning to drill a horizontal gas well in the Haynesville Shale of East Texas. Located about two miles north of Elysian Fields in Harrison County, the project targets the Carthage field of the Haynesville shale down to a total depth of 7,600 feet.

Barnett Shale

Seven permits were filed for vertical wells. Graham, Texas-based S.B. Street Operating Inc. is drilling on its Kee-Watson Unit lease in about 12 miles northwest of Newcastle in Young County. The project targets the Wildcat, Paschal, Young County Regular and Padgitt SW fields down to a depth of 4,999 feet.

Conventionals

Houston oil company Ballard Exploration is seeking permission to drill its first oil well of 2019, a vertical oil well on its Big Prairie lease in Jefferson County. Located about 4.5 miles northeast of Nome, the project targets the Wildcat and Big Prairie fields down to a depth of 10,4000 feet.
Exxon Mobil is expanding its petrochemical presence on the Gulf Coast with a new addition to its Baton Rouge complex, the Irving oil major said.

The company said it would fund construction on a new polypropylene production unit in Baton Rouge that will increase total polypropylene capacity by 450,000 tons annually. Polypropylene is one of the most widely used plastics in the world.

Construction of Exxon's new polypropylene unit is slated to start this year with Baton Rouge-based Turner Industries and Jacobs Engineering building the new unit. The project will generate about 600 construction jobs and 65 permanent jobs once it starts up in 2021.

"Growth in feedstock supply along with the increase in global demand for chemical products continues to drive our strategic investments and expansion along the Gulf Coast," said John Verity, the outgoing president of ExxonMobil Chemical Company in a statement.

The project is part of a race to build new polypropylene units in North America as regional supplies remain tight, said Steve Zinger, senior vice president of petrochemicals with the research and analysis firm Wood Mackenzie.

"The polypropylene business is tight and Exxon, being a fairly large player, wants to be able to continue to grow their business because customers are asking for it," Zinger said.

RELATED: Wood Group signs on for massive Exxon-Saudi project near Corpus Christi

Meanwhile Braskem, a Brazilian petrochemical company, is building out a $675 million expansion of a polypropylene plant in La Porte and two polypropylene projects are underway in Canada.

Exxon's polypropylene project is part of the company's $20 billion "Growing the Gulf" initiative to double down on investments on the Gulf Coast to take advantage of the shale boom. The initiative includes new investments in Exxon's refineries in Baytown and Beaumont, plus 1.8 million metric ton ethane cracker planned San Patricio County, Texas.

Last month ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum also gave the final investment green light to develop Golden Pass, a new export liquefied natural gas terminal.

EARLIER: Exxon, Qatar to proceed on major Gulf Coast LNG export facility

Also Friday Exxon announced that John Verity is retiring as president of Exxon Chemical Company. Karen McKee will lead Exxon's chemical company effective April 1, 2019.

McKee, 52, joined Exxon Chemical Company in the United Kingdom in 1990, and is currently senior vice president for basic chemicals, integration and growth. McKee was born in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, and has a master's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Nottingham, England.
Even a last-minute substitution couldnt spoil Christoph Eschenbachs latest return to Houston.

In his 11 years at the helm of the Houston Symphony, from 1988 to 1999, the German-born conductor helped uplift a city still reeling from the oil bust while guiding the orchestra to newfound financial stability and international acclaim. Houstons perpetual gratitude is set in stone, literally, in the form of a plaque a few feet from Jones Halls doors.

The maestros many trips back since leaving to direct several European ensembles, not to mention the Philadelphia and National Symphony orchestras, have come couched in suitably heroic headlines. This one, though, threatened to be overshadowed by the sudden cancellation of violinist Leila Josefowicz  a star bright enough to earn co-headlining status in the programs title, Eschenbach and Josefowicz.

Further complicating matters (just a little), the piece at hand was longtime Los Angeles Philharmonic leader Esa-Pekka Salonens Violin Concerto, which was written especially for her.

But intriguing opportunities arise when months of planning go out the window with just two days notice. Here it came in the form of Jennifer Koh, a virtuoso in her own right who navigated Salonens complex composition with elegance and aplomb.

Split into four movements, the 30-minute concerto is not for the squeamish; indeed, when it was over it felt like the audience didnt quite know what to make of it. At least part of that must be built in: Salonen cultivates an atmosphere of illusion and uncertainty, leaving the soloist to sift through a surreal soundscape that would tax any performers resourcefulness.

Koh, a Chicago native who helped St. Vincent salute Phillip Glass at last Decembers Kennedy Center Honors, did not seem at all reticent to be stepping into Josefowiczs heels, sometimes attacking her violin, others caressing it. In the otherworldly opening movement, Mirage, her frenetic scraping across the fingerboard offset airy chords in the strings and isolated notes of harp, piano, and percussion. Later, muted bleats issued from the low brass  dispatches from a dream.

If anything, that feeling increased during the second movement, Pulse 1. Soft tympani strokes and high harmonics evoked a sense of latent dread and foreboding; Koh, whose bow rarely ceased moving, seemed as though she was feeling her way through a palpable orchestral mist. Trumpets flickered in and out briefly, like a beacon, only to be snuffed out as Kohs violin grew so faint as to be imperceptible.

Full of agitation and chaos, the subsequent Pulse 2 marked a 180-degree shift from the previous movement: here her staggering violin was forced to dodge the deafening Stravinsky-esque eruptions of brass and stray missiles lobbed at her by the percussion section, including a full-fledged trap kit. Small wonder much of the ensuing finale, Adieu, returned to the first movements woozy vibe, like everyone was still in a daze.

Late in the piece, though, it finally gained a measure of confidence and cohesion by surrendering some of its inscrutability. Perhaps Eschenbach, who would turn conspiratorially to the soloist every so often, and Koh had finally divined a way out of Salonens shadowy and treacherous web  by sailing straight through the upper reaches of her violins register.

On his most recent trip to Houston  two years ago this month  Eschenbach conducted an all-Bruckner program. This weekends performance closed with the same composers Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major, an exemplar of the late Romantic period that has been somewhat overlooked in the modern repertory, but might be cast aside altogether if not for the likes of Eschenbach.

Now 79 and the orchestras Conductor Laureate, the maestro is something of a Bruckner specialist. Later this year he will take over as music director of Konzerthausorchester Berlin, a fitting position for someone who as done as much as anyone alive to nurture and expand the musical legacy of his fellow central Europeans.

This weekend, the Fourth Symphony made for a sterling affirmation of Eschenbachs rehabilitative efforts. Completed in 1880 after six years of revisions, it is impossibly dense, more than an hour long, and yet eminently rewarding.

Bruckner himself, widely recognized as one of Austrias best organists and then a professor at Vienna Conservatory, deemed it his Romantic symphony. Helpfully, he appended all sorts of medieval imagery to the program notes  breaking dawn, singing birds, galloping horsemen, etc.  and tied it all together with a stuttering theme that is equal parts royal fanfare and fox-hunting call.

For his part, Eschenbach obviously relished the chance to lead such a merry chase. His left hand drew alchemy out of various soloists, while his baton-clutching right maintained a steady but understated pulse for their colleagues. During a crescendo he might sweep his entire upper body from first to third, as it were, and in moments of great intensity both hands shot over his head.

His expressions are so intuitive its possible to imagine pressing some sort of imaginary internal mute button and having no trouble at all visualizing the Fourth  a work so full of grandeur, nobility, excitement and (indeed) romance that it dissolves any lingering inhibitions and sweeps the listener back to Bruckners imaginary kingdom.

Similarly, its hard to imagine a more regal homecoming for one of Houstons most distinguished musical knights.

Chris Gray is a Houston-based writer.
Houstons population is nearly 45 percent Latino. So where is the Latino art scene?

Well, everywhere, actually  tangled into every corner of the urban fabric, yet no easier to define than the character of the sprawling, mega-diverse city itself.

Latino Art Now! Houston, an area-wide celebration that runs through May, will bring more awareness to a local talent force that spans the spectrum from highly trained conceptual artists to self-taught muralists. More than 70 local cultural organizations are participating. The catalyst is a biennial, national conference of visual-art scholars  Latino Arts Now!  that the University of Houston hosts for the first time April 4-6.

Organized by the Inter-University Program for Latino Research, a consortium that partners with the Smithsonian Latino Center, the conference involves three solid days of concurrent talks on topics as varied as Migrant Struggles Against Gentrification, New Digital Platforms and Bodies, Genders, Sexualities.

LAN! aims to spark conversations about the creation and dissemination of Latino art that are particularly important to global cities like Houston, where U.S. Latinos have played prominent roles in shaping artistic culture, said Pamela Quiroz, the director of UHs Center for Mexican American Studies and executive director of the consortium. Were going to celebrate both national and local Latino artists.

Latino Art Now! Spring of Latino Art More than 70 cultural venues across the Houston area are staging programs, exhibitions and performances through May 31. Details:iuplr.org/lan-events See More Collapse

More than a dozen Houston-based scholars and artists are among the 135 or so conference panelists. As part of its pre-conference field work, the consortium identified more than 250 Houston-area Latino visual artists and added them to a national registry. We are researchers. We love data, said art historian Olga Herrera, who was involved in that project.

Houstons population of Latino artists looks similar to that of other major U.S. cities in one respect, Herrera said: The majority are not native to the city but have migrated from other U.S. cities or other countries, just going where the jobs are.

That doesnt mean fewer natives aspire to become artists, but it might suggest they dont see equal opportunities or arent encouraged to pursue fine art.

The work of about 50 local artists will appear on billboards across the city that were funded by UH and Clear Channel. Though that outreach was deliberately democratic, curated shows at area galleries and museums offer a deeper dive.

University of Houston-Downtowns OKane Gallery has hung Close to Home: Latinx Art and Identity, a marvelous show of prints and paintings by several generations of U.S. Latinos that combines iconic images and up-to-the-minute works by important newcomers.

The shows 56 works are from a group of 100 given to UH-Downtown by San Antonios Harriett and Ricardo Romo, major collectors who have focused on Latino art  especially works on paper  since the 1970s. OKane director, Mark Cervenka, who curated the show, plans to hang the prints across the UH-Downtown campus after the exhibition closes.

Awash in bold color and graphics, the works convey themes of empowerment, rendered in diverse styles that express Latinx identity as specific, powerful and ancient. Giants such as Frank Romero, Carlos Alvarez, Patssi Valdez and Luis Jimenez are in the mix along with younger powerhouses Michael Menchaca (known for his animated videos based on ancient codex imagery) and Vincent Valdez, a master draftsman.

Cervenka has grouped a number of prints from legendary workshops such as Los Angeles Self Help Graphics and Modern Multiples and Austins Coronado Studios. Prints have been integral to the evolution of Latino and Chicano art because theyre often produced at community-minded ateliers who offer artists an inexpensive outlet, Cervenka said. Its about making work thats honest and sincere in terms of their own vision.

At Rudolph Blume Fine Art/Artscan Gallery in Montrose, the show Artimanas /Revealed features politically and socially minded contemporary art in a mix of mediums by Texas artists Celia Alvarez Munoz, Casey Arguelles Gregory, Rabea Ballin, Jesus Gonzalez, Cristy Jadick and Gabriel Martinez. (Artimanas translates as tricks of the hand.)

Jadick fills most of a room with the installation Wall. Its cinderblock centerpiece is surrounded with a micro-desert and stenciled with text borrowed from the Statue of Libertys famous inscription, Bring me your tired, your poor 

In his evocative video Ramas de mezclilla (denim branches), Gonzalez walks toward the Texas-Mexico border carrying a huge, yellow sail, amid backpack sculptures made of denim, as a narrator reads Mexican poet Alberto Blancos verse, My Tribe.

Munozs Las Mordidas: El Poder del Privilegio (The Bribes: The Power of Privilege)  a 15-by-15-foot print on vinyl mesh  is too large to unfurl completely in the space, but viewers quickly get the gist: It layers dense text about the unsolved murders of women in Juarez, Mexico, over imagery from the Mexican flag.

Ballin has placed pillow-shaped soft sculptures printed with text (six chapters of her #sixwordstories project) under a series of digital works on metal that depict the same image, increasingly lightened. Martinez, who utilizes found objects to construct objects that map neighborhoods, has contributed an all-black, fabric quilt-painting. He will lead an Art and Politics panel during the conference that includes Ballin and three other artists.

Photography by Houstonian Francis Almendarez, another of the Art and Politics panelists, will be up soon in Nuestro Hogar, a two-person show at Jonathan Hopson Gallery that tackles identity questions from a more intimate, domestic perspective. Curator Debra Barrera, who also is a well-respected Latina artist, co-owns Hopson with her husband. The gallery operates from the front rooms of their Montrose residence.

Barrera said she would have done Nuestro Hogar regardless of the LAN! hooplah. I think a lot about home space. Its the first curatorial space we encounter, the first aesthetic we see, she said.

Her own work often riffs on the experience of growing up in a modest home in Corpus Christi as the daughter of Mexican-Americans. Almendarez and the shows other artist, Ana Fernandez, explore similar themes from different directions, as gay individuals.

Though the LAN! conference is devoted to visual art, the citywide celebrations are all-inclusive.

Mitchell Center for the Arts 2019 CounterCurrent Festival in early April will present two of its many performances under the LAN! Houston banner at MATCHs small blackbox space. Both feature nationally known talents who explore gender identity: Jenif(f)er Tamayos La Queeradora riffs on the kids TV series Dora the Explorer. Awilda Rodriguez Loras Susteno: From La Performera to La Mujer Maravilla, co-presented with DiverseWorks, is a lecture performance.

Tony Diaz is using the occasion to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the literary organization he founded, Nuestra Palabra. His literary showcase April 3 at the MFAH features the godfather of Chicano literature, Dagoberto Gilb, and a number of other voices. Nuestra Palabras lineup features MFAH curator Mari Carmen Ramirez, the founder of the museums International Center for the Arts of the Americas  who also is the conferences keynote speaker.

Ramirez has introduced galaxies of Latin American artists to a global audience, but local Latinos have never been her focus, frustrating many in Houstons community.

If I were working in any other place, they might look at me, said painter Geraldina Interiano Wise, a native of El Salvador who performs with her brushes and canvas during live, collaborative concerts with area musicians.

Wise is among a number of Houstonians asking what a better infrastructure for Latino art could look like in Houston. A major cultural center or museum devoted to Latino art would be a start. But how do we coalesce? Wise said. And if we did, where would the money come from?

A few legacy organizations have been around for years, but the city has left them behind, she added. Theres only so much Ballet Folklorico you can bring.

Groups must organize to be heard, Wise said. She has put herself out there through LatinAmerican Women Artists, Houston, a group recently established by Glassell School instructor Arielle Masson for her students. They are presenting LAN! Houston events at the George Memorial Library in Sugar Land and the Glade Arts Foundation in The Woodlands. Theres Latino communities everywhere, and theyre starved for culture, Wise said, so doors are opening.

Barrera appreciates the LAN! efforts. Special events and festivals help bring conversations forward, but they come and go, she said. I hope it goes beyond.

Wise agrees. Springs showcases are an incredible boon for the city to know itself a little better, she said.

molly.glentzer@chron.com
In the beginning, Texas barbecue was rural. From the mid- to late-1800s, small towns grew up along trade routes, especially the rapidly expanding network of railroads. In towns such as Taylor, railroads exported the agricultural bounty of the region, mainly cotton in the early days and, later, cattle.

At the same time, Czech and German immigrants landing in Galveston made their way west along the San Felipe Trail, settling among the prosperous farms and ranches of Central Texas. They brought with them the butchery and cooking skills of their homeland, and many opened meat markets to take advantage of the areas plentiful cattle.

Every Saturday or Sunday, the freshly butchered meat of the week before  now facing spoilage in the era before refrigeration  was cooked in brick fire pits and sold to locals and itinerant workers as a weekend lunch or supper special. The story of Texas barbecue was established.

By the early 1900s, as the states population migrated to rapidly growing urban areas, barbecue followed. By 1913, a Houston city directory listed 15 barbecue stands. Ten of these were owned by African-Americans, reflecting the migration of former slaves from rural to urban areas after the Emancipation Proclamation, bringing with them the open-pit cooking methods of the southern United States.

Micklethwait Market & Grocery 114 N. E. 2nd, Smithville 512-798-7019 Open 10:30 a.m. till sold out Thursdays-Sundays See More Collapse

Indeed, African-American-owned barbecue restaurants became associated with urban areas, with celebrated smoked-meat purveyors becoming entrenched in cities including Houston, Chicago and Kansas City, Mo.

Until the 1980s, both urban and rural barbecue joints thrived throughout the state. But in the 1990s, larger, urban barbecue joints began to gain the upper hand. Dickeys Barbecue Pit, Bill Miller Bar-B-Q and Rudys Texas Bar-B-Q opened in big cities or along the major thoroughfares just outside them. Taking advantage of newly available automated barbecue pits, these chains often traded quality for volume. Its no coincidence that the 1990s and early 2000s are considered the dark ages of Texas barbecue.

That all changed in 2003, when Kerry Bexley and Tootsie Tomanetz opened Snows BBQ in the dusty Central Texas cowtown of Lexington. The axis of Texas barbecue would shift affirmatively back to rural areas in 2008, when Texas Monthly magazine named Snows the best barbecue in Texas. Longtime rural joints such as Louie Mueller Barbecue, Kreuz Market and Southside Market & BBQ became must-stops on newly fashionable barbecue tours.

Urban barbecue wasnt having it, though. The next axis-shifter happened in 2009, when a former rock-band drummer opened a barbecue trailer in the parking lot of a coffee-roasting business just off Interstate 35 in Austin. Aaron Franklin and Franklin Barbecue took Texas barbecue to an international audience and associated the new craft barbecue movement  sometimes derisively called hipster barbecue  with urban areas. Gatlins BBQ in Houston and Pecan Lodge in Dallas would kick off the revival of high-quality barbecue in their respective cities.

Urban barbecue mostly reigned through the 2010s. A booming resurgence in Houston barbecue saw the rise of world-class spots including Roegels Barbecue Co., The Pit Room and Pinkertons Barbecue opening inside or just outside the 610 Loop.

As we head into a new decade, the geography of Texas barbecue continues to evolve. One of the more interesting developments is how formerly rural joints such as Louie Mueller in Taylor and Southside Market in Elgin are slowly transforming into quasi-urban joints, through no efforts of their own. As the greater Austin metropolitan area continues to expand, formerly rural areas are being swallowed up by sprawl.

Another interesting development is the expansion of a quintessential, Austin-based urban barbecue institution to rural Texas. Micklethwait Market & Grocery will open this weekend in a renovated car-repair shop on a classic low-slung main street of Smithville, southeast of Austin.

Owner and pitmaster Tom Micklethwait turned his Micklethwait Craft Meats barbecue trailer in Austin into an international destination for Texas barbecue fans. His new venture is rooted in this still-rural area between Bastrop and La Grange. The spacious restaurant includes a full menu of world-class craft barbecue as well as a grocery/delicatessen that features locally grown and made products.

Its an unexpected return of our states great tradition of smoked meats to a rural, small-town setting. For now, Bastrop appears to be the Maginot Line blocking Austins relentless sprawl. Smithville will no doubt retain its small-town feel for the foreseeable future, and the craft barbecue of Micklethwait Market & Grocery is a welcome addition.

jcreid@jcreidtx.com

twitter.com/jcreidtx
MCALLEN, Texas  It was dark in the stash house where they kept her, the windows covered so no one could see inside. At first, the smugglers had her cook for the other migrants who had recently crossed illegally into the United States. Then they took her to a room upstairs, locked the door and began taking turns with her.

It was the summer of 2014, and Melvin, a 36-year-old mother of three, had just completed the journey from her native Guatemala, crossing the Rio Grande on a raft before being led to the house in the Texas border city of McAllen.

For weeks in that locked room, the men she had paid to get her safely to the United States drugged her with pills and cocaine, refusing to let her out even to bathe. I think that since they put me in that room, they killed me, she said. They raped us so many times they didnt see us as human beings anymore.

On Americas southern border, migrant women and girls are the victims of sexual assaults that most often go unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted. Even as women around the world are speaking out against sexual misconduct, migrant women on the border live in the shadows of the #MeToo movement.

The stories are many, and yet all too similar. Undocumented women making their way into American border towns have been beaten for disobeying smugglers, impregnated by strangers, coerced into prostitution, shackled to beds and trees and  in at least a handful of cases  bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs.

The New York Times found dozens of documented cases through interviews with law enforcement officials, prosecutors, federal judges and immigrant advocates around the country, and a review of police reports and court records in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The review showed more than 100 documented reports of sexual assault of undocumented women along the border in the past two decades, a number that likely only skims the surface, law enforcement officials and advocates say.

In addition, interviews with migrant women and those working with them along the border point to large numbers of cases that are either unreported or unexamined, suggesting that sexual violence has become an inescapable part of the collective migrant journey.

President Donald Trump has used the threat faced by migrant women to make his case for a border wall. One in three women are sexually assaulted on the dangerous trek up through Mexico, he said in January  an estimate that appears to have originated from some limited surveys, one of them by Doctors Without Borders, of women traveling through Mexico.

But less understood is that the violence that befalls migrant women happens not just during the perilous journey through Mexico: Much of it happens after women reach the supposed safety of the United States.

In July, a 23-year-old Honduran woman told authorities that she was sexually assaulted in a bedroom closet by a smuggler who had helped her and her sister cross into the South Texas city of Mission. The following month, a sheriffs deputy in San Antonio was charged with sexually assaulting the 4-year-old daughter of an undocumented Guatemalan woman and threatening to have her deported if she reported the abuse. In 2017, a guide leading a group of migrants through the Tohono Oodham Nations reservation in Arizona raped a woman from El Salvador twice during a seven-day desert hike, threatening to leave her stranded if she resisted. I hope I leave you pregnant so you have one of my kids, he said, the woman told authorities.

In 2016, a migrant woman fled a stash house in the South Texas city of Edinburg, where she said she had been raped by a smuggler who brandished a machete. In West Texas that same year, two teenage girls reported that they had been sexually assaulted by a Customs and Border Protection officer, who they said forced them to strip, fondled them, then tried to get them to stop crying by offering chocolates, potato chips and a blanket. In an unusual turn, the girls filed legal claims against the federal government, which settled the case in 2018 for $125,000.

At least five of the women who were assaulted  in one case, bound with duct tape, raped and stabbed  were attacked not by migrant smugglers, who are often the perpetrators, but by on-duty Border Patrol agents and Customs officers.

Experts say the actual number of sexual assaults is almost certainly much higher than those documented by prosecutors and police, because most attacks are never reported. And such attacks dont end at the border. Women have reported being assaulted in immigration detention facilities, and the federal government over a recent four-year period has received more than 4,500 complaints about the sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention facilities.

The Times interviewed eight migrant women from Central America who were sexually assaulted between 2013 and 2016  women still struggling with nightmares, depression and in some cases, thoughts of suicide. One reported that she was attacked in Mexico; six said they were assaulted in South Texas. One said she was attacked in both Mexico and South Texas. The oldest victims were in their early 40s when they were attacked; the two youngest were 14.

Most of their attackers were never prosecuted or identified, and The Times was not able to independently verify the womens accounts. But all eight women either gave sworn testimony or submitted statements under penalty of perjury to the federal government in order to qualify for visas, and cooperated with police in the investigation of their cases.

They described a netherworld of fear that coexists with the bustling life of U.S. cities up and down the border. One woman told of being held prisoner in a house that had been turned into a makeshift brothel in McAllen, a city of 143,000 in the Rio Grande Valley. Nueva carne  new meat, the smugglers said as she and other migrant women were led into the house, said the woman, Lucy, 45, a migrant from Honduras who, like others interviewed, did not want her last name used.

She said a series of men came into the house over the next several days and raped her. Because I didnt want to let them, they tied my feet together and my hands behind my back, Lucy said.

Gladys, 45, a mother of four from Guatemala, said she was kidnapped by armed smugglers after crossing the border and jumped out of a car to escape, but was captured again. For days, she was held prisoner at a stash house in McAllen and forced to have sex with six men. I thought it would be better if I died when I fell from the car, she said.

Law enforcement officials on the border said they had made arrests in many of the cases brought to them and would pursue more if they could. But the majority of women who have been assaulted do not report it, often because their attackers threaten to expose their immigration status  or worse  if they do.

One woman, raped repeatedly at gunpoint in a stash house in Phoenix in 2005, said her attacker threatened to sell her 3-year-old daughter if she reported him. Those who do go to the authorities may not know the names of their attackers, or even where the assault occurred. Smugglers make sure their clients are unsure of their whereabouts; if they are detained by Border Patrol, they wont be able to pinpoint where they were held.

The women are powerless by almost any measure. Most of the eight interviewed now live in the United States after receiving the victim-related visas. They work in stores, restaurants and factories, most barely making a living. Their English is limited. Many of them have not even told their families what happened.

They dont have many defenses, said Jesus R. Romo Vejar, an Arizona lawyer who has represented many migrant women victimized by sexual assault. Undocumented women and children are the most unprotected of human beings.

Here are some of their stories.

They just told us, You have to pay with your body.

Lucy, 45, was raped while being forced to work at makeshift brothels, first in Mexico and then in McAllen.

When we got to the house, there were many women. It was a big house. I couldnt see everybodys face, but there were different women in different rooms for prostitution. I wanted to flee but I was afraid they were going to kill me. They just told us, You guys dont have money, so you have to pay with your body.

When we crossed the river, there was a man waiting, a white guy with tattoos. He was in a truck. We got into the truck. He brought us into a house in McAllen. When we got there, the guy started talking and he said that I was new meat.

When they wanted to have sex with me they had to tie me up because I wasnt cooperative. They tied my feet together and my hands behind my back and then theyd have sex with me from behind.

Before, I could not talk about this. I would have panic, really serious panic. I didnt want to leave the house. I didnt want to talk to anybody. I thought that everyone in the world saw me as a prostitute. I come from a poor family but a very decent family.

It has affected me, yes. But not anymore. Im kind of enraged. Those guys have mothers and daughters. What they did to us is what they did to women.

Every time I closed my eyes, the men would appear.

Melvin, 36, was raped and forced into prostitution in a locked room at a stash house in McAllen.

I lost count of how long I was there for. It wasnt me anymore. I think that since they put me in that room, they killed me. They have no mercy. They dont care that youre a mother, that you have family. They see someone who doesnt matter to them.

And I still remember while I was with them there, it was my birthday, and I didnt want to, not that day. And I remember that he grabbed me and at one point bit me, and when I arrived at the detention center, I still had the bite marks. I told them that it was my birthday. And according to them, the rape that day was for my birthday.

I tried to commit suicide three times. Because you cant live with all of that. And every time I closed my eyes, the men would appear. Youd shower. Youd close your eyes. They were there. I didnt want to live with that in my head anymore. But here I am.

I didnt know what to do. My feet were tied up.

J.E., 19, and two other migrants were kidnapped in South Texas by a Border Patrol agent, Esteban Manzanares, when J.E. was 14. He raped her in his apartment in Mission, Texas, and later committed suicide.

He took me and tied me up to a tree. He said he would come back. I was thinking about my little brother, whos in Honduras, and Id never see him again. He was about 10, I think. It was hours.

He undid me from the tree and put me in the car. In the apartment, there were two beds on top of the other, childrens bunk beds, and ropes there, too. They were shoelaces. For my wrists and my feet.

My mind was blank. I was trying to understand everything. I didnt know what to do. My feet were tied up. I would look at him and he had a gun. And that frightened me. I asked him why, and he answered me that he was doing this to me because I was the prettiest one of the three.

There are people who sort of discard you when they know what happened to you. But the majority of my girlfriends do know so they can understand what I went through, and they support me.

He bit my mouth so I could not cry out.

V.E.M.L., 39, was raped in the South Texas brush by a smuggling guide. She was apprehended, detained at the Hutto detention center in Taylor, Texas, and later deported.

I knew that they were the ones who were going to take me across, so I knew that I had to stay with them. I never learned his name. I felt nervous about him. He was very strange. I wasnt sure if he was on drugs. He always stood up and sat down, and stood up and sat down.

The older one walked ahead. The younger one said, Come with me.

I said, Where are we going? And he said, Were going to catch up with them ahead.

He bit my mouth so I could not cry out. I was scared that it might occur to him to kill me.

Afterwards, he told me to hurry up or he would leave me there on the ground. The guys in the group start saying, Immigration! Immigration! I ran toward Immigration. I wanted to get away. But then when they took me and put me in the car, I felt frustrated and alone. I just felt like I couldnt stop crying. They were all men agents. They kept asking me why I was crying and I couldnt explain.

When they brought me to Laredo, I told a doctor what happened. He said, Dont feel like youre the only one that this happened to. This has happened to many other women.

I had been marked because of what had happened to me, that violation.

Cindy, 26, and her son Samuel stayed at a stash house in Mexico while waiting to cross the border. She and another woman were raped by a smuggler, and she learned after being apprehended by Border Patrol that she was pregnant. Samuel is now 8. His little brother, to whom Cindy gave the biblical name of Adonai, is 2.

When he entered the room, he had the gun. He took the children out. He had the gun and he pointed the gun at my head when he was attacking us. First he abused me and then he abused her. Were in his power and we feel like were disposable. We cant do anything because its like they tell us, they can kill us and nobody will say anything.

It wasnt until that test that I knew I was pregnant. In that moment, it was like I had been marked. I had been marked because of what had happened to me, that violation.

I wanted to kill myself. Going to the psychologist, thats what helped me heal. She told me that we had to talk about it, we had to think about it, and we had to learn to live with our lives moving forward, even with what happened.

My son, I realized he was an innocent bystander in this situation and that it wasnt his fault. My motivation to keep going in life are my two kids. I thank God because everything that I suffered, theyre the happiness that came out of that.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times
During her two years as president of the Missouri City & Vicinity branch of the NAACP, Lynette Reddix saw the need for a chapter that served all the residents of growing, diverse Fort Bend County.

In the suburbs, you still have advocacy needs, Reddix said in a recent interview. You still have the rights of people being challenged.

Reddix, 48, is leading a new effort to revitalize an NAACP chapter for Fort Bend and Wharton counties, as part of the states goal to reactivate inactive chapters. She and others have identified 100 prospective members, a requirement to form a new chapter, and are waiting for approval from the national NAACP office.

Vanesia Johnson, a Sugar Land social worker who has been helping Reddix gather members for the new chapter, said the timing is right because of new elected officials in Fort Bend County, such as the first African-American district attorney, Brian Middleton. She hopes the organization can assist with Middletons push for criminal justice reform.

About 21 percent of the countys more than 760,000 residents are African-American.

With the movement that has come through Fort Bend County specifically, I think were all revved up to do something, to be a part of something, said Johnson. We are full of life now. We see ourselves as being part of something greater than ourselves in a way that we havent quite seen before.

Linda Lydia, the secretary for the Texas NAACP, said the state is working toward reactivating chapters that have remained dormant, including in Brazoria County. The Fort Bend and Wharton chapter hasnt been active since the former president, Thomas Lane Pink, died in 1986, Lydia said.

We basically depend on our units to address the civil rights issues in their communities, Lydia said. We have to have these units in strategic locations. Brazoria, Fort Bend, those are areas where we get a lot of concerns from the community.

The Houston chapter, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary, is not looking to expand to other areas in Harris County, executive director Yolanda Smith said. She noted that she has traveled as far as Port Arthur and Cypress to help concerned citizens.

Theres enough work in these surrounding counties to go around, said Smith. If theres a desire or interest in smaller geographical areas that want to start a branch, hey, Im happy. Go for it.

Johnson has often wondered why she had to travel from her longtime Sugar Land home to Missouri City to advocate for African-American issues. She was unaware of the Missouri City & Vicinity branch until she ran for a school board position in 2013.

I felt like if I wanted to connect with anything that is social justice-conscious, with a strong black effort or initiative, I had to leave out of my home, go down the street and get into Missouri City, said Johnson.

Johnson quickly got on board when Reddix explained her push to revitalize the Fort Bend-Wharton County chapter. She said shes been surprised to find enthusiasm from people of all backgrounds and hopes the new chapter can help people of other ethnicities, not just African-Americans.

Reddix is also trying to attract younger voices as the nature of the groups work changes.

Im not back in the 50s, 60s, where we were doing the march with Selma and all those different avenues, said Reddix. Our fight is a different type of fight. Its a different type of advocacy.

The Missouri City & Vicinity Branch has been active for 33 years, according to the founder and newly elected president, Linda Coleman.

Coleman said revitalizing the Fort Bend and Wharton chapter should not affect the Missouri City branch and they would work on identifying clear jurisdictions of the two chapters.

Reddix noted the new chapter could serve as an asset to both the county and existing Missouri City branch.

Im not about division. Im about completion, said Reddix. Its about getting more people engaged and getting them mobilized to effect change in their communities.

Tremaine Chatman, an NAACP member for more than 10 years, said she believes areas like Wharton County are being overlooked.

As a Realtor, she began hearing about houses near the Colorado River that have flooded frequently.

Chatman, who served as housing chair when she was part of the Missouri City branch, said smaller communities like Wharton or Kendleton, a predominantly African-American town, could also use help from a new, expanded branch.

Most of the people that I talk to about the NAACP, they didnt even know there was a branch in Missouri City, said Chatman. There are some people in my generation, they really have no idea what we do. They think that we only do civil rights. Thats what we are known for, but we provide help, we provide resources. 

Reddix thinks the name change will help give the chapter more recognition.

When people hear Missouri City & Vicnity, they just think its that area. But when they say its Fort Bend County NAACP. You have name and perception, said Reddix.

brooke.lewis@chron.com
720 Juneberry Road, Riverwoods: $2,195,000 | Listed: Oct. 15, 2021



This six-bedroom home has four full bathrooms, one half bath, reclaimed wood floors and 12-foot ceilings on the main floor. The kitchen is equipped with dual islands, a built-in ice machine, freezer drawers and a walk-in pantry. The living room features a wood-burning fireplace and a wood-beamed ceiling, and the dining space leads to a screened porch with a fireplace, a built-in grill and a refrigerator. The primary bedroom suite is located on the main floor has a private sitting area with a fireplace and a walk-in shower. Four additional bedrooms that share Jack and Jill baths are on the second floor. An indoor hot tub, a sunroom, a heated four-car garage and a finished lower level with an in-law suite complete this home.



Agent: Ron Ehlers, Compass, 847-975-5515



*Some listing photos are virtually staged, meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options.



To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribunes Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com.



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Houstons investment in green spaces continues to attraction national attention.

Buffalo Bayou Park was recently selected as one of five finalists from across the U.S. for the biennial Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence 2019 Gold and Silver medal prizes. The honor comes with more than bragging rights. The gold medal winner receives $50,000; the other four finalists each receive $10,000 silver prizes, for project enhancements.

Founded in 1986 by architect Simeon Bruner, the award promotes innovative thinking about the built environment, recognizing transformative places that contribute to the vitality of American cities.

The other 2019 finalists include Beyond Walls, a grassroots public art and lighting initiative in Lynn, Mass; Crosstown Concourse, which turned an abandoned Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center into a mixed-use vertical village; Parisite Skatepark, a new park under a highway overpass in New Orleans; and Sulphur Springs Downtown, a renewed civic plaza and main street in Sulphur Springs, Tex.

molly.glentzer@chron.com
WINNIEFrom afar, it sounded like a malfunctioning fire alarm. In fact, it was Glen Niebaum punching his ticket to Stuttgart, Arkansas for a shot at bird-calling glory.

On Saturday, the 36-year-old edged out three others in Texas statewide duck call contest, held during Winnies now-annual Marsh Festival.

Since the festival began, its become the place where serious bird callers compete, the winner moving on to the national competition held in Arkansas each year. The competitions are a big deal, this year drawing folks from as far as Illinois to compete in the regional contest. Niebaum has been on the big stage before. Hes a former Oklahoma state champ, he said, and has blown at the worlds three times.

Hes had less time to practice since he moved back to southeast Texas, and so his practice regimen is now lighter.

I start practicing about 40 days out, he said, noting that it takes some time to work up the endurance needed to blow a full routine.

Thats key to a good call, he said.

Youve got to be able to get as big a breathe as you can, he said. And then you just rip it and push all that air out.

Early-morning commuters may very well have heard him perform. With little time off from work  and with more personal commitments these days  Niebaum has opted to practice his calls en route to his job each morning. The hourlong drive from Mont Belvieu to Lake Charles is just enough time.

Im up at 3:15, I jump in the truck and just blow my calls on the way to work, he said. Its better than nothing, but I feel like the sound is so distorted. But its still better than having to practice at home.

Nearby, Charlie Holder sat behind a folding table and called contestants to the stage, where they stood behind a makeshift hunting perch while spectators watched from bleachers.

He helped made the contest and festival possible. The idea was simple.

This whole area is known for the outdoors, he said. And theres no real festival that shows appreciation for the outdoors here.

The small, rural community is dotted with water and wildlife refuges. Its why Holder and Shane Chesson, who serves on the local Chamber of Commerce, first proposed the idea for the festival two years ago.

Ive been guiding duck hunts in Winnie for 25, 26 years and decided that, for as big of an impact on the economics of this town as water fowl and fishing have itd be good to have a festival out of appreciation.

He was enthused by the turnout last year, and even more so now.

We had a lot of people who took a chance on us our first year, and this year is even more of a success, he said.

This year was particularly meaningful for Chesson, though. In November, his 10-year-old son Trevor was riding an ATV when if flipped. Trevors death again brought the community together.

There had to have been 3,500 people at the funeral, Holder said. (Thats about the population of the Chambers County city about 60 miles east of Houston.)

A day after the funeral, Chesson asked his Chamber of Commerce colleagues if they could do something to honor his son.

Absolutely, he was told.

The duck-calling contest felt like a perfect tribute. Trevor, his father said, was so excited for the contest this year and now it bares his name.

He was blowing on his duck call every day, he said.

Robert.Downen@chron.com
With a chefs cap perched atop his black, brimmed hat, Dannos Kablammos directed the milling crowd outside Congregation Beth Yeshurun toward steaming pots of kosher chili.

We got it! You want it! he bellowed. His t-shirt featured a red oven mitt wearing a yarmulke and wielding a wooden spoon.

Kablammos was captain of one of the 30 teams competing Sunday in the Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff, a competition that stands out from the numerous cook-offs surrounding the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for its requirement that all food meet Jewish regulations, which include eschewing pork and separating dairy from meat.

The 30 teams represented people from various branches of Judaism and other religions; Kablammos was competing with the Aishel House, a Jewish nonprofit that provides housing and assistance to patients visiting the Texas Medical Center.

Its fun telling the patients to come out  its a uniquely Texas-Jewish experience, he said.

More than 2,000 people showed up on the chilly Sunday afternoon to participate in the festival, which was taking place for the first time since Hurricane Harvey.

Its the perfect day for a chili cook-off, said Mayor Sylvester Turner. Its a little cool, but the chili helps warm you up.

The cooks and organizers began setting up at 6 a.m. Sunday, when Beldens Food Market delivered 900 pounds of kosher ground beef for contestants to use as the base for their recipes. For the two weeks leading up to the festival, rabbis had been approving the other ingredients chefs were planning to include to make sure they were up to religious standards.

Up until the day of the festival, some contestants were learning about what it meant to prepare kosher food. One of my ingredients today was disallowed, said Robert Lane, the chef for Beth Yeshurun Day School. He was part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeos Gatekeepers cook team, which prepares meals for the events huge team of volunteers, and had won the Cy-Fair Barbecue and Chili Cook-Off just weeks prior.

I didnt have to kosher that recipe, Lane said of his award-winning chili. But its a challenge thats worthwhile for any cook worth his salt. After learning that he could not use Worcestershire sauce  it contains fish, which cannot be combined with meat  he tweaked his recipe to maintain a balanced flavor profile.

The Houston Kosher Chili Cookoff began in 2010 in an attempt to unify various parts of the Jewish community, said Steven Weiss, one of the events founding organizers.

A group of us got together from different synagogues, he said. We said, Were going to put something together that can bring everyone together, from black hats to no hats.

The group settled on Texas state food as the perfect vehicle for bringing people together.

For some at the festival, the chili provided a way to participate in the culture and festivities surrounding the rodeo. For families that keep kosher, this provides a way to be part of the rodeo, said Loren Chorn, part of the Robert M. Beren Academys chili team.

For others, chili showcased the range of kosher cooking. Everything weve tried so far is phenomenal, said Carol Castillo, a culinary school graduate who was attending the cookoff for the first time. You can really taste the quality of the meat and the flavor of the spices. If I had this at a restaurant, I would have no idea its kosher.

Rich Bonn, who was leading the cook-off efforts for the Cross Country Mortgage team, said chili was the perfect food for bridging differences. Its really hard to be upset when youve got a warm cup of chili, he said. This is a great event bringing together the community  its not about Reform, Conservative or Orthodox, Republican or Democrat.  Were celebrating the humanity in all of us.

Rabbi Gavriel Jacknin, with the Bellaire Jewish Center, said the sense of community is what brought his team back time and time again, even though they had never taken home a trophy. Its the camaraderie, the unity of all the organizations getting together, he said.

So he was shocked when the Bellaire Jewish Center took first place in the blind tasting with his familys recipe. We were very pleasantly surprised, he said. It is a very modest chili.

rebecca.schuetz@chron.com

twitter.com/raschuetz
Eric Gay, STF / Associated Press

Texas Secretary of State David Whitley will tell Texas counties they may continue to look into the citizenship statuses of voters on his list of suspected noncitizens, according to an advisory approved by a federal judge Monday.

The advisory, which will be sent to all 254 counties in the state, notifies election offices that they must abide by the Feb. 27 court order that bars them from alerting people on the list that they're under examination or removing anyone from the rolls without approval from the court and "conclusive" evidence that they're ineligible.
Elizabeth Taft knew she was sick. She was running back and forth to the bathroom at work, clothes drenched in sweat and had to be told by her manager to change her vomit-stained shirt. Taft eventually went outside to take a break, and thats where she was found more or less unconscious by an employee of the Pizza Hut next door.

So why didnt the Freeport woman go home sick?

I knew that if I had left work, I would have lost my job, Taft told Channel 2 KPRC.

That explanation may seem cruel, but it is reality for too many Texans. Our state doesnt guarantee that workers get sick leave. So instead Taft stayed at work till she collapsed.

Thats not fair to her, or to anyone else. But heres a part of her story that should make us all queasy: Tafts job at a Subway sandwich shop.

I was touching everybodys sandwiches, she said. Im like this aint right.

As Texas grapples with the spread of measles, deadly flu strains and everyday stomach bugs like Tafts, it should be common sense that workers  especially food service workers  be allowed to stay at home if theyre feeling under the weather. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends as much. Unfortunately, for roughly 40 percent of Texas workers staying home while sick means forgoing pay or even risk being fired.

Thats one reason why cities like Austin and San Antonio passed laws guaranteeing that workers at private companies be allowed to accrue paid sick leave.

This being Texas, a place where labor law might as well be a four-letter word, an appellate court quickly struck down Austins ordinance. The reasoning  which strains credulity  is that guaranteeing paid time off effectively raises ones wages, and thus infringes on the states right to set a minimum wage.

Now the state Legislature, with Gov. Greg Abbotts blustery support, is debating a bill that would explicitly prohibit local governments from requiring paid sick leave  no need for creative court rulings.

It can be easy to forget in a state that proudly touts itself as pro-business, but we need laws crafted to guarantee a minimum sense of personal dignity  to ensure that corporate profit cant come at the expense of human welfare.

Over the decades this has been expressed through inventions like the 40-hour workweek, a prohibition on child labor, safety codes, a minimum wage, sexual harassment laws and, yes, the weekend itself.

Those laws are good for people and thats the whole point. They also help give businesses something they always need: A healthy and secure workforce. Until Texas allows paid sick leave laws, too many Texans will have to choose between showing up to work with a stomach bug or losing their jobs  and thats not good for anybody.
If he were alive today, Mark Twain might say the following: Theres lies, damned lies  and Donald Trump. The president of the United States not only lies routinely, but he believes other peoples lies without a modicum of skepticism.

Last week, the liar in question was North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who claimed to have known nothing about what appears to have been the torture and, ultimately, murder of American college student Otto Warmbier. After holding a second nuclear summit for which he was grossly unprepared, this time in Vietnam, Trump said Kim tells me that he didnt know about it, and I will take him at his word. He added that Kim felt badly about it. He felt very badly.

Right. Because Kims empathy and compassion toward his starving countrymen and those he has had killed, allegedly including his half-brother, are legendary.

It is mind-numbing and breathtaking to hear such nonsense from a president, who, if normal, would vindicate the victim through punitive actions rather than side with a violent dictator in some weird, contrived, non-productive chit-chat about nuclear weapons. Warmbiers parents were appropriately outraged by the presidents cavalier comments  especially since he had used the Warmbiers as props during his 2018 State of the Union address  and they issued a harsh rebuke.

The 21-year-old Warmbier had been touring North Korea when on Jan. 2, 2016, while going through airport security to leave the country, he was detained by North Korean authorities. He was accused of stealing a propaganda poster from the Pyongyang hotel where he was staying. No conclusive evidence was provided that he did so, but he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

After 17 months, Warmbier was sent home in a coma, having suffered severe brain damage from possible multiple beatings, and he died a few days later. His brutal death was surely no accident, as Cindy and Fred Warmbier asserted in their statement rebuking Trump, nor was it likely unknown to Kim, whose Supreme Leadership doesnt leave much wiggle room for independent action. No one familiar with North Korea believes that Kim wasnt well aware of his American captive. How could he not have been after a year-and-a-half of international news coverage and outreach from the U.S. State Department? Thus, make no mistake, Warmbiers death was as much an assault on America as it was on this young American son.

But Trump, who confessed to having a warm relationship with Kim, based presumably on whatever pheromones passed between them, said he believed the man he previously called little rocket man. This is because the president is (a) a useful idiot; (b) a malevolent force in the universe; (c) a small-pawed, big-dog fanboy; (d) a strategic genius.

I think most of us can eliminate option d.

Option c is probable given Trumps strange attraction to tyrants, dictators, murderers and thieves. He has used similar terminology with other strongmen, with whom he has been equally credulous. Trump believed Russian President Vladimir Putin when he denied knowing about Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. And he believed Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman when he denied knowing anything about the torture, murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

At the same time Trump believed their lies, he disbelieved the conclusions of American intelligence agencies, which, in each case, pointed a finger at the top guys. How could it be otherwise?

Even if we pretend that Trump is a strategic genius who is flattering his foes by faking belief in their lies, one is left to wonder to what end? To win their approval? To soften them for the next round? To charm them into believing hes one of them, that they are essentially the same but for minor differences resolvable through the art of the deal?

If only he were trying to seize a widows home to make space for a new limo parking lot at one of his casinos. Or negotiating a new Trump tower in Moscow. But the stakes are a little higher now. And Trump, in trying to be a tough guy, has created the opposite perception.

What every foreign ruler, dictator, president or potentate now knows is that every American tourist, journalist, college student or diplomat is fair game for capture, arrest, hostage-taking, torture or murder  all without consequence. All they have to do is lie to the president, a proven weakling, and the bad thing that happened will just go away.

The American people must not let him get away with it.

Parker is a Washington Post columnist.
For years, mainline Protestant denominations in America have creeped toward theological and political liberalism on hot-button issues such as race, gender and sexuality. But the largest of the mainline denominations, the United Methodist Church, now appears to be experiencing something of a conservative renaissance.

The UMC has been divided over homosexuality for more than a decade, with many American churches tilting to the left but most African and South American congregations holding to traditional views. But at a special gathering in St. Louis, Missouri, this week, conservative delegates gave progressives the ecclesial stiff-arm by rejecting the One Church Plan, a compromise that would make space for churches of varying perspectives by letting individual regions whether they would ordain or marry LGBTQ congregants.

Instead, they strengthened the church's position that "the practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching," upholding bans on same-sex marriages and ordination.

The United Methodist Church is not the only denomination to experience a conservative revival amid a time of cultural division. The 15-million-member Southern Baptist Convention made a similar pivot away from progressive theology decades ago during a period some call the "conservative resurgence." This triggered a mass exodus of moderate voices, which resulted in a convention lacking diversity of thought, and subsequently, the tools needed to respond to cultural controversies arising in a more progressive society.

Methodists should heed Southern Baptists' story as a cautionary tale.

As with Methodists, the rightward shift among Baptists occurred a time of social upheaval. The 1960s brought radical cultural change in America as a result of the civil rights movement, gay rights movement, the sexual revolution and the rise of feminism. In the 1970s, conservative Christians in the public square formed the "religious right" and attempted to seize political power to change course. Conservatives in the SBC mobilized to commandeer denominational power, offering no quarter or welcome to the minority of dissenting moderates who eventually left to found a new denomination.

Allowing for diversity of thought in a religious institution has well-documented benefits, and creating religious echo-chambers can be organizationally deleterious. As social psychologist Christena Cleveland argues in her book, "Disunity in Christ: Uncovering the Hidden Forces that Keep Us Apart," religious homogeneity promotes groupthink, pollutes our interactions with "the other," and lulls the faithful into complacency by surrounding them only with what's familiar and similar. Meanwhile, a faith community that allows for a wide array of views and varying types of people are better suited to face the challenges of a quickly evolving world.

"Contrary to common beliefs, the [church's] diversity is an asset, not a pain in the neck," Cleveland writes.

The Baptists' "conservative resurgence" reads like a case study on the weaknesses of religious echo chambers. The movement sought not just to make space for a particular way of thinking, but rather to eliminate space for anyone who thought differently. While this arguably created a type of unity, it did so at the expense of diversity.

At Southern Baptist seminaries today, you'll find little room for the kind of intellectual disagreement that helps educational intuitions flourish. Faculty members are required to sign comprehensive statements of belief to remain in good standing. Those who diverge from the institution's approved list of doctrines even slightly place their employment at risk.

For example, when William Dembski, a leading scholar of the conservative intelligent design movement, suggested that Noah's flood was not worldwide but rather geographically limited, his job at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary was threatened and he was forced to recant.

Eric Johnson, a leading scholar of Christian psychology, was reportedly forced into "early retirement" after 17 years teaching at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary because some felt his approach to the subject matter didn't rely heavily enough on the Bible's teachings.

Southern Baptist seminaries were once spaces where scholarship thrived, but very little original or interesting theological scholarship emerges today.

Worse still, the lack of diversity has left the SBC ill-equipped to confront the challenges of the day. The denomination's top-tier leaders have spectacularly failed to respond in meaningful ways to the three biggest issues of our time: the mistreatment of women, the abuse of children and systemic racism.

One of its most revered leaders and theologians, Paige Patterson, was fired in 2018 as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, weeks after audio recordings surfaced in which Patterson said abused wives should avoid divorce, pray for their violent husbands, and "be submissive in every way that you can."

After the tape initially surfaced, many male Southern Baptist leaders took to social media to protect and laud their friend. But more information surfaced, including a video of Patterson objectifying a 16-year-old girl in a sermon and a mishandling of a sex-abuse allegation by a seminary student.

Around the same time, one of the most prominent Southern Baptist women in America, author and speaker Beth Moore, penned a blog post alleging to years of misogynist mistreatment by theologians and pastors.

In post-Harvey Weinstein America, the perception of the SBC as a good ol' boys club that does not seem to be serious about protecting women, however accurate, is organizational kryptonite.

The SBC also has failed to address a sex abuse crisis that is just coming to light. An investigation published in February by the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News alleged more than 700 victims of sexual misconduct, ranging from unwanted advances to rape. More than 100 youth pastors and numerous other Baptist ministers were charged or convicted of sex crimes. Many perpetrators moved their employment to other churches. The SBC's executive committee rejected proposals to aggressively investigate the depth of the problem or provide relief to victims.

And then there is the matter of racial reconciliation. The denomination was founded over the support of slavery, supported Jim Crow laws and opposed the civil rights movement. Though Southern Baptists issued a public apology for these positions in 1995, little has been done tangibly to include racial diversity.

In 2013, it elected its first African-American president, but the position is honorific and unpaid. Meanwhile, all official top posts in the SBC - all six seminaries, LifeWay Christian Resources, GuideStone Financial Resources, the International Mission Board, The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the North American Mission Board - are led by white males despite recent vacancies that presented opportunities for diversity.

Efforts at the annual convention to denounce white supremacy and repudiate the Confederate flag have been met with stiff opposition.

This year, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary released a sweeping report admitting its deep historic involvement in racism and slavery. But the report was quick to state that current leaders are not responsible for past sins and offered no tangible steps for further change.

The SBC is not attracting minorities as the denomination remains a whopping 85 percent white. Consider that a group of all-white, all-male and all-conservatives are unable to effectively address progressive issues relating to minorities, women and children. Color me unsurprised.

Religious homogeneity is not just bad for the intellectual depth of an organization. It can be bad for growth. As the world becomes more diverse and as social media tears down walls that divided us, people aren't attracted to religious communities that don't reflect the diversity of their lived experience. In the case of the SBC, the denomination is in the midst of a decade long decline in baptisms and membership.

This is the fruit of the Southern Baptist conservative resurgence: A denomination ill-equipped to respond contemporary challenges, unwilling to create spaces of theological scholarship, and declining membership and baptisms.

Is this the path Methodists want to walk?

Of course, Christians have historically required agreement over essential theological beliefs. These are found in the Apostles Creed, which Christians around the world have recited for millennia. The creed includes statements about the creation of the world by God, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion and burial. Unfortunately for conservatives, people who identify as LGBT didn't make the cut.

Until recently, Methodists have seemingly understood this and adopted a big tent approach to denominational participation. They rooted this approach in the Wesleyan understanding of the "catholic spirit" that promotes religious tolerance and diversity of opinion, a belief that has helped them become the second largest Protestant denomination in modern America.

But many in the denomination want to abandon this belief, opting instead to chase a whole category of people from God's table and push out churches who will not fall in line.

In times of deep cultural division, faith communities face a choice. Either they will find creative ways to live with the tensions that come with diversity and disagreement or they will divide into echo chambers where everyone more or less thinks the same way. Too often, they choose the latter, opting for a revolution leading only to irrelevance.

Merritt is the author of " Learning to Speak God From Scratch: Why Sacred Words Are Vanishing - and How We Can Revive Them " and a contributor to the Atlantic.
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QUICK HITS: AWAL + Apollo  Songtrust  Marcie Allen Van Mol, Bebe Evans  Music Rows Rising Women On The Row

Kobalts AWAL has signed long-term worldwide recordings deal with Omar Apollo. Apollo already has 45 million streams on Spotify and an extensive touring history. Apollo will perfrom at the AWAL House Showcase at SXSW.

Said AWAL President, North America, Ron Cerrito of the deal: Omar has everything we look for in artist. Hes built his career from the ground up, has a loyal and quickly-growing fanbase and creatively, is always evolving as an artist, which makes it tough to classify but easy to distinguish him in the industry. Omars seminal work on recent projects has given him overarching credibility and amazing momentum to continue on this path of rapid growth. The AWAL team is very proud to be working together and launching him to the next level as an independent artist to take note of.

 Label and management veteran Anna Bond has been appointed as Director of Business Development for North America by digital rights management company Songtrust. Bond joins with almost two decades in the industry, including roles in artist and label management at FatCat Records and Rough Trade US, where she worked with artists such as Warpaint, Parquet Courts, and the Twilight Sad. She also did stints at the indie distributor Secretly Canadian, and the digital music service eMusic.

 Marcie Allen Van Mol and her aunt, Bebe Evans, were honored at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museumes annual Louise Scruggs Memorial Forum in Nashville Feb. 26. The museum presents the forum every year, recognizing music industry leaders who continue the legacy of artist manager Louise Scruggs.

 Amy Grant will be the featured speaker at MusicRows Rising Women on the Row breakfast on Tuesday, March 26 at 8:30 a.m. at the Omni Nashville Hotel. She will be interviewed on stage by MusicRow Publisher/Owner Sherod Robertson.

Previously announced Rising Women on the Row honorees for 2019 are Sandi Spika Borchetta (Big Machine Label Group, Sr. VP Creative), Janine Ebach (Curb | Word Music Publishing, VP), Kelly Janson (Manager, Kelly Janson Management), Meredith Jones (Creative Artists Agency, Agent), Lenore Kinder (Paradigm Talent Agency, Agent), and Jennifer Turnbow (NSAI, Sr. Director of Operations).

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The event brought together EU Ministers responsible for the Digital Economy and their counterparts from the six Eastern Partners - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine - to help deepen cooperation in the digital area across the region.

The European Union, ministers and representatives of the EU Member States and the ministers from the six countries that together make up the Eastern Partnership endorsed a declaration, which commits the six eastern partners to a roadmap on reaching a Regional Roaming Agreement among them by the end of 2020.

Andrus Ansip, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said ahead of the event:

The digital economy is an area with still untapped potential, and essential for both the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries for bringing tangible benefit to citizens. Today our Eastern partners have taken an important step towards the reduction of roaming tariffs among their countries. This is one concrete step with real impact, but it's crucial to work on every aspect of digital - including data flows, security and regulatory alignment.

The Ministerial meeting provided the opportunity to address other key challenges in the sector. The recently launched EU4Digital initiative will contribute to strengthening the cooperation between the EU and its six Eastern partner countries in these areas. This will result in improved online services at better prices and with greater choice; stronger personal data protection. It will also attract investments and boost trade and employment. Existing companies will grow faster and start-ups will be created more easily.

The Ministerial meeting follows up on the joint commitment by the EU, its Member States and the 6 Partner countries, at the Eastern Partnership Summit in November 2017 to deliver tangible benefits for citizens in the region, based on a clear work plan of 20 Deliverables for 2020 in four priority areas (stronger economy, stronger governance, stronger connectivity, stronger society).

Background

Launched in 2009 as a joint policy initiative, the Eastern Partnership (EaP) aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Within this framework, all partners agreed to deliver tangible benets to the daily lives of their citizens by focusing on achieving 20 Deliverables for 2020.

In this context, cooperation on developing the digital economies across the region, the EU is focusing on exploiting the potential that the Digital Agenda Market brings to business stakeholders and citizens. Linking it up with neighbouring countries will be to the benefit of all citizens across the region. The EU supports Eastern Partnership countries on reducing roaming tariffs, addressing the cyber security threat in a coordinated way, and exploiting the potential that the Digital Single Market presents to business and citizens to increase job opportunities in the region.

For More Information

Declaration: Third Eastern Partnership Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy

20 Deliverables for 2020

20 Deliverables for 2020: State of play in 2018

Factsheet: EU supports digital economies and societies in Eastern Partner countries

Digital Single Market: EU neighbours policy
UN experts condemn Ireland's migrant fishing workers scheme

by Felicity Lawrence and Ella McSweeney

March 04,2019 | Source: The Guardian

Irelands permit scheme for migrant workers on its fishing trawlers breaches international human rights law, four UN special rapporteurs have said in a warning letter to the Irish government.



The four UN rapporteurs  on modern slavery, trafficking in persons, racial discrimination and human rights  joined together to issue an exceptional rebuke to the Irish government, saying they had received information that the permits were making migrants from outside the EU vulnerable to modern slavery and serious abuse on Irish fishing vessels.



The scheme was introduced in 2016 following a Guardian investigation that uncovered widespread exploitation and alleged trafficking of workers from Asia and Africa on to Irish trawlers. In an effort to give undocumented workers better protection, the government set up an emergency taskforce, which introduced permits under an atypical workers scheme (AWS) to work in its fleet.



But visas under the scheme required employers to apply for them and tied migrants to individual bosses, leaving them vulnerable to unscrupulous operators. The rapporteurs said they had been given evidence that laws on minimum wage, maximum hours and safety were being widely flouted, while a quarter of Asian and African migrant workers in fishing boats had experienced verbal or physical abuse, and one in five had experienced racial discrimination.



We wish to express our concern that the atypical workers scheme does not provide for effectively preventing trafficking in persons for the purpose of forced labour and labour exploitation in the fishing industry, the rapporteurs said. It is highly unusual for four UN rapporteurs to raise the alarm together on human rights abuses in a European country. The letter is embarrassing for the Irish government, which has been fighting a court case brought by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to stop the scheme for promoting modern slavery.



The union failed to win an emergency injunction against it in December ahead of a fuller court hearing this year. It has reported migrant workers typically earning as little as 2.82 (2.46) an hour, and two-thirds of migrant workers being forced to work more than 100 hours a week. The Guardian understands the government is seeking talks over the case.



The ITF coordinator for the UK and Ireland, Ken Fleming, said the damning UN letter came on top of the US state department downgrading Ireland for its record in trafficking in persons in the fishing fleet and a critical report from the Council of Europe on the same issue. The rapporteurs warning is another vindication of what the ITFs been saying since this doomed scheme was brought in. We said it would lead to modern-day slavery; it has. When will the Irish government do the right thing, end this scheme, and work with us on a fair system that works?



A spokesman for Irelands Department of Justice and Equality said: The minister takes any allegation of exploitation very seriously, particularly from UN special rapporteurs. A number of departments and agencies have responsibility in this area and will be responding to all matters raised.



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Theme(s): Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Landing Centres, Others, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Communities and Organisations, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Fisheries Resources, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
Gambia, Mauritania ink MOUs on fisheries, bilateral cooperation

March 04,2019 | Source: The Point

His Excellency, President Adama Barrows two-day official visit to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania has led to the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) between the two friendly countries, following bilateral talks between the Heads of State at the Presidential Palace in Nouakchott.



The MOUs will promote bilateral cooperation, understanding, and investment in the areas of maritime investment and fishing as well as encourage regular consultations on global issues of concern to both countries in the spirit of consolidating African integration and common positions.



The objectives of the fishing agreement are to promote trade, boost investment, and encourage the exchange of technical knowhow and best practices in maritime and fisheries sectors of both countries. The minister of Fisheries and Water Resources, Hon. Mr. James Gomez and his Mauritanian counterpart signed the accord on behalf of their respective countries, while the Understanding on bilateral cooperation was signed by the foreign affairs ministers. The Gambia was ably represented by the minister of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation, and Gambians Abroad, Dr. Mamadou Tangara.



Earlier, President Barrow held a private meeting with President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz after he was received in grand style at the Nouakchott International Airport. The series of activities marked by a windy atmosphere in Nouakchott culminated into the Presidents meeting with the Gambian community in Mauritania. Over 300 Gambian citizens paid a courtesy call on President Barrow at his residence at the Presidential Villa.



Speakers took turns to express delight at having the president in their midst while taking the opportunity to share some of the challenges they face as a community in Mauritania. Having keenly listened to the concerns raised, President Barrow began with commending the Gambian community for seeking an audience with him. He told the gathering about how impressed his counterpart is about the law-abiding nature of Gambians while calling on them to always maintain the good conduct that would sell the image of the Gambia.



The president passionately spoke about the level of cooperation between the two countries, describing President Aziz as a brother and true friend of The Gambia. President Barrow reminded them of the need to work hard and save back home in preparation for rainy days. He assured them of his governments commitment to the welfare of Gambians living abroad. Other speakers included the Foreign Minister, and the Ambassador of The Gambia in Mauritania, both of whom pledged to work on improving the conditions of Gambians.

Theme(s): Others, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Landing Centres, Fisheries Resources, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Communities and Organisations, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture.
Expert weighs in on Fisheries deal with Senegal

by Judoemue Kollie

March 04,2019 | Source: Liberian Observer

An international fisheries expert interviewed by the Daily Observer says that that the controversial fisheries agreement signed between Liberia and Senegal a month ago contains several flaws and, if for any reason endorsed by the Liberian government, coastal communities who have access to recovering fish stock will experience a serious food insecurity problems in the future.



The Senegalese fisheries agreement, which is not yet finalized by the government of Liberia, has come under serious criticism by the public since its inception, with many sector stakeholders complaining that it not in the interest of the country.



Stephen Akester, an independent fisheries consultant, said, while it is true that the country needs assistance to develop its fisheries sector and methods have been proposed and the theory for assistance from a neighboring state could be an attraction, however, Senegal has a serious problem of overfishing and is looking to take advantage of the stock conservation work carried out by Liberia in recent years.



He said the protocol signed by the Liberian and Senegalese fisheries authorities has serious flaws in its construction so that practical implementation will be hard to manage.



The major concern is the wellbeing of the coastal communities who are having access to recovered fish stocks, giving some protection from the current economic downturn the rest of the country is experiencing.



Regarding the development of a semi industrial fishery in Liberia, he said ownership has long been advocated and remains the best option.



There is nothing more wonderful than a sustainable fishery using an annually renewing resource, it is not an extractive industry that ends in nothing like mining; it does not take the application that agriculture or livestock require and, if correctly managed, brings better benefits each year. Liberia is uniquely positioned in West Africa to achieve the status of a sustainable fishery. This agreement, if implemented, prejudices that option, he said.



Below is a portion of the fisheries protocol with comments from our fisheries expert that address artisanal and semi-industrial as well as industrial fishing operators.



Article 2: Conditions for the practice of artisanal and semi-industrial fishing

Protocol: In the framework of this Protocol the definition of artisanal and semi-industrial fishing vessels are: Artisanal fishing vessel means any fishing vessel, canoe or un-decked vessel of not more than fifteen (15) meters, which is motorized or un-motorized, powered by an outboard or inboard engine of not more than 40 horsepower, sails or paddles, and is used for artisanal fishing.



Experts comment: Senegal Niominka fishermen took all the fish from Guinea Bissau by taking their canoes on mother vessels and launching them in Bijagos. If they do the same thing in Liberia they will be very hard to control.



Protocol: Semi-industrial fishing vessel means a decked or undecked fishing vessel with a length overall of not more than 20 meters, less than 50 GRT and powered by engines between 40HP and 100HP, or any powered vessel below 40HP that is fitted with mechanical fishing equipment and semi-industrial fishing have a corresponding meaning.



Experts Comment: Any Senegalese pirogue that makes the journey from Senegal is expected to have an engine greater than 40 HP making it semi industrial under the law, therefore not able to fish inside 6 miles. This would be impossible for the Senegalese.



Protocol: Artisanal and Semi-industrial fishing in the waters under jurisdiction in Liberia should be allowed under the same conditions as its nationals.



Experts Comment: Poor language but means visiting Senegalese will be bound by Liberian fisheries regulations. Robertsport is administered by its Core Management Association (CMA) and under its legal constitution could refuse entry to Senegal fishermen. That will be interesting.



Protocol: Artisanal and Semi-industrial fishing should be exercised by fishermen who fulfilled conditions laid down in this Protocol and in accordance with the regulations in force in Liberia.



Experts Comment: This should exclude Senegal fishermen from fishing inside 6 miles, but will need enforcement; Ship-owners must produce all documents justifying the technical characteristics of the vessels, in particular the duly authenticated certificate of nationality.



Article 3.- Conditions for the practice of industrial fishing

Protocol: Ship-owners must produce all documents justifying the technical characteristics of the vessels, in particular the duly authenticated certificate of nationality.



Experts Comment: Essential for measurement of gross tonnage (GRT).



Protocol: Vessels fishing under this Protocol shall be obliged to take on board an observer to fill in the fishing logbook and to transmit the catch statistics, in accordance with the instructions of the competent authority of Liberia. In the case of tuna vessels, 15 percent of Liberian observer coverage shall apply, where practical.



Experts Comment: No mention of payment for the observer. Under this provision, Liberia is responsible for the salaries of observers, they should be financed by foreign operators paying in to a NaFAA observer fund.



Protocol: Vessels operating under this Protocol, in waters under the jurisdiction of Liberia, shall be equipped with a satellite-based detection system to ensure automatic and continuous communication of their positions, to the competent authority of Liberia.



Experts Comment: Good, needs to specify that all associated costs are to the vessel operator  transponder fitting and air time payment.

Theme(s): Landing Centres, Others, Post Harvest Technology and Trade, Freshwater ecosystems and threats, Fishing Craft, Gear and Fishing Methods, Coastal Ecosystems and Threats, Fisheries Development and Aquaculture, Fisheries Resources, Communities and Organisations.
Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  I had unprotected sex with a man I met during one night out, after eight tequila shots to be exact.

He didnt come anywhere near me, so I felt safe. I was not on birth control pills, however, so to be sure, I took four Yasmin pills at 5 p.m. the following day and another four tablets of Yasmin 12 hours later. This four-and-four birth control tablet-taking is known to be an alternative for Plan B since the actual Plan B tablet is not available in the Philippines. This method is said to be most effective when done within 72 hours after unprotected sex.

For the unfamiliar, the Plan B pill is a morning-after pill that is meant to lower your chance of getting pregnant after engaging in unprotected sex. Emergency contraceptives are already available in most countries, which women can get over-the-counter or without needing prescription, depending on the nations laws. The Philippines is joined by countries like North Korea, UAE, Sudan, East Timor, and Western Sahara, among others, in the list of countries where morning-after pills are outlawed.

After a bit of research, sifting through online forums, reddit, WebMD, and all other not entirely reputable websites, I read one user saying that Yasmin used as a four-and-four emergency pill is not backed by research, and only certain birth control pills (those with the hormones ethinyl estradiol and levonorgestrel; Yasmin had drospirenone and ethinyl estradiol) can be used for this method.

In the 70s, when emergency pills were not yet available, women all over would use this method, which they called the Yuzpe method. But again, it is only effective when taking certain brands. In the Philippines, according to my friends and friends who are doctors, what can be used for the Yuzpe method are Trust pills.

After learning that Yasmin may not be effective, I panicked. I suddenly retraced every sexual position that boy and I had. I wrote every single detail of where his penis was based on my memory: in my mouth, inside my vagina, around my hand, in my mouth, on my face, inside my vagina, around my hand. My neurosis went a little bit too far that I convinced myself I might be pregnant. I knew I had to do something about the situation so I self-diagnosed (not recommended) and thought that maybe if I take 12 tablets of Trust pills I would be safe.

So I did. And then the next day, in a wave of new panic, I took another, and then another. After five days, I would have already taken 32 pills thanks to my growing paranoia.

I cried almost everyday, I was almost always dazed at work and would walk around the city staring at nothing in particular. I felt helpless but also firm in my knowledge that a baby at this point in my life was not what I wanted, much less needed.

I called a friend whos a doctor and told her what happened. I asked if I should continue taking birth control pills everyday since I was still sort of seeing the boy. She told me that I should take it normally, which is one pill a day. Essentially, I had 32 pills in my system and then started taking one pill a day. Again, to be really safe.

Two weeks later, I felt so many changes in my body. My breasts were heavier, I felt bloated, I think I may have seen spotting at some point (sometimes Im not sure anymore if I was being delusional). I took a pregnancy test but it was too early for the test to show any credible conclusion. But just to appease myself, I took a pregnancy test every single day. Im pretty sure the lady at the pharmacy thought I was too eager to have a baby because I would always buy one with a big smile on my face to hide my anxiety.

Ten pregnancy tests later, my breasts were starting to feel really tender and so I was convinced I had a fetus growing in my uterus. At this point, I knew I didnt want to have a baby and I also knew I needed to know the next steps for terminating the pregnancy. It may sound as though it was an easy resolve, but trust me, I cried almost everyday, I was almost always dazed at work and would walk around the city staring at nothing in particular. I felt helpless but also firm in my knowledge that a baby at this point in my life was not what I wanted, much less needed.

Abortion it is, I thought.

Every night before sleeping, I read stories online of how women went through with it, what they felt afterwards, and how they coped with it. I looked at lists of celebrities who have owned their abortions and thought maybe I can also be like them, be an advocate someday.

I chanced upon the website womenonwaves.org, which is a Dutch organization that assists women who want abortions across the globe. They have another website called womenonweb.org where they detail support systems that women can get in their home countries  from womens rights groups to women-centric health clinics. Their service also includes sending abortive pills to countries where it is not available.

I clicked on the Philippines and there came a deluge of stories from Filipinas who shared their experiences. Theres one story where she got her abortive pills through this website, and did the procedure alone in her apartment. Theres one story saying that she got an abortion with the help of a local nonprofit group. Theres another story about aborting herself through herbs, massaging, and other methods. The Filipinas had different ways and tales, but they almost all felt the same: confused, helpless, guilty, sad, fearful.

I once went to an OB-GYN at a prominent medical center here and it was as though even talking about contraceptive pills was appalling. I could sense the doctors judgment when I asked about copper IUD as an emergency method. I dont recommend it, she said bluntly and moved on.

It is heart-wrenching to read their confessions, the struggles and dark depths that women have to go through just to have a choice, not made easier by the conditioned guilt and shame. I, for one, even if I wasnt sure if I were indeed pregnant, pictured all the judgment, the brokenheartedness that I felt I had to feel because I planned to terminate a pregnancy. I went so far as feeling that maybe I am evil and that I was just meant to rot in hell.

This whole ordeal was even more torturous because I didnt know who to talk to because again of the shame, the crippling embarrassment of feeling stupid enough to not use a condom, and of feeling callous enough to resolve to have an abortion.

I wanted a plan in place. I told myself that the moment I miss my period and I test positive, I wanted to know the exact next steps so I could just be on autopilot and get on with it. After finding Women On Waves, I listed down my options:

Plan A: Go to all the health clinics that were listed on the website and hope that they can point me towards a safe abortionist. I read that there is a group of underground doctors who do this work.

Plan B: Buy the abortive pills online. The website looks sketchy but the information on how to DIY abortion via pills is well-detailed.

Plan C: Go to Cambodia, to Marie Stopes International hospital to be exact, and do the procedure there. Its legal in Cambodia and I should be taken care of properly by those trained for it. A big con obviously is the cost of having to go there.

Plan A was a dud, but mainly because I got so scared and ashamed. I called one of the organizations listed on womenonwaves.org, then asked if I could be assisted regarding a query I had about emergency pills (I was so terrified to even ask about abortion). This womens organization then referred me to a clinic (which happen to also be on the Women on Waves website). I went to one of the health clinics and told them about the excess pills I took..

The people in the clinic were very accommodating. I didnt feel judged at all. I once went to an OB-GYN at a prominent medical center here and it was as though even talking about contraceptive pills was appalling. I could sense the doctors judgment when I asked about copper IUD as an emergency method. I dont recommend it, she said bluntly and moved on.

This health clinic, however, was very patient with me. I felt safe talking about every single thing that happened with the guy and my worry of being pregnant. I was hoping the suggestion of an abortion will come from them, from one of the nurses, but of course, the A word didnt come out from either of our mouths.

After that encounter, I thought that getting any Filipino organization or individual is probably a bad idea. Its just an added anxiety to me  what are they thinking about my decision? Should I get an abortion, will they tell anybody? Why should I trust them?

So I proceeded to work on Plan B, the website selling abortive pills. What happens is you message the number they advertise on their website about your request. I asked how much it cost to buy Misopostrol and Mifepristone, and then they quickly replied for me to answer the following questions: last menstruation, first pregnancy, allergies to medications, illness that they need to know, my age, and pregnancy results.

I started thinking about how ridiculous it is that Ive had to go through all of this just to have a procedure that is readily available in other countries, in countries that can give emotional support as well to women who may simply not be ready to become mothers.

I told them I didnt have pregnancy results yet and asked if I should confirm that I was really pregnant. They didnt reply. Were they sick of paranoid and neurotic women like me? Who knows.

And so I moved to Plan C, as in Plan Cambodia. Marie Stopes International is an internationally renowned organization that support women who want to undergo an abortion. I emailed them about my case and they responded promptly with a form that I should fill up that would help them know what the best method for me is.

Usually, if youre 4 weeks in or less, theyll just use abortive pills. More than 6 weeks in and thats when they use the surgical procedure  the kind of abortion that our Catholic schools let us see photos and videos of when we were in high school to really show us that it looks like a murder of a child. It costs US$150 for the procedure, or 7,500, but of course that excludes the plane ride which, when I checked, was around 15,000 for a roundtrip. I also needed to take into consideration food, transport, and lodging costs for a couple of days. Overall, I would have had to prepare at least 30,000 to be safe.

Another cost is that I would have had to return to Cambodia two weeks after the procedure for a follow-up checkup  thats another plane ride and another couple of days in another country, so lets say 60,000. I was set to spend that much though and Im lucky enough to have that amount ready. I knew I was in an extremely privileged position of even knowing I had options.

I started thinking about how ridiculous it is that Ive had to go through all of this just to have a procedure that is readily available in other countries, in countries that can give emotional support as well to women who may simply not be ready to become mothers.

I started feeling incredibly sorry and angry for the many women in the Philippines whose lives had to be in danger because they dont have plans A, B, or C; for the many Filipinas whove had to endure being told what they should do with their bodies by judgmental OB-GYNs, by men in power, by our health system, by Catholic schools, by the law, by friends, by their own families.

All of this paranoia happened within the span of two weeks. I was expecting my period on the first day of October and as if on cue, blood came rushing out my vagina first thing in the morning of that day. I bought another pregnancy kit and tested negative.

The thought of being actually pregnant and getting an abortion scared me out of my wits and threw me into the deepest depths of anxiety. I cant imagine what it must feel like for those whove had to go through with an abortion in a country where medical and psychological support is scarce and hypocrisy and judgment is aplenty.
It was as gripping as it was surreal. But the second time I heard the tape I tried to focus on the female voice in this life and death drama. The dispatcher who, in the time it took to dial 911, became like a traffic cop trying to keep all the moving pieces going in the right direction. Only, this role was far more critical, as she was working from a computer screen miles away and the moving pieces were armed. Officers were falling and a disgruntled employee wielding a handgun with a laser had killed five civilians and was still on the loose.
Man Charged with Cryptocurrency Scheme

Las Vegas, Nevada - The founder and principal operator of My Big Coin Pay Inc. (My Big Coin), a purported cryptocurrency and virtual payment services company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, was charged in an indictment unsealed Wednesday for his alleged participation in a scheme to defraud investors by marketing and selling fraudulent virtual currency.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling of the District of Massachusetts, Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta of the FBIs Boston Field Office and Inspector in Charge Delany De Leon-Colon of the Criminal Investigations Group of the U.S. Postal Inspection Services National Headquarters in Washington, DC made the announcement.

Randall Crater, 48, of East Hampton, New York, was charged in an indictment filed in the District of Massachusetts with four counts of wire fraud and three counts of unlawful monetary transactions. Crater was arrested this morning and will appear today in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Florida.

The indictment alleges that between 2014 and 2017, Crater and others created the fraudulent virtual currency My Big Coins or Coins and marketed this fraudulent currency to investors using misrepresentations about its nature and value. Crater and his associates allegedly falsely claimed that Coins were a fully functioning cryptocurrency backed by valuable assets such as gold. Crater and his associates also allegedly told investors that Coins could be readily exchanged for goods, cash or other virtual currencies. As alleged in the indictment, Crater and his associates solicited investors and distributed these misrepresentations through websites and social media affiliated with My Big Coin, as well as by direct communications with investors and prospective investors. In reality, Coins were not backed by gold or any other valuable assets and were not readily transferable, the indictment alleges. Instead, Crater allegedly misappropriated over $6 million in investor funds for personal use, including to purchase artwork, antiques, jewelry and other luxury items.

The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Caitlin Cottingham of the Criminal Divisions Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordi De Llano Campos of the District of Massachusetts. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission provided assistance with the matter.

The Fraud Section plays a pivotal role in the Department of Justices fight against white collar crime around the country.
Man Sentenced to 16 Years in Prison for Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

Trenton, New Jersey - Gregory Lepsky, 22, of Point Pleasant, New Jersey, was sentenced Friday to 16 years in prison for planning to construct and use a pressure cooker bomb in New York on behalf of a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers and U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.

Lepsky pleaded guilty March 13, 2018, before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Shipp to an information charging him with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS. Judge Shipp imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

On Feb. 21, 2017, Lepsky was arrested by the Point Pleasant Police Department in connection with an incident that occurred that day in his familys home. Following the arrest, law enforcement officers searched the residence and found a new pressure cooker stored behind a roll of bubble wrap in Lepskys bedroom closet.

During searches of computers and other digital evidence linked to Lepsky, law enforcement officers found evidence of Lepskys plan to build and detonate a bomb as part of his support for ISIS. During several social media communications, Lepsky told others that he intended to fight on behalf of ISIS and that he would, if necessary, become a martyr by driving a bunch of explosives to where the enemies could be found and blowing himself up.

Law enforcement officers also located a series of instructions that had been published online by another terrorist group that gave specific, step-by-step instructions on how to build a pressure cooker bomb, which coincided with the delivery of the pressure cooker to Lepsky a short time before his arrest. In addition, law enforcement officers recovered a message forwarded by Lepsky from another ISIS supporter stating that if a westerner could not travel to Syria to fight for ISIS, he could conduct a terrorist attack in his home country using improvised explosive devices.

At his plea hearing, Lepsky admitted that beginning in January 2017, he began to formulate a plan to detonate the pressure cooker bomb in New York City on behalf of ISIS. Lepsky admitted that he used the internet to access ISIS directives, obtain bomb-making instructions, and purchase the pressure cooker and other items to be used in the attack.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, Judge Shipp imposed a life term of supervised release.

Assistant Attorney General Demers and U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Gregory W. Ehrie in Newark; the N.J. State Attorney Generals Office, under the direction of Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal; the Ocean County Prosecutors Office, under the direction of Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer; the Point Pleasant Police Department under the direction of Chief Richard P. Larsen and the N.J. Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness under the direction of Director Jared Maples, with the investigation leading to todays sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Donnelly of the U.S. Attorneys Office Criminal Division in Newark and Trial Attorney Justin Sher of the National Security Divisions Counterterrorism Section.
Businessman Pleads Guilty to Defrauding International Labor Union

Washington, DC - A Maryland contractor pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding a large, international labor union, announced Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, Inspector General Scott S. Dahl of the U.S. Department of Labors Office of the Inspector General and Director Arthur F. Rosenfeld of the U.S. Department of Labors Office of Labor-Management Standards.

Howard W. Janoske, 74, of Oakland, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud and theft and embezzlement of labor union funds before U.S. District Judge Liam OGrady of the Eastern District of Virginia. Sentencing is scheduled for July 12, 2019.

According to admissions made in connection with his plea, Janoske is the president and co-owner of a plumbing and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contractor located in Maryland. For nearly two decades, Janoskes company has provided maintenance services to an international labor union located in Herndon, Virginia. Between in or about May 2012 and at least in or about mid-2015, Janoske and his company provided the unions facilities and real estate manager with tens of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for the awarding of the unions service agreements and maintenance contracts. The benefits included a high-end outdoor kitchen and free HVAC and plumbing services for the union manager and a relative over a multi-year period. With the union managers knowledge, Janoske and his subordinates submitted inflated and fraudulent invoices to the union to recoup expenses for these personal benefits.

The Department of Labors Office of Inspector General and the Office of Labor-Management Standards investigated the case. Trial Attorney Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Divisions Public Integrity Section is prosecuting the case.
Philadelphia Business Man Sentenced to More Than 10 Years in Prison for Bribing the Former Sheriff of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A Wyncote, Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 121 months in prison for participating in a bribery conspiracy involving the former Sheriff of Philadelphia.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Harpster of the FBIs Philadelphia Division and Special Agent in Charge Guy Ficco of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Philadelphia Field Office made the announcement.

James Davis, 68, the owner of multiple advertising and title firms, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Wendy Beetlestone of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, who also ordered Davis to pay $ 872,395.83 in restitution and to forfeit $1,718,540. On April 3, 2018, after a six-week jury trial, Davis was convicted of conspiracy, honest services fraud, and tax offenses.

James Davis used his wealth to line the pockets of the former Sheriff of Philadelphia in a corrupt exchange for contracts and business, said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. Todays sentence should deter both public officials and would-be bribe payers from engaging in corruption of any kind.

The citizens of Philadelphia are entitled to the honest services of their public servants, and James Daviss actions deprived them of that from the Philadelphia Sheriffs Office, said U.S. Attorney McSwain. Davis received millions of dollars of business from the Philadelphia Sheriffs Office, having obtained nearly exclusive control over the operation of the Sheriff sales and receiving over $7 million in advertising fees for those sales. The sentence imposed today sends a powerful message to public servants and vendors who choose to do business by their own set of rules.

Theres an old saying that you have to spend money to make money, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Harpster. Certainly, this is not the way to do it. James Davis brazenly bought off then-Sheriff Green in order to boost his businesses. This illicit quid pro quo deprived Philadelphians of the honest services they expect and deserve from those who hold elected office. The FBI is committed to fighting such corruption, which does real and lasting damage to the public trust.

James Davis willfully and intentionally violated his legal duty to file his tax returns and pay the correct amount of tax, said IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Ficco. The courts have overwhelmingly and consistently shown that people who engage in such criminal behavior will be held accountable; as evidenced by the sentence handed down today.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Davis, in exchange for receiving, maintaining and increasing business with the Sheriffs office, gave former Sheriff John Green bribes and personal benefits totaling over $675,000, including purchasing and renovating a home and selling the home at a loss to Green, hiring Greens wife as a sub-contractor, facilitating over $65,000 in hidden campaign contributions to Greens 2007 re-election campaign, paying $148,000 in campaign advertising for Greens 2007 re-election campaign, and paying Green over $300,000 in gifts and interest-free loans. In exchange, the evidence presented at trial showed that Green helped Davis maintain and increase his business with the Sheriffs Office, specifically, business involving sheriffs sales of foreclosed property. From approximately 2002 through 2010, Davis companies received over $35 million from the Philadelphia Sheriffs office from the sheriffs sales business.

Additionally, the evidence presented at trial revealed that Davis also filed false 2007 business and personal tax returns, and failed to file personal tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010.

The FBI and IRS-CI investigated this case. Trial Attorney Jennifer A. Clarke of the Criminal Divisions Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah L. Grieb and Christopher Diviny of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania are prosecuting the case.
Former Operator of Illegal Booter Services Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Computer Damage and Abuse

Washington, DC - An Orland Park, Illinois man pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to cause damage to internet-connected computers for his role in owning, administering, and supporting illegal booter services that launched millions of illegal DDoS attacks against victim computer systems in the United States and elsewhere. The illegal services included ExoStress.in, (ExoStresser), QuezStresser.com, Betabooter.com (Betabooter), Databooter.com, Instabooter.com, Polystress.com, and Zstress.net.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Departments Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon Jr. for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement.

According to the criminal information, Sergiy P. Usatyuk, 20, combined with a co-conspirator to develop, control and operate a number of booter services and booter-related websites from around August 2015 through November 2017 that launched millions of DDoS attacks that disrupted the internet connections of targeted victim computers, rendered targeted websites slow or inaccessible, and interrupted normal business operations. For instance, as of Sept. 12, 2017, ExoStresser advertised on its website (exostress.in) that its booter service alone had launched 1,367,610 DDoS attacks, and caused targeted victim computer systems to suffer 109,186.4 hours of network downtime.

Booters or Stressers are a class of publicly-available, web-based services that allow cybercriminals to launch distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks that overwhelm a target computer system with unrequested traffic and, in turn, boot or drop the victim from the internet for a relatively small fee or no fee at all. To launch a DDoS attack using a booter, a cybercriminal often needs only a web browser and online payment tool to subscribe to a provider, provide instructions for attacking a victim computer system, and deliver payment.

The DDoS attacks launched by the booters also harmed computer systems that were not directly targeted. For example, according to the criminal information, in November 2016, a Betabooter subscriber launched a series of DDoS attacks against a school district in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area that not only disrupted the school districts computer systems, but affected the computer systems of 17 organizations that shared the same computer infrastructure, including other school districts, the county government, the countys career and technology centers, and a Catholic Diocese in the area.

During the period of the conspiracy, Usatyuk and a co-conspirator gained in excess of $550,000 from charging subscriber fees to paying customers of their booter services and selling advertising space to other booter operators.

For over two years, Sergiy Usatyuk conspired to launch millions of DDoS attacks that paralyzed the computer systems of U.S. organizations for more than 100,000 hours, said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. The Criminal Division and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant in protecting the American public by prosecuting the cybercriminals responsible for these sophisticated and harmful schemes.

DDoS-for-hire services pose a malicious threat to the citizens of our district, as well as districts across the country, by impeding critical access to the internet and jeopardizing safety and security in the process, said U.S. Attorney Higdon. The operation and use of these services to disrupt the operations of our businesses and other institutions cannot be tolerated. Anyone who weaponizes web traffic in this manner will be vigorously pursued and prosecuted by my office.

Over the past five years, booter and stresser services have grown as an increasingly prevalent class of DDoS attack tools. Booter-based DDoS attack tools offer a low barrier to entry for users looking to engage in cybercrime.

The investigation was conducted by special agents of the FBI Charlotte Field Office, Raleigh Resident Agency. Additional assistance was provide by FBIs Chicago and Miami Field Offices, as well as the Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Aarash Haghighat of the Criminal Divisions Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section (CCIPS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Hulbig of the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Secretary of State Pompeo's Travel to Houston, Texas

Washington, DC - Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo will travel to Houston, Texas on March 12 to deliver keynote remarks at CERA Energy Weeks Reshaping the Energy Future conference. The speech will address how Americas energy revolution strengthens national security in an age of renewed great power competition.

The Secretary also will participate in a roundtable with international energy firms on advancing the Asia EDGE Enhancing Development and Growth through Energy initiative and the energy pillar of the Middle East Strategic Alliance. These initiatives seek to promote a strong, growing, integrated, diversified, and resilient global energy market; catalyze private sector trade and investment; advance energy security for the United States, its allies, and partners; and promote regional cooperation and good governance in the extractives sector.
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper has experience as an entrepreneur, CEO, and mayor. Now, he's hoping to add U.S. president to his resume.

Hickenlooper announced his intent to run for president in 2020 via a video Monday that touts his business background and highlights some of his political achievements. Hickenlooper's entrepreneurial experience dates back to 1988, when he co-founded the Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver's first brewpub. After launching several similar brewpubs across the U.S., he was elected mayor of Denver in 2003, winning reelection in 2007. In 2011, he became Colorado's governor, where he remained until January 2019.

"I'm running for president because we need dreamers in Washington," Hickenlooper says in the video announcing his campaign. "But we also need to get things done."

Here's what he's done for small businesses as both an entrepreneur and politician.

Learning business from the ground up

In the 1980s, after being laid off from his job at a petroleum company, Hickenlooper decided to start his own venture. He didn't know much about running a business, so he hit the library and learned how to write a business plan. Before launching the Wynkoop Brewing Company, Hickenlooper and his co-founders were rejected by 32 different lenders. They eventually expanded Wynkoop to 15 locations, which are mainly in the Midwest.

Helping grow Colorado businesses

As governor, one of Hickenlooper's goals was making Colorado one of the most pro-business states while maintaining high ethical standards. In an effort to reduce red tape for entrepreneurs, his administration reviewed nearly 25,000 business regulations and culled or streamlined around 11,000. The changes cut about 2.3 million hours of unnecessary work per year and eliminated $8 million in hard costs, Hickenlooper told The Denver Post.

Advancing legal marijuana

One of Hickenlooper's most well-known accomplishments as governor was working with Republicans to enact legislation legalizing recreational marijuana in Colorado, even though he personally opposed the measure. "The voters have spoken, and we have to respect their will," Hickenlooper said in 2012. Between 2014 and 2017, recreational marijuana sales in Denver reached more than $1 billion.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner finalised their divorce five months ago and are now focusing on co-parenting their three children  a responsibility made easier by the wonderful Garner, Affleck has said in a new interview.

The actor opened up about his family life, as well as his experience with alcohol addiction, in an interview with the Today show on Monday.

He told presenting Hoda Kotb he hopes to be a pretty good father, and that he certainly tries very hard to be one.

Im lucky theyve got a great mom, Affleck added about Garner.

She helps out a great deal with making sure that we co-parent in as good a way as possible.

I think dads are so important to kids, and its our responsibility to be there for them  to be present, to be mindful, to be attentive, to be part of their lives, to be as in it as moms. Thats really the central preoccupation in my life.

Best films of 2019 (so far) Show all 49 1 /49 Best films of 2019 (so far) Best films of 2019 (so far) The Favourite Macabre and fraught though The Favourite gets, this isnt so much a film about sex or power as it is about plain mischief. Its a hilarious, buffoonish pleasure, right down to the sets and costume design, and a breeze to spend 120 minutes with. Christopher Hooton Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Beautiful Boy Casting Chalamet as Nic was a very clever move. The young actor from Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird has a natural charm and charisma. He still engages an audiences curiosity and sympathy even when his behaviour is at its most selfish and erratic. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) The House by the Sea Guediguians storytelling style is deceptive. At first, it seems as if this is low-key social realism in the Dardennes or Ken Loach mould, albeit set on the French Riviera. Gradually, though, we realise how stylised and theatrical his approach really is. Geoffrey Macnab Best films of 2019 (so far) Stan & Ollie Director Jon S Baird, whose previous film was scabrous Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth, wrings every last drop of pathos he can from his material. This is very much a case of the tears of the clowns. Geoffrey Macnab Entertainment One Best films of 2019 (so far) Vice Vice is bravura storytelling. McKay isnt only taking us through Cheneys life and career but is giving us a whistle stop tour through US politics from the Nixon administration almost right to the present day. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Can You Ever Forgive Me? Playing Lee Israel, McCarthy manages something very special: she makes a character who is odd, obnoxious, difficult and alcoholic seem lovable and even heroic. The rest of the world is at fault, not Lee. Geoffrey Macnab Fox Searchlight Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Green Book "Green Book flatters the audience about its own good sense and tolerance. It deals with racism and homophobia but still has a fairytale, fantasy feel to it. Whatever humiliations Don endures on their road trip, we know no real harm will ever come to him as long as Tony is at his side. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Velvet Buzzsaw The golden age of bonkers horror movies is gloriously evoked by Netflixs latest feature length presentation. Beginning as a satire of the arts world, Velvet Buzzsaw swiftly and gleefully descends into a savage splatter-fest, smeared in paint, viscera and garishly-bright blood. Ed Power Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) If Beale Street Could Talk The setting is New York in the 1970s. Anyone who has watched Martin Scorseses Taxi Driver knows this was an era of violence, corruption and sleaze on a monumental level, but [Barry] Jenkins somehow makes the city seem like a modern-day Eden. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) All Is True Written by Ben Elton and directed by its star Kenneth Branagh, the film plays so fast and loose with the playwrights final years that they neednt have bothered fitting Branagh with a prosthetic nose  accuracy is clearly not the priority here. Alexandra Pollard Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part is the doomed progeny of a celebrated genius  brilliant but slightly stunted by the knowledge they will never live up to their predecessor. Clarisse Loughrey Warner Bros. Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Piercing Nicolas Pesces sleek and stylish horror comedy is repulsive and funny by turns. In adapting Ryu Murakamis cult novel, Pesce strikes just the right balance between humour and Grand Guignol-style shock tactics. Geoffrey Macnab Universal Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Capernaum "The best moments here are remarkable. Labaki elicits an astonishing performance from her young lead. Hes an irrepressible figure with such an inbuilt sense of moral decency the film seems upbeat and optimistic, even at its darkest moments. Geoffrey Macnab Sony Pictures Classics Best films of 2019 (so far) The White Crow "Ralph Fiennes combines thriller elements with poetic flashbacks to ballet legend Rudolf Nureyevs childhood and keeps a tight focus on the dancer. When he is most at risk, Nureyev makes decisions with his artistic future more in mind than his personal safety. As Fiennes reminds us again and again in what is his best film yet as a director, the 'white crow' will do anything to put himself in the limelight, the one place he is convinced he belongs." StudioCanal Best films of 2019 (so far) Border "Border reverses the perspective taken by most other horror films. In more conventional genre fare, Tina and Vore would be portrayed as malevolent outsiders, but in the world conjured up by director Ali Abbasi, the humans are the monsters. Tina is the innocent  a visionary who hardly understands her own powers but who can sense human venality and corruption wherever it appears." TriArt Film Best films of 2019 (so far) Fighting with My Family "Certain scenes feel very trite and predictable but the film gets you in a choke hold early on and wont let you go. It is far more gripping than its subject matter might suggest. Who ever would believe a story about a wrestling family from Norwich could have quite such heart and resonance?" James Field Best films of 2019 (so far) Us "Doppelgangers abound in Jordan Peeles weird, creepy and ingenious new horror film. As in his Oscar-winning 2017 feature Get Out, Peele leavens matters with ironic humour but the joking becomes increasingly uncomfortable once the main characters come face to face with dark shadows of themselves which wish them extreme harm." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Avengers: Endgame "The Avengers cycle comes to a rich and very satisfying conclusion with Endgame, surely the most complex and emotional superhero movie in Marvel history. At 181 minutes, this is a veritable epic, but with so many characters and plot strands, it fully warrants its lengthy running time." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Eighth Grade "Its a rare and precious feeling when a film completely dismantles you. Eighth Grade  the directorial debut of US comedian Bo Burnham  breaks down every delusion we have about ourselves and burrows deep into those parts weve made such an effort to lock away. You may cry. You may shudder as every awkward social interaction thats kept you up at night replays in your head all at once. You may feel the sharp pain associated with those moments when you feel completely isolated from the world. Burnham may have crafted a simple story about the most ordinary of teenage girls, but it speaks with the emotions of a true cinematic epic." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Vox Lux "Natalie Portman gives her fiercest, most memorable performance since Black Swan in Brady Corbets enjoyably subversive satire about a troubled pop star whose loss of innocence mirrors the fall from grace of the US itself. Portmans character, Celeste, is certainly one of the most objectionable figures she has played: a pampered, hard-drinking drug-taking floozy whose appearance and high-handed behaviour rekindle memories of Liz Taylor and Joan Crawford at their monstrous worst." Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) High Life Robert Pattinson gives one of his most striking performances as Monte, the death-row criminal in outer space, tricked into making a voyage described at one stage as a class-one suicide ride. The former Twilight star makes his shaven-headed, gaunt-faced character seem hyper naturally sensitive and feral at the same time. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is as uplifting a film as you will see all year. Its a concert movie filmed over two nights and featuring Aretha Franklin, the first lady of soul, performing gospel standards in a church in Los Angeles in 1972, with a huge backing choir and an enthusiastic congregation. Neon Best films of 2019 (so far) Aladdin Disneys live-action remake of its 1992 animated feature is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned matinee-style spectacle that turns out far better than we had any right to expect. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Booksmart Olivia Wilde is a visually inventive director, who keeps the tempo here so brisk that we hardly notice how glib the storytelling sometimes becomes. We can tell exactly how the film will end, but it still feels original both in its screwball energy and in the deft way it continually reverses stereotypes and gender cliches. Geoffrey Macnab Annapurna Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) Late Night Late Night is a caustic satirical comedy that turns into an unlikely tearjerker. Its by turns snide and uplifting, and often very funny too. Its writer/producer/star Mindy Kaling makes vicious observations about the inanity, narcissism and corruption of the mainstream US media at the same time as she celebrates the professionalism of many of those who work within it. The film has a glorious performance from Emma Thompson and a very sly one from Kaling. Thompson is at her most imperious as Katherine Newbury, a legendary entertainer, the only female in a male-dominated field, but one whose career is beginning to slide. Geoffrey Macnab Amazon Studios Best films of 2019 (so far) Gloria Bell Gloria Bell is somewhat exhausting  both unbearably intimate and at a constant remove  but it is endlessly pulled back into focus by Moore, who has a firm understanding of the delicate balance between contentment and yearning, joy and pain, recklessness and spontaneity. In a remake that could have felt indulgent in the hands of people less skilled, she more than justifies its existence. Geoffrey Macnab Curzon Best films of 2019 (so far) Toy Story 4 "The brilliance of the new film lies in the surefooted way it caters both for children too young to have seen its predecessors and for adults whove grown up (or grown older) watching the previous instalments. It takes some kind of genius for the Pixar animators to give such a searing emotional charge to a story in which one of the main characters is a single use plastic spork retrieved from the trash." Pixar/Disney Best films of 2019 (so far) In Fabric In Fabric feels like Peter Strickland at his most free and playful, drawing as much from the British sense of humour  dry and morbid to a fault  as from Italian glamour. Curzon Artificial Eye Best films of 2019 (so far) The Flood "Perhaps The Flood isnt quite the urgent, profound film a crisis of this scale deserves, but in a culture where refugees are so rarely shown any empathy in mainstream media, maybe this is the film we need right now." Best films of 2019 (so far) Midsommar "Ari Aster's follow-up to Hereditary serves up much of the same: its a break-up movie wrapped up in pagan horror. Its also bound to be one of this years most memorable films, proving that Aster is far from a one-hit wonder." A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Lion King "The Lion King is undoubtedly a technological marvel that, much like Avatar, will come to be viewed as a milestone in special effects history, yet its just as interesting to see how all this innovation has been employed." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Varda by Agnes "For a film thats almost entirely narrated by Agnes Varda's own voice, it doesnt feel driven by ego, but by pure intellectual and emotional curiosity." Best films of 2019 (so far) Animals "Animals treats its subjects with patience and generosity. Youll find no life lessons here. Its main characters are free to pursue their desires, to whatever end." Best films of 2019 (so far) Blinded by the Light "Blinded by the Light offers not only a reminder of Springsteens lyrical genius, but of how hes always served as a beacon for the disenfranchised." Warner Brothers Best films of 2019 (so far) Good Boys Lined up against some of this years other more heartfelt offerings, including Booksmart, Good Boys offers further proof that putting a little humanity in our comedy always gets the best results. Best films of 2019 (so far) Hustlers "Hustlers is an electrifying response to the deluge of stories weve had over the years about very rich, very bad dudes. Finally, we can turn the tables on every film thats used women, specifically strippers, as decorative accessories to drape over businessmen as they conduct their illicit backroom meetings. Or, failing that, to shake their out-of-focus tits in the background of a shot." AP Best films of 2019 (so far) For Sama For Sama is one of the most profoundly intimate depictions of the Syrian conflict ever put to film. Its the push to help those on the outside process something so incomprehensible in the depth of its horrors. Republic Film Distribution Best films of 2019 (so far) Ad Astra The real drama here is not whether or not apocalypse can be avoided but whether Brad Pitts character can reconcile himself with his father and overcome his own extreme emotional repression. In other words, in spite of all the jargon and the hardware, this is an intimate family melodrama at heart. Thanks to Pitts performance and Grays delicate direction, it turns into a very moving one. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Best films of 2019 (so far) The Farewell Wrapped up in all the intricacies of immigrant identity and family politics, The Farewell is a comedy of warmth and bracing honesty. Simply put, its one of the best films of the year. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) Judy This is Renee Zellwegers Judy. It doesnt belong to Rupert Goold, its director. Nor does it belong to Tom Edge, its screenwriter. Its a performance of such overwhelming force that it wrests authorship from every other hand that guided the films creation. Pathe Best films of 2019 (so far) Ready or Not As absurd and self-indulgent as Ready or Not can get, it doesnt mess around with its social commentary. The class system is the game we never asked to play, dont get a fair chance at, and have no hope of winning. Its a timeless metaphor. 20th Century Fox Best films of 2019 (so far) A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon Despite its mouthful of a title, A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon is an utter delight  proof that good storytelling and strong craft are what matters, however familiar the packaging. Studio Canal Best films of 2019 (so far) The Beach Bum Clearly, Harmony Korine is steered by his attraction to the theatrical, the absurd and the grimly nihilistic. The Beach Bum is all of that and absolutely none of it, too  a leisurely, neon-soaked stroll through chaos and hazy bohemia, full of slapstick and pathos. It is as much Korines most mature film as it is his most juvenile. Neon/Vice Best films of 2019 (so far) The Last Black Man in San Francisco Its a beautiful, frightening and tragic vignette of the urban nightmare, though The Last Black Man in San Francisco isnt really an angry film. Its less of a rallying cry against gentrification than a rumination on the kind of pained acceptance those who suffer its effects must face. A24 Best films of 2019 (so far) The Irishman Scorseses signature camerawork goes down like a glass of fine whisky, as smooth and as elegant as youd expect. The violence arrives in short, sharp shocks. Steven Zaillians screenplay even nails the mobster patter, with arguments about fish, tardiness, and business shorts that feel destined to one day be quoted to death. Netflix Best films of 2019 (so far) Le Mans '66 The films greatest trick is saved for its final reel. For much of its running time, youd be easily fooled into thinking Mangold had made a grand ode to the American dream. Its a film about an immigrant worker who, through perseverance and toil, gains the respect of one of the richest men in the country. And then the rug is pulled right out from underneath you. Le Mans 66 may relish in the high life, but its final moments feel devastatingly hollow. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Marriage Story The film never loses its sense of humour and absurdity. Somehow, in spite of the bleakness of the subject matter, it feels more redemptive than despairing. Best films of 2019 (so far) The Report Adam Driver plays Jones, Annette Bening Senator Feinstein, and director Scott Z Burns captures the events in a cold, rigorously factual, and largely dispassionate manner. But thats the point. The Report chooses to value the truth over bombastic displays of morality. AP Best films of 2019 (so far) Knives Out Casting an ensemble film is a little like perfecting a cocktail blend, balancing flavours until they sing together in harmony. Knives Out hits the mark here: the actors all feel well-suited to their roles and they bounce off each other with ease. Lionsgate

Affleck and Garner married in June 2005 and had three children together. They announced their separation in June 2015 and finalised their divorce in October last year.

When Kotb told Affleck he talked about Garner as though he still loved her, the actor replied: Of course. Shes wonderful.

You know, somebodys the mother of your kids, theyre gonna be the most important, central person in your life, and thats good.

Affleck, who has been opened about his history of alcohol addiction, told the Today host hes comfortable discussing the topic publicly.

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It doesnt really bother me to talk about alcoholism and being an alcoholic, he said.

Its part of my life. Its something that I deal with. It doesnt have to sort of subsume my whole identity and be everything, but it is something that you have to work at.

I feel like I had a problem and I really want to address it, and I take some pride in that.
Bacteria could help protect crops without man-made pesticides, according to a study which used vaccine manufacturing techniques to make the microbes safe to humans while retaining their anti-microbial properties.

UK researchers were able to remove the risk of lung infections from a modified form of the bacteria while still allowing it to prevent damping off a disease which kills off seeds and seedlings.

With further improvements and tests in humans, the Cardiff University-led researchers said they hope their discovery could make food production safer, more sustainable, and toxin-free.

Their work focused on a species burkholderia bacteria, a group which produce an array of compounds that can fight off fungus, amoebae and other bacteria species that can cause crop diseases.

Beneficial bacteria such as burkholderia that have co-evolved naturally with plants, have a key role to play in a sustainable future, said Professor Eshwar Mahenthiralingam, lead researcher of the study published in Nature Microbiology.

Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square Show all 8 1 /8 Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers-westwood-ap.jpg AP Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers3-ap.jpg AP Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers5-afpgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers4-ap.jpg AP Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers2-ap.jpg AP Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers6-afpgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers7-afpgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images Beekeepers stage vibrant anti-pesticides protest in Parliament Square beekeepers9-afpgt.jpg AFP/Getty Images

We have to understand the risks, mitigate against them and seek a balance that works for all.

Up until 1999 these species and other biopesticides were widely used, but then increasing recognition of the risks of serious infections in people with cystic fibrosis led to a moratorium on their use.

Since then fears about the impact of industrial scale pesticide use have grown, blamed for collapsing songbird numbers and for turning frogs and fish female by disrupting their hormones when theyre washed into rivers.

Leading environmental chemists recently warned humanity is producing new chemicals faster than it can predict their harms with many lasting a long time in the environment.

Professor Mahenthiralingam, has studied burkholderia bacteria in cystic fibrosis for many years and the research led to two new human antibiotics, Cepacin A and B.

But he and his team are now working to see if Cepacin would be effective in crop pests as well.

Using genomic sequencing of the bacterial DNA the researchers could identify the genes for burkholderia to manufacture Cepacin.

They then used techniques already deployed in live vaccine development to neutralise the bacterias infectious capabilities while retaining its Cepacin producing effects.

Burkholderia split their genomic DNA across 3 fragments, called replicons, said Professor Mahenthiralingam.

We removed the smallest of these 3 replicons to create a mutant Burkholderia strain which, when tested on germinating peas, still demonstrated excellent biopesticidal properties.

Tests in mice susceptible to lung infections, intended to mimic the regular infections faced by people with cystic fibrosis found the mutant strain also did not cause them harm.

In combination with University of Warwick researchers, who helped in the discovery of Cepacin, the group are now looking at turning their mutant strain into a safe biopesticide that wont build up to harmful levels in the environment.
Brie Larson has discussed the importance of female empowerment in Captain Marvel, describing her character as remarkable.

The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel is the first woman-led superhero film from the franchise, following US Air Force pilot Carol Danvers as she generates superhuman strength and the ability to fly.

While the movie is expected to deliver the typical superhero tropes  from bad guys and battle scenes to tragic backstories  Larson says the most important take away is the importance of female empowerment.

Describing her new role, the Oscar-winning actress explained that Danvers was a strong and impressive woman long before she was a superhero.

There is a through line highlighting the incredible women that we have in the air force, but the other thing for me that I love about that, is that she is incredible in breaking barriers and doing amazing things even before she had super powers, she told the Press Association.

10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes Show all 10 1 /10 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes The Force was strong with this young girl when she dressed as scavenger-turned-Jedi Padawan Rey at a 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' fan event at Sydney Opera House in December 2015. With an outfit including Rey's signature goggles and detached sleeves, this budding Jedi is definitely ready for action. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes In July 2016, Paul Feig's all-female 'Ghostbusters' reboot held its world premiere in Los Angeles. During the event, the film's cast came across a group of young girls dressed as the ghost-fighting foursome. Here, actor Kristen Wiig can be seen high-fiving one of the girls, much to the young fan's excitement. Buckner/Variety/REX/Shutterstock 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes At the European premiere of 'Captain Marvel', which took place at London's Curzon cinema in Mayfair on Wednesday 27 February 2019, lead actor Brie Larson had a sweet encounter with eight-year-old Illie, who attended the event dressed in the superhero's signature blue and red suit. 'She's my hero!' Larson tweeted about Illie following the event. Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes This young Wonder Woman was primed for battle when she had her photograph taken at New York Comic-Con at Javits Centre in October 2018. Nothing gets past Wonder Woman Diana Prince's Amazonian sword and shield. Getty Images 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes While being interviewed about being a filmmaker in February 2019, 'Black Panther' director and writer Ryan Coogler was taken aback when he spotted a young girl dressed as Shuri, the superhero's witty and inventive younger sister. When Coogler asked her what her name is, she responded: 'Black Panther's sister.' Coogler then told her that her costume was 'amazing'. EPIX 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes Chloe Grace Moretz's portrayal of Hit-Girl in the 2010 film 'Kiss-Ass' proved that young girls should never be underestimated. This young fan channelled the character's ferocity at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con. Getty Images 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes In the 2018 Marvel blockbuster 'Avengers: Infinity War', a younger version of Zoe Saldana's character, Gamora, is played by child star Ariana Greenblatt. Saldana shared a photo of the pair together on Instagram, captioning the picture: 'Double trouble'. Instagram/Zoe Saldana 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes In 2017, a young girl dressed as Wonder Woman burst into tears as she met actor Gal Gadot at San Diego Comic-Con. Gadot, who's portrayed the character since 2016, comforted the superhero fan by saying, 'There's no reason to cry anymore, right? Here we are together.' Getty Images 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes This young Jedi apprentice looked slightly nervous as she attended the Australian premiere of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' in Sydney, December 2015. Hopefully being dressed as one of the film's heroes, Rey, gave her the boost of courage she needed. AFP/Getty Images 10 times young girls dressed as their favourite female heroes As a friend of Harry Potter and member of Dumbledore's Army, Luna Lovegood is regarded as one of the heroes of J. K. Rowling's fictional wizarding world. One Harry Potter fan channeled Luna's eccentric nature at the opening night of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II' at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles in July 2011, wearing the witch's signature Spectra Specs and carrying a copy of wizarding publication the Quibbler. Getty Images

That is an important fact to this too, it's not like these powers were the thing that made her remarkable, they just highlighted what was already in her.

The Room star also opened up about the physical challenges that came with the role, admitting she didnt think it would be possible to transform her body so drastically.

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My goal was just to train really hard for nine months and see what happened, and I didn't even think it was possible for me, she said.

And the reason why I did it was basically for this, for these moments, for these conversations, when we are discussing what it feels like or what it looks like to be a female, a self-identified female, and be strong.

I want to start those conversations and highlight that I went from not feeling like I was capable of that to really being able to embody this in a new way.

While she is undoubtedly making history with the upcoming film, Larson said she does not feel the weight of responsibility that comes with such an important part.

I don't know if I'm crazy, because so many people have been like, 'You must feel pressure, you must feel responsibility', and I'm like, 'I don't, is that bad?', she explained.

I just don't think that it's helpful to me or helpful to this story or helpful to the work to feel that way. For me it's just like I really love this character, I love Carol, and I think there is a lot of value in it.

I just wanted to focus on the best job I could do, and I know especially with a movie this big it seems like it's like this public thing - but when you're on set it's super private so that is how it felt, it felt like we were making a small movie.

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Captain Marvel is released in UK cinemas on 8 March, International Womens Day.
It will be much harder than we have realised to blow up an asteroid and save the planet, scientists have warned.

Experts have repeatedly warned that it is a question of when not if the Earth will be hit by the arrival of a potentially disastrous asteroid. But films have suggested a simple if high-tech response: launching heroes into space to blow it up before it ever gets here.

In real life, however, those asteroids could be far more difficult to destroy than we knew. That is according to a new study from scientists at Johns Hopkins, who simulated the ways that an asteroid collision might happen and how such a space rock would fracture.

Researchers hope the discoveries could better prepare humanity for such a catastrophic event by improving the ways we can deflect or destroy asteroids that threaten us. They could also help us understand how solar systems form and the ways we might be able to mine asteroids for the precious materials that are thought to be inside.

Any big asteroid that was hurtling towards Earth could prove deadly to a vast proportion of the Earth's population. Scientists had hoped that their size could be used against them  anything that big could theoretically break apart more easily  but that might not be such a comfort, the new study shows.

Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Show all 30 1 /30 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An image from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows a 200,000 mile long solar filament ripping through the Sun's corona in September 2013 Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Nasa Celebrates 50 Years of Spacewalking For 50 years, NASA has been "suiting up" for spacewalking. In this 1984 photograph of the first untethered spacewalk, NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless is in the midst of the first "field" tryout of a nitrogen-propelled backpack device called the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Hubble Cosmic Couple The spectacular cosmic pairing of the star Hen 2-427  more commonly known as WR 124  and the nebula M1-67 which surrounds it ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Veil Nebula Supernova Remnant Nasa's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago Nasa's most stunning pictures of space The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launch The Soyuz TMA-15M rocket launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, Nov. 24, 2014, carrying three new astronauts to the International Space Station. It also took caviar, ready for the satellite's inhabitants to celebrate the holidays Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth from the ISS From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Black Hole Friday Nasa celebrated Black Friday by looking into space instead  sharing pictures of black holes Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space NuSTAR X-rays stream off the sun in this image showing observations from by NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, or NuSTAR, overlaid on a picture taken by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Cassiopeia A c A false colour image of Cassiopeia A comprised with data from the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes and the Chandra X-Ray observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Orion Capsule splashes down The Orion capsule jetted off into space before heading back a few hours later  having proved that it can be used, one day, to carry humans to Mars Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Earth Observations From Gemini IV in 1965 This photograph of the Florida Straits and Grand Bahama Bank was taken during the Gemini IV mission during orbit no. 19 in 1965. The Gemini IV crew conducted scientific experiments, including photography of Earth's weather and terrain, for the remainder of their four-day mission following Ed White's historic spacewalk on June 3 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Frosty slopes of Mars This image of an area on the surface of Mars, approximately 1.5 by 3 kilometers in size, shows frosted gullies on a south-facing slope within a crater. The image was taken by Nasa's HiRISE camera, which is mounted on its Mars Reconaissance Orbiter Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Yellowstone from space NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman shared this image of Yellowstone via his twitter account Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Saturn This near-infrared color image shows a specular reflection, or sunglint, off of a hydrocarbon lake named Kivu Lacus on Saturn's moon Titan Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Worlds Apart Although Mimas and Pandora, shown here, both orbit Saturn, they are very different moons. Pandora, "small" by moon standards (50 miles or 81 kilometers across) is elongated and irregular in shape. Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), a "medium-sized" moon, formed into a sphere due to self-gravity imposed by its higher mass Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Solar Flare An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun in this image taken 10 September, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy An image of the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy seen in infrared light by the Herschel Space Observatory. Regions of space such as this are where new stars are born from a mixture of elements and cosmic dust Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Mars Rover Spirit Nasa's Mars Rover Spirit took the first picture from Spirit since problems with communications began a week earlier. The image shows the robotic arm extended to the rock called Adirondack Nasa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Morning Aurora From the Space Station Nasa astronaut Scott Kelly captured this photograph of the green lights of the aurora from the International Space Station Nasa/Scott Kelly Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Launch of History - Making STS-41G Mission in 1984 The Space Shuttle Challenger launches from Florida at dawn. On this mission, Kathryn Sullivan became the first U.S. woman to perform a spacewalk and Marc Garneau became the first Canadian in space. The crew of seven was the largest to fly on a spacecraft at that time, and STS-41G was the first flight to include two female astronauts Nasa's most stunning pictures of space A Fresh Perspective on an Extraordinary Cluster of Galaxies Galaxy clusters are often described by superlatives. After all, they are huge conglomerations of galaxies, hot gas, and dark matter and represent the largest structures in the Universe held together by gravity Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Sees a Galactic Sunflower The arrangement of the spiral arms in the galaxy Messier 63, seen here in an image from the Nasa Hubble Space Telescope, recall the pattern at the center of a sunflower ESA/Hubble & NASA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Pluto image Four images from New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) were combined with colour data from the Ralph instrument to create this enhanced colour global view of Pluto Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Fresh Crater Near Sirenum Fossae Region of Mars The HiRISE camera aboard Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter acquired this closeup image of a "fresh" (on a geological scale, though quite old on a human scale) impact crater in the Sirenum Fossae region of Mars. This impact crater appears relatively recent as it has a sharp rim and well-preserved ejecta Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Hubble Peers into the Most Crowded Place in the Milky Way This Nasa Hubble Space Telescope image presents the Arches Cluster, the densest known star cluster in the Milky Way NASA & ESA Nasa's most stunning pictures of space An Astronaut's View from Space Nasa astronaut Reid Wiseman tweeted this photo from the International Space Station on 2 September 2014 Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Giant Landform on Mars On Mars, we can observe four classes of sandy landforms formed by the wind, or aeolian bedforms: ripples, transverse aeolian ridges, dunes, and what are called draa Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Expedition 39 Landing A sokol suit helmet can be seen against the window of the Soyuz TMA-11M capsule shortly after the spacecraft landed with Expedition 39 Commander Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Soyuz Commander Mikhail Tyurin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Rick Mastracchio of NASA near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan (NASA/Bill Ingalls) Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Jupiter's Great Red Spot Viewed by Voyager I Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system and perhaps the most majestic. Vibrant bands of clouds carried by winds that can exceed 400 mph continuously circle the planet's atmosphere Nasa's most stunning pictures of space Chandra Observatory Sees a Heart in the Darkness This Chandra X-Ray Observatory image of the young star cluster NGC 346 highlights a heart-shaped cloud of 8 million-degree Celsius gas in the central region

"We used to believe that the larger the object, the more easily it would break, because bigger objects are more likely to have flaws," said Charles El Mir, a recent Ph.D graduate from the Johns Hopkins University's Department of Mechanical Engineering and the paper's first author, in a statement.

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"Our findings, however, show that asteroids are stronger than we used to think and require more energy to be completely shattered."

Researchers have a full understanding of rocks at the scale they can be understood in a laboratory, or roughly the size of a person's fist. But it is difficult to know how that understanding will apply if the rock is the size of a city, like an asteroid.

Previous attempts tried to simulate those objects, by creating a computer model that accounted for things like temperature and brittleness and seeing how a large asteroid might react when struck by a smaller one. It seemed to show the target asteroid would be completely destroyed.

But the new study looked at the same scenario with new computer models. The new work includes more detailed and smaller-scale processes  allowing them to better account for the way cracks would form across the asteroid.

"Our question was, how much energy does it take to actually destroy an asteroid and break it into pieces?" said El Mir.

They found that after the initial impact, millions of cracks formed and rippled throughout the asteroid. That allowed parts of it to flow like sand, and left a crater in its surface.

But when they accounted for the gravity would act on those broken up pieces, they found that the huge damaged core would still pull the fragments around it. It meant the targetted asteroid kept its strength because it had not completely cracked, and the damaged fragments were strewn across the core in the middle.

That could prove useful to asteroid miners who would be able to pick through those pieces and find the useful materials. But it means that anyone looking to destroy a dangerous asteroid would need to use more energy to get rid of it.

"It may sound like science fiction but a great deal of research considers asteroid collisions. For example, if there's an asteroid coming at earth, are we better off breaking it into small pieces, or nudging it to go a different direction? And if the latter, how much force should we hit it with to move it away without causing it to break? These are actual questions under consideration," says El Mir.

"We are impacted fairly often by small asteroids, such as in the Chelyabinsk event a few years ago," K.T. Ramesh, director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute. "It is only a matter of time before these questions go from being academic to defining our response to a major threat. We need to have a good idea of what we should do when that time comes - and scientific efforts like this one are critical to help us make those decisions."
The mystery surrounding hundreds of millions of dollars worth of missing cryptocurrency from the Quadriga bitcoin exchange has deepened, after investigators discovered a series of unexplained transactions.

Quadriga once served as Canada's largest cryptocurrency exchange but closed operations at the end of January following the unexpected death of Gerald Cotten, who served as the firm's chief executive.

His death on 9 December in India meant the Vancouver-based exchange was unable to pay 115,000 customers C$260 million (148m) in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, according to court documents, as Mr Cotten had sole access to the digital wallets.

Accountancy firm Ernst & Young, which was appointed by the court to oversee the search for the missing funds, has so far been unable to track down the cryptocurrency.

Of the six wallets believed to be used Mr Cotten to store large sums of digital assets offline, five were found to be empty.

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

A report published by Ernst & Young on 1 March stated that the sixth wallet "appears to have been used to receive bitcoin from another cryptocurrency exchange account", though the figure was only a tiny fraction of the missing millions.

Mr Cotten's widow Jennifer Robertson stated in the report that the funds had been moved to so-called cold storage wallets "as a way to protect the coins from hacking or virtual theft".

This is common practice for major cryptocurrency exchanges, though industry experts say it is unusual for the passwords needed to access the cod storage wallets to be kept by just one person.

"Using a reputable custodian to hold the private keys outside the company is perhaps the best option to ensure these codes are not lost," Erik Wilgenhof Plante, CCO of the cryptocurrency exchange BeQuant, told The Independent in February. "A single person owning this information creates a huge vulnerability."

In a previous affidavit, Ms Robertson stated: "I do not know the password or recovery key [for the wallets]. Despite repeated and diligent searches, I have not been able to find them written down anywhere."

Mysterious transactions on the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Quadriga have baffled investigators (Getty Images)

The mystery may go even deeper, with some Quadriga customers raising questions about the circumstances of Mr Cotten's death, which was reportedly the result of complications relating to Crohn's disease.

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There are still a number of suspicious circumstances around Gerald Cottons reported death that need to be looked into," Steve Bunnell, a former US Department of Homeland Security General Counsel who now serves as a data security specialist at the LA-based law firm O'Melveny, told The Independent.

"But regardless of whether the custody of crypto on QuadrigaCX was mismanaged or whether there was something more nefarious involved, the situation highlights the importance for customers of dealing with crypto exchanges that are reputable and know how to safely custody cryptocurrency."
A teenager in North Carolina has successfully changed her schools dress code that banned girls from wearing trousers to their graduation ceremony.

Cumberland Polytechnic High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina stipulated that girls must wear black dresses with hemlines no longer than their graduation robes, black closed-toe high heels and black tights.

Ahead of her graduation in May, 18-year-old student Lacey Henry decided she wanted to wear trousers to her graduation ceremony and subsequently launched a petition against the school's "patriarchal" dress code.

As a young woman in 2019, the students expect freedom of dress and choice for their body, but instead, their bodies are over-sexualised and objectified, she wrote in the petition.

It is time for Cumberland Polytechnic High School to step into this century and remove these patriarchal standards for their students.

Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Show all 5 1 /5 Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Thousands skip school to attend climate protest A girl wears a face mask and has a message written on her forehead that reads 'no planet B' during a demonstration against climate change in Brussels on Thursday 17 January 2019. Thousands of students as part of the Youth for Climate movement took time off school to call for stronger action against climate change. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo) Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Students and others hold placards as they march during a demonstration against climate change in Brussels, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2019. Thousands of students as part of the Youth for Climate movement took time off school Thursday to call for stronger action against climate change. Sign in center reads in Dutch 'shortly everyone will have a house on the sea'. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo) Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Thursday, 17 January 2019. Thousands of students as part of the Youth for Climate movement took time off school to call for stronger action against climate change. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo) Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Students and others hold up placards with climate messages during a demonstration against climate change in Brussels, Thursday 17 January 2019. Thousands of students as part of the Youth for Climate movement took time off school to call for stronger action against climate change. Banner at right in Dutch reads 'we are truant for more forests' and at centre-rear reads 'no money if it melts'. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo) Thousands skip school to attend climate protest Two girls hold up a banner during a demonstration against climate change in Brussels, Thursday 17 January 2019. Thousands of students as part of the Youth for Climate movement took time off school to call for stronger action against climate change. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo)

Henry, added that she felt the schools rules were a violation of Title IX  a federal law that bans schools from sex- or gender-based discrimination.

Its kind of insane  no one can see whats under our graduation robes anyway, she told Yahoo.

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Heavier students are always in violation because their clothing can be tighter in some places and guys show their bare chests. The district once barred a girl from attending her own graduation ceremony  even as an audience member  because she wore pants [sic].

The campaign quickly garnered more than 780 signatures and successfully prompted the school's principal to announce a change in dress code.

Cumberland County Schools Regulation Code: 4316-R3 Graduation Student Dress Code provides guidance on regalia requirements for high school graduations, principal Daniel Krumanocher Jr. wrote in a press release.

Some additional graduation attire guidelines are developed at the school level to ensure all students are dressed in a manner appropriate to the solemnity of the occasion.

However, school-level graduation guidelines will not require students to conform to a specific type of attire based on their gender, and they will be fully compliant with Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause."

While Henrys petition proved successful, she later revealed that the updated dress code now requires anyone who wants to wear trousers to graduation to also sport a tie.

Its definitely a deterrent for girls, she said.

But I will wear pants and a tie."
The May Government is regularly written up as the worst administration run by the worst Prime Minister featuring the worst secretary of state (Chris Grayling at Transport) of all time.

The need for it to secure some good publicity, any good publicity, could thus be seen as paramount.

Step forward Sir Philip Green in the role of big, bad dragon, armoured with an impenetrable hide of non disclosure agreements that May has decided to ride in on her fiery charger to slay.

He wasnt mentioned in this mornings government press release announcing new legal measures to protect workers from misuse of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) that are typically attached to settlement agreements between employers and poorly treated former employees.

But the Arcadia boss fired up the debate after the The Daily Telegraph was blocked from publishing a story about his alleged conduct because people accusing him of a range of unpleasant behaviours had signed NDAs.

Sir Philip, who has denied claims made against him, was only identified after being named in Parliament under the clock of Parliamentary privilege.

In response to this and other such cases, the law is, we are told, to be tightened up, with the government proposing to prevent employers from using gagging clauses to stop staff reporting criminal behaviour, harassment or discrimination to police.

Heres the problem with that: Lawyers tell me that an NDA that prevented them from doing that wouldnt likely stand up in court as things stand. I'm also told that the NDA agreements signed by Sir Philip's former employees didn't prevent them from approaching the police.

Sir Philips behaviour, if it was as reported (and to repeat, he has denied it) was pretty awful. Police have been asked to investigate in the UK. They're reportedly doing so in the US.

But casual racism and sexism need to clear a depressingly high bar for them to attract the interest of the criminal authorities.

Over the past couple of years we have seen brave individuals breaking silence on such behaviour, but too many are still facing the unethical misuse of non-disclosure agreements by their employers, said the Prime Minister. Stirring stuff. But as ever when she indulges in such lofty rhetoric, when you look into whats behind it it you quickly realise it aint all that.

There are some other bits and pieces too. The government says it wants to extend the law to ensure the worker agreeing to confidentiality agreements receives independent legal advice on the limitations. Again, they really ought to get now.

It also wants them to be given a written description of their rights before anything is signed in confidentiality clauses in employment contracts, or within a settlement agreement. And again, that ought to be there now.

Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 /13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled  leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: Europes largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid 3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rues contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped 4m off of Flybes revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airlines estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.

I suppose you just about could argue that these measures may result in some employers being a tad more cautious than they had in the past. But thats about it. Beyond that they really dont amount to much. Whats really changing here?

As TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: This isnt a serious attempt to change workplace culture.

Even many supporters quoted today say the measures dont go far enough. And they are right. Rather than a genuine attempt to foster change that may lead to a more harmonious workplace environment, these measures amount to little more than a PR stunt. And a cynical one at that.
Chinas Huawei is preparing to sue the US government for banning federal agencies from using the companys products over security fears, according to a report.

It comes after the Chinese technology firms finance chief, Meng Wanzhou sued the Canadian government, its border agency and federal police on Sunday. Lawyers allege that Huaweis chief financial officer was detained, searched and interrogated for three hours in violation of her constitutional rights.

The US lawsuit will filed in the Eastern District of Texas where Huawei has its American headquarters, the New York Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter.

According to one of the people, the lawsuit is likely to challenge a US law passed last year blocking government agencies from using Huaweis telecoms equipment.

The newspaper reported that Huawei will argue that the provision is unconstitutional because it amounts to a bill of attainder, or a legislative act that singles out a person or group for punishment without trial.

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

Washington has been leading a campaign against Huawei which officials believe poses a national security threat. The company's equipment could be used for Chinese government spying operations, US officials have said.

The companys executives have strongly rejected the allegations which they say are motivated by political and economic concerns.

However, a number of governments including Australia and New Zealand have since banned Huawei's equipment from the next generation of mobile networks.

In a blow to US efforts, UK security bosses said last month that risks posed by Huawei's involvement in 5G networks can be contained.

Huawei declined to comment on the NYT report.

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A hearing is set to begin this week in Canada that will determine whether Ms Meng will be extradited to the US to face charges.

Ms Meng was arrested in Vancouver in December at the request of the US, which argued she posed a threat to national security. Huawei's CFO was charged with bank and wire fraud which she allegedly committed to circumvent American sanctions against Iran.
A commitment to end period poverty around the world by 2030 will see millions go to projects providing sanitary products and working to eradicate the stigma that persists in the UK and beyond.

Around half of women and girls around the world lack access to sterile sanitary products, and often have to use strips of clothing, grass or animal hides to manage their periods.

Lack of affordable products and taboos around menstruation mean many girls miss school on their period, hampering their education and future opportunities.

Ahead of International Womens Day the government announced a new campaign to end these injustices.

It will see 2m invested in international aid to fund projects around the world providing sanitary products and education.

Period euphemisms around the World Show all 8 1 /8 Period euphemisms around the World Period euphemisms around the World Germany 'Erdbeerwoche': translates as 'strawberry week' iStock Period euphemisms around the World France 'Les Anglais out debarque' or 'The English have arrived' referring to past wars with England and possibly the British army's red coats Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Brazil 'Eustou Com Chico' or "I'm with Chico' in reference to socialist Chico Mendes and possibly his gruesome assassination in the late 80's Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Finland The Finnish affectionately refer to periods and pms as 'Hullum Lechman Tauti' or 'mad cow disease' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World The United States Though there are many varied terms, a popular americans commonly refer to periods as 'Aunt Flo' iStock Period euphemisms around the World China In China you may hear 'its little sister to come in' iStock Period euphemisms around the World Denmark 'Der Er Kommunister i Lysthuset' or 'There are communists in the funhouse' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World South Africa A famed colloquialism for a period in South Africa is 'Grannys stuck in traffic' iStock

The campaign will also launch a new taskforce bringing together charities, manufacturers and the retail sector to find ways to address period poverty in the UK.

Work by Girl Guiding UK found one in five girls and young women have been made to feel ashamed or embarrassed about their period.

(EPA)

Even the NHS has failed to provide universal access to sanitary products to female patients in hospitals. Though this will end from Summer 2019 after a commitment to provide tampons and pads free for all patients who need them.

Empowerment starts when you are young, Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt said.

Girls should be able to focus on their education and their future without being worried about or embarrassed by their periods.

She said the measures would support British entrepreneurs working to tackle period poverty, but the campaigns reach was broader.

Recommended NHS hospitals told to provide free sanitary products to patients

This is a global issue. Without education, women and girls around the world wont be able to take the steps to reach their true potential.

The announcement also precedes a new government strategy setting out how it intends to empower women who are financially vulnerable, in low-paid jobs or out of work.

Pay inequality, career breaks and care responsibilities mean lower earning women accumulate a third of the pension of men in full-time employment.

Despite the government moving to make companies publish details on their gender pay gap, latest analysis shows the gap has widened in the schemes first year.

Period poverty is real and is happening all around the world, including here in the UK and it needs to be addressed, said Ruby Raut, CEO and co-founder of UK eco-friendly sanitary wear company WUKA.

Around the world, she said, girls and women have few choices and end up using dirty items of clothing, inserting plastic or overusing a pad or tampon, which is unhygienic and a huge health problem for women.
More Japanese firms could follow Honda and leave Britain in the coming months if the uncertainty caused by Brexit is not lifted soon, the countrys ambassador has said.

Koji Tsuruoka said the thousand or so Japanese businesses with operations in the UK needed to know what Britains trading relationship with the European Union (EU) would be.

If clarity on what Brexit would actually look like did not emerge soon, many of them would have to relocate elsewhere, he told Sky News.

Most of these companies would like to expand their capacity. But they need to know about the UK-EU economic relationship, he said. These are all global companies and therefore they have other possibilities other than staying.

They may relocate. Or they may combine or consolidate. But you cant make those decisions until you know whats going to happen next. This is very important.

Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Show all 18 1 /18 Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well These billboards were plastered by campaign group Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well PA Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter

Honda announced last month it would close its Swindon factory in 2021, casting doubt on the future of thousands of jobs.

Although the car giant did not say Brexit had prompted its decision, many observers criticised the governments handling of the post-referendum negotiations.

The car industry in the UK over the last two decades has been the jewel in the crown for the manufacturing sector  and now it has been brought low by the chaotic Brexit uncertainty created by the rigid approach adopted by prime minister Theresa May, Des Quinn, the Unite unions nation officer for the automotive sector, said.

In a similar vein, Nissan said it would build its new X-Trail model in Japan rather than its longstanding Sunderland plant.

In a letter to workers, the carmakers European boss said uncertainty around the UKs future relationship with the EU is not helping companies like ours to plan for the future.

Nissans future investment in the Sunderland factory has been a critical issue since it announced it would build new cars there four months after the referendum in 2016.

It then emerged the government had offered reassurances to the company, sparking concerns over secret deals.

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Another factor which could be encouraging Japanese firms to wind down their operations in the UK is a newly-signed trade agreement with the EU, which would slash tariffs on car imports into the EU to zero.

By contrast, should Britain crash out of the bloc with a deal on 29 March, tariffs of 10 per cent will be immediately applied to all cars sent to the continent from British factories.
The number of children and young people who have used knives to kill has risen by more than 75 per cent over three years, an investigation has indicated.

There were 26 under-18s who committed homicides using a knife or sharp instrument in 2016  rising to 46 in 2018, Channel 4s Dispatches found.

The analysis was based on responses to Freedom of Information requests from 29 out of 43 police forces.

During this period, the number of under-18s committing rape and sexual assault with a knife rose from 24 to 33. Robbery with a knife increased from 656 to 999.

Recommended Social media companies face new laws on material fuelling stabbings

Dispatches also found there was a 93 per cent rise in the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for stab wounds in England.

An analysis of NHS Digital data by the programme found the number of children aged 16 and under being treated for assaults by sharp objects rose from 180 to 347 between 2012-13 and 2017-18.

The research showed that 76 people were reportedly stabbed to death in the capital out of 306 across the UK as a whole last year, including 23 children.

The programme, Britains Knife Crisis: Young, Armed And Dangerous, is fronted by former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and aired on Monday.

Lord Hogan-Howe, who retired in 2017, said: One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

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He called for the appointment of a new knife crime tsar to get a grip on the crisis.

He said: Its important to focus attention on the exploitation of children in socially deprived areas.

We need to increase police numbers in these areas and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution including by county lines  something law enforcement and government have failed to do.

I just dont see anybody getting a grip of this crisis. The government needs to appoint somebody who is going to lead it day after day.

Call it a knife crime tsar if you like, but somebody who is going to make sure we get knives off the street and save lives.

Lord Hogan-Howe also called for increased interception of Class A drugs and police numbers to rise to 20,000. He also recommended a focus on technology and building trust in local communities to reduce knife crime.

Policing minister Nick Hurd told the programme an extra 460m was being invested in the police system this year, which will be used to recruit at least 2,500 more officers.

He added: This is a massive challenge for our policing system and therefore a big priority for me as policing minister to make sure that our police system has the resources to invest in upgrading our technology.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

The show also used undercover filming to capture a 17-year-old girl being allowed to buy the knives in Asda and B&M without being challenged on her age or asked for ID.

It is illegal to sell a knife with a blade longer than three inches to anyone under 18 but experts say girls are used by gangs to buy them, the programme said.

UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days Show all 5 1 /5 UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days Crocuses bloom in the Walsall Arboretum as the warm weather continues PA UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days Paddle boarders enjoy the warm weather and calm seas off of Boscombe beach in Dorset PA UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days People leave the sea after an early morning swim on Boscombe beach in Dorset. PA UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days A woman enjoys the sun on the South Bank in central London PA UK weather: Britain enjoys unseasonably warm days A man enjoys the sun on the foreshore of the river Thames in London PA

B&M, which was fined 480,000 in September last year for selling knives to under-age children, told Dispatches it takes every precaution to prevent the sale of knives to under-age shoppers.

The company said the checkout worker filmed by the show had received training in the previous 12 months and had therefore been suspended pending disciplinary action and further training.

It added: We have had 104 test purchases in the last 12 months by Trading Standards for age-restricted products, with a 100% pass rate.

Asda told Dispatches it took its responsibility as a retailer very seriously, had strict processes around knife sales and regularly trained staff on its policy.

It added: On this occasion we got it wrong and have conducted a full investigation into what happened.

Press Association
Heavy rain and thunderstorms are set to drive across the UK from the southwest late on Monday in the aftermath of Storm Freya.

The storm battered parts of the country over the weekend with snow, sleet and 80mph winds.

The coasts of Cornwall, Devon and West Sussex were hardest hit and forecasters warned the conditions posed a danger to life from high waves at the shore.

A yellow severe weather warning was still in effect first thing on Monday morning as powerlines and trees brought down by the gales continued to cause travel disruption, notably in Wales where two major roads were closed and in the Pennines where motorists were left stranded by snow on the A595 in Cumbria.

While the morning will be mostly dry and bright, the mild interlude will not last long: clearer skies will give way to intense southwesterly rains from the Atlantic as the evening rush hour commences, with hill snow and hail possible in northern areas.

Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Show all 20 1 /20 Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves crash over the sea wall at Cleveleys near Blackpool, Lancashire PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures People walk along the top path instead of the road by the harbour to avoid waves at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures People watch as waves batter the coast in Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures People photograph the waves battering the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves crash against the marina wall in Brighton PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures A car crashed off the road in Dunlavin, County Wicklow PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves crash over the sea wall at Cleveleys near Blackpool, Lancashire PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Lawson Robinson clears snow from his Nenthead miniature village in Cumbria PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Lawson Robinson clears snow from his Nenthead miniature village in Cumbria PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves crash against the marina wall in Brighton PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Traffic in snowy conditions on the N7 in Dublin PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures A girl watches the waves on the beach in Brighton as Storm Freya is set to bring strong winds of up to 80mph PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves batter the coast at Porthleven, Cornwall PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Peope drive in snowy conditions in Rathcoole in Dublin PA Storm Freya hits with winds up to 80mph: in pictures Waves crash against the marina wall in Brighton PA

More than a dozen flood alerts remain in place across the southwest, as well as two flood warnings, in anticipation of the new fronts arrival over Cornwall.

Met Office spokesman Emma Smith said: By six oclock on Monday the centre of Storm Freya will be out over the North Sea.

There will still be outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow just clipping the coast by Newcastle and southern Scotland.

Thereafter into Monday there will be plenty of sunshine around, then we will get a band of showery rain moving in from the southwest.

Thats going to be moving across Devon and Cornwall first and moving into Wales and Northern Ireland through the morning.

By the afternoon it will be into the Midlands and towards London with some hail and thunder. Northern and eastern areas will stay sunniest and it will be quite blustery as well, with some gale-force gusts in the west.

The rain will move eastwards across Northern Ireland, northern England and Scotland on Tuesday while conditions will stay unsettled for the remainder of the week, according to forecasters.
 Close Brexit: Passports and visa rules explained

Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a vote on key bit of Brexit legislation to avoid a humiliating Commons defeat over rules governing tax havens.

Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge had tabled a cross-party amendment to the Financial Services Bill, which would have compelled UK overseas territories to be more transparent about business ownership.

It came as Labour MPs from Leave-backing areas dismissed Theresa May's "Brexit bribe" of 1.6bn for run down towns, saying their "vote is not for sale".

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said it smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.

Beleaguered transport secretary Chris Grayling also came under fire on Monday for failing to personally answer questions from MPs about the botched Brexit ferry contracts.

Labours shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said: He leaves a trail of destruction in his wake, causing chaos and wasting billions of pounds yet he shows no contrition the transport secretary has become an international embarrassment.

Here's how the day unfolded:
The government has been accused of bribing MPs to back Theresa Mays Brexit deal after announcing a new 1.6bn fund to help deprived towns.

The Stronger Towns Fund will offer investment to places that have not benefited from economic growth as much as other parts of the country, ministers said.

The government said the money would be used to create jobs, train local people and boost investment, but critics said it was an attempt to convince Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to back Ms Mays withdrawal agreement, and was not enough to offset the impact of Brexit.

1bn of the funding will be allocated to areas across the country, with more than half going to towns in the north of England. The other 600m will be available for local authorities to bid for.

Of the money being directly allocated by the government, the north west will receive the most, with 281m, followed by the west Midlands (212m) and Yorkshire and the Humber (197m).

Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Show all 18 1 /18 Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well These billboards were plastered by campaign group Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well PA Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter

Announcing the fund, Ms May said: For too long in our country prosperity has been unfairly spread. Our economy has worked well for some places but we want it to work for all communities.

Communities across the country voted for Brexit as an expression of their desire to see change  that must be a change for the better, with more opportunity and greater control.

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These towns have a glorious heritage, huge potential and, with the right help, a bright future ahead of them.

But critics said the move, announced just over a week before MPs are due to vote again on Ms Mays Brexit deal, was designed to buy the support of Labour MPs in Leave areas.

Ms May has talked about increasing funding for deprived communities as part of a package of measures that No 10 hopes will help win MPs support for her deal.

Another element  an announcement of guarantees on workers rights and environmental protections  is expected this week.

Labours shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, said: This towns fund smacks of desperation from a government reduced to bribing MPs to vote for their damaging flagship Brexit legislation.

The reason our towns are struggling is because of a decade of cuts, including to council funding and a failure to invest in businesses and our communities.

Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Show all 12 1 /12 Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool Subverting the message of peace preached by one of the citys favourite sons. War continues and is never really over Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Bolton A boarded-up shop front painted with Friday night vomit. Regurgitated food and liquid and bile adorn British weekend streets. Its the sign of a body saving itself from self-poisoning Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Preston The bus station is a grade II-listed building. There are wonderful frames, with leading lines, repetitions of numbers and angles, soft light, hanging clocks. People wait to be taken elsewhere Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Carlisle The first thing I see in the city is a drunk man lying on the floor of the train station. He cant walk, is completely unresponsive, and has a blank, vacant expression on his face, as if hed just had his memory erased Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool Dismantling the tree of love, one heart at a time, until its bare and loveless and wintry. The city has made love one of its symbols since the Beatles told the world its all you need. I wonder what will become of these plastic hearts Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Blackburn Making a joint with one arm under angels, the other in a sling. I dont stick around to find out how he rolls it, singlehandedly or otherwise Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Preston People browse the outdoor market, tempted into sales. Im there to look at them, and in this scene they mix with boxes of music in working order, a Disney wink, and a limp Union Jack Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool Im impressed how humans are dwarfed by human-made structures in the urban environment. The building is gigantic, geometrically solid and powerfully symmetrical, while the tiny man slouches, humanly imperfect and asymmetrical Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Blackburn The play on words for this new development is a footer to the towns skyline, along which run the grey heights of a multi-storey carpark, Chapel Street Church spire, and the faint tops of houses Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Carlisle Im led into the train station by a man on his mobility scooter. I photograph him and his sign, then take the train to Preston. I thought it was strange how someone could be so proud of a city, with all its details and complexities Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Bolton Its one of the sickly contradictions of advertising: you can save money by spending it. Here it is presented as the headline of Bolton market, put so simply, yet still so complicated Richard Morgan/The Independent Britain Before Brexit: Northwest England Liverpool When people stop to speak to rough sleepers it always looks so unbalanced. The different social positions of the interaction are exaggerated by the visual dimensions, with passer-by almost always standing above, leaning over, talking down Richard Morgan/The Independent

And Anna Soubry, The Independent Groups Brexit spokesperson, said: Investment in skills and training is always welcome but we need to go behind this new fund and see it for what it is  a desperate measure to buy votes, and sadly this government has a strong record on that score.

The support of the DUP was secured with a 1bn bung-for-votes to prop up the government after it lost its majority. Now Theresa May is so desperate to get votes for her bad withdrawal agreement she is relying on the same old trick.

But James Brokenshire, the housing and communities secretary, insisted the fund showed that the government was listening to MPs concerns.

He said: We have listened to people who are concerned by momentous changes to their communities and I am determined to provide the support they need to create a more prosperous future beyond Brexit.

This major new fund builds on more than 9bn in City and Growth Deals we have delivered since 2010 to help hard working people reach their full potential and to build an economy that works for everyone.
The government does not understand how the EU works and so embarks on negotiating strategies that are doomed to fail, Britains former ambassador to Brussels has said.

Ivan Rogers, who was Britains face in the EU capital from 2013 until 2017, said the government always thought it could circumvent the European Commission and deal directly with member state leaders.

But the former permanent representative said the bloc never works like that and that the approach  pursued by Theresa May and David Cameron alike  always ended in embarrassment.

Capitals obviously matter, but I think having lived through this with a number of prime ministers, a number of different negotiations ... that reflex in the British system always to think that we can deal direct with the organ grinders and not the monkeys: it never works like that. It didnt work like that in the Cameron renegotiation either, he told an event at the Institute for Government think tank.

That stuff is not done in the way British politics works, leader to leader. Its done via the bureaucrats, and the Sherpas, and the people at the top of the institutions.

The Brits constantly either misunderstand that or just dont realise that circumventing that and thinking Oh, we can go direct to Berlin or Paris or any other capital and square that off  and that will be different from the orthodoxy were getting out of Brussels  never works.

The government has been frustrated throughout Brexit talks at the lack of direct negotiations between the prime minister and other EU27 presidents and prime ministers.

Despite lurid predictions in some corners of the British press that Angela Merkel would ride to Britains rescue and cut a special deal, the bloc has insisted on keeping negotiations between Michel Barnier and his constantly resigning UK counterparts.

The prime minister has generally only been given limited time to speak on Brexit at European Council summits, with a two-way back and forth generally off the table. When they have happened  as at the summit in December  they have not always gone well.

The EU has put the unity of the 27 EU member states at the centre of its negotiating strategy during Brexit. Officials close to talks say the UK has tried to split off member states, but with little luck.

Before he was appointed Brexit secretary, David Davis laid out his strategy in a series of tweets, one of which read: The first calling point of the UKs negotiator immediately after Brexit will not be Brussels, it will be Berlin, to strike a deal.

The former UK diplomat Mr Rogers told the same event on Monday that he did not think a customs union would be an option for the UK outside the EU.

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I dont think it will be sustainable long-term to be in a customs union and not have a greater degree of autonomy over our trade policy, he said.

We would get consultation rights, sure, we might get superior consultation rights  but they would only be consultation rights  and ultimately the negotiating mandate would reflect the interests of the 27, no doubt articulated carefully to take account of British interests.

He also described the prospect of an extension of Article 50 as quite problematic because of the issue of the UK having to take part in European Parliament elections.

Mr Rogers stepped down in early 2017, reportedly after a row with Theresa Mays advisers. He had reportedly told ministers privately that Brexit could take a decade to resolve, angering them.
Scientists are suing the Mauritian government for driving endangered fruit bats towards extinction, after mass culls killed at least half their population.

More than 50,000 of the animals are thought to have been killed in three culls since 2015, in an attempt to protect fruit in orchards.

The bats  also known as flying foxes  are resorting to eating in orchards to survive because only 5 per cent of Mauritiuss native forests remain, animal experts warned.

Fruit bats are vital for biodiversity as they pollinate flowers and scatter seeds, enabling trees and plants to grow and spread, according to conservationists.

But populations of the flying foxes have fallen by more than 50 per cent in four years, said Vincent Florens, an ecologist at the University of Mauritius. Some believe fewer than 30,000 now remain.

'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' Show all 9 1 /9 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58846.bin Reuters 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58843.bin Getty 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58864.bin AFP/Getty 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58868.bin Reuters 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58863.bin AFP/Getty 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58869.bin Reuters 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58873.bin Getty 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58875.bin AFP/Getty 'A quarter of the world's mammals risk extinction' 58877.bin Wildlife Conservation Society/AP

Tigga Kingston, a biologist and bat specialist for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, said the fewer animals remain, the more vulnerable they will be to natural disasters, disease and habitat loss, leading to extinction.

Britains Bat Conservation Trust has pleaded for the culls to end, citing research that found they accounted for only 10 per cent of fruit plant damage.

The first cull, in 2015, killed 30,000, and in a second cull, the following year, 7,380 were targeted.

The IUCN then raised the bats status from vulnerable to endangered. But the latest cull involved 13,000.

Prof Florens said he believed the number killed is much higher than the 50,300 government figure.

The culls took place late in the year, when many mothers were pregnant or had babies, he told National Geographic. You shoot one bat and basically kill two. Others were likely to have been injured and died later, he said.

Scientists are supporting a lawsuit against the government on grounds of animal welfare violations to prevent any more culls.

They say that after the first two, production of lychees in orchards fell by 70 per cent, probably because of the weather, fruit flies, birds, macaques and rats.

Fruit bats eat about 10 per cent of fruit grown, a study found (Getty)

We tried petitions, demonstrations, publications in Science, and IUCN discussions with the government. Everything weve done failed so far, so we decided we needed stronger action, said Christian Vincenot, a bat ecologist at Kyoto University, Japan.

Mahen Seeruttun, Mauritiuss minister of agro-industry and food security, told FDI Spotlight: We have a large population of bats who will eat fruit crops.

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In fact, the population of large flying fox bats has increased dramatically due to the lack of severe cyclones in the past 15 years.

These are a protected species, so we must devise creative ways to protect the crops such as providing fruit-growers with nets to protect their crop, and a selective cull which I organised.

The Independent has asked the Mauritian government to comment.
Five people have died after a helicopter they were travelling in crashed in a remote part of Kenya.

The four Americans and their Kenyan pilot died when the aircraft came down in Lake Turkana, Central Island National Park on Sunday.

There were no survivors.

It is unclear what caused the accident.

"Available information indicates that two helicopters had landed earlier at Labolo tented Camp on the National Park's Island, however one managed to clear the area safely," a spokesperson for the country's National Police Service said.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. 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Officials did not publicly identify the victims and said that next-of-kin had to be notified first.

The crash comes less than a month after three US citizens were among five who died in a plane crash in the west of the country.

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Additional reporting by agencies
At least 23 people including children have been killed and several others injured after tornadoes tore through the southern US state of Alabama on Sunday.

Rescue workers at the scene were pulling the dead and injured from the wreckage of homes and businesses in the worst affected areas in Lee County, which includes the state's largest city of Auburn.

County Sheriff Jay Jones said the "tornadoes outbreak" had caused "catastrophic" damage and there were fears more bodies would be found.

"The challenge is the sheer volume of the debris where all the homes were located. It's the most I've seen that I can recall," he told CNN.

The death toll stood at 23 in the early hours of Monday with authorities warned that it is expected to rise.

Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Show all 15 1 /15 Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado in Dothan, Alabama on March 3 AFP/Getty Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Debris and a damaged house following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People walk amid debris in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Damage in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A funnel shaped cloud on the I-10 near Marianna, Florida on March 3. Tornado warnings have been issued across the southeast of the US AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 House debris following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A tornado in the distance at Warner Robins, Georgia on March 3 @KEITH_IRWIN/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 A fallen pylon lies across Route 280 in Lee County, Alabama AP Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Fallen trees lie across a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Damaged trees seen following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People look on at clean-up efforts following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 People clear fallen trees and debris from a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Fallen trees following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama on March 3 Scott Fillmer/Reuters Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Tornado in Dothan, Alabama on March 3 AFP/Getty Tornado tears through Alabama killing 23 Emergency responders work in the scene amid debris in Lee County, Alabama AP

Tornado warnings were in force across Georgia and Alabama on Sunday evening.

The most devastating tornado struck the area around Beauregard in Lee County at around 2pm on Sunday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

The NWS classified it as at least an F3 rating, meaning winds of up to 165mph. and said it carved a path at least half a mile wide.

After the tornado hit, drones flying overhead equipped with heat-seeking devices scanned the area for survivors. But the dangerous conditions halted the search late on Sunday.

Kay Ivey, Alabama's governor, warned residents on Twitter that more severe weather might be on the way.

 Alabama tornadoes 'outbreak' kills 23

She said the state was working to help families who had been impacted.

The East Alabama Medical Centre in Opelika said in a statement that it was treating more than 40 patients as a result of the tornado and expected to receive more. Some patients have been sent to other hospitals, it added.

The storm also left more than 10,000 customers without power, the Birmingham News said, citing the utility Alabama Power.

After the tornado hit Alabama on Sunday afternoon, it unleashed by a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

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. 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

Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early Monday to assess those and other storms.

Authorities in southwest Georgia are searching door-to-door in darkened neighbourhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

A tornado was also confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

In response to the destruction in Alabama, Donald Trump tweeted late on Sunday night urging resident to take care.

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To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming, he wrote.

To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!

A tornado watch remained in place on Sunday evening for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.

Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
An alligator found in Georgia prompted hoax speculation online after it was revealed the animal weighed more than 700 pounds before it was euthanised.

The 'gator was first spotted in southwest Georgia by a farmer, who found the animal in an irrigation ditch in Lake Blackshear.

After discovering the animal, the farmer called the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) - which sent wildlife biologist Brent Howze to investigate.

According to Mr Howze, the alligator, which a spokesperson for the DNR confirmed to The Independent was real, was 13-feet four-inches long.

The alligator had been stuck in the ditch for about a week before Mr Howze and his team reached it.

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We have captured quite a few alligators, but none this large, Mr Howze told CBS News.

Recommended Grandmother kills 12ft alligator she blamed for eating miniature horse

While the DNR wildlife biologists were able to successfully free the alligator from the ditch, they ultimately decided to euthanise the animal, as the alligator was suffering from multiple injuries, including old gunshot wounds.

The animals old age also played a part in the decision.

Its an unfortunate situation, but the best thing for the animal was to put it down, Howze told the Cordele Dispatch.

Photos taken of the animal prior to the euthanisation went viral, prompting some people to suggest the alligators size had been edited.

However, according to Mr Howze, while alligators this size are not common, male alligators can reach up to 16 feet in size.

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But the wildlife biologist did say the only way an alligator can grow to this size is by avoiding humans.

Despite its immense size, the alligator is not the largest to be found in Georgia - as the DNR told us a 14-foot one-inch alligator captured in 2015 during alligator hunting season holds the record.
Invasions by armed attackers attempting to drive out indigenous people from protected lands in Brazil have surged since president Jair Bolsonaro was elected, campaigners have said.

Hours after his inauguration in January, the right-wing leader issued an executive order which made the ministry of agriculture responsible for decisions about lands claimed by indigenous tribes.

The move means Mr Bolsonaro can deny any new land claims by them and open their land up to commercial mining and farming, which could see tribal lands destroyed as a result.

The Indigenous Missionary Council (CIMI), a campaign group linked to Brazils conference of bishops, say that land invasions have increased by 150 per cent since Mr Bolsonaro was elected in October.

Ten days after he took took office, the Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe were invaded by dozens of attackers armed with machetes and chainsaws who threatened to set fire to their settlements to drive them out.

In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon A group from the Mashco Piro people in Peru, photographed from a distance by the Madre de Dios river Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International In pictures: The uncontacted tribes of the Amazon Uncontacted Brazilian people, photographed from the air Survival International

However, the tribe managed to push the invaders back, threatening to attack them with poison-tipped arrows in their bows.

The Uru-eu-wau-wau tribe live in villages near Campo Novo de Rondonia in the northwestern state of Rondonia, an area which has historically been protected.

Although the Uru-eu-wau-wau have faced invasions by illegal loggers and farmers before, they said that the most recent attack was different.

They said that the invaders painted numbers on trees spaced out in precise intervals of 60 hectares, a sign they were staking out plots for sale to future settlers.

The tribe shared images of the attack they had taken of the attack with Brazil's Federal Police, who caught one suspect trespassing on their land. But a judge refused to issue an arrest warrant.

Authorities said they are still looking for David Elias da Silva, a local farmer they allege led the January invasion.

CIMI have also identified a spate of other attacks against indigenous people across the country since Mr Bolsonaros election. The group said that some tribes have even formed armed militias to protect their lands.

On the night of Mr Bolsonaro's victory, a health post and a school were firebombed on Pankararu lands in the northeastern Pernambuco state, CIMI said.

In the Midwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the group said, convoys of farmers fired shots at the Guarana Kaiowai community to intimidate the tribe.

Brazil is home to about 850,000 indigenous people representing roughly 300 tribes. This includes around 100 uncontacted tribes, the largest number of any country in the world.

Indigenous lands account for about 13 per cent of Brazil's territory and have long been a source of conflict with outsiders looking to tap their riches.

Mr Bolsonaro has been vocal about his attitude towards indigenous communities throughout his career, dismissing protected lands as an impediment to agribusiness.

If I become president, there won't be one square centimetre of land designated for indigenous reservations, he said during a 2017 campaign speech in the state of Mato Grosso.

Two years earlier Indigenous organisation Survival reported him as saying: There is no indigenous territory where there arent minerals. Gold, tin and magnesium are in these lands, especially in the Amazon, the richest area in the world. Im not getting into this nonsense of defending land for Indians.

While he was serving as federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro, he told Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense in 1998 that its a shame that the Brazilian cavalry wasnt as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.

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The Brazilian Socialist Party, the PSB, has now filed a case with the Supreme Court challenging Mr Bolsonaros decision to give the ministry of agriculture authority to make decisions about lands claimed by indigenous peoples. The high court has yet to rule.

Cleber Buzzatto, executive secretary of CIMI, said the changes Mr Bolsonaro has introduced regarding the protection of indigenous lands could lead to ethnocide.

Ethnographer Sydney Possuelo, a leading authority on isolated tribes, agrees that Mr Bolsanors policies could have a devastating impact on indigenous people.

The situation of Brazil's indigenous people has never been very good. But in 42 years working in the Amazon, this is the most dangerous moment I've seen, Mr Possuelo said. Loggers, miners, hunters, fishermen who invade reservations think the president is on their side now, he said.

Additional reporting by Reuters
Jane Philpott, one of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus top ministers, has resigned amid a corruption case that has embroiled the government.

Ms Philpott, the treasury board president, said that she decided to step down over the handling of an investigation into whether Mr Trudeau pressured the government to drop an investigation into alleged bribes paid by multinational engineering company SNC-Lavalin to Libya.

She said: I must abide by my core values, my ethical responsibilities, constitutional obligations.

In a letter announcing her resignation, Ms Philpott wrote that she was motivated to resign because of serious concerns over evidence of efforts by politicians and/or officials to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in the criminal case involving SNC-Lavalin.

There can be a cost to acting on ones principles, but there is a bigger cost to abandoning them, she wrote.

Justin Trudeau Show all 8 1 /8 Justin Trudeau Justin Trudeau Day out The family get in the boat with climate change AP Justin Trudeau Keeping fit Jogging over the Alexandria bridge with the Mexican president AP Justin Trudeau Family comes first Sophie inspires me every day to be better. I wouldnt be here tonight if it werent for her leadership and her example." AP Justin Trudeau Three-way handshake Trudeau has vowed to strengthen international relations. Twitter Justin Trudeau Bromance Friendship with the White House The White House Justin Trudeau Pandas Just because. Twitter Justin Trudeau Yoga The plank became an internet sensation Twitter Justin Trudeau Making history Trudeau's gender-balanced cabinet was the first of its kind AP

Mr Trudeau has denied any political meddling even as pressure has mounted, and members of the opposition party have called for his resignation.

The alleged corruption revolves around accusations that SNC-Lavalin paid $47.7m Canadian dollars in bribes to Libyan officials in order to gain contracts there, and ultimately defrauded the Libyan government out of $129.8m Canadian dollars.

Mr Trudeaus and others have been accused of pressuring the then-justice minister to drop an investigation into SNC-Lavalins bribery charges because pressing forward with the enquiry could have potentially cost Canada thousands of jobs.

The minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, refused to drop the investigation, and was later removed from her post and reassigned to a lesser position in the Canadian cabinet. Mr Trudeaus critics have said that the reassignment was in retribution for her refusal to follow the orders from the prime minister.

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Ms Wilson-Raybould herself spoke out last week to describe a four month period in which she received veiled threats from Mr Trudeaus office as the prime minister allegedly pushed for the acceptance of a settlement.

There was a concerted and sustained effort to politically influence my role as attorney general, Ms Wilson-Raybould told the Canadian House of Commons justice committee.
A project to add wider turn lanes, install traffic signals and more is scheduled to start in March 2019 at the three-point intersection of East Dundee Road and Grove Avenue in Barrington, pictured. A mix of local and state funds will pay for the work, officials have said. (Todd Shields / Pioneer Press)
A group of children are suing the US government for failing to protect them against climate change, in a case which could force the authorities to rapidly decarbonise the American economy.

The unprecedented lawsuit accuses successive administrations of knowing the science of climate change but not taking enough action to protect US citizens from the damage it causes.

The case, first filed in 2015, was initially dismissed by most legal observers as hopeless, but in 2016 a federal judge, Ann Aiken, stunned the government by refusing its attempt to end the case.

Ann Carlson, a professor of environmental law at UCLA, said this was a major development as no court had ever previously upheld the idea the government had a duty to provide its citizens a stable and safe environment.

Thats a big stretch for a court, she told CBS News. Theres no constitutional provision that says the environment should be protected.

Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Show all 25 1 /25 Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Demonstrators block Westminster Bridge in central London to show anger at government inaction on climate and ecological issues AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges A pro environment protester is arrested by police on Lambeth bridge in London EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Organised by Extinction Rebellion, the protest is part of many taking place this weekend to bring attention to political inaction on issues of pollution and climate change Reuters Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Organised by Extinction Rebellion, the protest is part of many taking place this weekend to bring attention to political inaction on issues of pollution and climate change PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Demonstrators on Blackfriars Bridge PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Police with demonstrators on Blackfriars Bridge PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges A demonstrator is led away by police on Blackfriars Bridge PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Reuters Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Reuters Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges PA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Reuters Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges AFP/Getty Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges EPA Extinction rebellion: Climate change protesters block London bridges Reuters

[But] I think that Judge Aiken actually does a very good job of saying its not radical to ask the government to protect the health, and the lives and the property of this current generation of kids.

In her ruling, Judge Aiken said: Exercising my reasoned judgment, I have no doubt that the right to a climate system capable of sustaining human life is fundamental to a free and ordered society.

The Trump administration has repeatedly tried to have the case thrown out, forcing the legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court, which last year rule unanimously in the favour of the 21 young plaintiffs and against the government.

The leading plaintiff, Kelsey Juliana, is now a student at the University of Oregon and said her direct experience of wildfires in Oregon showed how dangerous unchecked climate change would be.

This case is everything. This is the climate case. We have everything to lose, if we dont act on climate change right now, my generation and all the generations to come, she told CBS News, which covered the case as part of its 60 Minutes programme.

Others in the 21-strong group of youths are much younger, including 11-year-old Levi Draheim.

He lives on a barrier island in Florida which is just one mile wide and barely above sea level. He said he fears climate change will soon force his home underwater.

I fear that I wont have a home here in the future, he told the programme.

Julia Olsen, a lawyer from the charity Our Childrens Trust which is co-ordinating the case, said her team had uncovered evidence dating all the way back to the Lyndon Johnson administration in the 1960s which showed the government knew how dangerous greenhouse gas emissions could be on the climate.

 'It's not some kind of future threat' says Caroline Lucas as only handful of government MPs attend climate change debate

But despite every president for 50 years knowing burning fossil fuels was dangerous, the plaintiffs argue the government has failed in its duty to protect their life, liberty and happiness by not taking more drastic action to curb climate change.

Professor Carlson said if the children manage to win their case it could dramatically change the landscape in America.

Itd be massive, particularly if they won what theyre asking for, which is get the federal government out of the business of in any way subsidizing fossil fuels and get them into the business of dramatically curtailing greenhouse gases in order to protect the children who are the plaintiffs in order to create a safe climate.

That would be enormous.

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The government denies this, arguing the countrys energy policy cannot be decided by a single judge in Oregon but must instead be governed by elected officials in Congress and the White House.

The case is scheduled to return to court in June for more arguments over whether a trial should go ahead.

However, some legal experts have said that even if Judge Aiken does ultimately rule in favour of the children, the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the judgement, as it has previously ruled it was not for the judiciary to decide what was an acceptable level of pollution.
Two young sisters who went missing from their Californian home on Friday afternoon have been found safe and sound after surviving two nights in the forest.

Carolina Carrico, five, and eight-year-old Leia Carrico were discovered uninjured roughly 1.4 miles from their home in Benbow, located about 70 miles south of Eureka around 10:30am on Sunday by two firefighters.

Their disappearance had prompted an extensive multi-agency search which included the U.S. Coast Guard.

Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal said: "This is an absolute miracle. This is rugged territory, this is an extreme environment. How they were out there for 44 hours is pretty amazing.

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

"To have a positive outcome like this is just absolutely amazing... These girls definitely have a survival story to tell."

Mike Fridley of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said they were able to locate the siblings after following a trail of granola bar wrappers.

We found some clues during the day that made us change our direction, he told reporters at a press conference. We found granola bar wrappers and were able to confirm with the mom that yes those were granola bars that were bought in the last few days. The wrappers showed what direction they went in.

In addition to the wrappers, the rescue team found boot marks that matched the pink boots and purple rain boots the girls were last seen wearing.

The siblings mother had told authorities that her children had disappeared around 3pm on Friday after they asked to go on a walk and were told no.

The pair are believed to have started walking along a deer trail before getting lost. They decided to stay in one place and drank water from leaves.
Hoda Muthana, who left Alabama at the age of 19 to join the terror group Isis in Syria, said she is not a threat to America and wants to return to the US as her lawyer battles her case in court.

Speaking to CBS News in northern Syria, Ms Muthana claimed to be a US citizen, rejecting denials from Donald Trumps administration, while noting the son she had with a now-deceased Isis fighter does not hold citizenship to any country.

I was only 19 when I made my decision. And you know, people when theyre young they make very big stupid mistakes, she said. Were still trying to win the case and hopefully we will.

Ms Muthana has been held by Kurdish forces allied with the US since January, when she turned herself in amid the caliphates decline. A federal court in Washington was scheduled to review her case on Monday.

I know I am an American citizen and I know I have the right to come back, she continued. I have no other citizenship anywhere. Even my own home country I dont. Ive never been there (Yemen).

The US State Department has claimed Ms Muthana is not actually a US citizen because she was born to Yemeni parents. Her father  who worked as a diplomat in the US for a period of time  was not working as a diplomat at the time of her birth, according to her lawyer. US law does not automatically provide citizenship to the children of diplomats who are born within the countrys borders.

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

Ms Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen and will not be admitted into the United States, secretary of state Mike Pompeo said. She does not have any legal basis, no valid US passport, no right to a passport nor any visa to travel to the United States.

But Hassan Shibly, a lawyer for the woman, insisted Ms Muthana was born in the United States and had a valid passport before she joined the Islamic State in 2014. He says she has renounced the terrorist group and wants to come home to protect her 18-month-old son regardless of the legal consequences.

Shes an American. Americans break the law, said the lawyer with the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. When people break the law, we have a legal system to handle those kinds of situations to hold people accountable, and thats all shes asking for.

Ms Muthana and her son are now in a refugee camp in Syria, along with others who fled the remnants of the Islamic State.

Her lawyer said that the administration argues that she did npt qualify for citizenship because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. But the lawyer said her father had not had diplomatic status at the time of her birth in Hackensack, New Jersey.

He released a copy of the womans birth certificate, issued two months after her birth on 28 October, 1994, to support his claim.

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Ms Muthanas lawyer said she was just a stupid, naive, young dumb woman, when she became enamoured of Islamic State, believing it was an organisation that protected Muslims.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report
A rare seven-foot sunfish has been found washed ashore in California, stunning the scientist who identified its species.

The hoodwinker sunfish has not been seen in northern hemisphere waters in around 130 years.

It was identified in 2017 and is thought to live in the southern hemisphere.

An intern at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) first spotted a stranded sea creature last week at Sands Beach, in the institution's Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve.

The intern alerted Jessica Nielsen, a conservation specialist at Coal Oil Point, who initially thought the fish was an example of a local species and posted photos of the creature on Facebook.

Rare sea creature washes ashore in California Show all 5 1 /5 Rare sea creature washes ashore in California Rare sea creature washes ashore in California A hoodwinker sunfish is seen on a beach in Santa Barbara Thomas Turner Rare sea creature washes ashore in California A conservation specialist examines the beached sunfish AP Rare sea creature washes ashore in California The sunfish lays on the beach at Coal Oil Point Reserve Thomas Turner/AP Rare sea creature washes ashore in California Jessica Nielsen, a conservation specialist, examines a beached sunfish AP Rare sea creature washes ashore in California Jessica Nielsen poses next to a hoodwinker sunfish on a beach in Santa Barbara Thomas Turner

Her post caught the eye of Thomas Turner, an associate professor at UCSB, who in turn visited the creature and posted photos to iNaturalist, a scientific online community.

Eventually the images came to the attention of Marianne Nyegaard of Murdoch University in Australia.

Ms Nyegaard identified the hoodwinker sunfish species in 2017 and formally named it Mola tecta.

The species was nicknamed hoodwinker because of how long it had taken for it to be identified.

The scientist was at first unsure if the sunfish was a hoodwinker, as it was so far out of its known range.

A hoodwinker sunfish was last seen in the northern hemisphere around 1890, in the Netherlands, according to Ms Nyegaard's research.

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She told Ms Nielsen and Mr Turner to send her more photographs and to take tissue samples.

The tide had moved the sunfish several hundred yards from its original position but the pair eventually found the creature.

Ms Nyegaard said she ended up with a large number of extremely clear photos and there was just no doubt of the ID.

I literally, nearly fell off my chair, she told UCSB's The Current of her reaction to the images.

It is unclear how the sunfish ended up thousands of miles away from its native waters.

Additional reporting by agencies
Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, repeatedly donated to Kamala Harris during her rise in California politics, supporting the Democratic senator as she vied to become the states top cop, a new report has revealed.

The president first donated to Ms Harris in 2011 as she was running for attorney general. That donation amounted to $5,000 (3,793). He then donated another $1,000 (758) to her re-election campaign in 2013, Washington newspaper McClatchy reported on Monday.

Ivanka Trump also donated thousands of dollars to the Democratic senator. In 2014 she donated a reported $2,000 (1,517) to Ms Harris re-election efforts.

A spokesperson for the senators 2020 presidential campaign confirmed the presidents donations to her previous campaigns in a statement to McClatchy. They noted Ms Harris eventually donated the total sum of Mr Trumps contributions to a non-profit Central American advocacy group.

Mr Trumps support for the Democrat came at the same time as he was attacking Barack Obama on a variety of cable news shows and online, claiming he was not actually a US citizen and lacked the necessary qualifications to serve in the White House.

Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn  has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

The president and Ms Harris political views are in stark contrast and the two have exchanged harsh criticisms since Mr Trump assumed the Oval Office.

In 2018, he claimed Ms Harris was responsible for supporting the animals of MS-13, after the Los Angeles-based gang began drawing national attention for a series of violent crimes.

Recommended How Kamala Harris could radically transform US criminal justice system

Ms Harris told The Root last week she believed Mr Trump was racist, saying, I dont think you can reach any other conclusion.

Much of the Trump familys political donations went to Democrats across the country before the president expressed interest in running for the White House.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

While the vast majority of his contributions to political campaigns were directed to Democrats throughout his entire career, donations began increasing in 2010 and were instead allotted to Republicans, with the party being the sole recipient of his donations by 2011.

Despite accruing donations from wealthy donors throughout her political career, Ms Harris managed to raise an impressive $1.5m (1.14m) in donations within the first 24 hours of launching her White House bid against Mr Trump, with the average donation amounting to less than $40, according to her campaign.
 Close Trump hugs American flag launches attack on 'bull****' Russia probe in CPAC speech

Donald Trump said he would cooperate with the House Judiciary Committees sweeping investigation into his White House, campaign and businesses after the probe was announced on Monday.

When a reporter asked him Monday if he was going to cooperate with the investigation led by Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, the president replied: I cooperate all the time with everybody. You know, the beautiful thing, no collusion. Its all a hoax.

The committee has sent requests to 81 people linked to Mr Trump and his associates. Mr Nadler said on Monday the investigation will be focused on possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power. That list features the president's own children, including Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, though it does not request information from Ivanka Trump.

Mr Nadler said Mondays document requests are a way to begin building the public record and the committee has the responsibility to investigate.

The aggressive, broad investigation could set the stage for impeachment, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review Special Counsel Robert Muellers report before taking drastic action.

Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn  has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Meanwhile, three house committees in total are asking the White House and the State Department for any information on private conversations between Mr Trump and Vladimir Putin, including an interview with an interpreter who sat in on their one-on-one meeting in Helsinki last summer.

The broad requests from the House intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees ask for the substance of Mr Trump and the Russian presidents conversations in person and by phone, as well as for information on whether those conversations had any impact on US foreign policy.

The committees are also asking whether Mr Trump tried to conceal any conversations.

The committees asked for interviews with linguists, translators or interpreters who in any way listened to those conversations. Mr Trump and Mr Putin met privately in Helsinki in July for more than two hours with only interpreters present.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. Check out The Independent's live coverage below:

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Donald Trumps alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels could have first been reported by Fox News during the 2016 election  possibly derailing his shot at the presidency  had the networks leadership not wanted him to win the White House.

The report, entitled The Making of the Fox News White House by journalist Jane Mayer and published in The New Yorker on Monday, looks at the relationship between the president and his favourite news outlet from the beginning of his campaign onward.

Ms Mayer added new revelations to previous claims made by FoxNews.com reporter Diana Falzone, who previously sued the outlet for gender discrimination. Ms Falzone has claimed a story she reported in 2016 about Mr Trumps alleged affair with the porn star and resulting illegal hush-money payments made thereafter was never published by Fox News.

In her report, Ms Mayer claimed the reported decision to withhold the story came from the very top, suggesting billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch opposed unfavourable coverage of Mr Trumps candidacy. Good reporting, kiddo, she says Ken LaCorte  a senior manager at Fox News for almost two decades  told the reporter. But Rupert wants Donald Trump to win.

So just let it go, he added.

Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn  has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

A spokesperson for Fox News refuted several of the allegations made in Ms Mayers report.

Speaking to The Independent the organisation pointed to previous denials made by Megyn Kelly, who denied questions were shared with the Trump campaign ahead of a GOP debate, as well as claims from the websites former editor in chief that the report on hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels was not allowed to be published in 2016.

At the time, former Fox News digital editor-in-chief Noah Kotch claimed the story was not published because editors were not able to confirm its veracity.

Recommended Trump faces new investigation into abuse of power

Like many other outlets, we were working to report the story of Stephanie Cliffords account in October 2016 about then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump and a possible payment by Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, he said in a statement. In doing our due diligence, we were unable to verify all of the facts and publish a story.

Ms Mayer reported on Monday that Ms Falzone continued investigating the hush-money claims throughout the election, eventually discovering the apparent partnership between Mr Trump and the National Enquirer, which had reportedly been conducting catch and kill operations to silence a number of negative allegations against the president.

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The Wall Street Journal eventually broke the story of Mr Trumps former lawyer Michael Cohen arranging the hush-money payments nearly a year into his presidency.

Ms Falzone now works at Bold TV. She was demoted at Fox News in 2017 after her report on Mr Trumps alleged affair was withheld from the site. Ms Mayer reported the journalist signed a non-disclosure agreement after settling her lawsuit out of court.
Donald Trump has claimed his former lawyer Michael Cohens congressional testimony may have contributed to the collapse of last weeks US-North Korea talks.

The president suggested the House of Representatives Oversight Committees decision to interview his longtime fixer on the same day he met Kim Jong-un in Hanoi had been a factor in the two leaders failure to strike a deal.

He gave no explanation for how Mr Cohens testimony could have impacted on negotiations over Pyongyangs nuclear programme.

Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday night: For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk.

He added: Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!

Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Show all 7 1 /7 Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Donald Trump and Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong make their way to a meeting at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi Reuters Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Donald Trump waves a Vietnamese flag as Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc looks on AFP/Getty Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Donald Trump waves as he leaves the Presidential Palace in Hanoi AFP/Getty Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, right, is welcomed on his arrival at the Melia Hotel in Hanoi AP Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks Kim Jong-un waves as he arrives by train in the Vietnamese border town of Dong Dang AP Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks North Korean leader Kim Jong-un receiving a situation report before the summit with Trump AFP/Getty Trump and Kim: leaders arrive in Vietnam for talks The motorcade carrying U.S President Donald Trump drives past Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum AP

The president abruptly ended Thursdays talks with Mr Kim, telling the media the North Korean leader had demanded sanctions lifted in their entirety in exchange for denuclearisation. He said in a subsequent press conference: "Sometimes you have to walk."

Hours earlier, Mr Cohen gave explosive public testimony in which he branded Mr Trump a racist and a conman who was involved in criminal conspiracy.

Asked about his former personal lawyers evidence at a press conference in Hanoi on Thursday, the president called the allegations incorrect and criticised the decision to hold the hearing while he was away.

I tried to watch as much as I could, Mr Trump said. I wasnt able to watch too much because Ive been a little bit busy, but I think having a fake hearing like that and having it in the middle of this very important summit is really a terrible thing.

Mr Cohen had originally been scheduled to testify to the committee on 7 February but cancelled his appearance, citing threats against his family he alleged had been made by Mr Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. The committee confirmed on 20 February that it had rescheduled the testimony for last week.

The president announced the date of his summit with Mr Kim on 5 February.

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Republican senator Lindsey Graham last week accused Democrats of "undercutting an important foreign policy effort" by holding Mr Cohen's hearing on the same day as the North Korea talks.

North Korea has disputed Mr Trump's explanation for the breakdown of negotiations, saying it wanted only a partial lifting of sanctions in exchange for the dismantlement of its main nuclear facility.

Mr Cohens public testimony, in which he presented evidence Mr Trump was aware of illegal hush money payments to cover up affair allegations during the presidential campaign, was followed by behind-closed-doors grilling by two congressional panels investigating Russias interference in the 2016 election.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido faces the risk of arrest after he vowed to return home on Monday.

Mr Guaido ignored a court-imposed travel ban and left the country to tour Latin American allies to boost support for his campaign to oust president Nicolas Maduro.

His return could become the next flashpoint in his battle with Mr Maduro as he seeks to encourage his international backers to further isolate the socialist government.

Mr Guaido called for huge demonstrations to coincide with his planned return, which falls during the Carnival holiday period, an unusual time for protests.

If the regime dares, of course, to kidnap us, it will be the last mistake they make, Mr Guaido said during a broadcast on Twitter. He said they had prepared the steps to follow in case he was detained.

Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Show all 5 1 /5 Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators push a bus that was torched during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators are seen through the cracked windshield of a torched bus AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine A woman moves away from the flames of a burning bus AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine A bus that was torched during clashes with the Bolivarian National Guard AP Venezuela aid protests: Civilians demand food and medicine Demonstrators push away a bus that was torched during clashes AP

Mr Guaido, who has been recognised as Venezuelas legitimate head of state by most Western nations, secretly left Venezuela for Colombia in February, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

Troops loyal to President Maduro blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people, according to rights groups.

From Colombia, he then travelled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but has not appeared publicly since, beyond the Twitter broadcast.

To arrive in Caracas by Monday morning, he could take commercial flights from Bogota or Panama City.

Mr Maduro, who has labelled Mr Guaido a coup-mongering US puppet, has said his arrest depends on the justice system.

He cant just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country, he told ABC News last week.

 Journalists allegedly detained by Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro after showing him a video of people eating rubbish

The US has warned Mr Maduro of the consequences of arresting Mr Guaido and the Treasury imposed new sanctions targeting Venezuelan military officials on Friday.

Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community, US national security adviser John Bolton tweeted.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has also warned against any action by the Venezuelan government against Mr Guaido.

In this respect any measure that could put at risk Juan Guaidos freedom, safety or personal integrity would represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of the international community, Ms Mogherini said.

Additional reporting by agencies
It was an inauspicious moment for a military the United States is banking on to help keep an expanding China in check.

An Indian air force pilot found himself in a dogfight last week with a warplane from the Pakistani air force, and ended up a prisoner behind enemy lines for a brief time.

The pilot made it home in one piece, however bruised and shaken, but the plane, an ageing Soviet-era MiG-21, was less lucky.

The aerial clash, the first by the South Asian rivals in nearly five decades, was a rare test for the Indian military  and it left observers a bit dumbfounded.

While the challenges faced by Indias armed forces are no secret, its loss of a plane last week to a country whose military is about half the size and receives a quarter of the funding was still telling.

Recommended Six civilians killed as India and Pakistan continue shelling

Indias armed forces are in alarming shape.

If intense warfare broke out tomorrow, India could supply its troops with only 10 days of ammunition, according to government estimates. And 68 per cent of the armys equipment is so old, it is officially considered vintage.

Our troops lack modern equipment, but they have to conduct 21st century military operations, said Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence.

US officials tasked with strengthening the alliance talk about their mission with frustration  a swollen bureaucracy makes arms sales and joint training exercises cumbersome, Indian forces are vastly underfunded, and the countrys navy, army and air force tend to compete rather than work together.

Whatever the problems, the United States is determined to make the country a key ally in the coming years to hedge against Chinas growing regional ambition.

Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Show all 28 1 /28 Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen, an islamic militant group, burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an anti-India protest in Peshawar, Pakistan AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures A Pakistani girl holds a light candle during a vigil for peace in Lahore on March 3 AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures School children react as they celebrate the release of Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman by Pakistan at a school in Ahmedabad Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Indian pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan, stands under armed escort near Pakistan-India border in Wagah Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Indian Border Security Force soldiers patrol along the border with Pakistan EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures A videograb allegedly shows the captured Indian Air Force pilot in the custody of Pakistani military SWNS Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani civil society activists hold anti-war signs during a peace rally in Islamabad AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani civil society activists hold anti-war signs during a peace rally in Islamabad AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Activists of Al-Badr Mujahideen, an islamic militant group, burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an anti-India protest in Peshawar, Pakistan Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Kashmiri villagers look on at the smouldering wreckage of an Indian fighter jet after it was shot down by the Pakistani military AP Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Indian soldiers and Kashmiri onlookers stand look on as an Indian army helicopter lands near the site where an Indian Air Force jet was shot down by the Pakistani military AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures An Indian soldier gestures near the wreckage of an Indian Air Force fighter jet that was shot down by the Pakistani military AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Supporters of a Pakistani religious group Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba brand Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi a terrorist at a rally to condemn Indian aggression AP Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Indian soldiers and Kashmiri villagers look on at the smouldering wreckage of an Indian fighter jet after it was shot down by the Pakistani military AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures India's Border Security Force soldiers patrol along the fenced border with Pakistan on February 26 Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Protesters in Pakistan march against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian airstrike on allege Pakistan terrorist camp EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Supporters of India's ruling Bhartiya Janta Party workers hold Indian flags as they celebrate the Indian airstrike on allege Pakistan terrorist camp AP Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Protesters in Pakistan march against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the Indian airstrike on allege Pakistan terrorist camp EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures People in India burn an effigy that represents Pakistan as they celebrate the Indian airstrike on allege Pakistan terrorist camp Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Indian soldiers and Kashmiri villagers look on at the smouldering wreckage of an Indian fighter jet after it was shot down by the Pakistani military AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Bhartiya Janta Party workers hold Indian flags as they celebrate the Indian airstrike on allege Pakistan terrorist camp EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani Kashmiris in the border town of Chakoti walk past India-bound cargo trucks that are parked as the road to India is closed AP Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani Army soldiers escort journalists to the scene where Indian fighter jets struck in a violation of Pakistani airspace EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani Army soldiers escort journalists to the scene where Indian fighter jets struck in a violation of Pakistani airspace EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani Army soldiers escort journalists to the scene where Indian fighter jets struck in a violation of Pakistani airspace EPA Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Workers enter a concrete bunker that they have built in a residential area near the border Reuters Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani soldiers and journalists gather at the site where Indian fighter jets struck in a violation of Pakistani airspace AFP/Getty Pakistan shoots down Indian fighter jets: Reaction in pictures Pakistani soldiers and journalists gather at the site where Indian fighter jets struck in a violation of Pakistani airspace AFP/Getty

Last year, when Defence Secretary Jim Mattis announced that the Pentagon was renaming its Pacific Command  to Indo-Pacific  he emphasized Indias importance in a shifting world order.

It is our primary combatant command, said Mattis, who left the Pentagon at the end of the year. Its standing watch and intimately engaged with over half of the earths surface and its diverse populations, from Hollywood to Bollywood.

The US military began prioritising its alliance with India as its close relationship with Pakistan soured over the last two decades. US officials are concerned that Pakistan is not doing enough to fight terrorism, a charge the country denies.

In just a decade, US arms sales to India have gone from nearly zero to $15 billion. But Pakistan can still draw on a powerful US-supplied arsenal.

Indian officials say Pakistan used one of its F-16 fighter jets to down its MiG-21 last week.

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Islamabad rejected the claim, but on Sunday the US Embassy in Islamabad said the United States was looking into the report. The offensive use of an F-16 warplane against its neighbour might have been a violation of the sales agreement.

We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information, the embassy said in a statement. We take all allegations of misuse of defence articles very seriously.

However troubled its military, India holds an obvious strategic appeal to the United States by virtue of both its location and its size.

India will soon become the worlds most populous country, on track to surpass China by 2024. It shares a long border with southern and western China and controls important territorial waters Beijing needs for its maritime trade routes.

All that can help the United States try to box in its rival.

Indias sheer demographics, its long-term military potential, its geographic expanse  it makes India worth waiting for, said Jeff Smith, a research fellow for South Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington and the author of Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century.

As China rises and the United States fights to keep its dominance, it will need a swing state to tip the balance of power in the 21st century, Smith said. And that swing state is India. The United States knows this and is willing to be patient.

For Indias military, funding remains the biggest challenge.

In 2018, India announced a military budget of some $45 billion. By comparison, Chinas military budget that year was $175 billion. Last month, Delhi announced another $45 billion budget.

It is not just a question of how much India spends on its military, but how it spends it.

 Captured Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman crosses back to India

The majority of the money goes to salaries for its 1.2 million active duty troops, as well as pensions. Only $14 billion will be used to buy new hardware.

At a time when modern armies are investing hugely on upgrading their intelligence and technical capabilities, we need to be doing the same, said Gogoi, the Parliament member.

Unlike China, where an authoritarian government is free to set military policy as it wishes, India is a democracy, with all the messiness that can entail.

Cutting troop levels so the military can spend the money on buying modern equipment is not so simple. Indias military has long been a source of jobs for a country struggling with chronic underemployment. That is likely to be a big issue in elections scheduled for later this spring.

New York Times
Our set is really high energy so we like to get the crowds stomping their feet and really get up and dance, he said. It is that kind of energy-fueled performance along with a little bit of Irish stories and humor. So we will see where it goes and where it takes us.
A man accused of choking an Airbnb guest to death over an unpaid A$210 (113) bill has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Jason Colton, 42, is on trial in Victorias Supreme Court for the murder of Ramis Jonuzi who rented a room in his Melbourne home.

Mr Colton could face a life sentence if he is convicted of murder and up to 20 years in prison if the jury accepts the death was manslaughter.

Mr Jonuzi had been subletting a room from Mr Colton in the house in the Brighton East district of Melbourne in October 2017.

He had first rented the room for three nights on Airbnb for $30 a night, but agreed to stay another week for $210.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. 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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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After the week had ended with his bill left unpaid, Mr Colton threw Mr Jonuzi against a wall, choked him with his forearm and punched him unconscious, prosecutor Mark Gibson told the jury.

He said that Mr Colton choked or compressed Mr Jonuzi's neck to prevent him from breathing.

Mr Jonuzi died from compression of the neck and blunt force trauma, the court heard.

However, Mr Colton told police that he was only trying to make Mr Jonuzi pass out.

Mr Colton also allegedly forced Mr Jonuzi to prove that he had less than $10 in his bank account.

Shortly after the incident in 2017, Airbnb told AP that the Mr Jonuzis family has its full support and our hearts go out to them and all of his friends.

There is no place on Airbnb for such an abhorrent act, which violates everything our global community stands for, the company said.

We have removed this listing from our platform and will fully co-operate with law enforcement on their investigation.

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The incident follows growing concerns over the lack of rules regulating Airbnb and the dangers this poses to the tenants who need stable and affordable accommodation.

The trial continues on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by AP
Estonias far-right party has more than doubled its support in the countrys general election.

The Baltic nations centre-right Reform party pulled off a surprise win over prime minister Juri Ratas governing centre-left Centre party on Sunday.

It puts Reform leader Kaja Kallas in prime position to become the countrys first female prime minister, though she is likely to face difficult negotiations to form a governing coalition.

I have to admit I prepared two speeches, Ms Kallas told a cheering crowd of her supporters near midnight on Sunday. Now starts the real work to form the government and start to govern this country more intelligently.

Reform won 28.8 per cent of the vote, giving it 34 seats in the new 101-seat parliament, while Centre stood at 23.1 per cent and the anti-immigration Estonian Conservative Peoples Party (EKRE) at 17.8 per cent - more than double its vote from the previous election, according to the State Electoral Office.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

The eurosceptic party, led by father and son Mart and Martin Helme, won 8.1 per cent of the vote and seven parliament seats in the 2015 election.

An 18 per cent vote share translates to 19 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu.

Martin Helme, who leads EKREs faction in parliament, said he saw the partys gains as part of a trend in Europe and other parts of the world.

I think Estonia is no different than almost all other countries in Europe, where theres a serious public demand for political parties who will stand up against the globalist agenda and the ever-increasing movement of power from (EU) member states to Brussels, he said.

EKREs success has the potential to galvanise a coalition of Estonias main rival parties, Mr Ratas traditionally pro-Russian Centre and Ms Kallas pro-Western Reform.

Both have ruled out the possibility of forming a coalition with EKRE, saying populists have no place in Estonias government. But EKRE chairman Mart Helme said he had not given up on the idea.

While both parties are fiscally conservative, Centre has been seeking to make the Baltic countrys tax system increasingly progressive along the lines of richer neighbours such as Finland, while Reform has championed business-friendly reforms and the flat tax that was long the hallmark of the Estonian economy.

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Estonia enjoys strong economic growth and low unemployment, but regional differences in the country of just 1.3 million people are vast.

EKREs heartland consists of the counties farthest from the capital, Tallinn, areas where its promise to shake up politics resonated with many voters.

A fiercely anti-immigrant message lifted its support during the refugee crisis in 2015 and it has held on to the gains since then.

Election officials said preliminary figures put Sundays turnout at 63.1 per cent, a slightly lower showing than in 2015.

Additional reporting by agencies
Yellow vest protesters in France have struck upon a new way to make their point during their weekly demonstrations  hurling faeces at the police.

Gilets jaunes marchers, who have been gathering across France every Saturday since November, have been spotted in several different cities filling bags with faecal matter and then throwing them at officers who are shepherding the protests.

A police trade union official from Marseille told the AFP news agency that three officers were hit by the unsavoury projectiles on Saturday during the most recent protest.

Three policemen were soaked through with it, Rudy Manna said. The policemen were deeply humiliated.

The local police headquarters in Marseille confirmed the story and added one policeman even suffered an elbow injury when hit by a poop-filled projectile.

A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Show all 20 1 /20 A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Come With Us: a woman in support of the gilets jaunes holds a placard in Place de la Bastille square in Paris Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A man stands by Place de la Republique with a photo of a wounded protester around his neck Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests No to Marine No to Macron! Power to the People: graffiti on a side wall on the way to Place de la Republique Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A woman covered in fake blood stands in memory of those wounded by police violence during the gilets jaunes protests Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A volunteer first aid team marches with the gilets jaunes towards Place de la Bastille Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A woman attaches a placard to her jacket with two photos depicting recent violent clashes with the police Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Generation Sacrifice  Power to the Yellow Vests family: a gilets jaunes protester holds placards in Place de la Bastille Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A gilets jaunes protester covers his eye with a bandage in support of Jerome Rodrigues, who was hit in the eye by police and severely wounded Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A woman holds a placard in support of the gilets jaunes march and the right to protest freely Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A man in Place de la Bastille holds a placard in memory of those killed during the gilets jaunes demonstrations. The movement launched protests on 17 November 2018 against rising fuel prices and a planned fuel tax Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A man stands in Place de la Republique with a bandage covering his eye calling for an end to the use of LBD flashballs by the police Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Who will protect us from the police?: a banner hangs near Place de la Republique Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A gilets jaunes protester marches with a banner calling for an end to the use of flash balls by the police Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A placard in Place de la Bastille that reads: What makes us angry? Contempt, lies, injustice and violence Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Without a way, without a voice, without a roof, without a law, without him: A gilets jaunes protester holds his placard in Place de la Bastille Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A protester wears a yellow vest with the dates of gilets jaunes marches written on the back Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Stop the weapons that mutilate: a gilets jaunes protester holds a placard denouncing police violence Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests Crowds gather in Place de la Republique for the gilets jaunes ACT XII Great March of the Wounded Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A woman holds a placard in support of the change the gilets jaunes are fighting for Angela Christofilou A first-hand look inside the gilets jaunes protests A man marches towards Place de la Republique holding a placard against the use of grenades by the police at protests Angela Christofilou

Similar incidents have happened elsewhere, including the southern city of Montepellier.

Recommended Macron condemns antisemitic abuse at yellow vest demonstrations

Police have claimed gilet jaunes on social media have been planning the protests in advance, calling on demonstrators to arm themselves with cacatovs  Molotov cocktails but filled with caca, the French slang term for poo.

Mr Manna said the protesters responsible for flinging faeces at officers could not be identified from among the more than 1,000 gilets jaunes who joined the march in Marseille.

Last Saturdays round of protests and violence was the 16th consecutive round of yellow vest demonstrations in a row.

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Nearly 40,000 people took part in the latest gilets jaunes marches, which have continued despite the president Emmanuel Macron  the focus of the protesters anger  announcing a series of concessions and reforms in December.

At their height in December, more than 100 people were injured in widespread riots in central Paris.

Eleven people have died in total since the movement began.
Pope Francis has announced the Vatican will open its secret archives on Second World War-era pontiff Pius XII, who was accused by Jewish groups of staying silent on the Holocaust.

Jews have been seeking the move for decades.

Some said the pope, who served from 1939 to 1958, turned a blind eye to the Holocaust by not speaking out forcefully.

The Vatican has claimed he worked quietly behind the scenes to save Jews and not to worsen the situation for many, including for Catholics in parts of Nazi-occupied Europe.

Pope Francis declared that the church isnt afraid of history and said Pius XIIs legacy had been treated with some prejudice and exaggeration.

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

He told employees of the Vatican Secret Archives that documents spanning 1939 to 1958 would be open to researchers on 2 March 2020.

The Vatican typically waits 70 years after the end of a pontificate to open archives.

It has been under pressure to make the Pius XII documents available sooner, while Holocaust survivors are still alive.

Pius XIIs actions will be scrutinised as part of efforts to decide if he should be made a saint.

 Nelly Sachs: Who was the poet who escaped Nazi Germany and recorded the horror of the Holocaust in verse?

One of the worlds leading Jewish groups, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), welcomed the move.

For more than 30 years, the AJC has called for the full opening of the Holy Sees Secret Archives from the period of World War Two, said Rabbi David Rosen, the AJCs international director of interreligious affairs.

It is particularly important that experts from the leading Holocaust memorial institutes in Israel and the US objectively evaluate as best as possible the historical record of that most terrible of times, to acknowledge both the failures as well as the valiant efforts made during the period of the Shoah, he said, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.
An ultra-conservative Spanish group has used an image of Adolf Hitler in makeup to launch a bus campaign against feminism  branding womens rights campaigners feminazis.

Hazte Oir, which means Make Yourself Heard, are calling on Spains conservative political leaders to repeal the 2004 gender violence law and legal protections granted by Spanish regions to the LGBT+ community.

The bus will make its way through several Spanish cities  such as Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Cadiz and Pamplona  until International Womens Day this Friday when a womens strike and demonstration have been planned.

The bus includes an image of Hitler, who was responsible for the mass-murder of six million Jews during the Second World War, wearing makeup and the symbol of feminism on his military cap.

It is not gender violence, it is domestic violence. Gender laws discriminate against men, reads the slogan on the side of a bus. It is accompanied by the hashtag #StopFeminazis.

International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Show all 17 1 /17 International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Radical political activist Angela Davis speaks at a protest in Raleigh Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Poor pay, 14 hour days and dangerous working conditions led to a strike by around 1400 women and girls at a match factory in Bow, London, 1888. The action was later coined The Matchgirls Strike International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Christabel Pankhurst, one of the founders of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and a leading member of the suffragette movement, addresses a crowd in Trafalgar Square in a speech in which she invites the crowd to rush the House of Commons, 11 October 1908. Christabel Pankhurst and her mother Emmeline, alongside Flora Drummond, were arrested two days later charged with conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. The rush on parliament went ahead without them however, with over 60,000 suffragettes attempting to break through the 5000 strong police cordon protecting parliament. Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Suffragette Emily Davison is hit and killed by King George V's horse Anmer during the 1913 Epsom Derby. She fell underneath the galloping horse after leaping from the crowd and trying to grab hold of the reins Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Striking women machinists from the Ford plant at Dagenham protest outside negotiations over their wages, 1968. The women went on strike over their lack of pay in relation to their male colleagues. The action helped to trigger the Equal Pay Act 1970 Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history The women's liberation movement march in Washington, August 1970 Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Protestors disrupt the 1970 Miss World competition. Original caption: The Miss World contest causes a feminist storm as demonstrators invade the Royal Albert Hall where the contest was held. Protestors fired ink at spectators and let off stink bombs in scenes resembling a school assembly. The unruly ladies were eventually expelled from the hall by security guards and policemen Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Somalians demonstrating in Mogadishu for the release of Angela Davis, March 1972, a Black Panther activist imprisoned in the USA after being charged with first degree murder. Davis was later acquitted Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Jayaben Desai, one of the mostly British-Asian women out on strike at the Grunwick factory in 1977, pictured on the picket line Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Women protest against nuclear weapons outside of RAF base Greenham Common, 1982 Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Indian protestors hold candles during a rally in New Delhi in December 2012, after the death of a student who was gang raped on a bus in the Indian capital Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history A feminist group Sisters Uncut protesting against cuts to domestic violence refuges occupy the red carpet during a protest at the Suffragette premiere, 7 October 2015 Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history People gather for the Womens March in Washington, January 2017 Reuters International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Protesters walk during the Womens March on Washington, with the US Capitol in the background, in January, 2017. Donald Trump was sworn in as president the previous day Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Women march as part of the gender equality protest in London, March 2017 AFP/Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Demonstrators march through during the March4Women event, 4 March 2018, London Getty International Womens Day: groundbreaking figures from history Placards are displayed during the March4Women, 4 March 2018, London Getty

The Catholic group called on Spains conservative political leaders  Pablo Casado from the Popular Party (PP), Albert Rivera from Ciudadanos (Citizens) and Santiago Abascal from the far-right party Vox  to commit to repealing Spains gender violence laws for violating equality.

The laws, including a 1 billion, five-year programme passed in 2017, implemented measures to protect victims of domestic violence such as processing suspected cases within 72 hours and providing legal, psychological and social help to victims.

There is a real problem with violence but some, for ideological reasons, only want to talk about gender violence to discriminate against men, children, older people and teenagers who suffer mistreatment and attacks, Hazte Oir spokesperson Luis Losada said.

Hazte Oir had its status as a public service group stripped by the Interior Ministry this year because it felt the organisations campaigns went against the public interest.

The group made headlines in 2017 when it launched an aggressive, discriminatory bus campaign against the transgender community.

Boys have penises, girls have vulvas. Dont let them fool you. If youre born a man, youre a man. If youre a woman, you will continue to be so, read a message plastered on the bus.

The groups new campaign comes as Spain sees a lurch to the far right. The country was left stunned in December last year after Vox claimed 12 seats in Andalusia in a regional vote  the far-rights first electoral success since the countrys return to democracy in the late 1970s.

The anti-immigrant, nationalist party has never held any seats in any of the countrys legislative bodies since it was founded five years ago, but it now holds the key to forming a right-wing government in the countrys most populated region.

The Socialist Party, which has governed in the region since the death of military dictator Francisco Franco, lost its majority in Andalusias 109-seat regional assembly.

Since its surprise gains, Vox has used its position to request the names of government workers who deal with gender violence.

The mounting popularity of Vox has led the PP to take a tougher attitude to topics like gender violence and immigration to curb voters casting a vote for Vox in the forthcoming general election at the end of April.

Spains gender violence laws recently grabbed headlines when Vox said it would only support a coalition if its right-wing partners agreed to repeal the laws.

Between 2008 and 2015, 58 men were killed by their partners or ex-partners in Spain, compared to 488 women, a study by Spains highest judicial body, the CGPJ, shows.

Figures show 2017 was the worst year on record for violence against women  158,217 women were subjected to domestic violence, an 18 per cent year-on-year rise. Some 47 women were killed by their partners in 2018.

Women in Spain marked International Womens Day last year by deserting paid and unpaid labour to take part in the countrys first nationwide feminist strike. The 24-hour walkout, aimed at drawing attention to domestic violence, sexual discrimination and the gender pay gap, substantially disrupted the countrys train network.

Feminist groups called for women to abandon their domestic chores for the day and not spend any money in an attempt to show how integral women are to the economy. Activists marched to call for an end to gender disparities in salaries, gender violence and the nations macho culture.
Joy and foreboding hung in the air as the protesters surged into the centre of Algiers just past midnight on Monday.

There were students and labourers, pious young women in headscarves and secular leftists sporting berets. The thousands of demonstrators from all walks of life demanded an end to the 20-year reign of Algerias ailing, 82-year-old president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, hours after he announced he would be running for a fifth consecutive term on 18 April.

This is a republic, not a kingdom, they chanted.

Algerias well-armed, highly trained security forces were standing guard. Some of the protesters felt fear as they entered the Place du 1er Mai, the very heart of the Algerian capital. At first the police seemed to block the way, but then at around 1:30 am, they relented, giving the protesters control of the square.

The police gave up, one protester told The Independent. They were tired, and the crowd was extraordinarily resilient.

Algerians frequently protest, but the two-week wave of protests against a fifth Bouteflika term now erupting across Algeria may constitute the greatest political challenge to the countrys complex regime in 30 years.

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

On Sunday, the wheelchair bound Mr Bouteflika, currently under medical treatment in Switzerland, promised in a statement to stay in office one more year, draw up constitutional reforms, stand down, and call for early elections.

I listened and heard the heartfelt cry of protesters and in particular of the thousands of youth who asked me about the future of our country, said the letter, which was read aloud by his campaign manager.

But few trust him and his entourage at their word. Mr Bouteflika pushed through constitutional changes a decade ago so he could run for a third term, and promised five years ago to change the constitution and hand power to the young. He never did.

Protesters hit the streets again on Monday, with hundreds flooding the centre of Constantine and other cities.

Historically Algerias protests have been about tangible things that the government can respond to - sanitation, water, electricity, said Geoffrey Porter, a senior fellow and North Africa specialist at West Point and CEO of North Africa Risk Consulting. These protests are about the system. And its difficult for the government to alter the political system in a way that mollifies their concerns.

Dominated by competing networks of security officials and politicians with roots in the dominant National Liberation Front (FLN) that drove the French out of the country in the 1960s, the nations political elite has grown out of touch, and some say corrupt and incompetent.

Algerian students demonstrate at Algiers' school of medicine against ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term. (AFP/Getty Images)

Algeria is Africas largest nation by land mass, an oil and gas-rich behemoth with one of the most modern militaries in the developing world, and an important if off often quiet security partner to the West, especially in combating extremist groups in North Africa and the Sahel.

Algerias international partners have taken notice of the protests. "France is following very closely what is happening in Algeria, said Didier Guillaume, a French cabinet minister, said in television interview. It looks like what happened before in other countries, such as Tunisia or Egypt. We need this region to be calm and peaceful.

But trouble has been brewing in Algeria for years. Despite its resources, the nation of 41 million consistently punches below its weight economically and diplomatically. It has failed to invest its hydrocarbon revenues in industries that could provide jobs for its burgeoning youth, instead doling out patronage cash to maintain loyalty to the state. Unemployment is at nearly 12 percent and youth unemployment at 30 per cent.

Analysts warn that the countrys economic state is about to worsen with mismanagement leading to increased domestic gas consumption and decreased state revenues. Fitch Solutions, a London consulting firm, predicted earlier this year that Algerias annual growth rate will plummet from about 2.5 per cent, to 1.25 per cent in the next several years, not nearly enough to employ youth entering the job market.

Resentment towards the ruling elite runs wide and deep, with many among the youth, students, and struggling middle class utterly lacking faith in the countrys leadership. In recent years, Algiers authorities tightened already stringent restrictions on foreign journalists visiting the country, so there are few if any independent assessments of how and whether the protesters are connected to the broader malaise.

The protests also may signal a generational shift. Algerians took to the streets demanding political change in the late 1980s, sparking a brief democratic opening followed by a crackdown by generals against surging Islamists and a calamitous 1990s civil war that continues to haunt the country.

That may be why many Algerians were reluctant to take part in protests that coincided with the Arab Spring uprisings eight years ago. Videos of protests posted to the internet in recent days, show hundreds of Algerians in their early 20s, who never experienced the horrors of the 1990s. The demonstrations of the last few days have a devil-may-care spirit that may spook some older Algerians shaped by a war that left hundreds of thousands dead.

There won't be a 5th term for you, oh, Bouteflika, is one slogan protesters have been chanting. Even if you bring the commandos and add the SWATs.

So far, Algerians across the political spectrum appear supportive of the protests. On Monday, news presenter Nadia Madassi abruptly resigned amid allegations she was censored. Jurists and doctors have called for strikes. Labour action in the energy sector could prove decisive.

A former Algerian minister, Sidi Ferroukhi, on Monday resigned from parliament and the FLN in a Facebook post seen as a gesture of solidarity with the protesters.

Algerians participate in a protest rally against ailing presidents bid for a fifth term in power, in the northeastern city of Annaba (AFP/Getty)

But many Algerians could become squeamish if the protests turn violent either at the hands of demonstrators or the security forces. Except for neighbouring Tunisia, protest across the Arab world have rarely led to democratic openings - but more misery regardless of outcome.

Historically Algerias protests have been about tangible things that the government can respond to - sanitation, water, electricity Geoffrey Porter, a senior fellow and North Africa specialist at West Point and CEO of North Africa Risk Consulting

Still, Algeria has a far messier, pluralistic, and flexible political system than other Arab autocracies. It has a relatively free press and allows limited freedom of expression. Some 20 candidates are said to be running for the presidency, though none of them has much name recognition or will be able to marshall state resources like Mr Bouteflika.

Ali Benflis, a former prime minister turned prominent opposition leader, announced Sunday that he would not run, instead sketching out a roadmap for political change by postponing elections until October and forming a technocratic, independent government tasked with organising a presidential election as well as running the usual affairs of the state

Algerias leadership is less a one-man show than an intertwined network of political, military, and business leaders. Even if Mr Bouteflika were to agree to stand down, it remains unclear who could win the confidence of both protesters and the ruling elite.

There is a finite pool of qualified candidates that could run Algeria, said Mr Porter. And that finite pool is all in some ways connected to the current political system.
A prominent Egyptian photojournalist has been released after spending five years in jail on trumped-up charges.

During his detention, Mahmoud Abu Zaid, known as "Shawkan," became a symbol of a new crackdown on freedom of expression in Egypt following its 2011 revolution.

Shawkan was arrested while covering the dispersal of a 2013 sit-in protest in Cairo held by supporters of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi, the countrys first democratically elected leader. The month-long demonstration was brutally put down by security forces, leading to the deaths of more than 800 protesters.

"I can't describe how I feel ... I am free," he said on Monday, following his release.

Upon arrest he was charged with 24 offences, including murder, and later convicted in a mass trial of more than 700 people. When he was sentenced to five years in jail in September 2018, Amnesty International called him a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for doing his journalistic work.

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

Shawkan was freed on Monday after serving his sentence, but under the conditions of his release he will be forced to live under police observation for five years, during which time he will be forced to spend 12 hours a day at a police station. Amnesty International condemned the harsh terms on Monday.

After his release he faces ludicrous probation measures which require him to spend 12 hours of each day at a police station from 6pm to 6am for the next five years," said Najia Bounaim, Amnesty Internationals North Africa Campaigns Director. "These outrageous measures will severely restrict his liberty and should be lifted immediately."

Despite this, he has vowed to continue his work as a journalist.

"All journalists are at risk of being arrested or killed while doing their work. I am not the first and I will not be the last," he said.

His mother, Reda Mahrous, said she felt "born again" after welcoming her son home.

"I feel relieved. I used to stay awake at night thinking, telling myself that Mahmoud will come back today or tomorrow," she said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists awarded him its International Press Freedom Award in 2016. The press freedom group welcomed his release.

"We are relieved to hear that Shawkan is finally free after spending over five years in jail and call on authorities to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour.

"The Egyptian government should take steps immediately to improve its image, which has been badly tarnished by this unjust imprisonment--and it can start by releasing all journalists jailed in relation to their work."

Under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, the countrys former army chief who took power in the coup that removed Mr Morsi, Egypt has imprisoned dozens of journalists.

In the five years since Mr Sisi has been president, Egyptian security forces have arrested or charged at least 60,000 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Torture of political detainees has become widespread and endemic, and no opposition to the government is tolerated.
Hundreds of Isis prisoners have been released from jail in Syria, after Kurdish authorities holding them said that they had no blood on their hands.

Some 283 Syrians suspected of being Isis members were released by the Syrian Democratic Forces over the weekend as a gesture of cooperation, fraternity and clemency, the group said in a statement.

The move was reportedly negotiated with tribal leaders from northeast Syria, many of whom have played a key role in the fight against Isis as part of the joint Arab-Kurdish SDF.

They had lost their way ... violated the traditions of the Syrian society and the law, and some of them had been deceived ... but they remain our Syrian children, the statement said.

The group said those released were not involved in fighting, but may have held administrative positions within the group. The SDF did not reply to The Independent's request for comment.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

The SDF has said they are only days away from liberating the last Isis-held territory in Baghouz, in Syrias eastern Deir ez-Zor province.

After a day and night of heavy fighting, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 150 Isis fighters had surrendered on Monday morning.

The release comes amid a debate over the fate of hundreds of Europeans who came to join Isis, and are also in SDF custody.

As the caliphate has shrunk over the past few months, thousands of Isis fighters and their families have fled the area and surrendered to the SDF, among them more than 800 European citizens.

The group is now calling for countries to take back the foreigners who came to Syria, saying it does not have the resources to hold them indefinitely. But the UK and most other European countries have so far refused to consider repatriating them, citing security fears.

One of them, Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old British woman who travelled to Syria to join the group in 2015, recently had her citizenship stripped by the home office. The home secretary, Sajid Javid, has previously said that he would move to block any British citizen suspected of joining Isis from returning.

An SDF fighter holds his position during an anti-Isis operation (AFP/Getty) (AFP)

But the release of the Syrian Isis prisoners appears to have been motivated by local concerns, and is unlikely to affect the detention of Europeans. It is also not the first time large numbers have been released.

This happens a lot, Hassan Hassan, director of non-state actors programme at the Center for Global Policy, told the Independent. They say these guys didnt really join because of the ideology and they didnt kill anybody. But the concern is that future scenarios could lead some of those people to go back to Isis.

Most of those being released are thought to be members of the powerful Sunni tribes from the Euphrates River area. When Isis took control of Deir ez-Zor, it used violence to coerce many tribal members into joining the organisation. But many took up arms against the group, and fought alongside Kurdish fighters as part of the SDF.

The SDF has presented itself as an alternative model of governance to the Syrian government, and controls roughly one third of the country. While the group is made up of mostly Kurdish fighters, its territory also covers Arab towns and cities. Managing that territory after the fall of Isis will require cooperation between Kurdish groups and the tribes of eastern Syria, according to Hassan.

The SDF has been working on outreach and deepening their relations with the tribes, he said. The problem is when tribes start to intervene to get their relatives out. What do you do? How do you balance between engaging with tribes and at the same time not opening doors to Isis to return through sleeper cells and half hearted sympathisers.
Rights groups have demanded the United Arab Emirates grant them immediate access to an Emirati princess, one year on from her alleged capture by the authorities while she was trying to escape the country.

Sheikha Latifa, 33 the daughter of Dubais ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has not publicly spoken since she was apparently forcibly returned to Dubai and disappeared for nine months last year, after she was detained at sea while trying to flee to Goa, India.

She has only been seen once since then, when she appeared in photographs taken in Dubai during a visit by Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The highly publicised and bizarre meeting in December was panned by rights groups for being stage-managed by the Emirati ruling family: Ms Robinson is a personal friend of Sheikha Haya, a wife of the Dubai ruler.

Exactly one year on from Latifa's dramatic capture at sea, rights groups told The Independent they were deeply concerned about her welfare and still had no knowledge of what happened to her between her March 2018 capture and December when she reappeared in Dubai.

 UN asked to intervene over Dubai ruler's daughter Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammad al-Maktoum 'being detained against her will' after failed escape from UAE

Pleas to the UAE for an independent delegation to be granted access to the royal to assess her have gone unanswered.

Human Rights Watch is still calling for her to be able to travel to a third country where we and other monitors can be assured she is able to speak freely and independently without fear of retaliation, Hiba Zayadin of HRW told The Independent.

Ms Robinson is not equipped to make an evaluation of Latifa, who was in the presence of people who allegedly forcibly disappeared her, she added.

Amnesty International put out a similar call.

There has been no reply from the UAE, which has never responded to anything regarding domestic human-rights abuses that Amnesty International has attempted to raise with them, said Amnestys Devin Kenney.

No new information has emerged since Mary Robinson's lunch with the royal family, which is the first and last time Latifa has been seen or heard since she was kidnapped off the high seas, he added.

David Haigh, the CEO of UK based legal advocacy NGO Detained International, whose organisation is working on the case told The Independent they were particularly concerned as they had medical information which proved she was sound of mine and to disturbed as the Emirati authorities had said. Mr Haigh said Tiina Jauhiainen, a Finnish capoeira teacher who had helped with Sheikha Latifa's escape in 2018, addressed a UN committee on enforced disappearances about the matter in February outlining the abuse both of them suffered.

Radha Stirling, head of the UK-based group Detained in Dubai, told The Independent that the group would raise her case again with the same UN committee in a meeting scheduled next month.

We only learned at the end of 2018 that Latifa is alive, but she appears to be under some form of medical treatment which she never required before in her life; and she is still not able to communicate or move freely, Ms Stirling said.

The UAE has not cooperated with the United Nations enquiry into her abduction, and that investigation is ongoing."

Sheikha Latifa recorded a video shortly before her escape which was shared online by friends after she went missing.

In it she detailed the reasons for wanting to leave the Emirates, including being barred from driving or travelling and being jailed on fathers orders for over three years.

During the 40-minute video she claimed she had been tortured, held in solitary confinement, threatened with death and drugged during previous escape attempts. She said she feared she would be detained and tortured again if her latest attempt failed.

In March last year she was reportedly driven across the Oman border by Ms Jauhiainen, a close friend who worked at the royal court, before taking a jet ski to a waiting boat manned by Herve Jaubert, an-ex French special forces officer. Indian coastguards later intercepted the boat and Latifa re-appeared nine months later in the Emirati city.

The UAE has repeatedly denied that Sheikh Latifa was forcibly returned home or harmed but has never explained what happened between her dramatic capture in March 2018 and December when photos were released of her back in Dubai.

Neither has the young princess been given an opportunity to speak for herself.

She is the second of the Sheikh Maktoum's daughters to allegedly disappear. Latifas older sister, Shamsa, was reportedly seized on the streets of Cambridge after fleeing the familys Surrey estate in 2000 and has not been seen or heard from since.

The Dubai authorities did not respond to The Independents request for comment but has repeatedly denied charges of wrong doing.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum recently flew 250,000 in aid to Haiti in his private jet (Getty Images)

In a statement written to Sky News in December, the authorities said were deeply saddened by media speculation regarding her situation.

They said Latifa was safe in Dubai and looking forward to  building a happy and stable future.

They denied the false allegations and released photos of her with Ms Robinson, who agreed to visit Dubai to meet her in Princess Hayas home.

Ms Robinson said after the visit that the princess was mentally unwell and claimed a ransom had been demanded when she disappeared.

Latifa is vulnerable, she is troubled. She made a video that she now regrets and was part of a plan of escape under circumstances which need to be examined," Ms Robinson told BBC Radio 4 in December.

You have to bear in mind this a troubled young woman who has a serious medical situation. She is receiving psychiatric care. They dont want to endure any more publicity, she added.

The UAE has not cooperated with the United Nations enquiry into her abduction, and that investigation is ongoing Radha Stirling, Detained in Dubai

The former Irish president faced a torrent of criticism from rights groups who said she failed to ask key questions about what why the princess had vanished for so long.

Ms Robinson declined to comment on Monday when The Independent reached out to her.

Detained in Dubais Stirling said Ms Robinson appeared to be reciting almost verbatim from Dubais script and dismissed it as a PR stunt.

The UAE should have not circumvented normal UN protocols.

Speaking to The Independent Herve Jaubert, 62 who tried to help the princess escape, said he last spoke to her when he claimed he saw her being dragged off his vessel by the Indian coast guard.

Ive not heard anything from her ever since. I believe she is under watch 24/7 and they wont leave her or let her have a phone," he said.

He said that the princess had first reached out to him in 2011, after reading his book detailing his own escape, and had been planning her flight for seven years.

Recounting the escape, he said his US-flagged yacht was in international waters and off the coast of India when he contacted Detained in Dubai and other rights groups as he noticed they were being tailed by the Indian coastguard.

He claimed the 4 March 2018 incident was a full-blown military attack involving three boats and a surveillance plane, and that he was beaten up by the Indian authorities.

He said he saw Sheikh Latifa be dragged off kicking and screaming of political asylum".

I believe she is under watch 24/7 and they wont leave her or let her have a phone Herve Jaubert, <g class="gr_ gr_144 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_inline_cards gr_run_anim Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" data-gr-id="144" id="144">friend</g> of Sheikha Latifa

This is a human rights violation. We never saw her again. They took her away on helicopter,

Rights groups have long complained of rights abuses in the UAE and the lack of freedom particular for women, who are subject to a guardianship system, which means male relatives can take women to court for being disobedient.

The most recent case of a woman trying to flee the country is Hind al-Bolooki, 43, who made a desperate plea last month for asylum in North Macedonia after escaping the UAE when her family would not grant her a divorce.

She posted a video online when her asylum claim was rejected, and said she feared being deported back to the UAE.

Mr Kinney said Between Sheikha Latifa and Hind al-Bolooki, you have two very public examples of women who felt compelled to flee in dramatic fashion because of male chauvinism and violence."
The US has officially closed its consulate in Jerusalem, which served Palestinians, and has folded it into the US embassy to Israel.

The consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians for decades, but now that mission will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over US diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement.

It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Show all 10 1 /10 Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters burn tires during a demonstration on the Israel border on February 22 2019 AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters run through smoke from tear gas and burning tires during a demonstration near the fence along the border with Israel on February 22 2019 AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters climb the fence along the border with Israel during a demonstration AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters holding national flags walk past burning tires during a demonstration on the Israel border AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border A Palestinian protester wears a head band as he takes part in a demonstration near the fence along the border with Israel, east of Gaza City on February 22 2019 AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters and a medic run to pick up a child during a demonstration near the fence along the border with Israel on February 22 2019 AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border Palestinian protesters run through smoke from tear gas and burning tires during a demonstration near the fence along the border with Israel on February 22 2019 AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border A man carries the Palestinian flag during a demonstration near the border fence with Israel AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border A Palestinian protester wears a mask painted in the colours of the national flag during a demonstration on the Israel border AFP/Getty Palestinian protesters light fires along the Israel border A Palestinian protester returns a tear gas canister thrown by Israeli troops during a demonstration on the border AFP/Getty

When first announced by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, with Palestinian official Saeb Erekat slamming the move as the final nail in the coffin for the US role in peacemaking.

Speaking on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, Dr Hanan Ashwari said: The Trump Administration is intent on leaving no room for doubt about its hostility towards the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights as well as its abject disregard for international law and its obligations under the law.

Merging the US Consulate in Jerusalem with the US Embassy to Israel, which is now illegally located in Jerusalem, is not an administrative decision. It is an act of political assault on Palestinian rights and identity and a negation of the Consulates historic status and function, dating back nearly two hundred years.

She added: The US administration is subsuming Palestine under Israel and aligning itself with the racist Israeli right, which negates Palestinian identity, history, narrative and national rights.

It is positioning itself with rogue states that have no regard for international law or respect for the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force, a founding principle of the international order as we know it.

 Trump backs two-state solution for Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Donald Trump outraged the Arab world and came under international criticism for recognising Jerusalem as Israels capital in December 2017, and for moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last May.

The administration also slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programmes.

It has cut funding to the UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees.

Last Autumn, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

Palestinian leaders suspended diplomatic contacts with the US administration after the embassy move and have since boycotted US efforts to craft a long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, accusing Washington of pro-Israel bias.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the US has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious Deal of the Century to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

President Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the US would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the US of bias towards Israel.
All of the sketches take place between 8:50 p.m. and just after 9 p.m. on a Friday night in extreme northern Maine, about the time the Northern Lights are about to appear in the night sky, according to director Elizabeth Mazur Levin of Highland Park.
American Airlines has issued an apology to a mother and her son after they were thrown off a flight because of a rare genetic skin condition.

Jordan Flake was asked to leave a flight bound for South Carolina on 28 February by cabin crew after they noticed the pair had a rash.

Detailing the incident in a Facebook post, she wrote: Before take-off, a man (employee called on flight to handle the situation) came up to my row and asked the 2 men sitting next to me to get up.

She continued: He then quietly asked me about my rash and if I had a letter from a doctor stating it was ok for me to fly.

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According to Ms Flake, despite explaining she and her son Jackson were born with ichthyosis, which, according to the NHS, is a non-contagious condition that causes extremely dry, thick and scaly skin, the employee told her she and her son would have to leave the plane.

He talked to the pilot as we were getting off. The pilot seemed ok with it, but the flight attendant rudely said (without even acknowledging me) well she doesnt have a letter from a doctor, so...

Ms Flake said shed never been so humiliated in my life and also noted that the incident coincidentally took place on Rare Disease Day.

American Airlines has issued an apology to Jordan Flake and her toddler son (Reuters)

Quit being ignorant and take the time to listen to people! I shouldnt have to explain myself, she concluded the post.

Just to clarify, my issue is with the crew. Not an airline employee. He was called by the crew to remove me from the plane, Ms Flake added. He was very helpful and mad about the situation. He tried advocating for me.

Ms Flake, who was returning home following a trip to Texas to see her husband before his military deployment, said an American Airlines employee helped me off the plane, got me a hotel and a new flight with a different airline but the airline was unable to retrieve her checked bags.

American Airlines said in a statement: Our goal at American Airlines is to create a welcoming environment for all of our customers.

We sincerely apologise to Ms Flake and her son for the experience they had Thursday, and our team has begun an investigation into the matter.

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The company added that it had been in touch with Ms Flake and would be refunding the cost of her trip.

In January, the carrier was accused of discrimination by Jewish family, who were thrown off a flight from Miami to Detroit for alleged body odour.
Q I am having a nightmare checking in for a flight tomorrow. My husband and I are flying to Sri Lanka with a two-year-old and an 11-week-old baby. The airline has assigned us seats in different rows. Do we have any rights to insist that they sit us together?

Name withheld

A On a flight taking 10-hours-plus with two children so young, I can understand how important it is for you all to be sat together. I infer that the two-year-old has been allocated with either you or your husband, while the 11-week-old is assumed to be on your lap.
Malaysias transport minister has said that he is open to being persuaded that new technology could help find MH370, the flight which disappeared five years ago this week.

Anthony Loke said: We are more than willing to restart the search.

Two previous wide-scale sweeps of the Indian Ocean seabed have failed to find any trace of the Boeing 777 that vanished on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board.

The jet strayed from its intended course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. While the aircraft was not tracked at the time, because its transponder was apparently turned off, later interpretation of automatically transmitted pings from the plane led investigators to conclude it is lost in the southeast Indian Ocean.

Some debris from the doomed flight has been washed up on Indian Ocean beaches. But the biggest underwater search in history, coordinated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, was called off in January 2017 after two years.

MH370 debris - in pictures Show all 7 1 /7 MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French police officers carry a piece of debris from a plane in Saint-Andre, Reunion Island. AP MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion AFP PHOTO / YANNICK PITOUYANNICK PITOU/AFP/Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris The plane part is being taken to France for further investigation Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion Reuters MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Johnny Begue, a member of a local shore cleaning association, in Saint-Andre, French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, holds the remain of a suitcase found the day before on the same site Getty Images MH370 debris - in pictures MH370 debris Searches continued on Friday for other possible MH370 debris along beaches on the island of Reunion AP

An American firm, Ocean Infinity, spent several months in 2018 searching a different patch of seabed on a no-find, no-fee basis.

At the fifth MH370 Remembrance Event in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Loke said that if Ocean Infinity or another organisation could make a convincing case for deploying sophisticated new underwater drones, Malaysia would begin a third search.

Relatives of the 227 passengers and 12 crew on the flight have been pressing for a resumption of the search. The argument advanced on social media is that it is essential to find out what happened to their loved ones in order to enhance aviation security in future.

Official organisations concur that a criminal act was behind the disappearance. The possibility of a hacker taking control was dismissed in the final accident report, which said: There is no evidence to support the belief that control of the aircraftcould have been or was taken over remotely.

But it concluded: The team is unable to determine the real cause for the disappearance of MH370.
Rarely does much good emerge from a public panic, but the sheer scale and nature of street knife crime has rightly created a sense of urgency about the problem. There is even some intelligent, sensible, constructive debate about the best way to deal with the scourge.

With so many young lives lost to sometimes apparently motiveless murder, it is easy to despair at why this is happening. The facts are stark. While the overall total of knife offences has risen by about a third in recent years, it has only returned to 2011 levels. What has risen to crisis levels not seen since just after the end of the Second World War is the number of fatal stabbings. These numbered some 285 killings by a knife or sharp instrument in the 12 months ending in March 2018, with 20 recorded so far this year. The number of under-18s using knives to kill is up by 75 per cent in three years. NHS data indicates a 93 per cent rise in the number of children being treated for wounds caused by knives or other sharp objects since 2014.

The demographics of knife crime are also well-known: one quarter of offenders was young men (18 to 24), and the victims were disproportionately black, also one quarter. Black Lives Matter is a phrase that sadly comes to mind in this context, and it is telling that the greatest wave of public concern about these violent assaults has arrived with the murder of a white girl in east London.

In any case, all these lives matter equally, and each should be accorded the same level of police effort. That is the most basic of requirements if the threat of tougher sentencing is to have much effect. If you believe that you have little chance of detection, then it doesnt matter much how severe the sentencing is going to be if you are ever brought to justice.

Plainly, despite the best efforts of police officers, this aspect of the war on knife crime is failing. Some of this is due to cuts in police numbers and funding. This is beginning to be reversed, though not rapidly enough for HM government to confident claim that its fulfilling its first duty  to protect the people from harm. As Lord Hogan-Howe, a former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police points out, there is a desperate need to equip the police with the best of the new technologies to help them to do their job. Given the prevalence of CCTV, for example, as well as advances in DNA and other techniques, the detection of crime should be much easier than it used to be. Many types of crime have been virtually eliminated by such advances, and the police need every help they can get in their work.

Of course much of the knife crime, and its growth, is down to the prevalence of gangs, the expansion of the drugs trade and the vicissitudes of the value of particular substances, in turn often related to the weather in parts of Mexico and Colombia. Gangs work on the basis of fear and the omerta they can impose on their members and their members families. It is a form of intimidation and protection racket, and is notoriously difficult  though not impossible  to crack.

The priority, as Lord Hogan-Howe suggests, is to make sure that the young men (usually) who carry knives have more to fear from being caught by the authorities in possession of one rather than the fear of being confronted with an enemy without one. Sensitively and transparently administered stop-and-search powers can play a large part in this, as can additional security in schools and, in this case, exemplary custodial sentences, in particular for younger offenders. All of these have their risks, and have suffered grievous failures in the past. Yet there is no doubt that the increasing confidence that a knife can be routinely carried from home to school  in the park and in town, and back home again with no disturbance from police, teachers, parents or anyone else  is a significant factor in the rise of knife crime. It might also help if the drastic cuts in youth services were reversed. A cost-benefit analysis that takes proper account of the financial consequences of murder and serious assault would probably suggest that, if anything, spending and facilities should be expanded to where they were before the recession and financial crisis. The human cost makes the case incontrovertible.

It is not simply a matter of money  but of ensuring the money is properly spent. As the former commissioner  a much-needed voice of experience and common sense  asks: Id want to know, week after week, when are you recruiting them? When do they arrive? When do they get trained? And when do they hit the streets? You want to know day-by-day whats going to get delivered. And I dont get that sense of grip. Whether a knife tsar is the answer is debatable; it might be better to have the home secretary drive the effort forward, at least in England, with his equivalents in the devolved administrations and mayoralties such as London, Manchester and Birmingham doing the same. Far better intelligence is required too  and if the secret services need to take an interest in this then there is every reason to involve them, and to expand their domestic powers of electronic surveillance to match.

So those are practical remedies that can be used in the short term. Longer term, we have the much-discussed experiences of Glasgow and Boston Massachusetts to draw upon. If it does not exist already, there should be some way of transferring the lessons from these successful examples to the cities now living in so much fear.

There is, then, no need for panic, but an imperative need for action this day, and for the public to gain reassurance that this fearful crime is being taken seriously, and that no mere question of money is compromising their personal safety. Longer term, it will be, like much police work, a matter of hard work on the ground by underappreciated and overworked public servants. It was ever thus: it will be a long haul.
A young person I spoke with in my other job as a youth worker confided in me about her periods and how they were causing her hideous pain each month.

She told me that she was passing enormous blood clots and soaking a sanitary towel so frequently she was unable to make it through a lesson at school.

I felt shocked, but I remained calm and gently encouraged her to seek help from her GP.

I cant do that, she gasped, looking appalled, as if I was trying to persuade her to stand up in front of her entire school and talk about menstruation.

She was ashamed and embarrassed of her monthly trauma. She had learned not to talk about periods, like they were some sort of dirty secret. Even among people like her mum.

Period euphemisms around the World Show all 8 1 /8 Period euphemisms around the World Period euphemisms around the World Germany 'Erdbeerwoche': translates as 'strawberry week' iStock Period euphemisms around the World France 'Les Anglais out debarque' or 'The English have arrived' referring to past wars with England and possibly the British army's red coats Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Brazil 'Eustou Com Chico' or "I'm with Chico' in reference to socialist Chico Mendes and possibly his gruesome assassination in the late 80's Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World Finland The Finnish affectionately refer to periods and pms as 'Hullum Lechman Tauti' or 'mad cow disease' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World The United States Though there are many varied terms, a popular americans commonly refer to periods as 'Aunt Flo' iStock Period euphemisms around the World China In China you may hear 'its little sister to come in' iStock Period euphemisms around the World Denmark 'Der Er Kommunister i Lysthuset' or 'There are communists in the funhouse' Getty Images Period euphemisms around the World South Africa A famed colloquialism for a period in South Africa is 'Grannys stuck in traffic' iStock

It saddens me that in 2019 a normal, essential bodily function of half the population is still seen as taboo to so many.

Therefore I am delighted to hear that the government has finally put in plans for every child in England to be taught about menstrual wellbeing.

This week, education secretary Damian Hinds set out plans to make relationships education in all primary schools, and relationships and sex education in all secondary schools, compulsory, resulting in all pupils  regardless of their gender  being taught the facts about menstrual wellbeing.

I felt passionate about the campaign which led to this moment, because of my role as a youth worker and because I understand the impact not talking about periods can have on a person.

I have endometriosis, an incurable, chronic condition, of which one of the symptoms can be painful, heavy periods.

I was an adult when I was diagnosed. I could articulate my symptoms. Yet still it took years to receive this diagnosis, partly because the many GPs I saw didnt recognise the symptoms and refer me to a gynaecologist, and partly because I had never heard of endometriosis, despite it affecting one in 10 women.

Had I been taught about menstrual wellbeing at school, I might have pushed to see a gynaecologist and been diagnosed sooner.

Symptoms of endometriosis can hit as soon as a girl starts her period. Imagine a teenage girl trying to find the words to explain to others the excruciating pain experienced each month. Would she recognise that her period was any different to her friends?

Putting menstrual wellbeing on the curriculum will help overcome the taboos and embarrassment surrounding periods, as well as empowering girls to understand what is and isnt normal for their menstrual cycle.

They will learn the correct language to communicate about their periods if they need to seek help, and the confidence to do this, without feeling embarrassed.

When I first complained of painful, heavy periods, I was put on the contraceptive pill, despite not actually needing contraception at the time.

For years my concerns were undermined. I worry that young girls, finally equipped with the knowledge and language to explain their concerns regarding their period will seek help, only to still have their fears dismissed by an older generation in desperate need of playing catchup.

I hate to think of the distress this might cause, and the impact on a young girls mental health, being constantly told there is nothing wrong.

Although menstrual wellbeing on the curriculum is a positive step, there is still a long way to go before it is taken as seriously as it should be, and not dismissed as womens problems; something we have to put up with each month.

Im not being a wimp by staying at home with a hot water bottle for tummy cramps when I have suffered in the past. Im in agony, unable to get out of bed from exhaustion, yet unable to sleep because of constant, debilitating pain. This isnt normal. Yet many might believe it is.

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Until we can get rid of the stigma that surrounds periods, for everyone, women will continue to suffer. And unless everyone is educated about what is normal and what isnt, then the appalling 7.5-year delay in diagnosis of endometriosis will never reduce.

I hope the young girl who confided in me about her period managed to receive the help she needed.

However, if her experience is anything like mine, she may face a long, difficult and frustrating battle ahead for both diagnosis and effective treatment, which sadly highlights the inequality still present today surrounding womens menstrual health.
I was utterly disgusted at the sight of the Commons chamber practically empty for last Thursdays debate on climate change. I wonder how many of the MPs absent for this debate  the first for two years on this crucial issue  were among those telling school students that they should have been in lessons, rather than marching for the climate, on 15 February? What sickening hypocrisy.

Mike Wright

Nuneaton

Chris Grayling gives hope to us all

A plea on behalf of Mr Grayling. Ever since I was young there has always been someone in public life who I have been able to rely on to take a position, on practically any issue, that is wrong-headed. Its made the process of making my mind up much simpler.

The long list of holders of this post goes back to Gerald Nabarro and is currently in the safe hands of Mr Grayling. For example I had been uncertain whether HS2 would benefit the north or merely serve to spread the London commuter belt. Thanks to Mr G I can now safely conclude it is a gigantic waste of money that would be better spent enhancing the links between northern cities that, strangely, he seems intent on scaling back. Woodman spare that tree.

Pete Thackeray

Bristol

It is perfectly understandable that Theresa May should have full confidence in Chris Grayling.

She can be 100 per cent confident that he will make a mess of any portfolio she assigns him, which must make it easy to decide what to entrust him with.

The problem with most of her other ministers is that they are inconsistent: they are only incompetent some of the time.

D Maughan Brown

York

Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Show all 29 1 /29 Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 EPA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Manchester on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Brighton on February 15 Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 AFP/Getty Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The protest in Parliament Square, London on February 15 PA Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 Reuters Climate strike: See the best signs from the protest here The march in Brussels, February 14 AP

Why Mays deal is likely to pass

Im afraid it is looking increasingly like Theresa Mays deal is going to get through the House of Commons. In the main this will be possible due to the support of Labour MPs representing pro-Brexit constituencies and a Damascene change of heart from the Tory ERG wing.

The Labour MPs claim that in the 2017 general election they promised to respect the outcome of the referendum. If the Labour party were arguing that parliament should unilaterally reject Brexit, then it would have a point. A second referendum would not be doing that, it would be simply asking the electorate whether it wishes to affirm its original decision. The inference is surely that these Labour MPs suspect that a second referendum will result in a majority against Brexit, which they might find hard to explain to their Brexit supporting constituents.

The same logic applies to the ERG Tories. Rees-Mogg and co appear to be willing to support a deal which must be anathema to them and which flies in the face of everything they have argued for in the past. They know, however, that any delay to Brexit increases the possibility of another referendum which they may well lose. To rephrase Theresa May, as far as they are concerned, any deal is better than no deal.

So there we have it. Whilst both groups are spouting the importance of keeping faith with the will of the people, in reality they are maintaining this position precisely because they know there is a very good chance that it is no longer the will of the people. In the meantime, the views of all those who have turned eighteen since June 2016 and any who might have changed their minds since the last time, are to be totally ignored. There surely cant be many better examples of hypocrisy.

M T Harris

Grimsby

DUP dominance

What a great point we have come to  the whole country being held to ransom by a small group of MPs from Northern Ireland who dont even represent the majority view of their own voters on the UKs relationship with the EU.

Sandi Cook

Newnham

The Catholic Church is making amends

I write regarding the recent article from Geoffrey Robertson. Of course, the historic cover-up of abuse is a horrendous stain on the credibility of the church but strong action has been taken. In particular, robust, effective, independently audited procedures are in place in countries such as the UK and the US.

Despite Mr Robertsons distasteful comments regarding Catholic priests, studies on child abuse repeatedly show them to abuse less proportionally than other groups. Professor Thomas Plante, the well-esteemed US psychologist, writes recently in Psychology Today that evidence shows priests abuse at a rate of 4 per cent as opposed to public school teachers at 5-7 per cent. Professor Plante also stated (in relation to the US) that a zero-tolerance policy is now in effect such that any credible accusation of abuse is reported to law enforcement, the offending party is pulled from ministry.

The Catholic Church has taken robust action but there is more to be done. However, using the sensitive issue of child abuse to make an ideological attack on the church is a form of irresponsible, sensationalised reporting.

Dermott OGorman

Wallington
I lost three and a half days of my life at CPAC so you didnt have to.

I arrived Wednesday afternoon at National Harbor (a short 40-minute Uber ride from Washington DC) for CPAC. It was my first conservative political action conference and I had somehow convinced myself that this trade show with white nationalists (Faith Goldy was there but not speaking, so thats something) would be fascinating and enlightening.

Yes, I had been warned by some of my friends that things had gotten very Trumpy at CPAC and I might need a strong stomach or some extra acid reflux medicine, but I was sure they were just being overly dramatic. Yes, America had entered a time of extreme partisanship and yes, we were a country deeply divided by the insanity of Trumpism  but surely things couldnt possibly be as bad as people said.

A GOP never Trump friend warned me before I set off that the director of CPAC, Matt Schlapp (husband of White House strategic communications adviser Mercedes) had gone full-on Fox host Lou Dobbs (the presidents most vehement, most deranged cheerleader) in his defence of Trump. Still, I had no idea how devoid of rational thought CPAC really was. I did not expect to spend three and a half days living in a handful of the most paranoid GOP talking points.

The first talking point that everyone from Vice President Pence to fired White House adviser Doctor Sebastian Gorka kept hammering away at endlessly was that all Democrats want to turn America into Venezuela (they dont). Gorka took it a step further when he said, They [Democrats] want to take your pick-up truck, they want to rebuild your home, they want to take away your hamburgers. This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved. It was a fascinating new scare tactic which I assume must have originated in the 2016 idea that Democrats want to take away your guns and snowballed from there.

The second favoured GOP talking point that many of the speakers hit on was that Democrats want to commit infanticide. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said, of late-term abortion, By the way, its not live-birth abortion. Its not infanticide. It is murder if you take the baby home and kill the baby at home, its murder. The presidents large adult son (Donald Trump, Junior) said Democrats support post-term abortions. Post-term abortions, for those of you who are playing at home, are not a real thing.

We were lectured about the United States constitution by the National Rifle Associations president Ollie North (who better to lecture about the constitution than the guy who was indicted on 16 felony charges for his involvement with the Iran Contra scandal?) You may also remember the NRA has had some issues with receiving money from Russia, but dont worry too much about that.

We were lectured about values by the presidents son, who is currently living with his girlfriend after reportedly cheating on the mother of his five children.

Its possible that the most CPAC moment of CPAC came from the president of the United States, one Donald J Trump, who spoke for over two hours on wide range of completely nonsensical topics from wall-building to his electoral college win. Trump called the Russia investigation bullshit. He led a spirited chant on lock her up, more than two years after the election. You know, I'm totally off script right now, he added. We could tell. It was one those endless, meandering Trump speeches where normality goes out the window  he even made fun of the southern accent of his former AG Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.

Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Show all 23 1 /23 Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Joe Biden The former vice president - poised to be a frontrunner - has announced his run. He recently faced scrutiny for inappropriate touching of women, but was thought to deal with the criticism well AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Bernie Sanders The 2016 runner-up has announced that he will be running again in 2020 Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Hillary Clinton The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate and former Secretary of State says she is still considering whether she will run again. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Pete Buttigieg The Indiana mayor and war veteran will be running for president. If elected, he would be the first openly LGBT+ president in American history. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kamala Harris The former California attorney general will be running for president in 2020. Introduced to the national stage during Jeff Sessions testimony, she has endorsed Medicare-for-all and proposed a major tax-credit for the middle class. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Elizabeth Warren The Massachusetts Senator has formally launched her bid for president in 2020. A progressive Democrat, she is a major supporter of regulating Wall Street. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Beto ORourke The former Texas congressman told Oprah Winfrey that he has been thinking about running for presidency, but stopped short of formally announcing his bid to run in 2020. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Wayne Messam Mayor of the city of Miramar in the Miami metropolitan area, Wayne Messam has announced his bid. He intends to run on a progressive platform against the "broken" federal government. He favours gun regulations and was a signatory to a letter from some 400 mayors condemning President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord. Vice News Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Kirsten Gillibrand The New York Senator formally announced her presidential bid in January, saying that healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Cory Booker The New Jersey Senator has announced that he will be running for the presidency in 2020. If he secures the nomination he said finding a female vice president would be a priority. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Delaney The Maryland congressman was the first to launch his bid for presidency, making the announcement in 2017. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Julian Castro The former San Antonio mayor announced his candidacy in January and said that his running has a special meaning for the Latino community in the US. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Tulsi Gabbard The Hawaii congresswoman announced her candidacy in January, but is likely to face tough questions on her past comments on LGBT+ rights and her stance on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Andrew Yang The entrepreneur has announced his presidential candidacy, and has pledged that he would introduce a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American over the age of 18. AFP/Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Marianne Williamson The author and spiritual advisor has announced her intention to run for president. She had previously run for congress as an independent in 2014 but was unsuccessful. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? John Kerry The former secretary of state has said he is still thinking about whether to run. Getty Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Michael Bloomberg The entrepreneur and former New York mayor with a net worth of around $50bn  has said he will decide by the end of February whether to seek the presidency. AFP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Howard Schultz Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has not yet ruled out running for president in 2020, despite criticism that his bid could help re-elect Mr Trump by dividing the Democrat vote. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Holder The former attorney general has said he will decide in the next month or so whether to run as a 2020 presidential candidate. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Eric Swalwell The California congressman said he is ready to do this and will decide before April whether to run. MSNBC Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Terry McAuliffe The former Virginia governor, who worked to elect Democratic governors during 2018 midterms, said there was a 50 per cent chance he would run. AP Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Sherrod Brown The Ohio senator is still undecided about whether to run for president in 2020. Who could be running against Trump in 2020? Mitch Landrieu The former New Orleans mayor said he doesnt think he will run for president, but never say never. AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

In other words, I spent three and a half days sitting in an enormous auditorium in Maryland, listening to a smouldering ash heap of Trumpian shills who constitute what is left of the Republican party. Conspiracy theories were batted about, Democrats were accused of doing many immoral and fictional things, there was talk of Hillary Clintons emails  but in the end I couldnt shake the feeling that Republicans were actually really scared.

When CPAC head Matt Schlapp introduced Donald Trump, he said several times that the main room was standing-room only, which was sort of true as they had opened a standing section, but the area was not at capacity and the overflow room was almost empty. Then there was the crowd itself, which seemed kind of sleepy. A feeling of Jeb Bushs famous low energy permeated the gathering and the speakers seemed enraged but at the same time weirdly helpless.

More alarming for the future of the Republican party was the fact that all of it rests on one man, Donald J Trump, who has now proven himself to be  how do I say this delicately?  verging on completely insane.
Former Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald has been put forward by her party for the European election.

Ms Fitzgerald resigned as Taoiseach Leo Varadkars deputy in November 2017 amid political controversy over her handling of a Gardai whistleblowing case.

The 68-year-old has a wealth of experience in Fine Gael and has served as Tanaiste, minister for business, enterprise and innovation, minister for justice and equality, and minister for children and youth affairs.

She was unveiled as a potential candidate alongside former SDLP leader Mark Durkan on Monday.

It's time to send your very best and most experienced to Europe and I'll be asking the people of Dublin to support me based on my recordFrances Fitzgerald

Mr Varadkar hailed Ms Fitzgerald for the role she played in two major referendums in the state.

Two able people are putting their names forward, he said.

One is Mark Durkan. The other is someone who is defined by her courage, integrity and ability, and has played a transformative role in Irish politics and society.

As chair of the Council for the Status of Women, as a minister, as Tanaiste, as instigator for the referendums on childrens rights and marriage equality, Frances Fitzgerald has been a trailblazer and has helped transform Ireland into the modern country it is today.

I hope both are nominated by our members on Wednesday and receive a mandate from the electorate on May 24.

Ms Fitzgerald said on Monday she was a long-time admirer of the SDLP and noted both her own and Mr Durkans experience in politics.

Honoured to have been nominated to contest the @FineGael Selection Convention - alongside @markdurkan - for the @Europarl_EN Constituency of Dublin this coming Wednesday evening.



It is essential that we send our most experienced figures to represent our capital city on May 24th pic.twitter.com/vE6QT6e8C2  Frances Fitzgerald MEP (@FitzgeraldFrncs) March 4, 2019

We bring very different but strong experience to the ticket, she said.

Today shows what a very inclusive party Fine Gael is and thats a very important message at this time, inclusion matters and diversity matters, thats what Mark and I will be bringing to the European parliament.

Its time to send your very best and most experienced to Europe and Ill be asking the people of Dublin to support me based on my record, while we discuss some of the most challenging circumstances in Europe.

Ive always believed in the European ambition and it is under attack at the moment, and we have to defend it and thats an important part of what we have to do.

I think the people of Dublin will judge me on my record, not on any particular events.

Taoiseach @campaignforleo and Tanaiste @simoncoveney announcing the intention of @markdurkan and @FitzgeraldFrncs to seek the Fine Gael nomination to run in the European elections. pic.twitter.com/vw22c0xXrT  Fine Gael (@FineGael) March 4, 2019

The selection decision will made by the members of Fine Gael this Wednesday at the partys Dublin Convention.

Ms Fitzgeralds resignation as Tanaiste came after her emails dating back to 2015, when she was justice minister, were released by the Department of Justice amid the Sgt Maurice McCabe whistleblowing scandal into major issues within the Gardai.

Following the publication of the Disclosures Tribunal report into the controversy, members of her own party said she had been vindicated by the tribunals findings.

Justice Peter Charleton found that she had given an honest appraisal of her knowledge of the situation at the time.

Health Minister Simon Harris claimed Ms Fitzgerald had been hounded out of office and called on political opponents to apologise for demanding her head on a plate.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has condemned the perpetrators who sent a suspicious package to a government building.

The Defence Forces bomb disposal team was called out to deal with what was believed to be hazardous material at the Department of Health.

Staff had to be evacuated from the building at lunchtime on Monday.

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I understand there was a suspicious package opened at the department and the hazmat people checked it out and its been given the all-clear now, Mr Varadkar said.

I havent been able to speak to Minister (Simon) Harris or his team yet but my particular concerns would be for the staff in the department who open the mail.

Im not sure what kind of oddballs send suspicious packages in the post but they should be well aware that it is not politicians opening the mail, its people doing a normal job, a receptionist or a security guard or clerical officer or someone in the constituency team.

If you want to come after us, come after us, but dont come after our staff or our families.

Army bomb disposal units have arrived in protective clothing to the Department of Health on Baggot Street amid an ongoing incident. pic.twitter.com/pBdulvB1EZ  aoife moore. (@aoifegracemoore) March 4, 2019

The Defence Forces confirmed the bomb disposal unit was deployed to the scene at around 12.20pm and could be seen entering the building in protective chemical suits.

In a statement, a Defence Forces spokesman said: An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination.

The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform the gardai.

The incident on Baggot Street is of a HazMat nature. All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/ZpaPqHmkdZ  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

A statement published on social media by the Department of Health confirmed staff had been evacuated by emergency services.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time.

All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.

We have been informed by emergency services that our office building will not be reopened for some time. All staff should now go home today and monitor this account for further updates.  Department of Health (@roinnslainte) March 4, 2019

Despite the health department evacuation, staff could still be seen inside nearby businesses, including shops and cafes, behind the Garda cordon.

At least five fire engines went to the scene, along with ambulance staff and a number of Gardai support vehicles.

The Defence Forces Army Bomb Disposal unit also kept a number of vehicles present on site.

The government building in Dublin reopened a few hours later after the envelope containing white powder was deemed non-hazardous.

The potential threat comes just weeks after protesters gathered outside the home of Simon Harris in Co Wicklow to protest over their dissatisfaction with the Health Minister.

The peaceful protest was broken up voluntarily after gardai arrived on the scene but Mr Harris, who was at home at the time with his wife and baby daughter, said the ordeal was frightening for his family.

Traffic across the busy Dublin city centre area suffered major disruption due to the incident as a considerable length of Baggot Street was closed off and public transport diverted.
Waiting times for an appeal to be heard in Irelands highest court have been slashed from five years to one year, a report has revealed.

As the Supreme Court launched its first ever annual report to coincide with its historic sitting in Galway, it also noted Brexit as one of its challenges facing the court.

The Supreme Court sat for the first time outside of a courthouse since 1932 in Galway on Monday.

The report shows a drop in waiting times for appeals from between five to seven years in 2014 to an approximately one year for the Supreme Court and two years for the Court of Appeal.

It also discloses that new appeals to the court have increased by nearly a third since 2016.

The Supreme Court of Ireland Annual Report 2018 is now available https://t.co/K3RrybM5JG  Irish Supreme Court Review (@_ISCR) March 4, 2019

The report also published summaries and notes of the major judgments it gave throughout last year.

As part of its sitting in Galway, the Supreme Court also hosted professional development seminars for the legal profession and a series of engagements and seminars for law students at the National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway.

The Chief Justice Mr Justice Frank Clarke said: In publishing this inaugural report, it is hoped that the work of the Supreme Court, both inside the courtroom and outside, and both in Ireland and abroad, can be highlighted.

I hope that the general public can gain a greater understanding of what it is that the Supreme Court actually does and its role in upholding the Constitution and the law.

He said that 2018 was a demanding and dynamic year with the Supreme Court determining 157 applications for leave to appeal, disposing of 128 appeals and delivering 91 reserved judgments.

Of the appeals disposed of, 67 were appeals brought under the reformed jurisdiction of the court which has operated since the establishment of the Court of Appeal.

The court has now disposed of its entire backlog of legacy cases.

In 2018, in order to assist the Court of Appeal, the court also disposed of 42 cases which were returned to the Supreme Court having previously been sent to the Court of Appeal for determination.

The Chief Justice added: It is important to stress that the work of the Supreme Court has evolved significantly in recent years.

The establishment of the Court of Appeal in 2014 has changed the structure of the caseload of the Court.

Each member of the Court is also engaged in extra-judicial work, outside of hearing appeals and delivering judgments.

The Supreme Court of Ireland is a member of no less than 10 European and international networks and participation in each of these networks requires extensive judicial resources.

This international work has increased as a result of Ireland becoming the major Common Law country in the EU, as the UK leaves.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will rule on the appeal by businessman Denis OBrien over the High Courts dismissal of his action over statements made in the Dail in 2015 about his banking affairs.
A group of residents have called for mass demonstrations along the Irish border the day after Brexit.

Border Communities Against Brexit, supported by pro-Remain political parties, unveiled a new billboard at Stormont announcing the planned day of protest with just 25 days to go until the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union.

Politicians from Northern Ireland's main pro-Remain parties also turned out for the event, including representatives from Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party.

Border Communities Against Brexit group spokesman Declan Fearon announced several locations for the border demonstrations on March 30, including at border crossing points in Co Down, Co Fermanagh, Co Tyrone and in Londonderry.

He said their purpose in coming together is to press to ensure there is no return to a hard border in Ireland.

"From 2016, when a clear majority in the north (of Ireland) voted to remain within the European Union, border communities have lobbied extensively in Dublin, London and Brussels and indeed here at home," he said.

"We have organised large-scale protests on the border itself which has helped give a voice to local people who are very frustrated and feel disenfranchised by the Brexit process.

"March 29 is the date by which the Tory Government is due to take Britain and indeed ourselves here in the north out of the European Union.

"While there has been much talk about delays and extensions of the withdrawal date, the political machinations at Westminster have completely ignored the views, needs, fears and desires of the people here in Ireland, in particular those living in the border region who will be so adversely affected by Brexit.

"Brexit and a hard border have the potential to cause devastation to our economy, our industries, jobs and especially to the farming sector, to the free movement of people crossing the border every day in our communities to work, study or to trade.

"Border Communities Against Brexit remain focused on ensuring that Irish voices from the border area continue to be heard in the crucial days and weeks ahead.

"To that end we have organised a significant people's demonstration against Brexit at various points along the border for Saturday March 30.

"These mobilisations will take place at the Old Dublin Road in Kilcarn, on the old Newry to Dundalk road, at Belcoo/Blacklion, Moybridge and Aughnacloy, Lifford and Strabane and Coshquin in Derry.

"We are asking everyone living along the border on either side to make an effort to attend your nearest demonstration. We are calling all trade unions, all representative groups, civic leaders and citizens to join with us and demonstrate our anger at being taken out of the European Union."

Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson backed the call to protest, and also called for a united Ireland.

"The least damaging option for the people in the north of Ireland is the backstop, and as we stand here today we have the DUP and the Brexiteers trying to tear up that backstop," she said.

"We call on the people not to allow those who are playing fast and loose with the Good Friday Agreement to continue on with the reckless behaviour of the Brexiteers in the House of Commons and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the people of the Border Communities Against Brexit on March 30. Regardless of what you are doing, it is crucially important that you stand up for your rights.

"There is a solution to the problem, that is the conversation that has already been mainstreamed about the kind of constitutional change that will take place I believe on the island of Ireland and that is the reunification of our country."

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said there is no such thing as a good Brexit, but he said the backstop is the best form of protection.

"People have struggled for far too long to have peace and democracy in Ireland and we are not about to give it up because a few people on the hard right of the Conservative Party or the DUP aren't prepared to protect what we have achieved," he said.

"It's very simple, we won't have border infrastructure across our island, those of us who live near the border know that it will not be allowed to happen. I think that message needs to get through to the people who have a vote in a couple of weeks' time."

Alliance deputy leader Stephen Farry said Brexit is "not an orange versus green issue", but affects people from all backgrounds and walks of life across Ireland.

"If we have the opportunity to stop Brexit entirely we should take that through a people's vote, but the absolute bottom line is that we have to bank the backstop. It is not something that can be renegotiated, it is the bare minimum to protect both the rights and the economy and people's way of life. Equally, we must avoid a no deal at all costs as well," he said.
Top-level plans are being drawn up to try to avoid a risk to cancer patients in Irish hospitals in the event of a no-deal Brexit, which could cause a shortage of life-saving products vital to the diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

There is particular concern around the prompt supply of time-critical radioactive isotopes used in 24 hospitals which are essential for diagnostics and treating cancers.

This imported radioactive material is also used in the care of patients with brain conditions, as well as in palliative treatments and cardiovascular scans.

These regulated radioisotopes, which are currently delivered to Irish hospitals, are normally transported from countries such as the Netherlands in lorries through the UK - but they decay quickly and cannot be stockpiled.

A spokeswoman for Ireland's medicines' watchdog, the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA), confirmed that a number of suppliers are involved and they have "provided assurances that they have taken appropriate actions, including the review of supply chains to facilitate continuity".

Industry sources said there was likely to be increasing reliance on air freight to transport medicines but it is more costly and will increase prices. This will also need specialist handlers and airport capacity.

Ensuring the timely transport of some healthcare products with a short shelf-life for Irish patients will remain a concern after an orderly Brexit, although this will allow for changes to be phased in.

Dr Niall Sheehy, a consultant radiologist in St James's Hospital, said the shelf-life of a radioisotope varies but typically it is a "matter of days".

He pointed out they are used in medical imaging in general in cancer cases.

"Radioisotopes cannot be stockpiled and they decay. We don't make any in Ireland and the UK does not either.

"They are typically made in Holland and we would currently get our products via the UK. If the UK left the EU, we would have to find another delivery port.

"We will have to have our own delivery which will make it more expensive in the long term. In the short term there is also the uncertainty of supply."

There are lots of different radioisotopes but the commonest are used for cancers of the bone, breast and prostate.

A hospital such as St James's needs a supply of radioisotopes every day.

"It would be a serious patient risk if we were to stop using them for a long period of time. We could tolerate a few days but the longer without them, the more the risk would be," said Dr Sheehy.

They are of particular importance in areas such as detecting if a cancer has spread.

Ireland's access to these products is assured as a member of the EU and it will continue to have the advantage of being a member of Euratom (the European Atomic Energy Community). But timely transport is critical.

These are among a number of products which are regarded as vulnerable post-Brexit and are demanding special attention.

The HPRA said that the "key risk to medicines supply, presented by a disorderly Brexit, is due to potential delays at customs and border controls.

"The HSE and HPRA have advised that the supply of a small number of products may be vulnerable with particular consideration being given to radioisotopes, medicines subject to cold storage, and products that require specialised manufacturing processes."

Keeping a consistent cold chain is vital for vaccines and insulin for diabetics.

There is also concern around what is known as total parenteral nutrition needed for sick newborns. This is a fluid that gives calories in the form of carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, mineral and fats. Around 15pc of total parenteral nutrition used in Ireland is imported from the UK.

The HSE and HPRA are contacting suppliers to ensure contingency plans are in place for Brexit.

The HPRA added: "In addition, we are working with the Revenue Commissioners to ensure that any delays at customs are minimised.

"Regardless, our distribution system already holds sufficient stocks to help absorb any short-term delays that may arise."
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has warned that the so-called backstop to avoid a hard border in Ireland can't have a time-limit or a way for the UK to make a unilateral exit from it.

It comes as British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox and Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay are due in Brussels tomorrow for talks with the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

There had been reports that Mr Cox was prepared to drop UK attempts to get a time-limit or unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop to help prime minster Theresa May's Brexit deal pass a Westminster vote.

Mr Cox poured cold water on this today, tweeting that the report "consists of misunderstood fag ends dressed up as facts. Some of it is accurate, much more of it isn't and what is not is far more significant than what is".

Mr Varadkar was asked by reporters if Ireland might have to offer concessions on the backstop.

The Taoiseach said Brexit is entering a "sensitive phase" ahead of Westminster votes and a European Council meeting in the coming weeks.

He said: "I think Ireland as a country has been very flexible and very reasonable all along assisting the UK to resolve some of the problems which are largely of their own creation".

Mr Varadkar said Ireland would be "happy" to offer further clarifications and assurances to help the UK government get the Withdrawal Agreement over the line.

But he added: "from day one we've been very straight about a few things and one of those has been that Brexit cannot lead under any circumstances to the emergence of a hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

"The backstop is a means to an end but it's a really important end and that is a legally binding assurance that there won't be a hard border on our island."

He said it is a workable mechanism to achieve that which is not theoretical.

"We need to know that that will apply and that it won't be time-limited and that there won't be a unilateral exit from it."

Mr Varadkar was speaking after meeting Lithuanian prime minister Saulius Skvernelis.

The pair discussed Brexit and bilateral relations between the two countries and Mr Skvernelis said Ireland has Lithuania's full support during the Brexit process.
TANAISTE Simon Coveney said the EU will provide funds to help Ireland protect the multi-billion Euro agri-food sector, which is uniquely vulnerable to the potential fall-out from a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Coveney, speaking in west Cork, said intensive talks are underway between Dublin and Brussels over how to best implement a package of supports to protect Ireland's dairy, beef, poultry, pigmeat and horticulture sectors if the UK does, as feared, crash out of the EU without a withdrawal deal.



"It is difficult to determine what funds will be needed until we get a clearer picture of what a no-deal Brexit could look like," he said.



"What I mean by that is it is very hard to know at the moment whether there will be tariffs or no tariffs or (other) barriers to trade.



"The British Government has not made up their minds on their approach to tariffs in terms of a no deal.



"We all need to work to avoid that kind of dramatic situation where Britain would crash out without a deal.



"I don't think that will happen. But we have to prepare for it just in case. I have been having very intensive discussions with the European Commission in terms of how Ireland could be supported in that kind of scenario given the reliance that we have on the British market.



"Particularly for beef and dairy products but also for pigmeat and poultry as well."



Agriculture Minister Michael Creed said that, with EU support, Ireland will cope with whatever happens in the UK. He vowed Ireland's multi-billion Euro agriculture and fisheries will be protected at all costs from "the madness of a UK crash out" from

the EU.



Mr Creed acknowledged that some people have interpreted a potential UK move on cheap Brazilian beef imports as an attempt to increase pressure on Ireland via its critical agri-food sector.



However, he warned that while such issues as tariffs were entirely a matter for the UK authorities, the Government would ensure Ireland's domestic agricultural and fisheries sectors were protected.



"I am probably more worried now than I was. Because the (Brexit) clock is ticking," he said.



"So I am more worried than I was. But I still remain hopeful because logic would dictate that the UK should not leave without a deal. But we are prepared for all eventualities."



The Cork TD was the first Government minister to warn in 2016 that there was absolutely no upside to Brexit for Ireland.



"Look, agriculture and fisheries are our biggest indigenous industries," he said. "We are not going to allow the Brexit madness to derail that engine of economic development in rural Ireland."



"That is not going to happen under this Government's watch. So whatever the resources are necessary either at EU level or from an Exchequer level, they will be provided to get us through this.



"What the critical issue is in the context of Brexit is to keep our product on the supermarket shelves while we get to a situation where we negotiate a future trading relationship. Now that future trading relationship may not be as good as what we

currently have.



"But the critical thing in the madness of a (UK) crash out that we keep our product on their shelves and support our primary producers through that period by direct supports to those people."



He said Ireland would not face Brexit standing alone as was clear from measures already unveiled in Brussels by the European Commission. "If you even look at Commission announcements on State aid rules - there has been a significant easing of regulations on State aid," he said.



"We have had two very significant indications of the Commissioner's willingness (to help Ireland),



"Obviously, it will be a partnership between the EU and State aid contributions that will deal with whatever the fall out will be."



Mr Creed acknowledged that some have viewed the UK's hints at a Brazilian beef trade deal as an attempt to increase pressure on Ireland to soften its stance on the so-called 'back stop' guarantee over the Northern Ireland border.



"The application of tariffs is a domestic competence for the UK Government. I am aware of that (Brazilian beef) interpretation of what is happening in the UK. The critical thing for us is to hold our nerve now. Whatever the UK does, we can deal with it."
A Leitrim farmer has been handed a 12-month suspended sentence after claiming farm assist payments of almost 30,000 from the Department of Social Protection, which he was not entitled to.

Carrick on Shannon Circuit Court this week heard 66-year-old Patrick Leonard pleaded guilty to obtaining Social Welfare payments by deception, Contrary to Section 251(1) of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 on a date in March 2010 after failing to declare he had several thousand euro in multiple bank accounts.

Department of Social Protection inspector Donal Carroll gave evidence last week of an investigation launched into Mr Leonard, of Cornamuckla North, Dowra, which began in 2015.

Low-income farmers who meet a means test are entitled to a social welfare payment of 198 per week  which inspectors believe Mr Leonard had been claiming for a number of years but which he was not entitled to as he had several thousand euro in savings in multiple bank accounts which he had not declared.

The former coal miner was questioned by the inspectors and initially denied the allegations.

However, the court heard that subsequent inquiries revealed that the pensioner had 23 accounts across four banks with an estimated total sum of up to 93,000 at the end of 2014.

Inspectors determined that the Leitrim man had received an overpayment of 29,000 across several years and of that sum, over 21,000 has so far been repaid to the department.

Disability benefit, of which the accused is entitled to due to ill health, is being withheld from Mr Leonard since the investigation began and he had also re-paid 4,000 in a lump sum.

The court heard the 66-year-old bachelor was saving money to give to his brother that he felt he owed him and his defence barrister claimed that the accused did not live a lavish lifestyle and had saved his pennies until he fell foul of a means test.

Judge John Alymer said the accused had claimed the money in a pre-meditated fashion but that the incident was an aberration on an otherwise good character and imposed a 12-month sentence, suspended for 12 months after Mr Leonard entered into a good behaviour bond of 100 euro.
The Exchequer surplus for February came in lower than expected at 139mn, according to Department of Finance data issued on Monday.

That compares with 217mn a year ago and a forecast of a rise in the surplus to 325mn by Cantor Fitzgerald.

The Department of Finance said that there was an increase in non-voted current spending, excluding debt service costs of 138mn from a year earlier that was caused by a rise in European Union budget contributions.

While it is too early in the year to make any projections as to whether the exchequer would hit its 2.25bn deficit target for this year, corporation tax revenues continued their strong run and were 194mn higher than expected.

The State recorded a surprise budget surplus last year as overspending, largely on health, was outpaced by surging company tax revenues, which have overshot their collection targets by a cumulative 14.3bn since 2015.

The outcome for 2019 however will depend on whether Britain leaves the European Union with a deal, or crashes out on March 29 without one.

If there is no deal, the Central Bank of Ireland estimates that economic growth could be 4pc points below forecasts, which would cause the budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product to widen by 2pc points.
Negron acknowledged that people are not always privy to the African-American experience and how it may differ from other groups and said it appears no one is taking time to be in our shoes.
A new 10m distillery in west Cork is providing a welcome boost to the local economy as it expects to attract 35,000 visitors a year.

Officially opened by Tanaiste Simon Coveney, the Clonakilty Distillery will create 35 new jobs, and intends to use goods and services from farmers and other local businesses where possible.

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The start of the art hub comprises of a visitor experience, a gin school and The Whales Tail Bistro, located less than 15 minutes drive from the founders based at Scully farm.

A warehouse is also based nearby on the Galley Head peninsula.

The new distillery makes triple-distilled single pot still whiskey produced from grain grown on the Scully farm, a family which have been on the land for eight generations.

Over the last 15 months, the Distillery "used the skills of local people across West Cork to deliver the project".

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Clonakilty Distillery CEO, Michael Scully, said that the project "is a statement of confidence for the area and a declaration of support for the town".

Clonakilty also produces Minke Gin, named after the Minke whale that visits the coast, which is derived from locally-produced whey and infused with a coastal botanical called rock samphire.

Coveney said that the distillery is "the latest example of the strength and ambition of local enterprise and of the Wild Atlantic Way brand".

"Ireland needs people like Michael and Helen Scully, who have the vision and drive to help to create viable industries and the jobs that come with them," he said.

Clonakilty Distillery is set to become a landmark building on the Wild Atlantic Way route.

Irish whiskey is now the fastest growing segment within the global drinks industry with exports enjoying almost double digit growth.
Consumer sentiment last month fell to its lowest level since November 2014 amid growing concerns of a no-deal Brexit.

In addition, the nurses' strikes and related debates about pay and conditions in the public sector may have affected confidence.

The KBC Bank/ESRI consumer sentiment index fell to 86.5 in February from 98.8 in January, and well below the 2018 average of 102.5.

The 12.3 point drop in the index last month was the largest monthly fall since December 2012, with the sentiment index falling to its lowest level since November 2014.

KBC Ireland chief economist Austin Hughes said while some pull-back in sentiment in February was not entirely surprising, the scale of decline was unexpected.

"The scale of the deterioration in February seems unusually large and there could be some corrective rebound in the next month or two," Mr Hughes said.

"We don't believe that the outlook for the Irish economy or the prospects of Irish consumers deteriorated dramatically last month," he added.

"Consequently, we don't envisage any sharp pull-back in spending."

Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) economist Philip Economides said that while the index is mostly optimistic, particularly with respect to households' own financial circumstances, 48pc of respondents believe the domestic economic situation will worsen over the next 12 months.
Things got very heady in the beer world a couple of years ago. Global market leader ABinBev acquired its rival SAB/Miller (then the No2 in the world) in a deal worth a staggering 79bn. While the acquisition created a giant that now sells one in every four beers worldwide, it has also produced an unexpected hangover. The shares have dropped by a half since their peak three years ago and the company is saddled with huge debts.

Other international beer makers have been alerted to the dangers of saddling themselves with borrowings as well as taking too much for granted. Not least of these is the 155-year-old Dutch company we are examining today, Heineken.

It may seem odd to think of Heineken as a minor player because it isn't, unless of course it is being compared with ABinBev. It sells more than 300 brands, both international and local, in 190 countries and employs 80,000 people worldwide.

In Ireland it is the owner of Murphy's stout and other recognisable owned brands include Fosters, Tiger, Bulmers, Amstel, Strongbow and non-alcoholic Buckler. It is also heavily promoting another beer for those 'on the dry' called 00 and that itself may be a sign of the times.

The Dutch brewer has a broad global footprint with a considerable revenues and profits coming from emerging markets. However, Europe - a mature market - is still its biggest revenue earner, with slightly less than half of all its sales but only one-third of its operating profits. The standout markets are Spain, Portugal, Italy and France, and while Heineken suffered a decline in sales in the UK it still owns the third largest pub chain, useful in any downturn.

The Americas is Heineken's second largest market and accounts for a quarter of the group's operating profits. Its critical markets are Mexico and Brazil. Mexico is its largest market in the region. Heineken is now the second largest beer company in Brazil following its acquisition two years ago of Brasil Karin, one of the largest beer and soft drinks producers in that vast country. Performance in the US is patchy, business is flat with declines in parts of its portfolio and it faces the increase in competition from craft beers and consumers drinking less beer.

Its Asia Pacific region is growing in importance for Heineken and while the company is experiencing growth in most Asian markets, China and Vietnam are the exceptions. For a company with a reputation for elbowing itself into key markets, it has failed miserably in China, which is a key market for global brewers. It has struggled to gain a foothold, failed to establish scale and its market share is a pitiful half of 1pc. In contrast, Carlsberg has 5pc and ABinBev 16pc.

Heineken decided to step back from its standalone Chinese operation. In future it will collaborate with a local, powerful and politically connected Chinese brewer, CB Beer, a unit of the sprawling state-run conglomerate CBH. In a complex deal with China's best-selling beer producer, Heineken, in exchange for a minority stake, will hand over its local operation and give a licence to CB to produce its premium priced beer.

Heineken delivered strong results in spite of global instability, volatile currency and a profit warning mid-last year. Profits and growth rose, driven by the Asian and South American regions. Its revenue was 26.8bn, up one-third over the last seven years and net profits jumped 12pc to 2.4bn. The share price at 89.88 is 50pc above that of 2012.

However, investors fret that the Dutch brewers' emerging markets could be vulnerable to weaker global growth driving down its 9pc profit margin. This is not a concern that Heineken appears to share as its priority for capital expenditure is concentrated in emerging markets like Ethiopia, Mexico, Cambodia, Vietnam, Haiti and the Ivory Coast. Clearly the company sees its future beyond its European base and its shares are worth considering.

Nothing in this section should be taken as a recommendation, either explicit or implicit to buy any of the shares mentioned.
While officials say the agreement details the specific conditions under which the cameras may be used, others are asking if the agreement gives officers too much discretion and are questioning whether the cameras are an invasion of privacy for minors going about their school day.
The Prodigy star Keith Flint has been found dead at the age of 49.

Police were called to his home in Essex early on Monday morning.

Essex Police said a 49-year-old man had been found dead and that the death is not being treated as suspicious.

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An Essex Police spokeswoman said: We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday, March 4.

We attended and, sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

His next of kin have been informed. The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

The Prodigy enjoyed hits with their tracks Firestarter and Breathe and were known for their fusion of techno, breakbeat and acid house, forged in the UKs illegal rave scene, and their anti-establishment stance.

An East of England Ambulance spokeswoman said: We were called at 8.08am with reports of a man who was unconscious in Brook Hill, Dunmow.

We sent an ambulance officer, Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and one ambulance. Sadly a man in his forties died at the scene.

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If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article please contact Samaritans helpline 116 123 or Aware helpline 1800 80 48 48 or Pieta House on 1800 247 247.
They were on Sky News, talking about Northern Ireland. Talking about trouble of some kind involving Northern Ireland. Which is not good.

Indeed there are almost no circumstances in which it is good to have people on Sky News talking about Northern Ireland. These years of peace have been marked by an almost total absence of Northern Ireland from the world of breaking news, and there we were hoping it would stay, until the forces of nationalism rose again to bring it back.

It was English nationalism this time, but it is the same old malaise, which not only had them talking about Northern Ireland again on Sky News, it had them talking about it while they were actually in Northern Ireland - there was Kay Burley, "on the ground", trying to explain to the folks on the mainland what it's all about. The backstop and all that.

Maybe it was a bit late to be doing it, what with the possibility that our civilisation is about to be destroyed in a few weeks time, and yet you can also understand why the Brexiteers have been giving this one a swerve for a long time - even for decent people, talking about trouble of any kind involving Northern Ireland, is something you would prefer to avoid.

But now that there is absolutely no alternative, there was Kay Burley on the northern side of the Border, pointing to the southern side a few yards away, talking about it. There was Belcoo on one side, Blacklion on the other - and Kay Burley was talking about them, and talking to some of the people who live there... or at least to the people who represent the people who live there, on the Border between Fermanagh and Cavan.

She was sitting in a pub in Belcoo, talking to people on both sides of the divide, as we used to say, and then she was outside in the bleak light of a northern January, taking to other people who were not of the same persuasion.

And there we left them, because we just couldn't face it any more, noting that by a weird coincidence, later in the day, Jacob Rees-Mogg called for parliament to be "prorogued" to prevent MPs from instructing the executive to prevent a no-deal Brexit. Now I can recall hearing that word "prorogue" used only once before, for any practical political purpose, and that was in connection with Northern Ireland - I can hear these distant voices calling for Stormont to be "prorogued" or some such demand which no doubt was as profoundly wrong-headed as whatever Rees-Mogg was advocating.

Whereas most of us are deeply averse to any revival of the language of those times, in that place, Rees-Mogg seemed to be drawing on it for inspiration.

Nor was there much consolation for us Remainers when the location shifted from the dreary steeples of Fermanagh to the snowy peaks of Switzerland, from Sky News to CNN, which had Tony Blair speaking from Davos.

Now, I realise that Tony has been off his game for some time, but he had seemed energised by the cause of Remain, so I'm wondering if he had thought this through - there he was, at this gathering of global titans, arguing against the Brexiteers, who make such noise about the "elites" and how they're only codding the little people.

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Which was all part of their Big Lie, of course, but still Tony Blair speaking from Davos in favour of the EU would make the most ardent Remainer lose heart. And indeed the CNN interviewer Christiane Amanpour played a clip to Blair, of the author Anand Giridharadas describing Davos as "a family reunion for the people who, in my view, broke the modern world".

You could say that he wanted Davos "prorogued".

But that's the way it's been for a long time now, even a Blair who had once mastered the medium of TV, is transformed by the madness of Brexit into someone who looks like he's playing for the other side.

And look, they may well be needing him in Northern Ireland again.
The Chief Justice has said he is confident Irish courts can meet the challenge of Brexit head on.

Mr Justice Frank Clarkes comments, in the Supreme Courts annual report, come amid expectations more international disputes will be dealt with here in future.

A flight of legal business from London is expected as it will become more difficult to enforce UK court judgments in the EU post-Brexit.

Lawyers also believe Brexit could keep the courts busy by throwing up previously unimagined legal quandaries in areas such as banking, insurance and property.

Mr Justice Clarke said the coming year would present unique challenges and opportunities, not least those posed by Brexit.

But I remain confident that, with the continued support of our staff and the members of the court, together we can meet those challenges head on and capitalise on the opportunities, he said.

The Supreme Court has already seen an increase in appeals in recent times, with Mr Justice Clarke describing last year in particular as demanding and dynamic.

According to the annual report, new appeals to the court rose by 10pc last year, on top of an 18pc increase in 2017.

The Chief Justice said the court had dealt with 157 applications for leave to appeal last year, disposed of 128 appeals and delivered 91 reserved judgments.

He said the court had dealt with a backlog of legacy cases and had assisted the Court of Appeal by disposing of 42 cases which had previously been sent to that court.

Waiting times for cases to be heard have also fallen significantly, down from five years in some cases to just one.

The report also said a new eFiling system, which went live last month, now allows all applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court to be made through an online web portal.

The Supreme Court is sitting at NUI Galway this week, only the third time it has sat outside of Dublin and the first time it has sat outside a courtroom since the reconstruction of the Four Courts in 1932.
Irish Ferries has brought a High Court challenge over a direction that it pay compensation to thousands of passengers affected by the cancellation of sailings between Ireland and France last summer.

The company says it had to cancel the services because the arrival of its new "WB Yeats" ferry between Dublin and Cherbourg was delayed for several months.

The challenge is against the National Transport Authority (NTA) over its decision in January that, arising out of the cancellations, the company breached EU regulations concerning the rights of passengers travelling by sea.

The NTA is the designated enforcement body for maritime passenger rights in Ireland under the regulations.

The NTA issued the company with two notices requiring it to pay compensation to impacted passengers within a period of two months.

The notices direct the company to pay compensation to passengers impacted by the cancellations who had to travel from Rosslare, instead of Dublin, and from Roscoff instead of Cherbourg.

The notices also state passengers who were delayed in reaching their final destination who have already requested compensation from the company must also be paid compensation.

Non-compliance with the notices is an offence, with a maximum fine on conviction of 250,000.

The company disputes the NTA's finding and says it and the notices are invalid, irrational, in breach of its Constitutional Rights and EU rights.

Irish Ferries also says the NTA has misinterpreted the relevant EU regulations.

The cancellations occurred because the YB Yeats ship it had commissioned from the German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft was delivered some "200 days" late, Irish Ferries' counsel Paul Gallagher told the High Court on Monday.

Counsel said the delay came as a shock to Irish Ferries and made headlines in the media.

Counsel said the company took steps including offering "an immediate no quibble reimbursement in full" to affected customers, offered vouchers for 150, as well as "the opportunity to rebook on alternative sailings of their choosing".

Some 5,700 bookings were affected by the cancellations.

Counsel said some 82 per cent of passengers chose to travel on alternative sailings to France with Irish Ferries.

The remainder either cancelled and accepted a refund or chose to travel by land bridge through the UK, and were compensated by Irish Ferries for the fuel expended while crossing Britain.

Counsel said that his client is concerned about the long term implications of the NTA's decision.

The situation Irish Ferries found itself was extraordinary, was not of its own making, and it was unable to secure another ferry to operate the planned sailings, counsel said.

All affected passengers, counsel said, were informed of the situation a minimum of seven weeks before the proposed sailing, he added.

Irish Ferries seeks various orders including one quashing the NTA's decision and the notices it issued to the company.

It also seeks declarations including that the NTA's decision and the notices are invalid, irrational and without any legal basis.

Permission to bring the challenge was granted, on an ex parte (one side only represented) basis, by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, who also placed a stay on the notices from coming into effect pending the proceedings..

The case comes back in May.
A Dublin security officer, who turned out his pockets and had his carry-on luggage searched by police on a plane following an alleged theft at Dublin airport, has lost his 75,000 claim for defamation of character.

Judge Sinead Ni Chualachain told barrister Shane English, who defended the case on behalf of Dublin Airport Authority, that airport police as agents of the DAA had at all material times behaved responsibly in their investigation into the theft of a Georgio Armani watch.

Mr English, who appeared with David Martin of Gore & Grimes solicitors, told Alan Collins in the Circuit Civil Court that the DAA was not only categorically stating he was not the thief who snatched the watch from a womans check-in basket at security in the airport or from Duty Free, but were also categorically stating he had never been a thief.

Counsel told Collins, of Fortlawn Drive, Blanchardstown, Dublin, that he was wrong in claiming he had been accused of stealing the watch in Duty Free as there had been no such theft.

The theft, as shown on cctv, had taken place from a basket that had passed through a security check.

Collins claimed he had been approached while sitting with his partner on a Ryanair plane about to take off for Alicante when he had been one of a number of men, who apparently bore a resemblance to each other, spoken to by airport police officers Aisling Sutcliffe and Jessica OBrien.

He claimed they said to him: We wish to speak to you. We wish to speak to you concerning a theft from Duty Free. You were seen on cctv taking a watch from Duty Free.

Mr English told Collins it was impossible for these words to have been spoken to him on the aircraft since there had not been a theft from Duty Free on that day April 22 2017.

Counsel said he had been invited to step off the plane for the sake of privacy but had refused. He had voluntarily turned out his pockets and had allowed his carry-on bag to be searched at the Service area on the plane.

Mr Collins said that when police officers considered he fitted the description they had been given of the thief he had been asked to stand up and show his identification. He had refused to step off the plane as there was no way he was going to miss his flight. He told them he had done no wrong and that they could search him and his bag on the aircraft.

Police Officers Sutcliffe and OBrien told the court they had not accused him of stealing a watch from Duty Free and had not spoken the words they were accused of saying.

They were investigating the theft of a watch stolen from the security line.

In a full defence to the claim Mr English said Mr Collins had not been requested to be searched on the aircraft in front of other passengers. He had refused several offers to disembark the aircraft and have the matter discussed in private.

Mr English said the airport police officers concerned were entitled to fully investigate the report of the stolen watch and enjoyed the protection of qualified privilege in doing so.

Judge Ni Chualachain said the defence of qualified privilege had been made out by the defendant.

Dismissing Collins 75,000 claim the judge said she did not accept the police officers had spoken the words complained of. She made no order regarding costs.
A BARBER sexually assaulted a teenage schoolgirl on a Dublin bus, leaving her afraid to use public transport alone.

Abdel Dulkumoni (32) groped the 16-year-olds bottom four times after standing behind her on the bus.

Then he followed her off the bus and had an inappropriate conversation with her.

The victim told the court in a statement how she has had panic attacks since the assault, will not travel alone on buses and is freaked out when strangers speak to her.

Dulkumoni, of Walkinstown Drive, Walkinstown, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin District Court to sexually assaulting the girl on June 19, 2017.

Judge Brian OShea found him guilty but spared him jail, giving him a two-month suspended sentence.

He also registered him as a sex offender for five years.

The prosecuting garda said the girl reported that she had got the bus on Dame Street travelling south-west and the accused got on and stood behind her.

She said he felt her bottom on four occasions during the journey and this had occurred when the bus either stopped or jerked forward.

The accused got off at the same stop as the victim, which was not his own stop in Walkinstown, and had an inappropriate conversation with her in which he referred to her appearance.

Dulkumoni had no previous convictions.

He has been in Ireland for around 10 years with his wife and extended family, defence solicitor Donal Quigley said. He had no children.

The accused is currently working as a barber in Tallaght and before that he had worked in Abbey Street.

Dulkumoni had given an explanation for what happened but it was not accepted, Mr Quigley said.

In her victim impact statement, read out to court by the garda, the girl said she has had two panic attacks since the incident.

One was on the Luas not long after the incident, and the second was in her bedroom close to Christmas because she was thinking about what had happened on the bus.

I am afraid to get on public transport by myself after the incident, I always bring a friend or family member with me, she said in her statement.

If they cant come with me, I have to be dropped and collected wherever I go.

Im always looking around me when Im in public now, Im more cautious.

I get a bit freaked out if a stranger talks to me or if someone bumps off me.

I have definitely stopped hanging around with my male friends as much, I would rather be with the girls.

I think it has had a big effect on my social life and it has knocked my confidence. I stay at home a lot more than I would have, and I also dont have much trust in strangers.

It has also affected my studies because Im in my Leaving Cert year and have a court case to deal with. It has been very stressful.

Judge OShea said the offence, taken in isolation, was at the lower end of the range, though that was not at all to take from the aggravating factor that was the victims age.

The judge said, while he appreciated that Dulkumoni wished to appeal his decision, the accused had shown no remorse and had made no apology.

He noted that the victim had been struggling with her studies understandably as a result of the trauma and anxiety of the case.

upset

She had been forced to give evidence by video link, became visibly upset at the thought of what had happened and had to relive the experience in order to give her testimony.

The judge said, because of her youth, the victim was more likely to be resilient and make a full recovery.

The court heard the victim had only been asked two questions in cross-examination, which was not robust.

The accused had not challenged the provenance of video evidence or the legality of his detention.

Judge OShea set recognisances in the event of an appeal.
THREE Portuguese men have appeared in court accused of drug cultivation following a 640,000 cannabis seizure at an alleged grow house in Dublin.

The three were among nine people arrested after up to 800 cannabis plants were found at an industrial premises in the north inner city at the weekend.

Judge Bryan Smyth remanded them in custody for bail applications to be made on later dates.

Miguel Lima (27) and Hugo Da Silva (22), both of no fixed address, along with Pedro Barbosa (34) of Suffolk Street, Rochdale in England are all charged with cultivation of cannabis.

The offence is alleged to have happened at Fredericks Lane North, Dublin 1 on Saturday, March 2.

Detective Garda Stephen Gillespie of the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau told Dublin District Court he arrested Mr Lima at Mountjoy Station yesterday. He was charged at 5.01pm and replied I was arrested on the street, not in the address.

Defence solicitor Michael French made no application for bail on Mr Lima's behalf but said he would be applying for bail on the next court date.

Garda Mark ONeill said Mr Da Silva made no reply when charged at Mountjoy Station. Mr Da Silvas solicitor Claire Barry also said she was making no bail application yet.

Detective Gda Liam Brennan, also from the Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, said Mr Barbosa made no reply after caution at Store Street Station.

Mr Barbosas barrister Kitty Perle said she was not making a bail application yet but there would be one in due course.

The gardai were objecting to bail in all three cases.

JudgeSmyth remanded the accused in custody to appear in court for later bail applications - Mr Lima and Mr Da Silva both on Friday and Mr Barbosa next Monday.

He granted legal aid following applications by their lawyers.

None of the accused spoke during the brief proceedings and were assisted by a Portuguese interpreter.

They have not yet indicated how they intend to plead to the charges, which are under Section 17 of the Misuse of Drugs Act.
Dublin Fire Brigade at the scene of Department of Health

04/03/2019 Dublin Fire Brigade and emergency services at the scene on Dublins Baggot Street Lower. Pic Gareth Chaney / Collins Photos

The Department of Health was evacuated earlier today after a suspicious package was sent to Health Minister Simon Harris.

The minister was among those evacuated this morning from the building in Dublin city centre.

It is understood an envelope containing white powder was addressed to him and a decision was taken to evacuate the entire department as a precaution.

A source told Independent.ie that the powder was in fact "baking powder" and was deemed non-hazardous.

We are on scene at an incident in a premises on Baggot Street Lower. To help us deal with the incident the road has been closed. Expect traffic delays and disruption in the area. @aaroadwatch @DCCTraffic pic.twitter.com/J42CWRHTkF  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

No note or threat was attached to the package.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he did not know what type of "oddballs" would send suspicious packages but urged people to consider that a package sent to a politician would be opened by a staff member rather than an elected rep.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Health Minister Simon Harris (Niall Carson/PA) The scene at Department of Health, Baggot Street Pic: Andrew Meehan / Facebook

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He said: "If you want to come after us, come after us but don't come after our staff or our families".

A spokesperson for the Defence Forces said: "Earlier today, following a request from An Garda Siochana, an Army Bomb Disposal Team was tasked to investigate a suspect substance at the Department of Health on Baggot Street, where they arrived on scene at 12.20pm," a spokesperson said.

"On arrival a cordon was established and the area cleared for the duration of the operation. An envelope containing a powder was inspected on site and deemed non-hazardous by technicians.

"It was then handed over to An Garda Siochana for further examination. The scene was declared safe and the team departed at 2.30pm.

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"Should members of the public encounter suspicious items, or potentially hazardous substances, they are advised to maintain a safe distance and inform An Garda Siochana."

Dublin Fire Brigade said earlier that the incident was of a 'HazMat nature' - hazardous materials.

"All resources are in place to resolve the incident. There is no danger to the public. Baggot Street Lower is still closed, and we ask the public to respect the emergency cordons," Dublin Fire Brigade tweeted.

Gardai confirmed to Independent.ie that Dublin Fire Brigade were at the scene and had "control of the site".

The bomb disposal unit attended the scene. All staff were instructed to go home and were told that the building would not be reopened "for some time".

The emergency services have now reopened Baggot St.

Personnel from the Dept of Health and from other businesses in the area are also allowed back inside.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar previously said that the gardai and Defence Forces have the skills and equipment to deal with incidents like today's security alert at the Department of Health.

Mr Varadkar said he didn't have details on the incident but that he heard that there was a "suspicious package" delivered to the Department and it was evacuated.

He said the relevant authorities including the Gardai are assessing the situation now.

Mr Varadkar added: "I won't say any more until we know what the nature of this potential threat is but I know that our gardai and Defence forces have all the appropriate skills and equipment to deal with such matters."

Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone was attending a meeting about disability when the buildings alarm went off.

Its understood the minister acted very professionally during the incident and was one of the last people to leave the premises.

At about 11.10pm the fire alarm went off, followed by an automated message telling everyone to evacuate, said an individual who attended the meeting.

Nobody panicked and we all followed the correct procedure. Minister Zappone wanted to stay behind and make sure I was taken care of because I have a disability and find it difficult to use the stairs.

She acted very professionally, and we were one of the last people to leave the building. However, she was prevented from going back inside to retrieve her papers.

Whoever is responsible for this has caused a lot of disruption for many people, but thankfully nobody was harmed.

Offices and shops in the direct vicinity of the government building were also evacuted.

Customers and staff from cafes, pubs and other buildings on Lower Baggot St were told to remain inside.

"I would have thought they would have evacuated us too," said a staff member from O'Briens cafe.

"It looks very serious, but hopefully it's not."
A bus driver is said to be "recovering well" after a quick-thinking passenger noticed he had gone into cardiac arrest on Dublin's O'Connell Bridge earlier today.

Gardai, an ambulance and Dublin Fire Brigade responded to the ongoing medical emergency shortly after 8am.

A spokesperson for Dublin Fire Brigade said this evening that a passenger on the bus, who is a nurse, recognised that the driver was in cardiac arrest.

Aoife McGivney, a nurse at the Mater Hospital, said she was on the bus on the way to work when the bus started rolling.

#ROSC achieved following an incident on a bus on O'Connell Bridge this morning. A nurse (passenger) recognised that the bus driver was in Cardiac Arrest and started CPR. #fireEMS crews and Advanced Paramedics from HQ attended. The driver is recovering well. #Ambulance120 pic.twitter.com/SuAiUGcgg5  Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) March 4, 2019

She explained that passengers on the bus began to panic when they thought the bus had knocked into a cyclist.

"Everyone started screaming, I ran up to the bus driver and recognised he was unconscious, turned around and said we need to stop the bus," she said on The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk.

"Thank god the cyclist was okay and was fine and was able to jump away from the bus but that was unknown to us at the time.

"We didn't know what was going on and what kind of danger we were all in, especially this bus driver who was obviously not well."

Ms McGivney said she was able to move the driver's leg off the accelerator while passengers helped to push the doors open to get the driver off the bus.

"He was breathing at the time, I was checking his pulse, but I could tell he wasn't conscious and he was pre-arrest so we were looking for signs that he was at risk of having a full cardiac arrest."

Ms McGivney started CPR before fire crews and advanced paramedics arrived at the scene.

"I went to get my coat after they'd brought him away in the ambulance and the guard had passed on to me that he was alive and talking. We were able to get him back.

"I wish him the very best and I hope he lives a long and happy life after this."

A Dublin Fire Brigade spokesperson said: "The driver is recovering well,"

AA Roadwatch reported the incident was blocking the right lane on the northbound side of the bridge and the left lane of the southbound side of O' Connell Bridge. Delays on approach were building back to Westmoreland Street.

The Luas Green Line also experienced short delays due to the incident.
The Government is exploring options for providing free contraception as part of efforts to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies.

One option being considered is for the HSE to provide free condoms in vending machines in universities and pubs.

Increasing access to contraception was a key recommendation of the Oireachtas committee that examined Ireland's abortion laws ahead of last year's referendum, which saw the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

Health Minister Simon Harris has now set out the terms of reference for the Department of Health working group, which will examine removing cost barriers for accessing contraception. He is to brief ministerial colleagues on the issue at a special Cabinet meeting on gender issues on Friday.

The working group is to determine the extent that cost is a barrier to accessing contraception, and if other factors need to be addressed.

"This work will take a number of months to complete but it will deliver a clear pathway forward," Mr Harris said.

"Cost should not be a barrier to accessing contraception and I am determined to address this.

"The benefits are clear. This will help to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies and promotes good sexual health.

"I look forward to receiving the outcome of this work later this year."
Media commentator Jude Collins has apologised after receiving widespread criticism for comments on the weight of Alliance leader Naomi Long.

Writing on his blog, Mr Collins said that the first thing he noticed when Mrs Long appeared on television was her "weight problem".

The long-time journalist speculated that Mrs Long may be suffering from a medical condition.

Responding to his comments on Twitter, the East Belfast MLA said that Mr Collins no right to speculate about her health. She said the comments were also evidence of his misogyny as well as his lack of manners.

The Alliance leader received support from across the political spectrum, with many criticising Mr Collins on social media for "fat shaming".

In a blog post on Monday Mr Collins said that a "multitude of people" had contacted him to tell him how obnoxious his comments were.

"Ive gone back and looked at what I said and I can see that what I wrote could well have been hurtful to Naomi," he wrote.

Mr Collins removed the offending paragraph from his blog and said he had "no hesitation in apologizing to the Alliance party leader for my crassness and any hurt this may have caused her. I hope she will accept that apology."

He said that he was trying to make a general point about "audio-visual media and television," saying "in particular pay a lot of attention to image as well as sound, remains undeniable".

"Id emphasise that the above isnt an attempt to slide away from my regret over my paragraph on Naomi. That was bad judgement and bad taste, and I shouldnt have written it. Mea culpa," Mr Collins wrote.

Mrs Long has yet to respond to Mr Collins apology.
Zookeepers from all over the world are flying to Dublin to discover the secret to the remarkable fertility of its thriving elephant herd.

There are now a dozen elephants in Phoenix Park after the addition of nine calves in almost as many years.

The remarkable baby boom among the herd has keepers from all over the world arriving at the Irish zoo to find out how they have made giant footsteps in the care of one of the most loved creatures on the planet.

Dublin Zoo's head keeper, Gerry Creighton, has been as far as China, India and the US imparting their methods which have produced a contented herd with one of the biggest group of calves born so close together in a family-related herd outside of the wild.

He said: "Hundreds of keepers have visited from all over the world to see what we're doing and to take away the Dublin philosophy, the Dublin way.

"It's right up there to have nine calves born consistently within the herd and to have no losses or deaths is very significant. It's an incredible rate. There is no other zoo in the world with seven calves under five."

At the start of the noughties, Dublin Zoo was still operating an old-school system in a 1950s house with a concrete floor. When the zoo replaced human contact and bull hooks with the sandy Kaziranga Forest Trail which simulates the wild, the effect on fertility was almost immediate.

"We've witnessed new life tumble onto the sand floor nine times," said Gerry Creighton.

"It's beautiful to witness. It's greeted with increasing levels of excitement and all family members are involved.

"To see the older females guide the younger females in when a calf drops to the floor is incredible because we've recorded all these births. It's elephants teaching elephants.

"It's a very unique situation, over the last 12 years, the elephant family has now gone from three to 12 individuals. We've elephants ranging from one year to 35, 36 years old. Our zoo is right at the forefront of showing these incredibly iconic animals can do well in a modern zoo."
IRELAND is savouring a whiskey renaissance with the 'auld cratur' now worth a tasty 650m a year to the economy.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney opened the new Clonakilty Distillery and visitors centre in west Cork by revealing that 40pc of all drinks exports now involve Irish whiskey.

Irish whiskey is now the fastest growing segment within the global drinks industry with exports enjoying almost double digit growth.

The new Clonakilty Distillery - developed by the Scully family at a cost of around 10m - will create 35 jobs and aims to offer a major tourism attraction on the Wild Atlantic Way.

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"The whiskey story in Ireland is about tourism and about an export product that is now worth about 650m a year to the economy," Mr Coveney said.

"About 40pc of drinks exports out of Ireland now are whiskey. It is the fastest growing spirits category in the world."

"What is happening here is a trend around the country."

"This is another whiskey distillery that looks like it is going to be a huge success," he said.

He said Irish whiskey was simply tapping into vast potential which had lain dormant for decades.

"Seven or eight years ago when I became Minister for Agriculture, we were looking at sectors of the agri-food sector that could expand. At that time, Irish whiskey had largely been stagnant for decades. We were producing about 200,000 cases a year."

"Since then we have seen a whiskey renaissance in Ireland - we have gone from three of four whiskey distilleries in the country to now more than 40 and many more on the way."

"But this is not just about producing good quality whiskey - it is also about a visitor experience."

Mr Coveney said the new Clonakilty Distillery hopes to see up to 40,000 visitors a year.

"It is a tourism driver as well as a functioning, working distillery. It will be a tourism driver for the town of Clonakilty and the surrounding area."

"It is great to see the Scully family developing this, investing around 10m and employing 35 people."

The distillery's flagship product will be its triple distilled Clonakilty Whiskey.

Michael Scully, the distillery's founder, said it was a dream come true.

"I got this embryonic idea about six years ago that I wanted to start up a business closer to home," he said.

"We wanted something to showcase the very best that our farm and ocean can offer. One thing led to another and here we are today, six years later, with this fabulous new distillery."

The distillery will market various whiskey types as well as offering a visitor experience and speciality restaurant.

However, the distillery will also market a special Minke Irish Gin, named in honour of the whales that swim in waters offshore of west Cork.

The firm's flagship whiskey won a prestigious silver medal at the 2018 IWSC International Fair.
Jack Regan, of Meath, tries to take a sideline cut during the match between Kerry and Meath. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

A car comes off the road near Portlaoise

March is set to be "the month of many weathers" as the cold and showery weather will continue after Storm Freya's unexpected snow showers.

Thousands of motorists were caught up in traffic chaos and passengers were caught at Dublin Airport yesterday after unexpected snow and sleet hit parts of the country.

The heavy snowfall caused "extremely poor" driving conditions, with some roads impassable and motorways closed, and significant traffic delays were caused on other routes.

A yellow weather warning was issued by Met Eireann yesterday morning for Munster, Leinster, Cavan, Monaghan, Galway and Roscommon.

The Status Yellow snow-ice warning was put in place from 4pm, and was later extended to the entire country to 8am this morning.

Met Eireann forecaster Joan Blackburn said that there is lying snow in places, and it will be a cold and showery day ahead.

Expand Close Jack Regan, of Meath, tries to take a sideline cut during the match between Kerry and Meath. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile / Facebook

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Whatsapp Jack Regan, of Meath, tries to take a sideline cut during the match between Kerry and Meath. Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

"March is the month of many weathers and it certainly deserves that title," she told RTE Radio One's Morning Ireland.

"It will continue to be cold and showery with heavy rain showers and snow on higher ground with highest temperatures 5 - 8 degrees."

Hundreds of passengers sleeping overnight in #DublinAirport after their flights were delayed or cancelled. pic.twitter.com/nCF9nKW6hE  Paul Cullen (@paulcullenit) March 4, 2019

@Ryanair stuck in Dublin airport because you lot couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery , get it sorted pic.twitter.com/u05pJjI8Jl  Burchill (@ProSportsEd) March 3, 2019

@BBCBreaking Daughter has been stuck at Dublin Airport. She says it is chaos because 4 out of 5 de-icers broke. 15 full planes stuck on runway. Some for over 5 hours.Mostly Ryanair flights affected. No one knows what is going on and no one can get on or off a plane? pic.twitter.com/vxXAXybSes  Colette Jones (@jones_colette) March 3, 2019

"There will be further heavy showers overnight with lows tonight of 1 - 4 degrees."

The windy and rainy weather will continue tomorrow which will lead to some spot flooding, Ms Blackburn said.

#KILDARE Slippery conditions reported on parts of the M7 northbound. Slow down and take care. More here: https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) March 4, 2019

Icy conditions this morning around parts of Leinster and Tipperary; snow or slush may also linger on higher ground. Caution advised. Full updates at https://t.co/PSzIBsvOzE pic.twitter.com/AAXlF0CgMo  AA Roadwatch (@aaroadwatch) March 4, 2019

It takes longer to stop a vehicle in snow or on icy roads so slow down and allow extra distance between you and the vehicle in front. Keep a sharp lookout for pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users. https://t.co/X7SLQaNzRg #winterready pic.twitter.com/9Uj0LIAuHE  An Garda Siochana (@GardaTraffic) March 3, 2019

Cold, bright, blustery weather is anticipated throughout Wednesday and Thursday and the weekend is expected to be "unsettled and chilly".

Commuters were warned to take extra care this morning with roads in many parts still expected to be treacherous.

AA Roadwatch are reporting icy conditions this morning around parts of Leinster and Tipperary.

They said "snow or slush may also linger on higher ground" and have advised caution.

.@DublinAirport is open & operational. Some airlines are experiencing delays to their flight schedules as a result of de-icing issues. Passengers are advised to check with their airline for latest flight updates. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.  Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) March 3, 2019

Multiple minor road traffic collisions were reported during the morning rush hour - the bulk of which involved drivers skidding into ditches or rear-ending cars after being unable to stop in time due to ice. Worst hit were parts of Tipperary, Limerick, Kerry and Cork near the Galtee Mountains. Roads were described as treacherous in northern parts of the county, especially around Thurles, Nenagh and Roscrea. In Kerry, road conditions around Kenmare and Dingle were described as very challenging.

In Cork, the worst of the road conditions were on higher ground particularly around Mitchelstown in north Cork by the foothills of the Galtee Mountains.

Motorists were also urged to drive with caution around Watergrasshill and Upper Glanmire where ice patches were reported.

Dublin Airport said some airlines experienced delays as a result of having to de-ice. The airport released a statement on social media saying it is "open and operational" this morning.

"Some airlines are experiencing delays to their flight schedules as a result of de-icing issues," they wrote.

"Passengers are advised to check with their airline for latest flight updates. We apologise for any inconvenience caused."

Some passengers reported being caught at the airport for several hours. This morning all flights were operating as normal.

Forecast

Snow was originally forecast for areas of high ground above 200 metres. However, it fell in many low-lying areas, taking motorists by surprise.

Shortly before 6pm gardai issued a traffic alert and advised people to exercise caution and reduce their speed in affected areas.

However, by that stage heavy snowfall on the M7 near Naas had already brought traffic almost to a standstill. One car caught fire on the hard shoulder late last night, adding to delays, but no one was hurt.

Driving conditions were described as poor on several major routes including the M4, while a collision on the M8 during the treacherous conditions resulted in gridlock.

Videos on social media last night showed snow ploughs being used to clear heavy snow on the M8 with fire engines following behind as they led out the traffic.

One motorist in the midlands told how he came across a number of serious crashes and saw cars being pulled out of ditches.

"Traffic was backed up in Portlaoise, and there were some pretty bad crashes.

"There were cars in the ditch, after Arles on the way to Stradbally there was a car on its roof. There was so much snow and ice on the ground, there was no grip on the tyres.

"It all fell very quickly, I left Carlow to get home and it took me over two-and-a-half hours, it normally takes an hour and 10 (minutes)."

AA Roadwatch reported very poor conditions through the Sally Gap - which was later closed - and Wicklow Gap, Co Wicklow, while three Allianz Hurling League fixtures were postponed.

Cork's Division 1A clash with Tipperary in Pairc Ui Rinn was called off due to a waterlogged pitch following a pitch inspection. Waterford's Division 1B clash with Galway in Walsh Park was also postponed due to the weather and in Innovate Park, Wexford and Kilkenny was also called off after a pitch inspection.

Many local authorities had gritters out last night and were due out again this morning.

Met Eireann said frost and icy patches would clear this morning with showers becoming widespread, some heavy and of hail. There will be wintry falls on high ground. Temperatures will reach a high of 8C.
Former SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, who will run for Fine Gael in the European Elections, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar Picture credit: Damien Eagers / INM

Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan, who announced that he will run for Fine Gael in the European elections in Dublin, was unable to name four streets in the capital earlier today and admitted that he will remain living in the North.

Mr Durkan has joined Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's party in the wake of the Fianna Fail partnership with the SDLP.

The 58-year-old is a former Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland finance minister, Westminster MP and Northern Ireland MLA.

He will run for Fine Gael in the European elections in Dublin alongside former Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

Expand Close 4/3/2019, former SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, who will run for Fine Gael in the European Elections, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM / Facebook

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Whatsapp 4/3/2019, former SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, who will run for Fine Gael in the European Elections, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM

Mr Durkan said he intends to remain living in the North if he is elected to the European Parliament.

He said he knows it's a "big ask" of the people of Dublin to ask for their support.

He admitted he's not suddenly going to support Dublin's Gaelic football team or Shamrock Rovers over Derry sides.

Mr Varadkar chipped in "he will be supporting the Dubs after Derry get knocked out".

Mr Durkan said the people of Dublin are "canny" and "not going to be sold a pup" and they'll be right to demand that four MEPs look after their interests and said: "they will get that with me".

He said Dublin is a proud as a capital city and people there know the national issues at stake.

Expand Close Minister Regina Doherty, Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney arriving for a press conference in Dublin to announce Mark Durkan and Francis Fitzgerald will run for Fine Gael in the European Elections. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM / Facebook

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Whatsapp Minister Regina Doherty, Former SDLP leader Mark Durkan, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tanaiste Simon Coveney arriving for a press conference in Dublin to announce Mark Durkan and Francis Fitzgerald will run for Fine Gael in the European Elections. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / INM

Mr Durkan was asked if he could name four streets in Dublin West, a similar question to one another Northern politician, Austin Currie was asked in the 1989 general election.

Mr Currie, who was present at the press conference piped up "I was only asked for three".

Mr Durkan was not able to name four streets in Dublin West. He said: "I'm making no pretence here... I'm standing on the basis of who I am not who I'm pretending to be."

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Mr Durkan would be running for the city, the country and Northern Ireland.

He praised his role in the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Durkan was Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland from 2001 to 2002 and the leader of the SDLP from 2001 to 2010. He lost his seat in Westminster to Sinn Fein in the last election.

He is the highest profile disgruntled SDLP member to leave the party following the Fianna Fail partnership.

His signing will be viewed as a swipe by Fine Gael at Fianna Fail following the SDLP link up.

Frances Fitzgerald, the Dublin Mid-West TD and former Justice Minister, is the only candidate contesting that convention.

She remains the favourite to take the seat being vacated by sitting Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes, who is returning to take up a role as chief executive of the Banking and Payments Federation.

However, Mr Durkan follows the path of former SDLP member and Austin Currie in running for Fine Gael.

Mr Currie was a TD in Dublin West and presidential election candidate. His daughter, Emer Currie, will be the Taoiseach's running mate in Dublin West in the next general election.

Mr Varadkar criticised the Fianna Fail-SDLP link up last week. Pointing to the deal between the Conservatives and the DUP, he said a similar dynamic could arise if Fianna Fail were in government.

"The decision that Fine Gael, my party, has taken is that rather than aligning ourselves with any one political party in Northern Ireland, that we think it's better for Fine Gael as a party - but also as a party of Government - to try to work with all parties, to be an honest broker where there is a disagreement and also, in particular, reach out to the centre ground of people in politics but also people beyond politics who want a shared future," he said.

Mr Varadkar does have a good relationship with Mr Durkan. The Taoiseach spoke at a dinner in honour of Mr Durkan in Derry last year, where he said he was a towering figure in politics.

He was central to the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement. His unshakeable belief in what was right and just delivered results for all of the people of Northern Ireland, he said.

From Derry, Mr Durkan is married to Jackie and they have one child, Dearbhail.

Mr Durkan was a member of the SDLP from the early 1980s at the height of the Troubles. In the mid 1980s, he became then leader John Humes parliamentary assistant in Westminster and also organised by-election campaigns for Seamus Mallon and Eddie McGrady.

During the 1990s, he became SDLP chairman and a member of the partys peace process negotiating team in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement.

He was subsequently elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly, becoming finance minister, then replacing Seamus Mallon as Deputy First Minister and becoming party leader.

Mr Durkan replaced Mr Hume as MP for Foyle in 2005, stood down as party leader in 2010, but held the Westminster seat until 2017, when he was beaten by Sinn Fein in an SDLP wipeout.
Laois-Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy has lost out on a Fine Gael nomination for the European elections.

Sitting MEPs Sean Kelly and Deirdre Clune secured nominations to run for the party in Ireland South, with Wicklow-based minister of state Andrew Doyle named as the third candidate.

The Fine Gael leadership was out in force for the selection convention at Hotel Minella in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, which was attended by more than 1,000 delegates yesterday.

Among those attending the convention were Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Tanaiste Simon Coveney, Health Minister Simon Harris, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, Agriculture Minister Michael Creed, former finance minister Michael Noonan and former Tanaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

Addressing delegates, Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael's priority at the European elections was to hold on to the four seats it won in 2014, and to challenge for gains, particularly in Dublin and Ireland South which have an extra seat each this time around because of Brexit.

"I think it's possible to make gains, with two extra seats available," he said.

Meanwhile, trade union leader Sheila Nunan has been selected as the Labour Party's candidate to contest the European elections in the Ireland South constituency.

Ms Nunan won out over former Labour TD for Clare, Michael McNamara, who also contested yesterday's selection convention in Cork.

She is a former general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) and is president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

A Labour statement said Ms Nunan was "a strong advocate for decent work, decent pay and quality public services".

"The tide is turning in this country. Ordinary people see the need for strong Labour values at the heart of government decision-making, here and in Europe," Ms Nunan said.

"Brexit has exposed the fragility of our relationships with our neighbouring countries and the need to ensure Europe delivers for the many and not just the few. I'm standing in this election because I believe in the EU, but it needs to do better. We need to tackle rampant inequality, those who lost so much during the recession and still wait for the recovery to mean something to them," she added.
Seized: A photo issued by gardai of cannabis plants worth 640,000 found in the raid in Dublins north inner city. Photo: PA

Nine people, including a teenager, were questioned after gardai raided a cannabis grow house in Dublin's north inner city.

More than 800 plants with an estimated street value of 640,000 were discovered when officers raided a commercial premises in the capital.

Three males are due to appear in court this morning charged in connection with the seizure. Another four people arrested remained in custody last night.

Gardai said the operation was intelligence-led and targeted organised crime groups involved in the dealing and supply of controlled drugs.

Four people were arrested at the grow house while five arrests were made in Wexford on Saturday following more searches.

The investigation involved gardai of the South Eastern Region and detectives attached to the National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

An Irishman and woman were detained, as well as one UK man and six people from Portugal. Those arrested are aged from 17 to 45 and were questioned at different Garda stations.

A Garda spokesman said last night that two of the nine arrested had been released without charge and a file would be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. The spokesman said that investigations into the operation were ongoing.

National and local Garda units have uncovered several different grow houses across the country in recent years, including in Kerry, Longford, Kildare and Offaly, as well as in Dublin.

Last year, gardai discovered cannabis worth about 2.7m when they uncovered a grow house in the Coolock area.
RTHK: Flamboyant Prodigy vocalist Keith Flint dies

Keith Flint, the frenetic frontman of British rave icons The Prodigy, has died at the age of 49, the electronic pop group said Monday.

Flint took his own life, his bandmate Liam Howlett said on The Prodigy's official Instagram account.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend," Howlett wrote.

Police said only that they were not treating the death as suspicious after finding Flint's body on Monday in a residence in Essex, northeast of London.

Howlett said he was "shell shocked... angry, confused and heartbroken".

Heavily pierced, tattooed and topped with a bleached mohawk, Flint helped turn The Prodigy into one of the most influential acts to emerge from the underground rave scene.

Their biggest hits included "Firestarter" and "Breathe" in 1996 and "Smack My Bitch Up" in 1997, which merged intense dance beats with elements of rap and punk to create energy-driven music that turned them into international stars.

Their accompanying videos were dark, cinematic and seemingly aimed to shock.

One was banned by MTV in the United States. Another was only allowed to air on British television after 9:00 pm because of complaints that it scared children.

The Prodigy issued a statement on Twitter calling Flint a "true pioneer, innovator and legend".

"It is with deepest shock and sadness that we can confirm the death of our brother and best friend Keith Flint," the group said.

Essex Police told AFP that a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene and that "his next of kin have been informed".

"The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner."

The Prodigy formed in 1990 and released two albums before becoming international stars with their 1996 chart-topper "The Fat of the Land".

Emerging at around the same time as fellow ravers The Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim and Underworld, The Prodigy embodied the "Cool Britannia" feel of the late 1990s.

But The Prodigy's sound was always harder, more confrontational and intense, with their performances turning into sweat sessions that sold out venues for decades around the world.

"There was a real determination for it (the band's sound) to have zero compromise," Flint said in 2015. "There really needed to be an antidote to the DJ scene, which made it quite brutal."

Other dance music pioneers paid tribute.

"So sad to hear about Keith Flint, he was always great fun to be around and very kind to Tom and I when we first started doing shows together... great man," Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers tweeted.

Chase And Status, who were also part of the "big beat" subgenre of UK underground techno and acid house music, said they were "absolutely devastated".

"We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Keith and the life changing music they made and championed," Chase And Status said on Twitter. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  Ireland-based Filipino author Jose Raymund Canoy is not professionally qualified to write An Illustrated History of the Philippines. At least, thats one of the first things he tells me when we sit down for an interview prior to the books launch in Manila.

As an academic, Canoy primarily writes on European history. His first book, The Discreet Charm of the Police State: The Landpolizei and the Transformation of Bavaria, 1945-1965, is on German history, with most copies, he says, being in libraries where its readers are usually other historians. Writing An Illustrated History of the Philippines came upon the insistence of his publisher, John Beaufoy.

John convinced me that exactly because I'm not a Philippine historian, I might have a chance to have a little bit more of a stepped back view, says Canoy. As such, the book is a bit different from most Philippine history textbooks. The most obvious being that this one comes with color images, maps, a detailed timeline.

And despite (or perhaps thanks to) this stepped back view, the author is very much in tune with a persistent theme that has long hounded Filipinos: our seemingly never ending search for a national identity. In this book, Canoy captures our collective anxiety and, borrowing from what other historians have shared in their own works, urges us to look at the forces that have brought us to this state of restlessness, asking if perhaps who we are lies in how weve managed to survive at the hands of such forces.

The books throughline is thus Canoys assertion that the story of the Filipino is that of human resilience in a weak state. This is evident in how its seven chapters are split accordingly: The Community as a Boat (regional pre-colonial history), The State as a Convent (Spanish colonial rule), Imagining a Nation (the revolution and First Philippine Republic), The Trials of Benevolent Assimilation (American colonization), Showplace of Democracy in Asia (Post-World War Philippines), The New Society and its Aftermath (the Marcos dictatorship and the Aquinos), and New Forms for Old Challenges (1986 onwards, covering Fidel Ramos presidency until Rodrigo Dutertes).

Admittedly, I am not so much a heavy reader on history. Yet even for a casual reader like me, An Illustrated History of the Philippines is quite a compelling read  perhaps enough to get even those disinterested in history hooked. This, Canoy says, was all carefully planned.

Among other things, it's designed to be skimmed, he says. So that [if anyone] skims an average page they'd want to stay with it.

CNN Philippines Life sat down with Canoy before the Manila leg of the book launch to talk about his book, as well as his thoughts on the resilience of Filipinos, our search for a national identity, and the need to imagine a post-America Philippines. Below are edited excerpts from the interview.

Author and historian Jose Raymund Canoy at the book launch of An Illustrated History of the Philippines. Photo courtesy of NATIONAL BOOKSTORE

This doesnt read like your usual history textbook. I thought it was interesting for you to make the point, or there was this overarching theme of human resilience in a weak state.

It's not my formulation, it's by a historian [Patricio] Abinales. He is the one who formulated the concept first of the weak state. The other way to phrase the question is, Why dont Filipinos like a strong state? When was the last strong state you remember or you experienced yourself?

The strong state doesn't have to be evil. Britain has a strong state, the U.S. has a strong state. What was the last strong state before Marcos? And how did the Marcos state end? The American state wasn't our state, it didn't belong to us. Bonifacio tried to create a strong state and it killed him. The strong state hasn't really done much for anybody. It's made some people powerful and wealthy, but it isn't in the interest of the normal people to have a strong state. So they're resilient because there is no strong state. Because a lot of people prefer it that way.

Why do you think that is preferred in the Philippines?

I think it's not a question of a deliberate choice. I think it's because the foundations of a strong state would rest on your real loyalty. And the loyalty of real, honest people, it's not there. The state has never been the people's state.

I also think it's interesting because, you talk about the resilience of the Filipino people, and I've seen criticisms on romanticizing Filipino resilience.

I think it's just the least confusing word to use. I could use other words like doggedness or persistence or even superhuman patience, but the point is it's not a choice. They have no choice but to be resilient.

And because the weak state environment rewards certain behaviors and not other behaviors, we call that resilience. Being able to operate a business out of a shop that is half the size of this room, and one half is a tailoring shop and the other half is a barbecue stand that sells cellphone load  that's resilient. That shop is gonna be there long after a lot of malls have closed. It's collapse-proof because it is already collapsed. It can't collapse any further.

Toward the end of the book, you wrote of a national tendency to create fantasizing and wish-fulfillment in the search for historical roots of national identity, and I feel like it's very relevant today because there was recently news about President Duterte wanting to change the country's name to Maharlika, and people have been critiquing it, and calling it Barong Tagalog nationalism. Why do you think we insist on this form of nationalism?

Historians have seen a lot of similar patterns before and whatever the current situation is, I'm not speaking of that current case, but in general, identity is something by which a community lives or dies. It's more important than food, security ... and identity is built on experience. The historian Benedict Anderson said, [as well as] others who talked about creating a past that is usable, no one really knows what the past is like, not even historians. They don't have the truth about the past. They just happen to dig around a lot of it. So they have lots of evidence. But they don't generally know the truth.

It's different than trying to construct a path that is the past, selectively picking things that only are the usable parts. And that's not history. Other Asian countries don't have such a big problem because there's a big consensus on their deep past pre-European contact. The evidence is there, the stone temples are there, the legends are there, the Ramayana, the texts, so you can't just make things up because that's been studied intensively by the people who are part of the living tradition back to pre-European colony times. But we don't have that. That was cut. The Americans and the Spanish cut those links at the beginning and the end of the Spanish period. So because we don't have those reliable links to clear evidence, then there's the tendency to fill the void with what you wish is there.

It's not necessarily bad. It's a human trait. Where would you be without knowledge of who your family was, right? It's identity. And if the void is not filled with evidence, it will be filled with other things. Some of them are useful and positive, and some of them are really scary. The last example in the scary direction is 20th century racial fantasies about the superman and racial discrimination. It can get very complicated very quickly because the need is there for identity.

As a historian, with the knowledge that the evidence that we're looking for is not there, how do you think we can move forward in finding our identity?

I would say base identity on more recent experience. And there, resilience goes back into play. We have a documented record for resilience. Going back to resisting polo [forced] labor with the Juan Tamad legend. The stereotype is there for a good reason. Back when it was created as an insult, it had a political purpose: to prevent exploitation of natives by unpaid polo labor. So that's documentable. And from then onward, until today, there's a lot to build a solid identity on.

The other thing that I think is a key part of our identity  you don't find that in the same form anywhere else in Asia  is our sense of humor. That's not fake. That's real. Where did that come from? What's the basis for that? How did that emerge? That, for me, is so evident.

Historical facts and figures aside, what do you wish for readers to take away from your book?

We are leaving the American era and there's no plan B. There's a lot of uncertainty. And into that vacuum come the old questions: Who are we? What are we doing? And if you don't fill that with something constructive, all sorts of scary things will start to enter that ... Because there's an existential kind of, Who are we?

For 120 years, who we are has always been resisting America, embracing America, fighting America, defining ourselves against America. It's always been reacting to something else. What if it's not welcome now? What are we left with? What is the plan B? I'm not talking about economics, I'm talking about identity. The real record is the resilience that's documentable in the last 300 years. That's real. That can never be taken away.

***

An Illustrated History of the Philippines is available at National Bookstore.
The tragedy in Aurora sent shockwaves through Chicagoland and throughout the country, Idleburg said. Our hearts go out to the City of Aurora, the victims of the tragedy, and we are grateful for the brave police officers who risked their lives to save others. I will do everything in my power to reduce the likelihood of such a tragedy in Lake County.
Vodafone Ireland has launched a policy aimed at supporting employees who have experienced domestic violence or abuse.

The initiative, which is being introduced ahead of International Women's Day this Friday, provides employees who are victims of domestic violence with 10 days' additional leave, specialist counselling and support toolkits.

The policy also provides emergency financial aid such as salary advances and assistance for employees to set up a new bank account to help give them financial independence.

It comes as research from the Vodafone Foundation shows that 31pc of Irish workers have experienced some form of domestic abuse, while just over half felt safer at work compared to home.

Vodafone Ireland CEO Anne O'Leary said: "I am very proud to introduce our new domestic violence policy. It rolls out real supports and procedures for employees experiencing domestic violence or abuse."
The family of Clodagh Hawe faced debts of more than 50,000 in funeral and legal costs after her husband Alan Hawe killed her and their three sons.

Speaking as they search for copies of Garda files into the investigations into the murder-suicide, Clodagh's sister Jacqueline Connolly and mother Mary Coll say they want laws on succession to change so that the relatives of people who wipe out their families do not benefit financially from their crime.

Alan Hawe transferred money from the joint account he had with Clodagh into his own account before killing himself, his wife and sons Liam (13), Niall (11), and Ryan (6) in August 2016.

It is thought he did this so that his family would inherit the money.

In an interview with the 'Sunday Independent', Ms Connolly said that in the days and weeks after the shocking killings, they slowly started to learn that as the victims' family they had little rights.

This began when they moved to have Alan Hawe exhumed from the grave he shared with Clodagh, Liam, Niall and Ryan.

"Of course, when we tried to have the body exhumed we learned, as we did on so many occasions later, that we, Clodagh's next of kin, had no rights. It would be the Hawe family that would have the ultimate say whether there would or would not be an exhumation," she said.

"We also would find out that under the Succession Act 1965, the Hawe family alone are entitled to all the proceeds of the estate."

Last Thursday, Ms Connolly and Ms Coll met with Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan to discuss the 1965 Act.

"It must be reformed as soon as possible so that murderers, or their family if they end their own life, do not financially benefit from their crime," said Ms Connolly.

"Last week, I also spoke with Jim O'Callaghan, Fianna Fail's justice spokesperson, who said it must be a priority to change this law.

"Let's get this law changed immediately. Please, please stop financially rewarding the perpetrators of femicide and familicide. At the inquest, we learned that Alan Hawe transferred funds and arranged his affairs so his family would be the sole financial beneficiaries of his estate."

"Please do not add insult to our injury, loss and grieving, thinking we want money," added Ms Connolly.

"But trying to get answers to our questions, plus the expenses for the funerals and legal costs we had for the inquest, have all added up to more than 50,000 - bills my mother, retired, and I, a widow, are struggling to pay."

Since the inquest, Clodagh's family have learned from the notes of his counsellor that Alan Hawe had been viewing pornography at work on a laptop, had been having regular urges to masturbate, and was experimenting with cross-dressing.

He had stated he had been caught "red-handed" and Ms Connolly and Ms Coll want to know what that refers to.

They have also been told by a local man that he saw Alan Hawe driving very close to the school where he was vice principal early on the morning of August 29.

"So, after Alan Hawe murdered his wife and three sons, did he leave the house to go to his place of work, Castlerahan National School, where he was vice-principal, perhaps to destroy evidence?" Ms Connolly asked.

"When we asked a detective did gardai pursue this line of inquiry - local witnesses saying they sighted the murderer driving that morning - we were accused of interfering with a witness because we allowed a local to tell us what they saw that morning."
When Nicola Andrews became pregnant in 2017, she was surprised to discover that she felt better than she had in years. Although she suffered from severe morning sickness, her other health problems - the overwhelming fatigue, blurred vision and weird tingling sensations in her limbs, which had blighted her daily life before pregnancy - entirely vanished.

Nicola (33), a membership services officer for a children's charity from Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, has multiple sclerosis (MS) - a neurological disease in which the immune system attacks the nervous system, causing symptoms including pain, spasms and problems with mobility, balance and vision.

What she experienced during pregnancy - an easing, or cessation, of her symptoms - is not unusual. In fact, it's common; for many women, pregnancy puts MS into remission. Studies have shown that, in the third trimester, there is around an 80pc decrease in MS relapses.

While scientists have long known that pregnancy dampens down the immune system, so a woman's body doesn't reject the baby as a foreign object, and that this can alleviate the symptoms of several auto-immune conditions, such as MS and rheumatoid arthritis, nobody has yet discovered how or why.

Now, for the first time, an study at Oxford University, funded by Britain's MS Society, will attempt to find some answers and harness the power of pregnancy in order to develop new and better treatments.

"In MS, immune cells attack the brain and spinal cord," explains immunologist Professor Lars Fugger, who is leading the project at the Oxford Centre for Neuroinflammation. "Many of the current drugs offered to patients are designed to suppress the immune system, but they often have serious side effects and patients can catch infections. During pregnancy, women with MS find that their disease is reduced, even after stopping their medications, which suggests that their bodies are capable of suppressing disease directly - and that happens without side effects," he says.

"We want to identify what specifically drives this reduced disease. Once we have identified these targets, we hope to be able to either design new drugs or to re-purpose drugs already used for other diseases, which may offer protection with fewer side effects."

The team also wants to gain more general knowledge about pregnancy and MS, as women are often diagnosed at the time in life when they want to start a family.

"Although symptoms of MS are frequently reduced during pregnancy, patients often suffer relapses following birth. The combination of a new baby and a major relapse is a very difficult situation, and it is important that we understand why this happens, so that we can not only inform patients of the risks involved but also design treatment strategies which could help prevent this," adds Prof Fugger.

His research, he explains, will isolate the cells of the immune system and examine them at a single cell level in order to identify the gene expression - the mechanisms - by which the immune system modulates disease during pregnancy. Samples have already been collected from a cohort of female MS patients and from healthy control subjects, who donated blood before pregnancy, in each trimester and after giving birth.

"Previous studies have grouped the cells into generic populations, which has missed many important subtleties. We will examine each cell independently, which will allow us to see all the small and yet potentially critical changes which occur at an individual level."

Dr Susan Kohlhaas, director of research at the MS Society, says she has heard stories of women who were, in the past, advised not to have children for fear of making their condition worse. "We now know that there's no long-term impact on MS from pregnancy, or impact on its trajectory, so women shouldn't worry about that," she insists.

Nicola was diagnosed with MS in December 2014 - four months before her wedding to husband Robert - following symptoms including optic neuritis (blurred vision), a numb face, and pins and needles in her legs. She was devastated and worried about whether it was safe to have children.

"I was scared," she recalls. "There isn't a lot of information out there. The main complication was that I had to come off my medication three months before conceiving, as techfidera [a disease modifying drug for relapsing-remitting MS] can't be taken during pregnancy. That rather took the spontaneity out of it. Fortunately, I got pregnant straight way."

The improvement to her MS symptoms was impossible to ignore: "I felt so much better. Yes, I was tired in pregnancy, like everyone, but I no longer had the MS fatigue, which is like having concrete blocks strapped to your feet while you try to walk. You can't think, or move, or talk. Pregnancy tiredness is relieved by a good sleep; fatigue isn't."

One theory is that pregnancy's protective effect might have something to do with the way the particular balance of female hormones changes the way immune system cells behave - although there is not yet any conclusive evidence of this, and Professor Fugger won't speculate. "We simply don't know," he says. We are doing this research in a hypothesis-free, agnostic way. There is no evidence that it's sex hormone specific."

Whatever the academics uncover, it certainly won't be as simple as prescribing oestrogen and progesterone to MS patients and expecting an improvement. What little research that has been done in this area has not found a protective effect from either the contraceptive Pill or HRT, or a significant menopausal impact. But we do know that relapsing-remitting MS now affects three times as many women as men - again, doctors aren't sure why.

Professor Fugger's team hope that their research can be used to develop treatments for men as well as women, and for other auto-immune diseases, too. "Similar regulation of disease is also observed in pregnancy in rheumatoid arthritis, uveitis [a form of eye inflammation], and psoriasis, suggesting there are pathways common to multiple autoimmune diseases. So, finding treatments which regulate disease in MS patients may have a far wider application," he says.

The MS Society believes that with research, MS can be stopped. They're working with autoimmune charities, JDRS (the UK's type 1 diabetes charity) and Versus Arthritis, to understand the common mechanisms of these conditions - and hopefully develop prevention strategies.

Nicola has not had a relapse since son Alexander, now five months old, was born - although she says her fatigue has flared up a little. She is now back on medication, which means she can't breastfeed. But an MRI scan performed a month after she gave birth revealed no active lesions on her brain or spinal cord, proving conclusively that pregnancy had put her MS into remission.

"Every MRI I've had before showed new lesions and new disease activity, even while I was taking my drug," she says. "So this was amazing. I know not all women are so well when they're pregnant, but I definitely think there's something in a treatment based on its protective effects. I'd like to have another baby, and I don't want to leave it too long in case my MS gets worse, but not yet. Having a child when you have MS is always a big decision."

For more information on MS, visit ms-society.ie
You might hate Monday, but you'll love our weekly pick of Ireland's top travel offers...

280: Vibrant Valencia

Travel Republic has flights from Dublin plus three nights at the 4-star Valencia Center Hotel in Spain from 280. The trip departs on April 4. The company also has a 1 hotel deposit offer. 01 536-0820; travelrepublic.ie.

30pc off at Jurys Inn

Spring break? Jurys Inn has a 48-hour flash sale this week, with a 30pc discount on stays between March 31 and December 30 at its hotels in Ireland, the UK and Prague. Book between 9am on March 6 and March 8 at jurysinns.com/48hoursale.

499pp: Viva Las Vegas

Cassidy Travel has a four-night trip to Las Vegas from Shannon Airport from 499pp. The deal includes flights and a stay at the four-star MGM Grand, and departs September 7. 01 878-6888; cassidytravel.ie.

999pp: Take a break in Thailand

Tropical Sky has savings of up to 280pp on a five-star holiday in Thailand. A package combining flights plus seven nights at the Centara Grand Beach Resort and Villas Hua Hin is on offer from 999pp, based on travel between May 1 and December 24, if booked before April 30. 01 664-9999; tropicalsky.ie.

1,829: Family camping in Rome

ITAA member Shandon Travel has flights plus 10 nights in a two-bed mobile home at Camping Fabulous in Rome from 1,829 for a family of four. The package departson June 22, with checked bags included. Airport transfers are extra. 021 427-7094; shandontravel.ie; itaa.ie/offers.

PS: Irish Ferries Flash Sale

Celebrating the launch of its W.B Yeats cruise ferry, Irish Ferries has 25pc off all travel between Ireland and the UK on bookings made before midnight tomorrow, Tuesday, March 5. irishferries.com.

NB: All travel deals subject to availability/change.
Over the past 25 years, I have come to understand that the more monstrous and blatant the lie, the harder it can be to perceive, most especially if the deceiver is a revered individual or institution.

I can find no other explanation for how the Vatican and successive Popes have been able to peddle mistruths about their deliberate global cover-up of the rape and abuse of children and vulnerable adults right across the Catholic world.

Many, myself included, hoped that Pope Francis might be radically different to his predecessors, but it has become clear, that at least on this issue, the deceit continues under his Papacy. Last weekend the world's media was abuzz with coverage of what we were told was an "unprecedented summit", a moment of real change. How wrong they were. What we got instead were some fine words, but not a single concrete action that honestly acknowledged the cover-up led by the Vatican or introduced enforceable rules to protect children across the world.

In truth, it was clear that the summit would not see significant change before it even began. The Vatican announced the summit last September, during an especially torrid period for the Vatican and Pope Francis himself, as the evidence of abuse and cover-up began to mount against more and more senior members of the church hierarchy, including senior figures at the Vatican. Within a few months, the Pope and the Vatican began to downplay expectations. It seemed clear at that stage that perhaps the only thing that would prove to be unprecedented would be the fact that the meeting happened, and not any outcome that might flow from it. However, a few developments in and around the summit are worth examining, not as signals of change, but rather as proof of how little has actually changed. Take, for example, the statement issued by the Vatican on January 15, setting out the purpose of the summit. In the statement, a spokesperson said: "The church is not at the beginning of the fight against abuse. The meeting is a stage along the painful journey that the church has unceasingly and decisively undertaken for over 15 years."

Think about that for a moment. The Vatican wants people to believe that it began its "fight against abuse" some time around 2004. It reminded me of earlier suggestions from the Vatican that knowledge of the child abuse within the church was a relatively recent development. There are numerous examples of senior Vatican figures seeking to deflect from the issue by suggesting that it was a case of a few ''bad apples'' or of the ''corruption of western society'' that was now infecting even the church and its priests.

Senior church figures, at the national and global level, said repeatedly that the emergence of the child abuse issue was a surprise to them. That the church, like the secular world, had only become aware of it in recent decades as studies of the prevalence of abuse and its impact emerged.

Pope Francis appeared to suggest that himself during his closing speech to the summit. Only in relatively recent times, he told us, has the sexual abuse of children become the subject of systematic research. He spent much of his speech pointing out that most child abuse happens within families, which is of course true, but which has nothing to do with the cover-up of such abuse by the church.

It seemed to me to be a clear attempt at deflection. Abuse happens everywhere, he appeared to say, and the Vatican, like everyone else, did not know about it or understand it until relatively recently. Which is a blatant deceit.

The first laws to deal with sexual crimes perpetrated by priests were introduced, not 15 or even 100 years ago, but 1,700 years ago, in the fourth century, by the Council of Elvira. The modern-day rules that set out how cases of the sexual assault of children by priests were to be managed were first set out in 1922. Those rules required absolute secrecy and for cases to be managed internally. They were updated in 1962. They required that all involved in cases - victims, accused clergy, church investigators and any witnesses - were to be sworn to absolute secrecy, and that the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) was to be informed of every case of an allegation against a cleric and would decide how to proceed in each case.

Those rules were reaffirmed in a letter sent by Pope John Paul II to every bishop in the world in 2001. At that time, the head of the CDF was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI. I revealed all of this in a documentary I made for the BBC's Panorama in 2006. The Vatican and senior church figures denounced the film and denied that these rules applied to abuse cases. Last weekend, speakers at the summit exposed that lie when they acknowledged that the Pontifical Secret was applied in such cases.

In the late 1940s, the Vatican approved the establishment of a religious congregation, The Servants of the Paraclete, whose purpose was to treat priests with psychosexual problems. The congregation opened up treatment centres around the world, including one in Gloucestershire in the UK. That clinic treated many of Ireland's most notorious paedophile priests.

In early 1950s, the head of the congregation told the Vatican that it was not safe to return priests who had abused children to ministry even after treatment as they would be highly likely to reoffend. So more than 60 years ago, the Vatican understood the psychosexual nature of paedophilia. It knew that treatment was important, but that even after treatment, reoffending was likely if abusers were returned to ministry.

Yet for decades and to this day, bishops, cardinals and popes have tried to tell us that they were ignorant of even the existence of the issue until recently. Lie, upon lie, upon lie.

At the same time as they ignored the need to protect children from clerical rapists, they did act to protect themselves and their wealth. From at least the mid-1980s on, bishops in countries across the world took out specific insurance policies to protect themselves against the costs of damages that might be awarded against them in cases brought by victims of paedophile priests.

Decades later, as scandals emerged in Ireland, the US, Australia and across the world, bishops in those same dioceses denied that they had any knowledge of the prevalence of sexual abuse and of its impact. Lie, upon lie, upon lie.

For decades, the Vatican pretended the rape and abuse of children by priests did not happen. In time, as tens of thousands of such cases emerged, it could not maintain that particular lie. It then denied the cover-up, but when I and others forced investigations that exposed that lie, they could not maintain it either. Now they admit the cover-up, but deny their role in it. This despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Meanwhile, the net continues to close on the Vatican itself. This week its third most powerful official, Cardinal George Pell, was convicted of one charge of sexually penetrating a child under 16, and four counts of committing an indecent act on a child under 16. He committed the assaults in 1996 and 1997. Pope Francis elevated Pell to his position as Vatican Treasurer in 2014. He did so despite long-standing complaints about Pell's management of abuse by priests in his native Australia.

Pell's conviction raises another serious question that Francis must answer, of course. What precisely did the Vatican know about allegations of abuse against Pell and given the requirement that all such cases be referred to the CDF, when did they become aware of them? Did Francis elevate him despite knowledge of such complaints or concerns? After all the deceit, it is beyond time for some plain truth.

Colm O'Gorman is the founder and former director of One in Four. He is currently the executive director of Amnesty International Ireland. He writes here in a personal capacity.
It's six years since former Taoiseach Enda Kenny was allegedly listed in a Facebook internal memo as among its "friends" but newly released emails show that relations with the Irish Government remain very cordial.

Senior Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg sent Taoiseach Leo Varadkar a preview picture of the design for the company's new Irish office. She also thanked him for his feedback on the social media platform's public safety efforts. Ms Sandberg was in Dublin in January when she announced 1,000 extra jobs.

She met European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, who gave Facebook's chief operating officer an update on the Irish position on Brexit. It was during her visit to Dublin that Ms Sandberg said Facebook "needs to do a better job keeping people safe on our platform". Just days later she met Mr Varadkar at the World Economic Forum in Davos. She emailed both Mr Varadkar and Ms McEntee following their meetings.

Ms Sandberg told Mr Varadkar that it had been "a pleasure to see you and your team again in Davos".

She said she enjoyed her time in Dublin and was glad of the "opportunity to share more about our continued investments in Ireland".

She added: "I also appreciated your feedback on our ongoing efforts to strike the right balance between free expression and public safety.

"We are thinking carefully about this and will continue to engage constructively with your Government".

In her email to Ms McEntee, the executive said Facebook remained grateful for the "excellent business environment that successive Irish governments have created".

She also told Ms McEntee she would be "thinking of you in the coming weeks as Brexit decisions unfold".

A spokesman for Mr Varadkar last night insisted the relationship with Facebook was "no more nor less close than with any other large firm".

He insisted: "The Irish Government has a good relationship with all major employers and major investors in Ireland."

He said the meeting between Ms Sandberg and Mr Varadkar had been "robust".

The spokesman said Mr Varadkar thanked Facebook for the new jobs it was creating in Ireland but "also raised our concerns about election interference, fake news, privacy and online abuse".
The pair stood in the rain at Carrickcarnon in Co Louth, just feet from Co Armagh. It was in its way a strangely moving gesture by the Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok, who joined EU Affairs Minister Helen McEntee right on the Irish Border to deliver a resounding message of Dutch solidarity on the Brexit backstop.

This piece of choreography, precisely a month ago today, also served as a reminder that a key element of Ireland's ability to thrive in a fragile and changing EU, without the UK, will turn on our ability to form new alliances with like-minded member states on key policy issues.

For 45 years, this country has had a natural alliance inside the EU with our nearest neighbour and major trading partner. We relied upon Britain to be "the grit in the oyster", as former UK prime minister John Major summed it up in a speech in Dublin in December. We especially relied upon London as a bulwark against EU taxation policies and social rules, both of which might scare off multinational investment.

The British government often pragmatically succeeded in dialling down EU initiatives which Ireland found inimical to its interests but was not always keen to oppose too stridently. In a post-Brexit world, Ireland needs to up its game and increase its ambitions.

The European Union has in many ways already moved into a post-Brexit mode and the EU leaders are looking at the issues beyond the conclusion of this process of parting the ways with its second biggest economy.

The nerves which characterised 2017, also the 60th anniversary of the EU's foundation, have been assuaged. Key decisions remain on how to fund the EU for 2020-2026, how to fund EU farm policy, and also tackle big issues such as climate change, security and anti-terrorism, and the EU's future economic direction.

All of these have crucial implications for Ireland's future and economic prosperity. We will need a range of strategic alliances on each of them to take us where we need to go. These alliances must be theme-based.

Ireland is now actively trying to forge deeper relationships with the Benelux countries - the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Other efforts are proceeding via the Nordic-Baltic group, which includes EU members Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden.

In October 2017, in the margins of an EU leaders' summit in Brussels, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accepted an invitation, along with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, to attend a meeting of Nordic-Baltic leaders. Irish officials enthused that Nordic countries were "natural allies of Ireland" on many economic and trade issues.

This initiative has gone a step further with Ireland's participation as a founder member of the New Hanseatic League, or Hansa, just a year ago. This so-called "Bad Weather Coalition" of countries including Nordic nations and the Netherlands is specifically designed to replace the heft of the UK in pursuing liberal trading policies and it also champions a more fully developed EU single currency zone. It is hoped to be a counter-weight to a renewed Franco-German motor which has long been the main driver of EU policy.

Ideally, Ireland would like to see more dialogue and collaboration with all of the smaller member states, from Cyprus, with a population of just 1.2 million, and Malta with half of that again, right up to the Netherlands which is neither large nor small with a population of 17 million people.

It's a great idea. But in the EU, member states do not often vote policies based on their actual size. However, in politics good personal relationships and a genuine effort to reach out do count and are an invaluable investment.

Brexit has obliged the Irish Government to adopt a pretty hefty travel schedule, visiting all 27 EU capitals on a regular basis. While these visits have been primarily about shoring up the remarkable solidarity displayed to this country by its EU neighbours, they also offer opportunities to forge new relationships and deepen existing ones.

"Meetings in the EU capitals quickly deal with Brexit and then move on to other issues of common interest," one diplomat explains.

The UK's departure will have an impact on how the system of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) will operate. A qualified majority currently requires the backing of 15 member states representing 65pc of the population. Once you take the UK and its 64 million people out of the equation, the five largest member states would of themselves constitute 65pc of population. That of itself may not be such a big thing in practice - but the altered balance of power will probably be significant.

The role of Germany and France will be carefully watched. The pragmatic and conservative Angela Merkel has responded coolly to more idealistic approaches from Emmanuel Macron of France. He in turn has had his lustre dimmed by the 'yellow vests' protests.

But the Franco-German axis will no longer have the UK counterweight. Ireland will have to prepare more strategic alliances to ensure its goals can be achieved. Particularly problematic for Ireland will be the risk of increased emphasis on tax harmonisation.

This is supported by the policy-guiding EU Commission and by some of the bigger member states, including France. There is more general support for tackling tax avoidance by multinationals. But Ireland will need to ensure there is much less for approximated corporation tax levels or even for a common consolidated corporate tax base.

But the challenges are also clear opportunities. With the UK gone out of the EU, Ireland's strong links with the US, as the only English-speaking member state (apart from Malta), can be further developed on this level.

Ireland, accounting for 1pc of the EU economy, attracts some 12pc of American inward investment with 700 US companies accounting for 150,000 jobs here. All of that must be protected and enhanced.

The changed position after Brexit will also enhance the European Parliament, which has been gathering powers since the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. There is no doubt that Ireland's links via Fine Gael into the European People's Party has proved a help as all the key Brexit players - Jean-Claude Juncker, Michel Barnier and others - come from that grouping.

The forthcoming European Parliament elections to be held on May 24 must be seen in the context of maintaining real influence inside the EU system by electing serious and able politicians. Fianna Fail is now well placed via its alliance with the larger ALDE or Liberal grouping, and party leader Micheal Martin has assiduously cultivated links there.

Now more than at any other time in our 45-year membership of the EU, we will need real ambassadors and effective advocates for Ireland inside the European apparatus.
I'm a feminist but I don't think tampons should be free. It's a policy that looks generous. But, it's a tokenistic gesture designed to make it look like the Government is doing something for women, without them tackling any real issues.

The Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus is bringing a private members' motion later this month urging free sanitary products to women and girls in direct provision, homeless hubs and schools.

Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin told the RTE 'Your Politics' podcast last week that she had worked in a school where she had to buy pads and tampons for the students. She said the proposed legislation would open up a discussion around 'period poverty' in Ireland.

In 2017, Scotland was the first country in the world to give free sanitary products to women on low incomes. At least 1,000 women and girls are benefiting from the Aberdeen scheme.

Last September, Dublin city councillors supported a proposal to provide free sanitary products in all Dublin City Council buildings. This will see them available in places like community centres, swimming pools and libraries.

A survey by Plan International Ireland suggests that more than 50pc of Irish girls aged 12-19 have experienced issues around the affordability of sanitary products. While 2 or 3 for a box of tampons may not sound like much, it's still an extra expense if you're only bringing home a few hundred euro a month and having to pay rent and feed a family. A woman could end up spending around 10 every month for 30 years (and more than 10 if she has daughters).

Our direct provision centres and homeless hubs should offer free sanitary products. None of these women should have to fork out money they don't have. But I don't agree with making these products free in schools or extending free period products to other groups of women.

Private employers could (if they choose to) offer free tampons in the bathroom. They already supply free toilet paper and hand soap and no one suggests employees should have to bring these items for themselves. It would be a simple, relatively inexpensive way to become a woman-friendly workplace. But apart from that, if period pads are a basic human right, shouldn't a few more hygiene products to be added to the bill too. How about toilet paper? What about men's razors? Don't men also have a 'shaving tax'?

There's no such thing as 'period poverty', it's just plain old poverty. You see, just like breakfast clubs and free school meals, free sanitary products will only serve to increase state intervention in poorer people's lives. The Government seems to be increasingly interfering in people's lives, implying that poorer people can't handle their money, prepare meals, parent their children, or generally run their own lives without intervention from the Government.

During the recent recession, the unemployed and those on low incomes were badly affected. Over the past decade, the standard of living of the poorest sections of society was particularly squeezed. Wages and unemployment benefit have not kept up with increases in the cost of food and housing.

Things are getting slightly better. The 2017 Survey on Income and Living Conditions published by the Central Statistics Office shows an overall decrease in poverty and deprivation. Those found to be at risk of poverty dropped by half a percentage point, but at 15.7pc the rate still means more than one-and-a-half people in every 10 falls into the category.

Enforced deprivation - a condition defined as those unable to afford two or more specific indicators such as adequate home heating or buying presents for people at least once a year - is now at 18.8pc.

Shouldn't we think about increasing unemployment benefits to give those living on benefits an adequate amount of money to live on, as well as the dignity of making their own choices about how they should spend that money?

The move to end 'period poverty' is at best embarrassing - at worst, it's insulting to women with bigger problems in their lives. Just 24,080 new dads claimed the paternity payment last year, according to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. This is only about a third of those eligible.

I suspect it's down to the fact that the paternity payment is a very low 245 a week at a costly time in a family's life, and that many private sector workplaces are unable to function without that employee. But rather than ask fathers why, the Government has upped the leave from two weeks to four this year. I suspect that even fewer fathers will opt to take four weeks off when they have a baby. That's a win for the Government though - they looked good making the announcement but in reality, they are doing nothing for young families as they adapt to life with a baby.

We have crazily high childcare costs and the Government still hasn't considered giving tax breaks to working mothers. Most surveys indicate that Ireland has one of the highest costs as a proportion of household income across the OECD. Women are being shut out of the workplace by the high cost of childcare in Ireland, according to a 2018 report by the Economic and Social Research Institute and Pobal.

Tampons are sadly a sideshow. When it comes to the battles facing women, we have bigger fights to win this International Women's Day.
Photo issued by Harper's Bazaar UK of Jenna Coleman on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wire

Photo issued by Harper's Bazaar UK of Jenna Coleman on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wire

Undated handout photo issued by Harper's Bazaar UK of Jenna Coleman, who has told the magazine she plans to have children, but wants to see "a whole lot more of the world" before becoming a mother. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wir

Jenna Coleman has said she plans to have children, but wants to see "a whole lot more of the world" before becoming a mother.

The actress, best known as the titular queen in ITV's historical drama Victoria, said she would "love" to one day have children. But the 32-year-old joked she would avoid having as many as Queen Victoria, who had nine.

Speaking to Harper's Bazaar magazine, she said: "Half of my friends have babies, and half don't, so it doesn't feel like a pressure.

"I want to take my time. There's a whole lot more of the world for me to see first. I'd love to have children one day. But not nine of them, I can tell you that as a fact."

Expand Close Photo issued by Harper's Bazaar UK of Jenna Coleman on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wire / Facebook

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Whatsapp Photo issued by Harper's Bazaar UK of Jenna Coleman on the grounds of Kensington Palace. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wire

Despite turning down the role of Victoria twice, Coleman now says she learnt much from playing the monarch, especially how to appear powerful.

She said: "What I've learned about playing power is, you don't have to. We had a royal adviser in for a few days, and he didn't give any notes to me. He just said to the others: 'You have to imagine there's an aura round this person'. That's the only way you can ever capture it, I suppose."

Coleman is the cover star of the magazine's April issue, and photos were taken of her at Kensington Palace where Queen Victoria lived.

Speaking of Queen Victoria's character, she added: 'She was always curious. She wasn't a snob.

"She was very human and craved anything that really touched her, very much the mother of the nation."

The April issue of Harper's Bazaar is on sale from March 7.

Expand Close Jenna Coleman on the cover of Harper's Bazaar UK magazine. Picture: David Slijper/Harper's Bazaar UK/PA Wire / Facebook

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There is a certain element in this state and nation that believes corporations and the rich should pay the ride for the rest of us. Not only do they want corporations to pay living wages, they also want business to pay for more and more of the services they receive.
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at St Mary Magdalene's church for the Royal Family's Christmas Day service on the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Britain's Prince Charles, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at St Mary Magdalene's church for the Royal Family's Christmas Day service on the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

(L-R) Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, as members of the Royal Family attend events to mark the centenary of the RAF on July 10, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Chris Jackson/Getty Images) (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit a cooking demonstration, where children from under-privileged backgrounds learn traditional Moroccan recipes from one of Moroccos foremost chefs at the Villa des Ambassadors on February 25, 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. (Photo by Tim P. Whitby - Pool/Getty Images)

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend an Investiture for Michael McHugo the founder of 'Education for All' with the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire on February 24, 2019 in Asni, Morocco

A royal expert ended speculation about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's reported feuding with Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Last year, it was reported Britain's Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be splintering from the umbrella of Kensington Palace, moving away from working so closely with the Cambridges, which only added to the persistent belief that the couples weren't getting along behind the scenes, particularly Meghan and Kate.

Omid Scobie, who contributes to Good Morning America and Harper's Bazaar broke the story that Meghan was throwing a baby shower in New York and has been making a name for himself in royal reporting circles for the scoops on the Sussexes. While speaking on Yahoo UK's The Royal Box, he said there was always a plan for the two families to separate professionally after Harry wed, especially now that he is expecting his first child. He also asserts that the 34-year-old always wanted a life free from the confines of Kensington Palace as much as possible.

"I've had aides at Kensington Palace say to me that long before Meghan even came on the scene, they always knew that when he got married and wasn't sort of the spare wheel, that he would go off and do his own thing with his partner and they would very much live under their household with their own staff," he said. "A lot of people expected this to be a divide which happened a lot further down the line but baby Sussex is just around the corner and there's a lot to do before then, so this split of the households will be the most important thing."

Expand Close Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at St Mary Magdalene's church for the Royal Family's Christmas Day service on the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay / Facebook

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Whatsapp Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge along with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at St Mary Magdalene's church for the Royal Family's Christmas Day service on the Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain, December 25, 2018. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

Rumours of a feud between Harry and William's wives came to a peak in December, but the foursome put on a united front on Christmas Day and suggestions of turbulence have slowly dissapated. In further support that the claims were exaggerated, it's believed that Kate is throwing Meghan a more low-key baby shower back in the UK, which will be more for those in her inner circle, including her mother Doria Ragland, who didn't attend the New York bash.

There is still going to be some sort of private baby-centric event for Meghans U.K. people, and Kate will host... Her glam people and other relatives will be there. Not sure if its a total baby shower, but you could probably call it that," a source told Us Weekly.
Anti-riot police officers clash with people protesting against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's plan to extend his 20-year rule by seeking a fifth term in April elections in Algiers. Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has defied mass protests over his 20 years in power by seeking re-election next month.

A local TV station reported he has offered to step down after a year if re-elected.

The reported comments are likely to be viewed as an attempt to appease those who had taken to the streets for 10 days to protest against the 82-year-old's plans to remain in office and to allow him an exit on his own terms.

Mr Bouteflika's statement that he would seek office again was his first in response to the biggest displays of dissent in Algeria since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

In a sign of a disconnect from the mostly young population, almost 70pc of which are aged below 30, he communicated via letter, as he has since suffering a stroke in 2013.

Tens of thousands of protesters had been rallying throughout the day in cities around Algeria, calling on Mr Bouteflika not to submit election papers for the April 18 polls.

His campaign manager, Abdelghani Zaalane, arrived to submit the documents last night, but there was no sign of Mr Bouteflika, who Swiss television said remained at a hospital in Geneva.

"I listened and heard the passionate call from the protesters, especially the thousands of young people," Mr Bouteflika wrote, repeating a previous pledge to hold a referendum on constitutional reform.

Just before Mr Bouteflika's announcement, the head of the election commission, Abdelwahab Derbal, said all candidates must submit their candidacy papers in person. If applied, this would mean Mr Bouteflika could not run.

Mr Bouteflika's opponents say he is no longer fit to lead, citing his health and what they call chronic corruption and a lack of economic reforms to tackle high unemployment, which exceeds 25pc among people under 30.
Al-Tayeb said the practice came from "a lack of understanding of the 'Quran' and the tradition of the Prophet" and it is "often an injustice to women and children." Stock photo: Reuters

Egypt's top Muslim cleric has stirred up controversy after saying that polygamy is an "injustice" for women, but stopped short of calling for a ban on the practice.

"Those who say that marriage must be polygamous are all wrong. We have to read the ['Quran'] verse in full," said Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, Al-Azhar's grand imam.

He said monogamy was the rule and polygamy a restricted exception. It is restricted in Islam and requires fairness and "if there is not fairness it is forbidden to have more than one wife," he said.

Al-Tayeb said the practice came from "a lack of understanding of the 'Quran' and the tradition of the Prophet" and it is "often an injustice to women and children".

The grand imam also called for a broader revamp of how women's issues are addressed.

His comments, aired on state TV at the weekend, sparked a heated debate on social media, with some siding with scholars calling for a ban on the practice.
China has accused two detained Canadians of acting together to steal state secrets, days after Canada announced it will proceed with a US extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

China arrested the two Canadians on December 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, who was arrested in Vancouver on December 1 at the request of US authorities.

Mengs arrest set off a diplomatic outcry and has severely strained Canadian relations with China.

The US is seeking the extradition of Meng, the daughter of Huaweis founder, to face charges that she misled banks about the companys business with Iran.

Expand Close Meng Wanzhou (Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press/AP) / Facebook

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Chinas official Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor.

It is the first time the two mens cases have been linked.

It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquired information from Spavor, his main contact.

Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security, Xinhua said.

The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Partys Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

No other details were given and Xinhua said further judicial proceedings would take place based on the cases progress.

We are obviously very concerned by this position that China has taken, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau said. It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions.

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Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think tank.

Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.

After Mengs arrest, a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier.

Fact: the Authority to Proceed is the first step in the extradition process. The decision was made by Department of Justice Canada officials, who are part of a non-partisan public service. #MengWanzhou https://t.co/DekpRoG9rp pic.twitter.com/3hSO8DtUIR  Justice Canada (@JusticeCanadaEN) March 1, 2019

Kovrig and Spavor have not had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested.

Canada said on Friday that it will allow the US extradition request for Meng to proceed.

She is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved.

The US has been lobbying its allies to shun Huaweis products on national security grounds, saying Chinese law requires the company to provide the government with intelligence on its foreign clients whenever requested.

A Chinese government spokesman hit back at the US claims that Huawei poses a threat to other countries information security.

Zhang Yesui said US officials were taking Chinas national security law out of context and playing up the so-called security risks.

The 2017 law borrows from other countries experiences and is designed explicitly to protect human rights and the lawful rights of individuals and organisations, he said.

This kind of behaviour is interference into economic activities by political means and is against World Trade Organisation rules. It disrupts an international market order that is built on fair competition.

This is a typical case of double standards that is neither fair nor ethical.

Lawyers for Meng, who is staying at a property she owns in Vancouver after her release on bail, said she is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, alleging she was detained, searched and interrogated before she was told she was under arrest.
A man has been charged with assault after Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was egged during a visit to a north London mosque.

Scotland Yard said John Murphy (31), from Barnet, was charged in the early hours of Monday with assault by beating and will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Tuesday.

Mr Corbyn was unharmed and continued with his planned programme of constituency events following the incident during a visit with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott to the Finsbury Park Mosque and Muslim Welfare House in his constituency.
Columns of black smoke billow from the last small piece of territory held by Islamic State militants (AP Photo/Andrea Rosa)

Hundreds of people including Islamic State militants have evacuated their last foothold in eastern Syria, hours after US-backed Syrian fighters said they had slowed their advance because the extremists were using civilians as human shields.

Despite the hindrance, Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, said the battle to retake Baghouz, the last territory in Syria held by IS, was going to be over soon.

Later on Monday, an SDF official said 500 people, including fighters, had surrendered and evacuated the village of Baghouz and its surrounding areas. The official added that 200 more are expected to evacuate the village later on Monday.

Dozens of men, women and children climbed hills on foot and were seen getting into small trucks after they were searched by SDF fighters manning the evacuation corridor.

Were slowing down the offensive in #Baghouz due to a small number of civilians held as human shields by Daesh. However we assert that the battle to retake the last ISIS holdout is going to be over soon.  Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) March 3, 2019

Shortly before sunset, more than 20 cars came out of the area carrying men, women and children some of whom appeared to be foreigners.

Some of the men were of fighting age and appeared able while others carried crutches. One woman covered in black flashed a victory sign as she left.

An SDF official said many IS gunmen are still inside and prepared to fight. This is not the end. We may be on the threshold of a new battle, he said.

He said those who left the IS-held area on Monday include people from Bosnia, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Syria and a man who claimed to be French.

An air strike followed but it was not clear what it targeted.

Expand Close An SDF fighter watches smoke billow from the last small piece of territory held by Islamic State militants (Andrea Rosa/AP) / Facebook

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An SDF spokeswoman said the offensive has slowed down but pressure is being kept up away from the corridor to prevent fighters from infiltrating or sabotaging the area.

The US-backed forces resumed their offensive on Baghouz on Friday after a two-week pause to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

Retaking the sliver of land would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to end ISs self-proclaimed caliphate that once straddled a vast territory across Syria and Iraq.

Were slowing down the offensive due to a small number of civilians held as human shields, Mr Bali said.

The previous night, an SDF statement said the Kurdish-led forces would continue their military campaign to take control of the last IS-held pocket in Baghouz and to liberate the remaining civilians being used as human shields.

In order not to harm them, we are advancing slowly but we assert that the battle of Baghouz will end in a short period of time, it said.

IS militants are desperately fighting to hang on to the last tiny piece of land in eastern Syria, deploying snipers and guided missiles and using dug-out tunnels for surprise attacks.

On Sunday, black smoke billowed over the besieged speck of land in the village after air strikes hit several targets.

SDF fighters had tightened the noose on the militants the day before, advancing from two fronts and cutting off access to the river in Baghouz.
The companies have agreed to sell the aerospace business, including the transfer of staff (PA)

Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC) is to sell Jardine Lloyds Thompsons (JLT) aerospace insurance business in order to ease regulatory concern over their planned merger.

Insurance broker giant MMC is the process of buying smaller British rival JLT in a deal worth 4.3 billion.

The companies have agreed to sell the aerospace business, including the transfer of staff, to US peer Arthur J Gallagher & Co. for 190 million in order to address a potential overlap of services, with the deal subject to approval from the European Commission.

MMCs takeover of JLT is currently being reviewed by the EC and the company said this deal is still on track to close by the spring.

MMC previously indicated that an overlap between the two firms could result in up to 3,750 job losses across the combined business.

An initial review identified some likely duplication between the two firms particularly in functional support areas and plans to take a best of both approach to the integration.

JLT operates in over 40 territories with over 10,000 staff, while MMCs 65,000 employees serve clients in over 130 countries.

MMC plans to maintain its headquarters in New York following the deal, and there may be plans to combine certain offices and functions.

The takeover deal agreed last September saw JLT shareholders offered 19.15 per share, which valued the entirety of JLT at around 4.9 billion.
Regret: Yago Riedijk now says he rejects the beliefs of Isil but did not apologise for marrying Shamima Begun when she was just 15 years old

The Dutch man who married British teenager Shamima Begum after she ran away to join Isil now wants to return to the Netherlands with her and their newborn son.

Yago Riedijk (27) told the BBC from a Kurdish-run detention centre that he met Begum within days of her arrival in Syria when she was just 15. He said in an interview aired yesterday that the marriage was "her own choice".

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When asked if marrying a 15-year-old was appropriate, he said: "To be honest, when my friend came and said there was a girl who was interested in marriage, I wasn't that interested because of her age, but I accepted the offer anyway."

Riedijk says that while he fought for Isil, he now rejects the group and tried to leave it.

"I made a huge mistake. I've thrown away years of my life."

Begum fled east London with two friends to travel to Syria to marry Isil fighters in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment programme lured many impressionable young people to its self-proclaimed caliphate.

Begum, now 19, resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria and recently told reporters she wanted to go home. But her apparent lack of remorse has triggered criticism in Britain and the family has expressed its own shock at her lack of repentance.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid has revoked her citizenship - even while saying he wouldn't make a decision that would render a person stateless. Her family has insisted she isn't a dual citizen. The case will be argued in the courts.

Although it's unclear if Begum has committed a crime, her comments - and those of her husband - throw into sharp relief larger questions about how Western societies will deal with others who joined Isil, but want to return to their home countries now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse.

The government in the Netherlands has declined to comment on individual cases.

Meanwhile, Begum has been moved out of a Syrian refugee camp after having threats made against her, according to her family's lawyer.

The teenager and her two-week-old son had been living in al-Hol camp in north-east Syria. However, Tasnime Akunjee, her UK lawyer, said fears that other jihadists' wives in the camp might harm her had prompted her move.

"There was clearly something that warranted concern. We understand she and her child had been threatened by others," Mr Akunjee said.

"In terms of how effective this move might be in terms of her safety, well, we just don't know."

Sources in al-Hol said Begum left late last week, and a Swedish woman had been moved at the same time over similar concerns.

It was not clear where Begum was taken, although one possibility is the smaller Roj camp.

Begum came to al-Hol, home to around 51,000 people, after she fled from the final pocket of Isil territory.

She had been staying in a tarpaulin tent in a section for foreigners.
Columns of black smoke billowed from the last small piece of territory held by Isil militants yesterday as US-backed fighters pounded the area with artillery fire and airstrikes.

Commanders of the Kurdish-led fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces said fierce clashes were taking place as they advanced toward the last speck of land controlled by Isil. The militants fought back with snipers, suicide bombs and booby traps.

Fires still smouldered from the area and ammunition exploded time and again, a day after an airstrike hit a building, setting off a huge blast.

"It must be a main weapons depot," said Sefqan, an SDF commander.

The US-backed forces resumed an offensive to recapture the tiny area in the village of Baghouz in eastern Syria on Friday night, after a two-week pause to allow for the evacuation of civilians from the area. Retaking the sliver of land would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to end Isil's self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate that once straddled vast territory across Syria and Iraq.

However, the group continues to be a threat, with sleeper cells in scattered desert pockets along the porous border between the two countries.

A few hundred Isil militants, many of them believed to be foreign fighters, remain holed up inside Baghouz, with an unknown number of civilians.

Machine guns could be heard echoing across the territory. Journalists in Baghouz saw black smoke from an apparent strike on a barrel of fuel. Gunfire followed another strike on the edge of the camp. Burned vehicles could be seen, abandoned in farmland beyond the village. Through binoculars, Isil fighters could be seen walking around.

Mustafa Bali, the SDF spokesman, said coalition airstrikes destroyed several car bombs during the past two days of battle in Baghouz. He said three car bombs trying to reach SDF positions were destroyed.

"The night for us and the morning for them," said Abu Ghadab, another commander of the SDF. The militants usually attack during the day as they don't have night vision goggles while the SDF advances at night, he explained.
This is concerning Talk of the County. Ive seen it a couple times when a couple of people have written in about the Berlin Wall. And it was explained a couple times in the Talk of the County. The Berlin Wall was to keep the East Berlin people in East Berlin, and not allow them to come into free West Berlin. So, President Reagan said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. And the wall was torn down, and now all of Berlin is free. Our situation is different. We have caravans of people who are coming to our border who are illegal citizens of the United States, and now is the time for a wall to stop them. We cant fill the country up with as many people that want to come in here illegally. We cant afford it. The country is going to die if it isnt changed. Someone once said, if you cant find peace in your own heart, youll never find it anywhere.
A driver suspected of killing two people and injuring seven others in New Orleans told police "I have a drinking problem", according to a police report.

New Orleans police said Tashonty Toney, 32, was charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and other charges after crashing his car on Saturday evening on a busy thoroughfare near the route of one of the city's largest Mardi Gras parades.

Police spokesman Andy Cunningham said in a statement on Sunday morning that authorities are waiting for the results of a blood alcohol test but they believe the suspect was impaired.

Nola.com/The Times-Picayune said a police incident report claimed Toney refused to take a field sobriety test and told officers he had struggled with alcohol.

"I have a drinking problem," the police report quoted Toney as saying.

"I should have gotten help, I'm going to jail for a DWI."

Toney's bond was set at 510,000 US dollars (385,000) by a magistrate commissioner on Sunday.

He did not speak during the hearing and was represented by a public defender, the newspaper said.

The public defender's office in New Orleans did not immediately return a phone message Sunday from The Associated Press.

Mr Cunningham said Toney was the son of a New Orleans police officer and promised the department's investigation will be "open and transparent."

Saturday was Toney's birthday, the news release said.

New Orleans Police examine damaged cars and bicycles in Esplanade Avenue (Michael DeMocker/NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune/AP)

In addition to vehicular homicide, Toney was charged with seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit-and-run, and reckless operation, the police news release said.

The crash happened along a multiple-block stretch of Esplanade Avenue, a leafy street that connects the city's biggest park with the French Quarter.

The scene was close to the route of the Endymion parade, one of New Orleans' largest Mardi Gras parades, which was held Saturday.

New Orleans Emergency Medical Services spokesman Jonathan Fourcade said a man and a woman - both believed to be about 30 - were killed.

Director Emily Nichols told WVUE-TV three of the five people brought to the hospital were in critical condition.
Police examine damaged cars and a bicycle at the scene

A suspected drunk driver killed two people and injured seven others, most of them riding bikes, on a busy New Orleans thoroughfare during Mardi Gras.

Authorities say they are waiting for the results of a blood alcohol test, but they believe the suspect was impaired at the time of the crash on Saturday evening.

He identified the suspect arrested at the scene as Tashonty Toney (32), the son of a local police officer.

Saturday was Mr Toney's birthday. He now faces two counts of vehicular homicide, seven counts of vehicular negligent injury, hit and run, and reckless operation.

The crash happened along Esplanade Avenue, a leafy street that connects the city's biggest park with the French Quarter.
Hanging on: Donald Trump grabs the US flag at a conference in Maryland at the weekend. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

The Democrat chairman of the committee in charge of impeachment has said it is "very clear" US President Donald Trump obstructed justice.

Jerrold Nadler has warned the House of Representative panel will request documents from more than 60 people from Mr Trump's administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation.

He said the House Judiciary Committee wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the president's son Donald Trump Jr and Trump Organisation chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg.

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn were also likely targets, he added.

"We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice," Mr Nadler said.

"We will do everything we can to get that evidence."

Asked whether he believed Mr Trump obstructed justice, Mr Nadler said: "Yes, I do."

Mr Nadler is not calling the inquiry an impeachment investigation but said House Democrats, now in the majority, were simply doing "our job to protect the rule of law" after Republicans during the first two years of Mr Trump's term were "shielding the president from any proper accountability".

In a tweet yesterday, Mr Trump blasted anew the Russia investigation, calling it a partisan probe unfairly aimed at discrediting his win in the 2016 presidential election.

He said: "I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start - And only because I won the Election!"

Newly empowered House Democrats are flexing their strength with blossoming investigations.

Half a dozen House committees are now probing alleged co-ordination between Trump associates and Russia's efforts to sway the 2016 election, Mr Trump's tax returns and possible conflicts of interest involving the Trump family business and policy-making.

Mr Nadler's added lines of inquiry also come as special counsel Robert Mueller is believed to be wrapping up his work into possible questions of Trump campaign collusion and obstruction in Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Floral tributes lie near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

17-year-old Jodie Chesney, who was stabbed to death in Harold Hill, east London Metropolitan Police/PA Wire

A 17-year-old girl who was fatally stabbed in a park was socialising with friends before she was approached by two males and attacked from behind.

Jodie Chesney, 17, died at the scene in Harold Hill, east London, just over an hour after police were called to the park at 9.25pm.

The suspect who attacked Jodie is described as a black male aged in his late teens, the Metropolitan Police said.

There was no description given of the other male who approached Jodie and her five teenage friends while they were playing music.

Expand Close People visit the area near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls / Facebook

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Whatsapp People visit the area near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

The group were aware of the two males being in the park and saw them leave at around 9pm, police said.

"Around 30 minutes later the pair returned to the park and walked straight towards the group, where one of the males stabbed Jodie once in the back," a statement from the force said.

"Nothing was said by the two suspects, who ran off in the direction of Retford Road," it added.

A post-mortem carried out on Sunday established that the cause of Jodie's death was trauma and haemorrhage, and police released a photograph of the teenager on the same day.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, appealed for witnesses to come forward.

He said: "Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene - or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious.

Expand Close Police forensics officers search the area near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY / Facebook

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Whatsapp Police forensics officers search the area near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed, at the Saint Neots Play Park in Harold Hill, east London, Britain March 3, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

"I need those people to call me."

Jodie was a Girl Scout, and the Daily Telegraph reported that friends from Barking & Dagenham Scouts left a scout neckerchief at the base of a tree where the attack happened.

A charity set up a fundraising page for Jodie's family which raised more than 4,000 of the 5,000 goal in a day.

It said: "The whole community are still trying to come to terms with this shocking event.

"As a local charity we want to support the family as much as we can to alleviate the financial stress on this young lady's funeral.

"We are in contact with the immediate family and have agreed to support them with the cost of the funeral arrangements. Once a funeral directors have been chosen we will be writing a cheque to cover the costs.

"We are aware that the local community will want to help with this appeal so as well as making a financial donation towards this from our own account we have set this page up for anyone who wishes to support the family further."

Jodie's uncle Dave Chesney told ITV News on Sunday that the family had lost a "beautiful, lovely and quirky" girl.

Mr Chesney said Jodie was the daughter of his youngest brother Pete, adding: "We value your support and prayers at this time especially for our brother Pete, his wife Jo and Jodie's sister Lucy.

"Also for the friends that were with her at the time."

Posting on Facebook on Saturday, Jodie's grandmother Debbie Chesney said too many young people were having their lives "cut short by needless violence".

She echoed calls for people to come forward with information.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe is no longer being supported by the backer of its stalled casino in Massachusetts, The Cape Cod Times reports.

Genting Malaysia continues to finance a lawsuit that seeks to prevent the tribe's reservation from being taken out of trust, the paper said. But the firm is no longer obligated to support the tribe's operations.

They have no financial responsibilities to us, council member Aaron Tobey Jr., who won election to the tribe's governing body last month, told The Times.

Late last year, Genting took a $440 million "impairment loss" related to its investment in the tribe. The loss was tied to the stalled nature of the First Light Resort and Casino

The tribe broke ground on the facility in April 2017 only to see ;local opponents go to court. A federal judge later ruled that the Bureau of Indian Affairs failed to take into account the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar

Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney tells United South & Eastern Tribes that controversial land-into-trust rules are dead. After reviewing the comments & hearing from Indian Country, the department has determined it will not propose new regulations at this time. pic.twitter.com/IGr5ibYHJh  indianz.com (@indianz) March 4, 2019

The Trump administration has since concluded that the tribe cannot follow the land-into-trust process since it was not "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The tribe's federal recognition wasn't finalized until 2007, long after that date.

The tribe is challenging the decision with a lawsuit in federal court. The casino opponents are seeking to intervene and have the case assigned to the judge who ruled in their favor.

H.R.312 , the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act, would resolve the uncertainty by confirming that the tribe's lands remain in trust. A companion hasn't been introduced in the Senate amid opposition from the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe , whose leaders are worried that their rights will be infringed by the current language in the bill.

The BIA has acknowledged that there is currently no regulatory mechanism for lands held in trust for a tribe to be taken out of trust. Regulations proposed by the Trump administration would have created such a process for the first time since the disastrous termination era

Officials at the Department of the Interior have since withdrawn the Fee-to-Trust Regulations (25 CFR 151) , which were controversial across Indian Country.

After reviewing the comments and hearing from Indian Country, the department has determined it will not propose new regulations at this time," Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney told the United South and Eastern Tribes on the opening day of the organization's Impact Week meeting in Arlington, Virginia, on Monday.

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Tribal members push less government, more sovereignty to conservatives

By Andrew HowardCronkite News

WASHINGTON  The audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference had heard the message of low taxes and local control from speakers before.

But they had never heard it from one group of speakers who showed up Thursday to the annual gathering: Native Americans who called for less government oversight on reservations and greater tribal sovereignty.

Try to build a road in a national park, said Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Try to put a Dennys in a national park. It doesnt happen.

He and others said thats because excessive government bureaucracy in Indian Country makes it all but impossible for tribes to push infrastructure and economic development projects in light of the barriers put in place.

Dwight Witherspoon, a member of the Navajo Nation, told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference that conservatives and Native Americans have similar values. Photo by Keerthi Vedantam / Cronkite News

Paperwork on paperwork on paperwork that Mullin said gets in the way of what could otherwise be an economic engine driven by natural resources in Indian Country.

We cant achieve that financial freedom because  I have to ask Big Brother for permission, he said.

Dwight Witherspoon, a legislative assistant to Navajo Council Speaker Seth Damon, said tribes and conservatives have to recognize their commonality, because it absolutely does exist.

While that may be, James Adakai said there are other concerns that Native voters need to keep in mind. Adakai, a Navajo who is chairman of the Democratic Party in San Juan County, Utah, points to environmental policy.

There are a lot of values we share as a Democratic Party with the indigenous communities, starting with protecting lands and protecting the Earth, said Adakai, who described himself as a lifelong Democrat. Its not perfect but it comes close to our beliefs.

Participants gather in a hallway at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, which annually draws top conservative speakers  and this year drew some tribal leaders. Photo by Keerthi Vedantam / Cronkite News

Adakai criticized what he called a Republican approach to the environment that prioritizes oil and gas drilling.

The land is the way of life to Native American communities and the Republican agenda, when they look at the land, is they want to extract it for mineral development. Whereas from a Native perspective we want to preserve the land, he said.

In Congress, theres an even split between Native American members . Democratic Reps. Sharice Davids of Kansas and Deb Haaland of New Mexico made headlines when they became the first Native American women elected to Congress last year. But they joined two Republicans, Mullin and fellow Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole.

That shouldnt be surprising, said Brandon Ashley, a Navajo who serves as a senior policy adviser for Sen. John Hoeven, R-North Dakota.

A lot of this stuff is kind of the basis of what conservatism is all about, Ashley said of the topics covered Thursday at CPAC. Being self-reliant  less government regulations.

Gavin Clarkson, a New Mexico Republican and member of the Choctaw Nation, said tribes face other government challenges, like businesses having to pay both federal and tribal taxes.

For example, theres not Walmart on the Navajo Nation, Clarkson said after the CPAC discussion. The dual taxation and the oppressive federation regulation makes it impossible to do business on the reservation relative to doing it off the reservation.

He echoed the panelists who said Native Americans have much to gain from supporting Republican-backed causes and vice versa.

A lot of people at CPAC dont fully understand that tribal sovereignty and private property rights are two sides of the same conservative coin, Clarkson said. Unfortunately, far too much of Indian Country supports Democrats even though its against their sovereign interests.

It was great to sit on a panel at @CPAC tonight to discuss why conservatives should embrace tribal sovereignty and how the Trump Administration is working with Native Americans to protect tribal sovereignty. pic.twitter.com/9SXJJ3nq91  Markwayne Mullin (@RepMullin) March 1, 2019

Thats puzzling to Mullin.

How does Indian Country line up with conservatives? Were fighting for the same things, he said.

And Clarkson, who hopes to help flip New Mexicos 2nd District seat in Congress back to Republican control, said the Native American vote cannot be ignored.

New Mexico has a large Native population. Arizona has a large Native population, he said. We need to educate each other and work together.

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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'No path forward' for Navajo Generating Station or coal mine

Wind and solar now beat fossil fuel generation purely on economic groundsBy Mark TrahantIndian Country Today

Donald J. Trump had a consistent theme during his 2016 election campaign: He dug coal. Coal would create jobs. Coal would launch a new economic bonanza, especially in rural states. And coal would power the United States.

The catch: Coal markets have all but collapsed. There are fewer buyers for coal and for even less for coal-powered energy. To be sure coal is not going away, anytime soon. But there are less expensive sources that are cleaner. And those alternatives are getting stronger. Last year was the lowest consumption of coal in nearly 40 years, according to The Energy Information Administration.

Its been another disappointing few months for the U.S. coal industry, writes Clark Williams-Derry for Sightline.org . And its been especially grim for Western U.S. coal companies hoping that Asian exports will revive their flagging prospects.

And Indian Country, like other rural parts of the country, is right in the middle of changing times.

Tribes control nearly a third of coal reserves west of the Mississippi. Coal has provided a huge boost to tribal budgets and created high paying jobs for the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, and Crow Nation. Some 25 tribes have significant coal reserves either with production or the potential for additional development.

The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation. Source: Environmental Protection Agency

But coal is a dirty fossil fuel. The production of electricity accounts for more 28.4 percent of the greenhouse gases that trap heat and make the planet warmer, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. More than two-thirds of that electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, and thats mostly coal.

The decline of the U.S. coal industry is the result of market forces, not a policy war on coal. Any successful policy to revive the industry will be working against economic headwinds, and thus difficult to maintain over the long term, writes Samantha Gross at the Brookings Institution . Although coal mining and coal-fired electricity generation are small contributors to the overall U.S. economy and employment, the decline of coal has had tragic consequences in certain communities. Working to ameliorate these impacts in affected communities is likely to be a much more effective strategy than attempting to revive the coal industry with policy.

In other words: Coal is not coming back, and a better strategy is to look for alternatives. Easier said than done.

Last week the plant's operator, Salt River Project announced that it had reached an impasse in its negotiations with the Navajo Nation to transfer ownership of the Navajo Generating Station, a coal-fired electricity plant. The Navajo Nation created an enterprise to continue the plant, the Navajo Transitional Energy Company . As Salt River Project spokesman Scott Harrelson told the Arizona Republic. "We don't see a path forward.

There is one fundamental reason for that: liability. The Salt River Project would like to have a hard number on its costs to clean up the site. The Navajo Nation, through its enterprise, is willing to invest a significant amount of money to do so. Both the Salt River Project partners and the Navajo Nation are keen to limit cleanup costs which could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

The time to transition to renewable energy is now! Like & share this video to show your support! Navajo/Hopi families are standing up for an economic future to heal the land, & benefit local communities after decades of coal pollution. Its time for Navajo officials to stand up too: for renewable energy projects, restoration of mined lands, full support of families and communities in transition from coal, and access to water long denied by fossil fuel operations! Visit www.NavajoEnergyFuture.org Navajo Nation Council Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President Posted by To Nizhoni Ani on Wednesday, October 17, 2018

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis research editor Karl Cates said the tribal enterprise purchase could be catastrophic if the tribe gets stuck with the massive cleanup liabilities at both the mine and plant. Its a big mess that the owners of the power plant would love to walk away [from], Cates said. Its a big mess that Peabody Energy would love to walk away from.

Liability is the tail wagging the dog, said Williams-Derry who studies the economics of coal for Sightline.org. Across the country, some operations have found it makes more sense to lose money slowly in order to avoid those liability costs. Others are transferring ownership just to avoid the liability.

Theres no path forward on prolonging coal, period, said Percy Deal, Navajo, who is now retired and a former Navajo County and tribal official. Theres no believable business plan you can write when the market signals that something like coal is simply no longer economically viable. Today, our nation should be talking with SRP, but about renewable energy, not coal.

The Navajo Nation continues to press for some kind of deal. The closure of the plant also means the end of the Peabody Kayenta Coal mine because that operation supplies the generation station, some 240 rails cars of coal every day. Not to mention the seven hundred-plus jobs. And the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe receive significant royalties from the mine that fund tribal government, an estimated $40 million for the Navajo Nation and $18 million for the Hopis.

The Black Mesa Water Coalition and the Sierra Club have filed a notice of pending litigation to force Peabody to present its cleanup plan. Peabody is trying to sidestep its reclamation responsibilities by pretending the Navajo Generating Station isnt on track to close in 2019, but it is, and thats been the case for two years, said Jihan Gearon, executive director of Black Mesa Water Coalition.

So both the tribal governments and the companies keep throwing up ideas -- any ideas -- hoping there is a path forward for either the plant or the mine.

One plan to save the mine would require a new railroad line so that the coal could be sold to Asia. But that project would take years and require a huge investment when the world is moving away from coal and prices are not stable enough to support that new investment.

Last week a press release from the Navajo Nation Council said: From the outset the council and the Navajo Transitional Energy Company made clear that the potential transaction would be negotiated by the two companies, using their expertise. However, the Navajo Nation and Navajo Nation Council would need to approve all transaction documents or agreements that require such approval according to relevant laws.

That is the problem. Any deal would require either the Salt River Project and its partners or the Navajo Nation to agree to an unknown cost.

And even if that liability could be lifted the prospect for coal in the marketplace is not improving.

Interestingly, wind and solar are now beating out fossil fuel generation purely on economic grounds. A decade ago, wind and solar both heavily relied on subsidies. No longer. Wind and solar are now the two cheapest sources of power in the US, according to 2017 estimates from consulting firm Lazard, writes Williams-Derry for Sightline. So cheap, in fact, that it is often cheaper to build and operate brand new wind and solar projects than to keep existing coal and nuclear plants in service.

He said this is happening even while the Trump administration promotes coal and undercuts renewables.

Despite it all, renewables keep chugging along, steadily stealing market share from coal, he wrote. The economics arent going to get any better for coal in the years to come. Most analysts project that both wind turbines and solar panels will just keep getting cheaper. Meanwhile, the best mines are played out and mining keeps getting more expensive .

The Navajo Generating Station owners and Peabody have mined and burned coal on Navajo land for 50 years. Thats generations of contamination they are accountable for cleaning up, and the Navajo Nation should never let them off the hook for that., said Nicole Horseherder, a resident of Black Mesa and a water advocate with To Nizhoni Ani . The plan to retire NGS in December provides full accountability and guarantees proper cleanup and reclamation. And it gives the owners the certainty they need. Coal markets are dead and this moment provides an opportunity for the Navajo Nation to stop wasting time and move on to build a clean energy economy.

The Navajo Nation will hold town halls on March 8 and 9 in Hardrock and Kayenta, Arizona. Please bring constructive thoughts on this important topic affecting the future of the Navajo Nation and be prepared to share them with Navajo leadership, said Navajo Council Speaker Seth Damon (Baahaali, Chichiltah, Manuelito, Tse Lichii, Rock Springs, Tsayatoh). It is critical to hear from the grassroots and the families affected by this decision.

Mark Trahant is the editor of Indian Country Today . He is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes . Follow him on Twitter @TrahantReports

This story originally appeared on Indian Country Today

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Notes from Indian Country

There is hypocrisy in the motto of this years SDNA, NDNA conventionBy Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji  Stands Up For Them)

The South and North Dakota Newspaper Associations join forces every couple of years and hold a joint convention. One year it is held in North Dakota and the next time in South Dakota.

This May it will be held in Medora, North Dakota, because President Teddy Roosevelt had a ranch near there. Some clever folks on the planning committee decided to get cute and so the theme of this particular convention is When the West was One. A musical show is planned and is Billed as 'The Greatest Show in the West,' the musical review is an ode to patriotism and Theodore Roosevelt, who before being elected president lived and ranched in the Badlands near Medora.

I had to scratch my head and wonder if the convention planners ever knew about Roosevelts feelings about Native Americans, the most populous minority in North and South Dakota.

If not here is one of his quotes about Indians , I dont go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldnt like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.

Im sure there are members of both organizations saying, Oh, thats the way it was back then. To this I say baloney. Racial prejudice is racial prejudice no matter when it occurred.

Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Photo: chascar

Teddy Roosevelt took thousands of acres of land from different Indian nations without consulting their leaders and turned them into national parks. Much of this stolen land was rich in game that had been hunted for centuries by the tribes from which the land was taken.

At the last joint convention held in North Dakota a panel was seated to talk about the clashes between Native Americans and the law during the protests against the Keystone XL Pipeline. As attendees we found it hard to believe that not one Native American was seated on that panel. The excuse given to us for this blatant oversight was, We looked but we couldnt find any Native Americans. Our newspaper has been a member of the South Dakota Newspaper Association for more than 30 years. Did we suddenly become invisible?

Both newspaper associations should have been at the forefront of promoting racial equality over the 100 years they have existed, but instead they took a different tact and buried their heads in the sand when it came to race relations. I know because for years I have been asking to speak at one of their conventions on the issue of race relations in South Dakota. It is apparently a topic that is too touchy for our less than open minded Newspaper Associations.

I sent the Teddy Roosevelt quote and a note about the feelings most Native Americans have for Teddy Roosevelt to David Bordewyk, the director of the South Dakota Newspaper Association, last year after the association brought a Roosevelt impersonator to the floor as a guest presenter. My concerns apparently went over his head because if he had anything to do with organizing this years convention he sure didnt take my concerns seriously.

Let me remind Karen Speidel, head of the North Dakota Newspaper Association and David Bordewyk, head of the South Dakota Newspaper Association that Native Americans do exist is North and South Dakota. As I said above, I have been a member of the SDNA for more than 30 years and have never been asked to consider a seat on their board.

Native Americans have their sovereign nations and we are also citizens of South Dakota and of the United States. I always felt that our very presence as attendees to the annual Newspaper Conventions would let the membership know that we do exist.

We (Native Americans) lost one of our greatest champions when Professor Dick Lee of South Dakota State University School of Journalism passed away. Dick even made it a point to attend the conventions of the Native American Journalists Association in order to learn.

Allen Neuharth made a courageous effort to include Native Americans into his media empire. When I was looking for funds to start the Native American Journalists Association Neuharth was there with money from the Gannett Foundation to give us a financial start and a boost.

Both newspaper associations have had numerous opportunities to hear the other side of the story but instead have refused to take off their blinders. They must have known that When the West was One is not only a terrible slogan, it is not true. Since the white man first set foot in the country they would name Dakota Territory, after the Dakota a race of people, the Indians and the encroaching settlers have been at war.

Thousands died on both sides and that hardly indicates that the West was one. South Dakota was a state when nearly 300 Lakota men, women and children were mercilessly slaughtered at Wounded Knee. How soon we forget.

For the first time in 30 years neither I nor my staff will attend the combined conventions of SDNA and NDNA. We would not be true to ourselves or our traditions if we failed to recognize the hypocrisy in the location and the motto of this convention.

Contact Tim Giago at najournalis1@gmail.com

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India is set to sign a $3-billion deal with Russia this week to lease another nuclear attack submarine that will be customised and fitted with indigenous communications systems and sensors.

The deal for the Akula class submarine  dubbed Chakra III after the first two similar vessels India obtained from Russia  will be the biggest signed with Moscow since the $5.5-billion contract for the S-400 air defence system was finalised last year.

Sources told ET that the intergovernmental agreement for the submarine lease is likely to be inked on March 7 and that the vessel will be ready by 2025 after an extensive building programme on mothballed hulls at a Russian shipyard.

bccl/representational image

Chakra II Lease May Be Extended

The Chakra III will be in service for at least 10 years and will replace the Chakra II that was obtained under similar conditions in 2012. It is believed that the lease of the Chakra II, which is to expire in 2022, could be extended for a fiveyear period till the new vessel gets built and tested.

Operating a nuclear attack submarine or SSN  its powered by a nuclear reactor but armed with conventional weapons  gives India significant strike capability in the region. These vessels can remain underwater for months, making them almost impossible to detect and are a big deterrence for enemy vessels in the region.

While the mothballed nuclear submarine had been shipped to the Russian port town of Severodvinsk in 2014, sources said that it will be akin to a new vessel once ready, given the extent of work required to make it operational.

bccl/representational image

The work requires a complete build-up and activation of the nuclear reactor that powers it and the fitment of a large number of unspecified Indian original systems for communication and domain area awareness.

Indian personnel involved in the project are likely to get significant expertise on working on such submarines that will come in handy for the indigenous nuclear attack submarine programme that has been approved. Design work on a new class of Indian SSNs has commenced but there is no clarity about when it will be completed. The build process started at a domestic shipyard.

bccl/representational image

Talks on the Chakra III lease have been on since 2013 but were given a boost in 2015 when both sides initiated technical and price discussions to specify what will go into the inter-governmental agreement.

This will be the third Russian nuclear submarine to be operated by India, starting from 1988 when the original INS Chakra was taken on a three-year lease. The second was inducted in 2012 after a prolonged refit that saw a time delay. The Akula submarines are considered to be next only to newer US nuclear submarines when it comes to stealth and attack capabilities.
The 44-year-old Murtaza A Hamid, a Mumbai based businessman has offered to donate Rs 110 crore from his taxable income to the PMs National Relief Fund which gets spent on the welfare of the families of the Pulwama martyrs.

PTI/Dainik Bhaskar

The businessman Hamid, who hails from Kota sent an email and sought an appointment to PM Modi in this regard. Visually impaired by birth, Hamid had graduated from Government Commerce College, Kota and is currently working as a scientist and researcher in Mumbai.

Speaking to TOI over phone Hamid told what inspired him to donate, The inspiration to help and support those who lay down their lives for our motherland should be in the blood of every citizen of the country.

TOI

Hamid also said that he regrets that if the government had recognised his scientific innovation timely, the incident like Pulwama could have been averted. He claimed that he innovated Fuel Burn Radiation Technology which helps to trace and to locate any vehicle or object without GPS, camera or any other technical machinery.

He also claimed that he had proposed to government and offered his innovation free of cost to NHAI in September 2016, but he received the approval two years later in October 2018 and there has been no further development ever since.

(With TOI inputs)
Ending speculations over the future of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who is still recovering in a military hospital in Delhi pots his captivity and return to India, IAF chief BS Dhanoa said the IAF pilot flying again depends on his medical tests.

"Post ejection, Wing Commander Abhinandan has undergone medical tests. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit," Dhanoa said during a press briefing in Coimbatore.

BCCL

Commenting on Air Force strike in Balakot the Dhanoa said "The target has been clearly amplified by the Foreign Secretary in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pak PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond".

He also said that the air force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that, adding that "we count what targets we have hit or not."

BCCL/ FILE

Explaining the reason behind the decision to deploy Mig-21s to counter the F-16s of Pakistan, the Air Chief said "the Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft and it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system."

Elaborating on this he said there was a difference between a planned operation where India used some of its best fighter jets to target the terror camps inside Pakistan and when the jets had to be deployed in the face of an advancing adversary.
RK Narayans Malgudi Days may be based on a fictional character Swami and on a fictional town Malgudi, but now you can take a train and reach the Malgudi Railway Station for real! Indian Railways decided to give a green signal to rename the Arasalu railway station to Malgudi railway station.

This is where some scenes of Malgudi Days were shot and so, Indian Railways decided to rename it to pay homage to the legendary director and actor Shankar Nag. Arasalu station is 34 km from Shivamogga town and is located in Hosanagar taluk, Karnataka.

The Hindu

Malgudi Days was based on short stories written by novelist RK Narayan.

The old railway station building where Malgudi Days was shot, is now in a bad state. Along with renaming it, South Western Railway is planning to develop the station at an estimated cost of Rs 1.3 crore.

"Arasalu railway station was perfectly suited to recreate British-era scenes. Every morning we rushed there to record two shots, one for the English version and another for Hindi. The first shot was taken on the right platform. When the train returned after 20 minutes, the second shot was done in the opposite platform. These are evergreen memories," Master Manjunath, who played the role of Swami in the television series, told the Times of India.

Confirming the plans to rename the station, Shivamogga MP B Y Raghavendra said, There was a demand to name the station after Malgudi Days and the railways has agreed to change it to Malgudi Station.

Google Map

Are you excited to travel to Malgudi station?
Harish Tekriwal (left), a student at New Hampshire-based Dartmouth College, seen here with Junyang Cui, are among the first recipients of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society research grants. (Dartmouth.edu photo)
Blake said she enjoyed LitWorks because the teens were cool and she liked the vibe. She also said she liked meeting librarians, which is her favorite part of her job.
The University of Missouri-Kansas City has filed a lawsuit against Indian American Prof. Ashim Mitra (above) alleging that he improperly made $1.5 million from selling former Indian American graduate student Kishore Cholkars research. If the university can prove the charges, Cholkar stands to gain millions of dollars in royalties. (pharmacy.umkc.edu photo)
A Pakistani girl holds a light candle during a vigil for peace in Lahore on March 3, 2019 as tensions have soared between India and Pakistan since a suicide bombing in Kashmir last month claimed by Pakistan-based militants killed 40 Indian paramilitaries. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
The auditors of rare earth producer Lynas have warned that an ongoing legal dispute with the Malaysian government is at risk of threatening the companys future.

Auditors Ernst & Young warned in a note on Lynas quarterly results on February 28 that conditions issued by the Malaysian government "cast significant doubt...
When youre trying to train the best machine learning model for your data automatically, theres AutoML, or automated machine learning, and then theres Google Cloud AutoML. Google Cloud AutoML is a cut above.

InfoWorld

In the past Ive reviewed H2O Driverless AI, Amazon SageMaker, and Azure Machine Learning AutoML. Driverless AI automatically performs feature engineering and hyperparameter tuning, and claims to perform as well as Kaggle masters. Amazon SageMaker supports hyperparameter optimization. Azure Machine Learning AutoML automatically sweeps through features, algorithms, and hyperparameters for basic machine learning algorithms; a separate Azure Machine Learning hyperparameter tuning facility allows you to sweep specific hyperparameters for an existing experiment.

These are good, but Google Cloud AutoML goes to a whole different level and customizes Googles battle-tested, high-accuracy deep neural networks for your tagged data. Rather than starting from scratch when training models from your data, Google Cloud AutoML implements automatic deep transfer learning (meaning that it starts from an existing deep neural network trained on other data) and neural architecture search (meaning that it finds the right combination of extra network layers) for language pair translation, natural language classification, and image classification.

In each area, Google already has one or more pre-trained services based on deep neural networks and huge sets of labeled data. These may well work for your data unmodified, and you should test that to save yourself time and money. If these services dont do what you need, Google Cloud AutoML helps you to create a model that does, without requiring that you know how to perform transfer learning or even how to create neural networks.
Key Fibonacci levels for Corn and Beans ONE44 Analytics - Tue Dec 7, 6:11PM CST The second break from 61.8% (590.00) did hold 38.2% again, this time at 563.00 ZCH22 : 584-4 (-0.26%) ZSH22 : 1257-0 (-0.10%)

Soy Market Closes Lower on Tuesday Barchart - Tue Dec 7, 4:46PM CST Soybeans traded weaker on Tuesday, ending the session with 4 1/2 to 8 1/4 cents in the red. Soymeal closed $1.60 to $0.80 in the red. BO futures were 56 to 76 points weaker at the close. The national... ZSF22 : 1248-6 (-0.12%) ZSPAUS.CM : 12.1700 (-0.93%) ZSH22 : 1257-0 (-0.10%) ZSX21 : 1234-0s (+1.79%) ZSPX21US.CM : 12.3270 (+1.90%)

Wheat Gains on Tuesday Barchart - Tue Dec 7, 4:46PM CST Wheat markets were higher by the close on Tuesday. CBT SRW futures closed 2 to 2 3/4 cents in the black. KC wheat closed 4 to 5 3/4 cents stronger by the close. March HRW wheat traded within a 14 cent... ZWZ21 : 799-2s (+0.28%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.5950 (+0.35%) KEZ21 : 827-2s (+0.70%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.0510 (+0.59%) MWZ21 : 1045-6s (+0.41%)
Henry praised District Kitchen and tap as being incredibly supportive of what we do. They give us free rein to do whatever kind of strange weird show that we want. Its a great local business with great food, and its a fun environment. Everyone who comes seems to really enjoy being there. Comedy is allowed to thrive in that room.
Singapore-based Symbo Platform Holdings has launched a digital insurance platform, after having obtained an insurance brokerage licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The platform caters to both retail and corporate customers and offers digital solutions to quickly and seamlessly help purchase and administer a range of general and life insurance products across personal and commercial insurance lines.

Symbo, which was incorporated less than two years ago, is working to streamline the insurance lifecycle while resolving some of the industrys largest operational and customer pain points, it said in a statement. The firm focuses on data utilisation, workflow automation, and upcoming blockchain-based solutions.

The launch of the Singapore digital brokerage marks the start of Symbos Southeast Asian expansion efforts, with Indonesia and Malaysia coming up.

Were seeing a major opportunity to transform insurance and reinsurance in the ASEAN region as digital penetration continues to leapfrog ahead of other regions and demand for risk cover continues to grow with changing demographics, said Symbo board member Siraj Ali.

Alongside its regional expansion, Symbo has appointed Laurens Koppelaar as head of international and CEO for Singapore, and Subhajit Mandal as head of product.

With extensive insurance sales and marketing experience across Southeast Asia, Koppelaar joins Symbo from Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, where he was head of market management for Southeast Asia, leading distribution strategy and market expansion for non-life insurance products across the region.

Meanwhile, Mandals career spans insurance, venture capital, proprietary trading firms, and family offices. Prior to joining Symbo, he was a director at LumenLab, MetLifes innovation centre in Singapore. He was among those who oversaw the launch of Vitana, a blockchain-enabled health insurance solution within the MAS sandbox. He is also a founder and board member of the Singapore Fintech Association.

The launch of Symbos online insurance broking business in Singapore is a major milestone for the company as we intend to participate in Singapores vibrant innovation ecosystem to expand across Southeast Asia, Symbos board of directors said in a joint statement. Our established team has strong experience bringing platform solutions to scale across the insurance and reinsurance value chains in Asia and we now look forward to applying their expertise to offer thought leading solutions in Singapore and the broader ASEAN region. We are thrilled to have Laurens and Subhajit join us in this journey and are confident that they will bring significant contributions to the business.
If the use of offshore reinsurers continues to increase, APRA's ability to effectively supervise the Australian life insurance industry as a whole could be put at risk," APRA said in an AFR report. This gives rise to prudential concerns for APRA, and these concerns are particularly heightened in relation to the group risk market, which plays an important role in Australia's superannuation system."

APRA noted the need to maintain robust controls on group insurance in superannuation products due to its mandatory nature. Under Stronger Super reforms, life insurance is a mandatory default component of default superannuation products offered through the workplace.

[R]isks also emerge from the possibility that offshore reinsurers may not take a long-term perspective when operating in the Australian market. APRA's view is that a long-term perspective is essential for a stable life insurance market, the regulator said.

To address the issue, APRA proposed to include a cap the amount that could be reinsured through offshore companies, allowing moderate level of offshore reinsurance, while mitigating against the prudential concerns arising from their increasing use by life companies. The regulator acknowledged that the measure could reduce competition in the reinsurance market.

According to an industry source, life insurers chasing large group contracts with super funds find offshore reinsurers more attractive due their lower cost base, making them cheaper, AFR reported.
Previously the CEO of international insurance for the firm, Tulloch had responsibility for Avivas life and general insurance operations in Canada, France, Italy, Poland, India, Turkey and Ireland. He was also previously the CEO of Aviva UK and Ireland general insurance.

I am honoured to lead Aviva, a firm Ive been part of for 26 years, he said. There is a clear opportunity to realise Avivas significant but untapped potential. Aviva is financially strong, we have a well-known brand and excellent businesses. But there is more to do to improve returns to shareholders.

We must focus on the fundamentals of insurance and giving our customers the best possible experience  being there when they need us, protecting whats important to them and helping them save for the future.

Tulloch  who considers his nationality to be both British and Canadian  was born in Falkirk, Scotland, and has held a host of roles in the firm including as president and CEO of Aviva Canada, and, prior to that, executive vice-president and COO of Aviva Ontario. Now in his new role he is expected to pick up a basic annual salary of 975,000 (around AU$1.8 million) and will be eligible for a pro-rated annual bonus opportunity that will pay up a maximum of 200% of salary for his time in the role of CEO, and will be required to defer two thirds of any award made into Aviva stock which will vest into three equal tranches over three years. He will also be eligible to receive the grant of an award under Avivas long-term incentive plan for 2019.

A company statement revealed that Tulloch currently owns 348,797 shares in Aviva plc and will be required to build a shareholding to the value of 300% of his basic salary. He will also receive the standard Aviva executive benefits package and that will include assistance with relocation from Canada to the UK.

The announcement of Tullochs new role also sees Sir Adrian Montague, who had been acting in an executive capacity, revert to his role as non-executive chairman. Montague described Tullochs appointment as a unanimous conclusion and a great result for Aviva.
The team at Beaufort are respected Lloyds underwriters, and we are pleased to have them join the Cincinnati family, commented Steven J. Johnston, president and chief executive at the Ohio-headquartered insurer.

Their underwriting philosophy and business culture mirror our own. I look forward to working with them to build plans for a future that will benefit our associates, agents, clients, and shareholders over the long term.

MSP Underwriting, which has earned an underwriting profit in 20 of the last 25 years, is equally delighted to become part of Cincinnati Financial.

Director Derek Eales noted: We look forward to making our contribution to the continued success of the group and all its stakeholders.
Welcome to the 2017 Insurance Business Elite Brokers list.



This year marks the fifth occasion on which Insurance Business has set out to find insurance brokers across the country at the top of their game  fine examples of the enormous value the sector provides to the wider community.



This year, weve decided to change our approach slightly. In previous years, weve published a full ranking list of the top brokers who entered. But this year, in our efforts to place more emphasis on the fact that being named an elite broker is significant recognition on its own, we have decided not to publish any final rankings and instead shine an equal share of the spotlight on each of the top entrants who qualified for our Elite Brokers list. You can find the names and faces of those brokers on the pages that follow.



It remains our privilege to be able to acknowledge some of the high achievers in broking in Australia. Wed like to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who applied to be a part of the Elite Brokers 2017 report, and we look forward to bringing it all back again in 2018.



METHODOLOGY

The Insurance Business ranking system is an objective means of ranking the best performing insurance brokers in the country not just those with the biggest portfolios or the largest clients.

Each broker was required to supply their own details to Insurance Business to be eligible, along with details of a contact who could verify those figures.



There were eight criteria, covering:

 Number of policies written

 Total revenue

 Revenue per policy

 Number of clients

 New clients

 New client revenue

 Client retention



Each broker was ranked in each of these measurements and the sum of all of their rankings was calculated to determine those who would receive recognition. While no rankings have been published this year, this methodology was used to determine the brokers included in this report.
The global insurance brokerage will also take on the assets of Hayward Aviation, a UK insurance broker that specializes in aviation for high-net worth individuals and smaller airlines.

The addition of JLTs global aerospace broking operations will firmly position Gallagher as a leading broker in the extremely attractive and dynamic aviation and aerospace sector, said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., chairman, president and CEO.

As part of the deal, approximately 250 employees from JLTs global aerospace division will join Gallagher, including about 100 employees from JLTs London Market operations, who will become part of Gallaghers growing aviation division.

Gallagher said he was looking forward to welcoming the newcomers. He commented: The business portfolio is a highly complementary geographic fit with Gallaghers existing footprint and will provide significant growth opportunities for our international businesses. We look forward to welcoming the team to Gallagher later this spring."

The deal, which remains subject to European Commission approval, is scheduled to close in the spring to coincide with the closing of the JLT purchase by Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc.
Investigators said that Kalantari forged financial documents in order to move victims funds to purchase new annuities, on which he received commissions for each annuity purchased.

He purchased annuities, which are an investment giving a series of annual returns or sums, Billy Sulliven, director of the fraud investigation unit at Georgias insurance commissioners office, told AJC. Mr. Kalantari received a monetary commission for every annuity that was purchased through his company. Our investigation revealed that he misrepresented information to insurance companies and investors. As a result, he was able to sell more annuities, and therefore increase his income.

In addition to fraud, investigators also discovered suspected black-tar heroin, suspected cocaine, and a large quantity of suspected schedule four narcotics in Kalantarios home while executing a search warrant during his arrest.

Kalantari now faces four counts of insurance fraud, eight counts of forgery in the first degree, two counts of identity fraud, two counts of exploitation of an elderly person, and three counts of violation of the Georgia controlled substances act.

This should serve as a reminder to those that feel they can take advantage of the elderly  insurance fraud is a very serious crime and will be treated as such, Jim Beck, insurance commissioner for the State of Georgia, said in a statement. When insurance fraud is committed against seniors, it not only robs them of their dignity, but also their peace of mind. This is why combatting insurance fraud remains one of my top priorities.
More States Supplementing Digital with Plastic

Millions of people may be able to show their smartphones rather than a plastic card to prove theyre legit to drive, vote or buy a beer in coming years.

Louisiana in July became the first state to make digital licenses available to anyone who wants them, and at least 14 other states either have developed a program, run a pilot or are studying the possibility, according to the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Seventy-seven percent of American adults already own a smartphone, including 94 percent of adults under 30, and many state motor vehicle officials think residents will appreciate the convenience of having their drivers license available in an app.

Officials also like that the licenses are connected to a central database and can be updated easily with, for example, suspensions or revocations. And unlike plastic cards that can easily be counterfeited or tampered with, mobile licenses are less susceptible to fraud, they say.

But as is often the case when something analog goes digital, privacy advocates worry about the potential for government overreach and fear the digital licenses and motor vehicle databases will become vulnerable to hackers.

These are shiny new things, and states are only talking about the upsides, said Chad Marlow, a senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union in New York. It is very important the public understand there are significant risks with digital drivers licenses. I think it is irresponsible for states to offer them [without explaining those risks].

Colorado, Delaware, Maryland and Wyoming are among the states that have started a digital drivers license pilot program. Others are exploring the possibility.

This is a quantum leap improvement over what has been the traditional model for how we ask for and receive identification, said Geoff Slagle, director of identity management at the motor vehicle administrators association. With this approach, Im able to verify that the MVA actually created that license for you and that it was overseen by them.

Only one state  New Mexico  does not allow drivers to use an electronic copy of their insurance card during a traffic stop, according to the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Supplement Not Replace

Slagle said digital drivers licenses wont replace plastic ones; theyll simply be a supplement. Everybody still will have to carry a physical license for the foreseeable future.

Eventually, officials envision people using digital licenses not only for traffic stops and airport ID but also in bars, grocery stores, casinos, banks, doctors offices and as voter ID at polling places.

About 35,000 of Louisianas approximately 4 million drivers have signed up to have their license available on the LA Wallet app, said Paige Paxton, a field administrator for the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles. And on Election Day, the secretary of states office allowed voters to display digital licenses instead of plastic ones.

We like to move with the times. We saw the potential, Paxton said. Our plan is to eventually make it so your registration, insurance or any credential would be on LA Wallet.

The program was jointly designed by the motor vehicles office, the Louisiana State Police and the Department of Public Safety. It was developed for free by Envoc, a Louisiana software firm, Paxton said, and there has been no cost to the state.

Louisiana residents can download the Apple or Google app for free but must pay a $5.99 activation fee (most of which goes to the software developer; the rest to Google or Apple) that covers them until their drivers license expires.

Drivers must use a PIN number, fingerprint or both to access their license, which is linked to the DMV data system.

This is not a static thing, Paxton said. Its a live connect.

For now, the app only can be used for stops by Louisiana police and for voting, and drivers still must carry a physical license for the foreseeable future, Paxton said. Louisianas Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control is developing a policy and training materials for its officers.

LA Wallet was developed after the state legislature passed a measure in 2016 allowing the creation of digitized licenses as an alternative to physical ones.

To address privacy concerns, the law says that displaying a digital license doesnt serve as consent or authorization for police or anyone else to search or view any other data or app on the mobile device.

And at the request of state police, Paxton said, the policy goes even further: Under its hands-off procedure, police can check the license without having to take the phone from the driver.

Our state police were concerned, Paxton said, that there was a potential that someone could say, Hey, you broke my phone. So, whos liable for that if a screen is shattered?

The system has been working fine for state troopers, said Lt. Nick Manale, a Louisiana State Police spokesman.

Were not aware of any problems with it, as long as the driver has cellphone connectivity, he said. And they always have a physical drivers license as a backup.

The app, which Paxton said does not track users location, also is built so the screen only shows whats needed. If a store clerk or bouncer scans it, for example, the app would show only whether the person is old enough to drink.

Digital Skeptics

But critics such as the ACLUs Marlow are skeptical that digital licenses in Louisiana or anywhere else are a good idea.

By unlocking the license, phone owners could expose their data to whoever is checking it, Marlow said. And, he added, while an officer normally would need a warrant to search a phone, in the real world, drivers who dont know the law could be pressured into handing over the phone, allowing access to everything from contacts to text messages.

And he worries hackers could access data being transmitted to and from the DMV database.

A group formed by the motor vehicle administrators association has been working on a plan to provide standards that would make it possible for digital licenses to work across states. This way, a license from one state could be checked and verified by a device in another.

Wyoming is one of several states that joined a pilot last year to test digital licenses. As part of the first phase, Wyoming officials wanted to see, for example, whether information could be transferred from a tractor-trailer digital drivers license directly to a highway patrol officers cruiser behind the truck.

It worked, said Misty Zimmerman, a deputy program manager at the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Wyoming is now planning the second phase of its pilot program.

The first phase was very smooth. There were no hurdles whatsoever, Zimmerman said. We have not made any formal commitment [to offer digital licenses to the public]. However, from a department standpoint, I feel we would greatly benefit from having this option for our citizens.

Biometrics

Iowa, which in 2016 became the first state to start a digital license pilot program, is moving ahead with its plan to offer mobile licenses, turning to a system that uses biometrics and beefed-up security.

The state hired a French multinational company that specializes in providing secure credentials, IDEMIA, to develop the pilot for just under $50,000, said Mark Lowe, director of the state Department of Transportation.

After a competitive bidding process for the current digital license project, Iowa awarded the company a contract of $1.2 million initially. It hopes to start the digital license by late 2019 or early 2020.

The drivers app would be able to interact with another device used by the person checking the license. The device-to-device exchange would authorize information sharing and verify that the person is who he says he is.

The really powerful thing is that once we bind you to that credential and verify it, you can use it for hunting and fishing licenses, weapons permits, tax returns  all sorts of things, Lowe said. Theres a ton of convenience and efficiencies.

Iowa is working with other states to make sure its system can be used outside the state. Lowe said thats the biggest hurdle  developing common standards across states.

But privacy advocates are concerned about states creating digital license programs that use device-to-device communications rather than just scanning a barcode, as is done in airports and grocery stores.

Thats 1984 stuff, said Alan Butler, senior counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit research group. Youre opening up a new channel of attack or breach or nonconsensual monitoring of a person. It creates substantial privacy and data security risks with no added benefit.

And the ACLUs Marlow worries about expanding the use of digital licenses. Whats stored on your physical drivers license is limited, Marlow said. But the digital one has the potential to store a lot more information, and that could be hacked.

But Slagle, of the motor vehicle administrators group, said the ACLU should be more concerned about plastic licenses, which are vulnerable to fraud and counterfeiting. They should be super excited about something coming along that helps to solve some of those problems, he said.

Slagle and Lowe predict that every state eventually will offer digital licenses. It is not a question of whether or not this is happening, its a question of how fast this happens, Slagle said. Were going to do this as fast as we can, but we want to make sure that we get it right.
In an email sent to families later in the day, Pruitt-Adams that about 120 students came to the student center at the beginning of second period and remained sitting on the floor for the remainder of the school day. In that email, she wrote that having staff members placed on leave is not a decision of wrongdoing but rather a standard approach when the District is conducting a personnel review.
Nationwide Insurance, based in Columbus, Ohio, has more than doubled the number of Des Moines, Iowa, job cuts it announced last fall.

Nationwide said in November 2018 that about 80 workers in Des Moines would lose their jobs as part of a company effort to eliminate about 1,100 positions across the country  around 3.6 percent of its workforce.

The company issued 191 layoff notices in Des Moines in February, however.

Nationwide spokesman Joe Case told The Des Moines Register that, as weve continued to implement our business plans, we are realizing a larger impact in Des Moines than what we originally shared in November.

Nationwide has said it is taking advantage of new technologies as it positions the organization for long-term success and growth.

In November, the company said the job cuts would occur mostly in information technology, marketing, property and casualty operations and bank organizations. It also said it planned to cut its workforce in Columbus by 350 employees.

Nationwide said the employees will receive severance pay and other support, and they can apply for company jobs elsewhere.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Talent Iowa
Michigans Court of Appeals has ruled against a woman whose offer of conditional employment by a public entity was rescinded after she tested positive for marijuana even though she had a state-issued card allowing her to use the drug.

An Associated Press report suggested the ruling could reinforce zero-tolerance workplace rules for marijuana even in cases in which a person has a medical marijuana card.

The Feb. 19 court decision came in a lawsuit brought by Angela Eplee of Dimondale, who said the Lansing Board of Water and Light rescinded a 2017 job offer after she tested positive for marijuana even though she had made it clear that she was a qualified patient under the states medical marijuana law.

The board denied the test result was the reason for withdrawing the offer.

The trial court dismissed the case, reasoning that the conditional offer of employment did not constitute a contract of employment because it could be withdrawn at any time, according to the Court of Appeals written opinion.

In its opinion, the appeals court stated that the core of the dispute in this case is plaintiffs contention that because she tested positive for THC as a result of her use of medical marijuana, the BWL was absolutely prohibited from rescinding her conditional offer of employment.

However, noting that under Michigan law by presumption, employment relationships are terminable at the will of either party, the court found the plaintiff failed to offer any legal argument suggesting she had the right to be employed by the BWL. The plaintiff had acknowledged that the offer of employment by BWL was conditional and never made a case to suggest that the employment offer was not at will, the court said.

Ultimately, the appeals court found, the plaintiff could not use Michigans medical marijuana law to gain an enforceable contractual right to employment where no such right previously existed. The plaintiff did not show that BWL had limited its right to withdraw the job offer. In addition, the court said, plaintiff has failed to state a claim for breach of contract on which relief could be granted.

The court affirmed the trial courts dismissal and declined to award costs to either party.

The Associated Press reported that Eplees attorney is reviewing the decision.

Medical marijuana use in Michigan was approved in 2008 for some chronic medical conditions. Recreational use of marijuana was approved in the state last year.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Talent Cannabis Michigan
Many real estate consumers dont think about insurance very much. Most assume coverage is always available  just a phone call away. Few worry that insurance wont be there. But what if such assumptions are wrong?

The real estate marketplace  and with it a big chunk of the nations economy  is dependent on insurance in one form or another. Its the inter-related web of insurance and insurance-like financial structures that keeps buyers coming back for more houses and investors demanding more mortgages.

Yet the reality is that risk factors are in transition and new liabilities increasingly impact the marketplace. More and more consumers face higher insurance standards, steeper costs, fewer options and sometimes no options at all. Risks that were rare yesterday are increasingly common. Marginal properties are being washed out of the system and with them home sales and mortgage originations.

The most visible changes  but not the only changes or arguably even the biggest changes  relate to claims from such things as floods, fires, and droughts.

Most insurance and reinsurance companies are getting smart on climate change and extreme weather events and what it will mean for their viability in the coming years and decades, said Mark Gibbas, president and CEO with Weather Source.

Gibbas said that efforts are now underway to plan for insurance coverage in the future. The Task Force for Climate Disclosure (TFCD) is an organization that is advocating for banks, financial institutions, reinsurance/insurance, and similar companies to engage on climate change so as to not be blindsided from it, he said. The Task Force has more than 500 supporting organizations worldwide, including U.S. backers such as Accenture, Bank of America, Blackrock, CalPERS, Citi Group, and others.

Big Data Risk Mitigation

Insurtech companies like Cape Analytics are applying big data concepts to property data from ATTOM Data Solutions along with other datasets to help insurance carriers and others take action to reduce their exposure to risk associated with the changing climate, according to product manager Kevin Van Leer.

Whether during underwriting, rating, or renewing, information about properties is critical for carriers to understand their exposure to growing risks from climate change-driven impacts, he said. Data ranging from wind and hail-related information such as roof geometry and roof condition to wildfire risk factors like fuel load and vegetation clearance, allow insurers to innovate new products and proactively work with their customers to prevent damage to their homes, before a catastrophe strikes. At Cape Analytics, we generate new forms of actionable, risk-relevant data, using computer vision and machine learning to analyze aerial imagery of properties across the U.S.

Insurance carriers will certainly cancel policies in instances where there are repeat fires and often do not provide coverage in high-risk areas, said Robyn Markow, AVP of client relations with the Quality Claims Management, a licensed public adjuster that provides hazard insurance-related services to the mortgage industry and consumers.

As California wildfires grow larger and more intense, reported the Los Angeles Times in August, an increasing number of insurance companies are not renewing policies for customers who live in areas they deem too risky to cover. The state estimates that more than 1 million California homes are considered at high risk for wildfires.

According to the paper a California Department of Insurance report found that the number of homeowners in the wildland-urban interface who complained about getting dropped by their plans more than tripled from 2010 to 2016. Complaints about increased premiums rose 217 percent.

Not so fast, say the insurance companies. Dropping policies is not something done lightly. Issuing a non-renewal notice to a home insurance policyholder, however, is something an insurer does with great reluctance, said Michael Barry, head of media and public affairs for the Insurance Information Institute.

Flood Risk Hitting Home

In 2017 Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana, especially the Houston area. Risk Management Solutions (RMS) estimates that insured losses might amount to as much as $40 billion. Thats a big number, but whats really big is the overall impact. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the storm produced $127.5 billion in total losses.

What does the public do when confronted with more than $80 billion in uninsured storm losses? Figures from ATTOM Data Solutions show that as of July 2018 foreclosure starts were up just 7 percent in Texas. Thats not a big number but dont let the state figure fool you. In Houston foreclosure starts increased by 76 percent  the third consecutive month with a double-digit year-over-year increase.

And yet Houston homes continue to sell. Not just after Hurricane Harvey but also after the Memorial Day floods in 2016 and 2017. The National Association of Realtors found Houston home prices in the second quarter were up 3.7 percent from a year earlier.

One reason home values are rising in high-risk areas is simply that local populations are increasing. Between 1980 and 2017, The Wall Street Journal said, Gulf and East Coast shoreline counties, those vulnerable to hurricane strikes, increased by 160 people per square mile, compared with 26 people per square mile in the rest of the mainland, over the same period.

Houston home prices are rising despite three 500-year floods in three years. It seems counterintuitive, but the Houston phenomenon is commonplace. Across America, homes in disaster-prone areas are in demand. Research from ATTOMs 2018 U.S. Natural Hazard Housing Risk Index found that median home prices in high-risk cities appreciated 40 percent in the last 10 years. Thats 1.7 times the appreciation in the overall U.S. housing market during the same time period.

Still, there are signs that demand for homes may be weakening in areas high risk for specific types of natural hazards  namely flood, hurricane and wildfire, all three which were the cause of substantial damage to homes in 2017. The ATTOM report shows that median home prices in the highest risk category for flooding are up 12 percent compared to 10 years ago, half the overall market appreciation of 24 percent. Home price appreciation in areas at the highest risk for hurricane storm surge and wildfire also tracked below the overall market.

As home prices continue to rise, even in areas at high risk for flooding, lenders can no longer rely on outdated appraisals to determine how much insurance is needed for homes securing loans.
Ted Baker Plc Chief Executive Officer Ray Kelvin resigned from the U.K. apparel chain amid an investigation of his conduct, becoming the latest male corporate leader to depart following allegations of behavior that was demeaning to employees.

Kelvin, who founded the company in 1988, had taken a voluntary leave of absence from the CEO role in December as the board hired law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP to investigate allegations that he gave workers unwanted hugs and asked female employees to sit on his knee. He has denied the accusations.

The shares fell as much as 5 percent after the resignation, which stems from allegations that originally surfaced in an online petition. Kelvins departure sets up one of the U.K.s biggest retail success stories for an uncertain future, because of its founders close association with the chain.

Kelvin owns about 35 percent of the London-based company, and his holding has a market value of about 280 million pounds ($370 million). At Ted Baker, he maintained a hug zone in the office near his desk and was known for quirky practices like keeping his face partially covered with clothing or other objects in many public photos.

The founder built the chain from a single shirt shop in Glasgow into a company with about 600 million pounds in sales, with stores across the U.K. as well as a handful of overseas markets like the U.S. and China. Its known for upmarket casual clothing for men and women, selling via its own outlets as well as concessions in department stores.

Complaints about Kelvins conduct originally surfaced in an online petition on the website Organise. In another alleged incident, the CEO pushed an employee against a wall in a glass meeting room in 2016 while dozens of staffers looked on, according to three people who were there and asked not to be named, Bloomberg reported in December.

The law firms investigation continues and is expected to conclude at the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter, Ted Baker said. Kelvins departure follows a series of resignations last year by male bosses accused of inappropriate behavior or relationships in the workplace, including movie producer Harvey Weinstein, former CBS Corp. chief Les Moonves and former Pixar executive John Lasseter.

At Ted Baker, acting CEO Lindsay Page will continue in the role. Chairman David Bernstein will provide additional support as executive chairman, the company said, but will leave that role by Nov. 30, 2020.

The fashion chains shares plunged last week after it said profit for the year was hurt by adverse currency movements and other factors. The warning stemmed from a new set of problems, unexpected product costs and an inventory write-down, after the company earlier reported strong sales for the Christmas season.

With assistance from John J. Edwards III.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.
Marsh & McLennan Cos. (MMC) and Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) have entered into an agreement to sell JLTs aerospace business to Arthur J. Gallagher.

The agreement provides for the acquisition of all assets within JLTs global aerospace retail and wholesale insurance broking division, which includes operations in the UK, U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 10 other countries spanning Europe, Latin America and Asia.

The agreement also includes the assets of Hayward Aviation, a UK insurance broker that specializes in aviation for high-net worth individuals and smaller airlines, said Gallagher.

Financial details of the acquisition, which includes transfer of personnel, were not disclosed. The sale is subject to the approval of the European Commission (EC).

On March 1, MMC and JLT formally committed to divest JLTs aerospace practice to address a potential overlap identified by the ECs Phase 1 review of MMCs acquisition of JLT, said MMC in a statement. Marsh & McLennan confirmed that there are no discussions with the EC concerning any other aspect of the combined MMC-JLT business.

Subject to remaining regulatory and UK High Court approvals, the closing of the acquisition remains on track for the spring of 2019.

Approximately 250 employees from JLTs global aerospace division will join Gallagher as part of the agreement, said Gallagher in a statement. This includes around 100 employees within JLTs London market operations who will become part of Gallaghers existing aviation division, which most recently added independent aviation insurance and reinsurance broker, Boston Marks, to its growing London-based aviation operations.

The addition of JLTs global aerospace broking operations will firmly position Gallagher as a leading broker in the extremely attractive and dynamic aviation and aerospace sector, said J. Patrick Gallagher, Jr., chairman, president and CEO of the Rolling Meadows, Ill.-based broker.

The business portfolio is a highly complementary geographic fit with Gallaghers existing footprint and will provide significant growth opportunities for our international businesses. We look forward to welcoming the team to Gallagher later this spring, he added.

Source: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Related:

Topics Aviation A.J. Gallagher Aerospace
An environmental disaster is unfolding in the Pacific after a large ship ran aground and began leaking oil next to a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Solomon Islands, Australian officials said Friday [March 1].

Footage taken this week shows little progress has been made in stopping the Solomon Trader ship from leaking oil since it ran aground Feb. 5, according to the Australian High Commission in the Solomon Islands.

Australian experts estimate more than 80 tons of oil has leaked into the sea and shoreline in the ecologically delicate area and that more than 660 tons of oil remains aboard the Hong Kong-flagged ship, which is continuing to leak.

The ship was chartered by the Bintan Mining company in the Solomon Islands to carry bauxite, which is used in aluminum production.

Bintan Solomon Islands chief executive Fred Tang was not immediately available for comment Friday.

Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said there was a high risk that the remaining oil would leak and it was profoundly disappointed by the slow response.

It said the Solomon Islands government had advised it that the responsibility to salvage the ship and mitigate the environmental impact lay with the companies involved.

Radio New Zealand reported that the ships owner King Trader Ltd. had sent a team to help with the salvage operation while Bintan had claimed that as charterer, it had no legal responsibility for the ship or liability for the accident.

UNESCO has designated the southern third of Rennell Island as a World Heritage site. It says the island is the largest raised coral atoll in the world and is a true natural laboratory for scientific study.

Its also home to about 2,000 people, whom the High Commission notes rely on the ocean along with the natural resources of the island for their livelihoods.

Both Australia and New Zealand have sent experts to help with the monitoring of the oil spill and the potential salvage of the ship.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Energy Oil Gas Pollution Australia
Its a Bourbon Street battle of jumbo beers, just before Mardi Gras climactic weekend: Huge Ass Beers vs. Giant Ass Beer.

The creator of Huge Ass Beers is suing another string of bars and clubs on Bourbon Street for marketing a rival draft pour as Giant Ass Beer, The New Orleans Advocate reported Thursday. Huge Ass Beers is the trademarked name for plus-sized draft beers sold at a trio of related businesses on the famously rambunctious New Orleans street.

The lawsuit in New Orleans federal court alleges trademark infringement and seeks a restraining order barring the sale of Giant Ass Beer, as well as damages. Nicholas S. Karno (hash)1 Inc., a company run by Billie Karno, the operator and landlord for several businesses along the historic street in the French Quarter, filed the suit on Feb. 26.

Local open-container laws have made Bourbon Street known for novelty to-go drinks in colorful, usually oversized containers that double as marketing materials as patrons stroll the streets carrying them and post photos on social media.

The area becomes even more boisterous as thousands flock there during Carnival season, which culminates with Mardi Gras  Fat Tuesday  on March 5.

The Huge Ass Beers Family of Marks includes a standard 32-ounce (almost 1 liter) plastic tub, identical to food-service quart containers; a 45-ounce (1.3-liter) container shaped like a womans body; a 70-ounce (2-liter) bottle; and a 16-ounce cup, the lawsuit says.

A photo in the suit shows its competitors large plastic bottle with a label showing a cartoon giant holding a beer mug.

The string of businesses named as defendants in the suit are run by Pamela Olano and Guy Olano Jr.

An attorney for Billie Karno said his client had no comment. Representatives of the Olanos did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the newspaper.

The businesses run by Karno and the Olanos are within a few blocks of each other on the most raucous stretch of Bourbon Street.

Karno is listed as the owner of several properties the Olanos operate. Theyre involved in a separate civil lawsuit in which the Olanos accuse their landlord of unfair business practices.

Karnos attorneys allege in the beer cup branding lawsuit that the Olanos began selling Giant Ass Beer as retaliation for the other dispute, describing it as a soured business relationship.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Lawsuits Louisiana
A sinkhole 30-feet deep and nearly as broad swallowed half a roadway in Knox County, Tennessee, and a county official says repairing it could cost more than $100,000.

The Knoxville News Sentinel reports crews on Wednesday were attempting to plug the sinkhole with concrete, but then more rain hit the area. The county director of public works and engineering, Jim Snowden, says the road may be reopened by next week.

The sinkhole opened Tuesday as floodwaters receded; The Knoxville area had more than 10 consecutive days of rain, with more than 5 inches on Saturday alone.

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs posted a video of the sinkhole online, declaring it a monster that has officials worried about similar damage happening elsewhere.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Tennessee
Joan Didions Holy Water, written in 1977, is a paean to the elaborate engineering that supplied her taps in Malibu and filled drinking glasses in Hollywood restaurants. At its heart is a warning:

The apparent ease of California life is an illusion, and those who believe the illusion real live here in only the most temporary way.

The Golden State is actually a pretty inhospitable place: arid or semi-arid in large parts, prone to occasional floods (maybe even mega-floods) and, lest we forget, a giant quake-zone. Theres even a clutch of volcanoes. As a prosperous home for almost 40 million people, it is a place made, not begotten. Roughly a decade after Didions essay, Marc Reisner characterized California as a beautiful fraud in his much longer polemic Cadillac Desert, chronicling in exquisite detail the epic water projects, bottomless budgets and Chinatown politics that went into making a place like Los Angeles not merely viable but desirable.

In 2019, another element consumes the states attention. After the terror of two wildfire seasons for the ages, the states largest utility, PG&E Corp., has declared bankruptcy in the face of potentially huge fire-related liabilities. On Thursday, it announced it was taking a $10.5 billion charge in connection with last years Camp Fire, Californias most destructive to date. Banal as it may seem, the utilitys credit rating plunging from untouchable to unownable within a matter of months illustrates perfectly how climate change shatters collective illusions  illusions that extend far beyond Californias borders.

The bankruptcy also elevates a critical, related question: Who pays for what?

Whether its irrigating the San Joaquin Valley or stringing thousands of miles of wiring across the state, the funding of Californias grands projects has long been a contentious, and often poorly understood, issue. Douglas Bosco, a former member of Congress who now chairs the states Coastal Conservancy, says theres overall a complete misunderstanding as to how the states energy is sourced and paid for. He recalls a public meeting in Crescent City back in 1979, appearing alongside Claire Dedrick, the first woman to serve on the California Public Utilities Commission. Bosco recalls Dedrick explaining how the CPUC protected consumers while also ensuring investors in the regulated utilities got a healthy rate of return. Upon which, he says, a farmer stood up and asked: Ms Dedrick, how do I get regulated by the PUC?

That tension between customers and financiers, between serving the public good and sating commercial appetite, is common to investor-owned utilities but has reached a breaking point with PG&E. And yet California must balance making shareholders and creditors shoulder their share of the liabilities with the need to ensure that a functioning, financially viable grid emerges at the end of bankruptcy.

Because, daunting as the wildfire costs are to date, its more useful to think of them less as a bill to be settled and more like an ongoing tab. Unlike earthquakes, climate change isnt a random act of God. With a hefty assist from man, it is taking familiar threats such as drought, flood and fire and supercharging them to reach an unfamiliar ferocity and frequency. In the states most recent assessment, the average area burned by wildfires is projected to increase by 77 percent by the end of the century in a scenario of high greenhouse-gas emissions. Even with more moderate emissions, there is a significant increase, and a Californian born today will almost certainly live to see it.

There will be more costs: for fire-fighting; better forestry management; claims from future victims; refitting the power grid; rebuilding homes; fireproofing structures of all kinds; higher insurance premiums. Californias clean-energy targets, a vital long-term insurance policy against climate change, must also be paid for.

Californias application of inverse condemnation principles has socialized some of these costs in the past via utility bills  not unnoticeable exactly, but less in your face. Yet these costs are now expanding to such a scale, and likely level of repetition, that this approach hardly seems tenable. Electricity bills are already a burden for Californias less-wealthy households (see this), and capital markets wont finance a utility with open-ended exposure to mega-fires.

This is just one circle California has to square. The wildfires have exposed other mismatched risks and unmet costs, including those related to the most fundamental of issues: where people live.

Susan Gorin is a Sonoma County supervisor who lost her home in the Tubbs Fire that swept into Santa Rosa in October 2017. Speaking with her recently after a community meeting on fire safety, she said:

Were approaching years of reckoning, because weve pretty much given private-property owners the ability to build a house or a ranch just about anywhere that they own land. And yet the assumption for those private-property owners is that we will have the public fire resources to protect them in case of emergencies and wildfires. Property owners cant make that assumption any longer. And our fire was a case in point  The fire came so hard, so fast, that no fire agency or agencies could have saved homes.

A growing number of Californians, as elsewhere in the U.S., live in the wildland-urban interface, or WUI. For some, this is their prized piece of the illusion. But it isnt necessarily an aesthetic choice; Californias shortage of affordable housing is a centrifugal force that pushes those less well-off into more marginal spaces.

Yet even if land and houses are cheaper in some places, that isnt necessarily the same as the all-in cost of living there; something only revealed when disaster strikes.

Douglas Houston is Chancellor of the Yuba Community College District and has lived close to the town of Paradise in Butte County for more than 20 years. He and his wife managed to save their home from Novembers Camp Fire, which all but destroyed the town. Tested by the Humboldt fire a decade before, they had done their research and assembled a formidable range of equipment in preparation for the next one, including a tractor, generator, fire-fighting pump, and even his n hers chainsaws (a reasonable Valentines Day gift in these parts, apparently). The account of how they fought off last Novembers fire, its progress toward them punctuated by the sound of neighbors propane tanks exploding in the heat, would make for a compelling Netflix pilot.

One aspect that struck me was the sheer investment of time, effort and money they put into making their home resilient. Besides the years spent clearing brush on the acres around them  including a large plot purchased in part to reduce their risk  Houstons back-of-the-envelope estimate for the cost of their equipment alone was north of $20,000. Money well spent, of course, but also an indication of what it can take to really secure ones place in the WUI.

For those unlucky enough to lose everything, the fires exposed another gap in risks and capabilities: insurance. A survey of households caught up in the northern California wildfires of 2017 discovered two-thirds of them were under-insured. This doesnt necessarily reflect a conscious choice; rising costs mean even good policies wont necessarily make you whole, especially when wildfire makes construction crews a hot commodity. Gorin, for example, says her pretty typical policy covers less than a third of what it would take to restore her home as it was.

Not all costs are monetary. One energetic debate in California concerns de-energizing, or what amounts to a managed, temporary blackout of certain areas when the chances are high of a power line coming down and starting a fire. This has the advantage of mitigating the risk quickly but is also a blunt tool, putting the onus on homeowners in high-risk areas to buy back-up generators or sit in the dark. William Abrams, a community advocate who in 2017 fled with his family after waking up to find their home just north of Santa Rosa was already on fire, pushed back on the idea at a recent meeting of the CPUC: Through this de-energization practice, they [PG&E] are passing the responsibility to provide safe and efficient power onto the homeowners.

Deploying distributed energy resources, such as solar panels and storage, to vulnerable communities could help address this. This was suggested in a recent Los Angeles Times op-ed penned by Michael Wara, a research fellow at Stanford Law School appointed in January to Governor Gavin Newsoms wildfire-recovery commission.

Such a plan wouldnt come cheap, though: Waras rough calculation for individualized backup power at a million high-risk homes was about $30 billion. On the other hand, thats about the same as the upper end of estimates for the claims arising from just two wildfire seasons. And thats before getting into other, less visible costs. For example, the state recently passed a measure to cover the real-estate tax revenue shortfall hitting Butte Countys finances for three years, a commitment in terms of time that deputy chief administrative officer Meegan Jessee says she hasnt seen before with similar measures. Moreover, as Wara wrote, the state neednt just cut a check for a backup power program; providing low-cost loans might be enough.

Theres that question again, though: Who pays for what? And added to that: How? For some, the price may be paid not merely in higher power bills or insurance premiums, but in less-reliable energy supply or simply not returning to the places they once called home. Laura Friedman, a California assembly member who just took over chairing the Committee on Natural Resources, wants to foster serious discussions on everything from PG&Es structure to incentivizing home-hardening. If those arent thorny enough, she says climate change may also mean discussing some vulnerable communities staging a managed retreat.

As climate change simultaneously reveals and raises the cost of maintaining Californias way of life, there is a risk of division. Climate-change gentrification has entered the lexicon to describe a scenario where only those who can afford to self-insure or build their own microgrid get to live in Californias most Instagrammable, and potentially flammable, spots.

Even seemingly technical or commercial ideas like San Francisco taking over its own bit of PG&Es grid  something the city is considering  are fraught with the politics of inequality. What happens to the bill-payers in the riskier, and less wealthy, bits of PG&Es territory if San Francisco withdraws even further into its bubble? Utilities as we know them are designed to spread the (sometimes very uneven) costs of providing a universal service. On that point, whatever your opinion of the Green New Deal, linking the fight against climate change with wider equity concerns is more than a gimmick.

Just as focusing narrowly on PG&Es fate obscures Californias bigger, more complex challenge, so it would be a mistake to think that challenge is confined to California.

From Houston to Miami to New York City neighborhoods, communities far from the West Coast have transformed sometimes marginal places into homes, offices, parks, roads, grids, tunnels, malls, restaurants, schools and all the rest of our built environment. Much of it wasnt constructed to withstand what climate change can throw at it, ultimately reminding those communities of their marginal origins.

We have a hard time grasping such risks, let alone paying to prepare for them. Its not hard to see why: Spending money to head off something bad that might happen in the future is the polar opposite of instant gratification. Less than one in seven California households have earthquake insurance despite, well, the obvious. But under-insurance may well be a national epidemic. Over half this country is under-insured, and theres a lot of data to suggest roughly 80 percent of the country is under-insured, says Kenneth Klein, a professor at California Western School of Law in San Diego, whose in-depth study of the issue is due to publish soon in the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal.

As a society, we under-price the risk of climate change most egregiously by not putting a direct cost on its primary cause, carbon emissions. The idea that this is unaffordable but that well somehow just absorb the cost of climate change ex-post, in all its forms, requires some serious doublethink. The same politicians who decry carbon taxes as government overreach are indulging implicitly in socialism of their own, leaving privatized profits untouched but letting society as a whole pick up the tab for the waste. Who pays for what, indeed.

In all sorts of ways, from the power grids to the freeways to the levees and to the cats-cradle of tolls, taxes, fees, bills, subsidies, and legislation underpinning it all, America writ large is a stunning, highly-engineered illusion. Assuming it can endure a systemic hazard like climate change without a serious, collective effort to address that is where things tip into delusion.

Coincidentally, this is the same year Joan Didions collection, The White Album, including Holy Water, was published.

The states projections shown in the animation are for two so-called Representative Concentration Pathways assuming moderate population growth. RCP is defined in terms of the net balance of radiation into and out of Earths surface due to human emissions of greenhouse gases. The 8.5 RCP represents a business-as-usual scenario resulting in carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere more than doubling by 2100. The 4.5 RCP is a more moderate scenario, albeit with concentrations still rising by almost 40 percent.

Denning is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering energy, mining and commodities. He previously was editor of the Wall Street Journals Heard on the Street column and wrote for the Financial Times Lex column. He was also an investment banker.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics California Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire Climate Change
Legislation being drafted in Colorado would prioritize health and safety over fostering oil and gas development, Governor Jared Polis and top state lawmakers said.

The bill, yet to be introduced, would represent a major shift in how the state regulates drilling.

It would propose amending the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Act to clarify that the mission of the states Oil and Gas Conservation Commission is to regulate drilling and production activities, not foster development of fossil fuel resources.

Right now, oil and gas laws in Colorado tilt heavily toward the industry, said House Speaker KC Becker, a Democrat, who will be one of the co-sponsors of the bill. We are going to correct that tilt so that health, safety, and environment are no longer ignored by state agencies.

The bill will also give local communities a chance to provide meaningful input when permitting decisions are made about large oil and gas projects, Polis said.

While we know this doesnt solve all of the problems our communities face, it is a practical approach to finding a solution for many of our issues and providing more stability by updating our laws to reflect todays realities, he said.

The American Petroleum Institute said the decision by the states lawmakers to draft a bill without input from the oil and gas industry is unprecedented, adding the group will study the legislation once its available.

Health, Safety First

The bill would put health and safety first and take steps to fix what some see as a broken oil and gas regulatory system, Polis said at a news conference with Becker and other legislative leaders.

Lawmakers have told Bloomberg Environment the oil and gas proposal is one of the highest priority bills of the 2019 session of the Colorado General Assembly.

The legislation, which Becker said she hopes to introduce by March 4, would add a public health expert to the oil and gas commission.

It also proposes changing the states forced pooling law, in which small tracts of land are combined, often against the will of those owning the mineral rights, to get a permit for drilling. Fifty percent of mineral owners would have to consent to the development. Current law forces all mineral owners to lease a parcel if just one in the area consents.

The bill would also give local governments more authority to regulate oil and gas operations including land use, siting, and surface impacts, and to establish setbacks between drilling operations and homes.

This has the potential to be a major shift in the way the COGCC does business, but it all comes down to enforcement and execution, according to Anne Lee Foster, spokeswoman for Colorado Rising, which pushed a failed November 2018 ballot measure that would have restricted fracking in Colorado.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Energy Oil Gas Colorado
Washington was set for a bail hearing Feb. 26 that was pushed back to March. At a hearing Monday morning, Thomas Steven Mullins, Washington's public defender, asked to approach the bench with deputy prosecuting attorney attorney Jessica Arnold for a conversation that was not audible to the rest of the courtroom. Magistrate Kathleen Sullivan, sitting in for Judge Diane Boswell, then reset the bail hearing to March 11.
Donald W. Morgan, 67, of Bingen, Wash., pleaded guilty in Snohomish County Superior Court to a felony count of first-degree theft involving his former customers insurance premiums.

He is serving 30 days in the Snohomish County jail and will pay $600 in court fees and restitution to be determined at a later date.

Prosecutors charged Morgan, a former insurance agent, after an investigation by Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidlers Criminal Investigations Unit.

Kreidler revoked Morgans insurance producer license in 2016 for misappropriating clients insurance premiums worth more than $203,000. He operated an insurance agency that sold commercial insurance policies to businesses. The investigation revealed he kept some insurance premiums that his clients paid him rather than remitting the money to the insurance companies, causing the clients to be uninsured.

Victims in Snohomish County included early learning centers, an architectural firm and premium finance companies. Morgan reportedly acquired loans from premium finance companies on behalf of clients without their knowledge.

Topics Agencies Fraud Washington
VANCOUVER, BC - March 4, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The Vancouver International Wine Festival announced the 2019 trade competition winners on Friday at Celebrating Excellence: 16th Annual Awards Lunch Featuring California Wines, presented by ContainerWorld. The Celebrating Excellence program is part of the three-day Trade Days Conference; the program honours those professionals who contribute to this regions exceptional wine and food culture. Guests enjoyed a meal prepared by Vancouver Convention Centre executive chef Mark Massicotte, exquisitely matched with a selection of 40 wines from California.

2019 SPIRITED INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL AWARD

The annual Spirited Industry Professional Award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the sales, service or promotion of wine in British Columbia. The 14th annual award goes to DJ Kearney.

DJ, a classically trained chef, has 18 years in the wine industry, embracing teaching, wine writing and wine criticism. She has trained over a thousand sommelier candidates throughout North America for the International Sommelier Guild and the Wine and Spirit Education Trust and has consulted for many global wine marketing bodies. DJ has also been the Drink Editor for Vancouver Magazine, chief judge for Vancouver Magazine International Wine Competition and critic/contributor for WineAlign. A seasoned wine judge, she has developed and mentored the next generation of judges. She has been Vice President of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, BC Chapter and a member of Les Dames d'Escoffier. DJ has also been the Technical Director for both the best sommelier of BC and Canada and most recently was the curator of Judgment of BC.

2019 SOMMELIER OF THE YEAR

The Sommelier of the Year Award recognizes working sommeliers who consistently demonstrate an outstanding passion for marrying wine with food and a dedication to exceptional service. This year's winner, Matthew Landry, general manager/beverage director at The Stable House Bistro, was selected through a hands-on competition organized by the BC Chapter of the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers. As Sommelier of the Year, Matthew receives Delta Air Lines vouchers valued at $2,000 USD from the festival.

Matthew is originally from St. Catharines, Ontario and began his service career in the heart of Niagara wine country, nervously pouring things he couldn't pronounce and that, hopefully, came under screw cap. Some years ago, he got the chance to take over a list he had no business running at a now defunct restaurant in Toronto and since then, what started as a curious obligation, has evolved into a genuine passion. Matthew has since achieved his sommelier certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers, finished the WSET Level 3 Advanced, and completed the French and Italian Wine Scholar programs.

2019 WINE PROGRAM EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS

Celebrating the best food and wine pairings in the business, restaurants throughout British Columbia and Alberta have been recognized for creating wine lists that complement their establishment's unique menu and concept. Candidates submitted their wine and menu lists, and were then visited by judges who reviewed their programs. The key judges were Tom Doughty, DJ Kearney, Martha McAvity, Iain Philip, and Jason Yamasaki. The top restaurants were awarded Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, or commended with an Honourable Mention. The Wine Program Excellence Awards are sponsored by Vancouver Magazine.

METRO VANCOUVER

Platinum

L'Abattoir

AnnaLena

Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar

Chambar

CinCin Ristorante + Bar

Hawksworth Restaurant

Nightingale

Gold

Botanist

Elisa  Best New Entry

Savio Volpe

Tap Restaurant

Ugly Dumpling  Best Innovation

Yuwa Japanese Cuisine

Silver

Ancora Waterfront Dining and Patio

Captains Room

Le Crocodile

Fable Kitchen

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House

Mott 32

PiDGiN

Provence Marinaside / The Wine Bar

The Stable House Bistro

Tableau Bar Bistro

West Restaurant

Wildebeest

Bronze

Edible Canada

Homer St. Cafe and Bar

Piva Modern Italian

Tuc Craft Kitchen

Honourable Mention

Chi

Crowbar

Feast

Hart House Restaurant

LIFT Bar Grill View

WHISTLER

Gold

Il Caminetto

Silver

Araxi Restaurant + Oyster Bar

VANCOUVER ISLAND AND COASTAL ISLANDS

Silver

10 Acres Kitchen (Victoria)

Agrius Restaurant (Victoria)

The Courtney Room (Victoria)

Bronze

Sonora Resort (Sonora Island)

Zambri's (Victoria)

Honourable Mention

Artisan Bistro (Victoria)

Summit Restaurant at the Villa Eyrie Resort (Malahat)

ALBERTA

Gold

Vin Room Mission (Calgary)

Vin Room West (Calgary)

Silver

Vin Room YYC Airport (Calgary)

Bronze

Clementine (Edmonton)

Stay in Touch

For more information and to sign up for e-news, go to VanWineFest.ca

Twitter: follow @VanWineFest for news on tickets and sold-out events. Join the conversation at #VIWF.

Facebook & Instagram: @VanWineFest

ABOUT TRADE DAYS CONFERENCE

The 12-event Trade Days Conference is the wine business component of the Vancouver International Wine Festival. The media partner is BC Business. For the last six years, Trade Days has been voted the #1 Food, Wine & Hospitality Event in Canada by New York's BizBash. 2019 events include masterclasses seminars about California sponsored by California Wines, Napa Valley Vintners, and Wine & Spirit Education Trust; Principals Welcome Lunch, presented by JF Hillebrand; Celebrating Excellence: 16th Annual Awards Lunch Featuring California Wines, presented by ContainerWorld; and two Trade Tastings, presented by ContainerWorld. Other Trade Days sponsors and partners include Vancouver Magazine, Vancouver Sun, and information technology company ITS Consulting Inc.; as well as the participating event wineries. Trade Days extends special thanks to the Import Vintners & Spirits Association, Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers, BC Hospitality Foundation and Chefs' Table Society of British Columbia.

ABOUT VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL WINE FESTIVAL

Canada's premier wine show marks its 41st edition of pairing wine, food and the performing arts from February 23 to March 3, 2019. The festival features California Wines and is showcasing 160 wineries from 15 countries (including 53 wineries from California) pouring ~1,450 wines at 54 events to a projected 25,000 admissions. The Bacchanalia Gala Dinner + Auction opened the festival on Saturday, February 23 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. The Trade Days Conference runs Wednesday, February 27 to Friday, March 1. The festival has been named the #1 Food, Wine & Hospitality Event in Canada by New York's BizBash for six years running. The festival is produced by the Vancouver International Wine Festival Society, which has three mandates: provide an informative, educational and entertaining wine experience for public and trade; be a premier marketing opportunity for the wine industry and festival partners; and raise funds for the Bard on the Beach Theatre Society. Since inception in 1979, the festival has raised $9.2 million for the performing arts. Major sponsors are Delta Air Lines and the Vancouver Sun; major industry partners are the BC Liquor Distribution Branch, BC Liquor Stores, and the Import Vintners & Spirits Association. The festival is made possible through the gracious support of our participating countries' consulates and embassies

ABOUT WINE INSTITUTE OF CALIFORNIA

Established in 1934 and based in San Francisco, Wine Institute is the public policy advocacy group of more than 1,000 California wineries and affiliated businesses that initiates and advocates state, federal and international public policy to enhance the environment for the responsible production, consumption and enjoyment of wine. Wine Institute's California Wine Export Program has more than 175 member wineries exporting to 138 countries. The program's 15 representative offices conduct activities in 25 countries around the globe. The Wine Institute's Canadian office coordinates a number of promotional activities every year designed to educate and inform media, trade, stakeholders and consumers about the quality and diversity of products available from the Golden State. For more information on the Wine Institute of California, visit the website at www.discovercaliforniawines.com and www.calwine.ca

ABOUT BARD ON THE BEACH SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

Celebrating its 30th season in 2019, Bard on the Beach is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit, professional Shakespeare festivals. It is presented on the waterfront in Kitsilano's Vanier Park, adjacent to Vancouver's downtown core. Bard on the Beach offers Shakespeare plays, related dramas and popular special events in two performance tents every June through September. In 2018, attendance was 108,000 and more than 1.9 million patrons have experienced Bard since its inception. Next year's festival dates are June 5 to September 21, 2019, and the lineup includes The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare in Love, All's Well That Ends Well and Coriolanus. Bard also offers a range of education programs, including Young Shakespeareans workshops for 8-18 year-olds at its Vanier Park site during the summer, and the Riotous Youth program for 19 to 24-year-olds. During the school term, Bard also offers workshops for educators and youth in schools and community centres throughout BC's Lower Mainland, as well as at its administrative home, the BMO Theatre Centre (162 West 1st Avenue). Full details and education program information are at bardonthebeach.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Kristine Wilkinson

Milk Creative Communications

T: 604-366-4040

E: kristine@thinkmilk.ca

Bailey Jelinski

Milk Creative Communications

T: 604-655-4240

E: bailey@thinkmilk.ca

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Hampshire, UK - March 4, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) A new study from Juniper Research has found that the operational cost savings from using chatbots in banking will reach $7.3 billion globally by 2023, up from an estimated $209 million in 2019. This represents time saved for banks in 2023 of 862 million hours, equivalent to nearly half a million working years.

According to the new research, AI in Fintech: Roboadvisors, Lending, Insurtech & Regtech 2019-2023, chatbots can reduce excessive operational costs in financial services, by resolving customer queries in a fully automated way. As NLP (Natural Language Processing) evolves and domain expertise is added to AI systems, chatbots are demonstrating a proven record of seamless service delivery, which will drive adoption by initially sceptical financial institutions. This is reflected in a growth of nearly 3,150% in successful banking chatbot interactions between 2019 and 2023.

For more market insights, download the free whitepaper: 'Why AI is Revolutionising Financial Services'.

Chatbots in Banking Applications Becoming Dominant

Chatbot integration in mobile banking apps will be the dominant channel for chatbot-driven customer communications, accounting for 79% of successful interactions in 2023. This dominance is due to several reasons, primarily an increase in user preference for app-based banking, as well as the strong performance of early banking chatbots, such as Bank of America's Erica.

Research author Nick Maynard explained: "Chatbots in banking allow heavily automated customer service, in a highly scalable way. This type of deployment can be crucial in digital transformation, allowing established banks to better compete with challenger banks".

Insurance Claims Assessment Revolutionised by AI

The research also found that AI, including chatbots, will have a highly disruptive impact on insurance claims management, leading to cost savings of almost $1.3 billion by 2023, across motor, life, property and health insurance, up from $300 million in 2019.

Chatbots can automate post-incident data collection, with AI used to analyse the details/images provided using computer vision. These methods will not only save money for insurers, they will also reduce time to claim settlement, improving customer loyalty.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector; providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

Contact:

sam.smith@juniperresearch.com

www.juniperresearch.com

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So thats Monday nearly wrapped up. Heres some of the stories we published on irishexaminer.com today which we hope will help you make sense of it all this evening.

TO INFORM

25 days to Brexit: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says his government and the EU are happy to offer clarifications and assurances on the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, to help get the accord over the line.

Snow day...kinda: Met Eireann have said that any lingering lying snow will continue to melt today, and "any sleet or snow showers" will be "mainly restricted to higher ground."

Tornado in Alabama: Rescuers are scouring the rubble of mobile homes and houses in search of survivors of a powerful tornado that rampaged through south-east Alabama and killed at least 23 people.

Venezuelan crisis: Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has arrived back in Venezuela to renew his campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Financial surplus: The State recorded a surplus of 139m to the end of February. That was down on the figure of 217m for the same period last year.

Pairc Ui Chaoimh: Cork chairperson Tracey Kennedy has allayed clubs fears that they will be asked to pay for the cost of Pairc Ui Chaoimh. And says she would personally welcome Munster rugby in the stadium.

TO ENGAGE

Views: To put the much-hyped world class Childrens hospital overspend and wastage into perspective, all one has to do is a simple sum.

Special Reports: This is not news to anyone: Ireland is in the midst of a housing and homelessness crisis. It is a long-running crisis that threatens both the wellbeing of society and the stability of the economy. But why is there a housing crisis in the first place and what are the solutions?

TO ENTERTAIN

Showbiz/Discover: Beverly Hills, 90210 star Luke Perry has been remembered by fans as the heartthrob of a generation, following his death.

Lifestyle: 400 students at St Brogans College, Bandon, have agreed to a tech detox to improve their sleep.

MOST READ SO FAR TODAY

A rape victim waived his anonymity as a 54-year-old East Cork man pleaded guilty to raping him twice when he was approximately ten years old.
Trish Dromey reports on how a Dublin startup is using AI to make call centres work more efficiently.

With the aid of an intelligent agent assistant called Arthur, contact centre staff can, according to Dublin start-up EdgeTier, deal twice as fast with customers email, text and chat queries.

Using artificial intelligence (AI), Arthur is designed to streamline and automate repetitive tasks for agents and also suggest responses, explained EdgeTier CEO and co-founder Shane Lynn, who says that AI has the potential to revolutionise the contact centre industry.

We believe that rather than replacing human interactions, AI can be used to assist human operators and so retain the personal touch, empathy and complex communication capabilities of agents while leveraging the speed and accuracy of AI systems.

He said that although several companies offer AI technology solutions to replace humans, EdgeTier is one of the few to have adopted the approach of using AI to help humans do their job more efficiently.

Arthur, initially created for email queries in 2017 and subsequently enhanced to include chat and text communication, is now being targeted at enterprise clients. Mr Lynn said EdgeTier has customers in the car rental and e-commerce space and is carrying out trials with companies in retail, insurance and telecommunications. Estimating that the system has already saved thousands of agent hours in contact centre time for clients, Mr Lynn said the name Arthur was chosen because its a friendly sounding one for an assistant.

It also means we are offering Arthur-ficial Intelligence, he joked.

EdgeTier is now in the process of raising seed funding in excess of 1m, which it will use to further enhance Arthur and develop sales in the UK this year and enter the US market in 2020. Setting up the company in 2015, Mr Lynn and co-founders Bart Lehane and Ciaran Tobin, set out to use advanced analytics and simulation technology to simplify everyday decision making.

Initial tests of the EdgeTier AI auto-response system are going well. Slow but steady.  #ArtificialIntelligence #chatbot pic.twitter.com/kPVJaBb5pK  EdgeTier (@TeamEdgetier) November 28, 2017

Using some angel investment and competitive start funding from Enterprise Ireland they initially developed a consumer-based mobile application for the telecommunication space. Changing direction in 2017, the founders began providing consultancy service for contact centres.

We saw an opportunity to use AI to build products to make operations more efficient, said Mr Lynn.

The EdgeTier team made a pitch to one of their first customers, a car rental company with over 250 customer service agents, offering to build a product using AI that would speed up operations.

We started by making a proof-of-concept version which was used for email. In 2018, we included chat and we now have a system that assists agents with text-based customer communication, said Mr Lynn, adding that sales activity has ramped up since last October when Arthur became capable of dealing with text, chat and email.

Functions carried out by Arthur include routing messages to the right place, recording and pre-writing suggested responses for customers. For some customer queries, the AI system has sped up processing speed by up to five times.

Initially funding product development through data science-based consultancy work, EdgeTier has used early revenue from Arthur to bring on board two developers in addition to its three founders.

We have built the technology and demonstrated that it works, our next step is to grow sales, said Mr Lynn.

The company plans to use the funding being raised to increase the its staff size to around 15 in the next year.

This year we plan to continue developing our technology and to target the UK market, recruiting staff there and setting up an office.

There are 750,000 people employed in call centres in the UK  this is a huge opportunity.

Once established in the UK, EdgeTier intends to go after an even bigger fish  the US market. This is a massive

market where software for customer care is expected to be worth $48bn (42bn) in 2025, said Mr Lynn.

EdgeTiers long-term goal is to build a world class AI-enabled contact centre platform.

We plan to develop Arthur and also to create other lines focused on the contact centre industry.
The events in Westminster last week mean there is a growing possibility that the UK parliament may yet ratify the withdrawal agreement this month.

The past week has seen opposition to the withdrawal agreement soften within the Conservative Party.

A vote by the UK parliament last week indicating that, if necessary, it would seek an extension to Article 50 to prevent a no-deal hard Brexit at the end of March, combined with the Labour Party now formally backing a second referendum, have given Brexiteers much to ponder.

The withdrawal agreement now looks their only route to ensure that the UK departs from the EU. Thus, they may well decide to back it, especially if some form of legal addendum is agreed indicating that the Irish backstop is intended to be temporary in nature.

If the withdrawal agreement is not ratified, the UK is set to seek and will most likely be granted a short extension to Article 50 to delay its EU departure, possibly to the end of June. An extension beyond this date would complicate the European Parliament elections being held in May.

Sterling has made good ground recently on expectations that a no-deal hard Brexit will be avoided at the end of March, with the euro falling back below the 86p level. However, to quote British MP Ken Clarke, a short extension to Article 50 is simply giving us a date for a new cliff edge for Brexit.

A new cliff-edge would be even more serious as it will be very difficult to secure a further extension to Article 50 if the UK parliament is still not minded to ratify the withdrawal agreement. Sterling is likely to come under renewed downward pressure in such circumstances.

Indeed, even if the withdrawal agreement is ratified, there are still choppy waters ahead for sterling.

The withdrawal agreement provides for a transition period after Brexit that is to last until at least the end of 2020.

During this period, the UK will still adhere to EU rules so that trade between the two can continue on as before, with no barriers.

Talks will take place during the transition period on the future relationship between the UK and the EU, with the aim of concluding a broad trade deal.

These are likely to prove difficult negotiations. It is very unclear what the outcome of these talks will be, so uncertainty over the final shape of Brexit will persist during the transition period.

What emerges from these talks may still look like a hard Brexit, if the UK persists with its desire to be out of a Customs Union with the EU, as well as the Single Market. It is hard to see how hard borders with physical checks can be avoided in these circumstances.

Thus, the withdrawal agreement, if ratified, marks only the end of the beginning of the Brexit process. Uncertainty will persist during the transition period and Brexit could still deliver a shock to both the UK and Irish economies, albeit at the end of 2020 rather than now.

The uncertain outlook is likely to weigh on sterling in the next couple of years.

Oliver Mangan is chief economist at AIB.
France intends to tax the revenue of about 30 internet giants, such as Amazon, to help ensure fiscal justice, according to the countrys Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

A 3-5% tax on the French revenue of large internet companies could yield France 500m per year, Mr Le Maire said yesterday. He said the tax is aimed at companies with worldwide digital revenue of at least 750m and French revenue of more than 25m.

He said the tax would target mostly American companies, but also Chinese, German, Spanish, and British, as well as one French firm and several firms with French origins that have been bought by foreign companies.

Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple are set to be targeted, but also Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com, and French online advertising specialist Criteo. Mr Le Maire said there was no risk of the new measure clashing with a tax agreement between France and the US. He discussed the plan with Steven Mnuchin during the US treasury secretarys stop in Paris late last month.

A taxation system for the 21st century has to built on what has value today, and that is data, Mr Le Maire said.

He added it is also a matter of fiscal justice, as the digital giants pay some 14 percentage points less tax than European SMEs.

Fairer taxes are a key demand of the yellow vest protests seen across France in the past three months. Mr Le Maire said the tax would target platform companies that earn a commission on putting other companies in touch with customers.

Companies selling their products on their own websites would not be targeted, such as French electronics retailer Darty. The French government will discuss the plan on Wednesday.

Visiting Dublin last week, Mr Le Maire and his counterpart here Paschal Donohoe failed to agree on how big internet firms should be taxed.

The French finance minister again attacked low taxes paid by big tech firms headquartered in Ireland. Mr Donohoe said the pair agreed to explore potential solutions via talks at OECD level.

Bloomberg, Reuters, and Irish Examiner
Payment and timing issues led to income tax revenues coming in under target last month, while corporation tax brought in much more than was anticipated, the latest exchequer figures show.

At almost 1.59bn, the Government collected 156m, or 9%, less revenue than anticipated in income tax in the month.

And at over 3.47bn, income tax revenue is running 4.9% below target over the first two months of the year due to some late payments and payments on unearned income being lower than profile, the Department of Finance said.

Corporation tax receipts hugely outperformed in the month to bring in 272m. But the amount in corporation tax taken in over the first two months has been affected by repayments in January and the cumulative figure came in at only 170m. Vat receipts, one of the big four tax sources, also underperformed in a non-Vat payment month because of repayments, the department said.

At a cumulative 2.9bn over the first two months, receipts from Vat are now 4.1% below target. Excise duties brought in 11m less than anticipated in February.

Overall, the exchequer took in more than 2.73bn in tax revenue in February which was 1.8% less than anticipated and collected 8.1bn over the first two months of the year, which was 50m below its target.

On spending, the figures show total net voted expenditure for the first two months amounted to over 7.95bn, 2.1% under target but up 8.1% from a year earlier.

But Davy chief economist Conall Mac Coille said the overall tax figures for January and February suggested steady growth of consumer spending and employment, and pointed to the significant stimulus from Octobers budget.

The focus turns to the health of the eurozone economy and the ECB meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday.

Capital Economics in London said it believes that the eurozone economny will remain clouded by weak world growth even if trade tensions between the US and China were to fade.

The optimistic view is that much of the weakness of external demand is due to trade tensions and Brexit uncertainty, and that both of these will fade. We think this is misguided, the economists said.

Admittedly, a deal between Presidents Xi and Trump looks close, and the threat of a no-deal Brexit has receded. But a China-US trade agreement may not bring an end to US protectionist policies. Mr Trump may simply turn his sights on the EU. And Brexit uncertainty could drag on for a long time yet.

And signs of progress between Beijing and Washington failed to provide much support to US stocks after this years rally in global equities showed signs of stalling last week.

Investors focused on the outlook for global growth got a boost when China was said to plan a three percentage-point cut to its Vat tax rate for manufacturing to support its economy, which Morgan Stanley estimated could add 0.6% to growth.

A good portion of a trade deal is already priced in because weve been getting these headlines for months, Nancy Tengler, chief investment strategist at Butcher Joseph Asset Management, said. More important than the trade deal, because the market is kind of assuming were going to get one, is resurgence of China growth, she said.

Additional reporting Bloomberg
The Aftermath sees Keira Knightley star as Rachael Morgan, the wife of a British colonel living in 1946 post-war Germany. The actress tells Georgia Humphreys about the film's powerful themes, and how she approached the emotive role.

There is a particular character trait that Keira Knightley looks to play out on screen.

"I like a bit of anger," she enthuses. "Love it!"

It is certainly something her two latest roles have in common; as a French literary icon in Colette, and now The Aftermath, in which she plays bereaved mother Rachael Morgan, who arrives in the ruins of Hamburg following the Second World War to be reunited with her husband.

"I mean, rage is always in my work a little bit," the Teddington-born actress, 33, known for films such as the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, Pride And Prejudice and Atonement, elaborates.

"I do like exploring female rage, you know? I'm interested in it in myself, in my friends. I'm like, 'It's very much there' and I think it comes out in interesting directions."

The Aftermath is based on the novel by Rhidian Brook and follows Rachael and her husband Lewis, a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city, as they set off for their new home.

But Lewis (played by Jason Clarke) has made a decision that stuns Rachael: they will be living with the previous owners of the grand house, a German widower (Alexander Skarsgard) and his troubled daughter.

The film explores "grief and and trying to reconnect to a partner who is suddenly a stranger", notes Knightley.

"And I felt like that was something most adults can identify with.

If you've had failed relationships or whatever, or you've had break-ups, there is that moment when you suddenly look at the person that you should know the best in the world, and they're a stranger, and you're a stranger to them.

"Now, normally that's when we break apart. But in this, they're trying to meet each other again and I thought that was kind of an extraordinary thing as well - how do you do that?"

The background of The Aftermath is that when the war ended, Germany was divided among the British, the Americans, the Russians and the French, and together their mission was to help rebuild the nation.

In Hamburg, Germany's second largest city after Berlin, there were scenes of devastation, after 100,000 people were killed following a five-day bombing raid by the Allied forces in 1943.

And millions of German citizens were either homeless or without food, fuel, or other necessities when the British arrived (the native population was barred from having any involvement in running their own affairs).

This film allows for a very different view of post-war life from the one we're used to seeing on screen, suggests an expressive Knightley, who is articulate as she reflects on several questions the film raised for her.

"I think the brunt of most conflicts, the civilians take it," elaborates the star, whose first major acting role came about in 2002 family comedy drama Bend It Like Beckham.

"And we very often don't look at the civilian casualties, we don't look at the toll it would have taken on those civilians.

"I was really interested in that, and there's lots of shots where you go through the rubble of Hamburg, where you see the women in the rubble, picking up the pieces.

"And I thought that was a really interesting image as well, because of course, who are left behind? The women and children."

She continues: "So yeah, it touches on all of those things and again it's interesting, you think about this period, you think about something very different; you don't go, 'It must have seemed post-apocalyptic at the time', how on earth do you even start to rebuild a society, literally rebuild cities, and rebuild yourself?"

Picture: PA Photo/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/David Appleby.

It is unsurprising to hear Knightley affirm that, after reading the script by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, this was a story that she simply couldn't get out of her head.

It was a period she was very unaware of before, even though she has studied the Second World War and has starred in (and seen) many films featuring the war.

"I didn't know that the English occupied parts of Germany after the war. I'd never really thought about what that must have been like; I'd never thought about, 'How do you go, five months after literally trying to kill each other for the previous six years, and suddenly try and see your enemy as a human being again? How does that work?'"

"And also the amount of loss that that generation suffered; I mean, it's a very obvious thing to say but I should imagine that there weren't very many people who weren't touched in a very direct way by loss.

"And how do you continue with your life, how do you rebuild your life after that?"

As you have likely gathered by now, The Aftermath is a tearjerker.

There is the focus on Rachael's strained marriage to Lewis, and how grief gives way to passion and betrayal in the charged atmosphere they are living in.

But it is also about the couple having lost a child during the war; a universal theme of how you have to try to repair yourself, to move on with life.

How difficult was it for Knightley, a mother-of-one, to contemplate what parental grief must feel like?

"I didn't do it in that way, I couldn't do in that way," confides the actress who has a three-year-old daughter with her musician husband, James Righton (the couple married in 2013).

Picture: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation/David Appleby

"I felt incredibly empathetic to this character. I think there's various things that she does which are not exactly likeable, but I completely understood where she was coming from."

Research for the role included reading an article by a woman who had lost a child, in which she discussed how there is no name for it.

"If you're a child that's lost parents, you're an orphan; you're a widower or a widow, but there's no name in the English language for this because it is so horrific, and therefore what are you?

"That kind of idea, 'Are you still a mother if you've lost a child?' is something that just, I mean, is the most horrific..." she trails off, quietly.

"I think that's where this character sits, and how on earth do you continue your life after that? How on earth do you forgive yourself? How on earth do you forgive your partner?

"They're huge questions and I think it was something that this story dealt with, and also offered hope and a kind of redemption within all of that. I thought that was quite extraordinary."

-Press Association
A relative who said Kerner and his mother had a key to his rural Hebron home to care for his dog while he was out of town told police that he didnt notice anything missing or damaged when he returned but later admitted finding a hole in the garage wall that looked like a bullet hole that had been patched poorly and that he later repaired.
A previously undiscovered 15th-century Irish vellum manuscript, reveals a connection between Gaelic Ireland and the Muslim world and indicates that medieval Ireland was once at the centre of medical scholarship in the world.

UCC Professor of Modern Irish, Padraig O Machain, was made aware of an early printed book in the possession of a family in Cornwall, with a connection to medieval Irish learning.

UCC Professor of Modern Irish, Padraig O Machain

The book, a pocket-sized Latin manual of local administration, was printed in London in 1534/1536, and had been in the familys possession since that time.

What was of interest to Professor O Machain was the binding of the book.

This consisted of a sheet, full of text in Irish, cut from a 15th-century Irish vellum manuscript, that had been trimmed and folded and stitched to the spine of the printed book in order to form a sturdy binding.

"The use of parchment cut from old manuscripts as a binding for later books is not unusual in European tradition," says Padraig, "but this is the first time that a case has come to light of such a clear example of the practice in a Gaelic context."

From photographs of the binding supplied by the owners, Professor O Machain established that the Irish text was a medical one.

"A quarter of what survives of late-medieval manuscripts in the Irish language is medical in content," says O Machain, "an indication of the practical purpose of these books in Ireland of the time."

The identity of the text was established immediately by O Machains collaborator of many years, Professor Aoibheann Nic Dhonnchadha of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, the only living expert on medieval Irish medicine.

It is a fragment of a translation into Irish  previously unrecorded  of the Canon of Medicine by the Persian physician Ibn Sena (9801037), also known as Avicenna, considered one of the most significant physicians in the Islamic Golden Age.

The 'Canon of Medicine' was a medical encyclopaedia which, through translation into Latin (from which the Irish text itself is translated), achieved great popularity in Europe, where state-of-the-art medical theory and practice in medieval times had their origins in the Muslim world.

The Irish fragment contains parts of the opening chapters on the physiology of the jaws, the nose and the back. The existence of this text was not hitherto known in Ireland.

Medical scholarship in medieval Gaelic Ireland was on a par with that practised on the Continent, and was the most outward-looking of all the native branches of learning.

There is evidence of Irish scholars traveling to European medical schools, and bringing their learning back to the medical schools of Ireland.

Because of the importance of the manuscript fragment to the history of Irish learning and medicine, the owners agreed that the binding should be removed from the book by John Gillis of TCD, opened out and digitised under the supervision of Professor O Machain to whom they entrusted the book, and a new binding provided.

A public seminar on 'The Avicenna Fragment' and on aspects of Gaelic medieval medicine will be hosted by UCC on 7 March at 2pm.
Waterford City and County Council is calling on the Government to supply pharmacies with breathalyser kits to prevent drivers from failing morning-time roadside tests.

Fianna Fail councillor James Tobin said he was proposing the measure on behalf of the people of Ireland, who are doing their best to obey the law.

The west Waterford-based councillor had been approached by rural people afraid of their lives to go to work the morning-after a drink. He said some European countries support the test-kit initiative.

Transport Minister Shane Ross has introduced stricter drink-driving legislation and increased morning-time checkpoints. People attending celebratory events, such as weddings or matches, want to feel safe about driving to work or bringing children to school the next day, said Mr Tobin.

He said the minister was hell-bent on putting us all off the road, adding: We dont want to make holy Joes out of everyone that cant have a drink.

He proposed that the Government provide the kits free and reimburse pharmacies and accepted an amendment by Independent councillor Matt Shanahan that pharmacists receive a dispensing fee and sell devices at cost price.

Fianna Fail councillor Michael J ORyan said he did not condone drink-driving, but said the motion would remove a degree of fear from predominantly rural and increasingly isolated residents. He noted people are also reluctant to go for a drink at night, which, in turn, impacted negatively on the taxi industry.

Opposing the measure, Sinn Fein councillor Joe Conway said: Filling people with drink and then giving them a breathalyser to test themselves next morning is an Irish solution to an Irish problem.

The motion was adopted, with Mr Conway against and five Sinn Fein colleagues abstaining.
Construction workers are seeking pay rises of 12% over three years, though the proposal has met with resistance from the industry.

Trade Union SIPTU says it is looking to the Labour Court to establish a new Sectoral Employment Order (SEO) for the construction industry.

However, the Construction Industry Federation has said industry players are operating on fine margins that cannot bear the cost of the demands.

SIPTU sector organiser, John Regan, said the claim is being advanced by a number of unions.

This claim would form part of a new SEO for the industry and is in line with other growing and profitable sectors in our economy. An SEO will give stability and clarity on pay for workers in the industry, he said.

At a time of huge profits in the sector our members justifiably feel that they deserve their share in the substantial gains being made by employers.

Instead, what we are seeing are attempts by employers to cap the entry-level wage for construction workers at 28,000. This is unacceptable. There must be progress on wages if the construction industry is to keep up with demand.

The biggest problem the construction industry is facing is attracting and retaining workers. This can only be achieved by the industry providing wages which are adequate.

A new SEO also requires employers and unions working together to create long-term stability in the sector through the enforcement of agreed conditions of employment and the adequate provision of apprenticeships, Mr Regan said.

CIF director general, Tom Parlon, said its members are against pay rises for workers: The Labour Court made a recommendation just about 15 months ago for a 10% increase in rates across the board.

The industry was obliged to pay those rates, and literally 15 months down the road, there's a further demand for rate increase and we certainly feel that this is not the time for that. So we are opposing any further increases in labor costs at this particular time."

The industry has employed an extra 1,500 people each month for the last 12 months. So it is growing and it pays well, and the SEO is not just about rates, it's about a sick pay scheme. It's about death-in-service benefit. It's about overtime, it is about holidays, it is about the general conditions that workers have when they are on site and when they are under the SEO, Mr Parlon told RTE Radio 1s Drivetime.

He said the last SEO of 10% put pressure on builders.

Builders were obliged to pay it right across the board, and it was a lot more than 10% outside of Dublin, he said.

Mr Parlon estimated the increases would see the construction price of a 300,000 house rise by 5,000: 40% of the cost of building is labour. So any increase in labour increases the cost of output very substantially. It certainly will have a substantial impact on the cost of house building."
The Cork International Hotel has chosen The Rainbow Club's Cork Centre for Autism as its charity partner for 2019 with an aim to make the hotel more 'autism-friendly'.

The Rainbow Club is a non-government funded charity comprised of 62 volunteers who help autistic children develop their social skills using a wide range of activities. It was founded in 2015 by Karen and John O'Mahony whose sons Sean and Stephen have autism.
A six-strong expert crew from Portugal was flown in by an international drug gang to set up and operate an industrial-scale cannabis growhouse in the middle of Dublin city.

The gang is headed by a major trafficker with links to the senior players in the Byrne organised crime group, the Irish arm of the Kinahan crime cartel.

The six Portuguese, which included a juvenile, were among nine people arrested in the operation, which involved swoops in Dublin and Co Wexford.

The investigation was led by the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau, assisted by gardai from the southeastern region.

Gardai said that more than 800 cannabis plants, at various stages of growth, with an estimated value of 640,000 (analysis pending), were seized. The growhouse was located on two floors of a disused gym on Frederick Lane North, just off Parnell Square, in Dublins north inner city.

A huge amount of work went into building this growhouse, said a source.

There were at least five rooms containing plants at various stages of growth: an incubator room for baby plants; a second room for plants 6in to a foot in height, a third room with plants of 2ft; a fourth room with plants of 3ft to 5ft and a sixth mother room with plants 7ft to 8ft high.

Sources said that there was a sophisticated ventilation system in place, with extractors in each room, sucking up the fumes, which were sent out through huge vents in the roof.

The walls, windows, and doors were sealed with plastic sheets, which had to be pulled off to allow gardai conduct its examination.

Sources said that the Portuguese nationals were experts that were brought over by an international gang to set up and operate the facility.

This was an industrial- scale operation, said a source.

Theres a level of skill required to set this up and run it properly.

As is common with many growhouses, the Portuguese crew had illegally tapped into the electricity supply. An ESB team which accompanied the gardai immediately shut down the meter in place, such was the danger it posed.

Gardai suspect the plant was operating for a number of months and perhaps up to a year, with some rooms showing evidence of previous crops.

Sources said that the crops ran on a cycle of 12-14 weeks and that a gang could have around four crops in a year.

The plants are valued at 800 each, except for the baby plants in incubators which are not valued.

Gardai said four people were arrested at the scene. Further searches were carried out in Co Wexford, where five further arrests were made.

A Garda statement said:

A total of nine people are currently detained at Garda Stations in Dublin and Wexford. Those arrested include six Portuguese nationals [all male], one UK national [male], and man and woman from Ireland.

"They range in age from 17 to 45 years. The investigation is ongoing.

The two men arrested are suspected drug dealers, one a Dubliner, the other a Wexford man. Gardai suspect the six Portuguese were living in Co Wexford. The 17-year-old Portuguese youth is expected to be referred to Tusla.

The Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau is hoping to make at least one further significant arrest, it is thought.
Both Fine Gael and Labour selected candidates for the European Parliament elections in the Ireland South constituency yesterday.

Junior agriculture minister Andrew Doyle will join sitting MEPs Deirdre Clune and Sean Kelly on the Fine Gael ticket following a selection convention in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, last night.

Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy was unsuccessful in her bid for a nomination at the convention.

Mr Doyle said the three-strong ticket is the best balanced in terms of geography, gender, and experience, and gives Fine Gael the best possible chance of securing an extra seat in Ireland South.

I put my name forward because I fervently believe it is vital we put forward a strong ticket to return as many pro-European MEPs as possible, he said.

The European Union has been very good to us in the last three years and has shown solidarity to Ireland, and it would be remiss of us not to return a pro-European team to the European Parliament.

Ms Clune said she intends to campaign on the issues she believes the European Parliament will be dealing with over the next term.

The most important task for Irish MEPs will be to shape the relationship the UK will have with Europe post-Brexit and I want to use the experience I have gained over the past five years to influence this task, she said.

Mr Kelly also cited Brexit as a key issue facing the EU.

With Brexit imminent, the rise of populism across the EU, and an increasingly inward-looking United States, it is clear that we are at a critical juncture for the European Union and for Ireland, he said. Now, more than ever, there is a need for experience and for influence at the highest level.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party has selected president of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and INTO general secretary Sheila Nunan as its Ireland South candidate.

She won the nomination ahead of former Clare TD Michael McNamara at a selection convention in Cork city.

Following her nomination, Ms Nunan said the tide is turning in this country.

Ordinary people see the need for strong Labour values at the heart of government decision making, here and in Europe, said Ms Nunan. Brexit has exposed the fragility of our relationships with our neighbouring countries and the need to ensure Europe delivers for the many and not just the few.

Im standing in this election because I believe in the EU, but it needs to do better.

"We need to tackle rampant inequality, those who lost so much during the recession and still wait for the recovery to mean something to them. We need to create a European social floor beyond which no one can fall. We need a better balance between workers and the needs of the market, standing firm in the face of exploitation and supporting communities. Europe, too, needs to deliver for its member states and I wont miss an opportunity to stand up for the needs of the South constituency.
Gardai have seized almost 200,000 worth of drugs in Co Dublin.

The cocaine and cannabis, with an estimated street value of 191,000, was seized in River Road, Finglas yesterday, gardai say.

During the course of the search, cocaine with an estimated street value of up to 156,000 was seized along with cannabis herb with an estimated street value of up to 35,000.

No arrests have been made yet and gardai say investigations are ongoing.

This comes after nearly 50,000 cigarettes were seized from Cork Airport in the last 48 hours in two separate incidents.
Financial incentives for parties to run more women in the upcoming local elections are set to be agreed by Cabinet this week.

The new system, however, will stop short of introducing gender quotas for the May elections  despite calls for such from equality campaigners.

Local Government Minister John Paul Phelan will oversee the scheme, which will see parties rewarded if at least 30% of their council candidates are women.

Furthermore, parties will have to ensure they run more female candidates than the previous local elections of 2014 to ensure they get more funds.

It is understood that the amounts a party would get may be only a few hundred euro for each female candidate put into the field. This would be paid out over the five years of a councils term.

Women for Election CEO Ciairin be Buis told the Irish Examiner the quota system for general elections needed to apply to local elections. This requires at least 30% of candidates to be women or parties receive less funds.

Incentives are nowhere near as significant, she said. But anything that is a step forward is welcome. More women in local politics reflects the electorate and those roles are also a pipeline for general elections.

Women make up 21% of city and county councils, with varying levels. Offaly has no female councillors, Carlow has one and Longford two. Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown has 17 female councillors, almost half that council, while a third of Dublin City councillors are women.

The Irish Examiner understands the measures to boost female representation at local level will be signed off on by Cabinet at a special meeting in Dublin on Friday.

The meeting, taking place on International Womens Day, will deal with gender issues. Other matters on the agenda include a discussion on the gender pay gap, parental leave, and domestic violence.

Health Minister Simon Harris will also tell the Cabinet this week about a working group to examine removing cost barriers to accessing contraception. The group will look at legislation around contraception, licensing of products, and any other obstacles.

Meanwhile, the Government will hold an informal meeting tonight to discuss Brexit, ahead of crunch parliament votes in the UK and prior to ministers travelling for St Patricks Day visits.

Brexit protection measures, the launch of a future jobs plan, and the need to sell Ireland as a committed EU member during trips abroad will be discussed.
The tax cuts that the president put in place sure are having a positive effect on the working class, no matter how many times you read in Quickly that theyre only helping the Presidents rich buddies. Rich people have the money to succeed no matter which way the ball bounces. Even if we become a socialist county, they will still be fine  no matter what people try to tell you in the anti-American Quickly column. This deplorable doesn't believe a word of your hate-filled comments about the president, no matter how hard you try. You haters are the problem, not the solution.
Irish Ferries has launched a High Court challenge over a finding that it must pay compensation to thousands of passengers affected by the cancellation of sailings between Ireland and France last summer.

The company says it had to cancel the services because a new ferry it had ordered, the WB Yeats, to operate the service between Dublin and Cherbourg was delayed for several months.

The challenge has been brought against the decision by the National Transport Authority (NTA) in January that arising from the cancellations the company breached EU regulations concerning the rights of passengers travelling by sea.

The NTA issued the company with two notices requiring Irish Ferries to pay compensation to those passengers affected within a period of two months.

The notices direct the company to pay compensation to passengers impacted by the cancellations who had to travel from Rosslare instead of Dublin, and from Roscoff instead of Cherbourg.

The notices also state passengers who were delayed in reaching their final destination who have already requested compensation from the company must also be paid.

Non-compliance with the notices is an offence, with a maximum fine on conviction of 250,000.

The company disputes the NTA finding and says the notices are invalid and irrational.

Irish Ferries also says the NTA has misinterpreted the relevant EU regulations.

The cancellations occurred because a new ship it had commissioned from the German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft was delivered some "200 days" late Irish Ferries counsel Paul Gallagher SC told the High Court today.

Counsel said the delay came as a shock to Irish Ferries and made headlines in the media.

Counsel said the company took steps including offering "an immediate no quibble reimbursement in full" to affected customers, offered vouchers for 150, as well as "the opportunity to rebook on alternative sailings of their choosing."

Some 5,700 bookings were affected by the cancellations.

Counsel said the majority of affected passengers, 82%, chose to travel on alternative sailings to France with Irish Ferries.

The remainder either cancelled and accepted a refund or chose to travel by land bridge through the UK, and were compensated by Irish Ferries for the fuel expended while crossing Britain.

Counsel said that his client is concerned about the long term implications of the NTA decision.

The situation Irish Ferries found itself in was extraordinary, was not of its own making, and it was unable to secure another ferry to operate the planned sailings, counsel said.

All affected passengers counsel said were informed of the situation a minimum of seven weeks before the proposed sailing, he added.

In its judicial review action, Irish Ferries seeks various orders including one quashing the NTA decision and the notices it issued to the company.

It also seeks various declarations from the court including that the NTA decision and the notices are invalid, irrational and are without any legal basis.

It further seeks declarations including that the decision and the notices fly in the face of common sense, take into account irrelevant considerations, and are disproportionate.

Permission to bring the challenge was granted, on an ex parte basis, by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, who also placed a stay on the notices from coming into effect.

The case will come back before the court in May.
Construction workers are today seeking a pay rise of 12% over three years along with other improvements such as a one-hour daily travelling allowance for every worker.

John Regan of Siptus construction sector told RTEs Morning Ireland the industry is not sharing profits with workers.

They are not treating workers fairly, they are being exploited and unsafe practices are going on.

The industry is highly profitable, they are making large profits.

Mr Regan pointed out that profits for the construction sector in 2018 were 1billion more than in 2017.

He also claimed that labour costs were not a factor in what went wrong at the childrens hospital. There is unbelievable bogus employment going on.

Construction companies are forcing PAYE workers to become self-employed, he said.

The entry-level wage for construction workers is 28,000 which Mr Regan said the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) wants to freeze for three years. There is no progress on wages, it is a flat rate salary for the year.

Mr Regan said that the 12% being sought for the construction sector is in line with the trend in other sectors. Construction workers should not be treated any different.

He acknowledged that there had been a 10% increase in 2017, but said that eight per cent had been given up over previous years.
Two students were hospitalised following a road accident involving a school bus and a van on the Marlton Road in Co Wicklow.

Gardai were called to the scene near the junction between the Beehive Inn and Wicklow town at 8.10am as the bus was travelling to Wicklow Post Primary Centre.

The impact caused the front window of the 52-seater bus that was carrying 15 secondary school students to be pushed in.

According to a statement from the Garda Press Office, two children were treated at the scene just off the N11 for very minor injuries.

Vice-principal of the Dominican College in Wicklow town, Neal Martin, confirmed that two students who were on the bus were taken to hospital.

Ambulances, a number of fire brigade units and gardai from Wicklow town attended the scene.

The crash resulted in the closure of one of the lanes on the road for a time.

"Bus Eireann are aware of an incident which took place at 8.10 this morning while travelling to Wicklow Post Primary Centre," Bus Eireann said in a statement.

The bus, operated by a private operator on hire to Bus Eireann collided with a van in Barndarrig, Co Wicklow.

"There were 15 pupils on-board at the time, emergency services attended the scene and four pupils were brought to hospital for further medical attention."

An investigation has been launched into the crash.

Meanwhile, a Dublin bus driver suffered a heart attack while on duty during rush-hour traffic in the city centre.

The incident resulted in emergency services closing O'Connell Bridge while the driver received emergency treatment.

Gardai announced on its official Twitter page that O'Connell Bridge had been closed off from South Quay to North Quay due to an ongoing incident.

Dublin Bus later confirmed that an incident took place on a Route 16 bus on O'Connell Bridge during the morning.

It stated that the bridge was opened to traffic after the driver was transferred to hospital by the emergency services.

Dublin Bus said it would not be making any further comment.
A crackdown on harmful online material has been promised with the announcement of new laws to empower a cyber safety commissioner to fine, prosecute, and name and shame offending services.

Long-awaited moves to regulate online safety will be announced by Communications Minister Richard Bruton today, including what constitutes harmful material and how this will be monitored.

The era of self-regulation is over for providers and social media companies, Mr Bruton says, and the new laws and a regulator with powers are needed to ensure that children can be protected online.

Under the proposed Online Safety Act, harmful content will be targeted. Areas the minister has decided are considered harmful for internet users include where there are signs of serious cyberbullying and where content is threatening, intimidating, or harassing.

Material that promotes self-harm or suicide will also be deemed harmful as will online content that encourages nutritional deprivation.

While a short consultation period will begin on the new laws, the Government have not committed to any timeline. This also comes after previous promises to appoint a digital safety commissioner.

Measures to be taken include:

Companies operating an online safety code, which includes a complaints procedure;

A new online safety commissioner who can bring criminal proceedings against providers;

Fines for providers who fail to comply with orders to remove materials;

The naming and shaming of online providers who fail to co-operate with the commissioner;

Regular reviews of the online industry and plans for content moderation.

Speaking today as he announces the moves, Mr Bruton will say: While it would be impossible to remove every danger from the internet or from the adaptation of new technology, what we need to do is to ensure that parents and children are better equipped, that the State can provide regulation and enforcement, and that online platforms take responsibility.

I will bring forward an Online Safety Act which sets out how we can ensure children are safe online.

This will involve, for the first time, setting a clear expectation for service providers to take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the users of their service. A regulator, an online safety commissioner, would oversee the new system.

The commitment comes after sustained pressure from campaign groups, childrens rights bodies and the Opposition for a cyber safety regulator with real powers and legislation to restrict online content.

Sinn Feins Donnchadh O Laoghaire has proposed legislation on this area which received cross-party support at the Oireachtas Communications Committee. However, the Government held off backing it until it decided on how to define harmful content. Advice was also sought from Australian authorities about their e-safety commissioner.

The Law Reform Commission has already proposed laws for an online commissioner to regulate service providers, search engines, social media platforms and websites.

The Government has proposed merging the new online commissioner role into the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland as part of a media commission.

Alternatively, two new regulators would be set up. One would involve restructuring the BAI and assigning it responsibility for editorial content, such as traditional television and radio, while a second online safety regulator would oversee online content that is not subject to editorial controls, such as social media and video-sharing platforms.

Separately, it will also be announced that the new online commissioner will apply a new European law to video sharing. Video sharing platforms will have to ensure protection measures, such as parental controls and age-verification, are in place. EU changes will also apply to on-demand and traditional TV services that share videos.

Mr Bruton said he would begin a six-week consultation period on the new measures and wants parents and schools among others to make submissions. Draft legislation will then go to Government.
The surviving spouses of deceased War of Independence veterans have received almost 8 million in pension payments from the State in the past 10 years, new figures have revealed.

The last surviving combatant of the war that took place between 1919 and 1921 died in 2006, but 41 widows were still receiving pensions in respect of their husbands army service during the conflict at the end of last year.

The recipients, whose average age is around 92, were paid a total of 262,507 in tax-free pensions during 2018. This reflected a 50% increase that was implemented in 2016 to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.

Pension amounts paid to the veterans widows vary depending on a number of factors, such as whether their husbands were medal holders or if they had been in receipt of a special allowance before they died.

However, the average payment was around 6,300 last year. The pensions are historically tax-free, and are paid in addition to other benefits such as state or private pensions.

The number of living spouses of War of Independence veterans has fallen sharply in recent years. In 2009, a total of 383 beneficiaries received over 1.7m in pension payments. The number had fallen to 121 in 2014.

Some seven of the remaining War of Independence widows died last year, leaving just 41 in receipt of the pension.

The last surviving veteran of the war, Lieutenant Colonel Sean Clancy, died in September 2006 at the age of 105. The Clare-born soldier had been a commanding officer with the Fifth Infantry Battalion, and had served alongside Michael Collins. He was in Dublin Castle when Britain handed power to the new Irish Government in 1922.

The 50% increase that was introduced in 2016 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Rising saw the average annual payment rise from 4,200 to 6,300.

Recipients had last seen an increase in 2006, when rates were boosted by 50 percent to mark the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

The timing of the increase was considered appropriate given the importance of the occasion, and was intended as a small gesture by the State to show its appreciation to these surviving widows, a spokesperson for the Department of Defence explained.

Last year, the cost of paying pensions to former military personnel and their dependants increased by almost 4m to 225.4m, as 159 soldiers joined the ranks of retired veterans.

Nearly 2.1bn has been paid out under the pension scheme since 2009, according to official figures provided by the Department of Defence.
A nurse came to the rescue of a bus driver who appeared to be having a cardiac arrest in Dublin earlier.

It happened on O'Connell Street at the height of rush hour this morning.

The quick-thinking nurse, Aoife McGivney, moved the driver's legs off the accelerator and the bus slowly came to a halt.

With the help of other passengers, Ms McGivney lifted the driver onto the footpath to carry out CPR.

Ms McGivney works at the Mater Hospital.

"Passengers were all very good, they all came out as well, they were trying to do different cycles," she said.

"I was taking the lead for the first few cycles and then a guard that was passing by started CPR as well. Then the ambulance got there and the fire brigade.

I went to get my coat after they'd brought him away in the ambulance and the guard had passed on to me that he was alive and talking. We were able to get him back.

Ms McGivney says this morning outlines how crucial knowing CPR can be.

"It's so important for people to be aware of it because there was great people that were able to join in and were able to shout 'I have first aid training' and they were able to help me.

"But there's a lot of people out there that wouldn't be as trained and it's so important.

"This morning I didn't think anything like that was going to happen and then ... it did!"
I think [they] will bring funds to the community that we need and will bring opportunities to develop land that we have there, Bachner said. We have to be so careful about the communities that are already there. We need to make sure [residential buildings] arent going to be demolished. I think we need to have someone on the board to make sure big decisions we have along the TIF districts include community feedback and we understand what is there already.
A number of Irish women working in the literary field are to be celebrated this Thursday as part of Network Cork's 'The Business of Books' event.

Speakers include award-winning author of Distress Signals and founding member of The Inspiration Project Catherine Ryan Howard, Cork librarian Patricia Looney, West Cork Literary Festival organiser Eimear O'Herlihy, and Project Co-ordinator with the Educational Company of Ireland, Catriona Lehane.

PR and Marketing Manager at the Triskel Arts Centre and Network Cork President Gillian Hennessy encouraged women to attend, particularly if they are considering a career in the literary field.

Ms Hennessy said: "This is a unique and interesting event and we're delighted to welcome such a variety of panelists on the evening.

"I would encourage all women, whether you are a book lover, book club enthusiast, budding entrepreneur or creative spirit, to come and hear from these panelists about their diverse and interesting careers in a sector that is rarely discussed."

According to Ms Hennessy, the literary arts and publishing sector is thriving in Ireland and it is owed to the hard work and dedication of the speakers.

"It is making a real direct impact not only on the economy, but also by driving tourism in the form of festivals and by playing a key role in the education of our youth as well as opening up challenging conversations on societal issues.

The event will take place in Vibes & Scribes bookshop on March 6 and tickets are free for members, or 25 for non-members.

Visit eventbrite.ie/e/network-cork for more information.
In the high street retail landscape, many independent shops have disappeared but amid the preponderance of phones, pharmacies and fashion on Waterfords high street, one niche business has proved resilient in surviving the vicissitudes of the market.

John Palmer has been running his musical instrument shop in the heart of Waterford city for 30 years providing sales and services to musicians across the spectrum of amateur to professional.

Established in 1988 through a passion for music that still remains today, Johns customer service is legendary in a city that is proud of its musical traditions with brass and reed bands, several music schools, a lively trad scene and numerous garage bands.

During the hour I spent in the shop, John offered advice on a high-end Fender guitar for a special birthday; a ukulele for a beginner; a plectrum for a street busker while fielding phone enquiries about specialist pick-ups for a gigging musician- all dealt with Johns customary patience and quiet authority.

How did you get into the business?

I started working in Cantwells music shop in Waterford. Then I went on a busking holiday in Europe and one month turned into a year and half. When I came home, I opened my first shop down on the Quay next to Andy Jordans bar with a small stock. I was there for three years before moving to this location in Georges Street and Ive been here for 27 years now. Ive never been tempted to move out to the retail parks outside the city. People know that Im here.

How has the business changed?

The last decade has been the most challenging. Margins are decreasing as customers investigate their purchase online before approaching you and looking for a matching price which we try to do. In 2017, we launched a website and online shop but buying an instrument is an organic process. Customers want to come in and try it out before walking out the door with their new instrument.

What has helped you stay in business?

Sales is just part of our business. Repairs and service is also a big part of what we do. Over the years, Ive been fortunate to have had about ten professional musicians on my staff who really knew their stuff. My right hand man, bass player Keith MacDonald has been with me for over 20 years now. Keith sets up everything that goes out. It might involve restringing or realigning the neck with the body or filing down a bridge.

Whether it is a top end or a budget instrument, it gets the same treatment and goes out ready to be played. We do some hire. If someone rang us looking for a piano, we could sort it. When Gavin James played here last, his drummer who had bought his first drum kit here 27 years ago came back in. Hed left his snare drum stand behind at a gig and we were able to sort one for him.

Celebrity customers:

Weve had quite a few celebrity customers over the years. Shane Ritchie (Alfie in East Enders) came in while he was filming in Dunmore East. He bought a guitar and spent a half an hour browsing in the shop. Another actor, Jonathan Rhys Myers came in with I think it was John Boorman and he bought a really nice guitar. When Shane MacGowan came, we had to close the doors to prevent him being mobbed. He bought a couple of harmonicas .

One musician I got on very well with was the late John Martyn- he was a regular customer when he lived in Thomastown. He had a very valuable Gibson guitar. He wanted to retire that instrument and he bought a very good copy here-the same shape and colour

When I saw him playing at a gigs later, it was this instrument that he was using. Eventually when his health deteriorated, we continued to post things down to him.

What are your big sellers:

Guitars  we are well known for our range. There are phases in retail. At one stage, the trend was for electric guitars. Lately, Ive seen a swing back to acoustic instruments. More recently sales in ukuleles have surged. There seems to be no let up in popularity as more schools are taking it up. I am hopeful that in time many a budding ukulele player will go on to take up the guitar.

Has it been rewarding?

I love what I do. I love standing at the counter and meeting the customers. To me every local musician is as important as the celebrity customer. Yes, its hard work. We opened every day for the month of December, but its not like I am working down a mine. I am optimistic for the future. Its heads down and well take it as it comes.
400 students at St Brogans College, Bandon, have agreed to a tech detox to improve their sleep, says Ailin Quinlan

Today, 400 second-level students in a West Cork school will begin a week-long tech detox.

The aim is to see if they sleep better without their phones beeping and chirping beneath their pillows.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the student council and teachers at St Brogans College, Bandon. Although the school has a no-tech policy, the use of devices outside of classroom hours is causing concern.

Teacher Colm OSullivan says: Over the past four or five years, teachers have been noticing that some students were coming in to school tired, and that some of them seemed to be sleep-deprived, with rings under their eyes.

It wasnt just about being a bit tired in the morning.

From conversations we were having with students, we could see they were staying up later. Theyd say they didnt sleep great.

On average, three to four students out of any group of 20 to 25 seemed to be experiencing this level of tiredness, says Mr OSullivan, who teaches geography and history.

Last October, Paudie Palmer, who is our home-school liaison officer, said to me that he had noticed this was becoming an issue, and he thought it was something we should look into.

The teachers decided that any initiative should be student-led, so they brought the issue to the attention of the student council.

If you asked students why they were up late, theyd say that they were on their phone or playing video games till 11pm or midnight.

It seemed that a minority, perhaps around 5% to 10%, were staying up until past midnight, while a few were on their phones until the early hours, Mr OSullivan says.

In conjunction with the student council, it was decided to survey the student body. A questionnaire on night-time phone usage and sleep-time habits was circulated to all 450 students at St Brogans, shortly before Christmas.

The survey had a 77% response rate, and the findings sparked concern. They showed that 93% of the senior cycle students (fifth and sixth-years) surveyed had their phones in their bedrooms at night, and that 37% of them were waking up at night and checking their phones.

Of the Leaving Certificate students surveyed, 100% had their phones in their bedrooms, and 50% of them were waking up at night and checking their phones. Around 40% of sixth-year students surveyed said they used their phone in bed, while only 14% turned off the phone at night. Nearly 75% said they received phone notifications while they slept.

Student Council president Kate Corcoran, 16, who is in fifth year, said that, anecdotally, she had noticed that some classmates were unable to concentrate and were sleepy in class.

Kate Corcoran, student council president, St Brogans College Bandon

Teachers were getting frustrated, she said, adding that students would report not getting much sleep, because they were up very late on their phones, checking social media or Facetiming, for example.

However, she said, she was surprised that 50% of the students surveyed in the senior exam year were waking at night to check their phones.

It was disrupting their sleep, she said, adding that 65% of Leaving Cert students were using their phone instead of an alarm clock.

Once you know your phone is there, you will be checking for notifications, she said, adding that although she does bring her phone into her bedroom, she turns it off.

Students were interested in participating in the survey, she said, and 417 out of a student body of 450 handed back completed questionnaires.

Among the findings was that 51% of first-years had phones in bedrooms, 23% woke regularly during the night and checked their phone, and only 40% turned off their phone at night.

By third year, 83% of students surveyed had phones in their bedroom, 31% woke up regularly during the night and checked their phones, and 86% regularly used their phone in bed at night. At this point, just 19% turned off the phone at night.

Based on the findings, Mr OSullivan said, it was decided to carry out an optional, week-long, tech-detox across the student body, as there appeared to be a lot of tech use by students in bed, when they were supposed to be asleep.

Between 300 and 400 students were expected to participate in the optional tech detox, which begins on Monday, March 4 and which will run until Monday, March 11.

All students are being asked to participate and to ban tech between the hours of 10pm and morning wake-up, said Mr OSullivan, who added that the initiative had the backing of the Parents Association.

Following the detox, said Mr OSullivan, a small focus group would be established to discuss students feelings about the detox, while a questionnaire would also be circulated to discover the full extent of the tech devices being used by students at night.
The PAC acted beyond its scope in its questioning of Rehab former CEO, Angela Kerins, but balancing the power of legislature with the rights of the individual will not be easy, says David Kenny.

Angela Kerins Supreme Court victory is only the beginning.

The final outcome of her case awaits subsequent court findings on the extent of the Public Accounts Committees unlawful conduct. After that, we will need to wait to see what the judgment will mean for the workings of Oireachtas committees.

Before the Kerins judgment  the Supreme Court ruled that the PAC acted outside its remit in its questioning of the Rehab former chief executive  the prevailing view was that the courts did not have any substantial oversight of what is said in Oireachtas committee hearings. This is because the Constitution protects  in the strongest terms  speech in the Oireachtas.

Article 15.13 states that the members of the Oireachtas 'shall not, in respect of any utterance in either House, be amenable to any court of any authority other than the House itself'

This protection for parliamentary speech is, as the Supreme Court noted, a crucial part of democracy. It lets the Oireachtas govern its own procedures to ensure a robust and free exchange of views on matters of national importance and without the fear of litigation.

Members are not unaccountable: they can be held to account by their peers in the Oireachtas, for any abuse of their privileges, as well as by the electorate, but they are not answerable in court.

This is a core part of the constitutional separation of powers, limiting judicial involvement in the Oireachtas, allowing the legislature to work freely and effectively. In the Kerins case, the Supreme Court has nuanced this position.

An Oireachtas committee, the court held, usually enjoys the same robust protection for speech as the Dail or the Seanad, as they undertake crucial parliamentary work in respect of legislation and policy-making. But if a committee goes too far  if it goes beyond its brief; exceeds its terms of reference  it loses some of this protection, and may be answerable in the courts.

In the Kerins case, the PAC had clearly acted beyond its powers. It had no power to investigate Rehab and its CEO, Angela Kerins, as the body  though in receipt of some public funds  was not subject to the jurisdiction of PAC. The Committee on Privilege and Procedure (CPP)  which oversees and enforces the rules of the Oireachtas  later found that PAC had exceeded

its powers and gone beyond its mandate.

The High Court noted that the incident had damaged Ms Kerins reputation. The Supreme Court said that since the protection that the committee enjoys comes from the fact that it is delegated power to perform certain tasks by the Houses of the Oireachtas, if it leaves those tasks behind and starts to do something else, it may be answerable for any illegality or breach of rights that result.

In Angela Kerins case, the PAC had clearly acted beyond its powers.

It highlighted that PAC crossed a line in this instance and that PAC had departed substantially from the topics it had outlined in its invitation to Kerins.

Moreover, the court found, the CPP had not sanctioned PAC in any real way for acting outside of its powers.

In these circumstances, the court held, the judiciary was entitled to consider the actions of the committee, to conclude if any unlawful actions had been taken, and to give remedies when appropriate. At a subsequent hearing, the Supreme Court will consider the detail of PACs conduct to decide whether, in this instance, it crossed the threshold for judicial intervention.

Throughout the judgment, the court was very clear that Oireachtas committees deserved substantial leeway in conducting business. The courts should not intervene for minor errors, or technical matters, or matters that relate to the core of the legislatures functions, only substantial and significant deviation from proper conduct.

The court was keen to stress it does not want to unduly obstruct the work of the legislature, only to balance this with the rights of individuals when the work of committees exceeds the scope of their mandate.

But striking this balance is easier said than done. How will we establish where the lines are drawn, where the committee steps too far over its boundary, where it strays too far from the terms of the invitation?

The Supreme Court said it will decide this case by case, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, while affording a very significant margin of appreciation to the Houses as to [how] they conduct their business.

The risk is that this will not be sufficiently clear in practice, at least not until the court has had more opportunities to consider such cases and establish guidelines. If it is uncertain, Oireachtas committees may have to seek regular legal advice about terms of reference and the appropriateness of particular lines of questions.

This legal advice may take a better safe than sorry approach and advise committees to be very cautious in investigation and questioning. This could create a chilling effect, where fear of litigation and court oversight hampers the freedom of parliamentary speech, the very thing that Article 15.13 aims to avoid.

We have seen this before, in the aftermath of the Abbeylara case, where the Supreme Court placed strict limits on the ability of Oireachtas inquiries to make findings against individuals. The stricture of the courts judgment, combined with fear of possible litigation, has led to many problems in the conduct of public inquiries, notably during the banking inquiry.

It is too early to say what effect the Supreme Court judgment will have on the behaviour of Oireachtas committees. Perhaps committees will still have robust debate, while better protecting individual rights.

But perhaps, in practice, committees will do a lot less, out of fear of possible courts cases.

The Supreme Court is trying to balance protecting the legislative power with protecting the rights of citizens, but, in doing so, the court has chipped away at the line, drawn in the constitutional separation of powers, between the legislature and the courts.

As to whether or not this will have potentially serious effects on the workings of the legislature, only time will tell.

Dr David Kenny is assistant professor of law at Trinity College Dublin. He is co-author of the recent fifth edition of the leading text on Irish constitutional law, Kelly: the Irish Constitution.
The UK is urgently seeking to conclude what it calls "continuity trade agreements" with as many governments outside the EU as it can before the end of March deadline.

In February, Britain's international trade secretary Liam Fox concluded one of these continuity agreements with Switzerland. He has also agreed mutual recognition trade deals with Australia and New Zealand, as well as trade continuity agreements with Chile, the Faroe Islands and the eastern and southern Africa trading bloc.

But deals with major trading countries for the UK - such as the US, Japan and China - have still to be concluded.

Of particular concern for Ireland is the potential for these continuity deals to wipe out the current markets in the UK for our agri food and drink sector.

The current negotiations with the US give a good indication of the potential damage that could be done to Irelands export trade. US dairy producers are amongst the largest globally and have indicated in recent talks that they foresee the UK becoming a significant export market once it splits from the EU.

The UK currently imports dairy products valued at 2.6bn from the EU and only 7.7m from the US. One third of the diary imports that the UK takes from the EU come from Ireland.

The UK market, as part of the EU, has maintained a protected position for its dairy producers, as well as for Irish and other European producers, through regulatory controls and import duties. US dairy product exports to the UK have faced high tariffs on cheese, butter and milk powder and now wish to use the vulnerability of the British government to push for the elimination of both the regulatory and customs tariffs, in return for opening the US market for motor vehicles and industrial products. A signing off on a trade continuity agreement with the US before the scheduled end of March Brexit deadline would bolster the Conservative Partys hand in dealing with Brussels and its own hardliners and may, therefore, be pushed through with concessions to the US on agriculture, despite the objections of the British agri-food industries.

The significance of such a deal is magnified by the stalemate in the current EU US trade negotiations on the refusal of the European negotiators to included agri-foods in the trade talks.

Until the outcome of Brexit is settled and the customs arrangement between Britain and the EU is finalised, it is difficult to quantify the potential gain in market share for the US. However, of the many sectors at risk in such a deal, arguably the most exposed is Ireland's cheddar cheese sector - the largest dairy export to the UK, taking approximately half of all the country's cheese production. US cheddar cheese factories have the highest output globally and dwarf Irish producer volumes.

Some of Irelands producers have woken up to the threat and like the Carbery Group, in west Cork, have taken decisive action to diversify away from cheddar. Carbery currently produces cheddar cheese, principally for the UK market and now with EU and Irish Government state aid plans to diversify both in terms of production - through the production of Mozzarella cheese  and in markets  by reducing its dependence on the UK.

Mozzarella is the worlds most popular cheese, and while it is a higher added-value product for which there is a growing global market, the market leader is again the US and hence is open to the same threats in selling into the cheddar market both in the UK and further afield.

The French, Italians and Germans have been much more adept at both diversifying their cheese products and protecting their brands. They have both expanded the range but have also registered the regional domain names to protect their regional production status - under the three EU schemes of protected designation of origin, geographical indication and traditional specialities guaranteed.

The EU regulation underpinning the three schemes is enforced within the EU and is being gradually expanded internationally via bilateral agreements between the EU and non-EU countries.

The legislation first came into force in 1992, but so far amongst the several hundred cheeses registered across the EU 28 member states - including Britain - only one Irish cheese has been registered. Imokilly Cheese Company from Cork was the first Irish producer to list its cheese on the EU register in 1999 and so far is the only one registered.

Brexit, whether hard or soft, is a wake-up call for Irelands cheese producers, who are overdue to drop their reliance on a single product and use the benefit of EU membership for brand protection.

John Whelan is managing partner of international trade consultancy The Linkage-Partnership
Power and control over a partner can be something far more subtle than muscle, writes Suzanne Harrington

When we think about domestic abuse, we think bruised women, terrified children, violent men. Thats the formula.

The statistics backed this up: in Britain, its two dead women a week, murdered by current or former partners. Two dead women, every week, and hundreds more assaulted, controlled, terrorised. There are fewer deaths in Ireland  216 femicides since 1996  yet domestic violence has the highest rate of repeat offending of any crime.

Men bash women once, twice, three times, until he loses count and she loses consciousness.

The traditional domestic violence dynamic is male aggressor, female victim. Yet the violence and coercive control documented in a recent BBC film, Abused By My Girlfriend, was cited as one of the most extreme cases the police had seen.

The victim  a 23-year-old man, Alex Skeel, from Bedfordshire  was told by doctors that he was 10 days from death when police intervened. His former partner, a physically slight 22-year-old graduate, is in prison, the first woman in Britain jailed for coercive control, as well as GBH.

Why didnt he just leave her? Why did he allow her to assault him with hammers, knives, boiling water? How did she isolate him from friends and family, controlling his social media, his choice of clothing, his food, his every move?

We no longer ask women why they remained in abusive relationships, because our understanding of coercive control has evolved: Emotional abuse as another form of violence, without black eyes or bruises. We understand the layered intricacies of control, threat, fear, terror, disempowerment. We know that women are most in danger from men they know intimately.

But men being abused by female partners? Seriously? Yet the shattered young man in the BBC documentary challenges our assumptions about power and control over a partner; that it can be something far more subtle than muscle.

According to UK male domestic violence charity Mankind, for every three victims of domestic violence, two are female, one is male.

Amen, the Irish charity that supports domestically abused men, says such men are isolated, stigmatised, ridiculed, not taken seriously culturally or legally: We believe that domestic abuse against men should be a crime, and is often overlooked and ignored in our society.

Its not all hammers, knives, boiling water. Abuse can be walking on eggshells at home, being afraid of your partner, constantly placating them, worrying about their reaction, avoiding conflict, ignoring your own needs in deference to theirs, being isolated from loved-ones, having your privacy patrolled, your finances controlled, your voice unheard.

When this happens to women, we are outraged, and have systems in place to help. We dont have the same safeguards for men, because we are so used to women being on the receiving end of abuse, rather than perpetrating it.

Just because abused men are a minority doesnt make it OK. Abusive behaviour is not exclusively male.
Nothing puts the heart crossways in a mother or father like sudden, unexplained silence. If youre the parent of a baby or toddler, a silence at the wrong time puts you on red alert.

The wrong time, for one young mother, being 7am. She expected chirping and chatter out of her two-and-a-half-year-old from about 7am, because that was the established pattern. By 7.30am, chirping and chatter would normally have yielded to a high-volume demand for parental action, which would have roused even her two older brothers, who, being male and teenage, sleep like the dead.

But, this particular morning, no child chirping. No comments.

Silence from the other room. The mother went out on the landing to investigate and was surprised to see a bright sliver of light outlining the shape of the other bedroom door. She entered the room, to find her toddler had got out of bed, turned on the light, selected a book, and returned to bed with it.

What are you doing? the mother asked. A monumentally dumb question, she admits, but surprise will do that to you.

I reading the three little pigs, her daughter responded, with a brief, dismissive smile. You could tell she had reached the little pig who built his house of straw and she was absorbed in the wolf, huffing and puffing and blowing said house down. Egging for the wolf to eat the little pig, she was.

This child should be the poster girl for World Book Day, this Thursday. World Book Day has, for more than twenty years, had the simple aim of getting children to enjoy books.

This may sound like a very simple idea, say the organisers, but, unfortunately, many children do not have access to books in their homes. That may be truer today than when the event started. Books are cheap. Tablet computers are not. But many parents are buying personal peace by providing tablets, rather than books, to their offspring, knowing that the little ones will play Candy Crush until their brains rot.

Tablets are linked to just about every childhood health hazard, from poorer eyesight to lousy social skills, plus increased obesity, but they are electronic babysitters and some parents kid themselves that their kids are extra smart because they can use them. No, no, a thousand times no. Every time you hand a toddler a smartphone or tablet, you are helping them hard-wire their brains away from reality.

The child who falls in love with books, on the other hand, has copped on to one of the healthiest pleasures known to humanity. Immersion in a book is the precursor to a great nights sleep, a vivid dream life, the setting in context of all of lifes trials and tribulations, and the nearest thing to a functional distraction from extreme grief.

The gift of a book, lovingly inscribed, has a durability akin to no other present

I can remember learning to read. I can remember the first book I read: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell. Horses and cruelty in Victorian England. Why, I hear you ask, would anyone subject a four-year-old, Irish suburban child to that stuff?

The answer is that, back then, most houses had a shelf with brightly covered books, each of which had a logo at the bottom of the spine, showing a top-hatted man holding the hand of a knickerbockered child, the two in silhouette. Dean Classics, it said, under the logo. I know this, because I still have most of mine. As well as Black Beauty, I have A Tale of Two Cities, Coral Island, Pride and Prejudice, Lorna Doone. I have no toys or clothes from childhood, but it was drummed into us that books were precious and you didnt mistreat them. Hence, the line-up of novels with faded and slightly frayed, wraparound covers.

Even as a child, I knew the books labeled classics carried more clout with my parents than did Enid Blyton. (Interestingly, Dean and his son also published her work, presciently reaching both ends of the childrens market.) Nobody in our house viewed Noddy as anything but a moany inadequate with a cool car and a long-suffering older friend, although my mothers main objection to Enid Blyton was inadequacy of vocabulary. We were, she said, unlikely to encounter and learn new words while following the adventures of the Famous Five.

My sister and I paid not a blind bit of attention to her. What we wanted from books was excitement. We wanted to be enthralled by whatever book we were reading, taken to another world, made to fall in tragic love with particular animals.

We learned, early on, that a good book provides everything real life does, but with fewer boring stretches.

We were mystified when parents other than my mother praised us when they saw us reading

They seemed to think reading was virtuous. We thought theyd lost the plot. Reading was better than anything else in the world, other than maybe Flash Bars. To this day, my sister and I are book bag ladies. When we meet, we swop green grocery bags weighed down with at least a dozen books in each. We are deeply respectful of non-readers, but we are secretly convinced that they cannot live happy lives.

On the other hand, non-readers dont experience the agony of rejection that the reader does when they lend a book to someone else with the promise that, You are going to love this. If the other person doesnt love it, they seem not just to have found the book inadequate, but its lender, likewise. Every failure to share enthusiasm is a small betrayal.

A few years ago, I gave a book to a 25-year-old, who looked at it as if it had headlice.

I dont read books, she said.

She thought of books as belonging in the dubious past, like mandatory stove-blacking. Most people have an unfulfilled reverence for reading that leads them to claim that they dont read as much as they should. As if they knew of a daily quota they were failing to reach.

This particular girl, on the other hand, had no reverence and no shame. She read what her business required her to read, but books, to her, were like archery or clog dancing. No offence to aficionados of either activity, but she couldnt quite see why.

I was heartstruck for her, bereft, as she was, of all the friends to be found in books and deprived of the refuge from misery and loneliness provided by a novel, a non-fiction book, or a volume of poetry.

Prevent book barrenness. This Thursday, introduce a toddler to Richard Scarry, a six-year-old to Roald Dahl or a ten-year-old to Harry Potter. Change their lives for the better. Forever.

Non-readers are bereft of the friends to be found in books, deprived of a refuge from loneliness
This weekend Fine Gael and Labour selected candidates to stand in Mays elections for the European parliament.

That process is under way in Fianna Fail where senior Dail deputies have expressed an interest in a change in scenery, saying they would like an opportunity to move to Brussels. The European election, one that has assumed exceptional, once-in-a-lifetime importance, is scheduled for Friday, May 24.

That will be a busy day for European and Irish democracy as elections to identify those who will sit on our 31 local authorities will be held on the same day.

By that stage, hopefully, something resembling plausible working options will have surfaced on Brexit so it is impossible to rule out a general election in the coming months. The air will be electric with campaigning and promises of varying credibility  even if Taoiseach Varadkars grace-and-favour administration stumbles along for another few months.

Following Brexit Ireland will have 13 seats in Europe and, at the other end of the spectrum, local authorities offer opportunities to 949 people a place in our political process.

Should there be a general election 158 Dail seats will be contested as will, despite Enda Kennys efforts, 60 Seanad places

Should all of those opportunities arise something north of 4,000 people will offer themselves to the tender mercies of our often ungrateful democracy. Some of those brave souls will campaign on specific issues  local hospitals or abortion maybe  but most will, naturally, take positions on a range of issues. These positions will have been identified by party research asvote gathering opportunities.

However, each candidate will need to be able to offer convincing arguments on a number of obvious subjects. Our health service, the widening gap between the reality of life in the public and private sectors, education, rural broadband and, if we finally wake up to the most pressing reality in our world, our head-in-the-warming-sand position on climate change. However, one issue will dominate to an almost unprecedented degree  housing.

This contrived crisis has many aspects. Homelessness, rents far beyond the reach of most workers, a shameful, politically-engineered shortage of social housing, a drip-drip supply of new houses to sustain prices which seem more Lotto-win fantasies than viable ambitions. Tens of thousands of lives are put on hold until a life-long ransom to buy a home can be secured from one credit agency or another. All of these come together in one shameful statistic  there are, in this very rich country, almost 10,000 homeless people.

This reality was one of the issues that drove the nurses strike and is behind todays Labour court hearing where a 12% pay rise for 65,000 construction workers will be heard. It will be the primary catalyst driving social and industrial unrest for the fore seeable future. Yet, despite that the usual parties will offer the usual plamas about how they might resolve this fixable crisis. None of these campaign promises will suggest real change or recognise how deeply compromised our politics and capitalism are by this avoidable crisis. What was it the man said about doing the same thing time and time again in the hope of a different outcome?
To put the much-hyped world class Childrens hospital overspend and wastage into perspective, all one has to do is a simple sum.

According to the OECD, in 2017, the average annual tax paid by PAYE workers in Ireland was around 8,000.

Therefore the overspend of circa 1.3bn will require around 162,500 workers at all levels to slave for a full year, only to see their hard-earned tax vanish down the Swanny. Many citizens will suffer as a direct result and many urgent projects will be delayed or suspended indefinitely.

To paraphrase Leo Varadkar and the government, not much to worry about here, we are where we are and hopefully, well end up someday with a world-class hospital.

Sadly, sick children will be forced to wait indefinitely for this world-class vanity facility when all they ever wanted was a functional, efficient and accessible hospital to improve their quality of life and make them better.

And of course, as is the norm in these rather irksome matters, no one was held accountable and no one will ever be sanctioned, even when the overrun inevitably exceeds 2 billion.

God help us all but suffer on the little children in the meantime.

John Leahy

Cork

If you would like to have your say on the issue of the day then visit here or send your submission to digitaldesk@examiner.ie
The cover for "A One Person Town" by Bai Bing, a renowned Chinese author of children's literature. [Photo Provided to China Plus]

Most of illustrated books on sale in China are imported from overseas. But one domestic publishing house is collaborating with illustrators from overseas in an effort to bring illustrated Chinese stories to audiences both in China and overseas.

At one time, up to 90 percent of the illustrated books on sale in China were imported from overseas. As a result, children have been largely unable to read high-quality original illustrated books that tell Chinese stories.

But the China Children's Press and Publication Group is determined to turn this situation around. Shen Lina is a director of international cooperation with the publisher. She believes that Chinese authors can write well, but that they lack the know-how to turn these original Chinese stories into well-illustrated books.

One of the ways the China Children's Press and Publication Group is tackling this problem is through cooperation with illustrators overseas. The result is that domestic readers get access to books that tell fresh stories that are culturally relevant. But more than that, these collaborations see Chinese stories published overseas. This brings original Chinese stories to a new global market of readers.

An example of this new approach can be seen in the spread of books written by Bai Bing, a renowned Chinese author of children's literature. Bai Bing is well-known for his titles such as "A Flight of a Bullet", "Daddy Don't Be Afraid", and "Baby Mouse". Now, his stories are being given a new lease on life thanks to illustrations by international artists.

Several Iranian artists have teamed up with Bai Bing in an effort to tell his stories through the medium of graphic arts. These artists include Amin Hassanzadeh Sharif, who worked on "Big Uncle's Savage Island", and Pejman Rahimizadeh, who drew for "A One Person Town".

The China Children's Press and Publication Group have so far published eight of Bai Bing's illustrated books as part of their Sunshine Library series. These books, including "The Elephant that Ate the Night", are now on sale for readers in the United States, Britain, and Ireland.
Brexit protection measures will be announced for the agri-food sector today as efforts continue to diversify Irelands trade with other countries.

Agriculture Minister Michael Creed will announce a series of agri-food trade missions across the globe while specialist staff will be put in embassies to help protect the 14bn export sector.

Heather Humphreys, the business minister, has also confirmed the Brexit emergency rescue fund for business is to be increased from 20m to 200m.

The announcements come as a special government meeting is led by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this evening in Farmleigh, Dublin, where ministers will discuss Brexit developments.

With just over three weeks to the Brexit deadline and fears Britain may crash out without a deal, the Government continues to step up efforts to provide buffers for trade.

Launching the first ever market access report today, Mr Creed will expand on efforts to access new markets for beef exports.

This work has taken on an added urgency in the light of the challenge posed by Brexit. However, opening up new international markets to Irish food producers is a long term strategy and these new markets can take time to develop and grow, Mr Creed will say.

Overall, agri-food exports to countries outside the EU have increased from around 2.7bn to 3.6bn in the period 2014 to 2018. The market access report shows that by the end of 2017, the total value of agri-food exports globally was 13.6bn and rising. Over 5bn of this goes to Britain. But the amount of Irish food going to other top alternative destinations is growing.

Ten out of the top 20 markets for Irish agri-food were non-EU markets. This includes countries as diverse as the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, the report reveals.

But the government believes even more can be gained from tapping into new markets.

Amid fears Irish exports to Britain could be hit with costly tariffs or restrictions with a disorderly Brexit, officials and Mr Creed are set to visit several new markets.

Agri-food trade missions will go to Turkey in early March, China in May, Japan and South Korea in June, and Algeria and Egypt in November.

Alongside the missions, four additional agricultural attaches will be appointed to new stategic posts in Irish embassies.

There are eight agricultural attache posts in Irish embassies, including in Beijing and Washington DC. Numbers will be expanded to include Berlin, Tokyo, Seoul, and Mexico.
Backing comes in exchange for movement on backstop measure Theresa May has been given a Brexit boost as key Tories signalled swinging behind her stance in exchange for movement on the backstop.

The chairman of the highly influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tories, Graham Brady, expressed optimism that a breakthrough on the backstop was close.

The hardline European Research Group (ERG) of Tory MPs led by Jacob Rees-Mogg also indicated a more conciliatory tone on the issue.

The ERG has drawn up three tests the Government must pass to win backing, according to the Sunday Times. In private talks with British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, the ERG called for a legally-binding mechanism to escape the backstop, with a clear exit route and an unambiguous rewrite of the language in the Governments legal advice, the newspaper said. The stance has been drawn up in conjunction with the DUP, according to the Sunday Times.

Mr Brady made clear he could swing behind Ms Mays withdrawal agreement ahead of crunch Commons votes. Writing in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Brady said: The whole country is tired of vacillation and delay.

When the right compromise is offered, we should pull together behind the prime minister and help her to deliver our exit from the European Union on March 29.

Many Brexiteers have expressed opposition to the backstop as it would leave the UK obeying EU customs rules if no wider trade deal is agreed after a transition period.

Mr Brady, who branded the British governments handling of the Brexit negotiations as lions led by donkeys, indicated there was a growing mood for a deal in the Commons.

He said: My conversations with senior diplomats and politicians from across Europe have given me cause for optimism that a breakthrough is near.

The ERG proposals were drawn up by eight members, including veteran Euro-sceptic Bill Cash. One of the eight, Michael Tomlinson, told the newspaper they needed to see black and white text in good time before the Commons votes.

Mr Tomlinson said: There is a spectrum and a range of options that the Attorney General has.

Im going to say protocol good, codicil bad, letter very bad, because that would be prejudging it.

The manoeuvring follows Ms May telling MPs the Commons will have a meaningful vote on her Brexit plans by March 12. Ms May said that if her deal is rejected, MPs will be able to vote on whether the UK can leave the EU in a no-deal scenario, and if that is rejected, the Commons can decide on whether to extend Article 50 and delay Brexit.

Meanwhile, EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he does not believe the UK will have enough time to approve Ms Mays deal by the scheduled exit date of March 29.

Mr Barnier suggested a technical extension of up to two months may be needed. Asked if he thought it was possible to reach an agreement by March 29, even if Westminster gave the green light this month, Mr Barnier told Spains El Mundo newspaper no adding that Brussels is ready to give the UK further guarantees, assurances and clarifications that the Irish backstop should only be temporary.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has arrived back in Venezuela to renew his campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

Juan Guaido arriving at the airport in Caracas, where he has been threatened with arrest pic.twitter.com/2hWis8YchL

Mr Guaido landed at the country's main airport, about 25 miles from Caracas, and said in a tweet that he had successfully passed immigration checks.

Several European ambassadors who support his campaign for a change of leadership in Venezuela were at the scene as he arrived.

Dozens of countries have recognised Mr Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate leader, arguing that last year's re-election of Mr Maduro was invalid.

Mr Guaido has called for nationwide demonstrations coinciding with his arrival. He had ignored an official ban on travelling to go abroad.
Asia Bangladesh Urges U.S. to Help Repatriate Rohingya Refugees

Bangladesh Disaster Management and Relief Minister Enamur Rahman speaks to U.S. Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl Miller in Dhaka on Sunday. / U.S. Embassy in Dhaka

DHAKA  Bangladesh Disaster Management and Relief Minister Enamur Rahman on Sunday said he asked the U.S. to help find a way to repatriate the more than 1 million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar sheltering in the countrys Coxs Bazar District.

He said he made the request during a meeting with the U.S. ambassador to Bangladesh, Earl Miller, in Dhaka earlier in the day.

In the meeting I said, Look, the donations or grants are not the main subject. Many days have passed. Now we want amicable repatriation with nationality rights and honor,' Rahman told The Irrawaddy.

We want repatriation as soon as possible with nationality rights. They will have to enjoy access to education, health, jobs and all human rights, he added. And I sought his opinion.

He said the ambassador elaborated on U.S. financial support to Bangladesh and assured him Washington would help Dhaka find a way to repatriate the refugees.

In a statement, The U.S. Embassy in Dhaka said the United States is committed to helping those affected by this crisis. We are deeply appreciative of the generosity of the government and people of Bangladesh for opening their border and hearts to a Rohingya community that has suffered greatly. We call on all nations with the means to contribute to this global humanitarian response.

Rahman also said that Bangladesh still intended to move forward with a controversial plan to relocate some of the refugees to Bhasan Char, a flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal.

It is the prime ministers desire to relocate them to those houses built for 23,000 families there, he said, adding that the office of the prime minister has been meeting with the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry, UN agencies and non-government organizations about the plan.

The minister said the principal secretary of the prime ministers office, Nojibur Rahman, and others would meet with U.N. Resident Coordinator Mia Seppo in Dhaka again on Wednesday.

Following the meeting on March 6, a final roadmap will be drawn up on how they will be relocated, he said.

Seppo did not respond to questions about the U.N.s role in the relocation plan, which it has raised doubts and concerns about in the past.

In a tweet on Monday, Germanys ambassador to Bangladesh, Peter Fahrenholtz, said: I assume the relocation will happen on a voluntary basis and that there would be another assessment mission by the U.N.

The relocation camp on Bhasan Char, a designated forest reserve that lies some 30 km from the mainland, is scheduled to be finished later this year by the Bangladesh Navy.

The U.S. Embassy statement said the United States was contributing $45.5 million to the United Nations World Food Program to support the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. It comes on top of the $60 million the U.S. pledged at the launch of the 2019 U.N. Joint Response Plan in Geneva on Feb. 15.

The U.S. is the leading contributor of humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh, providing nearly $500 million since August 2017.

The embassy said the latest contribution will go toward food, monsoon and cyclone preparation, and nutritional support for mothers and children.
Asia India-Pakistan Border Quiet But Kashmir Tense Amid Militancy Crackdown

A relative looks at the wounded legs of Mohammad Younis, a civilian, who was injured in a cross-border firing near the Line of Control in the Poonch sector on Friday night, in a hospital in Jammu on Saturday. / Reuters

SRINAGAR, India/MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan  As India and Pakistan seemingly dial down hostilities that brought the arch enemies to the brink of another war, a massive crackdown on militancy in the Indian-controlled Kashmir region is killing both militants and security personnel in big numbers.

At the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between the nuclear-armed neighbors, there was relative calm in the past 24 hours, their armies said on Sunday. The exchange of fire in the past few days has killed seven people on the Pakistani side and four on the Indian side, though the release of a downed Indian fighter pilot by Pakistan on Friday night has helped de-escalate tensions.

By and large the LoC was calm last night, but you never know when it will become active again, said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, a minister in Pakistani Kashmir. Tension still prevails.

Indian warplanes carried out air strikes on Tuesday inside northeast Pakistans Balakot on what New Delhi called militant camps. Islamabad denied any such camps existed, as did some villagers in the area when Reuters visited.

Nevertheless, Pakistan retaliated on Wednesday with its own aerial mission in a show of force.

The countries have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947.

In Indian-ruled Kashmir, troops on Sunday shot dead two militants after a three-day gun battle that also killed five security force personnel, taking the total death toll to 25 in the past two weeks. The fresh anti-militancy drive was launched after a Kashmiri suicide bomber, a member of a Pakistan-based militant group, killed 40 Indian paramilitary police on Feb. 14.

The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also come down hard on separatist groups operating in Kashmir, including by banning the Jamaat-e-Islami party, two of whose clerics were detained in raids on Saturday night.

On Sunday residents observed a shutdown in South Kashmirs Tral area against the detentions. Shops were closed and traffic was off the roads in the area, and a protest march took place.

Indian authorities have arrested more than 300 Jamaat leaders and activists in the past two weeks, accusing the group of supporting attempts to carve out an Islamic State out of India by destabilizing the government.

Amit Shah, the president of Indias ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party that faces a general election by May, told an election rally that the government has made it clear to the separatists that if they want to live in India, they will have to speak the language of India, not Pakistans.

The government, however, has come under pressure from the opposition to share proof that a very large number of militants were killed in air strikes inside Pakistan this week, after doubts were raised there were any casualties in the attack.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, one of Modis top lieutenants, said on Saturday no security agencies ever share operational details and dismissed suggestions that the escalation in tensions with Pakistan had anything to do with domestic politics ahead of the election. Pollsters expect the ruling party to benefit from the nationalistic passion sweeping the country.
Burma 10 Missing after Fighting Between Rival EAOs Causes Villagers to Flee in N. Shan

IDPs who fled Mann Lee village in Namtu Township on March 1 take refuge at a monastery in Hsipaw Town, northern Shan State. / Shar Htat Paing / Facebook

Ten people are missing after residents of Mann Lee village in northern Shan States Namtu Township fled their homes on March 1 amid fierce fighting between rival ethnic groups in the area, according to local sources.

Two of the missing had stayed behind in the village to take care of their properties. The others disappeared after being displaced by the fighting.

Ko Myo of the Philanthropists Without Borders Association based in Lashio told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the group was still searching for the 10 missing IDPs.

We first went to check on their village today. But we could not find them. We havent heard any news of them yet, he said.

Ko Myo visited the village on Monday morning. He said one house had been destroyed by an artillery shell. Another shell had landed in front of a Buddhist monastery in the village.

We saw some properties that had been destroyed in the village by fighting, but not a lot, he said.

The association would ask for help from ethnic armed groups to search for the missing villagers if it couldnt find them, he said.

We want to take a little bit more time to see whether they contact their families, he said. If not, we will ask the ethnic armed groups to help us find them, he said.

The 10 missing villagers are all ethnic Taang and range in age from 15 to 41. The 41-year-old is rescue team member Sai Nge Lay, said Ko Myo.

Ko Sai, the older brother of Sai Nge Lay, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that his brother disappeared on March 1 when he went to rescue other villagers who were trapped by the fighting.

Sai Nge Lay works as a member of a volunteer rescue team in Lashio helping local IDPs in Namtu Township. Ko Sai said that Sai Nge Lay drove his car to Mann Lee village intending to rescue people after receiving a phone call from someone in the village asking for help.

Family members of the 10 missing people have raised the disappearances with Namtu Township authorities.

Ko Sai said he went back to Mann Lee on Sunday looking for his younger brother but could not find him.

We could not find him or his car, Ko Sai said.

A joint force of Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) fighters have clashed periodically with Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) troops since February. The fighting escalated on March 1, prompting the residents of Mann Lee to flee. The IDPs from the village are a mixture of Shan and Taang who have lived peacefully together for many years.

Armed conflict is common in northern Shan State. Sometimes it involves fighting between the Myanmar Army and ethnic armed groups. However, fighting also occasionally breaks out between rival ethnic armed groups.

The RCSS is an ethnic Shan armed group originally based in southern Shan State. Its members began moving into northern Shan after the group signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, leading to a territorial dispute with the SSPP and TNLA.

The TNLA and SSPP are ethnic Taang and Shan groups based in northern Shan. Both are members of the Northern Alliance of armed groups. The TNLA and SSPP have jointly fought back against the RCSS encroachment on their territory. Their current military operation aims to kick the RCSS out of their area of control.

Fighting escalated in northern Shan last year, especially in Namtu and Hsipaw townships, from which hundreds of ethnic Shan and Taang have been displaced. There are about 2,000 IDPs currently staying in camps in Hsipaw Township. The most recent fighting has centered around two locations, one in Loi Lin village in Hsipaw Township, and the other in Mann Lee in Namtu Township. The two areas are considered by the RCSS to sit on a line of demarcation between southern and northern Shan.
Burma Groups Say INGO Threatens to Inflame Religious Tensions in Meiktila

Downtown Meiktila Township / The Irrawaddy

YANGONResidents of Mandalay Regions Meiktila have signed a petition protesting against international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), saying their actions threaten to reignite sectarian conflict in the town.

A meeting was held on Feb. 27 at the Wai Yan Bontha Monastery, which is widely known to be loyal to Ma Ba Thathe Burmese-language acronym for the Association for the Protection of Race and Religion. Nationalist groups, disciples and members of the Young Myanmar Buddhist Association attended the meeting and signed the petition, which will be presented to authorities, said U Win Zaw, who was present. `

Its not because of religion. We dont want organizations in our town that sow discord between two societies on the pretext of providing social assistance, U Win Zaw said.

The petition organizers have singled out MA-UK (Myanmar) for particular criticism, accusing the INGO of failing to cooperate with local authorities. The organization is planning to set up an office in the town.

MA-UK (Myanmar) did not reply to The Irrawaddys request for comment about locals accusations.

The petition reads, I sign here of my own volition [affirming] that I totally oppose foreign-backed (so-called social assistance) INGOs including MA-UK Myanmar opening offices in Meiktila Township, and engaging in various forms of activity.

More than 40 people were killed and many injured during violent clashes between the townships Buddhist and Muslim communities in March 2013. Mosques and houses were reduced to ashes in the riots.

The violence started on March 20 following a brawl between a Muslim gold shop owner and a Buddhist customer. Anti-Muslim riots spread to some 15 towns in other regions and states.

MA-UK is working to repair drains in Chan Aye Tha Ward in the west of Meiktila, where Muslim residents whose houses were destroyed were resettled after the riots, but some locals have complained that the INGO failed to cooperate with local authorities, said Lower House lawmaker Dr. Maung Thin of Meiktila Township.

The town was hit hard in 2013. We are concerned that it will happen again. I want all sides to work for peace, he said.

The peaceful relations the two societies enjoyed in the past have been restored. There is no problem and we should be careful about incendiary speeches, said Meiktila resident U Aung Thein.

The township administrator filed a lawsuit against the supervisor of MA-UK (Myanmar) in 2016 in response to the organizations activities in Meiktila, but the court rejected his complaint, according to local residents.

MA-UK (Myanmar) is based in London and began working in Myanmar in 2012 to provide food and relief items for people in conflict areas. Headquartered in Yangons Dagon Township, it has branch offices in Sittwe, Mrauk-U and Maungdaw in Rakhine State, and started operations in Meiktila in December 2016.
Burma Minority Groups Weigh in on Having Chief Ministers Elected, Not Appointed

-- / The Irrawaddy

Nearly three years into its administration, the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) has taken steps to honor its campaign promise to amend the military-drafted Constitution. Parliament formed a joint committee to start drafting amendments last month.

The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) has since submitted a proposal to amend Section 261 of the Constitution. If approved, regional legislatures will be able to elect their chief ministers, who are currently appointed by the president.

While ethnic minority politicians also want to amend Section 261, they are concerned that it could end up giving even more power to the military, which is already guaranteed a quarter of the seats in the Union and regional legislatures.

Leaders of ethnic armed groups and political parties spoke to The Irrawaddy about their views on amending Section 261.

Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win

Vice Chairman, Karen National Union

Section 261 is about the appointment of region and state chief ministers. But there are sub-articles a, b, and c. It would be good if chief ministers could be selected from the regional lawmakers in the regions and states. But we have to think about the military-appointed lawmakers in the regional parliaments. We need to be careful about that. So careful assessment is needed before any action is taken, because we dont want to amend Section 261 alone. We need to think about other basic principles.

U Ba Shein

Lower House Lawmaker, Arakan National Party

If the centralization in the 2008 Constitution is to be reduced, the rights granted to states to run a parliament are not enough. We want the chief minister of the government, which directly manages the state, to be elected by the lawmakers of the party that wins the majority (of seats) in that parliament. This will allow stronger representation of the people.

But according to our experiences after the 2010 and 2015 elections, the needs of the people and the reality on the ground didnt match. In the 2010 elections, our party won nine of 17 townships in Rakhine State. But then the USDP, which won the least votes, appointed the chief minister.

Similarly, our party won 14 of 17 townships in the 2015 elections, and the NLD appointed its member as the Rakhine State chief minister. It is fair to say that this has caused political friction, racial conflict and a lack of trust.

For those reasons, we support the idea of having the chief minister elected by the party that wins the majority in state elections. Other provisions can be changed gradually. But for the time being this must be changed.

Sai Thiha Kyaw

Lower House Lawmaker, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy

In fact, ethnic minorities have wanted to amend Section 261 since the first Parliament (of the USDP-led government). Generally, ethnic minorities want the chief ministers to be elected by the regional parliaments. They must be elected from among the regional lawmakers. They must be people elected by the people, and then approved by the president later. This is what we want. It is important that he is accountable to local people. If they are responsible only to the president, there might be distance between them and the local people, and the representation of the people in government will be reduced.

It is difficult to talk about details for the time being. We dont know the views of the Tatmadaw (military) and other parties. We have two representatives on the committee to draft the amendments to the Constitution. They will discuss based on the policies of our party.

Nai Hong Sar

Vice Chairman, New Mon State Party

It is more appropriate that people elect the chief minister or the leaders of their own states. We will try to get the provision amended sometime in the future. We want to switch to federalism. If state chief ministers are appointed by the president, it is not federalism, it is controlled by the president. It is not right. This is our view.

The 25 percent share of military-appointed lawmakers must be reduced. The chief ministers must be elected by the people of that state. This is how it should be. We cant view things from one side. But my personal view is that Section 261 must be amended.

Khat Htein Nan

Chairman, Unity and Democracy Party of Kachin State

It is the wish of the entire country that the Constitution be amended. The whole country is trying to get it amended. It can only be amended through Parliament. Originally the plan was to amend it through the NCA (Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement). But as the Panglong Conference has been adjourned, (the NLD) is trying to amend it through Parliament. Of course the Constitution must be amended.

The first Parliament tried but failed to amend it. So everyone is trying to amend it during the term of the second Parliament. We should welcome this, and I hope that those parts that need to be changed are finally changed.

Section 261 is about allowing the political party that wins the local election to choose the chief minister. This is a necessary requirement for transforming into a democratic federal Union. If the party that wins the majority in a local election can appoint the chief minister, it can be more accountable to the local people.

It is better to have the committee draft amendments to the Constitution than to have none. It would be good if many provisions are amended.

It would be good to amend Section 261, and related provisions should be amended too. I think it is necessary to also amend the provisions related to Section 261.

Daw Htoot May

Upper House Lawmaker, Arakan League for Democracy

Frankly speaking, ethnic minorities find it difficult to accept the basic principles of the Constitution. Section 6 (f) of the Constitution lets the Defense Services participate in the national political leadership of the country. We should start from there when changing the Constitution. Section 7 says the Union exercises genuine, disciplined, multi-party democracy. Democracy is already disciplined. So there is no need to add the adjectives genuine and disciplined.

We cant achieve federalism, which ethnic minorities have been demanding for 70 years, by amending only Section 261. It is not the federalism we want in terms of essence and values. If local legislatures are finally allowed to elect their chief ministers, we should move forward to Appendix 2 and the rights of the people. Appendix 2 doesnt give power to state governments; everything is handled by the Union government. This is not fair.

I wonder if those provisions will be amended all at once. Amending only that section wont guarantee any ethnic rights in particular. Myanmar cant achieve federalism by amending that section alone.

In my view the chief minister, if the proposed amendment is approved, will get the title but not the power to make meaningful changes for ethnic minorities.

If the Tatmadaw is not magnanimous, and unless the Tatmadaw compromises, we can do nothing to the Constitution. No matter how hard Parliament tries, the Constitution wont be amended. So the legislative branch is the most important factor regarding real democracy and real federalism.

Because parliaments need to be built with elected lawmakers. So if they (the Tatmadaw) have goodwill for the country, and if they are willing to learn the lessons of the past 70 years, we first need to establish parliaments with 100 percent elected lawmakers.

Only when all the parliaments in the country have 100 percent elected lawmakers will the right path to amending the Constitution be at hand.

Lar Mar Lay

Lower House Lawmaker, Lisu National Development Party

I support amending Section 261 of the 2008 Constitution. The USDP submitted the proposal, and I believe all the Tatmadaw representatives will support it, and so will the lawmakers of the NLD.

But I doubt that amending Section 261 can really benefit ethnic minorities. There are ethnic parties in the states, but it is quite difficult for them to win, like the Arakan (National) Party in its state. So I am concerned that the amendment wont bring about real benefits.

Kham Khant Htan

Lower House Lawmaker, Zomi Congress for Democracy

The country cant become a federal democratic Union by changing only Section 261. But the centralization of the administrative system will change a bit. Other things will not change.

Many provisions in the Constitution need to be changed. First, changes must be made so that the country can transform into a federal Union. Related by-laws can be adopted later. But this cant be done immediately.

Right now Section 261 allows a centralized system. Not only chief ministers but also ministers are appointed to region and state governments. Our state, Chin, has experienced this problem. So I believe things will be somewhat different if chief ministers are elected by lawmakers.
International fast food chain KFC on Sunday launched its first "Lei Feng spirit" themed restaurant in China to pay tribute to the soldier, lauded by the late Chairman Mao Zedong for his altruism.

Lei's cartoon figures and wallpaper printed with his diary excerpts adorned the outlet in the Wangcheng district of Changsha, capital city of central China's Hunan Province, known as Lei's hometown.

The outlet's opening ahead of the "Lei Feng Day" on March 5 has attracted many residents, who were seen taking photos of the novel decor or attending the storytelling activities held there in remembrance of Lei.

"Lei Feng has been the role model for generations of Chinese. As the KFC (outlet) in his hometown, we will spare no effort to promote his spirit," said He Min, general manager for KFC's Hunan area.

He said apart from opening the themed restaurant, KFC also plans to promote the Lei Feng spirit in its over 250 outlets in the province and encourage its staff to learn from the role model.

March 5 has been designated as "Lei Feng Day" after Chairman Mao called upon the nation to learn from Lei in 1963, one year after the soldier died at the age of 22 in an accident while on duty.

Most Chinese are familiar with Lei's life story from his childhood ordeal to his selfless help for the needy. On March 5, students mainly from elementary schools are mobilized to do voluntary activities such as street cleaning and helping the elderly.
Burma Rescued Myanmar Army Man Returns

Soldier Aung Bo Bo Thein is handed back to Myanmar border guard officials at the Bangladesh-Myanmar Friendship Bridge on the Bangladesh-Myanmar border on March 3, 2019.

DHAKAAt a flag meeting on Sunday, Border Guard Bangladesh authorities handed over the Myanmar military solider employed with their Border Guard Police 38 days after he was rescued inside Bangladesh territory.

The 28-year-old army constable, Aung Bo Bo Thein of the Myanmar Border Guard Police Branch No. 5, was handed over at an official ceremony between Border Guard Bangladesh and Myanmar Border Guard Police held at the Ghundum land border in Naikhyangchari Region of Bandarban District.

He was rescued on Jan. 24 in the Banhatirchhara area of the same region by the Border Guard Bangladesh who acted on information from the Myanmar side on Jan. 22, the Bangladesh officials said.

A nine-member Border Guard Bangladesh delegation led by Teknaf Border Guard battalion commanding officer Lt-Col Md Asaduzzaman held the flag meeting with Myanmar Border Guard Police Lt-Col Kyaw Win Hlaing, commanding officer of the Border Guard Battalion-34, Lt-Col Ali Haider Azad Ahmed, told The Irrawaddy over the phone.

About the delay in returning the soldier, Lt-Col Azad said the matter was taken up by the Bangladesh foreign ministry and settled with the Myanmar foreign ministry which finally led the handing over.

According to the Border Guard Bangladesh officials, the Myanmar constable became lost while on duty on Jan. 22 evening and was found drunk and wandering aimlessly around 3.5 kilometers inside Bangladesh from the international border on the morning of Jan. 24.

Lt-Col Azad said they in principal followed the rules as prescribed by the Geneva Convention to deal with the soldier and his food, accommodation, medical treatment and other facilities were given as accordingly.

Aung Bo Bo Thein, was seen in uniform while returning with his senior officials on Sunday afternoon.

He is originally from a Yangon garrison of the Myanmar military.

A local Bangla-language daily Nayadiganta quoted Bangladesh border guard officials saying that in primary interrogations of the soldier, he expressed that he was unhappy with his army job in Myanmar.

Following his rescue, the Bangladesh border guard officials had said they would send him back as soon as possible, in compliance with their commitment to good relations with their Myanmar border guard counterparts.
Analysis Chinese Firm Involved in New Yangon City Has Long List of Controversies Abroad

Yangon Region Minister for Electricity, Industry, Transport and Communication and Chairperson of the New Yangon Development Company Daw Nilar Kyaw and CCCC subsidiary China Harbor Engineering Company President Tang Qiaoliang signed a framework agreement for infrastructure project proposal to the first phase of the development of the New Yangon City at Mingalar Hall in Yangon Regional Government Office on April 30, 2018. / Yangon Regional Government / Facebook

YANGONA Chinese state-owned company, which has signed a framework agreement with the Yangon government to draw up a proposal for the infrastructure projects of the New Yangon City project across the Yangon River expected to be twice the size of Singapore, has been embroiled in a number of controversies for its involvement in alleged fraud, corruption and bribery in many other countries where it implemented similar development projects.

The 20,000-acre-wide New Yangon City, one of the projects of Chinas ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was launched by the Yangon regional government in March last year via the government-owned New Yangon Development Company (NYDC). The investment for the first phase of the project, mostly infrastructure projects, is $1.5 billion.

NYDC signed a framework agreement with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) in April last year for nine initial infrastructure projects in the first phase that includes two bridges, roads, power plants, water and wastewater treatment plants and a 10-square-kilometer industrial estate expected to generate 2 million jobs. However, it turns out that the Hong Kong-listed China-owned company has been accused of corruption and bribery in at least 10 countriesfrom the Philippines to Bangladesh to Tanzaniain Asia and Africa for development deals in those areas, according to international media reports.

Nearly a month after its formation, the NYDC announced that it signed the contract with CCCC without calling for tender.

NYDC has chosen CCCC to sign a framework agreement because the company was considered to be the most qualified. Daw Myat Hsu Hlaing, NYDCs development and communication associate, told The Irrawaddy.

However, she did not answer questions on the other competitors during that time. She referred to the NYDC CEO Serge Puns explanation on his blog on the NYDC website.

In the blog post, Serge Pun explained that NYDC believes CCCC has the required capability and sufficient experience in planning, designing, financing, constructing and regional developments similar to the project. He also gave some examples of CCCC projects, including the bridge that links Hong Kong to Macau and the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway.

He wrote, CCCC comes with a depth of experience.

CCC shareholders include multiple international institutional investors. CCCC comes with financial clout, he wrote.

He questioned, Why would we not want to work with one of the largest and more experienced companies in the global infrastructure industry space?

However, word of controversies surrounding the Chinese company has given rise to speculation among people in Myanmar that the New Yangon City might face the same fate as CCCC-operated development projects in other countries.

China Communications Construction Company

NYDC signed a framework agreement with CCCC on April 30, 2018 at Mingalar Hall at the Yangon regional government office. Among the attendees were Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, Chinese Ambassador for Myanmar Hong Liang, CCCC President Chen Fenjian and CCCCs subsidiary China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC) President Tang Qiaoliang.

At the ceremony, after talking about his companys achievements in the fields of development and operation, Mr. Chen Fenjian said the new city across the river was of great significance as it could rapidly and effectively expand urban space and drive seaward development. He said the group would integrate the highest-quality resources and closely cooperate with Myanmar to jointly build a safe, wise and green Yangon New City and continue to make new contributions to the economic and social development of Myanmar.

U Phyo Min Thein said Yangon New City would create a large number of jobs, deepen the friendship between China and Myanmar, and hoped that CCCC and NYDC could continue to working together to further improve infrastructure in Yangon and to benefit local people.

Based in Beijing, CCCC is one of the worlds largest companies, focused on transportation infrastructure projects  supported in different business segments by over 60 subsidiaries such as China Road and Bridge Corporation, China Harbour Engineering and John Holland Group. According to China Daily, CCCC has set up more than 240 branches, research institutes and service hubs in 118 countries and regions. The group has signed overseas contracts worth $170 billion over the past five years.

However, CCCC and its subsidiaries have been leaving a trail of controversy in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Canada, Australia and Kenya. The company was sanctioned by the World Bank from January 2009 until January 2017 due to fraudulent bidding practices under Phase 1 of the Philippines National Roads Improvement and Management Project.

In Sri Lanka, CCCCs $1-billion Colombo Port City project has faced backlash from locals due to the risk of serious negative impacts on the environment and livelihoods.

The project, which is located on 269 hectares of land reclaimed from the ocean is being implemented by CCCC since 2014. The Sri Lankan government guaranteed that it wouldnt have any negative environmental impacts and countered local concerns about erosion, despite objections from environmentalists who warned the project would have a severe impact on the coastline, causing erosion and affecting marine biodiversity, fishery stocks, and breeding sites. CCCC drafted nearly 80 environmental impact and mitigating requirements in its framework.

Despite officials claiming they are following the guidelines, a Bloomberg report found major environmental damage along a 280-kilometer stretch of coastline north and south of the capital Colombo and 80,000 households that make a living from the sea affected. The All Ceylon Fisher Folk Trade Union revealed a 20 percent decline in catch.

Sri Lankas current prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe later disclosed to the media that an investigation was being carried out into an $8.1-million fund transfer to opposition leader Rajapaksas staff in 2018 before the elections when he was running for a third term. The prime minister said the fund included a payment from CCCC via an account with the Standard Chartered Bank.

Moreover, Australia accused CCCC of careless supervision in the construction of a childrens hospital in 2016 which was being built by CCCC subsidiary John Holland. The report revealed the discovery of white asbestos in the roof panels at the new Perth Childrens Hospital and found failures in both the procurement process and the contract management process. The Australia construction union asked the government to consider a temporary ban on the import of building material from China. However, CCCC denied responsibility for the failures.

In 2014, two Tanzanian officials were charged with fraud for awarding a bloated contract of more than $500 million to CCCC to expand the main port in the countrys capital city.

Kenya is another country facing the threat of falling into a BRI debt trap with China. Despite Beijings denials, a key port in Mombasa has been at risk of being seized by China since last year. There were serious allegations of mistreatment of railway workers in 2018 by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) a subsidiary of the CCCC. Construction of the major railway was shut down after hundreds of workers went on strike. Moreover, the leg of the railway line running northeast from the capital was also a subject of local tension and anger due to the projects employment of Chinese workers on the construction site instead of the jobs being given to locals.

Last year, the Canadian government ordered CCCC not to implement a proposed investment project in order to protect national security.

In the same year, Bangladesh blacklisted China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) a subsidiary of CCCC for trying to bribe a secretary. The Chinese government had selected CHEC to construct the Dhaka-Sylhet highway after an MoU was signed between the governments in 2016 following a visit by Presidents Xi. A Bangladeshi finance minister told the media that the company granted the contract for the expansion of the highway had attempted to bribe another government official. Back in 2010, the former Bangladeshi prime ministers son, Arafat Rahman, was jailed and fined $1.6 million for accepting bribes from CHEC, for the Chittagong Port project bid. Rahman was accused of receiving over $2.09 million from CHEC in three installments, routed through U.S. institutions, in the spring and summer of 2005.

The list of controversies connected with the company continues to grow longer as Malaysia opens an investigation into whether CCCC overcharged for a railroad linking Kuala Lumpur with Malaysias east coast and about funds drawn to pay debts by the government development fund under the former prime minister Najib Razak who is currently facing trial on corruption charges. In October last year, Malaysias new government canceled the project agreement out of debt trap fears. CCCC offered to reduce the project cost to RM 40 billion ($9.8 million) from RM 70 billion ($17.2 million), however the project is still in limbo.

In January, Thai media reported backlash against CCCC from the local people after the company failed to take into account the potential social and environmental impacts of dredging the Mekong River for commercial shipping.

Neither CCCCs Public Relations Division nor its Overseas Business Division replied to The Irrawaddys requests for comments on Friday about public concern over whether New Yangon City would face the same fate due to the companys controversial background.

Public concerns

Given the long list of controversies connected with CCCC, its no wonder New Yangon City is attracting mounting public concern and criticism. Critics have pointed out that the project poses the risk of facing the same fate as those other countries if the government doesnt consider the accountability of developer, the actual cost, the environmental impact, benefit-sharing and other social impacts.

Daw Sandar Min is a Yangon regional parliament lawmaker who represents Seikkyi Township, which is located within the project area of New Yangon City. She said the Yangon government should have known CCCCs controversial background before agreeing to work on the project, and that lawmakers will soon raise questions about the Chinese company in Parliament.

Given the information we received so far, we must scrutinize CCCCs background very carefully, she said.

RWR, a Washington-based advisory group tracking and analyzing Chinas global business transactions, has identified a number of transactions by CCCC and its subsidiaries around the world that have introduced risk factors for their partners and customers. These have included public allegations of corruption and bribery, opaque public business dealings and complaints about the quality of the work.

According to Andrew Davenport, Chief Operating Officer of RWR, Chinese state-owned enterprises have a track record, in many cases, of choosing deals and putting forward bids based on calculations of their strategic value to Beijing, rather than their commercial value to the companys bottom line and/or shareholders.

Meanwhile, the company (CCCC) has been accused of corruption and bribery in various other countries, including, for example, Bangladesh, he told The Irrawaddy.

He added, If CCCC is willing to offer, by significant margins, the most generous terms available to Myanmar on this project, government officials and citizens should ask themselves why they are doing this?

Davenport also warned that regardless of whether Myanmar can afford what is being offered or is making a sensible economic decision to spend this much money on a new city, generous, possibly non-market terms can create dependencies and deliver a degree of control or influence.

The framework agreement between NYDC and CCCC marks the first stage of the NYDC Challenge Model where a company that is qualified and competent to undertake the first phase of the development is selected to submit a set of Pre-Project Documents (PPD) which includes technical specifications, financial proposals and business models for NYDCs review.

Once the PPD is submitted and approved by NYDC, it will be made public to allow for any qualified party to challenge the agreement with better terms on the basis that it strictly adheres to the terms and conditions of the tender assessment criteria. NYDC said the PPD will be ready for publication soon.
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.

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.

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:
The government will propose a detailed plan to the top legislature this week to reduce taxes and fees, with an annual target that would cut more than 1.3 trillion yuan ($194 billion) to promote manufacturing and strengthen private companies' confidence, high-ranking officials said.



The 2019 tax cut plan, which is more aggressive than last year's, will focus on lowering value-added tax rates, an official in the Ministry of Finance told China Daily. The official asked not to be named because details were not yet authorized for release.

Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to deliver the annual Government Work Report at the opening of the second session of the 13th National People's Congress on Tuesday, and more details about the tax arrangement are expected to be revealed.

Some additional information may be released about lowering corporations' social security payment rate, the ministry official said.

China achieved its goal to cut about 1.3 trillion yuan in taxes and fees in 2018, including the value-added tax, individual income taxes and corporate income taxes for small and medium-sized enterprises, according to the ministry.

Ren Rongfa, deputy head of the State Taxation Administration, said that tax and fee cuts figure prominently in the tax authorities' work this year.

"We have updated the tax levy system and statistical accounting system to prepare for the further reduction," Ren said.

Ren added that 31 municipalities and provincial-level governments have all issued tax-cut plans for local taxes.

If the tax cut proposals are passed by the NPC, the value-added taxes may be lowered by 800 billion yuan overall, according to Robin Xing, chief economist in China for Morgan Stanley. He expected the VAT rates to be lowered by 1 to 2 percentage points for each tax bracket.

"The move is likely to lift companies' profits by 2 percent," Xing said. "The effect will be seen later in lower consumer product prices and higher profits by manufacturers."

Since May 2018, the VAT rate was lowered from 17 percent to 16 percent for manufacturing and some other industries, and from 11 percent to 10 percent for transportation, construction, basic telecommunication services and farm produce.

China's VAT rates for manufacturers remains higher than other Asian countries, including Japan (8 percent) and Vietnam (10 percent), according to Morgan Stanley.

The rapid growth of production costs, especially labor, has eroded the effects of past tax-cuts and reduced companies' investment in fixed assets and technology research.

"A more aggressive tax reduction is required to ease companies' burden and stabilize their expectations for future operations," said Liu Shangxi, head of the Chinese Academy of Fiscal Sciences.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, industrial profit in December retreated by 1.9 percent from a year earlier, worsening from a 1.8 percent drop in November after 3.6 percent growth in October.

Economists are worried that the downtrend in industrial profit growth may continue this year given weakening domestic demand, the continued credit down cycle and trade frictions.

"We maintain our call for more substantial tax cuts in the coming quarters in an effort to stem the growth slowdown," said Lu Ting, Nomura Securities' chief economist in China.

The country's manufacturing production continued to shrink in February, as indicated by the purchasing managers index.

The PMI was down to 49.2 from January's 49.5, hovering below the neutral 50 index line that separates expansion from contraction.

"Manufacturers may continue to adopt a wait-and-see approach with respect to any ultimate deal before committing to expensive and irreversible capital expenditures and investment decisions," said Iris Pang, an economist at ING Bank.




muru-D has selected 10 start-ups to join its new cohort in Sydney (SYD6).

Participants receive $75,000 in seed capital, access to mentors and industry professionals, and a curriculum designed to suit individual teams of founders.

"The muru-D accelerator program is uniquely positioned to respond to founder needs with the essentials for growth that will continue to challenge and evolve their startup," said muru-D head Julie Trell.

"Over the next six months, our teams will enter a series of learning experiences to accelerate their thinking, advance their mindset and bring focus to their venture.

"And at the end of the six months, the start-ups will put everything they've learnt to the test as they pitch to investors at a showcase event attended by the who's who of the Australian startup ecosystem,"

The start-ups joining the program are:

Agrinet  farm-wide Wi-Fi networks

Clipboard  school extracurricular program management

GeoSnapShot  photo sales platform

Luboo  child tracking wristband

Littlescribe  digitising, sharing and printing children's writing and illustrations

Pioneera  predicting and preventing workplace stress

Personifi  personal loan marketplace

Seer Data & Analytics  finding, sharing and using data to solve social problems collaboratively

Staybil  workforce geo-optimisation

WallSync  workshop digitisation

The entrepreneur in residence for SYD6 is start-up industry veteran and former tech journalist, Alan Jones, who has already mentored hundreds of founders.

"I've worked with many of Australia's best-known start-up accelerators, but it's long been an ambition of mine to serve as an entrepreneur-in-residence for a muru-D program. I'm stoked at the strength of the teams in this year's SYD6 cohort; I'm looking forward to bringing my 20+ years of tech start-up experience as a founder, angel investor and accelerator mentor to the program," said Jones.
The Australian Governments ban on using Chinese supplier Huawei Technologies in the rollout of 5G networks in the country will cost telecommunications operators dearly for networking equipment, according to a global management consulting firm.

Management consultancy Arthur D. Little, Australian telcos will end up paying significantly higher prices for networking equipment because of the reduced competition due to the Huawei ban.

ADL last week released its 5G Country Leadership Index, which benchmarked more than 40 countries with regard to the performance of their 5G implementations.

ADL told iTWire that the Index identified Australia as one of the leaders in the advancement of its rollout because of good fibre coverage with the NBN, successful completion of the first spectrum auction, strong mobile network operator competition in the local market and high ICT adoption tendency (high income, high 4G usage)

However, Australias ban on the use of Huawei technology threatens to make the technology needlessly more expensive for network operators and as a consequence endusers.

Banning Huawei can have two consequences, Karim Taga, managing partner and global practice leader TIME at ADL, told iTWire.

The Chinese vendor has been doing well in pushing price competition. The cost of networking equipment in the US versus Asia is up to 30% more expensive.

The other major downside of banning Huawei, according to Taga, was in the deployment of best in class technology.

(Australia) may miss some of the 5G innovation potential coming from Huawei, Taga said.

Australia is one of very few countries in the world, along with the US, to issue an outright ban on the use of Huawei in its 5G rollout.

The UK and most of the EU have yet to issue blanket bans, with UK spy agency GCHQ stating that it can it mitigate any perceived risks from the use of Huawei in that countrys 5G networks.

Even New Zealand appears to be reconsidering reopening the door for the use of Huawei in its 5G rollout after the country initially issued a blanket ban.

In December, Huawei rotating chairman Ken Hu claimed that Australia's ban on the use of the company's 5G equipment would result in the cost of deploying wireless base stations being higher by anything from 15% to 40%,
Nine Entertainment has called for a regime to regulate dominant digital platforms  aka Google and Facebook  which would be administered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and new powers for the competition watchdog to issue rules in order to encourage more competition.

In a submission in response to the ACCC's preliminary digital platforms inquiry report, Nine also said the introduction of a tax offset for news and a personal tax deduction for subscriptions would help address the level of production of news and journalistic content in the country.

The ACCC, in its preliminary report, said it had concluded that Google had substantial market power in online search, search advertising and news referral while Facebook had similar clout in markets for social media, display advertising and online news referral.

Among the preliminary recommendations were those aiming to address Google and Facebooks market power and promote increased consumer choice, including a proposal that would prevent Googles browser Chrome being installed as the default on mobile devices, computers and tablets and Googles search engine being the default search engine on browsers.

Nine, which now includes all the properties of the former Fairfax Media, said it backed the watchdog's recommendations on search engine choices, an ombudsman for digital platforms and verification of metrics.

It also expressed support for the standard recommendation for mandatory take-down in the case of copyright infringement.

The company said it had had better outcomes in monetising its content through Google, compared to Facebook as the strictures put in place by the latter prevented it from earning what it considered a fair return on its content.

Nine inherited a commercial relationship with Google which had been put in place by Fairfax Media with which it merged in December 2018.

The company called for oversight of the news media "through the development of a code which addresses the ranking of journalistic content, copyright compliance and advertising regulatory parity".

But it did not offer support for the ACCC's recommendation to address broader privacy concerns, serious invasions of privacy or unfair contract terms.

"These are secondary matters in the current context and will not, in Nines view, move the dial in terms of addressing the substantial market power exercised by digital platforms," the submission said.

The submission complements those issued by Free TV Australia, the Australian Press Council and NewsMediaWorks.
Left to right: Jarrod Bielby from Regional Development Australia, Member for Barker Tony Pasin and Rob Seymour, Optus Territory General Manager, South Australia at the new Wynarka site

Optus has switched on a new mobile site in Wynarka, South Australia, as part of round two of the Federal Governments Mobile Black Spot Program aimed at improving and extending mobile phone coverage in regional and remote Australia.

The new mobile tower provides residents and visitors to the area with dedicated Optus mobile coverage for the first time.

The new site, located on Moorlands Road, Wynarka, was co-funded by Optus and the Federal Government and will provide mobile coverage across 129 square kilometres, reaching more than 100 households. Additionally, the site will enhance reception along about 150km of road between Tailem Bend and Karoonda.

Andrew Sheridan, Optus vice-president of Regulatory and Government Affairs, said the program was important in providing coverage to people living in remote and rural parts of Australia.

The ability to make and receive calls and browse the Internet is something that we believe all Australians should have access to. Access to mobile coverage brings a range of benefits to these communities, beyond being able to make calls it enables them to browse the Internet and use the latest in-home technology, which is at the centre of the modern, connected way of life, Sheridan said.

Wynarka is the eleventh Federal Government Mobile Black Spot site to be delivered by Optus in South Australia. Two additional sites, at Yahl and Blanchetown, have been delivered directly with the South Australian Government.

Seeing the benefit that this program has brought to so many rural and remote Australian communities only serves to strengthen our commitment to continue to offer residents in these parts of Australia with a great value, reliable mobile service, Sheridan said.

Regional Services Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie welcomed Optus announcement.

The Mobile Blackspot Program is 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 Wynarka. The Mobile Black Spot Program is enabling mobile carriers to service areas like Wynarka where it would otherwise not have been economically viable, she said.

Member for Barker Tony Pasin said improving mobile phone coverage in Australias rural, regional, remote areas had been a key priority for the Coalition Government.

We recognise the vital importance of mobile phone coverage to people living, working and travelling in regional and remote parts of the country," he said.

Reliable and effective mobile communications is a key driver of the enormous contribution that our regions make to Australias economic growth.

Im lobbying within government for a rolling Mobile Blackspot Program so we can continue to improve telecommunications in more areas of need.
The China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone has enjoyed remarkable progress over the past year, with the majority of key reforms completed, the Shanghai Development and Reform Commission said.



The zone maintained the momentum for economic growth throughout 2018, with the value of industrial output totaling 496.5 billion yuan (US$74.05 billion) by the end of the year, which was around half for the Pudong New Area and 14.3 percent for the city, the commission said.

Imports and exports were 1.46 trillion yuan, accounting for 70.9 percent of the foreign trade volume in the new area and 42.8 percent for the city.

Around 7,200 new enterprises were registered last year, taking the number of companies to 58,800 since the FTZ's establishment in September 2013.

Nearly 1,300 foreign-funded enterprises have set up bases here in 2018. And the proportion of overseas players with operations in the zone has more than tripled from 2013 to 2018.

In 2018, foreign companies poured in a total of US$6.77 billion, data made available by the local authorities showed.

Different parts in the zone enjoyed fast growth. The Yangshan bonded area has forged a new growth path by developing "headquarters economy." It identified 10 regional headquarters for the multinational companies 27 operational headquarters and two high-growth headquarters. The headquarters economy was responsible for over half of the area's economic contributions in 2018.

Lujiazui financial area, which was included in the FTZ in 2015, welcomed a large number of service providers in finance, shipping and professional services in 2018 as it actively implemented the central government's strategic plan to further open the financial services industry and lure foreign financial institutions to form a cluster in the area, according to the commission.

Nine of the world's top 10 asset managers opened offices in the area and 51 internationally renowned asset management companies set up 69 wholly foreign-owned firms in the financial hub in 2018.

Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, which focuses on science and technology industries, was home to 163 foreign-funded research and development centers, and nearly 900 high-tech firms in 2018.

Jinqiao Export Processing Zone saw the economic density of industrial output value within the area hit 20 billion yuan per square kilometer, with the automobiles and intelligent manufacturing industries contributing a quarter of the city's total output.

In the past year, 601 foreign investment projects were set up since the implementation of 2018 version of "Negative List," attracting US$4.23 billion.

The local government made unremitting efforts to deepen reforms on the "Single Window" platform to offer more efficient services for international trade. The platform has more than 6,000 users and served over 270,000 enterprises.

Shanghai's pilot zone was at the frontline for serving China's Belt and Road Initiative and promoting domestic companies to "go abroad" in 2018. It has built a multi-level service system for facilitating trans-border transactions and set up an exchange and cooperation center for BRI.

The FTZ hastened Shanghai's efforts on becoming international financial and science and innovation center, and the development and the integration of the Yangtze River Delta region.




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You are here: China

China's social endowment insurance for rural and urban residents has covered over 523 million people by the end of 2018, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS).

Over 49 million people in poverty have benefited from the insurance program directly, MOHRSS data showed.

The unemployment insurance premium has allocated 1.82 billion yuan (about 272 million U.S. dollars) of living subsidies to 402,000 migrant workers who had lost their jobs, the ministry said.

The social endowment insurance program covers groups including the self-employed, rural migrant workers and farmers, providing pensions for their retirement.

China faces the challenge of building a more sustainable pension system as its population ages.

By 2018, China had 249 million people aged 60 and above, accounting for 17.9 percent of its total population, becoming a country with the largest and fastest-growing aged population in the world.
You are here: China

North China's Hebei province on Sunday opened its first direct passenger flight to Russia.

The flight linking Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei, and the Russian capital Moscow, will be operated each Sunday by Russia's Ikar Airlines, according to Hebei Airport Management Holding Co., Ltd.

The returning flight takes off from Shijiazhuang at 6:45 a.m. local time Monday and arrives in Moscow at 3:35 p.m. local time.

The company said the new air route will improve the province's air links with the Belt and Road countries while promoting its economic and cultural interactions with Moscow.
Summerville, SC (29483)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies with periods of rain late. Low 51F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 80%.
TORONTO, March 4, 2019 /CNW/ - First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FCC; ASX: FCC; OTCQX: FTSSF) (the "Company") is pleased to report that a 611-metre drill hole has extended mineralization by an additional 150 metres downdip in the central portion of the Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA.

Highlights

Longest hole drilled to date at Iron Creek at 611m , extends No Name Zone mineralization by an additional 150m



Broad intercepts such as 12.0m of 0.20% Co , including 3.9m of 0.35% Co (true width), extend the dip extent of the No Name Zone

, extends No Name Zone mineralization by an additional Dip extent of up to 400m from surface, extending mineralization well below the high grade cobalt zone that formed the basis of a historic resource estimate by Noranda





from surface, extending mineralization well below the high grade cobalt zone that formed the basis of a historic resource estimate by Noranda Updated resource estimate scheduled for late March

Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"We have doubled the depth extent of mineralization across the entire deposit and it still remains open. With good continuity of grade and thickness, we can now extend the deposit more quickly and cost-effectively with wider spaced step out holes. The future potential remains high beyond the next resource update as each step-out has shown mineralization remains open at depth and along strike. An updated resource estimate will be published in about a month, incorporating more than 13,000 metres of drilling.

"Confidence is returning to the cobalt market as EV sales continue to set new records in the face of lower mine production forecasts in 2019. Our Iron Creek Project and the near term cash flow potential of the First Cobalt Refinery provide direct exposure for investors seeking leverage to the electric vehicle revolution."

The No Name Zone has now been traced to 300m downdip in the central area of the deposit and 400m in the west, as mineralization follows steepening terrain. Hole ICS18-28 (Figure 1) was drilled into the centre portion of Iron Creek, below the current resource area, to test for downdip mineralization (Figure 2). The No Name Zone mineralization has now been intercepted 150m below the deepest previous intercept, reported in ICS18-19 earlier this year, and remains open at depth.

Drilling in the central area of the deposit has infilled much of the central portion of the 2018 resource estimate, which had depth extensions confined to the eastern and western portions of the deposit. This infill drilling and the resulting assays are expected to provide a meaningful increase in mineralization for the upcoming resource estimate expected in late March.

Assay results for ISC18-28 show the No Name Zone occurs as a broad mineralized zone containing a higher grade cobalt core (Table 1). This relationship is consistent with previous drilling higher up, including ICS18-19, ICS18-26, and IC17-19 (reported January 22, 2019 and September 26, 2018). Higher cobalt grade cores within broader mineralization are also prevalent in the Waite Zone in this area.

Drill hole, IC17-39 drilled northward from the hangingwall intersected cobalt mineralization at a comparable depth over 150m away along strike, suggesting continuity to the downdip extension (September 26, 2018 release) intersected in ICS18-28.

A high grade copper intercept, 1.22% Cu over 1.0m, was intercepted approximately 150m into the hangingwall. Previous drilling has intercepted several copper intervals in the hangingwall that were not the main target of drilling, so at this time they have not been modelled to determine continuity.

Cobalt was also intersected further downhole in ICS18-28 that may correspond to the Waite Zone and mineralization between the two main zones, but no other holes have been drilled to this depth nearby, so follow up is required to determine continuity.

Figure 1. Cross section of drill holes reported. Width of cross section is 33.3 metres oriented to view toward southwest. Main mineralized zone interpreted from the 3D geological model considering drill intersections outside the cross section. Vertical scale equal to horizontal scale.

Figure 2. Bedrock geology and surface expression of cobalt-copper mineralization at Iron Creek. Outline of Inferred Resource at 0.1% CoEq from 2018 estimate is projected to surface. Surface projection of mineralized zones represent continuous sedimentary stratigraphic horizons.

Table 1. Summary of Assay Results

Hole ID Zone From

(m) To

(m) Drilled

Length

(m) True

Width

(m) True

Width

(feet) Cobalt

% Copper

% CoEq

% ICS18-28 Hangingwall 192.0 193.9 1.9 1.0 3.2 0.00 1.22 0.12 No Name 383.4 399.5 16.1 12.0 39.4 0.20 0.01 0.20 including 386.8 392.0 5.2 3.9 12.7 0.35 0.01 0.35 Between 442.9 444.9 2.0 1.5 5.0 0.13 0.01 0.13 Waite 458.9 463.2 4.2 3.3 10.9 0.12 0.00 0.12 Footwall 487.1 489.0 1.8 1.4 4.7 0.21 0.00 0.21 Previously Reported Holes ICS18-19 No Name 214.7 223.6 8.9 4.8 15.8 0.35 0.07 0.35 including 216.3 218.5 2.2 1.2 3.9 0.51 0.11 0.52 Between 258.7 272.9 14.1 7.6 25.1 0.29 0.02 0.29 including 268.5 270.6 2.1 1.1 3.7 0.56 0.03 0.56 Between 273.3 274.5 1.2 0.7 2.2 0.04 4.46 0.49 ICS18-26 Hangingwall 229.0 244.5 15.5 14.1 46.4 0.11 0.08 0.12 No Name 255.6 285.4 29.8 27.1 88.9 0.13 0.19 0.15 Between 294.3 304.3 9.9 9.0 29.7 0.22 0.05 0.22 including 300.5 303.4 2.9 2.6 8.6 0.42 0.03 0.42 Waite 345.9 350.7 4.8 4.4 14.4 0.20 0.02 0.20 Footwall 370.5 384.9 14.4 13.1 42.9 0.16 0.00 0.16 IC17-19 No Name 36.9 56.4 19.5 18.7 61.4 0.30 0.74 0.37 including 39.6 45.7 6.1 5.9 19.2 0.43 0.32 0.46 Between 62.5 66.3 3.8 3.6 11.9 0.12 0.64 0.18 Waite 89.0 100.1 11.1 10.6 34.8 0.15 0.53 0.20 including 98.1 100.1 1.9 1.8 6.0 0.41 0.00 0.41 Footwall 111.3 119.8 8.5 8.2 26.9 0.23 0.00 0.23 including 112.8 116.9 4.1 4.0 13.1 0.37 0.00 0.37 Footwall 132.6 135.6 3.0 2.9 9.6 0.15 0.00 0.15

True thickness estimated from 3D geological model also considering drill holes on strike. Cobalt equivalent is calculated as %CoEq = %Co + (%Cu/10) based on US$30/lb Co and US$3/lb Cu. No metallurgical recoveries were applied to either metal as it is expected that the metallurgical recoveries will be similar for both metals. Flotation tests support the Company's opinion that both cobalt and copper are of sufficient grade to be recovered.

Private Placement

First Cobalt also announces that it has entered into an agreement with an investor on a non-brokered private placement of 11,111,111 units (the "Units") of the Company at a price of $0.18 per Unit for gross proceeds of $2,000,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit issued pursuant to the Offering will consist of one common share in the capital of the Company and one Common Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one additional Common Share at a price of $0.27 for a period of two years. The Warrants are subject to an acceleration clause such that, if the closing price of the common shares of the Company is equal to or greater than $0.37 per share for a period of ten consecutive trading days, the Company shall have the option, but not the obligation, to effect an accelerated expiration date that shall be 20 calendar days from the issuance of a notice of acceleration. There is no commission paid to any party as part of the arrangement. Proceeds of the Offering will be used by the Company to support ongoing work at the First Cobalt Refinery as well as general corporate purposes.

Closing of the Offering is expected to occur on or about March 18, 2019 and is subject to receipt of regulatory approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The securities to be issued under the Offering will have a hold period of four months and one day from their issue. The securities being offered will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold within the United States absent registration or an exemption from the registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States.

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

First Cobalt has implemented a quality control program to comply with industry best practices for sampling, chain of custody and analyses. Blanks, duplicates and standards are inserted at the core processing site as part of the QA/QC program. Samples are prepared and analyzed by American Assay Laboratories (AAL) in Sparks, Nevada. Over 15% of the samples analyzed are control samples consisting of checks, blanks, and duplicates inserted by the Company; in addition to the control samples inserted by the lab. Drill core samples are dried, weighed crushed to 85 % passing -6 mesh, roll crushed to 85% passing -10 mesh, split 250 gram pulps, then pulverized in a closed bowl ring pulverizer to 95% passing -150 mesh, then analyzed by a 5 acid digestion for ICP analysis. All samples have passed QA/QC protocols.

Qualified and Competent Person Statement

Dr. Frank Santaguida, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. Dr. Santaguida is also a Competent Person (as defined in the JORC Code, 2012 edition) who is a practicing member of the Association of Professional Geologists of Ontario (being a 'Recognised Professional Organisation' for the purposes of the ASX Listing Rules). Dr. Santaguida is employed on a full-time basis as Vice President, Exploration for First Cobalt. He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the JORC Code.

About First Cobalt

First Cobalt is a North American pure-play cobalt company whose flagship asset is the Iron Creek Cobalt Project in Idaho, USA, which has Inferred mineral resources of 26.9 million tonnes grading 0.11% cobalt equivalent, which has an alternative underground-only scenario of 4.4 million tonnes grading 0.3% cobalt equivalent. The Company also owns the only permitted primary cobalt refinery in North America. The refinery is currently on care and maintenance and the Company is exploring a potential restart of the Refinery, which has the potential to produce 2,000 tonnes of cobalt material per year.

On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.

Trent Mell

President & Chief Executive Officer

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Estimates of Resources

Readers are cautioned that mineral resources are not economic mineral reserves and that the economic viability of resources that are not mineral reserves has not been demonstrated. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by geology, environmental, permitting, legal, title, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issues. The mineral resource estimate is classified in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum's "2014 CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" incorporated by reference into NI 43-101. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies or economic studies except for Preliminary Economic Assessment as defined under NI 43-101. Readers are cautioned not to assume that further work on the stated resources will lead to mineral reserves that can be mined economically. An Inferred Mineral Resource as defined by the CIM Standing Committee is "that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity and grade or quality are estimated on the basis of limited geological evidence and sampling. Geological evidence is sufficient to imply but not verify geological and grade or quality continuity. An Inferred Mineral Resource has a lower level of confidence than that applying to an Indicated Mineral Resource and must not be converted to a Mineral Reserve. It is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration."

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set forth in the management discussion and analysis and other disclosures of risk factors for First Cobalt, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt believes that the information and assumptions 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 times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 4, 2019) - Aura Resources Inc. (TSXV: AUU) ("Aura" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into a non-binding letter agreement (the "Letter Agreement") with Thorsen-Fordyce Merchant Capital Inc. and TF Minerals (USA) Inc. (the "TF Parties") relating to the Jefferson Canyon gold-silver project ("JCP") in southern Nevada. The agreement covers 57 unpatented claims located about 9 km northeast of Kinross' Round Mountain gold mine. Following a review of the project's historical data base, Aura entered into the Letter Agreement with the TF Parties which provides for an exclusivity period extending to May 31, 2019 in order to conclude a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the JCP over a period of up to six years. During the exclusivity period, Aura has the right to complete its due diligence on the JCP including an on-site inspection and sampling.

The JCP contains a large volcanic-hosted epithermal Au-Ag system that is essentially the same age as the nearby Round Mountain deposit, a world-class low-sulfidation (LS) epithermal deposit. Both are hosted in felsic ash-flow tuffs along the margins of calderas and both contain a strong northwest-trending structural control to veins.

The Ag:Au ratio at the JCP is highly variable with a Ag- and base-metal rich core and outer ring hosting strong Au-As-Sb-Hg values. This outer ring is more akin to classic LS systems, like Round Mountain. The core area is more typical of intermediate sulfidation (IS) epithermal vein systems in which Au is coincident with high Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn and Mn. Extensive areas of gold and silver values were identified in historical drilling but have not been confirmed: Central Ag-rich Zone: 47.2m @ 78.8 g/t Ag; 42.7m @ 54.5 g/t Ag; 48.8m @ 80.7 g/t Ag; and, 27.4m @ 0.88 g/t Au. Results from the Peripheral Au-rich Zone include: 19.8m @ 0.99 g/t Au; 25.9m @ 8.63 g/t Au; 44.2m @ 1.13 g/t Au; 32m @ 0.85 g/t Au; and, 56.4m @ 0.63 g/t Au.

Modern exploration in the JCP area began in the late 1960's when drilling of at least 134 holes comprising 17,979 m (58,985 ft) was completed in several campaigns between 1969 and 1986; nearly all of this drilling was reverse circulation. Since that time, geophysical studies were conducted over the extensive Au-Ag anomaly revealing strong alteration within the intra-volcanic package. Technological advances in mineral identification found in altered rocks, i.e. multi-spectral analysis, will provide Aura with the ability to 'fine-tune' the existing alteration model and, possibly, expansion of an emerging resource.

Robert Johansing, President and CEO of Aura, states, "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to fully review this large and exciting epithermal system. The project is located in an outstanding jurisdiction with extensive zones of apparent precious metal mineralization within broad envelopes of alteration. We look forward to confirming the historical results and expanding upon historical successes."

Robert Johansing, M.Sc. Econ. Geol., P. Geo. is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical content of this press release.

About Aura

Aura is a TSX Venture listed company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal prospects in Nunavut, Canada (43.54% interest in the Greyhound project under operation by our partner, Agnico Eagle Mines Limited), in Oaxaca, Mexico (Higo Blanco project recently optioned to Minaurum Gold Inc.) and in Arizona, USA (Gold Chain property). Aura has 27,490,128 common shares outstanding.

For further information regarding this press release contact: Robert Johansing, President and CEO at (805)455-4775 or by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Aura's web site is located at www.aurasilver.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This press release may contain forward looking statements that are made as of the date hereof and are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions which involve risks and uncertainties associated with our business including the uncertainty as to whether further exploration will result in the target(s) being delineated as a mineral resource, capital expenditures, operating costs, mineral resources, recovery rates, grades and prices, estimated goals, expansion and growth of the business and operations, the private placement financing activities of the Company, plans and references to the Company's future successes with its business and the economic environment in which the business operates. All such statements are made pursuant to the 'safe harbour' provisions of, and are intended to be forward-looking statements under, applicable Canadian securities legislation. Any statements contained herein that are statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties. We caution readers of this news release not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements as a number of factors could cause actual results or conditions to differ materially from current expectations. Please refer to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent annual MD&A and the Company's continuous disclosure documents that can be found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Aura does not intend, and disclaims any obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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.
TORONTO, March 4, 2019 /CNW/ - Orefinders Resources Inc. ("Orefinders" or the "Company") (TSX.V: ORX) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a share exchange agreement (the "Agreement") to acquire 40% of the outstanding Pacific Precious ("Pacific"), in return for issuing 10,000,000 shares (the "Orefinders Shares"). Pacific is a privately owned Canadian company which owns a 100% interest in the Kuta Ridge Gold Project (the "Project") located in Papua New Guinea. The Project has no royalties.

"This is a unique opportunity and one that we are fortunate to complete as there was plenty of competition for Kuta Ridge. Orefinders is taking a significant position in this company which owns 100% of what our team sees as one of the most geologically prospective projects we've come across. It provides Orefinders shareholders another opportunity to participate in the potential discovery of a substantial gold deposit in an area proven to host assets of exceptional size and grade. Our team has completed due diligence on site which confirmed our interest after receiving samples showing up to 238 grams per tonne gold from mineralized veins showing directly on surface." said Stephen Stewart, CEO. He continued, "In addition to Orefinders investment via a share exchange, our team will assist Pacific Precious with both its private financing and its technical developments in order to get the project to the drill stage as soon as possible. I encourage our shareholders to view the Pacific Precious presentation and photo tour."

http://www.orefinders.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/KutaRidge_2019-03.pdf

https://www.pacificprecious.com/photo-tour

About Kuta Ridge Gold Project

The Kuta Ridge Project is within an intermediate to high sulfidation epithermal system which has a long history of surface artisanal mining within a gold enriched corridor. Recent exploration results confirm high grade gold mineralization at surface, with grab samples assaying:

238.0 gpt gold

43.5 gpt gold

41.0 gpt gold

31.6 gpt gold

29.9 gpt gold

25.5 gpt gold

The project has intensive outcropping and veining on surface which gives us a view of the type of mineralization present. The Kuta Ridge project is located approximately 4 km south of Mount Hagen, the third largest city in Papua New Guinea. The property spans 8,900 hectares and is easily accessible via road with infrastructure in place, including power. No helicopters are required to access the property for exploration.

Kuta Ridge is currently subjected to small scale artisanal mining, while larger scale alluvial mining took place between 1932-1949. Although the official reported production was only 3,000 ounces of gold, the size of the excavations, which cover over 70 hectares and included an aqueduct to bring water from an adjacent drainage as well as an artificial reservoir, clearly suggest a much larger historical production than officially reported.

Charles Beaudry, M.Sc., P.Geo., geo, and V.P. Exploration and Director for Orefinders, commented, "I have been involved in PNG since the early 2000's, initially on the world-class Frieda River Project for Noranda-Falconbridge and afterwards seeking opportunities for investment with our two experienced PNG geologists. The Kuta Ridge Property, originally under license to a third party, came open in 2016 and because of serendipity and preparation we were able to submit a priority application and we were eventually awarded the exploration license after meeting with the local communities. This property is host to very high grade gold and is superbly well located near infrastructure."

About Pacific Precious

Pacific Precious, a privately-owned Canadian corporation which owns 100% of the Kuta Ridge Project, has four shareholders, the largest of which is Charles Beaudry who is also a director and VPX of Orefinders. Mr. Beaudry declared his interest to Orefinders board and abstained from voting to approve the entering into of the Agreement. Two of the other major shareholders of Pacific are local, experienced geologists based in Papua New Guinea, who are responsible for originating this Project. Pacific is currently raising seed financing of up to $400,000 at five cents per share for further development of Kuta Ridge as well as for the costs associated with any future going public process. Pacific Precious is the trade name of Kuta Ridge Exploration Inc.

About the Share Exchange Agreement

Orefinders has entered into a definitive agreement with all of the shareholders of Pacific whereby it will directly swap with the shareholders a total of 10,000,000 Orefinders shares for 10,0000,000 currently outstanding shares in Pacific which has a total of 25,000,000 shares outstanding. This gives Orefinders a 40% ownership position in Pacific. Additionally, Orefinders will assist and advise Pacific on any subsequent financings and going public transactions which may include the possibility of participating in a Plan of Arrangement or a merger with a listed shell company. The agreement is subject to the customary conditions including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange and the acceptance for listing of the Orefinders Shares.

About Orefinders Resources Inc.

Orefinders is a Gold exploration and development company focused on the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The Company is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol ORX.

QP Statement

Orefinders and Pacific Precious use rigorous quality control for its analytical work including the insertion of standards and where practical, blanks, in all batches of samples submitted to the laboratory and review of control sample results immediately upon receipt of results.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Charles Beaudry, P.Geo, Director and Vice President Exploration for Orefinders, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects."

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. Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Orefinders' assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to Orefinders. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by Orefinders with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available under Orefinders' profile at www.sedar.com
TORONTO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: WDO) (Wesdome or the Company) today announces update of underground drifting and drilling results from the late 2018 and early 2019 exploration and development activities at the Companys wholly-owned Eagle River Mine in Wawa, Ontario.

The 2019 exploration program is designed to drill 51,000 metres (m) of underground exploration drilling and 43,000 m of definition drilling using 4 drills that will be focused primarily to extend the 7 and 300 zones, and one underground drill will be dedicated to exploring new parallel zones of mineralization in the eastern half of the mine diorite, that remains largely under explored (see Figure 1).



Mr. Duncan Middlemiss, President and CEO commented," We are pleased with our ongoing exploration efforts at the Eagle River Mine, in particular the expansion of the 7 East and 300 West zones that remain open for ongoing drilling. As well, we are pleased with the initial confirmation of the existence of parallel zones of mineralization in the eastern portion of the mine diorite with additional drilling could add to the resource base and provide additional work places for enhanced mining flexibility and ultimately augmented production rates in the short to medium term. As our stated goal is to reach our objective of filling the Mill entirely from high grade ore from the Eagle River Mine. We remain committed to aggressive exploration utilizing four underground drills and one to two surface drills in order to identify additional resources and workplaces for increased future production profiles. In addition, we have one surface drill following up on 300 West zone at upper levels west of the interpreted diorite contact. Results on this structure are expected in late Q1 or early Q2.

No. 7 Zone



The company previously announced that ongoing development on 1038 m level confirmed that mineralization east of the western core of the 7 zone, have merged to form one zone now defined over 146 metres in strike length and grading 30.5 g/t Au over an average true thickness of 2.61 metres (see December 6, 2018). Two sill drifts and initial drilling along strike to the east has now confirmed that the eastern extension of the 7 zone occurs to the southeast side of a northeast transecting diabase dyke, that is interpreted to offset the eastern extension approximately 20 metres, which remains open down plunge and to the east along strike (see Figure 2).

Capped Assay Highlights from Drilling and Development (Table 1):

Drift 1006 m-level: 9.94 g/t Au over strike length of 52 m and 1.5 m average thickness





Drift 1006 m-level: 9.94 g/t Au over strike length of 52 m and 1.5 m average thickness Drift 1022 m-level: 19.2 g/t Au over 51 m and 1.9 m average thickness





Hole 844-E-224: 16.0 g/t Au cut over 3.5 m true width





Hole 844-E-227: 29.4 g/t Au cut over 1.5 m true width





Hole 844-E-228: 31.6 g/t Au cut over 1.5 m true width

*Assays cut to 125 g/t Au



No. 300 West Zone



Ongoing drilling and initial drift development along the 300 West zone has confirmed the continuity and strike length of over 140 m and has extended the mineralized zone to west in excess of 50 metres further west than the previously interpreted diorite contact and remains open to the west and remains a focus for 2019 drilling and remains a focus for 2019 drilling (see Figure 3). Surface drilling is also being completed in this area to further test the up plunge extension.

Capped Assay Highlights from Drilling and Development (Table 1):

750 m-level drift: 28.8 g/t Au cut over strike length of 145 m and 1.8 m average thickness





750 m-level drift: 28.8 g/t Au cut over strike length of 145 m and 1.8 m average thickness Hole 945-E-56: 37.7 g/t Au cut over 1.5 m true width





Hole 945-E-57: 31.9 g/t Au cut over 1.5 m true width





Hole 750-E-57: 13.9 g/t Au cut over 4.9 m true width

*Assays cut to 60 g/t Au

New Parallel Zones along eastern portion of mine diorite



Initial limited drilling from the 758 m-level in the eastern half of the mine diorite has intersected what is interpreted to be parallel zones north of the past producing 6 and 8 zones and could be the possible extensions of the parallel 7 zone and 300 zone structures being mined along the western portion of the mine diorite. The interpreted 7 Zone structure is located approximately 80 m north of Zone 8 as defined by only 6 holes to date with encouraging grades and widths. In addition, one hole completed further to the east has intersected what we currently believe could be a splay from the main 6 zone shear located 21 m north of 6 zone (see Figure 4).



Both of these parallel zones are open up and down plunge and along strike and remain a focus for 2019 underground drilling, and also surface drilling will be completed to further test the up plunge extension. From a potential additional workplace perspective, these discoveries are significant as the company looks to generate ~800 tpd from the high grade underground mine with proximal development already in place.

Capped Assay Highlights from Drilling (Table 1):

Zone 7 (interpreted) Hole 758-E-244: 15.8 g/t Au cut over 3.1 m true width





Zone 7 (interpreted) Hole 758-E-244: 15.8 g/t Au cut over 3.1 m true width Zone 7 (interpreted) Hole 758-E-246: 10.0 g/t Au cut over 3.4 m true width





Zone 7 (interpreted) Hole 758-E-252: 24.3 g/t Au cut over 1.5 m true width



Zone 6 (interpreted) Hole 758-E-258: 41.4 g/t Au cut over 4.2 m true width

*Assays cut to 125 g/t Au for Zone 7 10500E and cut to140 g/t Au for Zone 6.

TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE



The sampling of, and assay data from, underground drill core is monitored through the implementation of a quality assurance - quality control (QA-QC) program designed to follow industry best practice. Samples are transported in sealed bags to Eagle River Mine assay office in Wawa, Ontario. Samples are analyzed for gold using standard fire assay technique with gravimetric finish. Wesdome inserts blanks and certified reference standard in the sample sequence for quality control.



The technical content of this release has been compiled, reviewed and approved by Michael Michaud, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration of the Company and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

ABOUT WESDOME



Wesdome Gold Mines is in its 30th year of continuous gold mining operations in Canada. The Company is 100% Canadian focused with a pipeline of projects in various stages of development. The Eagle River Complex in Wawa, Ontario is currently producing gold from two mines, the Eagle River Underground Mine and the Mishi Open pit, from a central mill. Wesdome is actively exploring its brownfields asset, the Kiena Complex in Val dOr, Quebec. The Kiena Complex is a fully permitted former mine with a 930 metre shaft and 2,000 tonne per day mill. The Company has further upside at its Moss Lake gold deposit, located 100 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is being explored and evaluated to be developed in the appropriate gold price environment. The Company has approximately 135.5 million shares issued and outstanding and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol WDO.

For further information, please contact:

220 Bay Street, Suite 1200

Toronto, ON, M5J 2W4

Toll Free: 1-866-4-WDO-TSX

Phone: 416-360-3743, Fax: 416-360-7620

Website: www.wesdome.com

This news release contains forward-looking information which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the future financial or operating performance of the Company and its projects. 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, intends, anticipates, or believes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. 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 the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date of this press release and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances, managements estimates or opinions should change, except as required by securities legislation. Accordingly, the reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company has included in this news release certain non-IFRS performance measures, including, but not limited to, mine operating profit, mining and processing costs and cash costs. Cash costs per ounce reflect actual mine operating costs incurred during the fiscal period divided by the number of ounces produced. These measures are not defined under IFRS and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as an alternative to or more meaningful than, net income (loss) or cash flow from operating activities as determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of our financial performance or liquidity. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow

Drilling Composites

Zone 6 Hole ID Uncut Grade Cut Grade True Width g/t Cut 140 g/t m 758-E-258 50.39 41.44 4.23 Zone 7 10500 E Hole ID Uncut Grade Cut Grade True Width g/t Cut 125 g/t m 758-E-244 15.81 15.81 3.14 758-E-246 10.00 10.00 3.40 758-E-252 67.44 24.26 1.50 758-E-257 7.09 7.09 1.48 758-E-258 1.14 1.14 1.52 Zone 7 East Hole ID Uncut Grade Cut Grade True Width g/t Cut 125 g/t m 844-E-222 8.51 8.51 1.52 844-E-223 5.23 5.23 1.50 844-E-224 15.99 15.99 3.45 844-E-226 9.09 9.09 3.60 844-E-227 29.35 29.35 1.49 844-E-228 31.58 31.58 1.49
GOLDEN, Colo., March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Golden Minerals Company (Golden Minerals, Golden or the Company) (NYSE American and TSX: AUMN) has begun a drilling program at its 100%-controlled El Quevar silver project located in Salta Province, Argentina.

The Company began drilling in late February, 2019. The program is expected to include approximately 3,000 meters of drilling in roughly 15 holes. Drilling is anticipated to conclude in late May or June 2019, and initial assay results are expected beginning in one to two months time.

The goal of the drilling program is to begin expanding the size of El Quevars defined resource. Golden Minerals has previously identified numerous prospective targets that lie outside the current Mineral Resource area but are within El Quevars expansive 57,000-hectare boundaries. The currently-defined resource includes over 45 million ounces of Indicated silver resources at an average grade of 482 grams per tonne silver, and covers only the Yaxtche deposit area.1

Warren M. Rehn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Minerals Company, commented, We believe there is an excellent opportunity to further expand the projects size and economic significance through additional exploration. We look forward to receiving the programs first assays within the next couple of months.

1 Source: NI 43-101 Technical Report on Updated Mineral Resource Estimate, February 26, 2018. Report was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects by the independent firm of Amec Foster Wheeler E&C Services, Inc., a Wood company. See http://www.goldenminerals.com/projects/technical-reports/ for the complete report.

About Golden Minerals

Golden Minerals is a Delaware corporation based in Golden, Colorado. The Company is primarily focused on advancing its El Quevar silver property in Argentina and on acquiring and advancing mining properties in Mexico with emphasis on areas near its Velardena processing plants.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Regarding Estimates of Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources

This press release uses the terms "mineral resources" and "indicated mineral resources" which are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101. We advise U.S. investors that these terms are not recognized under the SEC Industry Guide 7. Accordingly, the disclosures regarding mineralization in this news release may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by Golden Minerals in the reports it files with the SEC. The estimation of measured resources and indicated resources involves greater uncertainty as to their existence and economic feasibility than the estimation of proven and probable reserves. US investors are cautioned not to assume that any or all of Minerals Resources are economically or legally mineable or that these Mineral Resources will ever be converted into Mineral Reserves. In addition, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant reserves as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit amounts. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our Form 10-K and other SEC filings.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding expectations surrounding the timing and scope of the drilling program at El Quevar and our goal to expand the size and economics of the El Quevar project. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including: the reasonability of the economic assumptions at the basis of the results of the El Quevar PEA and technical report; changes in interpretations of geological, geostatistical, metallurgical, mining or processing information and interpretations of the information resulting from future exploration, analysis or mining and processing experience; declines in general economic conditions and continued excessive inflation in Argentina; fluctuations in exchange rates and changes in political conditions, in tax, royalty, environmental and other laws in Argentina; new information from drilling programs or other exploration or analysis; unexpected variations in mineral grades, types and metallurgy; fluctuations in silver prices; failure of mined material or veins mined to meet expectations;. Golden Minerals assumes no obligation to update this information. Additional risks relating to Golden Minerals may be found in the periodic and current reports filed with the SEC by Golden Minerals, including the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lupaka Gold Corp. ("Lupaka Gold" or the Company") (TSX-V: LPK, FRA: LQP) reports that discussions between community leaders and the authorities have resulted in the end of the illegal demonstration at the Companys Invicta Gold Development Project (Invicta). As previously announced on October 25, 2018, access to Invicta had been restricted due to a blockade by community members from the nearby community of Paran. The Company has agreed to enter into a formal dialogue table with Paran in order to re-establish a positive working relationship with the community.

We are very pleased to announce the positive conclusion of the illegal blockade and would like to thank our employees, the authorities, and our community partners that worked together to reach this successful result. We can now get back to executing on our plan to bring Invicta into production. We look forward to continuing to work to build strong relationships with Invictas local communities, including Paran.

Will Ansley, President and CEO of Lupaka

Although the illegal blockade has been disbanded, access to site is limited due to road damage sustained from local heavy rainfalls. The access roads to Invicta have sustained damages from both the Lacsanga and Paran routes, with partial access possible from the Paran route. The community of Paran has granted the Company access to Invicta by way of their access route, and the Company is in the process of conducting a full inspection of the camp in order to ensure that mine infrastructure has not been impacted by the prolonged demonstration. Preliminary evaluations indicate the camp remains in good condition, however underground inspections remain outstanding. Repairs to the road through the Lacsanga community will commence later this week and it is anticipated that full access can be restored within a few weeks, depending on the availability of equipment and personnel.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.

About Lupaka Gold

Lupaka is an active Canadian-based company focused on creating shareholder value through discoveries and strategic development of its assets in some of the most prolific mining regions of Peru.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Will Ansley, President & C.E.O.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tel: (416) 862-5257

or visit the Companys profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including all statements, trend analysis and other information relative to anticipated future events or results. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to: discussions with the protesters and the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines; discussions with the protesters and the lifting of the blockade; the size and timing of the processing of material from Invicta; the relationship with partner communities; the timing and scope of the repairs to the access road.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made and which the Company believes are reasonable. Such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: that discussions with the communities are not productive; that toll mills do not achieve planned production; that repairs to the access road take longer than anticipated. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the regular course of business and due to market conditions. Additional risks are described in the Companys annual information form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Lupaka Gold does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
On February 24, Arab and European leaders attended a summit in Egypt, seeking to strengthen cooperation in several areas such as immigration regulation, counter-terrorism, trade, investment and climate change, as well as to address key problems in the region, like the return of stability to Libya, Syria and Yemen, and the Palestinian issue.



This is the first summit that brings together the European Union and the League of Arab States at the level of heads of state and government. According to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, "The two blocs agreed to hold regular summit meetings, with the next one to be held in Brussels in 2022."

Where challenges have grown to affect not only the Arab countries themselves but the lives of people in the EU as well, the Europeans realized that they cannot achieve their own strategic objectives in the region without coordination with Arab countries.

What reasons have prompted the EU and the Arab League to establish this summit to serve as a continuous mechanism?

Confusion over illegal immigration to Europe

The phenomenon of illegal immigration is a major problem for the EU, where hundreds of thousands flow to the European continent from Africa and the Arab areas to escape from civil wars, poverty and unemployment.

For example, African illegal immigrants use the shores of the Arab countries to reach Europe, especially Libya. Moreover, many Arab countries are sheltering millions of migrants in their own territories, such as Egypt and Jordan, plus the United States, all of which need support from Europe.

The number of immigrants to the European continent in 2015 reached 1.2 million; countries of the EU have made efforts to find solutions to this phenomenon, but have failed so far.

Abandonment of the Palestinian question

Since the announcement by U.S. President Trump of the unilateral transfer of the U.S. embassy to East Jerusalem, the Palestinian authority has declared a halt to America's participation in the peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The Palestinian issue is an important issue for Arabs and the region, and is exploited by hardliners to justify their attacks on European countries and America as the biggest supporters of Israel. The Europeans and the Arabs need to discuss seriously to find a new way to bring negotiations back, and to find a solution to the Palestinian issue.

Coordination to stabilize Syria, Yemen and Libya and fight terrorism

With the United States' unilateral policy in the wars in the Arab region, the EU sees the importance of finding common ground on the part of the Arab states, and considers the implementation of UN resolutions and envoys to Syria, Yemen and Libya, as the road to ending war.

With the withdrawal of the United States from Syria, the risk of ISIL regrouping or redeploying in other areas is high, and as the EU considers the announcement of victory over ISIL premature, it will try to combine all efforts to combat terrorism.

Strengthening trade relations

The EU is seeking to increase trade with Arab countries, especially with the departure of Britain from the European Union.

The EU is third in the world in trade with the Arab nations, after the United States and China by 8.4 percent, and is fourth in imports, after the United States, China and Russia.

Last year, the EU achieved a trade surplus with 17 Arab countries amounting to 41 billion euros, in exchange for a deficit with four countries: Iraq, Libya, Algeria and Saudi Arabia, the latter owing to its oil exports to the EU.

China's position on Arab-European rapprochement

China supports the efforts of the international community to achieve peace in the region and all UN resolutions in this regard. The coordination of positions between the Arab League and the EU also serves the Belt and Road Initiative, which calls for participation in building a common future for all.

The stability of the region supports China's investment in Arab countries, especially Libya, which has had strong economic ties with China.

The cessation of war opens the way for reconstruction, which will represent an opportunity for Chinese companies to participate in construction and investment in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya.

In short, the establishment of a new mechanism of communication between the Arab states and European countries is a good idea to serve the stability of the two regions, and a major step forward in meeting major challenges, although it is premature to judge the effectiveness of this mechanism.

Hisham Abu Bakr Metwally is the first economist researcher with the Central Department for Export & Import Policy under the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry.

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.
 Flash

Troops of India and Pakistan Monday exchanged heavy shelling and targeted each other's positions on Line of Control (LoC), dividing Kashmir, officials said.

The two sides exchanged fire early Monday in Akhnoor sector of Jammu district, the winter capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Pakistan forces again resorted to heavy mortar shelling along LoC on Indian positions and civilian areas in Jammu district today, which was retaliated strongly and effectively," an official said.

According to officials the shelling lasted for more than three hours. However, no loss of life was reported in the skirmishes on the Indian side.

"The firing from across LoC started around 3:00 a.m. (local time) and stopped at 6:30 a.m. (local time)," a defense official said.

For the past one week there has been a flare-up on LoC in Kashmir. Both Indian as well as Pakistan-controlled parts have suffered civilian as well as troop casualties during the skirmishes.

The daily firings have forced population on both sides of the divide to migrate to safer locations.

The latest tension between New Delhi and Islamabad escalated after India carried out an air strike inside Pakistan, triggering a retaliation. Though the situation has de-escalated to some extent following calls of restraint from several countries, the situation on LoC was yet to show desired results.
By MARY CLARE JALONICK , Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP)  Democrats launched a sweeping new probe of President Donald Trump on Monday, an aggressive investigation that threatens to shadow the president through the 2020 election season with inquiries into his White House, campaign and family businesses.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said that his committee has begun the probe into possible obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power and that the panel is sending document requests to 81 people linked to the president and his associates.

The broad investigation could be setting the stage for an impeachment effort, although Democratic leaders have pledged to investigate all avenues and review special counsel Robert Mueller's report before trying any drastic action. Nadler said the document requests, with responses to most due by March 18, are a way to "begin building the public record."

"Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms," Nadler said. "Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee."

Now that Democrats hold a majority in the House, the new probe is a sign that Trump's legal and political peril is nowhere near over, even as the special counsel's Russia investigation winds down. The move all but guarantees that potentially damaging allegations will follow Trump for months to come as Democrats try to keep them in the public eye.

It is also an indication of the Democrats' current strategy  to flood the administration with oversight requests, keeping Trump and his associates on trial publicly and also playing a long game when it comes to possible impeachment. While some more liberal members of the Democratic caucus would like to see Trump impeached now, Democratic leaders have been more cautious.

Trump told reporters after Nadler's probe was announced that "I cooperate all the time with everybody."

He added: "You know, the beautiful thing is  no collusion. It's all a hoax."

Mueller is investigating Russian intervention in the 2016 election and whether Trump's campaign conspired with Russia. But the House probes go far beyond collusion. The Democratic-majority House intelligence panel has announced a separate probe into Russian interference and also Trump's foreign financial interests. The House Oversight and Reform Committee has launched multiple investigations into all facets of the administration.

Several other committees are probing related matters, and while many might overlap, the leaders say they are working together on the investigations.

The list of 81 names and entities touches on all parts of Trump's life  the White House, his businesses, his campaign and the committee that oversaw the transition from campaign to presidency. There are also people connected to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, including participants in a meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer before the election.

In a letter to the White House, the committee asks for information surrounding former FBI Director James Comey's termination, communications with Justice Department officials, the Trump Tower meeting and multiple other matters. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday the White House had received the letter and that "the counsel's office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time."

The list includes two of the president's sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and many of his current and former close advisers, including Steve Bannon, longtime spokeswoman Hope Hicks, former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and former White House Counsel Don McGahn.

The letters to Hicks and Spicer ask them to turn over any work diaries, journals or "a description of daily events related to your employment" by Trump. The committee asked McGahn for any documents related to any discussion involving President Trump regarding the possibility of firing Mueller around June of 2017 "or any conversation in which President Trump stated, in words or substance, that he wanted the Mueller investigation shut down, restrained or otherwise limited in or around December 2017."

The committee seeks from Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer who called Trump a "con man" and a "cheat" in congressional testimony last week, "any audio or video recordings" of conversations with Trump or conversations about his presidential campaign.

The list of document requests also includes the National Rifle Association, Trump's embattled charitable foundation, which he is shutting down after agreeing to a court-supervised process, and officials at the FBI and Justice Department.

The committee expects some people to produce right away, and others may eventually face subpoenas, according to a person familiar with the investigation. The person declined to be named to discuss the committee's internal process.

Now in a majority in the House, Nadler said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," the Democrats are simply doing "our job to protect the rule of law" after Republicans during the first two years of Trump's term were "shielding the president from any proper accountability."

"We're far from making decisions" about impeachment, he said.

The top Republican on the committee, Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, said Monday that Nadler was "recklessly prejudging the president for obstruction" and is now pursuing evidence to back up his conclusion.

"We don't even know what the Mueller report says, but Democrats are already hedging their bets," Collins said.
SALEM, Ore.  The state of Oregon will lead a national lawsuit against the Trump administration over a new "gag rule" that prevents family planning clinics from referring patients for an abortion, according to a statement released today by the office of Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon's Attorney General.

The "gag rule," as opponents are calling it, applies to family planning programs funded by a federal grant program known as Title X. According to Rosenblum's office, Title X funds access to contraception, breast and cervical cancer screenings, wellness exams, screening and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and other related health services. As a rule, Title X does not fund abortions.

What this new rule means is that providers in Oregon who receive Title X funding will have to decide whether they will refuse the funding or cave to the requirements of this new rule. Neither is a good or fair option for women and families who often have no other access to medical care, said Attorney General Rosenblum. Im proud that Oregon is taking the lead in this important lawsuit. Oregonians have voted time and time again to support womens reproductive health freedoms.

Under the new rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), providers in any clinic that receives Title X funding will be barred from referring a patient for an abortion  even if the patient directly requests that information  and may prevent care providers from even discussing the topic of abortion with a patient.

Rosenblum's office said that the new rule also mandates that every pregnant patient receive a referral for prenatal care, "regardless of the needs or the wishes of the patient."

"In addition to the 'gag rule,' the new rule will mean that many providers who receive Title X funds will need to change many of their operational systems in order to receive funding," Rosenblum's office said. "For example, health clinics will need to open another location, or create a separate entrance for patients, have separate examination rooms, hire separate personnel to work at separate workstations, maintain a separate phone number and website, and have separate electronic medical systems in order to continue to accept Title X funds."

Oregons Title X clinics served 37,012 patients in 2017, according to Rosenblum's office, and in 2018 Oregon received over $3 million in Title X funds. Oregon has received funding for Title X services in Oregon since 1970, and Title X clinics are located in almost every county in Oregon.

The Title X program is administered by the Oregon Health Authoritys Reproductive Health Program. Two-thirds of the patients served at Oregons Title X clinics are reportedly "at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, and 95 percent were below 250 percent of the federal poverty level."

Governor Kate Brown has signalled her support for the lawsuit, and New York Attorney General Letitia James has joined Oregon in leading the suit. 21 state Attorneys General have joined the lawsuit in addition to Oregon.

Everyone deserves the ability make their own decisions about their health care, said Governor Brown. This is yet another attack from the Trump Administration on women and families, and it is appalling that the federal government wants to rob individuals of the right to complete medical information and full access to the critical health care services they rely on. I will continue to fight back against this administration as they continue to undermine health care for those who need it most.

In a summary of the rule change published by HHS, the department had this to say:

"The 2019 regulation places a high priority on preserving the patient/healthcare provider relationship, in order to promote optimal health for every Title X patient. As such, it requires medically necessary referrals, such as referrals for prenatal care. To preserve open communication between the patient and the healthcare provider, the regulation permits, but no longer requires, nondirective pregnancy counseling, including nondirective counseling on abortion. Consistent with the statutory requirement that no funds may be expended where abortion is a method of family planning, this regulation no longer requires, and affirmatively prohibits, referral for abortion as a method of family planning."
ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. (AP)  Authorities in North Carolina have arrested a woman who they say vandalized a cemetery.

The Graham County Sheriff's Office says 58-year-old Dawn Renee Phillips of Pendleton, Oregon, is charged with 61 counts of desecrating grave sites and is jailed on a $125,000 bond. Lt. James Hyde said Phillips, who had a Kentucky driver's license, appeared before a judge Monday, but it's not known if she has an attorney.

The sheriff's office says surveillance cameras showed a woman walking around a church and fellowship hall last Saturday. While she was the only person seen in the video, deputies can't rule out another person being involved.

Hyde said investigators got a break in the case when a woman taking pictures at a rest area got a photo of the suspect's car.
MASON CITY, Iowa  Mason City mayor Bill Schickel is calling a $10M, four-story apartment complex that is being proposed for downtown Mason City one of the first major spinoffs of the River City Renaissance Project.

Related: More on the River City Renaissance Project.

Schickel announced Monday that Talon Development, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is proposing the project that would bring a four-story, 113-unit apartment complex to downtown, with rent at market rates.

Schickel said it would be located in the overflow parking lot south of Southbridge Mall.

He adds that it would be a great asset to the area, especially to a riverfront that is underutilized.

"Housing is a priority to the city council. In particularly, downtown housing. There's a renewed interest in this kind of thing. These will be quality apartments right in a prime location right on the riverfront, right next to a re-energized mall, and we think it will be advantageous to Mason City.

"If this goes through, yes it would use some of it [parking]. But that is a highly underutilized overflow parking, and we feel we can make some other parking arrangements."



The city council is expected to set a public hearing date during Tuesdays council meeting. Schickel is hoping that groundbreaking could begin this summer.
BYRON, Minn.  Students at Byron Middle School will be back in class Monday.

This comes after the district sent students home early on Thursday and cancelled classes on Friday for concerns of snow on the roof.

In an email, Superintendent Joey Page said this is following a structural capacity assessment and recommendations from engineers, which included removing upwards of 140 tons of snow.

He said the district will maintain regular physical inspections of all facilities.
CHATFIELD, Minn.  Lori Janet is left picking up the pieces after a fire destroyed her home on 132nd Avenue SE in Chatfield Wednesday night.

She learned about the fire while dropping off one of her daughters at the airport. Her neighbor saw the smoke and called first responders.

He goes, my wife had to call 911 your place is on fire, Janet said.

But with roads too icy for crews to get to the house, her home burned down.

It's hard, it's difficult, I don't know if it's really sunk in with me yet, she said.

Luckily, no one was home at the time, but some pets were. The family is still missing two dogs and a number of cats.

I don't think they made it out. I've been out there and I put food out for them, and haven't seen any tracks or nothing. The kids' animals were pretty important to them so they were pretty sad, Janet said.

Fire crews say a wooden stove burning could be to blame for starting the blaze.

Nothing is yet recovered from whats left of her home and now, communities across Minnesota are coming together to help.

The relatives house her family is staying at is filled with boxes and bags full of donations to help her family get back on their feet.

F&M Community Bank has a donation space for her family at its locations in Chatfield, Rochester, and Preston.

Different organizations are also sharing her familys story on social media, resulting in some donations coming in all the way from Winona and even Alaska.

A GoFundMe page is also set up to help her family, where over $1,000 is already raised.

It's overwhelming the support I have from family and friends, the community, and communities I don't even know, Janet said. I cant, thank everybody enough, I mean how do you say it? It's just overwhelming, it really is.

The American Red Cross is also helping the Janet family rebuild their lives. Lori Janet hopes to have a new, permanent home for her family by summer.
OAKDALE, Minn. (AP)  The Minnesota State Patrol says a semi driver was killed when his load of steel beams shifted and crashed into the cab of his rig.

The patrol says 26-year-old Nelson Masse was southbound on Interstate 694 Saturday afternoon in Oakdale when he hit the brakes and the steel beams shifted into the cab, killing him.

No crash occurred as a result. The interstate was shut down for more than three hours as the accident was investigated and the scene was cleared.
ST. PAUL, Minn.  A man sentenced on a gun charge after stealing a Rochester police squad car wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. The Minnesota Court of Appeals isnt letting him.

Travers Davel McDaniel, 25 of Rochester, pleaded guilty to felon in possession of a firearm after a September 2017 incident where police say he jumped into a police car and drove away. When they found the car and McDaniel hiding nearby, police say the rifle in the car had been removed from its ceiling holder and placed on the passenger seat.

McDaniel was sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $6,445.02 in restitution. He appealed, arguing that his plea was inaccurate because he never admitted to touching or exercising control over the rifle.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals says McDaniel was fleeing law enforcement with the rifle in clear view inside the stolen police car, which was then found in a different position, and that McDaniel agreed during his sentencing that he had been in possession of the weapon. Therefore, the Court rejects his appeal.
BYRON, Minn. - After spending a night in freezing temperatures and having his core body temperature drop to 85 degrees, a southern Minnesota man is expected to be OK.

Hes not expected to suffer any long term effects, the Olmsted County Sheriffs Office said.

Authorities say at 7:04 a.m. Saturday, a passerby reported finding a man lying in the roadway in the 1500 block of 23rd St. NW.

Authorities say the 51-year-old man left his friends house at 10 p.m. Friday. While driving home, his car became stuck in a snowbank. The man, who is from Mantorville, decided he would try to walk home but slipped on the ice about a block from where his car was.

Authorities say he tried to use his phone but it didnt work due to the cold.

Gold Cross arrived on scene and used warming blankets before taking him to St. Marys Hospital. His core body temp was 85 degrees when he arrived at the hospital.
Wealthy parents and grandparents who have dutifully planned ahead for their childrens futures should consider this cautionary tale. Its 1998: You accumulated sizable estate assets and you and your lawyer created an irrevocable dynasty trust for your infant son to protect his legacy and provide him a long-term financial safety net. You were a thoughtful and loving parent. Its 2018: A lot has happened over the past 20 years. The business world has changed and the path to independent adulthood lies obscured in your sons generation's new definition of success: Do what makes you happy, when it makes you happy. Within this paradigm, your son turned into a somewhat lazy young adult with a recent college degree in the History of the Ottoman Empire. Yes, it's a just BA, and no, there is no Ph.D. in his future. With a resume full of throwaway summer jobs, your son moved back home with no career prospects. Then, the icing on the cake: Your estate planning attorney calls to remind you she will be making the first sizable distribution from your sons trust this month. Hearing you groan, she gently reminds you that he can use the money in any manner he sees fit. You rightfully worry that he will quit looking for a job the minute he gets the money and become a trust fund baby.

You ask your estate planner to stop the distribution and beg her to save your son from himself. If he gets this money now, he'll never get a job and move out. Unfortunately, the trust you asked her to prepare is irrevocable and cannot be amended. You Are Not Alone Sound familiar? You and thousands of Americans are in the same boat, looking to protect your adult children from themselves. Thirty years ago, conventional wisdom was to draft irrevocable trusts. Estate planners didn't foresee that changing economic and societal circumstances could backfire on the client. No one did. Until recently, changing an irrevocable trust was next to impossible in most states. Fortunately, thats starting to change. At the end of 2018, 25 states have decanting statutes allowing a broken trust to be fixed. And on Jan. 1, 2019, California joined the club with legislation that just went into effect allowing you to fix a broken irrevocable trust  at least in part and for very limited situations. The process known as decanting lets you pour the assets out of an old inadequate irrevocable trust into a new irrevocable trust with more suitable administrative and dispositive provisions for the changed circumstances. This Do-Over Trust can rectify unwanted provisions of an old trust with new terms in a new trust. All decanting statutes are not created equal. Many states decanting laws, like Californias new statute, are quite restrictive and have onerous notice requirements, frustrating some who wish to change the trust provisions but find the requirements to be impractical. Therefore, if the broken trust contains a change of situs provision (as most well-drafted trusts do), consider moving the trust situs to another state, like Nevada, Delaware or South Dakota, which have much more flexibility, and then decant under that states laws. Why You May Want to Decant a Trust Besides the foregoing example, additional reasons to decant a trust include:

Extending the term of the trust: For extended protection to trust assets, if, for example, the old irrevocable trust was set to end at the death of the creators children. Say the trust has significant assets now. The creator may wish to keep the assets in trust for multiple generations  a dynasty trust. Nevadas trust statute allows a trust to last for 365 years before it must end.

For extended protection to trust assets, if, for example, the old irrevocable trust was set to end at the death of the creators children. Say the trust has significant assets now. The creator may wish to keep the assets in trust for multiple generations  a dynasty trust. Nevadas trust statute allows a trust to last for 365 years before it must end. Changing a support trust to a discretionary trust: Changing distributions from mandatory to discretionary could protect against pending liabilities, creditor claims, tax liens or marriage dissolutions.

Changing distributions from mandatory to discretionary could protect against pending liabilities, creditor claims, tax liens or marriage dissolutions. Correcting a drafting error: Perhaps the trust doesnt contain Special Needs Provisions for a beneficiary who is disabled. Now, the trust may be changed to include special needs provisions allowing the beneficiaries to receive these important provisions.

Perhaps the trust doesnt contain Special Needs Provisions for a beneficiary who is disabled. Now, the trust may be changed to include special needs provisions allowing the beneficiaries to receive these important provisions. Changing the governing law: For example, to avoid state income tax.

For example, to avoid state income tax. Combining trusts for greater efficiencies: Trust administration can be costly in payment of trustee fees and tax compliance fees. Combining trust may create more efficiencies in administration.

Trust administration can be costly in payment of trustee fees and tax compliance fees. Combining trust may create more efficiencies in administration. Qualifying a trust to hold S Corporation shares: Allowing valuable estate planning and asset protection opportunities. Decanting is a relatively new concept, and the legal community is just discovering what planning opportunities exist to fix poorly drafted or antiquated irrevocable trusts previously thought to be non-correctable. This is a positive option many are now considering.
Senior Producers, Larger-Cap Near-Term Production

Aluminum Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Alcoa Inc AA 2.0 US$29.66 185 $5,502 3.01 3.58 1.87 8.3 15.9 6.55 2.38 5.28 12.5 5.6 7.4 0.0%

Alumina Ltd AWC 2.2 US$1.81 2880 $5,199 0.13 0.24 0.18 7.5 10.0 0.09 0.22 0.17 8.1 10.7 6.7 13.9%

Aluminum Corp China Ltd (ADR) ACH 2.5 CNY$2.81 17023 $9,960 0.09 0.12 0.14 23.5 19.6 0.88 0.81 1.00 3.5 2.8 14.2 0.0%

Century Aluminum CENX 2.7 US$8.93 88 $787 0.36 (0.14) (0.27) -- -- 0.59 (0.43) 0.41 -- 21.7 34.7 0.0%

United Company Rusal Ltd (HK) 486 1.9 US$0.48 15193 $7,277 0.07 0.13 0.12 3.8 3.9 0.11 0.09 0.12 5.3 4.1 9.9 0.0%

Average 10.8 12.4 7.3 9.0 14.6

Iron Ore

Cliffs Natural Resources CLF 2.3 US$10.89 293 $3,186 0.43 3.71 1.77 2.9 6.2 1.15 1.57 2.33 6.9 4.7 12.5 0.7%

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (AU) FMG 2.9 US$4.23 3079 $13,036 0.51 0.46 0.54 9.3 7.9 0.94 0.71 0.84 6.0 5.0 4.1 7.7%

Kumba Iron Ore Ltd (SA) KIO 3.8 ZAR$366.70 322 $8,389 30.26 30.06 36.78 12.2 10.0 52.91 47.32 58.19 7.7 6.3 6.4 10.7%

Labrador Iron Ore Royalty (CN) LIF 2.5 C$32.82 64 $1,580 2.46 2.17 3.25 15.1 10.1 2.61 2.38 3.26 13.8 10.1 22.7 3.6%

Mount Gibson Iron Limited (AU) MGX 2.5 AUD$0.78 1128 $619 0.03 0.06 0.08 13.0 9.5 0.05 0.08 0.08 9.6 9.4 19.8 6.9%

Average 10.5 8.7 8.8 7.1 13.1

Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets.

The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items.

Thomson Consensus Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters.

Base Metals & Diversified

Large Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Anglo American PLC (UK) AAL 2.3 US$26.40 1405 $37,096 2.53 2.50 2.65 10.6 10.0 6.48 5.50 5.43 4.8 4.9 7.5 4.5%

Antofagasta PLC (UK) ANTO 2.5 US$12.45 986 $12,331 0.76 0.55 0.69 22.7 18.0 2.12 1.67 2.01 7.5 6.2 10.0 3.6%

BHP Billiton Ltd BHP 2.9 US$26.32 5058 $126,090 1.53 1.81 1.81 14.5 14.6 3.30 3.32 3.21 7.9 8.2 8.6 5.1%

China Molybdenum Co Ltd (HK) 3993 2.5 CNY$3.24 21599 $14,520 0.14 0.24 0.23 13.3 14.0 0.36 0.42 0.39 7.7 8.2 46.6 0.0%

Freeport McMoran C&G FCX 2.6 US$12.87 1449 $18,649 1.17 1.52 0.49 8.5 26.3 3.22 2.65 1.69 4.9 7.6 7.2 1.9%

Glencore International PLC (UK) GLEN 2.0 US$4.02 13905 $55,880 0.39 0.41 0.39 9.8 10.3 0.82 0.81 0.81 5.0 4.9 8.6 5.4%

Grupo Mexico (MX) GMEXICOB 2.6 US$2.49 7785 $19,392 0.20 0.17 0.25 14.6 10.1 0.43 0.22 0.35 11.3 7.1 8.1 6.9%

Hindustan Zinc (IN) HZ 2.9 INR$270.85 4225 $16,157 20.96 20.37 21.65 13.3 12.5 21.92 24.17 26.67 11.2 10.2 8.5 2.2%

MMC Norilsk Nickel (RU) GMKN -- RU$5,429.84 158 $33,830 -- 899.94 1210.92 6.0 4.5 -- 689.72 1388.13 7.9 3.9 12.3 6.0%

Rio Tinto PLC (UK) RIO 2.6 US$57.51 1637 $97,760 4.83 5.12 5.19 11.2 11.1 7.77 6.88 8.02 8.4 7.2 8.3 6.3%

Sesa Sterlite Ltd (ADR) SSLT 2.6 INR$173.45 3702 $9,066 18.89 18.89 24.67 9.2 7.0 52.24 47.87 55.71 3.6 3.1 5.1 8.4%

South32 Ltd (AU) S32 2.5 US$2.77 5051 $13,984 0.23 0.25 0.24 11.0 11.3 0.37 0.38 0.42 7.3 6.5 7.5 4.8%

Southern Copper Corp SCCO 2.8 US$35.77 773 $27,652 0.94 2.00 2.27 17.9 15.8 2.62 3.02 3.02 11.8 11.8 14.7 4.5%

Sumitomo Metal Mining (JP) 5713 2.4 JPY$3,250 291 $8,446 232.51 290.89 268.44 11.2 12.1 400.09 516.48 456.04 6.3 7.1 10.5 4.0%

Teck Resources Ltd TCK 1.8 C$29.20 571 $12,535 4.45 4.07 3.63 7.2 8.0 8.84 7.62 7.16 3.8 4.1 6.1 0.7%

Vale SA (ADR) VALE 2.6 US$46.77 5284 $65,431 4.39 4.92 6.99 9.5 6.7 7.79 8.93 8.98 5.2 5.2 9.1 3.4%

Average 11.9 12.0 7.2 6.6 11.2

Mid Cap

Assore Ltd (SA) ASR 3.3 ZAR$363.99 140 $3,609 50.01 52.38 50.20 6.9 7.3 14.92 22.87 18.02 15.9 20.2 14.6 7.6%

Aurubis AG (GR) NDA 2.4 EUR$47.97 45 $2,452 5.38 5.65 5.07 8.5 9.5 9.13 5.22 7.43 9.2 6.5 6.8 3.6%

Boliden AB (SW) BOL 2.5 SEK$252.15 274 $7,468 25.06 26.32 21.07 9.6 12.0 46.57 43.03 38.53 5.9 6.5 7.1 4.6%

Eramet (FR) ERA 2.4 EUR$53.80 27 $1,629 7.03 1.83 9.00 29.4 6.0 23.79 16.01 21.27 3.4 2.5 5.4 --

Exxaro Resources Ltd (SA) EXX 1.7 ZAR$146.70 359 $3,737 4.50 25.77 26.10 5.7 5.6 9.80 16.19 23.26 9.1 6.3 9.4 7.4%

First Quantum Minerals (CN) FM 1.8 US$11.43 689 $7,877 (0.16) 0.71 0.80 16.1 14.3 1.62 2.87 2.17 4.0 5.3 16.2 0.1%

Iluka Resources Ltd (AU) ILU 2.3 AUD$9.14 422 $2,733 0.23 0.72 0.94 12.8 9.7 0.99 1.49 1.27 6.1 7.2 -- 3.8%

Jiangxi Copper Co "H" (HK) 358 2.5 CNY$9.16 3463 $6,751 0.48 0.74 0.77 12.4 11.8 0.72 1.70 1.44 5.4 6.4 12.5 2.4%

Kazakhmys PLC (UK) KAZ 2.5 US$8.74 471 $4,133 1.07 1.18 1.10 7.4 8.0 1.68 1.60 1.60 5.5 5.5 26.0 1.8%

KGHM Polska Miedz (PO) KGH 3.4 PLN$101.50 200 $5,360 7.84 8.86 12.45 11.5 8.2 15.27 16.48 23.84 6.2 4.3 5.9 0.0%

Lundin Mining Corp (CN) LUN 2.0 US$5.11 734 $3,746 0.56 0.30 0.28 17.0 18.3 1.14 0.70 0.75 7.3 6.8 5.8 0.0%

MMG Ltd (HK) 1208 2.8 US$0.49 8052 $3,929 0.02 0.01 0.03 39.7 17.8 0.29 0.18 0.19 2.8 2.6 13.9 0.0%

Turquoise Hill Resources TRQ 3.0 US$1.74 2012 $3,542 0.09 0.13 0.05 13.1 38.5 0.06 0.14 0.06 12.8 28.9 13.7 0.0%

Vale Indonesia Tbk PT (ID) INCO 2.0 US$0.27 9936 $2,742 (0.00) 0.01 0.01 45.8 25.0 0.02 0.02 0.02 13.1 13.4 18.0 0.0%

Vedanta Resources PLC (UK) VED -- US$10.85 285 $3,089 0.43 0.87 1.24 12.5 8.7 5.26 9.96 12.60 1.1 0.9 -- 6.6%

Average 16.6 13.4 7.2 8.2 11.9

Small Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Capstone Mining Corp (CN) CS 2.0 US$0.53 400 $210 (0.02) 0.08 0.05 6.6 10.3 0.29 0.34 0.24 1.5 2.2 2.9 0.0%

Hudbay Minerals HBM 2.3 US$6.83 261 $1,784 0.61 0.40 0.22 17.1 30.4 2.07 1.84 1.60 3.7 4.3 5.0 0.3%

Independence Group NL (AU) IGO 2.4 AUD$4.80 590 $2,007 0.08 0.12 0.22 39.8 22.1 0.34 0.60 0.68 8.0 7.1 18.9 1.0%

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd (CN) IVP 2.1 US$2.60 1015 $2,642 (0.14) (0.03) (0.03) -- -- (0.05) (0.02) (0.01) -- -- -- 0.0%

Mechel OAO (ADR) MTL 4.0 RU$77.47 555 $701 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 8.3 0.0%

Mineral Resources Ltd (AU) MIN 1.8 AUD$14.96 188 $1,991 1.15 1.00 1.11 15.0 13.4 1.89 1.70 1.51 8.8 9.9 8.8 0.0%

Mitsui Mining & Smelting (JP) 5706 2.6 JPY$2,735 57 $1,400 72.45 57.31 252.17 47.7 10.8 532.87 637.00 823.29 4.3 3.3 6.6 3.1%

Outokumpu (FN) OUT1V 2.9 EUR$3.60 416 $1,703 0.83 0.34 0.28 10.6 12.9 0.75 0.52 0.85 6.9 4.3 9.1 4.7%

Oz Minerals (AU) OZL 2.6 AUD$10.12 324 $2,321 0.77 0.73 0.55 13.8 18.4 1.15 1.45 1.33 7.0 7.6 7.6 2.3%

Philex Mining Corp (PH) PX 3.0 Php$4.02 4940 $383 0.34 0.27 0.16 14.9 25.1 -- -- -- -- -- 7.1 2.2%

Sandfire Resources NL (AU) SFR 3.1 AUD$7.11 160 $803 0.64 0.73 0.95 9.7 7.5 1.46 1.49 1.76 4.8 4.0 4.7 3.9%

Sherritt International (CN) S 2.5 C$0.48 397 $142 (1.07) (0.13) (0.13) -- -- (0.03) 0.02 (0.01) 23.8 -- 17.2 0.0%

Volcan Cia Ninera VOLABC1 3.0 US$0.20 4077 $2,225 (0.12) 0.01 0.02 25.3 13.5 -- -- -- -- -- 10.3 2.0%

Western Areas NL (AU) WSA 2.3 AUD$2.27 274 $440 0.06 0.05 0.12 45.4 19.2 0.26 0.30 0.37 7.7 6.1 7.8 1.0%

Average 22.4 16.7 7.6 5.4 8.8

Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets.

The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items.

Thomson Consensus Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters.

Gold

Large Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd AEM 2.0 US$42.24 235 $9,938 1.02 0.31 0.61 NM 69.0 3.30 2.69 3.25 15.7 13.0 12.9 1.1%

Barrick Gold Corp ABX 2.8 US$12.30 1752 $21,540 0.75 0.35 0.39 35.1 31.6 1.77 1.72 1.48 7.2 8.3 7.2 0.9%

Franco-Nevada FNV 2.2 US$74.46 186 $13,862 1.08 1.18 1.32 63.2 56.5 2.67 2.58 2.96 28.8 25.2 28.2 1.5%

Goldcorp Inc GG 2.4 US$10.61 868 $9,155 0.40 0.11 0.34 96.5 31.6 1.55 0.91 1.63 11.7 6.5 8.8 0.8%

Newcrest Mining Ltd (AU) NCM 2.9 AUD$17.23 768 $13,234 0.57 0.65 0.80 26.4 21.5 1.88 1.72 1.71 10.0 10.1 10.6 1.2%

Newmont Mining NEM 2.4 US$33.82 533 $18,015 1.46 1.34 1.22 25.2 27.7 4.39 3.41 3.89 9.9 8.7 8.4 1.6%

Polyus Gold International (UK) PGIL 1.8 RU$5,350.50 134 $10,835 559.00 617.74 669.13 8.7 8.0 584.53 589.63 856.68 9.1 6.2 -- 2.4%

Zijin Mining Group (HK) 2899 1.9 CNY$2.89 23031 $11,833 0.16 0.19 0.19 15.1 14.8 0.44 0.42 0.43 6.9 6.6 17.4 0.0%

Average 38.6 32.6 12.4 10.6 13.3

Mid Cap

Alamos Gold AGI 2.3 US$4.83 391 $1,889 0.13 0.05 0.17 96.6 29.2 0.53 0.55 0.65 8.8 7.4 11.2 0.8%

AngloGold Ashanti Ltd AU 2.8 US$14.02 413 $5,795 0.02 0.51 0.92 27.5 15.3 2.40 2.05 2.82 6.8 5.0 4.9 0.5%

B2Gold Corp BTG 1.8 US$3.05 995 $3,030 0.05 0.17 0.17 17.7 18.2 0.16 0.46 0.44 6.7 7.0 10.6 0.0%

Buenaventura (ADR) BVN 2.6 US$16.22 276 $4,495 0.29 0.41 0.69 39.3 23.5 0.84 1.27 1.32 12.8 12.3 13.8 0.4%

Evolution Mining Ltd (AU) EVN 3.0 AUD$3.60 1697 $4,325 0.14 0.14 0.16 25.7 21.8 0.41 0.39 0.40 9.1 8.9 9.3 2.0%

Gold Fields Ltd (ADR) GFI 2.8 US$3.92 829 $3,325 0.24 0.07 0.18 56.0 22.4 1.01 0.75 1.10 5.2 3.6 4.2 1.6%

Iamgold Corp IAG 1.9 US$3.16 468 $1,489 0.06 0.06 0.07 52.7 45.9 0.63 0.41 0.74 7.7 4.3 3.8 0.0%

Kinross Gold Corp KGC 2.6 US$3.20 1250 $4,006 0.14 0.10 0.11 32.0 28.0 0.76 0.63 0.78 5.1 4.1 6.3 0.0%

Kirkland Lake Gold (CN) KL 2.6 C$35.29 210 $7,404 0.72 1.36 2.06 25.9 17.2 1.42 2.58 3.11 13.7 11.3 40.2 0.3%

Northern Star Resources (AU) NST 3.1 AUD$9.26 639 $4,192 0.33 0.37 0.53 25.1 17.5 0.58 0.64 0.86 14.5 10.7 13.3 1.2%

Oceanagold Corp (AU) OGC 2.6 US$3.19 619 $1,941 0.30 0.20 0.14 16.2 23.4 0.57 0.55 0.45 5.8 7.1 7.1 0.6%

Polymetal International PLC (UK) POLY 2.6 US$11.41 469 $5,380 0.88 0.87 1.11 13.1 10.3 1.22 1.26 1.57 9.1 7.3 9.2 --

Royal Gold Inc RGLD 2.3 US$87.37 66 $5,724 1.62 1.69 1.93 51.7 45.2 4.56 4.76 4.68 18.3 18.7 21.7 1.2%

Sibanye Gold Ltd (SA) SGL 2.4 ZAR$15.58 2266 $2,508 (0.12) (0.01) 1.24 -- 12.5 3.53 5.31 4.04 2.9 3.9 5.5 0.0%

Yamana Gold Inc AUY 2.4 US$2.50 949 $2,364 0.08 0.12 0.12 20.8 20.2 0.51 0.43 0.60 5.8 4.2 6.5 1.1%

Zhaojin Mining Industry Co Ltd (HK) 1818 2.4 CNY$7.13 3221 $3,426 0.20 0.20 0.25 36.2 28.7 0.34 0.83 0.63 8.6 11.3 18.5 1.2%

Average 35.8 23.7 8.8 7.9 11.6

Small Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Acacia Mining PLC (UK) ACAA 3.0 US$2.81 410 $1,153 0.36 0.11 0.22 25.6 12.8 (0.06) 0.31 0.52 9.1 5.4 2.6 0.0%

Alacer Gold Corp (CN) ASR 2.4 US$2.51 294 $738 0.28 0.05 0.35 50.2 7.1 0.37 0.33 0.71 7.7 3.5 32.0 0.0%

Argonaut Gold Ltd (CN) AR 2.0 US$1.35 178 $241 0.09 0.09 0.16 15.0 8.4 0.22 0.18 0.44 7.5 3.1 6.0 0.0%

Centamin Egypt (CN) CEE 2.4 US$1.20 1155 $1,391 0.13 0.06 0.08 20.0 15.1 0.31 0.19 0.19 6.3 6.2 2.8 4.0%

Centerra Gold (CN) CG 2.8 US$4.98 292 $1,454 0.93 0.26 0.49 19.2 10.3 1.71 0.74 1.30 6.7 3.8 4.3 0.0%

Detour Gold Corp (CN) DGC 2.1 US$9.70 175 $1,701 0.66 0.36 0.32 26.8 30.7 1.65 1.60 1.42 6.1 6.8 6.9 0.0%

Eldorado Gold Corp EGO 2.8 US$3.94 159 $668 0.10 (0.18) 0.09 -- 41.8 0.45 0.43 1.09 9.2 3.6 6.5 0.0%

Endeavour Mining Corp (CN) EDV 1.9 US$14.97 109 $1,634 0.67 0.45 0.84 33.1 17.8 2.24 2.32 2.87 6.5 5.2 9.3 0.0%

Guyana Goldfields Inc (CN) GUY 2.8 US$1.11 174 $193 0.15 0.07 0.18 16.4 6.1 0.38 0.27 0.40 4.1 2.8 1.6 0.0%

Harmony Gold Mining Ltd HAR 3.0 ZAR$29.49 540 $1,130 2.24 2.39 3.55 12.3 8.3 8.32 8.84 9.82 3.3 3.0 4.6 0.0%

Hecla Mining Co HL 2.8 US$2.29 483 $1,106 0.10 (0.11) (0.01) -- -- 0.29 0.22 0.28 10.4 8.3 6.8 0.4%

Hochschild Mining PLC (UK) HOC 2.4 US$2.53 511 $1,301 0.08 0.05 0.11 50.7 23.6 0.45 0.36 0.48 7.0 5.3 4.4 2.0%

McEwen Ming Inc. MUX 2.0 US$1.72 345 $593 (0.03) (0.13) (0.03) -- -- (0.05) 0.00 0.07 NM 26.5 -- 0.5%

New Gold Inc NGD 3.1 US$0.86 579 $497 0.09 (0.02) (0.06) -- -- 0.61 0.33 0.36 2.6 2.4 4.3 --

Pretium Resources PVG 2.1 US$8.06 184 $1,484 0.10 0.54 0.53 14.9 15.3 0.40 1.07 1.08 7.5 7.5 -- 0.0%

Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd OR 2.0 C$14.72 155 $1,713 0.18 0.20 0.18 73.6 79.8 0.38 0.53 0.64 27.8 23.0 58.2 1.7%

Regis Resources Ltd (AU) RRL 3.6 AUD$5.32 508 $1,913 0.31 0.33 0.35 15.9 15.1 0.46 0.49 0.50 10.9 10.7 10.3 3.3%

St Barbara Ltd (AU) SBM 3.0 AUD$4.38 524 $1,629 0.36 0.36 0.34 12.2 13.0 0.60 0.55 0.50 7.9 8.7 7.0 2.6%

Semafo (CN) SMF 1.9 US$2.82 326 $918 0.00 0.03 0.32 83.4 8.8 0.23 0.34 0.76 8.4 3.7 6.7 0.0%

SSR Mining SSRM 2.3 US$13.40 121 $1,618 0.34 0.23 0.37 58.3 36.2 1.21 0.50 1.45 26.8 9.3 7.3 0.0%

Torex Gold Resources (CN) TXG 1.9 US$11.91 85 $1,014 (0.18) 0.23 0.63 51.8 18.9 0.92 2.68 2.59 4.4 4.6 7.6 0.0%

Average 34.1 20.5 9.0 7.3 9.9

Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets.

The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items.

Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters.

Silver Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Americas Silver Corp (CN) USA 1.7 US$1.83 45 $82 (0.09) (0.02) 0.04 -- 45.7 0.04 0.27 0.35 6.9 5.3 0.0 0.0%

Coeur Mining Corp CDE 1.9 US$4.74 203 $964 0.02 (0.01) 0.04 -- NM 1.08 0.11 0.76 43.1 6.2 6.1 0.0%

Endeavour Silver Corp EXK 3.0 US$2.43 131 $318 0.08 (0.10) 0.07 -- 37.4 0.12 0.21 0.19 11.7 12.9 8.5 0.0%

First Majestic Silver Corp AG 2.5 US$6.35 196 $1,245 (0.04) (0.21) 0.04 -- NM 0.43 0.18 0.52 35.3 12.2 11.9 0.0%

Fortuna Silver Mines FSM 2.5 US$3.68 160 $588 0.28 0.21 0.30 17.3 12.2 0.44 0.50 0.59 7.4 6.3 5.5 0.0%

Fresnillo (UK) FRES 2.3 US$10.88 737 $8,016 0.65 0.46 0.52 23.6 20.9 1.03 0.80 1.07 13.6 10.1 8.0 2.7%

Mag Silver Corp MAG 1.9 US$9.45 86 $808 (0.08) (0.04) (0.06) -- -- (0.05) (0.04) (0.05) -- -- 89.0 0.0%

Pan American Silver PAAS 2.5 US$12.69 153 $1,942 0.51 0.39 0.32 32.5 39.5 1.47 1.23 1.69 10.3 7.5 6.4 0.9%

Wheaton Precious Metals WPM 1.8 US$21.37 444 $9,495 0.63 0.47 0.53 45.7 40.6 1.22 1.06 1.16 20.2 18.4 17.8 2.1%

Silvercorp SVM 2.0 US$2.54 170 $431 0.26 0.21 0.24 12.3 10.8 0.42 0.37 0.41 6.9 6.2 -- 1.2%

Average 26.3 29.6 17.2 9.5 17.0

Platinum Group Metals

African Rainbow Minerals (SA) ARI 2.1 ZAR$171.00 222 $2,695 20.46 25.08 24.27 6.8 7.0 13.98 14.88 15.88 11.5 10.8 37.5 9.2%

Anglo Platinum Ltd (SA) AMS 3.2 ZAR$756.35 270 $14,487 14.76 28.22 33.20 26.8 22.8 49.84 59.17 50.46 12.8 15.0 21.8 2.1%

Impala Platinum (SA) IMP 2.5 ZAR$57.32 735 $3,255 (1.54) 0.21 2.49 NM 23.0 2.34 4.87 7.30 11.8 7.9 15.9 0.0%

Lonmin PLC (UK) LMI 3.6 US$0.94 283 $268 (2.61) 0.13 0.09 7.1 10.1 0.17 0.29 0.22 3.3 4.3 -- 0.0%

Northam Platinum Ltd (SA) NHM 2.4 ZAR$57.13 510 $2,068 (1.91) (1.05) 0.77 -- 74.3 0.91 3.91 9.21 14.6 6.2 46.3 0.0%

Average 13.6 27.4 10.8 8.8 30.4

Diamonds & Gems Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

AK Alrosa PAO (RU) ALRS 2.4 RU$1.03 7365 $10,597 0.18 0.21 0.21 4.8 4.9 0.24 0.26 0.26 3.9 4.0 3.6 11.4%

Lucara Diamond Corp (CN) LUC 1.7 US$1.25 397 $495 0.16 0.03 0.11 41.6 11.8 0.25 0.11 0.17 11.4 7.4 2.6 7.0%

Mountain Province Diamonds (CN) MPVD 2.3 US$1.35 210 $213 0.11 0.13 0.18 10.4 7.5 0.26 0.69 0.58 2.0 2.3 -- 0.0%

Petra Diamonds Ltd (UK) PDL 2.1 US$0.29 865 $255 0.02 0.02 0.05 14.3 5.8 0.18 0.11 0.13 2.6 2.3 5.4 0.0%

Stornoway Diamond Corp (CN) SWY 2.8 C$0.19 924 $132 0.02 (0.10) (0.04) -- -- 0.08 (0.03) 0.05 -- 3.6 -- 0.0%

Average 17.8 7.5 4.9 3.9 3.9

Fertilizers

Arab Potash Co (JR) APOT -- JOD$17.66 83 $2,077 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 13.6 --

CF Industries CF 2.3 US$42.28 223 $9,424 (0.25) 1.24 2.41 34.1 17.6 6.97 6.40 5.78 6.6 7.3 18.9 2.8%

Compass Minerals CMP 2.3 US$52.94 34 $1,793 2.75 1.93 2.47 27.4 21.5 4.34 5.63 7.76 9.4 6.8 11.4 --

Incitec Pivot Ltd (AU) IPL 2.4 AUD$3.40 1606 $3,865 0.19 0.21 0.22 16.5 15.7 0.39 0.40 0.42 8.5 8.2 10.4 2.7%

Israel Chemical (IS) ICL 2.3 US$5.57 1280 $7,125 0.30 0.37 0.37 15.0 15.2 0.66 0.48 0.66 11.6 8.4 9.0 3.2%

K & S Aktiengesellschaft (GR) SDF 2.3 EUR$16.80 191 $3,656 0.96 0.33 1.32 51.6 12.7 1.60 1.88 3.10 8.9 5.4 11.7 1.9%

Mosaic Co MOS 2.4 US$31.00 385 $11,950 1.09 2.12 2.38 14.6 13.0 2.67 3.75 5.17 8.3 6.0 14.2 0.3%

Sociedad Quimica Minera (ADR) SQM 2.4 US$39.33 263 $10,717 1.63 1.67 2.09 23.5 18.8 2.67 1.80 2.67 21.8 14.7 14.8 5.6%

Yara International ASA (NO) YAR 2.6 NOK$41.76 273 $11,435 1.81 1.68 3.05 24.9 13.7 2.87 2.77 6.16 15.1 6.8 9.3 1.9%

Average 26.0 16.0 11.3 8.0 12.6

Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets.

The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items.

Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters.

Uranium Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Cameco Corp CCJ 2.4 C$15.33 396 $4,564 0.15 0.53 0.08 28.9 NM 1.51 1.68 0.73 9.1 20.9 11.0 1.2%

Denison Mines DNN 2.0 US$0.70 584 $308 (0.04) (0.04) (0.03) -- -- 0.03 (0.04) (0.02) -- -- -- 0.0%

Energy Resources Australia (AU) ERA 4.0 AUD$0.32 518 $118 (0.04) 0.04 0.01 7.6 32.0 0.02 (0.15) 0.08 -- 4.0 -- 0.0%

Uranium Participation Corp (CN) U 2.2 C$4.76 138 $494 (0.03) 0.96 0.61 5.0 7.8 (0.08) (0.04) -- -- -- -- 0.0%

Average 13.8 19.9 9.1 12.5 11.0

Coal

Large - Mid Cap Price Shrs O/S Mkt Cap Earnings Per Share Price/Earnings Cash Flow Per Share Price/Cash Flow EV/EBITDA Div Yld

Symbol Rating 1-Mar-19 (MM) (US$MM) 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2017 2018E 2019E 2018E 2019E 2018E %

Adaro Energy TBK (ID) ADRO 2.3 US$0.09 31986 $2,980 0.01 0.01 0.01 6.7 8.0 0.03 0.03 0.02 3.6 3.7 4.9 5.8%

Banpu Public Co Ltd (TH) BANPU 2.0 THB$0.51 5162 $2,632 0.07 0.08 0.07 6.7 7.0 0.13 0.08 0.10 6.1 4.8 17.7 4.7%

China Coal Energy Co (HK) 1898 2.6 CNY$2.95 13259 $8,889 0.26 0.42 0.38 7.1 7.7 1.34 1.09 1.21 2.7 2.4 12.4 2.0%

China Shenhua Energy Co (HK) 1088 2.0 CNY$16.61 19890 $59,650 2.40 2.34 2.26 7.1 7.4 4.78 4.11 4.13 4.0 4.0 6.0 6.0%

Consol Energy CNX 2.6 US$11.05 198 $2,192 (0.04) 1.36 0.66 8.1 16.8 1.88 4.13 4.02 2.7 2.7 7.8 0.0%

Whitehaven Coal Lyd (AU) WHC 2.1 AUD$4.27 1026 $3,102 0.45 0.57 0.54 7.5 8.0 0.72 0.87 0.77 4.9 5.5 0.0 0.0%

Yancoal Australia Lyd YAL -- AUD$4.18 1320 $3,915 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0 0.0%

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co Ltd (HK) 1171 2.4 CNY$6.95 4912 $6,803 1.50 1.56 1.42 4.5 4.9 2.48 2.96 3.04 2.3 2.3 18.7 5.7%

Average 6.8 8.5 3.8 3.7 8.4

Small Cap

Cloud Peak Energy CLD 3.3 US$0.51 76 $38 (0.50) (0.57) (0.53) -- -- 0.71 0.27 0.30 1.9 1.7 3.5 0.0%

Fushan Int'l Energy Group (HK) 639 2.3 HK$1.82 5302 $1,229 0.20 0.22 0.21 8.1 8.8 0.29 0.20 0.28 9.2 6.5 8.3 8.3%

NLC India Ltd (IN) NLCINDIA -- INR$62.90 1387 $1,231 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 5.8 5.4%

New Hope Corp Ltd (AU) NHC 2.3 AUD$4.18 831 $2,460 0.22 0.39 0.44 10.7 9.5 0.41 0.57 0.58 7.4 7.2 19.8 4.4%

PT Tambang Batubara Bukit (ID) PTBA 2.6 IDR$4,040 11521 $3,310 425.00 479.04 442.67 8.4 9.1 229.16 578.66 486.98 7.0 8.3 14.4 7.4%

PT Bumi Resources (ID) BUMI -- US$0.01 65476 $708 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 0.0%

Average 7.5 8.8 4.7 4.5 9.5

Limited Partnership

Alliance Resource Partners LP ARLP 2.0 US$19.40 128 $2,491 2.80 2.99 2.92 6.5 6.6 5.63 5.31 3.82 3.7 5.1 4.3 11.9%

Natural Resource Partners LP NRP 3.0 US$41.23 12 $505 3.43 4.72 4.37 8.7 9.4 6.67 6.95 16.07 5.9 2.6 5.5 5.8%

Average 7.6 8.0 4.8 3.8 4.9

Note: Currency shown is that used by the company for financial reporting. Currency does not always reflect the country/market in which the company/stock symbol trades. GAAP may differ between stocks due to countries and markets.

The tables are compiled from the Thomson Reuters database of consensus Ratings & Estimates of equity analysts. The historicals and estimates of earnings and cash flows exclude non-operating, special items.

Thomson Reuters Rating System: Buy (1.0), Buy/Hold (2.0), Hold (3.0), Sell/Hold (4.0), Sell (5.0) Source: Thomson Reuters.

Recent and Forecast Commodity Prices

Cash Price (1-Mar-19)

Aluminum ($0.86 / lb)

Cobalt ($14.97 / lb)

Copper ($2.98 / lb)

Lead ($0.98 / lb)

Molybdenum ($11.79 / lb)

Nickel ($5.97 / lb)

Tin ($9.89 / lb)

Zinc ($1.29 / lb)

Palladium ($1525 / oz)

Platinum ($857 / oz)

Silver ($15.19 / oz)

Uranium ($28.00 / lb)
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 battle between the worlds two largest gold miners continues to be waged with Barrick Golds (NYSE: GOLD, TSX: ABX) CEO Mark Bristow rejecting the latest proposal from Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM).

Mark Bristow, CEO of Barrick Gold

Early Monday, Newmont announced that its board officially rejected the no-premium hostile bid Barrick offered the company last week; however, the board recommended that the two companies combine their Nevada operations in a joint venture.

However, Bristow has now fired back saying in a statement that he rejects the idea of creating a joint venture in what is the worlds most attractive mining jurisdictions.

Newmonts latest proposal is essentially based on the stale and convoluted process that foundered previously. As usual, it comes with unrealistic preconditions including swapping the chairmanship and the leadership of the JV. Experience has shown us that JVs only work well when the majority owner is also the operator, Bristow said in a statement.

Bristow added that this clash between titans is about who would be the most effective in producing the states combined 76 million ounces of gold. He said that one operator would be the most efficient

We know we can do that more efficiently than Newmont, and that it will be worth a lot more to both Newmont and Barrick shareholders under that scenario, he said.

Last week, Barrick offered an unsolicited all-stock, no-premium bid for Newmont, valued at $17.8 billion. However, Bristow has been touting the benefits of merging the two biggest mining companies in the world, saying the plan would unlock $7 billion in synergies, much of it by combining the two companies major assets in Nevada.

Newmont Mining has rejected Barricks proposal and has said that it sees better shareholder value in pursuing is proposal to merge with Goldcorp.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Freshman Democrats determined to walk a centrist path in the U.S. House of Representatives are testing party harmony between moderates and liberals, just as work on major issues including gun control and healthcare policy is getting underway.

Democrats took control of the House from President Donald Trumps fellow Republicans in January thanks in part to party moderates who won seats formerly held by Republicans in Novembers midterm elections.

But these centrists already have upset some Democratic elders including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the partys liberal wing by voting on occasion with the Republicans during their first couple of months in office. Republicans are in the minority in the House, but control the Senate.

Tensions flared this week after House Republicans managed to successfully amend a gun control bill with votes from 26 Democrats. Many of the Democrats who broke with the party line on Wednesday represent swing districts that had voted for Trump in 2016.

How did Nancy Pelosi let this happen? Justice Democrats, a liberal political action committee that helped elect new Democratic star Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York in November, asked on Twitter after the vote.

The episode highlights the political tightrope being walked by several dozen freshman who helped to clinch the House majority for Democrats in November by expanding into Republican territory. There currently are 235 Democrats, 197 Republicans and three vacancies in the 435-seat House.

The centrists have not gotten as much attention as Ocasio-Cortez during their first months in office, and their differing positions from the partys liberals on policies such as government-run healthcare have at times put them at odds.

They also already have Republicans on their backs for the next election in 2020. Many of the 55 seats Republicans plan to target next year are held by freshman Democratic lawmakers who captured a previously Republican-held seat last year or prevailed in districts Trump won in 2016.

Representative Joe Cunningham, 36, did both when he won a South Carolina district in November that had not elected a Democrat to the House since before he was born. Cunningham defeated Republican rival Katie Arrington by less than 2 percentage points in a district Trump won by 13 percentage points in 2016.

On Wednesday, Cunningham was among the Democrats who supported the Republican amendment calling for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency criticized by liberals like Ocasio-Cortez, to be notified when an illegal immigrant in caught trying to buy a gun.

Cunningham, a gun owner, said the next day he saw the amendment as minor. He added that it should not detract from the fact that the House had passed a gun control measure for the first time in two decades, calling for universal background checks on gun purchases.

In an interview on Tuesday, Cunningham was unapologetic for sometimes siding with Republicans. He has done it around a dozen times since January, mostly on procedural votes.

I will be an independent check and not toe the party line whenever I disagree, Cunningham told Reuters. Im not going to let the national party or the national message drive my message at home.

Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, another Democratic freshman, said, I just do what I think is right, after straying from his partys line on a previous Democratic proposal banning funding for Trumps U.S.-Mexico border wall. Van Drew also supported the Republican gun amendment.

JUST VOTE NO

The House Democratic leadership was divided this week on members breaking with the party line. Pelosi told reporters on Thursday she did not approve, even on procedural votes.

Just vote no, because the fact is, a vote yes is to give leverage to the other side, Pelosi said.

Other Democratic leaders took a more relaxed view.

Its OK to vote your district, said Representative James Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership who, like Cunningham, represents a South Carolina district.

We have a very diverse caucus, Clyburn added. I wish people would not compare us to the Republicans, where everybody looks alike. Weve got varied backgrounds and experiences that we have to take into account.

Ocasio-Cortezs communications director, Corbin Trent, said the congresswoman believes Democrats who have broken with the party on such votes are putting themselves on a list for Republicans, to divide the party.

At a closed-door party meeting on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez, who describes herself as a democratic socialist, said Democrats who voted for the Republican gun amendment had put her in a difficult spot because the measure endangered some in her community, Trent said.

Despite the ongoing debate, the party has said it will work hard to defend Democrats in swing districts.

Representative Cheri Bustos, who chairs the committee that works to elect Democrats to the House, has announced a list of 44 lawmakers including Cunningham in the partys frontline program that helps the most vulnerable Democrats with fundraising and campaign guidance. The list includes 41 first-term House members.

We want to make sure that our members come back, Bustos, a fourth-term congresswoman who represents an Illinois district won by Trump in 2016, said in an interview. We want them to be successful, and theyve got to do what theyve got to do to be successful.
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(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are lower in early U.S. trading Monday. Gold notched a five-week low, while silver hit a nine-week bottom. Risk-on trader and investor attitudes at present are hammering on the safe-haven metals. April gold futures were last down $12.10 an ounce at $1,287.00. May Comex silver was last down $0.106 at $15.15 an ounce.

Asian and European stock markets were mostly higher overnight, with the stock market in China hitting a nine-month high. U.S. stock indexes are also pointed toward firmer openings and at multi-month highs when the New York day session begins.

The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday the U.S. and China are close to finalizing a trade agreement. The story said China would lower its tariffs on U.S. imported goods, with the U.S. doing the same on most or all of the trade sanctions it levied against China last year. The report said U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in Florida later this month. A trade deal would end months of trader and investor uncertainty regarding the worlds two largest economies penalizing each other.

Attention of the marketplace later this week will be on the European Central Banks regular monetary policy meeting on Thursday. The ECB is expected to loosen its purse strings on money in order to stimulate an anemic Euro zone economy.

The U.S. jobs report from the Labor Department is due out Friday morning. Thats arguably the most important U.S. economic data point of the month.

In overnight news, the Euro zone January producer price index was released and it came in up 0.4% from December and up 3.0%, year-on-year. Those numbers were in line with market expectations.

The key outside markets today see the U.S. dollar index slightly firmer. Nymex crude oil prices are up and trading just above $56.00 a barrel.

U.S. economic reports due for release Monday includes the ISM New York report on business, and construction spending.

Technically, the April gold bulls have lost their overall near-term technical advantage. A 3.5-month-old price uptrend line on the daily bar chart has been soundly negated. Bulls next upside price objective is to produce a close in April futures above solid resistance at $1,300.00. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at the January low of $1,281.50. First resistance is seen at $1,290.00 and then at $1,300.00. First support is seen at $1,281.50 and then at $1,275.00. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0

May silver futures bulls have also lost their overall near-term technical advantage. A 3.5-month-old uptrend on the daily bar chart has been soundly negated as a bearish double-top reversal pattern formed. Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $15.65 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at $15.00. First resistance is seen at the overnight high of $15.295 and then at $15.50. Next support is seen at $15.00 and then at $14.90. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido returned to his country on Monday after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to tighten regional pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

A crowd of cheering supporters greeted Guaido and his wife as they stepped into the Maiquetia airports arrivals hall, and then sped to an opposition rally in eastern Caracas where thousands had gathered to welcome him.

The return of Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuelas legitimate head of state, signals that Maduros adversaries have at least temporarily avoided the arrest of a leader who has united the traditionally fractured opposition.

But it will also lift pressure on Maduro to act against Guaido as his authority continues to wane and the countrys economic meltdown fuels malnutrition and hunger.

Hope has been born and it will not die - things are going well, Guaido told the crowd at a plaza in the Las Mercedes district. We are going to celebrate this small victory today.

He announced plans to meet on Tuesday with public employees, who have been historically pressured by the ruling Socialist Party to join pro-government rallies, as well as for a major march on Saturday.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on Feb. 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

From Colombia, he traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but had not appeared publicly since. Venezuelan media outlets reported that he flew from Panama City to Caracas.

He had kept details of his trip under wraps and he arrived without prior notice, meeting ambassadors for European countries at the airport.

Guaido calls Maduro a usurper and says his presidency is illegitimate after he secured re-election last year in a vote widely considered a sham. Maduro retains control of state institutions and the apparent loyalty of senior figures in the armed forces.

Asked by a reporter how he was received at the airport by immigration authorities, who could have prevented his entry for violating the travel ban, Guaido said they addressed him as president - a swipe at Maduro, who calls him a U.S. puppet.

Heres my passport, safe and sound, Guaido said, showing it to the crowd.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

FACE JUSTICE

Maduro, who denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said Guaidos arrest depends on the justice system.

He cant just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country, he told ABC News last week.

Protesters in Caracas on Monday, wearing dressed in white and chanting Freedom, said arresting Guaido would spark new demonstrations.

If the regime has even a little bit of conscience, they should not arrest Guaido because people truly would not put up with it, said Franklin Lopez, a 60-year-old administrator.

The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that all options be kept open to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.

President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Twitter. The United States fully supports Guaido and the National Assembly. His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching.

The government has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaidos mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest.

Turning away from previous hopes of a swift end to Maduros government, Guaido said on Sunday it would be a long and difficult process.

He has offered future amnesties to state officials and solders who recognize Guaido, though the military has largely remained loyal to Maduro despite Colombias migration agency reporting several hundred desertions since Feb. 23.
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.

Editor's Note: Updating earlier story with comments from Newmont officials during conference call with analysts.

(Kitco News) - The board of directors of Newmont Mining Corp. (NYSE: NEM) has decided that Barrick Gold Corp.s (NYSE: GOLD; TSX: ABX) unsolicited, all-stock proposal to acquire Newmont is not in the best interests of Newmonts shareholders; however, the company has proposed a joint venture with Barrick for Nevada operations, officials said Monday.

Newmont said its board conducted a review, including financial and legal advisors, and concluded that Barricks proposal would not be superior to Newmonts previously announced plan to acquire Goldcorp Inc. (NYSE: GG, TSX: G).

In mid-January, Newmont announced plans to take over Goldcorp in a mostly all-stock transaction to create the largest gold-mining company in the world. The proposal represented a premium of 17% for Goldcorp shareholders based on stock prices at the time, and plans call for the new company will be named Newmont Goldcorp.

Then last week, Barrick proposed buying Newmont in an all-stock deal with no premium, arguing this would unlock $7 billion in synergies, much of it by combining the two companies major assets in Nevada. Barricks proposal would scuttle the Newmont-Goldcorp deal.

Our thorough review of Barricks unsolicited proposal and its associated risks has reaffirmed our conclusion that the combination of Newmont and Goldcorp represents the best opportunity to create value for Newmonts shareholders and deliver industry-leading returns for decades to come, said Gary Goldberg, Newmonts chief executive officer, in a prepared statement announcing the companys decision.

Unlike Barrick, Newmont Goldcorp will be centered in the worlds most favorable mining jurisdictions and gold districts. The combination with Goldcorp is significantly more accretive to Newmonts shareholders on all relevant metrics compared to Barricks proposal, even when factoring in Barricks own synergy estimates. Realizing value through Barricks proposal for Newmonts shareholders hinges entirely on a new management team that lacks global operating experience and is only two months into its own transformational integration.

The transformation he referred to was Barricks acquisition of Randgold Resources Ltd., which went into effect at the start of the year.

Newmont said that because its board determined that the Barrick offer is not a Newmont superior proposal under the Goldcorp arrangement agreement, Newmont is now prohibited from engaging in talks with Barrick over its proposal.

During a conference call with investors, Goldberg also commented that a merger would expose Newmont shareholders to some of the most high-risk jurisdictions in the gold-mining industry, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania and Papua New Guinea. Meanwhile, he said, Goldcorp has a strong portfolio of world-class assets in world-class jurisdictions.

Goldberg also questioned Barrick managements ability to integrate and manage a large number of assets on five continents.

Barricks egocentric proposal is designed to transfer value from Newmont shareholders to Barrick, Goldberg said. Barrick is approaching a clear production decline and needs Newmonts mines and processing facilities.

The Newmont CEO said the consensus of analyst estimates projects that Barricks production will decline by 12% from 2018 to 2023.

Barricks motivation is to be the biggest and to deprive Newmont shareholders of the benefits of the Goldcorp transaction, Goldberg said.

Goldberg: We Are Open To A Joint Venture

Newmont said it submitted a joint-venture proposal to Barrick aimed at savings from the companies Nevada operations. The terms are modeled on other successful joint ventures, including ones that Barrick already has with Newmont and Goldcorp, Newmont said.

Newmont has consistently expressed to Barrick that we are open to a joint venture for our operations in Nevada, Goldberg said. He later added, This proposal would enable both companies shareholders to realize the available synergies while avoiding the significant risks and complexities associated with Barricks unsolicited proposal.

Newmont proposed that Barrick would hold a 55% interest in the joint venture and Newmont 45%, based upon analyst consensus net present values for each companys Nevada-related assets and an equal split of Barricks estimated Nevada synergies.

The two companies would have an equal number of representatives on management and technical committees. The operational management would be jointly appointed by both parties.

We simply do not agree that a whole-company transaction is in the best interest of Newmont shareholders, said Tom Palmer, who is to be president and chief operating officer of Newmont Goldcorp and is slated to become CEO when Goldberg retires late in the year.

However, we recognize the substantial benefits that can and should be realized for both Newmont and Barrick shareholders through the Nevada JV [joint venture]. There is no reason we shouldnt be able to find a solution that unlocked the value of our respective Nevada operations for both sets of shareholders.

Meanwhile, Newmont put an updated investor presentation, titled Capturing the missing facts, on its website. The company said the proposed merger with Goldcorp is expected to close in the second quarter.

Newmont said that the day after the transaction closes, Newmont Goldcorp will be accretive to Newmonts NAV per share by 27% and 34% accretive to 2020 cash flow per share. Newmont said the deal would mean a combined $365 million in expected annual pre-tax synergies, supply-chain efficiencies and full potential improvements.

The new company would target 6 million to 7 million ounces of steady-state gold production over a decade, have the largest gold reserves and resources in the sector and deliver the highest dividend among senior gold producers, according to the presentation.
By John Tilak and Ernest Scheyder

March 1 (Reuters) - Conflicting cultures and management styles are overshadowing Barrick Gold Corp's $18 billion bid for rival Newmont Mining Corp, becoming factors just as important to the deal's success as whether or not the pair's lucrative assets in Nevada and elsewhere fit well together.

Mudslinging started almost as soon as the hostile all-stock, no-premium bid was announced on Monday. One rival executive compared the tension between Barrick Chief Executive Mark Bristow and Newmont CEO Gary Goldberg to the Hatfields and McCoys, two 19th Century U.S. families whose members held a grudge for generations. "Newmont shareholders shouldn't risk what they have and need for what they don't have and don't need," Goldberg told Reuters on Friday.

Newmont's board continues to evaluate Barrick's offer, Goldberg said. He reiterated what he had said earlier in the week that all options were on the table, including a Newmont bid for Barrick.

Bristow was not available for an interview on Friday.

At the heart of the debate is Nevada, where Barrick and Newmont have owned neighboring mines since the 1980s. Newmont said it prefers a joint venture in the state, a plan which Barrick says would be too complicated and not financially beneficial to all shareholders.

The logic of combining the company's Nevada assets seems clear to both sides, but the sticking point is control.

"If those fences and armed guards were removed, you'd have trucks from Barrick's mine not drive hours to get to the crusher and roaster, but they would have to go two miles to Newmont's," said an person familiar with Barrick's thinking.

Bristow and Goldberg were emailing each other as recently as late January about a potential Nevada venture before Bristow stopped responding, Goldberg said.

"I was hopeful that Mark, as another miner, would be able to sit down and do a (Nevada joint venture) deal as a point of logic," said Goldberg. "But then he dropped a hostile, no-premium bid."

Bristow, for his part, said in an interview earlier this week that Goldberg did not show up for recently planned meetings to discuss Nevada.

'FIGHT TO THE DEATH'

Barrick, which two months ago closed a $6.1 billion buyout of Randgold Resources, has encouraged Newmont to ditch a previously announced $10 billion takeover of Canada's Goldcorp Inc .

Barrick has historically relied on acquisitions for growth, amassing billions of dollars of debt that it has been working to pay down. Newmont in recent years has focused on organic growth and financial discipline, although the Goldcorp bid breaks with past practice.

Those divergent strategies would be hard to meld even in a friendly proposal, but become that much more difficult amid the culture clash, according to multiple investors and bankers, with the acrimony threatening to scuttle the deal as it did when the companies last tried to combine in 2014.

"Newmont will fight to the death to stay independent," a banking source said.

Newmont's shares have gained 39 percent in the past five years, compared to a 26 percent drop for Barrick's stock and a 3 percent drop in gold prices.

Some Newmont shareholders question Barrick's claim that the deal will generate more than $7 billion in synergies.

"We have no reason to have confidence in (Bristow's) ability to manage such a vastly more-complicated company," said James Rasteh of Coast Capital Management LP, which said it holds more than 100,000 Newmont shares.

Bristow said in an interview earlier this week that his record at Africa-focused Randgold speaks for itself. Some investors agree.

"Newmont is a company in need of a shakeup," said John Ing of Maison Placements, which declined to say how many Barrick shares it holds.

BlackRock, a top-three investor in both companies, declined to comment. Flossbach Von Storch, a large investor in both companies, has said it supports a friendly deal but could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Newmont would have to pay Goldcorp a $650 million break-up fee if it pulls its offer. Ironically, that would be the only cash that would change hands were the Barrick-Newmont deal to move forward, irking some Newmont shareholders.

Antitrust experts do not expect any deal to face regulatory pressure.

(Additional reporting by Liana Baker in New York, Diane Bartz in Washington and Susan Taylor in Toronto; Editing by Tom Brown)
* Greeces 10-year yield at lowest since January 2006

* Greek debt agency announces new 10-year syndication

* Other euro zone yields flat to slightly lower

* Euro zone periphery government bond yields tmsnrt.rs/2ii2Bqr (Adds details on 10-year syndication, Italian bond yields)

By Abhinav Ramnarayan

LONDON, March 4 (Reuters) - Greeces benchmark 10-year government bond yields dropped to their lowest since 2006 on Monday after Moodys raised its rating late last week, bolstering investor optimism towards the euro zones most indebted country.

The countrys debt agency was quick to pounce on this positive sentiment, announcing that it has appointed banks for a long-awaited 10-year bond sale, likely to be launched in the coming days.

Moodys on Friday lifted Greeces issuer ratings to B1 from B3, citing the effectiveness of the countrys reform programme.

Greeces 10-year yield dropped to 3.60 percent in early trade on Monday, the lowest since January 2006, before easing to 3.65 percent after the 10-year bond deal announcement. Yields often rise after a bond sale is announced as investors make room for the new supply.

A recently-issued five-year bonds yield fell to its lowest in its short trading history at 2.735 percent.

The move from Moodys is reflection that the reforms are already bearing fruit in the shape of some fiscal improvement with the primary surplus, said DZ Bank strategist Daniel Lenz.

But I think what is also important is that Greece is showing it has access to markets.

Although the Greek bond yield did rise off the 12-year low after the deal announcement, evidence of market access for Greece is considered positive, given the countrys massive debt-to-GDP ratio  176 percent.

Italian government bond yields rose 1-3 bps across the curve, with one analyst saying investors were using BTP Futures as a hedging tool as they prepare to invest in the new Greek deal.

The only real liquid market for hedging peripheral risk is the BTP Futures, so I think that is what is causing some weakness in Italy today, UniCredit rates strategist Luca Cazzulani said.

Long-dated BTP Futures were lower 21 ticks while 10-year Italian yields were up 3 bps at 2.764 percent .

Broader euro zone government bond yields edged lower, though still near recent two-week highs as signs grew of a possible U.S.-China trade deal. World equity markets rose on the possibility an agreement might be signed around a summit on March 27.

Germanys 10-year yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, was dropped 1.5 bps to 0.17 percent, down from a one-month high of 0.208 percent on Friday. (Reporting by Abhinav Ramnarayan; editing by Larry King and Ed Osmond)
Newshub reports:

Mark Taylor, the Kiwi Jihadist has been jailed in a Kurdish prison after surrendering after life became unbearable, reports say.

ABC News Australia reported the New Zealander, who had lived with the extremist group for five years, handed himself over after leaving because of lack of resources.

There was no food, no money; basic services were pretty much collapsed. I was in a pickle myself and had to make a final decision, which was to leave, ABC News reports
Incheon Airport immigration office. Korea Times file



Vietnamese students now subject to stronger financial screening



By Lee Suh-yoon



The government is tightening visa rules for foreign students accepted into Korean language programs at universities here, starting Monday, the Ministry of Justice said Sunday.



The move comes amid immigration brokers' increasing abuse of the language exchange visa system for international students. The number of foreigners staying illegally after entering the country via a language exchange visa increased three-fold from 4,294 in 2015 to 12,526 in 2018, according to immigration authorities.



"Up till now, we gave universities maximum autonomy over the selection process of foreign exchange students," the ministry said in a press statement. "But their failure to screen prospective students' finances and academic ability properly resulted in an increase in the number of illegal migrants."



Vietnamese students, in particular, will be subject to stricter financial screening because about 70 percent of the illegal aliens who entered the country via D-4 language training program visas are from Vietnam, according to the ministry's 2018 data.



Instead of simply submitting proof of a bank account holding $9,000 in tuition fees, the ministry will require prospective Vietnamese students to put $10,000 in a restricted account that allows a withdrawal of 5 million won ($4,400) every six months, thus blocking one-time withdrawal of the total sum to be returned to immigration brokers as soon as a D-4 visa is issued.



Additionally, students from Guinea, Mali, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Cameroon  who have shown high percentages of dropping out of the program midway before disappearing into the undocumented labor force  will need at least a level 3 TOPIK certificate or get 530 points in a TOEFL test to be admitted to a Korean language program at a "lower-tier" university, as ranked by the education ministry based on factors like the drop-out and illegal residency rate of former students.



The ministry will also limit the number of foreign students these "lower-tier" universities can accept into their Korean language programs, and the number of students per language instructor to 30. Using the same standards, 50 "top-tier" universities will now be able to issue electronic visas to its language exchange students.



Part-time employment regulations of international students, however, will be slightly eased due to criticism that banning them from part-time work in the manufacturing sector increases illegal employment, especially at provincial universities where part-time job choices are limited.



The new rule allows foreign students with a TOPIK level 4 certificate or higher to work legally part-time in the manufacturing sector.


Voters in Lawrence County will soon decide a proposed 911 Tax on the April ballot.

Concerned citizens met with the Lawrence County Commission about the proposal in Mount Vernon Monday. Lawrence County commissioners put the proposed 911 tax on the ballot due to a major shortfall in funding, because many have dropped land lines.

The proposal is for a half-cent sales tax to fund 911 operations. The county commission decided to put it on the ballot at the end of January.

Concerned citizens want more of a plan in place about how the money will be used, including the location of the future county 911 center and who will run it. Voters asked a board be appointed now, so they know each community will have a voice. But commissioners say they want to find a funding source before planning the specifics of a 911 center. And the law says that once the tax is passed, the county Commission appoints a board.

City leaders in Lawrence County are concerned about the expenses they would be forced to pay if the tax doesn't pass.

"It's just that they didn't have a plan," said Sheila Massengill, Verona City Alderman. "And they're slowly getting one, but is it too late for this April 2nd election? We don't know. We'll have to wait and see."

The County Commission says the goal is to have a stand-alone Lawrence County 911 Center. Right now, the city of Monett provides 911 service for the county, but that contract runs out in May. At this point, the commission says they will likely have to renew that contract.
Toronto, March 4: International pressure continues to mount against Pakistan for letting terrorist organisations operate on its soil. The United Kingdom has become the latest country to call on Islamabad to act against them.

UKs Prime Minister Theresa May in a call to her Pakistani counterpart Imran Khan has called for his government to act against the terror groups operating from Pakistan. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of Pakistan taking action against all terrorist groups, in support of global efforts to combat terrorism, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

Theresa May joins France, and the U.S. in calling for Pakistan to take action against terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad which operates freely on Pakistani soil to plot and target India. This after Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the suicide attack in which 44 CRPF soldiers were killed in Jammu & Kashmir. The UK has also joined France and the U.S. to propose the black-listing of Masood Azhar, the head of Jaish-e-Mohammad at the United Nations Security Council.

"She welcomed his commitment to reducing tensions with India," May's office said of the call with Khan. "The leaders also discussed the need to address the causes of this conflict, added the spokesperson.

The JeM-claimed terror attack in Pulwama led to India carrying out airstrikes against terror camps in Balakot in Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir which brought the two countries to the brink of a full-fledged armed conflict. It took the returning of downed-IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman by Pakistan to de-escalate the tense situation to a certain extent.

However, the Indian government has maintained that it reserves the right to act against terror groups operating from Pakistan, especially because Islamabad has refused to act against them. In fact past terror attacks in India such as the Mumbai 26/11 terror attack and the Pathankot airbase attack point to these terror groups being aided and abetted by Pakistans ISI in their effort to target India.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 04, 2019 02:58 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
"Best dating site in Nigeria" is one of the most frequent Internet searches. The statistics show that a lot of people are lonely nowadays, so the abundance of such sites aims to solve this problem. Look through our list, and we guarantee that you will choose the best website that can help you to find your second half.

Image: stocksnap.io

Source: UGC

Dating sites is indeed a great invention of people. Notwithstanding, individuals, deny that loneliness is terrible and they feel good even not having a date, in an instant, everyone realises the wonders of love. Sometimes making the acquaintance is the daunting task. And only such sites help people find a person, who keeps with their wishes.

The best dating sites in Nigeria free to everyone

There is one thing which worries people, looking for online dating resources. It is a commercial aspect. Not many people have a desire to pay to use the service especially when their expectations not justify, and they leave alone. However, the opinion about the uselessness and lousy quality of cost-free sites still exists.

If you are not ready to pay for an opportunity to get acquainted with somebody online, you have nothing to worry about because the majority of all existing dating resources is free and everyone can use such sites for their purposes.

To the list of free dating sites that one can call the best in the county we include the following:

Flirt Naija is a quite popular source in Nigeria. Almost 1 million people use it regularly for seeking their second half. The process of registration lasts 1-2 minutes, after which a user gives detailed information about himself and uploads a photo. It is all that you need for successful use of the site. The main benefit of Flirt Naija is the mobile App: it means that you can chat with other users even from your mobile.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

Naija Planet is one of the best dating sites in Nigeria. The statistics of this website says that almost all users found a romantic relationship, which led to marriage and happy living. A person of every gender can look for the second half among the thousands of profiles on the site. Moreover, the system has a geo-location function: you can seek a free man or woman next to you. Your fate may be close, and you do not even suspect about it.

Mingle2 is also a Nigerian dating service, but it is used preferably by the citizens of Lagos. The main page shows us that the site is entirely free, so you even do not need to take up our credit card. If you a new user, you need only 30 seconds to join up and find your love or friends. The administration of the service monitors the honesty of users, so you will not see a fake page on Mingle2, because the site blocks them.

READ ALSO: Questions to ask a girl you just met online

Image: unsplash.com

Source: UGC

AfroRomance is also one of the free online dating sites widespread in Nigeria. If you tried to find love in real life and have no success, try this service. The registration is also quick and easy so that you can start chatting immediately. The filters help people to choose the desired race, age and gender not to waste time to browse uninteresting profiles.

Nigerian Dating  This site is only a part of the massive network of dating sites for different countries. The amount of its users surpasses 4 million. On this site, you tell about your preferences immediately when registering. So you do not need to set a filter each time in the future. The SoulSingles site also belongs to this network and has the same design and type.

Jerrykoko is a completely free dating site without payment option; meaning that users can use all its features for free. Jerrykoko has a lot of active Nigerian users.

Features

1. Send and receive messages

2. Chat with nearby friends

3. Street chat

4. Video and audio calls

5. Timeline, users can post content comments and share

6. Play games with friends

Metro Date is the oldest among all online dating sites because it was created in 1998 and still works. Everyone, who is over 18 can use it for chatting by text and voice messages; also a user can record video with a short description of his or her person and upload it to the profile. There are also a lot of photographs, testimonials of real people on the main page of the site. The most excellent idea of creators was the publishing of different sociological articles, which help to build a healthy relationship.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

In theory, people can use any site, involving the possibility of chatting for finding love. For example, you may register on such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and some others. It is also possible to use a popular dating site, such as Badoo, Tinder as the way of searching the Nigerian man or woman.

Christian dating sites

It is no surprise that many people including Nigerians are deeply spiritual. And in this case, they want their future seconds half to be of faith too. Free online dating services mentioned above not always help to configure such filter. Of course, a person can ask each favourite interlocutor about the attitude to religion, but it is not always a convenient option.

Image: pexels.com

Source: UGC

The best dating sites listed below were created especially for the category of people for whom religion is an essential part of life:

Christian Dating for Free (CDFF)  the branch of the big network, which allows Christian people to choose the country of living and look for like-minded people. For those who want to narrow down the searching area, the creators implemented the filter of cities. After setting all options, the site shows a list of suitable profiles with photo, information about the country and city, and a short description of the personality. Also, there is a relevant field, in which a person chooses the type of relationships: long-term, friend or marriage partner.

Christian Singles Hub is the service for Christians, who want to find love or only to chat with interesting people. On the main page, you can search people, by defining gender, age and location. But if you want to be visible to other users and chat with them, you should create an account. An interesting option is that married couples use this site to tell more about family life and give advice to young people.

Image: pexels.com

Source: Getty Images

Christians.ng is the best free dating site in Nigeria for single people of the Christian religion, wanting to create a happy family. You can see an approximate counter of free men and women, who find the second half at this moment. There is even a guide of how to get a date, according to which one should create an account, start searching and be active when chatting. It is the secret of being non-single.

The mission of dating sites in Nigeria is to protect people from loneliness. Single people are not happy in most cases. Even for the shyest personalities, the Internet provides dozens of possibilities to change their lives. If you are one of those, make several mouse clicks, and your love will be already with you.

Source: Legit.ng
- A Nigerian teenager has made Nigerians proud after she scored 305 in her JAMB

- The 15-year-old girl had also reportedly gotten all As in her WAEC

- Ikeoluwa Abioye was celebrated by a Nigerian man who shared her story on Twitter

It is no longer a surprise that some Nigerian students excel exceptionally well in their studies at home and abroad.

A Nigerian man has taken to social media to celebrate a teenager who did exceptionally well in her West African Examination Council and also got a very good mark for her Joint Admissions Matriculation Board exam.

The man @tweetoracle, who shared the 15-year-old girl's story on Twitter, stated that she is a genius in making.

15-year-old Nigerian genius gets 305 in JAMB Source: @TWEETORACLE

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Meet lady Adeola Ogunmola who became the first Nigerian female pilot with Qatar Airways

According to @tweetoracle, the young girl identified as Ikeoluwa Abioye had been able to get all distinctions in her West African Examination Council, including her mathematics and English exam.

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The Twitter user also noted that Abioye had also scored 305 over 400 in her her Joint Admissions Matriculation Board exam.

He wrote: "Let's celebrate 15 yr old Ikeoluwa Abioye, a genius in the making."

PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group

However, some Nigerians were quick to reply, stating that her scores would not change anything if she stays in Nigeria. They also shared similar stories of students with good grades who were unable to gain admission.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that a 30-year-old Nigerian lady who is known as a whizz at the national aeronautics and space administration (NASA), became the first black woman to get a doctorate degree in aerospace engineering. She was born into a family of six.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better

Temilayo Abodunrin Story: 8-Year-Old Girl Shows the World Her Skills Playing Saxophone - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- A leader of the National Union of Transport Workers, MC Oluomo, has taken to social media to celebrate his wife

- Oluomo's wife Aisha is celebrating her birthday on Monday, March 4

- The union leader penned down a lovely note to his wife and said she is the reason his heart beats

Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, who is a leader of the National Union of Transport Workers (NURTW), has taken to social media to celebrate his wife on her birthday with a lovely note.

The NURTW leader had shared photos of his wife, Aisha Ajoke Akinsanya, on his Instagram page.

On his post, MC Oluomo expressed that his wife is the reason his heart beats. He stated that as she celebrates her birthday his heart beats extra.

READ ALSO: Legendary Fuji maestro King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall clocks 62

MC Oluomo also prayed that his wife would have more years of love, happiness, health and romance.

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He said: "Let`s celebrate your birthday today and raise our glasses to many more years of love, happiness, health and romance.

My heart beats an extra beat today to wish you happy birthday. Because you are the reason it beats everyday. Happy Birthday my dearlyn wife Aishat Ajoke Akinsanya."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that Ghanaian actress Nadia Buari had given relationship advice to women on social media. The actress advised women that having a baby for a man won't help you keep him.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better

Lagos Police Commissioner gives important update on MC Oluomo - on Legit TV

Source: Legit Newspaper
- Senator Godswill Akpabio has opened up on why the PDP lost the just concluded presidential election

- The senator said the opposition already lost the 2019 election the day he left the party for APC

- According to Akapbio, he had strong believes that President Muhamadu Buhari would be reelected at the polls

A past minority leader of the Senate and former governor of Akwa Ibom state, Godswill Akpabio, has credited President Muhammadu Buhari's victory at the 2019 presidential election to his defection from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpabio said the PDP lost the presidential election the day he joined the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking on Channels Television's political programme, the former governor said he strongly believed the president needed to be re-elected.

READ ALSO: I would have been surprised if Atiku had won - Falana

My former party lost from the day I stepped out of it.

I believe strongly that the president needed to be re-elected, Akpabio said.

Addressing his loss at the senatorial election in Akwa Ibom state, Akpabio said he was robbed of his mandate to represent his people.

According to Akpabio, it is disappointing that a state which so much of his followership was robbed off.

He called on the electoral body, to announced the original result for the polls which he claimed has him as the winner of the senatorial election.

READ ALSO: Suspected herdsmen kill 16 in fresh attack on Benue community

Akpabio said: Those responsible, whether the REC in Akwa-Ibom state or those he instructed know the reality, my plea now is that they should announce my result."

The reality is that I am asking for justice. I am saying that INEC should be bold enough to do the right thing.

I am disappointed that a state with so much followership as far as the party is concerned, the state that loves President Buhari so much was not allowed as a result of a conspiracy to bring out the votes," the former governor added.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said the re-election of President Buhari will help to facilitate the revamping of the nations refineries.

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Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC Group General Manager, Group Public Affairs said the president had been supportive to the corporation.

Ughamadu said: The re-election of President Buhari is a welcome development to the corporation. As the Minister of Petroleum he has been very supportive."

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

Leadership of Nigeria is not meant for our forefathers| - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Some Nigerians have taken to Abuja to protest President Buhari's election

- The group of protesters said card readers were not used in many polling units in the country

- The protesters promised to continue with the protest for a week

Some Nigerians under the platform of Occupy Nigeria took over Unity Fountain, Abuja to protest the declaration of President Muhammad Buhari as winner of the just concluded presidential election.

The group on Monday, March 4, condemned in its totality the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the Saturday, February 23 presidential election which took place across states in the country.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

Speaking to Legit.ng, Idris Usman, the convener of Occupy Nigeria, a coalition of civil society organisations and Nigerians from all walks of life said the decision made by INEC must be reversed and due process followed in ensuring that the vote of every Nigerian counts in the 2019 presidential election.

Usman said the group in collaboration with observers who were ground during the election observed card readers were not used at all in some states of the country.

Occupy Nigeria protesters in Abuja

Source: UGC

"With the Occupy Nigeria, we have over 50 civil societies under it. We've done a petition to INEC, for once in Nigeria, there has never been a time when decision was reversed.

"Despite that what we are saying is that this decision ( a declaration of 2019 presidential election winner by INEC) did not settle well with the people.

"Our own is simple, where card readers were not used in north, let card readers be used, anybody can win but let the proper thing be done," Usman said.

Condemning the use of military in the past election, Usman said the presence of soldiers at the polls already violates the law.

READ ALSO: Caution Atiku - Buhari Campaign Organisation tells EU, AU

Citing the Osun gubernatorial election which took place in September 2018, Usman argued that no leader was announced until the election was concluded.

He said: "In Osun gubernatorial, no leader was announced till the process was concluded, so why was INEC in such a hurry to announce the result of the 2019 presidential election?"

He also said the protest would continue for four hours every day until Friday, March 8.

According to Usman, if the electoral body fails to yield to the petitions the group would occupy the commission's headquarters in Abuja.

Also in a statement signed by Okpanachi Jacob, the co-convener of the Occupy Nigeria said the journey towards credible elections in Nigeria must not be jeopardise.

Okpanachi stating that the electoral system in Nigeria is retrogressing into resignation and fatalism said INEC must open its backend servers to stakeholders in the process.

He said voting must be conducted for millions of Nigerians who were disenfranchised, the presence of military in areas of no crisis be withdrawn, fresh elections be conducted where card readers were not used and perpetrators of violence in the last election especially in the Niger Delta be brought to order.

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He also called for justice against thugs who harassed voters in Lagos and urged the international community to call the ruling party to order as Nigerians will not accept a President that has not been duly elected by majority of Nigerians.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the INEC presented the certificate of return to President Buhari and his running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, following the victory of the APC in the February 23 presidential election.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

INEC announces Buhari as 2019 election winner, Nigerians react | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reportedly declared Jerry Alagbaso winner of the House of Representatives election held in Orsu/Orsu/Oru East federal constituency of Imo state on February 23.

The result was announced by the Returning Officer, Professor Innocent Madufor, in Owerri, the state capital on Monday, March 4.

Announcing the result, Madufor said that Alagboso polled 21,273 to defeat the AA candidate, Dr Ikenna Ihezuo, who polled 2,171 votes and APCs Edwin Iheanacho, with 20,061 votes.

READ ALSO: Why PDP lost presidential election - Akpabio opens up

The announcement is coming ten days after the election which was marred with allegations of violence and snatching of ballot boxes, was held.

Daily Trust reports that the Action Alliance (AA), All Progressives Congress (APC) and All Progressives Grand (APGA) candidates are now protesting the result.

INEC had earlier declared the election inconclusive, but the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Francis Chukwuemeka Ezeonu later declared Alagboso winner.

Giving reasons for the reversal, Ezeonu said that the returning officer did not apply the electoral guidelines properly in declaring the election inconclusive.

He said the electoral guidelines had stipulated that areas where card readers were not deployed, either as a result of violence or compromise, such areas should have zero returns.

He said that some of the areas declared inconclusive actually had results, while others didnt.

He said this necessitated INEC to have a rethink and apply the electoral law, as stipulated.

Following the announcement of the results, there was an uproar as the three parties accused INEC of bias.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that the governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, had described his suspension as a plot to bring into destruction the chance of the APC in the southeast region by some selfish people ahead of 2023.

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Reacting to his suspension, the Imo governor said the national chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, was heavily blinded by 2023 presidency, thus making attempt to ruin the region's chances.

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What is cooking in Imo state? | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- A Federal High Court sitting in Niger on Monday, March 4, upheld the candidacy the governor of the state, Abubakar Bello in the forthcoming gubernatorial poll

- This was against the certificate forgery suit file against the Governor Bello by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

- The court dismissed the suit on the ground that the PDP's sole witness, after cross-questioning, failed to prove that Bello presented forged certificate

The lawsuit filed against Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger state by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on Monday, March 4, dismissed by a Federal High Court sitting in Niger state.

The PDP in its suit alleged that Governor Bello submitted forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ahead of the gubernatorial election, Channels TV reports.

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However, the presiding judge, Justice Aminu Aliyu, ruled that the suit which was filed beyond the expiration of 14 days, contravenes section 285 (9) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), adding that the PDP's sole witness, after cross-questioning, failed to prove that Bello presented forged certificate to INEC.

Sequel to this, the court further ruled that the plaintiffs case lacked merit, dismissed it and awarded cost of N500,000 to the first and second defendants.

Counsel to Bello, Jibrin Samuel Okutepa (SAN) described the case as nothing more than political amusement.

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Following this, Yunus Ustaz Usman (SAN), the counsel to APC, expressed satisfaction with the judgment, noting that the case was fated to lose ground in court.

Moreover, the counsel to INEC, Johnson Usman, stated that he agreed with the judgment, since it was completely in accordance with the state law.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court on Monday, March 4, dismissed a suit alleging that Governor Mohammed Bindow of Adamawa submitted forged certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) for lack of territorial jurisdiction.

Delivering judgment, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi held that the court lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case on the ground that the suit originated from Adamawa and ought to have being filed in the state and not FCT.

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2019 Election: Presidential candidate, party leaders react to announced results| Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- Governor Wike and the PDP national chairman, Uche Secondus, have been blamed by a group as the cause of Atiku's defeat

- President Muhammadu Buhari had on Saturday, February 23, defeated the PDP's candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in a presidential election

- The group alleged that Governor Wike hijacked the convention and installed an incompetent leader who could not deliver victory to the party in the presidential election

The Niger Delta Freedom Volunteer Force (NDFVF) has blamed Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers state for allegedly causing the defeat suffered by the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, during the Saturday, February 23 presidential election.

The Nation reports that the group also congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari at his re-election in the poll and called on Atiku and the PDP to accept the defeat as the sincere outcome of the exercise.

Legit.ng gathered that the group stated these in a communique issued at the end of emergency meeting in Port Harcourt and traced the failure to the party in the just held presidential polls to the partys national convention held in Port Harcourt in 2018.

The document jointly signed by the president and the secretary of the group, Harry Lawson and Preye Wilson respectively, alleged that Governor Wike hijacked the convention and installed an incompetent leader who could not deliver victory to the party in the presidential election.

READ ALSO: Oyo ADC reportedly gives Tinubu conditions to rejoin support Adelabu

The statement read: Atiku simply lost because Wike and Secondus hijacked the party structure to themselves before the elections. Former governor of Ogun state and director general of Atikus presidential campaign, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, was nowhere to be found close to him again. It was just impossible for PDP to have won.

Wike and Secondus in their selfishness sold out the party in Kano state where they would have secured more votes, by insisting that former governor of the state, Rabiu Kwankwaso, take fifty five percent (55%) of the state PDP exco.

This decision infuriated another former governor of the state, Ibrahim Shekarau and forced him out of the party to join the All Progressive Congress (APC), where he delivered the state to President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC, producing the highest votes from all states in the country."

It urged the PDP and the entire south-south to accept outcome of the February 23 presidential election and work with the president to move Nigeria forward.

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The group also condemned the wild spread violence that claimed several innocent lives during the presidential and national assembly elections in south-south, especially in Rivers state, and called for a peaceful and credible governorship and state assembly elections in the region come Saturday, March 23.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that the expanded caucus of the PDP on Monday, March 4, said it resolved to head to the electoral tribunal following the outcome of the 2019 presidential election which took place on Saturday, February 23.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

2019 Election: Atiku heads to court to contest election result, can he win? | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
A 25-year-old woman has been arrested in New Orleans and charged in the killing of the owner of Murphy Jewelers, a company originally founded in Pottsville with three locations in the region.

Patrick Murphy, 62, of Pottsville, was found dead Thursday in a hotel room at The Empress Hotel in the Treme section of New Orleans. He was in bed and covered in blood, authorities said. He died of sharp force injuries and his death was described as homicide by cutting, authorities said.

Megen Hall had been sought as a suspect in his killing and she surrendered to New Orleans police Sunday with her attorney present. She is being charged with second-degree murder. Police have not indicated a possible motive.

Murphy and Hall checked into the hotel together at 2 a.m. on Thursday, according to Nola.com. Hall used Tennessee identification and Murphy paid for the room, Nola.com reported. Surveillance video at the hotel showed Hall leaving alone about two hours later, Nola.com reported.

Murphy Jewelers was founded in 1913 by Murphys grandfather, Frank J. Murphy, in Pottsville, Schuylkill County, according to the jewelers website. The company also has locations in Tilden Township, Berks County, near Hamburg, and at the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township.

The Morning Call newspaper, citing court records, reports Hall, of from Mumford, Tennessee, has a lengthy criminal history involving prostitution charges:

She was convicted of prostitution in Memphis in February 2012 and sentenced to six days in jail. Hall in May 2012 pleaded guilty to prostitution in New Orleans and was sentenced to 90 days of probation and a $500 fine. In that case, a police report says Hall solicited an undercover police officer for indiscriminate sexual acts and it was her first offense in the city.

Police in Houston arrested Hall for prostitution twice  on May 7, 2015, and on the same date three years later. She was convicted in the first case and the second case has since been dismissed.

What you can do:

Those with information about the case, are asked to call New Orleans Police Department Homicide Detective Patrick Guidry at 504-658-5300.
Two teenagers from Montgomery County were killed and a third was seriously injured in a one-vehicle crash during the snowstorm late Sunday afternoon in Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania State police report.

Michelle L. Goodwin, 18, of Pennsburg, and Daniel E. Pierson, 18, of Red Hill, were passengers in an eastbound 1995 Ford. Both died at the scene not far from the Quakertown interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpikes Northeast Extension, police said.

The 17-year-old driver from Pottstown was taken to a Lehigh Valley Hospital after the 5:24 p.m. wreck on John Fries Highway  Route 663  about 1,300 feet south of Brinkman Road, police said. The news release didnt name the driver.

It was snowing at the time of the crash but authorities didnt say if it was a factor. The cause of the crash is still being determined, police said.

The state police Troop M Collision Accident Reconstruction Team joined the investigation at the scene, the news release said. No charges have been filed.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.

State police initially said the driver was cited but later corrected that. This post has been updated.
Thirty years ago, when John Gregory and his wife Ann moved into their home at 305 Mercer St. in Phillipsburg, there was a lone sapling in their backyard. Over the years, the sapling had grown into a 60-foot-tall tree, he said.

And in some of the worst weather of a nasty evening, a big piece broke off, damaged a chimney and settled against their kitchen window.

Sunday night, as a snowstorm raged outside, the Gregorys were relaxing inside about 9 oclock when they heard what John described as a sonic boom.

It was quiet. We were watching TV, he said Monday morning. The ensuing sound was almost like when a plane first takes off. That popping sound.

John Gregory, a 58-year-old retired New Jersey Human Services police officer, was once a bodyguard for Mother Teresa -- now Saint Teresa of Calcutta -- when she visited the Blue Army Shrine in Warren County. She blessed him before she left, he said.

A tree split during a snowstorm the night of March 3, 2019, and struck a home on Mercer Street in Phillipsburg. (Tim Wynkoop | lehighvalleylive.com contributor)

Maybe that blessing held up. No one was hurt Sunday night and the damage was limited, Gregory said, as far as they could tell looking down on it from the top floor.

His wife wanted to go out back and start cleaning up, but Gregory figured it wasnt a good idea, with the tree not being stable and some sort of wire caught up in it. Part of the tree is still standing.

He joked that his neighbor, former Phillipsburg Councilman Randy Piazza, has more trees on his property and the Gregorys are often cleaning up when branches fall onto their property.

But on Sunday night, it was the Gregorys tree making the mess.

They were up until 2 or 3 in the morning worrying about the severed hunk of wet wood and on Monday morning were waiting for their insurance agent to begin the process of getting it cut up and hauled away and determining the extent to the damage.

My wife was pretty upset about the incident, the 1978 Phillipsburg Catholic High School graduate said. Its life. We happen to be one of the unlucky ones today.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
In 2018 New Jersey suffered from the heaviest rainfall on record. Rain totals were 25 to 50 percent greater than average across New Jersey, resulting in excessive flooding, weakening and endangering the already aging frayed infrastructure in municipalities such as Phillipsburg.

In the 17 years we have lived here, we have noticed the stormwater runoff carries debris, oil, and antifreeze, which then flows into the drains. As runoff travels across driveways, streets and parking lots it picks up pollutants which eventually reach the Delaware River. Did you know that the Delaware River supplies drinking water for more than 15 million people and contributes $25 billion worth of economic activity to the region? It is imperative that Phillipsburg do its part to protect this magnificent river from flooding and pollutants.

New Jersey State legislators recently passed a solution called the Flood Defense Act which would empower municipalities and counties to create stormwater programs. It now sits on the governors desk. It should be noted this bill is aimed primarily at commercial properties with large impervious surfaces. In other states, the average homeowner pays around what one cup of coffee costs per month. More than 1,700 communities across the country already have these programs, but New Jersey communities cant enact them without this bill.

We urge the leaders of Phillipsburg to support the Flood Defense Act so we can protect our infrastructure and waterways from future floods and damage from polluted stormwater runoff.

Stuart and Elizabeth Ridley

Phillipsburg
A Phillipsburg man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a teen.

Kenneth B. Thompson, 62, on June 7, 2018 was indicted by a Hunterdon County Grand Jury on charges of second-degree sexual assault and third-degree child endangerment. Authorities arrested Thompson on April, 23, 2018 and he pleaded guilty on Feb. 20, said Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns.

Kearns said detectives with the Hunterdon County Prosecutors Offices Special Victims Unit and New Jersey State Police in Perryville Barracks investigated Thompson, finding he engaged in sex acts with a girl under the age of 16. Kearns did not disclose when these acts happened; a report on MyCentralJersey.com stated the location was Union Township.

Thompson is scheduled to be sentenced on April 25 before Hunterdon County Superior Judge Angela F. Borkowski, sitting in Flemington.

Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @pamholzmann. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
There is not adequate public representation in Laois for people living in Portlaoise who were born outside Ireland, according to an accountant of Pakistan origin who has declared as a candidate in the local elections.

Naeem Iqbal, who is married with children, says his campaign slogan is 'Portlaoise For All'. He wants it to be a town where families of Irish and foreign origin live in what he calls an "inclusive, progressive, multicultural and multi-faith society".

Portlaoise has one of the highest non-Irish born populations in Ireland. Many who have moved here are rearing families in the town. Mr Iqbal told the Leinster Express that these people deserve more representation from politicians.

"There is not an adequate representation of the people born outside Ireland but my representation is for both the non- Irish and Irish born as the issues I am voicing for, are mostly related to the Irish people in general," he said.

The candidate, who is running as an independent, has four key policy issues.

He wants to increase social and affordable housing and restore and protect vacant buildings.

In the health area, he wants to extend the leisure centre, develop cycle lanes and provide healthy school lunches. He also supports the campaign for Portlaoise hospital.

He proposes the development of a community centre that can be used by all people in Portlaoise.

The candidate also has a business agenda.

Mr Iqbal calls for the revival of the businesses in the Portlaoise's Main Street. He also wants to increase grants and micro-financing for young entrepreneurs.

Mr Iqbal says he will be campaigning for the improvement of facilities for the local enterprise centre to help local businesses.

He wants to support Laois business networking and work to revive the local chamber of commerce.

The generation of more employment locally is also an aim.

People do not have to be Irish citizens to contest or vote in local elections.

Portlaoise was the first town in Ireland to have a black mayor when the former county councillor Rotimi Adebari was elected.
Out of towners coming to Portlaoise to visit the guests of the nation at the two local prisons account for a significant amount of shoplifting, according to the top garda in the region.

At todays (Monday, March 4) meeting of the Joint Policing Committee in Laois County Hall, Chief Superintendent John Scalcan revealed that overall property crime is down 12.8%, from 327 in the last quarter of 2017 to 285 in the last quarter of 2018.

Aggravated burglary is down from one to none; burglary is down 5% from 80 to 76; interfering with an MPV remains the same at four; robbery from the person is down 58.3%, from 12 to five; theft is down 42.5% from 87 to 50; theft from an MPV is down 41.1% from 56 to 33; theft from the person is up 200% from two to six; theft from shops is up 30.6% from 85 to 111; and there were no cases of a pedal cycle or MPV being stolen.

Chief Supt Scanlan revealed that property crime had been halved in the district over the last five years.

He said that the increase in shoplifting tended to be due to the Celtic Tiger effect, with more people going into shops and a significant transient population coming to town.

There are a lot of out of towners coming to visit the guests of the nation in Portlaoise, he said, alluding to the presence of the two local prisons.

He said that a lot of crimes may be committed by just a few individuals, with criminals committing four or five break ins before theyre caught and sentenced.

He referred to one man arrested in Donegal who had only just flown into Ireland the day before and was part of a suite of burglaries. He left the country and later returned, and was arrested two days later. Chief Supt Scanlan said this man had secured sentences across a number of European countries for crimes.

Chief Supt Scanlan said that it would be difficult to bring the overall crime figures down any further as, citing Oscar Wildes famous quote that I can resist anything except temptation, he said that temptation is omnipresent.
Laois priest Fr Sean Hyland was set to appear on The Late Late Show this weekend to chat with host Ryan Tubridy about his book 'Whisperings of my Soul'.

Fr Sean's appearance on the talk show has been changed from this Friday, March 8 to another date in mid-April that is yet to be confirmed.

The well-known Portarlington priest has had people travel from all over the country to see him since he released his book.

Fr Sean lives in his hometown of Portarlington and is a curate in the communities of Clonbullogue and Rhode.

His book 'Whisperings of my Soul' was self-published last December 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.

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.

He explains that after he lost all three members of his family he received comfort 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 Sean helps others experiencing grief by sharing the comforting messages he has received from his family in heaven.

Fr Hyland said he is chuffed with the feedback from the book and he is now celebrating getting his book into mainstream distribution across the country.

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.
The Catholic church is taking to social media to encourage people to take part in Lent which begins this week.

Archbishop Eamon Martin has launched a special web resource, and a Twitter and Instagram #LiveLent initiative, for Lent 2019, starting on Ash Wednesday, March 6.

For Lent 2019 we are providing online resources, including the message of Pope Francis for Lent 2019, to assist our spiritual preparations for the joy and hope which comes with the Easter season. I encourage everyone to avail of our online resources and to take part in our #LiveLent initiative, Archbishop Martin said.

The #LiveLent initiative will involve short daily suggestions shared on Twitter and Instagram based on the theme of the Holy Fathers Lenten message on how to best #LiveLent 2019.

These will include suggestions on fasting, prayer and almsgiving, which are the three pillars of the Lenten season; prayer and scripture suggestions; opportunities for penance and fasting in our daily lives (e.g. fasting from gossip, fasting from negativity online, giving up certain foods for Lent, availing of the Sacrament of Reconciliation); suggestions of charitable acts (e.g. donating to Trocaire and other charities; donating your time by volunteering or helping out within your own family, school, parish; and behaving in a charitable way towards all those we meet).

Everyone is invited to take part using the hashtag #LiveLent and are encouraged to share with their own followers how they are putting the themes of prayer, fasting and almsgiving into practice during Lent.
A man who has been housed at the Eyre Powell Hotel in Newbridge for the past seven years while seeking asylum has been jailed for 10 months for having a false French identity document.

At Naas District Court on February 28, Oussama Denine, 36, of Eyre Powell Hotel, who has been in custody on the charge since January 23, was convicted of having the false French identity in his room at the Eyre Powell on October 22 2018. He pleaded guilty to the charge.

Seven years waiting

At an earlier sitting in January, Tim Kennelly, solicitor for Mr Denine, said his client had been in the hotel for the past seven years waiting for an adjudication in his application for asylum and found it incredibly frustrating.

Mr Kennelly said his client had a PPS number and was working in a warehouse.

At the February 28 sitting, a prosecuting garda said they were told the defendant only used the ID to work in a meat factory in Kildare.

The court heard Mr Denine, who is facing another separate charge, had no previous convictions.

Mr Kennelly said his client had answered all questions put to him.

But the prosecuting garda told the court that Mr Denine has been asked to fill in forms for the Algerian embassy, but had not done that.

Mr Kennelly said his client wanted to stay in Ireland and had a lot of friends here.

The solicitor said he created the ID to get work. His only crime is that he wanted to stay in the country, Mr Kennelly told the court.

Judge Zaidan said that the law required people to be returned from the EU country from which they left for Ireland. The garda replied that it was sometimes difficult to prove the EU origin of the person.
Racing at Dundalk was abandoned in tragic circumstances on Friday night as Kildare man, Willie Buckley, a long-time member of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB) security team, died after taking ill shortly after the second race.

A statement released by the IHRB last Saturday morning read: It is with deep regret and profound sadness that the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board can confirm the passing of our esteemed colleague Willie Buckley.

Willie was a valued member of the IHRB security team for 11 years and was on duty at Dundalk racecourse last evening when taken ill.

The IHRB offer sincere condolences to his partner Kathleen, son Tony and daughter Sinead and their families, friends and colleagues at this time.

Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland (HRI), said: Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Willie Buckley who was always a friendly face on the racetrack or around Newbridge.

Mr Buckley was the brother of Grand National winning jockey Pat Buckley, as well as Seamus Buckley, who retired in 2017 as clerk of the course at Goodwood after 23 years in the role.

He was originally from Two Mile House. A minutes silence in Willies memory was held at the meetings at Navan and Leopardstown on Saturday and Sunday.

A resident of Moorefield Park, Newbridge, he will be reposing at Anderson & Leahy's Funeral Home, Newbridge tomorrow, Tuesday March 5 from 4pm and on Wednesday from 2pm with removal at 5.30pm to arrive at St. Conleth's Parish Church, Newbridge at 6pm.

His funeral Mass takes place on Thursday morning at 11am with burial afterwards in St. Conleth's Cemetery, Newbridge.

Tributes poured in on social media for the Kildare man from many racing outlets, organisations and racetracks.
Aldi has agreed a one-year contract extension with premier juice producer Mulrines that will see the business provide over 7 million worth of Irish-made fruit juices and smoothies to Aldis 137 stores nationwide.

Under the new agreement, Mulrines will increase the volume of product it supplies to Aldi by over 20% year on year. It will also see several new innovative products developed exclusively for Aldi customers, including a premium 100% Irish fresh apple juice. Made from a blend of Irish grown Coxs Pippen, Elstar and Jonagold apples, Specially Selected Irish Pressed Apple Juice will launch exclusively in Aldi stores in April 2019, retailing at 2.39.

Mulrines is one of Aldis longest serving suppliers in Ireland, partnering with Aldi since 2002. The volume of product it supplies to Aldi has grown by over 10% over the past year. Since 2003, it has also worked with Aldis UK business and will supply 1.8m units of juice products to Aldi UK stores this year.

With orchards and production facilities in Kill, Co. Kildare and Ballybofey, Co. Donegal respectively, Mulrines has created first-class Irish fruit juices and smoothies since 1919. It employs 180 people across production, sales and innovation roles. It is the only juice producer in Ireland that grows its own fruit, processes it and sells the finished product. This year, Mulrines is celebrating being in business for 100 years.
A jury has begun deliberating in the trial of a 37-year-old woman charged with attempting to murder a civil servant, who was walking home from work in Dublin two years ago.

Laura Kenna, of no fixed abode but who grew up in Celbridge and previously lived in Prosperous, is charged with attempting to murder Fionnuala Burke on Lower Drumcondra Road in the city on January 3, 2017, and of assault causing serious harm to her on the same occasion. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to both counts and is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.

The trial has heard that Ms Burke was working for the Department of Social Protection, and was walking home when she noticed a woman sitting on a wall outside a house. The woman, Laura Kenna, sprang up and pushed her back onto a grassy area. Ms Kenna didnt say anything, but started to stab her.

Ms Burke felt the short stab wounds and could also feel her face being slashed, before she felt a dramatic slash straight across her neck. Ms Kenna then spoke, telling Ms Burke that shed let her go if she handed over her bag.

Ms Kenna later admitted to gardai: I sliced her like you would a goat.

The main issue for the jury to consider was Ms Kennas state of mind at the time; however there was a conflict of opinion between the experts on this issue.

A consultant psychiatrist engaged by the defence, Dr Stephen Monks, testified that the accused was suffering from a mental disorder at the time; she was therefore entitled to the special defence of not guilty by reason of insanity.

However, a consultant psychiatrist engaged by the State disagreed. Professor Harry Kennedy testified that she was not delusional at the time, but carried out the attack in anger and out of a sense of entitlement; she told gardai shed needed money.

Barristers for both sides delivered their closing speeches on Monday.

Barry White SC, defending, reminded the jury that both doctors had agreed that Ms Kenna had fit the criteria for the special insanity verdict when she had attacked another woman a few weeks before this attack. A jury in that case had later reached a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity on that charge.

However, the same two doctors had differed in this case. He pointed out that Prof Kennedy considered her to have a mental disorder after the Drumcondra attack, but not during it, and said the professor had Ms Kenna going from mad to bad to mad.

You heard from Dr Monks that this is highly improbable, he said.

Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, reminded the jury that he had said at the outset that this would not be an easy case.

I did not tell you that this was a retrial and that another jury had struggled with this, he said, referring to a previous jury failing to reach a verdict, something the defence had disclosed in this trial.

That is now known to you and it endorses the statement I made that this is a difficult case, he said.

He noted that there was no blood test that could establish a mental condition.

One has to go through the torturous process that has been revealed to you in this case, he continued, explaining that the Oireachtas had decided that 12 citizens coming together had to answer the question on insanity.

The six women and six men began considering their verdict yesterday afternoon and will resume deliberations this (Tuesday) morning. Ms Justice Tara Burns warned them not to discuss the case with anyone in the meantime.
Legislation signed by President Higgins on Christmas Day 2018 banning zero-hour contracts comes into effect from today Monday March 4.

Zero-hour contracts will be banned in almost all circumstances and workers in casual and precarious jobs will have greater certainty around the length of their working week.

The Employment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2018 is one of the most important pieces of employment law in twenty years and is the result of a five-year campaign by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.

Welcoming the new law, ICTU General Secretary Patricia King said: Workers rights have been significantly improved thanks to the trade union movement successfully pushing for legal protection around the working hours of the lowest-paid and most vulnerable workers.

She said: Zero-hour and low-hours contracts give employers complete discretion when it comes to working hours. Rogue bosses, taking full advantage of this, unashamedly use the threat of reduced hours to keep workers in-line and to punish workers for being unavailable. It is stressful, humiliating and makes it next to impossible for workers to plan ahead or to budget for their household expenses. The day-to-day reality of such working conditions for workers has no place in a modern, wealthy economy. This new law rightly puts an end this power-imbalance.



There are four new rights for workers:

1. Workers are entitled to a written statement of their terms of employment within first five days. The act legally requires employers to provide workers with a written statement of their main conditions of employment within the first five days of being hired. The statement must include details of daily and weekly working hours, rate of pay and how pay is calculated.

2. ZeroHour contracts are banned in almost all circumstances. It had become practice for some employers to employ workers without guaranteeing them a set number of working hours. Under the act, employers will no longer be able to use such zero-hour contracts except in very limited circumstances, such as to provide cover in emergency situations or to cover short-term absences.

3.Workers are entitled to a minimum payment if their employer fails to provide them with work. Workers have the right to compensation from their employer if they turn up for work but are sent home without work. The minimum payment they are entitled to is 3 hours pay at the minimum wage rate, or 3 hours at the JLC rate if they work in a sector where an Employment Regulation Order is in force, such as security or contract cleaning.

4. Workers are entitled to be guaranteed hours of work that reflect their normal working week. Under the act, workers have the right to be placed on a weekly band of hours that accurately reflect their normal working hours. For example, if a workers contract guarantees 10 hours per week but for the last 12-month period the worker has worked an average 25 hours per week, they are entitled to be placed on a band of hours that guarantees them a minimum of 21 hours per week.



Any worker denied their new rights under this legislation or victimised for asking for them, should contact a trade union who will assist them vindicate their rights. Union contact details can be found on www.ictu.ie
The clock is counting down. We are fast approaching the closing date for applications for Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur. Now is the time for you to visit www.ibye.ie to enter says Joe Lowe, Head of Enterprise for Local Enterprise Office Leitrim.

Now in its fifth year, this dynamic competition is open to 18 to 35-year-olds who have an idea for starting a business or who are already running their own business.

We have a 50,000 prize fund to give away here in Leitrim and we are looking for young entrepreneurs to enter in the three categories: Best New Idea, Best Start Up and Best Established Business.

All entrants are invited to an Enterprise Day with brilliant business advice and mentoring on offer. From there, a shortlist will be invited to an intensive Boot Camp and will move forward the #IBYE County Final.

2018 IBYE finalist Noel Dykes of Frankli had this to say about his IBYE experience. IBYE gave us the confidence and validation we needed to press on with our business. It also opened up a valuable network of customers and investors.

The application process is quick, free and simple but applications close on March 15 so time is running out. Just visit www.ibye.ie and take 15 minutes to complete your application. If you have any difficulties at all give our IBYE Coordinator Orla Mongey a call on 071 96 50420. Were just a call away and we are happy to help.

At the local launch of the IBYE competition in the Hive, Carrick-on-Shannon, Cathaoirleach Sean McGowan said We have had great success in Leitrim with the competition over the past few years. We would love to see a young entrepreneur from #TeamLeitrim making it to the National Finals of Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur 2019 in google this year. Enter the competition today and who knows it could be you!
Today the Childrens Rights Alliance welcomed the announcement today by the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Richard Bruton TD that he will introduce a new Online Safety Act to ensure that children can be protected online.



Commenting on todays announcement, Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Childrens Rights Alliance said: Children and young people represent one third of global users online. And the digital environment shapes childrens lives in many ways, creating opportunities and risks to their well-being and enjoyment of human rights. This announcement is a clear sign to industry that the age of self-regulation is over. The development of an Online Safety Act means that industry could be compelled to adopt the principle of safety by design. For far too long, providers have developed services and apps without considering the safety implications for children and young people.



Cyber bullying and cyber harassment ruins many childrens lives. Children tell us that they have no peace from it and that it follows them throughout the day. The Minister is proposing that cyber bullying will be defined as a harmful communication.



The Minister is proposing to establish an Online Safety Commissioner to police the set down standards for social tech companies to comply with. This Commissioner would also potentially have special powers to issue take down orders in the event that a company doesnt take down something that is harmful to a child. This is really important. We have seen too many examples where a provider has failed to take down material or content that is harmful to a child. This has been called for by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection, Prof. Geoffrey Shannon in his annual reports.



Tanya Ward continued: The Minister has opened a six week consultation on the development of this new legislation. It is critical that the views and experiences of children and young people get to inform this legislation directly. The Childrens Rights Alliance is calling on its members to participate in this consultation to ensure that the legislation respects the rights of children and young people.
A MAN in his 50s was allegedly caught throwing items into an adjoining property as gardai carried out a search of his home in Limerick city, the District Court has heard.

Anthony Keane Snr, 55, of Colmcille Street, St Marys Park, appeared before Judge Marian OLeary charged with sale and supply after gardai seized hundreds of euro worth of drugs and cash during a search on July 3, 2017.

Giving evidence last Thursday, Det Sgt Damien McGrath said during a search of the property at around 1.20pm, gardai seized 80 worth of suspected cannabis, 480 worth of suspected Xanax tablets, and sums of cash amounting to more than 1,200. Two sums of cash - 955 and 235 - were found in socks in a bedroom drawer, the court heard.

A digital scales and a CCTV system were also seized during the search. Sgt McGrath said that there was a delayed access to the property, and that there was a television running with a live CCTV feed in the front room, where the defendants 17-year-old son and a Michael ODonoghue, 25, were present.

Det Sgt McGrath said that he stayed with Anthony Keane Snr and the two males in the room as items were being seized.

Sgt Damien Kennedy, of Roxboro Road garda station, said he had a clear and unobstructed view of the rear of the premises.

He said that he observed Mr Keane allegedly throwing a number of objects onto the adjoining property, and told the defendant: I see you, Anthony and alleged that he made eye contact.

Sgt Kennedy said he then seized eight deals of suspected cannabis and suspected tablets wrapped in tissue. Mr Keane was arrested at 2.10pm and was detained at Mayorstone garda station.

Sgt Kennedy told the court that he had been in an elevated position, standing on the wall of an adjoining property.

Solicitor Tom Kiely presented a Google Maps image of the area, claiming that the officer did not have a view of Mr Keane. Sgt Kennedy said he had a view.

Mr Kiely said his client said there was no delay in accessing the property. Witness Michael ODonoghue said it was not correct that there was delayed access.

Mr Kiely said there are multiple reasons what the money was for. Mr Keanes wife, Anne, told the court that her eldest daughter Ciara gives her money for a rainy day.

When [she] comes to my house, she gives me a few bob out of her back pocket to put away for her. I tells her it adds up at the end of the day, the defendants wife told the court.

Mr Kiely said that the digital scales was being used to make food. Mr Keanes wife said that her daughter uses it for a Slimming World programme and that the food has to be portion size.

But Det Sgt McGrath said the scale is not practical for cooking and can only weigh a maximum 200g.

Mr Kiely said that Mr Keanes fingerprints or DNA were not attached to the exhibits in court, and that there was no tic list obtained during the search. He said tell-tale signs were not present during the search at the house.

He said there was nothing of evidential value regarding the exhibits, adding that would have been of huge benefit to Mr Keane. 

All and all, I think there are too many unanswered questions in this case, said Mr Kiely adding that Mr Keane was the only person arrested in the house and that there was no evidence that he owned the drugs.

Inspector Alan Cullen said that Sgt Kennedy saw Mr Keane come to the back door and throw the items, and that the State has met the threshold to charge Mr Keane for sale and supply of drugs.

Judge OLeary remanded the accused on continuing bail for a decision to be finalised on March 21.
A LIMERICK senator has condemned the stabbing of a garda in an estate in County Limerick on Sunday night, describing the incident as an obvious disregard for law and order.

A man in his 50s is being detained at Henry Street garda station, after a male officer suffered stab wounds to the hand at Bruach na Sionna, Castleconnell, at around 9pm on Sunday.

Fine Gael senator Maria Byrne said she was alarmed to learn of the incident.

My thoughts are with the victim and his family at this time. A stabbing like this in residential areas like Castleconnell, which is full of children, is something which would strike fear into the heart of any parent.

I am shocked, as will the community in Castleconnell to hear a garda has been hurt in the line of duty and the obvious disregard for law and order. I hope to see justice done here and those responsible for this put behind bars, she told the Limerick Leader.

She said she has been campaigning for extra policing resources for Limerick City East and that she will be raising the matter again with the Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan TD following this incident.

The garda, who is understood be doing well, was treated for minor injuries at University Hospital Limerick.
IRISH Ferries has brought a High Court challenge over a finding that it must pay compensation to thousands of passengers affected by the cancellation of sailings between Ireland and France last summer.

The company says it had to cancel the services because a new ferry it had ordered, the WB Yeats, to operate the service between Dublin and Cherbourg was delayed for several months.

The challenge has been brought against the National Transport Authoritys decision in January that arising out of the cancellations the company breached EU regulations concerning the rights of passengers travelling by sea.

The NTA issued the company with two notices requiring Irish Ferries to pay compensation to impacted passengers within a period of two months.

The notices direct the company to pay compensation to passengers impacted by the cancellations who had to travel from Rosslare instead of Dublin, and from Roscoff instead of Cherbourg.

The notices also state passengers who were delayed in reaching their final destination who have already requested compensation from the company must also be paid compensation.

Non-compliance with the notices is an offence, with a maximum fine on conviction of 250,000.

The company disputes the NTAs finding and says it and the notices are invalid, irrational, in breach of its Constitutional Rights and EU rights.

Irish Ferries also says the NTA has misinterpreted the relevant EU regulations.

The cancellations occurred because a new ship it had commissioned from the German shipyard Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft was delivered some 200 days late Irish Ferrys counsel Paul Gallagher SC told the High Court on Monday.

Counsel said the delay came as a shock to Irish Ferries and made headlines in the media.

Counsel said the company took steps including offering an immediate no quibble reimbursement in full to affected customers, offered vouchers for 150, as well as the opportunity to rebook on alternative sailings of their choosing.

Some 5,700 bookings were affected by the cancellations.

Counsel said the majority of affected passengers, some 82%, chose to travel on alternative sailings to France with Irish Ferries.

The remainder either cancelled and accepted a refund or chose to travel by landbridge through the UK, and were compensated by Irish Ferries for the fuel expended while crossing Britain.

Counsel said that his client is concerned about the long term implications of the NTA's decision.

The situation Irish Ferries found itself was extraordinary, was not of its own making, and it was unable to secure another ferry to operate the planned sailings, counsel said.

All affected passengers counsel said were informed of the situation a minimum of seven weeks before the proposed sailing, he added.

In its judicial review action, Irish Ferries seeks various orders including one quashing the NTA's decision and the notices it issued to the company.

It also seeks various declarations from the Court including that the NTA's decision and the notices are invalid, are irrational and are without any legal basis.

It further seeks declarations including that the decision and the notices fly in the face of common sense, take into account irrelevant considerations and are disproportionate.

Permission to bring the challenge was granted, on an ex parte basis, by Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, who also placed a stay on the notices from coming into effect.

The Judge made the matter returnable to a date in May.
LANDLORDS are considering installing CCTV at their properties in Limerick due to a series of destructive house parties that took place during Charity Week.

Several properties in Castletroy have been left destroyed, with almost 150 people herded out of one house party in College Court during the early hours of last Tuesday morning, it is understood.

Large numbers of revellers were sitting on roofs drinking after climbing out from top-floor windows" and windows were smashed.

The carry on at the moment is disgraceful, one landlord said of the situation during Charity Week, previously called Rag Week.

They are coming in their droves and they are tearing the place apart.

Multiple landlords, who are currently renting properties to University of Limerick students in the Castletroy area, have contacted the Leader to highlight concerns about increased anti-social behaviour during the week.

Many were called several times during the early hours to break-up house parties at their properties, often with the assistance of gardai.

One landlord said a row of houses in College Court was nicknamed the Gaza Strip by students.

The guards were at my house seven times in a week, said the landlord.

Having fun on Rag Week is no problem but this is completely out of order. It's not like we want to stop Rag Week, but there needs to be control.

There is no support from the university. Landlords are afraid to complain to them because theyll be taken off the listing for the college.

There needs to be a full-time garda presence, the landlord argued.

There has to be more protection during RAG Week and on Race Night, which is next month, added the landlord.

There was no response from the University of Limerick to queries on the issue.




A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has terminated the charges against the late Alex Badeh, a former Chief of Defence Staff who was shot dead by yet-to-be-identified gunmen on December 18, 2018, on his way back from his farm in Nasarawa State.

Before his death, Badeh was standing trial alongside Iyalikam Nigeria Limited on an amended 10-count charge bothering on corruption. Giving the ruling today, the presiding judge, Okon Abang, also found Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, which is standing trial alongside Badeh, guilty of the charges of corruption filed against it by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

All properties belonging to Iyalikam Nigeria Limited were also ordered to be forfeited to the Nigerian government.




Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi has advised President Buhari to take the oil wells of some private Nigerian citizens and hand it to state government so they can generate more revenue to fund their state activities and be less dependent on the Federal government.

Speaking during an interview on Ekiti State Television (EKTV) at the weekend, Egbeyemi said in this second term of President Buhari, he should endeavour to make states more bouyant.

The victory achieved by the President was a victory for Nigeria indeed and the masses who reposed confidence in him and voted him back to office. This is the time for him to take some bold and radical decisions to make life better for the citizenry and ensure economic recovery.

President Buhari, during his second term, must make the states buoyant. He must take oil wells from individuals and allocate them to the states so that they can pay their workers, build more infrastructures and establish industries. We have some individuals holding oil wells having billions of Naira coming to them every day while majority of Nigerians are living in poverty.

He also advised Buhari to remove Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members who are still on the boards of federal commissions, boards and agencies despite the expiry of their tenures.
A little over a fortnight ago, a suicide bomber belonging to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attacked a convoy transiting Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir , killing 40 members of the security forces. Then last week, the payback, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised , was delivered after the Indian Air Force (IAF) planes flew beyond the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan and bombed a JeM training site at Balakot .

Actually, it was more than just revenge. In the process, India, by justifying its unprecedented aggression as an act to maim Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which had claimed ownership of the Pulwama attack, unequivocally established the connection between Pakistan and its sponsorship of cross-border terrorism. Exactly why the usual chorus of restraint" was missing in the response of most of the Western nations to the Balakot air strike? Even China, the all-weather ally of Pakistan, barely demurred in its appeal for de-escalation. There is probably a reason for this rethink. Terrorism, which does not respect geographical borders, is something that is afflicting countries across the world; though there was a time when the US had ignored the prescient warnings about cross-border terror by then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2000, a year before the unfortunate terror attacks of 9/11 in the US, PM Vajpayee had cautioned the world that it would be a mistake to ignore the growing threat of cross-border terror promoted by Pakistan. And then, a year after 9/11, PM Vajpayee forcefully pressed his appeal once again. Terrorism did not start on 11 September. It was on that day that it brazenly announced itself on the global stage, flaunting its immunity from distance and power," he said, before adding: In our South Asian region, nuclear blackmail has emerged over the last few months as a new arrow in the quiver of state-sponsored terrorism. Dark threats were held out that actions by India to stamp out cross-border terrorism could provoke a nuclear war. To succumb to such blatant nuclear terrorism would mean forgetting the bitter lessons of the 11 September tragedy."

Since then, cities of Mumbai, London, Madrid and more recently Paris have become victims of cross-border terrorism. The world was beginning to lose its patience, especially with the fact that some trail inevitably led back to Pakistan.

Yet, our neighbourled by its all controlling armycontinued its dalliance with terror groups; if anything they got bolder. There had to be a tipping point; it may well be, when we look back with the benefit of hindsight, that the Pulwama attack was the defining moment.

Indias actions over the last week and the Pakistani response has jolted the status quo. For one, India has added counter-attacks to its strategic lexicon of self-defence. The first instance of this resolve probably took the Pakistanis by surprise, especially since India failed to muster such a strategy even after the audacious attack by JeM terrorists on the Indian Parliament, and later on in Mumbai. By flying some distance into Pakistan territory, India has sent a powerful signal about its intent, capability and resolve in its future pursuit of terrorists seeking a haven across the border.

Second, this end to the business-as-usual approach is, in turn, setting in motion new rules of engagement with Pakistan. It could well recalibrate the uneven relationship between the Pakistan army, which going by the growing internal strife, external vulnerability and a near bankrupt economy is seeing an erosion in its influence, and the civilian administration. Though the downside risk of an army perceiving a shrinking influence is a spike in their desperation levels; leaving them more inclined to embrace adventurism. Whether the new scenario is good or bad from Indias point of view would be known only over time.

In the final analysis, it is fair to ask whether India really needed to revisit its strategy on cross-border terrorism. While only history holds the answers, suffice to say for now, that every action entails a cost just as there is a price associated with inaction.

Anil Padmanabhan is managing editor of Mint and writes every week on the intersection of politics and economics. Comments are welcome at anil.p@livemint.com

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Like the mythical monster Medusa, a newfound giant virus turns its host to "stone." But, luckily for us, its hosts are amoebas.

Now called Medusavirus for its seemingly mythical powers, the strange virus was pulled from the muddy waters of a hot spring in Japan, according to a new study, published Feb. 6 in the Journal of Virology. Medusavirus belongs to a group known as "giant viruses," which have exceptionally large genomes compared with most other viruses.

The virus infects single-celled organisms known as Acanthamoeba castellanii, a type of amoeba. When the researchers infected these amoebas in lab dishes, they found that the virus prompted the amoebas to develop a thick outer "shell" and enter a dormant state known as encystment. (The amoeba can naturally enter this state in response to stress in its environment.) That behavior reminded the researchers of the mythological monster Medusa, who, according to Greek mythology, could turn onlookers to stone with her gaze. [Going Viral: 6 New Findings About Viruses]

While the virus doesn't sport a head full of writhing snakes, researchers found a just-as-amazing, unique feature on Medusavirus' outer surface: more than 2,600 spherical-headed spikes, according to the study, led by researchers at Kyoto University and Tokyo University of Science in Japan. The virus is different enough from other giant viruses that the researchers proposed that it should be classified in a new family: Medusaviridae.

Interestingly, a number of genes in Medusavirus were also found in its amoeba hosts. This suggest that Medusavirus has infected these amoebas since "ancient times" and that the two microorganisms have exchanged genes over the course of evolution, the researchers said.

"Medusavirus is a unique giant virus that still preserves the ancient footprints of the virus-host evolutionary interactions," the researchers said in a statement.

The scientists plan to continue to study Medusavirus with the hope of further unraveling the evolutionary history of viruses and cells.

Originally published on Live Science.
The glass shouldn't have boiled. But it did.

A team of physicists zapped small cubes of glass in a furnace with an electric voltage about what you'd get from an outlet in your home. It was enough electricity to heat up the glass, which was already quite warm from the ambient heat of the furnace. But it shouldn't have been enough current to boil the glass. Glass doesn't boil until it reaches temperatures thousands of degrees above what the current should have produced. And yet, in their oven, when the current flowed and created an electric field, the physicists saw a thin "wisp of vapor" rising from the glass sample.

For that to happen, the electric current would have had to concentrate in one part of the glass, delivering its energy unevenly. But there's a problem: That's against the law. [The 8 Hottest Places on Earth]

Here's the deal: When an electric current passes through a uniform material, it's supposed to heat the whole material evenly. Scientists call this Joule's first law, after the British chemist James Prescott Joule, who discovered it in the early 1840s. It's a material fact with roots in the law of conservation of energy, one of the most fundamental rules that govern our universe. And we see it at work every day; light-bulb filaments wouldn't have their nice, even glow without Joule's law at work.

But this current seemed to break the law. Not only did vapor rise from some parts of the glass, but a hotspot (visible on an infrared camera) danced giddily across its surface. Again and again in their experiments, hotspots appeared.

"This glass is uniform on the most minute level," Himanshu Jain, a materials scientist at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and co-author of a paper describing the phenomenon published Feb. 26 in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.

Glass is an insulator and doesn't carry current well; however small, it is expected to turn most of that current into heat. Conventional thinking about Joule's first law would predict that an electric current would heat the glass evenly, causing it to slowly melt and deform, Jain told Live Science. And under most circumstances, that's exactly what happens.

"We looked at the softening of hot glass under an electric field," Jain said, "and that's the thing that nobody had done before."

That uneven heating, it turned out, was dumping loads of energy near the anode in the glass, the entry point for the current. So the glass was melting and evaporating there, even as it stayed solid elsewhere. The temperatures in the hotspots were much hotter than the rest of the glass. At one point, a single region of the glass heated by about 2,500 F (1,400 C) in less than 30 seconds.

So was Joule's law broken? Yes and no, Jain said; macroscopically thinking, it appeared so. Microscopically speaking, the answer would be "no"  it just didn't apply to the glass as a whole anymore.

Under Joule's first law, a uniform electric field should heat a material evenly. But at high temperatures, the electric field doesn't only heat the glass  it changes its chemical makeup.

Electric fields move through glass when positively charged ions (atoms stripped of negatively charged electrons) get knocked out of position and carry a charge across the glass, Jain said. The lightest ions move first, carrying the electrical current.

The glass in this setup was made of oxygen, sodium and silicon. Sodium, the loosely-bonded lightweight ion, did most of the energy transport. Once enough sodium shifted, it changed the chemical composition of the glass near the anode. And once the chemistry changed, the glass was more like two different materials, and Joule's law no longer applied uniformly. A hotspot formed.

No one had noticed the effect before, Jain said, likely because it doesn't kick in until the glass is already pretty hot. The material in this experiment didn't develop hotspots until the furnace reached about 600 F (316 C). That's not very hot for glass, but it's much hotter than the conditions under which most electrical machines using glass and electricity work.

For now, though, scientists have figured out why the glass was boiling when it shouldn't have. And that's pretty exciting on its own.

Editor's note: This article was updated to indicate that Joule's law was broken from one perspective but not another, as well as to fix the chemical makeup of the glass setup.

Originally published on Live Science.
Researchers discovered the remains of the fortifications by using high-tech ground penetrating radar, they reported in a new study, published online Jan. 17 in the journal Near Surface Geophysics.

The researchers also used terrestrial laser scans (as opposed to lasers shot from planes or drones) and georectifications, a method that involves taking old digitized maps and linking them to a coordinate system so that they can be geolocated in 3D space, the researchers said. These techniques helped the team locate the historical remains underneath the penitentiary's recreational yard. [Photos: The Hidden Fortress Beneath Alcatraz]

One of the buried structures is a "bombproof" earthwork traverse (a tunnel going through a long mound), running east to west under the recreation yard. And it was in surprisingly good condition, according to the radar data.

Masonry and fortifications were built on Alcatraz starting in 1853. (Image credit: National Archives)

"The remains of these historical archaeology features were just a few centimeters beneath the surface and they were miraculously and impeccably preserved," Binghamton University archaeologist Timothy de Smet said in a statement. "We also learned that some of the earthwork traverses were covered over with thin concrete layers through time, likely to decrease erosion on the rainy windy island."

While many people know about Alcatraz's history as a penitentiary, it's less well-known that the island once held 19th-century military fortifications. After the War of 1812, the United States began building coastal fortifications on its Eastern Seaboard to protect its major harbors, the researchers wrote in the study.

In the 1840s, U.S. Major Gen. John Charles Fremont purchased the rights to Alcatraz, which was seen at the time as a "barren uninhabitable rock without freshwater or topsoil known as either La Isla de los Alcatraces (Island of the Seabirds) or more colloquially as White Island, due to copious amounts of guano [bird poop] left behind by the eponymous seabirds," the researchers wrote in the study. Once California gained statehood in 1850, the U.S. began building military fortifications on Alcatraz in 1853 to protect San Francisco's harbor, the researchers reported.

The construction of these fortifications was a turning point from a historical military perspective, the researchers noted, as it marked the transition from earthen structures from the traditional brick-and-masonry structures that characterized earlier 19th-century coastal defenses.

A researcher uses ground-penetrating radar to locate the 19th-century military fortifications on Alcatraz. (Image credit: Mark Everett)

Today, Alcatraz penitentiary, built in 1908, is a National Historic Landmark. So, de Smet and his colleagues decided to use noninvasive methods to locate the buried military fortifications. "We did not know what to expect," he said. "We did not know if there would be any extant subsurface architecture of these historically significant remains, or, if there was anything left, what their extent and integrity would be like."

In fact, there's more to be analyzed. The researchers are now looking at terrestrial laser scans and ground-penetrating radar from the remnants of the former Citadel beneath the prison, he said.

"It was wonderful to find the history just beneath our feet that we can visualize for the public," de Smet said.

Originally published on Live Science.
After several successful years together, a popular San Antonio rock band is calling it quits after one final show on Friday at the Paper Tiger.

Hydra Melody announced the split on its Facebook page Jan. 25. In its post, band members first thanked the fans for their support.

"You've given us our greatest years and we hope we have been able to bring to you all the happiness and friendship you have brought into each of our lives," the band wrote in the post. "We are grateful. We are humbled. We are inspired."



READ ALSO: STRFKR coming back to Paper Tiger this March

The band members cited a number of reasons they decided to break up.

"In order to silence the questions that may arise from this announcement we wanted to let you know that as a family we spoke and decided it was time to explore new adventures, spend time with our families, and keep growing as artists and individuals," they wrote.

But before they say goodbye they're planning one final show at the Paper Tiger, which will include Westbound Departure and Casetta. Doors for the show open at 7 p.m. Friday.

Tickets start at $8 and can be purchased on Ticketfly.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA
A 23-year-old motorist from Arkansas was arrested in the death of a teen Sunday who was hit and killed while walking along a rural Montgomery County road, according to state police.

The driver hit Joshua Givens along the 22200 block of McClesky Road in New Caney around midnight Saturday and fled the scene. A jogger reported the crash to 911 dispatchers after Givens was found in a ditch.
U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Freer station recovered a stolen vehicle on FM 2050.

On the morning of Feb. 25, agents were manning the traffic checkpoint on U.S. 59 when they saw a white Ford pickup truck turn southbound onto FM 2050.

As an agent followed after the vehicle to get a closer look, the driver of the pickup truck veered off the roadway and drove through a gate at a privately owned ranch. The agent saw several individuals exiting the pickup truck in an attempt to flee into the brush.

With the assistance of air support, Freer agents were able to apprehend five undocumented immigrants near the area of the bailout. All five were determined to be Mexican nationals illegally in the United States. They were arrested and transported to the Freer checkpoint to be processed.

Registration checks on the vehicle revealed that it had been reported stolen. It was recovered and turned over to deputies of the Webb County Sheriff's Office.
High above the main entrance to the old Jacksonville High School building are carved the words Newton Bateman Memorial.

Some early Crimson J yearbooks note that JHS was named after the famous Illinois educator, but as years passed, few students who entered that building probably noticed the inscription and fewer still knew who Bateman was.

Bateman, a graduate of Illinois College and principal of West Jacksonville District School in the 1850s, went on to become state superintendent of public instruction and president of Knox College in Galesburg.

Therefore, it was fitting that old JHS, now the High School Apartments, was named for Bateman, but it is perhaps the site of the former local high school that is even more important to the history of education in Jacksonville.

In the summer of 1900, the 50-year-old West Jacksonville District School was demolished and a modern school building constructed in its place.

The West District School was a three-story brick building that stood on the northwest corner of West State and Fayette streets.

Originally, the third floor of the school was home to local Masonic lodges for a few years. Masons contributed money to build the third story.

A skylight provided some of the light for the main room on the east side of the third floor. In later years, when the room was used for school purposes, this skylight used to be very rudely shaken by the heavy winds  and it sometimes seemed as if it would be torn off and the building wrecked, much to the misery of the unfortunate youth temporarily confined there during school hours, wrote Jacksonville historian Ensley Moore when the building was being razed.

While West District School was completed in 1850, it was not opened until the fall of 1851, according to Moores research. Some sources claim that the West District School housed the first high school in Jacksonville, and perhaps the first in Illinois.

A high school department was established at the school by Bateman in 1851, and thus it is quite possible that Jacksonville can claim to have had the first public high school in Illinois, since the date 1865 is given for the establishment of a high school in Chicago, wrote Jewell Mann, a former superintendent of School District 117.

Evidence to support Jacksonvilles assertion to having a high school here in the 1850s comes from Bateman himself. In an 1879 letter to Dr. David Prince, a Jacksonville physician, Bateman recalled his connection to West District School and emphasized the importance of a high school education.

I think the catalogues of Illinois College will show that for seven consecutive years [the time I had charge of the school] from one-fourth to one-third of the regular students of the college were fitted in the high school department of the west side school  perhaps even a greater proportion, Bateman wrote.

That department was the very life and inspiration of the school, and greatly contributed to the success of the whole enterprise. At one time, there were students there from seven different states.

Jacksonvilles school system was reorganized in 1867, the same year Washington School was completed in the citys Fourth Ward. The third floor of Washington School was occupied by the high school and seated 110 students, while the first two floors held grade school classrooms. Washington High School was the first official high school in Jacksonville, and the 1872 class was the first to graduate.

West District School served as a grade school from 1867 to 1888, when high school students were moved from Washington School to the old building on West State Street.

West District School was replaced by a new high school building on the same site. This building was completed in late 1901 and destroyed by fire in 1918.

In 1921, Newton Bateman Memorial High School, better known as Jacksonville High School, first opened to students. Classes were held in the building, which was the third high school on the site, until the spring of 1982.

This Way We Were story was first published June 5, 2006.
BOGOTA, Colombia - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's "days in power are about to end" because of growing international and domestic pressure on his "mafioso" government and increasing desertions by his military troops, Colombian President Ivan Duque said Sunday.

"Maduro is facing his last days, whether that's one month or two, or one week, or one day," Duque said in an interview at a military base in Bogota. He said Maduro's power has declined precipitously in recent weeks: "Nobody has seen Maduro weaker."

Duque's country has directly felt the impact of Maduro's years of corrupt government, which have turned one of Latin America's richest countries into an economic and humanitarian catastrophe.

Colombia, itself still recovering from decades of guerrilla violence, has accepted more than 1.2 million Venezuelan refugees across the shared border amid a deepening disaster that has left much of the Venezuelan population starved for food, water, medicine and power.

Duque said he felt a moral urgency to help lead the opposition to Maduro. He likened the situation to that of people who can hear their next-door neighbor beating his wife and children every night.

"What's the moral duty?" he said. "Wait until the next morning and pretend that everything is OK and say hello to your neighbor in the elevator? You have to denounce. And you have to do something so that abuse does not continue."

Maduro insists his government is legitimate and has the support of the Venezuelan people. He has said the opposition efforts against him amount to an illegal coup, and he has accused Duque and President Donald Trump of working out "war plans" against him.

Duque, 42, a center-right lawyer educated at American University and Georgetown University who took office in August, has emerged as one of the leading voices against Maduro's failed socialist government and calling for international sanctions.

He said he was certain that Maduro would be forced to leave power soon as his public support dwindles to a small base of hardcore supporters, including armed groups known as colectivos.

"He is using terror to preserve power," Duque said. "He is losing support by the hour."

Duque's optimism about Maduro's ouster stands in contrast to analysts who fear that Maduro, who has been in power since 2013 and was re-elected last year in balloting widely seen as tainted by fraud, has proved to be resilient in the face of an opposition that has long been disorganized and fractured.

A recent international effort to take humanitarian aid, much of it supplied by the United States, from Colombia into Venezuela ended with Maduro's loyalists shooting activists at the border and setting truckloads of aid on fire.

While that was widely viewed as a momentum-busting setback for the opposition, Duque, who was at the border with Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido that day, said he believed the movement to oust Maduro was gaining strength rapidly.

It is possible, Duque said, that Maduro could be forcibly removed by Venezuelans as more and more military officers desert him in a "domino effect" and pledge allegiance to Guaido, the leader of the National Assembly. Duque said more than 600 Venezuelan military soldiers have taken refuge in Colombia and desertions in Venezuela are growing "exponentially," even among high-ranking officers.

Duque said he hoped Maduro would leave without violence: "It can be prevented and should be prevented."

He said he would not send Colombian troops into Venezuela, and he said he believed the United States would not, either. U.S. officials have downplayed the idea of U.S. military involvement, but Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have said "all options are on the table" as they have called for Maduro to go.

Duque, whose presidential office features a bust of Abraham Lincoln that he bought in a Georgetown antique shop, said the Trump administration has acted with "values and principles" in its stand against Maduro, and he praised bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress. He met with Pence in Bogota last week and with Trump in the White House last month.

Duque said Maduro is being squeezed hard by a growing "diplomatic blockade" from the United States and countries across Latin America and beyond, including new U.S. economic sanctions Pence announced last week in Bogota.

The U.S. sanctions have targeted the assets of Maduro and his allies. Washington has also imposed strict sanctions on Venezuela's state-owned oil company, known as PDVSA, which has cut off a key source of revenue to Maduro's government. Washington and other nations who recognize Guaido's government have called for the transfer of any state assets from Maduro to Guaido.

While Duque said the economic consequences of sanctions could mean even more refugees flooding into Colombia, he said it was worth it to end "the most brutal dictatorship we have seen in Latin America in recent history."

Maduro "does not want to accept any humanitarian aid for the people that are dying in Venezuela, and that is a crime against humanity," Duque said.

Sanctions and military defections, Duque said, have boosted Guaido, who has emerged as the charismatic young face of efforts to chase Maduro from power. Most Western nations now recognize Guaido, 35, a civil engineer turned legislator, as Venezuela's legitimate leader.

Defying a Venezuelan government travel ban, Guaido has spent the past week touring Latin American countries to build support. He announced over the weekend that he would return to Venezuela, where Maduro has vowed he will "face justice," raising fears that Guaido could be arrested or even killed.

"If he arrests him, the world pressure will pull him out of jail pretty soon," Duque said. "But if he decides to do something nasty, nobody inside of Venezuela would support him. It would be like Nero burning Rome."

Duque said he believed Guaido could pressure Maduro to leave peacefully because he had consolidated power enough among the Venezuelan opposition, military defectors and disillusioned former supporters of Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez.

"If this happens without any military action, it would become a very important precedent for humanity," Duque said. "The world should keep the accelerator on so that this happens sooner than later."

Duque said he believed that Maduro, if he left Venezuela, could find sanctuary in Cuba, which has long had a close relationship with Venezuela and helped build Maduro's security and intelligence agencies.

"I think he would be very happy there; he has a lot of friends there," Duque said.

It would also be important to Maduro, Duque said, that Cuba is not a party to the International Criminal Court and has no extradition agreement with the United States.

Along with Cuba, China and Russia have maintained their support for Maduro. Duque said countries aligned with Guaido, particularly the United States, need to persuade China and Russia that it is in their interest to reject Maduro.

"If they want to have relationships in Latin America, I think they should evaluate why most of the countries in the hemisphere have denounced what's going on in Venezuela," Duque said.

Duque worked for 13 years in Washington at the Inter-American Development Bank, then returned to Colombia and spent four years in the national Senate before becoming president in August.

He said Maduro's treatment of his own people and corrupt links to drug cartels and armed guerrilla groups in his country and Colombia mean that "the Venezuelan dictatorship today is the biggest threat to regional security."
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - One man was sporting a red, bushy beard. The second man, blond-haired, was wearing sunglasses and a tucked-in white, long-sleeved shirt. In footage seen hundreds of thousands of times, they are the two assailants who face the camera and are the most visible in the frame. The video shows the duo joining four others to pummel a black man in a parking garage here, repeatedly kicking, punching and hitting him with wooden flagpoles or a plank.

In the 18 months since the vicious attack on DeAndre Harris during the Unite the Right rally, four of the assailants - all linked to white nationalist, pro-Confederacy or anti-government ideologies - have been caught and convicted. But the men known as "Red Beard" and "Sunglasses" have essentially vanished.

"I never imagined we wouldn't find them," said Shaun King, the journalist and Black Lives Matter activist who organized an online campaign that identified three of the attackers. "They were the Forrest Gumps of the rally. They were everywhere. But now, they're an enigma. Even if they are being protected by white supremacist groups, hell, this is a long time without getting caught. How are they not out and about, and nobody's seen them?"

Video of the Aug. 12, 2017, attack has been obsessively scrutinized by King and other activists, lawyers and investigators - deconstructing the footage frame by frame, second by second.

Harris, then a 20-year-old special-education aide, suffered a broken wrist, a concussion and a head laceration requiring eight staples. Initially, his beating was overshadowed by the death of counterprotester Heather Heyer, who was run over by a car driven by a self-professed neo-Nazi. (James Fields was convicted in December of first-degree murder and malicious wounding in the fatal attack on Heyer that also injured dozens.)

But the assault on Harris also came to define the racial violence unleashed that day. The sight of a white nationalist mob setting upon a black man evoked images from the Jim Crow era, particularly a 1961 front-page newspaper photo showing Ku Klux Klan members in Birmingham, Alabama, pummeling a black bystander.

Thanks largely to the photos and videos taken by journalists and activists, three of Harris' attackers are serving time in prison or jail for malicious wounding: Jacob Scott Goodwin of Ward, Arkansas; Daniel Borden of Mason, Ohio; and Alex Michael Ramos of Jackson, Georgia. On Feb. 8, Charlottesville prosecutors secured their fourth victory after Tyler Watkins Davis, of Middleburg, Florida, entered an Alford plea, acknowledging that authorities had enough evidence for a conviction.

But investigators let it be known they are not done.

On Feb. 14, the Charlottesville Police Department tweeted a news release and images of the man with the red beard and the other man with blond hair and sunglasses.

"Detectives continue to seek information in Deandre Harris case from 8/12/17. Have you see these two men?" the tweet said. "Call Crimestoppers anonymously at (434) 977-4000."

In an interview, Declan Hickey, the Charlottesville detective leading the investigation, said it was "definitely a relief to have the four men held accountable. But DeAndre is baffled that, in this day and age, nobody has identified the two missing men." At this point, Hickey said, "I've pretty much exhausted everything I can do with this case."

Harris, who is now 21 and works for a car dealership, declined to be interviewed for this article. The day after the rally, he returned to the parking garage for an on-camera interview with Zach Roberts, the freelance photojournalist whose wide-angle shot of the attack became its definitive image.

"I don't know if I'm safe in this town anymore," Harris told Roberts. "I could have lost my life yesterday if it wasn't for (my friends). I could have been beaten to a pulp right there, man. Every time I look at the video, and I just think about it, it just . . . blows me, man."

- - -

'Get out of here!'

The confrontation began when Harris saw a friend tussling with a flagpole-wielding white nationalist. Harris later testified that he feared his friend was being speared. Harris swung a Maglite flashlight at the white nationalist, appearing on video to hit him in the head. Then Harris fled into the half-lit parking garage, where he was quickly surrounded.

Clad in a military-style tactical helmet and goggles covering most of his face, Goodwin repeatedly kicked Harris. Then, Davis, a member of the white-nationalist group League of the South, bashed Harris in the head with a tire thumper, leaving a large gash on top of his skull.

Two more men joined: Borden, an 18-year-old high school dropout clad in a helmet that said "Commie Killer," and Ramos, a member of an anti-government Georgia group. Borden smacked Harris with a large wooden plank. Then, Ramos struck Harris, who was lying on the ground, with his fist.

The last two attackers - Red Beard and Sunglasses - can be seen in the upper-left corner of the video. Sunglasses clutched a kite-shape, medieval-style shield bearing the insignia of the white-supremacist group Vanguard America; in his right hand, he held a wooden pole with its flag rolled up.

Within seconds, Sunglasses smacked Harris twice with the flagpole. Then, Red Beard entered the fray. He, too, was brandishing a flagpole, and he struck Harris with it while Harris was scurrying on the floor, trying to flee.

"Get out of here (expletive)!" Sunglasses barked at Harris. "Get out of here! Get out of here!"

- - -

'Who is this man?'

When Hickey saw the footage two days later, the detective was aghast.

"You look at that video," Hickey said, "and you think they must be trying to kill him."

As clips of Harris' beating spread online, Hickey said the department fielded calls from people outraged that no one had been arrested.

King, who has millions of social media followers, began leading a campaign to identify Harris' attackers. First, he publicly named Borden. "Your classmates turned you in," King wrote. "And your neck moles gave it away."

Then, he posted a photo of Red Beard and wrote, "WHO IS THIS MAN with the red beard? He committed a violent felony. . . . I'M FURIOUS."

A few days later, King set his sights on Sunglasses. "ALL HANDS ON DECK," King wrote. "We are looking for the Nazi in the sunglasses and the white shirt. Here his friend clearly calls him 'Doug.' . . . This is the closest we've been to identifying him."

The video shows Sunglasses - minutes after his attack on Harris - marching calmly and chatting.

"What's up, Doug?" one man said to him.

"How ya doing, man?" Sunglasses replied.

"I'm doing great."

"I subscribe to your YouTube channel," Sunglasses said. "I watch it all the time."

The video has been viewed nearly 130,000 times. People posted comments with all sorts of tips, some earnest attempts, others obvious jabs.

Hickey said he ran down the name "Doug" and other possible names, but nothing panned out. By October, Borden, Ramos and Goodwin had been arrested. None of the men said they knew each other in advance of the attack. And none said they knew the names of the two missing assailants.

In fact, during the prosecution's first criminal trial in the case, defense attorney Elmer Woodard tried to deflect blame from his client, Goodwin, by focusing on Sunglasses and Red Beard.

"Sunglasses is beating (Harris) with . . . great enthusiasm," Woodard said. "Red Beard" was beating him, too. "While all that is going on, Mr. Goodwin is stumbling over (Harris). He's not kicking him, he's not punching him, he's not doing anything. If anything, he's preventing others from doing stuff to him."

Goodwin was found guilty.

Two days after the verdict, King went on Twitter and upped the reward to $35,000 for the name of Sunglasses. He posted close-up shots of Sunglasses' face and videos of him marching or attacking Harris.

"He is still on the loose & the @FBI doesn't seem to care," he wrote. "We will find him ourselves."

Meanwhile, Hickey monitored chat rooms of white supremacists. He worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks white supremacists and helped him identify Davis, who is scheduled to be sentenced in August. The department also reached out to several alt-right YouTube commentators and bloggers, but they didn't help. Asked whether he contacted leaders of Vanguard America or League of the South, Hickey said there was little point.

"If they had any interest in giving up one of their guys, they would have reached out to us," Hickey said.

(Reached by The Washington Post on the social network Gab, Dillon Hopper, the commander of Vanguard America, said he does not know Sunglasses. "I don't know very many people from Vanguard on a personal level," Hopper wrote. "We communicate strictly under pseudonyms and don't disclose any personal information.")

The month after Goodwin's trial, Hickey went on A&E Networks' reality police show, "Live PD," hoping viewers might call in with decent tips about the two men.

On the segment, he sounded somewhat resigned.

Red Beard, he told the show's hosts, could have shaved his beard by now. Sunglasses, he said, could have grown a beard.

Now, Hickey just hopes that Sunglasses and Red Beard wind up angering their closest allies or confidantes.

"These rallies will go on and, at some point, one of these guys is going to pop back on the radar," Hickey said. "Or, they're going to piss off their wife or girlfriend."
A storm that dropped several inches of snow in the central United States over the weekend was spreading to the Northeast, where it could disrupt morning commutes today.

The storm system left 2 inches of snow in many parts of west-central Illinois, with some places seeing higher amounts.

The larger concern for the region was bitterly cold temperatures during the coming days. Wind chills by dawn today were expected to be between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees.

Extremely cold temperatures are expected to dominate the area through Tuesday morning.

At least the first half of the expression In like a lion, out like a lamb will prove true this March, AccuWeather meteorologist Brett Edwards said.

Temperatures in Chicago have been at least 10 degrees below average for four of the last six days, he said. Early Monday morning, temperatures there could drop below zero again for the first time since January.

Thursday could bring another chance for measurable snowfall, according to the National Weather Service, but the developing storm system remained too far out to estimate potential accumulation.

Up to 8 inches of snow had fallen in parts of far western Kansas by Sunday morning. But most areas of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Illinois that were within the path of the storm had gotten no more than a few inches of snow.

Forecasters warned that bitter cold temperatures will follow the storm.

The Missouri Transportation Department was advising people to stay off the roads if possible Sunday.

The snow was expected to move into the Ohio Valley and mid-Atlantic states later Sunday before spreading into the rest of the Northeast.
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Food, Wine, & Dining

By Long Island Published: March 04 2019

Top Hat Oyster Bar & French Quarter Kitchen transports guests from the streets of Bellmore to New Orleans.

Written by Salvatore DiBenedetto

Cajun and creole cuisine is revered around the US for its richness in spice and indulgent flavors. Mardi Gras is this Tuesday (affectionally known as Fat Tuesday) and the timing couldnt be better with the recent opening of Top Hat in Bellmore.

Helmed by celebrated Long Island chef Stephen Rosenbluth and restauranteur Gerry McClorey, the oyster bar and French Quarter Kitchen creates a special synergy of NOLA ambiance and stellar food. Having worked on the photography and branding of the restaurant, Ive seen the spot through its opening in December 2018 and watched as it has quickly gained accolade and recognition across the island.

This Fat Tuesday (March 3rd) the restaurant will honor Mardi Gras with a variety of specials. The popular New Orleans beer brand Abita will be taking over Top Hats taps and releasing an ultra rare Mardi Gras Bock. Jazz music will be pumping while signature Louisiana dishes like crawfish boils, alligator baby back ribs, blue crab fingers, catfish po boys and muffuletta sandwiches sling out from the kitchen.

Whether you head down to Top Hat for its Fat Tuesday specials or dine in another time, youll be treated to an ambiance that will seemingly transport you right into the French Quarter of New Orleans. The vintage bar, massive chandeliers and mystical purple hues create a specific tailored vibe that Top Hat brings to creole dining.

Must Haves:

Oysters Top Hat

Voodoo Wings

Muffuletta

Cast Iron Skillet Corn Pudding

Shrimp Po Boy

Jambalaya

Crawfish Etouffee

Slow Roasted Half Duck

Happy Hour:

Tuesday - Thursday 5pm - 7pm

Friday 4pm - 7pm

www.tophatoysterbar.com

106 Bedford Avenue, Bellmore, NY 11710

516-900-1560
At the end of his first visit to Lebanon since the formation of the new government, ambassador Pierre Duquesne said he was confident the CEDRE process would go on, but called for "positive signals" from the new executive regarding the reforms promised at the conference that was held in Paris last April. The Lebanese government had committed during the conference to restoring public finances, reforming key sectors of the economy, such as electricity, and fighting corruption. In return, the international community promised to mobilize more than 11 billion USD for infrastructure projects. "None of the donors said they would cancel the money promised for Lebanon. (...) The contract for CEDRE Projects, finances and reforms remains valid, and one finds the confirmation of it in the ministerial declaration (of the new cabinet). There is also the fact that the government does not have the luxury of time. We must advance on several plans, said Mr. Duquesne on Friday during a press conference at the Pine Residence, the residence of the French Ambassador to Lebanon. "Anything that can be done by the government over the coming weeks and months to confirm this will to move forward will be useful, and even necessary," said the diplomat.

As proof that there has been no real progress since his last visit in October, Pierre Duquesne reiterated the same requests for progress he made then, and that he considers "simple" and "doable" in the short term. "Appointing sector regulators in telecommunications, energy and civil aviation has been on the table for a few months now. It must be done, because without these nominations, these authorities do not work, these sectors are not regulated and there will be no investment in these sectors, he insisted. The same goes for strengthening the High Council for Privatization and Partnerships (HCPP, the body attached to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, responsible for implementing public-private partnerships), according to Duquesne. "We must give the HCPP the means of its operation that allows it to apply the good, efficient law of September 2017 on PPPs work," he added.





"Not letting public accounts slip"

There are more complex and difficult things that need to be done to reduce the public deficit. The 2019 budget must be adopted quickly, ideally before the end of March, so that the 2020 budget will be adopted before the end of 2019. The country cannot operate without a budget, Mr Duquesne advised. Reminding his audience of Lebanon's commitment to reduce the public deficit-to-GDP ratio by one percentage point for five consecutive years, made during CEDRE, he said that this should not be done "in a way that would break the economy, but in a manner that would still show a desire not to let the public accounts slip. Although he says he doesnt doubt the governments will, unlike other donors", the diplomat admits that the decision taken by the Council of Ministers on Thursday to increase the salaries of secondary teachers was "not really a positive sign of this desire". In order to reduce the public deficit, he called for reforms within the civil service, especially the electricity sector, which is at the same time macroeconomic, sectoral and technical, and without which the investments in infrastructure could not be made. Such reforms should start, according to Duquesne, by raising electricity tariffs: "There are mid-term, as well as short-term solutions, that will ensure electricity is paid for at its true cost, while sparing the poorest, as specified in the ministerial statement."

As for fighting corruption, Pierre Duquesne welcomed the announcement made by the government regarding the forthcoming adoption of a national anti-corruption strategy. "It's a good thing and a transition towards e-administration is certainly a way to reduce petty corruption," he stated.

During the press conference, the diplomat also recalled the three monitoring mechanisms for the CEDRE process. The first is a public website dedicated to highlighting the progress of reforms, projects and their financing. The two others will be "two coordinating groups: one local group, based in Beirut and very operational, and the other that will bring together representatives of major donors and international organizations with a more strategic vision," Duquesne explained.





(This article was originally published in French the 1rst of March)





Lire aussi (in French)

CEDRE : le gouvernement attendu au tournant pour le budget 2019




Most inmates avoid talking about prison food as it can leave a bad taste in their mouth but for the men in Macomb Correctional Facilitys food technology program its a source of pride.

Its all good and its all homemade, said Tore Price, 43, holding up a plate of appetizers that his culinary team created during a recent glimpse inside the facility.

Normally, he and his team cook for the prisoners and officers but on Feb. 22, their culinary skills were put to the test by Macomb Correctional Facility (MCF) Warden Pat Warren and several dozen guests. Their patrons included local restaurant owners and media invited to learn about the program; taste the cuisine and in the case of the owners, consider the Lenox Township prison a source for potential employees.

That is, once theyre released.

Its a great program, said Price, who has served six of his 10 year sentence for unarmed and armed robbery related to a substance abuse problem. Since starting the program, Price has worked his way up the culinary ladder from an inmate on the list, to a chef, tutor and someone in charge of others.

Ive always been a front person, a server or waiter, Price said. Now I can work in the front or the back.

He can cook a gourmet meal for two or organize a banquet for hundreds. He can manage a kitchen or lead a team, and when friends of his 5-year-old son ask about his dad, he can say hes working as a chef and general manager.

Im a father, so I have to be a good employee for him, Price said, before popping back into the kitchen to check on his team, who could be seen from behind a glass window featuring the name of the prison cafe, Aiolis II, preparing everything from chicken scaloppini with mushroom scallions and fettucine to blackened fish with rutabaga risotto and braised Swiss chard.

Standing in the wings listening to Price was his mentor, Matt Dunaj, certified executive chef and MCF food service technology instructor. Dunaj, who trained under famous chefs like Jimmy Schmidt of Detroits Rattlesnake Club, has always loved cooking and has been a member of the industry since he was 15. However, when he found out the corrections system offered benefits and a pension, he left the private sector and went to work for the MCF, where hes become the Chef Ramsay of Michigans state prisons.

I love that I have the freedom to push these guys to become employable, by teaching them current culinary techniques they can use to go out and get a job, Dunaj said.

And hes not talking short order cooks.

His charges know how to cook everything from flamed sauces and fluid gels made from cabernet sauvignon to green pea fusilli or pasta fused with vegetable juice.

Classical cooking, to me, is dead. Cooking with lots of butter, high fats and big portions, that stuff is all gone, Dunaj said. Now its what can I put out there thats going to turn the customer upside down?

Almost on cue, a prisoner walked out of the kitchen carrying a platter of green leafy vegetables that looked like Stonehenge made out of food.

Its a work of art, said a guest, eyeing the fattoush salad placed in front of her.

Standing up on the platter of fresh greens and grilled chicken were four deep fried pita strips stuck into little mounds of humus. On this day it was the wardens guests who enjoyed the food but Dunaj has also created a pilot program, in which his class runs a restaurant that other prisoners can attend, provided their behavior has been good and they can pay for their meals.

Its positive reinforcement. They have to learn to pay for things, said Mona Golson, a patron of the restaurant and the wardens administrative assistant.

Among the guests invited to the wardens event was Steve Gadzinski of Sterling Heights, who earned his culinary arts degree while working as an electrical design engineer for Ford Motor Company. After retiring he went to work as a volunteer cook for St. Leos Soup Kitchen and St. Patrick Senior Center in Detroit.

Im interested in finding out if someone from the prison system would be able to manage a kitchen, Gadzinski said. Im thinking they would want to humble themselves by serving people in need. I am sure theyll want to move on, eventually, to a better-paying position, but this would be a good start because this is a population that would really appreciate their skills.

Julie Selonke, representing Oakland Community College, was impressed by what she saw and glad to see a program that will help inmates while also filling a void in the industry.

Were training our students to be leaders in the industry and theyre going to need staff, Selonke said. Its absolutely necessary. Our industry is desperate for people. Every single day I have someone calling me for help because there are not enough people to work.

Also dazzled was Janina Jacobs.

I had no idea they had something this extensive. Its phenomenal, said Jacobs, who owns Capers Steak House in Detroit and has had several great employees who were parolees. Its a great way to help these men transition from prison life to the real world. Its very forward thinking on the part of the prison system.

In the end Jacobs and other guests who attended the gourmet luncheon seemed pleased by what they ate and genuinely excited by the prospects.

This class is meant to prepare these men for the workforce. They really work hard to master their culinary skills so you will hire them, Warren said to his guests. But we really need your input as to what you need. So, we can mold a culinary program that makes our returning citizens employable and successful.
Louis D. Coleman III, the Providence man who could face the death penalty in connection with the kidnapping and death of Jassy Correia, appeared in a Delaware federal court on Monday, waiving his right to have detention and preliminary hearings in the District of Delaware, officials said.

Coleman, 32 of Providence, Rhode Island, will be transferred to Boston at a date to be determined, federal authorities said.

Coleman faces a federal charge in Massachusetts of kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the disappearance and killing of Correia, a 23-year-old Boston woman and mother of a 2-year-old girl.

If convicted, Coleman could face the death penalty or life in prison.

Correia was out celebrating her 23rd birthday when she left the Venu nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 24, and disappeared. She was found days later when Delaware State Police pulled over Coleman on Interstate 95 and discovered Correias body in the trunk.

Coleman is also facing state charges in Rhode Island. There, he is charged with kidnapping, failure to report a death, and mutilation of a dead body.

As of Monday, Coleman has not been charged with murder in the case.

Surveillance images in Boston picked up footage of Correia getting into a red car around 2:15 a.m., believed to be driven by Coleman.

Then at 4:15 a.m., surveillance from Colemans Providence apartment showed the suspect dragging Correias limp body into the building, federal officials said.

Two days later, surveillance showed Coleman entering his apartment building with Walmart shopping bags. Authorities obtained a receipt from a Providence Walmart, which revealed that Coleman purchased three Tyvek suits, duct tape, two candles, electrical tape, one mask, surgical gloves, two pairs of safety goggles, an odor respirator and CLN release bleach bath, according to the U.S. Attorneys office.

Video shows Coleman entering his apartment building just before 10 p.m. on Feb. 27 with what appeared to be a new, large suitcase, officials said. At 1:15 a.m., Coleman is seen wheeling the suitcase away from his apartment to the elevator, then to the parking lot and into his car.

Coleman appeared to have difficulty lifting the suitcase into the trunk of his car, the U.S. Attorneys office wrote in a statement.

Additional surveillance footage depicted Coleman exiting his apartment with items including trash bags, cardboard boxes, a bottle of bleach, a laptop case, a computer tower and a small duffle bag, authorities said.

When officials executed a search warrant at Colemans apartment on Feb. 28, they found two packages of hooded coveralls and two respirator masks and a sofa with four large cushions, one of which was missing a cover, the statement said.

In a dumpster outside of the apartment complex, white trash bags, a bag containing plastic sheets, mens jeans with bleach stains and a belt, a white nylon hooded coverall, an empty box of baking soda, clear safety goggles, a respirator mask, duct tape packaging, rubbing alcohol, Walmart bags, used plastic gloves, an empty package from a car air freshener, three empty packages of purifying charcoal and a sponge were recovered, the statement continued.

Later on Feb. 28, Colemans car was stopped by police in Delaware on I-95 South near Wilmington.

Officers asked Coleman to get out of the car and asked him if anyone else was in the vehicle.

Coleman said, Shes in the trunk," according to federal authorities.

Correias body was found inside the trunk. She was wrapped in a sofa cushion cover, which was inside a black trash bag, which was inside a large suitcase, matching the suitcase Coleman was seen bringing into his apartment the day before, officials said.

Correias remains had significant bruising, a bloodied face and were covered in what authorities said they believe is baking soda. She was also bound with gray duct tape, according to the statement.

A duffle bag, a pair of new long-handled loppers, plastic garbage bags, clothing, a red plastic gas container, a green butane lighter, black gloves, charcoal air purifiers, air fresheners, tinted safety glasses, plastic Walmart bags, work towels, cloth work-gloves, a new set of DeWalt pliers, a laptop, a computer hard-drive/tower and disinfectant wipes were also recovered in Colemans vehicle, officials said.

When Coleman was booked at the Delaware State Police barracks, authorities asked him about a large bandage on the right side of his face.

He allegedly replied, Its from the girl," authorities said.

Authorities in Boston have promised to seek justice for Correias family.

We are gonna bust our butts to make sure justice is served here," Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said last week.

Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins said the community Correia lived in deserves to see justice.

This is about a daughter, Rollins said. "This is about a mother whose 2-year-old daughter doesnt understand where shes gone and will no longer have a mother. Its about devastating loss for generations of family members who lost a central part of their lives.

Correias family has set up a GoFundMe page to help her daughter and other family members.
The arrest of Louis D. Coleman III in connection with the kidnapping and death of 23-year-old Boston mother Jassy Correia has generated new tips for years-old rape and homicide cases out of Brockton, officials said.

Authorities have continued to investigate three rapes and two homicides that occurred in Brockton in 2013 and 2014. DNA from the rape cases came back positive for the same unidentified individual, according to the office of Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz.

Using DNA, the district attorneys office in 2017 released a computer-generated composite sketch to predict the physical appearance of the person of interest in those cases.

The image released at that time bears similarities to Coleman, who is facing a federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death after he was arrested in Delaware, with the body of Correia in the trunk of his car, according to officials and Correias family.

While there are similarities between the composite sketch and Coleman, he has not been formally called a suspect in the Brockton cases.

The arrest of Louis D. Coleman III in Delaware has generated several calls to our State Police Unit. As with all unsolved cases, State Police will follow up and continue to investigate," said Beth Stone, a spokeswoman for Cruzs office.

Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia conducted Snapshot DNA phenotyping for the office of Plymouth District Attorney Timothy Cruz. Parabon used the DNA sample to predict s person of interests physical appearance and develop a computer generated composite sketch, which was released in 2017. The man in the sketch is a suspect in the three rape cases and is linked forensically to the death of Ashley Mylett, officials said in 2017.

The Brockton rapes occurred in October and November 2013 and January 2014, according to Cruzs office.

Then, on Dec. 28, 2014, the body of Ashley Mylette and skeletal remains of Linda Schufeldt were discovered together in the woods behind 251 North Quincy St. in Brockton, Cruzs office said.

DNA was taken from Mylette. After analysis by the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab, it was determined to be a match with the DNA from the three rape cases, Cruzs office said.

The district attorneys office asked Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia to conduct Snapshot DNA phenotyping in 2017, which led to the computer-generated composite sketch. The technology uses the DNA to accurately predict eye, hair and skin color, Cruzs office said.

Officials called the man in the sketch a suspect in the three rape cases and said he was forensically to the death of Ashley Mylett.

The violent crimes remain under investigation.

We never forget a victim, no matter how much time goes by, Cruz said in 2017. Massachusetts State Police Detectives in my office, along with Brockton Police have never stopped investigating these cases. We believe there are people that may have information about these crimes and I encourage them to come forward and share what they know with State or Brockton Police.

Federal authorities in Massachusetts announced Sunday that Coleman would be facing a charge of kidnapping resulting in death in connection with the disappearance and killing of Correia, who was last seen on Feb. 24 after leaving a Boston nightclub.

Coleman, of Providence, Rhode Island, bought Tyvek suits, duct tape, candles, a mask, surgical gloves and bleach in the days after Correia went missing, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling announced Sunday.

During his announcement, Lelling said further DNA work would be necessary to see if Coleman was connected with any other crimes in Massachusetts or Rhode Island.

Im not aware of any specific crimes beyond this one that he is being looked at for," Lelling said.

Correia died from strangulation and blunt force trauma. Coleman has not been charged with murder.

Police stopped Colemans vehicle Feb. 28 in Delaware on Interstate 95 south near Wilmington.

Officers asked Coleman if anyone else was in the car.

Shes in the trunk, he replied, according to authorities.
BOSTON -- Boston Celtics star Kyrie Irving has made it clear on multiple occasions how little he likes all of the media attention that swirls around the NBAs superstars.

On Sunday, as he walked into the Celtics matchup against the Houston Rockets, his progress was followed by TV cameras and photographers toward the locker room.

Im not going to miss any of this s--- when Im done playing, Irving can be heard saying in a video that made viral rounds in its immediate aftermath.

Some outlets, of course, missed when Im done playing, which gave the quote a life of its own. Fans are desperate for clues as to where Irving will sign in the offseason, and every appearance he makes on camera is heavily scrutinized.

Irving has been visibly unhappy in recent games as the team struggles through easily its toughest stretch of the year, but this particular quote lines up with other things he has said. At one point earlier this season, Irving suggested he would want to want to go completely off the grid after he retires.

Like this is fun and all, but technology is just killing me, man, Irving said at an appearance at Forbes Under 30.
Sometimes it just takes two people to get the job done. Like leading a parade.

T.J. and Mary O'Brien of Curran-O'Brien Funeral Home in South Hadley will serve as Co-Grand Marshals leading the South Hadley contingent of this year's Holyoke St. Patrick's Day Parade.

"We are honored to be selected as Co-Grand Marshals. We have only lived in South Hadley for four years and we are so grateful that people have welcomed us with open arms. So, we are especially thrilled to be recognized," said Mary O'Brien.

"When our kids were younger, I can remember us standing with them in front of Barry Farrell Funeral Home on Northampton Street and watching the parade from there, then later making it a tradition to go to the road race every year," she added.

Jacqueline R. Reardon, liaison to the South Hadley contingent of the Holyoke St. Patrick's Parade, recently delivered to the O'Briens the sashes and walking sticks needed for parade day.

"The O'Briens opened their funeral home in 2015 and also decided to move from West Springfield, where they have another funeral parlor, to make South Hadley their new home. It's just amazing, not everyone will come and live in the town where they open a business. They have really made themselves known in the community," Reardon said.

The O'Brien's business has long supported the St. Patrick's Parade Committee of West Springfield, hosting several "hooley" fundraisers for the Committee at their West Springfield facility. In 2004, Curran-Jones was honored as the Committee's Olde Mittineague Award winner, which recognizes a business within the Town of West Springfield that has made substantial contributions to the committee. The O'Briens are now carrying on that tradition in South Hadley by providing support and contributions to the South Hadley Parade Committee.

Reardon said there is quite a story behind their float for this year.

"It's a reproduction of the inclined plane, the nation's first navigational canal. Our committee likes to retain a patriotic theme to our floats, and after doing some research learned that the inclined plane provided an advantage in winning the War of 1812," she said.

The inclined plane has quite a long history behind its development

It was believed that the barrier of the rapids of the Holyoke falls on the Connecticut River was holding down population and economic growth. Business leaders agreed that the cost to move goods north or south of the falls was two to three days of travel plus extra labor to unload and reload barges or boats using the river. So, wealthy business groups got together to support inventing a system to move barges and boats over the rapids instead, drastically limiting travel time.

With the building of the inclined plane in 1793, the future of the valley and its economy took a giant leap. In 1795, the lift opened for use as the nation's first successful navigational canal. Ten years later locks replaced the inclined plane as the means of raising and lowering boats. After 1826, steamboats passed through the locks, hauled flatboats and fed the growth of Western Massachusetts. The locks operated beside the falls - and then the dam after 1849 - until trains put the canal out of business in 1862.

Reardon, who previously served as parade president and has served as South Hadley's liaison since 2005, noted that South Hadley's contingent will feature town officials, members of the South Hadley Police and Fire Departments, and a performance by the South Hadley High School Band.

"This will be Jennifer Gundersen's first time marching with us after recently being sworn in as new South Hadley police chief. And it will be Dan Carey's first time marching with us after being elected 2nd Hampshire District state representative in November," she said.
Everybodys Irish around St. Patricks Day  and nowhere is that more true than in downtown Springfield.

The landmark German restaurant The Student Prince & The Fort Restaurant has a four-day celebration tied to the holiday, including the return of the annual Mummers Pub Crawl, said Andy Yee, the son of Chinese immigrants and managing partner of the restaurant with Italian-American Peter Picknelly.

Come celebrate the Irish holiday at our German restaurant, Yee said. Were preparing an amazing corned beef and cabbage feast with all the fixings. Well have live Irish music by the world famous Philadelphia Mummers Aqua String Band and the Holyoke Caledonian Pipe Band, plus green beer, Irish cocktails and Irish coffees. Youll feel like youre in Dublin.

The celebration will showcase live performances by the Philadelphia Mummers Aqua String Band, world-renowned for their participation in Mummers parades, and the Holyoke Caledonian Pipe Band.

They will perform at The Student Prince on Thursday, March 14, 5 to 7 p.m.

On Friday, March 15, its the annual Mummers Pub Crawl beginning at The Student Prince at 5:30 p.m. with stops at UNOs, MGM Springfield, Theodores and Plan B. Transportation is provided by Peter Pan Bus Lines.
Questions still linger about the Salem witch trials, a time of accusations and executions that resulted in the deaths of at least 20 people amid mass hysteria in the settlement.

A new series that focuses on the unsolved stories of America highlights these trials in its premiere.

Americas Hidden Stories on the Smithsonian Channel debuts Monday, March 4 with Salems Secrets.

The channel said that the panic began when in 1692, an Indian slave in Massachusetts admitted to being an agent of Satan, and to casting spells on her masters family.

The violence was over almost as quickly as it began, it added.

All trials were halted, publications about the terror were officially banned, and the location of the execution site vanished from any records, it said on the shows preview.

Stacy Schiff, an expert on the subject featured on the episode and the author of The Witches: Salem, 1692, told The Salem News that when the fear set in, it spread rapidly.

The lightning speed at which fear traveled is extraordinary, Schiff told The Salem News. "Once the afflicted girls began convulsing and shrieking involuntarily, there was no stopping them.

The full episode airs at 8 p.m. Additional air times can be found on the Smithsonian Channel website.
SPRINGFIELD  U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal introduced Margaret Carlson on Monday with some praise for  and a warning about  the news media.

In a representative democracy, the media is the referee, said Neal, D-Springfield. We need them to get it right.

Carlson, columnist for The Daily Beast and the first woman columnist at Time magazine, proceeded to praise and to criticize President Donald Trump and to handicap the growing field of candidates looking to replace him.

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced Monday he is running for president as a Democrat.

Carlson named a potential candidate: Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. She called Hogan a Maryland version of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican governing a Democratic state.

"He's a red governor who is getting it done in a blue state," Carlson said.

Only Hogan, unlike Baker, has talked openly about mounting a primary challenge to Trump.

Carlson spoke Monday before more than 600 business and civic leaders at the Springfield Regional Chambers annual Outlook luncheon at the MassMutual Center downtown. Its the chambers biggest even of the year, drawing state lawmakers and mayors from the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires.

She shared the stage at the two-hour event with Neal, newly appointed Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy, Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and others.

Carlson praised Trump for walking away from what would have been a bad deal with North Korea presented at the recent summit in Vietnam. But Trump undid some of that good when he, for a time, seemed to take Kim Jong-uns word about the death of American Otto Warmbier.

She said Trump has demonstrated moral courage in Venezuela by calling for the elected regime there to take power and the defeated leaders to step aside. And Trump did the right thing by walking back what had been described as an immediate pullout of U.S. forces from Syria, Carlson said.

On the negative side, she called attention to Trumps more than two-hour speech Saturday at a conservative political conference in Washington. In it, Trump cataloged perceived slight after perceived slight.

"You would think he was Irish, the way he remembers all his grudges," Carlson said. "He is declining from being presidential."

She called Trump a master of branding, and said that is a danger to Democrats who risk having him define their candidacies before those candidacies can even get off the ground.

The positive of having six women running  thats the count so far  is that it makes each individual woman that much more immune from gendered criticisms about likability, an issue that dogged Hillary Clinton in 2016, Carlson said.

Kennealy used his time at the podium to push the Baker administrations new housing bill, which would make it easier for towns to change zoning to allow for more development.
House Democrats called on the White House and other administration officials Monday to provide a series of documents as lawmakers look to investigate allegations that President Donald Trump has obstructed justice or engaged in other corruption.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-New York, sent document requests to 81 agencies, entities and individuals believed to have information relevant to" the panels investigation into Trumps alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption and other abuses of power.

They included: the Trump campaign and several of its officials, the Trump Organization, the Trump Foundation, the Trump transition team, former White House employees, the presidents oldest son and additional relatives, among others.

Arguing that Congress is obligated to look into threats to the rule of law" and provide a check on abuses of power, Nadler said his panel cannot rely on Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation into the 2016 election.

The chairman added that his committees work is even more urgent after senior Justice Department officials have suggested that they may conceal the work of the special counsels investigation from the public.

We have sent these document requests in order to begin building the public record. The Special Counsels office and the Southern District of New York are aware that we are taking these steps," he said in a statement. "We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people. This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do.

Judiciary Committee officials noted that the panels investigation will look at three main areas: Obstruction of justice, including whether the president and others interfered in criminal probes; public corruption, including possible violations to the U.S. Constitutions emoluments clause and campaign finance laws; and abuses of power, including attacks on the press, judiciary and law enforcement agencies, among other things.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that officials had received the House Judiciary Committees letter.

The Counsels Office and relevant White House officials will review it and respond at the appropriate time, she said in a statement.

Hours later, Trump told reporters that the committees investigation is a political hoax.

I cooperate all the time with everybody...You know the beautiful thing  no collusion," he said when asked if hed respond to Nadlers request. "Its all a hoax.

The requests, which also went to the White House, the Justice Department, the FBI and dozens of Trumps closest aides, came one day after the Nadler told ABC News that he would seek documents from more than 60 different individuals to begin investigations to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.

Nadler added that while he believes its very clear that the president obstructed justice, lawmakers dont have the facts yet."

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
President Donald Trump reportedly directed a former administration official to block a merger between AT&T and Time Warner -- a proposed acquisition which the GOP leader vocally criticized, but denied any involvement in a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to stop it.

A New Yorker investigation into the relationship between Trumps White House and Fox News alleges that months between the DOJ filed suit against the merger, the president asked then-National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn to pressure justice officials to intervene.

A well-informed source told the magazine that Trump called Cohn and then-Chief of Staff John Kelly into the Oval Office and said he wanted to block the deal between AT&T and Time Warner, which owns CNN.

The source said Cohn walked out of the meeting and told Kelly we are not going to do business that way.

A spokesman for Cohn declined comment to The New Yorker, while Kelly did not respond to similar request.

The magazine, however, offered that a former White House official confirmed that the president vented about wanting to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger.

The New Yorker reported that the presidents push to block the $85 billion deal, coupled with the administrations approval of a Disney-Fox merger and opposition to a Sinclair-Tribune merger, would have benefitted Fox News.

The AT&T-Time Warner merger, which was announced in October 2016, moved forward after a federal judge ruled against the DOJ in June 2018. The Trump administration appealed the decision, which was upheld last month.

Justice Department lawyer Craig Conrath acknowledged in a February 2018 pretrial hearing that while the president does not like CNN, that did not influence the antitrust case, Reuters reported.

Both the White House and Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Makan Delrahim also denied that the Trump administration took a position in the merger review.

Trump was not the only lawmaker to speak out against the deal, U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, joined other Democrats in 2017 in calling on the DOJ to reject the AT&T-Time Warner merger.

They raised concerns that allowing the merger to move forward in another instance of media industry consolidation could result in unmatched control of popular content and lead to higher television and internet prices, fewer choices and worse service-- things which they contended are substantial harms that cannot be remedied with unreliable, unenforceable and time-limited behavioral conditions.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
BS/MS student Rajan Burt completed his co-op with Hollister Incorporated, a medical device developer based in Libertyville, Illinois. For nine months, Burt, a senior studying biomedical engineering, alternated between periods of academic study and full-time paid work experience at Hollister, where he collaborated with senior engineers and medical professionals to develop innovative medical devices and platforms to better treat disease.

Selected as Northwestern Engineerings 2018 Walter P. Murphy Cooperative Engineering Education Student of the Year, Burt visited with Engineering Career Development to discuss working with experienced engineering professionals, the importance of strong communication, and the benefits of mentors.

Why did you decide to do a co-op? How did you get started?

I decided to do a co-op because I wanted to gain experience on a long-term project. One drawback to internships is that you dont necessarily have time to see a project through to completion. I was really motivated to produce something of my own work, not just stop as soon as the quarter ended. That drove me to pursue a co-op, as well as the chance to dive into industry and learn if it could offer a path for me in the future.

I started looking at co-op opportunities while job hunting during my sophomore and junior years. I wasnt able to find a co-op as a sophomore, but I kept my nose to the grindstone and eventually got an opportunity with Hollister.

What was your favorite project that you worked on?

My favorite project was one that I worked on under Dr. Tadas Sileika, who was my main mentor and supervisor. I cant discuss all the details, but it was related to infectious disease. We basically established, from the ground up, a laboratory and platform to study infectious disease and how it relates to some of our products. That development process and the number of deliverables that were produced was something that had not been there before at Hollister.

I cannot give enough credit to Dr. Sileika, because he was very innovative throughout the process and took me under his wing. He brought in a contractor who worked with us as well. I called our team the wolf pack. It was an amazing experience.

Like all students in the co-op program, you alternate between classes at Northwestern and your co-op at Hollister. What are the biggest challenges and benefits to that structure?

As a young college student, you might be staying at your university for a few more quarters after the co-op. That can be a bit socially challenging, but its something you get used to. I think of a co-op like an industry fellowship for engineering, where you are using the time to gain some good experience.

The benefits far outweigh the challenges. There is no other way to get an in-depth education on what it means to be a corporate scientist or engineer in industry at such a young age. Thats something that will forever stick with me. If I pursue graduate work, I will have a really good understanding of what it means to go into academia or to go into industry.

Another benefit is that you can gain mentors and network. We often talk about networking in terms of our social media or LinkedIn pages, but in some ways, thats all a bit superficial. I felt like I really understood what networking meant after my time at Hollister. I gained genuine mentors there that I care about and feel they care about me and what direction my career takes. That opened my eyes to how careers are developed.

How did it feel to work alongside senior and seasoned engineers who have worked in industry for several years?

It was fantastic. It was another huge advantage of my co-op. Without a doubt, the most important skill is the ability to communicate, regardless of your profession. No matter how technically proficient you are, to turn an idea into a product and get it to market, you cant do it yourself. If you cant communicate those ideas, its almost not even worth having them. Working alongside seasoned engineers and scientists opened up my eyes to that. We had meetings with executive marketers or product managers and other non-technical members that were absolutely key to the success of projects.

What was the most rewarding part of your co-op at Hollister?

We were able to patent and work on publications, and there is potential for more patents in the future. Yet the most rewarding experience isnt from these deliverables, but rather that I worked on projects related to medicine, helping people, and hopefully reducing disease.

One project during my last term, for example, dealt with the risk of urinary tract infection (UTI) in catheter users. UTI is a leading cause of death for many people suffering from spinal cord injuries. They rely on a catheter and as they get older and their dexterity lessens, their risk of infection increases. The opportunity to work on a project that tackled a serious problem, that mattered more than just someones bottom line, was very rewarding to me.

What makes the co-op experience unique?

I think its the insight into industry and your ability to have real mentors. Of course, I have mentors at Northwestern, particularly Professor Evan Scott, whose lab I work in. Beyond working in someones lab, Im not sure how someone can gain that kind of mentor. Mentorship is something thats important to me. It offers a glimpse into the future in a way.

What was the most surprising thing you learned about yourself throughout your time as a co-op?

Thats a good question. I learned that when it comes down to it, Im not intimidated by someones position or title. I had some really fantastic experiences at Hollister. I was able to talk to people in high-level positions. There was one time where I gave a presentation to the companys vice president of technology. I was nervous going in, but felt very good about it after I finished. Obviously, titles are important, and of course you need to afford people respect, but at the end of the day, its two people trying to solve a problem.

Whats next for you after graduation?

I have options that I am considering. I am currently talking with Hollister about coming back. I may also reach out to other companies in Chicago to learn more about other opportunities. Eventually, I would like to pursue an MD-PhD. My experience in industry has shown me that I really love using science and technology to help society. If I can find a position in industry that provides me that opportunity, I will definitely go for it, however, I could also see myself pursuing an MD-PhD.
When people refer to Israel as the Startup Nation, its usually regarding the countrys innovation in computers, networking, communications, electronics, and so on. But it might be even more appropriate to use that term when discussing life sciences, medical technology, and biotech  areas where Israeli companies and technologies have taken center stage, leading the world with innovations that are saving lives.

For a country of barely 8 million people, Israel is a hotbed of medtech investment and innovation. There are over 1,500 companies in the life sciences field in Israel; in 2017, Israeli life science exports reached $8.5 billion, growing steadily since 2010; international medical technology and pharmaceutical firms, including GE, Phillips, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, Abbott Laboratories, Takeda, and many others have R&D centers in Israel; and home-grown Israeli companies like Mazor Robotics, Lumenis, Neuroderm, Given Imaging, InSightec, and others have engineered revolutions in treatments and technologies in their fields.

There have also been several large acquisitions made by multinational companies. Mazor Robotics, which developed innovative methods for spine surgery, was acquired by Medtronic; Lumenis, which developed minimally invasive laser surgery tools, was acquired by CVC; and Given Imaging, developer of the Pillcam  an innovative miniature camera that, after being swallowed by a patient, gives caregivers an inside view of what is going on in the body  was also acquired by Medtronic. All these companies started life as small life sciences startups, as did many of the R&D centers that now belong to multinational firms.

Now there is a whole new crop of startups  and they are leveraging the technology that Israel has developed in big data, machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence to develop new technologies designed to improve health. The burgeoning field of digital health promises to help develop better treatments for cancer, diabetes, and many other diseases. By examining the health histories of thousands of people, companies can extract data that provides important clues on causes, treatments and preventative measures for a whole host of diseases and conditions.

Many of the startups working in the field of digital health will be at the upcoming MEDinISRAEL event, where more than 3,000 participants will come from Israel and around the world to learn about innovation in this space and to see practical applications of how technology can be applied to uncovering the causes of diseases and developing better treatments.

Among the digital health companies that will be at MEDinISRAEL is SafeLuna, which is developing real-time sensing technology that remotely monitors an infants heart rate, movements, and blood perfusion while sleeping. SafeLunas technology can be integrated with any baby monitor device giving it the ability to collect data and to send an alert to the parents if something is wrong, providing critical time for intervention. Vitalerter, designed for use in hospitals and nursing homes, enables early detection of patient deterioration and warns nursing staff to intervene quickly, thereby improving patient care, shortening hospital stays, and reducing healthcare costs. The companys technology is based on lightweight biosensors, powerful artificial intelligence, and a deep-learning algorithm engine. Serenus AI is developing the first clinically objective, AI-based, automated case-by-case review system to improve the utilization and prior authorization processes before medical procedures. The company has developed algorithms to review the most common elective procedures while providing a comprehensive, real-time analytics report highlighting the related medical factors and their dynamic impact influencing the recommendation.

These are just a few of the companies that will be at MEDinISRAEL this year. The conference will also feature experts from around the globe who will discuss topics such as Telemedicine, Hospital at Home, Medical IoT and Patient Engagement, Cybersecurity in Healthcare, and AR/VR Applications in Healthcare. Digital Health is a field Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes could be Israels next big tech export  similar to cybersecurity. This field of digital health is estimated at $6 trillion, Netanyahu said. Let us assume that we will receive 10% of the real market for this potential, not our market, the real global market in the coming years. In my view, this is the maximum estimate. It is a $600 billion market and of it, if we succeed, as we did in cybersecurity and autonomous and connected vehicle technologies, we can expect a significant increase in new products. The interest of global companies is very great. I have already met with many of them. They all want to come here, and rightly so. They see this as a new direction.

Link: MEDinISRAEL homepage
The presence of large number of sleep disorder cases and rise in awareness about the adverse effects of sleep disorders on human health are anticipated to attract the patients with high purchasing power and boost the sleep aids market growth.

The Sleep Aids Market size contributed to nearly $49.54 billion in 2016 and is expected to reach $79.85 billion by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 7.0% from 2017 to 2023. North America contributed the highest revenue in the sleep aids market; however, Asia-Pacific accounted for the fastest growth rate in 2016.

The Top key companies analyzed in the sleep aids market report include

Koninklijke Philips N.V.

Sanofi, Merck & Co.

Pfizer Inc.

DeVilbiss Healthcare LLC.

Cadwell Laboratories Inc.

SleepMed Inc.

Natus Medical Incorporated

Compumedics Limited

GlaxoSmithKline plc

Download Sample Report https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/1533

Change in lifestyle preferences, stressful and hectic work conditions, and other issues interfering with the interruption in sleep habits increase in the disposable income, and increase in awareness regarding the harmful effects of sleep disorder on the health would drive the growth of sleep aids market. The risk of sleep disorder enhances as the age and obesity increases, so the increase in geriatric and obese population could raise the prevalence of sleep disorders, which in turn, drive the market growth. The surge in demand for sleep aids led to the advancements of the technology, which will present new avenues in the market. However, the adverse effects related to sleep drugs on human health and expiration of patents would impact the market growth.

The mattress & pillows segment contributed to the largest market share in 2016 and will maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. Availability of different products, rise in awareness regarding the benefits of quality sleep, and advancement in technologies facilitate the growth for this segment. Insomnia contributes the largest share in the sleep aids market and will maintain its highest contribution throughout the forecast period, owing to the presence of huge population suffering from insomnia.

In 2015, North America held the largest market share, accounting for the highest market share, owing to the increase in the prevalence of sleep disorders, high disposable income of people residing in the region, and high rate of adoption for technologically advanced products. However, Asia-Pacific would experience the highest CAGR during the study period, owing to an increase in disposable income, a rise in government initiatives to modernize the current healthcare infrastructure and surge in healthcare expenditure.

Key Findings of the Sleep Aids Market:

The sleep laboratories segment is expected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

The insomnia segment contributed the highest revenue and will maintain its dominance by 2023.

North America held the major sleep aids market share of the global market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% during the forecast period.

China would grow at the highest CAGR of 10.8% in the Asia-Pacific region during the forecast period.

The narcolepsy segment is expected to witness at the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 9.1% from 2017 to 2023.

Report Segmentation:

By Product Mattresses & Pillows Sleep Laboratories Medications Prescription-based Drugs OTC drugs Herbal drugs Sleep Apnea Devices By Sleep Disorder Insomnia Sleep Apnea Restless Legs Syndrome Narcolepsy Sleep Walking Other Sleep Disorders By Geography North America Europe Asia-Pacific LAMEA

Scope of the Report:

Report Attribute Details Market size available for years 2017  2023 Base year considered 2016 Forecast period 2017  2023 Forecast units Value (USD) Segments covered By Product, by Sleep Disorder, and by Geography Geographies covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, LAMEA

Read More https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/press-release/sleep-aids-market.html

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EuroNews, Monday, March 4, 2019 8:59 AM

Google reportedly told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in a letter published Monday that it denies market dominance in the country when it comes to online searches and advertising. EuroNews reports Google has 84% market share of web searches in Australia. The ACCC is looking for more information on how the company ranks searches and serves ads. The topic of self-favoritism also has become a factor.

Read the whole story at EuroNews 
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, March 4, 2019

Ned Segal, Twitter CFO, told investors at a Morgan Stanley Technology Conference that it pays to build trust, be forthright with brands and detail why they should use the companys advertising services, but the company is missing some ad offerings that it is working to change.

The company has become "much more clear with advertisers [as to] why they should use Twitter, he said during a question-and-answer session with Brian Nowak, analyst at Morgan Stanley.

When youre consistent and clear and are able to demonstrate the return on investment to advertisers and deliver better relevant ads that people see, brands begin to embrace the technology, Segal said. For example, about 30 of the 38 advertisers during the Super Bowl advertised on Twitter to amplify the message being broadcast on television -- similar to what Avocados from Mexico did with their search strategy.

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Last year, we did work so that we could sift through more ads before we showed you the ad that you saw on your screen, Segal said. That's a tradeoff around latency, around server utilization, around weather, sifting through more -- were there enough ads that we had more to sift through, and we were able to make a tradeoff that was transparent to the person who saw the ads, but allowed us to show them a more relevant higher-cost ad that the advertiser was thrilled to pay more for because it was more relevant?

Twitter also began to pre-load video ads that were not yet on the screen, so site visitors dont wait around for the ads to load.

He acknowledged that there is still work to be done around digital ad formats and formats that drive interest rather than those that prompt people to make a purchase.

We do have some direct-response advertising on Twitter but not as much as we should, he said. Most of the direct response that you see on Twitter is either brands like Video Website Card or Video App Card, where you may be buying [with] the objective to reach people watching the video, but you also may be buying [with] somebody clicking through.

For the first quarter of 2019, Twitter earned 31 cents per share adjusted as revenue grew 24% to $909 million. Monthly average users were 321 million, meeting estimates, according to Brian Deagon, reporter at Investors Business Daily.

The positive news for Twitter is that advertising revenue totaled $791 million -- up 23% from the year-ago period and above analyst views for $756.8 million.

The first quarter in 2019 might not pan out as well. Twitter estimates revenue at $715 million to $775 million, and expenses rising 20% in 2019.
by Sara Guaglione , March 4, 2019

Two editors  one from National Review and the other from The Weekly Standard are launching a conservative media company.

Stephen Hayes, the editor-in-chief of The Weekly Standard before it was shuttered in December, and Jonah Goldberg, senior editor at National Review, will create a Trump-skeptical company, according to Axios, which first reported the news.

Goldberg is leaving National Review, but will remain a fellow for the National Review Institute.

The new company from Hayes and Goldberg will begin publishing newsletters this summer, with a website coming in September.

"We believe there is a great appetite on the center-right for an independent conservative media company that resists partisan boosterism and combines a focus on old-school reporting with interesting and provocative commentary and analysis, Hayes told Axios Mike Allen.

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Goldberg is a conservative vocally critical of the president.

Some media critics suggested The Weekly Standards parent company Clarity Media Group Inc. shuttered the publication due to the bristling anti-Trump tone of its editorial.

Clarity also publishes Washington Examiner.

A large portion of The Weekly Standards staff is now at The Bulwark, a conservative news and opinion site created by Bill Kristol, a cofounder of The Weekly Standard, and Charlie Sykes.

The conservative media company from Hayes and Goldberg does not yet have a name and is seeking investors.

It will be interesting to see if there is a space in the media industry for a conservative publication that isn't positioned as a cheerleader for Donald Trump, breaking from TheBlaze and Breitbart.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, March 4, 2019

Crunch Fitness has dropped its request that the Supreme Court decide whether a former gym member can proceed with a lawsuit over a federal robo-texting law.

Instead, the gym and former member, Jordan Marks, quietly settled their dispute, according to court papers filed with the Supreme Court late last month.

The move marks an end to Marks' 2014 lawsuit alleging that Crunch violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by sending him three text messages in an 11-month period. That law prohibits companies from using automated dialers to send messages to consumers without their permission.

Crunch initially argued the lawsuit should be dismissed at an early stage because Marks hadn't shown the messages were sent via an automated dialer. A trial judge sided with Crunch, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the fitness company last year. The appellate judges defined automated dialers broadly, saying they could include devices that stored lists of phone numbers to be called.

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In January, Crunch asked the Supreme Court to hear the dispute. Crunch argued that the 9th Circuit's definition of auto dialers was so sweeping it could expose anyone who uses smartphones to a potential lawsuit.

The 9th Circuit definition of auto dialer is at odds with a recent ruling issued by a different appellate court -- the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, which recently ruled that Yahoo's texting system was not an auto dialer. That court adopted a narrower definition, ruling that auto dialers must be capable of calling random or sequential numbers.
Scientists at the cutting edge of nanotechnology are on the path to the seemingly impossible: creating an injection that allows us to see in the dark. This research opens the door to brand new therapeutic interventions. Share on Pinterest Nanotechnology and vision science may have a bright future. The mammalian eye can only respond to a small band of wavelengths. Generally, the range is 400700 nanometers. Of course, the full spectrum of light is much broader. At the longer end of this spectrum is near infrared (NIR) and infrared light (IR). No mammals can detect these types of light. Night vision goggles allow the user to detect these otherwise-invisible wavelengths, but they are cumbersome. Also, during daytime conditions, they become saturated with light and no longer function properly. Recently, researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Boston started looking for ways to boost vision in mammals at NIR wavelengths without the need for wearable technology.

Integrating nanotech and vision The work forms part of a new wave of research focused on integrating nanoparticles with biological systems. By inserting minuscule sensors or devices into living tissue, it might be possible to impart useful new capabilities. Modern medicine is already finding uses for this. In one review, the authors explain, There are now many prominent examples of nanomaterials being used to improve human health, in areas ranging from imaging and diagnostics to therapeutics and regenerative medicine. The most recent investigation appears in the journal Cell. Gang Han, Ph.D.  who is an associate professor of biochemistry and molecular pharmacology  led the scientists. In their paper, the scientists explain how they injected photoreceptor-binding upconversion nanoparticles into mice, which allowed the animals to see in the dark. More specifically, they used a subretinal injection technique, which many ophthalmologists now commonly use. The innovative experiments involved gluing so-called nanoantennae to the retinal photoreceptors of mice. Once there, the nanoantennae converted NIR light into visible green light. So, without the need for any external equipment, the rodents were able to perceive NIR light. The team used lectin nanoparticles to shepherd the nanoantennaes into place.
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Viruses are responsible for colds and flu, so antibiotics are not able to cure or prevent these illnesses. Plenty of rest, fluids, and home remedies can help relieve symptoms. Colds and the flu are common illnesses that can cause many uncomfortable symptoms, such as: a runny nose

blocked sinuses

a sore throat

coughing

headaches

body aches

fever or chills The following home remedies may help prevent illness, reduce symptoms, and shorten the duration of a cold or the flu:

1. Zinc Share on Pinterest robert reader/Getty Images Studies suggest that zinc supplementation may help shorten the length of a cold and lessen symptoms. Experts believe that this is because zinc prevents rhinovirus, the virus that causes the common cold, from replicating in the body. People can take zinc as a tablet, lozenge, or syrup, but should always follow the dosage advice on the packaging. Too much zinc can cause nausea and stomach aches. Zinc is available online and in pharmacies as a supplement or nasal spray. Using a zinc nasal spray can cause people to lose their sense of smell temporarily.

2. Honey Honey has antimicrobial properties, which may allow it to fight some bacteria and viruses. One study found that honey was effective in relieving coughing as a symptom of a cold in children over the age of 1 year. Children younger than 1 year should not have honey due to the risk of infant botulism. People can try stirring some honey into hot water to soothe a sore throat or cough. Adding lemon provides extra flavor and vitamin C. People can find honey in grocery stores, local markets, and online.

3. Echinacea Some people use herbal extracts from the Echinacea plant to help prevent colds and relieve nasal symptoms. Research has shown that components of Echinacea may support the immune system. Some have antiviral properties and may fight against flu viruses. Research on the effectiveness of Echinacea in treating a cold has produced mixed results to date, with some studies showing no benefit. Other studies have found that certain Echinacea products may reduce a persons likelihood of getting a cold by 1020 percent . People can purchase Echinacea as a supplement or herbal tea.

4. Garlic Garlic may help fight off a common cold because it has antibacterial and antiviral properties. One study found that people who took a daily garlic supplement for 3 months had fewer colds than those in a placebo group. Garlic has long been a home remedy for colds and the flu. People can eat raw garlic, incorporate cooked garlic into meals, or take a supplement. Unless a person has a garlic allergy, it is usually safe to use. Fresh garlic is readily available in supermarkets. People who do not like the taste can purchase garlic supplements online.

5. Menthol Blocked sinuses and congested airways are common symptoms of a cold, which menthol can help relieve. Menthol comes from many types of mint plant. It has antibacterial and pain-relieving effects and is an ingredient in many vapor rubs. People can also add menthol to hot water for a steam inhalation. Although a 2013 study found that menthol inhalation helped reduce coughing due to environmental irritants, there is limited research on its effectiveness in clearing congested airways. Other research found that vapor rub containing menthol, eucalyptus, and camphor significantly improved sleep in children and adults with cold symptoms. However, the researchers found that the risks could outweigh the benefits, as menthol can sting and irritate the skin.

6. Vitamin D Vitamin D-3 may be a useful supplement to prevent or reduce the chances of getting a cold. Research has found a link between vitamin D supplementation and a reduced frequency of colds in university students. People living in colder climates may also find that a supplement boosts their vitamin D levels during the winter months, when their skin may not get much exposure to sunlight.

7. Oregano oil Oregano contains thymol and carvacrol, which both have antibacterial effects. People traditionally use essential oils containing thymol to relieve headaches, diarrhea, and coughs. People may find that taking oregano oil or rubbing it on the chest helps relieve cold symptoms.

8. Reducing stress and sleeping well Stress or poor sleep may increase the risk of getting a cold or the flu. One study suggests that lowering stress levels through mindfulness meditation practices or exercise reduces the risk of getting one of these illnesses. People who participated in a mindfulness meditation or exercise program lost fewer work days due to illness than people in the control group. A small study in 2015 also found that people who slept for fewer hours were more susceptible to colds.

9. Probiotics Probiotics are live bacteria that support gut health and may help prevent people from getting colds or the flu. Research has shown that probiotics can help protect the immune system against flu viruses. In a controlled trial, there were fewer instances of colds in people who were taking probiotics than in those who were not. People can purchase probiotic supplements in health food stores or online. Probiotics are also present in many foods, including: yogurt

sauerkraut

miso

tempeh

10. North American ginseng Ginseng may help reduce symptoms of cold or flu, although studies have provided mixed results on its effectiveness. Research on an herbal product containing North American ginseng found that it reduced the risk and duration of cold and flu symptoms in older adults. People can consume raw ginseng or take it in the form of a capsule or herbal tea.

11. Berries Berries contain polyphenols, which have antiviral properties and may help fight flu viruses. Research has shown that elderberries can reduce symptoms of the flu and that a cranberry beverage could help support immune function. In some in vitro studies, berry extracts demonstrated the potential to help fight off influenza. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries are also good sources of vitamin C, which can help support the immune system.

12. Vitamin C Vitamin C is vital for keeping the immune system healthy. Many people believe that it may help reduce the frequency of colds. Although there is no scientific evidence to show that taking vitamin C prevents colds or reduces symptoms during a cold, researchers have suggested that a regular intake of vitamin C could benefit some people in these ways. They stated that while more research is necessary, the general safety and low cost of vitamin C mean that it is a low-risk method for people to test individually. Citrus fruits and avocados contain high levels of vitamin C. People can also buy vitamin C supplements in pharmacies and online.

When to see a doctor A cold or flu virus can last for up to 2 weeks, with symptoms usually at their worst for about 2 or 3 days. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , people should see a doctor if their cold or flu symptoms last longer than 10 days with no signs of improvement. If people have any unusual symptoms or their symptoms are very severe, they should contact their doctor. People who may have a higher risk of complications from the flu should contact their doctor when they initially have flu symptoms, as they may need antiviral treatment. These people include young children and those who are: pregnant

aged 65 years or older

at risk due to other medical conditions If an infant less than 3 months of age has a fever, a parent or caregiver should contact a doctor straight away.
BOULDER, Colo.

March 04, 2019

March 6-9

Anaheim

Anaheim, Calif.

Colorado

James Michaelis

Maria Uspenski

Colorado

Andrew Wyatt

Colorado

Boulder, Colo.

Maria Uspenski

Boulder, Colorado

/PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The Tea Spot is exhibiting at Natural Products Expo West in booth No. 955,at theConvention Center in, to showcase its innovative tea products, wares and services, as well as its OEM and private label capabilities to support organic-focused brands and companies exploring tea product and CBD tea opportunities. Expo West is the world's largest natural, organic and healthy products event. The Tea Spot works to advance healthier living through the everyday enjoyment of whole leaf tea.To demonstrate its overall OEM and private label capabilities, The Tea Spot will share an Expo West booth with Sky & Wyatt. Sky & Wyatt recently partnered with The Tea Spot to help launch its line of-grown CBD hemp teas, which are blended with organic, all-natural herbs. The Tea Spot handles sourcing, blending and manufacturing of the Sky & Wyatt teas. CBD, or cannabidiol, is the non-psychoactive counterpart found in the cannabis plant. CBD product offerings are gaining popularity in the health and wellness marketplace, as the therapeutic health benefits of CBD consumption become more prevalent and widely-accepted."With the help of The Tea Spot, we have brought to market one of the first hemp-based herbal teas in the CBD category with by far the finest ingredients and consumer experience of any option out there today," said, vice president of operations at Sky & Wyatt. "The Tea Spot has played an instrumental role in the quality of our product, and we're looking forward to presenting our line of teas at Expo West while sharing about our experience working with The Tea Spot."In addition to offering hemp CBD tea co-packing capabilities  as in the case of Sky & Wyatt  The Tea Spot offers new OEM and private label support for brands that would like to offer their own tea line or tea wares. The Tea Spot's services include raw material sourcing, R&D skills, production, packaging and supply chain management. The company also offers tea sachet manufacturing capabilities, as well as individually-wrapped pyramid tea bags for foodservice., founder and CEO of The Tea Spot and author of Cancer Hates Tea, said, "As an organically-certified manufacturing facility  and the only tea company with industrial, pyramid tea bag manufacturing capabilities in The Tea Spot has positioned itself to be at the forefront of partnership opportunities for brands that are looking to develop their own private label organic teas, including CBD teas. By expanding our offerings beyond the traditional tea packaging options and incorporating customizable solutions for partners  such as branded tags, overwrap packaging and biodegradable sachet materials  we set up our partners for long-term success."To learn more about The Tea Spot, visit https://theteaspot.com. Wholesale, OEM/private label, corporate gifting and co-branding options are available to organizations and brands, including grocers, specialty and health and wellness retailers, hotels and spas, among others. Email: sales@theteaspot.comABOUT SKY & WYATT After learning about the countless applications and benefits of the hemp plant, Jacob Sky andset out on a mission to promote the ethical and environmental benefits of one of humanity's oldest cultivated crops. Committed to enriching the lives of their community with all natural and delicious CBD and hemp products, Sky & Wyatt CBD launched their line of herbal teas in 2018. Sky & Wyatt herbal teas are made from-grown hemp and blended with organic, all-natural herbs sourced and co-packed by The Tea Spot inNo extraction process and no solvents used means Sky & Wyatt teas are the most natural and authentic way to get your daily-dose of full-spectrum cannabinoids. Sky & Wyatt is committed to a vision of the world where hemp is recognized for its incredible therapeutic and even industrial properties  and that starts with delivering the best tasting CBD tea possible. To learn more, visit https://skywyatthemp.com.ABOUT THE TEA SPOT, INC. The Tea Spot, Inc. is a leading producer of handcrafted whole leaf teas and creator of Steepwarethe housewares tools that make loose tea easy. Its vision to modernize the loose leaf tea experience has held steadfast since the for-profit philanthropic company was founded byin 2004, a cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of leaf tea during her recovery. Her message is simple and powerful: Tea in its freshest form renders premium flavor, unmatched health benefits, and is eco-friendly. The company's model of social entrepreneurship incorporates its mission to foster health and wellness through loose leaf tea with its 10% Pledge. Ten percent of every sale made is donated in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs. The Tea Spot is a-based woman owned and operated business. More at http://theteaspot.com.SOURCE The Tea Spot
By now, everyone knows what's offensive and what's not, because, let's be real, it's 2019 and everyone is at least a little bit woke by now. So, it was surprising when people heard Prime Minister Narendra Modi making an insensitive joke on dyslexia.

During the Smart India Hackathon 2019, a student was talking to PM Modi about her idea for helping students with dyslexia, when he interrupted her to crack a joke. He said, Will this work for a 40-50-year-old child, too?

When she agreed that it would, he went on to say, Then that will make the mothers of such children very happy.

A lot of people think that this uncalled-for and insensitive comment was a subtle swing at Congress President Rahul Gandhi. The video obviously ended up on Twitter and people immediately started calling him out and saying how shameful it actually is for him to mock dyslexia like that.

The Prime Minister of India keeping it classy as ever. Cracking a joke about dyslexia to target a political opponent. pic.twitter.com/qLoQMwKxVH  Pratik Sinha (@free_thinker) March 3, 2019

People are very angry.

God! When we thought @narendramodi cd not go any lower, he still manages to stoop.



As a parent I do not want my kid to listen to a speaker who'd use dyslexia as a slur and here our Prime Minister uses dyslexia to insult @RahulGandhi

This is wrong on so many levels!!! https://t.co/gQ2IZVvY0m  Preeti Sharma Menon (@PreetiSMenon) March 3, 2019

Everyone seemed to be actually just disappointed and not surprised.

I know someone who has lived with dyslexia - and I know others who have made valiant efforts to build their lives despite the disability. Modi's remarks were in poor taste, but hardly unexpected, given his track record. https://t.co/lzcPRrm7rB  Salil Tripathi     (@saliltripathi) March 3, 2019

People also pointed out remarkable people with dyslexia who went on to do great things.

Leonardo Da Vinci,Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso,Lee Kuan Yew, Alexander Graham Bell,Tom Cruise and many great men & women were all believed to be dyslexic & look what they made of their lives. Mocking differently abled people marks a new low in our political discourse.#Dyslexia https://t.co/H2Y747zGid  Sumanth Raman (@sumanthraman) March 3, 2019

Very direct.

Shameful and distressing. Some of us have dyslexic or disabled relatives, friends, children and parents. Sattar saal mein pehli baar, a person with this crassness occupies the chair of the PM. Enough, Mr Modi. Yeh hain sanskar aapke? https://t.co/8wBvtjPy7q  Sitaram Yechury (@SitaramYechury) March 3, 2019

Distasteful, indeed.

It is utterly disgusting for a PM to make fun of dyslexia for his distasteful political humor. Challenging the earth's core for a new low here! pic.twitter.com/VbBYFzp8kV  Aakash Mawal (@aakashmawal) March 3, 2019

PM Modi is also being called heartless.

Just came across a video of our @narendramodi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people.



Shame on you Modi!!



You just can't go below this. Your insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you.  Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) March 4, 2019

It's not something to be mocked.

Dyslexia is one of the most common learning disorders that affects 3-7% people, (traits in upto 17-20%). It is genetic (heritable) that affects reading, writing & hence learning skills but not a marker for intelligence. Poor judgement by the PM to mock a neurological condition pic.twitter.com/lJczhocUYV  Dr. Sumaiya Shaikh (@Neurophysik) March 3, 2019

This is full-on calling him out.

Making fun of Dyslexia to target political opponent. There is no low which is too Low for Narendra Modi. Worse are the students who were clapping but cant blame them. When the PM of the Nation is such a Cheap Man, they had to entertain him pic.twitter.com/bJ7apIlpup  Joy (@Joydas) March 3, 2019

Apparently.

Making fun of Dyslexia to target political opponent. There is no low which is too Low for Narendra Modi. Worse are the students who were clapping but cant blame them. When the PM of the Nation is such a Cheap Man, they had to entertain him pic.twitter.com/bJ7apIlpup  Joy (@Joydas) March 3, 2019

Is the other thing real?

PM #Modi cracks a crude joke about dyslexia & then vulgarly laughs at it.



In the past, he has mocked the pain of parents losing a child by saying that they forget the child in a year.



Is there no limit to this man's insensitivity?#BiharRejectsModi #ModInAmethi pic.twitter.com/hWcXYt8dHV  Shama Mohamed (@drshamamohd) March 3, 2019

Umm.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Terens Quick met with Zimbabwes Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water, Vangelis Haritatos, who visited Greece at the invitation extended by the Deputy Minister during their meeting in Harare last November, which represented the first visit by a Greek minister to that country in 46 years.

Mr Haritos is the first second-generation Greek to undertake a Ministerial portfolio in Zimbabwe.

Talks between the two deputy ministers revolved around issues related to the very dynamic Greek community there, as well as to the activity of the Greece-Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The opportunities that arise in Zimbabwe for strengthening the outward-looking nature of the Greek economy and Greek companies were also discussed at the Ministry of Agriculture, with Minister Stavros Arachovitis.

Zimbabwes Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Water noted, among other things, that due to the large number of scheduled projects related to infrastructure, agriculture, livestock breeding, water, and tourism, his country is amenable to welcoming Greek companies that are active in the fields of construction of motorways, small and large roadworks, ports, dams, residential complexes etc. In addition, the special interest presented by the fields of standardisation of agricultural and livestock products was stressed, as well as of conveying the related technology from Greek institutions of higher learning.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Katrougalos is travelling to Beijing where he will co-chair the 13 Joint Interministerial Committee with China.

Speeding up of the procedures for liberalisation of the Chinese market for Greek agricultural products, shipping and scientific cooperation between the two countries, as well as attracting Chinese investments in Greece, are included among the issues to be discussed.

On the margins of the Joint Interministerial Committee, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will meet with the Foreign Minister of the Peoples Republic of China, Wang Yi, while he will also hold bilateral meetings with Zhong Shan, Minister of Commerce, and Ning Jizhe, Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Mr. Christos Lambridis, Secretary General of Ports, Port Policy, and Maritime Investment, will participate in the Greek delegation along with officials from the Hellenic Ministry of Agricultural Development.

Mr. Katrougalos will also participate in the formal commencement of proceedings of the annual Summit of the National Peoples Congress, where he will meet with officials of the Communist Party of China.
SEBEWAING  An autopsy has been scheduled to be performed Monday on the 59-year-old Sebewaing man who died following gunfire exchange with police.

The man has been identified as Ricky Lee Prichard.

Early Saturday morning, detectives from the Michigan State Police First District Special Investigation Section began investigating an officer-involved shooting in the village of Sebewaing.

According to the MSP, deputies from the Huron County Sheriff's office, along with officers from the Sebewaing Police Department, were dispatched to an address on Meissner Court in Sebewaing to investigate a male subject threatening suicide at about 10:30 p.m. Friday.

"The 59-year-old subject was armed with a handgun and inside his residence with his girlfriend and his mother," the statement reads. "Troopers from the Michigan State Police Caro Post arrived to assist and contacted the Michigan State Police Emergency Support Team to respond for additional support."

At about 2:15 a.m., the 59-year-old shot his girlfriend, who remained inside the residence with him.

"Responding officers were forced to enter the residence in an effort to rescue the girlfriend, resulting in an exchange of gunfire with the subject," the statement reads. "The 59-year-old subject was pronounced deceased at the scene."

The subject's mother was able to leave the residence unharmed prior to the girlfriend being injured. His girlfriend was transported to Scheurer Hospital in Pigeon, and then transferred to Hurley Hospital in Flint, where she remains in stable condition.

The Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory out of Bridgeport responded to assist with the investigation. Detectives were also assisted by personnel from the MSP Caro Post, Huron County Sheriff's Office, Sebewaing Police Department and Sebewaing EMS.

The incident remains under investigation.
Contributed photo

WINSTED  Northwest Startup Kick-Off event is set for March 13, 5 to 7 p.m. in the NCCC Draper Conference Center. People who are developing a business plan or wondering how to start are invited.

Northwest Startup is a support hub established through the Entrepreneurial Center of Northwest Connecticut to connect and guide new businesses in all stages of development - from idea conception to global impact. Northwest Startup brings together skilled business and industry mentors who provide support and feedback to help founders and their startups reach their full potential.
These days, you only have to walk as far as your nearest health food store or hip cafe to find CBD tea, smoothies, oil, creams, candy, and more. CBD, when isolated from the rest of a marijuana plant, provides pain and tension relief without the sensation of being high, and its all the rage.

But few know that CBD has its origins in the Holy Land!

In the 1960s, Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientist Raphael Mechoulam was the first to both isolate and describe the chemical structure of CBD and its psychoactive counterpart, THC. For years, Israeli doctors have been prescribing marijuana for a variety of disorders, including PTSD, which is not uncommon given the nations mandatory military service.

Just last week, the Israeli Knesset (the nations parliament) legalized the export of cannabis and cannabis products for medical purposes, opening the door to global markets for Israel's marijuana industry, which boasts some of the most innovative projects in the world.

For starters, Israel is continuing its legacy of developing unique methods of approaching marijuana as a substance. UNV Medical, a publicly held company, is producing cannabis creams and oils that meet European medical and manufacturing standards using CO2 and ethanol based extraction methods that allow precise levels of CBD and THC in their products. Precision dosing is the key in designing products to treat different ailments.

Another Israeli firm, Tikun Olam, has conducted cannabis research and produced unique therapeutic strains under a license from the Israeli Healthy Ministry. The company takes its name from the Kabbalistic (Jewish mystical) concept of repairing the world, through acts of goodness, altruism, and kindness.

Tikun Olams regulated clinical trials have treated more than 20,000 patients to date. The focus of its analytical laboratory is to isolate active compounds within cannabis strains, in order to customize their concentrations to treat specific conditions. It has specialized projects concerning how cannabis can help the elderly and pediatric patients, for whom it has developed unique products that are safe for vulnerable populations to consume.

A variety of creative niches in the industry are being discovered and quickly met by Israeli invention. For instance, growers and affianados find applications for HiGrades algorithms that can analyze key elements about the quality and conditions of a cannabis plant from a photo alone. Prior to this the only way to test the potency of a cannabis flower was through high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which chemically separates the components of a material. In other words, it destroyed the weed, which resulted in very few flowers being tested. That resulted in mislabeling and misrepresentation of plant potency.

Through HiGrade, Israel is presenting the first tool that can provide this necessary information without harming the product.

Israel has also developed its own accelerators and investment firms strictly catering to medical marijuana. iCan is what happens when the cannabis industry meets Startup Nation. They connect investors to innovative Israeli cannabis ventures, and links different parts of the industry supply chain, such as growers, processors, researchers and distributors.

Last December iCan CEO Saul Kaye said, "Israel, already the most advanced nation in cannabis R&D, will now be able to produce and market cannabis and cannabis-based products that will help millions of people suffering from illnesses including cancer, MS, Parkinson's, sleep disorders, epilepsy, and PTSD, to name just a few.

This will be an interesting year to observe the rise (or fall?) of many canna-tech projects based out of Israel. Some people claim that, similar to blockchain, this industry might go up and down steeply; other say it's a real use-case based industry. Only time will tell who is right.

Related:

SpaceX Launches the First Private Moon Lander on Israel's Behalf

Holy Smokes! Tel-Aviv's Cannabis Industry Is Lighting Up

Temasek On an Investment Spree In Cybersecurity



Copyright 2019 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Nearly 9,000 Marines Didn't Get Vaccinated By the Deadline. Many Risk Getting Kicked Out of the Corps.

The Marine Corps reported that 5% of the force had not gotten even one shot before the deadline passed.
A 20-year-old woman training to become a U.S. sailor died late last month after collapsing during a fitness test at boot camp just a week before she was set to graduate, according to Navy officials.

Seaman Recruit Kierra Evans was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead after she collapsed following physical training Feb. 22. Evans, who was from Louisiana, was in her sixth week of basic training at Recruit Training Command Great Lakes, Illinois, said Lt. Joseph Pfaff, a spokesman for the command.

Navy officials had not previously disclosed Evans' death.

"The Navy and Recruit Training Command take the welfare of our sailors very seriously and are investigating the cause of this tragic loss," Pfaff said. "Our thoughts are with Seaman Recruit Evans' family and friends during this tragic time."

Evans received first aid immediately after collapsing. She was transported to Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital, which is about seven miles from the base. She died several hours later.

Her family members were notified right after she was taken to the hospital, Pfaff said.

Evans collapsed after the run portion of the Navy's Physical Fitness Assessment, according to a report from the Naval Research Center. The timed run is the final portion of the three-event fitness test. Evans had already completed curl-ups and push-ups.

The Physical Fitness Assessment is a standard evaluation given to all recruits prior to graduation, Pfaff said. Most sailors also take a version of the fitness test twice each year.

"Prior to this PFA, recruits undergo weeks of rigorous physical conditioning under the instruction of their trained Recruit Division Commanders," Pfaff said.

Evans was an active member of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps for four years before joining the Navy, according to her obituary. She was proud to ship off to boot camp, the obituary states, and was expected to graduate exactly a week after her death.

She is survived by her mother, father, stepfather, two brothers and four sisters, among other family members.

Evans' death is at least the second at Great Lakes in the last six months. In October, 24-year-old Fire Controlman Seaman Recruit Joshua Edge was found dead in his barracks, Navy Times reported.

The cause of Evans' death remains under investigation, Pfaff said.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.
During a brief stopover in Alaska last week, President Donald Trump made time for a talk with troops at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson -- and singled out one to praise for heroism.

The visit at JBER took place during a refueling stop as Air Force One made its way back from Hanoi Feb. 28. In a speech that ran just under 20 minutes, Trump casually discussed the military budget; made news by announcing his belief that the ISIS caliphate had been 100 percent defeated in Syria; and saluted an Army noncommissioned officer for his acts of valor.

Among those with us is Sgt. Sean Rogers, who, a few weeks ago, received the Bronze Star for valor, Trump said. Where are you, handsome devil? I wont bring the generals up, but come on, Sean, get up here.

The Bronze Star award for Rogers had not previously been made public; but the circumstances surrounding his actions have. Army Spc. Gabriel Conde, 22, was killed April 30 during a firefight in Kapisa province, Afghanistan. He was a team member of Rogers, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division out of JBER. The same enemy attack left multiple Afghan national defense force troops dead and another American service member wounded.

While he was in Afghanistan, Sean and his team occupied a rooftop and provided cover for a Special Forces team. Sean rushed into the enemy fire to rescue a member of his team, [Conde], Trump said.   Tragically, Specialist Conde did not make it alive. And today, we remember the heroic sacrifice of this incredible American hero. We are eternally grateful, in his debt.

According to Rogers LinkedIn profile, he served as a fire team leader and radio-telephone operator for a platoon of Army paratroopers and a U.S. Special Forces team during that deployment, which concluded in May 2018.

According to the Washington Post, the deployed unit to which Rogers and Conde belonged had been in place to offer additional firepower to SOF troops working to take out ISIS and Taliban leaders along to the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In Afghanistan, Gabes unit was assigned to provide extra firepower to U.S. Special Operations forces and Afghan commandos conducting raids to capture or kill Islamic State or Taliban leaders hiding along the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

When Trump called Rogers onto the stage with him at JBER Feb. 28, telling him not to mind the Secret Service detail standing ready, the sergeant seemed nonplussed but pleased.

When prompted to say something, Rogers kept it brief.

Just thank you, I guess, he said, smiling as he shook Trumps hand.

Conde also received the Bronze Star for valor and the Purple Heart, presented posthumously, the Washington Post reported.

The presidents recognition of Rogers comes in the 18th year of fighting in Afghanistan. The Post reported that Conde was the 2,264th U.S. service member to die in the conflict.

Sean, I want to thank you and everybody else involved, Trump said. Thats really something. And we pay great respect. You know that.

-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
National Guard Tests Threat Response System

Troops with the Maryland and Delaware National Guard are testing a new system for threat response that can be dispatched to potential contamination sites, according to an Army release. The Analytical Laboratory System Increment 1 A1 is designed to be moved via C-5 or C-17 cargo transport aircraft, and from ships to the shore by a landing craft air cushion vessel, or LCAC. The system is supposed to detect and identify a number of toxins; current testing is intended to determine whether its technologies are "effective, suitable and survivable on the modern battlefield." The five-day test will allow soldiers to take various chemical and biological samples and run them through the system's analyses. The samples will then be processed off-site, with analysis and mitigation information provided to the incident commander. Read more at Army.mil.

Find more Army news on Military.com.
Tuskegee Airman Posthumously Honored after Decades MIA

One of the famous Tuskegee Airmen who has been missing in action since December 1944 will finally get a burial in Arlington National Cemetery after his remains were identified months ago. Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson's plane crashed in Europe during service in World War II, according to a recent release. His remains were identified using DNA tests; officials said he was the first identified out of more than two dozen Tuskegee Airmen MIA during the war. Dickson, a P-51D pilot with 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group, had departed Ramitelli Air Base, Italy, for a reconnaissance mission over Prague when his aircraft suffered engine failure and went down. His remains were recovered when a crash site excavation was conducted more than seven decades later. He is set to be buried at Arlington on March 22. Read more at Army.mil.

Find more Air Force news on Military.com.
Military members and veterans can get up to four free months of Apple Music through the Apple Music military discount -- but...
This article by Haley Britzky originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.

Rebecca Yarros, whose husband Jason is a soldier of 22 years, is done waiting for the forever wars to end, and not even $105,000 will change her mind.

Yarros is a blogger and an author who just recently released her 10th book, "The Last Letter." She comes from a military family  both her parents are retired Army officers. And on February 21st, she published an open letter to the Army, explaining why she and her husband would be turning down his offer for a $105,000 bonus in exchange for three more years of service.

Long story short, she doesn't see the Army coming up with an exit strategy in Afghanistan any time soon. So she's using her own.

During her husband's first couple of deployments  he has five under his belt  Yarros was the "shiny, wear-the-unit-sweatshirt" Army wife, she wrote in her letter. She told Task & Purpose that there was an "air of excitement" during the first deployment ceremony, a "we've-got-this" kind of spirit. But that dwindled over the years, as the war dragged on and the deployments kept coming.

"When Iraq first happened, we never saw this coming," Yarros told Task & Purpose. "And I don't think anyone does. And I think anyone who says, 'Well you knew what you were getting into'  I grew up in the military, but we never went through an 18-year war. This wasn't normal."

If given the chance, Yarros said she would tell Army leadership that she understands military leaders are not politicians, and they can't decide to declare the war over. But the volume of deployments just isn't sustainable. She said leaders need to look at the number of divorces in Army families as "another casualty of what this 18-year-old war has done."

Secretary of the Army Mark Esper's office did not return a request for comment from Task & Purpose.

And as for what she'd tell the politicians: "I would say there's a fine line between what is good for national security and regional stability, and our own pride. And that they're going to cripple their forces."

The Yarros family, just before CW3 Jason Yarros left for his fifth deployment. (Photo: Rebecca Yarros)

Jason Yarros, an Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 who flies Apache helicopters, was seriously injured on his first deployment  and still agreed to deploy another four times. As Yarros wrote in her letter, they've been "cut down like the Giving Tree, and have nothing else to give."

Her children, like so many others, have never known anything else. She told Task & Purpose that their oldest son was five-and-a-half-weeks old when Jason left for his first deployment. When the pair told their children that he would be deploying again, their second son joked, "Well does that mean I get to be the man of the house this time?"

Their oldest son responded, "Nope, that's been my job since I was six weeks old," and walked out of the room.

CW3 Jason Yarros meeting his then-foster daughter for the first time, after returning home from his fourth deployment. (Photo: Rebecca Yarros)

The Yarros family is, unfortunately, in good company. The war in Afghanistan has been going on for so long that children who weren't even born on September 11th are now able to enlist. An entire generation of children don't know anything but a country being at war. And if you read the comments on Yarros' blog post, she is far from alone in feeling fed-up.

But the military knows how important it is to keep families happy. Support from a spouse is one of the key factors that helps the military retain troops, according to a 2017 DoD survey. That same year, around 21,290 of 689,060 married troops divorced, according to Military.com. And Yarros, in a moment of frustration after her husband told her about the bonus, threatened exactly that.

She describes her marriage as "frighteningly strong," but she told Task & Purpose she couldn't "put [her] kids through it anymore." So while the money could have made a difference  that kind of money could always make a difference  the costs it came with just weren't worth it.

"I wasn't sure that I would not begin to resent him instead of his job, and there's a difference there," Yarros said. "Once you resent the man, there's not a lot of coming back from that."

Yarros wants the Army to know, however, that it hasn't all been bad. She said they've loved their time as a military family, and that they've "loved serving our nation." She told Task & Purpose she would never tell anyone not to marry a soldier, and that she has no regrets. But after 22 years, it's time for her husband to come home.

"In a lifetime of war," Yarros writes in her letter. "This man deserves peace."

More articles from Task & Purpose:

Well, this new Army PSA on household safety took a dark turn

The Army's Latest Recruiting Spot Is A Hip-Hop Ode To Service

Awesome video shows Apache helicopters flying mere feet above the ground
ISLE ROYALE, MI - The wolf relocation project playing out on Michigans remote Isle Royale just got a heavy new dose of testosterone.

Four new Canadian wolves - three males that all tip the scales at around 90 pounds and one smaller female - have all been released on the island in Lake Superior in the last week, according to the National Park Service.

According to the data collected, one of the male wolves weighed in at 92 pounds. Another was an alpha male from his Canadian pack.

The four new wolves join the islands two older wolves - a male and female - and two newer female wolves from Minnesota who were relocated to Isle Royale last fall. The relocation program designed to bolster the number of predators on an island teeming with more than 1,500 leaf-eating moose is expected to bring in up to 30 new wolves in the next few years.

The Canadian wolves were expected to be trapped and relocated earlier this winter, but severe weather hampered those efforts.

During a narrow weather window between storms last week, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF) successfully transferred four wolves to Isle Royale National Park," park staff said. "... Two mainland wolves, one female and one male from the same pack and both with a black coat color variation, were captured on crown land near Wawa, Ontario, and transferred to Isle Royale. Weather cleared long enough on Thursday to provide an opportunity to access Michipicoten Island Provincial Park, where two males were captured.

Aircraft were used to identify and capture all of the wolves. Two national park veterinarians and one from Ontario also were on hand to supervise the transfers and check the health of the wolves.

All four wolves were evaluated based on expectations for winter body conditions and deemed healthy enough for transfer and release.

Heres a brief rundown on the new Canadian wolves:

First wolf: This 65-pound female arrived at Isle Royale last Tuesday.

Second wolf: On Wednesday, the team captured a large 92-pound male from the same pack. He was held for evaluation and transported to Isle Royale and released on Thursday.

Third and fourth wolves: Clear skies Thursday finally allowed OMNRF to reach Michipicoten Island Provincial Park. While there, they captured two male wolves, one at the very end of the day as operations were winding down. The first was delivered directly to Isle Royale and released in the late evening hours under clear starry skies on Thursday. The team also captured the alpha male of the Michipicoten Island pack. He was transported and released on Isle Royale Friday.

National Park staff said they appreciate the project teams resilience to make the captures and transfers, despite all the recent hurdles. These have included not only a U.S. government shutdown, but a polar vortex and some airplane logistics issues. The planes used in this effort are ones typically used for firefighting by the Ontario group.

I am even more blown away by the resilience of these wolves who within hours after undergoing capture and handling and arriving on Isle Royale, immediately got on the trail of their pack mates," said Mark Romanski, division chief of Natural Resources for Isle Royale National Park and project manager for the reintroduction efforts. "These large males, all around 90 lbs., will almost certainly know what to do when they encounter a moose.

These large-muscled, brawny Canadian wolves are thought to be just what the island needs to reboot its predator DNA, researchers have said.

To see these wolves disappear into the forests of Isle Royale and to have an opportunity to start a new generation of wolves on the island fulfilled a major objective in the first year of reestablishing the population, Park Superintendent Phyllis Green said.

There have been some issues with earlier wolf transports, with three wolves lost. One male was relocated onto Isle Royale, but was found dead there weeks later. One female died after being caught, before she could be released on the island. Another female wolf took advantage of an ice bridge that formed between Isle Royale and Canada in late January, and walked back to the mainland.
Gas prices in Michigan continue to rise as they are now 24 cents higher than they were a month ago after the latest jump saw prices at the pump increase by 7 cents.

AAA and GasBuddy are both reporting a statewide average of about $2.47 for a gallon of unleaded self-serve gasoline.

Patrick DeHaan, GasBuddys head of petroleum analysis, said that there were only 721 stations in the country selling gas for less than $2 per gallon as of the end of last week. This is notable due to the fact that here were 4,500 stations stateside selling fuel for less than $2 per gallon at the start of last week.

The national average is up about 4 cents in the past week, and a significant 16 cents dating back to early February.

US average #gasprices continue their seasonal lift as oil prices show continued signs of renewing their rally. National average now $2.43/gal, highest since early December. pic.twitter.com/FU4PvRfUKk  Patrick DeHaan  (@GasBuddyGuy) March 3, 2019

On average, gas prices this year are 11 percent cheaper than the first two months of 2018 in part due to mostly cheaper crude oil prices so far this year, Jeanette Casselano, AAA spokesperson, said in a news release.

Even though pump prices are on the rise, the increase has been countered by mostly decreasing demand, leading to the majority of people still paying less than $2.50.

As of Monday morning, the cheapest gas in the state can be found at Circle K locations in Grand Rapids, Otsego and Comstock Park at $2.09 per gallon. GasBuddy also shows a station at $2.09 per gallon in Williamsburg, and at $2.12 cash only in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights.

See below for a full rundown of average gas prices across the state:
PORTLAND, IN  Indiana police followed footprints in the snow to find a Michigan man accused of setting a house on fire.

According to the Associated Press, Cody John Conkright, 25, of Grand Rapids, is charged with arson. He is being held on $50,000 bond.

Conkright was arrested after police followed his footprints from a fire-damaged vacant house in Portland, Indiana, about 75 miles northeast of Indianapolis.

According to The Star Press, Conkright told investigators he had set the fire, using a cigarette lighter, because its under federal investigation for children being harmed in it." He also said all abandoned houses are bad, according to the newspaper.

Michigan Department of Correction records show Conkright was convicted of criminal sexual conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon in Newaygo County in 2013.
WYANDOTTE, MI  A Michigan teenager is in hot water for allegedly fabricating a story in which she said she was pulled over by a fake cop.

The 17-year-old female reported that she was stopped in the area of Fort Street and Eureka Road in Wyandotte on Feb. 28 by what she described as a fake cop.

The tale prompted reports by several media outlets, including FOX 2 in Detroit which conducted an interview with the teen and her mother on March 1.

However, an investigation by the Southgate Police Department and Wyandotte Police Department has found the entire story does not match up with the facts and is a lie.

The teenager confessed to the Southgate Police Department that she fabricated the story over the weekend, according to a news release.

Public safety is our main concern and we cannot have or tolerate hoaxes and fear being put into our residents minds, the police statement reads. The police officers out working the streets of Downriver cannot do their jobs efficient and effective with this type of behavior.

Charges will be filed against the teen to the Wayne County Prosecutors Office later this week for reporting and filing a false police report, police said
Michigans aging population means a growing number of senior citizens behind the wheel: Since 2010, the number of licensed drivers age 65 and older has grown by 24 percent.

But for all the legitimate concerns about older drivers, a look at Michigan accident statistics show senior citizens are less likely than younger drivers to be involved in a crash.

In 2017, about 75 of every 1,000 licensed drivers of any age were involved in a traffic accident, according to Michigan State Police statistics. For drivers under 20, that rose to about 125 per 1,000 drivers. For those age 25 to 64, it was 69 per 1,000 drivers.

And for drivers age 65 and older? It was less than half the state average: 35.5 per 1,000 drivers.

And the numbers actually drop as drivers get older: Those age 65 to 74 are more likely to be involved in a crash than those 80 and older, the numbers show.

Whats that about?

A fact sheet from the American Automobile Association points out senior citizens tend to be exceptionally cautious drivers. They are more likely to wear seat belts, observe speed limits and avoid drinking and driving.

In addition, AAA says, Most older drivers recognize and avoid situations where their limitations put them at risk. They drive less after dark, during rush hour or in bad weather, and avoid difficult roads such as highways and intersections.

AAA points that senior citizens caution is not misplaced. Diminished eyesight is a problem for older drivers, as well conditions such as arthritis that can weaken muscle function, reduce flexibility and limit range of motion. Senior citizens are more likely to take medications that can impact driving performance.

Below is a county-by-county look at the number of 2017 crashes involving teen drivers versus drivers age 80 and older. The accident numbers come from the Michigan State Police and the number of licensed drivers comes from the Michigan Secretary of State. (Note: The numbers include all drivers involved in a crash, regardless of fault.)

2017 crashes involving teen vs. elderly drivers

While senior citizens are less likely to be involved in a vehicle crash, they are most susceptible to serious injury or death when they are in an accident. Thats because their bones are more fragile and theyre more likely to have medical issues such as diabetes or heart condition that makes it harder to recover.

That medical fragility means older drivers are 17 times more likely to die in a vehicle crash than 25- to 64-year-olds, according to AAA.

About three of every four Michigan residents age 80 and older had a drivers license in 2017. Thats based on about 298,000 licensed drivers in that age group compared to an estimated population of about 402,000.
Subaru is set to recall about 1.3 million vehicles in the United States due to the risk that the brake lights might stop working thanks to the use of certain cleaning solutions.

The recall covers the 2014 through 2016 Forester, 2008 through 2016 Impreza, and 2013 through 2017 Crosstek models. The Wall Street Journal reports that the automaker is prepared to recall a total of 2.3 million vehicles for the issue, but that information filed Friday, March 1 was for 1.3 million in the U.S.

In the recall, Subaru says that cleaning products containing silicone can emit gas that could hinder the brake lamp switch and stop the electrical contact. The Associated Press reports that while this can stop the brake lights from working, the brakes themselves will continue functioning.

According to A.P., the automaker claims the problem has only sprouted up stateside a reported 33 times. The WSJ reports that a formal recall announcement through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is expected in the next couple of weeks.

To search active recalls, use the NHTSAs website to search your 17-character VIN at this link. VIN numbers are typically located under the drivers side windshield, or along the inside of the doors behind the seat or under the steering wheel. To sign up for NHTSA safety alerts for a specific vehicle, sign up at this link.
ANN ARBOR, MI - A panel aimed at better understanding the practice of blackface as a political tool and why it still matters is being hosted by the University of Michigans Institute for the Humanities.

The panel is 5:30 p.m. Monday, March 11, inside Space No. 2435 inside the North Quad, 105 S. State St. According to the university, the panel will discuss what blackface is, why it still matters, why it was a thing in 1880 and 1980 and why its all over the news now. The panel also will examine the uses of cultural appropriation more broadly.

This high stakes culture war is playing out across our cultural landscape in ways that we need to better understand, and the practice of blackface as a political tool has become a particularly potent flash point, the event description states.

Panel members include: American Culture and History professor Stephen Berrey, American Culture and Native American studies professor Bethany Hughes, English professor Peter Ho Davies and Afroamerican and African studies professor Matthew Countryman. The panel is being moderated UM Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Angela Dillard.

The panel comes as leaders throughout Virginias political structure have called on Gov. Ralph Northam to resign after a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page surfaced at the beginning of the month.

Northam apologized, initially saying he appeared in a photo showing one man in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe. Northam did not say which costume he wore. The next day he said he no longer believed he was in the photo but acknowledged wearing blackface the same year to look like Michael Jackson in a dance contest, according to the Associated Press.

The political pressure for him to step down lessened considerably as scandals have enveloped his would-be successors. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, has denied allegations from two women that he sexually assaulted them and Attorney General Mark Herring said he wore blackface in college, making the public admission just a few days after calling for Northam to resign, according to the Associated Press.

Northam has largely stayed out of sight since then, with his only other public event being the funeral of a state trooper.
FLINT, MI-- A Linden man who shot and killed his 28-year-old Argentine Township friend while playing with a firearm was sentenced to spend at least six years in prison when he appeared in Genesee County Circuit Court Monday, March 4, records show.

Floyd Bryon Blalock, 22, was sentenced 4-15 years for manslaughter and two years for felony firearm by Genesee Circuit Judge Richard B. Yuille. The felony firearm sentence will be served consecutive to the manslaughter term, state law mandates.

Blalock pleaded guilty on Feb. 5 in Genesee District Court to one count each of manslaughter and felony firearm stemming from the death of his friend Christopher Baldwin.

Officers with the Argentine Township Police Department responded around 7 p.m. Sept. 22 to a residence in the 16000 block of Seymour Road for a report of a shooting.

Argentine Township police Detective Sgt. Doug Fulton previously said witnesses told investigators that the friends were playing with a handgun when it fired, striking Baldwin once in the chest and shoulder area.

Witnesses told police it was a habit of the friends to unload the firearm and dry fire it at each other, Fulton said. Dry firing a gun involves removing the ammunition before pulling the trigger.

Baldwin was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported among three others inside the residence at the time of the shooting.
PORT HURON, MI -- Business owners in Port Huron are being warned about counterfeit money trying to be passed off as the real thing.

The Port Huron Police Department issued a statement noting the counterfeit or play $20 and $100 bills at many local businesses in recent weeks.

These bills often have Chinese writing on the front and back and feel differently than actual US Currency, police said. Some may appear slightly smaller.

The warning was put out, police said, to share with employees for training purposes.

Any business owners or managers that spot a person trying to use the counterfeit is asked to go through the following steps:

-Make sure counterfeit markers are available to all employees and that they know how to use them.

-Check the bills with the markers out of view of customers.

-If the bill appears counterfeit and/or fails the marker test, have someone call the police as soon as possible.

-Try to get the subject to stay in the business as long as possible by utilizing stalling techniques such as pretending line you do not have enough change. This will allow you to notify someone else such as your manager of the issue.

-Do not give the bill back to the customer. If the customer leaves, observe as many details about the person or vehicle as possible, and write them down for law enforcement.

-Preserve any video that may help with the persons identity.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The Grand Rapids Board of Education announced Monday, March 4, that 30 individuals have applied to become the next superintendent of the school district.

On Jan. 23, the district of more than 16,000 students launched a national search. The application window closed Friday, March 1, to replace retiring Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal.

The Michigan Association of School Boards, hired to assist the district with the search, reports that the candidate pool "is filled with diverse and experienced talent from Michigan and across the country,'' according to a press release.

The names and occupations of the applicants were not released. The school board is scheduled to meet 5 p.m. Monday, March 11, to select the candidates to be interviewed and develop interview questions.

"The list of candidates to be interviewed is expected to be released publicly on March 12,'' according the press release.

The board wants to secure a replacement by April. Members want the new hire to spend time with Neal before she departs to ensure a smooth transition.

Neals last day at the helm is June 30. She served seven years.

Interviews are scheduled to kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday, March 16, at the administration building, 1331 Franklin St. SE.

The finalists will visit the district on Monday, March 25. Final interviews will take place the same day beginning at 6 p.m. in the administration building.

If the board does not have a decision made that night, then an alternate date is set for Monday, April 8.

A preliminary salary range of $195,000 to $230,000 that includes a tax-deferred annuity was established by the school board. Neal has a base salary of $199,950, plus the board contributes $50,000 annually to a tax-deferred annuity.

Prior to the search, the Kent Intermediate School District was charged with gathering community input for a candidate profile:

Five town-hall-type community meetings held across the city drew approximately 100 people in total.

Over 30 small group or individual meetings were held with community leaders and organizations such as neighborhood associations.

An online survey received 621 responses.

Staff and student meetings were held ranging in size from 12 to 50 participants.

The established criteria for the next superintendent developed were in the categories of vision, management/professional, and personal qualities.

The feedback from the community reflected some common themes including:

Prioritize academic achievement that puts the students first.

Ensure the district demonstrates a cultural competency that represents all students.

Engage and listen to parents and the community better.

Develop programs that meet the diverse needs of students.

The top two things that participants said the superintendent should have were a proven track record of student achievement and equity.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  Degage Ministries plans to demolish a portion of 139 Sheldon Ave. SE and build a new structure in its place, a $6 million project that will enable the nonprofit to expand services for homeless and low-income residents.

Demolition of the building, which was built in the 1880s and is adjacent to Degages headquarters at 144 Division Ave. S, is expected to begin this spring, said Marge Palmerlee, the nonprofits executive director.

Once demolition is completed, a two-and-a-half story building will be built there. The new building will be attached to Degages headquarters, allowing people inside to pass between the two buildings.

The building is not structurally sound, Palmerlee said. Its not usable in its current state.

The Grand Rapids Historic Preservation Commission approved Degages demolition request last month.

In addition to the demolition, Degage will also renovate an addition that was added to the carriage house building following its construction in the 1880s.

Overall, Palmerlee estimated the project will take a year to complete. Degage purchased 139 Sheldon in January 2017 for $620,000, property records show.

The new space will provide several benefits, Palmerlee said.

The nonprofit plans to move its dining room to the renovated portion of 139 Sheldon, a move that will expand seating by 50 percent to 200 people.

Degages kitchen will be moved to the new building. The new building will also enable the nonprofit to expand its womens shelter from 40 beds to 80 beds. A portion of the beds will be reserved for women with young children.

When were seeing people turned away, vulnerable women who have no place to go in our community, families who are sleeping in their cars --- its vitally important and the timing is right, Palmerlee said of the need for more beds at its womens shelter.

By expanding its kitchen, Degage will be able to grow its nonprofit Pauls Moms Cookies business.

The business, which donates all proceeds to Degage, currently does its baking one day a week at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids. With the new space, the business will have access to a kitchen as needed, enabling the operation to expand and hire more workers. Pauls Moms Cookies hires women who have been served by Degages Open Door Womens Center.

Pauls Moms Cookies is in Forest Hills Foods, and Kingmas, and the Bridge Street Market, and numerous shops around town, Palmerlee said. We would love to be able to expand into other stores but cant because we dont have the capacity.

The expansion will also give Degage more space for services to help people find jobs and stable housing, and to navigate other life challenges.

Degage, in partnership with Mercy Health St. Marys, also plans to create a place for homeless people to recover after undergoing surgery or to recuperate following an illness, Palmerlee said. The area, which will be staffed by a nurse, is needed because homeless people often cant undergo surgery unless they have a place to recover.

If a doctor wants to schedule a surgery, they can reserve a bed in our Open Door center for a women so she has a place to recuperate, Palmerlee said. Men could use the area during the day but not overnight, because Degage only provides overnight shelter for women.
KENT COUNTY, MI  A Grand Rapids Public Schools teacher is now facing federal charges alleging that he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl, court records said.

Philip Gordon Paauwe, 32, of Grandville, originally faced state charges of possessing child pornography and using a computer to commit a crime.

He was recently indicted in federal court on two counts of coercion or enticement of a minor, which carries a penalty of at least 10 years, and to life, in prison upon conviction and sexual exploitation of a minor, which carries a penalty of at least 15 years, and up to 30 years.

He is also charged with receipt and possession of child pornography, which both carry penalties of five to 20 years in prison.

The government said he persuaded a Florida girl, when she was 15 to 17, to send images and videos of herself while she was engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The images and videos were sent to his iPhone, the indictment said.

He also tried to arrange sex acts with a 13-year-old girl, Assistant U.S. Attorney Davin Reust wrote in the indictment.

Paauwe thought he was in contact with the girls mother rather than an undercover police officer, the government said.

Specifically, Defendant used the internet to communicate with a person he believed to be the mother of a 13-year-old girl in an attempt to convince the believed mother to allow him to engage in sex acts with the 13-year-old girl, which sex acts would constitute Third Degree Sexual Conduct in Michigan, the indictment said.

The receipt of child-pornography charge relates to images and videos sent from Florida. The possession charge alleges he had child pornography that included depictions of prepubescent children.

In a statement, Paauwes attorney, Matthew Borgula said: Mr. Paauwe has hired the law firm of Springstead Bartish Borgula & Lynch to defend him against the charges brought by the federal government. He has no comment as to the specific allegations at this time.

The government said it had as evidence messages on the internet with an undercover officer from Oct. 13 to Nov. 8, statements on his phone and the Florida girls phone, statements during police interviews and a letter to his wife, court records said.

He was released on an unsecured $20,000 bond.

He cannot use any computer or device that can access the internet. His wife has to keep her computer and cellphone password-protected and inaccessible to the defendant, according to bond conditions.

The government said that it intends to provide testimony at trial of the Florida teen and plans to meet her and engage in sex acts with her and other children.

The school district put Paauwe on unpaid leave Jan. 8 upon his arrest.

Paauwe taught at Kent Education Center at Oakleigh, which provides services to students with severe emotional impairments. He has worked for the schools less than a year.
GRAND HAVEN, MI -- Ottawa County officials hope to make West Michigan a more welcoming place with their newly formed Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office.

The two-person office comprised of a director and a secretary is tasked with developing racial equity plans, discovering and eliminating potential biases in county policies and procedures, promoting a diverse workforce and providing cultural training, among other objectives.

Read: Full job summary of director position

A five-year, $1.1 million funding plan for the office was approved last week by the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners. Ottawa Countys share of the burden is about $630,000. The remaining funds will come from donations and grants from foundations and the private sector.

Ottawa County Administrator Alan Vanderberg said theres a perception that West Michigan isnt as welcoming to those of different backgrounds as other parts of the state.

Its something he said major employers in the area have expressed worry about as they attempt to recruit employees from around the globe.

Its fairly common knowledge that our major employers have said their lifeblood to the future is the ability to attract global talent, Vanderberg said. Many of our companies will say they dont have trouble recruiting people who are different from the cultural norm, but theyre only staying for about a year and a half.

Vanderberg said the office formation is an extension of work undertaken since 2013, when the countys Cultural Intelligence Committee was formed. The formation, he said, was prompted by concerns from the business community.

The focus of the office wont just be on race but also age, gender and sexual orientation, he said.

The director of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office will work with townships and cities to develop racial equity plans and templates for determining implicit bias, according to the position description.

The position was posted online Friday, March 1, and has already yielded 16 applicants, Vanderberg said. It will remain open for a full month.

If all goes to plan, the director could be in place by mid-May or early June, he said.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI  U.S. Rep. Justin Amash hasnt been shy about calling out President Donald Trump.

The Republican from Cascade Township did so most recently in response to Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, a move that will enable the president to divert money to build his promised border wall.

But is Amash so fed up with Trump that he would consider running for president as a Libertarian candidate in 2020?

Well, I would never rule anything out. Thats not on my radar right now, Amash told CNNs Jake Tapper Sunday on the cable news networks State of the Union program. But I think that it is important that we have someone in there who is presenting a vision for America that is different from what these two parties are presenting."

Amashs chief of staff, Poppy Nelson, did not immediately respond Monday morning to a request by MLive to speak with the congressman about his comments on CNN.

According to CNN, Amash also said there is a wild amount of partisan rhetoric on both sides" and that Congress is totally broken.

I think that we need to return to basic American principles, talk about what we have in common as a people  because I believe we have a lot in common as Americans  and try to move forward together, rather than fighting each other all the time, Amash told Tapper.

Amash, who sits on the House Oversight Committee and is also a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, discussed Trumps emergency declaration during his appearance on State of the Union. He was among 13 Republicans in the House who joined Democrats to support a resolution that aims to block Trumps declaration.

U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, also supported the resolution.

A recent spending plan approved by Congress provided $1.4 billion for Trumps border wall, the Associated Press reported. The president wanted at least $5.7 billion.

After declaring his national emergency, Trump declared that he will spend roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including the national emergency, the AP reported.
MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against a former Muskegon County official that claimed he had engaged in a civil conspiracy with a former county contractor.

After a two-year legal battle, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Joyce Draganchuk recently granted summary disposition in favor of Heath Kaplan, who served as Muskegon Countys director of finance and management services until August 2014.

Muskegon County sued Kaplan in 2016, alleging that he breached his administrative responsibilities and engaged in a civil conspiracy with the owner of Information Systems Intelligence, an information technology company previously hired by the county.

The same judge in December 2018 dismissed a separate but related lawsuit filed by Muskegon County against ISI.

In that case, Draganchuk ruled that ISI and its founder Ryan Leestma had not engaged in a civil conspiracy with Kaplan to defraud Muskegon County. The judge also ruled that county officials had breached an IT contract with ISI and ordered the county to immediately pay Leestma for unpaid invoices plus a yet-to-be-determined sum for additional claims.

The ruling in the Leestma case settled one part of the countys claim against the pair.

The conspiracy in question surrounded allegations of fraudulent payments made to ISI throughout the course of its contract with Muskegon County.

Muskegon County argued that Kaplan had surreptitiously authorized the payments and was working in tandem with ISI and Leestma on the alleged scheme. The county filed the lawsuit against Kaplan and Leestma in April 2016 after ISI filed suit in February 2016 claiming the county breached the contract and didnt pay its bills.

On Wednesday, Feb. 6, Draganchuk dismissed the case against Kaplan saying the county produced no evidence that Kaplan had been in breach of his duties, according to a transcript of the hearing provided to MLive/Muskegon Chronicle by Kaplan.

Draganchuk also concluded that Kaplan did not conspire against Muskegon County with ISI or Leestma.

Theres really no evidence that Mr. Kaplan violated the purchasing policy, Draganchuk said.

Kaplan, who is now the city manager of Beaverton, Michigan, said he was satisfied with the ruling.

Im glad that the judge took the time to see the facts in the case and that the narrative (the county) was pushing was false, Kaplan said in an interview with MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. I feel that there was as a small group of leadership within Muskegon County that had this false impression that I did something wrong.

Kaplan also said the allegations marred his career.

I had to rebuild my career from the ground up, Kaplan said. I took a real beating over the last three years.

Muskegon County Administrator Mark Eisenbarth said the ruling was unfortunate.

Its disappointing for us all, but a judge did rule on the matter and we have to accept that, Eisenbarth said.
MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI  Voters once again will be asked to approve an increase in their phone bills to pay for updates to the Muskegon County 911 emergency dispatch system.

Muskegon County Central Dispatch is returning on May 7 with a ballot proposal to increase the monthly 911 surcharge from 42 cents to $2.75 per month. Thats a 555 percent increase.

The same proposal, which would fund switching from an analog to digital dispatch system, was defeated at the polls in November 2018. There were 31,965 voters in favor of the increase and 35,371 against it.

In February, a divided Muskegon County Board of Commissioners voted 5-4 to put the measure on the upcoming ballot.

The surcharge would raise an estimated $2.95 million the first year. The new ballot initiative puts an end date on the surcharge  June 30, 2032  while the previous, defeated measure did not have a specific date it would end.

The surcharge would be levied against any device capable of dialing 911, including landlines, mobile phones and tablets. For businesses with multiple lines, the surcharge would be assessed on the first 10 phones and prorated for each additional 10 lines.

Central Dispatch officials have said additional money is needed for:

 New 800 MHz digital police radios. They would use the same dispatch system currently utilized by Michigan State Police and 74 counties in the state.

 Mobile data computers. Officials say current in-vehicle computers are outdated and beyond repair.

 Building improvements. The leased downtown dispatch center would need expansion to house the new 800 MHz equipment, a radio tower and other 911 equipment.

 Equipment replacement fund. The revolving fund would cover replacement costs for such items as radios, computers, phones, software and more.

 Microwave radio towers. Current towers are hard-wired with fiber optic cable, which puts them at risk for outages.

Commissioner Robert Scolnik voted in favor of placing the question on the ballot, but told MLive/Muskegon Chronicle that the issue should have been addressed 10 years ago. He said such surrounding counties as Ottawa that have already updated their dispatch systems are light years ahead of Muskegon County.

Scolnik called the surcharge really necessary, and worries about citizens in outlying areas not being able to reach 911 through the old analog system. He also worries about emergency responders in Muskegon County not being able to communicate with those in neighboring counties who are on the updated radio system.

If that does not pass, it is a very bad thing for Muskegon County, Scolnik said. Im sad that its come to this -- that at this late date were asking for it.

In addition to Scolnik, commissioners who voted on Feb. 12 to place the 911 surcharge on the May ballot were Marcia Hovey-Wright, Kenneth Mahoney, I. John Snider II and Susie Hughes.

Commissioners who voted against the request were Gary Foster, Zach Lahring, Charles Nash and Rillastine Wilkins.

Dissenting commissioners said they believe its too soon to return to voters with the request following the defeat in November. They also expressed concern about the ability of the elderly, poor and businesses to afford the increase.

Foster questioned the use of $125,000 in taxpayer money to run a county-wide election for a measure that was recently defeated. The 911 surcharge is the only county-wide initiative on the May ballot.

Foster said in an interview with MLive/Muskegon Chronicle that he stands behind the countys Central Dispatch operation 100 percent, but is not in favor of returning to voters with the same request they only recently defeated.

Why are we doing the same thing three months later that failed miserably? Foster said.
LAKELAND, Fla. -- If you see Detroit Tigers reliever Paul Voelker chatting with Dominican pitchers in warm-ups, its because hes played with and against them in their native country.

There are a lot of familiar faces here in the clubhouse (from winter ball), Voelker said. Theyre really worshiped down there, so its pretty cool to see them play in front of their families and friends and just packed crowds that are rooting for them.

Voelker has spent the last two winters in the Dominican Republic. This is his second invite to the Major League portion of Tigers spring training. Assuming he doesnt make the club out of spring training, hell be ticketed to start his second full season at Triple-A Toledo.

If hes going to get a shot to pitch at the big-league level in this organization, this is likely his year.

And at 26, he knows the clock is ticking.

Obviously you want to be in the big leagues, but to get there, (spring training) is the first step, especially for a guy like me thats trying to crack it for the first time, he said.

Its a pretty pivotal year in my mind, so Im just going to go out there and try to have that laser focus this year and try to do everything I can to help Toledo win. If I get my name called, I just want to be ready for that moment, because I do think its going to happen at some point as long as I go out there and do my job.

Drafted by the Tigers in the 10th round in 2014 out of Dallas Baptist, Voelker was already in Double-A Erie just one year after being selected, moving quickly up the ladder thanks to blazing fastball and high strikeout-rate. The right-hander registered in several Tigers prospect rankings and it seemed possible he could be in the big leagues by 2016.

But the opportunity never materialized and a 50-game suspension for a prohibited stimulant in 2017 further delayed his progress. (The Tigers also opted not to add him to the 40-man roster with the rest of his peers from 2014 draft).

To get more innings, Voelker has played winter ball in each of the last three seasons -- in Venezuela and then in the Dominican Republic.

He pitched only sporadically this winter, serving as an on-call pitcher of sorts for the Leones of Escogido. (Winter-ball teams must constantly juggle their rosters to accommodate innings limits from big-league teams, so it helps to have a standby option).

I had an innings restriction and I was just down there in case something were to happen, he said. So I didnt get a whole lot of work when it comes to games, but I was still working out, playing catch and everything. But it was good. Our team had a lot of success and it was really fun to be a part of.

From the moment he arrived in the Tigers system, Voelker has been groomed as a reliever and, like many relievers, hes stuck with an effective fastball-slider combo. His work this winter was focused on adding more options to his repertoire.

This year Ive really worked on trying to implement a two-seamer (sinking fastball) and then really continue to throw my change-up to righties and lefties, Voelker said. Im just trying to be able to be that Swiss Army guy when it comes to the bullpen and just do whatever they need me to do. To do that, you need more than two pitches, especially when you get to big-league level, obviously."
A helicopter carrying four Americans crashed shortly after taking off from a national park in northwest Kenya on Sunday evening, killing all of the passengers and the Kenyan pilot.

The aircraft crashed after lifting off from a remote island in Central Island National Park, Kenya's National Police Service said on its Twitter feed.

The wreckage was found by rescuers on Monday morning. The cause of the crash had yet to be determined. Police have yet to release the identity of the victims, saying the next of kin had to be notified first.

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Despite slowing growth over recent years, Chinas added gross domestic product last year was worth more than the value of Australias total output, according to Chinese National Bureau of Statistics.

Last year, Chinese economic growth saw a slowdown to 6.6 percent compared to 6.8 reached in 2017, marking the lowest full-year growth rate since 3.9 percent in 1990. However, the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) still grew well above those of the G7 economies, with China making up nearly 30 percent of global economic growth.

The value of the Chinese economy, the worlds second largest, hit $13.6 trillion in 2018, according to the latest data compiled by the countrys statistics agency.

China remains a source of power for the global economy, said Sheng Laiyun, deputy head of the statistics bureau, as quoted by the South China Morning Post. Chinas additional economic output was worth $1.4 trillion last year, which is equivalent to the total economic size of Australia in 2017.

Australias total output reached $1.32 trillion in 2017, according to the World Bank, which hasnt revealed data for last year so far. Meanwhile, Chinas per capita income in 2018 reached $9,636 (64,644 yuan), while Australias per capita figure is more than five times bigger the Chinese one.

According to the bureau, Chinas economic growth in 2018 was mostly propelled by domestic consumption that accounted for 76.2 percent of the increase with investments contributing 32.4 percent.

The slowdown comes as Beijing has been trying to reduce corporate debt. Moreover, the country has faced some extra headwinds due to the current trade conflict with Washington. So far, the White House has imposed tariffs on some $250 billion of Chinese imports. Beijing retaliated with levies on $110 billion on produce imported from the US. After the latest round of trade talks, US President Donald Trump pledged to prolong the temporary truce, extending the deadline for further tariffs.

The trade war between the worlds two largest economies has forced some corporations to reconsider foreign investments in China, while Chinese investment into the US reportedly plummeted by an enormous 83 percent in 2018.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Ewan Hope, the son of Amesbury poisoning victim Dawn Sturgess, has written a letter to Vladimir Putin, saying that the Russian leader is his only hope to bring justice for his mother as the UK government has abandoned his family.

"It is almost a year since my mother Dawn was killed by novichok in Salisbury and the pain never goes away for me or my family," Hope said in his letter to the Russian president, published by The Mirror.

"I am appealing to you as a human being," he wrote, asking Putin to allow the UK investigators to question two Russian nationals, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.

READ MORE: Parents of woman killed by poison used on Skripal blame UK govt, British media, but not Russia

Hope also said that he wrote to Putin because he was "desperate," and believes the Russian leader to be "the only man who can make sure justice prevails."

"I feel betrayed and let down by the [UK] Government," the 20-year-old confessed, adding that his mother was "an innocent victim, but we've never heard anything from [UK Prime Minister] Theresa May or the Government  not a phone call, a letter, or anything. We haven't even heard from our MP. We just find out things on the news the same as everyone else."

London believes Petrov and Boshirov to be the operatives of Russian Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU), which the UK has accused of poisoning the double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last March. It has also claimed the very same substance killed Sturgess months later.

Sturgess passed away in hospital in July 2018 after spraying herself with the contents of a bottle that her friend, Charlie Rowley, found and took for expensive Nina Ricci perfume. London asserts the vial was used by the Russian agents in the Skripal attack and had the so-called Novichok (A-234) nerve agent inside.

Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incidents, saying that the UK authorities have falsely accused Russia to achieve political goals at home. It also suggested that the poisonings may be connected to leaks from the Porton Down chemical laboratory, located in the area. Petrov and Boshirov for their part have insisted that they were simple tourists, who had nothing to do with the GRU, and that their lives were ruined by Londons claims.

When questioned about Hopes letter, the Russian embassy in London told media that "We feel deep sympathy towards Mr Hope. Just like him, we would like to see his mother's death to be fully investigated."

The embassy grilled the UK authorities over their unwillingness to support their accusations against Russia with evidence as they instead "prefer to feed the public with multiple leaks, while refusing to confirm or deny them."

Also on rt.com First responder in Skripal poisoning turns out to be Britains most senior military nurse

"Now it turns out that even the closest relatives of those affected are kept in the dark over what actually happened, and they have to seek truth in Russia," it said.

Also on Saturday, the Russian mission published a long press-release on the Skripal saga, showing in detail how Britain has refused to cooperate with Russia on the case. According to the paper, out of 41 diplomatic requests and questions by Moscow regarding the fate of the Skipals and the investigation, only one was fulfilled by London, while 36 were "ignored,""denied" or met with an "unsatisfactory" response.

The whereabouts of Sergei and Yulia Skripal remains unknown since they left the Salisbury hospital last May after recovering from the poisoning. Moscow said that the UK special services have been holding the Russian citizens by force as diplomats are being denied access to them.

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Additional taxes on Big Tech corporations like Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook could add up to 500 million ($568.3 million) to Frances budget annually, according to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

The new levy, dubbed GAFA tax (named after Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon), is aiming to target foreign corporate giants with worldwide digital revenues of at least 750 million and revenue of more than 25 million in France. A draft law will be presented to the cabinet as soon as Wednesday before it is presented to parliament.

A taxation system for the 21st century has to build on what has value today, and that is data, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper.

The extra tax of three percent will be applied to revenues of at least 30 corporations, most of which are American, including Uber, Airbnb, and Booking, according to the minister.

However, the document also lists Chinese, German, Spanish and British firms, alongside French online advertising specialist Criteo.

The move is seen as a matter of fiscal justice, Le Marie said, stressing that small and medium-sized European firms are currently paying 14 percent more than the digital giants.

The measure will reportedly affect platform corporations that make money providing smaller firms with a connection to customers, such as Amazon and Booking.

The new tax wont be applied to revenues earned by the companies that sell their products on their own websites. French authorities will also impose the tax on selling personal data for advertising purposes.

The GAFA tax is one of the main demands of the Yellow Vest protesters who have been demonstrating across the country for the last three months. The measure was given a cold shoulder from Germany and was strongly opposed by Ireland and Luxembourg, which have been branded as tax havens for big tech companies.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
The Chinese telecommunications giant's chief financial officer, detained in Canada at US' request, has taken legal action against the country's border agents and police, accusing them of an unlawful search and interrogation.

In a lawsuit filed in Canada's British Colombia's Supreme Court on Friday, Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO and daughter of the company's founder, claimed that the Canadian border agency and national police trampled on her constitutional rights when they detained her at the Vancouver airport on December, 1.

The lawsuit, which was reported by the Globe and Mail on Sunday, alleges that border agents kept Meng in the dark about the real reasons of her detention for three hours, while at the same time combing through her electronic devices and duping her into providing evidence about the case "under the guise of a routine border check."

The conduct of the agents, who read Meng her rights only after the procedure was over, constitute "serious breaches" of the Chinese national's constitutional rights, the lawsuit charges.

Also on rt.com China blasts 'political persecution' of Huawei as Canada goes ahead with exec's extradition to US

Apart from questioning the legality of the Canadian authorities' actions in the run-up to her eventual arrest, the lawsuit seeks damages for "misfeasance in public office" and "false imprisonment," while accusing Ottawa of "multiple failures" to stick to its own law.

READ MORE: Trade war hostage? Trump ready to intervene in Huawei CFO case if it helps close deal with China

The lawsuit comes as the extradition process in her case formally kicks off, with Canada's Department of Justice announcing Friday that it had issued "an authority to proceed" with an extradition hearing, the data for which will be set next Wednesday.

Meng is facing an array of charges in the US, including bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit these crimes that all stem from her allegedly circumventing US sanctions on Iran. Beijing has denounced her arrests as "political persecution," demanding that she be immediately released and Washington drop the extradition request.

READ MORE: Canadian who smuggled enormous amount of drugs may face death penalty in China

Meng's arrest drove China and the US, who have been already at odds over the ongoing trade row, further apart. US President Donald Trump's repeated remarks that he might use Meng as a bargaining chip in the stalled trade talks further inflamed the situation.

The high-profile case also put a strain on the relationship between China and Canada. In what appeared to be a response to Meng's arrest, Beijing arrested two Canadian nationals and sentenced another one to death over drug smuggling charges.

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Palestinian officials have denounced as hostile the US move to merge its consulate in Jerusalem, which mostly served Palestinians, with the embassy controversially inaugurated last year. The overhaul has been scheduled for Monday.

The US State Department on Sunday formally set a date for the previously announced merger of its embassy in Jerusalem with the consulate, which was operating as the de facto American embassy to the Palestinian Authority.

Also on rt.com UN set to leave half of Gaza and West Bank hungry, as food programme feels a lack of US money

In his statement, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino argued that the long-planned merger is not intended as a political signal, but is a mere restructuring driven by Washington's efforts "to increase the efficiency and effectiveness" of "diplomatic engagements and operations."

"It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip," Palladino said.

In a bid to assure Palestinians that the decision would not deal another blow to the already barely existent interactions between Ramallah and Washington, Palladino said that the US would "engage in a wide range of reporting, outreach and programming in the West Bank, as well as with Palestinians in Jerusalem" through a newly devised Palestinian Affairs Unit (PAU) inside the US embassy, which would be located at the same place as the consulate.

READ MORE: Israel to withhold $138mn from Palestinian taxes it collects, citing support of prisoners

The State Department's release on Sunday rehashed word-by-word the statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, when he made the initial announcement about the merger in October.

Senior officials in Palestine are not buying Washington's assurances that it's simply cutting red tape, however. They said the move was another nod to Israel and an affront to the Palestinian state.

The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), which runs the Palestinian National Authority, has been up in arms over the merger, with PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat saying in a statement on Sunday that the US decision "has nothing to do with efficiency, but a lot with the desire to please the ideologized American team, which is primed to dismantle the foundations of the international system and the US foreign policy in order to reward Israel for its violations and crimes."

READ MORE: UNESCOs turn: Washington & Tel Aviv ditch international body over anti-Israel bias

The senior Palestinian official dubbed the decision to go ahead with the merger as "the last nail in the coffin of the US administration role in peace making."

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, slammed the US decision as "an act of political assault on Palestinian rights" and "an affront to the international community and the principles of the UN Charter."

The overhaul of the US representation in Jerusalem is the latest in a series of measures championed by the Trump administration that have sent the relationship between Ramallah and Washington crashing and burning after the US recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in December 2017. Since then, the US has cut food aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, and shut down the PLO's office in Washington DC, which served as Palestine's de facto embassy there. The Trump administration's much-vaunted 'deal of the century' for peace has yet to be revealed, but has already been rejected by Palestine, which has refused to engage with Trump's representatives.

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A seemingly patriotic story on the National Guards news site  of a father and daughter being deployed to the same country simultaneously  has instead illustrated for many the futility of Americas endless Middle East wars.

US Army 1st Lieutenant Jordan Lemens was only ten years old when her father  Chief Warrant Officer 5 Joseph Lemens  went abroad for his first deployment over 15 years ago. Jordan has now been in Iraq with the 101st Airborne Division for two months, while her father has been there with the 935th Aviation Support Battalion  a Missouri National Guard unit  for six.

Father and daughter were briefly united at Al Asad Air Base last month after Joseph made arrangements to spend a few hours on the base.

Not very many people can say that they have been with their family on a deployment, said Jordan. It seems almost surreal.

The story was jumped on by the National Guards online news site, and was portrayed as a welcome piece of uplifting news from a miserable combat zone. The piece was torn apart on Twitter, however.

I hope one day my kid and I can both look back, nostalgic, wistful... maybe a little rueful, about how a morally obscure endless war of occupation defined and consumed both our lives, wrote one commenter.

The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for over 17 years, and in Iraq for 15 years this month. Since 9/11, the US government spent an estimated $5.6 trillion on its war on terror  including the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as Homeland Security expansion and veterans costs. Almost 7,000 US troops have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Opposition to these wars has mounted from both the left and the right. President Donald Trump has railed against Americas forever war, calling the invasion of Iraq the single worst decision ever made. However, Trump has faced stiff opposition to his decision to withdraw US troops from Syria and his promise to do the same in Afghanistan. Most recently, Trump announced plans to leave a small contingent of US forces behind in Syria, and another in Iraq to watch Iran.

Meanwhile, the forever war drags on. As of last September, teenagers born after the 9/11 attacks are now eligible to enlist in the US military and soon may serve in a war that began before they were born.

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Venezuela is scrambling to find buyers for its oil, hoping to keep revenue streams alive even as President Nicolas Maduro loses control of Citgo.

The US-based subsidiary of PDVSA officially severed ties with its parent company in order to comply with US sanctions, according to Reuters. The American government is trying to shift control of Citgo into the hands of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. Citgo has stopped sending payments to PDVSA, and Gauido has appointed a new board to the company. Some Venezuelan employees working at Citgo in the US returned back to Caracas.

Citgo is one of the major prizes that the US has tried to wrestle away from Maduro as part of the American regime change campaign in Venezuela. Citgo is the eight largest refiner in the US at 750,000 bpd, and it owns pipelines and retail gasoline stations. The company is a key source of revenue for the Venezuelan government.

Also on rt.com Maduro orders European HQ of Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA to be moved to Moscow

Aside from being based in the US, the Trump administration had some extra leverage over Citgo. The company needs to refinance some of its debt, but couldnt do so if it was to be smothered by sanctions. We have been told that we have to organize the house by Feb. 26 to avoid conflicts with sanctions, a source told Reuters. Citgos bonds have gyrated in value due to the uncertainty over how its credit rollover would be handled.

The Trump administration had been holding off creditors, who, like vultures, have been swarming around Citgo, readying for a default amid the political chaos. Guaido and the Trump administration wanted Citgo to remain intact, free of creditor actions, so that it would provide a source of revenue for the fledgling government after the ouster of Maduro. The severing of Citgo from PDVSA was a crucial element in keeping Citgo alive.

Also on rt.com Half-billion dollars worth of sanctioned oil sitting offshore Venezuela

Meanwhile, back in Venezuela, Maduro and PDVSA are trying to keep their oil exports from collapsing, despite the tightening vice of American economic and political (and potentially military) warfare. Venezuela is aiming to send oil shipments to India and Europe, the Wall Street Journal reports, although the discounts necessary to secure purchases from worried buyers might mean that the countrys revenues from the sales are vastly diminished. PDVSAs head Manuel Quevedo said that exports remain steady at 1.2 million barrels per day (mb/d), although the WSJ notes that private estimates from shipping tracking firm Kpler put the figure at 1.1 mb/d.

Venezuela has had some modest success. Exports to India rose modestly by 40,000 bpd in February. The WSJ reports that Spain, Sweden and the UK continue to import oil from Venezuela.

However, the problems are significant and mounting. Some of those shipments are sent in return for investment in Venezuela, and thus, are not earning hard currency. Moreover, somewhat surprisingly, exports to China declined by 155,000 bpd in February, the WSJ reports. China was expected to be one of the few countries that might pick up extra cargoes following US sanctions, but that has apparently not yet happened.

Also on rt.com Trumps Venezuela gamble is turning out to be a beaten docket

Other buyers are staying away. Eni has stopped buying oil from Venezuela, along with other European oil majors. Even the Russian privately owned oil company Lukoil ended its oil-for-products trade with Venezuela.

One of the problems for PDVSA is the quality of its oil. The heavy grade of Venezuelan oil can only be refined in certain places. The US Gulf Coast was one of the few sources of major heavy oil refining capacity. Not just Citgos refineries, but also those of Valero and Chevron. With sales to the US Gulf Coast drastically down, its tricky finding other buyers for so much heavy oil.

At the same time, Maduro has defied the odds and has so far fended off the Venezuelan opposition, the US government and the combined political attacks from governments in most of Latin America and Europe. He is still hanging on to power, and for now, still exporting oil, even as shipments are expected to decline. Surely the Trump administration will decide to escalate the situation in an effort to topple him, but so far the oil embargo has not succeeded.

This article was originally published on Oilprice.com
ICICI Banks former MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar has yet again distanced herself from husband Deepak Kochhars business dealings. In the third round of questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at its Mumbai office on March 4, Chanda denied having any knowledge of loans allegedly routed to her husbands company NuPower Renewables that had dealings with Videocon Chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

Chanda has maintained the same statement is her questioning by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

This is the third consecutive day that the Kochhars were summoned by the ED following raids on February 28.

Along with Chanda, Nishant Kanodia was called for the second round of questioning on March 4. Kanodia is son-in-law of Ravi Ruia, Promoter of Essar Group.

A source close to development told Moneycontrol, "Nishant Kanodia was questioned until 6 am on Monday from Sunday afternoon. He was called again at 1 pm. The Enforcement Directorate was looking at the source of the funding received by Deepak Kochhar from their [Kanodias] Mauritius-based company.

Following the interrogation, Chanda left the ED office at 10 pm.

In 2010, NuPower received Rs 325 crore from Firstland Holdings, a Mauritius-based firm owned by Kanodia. The deal is under the scanner as ICICI Bank had granted loans to Essar Steel Minnesota LLC worth $530 million in 2010.

Another source told Moneycontrol that the ED confronted Deepak, Mahesh Pungalia and Dhoot in pairs to get a clear picture of the investments in NuPower Renewables by Videocon Group.

The ED searched the residences and offices of the Kochhars and Dhoot over the alleged quid pro quo arrangement over loans sanctioned to Videocon Group when Chanda was at the helm of ICICI Bank.
China will acknowledge concessions made in any trade deal with the United States for the sake of stabilising shaky relations, but is unlikely to yield to demands it alter its economic model even if faced with continued tariffs, many trade experts believe.

US President Donald Trump has warned he could walk away from a China deal if it were not good enough, even as his advisers touted "fantastic" progress towards an agreement to end a dispute that has put tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each others' goods.

Such optimism has taken a different shape in Beijing, where the delay on a once "hard" March 1 deadline for a US tariff hike reinforced views that Trump's appetite for tough measures has weakened as the 2020 presidential election draws closer and a strong US economy shows initial signs of flagging.

Chinese concessions in any deal are likely to fall short of US demands for deep change in the way the world's second-largest economy works.

Revamping decades of state planning will not happen overnight, Chinese experts argue.

And President Xi Jinping faces political realities at home, where being seen as kowtowing to Trump would be less palatable than navigating the near-term impact continued trade tensions might have on China's own slowing economy, they say.

One Chinese official told Reuters that China's domestic reform was a long-term process.

"If the United States carries out overall restrictions or pressure based on its own interests, China will not accept it," the official said.

Tu Xinquan, a trade expert at Beijing's University of International Business and Economics, said it would be difficult for Xi to agree to US demands that China revamp the role of state-owned enterprises and other core industrial policies.

Xi would likely be prepared to go as far as to give "visible, politically influential commitments" to Trump, such as to buy more American goods and improve protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).

The United States has long complained that Beijing has systematically obtained American companies' intellectual property through coercion and outright theft. But improving copyright and trademark enforcement is seen by hardliners in Washington as a practical and self-interested move for China, now that it has innovative companies of its own.

China verifiably cracking down on the more existential threat of forced technology transfer - which officials deny actually occurs - or substantially curbing the influence of state-owned companies in the economy is seen as less likely.

"The core features of the Chinese model a these issues will be left to the future," Tu said.

'MAR-A-LAGO ACCORD'?

Sources have suggested that the two sides are getting closer to a deal that could roll back some tariffs and set forth agreements on structural issues in China's economic model, but that details of an enforcement mechanism to ensure Beijing follows through on policy pledges are still not set.

While no plans have been announced, there is widespread speculation in trade circles that Xi could travel to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida to hammer out a final deal in late March, on the tail end of a planned trip to Europe.

Some in US diplomatic and business communities, concerned that Trump could rush into accepting weak Chinese commitments, have been for weeks referring, with mock grandiosity, to a possible deal as the "Mar-a-Lago Accord".

China's willingness to make smaller commitments is driven by a desire to stabilise US-China relations and prevent the trade dispute from spreading, which has become more salient as Washington pressures its allies to jettison cooperation with Chinese tech champions, including Huawei Technologies.

"We are afraid this conflict will be extended to other areas, even affecting the relationship between China and the West. So we want to control it. Maybe not solve all the problems, but control it and calm it down," Tu said.

China hopes commitments to purchase more US goods, along with pledges to improve its reporting of subsidies at the World Trade Organization and IPR enforcement can clinch an interim deal, according to Chinese trade experts.

Trump has delayed the threatened hike in tariffs on some $200 billion in Chinese imports to 25 percent from 10 percent, which was due to kick-in on Friday.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has signalled that tariffs would remain an important tool to push China to address US concerns over Chinese industrial policies, saying in written testimony at Congressional hearings last week that trade issues with China were too serious to be resolved merely through stepped-up purchases.

Zhang Huanbo, a researcher at the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges (CCIEE), a well-connected think-tank in Beijing, said China would not agree to abolish subsidies but it would correct market-distorting subsidies so they were "in-line with WTO rules".

Xi, who fundamentally believes in a strong role for the state and the ruling Communist Party in the economy, does not want to, and cannot, quickly dismantle decades of state planning, political analysts say.

But he still has room to give the United States more market access in the service industry and for agricultural products.

Shi Yinhong, director of the Center for American Studies at Renmin University, said beyond those types of openings China had to attend to its "own basic dignity and authority".

"If China makes too big a concession to the United States, it might create domestic economic disorder. And also how would you explain it to Communist Party members and the Chinese people?" said Shi, who has advised the government on diplomatic matters.
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Public sector banks (PSBs), including the ones that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pulled out of prompt corrective action (PCA) framework, are set to raise growth capital. This is being done to reduce the government's shareholding in the banks to 75 percent, Business Standard reported.

This move will also help them meet their mandatory 25 percent public float norms of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

Moneycontrol couldnt independently verify the report.

The regulator had been extending deadlines for the banks to meet this norm on a case-to-case basis, a senior PSB official told the newspaper. But, because of the recent capital infusion, the government stake in most PSBs has exceeded 90 percent. These banks have asked for a two-year grace window to meet SEBI's 25 percent public float norm.

PSBs are exploring different ways to reduce the government's stake, including instruments such as QIP (qualified institutional placement), FPO (follow-on public offer) or rights issue, among others. This exercise might be an uphill battle for banks, especially those under PCA. "It is not going to be an easy task for the government to raise external equity. The banks need to see if there is enough appetite, especially markets remaining volatile ahead of elections," Karthik Srinivasan, Group Head at ICRA, said.

The government holds 95 percent in Kolkata-based Union Bank of India, while in Allahabad Bank, it owns around 91 percent stake after the recent fund infusion of Rs 6,896 crore, according to a senior official at the bank.

Allahabad Bank aims to pare down this stake to 75 percent by October 2020, as per SS Mallikarjuna Rao, its Managing Director and CEO. The bank recently emerged out of the PCA framework.

"By October 2020, public shareholding should be 25 percent. The breach occurred in October 2018, when with the infusion of Rs 1,179 crore, the capital went from around 71.9 percent to 79 percent. The requirement to reduce capital is around Rs 3,800 crore, which we cannot sell in one tranche, and will have go in four to five tranches," Mallikarjuna had said recently.

Other PSBs that just came out of the PCA also have a high government stake. For example, the government holding in Bank of India was 89.07 percent and for Oriental Bank of Commerce, it was 86.17 percent as on February 16. For Bank of Maharashtra, it was about 87.01 percent and for Corporation Bank of India, it was about 86.77 percent as of December 2018.

After coming out of the PCA, banks need growth capital to sustain and profit. The latest round of funds by the government will be used in meeting the regulatory requirement. The banks need another $23 billion to sufficiently meet minimum capital standards alone, the latest report by Fitch stated.
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The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a total monetary fine of Rs 8 crore on three banks - Karnataka Bank, United Bank of India and Karur Vysya Bank - for non-compliance of directions on Swift messaging software. While the RBI imposed a Rs 4 crore fine on Karnataka Bank, United Bank is facing a penalty of Rs 3 crore. The regulator has levied Rs one crore fine on Karur Vysya Bank.

The RBI has levied an aggregate penalty of Rs 40 million on the bank for delayed implementation of four of the Swift related operational controls, Karnataka Bank said in a regulatory filing.

"The exchanges are hereby informed that Reserve Bank of India..., has imposed an aggregate penalty of Rs 30 million on the Bank to be deposited within 14 days, for non-compliance with, and contraventions of, directions contained in the RBI circular on time-bound implementation and strengthening of SWIFT-related operational controls," United Bank said in a separate filing.

Karur Vysya said that the RBI has imposed a monetary penalty of Rs 1 crore on the bank for non-compliance with the directions issued on Swift operations.

Swift is the global messaging software used for transactions by the financial entities. The massive Rs 14,000 crore fraud at the PNB was a case of misuse of this messsaging software.

Post the PNB fraud, which came to light in February 2018, the RBI has been tough on banks to tighten all kind of their transactions.

Earlier on Saturday, four banks -- SBI, Union Bank of India, Dena Bank and IDBI -- had informed exchanges about monetary penalty slapped on them by the regulator for non-compliance with various directions.

Fine of Rs 3 crore was imposed on Union Bank, Rs 2 crore on Dena Bank, and Rs 1 crore each on IDBI and the SBI.
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N Chandrasekaran-led Tata Sons has restructured the conglomerate into 10 verticals such as consumer, trading, IT and investments. Representatives from the company will be heading the verticals and ensure they run in sync with each other's businesses, sources told The Economic Times.

This move may help the 100 companies operating under Tata Sons coordinate operations and will also help pare down costs. Managing Tata's consumer and retail verticals was a challenge because of the diverse listed units like Tata Global Beverages, Titan, Voltas and Croma.

There is a 'travel and tourism' vertical, which clubs together Tata's Indian Hotels with its aviation joint-ventures: Vistara and AirAsia. The IT vertical will have Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Elxsi. The financial services vertical will have Tata Capital, Tata AIA Life, Tata Asset Management and Tata AIG.

Moneycontrol couldnt independently verify the report.

A top executive told the paper the vertical head may not be a member of the Tata Sons board. "But the person will be someone with deep sector knowledge and the capability to ensure benefits of scale," the person added.

This rejig will boost the group's efficiency, according to fund managers. "Verticalisation will bring in operating efficiency by helping similar businesses cash in on the collective wisdom and synergies of a vertical. But the consolidation and focus on this scale should ensure that it doesn't affect the operational freedom of individual companies," A Balasubramanian, CEO of Birla Sun Life Asset Management is quoted as saying in the report.

Calling it a 'work in progress', a Tata executive said this will take a few months to put into effect, but the companies have a clear sense of direction. Another executive said Tata Sons has spent Rs 70,000 crore in 2018 on this restructuring exercise. Tata Group has 100 operating companies, of which 30 are listed and has over 1,000 subsidiaries.
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Tata group firm Voltas expects it's home appliances business to capture at least 20 percent market share in the next five-seven years.

Voltas is into ACs and air-coolers and has an equal standalone joint venture formed in May 2017 with Turkish company Ardutch, under the name of Voltbek Home and launched a home appliances brand Voltas Beko in September 2018.

"We have just begun our journey. In the next five to seven years, we would like to get a market share of about 20 percent and become one of the top three players," Voltas managing director and chief executive Pradeep Bakshi told PTI.

Voltas Beko is present only in the niche segment now- frost-free and fully-automatic washing machines, he said.

The joint venture also has a semiautomatic offering and is planning to enter the direct cool refrigerator segment, which is the largest chunk in the appliances domain, for which it is setting up a factory at Sanand in Gujarat, he added.

"This Sanand factory will be up and running by this year end. That will be a formidable size of the business," he said, the plant has an annual capacity of 1 million units.

The overall investment for the home appliances factory at Sanand is over Rs 1,000 crore, Bakshi said, adding they have big plans for the business but declined to divulge the revenue estimate.

Voltas, which is the largest player in the AC segment, is also investing over Rs 500 crore to set up a manufacturing facility at Tirupati in Andhra.

The facility will initially manufacture and assemble ACs and other cooling products with a total capacity of over 1 million units to start with.

For the AC segment, Bakshi said the company aims to augment its market share to 25 percent this year on an expected a growth of 25 percent.

"I am looking forward to 15 percent growth this coming summer season. Last year our growth was in single-digit. We have been hovering around 7-8 percent,"he said.

Voltas closed 2018 with a market share of 24.1 percent in the 5-5.5 million units market, from 22 percent in 2017.

"We have widened the gap between the No 1 and No 2. We are almost double than the No 2 player. We will continue to expand our market share. We look forward to crossing at least 25 percent this year," he said.
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Zomato Media Pvt Ltd will sell its UAE food delivery business to Germany's Delivery Hero Group for about $172 million, Zomato's second-largest shareholder Info Edge (India) Ltd said on Monday.

Zomato and Naspers-backed Delivery Hero will then enter services agreements under which Zomato will continue to run the business on its own platform, Info Edge said.

Info Edge, an online services firm, will own a 26.38 percent stake in Zomato after the deal closes.

Zomato raised an additional $105 million in its ongoing funding round with new investors including Delivery Hero and Glade Brook Capital, Info Edge added.
Balakot airstrikes: India is believed to have carried out airstrikes inside Pakistan early on February 26, 2019, and targeted terror camps. The development came amid heightened tension between India and Pakistan after the February 14 suicide attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Moneycontrol News

At least four militants caught between 2014 and 2017 were trained at Jaish-e-Mohammed's (JeM) Balakot training camp, The Indian Express has reported quoting sources.

A Jaish camp in Balakot, deep inside of Pakistan, was targetted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 26 in a "non-military preemptive strike".

The four militants revealed during interrogation that terrorists trained at Balakot were either sent to Kashmir or to Afghanistan, officials told the newspaper.

For instance, Waqas Mansoor, who was involved in two attacks in Kashmir and hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, said that he was trained with over 100 youngsters. Out of these, officials said, over 40 were sent to Kashmir and 60 were sent to Afghanistan.

Officials also said that militants are given a three-month course, which imparts advance combat training called Daura-e-Khas and arms training called Daura-Al-Raad.

Sources told the newspaper that these details have been included in the dossier handed over to Pakistan regarding JeM's presence and operations in Pakistan.

Another militant, identified as Abdul Rehman Mughal, told interrogators that every militant sent to Kashmir was given a code name. "Mughal, during his questioning, said that in order to become a fidayeen, one has to express his willingness and apply in writing before the camp commander at Balakot," an official said.

Nasir Mohd Awain, another terrorist associated with the JeM, told officials that there are over 80 trainers in Balakot camp. Another militant, Mohd Sajid Gujjar, who was involved in an attack on an Army camp in 2015, was also trained at Balakot, according to officials. Gujjar was arrested later that year while three other militants along with him were gunned down.

"All of them were Pakistani nationals who trained with Gujjar at Balakot camp and infiltrated into the Valley together," an official told the newspaper.
With the Congress seeking to corner the Modi government over details of the Indian air strike on terrorist camp in Pakistan, the BJP on Monday asked it to not mislead the country and insult armed forces with "fake and fabricated" stories.

Taking a dig at the opposition party, BJP leader and Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Congress and its allies are "crying" while terrorists and their sponsors are being hit.

"Is this a coincidence or a partnership? It is unfortunate when the entire country is speaking in one voice to salute our armed forces' valour, the Congress and its allies are raising such questions," he said.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal has cited several international media accounts reporting "no proof of militant losses at Balakot" to question Modi if they are "pro-Pakistan".

Congress chief spokesperson referred to Union minister S S Ahluwalia's reported remarks that the government never claimed to have killed 300-350 terrorists in the air strike to ask Modi to share the "truth" with the country.

Though there has been no official communication on the casualty figures among terrorists in the Indian Air Forces strike, some media reports have quoted official sources to say that anywhere between 300-350 terrorists were killed.

Naqvi accused the Congress and its allies in the opposition of "irresponsible behaviour", saying these comments show their mindset on a sensitive issue like national security.

"The country no longer expect the Congress and its allies to welcome security forces' action to end terrorism but they should at least not mislead the nation and insult armed forces with fake and fabricated stories," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President Amit Shah on March 3 claimed that more than 250 terrorists were killed in the air strike conducted by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on February 26, ANI has reported.

The air strike, described by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) as a pre-emptive non-military action against Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)s camps in Balakot, was conducted on February 26.

The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Kashmir, killing at least 40 soldiers.

"In five years, two major incidents happened...in Uri and Pulwama. After Uri attack, our army entered Pakistan, undertook a surgical strike and took revenge for our soldiers' death," Shah said.

"After Pulwama attack, everyone thought surgical strike can't be done this time now what will happen?... At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government undertook an air strike on the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists without any harm to our side," Shah added.

Following the air strike, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale had said in a statement 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 Yousuf Azhar (alias Ustad Ghouri), the brother-in-law of Masood Azhar, Chief of JeM, the statement added.

The Indian authorities have so far not put out the number of terrorists eliminated.

Opposition parties and leaders have been mounting pressure on the government, seeking more details about the matter.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on February 28 said that lives of jawans are much more valuable than electoral politics, but the nation has a right to know what actually happened at Balakot following the IAF's air strike there.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed JeM's biggest training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on February 27. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.
Image: Defence Ministry

Indian Air Force (IAF)s Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has revealed that while Pakistani authorities did not physically torture him when he was in their custody, they subjected him to considerable "mental harassment," according to reports.

The IAF pilot was captured by Pakistani military on February 27 shortly after his MiG-21 Bison fighter jet was shot down during a dogfight with Pakistans F-16 jets amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

According to Pakistani officials, the IAF Wing Commander was assaulted by local residents after he parachuted there after ejecting from his MiG-21 Bison jet which was shot down.

Pakistan has also claimed that Varthaman was treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention during his nearly 60-hour long custody.

Early footage from Pakistan showed Varthaman blindfolded and handcuffed by Pakistani military in an injured condition. A video released subsequently showed him drinking tea and saying that he was being treated will.

According to reports, Varthaman was forced to record a video statement just before he was released. In the short video recording, the Wing Commander is seen saying that the Pakistani Army saved him from the mob. The recording of the video is said to have delayed his handover by three hours.

For the last three days, he has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital.

Varthaman told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest, the officials told PTI.

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan early February 26.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on February 27. However, the IAF thwarted their plans.

The Indian strike on the JeM camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 soldiers.

(With inputs from PTI)
The Pakistan government in order to de-escalate the tensions with India, has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfit Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar, according to a top government source while a media report said that Islamabad may even withdraw its opposition to the move to list him as global terrorist in the UN Security Council.

"The government has decided in principle to launch crackdown on the leadership of the JeM (Azhar)," the source told PTI.

He said the action against JeM in the country is "expected any time soon".

"In order to de-escalate the tensions between India and Pakistan, the Imran Khan government has planned action against the JeM," the source said.

"This will be another significant move of the Imran Khan government to de-escalate tensions after handing over the captured Indian pilot to his country," he said.

To a question about the Azhar's fate, the official source said he cannot confirm whether he would be put under house-arrest or taken into custody.

According to a media report, a security official hinted that Pakistan may withdraw its opposition to the listing of JeM chief as global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

"The state has to decide whether individual is important or the larger national interest of the country," the official was quoted as saying in the Express Tribune, when asked if Pakistan would no more oppose the UNSC action against Azhar.

The US, the UK and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Pakistan-based JeM chief Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The Security Council Sanctions Committee will consider within 10 days on the fresh proposal moved by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council.

The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, 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 the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

When contacted Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said: "The government has taken action against the proscribed organisations including JeM in the past and any future action against them will be taken in the light of the National Action Plan (NAP) and our commitments in connection with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and not on Indian pressure," he said.

Asked will the government take action against the JeM any time soon, the minister didn't rule it out, saying "any action against the proscribed organisations will be taken according to NAP."

He said the Punjab government has taken the control of a seminary and a mosque in Bahawalpur as per the NAP requirements.
Pakistans Prime Minister Imran Khan wished all Hindu citizens on the occasion of Diwali. Prime Minister Imran Khan wishes a happy Diwali to all Hindu citizens, tweeted Prime Ministers Office in Pakistan.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said the person who solves the Kashmir issue will be worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, days after a resolution was submitted in Parliament endorsing him for the prestigious award, citing his "efforts to de-escalate" tensions with India.

"I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent," the premier tweeted.

On March 2, a resolution was submitted in Pakistan's National Assembly Secretariat stating that Khan's decision of releasing Indian Air Force pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman has de-escalated the hostility between Pakistan and India.

According to the resolution, Khan "acted responsibly" in the current tension and "deserves the Nobel Peace Prize".

After the Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force carried out a counter-terror operation, hitting what it said was a JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on February 26. The next day, Pakistan retaliated with a large air formation, comprising 24 fighter jets, including F-16s.

Varthaman, who was in one of the eight MiG-21s that took on the invading Pakistan Air Force jets and shot down an F-16, was captured by Pakistan.

Khan during a joint session of Parliament on February 28 announced to release the IAF pilot as a "gesture of peace" and the "first step" to open negotiations with India.

Varthaman was released at the Wagah border on Friday.
Targeting the central government over the Pulwama terror attack, the Congress Sunday asked how explosives reached the area and why a civilian vehicle was allowed to enter the road when a huge CRPF convoy was moving.

Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera also wondered why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was silent for over two hours after the terror attack in Pulwama which left 40 CRPF personnel dead on February 14.

Addressing a press conference here, he said. "As a responsible opposition, we will raise questions. Our first question: how did RDX reach there? Our second question: why a civilian vehicle was allowed to enter that road when a huge CRPF convoy was moving?"

Over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber blew up an explosive-laden vehicle near their bus, one in a convoy of 78 moving from Jammu to Srinagar.

Jammu and Kashmir is under President's Rule now.

"Our third question is to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When the incident took place at 3:10 pm, where were you and what were you doing till 5:10 pm? We came to know from media friends in Uttarakhand that he was busy in a photo-shoot," the senior Congress leader claimed.

"When 40 jawans of the country were killed, the king had no time for that. He was busy with politics and publicity," Khera alleged.

He also slammed the prime minister for allegedly doing politics and seeking votes in the name of the slain CRPF jawans.

"The country will not forgive you. The Congress has shown responsibility and promised to the families of those jawans that answers to these questions will be found," he said.

Alleging that BJP is trying hard to politicise the Pulwama attack, Khera asserted that Congress will never play politics on the incident and will not allow others to do it.

On senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh urging the Centre to present evidence of the air strike on terrorist camps in Pakistan's Balakot, Khera said the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister neither raised questions nor asked for any proof.

"He (Singh) said the government shuts the mouth of those raising questions. He put it very clearly. It is not like that the Congress is asking for any proof," the party spokesperson said.

He said India conducted surgical strikes on Pakistan's soil during when Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister.

"We never spoke about it openly. Now the BJP asks us to show proof of that four surgical strikes. Does the BJP have no trust in the Army then? The Army does its work, the government does its work," he added.

"The government does not have answers on two crore jobs, problems of farmers and the cause of demonetisation. So they are doing such kind of politics. There should not be any politics on Army," Khera said.
Accusing opposition parties of promoting dynastic politics, BJP president Amit Shah said that a democratic system was adopted in the country so that a "foolish son" of a monarch did not come to power.

Opposition parties have made a mockery of democracy by creating a new dynastic system where every leader's son succeeds him, he said.

Shah was speaking at an event organised by the Jain International Trade Organisation to raise funds for the Pulwama terrorist attack victims.

"What was wrong with the king and his kingdom? It had only one problem. Even if the king's son was a fool, he would succeed the king," Shah said, without naming any politician or party

"But should someone become prime minister just because he is my son, irrespective of whether he has any capability?" Shah asked.

Saying that the momentum of development under the Narendra Modi government needs to continue, he sought another fifteen years to turn India into a superpower.

"For the first time in 70 years, politics of caste, dynasty and appeasement has been expelled from elections... If the country gets a proper government for fifteen years, I guarantee you that we will see India become a superpower," he said.

"If you give blessings, we will see Narendra Modi Part 2," Shah added.

"The BJP was all set to fight the election under the leadership of a "hard-working, genuine, far-sighted, patriotic, sensitive, decisive prime minister", he said.

Achievements of the last five years have made the world look at India "with respect", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said.

He also slammed the opposition for "asking for proof" of the air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan, saying those seeking evidence were "helping Pakistan, emboldening it".

During the event, Rs 3 crore were raised for the 40 CRPF jawans killed in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14.
Little did Union minister Giriraj Singh realize, while asserting that the March 03 rally here of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would make it clear who stood with India and who with Pakistan, that he would end up explaining his own absence at the public meeting on Sunday.

As the rally was underway here, Singh hurriedly came up with a tweet stating that he had fallen ill while coming to the Bihar capital from his Lok Sabha constituency Nawada.

His absence at the rally invited a flurry of sarcastic remarks by opposition parties in Bihar on Monday. Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who has floated his own Jan Adhikar Party upon expulsion from the RJD and is married to Congress parliamentarian Ranjit Ranjan, took a swipe at the union minister of state (Independent charge) for MSME.

It was Giriraj Singh himself who had laid down the yardstick that those not attending the rally would be deemed anti-national. Hence, he himself becomes a traitor. He has been threatening those whom he considers deshdrohi that they would be deported to Pakistan. Which countrys visa is he going to apply for, the JAP chief tweeted.

Yadav also peppered his tweet with hashtags #BiharRejectsModi which was trending on Sunday and #DeshdrohiGiriraj. While talking to reporters here on the issue, senior RJD leader Vijay Prakash said Giriraj Singh has proved that, by his own logic, he is anti-national.

In any case, the rally was rejected by the patriotic public of Bihar.

Fazal Imam Malik, national spokesperson of RLSP, issued a statement demanding a public apology from Singh and his expulsion from the BJP with the sarcastic remark he should now tell us who must be sent to Pakistan.

Embarrassed over the development, BJP MLC Nawal Kishore Yadav said our party does not need a certificate of nationalism.

Opposition parties are twisting Giriraj Singhs words out of context.

The JD(U), BJPs senior ally in the state, distanced itself from the controversy with its spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar stating it is for Giriraj Singh to explain under what circumstances he said this and offer a justification for the choice of words.

Our party has nothing to do with this matter. Known for shooting from the hip, Singh had made the controversial remark last week in response to a charge by RJD MLA and chief state spokesman Bhai Virendra that the RSS, the BJPs parent body, had sided with the British colonialists during the struggle for Independence.

Meanwhile, the BJP storm petrel continued with his outbursts on twitter during the period of convalescence, advising those doubting claims of destruction of terror hideouts in the recent air strikes across the border to go and seek the proof from Imran Khan and dig up the grave of Masood Azhar and demand an answer while warning of a surgical strike against traitors inside the country.
The Indian National Congress and the Left Front are locked in intense seat-sharing discussions in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The two sides have hit a roadblock after disagreements over at least three Lok Sabha seats  Murshidabad, Purulia and Raigunj.

According to reports, West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) has asked the party high command to take a final call on those seats following difference. Two of the three seats  Raigunj and Murshidabad  are currently held by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The sitting Member of Parliament (MP) from Purulia belongs to the Trinamool Congress. CPI(M)s ally All India Forward Bloc wants to field its candidate from Purulia.

A report in the Hindustan Times quotes Sujan Chakraborty, leader of Left parties in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly as saying that the two sides want to share those seats where they do not have a sitting a MP.

In 2014, Mamata Banerjees had won 34 seats out of the states total 42 seats. BJP had won two seats. Congress and the CPI (M) had won four and two seats, respectively.

However, the report also quotes Congress state unit President Somen Mitra as saying that "People in Raiganj and Murshidabad constituencies have switched from CPI (M) to Congress in large numbers over the past five years, but there are no instances of our workers joining the CPI (M). Given the present scenario, Congress deserves the seats."

Also read  BJP's Look East policy | West Bengal: Saffron party all set to take on Mamata Banerjee's TMC head-on

Speaking to the media, Mitra had on February 27 said that Congress would contest all of the states 42 seats if the Left Front is unwilling to give up the three seats in question.

Meanwhile, the Left Front parties are likely to further discuss seat-sharing at a meeting on March 8.

A Left-Congress alliance would hope to attract anti-TMC voters, who would have otherwise voted for BJP. Partha Das, psephologist and analyst at political consultancy Chanakyya, had earlier told Moneycontrol, "The Left-Congress alliance will happen. It will take time, but it will happen. Otherwise, they will not survive (in the state)."

Trinamool Congress, which currently holds the pole position in the state, is battling Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yet, the TMC has decided not to ally with the Congress and arch-rivals Left.

However, speaking at protest organised by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at New Delhis Jantar Mantar, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee said that TMC and Congress will contest against each other in the state but will fight together at the national level against the BJP.

"Any fight with the Congress will remain in the state. At the national level, we will fight together, this I am saying from the heart... For the greater interest of the country, I am ready to sacrifice my life, my party. I am ready to sacrifice everything," Banerjee said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress-led opposition accusing it of focusing solely on trying to "finish" him off while he is working to quell terrorism, ensure national security, eradicate poverty and corruption, and generate employment.

Addressing an NDA rally here in the presence of his Bihar allies -- including Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan -- Modi came down heavily on opposition for their skepticism over the surgical strikes by the Army post the Uri terror attack, and the air strikes in Balakot after the Pulwama suicide bombing.

"Is it appropriate for these parties to speak in a language that suits Pakistan? Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully," Modi said.

On Saturday, Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had asked the Centre to present evidence of the air strike on terrorist camps in Balakot. He had also "congratulated" Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for releasing IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

Before that, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on February 28 said lives of jawans are much more valuable than electoral politics, but the nation has a right to know what actually happened at Balakot following the IAF's air strike. The PM alleged on Sunday the opposition parties were conspiring against him "while I want to eliminate terror. They are conspiring to finish me off."

"When the country needed to speak in one voice, 21 opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning us. They are demanding proof from the armed forces for their act of bravery," he stated.

Without naming Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who has coined the slogan "Chowkidar chor hai" (the watchman is the thief), Modi said, "Those who run their political shops in the name of the poor and care for nothing except for their dynasties, are having problems with the chowkidar. But the chowkidar is alert and on the job."

Modi also took a veiled dig at jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, saying, "The people of Bihar have seen a lot in the name of purchase of fodder. Our government has worked for doing away with middlemen who siphon off public money. My heartiest congratulations to Nitish Kumar and (Deputy CM) Sushil Kumar Modi for pulling Bihar out of the dark times."

Addressing his first political rally with friend- turned-foe-turned-friend Nitish Kumar, the Prime Minister showered praise on the Bihar chief minister calling him "hard working and sophisticated".

"There seems to be a contest among the opposition parties led by the Congress for hurling abuse at the Chowkidar. But the people of the country have made up their mind. They are going to punish these parties once again and teach them a few more lessons," Modi said.

The prime minister also asserted that the BJP-led government at the Centre wants to ensure that all sections of the society gain access to the best of facilities.

The NDA government is working on all departments including roadways, railways and airways to improve infrastructure in Bihar, he said.

In an apparent repudiation of the allegation that the BJP was against Muslims, Modi spoke about India's rising stock in the eyes of Islamic countries which he said was reflected in the increased quota for Haj pilgrims and Saudi Arabia agreeing to free more than 800 migrants lodged in its jails.

He said the presence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as the guest of honour at the recent Organization of Islamic Cooperation conference exemplified that.

"Such an honour was bestowed on India after five decades during which mostly the Congress and its allies were in power. Why the voice of India was not heard in Islamic nations during that period?" Modi asked.

Referring to the recent visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Modi said, "I told him that India has a burgeoning middle class and requested for increase in the Haj quota of the country. As a result, the quota has been increased to two lakh people. Such an increase has been made only in the case of India".

The PM also said he took up with the crown prince the issue of Indians languishing in Saudi Arabia prisons for minor offences just because they were not familiar with the law of that nation.

"He (Salman) sought a little time, and later in the evening at a dinner at the Rashtrapati Bhavan he asked me to have sweets. I wondered, why? He replied 'we have decided to release 850 Indians from jails'."

"My government is taking care of the concerns of every section of the society," Modi said.

Opposition parties have been accusing the BJP of pursuing an "anti-Muslim" agenda with its stress on issues like Ram temple, abrogation of Article, Uniform Civil Code, and introducing penal provisions for instant triple talaq.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Gujarat from Monday during which he will launch the Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PM-SYM) and inaugurate the first phase of 6-km-long Ahmedabad Metro service.

Official sources said the prime minister would also lay the foundation stone for Umiya Dham temple complex during his visit.

PM Modi would visit Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj in Gandhinagar on March 5 for the ground-breaking ceremony of a Shikshan Bhavan and a Vidhyarthi Bhavan, they added.

The prime minister would start his two-day visit from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region where he would dedicate to the nation a 750-bed annexe of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital and inaugurate its PG hostel, they said.

PM Modi will also launch SAUNI water schemes projects including Und-1 to Ranjit Sagar Lift Irrigation Scheme and Machu-1 to Nyari Lift Irrigation Scheme.

He will also lay the foundation stone of Jodiya Desalination Plant and Und-3 to Venu-2 Lift Irrigation Scheme.

In Jamnagar, Modi will also lay foundation stones of railway projects including conversion of rail tracks to broad gauge and flag off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express.

From Jamanagar, he will reach Ahmedabad and attend a grand function for the Umiya Dham temple complex.

As part of the metro rail commissioning programme, he will lay the foundation of the 28.28 kilometre second phase of the Ahmedabad Metro and also travel some distance on the phase 1 stretch.

Following this, the PM will dedicate to the nation various hospitals built in Ahmedabad region, including Women Children & Super Specialty Hospital, Cancer Hospital, Eye Hospital and Dental Hospital.

On Tuesday, Modi will visit the Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj, Gandhinagar where he will lay the foundation stones of Shikshan Bhavan and Vidhyarthi Bhavan.

The prime minister will then go to Vastral here to launch PM-SYM, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000.

He will oversee the online transfer of benefits to some beneficiaries and then distribute PM-SYM Pension Cards.

The scheme, announced in the Union Budget in February this year, will see each PM-SYM subscriber get a minimum assured pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.
File image

Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his purported political potshot at Congress president Rahul Gandhi while answering a question by a student on dyslexia.

Targeting Modi, Siddaramaiah tweeted: "Just came across a video of our @narendramodi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people. Shame on you Modi!! You just can't go below this. Your insensitivity can't be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you."

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao also hit out at Modi for the reported jibe.

Posting a video of the prime minister making that comment, Rao tweeted Sunday, "If there was ever a classless crude Prime Minister India has seen, here's one. Yuck!"

During a video interaction, a girl Sunday sought to know from Modi the measures taken by the government to benefit dyslexic children.

Before she even finished her question, the prime minister made a comment purported to be a political jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Modi asked the student whether the scheme for dyslexic people she was talking about would benefit a 40 or 50-year-old child. He then said the mother of such children would be very much happy.
The proposal to designate Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar a global terrorist by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) might be passed next week, provided China doesn't block it, according to a report by The Economic Times.

The chair of UNSC sanctions committee has notified that he will assume the members have no objection to the addition of Azhar to the 1267 ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List, unless he hears to the contrary by 3pm on March 13, according to the report.

The proposal has been led by France and backed by the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK). China has consistently blocked proposals to include Azhar on the list since 2010.

"The chair has the honour to transmit, for the consideration of the members, a proposal from the United States, the United Kingdom and France to add an individual, Mohammad Masood Azhar Alvi, to the ISIL (Daesh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions List," the notification states.

"Azhar has financially supported JEM. He is a former leader of the terrorist group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, aka Harkat-ul-Ansar. Most of these groups members subsequently joined JeM under Azhars leadership. In 2008, JeM posters contained a call from Azhar for volunteers to join the fight in Afghanistan against western forces," evidence proposed by France, US and the UK states, according to the report.

The report states that the evidence presented also refers to the Pulawama terror strikes being carried out by JeM. Pakistan has denied JeM's involvement in the terror attack, and, while admitting that Azhar is in the country. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the terrorist could barely move and was suffering from renal failure.

Sources told the newspaper that while there is hope that China will not block the proposal this time around, India remains cautious.

Masood Azhar: Dead or alive?

Meanwhile, speculations regarding Azhar's death have continued. Multiple media reports on March 3 suggested that Azhar had died due to natural causes.

Intelligence agencies were trying to ascertain reports on social media about Azhar's death. Officials had said they had no information other than that the JeM chief was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.

A Pakistani media report had said Azhar was "alive", quoting unnamed sources close to his family, without elaborating on his health condition.

A top government source said on March 4 that in order to de-escalate tension between India and Pakistan, the Pakistani government has decided to launch a crackdown on Azhar.
File image: Indian Army soldiers guarding the border

Reports of ceasefire violations (CFVs) between India and Pakistan on the Line of Control (LoC) over the past week have indicated that tension is still simmering between the two countries.

While CFVs are, according to experts, quite common on the International Border (IB) and the LoC, this time around, major clashes have been reported with civilian casualties on both the sides.

This has prompted concerns regarding a possible escalation on the ground, and observers have stated that a miscalculation in such a scenario on any country's part could quickly spiral.

A brief history of agreements

Representatives of both countries met in 1949 in Karachi to decide upon a ceasefire line, as agreed by both countries, in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

In a letter by the United Nations Commission for India and Pakistan, it stated that: "The ceasefire line is a complement of the suspension of hostilities..."

The meeting between the military chiefs of both countries agreed upon a ceasefire line. That line, however, has been violated and kept on changing over the course of decades, with skirmishes, battles and full-fledged wars to show. In 1972, after the 1971 war with Pakistan, both countries signed the Simla Agreement.

"The Simla Agreement," according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), "contains a set of guiding principles, mutually agreed to by India and Pakistan... These emphasise: respect for each others territorial integrity and sovereignty; non-interference in each others internal affairs; respect for each others unity, political independence; sovereign equality; and abjuring hostile propaganda."

In 2003, India and Pakistan agreed to a formal ceasefire agreement and started "confidence-building measures" along the LoC and IB. According to a report by the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), increasing trade and contact between both the sides started in 2005, and cross-LoC trade in both sectors of Kashmir started in October 2008, only a month before the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

But if these agreements are in place, why do CFVs occur?

Ceasefire violations are essentially cross-border shelling and firing along the LoC, IB and the Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL).

India has maintained that Pakistan has been indulging in violations for which the Indian side gives a response, but never violates ceasefire first.

A paper by Carnegie India states that despite the 2003 agreement, local military factors are largely to be blamed for the constant CFVs. According to a study by Indian scholar Happymoon Jacob, the violations are not planned by senior military commands or the government, but occur due to local concerns.

For instance, according to the study, setting up of new bunkers along the border or maintenance work of old bunkers are considered "opportunities for firing". Other infrastructural concerns, the study suggests, are also taken into consideration. But CFVs, over decades before the 2003 agreement most notably before and during the Kargil War and after 2013, have been used as a cover for infiltrators, according to military experts. The strategy is to divert the Army's attention through shelling and cross-border firing to enable terrorists to cross over.

According to the Carnegie paper, women in Pakistan have protested against the practice, since it destroys their homes and livelihood. Moreover, the nearest human population in India lives about five miles away from the border, but in Pakistan, people reportedly live along the border, which enables more damage to their civilian population during the shelling.

A 2017 RTI report showed that ceasefire violations occur almost daily along the border, and violations and casualties caused by them have increased over time.

Have CFVs increased in the recent past?

Yes, and, according to reports, considerably so. In 2018, over 2,936 CFVs were reported, which was highest in the last 15 years with an average of eight violations daily. Over 61 people were killed and 250 injured during the violations.

These violations were over four times the number of 2017, while by August 2017, the violations that year were as much as for entire 2016. This shows that CFVs have been increasing rapidly.

The violations had decreased considerably after the 2003 agreement, reportedly after Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf turned the tap off on terrorist activities along the border. They have, however, spiked again in recent months.

Does this spike, then, signal escalation?

Not necessarily. For one thing, according to experts, the escalation after the Pulwama terror attack was done through air strikes, and although escalations might occur during CFVs, there are means through which both the sides resolve the issue.

There is, also, a special military hotline established between Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) of both sides to avoid potential volatile situations from flaring into more serious battles.

Diplomatic channels are also used, and high commissioners and deputy high commissioners are called in to register protest over the violations.
Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthamans dauntless, epic response to Pakistan Armys interrogation won the heart of the entire nation. He was captured by the Pak Army after his fighter jet took a hit, and he was asked several questions, including classified information such as what mission he was on. Instead of cowering, the brave officer had looked into the camera with a straight face and said: I am sorry, I am not supposed to tell you this."

This line became an instant hit and the entire nation began reciting it in praise of his grit and bravery. The famous line even started trending on Twitter and were employed to heap praises on the officer or pay him tributes.

The national appeal of his words has now led the Nagpur Police to use it in one of their recent campaigns.

Talking about cybersecurity and the need to not divulge information to strangers, the Nagpur Polices Twitter handle posted: "When someone asks for your OTP: I am not supposed to tell you this."

Completely nailed it..  Akshay W (@akkiiieeee) March 2, 2019



Really innovative way of creating awareness. Pls keep it up.

 MilindMkulkarni (@MkulkarniMilind) March 3, 2019

Netizens heaped praises on the cops for employing the line so brilliantly.

True, in the world of digitalisation, need to tell ' I am not supposed to tell this' is right sentence everyone should tell March 2, 2019

The same thing is applied for you When u will ask for Driving Lucienne & helmet ..then my reaction will be "I am not supposed to tell you " Vivek Kumar Singh (@VivekKu48811586) March 2, 2019



That was savage! Intense_Inamdar (@InamdarIntense) March 3, 2019



This is really really awesome ek dialogue jo pure desh k dilon dimag me goonj rha quot;sorry sir I am not supposed to tell you this.."  Sandra Acharya (@AcharyaSandra) March 3, 2019
There is some positive news coming from the US House of Representatives for immigrants, especially Indians, looking to avail a Green Card. A new bipartisan Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act introduced in the house apparently makes the uncertain and long process of securing US citizenship slightly less arduous.

This Bill was introduced by representatives Zoe Lofgren and Ken Buck. It had 112 co-sponsors and has been supported by 300 members of the 535-strong house.

At present, the waiting period for a Green Card depends on the country of origin of the person applying  a person coming from a country with a lower population might get it faster than a person from a more populous country due to the per country cap. However, this bill puts employment-based immigrants on one level, thereby removing the seven percent 'per-country' limit on employment-based immigrant visas or Green Card.

The bill also aims to raise this seven percent per-country cap on family-sponsored visas to 15 percent.

Another bill is in the works for immigrants from certain countries, especially Indians, which aims to clear the visa backlog in 5-7 years. This move will allow as many as 29,000 Indians into the US on permanent employment or Green Card as the limitations would be lifted. At present, Indians going to the US to study and then seeking employment there are likely to be on a temporary visa for the entire duration of their stay. They are required to extend the visa every three years and update it with every change in their position or salary.

This process will help highly skilled Indians, who have been living in the US for a long time but are not getting citizenship due to origin country quotas. If the new bill is promulgated, the Green Card process will become much simpler as applications will be processed as they are received.

The bill has a lot of support in the house, but it will still be a task to get it passed. "This bill does have a large number of supporters, which makes it easier to push it through. But there will be a lot of resistance to any bill that seeks to change the US immigration regime," Poorvi Chothani, a Mumbai-based immigration lawyer told The Economic Times . With presidential elections next year, President Donald Trump may not be keen on signing an immigration law.
Representative image

Pakistan plans to take action against militant groups operating on its soil, a minister said on Monday, amid global pressure to act after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir last month.

But Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry denied Indian accusations that Pakistan was involved in the February 14 attack, which led to a sharp rise in hostilities, saying it "had nothing to do with us".

Nuclear-armed Pakistan and India both carried out aerial bombing missions last week and on Wednesday fought a brief dogfight in the skies over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, but they stepped back from the brink after Islamabad on Friday handed back a captured Indian pilot as a peace gesture.

Britain and the United States welcomed the pilot's return but urged Islamabad to take action against militant groups carrying out attacks on Indian soil. Islamabad denies assisting the groups or using them as proxies in its rivalry with India.

Previous vows by the Pakistan government to crack down on anti-India militant groups have largely come to nothing, with militant leaders living freely in Pakistan.

Pakistan's powerful military dictates the South Asian nation's security plans and foreign policy, including relations with India.

Chaudhry said the decision to act was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee before the suicide bombing, claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), in Kashmir.

"A full-fledged strategy is now in place," Chaudhry told Reuters. "We have different strategies for different groups, but the main aim is that we have to enforce the writ of the state. We have to demilitarise if there are groups (on our soil)."

Pakistan's English-language Dawn newspaper said a source briefed journalists that a crackdown against militant groups was imminent.

"The action would soon be visible as things progress," Dawn cited the source as saying. It did not identify the source or say whether it was from the military or government.

In September 2017, Reuters reported that Pakistan's military had decided to deradicalise armed militant groups and try to get them involved in politics.

That strategy was criticised by civil society groups and the previous civilian government after the emergence of a new party linked to Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. Saeed denied a role in the attack but the new party was later banned.

DRYING UP MILITANTS' FUNDS

Chaudhry said Pakistan would use an "economic, political and administrative strategy" that would adhere to Pakistan's National Action Plan (NAP) formulated in 2014, which vowed to stamp out militant groups.

Analysts say security services carrying out NAP did not target anti-India outfits.

Chaudhry added that Pakistan would also fulfil demands set out by a global watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which put Pakistan on a terrorism watch list in 2018 on the urging of the United States and European nations.

"We have to implement FATF conditionalities, and likewise, we have taken strict measures on money laundering to dry the source of funding for these groups," Chaudhry said.

Chaudhry said the government was looking to close "loopholes" that allowed banned groups to operate.

"With banned groups it will be made sure that they will be banned in practical terms also," he said. "The problem is that they change names and start operating from other names. This needs to be taken care of."

India accused Pakistan of playing a role in the Feb. 14 JeM attack in the Kashmiri city of Pulwama.

"We have looked at the incident and it is our considered opinion that Pulwama has nothing to do with us," Chaudhry said.

The United States, Britain and France proposed last week that the U.N. Security Council blacklist the head of JeM, Masood Azhar. A vote is due to be held in mid-March with a focus on Pakistan's staunch ally China, which has blocked previous attempts by world powers to sanction the JeM chief.

Pakistan's foreign minister last week told CNN that Azhar was in Pakistan and "really unwell".

India on Tuesday bombed what New Delhi called a JeM militant training camp in a forest area in northern Pakistan, killing "many terrorists". Islamabad denied such a camp existed and invited journalists to visit the site.

Villagers in the area said there was no active militant camp but pointed to a nearby madrasa and said it was run by JeM. The military prevented Reuters reports from visiting the madrasa.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could reach a formal trade deal at a summit around March 27 given progress in talks between the two countries, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The two nations have imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of each others' goods, roiling financial markets, disrupting manufacturing supply chains and shrinking U.S. farm exports.

China would lower tariffs on U.S.-made goods including agricultural products, chemicals and cars in exchange for sanctions relief from Washington, the Journal said, citing people briefed on the matter on both sides.

The newspaper's sources cautioned that hurdles remain, and each side faces possible resistance at home that the terms are too favorable to the other side.

As a part of the deal there would be a $18 billion purchase of natural-gas from Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc, the report said.

Cheniere declined to comment on the potential for a new LNG supply deal with China, a spokesman said. It last year signed a 20-year deal to supply state-run Chinese National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) with natural gas from its Louisiana export terminal through 2043.

The United States is working to hammer out a detailed trade agreement with China that will include specific structural commitments, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC on Thursday.

Last week, Trump said the U.S. could walk away from a trade deal with China if it were not good enough, even as his economic advisers touted "fantastic" progress towards an agreement to end the dispute with Beijing.
President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Cold War-era Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty with the United States, the Kremlin said on Monday.

Russia announced last month it was suspending the treaty after the United States said it would withdraw because of violations by Moscow. Russia denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of breaking the accord itself, allegations rejected by the United States.

Putin ordered the treaty be suspended until Washington stops violating the treaty and has told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform signatories to the accord of Russia's move to suspend it, the text of the decree showed.
Having travelled much of the world variously as seafarer, media person, techie and more, I have, over the last few years, opted to be a tourist exclusively within India, and that too, as much as possible, by surface transport - rail, road and water.

There are, certainly, vast improvements in infrastructure and service delivery, especially from the private sector. There are also huge regional imbalances in the quality of products and services, with south India and north-east India way ahead of the rest of India in terms of true and real hospitality as well as basics.

But it is where governments, both state and Central, come into the picture that the realities are often totally at odds with the stated goals and objectives. As a matter of simple fact, it is very often these very so-called facilitating bodies, both Central and state, and the people therein, who work at cross purposes, usually behaving more as danda-wielding "sarkari sanstha" types, than as tourism facilitators.

This also varies from region to region and this short essay is about the ground realities in the Bundelkhand region, which is divided between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, two of our largest states in terms of size and population as well as tourism potential, and the role of the Indian railways therein.

This is not to detract from the huge success of the Kumbh at PrayagRaj in eastern Uttar Pradesh - that has been and shall remain a Superstar to remind us of all that is possible and more when we as Indians set out to put in a remarkable performance.

For practical reasons, access to the Jhansi and Orchha belt of the Bundelkhand region is best via Delhi but rail access from the rest of India is also feasible. There is minimal or almost nil civilian air access to the Bundelkhand region, for multiple reasons. So, travel to Bundelkhand is perforce by rail or by road, and therein lies the glitch.

The first solid point off the bat - in all my travels all over India, I have seldom come across more hospitable and honest ordinary people, than in the Bundelkhand areas.

Their pride, self-respect and understanding of service as different from servitude is to be saluted. From the poorest of daily wagers to the owners of massive properties, my experience with all of them has been heartening, and their history bears this out. For this reason alone I would strongly recommend a tourist visit to Bundelkhand by Indians, as is borne out also by the simple fact that about 66% to 75% of white collar tourists to this area appear to be mainly non Anglo Saxon foreigners, because this is one part of India that gave the British colonial masters the tough time that they rarely encountered in other parts of the country.

A huge group of tourists from China explained it to me thus - "We want to visit parts of India which are not just about Mughal and British era."

In Bundelkhand, women on two-wheelers and in other activities of the tourism support services like guides, shop-keepers, restaurant and stall operators, are commonplace all over, showing that gender parity is well established. Also, none of the perils of modern tourism are visible as yet - no paedophilia, hard drugs and flesh trade. In three days of roaming around in this part of Bundelkhand, I did not see a single syringe in a gutter, was not solicited for sex even once, and did not spot a single massage parlour of that looked suspicious. What you see in Bundelkhand is rock solid upper end tourists, apart from the regular Indian pilgrim traffic to the oldest temples seen in this part of India.

And honesty across the board. As well as an interesting attitude towards the Brits.

If you are British and you come to Bundelkhand, you will be reminded by every monument, museum and memory on how your ancestors were continuously on the trot here. If you are Indian, you will be reminded of how the Mughals and the British colonials were kept on the run by the intransigent people of Bundelkhand for centuries: which is also why this is one part of north India where ancient Hindu, Jain and Buddhist monuments have survived - and that is important to understand as well as to observe. It is another matter that the Jhansi Museum, maintained by the government of Uttar Pradesh, and the Jhansi fort, maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under the Central government, still refer to 1857 as "mutiny", sadly.

Roads in and around Bundelkhand are not of the best quality, but they are totally safe for tourists, especially women, and it can take anything between 8 and 12 hours to and from Delhi to Jhansi/Orchha for example. In addition, the highways meander in and out of UP and MP multiple times, with added excursions into Rajasthan and Haryana, so moving around in yellow plate commercial vehicles is full of inter-state complications of the which have only become more complex with time.

That leaves us with the Indian Railways. Access to Bundelkhand is good via Jhansi junction, an important railway as well as old garrison town, but therein also lies another small technicality - most of the fast trains from Delhi operate via Agra and Gwalior, which swallow up most of the seats available, and so huge waiting lists for Jhansi from Delhi are legendary. It is another matter that this route also appears to block a lot of seats and berths for the so-called VVIPs. The Gatimaan Express, now India's second fastest train, is the preferred option on this route - if you can get tickets to and from Jhansi, that is.

In addition, as happens with Indian Railways, the executive lounge for 1st AC and the executive class paying passengers at the Jhansi railway station, announced with much fanfare by the ministry of railways, has been cordoned off for visiting VVIPs of the indeterminate sort. The rest of the railway station is a royal mess of the feudal sort too: the less said of it the better: and certainly not befitting that of a tourist hotspot. At the Jhansi railway station, the colonials never really left, they were just replaced by the neo-colonials and their cohorts as well as gibbering servants hiding their name tags.

Next, Jhansi is in Uttar Pradesh while Orchha is in Madhya Pradesh, and they are just about 10-15 kilometres apart. In addition, Jhansi is far away from Lucknow, Orchha is equally far away from Bhopal. The quality of services provided by state government officials on both sides, as explained to me variously, is not of the best.

Lucknow and Bhopal are both viewed as neo-colonial feudal entities which had a history of bowing to the Mughals and the British - which is not a popular theme in Bundelkhand. Delhi, incidentally, is viewed as the super slave city which bowed and cringed to the Mughals and the British.

The Bundelkhand ethos to tourism starts from there. As long as you can negotiate the perils placed in your path by the triumvirate of Central, MP and UP governments, it is a pleasant vacation for tourists. Do be prepared to be tripped up, however, at every step by babudom.

For example, to see unpaid monuments in Orchha like the magnificient chhatries and the old Chatarbhuj temple, you are expected to go to far-away Raja Mahal and buy your tickets there for the paid monument which is the Orchha Fort. In person. Why in person? "Security". Of course, the same tickets are available at a premium everywhere or you can just tip the ever present "sarkari". The numbers add up if you are foreigner, because the tickets cost 250/- rupees. In addition, random entities have started charging for tickets even at other non-ticketed monuments in both Orchha and Jhansi, such as the existing temples. However, if challenged, they do withdraw.

The best hotels in Orchha are in the Rs4000 per couple per night, including breakfast, range. We stayed at the Bundelkhand Riverside, a sprawling property along the Betwa River, and enjoyed a decent quality of air, services and peace as well as met pleasant people across the range of tourism support services, which makes us want to go back to Orchha again. Hopefully the Indian Railways will do their part, and improve tourist facilities at Jhansi too.
No discussion about Mumbais notoriously land-starved real estate market is complete without mentioning the massive tracts of land held by various government and non-government agencies and bodies. Arguably, Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) is currently one of the largest landowners in the countrys otherwise land-scarce financial capital.

MbPT owns nearly 1,900 acres of commercially useable prime land in south and south-central Mumbai along the sea-facing eastern coast. If put to good use, this large tract of land can help considerably in solving the citys immense housing shortage.

Initially either oblivious or indifferent to its real worth, the port authorities have now realised that they sit on a veritable goldmine that can fetch massive capital. However, it is definitely not as easy as it may appear since many are now trying to capitalise on this precious land.

Some existing lessees are refusing to vacate the leased premiseseven post expiry of their lease period of 100 yearsor even allow the rentals to be hiked to match the current market rates. Others are engaged in long-drawn court cases commissioned by either party.

Either way, it is a fact that prime land in the heart of the city is lying unused to its best potential, despite the industry constantly harping on the housing shortage in the citys heartland.

Issues - More Complex than Ever

The land of MbPT, a Central government facility under the Union ministry of shipping, is increasingly appearing on the radar of the state government or the BMC for affordable housing. After all, this are prime land parcels. How far the states plans will actually be implemented even if they do get a share of the land is another big question.

Nevertheless, seeing the commercial viability of the land, the port trust in 2018 refused to relinquish a portion of its precious land on the eastern waterfront to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corp (BMC). Instead, it planned to turn the land into a commercial development with sea terminal, water tourism, central business and finance districts, hotels, and business officesleaving a mere 10%-11% of land for affordable housing.

Paradoxically, if we consider the rejuvenation or development of port cities in developed countries like the US and UK, a major emphasis has been given to affordable housing.

The authorities refusal last year to give away land for affordable housing also flies in the face of their assurances to the BMC during the formulation of the Mumbai Development Plan 2034. The result is that, just like the earlier mill lands being converted into prime residential and commercial hubs for the limited few, the port land will also see similar fateif the various issues surrounding it are resolved at all.

To compound the issue, MbPT as of now does not even have any concrete plan to execute its development propaganda. Moreover, that implementation itself would pose to be a major challenge for them in the future.

Besides, the issue is far more complex than is immediately evident. Despite having ownership of this land, MbPT is unable to get their property vacated by several tenants whose lease periods (ranging from 1 month to 100 years) has long since expired. Quite correctly, the MbPT or the government do not offer them an alternate rehabilitation plan.

Both parties are embroiled in innumerable court cases that will take years to be sorted out. As an added inconvenience, the Indian Tenancy Act is largely skewed in favour of tenants.

Even if the Port wins most of the cases in its favour, the real challenge for implementation of its development will be funding. As it is, the prevailing funding crisis in the sector has left builders and other real estate stakeholders in dire straits.

If we take the case of Dharavi, it is evident that despite all good intentions, the current cash crunch with developers has prevented even the big boys from stepping forward and take up the challenge of building this mega projectwhich obviously requires massive funds.

No Solutions in Sight

It would be difficult to suggest any single concrete solution to the tremendous challenge that the MbPT faces. The blame-game between all concerned parties will only ruin the realty prospects of land, which could have otherwise been utilised to rejuvenate a city that needs serious affordable housing infusion.

The recent relaxation in the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification, 2018 that permits real estate activities up to 50 meters of the high tide line provides a respite to the MbPT. This essentially means that a lot of their land which falls within the coastal regulatory zone and where no real estate activity was permitted, has opened up.

On one hand, there are tenants irked by the port authorities, and on the other authorities that claim they are being deprived of their right to land ownership. However, taking a few steps back, one can only say that for Mumbai to reap the real benefits, there has to be an all-inclusive plan wherein all concerned real estate stakeholders get to some share of the benefits.

(Anuj Puri is chairman of ANAROCK Property Consultants Pvt Ltd)
Chinese news agency Xinhua has put its first female Artificial Intelligence (AI) news presenter on the job, signalling a clear threat to human journalists in the years to come.

Sporting a short haircut and wearing a pink dress, the AI robot named "Xin Xiaomeng" made its debut in a short, one-minute video on Sunday as China's Two Sessions - the country's biggest political meetings of the year - kicked off.

The Two Sessions event is back-to-back meetings between the Chinese Peopleas Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People's Congress (NPC).

Xinhua has given life to "Xin Xiaomeng" in collaboration with Chinese search engine company Soguo.

"Xiaomeng" joins two male AI anchors already working with the news agency.

Last November, AI news presenter anchor Qiu Hao was unveiled during the World Internet Conference in China.

There is another, an improved male AI robot named Xin Xiaohao "who is able to gesture, stand, and move more naturally than Xin Xiaomeng or Qiu Hao", said a report in interestingengineering.com.

Qiu Hao has already presented 3,400 reports and garnered 10,000 minutes of screen time.

Xinhua has also been experimenting with a robot reporter called "Jia Jia".

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.
March 04, 2019 Venezuela - Random Guyaido Returns Only To Again Be Ignored Juan Guaido, the random guy who claims to be 'interim president' of Venezuela, just arrived (vid) back in Caracas. He was not arrested. It seems that President Maduro's strategy is to simply ignore Guaido and to wait until the guy campaign runs out of steam. Meanwhile U.S. media and the Trump administration are doing their best to further that. The New York Times reported of Random Guyaido's plans to return to Venezuela: Guaido Vows a Prompt Return to Venezuela, as Unity Starts to Fray The piece included this curious passage: These regional allies are among the 50 countries, including the United States, that have recognized him as president, not Mr. Maduro, who swore himself in in January for a second term after an election widely viewed as undemocratic. Is it unusual that someone swears "himself" into office. It is also not what the constitution of Venezuela proscribes: Article 231: The candidate elected shall take office as President of the Republic on January 10 of the first year of his constitutional term, by taking an oath before the National Assembly. If for any supervening reason, the person elected President of the Republic cannot be sworn in before the National Assembly, he shall take the oath of office before the Supreme Tribunal of Justice. So what really happened on January 10 in Venezuela? Helpfully the NYT provided a link in the passage above. It goes to this story in the January 10 edition of the Times. It says: When President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was sworn in for his second term on Thursday before the countrys Supreme Court, ..

...

The presidents of Bolivia, Cuba, El Salvador and Nicaragua did attend the ceremony, along with representatives from China, Mexico and Turkey. Maduro did not swear "himself in", he was "sworn in". He took the oath in front of the supreme court which is fully consistent with the constitution. (The National Assembly is held in contempt of a judgment by the supreme court and was therefore not eligible.) The Miami Herald has a short video of the scene. So while on January 10 the NYT correctly described that Maduro was "sworn in", it now claims that he "swore himself in". Why the Times is doing that is quite obvious. It was the U.S. puppet Juan Guaido who "swore himself in" as 'interim president' in a form that is inconsistent with what the constitution demands. As CNN reported at that time: National Assembly President Juan Guaido swore himself in as President of Venezuela today before a massive crowd of supporters in Caracas. Raise your right hand, today, January 23rd 2019, in my condition as President of the National Assembly, invoking the articles of the Constitution  before Almighty God, Guaido said, as the mass of supporters raised their hands. I swear to formally assume the power of the National Executive Office as the President of Venezuela. To cover for the non-legal way Random Guyaido "swore himself in" the Times now alleges that President Maduro did similar. The difference in the wording seems minor, but it demonstrates the utter contempt for the constitution and laws that Guaido and his supporters have shown. Juan Guaido left Venezuela on February 22 in defiance of a court order to stay in the country. That is why he still might get arrested. But if he had not returned then his career as 'interim president' would have ended. The NYT report above and similar pieces in other media agree on that: If Guaido returns home only to be arrested, the oppositions campaign  which has brought thousands of Venezuelans into the streets in recent weeks  could be stopped in its tracks. But if he remains abroad, the effort could also falter. There is a third way in which the opposition's campaign might fail. It can simply be ignored. Just don't look (vid) and the monsters will fail. Guaido called for new rallies in his support: "I'm heading home," Guaido tweeted on Monday morning. In recent messages to his supporters, Guaido has appealed for huge demonstrations coinciding with his arrival as a way to pressure Maduro to resign. Workers set up a stage in a Caracas plaza where demonstrators plan to gather, and protests were planned elsewhere in the country. It is an inconvenient day for rallies in Caracas. It is carnival, a holiday in Venezuela, and many people are out of town. It is also unclear how much momentum the guy's supporters have left after his 'humanitarian aid' stunt failed and after his week abroad during which he appeared to be completely delusional: Q: Do you see any way to get rid of Maduro? Guaido: I see many ways of getting rid of Maduro. Hes completely isolated, so much so that his only recourse is to continue to repress and use force against the people of Venezuela. The use of force is by paramilitary groups, it isnt even the National Guard. Q: Is the army split? There were 200 defections from the military, but many officers have not defected. Guaido: Two hundred is only a small portion. The vast majority of the armed forces, 80 percent, support me and reject the regime. Its just the top people who continue to hold on. There is a lot of fear, because of the types of tactics that theyre using. Over the weekend John Bolton, Trump's National Security Advisor, again did his best to convince the people in Venezuela that the imperial U.S. is behind every step Guaido takes: John Bolton @AmbJohnBolton - 1:59 AM - 4 Mar 2019

Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido has announced his planned return to Venezuela. Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community. Bolton may have hoped that Guaido would be arrested. If that was his plan it failed. But such tweets have an effect. They demonstrate that Guaido is a U.S. puppet and that does not increase that persons support. At least not in Latin America. In a Sunday interview on CNN Bolton also took care (video, transcript) to lessen Venezuela's neighbors' support for the U.S. directed scheme: BOLTON: [..] I think since most of my tweets also come out in Spanish, because we want to reach the Latin American audience in particular, that a lot of people, especially on the political left, in the hemisphere and around the world, now understand that the failed experiment of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro needs to end. So, I would like to see as broad a coalition as we can put together to replace Maduro, to replace the whole corrupt regime. That's what we're trying to do.

...

TAPPER: But do you not see that the United States' support for other brutal dictators around the world undermines the credibility of the argument you're making? BOLTON: No, I don't think it does. I think it's separate. And I think, look, in this administration, we're not afraid to use the phrase Monroe Doctrine. This is a country in our hemisphere. It's been the objective of American presidents going back to Ronald Reagan to have a completely democratic hemisphere. I mentioned back in -- at the end of last year that we're looking very much at the troika of tyranny, including Cuba, Nicaragua, as well as Maduro. Part of the problem in Venezuela is the heavy Cuban presence, 20,000 to 25,000 Cuban security officials, by reports that have been in the public. This is the sort of thing that we find unacceptable. And that's why we're pursuing these policies. There are some 20,000 Cuban doctors working in Venezuela. I find no report that any Cuban security officials have appeared there. By mentioning Reagan and the two hundred years old Monroe Doctrine, Bolton makes sure that neither the political left nor the right in the Americas will support any action the U.S. is going to take. The people there know what the U.S. has done to them throughout the centuries and they will oppose any future intervention. That Bolton openly threatens to continue that imperial behavior makes it more difficult for other countries to support it. It also makes it much more difficult for Guaido to gain larger support. Ken Silverstein, who is just back from Venezuela, finds that while even Chavismo supporters may not love Maduro, everyone really dislikes his fake competitor: Maduro does not appear to be widely liked, but he is certainly more popular than the widely reviled and mocked Juan Guaido, President Donald Trumps toy poodle. Maduro can sit this out. Guaido's claims to the presidency are clearly illegal. He has failed to gain support at every step of his way. The army stands strongly behind the government. No human waves appeared to carry the 'humanitarian aid' across the border. The opposition does not know what to do next. All neighboring countries spoke out against a military intervention. Russia and China will prevent negative steps at the UN. While the U.S. wages an economic siege against the country, others are willing to help. Sanctions alone hardly ever bring a government down. Maduro can simply let Guaido clown around in Caracas or wherever he wants to go. The guy seems unable to deliver results. The longer his campaign takes the less support will he have. In a few month the whole thing may well fizzle out. What will Bolton do when he finally recognizes that fact? Posted by b on March 4, 2019 at 18:56 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Beverly Hills 90210 star Luke Perry has died after suffering a stroke last week.

Perry, 52, died at St Joseph's Hospital in Burbank, California, surrounded by his family and close friends, TMZ reports.

He was rushed to hospital on Wednesday morning after suffering a stroke while he was at his Sherman Oaks home.

Representatives of the Riverdale star say doctors sedated him to try and give his brain a chance to recover, but the damage was too much.

The stroke struck on the same day a Beverly Hills 90210 reboot was announced - the show which shot him to fame.

Original cast members Jason Priestley, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Gabrielle Carteris, Brian Austin Green, and Tori Spelling will star, but Perry had not been announced to return.

Spelling previously told Access Live that Perry's production schedule on Riverdale would prevent him from being a regular, but he would do as many episodes as possible.

Newshub.


Balint Porneczi/Bloomberg

A subsidiary of French oil major Total S.A. is pushing further into petrochemicals on the Gulf Coast as one its joint ventures with Novealis Holdings starts construction on a major new polyethylene plant in Pasadena.

Crews broke ground last week on 625,000 metric ton per a year polyethylene unit from Bayport Polymers LLC (also called Baystar). Baystar is a 50/50 joint venture with Total Petrochemicals & Refining USA and Novealis Holdings LLC; Novealis is co-owned by Borealis AG of Vienna and NOVA Chemicals of Calgary.
There are debutante balls and there are debutante balls. Blayne Fertitta's "official" social debut was unquestionably the latter.

As the daughter of Tilman Fertitta - Landry's Inc. CEO, Houston Rockets owner and Post Oak at Uptown proprietor - hers is a familiar face and name around town. That also extends to Galveston, from where her family hails and home of the largest Mardi Gras Krewe, Knights of Momus.

So it came as no surprise when Blayne and her grandfather Vic Fertitta (yes, the Vic in Vic & Anthony's Steakhouse) were crowned queen and King Frivolous CIV, respectively, at Fiesta de Momus' Coronation Ball on the last weekend in February.

MAJOR EXHIBITIONS COMING: Menil expands horizons with Aboriginal, Caribbean art next season

But that's just one of the carnival's three revelrous fetes. And at Friday's San Luis Salute, queen Blayne ruled the night.

For top-tier VIPs, the festivities began with a police-escorted motorcade from the San Luis Resort to the Fertitta family's "Boardwalk," which is both an actual waterfront pier and the name of their 173-foot mega-yacht.

This year, Blayne and the royal court's additional 23 duchess/debutantes descended from the hotel lobby's champagne reception in a flurry of millennial pink, yellow or floral printed gowns - a nod to the "Mexico Magnifico!" theme.

And aboard the trio of party buses? A head-rushing mix of the girls' college escorts and Houston heavy-hitters such as police chief Art Acevedo, University of Houston System President Dr. Renu Khator, and Alanna Flores, whose own high-profile deb ball after-party featuring a performance by Drake also made headlines late last year.

Upon arrival at their first destination, pre-party invitees were presented with two options: explore the floating manse or hit the Crystal Champagne Tent to fuel up on food and libations.

Experienced attendees managed to knock out both in one well-timed swoop. Servers greeted guests with miniature margarita-filled Patron bottles. Inside the tent, there was endless Veuve Clicquot and oversized paper flower walls for picture taking; and on board the boat, there were Australian crew members to snap photos on each of the four levels, in the 11 bedrooms or next to the helicopter perched up top.

A fast and furious 90 minutes later, the throng raced back onto the buses and departed for the main event - an over-the-top, jam-packed gala at the Galveston Island Convention Center.

That's where master event designer Richard Flowers had transformed the exhibition-style space into a Cinco de Mayo-meets-Dia de los Muertos blowout with a hint of Las Vegas and that unmistakable Landry's slant.

How else does one describe acrobats writhing around in black skeletal paint? Or exquisite alternating tabletops (upwards of 150) covered with blue and white ceramic centerpieces, bottles of tequila, shot glasses and freshly snipped blooms?

There were so many musical performances, no one knew quite where to look. Atlanta's Big Beyond band had the sold-out crowd on the dance floor from the get-go. Some of the black-tie party-goers took breaks in-between busting a move to dive into the four-course dinner. Others only paused long enough to watch the royal court procession before rushing the stage again for Usher's headlining concert.

FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: You're never too young to age well

The Grammy Award-winning artist put on a crowd-pleasing show. His high-energy backup dancers and DJs spun all the hits from "Confessions," "Burn" and "U Got it Bad" to "Yeah!" "OMG" and "DJ Got Us Falling in Love."

It was a highlight, for sure, but not the end.

San Luis Saluters-in-the-know high-tailed it back to the hotel's bar for the party after the party. It's tradition for Fertitta family members to cozy up in booths, or catch up with old friends at the bar or singalong as Password puts on a semi-private Top 40 show.

And that's also where Tilman - typically reserved and all business - capped the evening in rare form: getting down front and center with his pal, Acevedo, and later, giggling and grinning ear-to-ear as he hugged guests goodnight. The mark of a proud father on his daughter's big night.

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The state can expect to see moderate economic growth in the upcoming fiscal year that will lead to higher tax receipts for the state. But there are warning signs on the national horizon that could signal an economic downturn in 2021.

That was the message Thursday from Marty Johnson, the acting chief economist at the Illinois Department of Revenue, who briefed House committee members on what they can expect to see in state revenues over the next 16 months.

We just finished up a banner year for the national economy, Johnson said. In 2018, (economic) output was expanding at the fastest pace since 2005. Unemployment was at a 49-year low. Consumer spending was robust.

And while Illinois has lagged behind the nation in a number of categories, Johnson said the state has experienced growth, particularly in personal income and in some employment sectors such as manufacturing and construction.

Those trends are expected to continue into the 2019-2020 budget year, which begins July 1, with overall tax receipts growing about 4.3 percent, to $33.5 billion. And that will give lawmakers a little extra breathing room when they start cobbling together next years budget.

The bulk of that growth is expected to come from what state officials call the big three sources of revenue  individual and corporate income taxes, and sales taxes.

Individual income taxes are expected to grow about 3.3 percent, to $18.8 billion. Johnson said thats mainly due to wage and salary growth, which is driven by a relatively low unemployment rate. Only a small amount of that will come from the states new, higher minimum wage, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2020, midway through the fiscal year.

Personal income growth is also expected to drive up sales tax receipts, which are expected to grow by 3.7 percent, to just over $8.5 billion.

State corporate income taxes, meanwhile, have not been affected by recent changes in federal tax law as much as forecasters had expected, Johnson said. As a result, those receipts are expected to grow nearly 6 percent, to $2.3 billion, the result of what forecasters believe will be higher corporate earnings in the coming fiscal year.

All of that is the result of a continuing national economic expansion, which Johnson said is nearly the longest on record. But she said there is also reason to believe that expansion might not continue for long.

This particular expansion has been one of the most anemic that weve witnessed in this country since we have had economic recessions, she said.

Among other things, she said, the federal tax cuts that went into effect in 2018 gave a short-term boost to the national economy. But she said that stimulus effect is expected to dissipate in the upcoming year.

The fading fiscal stimulus combined with increasing market volatility will limit growth in 2020 and the out-years, Johnson said.

Rep. Steven Reick, a Woodstock Republican, responded saying a downturn in the national economy would be bad news for Illinois.

We all know that when the United States gets a cold, Illinois gets pneumonia, he said.

But Revenue Department Director David Harris, a former legislator, said there have been many trends in the current economic recovery that dont fit normal patterns, like the fact that wages have not grown as much as the historically low unemployment rate would suggest. As a result, he said he is not sure economists should rely on traditional indicators of future economic trends.

Im not sure a lot of folks know what normal is anymore, Harris said. There are so many topsy-turvy markers that dont seem to apply.
With no warning, an Illinois community learned last week it is losing almost 1,400 jobs.

Is the decision by Fiat Chrysler to lay off 1,371 workers at its plant in Belvidere in north-central Illinois the result of hurtful policy positions by freshman Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic supermajorities in the General Assembly?

The company isnt saying that, but the automaker simultaneously announced it is investing $4.5 billion at its Michigan-based plants and creating 4,500 new jobs there.

Illinois loss is Michigans gain.

And that should make anyone with an interest in the future of Illinois economic health to take pause.

For decades, Illinois state government promoted policy positions that created a poor business and jobs climate here. Thats no secret.

The state has the second highest property taxes in the country; the highest workers compensation costs in the Midwest in part because of the states abusive legal climate, labeled a judicial hellhole; and a burdensome regulatory climate that hinders small-business growth.

As a result, Illinois economic outlook lags behind other states despite the booming national economy.

Although the economy has strengthened compared with the previous few years, Illinois still trails the rest of the country in most gauges of economic performance, Moodys Analytics says in its latest State of Illinois Forecast Report, released this month. Employment is increasing more slowly than the Midwest and U.S. averages, the labor force is near its lowest point in more than 10 years, and weaker consumer demand than in other states is weighing on population-dependent industries such as retail, leisure/hospitality and real estate.

Illinois jobs climate is bad. It could be getting worse.

This month, Pritzker signed legislation that will raise the states minimum wage incrementally to $15 an hour by 2025, despite warnings from downstate business owners that it will result in widespread job cuts.

Since then, the owner of Hoppers Poppers in Sycamore said he was closing his popcorn store and looking to relocate out of state because he cant afford the new expense. And the owners of a seasonal business in Wood River decided it also had to shut down and lay off six employees for the same reason.

These are just two small examples in two different regions of the state, but they appear to be omens of things to come.

What happens if Pritzker is successful in having the states constitution changed to allow for a progressive income tax? The states flat income tax of 4.95 percent is the one advantage it has over its neighbors. A progressive tax will mean higher tax rates for higher wage earners, resulting in tax hikes for middle class families and small businesses.

Gov. Pritzkers progressive tax is really a jobs tax, state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, said. Small businesses create 80 percent of the jobs in the state.  Any basic economy theory is going to say that more taxes and more regulations are going to kill jobs.  Im really concerned with the direction were heading in.

Fiat Chryslers decision was at least months in the making and not a knee-jerk reaction to anything that happened since Pritzker took office. But the governor has been talking about a $15 minimum wage and progressive tax for well over a year. He ran on the initiative, and made no secret of his intention to force businesses to increase wages.

Prosperous business owners today want to remain prosperous business owners a few years from now. Business owners believe their companies will be ongoing concerns, and make the adjustments necessary to stay ahead of known expense drivers. They pay attention and plan accordingly.

Decision-makers in Springfield need to start paying attention as well.

Dan McCaleb is editor of Illinois News Network and the digital hub ILNews.org. He can be reached at dmccaleb@ilnews.org.
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The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the Sierra Nevada above 6,000 feet, from late tonight through late Wednesday night.

Total snow accumulations of one to four feet is likely above the 7,000 foot elevation.

Winds may gust as high as fifty-five mph.

Periods of light to moderate snow will continue from Thursday into Friday. The snow levels are forecast to lower into the Mother Lodes foothills.

A Winter Storm Watch means there is potential for significant snow, sleet or ice accumulations that may impact travel.
President Donald Trump View Photos

President Trump was Mondays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

During Womens History Month, we celebrate the countless women whose courage and resolve have contributed to the character and success of our Nation and the entire world. The equal opportunity of women in every facet of daily life is an essential feature of a free and prosperous society. This month, we honor women who have fought for equality and against the status quo, and who have broken the bonds of discrimination, partiality, and injustice for the benefit of all. These women created a legacy that continues to inspire generations of women to live with confidence, to have a positive impact on their communities, and to improve our Nation every single day.

Throughout our history, women have dedicated their lives to achieving equal rights for all Americans. They envisioned a society where women could pursue a formal education, start a business, serve in the military, or run for elected office. The example of each of these women motivates successive generations to aspire to greatness and to stand tall in the face of adversity. We remember all the American women, past and present, who have inspired and empowered todays women to advocate for their beliefs and pursue their dreams without hesitation.

Catherine Brewer, who in 1840 became the first woman to earn a bachelors degree, and Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, who graduated from medical school to become Americas first recognized female physician, are in the pantheon of great American women. Both pursued their passion to learn and to achieve advanced degrees in an unprecedented way. Their achievement marked the beginning of our societys move toward equality among men and women in education. They would be proud to know that, today, female students constitute the majority of undergraduates in our colleges and universities.

Women also have a rich history of civilian and military leadership, service, and sacrifice. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), for example, were remarkable pioneers in military aviation. Founded by Nancy Love and Jacqueline Cochran in 1942, WASP grew to a fleet of 1,102 women pilots who flew every type of World War II military aircraft for non-combat missions domestically. These women were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for their service, and they paved the way for women pilots like Captain Rosemary Mariner, the Navys first female fighter pilot and first woman to command a naval aviation squadron. Over the course of her 24 years of honorable service, Captain Mariner broke many barriers for women in the military. When she passed away on January 24, 2019, the Navy conducted an allfemale flyover in her honor, a first in the history of the Armed Forces and a fitting honor for a woman of her stature.

Leaders of our Nation also stand on the shoulders of women like Jeannette Rankin, who became the first woman to hold Federal office in 1916. She predicted: I may be the first woman member of Congress, but I wont be the last. This year, a century after the Congress passed the 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote, more women are serving in the Congress than at any time in our history.

My Administration continues to empower women by creating unprecedented opportunities for them. The United States economy is booming like never before. An all-time record number of women are employed, and, just last year, women filled 58 percent of new jobs. Our economic agenda, including the enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the elimination of unnecessary and burdensome regulations, has driven womens unemployment to the lowest level in 65 years. My Administration fought to provide tax relief to parents by doubling the child tax credit and preserving the child and dependent care credit. To help women thrive in the labor force and provide for their families, we developed a tax credit for employers who offer paid family and medical leave, and I have called on the Congress to pass a nationwide paid family leave program.

Prioritizing the economic empowerment of women has also helped to boost our Nations economy and security. My Administration is committed to working with States to reform occupational licensing laws, which disproportionately affect women. States and licensing boards can and must do more to eliminate unnecessary barriers to career opportunities and improve license portability to facilitate career continuity. Promoting womens economic empowerment abroad enables developing countries to increase their global financial stability. When women are fully empowered to reach their economic potential, they invest back into their families and communities, which helps their countries thrive. That is why I signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum to launch the Womens Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP), which is the first-ever whole-of-government approach to advancing global womens economic empowerment. The W-GDP Initiative aims to benefit 50 million women across the developing world by 2025. It will help women prosper in the workforce by improving their access to quality education and skills training, funding and supporting womens entrepreneurship and access to capital, and working to address legal, regulatory, and cultural barriers that hinder women from fully and freely participating in the economy.

This month, we express our gratitude for all American women who continue to strengthen our families, communities, and workforce. Our future is brighter because of their contributions.

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.
Nearly a dozen bars and restaurants in February either held grand openings for their new ventures  or held parties for a last hoorah in the Alamo City.

A handful of those restaurants aren't entirely new to the city as several openings were for the business' second or third location in San Antonio. These included Good Kind, now in Southtown, Italian restaurant Volare, inside the former Olmos Pharmacy building, and brunch-favorite Snooze, who offers a dog-friendly patio.
A mud-caked flight data recorder was recovered Sunday from the site of a cargo jet wreckage in Trinity Bay.

The black box was one of two devices that National Transportation Safety Board investigators hope will shed light on what caused the Boeing 767 aircraft to crash in Anahuac during a Feb. 23 flight from Miami to Houston's Bush Intercontinental. Investigators will analyze the data  the plane's functions, altitude and other measures  in Washington D.C., officials said.

The plane fell 11,750 feet in about 30 seconds and plunged nose-first into the shallow waters about 30 miles from its destination, where it was slated to deliver an Amazon and U.S. Postal Service payload. A cockpit recording device was recovered from the crash site Friday, according to the NTSB officials.

A layer of mud at the crash site made it difficult for divers to hear the ultrasonic pings emitted by the devices.

Authorities have identified the remains of Capt. Ricky Blakely, Capt. Sean Archuleta, First Officer Conrad Jules Aska, who were aboard the Atlas jet carrying cargo for Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service.

NEWS WHEN YOU NEED IT: Text CHRON to 77453 to receive breaking news alerts by text message | Sign up for breaking news alerts delivered to your email here.
The principal of Madison High School sent a letter to parents to refute claims made by students to the San Antonio Express-News that brawls during the school day are a common distraction.

The letter comes days after 2017 Madison High School graduate Kaitlin Castilleja was fatally stabbed off campus early Friday morning, allegedly by a 16-year-old current student.

"The recent news article gives you the impression that physical altercations on the Madison campus have become so common that students see them as part of daily life," Madison High School Principal Steve Zimmerman wrote. "I would argue that while we do have our situations on the Madison campus, they are limited to a small number of our actual student body of over 3000 students. I hope that recent events help to enforce the idea with our students that violence is not the answer to dealing with arguments or disagreements."

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

Castilleja was pronounced dead at 2 a.m. Friday after she and Vivian Foster, also 18 and a Madison High School graduate, showed up to the teen's home near Judson and Stahl roads.

The victims told officers they were "stabbed after 'jumping' a girl at her house," according to a San Antonio police report. Castilleja's family said the confrontation was the result of a fight over a boy that ignited on social media. Online accounts for both Castilleja and the suspect showed aggressive posts and videos of fights.

The 16-year-old, whose name will not be released because she is a minor, was charged with murder and booked into a juvenile detention facility.

Zimmerman's March 4 letter, the second he has sent about Castilleja's death -- though neither referred to her by name -- refutes a follow-up San Antonio Express-News story which Zimmerman felt "was not very complimentary" to the school.

In it, students told the San Antonio Express-News that fights have become common and that huddles usually form around the violence and that videos end up on social media.

"It's kind of to the point that if I see a fight, I don't even stop anymore," one teen said.

Records from the Texas Education Agency show Madison High School had fewer than 10 fights reported in the 2017-2018 school year. An exact number is not available due to student privacy regulations.

RELATED: Family: Social media feud between San Antonio teens preceded fatal stabbing

North East Independent School District Spokeswoman Aubrey Chancellor said Social Sentinel, a system which alerts potential threats, has been tapped to monitor online conversations, but would not flag mentions unless the school or district is included in postings. Both Chancellor and Zimmerman are encouraging students with any information on violence to report it.

"The Madison administration can only help our students if we are aware of a potential situation," Zimmerman's letter reads. "We want to make sure that every student can come to school and feel safe while at Madison, this only happens by working together."

Zimmerman went on to recognize the different programs and extracurricular activities offered at Madison.

"I take it very personally when someone chooses to make Madison appear as a less than desirable place to go to school," he wrote. "I celebrate our students whenever possible and will always speak about the great things that are happening at Madison. It is unfair to generalize the Madison student body without truly knowing our students."

Zimmerman invited anyone with questions or comments to reach out to him.

Madalyn Mendoza is a breaking news reporter and general assignment writer. Read her on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | mmendoza@mysa.com | @MaddySkye
Another inmate at the Bexar County Jail was mistakenly released Sunday, marking the fifth botched release or transfer of an inmate this year.

William Castillo, 39, was booked into the Adult Detention Center at jail at 9 a.m. Sunday on a drug possession charge. The following morning, at about 3:30 a.m., booking staff at the Justice Intake Center discovered he was not present during a head count.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

According to Johnny Garcia, Castillo "slipped in the line of those being released" at some point during his stay at the jail. Administrators then negligently released him.

Once jail staff were alerted to his absence, deputies began searching for him. According to the sheriff's office, he was found about 2 miles away from the jail in the 100 block of Merida Street at about 6:20 a.m. Monday and apprehended.

Castillo is now facing an additional charge of escape from a correctional institution, a second-degree felony. Garcia said Castillo's sly move into the line of inmates being release from the jail showed that "intent to escape was present."

His mishandled jail experience follows that of several others this year.

On Jan. 3, jail officials mistakenly released Andrew Taylor Ford, who was in custody on suspicion of failure to stop and give information. The charge was dismissed, but jailers overlooked an order to keep Ford in jail on an unrelated charge out of San Patricio County.

On Jan. 15, jail officials let Ricardo Mujica, who was convicted of a domestic violence charge, go free despite an immigration detainer. Because his state charge had already been handled, the sheriff's office said deputies had no authority to bring him back into custody.

RELATED: Two high-ranking BCSO deputies forced out of leadership positions in administrative shakeup

On Jan. 17, jailers were supposed to send Johnny Villalobos to a rehabilitation facility for a drug offense, but they instead sent him to prison where he was placed in general population. It took three weeks for the sheriff's office to submit the proper paperwork to transfer Villalobos to rehab.

On Jan. 26, jail officials released Terrik McCoy, who had been arrested on a charge of evading arrest, without an electronic monitor, which was a condition of his release. Salazar personally tracked McCoy down and brought him into custody the next day.

Crime Reporter Fares Sabawi contributed to this report.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com |

cdowns@mysa.com | @calebjdowns
New Braunfels police opened a homicide investigation after finding an 18-year-old man fatally shot in a hotel room, according to a news release.

Police responded to a shooting at the Rodeway Inn in the 1200 block of Interstate 35 North around 2:30 a.m. Monday, officials said.
Two San Antonio police officers fatally shot a robbery suspect on the East Side Monday afternoon after he opened fire on them, officials said.

Police believe the suspect robbed a man in his home near Iowa and South Pine streets around 2 p.m., shooting the man before fleeing in a black Honda Accord, Police Chief William McManus said.
Zimbabwean police have launched a manhunt for a former minister who fled to Kenya after defrauding Ksh40 million from a government kitty.

Jonathan Moyo fled Zimbabwe during the November 2017 coup and Kenyan media has revealed that the former Zimbabwean minister is hiding in that country.

He reportedly swindled the cash from Zimbabwe Manpower Development Fund (ZIMDEF) when he was the Minister for Higher and Tertiary Education.

Zimbabwean media reported that he is wanted for a slew of corruption charges stemming from his alleged abuse of millions of dollars from the fund.

The move comes as the Southern Africa State invoked the Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime Amendment Act to seize properties of individuals who fled the country to avoid trial over corruption allegations.

There are reports that the government is also mulling using diplomatic channels to extradite the former minister.

This was revealed by the head of the Special Anti-Corruption Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet (SACU) Tabani Mpofu.

We have accused persons who have absconded; we want to look at enforcing the bail conditions.

Also procedures have commenced using bilateral and multilateral relationships to have the accused persons brought to book, Mpofu mentioned.

Mpofu further indicated the dragnet will not spare high-ranking Government officials, who face the possibility of losing properties they surrendered as surety for bail.

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The Secretary General will hold a press conference at NATO Headquarters on Thursday 14 March 2019 at 11:15 to release his Annual Report for 2018.

11:15 Press conference by the NATO Secretary General  Main Press Theatre (NATO HQ)

The press conference will be followed at 12:00 by a reception offered by the Secretary General to all media representatives.

Coverage and distribution

The press conference will be available in original sound, English, French, and Russian worldwide on satellite and live on www.nato.int. Original sound, as well as an English, French, and Russian version will be available on the NATO website after the event.

Professional-quality videos and b-roll will be available for download from www.natomultimedia.tv.

Please register for access. Contact: content@natomultimedia.tv

Attendance confirmation

This is an event for media representatives. Those media representatives wishing to attend are kindly requested to confirm their presence by email NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int and type SG AR in the subject line of the message.

Deadline: not later than Wednesday 13 March 2019 at 12:00 noon.

Shuttle bus from Schuman area A shuttle bus will be departing at 10:00 from the corner of rue de la Loi and av. de la Joyeuse Entree (in front of the entrance to Parc du Cinquentenaire). The shuttle will later return from NATO HQ, departing at 12:45.

Accreditation

Media permanently accredited at NATO

Media representatives in possession of permanent NATO media pass can access to the NATO HQ directly by tapping their badge at the turnstiles (NATO HQ Guard House South - GHS, media entrance, NATO Headquarters, Boulevard Leopold III 1110).

Ad-hoc accreditation (day-pass)

Media representatives not permanently accredited and wishing to attend the event will need to request ad-hoc accreditation directly at the main entrance of NATO HQ on 14 March 2019, starting from 09:00 (Brussels time). They will have to present a proof of ID/passport and a valid press card (provided by a recognised national professional body of a NATO country  i.e. Government, Professional association, Union of journalists).

Media representatives not in possession of a valid press card are invited to send a signed letter from their editor to the NATO Accreditation Office to NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int not later than Wednesday 13 March 2019 at 12:00 noon.

Security Procedures

A security check will take place and all equipment and personal effects carried onto the site will be examined by security personnel. Media representative are therefore encouraged to arrive with sufficient lead time to allow for security proceedings.

Points of contact

General Queries

+32 (0)2 707 50 41

moc@hq.nato.int

Media Operations

Mr. Jean-Philippe Juneau

+32 (0)2 707 1764

juneau.jean-philippe@hq.nato.int



Accreditation

Mr. Angelo Pacifico

+32 (0)2 707 8643

NatoAccreditations@hq.nato.int



TV & Radio arrangements on site and via satellite

Mr. Henk Dekens

+32 (0)2 707 50 51

Dekens.Henk@hq.nato.int



Post-event Video distribution

content@natomultimedia.tv

+32 (0)2 707 12 27

Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress, @NATODepspox and @jensstoltenberg)
(Natural News) Led by Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com has embarked on a new escalation of big tech fascism and tyranny by banning vaccine documentaries that question the official narrative of vaccine safety.

As covered in my detailed video analysis of whats next for Amazon, the tech giant will soon start remotely deleting vaccine Kindle books from Kindle devices, carrying out the Ministry of Truth agenda described in George Orwells dystopian novel 1984.

Its also obvious that Amazon will begin banning pro-Trump books from its retail operation and Kindle devices, declaring that Trump, much like anti-vaccine knowledge, is dangerous to society and must therefore be banished from existence through digital book burning.

As all this is going on, Amazon is happily selling books that promote Satanism, including a book titled, Satanism: A Beginners Guide to the Religious Worship of Satan and Demons Volume I: Philosophy, published by Devils Mark Publishing. You can see the book at this Amazon.com link.

The book specifically promotes Teenage Satanists across an entire chapter (Chapter 9). Amazon offers the book at a 73% discount to promote sales, marking it down from $10.95 to the Kindle price of just $2.99.

The book also has another chapter dedicated to Animal Sacrifice (Chapter 18), and it teaches readers about the Satanic Bible and Reverse Christianity.

See the complete Table of Contents here:

On the same Amazon page that promotes this book on Satanism, other promoted books are listed to entice readers, including:

Paths to Satan: A Guide to Contemporary Satanism

The Happy Satanist: Finding Self-Empowerment

The Satanic Narratives: A Modern Satanic Bible

The Devils Bible

Like all the tech giants, Amazon is run by Satan worshipers who use censorship to silence voices of truth and divinity

This proves that Amazon.com is happy to sell books on worshiping Satan, but bans documentaries  and soon, books  that dare to teach people the truth about vaccine ingredients, vaccine risks and even deaths that occur from routine immunizations.

In other words, the same massive online retailer that apparently claims vaccine knowledge is dangerous to society simultaneously believes that recruiting teenagers into Satanism is perfectly acceptable. If this isnt an example of the pure evil of Amazon and Jeff Bezos, I dont know what else could possibly qualify.

The stunning truth is simple and self-evident: Like all the other evil tech giants  Apple, Google, Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, etc.  Amazon is actually run by Satanists who actively seek the murder of children via abortions and vaccines. Keep reading to understand how vaccines are actually part of a global demonic / Satanic child sacrifice cult thats now being pushed by Democrats, progressives and the evil tech giants.

And watch my full analysis of Jeff Bezos and Amazons intense evil and censorship in this new video:

Brighteon.com/6009511692001

Vaccines are a child sacrifice ritual that injects children with the blood of murdered babies

What many people utterly fail to realize in all this is that vaccines are part of a demonic child sacrifice ritual that injects living children with the blood of babies who have been murdered. (Its not actually blood cells but rather tissue that have been grown in labs, generation after generation, after initially being harvested from murdered / aborted human babies.)

It is an irrefutable fact that abortion centers sell harvested baby organs to both biotech companies and vaccine manufacturers. Pharmaceutical companies use those aborted baby parts to grow large quantities of festering, disease-infected tissue mass that is homogenized, processed, filtered and added to vaccines that are injected into other children.

Just last year, the Trump administration halted the FDAs ongoing purchasing of abortion human baby tissue to be used in medical research. As reported by Abortions.news:

[T]he Trump administration has just proven that the FDA has indeed been buying and using aborted baby parts for medical research. As it turns out, the federal agency quietly signed a contract to obtain fresh fetal tissue from a California non-profit called Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR). The plan was to implant the aborted baby tissue into humanized mice for medical research  but the Trump administration has taken a stand by putting the kibosh on the FDAs controversial contract.

Baby parts have been used by the vaccine industry for decades. Between the years of 2011 and 2014, a reported $280 million of federal grant money was spent on research using aborted fetal tissue for research.

The CDC openly admits that vaccine ingredients come from aborted human babies see this document on the CDCs own website

For anyone bothering to do some simple research, these aborted human fetal tissue ingredients are openly admitted to being used in vaccines, including the common Chicken Pox vaccine (Varicella / Varivax), which also contains monosodium glutamate, a potent neurological poison. This Chicken Pox vaccine, in case youre curious, also contains the blood serum of aborted baby cows, making sure the child sacrifice ritual is a cross-species sacrifice in the name of science.

See this comprehensive Natural News article that lists some of the most astonishing, horrifying human-derived ingredients used in vaccines right now. This official CDC document, archived on Natural News servers, openly admits that vaccines contain human-derived ingredients, including:

MRC-5 human cell lines, which were harvested from a 14-week fetus that was aborted from a mother with psychiatric problems.

WI-38 cell line, derived from lung tissue of an aborted white (caucasian) female fetus.

Beyond human cells, some vaccines are also formulated with African Green Monkey kidney cells that are infected with deadly viral strains, after which the monkey is murdered, organ harvested and processed into vaccine ingredients.

Amazingly, the CDC still hasnt pulled their own document admitting all this. Visit the following link to see for yourself, and note this is directly from the CDCs government servers:

https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/pinkbook/downloads/appendices/B/excipient-table-2.pdf

There, the CDC openly admits that multiple vaccines are made with aborted human fetal tissue cell lines, as well as aborted animal parts (bovine blood serum).

In case you dont believe the CDC, the FDA also admits all this on its own website. See the following insert sheet from the Varicella vaccine, directly from the FDA.gov website:

https://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/Vaccines/ApprovedProducts/UCM142813.pdf

This document admits (bold added):

VARIVAX [Varicella Virus Vaccine Live] is a preparation of the Oka/Merck strain of live, attenuated varicella virus. The virus was initially obtained from a child with wild-type varicella, then introduced into human embryonic lung cell cultures, adapted to and propagated in embryonic guinea pig cell cultures and finally propagated in human diploid cell cultures (WI-38). Further passage of the virus for varicella vaccine was performed at Merck Research Laboratories (MRL) in human diploid cell cultures (MRC-5) that were free of adventitious agents. This live, attenuated varicella vaccine is a lyophilized preparation containing sucrose, phosphate, glutamate, and processed gelatin as stabilizers.

Five common vaccines are made with aborted human fetal tissue

According to VaxCalc.org:

There are FIVE different vaccines that contain human protein and DNA. One cell line was developed in September 1966 from lung tissue taken from a 14 week fetus aborted for psychiatric reasons from a 27 year old physically healthy woman. Another was derived from the lung tissue of a 3-month old aborted human female fetus.

The vaccine package inserts do not specify the source of the human blood. However, this investigative report provides some clues.

Why Amazon wont ban books on Satanism, but readily bans books that educate parents about vaccines

Its not difficult to realize why Amazon wont ban books that attempt to recruit teenagers into Satanism, even while banning books that educate parents about the dangers of vaccines. The reason is because Amazon and Jeff Bezos obviously worship Satan. Their agenda is an anti-human agenda to harm and murder as many children as possible. Thats why Amazon is pro-abortion, pro-vaccine and pro-Satanism. This position is also 100% aligned with Democrats, which have become Demoncrats in real life.

Thats also why Whole Foods  now owned by Amazon  is pro-Monsanto and actively blocked a nationwide GMO labeling law effort. In fact, Whole Foods promised it would label everything it sells with its GMO content by 2018, but that promise was buried after Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market. Now, Whole Foods sells genetically-modified foods right in its own food bar, paying homage to human-altered seeds as a direct insult to God and Mother Nature.

Soon, Amazon will actually start selling vaccines, as the company is about to launch a nationwide pharmaceutical / vaccine retail operation to compete with CVS and other retail pharmacies.

Murdering babies in the name of Satanism (or vaccines) is all part of Amazons profit model, you see. Human sacrifice, child murder and the mass pollution of our world with GMOs, glyphosate and toxic pharmaceuticals is how Jeff Bezos proves his loyalty to Lucifer, the destroyer of humanity and the enemy of human life.

Amazon, in essence, is now an enemy of humanity and is actively pursing an anti-human agenda, just like Google, YouTube, Pinterest and Twitter, led by Jack Dorsey, another Satanist who routinely bans Christian channels on Twitter. Do everything you can to stop purchasing products from Amazon.com. Its difficult, since Amazon is putting all other retailers out of business, but one of the most effective ways to starve Amazon into eventual collapse is to simply stop giving them your money.

At the same time, wake up and beg God to intervene, because our world is being utterly consumed by Satanists who are wholly sworn to carry out the complete destruction of humankind and anything that reflects the divinity of God (seeds, herbs, planet Earth, newborn children, enlightenment, etc.).

Stay informed. Share this news report everywhere. Visit NaturalNews.com daily for the pro-life truth about food, medicine and science that you wont find anywhere else.
(Natural News) Chemotherapy has earned quite a reputation for the distress it causes your body, but many people believe its simply the price they have to pay if they want a fighting chance at surviving cancer. Unfortunately, what many patients dont realize is that the very chemotherapy that is meant to stop their cancer in its tracks could well be spreading it instead. That may be hard to believe, but a recent study by Swiss researchers is just one of many to illustrate this devastating phenomenon.

Chemotherapy is a common cancer treatment that typically entails the administration of strong drugs designed to fight the disease. It may or may not be used alongside radiation therapy and/or surgery. The number of different chemotherapy drugs in use right now numbers in the hundreds, with some used to slow the growth of cancer and others used to stop the cells from spreading. Such drugs carry lots of side effects that can vary depending on the medication in question, but some of the more common side effects are nausea, hair loss, fertility issues, memory problems, and changes in bone marrow.

A team of researchers from the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne illustrated how chemotherapy causes cancer to spread specifically in breast cancer patients who undergo neoadjuvant therapy. In this approach, patients are given chemotherapy before their tumor is removed via surgery in hopes of reducing the tumors size so that more of the breast can be saved in surgery. In some cases, it makes the tumor go away entirely, leaving few, if any, cancerous cells to be removed.

However, not every tumor will shrink with chemotherapy. In some cases, the tumor will resist the neoadjuvant therapy, and this means the person has a greater risk of metastatic disease, which sees the tumor recurring elsewhere in the body, such as in the lungs or bones.

The scientists discovered that two popular chemotherapy drugs, doxorubicin and paclitaxel, cause breast tumors to release vesicles known as exosomes. These exosomes contain a protein known as annexin-A6  something that isnt found in the exosomes that are released from tumors that havent been treated with chemo drugs. After the tumor releases them, they circulate in the blood, making their way into organs like the lungs where they facilitate the creation of cancerous cells in the new site.

Although the researchers say that neoadjuvant therapy can be useful in some types of invasive breast cancers, its important to be aware of the possibility that it could have the opposite effect. In fact, their finding could help them stop this from happening in the future. They discovered that when they neutralize annexin-A6 during chemotherapy or inhibit the monocytes that it attracts, experimental mammary tumors did not metastasize in the lungs.

Numerous studies illustrate how chemo causes cancer to spread

A different study carried out by scientists from The Ohio State University showed that chemotherapy triggers cellular responses that cause cancer to spread. In a study of breast cancer patients, those who took paclitaxel had overexpressed Atf3 genes; this did not happen to those who didnt get chemotherapy. This gene distributes cancer cells through the lungs while priming the area to facilitate said cells survival. In other words, chemotherapy made these patients bodies more conducive to cancer.

Meanwhile, research that was printed in JAMA Oncology showed that patients arent gaining anything in exchange for the side effects chemotherapy is causing them, especially those with end-stage cancers. These patients are often given chemotherapy because theyre told it can prolong their lives and reduce their symptoms, but this research found the opposite. In fact, they say that the toxic effects of chemotherapy are damaging to the quality of life in those who are terminal, and it doesnt even help them live longer. In fact, terminal patients who were given chemotherapy didnt survive any longer than those who werent given the treatment. Unfortunately, end-stage cancer patients are even more likely than others to be prescribed chemotherapy.

Sadly, people are dying from the very therapy that is meant to save them. A study in 2006 found that at least 7.5 percent of deaths in cancer patients were from chemo; in 2016, more than half of cancer patient deaths were blamed on chemotherapy use  and this data only covers the first 30 days of the treatment!

Dealing with cancer is scary under the best of circumstances, and making all the decisions related to treatment can be overwhelming. However, its important for patients to be aware of the pros and cons of various options such as chemotherapy and to weigh them carefully before deciding on the best approach.

Sources for this article include:

ScienceDaily.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seems to make the wrong decision at every turn when it comes to protecting the environment and human health. From its unholy alliance with Monsanto  which has led to the dousing of American croplands with cancer-causing glyphosate  to raising the limit on radioactive elements in drinking water by a staggering 3,000 times, the EPA has proven time and time again that it cannot be relied upon to do its job.

In the latest example of its complete lack of commitment to protecting the environment, the EPA has continued to allow gas and oil companies to dump wastewater and chemicals generated by offshore fracking activities directly into the Gulf of Mexico.

What is offshore fracking?

Waking Times explains the controversial process of offshore fracking:

Offshore fracking involves pumping water, chemicals and sand at extremely high pressure into undersea wells to break up rock and sand formations and clear pathways for oil and gas. Offshore drillers also treat wells with corrosive acids, such as hydrochloric acid, in a process known as acidizing.

The technologies have been used hundreds of times to enhance oil and gas production at hundreds of Gulf wells in recent years, and environmentalists say use of the technology could increase in the future as the industry seeks to maximize production in aging offshore fields.

The EPA has drafted a plan to continue allowing the dumping of harmful chemicals generated by this process into the Gulf, ignoring the potentially devastating impact on marine animals and water quality.

Environmentalists claim that the EPA is basing its decision on severely outdated data.

The EPA is endangering an entire ecosystem by allowing the oil industry to dump unlimited amounts of fracking chemicals and drilling waste fluid into the Gulf of Mexico, noted Kristen Monsell, attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. This appalling plan from the agency thats supposed to protect our water violates federal law, and shows a disturbing disregard for offshore frackings toxic threats to sea turtles and other Gulf wildlife.

A violation of the Clean Water Act

The Center for Biological Diversity is well known for leveraging legal action to halt pollution and force the government to adhere to environmental regulations, with successful lawsuits already resulting in a temporary halt on offshore fracking in the Pacific Ocean.

Now, the Center is turning its attention to stopping the dumping of toxic chemicals generated by offshore fracking in the Gulf of Mexico, labeling it a violation of the Clean Water Act.

The EPA and other environmental regulators insist that offshore fracking operations have a good safety record. Nonetheless, environmentalists are gravely concerned about the effects of the chemicals used in these operations on marine wildlife in the area, many of which are still reeling from the effects of the 2010 BP oil spill.

Waking Times reported:

Under the EPAs current and draft permits, offshore drillers are allowed to dump an unlimited amount of fracking and acidizing chemicals overboard as long as they are mixed with the wastewater that returns from undersea wells. Oil and gas platforms dumped more than 75 billion gallons of these produced waters directly into the Gulf of Mexico in 2014 alone, according to the Centers analysis of EPA records.

Although offshore fracking companies have to ensure that there is no oil in the wastewater and that certain toxicity standards are met, the water only has to be tested a few times each year. The tests can therefore easily be manipulated because they can be conducted at a time when there are very few fracking chemicals in the wastewater.

The EPA insists that the large volumes of seawater these chemicals are pumped into will sufficiently dilute them and prevent any long-term toxicity, but environmentalists warn that this assumption is based on outdated research from the 1980s and 1990s, when fracking activities were minimal.

Once again, the EPA has proved that it really is the Environmental Pollution Agency and cannot be relied upon to protect our environment.

Learn more at FrackingWatch.com.

Sources for this article include:

WakingTimes.com

BiologicalDiversity.org
(Natural News) Upset that conservatives continue to be silenced, banned, and even attacked on Americas increasingly Left-wing college campuses, POTUS Donald Trump said on Saturday hes prepared to fire a financial warning shot across their bows.

Speaking to a packed, enthusiastic crowd at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, the president said he was preparing to sign an executive order denying federal funds to any college or university that did not protect all students First Amendment rights to free speech.

Today I am proud to announce that I will be very soon signing an executive order requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research dollars, the president said after bringing Hayden Williams on stage with him, who was sucker punched by a Left-wing activist at the University of California-Berkeley last month.

As reported by The National Sentinel, police at UC-Berkley arrested Zachary Greenberg, 28, about 1 p.m. Friday after a judge issued an arrest warrant for the February 19 attack on Williams, 26.

Several videos of the attack show Greenberg verbally berating Williams before punching him in the face, then physically assaulting him.

Williams wasnt a student at the university. He was there as a field representative for The Leadership Institute, a conservative organization that was on campus to recruit members. Reports said while staffing a table, he was approached by two men who, he said, were antagonistic towards him after reacting to his signs.

The recruitment table was knocked over and signs were ripped, according to a UC-Berkeley alert on its website, and one of the men reportedly punched Williams several times, The National Sentinel reported.

If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, theyve got to allow people like Hayden and many great young people, and old people, to speak, the president said regarding colleges and universities. If they dont comply, it will be very costly, he added.

According to The Washington Post, the federal government distributes big money each year to universities for research  around $26 billion, according to figures from the National Science Foundation (Reuters reports that more than $30 billion is disbursed annually). Most of the funding goes to research projects for the Defense Department, NASA, and the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Health and Human Services.

Lawsuits next?

Legally, the president appears to be on solid ground, according to experts who spoke to the Post.

Theres a history of the federal government requiring universities to do certain kinds of things in order to receive federal research funding, Cynthia Miller-Idriss, a professor of education at American University, told the paper.

Regular Trump critics, however, claimed that his order would fundamentally harm the First Amendment, the Post claimed, though he would be issuing it specifically so that all students could speak without fear of retribution or being silenced. (Related: College students are all supportive of Ocasio-Cortezs Green New Deal until they learn whats actually in it.)

Conservative groups championed Greenbergs arrest.

Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA, issued a statement calling the evidence in the case against him incontrovertible.

We hope 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg is prosecuted to the full extent of the law for assault with a deadly weapon, which should be considered an act of hate. Hopefully, this dark chapter will act as a wake-up call to those concerned about actual politically motivated hate crimes in America.

Berkeley and all college campuses across American should be safe havens for free thought and opinions  especially for a targeted conservative minority, his statement read.

During his speech, the president suggested that Williams file lawsuits against the university as well as the state of California, suggesting he would become a very wealthy man.

Last year, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in a free speech lawsuit filed against UC-Berkeley, accusing the institution of discriminating against a conservative speaker.

Read more about how universities limit free speech on campus at CampusInsanity.com.

Sources include:

TheNationalSentinel.com

TheGatewayPundit.com

WashingtonPost.com
Protecting and expanding suitable habitats for wildlife is key to the conservation of endangered species, but owing to climate and land use change the ideal habitats of today may not be fitting in 30 or 50 years. An international team of scientists therefore predicted range shifts of Asian elephants in India and Nepal using species distribution models based on distribution data for the elephants and climate projections. While a few regions in the north and northeast of the subcontinent may provide more suitable habitats in the future, overall a heavy loss is probable in all scenarios. The complex effects of environmental change on the distribution of the elephants is elucidated in a paper published in the Journal Diversity and Distributions.

It is well known that climate change, land use change, changes in water cycles, and other influencing factors will cause redistribution of species - directly or indirectly. The details of these processes are very complex, however, as effects of global change is manifested very differently on a local scale. In a massive effort, scientists from Spain, India, Nepal, Myanmar, Italy, and Germany worked together in order to assess the combined effects of human pressures and climate change on Asian elephants' distribution, embedded in the human-dominated landscapes in India and Nepal. We compiled a large database of more than four thousand elephant occurrences and a large geodatabase of environmental predictor variables covering India and Nepal for this study", explains Surendra P. Goyal (Wildlife Institute of India). In a first step, this allowed the scientists to predict the current spatial distribution of Asian elephants as a function of environmental variables. In addition to ongoing human-induced disturbance, especially in the form of land-use change, elephant distribution is influenced by complex local scale interactions among precipitation and temperature, complicated by seasonal monsoon in this region", explains lead author Rajapandian Kanagaraj from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN) in Madrid (Spain). The scientists estimated that around 256 thousand square kilometres of habitat are suitable for elephants in India and Nepal.

In a second step the effects of climate changes were included into the distribution model to predict future elephant distributions and possible range shifts. Relying on climate and land use data projections for 2050 and 2070, different scenarios were calculated. All scenarios strongly indicate that the interaction between climate change and land use will compound existing threats to the elephant. We anticipate that elephant range would likely shift towards higher elevations in the Himalayas, and along a gradient of water availability, instead of a simple unidirectional range shift towards higher elevations and latitudes typically expected when temperature is the principal factor", explains Miguel B. Araujo, expert on climate change and biodiversity at MNCN, Madrid, in whose lab this collaborative study was undertaken. In a scenario where only climate change is included, the loss of potential habitat is more moderate, but still substantial with a 17.1 percent loss in one scenario in 2070. The negative effect is especially severe in the human-dominated landscapes in eastern and southern India", say Priya Davidar and Jean-Philippe Puyravaud (Sigur Nature Trust, India). Gain in potential habitat is indicated in northern and northeastern habitats particularly along the valleys in the Himalayan foothills. Our model projections suggest that the projected future changes in the distribution of elephants in India and Nepal would be driven mainly by changes in the climatic water balance, followed by changes in temperature and other ongoing human-induced disturbance", Kanagaraj and Araujo conclude.

For that reason, building comprehensive and robust spatial models is crucial to assess the impact of environmental changes in wildlife populations. The database consisted of 115 environmental variables: 60 climatic, 16 human disturbance, 29 forest and vegetation and 10 topographic variables, all at a grid resolution of 1 kilometre", says Thorsten Wiegand, modelling expert from the Environmental Research Centre (UFZ), Leipzig. Occurrence data relied on 4,626 elephant sightings between 1990 and 2017, with the vast majority of sightings after 2002. The art of modelling here was distilling the most biologically plausible environmental predictors and eliminating redundant correlations", Stephanie Kramer-Schadt, head of the department of Ecological Dynamics at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), explains the methods. The team calculated and tested several models which can forecast the distribution only from the remaining nine environmental variables. "In the end we have to acknowledge that are dealing with models of distribution and environmental change", Kramer-Schadt adds. This approach enabled the team to develop highly probable scenarios for range shifts of the elephants under global change, but the predictions are always connected with a level of uncertainty.

The results of this comprehensive study nevertheless have important implications concerning conservation efforts as the suitability maps and future projections can be effectively used to identify critical habitat areas that require immediate conservation attempts. Furthermore the projections can inspire adjustments to current habitat protection strategies. A supplementary analysis highlighted the importance of connected habitats: The model only predicts the suitability of a 1 km2 grid cell without accounting for the movement capacity of elephants and their home range sizes, so we added the core range analysis to identify high suitability areas larger than the size of two average home ranges and an analysis of the connectivity of core areas that considers the maximal displacement capacity of elephants", says Kanagaraj. The results underline the pressure that is expected on the habitats on southern and eastern India as it is where large core areas can be found", says Surendra P. Goyal. Further, the analysis suggests that the fragmented core areas that are located along the foothills forests and floodplains of the Himalaya could be connected by a mixture of poor? and high?quality habitat that should form specific targets for management. These results provide a first assessment of areas that could provide connectivity among core areas.

We are certain that conservation of remaining habitat will always remain the centrepiece of biodiversity conservation", the team states. Our study provides a first assessment on the effect of climate change on the distribution of the Asian elephant in its major habitats in India and Nepal, which could help other assessments over its entire range across South and South?East Asia, and be useful for developing management plans for wildlife conservation under the aegis of climate change."
The brother of a black man shot to death by police said Sunday he wants to see the officers who fired the fatal bullets held accountable.

Stevante Clark called on California's attorney general to prosecute them after the local district attorney declined to do so. He told reporters his family was devastated, first by his brother Stephon's killing last March as he held a cellphone, and again Saturday when Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced the officers would not be charged.

Our lives are suffering, our hearts are shattered, my family is in agony ever since the callous murder of my brother in my grandmother's backyard,'' the soft-spoken Clark told a news conference attended by his family and friends.

I would like for the attorney general to prosecute the officers, he added. I want justice and accountability.

Earlier Sunday the family's attorney, Ben Crump, said on the Rev. Al Sharpton's MSNBC program that state Attorney General Xavier Becerra is expected to release the findings of his own investigation into the shooting on March 18.

That's the anniversary of Clark's death, and Crump said he anticipates a large protest at the state Capitol that day. There have been several in Sacramento since the shooting.

In announcing that Officers Terrance Mercadal and Jared Robinet would not be charged, Schubert said prosecutors who reviewed video footage and other evidence determined they were telling the truth when they said they thought the cellphone Stephon Clark was holding was a gun.

Schubert also said physical evidence revealed Clark was the vandalism suspect they were looking for who had just broken three vehicle windows and an elderly man's sliding glass patio door before climbing a fence to reach his grandparents' backyard.

She said the 22-year-old had been going through a troubled time in the days leading up to the shooting.

The mother of his two children had recently filed a domestic abuse complaint against him that could have put him in jail, Schubert said, adding he'd been researching suicide websites. Among them, she said, were those that suggested using a tranquilizer that was found in his body.

His brother complained that revealing that information was an attempt to blame his brother for getting killed.

No matter what he did on the 16th and the 17th doesn't determine what happened on the 18th,'' he said. All of these things are irrelevant.''

Stephon, it was like he was killed again,'' he continued. "Literally she ran his name through the dirt.''

Schubert, who called the shooting a tragedy, repeatedly apologized for raising the personal details during her hour-long presentation on Saturday

I can't tell ultimately what was going on in his mind,'' she said. "He was in a state of despair and he was impaired, and that may have affected his judgment."

Stevante Clark said his family plans to mark the upcoming anniversary of his brother's death with a weekend honoring his life that will begin on March 15 and conclude on March 18. He called on the community to remain peaceful.

"Everything that's peaceful that's done, we support it,'' he said, adding the family's ultimate goal is to change laws to limit police shootings and to hold police departments more accountable.

Police officials and Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg have said that since the shooting the department has increased training, limited foot pursuits like those in the Clark case and committed to quickly releasing videos of officer-involved shootings.

Clark said he appreciates all of that.

"But at the end of the day Stephon is not here with us,'' he said.
Southwest Airlines plans to start service between Oakland and Honolulu, Hawaii from March 17, and tickets are selling online starting at $49 one way.

According to a press release, the airline will begin flights to Maui on April 7.

Southwest plans to launch flights to four of the Hawaiian islands, including Oahu, where Honolulu is located. It will fly from four cities in California: San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento and San Diego.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it has granted Southwest Airlines approval to begin flights between California and Hawaii, capping the airline's effort to extend its reach 2,400 miles across the Pacific.

The Dallas-based airlines chief operating officer, Mike Van de Ven, said Southwest will announce timing for selling tickets and beginning flights in the coming days.

The FAA will increase oversight of Southwest for the first six months, an agency spokesman said, adding that the additional monitoring is standard practice.

Southwest hoped to begin selling Hawaii tickets last year, but that had slipped even before the 35-day partial government shutdown, which began in late December and resulted in the furlough of thousands of FAA employees.
By Mary Schlangenstein, Justin Bachman, Bloomberg News | Mar. 02, 2019

Southwest Airlines Co. plans to challenge Hawaiian Airlines for control of Hawaii's island-hopping market shortly after beginning flights to the state from the mainland.

The short, high-demand, inter-island flights are squarely within Southwest's wheelhouse, Southwest revenue chief Andrew Watterson said in an interview Friday.

"We see that big market with higher price points and it's short haul, which is what we're known for," said Watterson, who was at Hawaiian Holdings Inc. before joining Southwest in 2013. "The size of the market and the prices led us to see that we can do it profitably."

The Dallas-based discounter will enter a market littered with the ghosts of other airlines that took on Hawaiian and failed. Island Air ceased flying after filing for bankruptcy in 2017, a fate shared by Aloha Air in 2008. Mesa Air ended operations of its Go! discount unit in 2014. Southwest hasn't disclosed when it will start flying to or within Hawaii, having received regulatory approval just this week.

The carrier will fly the 175-seat Boeing Co. 737-800, shifting later to the 737 Max carrying the same number of passengers. Hawaiian operates Boeing 717s with 128 seats between the islands, while its Ohana commuter unit uses 48-seat turboprops.

Grim History

"If you look at the history of inter-island flying, it works with one," said Andrew Harrison, chief commercial officer of Alaska Air Group Inc., which flies to Hawaii but not between islands. "It's never worked with two. There's a reason that Hawaiian flies the airplane that they do."

Watterson is undeterred. Southwest can operate the larger planes more efficiently than the 717s, which it found were more costly than 737s. A limited number of frequencies at peak travel times means "I'm not worried about filling them up," he said.

"What people miss is that intra-Hawaii is a big market," he said. "It's larger than intra-Texas. We built our airline on intra-Texas using the 737." The inter-island market averaged 6,515 people a day traveling each way in the year through Sept. 30, Watterson said, citing U.S. Transportation Department data that don't include connecting passengers. Texas had 6,212.

Southwest will be taking on an incumbent carrier with a robust schedule of flights connecting the islands.

"Our Boeing 717s and ATR42s are ideally suited for our short-haul neighbor-island flying and high frequency," Alex Da Silva, a Hawaiian Air spokesman, said by email. The carrier's average 202 daily flights among six islands run from about 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., making it "very easy for a Hilo resident to make a lunch business meeting in Honolulu and still be home for dinner."

Fare Calculations

Southwest and rivals once priced one-way tickets within Texas below US$50 but increased the fares over time, boosting profits. On Friday, the cheapest one-way fare available from Houston to Dallas was US$109.30, according to a Google Flights search. Three major carriers now fly throughout the state.

Hawaiian's average one-way inter-island base fare, excluding taxes and fees, was US$71 for the year ending June 30, 2018, the airline said. The lowest one-way fares priced online Friday for off-peak travel ran from about US$70 to US$95.

Southwest received U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval on Feb. 27 for Hawaii service and said it would lay out details for its service "in the coming days." The airline initially will fly from the California cities of San Jose, San Diego, Sacramento and Oakland. Its destinations will be Honolulu, Maui, Kauai and Keahole.
A wrong-way driver headed north Sunday night in the southbound lanes of Interstate Highway 280 near the Daly City-San Francisco border was injured and subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The wrong-way driver, a man in his 30s, sideswiped an Acura SUV headed south on I-280, leaving that driver and his 7-year-old son with minor injuries, before his own car crashed a short distance north, said CHP Officer Bert Diaz.

The CHP got the first report of the wrong-way driver in a Mazda sedan at 8:49 p.m. Sunday, as he passed northbound under John Daly Boulevard on southbound I-280, Diaz said. The Mazda sideswiped the SUV near where State

Highway 1 breaks off from I-280, and the Mazda crashed into the center divider of Highway 1 near the Alemany Boulevard overcrossing, Diaz said.

The wrong-way driver suffered serious cuts on his head, and was taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital for treatment. He was also arrested on suspicion of DUI, Diaz said.

The father and son in the Acura complained of pain but were not hospitalized, Diaz said.

It wasn't clear how far the Mazda had been driving in the wrong direction before reaching John Daly Boulevard, said Diaz, adding that the outcome could have been far worse.

"Anytime there's a wrong-way driver, there are never good things happening," he said. "These calls are often fatal, and there were no fatalities tonight."
New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald is urging residents to take added precautions to protect themselves from Internal Revenue Service-related scams this tax season.

MacDonald's office received 471 reports related to IRS scams in 2017. That number more than doubled in 2018 to 984 reports.

The office says people most commonly report receiving unsolicited calls fraudulently claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment for delinquent taxes. The callers typically ask for some sort of immediate payment and threaten arrest, wage garnishment or other forms of legal process to coerce the payment.

With few exceptions, the agency's first contact with a delinquent taxpayer will not be a phone call, but a mailed letter.
Elgin city council members have approved hiring an outside firm to investigate a police officer's fatal shooting of a woman.

The Arlington Heights Daily Herald reports that the Elgin City Council voted 7-1 Wednesday to hire the firm to investigate DeCynthia Clements' March 2018 killing.

Council members said it was important that the investigation include examining police department policies and procedures. The investigation will cost an estimated $48,000.

The Cook County state's attorney's office said last month that it wouldn't file criminal charges against Lt. Christian Jensen in Clements' death. Jensen shot Clements along Interstate 90 following an hour-long standoff with police in which she set her vehicle on fire.

Video shows Clements holding a knife. Although officers were prepared with stun guns and rubber bullets, Jensen fired his gun.
A 17-year-old boy was charged with murder Monday in connection with the disappearance of two teens from northwest Indiana, prosecutors said.

Connor Kerner, of Valparaiso, Indiana, was charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of 19-year-old Molley Lanham of St. John and 18-year-old Thomas Grill of Cedar Lake, court records show.

Lanham and Grill were last seen at around 12 p.m. on Feb. 25, St. John police said in a statement on Friday.

Prosecutors say two anonymous witnesses arrived at the Cedar Lake Police Department on Friday and told officers that Kerner killed Grill and Lanham, with one of the witnesses telling investigators the approximate location of the teens' bodies and vehicle.

One of the witnesses returned to the police station at investigators' request on Saturday and gave a statement saying that while the witness - referred to in court documents as a confidential informant - was at Kerner's home the night of Feb. 25, Kerner was "visibly upset" and told the informant that "he had done something 'really bad,'" the prosecutors' charging statement says.

When asked to specify, prosecutors said the informant told investigators that Kerner replied, "I killed someone and I killed an innocent girl," identifying them as Grill and Lanham.

Prosecutors allege that Kerner told the informant that he had killed Grill and Lanham in his grandparents' garage in Hebron while his grandparents were out of town.

Authorities say Kerner told the informant that Grill came to the house, driven by Lanham, "for a drug deal" and that Grill had tried to rob Kerner, at which point prosecutors allege Kerner shot Grill.

Prosecutors say Kerner told the informant that he "panicked due to being out of bullets in the gun" and "then beat him with a pipe wrench until he died."

Kerner told the informant that he went outside to find Lanham in the car and told her to come into the garage, where he showed her Grill's body and then "informed her he was going to let her go, but if she told, he would kill her," prosecutors allege.

Authorities say the informant told them that when Lanham turned to leave, he then shot her in the head.

The informant told investigators that Kerner said he then drove Lanham's car into the garage, loaded the bodies into the trunk and drove about two miles away, loading it with flammable substances before setting it on fire and walking back to his grandparents' home, prosecutors allege.

Investigators found the burned-out car in a wooded area on March 2, prosecutors said, and discovered "two heavily burnt bodies, skull fractures to one and an apparent gunshot wound to the head of the other" inside, believing the bodies to be those of Grill and Lanham.

DNA was sent to the lab for processing, and autopsies were pending Monday, the Porter County sheriff's office said in a statement.

Investigators interviewed Kerner's grandparents Gerald and Christy Dye, who confirmed they had been out of town on vacation, prosecutors said. Gerald Dye initially told detectives that nothing was out of place or damaged when they returned home, according to the charging documents filed in court, but about 20 minutes later, he said that statement was "untruthful."

Gerald Dye told investigators that he saw a hole in the garage wall and repaired it, saw that the garage floor had been cleaned, and discovered what appeared to be bullet holes in the bumper of his car and the set of his motorcycle that weren't there when he left for vacation, prosecutors say.

Prosecutors said Gerald Dye also told detectives that while he continued to check the garage, he found that his gun, two magazines and cleaning supplies were all missing. Dye said he called Kerner to ask if the teen had his gun, and Kerner said yes - at which point Gerald Dye went to retrieve the weapon, which his grandson said he had used for "target shooting," authorities allege.

Gerald Dye told investigators that he noticed the gun was lighter and that he believed the magazine, which was full when he left, was missing rounds, court documents say. When he asked Kerner about the missing rounds, Gerald Dye told investigators that his grandson said he had "accidentally fired a shot in the garage," prosecutors say.

Kerner was taken into custody at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, according to the sheriff's office. It was not immediately clear if he had hired an attorney in the case.
The family of a northwest Indiana girl who went missing along with a teen boy late last month has released a statement after a 17-year-old was charged with murder in the case.

"The family continues to grieve and appreciate privacy and space during this horribly tragic time," the statement read, in part. "The family appreciates the condolences, well wishes, and love that has been sent to them. Hug your kids, tell them you love them, and always cherish every moment you have with them."

A 17-year-old boy was charged with murder Monday in connection with the disappearance of 19-year-old Molley Lanham and 18-year-old Thomas Grill, prosecutors said.

Connor Kerner, of Valparaiso, Indiana, was charged with two counts of murder in what is believed to be the deaths of Lanham of St. John and Grill of Cedar Lake, court records show.

Lanham and Grill were last seen at around 12 p.m. on Feb. 25, St. John police said in a statement on Friday.

Prosecutors say two anonymous witnesses told officers that Kerner killed Grill and Lanham, with one of the witnesses telling investigators the approximate location of the teens' bodies and vehicle.

Prosecutors allege that Kerner told one informant that he had killed Grill and Lanham in a drug deal gone wrong at his grandparents' garage in Hebron. They alleged Kerner killed Grill after Grill allegedly tried to rob him during the drug deal. He then brought Lanham, who had been waiting in a car outside, into the garage and shot her too, the informant told investigators.

He later confessed to one of the informants that he "killed an innocent girl," prosecutors said.

Investigators found the burned-out car in a wooded area on March 2, prosecutors said, and discovered "two heavily burnt bodies, skull fractures to one and an apparent gunshot wound to the head of the other" inside, believing the bodies to be those of Grill and Lanham.

DNA was sent to the lab for processing, and autopsies were pending Monday, the Porter County sheriff's office said in a statement.

Kerner was taken into custody at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, according to the sheriff's office. It was not immediately clear if he had hired an attorney in the case.

"Molley was a beautiful, loved daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, and friend," the Lanham family's statement read. "She will be deeply missed by everyone that knew her. Molley was so unapologetically herself. She was spunky, fashionable, and unique in every way imaginable. Molley will be remembered for her love and kindness for all, especially animals."
A off-duty male Chicago police officer was in critical condition early Monday after crashing his vehicle on the Eisenhower Expressway near the Kedzie Avenue exit on the West Side, authorities said.

Around midnight, his car smashed into the concrete barrier on the left side of the inbound I-290 near Kedzie, according to Illinois State Police.

The man, an off-duty police officer, was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition, the Chicago Fire Department and Chicago police said. No one else was injured.

Blue Line service, which runs between the Eisenhowers inbound and outbound lanes, was halted at 2 a.m., according to a CTA alert. It reopened about an hour later.

The three left lanes of the inbound Eisenhower were closed until about 4 a.m. for an investigation, state police said.

State police did not immediately release information on the circumstances of the crash.
Milford Police have arrested a woman who is accused of using a stun gun on an employee during a shoplifting incident on Friday.

Officers were called to the Connecticut Post Mall on Boston Post Road around 2 p.m. after getting a report of a shoplifter who was attempting to flee from a loss prevention agent at Boscov's.

An investigation led to the arrest of 39-year-old Tamara Kisic, of Bridgeport, according to police.

Kisic is accused of taking $190 worth of merchandise from the store without paying. She then used a stun gun on the loss prevention agent while she was attempting to avoid being apprehended, police said.

Kisic is facing charges including robbery, larceny, assault and breach of peace. She was held on $7,500 bond.
Grace DeNoya is used to getting snickers when people learn she's majoring in marijuana.

"My friends make good-natured jokes about getting a degree in weed," said DeNoya, one of the first students in a new four-year degree program in medicinal plant chemistry at Northern Michigan University. "I say, 'No, it's a serious degree, a chemistry degree first and foremost. It's hard work. Organic chemistry is a bear.'"

As a green gold rush in legal marijuana and its non-drug cousin hemp spreads across North America, a growing number of colleges are adding cannabis to the curriculum to prepare graduates for careers cultivating, researching, analyzing and marketing the herb.

Research shows there are high times ahead for all kinds of careers in cannabis, ranging from greenhouse and dispensary operators to edible product developers, marketing specialists, quality assurance lab directors and pharmaceutical researchers. Arcview Market Research, which focuses on cannabis industry trends, projects the industry will support 467,000 jobs by 2022.

And even in states where recreational marijuana remains illegal, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, some colleges have launched cannabis studies programs in anticipation of legalization or to prepare students for jobs in other states.

"We're providing a fast track to get into the industry," said Brandon Canfield, a chemistry professor at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. Two years ago, he proposed a new major in medicinal plant chemistry after attending a conference where cannabis industry representatives spoke of an urgent need for analytical chemists for product quality assessment and assurance.

The four-year degree, which is the closest thing to a marijuana major at an accredited U.S. university, has drawn nearly 300 students from 48 states, Canfield said. Students won't be growing marijuana, which was recently legalized by Michigan voters for recreational use. But Canfield said students will learn to measure and extract medicinal compounds from plants such as St. John's Wort and ginseng and transfer that knowledge to marijuana.

A similar program is being launched at Minot State University in North Dakota this spring. The college said students will learn lab skills applicable to medical marijuana, hops, botanical supplements and food science industries.

"All of our graduates are going to be qualified to be analysts in a lab setting," Canfield said, noting that experience could lead to a position paying $70,000 right out of school. Those wishing to start their own businesses can choose an entrepreneurial track that adds courses in accounting, legal issues and marketing.

"I came in planning to do the bioanalytical track, maybe go work in a lab," said DeNoya, 27, who was considering nursing school when she heard about the NMU program. "I just switched to the entrepreneurial track. I figured that would better position me, as the industry is still expanding and changing and growing so much."

The expected boom in cannabis-related jobs has colleges responding with a range of offerings. Colorado State University offers a cannabis studies minor focusing on social, legal, political and health impacts. Ohio State University, Harvard, the University of Denver and Vanderbilt offer classes on marijuana policy and law.

Universities have done little research on marijuana because of federal restrictions, but that's starting to change. UCLA's Cannabis Research Initiative, which bills itself as one of the first academic programs in the world dedicated to the study of cannabis, has studies underway ranging from medical treatments to economic impacts.

Agricultural schools are also getting in on the action. The University of Connecticut is launching a cannabis horticulture program this spring.

"We're following the market," said Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins, an assistant professor at the State University of New York at Morrisville, a college in rural central New York that's launching a new minor in cannabis studies in its horticulture department this year. Students work with hemp and other plants rather than marijuana, but can take internships at medical marijuana facilities, Jenkins said.

In New Jersey, Stockton University started an interdisciplinary cannabis minor last fall and recently forged an academic partnership with Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia that gives students the opportunity for internships and research work in medical marijuana and hemp.

"Most of the students are interested in novel business opportunities," said Kathy Sedia, coordinator of the cannabis minor at Stockton.

Cannabis businesses range from medical and recreational marijuana to foods, fabrics and myriad other products derived from industrial hemp. The basis for all is the cannabis sativa plant. Marijuana is produced by varieties with high levels of THC, the chemical compound that makes people high. Hemp has only a trace of THC, but produces cannabidiol, or CBD, used in a broad range of nutritional and therapeutic products that are all the rage right now.

Marijuana is legal for medical purposes in 33 states and as a recreational drug in 10. While marijuana remains illegal federally, the 2018 Farm bill cleared the way for widespread cultivation of hemp.

In New York, where legislators are moving to legalize recreational use of marijuana, hemp has become a new source of income for farmers as well as jobs at processing and manufacturing businesses. The state's first legal hemp crop was harvested in 2016 under a Morrisville research license, which gave rise to the new cannabis minor.

"I see a lot more farmers reaching out and trying to find people who know about this new crop," said Colton Welch, an agriculture business student pursuing the cannabis minor at Morrisville. "We're only beginning to see the wide application this plant has."

Karson Humiston, founder of Vangst, an employment agency specializing in cannabis jobs, said the industry outlook is bright for students.

"More jobs are being created in this space than in any other space in North America, with salaries sometimes more competitive than other industries," Humiston said. "With every new state that legalizes, tons of jobs are opening up."
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said on Monday he's running for president, casting himself as a can-do uniter who is used to overcoming adversity and accomplishing liberal goals in a politically divided state.

"I'm running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done," Hickenlooper, 66, said in a video announcing his campaign. "I've proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver."

He becomes the second governor to enter the sprawling field of Democrats running for president, after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week, and is trying to cast himself as a pragmatist who can also take on President Donald Trump. Though as governor Hickenlooper prided himself for staying above partisan fights, he has argued his record as a former governor and big-city mayor distinguishes him from a broad field of Democratic presidential aspirants who are backing ambitious liberal plans on health care, taxes and the climate.

Hickenlooper has hedged on supporting Democratic rallying cries like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal to combat climate change. He once worked as a geologist for a petroleum company and was roundly criticized for telling a congressional panel he drank fracking fluid while arguing for the safety of the energy extraction technique.

It was after Hickenlooper was laid off from his geologist position during the energy bust of the 1980s that he inadvertently started on his road to politics. He opened a brewpub in a then-desolate stretch of downtown Denver that unexpectedly took off. That enabled Hickenlooper to become wealthy by building a mini-empire of restaurants and bars. It also led to the Pennsylvania native  he's from the Mongtomery County suburbs of Philadelphia  making a quixotic run for Denver mayor in 1993. Campaign ads featured Hickenlooper feeding quarters into parking meters to protest the city's charging for Sunday parking downtown. He won handily.

As mayor, Hickenlooper helped persuade dozens of suburban cities, sometimes led by Republicans, to back a tax hike to fund a light-rail network. He was filmed diving out of an airplane to advocate for a statewide ballot measure to suspend an anti-tax measure passed in the 1990s and allow the state budget to grow. When he ran for governor in 2010, he featured an ad of himself fully dressed, walking into a shower to scrub off negative attacks.

It's all part of Hickenlooper's quirky political image  he vows not to run attack ads and has frequently made fun of his tendency to misspeak and wander off political message.

Hickenlooper was supported by some Republicans as governor. His first term was marked by a series of disasters and tragedies, some of which he alluded to in his launch video  record wildfires and floods, the assassination of his own prison chief by a member of a white supremacist prison gang and the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, which killed 12. After that attack and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Connecticut months later, Hickenlooper called for gun control legislation and signed bills requiring universal background checks and limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds.

He backed civil unions for gay couples and signed a law providing them in Colorado in 2013, before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage. He announced in 2013 that he opposed the death penalty and refused to execute a quadruple-murderer who was on death row. And, as he prepared to leave office and was openly mulling a presidential bid, he ordered the state to adopt California's low-emission vehicle standards to fight climate change.

The last move was widely seen as shoring up an area that has long created tension for Hickenlooper  his relationship with the energy industry. Groups opposed to the expansion of energy exploration into Denver's suburbs often complained that Hickenlooper was too close to the oil and gas business, which remains a powerful force in Colorado politics.

As governor, Hickenlooper opposed ballot measures to limit drilling in populated areas. Hickenlooper's successor, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, has been more critical of the industry. Last week, Polis announced he'd pursue a wide range of new policies that would limit energy exploration.

Another potential vulnerability for Hickenlooper is money. As a former governor, he can't recycle donations from prior campaigns into a presidential account, as can the many U.S. Senators in the field. Hickenlooper's political committee raised $1 million during the first two months of the year, in contrast to senators such as Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who raised more than that amount in the 24 hours after they announced their campaigns.

Still, Hillary Clinton vetted Hickenlooper as a possible running mate in 2016, and Democrats have spoken about his potential national appeal for years. In his launch video, Hickenlooper says, following images of Trump: "As a skinny kid with Coke bottle glasses and a funny last name, I've stood up to my fair share of bullies."

Hickenlooper is expected to focus heavily on Iowa, where many Coloradans come from and a state where his low-key, genial approach could be potent. In previous trips he's emphasized his record and how he can bring warring parties together. During a January swing he stopped by a Des Moines brewpub where a customer asked him how he'd win the primary of "who hates Trump the most?"

Hickenlooper responded by rattling off his governing accomplishments.

"Everyone yells at Trump, he will win," Hickenlooper said. "You have to laugh at him and joke along and say: 'Hey, this is what I did.'"
The dozens of community and nonprofit theaters across the U.S. forced to abandon productions of "To Kill a Mockingbird" under legal threat were offered an olive branch in the form of Aaron Sorkin's script for the Broadway version.

Scott Rudin, producer of the New York adaptation of Harper Lee's novel, had cited an agreement with Lee's estate in demanding that what he called improperly licensed productions be shut down. Following a backlash in recent days, Rudin said the theater companies could perform the Sorkin play as long as they use his adaptation.

The offer is intended to "ameliorate the hurt caused here," Rudin said in a statement provided Saturday to The Associated Press. "For these theaters, this is the version that can be offered to them, in concert with our agreement with Harper Lee. We hope they will choose to avail themselves of the opportunity."

Maybe, maybe not, said the artistic executive director of one of the affected theaters.

"We are interested in the offer and intrigued," said Seth Miller of the Grand Theatre in Salt Lake City. But Rudin has yet to respond to questions that would need to be answered first, including how long the offer is good for, Miller said Saturday.

At this point, he said, it's too late to stage it during the play's allotted three-week run, which was to begin March 26. Miller said he has yet to see the Sorkin version and would have to evaluate the script before making a decision.

"I've heard good things about the show, I've heard people that weren't thrilled with some of the changes," Miller said. "I'm not going to commit to doing something I haven't read."

Rudin, an Oscar-winning film producer ("No Country for Old Men"), had argued that Lee signed over to him exclusive worldwide rights to the title of the novel and that Rudin's current adaptation is the only version allowed to be performed. Lee died in 2016 at age 89.

Rudin's demand forced the scuttling of adaptations in small venues such as the Mugford Street Players in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and the Kavinoky Theatre in Buffalo, New York, as well as in Salt Lake City and a planned United Kingdom and Ireland tour. They had licensed the rights for a different version, written by Christopher Sergel and licensed by the Dramatic Publishing Company, or DPC.

The all-volunteer Curtain Call Theatre in Braintree, Massachusetts, said it received a letter threatening damages of up to $150,000, a burdensome amount for a venue where tickets for plays are $20 and $25 for musicals.

The Grand Theatre's estimated loss is $20,000, "a considerable sum for a community theater," Miller said. Options are being weighed to fill the "Mockingbird" run.

Rudin had defended his original position in a recent statement: "We hate to ask anybody to cancel any production of a play anywhere, but the productions in question as licensed by DPC infringe on rights licensed to us by Harper Lee directly," he said. "The Sergel play can contractually continue to be performed under set guidelines as described in detail in its own agreement with Harper Lee  and as long as those guidelines are adhered to, we have no issue with the play having a long life."

That sparked an online revolt with the rallying cry of #BoycottRudinplays. Chris Peterson, founder of the OnStage Blog, asked ticket buyers to avoid all current and coming Rudin productions on Broadway, including "Hillary and Clinton," ''Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus," ''King Lear," ''The Ferryman" and "The Book of Mormon."

"If a theatre was consciously stealing creative license, that would be one thing," Peterson wrote online. "This is something else entirely. This is wrong." He added: "Prohibiting others to perform this piece goes against everything the novel is about in the first place."

The Broadway adaptation by Sorkin, creator of TV's "The West Wing" and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of "The Social Network," stars Jeff Daniels as Atticus Finch, the Alabama lawyer who defends a black man from a false charge of raping a white woman.

A spokesman for the American Association of Community Theatre said last week the organization would not weigh in on the dispute.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy in New York contributed to this report.
By Andrea Navarro, Bloomberg News | Mar. 03, 2019

Four months after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador pledged to scrap a US$13 billion airport project for Mexico City, the airline industry is bursting with questions about his plan to operate three hubs for the nation's capital. His administration is still short on answers.

Running three airports will be "very, very, very challenging" given Mexico City's altitude, temperature and surrounding mountains, Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association, said at an airline conference in the Mexican capital. "Let me be perfectly clear, there will be no compromise on safety."

With other panelists and attendees echoing his concerns at the conference, Lopez Obrador's top transportation official had few details to offer in response. "We need to look for a valid solution that is absolutely safe from an aeronautical standpoint," said Transport Minister Javier Jimenez Espriu.

The safety focus underscored the airline industry's misgivings about Lopez Obrador's intention to upgrade the existing hub and an airport in nearby Toluca, while tapping the Defense Ministry to transform a military base into a commercial airport. Aeronautical analysts at Mitre Corp. have argued that the Santa Lucia air base can't safely operate in tandem with Mexico City's main airport if capacity grows at both, which would be needed to ease saturation.

Trekking out to Toluca from any of those two airports can take an hour and a half or more, depending on traffic, complicating passenger connections.

Texcoco Cancellation

Lopez Obrador canceled his predecessor's project to build a major new airport in Texcoco, east of Mexico City, which was already one-third built. That hub was designed to replace the current airport, which is congested -- and constrained from adding runways.

"Airlines urgently need to know what infrastructure will be available and when," de Juniac said at the conference Thursday. "And if the decision is politically motivated, the results will be sub-optimal."

Other questioners at the IATA conference zeroed in on Lopez Obrador's plan to ask the military build and operate an airport meant for commercial use. Does it make sense? Is the model used elsewhere?

De Juniac, who represents airlines around the world as head of IATA, said it's definitely not common. At best, the operation would have to be split among the military and government offices that handle civilian affairs such as immigration and customs, he said.

'Common Sense'

Local transportation links also came in for scrutiny. The government has said that international and domestic flights will be split among the three airports, a move that would create logistical challenges for airlines.

"We've never seen good connectivity between airports that are 70 kilometers (43 miles) apart," said de Juniac, the former chief executive officer of Air France-KLM. "That's just common sense."

Grupo Aeromexico SAB CEO Andres Conesa, speaking on a panel of airline executives, agreed.

"Airlines like ours that operate wide-body aircraft need to operate out of one single airport, we need one single operation center," he said.

'Deal Breaker'

Enrique Beltranena, CEO at low-cost airline Volaris, said operating out of Toluca would threaten to generate additional costs.

"That would be a deal breaker for us. I can't operate something that is just not economically viable," he said.

While Volaris was "born" out of Toluca, he said, the carrier eventually reduced flights at the airport because the market "isn't there."

Aeromexico shares fell 1.5 percent to 20.50 pesos at 10:13 a.m. in Mexico City. Volaris rose less than 1 percent to 16.62 pesos.

Transport Minister Jimenez Espriu said he knew the Texcoco cancellation has ranked as one of the least popular decisions so far by the new president, who took office in December.

"But I'm sure people will eventually come around," he said.
Southwest Airlines started selling flights to Hawaii from California Monday morning.

The Dallas-based carrier had flights starting at $49 one-way from Oakland to Honolulu on March 18, according to its website. It's inaugural flight March 17, as well as its lowest launch fares, quickly sold out.

Southwest Airlines tweeted that it still had other low fares available.

Our low fares already have thousands of you booked on new service to the islands of Hawaii! The lowest launch fares are sold out, but there are still many low fares available! https://t.co/TdnRpEMR33 pic.twitter.com/OkI29Lsku4  Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 4, 2019

The airline begins flights to Kahului Airport on the island of Maui on April 7. Eventually it plans to serve four airports in Hawaii from Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento and San Diego.

The Dallas company plans to start daily inter-island hops between Honolulu and Kahului on April 28 and between Honolulu and Onizuka International Airport on Hawaii Island on May 12.

Southwest wanted to sell Hawaiian flights last year, but it took longer than expected to gain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. That process was further delayed by the 35-day government shutdown that began late last year.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in February that launching flights to Hawaii from California is the airline's priority this year, but adding flights from Nevada to Hawaii could be possible next year

Southwest applied for FAA certification earlier this year to fly to Honolulu and three other Hawaiian destinations from Oakland, San Jose, San Diego and Sacramento in California. [[506105542,C]]

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in February that launching flights to Hawaii from California is the airline's priority this year, but adding flights from Nevada to Hawaii could be possible next year.
A new Dallas teen curfew takes effect Monday, after the city council voted Wednesday to reinstate a law that expired in January.

The Dallas City Council allowed the curfew, which applied to kids under 17-years-old, to expire last month, as leaders considered options that potentially involved doing away with it for good.

Instead, the council passed an amended version of the old law, crafted by councilman Adam McGough.

The amendments include a directive to police officers to issue a citation as a last resort, instead they are instructed to bring kids home to their parents. If a citation is issued, it would be handled as a civil, instead of a criminal, violation.

Fines were reduced from $500 to $50, and the city council set aside $500,000 for new youth activities.

With some exemptions, kids younger than 17-years-old cannot be in a public place or on the premises of any establishment between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and between 12:01 and 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, according to NBC 5 media partner The Dallas Morning News. They also cannot be out from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on school days. There is an exception if a child is with a parent.

Critics of the curfew said it unfairly targets minorities.
What to Know Noe Sanchez of Skyline High is one of the top 10 finalists in the Big Tex boot design contest.

There have been over 250 unique submissions

You can vote on your favorite design. Voting ends at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Designing Big Texs boots for the 2019 State Fair of Texas is a huge deal, and a Skyline High School freshman wants the job.

Noe Sanchez is one of the top 10 finalists in the Big Tex boot design contest. His illustration could be featured on Big Tex at this year's State Fair of Texas.

Noe stood out in a pool of over 250 unique submissions. He said for four hours a week, for three weeks, he worked on the Texas-sized boot creation.

Noes original artwork features the Dallas skyline, with a variety of Texas symbols, in addition to an intense color combination, and a radiant Texas sunset.

"Oh, Im very proud. My family is very proud too. My teachers, my principals are proud as well and I thank them for all the encouragement and inspiration," Sanchez said. "Theres a bunch of competitors, so I thought, Im just going to try and hope for the best."

Scoring will include creativity of the design and representation of Texas pride.

You can vote for Noes illustration to be featured on Big Tex and take a look at the boot designs of the other finalists here.

Voting ends at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The tap water in some North Texas cities may smell and taste a little unusual this week.

The North Texas Municipal Water District said its annual cleaning process may make tap water smell and taste like chlorine for the next few weeks.

NTMWD provides water service for 1.7 million people across 10 counties, including Collin, Dallas, Denton, Kaufman and Rockwall.

The City of Garland, one of the cities serviced by the NTMWD, advised people not to worry about the stronger chlorine odor coming from faucets, saying "the water is perfectly safe" and is part of the normal and temporary disinfection protocol used every year.

Starting next week, you may notice a stronger taste/smell of chlorine coming out of your faucets. Not to worry. The water is perfectly safe. It's part of a normal & temporary disinfection protocol our water provider does every year. For more details: https://t.co/xGifCjmmRk pic.twitter.com/w4Z5BKv5ka  Garland Texas (@garlandtxgov) February 25, 2019

"Disinfection is a critical part of water treatment to keep water safe," the NTMWD said in a news release. "It involves a two-step process that first treats the water at the plant and second adds disinfectant to maintain water quality as it travels long distances through pipes to homes and businesses. Both steps are needed to keep tap water free of harmful microorganisms, such as parasites and viruses."

The process has drawn controversy, with some comparing the smell and taste of drinking water to chlorinated pool water.

"I tell my kids not to drink the pool water and here I am, and they're like, 'Why does this smell like the pool?'" Angela Groves, who lives in Murphy, told NBC 5. Hundreds shared similar concerns at a speech last year in Frisco by activist Erin Brockovich.

"NTMWD has been doing this for over 10 years, and high water quality has always been maintained," the district said, also noting that cities in its service area may open fire hydrants to help flush out the chlorine disinfectant.

The process is planned for March 4 through April 1.
World War II veterna Joe Cuba celebrated his 100th birthday over the weekend -- having received about 50,000 birthday cards.



Earlier this month Cuba shared a photo online asking for 100 birthday cards on his birthday, March 2.

Not only did people across the country answer the call, tens of thousands of times, many showed up at his party in Wichita Falls over the weekend.



"I don't deserve all the gifts and glory, but I accept it and I thank them for coming and wishing me well," Cuba said. "That's the best thing. Yeah. And, uh, I don't have to have a lot of goodies as the saying goes, but I enjoy 'em as well."

According to a post on Facebook, Cuba even received a letter from President Donald Trump who sent the veteran his best wishes "on this tremendous milestone."

The Texas House of Representatives also sent Cuba a certificate, celebrating his 100th birthday.

Cuba is still receiving cards and expects to receive more than a few this week.
Rescue crews searched for victims Monday amid the splintered lumber and twisted metal where homes once stood, after the deadliest U.S. tornado in nearly six years ripped through a rural Alabama community. At least 23 people were killed, some of them children.

Dozens remained unaccounted for in Lee County nearly a day later, according to the sheriff, who said that crews had combed the hardest-hit areas but that the search was far from over.

"I'm not going to be surprised if we don't come up with some more deceased. Hopefully we won't," Coroner Bill Harris said.

Harris said the dead included almost entire families and at least three children, ages 6, 9 and 10.

The National Weather Service said one and possibly two tornadoes struck the area Sunday afternoon, with a powerful EF-4 twister with winds estimated at 170 mph blamed for most of the destruction.

The bigger tornado carved a path nearly 1 mile wide and 24 miles long, stretching toward Georgia, said Chris Darden, the agency's chief meteorologist in Birmingham.

The killer winds left shredded metal dangling from the trees and obliterated homes, leaving little more than concrete slabs.

Darden said the "monster tornado" was the single deadliest twister in the U.S. since May 2013, when an EF-5 killed 24 people in Moore, Oklahoma.

"It looks like someone almost just took a giant knife and scraped the ground," Sheriff Jay Jones said.

With daybreak, volunteers used chain saws to clear paths for emergency workers, while at the R&D Grocery, people asked each other if they were OK.

"I'm still thanking God I'm among the living," said John Jones, who has lived most of his life in Beauregard, an unincorporated community of roughly 10,000 people about 60 miles east of Montgomery near the Georgia state line.

President Donald Trump tweeted that he told the Federal Emergency Management Agency to give Alabama "the A Plus treatment."

The twister was part of a powerful storm system that slashed its way across the Deep South, spawning numerous tornado warnings in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

"All we could do is just hold on for life and pray," said Jonathan Clardy, who huddled with his family inside their Beauregard trailer as the tornado ripped the roof off. "It's a blessing from God that me and my young'ns are alive."

Beauregard, named for a Confederate general, is in a rural corner of the same Alabama county that is home to Auburn University. The community has a few small stores, two schools and a volunteer fire department dotting the main highway that runs through town. The sheriff estimated up to 10,000 people live in the area.

"Everybody in Beauregard is a real close-knit family," Clardy said. "Everybody knows everybody around here. Everybody is heartbroken."

Julie Morrison and her daughter-in-law picked through the ruins of Morrison's home in Beauregard, looking for keys and a wallet. They managed to salvage her husband's motorcycle boots and a Bible.

Morrison said she and her husband took shelter in the bathtub as the twister lifted their house off the ground and swept it into the woods.

"We knew we were flying because it picked the house up," Morrison said, figuring that the shower's fiberglass enclosure helped them survive. She said her son-in-law later dug them out.

Levi Baker took a chain saw to help clear a path for ambulances and other emergency vehicles. He said he saw dead people and animals and demolished houses, with one home swept off its foundation and left in the middle of a road.

Along the hard-hit country road, giant pieces of metal from a farm building dangled from pine branches 20 feet in the air, making loud creaking sounds as the wind blew. For an entire mile down the road, pines were snapped in half. A mobile home crushed by two trees marked the end of the path of destruction.

An early March tornado outbreak in the Alabama-Mississippi area is not unusual, tornado experts said.

The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, posted forecasts for higher possible tornado activity in the region on Thursday, three days before the killer twister struck.

University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd said the weather service and its prediction center "were all over it in the days and hours before the storms."

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia; Seth Borenstein in Washington; Bill Cormier in Atlanta; and Ryan Kryska in New York contributed to this report.
An executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, saying they detained, searched and interrogated her before telling her she was under arrest.

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou said Sunday they filed a notice of civil claim in the British Columbia Supreme Court. Canada arrested Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, at the request of the U.S. on Dec. 1 at Vancouver's airport. She is wanted on fraud charges that she misled banks about the company's business dealings in Iran.

The suit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, authorities interrogated Meng "under the guise of a routine customs" examination and used the opportunity to "compel her to provide evidence and information." The suit alleges Canada Border Service Agency agents seized her electronic devices, obtained passwords and unlawfully viewed the contents and intentionally failed to adviser her of the true reasons for her detention. The suit said only after three hours was she told she was under arrest and had right to counsel.

"This case concerns a deliberate and pre-meditated effort on the part of the defendant officers to obtain evidence and information from the plaintiff in a manner which they knew constituted serious violations of the plaintiff's rights," the claim says.

Meng is out on bail and living in Vancouver awaiting extradition proceedings.

On Friday, Canadian Justice Department officials gave the go-ahead for her extradition proceedings to begin. Meng is due in court Wednesday to set a date for the proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved.

Meng's arrest set off a diplomatic furor and severely strained Canadian relations with China. Beijing has accused Washington of a politically motivated attempt to hurt the company.

China detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor on Dec. 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng.

A Chinese court also sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier. Kovrig and Spavor haven't had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested.

Nicolas Dorion, a spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said it's not a practice of the agency to comment on legal matters that are before the courts. A justice department spokesman referred comment to the border agency, and a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they were unlikely to comment Sunday.

Gary Botting, a Vancouver extradition lawyer who is not representing Meng, said Canada's Border Services Agency tends to overstep.

"They took her under custody without telling her why," Botting said. "They disguised the real reason why they detained her. Her rights were violated."

Botting said they had no reason to detain her as she had travelled to Canada many times before. "They are trying to get all this information ahead of time and they know ultimately an arrest was in the works," he said.

Julian Ku, senior associate dean for academic affairs at Hofstra Law, noted the civil action is separate and apart from Meng's extradition proceeding. He said the lawsuit will allow her to argue she is being unfairly treated and support her broader public relations claim that the detention is part of a U.S and Canadian political conspiracy against Huawei.

Lynette Ong, an associate professor of political science at the University of Toronto who focuses on China, quipped that the detained Canadians should take Beijing to court for violation of basic human rights, taking a leaf from the Meng lawsuit.

"The violation of their human rights is so much more grave than violation of her constitutional rights," Ong said. "But that's not even possible for them. The fact that they were denied a lawyer in the first place means they are not entitled to any justice."
What to Know The kidnapping, resulting in death charge makes 32-year-old Coleman eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

While no murder charge was announced Sunday, Lelling said, "I think there is probable cause to believe he [Coleman] killed Ms. Correia."

Boston Police Commissioner Gross said this tragedy is affecting people throughout the city.

A man who was arrested in Delaware after a Massachusetts woman's body was found in the trunk of his car now faces a federal charge.

U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling announced Sunday that federal prosecutors have charged Louis D. Coleman III, of Providence, Rhode Island, with kidnapping, resulting in death. The charge carries a sentence of mandatory life and also makes 32-year-old Coleman eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Jassy Correia, a 23-year-old mother who lived in Lynn, Massachusetts, was last seen on Feb. 24 leaving a Boston nightclub where she had gone to celebrate her birthday with friends.

Coleman was later identified as a suspect, and he was arrested in Delaware on Feb. 28, at which time Correia's body was discovered in the trunk of his car.

"Today's charge is a result of a tremendous amount of law enforcement work done in a very short time," Lelling said. "The federal charges are being brought because of the multi-state nature of the crime and the penalties available in federal court. And they're being brought here because Ms. Correia is from here, was taken from here, and justice should be done here if at all possible."

Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins voiced her support for Lelling's decision to seek the federal charge.

"Given the evidence as it currently stands, a federal prosecution for interstate kidnapping causing death is in the best interest of this case. This process will best serve Jassy's family, Boston and our Cape Verdean community who deserve the chance to see justice done in the city they call home."

According to Lelling, the kidnapping resulting in death charge was the logical choice because it was the most applicable charge and it also carries the highest possible sentence.

While no murder charge was announced Sunday, Lelling said, "I think there is probable cause to believe he [Coleman] killed Ms. Correia."

A number of new details were revealed about the case on Sunday, with Lelling announcing that it appears preliminarily that Correia died from blunt force trauma and strangulation. Lelling added that while only a preliminary medical examination has been done at this point, it does not appear Correia was sexually assaulted.

Authorities believe Correia put up a fight, saying there are "definitely indications that she did not go quietly."

Lelling cited several examples that suggest Correia put up a struggle, including the forward windshield of Coleman's red sedan being cracked in two locations on the passenger side, significant bruising on Correia's body, and a scratch on Coleman's face that he said was from Correia.

A timeline of the investigation was also provided by Lelling on Sunday.

He said, after learning of Correia's disappearance, Boston police reviewed surveillance tape from outside of Venu Nightclub, where Correia had last been seen. Police observed on the footage that Correia was on the sidewalk at 2:14 a.m. when she was approached by a man, later identified as Coleman. He could be seen interacting with her, and then leaving the area with her before the two get into his red sedan.

Lelling noted that it does not appear that Correia knew Lelling but said there is still a lot left to learn.

Boston police were then able to retrieve an image of Coleman's driver's license from the nightclub and match it to the man seen outside with Correia. The license showed an address for an apartment in Providence, which was later searched by Rhode Island authorities.

About two hours after Correia was seen getting into Coleman's vehicle in Boston, surveillance footage from Coleman's apartment building in Providence shows him parking around 4:15 a.m. on Sunday, Feb. 24.

Lelling said they are still investigating the route the car took between the street outside the nightclub and Coleman's Providence apartment. It's not clear what happened during that two-hour span, but Lelling noted that Correia got into the red sedan under her own power in Boston but was carried out of it in Providence. Authorities are continuing to look into what occurred during those two hours, Lelling said.

Once Coleman is seen arriving at his apartment, surveillance footage shows Coleman exit his vehicle alone. He returned a short time later carrying a blanket and then walked from the car to the front of the building carrying a body with long hair and clothing consistent with Correia's description.

Once he entered the building, surveillance video showed Coleman dropping the victim on the floor and dragging her towards the elevator, and subsequently towards his apartment unit. The victim was not moving and her body was limp.

On Feb. 26, surveillance video showed the defendant leave the apartment building and return with Walmart shopping bags. Boston and Providence police officers obtained video surveillance and a receipt from a Walmart in Providence, that revealed Coleman had purchased three Tyvek suits, duct tape, two candles, electrical tape, one mask, surgical gloves, two pairs of safety goggles, an odor respirator and CLN release bleach bath.

At approximately 9:58 p.m. on Feb. 27, Coleman is seen on video surveillance entering his apartment building with what appeared to be a new, large suitcase. Lelling noted that you could see tags on the suitcase in the video. A few hours later, around 1:15 a.m., on Feb. 28, Coleman is seen in the video wheeling the suitcase away from his apartment unit towards the elevator, eventually out of the building and into the parking lot where his vehicle was. Coleman appeared to have difficulty lifting the suitcase into the trunk of his car, indicating it was bearing some weight, Lelling said.

Additional surveillance video showed Coleman on several occasions exiting his apartment building with other items, including trash bags, cardboard boxes, a bottle of bleach, a laptop case, a computer tower and a small duffle bag.

Later in the day on Feb. 28, a search warrant was executed at Colemans apartment, where two packages of hooded coveralls and two respirator masks were recovered. A sofa with four large cushions, one of which was missing a cover, was also observed.

In a dumpster outside of the apartment complex, authorities discovered white trash bags, a bag containing plastic sheets, mens jeans with bleach stains and a belt, a white nylon hooded coverall, an empty box of baking soda, clear safety goggles, a respirator mask, duct tape packaging, rubbing alcohol, Walmart bags, used plastic gloves, an empty package from a car air freshener, three empty packages of purifying charcoal and a sponge.

On the afternoon of Feb. 28, Colemans vehicle was stopped by Delaware State Police on Interstate 95 South near Wilmington, Delaware. Officers ordered Coleman out of the vehicle and asked him if anyone else was in the vehicle with him, to which Coleman allegedly responded, "Shes in the trunk, or words to that effect.

Lelling said it appears the traffic stop and subsequent arrest were uneventful, contrary to reports that a high-speed chase was involved.

Officers discovered Correia's body in the trunk of Colemans vehicle, wrapped in a sofa cushion cover, which was inside of a black trash bag, inside of a large suitcase that matches the suitcase Coleman was observed bringing into his apartment on Feb. 27. Correia was found naked, with significant bruising and a bloodied face. She was bound with gray duct tape and was covered in what is believed to be baking soda.

Lelling said reports that Correia's body was mutilated or dismembered are not correct. Though Lelling did note that while there is no way to know what Coleman planned to do with Correia's body, all of the cleaning and cutting supplies found in his vehicle imply that he planned to somehow dispose of her body.

From Coleman's vehicle, officials recovered a duffle bag, a pair of new long-handled loppers, plastic garbage bags, clothing, a red plastic gas container, a green butane lighter, black gloves, charcoal air purifiers, air fresheners, tinted safety glasses, plastic Walmart bags, work towels, cloth work-gloves, a new set of DeWalt pliers, a laptop, a computer hard-drive/tower, and disinfectant wipes.

Coleman was taken into custody and transported to a Delaware State Police barracks. There, it was noted that Coleman had a large bandage on the right side of his face. When asked about it, he allegedly replied, Its from the girl," or words to that effect.

Coleman will appear in federal court in Delaware on Monday, March 4 at a time to be determined. He will be transferred to Massachusetts at a later date. It was not immediately known if Coleman had retained a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.

Back in Massachusetts, Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said this tragedy is affecting people throughout the city.

"I can't tell you how upsetting this is, as I talk to folks across the city. Everyone has loved ones in their family, daughters, nieces, and this is just a horrible tragedy for the family," Gross said at the press conference. "On behalf of Mayor Walsh and the men and women of the Boston Police Department, we extend our most sincere condolences to the Correia family for the loss of their loved one."

In addition to DA Rollins and Commissioner Gross, Lelling was joined at the afternoon press conference in Boston by Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; John Gibbons, U.S. Marshal for the District of Massachusetts; Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins; Colonel Nathaniel McQueen Jr., Delaware State Police; and Colonel Hugh T. Clements Jr., Chief of Police, Providence Police Department.

All officials in attendance pledged their support and deep condolences to the Correia family. They universally noted this investigation has been a team effort, citing cooperation among several law enforcement agencies in three states.

"We mourn the loss of a young life taken much too soon and our sympathies go to the friends, family and especially her young daughter, who is now faced with the sobering reality of having to grow up without her mother," Bonavolonta said of Correia's 2-year-old daughter.

"We're all working together collaboratively to bring justice to the Correia family on behalf of their loved one Jassy," Commissioner Gross said. "We want to send a message to the Correia family as well as the folks in the city of Boston that the collaborative that you see here before you will work this case till the very end and we will bring justice for Jassy."

Commissioner Gross continued to emphasize his point, saying the Boston Police Department did not act alone.

"We had a partnership in place and that partnership has really paid offthis is what you see. A serious team that is hellbent on justice because no family should ever have to go through this again," Gross said. "Together we are going to send a clear-cut message this is not going to be tolerated, and if youre even thinking about it, look at the folks up here on this stage, there are many, many great people that work with us and we have your backs out there."

DA Rollins echoed the commissioner's sentiments, saying, "I hope today's developments offer some assurances that all of us across many different agencies are working as one on Jassy's behalf...We've reached this point today through round the clock work by many people in many roles."

Rollins said this federal complaint does not rule out state-level charges in Massachusetts if the investigation supports them moving forward. Rhode Island police have also filed charges in the case.

DA Rollins stressed that her focus is exclusively supporting Correia's loved ones at this time.

"This family faces a long road ahead but they have my word that we will be there for them every step of the way," Rollins said.

Authorities also emphasized their quest for justice on behalf of Correia and her family.

"I assure you that the Providence Police Department will not rest until ultimate justice is served in this case," Chief Clements said.

Bonavolonta added, "Rest assured, we will not stop until justice is served."

Commissioner Gross also took the opportunity to send a message to anyone who may be considering committing a similar crime.

If we all begin to look out for each other as a city then we can ensure that were going to send a message to predators and hunters that people are watching you and that were not going to tolerate this in our city, Gross said.
A Maryland woman whose death last year was blamed on an attack by a panhandler was actually killed by her husband and his adult daughter, police said Sunday.

Keith Smith, 52, had told police that his wife, Jacquelyn, an engineer from Harford County, was trying to give money to a panhandler at a traffic light when she was robbed and fatally stabbed.

Her death attracted national attention and prompted many to regard panhandlers warily. Even Oprah Winfrey, whose early career included several years covering Baltimore news, commented that she would "think twice" about giving to panhandlers after reading about Jacquelyn's death.

But at a news conference Sunday, Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said the panhandler story is not true. He announced first-degree murder charges against Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria Smith, 28.

Both were arrested in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexico border. Harrison said the two were preparing to leave the country. Baltimore police sent out national notifications upon learning that the Smiths had left Maryland.

Harrison did not explain at the brief news conference what specific roles police attribute to Keith and Valeria Smith, nor did he articulate a possible motive. He said at the news conference that the concocted story took advantage of negative perceptions of Baltimore crime and credited detectives for their work in solving the crime.

Oftentimes we have these negative depictions about our city, and its rather unfortunate when people take advantage of these negative perceptions, Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby said.

"Like everyone in our city, state and across this nation, we mourned the senseless killing of Jacquelyn Smith. To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy," Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh said in a statement. "They were responsible for taking Jacquelyn's life with unconscionable cruelty and contrived to do so in our city under the guise of random violence, exploiting the legitimate fears of our residents."

When Smith's Dec. 1 death was initially reported, police said she lowered her car's front passenger side window to give $10 to a young woman who appeared to be holding a swaddled infant and a cardboard sign reading: "Please help me feed my baby." It was then that a man supposedly approached the car and struggled to take her wallet. He then supposedly stabbed her and ran off along with the female panhandler.

After his wife died, Keith Smith gave numerous media interviews and lobbied the city to pass legislation to ban panhandling at city intersections. He said he wanted the law to be named for his wife.

It wasn't immediately known if Keith Smith and Valeria Smith had attorneys who could comment for them.
What to Know U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) was in North Texas Monday for an event at Fort Worth Young Women's Leadership Academy.

Pelosi told students that they were, "the only person like you in the world."

The House of Representatives recently approved a resolution to overturn the president's declaration of a national emergency at the border.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) made a trip to Fort Worth Monday, one of several Texas cities she has visited in the past few weeks. She was with U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Fort Worth), for a discussion at Fort Worth Young Women's Leadership Academy. Principal Tamara Albury led an hour-long discussion, with students participating as well.

Know your power, that you are the only person like you in the world, and you have a unique contribution to make that is very special," Pelosi told the students.

The Speaker of the House was in Texas as the House Judiciary Committee began a new investigation into possible constitutional abuses and public corruption by President Donald Trump. The committee asked for documents from the president's family, businesses and administration.

"I think what they are doing is exercising their constitutional responsibility for oversight. That is part of Article I of the Constitution: power of the purse, power to declare war. Many other powers, including oversight of the other institutions," Pelosi said. "Our founders, in their wisdom, had a separation of powers -- co-equal branches of government -- to be a check and balance on each other. To do anything less would be delinquent in our duties, than to exercise our oversight."

The House of Representatives recently approved a resolution to overturn Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border. While the Senate may have the votes to approve the resolution, if Trump vetoes it, it does not look like either body has the votes to override the veto.

"Hopefully the president won't veto it," Pelosi said. "Or maybe he will just withdraw it as some of his Republican, the Republican senators, are asking him to do because they know that it undermines the Constitution of the United States."
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Three San Diegans were among four Americans killed in a helicopter crash on an island in Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, police said Monday.

San Diego residents Anders Asher Jesiah Burke, known to family as Asher, Brandon Howe Stapper, and Coronado resident Dave Baker were in a helicopter that crashed in Central Island National Park soon after takeoff on Sunday, Kenya's Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

The United States Embassy confirmed the three men died in the crash along with Colorado resident Kyle John Forti. The local pilot was also killed.

Baker remained unnamed until Monday evening when Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, a close friend of all three men, confirmed in a Facebook post that he was also killed.

Three San Diegans were among four Americans killed in a helicopter crash in Kenya. NBC 7's Bridget Naso has more on this developing story.

"Dave was an amazing family man, businessman, and adventurer. He had an infectious laugh and made friends wherever he went. Dave lived life to the fullest," the post from the mayor read.

"My thoughts and prayers go out to all of Daves loved ones, as we all try to make sense out of this tragic event. I will miss Dave terribly."

Baker was described by Bailey as "one of the happiest people you will ever meet." He leaves behind two children.

San Diegans are among four Americans killed when a helicopter crashed in northern Kenya. NBC

All three San Diegans were entrepreneurs and described by loved ones as adventures. All four men on the trip were best friends, Stapper's brother, Brandon, told NBC News.

"If you knew Brandon and Asher and Dave, one of the things you knew about them is that they lived life to the fullest," Bailey said.

NBC News reported that the three local men were avid travelers who often documented their trips on social media, recently showcasing a number of videos and photos from their visit to Africa.

Both Burke and Stapper had established businesses in San Diego. Stapper got his start as an entrepreneur in the printing business, according to his website. Burke founded his company Ads Inc. Media, now known as Bland, in 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Burke's sister, Jarah, told NBC News that the name Asher means happiness and that her brother "lived more than anyone she knew."

A friend of Stapper described him to NBC 7 as humble and generous.

"He was so generous and not only with his time but he was generous with his finances," friend Ingrid Rainey said. "He was always willing to help. He never thought he was above anybody."

Rainey said she felt blessed and honored to call Stapper on of her good friends.

Sophie Felix with Americas Children of Fallen Heroes, an agency that Stapper worked with, said the agency was deeply saddened to hear of his death.

He was a wonderful entrepreneur, world traveler and inspiring friend to our San Diego community. How he lived his life by spreading happiness and joy to others was admirable and Brandon will be greatly missed," Felix said.

The crash happened when two helicopters took off after a visit to the Lobolo tented camp, according to an internal police report seen by The Associated Press.

One helicopter lost contact soon after takeoff and crashed around 8:30 p.m. The other helicopter was carrying Burke and Baker's girlfriends, and Stapper's wife, and landed safely, NBC News reported.

Baker's girlfriend reached out to Bailey and let him know that their helicopter was missing, and Bailey passed the information along to the U.S. Embassy in Kenya.

The aviation authority said a search and rescue mission found the wreckage shortly after 3 a.m. with no survivors.

An investigation was underway into the cause of the crash, the country's aviation authority said.

Last month two Americans were among five people killed when their plane crashed as they were traveling to Lodwar near Lake Turkana. Kenyan police had reported three Americans killed but the U.S. Embassy confirmed two.
A wheel-chair bound man is suing Bird Scooters and the city of San Diego for the injuries sustained from what he claims was reckless behavior from two scooter riders.

In the suit filed Wednesday, Richard Pearson claims he was using his motorized wheelchair along the boardwalk last July when two children  ages 12 and 14  were riding a Bird Scooter and lost control.

The scooter riders cut off a bicyclist, who then crashed into Pearson's wheelchair leaving him seriously injured.

According to the suit, Person sustained a serious bruise on the left side of his body, bruised ribs, arms and left knee. His wheelchair was also damaged.

Pearson is asking for damages for pain and suffering and is also calling for changes.

He wants scooters to be equipped with a speedometer and be retrofitted with technology, called geo-fencing, that would use GPS to block scooters from being operated on sidewalks, parks and similar areas.

Scooter injuries have risen in recent years due, in part, to the popularity of dockless scooters rentals. A recent study by UCLA researchers, which looked through medical records at two hospitals in Los Angeles, found that injuries associated with scooters were common and ranged in severity.

The most common injuries were fractures (31.7 percent), head injuries (40.2 percent) and 27.7 percent had soft-tissue injuries, such as bruises.

The results suggest there were low rates of adherence to existing regulations with regards to a riders age and low rates of helmet use, the study's authors said.

In California, motorized scooter riders must be at least 16 years old and have a drivers license or permit. Both the riders in Pearsons case were underage.

Riders are also not allowed to ride scooters on sidewalks.

Jonathan Freeman, the founder of Safe Walkways, said the city must take action and enforce laws to keep scooters out of areas reserved for foot traffic.

People are scared, he said. They are scared to go out and walk on these places and we want that to be changed and we want that to be reversed. We want to get our sidewalks and walkways and boardwalks back so that we can walk in safety.

Freeman rejected the premise that electric scooters are environmentally friendly. He said people are not using the scooters to replace cars; they are using them to replace walking.

The scooter industry as a whole  not individual scooters  is increasing the carbon emission in San Diego, Freeman said. People dont use them for transportation. They use them largely for fun.

In regards to Pearsons lawsuit, a representative for the City Attorneys Office told NBC7 it has not reviewed the lawsuit at this time.
What to Know California filed a federal lawsuit in San Francisco that aims to block a new family planning rule.

Washington, D.C., and 19 states said they would sue separately in Oregon.

The changes to the federal family planning program are scheduled to go into effect in May unless blocked in court.

California and 20 other Democratic-led states announced they were challenging the Trump administration's effort to set up obstacles for women seeking abortions, including barring taxpayer-funded family planning clinics from referring patients to abortion providers.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Monday that the state filed its own federal lawsuit in San Francisco that aims to block a new family planning rule from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Opponents of the rule say it would shift millions of dollars from Planned Parenthood to faith-based family planning organizations.

Twenty states and Washington, D.C., said they would sue separately Tuesday. The states are: Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Washington's Democratic attorney general also previously said the state would challenge the rule.

Trump administration officials have told abortion opponents that they expected a number of legal challenges to the new family planning rule, which also prohibits federally funded family planning clinics from being housed in the same place as abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood and other groups representing the clinics say the physical separation of facilities would be costly and all but impossible to fulfill. Supporters of the rule, such as Californians for Life, expect funding for faith-based family planning organizations to increase.

Health and Human Services Department declined to comment, citing the litigation. The changes to the federal family planning program are scheduled to go into effect in May unless blocked in court.

California's attorney general said the new rule affects 4 million mostly low-income women nationwide and 1 million women in California.

"The Trump-Pence administration has doubled down on its attacks on women's health," Becerra said.

The lawsuit in California is the latest of dozens of legal challenges that it and other states led by Democrats have filed in a bid to block Trump administration policies.
A Long Beach man has been charged with causing the package bomb explosion at a day spa in Aliso Viejo that killed the man's ex-girlfriend and injured two others in 2018, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

FBI agents said in the complaint they could find "no meaningful differences" between components used to construct the bomb and items discovered during a search of Stephen William Beal's home hours after the blast.

Beal, 59, faces a single charge of "malicious destruction of a building resulting in death," according to court documents reviewed by NBC News. He was re-arrested near his home Sunday by FBI agents, who used a truck to tear-off Beal's garage door and spent hours searching the house.

The explosion happened May 15, 2018, inside an office building at 11 Mareblu St. in Aliso Viejo, when the two surviving bombing victims said they saw spa owner Ildiko Kranjnyak open a cardboard box. Kranjnyak was Beal's former girlfriend.

"Victim #1 saw it explode and recalled being blown backwards by the explosion onto the floor," the complaint said. "She also saw flames and smoke."

Kranjyak, a mother and cosmetologist, had just returned to California after visiting family in her native Hungary. She was killed instantly and the explosion was so powerful human remains were found outside the building, authorities said.

Beal contacted law enforcement that day and told investigators he and Kranjyak were business partners and had recently ended a romantic relationship, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent.

During a search of Beal's home approximately 130 pounds of explosive precursors, electric matches and wire were discovered, which Beal explained were supplies he used in constructing model rockets.

The FBI agent said bits of wire recovered from the bombing scene were later compared with wire found at Beal's home.

"Both items contained 24-25 American Gauge wire, with the same color plastic insulation," the agent wrote. "Based on the metallurgic and paint/polymer chemistry, FBI laboratory personnel stated that no meaningful differences were observed."

The agent said chemicals detected at the blast site were similar to chemicals detected on swabs taken from inside Beal's car, that Beal purchased a battery consistent with one found at the scene about a week before the explosion at a store in Long Beach, and that Beal bought three cardboard boxes similar to the bomb package eight days before the explosion. Some of these purchases were recorded on security video, the FBI said.

Cellphone records and security video also showed Beal visited the salon building four days before the explosion, the agent said, and Beal told investigators he had one of the keys to the day spa offices.

Beal was initially arrested on suspicion of possessing explosives in the days after the bombing but was released without charges. Federal officials said at the time they had questions about whether the explosive precursor material found in Beal's home met the legal definition of a "destructive device."

While he was not publicly named a suspect in the bombing several law enforcement sources told NBC News in recent months Beal remained the focus of the bombing investigation.

A formal announcement by the US Attorney's Office and the Orange County Sheriff's Department was expected Monday morning.
Philippine authorities said Monday that they found more than 1,500 live exotic turtles stuffed inside luggage at Manilas airport.

The various types of turtles were found Sunday inside four pieces of left-behind luggage of a Filipino passenger arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on a Philippine Airlines flight from Hong Kong, Customs officials said in a statement.

AP

The 1,529 turtles were turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit, the statement said.

Convictions for the illegal trading of wildlife are punishable by a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to 200,000 pesos ($3,861).

AP

In 2018, Philippine authorities turned over to the DENR a total of 560 wildlife and endangered species, including 250 geckos and 254 corals smuggled through air parcels, baggage and shipments, according to the statement.
School officials, a Democratic congresswoman and the Council on American-Islamic Relations Sunday condemned an internet photo believed to be of Newport Harbor High School students with outstretched arms in a Nazi salute gathered around red plastic cups arranged to form a swastika.

The photo, said to be shot at an off-campus party, was posted over the weekend, school officials said.

"We were recently made aware of social media postings involving some students who created inappropriate anti-semitic symbols and possible underage drinking," the Newport-Mesa Unified School District said in a statement. "While these actions did not occur on any school campus or school function, we condemn all acts of anti-semitism and hate in all their forms."

The photo was being investigated by law enforcement, with the district's cooperation.

"We remain focused on educating students on all aspects of life's challenges and are committed to holding students accountable, educating them on the consequences of their choices and the impact these actions have on our schools and community at large," the statement said.

The following statement was posted on the Newport Harbor High School Instagram account, which is run by students of the high school:

"As an organization dedicated to representing the students of Newport Harbor High School, we and the school administration denounce and condemn all acts of anti-Semitism and hate in any form. The school administration has made a statement to the community. Along with it, we would like to say that any negativity due to any type of persecution is utterly wrong, unacceptable, and will not be tolerated. To all those negatively affected, you have our deepest apologies. With all of the bad out there, we will and encourage everyone to turn to goodness, kindness, and respect over hatred. We must be lights of positivity in the darkness by standing with, and more importantly, up for any victims of injustice and discrimination. We will stand together with all of you as a force and voice of goodness, so that our school may continue to be the place of happiness, respect, and positivity we intend it to be."

Congresswoman Katie Porter, who represents the 45th District, also issued a Twitter statement: "I condemn this display of a hateful, anti-semitic symbol and call on parents and community leaders to redouble our efforts to educate young people about the history of violence against Jewish people worldwide. This has no place in Orange County."

The greater LA chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations also condemned the photo in a statement.

"We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and all other targeted minorities and against the actions of bigots who violate our nation's long-standing principles of religious tolerance and inclusion," CAIR-LA executive director Hussam Ayloush said.

Ayloush added, "Anti-Semitism, xenophobia and bigotry in any forms are unacceptable. We will continue to stand up and defend our fellow community members in the face of hatred."

On Monday, Newport Beach Mayor Diane Dixon and Mayor Pro Tem Will O'Neill released a statement on Twitter, condemning the photo.

"That behaviour is not acceptable and not reflective of our communitys collective character," the statement said.

Dixon and ONeill were set to attend an open town hall meeting on Thursday evening at Corona del Mar High School.
What to Know Officials said almost three-quarters of Bay County's 68,000 households were affected

FEMA officials said the large numbers of renters and the enormous amount of debris needed to be cleared before trailers could be installed.

A small village of the forgotten has popped up in Diahnn "Shelly" Summers' backyard outside Panama City. Where there once was empty grass abutting almost 5 acres of woods, 10 tents now encircle a fir tree with Christmas lights.

The tents shelter those still homeless more than four months after Hurricane Michael screamed ashore with 155-mph (250-kph) winds, flattening, blowing away or rendering uninhabitable thousands of houses.

"There is nowhere for them to go," Summers said. "When you don't have a home, you have no sense of safety, no sense of belonging, no security. You don't even know where you're going to sleep without getting into trouble. It's the worst feeling."

Of all the Florida Panhandle areas affected by Michael, Bay County was hardest hit: Officials said almost three-quarters of its 68,000 households were affected. Former Florida House Speaker Allan Bense, who is leading a hurricane recovery initiative, estimated about 20,000 people were homeless in the weeks after the October storm.

Some have been able to make their homes livable again with cosmetic repairs. Others left town: The county's student population is down 14 percent. And 7,800 residents are still considered homeless, county officials said.

Many unable to move in with relatives or find a coveted hotel room with the help of federal vouchers have turned to living in tents.

Several obstacles prevent their return to normalcy. Trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been slow to arrive, and it's hard to find an apartment where the rent hasn't been jacked up in a suddenly tight market. Almost three-quarters of the damaged properties were rental units, which are difficult to replace with temporary shelter, Bay County Manager Robert Majka said.

"If you have 100 units in an apartment complex, you can't put 100 FEMA trailers into that apartment complex and accommodate these folks," he said.

Sue Laurel Shaw was able to stay in her apartment after the storm and said her landlord even agreed to deduct the cost of repairs she made from the rent. But now she faces eviction for back rent after she says the landlord reneged on their agreement.

She is looking for another place to live, but "everything is tripling," said Shaw, who was fighting to stay in her Panama City apartment.

Mystie Gregory said she, her fiance and 2-year-old daughter left their apartment for several days to take a break from living without electricity. When they returned, she said, it had been rented to another family.

Gregory found refuge with more than a dozen others living in tents behind Summers' ranch-style house.

Gregory said she is trying to "make the most" of living in a tent, but "it makes you feel like a failure as a parent, even though it's out of your control."

Among the county's homeless are 4,700 students, said Bay District Schools Superintendent Bill Husfelt. Some schools lost more than 40 percent of their students and the school board is closing at least three schools for now.

"It's all about housing," Husfelt said. "Everything we're dealing with, it's about housing."

In December, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio wrote a letter chastising FEMA for not finding enough sites for trailers or mobile homes. Rubio said families "have not seen an appropriate response to their housing needs and FEMA must immediately act to address this concern."

At the time, more than 1,200 Bay County families were waiting for trailers or mobile homes. By the end of February, that number had fallen to more than 200, partially because more than 500 families had found other options on their own, county officials said.

"The velocity of FEMA's temporary housing improved after the first of the year, although trailers ... never came in consistently at stated goals," said Joel Schubert, Bay County's assistant manager.

FEMA officials said the large numbers of renters and the enormous amount of debris that needed to be cleared before trailers could be installed slowed the process.

In addition, 26,000 Florida households received grants for home repairs, 21,000 residents received temporary rental assistance and 2,000 households were approved for hotel rooms or short-term condo rentals, FEMA spokesman Samuel "Carr" McKay said in a statement.

Even that help took a while to reach some residents. Dennis Myrick, who has no home insurance, said he lived in a tent in the front yard of his decimated Panama City home until mid-January, when he was finally able to get a FEMA hotel voucher.

"It's pure hell, man," Myrick said. "The wind blows, and you get wet. I had to hold the tent down with my hands. It was about to blow away."

Before she landed in Summers' backyard, Jacinta Wheeler, whose apartment was damaged by the hurricane, joined other residents in an encampment dubbed "Tent City" in a different part of town. Officials forced them to leave over safety and hygiene concerns. Lori and Gene Hogan had settled in a tent on the beach after Michael destroyed their home, but police officers threatened to arrest them if they didn't move, so they came here as well.

Wheeler has been working construction jobs and helping repair neighbors' properties while she stays in her tent.

"Everybody wants the American dream," the Trinidad native said. "If this is the dream, I don't want it."

Summers and her husband, Sam, want to build more permanent housing on the property for their guests but said they have run into regulatory roadblocks. In the meantime, they try to make them feel at home, inviting them to their dinner table and leaving the Christmas lights on the backyard tree to retain some cheer.

Summers said she has always welcomed people in need to her home.

"They need help and we were blessed enough that our house was untouched," she said. "We seem to be the outcasts by trying to help people and it shouldn't be that way. This should be a normal thing."
The government blames the rebels on breaches of Stockholm Agreement

SANAA, Yemen - Yemen's warring parties clashed on Saturday in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and kept trading blames over breaching a fragile cease-fire deal in an escalation that could jeopardize the peace agreement reached in Stockholm in December last year.

According to residents, the clashes took place in Kilo 16 area, Zafran village and 50th Street inside the port city, while the fighting also intensified in several districts in the southern edges of the city, including Tahita, Fazah, Durayhemi and 7 July district.
The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

"This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. "It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip."

When first announced by U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move "the final nail in the coffin" for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the U.S. administration's role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious "Deal of the Century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the U.S. of bias toward Israel.

___

AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A bank glitch caused ATMs in Baja California and Tijuana to shoot money at those lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time.

According to the Secretary of Public Security for Tijuana, the ATM malfunctioned around 12:15 p.m. Sunday.

Witnesses said the ATMs were releasing 500 pesos, or about $30, in large numbers over the weekend.

A 22-year-old man called the police to let them know the ATM was releasing money.

The Tijuana branch of Bancomer bank released 75,000 pesos, or almost $3,900, before the glitch was fixed.
Thieves broke into a Southern California gallery last week, pilfering artwork depicting Charlie Brown and other characters from the iconic comic strip "Peanuts."

The Los Angeles Times reports a security guard patrolling an open-air mall in Costa Mesa discovered a glass door smashed at the Chuck Jones Gallery on Thursday morning.

Scott Dicken, vice president of retail sales for the gallery's parent company, says the break-in occurred when the mall was closed. He says no other art was taken.

"It's just a shame," said Carol Erickson, of the Chuck Jones Gallery. "We provide this art to people because they love it.

"It's, I guess in some way might be flattering that someone took all the trouble to do this, but we bring this art into people's lives because they love it."

The gallery's owner has priced the three stolen pieces at $7,900.

The stolen artwork includes "Wishful Thinking No. 8" that shows Charlie Brown slipping, and "Rats!" a limited-edition print of Snoopy unsuccessfully flying his doghouse.

The third piece, "Hey Linus, Guess Who's Back?" depicts the blanket-toting character fending off Snoopy.
A man whose car was stranded in central Oregon snow for five days survived by eating taco sauce packets and starting the engine periodically to warm up.

A snowmobiler found Jeremy Taylor, 36, of Sunriver, on Friday and a search and rescue team member who rode to him on a large snow tractor brought him out of the woods, said Sgt. William Bailey, the spokesman for the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office.

Taylor, an avid outdoorsman who loves to go off-roading, was last seen getting gas on Feb. 24 in Sunriver.

He told his rescuers he and his dog, Ally, became stuck in deep snow on a U.S. Forest Service road later that same day.

He slept in his car and when he awoke Monday, more snow had fallen.

He attempted to hike out, but the snow was too deep, so Taylor and Ally returned to his car.

"Thank you everyone, I'm safe my Ally dog is safe. I really appreciate all the help. Got lucky, lets (sic) never do that again. I'll be in touch with everyone soon," he wrote on his Facebook page late Friday.

Taylor did not reply to a message sent through Facebook on Saturday.

In response to a friend's Facebook comment about how he ate three Taco Bell hot sauce packets during the ordeal, he joked: "Taco Bell fire sauce saves lives!"

Taylor and his dog were both in good health when found, authorities said, but were very hungry.

Central Oregon has been hammered with snowstorms in recent weeks.

Sunriver is a well-known vacation destination about 3  hours east of Portland.
Virginias attorney general made his first public appearance Sunday night since admitting to wearing blackface in college in 1980.

Attorney General Mark Herring was a guest at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in Leesburg for an interfaith event addressing race relations and racial injustices.

I am so very sorry that something I did a long time ago when I was 19 has added to and contributed to pain and to the disappointment, he said.

He said he'd grown from his mistake decades ago.

I know it was wrong and I know why it was wrong, he said. Was a dehumanization people of color and minimization of oppressive history.

Herring had been among the elected leaders who called for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign after a photo surfaced from Northam's medical school yearbook showing someone in blackface and someone in a KKK robe.

Both men have resisted calls to resign.

Im still listening to Virginians about how theyve been impacted by this and listening to them to see if they would like me to continue, if I still have their trust, Herring said.

Herring was praised for appearing at the event.

It takes a great deal of courage not only to face mistakes but to face the people, and that is a testament to your character, sir, and I knew you would do it, said Pastor Michelle Thomas, president of NAACP Loudoun County.

Herring said he hopes positive change will happen as a result of the controversy.

Virginians want to take this moment, this focus on race in Virginia right now and try to make some good come of it, he said.
It's been 1 1/2 years since the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, but two men seen on camera assaulting a black man in a parking garage remain unidentified.

Charlottesville police detective Declan Hickey is quoted by The Washington Post as saying the investigation into the Aug. 12, 2017, beating of DeAndre Harris, has hit a dead end.

Three people linked to white nationalist, pro-Confederacy or anti-government beliefs are serving time in jail or prison, and a fourth awaits sentencing. None of them knew each other before the attack.

The two men at large have come to be known as "Red Beard" and "Sunglasses." Hickey says the best hopes for identifying the men are if they "pop back on the radar" at another rally or "piss off their wife or girlfriend."

Photos and videos of the Aug. 12 attack on Harris by a group of men in a parking garage were widely shared online. Harris was left with serious injuries.

The white nationalist rally was planned in part to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. It drew hundreds of people, and hundreds more came to protest them. Violence erupted before the event could get underway. Clashes unfolded until authorities forced the group to disband.

It was afterward that the attack on Harris took place and a car drove into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens more.
A ride-share driver missing since January was found dead in Wilmington, Delaware, Saturday, according to D.C. police.

Musba Shifa, 43, originally from Ethiopia, disappeared about 3 a.m. Jan. 19 after picking up a passenger, according to his family. Shifa drove for Uber and Lyft.

Shifas phone was turned off, and his car was missing.

He was last confirmed seen on Jan. 18 in the 1300 block of W Street NW, near where he lives, police said.

News4 is reaching out to police in Delaware for more.
A Virginia man shot and killed another man during an argument in Woodbridge Sunday morning, Prince William County police said.

Markus Sean Thurman Dean, 23, of Alexandria got into an argument in a parking lot with Daniel James Gilliam, 25, about 12:40 a.m., police said. During that argument, police allege Dean shot Gilliam.

Dean allegedly fled the scene while other people attempted to aid the victim. Officers soon arrived and began performing CPR on Gilliam while others got a description of the shooter from witnesses, police said.

Officers in the area said they located Dean, who matched that description, and detained him without issue.

Gilliam was taken to a hospital where he died from his injuries.

Dean is charged with aggravated malicious wounding. Police expect additional charges will be filed against him as a result.

Dean is currently being held without bond, with a court date pending.
Warren County, Virginia, is only about 75 miles west of Washington, D.C., but a recent incident involving two horses, a pistol and a cemetery conjures images of the Wild West.

Mariah Smith, of Arlington, and another woman were riding horses in a cemetery on Reliance Road in Middletown Saturday evening, the Warren County Sheriff's Office said.

Smith fired her pistol when someone told them to remove the horses from the cemetery property, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies detained the women after finding them nearby on Cauthorn Mill Road.

Authorities say Smith had a 38 Smith and Weston on her.

She was arrested and charged with three firearms charges, including possessing a concealed firearm while under the influence.

Authorities did not identify the other woman riding a horse and said Smith was the only one that fired the pistol.
A man was arrested and charged Monday in connection to the death of a woman over the weekend in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Attorney General Gordon MacDonald announced that 34-year-old Justin Moura was charged with second-degree murder in the shooting death of 34-year-old Tanya Hall of Manchester.

An autopsy determined that Hall died from a gunshot wound to the back, and investigators say Moura "recklessly" caused Hall's death by firing the gun.

"I've never met anyone like her," said Jeremy Winslow, who says he had been dating Hall for about a year.

Winslow says they were out Saturday night at Club Manchvegas Bar and Grill to celebrate Halls success at work.

"She had planned a trip to go to Barbados in two weeks where I was going to propose to her," said Winslow.

He says they were inside the bar when an altercation spilled outside.

Winslow says they were driving away in his blue Jeep when Hall was shot in the back and killed.

"Her eyes were open and they were rolling back in her head," Winslow recalled.

Investigators were seen outside of the Granite Street bar on Sunday, and a blue Jeep was towed from the scene.

A post on Club Manchvegas' Facebook page reads there was "an incident in the parking lot across the street," emphasizing that the "incident did not happen in the establishment."

But Winslow says the bar needs to be held accountable for what happened.

"This place is a big concern," he said.

A request for comment from Club Manchvegas was not returned Monday night.

Officials aren't saying if the victim and suspect were known to each other or what the altercation was about.

Hall's family in Litchfield has asked for privacy.

Moura is expected to be arraigned Tuesday at Hillsborough Superior Court. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
A procession was held Sunday afternoon as the body of a fallen Maine firefighter was taken from New Hampshire to Maine.

The body of Berwick Fire Captain Joel Barnes was transferred from the Tasker Funeral Home in Dover to the Old Orchard Beach Funeral Home in Maine.

Fire trucks from several communities lined highway overpasses all the way to the Interstate 95 exit in Saco, Maine.

The procession departed Dover at 2 p.m.

The Old Orchard Beach Funeral Home is expected to host a private family service this week, and details of another service for the fire community are expected to be released later this week.

Captain Barnes was a paramedic and served as the Berwick Fire & Rescue training officer and emergency medical services coordinator.

Condolences from first responders around New England have poured in for the 32-year-old since he died in a large apartment fire on Bell Street on March 1. The origin and cause of the fire remain under investigation.

Firefighters had maintained a constant vigil over the body of Captain Barnes since the arrival of a procession from the medical examiner's office in Concord, New Hampshire to the Tasker Funeral Home in Dover. The vigil will continue without interruption in Old Orchard Beach.
With all major mobile carriers expected to offer 5G this year, enterprises that want to take advantage of this next-gen mobile data service need to start thinking about how to support it on site.

Anticipation is keen for 5G, given that it promises to deliver faster speeds and lower latency than the current premium wireless technology, 4G LTE. Ideally, 5G networks could deliver fast internet to areas of the country where wired broadband is unavailable, and more reliable connections to a variety of devices including not only computers and smartphones but also appliances, automobiles and security systems.

But to use these services as a WAN option, businesses need hardware that can connect it to their existing wired and wireless LANs.Here's a rundown of the device makers that are known or rumored to be providing networking gear to pipe 5G to your office.

D-Link 5G gateway

D-Link revealed its DWR-2010 5G NR Enhanced Gateway in January. The device accepts a SIM card to receive 5G and 4G LTE signals from a carrier and routes them to devices connected to it by Wi-Fi or Ethernet. It has AC2600 dual band Wi-Fi (which transmits up to 800 Mbps and 1732 Mbps for each band) with MU-MIMO, and 5 Ethernet ports.

D-Link D-Links 5G NR Enhanced Gateway will be available in the second half of 2019.

It supports D-Link's own Wi-Fi Mesh Technology (which allows for it to be networked with other D-Link routers) and Voice over LTE to let you make voice calls on your carrier's LTE network.

The DWR-2010 is scheduled for release sometime in the second half of 2019. Many D-Link devices are sold to the general public. It remains to be seen if this will be true with the DWR-2010. For now the company lists its price as "varied" depending on which 5G carrier will provide it for its customers.

HTC 5G hub

HTC and Sprint announced in November that they're working together to develop a mobile 5G "smart hub" to support the carrier's 5G network. (Sprint's 5G network is set to launch sometime in the first half of this year.) The intial announcement revealed only that the device will run Qualcomm's Snapdragon x50 5G modem chipset.

More details emerged in December, when a 5G hub device developed by HTC was revealed for use on Australian carrier Telstra's 5G network. The HTC 5G Hub for Telstra has a display about the size of a small smartphone to show status information for 5G and Wi-Fi signals, and the devices connected to it. It's speculated that the display  larger than usual for a hotspot  could also be used to show pictures and video. As of this writing, it hasn't been confirmed if the HTC 5G Hub is the same smart hub device that Sprint will sell to customers to use on its 5G network.

Huawei's 5G devices

In February of last year, Huawei announced devices that would run its own 5G chipset, the Balong 5G01. The company claimed it would be the first to support the final 5G specifications sanctioned by 3GPP, the trade group that governs cellular standards. Huawei also revealed two 5G router devices: A large unit that comes in both indoor and outdoor models, and a smaller unit for indoor use. At the time, the larger 5G models were being tested on a major Canadian carrier, Telus.

But ongoing controversy is impeding the Chinese company's plans. The U.S. government accuses Huawei of enabling spying through its devices, perhaps at the behest of the Chinese government. So Huawei has been banned from supplying its equipment to the U.S.'s emerging 5G networks. Australia and New Zealand have also decided to fully ban Huawei from their nations' 5G infrastructure.

Inseego 5G mobile hotspot

Inseego has two 5G routers, both for the Verizon's 5G network that launched in October. The first, the R1000, is a white cylinder that takes the 5G signal from Verizons towers and forwards it to devices connected to it. It supports Wi-Fi with 4x4 MIMO technology and Voice over LTE, has power-over-Ethernet capability and can run on a battery that is replaceable.
District council chief executive wants another crossing over the river Kennet to help ease congestion on A339

AN additional road crossing over the River Kennet, to the west of Newbury, is needed to alleviate congestion and pollution on the A339.

That was the view of West Berkshire Councils chief executive Nick Carter, who has said the scheme was needed to ease the traffic flow at the three roundabouts along the road, which are operating at capacity.

These include the Burger King, Sainsburys and Robin Hood roundabouts.

He also conceded it wouldnt be easy to get people in West Berkshire to give up using their cars.

Mr Carter made his comments at a networking conference on Wednesday, February 13, which was organised by the Thames Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Carter was one of four panellists to speak at the Have Businesses Outgrown Newbury? breakfast event at the Donnington Valley Hotel.

When asked what was being done to minimise congestion in and around Newbury town centre, Mr Carter revealed that the proposed widening of the Robin Hood roundabout would help lessen the busy routes hour-glass structure from traffic vertically accessing it from the north and south.

Mr Carter said: The proposal at the Robin Hood is to effectively widen the Robin Hood, particularly for the traffic that is coming from the south and travelling east along the A4.

There is a scheme ready to be implemented that will effectively widen the Robin Hood and create that capacity.

The funding of it is linked to the approved at appeal housing development close to Vodafone.

That development at the moment is not progressing.

Once it progresses, we will have the funding to have that move forward.

Mr Carter also shed light on the longer-term issue of building another crossing over the River Kennet, which he said would have to be located to the west of Newbury and built in conjunction with a housing development.

A 2016 survey by West Berkshire Council identified the A339 as one of the towns points where pollution thresholds of nitrogen dioxide  a colourless gas emitted from exhaust fumes  are sometimes exceeded.

Andover Road at Wash Common, Shaw Road, and Chapel Street in Thatcham were also highlighted as major pollution points.

The Burger King roundabout was also declared as an Air Quality Management Area.

The conference also heard from Rob Howes, a representative from Green Commute Initiative  a London-based social enterprise with a branch in Lambourn, which aims to get commuters out of cars and onto bikes.

Mr Howe asked what the council was doing to reduce car usage throughout the district.

In his response, Mr Carter was quick to acknowledge the affluent and rural nature of West Berkshire, where it is not uncommon to find up to five cars per household.

As well as increasing electric car points and the introduction of car clubs, Mr Carter also highlighted the 18m investment to upgrade Newbury railway station, which will include more spacious parking areas and facilities for cyclists, including a cycle hub.

But, at a time when a growing number of UK councils have already declared a climate emergency in their localities with a move to become carbon-neutral, the chief executive warned that a shift away from car usage in the district was not as straightforward as some might assume.

Mr Carter said: West Berkshire and its residents love their cars.

He added: I think politically, certainly locally  perhaps nationally  the move towards low carbon and the whole fossil fuel debate is starting to come very much up the agenda.

I think its been absent for the last few years.

I wouldnt want to underestimate the task of getting people out of cars in West Berkshire.
Following are some of the scholarship funds currently accepting applications from students in Greater New Milford this year.

Harris Family Scholarship at Connecticut Community Foundation: Deadline: March 15. Open to high school seniors or current or returning college students pursuing college study in an agricultural field. Now open to students in any of the 21 towns in the foundations service area in Greater Waterbury and the Litchfield Hills. Scholarship established by the Harris children and the New Milford Farmland and Forest Preservation Committee from donations given in memory of Vivian and George G. Harris, longtime New Milford farmers and agriculture proponents. Apply by using the special scholarship form at www.conncf.org/apply-for-scholarships/.

Bridgewater Grange Scholarship: Deadline, April 8. Open to full-time residents of Bridgewater, Roxbury, Washington, New Milford or Woodbury and have a plan to attend, or are currently attending, a recognized program of study to further their agriculture-related education. Award will be made to a student who demonstrates hands-on knowledge of and interest in farming through extra-curricular activities, work experience, family background, or other, and who embodies the Grange values of character, citizenship, and community service. Applications available at www.bridgewatergrange.org. Completed applications, including reference letters, must be received by April 8. For more information, email info@bridgewatergrange.org, attention Peggy Zottola.

Greater New Milford Board of Realtors Jay Solomon Memorial Scholarship: Deadline: April 10. Open to high school seniors who reside in New Milford, Sherman, Kent, Roxbury, Bridgewater, Washington and Warren. Applications available at guidance offices and at www.gnmbr.com.

Washington Environmental Council scholarship -- the Ken Williams Memorial Scholarship: Deadline: April 12. Grants of up to $1,000 to middle, high school and college students who live in Washington, Roxbury and Bridgewater, provided they attend or attended school in Washington, and who would like to attend environmentally oriented programs during the summer. Washington residents will have preference, but all other application factors will be equal. For more information, visit www.wec-ct.org/scholarships. Applicants will be notified by May 1.

Washington Environmental Council scholarship -- Mary Anne Erichsen Memorial Scholarship (college scholarships): Deadline: April 12. Grants of up to $2,000 available to students from Washington, Roxbury or Bridgewater who are in sound scholastic standing, provided the student attended or has attended high school in Washington, and are interested in pursuing environmental studies in college. Residents of Washington will have preference, all other application factors being equal. Applications available at www.wec-ct.org/scholarships. Applicants will be notified by May 1.

Roxbury scholarships: Deadline: April 22. Open to those who are Roxbury who have been accepted into an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited two- or four-year college, university or state approved school for trade instruction or special occupational training that offers a degree or certification. Part-time students with extenuating circumstances will be considered. Applications available at town hall, Minor Memorial Library, the guidance office at SVS and online at www.roxburyscholarshipfoundation.com. For more information, email roxburyscholarshipfoundation@gmail.com. Applications must be returned to Roxbury Scholarship Foundation, P.O. Box 106, Roxbury, CT 06783.

To have a scholarship listed, mail or drop the information off to Deborah Rose at The Greater New Milford Spectrum, 45B Main St., New Milford, CT 06776; fax it to 860-350-6794; or email drose@newstimes.com.
St. Marks Episcopal Church at 5 Main St. South in Bridgewater will hold a corned beef dinner March 9 from 5 to 7 p.m.

Admission is $15 per adult, $8 per child and $45 per family.
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.
A community conversation about the future of Shepaug Valley School will be held March 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Gunn Memorial Library on Wykeham Raod in Washington.

Region 12 Superintendent Megan Bennett, Principal Kim Gallo and Agriscience teacher Lori Trovato will lead the program, which has a snow date of March 19.
Machine learning is being used to gain insight into the causes of hundreds of diseases, with Princeton University researchers discovering four specific genes that contribute to infant cancer.

In a demonstration of a tool for revealing molecular differences between diseases, researchers discovered four genes associated with a rare pediatric cancer. The image on the left shows a normal cell while the one on the right highlights one of the discovered genes in neuroblastoma, which afflicts babies and young children.

A team of computer scientists and biologists of Princeton University, in collaboration with Michigan State University and the University of Oslo demonstrated the abilities of their new system, Unveilling RNA Sample Annotation for Human Diseases (URSAHD), in the journal Cell Systems in February 2019.

The system employs machine learning to identify patterns of gene activity by analyzing over 300 different diseases at the same time. The diseases analyzed include cancers, heart disease, and metabolic disorders, among a wide variety of others.

Instead of examining DNA, URSAHD uses RNA, a nucleic acid produced by cells that facilitates the flow of genetic information from DNA to cells as proteins. This angle of focus allows the system to concentrate not on gene mutations, but on the products created from the information flow that can cause problems downstream, even if the original gene from which the products first came is healthy and functioning normally.

The real innovation is comparing all samples to every other sample, said Chandra Theesfeld, one of the lead researchers working on the project.

URSAHD is able to highlight differences between diseases and tissue types, and is even able to pick out fine-tuned differences between related diseases that, until now, had been difficult or impossible to find with other analysis methods.

The system uses public records of gene activity in approximately 8,000 biopsies that include both healthy and diseased tissue samples.

Speaking of the benefit of analyzing large numbers of samples together, Theesfeld, who is a research scientist in Olga Troyanskayas lab, a professor at Princeton and the Deputy Director for Genomics at the Simons Foundation, explains:

Studying them together provides a way to distinguish unique aspects. She goes on to say that this method enables the team to learn new things about disease that arent possible to find with the one-disease-at-a-time approach, and that they can potentially identify new targets for therapies or even discover new aspects of disease that werent appreciated.

The Cell Systems paper on URSAHD states that a key challenge for the diagnosis and treatment of complex human diseases is identifying their molecular bases, and explains that the new system can distinguish between related diseases with a higher level of accuracy than literature-validated genes or traditional differential-expression-based computational approaches. The team also claim that URSAHD can be applied to any disease, including rare and unstudied ones.

One such rare disease is neuroblastoma, a pediatric cancer affecting babies and children that forms in the nerve tissue. The research team identified four genes that played a part in the disease. Until this discovery, these four genes had not been discussed in scientific literature. Theesfeld carried out further lab tests on human cells to confirm the teams findings, and manipulated the gene activity to determine the genes effects on cancer-related cell processes.

Theesfeld states that 90 percent of gene studies only look at 10 percent of human genes, while URSAHD considers the whole human genome to devise a genome-wide model or signature for every disease.

The systems algorithm highlights differences in gene activity that are unique to the different diseases and tissues, which benefits the study of rare diseases that may only have a few samples with which to build a genome model.

As explained in the Cell Systems paper, URSAHD provides both estimates of disease signal for researchers datasets as well as links to the interpretable disease models, including biological processes, associated tissue and anatomical information, and weighted gene lists that are directly usable by the biomedical research community.

Our method is driven by the disease information in the patient sample, so its not biased towards the popular disease genes that always get studied, Theesfeld said. We can track patterns of changes in data without knowing exactly what each change means.

On the necessity of URSAHD, Troyanskaya says interdisciplinary approaches that merge sophisticated data science with deep knowledge of biology are key to deciphering biomedical puzzles necessary to realize the promise of precision medicine.

Troyanskayas lab has been working for a long time on integrating huge amounts of different datasets to obtain information enabling scientists to make accurate biological predictions, which will advance research, experiments, and discovery as a whole. Princeton often pairs computing with biology to create tools that could have important potential impacts on health.

The Princeton research team hope that URSAHD will help clinicians to diagnose disease, along with helping them to design more accurate treatment plans, track their efficacy, and discover new treatment options.
Ethan Lindenberger, 18 from Norwalk, Ohio, started rebelling against his parents, like many other teenagers. The reason behind this making news is that his parents were against vaccination and he got himself inoculated against their wishes.

This act of rebellion has captured the interest of not only the public and media but also the Congress now. Ethan, on YouTube last week made an announcement that he had taken this step and now had been invited to speak before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions this Tuesday 5th of March 2019).

An awesome update! Play

The gathering would hear anecdotes and discussions on outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases that are making a reappearance due to mass anti-vaccination movements from laypersons. Ethan will speak along with John Wiesman, Washington States secretary of health, and Saad B. Omer, a professor at Emory University says the website of the committee. Lindenberger said in the video, I'm looking forward to speaking in Washington, D.C.

The World Health Organization has listed that ten major health threats at the beginning of this year and notably anti-vaxxers feature among that list. This has been proven in the measles outbreaks worldwide especially in the developed nations largely due to inadequate vaccine coverage of the children.

According to Lindenberger he was not vaccinated as a child because of his mothers belief in the vaccination conspiracies. As he grew, he started reading up on vaccination and their safety as well as the need for adequate vaccination. He consulted experts from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in his quest. Last November he had posted on Reddit seeking advice about vaccination. A month later he visited the Ohio Department of Health and was administered a series of vaccines against hepatitis A, hepatitis B, influenza and HPV. Because he was already 18, he was free to make the choice of getting vaccinated on his own say the health officials. Lindenberger had added later that his mother Jill Wheeler was more against it than his father. His father was not resistant to his vaccinations now as he was of the legal age said Ethan in his post. He says that he has four younger siblings, the youngest of which is 2, and most likely none of them would be vaccinated.

Ohio is one of the seventeen states in the US which allows parents to choose if they wish to vaccinate their children for moral or philosophical reasons. Oregon as well as Washington state too allows parents to choose not to vaccinate their children due to personal or philosophical reasons. According to the CDC, there is a rise in measles cases which can be connected to the rise of the antivaxxers. Last year alone there were 17 outbreaks of measles, the CDC reports. Most of these outbreaks came from these three states.
It's time to strengthen support for the 28% of people who provide care for an aging family member, friend or neighbor in Canada, argues an editorial in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal).

"Our ability to support informal caregiving remains one of Canada's most pressing health care and societal issues," says Dr. Nathan Stall, associate editor, CMAJ.

The pool of caregivers in Canada is shrinking as the aging population increases, while the need for caregiving will increase.

Caregiving has become increasingly demanding and stressful as many untrained people provide medical and nursing care, help with daily living and navigate the complexities of the health and long-term care system. Many caregivers are stressed, which negatively effects their mental and physical health and can lead to increased risk of death.

More than one-third (35%) of the population is both working and providing caregiver support, with more women juggling both roles.

As well, caregivers often provide financial support to their loved ones and may miss out on full-time employment, raises and other monetary benefits. We must support these people by protecting caregivers from financial and retirement insecurity.

While financial support exists, mainly through tax breaks, it is difficult to access and varies by province.

"Addressing this pressing health care and societal issue is undoubtedly complex, but innovative, effective and potentially scalable programs and policies already exist in pockets across the country. It's time Canada cared more about its caregivers," he concludes.
Dengue fever is a major public health concern in many parts of South-East Asia and South America and its prevalence in Africa is thought to be expanding. Researchers have now conducted an analysis of the economic burden of dengue fever in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Cambodia. Their results appear this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

The proportion of the economic burden for dengue fever. While the indirect costs (IC) component is the biggest burden for patients followed by direct non-medical costs (DNMC) and direct medical costs (DMC) in Cambodia, DMC accounts for the highest proportion of the patients private (out-of-pocket) burden in Burkina Faso and Kenya. It is clear to see that compared to Cambodia, public contribution to the overall DMC is trivial in Burkina Faso and Kenya, meaning that the most of DMC burden must be directly borne by patients. Credit: Lee, et al (CC BY 4.0, 2019)

Dengue fever is a vector-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitos. While there are studies on the economic burden of dengue in some countries with high prevalence of the disease, countries in Africa had not previously been analyzed, and cost comparisons between countries are often not standardized.

In the new work, as part of the Dengue Vaccine Initiative (DVI) Jung-Seok Lee, and colleagues developed a patient-specific survey questionnaire on the cost of dengue and administered it to patients in six countries in a standardized manner. The survey included multiple interviews to capture both public and private (out-of-pocket costs). Data was previously published on the economic burden of dengue in Vietnam, Thailand, and Colombia; the new paper deals with the cost of the illness in Burkina Faso, Kenya and Cambodia.

414 patients with dengue were identified at the field sites in Burkina Faso, 149 in Kenya, and 254 in Cambodia. The average cost of inpatient care was $26 in Burkina Faso and $134 in Cambodia, while the average cost of outpatient care was $13 per episode in Burkina Faso and $23 in Kenya. In both African countries, the majority of costs were directly borne by patients and the costs were not insignificant compared to the economic cost of malaria, a major pathogen in the areas.

Researchers say:
Researchers at the University of Southampton are set to launch a new study to help improve condom use and tackle sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among young men (16-25 years).

STI treatment currently costs the NHS 620m a year and young people, particularly men, have been identified by the Department of Health and Social Care as an 'at risk' group for these types of infections.

Psychologists at Southampton, together with academics at the University of Birmingham, the University of Westminster, and Coventry University have been awarded approximately 1.5m over five years from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to investigate the best ways to promote correct and consistent condom use. Clinicians from Solent NHS Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Barts Health NHS Trust are also involved.

Professor in Sexual and Reproductive Health at the University of Southampton and lead researcher, Cynthia Graham, comments: "Condoms are our main protection against STIs, but many things can prevent them being used effectively, such as problems with reduced sexual pleasure and the way they fit and feel. We hope to improve people's skills and knowledge of using this type of contraceptive, while in turn helping reduce sexual risk among young people."

The team has already developed a condom promotion programme which gives out condom kits to men and asks them to experiment with using the contents after they have undergone condom use education and training. The researchers now want to go a step further and explore whether men who go on to report enjoyable, correct and consistent condom use, after taking part in the programme, are less likely to contract chlamydia than men who haven't undergone the programme (i.e. standard care). The study will also examine whether the condom promotion programme is delivered most effectively online or via face-to-face education sessions.

Approximately 2,200 men between 16 and 25 years old - who don't currently use condoms during sex with casual or new partners - will take part in either the face-to-face or digital programmes, or will receive the normal, standard sexual health advice. Over 12 months, they will periodically be asked about their sexual behaviour, condom use experience and get tested for chlamydia - allowing researchers to compare and contrast the results for the three different groups.

Findings from the study should give health professionals important insight into how best to deliver the information young people need to improve condom use and reduce STI rates.

Professor Kevin Fenton, Deputy Chair of the NIHR Public Health Research (PHR) Programme's Prioritisation Committee, said: "This is an important area of research, following widespread public health concerns that men aged 16-25 are among those most at risk of STIs, with rates remaining consistently high among this age group.

"Interactive online training packages are an emerging way of encouraging condom use and hopefully this study will increase the evidence base in evaluating the effectiveness of public health campaigns delivered in this way."
At Anthony Nolan we save the lives of people with blood cancers and blood disorders that need a stem cell transplant. Every day we use our register to match individuals willing to donate their stem cells to people who need lifesaving transplants.

We match potential donors to patients by looking at their human leukocyte antigen (HLA) tissue type. Its part of our genetic characteristic that makes us all unique individuals. We look at five HLA genes (called HLA-A, -B, -C, DQb1 and DRB1), each of which has two versions inherited from your mother and father, making 10 in total. When it comes to finding a match, the higher the number of matching alleles the better, but sometimes a perfect match isnt successful and sometimes other matches are.

Its clear we dont know everything just yet, but we are continually expanding our knowledge about what makes the perfect match. Anthony Nolans ultra high-resolution sequencing technique, that we call Third Generation Sequencing (TGS), has revolutionized how we analyze HLA genes. Its also been used to confirm the importance of other genes, including a sixth HLA gene called DPB1.

What is TGS?

TGS technology allows DNA to be analyzed in more detail than ever before. We have previously only been able to focus on the parts of HLA genes that were the most variable and thought to be the most important when finding a match. However, with the improved resolution of TGS and its ability to read much longer DNA strands we are beginning to discover the importance of other regions in these genes too. This means we can be more confident at identifying the key mismatches between patients and potential donors.

Now Anthony Nolan scientists have shown, for the first time, that using TGS to match patients and donors improves transplant outcome. The research has been published in the journal Biology of blood and marrow transplantation.

What did the study look at?

Over the past 20 years Anthony Nolan has collected paired DNA samples from over 2,500 stem cell recipients and their matched donors. Clinical data from these patients has also been collected during this time to see which matches were more successful and those that caused complications such as Graft vs Host Disease (GvHD) and relapse.

Nearly 900 of these donor and recipient paired samples have been re-analyzed using TGS to see if the new technology provides better insight into why some matches were more successful.

What has the latest study revealed?

Overall, the matching score of nearly a quarter of patients changed because sequences could be viewed in more detail, which revealed previously unseen mismatches.

The study focused on patients that were originally given a perfect match  a 12/12 score for all six HLA genes, including DPB1. However, after TGS analysis, those patients that still had a perfect score were roughly twice as likely to be alive after 5 years compared to those that were 10/10 but had certain mismatches in DPB1. The study confirmed previous findings that some DPB1 mismatches can have a better outcome than others. Similarly, 12/12 patients were less likely to experience transplant related complications in the 12 months post-transplant. Patients with mismatches in DPB1 were also twice as likely to develop acute GvHD after their transplant.

Importantly, this new TGS data was combined with other factors that also influence transplant success. This included matching patients and donors for cytomegalovirus (CMV) status  a common virus that causes few complications in healthy individuals. This improved the chance of transplant success threefold, when compared to patients with a 10/10 score and CMV mismatch.

What does it mean for the future?

This study demonstrates the essential need for all stem cell recipients and potential donors to be HLA typed using ultra high-resolution sequencing techniques. It improves on the current gold standard 10/10 matches that were thought to be the best possible. The improved sequencing accuracy will mean more patients have a successful transplant and reduce the chance of them developing GvHD afterwards.

Dr Neema Mayor, Senior Post-Doctoral Research Scientist at Anthony Nolan, said:

We are very excited about the potential benefits of this DNA sequencing technology in being able to provide us with unparalleled information about the tissue types of our patients and donors. The clinical impact of achieving this level of resolution HLA typing data is considerable, particularly because in organ and blood stem cell transplantation matching donors and recipients for their HLA is of utmost importance. This level of matching can reduce the risk of complications such as graft-versus-host disease and, consequently, the risk of mortality  potentially saving more lives."

Professor Steven Marsh, Director of Bioinformatics at Anthony Nolan, added:
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Dear Newsie Readers,

Newsie has now permanently ceased it's services as of Friday 20th December 2019.

Newsie has been an owner-funded operation since day one.

Coming up to three years old, while we still firmly believe Newsie has a place in the New Zealand media landscape, the cost in both time and money has become too burdensome for the owners to continue alongside other ventures.

With the current government looking to restructure public broadcasting, and seemingly supporting NZME buying a ring-fenced Stuff, the time seems right to call it a day.

Should it happen, the combination of NZME and Stuff will ensure New Zealands national media will die a death by a thousand opinion-based articles.

Newsie has always tried to stick to balanced news, to inform readers of the facts of a situation, amid being largely ignored by government. Hopefully, one day someone else will take up the challenge to fight the good fight.

The good news, however, is that there were no job losses as a result of Newsie closing. Thanks to careful structuring, everyone involved in Newsie will retain their current positions.

We hope you all have a happy Christmas and new year. Stay safe, and stay out of the news.

The team at Newsie
Mumbai:

The Indian arm of the Czech car maker Skoda Friday announced signing of an initial pact with Orix Auto Infrastructure Services for car renting solutions. The company will provide its entire range --Rapid, Octavia, Superb and and Kodiaq - on lease basis for up to five years to customers initially across eight cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad, a release said.

The monthly lease rental for Skoda model range will start at Rs 19,856 and cater to salaried individuals, working professionals, SMEs, PSUs and corporate entities, the company added.

The partnership with Orix reflects our commitment to reach out to our customers through new strategic avenues. The tailor-made leasing program will draw on the strengths of both companies and deliver an enhanced ownership experience to Skoda customers," Zac Hollis, director of sales, service and marketing, Skoda Auto India.

The leasing solutions offered under the tie-up includes road tax, insurance, breakdown assistance, accidental repairs, end-to-end maintenance, scheduled tyre and battery changes, and a replacement vehicle, as per the release.

"Leasing has been a well-accepted product across all developed nations and we expect the same to happen in India. Also with the mind and mode shift trends of this millennial generation where convenience weighs more than ownership, we expect leasing to play a significant role in meeting customer expectations," said Sandeep Gambhir, managing director and chief executive officer, ORIX Auto Infrastructure Services.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in what could be the sharpest attack on Pakistan, said on that he will find out those responsible for terror acts in India "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth". Modi also asked the opposition not to malign India's armed forces. "What our opposition leaders say become headlines in Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said, addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad.

PM: Bharat ke neta bayanbazi karte hain vo Pakistan ke akhbaro ki headline banti hai,Pak Parliament mein charcha ho rahi hai. Aap aisi baat bologe jispe Pak taali bajaye?Desh ki sena ne himmat dikhayi aur main intezaar lamba nahi kar sakta,chun chun ke hisaab lena meri fitrat hai pic.twitter.com/pNIo44U5Vn a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

In a veiled reference to India's air strike in Pakistan, Modi said: "If one work gets over, our government doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another." "We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and bitter decisions," he said. Referring to the 2008 attack at Ahmedabad civil hospital, Modi said, "should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."

Minutes after his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said last week that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India as a gesture of peace, Modi had said: "Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi. Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's airstrikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice."A

The PM said the IAF's air attack on the Balakot terror camp, carried out in response to the Pulwama suicide bombing,

should not be linked with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. "If this is done for elections, were there elections when we carried out the first surgical strikes (in 2016)," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, Modi said, "Should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."

After his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be repatriated to India as a "gesture of peace", Modi had said; Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai, pehle toh practice thi.

In his remarks on Thursday, Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's air strikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice.A

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi:

Baijayant aJaya PandaA Rebel Biju, former Janata Dal (BJD) leader who had quit the party last year reportedly after rifts with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. "Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.Grateful for support recd from all over.On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability," Panda tweeted on Monday.A

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my abilityY a Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

Panda, a former BJD MP from Odishaas Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, joined the BJP in the presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Panda, one of the prominent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders, had quit the party in May 2018 following a long-standing rift with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also the chief of the BJD. In a three-page letter written to Patnaik, who is also the chief of BJD, Panda had said, aItas with deep anguish, hurt and sorrow that I have decided to quit the politics into which our BJD has descended.a

Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Jay Panda joins BJP in presence of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan pic.twitter.com/MKH7bX64z5 a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

aWith the BJD and you yourself having made it abundantly clear that I am unwanted, it is only right to disassociate from it,a the 55-year-old leader said.

Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal MP Baijayant Jay Panda who joined BJP earlier today meets party president Amit Shah. pic.twitter.com/rGbRZuSzDC a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

Pandaas decision to quit the party had come days after the party suspended his primary membership on accusations of aconflict of interesta and aanti-party activitiesa aimed at weakening BJD in Odisha. Pandaas father Bansidhar Panda shared a very close relationship with former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik, the father of current Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.
New Delhi:

Accusing opposition parties of promoting dynastic politics, BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday said that a democratic system was adopted in the country so that a "foolish son" of a monarch did not come to power.

Opposition parties have made a mockery of democracy by creating a new dynastic system where every leader's son succeeds him, he said. Shah was speaking at an event organised by the Jain International Trade Organisation to raise funds for the Pulwama terrorist attack victims.

"What was wrong with the king and his kingdom? It had only one problem. Even if the king's son was a fool, he would succeed the king," Shah said, without naming any politician or party "But should someone become prime minister just because he is my son, irrespective of whether he has any capability?" Shah asked.

Saying that the momentum of development under the Narendra Modi government needs to continue, he sought another fifteen years to turn India into a superpower. "For the first time in 70 years, politics of caste, dynasty and appeasement has been expelled from elections... If the country gets a proper government for fifteen years, I guarantee you that we will see India become a superpower," he said.

"If you give blessings, we will see Narendra Modi Part 2," Shah added. "The BJP was all set to fight the election under the leadership of a "hard-working, genuine, far-sighted, patriotic, sensitive, decisive prime minister", he said.

Achievements of the last five years have made the world look at India "with respect", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said. He also slammed the opposition for "asking for proof" of the air strike on a terrorist camp in Pakistan, saying those seeking evidence were "helping Pakistan, emboldening it".

During the event, Rs 3 crore were raised for the 40 CRPF jawans killed in a terror attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama on February 14.
New Delhi:

Amid speculation, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is likely to be formally join the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance on Tuesday to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections. The announcement would be made at a joint press conference of SP president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD vice-president Jayant Chaudhary in Lucknow on Tuesday.

The RLD is likely to get three Lok Sabha seats -- Baghpat, Muzaffarnagar and Mathura -- in the SP-BSP alliance. The RLD had sought four seats. The two leaders will have a final round to discuss the seat-sharing before the press conference.

The BSP, led by Mayawati, is contesting on 38 seats and the SP on 37 seats, while five seats are left for other parties, including two- Amethi and Raebareli held by Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi -- for the Congress. While announcing the alliance last month, both parties had said they will contest 38 seats each. This put a question mark on the electoral future of the states next biggest regional contestant, the RLD.

Uttar Pradesh accounts for 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has already said his party will fight the elections in the state alone with its full capacity.

Addressing a press conference in Dubai, Gandhi has earlier said the leaders of the two parties have a right to do what they want to do.

BSP and SP have made a political decision. Its on us on how to strengthen the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh and we will fight with our full capacity, he said, reported PTI news agency

Congress party has tremendous to offer to the people of Uttar Pradesh... I have tremendous respect for the leaders of BSP and SP, they have a right to do what they want to do, he added.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to his home state Gujarat from today. During the visit, he will launch several development projects, including the first phase of 6-km-long Ahmedabad Metro. He will also launch the Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan Yojana (PM-SYM), a pension scheme for workers in the unorgnaised sector, and distribute PM-SYM Pension Cards. The scheme, announced in the Union Budget in February this year, assures a minimum pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.

Official sources said the prime minister would also lay the foundation stone for Umiya Dham temple complex during his visit. PM Modi would visit Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj in Gandhinagar on March 5 for the ground-breaking ceremony of a Shikshan Bhavan and a Vidhyarthi Bhavan, they added.

The prime minister would start his two-day visit from Jamnagar in Saurashtra region where he would dedicate to the nation a 750-bed annexe of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital and inaugurate its PG hostel, they said.

PM Modi will also launch SAUNI water schemes projects including Und-1 to Ranjit Sagar Lift Irrigation Scheme and Machu-1 to Nyari Lift Irrigation Scheme. He will also lay the foundation stone of Jodiya Desalination Plant and Und-3 to Venu-2 Lift Irrigation Scheme.

In Jamnagar, PM Modi will also lay foundation stones of railway projects including conversion of rail tracks to broad gauge and flag off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express.

From Jamanagar, he will reach Ahmedabad and attend a grand function for the Umiya Dham temple complex. As part of the metro rail commissioning programme, he will lay the foundation of the 28.28 kilometre second phase of the Ahmedabad Metro and also travel some distance on the phase 1 stretch.

Following this, the PM will dedicate to the nation various hospitals built in Ahmedabad region, including Women Children & Super Specialty Hospital, Cancer Hospital, Eye Hospital and Dental Hospital.

On Tuesday, Modi will visit the Annapurna Dham Trust in Adalaj, Gandhinagar where he will lay the foundation stones of Shikshan Bhavan and Vidhyarthi Bhavan. The prime minister will then go to Vastral to launch PM-SYM, a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector with a monthly income of up to Rs 15,000.
New Delhi:

Salman Khans protege Zaheer Iqbal who is all set to step his feet in Bollywood, expressed his experience of being mentored by none other than Superstar Salman Khan himself. The debutant actor has received a warm welcome by the audience, critics as well as the industry insiders ever since the trailer released.

Talking about the character in Notebook, Zaheer shared, So my character in the film Notebook, Kabir is completely different from the way I am in real life. Kabir is not very confident, he is not very outgoing. He is more like an introvert person and I think these characteristics can be seen in a persons body language very easily. The way they walk, for example, the person who is confident enough they would usually walk upright with their legs more wider, shoulders up face is straight up etc.. here the case was different, I had to make sure that I walk descent and not show more confidence in my body language to portray Kabir.

Giving insights into his transformation to slip into the character, Zaheer said, As a part of my 3 months workshop with Hemant Kher and Nitin sir prior to the film I had to make sure that I change my body language completely according to Kabirs characteristic. I had to change the way I hug the way I walk I sit I had to change entirely.

In my voice tone, I had to change as I could not be as loud as I am in real life I could not be as expressive as I am in real life and all of this has become possible because Nitin sir was very much clear about the character exactly what the character would and would not do and thats what made it slightly easier for me to learn and change myself.

After assisting on several films, Zaheer Iqbal bagged the role of Kabir in Notebook with the well wishes of Salman Khan. Talking about his mentor Salman Khan Zaheer expressed his feelings,  I learned how to deconstruct myself for the character. Salman Sir has trained me enough for all the possible roles in the future I would do and to last long in the industry.

Notebook has been shot in the exquisite valleys of Kashmir bringing the authentic love story of two lovers Firdaus and Kabir, along with a strong support cast with the child artists, who play a vital role on the story.

Helmed by Nitin Kakkar, Notebook is presented by Salman Khan Films and is a Cine1 Studios Production. It is produced by Salma Khan, Murad Khetani and Ashwin Varde and is all set to hit the screens on 29th March 2019.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt are one of the hottest couples in B-town. The two have been often spotted together, giving some major relationship goals to their ardent fans. The lovebirds were today clicked at the Mumbai airport as they left to attend the Kumbh Mela, where the team will apparently unveil the first look of the upcoming film, Brahmastra.

The two looked super-adorable as they gave warm hug to each other outside the airport. While Ranbir looked dapper in a blue kurta which he teamed up with a Nehru jacket and beige pants, Alia looked beautiful in a mint green anarkali kurta. Alia completed her look with earrings and gold heels.

Check out the pictures below:

Earlier today, the producer of Brahmastra, Karan Johar tweeted, ''Tonight, the Kumbh Mela is going to be a lot more magical! Watch this space for more updates.''

In a recent interview with a newspaper, Alia expressed concern that her relationship with Ranbir was a hot topic of discussion in the media. "Yes, there was too much [focus] on the personal life, and honestly, I have never had my personal life getting spoken about so much. Earlier, these talks were very upar upar se but this year, it suddenly became all about that," she had said.

Meanwhile, Brahmastra also stars Amitabh Bachchan, Dimple Kapadia, Divyendu Sharma and Mouni Roy in prominent roles. The film is slated to hit the theatres at the end of 2019.

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The technical surveillance by Indian intelligence agencies have found that just before the Indian Air Force jets struck the Jaish-e-Mohammed camps in Balakot on February 26, 300 mobile phones were active at the facility, giving a clear indication of the total number of inmates housed there, sources said.

The National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) had stated surveillance of the facility after the Indian Air Force (IAF) was given clearance to target the camps in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the sources said to the news agency ANI.

"During technical surveillance, it emerged that there was a presence of around 300 mobile phones with active signal strength inside the facility in the days leading up to the strike. The facility was destroyed by the IAF fighters," added the sources to ANI.

Indian fighter jets Mirage 2000, which pounded a JeM terror facility at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan was eternised by a village family, which named a newborn baby after the lethal jet.

Miraj Singh Rathore was the name given to the baby, born minutes after the Indian fighter jets wreaked havoc on the Balakot terror camp. The baby was born to a couple in Dabra village of Nagaur district in Rajasthan. The family has some of its members serving in the Indian armed forces.

Nothing could be a celebration of the IAF's feat better than eternalizing it. As the feat was commanded by Mirage fighter jets and the child was born exactly when the jets were engaged in a strike, we decided to name the child after the jets," said the newborn baby's father Mahaveer Singh, a school teacher by profession.

The name was suggested by the baby's uncle, who is serving the Indian Air Force and is currently posted in Nainital. He suggested the name when he learnt about the baby's birth. "The moment he suggested the name, we lapped up the proposal, considering it to be unique and a humble recognition to the valiant feat of the Mirage 2000 jets, said Singh.

The baby's mother had labour pains at the same night and was admitted to the hospital, where she delivered the baby at about 3.50 am, coinciding with the IAF's air strike at Balakot. The baby has one more uncle, who served the Indian Army and the family is proud of its links with the Indian armed forces.

IAF chief B S Dhanoa on Monday sidestepped a raging debate on the number of casualties in the Balakot strike and said it is for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

The Air Force doesn't count human casualties, Dhanoa said as the figure of how many terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province remained unclear.

Government sources said up to 350 terrorists were killed, BJP president Amit Shah put the toll at 250, some media reports indicated the damage was minimal and opposition leaders clamoured for clarity. But there has been no official statement so far.

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," Dhanoa said in his first comments since the events of last week, when escalating India-Pakistan tensions led to aerial combat and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman being in captivity in Pakistan for almost three days.

The air chief told reporters the Indian Air Force pilot would fly a fighter jet if he was fit. "We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference.

Discussing the Balakot strike, 12 days after the February 14 attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed, Dhanoa said the Air Force is not in a position to clarify how many people were inside. The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government. Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise."

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement."

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New Delhi:

At least four Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists caught between 2014-17 were trained at the Jaishs Balakot camp that was targeted by the Indian Air Force in a non-military strike on February 26, The Indian Express quoted official sources as saying. Balakot is in the Mansehra district of Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is 63 km north of Abbottabad. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp. The Jaish training camp in Balakot is named after Syed Ahmed Shaheed.



The four militants, all Pakistani, told during their interrogation that terrorists trained at Balakot were either sent to Afghanistan or Kashmir. According to officials, Waqas Mansoor, who hails from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and was arrested by security forces in 2014-15, said he was trained with 100 youths. Mansoor was active in the Valley since 2007 and told us that 40 militants who were trained with him were sent to Kashmir while the remaining 60 were sent to wage war in Afghanistan, The Indian Express a top government official saying, while revealing interrogation details of Mansoor.



ALSO READ | Jaish slams Imran Khan for releasing Abhinandan, asks cadres to be ready to migrate



Earlier, Jaish-e-Mohammed confirmed that the Indian Air Force (IAF) indeed targeted it camps in Pakistan's Balakot with Israeli guided missiles on February 26. In the statement, Jaish said there has been growing pressure from India, the US and even Russia against Pakistan to take action against the terrorist group. It said the Pakistan government was planning action to satisfy the international community.

The Pakistan-based organisation said it feared Pakistan government might crack down on after coming under international pressure. It also asked its cadres to unite and be ready anytime to migrate. The terror group also fears shutting down of its Madarsas.



Jaish-e-Mohammed had identified suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar as the one who carried out the attack on February 14 that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans in Pulwama. In an unverified 10-minute video recorded before the attack, Dar also mentioned that many more people like him were ready to 'follow the same path'. Its chief Masood Azhar was suspected to be afflicted with renal failure and is under regular dialysis at an army hospital in Rawalpindi in Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.

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New Delhi:

Wing Commander and IAF hero Abhinandan Varthaman, who was handed over to India last week after being captured by Pakistan, was subjected to loud music and bright lights to keep him sleep-deprived in the first 24 hours since he was captured, ThePrint quoted top sources in the security and defence establishment as saying. The report added that the purpose of Pakistans intelligence agency, ISI, was to keep Varthaman disoriented and break him down.

The report came close on the heels of Varthamans earlier statement in which he had reportedly told Indian officials that that Pakistani authorities did not physically torture him in his nearly 60-hour stay in their custody, but he was subjected to considerable ''mental harassment".

Varthaman was captured on February 27 by Pakistan following a dogfight between the two air forces in which his MIG-21 was shot down. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a day later that they would release him -- seen as a major step towards defusing a near-war situation triggered by India's retaliation over Pakistan's continued support for terrorism.

ThePrint report, which quoted sources, added that Varthaman was not allowed to sleep in the first 24 hours he was in Pakistans custody.

Wing Commander Abhinandan was subjected to torture while he was in the custody of the Pakistan Army. He was not allowed to sleep for the first 24 hours and was subjected to loud music and bright lights to keep him awake, a source told ThePrint.

Varthaman arrived in the national capital by an IAF flight at around 11:45 PM on Friday, nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed over to India through the Attari-Wagah border. The IAF pilot was first taken to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), a compact and specialised medical evaluation centre for aircrew of all the three services. Later, he was brought to the Armys Research and Referral hospital.

In a tweet, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she met Varthaman and his family to commend him on his valour, express the nations gratitude for his selfless service, and wish him a speedy recovery. After he was captured, Varthaman showed courage and grace in handling the most difficult circumstances for which he was praised by politicians, strategic affairs experts, ex-servicemen, celebrities and people in general.

MRI reports of Varthaman have revealed that the fighter pilot suffered spinal injury as he ejected from his plane after it was shot down. The officer will undergo more check-ups and treatment at the Research and Referral Hospital in Delhi Cantonment for next 10 days. Medical reports also revealed that Pakistan has not planted any bugs in Varthaman's body.

(With PTI inputs)

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New Delhi:

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday said that the target was 'clearly hit' when Indian Air Force (IAF) struck Jaish-e-Mohammeds terror camp in Balakot. The Indian Air Force on February 26 conducted an air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistans Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack. At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed last month in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp.

It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp.



Top 5 quotes of Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa



The target has been clearly amplified by the Foreign Secretary in his statement. We hit our target. The air force doesnt calculate casualty numbers, the government does that. We count what targets we have hit.

One is a planned operation in which you plan and carry out an attack. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy.

Happy Abhinandan is back. Whether he flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post-ejection, he has undergone a medical check-up. Whatever treatment is required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into the fighter cockpit.

The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to-air missiles, and better weapons system.

The Air Force has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

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New Delhi:

The Indian Air Force on February 26 conducted an air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist camp in Pakistans Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack. At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed last month in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 30 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan. The Indian Air Force hit Jabha Top, a forested hilltop where the Jaish-e-Mohammed had its camp.



Balakot is in the Mansehra district of Pakistans Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It is 63 km north of Abbottabad. The terror camp was located on the bank of the Kunhar river. The Balakot camp was an important training centre for the JeM and other terror organisations.



The training camp is described as being spread over six acres, with enough space to accommodate 600 cadres. The last passing out of militant recruits at Balakot was attended on April 1, 2018 by Mufti Abdul Rauf Asghar, the brother of Jaish founder Maulana Mazood Azhar, according to the Indian Express report.



ALSO READ | Jaish slams Imran Khan for releasing Abhinandan, asks cadres to be ready to migrate



Inspirational lectures were delivered at this camp by JeM chief Masood Azhar. He had given the task of overseeing the Balakot training centre to his brother-in-law Maulana Yousuf Azhar, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale said in his media briefing.



Jaish-e-Muhammeds Balakot is named after Syed Ahmed Shaheed. Syed Ahmad is thought to have anticipated modern Islamists in waging war and attempting to create an Islamic state with strict enforcement of Islamic law.



Two nephews of Masood Azhar, Talha Rasheed and Usman Haider killed by security forces in the Kashmir valley are believed to be the part of Balakot terror camp.



The US, the UK and France on Wednesday moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to the global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

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New Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party president and Rajya Sabha member Amit Shah on Sunday claimed that more than 250 terrorists were killed in the Indian Air Forces strike in Pakistans Balakot on February 26. The BJP chief said that India became only the third country in the world after the US and Israel to avenge attacks on its security forces.

After the Uri attack, the army did a surgical strike. After the Pulwama attack, people said there could not be a surgical strike due to the high level of alertness. But on the 13th day, the Narendra Modi government carried out an airstrike, and more than 250 terrorists were killed without suffering any losses, Shah said while speaking at an event in Ahemdabad.

This is the first time that a top government leader has come out with the exact number. Neither the Indian Air Force nor the Union Secretary has so far given the exact number of causalities in the Balakot air strike.

Shah also hailed the Narendra Modi government for the early release of Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan after his jet got down during a dogfight with Pakistan Air Force fighter planes.

When (Wing Commander) Abhinandan Varthaman was caught, they (Opposition) started again. But the Narendra Modi governments impact was such that for the first time in the world, a PoW was released in such a short time Abhinandan was released within 48 hours, he said.

The Indian Air Force on February 26 had conducted air strike on a JeM terrorist camp in Pakistans Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan.

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New Delhi:

Indian Air Forceas (IAF) Sukhoi 30MKI shot down a Pakistani drone at Rajasthanas Bikaner Nal sector area of the border at 11:30 am on Monday. The drone was detected by Indian Air Defence radars, according news agency ANI. The report came days after the IAF on February 26 conducted an air strike on a terror camp in Pakistanas Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack in which more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan.

Rajasthan: At 11:30 am today a Sukhoi 30MKI shot down a Pakistani drone at the Bikaner Nal sector area of the border. Drone was detected by Indian Air Defence radars pic.twitter.com/Ijc4B4XzjN a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

Following Indiaas air strike, the Pakistani Air Force had also violated Indian air space and dropped bombs at a military post in India, but its jets were scrambled back by IAF. The Indian Air Force even shot down a US built F-16 fighter jet used by the Pakistani Air Force to strike India.A

Earlier in the day, a balloon-like drone whizzing around in the skies of Rajasthan's Bikaner further added fuel to the already tense situation. The suspected red-coloured airborne device was seen at the border areas near Santosh Nagar village in Rajasthan's Bikaner district on Thursday.

A After hovering around for some 10 minutes, the mysterious drone went back to the international border of India and Pakistan.

The villagers who suspected that the object might have come from the border, have informed the security agencies and police about the movement. Moreover, the 'War Museum' situated in the military station of the Jaisalmer headquarters has also been closed following the high alert issued at Indo-Pak international border.

In a related note, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has put all air defence systems on alert to deal with the intruders along the international border and Line of Control (LoC).A Security in several states sharing the border with Pakistan has also been beefed up. Police in Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra issued a high alert following the air strikes.



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New Delhi:

An encounter broke out between security forces and terrorists at Reshipora Tral area in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday. The firing was underway in both sides when the last reports came in. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation following certain inputs about the presence of terrorists in the region. The search operation turned into a gunfight after terrorists open fired towards the forces, who retaliated. An operation has been launched to flush out the terrorists. However, there were no reports of any casualties in the operation so far.

"Jammu and Kashmir: Encounter breaks out between security forces and terrorists in Tral. More details awaited," the news agency ANI reported.

Jammu & Kashmir: Encounter breaks out between security forces and terrorists in Tral. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/M9OS1S1sqx  ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

While the country still reels under the aftermath of the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, Pakistan Army and terrorists continue with their nefarious designs by firing and shelling along the Line of Control (LoC). The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for over 60 times during the last one week by targeting over 70 civilian and forward areas along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving one woman dead and 9 others injured.

Pulwama Blast: Deadly attack on CRPF convoy kills 42, dozens of others injured

The scene of devastation and destruction caused on February 14 by the suicide car bomb attack that killed at least 42 CRPF personnel sent chills down the spine of unsuspecting locals who witnessed the blood bath in Pulwama district's Awantipora area, about 20 km from Jammu and Kashmirs capital city Srinagar.

This was the first suicide car bomb strike in Kashmir since the 2001 attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly that left 41 persons, including three suicide attackers, dead.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when the suicide bomber rammed his vehicle into a bus carrying 39-44 CRPF jawans. After Uri, this is considered to be one of the deadliest terror attacks in the Kashmir valley in the last few years.

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New Delhi:

Rebel Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and former MP Baijayant Jay Panda, who had quit the party last year reportedly after rifts with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, is likely to join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. According to media reports citing sources, Panda, a former BJD MP from Odishas Kendrapara Lok Sabha seat, will join the BJP in the presence of party president Amit Shah, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

The discussion was going on for the last 2-3 months. If any development has taken place, then the top central leadership would surely be aware. Baijayant would any day be asset for BJP, The Hindustan Times quoted BJP national secretary Suresh Pujari as saying.

Panda, one of the prominent Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leaders, had quit the party in May 2018 following a long-standing rift with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is also the chief of the BJD.

In a three-page letter written to Patnaik, who is also the chief of BJD, Panda had said, Its with deep anguish, hurt and sorrow that I have decided to quit the politics into which our BJD has descended.

With the BJD and you yourself having made it abundantly clear that I am unwanted, it is only right to disassociate from it, the 55-year-old leader said.

Pandas decision to quit the party had come days after the party suspended his primary membership on accusations of conflict of interest and anti-party activities aimed at weakening BJD in Odisha.

Pandas father Bansidhar Panda shared a very close relationship with former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik, the father of current Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik.

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New Delhi:

Brave Indian pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan, conveyed to the IAF brass that he wants to return to the cockpit as soon as possible, officials said. For the last two days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here.

Varthaman told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest, the officials told PTI. On Wednesday, he became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force. Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dogfight.

He returned to India to a hero's welcome on Friday night. His health condition is being monitored by a group of doctors at the Army's Research and Referral hospital, the officials said.

"The efforts have been to ensure that he returns to the cockpit soon," said a military official. The officials said Varthaman has been in high spirits despite the harassment he suffered in Pakistan.

Varthaman arrived in the national capital on an IAF flight around 11:45 PM Friday, nearly two-and-half hours after he crossed over to India through the Attari-Wagah border. The IAF pilot was first taken to the Air Force Central Medical Establishment (AFCME), a compact and specialised medical evaluation centre for aircrew of all the three services.

Later he was brought to the Army's Research and Referral hospital. After he was captured, Varthaman showed courage and grace in handling the most difficult circumstances for which he was praised by politicians, strategic affairs experts, ex-servicemen, celebrities and people in general.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa met Varthaman separately on Saturday during which he apprised them about the mental trauma he was subjected to during his captivity in Pakistan.

During the meeting, the defence minister commended him on his valour and expressed the nation's gratitude for his selfless service. Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated after Indian fighters bombed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed's biggest training camp near Balakot, deep inside Pakistan early Tuesday.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to target Indian military installations on Wednesday. However, the IAF thwarted their plans. The Indian strike on the Jaish camp came 12 days after the terror outfit claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, killing 40 soldiers.

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New Delhi:

In a big setback to HD Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in Karnataka, disgruntled Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav on Monday resigned from the party. According to reports, he submitted his resignation to Karnataka Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar at his residence. Jadhav, a two-time MLA from the Chincholi assembly constituency, is reportedly planning to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He didnt attend the last Assembly session and some reports suggest that he was BJP leaders in Mumbai during that time.

Earlier in January, two MLAs had withdrawn their support to the state government. The lawmakers who withdrew their support were H Nagesh (Independent) and R Shankar (Karnataka Pragnyavanta Janata Paksha).

The development comes amid allegations that the BJP is trying to lure Congress and JD(S) MLAs. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy himself claimed that the BJP is attempting to lure his party lawmakers as part of what is being called "Operation Lotus". The chief minister had released audio clips of the alleged conversation of Yeddyurappa luring Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs.

However, Yeddyurappa has dismissed the audio clips as fake and a concocted story and said he had not met anyone to woo Nagana Gouda as alleged.

"It is a fake audio. I have not met anyone. Kumaraswamy is trying to hide his failures. This is a drama," Yeddyurappa said. He said the Kumaraswamy government had lost the trust of the people and had "no moral right" to continue in office.

In the 224-member Karnataka Assembly, the BJP has 104 members, Congress 80 (including Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar and before resignation of Jadhav), Kumaraswamys JD (S) has 37, BSP, KPJP and Independent one each. BSP is supporting the coalition government.

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highlights IAF doesnat calculate casualty numbers, the govt does it: BS Dhanoa

When adversary attacks you, every aircraft available is used.

When adversary attacks you, every aircraft available is used: IAF cheif

New Delhi:

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday said that the target was 'clearly hit' when Indian Air Force (IAF) struck Jaish-e-Mohammedas terror camp in Balakot on February 26. However, the IAF chief clarified that they don't count number of casualties and it will be given by the government. "We hit our target. IAF is not in a postilion to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not," he said while addressing a press conference in Coimbatore. This was the first press briefing by the Air Chief Marshal after the air strikeA across LoC in which around 250 terrorists were reportedly killed.

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa: We hit our target. The air force doesnat calculate casualty numbers, the government does that. pic.twitter.com/TnNXiQ9DM9 a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

When asked about why the Indian Air Force used MiG-21 fighter jet during 'aerial engagement' with Pakistani forces, Dhanoa said every available aircraft is used when adversary strikes.

aOne is a planned operation in which you plan & carry out. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy,a he said.

Dhanoa said that Mig-21 is a capable aircraft as it has been upgraded recently. aMig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system," he said.A

#WATCH Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa says, "The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system." pic.twitter.com/6D3yzBEQrY a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

He also said that the Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September.

Replying to media reports that claim that no one died in the Balakot strike, Dhanoa said that why would Pakistan have responded if IAF fighter jets dropped bombs in the jungles. aThe target has been clearly amplified by Foreign Secretary in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise, why would he (Pak PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond,a the IAF chief said.

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on air strikes: The target has been clearly amplified by FS in his statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pak PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond. pic.twitter.com/X4Y0Jdopr6 a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

Expressing his happiness overA the safe return of IAF wing commander Abhinandan Varthaman who was captured by Pakistan after his plane crashed on the other side of LoC, Dhanoa said he will fly fighter jet when is medically fit. aWhether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post ejection, he has undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit,a Dhanoa said.A

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa:Whether he (Wing Commander #Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post ejection, he has undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit pic.twitter.com/2ykp5aon3h a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

The Indian Air Force on February 26 had conducted an air strike on a JeM terrorist camp in Pakistanas Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan.

Following Indiaas air strike, the Pakistani Air Force had also violated Indian air space and dropped bombs at a military post in India, but its jets were scrambled back by IAF. The Indian Air Force even shot down a US built F-16 fighter jet used by the Pakistani Air Force to strike India.A

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New Delhi:

Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari has landed in hot water after attending a party rally wearing military fatigues in the national capital. Tiwari, MP from North East Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, was recently seen wearing Armed Forces uniform while flagging off partyas Vijay Sankalp bike rally in the Yamuna Vihar. Soon after that, people started accusing him of trying to cash in on the recent aerial face-off between India and Pakistan.

Among the first to target the BJP lawmaker on social media was Trinamool leader Derek O'Brien who said it was a 'shameless act' on Tiwari's part.A A A A A A

"Shameless. Shameless. Shameless. Manoj Tewari BJP MP and Delhi President wearing Armed Forces uniform and seeking votes. BJP-Modi-Shah insulting and politicising our jawans. And then giving lectures on patriotism. Low life," he tweeted, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

National Conference leader and former chief minister Omar Abdullah took a potshot at Tiwari and posted a photograph of him addressing BJP workers along with a caption that read: "And senior BJP leaders including the Hon PM want to lecture the opposition about politicising the recent military action. Go figure!"

Shameless. Shameless. Shameless. Manoj Tewari BJP MP and Delhi President wearing Armed Forces uniform and seeking votes. BJP-Modi-Shah insulting and politicising our jawans. And then giving lectures on patriotism. Low life a Derek O'Brien | aaaaa aaaaaaaYaa (@derekobrienmp) March 3, 2019

Congress leader Sharmistha Mukherjee termed it political move and tweeted, "Utterly disgusting & disgraceful! A soldier sacrifices his life to uphold the dignity & honour of this uniform. And BJP MP @ManojTiwariMP is turning it into Tamasha resorting to cheap stunts & cheaper politics,"

Drawing flak, Tiwari clarified, "I wore (it) simply because I felt proud of my Army. I am not in Indian army but I was expressing my feeling of solidarity. Why should it be treated like an insult? I have the highest regard for our Army. By (this) logic, tomorrow if I wear a Nehru Jacket, will it be an insult to Jawaharlal Nehru?"

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New Delhi:

News Nation has accessed the dossier India sent to Pakistan on Jaish-e-Mohammad and its chief Masood Azhar. The dossier, which proves the JeM hand in Pulwama attack, has all the information related to the terrorist organisation, its activities and training process. The dossier also included a video of JeM terrorists training at Balakot camp, which was destroyed by the Indian Air Force during the February 26 air strikes. The dossier also has specific information about JeM'c rallies and religious congregations held "right under the nose of the Pakistan government" to recruit terrorists by instigating them against India.

"On February 20, 2018, JeM concluded a six-day congregation in Lahore when its 'Shoba-e-Taaruf' (Department of Introduction) delegation held 13 interactive sessions in which 700 people, including 65 'Ulemas' (Religious Scholars), participated. During these interactions, around 30 people expressed their desire to take part in JeM training course  Daura-e-Tarbia. The participants showered praise on organizational activities of JeM and the role played by its chief Masood Azhar," the dossier said.





The dossier also has specific information about the Balakot camp, which was targeted by the Indian Air Force during its strike last month. India presented in-depth details about the camp, its locality, infrastructure, training methods and schedule. According to the dossier, JeM man undergoing a set routine at the Balakot training center and their day start as early as at 3 am. They read Namaaz at 5 am and do physical exercise for one and half hour which starts at 6 am. They have breakfast at 8:30 am. Thier classes on arms and ammunition start at 9 am and go till 12:30 when they go for lunch.

The courses which are taught to JeM terrorists at its training centers are also mentioned in the dossier. The JeM offers several religious and Jihadi courses to prepare its men for the acts of terror, including suicide attacks. "Daura-e-Tafseer", which roughly translates to the interpretation of the Quran, is a special course under which the selected suicide attackers are imparted extensive preaching of Quran.

After completing basic religious and jihadi courses, the selected cadres undergo rigorous armed training for eight months to one year. Apart from basic training in weapon handling, jungle survival, ambush, communication, GPS, MAP reading, the cadres are also imparted with other specialised training in swimming, sword fighting, horse-riding etc.

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highlights The BSF has been asked to stay alert to thwart any possible attack. Tension has increased on the border after IAF's strike in Balakot. Pakistan had vowed surprise attack after the Balakot strike.

New Delhi:

Wounded by Indian Air Forces massive strikes on terror camps inside its territory, Pakistan is hatching a major conspiracy on Jammu international border. According to sources, Pakistan has deployed a specially trained team of its Border Action Team (BAT) personnel to carry out attacks on Indian armed forces. It has also deployed snipers near the international border to cause damage to the Indian side.

Following the report, the Border Security Force (BSF) has been directed to remain extra vigilant on the international border. The conspiracy by Pakistan is being hatched against Indias cross border action on a JeM camp in Balakot.

The Indian Air Force on February 26 had conducted an air strike on a JeM terrorist camp in Pakistans Balakot to avenge the Pulwama attack in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. It was the first time in more than a decade that Indian jets had crossed the LoC to strike against Pakistan.

Although Pakistan denied that the Indian Air Force had struck a terrorist camp and caused heavy casualties, it vowed to respond, "at the time and place of its choosing".

"Do not underestimate us. We have our own sense of timing and we will act and react. Pakistan will do what Pakistan should do... we will not disappoint the people of Pakistan," Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said after the strike.

Following Indias air strike, the Pakistani Air Force had also violated Indian air space and dropped bombs at a military post in India, but its jets were scrambled back by IAF. The Indian Air Force even shot down a US-made F-16 fighter jet used by the Pakistani Air Force to strike India.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan violated the ceasefire yet again in the Akhnoor sector of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing and shelling at around 3 am along the Line of Control (LoC). Mortars and small firearms were used. The Indian Army retaliated strongly. The firing, however, stopped at 6:30 am, according to reports. The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for over 60 times during the last one week by targeting over 70 civilian and forward areas along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir, in which one woman was killed and 9 persons were injured.



On Saturday, Pakistan violated the ceasefire Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing and shelling at 12.30 pm along the LoC.



On Friday, too, Pakistani had violated ceasefire along the LoC in three sectors of Jammu and Kashmir namely Mendhar, Balakote, and Krishna Ghati sectors at 6 pm. Earlier today, one civilian was injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.



ALSO READ | Jaish-e-Mohammed confirms IAFs airstrike, says its chief Masood Azhar is alive



Three members of a family were killed and two others injured as Pakistani forces heavily shelled areas along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. Pakistani forces targeted civilian areas with mortar bombs and heavy guns, including Howitzer 105 mm. The Indian forces retaliated effectively. In the heavy shelling, three members of a family were killed and another was injured in Salotri in Poonch district, where shells hit several houses, they said. Twenty-four-year-old Rubana Kosar and her son Fazan (5) and nine-month-old daughter Shabnam were killed in the shelling. Rubana's husband Mohd Yunis was injured, officials said.





In view of the prevailing situation, authorities have ordered temporary closure of educational institutions in a 5-km radius along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts. They have asked all border dwellers to remain inside their homes.



The ceasefire violation by the Pakistani troops comes as tensions between India and Pakistan rose following the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF soldiers were killed. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group claimed responsibility for the attack.

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New Delhi:

Pakistan continues with its nefarious designs along the Line of Control (LoC) and has once again initiated unprovoked ceasefire violation by shelling with mortars and firing of small arms in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector on Monday. The incident took place at about 05:30 pm this afternoon. However,A the Indian Army has retaliated strongly and effectively and casualty has been reported from either side in the firing and shelling so far.

Early in the day, Pakistan violated the ceasefire in the Akhnoor sector, breaking a two-day lull in cross-border skirmishes. The firing, which was started in the wee hours of Monday stopped at 6:30 am this morning. On Saturday, Pakistan violated the ceasefire Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. Pakistan initiated unprovoked firing and shelling at 12.30 pm along the LoC.

On Friday, too, Pakistan had violated ceasefire along the LoC in three sectors of Jammu and Kashmir namely Mendhar, Balakote, and Krishna Ghati sectors at 6 pm. One civilian was injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani troops along the LoC in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

Pakistan violates ceasefire in Poonch sector of Jammu and Kashmir. pic.twitter.com/Z9OHcHVJNd a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for over 60 times during the last one week by targeting over 70 civilian and forward areas along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri and Baramulla districts of Jammu and Kashmir, leaving one woman dead and 9 others injured.

The ceasefire violation by Pakistan witnessed a spurt after India's air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26 in a "preemptive" action following the terrorist group's February 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 42 CRPF personnel were killed.

Amid heightened tensions, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat visited Jammu-based White Knight Corps on Saturday and reviewed the operational preparedness of the forces in the Corps Zone in view of the current situation along the LoC and the International Border.

Gen Rawat visited various forward locations of Samba and Ratnuchak along the IB in Jammu region again on Sunday. He expressed complete confidence in Indian Army capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of enemies of the country and handle any situation. The Army chief also praised the high state of morale and preparedness of the troops.A

In view of the prevailing situation following the Pulwama terror attack on February 14, authorities have ordered temporary closure of educational institutions in a 5-km radius along the LoC in Rajouri and Poonch districts. They have asked all border dwellers to remain inside their homes.

Amid high tension along the LoC, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Ranbir Singh accompanied by the White Knight Corps Commander, Lt Gen Paramjit Singh visited forward posts in Rajouri Sector to review the operational preparedness on Thursday.

The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violation, numbering 2,936 by Pakistani troops, in the last 15 years. 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.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to his home turf Gujarat, on Monday inaugurated various developmental projects, including the much-awaited aOne Nation-One Carda in Ahmedabad. The indigenously-developed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC), which is an amalgamation of all the existing smart cards, will allow people to withdraw money, shop, pay toll taxes, parking charges and travel on any mode of transportation system across India. Be it a remote village of Uttar Pradesh or a metropolitan city like Mumbai, the card will enable people to travel to any part of the country.A The Prime Minister launched the 'Made In India' card while inaugurating the first phase of the Ahmedabad metro train service in Gujarat.

"After many attempts, One Nation-One Card will become a reality. You will be able to withdraw money, will be able to shop and travel in a metro or use other means of transportation, using a common mobility card," Modi was quoted as saying during a public gathering in Ahmedabad on Monday.

PM Modi at a rally in Ahmedabad: After many attempts, One Nation-One Card will become a reality. You will be able to withdraw money, will be able to shop and travel in a metro or use other means of transportation, using a common mobility card. #Gujarat pic.twitter.com/tTxAf5Eogj a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

"This card runs on RuPay card and it will eliminate all your travel related problems. Many times, we do not have change to pay in cash while travelling in metro, bus or train, or for toll and parking. To overcome this issue, an automatic fare collection system was introduced," Modi said.

"Since systems were made by different players, a card issued in one city did not work in another city. Thus, we asked various ministries, departments and even banks to resolve this issue," he added.

According to Central government officials, the One Nation-One Card and all new credit and debit cards issued by most banks can be also used by commuters in PoS machines at metro platforms across India. Passengers can use the card either to get a ticket or just like a Metro Rail smart card to enter and exit stations directly.

"All new credit and debit cards issued by most banks have the National Common Mobility Card feature to make payments for their travel. This is like any other wallet," the statement read.

The idea behind the 'One Nation-One Card' is to buy just one card and travel on bus, metro and even suburban trains using the same. The successful rollout of the common mobility card will bring seamless connectivity between various modes of public transport. Also, the card has all the features of a debit or credit card issued by private or nationalised banks across India. Those features include shopping, online payment, ticket bookings among others.

On 'One Nation-One Card', NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant told IANS, "Several agencies including Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, banks, and Urban Development Ministry are involved in this. A huge amount of technology work has been done. We have had several rounds of meetings and all ministries are involved".

Meanwhile, Delhi Metro has begun a test run of indigenously designed automatic fare collection counters (AFCs) which will be able to read these common mobility cards for seamless entry and exit at stations. Once all the formalities are done, the existing networks will be gradually replaced by the new ones.

Currently, we are dependent on foreign technology players for the indigenous technology of AFCs but the mass rollout of One Nation-One Card will make India one of those few countries which enjoy this advanced technology in a pocket-friendly price. For now, the AFCs are restricted to a few metro stations only are very expensive.

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New Delhi:

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying about the ordnance factory in Amethi  his Lok Sabha constituency. Modi had inaugurated a manufacturing unit for AK-203 rifles, an India-Russia joint venture, in Amethi on Saturday. The Congress chief claimed that the ordnance factory in Amethi was inaugurated by himself in 2010 and the small arms were being manufactured there for the last few years.

I laid the foundation stone for Amethi ordnance factory in 2010 and for the past few years it has been manufacturing small arms. Yesterday you went to Amethi and, as usual, lied. Dont you feel ashamed at all? the Congress chief tweeted.

Addressing a gathering in Rahul Gandhis constituency, the prime minister had lashed out at the Congress party for misusing the resources and said that the production in Amethi ordnance factory, which was launched in 2007, was supposed to start from 2010 but nothing happened.

Tall promises were made. Your local MP promised that he would ensure employment to 1,500 locals in this ordnance factory but merely 200 got jobs. Imagine those who couldnt ensure jobs to people in Amethi are now lecturing on employment, Modi said.

Modi, who also announced other development projects worth Rs 538 crore for the region, said that Amethi will now be known for making AK-203 Kalashnikov rifles which will be manufactured at the Korba ordnance factory.

"Now, Amethi will not be known for a famous family but for AK 203, Made in Amethi. These rifles will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists," he added.

Since its creation in 1967, Amethi has been a stronghold of the Congress and the party had won all but two Lok Sabha elections. Rahul Gandhi had been representing Amethi since 2004. Before that, his mother Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi have also represented the constituency in the Lok Sabha.

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Srinagar:

Hours after former chief minister Omar Abdullah said that banning schools run by Jamaat-e-Islami Sealing risks future of several kids, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has issued a clarification that the schools, mosques, and orphanages being run by the banned outfit have so far been kept outside the ambit of seizure. "Schools, mosques, and orphanages have been kept outside the scope of seizures and sealing in the wake of the ban imposed by the Government of India on Jamaat-e-Islami, J&K," state government spokesman Rohit Kansal clarified.

The clarification came hours after the National Conference vice-president said the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami "is having a major social impact" in Kashmir and appealed to the government to "urgently review" its decision to seal schools and mosques run by it.

There is nothing to suggest sealing mosques will improve the security environment. Sealing schools risks forcing so many young kids out on the streets rather than studying to make a future for themselves, Abdullah tweeted. He said the action is being taken against offices, assets, properties and other equipment of the banned outfit.

People are being turned away from mosques where they usually congregate for prayers. Schools with 10s of 1000s of students, employing 1000s of teachers are being sealed, he said in another tweet.

Abdullah said that the social aspect of the ban on Jamaat-e-Islami isnt being taken into consideration.

Earlier, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti had slammed the government for sealing properties of Jamaat leaders, including schools run by the organisation.

It is unfortunate as these schools were providing education to the poorest of poor. Their students are meritorious. Where will all these students go after their schools have been banned. They are playing with our future and this is very wrong. They should rather ban (RSS) shakhas where swords are displayed. No Jamaati carries a sword," she had said.

The Centre has banned Jamaat-e-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir for five years under anti-terror law on grounds that it was in close touch with terrorist outfits and was expected to escalate secessionist movement in the state.

A notification, banning the group under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs after a high-level meeting on security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The police have launched a major crackdown on the socio-religious organisation across the state, arresting over 150 of its leaders and activists and sealing its properties including offices and houses over the past week, besides freezing bank accounts linked to the organisation.

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New Delhi:

After a long-term illness, former Union Minister and Congress leader V Dhananjay Kumar on Monday breathed his last in Karnataka's Mangaluru following multi-organ failure. Kumar had been suffering from a kidney-related ailment and was in the city's Unity Hospital as he slipped into a coma in December 2018, according to a report published on The News Minute. The former BJP leader was 67 years old and survived by his wife Vanitha and two children Pavithra and Parinith. His remains will be kept at his Kadri residence and later will be taken to his hometown Venur, a small village on the banks of the Phalguni river in Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada of Karnataka.

"Karnataka: Former Union Minister V. Dhananjay Kumar passes away in Mangaluru after a prolonged illness," the news agency ANI reported.

Karnataka: Former Union Minister V. Dhananjay Kumar passes away in Mangaluru after a prolonged illness. pic.twitter.com/LgOledVhZ3 a ANI (@ANI) March 4, 2019

Born in Karnataka's Dakshina Kannada district in 1951, Kumar was a lawyer by profession before his entry into politics. He secured his law degree in 1973 from a college in Udupi and practised in Mangaluru.

Kumar, a firm believer of RSS' Hindutva ideology, stepped into active politics back in 1983. His victory in 1983 Assembly ElectionsA from Mangaluru constituency made him the first BJP MLA to win an election from Dakshina Kannada region. The Vajpayee-era Union ministerA was also one of the few BJP MPs, who were elected from south India, despite the Congress's stronghold in the region at that time. Kumar contested the Lok Sabha elections four times from Mangaluru - in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999.

In 1996, Dhananjay Kumar was appointed as the Union Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism. In the NDA government, he served as the portfolio of Union Minister of State for Finance between 1999-2000 and was given the portfolio of Union Minister of State for Textiles between 2000 and 2003.

In March 2014, Dhananjay switched to the JD-S before rejoining the BJP in 2015. There are also reports that the 4-time Mangaluru MP was expelled by the BJP following his hard-hitting criticisms against prominent figures, including LK Advani.A However, in 2017, Dhananjay yet again jumped ship to the Congress after holding talks with party president Rahul Gandhi.

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New Delhi:

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shahnawaz Hussain on Monday took a dig at the Congress party for demanding proof of the damage caused by the Indian Air Forces strike on JeM camps in Pakistans Balakot and said that next time a Congress leader should go with the forces whenever they carry any strike. "Whenever the Air Force, Navy and the Army carry out a strike, then a Congress leader should definitely be taken so that he could see whether the action was taken and also bring the evidence," Hussain told News Nation in an exclusive chat.

Speaking to News Nation, another BJP leader Vijay Goel said that the Opposition parties were betraying the nation by raising questions on Indian Air Forces strike. "The Opposition had raised questioned on Armys surgical strike in 2016 as well and by doing this, they are betraying the nation. They are doing this to win the Lok Sabha elections".

On February 26, the Indian Air Force had carried out air strikes on a major JeM camp in Pakistans Balakot and inflicted major causalities. Although Pakistan accepted that the IAF jets entered its territory and dropped bombs, it denied that they caused any damage.

Several reports in the international media also claimed that no one died in the strikes. Although Air Force gave no official figure, BJP president Amit Shah claimed that over 250 JeM terrorists were killed. Conflicting media reports claimed over 300 terrorists were killed.

Following the strike, while Opposition parties hailed that IAF for its action, they demanded the government to release photographs or any other evidence to support the claims of heavy damage.

Citing international media reports, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the claims of no casualties. PM must speak on reports by international media that say hardly anyone died there (in Balakot airstrike), Sibal said.

I want to ask PM, Is international media supporting Pakistan? When international media speaks against Pakistan, you feel elated. When they ask questions, you say they are asking because it supports Pakistan? he asked.

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New Delhi:

India could significantly reduce the deaths of newborn babies caused by rare genetic diseases by making genetic screening mandatory in government hospitals and subsidising the required drugs, experts say. While there is no formal definition for a rare disease, global health bodies say that it is characterised by three factors -- the total number of people having the disease, its prevalence and non-availability of treatment. "The government is not paying much attention to the cases of rare diseases thinking it as a rare case," Manjit Singh, President of Lysosomal Storage Disorder Support Society of India (LSDSS), told PTI.

"However, there is a need for genetic testing laboratories in every government hospitals to understand the real problem," he added. A newborn screening (NBS) test looks for various developmental, genetic, and metabolic disorders in the newborn.

This allows steps to be taken before symptoms develop. Most of these illnesses are extremely rare, but can be treated if caught early.

India currently has over 8,000 patients with rare diseases, which includes genetic disorders like rarest of rare ones such as Hunter Syndrome, Gaucher Disease and Fabry's Disease.

While Fabry's Disease interferes with the body's ability to break down a specific fatty substance, Hunter Syndrome is a serious genetic disorder that interferes with the body's ability to break down specific mucopolysaccharides.

Currently, all rare diseases get diagnosed at a much later stage when treatments are not much effective.

The early diagnosis of such disorders during birth can be much useful in terms of medication enabling the patients to lead a normal life.

According to the Organisation for Rare Diseases India (ORDI), there are 7,000 known rare diseases in India with a total of 70 million rare diseases patients in India.

Currently, only one in 20 Indian patients get diagnosed with a rare disease.

Prasanna Shirol, Founder Director of ORDI, said that almost half of rare disease patients in India are children, an important fact that often does not get highlighted enough.

"We urgently need national and state policies that address the unique requirements of the rare disease community and enable them to lead lives of dignity and self-worth," Shirol told PTI.

"We also need institutions like corporates, schools and colleges to create a more inclusive environment for rare disease patients," he added.

Doctors said that there is also a need for the government to negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies and subsidise the medicines used in rare diseases as they are priced extremely high.

According to the health advocacy groups fighting for the cause of rare diseases in India, the medicines to treat such diseases range anywhere between Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 lakh per month.

In 2017, the National Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases (NPTRD) was announced by the Indian government with a corpus of Rs 100 crore to provide financial assistance for the treatment of rare disease patients.

However, in November last year, the health ministry put on hold the policy and the corpus amount, saying the focus was currently on communicable and non-communicable diseases.

Since then there have been several representations to the central government from organisations including LSDSSI seeking reinstating of the policy and funds to support the patients.

ORDI said that it takes an average of seven years to diagnose a rare disease due to lack of awareness and scientific facts.

Around 80 per cent of the rare diseases have identifiable genetic origin and 30 per cent of the patients die before reaching the age of 5 years.

National bodies working for the well being of patients with rare diseases have urged the government for setting up genetic screening laboratories in every government hospitals so that newborns can be screened if they have any life threatening genetic disorder.

At present, only a few top government hospitals such as the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh apart from the private hospitals have the newborn screening tests, making it extremely costly and unaffordable for the people from low-income group, a strata from where genetic disorder cases are frequent.

Sunita Bijarnia, Clinical Geneticist, Gangaram Hospital said the decades of research for developing a medicine for rare disease coupled with not enough demand due to limited patients are the reasons behind high cost of the drugs. "Until the government negotiates with the pharmaceutical companies and subsidises the drugs for genetic rare disorders the problem cannot be solved. And it is of utmost importance to give medicines to such patients to enabling them to lead a normal life," she told PTI.

Bijarnia said that unlike India several nations such as Australia and Philippine have a better system where the government pays for every medical expenses of rare diseases. This helps in the early diagnosis of such medical cases.
New Delhi:

At least 33 pro-regime fighters were killed Sunday in attacks mounted by jihadist groups near Idlib province, in the deadliest day in six months for loyalist forces, a monitor said. Twenty-seven fighters were killed in two attacks by Ansar al-Tawhid jihadists, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. "Five jihadists were also killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based monitoring group. Ansar al-Tawhid has ties to the larger Hurras al-Deen group, which is also active in the area of northwest Syria. Both are considered semi-officials franchises of Al-Qaeda in Syria. The foreign ministry said Syria "will not allow terrorists and those who are behind them to carry on with their attacks against innocent civilians and the armed forces".

The area of Idlib and small parts of the adjacent provinces of Hama and Aleppo are mostly controlled by the rival Hayat Tahrir al-Sham organisation.

HTS is led by fighters who formerly belonged to Al-Qaeda's ex-affiliate in Syria.

The attacks by Ansar al-Tawhid were carried out against regime positions in Masasna, a village in Hama province, the Observatory said.

A military source quoted by state news agency SANA confirmed soldiers had been killed and wounded in the attacks on their positions near Idlib province.

Earlier, several Islamic State group jihadists and dozens of civilians, including foreigners, quit the last IS-held pocket in eastern Syria, US-backed forces said. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the Syrian Democratic Forces have already retaken most of the village. A convoy of trucks entered Baghouz to transfer jihadists and their relatives out to SDF-held territory, said SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin. IS, which in 2014 declared a cross-border "caliphate" straddling Syria and Iraq, has been expelled from all the land it held except for a patch of Baghouz village.



US President Donald Trump surprised the world and his country as well when he suddenly announced that the US is pulling out its troops from Syria. "In Syria, Erdogan said he wants to knock out ISIS, whatever's left, the remnants of ISIS. And Saudi Arabia just came out and said they are going to pay for some economic development. Which is great, that means we don't have to pay. We are spread out all over the world. We are in countries most people haven't even heard about. Frankly, it's ridiculous," Trump added.

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New Delhi:

Amid strain ties between Indian and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, the Iranian government and the countrys armed forces have threatened to act against Pakistani terror groups since the country cannot act against them.

Issuing a stern warning to the Pakistani government and its military establishment, General Qassem Soleimani, the all-powerful commander of the IRGC Quds Force said, "I have this question for the Pakistani government - where are you heading to? You have caused unrest along borders with all your neighbours and do you have any other neighbour left that you want to stir insecurity for".

"Are you, who have atomic bombs, unable to destroy a terrorist group with several hundred members in the region?" Gen Soleimani asked, adding that Pakistan should not test Irans resolve.

Even the top aide of Irans supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi came out with all his guns blazing at Pakistan, saying "These criminal outlaws were from one of the tribes of Balochistan who had been trained on suicide operations in the neighbouring country, and the neighbouring country and the ISI should account to the Iranian government and nation and the IRGC for how they have crossed the borders of that country and why this neighbouring country has turned into a safe haven and a place for training and dispatch of these infidel terrorist grouplets (to Iran)".

Ali Jafari, commander of the IRGC said, "Pakistan should know that it should pay the cost for the Pakistani intelligence organisations support for Jeish al-Zolm (as Jaish al-Adl is called in Iran) from now on and this price will no doubt be very heavy for them". "Undoubtedly, the Pakistani security organisation knows the hideout of the grouplets but it has kept mum," he added.

Rahmatullah Nabil, former chief of Afghanistan intelligence agency and a contender in the upcoming presidential elections, said "Pakistan has been using terrorism as a tool and tactic, Nabil was quoted as saying to an interviewer. India should have done this (Balakot strikes) much earlier".

"I hope Iran will also take action against Jaish al-Adl. Because if the US leaves the region  and we hope they leave behind a good legacy  but if they simply withdraw, that will give a sense of victory to all terrorist networks not just in the region but on the other side as well," Nabil was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, India and Iran are likely to hold talks during the next round of foreign office consultations to formulate strategies about their counter-terrorism cooperation. Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale was also scheduled to travel to Iran over the weekend but the trip was postponed in the wake of Indo-Pak tension across LoC.

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New Delhi:

Amid speculation that Jaish-e-Muhammed chief Masood Azhar may have been killed in the air strike by Indian Air Force (IAF) on Balakot  which was denied by Jaish  reports are coming that the Pakistani Army has shifted him to a Jaish camp in Goth Ganni in Bahawalpur. Reports also suggest that he was shifted from Rawalpindi base hospital to Jaish camp at around 7.30pm on Sunday, March 3.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan government has reportedly decided to launch a crackdown against Jaish while a media report said that Islamabad may even withdraw its opposition to the move to list him as global terrorist in the UN Security Council.

"The government has decided in principle to launch crackdown on the leadership of the Jaish (Azhar)," the source told PTI. He said the action against JeM in the country is "expected any time soon".

"In order to de-escalate the tensions between India and Pakistan, the Imran Khan government has planned action against the JeM," the source said. According to a media report, a security official hinted that Pakistan may withdraw its opposition to the listing of JeM chief as global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

The 50-year-old Azhar, who was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike.

Meanwhile, Intelligence agencies in New Delhi were trying to ascertain reports on the social media about the death of Azhar in Pakistan. The Indian officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.

Jaish terror group's Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was targeted by the IAF in an air strike last week, following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The Indian government has claimed that it achieved a spectacular success by destroying the facility.

With Agency Inputs

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New Delhi:

Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation have not been banned by Pakistan despite its announcement a fortnight ago and the two organisations continue to be only in the list of groups under watch. According to the website of the Pakistan government's National Counter Terrorism Authority (NCTA), which was updated on Monday, Jamat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation (FIF) are organisations under watch by Ministry of Interior under section 11-D-(1), Schedule-II of the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.

The NCTA website says the notification regarding JuD and FIF putting them under the list of organisation under watch was issued on February 21. However, before that the website had said that both JuD and FIF were placed on the watch list in January 2017.

On February 21, Pakistan government had announced that it had banned the JuD and FIF, amid intense global pressure to rein in the militant groups following the February 14 Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

"This implies that Pakistan has lied on the ban on Jud and FIF. In fact, it has just altered the date of the watch list placement to fool the world," a senior security official said.

The Pakistan government on Monday also put out another order saying it has frozen assets of all UN designated organisations like JuD, FIF.

However, this is nothing but continuation of a decade-old fraud since both the organisations were put in the Schedule-II of the Pakistan's Anti Terrorism Act, 1997, another official said.

Even the Pakistan Supreme Court and the Lahore High Court had rejected any move of freezing of JuD assets in 2018 because of putting it in Schedule-II as none of its assets can be frozen under the Anti Terrorism Act, the official said.

A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry had said on February 21 that the decision to ban these two groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson had said in a statement.

"It was further decided that Jamat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation be notified as proscribed organizations by the Ministry of Interior," he added.

According to officials, JuD's network includes 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance service. The two groups have about 50,000 volunteers and hundreds of other paid workers.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

The US Department of the Treasury has designated its chief Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

Saeed was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. He was released from house arrest in Pakistan in November 2017.

The NCTA has so far declared 69 terrorist organisations as banned and a sizeable number of these organisations are based in Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The NCTA has has turned a blind eye to major militant groups such as the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen and the Al Badr operating in Jammu and Kashmir.

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New Delhi:

The Pakistani authorities have shut down the air space till March 5. On Monday, the authorities had said that Pakistan has fully reopened its airspace, days after it closed its skies to all air travel, leaving thousands stranded worldwide as tensions with nuclear arch-rival India soared.

The decision to close the airspace came last Wednesday after a rare aerial dogfight between India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir ignited fears of all-out conflict, with world powers rushing to urge restraint.

Earlier today, IAF chief B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the death toll in the Balakot strike, saying it was for the government to provide details on the number of terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who was captured by Pakistan on February 27 and released on March 1, would fly a fighter jet if he was fit, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference in his first comments since the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Air Force, he said, is not in a position to clarify many people were inside. "We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," he said.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

"We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise." Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement."

India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed. "Obviously, I think they have lost an F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us," he added.

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Washington:

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional questioning last week of his former lawyer may have contributed to the failure of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Uneven as his national security advisor claimed the Hanoi meeting was a success. A high-stakes second summit to strike a disarmament deal with Kim broke up in disarray in Vietnam Thursday, with Trump saying: Sometimes you have to walk and this was just one of those times. The summit took place at the same time a Democrat-led congressional committee was grilling Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, who labelled his ex-boss a racist, conman, and cheat.

On Sunday, Trump said the hearing may have contributed to the walk. For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk, he tweeted.

Never done when a president is overseas. Shame! Still, US National Security Advisor John Bolton told CBSs Face the Nation Sunday that the summit should be seen as a success, defined as the president protecting and advancing American national interests.

He said the issue was whether North Korea would accept what the president called the big dealdenuclearizing completelyor something less, which was unacceptable to us. So the president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I dont view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected, Bolton added.

The summits collapse followed the leaders historic meeting in Singapore that produced only a vague commitment from Kim to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

According to senior US officials, in the week leading up to the Hanoi summit, the North Koreans had demanded the lifting of effectively all UN Security Council economic sanctions imposed on Pyongyang since March 2016.

In return, Pyongyang was offering only to close part of the Yongbyon complex, a sprawling site covering multiple facilitiesand the North is believed to have other uranium enrichment plants.

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, however, disputed the US account, saying Pyongyang offered to dismantle all nuclear production facilities in the Yongbyon area in exchange for partial sanctions relief.

Boltons evocation of progress was dismissed by leading Democrats, however, including House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who described the Hanoi meeting as a spectacular failure.

The president did give up a great deal, by going to that summit, by enhancing Kim Jong Uns prestige on the world stage, by giving up those military exercises in the last summit and getting nothing for it, Schiff told CBS.

This is, I think, the result of a president who is not prepared for these kinds of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and is essentially flying by the seat of its pants. Much of the criticism of the summit was sparked by Trumps remarks on the case of an American student tortured and left in a coma in North Korea.

Trump said he believed Kims claim that he did not know what happened to Otto Warmbier, who died at age 22 days after being sent back to the United States in 2017.

Bolton said Trump had been clear that Warmbiers death was barbaric and unacceptable, although Schiff countered that the presidents obsequious comments had compounded the summits failure.

Bolton was touring the Sunday political shows the morning after the US and South Korea announced an end to key annual large-scale military exercises. The maneuvers have been a perennial target of North Korean furycondemned by Pyongyang as provocative rehearsals for war.

Trump has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises andsince 2017s Singapore summitthe Washington and Seoul have scaled back or scrapped several joint exercises.

Opponents of scrapping the drills warn that it could affect the combat readiness of US and South Korean forces and hand the North a strategic advantage on the divided peninsula. Bolton sought to play down Saturdays announcement, however, saying the policy remained unchanged since Singapore.

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Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa yesterday called on the European Union to add Lebanese group Hizbollah to a list of terrorist organisations. Iran is exercising state terrorism, he said in an interview with the Dubai-based Sky News Arabia at the conclusion of a ministerial meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) in Abu Dhabi.

Many OIC states, including Bahrain, have suffered from terrorism backed by Iran, which supports terrorist organisation such as Hizbollah, he said. The top Bahraini diplomat went on to call on the EU and other world countries to classify Hizbollah as a terrorist group, following the British suit. On Thursday, Britains parliament voted to officially label Hizbollah as a terrorist group.

As of next Monday, membership in - or support for - the group will be considered a criminal offence in the UK, carrying sentences of up to ten years in prison. Both Hizbollah and Iran have denounced the British decision to classify the Lebanese group as a terrorist organisation.

The British governments decision means being a member of, or inviting support for, Hizbollah will be a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

Until now, the military wing of the Lebanon-based group has been outlawed in Britain, but not its political arm. The group maintains a formidable military force that rivals the Lebanese army.

It is also a powerful political force that takes participated in elections, has members in parliament and the government, and dominates the countrys politics. The US and others accuse the group of destabilising the region through its military intervention in Syria on the side of President Bashar Al Assads government. The British ban comes as the United States is increasing its pressure on Hizbollah, placing several sets of sanctions on the group and its regional backer, Iran.

Last week, the US ambassador to Lebanon described what she labelled as Hizbollahs growing role in the new Lebanese Cabinet as a threat to the countrys stability.
The Ministry of Housing has started receiving applications from citizens wishing to benefit from the new edition of Mazaya programme. Large numbers of people reported to the ministry headquarters to be updated about the social housing scheme and get informed about the new privileges and criteria. The Ministry of Housing alongside Kuwait Finance House-Bahrain have launched Mazaya programme  a social housing finance scheme  in collaboration with the private sector.

The ministry has received many queries ever since the newlook Mazaya programme was announced and its application activated on the 1st of March, said Undersecretary Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa. Under the new-look format, the maximum age of beneficiaries has been raised from 35 to 50 years, and the minimum and maximum salary of the beneficiary is set at between 500 and 1500 dinars.

New options have also been added to the programme, regarding the financing of construction and the purchase of housing land plot. These features and additions come within the framework of continuous development of the programme launched by the ministry in 2013, said Undersecretary Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, stressing the proposals and requests of citizens to increase the maximum age to benefit from the programme and diversification of funding options.
An Asian man arrested at Bahrain International Airport while attempting to smuggle in more than 600 grammes of narcotic pills by hiding in his undergarments, has been sentenced. The man was sentenced yesterday by the First High Criminal Court to five years of imprisonment, to pay a fine of BD3,000 and to be deported after completing his sentence. The details of the case showed that the mans suspicious behaviour led a Customs Department officer to carry out a frisk on the passenger.

In the X-Ray examination of his luggage, the officer noticed medical pills hidden in cigarette packets and the defendants underwear. A total of 634.65 grammes of narcotic pills known as Ya Ba was found stashed in different places of the mans luggage, including his socks and clothes. In the interrogation, the defendant confessed that he had received the narcotics from another passenger on the same flight, which stopped in Kuwait before flying to Bahrain. He claimed that he accepted an amount of BD500 from the alleged other passenger for smuggling the pills into Bahrain.

However, the defendant didnt provide any further details on the identity of the alleged passenger. Additionally, his urine examination showed that he had abused the same substance that was seized from him. The Public Prosecution accused the defendant of attempting to smuggle narcotics with the intention of selling it in Bahrain, in addition to drugs possession and abuse. The court issued its verdict yesterday and ordered to confiscate the detected substance.
Arab solidarity is the only solution to tackle threats faced by the region, said Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, who led Bahrains delegation at the 36th session of the Arab Interior Ministers Council in Tunisia. The meeting was held under the patronage of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi and was chaired by honorary President of the council Saudi Interior Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif Al Saud. General Shaikh Rashid said that Arab states should take joint stances against foreign inference in the internal security, especially from the part of Iran.

The disregard for the sovereignty and national identity of the Arab states has prompted the Iranian leaders to talk about Irans great Persian borders on various occasions. This is a violation of the sovereignty of its neighbouring countries, including the Arab and Islamic states. We are facing many security challenges, including the misuse of the communication technology that becomes an issue in the security scenario and a security burden for all countries without exception.

The technology is exploited effectively by terrorist groups and this has helped them to undertake terrorist operations in developed areas and cities. This calls for coordination among all countries so as to limit the exploitation of technology by terrorist groups and unification of procedures between communication and information technology authorities to draft appropriate legislation that meets the rapid development in the communication sector. The Interior Minister also highlighted the successful implementation of Maan Programme at Bahrain schools.

The programme aims to educate students of different levels to protect themselves against addiction through avoiding drugs, and to improve their awareness about the risks posed by narcotics and their harmful psychological and physical effects, he said. On the sidelines of the session, the Interior Minister met his Saudi counterpart and praised the strong ties between the two brotherly countries under the leaderships of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

He also appreciated Saudi Arabias honourable role in backing the security co-operation between the two countries. The two leaders also discussed security coordination and issues of common interest.
Fewer babies were born in China last year than in 2017, and already fewer had been born in 2017 than in 2016. There were 15.23 million new births in 2018, down by more than 11 per cent from the year before. The authorities had predicted that easing and then abolishing the one-child policy in the mid-2010s would trigger a baby boom; its been more like a baby bust. No, these figures dont mean that Chinas population itself has started to decline. But they do mean that the population overall is ageing, and fast. And they mean that the Chinese government can no longer manipulate fertility with blunt pro-natal policies; the reasons for the drop run too deep. Instead of futile, retrograde statist intervention in peoples reproductive choices, the authorities should undertake broad economic and social reforms to address the deep causes of the decline while mitigating the burdens of its worst effects. Fertility in China started dropping, and rapidly, in the late 1960s  long before 1980, the year the government officially put the one-child policy in place. As with other countries, the reasons included improved survival for infants and children, and womens increased participation in the labour force. And the factors that are driving down fertility today, such as mass urbanisation, greater wealth and more choices for women, are here to stay. Several decades of internal migration have brought half a billion people into the cities. Six out of 10 Chinese now live in urban areas, compared with 2 in 10 four decades ago. In 1990, only 3pc of college-age Chinese attended college; in 2015, the number was more than 40pc for men and 45pc for women. Today, Chinese women  armed with new knowledge, living independently in vibrant cities and determined to pursue their own goals  are less likely than previous generations to let their personal and reproductive decisions be influenced by pressure from the state or their families. In 1990, virtually every woman in China was married by the age of 30, according to official census data. In 2015, 1 in 10 women had not married by 30; in Shanghai, it was 1 in 5. Low fertility has its benefits. Fewer children probably means that more attention is paid to them, including in the form of more investment in education. Chinas population may be older overall, but it also is wealthier, a fact that has brought new economic opportunities, such as more health care related products and services, and greater spending on leisure. The declining size of the work force and rising labour costs together drive up demand for labor-saving technologies, from automation to artificial intelligence. But fertility in China has dropped even as life expectancy has increased, and that combination has translated into the populations ageing overall  which, in turn, has meant an increasing economic burden on working-age people. Since 2010, the number of Chinese people between the ages of 20 and 24, for example, dropped by about 30pc (from more than 127 million to about 90 million), even as the number of people ages 60 and above increased by almost 39pc (from 180 million to nearly 250 million). Based on our analysis of official statistics and other population data, we estimate that by 2030 the 20to-24 age group will shrink by another 20pc (to around 73 million), while the 60- plus category will grow by 56pc (and reach 390 million). By then, Chinese people 60 and older will account for more than one-quarter of the total population. These changing demographics create major political tests for Chinas leaders, present and future. One is how to maintain growth as the population keeps ageing and the workforces relative size keeps shrinking. Another is how to deliver the economic and social benefits that Chinese people now expect from the state. Based on official Chinese statistics, we estimate that Chinas public spending on education, health care and pensions has increased from 6.3pc of gross domestic product in 2007 to 11.6pc of gross domestic product in 2016  faster than spending on military or domestic security programmes. Assuming that China simply maintains welfare benefits at current levels, the populations ageing could push up public spending on education, health care and pensions from 10pc today to 17pc of Chinas gross domestic product by 2035, and then 23pc by 2050  thats the share of gross domestic product for all government spending today. Should China increase welfare benefits in line with high-income countries  a stated aspiration of the Chinese leadership  they could take up to 32pc of the gross domestic product by 2050. Unless the Chinese government can increase tax revenues, it will be left with little to spend on other stated priorities, like its One Belt, One Road initiative or military expansion. Moreover, the results of greater expenditures have been uneven so far. Spending on education heavily favours the urban elites. Reimbursement rates for health care vary widely according to ones social status. The average pension payment is less than $10 per month for a rural elderly person but nearly $500 dollars for a retired civil servant. A scare last summer over delayed payments in one rust-belt province was a fresh warning that Chinas pension system, which is organised by both region and employment sector, is too fragmented to be reliable and struggling to keep up with the populations ageing. Education and health care, two sectors over which the government has tremendous control, are among the most inefficient in China. Chinas educational system is hyper-competitive, yet it is not turning out the most creative or productive workers. Education also is very expensive, which may dissuade parents from having children. So, too, with high housing costs. The Chinese government urgently needs to address these mounting demographic pressures with systemic reforms. It must provide adequate child care and equal access to public education, and ensure quality in health care. It should postpone the retirement age (currently 55 for women and 60 for men) and nationalise pension standards. More broadly, it needs to promote social equality, especially gender equality, and a work-life balance. Two generations of Chinese, many of them raised as only-children, have experienced Chinas prosperity, and if their parents and grandparents hoped that the state could provide food and shelter, they now expect safe medicine, clean air, adequate health care and decent pensions. The Chinese leaderships political legitimacy is on the line. For decades, China mortgaged its population for the sake of economic growth. Its payback time.
Rescuers prepared Monday to tear through the rubble of mobile homes and houses in search of survivors of a powerful tornado that rampaged through southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people.



The trail of destruction in rural Lee County was at least a half-mile wide and overwhelmed the county coroner's office, forcing it to call in help from the state.

The devastation is incredible, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors, but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, the sheriff said. Rescuers planned to resume the search at daylight Monday.

The Sunday tornado, which had winds that appeared to be around 160 mph or greater, was part of a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida. The National Weather Service rated the massive tornado as an EF-4 in its preliminary report.

Levi Baker, who lives near the hard-hit area in Alabama, took a chain saw to help clear a path for ambulances and other first-responder vehicles. He said he saw bodies of dead people and dead animals.

He said some houses were demolished and trees were uprooted or snapped in half. One house was swept off its foundation and was sitting in the middle of the road.



It was just destruction, Baker said. There were mobile homes gone. Frames on the other side of the road.

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard reducing homes to slabs.

Scott Fillmer was at home when the storm hit in Lee County.



I looked out the window and it was nothing but black, but you could hear that freight train noise, Fillmer said.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating caused the destruction in Alabama. Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph.

After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriffs vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places.

In a tweet late Sunday, President Donald Trump said: To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!



Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to help search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard. At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area.

At the R&D Grocery on Monday morning in Beauregard, residents were constantly asking each other if they were OK.

Im still thanking God Im among the living, said John Jones, who has lived in Beauregard for most of his life.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties other than Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

News footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.

The last check I had was between six and eight injuries, Erenheim said in a phone interview. From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken.

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities in southwest Georgia were searching door-to-door in darkened neighborhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 33 miles north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon. A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
Months after a woman was said to have been killed while giving money to a panhandler in Baltimore, police have arrested her husband and his daughter.

Police announced Sunday the arrests of Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria Smith, in the Dec. 1, 2018, killing of Jacquelyn Smith. They are charged with first-degree murder.

Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said Keith Smith, 52, of Aberdeen, and Valeria Smith, 28, of Baltimore, were arrested Sunday morning in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexico border.

"During the course of our investigation, we have developed evidence that Mr. Smith was leaving Maryland, so we made appropriate national notifications, and the Texas State Police arrested him this morning (Sunday)," Harrison said. "All of our investigators for both Keith and Valeria Smith, outlining the evidence in this case to a judge, who reviewed and signed the warrants for first-degree murder."

Harrison would not comment on a motive, saying that is a "trial matter."

"The information and the evidence points to it was not a panhandler," Harrison said. "People took advantage of Baltimore."

At the time of her killing, investigators said Jacquelyn Smith, 54, was riding in a car on Valley Street when she noticed a woman holding a sign that read "please help me feed my baby" and carrying what appeared to be a baby.

When Jacquelyn Smith gave the woman money, investigators said a man reached into the car, grabbed Jacquelyn Smith's wallet, stabbed her and ran away. She died later at a hospital.

Police said both Keith Smith and Valeria Smith were with Jacquelyn Smith the night she was killed and told police that a panhandler stabbed her to death.

Reached by phone, the mother of Jacquelyn Smith told WBAL-TV that she is "overjoyed" to hear of the arrests in the case. Asked if she thought the husband might allegedly be involved, she said, "Oh yes...from the beginning. Jacquelyn was cautious, not stupid."
Termen Extins: Terre des hommes Moldova este in cautarea unui /unei consultant/e sau a unei echipe de consultanti, care va elabora un program de instruire pentru adolescenti in domeniul dezvoltarii competentei digitale
contributed

MILFORD  A Bridgeport woman attempted to use a stun gun on a department store employee in Milford Friday before being arrested on shoplifting charges, police said.

Police charged Tamara Kisic, 39, of Harriet Street, with third-degree robbery, third-degree assault, sixth-degree larceny and second-degree breach of peace. She is being held on $7,500 bond pending her appearance in Milford Superior Court.
contributed

MILFORD  A Brooklyn, N.Y., man tried to use a fraudulent credit card to buy several items at a Connecticut Post Mall beauty saloon and supply store, police said.

Police arrested Gabriel Morris, 23, of Brooklyn, just before 5 p.m. March 2 on charges of third-degree identity theft, illegal use of a credit card, credit card theft and interfering with a police officer. He is being held on $10,000 bond pending an appearance in Milford Superior Court.
NEW HAVEN  Officer Jason Santiago recently sued the city of New Haven, alleging it has failed to appropriately pay out insurance benefits after he was injured in a crash in November 2016.

According to the complaint filed in the case, a police cruiser driven by Santiago was struck on the side by an uninsured, unidentified driver traveling at a high rate of speed at the intersection of Blatchley Avenue and Wolcott Street in the early morning on Nov. 22, 2016.

The significant impact and force of the collision caused Officer Santiagos police cruiser to spin sideways striking both a parked car and then a utility pole, said attorney Michael J. Walsh, representing Santiago in the matter. The police cruiser then jumped the curb and traveled over the sidewalk and into the front yard of a private home, striking a vehicle parked in the driveway ... before coming to rest.

Santiago checked on his partner, then left the vehicle in an effort to apprehend the other driver, who fled the scene, according to the complaint. Neither Santiago nor responding officers could find the driver.

Santiago suffered injuries in the accident, including a traumatic head injury, that have impaired his ability to pursue and enjoy lifes usual activities, according to the complaint.

The other driver was at fault for the crash, Santiago alleges in the complaint. He argues that the city of New Haven should pay out monetary benefits and other damages under its policy for uninsured drivers, but it has not responded to his requests.

As a police officer for the City of New Haven, who was injured by the negligent acts and/or omissions of an unidentified, uninsured motorist in the course of his employment while operating a police vehicle, the plaintiff is entitled to uninsured motorist benefits under the City of New Havens self-insurance policy, Walsh said in the complaint.

The city has not yet filed a response to the claims in Santiagos suit, according to judicial records.

Attorneys with the Corporation Counsels office on Thursday requested that its time to respond be extended to April 30.

Santiago currently is on active duty with the New Haven police, according to the department.

Officials in the office of the Corporation Counsel referred a request for comment to Laurence Grotheer, the citys director of communications. He declined to comment on the suit Monday.

(T)he policy and practice of the City of New Haven is to withhold comment on matters involving pending litigation, Grotheer said in an email.

Santiago and Walsh did not respond to requests for comment.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
The following are recent arrests released by the New Haven Police Department on Mar. 4, 2019.

Mar. 1

A 18-year-old Townsend Avenue man was charged with sale of a controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance.

A 19-year-old Farnham Avenue man was charged with possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, and third-degree criminal trespassing.

A 18-year-old East Hartford man was charged with possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, and third-degree criminal trespassing.

A 18-year-old East Hartford man was charged with possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, and third-degree criminal trespassing.

A 18-year-old Windsor man was charged with possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, and third-degree criminal trespassing.

A 32-year-old Greenwood Avenue man was charged with possession of narcotics and illegally operating a motor vehicle under suspension.

A 60-year-old Willard Street man was charged with possession of narcotics, conspiracy to commit a crime, disorderly conduct, third-degree burglary, and second-degree criminal trespassing.

Mar. 2

A 34-year-old East Haven man was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics, two counts of possession with the intent to sell, sale of certain illegal drugs, possession of a controlled substance, and operating a motor vehicle without a license.

A 42-year-old Kossuth Avenue woman was charged with three counts of illegal possession of narcotics.

A 30-year-old Hamden man was charged with two counts of possession of narcotics, possession with the intent to sell, and use of drug paraphernalia.

A 51-year-old Ella T. Grasso Boulevard man was charged with third-degree assault, violating a standing criminal restraining order, and second-degree breach of peace.

Mar. 3

A 31-year-old Hamden man was charged with first-degree criminal trespassing, first-degree threatening, interfering with an officer, third-degree criminal mischief, and disorderly conduct.

A 37-year-old Sheffield Avenue man was charged with third-degree assault, risk of injury to a child, interfering with an emergency call, second-degree unlawful restraint, and second-degree breach of peace.

A 35-year-old Pine Street woman was charged with third-degree assault and violation of probation.

A 45-year-old Carmel Street man was charged with illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm, stealing a firearm, illegally carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm, conspiracy to commit a crime, first-degree reckless endangerment, and possession of less than 0.5oz of cannabis.

A 40-year-old Davis Street man was charged with illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm, stealing a firearm, illegally carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm, and conspiracy to commit a crime.

A 41-year-old Howe Street man was charged with illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm, stealing a firearm, illegally carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm, conspiracy to commit a crime, first-degree reckless endangerment, and possession of less than 0.5oz of cannabis.

A 28-year-old Truman Street man was charged with criminal impersonation, evading responsibility - death/serious injury, improper parking, interfering with an officer, failure to carry registration, operating a motor vehicle without a license, and unsafe backing.

As of January 2019, Hearst Connecticut Media does not include names in online police blotters.
Haley Charbonneau doesn't like to plan too many days in advance. A four-year battle against a rare form of bone cancer taught the Saginaw Valley State University senior that each day is best lived one at a time.

Still, the Bay City woman a few weeks ago was quick to accept an invitation to speak to the cancer survivors, caretakers and supporters that gathered at SVSU's annual Relay For Life event Friday, Feb. 8.

"I couldn't miss it," Charbonneau said of the fundraiser that supports cancer research via the American Cancer Society. "There's a real sense of community and support that happens at Relay For Life, and I want to be there for that."

The event raised about $27,000, thanks to the contributions of about 1,000 people, organizers say.

Sabrina Bellante, president of the SVSU chapter of Colleges Against Cancer, said her motivation for supporting Relay For Life became especially personal after her uncle, Edward "Bob" Pressel, died of brain cancer in October 2018.

"Brain cancer is such a tough cancer to come back from," she said. "For me, I want to raise money to find some kind of research to help people diagnosed with brain cancer."

The exercise science major from Clinton Township said her uncle's fight to stay alive continues to motivate her to help others suffering from cancer. He survived more than a year beyond an initial six- to eight-month life expectancy diagnosis from doctors.

"He made a huge impact on my life," she said.

Bellante said she also is inspired by cancer survivors such as Charbonneau, who served as the "survivor speaker" at this year's fundraiser.

Charbonneau told Relay For Life attendees how, two days after her 18th birthday in 2012, doctors discovered a tumor growing on her left tibia. A later diagnosis revealed it was caused by a rare form of bone cancer known as adamantinoma, which makes up less than 1 percent of all bone cancer diagnoses.

"My doctor had only seen one other case of it in her 25 years of practice," Charbonneau said. "Chemo and radiation don't work on it."

Doctors performed six surgeries on Charbonneau from 2012-16, until eventually her entire left tibia was replaced with cadaver bones reinforced by metal plates and rods.

Her long fight against cancer began shortly after she first arrived at SVSU as a communication major. There were times when she could not walk without the aid of wheelchairs, canes or walking boots, yet she remained enrolled at the university in pursuit of her education. Now she is on course to walk alongside fellow graduating classmates during SVSU's commencement ceremonies in December 2019.

"Cancer took away a lot of my independence when it first happened," she said. "I had friends who were enjoying a carefree first year of college while I was loading up the car to travel to Royal Oak for medical appointments. Fortunately, I had a great support system of friends and family who helped me along the way."

This year represents her third since doctors last detected any trace of the cancer.

"I continue to be thankful just to be here," she said. "That's what I want to say on Friday: There was a point in time when I wasn't sure if I would have another day. You never know how short life is, so I now appreciate every day that I'm given."

The annual event was coordinated by the SVSU chapter of Colleges Against Cancer. SVSU student Alyssa Zettle, an English education major from Bay City, is a member of the group.
Newsfrom Japan

Seoul, March 4 (Jiji Press)--Lawyers for South Korean plaintiffs in wartime labor lawsuits said Monday that they will soon start procedures to seize South Korean assets of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. <7011>, including the Japanese company's trademarks and patents.

The move came after South Korea's Supreme Court on Nov. 29 last year rejected Mitsubishi Heavy's appeal on two lawsuits involving wartime labor and finalized earlier orders for the company to pay compensation.

The plaintiffs included those who claimed that they were forced to work for the company during World War II. The Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule at that time.

In a statement, the lawyers criticized Mitsubishi Heavy for failing to respond to their requests for negotiations by February, which was set as a deadline by the plaintiffs' side, saying that the company let go of a chance to build trust and reconcile.

They declared that there was no other way.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
A police union in Bergen County has withdrawn plans to raise money by raffling off two firearms including an AR-15 rifle, which has been the weapon used by multiple mass shooters.

We understand the gravity of these weapons and the means to which theyve been used, Capt. Mustafa Rabboh, a spokesman for PBA Local 309, said in a statement. We sincerely apologize to anyone we may have offended as a result of this raffle.

The union holds raffles to raise money for several organizations. Raffle tickets cost $10 each and prizes consisted of a 55-inch television, a KEL-Tec KSG pump-action shotgun and the M&P Sport 11, which is an AR-15.

The TV was to be handed to the winner of the raffle, while the winner of the guns was to receive a voucher to take to a store, Rabboh said.

The winner of the weapons was obligated to clear a thorough background check in order to receive them, the statement said. The weapons are in the possession of the gun store and at no time were they going to be turned over to the winner by any member of the PBA.

Last year, after a gunman killed 17 students at a Parkland, Florida high school, the LA Times reported that AR-15 rifles had been used in seven of 10 recent mass murders across the nation.

In January, a Salem County man was arrested after police said he opened fire with an AR-15, shooting up three homes and a parked car. Several AR-15s were found at the scene of the 2017 Las Vegas mass murder in which 58 people at an outdoor concert were killed.

On Friday, a reporter from NorthJersey.com asked the president of the Bergenfield police union why they were raffling firearms. Detective Dave Totora said of the AR-15 is a popular gun, though it was the first time the union had offered guns raffle prizes.

The raffle drew criticism from the New Jersey chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. Several hours after the NorthJersey.com story appeared online, the union released its statement pulling the prizes.

After consultation with police administration, we believe it to be in the best interest of the public, Bergenfield Police Department and members of PBA Local 309, to withdraw the raffles for the weapons, Rabboh said.

All money collected for the raffles will be refunded, he added. Although the money raised was to benefit scholarships and programs for our youth, the safety and respect we share with our community far outweighs the means to raise these funds.

Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyAttrino. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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If you come across videos of people flinging their sneakers into the air today, they probably own a pair of Vans ... or five.

In fact, you might even call this latest social media swarm the Vans Challenge.

What, exactly, is the point of this challenge? To see if Vans land right-side up. Thats it. Thats the challenge.

Because why do your taxes, shovel snow or binge your favorite show when you could just film your own shoe experiment? In fact, by 2 a.m. on Monday, Vans has surpassed the controversial HBO documentary Leaving Neverland in national and global Twitter trends.

On Saturday and Sunday, a few tweets about the thick-soled skate shoes really kicked things off.

Did you know it doesnt matter how you throw your vans they will land facing up, @Ibelievthehype tweeted on Saturday alongside a short clip of a pair of sneakers doing just that.

As of early Monday morning, the tweet had drawn 37,000 retweets and 101,000 likes.

I learned today that no matter how you throw your vans they always land right side up... @BryceMckenney1 similarly tweeted on Sunday afternoon, illustrating his findings with a video of not one but seven pairs of Vans landing laces up (or face up, for the laceless variety). Sure, the shoes might have wobbled a bit before coming to rest on the rubber side, but it worked for every single pair.

I learned today that no matter how you throw your vans they always land right side up... pic.twitter.com/1um0UXpbxW  Bryce (@BryceMckenney1) March 3, 2019

Before long, that tweet had claimed 70,000 likes. Soon, more ringing endorsements spread across Twitter as ever more rubber soles hit the floor with their distinct *slap* sound.

All these intrepid sneaker scientists had to do was chuck a pair of Vans skyward  or just across the room  to see what would happen.

Some tried twice or three times, with various types of throws. You know, just to make sure. Others tried with multiple pairs in one throw.

I saw a thread that said vans will always land facing up when you throw them and its true pic.twitter.com/gGnHQLzbK5  jordan (@jordantakesoff) March 4, 2019

Vans always land upright pic.twitter.com/bDK5nXL7yY  Nick Kearns (@n_kearns17) March 4, 2019

so i had to test out if that vans tweet about them always landing upright was true... pic.twitter.com/QJ9kSC2e6i   (@cheolful) March 4, 2019

So apparently Vans always land on their feet  pic.twitter.com/bf6PGfsTe0   (@PJLAFLAME) March 4, 2019

I did the vans thing lol my van fricken twirled before landing! pic.twitter.com/z926445lxT  Iris  (@iris_adi) March 4, 2019

Had to see if the #vans thing was real. pic.twitter.com/raZg6Ep3xH  austin (@_AustinBosquez) March 4, 2019

In here flipping my Vans and damn its true! They always land upright! pic.twitter.com/KraKDmcItr  Nicole Michalik (@NicoleisNik) March 4, 2019

Some took the experiment even further by trying other brands of sneakers.

Even other types of shoes.

twitter: no matter how you throw vans they always land right side up



everyone at home: pic.twitter.com/3EDk4R2cA8  steph (@stephquintero_) March 4, 2019

But not everyone was able to squeal with delight as their soles hit the floor. Many disproved the initial Vans claim with a single toss of their own pair.

Even when they were able to prove the hypothesis 21 of 26 times, five pesky outliers threatened to unravel the whole exercise.

Saw a thread on here that said no matter how you throw your Vans they will land upright. I can confirm  pic.twitter.com/7mQhbQawtP  Trevor Norris (@trevor_norris0) March 4, 2019

VANS THEORY IS A LIE  pic.twitter.com/bqYOEB85vC    (@ariqna_haaale) March 4, 2019

mayhaps my vans are broken? pic.twitter.com/NK5aoh3yN1  zaira  (@corrales_zaira) March 4, 2019

somebody said no matter how you throw your vans they always land straight up so i decided to try it pic.twitter.com/KiTYkbsd0m  the unholy trinity (@trinity_jolie) March 4, 2019

Others had their own take on this budding challenge.

So Im seeing this #vans thingy trending so I took my girls pair and I think I did the challenge the right way #vans pic.twitter.com/5pKfyuBjKF  3stripeRico (@RickyyCrackzz) March 4, 2019

if your vans dont land facing up...theyre fake. sorry I dont make the rules  makk.. (@curlyhead_kayy) March 4, 2019

Everyone shocked that Vans always land right-side-up are seemingly forgetting that they are skate shoes, which are specifically designed with a particular weight imbalance to help you land as often as possible.



Like dude....... thats how shoes work. pic.twitter.com/JfJiSgZDcq  Sarah McGonagall (@sarahmcgbeauty) March 4, 2019

Saw on twitter that no matter what vans will always land upright. Explain this. pic.twitter.com/0ub45QOQzX  Davidlessthan3 (@DavidOrantes143) March 4, 2019

Whatever you think of this monumental query and the ensuing videos, the Vans question has indeed been asked well before March 2019. But the subject seems to have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity.

On Jan. 21, YouTube user Ella Noe posted this video with the title Vans always land.

A Feb. 14 YouTube video from Willa Johnson presents a slo-mo version of the same concept.

On Feb. 19, @JackHuddo shared a video compilation posted by an Instagram friend that illustrated the sneaker claim in effect across the globe.

And consider this Americas Funniest Home Videos entry, which the show posted to YouTube in 2017. The brand of sneaker is not clear, but either way, an incredible recovery.

Over at the Vans Twitter account, we didnt find any reference to this viral piece of internet (yet).

But maybe this psychedelic trinket helps to explain it:

Keep it comfy in the ComfyCush Era, designed to give your feet an experience like no other. Shop now at https://t.co/oAIkFfumwU or your nearest store. pic.twitter.com/x3DKGEQ309  Vans (@VANS_66) February 27, 2019

Have a tip? Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AmyKup or on Facebook.

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Q. How does the Homestead Rebate work with ones federal and state income taxes, both for itemized and standard deductions situations?

 Still working

A. Its not as straightforward as you might expect.

The Homestead Rebate is something the IRS would call an itemized deduction recovery, said Laurie Wolfe, a certified financial planner and certified public accountant with Lassus Wherley, a subsidiary of Peapack-Gladstone Bank, in New Providence.

Generally, if you received a benefit from the deduction of property taxes in one year and later receive a refund or rebate of those taxes, then the rebate is included in income, Wolfe said. If you did not itemize deductions in the year that the rebate pertains to, instead taking the standard deduction, then this does not apply to you. The rebate is not taxable.

Wolfe said the IRS issued guidance back in 2006 specifically to New Jersey residents, IRS News Release No: NJ-2006-03.

The guidance said that you could either claim the income on the Other Income line of the Form 1040, or alternatively, you could reduce the amount of your current year property tax deduction by that amount on the Schedule A.

In recent years however, New Jersey has provided the Homestead Rebate in the form of a credit against the property taxes due in May of the current year, Wolfe said. In this case, if you are itemizing, you simply add up your four quarterly payments and deduct the actual cash you paid out in the year.

For the 2018 tax year, however, things have changed.

Because of the new tax plan limiting the so-called SALT deduction, which includes state and local income and property taxes, you may not be able to deduct all of your property taxes. Youre up against a $10,000 limit per year, Wolfe said.

So how does this relate to your question? Wolfe said. If you received a rebate in the form of a credit to your property taxes, then I would follow what you have done in the past and simply add up your tax payments and use that number.

But, she said, a dilemma will occur when you receive a Homestead Rebate for the 2018 tax year.

Because the rebates are delayed for at least two years, lets assume you get the 2018 rebate in 2020. Is it taxable? How do you know what benefit, if any, you received for your property taxes in 2018 because these taxes were lumped with the state and local income tax and the total was limited to $10,000?

Lets say for example that your property taxes in 2018 are $10,000 and your state income taxes are $10,000, Wolfe said. Does this mean that you were able to deduct $5,000 of property taxes and $5,000 of state income taxes? Or is there some order in which these are deemed allowed  say property taxes come first, and then state and local taxes?

Right now, who knows. There is no guidance on the matter, Wolfe said.

New Jerseys deduction for property taxes is much easier.

Wolfe said your New Jersey deduction is the amount of property taxes assessed and paid for that year.

In other words, if you received a credit for a prior year you would add this back to the total payments you made to get back to your gross property taxes assessed for that year, Wolfe said. New Jersey does limit the 2018 property tax deduction to $15,000.

Email your questions to Ask@NJMoneyHelp.com.

Karin Price Mueller writes the Bamboozled column for NJ Advance Media and is the founder of NJMoneyHelp.com. Follow NJMoneyHelp on Twitter @NJMoneyHelp. Find NJMoneyHelp on Facebook. Sign up for NJMoneyHelp.coms weekly e-newsletter.
A 52-year-old man wanted for allegedly gunning down a man in Jersey City last week was arrested in Boston four days after the homicide, authorities said.

Victor Lopez of Jersey City was arrested Thursday night by members of the Boston Police Department after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection to the Feb. 24 death of Brandon Magwood, 35, Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez said.

Lopez, who was charged with murder and weapons offenses related to a handgun, is currently awaiting extradition from Massachusetts to Hudson County, Suarez said. A warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday, the prosecutor added.

On the morning of the fatal shooting, police responded to 410 Monmouth St., a three-story building near Third Street, just before 7:30 a.m. and found Magwood unresponsive. He was taken to RWJBarnabas Healths Jersey City Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The states Regional Medical Examiners Office determined the cause of death was a gunshot wound, Suarez said.

Authorities have not provided any details on what precipitated the deadly violence or whether the two men knew each other.

Its unclear why Lopez was in Boston at the time of his arrest.
Jersey City is disputing a police report that says cops were delayed responding to a report of a police officer getting assaulted recently because no one told police about a road closure near the incident.

The disagreement comes as the city and its police force are at odds over Mayor Steve Fulops decision to end a program that allowed cops to work off-duty jobs for extra cash. If a cop had been overseeing the road closure on Feb. 23, officers argue, police would have known about it.

The episode landed a rookie cop in the hospital. Authorities have accused a 37-year-old man of viciously attacking the officer on Glenwood Avenue, pinning him face-down on the ground and attempting to disarm him before a second police unit arrived on the scene.

The report from the second unit, obtained by The Jersey Journal, says back-up cops were delayed getting to the scene because we were never notified that Glenwood Avenue was closed at Kennedy Boulevard for some kind of utility work.

The responding units response was hindered until a flagman was able to open the road for them since signs and cones prevented them from entering the street, the report says.

Cops have been furious about the citys decision in January to allow companies to use flagmen instead of off-duty cops for traffic management and security for private companies. Fulop has argued he did so because the off-duty jobs program was at the center of a no-show jobs and bribery conspiracy involving 10 cops.

City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione said a police investigation found there is no indication that police vehicles were hindered due to the flagman working the street closure on Feb. 23. Officers were advised to use an alternate route by a sergeant who knew the road was closed, Wallace-Scalcione said.

The two local police unions have argued that the city is less safe without cops working off-duty jobs, which they say put more officers on the street at no cost to the city.

Hector Sanabria, the man accused of assaulting the officer, was hit last week with multiple charges, including aggravated assault.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
He was once one of New Jerseys most influential lawmakers in Washington.

Rep. Robert A. Roe  who died in 2014  was a high-ranking Democrat who ran twice for governor, was chairman of the House Public Works and Transportation Committee and brought in millions in funding for public works projects across the state.

And according to newly released records obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that muscle on Capitol Hill led to a never-disclosed federal corruption investigation in 1991 based on the claims of an unidentified informant that Roe was selling his office to steer a lucrative environmental cleanup contract in exchange for trips to the islands and other gifts.

The allegations werent true. The informant was lying. Roe was never accused of any wrongdoing.

But the never-before-seen FBI files, released through a Freedom of Information Act request, shows federal authorities devoted significant time and resources to target the powerful New Jersey politician  repeatedly citing that political power in internal memos  before concluding that Roe was actually the unwitting victim of scheme to take advantage of a friendship to obtain a $20 million contract to clean up a Superfund site in Gloucester County.

Undercover sting operations can lead to dramatic takedowns of corrupt public officials, but have also been controversial. Just a few years before the FBI opened its probe into Roe, the Abscam investigation in the late 1970s and early 1980s, loosely retold by Hollywood in American Hustle, ensnared seven members of Congress, including six in the House of Representatives and a veteran U.S. Senator from New Jersey, along with three Philadelphia councilmen and a number of high-level political operatives.

Such stings, however, have been criticized by some legal experts.

The danger of sting operations is that they can morph from a legitimate investigation into entrapment, said criminal defense attorney Joseph Hayden Jr., a former prosecutor who has raised concerns in the past about cooperating witnesses seeking to run up a conviction body count as a get-out-of-jail-free card for their own transgressions with the law.

Although he did not know the circumstances of the investigation involving Roe, Hayden recalled that the former congressman had an impeccable reputation, but had a big name.

Former Rep. Robert Roe speaking with contractors and union officials to discuss the state of construction on a new terminal at Newark Airport in 1999. SL

In the federal investigation of Roe, heavily redacted FBI records show that federal agents believed the popular congressman from Passaic County was attempting to use his office to influence the awarding of a federally funded contract involving the South Jersey Superfund project. One witness told undercover agents that he was closely associated with Congressman Roe and that he would make the necessary arrangements to schedule a meeting with the congressman to discuss the Superfund contract, according to an FBI internal report in July 1991.

In a melodramatic touch, a meeting with the congressman was to be arranged on a dark blue Bermuda Hinckley yawl anchored in a Maine marina, owned by a friend of Roe, the FBI report said. There were discussions of having an agent secretly survey the vessel, presumably to determine how to install surveillance equipment without detection. Whether the outing afloat ever came off was not disclosed.

The FBI files also contained clippings of stories from The Star-Ledger back in 1991, documenting Roes oversight of billions in federal funding.

A WARNING FROM THE BUREAU

Federal investigators acknowledged in the files that their investigation required caution because of its political nature. The FBI Directors office, in a memo to the bureaus special agent in charge in Newark, warned that undercover operations involving public officials are particularly sensitive as they have the potential, if not properly managed, of causing unnecessary harm to the reputations of public officials and/or losses to innocent third parties. Therefore, this UCO (undercover operation) must be closely supervised, and all parties involved should be aware of all policies and procedures relative to UCOs.

Still, the bureau authorized funding for the sting and money was transferred to the National Westminster Bank in Newark, with the stipulation that local agents obtain approval from Washington before engaging Roe in a meeting and prior to the payoff of any proposed bribe.

The amount of money authorized for the operation was redacted from the public files released by the FBI.

One of the released FBI memos on the investigation of Roe.

The hundreds of pages of file notes, many of the pages or paragraphs censored, gave little clue as to the progress of the investigation. There were meetings with witnesses secretly recorded in hotel rooms, talk of ground and aerial surveillance, wiretapped phone calls, and video recordings. But by August 1991, it seemed that paying a bribe was off the table, and agents in a final effort were proposing to directly set up Roe by telling him about the investigation and seeing what he did with that information.

The congressman would be advised that the FBI has received information that unknown subjects are using his name in an attempt to financially benefit themselves. NK (Newark) believes the second option could result in the congressmen placing a call to [name deleted] to either confront him or warn him of the FBIs investigation.

Whether that strategy was pursued was also not disclosed in the files that were released. But a hint of the problems in the investigation came within that memo, where it was noted that the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys office had already come to believe the cooperating witness in the case was lying.

A page from the heavily redacted files released by the FBI.

The files say little more about the investigation, but it not not make an impression on several former law enforcement officials who worked in the U.S. Attorneys office at the time of the sting operation. Most said they could not even remember the case. One, though, did recall the aftermath. While he would not speak for attribution, he said the cooperating witness who had implicated Roe had been lying from the start.

He was making stuff up, he said. We couldnt find that he was even in touch with the congressman.

A sit-down was later arranged with Roe to explain to him the circumstances of the investigation, according to the documents.

Sting type operations always require caution, said former federal prosecutor Elie Honig, who also headed up the New Jerseys Division of Criminal Justice.

Entrapment is a danger, he said, when agents are allowed to overpower the target  essentially convincing someone to commit a crime. Another, he added, is losing control of a sting. He pointed to the Fast and Furious scandal that grew out of a 2009 investigation launched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives which led to thousands of illegal gun sales, in an investigation that sought to track the sellers and purchasers believed to be connected to Mexican drug cartels. One of the guns was later traced to the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

However, stings involving elected officials pose special considerations, Honig observed.

Almost invariably you will be accused as a prosecutor of playing political games, he said.

ENDGAME

An August 1991 memorandum on the Roe case put a finale to it all.

The subject of the investigation was changed from Roe being the focus of an undercover operation, to naming him as a victim.

As a result of the undercover operation, it was determined that Congressman Roe was actually an unwitting victim whose friendship was being exploited by [name deleted], the file noted.

Three years later, a New York City man was indicted instead in connection with that investigation, charged in what was described at the time by the U.S. Attorneys office as an unsuccessful scheme to use a Maine mans friendship with Roe to obtain a $20 million contract to clean up a federal Superfund site in Bridgeport in Gloucester County.

The indictment said the two men at a recorded meeting discussed using Roe to rig the specs so they would be the only ones who could obtain the subcontract. Later, it said a suggestion was made that they offer Roe a trip to the islands on us or four seats to the best play in town or a consulting job.

Roe, said the U.S. Attorneys office in announcing the indictment, had rejected any suggestion that he became involved in the awarding of the contract. They said had fully cooperated with federal investigators.

By then, the Democrat was out of office. He had retired from Congress in 1992, at the height of his power.

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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By Karen Tumulty

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., speaks during a commemorative service Sunday, March 3, 2019, at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma, Ala. Several Democratic White House hopefuls are visiting one of America's seminal civil rights sites to pay homage to that legacy and highlight their own connections to the movement. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)AP

MANCHESTER, N.H. - In the most acrid and divisive political environment in recent memory, Cory Booker is gambling his presidential hopes on the unlikely proposition that it is still possible to summon people to grace.

Indeed, that is the word the Democratic senator from New Jersey uses more often than any other as he travels the early primary states.

"What's called me to run for president is because I think we need a revival of civic grace. We need to reignite a more courageous empathy," Booker told a recent Democratic gathering at a downtown arcade here, where his presentation was punctuated by eruptions of video games. "We need to understand that old African saying that if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together."

On the stump, Booker weaves a spellbinding argument with his call to unity and collective decency. He starts with how his own destiny was changed by a volunteer lawyer who helped his parents buy the home of their dreams at a time when New Jersey real estate agents steered African-Americans away from white neighborhoods. He touts his work with unlikely allies, such as conservative Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, with whom he advanced recent criminal-justice reforms.

His appeal to our better selves sets him apart in a combative Democratic field that now features nearly a dozen candidates and is growing by the week. Booker is not answering the populism of the right with an equally fierce version from the left.

And he stands in even sharper contrast from the utter lack of grace that has defined the presidency of the White House's current occupant.

"I think this campaign is an opportunity to be more than about an election, but trying to return our country to the ability to address persistent injustices that existed long before Donald Trump," Booker told me during an interview. "We had toxic water crises across our country that proliferated before Donald Trump. We had a criminal-justice system that was broken before Donald Trump, and low wages in this country as a percentage of GDP."

If the election becomes "all about what we hate, and what we're against, and we can't find a way to reunify our country or to reignite that quest for a more beloved community, then I think we lose an opportunity here," he added.

This antidote to cynicism is not the message some Democrats want to hear as they are looking for their champion to take on Trump and the Republicans.

"Maybe we should think about kicking them out first and loving them later," Wendy Thomas, a state representative from Merrimack, New Hampshire, told Booker.

It was not the first time Booker has heard that kind of skepticism. "I know that some people might think this messaging is a risk. I had a friend of mine this morning send me some social science data about how outrage is so much more motivating than a message of love. They literally sent me social science stuff," he told me. "But I do not believe you can campaign wrong and then hope to govern right."

Then again, virtue is a fragile platform for a politician, particularly one who made his way in the brutal world of big-city politics. Booker's rivals for the nomination will no doubt point to where they say his own record stands at odds with the values he embraces.

When Booker was mayor of crime-ridden Newark from 2006 to 2013, the police department there aggressively employed the "stop and frisk" policy that disproportionately subjects racial minorities to baseless searches. He worked with Betsy DeVos, the Trump education secretary reviled by the left, on school choice. And his political career benefited, as his city did, from his close ties to Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

Still, the real test for Booker will likely come when the country gets a chance to see the Democratic contenders side by side on the debate stage beginning in June. Once the candidates start throwing elbows, will his uplifting message shine by comparison, or will it disappear?

"I do believe that there is a large enough core of Americans - decent, kind and aspirational people - who are hungering for us to get back to work with dignity, the kind of work that produces better results for everyone," Booker said.

Grace, surely, is what the country needs right now. What is far less clear is whether that is what it wants.

Author Information:

Karen Tumulty is a Washington Post columnist covering national politics. She joined The Post in 2010 from Time magazine and has also worked at the Los Angeles Times.

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A 52-year-old man faces up to five years in prison after he admitted last week that he left a vulgar, threatening voicemails for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker at his New Jersey office.

Rick Lynn Simmons, 52, of Kentwood, Michigan, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate communication with threat to injure, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Western Michigan said in a statement. Simmons, who will be sentenced June 5, also faces three years of supervised release and fine of up to $250,000.

Simmons placed the calls from a cell phone to Bookers Camden office from his Kent County, Michigan home on Oct. 26.

On multiple occasions, Simmons referenced putting a 9mm gun in the face of the senator, authorities said. Simmons also used several racial slurs in the message.

Im just doin my guns a blazin pal. I got a nine millimeter Ill put in your (expletive) face, you (expletive). You wanna, you wanna challenge me?, Simmons said, according to a copy of the indictment.

Later Simmons said, Come on, you bring it on buddy. Just me and my wife and we got guns a blazin you wanna come in here?

No individual, whether a public official or a member of the public, deserves to field threatening messages designed to dehumanize, intimidate and terrorize, U.S. Attorney for Western Michigan Andrew B. Birge said in announcing the conviction.

Booker, who announced last month hes running for president in 2020, has been the target of other threats in past 13 months. Around the time of the voicemail threat, an explosive pipe-bomb style device similar to those targeting Democratic politicians and activists critical of President Trump was addressed to Bookers Camden office. The package containing the explosive device was intercepted at a South Florida U.S. Postal Service center mail sorting facility in Opa-locka.

A 56-year-old Florida man with a long criminal history was later charged in the nationwide mail-bomb scare targeting prominent Democrats.

Late in 2017, Newark police deployed extra security to protect Booker in response to a death threat against the citys former mayor. Police didnt detail the nature of the threat. Booker has served in the U.S. Senate since Oct. 31, 2013. He became mayor of Newark in 2006.
RELATED: Murphy wants to penalize N.J. businesses that dont offer employees health care

Gov. Phil Murphy will reveal a state budget Tuesday that reduces spending on health care for New Jerseys government workers by $800 million, alleviating at least some pressure on the state to hike major taxes this year, NJ Advance Media has learned.

Though total spending is likely to be higher than this years $37.4 billion budget, sources familiar with the spending plan said the governor will announce more than $1 billion in spending reductions to begin closing a budget deficit and stem the rising cost of health care.

They include reducing health care spending on public workers by 16 percent and reducing state operating costs by more than $200 million, the sources said.

Those spending reductions are not enough to close the deficit entirely or pay for higher pension costs, and sources told NJ Advance Media the progressive governor will once again seek to increase taxes on the states wealthiest taxpayers to generate $447 million in new tax revenue.

Murphy, a Democrat, hinted as much in a speech last week and an op-ed Saturday, in which he telegraphed that his budget proposal would maintain his commitment to tax fairness," a phrase thats become synonymous with raising the top marginal tax rate on income over $1 million.

Murphy campaigned on an ambitious plan to increase spending on education, transit and government worker pensions. And he was counting on a strong economy and new tax revenue to bankroll that progressive wish list.

His first budget was a knock-down, drag-out fight with the Democratic-controlled state Legislature that nearly resulted in a state government shutdown. Negotiations went down to the wire, and in the end they agreed to raise the top marginal tax rate on income over $5 million and impose temporary surcharge on corporate tax liabilities, as well as new taxes on ride-sharing, rentals and e-cigarettes.

Murphy has said in recent months that he may seek additional tax increases.

But the governor is under pressure from legislative leaders of his own party to cut spending. Both state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and state Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, have suggested they have little appetite for more tax increases.

Murphys efforts to find savings could make Sweeney and Coughlin more willing negotiating partners. Sweeney, who is pursuing his own big-ticket overhaul of state spending, has said he wont agree to hike taxes without seeing significant structural spending cuts first.

During last years budget address, Murphy stressed that he would be looking throughout state government to find operational efficiencies And in a weekend op-ed published by NJ.com, Murphy said his approach to his second budget begins with achieving real, significant, and lasting savings and efficiencies that will allow us to do more to build our future.

Sources familiar with the budget told NJ Advance Media that mandate generated nearly $212 million in reduced spending, including $20 million by improving data sharing among state offices that would, for example, allow Medicaid access to income data.

Notably, the sources said, Murphy will announce $800 million in reduced spending on health care for public workers, one of the states largest and fastest-growing expenses. Employee health care will cost $3.2 billion this year and would have risen to $3.5 billion in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Instead, Murphys administration was able to keep the costs to $2.7 billion, sources said.

Murphy expects to save $61 million by auditing the insurance rolls and rooting out ineligible dependents, $7.9 million by auditing claims processed by the current pharmacy benefits manager, and $12.5 million by shifting Quest Diagnostics, the popular diagnostic lab, in network, among other changes, including rebidding the states contract for a pharmacy benefits manager.

A source familiar with the budget said those savings could be accomplished administratively, but another $217 million in cuts the administration believes it can find next year would require cooperation from public labor unions.

The governor, who ran as an ally to public labor, has had some success here already.

Murphy previously struck a deal with education groups to move retired school employees onto a Medicare Advantage plan, saving a projected $196 million next year. Prior reforms to limit soaring compound medications and slash out-of-network payments to physical therapists, acupuncturists and chiropractors should save $115 million, the sources said.

His state treasurer, Elizabeth Muoio, said at an event in January that all department heads had been asked to cut back, though she warned many state offices had been bled dry of resources under former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican.

We know the fiscal challenges we have ahead of us. Our department directors know the fiscal challenges we have ahead of us, Muoio said. The problem theyre trying to balance is they have been sort of bled dry in terms of having resources put into them the past eight years.

Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
About 2 million Christians live in Syria. If Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been toppled by ISIS-linked rebels, these Christians would have been in danger. There could have even been a genocide conducted by these rebels.

If only the American government had devoted a fraction of its aggressive activities in the Middle East to protecting the southern border of our own nation.

I happen to believe Julian Assanges WikiLeaks accusation, which he based on leaked Hillary Clinton emails, that the CIA was running guns from Libya to arm Syrian rebels when Clinton was secretary of state. Although Clinton denied to Congress knowledge of any such scheme, it could be that she used private email accounts not to hide things from foreign intelligence, but to hide things from the American people.

Yet, former Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen is headed to jail for lying about a proposed Trump Organization business deal with Russia that was never completed.

Our government is very worried about certain other countries having nuclear weapons, but they forget that, in the Middle East, its Israel that reportedly has the only operational nuclear weapons. Israel should disarm if America expects other countries to disarm.

How can there be world peace if there is not equality in disarmament?

Lee Lucas, Gibbstown

Meet N.J. budget challenge with K-12 schools everywhere

Spending big bucks ensures New Jersey perennially ranks among the best states for public education. Our school districts averaged 2016-2017 expenditures of $20,849 per student, according to state Department of Education data. The U.S. Census Bureau rated that third highest in America, well above the $11,762 national average.

Unfortunately, our school spending is woefully inefficient in many local elementary/middle-school districts that send their older students to regional high schools in separate districts. Often, the local districts teach different curriculums, causing students to arrive in the same high school at different preparation levels. This needless system wastes taxes while hurting educational quality.

The New Jersery Economic and Fiscal Policy Workgroup, 24 elected officials, academics and policy experts who were appointed by state Senate Present Stephen Sweeney, D-Gloucester, released its "Path to Progress" report last summer. Among other things, it urges consolidating these stand-alone elementary/middle districts into streamlined K-12 districts.

This positive step toward efficiency, being promoted by Sweeney at town halls statewide, would eliminate overlap and inconsistency, and reduce wasteful spending.

This budget season, New Jersey faces revenue challenges and difficult fiscal choices. We cannot afford business as usual. When leaders like Sweeney show the political fortitude to back big reforms to improve education, the taxpaying public must support them. Anything less is tacitly approving inefficient and ineffective use of educational dollars, inviting tax increases.

Chris Fay, East Greenwich Township

Messing with top-secret clearances: Not just Jared

Regarding the Another Viewpoint editorial from the Washington Post, Congress should investigate Kushners clearance, published in the Times March 2 print edition:

The editorial cites reports alleging that President Donald Trump acted to overrule State Department and White House staff in granting a top-secret security clearance to his son-in-law and adviser, Jared Kushner. At one point the editorial stated, Government is a public trust, not a family playground.

How true is that statement is. And yet, after working for the Navy for 30 years and now retied, my top-secret clearance that I had while working  and that of a fellow veteran friend  were revoked. Meanwhile, young engineers right out of college with no work experience have been given top- secret clearances.

It is not only Congress that is at fault. Its the whole military system that is in trouble.

Lawrence Lueder, Mantua Township
Driver in fatal Esplanade Avenue crash could face more than 30 years in prison
Alfred Humbles, of Gretna, was charged in federal court with stalking after an investigation by the FBI.
RTHK: Pressure grows on Maduro as Guaido returns

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido returned to his country on Monday after flouting a court-imposed travel ban by touring Latin American countries to boost support for his campaign to tighten regional pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

A crowd of cheering supporters greeted Guaido and his wife as they stepped into the Maiquetia airports arrivals hall, and then sped to an opposition rally in eastern Caracas where thousands had gathered to welcome him.

The return of Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuelas legitimate head of state, signals that Maduros adversaries have at least temporarily avoided the arrest of a leader who has united the traditionally fractured opposition.

But it will also lift pressure on Maduro to act against Guaido as his authority continues to wane and the countrys economic meltdown fuels malnutrition and hunger.

Hope has been born and it will not die - things are going well, Guaido told the crowd at a plaza in the Las Mercedes district. We are going to celebrate this small victory today.

He announced plans to meet on Tuesday with public employees, who have been historically pressured by the ruling Socialist Party to join pro-government rallies, as well as for a major march on Saturday.

Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts there on February 23 to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

But troops blocked convoys of aid trucks sent from Colombia and Brazil, leading to clashes that killed at least six people along the Brazilian border, rights groups say.

From Colombia, he traveled to Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Paraguay to shore up Latin American support for a transition government that would precede free and fair elections.

On Sunday, he departed by plane from the Ecuadorean coastal town of Salinas but had not appeared publicly since. Venezuelan media outlets reported that he flew from Panama City to Caracas.

He had kept details of his trip under wraps and he arrived without prior notice, meeting ambassadors for European countries at the airport.

Guaido calls Maduro a usurper and says his presidency is illegitimate after he secured re-election last year in a vote widely considered a sham. Maduro retains control of state institutions and the apparent loyalty of senior figures in the armed forces.

Asked by a reporter how he was received at the airport by immigration authorities, who could have prevented his entry for violating the travel ban, Guaido said they addressed him as president - a swipe at Maduro, who calls him a US puppet.

Heres my passport, safe and sound, Guaido said, showing it to the crowd.

The Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Maduro, who denies there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, has said Guaidos arrest depends on the justice system.

He cant just come and go. He will have to face justice, and justice prohibited him from leaving the country, he told ABC News last week.

Protesters in Caracas on Monday, wearing dressed in white and chanting Freedom, said arresting Guaido would spark new demonstrations.

If the regime has even a little bit of conscience, they should not arrest Guaido because people truly would not put up with it, said Franklin Lopez, a 60-year-old administrator.

The United States has warned Maduro of the consequences of arresting Guaido and the US Treasury imposed new sanctions on Friday targeting Venezuelan military officials.

After the military blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that all options be kept open to topple Maduro, but foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and his international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy.

President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Twitter. The United States fully supports Guaido and the National Assembly. His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching.

The government has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaidos mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest.

Turning away from previous hopes of a swift end to Maduros government, Guaido said on Sunday it would be a long and difficult process.

He has offered future amnesties to state officials and solders who recognize Guaido, though the military has largely remained loyal to Maduro despite Colombias migration agency reporting several hundred desertions since February 23. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
New Orleans police released a photo of a person of interest being sought for questioning in a Friday, March 1, 2019, stabbing in the 900 block of Decatur Street in the French Quarter. The person is not a suspect, but is believed to have information pertinent to the incident, police said.
Warren G. Lichtenstein, founder and executive chairman of Steel Partners Holdings, has given $1 million to Tulane University. (Photo via Tulane)
In this Feb. 27, 1940, photo Pope Pius XII receives the special envoy to the Vatican, Myron C. Taylor, who presented a letter from U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Pope Francis said Monday, March 4, 2019, he has decided to open up to researchers the Vatican archives on World War II-era Pope Pius XII, who has been accused by Jews of staying silent on the Holocaust. (AP Photo)
Search efforts for James Pruitt in the Glacier Gorge area on Sunday, March 3. Courtesy Rocky Mountain National Park

March 3, 2019

Contact: Kyle Patterson, Public Affairs Officer, (970) 586-1363

Contact: Park Information, (970) 586-1206

This morning, Sunday, March 3, Rocky Mountain National Park rangers began search efforts for James Pruitt, 70, of Etowah, TN. After a vehicle parked at the Glacier Gorge Trailhead was determined to belong to Pruitt this morning, rangers contacted Pruitts family in Tennessee. His family confirmed he was in the area and hadnt been heard from since Thursday morning, February 28, at approximately 10 am.

Members of Rocky Mountain National Parks Search and Rescue team searched the Glacier Gorge drainage, the Loch Vale drainage and the Glacier Creek drainage. Assisting Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Team members today included Larimer County Search and Rescue Dog Teams, Diamond Peaks Ski Patrol and Rocky Mountain Rescue Group. There has been almost two feet of snow accumulation in the Glacier Gorge area since Thursday, February 28.

Search efforts will resume early tomorrow morning and include an expanded search area and additional search teams.
Venezuelas opposition leader vows to return as momentum stalls

Venezuelas opposition leader, Juan Guaido, has toured South America for much of the past week. Defying a government-imposed travel ban, he met with the far-right president of Brazil and the center-left president of Ecuador, among others, to demonstrate the broad international support for his claim to be the legitimate leader of Venezuela.

Each day he spends out the country, though, he risks losing the unity of opposition parties, already reeling after President Nicolas Maduro last month reduced Mr. Guaidos promised aid avalanche at the border to a few flakes. Mr. Guaido had vowed to re-enter Venezuela as those aid shipments broke through Mr. Maduros blockade. He has now set a deadline of this morning for his return.

Mr. Maduro has threatened to have him arrested.

Bigger picture: With Mr. Maduro firmly controlling the borders, and defections from his military so far a trickle, the opposition is realizing that the governments rule appears to be more durable than Mr. Guaido had painted it.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration is close to a trade deal with China that would roll back tariffs on both sides of the Pacific but may do little to achieve the substantive changes to Chinas economy that the United States initially set out to win, people with knowledge of the talks said.

Significant details remain unsettled and the deal is still being discussed but so far, the two sides have agreed on a pact that would largely require Beijing to make big purchases of American agricultural and energy goods and to lower some barriers that prevent American companies from operating in China. In return, the United States would most likely drop its tariffs on at least $200 billion of the $250 billion worth of Chinese imports currently subject to American levies.

China, which has retaliated against President Trumps tariffs with its own punishing taxes on American goods, is pushing for the elimination of all of the Trump tariffs, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will agree to remove all the tariffs or keep some in place to keep pressure on China. As part of the agreement, the Trump administration has been pushing China to accept an enforcement mechanism that would enable the United States to quickly reinstate tariffs if Beijing fails to live up to specific promises.

For Mr. Trump, the ability to announce a deal with China would constitute a victory for a presidency rocked by legal investigations and failed nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea last week. Mr. Trump has spent more than a year accusing China of unfair trade practices and promising to shift the balance of economic power back to the United States.
I made this puzzle 11 months ago, so I need to rack my mind a bit to remember why I made specific choices, but I believe the impetus was BEA ARTHUR, which sparked the homophonic idea. Knowing that the puzzle needed a little something extra, I also decided to start all the clues with B.

I locked in BEA ARTHUR  and therefore a second nine letter slot  early, after a Wikipedia search revealed that she is the only Bea well known enough for a crossword entry. I knew that for B, I wanted B MINOR MASS. This meant eliminating other theme entry possibilities like BEEHIVE STATE or BESTILL MY HEART but, as a music major, I couldnt waste the opportunity to include such a masterpiece. For a while, I had BE OUR GUEST as the final theme answer, but the surrounding fill felt a bit too weak.

When filling the grid, I decided not to use the letter B outside of its four theme appearances and tried to find entries which could be clued smoothly. I ran into trouble in the northeast, with the weird combination of FLC in AFL-CIO, and northwest, where I had SI SI, which the editing team replaced (thankfully) with YETI.

Im glad to see that many of my better clues were kept, while all my weaker Baccalaureate receiver type clues were replaced. As a Tigers fan, the one clue I miss is the one referencing LOU Whitaker, but I suppose he may not be well known nationally.

Im excited to be making my New York Times Crossword debut today, and I hope the puzzle makes for an enjoyable solve.
All of which suggests that the 2020 Democratic field would benefit from more candidates who made an effort to appeal to both the left and the center.

Such a candidate might end up winning the nomination and crushing Trump. Or he or she could sharpen the eventual nominee, by getting that nominee to reach beyond the partys liberal base.

I expect that the campaigns next phase will feature several candidates who try to do so. Obama, for example, has advised potential candidates that he sees a relatively open space for a more moderate Democrat, as The Times reported. Two Obama favorites who could have filled the role  Mitch Landrieu, the former New Orleans mayor, and Deval Patrick, the former Massachusetts governor  arent running.

Joe Biden remains the most obvious possibility. Even without having entered the race, he continues to lead just about every poll of Democratic voters. Beto ORourke will probably run too, and hes shown an intriguing appeal across the left and center. Democrats typically lose Texas by between 10 and 30 percentage points. ORourke lost his Senate race by fewer than three points, and his coattails helped elect some House Democrats.

Amy Klobuchar is making a similar play. Her kickoff speech name-checked John F. Kennedy, Reagan, Martin Luther King Jr. and Walt Whitman. Similarly, John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor, described himself last week in Iowa as a doer, in contrast to the dreamers and debaters from Congress. Sherrod Brown, the Ohio senator, also has the potential to win self-identified moderates.
But now, killing treaties has become another form of escapism. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the George W. Bush administration announced Americas withdrawal from the Antiballistic Missile Treaty signed between the two superpowers in 1972. Mr. Putins response was to walk away from a 1993 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that prohibited land-based missiles from carrying multiple warheads, or MIRVs. Eliminating these missiles was a long-sought goal of arms control. Now Russia is deploying MIRVed missiles in the worst possible way  with easily targeted, slow-to-use liquid-fueled missiles based in silos  conditions that could provoke a launching at the first suspicion of an attack, even if unverified, for fear that they would be destroyed .

In August, Moscow and Washington seem set to leave the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987  the treaty that broke the back of the Cold War nuclear arms race. Mr. Trump has announced Americas withdrawal without seeking to negotiate remedies to Russian violations. In his view, nothing less than destroying the offending Russian missiles would do. But now, Mr. Putin is free to deploy more of them.

Next up is New Start, the sole surviving Russian-American treaty that limits longer-range missiles. It could be extended for another five years, but Mr. Trump and his national security adviser, John Bolton, have neither the diplomatic skills nor apparently an interest in extending its terms or negotiating better ones. On top of this, Mr. Trump and Mr. Bolton have championed new missile defense plans to protect every American city from any missiles from any origin.

The problem with such plans is that ground-based missile defense interceptors remain woefully unable to do this  they dont have enough time to catch up to their targets. The only theoretical hope to protect American cities lies in space-based interceptors. But that pursuit, like President Reagans Strategic Defense Initiative, is most likely to again fail for technical, financial and political reasons. If the United States deploys interceptors in space, Russia and China will probably pursue countermeasures in the form of space mines that could trail American space-based interceptors, at a small fraction of the cost. In other words, the hair trigger of terrestrial nuclear warfare would simply be duplicated in space.

How did we manage to survive the seven harrowing decades since Hiroshima and Nagasaki without the battlefield use of nuclear weapons? Deterrence alone didnt produce this result; the combination of deterrence and diplomacy did. This safety net was the greatest unacknowledged achievement during the Cold War. It now has very little load-bearing capacity left.
Survivors themselves know this. Thats why fully 90 percent of survivors in New York City, when given the chance to choose whether they want the person who harmed them incarcerated or in a restorative justice process  one that offers support to survivors while empowering them to help decide how perpetrators of violence can repair the damage theyve done  choose the latter and opt to use the services of Ms. Sereds nonprofit organization , Common Justice.

Ms. Sered launched Common Justice in an effort to give survivors of violence  like herself  a meaningful pathway to accountability without perpetuating the harms endemic to mass incarceration. As a restorative justice program, it offers a survivor-centered accountability process that gives those directly impacted by acts of violence the opportunity to shape what repair will look like, and, in the case of the responsible party, to carry out that repair instead of going to prison. The people who choose to participate are victims of serious violent felonies  people who have been shot, stabbed or robbed  and who decide that they would prefer to get answers from the person who harmed them, be heard in a restorative justice circle, help to devise an accountability plan, and receive comprehensive victim services, rather than send the person who harmed them to prison.

Ninety percent is a stunning figure considering everything weve been led to believe that survivors actually want. For years, weve been told that victims of violence want nothing more than for the people who hurt them to be locked up and treated harshly. It is true that some survivors do want revenge or retribution, especially in the immediate aftermath of the crime. Ms. Sered is emphatic that rage is not pathological and a desire for revenge is not blameworthy; both are normal and can be important to the healing process, much as denial and anger are normal stages of grief.

But she also stresses that the number of people who are interested only in revenge or punishment is greatly exaggerated. After all, survivors are almost never offered real choices. Usually when we ask victims Do you want incarceration? what were really asking is Do you want something or nothing? And when any of us are hurt, and when our families and communities are hurting, we want something rather than nothing. In many oppressed communities, drug treatment, good schools, economic investment, job training, trauma and grief support are not available options. Restorative justice is not an option. The only thing on offer is prisons, prosecutors and police.

But what happens, Ms. Sered wondered, if instead of asking, Do you want something or nothing? we started asking Do you want this intervention or that prison? It turns out, when given a real choice, very few survivors choose prison as their preferred response.

This is not because survivors, as a group, are especially merciful. To the contrary, theyre pragmatic. They know the criminal justice system will almost certainly fail to deliver what they want and need most to overcome their pain and trauma. More than 95 percent of cases end in plea bargains negotiated by lawyers behind the scenes. Given the systems design, survivors know the system cannot be trusted to validate their suffering, give them answers or even a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Nor can it be trusted to keep them or others safe.

In fact, many victims find that incarceration actually makes them feel less safe. They worry that others will be angry with them for reporting the crime and retaliate, or fear what will happen when the person eventually returns home. Many believe, for good reason, that incarceration will likely make the person worse, not better  a frightening prospect when theyre likely to encounter the person again when theyre back in the neighborhood.
SEATTLE  When Texas officials pushed Amazon to pay nearly $270 million in back sales taxes in 2010, Amazon responded by closing its only warehouse in the state and scrapping expansion plans there. Two years later, the officials agreed to waive the past taxes in exchange for Amazon opening new warehouses.

A similar scene played out in South Carolina, where officials decided in 2011 to deny Amazon a sales tax break. After threatening to stop hiring in the state, the company got the tax exemption by promising to hire more people.

And last year in Seattle, the companys hometown, Amazon halted plans to build one tower and threatened to lease out one under construction when local officials pushed a tax on large employers. The City Council passed a smaller version of the tax, but the company helped finance a successful opposition to repeal it. Now, Amazon plans to lease out its space in the tower under construction anyway.

In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio called it a shock to the system when Amazon, facing criticism for the deal it reached to build a headquarters in the city, abruptly dropped the plans. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is still trying to woo them back. But the reversal mirrored the companys interactions with officials in other states.
WASHINGTON  Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, said on Sunday that he would support a resolution that would overturn President Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, appearing to provide the crucial vote needed for the Senate to pass the measure.

I stand with the president often, and I do so with a loud voice, Mr. Paul wrote in an opinion piece published late Sunday on Fox Newss website. Today, I think hes wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits.

I cannot support the use of emergency powers to get more funding for a wall along the border with Mexico, he wrote, so I will be voting to disapprove of his declaration when it comes before the Senate.

Mr. Paul joins three other Republican senators  Susan Collins of Maine, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska  in backing the resolution. His support appears to provide the slim majority Democrats need to send the measure to the presidents desk, offering a stinging repudiation of the declaration.
Read Mondays live updates on the aftermath of the tornadoes in the Southeast.

The first tornado warning in central Alabama went out around 1 p.m. Sunday. In the hours that followed, a cluster of storms ripped through the Southeast, spawning multiple tornadoes, killing at least 23 and leaving a trail of rubble.

As the storms pushed east, the tornadoes would leave a path of destruction that stretched from Alabama into Florida and Georgia. The reported deaths were all in Lee County, Ala., where two tornadoes  one at least a half-mile wide  wrecked homes and uprooted trees. It was unclear Sunday night whether the deaths had occurred in various locations or all in one place. Dozens of people were sent to hospitals.

As darkness came, rescue workers searched for survivors, and more victims, often with little more than a flashlight or the lights of their vehicles to aid them. More than 150 people were part of the search-and-rescue operations near the Lee County communities of Smiths Station and Beauregard, which is about 60 miles east of Montgomery, said Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the countys emergency management agency.
Miamis art world has been waiting for the other cultural shoe to drop since 2014, when the nonprofit ArtCenter/South Florida sold one of its two buildings for $88 million  after buying it in 1988 for only $684,000, when the surrounding South Beach neighborhood was more sketchy than stylish. A scrappy organization founded to provide affordable studios, and largely ignored by the citys marquee art institutions, was suddenly poised to become a major player.

The ArtCenter is finally announcing plans for its Cinderella-like windfall (one that, thanks to investments, has since swollen to $100 million, more than the endowment of any other South Florida visual arts organization, many of whom have been struggling to fund-raise even a fraction of that sum). It will be moving to the mainland Miami neighborhood of Little Haiti, where it will build a new $30 million, 40,000-square-foot art center with 22 studios for resident artists, a 2,500-square-foot exhibition space, a 120-seat theater, as well as classrooms and work spaces for an expanded array of instructional courses on mediums like painting and filmmaking.

[Check out our Culture Calendar here.]

We need a facility that reflects our aspirations, Dennis Scholl, the ArtCenter president and chief executive said, adding that an architect would be selected by May, with groundbreaking set for September 2020 and a planned opening in Spring 2022.

At that point the rain of cash is likely to continue: Mr. Scholl confirmed that the ArtCenter would vacate its remaining South Beach building, though he declined to elaborate on specific plans for the property. The building was assessed by Miami-Dade County at $10 million, but real estate brokers believe it would sell for three to four times that figure.
Here is what I remember about Luke Perry: He played a bad boy who read poetry. A loner whom every girl wanted to make less lonely. A surfer who rarely seemed to get his hair wet.

Probably free verse wasnt really Perrys thing, and who knows if he surfed on his own time. But through most of the 1990s, he played Dylan McKay on Beverly Hills, 90210, a role that stuck to him like teen idol Super Glue. Of course he wasnt really a teenager then; he only played one on TV. But if you were a tween and then a teen, as I was in the 90s, living in neighborhoods that were almost close to Beverly Hills, he was the stuff of notebook doodles and collage walls.

Im older now, and I know what a disaster men like that can be. (The poetry he read was Charles Bukowski, O.K.?) But back then, if Id met him outside some lucky-starred frozen yogurt shop, I probably would have passed out. He taught a generation of us, wrongly, that difficult, damaged men were only waiting for you to fix them.
A six-part drama series wraps up on TNT. And a new special about a Michael Jackson documentary is on HBO.

Whats on TV

I AM THE NIGHT 9 p.m. on TNT. This mini-series draws from the life of Fauna Hodel, an author who, after learning she was adopted by African-American parents, discovered that one of her grandfathers was George Hodel, a prime suspect in the unsolved Black Dahlia murder of 1947. But the rest of the story is largely fiction, and the result is a bland hodgepodge, Mike Hale wrote in his review in The New York Times. Chris Pine, as Jay, a journalist who clings to Fauna (India Eisley) for his own reporting, may be the shows strongest asset. In this series finale, the Watts riots erupt in Los Angeles as Jay sits in a cell and Fauna desperately searches for a way home.

AMERICAS HIDDEN STORIES 8 p.m. on Smithsonian. The Smithsonian channel claims to shed new light on pivotal moments of American history with this series. In the first episode, scholars scour old documents and use 3-D computer mapping techniques to uncover the site of the 17th-century Salem witch trial hangings. Later episodes highlight the Spanish influenza of 1918, the treason of Benedict Arnold and a spy ring involved in the Pearl Harbor attack.
Albert Woodfox grew up poor in New Orleanss Treme neighborhood. He didnt know his father. His mother, who could not read or write, sometimes prostituted herself to keep food on the table for Albert and his siblings.

He turned to crime young. For a while his misdeeds were on the mild side, the sort of antics that Chuck Berry referred to in his autobiography as hubcap ripping and parked-car creeping, dime-store clipping and window peeping.

They got more serious. By the time he was in his teens, he was breaking into houses and convenience stores. He stole cars, mugged people, joined a gang and got a heroin habit. He once broke out of prison and, on his way home, appropriated a cement mixer, roaring away at 10 miles per hour. He was caught because he left his wallet on the dashboard.

Woodfox spends the first sections of his uncommonly powerful memoir, Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope, objectively detailing his young life of crime. This is not easy reading. What life did not give him, he was determined to take.
In 2007, Amazon started spending to build a TV and film portfolio, and Mr. Bezos, its founder, became a powerful presence on the red carpet. Eventually, he and the Hollywood insider Lauren Sanchez, pictured with him above, began an affair that splashed over The National Enquirer.

Now, he has effectively ceded control of his narrative to two feuding figures who are prolonging the scandals news value: his A-list security consultant and Ms. Sanchezs fame-hungry brother-manager.

Heres what else is happening

U.S.-China trade talks: An agreement that would roll back tariffs on both sides may do little to achieve the substantive changes to Chinas economy that the Trump administration initially sought, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

Awaiting a return to Caracas: Juan Guaido plans to re-enter Venezuela today after leaving more than a week ago to rally support for his efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Mr. Guaido risks being arrested, but his absence has sapped the momentum of his opposition movement.

Trump at CPAC: President Trump said on Saturday that he planned to issue an executive order that would help guarantee free speech at colleges and universities. He made the remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, and we fact-checked his speech.

The 2020 election: John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado known for being socially progressive and pro-business, today became the latest Democrat to launch a presidential campaign.

No charges in Sacramento shooting: Two police officers who shot and killed an unarmed black man in his grandmothers backyard last year will not face criminal prosecution. The death of Stephon Clark touched off waves of protests.
BEIJING  China is poised to approve a sweeping rewrite of the countrys laws on foreign investment that it hopes will help pacify the United States and ease a rancorous trade dispute. The new rules would respond to some concerns among foreign governments and businesses but disregard many other worries.

China has been locked in a bruising struggle with the United States over the Trump administrations contentions that Beijing has repeatedly forced foreign companies to hand over technological secrets as a condition of doing business in China, and has failed to protect American companies products from counterfeiting and other illegal copying. Beijing has denied any shortcomings in its existing practices, and the new law does call for tighter enforcement.

But the new law is made up of many single-sentence pronouncements on complex issues, with no details on how those rules would be carried out.

This is good, but its not enough, said Carlo Diego DAndrea, the chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in China.
Good Monday. (Want this by email? Sign up here.)

An expected China trade deal lacks teeth

The Trump administration is nearing a trade deal with China that would roll back tariffs on both sides of the Pacific, Ana Swanson and Keith Bradsher of the NYT write.

What America could get:

 The deal would require Beijing to make big purchases of American agricultural and energy goods and to lower some barriers that prevent American companies from operating in China.

 The potential agreement would expand markets for American financial services firms and farmers, in part by requiring that China buy large amounts of energy and farm goods, like liquid natural gas and soybeans.

 The Trump administration has also been pushing China to accept an enforcement mechanism that would enable the United States to quickly reinstate tariffs if Beijing fails to live up to specific promises.
OXON HILL, Md.  A year ago, attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual jamboree of the political right, were greeted by Big Tech with open arms and open bars.

Google sponsored a lavish hospitality suite, courting conservatives with an outdoor fireplace, hors doeuvres and flowing cocktails. Bright young representatives from Facebook hosted a help desk, handing out cookies frosted with emoji icons and offering free demonstrations of its virtual reality product, Oculus.

That was then. At last weeks gathering here in a suburb of Washington, Silicon Valleys only obvious presence was on the lips of exercised right-wing critics who whipped up the crowd by denouncing the American tech industry as an authoritarian hegemony intent on censoring their cause.

Facebook, Google and Twitter are pushing a left-wing social agenda while marshaling their marketing power to shut conservative voices out of the marketplace, said Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, during a featured session with the ominous title Blocked: This Panel Has Been Removed for Conservative Content.
LONDON  The founder and chief executive of the British fashion chain Ted Baker resigned on Monday after current and former employees accused him of inappropriate behavior.

Employees said the executive, Ray Kelvin, would regularly try to massage people in the office, insist on long hugs with staff members and ask employees for sex, according to a petition that started circulating in December. The petition also said the companys human resources department had ignored complaints about the behavior.

Harassment at Ted Baker is well documented but willfully ignored by those in charge, the authors of the petition wrote. The petition called for the company to adopt procedures that would allow workers to report harassment to an independent, external organization.

Mr. Kelvin denied the allegations, but agreed on Monday to resign immediately as chief executive and director of Ted Baker, the company said. He had taken a voluntary leave of absence in December.
Newer restaurateurs, like Mr. Martinez, still import essentials. The fresh, flexible, sweet-scented tlayudas come from a group of Oaxacan artisans who shape each one to be huge and thin, as lightly crinkled and diaphanous as a summer dress, totally distinct from the fatter, palm-size corn tortillas you might encounter at a taqueria.

Drizzled with golden dregs of homemade lard, spread with seasoned black beans, meaty quesillo and shredded cabbage, the tlayuda at Ponchos is then folded in half so all the ingredients melt into one another. The cabbage steams gently. The outside toasts. And the tlayuda becomes a tlayuda.

The dish is substantial, but not heavy; crisp, but not fragile. It is portable, but best enjoyed immediately, in place, surrounded by the warmth of chatter and grill smoke, at a communal table draped with floral oilcloth, just in front of the open kitchen.

Mr. Martinez, 41, didnt grow up eating tlayudas. But as a musician in a brass band, he traveled to the capital, Oaxaca City, and often demolished the snack after shows  trombone in one hand, tlayuda in the other.

In Los Angeles, he put aside music and worked briefly in a Chinese restaurant, a cafeteria at the University of California, Los Angeles, and an Iranian restaurant.

But two years ago, Mr. Martinez started to make the food he wanted to make  tlayudas and moronga  at home. His first customers were Zapotec, members of an Indigenous group living near him in South Los Angeles.

In October, he and Miguel Mendez, a cook, set up the food stand at the downtown Sunday market, Smorgasburg. (There, in response to a crowd that is less familiar with Oaxacan food, and wary of the tlayudas unwieldy size, they have ordered smaller versions of the tortillas.)
Outrage over the cost of insulin has driven much of the political conversation about high drug prices, with reports of patients dying because they could not afford it.

In February, the Senate Finance Committee sent Lilly a letter asking for more information about how it sets prices for its insulin products, including Humalog. The letter noted that taxpayers spend more than $1 billion a year for Humalog through Medicare and Medicaid and said, When one insulin product costs the taxpayer more than $1 billion in one year, the American people ought to know how the company prices its product.

Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement Monday that the investigation into Lillys insulin prices would continue. The companys decision to offer a generic version of a several decade old drug will be part of the investigation, he said.

The story of insulin, many say, is a salient example of how the drug pricing system is broken. Over the years, industry intermediaries known as pharmacy benefit managers have negotiated ever-deeper discounts for insulin, yielding savings for the insurers and employers that pay the bulk of drug costs. Insulin manufacturers have responded by raising their list prices in an effort, they say, to please the benefit managers, who keep a percentage of the discounts they pass along.

The list price of insulin has gone from about $20 per vial in 1996, when Humalog entered the market, to about $275 per vial today. Humalog patients typically use about two vials a month, Lilly said.

The result is a yawning gap between the list price of insulin  which people who are uninsured must pay  and the net price that insurers and employers pay.

Enrique A. Conterno, the president of Lillys diabetes division, said Friday that the list price of the authorized generic will be comparable to the net price the company regularly offered to insurers in exchange for standard placement on their formulary, or the list of covered drugs, although he did not specify a dollar amount. But he said the company provided deeper discounts to insurers that give Humalog preferred treatment, which typically means lower out-of-pocket costs for patients.
LAKE BUNYONYI, Uganda  Samuel Muriisa thinks he is ready for Ebola, but he is not.

Mr. Muriisa, 74, is the most widely respected omushaho wekishaka, or traditional healer, in this area. He is aware  but only vaguely  that Ebola is raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, whose border is just 20 miles away.

Let it stay in Congo, he said. We seldom see Congo people here. Let it not come.

Jolly Twinomuhwezi, 60, one of his three wives who acts as his triage nurse, said she would send away anyone with bleeding eye sockets or fingernail beds, which she had heard were the chief Ebola symptoms.

She is dangerously wrong; most Ebola victims never hemorrhage, and in those that do, it is a late-stage symptom.

Medical experts worry that such combinations of misinformation and wishful thinking are common among traditional healers who, like it or not, are the front lines of rural African medicine.
Juan V. Corona, who joined the grim pantheon of Americas serial killers when he was convicted of slaughtering 25 migrant workers and burying them on farms near his home in the Sacramento Valley in California, died on Monday. He was 85.

A statement by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said he had died at a hospital near the state prison in Corcoran, in the south-central part of the state, where for almost a half-century he had been serving 25 concurrent life sentences for first-degree murder.

Mr. Coronas victims were luckless drifters who moved from farm to farm, scratching out a bare existence in the valleys orchards, groves and vineyards. No one seemed to miss these fruit tramps, as the locals called them, when they disappeared.

The killings came to light after a peach farmer spotted a fresh hole in one of his orchards near Yuba City on May 19, 1971. When he returned to investigate later that day, the hole had been filled in.
HAMBURG, Germany  No one knows yet what, if anything, will happen on March 29  B-Day, the day when Britain is to leave the European Union. It could be a nonevent; it could be a disaster. Likely, it will be somewhere in between. But while the world fixates on the negatives  and there are many  of Brexit, it does have its upsides.

The European Unions most globally minded member is leaving, forcing the bloc to rethink its mission and vision at just the right time. And a large part of that rethinking will now involve a plan for how London and Brussels will work together over the long run.

Set aside for a moment the doomsday predictions of medicine shortages and endless queues at Dover port. Beyond the Brexit risks and shocks lies an opportunity for a new bilateral relationship that could strengthen both Britain and the Continent. The world is headed for a new great power rivalry, one in which Britain and Europe could easily get squeezed  or, if they play it right, could prosper.

The new global conflict, put simply, is between free and unfree market economies. For a long time, the West had dismissed the idea of a stable, healthy economy under an authoritarian regime. Authoritarians could engineer short-term booms; they could cook the numbers and manipulate their currencies. But in the long run, the thinking went, they would all fail. Only under liberal democracy could markets truly thrive.
I went before the American judicial system and accepted my guilt when it came to the terrorism charges (conspiracy to murder United States nationals, providing material support to Al Qaeda and providing expert advice and assistance) against me. I also expressed my deepest apologies to the court and said that I would like to turn a bad thing into a good thing.

There are citizens from the United States, Britain, Germany and France, men and women, who joined the Islamic State because of ideological fervor, the promise of adventure, the opportunity to create an Islamic utopia and a perceived religious obligation. It may be hard to see it this way, but they can be a strategic asset for the United States and our European partners.

First, like me, they may have had an insider view and thus intelligence on how the Islamic State works and was organized, and maybe even leads on the whereabouts of its leadership. Second, these Westerners can provide insights on how they became radicalized and turned to extremism. And third, after they have done time in prison, thought about their decisions and made some peace with themselves about the consequences, they might even be, like me, willing to speak to vulnerable youth and impart to them their hard-earned wisdom.

These former terrorists will have the legacy as volunteers who went there and did it and will be able to vouch that the experience of joining the caliphate wasnt like the vision presented in slick videos on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Instead, joining a Sunni jihadist group overseas is a decision that you will have to live with for the rest of your life or will most likely be a quick trip with a dead end.

But they will need some hope that there is life after terrorism. My life is good evidence that there is: Approximately a year ago, coming out of prison, I was on food stamps and unemployed. I can now report that not only am I no longer on food stamps, but I have a job and am thriving in the manufacturing industry.

Moreover, I now speak to small audiences about my experiences as a former Al Qaeda member with the hope of better informing intelligence and law enforcement officials and analysts about what led me down this pathway, as well as how I deradicalized and became a contributing member of American society.

The United States does not have any type of prison rehabilitation and re-entry program to prepare formers for life afterward with mental health services, vocational training or educational programs, but maybe I, and the few others like me who have changed our lives, can be role models for these foreign fighters.

The United States can serve as an example for its allies  bring back the Americans who joined the Islamic State and let the American legal system do its work. After they serve the appropriate penalty under law for their actions, the country might even end up with a new counterterrorism resource.

Bryant Neal Vinas was Americas first foreign fighter for Al Qaeda after Sept. 11 and now works with a counterextremism nonprofit, Parallel Networks.

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To the Editor:

Re Grief Turns to Rage Over Trumps Trust of Kim (front page, March 2):

The family of Otto Warmbier is rightly appalled at President Trumps acceptance of Kim Jong-uns claimed ignorance of the young mans case. Mr. Warmbier died upon his return to the United States in 2017 after being held in brutal conditions in a North Korean prison for stealing a poster.

Why does President Trump put complete faith in the words of dictators alleged to have sanctioned murder, whether they are in Russia, Saudi Arabia or North Korea? Could it be that these men, unlike the men and women serving in our national intelligence agencies, feel like kindred spirits? Their word is final, regardless of fact.

They possess the power, savor the privileges and exercise the rights of unchallenged autocrats, free from any democratic constraints. They demand, and get, total deference and respect based on fear and intimidation. This clearly seems to be the model that has guided President Trump as a businessman and now as a political leader.

It is clearly time for members of his party to come forward to defend democracy itself from a leader who does not value it.
This is the way the trade war ends. Not with a bang but with empty bombast.

According to multiple news organizations, the U.S. and China are close to a deal that would effectively end trade hostilities. Under the reported deal, America would remove most of the tariffs it imposed last year. China, for its part, would end its retaliatory tariffs, make some changes to its investment and competition policies and direct state enterprises to buy specified amounts of U.S. agricultural and energy products.

The Trump administration will, of course, trumpet the deal as a triumph. In reality, however, its much ado about nothing much.

As described, the deal would do little to address real complaints about Chinese policy, which mainly involve Chinas systematic expropriation of intellectual property. Nor would it do much to address Donald Trumps pet although misguided peeve, the imbalance in U.S.-China trade. Basically, Trump will have backed down.

If this is the story, it will repeat what we saw on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Trump denounced as the worst trade deal ever made. In the end, what Trump negotiated  the U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement, or U.S.M.C.A.  was very similar to the previous status quo. Trade experts I know, when not referring to it as the Village People agreement, call it Nafta 0.8: fundamentally the same as Nafta, but a bit worse.
In The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age (the latest volume in Oxfords history of the United States), the Stanford historian Richard White notes how most Republicans sincerely embraced free labor and continued to believe in its transformative capacity and egalitarian assumptions. They believed that Southern whites in particular would embrace the prosperity of free labor, even at the price of supporting Reconstruction policies that extended economic opportunities to black men.

But Southern society still rested on ideas of hierarchy and caste that still shaped behavior for former masters, former slaves and poor whites. To the plantation planters such a wage contract was economic heresy and social revolution, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in Black Reconstruction in America. Many poor whites, likewise, faced with the dilemma of recognizing the Negroes as equals, saw them as a threat to their very existence.

To upend this relationship, Republicans would have to transform the property relations of the South. Without land redistribution and a measure of material equality, political rights for blacks (and whites) would falter under the weight of planter power and racial caste. As Thaddeus Stevens, the radical Republican congressman from Pennsylvania and an ardent support of black civil rights, argued in the first months after the war, How can republican institutions, free schools, free churches, free social intercourse, exist in a mingled community of nabobs and serfs? He continued, If the South is ever to be made a safe republic let her lands be cultivated by the toil of the owners or the free labor of intelligent citizens.

Deeply entwined as they were with Northern capital and committed to the protection of private property, neither Grant nor the Republican Party was willing to take those steps. Instead, they allowed Northern and Southern employers to extract profit by any means necessary, imposing peonage and sharecropping on landless former slaves. The government would distribute land, but to railroads and Western settlers, not blacks.

Grant entered office committed to the fortunes of the formerly enslaved. But by the end of his administration, he had acquiesced to white racism and financial power, largely withdrawing from the South and leaving its black citizens at the mercy of a reinvigorated class of owners and planters. Reconstruction as an active federal presence was already coming to an end when Republicans cut the 1877 deal that made Rutherford B. Hayes president and withdrew federal troops from the South. With time, the Southern owner and planter class would construct a new system of race hierarchy, affirmed by the mass of poor whites, that would reproduce racial stigma and mire the South in poverty and disadvantage.

Despite scandal and corruption, Ulysses Grant left office with his popularity and stature intact. But Reconstruction would topple in the face of reactionary violence. Without a sustained federal presence, blacks could not secure their political gains. Without land reform  or any effort to extricate the roots of the plantation system from the South  the oppressive logic of slavery would endure. And without a three-pronged assault on racial domination, social exclusion and economic inequality, race hierarchy would survive, as it does now, diminishing the promise of American democracy.

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Before the 2000s, the possibility of this type of diversity within the military was hardly discussed in military politics textbooks. Today, this diversity, or what political scientists are calling the new oligopoly of state violence, is what undemocratic regimes and failed states prefer. And in Venezuela, this oligopoly is dominated by the criminal-minded soldiers and killing agents.

Killing agents in particular have become the hallmark of Mr. Maduros rule. They comprise two groups: the Special Actions Forces, or FAES, created in 2017 to combat crime but in reality charged with conducting politically motivated killings in poor neighborhoods, and the so-called colectivos, armed civilians paid by the government. In the early 2000s, colectivos were community-organized reservists. Today they consist mostly of delinquents, thugs and even former inmates. They show up on motorcycles at protests, gun in hand and with their faces covered, to terrorize participants. Colectivos spare professional soldiers from the need to repress.

The problem with Mr. Guaidos strategy  in fact, any peaceful and democratic strategy to demilitarize a regime  is that it cannot easily address the concerns of these disparate military groups.

Some can be addressed with policies already offered by the interim president. For instance, Mr. Guaidos offer of transitional justice (amnesty) with fair elections has enormous appeal to scared soldiers and many professional soldiers. This is why we are seeing defections by many of these soldiers.

But there is little in Mr. Guaidos policies that would appeal to hard-core ideologues, for-profit and criminal soldiers, and colectivos. Hard-core ideologues are likely to stand with Mr. Maduro unconditionally. The for-profit generals will gain little from transitional justice: They will be left without status and profits even if their transgressions are forgiven. And the colectivos are especially hard to deal with because they are the least controllable group  they are too decentralized and have no corporate interest to defend.

Transitioning to democracy in Venezuela will require putting order to this fragmented military. The darkest groups within this institution cannot be invited to join a democratic movement  that would produce an instant conflict of interest. Instead, these groups need to be neutralized somehow.

A civilian alone cannot do it. Only actors from within the military establishment  those who know the identities of the armed actors within their ranks, their businesses and deals  can do the revamping of the military that is needed.
$5,845 | Hells Kitchen, Manhattan

Jeff Karliner, 64, and Henry Johnson, 64

Occupations: Mr. Karliner is a former high school teacher and a retired jeweler and metalsmith, who used to own and operate Jeffrey Allen Jewelers; Mr. Johnson is a retired high school biology teacher who helped run the business.

On being close to the Port Authority: Catching a bus to New Paltz is a breeze, and they love being close to the citys performing arts scene. We saw one show that was so close to our apartment that if the bathroom line was too long during intermission, I could have come back here, Mr. Karliner said.

Making friends: The buildings monthly events have been a great way to meet and hang out with their neighbors.

Anniversaries: The couple met in college and have been together 43 years. They married in New Paltz in 2004, when the village mayor married a number of same-sex couples before it was legal in New York. They married again, legally, in 2009 in Connecticut.

Mr. Johnson would travel to New Paltz to pick up the mail and check on the house, only to find himself heading back to the city 15 minutes later. Mr. Karliner had come out of retirement for the third time to teach at a high school in Orangeburg, N.Y., a 30-minute reverse commute from their Hells Kitchen apartment. The drive from New Paltz, though, was an hour and a half.

The studio would have been O.K. if we were just there every few weekends, but we were living here full time, Mr. Karliner said. We dont think the cats were happy there, either  they couldnt get away from each other. And we couldnt get away from each other, either.

Upgrading to a one-bedroom seemed an obvious solution, especially after a penthouse apartment in the building became vacant. Delighted to not be so cramped, Mr. Johnson started going on shopping expeditions to their house in New Paltz, bringing back artifacts from the 57 countries they visited together.
Around the time of the dot-com boom, the expense of work snacks was first transferred to employers, at least in some white-collar industries. Free snacks at work are strongly associated with the profligacy of Silicon Valley, but the precise origins of the perk are unknown.

At many companies, employees can partake of a few kinds of free snacks . (The New York Times offers a limited assortment  fruits, pretzels, Goldfish  on a daily basis.) The start-ups NatureBox and SnackNation streamline the snack buying process for some employers, delivering automatic monthly orders of newfangled munchables like Aged Cheddar Lentil Loops, Blueberry Almond Quinoa Bites and Bohana Popped Water Lily Seeds.

There are limits to what kinds of foods employers are allowed to provide for their employees if they want those purchases to be tax-deductible. According to Section 119 of the Internal Revenue Code, a business can deduct occasional employee meals, but only when those meals are furnished for the convenience of the employer. Meals furnished for the convenience of the employee, on the other hand, are seldom allowed as a business expense.

Free snacks belong to a third category of cheap and infrequent perks called de minimis fringe benefits. The I.R.S. doesnt tax these because, well, its tedious to determine their value. Up until last year, an employer could actually deduct the full cost of employee snacks, which might help to explain how they became a workplace fixture. In 2018, this tax break was halved, following the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It is too early to predict how the new set of rules might affect the future of the start-up smorgasbord. For now, employees of Yelp continue to enjoy a wide range of sweet and savory options.

Weve got roast beef, turkey, ham and different types of bread, said Michael Sztanski, a sales manager. We have bagels. We have a lot of frozen food, like burritos. Also: iced tea, coffee, chips, hummus and hard-boiled eggs.

At lunchtime, Mr. Sztanski and his colleagues often joke that they feel like theyre playing a game of office Chopped  a reference to the popular TV franchise in which contestants cook meals with limited ingredients. His most prizewinning lunch is a make-your-own-bowl-type thing, in the style of fast-casual restaurants like Dig Inn and Sweetgreen.
SAN FRANCISCO  Ten years ago, Google was hacked by the Chinese military in one of the most startling cyberattacks on an American company by government-affiliated agents.

This week, Chronicle, a security start-up owned by Googles parent company, Alphabet, plans to bring some of what it learned from that incident to other companies through a widely anticipated new product called Backstory.

The idea, company executives said, is simple: Backstory will make Alphabets vast storage, indexing and search abilities available to other companies, allowing them to search through giant volumes of data, going years back, to trace the back story of a malicious attack.

Chronicle is hardly the only company doing this. Dozens of companies promise so-called big data threat intelligence and storage. But many of their customers cant afford to pay to search through huge amounts of information.
Google seems to be advancing a flawed and incomplete sense of equality by making sure men and women receive similar salaries for similar work, said Joelle Emerson, chief executive of Paradigm, a consulting company that advises companies on strategies for increasing diversity. That is not the same as addressing equity, she said, which would involve examining the structural hurdles that women face as engineers.

Google has denied paying women less, and the company agreed that compensation among similar job titles was not by itself a complete measure of equity. A more difficult issue to solve  one that critics say Google often mismanages for women  is a human resources concept called leveling. Are employees assigned to the appropriate pay grade for their qualifications?

The company said it was now trying to address the issue.

Because leveling, performance ratings and promotion impact pay, this year we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees, Lauren Barbato, Googles lead analyst for pay equity, people analytics, wrote in a blog post made public on Monday.

To set an employees salary, Google starts with an algorithm using factors like performance, location and job. Next, managers can consider subjective factors: Do they believe the employee has a strong future with the company? Is he or she being paid on a par with peers who make similar contributions? Managers must provide a rationale for the decision.

While the pay bump is helpful, Googles critics say it doesnt come close to matching what a woman would make if she had been assigned to the appropriate pay grade in the first place.
SHANGHAI  The Chinese electronics giant Huawei is preparing to sue the United States government for barring federal agencies from using the companys products, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit is to be filed in the Eastern District of Texas, where Huawei has its American headquarters, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential plans. The company plans to announce the suit this week.

The move could be aimed at forcing the United States government to make its case against the Chinese equipment maker more publicly. It is part of a broad push by Huawei to defend itself against a campaign led by the United States to undermine the company, which Washington sees as a security threat. Executives have spoken out strongly against Americas actions, and new marketing campaigns have been aimed at mending the companys image among consumers.

For many years, United States officials have said Beijing could use Huaweis telecommunication equipment to spy and disrupt communication networks. The company has denied the allegations, but major wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have effectively been prevented from using Huaweis equipment as a result.
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today: Across Silicon Valley, tech companies are pursuing contracts with the U.S. military. Kevin Roose on a cautionary tale of where that can lead. Its Wednesday, March 6.

kevin roose

So Im a tech columnist. I spend a lot of time talking with and looking at the big tech companies and where theyre going. And one of the most interesting threads thats come up in the past year or so is this question of how Silicon Valley should engage with the government, and with the military, specifically. And I think were at a point right now where the government is saying, we want the things that youre building. We want you to be part of our modernization efforts.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

kevin roose

And within some of these companies theres a growing divide between the management of the companies and what they want for their business, and some of the people actually building this technology  the engineers who are working on these advanced systems that are in hot demand by the military and other government agencies. And we just saw this play out in a pretty meaningful way at Microsoft.

michael barbaro

What happened there, exactly? So last year Microsoft signed a contract with the Department of Defense to use a technology called HoloLens in the Army.

archived recording

Good morning, everyone. A few years ago, we started asking ourselves, could we make things so simple that technology would just disappear?

kevin roose

And HoloLens was originally developed  its kind of like a headset for augmented reality.

archived recording

Could we place your digital content right into your world, right into your life, with more reality than ever before?

kevin roose

I saw a demo of this a couple years ago, and they were touting it as the next generation of gaming.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

archived recording

Welcome to a new era of Windows. Welcome to Windows Holographic.

kevin roose

People were wearing HoloLens, and you would be swinging your imaginary sword at imaginary monsters. But it all looked like it was happening right there in your living room.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

kevin roose

And last year, Microsoft signed a contract to develop HoloLens technology for use on the battlefield  to give soldiers the ability to wear these headsets and get information about their surroundings, and to increase the lethality of the soldiers on the battlefield.

michael barbaro

So this technology will specifically be deployed within the military so that American soldiers are better at killing the enemy?

kevin roose

Thats the way its described in the contract, yes.

michael barbaro

And so, Im guessing that this was something that Microsoft engineers objected to?

archived recording

And then theres Microsoft. Theyre receiving backlash from their own employees over new groundbreaking technology.

kevin roose

Well, a few of them did. But they did it pretty vocally.

archived recording

Yeah, so more than 150 Microsoft employees signed a letter demanding that the company cancel a $480 million contract to build a HoloLens for the Pentagon saying they, quote 

kevin roose

Dear Satya Nadella and Brad Smith: We are a global coalition of Microsoft workers, and we refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression. And it goes on. And basically, they argue that this crossed the line into weapons development  that this was basically taking something that they had built, and turned it into something that was designed to help soldiers on the battlefield kill other soldiers.

michael barbaro

Not what they decided to do.

kevin roose

Right. Not their intent, not what they were told they were going to be working on, and not something they were comfortable with.

michael barbaro

And Kevin, thinking about this, its hard to imagine that the U.S. military would not use U.S. technology, American-made technology like this, in warfare. That seems inevitable, doesnt it?

kevin roose

Well, right. I mean as long as there has been a U.S. tech industry, theres been a partnership with the U.S. government and with the military. I mean, the original internet came out of a Defense Department project.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

kevin roose

And since then, lots of advances in technology have been spurred by this collaboration between the Pentagon and Silicon Valley. And a lot of these companies already provide technology to the military. I mean, a lot of military computers run Windowss operating system. But this was a bridge too far for these employees. They say, were O.K. basically providing general-use technology, the same stuff that you and I could go and buy. But the specific development of our technology for use in this specific case crosses a line for us, and we dont want to be a part of it.

michael barbaro

So Kevin, whats interesting to you about this story?

kevin roose

Well, Im interested in the ethical debate around the use of artificial intelligence and other technologies. But Im also a business reporter. I think this is a decision that is not just being made along ethical lines. These companies are also thinking about their businesses and the amount of money and the profitability of developing these systems for the military. So I wanted to look at it along those lines, as well. Lets just bracket the ethical discussion for a second and say, does this make financial sense?

michael barbaro

Well, not just bracket it, right? Isnt a company often going to make decisions about moral dilemmas based on the implications to their finances?

kevin roose

Exactly. These are not philanthropies or think tanks. These are for-profit corporations that generally operate on a cost-benefit calculation. And so just on that plane, I wanted to see, does this make sense for them? [MUSIC] And so, I did a little bit of digging, and I went back about 50 years in history, and I found an example of a company that sold something to the military and later came to regret it.

michael barbaro

Which was what?

kevin roose

Its the case of Dow Chemical. In 1965, Dow Chemical is this small, little-known chemicals company based in Michigan. They make lots of different things  household chemicals, agricultural chemicals.

archived recording

Now, at your favorite grocery store, the most amazing food wrap ever developed!

kevin roose

They were probably best known for making Saran Wrap.

michael barbaro

Heard of it.

archived recording (speaker 1)

Have you tried Saran Wrap? It really is amazing! And look, Saran Wrap clings like magic!

archived recording (speaker 2)

Saran Wrap is a product of the Dow Chemical Company.

archived recording (speaker 3)

[JET PLANES AND EXPLOSIONS] Vietnam. United States helicopter gunships backed up ground forces in a strong assault on a Viet Cong position 

kevin roose

Meanwhile, the Vietnam War is happening. And in 1965, Dow Chemical wins a contract with the Department of Defense to produce a new chemical called napalm B. And napalm, which is a highly flammable gel that binds and sticks to things and then burns them  had been in use. But napalm B was the new formulation, and the military was very excited in using this in Vietnam.

archived recording

Troops followed up the advantage gained by the air support to knock out the V.C.

kevin roose

They thought it had a lot of promise on the battlefield. It was hard to contain and hard to put out. It was a very effective form of weaponry  a very horrible form of weaponry. And it produced very, very bad burns on people. They would basically be burned alive. And so, theres not much noise about this for the first little while. And then Americans start seeing images from the Vietnam War. And for a lot of people, this is their first time seeing the effects of napalm.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

kevin roose

Most famously, theres this photograph  youve probably seen it. It won the Pulitzer Prize. It is a photograph of a 9-year-old girl whos been badly burned by a napalm weapon.

archived recording (martin luther king jr.)

So far we may have killed a million of them, mostly children.

kevin roose

And it sort of shocks the American public, and it galvanizes the anti-war movement.

archived recording (martin luther king jr.)

What do they think as we test out our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe?

archived recording

[CROWDS CHANTING] No more napalm! No more napalm! No more napalm! No more napalm!

kevin roose

And they decide to go after the use of napalm by U.S. armed forces. And the way that they do that is by going after Dow Chemical.

archived recording

[CROWDS CHANTING]

archived recording (speaker 1)

This is Monday afternoon, November 20, on the San Jose State college campus. What youre watching is the result of a demonstration that began about an hour ago.

kevin roose

They staged demonstrations outside the companys headquarters, and they go to dozens of colleges where Dow was recruiting students to come work for them.

michael barbaro

Hm.

archived recording

The professors against the war and the Students for a Democratic Society had marched in front of the administration building to protest the recruitment on this campus by Dow Chemical Company of employees.

kevin roose

And they protest the recruiting sessions. They have signs like Dow deforms children, Dow deals death.

archived recording

Theyre not allowing anyone in. Like, the only people theyre allowing in are those people that are connected with Dow. [PROTESTERS SHOUTING]

kevin roose

My favorite story from this period is that the Dow recruiters  the people that would go to campus to talk to the students  they would get locked up in classrooms. They would get, like, held hostage by the activists. And at one point, one of the recruiters got so used to this that he started bringing a sandwich in his briefcase, so that if the inevitable happened and he got locked in a room with a bunch of angry protesters 

michael barbaro

He would survive the day.

kevin roose

He would at least have lunch.

michael barbaro

So this sounds like a complete corporate nightmare  that your company is so associated with war and with death, and not with the household product that you make  Saran Wrap.

kevin roose

Right. And Dow was particularly offended by this because napalm was a very small part of its business. I mean, it accounted, I think, for a half of 1 percent of its annual sales. And yet it had sort of come to take over its corporate identity. So there was some internal discussion, there were some debates within the company and at the board level about what to do, whether to stop manufacturing napalm. And there were lots of reasons for that. I mean, there were customer boycotts. They did take a financial hit. And they had to do a lot to counter their corporate reputation as a warmonger. But what they really worried about was recruiting. They worried that on these visits to college campuses they werent going to get the best people. They werent going to get the scientists and the engineers who would help them in the years ahead. And as a result, they would have long-term costs, not just financial, but also in terms of what they were missing out on.

michael barbaro

The future employee with moral objections to napalm, who doesnt come work at Dow Chemical and make the next blockbuster product.

kevin roose

Right. But ultimately, they decided to stand their ground. They said, we have a duty to produce napalm for the U.S. government. Its our patriotic obligation, and we can withstand the controversy.

michael barbaro

Dow Chemical feels like such an extreme case, and it feels quite different from whats going on with these tech companies today.

kevin roose

Yeah, absolutely. These are not totally comparable. I mean, the Vietnam War, at this point, was extremely unpopular. You had these horrific images coming back. Theres no good use for napalm, right? Theres no pro-social, healthy use for napalm. Its a weapon. Whereas a lot of these technologies  A.I., facial recognition, image recognition, augmented reality  these can all be used for very productive and healthy things. Its only when you put them into a certain context that they can be used for harm.

michael barbaro

And that would seem to be the case for most tech companies, right? They are developing products not explicitly for the military. They just happen to be used that way.

kevin roose

Exactly.

archived recording

Artificial intelligence, drones, warfare and Google  its a mixture that caused an uproar inside the tech giant, where the early motto was Dont be evil.

kevin roose

There was a big controversy at Google last year, about this military contract known as Project Maven.

archived recording

Google is developing artificial intelligence to analyze drone video data.

kevin roose

And this was a Defense Department program that basically used A.I. and image-recognition technology to interpret video images.

michael barbaro

Mm-hmm.

kevin roose

So the same kind of A.I. that Google would use in Google Photos, or in its self-driving car unit to recognize images out on the road 

archived recording

It would apparently be used as part of a drone program.

kevin roose

 could be used to, for example, improve the targeting of drone strikes to make drone strikes more accurate, to be able to recognize certain people or certain buildings and be able to direct a drone at that target specifically.

michael barbaro

Again, not what Google engineers probably ever thought the technology would be used for.

kevin roose

Exactly, I mean, they didnt sign up for that. And some of them didnt even know that this was happening.

archived recording

Thousands of Google workers now protesting Googles involvement in a Pentagon drone program.

kevin roose

So there was a big uproar. There was lots of heated internal meetings.

archived recording

At least 10, maybe 12 employees did resign.

kevin roose

Some resignations 

michael barbaro

Wow. People quit the company over it.

kevin roose

Yeah, people quit the company over it.

archived recording

Meantime, thousands of Google employees have signed a letter protesting the companys participation in an artificial intelligence project by the Pentagon.

kevin roose

There was a petition that was signed by thousands of Google employees.

archived recording

Quote, We believe that Google should not be in the business of war. Therefore we asked that Project Maven be canceled.

kevin roose

Calling for the company to not only not enter into this contract, but to stop making tools of weaponry altogether. And ultimately 

archived recording

Tech giant Google will end a project with the Pentagon.

kevin roose

Google bowed to the pressure. They pulled the contract. They said they wouldnt renew it. They put out a statement saying, well still work with the military on other projects, but were not going to manufacture weapons and weapons-related technology. And that seemed to quiet the unrest. [MUSIC]

michael barbaro

I feel like people would be surprised that a huge tech company like Google would back down like that.

kevin roose

Yeah, I mean, it does speak to the difference between a conventional contractor like Dow Chemical and these tech companies. I think there are three main differences there. The first is that these companies are beloved. They have loyal followings and they dont want to do anything to upset that. The second is that these companies are very idealistic. And in Silicon Valley, this is a big deal. Companies market themselves not just as profitable enterprises, but as humanitarian projects. And anything that compromises that hurts them.

michael barbaro

Right. World-changers.

kevin roose

Totally. And I think the biggest difference is that employees at these companies  especially the engineers who work on very specialized projects like A.I. development  have a ton of leverage, because there are not very many of them, they make a ton of money, and theyre really hard to recruit. If a couple of chemical engineers walk out of Dow Chemical in protest, they can probably find some more where that came from. But if hundreds or thousands of A.I. engineers are upset about a project that Google is working on, thats a real threat to their business. It doesnt take many people staging a protest, or threatening to walk out to really get the attention of senior leadership.

michael barbaro

So these three differences that you just laid out explain why Dow didnt back down, despite images of dying children affected by their products, whereas Google did back down, long, long before anything like that happened to it.

kevin roose

Right. And I want to be clear: What happened at Google was the exception, not the rule. This is not happening in any vast quantity across the tech industry. At Microsoft, for example, they came right out and said, we appreciate the objections of this small group of employees. They can move elsewhere in the company if they want, but were committed to seeing this contract through. And theyve defended themselves by saying, we have a patriotic duty to provide technology to the military. We think that we can advocate for the ethical use of technologies like AI if were at the table in these discussions. And they say that basically, these technologies could be good. These could save lives on the battlefield. The army has said it wants to use HoloLens not just for combat training, but for things like measuring vital signs, and monitoring soldiers for concussions, and having some sort of hearing protection on peoples ears. So those are the kinds of arguments theyre making to justify staying in these contracts.

michael barbaro

So the argument here being that engineers who came to these companies to do good, having their technology used by the military does not necessarily mean not doing good.

kevin roose

Yeah, I mean, thats one of the arguments that theyre making, is that, basically, if the U.S. military doesnt have the best technology available on the market, our adversaries will, and we will be endangered as a result.

michael barbaro

I guess the question is, do the engineers buy that argument?

kevin roose

Well, some of them probably do. But as weve seen, a number of them dont. [MUSIC]

michael barbaro

So Kevin, we started by talking about this intersection of the moral and the financial as these tech companies navigate this question of, should they work with the military? Whats your understanding in Silicon Valley about how these companies are thinking about that?

kevin roose

So I think a lot of these companies have really shifted their view on this in the last couple of years. A lot of Silicon Valley companies used to just think of themselves as toolmakers, right? We build this stuff, and we put it out into the world, and people use it. And our responsibility, basically, stops at the moment of sale.

archived recording (mark zuckerberg)

To me, entrepreneurship is about creating change, not just creating companies.

kevin roose

And now, I think were seeing that these companies are being held responsible by the public and by their own employees, not just for the tools theyre building, but for how theyre being used in the world. And this is not just about the military.

archived recording

At this hour some 300 programmers are threatening to leave Microsoft unless the tech giant drops its contract with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, known as ICE.

kevin roose

I mean, also, companies are being scrutinized for working with ICE or working with law enforcement.

archived recording

An Amazon worker is pushing the company to stop selling facial recognition technology to law enforcement.

kevin roose

Social media companies are being held responsible for bad things that happen on their platforms.

archived recording

Facebook defending Alex Jones this morning, saying the platform will continue to allow the video blogger to run video on its site, even as it claims to crack down on fake news.

kevin roose

This is really happening across technology. And as technology embeds itself into every part of our lives, were seeing that these companies are having to make new kinds of decisions. Its not just a dollars-and-cents profit-and-loss calculation anymore. They also have to consider what might happen out in the world once they release these technologies.

michael barbaro

Which is another way of saying that the morality element of this is now playing a much bigger role than it has in the past, and perhaps is not beating out financial, but rivaling it?

kevin roose

Its certainly part of the discussion now in a way it hasnt been before. Its not just about how much money well make, or how many resources it will take. Its about what were building, and why were building it, and who were selling it to. [MUSIC]

michael barbaro

Kevin, thank you very much.

kevin roose
Here is everything I knew about Mafolie before I went to the Caribbean island of St. Thomas in January: It was one of the original hilltop estates, given to my grandparents by my great-grandfather as a wedding present in 1936. The views, of Magens Bay to the north and Charlotte Amalie harbor to the south, were supposedly among the most-acclaimed in the Caribbean.

When my father was a child, the estate was 42 acres, but when his parents divorced, he returned to the mainland with his mother and didnt go back, or see his father, for 25 years. When he did return, in July 1973, he had a Ph.D., a wife and a baby daughter, and the estate had been subdivided. My grandfather had managed to keep the original house, the Great House and two acres. We went back the following summer, when I was 3, and that is the last time any of us saw Mafolie.

My father is a university professor, a scientist skeptical of what he calls my humanist love of place. And yet he was the one who kept a framed pair of maps of St. Thomas, one of the biggest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, on the wall behind his dining room chair all the years I was growing up. He is the one who said the view from Mafolie had been described as the eighth wonder of the world, and told me about my grandfather playing horseshoes in the evening, his cocktail in a glass the shape of a bud vase so it could be slipped into his shirt pocket. I share my fathers deep love of his second landscape, the Connecticut River valley, but this first, tropical place was a mystery to me.
The unavoidable tension in attacking the opioid crisis is which time frame youre talking about.

In the short term, many policies that would limit opioid prescriptions for the purpose of saving lives would cause people to turn to heroin or fentanyl.

In fact, over a 5-to-10-year period, that would increase deaths, not decrease them, according to a simulation study published in the American Journal of Public Health. The study was conducted by three Stanford University researchers, Allison Pitt, Keith Humphreys and Margaret Brandeau.

This doesnt mean these policies should not be considered, said Mr. Humphreys, a former senior policy adviser at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy during the Obama administration. Over longer periods, they will reduce deaths by reducing the number of people who initiate prescription opioids.

A large proportion  80 percent by one estimate  of heroin users in the United States previously used prescription opioids. In some cases, they were directly prescribed narcotic pain relievers, perhaps after a painful dental procedure or operation. In addition, drugs prescribed to one person can be diverted to others who dont use them for medical purposes. So restricting opioid prescriptions would seem to make sense.
An outpouring of help as a church prepares for evacuees

Scores of volunteers converged on Providence Baptist Church in Opelika on Monday and began sorting supplies, which were soon stacked high on folding tables.

There were piles of clothes and pyramids of blankets. Beneath one table, a cardboard box held Ziploc bags of essentials: toilet paper, toothpaste, soap and the like. Cases of bottled water lined one wall.

This is how things work in a small community: When help is needed, everyone gets together and gets it done, said Scarlett Baker, who was serving as the de facto mayor of the relief operation at Providence.

By midmorning, her wish list was becoming clearer: Childrens Motrin and Tylenol, so those with mild fevers could avoid crowded hospitals. Baby wipes. Ointments.

The church was preparing for a possible influx of evacuees after sundown on Monday. During the day, volunteers said, they expected that many people were out trying to salvage what remained of their homes.

Heres how you can help

If youre outside the affected area, sending money to established charities is the best way to help. The American Red Cross can be reached by phone at (334) 749-9981 or online. The Alabama Governors Relief Fund is also accepting donations.

The Red Cross is also a good place to start if youre in the area hit by the tornadoes. The organization is leading the effort to help people find family members, and is working with Providence Baptist Church to establish a shelter.

The Church of the Highlands, with locations across the state, is assembling groups of volunteers.
LOS ANGELES  Once again taking aim at President Trump, California on Monday filed its 47th lawsuit against the administration, this time to block a move that would effectively strip millions of federal dollars from reproductive health providers that perform abortions and abortion referrals.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has become one of Mr. Trumps most aggressive critics, said Monday that the administrations changes to Title X, the federal family planning program, would punish doctors and clinics for giving women a comprehensive portrait of their reproductive options. The administration announced those changes last month.

This is 2019, not 1920, Mr. Becerra said in an interview. Jeopardizing the health of women is not what we should be doing in the year 2019.

On Monday, 20 other states, plus Washington, D.C., said they would file a separate lawsuit challenging the same restrictions.
Good morning.

(If you dont already get California Today emailed to you, heres the sign-up.)

Over the weekend, District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced that the Sacramento police officers who killed Stephon Clark would not face criminal charges.

Mr. Clark, a 22-year-old, unarmed black man, was shot last year in his grandmothers backyard. Police officers fired their weapons 20 times in Mr. Clarks direction within seconds of turning a blind corner. A Times analysis of video of the shooting found that the gunfire continued after Mr. Clark had fallen to his hands and knees.

Was a crime committed? Theres no question that a human being died, Ms. Schubert said on Saturday in Sacramento. But when we look at the facts and the law, and we follow our ethical responsibilities, the answer to that question is no.

The announcement led to a new round of protests in the city, as well as renewed calls for justice from Mr. Clarks family, including from his brother, Stevante Clark.
As governor from 2011 until he reached his term limits in 2019, Mr. Hickenlooper employed a careful, consensus-building approach that won him praise from both sides of the aisle and helped him guide Colorado out of a recession and through a series of floods, wildfires and mass shootings in the first years of his tenure. When he left office in January, his state had one of the nations best economies.

He had also signed a contentious gun control package that included universal background checks, and helped Colorado become the first state in the nation to enact methane capture requirements, a measure he has said was equivalent to taking 320,000 cars off the road every year.

[Whos in, whos out, whos thinking about it. Check out our presidential candidate tracker.]

But even in Colorado, fellow Democrats have expressed skepticism that his signature low-key approach will translate to national success.

I dont think John has at all defined why he is running, said Rick Ridder, a political strategist and longtime friend of Mr. Hickenlooper. There are very few people I know who wake up and want to go caucus to support a raging moderate.

Gary Hart, the former Colorado senator and Democratic presidential candidate, predicted that Mr. Hickenlooper would appeal to primary voters because he does not have a lot of pretensions. But Mr. Hart noted that the candidate would have to harden his stances fast, in order to attract the most passionate party activists in the run-up to the primaries.

Theyre also going to say: Fine, governor, Im glad you can reach across the aisle, now whats your stance on abortion? Mr. Hart said.

(Mr. Hickenlooper supports abortion rights, though it has not been a central issue for him.)

The former governor will kick off his campaign with a rally in Denver on Thursday, then travel to Iowa on Friday and Saturday.
MCALLEN, Tex.  She trembled as she sat on the witness stand. She kept her head down and avoided looking at the man at the defense table only a few feet away.

In the blue-carpeted courtroom in the Texas border city of McAllen, she was identified only by her initials, M.M.U.T. She had come from Honduras, she told the court, and the smugglers who helped her cross the border had placed her with about a dozen other migrants at a stash house near McAllen. The man in charge was known as El Gordo  the Fat One.

When one of the migrant women escaped one morning, El Gordo forced M.M.U.T. to go with him in his truck to search for her, she testified. He drove her to an unoccupied trailer some distance away.
North Carolinas Ninth Congressional District will remain without representation in the House until at least September.

The state elections board, which concluded last month that fraud had tainted Novembers voting for the seat, ruled on Monday that a new open primary would be held in the district on May 14 and a new general election on Sept. 10. If a second primary is required  a second-place candidate may request another round of voting if no one receives at least 30 percent of the vote  the general election would be pushed to November.

The off-year race, likely to be competitive, expensive and closely scrutinized for signs of new misconduct, drew a handful of candidates even before the board set the schedule. The filing period for candidates begins next week.

There is scarce precedent for a start-to-finish redo of a congressional election, and officials in both parties are bracing for a season of sharp-edged advertisements and high-profile campaign stops, after a scandal that left North Carolina voters shaken.
John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado, faces a basic challenge in the crowded Democratic presidential primary: He is a centrist in a party thats moving to the left. While he has shifted in some areas, he will still be running to the right of the most prominent candidates, with more of an emphasis on pragmatism than idealism.

[Read about Mr. Hickenloopers entrance into the race here.]

Here are some of the issues hes likely to discuss.

Gun control

Mr. Hickenlooper spent eight years as mayor of Denver, less than 10 miles from the sites of two of the nations worst mass shootings: Columbine High School and Aurora, Colo. He was governor at the time of the Aurora theater shooting, in which 12 people were killed and more than 50 were injured. In the aftermath, Colorado legislators passed universal background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines. Mr. Hickenlooper wants to enact similar policies, along with a higher minimum age to buy certain firearms, at the federal level.
WASHINGTON  When Representative Ilhan Omar landed a coveted seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Stephen Fiske began working the phones to Capitol Hill.

Alarmed by messaging that he saw as anti-Semitic and by Ms. Omars support for the boycott-Israel movement, Mr. Fiske, who was a longtime activist with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, began texting and calling his friends in Congress to complain. He is hoping Aipac activists will punish Ms. Omar, a freshman Democrat from Minnesota, with a primary challenge in 2020.

On Wednesday, House Democratic leaders will mete out one form of punishment: Spurred by outrage over Ms. Omars latest comments suggesting that pro-Israel activists push for allegiance to a foreign country, they will put a resolution condemning anti-Semitism on the House floor.

Many other people involved in the pro-Israel community, a lot of Aipac-affiliated members, theres a lot of concern; theres a clarion call for activism, said Mr. Fiske, who is the chairman of a political action committee that backs pro-Israel candidates. It really hit a nerve, and the grass-roots Jewish community in South Florida is not one to treat it as an ostrich, putting their heads in the sand.
WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would not hear a case about whether a New Jersey county could allow churches to participate in grant programs for historic preservation even though the State Constitution forbids using tax money for building or repairing any church.

From 2012 to 2015, Morris County, N.J., gave more than $4.6 million to 12 churches to fix facades, stained-glass windows and aging roofs under a historic preservation program limited to local government, charitable conservancies and religious institutions.

Last year, the New Jersey Supreme Court halted payments to the churches, saying the State Constitution specifically prohibits them. The court also ruled that the prohibition in the State Constitution did not run afoul of the federal Constitutions guarantee of free exercise of religion.

As is the United States Supreme Courts custom, its brief order gave no reasons for turning down appeals from a county board and a church. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh filed an opinion agreeing with the courts decision not to hear the case but noting his view that the decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court is in serious tension with this courts religious equality precedents.
WASHINGTON  Justice Clarence Thomas was busy in February. As usual, he asked no questions during Supreme Court arguments. But he made up for his silence with three opinions in eight days that took issue with some of the courts most prominent precedents.

He called on Feb. 19 for the court to reconsider New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 decision that provided the press with broad First Amendment protections against libel suits brought by public officials. The Sullivan case  and rulings extending it  Justice Thomas wrote, were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law.

The next day, he criticized Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion, calling it notoriously incorrect and the product of misguided efforts to identify and protect fundamental rights under the due process clause of the 14th amendment.

A week later, he expressed skepticism about Gideon v. Wainwright, the 1963 decision that said the Sixth Amendment requires the government to provide lawyers to poor people accused of serious crimes. Justice Thomas wrote that the Sixth Amendment, as understood by those who drafted and ratified it, guaranteed only the right to hire a lawyer.
WASHINGTON  A federal judge on Monday rejected a request that he speed up consideration of a lawsuit filed on behalf of Hoda Muthana, an American-born woman who joined the Islamic State group in 2014 and is now stranded in a refugee camp in Syria with her 18-month-old son, the child of a slain ISIS fighter.

But the judge, Reggie Walton of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, also suggested that he took a positive view of legal arguments that Ms. Muthana may be an American citizen, contrary to the governments declaration that she is not one.

The fate of Ms. Muthana, whose family lives in Alabama, has raised novel legal issues and become a political flash point since she surrendered to coalition forces fighting ISIS and said last month that she wanted to come home. In response, the Trump administration said she was not a citizen and would not be allowed back.

The judges ruling that there are insufficient grounds to expedite the litigation means that her case is unlikely to be resolved until late spring or summer. But his comments also provide a reason to believe that she may ultimately prevail. Charlie Swift, a lawyer hired by her father, said after the hearing that he was encouraged by Judge Waltons views and hoped it was foreshadowing of the outcome.
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today: Once the special counsels report has been released, its up to Congress and its oversight committees to determine what happens next. As head of the Judiciary Committee, much of that will fall to Representative Jerry Nadler. Part 3 of what to expect from the Mueller report. Its Tuesday, March 12.

archived recording (erin burnett)

And good evening. Im Erin Burnett. OutFront tonight: The biggest threat to President Trump. His name  and its a person  is Jerry Nadler.

archived recording 1

Jerry Nadler.

archived recording 2

Jerry Nadler.

archived recording 3

Jerry Nadler of New York, the Democratic head of the House Judiciary Committee.

archived recording (erin burnett)

The committee with the power to lead impeachment proceedings against the president of the United States.

archived recording 4

He is investigating, quote, allegations of obstruction of justice, public corruption and other abuses of power.

archived recording 5

Democrats, led by House Judiciary chairman Jerry Nadler, are carpet-bombing the White House with document requests.

archived recording 6

He is now facing a brand-new investigation, the widest since the launch of the Mueller inquiry.

archived recording 7

This has given folks at the White House an idea of what theyre in for the next two years or so as Democrats lay the groundwork for 2020 and a possible impeachment.

representative jerry nadler

Testing, 2, 4, 6. Testing, 3, 6, 9. Testing, 4, 8 12. We can do the 5s.

speaker

Lets hear it! [PHONE RINGING]

michael barbaro

Hello. Congressman?

representative jerry nadler

Hi.

michael barbaro

Hi. How are you?

representative jerry nadler

O.K. How are you?

michael barbaro

Good. Thank you again for making some time for us. We really appreciate it.

representative jerry nadler

Youre quite welcome.

michael barbaro

So Congressman, over the last couple of weeks on The Daily, weve explained to listeners how the Mueller report will be released. It goes to the attorney general. The attorney general then releases a report on the report that goes to Congress. And weve explained that it will either say we have evidence the president committed a crime, or we dont have that evidence. We wanted to talk to you about what happens when that report gets to you.

representative jerry nadler

We investigate further. The fact that he committed a crime is of great interest. Its not necessarily a guarantee of impeachment. Those are two different tests, as you know. We have a responsibility well beyond the Mueller report. We have an obligation to do our own work. The Mueller report is only for what happened with respect to Russian interference in the election and with complicity by Americans in that interference and what crimes were committed and by whom. We have to be considerably broader. I mean, thats part of our work, but our basic work is to provide for the rule of law, make sure that the rule of law is protected. That means that we have to look into obstruction of justice, into corruption, into abuses of power. And certainly what Mueller is looking into is part of that, but we have to be much broader.

michael barbaro

You said that a Mueller report that says the president committed a crime is not necessarily grounds for impeachment. Can you help me understand what you mean by that? Whats a scenario in which the Mueller report says the president committed a crime but wouldnt equal impeachment, necessarily, in your mind?

representative jerry nadler

Well, you have to understand that not every crime is an impeachable offense, and an impeachable offense neednt be a crime. There are two different tests. So for example, if the Mueller report were to show that the president committed perjury with respect to money laundering five years ago in some scheme in New York to cheat  I dont know. That would not be impeachable, because impeachment is an abuse of presidential power for the purpose or with the effect of aggrandizing power to the executive, of damaging liberty or the structure and functioning of government, the separation of powers. Thats whats impeachable. Also, corruptly obtaining an election would be impeachable. But crimes that dont bear on that would not be impeachable. So I said 20 years ago that the presidents perjury about a private sexual affair was not impeachable. And if President Trump were to be shown to have perjured himself about some business deal, that would not be impeachable. But if he were shown to commit perjury or to do something else that affected the structure and functioning of government or democratic rights or the integrity of elections, that would be impeachable.

michael barbaro

So what do you do if the Mueller report says that the president committed a crime like money laundering five years ago but did not commit what you see as an impeachable offense?

representative jerry nadler

Well, if the president was shown to have committed a crime of money laundering five years ago, I would hope the New York  he should be prosecuted for that.

michael barbaro

In New York, right?

representative jerry nadler

Yeah, in New York, by the federal Southern District of New York or by the New York authorities or both, period. Thats the criminal justice system. Now the Justice Department maintains, wrongly in my opinion, that a sitting president cannot be indicted while in office, so they will not indict a president for committing some crime. I think its the wrong policy. I think they should be able to indict a president while hes in office, but thats not the real function of what were doing in our committee. Our committees job is not a criminal justice job. Thats up to the Department of Justice. Thats up to the New York state authorities. Our job is to protect the structure of democratic government and the liberties of the people. If the president committed a crime that has nothing to do with this, well, he ought to be prosecuted, but thats not our business. Were not a law enforcement agency.

michael barbaro

O.K., well, lets flip this around and say the Mueller report finds that the president committed a crime that is absolutely grounds for impeachment. What do you do then?

representative jerry nadler

Well, we have to further investigate it. Lets put it this way. We have to do all these investigations now that were starting to do focused on obstruction, corruption, abuse of the power structure, et cetera. If we find that the president is guilty of that, then we have to decide what we can do about it. Impeachment is one option. But impeachment is the decision to be made further down the road, and its a very high bar. But it certainly would be on the table if we were to find that.

michael barbaro

Do you know what the bar is in your mind?

representative jerry nadler

Yes, and Ive said it many times. I think theres a threefold test for impeachment, really. Number one, has the president committed impeachable offenses? Number two, are those serious? And if the answer to the first two is yes, I think theres one further test, and that is impeachment cannot be partisan. What you dont want to do is divide the country so that half the country thinks for the next 30 years, we won the election. You stole it from us. You dont want to embitter the country. The situation has to be such that you believe when you start the impeachment proceeding that the evidence you have is so persuasive of such terrible deeds that once the evidence is laid out, an appreciable fraction of the voters who voted for Trump will reluctantly say you had to do it. Youre not just trying to steal the election.

michael barbaro

But the first two conditions you laid out  is it impeachable, is it serious  those feel quite subjective. So I wonder if any argument to impeach will inevitably feel partisan and therefore make your third 

representative jerry nadler

Any argument 

michael barbaro

 condition hard, which is consensus?

representative jerry nadler

 to impeach is going to be political. Impeachment is a political task, and its intended to be by the Constitution. Yes, its going to be subjective. All political decisions are subjective. I shouldnt say that. Almost all political decisions are subjective. But if this occurs, people are going to be on both sides, and some people will think youre fair, and some wont. But you have to really depend on the facts that you have at that point. You have to have very strong proof of very dire facts. And by the way, let me just step back. Im a little concerned that were talking too much about impeachment. Our goal is not impeachment. Our goal is what I said a few minutes ago, to protect the rule of law, to protect the structure and functioning of government, to protect our liberties. Thats the basic goal. And if we can do that without impeachment, fine. If we have to do impeachment and if we meet the requirements so that we think we can do it, also fine.

michael barbaro

Understood. I want to ask you about some of the comments you have made ahead of the release of the Mueller report. You were asked a question, and in your response you said that you believed the president obstructed justice. And I wonder why you would 

representative jerry nadler

Let me say the following. I think there is a lot of evidence the president obstructed justice, but we have to go a lot further. We have to know a lot more.

michael barbaro

But I wonder why you would say that publicly before the release of the Mueller report. Whats the value in doing that? Does it not inherently portray whatever investigation 

representative jerry nadler

Well, I believe in answering questions honestly. I was asked the question. I didnt volunteer it. I was asked the question, and I said yes, I think certain things which 

michael barbaro

Right, and 

representative jerry nadler

 are in public view 

michael barbaro

 I like asking questions, but why not say, lets wait until the Mueller report comes out?

representative jerry nadler

Well, maybe I should have, but the fact is I think certain things that are in the public record make a strong case that there was obstruction, and other people say the same thing. But a strong case is not proof. Actually, I shouldnt say a strong case. A lot of evidence is a better way of putting it. Thats not necessarily proof, and certainly not enough to convince the country at this point, and we have to have a lot more evidence and a lot more facts, and we need to know what the Mueller report said, and we may need to know a lot more than what the Mueller report says.

michael barbaro

So re-asking the same question now that I think you were asked about 10 days or so ago, do you believe the president obstructed justice?

representative jerry nadler

I think theres a lot of evidence that he obstructed justice, and Mueller will tell us a lot more about that, and thats one of the things we have to know.

michael barbaro

Are you concerned  and I appreciate you saying that maybe you shouldnt have said it  but are you concerned that people will see this as a preconceived judgment? I know that at least some of your colleagues, like Jim Jordan, do see it that way heading into these investigations.

representative jerry nadler

No matter what I say or do, theyre going to say that. Its the Republican strategy to say I decided to impeach the president the day after the election. Its just an intent to distract. We havent decided. I havent decided to impeach. Some people have said that when I say, especially that third requirement, thats a very high bar  and some people have said it may be an impossible bar. It may be. The three tests that I have said I didnt invent. When we had the Clinton impeachment and I was a junior member of the committee, the first thing I did was to try to get my hands on everything thats been written from Blackstone onward as to whats an impeachable offense. But the second thing I did 20 years ago was I demanded that before we held hearings of the committee on fact, that we first hold a hearing on whats an impeachable offense. And even though I was a minority member of the committee, I persuaded people, and we did that. And so what Ive been talking about is basically what I got from that. I didnt make up this test.

michael barbaro

Well, Congressman, I do have to point out that you said that we were talking too much about impeachment, but now you are talking about impeachment.

representative jerry nadler

O.K., fair enough. But what Im trying to say is were not focused on that. We will take the facts where they lead, and well see.

michael barbaro

I want to stay with the topic of Mueller for a moment. You and your colleagues have held up Robert Mueller as a kind of gold standard of objectivity and fairness in all of this, as somebody who has the integrity, the background to kind of handle this properly. You have a lot of faith in him. Do you agree that there is basically no path to impeachment  sorry to use the word again  if the Mueller report finds no crimes?

representative jerry nadler

No, not necessarily. It depends what else we find. It depends what else is going on. There may be a lot of other things that we have to look into and that may be very damning.

michael barbaro

And as you said earlier, there is such a thing as an impeachable offense that is not a crime. Can you help us understand 

representative jerry nadler

Yes, theyre quite different tests.

michael barbaro

 what that might look like?

representative jerry nadler

O.K. An impeachable offense is not a crime. Well, misuse of the pardon power, for example, misuse of other powers of the presidency. It is not true, as Mayor Giuliani has said and as a lot of other people have said, that the president has the absolute right to do this, and therefore if he does this, it cannot be wrong. The president has the right to do certain things.

michael barbaro

Pardons, you mean.

representative jerry nadler

For example. The president has the absolute right to pardon anybody. But if the president was shown to pardon somebody in return for a $50,000 check, that would be a crime. It would also be an impeachable offense.

michael barbaro

Or to obstruct an investigation.

representative jerry nadler

Or to obstruct an investigation  in other words, if it were shown for a corrupt motive. So the motive is what counts in a lot of these things.

michael barbaro

So in November of 2016, right after President Trump was elected, you called for then-F.B.I. director James Comey to be forced out of his job because of how he handled the investigation of Hillary Clinton and his decision not to charge her with a crime yet still detail her wrongdoing for the public. We all remember that news conference and how that worked, and you called that unforgivable. If Robert Mueller says no crime has been committed when it comes to the president, would you, as head of the Judiciary Committee, still try to bring forward to the public the information behind the Mueller investigation? And if you were did you that, I wonder whats different in your mind between what Comey did and what you would be doing?

representative jerry nadler

Yes. Theres a fundamental difference. The Justice Department has a very salutary general policy, and that is if you dont indict somebody  why dont you indict somebody? You didnt have the evidence, obviously. Youve investigated so and so. Youre not indicting her or him. You dont comment negatively. You should, in a case of public notoriety, you should announce weve investigated. Were not indicting him. Thats fine. But you have a policy, which the Justice Department does, that the president cannot be indicted no matter how much evidence just because hes the president. Therefore we cant comment on evidence against him or anything else. Then youre converting a normally good policy into a cover-up, and youre depriving Congress of its ability to hold the president accountable. You, the Justice Department, wont hold him accountable because youve said you have no right to. You cant indict him. That leaves only Congress, and now youre going to deny Congress the right to the information. That makes the president unaccountable and above the law, and that cannot be.

michael barbaro

But just to be clear, if Mueller says no crimes, the public still needs to see the evidence regardless, because the rules are different here.

representative jerry nadler

No, the public needs to see the evidence, number one, so it can be confident that its true. Weve tried to protect Mueller because by all accounts hes an honest guy, et cetera, et cetera, and the investigation has to proceed. But whatever he says, we cant take it on faith. We dont operate that way. We shouldnt take things on faith. And if he says the president has committed crimes, we should know what the evidence is. If he says the president hasnt committed crimes, we should know what the evidence is. And if the president hasnt committed crimes but has done terrible things that he knows about, we should know that too. Or if the president has done nothing wrong, we should know that. The public has a great interest in the president, obviously.

michael barbaro

So I just want to be very clear on why the case of Comey is different from the case of Mueller in terms of using 

representative jerry nadler

Essentially because when he announced that he wasnt indicting Hillary, it was because he thought there wasnt enough evidence to indict Hillary, the normal reason you dont indict somebody. If Mueller decides not to indict the president, then the public ought to know that and hear that and see the evidence on which he bases that.

michael barbaro

So I want to talk to you, Congressman, about the politics of all of this and what the path forward might mean for the Democratic Party, because, as you know, the Republican Party has stood solidly behind the president this entire time. They have not budged at all. If Robert Mueller says at the end of the day that no crimes have been committed by the president, but your committee and others continue to investigate the president, are you concerned that this will inflict even more damage and partisanship on an already pretty divided and highly partisan American public 

representative jerry nadler

Not if we do it responsibly 

michael barbaro

 and maybe hurt the Democratic Party in the process?

representative jerry nadler

Not if we do it responsibly. Congress must hold the executive accountable. And that is with respect to crimes. Its respect to bad deeds. Its respect to corruption, et cetera, and its respect to policy. We have to provide the accountability, and we have to let the American people know what is being done in their names, and let them judge.

michael barbaro

But how do you explain to the American people, who are pretty exhausted by all this, why youre going to keep pursuing an investigation after Mueller 

representative jerry nadler

Well, it depends what he says and how much he covers, and that will help determine how much we have left to do. And the answer is that we cant rely on others to do the work for us. We have an obligation to do our own work. Thats why we were elected. And at the end of the day, the American people decide not the week after Mueller releases his report but election day next year whether we have acted responsibly or irresponsibly in a partisan or reasonable way.

michael barbaro

Well, would you put your belief in the need to pursue the facts over the short-term well-being of the Democratic Party if those two things seem to turn out to be at odds with one another and in conflict?

representative jerry nadler

I think its my constitutional duty to do so.

michael barbaro

This may sound a little corny, but in this moment, with everyone waiting for whats next, what message do you want to give to Americans on what we can see as kind of the eve of the Mueller report?

representative jerry nadler

What message? That, one, we have an administration that has attacked the institutions of government and of liberty on which we depend on in fundamental ways, and we have to rein it in. We have to make sure that the separation of powers is maintained and that liberty and the rule of law is maintained, and that the Mueller report will give us hopefully a lot of information, but that Congress has to do the job we were elected to do. And that the administration has to understand that the American people elected a Congress that wants to hold the administration accountable, and we will do that, and the Mueller report will help us do that to a greater or lesser extent, but its fundamentally our job.

michael barbaro

Congressman, thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.

representative jerry nadler

Youre welcome. Take care.

michael barbaro
michael barbaro

From The New York Times, Im Michael Barbaro. This is The Daily. Today: From the moment it was unveiled, it has divided Democrats and given a weapon to Republicans. The promise and the peril of the Green New Deal. Its Thursday, March 7. Coral, where does the story of the Green New Deal begin?

coral davenport

Well, most recently, we saw it ignite on February 7.

michael barbaro

Coral Davenport covers energy and the environment for The Times.

coral davenport

The day that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has, of course, skyrocketed in celebrity, essentially, to become this iconic figure on the left, introduced  its called a non-binding resolution.

archived recording

Beautiful.

archived recording (alexandria ocasio-cortez)

Thank you. Thank you, senator. And thank you to all of my colleagues here that have joined us today. This is so incredible.

coral davenport

Where she came forward at this press conference on Capitol Hill this freezing cold day. She wore a green suit.

archived recording (alexandria ocasio-cortez)

And I am so incredibly excited that we are going to transition this country into the future. And we are not going to be dragged behind by our past.

coral davenport

And laid out this set of sweeping, incredibly ambitious proposals about how to both tackle climate change and solve social injustice all in one package.

archived recording (alexandria ocasio-cortez)

So thank you all very, very much.

archived recording

Excellent. Thank you, Alexandria. Now, Id like 

michael barbaro

So how do Democrats react to this proposal from their new star freshman house colleague?

archived recording (kamala harris)

I am supporting the Green New Deal.

coral davenport

So it was amazing to see a number of the presidential candidates immediately embraced it.

archived recording

Does the Green New Deal go too far?

archived recording (bernie sanders)

No.

coral davenport

Bernie Sanders.

archived recording (bernie sanders)

You cannot go too far on the issue of climate change. The future of the planet is at stake.

coral davenport

Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand.

archived recording (kirsten gillibrand)

I support all the framework that the Green New Deal supports because 

coral davenport

Kamala Harris, Cory Booker.

archived recording (cory booker)

Our planet is in peril, and we need to be bold. Its one of the reasons why I signed on to the resolution and co-sponsored the resolution for the Green New Deal.

coral davenport

They didnt just embrace it. They co-sponsored it.

michael barbaro

Wow.

coral davenport

Which essentially says, were co-authors too.

archived recording (cory booker)

We need to push the bounds of human potential because that is our history.

coral davenport

It became clear that they could see that Representative Ocasio-Cortez had become this celebrity, had become this star, had galvanized the progressive left. And there is a tremendous eagerness, particularly on the part of the presidential candidates, to just jump right into that and harness that. They want to get that energy. And this is one of the first big policy things that she did. And so she just saw all of the  not just the progressive left, but the establishment Democrats, the more moderate Democrats, jumping on and saying, hey, this is mine too.

michael barbaro

So how much of that has to do with all these reports that say, basically, climate change is upon us. Its here. Its happening.

coral davenport

It has a lot to do with it. I think there are three key things that have contributed to the changing politics of climate change, Michael. One, as you said, absolutely  just in the past year or two alone, there have been major new reports that say, clearly and definitively, a lot of the extreme weather events that we are seeing now are caused by climate change. Second thing is polling shows that millennials, who will soon be the largest voting demographic  that this is an issue they care about more than almost anything else. Thats a big change. The third thing, I think, that politicians are paying attention to is President Trump. President Trump has made climate change an issue because he has elevated climate policy. He has said hes going to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. Hes rolling back climate change regulations. He mocks climate science. So all of those present a clear way for his prospective opponents to carve out a strong position against him.

michael barbaro

So it appeared the moment was uniquely right for something like this to come along.

coral davenport

Yes.

archived recording

The Green New Deal, a six-page resolution on issues related to Americas role in global climate change 

michael barbaro

OK, so what is actually in the Green New Deal?

coral davenport

So the Green New Deal is very broad. But in terms of climate change, it says 

archived recording

The Green New Deal calls for reducing carbon emissions to zero and moving the U.S. off of fossil fuels in 10 years.

coral davenport

The entire world needs to get to zero emissions by 2050.

archived recording

It would meet 100 percent of the power demand through clean and renewable energy sources.

coral davenport

A 10-year plan to slash CO2 emissions in the United States to get to getting 100 percent of U.S. electricity from clean and renewable sources, such as wind and solar.

archived recording

Eliminating gas-powered engines, like cars, making air travel obsolete, retrofitting all existing buildings 

coral davenport

So those are the broad strokes of what it says about climate change.

michael barbaro

And all of them are wildly ambitious.

coral davenport

Those are extremely ambitious, just in terms of energy and climate policy. But it also goes way, way, way beyond that. It talks about how working to achieve these goals could create new green jobs. But it also talks about guaranteeing health care, guaranteed minimum wage, family medical leave, paid vacations and retirement security to every American.

michael barbaro

So its kind of a kitchen sink of liberal aspirations. Its a little bit of everything.

coral davenport

It is a social progressive, liberal wish list, all bundled into this thing thats supposed to be about climate change with no clear policy prescriptions on how actually to achieve any of these goals. And just to be clear, this sounds a little inside baseball, but its important to note this whole sweeping proposal is also not even a bill.

michael barbaro

What is it?

coral davenport

It is a non-binding resolution, which is about the weakest thing that you can bring up in Congress. It is a statement of what you want, of what you would like to have. So if it were to ever pass, it would do nothing. It would be Congress saying 

michael barbaro

This is what we wish for.

coral davenport

Yeah.

michael barbaro

Got it. So its a kind of manifesto, more than anything.

coral davenport

Thats a good way of putting it, yes.

michael barbaro

So given that, what is the point of this? What is the point of the Green New Deal?

coral davenport

At this point, it seems that its really just about trying to get the party to come together with one voice and say, we care about this. These are the goals that we have as a party  which, for this particular party, which has often been fractured and divided, is not necessarily a small thing.

michael barbaro

So what happens next?

coral davenport

So soon after this resolution gets introduced, things start falling apart. The first thing that happened was there was a huge logistical scrub. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs office had sent out this sheet of talking points about what was in the package. Unfortunately, some of the things that were in the talking points actually werent in the package, including, for example, a guaranteed right to work for those unable or unwilling to work. And within days, you had Republicans saying, this is the best thing thats ever happened. This is rife with targets for us.

archived recording

The only thing green about the so-called Green New Deal is how much green its going to cost taxpayers if these people ever pass it into law.

archived recording (speaker 1)

You know, it was yes we can, but Im wondering if now, its yes we can become a socialist country. And I know 

archived recording (speaker 2)

Yeah, thats right. This is actually not about green energy. This is really about socialism. This is nothing more than a socialist Trojan horse. Thats why they 

michael barbaro

Because the impression thats left is that Democratic presidential candidates have signed on to something that seems to support paying people who are unwilling to work, which feels like, essentially, catnip to Fox News  to anyone in the conservative Republican world.

coral davenport

Absolutely. And Democrats are put on the defensive saying, no, no, no, I supported the bill, but I dont support this other thing thats a description of the bill. Thats a terrible position for them to be in. And of course, immediately, it created a backlash, not so much to climate change, but to this particular proposal.

archived recording (donald trump)

But they should stay with that argument. Never change. No planes, no energy  when the wind stops blowing, thats the end of your electric. Lets hurry  darling, is the wind blowing today? Id like to watch television, darling.

michael barbaro

And what happens with moderate Democrats? How are they responding to this proposal? So some of them started backtracking and saying, well, we will also be unveiling our own climate proposals in the campaigns. So it will be different from this. So I think a lot of Democrats are saying, wait a minute, lets find our own proposal that maybe is not quite this thing. And then it blew up even more when 

archived recording (speaker 1)

What are we doing here?

archived recording (speaker 2)

Were standing at  were asking for the New Green Deal 

archived recording (speaker 3)

And were trying to present this letter that weve made to Senator Feinstein.

coral davenport

We saw these supporters of the Green New Deal confronted Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat of California, one of the older members of the Senate, very much an establishment figure, someone whos always been considered a reliable yes vote on environmental issues, and 

archived recording (speaker 1)

Did you guys all skip school?

archived recording (speaker 2)

Yeah.

coral davenport

A group of student activists confronted her in the halls of the Senate.

archived recording

Promote the Green New Deal.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

Well, there are reasons why I cant, because theres no way to pay for it.

archived recording (speaker 1)

Yes, there is.

archived recording (speaker 2)

Yes, there is. Thats not true. [INTERPOSING VOICES]

archived recording

We have tons of money going to the military. Half of our  a lot ours is going to the military.

coral davenport

And Senator Feinstein kind of schooled them a little bit.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

And you just cant go in and say, O.K., were going to take hundreds of millions from here and hundreds of millions from there. It just doesnt work that way.

archived recording

But of course, our 

coral davenport

She was very realistic and pragmatic, but they flared right back up at her and said 

archived recording

But we have to come to a point where our earth is dying, literally. And it is going to be a pricey and ambitious plan that is needed to deal with the magnitude of that issue.

coral davenport

This does not represent what they want and what they need and what this generation needs at this time.

archived recording

Because that is the only way 

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

That resolution will not pass the Senate, and you can take that back to whoever sent you here and tell them.

archived recording

Why do think it wont pass?

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

Because it doesnt have a single Republican vote.

archived recording

But why does that stop you from voting yes? Because even if they vote  you can still vote yes, and it wont pass, and we can draft a new plan.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

Well, I may do that. Well see. [INTERPOSING VOICES]

archived recording

Please vote yes.

coral davenport

And it was this very dramatic moment that seemed to pit generation against generation.

archived recording

Senator, if this doesnt get turned around in 10 years, youre looking at the faces of the people who are going to be living with these consequences. [INTERPOSING VOICES] The government is supposed to be for the people and by the people and all for the people.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

You know whats interesting about this group is 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.

coral davenport

And the moment went viral. It looked bad for Senator Feinstein.

archived recording

I hear what youre saying, but were the people who voted you. Youre supposed to listen to us. Thats your job.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

How old are you?

archived recording

Im 16. I cant vote.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

Well, you didnt vote for me. [INTERPOSING VOICES]

archived recording

It doesnt matter. Were going to be the ones who are impacted.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

I understand that. [INTERPOSING VOICES] I have seven grandchildren.

archived recording

 regardless of whether they voted for you or not.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

I understand it very well.

archived recording

Senator, the 

coral davenport

Even though what she was telling them was the truth  this proposal, this resolution, has no chance of passage. Its not realistic legislation. It wont have bipartisan support. It doesnt make sense to put your back into something thats never going to turn into legislation that will be enacted. But that practical message was not resonating with these passionate student protesters.

michael barbaro

Right, it looks like a politician a bit callously telling young, idealistic kids, no, I will not protect the Earth in a way that you want me to.

coral davenport

Thats how it came across.

archived recording

Senator, we know that no plan is going to pass right now while the Republicans control the Senate. This is a long game. We need to be doing this to unite the Democratic Party. I dont know if youve noticed, but voters havent been particularly energized the last couple of years. We need something to fight for. Your constituents are asking you for this. And I really believe, and tens of thousands, millions 

coral davenport

And this is at a moment where the political strategists in the party are looking at this and saying, those are the kids whose votes we need. What are we going to do about this? We dont want them to be turned off by us in this way.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

I understand all of this. And Im trying to do the best I can, which was to write a responsible resolution.

archived recording (speaker 1)

Any plan that doesnt take bold transformative action is not going to be what we need.

archived recording (speaker 2)

We need your leadership.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

Well, you know better than I do. So I think one day, you should run for the Senate.

archived recording (speaker 1)

Great, I will. [INTERPOSING VOICES]

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

And then you do it your way. [INTERPOSING VOICES] In the meantime 

archived recording (speaker 3)

By that time, theres going to be a big problem.

archived recording (speaker 4)

We have a letter for you.

archived recording (dianne feinstein)

I just won a big election.

archived recording (speaker 5)

Yeah, that was the point of coming up to 

coral davenport

So all this happens. Democrats are trying to figure out what are we going to do here. And Senator Mitch McConnell 

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Now, Mr. President, on another matter.

coral davenport

 the Republican majority leader, who is a very smart, very savvy political operator 

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Our nation has watched the Democratic Party take a sharp and abrupt left turn toward socialism.

coral davenport

 basically seems to smell blood in the water, and stepped up and said, hey, why dont we just have a vote on this Green New Deal? And then all the Democrats can be on the record showing what they think of it.

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

And nothing encapsulates this as clearly as the huge, self-inflicted national wound the Democrats are agitating for called the Green New Deal.

michael barbaro

So he spots the division 

coral davenport

Absolutely.

michael barbaro

 sees the messiness, and says, what a great time to force the entire party to have to say, I want this, or I dont want this.

coral davenport

Absolutely. And that was the real sign that the whole thing had fallen apart and was coming unraveled, when it had truly turned into a weapon of the right.

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

Lets review a few of the greatest hits in this particular proposal. Democrats have decided every building in America needs to be either overhauled or replaced altogether. Forget about coal and all the jobs it supports in my state of Kentucky and around the country. Cars, lawnmowers, commercial airliners  everything must go. Everything must go. And by the way, all this and more, Mr. President, can be ours for the low, low price of a staggering expansion of centralized government and, wait for it, upwards of a mere $93 trillion. What a great idea. [MUSIC]

coral davenport

And at this point now, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has advised his caucus not to vote for or against it  simply to vote present when it comes up on the floor. And keep in mind, on the other side of the House, where Democrats have the majority, Nancy Pelosi has absolutely no intention of bringing this to the floor, because she knows its a problematic vote. And in fact, when she was asked about it early on, she stumbled over its name. She seemed to be very dismissive of it. She does not seem to take it seriously.

michael barbaro

So you know you have a problem when the Republicans are eager to put a Democratic resolution on the floor of the Congress, and the Democrats are trying to avoid having their resolution put on the floor of the Congress.

coral davenport

That is a clear sign, when the opposing party cant wait to take the thing and force you to vote on it  then yeah, things are not going well.

michael barbaro

Right. [MUSIC]

archived recording (mitch mcconnell)

The proposal is so lacking in details and math that its almost impossible for analysts to even know where to begin trying to connect it to the real world. So Mr. President, like any good socialist plan, Im sure wed hear a lot about soaking the rich.

michael barbaro

So Coral, where does this story pick back up?

coral davenport

So Senator Schumer, after getting a giant Green New Deal headache, on Wednesday morning goes on the Senate floor and starts talking about it.

archived recording (chuck schumer)

Now, Mr. President, maybe Leader McConnell doesnt realize this, but because of the political stunt vote hes planning on his version of Green New Deal, for the first time in a long time, the Senate is finally debating the issue of climate change. And its about time, if you ask me.

coral davenport

But he uses it as a moment to pivot and talk about several other new proposals.

archived recording (chuck schumer)

I understand my friends on the other side of the aisle dont like the Green New Deal. O.K., thats fine. Whats your plan? Maybe a lot of members think they can get away without having to answer the question. They wont. They wont. And thats why we need a committee focused on this.

coral davenport

One is creation of a new Senate committee to deal with climate change.

archived recording (chuck schumer)

I will introduce a resolution to create a new committee on climate. Democrats believe this is an issue of surpassing importance. What do our Republican colleagues believe? We hope sincerely that our Republican friends will come around and view it the same way.

michael barbaro

And Coral, whats going on exactly? What is Schumer doing here by suddenly talking about the Green New Deal and talking about the environment in such a formal, high-profile way?

coral davenport

Schumer is a politician, and so he sees that there is all of this millennial energy around the Green New Deal and around climate change. And hes looking at the fact that people are asking questions about this when candidates go out to town halls in a way that they never have. So he wants to harness all this energy. He wants to make sure that millennials who care about climate change are still excited about Democrats and dont think that these are fogies of yesteryear. But he wants to find a way to pivot away from the Green New Deal and come up, essentially, with a real piece of legislation that would be, probably, a lot more realistic and something that candidates could live with and that could be brought up on the Senate floor after an election.

michael barbaro

So not have climate change associated with universal health care 

coral davenport

Right.

michael barbaro

 or the possibility of paying people who arent working, but have it become part of the Democratic Party platform in a way that he feels is in line with where the partys politics are.

coral davenport

Right.

archived recording (chuck schumer)

Because climate change will not wait for the partisanship that so often defines this chamber to ebb, it will not pause while one partys in power. Its impacts will not discriminate between red states and blue states. Its time to put our party affiliations aside and agree that we face a major crisis caused by humans, and we have an immediate and glaring need to address it.

michael barbaro

And when I think of Schumer, I think of the embodiment of the partys middle.

coral davenport

Totally.

michael barbaro

A figure who is not a far-left figure. And so I wonder what it signals that hes the one out there embracing this as the future of the party.

coral davenport

That is the thing that I thought was the craziest of all. He has never elevated this. Hes never talked about it. Hes never pushed on it, because its never been seen as a vote-getter. So to all of a sudden see Chuck Schumer go out on the floor and talk like hes a climate evangelist is amazing. To be fair to Schumer, he said hes a new grandfather, too. So he cares about his grandchild. But I do think he is also looking at these polls, and looking at this Feinstein video that went viral, and freaking out a little bit and thinking, well, weve got to strategize for the next elections.

michael barbaro

So Coral, what do we make of this? First, the Green New Deal is the hot new thing. Then it is the hot potato. But somehow it landed with Schumer standing on the Senate floor, talking about climate change in this new, powerful way for him.

coral davenport

Yeah, so at the end of the day, Im very skeptical that the actual Green New Deal is going to be passed or put into effect. But this sudden skyrocketing to fame of the Green New Deal and Representative Ocasio-Cortez, and the rallying of the millennials, and even the pushback, even the fallout  it showed the Democratic Party leaders, even as middle-of-the-road political pragmatists, that there is a new energy and interest from a key demographic of voter that they care about. That was the effect of this whole Green New Deal roller coaster. And the outcome is were in new territory. I never thought I would write the sentence that Chuck Schumer wants to elevate the issue of climate change for campaigns, ever.

michael barbaro

So actually, you could argue that this resolution that seemed like a political fiasco in the beginning  it actually kind of worked. It injected this issue into the Democratic Partys bloodstream, just as people like Ocasio-Cortez and liberals, perhaps, intended.

coral davenport

Even if nothing that the Green New Deal calls for actually comes to pass, it has changed the conversation. It has changed the political calculus. And it has helped bring the issue of climate change into the top tier of political campaigns, a place its never been.

michael barbaro

Coral, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

coral davenport
With Senator Rand Pauls decision to support a resolution to block President Trumps emergency declaration, Congress appears ready to deliver a stern rebuke to the president over his border wall and a clear statement that it will defend its ability to control federal spending.

Senator Paul, a libertarian-minded Kentuckian, said he will join fellow Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, giving proponents of the resolution of disapproval the 51 votes they need, if Democrats remain united in their support.

On Monday, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, confirmed that the measure has the votes to pass the Senate. Senate leadership, he said, has been conferring with the Senate parliamentarian to see if the House-passed resolution could be amended before the vote.

Its an interesting question, Mr. McConnell said at a news conference in Kentucky. Its never been done before.
The skills that children master in arts education, he said, may be transferable to other curricular areas.

Mariale Hardiman, a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, where she directs the neuro-education initiative, was interested in how children do  and dont  retain what they learn in school. A lot of the information we teach doesnt stick.

What she saw as a school principal, she said, was that when arts were integrated into the curriculum, learning became more visible. Teachers told her the children would remember the information better when they taught it through the arts.

So though arts education has many other benefits, she said, such as creative thinking, her studies have focused on childrens memory for academic subjects, comparing what children remembered 10 weeks after material was taught. Researchers wrote two different versions of the curriculum, matched for content and timing, both involving active learning, but one including arts education. For example, in an arts integrated curriculum, students would sketch their vocabulary words, or learn some of the material as songs, or act out molecular motion with their bodies.

The children who had learned the material in the curriculum that made use of the arts remembered more, and the effect was largest among the children who were less strong academically, the lower performers.

We found the biggest difference with children at the lower level of achievement, Dr. Hardiman said. Could this be at least one lever for closing an achievement gap? After all, these are often the students who are condemned to dreary drill and repetition, in hopes of bringing them to a higher level: What if the arts are a lever of school reform, better than the drill and kill we do with remedial students?

In a 2019 article in the journal Trends in Neuroscience and Education, Dr. Hardiman and her colleagues described the results of a randomized controlled trial looking at fifth-graders who were taught science content, some using techniques from arts education, and others with more conventional instruction. The researchers again saw an effect on the students with more limited reading skills; they remembered more science if they had learned with the integrated arts methods.
Vows by Algerias ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to set early elections should he win a new term in April appear not to have satisfied the thousands of demonstrators who have rallied against his candidacy.

The youth who have been at the forefront of large-scale street protests against Mr. Bouteflikas bid for a fifth term demonstrated overnight Sunday, while opposition figures denounced the presidents concessions as a sham.

Protesters said their principal grievance  that Mr. Bouteflika is maintaining his candidacy after 20 years in office despite having a stroke in 2013 that left him paralyzed and nearly mute  had not been satisfied. Mr. Bouteflika, 82, has not spoken publicly in seven years and appears only rarely in images, seemingly immobile with his eyes fixed in front of him.

They were not impressed by a letter read out on state television on Sunday by his campaign director, in which the Algerian president said he would not be a candidate in any future election.
A helicopter carrying four Americans crashed in Kenya, killing them and the pilot, the Kenyan police said on Monday.

The National Police Service said in a Twitter thread that the helicopter crashed on Sunday evening in Central Island National Park, near the countrys northern border with Ethiopia. It said the cause of the crash had not yet been established.

United States officials confirmed the Americans deaths and provided the names of three of the victims  Anders Asher Jesiah Burke, Brandon Howe Stapper and Kyle John Forti  to The Associated Press on Monday.

The police service said the helicopter was one of two that had landed at a tented camp on the island, and that the other one had cleared the area safely. The Kenyan news outlet Capital FM Kenya reported early on Monday that the Americans were tourists who had visited the camp and were flying out when the crash occurred.
RIO DE JANEIRO  The top executives at Vale, Brazils largest mining company, agreed over the weekend to step aside temporarily at the request of prosecutors who are building a case of criminal negligence following a dam collapse at a Vale mining complex that left hundreds dead in January.

In a court document issued on Friday, federal and state prosecutors urged Vale to suspend its chief executive, Fabio Schvartsman, and eight other top executives, while the investigation into the Jan. 23 disaster in the town of Brumadinho in Minas Gerais state continues.

The legal filing, which contends that officials at Vale ignored warning signs and had inadequate safety protocols, made the unusual request that the company bar the top officials from company facilities and force them to cease all business operations.

Vale announced late Saturday night that its board of directors had agreed to heed the suggestion, saying Mr. Schvartsman and the other top officials would step down temporarily.
CARACAS, Venezuela  Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader, returned to the country on Monday and gave a speech before cheering crowds in defiance of President Nicolas Maduro, who had threatened to have him arrested if he came back.

We shout with resolve, may oppression die, said Mr. Guaido before supporters gathered in Caracas, the capital. They threatened us with jail, with death, but nothing will happen through persecution.

For days, it had been unclear whether Mr. Guaido would be able to return to Venezuela after he flouted a court-imposed order not to leave the country and made a failed attempt to move truckloads of aid into the country over Mr. Maduros objections.

When he arrived at the Simon Bolivar Airport near Caracas on Monday, after more than a week abroad, his supporters celebrated around him, hopeful he would breathe new life into the oppositions movement to topple Mr. Maduro.
BEIJING  The Chinese authorities announced sweeping espionage accusations against two Canadians  a former diplomat and a businessman  on Monday, days after Canada approved an extradition hearing for an executive of a Chinese technology giant, whose arrest in Vancouver has incensed Beijing.

The spying accusations, made on an official news website for the Chinese legal administration, focused on the former diplomat, Michael Kovrig, while the businessman, Michael Spavor, was described as his important source. The allegations appear likely to deepen a political rift between Canada and China that was prompted by the technology executives arrest.

While the Chinese report did not announce formal criminal charges against Mr. Kovrig or Mr. Spavor, it could be read as a menacing signal in Canada, where Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer for Huawei, a big Chinese telecommunications company, faces possible extradition to the United States for trial on fraud charges.

[Huawei is said to be preparing to sue the American government over efforts to ban its products.]

The report came two days before the Supreme Court of British Columbia is set to begin a hearing on Ms. Mengs possible extradition.
HONG KONG  Before she went on holiday with her boyfriend, the young woman from Hong Kong told friends about his pledge to her. He said I am his first and last girlfriend, the woman, Poon Hiu-wing, 20, wrote on Facebook. It would be her last Facebook post.

After their trip to Taiwan in February 2018, the boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, returned alone. Her family grew worried and called the police. One week later, investigators found her body in the bushes near a light rail station in northern Taiwan. An autopsy determined that she had been four to five months pregnant.

The police in Hong Kong arrested Mr. Chan, and last year he was charged over possession of his girlfriends cellphone, digital camera and $3,000 in cash.

But he was not charged with killing Ms. Poon.

Under Hong Kong law, Mr. Chan must face charges related to her death where it happened, in Taiwan. But Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement with Taiwan, so Mr. Chan has remained in Hong Kong.
A New Zealand native who joined the Islamic State should not lose his citizenship but may face charges if he returns home, the countrys prime minister said on Monday, outlining a milder approach than Britain and the United States have taken toward citizens with ties to the group.

The New Zealander, Mark Taylor, was widely ridiculed when he forgot to turn off Twitters location tagging function in 2014, and inadvertently gave away the positions of Islamic State fighters in Syria.

On Monday, the ABC, Australias public broadcaster, quoted Mr. Taylor as saying that he had fled the Islamic State in December and surrendered to Kurdish forces because living with the terrorist group had become too difficult. The ABC said he was being held in a Kurdish prison.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Monday that New Zealand had plans in place for any Islamic State fighters who try to return.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia  On a recent afternoon, a Chinese politics student at the University of British Columbia waited outside a seven-bedroom mansion, worth roughly 16 million Canadian dollars, in Vancouvers exclusive Shaughnessy neighborhood, hoping for a glimpse of Huaweis chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, Canadas most famous detainee.

But Ms. Meng, who is out on bail awaiting possible extradition to the United States on fraud charges, did not appear. She is holed up at her other Vancouver home, a six-bedroom house worth approximately 6 million Canadian dollars in the wealthy Dunbar neighborhood, while this one is being renovated.

Meng is a source of national pride in China, and I wanted to see a superrich Asian lifestyle, said the student, Parker Li. Many Chinese people from mainland China feel she is being unfairly bullied by the United States.

Many Canadians, though, feel differently.

Three months after her arrest, Ms. Meng has become both a subject of curiosity and a polarizing figure in Vancouver, which has had a significant concentration of Asians stretching back to its founding in the 19th century.
ROME  After more than three decades of pressure from historians and Jewish organizations, Pope Francis announced on Monday that he would open the sealed archives from the World War II-era pontificate of Pius XII, allowing scholars to examine how the Vatican responded to Nazism and the Holocaust.

Some critics of Pius XII maintain that he was shamefully silent during the Nazi massacre of Jews during the war, while others claim he saved thousands of lives by ordering the Roman Catholic Church to assist victims of persecution.

The church is not afraid of history, Francis told officials and staff members of the Vatican Secret Archives, the papal repository that contains tens of thousands of documents related to Pius XII.

Francis said that Piuss pontificate, which stretched from 1939 to 1958, had included moments of serious difficulties, of tormented decisions, of human and Christian prudence.
MOSCOW  President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday formally suspended Russias observance of a key nuclear arms treaty that the United States withdrew from last month, setting the stage for the return of a long-banned class of weapons.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987 in the waning years of the Cold War, had prohibited land-based missiles with relatively short ranges of 300 to 3,400 miles. Because of their quick flight times, such missiles were seen as a hair trigger for nuclear war.

The United States has for years accused Russia of violating the treaty by understating the range of one of its truck-launched missiles. The Obama administration pressed the issue during the crisis over Russias invasion of Ukraine, and President Trump cited it when he announced the United States decision to withdraw.

Mr. Trump also pointed out that China, which was never a party to the treaty, has been free to amass its own arsenal of the missiles.
BRUSSELS  As diplomatic spats go, it was a spring shower in a teapot, not even a minor tempest. But European feelings were badly bruised last year when the Trump administration downgraded the diplomatic status of the European Unions delegation to the United States without making a formal announcement or even informing the bloc about the change.

The permanent reversal of that decision was announced on Monday, with the ambassador of the European Union to the United States now again considered to be equivalent to an ambassador from a country, not just to an envoy from an international organization.

The announcement was made with some fanfare by the American ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland, whom European diplomats credit with pushing hard for the fix. In a statement, Mr. Sondland called the bloc a uniquely important organization, and one of Americas most valuable partners in ensuring global security and prosperity.

President Trump has called the European Union a foe in economic competition with the United States, but Mr. Sondland said that Europes security and success are inextricably linked to that of the United States, and this level of engagement and cooperation should be recognized appropriately in all settings.
CAIRO  Egypt on Monday freed a prominent photojournalist who had spent five and a half years in prison for taking pictures during a crackdown in 2013 that culminated in the killing of more than 800 protesters.

The photojournalist, Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known as Shawkan, was returned to his family home in Cairo, where he vowed to continue working despite a five-year probation that requires him to spend every night at a police station.

I cant describe how I feel, he told Reuters soon after his release at dawn. I am free.

Mr. Abou Zeid was probably the best-known of the dozens of Egyptian journalists jailed under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who has slowly suffocated free speech since he came to power in 2013. Mr. el-Sisi has muzzled critical news outlets and, of late, expelled or refused entry to foreign reporters.

While in prison, Mr. Abou Zeid has received numerous international awards; last year, he won the Unesco Press Freedom Prize. That award drew fury from the Egyptian authorities, who said Mr. Abou Zeid was suspected of being a terrorist; the Foreign Ministry blamed Qatar for promoting his cause  a common Egyptian response to outside criticism.
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Oleg Omelchuk, the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Olevsk, recently became an internet meme after being tricked into posing for a photo in front of the city hall holding a poster accusing him of infringing on the rights of citizens.

The photo of Omelchuk standing shoulder to shoulder with the people protesting against him and his administration and holding a poster that read The mayor and his minions infringe upon the rights of society went viral after being shared on Twitter by journalist Taras Oleinik, an editor of Ukrainian news portal ITC.ua. However, his caption was a bit suspicious. Oleinik claimed that the mayor had been the one trolling protesters by showing up and holding up the poster as a joke, without anyone recognizing him. That would have indeed been some epic trolling by Omelchuk, but in fact he was the one getting trolled.

Photo: Stop Corruption

When people on Twitter started asking how it was possible for the contested mayor to show up at a protest against himself and pull off this stunt without being recognized, some Taras Oleiniks Twitter followers allegedly supported the journalists theory by explaining that the protesters had been brought in from other cities and paid to attend, so they didnt really know what the mayor looked like. This way he was able to join them without drawing any attention to himself.

      .    .    80 . pic.twitter.com/xbtSFRN4RK   (@tarasmi) March 2, 2019

However, Alexander Ignatiev, a journalist with local NGOStop Corruption, recently offered an explanation that makes a lot more sense. In a Facebook post he clarifies that Oleg Omelchuk did show up at the March 1st protest and actually sat down with them to discuss their complaints, including the several corruption cases against him. At the end of the meeting, protesters asked him to pose for a photo on the steps of the city hall, and one of them asked him to hold that denigrating poster. Ignatiev claims that the mayor was happy to oblige, but didnt bother reading the poster until after the photo was taken.

After the meeting, we asked mayor Omelchuk to take a picture with us against the background of the city hall. He agreed and he was asked to hold a poster. True, he only read it after the photo was taken, Ignatiev wrote on Facebook.

Oleg Omelchuk currently has several criminal cases opened against him for embezzlement of budget funds and land.


Tim Bell

BDO, which is administering the winding down of Bell Pottinger, is seeking $1.3M from Tim Bell for allegedly breaching his exit deal by making disparaging comments on the BBC about the collapsed firm, according to todays Times of London.

Described as one of Britains best-known spin doctors," Bell left the firm 13 months before it collapsed in September 2017 in the aftermath of a racist campaign that it ran in South Africa on part of the Gupta family.

When the BBC interviewer asked if the South Africa scandal meant it was curtains for BP, Bell said, almost certainly.

He then quoted Sir Walter Scott, Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.

Bell was part of the BP team that went to South Africa in 2016 for meetings with the Guptas, but he was not part of the day-to-day management of the account.

The 77-year-old was a top adviser to former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
That didnt take very long.

Our I-Can-Do-No-Wrong president blamed Michael Cohens open testimony on Feb. 27 for his failure to cut a deal with North Korean mass murderer Kim Jong-un.

President Trump tweeted on March 3:

For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!

The shame charge is misdirected. Though Trump was told by US intelligence and key advisers prior to the summit that Kim had no intention of denuclearization, he carried out the Hanoi Hustle any way.



Robert Mueller

And now the next shoe is ready to drop. Following Cohens testimony, the world awaits the release of special counsel Robert Muellers report.

It may land with a thud.

The spectacle of Republican Congressmen doing nothing but trashing Cohen last week does not bode well for the release of Muellers probe.

The Financial Times editorial of March 1 nailed it:

How depressing, all the same, that Congressional Republicans did not do much more than impugn Mr. Cohen. None mustered a substantive rebuttal of the allegations themselves, except that of racism.

Not for the first time, the party finds itself in craven homage to a leader it does not even pretend is sound of character or judgment. And all because he is under attack from the political enemy. Tribalism does remarkable things to people, editorialized the FT.

Trump got the goods (massive tax cut, deregulation and appointment of a pair of conservative Supreme Court justices) for Republicans.

And the biggest prize of all: he defeated Hillary Clinton, who is viewed as the anti-Christ in conservative quarters.

In return, Trump gets a free pass from the GOP for any transgression.

Back to the FT and the Mueller report:

"Tribal fealty or cold calculation: whatever the ultimate cause of their slavishness, it augurs badly for Mr. Muellers final report. Almost regardless of his findings, Republicans seem primed to defend their man.

The kind of intellectual honesty that characterized the Watergate scandal, when many Republicans, moved by the facts, turned against Richard Nixon, looks fanciful now.

Through no fault of the special counsel, his work will be interpreted through a partisan lens. Americans should fear for a civic culture in which even basic questions of justice are so politicized.

It looks like the ball may be in the court of New York Congressman Jerry Nadler, chair of the Judiciary Committee, who today kicked off a broad investigation in obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by Trump and his administration.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed details of the most popular baby names in 2018.

An according to the data, the most popular girl's name in Offaly in 2018 was Grace and the most popular boy's name in Offaly in 2018 was Conor.

Grace was also the most popular name in Offaly in 2017 while Charlie was the most popular boy's name in 2017.

Nationally, Emily was again the most popular name for girls followed by Grace, Emma, Sophie and Amelia.

For boys, the most popular name was Jack followed by James, Noah, Conor and Daniel.

Commenting on the trends in Irish baby names, Statistician Carol Anne Hennessy commented, "Emily retains the top spot for girls, and with Grace, Emma, Sophie and Amelia, were the top five names of choice by parents for their newly arrived baby girls in 2018. Jack has retained the top spot as the most popular baby boys name in 2018, a position it has held since 2007, except for 2016, when James was the most popular choice. Jack was followed by James, Noah, Conor and Daniel as the first five most popular names for boys in 2018.

"Back in 1968, John, Patrick, Michael, James and David were the names most favoured by parents of new born baby boys. While there were 2,863 baby boys named John 50 years ago, the five most popular boys names in 2018 together accounted for 2,691 baby boys.

She added, "Interestingly, not one of the top five names for girls appeared in the top 100 names a half century earlier. Mary, Catherine, Margaret, Ann and Anne were the most popular names for baby daughters in 1968, with 2,364 baby girls named Mary in that year. In 2018, there were 460 baby girls named Emily, 19.5% of the number of girls given the name Mary in 1968. As is evident from the tables, over the years girls are given a wider variety of names than boys with 4,779 girls names registered compared to 3,712 boys."
Fear has been expressed for the future of construction in Edenderry following revelations of sewage capacity issues in the town in recent weeks.

A number of public representatives and those within the construction and business community have said future developments beyond those current planning applications are being hindered by the limitations of the wastewater treatment plant in Edenderry.

"For the foreseeable future Edenderry has been prevented from growing in any meaningful way," Christine Traynor, chairperson of Edenderry Chamber of Commerce and Fianna Fail Local Election candidate explained.

"The Local Area Plan underpins almost every strategic development and it has come to light that the Edenderry Local Area Plan adopted by the Municipal District in March 2018 has been grossly underestimated in terms of population and provision of housing," Christine explained.

The plan allows for an increase in population of 358 people over the lifetime of the plan up to 2023 and allows for planning for housing units of 128 for the lifetime of the plan.

"These calculations are based on the National Framework projections in population, and it seems that a bigger is better policy is being driven by Government. Unfortunately, these numbers were not addressed and now we are left in a situation that underinvestment will be the theme going into the next five years," Christine said.



As chairperson of the chamber of commerce, Christine has said that she and the committee have been working with Offaly County Council to address the issue that Irish Water will not be investing in improvement works in Edenderry for at least three years.

"The chamber is solution-focused and we have excellent people working in the background coming up with the ideas for a temporary solution to allow development continue," Christine said.

One of these ideas is to go back and check the capacity numbers. Occasionally it can happen that the testing is wrong, it is just the nature of these things, sometimes we need to check the numbers to prove that they are correct, its the cheapest and easiest solution and should be done first," she suggested.

It emerged late last week that the County Council have made representations to Irish Water about the expansion of the Waste Water Treatment Plant in Edenderry, this is a good thing, but it may be a little too late, continued Christine.

"Many developers will be pleased to hear that these matters are being pursued at the highest levels in Irish Water. Unfortunately, even if a project was to be approved it will take a minimum of three years to complete."

After checking the capacity numbers, there are other temporary solutions available to increase capacity, and as long as the

council are willing to look at these, business and building homes can continue."

"The effect of this is far-reaching. We are in a housing crisis, there are people in our area that are homeless, on waiting lists, there is no homes to rent and simply not enough is being done at national level to allow local authorities to build homes, concluded Christine.

Speaking to the Offaly Express, Cllr Noel Cribbin said he was "taken aback" by the recent news of sewage capacity issues which could stall the building of much-needed houses, both private and local authority-supplied in Edenderry.

"This issue has never come before councillors at local or council level as we were informed that the present system has a capacity for a population in Edenderry of 9,500," Cllr Cribbin commented.

He explained: "From inquiries I have made, it seems that although the present population of Edenderry is around 8,000. Its vitally important for the town that new builds can proceed, along with up to 250 houses ready to start, and that half of the 200 families on the housing list can attain their own homes."

"Its also vitally that our biggest employers Rosderra are not confined by these capacity issues and that this problem does not impact on the company in a negative way and that this issue is resolved as soon as possible."

"Irish Water now run the plant in Edenderry and it is totally Independent of Offaly County Council, however, I have spoken to officials and to Marcella Corcoran Kennedy TD about the issue and the need for capacity to be found so that the 250 new builds can proceed and they are confident that the issue can be addressed for now but that the need to upgrade and acquire the funding to do so is now a top priority."

"As a result of our concerns a high level meeting took place between Offaly County Council and Irish Water and on foot of the outcome of that meeting and the scale of the capacity problems, both Marcella and I will start the process of planning and funding required to upgrade the sewage system in Edenderry into the future," Cllr Cribbin concluded.

In a statement to the Offaly Express, Irish Water said: "Irish Water is working with local authorities to ensure that we can support housing policy and national planning frameworks."
Offaly-based priest Fr Sean Hyland has had his Late Late Show appearance put back to mid-April.

The Rhode and Clonbullouge curate was set to appear on The Late Late Show this weekend to chat with host Ryan Tubridy about his book 'Whisperings of my Soul'.

Fr Sean's appearance on the talk show has been changed from this Friday, March 8 to another date in mid-April that is yet to be confirmed.

The well-known Portarlington native has had people travel from all over the country to see him since he released his book.

Fr Sean lives in his hometown of Portarlington and is a curate in the communities of Clonbullogue and Rhode.

His book 'Whisperings of my Soul' was self-published last December 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.

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.

He explains that after he lost all three members of his family he received comfort 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 Sean helps others experiencing grief by sharing the comforting messages he has received from his family in heaven.

Fr Hyland said he is chuffed with the feedback from the book and he is now celebrating getting his book into mainstream distribution across the country.

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.
Jaden Smith Is Bringing Clean Water to Flint with His Mobile Lead Filtration System Ivie Ani Ivie is a Nigerian-American, native New Yorker, and journalist covering

View this post on Instagram A post shared by JUST water (@just) on Feb 27, 2019 at 10:09am PST

The artist is making waves.

Jaden Smith launched a new initiative to help the residents of Flint, Michigan amidst their five-year-long water crisis.

The 20-year-old rapper, actor and JUST Water co-founder  the eco-friendly company he started in 2015 with his father Will Smith  partnered with First Trinity Missionary Baptist Church to deploy a mobile water treatment system.

READ: Will & Jaden Smith Are Donating Water To Flint Until Lead Levels Drop

According to a press release, the system, called The Water Box, filters out lead and additional contaminants in water. The Water Box will produce up to 10 gallons of clean drinking water per minute, and the water is tested each day with us, and every few weeks by an independent and certified laboratory.

This has been one of the most rewarding and educational experiences for me personally, Smith said in the statement. Working together with people in the community experiencing the problems and design(ing) something to help them has been a journey I will never forget. We are planning to deploy more water boxes in Flint and other communities facing similar challenges.

Last year, Will Smith and his youngest son pledged to continue giving monthly to the city until lead levels in the public schools water are below the federal threshold.

Flints water crisis began in April 2014 after the citys water source was switched from the Detroit River to the Flint River, resulting in lead contamination of the citys public drinking water.

Trinity Church has distributed over 5 million bottles of water to residents, but bottled water donations have declined since the states free bottled water program was shut down under former Gov. Rick Snyder in 2018. According to WCPO news, the newly appointed Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently announced that the program will be reinstated.

READ: Watch Will & Jaden Smith Perform Together for the First Time

Jada Pinkett Smith, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Lionel Richie, and Queen Latifah are also a part of the collective participating in JUST Waters campaign. Pinkett Smith shared photos to Twitter on Sunday from their trip to Flint.

.@officialjaden I really enjoyed our trip to Flint yesterday where I witnessed you unveil your first water filtration system to First Trinity Church. Your desire to innovate to help Flint have access to clean water makes me so proud. pic.twitter.com/nssKJQVaZw  Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) March 3, 2019

Source: WCPO
7th Pay Commission: Centre steps in rectify this age related anomaly

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Mar 04: The latest news relating to the 7th Pay Commission is that the long pending demand of the age profile issues of combat units in the Central Armed Police Forces is being taken up by the government.

The Union Home Ministry has now asked the CAPF chiefs to conduct a Daya analysis exercise and assess the long term age profile issues once the retirement age of their troops is raised from 57 to 60 years.

The move comes in the wake of a court order to fix an existing anomaly. The meeting was held on February 27, following the order of the Delhi High Court.

7th Pay Commission: Will basic minimum pay be increased, here is the latest update

The order of the court said that in the 7th Pay Commission, which had examined the issue, a majority by 2:1 had flavoured the enhancement of the retirement age of the commandant below the ranks in the 3 CAPFs. The court said that the current policy of different age of retirement in the four forces of the CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB is discriminatory and u constitutional.
Abhinandan Varthaman can fly again if hes declared fit: BS Dhanoa

India

oi-Deepika S

Chennai, Mar 04: Indian Air Force (IAF) chief B S Dhanoa on Monday said Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman will fly a fighter plane again only if he is found physically fit.

"Whether he (Wing Commander Abhinandan) flies or not depends on his medical fitness. That's why post ejection, he had undergone medical check. Whatever treatment required, will be given. Once we get his medical fitness, he will get into fighter cockpit," the Air Chief Marshal said.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said, adding that Abhinandan would fly a fighter jet if he was fit.

We hit terror targets, can't count casualties': Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa

He also said that the condition of a fighter pilot's spine has to be good.

B S Dhanoa's cmments comes a day after Abhinandan Varthaman reportedly expressed wish to return to the cockpit at the earliest.

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face of the tense military confrontation between India and Pakistan, conveyed to the IAF brass that he wants to return to the cockpit as soon as possible, officials said Sunday.

For the last two days, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot has been undergoing medical treatment at a military hospital here. Varthaman told senior IAF commanders and doctors treating him that he wants to start flying at the earliest.

On Wednesday, Abhinandan became the first IAF pilot to shoot down an F-16 fighter jet during an aerial combat with the Pakistani Air Force.

Varthaman was captured by the Pakistani Army after his MiG-21 Bison jet was hit in a fierce dogfight. He returned to India to a hero's welcome on Friday night. His health condition is being monitored by a group of doctors at the Army's Research and Referral hospital.
Chandrababu Naidu should be "ashamed": TRS on voters' data 'theft'

India

pti-PTI

Hyderabad, Mar 4: Attacking the ruling TDP on the alleged theft of voters' data in Andhra Pradesh, TRS working president K T Rama Rao on Monday said Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu should be "ashamed of" his party's criticism of the Telangana government on the issue.

The issue pertains to a case registered by the Telangana police against a city-based IT firm for allegedly "stealing" data of voters through the "Seva Mitra" mobile application, which was used by the TDP in Andhra Pradesh. Reacting to the development, Andhra Pradesh Information Technology Minister N Lokesh had said Telangana Police was "harassing" the companies that were hired to curate the information whose complete rights were held by the TDP.

"It is TDP which committed the wrong. The government (AP) which is supposed to keep personal data secret, gives that data to a party, how should it be seen," Rama Rao told reporters here.

[KCR's son KT Rama Rao meets Jagan Mohan Reddy, pushes for Federal Front]

"What was done was wrong. As if, 'ulta chor kotwal ko dante' (the pot calling the kettle black), they (TDP) are slamming the Telangana government. Chandrababu Naidu and his government should have shame," he said. Rama Rao said the people of Andhra Pradesh should think about keeping confidence in a party whose government had allegedly gave away their data without consent.

"Why should the TDP government have fear to face probe if it has done no wrong," he said. The Telangana police only acted on a complaint without any bias and "there is nothing the Telangana government did", he said.

The TDP was trying to "get back its lost prestige" among people by making a "cheap attempt" to attack the TRS government in Telangana, he alleged. There is nothing Naidu has to show on the development front during his tenure, he claimed. Referring to media reports that Andhra Pradesh police had gone to the residence of the "whistle-blower" on the issue, Rama Rao asked what work does AP police have in Hyderabad.

[Telangana: 10 ministers inducted in KCR's cabinet]

"Chandrababu Naidu is trying to evoke emotions. He is trying to provoke passions among people. Unfortunately, he will not succeed...Because, people have seen through the designs of Chandrababu Naidu," Rama Rao said. Based on a complaint from a data analyst, a case was registered against the firm on Saturday, under relevant sections of the IPC and the IT Act, police said.

The complainant alleged that after logging into the official Facebook page of Telugu Desam Party (TDP), he found party cadres using certain mobile phone and tab-based software applications, especially 'Seva Mitra' app, for "advancing the party's electoral prospects".

The Andhra Pradesh government utilised the services of the firm in implementation of government schemes, he said in the complaint. He alleged that the firm was given access to enormous amount of official data with respect to the beneficiaries of various government schemes and also private data of individuals, including their Aadhaar numbers.

TDP ministers and legislators in Andhra Pradesh took turns Sunday to cry foul over the case and blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and YSRC president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for hatching a "joint political conspiracy" against Chandrababu Naidu.

The TDP has alleged that the TRS government was "robbing" its data to help the YSR Congress party, on whose original complaint police had registered the case. The TRS and TDP have often been engaged in war of words, especially since the latter contested the Assembly elections in Telanagna in alliance with Congress and others.

PTI
As Mamata Banerjee takes swipe at Rahul Gandhi, Cong says such posturing for personal ambition will help BJP

What exactly is home ministry doing: Rahul Gandhi slams Centre over Nagaland incident

Lies, says Rahul Gandhi to PM Modis charge from Amethi

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Mar 04: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for "lying" in his election campaign in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.

"I laid the foundation stone for Amethi ordnance factory in 2010 and for the past many years it has been manufacturing small arms. Yesterday you went to Amethi and, as usual, lied," the Congress president tweeted.

In his first visit to Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Rahul, since coming to power in 2014, Modi inaugurated a manufacturing unit for AK-203 rifles, an India-Russia joint venture.

He accused previous governments of neglecting the armed forces and their needs.

AK-203 rifles will create jobs, help Indian security agencies, says Vladimir Putin

The PM flayed the Congress for misusing the country's resources saying that the Amethi ordnance factory, launched in 2007, was supposed to begin production from 2010 but nothing happened.

"Tall promises were made. Your local MP promised that he would ensure employment to 1,500 locals in this ordnance factory but merely 200 got jobs. Imagine those who couldn't ensure jobs to people in Amethi are now lecturing on employment," Modi said, adding that the AK-203 would be the best publicity for Amethi.

"The AK-203 rifles will be manufactured in Amethi under Russia-India joint venture...these rifles will be known as 'made in Amethi' and will help our jawans in encounters with naxals and terrorists," Modi said.

Without naming Rahul, Modi said, "Some people go around giving speeches of 'made in Ujjain', 'made in Jaipur', 'made in Jaisalmer'...this is Modi. Now 'Made in Amethi' will be AK-203 rifles. It will help our jawans." He said the rifles will be made in bulk and exported also, thus presenting employment opportunities to the local youths.
Be present in Lok Sabha, RS says BJP in 3 line whip to its MPs

BJP in talks with Amarinder, Dhindsa for alliance in Punjab: Amit Shah

Election expenditure: How much did BJP, Congress, DMK, CPI, TMC, AIADMK receive funds and spent during polls?

Jay Panda joins BJP, hails PM Modi, Amit Shah's leadership

India

oi-Deepika S

Bhubaneswar, Mar 04: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Baijayant 'Jay' Panda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday.

Panda took to Twitter to announce his joining BJP, saying he had made the decision after nine months of introspection and widespread consultations with colleagues and the public.

LS elections 2019: 'Whatever situation be , will contest from Patna Sahib only': Shatrughan Sinha

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

He joined the ruling party in the presence of Union minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan in New Delhi.

"I admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah's leadership," Panda told reporters after joining the saffron party.

Panda, who fell apart with the BJD chief Naveen Patnaik, had recently said that he is willing to join hands with anybody "committed to tackling the severe problems that Odisha now faces".

Panda the suave BJD MP from Kendrapara quit the BJD last May after a bitter falling out with his party chief, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Jay Panda's troubles in the party peaked when he was suspended on "disciplinary grounds" after he openly challenged the leadership after poor performance in 2017's local polls.

The announcement about the suspension of Panda, who was said to be veering towards the BJP, was made by BJD vice-president and state minister S N Patro at a press conference.

Jay Panda had been a parliamentarian of the BJD since 2000.The switch may hurt Naveen Patnaik's party in Odisha ahead of the national and state elections, especially with the BJP making inroads into the state.

The BJD registered a comprehensive win in both the elections in 2014 with the Patnaik-led party winning 20 of the 21 Lok Sabha seats and 117 of the 147 Vidhan Sabha seats.
List of 28 agreements/MoUs signed during the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi

'Ghazwa-e-Hind' by JeM brought Indo-Pak on brink of war twice

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Mar 04: Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad's audacious terrorist strikes, part of its 'Ghazwa-e-Hind' (Holy War Against India), have turned it into one of the most deadly terror groups and brought India and Pakistan on the brink of war twice in two decades, officials said.

The most deadly terror strikes of the JeM in the past 20 years include attacks on the Pathankot airbase, the Army brigade headquarters in Uri, the Badamibagh cantonment in Srinagar and the bombing of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Our boss is perfectly fine says Jaish-e-Mohammad

India and Pakistan were almost on the brink of war in 2001 when the JeM attacked the Indian Parliament, and again now after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF bus in Pulwama, which killed 40 jawans, a security official said Sunday.

The terrorist group, with close links with al-Qaida, had resolved at a conference held in Okara district in Pakistan on November 27, 2017, that it would continue its "Ghazwa-e-Hind" irrespective of the Indo-Pak ties, the official said citing an intelligence report.

The JeM, which had close links slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, was formed after the release of terror mastermind Masood Azhar from an Indian jail on December 31, 1999 after the Indian Airlines flight IC814 was hijacked on December 24, 1999.

Azhar was released along with rouge British secret service MI6 agent Omar Shaikh, who was responsible for the killing The Wall Street Journal journalist Daniel Pearl in January 2002 and the funding of 9/11 terror attacks in the United States with USD 100,000, the official said.

The group carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

It killed 30 soldiers in the Valley through a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in April 2000, killed three policemen at a bus stand at Batmaloo in Srinagar in June 2000, bombed the J&K Assembly on October 1, 2001 in which 31 people died, and attacked Parliament on December 13, 2001 in which nine security personnel and officials were killed.

The attack on the assembly took place just three weeks after the 9/11 attacks and the Parliament attack happened a week after bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora caves in Afghanistan.

When bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora and the Pakistani army was forced to hold one side of the cordon of these vast caves, the JeM became the conduit to bring fighters and their families from Afghanistan into safe havens in Pakistan, run by JeM and another deadly terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, the official said.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the key conspirators of 9/11, housed fleeing al-Qaida cadres in Karachi, he said.

It is widely believed that to help bin Laden flee Tora Bora, JeM carried out attack on Parliament in New Delhi, leading to a war-like situation between India and Pakistan after Indian armed forces were mobilised along the country's western border, another official said.

This provided a pretext to the Pakistani army to withdraw much of its forces from its western border, which were in the cordon of the Tora Bora caves, thus helping the escape of bin Laden to Pakistan.

"It took 10 more deadly years to get Osama bin Laden. This is the nature and capability of JeM. Its activities just do not impact India, but feed on terrorism and has been a major threat to global peace and security," the official said.

Intelligence agencies verify death rumours relating to Azhar

On November 2, 2005, a few hours before the swearing in of Ghulam Nabi Azad as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, a JeM suicide squad detonated a powerful car bomb in the Nowgam area of Srinagar, killing 10 people and injuring 18 others.

On January 2, 2016, a heavily armed group of JeM attacked the Pathankot airbase in which seven security personnel and a security personnel were killed.

The JeM attacked the Uri brigade headquarters on September 18, 2016, killing 17 soldiers and injuring 30 others.

After the Pulwama attack, the Indian Air Force carried out an aerial attack on the biggest camp of JeM in Balakot in Pakistan, leading to another war-like situation between the two countries.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 6:03 [IST]
'We hit terror targets, can't count casualties': Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa

India

oi-Deepika S

Chennai, Mar 04: Amid confusion over count of terrorists killed in India's air strike on a terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot last week, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Monday said that the Indian Air Force is not in a position to clarify human casualties.

Addressing a press conference in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore, Dhanoa Air Chief Marshal said "IAF is not in a postilion to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties, we count what targets we have hit or not.

"If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target, otherwise why would he (Pak PM) have responded, if we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond," he said, officially dismissing allegations that the strike had missed the target.

"When asked about the present situation on the border, he said: "It is an ongoing operation I will not comment on it."

Over 250 killed in Balakot air strike, claims Amit Shah; Cong accuses BJP of 'milking' IAF action

On being asked why a MiG 21 Bison was used in the airstrike, he said, "The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system."

"One is a planned operation in which you plan & carry out. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy," he added.

Several Opposition leaders have slammed BJP for politicising the airstrike conducted by Indian Air Force (IAF) on a terrorist camp in Pakistan's Balakot. BJP Chief Amit Shah had claimed on Sunday that over 250 terrorists were killed in the airstrike.
In a first, Kerala govt sets up hostel for migrant labourers; welcoming attitude, says CM Vijayan

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Thiruvananthapuram, March 4: The government of Kerala has set up what is known to be the first residential project for migrant labourers and it can accommodate over 600 people. Safety and hygiene of migrant labourers are always a concern and the Rs 8.5-crore project set up in the Special Economic Zone in Kanjikode in the state's Palakkad district.

The rental project named 'Apna Ghar' "is a testimony of our welcoming attitude," said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The CM paid a visit to the hostel ahead of its inauguration and inspected the facilities that are being provided for the occupants. The project is being shouldered by a public sector non-profit organisation called Bhavnam Foundation.

On February 23, Vijayan inaugurated the project which will see rooms being available between Rs 750 and 1,000 and the inmates are expected to do their own cooking. The hostel features kitchens, washing and drying areas for clothes, shared residential rooms with bunk beds besides fire-fighting system, rain-water harvesting arrangement, diesel generator, etc.

Kerala Cong leader apologises after 'worse than woman' remark for CM

Dr G L Muraleedharan, Chief Operating Officer, Bhavanam Foundation, said while security guards will be employed soon in the hostel, a separate agency will look after the cleanliness of the place.

The set-up of the hostel came days after a fake audio clip circulated on WhatsApp saying migrant workers from northern and eastern parts of the country were being death threats, reported The News Minute in November 2017.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 9:50 [IST]
Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF

Did Pakistan ever act against Azhar? Intel reports show, he remained protected always

From plotting a hijack to creating the JeM, why Pakistan guards Masood Azhar so much

Intelligence agencies verify death rumours relating to Azhar

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Mar 04: Intelligence agencies were trying to ascertain reports on the social media about the death of Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group chief Masood Azhar in Pakistan, officials said on Sunday.

The officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.

Is Maulana Masood Azhar dead?

A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000.

The 50-year-old Azhar, who was released by the NDA government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, attack on Pathankot IAF base and the latest Pulwama terror strike.

The social media was filled with reports that Azhar had died, but there was no confirmation as of now, the officials said.

Jaish terror group's Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was targeted by the IAF in an air strike last week, following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

The government has claimed that it achieved spectacular success by destroying the facility.

Dying, about to die or just a cover: Where is Maulana Masood Azhar

In an interview to CNN, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in Pakistan and is "very unwell", but said the government can act against him only if India presents "solid" and "inalienable" evidence that can stand in a court of law.

"He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he can't leave his house, because he's really unwell," Qureshi said.
Be present in Lok Sabha, RS says BJP in 3 line whip to its MPs

Election expenditure: How much did BJP, Congress, DMK, CPI, TMC, AIADMK receive funds and spent during polls?

Jay Panda says PM Modi, Shah leadership can turn around Odisha

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Mar 04: After joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former BJD MP Baijayant Jay Panda in an exclusive interview to news agency ANI said only BJP under PM Modi and party President Amit Shah is capable of turning around the economic and political situation in Odisha.

Former BJD MP Baijayant Jay Panda, said, "Earlier I used to be a member of BJD, it was an ally of the BJP from the day it was founded. In recent years the party has gone in a different direction and has stopped supporting policies which are in the nation's interest."

"Industries in Odisha are being harassed, goons supported by govt are rampaging. Odisha isn't able to attract investment or create jobs, law & order has broken down. Only BJP under PM Modi and party President Amit Shah is capable of turning it around, " said Panda.

Over 250 killed in Balakot air strike, claims Amit Shah; Cong accuses BJP of 'milking' IAF action

Panda tweeted, "Grateful for support recd from all over. On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability."

Nine months of introspection & widespread consultations w/colleagues & public.

Grateful for support recd from all over.

On auspicious #MahaShivratri I've decided to join @BJP4India & work under the leadership of @narendramodi Ji to serve Odisha & India to the best of my ability  Baijayant Jay Panda (@PandaJay) March 4, 2019

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Baijayant 'Jay' Panda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.
COVID-19: Will stop schools in Karnataka if need be says minister

Karnataka: Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav resigns from party, may join BJP

India

oi-Deepika S

Bengaluru, Mar 04: Chincholi MLA Dr Umesh Jadhav on Monday submitted his resignation to the speaker of the Karnataka Assembly. Jadhav was one among the dissident MLAs who wanted to go with BJP.

Jadhav, who appears to have sided with the rebel faction led by Ramesh Jarkiholi which threatened to topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in the state, is a two-time MLA from Chincholi in Kalbyrgi district, a bastion of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

Jadhav was reportedly unhappy with the "autocratic" style of Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge.

He is likely to join the BJP and contest against senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge from Kulburgi.

With 20 MP seats 'a Kannadiga can be PM again': Kumaraswamy

A leading daily said that a formal announcement on Jadhav being propped as the BJP candidate from Kalaburagi constituency could be expected to be made when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Kalaburgi this week.

Commenting on the legislator's exit, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Dinesh Gundu Rao said Jadhav was doing "drama" by promising to remain loyal to the party.

"He shouldn't forget that whatever he's today is because of Congress. Anyone can come and go but the party will remain forever," Rao told reporters.

He asserted that the other Congress MLAs will remain with the party.

The Congress previously urged the Speaker to take action against Jadhav and three other rebels after they failed to attend the Congress Legislature Party meeting last month.

The speaker is yet to take a call on that.

KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre said Jadhav had ruined his career by quitting the party as the speaker is yet to take a decision on his disqualification.

"Once disqualified, he cannot contest elections," Khandre said.
COVID-19: Will stop schools in Karnataka if need be says minister

Karntaka: Former Union Minister Dhananjay Kumar passes away at 67

India

oi-Deepika S

Mangaluru, Mar 04: Former Union Minister V Dhananjay Kumar passed away at a private hospital in Mangaluru on Monday.

Dhananjay Kumar, (67) was suffering from illness since a long time. He was admitted to a private hospital four months ago as his health condition worsened.

Lawyer by profession, Venur Dhananjay Kumar was cabinet minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in 1996, Union Minister of State for Finance from 1999-2000 and Union Minister of State for Textiles from 2000-2003.

Kumar went on to represent the Mangalore constituency in the Lok Sabha for four successive terms. He was elected as an MLA for Karnataka government before he became an MP.

Being a staunch loyalist of former Chief Minister of Karnataka B. S. Yeddyurappa, he was elected as the president of the new Karnataka Janata Party.

Political career

Dhananjay Kumar began his political career in the youth wing of Bharatiya Janta Party and later went on to become a Member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1983.

In 1991, he was elected to the 10th Lok Sabha defeating the Congress stalwart B.Janardhana Poojary. With the rise of the Bharatiya Janta Party in Karnataka, Kumar went on to represent the Mangalore constituency in the Lok Sabha for four successive terms and served as Union Minister, thrice in the Government of India when the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power.

He was cabinet minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in 1996, Union Minister of State for Finance from 1999-2000 and Union Minister of State for Textiles from 2000-2003.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 16:04 [IST]
COVID-19: Will stop schools in Karnataka if need be says minister

Karnataka: Nikhil Kumaraswamy, Sumalatha Ambareesh to lock horn in Mandya?

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Bengaluru, Mar 05: Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is all set to contest from the Janata Dal (Secular) bastion, Mandya parliamentary constituency, in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections as late congress leader MH Ambareesh's supporters want his wife to contest from the same consituency.

According to reports, Nikhil Kumaraswamy would contest from Mandya irrespective of whether Sumalatha Ambareesh contests from the same constituency or not. He added that senior leaders of JD(S) have decided to field him from Mandya and he would fulfill his responsibilities.

Meanwhile, Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late Congress minister and former Mandya MP Ambareesh, has confirmed that she would be contesting for Lok Sabha polls from Mandya at the request of the people.

However, Nikhil Kumaraswamy's foray into is politics not going to be cakewalk without support from the Congress leaders of the district.

Congress not to give Mandya seat to Sumalatha, wary of BJP's move

Former minister and Congress leader A Manju hit out at Janata Dal (Secular), claiming that they announced Nikhil Kumaraswamy as the coalition candidate from Mandya without even consulting Congress. He has pushed for Sumalatha's candidacy from Mandya.

Mandya constituency was once represented by Sumalatha's husband MH Ambareesh. 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.

The Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition today held the second round of talks on the tricky issue of seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, with Congress saying they were moving "in the right direction." The two parties had begun formal talks last week with the JDS insisting that 12 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats be conceded to it, but party supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda indicated Sunday that they were ready to compromise

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Story first published: Tuesday, March 5, 2019, 2:34 [IST]
If normalcy to be brought in Kashmir, Article 370 has to be reinstated: Farooq Abdullah

Kashmir parties for simultaneous assembly, Lok Sabha elections

India

pti-PTI

Srinagar, Mar 04: The political parties of Kashmir Monday impressed upon the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir simultaneously with the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The ECI Monday began a two-day visit to the state to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the assembly polls simultaneously.

Delegations of National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party, Pradesh Congress Committee and other smaller parties met the EC team headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora to put forth their views about holding of assembly elections in the state. The officials said the team will leave for Jammu later in the day and hold similar interactions there tomorrow.

"We impressed upon the Election Commission that there is no reason why Assembly elections cannot be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections. Not holding assembly polls will send wrong signals to people within and outside the state," NC leader Nasir Aslam Wani, who was part of his party's delegation, told PTI after the meeting.

Wani said the NC delegation informed the commission that restoration of an elected government in the state was urgently needed as the Governor's administration was taking decisions on matters with widespread implications.

Pak wanted to hit military targets, launched aircraft from Chakala, Sargodha bases

PDP delegation leader Abdul Rehman Veeri said his party also wanted an early election to the state assembly so that a people's government is put in place. Asked if PDP delegation had sought assembly polls be held alongside Lok Sabha elections, Veeri was non-committal.

"The elections should be held as soon as possible," he said. Congress leader Taj Mohiuddin said his party delegation highlighted the fact that holding assembly elections together with Lok Sabha elections can lead to higher voter turnout as was witnessed in 2008 assembly polls.

"We told the Election Commission how in 2008 assembly elections a high voter turnout was witnessed when people doubted about holding the polls. Our stand was that the commission has all the data about security deployment in 2008 and it should be easy for them to assess the requirements for this year's election as well," he said.

Mohiudding said while the Governor's administration might be doing its job well, President's Rule cannot be an alternative to an elected government in terms of redressal of problems faced by the people.

"The MLAs are the link between the government and the people and no one can replace this link. The government under President's Rule is bureaucrats' government. They are not accessible to common people," he said.

CPI(M) delegation led by M Y Tarigami told the Commission that the democratic process in Jammu and Kashmir should be resumed at the earliest and advocated holding Lok sabha and state assembly polls together in the state.

"Jammu and Kashmir state is without an elected government for the past nine months and in the absence of an elected government, uncertainty in the state is deepening day-by-day and dissatisfaction among large section of people is increasing," Tarigami said.

"Only effective response to this situation is to initiate democratic process and hold elections to Assembly and Lok Sabha simultaneously. Any delay to do so will hamper the process of improvement in the situation," he added.

The ECI team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, began interactions with political parties soon after their arrival in the summer capital, officials said.

They said the team will meet with officials of the state government, including the deputy commissioners and the district police chiefs, to get a briefing on the security situation in the state.

The state is currently under President's Rule since December 19, 2018 which was necessitated at the end of the six month period under Governor's Rule imposed on 19 June 2018. The PDP-BJP government in the state fell on June 19 after the national party pulled out of the coalition.

PTI
Kinnaur avalanche: Another body recovered on 13th day

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Kinnaur, Mar 04: Army retrieved the body of another jawan on the 13th day of operations underway to rescue five Army men trapped at an avalanche site since February 20 at Namgya, Kinnaur.

Body of one of the five missing Army personnel was recovered on March 2. The body of an Army personnel, identified as Rajesh Rishi, was evacuated on March 2from the site of the avalanche and was handed over to his family.

On February 20, six army men out of a total of 16 who had started their journey from Namgya to Shipkila to repair a water supply line went missing after an avalanche in Pooh sub-division of Kinnaur district.

Kinnaur avalanche: Body of one of the trapped army personnel recovered

Over 500 personnel of Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) have been pressed into action to locate the missing army men.

(With agency inputs)
We heeded to people's plights during the pandemic: Stalin on 100 years of governance

Lok Sabha elections 2019: CPI, VCK finalise alliance with DMK

India

oi-Vikas SV

Chennai, Mar 4: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Communist Part of India (CPI) finalised the seat sharing arrangement for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2019 on Monday. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) is also part of the alliance and its leader Thol. Thirumavalavan today signed the agreement with DMK president M.K. Stalin.

CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan and Stalin signed the seat sharing agreement on two constituencies in Chennai today.

DMK-Congress: Frenemies' first Lok Sabha alliance dates back to 1971

According to reports, the CPI and the VCK have been given two Lok Sabha seats each for the 2019 general elections. Congress and DMK have already finalised their alliance, and other parties that were expected to join the alliance are the VCK, MDMK, CPI and CPI(M).

Later in the evening today (March 4), the CPI (M) and MDMK leaders are expected to meet the DMK leaders

DMK has already announced that the Congress will be given 10 seats including one in Puducherry. Out of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu, the Congress would be fighting from nine seats, while the DMK will contest from rest of the seats. One seat in Puducherry has also been given to the Congress.

Tamil Nadu: Congress-DMK finalise seat sharing, grand old party to fight from 9 LS seats

Tamil Nadu is one of the important states in terms of Lok Sabha seats. It sends 39 members to the lower house of the Parliament.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 15:20 [IST]
Mahashivratri: More than 1 crore devotees take holy dip in Sangam

India

pti-PTI

Allahabad, Mar 04: Even before midnight, devotees from different walks of life and parts of the country began to pour into Sangam city to take holy dip on Mahashivratri, the great night of Lord Shiva and the last bathing day in the one-and-a-half-month-long Kumbh Mela.

Till Monday evening, more than 1 crore devotees had taken a holy dip in the Sangam area, officials said. The bathing ghats brimmed with colour in the morning. Late-night showers in parts of the holy city failed to dampen the spirit of the pilgrims. As the sun came out, devotees enthusiastically greeted the sun, while some offered obeisance to the Sun God with traditional 'Yoga asanas'.

"Till evening, as many as 1.10 crore devotees have taken a dip in the Sangam area. With Mahashivratri's snaan, so far more than 24.05 crore devotees have taken a dip during this year's Kumbh," Kumbh Mela Adhikari Vijay Kiran Anand told PTI.

Till March 3, the number of devotees who had taken the dip during the Kumbh stood at 22.95 crore, an UP government official said.

As the visitors were heading towards the ghats, chants of 'Har Har Mahadev' rang through the air, albeit the occasional police announcement. Apart from other information, the police told the crowds about the lost-and-found centre, which could also be seen from a distance by the installed, floating gas-balloon.

When UP police donned the role of media during Kumbh Mela

A delegation from West Bengal kept all its members together by telling them to follow the large saffron-coloured flags. A group of visitors from Ajmer used rope barriers to keep its members together.

"Despite showers, my friends and I walked towards the bathing ghats and took a dip," said Dhananjay Singh, who came from Lucknow, adding, "I consider it (the rain) to be a propitious sign."

Content, smiling faces at the Kumbh nagris tell us we managed the last day crowds well, an official said. With heavy rush on their minds, devotees began arriving at the makeshift kumbh nagris in Prayagraj even before midnight with chants of 'Bum Bhole' on their lips.

UP Sugarcane Development and Sugar Mills Minister Suresh Rana took a dip in the 'sangam', and later visited the media centre. Speaking to reporters, Rana said, "When I was taking a boat ride after the dip, a sudden shower of petals fell on boatman. His spontaneous reaction was 'waah Yogi ji' (UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath). I was pleasantly overwhelmed by this."

A UP government spokesperson said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will participate in the 'Kumbh Samaroh Samapan Kaaryakram' (formal closing function of the mega event) tomorrow. He will felicitate the officials who have done exemplary work during the festival. UP Governor Ram Naik and Urban Development Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna are also likely to attend the programme.

According to Hindu mythology, Mahashivratri symbolises the last holy bath of Kalpvasis, who spend the month of Magh -- the period of austerity -- in minimal means. Ashutosh Varshney, an astrologer who has set up a camp in Sector-6 of Kumbh Nagri, said, "Mahashivratri marks the culmination of the Kumbh and the prominent bathing days. This year, it fell on a Monday, the day dedicated to Lord Shiva, after a long time."

"Also on this day, Lord Shiva got married," said Gunjan Varshney, who runs the Raam Naam Bank, where devotees deposit booklets after writing the name of Lord Ram. Kumbh is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. It is held once in every 12 years.

This time it began on January 15 on Makar Sankranti. There are six bathing dates. Of these, shahi snaans are held on Makar Sankranti, Mauni Amawasya and Basant Panchami. Parv snaans are held on Paush Poornima and Maghi Poornima.

Police and central para-military personnel have been in charge of the movement of people and vehicles and guiding them towards the bathing ghats. As the Kumbh approached its finale, the mega event etched its name into record books creating a hat-trick of world records, which were certified by the Guinness World Records, an UP government spokesperson said. One of the records was most contributions made to a handprint painting in eight hours.

The Guinness World Records certificate read, "The most contributions to a handprint painting in eight hours was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh India on March 1, 2019."

Another world record created was the largest parade of buses. "The largest parade of buses was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, Government of Uttar Pradesh (India) in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India on February 28, 2019," the certificate given by Guinness World Records read.

A UP government official said, "The attempt in Prayagraj involving 500 buses covered more than 3.2 kilometres. It was held at NH-19 between Sahson toll plaza and Nawabganj toll plaza. This demonstrates the traffic plan, which worked very well during the mela with 20,000 police personnel being deployed."

On March 2, the most people sweeping the floor (multiple venues) was achieved by Prayagraj Mela Authority, government of Uttar Pradesh, India on 2 March 2019.

PTI
Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF

Maulana Masood Azhar on death bed, suffering from spinal cancer

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Mar 04: There were unconfirmed reports that suggested that Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, Maulana Masood Azhar had died.

While the intelligence says that they are gathering reports, one official tells OneIndia that there is confirmation that he is not dead. The officer however confirmed that Azhar has not been in public since 2017 and is admitted at an army hospital in Rawalpindi, where he is undergoing treatment for spinal cancer.

These reports emerged in the wake of Pakistan's foreign minister recently saying that Azhar is very unwell. He is unwell to the extent that he cannot leave his house, because he is really unwell, the minister had also said in an intervention with CNN.

Officials also explain that Pakistan cannot let go of Azhar at this crucial juncture. Firstly, he is their proxy in the war against India. Secondly, Pakistan is playing a crucial role in the US-Taliban mediation in Afghanistan. Azhar is close to the Taliban leadership and hence protecting him becomes important as well, officials also explain.

Intelligence agencies verify death rumours relating to Azhar

With the JeM chief, Maulana Masood Azhar hospitalised, the entire operation is being run by his brothers. The facility at Bahawalpur houses a modern building. It also houses state of the terror training camps and can hold up to 300 to 400 terrorists at any given time, India also said.

An official tells OneIndia that the JeM also runs camps in Balochistan and also in strongholds of the Taliban that include, Khyber and Spin Boldak passes. With Azhar in hospital, the man in command today is Ibrahim Azhar. He is also in charge of the Afghanistan operations of the JeM and works closely with the Taliban.

It may be recalled that Ibrahim's son Usman Hyder was killed in an encounter n Jammu and Kashmir's Tral on October 30 2018. His younger son, Mohammad Umair is currently in the Valley and was the mastermind of the Pulwama attack.

Apart from Ibrahim, the outfit is also being run by Masood Azhar's sons Abdullah and Wali. India's dossier says that both sons play an active role in radicalising cadres for the JeM.

The India operations of the JeM are today largely overseen by Abdul Rauf Asghar, who is the brother of Maulana Masood Azhar. His other two brothers, Maulana Ammar and Talha Saif too play key roles in the running the outfit. Masood Azhar's brother-in-law, Yusuf Azhar who was in charge of the Balakot operations is said to have lost his life in the air strike.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 16:33 [IST]
Will never topple govt, says Amit Shah; dares Cong to call early polls in Rajasthan

'Vehicle was signalled to stop but it tried to flee': Amit Shah explains how the Nagaland firing unfolded

Over 250 killed in Balakot air strike, claims Amit Shah; Cong accuses BJP of 'milking' IAF action

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Mar 04: BJP President Amit Shah on Sunday said over 250 terrorists were killed in the airstrike executed by the Indian Air Force on Jaish-E-Mohammad camp in Balakot on February 26. Shah is the first leader of the ruling party to put out a figure on record amid questions raised by the opposition.

"After Pulwama attack, everyone thought surgical strike can't be done this time..now what will happen?... At that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi led central government did an airstrike on the 13th day and killed more than 250 terrorists without any harm on our side," Shah said.

Multiple media reports, quoting unidentified officials, had pegged the number of casualties at over 300-350. The Indian Air Force, however, has refused to give any number officially, and said it would be premature to give an estimate.

The Indian Air Force said there was evidence that its jets had hit their intended targets but that it was premature to assess casualties.

Ready to believe govt on Balakot air strike but who put number of casualties at 300: Chidambaram

Former Union Minister Manish Tewari accused Amit Shah on Monday of using India's airstrikes on Jaish-e-Mohammed for political gain, pointing to the BJP president's claim that more that 250 terrorists were killed in the operation.

Manish Tiwari referred to the IAF's description of what unfolded in Balakot when he asked, of Amit Shah's remarks: "Is this not milking airstrikes for politics?"

Kapil Sibal, also a former Congress minister, asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was guilty of "politicising terror", pointing to foreign media reports saying there was no proof that terrorists were killed in Balakot.

On February 28, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked the government to spell out "details" of the exact place where the air raid was carried out and the casualties inflicted, stating that international media claimed that there was no damage in the strike.

PM Modi had also hit out at the opposition at his rally in Bihar on Sunday, saying "instead of boosting the morale of the forces, they are doing everything to make the enemy happy".

On February 26, the anti-terror operations carried out by the IAF targeted camps of dreaded terror outfit-Jaish-e-Mohammed-in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
If normalcy to be brought in Kashmir, Article 370 has to be reinstated: Farooq Abdullah

Panthers Party stages protest in Jammu, alleges 'saffronisation of administration'

India

pti-PTI

Jammu, Mar 4: The Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party staged a protest here on Monday to draw attention of the visiting Election Commission of India team towards alleged "saffronisation of administration" in the run up to the upcoming Lok Sabha and the assembly polls.

It pressed for holding of parliamentary and state elections together and said the security scenario, which had deteriorated over the years in the state, could be retrieved to a large extent "if the concept of free and fair polls was translated into reality in the true sense".

A high-level team of the EC, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, reached Srinagar on Monday on a two-day visit to assess the feasibility of holding the Lok Sabha and the J-K assembly polls simultaneously.

[Panthers Party questions 'timing and intent' behind creation of Ladakh division]

"We organised the protest on the visit of ECI to draw the attention of the apex election body towards the abuse of position and authority by reckless government functionaries for furthering political prospects of their political masters," JKNPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh told reporters.

Singh, who led the protest outside press club here, alleged "saffronisation of administration" ahead of the polls and urged the ECI to take cognizance of the "brazen politicisation of administration". "The JKNPP will continue to agitate the matter in all possible foras till action was initiated against such officers," he said.

PTI
PM-Kisan 10th installment to roll out by next week: How to check your status and name in beneficiary list?

Red caps are like red alert for UP, PM Modi's jibe at Samajwadi Party in Gorakhpur rally

PM Modi lauds UP govt for the work done for the benefit of sugarcane farmers

Use common sense: PM Modi slams Opposition over Rafale attack

India

oi-Deepika S

Ahmedabad Mar 04: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday made a veiled attack on the Opposition for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighters would have given greater firepower to the Indian Air Force during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

"Please use common sense; what I said was if we had Rafale at the time of air strikes, then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," PM Modi said at a rally in Gujarat's Jamnagar.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they say Modi is questioning our air force strike," he said.

Slamming Opposition for questioning the Indian Air Force (IAF) airstrikes in Pakistan, PM Modi said, "The nation agrees that the menace of terror has to be eliminated. I want to ask you [Congress], don't you trust what our armed forces say? We should be proud of our armed forces."

'Sankalp' rally: Armed forces quelling terror, Oppn seeking proof of their bravery, says PM Modi

India carried out airstrikes on terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad's largest camp in Pakistan at Balakot, which came 12 days after the Pulwama bombing that killed 40 CRPF soldiers.

Listing schemes launched under the NDA government, Prime Minister said, "The PM Kisan Samman Nidhi will bring substantive benefits for India's farmers. It is a long term and comprehensive effort for farmer welfare... When Atal Ji was the Prime Minister, a separate ministry for tribal communities was created. The present NDA Government has created a new ministry for the fisheries sector."

Speaking of Ayushman Bharat, PM said, "Gujarat has witnessed a revolution in the health sector in the last many years. Hospitals with modern facilities are coming up across the state. This benefits the poor. Ayushman Bharat, one of the world's biggest healthcare programme, will ensure top quality and affordable healthcare for the poor."
Intention of air strike was to send out a message, not kill: Ahluwalia

Ready to believe govt on Balakot air strike but who put number of casualties at 300: Chidambaram

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Mar 04: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday slammed the Centre over the air strikes by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan's Balakot and asked who put out the number of casualties at 300-350.

Taking to Twitter, Chidambaram said if the IAF Vice Air Marshal declined to comment on casualties in the air strikes and the MEA statement said there were no civilian or military casualties, then "who put out the number of casualties as 300-350".

"Congress president Rahul Gandhi was the first to salute the Indian Air Force for its splendid achievement," he added.

"Why has Mr Modi forgotten that?" he asked.

Chidambarams comments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at the Sankalp Rally in Patna, hit out at the Opposition for demanding proof of the air strikes.

Big action against Maulana Masood Azhar in the offing

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday the armed forces were busy quelling terror, but the Congress and its allies are not convinced with their act of bravery.

"When the country needed to speak in one voice, 21 opposition parties gathered in Delhi to adopt a resolution condemning us. They are demanding proof from the armed forces for their act of bravery," the PM said at the BJP's Sankalp rally at Gandhi Maidan here.

He alleged that the opposition parties were "conspiring" against him, he said. "While I want to eliminate terror, opposition parties are conspiring to finish me," Modi said.

"At a time when our armed forces are fighting enemies across border and within India, some people are making statements to please Pakistan. This is New India, it does not remain silent on killings of its jawans," the prime minister stated.

Modi accusing Opposition of demoralising troops is baffling: Mehbooba Mufti

The statements made by the opposition parties after the preemptive air strike on terror camps have made only people of Pakistan happy, he claimed.

India conducted air strike at a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 26.
The message and not the number is what counts in the Balakot air strike

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Mar 04: There have been debates over the number of terrorists who have been killed at the Balakot terror facility being run by the Jaish-e-Mohammad. Some have placed the number 300 while others at 250.

OneIndia spoke with former Research and Analysis Wing officer, Amar Bhushan to understand what the casualty may have been. Bhushan in fact had played a very crucial role in mapping the facility seer.

R&AW mapped Balakot 15 years back, but it needed guts to hit it

Bhushan says that to say that in such operations, the numbers really don't matter, but also adds that he does not believe that the terror camp would have been empty. I am sure that there were casualties following the air strike.

Balakot was a known terrorist camp. It is not now, but 15 years back itself, we had mapped it out.These targets were on the radar of the Indian establishment for long.

With regard to the number of terrorists killed in the operation, Amar Bhushan says that the numbers really dont matter. The fact is that an identified camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad has been hit. It was a regular structured base, where terrorists were trained.

I would say that by hitting the camp, India has conveyed a very strong message.

The other message that we have conveyed is that we know where they are are and what support they are getting. I am sure that the loses have been great in number. I cannot believe it when someone says that the terror camps would have been emptied.

When Pakistan put all its terrorists in one basket at Balakot

Pakistan earlier would hold a prayer meeting and name them. Now they have completely stopped publishing the names.

Back in the day, we would codify the names of those who died in the Kashmir conflict and issue it. That is when they started believing us. Don't worry about the numbers for now, the names and figures will be out soon, says Amar Bhushan.
This Kerala shop runs without a keeper and there has not been a single theft so far

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Thiruvananthapuram, March 4: If we say that in India, there are even shops that do not have keepers to monitor their functioning? We say it as a matter of fact. There is a shop in Vankulathuvayal in Azhikode in Kannur district of Kerala that has no shop-keeper to supervise the sale and there is no report of theft either.

The shop - a red kiosk located near the local bus stand, has a board at the entrance that says: "Collect the product, check the price tag and put the money into the collection box."

Inaugurated on January 1, the shop has been set up by initiative from a non-profit NGO called Janashakti Trust. The store has all kinds of products, ranging from phenyl, handwash, etc. These products are made by differently-abled people and students of 'Asraya', a special school.

"These differently-abled individuals have been making such products. However, they were not able to market it. Then we came to this idea of such a shop. We buy the product in advance from them and then put it in the stall for sale.

In a first, Kerala govt sets up hostel for migrant labourers; 'welcoming attitude,' says CM Vijayan

This way they don't have to bother about the marketing," Sugunan P M, convenor of the trust, was quoted as saying by inuth.com.

The trust was initially unsure about such functioning of the shop but the local residents gave support to the initiative, Sugunan said. The nearby shop-keepers open this store at 6 am and shut it around 10 pm.

A CCTV has been installed to keep things under surveillance but Sugunan said there has not been a single incident of theft. The daily earning received from the shop is over Rs 1,000.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 10:26 [IST]
Two-time MP from Ferozpur Sher Singh Ghubaya resigns from SAD

India

oi-Vikas SV

Chandigarh, Mar 4: Two-time MP from Ferozpur, Punjab, Sher Singh Ghubaya, who is seen as a rebel and not in bset of terms with the top leadership of the party, has resigned from the primary membership of the Shoromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Ghubaya's relationship with the party has been sour ever since a controversial video clip of his had appeared before the 2017 assembly elections. Ghubaya had claimed that the video was fabricated and held the Shiromani Akali Dal's president Sukhbir Badal responsible for this. Ghubaya has been vocal about his dislike for Sukhbir Singh Badal.

Ghubaya, ruling Shiromani Akali Dal's MP from Ferozepur constituency, is reportedly trying to get a Congress ticket from Ferozepur and exploring other options as well. His relations with SAD's core leadership attained bitterness when his son joined Congress and was given ticket by Congress from Fazilka constituency.

BJP-Akali Dal to continue 2014 equation in 2019 LS elections

He has a strong backing from the Rai Sikh community, to which he belongs. Amid souring of ties with SAD, Ghubaya has reportedly already met the Congress high command over the issue.

Reports say that he is willing to fight the elections as an independent from Ferozepur which is his stronghold.

In the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and SAD have agreed on seat sharing. BJP Chief Amit Shah announced on February 28 that Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will fight on 10 seats and BJP on 3 seats in Punjab in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Akali Dal won only four of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab. The number of Lok Sabha seats contested by the two parties were the same in 2009 as well.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 14:28 [IST]
Before the ceasefire on Feb 24, Pakistan resorted to over 4,000 border violations

Amidst ceasefire claims, Pakistan continues to keep J&K on the boil

664 ceasefire violations this year in Jammu and Kashmir by Pakistan: MHA

No ceasefire violation along LoC in Kashmir since February agreement

Underreported effect of Pakistani ceasefire violations in J&K

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, March 4: Death of four persons in Jammu and Kashmir within a week due to the Pakistani ceasefire violations has once again caught the attention of national as well as international media.

On Friday, three members of a family were killed in Salotri in Poonch district in heavy Pakistani shelling.

Twenty-four-year-old Rubana Kosar and her son Fazan (5) and nine-month-old daughter Shabnam were killed in the shelling. Rubana's husband Mohd Yunis was injured.

J&K: 2 militants, 5 security personnel killed as Handwara encounter enters third day

On Thursday, a woman was killed and a jawan was injured when Pakistani Army heavily shelled civilian areas and forward posts in six sectors along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Rajouri districts.

Underreported fact is that those become first victims of Pakistani aggression are Gujjars, Bakerwals and Pahadi speaking people of Jammu and Kashmir.

While Gujjars and Bakerwals are Muslims, Pahadi speaking people consist of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

The people killed on Friday were Gujjars. Former Jammu and Kashmir Minister Shabir Ahmad Khan told One India that the woman killed in Mendhar sector on Thursday belonged to the Pahadi community.

He informed that six districts- Jammu, Samba, Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla, and Kupwada- are along the Line of Control (LOC).

Heightened cross border shelling, government takes stock

He said that Gujjars, Bakerwals and Pahadi speaking people face the heat of Pakistani aggression in these districts.

He lamented that two years ago the Central Government sanctioned funds for constructing bunkers for villagers but the work has not started till date.

Dr. Javaid Rahi, Chairman of Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation, told One India that the people living along the Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir have been suffering due to the Pakistani aggression since 1947.

He said the Gujjars and Bakerwals have faced the major brunt as they were killed in large number during the 1947, 1965 and 1971 wars along the LOC and the International Border.

"Gujjars and Bakerwals are the main tribal group of Jammu Kashmir and constitute 20 percent of total population of the State who occupy frontier areas along the border from Poonch to Lakhanpur and Uri Karnah to Gurez and Kargil, " Dr. Rahi said.

He informed that Pakistan violates ceasefire throughout the year.

"Ceasefire violations by Pakistan are being witnessed for around 8-9 months in every year. Every year dozens of people are being killed and hundreds injured in Pakistani heavy shelling, which generally continues for 3-4 hours," he said.

He added the matter becomes worse when the livestock is also killed or injured in Pakistani ceasefire violations.

Army retaliates to Pakistan shelling at multiple locations across LoC, destroys 5 posts

Gujjars and Bakerwals are the notified scheduled tribes in Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

People generally differentiate between these two communities on the basis of livestock they rear. Gujjars rear buffaloes and Bakerwals sheep and goats.

While Bakerwal community is purely nomad in nature and depends on livestock, many Gujjar families are settled in different border area villages of Jammu and Kashmir.

It is notable that apart from farming, Gujjars also depend on cattle, mainly buffaloes, for their livelihood.

There are many villages where one can find amputated livestock, Dr. Rahi, who belongs to the Gujjar community, said.

"The Pakistani shelling during cultivation time also destroys farming. While ploughing, one is always apprehensive of hitting an explosive that might have been lying underneath," he said.

Due to the uncertainty, around 5000 Gujjars and Bakerwals have shifted permanently in Punjab. They are living in Ludhiana, Machhiwara, Chamkaur Sahib, Hoshiarpur, Ropar, Garhshankar, Chabbewal, Pathankot, Nawanshahr districts.

Dr. Rahi says that the border districts are underdeveloped because inhabitants fear that one Pakistani mortar may ground their house.

"The fear among people could be understood by a fact that after 1971 India-Pakistan war it was only in the year 2000 that villagers of border areas started constructing pucca houses," he said.

Following the heavy Pakistani shelling on border areas of the LOC in last few weeks, people living within near border with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir were asked to shift to safer places.

Dr. Rahi, however, organised a seminar on Sunday and demanded the Government to settle Gujjars permanently at safer places in the wake of consistent heavy firing on Line of Control and International Border.

Despite the 2003 ceasefire agreement, Pakistan continues to violate it. The Pakistan Army has violated the ceasefire for over 60 times during the last week by targeting over 70 civilian and forward areas along the LoC in Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu and Baramulla districts.

The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violation, numbering 2,936 by Pakistani troops, in the last 15 years.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 16:28 [IST]
Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir to Sidhu: Send your son or daughter to border, then call Imran Khan 'big brother'

Were you uprooting terrorists or trees? Sidhu targets Centre over IAF strikes

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Mar 04: Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday took a swipe at the Centre, asking if 300 terrorists were indeed killed in the recent air strikes by the Indian Air Force in Pakistan's Balakot as claimed by the government.

Sharing a video in which a section of the international media questioned the IAF strikes in Balakot on 26 February, Sidhu said in the caption: "Skimmed milk masquerades as cream, things are seldom as they seem."

"Deceit possesses our land in [the] guise of fighting a foreign enemy," the Punjab minister, who left the BJP to join the Congress, tweeted.

300 terrorist dead, Yes or No?



What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorist or trees? Was it an election gimmick?



Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy.



Stop politicising the army, it is as sacred as the state.



   | pic.twitter.com/HiPILADIuW  Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) March 4, 2019

'We hit terror targets, can't count casualties': Air Force Chief BS Dhanoa

"Were you uprooting terrorists or trees? Was it an election gimmick?" he asked.

Several opposition politicians have now attacked the BJP over numbers of casualties that have been doing the rounds -- numbers that were announced neither by the ministry of external affairs (which announced the airstrike) nor by the Air Force.

The casualty figure in the air strike on the Balakot camp will be given out by the government, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said on Monday while asserting that the Indian Air Force does not count the number of dead.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the death toll depends on the number of people present at the target.
When UP police donned the role of media during Kumbh Mela

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Lucknow, Mar 04: News bulletins prepared by Uttar Pradesh Police on daily activities at the Kumbh Mela, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, have become a big hit, with Bollywood celebrities such as Sanjay Mishra and Prakash Jha hosting shows.

Available on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, the bilingual 'Suraksha Bulletin' is shot by media students and professionals.

Kumbh attempts another Guinness record with 8000 handprints

"This is the first attempt of its kind by any government organisation anywhere in the world to produce anchor-based news bulletins. For this, the police department has prepared capsules, providing information on everyday's development in the Kumbh Nagri," DGP O P Singh told PTI.

The capsules have been very successful in providing information to visitors at the Mela, the DGP said, adding, "We are also contemplating to replicate this arrangement in the entire state."

A studio has been set up in the SSP office with standard background and lighting. The newsroom has several celebrity anchors such as filmmaker Prakash Jha, actor Sanjay Mishra, an Italian National Geographic producer Raz.

Superintendent of Police (Media) Rahul Srivastava, who is overseeing this arrangement, said several senior officers, foreign nationals, dignitaries were interviewed in the newsroom and the bulletins were uploaded on the social media and also shared with media centre of the Mela administration.

Srivastava said the bulletins helped the department in "alerting people and avoiding chaos".

The DGP said the UP police has won laurels in the past for effective police-citizen communication and grievance redressal through social media.

"The TwitterSeva of UP police is a case study of sorts when it comes to changing the paradigm of interaction between police and citizens," he said.

For Kumbh Mela, police devised an effective communication strategy which was "unique" and a robust social media cell was set up, the DGP said.

A website of the Kumbh Mela police was created with details of police and traffic arrangements, relevant maps, necessary information and even geo locations of police stations to assist the pilgrims.

PM Modi takes holy dip, offers prayers at Kumbh in Prayagraj

Srivastava said a Kumbh Mela police cell started in December and the team was trained in the basics of social media.

"Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, WhatsApp accounts of Kumbh Mela police were created and verified...where people gave their suggestions and complaints," he said.

The police officer said animated characters, performed by Bollywood actors were used to convey safety messages. The videos have gone viral on social media.

The Kumbh Mela this year is spread over an area of 3,200 hectare as compared to 1,600 hectare area in the previous mela.

It started on January 15 and will end on March 4.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 10:13 [IST]
BSP to fight solo in UP, Uttarakhand, no tie-up with Owaisi's AIMIM, says Mayawati

'Should not be misled': Mayawati reaches out to Brahmins before UP polls

Why didn't you induct even one Rafale jet during your rule: Mayawati asks PM Modi

India

oi-PTI

Lucknow, Mar 04: Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying Rafale jets could have given better results for India in hitting a Jaish camp in Pakistan, BSP chief Mayawati on Monday asked the BJP government at the Centre why not a single Rafale fighter was inducted in the IAF during its rule.

"Rafale fighter could have proven useful in the fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security (sic)?" Mayawati said in a tweet.

Last week, after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot, about 80 km from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi said, "Rafale fighters could have delivered even better results". His reference was apparently to the stealth of Rafale, an air-dominance aircraft.

The Indian Air Force had deployed a dozen Mirage-2000 aircraft to hit the target. A Jaish terrorist camp was destroyed and up to 350 terrorists were killed in the air strike on Feb 26, official sources have claimed.

On Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah said "more than 250 terrorists" were killed. Modi had also said the Rafale jet deal was not finalised by the previous government "for vested interests and now an effort is on to hamper it for political reasons."

The first of the 36 Rafale fighters purchased from France is expected to arrive in India by September this year.

PTI

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 13:20 [IST]
'Vehicle was signalled to stop but it tried to flee': Amit Shah explains how the Nagaland firing unfolded

Yet another mine tragedy in NE, this time in Nagaland; 4 dead

India

pti-PTI

Kohima, Mar 4: Four miners have been killed following mudslides at an illegal coal mine at Yonglok village in Longleng district of Nagaland, police said on Monday.

The incident happened on Saturday (March 2) when the four victims, all from Assam, had gone to the abandoned mine to collect their belongings. They reportedly got stuck inside the open-cast mine on the Assam-Nagaland border following mudslides, police said.

[No blueprint on Meghalaya illegal mine says Centre]

The mine was recently shut down following a state government order banning illegal coal mining and a provisional ban on licensed mining activity, police said. The victims, hailing from upper Assam, have been identified as Jiten Tanti (40), Krishna Gogoi (32), Tutu Deka (28) and Shushan Phukon (37).

Post-mortem was not done on the bodies at the request of the victims' families. The bodies were delivered to the families after an undertaking.

[Meghalaya: 13 trapped in a flooded illegal mine, rescue ops underway]

The Nagaland incident has occurred within three months of the Meghalaya mine tragedy in which 15 miners were trapped in an illegal rat-hole mine in East Jaintia Hills district. Rescuers have been able to retrieve only two highly decomposed bodies from the quarry.

The Meghalaya mine incident happened in December 2019. By the end of that month, family members of at least 7 trapped miners, hailing from West Garo Hills district of the state, had already given up hope to rescue their kins alive and requested the government to retrieve the bodies for the last rites.

PTI
Going slow on Hafiz Saeed, looking up to Azhar, Pak is only worsening its case at FATF

From plotting a hijack to creating the JeM, why Pakistan guards Masood Azhar so much

Big action against Maulana Masood Azhar in the offing

International

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Islamabad, Mar 04: Pakistan may take "decisive action" against all proscribed organisations, including Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM), and even withdraw its opposition to the move to list terror outfit's chief Masood Azhar in the UN Security Council terror list, according to a media report on Sunday.

The US, the UK and France on Wednesday moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Pakistan-based chief Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

Our boss is perfectly fine says Jaish-e-Mohammad

In a major policy decision, Pakistan is set to take decisive action against all proscribed organisations as well as against the head of banned JeM, a senior security official familiar with the development quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

It is not clear what specific action would be taken against Azhar but the official hinted that Pakistan may withdraw its opposition to the listing of JeM chief as global terrorist by the UN Security Council.

"The state has to decide whether individual is important or the larger national interest of the country," the official said when asked if Pakistan would no more oppose the UNSC action against Azhar.

The Security Council Sanctions Committee will consider within 10 days on the fresh proposal moved by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council.

The proposal is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which over 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, 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 the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

Intelligence agencies verify death rumours relating to Azhar

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee. The official, however, insisted that the move to take action against such individuals was taken before the Pulwama attack, the report said.

He also clarified that Pakistan's decision to act decisively was taken not to give any "face saving" to India. "We need to correct ourselves in our own national interests and not someone else's," the official was quoted as saying in the report.

The official further said that Pakistani authorities had conducted investigations into the Pulwama terror attack on CRPF personnel in and found "no evidence whatsoever of any involvement of Pakistan or any organisation in it".

Stressing that the country's leadership was determined to take action against anyone found involved in the Pulwama attack, he said the dossier shared by India with Pakistan had nothing in it that suggested involvement of any Pakistani organisation.

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Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 7:48 [IST]
Members of farmers' body detained in Lucknow for trying to burn effigies of PM Modi, Shah

UP: Undertrial prisoner kills murder convict in jail

Lucknow

pti-PTI

Muzaffarnagar (UP), Mar 4: A man, serving a life term after being convicted of killing his wife, has allegedly been beaten to death by an undertrial prisoner after a spat over the use of toilet in Saharanpur district jail, officials said on Monday.

Mohd Azam, who was serving the life sentence in his wife's murder case, was killed Sunday, Saharanpur District Jail Superintendent Viresh Raj Sharma said. According to Sharma, Azam, who was kept in solitary confinement cell, was beaten by undertrial inmate Anwer after a spat over using toilet.

[Man attacked with knife for draining phone battery playing PUBG]

Azam was rushed to district hospital where doctors declared him dead, the jail official said. A murder case was registered against Anwer who is lodged in the jail in the murder case of his wife.

Azam was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his wife's death over dowry in July 2009. Meanwhile, SP (City) Vinit Kumar Bhatnagar said two jail officials have been suspended for negligence in connection with the killing of the inmate.

PTI
This is a rare interview with Peter Fletcher, the Chair and Founder of the renowned Cub b. Club b has long been considered the gold star of Family Office conferences. We gain some insights into Peter Fletchers investment background and the decades of success of this private club and what is developing within the organization and where it is heading. Matthias Knab: Peter, how and when did you get started in investing as a career? Peter Fletcher: That interest began during my university days in the late 1960s. I was going to school at night and started working as a page boy on the floor of the Montreal Stock Exchange which, at that time, was the first computerized stock exchange in the world. When I had saved enough to travel (which I love to do  I was born to travel), I traveled across Canada headed to Australia where I stayed for five years and gained extraordinary experience in various areas. Then, on my way back to Canada, I travelled around the world for two years. I traveled through Asia, across Russia and then across Europe, staying in London for some time as well as other countries before going back to Canada, where I had a job at the Montreal Trust Company. In 1976, the Parti Quebecois, a separatist power, came into office in Quebec. Similar to what we have seen more recently with separatist movements in Barcelona, a lot of the bigger corporations left and set up branches and operations in another location. I then got a job in Bermuda in the investment department of the Bank of Bermuda. It was very international  multicurrency  and we were one of the first banks to do it. In 1990, the bank sent me to Hong Kong to run the institutional trust side, and there I got to know investment managers and helped many set up. I was also on the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong which regulated all mutual funds and investment managers. I was also involved with opening up many of the emerging markets for securities trading, such as India, Pakistan, Russia, China and Taiwan. It was a tremendous learning experience, and while there I met many skilled investment managers. At the time, one of the principals from a family office in Geneva came to Asia and they were investing weith a lot of managers. I helped them allocate and monitor investments with Asian managers. One thing led to another, and they offered me a job in Geneva to go set up their family office. Matthias Knab: So is this the time your insights into family office needs truly began? Peter Fletcher: Correct. That is how I ended up in the family office world, which is a really interesting universe. For example, I found out that in general when someone sells a business, three things happen. First, they dont realize they are in a new business, the financial business. Second, they often think that they are  or have become  investment experts. But thirdly, and more importantly, they never hire enough staff. To give you some idea, I had a substantial amount of money to manage, but when I arrived in Geneva, they gave me just one staff member  a secretary. She was a lovely lady, but she was sixty-two years old. To give you some context, women retire at sixty-three in Switzerland, so that wasnt exactly helpful. This was all happening in the mid-1990s. I was traveling an insane amount, allocating to hedge funds and private equity. Keep in mind that at that time, a large hedge fund was $200 million. Through my personal and business connections, I always had a deep, global network, and so, one night in London in 1995, I brought about eighteen families together in a private room at a restaurant to talk about asset allocation, managers, and such. This ended up being the first formal meeting of the soon-to-be Club b. We ended up talking about a specific fund manager and then realizing that the people around the table were holding 83% of this managers offshore fund. At that time, things like cap intro or hedge fund databases werent even around. The business was much more relationship driven  everybody would exchange information and ideas. As investors, we also didnt really care about 2 and 20 fees at that time because the managers were making 30 or 40% and also really protecting on the downside. I continued meeting and working with other families, one in fact right here on the Cayman Islands. This taught me a lot about documents and corporate governance. In a way, my network helped me professionalize and build my own organization and investment procedures. For example, we now look at the offering documents first. Meeting a new manager can be a sexy thing, but if you dont get past the documents, the whole exercise is to no avail. Matthias Knab: Lets go back to your family office meetings. How did the name Club b come about? Peter Fletcher: I was having lunch with another family office in Chelsea, London in the mid-1990s at a restaurant where Lady Diana supposedly often dined. It was a beautiful sunny day. After a nice bottle of chardonnay, we decided that we should set up a club because we had been meeting like this so many times already in all types of locations around the world. As we were in Europe, we thought it best to have a French name, so we called it the Le Club, and then we put the letter b after it to stand for billionaire or BS. That is exactly how the name started, true story. Then, we started to have ad hoc meetings around the world and in 2000 we decided to have a larger, conference-style meeting which has since become our signature event format. We had our first formal conference with eighty families in Madrid in 2002 and now over seven- hundred families are part of Club b. Matthias Knab: I know it is rare for you to speak publicly about Club b. Would you mind elaborating where Club b is heading these days? How are things developing within the organization? Peter Fletcher: Yes, you are right  in twenty-four years, I have never given an interview about the Club b. It is rare because it is always my intention to maintain the strictly private and confidential ethos of the club. The Club b is a thought leader and idea generator and is fortunate to have some of the worlds brightest allocators as members. The wisdom of the collective Club b membership consistently provides fascinating and productive insights. For example, a lot of the investment themes we discuss come in different waves. At present, these discussions center around direct equity deals and people wanting to co-invest. Co-investing can be like herding cats  it is not easy to do, and it takes tremendous discipline. I always tell people to figure out what would happen if something goes wrong. Like, what if one of the key parties leaves? In addition, families should be focused on deep operational industry expertise that other members bring to the table, and evaluate co-investments even if the key party is charging fees. I think it is generally understood that you can only operate on the highest level if you have the best talent, so family offices who really want to excel also need to attract talented people since they are really competing against investment banks, hedge funds, and money managers. The Club b events always feature family office-centric themes to help guide families through myriad issues they may be encountering. For example, issues like hiring the right staff, dealing with transition, coping in crises and collectively allocating family assets are highly-charged topics within family offices. It was always my vision that Club b help families navigate these major issues through gold star events that promote global family office member connections and the exchange of innovative thoughts and ideas. Through the Club b events and initiatives, it can be very helpful with so many family groups working together since you have many sets of eyes rather than just your own looking at a deal or a certain issue. To have that kind of strategic and focused insight is invaluable. Members have suggested starting a membership model, and we are considering that just so we can expand our staff. This would also help us to build technology systems, platforms and tools to connect families, not as a business as such, but as systems governed on the same non-commercial and private ethos the Club b was built on. At a time where more and more family offices are setting up, we can all be of help to each other and form a platform that is purely peer-driven and not commercial-driven by other peoples interests. In addition, I have been able to foster relationships that I never could have imagined. Over the years, I have found that Club b is an amazing group of resourceful people. For example, undertaking due diligence on a group investment and/or individual we are probably one degree of separation in the investment world. As mentioned, what I do also notice is that it seems that families never have enough staff to handle the money they manage. We have tremendous expertise in our member group and can offer a lot of value for existing as well as new family offices that are starting out  those who are looking for best practices and ideas to avoid some of the pitfalls. Families want to be part of the Club b experience where they can listen to illustrious speakers and connect with other families in a unique event atmosphere. We hold annual events and this year we are hosting our upcoming asset allocation events in Montreal (May 9th  10th) and Monaco (November 6th  8th). I have always been motivated by the clarity and influence of connections  it is always about connecting with the right people for the right answer. It is truly through the power of the Club b peers and wisdom of the crowd that resources and relationships are fostered. We have been having events for twenty-four years now and, currently, we operate within a referral process that is working really well with applications growing consistently every week. Over the last ten years, we have also started developing the Club f  which stands for family office foundations which places an emphasis on the next generation. The Club f is essentially a project of Club b and upholds the same ethos of privacy, non- commerciality and referral system; nevertheless, it is entirely philanthropy-focused. I probably dont have to tell you that many of the next generation have a social conscience. They want to change things, and they have the desire to approach philanthropy differently. With the Club b, I always knew what the DNA was, what really drives our people. They want to connect, exchange investment ideas, information, and be part of a thought leadership process in a trusted environment. That is really what the Club b is all about. But I have found the next generation to be even more embracing of the collaborative approach. This is extremely interesting because, traditionally, a lot of the older family foundations were often managed by ego and legacy. They were not really about collaboration or connection, but instead seemed to stay in their own universe. The Next Gen is changing Family Office Structures Right Before Our Eyes However, this structure is changing right before our eyes. I see all of the groups becoming more empowered and efficient in their work because of their willing participation and engagement in the peer-driven platform of Club fs global community of donors. The Club f is about connecting the next generation and others to create a more collaborative initiative and has already produced a number of amazing events and round tables in Madrid, Singapore, London, Montreal and other locations. The events are imbued with lots of positive energy and resourceful, committed people setting out and collaborating to do good locally and globally. We are having another Club f event in Toronto from March 21st  22nd. This upcoming event will help to guide families toward proper and effective donation whilst honing in on very important social impact and social change themes. This event is for single family office foundations and will be especially unique as it will be more conversational and collaborative in nature in a confidential setting, helping family foundations work through their philanthropy challenges and goals in an engaging and thoughtful way. There are so many new philanthropic foundations, and families often face the issue of where to put their philanthropy dollars and philanthropic energy. Ultimately, with Club f, we want family philanthropy to have an impact and real meaning  through the enjoying experience and fulfillment of collaboration. Matthias Knab will be participating in the Club f event in Toronto March 21st  22nd. Single Family Offices and Family Office Founders can get in touch with Peter Fletcher by emailing Horizons@Opalesque.com or through the contact form of Club b.




Report Predicts Growth in Commercial Satellite Launch Service Market 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:
Asia Pacific Dental Implants Market 2024: Eminent participants are Osstem Implants, Danaher Corporation, Zimmer Biomet and Henry Schein

Dental Implants Market

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According to a new report published by Graphical Research, titled Asia Pacific Dental Implants Market size is set to surpass USD 915 million by 2024. Rising prevalence of edentulism in developing countries such as India and China will drive the market growth. Edentulism is a major contributor of disease burden for oral health problems in the Asian countries. As per recent studies by government organizations, prevalence of edentulism in China accounted for 8.9% whereas India accounted for 15.3% in 2017. Additionally, increasing number of baby boomers aged 65 years and above suffering from oral disorders will further boost demand for dental implants in the coming years.Request for a sample @Rising dental tourism in APAC will propel business growth. Low cost of dental treatment in developing countries such as India and China will lead to increase in number of patient visits for dental procedures. Such factors will increase affordability leading to remarkable market growth. However, limited reimbursement and lack of skilled professionals in emerging countries will impede business growth over the coming years.Parallel-walled dental implants segment accounted for USD 149.7 million in 2017 owing to superlative versality of the implants. Parallel-walled implants render excellent aesthetic benefit, thus increasing customer demand. Furthermore, these implants utilize digital technology such as CT and CAD/CAM for improved navigation and imaging. Aforementioned factors should boost segmental growth in forthcoming years.Titanium dental implants accounted for more than 72% market share in 2017. Strong mechanical properties, excellent biocompatibility and high strength are major factors making it a preferable choice of biomaterial for fabrication of dental implants. Such beneficial features of titanium implants will augment segmental growth.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Hospitals segment contributed over USD 160 million in 2017. Increasing number of multi-specialty hospitals throughout the country offering dental care services and specialized treatments will augment segmental growth. Additionally, rising prevalence of gingival or periodontal diseases among adults aged 45 years and above in developing countries will spur patient visits to hospitals thereby, propelling segmental growth.India dental implants market will grow at a lucrative 7.4% CAGR over the forecast timeframe. This growth is attributable to increasing prevalence of oral disorders along with rising dental tourism in the country. High disposable income, changing demographics, rising healthcare expenditure along with affordable prices of tooth implants in India will act as positive contributing factors for market growth in the substantial years.Some of the established market players in Asia Pacific dental implants market are Osstem Implants, Danaher Corporation, Institut Straumann AG, Dentsply Sirona, Zimmer Biomet and Henry Schein. Industry players are adopting geographical expansions and new product launch to expand market share and product portfolio. For instance, in August 2016, Zimmer Biomet introduced TSVT & TSVM-1 HA dental Implants, having advanced features. This new product launches will help in expanding firms product base.Browse key industry insights from this report @Segments We Cover:APAC Dental Implants Market Analysis, By End-useo Hospitalso Dental Clinicso OtherAsia Pacific Dental Implants Market Share, By Materialo Titaniumo ZirconiumAsia Pacific Dental Implants Market Size, By Producto Tapered implantso Parallel walled implantsThe above information is provided for the following region and countries: Japan China India South Korea Australia Malaysia Indonesia Thailand Singapore Taiwan Philippines Vietnam OtherAbout Graphical Research:Graphical Research is a business research firm that provides industry insights, market forecast and strategic inputs through granular research reports and advisory services. We publish targeted research reports with an aim to address varied customer needs, from market penetration and entry strategies to portfolio management and strategic outlook. We understand that business requirements are unique: our syndicate reports are designed to ensure relevance for industry participants across the value chain. We also provide custom reports that are tailored to the exact needs of the customer, with dedicated analyst support across the purchase lifecycle.Contact Us:Parikhit B.Corporate sales,Graphical ResearchEmail: sales@graphicalresearh.comWeb:
Hepatitis C Treatment Market 2024 | F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc., AbbVie Inc

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Demand for Hepatitis C Treatment Expected to Remain High in North America during 2016-2024According to a recent study conducted by RRI, the global market for hepatitis C treatment is expected to expand at a CAGR of over 13% during the forecast period (2016-2024). By the end of 2016, market is anticipated to stand at US$ 26.6 and is estimated to surpass US$ 71 Billion by 2024.Factors such as higher per capita healthcare expenditure worldwide and growing prevalence of hepatitis C infections in countries such as U.S. and Canada is expected to drive the global market for global hepatitis C treatment during the forecast period. Moreover, increasing awareness campaigns by private NGPOs and encouraging government initiatives to limit infection is also supporting the market growth. On the other hand, expensive drugs for hepatitis C treatment and lack of awareness about hepatitis C infection amongst the people in developing regions across the globe may inhibit the growth of the market during the forecast period.Request For Report Sample:On the basis of drugs, the global market for hepatitis C treatment has been segmented into HCV NS5A inhibitors, HCV protease inhibitors, interferon & antiviral, HCV polymerase inhibitors, and combination therapy. Amongst these, combination therapy is expected to be the largest, accounting for the highest share of the market. The segment is expected to expand at a CAGR of over 13% during 2016-2024.On the basis distribution channel, the market has been segmented into online pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and retail pharmacies. Hospital pharmacy is expected to be the most dominant segment during the forecast period. By 2024, the segment is anticipated to account for over 43% share of the market in terms of revenue. Due to increasing occurrence of hospitalization and improved services and accessibility, demand for the segment is expected to grow higher in the near future.On the other hand, the online pharmacies segment is anticipated to witness the highest CAGR over the forecast period. The growth of the segment is due to ample stock of hepatitis C treatment drugs with added discount offered by online drug pharmacies.On the basis of region, North America is expected to be the leading market for hepatitis C treatment, estimated to account for 45% share by the end of 2016. Whereas, the market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at an overwhelming CAGR of over 14%. By 2016, Europe is estimated to contribute over 19% share to the global market for hepatitis C treatment. The market in Latin America is expected to witness a sound growth, which was estimated at US$ 2,915.8 Million in 2015 and is expected to surpass US$ 3,311 by 2016 year end. In 2015, the market in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region stood at US$ 1,792.5 Million and is anticipated to cross US$ 1,988 Million by the end of 2016.Request Report Discount:Vendor NewsKey participants operating in the global market for hepatitis C treatment include F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Gilead Sciences, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co., Inc., AbbVie Inc., and Kadmon Holdings, Inc. Most of these companies are actively focusing on partnering with healthcare solutions and service providers in order to offer better patient treatment and enhance operational efficiency.Summary: The global market for hepatitis C treatment expected to grow at a pronounced rate.Report Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)42 Joseph StreetPort carling P0B 1J0Muskoka, Ontario1Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:
Air Spray Gun Market Analysis, Growth Opportunities in 2019| Global Key Players: - Festo, Smc, Metabo, Silvent, Exair, Hazet, Parker, Bahco, Guardair, Jwl

Global Air Spray Gun Market

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The Global Air Spray Gun market was valued at million US$ in 2018 and will reach million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of during 2019-2025.This report focuses on Air Spray Gun volume and value at global level, regional level and company level. From a global perspective, this report represents overall Air Spray Gun market size by analyzing historical data and future prospect.Request Sample Report atRegionally, this report categorizes the production, apparent consumption, export and import of Air Spray Gun in North America, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia and India.For each manufacturer covered, this report analyzes their Air Spray Gun manufacturing sites, capacity, production, ex-factory price, revenue and market share in global market.The following manufacturers are covered:FestoSmcMetaboSilventExairHazetParkerBahcoGuardairJwlKitz Micro FilterCejnCoilhoseSataPrevostAventicsNingbo PneumissionAirtxSegment by RegionsNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaSegment by TypeStraight NozzleAngled NozzleOthersSegment by ApplicationIndustrial MachineryElectronicsAutomotiveOthersView Detailed Report atTable of ContentsExecutive Summary1 Industry Overview of Air Spray Gun1.1 Definition of Air Spray Gun1.2 Air Spray Gun Segment by Type1.2.1 Global Air Spray Gun Production Growth Rate Comparison by Types (2014-2025)1.2.2 Straight Nozzle1.2.3 Angled Nozzle1.2.4 Others1.3 Air Spray Gun Segment by Applications1.3.1 Global Air Spray Gun Consumption Comparison by Applications (2014-2025)1.3.2 Industrial Machinery1.3.3 Electronics1.3.4 Automotive1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Air Spray Gun Overall Market1.4.1 Global Air Spray Gun Revenue (2014-2025)1.4.2 Global Air Spray Gun Production (2014-2025)1.4.3 North America Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.4 Europe Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.5 China Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.6 Japan Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.7 Southeast Asia Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)1.4.8 India Air Spray Gun Status and Prospect (2014-2025)2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Raw Material and Suppliers2.2 Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Air Spray Gun2.3 Manufacturing Process Analysis of Air Spray Gun2.4 Industry Chain Structure of Air Spray Gun3 Development and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Air Spray Gun3.1 Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 Global Air Spray Gun Manufacturing Plants Distribution3.3 Major Manufacturers Technology Source and Market Position of Air Spray Gun3.4 Recent Development and Expansion Plans.9 Development Trend of Analysis of Air Spray Gun Market9.1 Global Air Spray Gun Market Trend Analysis9.1.1 Global Air Spray Gun Market Size (Volume and Value) Forecast 2019-20259.2 Air Spray Gun Regional Market Trend9.2.1 North America Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.2.2 Europe Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.2.3 China Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.2.4 Japan Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.2.5 Southeast Asia Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.2.6 India Air Spray Gun Forecast 2019-20259.3 Air Spray Gun Market Trend (Product Type)9.4 Air Spray Gun Market Trend (Application)10.1 Marketing Channel10.1.1 Direct Marketing10.1.2 Indirect Marketing10.3 Air Spray Gun Customers11 Market Dynamics11.1 Market Trends11.2 Opportunities11.3 Market Drivers11.4 Challenges11.5 Influence FactorsAbout Us:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Contact Us:NORAH TRENTsales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.sales@wiseguyreports.com
Biopreservation Market  Product Review By Experts 2025 | Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Biolife Solutions Inc

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Global Biopreservation Market: SnapshotBiopreservation is a process for conserving the tissues, organs and cells along with maintaining their integrity and functionality at different temperatures for a prolonged period of time. The necessary products for biopreservation are cryo bags, tubes, refrigerators, liquid nitrogen tanks, and freezers. These biopreservation equipment have applications in stem cell, DNA, and plasma and tissue research which helps the market to grow steadily. Various researches being carried out in cell therapy and the increasing number of bio banks also encourage market expansion.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Currently, the geriatric population is affected with many disorders related to their lifestyle, namely cardiovascular disease, chronic illness, hypertension, and cancer. Biopreservation applications such as drug discovery, regenerative medicines, and bio banking help the consumers or patients during their life span and even at the time of death.The enormous growth in the global biopreservation market is accelerated by the rising healthcare expenditure, increasing trend of conserving cord blood stem cells of newborns, and the growing investments in research and development pertaining to this field. A considerable healthcare spending is expected to drive the gene banks, bio banks and hospitals to focus on biopreservation.High costs of advanced techniques and stability issues such as tissue injury during thawing and freezing have been considered as some of the primary factors restraining the biopreservation market growth. One of the prominent names in the industry, BioLife Solutions has signed a ten years business supply agreement with Bellicum Pharmaceuticals for manufacturing, marketing of proprietary tissue and cell, and various cellular immunotherapies which target solid tumors and blood cancers.The influential regions for the biopreservation market are North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Asia Pacific is expected to offer significant growth opportunities to market players, mostly driven by the demand arising from India and China.Global Biopreservation Market: OverviewBiopreservation involves maintaining the functionality and integrity of cells, tissues, and organs outside their natural environment for an extended period of storage at different temperatures. For instance, vaccines save 3 million lives every year in the U.S, however, vaccines worth US$ 20 million are wasted each year due to inadequate storage and improper refrigeration.Biopreservation safeguards the stability, purity, and quality of biospecimens saved in hospitals, biobanks, and gene banks. For instance, preservation of red blood cells (RBCs) is required for the ready availability of safe blood for blood transfusion needs. The biopreservation of RBCs for clinical purposes can be divided on the basis of techniques used to attain biologic stability and safeguard a viable state after extended storage times.Request TOC of the Report @Global Biopreservation Market: Key TrendsThe major factors driving the global biopreservation market include increasing R&D expenditure, increasing number of sperm and egg banks, increasing demand for preserving the stem cells of newborns, and rising adoption of regenerative medicine.Across the world, the increasing healthcare expenditure for health and well-being will stimulate the growth of the biopreservation market. This is because healthcare expenditure accounts for a significant part of the developmental budget of most countries.According to data from the World Bank, public healthcare spending is expected to rise at a substantially high rate, which along with a substantial healthcare spending will be an important driver for gene banks, hospitals, and biobanks, which are the key end-users of biopreservation market.A large population afflicted with chronic disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and hypertension as well as lifestyle diseases will bolster the markets growth. The increasing public and private spending on, medical goods and services, rising disposable income, increasing demand for biobanking services for the preservation of cells, tissues, and organs, and rising disposable income are also expected to further enhance the growth of the global biopreservation market.Global Biopreservation Market: Market PotentialIn a recent development in the biopreservation industry, BioLife Solutions, a leading name in developing, manufacturing, and marketing of proprietary cell and tissue has entered into a ten year business supply agreement with Bellicum Pharmaceuticals. The latter is a leading name in the development of cellular immunotherapies for cancers and inherited blood disorders. On account of this supply agreement, BioLifes CryoStor cell freeze media is incorporated into Bellicums production process for various cellular immunotherapies that targets blood cancers and solid tumors.In another industry development, BioLife Solutions has entered into a partnership with transportation firm MNX and expects heightened demand for its biologistics services with the entry of more cell therapies into the clinic.Global Biopreservation Market: Regional OutlookThe global biopreservation market can be analyzed with respect to the regional segments of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. In North America, the U.S. accounts for almost half the revenue of the region. This is due to the increasing demand for detection of chronic diseases, government stipulations for the ethical usage of biological samples, and introduction of newer of biopreservation methodologies.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Asia Pacific biopreservation market, driven by India and China will display a sustainable growth over the next couple of yearsGlobal Biopreservation Market: Competitive AnalysisSome of the key companies operating in the global Biopreservation market include Thermo Fischer Scientific Inc., VWR Corporation, Lifeline Scientific Inc., BioCision LLC, Custom Biogenic Systems Inc., Princeton Cryotech Inc., Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, Biolife Solutions Inc., Cesca Therapeutics Inc., Core Dynamics Ltd., and So-Low Environmental Equipment Co. Inc.Top companies in the market are focused on mergers and acquisitions, practicing effective services, and develop new products to stay competitive in the biopreservation market. Expanding geographical reach and developing a broad product portfolio with respect to refrigerators, freezers, and consumables is also leading to the increased market share of some of the top players.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Contact:TMR Research,3739 Balboa St # 1097,San Francisco, CA 94121United StatesTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Household & DIY Hand Tools Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Opportunity Assessment till 2026 || Key Players - Apex Tools Group, Akar Tools Ltd., JK Files (India) Limited, Channellock Inc., Klein Tools, Kennametal Inc.

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The expanding database of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has been recently updated by the addition of a new study which is titled as Household & DIY Hand Tools Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth and Opportunity Assessment till 2026. The fact-based research report on the global Household & DIY Hand Tools market covers various aspects such as trends, drivers, challenges and opportunities that have an influence on the growth and expansion of the global market. All these factors are analyzed across key regions of Latin America, North America, Europe, Middle and Africa (MEA) and the Asia Pacific. In order to provide an accurate forecast, analysts have presented the current market, which forms the basis of how the metal caps and closures market is expected to develop in the future.By adopting a DIY approach, consumers are executing the common upkeeps of their households through the use of manual tools. Manufacturers of hand tools have been capitalizing on this trend by offering a wide range of household & DIY hand tools. While the demand for household & DIY hand tools gains subtle traction, manufacturers are concerned with the growing market penetration of DIY power tools. Moreover, production of household & DIY hand tools is becoming complex as market players are expected to offer these tools at cheap prices. This has stepped the profit margins for manufacturers, and cost-effective procurement of raw materials continues to curtail large-scale production of household & DIY hand tools.To Get Sample Copy of Report, Click here @Transparency Market Researchs latest forecast study has considered several factors influencing the growth of the global household & DIY hand tools market. The report offers analysis and forecast on the expansion of the global household & DIY hand tools market for the assessment period, 2017-2026. Analysis provided in the report offers presumptive scenarios which reflect the latest market trends and unlock new opportunities in terms of production and sales of household & DIY hand tools. A comprehensive breakdown of the global household & DIY hand tools market makes the report a credible business document for understanding the future prospects of household & DIY hand tools.An executive summary at the beginning of the report abridges the key highlights from the overall research findings. Leading segments and the lucrativeness index is revealed in the executive summary. An overview of the global household & DIY hand tools market is provided in a distinct chapter. This section of the report gauges the changing landscapes of the industrial equipment and automation industry, and showcases the connection of industry trends and household & DIY hand tool market undercurrents.Browse Complete Report with TOC @Factors that can transform the global household & DIY hand tools landscape have been analyzed in the following chapters. The report has categorized the drivers for adoption of household & DIY hand tools and the key manufacturing restraints. Qualitative analysis of these factors reveals information which has been in the hindsight of market players. Pricing, cost structure, supply chain and raw material procurement strategies have been analyzed in the report.Key sections of the report provide segmental analysis on the expansion of global household & DIY hand tools market. Product-type, sales channel, and region as the primary segmentations analyzed in the report. The overall household & DIY hand tools market taxonomy has been illustrated below.Detailed Competition AssessmentThe key advantage of availing TMRs exclusive market study on the global household & DIY hand tools market is to assess valuable information on competitors. Market participants can follow the inferences provided in the report to understand the latest undertakings of their rivals. Each player in the global household & DIY hand tools market has been profiled on the basis of their current market standings. Strategic developments of the household & DIY hand tools market players have been revealed in an unbiased manner, and this information can influence the next steps of companies towards future market direction.Enquire about this Report @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
SIP Based IP PBX Market - Global Forecast 2023: Granular View of The Market from Various End-Use Segments

SIP Based IP PBX Market

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Researchmoz added latest report "SIP Based IP PBX: Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts, Worldwide, 2017 to 2023". The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.Next generation SIP Based IP PBX is able to leverage cloud computing software technology to support next generation communications systems. Some automation of the smart phone app and communication process includes the use of analytics to achieve higher quality connectivity in a variety of circumstances and IoT configurations, leveraging social media. The study has 228 pages and 61 tables and figures.SIP based IP PBX is supporting FXO, FXS, ISDN-BRI, T1, E1 and SIP trunks. SIP supports the versatile trunking expansions, including FXO, FXS, ISDN, T1 and E1. The users can fit into all sort of telephony environments. Standard SIP trunks and trusted peers make devices seamlessly integrated with ITSP services. The study illustrates with great specificity how some companies are more fully integrated with SIP application servers than others.Get a Sample PDF at:Business leaders are challenged to move their enterprises to the next level of competition. An effective digital business player, transformer, and disruptor position depends on the effectiveness of employing digital technologies and leveraging connected digital systems. Organizational, operational, and business model innovation are needed to create ways of operating and growing the business using SIP based PBX systems. It is a journey to achieve the connected enterprise, ultimately connecting all employees and a trillion connected devices.Many companies are using digital technology to create market disruption. Amazon, Uber, Google, IBM, and Microsoft represent companies using effective disruptive strategic positioning. As entire industries shift to the digital world, once buoyant companies are threatened with disappearing. SIP is a significant aspect of telecommunications applications server disruptive technology, it is enough to look at Avaya and the bankruptcy to see there is a shift to cloud SIP solutions.A digital transformation represents an approach that enables organizations to drive changes in their business models and ecosystems leveraging cloud computing, and not just hyperscal syste,s but leveraging . Just as robots make work more automated, so also cloud based communications systems implement the IoT digital connectivity transformation.Disruption in the business communications markets represents major opportunity for vendors with cloud offerings. This is part of a larger digital transformation, a digital approach to interconnecting everything that enables organizations to drive changes in their business models and ecosystems.Cloud based SIP PBX systems are able to connect to the disruptive cloud systems provided by Amazon (AWS), Microsoft, Google, and Facebook data centers are in a class by themselves, they have functioning fully automatic, self-healing, networked mega datacenters that operate at fiber optic speeds to create a fabric that can access any node in any particular data center because there are multiple pathways to every node. In this manner, they automate applications integration for any data in the mega data center.By leveraging digital competencies, businesses can grow faster than they would otherwise. A digital strategy, in conjunction with the appropriate unified communications solution permits the implementation of innovative communications services. Digital connectivity with combined voice, video and file transfer can help organizations and their end users innovate and compete more effectively. It is imperative that organizations have a digital communications strategy in place.Communications and collaboration solutions are migrating to the cloud in every segment of small, medium and large business. In vertical markets, businesses are managing competition that is characterized by disruption. Traditional verticals exploit digital technologies.Initiatives provide innovation in the marketplaces. Communications initiatives are being used to leverage information from the Internet of Things (IoT) and video. New functionality is being built out in the healthcare sector. Communication goes beyond voice. Most people under 30 prefer to communicate via text.SIP IP communications can provide an increase in the quantity and quality of home and personal medical devices for monitoring patient health care. Care delivery is being improved by having monitors linked into a full communications system. By integrating the data from monitoring devices with a real-time communications system, medical professionals can do their jobs better.Making the workforce more engaged and productive by providing users with new tools and solutions that are highly relevant to how they work in the DX era, while delivering enterprise-class voice and video capabilities. Increased productivity is achieved.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @Users can remotely share and explain real-time data in context. Compelling benefits that organizations can realize from UC&C solutions designed for the digital transformation era:ISDN PRI (T1/E1):- Alcatel-Lucent, Avaya, Siemens, and Nortel PBXsSIP Trunk:- Nokia Siemens, Nortel, BroadSoft, and Huawei Soft SwitchesInformation technology (IT) has moved from the back office to the front office with platform technologies, mobile, social business, cloud, and analytics monitoring. The shift occurring is for digital technology to embed itself into every aspect of business endeavor and personal lives.This is an era where the distinction between the technologies and processes that businesses deploy is tightly linked. Digital technology directly impacts customers and markets. The boundary between internal operations of the enterprise and its external ecosystem is rapidly disappearing. Customers, markets, competitors, partners, and regulators are inextricably linked.Growing acceptance of SIP enabled PBX and IP PBX markets come form companies dedicated to supporting modern digital communications. A bifurcation in the market between hardware servers and cloud enabled services, either for soft switches and or Unified Communications (UC) is tending to have the software systems replace separate servers.The SIP based voice equipment and services market PBX phone systems, voice over IP gateways, UC applications and IP phones markets at $14.15 billion in 2016 are anticipated to grow strongly in the cloud computing segment to reach $59 billion by 2023. The complete report provides a comprehensive analysis of SIP Based IP PBXes in different categories, illustrating the diversity of software communications market segments. A complete analysis is done, looking at numbers of procedures and doing penetration analysis.Companies Profiled- NEC- Microsoft- Huawei- West Unified Communications- Mitel- Vonage- Avaya- Cisco- BroadSoft- ShoreTelMarket Participants- 8x8- AT&T- Brekeke Software- BT / Avaya IP PBX Cloud- Ciena / BluePlanet- Cisco Systems- Equinix / Avaya Cloud SIP Communications- Ericsson- Fonality- NetSapiens- RingCentral Next-Gen Competitor- Vonage- West Corporation- ZyXELPlace an Enquiry to Our Industry Expert at @(*Fill the form and our sales representative will get back to you for assistance)Key Topics- SIP Based IP PBX- SIP PBX Solution Deployment Models SIP Enabled IP PBX Unified Communications Virtual Office Functions Unified- SIP Collaboration System Hosted Collaboration Solution Team Collaboration Device Transaction Solutions Functions OSS from BluePlanet SIP Enabled IP PBX Cloud Enterprise / Service Provider SIP PBX Cloud SMB SIP Cloud Enterprise / Service Provider SIP Unified CommunicationsAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the one stop online destination to find and buy market research reports & Industry Analysis. We fulfill all your research needs spanning across industry verticals with our huge collection of market research reports. We provide our services to all sizes of organizations and across all industry verticals and markets. Our Research Coordinators have in-depth knowledge of reports as well as publishers and will assist you in making an informed decision by giving you unbiased and deep insights on which reports will satisfy your needs at the best price.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074For More Reports Visit @
Big Data in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Market Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies and Forecasts 2018 to 2030

Big Data in the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Market | Planet Market Reports

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Big Data in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical MarketBig Data originally emerged as a term to describe datasets whose size is beyond the ability of traditional databases to capture, store, manage and analyze. However, the scope of the term has significantly expanded over the years. Big Data not only refers to the data itself but also a set of technologies that capture, store, manage and analyze large and variable collections of data, to solve complex problems.Amid the proliferation of real-time and historical data from sources such as connected devices, web, social media, sensors, log files and transactional applications, Big Data is rapidly gaining traction from a diverse range of vertical sectors. The healthcare and pharmaceutical industry is no exception to this trend, where Big Data has found a host of applications ranging from drug discovery and precision medicine to clinical decision support and population health management.Request a free sample atPlanet Market Reports estimates that Big Data investments in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry will account for nearly $4.7 Billion in 2018 alone. Led by a plethora of business opportunities for healthcare providers, insurers, payers, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders, these investments are further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 12% over the next three years.The Big Data in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Industry: 2018 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts report presents an in-depth assessment of Big Data in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry including key market drivers, challenges, investment potential, application areas, use cases, future roadmap, value chain, case studies, vendor profiles and strategies. The report also presents market size forecasts for Big Data hardware, software and professional services investments from 2018 through to 2030. The forecasts are segmented for 8 horizontal submarkets, 5 application areas, 37 use cases, 6 regions and 35 countries.The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report.BIG DATA IN THE HEALTHCARE & PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET KEY FINDINGS:The report has the following key findings:In 2018, Big Data vendors will pocket nearly $4.7 Billion from hardware, software and professional services revenues in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. These investments are further expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 12% over the next three years, eventually accounting for more than $7 Billion by the end of 2021.Big Data and advanced analytics are driving a paradigm shift in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry with multiple innovations ranging from precision medicine and digital therapeutics to the adoption of accountable and value-based care models.For full details Drug developers are making substantial investments in Big Data and artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery platforms to shorten the process of successfully discovering promising compounds. In addition, Big Data technologies are increasingly being utilized to streamline clinical trials, enabling biopharmaceutical companies to significantly lower costs and accelerate productive trials.The growing adoption of Big Data technologies has also brought about an array of benefits for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. Based on feedback from healthcare providers worldwide, these include but are not limited to cost savings in the range of 20-30%, an increase in patient access to services by more than 35%, growth in revenue by up to 30%, a reduction in emergency room visits by 10%, a drop in patient wait times by 30-60%, improvements in outcomes by as much as 20%, a 10-50% decline in mortality rates for conditions such as heart failure, and a reduction in the occurrence of hospital acquired and surgical site infections by nearly 60%.BIG DATA IN THE HEALTHCARE & PHARMACEUTICAL MARKET TOPICS COVERED:The report covers the following topics:Big Data ecosystemMarket drivers and barriersEnabling technologies, standardization and regulatory initiativesBig Data analytics and implementation modelsBusiness case, application areas and use cases in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industryOver 40 case studies of Big Data investments by healthcare providers, insurers, payers, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholdersFuture roadmap and value chainProfiles and strategies of over 270 leading and emerging Big Data ecosystem playersStrategic recommendations for Big Data vendors, and healthcare and pharmaceutical industry stakeholdersMarket analysis and forecasts from 2018 till 2030Big Data in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Market Forecast Segmentation:Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their categories:For full details Hardware, Software & Professional ServicesHardwareSoftwareProfessional ServicesHorizontal SubmarketsStorage & Compute InfrastructureNetworking InfrastructureHadoop & Infrastructure SoftwareSQLNoSQLAnalytic Platforms & ApplicationsCloud PlatformsProfessional ServicesApplication AreasPharmaceutical & Medical ProductsCore Healthcare OperationsHealthcare Support, Awareness & Disease PreventionHealth Insurance & Payer ServicesMarketing, Sales & Other ApplicationsUse CasesDrug Discovery, Design & DevelopmentMedical Product Design & DevelopmentClinical Development & TrialsPrecision Medicine & GenomicsManufacturing & Supply Chain ManagementPost-Market Surveillance & PharmacovigilanceMedical Product Fault MonitoringClinical Decision SupportCare Coordination & Delivery ManagementCER (Comparative Effectiveness Research) & Observational EvidencePersonalized Healthcare & Targeted TreatmentsData-Driven Preventive Care & Health InterventionsSurgical Practice & Complex Medical ProceduresPathology, Medical Imaging & Other Medical TestsProactive & Remote Patient MonitoringPredictive Maintenance of Medical EquipmentPharmacy ServicesSelf-Care & Lifestyle SupportDigital TherapeuticsMedication Adherence & ManagementVaccine Development & PromotionPopulation Health ManagementConnected Health Communities & Medical Knowledge DisseminationEpidemiology & Disease SurveillanceHealth Policy Decision MakingControlling Substance Abuse & AddictionIncreasing Awareness & Accessible HealthcareHealth Insurance Claims Processing & ManagementFraud & Abuse PreventionProactive Patient EngagementAccountable & Value-Based CareData-Driven Health Insurance PremiumsMarketing & SalesAdministrative & Customer ServicesFinance & Risk ManagementHealthcare Data MonetizationOther Use CasesRegional MarketsAsia PacificEastern EuropeLatin & Central AmericaMiddle East & AfricaNorth AmericaWestern EuropeBig Data in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Market Country MarketsArgentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, UK, USABig Data in the Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Market Key Questions Answered:The report provides answers to the following key questions:How big is the Big Data opportunity in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry?How is the market evolving by segment and region?What will the market size be in 2021, and at what rate will it grow?What trends, challenges and barriers are influencing its growth?Who are the key Big Data software, hardware and services vendors, and what are their strategies?How much are healthcare providers, insurers, payers, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders investing in Big Data?What opportunities exist for Big Data analytics in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry?Which countries, application areas and use cases will see the highest percentage of Big Data investments in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry?List of Companies Mentioned:The following companies and organizations have been reviewed, discussed or mentioned in the report:1010dataAbbVieAbsolutdataAccentureACR (American College of Radiology)Actian CorporationAdaptive InsightsAdobe SystemsAdvizor SolutionsAeroSpikeAetnaAFS TechnologiesAlationAlgorithmiaAlluxioAlphabetALTENAlteryxAmbient Clinical AnalyticsAmbulance VictoriaAMD (Advanced Micro Devices)AminoAnacondaApixioArcadia DataArimoARMASF (Apache Software Foundation)ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials)AstraZenecaAtomwiseAtScaleAttivioAttunityAustralian Digital Health AgencyAutomated InsightsAVORAAWS (Amazon Web Services)AxiomaticsAyasdiBackOffice AssociatesBangkok Hospital GroupBasho TechnologiesBayerBCG (Boston Consulting Group)Bedrock DataBetterWorksBig PandaBigMLBirstBitamBlue MedoraBlueData SoftwareBlueTalonBMC SoftwareBMS (Bristol-Myers Squibb)BOARD InternationalBooz Allen HamiltonBoxeverCACI InternationalCambridge SemanticsCapgeminiCazenaCenterstoneCentrifuge SystemsCenturyLinkChartioCignaCincinnati Childrens Hospital Medical CenterCisco SystemsCivis AnalyticsClearStory DataCloudabilityClouderaCloudianClustrixCNIL (Data Protection Regulatory Authority, France)CognitiveScaleCollibraConcurrent TechnologyConfluentContextiCosmosIDCouchbaseCrate.ioCrayCSA (Cloud Security Alliance)CSCC (Cloud Standards Customer Council)CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization)DatabricksDataikuDatalytyxDatameerDataRobotDataStaxDatawatch CorporationDatos IODCRI (Duke Clinical Research Institute)DDN (DataDirect Networks)DecisyonDeep GenomicsDeepMind TechnologiesDell TechnologiesDeloitteDemandbaseDenodo TechnologiesDesktop GeneticsDianomic SystemsDigital Reasoning SystemsDimensional InsightDMG (Data Mining Group)Dolphin Enterprise Solutions CorporationDomino Data LabDomoDremioDriveScaleDruvaDTA (Digital Therapeutics Alliance)Dundas Data VisualizationDXC TechnologyElasticEngineering Group (Engineering Ingegneria Informatica)EnterpriseDB CorporationeQ TechnologicEricssonErwinEVA (Big Cloud Analytics)EXASOLEXL (ExlService Holdings)Express ScriptsExscientiaFacebookFaros HealthcareFICO (Fair Isaac Corporation)Figure EightFogHorn SystemsFractal AnalyticsFranzFujitsuFuzzy LogixGainsightGE (General Electric)Genomics EnglandGinger.ioGlassbeamGNS HealthcareGold Coast HealthGoodData CorporationGoogleGrakn LabsGreenwave SystemsGridGain SystemsGSK (GlaxoSmithKline)GuavusH2O.aiHanse Orga GroupHarperDBHCL TechnologiesHedvigHitachi VantaraHITRUST AllianceHL7 (Health Level Seven)HLI (Human Longevity Inc.)HortonworksHPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)HuaweiHVRHyperScienceHyTrustIBM CorporationiDashboardsIDERAIEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)Ignite TechnologiesIHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise)IlluminaImanis DataImpetus TechnologiesINCITS (InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards)IncortaINDS (National Institute of Health Data, France)InetSoft Technology CorporationInfluxDataInfogixInforInformaticaInformation BuildersInfosysInfoworksInsightsoftware.comInsightSquaredIntel CorporationInteranaInterSystems CorporationISO (International Organization for Standardization)ITU (International Telecommunication Union)IU Health (Indiana University Health)IURTC (Indiana University Research & Technology Corporation)JedoxJethroJinfonet SoftwareJohnson & JohnsonJuniper NetworksKALEAOKBV/NASHIP (National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Germany)Keen IOKeyrusKineticaKNIMEKognitioKyvos InsightsLeanXcaleLexalyticsLexmark InternationalLightbendLinux FoundationLogi AnalyticsLogical ClocksLongview SolutionsLooker Data SciencesLucidWorksLuminoso TechnologiesMaanaManthan Software ServicesMapD TechnologiesMapR TechnologiesMariaDB CorporationMarkLogic CorporationMassachusetts General HospitalMathworksMayo ClinicMedtronicMelissaMemSQLMerck & Co.Merck KGaAMetric InsightsMicrosoft CorporationMicroStrategyMinistry of Health, Labor and Welfare, JapanMinitabMolecularMatchMongoDBMoorfields Eye HospitalMSQC (Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative)Mu SigmaNCCS (National Cancer Centre Singapore)NCPDP (National Council for Prescription Drug Programs)NEC CorporationNEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association)Neo4jNetAppNextBioNHS (National Health Service, United Kingdom)NHS EnglandNHS ScotlandNimbixNokiaNovartisNTT Data CorporationNumerifyNuoDBNVIDIA CorporationOASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards)ObjectivityOblong IndustriesODaF (Open Data Foundation)ODCA (Open Data Center Alliance)ODPi (Open Ecosystem of Big Data)OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium)OpenText CorporationOpera SolutionsOptimal PlusOptumOptumLabsOracle CorporationOxford Nanopore TechnologiesPacific BiosciencesPalantir TechnologiesPanasonic CorporationPanorama SoftwarePatientsLikeMePaxataPepperdataPfizerPhocas SoftwarePivotal SoftwarePrognozProgress Software CorporationProteus Digital HealthProvalis ResearchPure StoragePwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers International)Pyramid AnalyticsQlikQrama/TenguQuantum CorporationQuboleRackspaceRadius IntelligenceRapidMinerRecorded FutureRed HatRedis LabsRedPoint GlobalReltioRocheRoyal PhilipsRStudioRubrikRyftSailthruSalesforce.comSalient Management CompanySamsung GroupSanofiSAPSAS InstituteScaleOut SoftwareSeagate TechnologySeattle Children's HospitalSickweatherSinequaSingHealth (Singapore Health Services)SiSenseSizmekSnapLogicSnowflake ComputingSoftware AGSplice MachineSplunkSproxilStrategy Companion CorporationStratioStreamlioStreamSetsStriimSumo LogicSupermicro (Super Micro Computer)SyncsortSynerScopeSYNTASATableau SoftwareTakeda Pharmaceutical CompanyTalendTamrTARGITTCS (Tata Consultancy Services)Teradata CorporationThalesThermo Fisher ScientificThoughtSpotTIBCO SoftwareTidemarkTM ForumToshiba CorporationTPC (Transaction Processing Performance Council)TranswarpTrifactaTwitterU.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention)U.S. CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)U.S. Department of Veterans AffairsU.S. FDA (Food and Drug Administration)U.S. HHS (Department of Health & Human Services)U.S. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)U.S. VHA (Veterans Health Administration)UCL (University College London) Institute of OphthalmologyUN (United Nations)Unifi SoftwareUnitedHealth GroupUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignUniversity of MichiganUniversity of PittsburghUniversity of Utah HealthUnravel DataVANTIQVecima NetworksVMwareVoltDBW3C (World Wide Web Consortium)WANdiscoWaterline DataWellDocWestern Digital CorporationWhereScapeWiProWolfram ResearchWorkdayX12XplentyYellowfin BIYseopZendeskZoomdataZucchettiTo Browse Similar Reports @Customization of the Report: This report can be customized to meet the clients requirements. Please connect with our sales team (sales@planetmarketreports.com), who will ensure that you get a report that suits your needs.About Us :-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 a huge database of market research reports & company profiles across the 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 provide you deeper penetration of market research industry ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact US:-Name: Jennifer DanielEmail-Id: sales@planetmarketreports.comUS : +1-716-2260907UK : +447441952057Organization: Planet Market Reports
Blenders Market: Future Forecast Indicates Impressive Growth Rate Up to 2026 | Key Players are PHILIPS, Midea, Joyoung, Panasonic, SUPOR, BRAUN, etc.

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This research report titled Blenders Market: Future Forecast Indicates Impressive Growth Rate Up to 2026 focuses on the blenders market, published to the vast repository managed by FactMR. The analysis focuses on the prime geographical regions based on their market size, revenue and attractiveness factors. Furthermore, the research discusses various segments from the blenders market to examine future lucrativeness and spot growth prospects during 2018-2026. Readers can even access information such as key developments, technologies, innovations, etc., concerned to the blenders market.A sample of this report is available here -With the rise in per capita income of consumers, particularly in emerging countries, demand for various domestic food preparation equipment such as blenders has witnessed a surge. The number of female buyers associated with household appliances, with their pressing requirements for ease and convenience, has skyrocketed across the globe. In addition, pervasiveness of demand for technologically advanced electric kitchen appliances is likely to prevail, especially among demographics with higher GHDI.Growing Women Workforce Influencing Adoption of Electric Kitchen Appliances such as BlendersNarrowing gender differences in the field of occupation has meant that more and more women are opting for jobs, in order to become independent as well as provide financial support to their families. Additionally, female workers have surpassed their male counterparts in terms of cultivating productivity potential and defining brighter future for their junior employees. With the proliferation of working women worldwide, requirement for time-saving electric kitchen appliances such as blenders and food processors is on the rise.One of the prominent demand driver for blenders is the rapid boom in ecommerce sector around the world. In developing countries of Asia and Latin America, ecommerce sector has become the key determinant for sales of various consumer electronics and home appliances, which have become the prominently sought-after category of consumer goods. Additionally, Consumer electronic product vendors are increasingly venturing into the blenders market, in order to leverage their already established occupancy across the online retail space.A new research study of FactMR foretells that the global market for blenders will record a value CAGR of 4.9% in the period between 2017 and 2026. Over 100,000,000 units of blenders are estimated to be sold worldwide by 2026-end.Read Complete Market Report from Here -Sizes Influencing Development of All-Purpose Ever-Shrinking Kitchen Blender DesignsOwing to financial difference among the global demographic, size of residential spaces differ accordingly as not everyone can afford living in mansions with size of kitchens equaling small apartments. With robust population expansion, living spaces are undergoing contraction, apartments and houses are reducing in size, and efficiency has become the new normal in the construction industry. Among new trends in the residential construction sector, the most popular one is leveraging minimal space, which in turn affects floor areas of kitchen primarily.Faced with ever-shrinking kitchen sizes, demand for time-saving compact food appliances has surged, which in turn has resulted into the development of all-purpose counter blenders. This product development has enabled elimination of bulk storage issues, lugging machines in the kitchen, and clutter. Improved functionality, power, safety and compact size are key demand drivers of these blenders.Consumer electronic product manufacturers in APEJ are focusing on establishing their presence in online retail sector, which will further influence sales of blenders in the region. APEJ is expected to remain the fast-expanding market for blenders both in terms of value and volume.Competition TrackingCharacterized by the occupancy of well-established and diversified regional and international vendors, the global market for blenders is fragmented in nature. While international players in the market are concentrating on extending their footprint, regional players are facing challenges in competing them based on cost, technology, and product quality. Key players profiled by the report include PHILIPS, Midea, Joyoung, Panasonic, SUPOR, BRAUN, ACA, and Deer.Buy online this Report from Here -About FactMRFactMR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsFactMR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:
Soil Stabilization Materials Market |Global Growing Industry Key Players- Graymont Limited, Carmuse, Low & Bonar PLC, Tensar Corporation, Boral Limited, Adelaide Brighton Limited, Sibelco Australia Ltd., Ube Industries, Ltd.

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The soil stabilization materials market is estimated to witness favorable growth outlook with thriving opportunities in agricultural and construction verticals. Soil stabilization incorporates addition of certain additives to natural soil on order to enhance its properties and functionality.Get Free Sample Report @Owing to burgeoning needs for optimum soil quality for agricultural as well as infrastructural developments, the soil stabilization materials market is poised to remain lucrative in the coming years. These market highlights are in sync with Market Research Reports Search Engines (MRRSE) recent report addition titled, Soil Stabilization Materials Market: Global Industry Analysis 2013-2017 and Opportunity Assessment 2018-2028 pinned in its fast expanding online database.Elaborate research postulates documented in the report allow readers to gauge market valuations in terms of both historical and current perspectives to derive accurate understanding on market forecast figures. Thorough research postulates recorded in the report also allow readers to gain firsthand cues on macro and micro economic factors as well as drivers, restraints, threats, and challenges that shape growth in soil stabilization material market.Prominent participants in soil stabilization market are aimed at diverting substantial resources towards research and development endeavors to produce high quality soil stabilizers, compatible with diverse application areas. Significant resource allocation towards product innovations, besides investing thoroughly towards strategic coalitions, acquisitions, and mergersa are also to anchor notable growth progress in soil stabilization market.To View Complete Research Report with TOC @The report is aimed at offering readers with ample competitive advantage based on which new as well as established players in soil stabilization material market can employ lucrative business decisions and investment deals. A section on dynamic segmentation has also been included in order to allow readers derive substantial insights on the potency of market segments in fostering growth in soil stabilization material market. Based on segments the market is bifurcated by type and application. Based on type soil stabilization materials market is splintered into minerals and stabilizers, polymers. Industrial, non-agriculture, and agriculture segments have been identified as major applications in soil stabilization materials market.Further in the course of the report, readers are also presented with substantial understanding on regional segregation and demand distribution, on the basis of which soil stabilization materials market is stratified into Eastern and Western Europe, North and Latin America, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and MEA.Thorough research elements articulated in the report allow readers to gain first hand cues on potential forerunners in soil stabilization materials market. Each of the mentioned profiles has been assessed accurately and an overview on company profile and product portfolios have also been tagged in the report based on which aspiring as well as established players in soil stabilization materials market can effectively deliver lucrative business decisions and investment deals to sustain their leading stance amidst stiff competition.Send an Enquiry @About Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Vetiver Oil Market is Expanding Worldwide with Key Players (Fleurchem, Vanaroma, Charabot, Falcon, Katyani Exports)

Vetiver Oil Market

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Advance Market Analytics published a new research publication on "Global Vetiver Oil Market Insights, to 2025" with 150 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 Vetiver Oil market is mainly driven by the increasing R&D spending across the world. Some of the key players profiled in the study are Unikode S.A. (Haiti), Fleurchem,Inc. (United States), Aromatic Herbals Private Limited (India), Frager SA (Haiti), Rajkeerth Aromatics and Biotech Pvt Ltd (India), Manohar Botanical Extracts Pvt. Ltd. (India), Imperial Extracts (India), Amphora Aromatics Ltd. (United Kingdom), M K Exports India (India), Falcon (India), Katyani Exports (India), Ernesto Ventos SA (Spain), Charabot (France) and Vanaroma (Indonesia).Scope of the Report of Vetiver OilGet Free Exclusive PDF Sample Copy of This Research @Market Trend Increase in the demand for vetiver oil in medical applications and Rising application in fragrance industryMarket Drivers Increase in the consumer awareness coupled with the fragrances has augmented the growth in market and Rising utilization of vetiver oil as flavoring in chewing tobacco and pan masalaOpportunities Increasing demand in the pharmaceuticals industry for the treatment of mental health disordersThe Vetiver Oil 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 Vetiver Oil 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 Vetiver Oil Market Report, Ask Our Experts@The titled segments and sub-section of the market are illuminated below:The Study Explore the Product Types of Vetiver Oil Market: Conventional, OrganicKey Applications/end-users of Global Vetiver Oil Market: Perfume and Scent Products, Food & Beverages, Pharmaceuticals, OthersTop Players in the Market are: Unikode S.A. (Haiti), Fleurchem,Inc. (United States), Aromatic Herbals Private Limited (India), Frager SA (Haiti), Rajkeerth Aromatics and Biotech Pvt Ltd (India), Manohar Botanical Extracts Pvt. Ltd. (India), Imperial Extracts (India), Amphora Aromatics Ltd. (United Kingdom), M K Exports India (India), Falcon (India), Katyani Exports (India), Ernesto Ventos SA (Spain), Charabot (France) and Vanaroma (Indonesia)Read Detailed Index of full Research Study at @Strategic Points Covered in Table of Content of Global Vetiver Oil Market:Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product Objective of Study and Research Scope the Vetiver Oil marketChapter 2: Exclusive Summary  the basic information of the Vetiver Oil Market.Chapter 3: Displaying the Market Dynamics- Drivers, Trends and Challenges of the Vetiver OilChapter 4: Presenting the Vetiver Oil 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 2013-2018Chapter 6: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Vetiver Oil market which consists of its Competitive Landscape, Peer Group Analysis, BCG Matrix & Company ProfileChapter 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 SourceFinally, Vetiver Oil 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 Vetiver Oil market. In order to reach an exhaustive list of functional and relevant players who offer Vetiver Oil 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. Vetiver Oil. 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 @Key questions answered Who are the Leading key players and what are their Key Business plans in the Vetiver Oil market? What are the key concerns of the five forces analysis of the Vetiver Oil market? What are different prospects and threats faced by the dealers in the Vetiver Oil 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.About Author:Advance Market Analytics is Global leaders of Market Research Industry provides the quantified B2B research to Fortune 500 companies on high growth emerging opportunities which will impact more than 80% of worldwide companies' revenues.Our Analyst is tracking high growth study with detailed statistical and in-depth analysis of market trends & dynamics that provide a complete overview of the industry. We follow an extensive research methodology coupled with critical insights related industry factors and market forces to generate the best value for our clients. We Provides reliable primary and secondary data sources, our analysts and consultants derive informative and usable data suited for our clients business needs. The research study enable clients to meet varied market objectives a from global footprint expansion to supply chain optimization and from competitor profiling to M&As.Contact Us:Craig Francis (PR & Marketing Manager)AMA Research & Media LLPUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837Phone: +1 (206) 317 1218sales@advancemarketanalytics.comConnect with us at
Hydraulic Cylinders Market Valuable Growth Prospects and Future Insights till 2026 || Market Key Players - Bosch Rexroth AG, Actuant Corporation, Eaton Corporation Plc, Parker Hannifin Corporation, Caterpillar Inc.

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A fresh report has been added to the wide database of Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE). The research study is titled Hydraulic Cylinders Market Valuable Growth Prospects and Future Insights till 2026 which encloses important data about the production, consumption, revenue and market share, merged with information related to the market scope and product overview.To understand and assess market opportunities and trends, the global hydraulic cylinders market report is categorically split into different sections based on bore size, product type, operating principle, application and regions. The report starts with the global macro-economic environment that covers the factors that influence market growth. Next, the report gives a market overview and provides market definitions & taxonomy, along with drivers, restraints & trends in the market. The sections that follow include the global hydraulic cylinders market analysis  by grade, production method, end-use industry and regional/country-level analysis. All the above sections evaluate the market on the basis of various factors that affect it. Each section discusses the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the global hydraulic cylinders market. To provide a brief idea about the revenue opportunities from the bore size, product type, operating principle, application and regions/country-wise segments, the report also provides market value (US$ Mn) data, absolute $ opportunity and total incremental opportunity for each segment over the forecast period (2018-2026).To Get Sample Copy of Report, Click here @In the subsequent section, market analysis on a regional basis has been provided and a detailed analysis of macro-economic factors at the regional level has been covered. Furthermore, the growth of various factors is mapped against the growth of the market.In the final section of the report, we have provided a detailed competitive landscape with market share and performance of companies to provide a dashboard view of key players operating in the global hydraulic cylinders market, along with their business strategies. This will enable clients to assess strategies deployed by market leaders and help them develop effective business strategies accordingly.The global hydraulic cylinders market can be segmented on the basis of bore size, product type, operating principle, application and region. On the basis of bore size, the global hydraulic cylinders market can be segmented intoAbout Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE)Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of Market Research Reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.Contact UsState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.com
Stationary Fuel Cell Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Panasonic, Toshiba, Siemens, Fuji Electric, POSCO ENERGY, Bloom Energy, JX Nippon

Stationary Fuel Cell Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Stationary Fuel Cell Market 2019 Global Analysis By Key Players  Panasonic, Toshiba, Siemens, Fuji Electric, POSCO ENERGY, Bloom Energy, JX Nippon.Stationary Fuel Cell Industry 2019Description:-Stationary fuel cells generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction, not combustion, providing clean, efficient, and reliable off-grid power to homes, businesses, telecommunications networks, utilities, and others.Scope of the Report:In the last several years, Global market of Stationary Fuel Cells developed rapidly, with an average growth rate of 37%. In 2015, Global revenue of Stationary Fuel Cells is nearly 1896.20 M USD; the actual production is about 263.01 KW.The classification of Stationary Fuel Cells includes 0-1 KW, 1-4 KW, > 4 KW, and the proportion of 0-1 KW in 2015 is about 43%.Panasonic, Toshiba, Siemens, Fuji Electric, POSCO ENERGY, etc. are the leaders of the industry, and they hold key technologies and patents, with high-end customers; have been formed in the monopoly position in the industry.The worldwide market for Stationary Fuel Cell is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly xx% over the next five years, will reach xx million US$ in 2024, from xx million US$ in 2019, according to a new GIR (Global Info Research) study.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comThis report focuses on the Stationary Fuel Cell in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversPanasonicToshibaSiemensFuji ElectricPOSCO ENERGYBloom EnergyJX NipponFuelCell EnergyBallard PowerPlug PowerDoosan PureCell AmericaAltergySOLIDpowerMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers0-1 KW1-4 KW> 4 KWMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoResidentialTelecommunications NetworkSecure CommunicationsOtherThe content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:Chapter 1, to describe Stationary Fuel Cell product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Stationary Fuel Cell, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Stationary Fuel Cell in 2017 and 2018.Chapter 3, the Stationary Fuel Cell competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast..Enquiry About Report @Table Of Contents  Major Key Points1 Market Overview1.1 Stationary Fuel Cell Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 0-1 KW1.2.2 1-4 KW1.2.3 > 4 KW1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Residential1.3.2 Telecommunications Network1.3.3 Secure Communications1.3.4 Other1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 United States Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.4.4.5 Turkey Market States and Outlook (2014-2024)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Panasonic2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.1.2.1 Product A2.1.2.2 Product B2.1.3 Panasonic Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.2 Toshiba2.2.1 Business Overview2.2.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.2.2.1 Product A2.2.2.2 Product B2.2.3 Toshiba Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.3 Siemens2.3.1 Business Overview2.3.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.3.2.1 Product A2.3.2.2 Product B2.3.3 Siemens Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.4 Fuji Electric2.4.1 Business Overview2.4.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.4.2.1 Product A2.4.2.2 Product B2.4.3 Fuji Electric Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.5 POSCO ENERGY2.5.1 Business Overview2.5.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.5.2.1 Product A2.5.2.2 Product B2.5.3 POSCO ENERGY Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.6 Bloom Energy2.6.1 Business Overview2.6.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.6.2.1 Product A2.6.2.2 Product B2.6.3 Bloom Energy Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)2.7 JX Nippon2.7.1 Business Overview2.7.2 Stationary Fuel Cell Type and Applications2.7.2.1 Product A2.7.2.2 Product B2.7.3 JX Nippon Stationary Fuel Cell Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)ContinuedBuy 1-user PDF @ABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. 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3D Glasses Chargers Market Soaring Demand Assures Motivated Revenue Share during 2018-2028(By Sales Channel Online Stores Multi-brand Stores Brand Stores)

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With rising trend of multi-dimensional theatrical experiences, the demand for 3D glasses chargers is also revving up. Mushrooming number of 3D cinema theatres, the use of 3D glasses chargers have also taken off significantly. The evolving customer specifications are pointing toward rising demand for 3D glasses chargers that are competent of charging multiple glasses simultaneously i.e. ability of supporting 40 pairs at one point of time. With the increasing buying power of new-age consumers, both across the developed and emerging economies, the demand for 3D television systems is scaling up, creating a substantial demand for 3D glasses chargers. Rising permeation of internet have resulted in increasing fad for high-definition gaming systems, which in turn is likely to provide the much-need fillip to sales of 3D glasses chargers.Manufacturers of 3D glasses chargers are vying to offer products with authentic approvals and CE, FCC marks for boosting their product reliability. Manufacturers of 3D glasses chargers are vying to emplace prompt deliverables for enhanced customer experience. With not only focusing on quality approvals, the manufacturing companies of 3D glasses chargers are also oriented toward high product performance. With new 3D glasses with ergonomic designs and high-scale technologies used, the demand for high performance 3D glasses chargers are also witnessing significant hike.Request Free Sample Report@Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market: OverviewMany vendors across the globe have been gradually implementing advanced charging technologies that allow quick charging and have low chances of battery replacement. Attributing to advancements in charging technologies, 3D glasses chargers now come with an automatic power function that enables users that detects the low battery and charge the 3D glasses. These 3D glasses chargers are also designed to be used with projectors and 3D TVs. The growing adoption of 3D glasses chargers in cinema theatres and gaming has led to an increase in the use of 3D glasses chargers in the media and entertainment sector. These chargers charge glasses when the status light on the glasses flashes red, which indicates low battery. A USB wall charging device is also used to charge 3D glasses directly from the wall power outlet. One of the major problems faced while charging 3D glasses chargers that come with different USB ports is the possible incompatibility with the 3D glasses used by consumers. The market for 3D glasses chargers has been registering significant growth, owing to the increasing use of 3D glasses in cinema theatres and gaming. Also, many vendors offer 4-Port USB charging stations that enable users to charge up to 4 pairs of 3D glasses at once. 3D glasses chargers also allow in saving space that replaces many electrical outlets. These chargers can also be used to charge other electronic devices such as MP3 players, iPads, iPhones and other smart devices.Development of a variety of 3D glass chargers and increase in the application of 3D glasses for various applications in media & entertainment and consumer electronics industries are the key trends expected to contribute to the growth of the 3D glasses chargers market.Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market: DynamicsThe rise in the usage of 3D glasses chargers in theatres and gaming applications is a key factor driving the adoption of 3D glasses chargers. Also, these 3D glasses chargers come with a multifunction USB port charging that enables charging through a laptop by connecting a USB cable. In addition to this, the increasing usage of animation technology in the media and entertainment sector drives the demand for 3D glass chargers.The high cost of 3D glasses chargers is a factor that may hinder the growth of the 3D glasses chargers market.Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market: SegmentationThe 3D glasses chargers market can be segmented on the basis of type and region.By TypeWiredWirelessBy Sales ChannelOnline StoresMulti-brand StoresBrand StoresGlobal 3D Glasses Chargers Market: Competition LandscapeExamples of some of the key players in the global 3D glasses chargers market include Samsung Electronics, EPSON, NVIDIA, Quantum 3D, Hi-Shock, etc.Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market: Regional OutlookAsia Pacific, followed by North America and Western Europe, dominates the 3D glasses chargers market. The market in Asia Pacific is expected to witness higher growth due to the presence of prominent players in China. The demand for 3D glasses chargers in Western Europe is increasing and is expected to contribute to the market growth. A primary growth factor is the introduction of advanced charging solutions by the players operating in the market. Latin America and MEA are projected to contribute a significant share of the global market over the forecast period.Request/View TOC@The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market SegmentsGlobal 3D Glasses Chargers Market DynamicsHistorical Actual Market Size, 2013  2017Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market Size & Forecast 2017 to 2028Supply & Demand Value Chain for 3D Glasses Chargers MarketGlobal 3D Glasses Chargers Market Current Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involved in 3D Glasses Chargers Market3D Glasses Chargers TechnologyValue Chain of 3D Glasses ChargersGlobal 3D Glasses Chargers Market Drivers and RestraintsRegional analysis of Global 3D Glasses Chargers Market includesNorth AmericaUSCanadaLatin AmericaBrazilMexicoArgentinaChilePeruRest of LatAmEuropeEU  4 (Germany, France, Italy, Spain)UKBENELUX (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg)NORDIC (Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden)Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine, Czech Rep. etc.)Rest of EuropeCIS & RussiaJapanAPEJGreater ChinaIndiaKoreaASEAN CountriesRest of APEJMiddle East & AfricaGCC CountriesTurkeyIranIsraelSouth AfricaRest of MEAThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Report Highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics of the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and product offeringsPotential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective towards market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintReport Analysis@About USFact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; thats why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.Contact UsRohit BhiseyFact.MR11140 Rockville PikeSuite 400Rockville, MD 20852United StatesEmail: sales@factmr.comWeb:Blog:Read Industry News at -
Postoperative Pain Management Market Competitive Landscape 2026 With Global Players Bayer AG, DURECT Corporation, Pfizer Inc., BTG International Ltd, Novartis AG, A.P. Pharma, Inc

Global Postoperative Pain Management Market

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Postoperative pain includes all type of acute pain that occurs due to injuries and can resolve in appropriate healing period. Such pain often responds to analgesic medication and treatment of the precipitating cause. Postoperative pain can also cause cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, metabolic etc. The aim of any postoperative pain treatment is to mobilize the patient as early as possible. It allows the patient to drink and eat as early as possible and to be able to deep breathe and cough. If patients are not given proper postoperative pain treatment, they can have risk of cardiac problems, chest infections, depression, wound increased infection rate and hypoxia. Postoperative pain treatment evolved with different understanding of how drugs affect in our body when used in combinations.For In depth Information Get Sample Copy of this Report @Opioids and Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are expected to contribute major share in terms of value to the overall postoperative pain market. Opioids act as a substance that acts on the opioid receptor to produce morphine like effects. They are most often used to relieve main. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used to treat pain, inflammation and fever.Global Postoperative Pain Management Market TaxonomyOn the basis of product type, the global market is classified as follows:OpioidsFentanyl ,Morphine ,Meperidine ,OthersNon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugsParacetamol (acetaminophen) ,Ibuprofen ,Ketorolac tromethamineCyclooxygenase-2-selective inhibitors ,Celecoxib ,Etoricoxib ,Rofecoxib ,Glucocorticods ,Local anesthetics ,Antidepressants ,OthersOn the basis of type of pain, the global market is classified as follows:Neuropathic PainNociceptive PainVisceral PainSomatic PainOthersOn the basis of distribution channel, the global market is classified as follows:Hospital PharmaciesRetail Pharmacies and Drug StoreE-commerceOthersPrevalent Scenarios in Postoperative Pain Management MarketIncreasing number of surgical procedure is expected to act as a value-driver to the global postoperative pain management market. As per the World Bank, in the U.S. there were 30,537 number of surgical procedures performed in 2012. As per National Center for Health Statistics, of overall surgical procedures half of the procedure requires postoperative pain medication which provides high opportunity for manufacturers. As per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year there are around 41 million visits in emergency department due to trauma. Around 450,000 burns require medical attention annually. Increase in trauma cases to act as a fuel to the overall growth of postoperative pain management market. Some postoperative pain drugs include side effects. Despite the many advancement in postoperative pain management, opioids are still considered as the mainstay pain therapy in many settings. All opioids have significant side effects that are limiting its use. One of the major side-effects associated with the use of opioid is respiratory depression. According to CDC, the prescription opioid overdose killed around 16,500 people in 2015. The increasing cases of drug overdoses and side-effects associated with postoperative pain drugs is expected to act as a restraint to the overall market. Increasing geriatric population in emerging economies and increasing prevalent cases of acute diseases is expected to fuel growth of the market. Increasing patient awareness regarding surgeries and operations and the growing research related to pain management is expected to create high opportunity for pain relieving drug manufacturers. Increasing governments initiative to promote better postoperative pain treatment is expected to increase growth of market. One such initiative is APOP project (Acute postoperative pain management), it is national multicenter quality improvement initiative started by Australia government in 2008. The project was aimed to improve the management of postoperative pain by promoting the best practice. North America region is expected to contribute major share to the overall postoperative pain management market due to the increasing healthcare expenditure, better reimbursement policies, easy availability of advanced healthcare treatment and growing healthcare infrastructure in these region. Europe is expected to be the second most lucrative market for the postoperative pain management.Browse Complete Report For More Information @Highly Fragmented MarketThe global postoperative pain management market is highly fragmented, owing to the participation of many established and emerging players. Major players involved in the market are Bayer AG, DURECT Corporation, Pfizer Inc., BTG International Ltd, Novartis AG, A.P. Pharma, Inc., among others.Also, Coherent Market Insights has a proprietary database of pipeline biologics and biosimilars, called PHASE-XS. This database provides analytical data in addition to the clinical information of ongoing trials for biologics and biosimilars. An amalgamation of more than 30 parameters, PHASE-XS helps biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to analyze the market trend, competition, and market potential. For more information or to access this database, kindly click on the below link or contact at sales@coherentmarketinsights.comAbout Coherent Market InsightsCoherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave, #3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
Women Healthcare Market Covered with Topmost Players Allergan plc., Amgen, Becton Dickinson and Company, Eli Lilly Company, Pfizer Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals etc

Women Healthcare Market

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Women Healthcare Market - Key PlayersLeading players profiled in the women healthcare market include Teva Pharmaceuticals (Israel), Pfizer Inc., (US), Merck & Co., (US), Eli Lilly Company (US), Becton Dickinson and Company (US), Bayer A G (Germany), Amgen (California) and Allergan plc (Ireland).Get Exclusive Sample Report @Women Healthcare Market - Market AnalysisThe Global Women Healthcare Market is developing at a phenomenal pace chiefly due to the increase in number of menopausal conditions amid women. This market is expected to grow at a phenomenal 5.4% CAGR during the forecast period (2017-2023). Women health refers to health issues that are definite to women anatomy. This is associated to the unique problems that includes menopause, pregnancy and also conditions related to the female organs. Moreover, women health includes medical situations as well where women experience problems which is not connected to their biology directly but on account of access to medical treatments that are gender-differentiated.There are a couple of factors that is likely to accelerate the growth of the women healthcare market. Some of the market trends and factors in this market as per an analysis conducted by Market Research Future (MRFR) include rising awareness of initial diagnosis, improved treatment and increase in the innovation of new drugs to treat different women health disorders. The additional factors that is driving the growth of the global women healthcare market include rising female geriatric population, favorable government policies, unhealthy lifestyle, initiatives undertaken by the private organizations, increase in grants and public-private funding for infertility treatments.Women Healthcare Market  Segmental AnalysisIn MRFRs report, the women healthcare market has been segmented on the basis of indications, diagnosis, treatment and end-users.Based on indications, it is segmented into gynecologic cancer, polycystic ovary syndrome, reproductive health management, infertility and postmenopausal osteoporosis. Gynecologic cancer is further segmented into ovarian and breast cancer. Of these, postmenopausal osteoporosis holds the maximum market share on account of increase in female population aged above 40 years along with launch of new drugs for treating menopausal osteoporosis. The presence of a good number of leading players coupled with ongoing Research and Development (R&D) is predicted to boost the growth of this segment over the forecast period.Based on diagnosis, the women healthcare market is segmented into ovulation testing, biopsies, diagnostic imaging tests and bone densitometry.Based on treatment, it is segmented into surgeries and therapeutics.Based on end-users, the women healthcare market is segmented into research institutes, gynecology centers, hospitals and clinics. Of these, the hospitals and clinics hold the maximum market share due to higher proportion of women patients visiting hospitals for diagnosis as well as treatment of health issues.Industry News:Jan 2019- Leading researchers at Georgia Tech have come up with a medical patch which comprises of hormones especially for birth control. The patch must be applied for a couple of seconds on the arm or leg and it will offer contraception for 30 days.An International Conference will be held in France on 1st and 2nd April, 2019. The theme will be on Gynecology and Obstetrics where versatile approaches will be explored on innovation, strategies and developments on womens health. This will be followed by another conference on 8th and 9th April, 2019 in UAE on womens health, fertility and reproduction. The theme will be on managing reproductive life-fertility and sexuality.Browse Complete 130 Pages Premium Research Report Enabled with 129 Respective Tables and Figures AtWomen Healthcare Market - Regional OverviewBased on region, the global women healthcare market covers growth opportunities and latest trends across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Middle East and Africa. Of these, North America commands the maximum share in the women healthcare market and is predicted to touch USD 21,782.6 million over 2023 owing to well-developed economy coupled with the right initiatives taken for promoting women healthcare in this region. On the contrary, some factors such as rising cost of diagnosis and treatment is hindering the growth of the market in the Middle East & African region. The Asia-Pacific countries are anticipated in being the fastest growing region during the assessment period with a 5.46% CAGR.About US:Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Agricultural Tractor Robots Market 2018-2023 Segmented by Technology, Manufactures

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Agricultural Tractor Robots MarketIndustry Outlook and Trend AnalysisThe Agricultural Tractor Robots Market is expected to show considerable market growth while ascending at a significant compound annual growth rate CAGR during the forecast period. Agricultural self-driving highlights for tractors are the start of a full rollout of robot advances. Self-driving highlights set up rely upon having a human control the tractors at first. This is an initial phase in building completely independent tractors. One of the principle protests to totally believing self-driving tractors is by all accounts the dread of potential mischances. At the point when the vehicles are running unattended there are frequently snags experienced that may cause issues, raising the phantom of destroying the tractor.Drivers and RestraintsThe expanding utilization of exactness agriculture, among ranchers, for gathering and preparing information helps in settling on better choices on treating, planting, and collecting crops. The method can possibly improve edit returns and benefits and to determine the sustenance and water emergencies. The expanding requirement for checking crop wellbeing for yield generation and the expanding government bolster for the selection of current agrarian strategies are relied upon to drive the business request over the estimate time frame.Regional Outlook and Trend AnalysisNorth America represented the biggest income share nonetheless; its share of the market is foreseen to decline by the forecast period. The farming business needs innovation imbuement to upgrade the food production. Farm mechanization has drastically expanded the productivity of the agriculture division in the developing countries. Increasing government bolster for the selection of present day agribusiness strategies is foreseen to drive the market. For example, Farm Advisory System FAS causes the ranchers to better comprehend the EU rules for condition, creature wellbeing, great farming and natural condition.Access Full Report with TOC @Competitive InsightsThe leading players in the market are John Deere, CNH Global Case IH , AGCO Fendt , Autonomous Tractor Corporation, Adigo Field Flux Robot, Mahindra Tractors, AutoProbe, Claas, Iseki, Kubota Tractor, Lovol, and Yanmar. These key global market players are aiming towards growth strategies like enhancing product penetration, new launches, expanding based on geography and product portfolio divergence. The major players in the market are profiled in detail in view of qualities, for example, company portfolio, business strategies, financial overview, recent developments, and share of the overall industry.The Agricultural Tractor Robots Market is segmented as follows-By Tractor Size:Small TractorsMid-Size TractorLarge TractorsBy RegionNorth AmericaU.S.CanadaMexicoEuropeGermanyUKFranceRussiaItalyRest of EuropeAsia-PacificChinaJapanSouth KoreaIndiaSoutheast AsiaRest of Asia-PacificSouth AmericaBrazilArgentinaColumbiaSouth AfricaRest of South AmericaMiddle East and AfricaSaudi ArabiaUAEEgyptNigeriaSouth AfricaRest of MEABrowse a Free Sample Report @Some of the key questions answered by the report are:What was the market size in 2014 and forecast from 2015 to 2023?What will be the industry market growth from 2015 to 2023?What are the major drivers, restraints, opportunities, challenges, and industry trends and their impact on the market forecast?What are the major segments leading the market growth and why?Which are the leading players in the market and what are the major strategies adopted by them to sustain the market competition?About Us: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 associated with global market research a publisher who has a wide range of research specialists & industry experts which provides you deeper penetration of market research industry.We have statistical surveying reports from number of top publishers and update our reports collections on daily basis with most recent research data to furnish our customers with the moment online access to our database. With access to this database, our customers will be able to benefit from expert insights on worldwide businesses, items, and market patterns. We help you in your buy choice by mapping your data needs with our immense accumulation of reports.Contact US:-Name: Jennifer DanielEmail-Id: sales@planetmarketreports.comUS: +1-716-2260907UK: +447441952057Organization: Planet Market Reports
Best Statistical Report of Corn Flour Market Trend Expected to Guide by 2025: Focusing Top Key Players like Cargill, General Mills, Archer Daniels Midland, Gruma

CORN FLOUR

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Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Corn Flour Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 105 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Corn Flour Market research report delivers a close watch on leading competitors with strategic analysis, micro and macro market trend and scenarios, pricing analysis and a holistic overview of the market situations in the forecast period.It is a professional and a detailed report focusing on primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis. Further, key players, major collaborations, merger & acquisitions along with trending innovation and business policies are reviewed in the report. The report contains basic, secondary and advanced information pertaining to the Corn Flour Market global status and trend, market size, share, growth, trends analysis, segment and forecasts from 2018  2025.The scope of the report extends from market scenarios to comparative pricing between major players, cost and profit of the specified market regions. The numerical data is backed up by statistical tools such as SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, SCOT analysis, PESTLE analysis and so on. The statistics are represented in graphical format for a clear understanding on facts and figures.The generated report is firmly based on primary research, interviews with top executives, news sources and information insiders. Secondary research techniques are implemented for better understanding and clarity for data analysis.The report for Corn Flour Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Corn Flour Market covers: North America Europe China Japan India Southeast Asia Other regions (Central & South America, Middle East & Africa)For More Information On This Report, Please Visit @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: Cargill General Mills Archer Daniels Midland Gruma Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods Bunge Grupo Bimbo Associated British Foods C.H. Guenther and Son Ingredion LifeLine Foods SEMO MillingGlobal Corn Flour Market: Product Segment Analysis: Sweet Degermed Corn Flour Waxy Degermed Corn Flour OthersGlobal Corn Flour Market: Application Segment Analysis: Industrial Retail Food Services OthersThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Corn Flour Market Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types Chapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry Chapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of Corn Flour Market Chapter 6 Corn Flour Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Corn Flour Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Corn Flour Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Corn Flour Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Corn Flour Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Corn Flour Market Analysis and Forecast 2018- 2025 report helps the clients to take business decisions and to understand strategies of major players in the industry. The report also calls for market- driven results deriving feasibility studies for client needs. UpMarketResearch ensures qualified and verifiable aspects of market data operating in the real- time scenario. The analytical studies are conducted ensuring client needs with a thorough understanding of market capacities in the real- time scenario.Global Corn Flour Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Corn Flour Market are as follows: History Year: 2013-2017 Base Year: 2017 Estimated Year: 2018 Forecast Year 2018 to 2025Key Reasons to Purchase: To gain insightful analyses of the market and have a comprehensive understanding of the Corn Flour Market and its commercial landscape. Learn about the market strategies that are being adopted by your competitors and leading organizations. To understand the future outlook and prospects for Corn Flour Market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research provides free customization of reports as per your need. This report can be personalized to meet your requirements. Get in touch with our sales team, who will guarantee you to get a report that suits your necessities.You can also ask for region wise market research report, as below: Corn Flour Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Corn Flour Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Corn Flour Market  United States Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025About UpMarketResearch:The UpMarketResearch () is a leading distributor of market research report with more than 800+ global clients. 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Construction Machinery Leasing Market to surpass $102500 Million By 2024| Top Vendors: United Rentals, Aggreko, Ashtead Group, Kanamoto, Loxam Group, Blueline Rent, Ahern Rentals, Nishio Rent, Maxim Crane Works, SCMC

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Market Study Report LLC adds 2019-2024 Global Construction Machinery Leasing market report that offers an exhaustive coverage of the industry with brief analysis, data charts, figures, statistics that help take business decisions, company profiles and more.A construction job mandates a large number of heavy machines. There are a number of advantages to lease the construction. Primarily, many contractors want to be able to stay on the cutting edge of technology. New tools are emerging all the time, and leasing equipment means that contractors can utilize the latest products available without taking on extravagant costs. When the lease is up, contractors can simply opt for the newest line of products available.Request a sample of this premium report at:The Global Construction Machinery Leasing market is valued at 63600 million USD in 2018 and is expected to reach 102500 million USD by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of 8.3% between 2019 and 2024.The practice of leasing instead of purchasing heavy machinery has proven to be beneficial for companies of all sizes across numerous industries, Lower administrative overhead coupled with reduced expense and maintenance will drive construction equipment rental market size. Since industry vendors need to comply with the pervasive regulatory landscape, buyers benefit from elimination of replacement costs and associated expenditure. Other trends positively impacting revenue include growing technological advancements ranging from multifunctional machinery to apps for monitoring fuel consumption.The Construction Machinery Leasing market is very fragmentation market, United Rentals, Ashtead Group, Aktio Corp, Kanamoto, Hertz Equipment Rental, Loxam Group, Blueline Rent, Ahern Rentals, Nishio Rent, Aggreko, Maxim Crane Works and SCMC are the leaders of the industry; the revenue of top ten manufacturers accounts about 20% of the total revenue in 2017. The high-end products mainly come from USA and Japan.United States is the world?s most mature rental market, Enjoyed about 43.82% construction machinery lease market share. Asia and Europe are currently witnessing large-scale infrastructure development activities, which is raising demand for construction equipment. Also, as most of the projects are undertaken with private investment money, where the utilization of equipment is limited to a short duration, contractors prefer to use equipment on a rental basis.Barriers to entry for the Construction Equipment Rental and Leasing industry are high, although they may be medium for some smaller, specialist firms. Large firms in this industry require a substantial stock of construction machinery and equipment to offer customers. Therefore, required funding levels to purchase a wide range, and vast volumes, of this equipment are high. New firms to this industry may have difficulty in accessing the funds required to purchase a large and extensive range of construction products. Prevailing economic uncertainty is likely to result in more stringent lending procedures, also increasing entry barriers for new firms.The equipment rental industry is gaining huge prominence across the globe. Although, in emerging economies, such as Asia, the industry is still in the nascent stage, it is projected to witness high growth in the coming years. An increase in the awareness of the equipment rental industry and growing investment in the construction industry will drive the equipment rental market.Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Construction Machinery Leasing Market, especially in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, types and applications.Construction Machinery Leasing Market Segment by Top Manufacturers Including: United Rentals Ashtead Group Aktio Corp Kanamoto Hertz Equipment Rental Loxam Group Blueline Rent Ahern Rentals Nishio Rent Aggreko Maxim Crane Works SCMCConstruction Machinery Leasing Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers:North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Construction Machinery Leasing Market Segment by Type covers Earth Moving Equipment Material Handling and Cranes Concrete Equipment Road Building EquipmentMarket Segment by Applications can be divided into: Commercial IndividualRequest a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:Chapter 1, to describe Construction Machinery Leasing product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Construction Machinery Leasing, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Construction Machinery Leasing in 2017 and 2018.Chapter 3, the Construction Machinery Leasing competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.Chapter 4, the Construction Machinery Leasing breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 12, Construction Machinery Leasing market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Construction Machinery Leasing sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.Table of Contents:3 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Competition, by Players3.1 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Share by Players (2014-2019)3.2 Market Concentration Rate3.2.1 Top 5 Construction Machinery Leasing Players Market Share3.2.2 Top 10 Construction Machinery Leasing Players Market Share3.3 Market Competition Trend4 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Size by Regions4.1 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Market Share by Regions4.2 North America Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)4.3 Europe Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)4.4 Asia-Pacific Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)4.5 South America Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)4.6 Middle East and Africa Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)12 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Size Forecast (2019-2024)12.1 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Size Forecast (2019-2024)12.2 Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Forecast by Regions (2019-2024)12.3 North America Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)12.4 Europe Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)12.5 Asia-Pacific Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)12.6 South America Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)12.7 Middle East and Africa Construction Machinery Leasing Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)For more information on this report at:Related Report:Global Construction Machinery Leasing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025This report studies the global Construction Machinery Leasing market size, industry status and forecast, competition landscape and growth opportunity. This research report categorizes the global Construction Machinery Leasing market by companies, region, type and end-use industry.About Us:Market study report LLC 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:
Electric Vehicle Charging Outlets Market Size & Share | Industry Report, 2018-2023

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Electric vehicle charging outlet is the infrastructural element that provides energy for recharging the electric vehicle EV. The installation of charging outlet is continuously growing and is expected to grow exponentially in the coming decade. Increasing sales of EV, government regulations on greenhouse gases, government incentives and tax rebates on charging outlet installations are attributed to be the major drivers for the market growth. At the global level, almost all the countries have their own futuristic models for electric vehicle and charging installations. Such optimistic view towards the market is anticipated to fuel the market in the coming years. However high cost associated with the equipment and its installation is enormously hampering the market growth of Electric vehicle charging outlet. The impact of this restraint is expected to be high during the forecast period 2018-2025 . Meanwhile, countries such as India, Brazil, and South Korea among others, which are developing rapidly on the technological front, are anticipated to be the key growth areas in this industry.Market Segmentation:Electric vehicle charging outlets market is segmented on the basis of deployment type i.e. public or private home, commercial building, shopping malls, private parking spaces etc. charging outlets. Among these two types of charging outlets, public charging outlets dominated the market in 2017 and are expected to maintain its dominance during the forecasted period. In the coming years, both the segments are anticipated to grow, however the public application is expected to growth at a higher pace than the private applications. Factors such as rise in support by the governmental bodies and the ease in usage of the public charging outlets are propelling the growth of the public Electric Vehicle Charging Outlets market. Based on efficiency of charging the Public and private charging outlets are bifurcated into slow and fast chargers. Low cost of the equipment and its installation are the primary factors behind the major share of slow chargers. However fast chargers take less time compared to slow chargers to completely charge the electric vehicle.Access Full Report with TOC @The market is further segmented based on the level of charging including Level 1 0-120 Volt, 15 Amps , Level 2 121-240 volts, 30 Amps , Level 3 241 volts & above, 100 Amps . Level 1 and Level 2 chargers are slow chargers, wherein Level 3 are the DC fast chargers. Level 2 chargers dominated the market as these chargers are deployed in both home and public placed such as commercial building, shopping malls, private parking spaces etc. In addition, low cost of installing level 2 charger also help the market to gain more momentum compared to level 3 chargers. On the basis of mode of charging, the market is segmented into plug in and wireless chargers. In 2017, plug in chargers dominated to market with more than 90% share, followed by wireless. However, wireless chargers are expected to witness highest CAGR growth during the forecasted period.Electric Vehicle Charging Outlets market is further segmented across several geographical regions to provide a better picture of the industry. This segment includes regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world. These regions are further analysed on the country level to understand the penetration of electric vehicle and charging infrastructure in the country. Owing to the tremendous sale of EVs in China, Asia Pacific held the largest share in electric vehicle charging outlets market. In addition, China is registered as the maximum revenue generator in 2017, the country also planned to deploy 5 million EVs on road by 2020. Hence the growing number of EVs in Asia Pacific is driving the market for charging outlets in the region.Major Market Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global electric vehicle charging outlets market report are BYD Company Ltd, Charge Point Inc., Eaton Corporation, EV BOX, Evgo, Fortum, General Electric Company, Schneider Electric SE, Tesla Inc. and The New Motion. These players are adopting several market strategies, such as merger, acquisition, and collaboration, among others to strengthen their foothold in the industry.Reasons to buy this report:Historical and forecasted market volume validated through primary and secondary sourcesIn depth analysis of prominent industry peers with primary focus on key business financials, product portfolio, expansion strategies, SWOT analysis and recent developmentsExamination on drivers, restraints, key trends and opportunities prevailing in the industryRegulatory scenario, programs, investments and initiatives for EV charging outlets present in different countries & regionExamination of industry attractiveness with the help of Porters Five Forces analysisComprehensive coverage of the market across different market segmentsDeep dive country level analysis of the industryCustomization Options:The Global EV Charging Outlets Market can be customized to regional/country level or any other market segment. Besides this, UMI understands that you may have your own business need, please connect with our analyst, who will ensure you get a report that suits your needs.Customizations availableWith the given market data, Planet Market Reports offers customizations according to specific needs. Write to us at sales@planetmarketreports.comBrowse a Free Sample Report @About Us: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. 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Latex Balloons Industry Analysis, Global Market Overview, Top Companies, Growth Factors and Forecast 2019 To 2024

Latex Balloons Industry

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SummaryWiseGuyReports.com adds Latex Balloons Market 2019 Global Analysis, Growth, Trends and Opportunities Research Report Forecasting to 2024 reports to its database.This report provides in depth study of Latex Balloons Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The Latex Balloons Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.Latex Balloons are air-tight bags made out of latex a light material that can be inflated with air or other gas. The ordinary air, or other gases such as helium, can be forced into them for expansion purposes. Latex balloons are available in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors to delight children and adults at birthday parties and other festive occasions or used as a tool of advertisement.The global latex balloons industry mainly concentrates in China, North America, Europe and Asia (except China). Europe is the largest consumption market, followed by Asia (except China). The global are rather scattered, the global leading players in this market are Gemar Balloons, Pioneer Balloon, Amscan, BELBAL, Xingcheng and CTI Industries, which only accounts for about 20 % of total production value. In China the market mainly concentrates in Hebei, the leaders are Xingcheng, Colour Way and Guohua Latex Products.Despite the presence of competition problems, due to the global recovery trend is clear, the reduction in the price of head up display, the rising disposable income and customers expectations for enhanced safety, investors are still optimistic about this area, the future will still have more new investment enter the field. In the next five years, the consumption volume will keep slow increasing, as well as the consumption value.Global Latex Balloons market size will increase to xx Million US$ by 2025, from xx Million US$ in 2018, at a CAGR of xx% during the forecast period. In this study, 2018 has been considered as the base year and 2019 to 2025 as the forecast period to estimate the market size for Latex Balloons.This report researches the worldwide Latex Balloons market size (value, capacity, production and consumption) in key regions like United States, Europe, Asia Pacific (China, Japan) and other regions.This study categorizes the global Latex Balloons breakdown data by manufacturers, region, type and application, also analyzes the market status, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, risks and entry barriers, sales channels, distributors and Porters Five Forces Analysis.The following manufacturers are covered in this report:Gemar BalloonsPioneer BalloonAmscanBELBALXingchengCTI IndustriesMaple City RubberColour WayBaloneviBK LatexTailloonGuohua Latex ProductsAngkasaTongle Latex ProductsRubek BalloonsHengli Latex ProductsYork ImpexJaya Latexindo InternusaRequest a Sample Report @Latex Balloons Breakdown Data by TypePlain Latex BalloonsPrinted Latex BalloonsRound Latex BalloonsHeart Shaped Latex BalloonsAnimal Shaped Latex BalloonsOtherLatex Balloons Breakdown Data by ApplicationParty & CelebrationAdvertisementOthersLatex Balloons Production Breakdown Data by RegionUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanOther RegionsThe study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Latex Balloons capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast;To focus on the key Latex Balloons manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years.To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.At any Query @Major Key Points in Table of ContentGlobal Latex Balloons Market Research Report 2019-2025, by Manufacturers, Regions, Types and Applications1 Study Coverage1.1 Latex Balloons Product1.2 Key Market Segments in This Study1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Latex Balloons Market Size Growth Rate by Type1.4.2 Plain Latex Balloons1.4.3 Printed Latex Balloons1.4.4 Round Latex Balloons1.4.5 Heart Shaped Latex Balloons1.4.6 Animal Shaped Latex Balloons1.4.7 Other1.5 Market by Application1.5.1 Global Latex Balloons Market Size Growth Rate by Application1.5.2 Party & Celebration1.5.3 Advertisement1.5.4 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Latex Balloons Production2.1.1 Global Latex Balloons Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Latex Balloons Production 2014-20252.1.3 Global Latex Balloons Capacity 2014-20252.1.4 Global Latex Balloons Marketing Pricing and Trends2.2 Latex Balloons Growth Rate (CAGR) 2019-20252.3 Analysis of Competitive Landscape2.3.1 Manufacturers Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)2.3.2 Key Latex Balloons Manufacturers2.4 Market Drivers, Trends and Issues2.5 Macroscopic Indicator2.5.1 GDP for Major Regions2.5.2 Price of Raw Materials in Dollars: Evolution.8 Manufacturers Profiles8.1 Gemar Balloons8.1.1 Gemar Balloons Company Details8.1.2 Company Description8.1.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.1.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.1.5 SWOT Analysis8.2 Pioneer Balloon8.2.1 Pioneer Balloon Company Details8.2.2 Company Description8.2.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.2.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.2.5 SWOT Analysis8.3 Amscan8.3.1 Amscan Company Details8.3.2 Company Description8.3.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.3.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.3.5 SWOT Analysis8.4 BELBAL8.4.1 BELBAL Company Details8.4.2 Company Description8.4.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.4.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.4.5 SWOT Analysis8.5 Xingcheng8.5.1 Xingcheng Company Details8.5.2 Company Description8.5.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.5.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.5.5 SWOT Analysis8.6 CTI Industries8.6.1 CTI Industries Company Details8.6.2 Company Description8.6.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.6.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.6.5 SWOT Analysis8.7 Maple City Rubber8.7.1 Maple City Rubber Company Details8.7.2 Company Description8.7.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.7.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.7.5 SWOT Analysis8.8 Colour Way8.8.1 Colour Way Company Details8.8.2 Company Description8.8.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.8.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.8.5 SWOT Analysis8.9 Balonevi8.9.1 Balonevi Company Details8.9.2 Company Description8.9.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.9.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.9.5 SWOT Analysis8.10 BK Latex8.10.1 BK Latex Company Details8.10.2 Company Description8.10.3 Capacity, Production and Value of Latex Balloons8.10.4 Latex Balloons Product Description8.10.5 SWOT Analysis8.11 Tailloon8.12 Guohua Latex Products8.13 Angkasa8.14 Tongle Latex Products8.15 Rubek Balloons8.16 Hengli Latex Products8.17 York Impex8.18 Jaya Latexindo InternusaBuy NOW @Continued.Contact Us: sales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US); Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Address:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune  411028Maharashtra,+91 841 198 5042
Sugar Confectionery Market 2019- Global Analysis by Top 10 Companies like THE HERSHEY COMPANY (U.S.), Nestle (Switzerland), Mars Incorporated (U.S.), Mondelez International (U.S.), HARIBO (Germany), Ferrero (Italy), Wrigley (U.S.)

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Market OverviewConfectionery products majorly include pastilles, gums, jellies, and chews which are high in sugar content. Increasing demand for confectionery products has given an opportunity to the sugar confectionery manufacturers to come up with various innovative sugar confectionery products. Furthermore, high demand for sugar confectioneries among children is considered to be a major driving factor for the market growth. Additionally, demand for medicated sugar confectionery is pushing the growth of the market in a positive direction.Access Report Deatails @Market ForecastSugar confectionery products are attractive and sweet which is gaining traction among all the age groups. Changing consumption pattern followed by increasing disposable income is boosting the growth of the sugar confectionery market. Moreover, growing trend of gifting confectioneries is driving the growth of the sugar confectionery market.Various innovations in the sugar confectionery products are boosting the growth of the market globally. Moreover, key players are growing their market through attractive packaging, which is adding fuel to the growth of the sugar confectionery market. However, increasing health conscious population followed by increasing obesity may hamper the growth of the market. Nevertheless, all these factors are projected to contribute to the estimated CAGR of 3.2% of sugar confectionery market during the forecast period, 2017-2023.Downstream analysisSugar confectionery market is segmented on the basis of type such as pastilles, gums, jellies, chews, and others. Among all, the pastilles segment is dominating the market followed by the gums segment. Growing retail sector is majorly contributing to the growth of pastilles segment as they usually fall under an impulsive purchase of the consumers.On the basis of the packaging, the sugar confectionery market is segmented into sachets, boxes, and others. The sachet segment is dominating the market. However, the boxes segment are expected to grow at the fastest rate in the coming years.Based on the distribution channel, sugar confectionery market is segmented into the store-based and non-store based distribution channel. The store-based distribution channel is dominating the market and is likely to continue its dominance over the forecast period. However, the non-store based distribution channel is expected to gain moderate growth in the coming years.Competitive analysisThe major players in the sugar confectionery marketTHE HERSHEY COMPANY (U.S.)Nestle (Switzerland)Mars Incorporated (U.S.)Mondelez International (U.S.)HARIBO (Germany)Ferrero (Italy)Wrigley (U.S.)Regional AnalysisThe global sugar confectionery market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and rest of the world (RoW). North America is dominating the global market. Use of sugar confectioneries on various occasions for gifting is a major driver for this market in North America.Request to view Sample Report:Europe is the second largest sugar confectionery market across the globe.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing sugar confectionery market owing to high usage of confectioneries in the festivals and customs in India. Moreover, continuous innovation and new product launches with innovative packaging are supporting the growth of sugar confectionery market in rest of the world.About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Pharma-grade Synthetic Camphor Market Size will Escalate Rapidly in the Near Future with Top Competitors Merck KGaA, Oriental Aromatics Limited, Saptagir Camphor Limited, Mangalam Organics Limited

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According to the latest research by the company, the global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market size is anticipated to be valued at US$ 532.0 Mn, by 2028 end. The report on pharma-grade synthetic camphor market further projects significant growth potential with average year-on-year growth rate pegged at 4.1% through 2028.Growing demand for topical pain management products is expected to propel the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Pharma-grade synthetic camphor is used in many topical analgesic products such as oils, ointments, chest rubs, and gel. These pharma-grade synthetic camphor pain management products are experiencing significant growth due to lesser side effect compare to oral analgesic and expanded retail channel access. Increasing self-medication rate and availability of cost-effective camphor contained OTC analgesic favors the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market growth. Growing incidence of infectious diseases such as cold, flu augmented the use of cold sore remedies, nasal decongestants, topical expectorants etc. which in turn would drive the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Increasing use of private labeled topical products containing camphor push the demand for pharma-grade synthetic camphor. Private label analgesic is gaining popularity in the U.S. market as they do not require FDA approval and strong promotion activities by retailers. Walgreens Ultra Strength Muscle Rub (4% camphor), Salonpas pain relieving patch (1.2% camphor) are the examples of private label analgesic which contain camphor. Surge in commodity export, economic growth and production capacity are expected to boost the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market.Get the Sample of Report Here @However, regulatory restrictions on the use of camphor in the medicine of pharmaceutical products would considerably impact the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Moreover, increasing raw material prices are expected to hamper the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Thus, growing prices of raw materials i.e. alpha pinene or turpentine oil is a major challenge for the manufacturers of pharma-grade synthetic camphor.Company has segmented the global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market into formulation, application, distribution, and regions. Based on the formulation, pharma-grade synthetic camphor market is segmented into topical and inhalation. The topical segment is expected to represent a highest revenue share in pharma-grade synthetic camphor market as high number of marketed products and vast applications. Applications of pharma-grade synthetic camphor included in the report are respiratory disorders applications, muscular rheumatism, counterirritant & antipruritic and others (topical analgesic, cold sores, minor burns, antifungal, hemorrhoids, topical antitussive & expectorant, astringent, rubefacient, etc.). Others segment expected to contributes highest market value in global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Based on the distribution channel, pharma-grade synthetic camphor market is segmented into conventional B2B and online B2B channel. In terms of revenue, conventional B2B segment would hold significant revenue share in pharma-grade synthetic camphor market over the forecast period.On the basis of region, the global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market has been segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific excluding China & Japan, China, Japan, and the Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to contribute highest revenue share in global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. The demand of pharma-grade synthetic camphor has increased in North America, as increasing production of camphor contained private label and OTC products. China is expected to witness the highest growth rate in pharma-grade synthetic camphor market due to presence of the larger number of pharma-grade synthetic camphor manufactures. Pharma-grade synthetic camphor manufactures are mainly concentrated in China and India and they export their chemicals to the U.S. and Europe. Moreover, due to its growing contribution to the global industry, Asia Pacific is emerging as a focused destination for global manufacturers of camphor and related chemicals.Methodology With Latest Advancements and Application @Report tracks some of the key companies operating in the global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. Representative players included in the global pharma-grade synthetic camphor market report are Merck KGaA, Oriental Aromatics Limited, Saptagir Camphor Limited, Mangalam Organics Limited, Nippon Fine Chemical Co., Ltd., Rochem International, Inc., Spectrum Chemical Mfg. Corp., Aldon Corporation, Prinova Group LLC. and Fengchen Group Co., Ltd. Manufactures are focusing on improvement of the supply chain which expected to provide huge opportunities to them over the forecast period.Additional Questions AnsweredSome of the additional questions addressed in this report on pharma-grade synthetic camphor market-What is the revenue potential of pharma-grade synthetic camphor across regions of North America and Europe?Who are the key competitors and production capacity in pharma-grade synthetic camphor market?What are major challenges influencing the growth of pharma-grade synthetic camphor market?How intervention from regulatory authority is shaping the pharma-grade synthetic camphor market growth?Research MethodologyThe pharma-grade synthetic camphor market has been estimated based on supply-demand approach. The market was first calculated based on pharma-grade synthetic camphor volume consumption in different region/countries. The pharma-grade synthetic camphor volume was estimated based on the supply-demand in the top 20 countries globally. Other qualitative factors analyzed raw material consumption and production, regulatory policies related to pharma-grade synthetic camphor, and adoption of camphor based medications. This information is further validated with rigorous primary research (including interviews, surveys, in-person interactions, and viewpoints of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (including verified paid sources, authentic trade journals, and resourceful databases). The research study on pharma-grade synthetic camphor market also includes top trends and macro as well as microeconomic factors shaping the pharma-grade synthetic camphor market. With this approach, the report on pharma-grade synthetic camphor market anticipates the industry attractiveness of every major segment in pharma-grade synthetic camphor over the forecast period.To Know More Clear Details about This Report, Ask The Analyst:About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Sustained Release Excipients Market Size Set to Surge Fruitfully throughout 2026 | Key Players are FMC Corporation, Ashland Global Holdings..

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Future Market Insights offers an exhaustive evaluation of the sustained release excipients landscape in a new research outlookA recently released global market intelligence outlook on sustained release excipients forecasts the revenue through sustained release excipients to surpass a million dollar value by this years end, of which just-under 1/3rd share belongs to North America.As a growing number of existing international patents are expiring and the prevalence of orthopedic disorders is increasing on the flipside, drug formulations and thereby sustained release excipients are constantly witnessing an impressive manufacturing outlook.Research identifies the largest revenue shareholding categories in sustained release excipients marketplace on the basis of product type, end user, and route of administration.Polymer is currently the largest product type category worth US$ 300 Mn, whereas gelatin represents the most opportunistic one.While oral route of administration remains highly sought after, injectable is presumed to gradually take over.Biopharmaceutical companies and CMOs pose fierce competition to pharmaceutical companies - the dominant end user of sustained release excipients.Get the Sample of Report Here @Click here (Preview) for an insightful view of sustained release excipients marketplace.The top five players leading the competition in global sustained release excipients landscape account for a collective revenue share of over 50%, whereas a number of relatively small companies represent the rest. A majority of competitors have a limited offering portfolio and significantly depend on product differentiation for an edge in niche treatment areas, explains a senior research analyst. Product innovation and market expansion have been the top developmental strategies of companies so far, which are now complemented with strategic partnerships, the analyst adds further.Multi-level Partnerships  The Key to Delivering Top Notch Excipient FormulationsFMI underlines the critical role of strategic collaborations - between formulators of sustained release excipients and stakeholders across the value chain  in shaping growth of brands as well as the entire sustained release excipients ecosystem.While partnerships are expected to prominently focus on spotting the key challenges facing manufacturers, continued education about functionality, variability, and consistency of sustained release excipients is also be an important objective. Drug product manufacturers working in tandem with formulators of sustained release excipients is helping companies deliver best-in-class solutions addressing the most prominent pull factors associated with sustained release excipients.To best grasp real-time market needs, sustained release excipient formulators are most likely to strengthen interaction with end-use customers. This move offers a dual advantage as a developmental strategy  by helping manufacturers precisely understand and address the challenges facing pharmaceutical markets and stimulating development of new excipient formulations that tap into evolving needs.Get Report Customization Now @A recent deal (2017) involving the combination of The Dow Chemical Company-DuPont-FMC (Health & Nutrition) has been a classic example of collaborative operation, involving channel partners as well as customers.Additional Questions AnsweredSome of the additional questions addressed in this report on sustained release excipients market-What is the revenue potential of the sustained release excipients market across regions of North America and Europe?Who are the key competitors and what are their portfolios in sustained release excipients market?What are major challenges influencing the growth of sustained release excipients market?How intervention from regulatory authority is shaping the sustained release excipients market growth?Research MethodologyThe sustained release excipients market has been estimated based on supply-demand approach. The market was first calculated based on allergy test volume conducted in different region/countries. The test volume was estimated based on the incidence rate of various types of allergies in the top 20 countries globally. Other qualitative factors analyzed during test volume estimation include awareness level for point care sustained release excipients, the recurrence rate of allergy reaction and others. This information is further validated with rigorous primary research (including interviews, surveys, in-person interactions, and viewpoints of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (including verified paid sources, authentic trade journals, and resourceful databases). The research study on sustained release excipients market also includes top trends and macro as well as microeconomic factors shaping the sustained release excipients market. With this approach, the report on sustained release excipients market anticipates the industry attractiveness of every major segment in sustained release excipients market over the forecast period.To Know More Clear Details about This Report, Ask The Analyst:About UsFuture Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centers in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customized and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Contact UsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWeb:
Elderly Care Market Competitive Analysis by 2025: Kindred Healthcare, Brookdale, Encompass Health, Genesis, Interim HealthCare Inc., Extendicare Inc., LHC Group, Compassus and Philips Benelux

Elderly Care Market

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The Elderly Care market report is a synopsis about how is the market status right now and how will it be in the forecast years for ABC industry. The report gives details about the top players and brands that are driving the market. Also, Elderly Care market report gives an in-depth knowledge on what the recent developments, products launches are, while also keeping the track for recent acquisitions, mergers, joint ventures and competitive research in the global market industry.The report also provides the knowledge of all the drivers and restraints which are derived through SWOT analysis. It is a professional and detailed report that highlights primary and secondary drivers, market share, leading segments and geographical analysis.Global Elderly Care Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% in the forecast period 2018 to 2025.The global elderly care market is segmented based on products type into two segments; housing and assistive devices and pharmaceuticals. In 2018, housing and assistive devices products segment is valued to rule with the highest market share 2025, rising at the highest CAGR of 6.6%.Some Of The Major Players Operating In This Market Are: Kindred Healthcare Brookdale Encompass Health Genesis Interim HealthCare Inc. Extendicare Inc. LHC Group Compassus Philips Benelux Extendicare Inc. BAYADA Home Health Care Genesis Healthcare System Trinity Health Interim HealthCare Inc. Right at Home, LLC. Almost Family, Inc.Get Sample PDF Illustration Here:The global elderly care market is segmented in service into homecare, institutional care and adult day care. In 2018, homecare segment is valued to rule with the highest market shares by 2025, rising at the highest CAGR.Homecare is further sub segmented into health care, non-medical care. Healthcare is segmented into medical care, physiotherapy services, telehealth, palliative care and hospice care. Non-medical is segmented into personal care and rehabilitation others. Institutional care is segmented into hospital based, independent senior living, assisted living and nursing home.The global elderly care market is segmented on the basis of product type, service and application.The global elderly care market is segmented based on product type into two notable segments; pharmaceuticals and housing and assistive devices.The global elderly care market is segmented based on service into three notable segments; Institutional Care, homecare and adult day care. Institutional care is further segmented into nursing home, hospital based, assisted living, independent senior living. Homecare is segmented into healthcare and non-medical care. Healthcare is segmented into medical care, physiotherapy services, telehealth, palliative care, hospice care. Non-medical care is segmented into personal care, rehabilitation and others.The global elderly care market is segmented based on application into nine notable segments; heart diseases, cancer, kidney diseases, diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis, neurological, respiratory and others.Browse Complete Report Here:Major Table of Contents: Elderly Care Market1 Introduction2 Market Segmentation3 Market Overview4 Executive Summaries5 Premium Insights6 Global Elderly Care Markets, By Testing Type7 Global Elderly Care Market, By Technology8 Global Elderly Care Market, By Food Categories9 Global Elderly Care Market, By Contaminants10 Global Elderly Care Market, By Geography11 Global Elderly Care Market, Company Landscape12 Company Profiles13 Related ReportsMake an Enquiry Before Buying:Reasons To Buy This Report:1. To get a comprehensive overview of the Elderly Care Market on the Building and Construction market.2. To gain information about the top players in this industry, their product portfolios, and their key strategies.3. To gain insights about the major regional insights in which the Elderly Care Market on the Building and Construction is flourishing.4. Recent industry trends and developments5. Potential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growthNote: Any special requirements about this report, please let us know and we can provide custom report.About Research for Markets:Research for Markets indulges in detailed and diligent research on different markets, trends and emerging opportunities in the successive direction to cater to your business needs. We have established the pillars of our flourishing institute on the grounds of Credibility and Reliability. RFM delve into the markets across Asia Pacific, North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and Africa.Contact:Mr. A NaiduResearch for MarketsTel: +44 8000-4182-37 (UK)Email: alan.naidu@researchformarkets.com
Airport Sleeping Pods Market Entry Strategies, Counter measures of Economic Impact Channels to 2026

irport Sleeping Pods Market

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Sleeping pods are enclosed beds, or state-of-the-art chair that converts into a sleeping pod with a fold-flat bed, which are used by passengers during layover at airports. These sleeping pods offer facilities such as Wi-Fi, television, and minimum requisite space for a human body resting. Increasing government investment for offering passenger-friendly facilities at airports is one of the major factors for growth of the global airport sleeping pods market. For example: in 2016, the Indian government announced plans to invest US$ 120 Bn for infrastructure development of airports. Most governments focus on allotting space for sleeping pods in airports to private parties who handle the installation and maintenance of pods. Also, rising numbers of air passengers plays a key role for growth of the global airport sleeping pods market. The Federal Aviation Administration Aerospace forecast, in 2017, around 229 million passengers are estimated to travel by flight in the U.S., up from 218 million passengers in 2016.Request Sample Copy of Research Report @Rising capsules hotels at airports is one of the major trends for growth of the global airport sleeping pods market. Capsules hotels are small box type hotels, which provide facilities such as Wi-Fi connectivity, electric components, television, and other facilities. Increasing demand for hotels or waiting rooms at airports have accelerated demand for capsules hotels.North America airport sleeping pods market is projected to retain its dominance in the global airport sleeping pods market.On the basis of geography, the global airport sleeping pods market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, and Africa. North America was the leading region in the global airport sleeping pods market in 2016, in terms of market share and is projected to retain its dominance over the forecasted period. Increasing number of air passengers is a major factor, driving growth of the market in North America. For instance, according to Federal Aviation Administration, by 2021 around 262 million passengers are estimated to travel by flight in the U.S. In addition to this, large number of airports in the U.S. have also accelerated adoption of this product. According to the United States Department of Transportation, in 2016, the number of airports in the U.S. was around 19,536 airports.Asia Pacific market is projected to register the highest growth rate over the forecast period, with India, China, and Japan being the major growth engines. Rising smart city projects, and increasing number of aero plane passengers in emerging economies are some of the major factors driving growth of the market in Asia Pacific. For example: according to Directorate General of Civil Aviation India, in January 2016, the passengers carried by domestic airlines was 7.65 Mn up from 6.24 Mn in 2016. Moreover, increasing travel and tourism industry in Asia Pacific further fuels demand for capsules hotels at airports, which fuels growth of the sleeping pods market in this region. For instance: according to India Brand Equity Foundation, direct contribution of tourism and hospitality industry to GDP is US$ 72 Bn in 2016 and is projected to reach US$ 178 Bn by 2027.Global Key Players:Some of the major companies in the global airport sleeping pods market include GoSleep, Sleepbox, SnoozeCube, and MetroNaps.Airport Sleeping Pods Market TaxonomyOn the basis of product type, the global airport sleeping pods market is classified into: Single occupancy sleeping pods Shared occupancy sleeping podsOn the basis of End-users, the global airport sleeping pods market is classified into: Children AdultRequest For Customization of Research Report @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.com
Vesical Catheters Market Investigation and Growth Forecasted until the End of 2023 | Key Players  Amecath, Andromeda, Asid Bonz, Bard Medical, Biomatrix, Coloplast

Vesical Catheters Market

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Global Vesical Catheters Market Report 2019 offers elaborated knowledge on the market parts like size, Key Regions, growth, trends, dominating firms, Major Manufactures. The Vesical Catheters report introduces market competition situation among the vendors, revenue, product & services, latest developments and business strategies.Global Vesical Catheters Market Overview:According to market analysts, Global Vesical Catheters Market is projected to grow at a high CAGR value from 2019 to 2023.Sample Copy of Global Vesical Catheters Market Report Available @Catheter stabilization devices are being employed in operations and minimally invasive surgeries. The catheter is stabilized or secured reduce trauma to this bladder and this urethra, so as to avoid removal, and reduce the tissues inflammation. Catheter securement's aim is to put a halt or pull the catheter.There are procedures that are utilized for stabilizing a catheter among others, like catheter straps, anchors, and taping. Catheters are employed for individuals that suffer from ailments like urinary incontinence and retention, and among individuals who've gone through sex organ or surgery or are afflicted by ailments like Parkinson's disease and diseases like dementia and multiple sclerosis.The market study report is an in depth scrutiny of this advancement track of the global catheter stabilization device market over the mentioned prediction period. The market publication supplies readers with insights on aspects that are anticipated to influence the increase of the catheter safety device market in the next several years both in the global and regional strata.The Vesical Catheters Market is segmented based on Product Type, Applications, and Regions. On the basis of product type, the market is sub-segmented into Balloon, Lumen and Permanent. By application, the market is divided into Drainage, Diagnostic, Irrigation, and Dilatation.Regionally, North America will continue to dominate the global market in the forecast period. Asia is projected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period and Emerging economies such as China and India are expected to provide growth opportunities for players in the Vesical Catheters market during the forecast period.Grab Your Report at an Impressive Discount @Key Regions:1 North America Country (United States, Canada)2 South America3 Asia Country (China, Japan, India, Korea)4 Europe Country (Germany, UK, France, Italy)5 Other Country (Middle East, Africa, GCC)Top global key service provider companies covered in the study include:1 A.M. Bickford2 Amecath3 Andromeda4 Asid Bonz5 Bard Medical6 Biomatrix7 Coloplast8 CooperSurgical9 Degania Silicone and More..Purchase this report online along with table of contents @Key Questions Answered in this Report:1 How has the Vesical Catheters market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?2 What are the price trends of Vesical Catheters?3 What is the structure of the Vesical Catheters industry and who are the key players?4 Who are the key vendors in the global Vesical Catheters market?5 What are the latest market trends?Table of Content:1 Vesical Catheters Definition2 Global Vesical Catheters Market Major Player Share and Market Overview3 Major Player Vesical Catheters Business Introduction4 Global Vesical Catheters Market Segmentation (Region Level)5 Global Vesical Catheters Market Segmentation (Type Level)6 Global Vesical Catheters Market Segmentation (Industry Level)7 Global Vesical Catheters Market Segmentation (Channel Level)8 Vesical Catheters Market Forecast 2019-20239 Vesical Catheters Segmentation Type10 Vesical Catheters Segmentation Industry11 Vesical Catheters Cost Analysis12 ConclusionAbout us:BusinessindustryReports.com is digital database of comprehensive market reports for global industries. As a market research company, we take pride in equipping our clients with insights and data that holds the power to truly make a difference to their business. Our mission is singular and well-defined  we want to help our clients envisage their business environment so that they are able to make informed, strategic and therefore successful decisions for themselves.Media ContactBusiness Industry ReportsPune  Indiasales@businessindustryreports.com+19376349940
Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea And Vomiting Therapeutics Market Innovation Survey 2027

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Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, accounting nearly 1.4 million new cases in 2012. The most common cause of cancer is lung cancer accounting about 1.59 million deaths, globally. Other prominent cancers are liver cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, esophageal and stomach cancer. In 2012, nearly 8.2 million deaths occurred from aforementioned indication, globally. Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, precision medicine and stem cell transplantation. The most common treatment for cancer is chemotherapy; it uses drugs to kill cancer cells that cause pain and other problems. Chemotherapy may be used in combination with other cancer treatments. Chemotherapy given before surgery and radiation therapy to make the tumor cell smaller is known as neo-adjuvant chemotherapy and chemotherapy given after treatment with surgery or radiation therapy is known as adjuvant chemotherapy.Chemotherapy, not only kills the cancer cells but also attacks healthy cells that leads to side effects such as fatigue, hair loss, nausea, and vomiting. Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting (CINV) is one of the most serious side effects that is taken into account. Chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting are classified as acute, that occurs within 24 hours of the treatment; anticipatory, that is triggered due to some exposed stimuli; other are refractory; delayed and breakthrough. Incidence, timing, and intensity of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting vary on chemotherapeutic agents and patient factors. CINV occurs in about 80% of patients and has a severe impact on patients life.A Sample Of This Report Is Available Upon Request @Antiemetics are less effective in controlling nausea and vomiting because the intensity is high than actual vomiting. Proper antiemetics can prevent CINV in about 60%-70% of patients. Nowadays due to research and development in the field of cancer therapeutics, many treatment options are available to manage and treat CINV by addressing antiemetic property to an individual patient. Conventionally Chemotherapy-Induced Nausea and Vomiting was managed with dopamine receptor antagonists only. Currently, multiple options are available that is used in the prevention and management of CINV.Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market: Drivers and RestrainsAccording to Word Health Organization, it is estimated that by 2030, about 23.6 million new cases of cancer will prevail worldwide. Agents are available for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting NK1 receptor antagonists, corticosteroids, -HT3 receptor antagonists and others. Governmental guidelines from American Society of Clinical Oncology and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN /ASCO) are providing help to healthcare professionals to manage antiemetic regimens for patients. Intense research and development in cancer therapeutics, the rise in the incidence of cancer cases, increased preference toward chemotherapy for the treatment of cancer and the use of chemotherapy in combination with other cancer treatment are anticipated to fuel the growth of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. The decline in the use of chemotherapy drugs in future can decline the growth of chemotherapy-induces nausea and vomiting therapeutics market.Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market: SegmentationThe global chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics market has been classified by therapy type, route of administration, distribution channel, and geography. Based on Therapy Type, the Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market is divided into following: Dopamine ntagonists, Serotonin Receptor Antagonists, Corticosteroids, Benzodiazepines, Neurokinin NK1 receptor antagonist ; Based on the Route of Administration, the global Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market is divided into following: Oral, Intravenous; Based on the Distribution Channel, the global Chemotherapy-induced Nausea, and Vomiting Therapeutics Market is divided into following: Hospital Pharmacy, Drug Stores, Retail Pharmacy, E-commerce.Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market: OverviewBased on the therapy type, the global chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics market is segmented into dopamine antagonists, serotonin receptor antagonists, corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, and neurokinin NK1 receptor antagonist. Serotonin receptor antagonists are said to account the major share in the chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics market as it is most commonly used and is effective. It blocks the binding of serotonin to its receptor, thus stopping the signal to the brain. By route of administration the chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics market is segmented into oral and intravenous administration. Based on the distribution channel the CINV market is segmented into hospital pharmacy, drug store, retail pharmacy, and e-commerce. The rise in cancer patient population, funding by the governmental bodies, focus on acquisition and merger by various key manufacturers is attributed towards the growth of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics.Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market: Regional OverviewRegion-wise, the global Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market is classified into regions namely, North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Japan, Middle East and Africa. More than 70% of world's cancer death occurs in Africa, Asia, and South America. Around 33% of cancer cases worldwide are due to smoke and tobacco. Along with expansion in the emerging markets, and a greater focus on early diagnosis, screening, monitoring and clinical development of CINV drugs have been the major strategies adopted by major players in the global chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting therapeutics market.Read Comprehensive Overview with Methodology of Report @Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in global Chemotherapy-induced Nausea and Vomiting Therapeutics Market are GlaxoSmithKline plc, Merck & Co., Inc, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Heron Therapeutics, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, Tesaro, Inc., Acacia Pharma, Baxter international Inc., Lee's Pharmaceutical Holdings, Mundipharma International limited, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd.and others.Future Market Insights is the premier provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in London, the global financial capital, and has delivery centres in the U.S. and India.FMIs research and consulting services help businesses around the globe navigate the challenges in a rapidly evolving marketplace with confidence and clarity. Our customised and syndicated market research reports deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. We continuously track emerging trends and events in a broad range of end industries to ensure our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.Future Market InsightsU.S. Office616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: abhishek.b@futuremarketinsights.comFMI Blog:Web:Blog:
Global Debt Collection Software Market Size study, by Deployment Type (On-Premises, Cloud-Based) and Regional Forecasts 2018-2025

Debt Collection Software Market

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Global Debt Collection Software Market to reach USD XX billion by 2025.Global Debt Collection Software Market is valued approximately USD XX billion in 2017 and is anticipated to grow with a healthy growth rate of more than XX% over the forecast period 2018-2025. Debt collection software is the software which is used to minimize the time spent on administrative and unproductive tasks & to organize the daily jobs of collectors so that they can work on high-value tasks. Debt collection software manages the entire debt collection process. The use of debt collection software is to improve cash and efficiency in accounts receivable management. Vendors pricing strategies and an increase in demand for integrated debt collection software solution are the key driving factors of the global Debt Collection Software market across the world. In addition, the rise in need to improve cash flows, optimize collection costs and reduce bad debt by managing multiple debt categories are some other factors which are fueling the demand of debt collection software in the market.Request a free sample atFurthermore, debt collection software also offers various benefits such as improved cash forecast, reduced finance costs, maximized unused credit lines, improved borrowing position, reduced bad debts write-offs, increased cash flows and helps to overcome the limitation of existing database systems. These benefits result in increasing adoption as well as the demand for debt collection software among end-user industries across the globe. Moreover, the emergence of analytics in debt collection software is the major opportunity for the players in the market. However, the presence of substitute solutions, government stringent rules & regulations and high implementation & maintenance cost are the factors which limit the market growth of debt collection software in the market during the forecast period.Key regions considered for the regional analysis of global debt collection software market include Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America and Rest of the World. North America is the leading/significant region across the world in terms of market share owing to rising adoption of latest technologies by the organization in the region. Europe is also contributing satisfactory growth in the global Debt Collection Software market. Asia-Pacific is also anticipated to exhibit higher growth rate/CAGR over the forecast period 2018-2025 due to increasing commercial investments by the organization and increasing need for effective debt management.The market players included in this report are: Chetu Debtor Software Solutions Experian Information Solutions Fair Isaac Totality SoftwareThe objective of the study is to define the market size of different segments & countries in recent years and to forecast the values to the coming eight years. The report is designed to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry within each of the regions and countries involved in the study. Furthermore, the report also caters the detailed information about the crucial aspects such as driving factors & challenges which will define the future growth of the market. Additionally, the report shall also incorporate available opportunities in micro markets for stakeholders to invest along with the detailed analysis of competitive landscape and product offering ofkey players. The detailed segments and sub-segment of the market are explained below:Request a free sample atBy Deployment Type:On-PremisesCloud-BasedBy Regions:North Americao U.S.o Canada? Europeo UKo GermanyAsia Pacifico Chinao Indiao JapanLatin Americao Brazilo MexicoRest of the WorldFurthermore, years considered for the study are as follows:Historical year  2015, 2016Base year  2017Forecast period  2018 to 2025Target Audience of the Global Debt Collection Software Market in Market Study:Key Consulting Companies & AdvisorsLarge, medium-sized, and small enterprisesVenture capitalistsValue-Added Resellers VARsThird-party knowledge providersInvestment bankersInvestorsEnquire Now -About Us :-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 a huge database of market research reports & company profiles across the 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 provide you deeper penetration of market research industry ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available.Contact US:-Name: Jennifer DanielEmail-Id: sales@planetmarketreports.comUS : +1-716-2260907UK : +447441952057Organization: Planet Market Reports
Commercial Boiler transcend USD 15 Billion during the Forecast timeframe: 2018  2024 | A. O. Smith Corporation, Babcock & Wilcox, Vaillant Group, Weil-McLain, Cleaver-Brooks

Commercial Boiler

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Growing need for space heating and hot water across cold regions coupled with increasing demand for high efficiency heating systems will drive the global market growth. Government initiatives toward renovation and substitution of inefficient building infrastructures will further enhance the industry. For instance, the European Union introduced Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which aims to achieve zero carbon emissions from buildings by 2050. Global Commercial Boiler Market is set to surpass USD 15 Billion by 2024.Request for a sample Copy @Introduction of stringent government legislatives toward the reduction of carbon emissions will boost the condensing commercial boiler market. For instance, National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants was implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency in order to restrict the greenhouse gas emissions from industrial and commercial establishments. Reliable operation, simple controls and compact design are the underlying features that will boost the product adoption.Gas fired commercial boiler market is predicted to expand over 3% by 2024. Low carbon emissions, relatively lower operational cost and low maintenance requirement will accelerate the product adoption. Growing investments toward development and extension of gas infrastructure will further drive the business growth. In 2016, as per the European Commission, the EU has invested over USD 200 million toward the development of Balticconnector, a natural-gas pipeline connecting Estonia and Finland.Growing focus toward minimization of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions coupled with enactment and strengthening of emission standards are some of the paramount factors which will drive the demand for energy efficient commercial boilers. The respective governments and investors are continuously focusing toward deployment of energy efficient devices and the development of economically and ecologically sustainable commercial infrastructure. For instance, in 2017, the European Commission (EC) launched a Voluntary Reporting Framework Level(s) toward improvement of sustainability of buildings.The U.S. market is predicted to surpass an annual installation of 80,000 units by 2024. Resurgent economic growth coupled with rapidly increasing population will drive the industry growth in coming years. As per the World Bank, the U.S. has witnessed a GDP growth of 34.5% between 2009 and 2017, and a population surge of 6.1% within the same period.Make an inquiry before buying @It is imperative to mention that amidst the stringent regulatory backdrop, gas-fired commercial boiler industry has witnessed a massive penetration globally. Besides meeting the emission standards, these boilers also have lower maintenance and operational costs which is further fueling its deployment across the commercial sectors. In terms of commercialization, this segment is forecast to record a CAGR of 3% over the coming six years.Notable industry participants across the global market include Viessmann, O. Smith Corporation, Babcock & Wilcox, Vaillant Group, Weil-McLain, Cleaver-Brooks, BDR Thermea Group., Ferroli S.p.A., NIBE Energy Systems Limited, Fulton Boiler Works (GB) Limited, MIURA AMERICA CO., LTD., Le Groupe Simoneau, Navien, Inc. & WOLF GmbH.About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Cellular Health Screening Market Outlook to 2025 - TOP Leading Players 3M, GC Aesthetics, Institut Straumann AG, Nobel Biocare Services AG, Zimmer Biomet, Sientra, Surgiform Technologies LLC, Dentsply Sirona and Implantech

Cellular Health Screening Market

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The "Global Cosmetic Implants Market Analysis to 2025" is a specialized and in-depth study of the medical device industry with a focus on the global market trend. The report aims to provide an overview of global cosmetic implants market with detailed market segmentation by material, application, and geography. The global cosmetic implants market is expected to witness high growth during the forecast period. The report provides key statistics on the market status of the leading market players and offers key trends and opportunities in the market.Cosmetic implants are used in the cosmetic plastic surgeries, it includes surgical and nonsurgical procedures. The implants helps in reshaping structures of the body and improving appearance and confidence of a person.Get PDF Sample Copy of this Report @Top Dominating Key Players:1. TeloYears2. Spectracell Laboratories Inc.3. Life Length4. RepeatDX5. Cell Science Systems6. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated7. Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings8. Biorefrence Laboratories9. Cleveland Heartlab, Inc.10. Genova DiagnosticsThe market for the cosmetic implants are rising sue to the increasing awareness about the plastic surgeries, easily available of technologically advanced implants and also the people adopting the changes for improving their personality. The cosmetic implants are available in different shapes, size and styles for the breast, teeth and face implants. The implants and the procedure of implantation are cost effectives. Owing to this factors the market for the cosmetic implants are expected to witness the high growth in coming future.The segmentation of the market is done on the basis of the material and application. The material segment is classified into biomaterials, metals, polymers, and ceramics. The application segment for the cosmetic implants is segmented as facial implants, breast implants, dental implants, and buttock implants. These segments are further sub segmented, the facial implants segment is classified as chin implants, jaw implants and cheek implants. The breast implants segment consist of silicone breast implants and saline breast implants. The dental implants segment includes endosteal implants and subperiosteal implants. The market is majorly regulated by the breast and dental implants, for instance the use of these implants are done by the celebrities and patients. A person or a patient opt for cosmetic surgery when they met with major deformity, loss of the body part in an accident or by birth.The report provides a detailed overview of the industry including both qualitative and quantitative information. It provides overview and forecast of the global cosmetic implants market based on material, and application. It also provides market size and forecast till 2025 for overall cosmetic implants market with respect to five major regions, namely; North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East and Africa (MEA) and South & Central America. The market by each region is later sub-segmented by respective countries and segments. The report covers analysis and forecast of 13 counties globally along with current trend and opportunities prevailing in the region.The report analyzes factors affecting market from both demand and supply side and further evaluates market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period i.e., drivers, restraints, opportunities, and future trend. The report also provides exhaustive PEST analysis for all five regions namely; North America, Europe, APAC, MEA and South & Central America.The market for cosmetic implants is dominated North America followed by Europe, more of the population in these region undergo the cosmetic implantation. Growth of medical aesthetics industry in the US drives the market growth. The Asia Pacific region is the fastest growing market for the cosmetic implantation. Countries such as China, Japan and India did not had facilities for the cosmetic implantations, but now a days they are developing and delivering the services for the cosmetic implantations.Enquiry for Discount @Reason to Buy / Key Benefits: Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the Global Cellular Health Screening Market. Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies. The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the Cellular Health Screening, thereby allowing players to develop effective long term strategies. Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets. Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it. Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to products, segmentation and industry verticals.About Us:The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are a specialist in Technology, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Automotive and Defense.Contact Us:The Insight partners,Phone: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@theinsightpartners.comWebsite:
Medical E-Commerce Software market by top key players GE Healthcare, McKesson, Allscripts, Jointown, Sana, Oorjit, Medical Web Experts

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This report compiled by Market Study Report, LLC, focuses on factors influencing the present scenario of the Medical E-Commerce Software 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.Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2019 and will be xx million USD in 2024, with a CAGR of xx%.Request Sample of this premium report at:Medical E-Commerce Software sell medical supplies online with E-Commerce for health care.Make even the most complex ordering processes for health care simple for your clients.The global Medical E-Commerce Software market is valued at xx million USD in 2018 and is expected to reach xx million USD by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of xx% between 2019 and 2024.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fastgrowing India and Southeast Asia regions.North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Medical E-Commerce Software.This report studies the Medical E-Commerce Software market status and outlook of Global and major regions, from angles of players, countries, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global market and splits the Medical E-Commerce Software market by product type and applications/end industries.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:GE Healthcare, McKesson, Allscripts, Jointown, Sana, Oorjit, Medical Web ExpertsMarket Segment by Product, covers:Web-BasedEDI (Electronic Data Interchange)Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into:HospitalsDiagnostic LaboratoriesPhysiciansPharmacistsRequest a discount on standard prices of this premium report at:The study objectives are:To analyze and research the global Medical E-Commerce Software capacity, production, value, consumption, status and forecast;To focus on the key Medical E-Commerce Software manufacturers and study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in next few years.To focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Table of Contents:1 Study Coverage1.1 Medical E-Commerce Software Product1.2 Market Segments1.3 Key Manufacturers Covered1.4 Market by Type1.4.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Market Size Growth Rate by Product1.4.2 Capnograph1.4.3 Disposables1.5 Market by End User1.5.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Market Size Growth Rate by End User1.5.2 Hospitals1.5.3 Ambulatory1.5.4 Others1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Market Size2.1.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue 2014-20252.1.2 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Sales 2014-20252.2 Medical E-Commerce Software Growth Rate by Regions2.2.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Sales by Regions2.2.2 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue by Regions3 Breakdown Data by Manufacturers3.1 Medical E-Commerce Software Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Medical E-Commerce Software Sales by Manufacturers3.1.2 Medical E-Commerce Software Sales Market Share by Manufacturers3.1.3 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI)3.2 Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.2.2 Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2014-2019)3.3 Medical E-Commerce Software Price by Manufacturers3.4 Medical E-Commerce Software Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 Medical E-Commerce Software Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers Medical E-Commerce Software Product Type3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Medical E-Commerce Software Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans4 Breakdown Data by Product4.1 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Sales by Product4.2 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue by Product4.3 Medical E-Commerce Software Price by Product5 Breakdown Data by End User5.1 Overview5.2 Global Medical E-Commerce Software Breakdown Data by End User6 North America6.1 North America Medical E-Commerce Software by Countries6.1.1 North America Medical E-Commerce Software Sales by Countries6.1.2 North America Medical E-Commerce Software Revenue by Countries6.1.3 United States6.1.4 Canada6.1.5 Mexico6.2 North America Medical E-Commerce Software by Product6.3 North America Medical E-Commerce Software by End UserMore Details on this Report At:Related Report:Global Medical E-Commerce Software Market Growth (Status and Outlook) 2019-2024Medical E-Commerce Software sell medical supplies online with E-Commerce for health care.Make even the most complex ordering processes for health care simple for your clients.According to this study, over the next five years the Medical E-Commerce Software 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 revenue market share of key companies in Medical E-Commerce Software business, shared in Chapter 3.This report presents a comprehensive overview, market shares and growth opportunities of Medical E-Commerce Software market by product type, application, key companies and key regions.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 managementContact 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:
Comprehensive analysis on Legal Marijuana Market Size| Key Players are Medicine Man, Canopy Growth, Aphria, Aurora Cannabis Inc., mCig Inc

Legal Marijuana Market

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A detailed study on Legal Marijuana Market formulated by Market Study Report, LLC, puts together a concise analysis of the growth factors impacting the current business scenario across assorted regions. Significant information pertaining to the industrys size, share, application, and statistics are also summed in the report in order to present an ensemble prediction. In addition, this report undertakes an accurate competitive analysis illustrating the status of market majors in the projection timeline, while including their expansion strategies and portfolio.The worldwide market for Legal Marijuana is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 28.0% over the next five years, will reach 35000 million US$ in 2024, from 7970 million US$ in 2019, according to a new study.Request a sample of this premium report atMarket Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers Medicine Man Canopy Growth Aphria Aurora Cannabis Inc. mCig IncMarijuana is one of the most abused drugs in the world.The commercial marijuana industry exists on a state-by-state basis, and all medical and recreational programs are technically in violation of federal drug laws. The U.S. Department of Justice issued some guidelines in recent years that helped the marijuana industry gain traction, but these are not legally binding and could theoretically be nullified at any time.A medicinal cannabis product refers to a product which includes cannabis, and its chemical components (cannabinoids), that can be used for curing, or alleviating the symptoms of disease, ailment or injury.The two main cannabinoids that have been identified for therapeutic application are the psychoactive 9-tetrahydrocanabinol (THC) and non-psychoactive Cannabidiol (CBD).The global average price of Legal Marijuana is in the decreasing trend, from 11.92 USD/g in 2012 to 7.5 USD/g in 2016. With the situation of global economy, prices will be in decreasing trend in the following five years.The classification of Legal Marijuana includes Classical Media & Salts, Serum-free MediaStem Cell Media, and the proportion of Classical Media & Salts in 2016 is about 50.07%, and the proportion is in decreasing trend from 2012 to 2017.Market competition is not intense. Medicine Man, Canopy Growth, Aphria, Aurora Cannabis Inc. and mCig Inc are the leaders of the industry, and they hold key technologies and patents, with high-end customers; have been formed in the monopoly position in the industry.This report focuses on the Legal Marijuana in global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Request a discount on standard prices of this premium report atMarket Segment by Type, coversIndoorGreenhouseMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoRecreationalMedicalThe content of the study subjects, includes a total of 15 chapters:Chapter 1, to describe Legal Marijuana product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market driving force and market risks.Chapter 2, to profile the top manufacturers of Legal Marijuana, with price, sales, revenue and global market share of Legal Marijuana in 2017 and 2018.Chapter 3, the Legal Marijuana competitive situation, sales, revenue and global market share of top manufacturers are analyzed emphatically by landscape contrast.Chapter 4, the Legal Marijuana breakdown data are shown at the regional level, to show the sales, revenue and growth by regions, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to break the sales data at the country level, with sales, revenue and market share for key countries in the world, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 10 and 11, to segment the sales by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2019.Chapter 12, Legal Marijuana market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2024.Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Legal Marijuana sales channel, distributors, customers, research findings and conclusion, appendix and data source.Table of Contents1 Market Overview2 Manufacturers Profiles3 Global Legal Marijuana Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2018)4 Global Legal Marijuana Market Analysis by Regions5 North America Legal Marijuana by Country6 Europe Legal Marijuana by Country7 Asia-Pacific Legal Marijuana by Country8 South America Legal Marijuana by Country9 Middle East and Africa Legal Marijuana by Countries10 Global Legal Marijuana Market Segment by Type11 Global Legal Marijuana Market Segment by Application12 Legal Marijuana Market Forecast (2019-2024)13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers14 Research Findings and Conclusion15 AppendixPurchase full report of Legal Marijuana market at: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:
Global Diabetes Drugs Market Research Report 2018 with Top Key Players: Novo Nordisk(US), Sanofi(DE), Merck, Eli Lilly(UK), AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis(US)

Diabetes Drugs Market

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The global Diabetes Drugs market is valued at xx million US$ in 2018 and will reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of xx% during 2019-2025. The objectives of this study are to define, segment, and project the size of the Diabetes Drugs market based on company, product type, end user and key regions.This report studies the global market size of Diabetes Drugs in key regions like North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa, focuses on the consumption of Diabetes Drugs in these regions.This research report categorizes the global Diabetes Drugs market by top players/brands, region, type and end user. This report also studies the global Diabetes Drugs market status, competition landscape, market share, growth rate, future trends, market drivers, opportunities and challenges, sales channels and distributors.Request for Sample of this Report@The following manufacturers are covered in this report, with sales, revenue, market share for each company:Novo Nordisk(US)Sanofi(DE)MerckEli Lilly(UK)AstraZenecaBoehringer IngelheimNovartis(US)Johnson & JohnsonTakedaBayerHUADONG MEDICINE(DE)Kelun(US)NCPC(US)Wanbang(IT)Hisun(DE)Yiling(US)Gan & Lee(US)Dongbao(IT)JUMCAN(SK)Taloph(US)Market size by ProductInjectionOralGet Discount on this Report@Market size by End UserType 1 DiabetesType 2 DiabetesMarket size by RegionNorth AmericaUnited StatesCanadaMexicoAsia-PacificChinaIndiaJapanSouth KoreaAustraliaIndonesiaSingaporeMalaysiaPhilippinesThailandVietnamEuropeGermanyFranceUKItalySpainRussiaCentral & South AmericaThe study objectives of this report are:To study and analyze the global Diabetes Drugs market size (value & volume) by company, key regions, products and end user, breakdown data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2025.To understand the structure of Diabetes Drugs market by identifying its various subsegments.To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).Focuses on the key global Diabetes Drugs companies, to define, describe and analyze the sales volume, value, market share, market competition landscape and recent development.To project the value and sales volume of Diabetes Drugs submarkets, with respect to key regions.To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market.Detailed Analysis on this Research Report@Contact Usinfo@supplydemandmarketresearch.comGlobal Contact: +1-276-477-5910About Supply Demand Market Research(SDMR)We have a strong network of high powered and experienced global consultants who have about 10+ years of experience in the specific industry to deliver quality research and analysis.Having such an experienced network, our services not only cater to the client who wants the basic reference of market numbers and related high growth areas in the demand side, but also we provide detailed and granular information using which the client can definitely plan the strategies with respect to both supply and demand side.302-20 Misssisauga Valley, Missisauga,L5A 3S1, Toronto
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Shortly after his reelection as New Orleans mayor in 2014, Mitch Landrieu had coffee with Wynton Marsalis. He asked the acclaimed jazz musician to play a role in the official celebration of the 300th anniversary of the citys founding.

Ill do it, Marsalis said. But theres something Id like you to do.

Whats that?

Take down the Robert E. Lee statue.

And so it started.

Landrieu didnt jump at the idea. He knew many Louisianans -- many Americans -- revered Lee, the legendary Confederate general who racked up victories early in the Civil War against larger, better-equipped Union armies.

But Landrieu, who speaks in Portland on Tuesday as part of the Hatfield Lecture Series, kept thinking about it. Lee, a Virginian, was a symbol not just of military genius but of slavery, of racism. The mayor ultimately determined that, in a country that continues to struggle with its fraught racial history, removing the 133-year-old statue from a prominent New Orleans traffic circle was the right thing to do.

And so, despite sustained opposition -- including legal challenges and threats of violence -- the statue came down in 2017. Also dismantled: statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard, as well as an obelisk that celebrated the violent 1870s group the White League -- a monument that historian James Loewen called the most overtly racist icon to white supremacy in the United States. More than two dozen other cities followed suit: statues of Confederates fell from Dallas to Memphis, Richmond to New York City.

Landrieu admits that, before Marsalis brought it up, he hadnt thought much about what his citys Confederate statues represented to black residents -- or, for that matter, to white New Orleanians.

My head was down, focused on rebuilding a city that had been completely destroyed [by 2005s Hurricane Katrina], he said. It hadnt occurred to me at that moment, until Wynton kind of smacked me in the head. I should have thought of it. He put me on a pathway to learn about the statues. I came to the conclusion that those monuments were not a reflection of who we were and what we wanted to be.

For starters, they did not accurately represent Southern history. They offered instead a cockeyed, resentful version of its history, and thus had been embraced by white nationalists and neo-Nazis. Landrieu saw white-supremacist ideology ascending across the country and knew it had to be countered.

We have to tell the whole story, Landrieu says, pointing out that most of the monuments were erected at the same time that Jim Crow laws, enforcing racial segregation, were being passed. You have to look at who put the monuments up and ask, Do they really reflect history? They werent put up to remember the Civil War. They were put up to send a message to the African-American community, to say: We may have lost the war, but were still in control.

A lot of Americans didnt want to accept this history lesson. The president of the United States was one of them.

Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments, President Donald Trump tweeted in 2017, adding: Whos next, Washington, Jefferson?

The Founding Fathers will not be next. People need to be reminded, Landrieu says, that the Confederates goal was to destroy the United States of America and preserve slavery, to keep our fellow Americans in bondage.

In his 2018 memoir, In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History, the 58-year-old Democrat points out that the Civil War wasnt about states rights or preserving Southerners identity or any of the other myths that were taught in Southern schools for years.

Six million human being were enslaved in our country, Landrieu writes. The largest number of those human beings were sold into slavery in my city, New Orleans. There is good and evil. Right and wrong. Truth and falsehood. The false narrative that has taken hold, a perpetual state of denial that has been left unchecked, has strangled the South that I love and made us weaker as a nation.

He continues: There should be no doubt that the Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity and history.

The New Orleans natives unswerving effort to sway public opinion in his city and remove the Confederate statues earned him national attention, leading to calls for him to run for president. (Will Mitch Run? a headline for a New York Times opinion column asked. A couple of weeks ago, Landrieu said he probably wouldnt.) Landrieu, whose mayoral term ended last May, recently received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for, the Kennedy Library Foundation stated, his leadership in removing [the monuments] while offering candid, clear and compassionate reflections on the moment and its place in history.

The statues came down, but of course the battle continues, with no easy solutions in sight. The monuments were toxic symbols, but the problem of racism ultimately is about much more than whats standing on pedestals in civic squares. Its about whats within us. In 1956, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Penn Warren, a Kentucky native, addressed the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement and its backlash through the conceit of a question-and-answer session with himself. He asked if the rest of the country should let white Southerners work out a way to live with the Negro. The answer:

I dont think the problem is to learn to live with the Negro.

What is it then?

It is to learn to live with ourselves.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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Mitch Landrieu will speak at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall at 7 p.m. March 5. Tickets range from $30 to $85. Ticket information.
Here it is. Matts BBQ Tacos, the Austin-inspired breakfast taco cart from budding barbecue kingpin Matt Vicedomini, will open this Friday on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard.

Vicedomini, who also owns North Portlands Matts BBQ cart, is bringing this one in just about on time -- not bad, considering the paint is practically still drying at Eem, the Thai barbecue restaurant he launched with Earl Ninsom and Eric Nelson earlier this year.

Matts BBQ Tacos takes over over the food cart formerly home to Fried Egg Im In Love, the popular egg sandwich spot that jumped indoors to a cafe space in January.

As with Matts BBQ and Eem, Vicedominis team will be smoking meats on site, here using the original smoker from Matts BBQs early days on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. In the morning, smoked brisket, pork belly, sausage and mushroom will find their way onto scrambled egg, potato and melted cheddar tacos ($3.50 for the base; $1-$1.50 per add-on). A migas taco rounds out the breakfast menu, with scrambled egg, tortilla chips, pico de gallo and guacamole on your choice of corn or flour tortilla ($4.50).

At lunch, look for chopped or sliced brisket tacos with guacamole and pickled red onion, pork belly burnt ends with refried pinto beans and cotija or pulled pork with a carrot-habanero salsa (tacos $4-$5). The cart will also offer a lineup of simple smoked meat sandwiches, plus a brisket grilled cheese that probably needs no further introduction (sandwiches $8-$10).

The cart will serve its own flour tortillas, made with lard at the commissary kitchen near Eem. Corn tortillas come from Little Conejo, the Vancouver taqueria and mezcal bar with a cart location near Matts BBQ at North Portlands Prost Marketplace. Vegetarian and vegan options, including a smoked mushroom, guacamole and pickled red onion taco on a corn tortilla, will be available.

See the Matts BBQ Tacos menu below:

MATTS BBQ TACOS

BREAKFAST TACOS (8-11 a.m.)

Scrambled eggs, potato, and cheddar $3.50

add

-Chopped brisket 1.50

-Sliced pork belly 1

-Sausage 1

-Mushroom 1

-Migas Taco - scrambled egg, tortilla chips, pico de gallo, guacamole 4.50

LUNCH TACOS (starting at 11 a.m.)

-Chopped Brisket, guacamole, pickled red onion 4

-Sliced brisket, guacamole, pickled red onion 5

-Pork belly burnt ends refried pinto beans, cotija, salsa 4

-Pulled pork, carrot habenero salsa 4

-Sausage, queso 4

-Mushroom, guacamole, pickled red onion 4

Sandwiches

w/coleslaw and pickles

-Chopped Brisket 9

-Pulled Pork 8

-Pork belly burnt ends 9

-BGC: Brisket grilled cheese 10

-Chips and Queso sm 4/lg 7

-Chips and guac 4

Matts BBQ Tacos will open Friday at 3207 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd.

-- Michael Russell
House Democrats sent more than 80 letters Monday demanding documents from family members, business associates, political confidants and others with connections to President Donald Trump, opening a sprawling investigation of whether he and his administration have engaged in obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power.

The furthest-reaching request since Democrats took control of the House underscored lawmakers' determination to hold Trump and those around him accountable for controversies that have dogged the president during his first two years in office - and perhaps lay the grounds for impeachment.

Those receiving letters from the House Judiciary Committee include the president's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; his former personal secretary Rhona Graff; Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization; and former top White House aides Hope Hicks, Sean Spicer and Stephen Bannon.

Other demands for documents are directed to institutions including the White House, the Justice Department, the Trump campaign, the Trump transition team and the Trump Organization.

Recipients have two weeks to comply with the requests. Should they fail to do so, the panel will subpoena the documents, Judiciary staff told reporters on a call Monday morning.

The demands, made by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., cover communications between former White House counsel Donald McGahn and the president relating to Trumps fired national security adviser, Michel Flynn, as well as Flynns statements to the FBI about contacts with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

"We will act quickly to gather this information, assess the evidence, and follow the facts where they lead with full transparency with the American people," Nadler said in a statement. "This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts. That is exactly what we intend to do."

In a statement Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders acknowledged receipt of Nadler's letter to the White House and said officials "will review it and respond at the appropriate time." She did not comment further.

Nadler is also seeking to learn about communications regarding Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey, as well as what occurred at a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower. That meeting included Trump Jr., Kushner, Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya, who had "dirt" to offer about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, according to an email made public.

Nadler has also asked American Media Inc., and its CEO, David Pecker, a longtime Trump ally, about the hush payments or "any payment" made by former Trump personal lawyer Michael Cohen to assist Trump during the campaign.

The documents requested by Nadler are a first step in the committee's effort to explore possible obstruction of justice by the president into special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Trump or anyone close to him coordinated with the Russians during the campaign.

Aides said the panel is exploring two other broad issues, public corruption and abuse of power.

The probe of public corruption includes potential violations of the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which prohibits presidents from accepting gifts from foreign states; and possible campaign finance violations. Potential abuses of power include attacks on the press and judiciary and use of presidential pardon power, Judiciary aides said.

Nadler's request is significant not only because of the expansive amount of material he is seeking but because his committee has jurisdiction over impeachment. Any hearings exploring whether Trump committed "high crimes and misdemeanors" would take place before Nadler's panel.

Nadler's requests come as House Democrats are ramping up numerous investigations of the president, their first steps in a months-long effort that could lead to impeachment proceedings.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee received testimony from Cohen last Wednesday in a high-profile hearing where the president's former lawyer accused Trump of lying to the public about his business interests in Russia, his role in silencing women who alleged sexual encounters during the 2016 election and his knowledge of WikiLeaks's hacked material damaging Clinton.

The oversight panel has also given the White House until Monday to respond to document requests surrounding its clearance process, some of which panel Democrats have been seeking for months.

The latest letter - what House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md., warned was his "final" request for voluntary compliance - followed news that Trump personally instructed his former chief of staff John Kelly to give Kushner a security clearance.

At the same time, the House Ways and Means Committee has created a framework for requesting Trump's tax returns. While the tax panel has not asked for the documents yet, lawyers for the committee have instructed other panels to help make the case to the public about why the forms are essential to investigating the president.

Nadler's letter to the Justice Department seeks a wide variety of documents that go to the heart of Mueller's work, even as senior department officials have publicly and privately expressed a reluctance to share that kind of investigative documents.

The list, which asks for materials concerning possible obstruction of justice by the president, or possible conspiracy between Trump associates and Russian officials, marks the opening salvo of what some expect to be a fight between Congress and the Justice Department over Mueller's files.

Nadler's requests include information about some well-known episodes, but also cover some incidents that have received relatively little attention, such as the 2016 effort by now deceased Chicago-based Republican fundraiser Peter Smith to reach out to Russian hackers to get copies of Clinton's deleted emails.

It sent a request to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadoran Embassy in London under a grant of asylum, seeking information relating to its alleged receipt of hacked Democratic emails from the Russian government as well as any contacts with members of the Trump campaign or Trump Organization during the 2016 campaign.

Cohen last week alleged that in July 2016 he overheard a phone call between Trump and longtime adviser Roger Stone in which Stone said he had just spoken to Assange, who within a couple of days would release a massive dump of emails that would damage Hillary Clintons campaign. Stone has repeatedly denied he conspired with WikiLeaks.
BEAUREGARD, Ala.  Rescuers began tearing through the rubble of mobile homes and houses Monday in search of survivors of a powerful tornado that rampaged through southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people, including children.

The trail of destruction was at least half a mile wide and overwhelmed rural Lee County's coroners' office, forcing it to call in help from the state.

"It looks like someone almost just took a giant knife and scraped the ground," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said of the devastation during a Monday morning news conference.

Jones said children were among the dead, but he didn't know exactly how many. And he said the number of deaths may rise as the search continues.

"I have not seen this level of destruction ever in my time in Lee County," said Jones, who has been sheriff since 1998.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors, but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said.

The Sunday tornado, which had winds that appeared to be around 160 mph or greater, was part of a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

Levi Baker, who lives near the hard-hit area in Alabama, took a chain saw to help clear a path for ambulances and other first-responder vehicles. He said he saw bodies of dead people and dead animals.

He said some houses were demolished and trees were uprooted or snapped in half. One house was swept off its foundation and was sitting in the middle of the road.

"It was just destruction," Baker said. "There were mobile homes gone. Frames on the other side of the road."

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard reducing homes to slabs.

Scott Fillmer was at home when the storm hit in Lee County.

"I looked out the window and it was nothing but black, but you could hear that freight train noise," Fillmer said.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating caused the destruction in Alabama. Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph.

In a tweet late Sunday, President Donald Trump said: "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to help search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard. At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area.

On a country road in Beauregard on Monday, a giant pieces of metal from a farm building were suspended 20 feet in the air, attached to the lower halves of pine trees, making loud creaking sounds as the wind blew them into the pine branches. The top halves of most of those trees were snapped off. For an entire mile down the road, the scene was the same  pine trees cracked in half. One mile down the road, a mobile home crushed by two trees marked the end of the mile-long path of destruction.

At the R&D Grocery on Monday morning in Beauregard, residents were constantly asking each other if they were okay.

"I'm still thanking God I'm among the living," said John Jones, who has lived in Beauregard for most of his life.

School Superintendent Mack McCoy said some buses were damaged in the storm and winds tore through the roof of Smiths Station Elementary School.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties other than Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

"The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Erenheim said in a phone interview. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken."

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities in southwest Georgia were searching door-to-door in darkened neighborhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 33 miles north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon. A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

 The Associated Press
Stand-up comedian and actor Micah Katt Sierra Williams didnt show for his scheduled assault trial Monday in Portland, so a judge issued an arrest warrant as his lawyer continued to work out a potential civil compromise.

Multnomah County Circuit Judge Kenneth Walker set bail for the warrant at $10,000.

Prosecutor Jenna Plank also noted in court that Williams, 47, has failed to report as required to the pretrial supervision office.

Williams is accused of punching a chauffeur at Portland International Airport in October because his dog wasnt allowed to ride in the front seat.

He landed at the airport Oct. 5 on a private jet to attend Nick Cannons Wild 'N Out improv comedy show.

He was booked into jail about 13 hours later after chauffeur Wali Kanani called 911. Williams was arrested on suspicion of fourth-degree assault and later also accused of harassment. Hes entered not guilty pleas to both allegations.

A lawsuit filed by Kanani claims Williams, six other people and a large, aggressive German Shepherd met the chaffeur after getting off a private jet. Williams insisted the dog ride in the front passengers seat of the 2017 GMC Yukon XL Denali, but when the chauffeur said no, Williams called him white trash, swore at him and socked him in the face with his fist, according to the lawsuit. Kanani originally sought $76,000.

Kanani and his lawyer, Adam Heder, were in court for the scheduled start of the assault trial.

On Feb. 15, they filed an amended civil lawsuit against Williams, seeking $990,000 in damages for alleged assault, battery and emotional distress.

Williams defense lawyer, Brian Scherman, and Heder were waiting Monday for confirmation about whether Williams had wired money for a proposed civil compromise.

Under such deals, a criminal charge can be dismissed in Oregon if the injured party receives a remedy, typically a monetary settlement.

Neither attorney discussed the amount Monday, but its expected to be less than the nearly $1 million sought.

Any civil compromise would have to be approved by a judge.

The last court appearance in the case that Williams made in Multnomah County was in November and he was five hours late, according to the prosecutor. At that time, Williams showed up to court with his Emmy award, and blamed his delay on the closure of some freeway lanes in Northern California.

Another court date hasnt been set yet.

Kanani, in his amended civil suit, said he explained to Williams that this car was only big enough for six passengers, and he wasnt comfortable with the "possibly dangerous'' dog in the front seat with him, and said the dog would have to ride in the back seat with the other passengers. Williams, without provocation, struck him in the face with his fist, and Kanani said he went back to the airport terminal to get away.

Williams threatened Kanani with his dog as Kanani attempted to get away. Once Kanani made it to the terminal and locked a door behind him, Williams stood on the other side, giving him "menacing and threatening glares,'' before leaving, the suit says. Kanani went to the emergency department at Legacy Meridian Park Medical Center in Tualatin, where he was treated for a broken tooth and a cut to his face. Kanani says hes suffered chronic migraines and ringing in his ear as a result of the alleged attack, the suit says.

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

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Staff and management at an Ashland nursing home neglected an elderly woman to the point that she developed pressure ulcers, had fungus all over her toenails and went weeks without pain medications, a lawsuit alleges.

The suit, filed by the womans daughter, seeks up to $18 million from Linda Vista Nursing and Rehab Center, three employees and parent company Prestige Care of Vancouver. One of those employees has been indicted on seven felony charges.

Laurie Jeandin, representing the estate of her mother, Betty Wight, claims the Ashland nursing home, its administrator, director of nursing and a licensed practical nurse inflicted injury and abuse on Wight.

In a statement, Prestige Care said the company took swift action when it learned of problems and that the company disagrees with how the allegations characterize the companys care.

Among the many allegations in the suit, Jeandin claims that Wight wasnt given her prescribed methadone for about two weeks before she died in May 2017.

Wight -- 84 at the time and diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, arthritis, and obsessive-compulsive disorder -- complained of constant pain, calling out frequently for help, and was observed grimacing and moaning, according to the suit, filed last month in Jackson County.

A licensed practical nurse at the nursing home, David Hamrin, was indicted in December on charges that he stole medications from seven residents at the nursing home, including Wight. He is set for a plea hearing in April, according to court records.

The suit also says Jeandin visited her mother one night in April 2017 after her brother told her Wight sounded incoherent on the phone. Jeandin found her mother sitting in a chair, drooling into a towel and soaked with urine.

Jeandin asked that her mother be taken immediately to a hospital, according to court records, but Hamrin said Wight was in her normal condition and that taking her to the hospital wasnt necessary. Jeandin insisted, and Wight was taken to a local emergency room.

Hospital workers found Wights brain was malfunctioning because she had been given a toxic dose of Norco, an opiate. Meanwhile, blood tests showed she hadnt been given her prescribed methadone and Ativan, an anti-anxiety medication, according to the suit.

Hospital workers also found that Wights bra was black with mold, her toenails were covered in fungus, she had pressure ulcers on her buttocks and back, and she had a yeast infection in the folds of her abdomen, according to the suit. Nursing home records showed she hadnt been given a bath in the seven days before she was taken to the hospital.

Wight was stabilized and returned to Linda Vista. The suit claims nursing home workers didnt give her the methadone she had been prescribed for pain over the 17 days that followed until she died.

Eight months later, Hamrin told a state investigator that he had been stealing medications from multiple Linda Vista residents, including Wight, according to the suit.

In its statement, Prestige Care spokeswoman Kristi Herriott said: As soon as we became aware of a possible issue with medication diversion, we took immediate action to launch a full internal investigation, which resulted in removing one nurse from all patient-facing caregiving responsibilities.

State records show eight confirmed abuse cases at the nursing home in 2017, including failing to give medications as prescribed, failing to assure a resident is safe and failing to assure a residents rights.

-- Fedor Zarkhin

fzarkhin@oregonian.com

desk: 503-294-7674|cell: 971-373-2905|@fedorzarkhin

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Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper jumped into the already-crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field on Monday.

Im running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done, the 67-year-old says in an introductory campaign video. Ive proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.

The first wave of contenders to announce for the Democratic nomination, from Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, came almost exclusively from the partys ascendant progressive wing. Now so-called centrists are beginning to join the race. In his kickoff video, Hickenlooper sought to have it both ways, calling himself an extreme moderate and touting his ability to work across the aisle.

Though known as a mild-mannered guy, the entrepreneur-turned-politician directly confronts President Donald Trump during his campaign launch video, insisting the president has created a crisis that threatens everything we stand for.

"As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name, Ive stood up to my fair share of bullies, he adds in the video as images of Trump flash by. Join me, and well repair the damage done to our country and be stronger than ever.

The Associated Press pointed out that Hickenloopers tenure as governor, which followed two terms as Denvers mayor, was marked by a series of disasters and tragedies, [including] record wildfires and floods, the assassination of his own prison chief by a member of a white-supremacist prison gang and the 2012 Aurora theater shooting, which killed 12. After that attack and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre in Connecticut months later, Hickenlooper called for gun-control legislation and signed bills requiring universal background checks and limiting magazine capacity to 15 rounds.

In his campaign launch video, Hickenlooper proudly declares that he beat the NRA -- the powerful gun lobby that Republican politicians, including Trump, typically herald as defender of the Constitutions Second Amendment.

One possible stumbling block for the Coloradan in a party where activism on climate change is increasingly the price of entry: Hickenlooper began his career as an oil-company geologist who once made the case for the safety of fracking by drinking fracking fluid. Last week, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination with an almost singular focus on climate change.

As Colorados governor, Hickenlooper sought to prove his environmental bona fides by backing stringent methane regulations.

Hickenlooper, who left geology in the 1980s to launch a brew pub, has been saying for months that he was considering a presidential run. Hes been introducing himself not just to voters in early primary states but also to Democratic donors, trying to figure out if a little-known politician from an interior state ... [could] raise enough money to compete on the national landscape.

The 2020 Democratic presidential field has more than 10 announced candidates. And there are still quite a few high-profile aspirants, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former Texas Congressman Beto ORourke, mulling a run.

-- Douglas Perry

@douglasmperry

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For the most part, Sundays Portland Womxns March & Rally for Action was an upbeat event, featuring speakers and crowds who were united in their support of progressive values and causes.

The attendees, who numbered about 2,000 according to Portland Police estimates, gathered at noon on the Portland State University campus, on a clear, chilly day, to listen to speakers, and then march along downtown streets.

Sarah Miller, a 32-year-old Portland State student who lives in Gresham, brought her 7 and 9-year-old daughters to the march and rally.

I just want them to grow up in a world where theyre treated equally, and fairly, said Miller, whos studying business management and leadership, with a minor in Indigenous Nations studies.

Especially as little Native women, I want them to have the same opportunities as anyone else, Miller said, and also let them know that their voice matters.

As members of the crowd carried signs with slogans such as, Public Cervix Announcement  Cant Touch This, and checked out vendor booths announcing No War, No Walls, No Warming, a variety of speakers took to the stage in the PSU park blocks.

The Womxn spelling refers to a spirit of inclusion, and openness to women, trans women and gender fluid people. Speeches also emphasized pro-equality messages, while opposing Donald Trump, and the presidents administration.

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Ore., touched on both themes in her remarks. She mentioned attending the 2017 Womens March in Washington, D.C., organized as a protest following the election of Trump. The Portland march and rally is part of a national movement to continue such activism.

Bonamici said she was encouraged by all the signs on display at the PSU campus. They reminded her, she said, of one of her favorite signs from the 2017 Womens March, which said, Ive seen better cabinets at IKEA.

This is, Bonamici said, a challenging time in Washington, adding that there is a national emergency, and its name is Donald Trump.

As the crowd cheered, Bonamici said there was a silver lining to the election of Trump, namely the diversity of candidates running for office.

Joining Bonamici in calling for action regarding climate change, refugees, immigrants, and the rights of minorities and LGBTQ people, were other speakers, including Shannon Olive, founder of WomenFirst, which works with women involved with the justice system, in recovery, and recovering from trauma; Reyna Lopez, executive director of the PCUN Oregon farmworkers union; Rabbi Debra Kolodny; Deborah Maytubee Denton, founder of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Woman USA; and keynote speaker Susheela Jayapal, a Multnomah County Commissioner.

Another speaker, Agnes Baker-Pilgrim, is known as Grandma Aggie. At 95, shes the oldest member of the Takelma tribe. Baker-Pilgrim told the crowd, We are family, we are one people, under one God.

Indigenous people led the march, which moved down Southwest 10th Avenue to Southwest Salmon, then back on Southwest Broadway.

Though the march seemed to come off without much conflict, Joey Gibson, the Vancouver-based conservative activist, and a group of followers made an appearance.

In a video posted on the Facebook page of Patriot Prayer, the group that has clashed, sometimes violently, with protesters in Portland, it appears that Gibson, or someone with him, forcibly removes the mask from a man along the march route whos wearing an Antifa-like covering.

No masks! Gibson and his group say, while someone in the march can be heard saying, Nazis, go home.

A Portland Police spokesperson says that no arrests were made on Sunday, and that bureau personnel will review the video to determine if a crime occurred.

Jessica Beckett, organizing director for the Portland Womxns March, said Sunday that, despite the disturbance along the route, We managed to keep all of the impact away from our marchers.

A successful event, she said, is one that refuses to escalate.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist

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Hikers looking to climb Dog Mountain during peak wildflower season this spring will once again need to buy a permit  a change aimed at stemming crowds that have become overwhelming in recent years.

The U.S. Forest Service announced Friday that permits will once again be required for all hikers headed to the Columbia River Gorge destination on Saturdays and Sundays from April 20 to June 16.

The permits are technically free, but hikers have to pay a $1 reservation fee when getting one online at recreation.gov. Permits are also given out for free with a $1 one-way or $2 round-trip ticket on the shuttle buses that run between the trailhead and Skamania County Fairgrounds in nearby Stevenson. Hikers who drive themselves will still need to pay the $5 parking fee at the trailhead, or display a valid Northwest Forest Pass.

Only 250 permits will be available per weekend day, though one does not guarantee a parking spot. Officials will check for permits at the trailhead, according to the forest service. Hikers can carry a print-out of the permit or show an electronic copy. Permits will not be required on weekdays.

Dog Mountain is a popular hike on the Washington side of the Columbia Gorge, known for its tough but beautiful trail that leads past hills covered with wildflowers in spring. The parking lot has had a tendency to fill up fast, causing some drivers to park on the narrow shoulders of State Route 14.

Last spring, the permit program started as the third effort in as many years to thin the crowds. In 2016, the Forest Service reconfigured the trailhead parking area, cutting available parking spaces by more than half. That same year, Skamania County debuted the Dog Mountain route on the Gorge West End Transit bus, which now runs Saturdays and Sundays during the spring.

Last years program was highly successful, Lynn Burditt, area manager for Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area said in a press release Friday. In fact, many people said they hiked Dog Mountain for the first time last year, because they didnt have to wake up early to beat crowds into the parking lot.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
Creative 360's next Yes We Can! Tuesday Tribute features Carol Kuhn Busick, 94, who grew up on a homestead farm 22 miles from the nearest town before returning to Michigan to attend high school. She will share fascinating stories that were included in her book, "Life on the Prairie" published in 2004. Now sold out, her book is filled with stories bolstered by family photos and Busick's exquisite watercolor paintings.

The conversation, tea and treats will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at Creative 360, 1517 Bayliss St. Admission is $5.
"Juh-shuh-line-su."

That's what a third-grade girl said when she picked up a blue pillow in the cozy corner of Aspen Peavey's classroom at Woodcrest Elementary School in Midland on a recent Wednesday morning.

That's Mandarin Chinese for "This is blue."

The student was following the instructions of her Mandarin teacher, Jingcheng Wang. He's new to the teaching staff at Woodcrest this year. That girl and several other students took turns pointing out items in the color blue that they could find around the room.

Mandarin Chinese is being taught in Midland Public Schools for the first time -- to students in kindergarten through fourth grade at Woodcrest. Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world. It's the most common dialect of the many Chinese dialects.

Penny Miller-Nelson, associate superintendent of Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment said the introduction of Mandarin "dovetails nicely with IBPYP," the district's International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. The elementary world language program started with Spanish in the 1997-98 school year. That's still being taught at the district's six elementary schools. After exploring offering Mandarin for a couple of years, the school district decided to start a pilot program at the elementary level last fall. Scott Cochran, curriculum specialist, Auxiliary Education, said they studied what other districts were doing downstate.

"Districts having the most success started at the elementary level, as opposed to middle and high school," Wang said. "They are in the golden age to learn a second language."

Wang was hired after the district interviewed several candidates. He was recommended by the dean of the Education Department at Saginaw Valley State University. The 32-year-old Chinese native completed his master's degree at SVSU last spring. SVSU has partnered with Ming Chuan University to offer a Master of Art in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) program. He came to the United States in 2015 after teaching Chinese language and literature for seven years in a middle school in Shanghai, China, that country's largest city.

Wang travels from classroom to classroom with a cart carrying all of his teaching tools and supplies. Each class from K-4 receives 30 minutes of instruction twice per week, totaling 40 sessions for Wang in a week. He makes learning Mandarin a "hands-on" experience, often getting students up on their feet.

All 24 students in the class were repeating and mimicking what Wang was saying and doing. He had them touch their eyes and say, "Yang ching," and then their mouths, "So-ay-bah," and their ears, "Ar-dwo."

Most of his instructions were uttered in Mandarin. Some of the students were bouncing up and down on their feet excited about a competition where the class was split into two groups, standing in separate lines, taking turns whispering the Mandarin words for red (hong suh) and blue (line su) into the ear of the next student in line, with the goal of finishing first. Wang said that helps the students work on their listening and pronunciation skills.

Wang's efforts aren't limited to just language. He also exposes students to Chinese culture. They recently made a common Chinese food item -- dumplings.

Students also are involved in a unique cultural exchange program through Michigan State University and 4-H. Through the art program, third- and fourth-graders at Woodcrest are creating images about their lives. The artwork will then be reviewed and some will be selected to be viewed by students in China while artwork from China will be sent to the U.S. for viewing.

"I also teach them some culture to increase their cultural awareness, keep positive, and keep their interest," Wang said.

The principal at Woodcrest, Jeff Pennex, said, "I think he has done an excellent job."

He noted that Wang's fellow teachers are "very complimentary of his instructional habits."

The Mandarin at Woodcrest has been a pilot program this year but the school board recently officially adopted it to be part of the curriculum there. A second pilot program also was adopted at Adams Elementary School. A teacher there, Kim McMahan, is leading a four languages and cultures program (Spanish, German, Mandarin, French). Spanish will continue to be taught at the four other elementary schools.

Wang wraps up his fast-paced, 30-minute class by having the students stand straight and sing a closing song to a tune resembling "London Bridge is Falling Down." The students sang three times "Tai-jin," Mandarin for "Good-bye," and then they sang twice "Ming tyen chen," meaning "See you tomorrow."

They finished with a bow.
There are two ways in which Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born Minnesota congresswoman, is offensive to the hard-line pro-Israel set in D.C. The first is the simple fact that shes Muslimone of the first two Muslim women to be elected to the House, in fact, along with Rashida Tlaib. It would be possible, just, for her to fly under the radar for this original sin, provided she declared herself a moderate and bent the knee to greater political forces. The fact that she adamantly refuses to do so brings us to her second, and far greater, offense: She is a Muslim woman with the audacity to criticize Israel. That is unforgivable, and makes her an object of feara fear that the GOP party in West Virginia recently tried to make explicit with a poster likening Omar to the 9/11 terrorists. And beyond brazen displays of Islamophobia that make the prejudice clear, her first few months in Congress have proven that the respectable set wont stop until they destroy her.

The first controversyI put that word in quotes, because literally every controversy that has transpired (and almost certainly every controversy that will transpire) follows the same exact formula of Rep. Omar making a valid criticism of Israel or AIPAC, and pro-Israel entities quickly spreading bad faith interpretations of her comments to push a narrative of anti-Semitismcame when House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy made vague threats of punishment against Omar and Tlaib for supporting the BDS movement and allegedly making anti-Israeli statements (in Omars case, he was likely referencing a tweet from 2012 for which she had long ago apologized). The Intercepts Glenn Greenwald sounded off on McCarthy, who actually compared the two women to unapologetic white supremacist Steve King:

Equating @IlhanMN & @RashidaTlaib's criticism of Israel to Steve King's long defense of white supremacy is obscene (McCarthy said it's worse). In the US, we're allowed to criticize our own government: certainly foreign governments. The GOP House Leader's priorities are warped.  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) February 10, 2019

In response to Greenwald, in a since deleted tweet, Omar wrote: It's all about the Benjamins, baby.

Then came this tweet from Batya Ungar-Sargon, opinion editor at The Forward, a New York paper published for a Jewish audience:

Would love to know who @IlhanMN thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, though I think I can guess. Bad form, Congresswoman. That's the second anti-Semitic trope you've tweeted. https://t.co/FTCaCe7WyG  Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) February 11, 2019

Omar replied again, undeterred: AIPAC!

Now, let's pause for a moment to list a few facts:

1. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is an enormously powerful lobbying group that directs a whole lot of money to American politicians for a very specific cause.

2. Here's their modus operandi, from the Our Mission section of their own website: The mission of AIPAC is to strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.

3. They literally pay politicians money so they'll support pro-Israel policies. Nothing Omar said was wrong, and nothing she said should be considered even remotely controversial.

Nevertheless, the attack narrative quickly gathered momentum: Omar, in accusing Kevin McCarthya Christian man, for the recordof espousing pro-Israel views in part because of the money he received from AIPACwell, that was anti-Semitic, because of the racist trope about Jewish people and money. Amazingly, the line quickly emerged that yes, you could criticize AIPAC, but only if the criticism didn't involve money. I wish I were kidding, but read this explanation from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, which accurately summarizes the general position of the pro-Israel side in their first salvo against Omar:

I'm confused. Is calling out AIPAC anti-Semitic?

Not in theory, no. You can criticize AIPAC without being anti-Semitic.

However, when you focus on AIPAC as the example of money in politics, or link Jewish influence to deep pockets, that's when it becomes a problem. As JTA Editor-in-Chief Andrew Silow-Carroll pointed out, Invoking 'AIPAC!' as a metonym for the influence of money in politics was a minefield, and the idea that she doesn't know that by nowcoming only a week after she apologized for her 7-year-old 'hypnotized' tweetis implausible.

See if you follow the not-very-subtle implication: AIPAC's purpose is to use influence (i.e. money) to push for pro-Israel policy, and sure, you can criticize thembut only if you don't mention money.

I have to reiterate: This is not an isolated position. This is what everyone on the anti-Omar side was saying. The fact that she brought up AIPAC's financial influence made her anti-Semitic, because, the accusation went, mentioning money in the context of Israel's influence is inherently anti-Semitic. Along the way, there were a few minor bad-faith interpretations, such as the idea that Omar was saying that all of America's support for Israel stems from money (it obviously doesn't, and she never said that unless you get deceptively hyper-literal with her Puff Daddy reference), or, as we saw in JTA, that she was using AIPAC as a metonym (she wasn'tshe was making a very specific, case-based accusation).

Regardless, it's not hard to see where this logic leads: If you can't criticize AIPAC for anything related to money, you simply can't criticize AIPAC. Do so, and you're an anti-Semite.

The power of the AIPAC set quickly became clearNancy Pelosi and the rest of the House Democratic leadership called for Omar to apologize for anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations, saying they were deeply offensive. Omar, before long, caved to the pressure:

Listening and learning, but standing strong pic.twitter.com/7TSroSf8h1  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) February 11, 2019

The typical reaction followed: To some, her apology wasn't good enough because she was still criticizing AIPAC for its financial influence (which, again, was all she had done in the first place), and others were upset that she had to apologize at all:

It's good that @IlhanMN is still calling attention to AIPAC, but this apology is the result of a racist, bullying campaign that exploits and cheapens anti-semitism to stifle dissent. No amount of apologizing will satisfy the smear artists who targeted her. https://t.co/ySoHnWLW09  Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) February 11, 2019

Eventually, the story faded, but the target was on Omar's back, and her opponents had learned that they could successfully bully her. Even some of her staunchest allies, like Alexandria-Ocasion Cortez, tacitly accepted the narrative that criticism of AIPAC or pro-Israel politicians in American from a financial standpoint is inherently anti-Semitic. There was no way Omar would stay out of the spotlight's glare for very long.

As expected, it was less than a month before she found herself under attack yet again. This latest incident began with a quote from Omar at a recent D.C. town hall last Wednesday, emphasis mine:

What I'm fearful of is that, because Rashida and I are Muslim, that a lot of our Jewish colleagues, a lot of our constituents, a lot of our allies, go to thinking that everything we say about Israel to be anti-Semitic because we are Muslim.

Omar, who was flanked by Tlaib as she spoke, said the accusation of anti-Semitism was designed to end the debate about what is happening with Palestine.

Then she added as the enthusiastic applause abated, I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is okay for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country.

Here, the word allegiance triggered the frenzythat term, the story went, signaled an accusation of dual loyalty, which is another apparent anti-Semitic trope. There's a sinister stereotype that all Jewish people are secretly loyal to Israel, and Omar was invoking it here much the way the Know-Nothing party of old would insinuate that all American Catholics were, deep in their hearts, avowed papists.

This was another obvious bad-fath interpretationOmar was specifically talking about political influence, not painting with any kind of broad brush that implicated all the Jewish people of America (who are not, despite what her critics would have you believe, a homogeneous ideological group). Moreover, she clearly meant the word allegiance as the metaphorical political allegiance that specific politicians influenced by AIPAC and other pro-Israel interests demonstrate to that country. Again, nothing she said was wrong, and nowhere did she imply anything about dual loyalty. Nor did she suggest what lies at the heart of the dual loyalty trope, which is that these politicians bear greater loyalty to Israel than America.

But the truth couldn't get in the way of the spin machine, which began in earnest when Rep. Eliot Engel, a Jewish Democratic congressman from New York, demanded an apology for her vile anti-Semitic slur. A day later, Omar's fellow Democratic congresswoman Nita Lowey equated her words to the ugly 9/11 poster in West Virginia:

Gross islamophobic stereotypes  like those about @IlhanMN recently featured on posters in WVA  are offensive and have no place in political discourse. Anti-Semitic tropes that accuse Jews of dual loyalty are equally painful and must also be roundly condemned.  Nita Lowey (@NitaLowey) March 2, 2019

Lawmakers must be able to debate w/o prejudice or bigotry. I am saddened that Rep. Omar continues to mischaracterize support for Israel. I urge her to retract this statement and engage in further dialogue with the Jewish community on why these comments are so hurtful.  Nita Lowey (@NitaLowey) March 2, 2019

It wasn't long before the worst person in Democratic politics chimed in with what sounded like a threat:

Sadly, misunderstandings over anti-Semitic, hurtful comments continue, as does hateful Islamaphobic rhetoric. Dialogue leads to understanding. @IlhanMN, repeated misunderstandings would seem to require dialogue to avoid repetitive harm.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) March 4, 2019

Communication is the key to understanding. I hope you agree and will engage so tensions do not worsen.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz (@DWStweets) March 4, 2019

Could it be any clearer that Wasserman Schultz is using dialogue and the specter of worsening tensions to compel Omar to bend the knee?

As many pointed out, these tweets also come in the midst of Omar receiving multiple death threats, and certainly do nothing to abate that potential violence:

you're painting a target on a colleague's back. not for the first time I wonder how you sleep at night  Sean T. Collins (@theseantcollins) March 4, 2019

This time, Omar did the right thing and stood up for herself, seeming to realize that surrendering any ideological ground to bad faith arguments from political enemies only heightens their perceived sense of strength and encourages further attacks:

Our democracy is built on debate, Congresswoman! I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress or serve on committee. The people of the 5th elected me to serve their interest. I am sure we agree on that! https://t.co/gglAS4FVJW  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

I have not mischaracterized our relationship with Israel, I have questioned it and that has been clear from my end.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

I am told everyday that I am anti-American if I am not pro-Israel. I find that to be problematic and I am not alone. I just happen to be willing to speak up on it and open myself to attacks.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

My Americanness is questioned by the President and the @GOP on a daily basis, yet my colleagues remain silent. I know what it means to be American and no one will ever tell me otherwise.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

Being opposed to Netanyahu and the occupation is not the same as being anti-Semitic. I am grateful to the many Jewish allies who have spoken out and said the same.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

We must be willing to combat hate of all kinds while also calling out oppression of all kinds. I will do my best to live up to that. I hope my colleagues will join me in doing the same.  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 3, 2019

In the meantime, Omar is receiving precious little support from any of her colleaguesOcasio-Cortez has been active in tweeting about the outrage of the West Virginia poster in recent days, in what can be seen as an expression of solidarity that extends beyond that outrage but which stops short of mentioning the Israel controversies. For the most part, Omar stands alone. All of her potential defenders are either spoken for by pro-Israel lobbies like AIPAC or have borne witness to the power of that group and are afraid of stepping into the line of fire. Her opponents in Congress have broadcast a clear, effective message: Criticize Israel, validly or otherwise, and well bury you with charges of anti-Semitism.

Omar never had a chance. The idea that her detractors want to broadcast, to anyone who feels tempted to follow her path, is simple: You dont either.
A report from the New York Post says that Apple's push into Hollywood is being marred by Tim Cook's 'intrusive' style of management. The two California cultures of technology and Hollywood are clashing as Hollywood insiders working at Apple or have worked with Apple are trying to get the news out that Apple is difficult to deal with.

Everyone that's part of Apple's streaming service has to sign non-disclosure agreements that Hollywood apparently doesn't appreciate. The leaks to the Post is Hollywood's way of sticking their tongue out at Apple. How dare Apple question the creatives of the world.

The report notes that agents and producers cant stop griping about how 'difficult' Apple is to deal with  citing things like a lack of transparency, lack of clarity and intrusive executives, including CEO Cook.

Believe it or not, the report notes that "One of the biggest complaints involves the many 'notes' coming from Apple executives reminding them to seek out family-friendly shows.

One disgrunteled producer who Apple has likely fired, said he would get a note from Cook telling him to not be so mean, likely referring to content in a script.

The report further notes that Cook drops in on sets in Vancouver Canada and LA and gets involved in production matters. Yet "writers and directors prefer to work without corporate intrusions." Apples nitpicking over content and technology has led to production delays, sources said.

One producer who worked with Apple told the Post that "They are making big changes, firing and hiring new writers. Theres a lack of clarity on what they want. A lot of the product is not as good as they hoped it to be."

Apple's CEO is pushing the writers to stay clear of religion, controversial topics and negative consequences of technology. I believe that Tim Cook has it right with that formula. Left-wing Hollywood has completely turned off half of the country over recent years trying to preach their left-wing only views, taking swipes at religion and being clear that they hate all things conservative.

Cook is making sure that the producers tell good stories without going out of their way to ostracize half of the U.S. audience and many outside of the U.S. that could hurt Apple's new streaming service from being a success. Content insulting half of US viewers could also spill over to hurting Apple's hardware business.

Will Hollywood elites work or fight Apple on these set positions? Only time will tell.

For more of this whiny report about Hollywood balking at Apple's management style, read the full report here.

About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or negative behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.
Two plays about Mormonism are scheduled to premiere shortly in the northeastern United States.

According to advance publicity, one of them chronicles the days leading up to Christmas, 1825, when Joseph Smith Jr. and his father, on the run from the law as confidence men and scammers, return in disgrace to the family farm in upstate New York to save their house from being repossessed. In the process of escaping the clutches of both their creditors and the investors theyd recently fleeced, they lay the foundations of Mormonism. It purports to be based on historical accounts of Mormonisms early years.

The other play, a musical, will likely be somewhat less reverent.

Its easy to be upset at such things. But indignation is the wrong response and, anyhow, entirely useless. We should see these and similar public attacks  homes in one southwestern American town where a temple is under construction have just been systematically blanketed with anti-Mormon propaganda  as rich teaching opportunities. Mormons are pretty rare in the Northeast; these plays are fabulous (and free) local publicity.

In the mid-1850s, a young German schoolteacher read a new book about an industrious and even heroic people with absurdly stupid beliefs. Unable, however, to believe that such good fruits could come from so bad a tree, he determined to investigate the Mormons for himself. In October 1855, Dr. Karl G. Maeser was baptized in the Elbe River, near Dresden. He later became a pivotal early leader of the churchs educational system in Utah and, effectively, the founder of Brigham Young University.

Many years ago, I paid a visit to Temple Square. Entering by the south gate, I had to pass through a cordon of extremely unpleasant placard-wielding protesters. Once inside, I asked an elderly missionary what impact such demonstrations had on visitors. Oh, he said, I dont like to have them there, but, truthfully, our visitors tend to be much more receptive when the protesters are outside. Normally, people on our tours are a bit on their guard. But these protests are so offensive to them that theyre on our side. The difference is very noticeable.

Some people will always react like that. Unfair attacks and mockery will not close their minds but, rather, pique their curiosity. Much like Maeser, they will doubt that the good fruits they see in the lives of their Latter-day Saint neighbors, friends and colleagues proceed merely from lies and absurdities.

Thus, we need to be ready to answer their questions and dispel their misconceptions. Indeed, because most potential converts have no Mormon friends or neighbors, we need to work actively to provide accurate information about the church and its teachings on the Internet and in every other public way that we can.

And we should not wait for a formal call or for the institutional church to do this on our behalf. Every member truly should be a missionary.

For behold, said the Lord in 1831, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; for the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves (Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28).

Scriptural prophecies seem to indicate that, while the restored gospel will spread throughout the earth, church members will always be a minority. (See, for example, 1 Nephi 14:12; Matthew 24:37-41; Luke 17:31-36.) Which is to say that the majority of humankind will continue to be either ignorant of or indifferent toward its claims or, as depicted in Lehis vision (1 Nephi 8:26-28; 11:35-36), will sneer at them and find them (and us) ridiculous. We should not be dismayed when we encounter such reactions. They were predicted many centuries ago.

I believe, though, that its far preferable for the church to be attacked than to be ignored, to be considered weird than to be of no interest at all.

So long as the claims of the gospel are being discussed, even negatively, there are openings for teaching. When people are apathetic, there are no openings at all.
I highly recommend a look at this fourteen-minute film, available for free on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n900e80R30

I first saw it back in the summer of 2015 at FreedomFest in Las Vegas.

Its a fascinating venture into an aspect of intellectual history with which I was unfamiliar. Ive long been aware, of course, that Social Darwinism was a major tributary feeding into National Socialism (see below), but I hadnt realized how important it was as a factor in World War One.

***

Bill Hamblin and I published this related article in the Deseret News on 20 July 2018:

Online contention between religious believers and unbelievers often centers on wars and violence. Anti-religious skeptics point to Islamist terrorism, the Crusades and the hundreds of victims of the Inquisition (which lasted from the 12th century to the early 19th). In response, believers point to the scores of millions killed by militantly atheistic regimes in such places as Russia, Albania, China and Cuba  murders that, like those committed earlier in the French Revolution, were often explicitly motivated by hostility to religion.

Commonly mentioned in such debates is Godwins Law. Formulated in 1990 by the American attorney and writer Mike Godwin, this law isnt, as many mistakenly believe it to be, a rule somehow prohibiting comparisons to Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Rather, its a prediction. Said Godwin, As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Hitler approaches 1  that is, if an online disagreement (whatever its topic) lasts long enough, one party to the disagreement will eventually compare the other party to Hitler or the Nazis.

Godwins Law draws its force from the fact that, quite understandably for most people, Hitler and the Nazis represent the worst kind of human evil. Thus, successfully linking ones opponent in a dispute to Nazism can (supposedly) yield a decisive victory.

Not surprisingly, therefore, Hitler and the Nazis frequently appear in arguments over religious and irreligious violence. This isnt merely a historical debate; its a lively issue in ongoing disputes.

Many theists claim that, like Stalin and Mao, Hitler was an atheist. Thus, they insist, his genocidal murders must be added to atheisms overall death toll. Not so, counter the atheists. Not only was Hitler raised an Austrian Catholic, but he often declared his belief in God and even called himself a Christian. His persecution of the Jews, they say, was simply an extreme continuation of Christian anti-Semitism, of hating the Jews for killing Jesus.

The theists reply that Hitlers occasional Christian rhetoric was just a savvy politicians attempt to win over a largely religious populace. Privately, Hitler denied the existence of a personal God, rejected the concept of an individual afterlife, mocked Christian morality and sought to damage and, in the long term, to destroy the churches.

In fact, Hitler was a supremely cunning demagogue who routinely lied, and his record is mixed. However, Richard Weikart has recently published what is almost certainly the most sustained and exhaustive study of Hitlers Religion, coming to a clear conclusion that seems to account for all the historical data.

Hitler, Weikart argues in Hitlers Religion: The Twisted Beliefs that Drove the Third Reich (Regnery History, 2016), was neither an atheist nor a Christian. His hatred of the Jews bears little or no resemblance to historical Christian anti-Semitism. Rather, it was based on certain strains of contemporary science. Nor, for that matter, despite some claims, was he a Germanic pagan or an occultist. Some prominent Nazis cultivated astrology and occultism, while some even sought to revive the pre-Christian Germanic religion of the high god Odin or Wotan. But Hitler himself disdained such things as unscientific.

Instead, Hitler was deeply devoted to the outdoors and to Nature (with a capital N), to which he referred using language that theists typically reserve for deity. The term that seems best to describe his view, contends Weikart, is pantheism, a doctrine that identifies God with the universe. For Hitler, Weikart concludes, God was Nature.

He was also devoted to science, as he understood it. Specifically, he was a follower of social Darwinism. From the Darwinian principle of natural selection, he deduced that the supreme law of Nature (and, thus, in Hitlers view, of the Lord) is the survival of the fittest. All of life is a struggle in which superior animals  including the best of them, humans (and specifically Aryan or Germanic humans)  have the right and even the moral duty to eliminate or enslave inferior animals (including lesser races of humans).

From this understanding flowed the Nazi extermination camps (which engaged not only in the wholesale murder of such ethnic groups as Jews, Slavs and Romas, also know as Gypsies, but the destruction of children with disabilities), the forced sterilization of defective people, incentive programs to encourage high German birthrates, lack of interest in hospital care for the chronically ill and the Nazi glorification of war as something good for its own sake.

In Hitlers mind, his actions were dictated by science and ruthless logic.
On Sunday, February 6th 1803, a Catholic priest arrived to Savannah and the small Catholic community requested that he celebrate Mass. Father Oliver Le Mercier had once been assigned to the parish church of Saint John the Baptist in Savannah, founded just a few years before by newly arrived French-speaking Catholics who had fled both the Haitian Revolution to the south and the French Revolution to the east. These refugees fled fearing for their lives and became the first Catholic citizens of Savannah.

At this time in history, Catholic churches in the United States were not owned by the institutional church or diocese, but rather church property was owned directly by parishioners. Selected trustees owned and operated the property, and priests were present when available. When Father Le Mercier arrived to Savannah in 1803, the trustee Mr. Francis Roma invited him to celebrate Mass. After agreeing to do so, Mr. Roma faced an unfortunate dilemma. No one could find the keys to unlock the church! He wrote in protest in the parish registry, on my waiting on several of the trustees whom I knew to have [the keys] in their possession, I found none of them at home. Mr. Roma recorded that he was forced to break the window of the vestry and through it enter the church. Once the priest entered the sacristy, Mr. Romas embarrassment significantly increased when we found none of the silver plates, nor brass candlesticks; we found that the albs, surplice, altar cloths, ornaments with valuable lace, had disappeared. The priest would be unable to celebrate Mass.

Mr. Roma sent for the washer woman and she responded that these things had been in her possession until a certain Thomas Dolloghan, one of the trustees, had taken them home. When Mr. Roma realized that even the Bible was missing, he sent a John Shaw to fetch it from the house of Thomas Dollogahn. Thankfully, Mr. Roma records, Father Le Mercier was kind enough to supply us with some of his own vestments otherwise Divine Service could not have been performed.

One month later, on March 19th, 1803, Father Le Mercier inserted an entry into the parish registry recounting the conclusion of the unfortunate event. All items were returned by Mr. Thomas Dolloghan, treasurer of the church, through Mr. John Dillon. The annoyed priest records that Mr. Dolloghan had taken these things to a purpose still unknown. He closed the case stating that everything was in good order and in conformity with the original inventory made and signed by a Reverend Felix McCarthy.

I found this fascinating entry a few months ago while examining the original parish registry of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist which is kept in the archives of the Diocese of Savannah. Even though this event occurred over 200 years ago I immediately identified with it. It is a reminder that those who lived over 200 years ago dealt with the same issues we deal with today be it at church or at home: Who took this? Where is that? Why did you not return this to its place? This incident is a concrete reminder that centuries may pass, but human nature remains the same.

Picture is mine, all rights reserved. Old Saint Peters Church, Beaufort, SC. The original Saint John the Baptist of Savannah would have looked similar to this church.
A woman who court records indicate has previous prostitution arrests is accused of stabbing to death a Pennsylvania jewelry store owner who was on vacation in New Orleans, cops say.

As WFMZ-TV and WNEP-TV report, the suspect, identified as Megen Hall, 25, turned herself in to authorities Sunday morning.

UPDATE: Hotel room argument, struggle preceded woman fatally stabbing Pa. businessman

According to WNEP, Hall was named by New Orleans police as a person of interest in Thurdays killing. Since then, authorities zeroed in on her as the key suspect in the homicide investigation.

Hall is being charged with second-degree murder, which carries a life sentence in Louisiana, WNEP added.

All this in wake of the brutal stabbing death Thursday of Schuylkill County jeweler Patrick Murphy in New Orleans.

Sixty-two-year-old Patrick Murphy was found dead inside of his hotel near the French Quarter on Thursday. https://t.co/Q5KZgp7u49  Action News on 6abc (@6abc) March 2, 2019

Murphy, 62, was found dead Thursday in The Empress Hotel in New Orleans, officials told WFMZ, which adds:

The hotel owner says the pair checked in around 2:15 a.m. that morning, then video surveillance shows Hall coming out alone around 4 a.m.

"They walked back to the balcony here to have a cigarette and then walked back down to the room. The video clearly shows her leaving the room by herself," said James Brooks of The Empress Hotel.

Court documents show Hall is from Tennessee and has previously been arrested multiple times on prostitution charges.

Murphy was the owner of Murphy Jewelers, which was founded in Pottsville and has additional locations in Tilden Township, near Hamburg, and Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County.
Carlisle, Pennsylvania is home to one of the most accomplished youth ballet schools in the nation, thanks to Marcia Dale Weary.

Weary, founder and artistic director of the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, was one of the foremost ballet instructors in the country, with alumni from the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet having gone on to positions with the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet and other prestigious companies.

After the news of Wearys death was announced and began to spread across social media, so too did passionate tributes to her work and accomplishments.

But her impact on the local arts community -- particularly her impact on her students -- is the legacy that the CPYB will most treasure, according to CEO Nicholas Ade.

I wish people could understand and truly known not only the impact shes had on the dance world -- which is enormous -- but she also made an enormous difference in this community in central Pennsylvania, Ade said. Because of the life skills she taught each and every one of her children, shes helped shape their lives. Shes helped them become better people, better citizens, better community members. Its something that we still do to this day. And thats part of something that she left with us.

Ade said that Weary ensured that the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet functioned like a family" -- a fact demonstrated by the outpouring of sympathy and remembrances from dancers and dance professionals near and far.

Weary was also honored by several other artists and arts organizations in the region.

Stuart Malina, music director of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, posted on Facebook that we have lost one of our regions most important cultural forces.

Every year, when we would rehearse Nutcracker with CPYB before our annual performances, Marcias greatest responsibility and joy was to rehearse the angels at the beginning of the second act, Malina said. These were the youngest dancers in the production, most of whom had never been in anything nearly that extravagant before. What always amazed me about Marcia was how demanding she was with these little children, while at the same time making it clear how much she loved each one of them. This two-pronged approach - professional attitude coupled with nurturing - is in a nutshell what CPYBs philosophy is all about, and it all stemmed from Marcia.

After studying at the School of Ballet Repertory in New York City under the tutelage of Thalia Mara and Arthur Mahoney, Weary established the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in a renovated barn in her hometown of Carlisle. And over the years, hundreds of students who went through Wearys program would go on to impressive careers of their own in dance -- notable among them is Jonathan Stafford, recently named artistic director of the the New York City Ballet.

She produced so many in the dance world that have gone out tot be well-respected artists, said Darla Hoover, a former student of Wearys. There are principal dancers and people very high up in the dance world because of her, trained by her.

Hoover is another similar successful story. After studying with Weary, Hoover was invited by famed choreographer George Balanchine to dance with the New York City Ballet, and has danced with ballet companies across the country and the globe. She currently divides her time between Carlisle and New York City, working as the artistic director of Ballet Academy Easts Pre-Professional Division as well as the associate artistic director of CPYB.

I just wish that everyone had the opportunity to be mentored by a woman like Marcia, Hoover said. The world world be a better place. What she taught went way beyond ballet. And the beauty she brought into the world, and inspired us to bring into the world, and to live so deeply and richly - I truly wish everyone in the world had a chance to work with someone like that. Someone truly beautiful.

Hoover added that she could be tough too! She pushed you to your limits. But it was always for the right reasons.

She really instilled a sense of dedication and passion for whatever you were doing, Hoover said. And kindness. She wanted to teach you to always be the best you could be, whether it be the best dancer or the best person. She always taught every one to do what they did with heart. To put heart in everything they do.

Shes left a definite mark on all of our lives, from the students, the families, the faculty, the staff, Ade said. Its really remarkable the impact she crated in the 63 years that CPYB has been in existence. Its something we look forward to carrying on. We want to be able to honor her in that way for years to come.
Mario Monticelli grew up in Northern California, where his Italian-born father sparked his interest in winemaking at an early age. Mario has many childhood memories of visiting his grandparents home in Madera, California, where he was exposed to every aspect of the winemaking process; from driving tractors in the vineyards to picking the grapes, Mario experienced it all from grape to glass, according to his bio.

My grandparents moved to the United States from Italy in the 1950s," Mario says. Madera had many other Italian families, and resembled a co-op community where families would trade for goods. One guy down the street made cheese, we made wine and we all bartered for everything we needed.

Mario attended the University of California, Davis, and continued his passion for winemaking by selecting viticulture as his major. It was customary for viticulture majors to take a fall semester off in order to work a harvest from start to finish. So Mario traveled abroad to his familys native Italy, where he studied and worked at the iconic producer Antinori in the heart of Chianti. Fluent in Italian, Mario conducted clonal research on Sangiovese while also putting in time in the cellar during the harvest. Upon his return to the United States, Mario graduated UC Davis with a Bachelor of Science of Viticulture and Enology as well as with a Bachelor of Art of Italian Language.

After college, Mario became the assistant winemaker at Melka Wines, assisting Philippe Melka on some of the most celebrated wines in the Napa Valley, including Quintessa, Hundred Acre, Vineyard 29, Caldwell, and Lail Vineyards. After four years under Melkas tutelage, Mario took the position as head winemaker for Quixote Winery, where he was responsible for all winery operations, including harvest, cellar work, analyses, blending, bottling and vineyard management.

In 2007, Mario became the winemaker for Trinchero Napa Valley. His focus is on the estate grown, single-vineyard selections under the Trinchero Napa Valley label, which showcase the Trinchero familys significant holdings in the Napa Valley AVA.

I am a minimalist, Mario says. It is my goal to put forth the best expression of the fruit and land from which it is grown. I like to keep things as natural as possible and choose not to use a lot of enzymes and chemicals. The estate vineyards that make up the Trinchero Napa Valley program are some of the most exceptional in the Valley and Im excited to create wines that reflect the terroir of these individual sites.

Mario lives in Napa with his wife Anna, who is the winemaker for Pina Cellars. In their spare time, Mario and Anna enjoy time at their cabin in Yosemite where Mario can go hunting for porcini mushrooms.

He was asked about assembling and maintaining a wine cellar, and offered his advice in the answers to these questions,

Q, Tell me about some of the storage basics for collecting.

A, When storing age-worthy wine like our Trinchero Napa Valley Signature Cabernet, its important to keep the bottles in a dark, consistently cool place, ideally on their sides. Wine can become spoiled when exposed to sun, heat or inconsistent temperatures, and should ideally be kept at 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Damage can also occur if wine is left standing upright for too long, in case the cork dries out and lets air in. If you dont have a cellar, a wine fridge or cool basement is a great alternative. Do all you can to make sure your special occasion wine is aged and preserved properly so you can enjoy it with family and friends when the time comes.

Q, Should wines always be kept on their sides?

A, Wines should be kept on their sides if they have a cork and will be stored long-term. This method has served us well in the Trinchero Napa Valley winerys family reserve cellar, where we store wine from across the decades within our wine cave.

Q, Are there certain wine styles or grapes that store better than others?

A, Many wines are best consumed within a specific range of time, depending on the grape varietal, region and quality. Typically, lighter wines are best enjoyed within a couple to a few years, while bolder (mountain fruit), more complex wines can improve with age and be stored for up to twenty years. A few of my favorite wines to drink young include Trinchero Napa Valley Marys Sauvignon Blanc and Marios Cabernet Sauvignon, while I prefer to cellar others such as Trinchero Napa Valley BRV Cabernet and Signature Cabernet.

Q, Does anyone ever collect white wines, and is the process for storage any different?

A, Yes, white wines are great to cellar, and the thought is similar to reds: bolder wines with higher alcohol and complexity tend to age better than lighter wines. Whereas red wines get lighter over time, white wines get darker in color, sometimes reaching a dark yellow, orange or even brown shade. Ive personally had success with high quality Champagnes, Chardonnays and Rieslings. For example, Ziata just released their inaugural vintage of Chardonnay. Id be curious to taste that once aged.

How much should a person look at the vintage to decide whether to put it away or not?

Vintage is an important consideration when deciding to cellar a wine because some of the most interesting vintages to collect are from years with limited production runs or extreme climates that have created distinct flavor profiles. Collectors should also look at a wines vintage when deciding to age it because some vintages are more age-worthy than others based on the unique growing conditions that year. But, that decision can be subjective and wine collectors should collect what theyd like.

When do you know a wine is ready to open?

While grape varietals, regions and quality can help determine how long to cellar a wine before opening, theres always an element of uncertainty when opening a wine after aging it. If youve taken care of storing the wine properly, it should be great when you open it after anywhere from a year all the way up to 20 years. But, to be sure, our tasting room guests will often reach out to us to ask the best time to open one of our wines. Because we regularly open and taste through our library and Trinchero Family Reserve cellar, were typically able to take some of the guess work away.

Can you tell if one has been kept too long, or is on the way to being kept too long?

Unfortunately, theres no sure way to tell if a wine has been kept too long without opening it. One method Ive used is tasting vintages surrounding the vintage Id like to open to see if they show signs of being near or past their prime. Ive also found luck with review sites that include comments from other collectors who have tasted that vintage once aged. Its not a fool-proof system but I have found that the rewards of aging  even if uncertain of the outcome  do typically outweigh the risks.

Do you have to do anything once you put them away, such as turn the bottles or anything?

Theres no need to turn the bottles in your cellar. Theres sometimes a misconception about this because winemakers riddle, or turn, Xhampagne bottles as part of their resting period before they go to market. But, thats not the case for Trinchero Napa Valley wines or other still wines. Its best to interact with them as little as possible once stored in a cool, dry place.

What kind of reasons have you heard for buying and storing a bottle? Ive seen a parent buy a vintage that matches the year their child was born, for instance.

I personally enjoy cellaring certain vintages to commemorate special years, such as wedding anniversaries, births or graduations. The Trinchero family did this when they commemorated Trinchero Family Estates 50th anniversary in 1998 with a label called M. Trinchero to honor founder Mario Trinchero. I suspect the Trinchero family is holding onto both the 1996 Chardonnay and 1995 Cabernet Sauvignon released that year to this day.

What do you think is the biggest driving factor for people who start collecting wine?

There are a number of reasons people collect wine. Some consider it an investment and like to collect horizontals or verticals, for example. Others like myself collect wines because wines evolve over time, and its enjoyable tasting them as they change and often improve with age.

Who had the first collection you remember? What are a couple eclectic collections that have made an impression on you?

First impressive collection I remember was that of Jayson Woodbridge from Hundred Acre. My wife and I were over for dinner one night, he told me I could go to the cellar and pick out any bottle I wanted. There was every Napa Valley cult Cabernet, every French 1er Cru, every significant producer from every region around the worldstacks of wine, perfectly temperature controlled.

Another great collection, Berns Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida. Perhaps the biggest wine list in the world, over 300 pages of selections from all over the world, some very well aged. The perfect place to find a very eclectic bottle.

--

A sampling of other interviews from the series of stories on national/international wineries.

Views from an iconic California winery proprietor: Peter Mondavi Jr.

Views on Merlot from a California winemaker: Chris Carpenter

Views from a California winemaker/owner: David Ramey

Views from a Napa winery owner: Tom Gamble, Gamble Family Vineyards

View from a California winemaker: Kunde Family's Zachary Long

Wine's Most Inspiring People 2018: Crafting Wine and Legacy in Washington

Washington Winemakers Tree Branches Out from Chris Upchurch Mentorship

Views from a Napa winemaker: Cakebread Cellars' Stephanie Jacobs

Views from a Spanish winemaker: Putting Poema's wines in the spotlight

View from an Argentinian winery owner: Labid Al Ameri

View from an Italian winery owner: Marina Cvetic
A new executive order from the White House will aim to make federal research funding for colleges and universities contingent on their support for "free speech," President Donald Trump said Saturday.

The announcement, during Trump's address to the conservative conference CPAC, appeared to target complaints by some university critics that institutions of higher education stifle right-wing viewpoints.

"If they want our dollars, and we give it to them by the billions, they've got to allow people like Hayden and many great young people, and old people, to speak," Trump said, bringing onstage a young conservative, Hayden Williams, who was physically attacked last month while tabling for a conservative organization at the University of California at Berkeley.

The executive order, Trump said, would "require colleges to support free speech if they want federal research" money. Spokespeople for the White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump said he planned to sign the order "very soon," but did not provide specifics or say whether a draft has already been prepared.

The federal government distributes more than $26 billion a year to colleges and universities for research purposes, according to the National Science Foundation. The vast majority of that money is assigned to projects for the Pentagon, NASA, and the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and Health and Human Services.

Trump is likely on strong footing with the proposed executive order, said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, an associate professor of education at American University.

"There's a history of the federal government requiring universities to do certain kinds of things in order to receive federal research funding," she said in an interview. For example, she said, the U.S. government imposes ethical guidelines on studies involving human subjects.

But the order could disproportionately affect private colleges and universities over public ones, Miller-Idriss added, because those institutions have historically enjoyed greater leeway to determine who may speak on campus.

"If I had to wager a guess at this point," she said, "I would say probably [the order] would be asking for private universities to follow the same kinds of things state universities have had to do, which is basically to say that if you rent space publicly, for example, you can't control who rents that space."

Standing onstage together, Trump praised Williams and urged him to sue the University of California over the incident. A university spokeswoman didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.

(c) 2019, The Washington Post. By Brian Fung.
Prosecutors in Pennsylvania last year slapped first-degree felonies on more than 200 people after police accused them of providing fatal doses of illegal drugs.

Its part of a new effort to reduce fatal drug overdoses in the commonwealth by prosecuting drug suppliers with the most serious felony criminal charge available in Pennsylvania.

The number of people charged with Death by Drug Delivery in 2018 represents a 310-percent increase from five years ago, according to data obtained by PennLive from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

The spike in cases followed a change in state law, making it easier to win convictions under the drug delivery homicide law by dropping a requirement to show malice.

Once that change was made, many prosecutors, particularly in central Pa., seized the opportunity and started flexing the charge, which carries a typical prison sentence of about six years for someone with no previous record and can send someone away for up to 40 years.

Lancaster County dominated the state by filing 30 cases last year, continuing a three-year streak leading the state in the number of cases filed, according to data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Lancaster County filed nearly double the cases in 2018 that were filed in the next highest county, Dauphin County (which was tied at 16 cases with Chester County), according to AOPC data.

Franklin County ranked third in the state and Cumberland County ranked fourth, making central Pa. the hot spot in the Commonwealth for this newly revised law.

But the law is not without controversy.

Cases filed in Lancaster County

Critics point to the fact that the law is applied unevenly across the state, depending on the whims of each county district attorney, creating unfair disparities.

Philadelphia County is home to significantly more drugs and fatal overdoses than Lancaster County, for example, yet Philadelphia prosecutors said they filed just a single case last year. (Philadelphia prosecutors have said they dont consider the new law very useful.) Lancaster County, meanwhile, filed death by drug delivery charges in roughly 30 percent of the countys deadly overdoses last year.

The first-degree-felony charge also is the most serious felony available in the state, yet it can be leveled against low-level drug users, who often could have just as easily been the person to fatally overdose, according to defense attorneys. That type of person typically is just looking for their own fix, not to profit. And they typically arent the person who inserted fentanyl into the heroin, and fentanyl is often what makes the dose so deadly and unpredictable.

Still, many prosecutors believe the law has saved lives by convincing these low-level users to get into treatment by the threat of long prison sentences.

The law also has allowed prosecutors to catch several higher-level dealers who were previously untouchable and deterred some dealers, who have started to peddle other drugs instead of heroin because they dont want to catch a body.

The number of overdose deaths dropped in many Pennsylvania counties last year, including York and Lancaster counties, which could be a sign of success from the law, but the drop cant be directly attributed to the tougher stance by prosecutors.

The number of deaths plummeted last year in Allegheny County, for example, to 285 deaths compared with 737 deaths in 2017. Yet that county wasnt exactly aggressive in filing death by drug delivery charges. The county filed 16 such charges in the past five years.

Meanwhile, the number of overdose deaths in Dauphin County increased to 128 deaths in 2018, up from 104 in 2017, even though Dauphin County filed 47 death by drug delivery charges since 2014.

Cases filed in Dauphin County

Prosecutors across Pennsylvania filed 201 death by drug delivery charges in 2018, according to the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, which is about the same level as 2017 when 205 cases were filed.

Although that number represents a giant leap from the 15 cases filed across the state in 2013, it still represents a fraction of the states fatal overdoses, or about 3.5 percent.

The data show that 41 counties filed at least one death by drug delivery charge last year. That means prosecutors in 26 counties didnt file any charges.

Some counties simply dont have the resources to conduct homicide-level investigations on every fatal overdose. In other counties, prosecutors may believe there are more effective ways to deal with drug addiction and drug overdoses instead of launching a new war on drugs.

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman admits his county doesnt have more heroin-dealing or overdoses than many other counties, but he said his office believes in the revised law and has made it a priority in the fight against opioids.

One thing that gets lost when you talk about numbers of fatal overdoses, he said, "these are people who were killed by the use and distribution of dangerous drugs.

While Stedman admits prosecutors cant arrest their way out of the problem, he said thats not going to stop him from doing the one thing that is in his control. He supports education, deterrence and long-term drug treatment (key words being long-term,) but in the meantime, hes going to go after the drug suppliers.

HIs office recently announced one of the countys largest seizures of pure fentanyl, about two pounds a bust entirely made possible from information gathered during a death by drug delivery charge investigation.

When someone dies from a fatal overdose, Stedman said, there has to be accountability for what was done. Were going to try to push people out of dealing these dangerous drugs.

Stedman believes the effort is working. Police have seen methamphetamine making a comeback in Lancaster County.

Thats not great news, he said. But its better, because hundreds of people arent fatally overdosing on methamphetamine as they do on heroin. If drug users turn to other drugs, it gives them an opportunity to live another day and eventually kick the habit, unlike fentanyl-tainted heroin.

Stedman said his office only seeks the full penalties afforded under the death by drug delivery charge when they are prosecuting a veteran drug dealer, the predatory dealers. In other cases, hes open to plea deals and getting people into treatment.

Cases filed in Cumberland County

Many of the cases filed in Central Pa. last year appear to be against drug users, not the big-time profiteer drug dealers that the law presumably was intended to ensnare.

Thats because its more difficult to make a case when there are multiple levels of people involved in a transaction. The strongest case exists for the last person who had the drugs before handing them to the person who overdosed.

To make a death by drug delivery charge stick, prosecutors simply need to prove who provided the fatal dose. The supplier isnt even required to have sold the drugs. Under the law, the defendant could be a middle-man helping to arrange the deal or a fellow user sharing a stash of drugs.

Even though drug users can get ensnared by the charge, Cumberland County District Attorney Skip Ebert said it can effectively convince them to finally get treatment.

Anecdotally I can tell you it has saved lives, he said. They also are more open to cooperating in arresting higher-level dealers.

We are getting to second-tier dealers more often, under the law, Ebert said. I believe it to be effective.

Dauphin County Chief Deputy District Attorney Stephen R. Zawisky said the ultimate goal for his office to get the "'pure dealer who profits and that does happen in Dauphin County.

We arent interested in prosecuting the unlucky addict who went to pick up the bundle and shared, Zawisky said. Its the guy making money off of this poison we want in jail.

Dauphin County prosecutors use this as a guide in charging decisions.

The law provides prosecutors much more leverage, power and discretion than before. But is too much ?

Some defense attorneys think so. The drug delivery statute was enacted in 1989, but rewritten in 2011, which helped fuel the surge in its use.

Its being used in situations I dont believe the Legislature intended, said Brian Perry, a Dauphin County defense attorney. I understand the reason behind the enhanced penalties, but the problem is its so discretionary with each district attorney.

Perry said in some cases hes seen, the defendant was among a group of drug users pooling their money to buy drugs. On person gives some to another, who dies from an overdose, and then the first drug user is charged.

I dont believe that was the intent of the Legislature," he said. I have defended people charged in that exact scenario.

The person who died from the overdose could have just as easily been Perrys client, he said. Then theyre looking at a minimum of six to seven years.

Perry said he represented a client who was charged after allegedly trading pills for drugs and another client who said he gave his elderly mother heroin after she became addicted to prescription pain pills and could no longer get any legal prescriptions. That latter client was recently sentenced to 8.5 years to 17 years in prison.

Even in cases where people died from overdoses involving multiple drugs, prosecutors can still go after someone for supplying one of the drugs.

Although some prosecutors avoid charging in such cases, because of the complications, defendants may still feel compelled to jump at plea deals in that scenario because the penalty for the crime is so high, Perry said.

Do you really want to roll the dice with a jury? Perry said. There is no question this statute was enacted to stop the flow of heroin and fentanyl and that is obviously necessary. The issue most defense lawyers have is that is being used in other situations."

Cases filed in York County

Among the best evidence in death by drug delivery cases comes from an overdose victims cell phone. Often the person who died has made arrangements by calls or text message to find someone with drugs and then meet that person to obtain the drugs.

Thats leading many prosecutors to treat every fatal drug overdose like a homicide investigation with full toxicology tests and high-tech combing of cell phones and social media accounts.

When the drugs kill quickly, which is typically the case with heroin and fentanyl overdoses, it makes the job by prosecutors easier to link a particular supplier to the death. Often the last text message in an overdose victims phone is related to procuring the deadly dose.

When Janie Lovejoy died in her mothers bathroom in Mechanicsburg from an overdose in September 2017, she had been clean for nine months. She was pregnant and three weeks away from delivering a baby boy.

Police found text messages in her phone asking an acquaintance if he would accept a Giant gift card as payment for heroin. Video surveillance footage from the Giant Food Store in Camp Hill was noted in criminal charges filed against Quent Neely, 35 and Jennifer Ordaz, 36, who both where charged with death by drug delivery.

Neely told police he provided Lovejoy with heroin on the day she died and that the heroin came from Ordaz, according to court records.

Many family members who lost loved ones to fatal overdose find solace in criminal charges leveled at the drug supplier.

Elizabeth Loranzo, 25, died from a fentanyl-laced overdose on March 19, 2017 in Londonderry Township.James Robinson

Wendy Lorzano, who lost her daughter to an overdose in 2015 in Londonderry Township, said not all counties have the resources to investigate overdoses to find the person(s) responsible for selling these poisons to our children.

We are fortunate in Dauphin County that the District Attorneys office, as well as the Criminal Investigation Department are working hard to solve these cases where delivery resulting in death has occurred, she said. Nothing will bring my daughter back, but I do want to see these lethal drugs like fentanyl and (and the even-stronger) carfentanil off our streets.
Eric King was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he fatally shot another man at a Harrisburg bar in December 2016, a forensic psychiatrist told a Dauphin County jury Monday.

Kings PTSD stemmed from his having been shot near the same bar, ODs Plantation at 16th and Sycamore streets, in January 2008, Dr. Pogos Voskanian said.

So, he said, King feared for his life when he opened fire inside ODs during a tense encounter with 44-year-old Derick Garner, who was killed.

He aimed at (Garners) hand. He aimed at the hand to stop being shot himself, Voskanian, a defense witness, said under questioning by First Assistant Public Defender Mary Klatt.

Voskanians testimony came four days after King, 36, testified that Garner had threatened him and that he had fired to save his own life. King claimed he believed Garner was reaching into his pocket for a gun.

The shooting was captured on the bars security cameras. The videos have been played for the jury repeatedly during Kings homicide trial.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Gettle is seeking a first-degree murder conviction and life prison sentence. She claims King deliberately shot Garner once inside the bar and twice outside it because Garner had disrespected him.

Klatt and Public Defender Joseph Hartye are arguing that King believed he was acting in self-defense.

Voskanian said the 2008 shooting and Kings upbringing in what he called the violent neighborhood around ODs set the stage for the fatal shooting. He cited the fact that two of Kings childhood friends died from street violence.

One thing (King) mentioned was he was introduced to cocaine at the age of 11 by his uncle, the psychiatrist added.

He contended the shooting was a spur-of-the-moment defensive reaction in Kings mind because a crowded bar studded with security cameras is not a place to premeditate a murder.

Voskanian, who was on the witness stand about two hours, stuck to his diagnosis during an aggressive cross-examination by Gettle.

The prosecutor noted that much of Voskanians information came from King himself. She cited answers King gave to prison evaluators after his arrest for the slaying that gave no indication he was afflicted with PTSD.

Voskanian questioned whether anyone would feel comfortable spilling out their life in that setting.

Gettle asked why someone with PTSD would go into a bar in the same area where theyd already been shot. Voskanian replied, He grew up in that areaHes stuck. Thats where hes lived all his life.

The prosecutor also showed Voskanian and the jury photographs police retrieved from Kings cell phone. Each showed him with guns.

Klatt asked him Voskanian if he was surprised at that.

I would be surprised to see him with a violin or a saxophone, Voskanian said. Guns are not only offensive, they are also defensiveDont touch me. I could sting.
Several inches of snow have accumulated in central Pennsylvania, and there is more to come throughout the evening hours.

Most of the area is receiving snow, but portions of York and Lancaster counties are starting to get a mixture of snow, sleet, and ice.

Dauphin County, as of 8 p.m., was reporting the most snow accumulation near the Colonial Park Mall, according to the National Weather Service at State College. The service is collecting data from not only its resources, but also people on the ground.

Reports were gathered from social media accounts, broadcast media, and trained spotters. The latest tally is:

Cumberland County:

Mechanicsburg  4 inches

Lemoyne  3.3 inches

Summerdale  3.0 inches

Dauphin County:

Colonial Park  4.3 inches

2 NW Harrisburg  4.0

Paxtonia  3.4 inches

Dual-polarization radar is a great tool! Correlation coefficient helps us detect precipitation type. The yellow area indicates a mix of rain/snow/sleet and the red area indicates all snow. Rain/snow/sleet mix now in SE York & S Lancaster counties. #PAwx pic.twitter.com/K85WaUBFYJ  NWS State College (@NWSStateCollege) March 4, 2019

Lancaster County:

West Lancaster  4.0 inches

New Providence  2.9 inches

East Petersburg  1.0 inch

Lebanon County:

Lebanon  4.0 inches

York County:

Woodstream  2.4 inches

Snow will continue to fall heavily throughout Sunday evening, at least until midnight, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service at State College said.

Central Pa. is expected to pick up 5 to 7 inches of snow from this storm. Its forecast to taper off early Monday morning.

The National Weather Services winter storm warning remains in effect until 3 a.m. Monday.

Visit PennLive.com/weather for your latest weather updates.

You can see live weather updates via the National Weather Service and other Twitter sources below.

Tweet us at @pennlive with photos of inclement weather at your place, incidents you see on your commute or send a submission to submissions@pennlive.com.
In Michael Cohens historic testimony Wednesday, there was a moment when the long-lost spines of President Trumps political enablers, probably heaped in a clattering pile somewhere, must have felt a chill. It was when Cohen looked at his Republican inquisitors and foretold their future."

I did the same thing you are doing now for 10 years," Cohen said, sounding like an Old Testament prophet. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years. And I can only warn [that] people that follow Mr. Trump as I did, blindly, are going to suffer the same consequences that Im suffering. Look at whats happened to me. I had a wonderful life. I have a beautiful wife. I have two amazing children. I achieved financial success by the age of 39. I didnt go to work for Mr. Trump because I had to. I went to work for him because I wanted to. And I have lost it all.

Cohens warning was ignored by those present. But his revelations advanced the inevitable day of reckoning -- for Trump, his family and his party.

Early in his opening statement before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen gave a description of Trump that will go down in the annals of congressional testimony: He is a racist, he is a con man and he is a cheat. Incredibly, none of the Republicans on the panel even tried to refute the claim that the president of the United States is, in his essence, an unscrupulous grifter.

One of them, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., did make a clueless and embarrassing attempt to defend Trump against the charge of racism. He brought out Lynne Patton -- an African-American friend of the Trump family who, with utterly no relevant qualifications or experience, was given a high-ranking job in the Department of Housing and Urban Development -- as evidence that Trump is not a racist. Patton stood silently in the background, like an artifact on exhibit. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., was absolutely right to slam Meadows for using a black woman as a prop.

For the record, its entirely possible to have a black friend and still be a racist. If you cant or wont understand that fact, you may be a racist yourself. But I digress.

Another Republican made a weak attempt to challenge Cohen on one of his more sensational claims -- that Trump never expected to win the presidency and instead saw his campaign as the greatest infomercial in political history. But there was no real effort to dispute Cohens many specific charges against Trump or even to question his shocking portrait of the man he once idolized.Instead, the GOP strategy was to follow the old courtroom adage: If the facts are against you, pound the law. If the law is against you, pound the facts. And if both are against you, pound the table.

Oh, the table-pounding! Republicans found it outrageous that Cohen, whose admitted crimes include having once lied to Congress, was being allowed to sit there and testify, rather than, I dont know, being dragged down to the basement and horsewhipped. How could anyone ever believe anything he had to say?

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was so overwrought that I feared he might pull a muscle when he briefly thought hed caught Cohen in a lie on a boilerplate witness form. It turned out that Jordan was wrong -- Cohen filled in the form correctly -- and all the congressman injured was his pride.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the committees chairman, did a masterful job of presiding over the circus. He saved his best for last, ending the hearing with a closing statement that appealed to the better angels of our nature, wherever they might be hiding. Were better than this, he thundered. And I so hope hes right.But I fear there will be darkness before the dawn.

Thanks largely to clever, substantive questioning by junior Democrats -- New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez being perhaps the cleverest -- there are new leads to follow. Cohen spoke of a whispered exchange between Trump and his son Donald Jr. that suggests, but does not prove, that Trump colluded with the Russians. Cohen said the Trump Organization committed insurance fraud and was involved in other unspecified criminal activity. He gave the House Democratic majority ample reason to subpoena Trumps income taxes.

But the Trump he described was even more ruthless, selfish, amoral, dishonest and insecure -- more unfit to be president -- than we could have imagined. Getting him out of office is an urgent task for our democracy. We must be up to it.

--

Eugene Robinson is a columnist for The Washington Post. His work appears frequently on PennLive Opinion. His email address is eugenerobinson@washpost.com.
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers have proposed a new plan to clarify what bodies of water and areas around waterways should be regulated by the federal government in conjunction with the Clean Water Act.

The new proposal has been drafted to replace a flawed rule that was momentarily put in place in 2015. That rule was immediately challenged in the courts because of its vague, broad and confusing provisions that provided unprecedented authority for government agencies to regulate land use. After a variety of court decisions, the rule has been struck down in 28 states and has never been implemented.

Farmers want clean water and clear rules, and that is why we are encouraged by the new rule proposed by EPA and the Corps. Farmers across Pennsylvania and the United States are committed to protecting Americas waterways and drinking water. The new clean water rule should provide us with the regulatory certainty we need to farm confidently and ensure that we are implementing practices to protect our natural resources.

Additionally, there are already comprehensive state regulations in place here in Pennsylvania to protect waterways from farm runoff, but that fact was largely ignored during public comments several years ago. Furthermore, any modification to the Clean Water Act will not change or weaken the Safe Drinking Water Act, which is the primary federal law that protects all public drinking water supplies in the United States.

Pennsylvania farmers deeply care about environmental issues, such as healthy soil and water quality, and they have been taking positive actions on their farms to prevent soil erosion and runoff from farmland. In 2015, a study by Penn State University for the state Department of Environment Protection (DEP) verified extensive amounts of voluntary actions implemented by farmers to improve the environment in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The study focused exclusively on best management practices paid for entirely by farmers without any government assistance. In addition, results of a more recent DEP study, which was released in November 2018, showed that 96 percent of the 2,934 farms they visited in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed met state requirements for water quality planning.

Farmers understand that some surface waters should be regulated by the federal government, while others should fall under state jurisdictions. We, however, think farmers should be able to look across their property and be able to tell what is a federally regulated area, without having to hire lawyers, environmental engineers and consultants.

During the public comment period, which is now open through April 15, we encourage farmers and other interested parties to offer their thoughts on the new proposed rule. Farmers may have suggestions on how the proposal can be improved upon or how the rule can be further clarified.

Overall, Im enthused by the proposal, which should provide farmers with clearer guidelines for us to follow, while establishing requirements that will further improve water quality.

--

Rick Ebert is president of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and a Westmoreland County dairy farmer.
Ward and Eis Gallery to support Women's Resource Center with benefit

Ward and Eis Gallery will host its annual 'Gifts Twice Given' benefit to support Womens Resource Center of Northern Michigan programs and services on Dec. 11 and 18.
Beneficial Bank's slogan may be "true to our name," but the name is changing. WSFS, the biggest bank in the Philadelphia region, has absorbed Beneficial, the biggest based in Philadelphia. Customers of each bank can now use the other's branches and ATMs. Green WSFS signs will replace blue Beneficial signs this summer. Read more

WSFS Financial Corp., the Wilmington company that runs the biggest branch banking network in the Philadelphia Federal Reserve District, says it has completed its acquisition of Beneficial Bank, the biggest bank still based in Philadelphia.

The deal was originally priced at $1.5 billion but was worth just $1.2 billion -- a 20 percent drop -- at the time of closing, after a fall in WSFS share values and last falls stock market decline.

WSFS and Beneficial bank cards now work at all 500 of the two banks ATMs, including some at Walgreens drug stores in Delaware and some sites in Chester and Delaware Counties. But for now the branches will retain their separate WSFS green and Beneficial blue signs and logos.

The companies plan to close 25 branches in suburban Philadelphia where the two banks formerly competed, and sell 5 in New Jersey to the Bank Of Princeton. Most of the closings will happen by August, when the last of Beneficial systems will be converted to WSFS and WSFS signs will replace Beneficial. Once the last branch consolidations are done next year, WSFS expects to manage a network of 90 branches. It has pledged to use some of the savings to update its digital systems.

The combined banks have $13 billion in loans and other bank assets, plus $19 billion in managed or custodial investments. Citizens, Wells Fargo, PNC and TD banks have larger branch networks, but all have been shutting offices around the region in recent years as customers increasingly bank online.

Beneficial customer relationships will continue business as usual until the banks systems are integrated and Beneficial banking offices are rebranded as WSFS Bank, which is anticipated to occur in late August 2019.

WSFS, founded in 1832 as a Delaware version of the former depositor-owned Philadelphia Savings Fund Society (PSFS), is run from the companys headquarters building on Delaware Ave. near I-95 in Wilmington. WSFS plans to retain an office at Beneficial headquarters, 1818 Market St., Philadelphia. The company also has one office each in Virginia and Nevada, and owns investment and other operating subsidiaries including Cypress Capital Managements (whose founder, Dick Arvedlund, is the father of Inquirer personal finance writer Erin Arvedlund), Christiana Trust Co., and others.
Entrepreneurial activity across the country is up. But, unfortunately, this area continues to lag behind other states.

Thats the conclusion from a recent report published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a business advocacy group based in Missouri. The report, which tracked entrepreneurial changes in all 50 states from 1996 through 2017, found that entrepreneurial activity, which included measures of the rate of start-ups, job creation and survival, increased nationally with  no surprise - California, Florida and Texas ranking among the best states for start-ups during this period.

Unfortunately, both Pennsylvania and Delaware ranked among the worst, both overall and in its rate of new entrepreneurs as a percentage of the population. On the bright side, Pennsylvania and New Jersey were among the top 20 states with the highest start-up survival rate after one year of existence. So once were up and running, we tend to stay around longer.

The information doesnt tell you what to do, Sameeksha Desai, director of Knowledge Creation and Research in Entrepreneurship at the foundation, said in a blog post. But it can help you think about what next steps to investigate.

One way to look at the data is that the high percentage of government, health-care, universities and financial organizations either headquartered or very active in this region are accounting for the lower number of start-up entrepreneurs  as compared with the entire population. In other words, there are more job opportunities from larger organizations per capita in the region, which may explain why entrepreneurs in this area were more apt to start a business by choice instead of necessity, as compared with other areas in the country, according to the Kauffman report.

Or you could argue that our area is just not that great for start-ups. For years, technology leaders and venture capitalists here have debated why the region cant keep up with the Silicon Valleys and other areas around the country where early-stage companies are receiving more funding. Many blame the areas higher tax structure as well as the need for more infrastructure spending and greater investments by government, local universities, and larger corporations as significant reasons why the region lags behind in entrepreneurship.

But if youre trying to start up a business, neither the Kauffman study nor these ongoing debates are going to help you, at least not right away. You need money and resources, and you need these things now. The good news is that there is help available.

For example, education and free resources are available from the Small Business Development Centers at both Wharton and Temple Universitys Fox School of Business, as well as from individual consultants provided by SCORE, a national organization of mostly retired executives supported by the Small Business Administration. The Urban League of Philadelphia runs an entrepreneurship center, and there are additional resources provided by the City of Philadelphia, the citys Chamber of Commerce and groups like the Center City Proprietors Association.

The city and suburbs also have many incubators and office spaces for small companies such as the Philadelphia Fashion Incubator, which nurtures entrepreneurs from local design schools and the fashion community, NextFab (which has locations in South Philadelphia and Wilmington) and Center Citys 1776, which last year merged with co-working company Benjamins Desk to form what they say is the largest entrepreneurial ecosystem for start-ups in the northeast corridor. National co-working firms such as WeWork and MakeOffices both also have multiple locations in the area.

All of these organizations not only provide shared office spaces, internet, food, and other services that help reduce overhead but also educational programs, networking activities and administrative and technical resources that many would be unable to afford on their own.

When it comes to capital, there are dozens of individual angel investors and funds, such as Robin Hood Ventures, First Round Capital and the Mid-Atlantic Angel Group that have helped hundreds of start-ups raise tens of millions of dollars over the last two decades.

Once a business gets to a certain size, there are many banks in the region, from TD Bank to Wells Fargo, that offer loans backed by the Small Business Administration. Private advocates, such as Philly Startup Leaders, an organization made up of thousands of active entrepreneurs, provides an online list of resources and popular accelerator programs for start-ups seeking financial and leadership backing from local technology. Can these organizations make a difference to the entrepreneur who starts up a business in the Philadelphia region? Of course.

But in the end  and regardless of all the studies and debates -- it will always come down to the founders bank balance, hard work, good ideas, excellent timing, and a little bit of pixie dust sprinkled on top that will make the difference between a successful start-up and one that never makes it to its fifth birthday. That fact, Ive learned, is pretty much the same wherever in the country  or the world  that you decide to launch your venture.

Gene Marks is a certified public accountant and the owner of Marks Group, a technology and financial management consulting firm in Bala Cynwyd.
Tamron Hall, a graduate of Temple University, on the set of her MSNBC show News Nation. ( RON TARVER / Staff Photographer ) Read more

Temple University alumnus Tamron Hall will join the ranks of daytime TV with a new syndicated Disney-ABC talk show this fall. And shell be adding a new member to her family.

The show, titled Tamron Hall, will premiere Sept. 9 at Disney-ABC-affiliated stations representing about 85 percent of the country, according to a release.

Tamron will bring her abundant wit, style, intelligence and warmth to her show, executive producer Bill Geddie said of Hall. She has the unparalleled breadth of experience to talk and listen to all sides and bring folks together.

Halls new show comes following her Feb. 2017 departure from NBC and MSNBC, where she previously hosted an hour of the Today show, and anchored MSNBC Live with Tamron Hall. At the time, NBC replaced Halls portion of the Today show with the ill-fated Megyn Kelly Today.

Many criticized NBC for the move, which some perceived as racist because the change occurred during Black History Month. Kellys program, meanwhile, was later canceled after the host defended blackface Halloween costumes in an on-air segment.

Hall previously announced she was working on the show with Disney-ABC last summer, saying via a statement that the program would be unconventional, fun, intimate and sometimes even raw.

My new partners appreciate and respect the relationship Ive built with my audience and know that if we create television worth watching, theyll join us for the ride. Im so grateful and excited for this next chapter. The landing makes the leap of faith worth it.

In addition to her television work, Hall also serves on the board of trustees at Temple University, from which she graduated with a bachelors degree in broadcast journalism in 1992. Hall was appointed to the schools board in 2015 as a replacement for now-convicted sex offender and former comedian Bill Cosby.

Hall, 48, also announced via Instagram on Monday that she and her husband, music executive Steven Greener, are expecting their first child.
Despite the recent snow storm, spring is on the way and it looks like bugs are making an early appearance to go with the change of seasons.

In this edition of Clean Plates, there were roach wings found on beer hoses; dead German cockroaches and dead American cockroaches were found in one facility along with small clear/silver insects. There were also small flies, drain flies and fruit flies reported.

Mice remain a problem, too. Philadelphia inspectors found both dead and live mice and a few rats. They also found plenty of poop and gnawed steak and bacon, which is a clear telltale sign of the rodent activity,

From Feb. 15 to Feb. 28, inspectors closed at least 21 facilities for various violations.

Inspectors visit nearly 1,000 eateries and food retailers every two weeks. Each inspection is generally regarded as a snapshot in time, and not necessarily a reflection of day-to-day conditions. Most violations were corrected immediately in the presence of an inspector.

To look up reports on a specific Philadelphia restaurant, or a Montgomery, Bucks, or Gloucester County eatery, visit philly.com/cleanplates.

A list of eateries that were closed follows:

216 South St.

9 violations, 3 serious

There was mold in the beer walk-in cooler, on the walls, there were rat droppings in the basement, fruit flies in the basement near the indoor trash cans, and roach wings in the basement and on beer hoses; an aerosol oven cleaner was found on a counter next to a juice box; a cat litter box was found in the basement near the dry food storage; there was liquid draining from a hose to the basement, leaving stagnant water that did not exit via the the floor drain; the person in charge did not demonstrate adequate knowledge of the Pennsylvania Food Code.

The establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 27.

1204 N Front St.

20 violations, 8 serious

There was no sushi log provided, food contact surfaces were not being sanitized, multi-use equipment/utensils were not being sanitized as required and workers prepared noodles with bare hands during time of inspection; working bulk food ingredient storage containers were not labeled properly; several food staff were not washing their hands well; food employees lacked proper hair restraints, such as nets, hats, or beard restraints; soiled food equipment was stored in the hand sink in the kitchen; the rice cooker was stored in the front of the hand sink in the front sushi prep area; the hand sink in the kitchen was clogged; an employee was not properly sanitizing the multi-use utensils and equipment at the three-basin sink; a cellphone was stored on the shelf with food items in the kitchen area; there were no thermometers in the freezer chest in the sushi prep area; the kitchen garbage grinder needed repair; the refrigerator unit in the front sushi prep area needed cleaning; alteration or construction began prior to plan submission and approval.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 28.

240 S 40th St.

2 violations, 1 serious

Water was not at the proper temperature; there was no hot water provided at the three compartment sink or hand sink; a food employee did not wash their hands properly.

The establishment agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 28.

Darwin Mini Market

640 W Allegheny Ave.

1 violation, 1 serious

A person in charge was not present at the food facility during all hours of operation.

The establishment agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 27.

1919 E Passyunk Ave.

1 violation, 1 serious

The food safety certified individual was not present at the start of the inspection.

Due to conditions observed during the inspection, the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 26.

4907 Catherine St.

5 violations, 1 serious

Dead cockroaches were found behind equipment and in the area behind the refrigerator; food facility is preparing and packaging juice without an approved food safety plan; Moist wiping cloths observed lying on table and not stored in sanitizing solution; Single use take out containers were not inverted; the refrigeration units needed cleaning.

Due to conditions observed during the inspection, the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 26.

1425 Walnut St.

4 violations, none serious

There were old and fresh mouse droppings in the basement, foyer, and retail cabinet, small flies were seen on the walls in the ware-wash area and retail counter, small clear/silver insects were found in the drain behind the retail counter; there were dead German cockroaches in the broken walk-in and dead American cockroaches in the back storage corner in the basement and behind the oven in the bakery area, spiderwebs were found in the retail cabinet near the hand sink; a door sweep was needed at the front of the facility; the unused preparation sink in the bakery area had pink and black slime in it.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 26.

6101 Limekiln Pike

10 violations, 3 serious

There was food debris inside of the reach-in freezer that needed cleaning; the establishment was not properly washing, rinsing and sanitizing food equipment due to lack of ware-washing sink; chemicals were stored above or on the same shelf with food, equipment, and/or single service articles in the storage area; food was not stored at least six inches above the floor; unapproved noncommercial microwave, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, freezer, refrigerator were found; the water temperature was approximately 60 degrees; alteration or construction began prior to plan submission and approval.

Due to conditions observed during the inspection, the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 26.

5700 Hadfield St.

17 violations, 4 serious

Mouse droppings were found on the floor perimeters in retail, prep and basement areas, including in the left front corner of display case, behind refrigeration unit in the prep area and on the floor perimeters in basement area; there was open rodent bait on floor perimeters in prep and basement areas; bagged breads were stored in the sanitizer compartment of the ware-wash sink; an unapproved microwave was found in the food preparation area; a valid food safety certificate was not present; food residues and other debris were found on floor perimeters and on bottom shelving of refrigeration unit in the kitchen area; chips stored on the drain board.

The establishment agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 26.

4200 N Broad St.

3 violations, 3 serious

The hand wash sink in the mobile unit did not having hot running water; a food employee did not wash hands between changing tasks; the person in charge was not present at the food facility during all hours of operation.

The establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 25.

2600 Brown St.

19 violations, 9 serious

A live mouse was on a glue board under the potato chip rack in the retail area; there were mouse droppings around the handwashing sink in the food prep area and on the exterior surfaces along the side and under the microwaves of the prep unit; the person in charge was not able to provide documentation that repackaged kimchi products were from an approved source; the cakes and donuts in the retail area were not properly labeled with the name of product, ingredient statement, net weight, distributed by statement and/or nutritional facts; the facility lacked an indirectly plumbed food prep sink to properly wash vegetables for sandwiches; mouthwash was stored on the drainboard of the warewashing sink; ready-to-eat sandwich rolls were stored in non-food grade plastic containers; the handwash sink in the rear food prep/handwashing area was blocked by employee personal belongings, and not accessible at all times for employee use; opened commercially processed ready-to-eat sliced deli meat and cheeses, located in the walk-in cooler, and held more than 48 hours, was not marked with the date it was opened; the interior surfaces, racks, and shelving in the deli display case, prep unit, walk-in cooler, and refrigerators were not clean; the painted wood in the walk-in cooler was chipping; the floors throughout the rear area were not clean.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 25.

551 E Wyoming Ave.

23 violations, 6 serious

A rat and a mouse were seen in the basement area; there was clutter in the basement area that had the potential to shelter vermin; there were no paper towels at the hand washing sinks in the restroom and food preparation area and no soap at hand washing sink in the food preparation area; the person in charge arrived late; the handwash sink in the food preparation area was blocked by a portable steam table and not accessible at all times for employee use; there was no running cold water at the hand washing sink in the food preparation area; there was a missing sink stopper; eggs were not held at the proper temperature; a domestic microwave, an unapproved chest freezer and the dish drying racks were found in the food preparation area; there were cracks in the floor tiles next to the cooking equipment in the food preparation area.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 25.

1100 Federal St.

15 violations, 4 serious

Mouse droppings were found on the lower shelf of the food prep table where pans and baskets are stored; old mouse droppings were on the shelf beneath the prep table in the food prep area; uncovered foods were in the refrigerator beneath dusty fan covers; black residue, pink slime were on the interior of the ice machine bin on the metal plate above the ice, the interior door was soiled, a piece of material was protruding from behind a metal plate; pans stored on a shelf with mouse droppings were placed on the cutting board; cutting boards were found with deep scratches and scoring that did not allow for effective cleaning and sanitizing; the urinal in the men's toilet room was in disrepair; working bulk food ingredient storage containers were not labeled with the common name of the food; a food employee washed their hands in the wash solution at the warewashing sink rather than the designated handwash sink.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours.

330 W Oregon Ave.

20 violations, 8 serious

Sewage leaks were on the floor under the urinal in restroom; urinals needed repair; There was no hot water available in cold bar, grill bar, restroom for employees and customers; ceilings had brown stain and were in need of replacement; handwashing locations were nonfunctional in several areas as required for food operation including the Cold Bar and Grill Bar; food employee did not follow proper handwashing procedure, soap and/or warm water were not used; the handwash sink in the rear area did not have single use towels, continuous towels, or air drying device; there were puddles of water in several areas especially prep areas and restroom; the food safety certified person did not know the names and details of foodborne illnesses.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 20.

5700 Roosevelt Blvd.

14 violations, 6 serious

Eight bags of chips, three bags of cookies, and two bags of cakes were gnawed by mice; mouse droppings were found throughout the facility; the hot dog warmers in the retail area did not have sneeze guards to prevent contamination; newspaper was used as liner under the hot dog warmer in retail area; there were no paper towels and soap at the handwash sink in the front prep area; food safety certified person was not present; the person in charge had no knowledge of the foodborne illnesses that need to be reported to the Health Department; the food in mini refrigerator in the retail area was not being kept at proper temperatures; the drain rack above three-bay sink was not approved; there were cracked floor tiles in the warewash area; there was dirt accumulation in the mop sink; there were unneccessary items and litter in the facility.

The establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 19.

3401 Walnut Ave.

6 violations, 4 serious

Mouse droppings were found in the ware-washing area/front prep area; drain flies were in the ware-washing area; potentially hazardous ready-to-eat food including cut fruit, prepared in the food facility and held for more than 48 hours, located in the refrigerator, was not date marked. there was no food safety person at the facility during the inspection; employees were donning single use gloves without a prior hand wash; an employee did not follow proper handwashing procedure and use soap and/or warm water; the handwash sink in the prep area was blocked by food items and not accessible at all times for employee use.

The establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 19.

4790 Richmond St.

17 violations, 6 serious

Old mouse droppings were found on floor surfaces under the three-compartment sink; uncovered/unprotected ready-to-eat pretzels were at the front counter; there was no sign or poster at the handwash sink in the toilet room area to remind food employees to wash their hands; sliced tomato, onion, lettuce, mayo and deli meat were held at an improper temperature; deli meats and cheeses were not marked with the date packages were opened; hot food items such as eggs and breakfast meats were cooked on an unapproved domestic griddle; there was no backflow prevention device observed on main water line near water meter; the Food Safety Certification expired on Feb. 15; the bottom interior of the display case had a residue accumulation ; grindable food waste was found however the proper means of disposal was not observed, dumpsters may not be used for the disposal of grindable garbage.

Due to conditions observed during the inspection, the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 19.

5901 Wissahickon Ave.

9 violations, 2 serious

There was a sticky fly trap in the rear storage area; old mouse droppings in the cabinets under the soda machine; the food safety certified person was not present; cut fruits including watermelons, strawberries, grapes were not held at the proper temperature; there was dust on shelves and the ceiling, food and debris on the floor in and ice accumulation in the walk-in freezer; there was a wet mop observed sitting in the mop sink and not hanging for proper air drying; there was water damaged ceiling tiles in the back storage area.

The establishment agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 15

812 N Broad St.

27 violations, 8 serious

Spoiled carrots and onions were in the food prep area; raw chicken and shrimp were stored together and overcooked broccoli was found in the walk-in cooler; there were loose rodent bait packets found on the floor behind the stove and not in tamper resistant boxes; a fly strip was in the dry storage area where it could contaminate food and equipment; the facility was lacking an indirectly plumbed food prep sink to properly wash produce; there was potentially hazardous ready-to-eat chicken, prepared in the food facility and held for more than 48 hours, located in the refrigerator and walk-in cooler that was not date marked; the dumpster was over flowing; grease and other debris was found on the floors under the fryers and behind the stove; the ceiling surface in the main warewashing area had a hole; alteration or construction began prior to plan submission and approval; the food facility does not have a Health Awareness Reporting Procedure for food employees; the food safety manager was not aware of the reportable foodborne illnesses; the paper towel dispenser at the handwash sink in the one of the womens restrooms was empty; soap was not available at the handwash sink in the bar area.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 15.

5542 Chew Ave.

10 violations, 1 serious

The steak and bacon in two-door standing refrigeration unit had been gnawed; mouse droppings were found on basement steps, under wire shelving in warewash area, on carpeted dolly and in the standing refrigeration unit; there was a leak found at the hand wash sink in toilet room; there were damaged floor tiles throughout the facility; holes were found in the wall near exit door and in toilet room; an outside dumpster was not provided; there was loose rubber door gaskets on the refrigeration unit/sandwich prep unit, and two door standing unit; and inoperable refrigeration unit was in the warewash area and basement; there was a condensation leak in sandwich prep unit.

Due to imminent health hazards observed during this inspection, the establishment has been issued a Cease Operations Order and must discontinue food operations immediately. The establishment cannot operate for a minimum of 48 hours. Inspected Feb. 15.

5860 Addison St. Fl 1

10 violations, 6 serious

Hot water was not available at handwashing sinks; food was prepared in a private home that was not approved by the Department; employees were donning single use gloves without a prior hand wash; the refrigerator was not at the proper ambient temperature; potentially hazardous ready-to-eat food, prepared in the food facility and held for more than 48 hours, located in the refrigerator, was not date marked with date it was made; the person in charge was not present at the food facility during all hours of operation; a domestic beverage cooler was in the kitchen area.

Due to conditions observed during the inspection, the establishment has agreed to discontinue food operations and voluntarily close until it is approved by the Department to resume operations. Inspected Feb. 14.
One of the last banquets at the Chinese Cultural Center, shortly before its closing in 2004. The 10-course meal served 24 evening diners at the well-known Chinatown landmark. Read more

Today its shuttered and in danger of demolition, but at one time the Chinese Cultural Center stood near the heart of a battle over the fate and future of Chinatown.

Would it be a place driven by tourism, luring out-of-town visitors by promising a peek inside a cloaked Chinese community? Or would it be a neighborhood centered on families, where immigrants and wage workers could find decent jobs and safe, affordable housing?

That 1970s debate pitted the competing visions of center founder and building owner T.T. Chang, the well-connected mayor of Chinatown, against the radical activist group Yellow Seeds, which championed workers and youths.

We were fighting the stereotypical image of Chinatown as restaurants and gift stores, said Mary Yee, then a Yellow Seeds leader. We saw it as a holistic community that had residents, churches, schools, civic institutions.

Chang preached tourism and investment to help promote a positive view of the neighborhood. In 1955 he founded the Chinatown YMCA as a tenant at the 125 N. 10th St. property, and in 1966 he bought the building as the permanent home of his Chinese Cultural and Community Center.

Can you imagine, Chang told the Philadelphia Bulletin that year, how curious tourists would become if they were driving across the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and saw a red tile Chinese roof rising above the trees somewhere west of Franklin Square?

He wanted the cultural center to be authentic in appearance. Some elements were imported from Taiwan, and the ornate front facade was designed by noted Chinese architect C.C. Yang. Two huge stone reliefs of a phoenix and a dragon, among the most powerful symbols of good fortune, guarded the front door.

By the early 1970s, Chang had created one of Chinatowns most Chinese-looking buildings, defined by its striking jade-color glazed-tile roof.

The effect was like entering a temple, wrote Georgia State University professor Kathryn Wilson, author of the definitive Ethnic Renewal in Philadelphias Chinatown: Space, Place and Struggle, for which she drew on voluminous records including interviews, government reports, oral histories, and newspaper archives.

The center became a neighborhood landmark.

Chang emphasized an image of Chinatown as secret and mysterious, and his cultural center as able to shed light on the shadows, Wilson wrote. He portrayed himself, and was seen outside the community, as a Chinese-American go-getter and change agent, seeking to leverage public interest in Chinese culture into investment in Chinatown, she wrote.

The cultural center offered banquet meals, neighborhood tours, calligraphy, and Tai Chi classes, to which it drew mostly non-Asian visitors. Its 10-course New Years banquets generated a torrent of customers  and complaints from Chinatown restaurant owners who saw Changs eatery taking their business.

A restaurant in a place which gets government money in one hand to serve the community, Yellow Seeds sneered in its newspaper, and in the other hand money that actually takes business from existing restaurants in the very community it is supposed to serve,

In its January 1975 edition, Yellow Seeds published a cartoon that depicted Chang as an Octopus, clutching cash in each arm.

At that point, Chinatown was in a fight for its life, the construction of the Vine Expressway threatening to claim homes, property, and, not least, the Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church.

Yellow Seeds and the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. fought back. Some people literally laid in front of the construction machinery to block the way.

Ultimately they saved Holy Redeemer and kept Chinatown from being turned into a Disneyesque version of itself, even as the Gallery mall, Market East Station, and Convention Center took chunks of land. Groups like Asian Americans United kept up the fight for an authentic, living Chinatown.

Chang died in 1996. After that the center struggled, and around 2004, it closed for good. People in Chinatown always expected that at some point the building would come back into use. It was too important a property  midblock, just north of the majestic Friendship Gate  to be idle forever.

It was placed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Last year, PA Zhangs Associate LLC bought the property for $1.8 million, records show.

Chinatown residents learned last month that the company had filed an application with the city Historical Commission, planning to demolish almost all of the building except for the front facade. A new addition at the rear of the property would support six residential housing units, and a restaurant would go at the front.

Multiple efforts to reach executives of PA Zhangs Associate for comment were unsuccessful.

The Historical Commission staff concluded that the demolition would destroy the form and integrity of the property, and recommended that the proposal be denied. The developer chose to withdraw the plan, according to the commission, but could refile at any time, perhaps as soon as this month.

PCDC has formally opposed the demolition, posting an online petition that sought 2,500 signatures but has garnered more than 5,200, noted agency community planner Yue Wu.

Today, sheets of plywood hide the centers striking front entrance: two big red doors, each with a bronze lion-head doorknocker.

It wasnt a building that was generally accessible to people for community use, Yee said, adding that she hoped that could change now. Real estate is really precious in Chinatown. It would be great if it could be used for the benefit of the community.
Annie Johnson sits in her home in the Stenton section of Philadelphia Sunday, March 3, 2019. Johnson is a former nanny who hasn't been able to find a nannying job in Philadelphia that she feels pays a decent wage. Read more

Lucy was cleaning a West Philadelphia home two years ago when a piece of debris hit her in the face and split her forehead. The 39-year-old mother probably should have seen a doctor.

But Lucy, a house cleaner who moved to North Philadelphia from Mexico a decade ago, didnt have health insurance. So she treated the wound herself and crossed her fingers.

Lucy, who asked to be identified only by her first name to speak about her employers, works full time, but doesnt have such benefits as insurance, vacation, or sick days. She has never worked under a contract, is forbidden by federal law from unionizing, and, if she were to speak up against an employer who mistreated her, has little protection from termination.

The reality is that I havent spoken up, Lucy said in Spanish through an interpreter, and I just really have to put up with it, because the fear is really strong.

As a domestic worker  a category that includes in-home workers, such as caretakers and nannies  Lucy has few protections under existing labor laws.

Philadelphia could soon become the largest city in the country to change that.

Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez plans this month to introduce a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, a bill that would address legal exemptions for domestic workers and their employers, said Andre Del Valle, a legislative aide to the councilwoman. The text of the legislation has not been finalized.

The average annual income for the 16,000 or so domestic workers in the Philadelphia metropolitan area in 2016 was $10,000, according to an analysis by Pilar Gonalons-Pons, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. Most of these workers are women of color, and many are undocumented immigrants. They work in intimate and isolated workplaces and are particularly vulnerable to abuse, from employers threatening their immigration status to sexually harassing them.

The National Labor Relations Act that allows workers to unionize doesnt cover domestic workers. Neither does the Occupational Health and Safety Act. Live-in workers are carved out of overtime protections in the Fair Labor Standards Act. In addition, federal antidiscrimination laws generally cover only employers with multiple employees, according to Jennifer Lee, a professor at the Temple University Beasley School of Law.

>>READ MORE: A new app gives paid time off to the original gig workers

Eight states and the city of Seattle have passed legislation to bolster protections for domestic workers, including New York state, which in 2010 passed a bill guaranteeing domestic workers overtime, three paid vacation days a year, and protection from sexual and racial harassment.

Irene Jor, the New York director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), said the group is organizing a statewide Domestic Workers Bill of Rights campaign in New Jersey, and hopes a bill is introduced in 2020.

Nationally, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) and U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D., Wash.) plan to introduce the first-ever federal Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which would mandate breaks and outline scheduling practices, and call on employers to provide benefits. NDWA Deputy Director Mariana Viturro expects the bill to be introduced in April.

The national effort has been buoyed recently by support from Hollywood, including director Alfonso Cuaron, who won an Oscar for Roma, a film about a domestic worker. Cuaron appeared in a public service announcement asking employers of these workers to pay fairly, set clear expectations, and provide paid time off.

Philadelphia-specific legislation is still being drafted. Nicole Kligerman, director of the Pennsylvania Domestic Workers Alliance, said workers hope the bill will mandate overtime pay and breaks, require contracts between employers and employees, address paid sick leave and vacation time, and establish an enforcement board or office.

She said the group also hopes the legislation reinforces preexisting ordinances that were glad that are on the books, but are really woefully underreported and underenforced. That includes laws that address minimum wage and wage theft.

Janet Ginzberg, a staff attorney at Community Legal Services drafting the legislation, said theyre considering carving domestic workers into current laws that mandate paid sick leave and establish scheduling practices. She said workers perceive that written contracts would give them a lot of protection, and lawyers are looking at how to address that concern.

Kligerman said formal contracts address daily indignities that cant be legislated, such as implementing a fee for late payment and ensuring that workers be paid when an employer goes on vacation, is running late, or cancels at the last minute.

If you spend two hours on four buses carrying all of your cleaning equipment through the snow to be told through the door, we dont need you today, you should get paid in full, she said.

Contracts would also outline duties. Annie Johnson, 45, of the Stenton section of Philadelphia, worked as a nanny in New York and New Jersey for more than a decade. Employers often asked her to perform tasks outside the scope of caring for children, such as cleaning and laundry.

Since she moved to Philadelphia 18 months ago, Johnson, originally from Trinidad, hasnt been able to find a well-paying nannying gig. Potential employers have offered her as low as $5 an hour, even though she has more than a decade of experience and a degree in early childhood care. (Minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.)

If you have someone in your home and you trust that person to take care of your children or your mother, they should be paid on time," she said. "And they should be paid a good salary that can help them take care of their family.

Legislation could also address a clause in the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance that allows employers of domestic workers to express certain preferences when hiring and firing. Rue Landau, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, said the language was intended to protect, for example, families that want to hire a Spanish-speaker to care for a Spanish-speaking family member.

But Kligerman said the language could also protect employers who want to hire or fire a domestic worker for such reasons as race or religion. Lucy, the house cleaner, said a Philadelphia employer once told her part of the reason why she liked me is because Im lighter-skinned and she didnt want black people to work for her.

The biggest question is enforcement. Lee said cities often dont have the resources to effectively enforce worker-friendly legislation, particularly when workers themselves dont know what theyre entitled to under the law.

Councilwoman Helen Gym said Philadelphia needs a formal office to enforce labor standards beyond the existing Commission on Human Relations and the Mayors Office of Labor. (Administration officials didnt respond to a request for comment.) She added: This is going to require us to be working hard to both educate our employees and employers of their rights.

For Lucy, advocating for stronger protections is about pay as much as its about feeling valued. There are plenty of good bosses out there, she said.

But there are other people who, you get to their house, you say hi, and they dont even say hi back, she said. And its like they just see you as another piece of furniture in the house.
Beginning Jan. 1, hospitals will be required to post online prices for every procedure, service and medication they offer.

Anyone whos ever tried to find out in advance the price of an upcoming medical procedure knows how hard it can be to get a cost estimate. The new rule, ordered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is intended to improve price transparency and help patients better understand how much they will pay for care.

We are just beginning on price transparency, CMS administrator Seema Verma said last spring, explaining the requirements as part of the Trump administrations efforts to encourage patients to become better-educated decision-makers, according to a Modern Healthcare article.

But the new rules usefulness in helping estimate a bill is limited, at best: Hospitals are required to list chargemaster rates -- prices that are much higher than most patients pay. The format hospitals must use -- Excel spreadsheets with thousands of entries -- isnt exactly user-friendly.

Consider the spreadsheet posted by the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: It contains more than 14,000 entries, in order by their eight-digit procedure code; the name of the procedure -- frequently abbreviated in a way many laypeople might not understand; and the charge.

Still, the measure brings the question of cost into the broader conversation about health care at a time when out-of-pocket costs are growing and medical bills are a top contributor to personal bankruptcies. Thats a change from the days when patients feared being accused of not taking their health seriously if they asked, So, how much will this cost?

By asking questions about the cost of health care, consumers play an important role in advancing health-care pricing transparency, Andy Carter, CEO of the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania wrote in a Dec. 13 blog post about the new rule.

Chargemaster rates are the starting point for private insurers to negotiate lower rates for their members. Medicare and Medicaid establish their own rates, and uninsured patients typically qualify for income-based discounts.

The price to patients with insurance -- even those covered by the same insurer -- can vary widely depending on which plan they have. How big your deductible is, how much of it youve paid already and your co-pays all factor into the amount youll owe for any given procedure.

The new requirement was part of an August update to the federal agencys Inpatient Prospective Payment System rules, which detail how hospitals are paid. In addition to listing the chargemaster rates online, hospitals are required to make the information available upon request.

Philadelphia-area hospitals, as well as others around the country, have developed price transparency pages with context for the lists of numbers they are required to provide and to explain that looking at chargemaster prices alone wont help most people estimate how much theyll pay for care.

While we fully support efforts to improve pricing transparency, the chargemaster is only a starting point in determining the costs associated with your health care. By itself, the chargemaster is not the most helpful tool for you to comparison-shop between hospitals or to estimate your financial obligation for the health-care services you receive, Jefferson Health wrote on its price transparency page.

Jefferson includes a question and answer section, and a short video developed by the Hospital Association of Pennsylvania.

Penn Medicines price transparency page explains what goes into a chargemaster price, such as administrative and facility costs, equipment and technology upgrades. The charge for a service provided at a hospital will be different from the same service provided at an out-patient clinic.

The new CMS requirement provides another opportunity for patients to obtain important information about their health care, including the potential costs of these services. However, standard hospital charges are only one factor which influences a patients out-of-pocket costs, particularly at acute care facilities that offer a full range of services, said Patrick Norton, vice president for public affairs at Penn Medicine, in a statement.

Before linking to its Charge Description Master lists at the bottom of the page, Penn cautions, The descriptions in the CDM may not be understandable to the layperson (people who are not health care professionals).

Under the CMS rule, hospitals are required to keep their prices in machine-readable lists that will be updated at least once a year.

Both Penn and Jefferson link from their price transparency pages to downloadable Excel spreadsheets that list thousands of procedures and corresponding prices.

If you want a more personalized estimate of what a knee replacement or MRI will cost, Carter recommends talking to your provider and insurance plan.

Achieving meaningful health-care pricing transparency will take time, effort, and collaboration on the part of government, hospitals, insurers, and consumers, he wrote in his blog post.
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Bryce Harper is signed and sealed, and on Sunday, he delivered his first batting-practice swings of spring training. And so, we return you to your regularly scheduled Phillies programming, including the biggest question entering the franchises most hyped season since 2011.

Do they have enough starting pitching?

Jake Arrieta thinks so. Hes biased, of course, as one of the five holdovers from last seasons starting rotation. But it hasnt escaped the veteran right-handers notice that the Phillies improved the roster in every possible area -- infield, outfield, relief pitching, even catcher -- except for one: the starting rotation.

I think we all have that collective mindset -- OK, theyre going to give the same five guys the ball, Arrieta said after tossing three perfect innings here Sunday in a 3-3 tie with the Minnesota Twins. It looks like its going to be the same five guys, and I love that. I really do.

The Phillies made a push in November for prized free-agent lefty Patrick Corbin. They hosted him at Citizens Bank Park and splashed his photo on PhanaVision in left field but refused to match the Washington Nationals six-year (and $140 million) guarantee. And although they had some interest in lefty J.A. Happ, it wasnt enough to keep him from re-signing with the New York Yankees.

Beyond that, the Phillies shrugged at other free agents. Wade Miley? No, thanks. Gio Gonzalez? Pass. Dallas Keuchel? Not for the kind of contract that he wants. Simply put, they dont view any of those pitchers as an upgrade over what they have.

What it tells all of us is that [general manager] Matt [Klentak] was going to look under every stone to improve our roster, and this was the area he felt confident enough in to say, These are the guys we want to go to battle with, manager Gabe Kapler said. I think everybody in our clubhouse feels the same way.

 READ MORE: Jake Arrieta throws three perfect innings in first spring-training start

Arrieta sees it as a vote of confidence for young right-handers Nick Pivetta, Vince Velasquez, and Zach Eflin, all of whom he believes have a couple more steps to take throughout the progression to get to their peak. But he also takes it as a personal challenge to be better and more consistent, no small thing for a former Cy Young Award winner.

Last year, his first season with the Phillies, Arrieta alternated solid months with lousy ones until, like the rest of the team, he completely fell apart down the stretch. His ERA by month: 3.49 in April, 0.90 in May, 6.66 in June, 2.80 in July, 4.50 in August and 6.39 in September, with his lasting impression being a two-inning, four-run implosion in a must-win game on Sept. 22 in Atlanta.

In hindsight, Arrieta attributes his late-season fade to a left knee injury that he concealed from team officials, including Kapler, until January when he elected to have surgery to clean up a meniscus tear.

 READ MORE: Bryce Harper signing ushers in a new era for Phillies longest-tenured players

But Arrieta, who turns 33 on Wednesday, revealed something else on Sunday. For a while now, he has pitched from a different arm angle than the three-quarters slot that he used in his best years with the Chicago Cubs. Hes not sure how it happened, only that he fell into a bad habit that wasnt easily corrected in the midst of a season.

From Day 1 in spring, I reestablished more of that high three-quarter arm slot, which creates much more downward movement on the sinker, the cutter and the change-up, Arrieta said. That's kind of where I was in '15 and '16. To get back to that feels really good. I think just having a full spring training is one big reason why I'm able to kind of get back on track right away.

Seeing is believing, and in his spring debut, Arrieta couldnt have looked better. He faced nine Twins batters, most of whom were lineup regulars, and retired them all in just 34 pitches. He touched 94 mph, according to the Hammond Stadium scoreboard, and mixed in breaking pitches that elicited awkward-looking swings.

It was a good first step.

There's a healthier Jake, a more motivated Jake, a more focused Jake, Kapler said. And it all begins with health because health always leads to confidence, and in my opinion, action and confidence leads to more motivation. So you can see that kind of snowballing.

If it filters down to Pivetta, Velasquez, and Eflin, so much the better. But a bounce-back from Arrieta will be as central to the Phillies rotation question as anything else.
Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, left, applauds at a campaign house party, in Manchester, N.H. The Main Line native is running for president as a pragmatist. He also is a former brewpub owner and two-term Denver mayor. Read more

WASHINGTON  John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado and the latest entrant in the Democratic race for president, credits growing up on Philadelphias Main Line for the pragmatic approach he has brought to business and politics.

My great-grandparents were Quakers. And I tried to take that ethic into business. Quaker honesty, Quaker mindfulness, that effort to build community across differences. ... I get that from my Philly background, he told the Inquirer in 2010.

Hickenlooper, a native of Narberth who went to the Haverford School, adds a new wrinkle to the primary contest. Hes a moderate white male in a field that has largely been defined so far by candidates who are women, people of color, and liberal.

In a contrast with the crowd of senators running on big, ideological promises, Hickenloopers launch video early Monday emphasized the practical aspects of his work, touting his collaboration with a divided legislature in a swing state, and pointing to his leadership during droughts, floods and the mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., movie theater.

Im running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done," Hickenlooper, 67, said in the video. "Ive proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.

Hickenlooper, who has made his geeky looks and everyman style a central part of his political persona, also talked in the video about the frustration of being laid off from his job as an oil-industry geologist, and how he then created a successful brewpub in Denver in the late 1980s. He was elected mayor in 2003 and served two terms.

Many Democrats, especially among donors and political elders, argue that a more moderate approach is vital to winning key swing states, including Pennsylvania, and defeating President Donald Trump. They have worried about the leftward pull exerted by many of the early candidates. Hickenlooper, however, may face challenges in trying to match the star power of the better-known rivals already in the mix, and in exciting a liberal base pushing for fresh faces and a bold agenda.

He has called on his Philadelphia roots as he mulled his campaign, and in the last several months he has visited major Philadelphia fund-raisers and spoken at a public event hosted by the Committee of Seventy.

Hickenlooper can trace family ties back to Robert Morris, the financier of the American Revolution whose statue stands by Independence Mall. He graduated from Wesleyan University and made his way to Colorado to work as a geologist.

Hickenloopers entry may be part of a wave of Democratic candidates representing more centrist viewpoints than many of the senators who have dominated the early campaigning.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) has presented herself as a pragmatist, and Democrats are still waiting on decisions from former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, among others, each of whom may compete for more moderate voters as the party debates the best way to take on Trump.
Brent Adams with some of his seven animals (not counting his fish) at his home in Grays Ferry. He is holding Buster, 11. Seated with him are Jasmine, 7 (left), a Rottweiler-Husky mix; and Polo, 7 (center), a Pomeranian. Read more

Brent Adams understands people. Thats why he likes animals better.

You get to know how bad people are as you get older, said Adams, 48, who lives with seven cats and dogs in Grays Ferry. But animals improve any day.

A part-time baker with no partner or progeny, Adams describes himself as low-income with little cash on hand. My money goes to the animals, he said. They give so much love.

Like a lot people in or near poverty, Adams makes room in his heart and limited budget for animals. Of the estimated 165 million pets in the United States, 23 million live with their owners in poverty, according to data from the ASPCA and the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.

As much as low-income people love their pets, however, many discover that they are not able to look after them. For years, animals from impoverished homes have been taken to shelters or released to the streets because their owners couldnt afford care. Many of those sheltered animals have been destroyed.

But things are changing  here in the Philadelphia area, as well as around the country. Veterinarians and animal-welfare advocates are developing what has been described as a new paradigm in which pets are kept in low-income homes thanks to a new, vigorous outreach to provide pet food and low-cost veterinary services. The Philadelphia Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), for example, helped Adams cat, Smoke, which needed a leg amputated because of an infection.

We are striving for a humane city, a no-kill city, so pets arent dying in shelters because owners cant afford them, said Melissa Levy, executive director of PAWS.

Its part of a nationwide movement, born of a longtime omission.

We are trying to do what the veterinary profession has not done, said Michael Blackwell, a veterinarian at the University of Tennessee. We are building a formal way of reaching lower-economic people."

Often, people who cant afford care for pets relinquish them, Blackwell said. It doesnt always end well. "Ive had to perform euthanasia on some of those animals.

Theres been a lot of carnage. And we can do better.

Some progress is already being reported. The number of animals that entered the citys main shelter on Hunting Park Avenue, run by the Animal Care & Control Team of Philadelphia (ACCT), has decreased from 30,000 in 2011 to 18,000 in 2018, according to Susan Russell, executive director of ACCT.

ACCT figures show that the number of shelter-performed euthanasias declined dramatically from around 12,000 in 2012 to 3,400 last year. Adoptions also help save animals, experts say.

Its common to see more stray animals in low-income neighborhoods, said Samantha Holbrook, president of Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia. The nonprofit runs a help desk within ACCT that offers assistance to people looking to give up their animals because they cant afford care.

ACCT figures for 2018 show that while the agency took in seven strays from well-off Chestnut Hill and six from Old City, it collected 272 from North Philadelphia and 240 from Kensington.

In low-income areas, many owners dont fully understand the importance of spaying and neutering animals, or cant afford to, Holbrook said. Also, impoverished areas are veterinary deserts, experts say, often devoid of pet care. Many people wind up evicted and cant find a place for their animals. And, experts say, some owners believe that if they cant look after their animals, its better to let them loose in the neighborhoods, where they reproduce.

To help, Citizens for a No-Kill Philadelphia sends representatives to different low-income neighborhoods, distributing free and low-cost items, including pet food and kitty litter. The group also educates residents about the importance of pet sterilization, and identifies places with low-cost vet services.

Similar work is being done by Humane Society of the United States program called Pets for Life, which has a local affiliate here. The group, with a particular focus on spaying and neutering, has partnered with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

Gold standard

Perhaps the gold standard of helping pets in poverty is being undertaken by Humane Pennsylvania in Reading, where the agency is using a $3 million grant to create a unique health-care delivery model: sterilization, food resources, insertion of microchip identification into dogs and cats, and basic vaccinations.

CEO Karel Minor said that no place in the country is doing this at this scale. His plan is to have his staff of 77 meet and touch all 20,000 cats and dogs in Reading within three years. Animal care in America has been white, wealthy, and primarily suburban for 100 years, he said. Thats ending.

When it comes to people in poverty and their pets, there is an elephant in the room, according to Blackwell of Tennessee. People say, If you cant afford vet care, you probably shouldnt have a pet.

But, he added, the pets are already in homes, and theres no going back. Also, said Mandy Hood, a manager at Pennsylvania SPCA, Pets are part of our families and everyone has the right to have the family they want. And, said Catherine Malkemes, CEO of Womens Animal Center in Bensalem, We all have that same emotional need to be loved and to care for something else, regardless of income.

Antihunger advocates are aware of pet ardor, and many human food pantries stock pet food. Joel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America in New York, noted that people with so little in life, rely on pets for emotional support. Still, he added, while pets are important, we shouldnt place more emphasis on feeding Fido than Grandma.

Caring for her cat, Grace, is paramount for Maryann Carbone, 73, living on Social Security in an Advanced Living Communities residence in Lansdale. These days, Carbone is scrambling to come up with $150 for cat vaccines. She said shell find a way, because Grace is the only therapist Carbone can afford.

I pour my heart out to her about my grandson, who died of a drug overdose, Carbone said. She listens and knows when Im sad. Grace is always by my side.

Philadelphia Media Network is one of 21 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the citys push toward economic justice. See all of our reporting at brokeinphilly.org.
A runner passes under a solar-powered light on the Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk by the South Street Bridge in Philadelphia on Monday, Feb. 25, 2019. The bridge's four LED light towers are not currently illuminated. Read more

Anthony Biancosino doesnt take the South Street Bridge every day, but for him, its a nice symbol of home.

The Southwest Center City resident encounters the bridge when returning to Philly from the airport, and his travels often happen at night. But for the last few months, something has been off. The four tower lights that make the bridge glow have been dark since late summer.

Its just like a welcoming into the city, and then you see the bridge and then those lights are not working, said Biancosino, 73. "Its kind of like a blah introduction.

Biancosino took to Curious Philly, the Inquirers question-and-response forum, in which readers submit questions about their communities and our journalists report out the answers, to find out why.

That blah introduction will continue for a bit longer. The 50-foot-tall tower lights, meant to operate from dusk till dawn since they were turned on in 2012, havent been on since about late August. The city hopes to turn the lights back on in late spring, said Darin Gatti, chief engineer and surveyor at the Philadelphia Streets Department.

Technical issues

Gatti said the programmable LED lights are normally turned off during extreme heat or cold to lengthen their lifespan. Hot weather forced a late-summer shutdown, and when the lights were turned back on, crews noticed some blank spots. The department decided to shut off the towers completely while it sought someone to do diagnostic, replacement, and upgrade work.

The expected lifespan of the lights is seven to 10 years, Gatti said. The bridge, which cost $67.4 million, opened in 2010.

>>CURIOUS PHILLY: Why some people get called for jury duty more than others

You know, televisions, computers, and stuff, theyre outdated in a matter of months and here we have something thats seven years old now, he said.

Gatti said that the department is finalizing a contract to get the work done.

Before they were turned off, the lights were programmed to display images such as the American flag, but Gatti hopes to get some new programs on the towers in the future, too.

The cost to get the lights back up and running should be $15,000 to $20,000, Gatti said.

Although its not really a gateway, you coming into the city from the south on the Schuylkill Expressway there, you see it. You know, OK, heres Philadelphia  youre here," he said. "So, it is a nice addition to the skyline at night.

Down below

If your early-morning run or bike ride down to Schuylkill Banks Boardwalk is in the dark during long winter days, blame nature.

The lights along the boardwalk are solar-powered. So its possible that a series of already-short, overcast days could prevent the battery packs from getting a full charge, leading them to potentially dim before sunrise, said Joseph Syrnick, president and CEO of the Schuylkill River Development Corp.

In the perfect world, they would stay on all night, and a perfect world would be a bright, sunny day, Syrnick said.

>>CURIOUS PHILLY: Why the statue of William Penn atop Phillys City Hall looks to the northeast

Anyone on the boardwalk who believes a light is out for reasons other than a series of cloudy days can reach out to the SRDC or the Parks and Recreation Department, which is responsible for the lights maintenance.

The decision to install solar-powered lights came largely from a disaster-response standpoint. If the boardwalk ever saw extreme flooding  as it did in 2014 while it was under construction  it would be easier to get to a battery pack at the top of the pole rather than navigate a boat or barge to get to hard-wired lighting, Syrnick said.

Those batteries would never be underwater, he said. Water ever gets that high, we got a lot bigger problems.
In his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend, President Donald Trump pledged to issue an executive order to protect campus free speech. Schools would be required to support free speech to receive federal research funding. No matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican, progressive or conservative, you should oppose this move. An order requiring higher education institutions to prove their commitment to free speech as a condition for funding is simply ideological bait for the presidents base, which will undermine the First Amendment rather than protect it.

Try to envision what this process would look like. The government would like to make sure that a certain campus is abiding by its vision of free speech. How will that be verified? Who will decide which campus is acting properly, and what will their criteria be? Will there be a direct reporting system to the government? This effort can quickly slide from an effort to defend the First Amendment into thought-police territory.

Trumps plan is not entirely new. Bills in some states have aimed to block student protests, even though protest is a form of protected speech. Some bills, including ones in Texas and Arizona, focus on censoring criticism of Israel. In Canada, the conservative provincial government in Ontario requires that universities develop free speech policies, leading most to endorse cookie-cutter policy that does little to change campus culture or practice.

 READ MORE: From snowflake students to outspoken professors: Why protecting campus speech matters | Opinion

Taken together, these steps might not be an effort to protect free speech, but rather an attempt to create environments that are more hospitable to certain ideas  notably conservative ones. In his speech, President Trump highlighted an altercation between two activists  neither of them students  on the Berkeley campus, during which the conservative activist was assaulted.

Such an incident is uncommon, and to a large extent irrelevant to the larger free speech debate, which typically involves peaceful exchanges. But its used as fodder for the claim that campuses are liberal bastions that attack and undermine conservative ideas and people.

On some campuses, conservative students feel that their views are underrepresented or shunned, and this is a concern campuses should address, as many already do. Conservative students  like all students  should feel valued and know that their contributions are assessed on merit and their voices heard. Campuses work to include and respond to various minorities, including those who deserve special protections, such as racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, or religious minorities. Ideology does not deserve the same protections, because it should remain a matter of independent choice and affiliation, not a fixed identity. But campuses can continue to do more to respond to claims of silencing from conservative students, too. There are just better ways to do so than threatening a thought police that will withhold funding based on vague, restrictive standards.

Instead, colleges can publicly set expectations for open dialogue, maintain public accountability through existing channels, and monitor themselves. If you look at the data, they are doing pretty well  for instance, efforts to disinvite or deplatform speakers are significantly down this year. There is surely room for improvement in the ways schools respond to speech challenges, such as bigotry expressed on campus or online, or rare instances of ideological biases that actually affect teaching. But higher educations commitment to free speech remains unwavering  its the means by which we conduct research, advance knowledge, and support students as they prepare for their jobs and civic roles. Executive actions based on bullying will do little to promote these goals.

Sigal Ben-Porath is professor of Education, Philosophy and Political Science at Penn, and author of Free Speech on Campus (Penn Press 2017).
Former Judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. (front, from left), who faced trial on criminal charges in the "kids-for-cash" kickback scheme, also are defendants in civil suits. Read more

Each new revelation about the abuse of children at the Glen Mills facility in Delaware County reminds me of another juvenile justice scandal that rocked Pennsylvania almost exactly 10 years ago  the Luzerne County Kids for Cash scandal. Kids for Cash shocked the Commonwealth for its brazen display of judicial greed and corruption at the expense of childrens constitutional rights.

As one of the lawyers who successfully redressed what happened to the children of Luzerne County, I urge Pennsylvanias state and county leaders to consider Pennsylvanias response to the Kids for Cash scandal as a guidepost for going forward. (In that case, two Luzerne County judges were imprisoned in a kickback scheme involving for-profit juvenile-detention centers.)

In addition to litigation initiated on behalf of the children, Pennsylvania established the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice to investigate after the federal criminal prosecution against then-Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan was disclosed in January 2009. Chaired by then-Superior Court Judge John M. Cleland, the commission was comprised of 11 individuals, each of whom was appointed by one of the three branches of state government, and included representatives from the judicial branch, victim advocates office, prosecutor and public defender services, and other state agencies.

Over a period of about 10 months in 2009, the commission heard from 70 witnesses, including experts from outside Pennsylvania, to gain an understanding of how a court system designed to serve and protect our children could be pulled so far off its mark. The testimony revealed how this court was perverted from an instrument of rehabilitation into a tool of repression of childrens most fundamental constitutional rights as well as a conduit for lining the pockets of two judges with nearly $3M of illegal income. Testimony also revealed other systemic lapses, including weak oversight by state and local agencies, tacit acceptance of day-to-day violations of childrens rights by public defenders and prosecutors, and an overall willingness to simply look the other way.

Similarities between the Glen Mills and Kids for Cash scandals demonstrate the need for a similar investigative body now. In both instances, the misconduct thrived on ignorance and intimidation. In a courtroom closed to the public to protect childrens confidentiality, the Luzerne County judges daily violations of the childrens rights to counsel and other due process protections escaped scrutiny. Parents and children alike were kept in the dark  not only about the exchange of millions of illicit dollars but through the courts failure to advise them of the very rights they were being denied. And those who bore witness to the constitutional abuses  prosecutors, public defenders, and other court officials who saw but failed to act  remained silent, and complicit, to protect their own livelihood. Weak judicial and executive branch oversight likewise failed the children of Luzerne County.

Similarly at Glen Mills, Lisa Gartners reporting indicates counseling and other staff at Glen Mills routinely stood by while children were beaten and abused. They saw but did not speak. And the pressure to stand silent in service of ones own financial well-being has played out at Glen Mills as well, as the reporting reveals a pattern of Glen Mills employees repeatedly yielding to demands to protect the violent culture that lies at the heart of the Glen Mills program. The abysmal failure of local and state children and youth agencies to scrutinize the Glen Mills program despite the filing of many incident reports of abuse over the years, as well as the persistent rumors of a fight club culture there, is simply inexcusable.

The final report of the Luzerne County Interbranch Commission contained dozens of recommendations to prevent similar abuses in the future. Many led to concrete reforms, from revamping judicial ethics procedures to enhanced training curricula for prosecutors to a legislative package that, among other things, barred childrens waiver of counsel, expanded childrens appeal rights, tightened procedures for removing children from their homes, and broadened expungement of juvenile court records.

Ten years after the Kids for Cash scandal, Pennsylvania is once again the subject of national headlines about its scandalous juvenile justice system. A robust and transparent state-level investigation of Kids for Cash allowed Pennsylvania to emerge from that scandal with a reform package that positioned it to once again serve as a leader in juvenile justice reform. Then as now, the state must lead the way. The states legislative, executive. and judicial branches must come together to protect our children.

Marsha Levick is the chief legal officer at Juvenile Law Center.
The Downtown Aquarium in Houston features dining among several giant aquariums, shark tunnel tours, a white tiger exhibit, a 100-foot Ferris wheel, plus fun and games - all with a magnificent view of the downtown skyline. Read more

When Amazon decided to locate its second headquarters in New York, it cited the supposed advantages of the citys talent base. Now that progressive politicians have chased Amazon out of town, the tech booster chorus has been working overtime to prove that Gotham, and other big, dense, expensive cities, are destined to become tech towns anyway, because of their young, motivated labor pools. That argument may sound great to New York Times readers or on local talk shows, but it is increasingly untrue.

In fact, as a new Brookings study shows, millennials are not moving en masse to metros with dense big cities, but away from them. According to demographer Bill Frey, the 2013 to 2017 American Community Survey shows that New York now suffers the largest net annual out-migration of postcollege millennials (ages 25 to 34) of any metro area  some 38,000 annually  followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Diego. New Yorks losses are 75 percent higher than during the previous five-year period.

By contrast, the biggest winner is Houston, a metro area that many planners and urban theorists regard with contempt. The Bayou City gained nearly 15,000 millennials net last year, while other big gainers included Dallas  Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, which gained 12,700 and 9,000, respectively. Last year, according to a Texas Realtors report, a net 22,000 Californians moved to the Lone Star State.

The other top metros for millennials were Phoenix; Nashville, Tenn.; and Charlotte, N.C., as well as four relatively expensive areas: Seattle, Denver, Portland, Ore., and Riverside  San Bernardino, Calif. The top 20 magnets include Midwest locales, such as Minneapolis  St. Paul, Columbus, and Kansas City, all areas where average house prices, adjusted for incomes, are half or less than those in California, and at least one-third less than in New York.

Perhaps even more significant has been the geographic shift within metro areas. The media frequently has exaggerated millennial growth in the urban cores. In reality, nearly 80 percent of millennial population growth since 2010 has been in the suburbs. Even in the Bay Area, the tech industrys global epicenter, suburban Silicon Valley has continued to grow its STEM base rapidly, while San Francisco recently has seen rapid slowdown in tech jobs. Perhaps density, massive homelessness, and filthy and disorderly streets, not to mention unaffordable living costs, lose their appeal as couples contemplate childbearing.

Dense, high-priced cities attract young people straight from college, but they have trouble keeping them there. Some of the best and brightest still migrate to superstar cities, but many dont stay long. The average resident in the downtown areas so popular with postcollege millennials has lived in the same house for about 2.4 years, compared with seven or more years in the suburbs and exurbs.

Urbanists faith in the inevitable appeal of major cities to high-end businesses, notably in tech, may be questionable. New York, for example, is not remotely the tech center that outlets like the Times suggest; according to estimates from the economic consultancy ESRI, its share of computer-related jobs barely equals the national average, well below even such unheralded spots as Dallas  Fort Worth or Columbus, Ohio. Tech workers, and the capital to finance them, may come to Manhattan or San Francisco, but the growth of these industries is slower than in places like Austin; Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; or Orlando, Fla.

Like all geographies, core cities must compete for businesses. The prosperity of urban cores demands favorable business climates. Core cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco, may be exciting for recent college graduates or tourists, but they still need affordable standards of living and strong economic and educational environments to attract and retain the young families critical to their long-term growth. A middle class cannot be sustained by only elite workers. Politically, a city with a shrinking middle class, as we see in many superstar cities, will exhibit evermore radical politics as the young single population and poor dominate the electorate. The political problems evident in New York have surfaced in other pricey regions. Even in world-class tech center Seattle, a city council-imposed homeless tax on large corporations had to be repealed when Amazon responded by stopping construction on a downtown office tower.

The imperative is not to increase subsidies for favored companies, as New York tried to do with Amazon, but to address the basic conditions  taxes, public safety, schools, housing  that ultimately determine long-term economic growth. No amount of subsidy can make up for these failings. The road to enhanced growth lies in addressing the very issues most urban politicians like to avoid.

Joel Kotkin is the presidential fellow in urban futures at Chapman University and executive director of the Center for Opportunity Urbanism. His latest book is The Human City: Urbanism for the Rest of Us. Wendell Cox is the principal of Demographia, a public-policy consultancy, and a senior fellow at the Center for Opportunity Urbanism. This piece originally appeared in City Journal.
Sarah Rose, left, with the Virginia Aquarium Stranding Response Team begins a necropsy on a dead dolphin at the Virginia Aquarium Marine Animal Care Center, in Virginia Beach, Va., on Aug. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot,L. Todd Spencer) Read more

Imagine what it would be like to live with blasts as loud as a rocket going off every 10 seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for several months.

Thats what sea mammals will endure if lawsuits from coastal states and environmental groups arent successful in stopping President Donald Trumps reckless plans to allow off shore oil exploration in the Atlantic Ocean.

Oil and gas companies use seismic air guns which blast air into the ocean floor to find deposits of oil or natural gas. The blasts are especially dangerous to whales and dolphins because can cause deafness. These animals rely on sound to communicate, navigate, and find food. If they cant hear, they cant navigate, and cant eat. Environmentalists say thousands could die if seismic testing is allowed.

Studies also have found that the blasts lower the amount of zooplankton, essential to the food chain, not just for sea animals but eventually for humans. And, catch rates for fish also decline in areas where air guns are shooting, even when the blasts are as far as 20 miles away.

Fortunately, a handful of coastal states including New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and New York, as well as environmental groups are suing to stop this violent attack on marine animals and plants. Several members of Congress including Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D., N.J.) and Chris Smith (R., N.J.) have also sponsored legislation to stop it.

Beyond the danger to sea animals, seismic testing could harm the economy. In New Jersey, tourism along the coast is a $43 billion industry which provides 500,000 jobs a year; that surely will be impacted if dead animals start washing up on shore. The $7.9 billiion fishing industry produces more than 50,000 jobs.

Worse of all, seismic testing leads to oil and gas drilling when the nation is already too invested in fossil fuels. New Jersey has been successful in creating a buffer zone that discourages drilling, but that doesnt preclude the seismic surveys. Instead of coddling the oil and gas industry, the Trump administration should be encouraging clean energy. In a report last year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said nations have only 12 years to slow down the negative effects of climate change.

The United States already is experiencing more frequent and intensely devastating floods in the East, droughts in the Midwest and fires in the West. The UN report says it will only get worse if no action is taken.

Our country lags in fighting the effects of global warming when it should be leading the charge.

The Trump administrations own National Climate Assessment, released last year, noted that more people will die prematurely and suffer from respiratory ailments if climate change remains unaddressed. The president said he didnt believe his own report.

The Trump administration is unlikely to pull its head out of the sand, which makes the courts and Congress the best hopes for stopping seismic blasting. Call your representatives and tell them to stop seismic testing before dead dolphins wash up on our beaches and local economies are destroyed.
John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty, leader of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, takes the mic during a protest outside of a nonunion construction site on Race Street in Philadelphia. Read more

Todays topic is an appeal of a state court ruling that shouldnt be appealed.

It involves, PennDot, John Johnny Doc Dougherty, his brother, state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty, and union money, all in a jumble of politics and policy.

Its more a mixed mosaic than a clear picture. But it doesnt look good.

It stems from litigation over a $20 million, multiyear PennDot project in Montgomery County -- improvements to Norristowns Markley Street, which is Route 202, to improve travel through the county seat.

At issue is a PennDot bid solicitation, originally issued in August 2017, that includes a project labor agreement (PLA) with the Building and Construction Council of Philadelphia and Vicinity, run by Doc, mandating that contractors hire union labor for the projects second phase.

It was the first time PennDot ever sought a PLA for any project. The first phase was done ahead of schedule and on budget without a PLA.

So, some contractors protested. Called PennDots actions arbitrary and unlawful. And when PennDot stuck to its guns, they appealed to state Commonwealth Court, arguing, in part, the PLA violates state competitive-bidding laws.

Commonwealth Court agreed in January and ruled unanimously against PennDot in two near-identical cases brought by contractors. The court threw out the PLA and canceled the bid solicitation.

PennDot is appealing to the state Supreme Court.

Now to some dicey bits.

Doc is under a 116-count federal indictment, charged with public corruption, making false statements, and stealing union funds. He has pleaded not guilty.

He remains head of the trades council, which would benefit from a PLA, and still runs IBEW Local 98, which is part of the council, along with bricklayers, carpenters and others.

Local 98 is also a huge statewide political force thanks to generous (as in six- and seven-figure) campaign financial support given to key state pols and judges.

These include Gov. Tom Wolf and Justice Dougherty, more than $1 million each.

Justice Dougherty would have to recuse himself from this case, a reminder of the undue influence of money in electing state judges (which we shouldnt be doing).

PennDot Secretary Leslie Richards, a Wolf appointee, got union money, including from IBEW, for her successful campaign for Montgomery County commissioner in 2011, according to Inquirer reporting at that time.

Also, part of PennDots argument for a PLA is a report it contracted for with Keystone Research Center, a Harrisburg-based, labor-linked think tank.

Wolf, as a private citizen, served for a decade on Keystones board of directors, 1997-2007.

The courts ruling killing the PLA said the Keystone report, Did not justify the PLA because it did not identify any extraordinary circumstances surrounding the Markley Street Project that warrants its use.

The project is on hold.

The basics of this -- why a PLA now, why one tied to a union boss generous to Democrats in and out of the administration who happens to be under indictment  were raised briefly at a state House Appropriations Committee hearing last week when Secretary Richards was questioned by state Rep. Seth Grove (R., York).

She confirmed that this is PennDots first proposed PLA and that the Commonwealth Court ruling against it is under appeal to the state Supreme Court.

She told Grove other states have success with PLAs. She said of this one, It might save us a lot of money, it might be a bad idea for us in Pennsylvania.  We dont know. And, so, I thought it was worth trying.

Which hardly sounds like a ringing endorsement.

A PennDot spokesperson declined comment, citing litigation.

Grove tells me hes not saying PLAs are good or bad but that PennDot should scrap this one: If they want to try one, try one in, I dont know, Pittsburgh, as far away from Doc as possible.

I agree. Nothing against unions -- I belong to one, the NewsGuild of Greater Philadelphia. Nothing against labor agreements.

There are arguments for PLAs: provide high-quality workers, get work done on time, make big projects easier to manage under one contract.

There are arguments against PLAs: unfair to nonunion contractors and workers, anti-competitive for those who wont bid because their employees could be forced to join a union.

But theres no argument about the optics of this one. Theyre bad. They can further erode trust in government and politics in a state where confidence in public service already needs major reconstruction.

I dont suggest Wolf, Justice Dougherty or Richards are or have been influenced by political contributions. I suggest they do all in their power to avoid that appearance.

The appeal should be withdrawn.
The team store at Citizens Bank Park immediately began selling Bryce Harper merchandise after his introduction on Saturday. So many jerseys were sold, it broke a record. Read more

Phillies fans clamoring to celebrate the signing of Bryce Harper helped make history this weekend.

Fanatics announced record-breaking sales in the 24 hours after the free-agent acquisition was made official. More people bought Harpers No. 3 than any players jersey launch in any sport.

Fanatics also said sales of Phillies merchandise are up more than 5,000 percent compared to the beginning of March last season.

In Philadelphia, fans were able to purchase Harper jerseys at the team store at Citizens Bank Park as early as Saturday afternoon.

David Freireich, a spokesman for Aramark, which manages the team store, said the company worked overnight to coordinate the production and delivery of jerseys, shirts and hats to South Philly.

Fanatics said they began producing Harper jerseys at their plant in Easton as soon as the news became official.

The Phillies said Sunday that they have sold more than 10,000 spring-training tickets since Harper news broke. They have 11 more games at Spectrum Field in Clearwater before they head back north for the March 28 season opener vs. the Braves.

And back in Philly, about 100,000 regular-season Phillies tickets were sold on Thursday, the day the news of Harper signing broke.

It was awesome, said John Weber, the teams senior vice president of ticket operations. Weve never sold that many tickets in a single day.
In this Feb. 5, 2019 photo, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., arrives for President Donald Trump's State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington. Omars latest remarks about Israel are prompting House Democrats to draft a resolution condemning anti-Semitism. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Read more

(Bloomberg)  House leaders are planning a vote as soon as Wednesday on a resolution to condemn anti-Semitism, a senior Democratic aide said, after a series of controversies involving remarks made by first-term Representative Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

The resolution was crafted over the weekend by staff for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Representatives Eliot Engel of New York, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Ted Deutch of Florida, the aide said.

The text of the resolution isnt settled, the aide said, and its unclear whether it will mention Omar specifically. A second Democratic aide said no final decisions have been made.

The Minneapolis-area Democrat, one of two Muslim women elected to Congress in November, has faced numerous accusations of using anti-Semitic rhetoric, most recently after she reportedly took aim at the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country, referring to Israel.

Omar has been sparring on Twitter with both Republicans and fellow Democrats, including Representative Nita Lowey of New York, over her remarks about Israels government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Although theres been a push by some in the Democratic Partys left wing to change U.S. policy toward Israel, many Democrats and Republicans have criticized Omar for repeating anti-Semitic tropes in some of her statements. She recently apologized for a tweet that critics said furthered stereotypes about Jews and money.

Its unacceptable and deeply offensive to call into question the loyalty of fellow American citizens because of their political views, including support for the U.S.-Israel relationship, Engel, who chairs the House Foreign Relations Committee and is Jewish, said recently. This episode is especially disappointing following so closely on another instance of Ms. Omar seeming to invoke an anti-Semitic stereotype.

Both parties have been hit by allegations of using charged rhetoric. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, deleted a tweet last fall after he was accused of anti-Semitism for singling out three Jewish Democratic donors as trying to BUY this election. Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio was accused of anti-Semitism by Nadler for a tweet saying Nadler was supporting Democratic donor and activist Tom $teyers conclusion on impeaching President Donald Trump.

In another recent instance of a representatives words drawing rebuke, the House voted in January for a resolution that said it rejects white nationalism and white supremacy as hateful expressions of intolerance, in response to remarks made by Iowa Republican Steve King. That resolution didnt name King, but his fellow Republicans stripped him of committee assignments.

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, in Hanoi. At front right is Kim Yong Chol, a North Korean senior ruling party official and former intelligence chief. At left is national security adviser John Bolton. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) Read more

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump is suggesting that a congressional hearing Democrats arranged with his former personal attorney may have contributed to his failure to reach a summit deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump left his summit in Vietnam with the North Korean leader last week without reaching an agreement after Trump said he wasn't willing to give in to Kim's demand to lift U.S. sanctions at this time. He lashed out at Democrats in a tweet on Sunday, criticizing their decision to hold the hearing featuring his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, while he was overseas.

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk,'" Trump tweeted. "Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!"

While in Vietnam, Trump was unhappy that Democrats had scheduled the Cohen hearing to occur during the summit, believing it was an attempt to counter-program and distract, according to two Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

But after returning to Washington, and seeing the largely negative media reaction to the summit, including about his answer about the death of college student Otto Warmbier, Trump went a step further. He seized upon an idea being floated on the right, including by his eldest son Don Jr. on social media, that the Democrats' hearing was not just a distraction, but a deliberate attempt to undermine the negotiations in Hanoi, according to the Republicans.

The president complained to one confidant that the hearing made him "look weak" to Kim Jong Un, as did a reporter's shouted question about the Cohen matter in front of the North Korean leader.

Trump has said he ended the negotiations because Kim was demanding that all sanctions would be lifted, but observers note that the president has long been eager to find a scapegoat to blame for a perceived failure and has not been shy to question the patriotism of his political opponents.

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about why the hearing would have contributed to Trump's decision not to accept Kim's terms or whether members of the North Korean negotiating team indicated they were aware of the Cohen news coverage in the U.S.

As Trump wrapped up his trip to the summit last week, he complained that Democrats had scheduled the hearing at the same time as his negotiations. He described it as a "fake hearing" and said having it in the middle of this "very important summit" was "really a terrible thing." Trump said they could have held it a few days later and had more time to prepare.

During the House Oversight Committee hearing, Cohen, who has turned on Trump and has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress earlier to protect Trump, was harshly critical of his former boss, calling him a racist, a con man and a cheat.

In his Sunday talk show appearances, National Security Adviser John Bolton described the summit as a success despite the lack of an agreement providing for verifiable dismantling of the North's nuclear sites. Bolton, in three television interviews, tried to make the case that Trump advanced America's national security interests by rejecting a bad agreement while working to persuade Kim to take "the big deal that really could make a difference for North Korea."

Bolton said Trump has "turned traditional diplomacy on its head, and after all in the case of North Korea, why not? Traditional diplomacy has failed in the last three administrations."

An example of that non-traditional diplomacy was formally unveiled Sunday when South Korea and the U.S. announced they would not conduct massive springtime military drills and were replacing them with smaller exercises. They described it as an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Trump on Monday complained about how that decision was covered in the media, tweeting: "The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un of NK_FAKE NEWS! I made that decision long ago because it costs the U.S. far too much money to have those "games", especially since we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost!"

The U.S. and North Korea have offered contradictory accounts of why last week's summit in Vietnam broke down, though both have pointed to western sanctions as a sticking point.

___

Lemire reported from New York
Stone Harbor beach at 104th with lots of erosion as a nor'easter comes up the coast. Read more

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a sweeping report Friday on back bay flooding in New Jersey that singles out climate change as a significant contributor and says coastal communities face a combined average of nearly $1.6 billion a year in damage in the future if steps arent taken.

The report, called the New Jersey Back Bays Coastal Storm Risk Management Study, analyzes engineering, economic, social and environmental issues surrounding flooding in the back bays, defined as tidal waterways located landward of the Atlantic Ocean coast in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic, Burlington, and Cape May Counties. In all, its a 950-square-mile area that includes 3,400 miles of shoreline.

Though attention is often focused on tourist-filled areas facing the ocean, New Jerseys other shorelines have been a problem spot for flooding. The study was conducted and paid for by the U.S. Army Corps Philadelphia office and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. It presents preliminary findings on potential plans to manage tidal flooding and storm surge.

Further vulnerability to coastal storms and the potential for future, more devastating events due to changing sea level and climate change is significant, the report states. Rising sea levels represent an inexorable process causing numerous, significant water resource problems.

The report comes at a time when the Trump administration, according to published reports, is seeking to arrange a panel that would look at whether climate change is even a threat. A Feb. 14 White House memo laid out a plan to create a 12-member committee, which would include Princeton professor William Happer, a longtime critic of the consensus among climate scientists that carbon dioxide emitted by fossil fuels is causing climate change.

Regardless, the Army Corps report includes sections on both climate change and sea level rise. New Jersey is faced with a double whammy: Its land is naturally sinking because of geology and other factors, while the ocean is rising because higher temperatures are melting Arctic ice.

The report includes possible solutions, such as installing storm surge barriers, tide gates, levees, and flood walls. It also makes other suggestions, such as raising homes, restoring marshes, and creating living shorelines, which are made up of native vegetation or other natural alternatives.

For example, the authors found that surge barriers might be viable for Manasquan Inlet, Barnegat Inlet, Absecon Inlet, and Great Egg Harbor Inlet. But they might not be viable at the Little Egg Inlet between Long Beach and Brigantine Islands, or the Hereford Inlet in North Wildwood because the benefits might be limited compared with the costs.

Preliminary results show that flood walls and levees could work in Cape May City, West Cape May, Wildwood Island, West Wildwood Island, Stone Harbor, Avalon, Sea Isle City, Ocean City, Absecon Island, Brigantine Island, Long Beach Island, and just north of Manasquan Inlet.

But flood walls and barriers could have negative environmental consequences on wetlands and could be visually unappealing. The report said a more detailed examination of alternatives will be conducted in the future. No construction would begin until after the final report is due in 2022.

The report says that, based on state data, global sea levels are rising at a rate of 3.5 millimeters a year (less than an inch), but have risen about eight inches since the Industrial Revolution. The East Coast is experiencing higher rates. By 2080, water levels along the New Jersey coast are projected to increase by 1.15 to 4.02 feet.

It is anticipated that the study area will continue to experience damage from coastal storms, and that the damage may increase as a result of more intense storm events, the report states, noting that shorelines are changing in response to sea-level rise, and erosion will accelerate.

If nothing is done to address climate change, the report states, the 84 communities included in the back bays study area could collectively see $1.57 billion in average annual damage between 2030 and 2080, based on an intermediate rate of sea level rise. However, threats can be lessened if steps are taken, such as installing barriers and flood walls, but those are potentially costly.

Atlantic City is projected to have the highest average annual damage at nearly $324 million. Its followed by Ocean City at almost $220 million.

The findings come on the heels of a separate report released last week by First Street Foundation and Columbia University, saying that among the East Coast, sea level rises impact will be biggest on property values in New Jersey shore towns.
Hulu's "Fyre Fraud" shows the disaster-relief tents that were to serve as the luxury "villas" for Fyre Festival in the Bahamas in April 2017. The festival was canceled even as attendees were arriving. Read more

It was like FOMO catnip: an island paradise in the Bahamas, beloved musical headliners, private jet transportation, and luxurious villa accommodations, supermodels frolicking with swimming pigs on social media.

But, as we learned in 2017 and have been reminded by two recent documentaries about the Fyre Festival (Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened on Netflix and Fyre Fraud on Hulu), sometimes a little skepticism is in order instead of just Fear of Missing Out.

Whether this was a planned scam or just ineptness of beginner event planners, its not entirely clear, says Katherine Hutt, national spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau. But what is clear is that people should not have trusted somebody with that kind of record with that amount of money.

Though its easy to look back at the Fyre Festival and see all the red flags, the truth is that questionable travel deals, overhyped events, and even travel hoaxes happen all the time  and they do not always make headlines. In 2017, the most recent year for which data are available, consumers filed 22,264 complaints about travel and timeshare fraud with the Federal Trade Commission.

To avoid getting burned by events like Fyre Fest, Hutt and other experts shared some steps consumers can take.

Do your research

If a company  whether it is a hotel, airline, vacation website, festival, or other entity  has been around for a while, do a quick search on it on sites like the Better Business Bureau (BBB.org) and its states attorney generals office to check for any complaints. Hutt says that when she researches a business, she will also look up its information in the ICANN WHOIS database, which has information about who registered a domain name or IP address.

If she learns that the site is brand new or sees that the owners name is hidden, that could be of concern. It takes a little sleuthing, says Hutt. But a brand-new domain name is a good indication of when something is potentially a scam.

Peter John, author of the book Around the World in 80 Scams: An Essential Travel Guide, suggests adding the word scam to your Google search. "If you can find the name of the website linked to the word scam online, it may be a scam itself," he says. "You may be able to find other peoples experiences of being scammed, and they can be a warning to you."

If a "deal" is coming to you, put your guard up

If you are being solicited for some kind of special, whether a vacation package or a timeshare, be careful, says Mamie Kresses, senior attorney in the FTCs division of advertising practices. You need to just have a high level of skepticism, she says. Kresses recommends finding out the name of the company behind the deal and making sure it is a reputable business.

And, she says, when you visit a website, make sure it is the brand you think it is. If youre going to a particular hotel or a particular cruise line, just be careful, look closely, make sure youre actually on the website of the company that you are intending to be on, says Kresses. A lot of websites look alike, and some unscrupulous businesses may make their websites look like a name brand to garner your attention and your money.

Always pay with a credit card

Never hand over a check, money order, or cash when booking travel. If a travel purchase turns out to be fraudulent, your credit card company may be able to offer a layer of protection. Its not a guarantee, but at least you have a recourse to challenge the charge when you use a credit card, says Kresses.

She adds that you should not share your credit card information until you are certain of what you are getting and you have decided you want to make the purchase.

A picture is worth 1,000 scams

Maybe you are looking at a photo of a stunning condo on a sugar-sand beach, or an image of a booze cruise on which young and beautiful people are having the time of their lives, or a picture of a fun run in the dark in which runners are alight in neon.

Whatever it is, do not automatically trust that the photo is legitimate. Hutt  who has seen all the above examples in scam form  suggests doing a reverse-image search before buying anything online. To research an image, click on the image, save it to the desktop, and then drop it into images.google.com. If you see that the same condo has been listed in several different geographical locations, your scam alarm should be sounding.

Reverse image is so easy  I would recommend it for everything, says Hutt. Anytime youre buying something from somebody you dont know, thats a good step to take.

Make sure there is a phone number to call

If something goes awry in your plans, you will want to have a human you can talk to. "If the only way to contact them is an online form, or if its just a generic email address, thats a red flag," says Hutt.

Additionally, if you are unsure about something, find a way to verify the deal before booking. That might mean calling the actual venue where a festival is scheduled, or checking with an airline or hotel that is mentioned in a travel deal. Verify by phone whatever you can to be sure that the offer is legitimate and that you will have a way to contact someone if you need to later.

Trust your instinct

If there are any red flags at all, just back off, says Hutt. Be especially aware of any phrases that make you feel like you need to act quickly, like limited time offer, the deadlines approaching, two-for-one deal. All of those things that we see in legitimate sales we also see scammers using, says Hutt. The idea of creating scarcity or creating urgency  those are stock in trade for scammers.

Be prepared to make a stink if it all goes south

If you cannot get the response you want from a customer service representative at a company, John suggests contacting it through social media or by going to the media. "I have found that customer-facing organizations, such as ticket providers or airlines, are very careful about their public images," he says. "They will often give you your money back if you can get a newspaper to raise your case with them."

Plus, by reaching out, speaking out, and making your experience a part of the public record  whether it is about a vacation rental scam or a certain fated music festival  you might also be able to help someone else avoid getting bamboozled.
Unless you are part of Britain's National Health Service system, clinics do not accept new patients. Read more

We met someone recently who told us about a frustrating experience trying to get health care while on vacation in England who was glad we dont have that kind of system in the United States.

Is seeking health care more difficult overseas? It depends on how you approach it.

Last fall while visiting London, Larissa developed a severe stomachache that persisted for more than a week. Over-the-counter remedies were no help; it was clear she needed to see a doctor.

We were staying in a vacation rental in a residential neighborhood, so we thought it would be a simple matter of phoning the local doctor and getting the first available appointment. Not so.

Most medical practices in Britain are affiliated with the National Health Service, and unless you are part of that system, it does not accept new patients. These offices referred Larissa to an emergency clinic at the local hospital, where she waited nearly three hours to see a (rather harried) physician, who offered some possible causes of the pain.

We didnt pay for these services, but because Larissa wasnt part of the NHS system, the doctor was authorized to treat only the immediate symptoms; she could not order any tests or refer Larissa to another doctor. Larissa left frustrated with a stopgap prescription for omeprazole (which was available over the counter anyway).

But the doctors parting words offered a ray of hope: See if you can get into a private clinic.

With that suggestion, Larissa searched the internet for private/travel clinic, London and promptly found a listing for the Fleet Street Clinic. With one phone, call she secured an appointment with a doctor for the next day, underwent lab tests to rule out an infection, and got a prescription for medication to alleviate her pain until we returned to the United States several weeks later.

She did have to pay out of pocket for these services, the equivalent of about $130. But we got quick, professional, and complete service, which in the grand scheme of our trip didnt seem that expensive.

Navigating any health system is a complex process and even trickier in a country you dont know. Many countries that have government-operated systems also have parallel private medical care. (The analogy is similar to Medicare and supplemental health coverage). If you fall ill while traveling in another country, you might want seek care in a private clinic right away.

In a future column, we will address medical coverage for longer stays outside the U.S.

Philadelphia natives Larissa and Michael Milne have been global nomads since 2011. Follow their journey at ChangesInLongitude.com
A shopper unloads her grocery cart as the snow began to fall at the ShopRite on Route 70 in Cherry Hill. Read more

A winter storm that dumped around six inches of snow north and west of Philadelphia and hardly anything to points farther east has moved out to sea, leaving behind a varying range of impacts. At Philadelphia International Airport, the official measurement was one inch. Heres the latest of what you need to know.

Schools

Philadelphia public schools opened two hours late. Archdiocese of Philadelphia schools in the city are closed. Outside the city, most of the schools in the Pennsylvania suburbs opened late, with an occasional closure. In South Jersey, it appears most schools opened on time but some were delayed. 6ABC has a full list.

Mass Transit

SEPTA: Regional Rail lines are operating on an enhanced Saturday schedule, with extra trains for the afternoon commute on the Lansdale/Doylestown, Manayunk/Norristown, Media/Elwyn, Paoli/Thorndale, Trenton, Warminster, West Trenton, and Wilmington/Newark Lines. Cynwyd Line service is not operating.

Amtrak: Service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg is suspended due to issues with the overhead catenary wires west of the Elizabethtown, Pa., station.

PATCO: Trains are operating on a regular schedule.

Driving

Conditions vary based on location. Roadways are wet in South Jersey and in Philadelphia. They are slushy and possibly icy north and west of the city.

Standing water could become a problem with temperatures expected to dip below freezing Monday night.

At least one fatal crash occurred during the height of the storm Sunday, though it wasnt immediately clear what role the weather conditions played.

Air Travel

No major problems. Some flights to areas affected by the weather have been canceled. Check your airline for flight status information.

Weather

The snow has ended but the region is in for an extended taste of winter this week, thanks to below-normal temperatures.

After a high of around 40 degrees Monday, the thermometer will not get above freezing until Friday, and even then it will be only about 36. Overnight lows will be in the mid-teens except Wednesday night, when it is forecast to dip to 9 degrees. Wind chills will be about 10 degrees lower than the air temperature.

Normal daytime highs this time of year are in the upper 40s.

The sun will shine throughout the week until Friday, when clouds move in.
Despite the emotional and financial toll that her personal hardships have taken on Anna, she is trying to embrace the true meaning of Christmas spirit by doing all she can to bring joy to her children while being so grateful...
Sunday Briefing: 2gbenz Secures Second Six-Figure Score in Three Months

March 04, 2019 Matthew Pitt

Mexicos 2gbenz secured their second-six-figure score in less than three months over at Natural8 poker with both massive sums being awarded for winning a $10,000 buy-in event. The Mexico-based grinder took down a $300,000 guaranteed High Roller Weekend Main Event on Dec. 31 for $143,560 and this weekend netted $140,687 in a similar tournament!

Natural8 Sunday Blade $10K

Date March 3rd Buy-in $10,000 Guarantee $200,000 Entrants 34 Prize pool $329,800 ITM 5

Thirty-four players bought into the Natural8 Sunday Blade $10K on Mar. 3, smashing the $200,000 guarantee by $129,800. Only the top five finishers received prize money, with a min-cash being worth $20,730.

Last weeks Sunday Blade $10K champion was Canadian superstar FkTheseGuysBro. He followed up that victory with a fifth-place finish in this latest $10,000 buy-in affair.

Mexico-based grinder carsonwentz busted in fourth-place to lock up $32,934 with Lithuanias LaurisL91 seeing his tournament end in third-place, a finish good for $52,322.

This left AceKing41 of Canada and 2gbanez to lock horns heads-up with $57,562 being the difference between first and second-place. AceKing41 eventualy collected $83,125 when they fell in second-place and 2gbenz banked $140,687 for their victory.

Place Player Country Prize 1 2gbenz Mexico $140,687 2 AceKing41 Canada $83,125 3 LaurisL91 Lithuania $52,322 4 carsonwentz Mexico $32,934 5 FkTheseGuysBro Canada $20,730

Natural8 Sunday Blade $2.5K

Date March 3rd Buy-in $2,500 Guarantee $75,000 Entrants 62 Prize pool $147,250 ITM 8

The Natural8 Sunday Blade $2.5K attracted a field of 62 entries who created a $147,250 prize pool that was almost double the advertised guarantee. The final table of eight all received prizes worth between $5,399 and $45,754.

Perhaps the highest profile poker player at the eight-handed final table was Ukraines Roman SanityWaterline Romanovskiy who has enjoyed plenty of success at Natural8 of late. The Ukrainian continued his solid run at the site with a fifth-place finish worth $12,468.

Sense8 was the next to fall, the Austrian walking away with $16,480. They were followed to the rail by another Austrian in the shape of DanBiz who scooped a $21,784 prize.

Second-place went to ImLividBuddy who took $28,793 back to Thailand, which left Hungarys PokerBluff1 to be awarded the $45,754 first-place prize.

Place Player Country Prize 1 PokerBluff1 Hungary $45,754 2 ImLividBuddy Thailand $28,793 3 DanBiz Austria $21,784 4 Sense8 Austria $16,480 5 Roman SanityWaterline Romanovskiy Ukraine $12,468 6 bh9999 UNited Kingdom $9,433 7 MiMosa1 Finland $7,136 8 nbvcxz Mexico $5,399

PokerStars $109 Sunday Million

Date March 3rd Buy-in $109 Guarantee $1,000,000 Entrants 11,525 Prize pool $1,152,500 ITM 2,042

A massive field of 11,525 entries were processed in the PokerStars Sunday Million this weekend, creating a $1,152,500 prize pool divided up among the top 2,042 finishers.

The lions share of this incredible sum found its way into the PokerStars account of Lucky_Jew_17 who secured a $117,222 payday after defeating Iv Run of China heads-up for the title; Iv Run netted a still respectable $85,061.

All but one of the nine players at the final table won a five-figure score. Ninth-place finisher Openshoves85 banked $9,016. Brazilian Carlos CDOSSANTOS95 Dos Santos being the eighth-place finishers for $12,424.

The prize money kept on rising with Waulker, Vera15 and igor12345673 falling in succession to turn their $109 buy-ins into scores of $17,120, $23,591 and $32,509 respectively.

Fourth-place and a cool $44,796 was awarded to Ukraines SoEzForMe before BigStick91 busted in third-place for $61,729.

Place Player Country Prize 1 Lucky_Jew_17 Russia $117,222 2 Iv Run China $85,061 3 BigStick91 Canada $61,729 4 SoEzForMe Ukraine $44,796 5 igor12345673 Ukraine $32,509 6 Vera15 Sweden $23,591 7 Waulker Canada $17,120 8 Carlos CDOSSANTOS95 Dos Santos Brazil $12,424 9 Openshoves85 United Kingdom $9,016

PokerStars $2,100 Sunday High Roller

Date March 3rd Buy-in $2,100 Guarantee $200,000 Entrants 135 Prize pool $270,000 ITM 17

We love checking out the results of the $2,100 Sunday High Roller because it is one of the tournaments where any of the entrants could win it as they are pokers elite grinders.

UK-based Norwegian Preben prebz Stokkan was the first casualty of the final table, his ninth-place finish securing a $7,269 prize. Stokkan was joined on the sidelines by Simon C.Darwin2 Mattson ($9,397), Dominik Bounatirou Nitsche ($12,147), and Russias Viktor papan9_p$ Ustimov ($15,702).

Albania may not be known for being a poker hub but kufungua put their country on the map with a fifth-place finish worth $20,297 before Conor 1_conor_b_1 Beresford fell in fourth-spot for a $26,237 addition to his bankroll.

Another UK-based poker player, Juan Malaka$tyle Pardo, collected $33,916 for his third-place exit, leaving two Russians to butt heads for the top prize.

hello_totti is one of the best online poker tournaments of their generation, but even the mighty have to be the bridesmaid sometimes. Hello_totti busted in second-place for $43,842, leaving fellow Russian DRONCHEK to bask in the glory of victory along with $56,673 in prize money.

Place Player Country Prize 1 DRONCHEK Russia $56,673 2 hello_totti Russia $43,842 3 Juan Malaka$tyle Pardo United Kingdom $33,916 4 Conor 1_conor_b_1 Beresford Netherlands $26,237 5 kufungua Albania $20,297 6 Viktor papan9_p$ Ustimov Russia $15,702 7 Dominik Bounatirou Nitsche United Kingdom $12,147 8 Simon C.Darwin2 Mattsson Sweden $9,397 9 Preben prebz Stokkan United Kingdom $7,269

Juan Malaka$tyle Pardo finished third for $33,916

partypoker Sunday High Roller Gladiator: $200K Gtd

Date March 3rd Buy-in $2,100 Guarantee $200,000 Entrants 134 Prize pool $274,700 ITM 20

The partypoker Sunday High Roller Gladiator: $200K Gtd attracted a field of 134 entrants who were all outlasted by Croatian pro SouhftfW. Partypoker make the first and second-place prizes of their PKO events almost the same, leaving the heads-up duo to fight for the substantial bounty payments instead.

And substantial they were because when CrazyLissy of Russia saw their tournament come to an abrupt end in second-place, they netted $6,119 worth of bounties in addition to their $23,631, but SouhftfW walked away with $23,658 from the main prize pool and an astonishing $51,564 worth of bounty payments!

Shout-out to FkTheseGuysBro who reached this final table on the same day as the Natural8 Sunday Blade $10K; this result being worth a combined $8,494.

Place Player Country Prize Bounty Prize Total Prize 1 SouhftfW Croatia $23,658 $51,564 $75,222 2 CrazyLissy Russia $23,631 $6,119 $29,750 3 Maddonaa Croatia $17,196 $7,710 $24,906 4 HeavensEdge222 Mexico $12,180 $3,806 $15,986 5 RosenheimCops Austria $8,598 $4,200 $12,798 6 trinkie Germany $6,806 $3,412 $10,218 7 Chelsea72 Austria $5,416 $4,134 $9,550 8 FkTheseGuysBrof Canada $4,299 $4,265 $8,494

partypoker Sunday High Roller Bounty Hunter Fast: $200K Gtd

Date March 3rd Buy-in $1,050 Guarantee $200,000 Entrants 184 Prize pool $200,000 ITM 24

Belgian superstar omgitsgiraf boosted their bankroll by more than $42,000 on Sunday after taking down the Sunday High Roller Bounty Hunter Fast: $200K Gtd. It was a tournament that saw 184 players take to the partypoker tables.

Mike Ilove2fish Telker was the first player to bust at the eight-handed final table, a finish worth a combined $6,634. Seventh-placed savageplenty of Bulgaria actually walked away with more money than both sixth and fifth-place thanks to the bounty element. There was a similar story with fourth-placed Iafocafabla who won a total of $18,576, over $3,000 more than third-placed mematanlimon of Argentina!

Heads-up saw UK-based omgitsgiraf and Christoph3rP of New Zealand fight for the title and it was omgitsgiraf who emerged victorious, resigning the New Zealander to a $18,913 consolation prize.

Place Player Country Prize Bounty Prize Total Prize 1 omgitsgiraf United Kingdom $17,699 $24,651 $42,350 2 Christoph3rP New Zealand $17,678 $1,235 $18,913 3 mematanlimon Argentina $12,905 $2,470 $15,375 4 Iafocafabla Uruguay $9,233 $9,343 $18,576 5 madgenius87 Austria $6,452 $1,820 $8,272 6 ca11meron Canada $5,006 $2,908 $7,914 7 savageplenty Bulgaria $3,893 $5,313 $9,206 8 Mike Ilove2fish Telker Costa Rica $3,059 $3,575 $6,634

888poker $100,000 Sunday Sale Mega Deep

Date March 3rd Buy-in $109 Guarantee $100,000 Entrants 1,304 Prize pool $130,400 ITM 126

888poker ran its popular Sunday Sale on some of its biggest events, halving the price of the buy-in. One such tournament was the $100,000 Sunday Sale Mega Deep that only cost $109 this week. It was a smart move by 888poker because 1,304 players bought in and obliterated the guarantee.

The top three finishers turned their $109 into five-figures. Brazils Rui Grobbshinit Rodrigues busted in third-place for a $12,648 score, which left Perus O_fenomeno9 and Espen DubaiPrince4 Uhlen Jrstad of Norway to play heads-up for the title.

The Peruvian eventually busted in second-place so had to make do with the $16,952 runner-up prize, meaning Jrstad walked away $23,472 richer and enjoyed a very profitable Sunday.

Place Player Country Prize 1 Espen "DubaiPrince4" Uhlen Jrstad Norway $23,472 2 O_fenomeno9 Peru $16,952 3 Rui Grobbshinit Rodrigues Brazil $12,648 4 MuckFest Finland $9,454 5 tooCoolForNL Germany $6,572 6 mistermoney2 Turkey $5,216 7 R2Rka Ukraine $3,912 8 ZapanE Romania $2,608 9 Chris ChristaBorg Conley Canada $1,564

Epic Sunday grind in the books. Over $30,000 in scores, with 1st in the $109 Mega Deep and 4th in the 200 Battle R https://t.co/sAbl8fLtjN  Espen Uhlen Jrstad (@UhlenPoker)

888poker $50,000 Sunday Sale Whale

Date March 3rd Buy-in $530 Guarantee $50,000 Entrants 115 Prize pool $57,500 ITM 12

The $50,000 Whale received the Sunday Sale treatment, seeing its usual $1,050 buy-in reduced to $530. Again, the guarantee was hit with 115 players creating a $57,500 prize pool.

Canadas ThEtRaIN96 secured the lions share of the prize pool, namely $15,812 after becoming the last player standing. They defeated bah23 heads-up for the title, with the runner-up winning $10,637, enough to take their lifetime winnings at 888poker to more than $400,000.

Mentions have to go to 888poker regulars f0rmEiTseGaL, Kannwas, and Farrugia_1 who crashed out in fifth-through seventh-place in this star-studded event.

Place Player Country Prize 1 ThEtRaIN96 Canada $15,812 2 bah23 Bulgaria $10,637 3 GrafKohks Germany $8,050 4 velkommeninn Norway $5,462 5 f0rmEiTseGaL United Kingdom $4,025 6 Kannwas Austria $3,018 7 Farrugia_1 Malta $2,443 8 Imyurfriend Germany $2,012

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By Katharine Jackson

(Reuters)  Presidential hopeful Cory Booker told a service commemorating the 1965 Bloody Sunday march, a turning point in the civil rights movement, that the United States is still failing many Americans, citing poverty and gun violence as constant threats.

Booker, 49, a black second-term senator from New Jersey and former mayor of Newark, also lamented that clean water and affordable healthcare are still unavailable in many communities.

We live in a nation that is failing its moral obligations to its children, to its people, Booker said in a short speech at a church near the bridge in Selma, Alabama, where civil rights activists were attacked more than half a century ago.

Nearly 600 activists marching for African-American voting rights were met on the Edmund Pettus bridge on March 7, 1965, by white state troopers who beat them with batons and sprayed them with tear gas.

Images of the violence brought attention to the cause, and President Lyndon Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act that year.

Every year, the Bloody Sunday anniversary is marked by demonstrators marching across the bridge, many of them singing We Shall Overcome.

Booker told the congregation he was proud to be in Selma to remember the history of the movement.

But I worry now that we are at a point in our country where we see a moral vandalism that is attacking our ideals and beliefs and eroding the dream of our nation, he said.

Another Democratic candidate for the partys 2020 nomination who spoke at the church, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, said it was time for the current generation to demand an end to voter suppression in the United States.

And not only do we end voter suppression, but we make it easier for people to vote, not harder, Sanders said.

The Democratic Party is looking at a crowded field of candidates aiming to win back the White House. At least six U.S. senators are vying to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee.

Booker has made race relations a focal point of his campaign, aiming to appeal to young, diverse voters who twice elected former Democratic President Barack Obama.

Booker announced his candidacy on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, citing the impact of racial discrimination on his family and saying he would focus on creating good jobs and reforming the criminal justice system.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
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The document request sent to Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner all has a common theme. They are related to the Russia cover-up and obstruction of justice.

Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms, said Chairman Jerrold Nadler.

Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress and a core function of the House Judiciary Committee. We have seen the damage done to our democratic institutions in the two years that the Congress refused to conduct responsible oversight. Congress must provide a check on abuses of power. Equally, we must protect and respect the work of Special Counsel Mueller, but we cannot rely on others to do the investigative work for us. Our work is even more urgent after senior Justice Department officials have suggested that they may conceal the work of the Special Counsels investigation from the public.

Nadler wants to know what Trumps kids know about Russia and obstruction of justice

Chairman Nadler puts the pieces together.

For example, Eric Trumps document request covers everything from the Trump Tower meeting with Russians to the firing of James Comey, Robert Mueller, and the recusal of Jeff Sessions.

Read the document request to Eric Trump:

Nadler also wants any documents related to the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels.

Rep. Nadler also wants documents on Trump Tower Moscow, Emoluments Clause violations, and any discussions about lifting Russian sanctions.

Read the document request to Donald Trump Jr.:

Jared Kushners document request contains a request for any communications between himself and Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE:

Nadler is laying the groundwork for impeachment

One look at these document requests to Trumps kids, a.k.a. the people on the inside of the inner circle, and it becomes clear that this investigation is laying the foundation for impeachment. Rep. Nadler is leaving no area of Trump corruption unexplored. The House Judiciary Committee is where any impeachment process would begin. Rep. Nadler is correct when he says that impeachment is a long way off, but this investigation is the first step on the path toward impeaching Donald Trump.

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

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Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning to roll out a lengthy series of investigations into President Donald Trumps finances and his administration over the next few months as part of a long-term strategy to remove Trump from office, Axios has reported this morning.

And although impeachment is certainly one option Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders are considering, it is not currently their primary focus.

In fact, congressional Democrats have expressed significant worries that if they pursue the impeachment process this could backfire and actually help Donald Trump politically. They fear that if they move too quickly they wont have the support of the American public.

Thus their plan, as discussed by several Democratic House leaders over the past several weeks, is to move slowly but steadily to hurt Trumps reputation with a continual series of hearings and investigations.

As Axios said,

Democrats want to create a large, damning public record of testimony, documents and investigative reports.

As a result, Democrats plan to bleed Trump slowly with lengthy hearings over a period of months. This will produce a public record of Trumps high crimes and misdemeanors that eventually will become impossible for the American people to ignore.

In fact, their ultimate goal is to convince even Trump voters and Republicans in Congress that the president has committed so many crimes that he should no longer be in office.

Currently as many as eight different House committees are pursuing investigations into Trumps alleged abuse of power, obstruction of justice, conflicts of interest and money laundering. Under Pelosis leadership, all committee chairs are working together and coordinating their investigations and hearing schedules to achieve maximum effect.

Pelosi and other top Democrats have said repeatedly that they arent anxious to begin impeachment proceedings in the House so long as Republicans control the Senate. Instead, they plan to drain public support for the president by carrying on extended  and extensive  investigations into a wide range of potential crimes allegedly committed by Trump and his family.

Many in leadership believe impeachment could help Trump get re-elected, said one source close to House leadership. (They hope to) pivot the anger to defeating him on the campaign side next year.

The last thing they want to do is help Trump like it eventually helped Bill Clinton, the source added.

Hurting Trump Politically is a Smart Move by Democrats

As the Michael Cohen hearings showed, the nation will pay attention when congressional committees televise the testimony of witnesses, especially when they are discussing the crimes of Donald Trump and his family.

Surprisingly, Trump still has a solid base of support (around 40%) and many of those people still do not believe he did anything wrong.

To move into impeachment now, without support from the GOP, could be a politically disastrous move for Democrats, even though that is what their own rank and file want them to do.

But to hold a series of hearings which show the American people the massive amount of evidence that investigators have gathered to prove Trumps crimes will be a grand slam home run. And Democratic leaders also correctly believe that holding hearings will buy them time with their own base who are demanding impeachment.

Eventually even the most diehard Trump supporters will be forced to admit that the evidence against him is overwhelming, and he should leave the office that he currently  and illegitimately  holds.
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Roseanne Barr is at it again.

In a wild and unfiltered interview on the new Candace Owens Show, Barr called Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris Kama Sutra Harris and said she has slept her way to the bottom.

In the past Barr has also described women involved in the #MeToo movement as hoes.

In the explosive interview Barr also suggested that Christine Blasey Ford should be in prison after accusing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault.

In June of last year Barr was fired from the ABC reboot of her popular show Roseanne after posting a racist tweet about former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.

Concerning the allegations against movie producer Harvey Weinstein, Barr said she believes that the women were only in the hotel rooms to begin with because they thought they were getting a job 15 years ago.

Well, its because theyre hoes, Barr added. Like if you dont run out of the room and go, Excuse me you dont do that to me, and leave, but you stayed around because youre like, [puts on crying voice] Well I thought maybe he was going to give me a writing job, well, you arent nothing but a hoe.

Continuing the discussion of womens behavior, Barr added: Look at Kamala Harris, who I call Kama Sutra Harris.

We all know what she didshe slept her way to the bottom, Barr continued in an apparent reference to Harriss previous relationship with former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

There was a time as a feminist where we dont do that, we have respect for ourselves and we stick together, but that all went to hell, too, Barr continued.

Later in the show, Barr and Owens both said they think that Ford should be in prison for claiming Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her at a high school house party in 1982.

Shes not required to file a police report or anything and she collected millions of dollars, Owens added, referring to the GoFundMe accounts which were set up after her testimony before Congress.

Fords lawyers said at the time that the money raised would be used exclusively for necessary costs of physical security and housing occasioned by coming forward about her sexual assault by Brett Kavanaugh.

After she was fired by ABC, Barr said she went through a very difficult time, and said she had a complete nervous breakdown. She then added that she couldnt walk, couldnt talk, I couldnt get out of bed.

CLICK HERE to watch the entire Roseanne interview.
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Reps. Adam Schiff, Elijah Cummings, and Elliot Engel have used their power as committee chairs to demand all documents on Trumps communications with Putin.

House Democrats want all documents related to Trumps conversations with Putin

The Chairmen wrote:

According to media reports, President Trump, on multiple occasions, appears to have taken steps to conceal the details of his communications with President Putin from other administration officials, Congress, and the American people. The President reportedly seized notes pertaining to at least one meeting held with President Putin and directed at least one American interpreter not to discuss the substance of communications with President Putin with other federal officials.

On February 21, 2019, we wrote a joint letter to the White House requesting basic information about whether the President in fact destroyed records relating to his conversations with President Putinin violation of the Presidential Records Actor if he did not, where those records are currently located. The White House failed to provide any response to our inquiry. As a result, we are now expanding our investigation.

These allegations, if true, raise profound national security, counterintelligence, and foreign policy concerns, especially in light of Russias ongoing active measures campaign to improperly influence American elections. In addition, such allegations, if true, undermine the proper functioning of government, most notably the Departments access to critical information germane to its diplomatic mission and its ability to develop and execute foreign policy that advances our national interests. Finally, these allegations present serious concerns that materials pertaining to specific communications may have been manipulated or withheld from the official record in direct contravention of federal laws, which expressly require that Presidents and other administration officials preserve such materials.

Congress has a constitutional duty to conduct oversight over the Department and the White House to determine, among other things, the impact of those communications on U.S. foreign policy, whether federal officials, including President Trump, have acted in the national interest, and whether the applicable laws, regulations, and agency procedures with respect to diplomatic communications with President Putin and other foreign leaders have been complied with and remain sufficient.

Trump cant keep his Putin chats secret any longer

Donald Trump has been trying to hide his conversations with Putin since the day that he took office. He has been able to get away with this because his Republican enablers in the House always turned a blind eye, but with Democrats in the House majority, everything has changed. Trump cant hide his conversations any longer. Mondays letter was a follow up to a previous document request. If the White House ignores, the current request, Democrats will begin to issue subpoenas.

The request from Schiff and Cummings comes on the same day, as Jerry Nadlers House Judiciary ten ton mega bomb document request into every area of Trumps life. The White House has been dreading this day since midterm election night. Democrats are here, in charge, and rocking Trump to his foundations.

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

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According to the Washington Post, opponents of Donald Trumps national emergency declaration at the Mexican border now have enough votes in the Senate to reject his attempted move to misuse presidential powers.

Because Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he cant go along with the White House the president now faces an embarrassing loss in Congress, which may lead to his first presidential veto.

The Post reported that Paul is giving his support to a resolution that will block Trumps declaration of a national emergency, in defiance of a warning from the president.

Pauls announcement puts the resolution on track to passage in the Senate.

A Kentucky newspaper, the Bowling Green Daily News, reported that Paul said in a speech at the Southern Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner that he cant vote to give extra-Constitutional powers to the president.

According to the newspaper, the senator said:

I cant vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasnt been appropriated by Congress.

We may want more money for border security, but Congress didnt authorize it. If we take away those checks and balances, its a dangerous thing.

Paul is following three other Republican senators in rejecting Trumps attempt at declaring a national emergency at the border. They are Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.).

All of them have said that they agree with Democrats that the declaration is executive overreach and a violation of the separation of powers set forth in the U.S. Constitution.

A resolution opposing Trumps move has already passed the Democratic-controlled House.

In order to pass the Senate it will require all 47 Democratic-voting senators plus four GOP senators, and Paul makes the fourth one. This would give it the 51 votes needed to be approved and be sent to the president for his signature.

If the resolution is approved in the Senate it will be a very embarrassing rebuke to a president who prides himself on keeping his party in line and doing his bidding.

Neither house of Congress has the two-thirds votes needed to override a threatened presidential veto, however.

If Trump vetoes the resolution it would be his first since becoming president.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has been warning against a national emergency declaration for weeks, although he came out in support of Trumps move late last month. McConnell faces reelection next year.

Many lawmakers in both parties are opposed to the emergency declaration. They say it violates Congress constitutional authority to control spending and sets a precedent for future presidents to make such declarations for their own political purposes. They also are concerned Trump would take money away from home-state military construction projects and move it to construction of the border wall.

Under the declaration, Trump would divert $3.6 billion from military construction to erect more border barriers. Hes invoking other powers to transfer an additional $3.1 billion to construction.

Its encouraging to see that four Republicans in the Senate have backbones and are willing to stand up to Trump and oppose one of his misguided  and probably illegal  moves.
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As Democrats launch massive investigations into Trump, the president has increased his pace of lies to 22 per day.

Trump Is Lying 22 Times Per Day

The Washington Post reported:

Powered by his two-hour stemwinder at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 2  which featured more than 100 false or misleading claims  President Trump is on pace to exceed his daily quota set during his first two years in office.The president averaged nearly 5.9 false or misleading claims a day in his first year in office. He hit nearly 16.5 a day in his second year. So far in 2019, hes averaging nearly 22 claims a day. As of the end of March 3, the 773rd day of his term in office, Trump accumulated 9,014 fishy claims, according to The Fact Checkers database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.

Why Is Trump Telling So Many Lies

There are three primary reasons why Trump is lying beyond the fact that he as a person appears to be a compulsive liar.

From a political point of view, Trump is lying because he has to hold his base together. Donald Trump has been a president only for his base. Trump has virtually no support outside of his political base. The 33%-39% of the country that supports him through thick and thin is who he must keep in line in order to win reelection. Trump has no appeal to moderates or Independents. He has his base, and that is all, so he has to convince those people that the allegations of criminal activity and investigations into his business, personal finance, and relationship with Russia are witch hunts. As the facts pile up against him, Trumps only choice is to counter with more lies.

Secondly, Trump is trying to sell a failed presidency has successful. Never has a president had so much going for him when he came into office and accomplished as little as Donald Trump has. Trump had a Republican Congress, and a conservative Supreme Court for his first two years in office, and he has one major piece of legislation enacted. That legislation is the wildly unpopular tax cut for the wealthy. From a policy point of view, Trump has been a total failure, so the president spends his time inflating and making up accomplishments.

Finally, Trump conned his way into the White House with lies. Now that he is the incumbent and under scrutiny, if he wants to remain in power, and avoid a potential criminal indictment, he has to pull off an epic fraud and sell the country an empty and corrupt presidency for another four years. The more facts that are revealed about the presidents various scandal, the more he has to lie to counterprogram against reality.

The Michael Cohen testimony was devastating, and more damage is coming soon. By 2020, Trump could be telling 30-40 lies a day, because his only chance of winning reelection might be to throw the country into a state of turmoil and haze that will make the 2016 election feel like a relaxing Sunday in the park.

The truth is gaining on him, which is why Trumps lie pace is accelerating.

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

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House Democrats say that each time Trump opens his mouth or tweets about his assets, he is helping Democrats get his tax returns.

Democrats are laying the groundwork to get Trumps tax returns

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) who serves on the House Ways and Means Committee told MSNBC:



We have to lay an important factual background for the reason that we want to gain access to the tax returns. We had a hearing to establish the clarity, we have the authority to request the tax returns that goes back to the Teapot Dome scandal and the early 1920s. That law is in place. Because we expect the challenge, we dont expect the president to roll over or Secretary Mnuchin to hand over the returns. He oversees the IRS. We have to be able to defend and what inevitably be a big fight. The reason that we have to request these returns, of course, the president helps with that every time he opens his mouth or sends a tweet. We have to lay the ground work for that. Some have been critical and thought we should have asked for them on day one. I dont agree with that. I think chairman Richie Neal is doing it right. I think we have to be careful.

.

The president made claims of his assets and what his obligations may be. There are other questions that came up for the hearing and even while president, he continues to potentially involve himself in what could have been criminal activity by fraudulently claiming he was paying Michael Cohen for legal services when he was reimbursing him these payoffs to Stormy Daniels. The fact that he never distance himself from his own financial interests the way past presidents have. It begs the question whether or not the president continues to act away in his personal self interest trying to guard his own wealth rather than the interest of the American people.

Video:

Democrats are using Trump's own lies against him to get his tax returns. https://t.co/AW7efW9d3Z pic.twitter.com/EExhObRVdf  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) March 4, 2019

Trumps lies are helping Democrats get his tax returns

House Democrats are expecting a major legal fight over Trumps tax returns. Trump and the Treasury Department arent going to turn them over because Democrats ask. The issue will certainly go to court, and the administration will have to be ordered to turn over the tax returns. Democrats are preemptively building their case for their need to have the tax returns.

Donald Trump cant stop lying about his assets, which is making it easy for Democrats to use his own lies against him, and make the case that Trump must turn over his returns.

A smart president could hold this up for years, but Trump will be lucky if he makes it months before all of his dirty secrets are revealed.

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

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Dr. Jacobo Mintzer, Executive Director of the Roper St. Francis Research and Innovation Center, and Amanda Watts, a former clinical research coordinator, work on paperwork in one of their offices.
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Jamie Lovegrove is a political reporter covering the South Carolina Statehouse, congressional delegation and campaigns. He previously covered Texas politics in Washington for The Dallas Morning News and in Austin for the Texas Tribune.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 54F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Colleton County deputies have made one arrest after an infant was injured when the vehicle he was riding in was hit with gunfire near Jacksonboro on Saturday.

Ronjrel Farmer, 23, of Walterboro, is charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon.

That day, four men pulled up beside a mother and her child near the intersection of Ace Basin and Charleston Highway and open fired on their vehicle, authorities said.

Colleton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Shalane Lowes said the infant in the car was injured during the shooting by glass shards from a shot-out window.

That evening, deputies said they found a vehicle that matched the woman's description with four men inside. The men fled, though one has been detained, Lowes said.

Authorities are searching for the three other men who were last seen in the area of Green Pond Highway, Ace Basin Parkway and Wood Road.

The Beaufort, Berkeley, Colleton and Charleston sheriff's offices are investigating, in addition to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and the Walterboro Police Department.

In some unincorporated portions of Colleton County, authorities have long grappled with the rise of violent crime in the area, particularly after gang-related violence reached a boiling point in the early 2000s.

In 2014, officials implemented a top-to-bottom overhaul of the Walterboro police and fire agency after a scathing audit determined there was "an urgent need for highly skilled leadership."

The police chief at the time, Otis Rhodes, was removed from his post during the review, which was done by the International City/County Management Association.

Anyone with information about the shooting, may contact the Colleton County Sheriff's Office at 843-549-2211.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
ZUMBROTA  March is traditionally a time for Celtic music, and that will be the case when Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Hass perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Ave., Zumbrota.

The duo combines fiddle (Fraser) and cello (Haas) to create the rhythmic heart of Celtic music. Fraser was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame in 2011. His career has included work on the soundtracks of the movies "The Last of the Mohicans" and "Titanic." Haas is a graduate of Juilliard School.

Tickets are $25 in advance, $29 at the door, available at 507-732-7616 and crossingsatcarnegie.com.

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Lunch & Learn session features trio Friday

Rochester Music Guilds Lunch & Learn session Friday will feature the Heinrich von Herzogenberg Trio for Obie, Horn and Piano.

The piece will be performed by Karla Webb on oboe, Ronald Beitel on horn and Jan Matson on piano.

Lunch is at 11:30 a.m., with the program at noon at Christ United Methodist Church, 400 Fifth Ave. SW. Brown-bag lunches are welcome. To reserve a catered lunch ($10), call 507-218-1084 or send email to education@rochestermusicguild.org.

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Traditional dance from India heading to Chatfield

CHATFIELD  Ragamala Dance Company will present "Sacred Earth," a dance piece for humans and nature, at 7 p.m. Friday at the Chatfield Center for the Arts, 405 Main St. S.

Ragamala, founded in 1992 and based in Minneapolis, tours extensively to present classical forms of Indian dance. "Sacred Earth" was created, said company member Aparna Ramaswamy, "to underscore the enduring relationship between man and nature in ancient cultures."

In addition to the dance performance, Ragamala will conduct a hands-on Kolam workshop at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Center for the Arts. Kolam is an art practice traditional at homes throughout south Asia.

Both events are free admission; a freewill offering will be accepted.

--------------------------

Oud player to perform at Rochester church

Ramy Adly, considered one of the best oud players in the world, will perform at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Lutheran Church, 222 Sixth Ave. SW, Rochester.

The oud is an 11-string instrument that resembles a guitar. Adly was born in Egypt, but now lives in the U.S. The concert is hosted by the Rochester International Friendship Center, which offers free assistance to newcomers, including ESL classes, sewing and cooking classes, counseling and fellowship.

A freewill offering will be accepted.
We live in a different era. As we head into 2022, with the COVID-19 variants on the rise, I am grateful for us as a community. We have done ou Read more
WEST CHESTER  More charges have been added to the list of crimes that suspended attorney Joshua Janis will be required to answer for in Common Pleas Court, but he did win victories of sorts when the judge overseeing his preliminary hearing dismissed four felony counts that Chester County investigators had filed against him earlier this year.

On Friday, Magisterial District Judge Bret Binder ordered Janis held on two counts of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and two counts of theft by deception. He also said that two counts of receiving stolen property would be bound over to the higher court for trial as part of the overarching case against Janis, whose license to practice law was suspended for five years in 2015.

However, Binder dismissed one count of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and two counts of theft by deception, agreeing with Janis attorney that the prosecution had not met its burden showing that his financial dealings with legal clients amounted to criminal conduct.

Binder  who had taken the unusual step of delaying his decision until Friday after hearing more than 90 minutes of testimony and argument two weeks ago so that he could study case law on the matter  said that the women who claimed that Janis had improperly handled the legal fees they paid him before his license was revoked might have a civil case against him. But he did not believe that the criminal charges could pass muster.

The charges that Binder reviewed and held for court will now be docketed with the multiple charges of theft that are before Common Pleas Judge Patrick Carmody.

On Wednesday, Janis is scheduled to appear before Magisterial District Judge Jeffrey Valocchi of East Caln to address the most recent allegations against him  that he fraudulently opened a credit account in his mother-in-laws name and stole approximately $5,000 from her. The allegations are similar to those he faced in an earlier complaint, that he illegally opened accounts in his then-wifes name and used the money to pursue a romantic affair, pay bills at strip clubs, run a private business, and purchase pornography.

That case marks the fifth arrest for Janis, 38, who now lives with his family in New Jersey, since July 2018. He did not address the court during the hearing Friday, and remains free on bail.

The case before Binder revolved around the business dealings Janis had with three women who hired him to represent them in family court proceedings in 2014 and 2015.

In general, Chief Deputy District Attorney Ronald Yen, who is heading the prosecution against Janis on the myriad charges against him, said during the hearing on Feb. 15 that Janis had illegally taken money paid to him by the women by not depositing it in a so-called lawyers trust account, as is described by the states Rules of Professional Conduct.

Funds deposited in such accounts are meant to be withdrawn as an attorney completes work on a clients case, with proper billing identifying the withdrawals sent to the client. In the cases of the three women, Yen argued, he had instead put the fees in his own bank account and used them as his won.

Mr. Janis put moneys he was required to hold in trust into his own account and he spent it, Yen said. He took those funds and used them as his own when he knew he could not. It is not his money. It is the clients money.

But attorney Dan McGarrigle of Media, representing Janis, argued strongly that the prosecution was attempting to transform what should be either a civil suit or a disciplinary matter into a criminal case.

They havent proven anything, McGarrigle said of the prosecutions case. We are not in a disciplinary hearing. There has to be an intent to do something criminal, and it was his money to do whatever he wanted to do. He argued that the women had been told what Janis intended to do for them, and at least one seemed satisfied enough that she considered hiring him for new work on her behalf.

The three women involved  Bonnie Hains, Katherine Bailey, and Judith Borland  all testified at the hearing last month about their interactions with Janis, which took place before his license was suspended by the state. The suspension came after multiple clients told investigators for the Disciplinary Board that Janis had taken money for their cases and then did little or no work for them, and attempted to skirt their attempts to get refunds.

Hains said that she had paid Janis $2,500 in March 2014 for a custody case involving her daughter, Jami Hains. She said that Janis had initially told her that the retainer would be put into a secure account that he would withdraw from as her worked, but that he later sent her daughter a written fee agreement that specified that the $2,500 was a one-time payment to his office that would be deposited into his operating account rather than a trust account.

Eventually, when Hains checked court dockets in Chester and Montgomery counties, she learned that Janis had never filed anything in her daughters behalf, according to a criminal complaint filed in January.

Likewise, Bailey testified that she had paid Janis $2,500 in January 2015 to represent her in a child custody matter. She said he seemed to do little to present her case at a mediation hearing held in the Justice Center in March 2015, and afterwards told her. he was going to take care of everything.

But she said she later learned he had never spoken with the attorney for the childs father, and never sent her an itemized bill for his services. She claimed there was a complete lack of communication, and that she never received a refund for her payment after he was suspended.

Finally, Borland said she paid Janis $3,000 to handle her divorce in July 2015, at a time when he was being investigated by the Disciplinary Board. He told her nothing of the investigation, and gave her no written fee agreement. He filed a divorce complaint n her behalf, she said in her testimony, but not a lot happened after that.

Eventually, when she saw an article in the Daily Local News about his suspension, she contacted him and received $920 back from him, although he never explained what he had done to earn the $2,080.

The charges concerning Hains were among those Binder ordered held for trial. Charges of theft by deception involving Bailey and Borland were dismissed, while the charges of failing to make required disposition involving Borland was dismissed and those involving Bailey were held.
Was it scandalous for Justice Clarence Thomas to express his support for Neomi Raos nomination to Senators considering whether to vote for her confirmation as a federal appellate judge? Some claim it was.

Elie Mystal says:

I guess we already know how Thomas would rule on any Rao opinions appealed to him. Thats not how this is supposed to work.

Nonsense. A positive report by a Supreme Court Justice about a potential judicial nominee doesnt mean the Justice will decide cases the same way as the nominee.

David Axelrod has revealed that Justice Scalia lobbied him to have President Obama nominate Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. Scalia and Kagan rarely agreed about how the big Supreme Court cases should be decided.

Mystals contempt for Thomas renders him unwilling or unable to discern that the uncompromising Justice is going to call them as he sees them, as he has for decades.

At Bench Memos, Jonathan Adler argues, persuasively, that Justice Thomas input was a legitimate and valuable part of the vetting process for Rao. Not only did Rao clerk for Thomas, the two also taught law school courses together. Thus, it made perfect sense for Thomas to share with Senators his view of Raos fitness as a judge:

The vetting processes done for prospective nominees performed by the White House, the American Bar Association, and various state advisory commissions (such as the advisory commission for Ohio on which Ive served) routinely involve discussions with sitting judges about former clerks and attorneys who have appeared before them. . . . It is not scandalous for a judge to provide this sort of input. Indeed, it would be scandalous were such input not solicited as part of the nominee vetting process. Judges are often in a position to offer valuable insight into the temperament, character, and capabilities of prospective nominees, and we should want these perspectives to be considered by those evaluating prospective members of the federal bench, whether in the White House or in the Senate. . . . So the fact that Justice Thomas may have spoken with senators who had concerns is far from scandalous. Its part of how we should want the process to work.

Exactly.
Former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova says we are in a civil war in the U.S. Nicolle Wallace, a former GOP operative who now works for MSNBC, agrees.

DiGenova sometimes overstates his case and Wallace is a hack. We are not in an actual civil war.

However, Ive heard people say we in a cold civil war. Im not sure what the criteria are for such a war. But a large portion of the political class is in self-described resistance mode against the president of the United States, and I assume that a large portion of it will respond in kind if a leftist is elected president in 2020.

Couple this with the rising temp of political hostility, and its plausible to suggest that we are in, or on the verge of, a cold civil war.

At PJMedia, Richard Fernandez uses a different term  hybrid civil war. Hybrid war describes the action Russia is waging against Ukraine (and some say, with considerable exaggeration, against the U.S.). Its a blend of propaganda, subversion, and small-scale military action by a mixture of proxies and agents.

Given the absence of the military element in the U.S., I prefer the term cold civil war as a description of what we may be in. However, the label doesnt matter much. The phenomenon is either upon us or close enough to warrant serious discussion. A cold war can turn into a shooting war in the blink of an eye.

Are we making too much, though, of the rhetoric of pundits and fringe politicians? Are enough Americans sufficiently angry to provide the foot soldiers for a civil war?

In a sense, this question misses the lesson of history. Civil wars have started and been waged from the top down, so to speak. They do not require a revolt of the masses.

In modern, democratic America, that scenario seems implausible. Our institutions, flawed as they are, provide outlets that should be able to keep any civil war cold rather than hot. The center should hold well enough for that purpose.

But if the left persists in demonizing White Americans while telling non-Whites that White America hates and oppresses them, a critical mass of foot soldiers for a civil war might materialize.

Ill conclude with a word about the 2020 election. Leftists express concern that if Trump loses, he will refuse to cede control of the White House. Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, expressed that fear during his congressional testimony last week.

In 2016, Trump said he might refuse to accept the outcome of the election if he lost. In the end, it was Hillary Clinton and the Democratic party that refused to accept the outcome.

Democrats didnt attempt physically to block Trump from assuming the presidency. Instead, they denied the legitimacy of his victory and began working behind the scenes to bring about his removal before he was inaugurated.

Theres a good chance that Trump, if he loses next year, will deny the legitimacy of his opponents victory and, like Obama and his deep state allies, try to subvert his predecessor. But expressions of fear that Trump will refuse to vacate the White House and call in troops to back him strike me as either paranoid or a tactic in, shall we say, a cold civil war.
The late January brownout in central Minnesota, during a time of Arctic cold, showed that reliance on green energy can be life-threatening. Xcel Energy instructed customers to turn thermostats down to 60 degrees and refrain from using hot water. Xcel went so far as to put some customers up in hotels.

Investigation of the brownout has been informative. The principal problem, given that Minnesota has invested massively in wind energy, was that the wind wasnt blowing. But there was another problem, too, which came out in testimony before the states Public Utilities Commission by an Xcel official. My colleague Isaac Orr explains:

During their testimony, Xcel Energy representatives stated that the companys solar panels only produced 8 to 10 percent of their potential output because of snow cover.

Everyone understands, I suppose, that solar panels cant produce electricity at nightwhich, coincidentally, is when we need to turn lights on. It is less well recognized that in the North, solar panels are also more or less useless during the Winter. But, you may ask, cant they be cleared off and thus made functional?

Xcel Energy posted a profit of $1.1 billion in 2017, and youre telling me they cant pay a high-schooler to scrape off their solar panels for a little extra cash?

***

To me, the fact Xcel didnt bother to clear the snow off their solar panels suggests they didnt think it was worth it, from a cost/benefit standpoint.

I suspect that is exactly right. Utilities know that solar energy is a joke. So, why do they lobby for legislation requiring them to build ever more solar farms?

Yet, Xcel wants to build more solar because they get a guaranteed 7.5 percent profit on every dollar they spend on power plants, including solar panels, whether they produce electricity or not.

Some naive observers assume that the fact that utilities lobby to be required to build wind and solar facilities means they must be a good idea. On the contrary: if they were a good idea, utilities wouldnt have to lobby to be forced to construct them.

It is all about the rate base. Any capital expenditure that goes into a utilitys rate base provides a guaranteed return. Whether the expenditure makes any sense in terms of providing reliable energy is another matter altogether.
In this special double-episode, I took the occasion of the last-minute hesitation over the nomination of Neomi Rao for the DC Circuit Court of Appeals to talk once again with Lucretia, Power Lines International Woman of Mystery, about the issue of substantive due process that apparently worried a couple of Republican senators. We attempt a mini-clinic on what this issue is all about, and then to round out the show I bring on our own John Hinderaker for a few observations about CPAC, and especially President Trumps blockbuster speech. The show ends with the execution of our Cover of the Rolling Stone strategya shameless attempt to try to attract the great Black Rifle Coffee company as a show sponsor!

As a special bonus, if youre really a glutton for punishment and have a lot of free time on your hands, I post below the private YouTube URL for the video lecture I prepared for my students a couple years back (when I had to miss a class) on the subject of substantive due process that goes into more detail about this complicated issue of jurisprudence.

As always, listen at our window here, or from our hosts at Ricochet. You know the rest of the spiel.
President Trump returned from the Hanoi summit essentially empty-handed, but so did Kim Jong Un. Its no surprise that Trump couldnt persuade Kim to denuclearize. The prospect Trump held out to him  a booming economy like Vietnams  isnt all that enticing.

Kim has at least as much power, and almost certainly more, over North Koreans than the leadership in Hanio has over Vietnamese. Since his overriding goal is to maintain political and military power, the Vietnam model provides Kim with little incentive to become less powerful by giving up his nukes.

The absence of a deal doesnt mean Trumps North Korea policy is a failure. Denuclearization would be ideal, but Trump is advancing the much more realistic goal of establishing a relationship with Kim that will reduce the likelihood of war.

Unlike some of his predecessors, moreover, Trump isnt making concessions that facilitate North Koreas development of nukes. In fact, Trumps policy apparently has produced a cessation of nuclear testing, at least for now.

My only objection to Trumps conduct during Hanoi trip is what he said about the death of Otto Warmbier. During a press conference, Trump opined that he didnt think Warmbiers death was in Kims interest, and added, Kim tells me that he didnt know about it, and I will take him at his word.

However, as Claudia Rosett explains:

Kim was certainly responsible. Its implausible that without his nod Otto would have been jailed in North Korea in the first place. And it is indeed hard to believe that whatever was done to Otto, Kim with his layers upon layers of internal surveillance and control, was not at the very least informed.

But Rosett also reminds us (1) that President Obama showed no urgency when it came to helping Warmbier and was totally ineffective in this regard, (2) that the same America media now ripping Trump for his statement on Warmbier showed no particular sympathy for him during the Obama years, and was agnostic on the question of whether Warmbiers obviously coerced confession was voluntary, and (3) that Trumps efforts on Warmbiers behalf succeeded in bringing home, albeit too late.

I dont mean to defend Trumps statement on Warmbier. The U.S. President should never become an apologist for any aspect of Kims brutal practices. Trumps North Korean diplomacy requires lowering the temperature in our relations with Kim, but that can be accomplished without accepting Kims wildly implausible claim that he doesnt know whats going on in the country he controls.

However, the medias selective outrage when it comes to Otto Warmbier should be viewed as an attempt to obscure the fact that Trump has been vastly superior to Obama on the subject not just of North Korea, but of Warmbier himself.
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ANN ARBOR, MI / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Amesite, Inc. (the "Company"), an artificial intelligence software company targeting the college course market, announced today its plan to launch additional online undergraduate course offering with its partner, Humphreys University this summer, following successful launches with Humphreys University in California in Fall, 2018 and Winter, 2019. The courses are Math 120 (Statistics), PSY 101 (Introductory Psychology), ECON 101 (Economics I), ECON 102 (Economics II), SOC 101 (Introduction to Sociology), PHIL 101 (Introduction to Philosophy).Credits for these undergraduate courses are accepted at five California State Universities: Bakersfield, Dominguez Hills, Long Beach, Northridge and Sacramento and Stanislaus. Students should visit https://www.amesite.com/register to learn more about the courses, credit transfers for specific courses, and course registration. Courses begin July 1, 2019.The partners are also offering a new, professional certificate program in Logistics. Learners who complete the 12-week professional program will receive a Certificate in Logistics. The Central Valley of California is a major international distribution hub, and this program is targeted at professionals who wish to improve their skills in logistics, inventory, supply chain and warehousing management. The program starts April 8, 2019.State Senator Cathleen Galgiani (5th District, CA), said "I'm pleased to see this partnership between Amesite and Humphreys University, that will expand educational opportunities throughout the State. This kind of new technology that Amesite is bringing, is vital to education - we need ways of making delivery more engaging, and more affordable." Mike Ammann, President and CEO of the San Joaquin Partnership said "There has been an incredible boom in manufacturing, e-commerce warehousing and distribution in San Joaquin County and workers who know manufacturing and logistics are essential for our region's growth. This partnership will help educate people to run the automation of industry 4.0 and massive supply chain distributions operations that have located here. This is just the beginning." Humphreys University President Bob Humphreys said, "We are pleased once again to partner with Amesite as we begin to scale our first-year college offerings together, which we are making accessible throughout the State of California. We are also pleased to deliver logistics  a professional program that is so closely tied to our regional economy." Amesite CEO, Dr. Ann Marie Sastry, said "We are delighed to build the partnership with Humphreys University, with scale for undergraduate courses and new offerings for professionals. Logistics training enables professionals to run distribution operations with greater efficiency  which is better for the economy, and for the environment." Enrollment will remain open for Logistics until April 15, 2019. Students should visit https://www.amesite.com/products to learn more about the programs and course registration.Amesite's online learning solutions for colleges, universities, faculty and students utilize artificial intelligence technologies, including machine learning and natural language processing, to deliver cost effective, cloud-based digital versions of lower level courses that greatly enhance and improve the learning experience of students. Amesite's online platform includes customized user messaging and tracking as well as seamless integration of current events into traditional course materials, creating a more meaningful experience for both students and instructors alike.About Humphreys UniversityWith campuses in Stockton and Modesto, California, Humphreys University is a non-profit, independent California institution of higher education with over 120 years of educational dedication. Humphreys is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), and provides access to higher learning, community, and opportunity with a balance between education and practical life for motivated students who want to reach higher. With 100% of courses taught by faculty, and offerings ranging from Associate, Bachelor, Master's degree programs, to the Drivon School of Law, Humphreys offers a range of options for learning.About Amesite, Inc.Amesite is a high tech artificial intelligence software company offering a cloud-based platform for college and university courses to be cost-effectively and conveniently delivered to learners online and in hybrid online/on campus formats. Amesite uses artificial intelligence technologies to provide customized environments for learners, easier-to-manage interfaces for instructors, and greater accessibility for college degree seekers in the US education market and beyond. The Company leverages existing college infrastructures, adding mass customization and cutting-edge technology to provide cost-effective, accessible, scalable and improved learning experiences to students. Founded in 2017, Amesite is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For more information, visit https://amesite.com Forward Looking StatementsThis communication contains forward-looking statements (including within the meaning of Section21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended) concerning the Company, the Company's online machine learning platform, the Company's business plans, the commercialization of the Company's online learning solutions, existing and potential customers and partners, business objectives and other matters. Forward-looking statements generally include statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, and include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "plan," "believe," "intend," "look forward," and other similar expressions among others. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Risks facing the Company and its platform are set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC. Except as required by applicable law, the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statement
Cloud ELN Service Market

Cloud ELN Service Market

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Electronic lab notebook (ELN) are computer applications which performs functions of laboratory notebooks digitally. With the help of ELN, data is captured and recorded with better accessibility and security. It helps to achieve better efficiency with lower costs. ELN services are been offered on premise and are preferred by many organizations because the data is kept within their own firewall and is been considered more secured mode for data storage.Many ELN supplier are now providing ELN services hosted as Software as a Service (SaaS) through cloud where the service is offered on a subscription model by the vendors and can be accessed by any device from any location by the user. The market is in its infancy stage but growing number of engineers, technicians and scientists have started using the application and is expected to attract more number of users because of its advantages over on premise ELN services where various functionalities are been managed by vendors such as performing periodic system backups, software up gradation, server support etc. Access to data is allowed to allotted user where the data can be encrypted by signatures and passwords so as to make portability of the service more convenient without compromising on the security of the data.Cloud ELN Market SegmentationSegmentation of cloud ELN market on the basis of mode of deployment:Public Cloud:Public cloud supports multiple users with single code basis and since many clients can be supported by the same systems, these services are cost effective because the overall costs are been distributed over larger set of users. Also since there is no requirement for hardwares such as servers and networking devices, the service requires no investment. Although public cloud hosted ELN services are suffered by certain drawbacks such as lack of customization for individual users, high risk on data security etc. but will be in demand from medium and small scale organizations, research firms, individual doctors, scientists, technicians etc.Private or Hosted Cloud:In private or hosted cloud, service providers hosts the application for limited number of users where the applications are been supported individually and no other user share the same code. The host manages other operations such as backup and data security. Private clouds although suffer by performance issues because the same hardware supports all the clients on distributed systems, corporate organization are expected to choose private over public cloud because of customized applications and better data security.Segmentation of cloud ELN market on the basis of usage in different industries: Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Life Science, Research Labs, Academic Institutions, OthersRequest for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1984 On the basis of usage cloud ELN can be segment into corporate, academics & research, government and other sectors. Corporate, academic and research usages are expected to contribute maximum because these sectors are expected to use the technology in its nascent stage as they are been considered early adaptors compared to government sector who are expected to use cloud based ELN services at a later stage because this sector is more hesitant in using any new technology offered in the market and normally follows any technology only after it has been adopted by the corporate sector.Regional OverviewOn the basis of geography, global cloud ELN market can be segmented into four key markets namely North America, Europe, Asia and rest of the world. North America is expected to dominate market for cloud ELN among all the regions. USA in particular is expected to account for largest share in cloud ELN market and is expected to grow at highest CAGR. Europe market for cloud ELN trails behind the North American market. With increasing healthcare, research and IT developments, Asia-Pacific provides lucrative opportunities for the cloud ELN market. In rest of the world, countries belonging to Latin America and East Asia are expected to contribute more because of increasing healthcare and IT industry.Increasing adoption of cloud computing services in healthcare and research fields will motivate more users to move towards ELN and cloud ELN because of their latent advantages over paper based lab notebooks such as data security, portability, accuracy of the data, cost effectiveness etc. In todays scenario where most of the records in the fields of healthcare and research are been stored on servers instead of traditional paper based storage systems, more and more users will be attracted towards benefits offered by cloud based ELN services. ELN offered as public cloud is expected to attract more individual users because of its cost effectiveness which is expected to come down further with increasing number of users for the same shared service.Acceptance of SaaS for keeping confidential data such as patent related information in the cloud can be challenging task for the users who will fear from data security issues and can be a major restrain for cloud based ELN services. Although the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks but data security is one such fear which will be difficult to overcome for the users. Resistance to change can be a restrain for the market as users have been using paper lab notebooks from a long time and may show reluctance in using cloud ELN. Even on premise based ELN services can be a substitute for cloud ELN and will be preferred by corporate and government agencies who are quite critical about data security.Some of the major companies offering Cloud ELN services are PerkinElmer, Dassault Systemes, Core Informatics, Arxspan and Biovia. Many a companies are offering on premise ELN as well as cloud supported ELN both so as to meet the demands of varying set of customers. Cloud ELN being in its nascent stage is expected to drive the demand more after few years compared to on premise ELN.Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1984
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MONTGOMERY, AL / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Warren Averett, a CPA firm in Montgomery, Alabama, recognizes the recent boom in downtown Montgomery and is preparing the firm's real estate and construction team to meet additional client needs in the area. Approximately 12 multi-family residences are either currently under construction or have already been completed in the area. Residences that are still under construction are already leasing, which is an indicator of significant growth in residential and condo development. For further analysis of this progress, contact the Montgomery team of Warren Averett.This boom has drawn the attention of experts in the field. Will Aderholt, Warren Averett's Construction and Real Estate Industry Leader, explains that, "Downtown revitalization is in full swing in Montgomery. With the vision of developers, investors, and city leaders, the downtown area is now booming with commercial and residential activity, as well as attractions that draw visitors from all over. Development in the downtown area is picking up speed and will continue to grow with the development of condos that is happening now." One example of these developments are the renovations being done to the historic Bell Building. A group of 88 luxury apartments are being constructed within the iconic building. These apartments will feature luxurious amenities and add a modern twist to the historic structure.Other examples are the five-story Staybridge Suites building that opened in late 2018, with two other large hotels undergoing construction. The Hilltop Suites and Spa, which will feature 80 rooms, a spa, several restaurants and a rooftop bar, is set to follow in the fall of 2019. In addition, the former Bishop-Parker building is currently being transformed into a SpringHill Suites, which will most likely open in late 2019 as well.This development has implications for the city outside of the real estate and construction industries. Development in real estate points to a city that is growing and becoming more attractive to those who are considering investing in Montgomery. Justin Clark, a Member in Warren Averett's Montgomery office, says, "The development in downtown Montgomery has really been impressive. Real estate development plays such an integral role in helping a city prosper, and Montgomery has so much to offer. Investors and developers have given life back to an area of town that's rich in history and deserves another chance to thrive." Meanwhile, the professionals at Warren Averett are poised to serve the growing demand of accounting and advisory services caused by this growth in development across the city. Warren Averett is currently the largest accounting firm in the state of Alabama and the fourth largest in the Southeast. Their accountants are knowledgeable and highly qualified in their respective fields. For more information, visit their Facebook page.Warren Averett offers a myriad of services designed to serve businesses and organizations, including traditional accounting, corporate advisory, technology and risk solutions, HR solutions, finance team support and personal services. Traditional accounting services involve tax planning, audit and other CPA accounting services.Warren Averett serves private companies, non-profit organizations, government entities and public companies. Their experienced professionals help these organizations thrive, from tax planning and audit compliance to HR solutions and technology consulting. They currently have more than 800 employees in 15 offices. For those who want to visit the Montgomery offices of Warren Averett, their headquarters are located at 3815 Interstate Ct, Montgomery, AL 36109.For more information about Warren Averett, contact the company here:Warren AverettKaitlyn Ryan205-769-32273815 Interstate Ct, Montgomery, AL 36109SOURCE: Warren Averett
PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 05:41:09

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Rated #1 Electrician by Readers Choice Awards 2019 Expat Living SingaporeSINGAPORE / ACCESSWIRE / March 3, 2019 / Daylight Electrician Singapore is pleased to announce it was rated the #1 electrician service on Expat Living Singapore. Dubbed as the ultimate companion for life in Singapore, Expat Living Singapore is a monthly lifestyle magazine offering the best tips to expatriates in the country. With over 3,200 voters taking part in the magazine's yearly survey, readers have chosen Daylight Electrician as the best electrician in Singapore - proving that readers and previous customers who have had an experience with our staff were confident enough to recommend and vote for Daylight Electrician!The company owes its success to the many customers who have left behind great reviews and the power of word of mouth. Our staff offers up over 20 years of working experience by licensed electricians who are certified by the Energy Market Authority (EMA). We re so confident in the work that we do, all of our services are covered by a thirty-day warranty. Because we believe that if another electrical problem occurs, its our responsibility to address the issue and have it resolved. That is our 30-day quality assurance, free of charge, that helps customers who work with us get the peace of mind that they can reach out in case of any following issues. We work with fair and honest prices, we do fair and honest work.A big part of anxiety about repairs can stem from not being sure about total costs, which is why we're very upfront about the pricing. Before completing any work, you'll receive a transparent breakdown of our price, before any work happens. There are no hidden fees!Daylight Electrician is a locally owned business dedicated to serving the Singapore area with professionalism and expertise. The company handles all sorts of electrical issues from installations of power sockets or light fixtures as well as wiring, resolving power trips or failures.The company celebrates its success, with all our customers. Singapore is a vast cosmopolitan of various populations from all sorts of nationalities. To be rated so highly by the expat community is an honor, and a marker to not only our expertise as an electrician, but as a provider of customer service. In need of an electrician Singapore? Get in touch with us for all your electrical needs from installation, repair, wiring, or even a power failure or emergency. Just need an extra hand figuring out your electrical work? Book us for troubleshooting needs. A big thank you to all the past customers who made this win possible.Contact Info:Name: Ms GohOrganization: Daylight Electrician SingaporeAddress: 34 Boon Leat Terrace #04-12F Singapore 119866Phone: +65 6653 6261Website: https://www.daylightelectrician.com/ Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiXT16AKGxQ SOURCE: Daylight Electrician Singapore
PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 11:55:15

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MANILA, Philippines, and TOKYO, Japan, Mar 4, 2019 - (ACN Newswire) - Robinsons Bank Corporation (Robinsons Bank), a fast growing bank under JG Summit Holdings, Inc., one of the biggest conglomerates in the Philippines, and JCB International Co., Ltd. (JCBI), the international operations subsidiary of JCB Co., Ltd., have forged a new partnership for JCB merchant acquiring and card issuing business. The partnership allows the acceptance of JCB cards at merchants that use Robinsons Bank payment terminals and payment gateway at their place of business.Robinsons Bank is focused on delivering high quality payment solutions not only for the JG Summit conglomerate but also for other service providers in the Philippines. The Bank takes pride in gaining presence in the evolving payment industry alongside partnerships with more establishments in order to widen its coverage. This strategic move is aligned with Robinsons Bank's initiative towards customer centricity.This partnership between Robinsons Bank and JCB will benefit all JCB cardmembers in the Philippines and overseas. JCB is a global brand based in Japan with a total of 120 million cardmembers worldwide. JCB cardmembers will be able to use their JCB cards at all establishments that engage Robinsons Bank as their payment service provider.In 2019, JCB cardmembers will also be able to transact at other retail outlets such as Cebu Pacific, one of the largest airline companies in the Philippines.According to Kimihisa Imada, President and COO of JCBI, "The Philippines continues to be one of the most important markets for JCB's global business expansion and we are excited to welcome our new partner to the JCB network. I am sure that this partnership with Robinsons Bank will bring more benefits and convenience to all JCB cardmembers. We are also looking forward to exploring further business opportunities such as Robinsons Bank - JCB Card issuance soon." "We are very pleased to kick off 2019 by having JCB on board. With the relative advancements of electronic payment, Robinsons Bank is geared up to offer flexible payment solutions to complement JCB's product offerings. We are confident that this alliance will benefit customers in the Philippines and overseas, as we offer more avenues of efficient and competitive financial services to provide the best experience," said Elfren Antonio S. Sarte, President and CEO of Robinsons Bank.About JCBJCB is a major global payment brand and a leading payment card issuer and acquirer in Japan. JCB launched its card business in Japan in 1961 and began expanding worldwide in 1981. As part of its international growth strategy, JCB has formed alliances with hundreds of leading banks and financial institutions globally to increase merchant coverage and card member base. As a comprehensive payment solution provider, JCB commits to provide responsive and high-quality service and products to all customers worldwide.Note: Statistics are as of September 2018.For more information, please visit: www.global.jcb/en/ ContactKumiko KidaJCB Co., Ltd.Corporate CommunicationsTel: +81-3-5778-8353Email: jcb-pr@ info.jcb.co.jp About Robinsons BankRobinsons Bank, the financial services arm of the JG Summit Group of companies, is one of the fastest growing commercial banks in the Philippines in terms of capitalization and asset size. The bank is 60.0% owned by JG Summit Capital Services Corp. and 40.0% owned by Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc., a listed company since November 2013. The Bank delivers hallmark value and convenience to its customers, business partners, and the general public through a wide-array of innovative products and services. True to JG Summit's aim to "Make Life Better," the Bank continues to execute its strategies towards the vision of becoming the "Bank of Choice driven to fulfill its customers' changing needs." ContactAddress: 17/F Galleria Corporate Center, EDSA corner Ortigas Avenue, Quezon CityCustomer Care Center (C3) Hotline: (02) 637-CARE (2273)Email: c3@ robinsonsbank.com.ph Website: www.robinsonsbank.com.ph Facebook: www.facebook.com/robinsonsbank Twitter: @RbankCorp
PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 13:31:04

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The Upcoming Retreat will Take Place on June 20 and 21LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / March 4, 2019 / Kelly Hyman, a successful attorney in Colorado, and regular media contributor, is pleased to announce that she will be a guest speaker at the upcoming Kentucky Women's Trial Attorneys Retreat on June 20 and 21.To learn more about Hyman and her background in law, please visit https://www.kellyhyman.com/ As a spokesperson for Hyman noted, the upcoming retreat will start with a social event on Thursday, June 20, followed by a full day on Friday, June 21. The retreat will feature panel discussions and other events in addition to talks by attorneys like Hyman who plans to discuss using theater skills in the courtroom.Hyman, a class action and mass tort attorney and advocate for consumers, is comparable to a modern-day Erin Brockovich. Besides being a fighter for justice, she also had a less than traditional upbringing when compared to most attorneys. The native Floridian was raised in New York City and Southern California, and has a number of acting credits under her belt, some of them dating back to her childhood. Kelly Hyman is probably best known for her role of Loretta on "The Young and the Restless," and she also played Norman Fell's daughter on the television show "Gettin' There." Over the years, Hyman has also worked on numerous commercials, including the now infamous Kit Kat "Gimme a break" ad.Hyman does attribute some of her success as an attorney to skills she learned as an actress, but she also has an extensive education; she first earned a Bachelor's degree in communications from UCLA and a Master's degree in communications from Barry University before going on to law school. In 2003, she was awarded a J.D., with honors from the University of Florida College of Law.Hyman's devotion to her work and clients was recently recognized by the National Trial Lawyers; as KTVN.com noted, she was named as one of the Top 25 Class Action Trial Lawyers in the state of Colorado."The announcement came just after Kelly Hyman received the AV Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest rating possible, for her third consecutive year," KTVN noted, adding that the National Trial Lawyers is an organization consisting of professional, premier trial lawyers from across the U.S.Kelly Hyman is also a frequent contributor in the media, regularly contributing her expertise to journalists. Her skills in front of the camera are also being put to good use, as she continues to appear on various news outlets as well. Most recently, in the case surrounding Jussie Smollett, the up and coming actor who was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself, Kelly Hyman was able to use her background in acting and her knowledge of legal matters to lend a unique perspective on this case that has fascinated the nation. Hyman continues to appear in the media and speak at live events in her quest for justice. Tickets for the event will be available for sale.About Kelly Hyman:Kelly Hyman is an attorney in the class action group at Franklin D. Azar & Associates and focuses her practice on consumer class action lawsuits. She also has extensive experience in mass tort litigation, having represented hundreds of claimants in claims and inpidual actions filed in state and federal courts involving water contamination, tobacco and Transvaginal Mesh and Bladder Slings. She was a member of multiple discovery committees where she performed common benefit services for various mass torts projects. She is also available as a legal analyst and media contributor. For more information, visit https://www.kellyhyman.com/ Contact:Kelly Hymanhymank@ fdazar.com 303-900-5595SOURCE: Kelly Hyman
Tottle Containers Market

Tottle Containers Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 07:14:57

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The word tottle comes from two words namely tube and bottle. Tottle container is referred to as a cross between a bottle and a tube, commonly called as a tube shaped bottle. Tottle containers offer benefits of both the bottle and the tube; these containers stand on their tops which keep the product primed as well as also helps in stress free dispensing. Moreover, the thickness of the plastic allows the product to be impact resistant and providing it enough flexibility to be squeezed. Tottle containers represent stylish and ergonomic packaging type. The global tottle containers market is still in a very nascent stage, but the market is expected to witness a healthy CAGR over the forecast period.Request to Sample of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-4471 Tottle Containers: Market DynamicsEase of use is the primary reason behind the demand of tottle containers in the global market. There is a rising demand from consumers for portable packaging type. Rising disposable income of middle income population is also driving the global tottle container market as the customers are keen on paying extra concerning efficient product packaging. Tottle containers are not extensively preferred by the population in some parts due to their high cost as compared to the conventional bottle types. Tottle containers with a hang tab represent a key trend incorporated by manufacturers to attract a broad range of consumers. Tottle containers manufactured for end use other than cosmetics and personal care represent a critical opportunity for growth for the global market. Moreover, striking graphics and coloring are expected to create an opportunity for growth for the global tottle containers market. Customized label printing according to the need of the end use manufacturers is a key trend prevailing in the global tottle containers market.Tottle Containers: Market SegmentationThe global tottle containers market is segmented on the basis of material type, end use, closing type, neck type, and geography. On the basis of material type, the global tottle containers market is segmented into PE, PP, and PET. PE is further sub segmented into high density polyethylene (HDPE) and medium density polyethylene (MDPE). HDPE is the most preferred material for tottle containers due to its flexibility and durability. On the basis of end use, the global tottle container market is segmented into cosmetics and personal care and food industry. Cosmetics and personal care is further sub segmented into shampoos, conditioners, lotions, and hair product. In the food industry, the tottle containers are generally used for condiment packaging. On the basis of closing type, the global tottle containers market is segmented into flip top and screw cap. On the basis of neck type, the global tottle containers market is segmented into screw on and snap on neck type.Tottle Containers Market: Regional OutlookOn the basis of geography, the global tottle containers market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia pacific, Europe, and Middle East & Africa. North America is currently leading the global tottle containers market as the region is embarked by a population keen on spending on efficient packaging types. Asia Pacific tottle containers market is expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period due to an up surging middle class economy. Middle East & Africa tottle container market is expected to witness sluggish growth as MEA is represented by poverty rampant region and low income population. Latin America is expected to witness moderate growth over the forecast period as Latin America offers cost effective business and networking opportunities.Request Report for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4471 Tottle Containers Market: Key playersSome of the key players operating in the global tottle containers market are O.Berk Company, Morgan Container Corporation, Akey Group LLC., Container & Packaging Supply, Inc., Shanghai Brother Precision Mould Co., Ltd, Raepak Limited, and Rebhan FPS Kunststoff-Verpackungen GmbH.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, type of product and applications.The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies. Report Highlights : Detailed overview of parent market,Changing market dynamics in the industry,In-depth market segmentation,Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value,Recent industry trends and developments,Competitive landscape,Strategies of key players and products offered,Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth,A neutral perspective on market performance,Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint.
Monostarch Phosphate Market: Global Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027

PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 06:28:19

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Monostarch phosphate is produced by integrating orthophosphate acid substituents with monostarch. It is one of the segments of modified starch used in various food products such as low-calorie margarine, milkshakes, food concentrates, thermized cottage cheese, puddings, cold jelly desserts, dressings, sauces, and soups. Monostarch phosphate with the salts of sodium triphosphate, potassium phosphate, or sodium phosphate or phosphorous acid and is used to reduce retrogradation. Retrogradation is a reaction which takes place when the amylopectin or amylose chains is cooked. The North America monostarch phosphate market accounts for relatively high revenue share, followed by Western Europe monostarch phosphate market. Whereas, Asia-Pacific is expected to grow at a relatively high growth rate over the forecast period, owing to the increasing consumption of food products in the region.Global Monostarch Phosphate Market: DynamicsThe important factor driving the global monostarch phosphate market includes growing industry such as food and pharmaceutical across the globe. Monostarch phosphate reduces retrogradation reaction, which is also expected to fuel the global monostarch phosphate market, over the forecast period. However, adverse effect of monostarch phosphate in terms of excessive usage in a food product might use such as kidney abnormality, thereby restraining the global monostarch phosphate market growth. The significant trending factor for global monostarch phosphate market includes merger and acquisition with end-use industry. The company manufacturing monostarch phosphate products has a significant opportunity in regions such as North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific, attributed to rapidly growing food and pharmaceutical industry over the forecast period.Request Report Sample@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-3835 Global Monostarch Phosphate Market: SegmentationThe global monostarch phosphate market is segmented by end-use industry, application, and by region. By end-use, the global monostarch phosphate market is classified as the food and the pharmaceutical industry. Among the aforementioned segments, the food industry segment accounts for relatively high revenue share in the global monostarch phosphate market over the forecast period, owing to high demand for confectioneries and bakery products followed by pharmaceutical industry.Based on the end-use Industry, the global monostarch phosphate market is segmented into:Food IndustryPharmaceutical IndustryOther IndustriesBased on the application, the global monostarch phosphate market is segmented into:Thickening AgentOther ExcipientGlobal Monostarch Phosphate Market: Regional OverviewBy geographies, the global monostarch phosphate market is segmented into seven regions -- North America, Western Europe, Asia-Pacific except Japan (APEJ), Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East & Africa, and Japan. Among the regions, North America dominates the global monostarch phosphate market in terms of value, owing to a significant revenue share of the region in the food additive market. Western Europe is followed by North America in the global monostarch phosphate market, attributed to high demand for confectioneries and bakery products in the region. The APEJ is expected to account for relatively high volume share in the global monostarch phosphate market, owing to rapidly growing food and pharmaceutical industry over the forecast period. Eastern Europe and Japan also accounts for a relatively low-value share in the global monostarch phosphate market. Latin America and Middle East Africa is expected to have a moderate opportunity for the monostarch phosphate market, owing to the moderately growing economy and industries across the regions. Overall, the outlook for the global monostarch phosphate market will have a positive growth over the forecast period.Request For Table Of Content @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-3835 Global Monostarch Phosphate Market: Key PlayersFew of the monostarch phosphate market players include Cargill Inc., Ingredion Inc., Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., KMC, Global Bio-Chem Technology Group Co. Ltd., Penford Corp., Banpong Tapioca Flour Industrial Co Ltd., China Essence Group Ltd., Tate and Lyle Plc., Avebe U.A., Ulrick and Short Ltd., and Universal Starch Chem Allied.
PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 10:12:22

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Hexafluoropropylene Market: IntroductionHexafluoropropylene (HFP) is a fluorocarbon alkene, whose molecular formula is C3F6, in which the hydrogen atoms present in propylene are substituted by fluorine atoms. It is an odourless & colourless inflammable gas and is slightly soluble in water. It is manufactured in a closed system. It is widely used as an intermediate in the pharmaceutical industry. Fluorine-containing high polymer materials are obtained by the copolymerization of hexafluoropropylene. Hexafluoropropylene is stored in carbon-steel or stainless pressure-resistant containers.Fluoroelastomer produced by hexafluoropropylene is solvent-resistant, oil-resistant and heat-resistant owing to which it is significantly used in petroleum, aviation and automotive industries, which is expected to fuel its demand during the forecast period. Hexafluoropropylene is an important monomer as well as chemical intermediate for various fluorine-containing chemicals. It is also used as a raw material in leather-treating agents, fabric finishing agents and fluoride surfactants, among others.Request Sample Report@ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-7005 Hexafluoropropylene Market: DynamicsHexafluoropropylene oxide or HFPO finds applications is various end-use applications such as in pharmaceuticals in the production of specialty polymers, fluoropolymers and agrochemicals, etc., as its consumption increases the production of Hexafluoropropylene.Hexafluoropropylene is used as feedstock for a variety of applications, such as for producing fluorinated elastomers that include F246, F26 & FEP, the extinguishing agent HFC-227ea (heptafluoropropane) and fluorinated fine chemical products, such as pharmaceutical intermediate, fluorinated ether & fluorinated surfactants, etc. R227ea has nearly zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP), owing to which the demand of R227ea is expected to grow. This is expected to drive the demand for hexafluoropropylene. Thus, due its several applications, the demand for hexafluoropropylene is expected to grow significantly during the forecast period.The growing demand for firefighting chemicals, plastics, rubbers and pharmaceuticals across the globe, especially in Asia Pacific is expected to pave a lucrative path for hexafluoropropylene manufacturers to establish new manufacturing facilities, expand sales network etc. to cater the growing need of the end-use industry as well as gain a significant market share during the forecast period.However, fluctuations in raw material prices are expected to act as obstacles in the overall growth of the hexafluoropropylene market during the forecast period. In addition, it is considered as a hazardous chemical in North America and Europe, which is expected to restrain the market growth in these regions during the forecast period.Hexafluoropropylene Market: SegmentationBy product type, the hexafluoropropylene market can be segmented as:99%?99%By application, the hexafluoropropylene market can be segmented as:Hexafluoropropylene Oxide (HFPO)OthersBy end use, the hexafluoropropylene market can be segmented as:PlasticChemicalsRubberPharmaceuticalOthersHexafluoropropylene Market: Regional OutlookNorth America and Europe are expected to witness a surge in the demand for hexafluoropropylene during the forecast period, which can be attributed to the growing chemical and plastic industry in these regions. Asia Pacific is expected to witness significant growth during the forecast period, which can be attributed to the growing plastic, chemical, rubber and pharmaceutical industries in developing regions such as China and India, among others. Latin America and Middle East & Africa (MEA) is expected to witness slow to moderate growth during the forecast period due to a relatively low demand for hexafluoropropylene from various end use industries as compared to other regions. Moderate to healthy growth in the demand for hexafluoropropylene is expected across the globe due to the growing demand for firefighting chemicals and pharmaceuticals.Request to View TOC @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-7005 Hexafluoropropylene Market: Key ParticipantsSome of the key participants in the global hexafluoropropylene market are:MathesonUnimatec Co, Ltd.China Haohua Chemical Group Co., Ltd.Juhua Group CorporationDuPontDongyue Chemical Co., Ltd.Pelchem Pty Ltd.Gujarat Fluorochemicals LimitedNANOSHEL LLCHangzhou Ruilipu Trade Co., Ltd.The Chemours Company
Social Media Engagement Applications Market

Social Media Engagement Applications Market

PR-Inside.com: 2019-03-04 07:18:15

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Social Media Engagement Applications allows different kinds of users to exchange data which can be in the form of text, image, video, audio etc. via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn etc. Because of variety of features and advantages offered by these media services, their user base have grown exponentially and is still growing. A lot of established companies have their business model based on social media applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn etc., while there are other companies who are attracting huge traffic from these social media applications which ultimately reflects as sales conversion. With the advent of smartphone and its increasing penetration among the users, mobile applications now contributes major chunk of the revenue for social media companies. Even government organizations are actively participating in social media platforms either to advertise about their works, or to provide information about a particular topic to users or for opinion polls. Increasing penetration among social media users have enabled many advertisement agencies, PR firms, mobile apps and service provider companies whose business model is based on social media engagement applications and this trend is expected to continue.Social Media Engagement Applications Market SegmentationOn the basis of platforms: Social Networks-applications which allow users to connect with each other via a profile or group of profiles. Most common social networking sites are Facebook, LinkedIn etc., Media Sharing- media sharing platforms allows users to upload and exchange different sorts of media such as video, pictures etc. YouTube, Instagram are the most common platforms for media sharing., Microblogging microblogging platforms allows users to exchange content in the form of comments, images, video links etc. Twitter is a famous microblogging platform., Blog Forums  blog forums allows users to exchange ideas with each other in the form of blogs and posts. WordPress is one such famous blogging platform and there are several others., Social New  websites and their mobile apps publishing news articles or information comes under this category. Some of the famous social news platform are Digg, Reddit, etc., Others  lots of other social media platforms have come in the market such as location based services, social bookmarking, aggregators, collaboration tools, broadcasting tools etc.There are other sub segments of social media engagement applications market. Some of them are:Sub segment on the basis of device usage : Desktop  users accessing social media applications from desktops, Smartphone Web  smartphoneusers accessing social media from websites but not mobile applications, Smartphone App  smartphoneusers accessing social media from mobile applications but not website, Tablet Web  tabletusers accessing social media from websites but not mobile applications, Tablet App  tabletusers accessing social media from mobile applications but not websitesRequest for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-1969 Sub segment on the basis of users : Individual  individual users using social media for personal usage, Corporates  corporate entities using social media for advertisement, ad sales or other purposes, Government Agencies  government agencies using social media platforms for advertisement or to provide public domain information, Other  lots of other users such as NGOs, communities, organizations etc; Sub segment on the basis of demography : Gender  usage of social media applications is relatively high in males than females, Age  according to age, social media users can be segmented into age brackets such as < 15, 15-30, 30-50, 50 >, Profession  by profession market can be segmented into professional and personal users, Others; Segmentation of social media engagement applications market on the basis of geography: North America (U.S., Canada), Latin America (Mexico. Brazil), Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia), Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand), Japan, Middle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, N. Africa)Regional OverviewRegional usage of social media platform depends highly on regions population and accessibility of the internet and smartphone devices, which is why largest percentage of users are located in APAC regions followed by European, American and other regions. With increasing accessibility of the technology and supporting devices to poorer nations, distribution of usage of social media platforms will solely rely upon population of regions. Increasing internet usage, smartphone penetration will be the major drivers for global social media engagement application market. Other drivers which will contribute in market growth are increasing awareness among non-users, decreasing cost of broadband and data tariffs, increasing benefits offered through applications etc.Difficult to use GUIs, social and economic factors, accessibility issues will restrain the growth of social media engagement application market. Government regulation also restrict social media usage for example China has blocked social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. and thus deprive a huge chunk of worlds population away from the benefits of social media. Major social media engagements applications are Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram etc. Business model may differ from company to company but the underlying structure of these companies is based upon usage of social media engagement applications traffic.Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-1969
The Advisory Boards for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, The Nigeria Prize for Science and The Literary Criticism Prize, have called for entries in the 2019 edition of the awards.

The event, which is sponsored by sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, is currently in its 15th year.

The organisation, in a statement on Friday, said submission of entries in the literature prize and literary criticism prize officially opened on February 15 and will close on April 5.

On the other hand, entries for the science prize, which also opened on February 15 will close on May 3.

The literature and science prizes attract a cash prize of $100, 000 each for the winners, while the winner of the literary criticism prize will receive the sum of N1m.

The science prize, which recognises outstanding scientific achievements by Nigerians, will focus on Climate Change: Erosion, Drought, and Desertification this year.

On the other hand, the 2019 literature prize will focus on Childrens Literature. The prize, which honours the author of the best book by a Nigerian, rotates among four literary genres, namely Prose Fiction, Poetry, Drama and Childrens Literature.

The literary criticism prize, which also aims at promoting Nigerian literature, will receive entries on works in criticism of works by Nigerian writers, especially critical essays on new writings in Nigerian literature.

A professor of Creative Writing at the University of Ibadan, Obododinma Oha, will head the panel of judges for this years literature and the literary criticism competitions.

Other members of the panel include Asabe Usman Kabir, a professor, and Patrick Okolo.

Mr Kabir teaches Oral and African Literature at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, while Mr Oloko teaches African Postcolonial Literature at the University of Lagos.

In 2018, Soji Cole won the literature prize award with his play, Embers; Peter Ngene clinched the science prize for his work in Innovation in electric power and Isidore Diala, a professor of the Imo State University, Owerri, took home the literary criticism prize.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature has rewarded eminent writers, such as the late Ikeogu Oke (2017, Poetry) with The Heresiad; Abubakar Ibrahim (2016, Prose) with Season of Crimson Blossoms; Sam Ukala (2014, Drama) with Iredi War.

Others are Tade Ipadeola (2013, Poetry) with his collection of poems, Sahara Testaments, Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sisters Street; and Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, childrens literature) with his book, The Missing Clock, to mention only a few.
Africas foremost diplomat, Kofi Annan, was one of the biggest human export from the continent.

Aside from being the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations for nine years (1997 to 2006), the late Ghanaian was one of the founders of the Global Fund. The funding mechanism is now the worlds largest financier of AIDS, Tuberculosis, and malaria prevention, treatment, and care programmes.

Having just won the Nobel Peace laurel, Mr Annan at a summit of African leaders in April 2001 in Abuja, Nigeria made the first contribution by donating his $100,000 award prize to the Fund.

This prompted the UN General Assembly a month later to endorse the creation of a Global Fund (GF) to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The fund was formally created in 2002. Between then and 2016, more than 51 donor governments pledged $38.5 billion and paid $37.3 billion.

Mr Annan had a vision of creating a pool of funds to reach some of the worlds poorest with heavy disease burdens, especially, Africans.

Despite the billions in aid money from Global Fund for over a decade, Africa, however, is still dogged by disturbing health statistics.

This is partly because corrupt and incompetent officials undercut progress in health management in the continent.

Auwal Musa, an anti-corruption activist, said the rampant fraud is due to the absence of accountable budgetary process and lack of legislative oversight by countries benefitting from the funds.

PREMIUM TIMES reviewed a Global Fund audit report that covered the period between January 7 and December 17. The report revealed how aid money disappeared in the hands of corrupt officials in some African countries.

Seven countries top the list of nine indicted of fraud and incompetence in the 2018 audits and investigations from the Office of the Inspector-General (OIG), an independent arm of Global Fund.

The top seven are Mozambique, Guinea, Zambia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Nigeria and the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

Though investigations for each country were detailed in separate reports, they all revealed a similar pattern of fraud, coercion, collusion, administrative lapses, inefficiency, bad or no accounting, and non-compliance with grant agreement which dates back three to four years.

Inside the Report  The Seven Offenders

Zambia  Warehouse theft

Warehouses controlled by Zambias health ministry were robbed of vast quantities of drugs paid for by aid between 2014 and 2016, the OIG report last April revealed.

Officials are alleged to have been involved in the purchase of the health products, provided by other donors, stolen from the warehouse of Medical Stores Limited (MSL), a government distributor of health products.

Zambia map

The investigation identified significant unexplained stock losses of Global Fund-financed health products totaling $1.06 million. The losses, which were neither effectively investigated nor reported to Global Fund, comprised HIV test kits, and malaria drugs among others.

Many of the stolen drugs were found in commercial vendor shops in Zambia and its neighbouring country, DR Congo, during a sponsored market survey, an indication of drug pilferage.

Actions taken: Based on findings, arrests were said to be made through Global Fund funded multi-agency national task team.

There was also recovery of an appropriate amount of the loss ($1.6 million) from the principal recipient  Zambias Ministry of Health.

Guinea  Falsification of data and costs for HIV survey

Guinea, a French speaking nation, is a west-coastal country in West Africa.

Made public last October, OIG investigation in the country found that a local NGO called SIDALERTE falsified survey data and costs.

SIDALERTE was contracted in 2015 by Guineas National AIDS, the principal recipient, to conduct an Integrated Biological and Behavioral Surveillance (IBBS) survey.

The survey was intended to update core HIV behaviour and prevalence indicators among at-risk population groups, and to provide an information base for the mid-term evaluation of Guineas 2013-2017 national AIDS strategic framework.

A map showing countries in the Gulf of Guinea. [Photo credit: Omojuwa.com]

The country, however, fell short of its planned number of survey participants and HIV tests in some regions because about one quarter participants were fictitious, and had been created to cover gaps in numbers of survey participants by SIDALERTE.

The implications of the data falsification reached beyond the financial costs. The report said the programmes progress was misrepresented.

Actions Taken: SIDALERTEs was asked to pay back the total contract amount, $114,366.

Nigeria  Misappropriation of funds

The national coordinator of the Civil Society for the Eradication of Tuberculosis in Nigeria (TB Network) orchestrated a scheme to misappropriate funds amounting to $51,038 from salaries and allowances paid to other employees over a 14-month period (July 2016 and September 2017).

TB Network is a sub-recipient of Global Fund grants in Nigeria.

Map of Nigeria used to illustrate the story

PREMIUM TIMES last September published a report on the OIG investigation revealing how the national coordinator allegedly colluded with the former finance manager and a programme internal auditor in running the fraudulent scheme.

An additional $10,750 from Global Fund grant salary disbursements were also siphoned as authorised salary payments to five network employees over a two-month period, before these employees began their jobs at the network in September 2016.

Actions Taken: Recovery of $64,000 as non-compliant expenditures.

Central African Republic  Theft, leakages of medicine purchased by Global Funds

Medicines worth $198,334, bought from two grants  malaria and TB/HIV, were lost due to theft and leakage in the Central African Republic (C.A.R.) over a period of 17 months (January 2016 to May 2017).

This report was made public last January.

Central African Republic (CAR) [Photo Credit: Operation World]

The loses primarily occurred at the central warehouse used by the principal recipient (PR), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

C.A.R. is a country of 4.6 million people that has gone through periods of conflict for more than 30 years. On Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index, the C.A.R. ranks 149th out of 180 countries. The public sector is perceived to be highly corrupt.

Actions taken: Recovery of $198,000. Key warehouse staff members believed to be involved were arrested.

Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)  fraudulent diversion of funds

In the Kingdom of Eswatini, OIG investigated programmes implemented by Family Life Association of Swaziland (FLAS), a Global Fund Sub-recipient for HIV/TB grant.

The report made public last August found that FLAS Project Finance Officer fraudulently diverted $26,701 of Global Fund grant funds between 1 June 2016 and 30 April 2017. He did this by making improper transfers through FLASs mobile money account into his own personal account as well as to other unauthorised accounts.

Eswatini

Some of the funds that went into his personal account ($6,081, or 17 percent) went into payments  outside the grant programme  to community facilitators, outreach workers, trainers, and other beneficiaries who had no formal contracts with FLAS. The vast majority of these funds ($20,620) was used by the Finance Officer for personal reasons.

Actions taken: Recovery of misappropriated funds.

Kenya  Fraud in Training Activities

The OIG investigation made public last February revealed how officials falsified figures of trainings, events and meeting attendees paid for with aid money. About $62,557 in non-compliant expenditures of the TB grant were identified.

There was no evidence that a number of people (120) participated in these events; and the OIG found evidence that a number of people (17) had received per diems although they had not attended any activities.

Kenya on map

The principal recipient for Grant KEN-T-TNT was the National Treasury, but the implementing agency was the National TB, Leprosy and Lung Disease Program (NTLDP), part of the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Actions Taken: Kenyan government agreed to impose disciplinary measures on two employees and to recover funds from them, the report noted. Up to the time the investigation report was prepared, $11,932 had been recovered.

Mozambique  Misappropriation of fund

OIG in investigations published last November accused the Executive Secretary of the Mozambique Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) of embezzling $22,593 from Global Fund in 2016 and 2017.

The CCM funding recipient, Fundacao para o Desenvolvimento da Comunidade (FDC), approved these fraudulent expenditures and a further $3,427 of unsupported payments was submitted by the Executive Secretary.

Mozambique on map

Actions taken: Based on the report, the CCM executive secretary was dismissed.

Implications of OIG report on African Beneficiaries of Aid Money.

How Countries React

Although the OIG proposed sanctions such as repayment of mismanaged funds and noted arrests, suspension and termination, PREMIUMTIMES sought reactions from the seven countries involved in the allegations.

Apart from Nigeria, governments (mostly ministry of health) of the other six coutries are yet to respond to official emails sent to them seeking clarification on how they did over the allegations by Global Fund.

Nigerias minister of health, Isaac Adewole, also did not return or respond to text messages to his phone.

However, the National Secretary of TB Network, a sub-recipient of the TB grant for Nigeria, Obatunde Oladapo, spoke to this newspaper on the issue.

Mr Oladapo said the OIG report and allegations were accurate. But he said he was not among those indicted in the fraud.

The official said the organisation embarked on restructuring following the report of the investigation.

He said one of the measures taken was to appoint a member of the National Steering Committee to oversee the project of the Global Funds programmes of the network.

How Global Fund system encourages fraud

The OIG in summary of its 2018 audit presented at the 40th board meeting of the Global Fund last November noted a reduction in large cases of fraud compared to previous reports.

He said this was because of financial controls and instituted safeguard measures.

However, the misappropriations recorded could be traced to weak oversight by the governments of benefitting countries which is encouraged by the Global Fund design.

The Global Fund is a financing mechanism rather than an implementing agency. It is a pool where countries, public and private institutions donate money for disbursement according to HIV, TB and malaria burden of countries.

From 2001 through 2016, the largest contributor by far was the United States, followed by France, UK, Germany, and Japan.

The Global Fund typically raises and spends funds during three-year replenishment fund-raising periods. Its first replenishment was launched in 2005, the second in 2007, the third in 2010, the fourth in 2013, and the fifth in 2016.

Programmes are implemented by in-country partners such as ministries of health, while the Global Fund secretariat, which staff only have an office in Geneva, monitors the programmes.

Implementation is overseen by Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) and stakeholders that need to include, according to Global Fund requirements, a broad spectrum of representatives from government, NGOs, faith-based organisations, the private sector, and people living with the diseases.

Many have raised concern the susceptibility of this system to fraud and conflict of interest, as some stakeholders represented on the CCM may also receive money from the Fund, either as grant recipients or contractors.

In January 2011, the Associated Press reported vast corruption in some programmes financed by the Global Fund, citing findings of the OIG that up to two-thirds of funds in some of the reviewed grants were lost to fraud.

Previous reviews of grants, the report said, had shown substantial misconduct in some programmes, lack of adequate risk management, and operational inefficiency of the Global Fund.

Cases of corruption were also found in several African countries such as Mali, Mauritania, Djibouti, and Zambia.

Germany and Sweden were among top contributors that at the time (2011), blocked any financing until the corruption problems were resolved.

Other cases of abuse of funds, corruption and mismanagement in a series of grants forced the Global Fund to suspend or terminate the grants after such dealings became public in Uganda, Zimbabwe, Philippines, and Ukraine.

In February 2011, the Financial Times reported that the Global Fund board failed to act previously on concerns over accountability, including on the conclusion of an external evaluation in 2009 that criticised the organisations weak procurement practices.

Africa: Looting Galore

African countries slammed in the 2018 audit had been exposed of abusing Global Fund aids in previous reports.

It, however, did not stop the corrupt officials in 2018 as their governments would rather secretly refund the loot than take decisive action.

Nigeria, which has a Global Fund commitment of more than $1.4 billion since 2003, with over $800 million disbursed between 2012 and 2016 (HIV/AIDS $545m, malaria $708m and TB $155m), is one of such countries.

Two years before the 2018 report was released, Nigerian officials were accused of stealing funds meant for HIV/AIDS campaign by misrepresenting or inflating the amounts paid to hotel venues and other expenditures.

Nigerias Auditor-General, Anthony Ayine, in July reprimanded the National Agency for the Control AIDS (NACA) managing the HIV fund for refusing to shed light on how the fund was used.

Even before that, Sahara Reporters in 2012 published a report detailing how seven NGOs misused funds from 15 grants, amounting to $682,149,515, provided between 2003 and 2009 to the country. This, the report said, put Nigeria in danger of not getting subsequent grants.

Following the development, Nigerias Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), vowed to probe the NGOs but nothing was heard of that probe since then.

Rasheedat Okoduwa, ICPC spokesperson, could not be reached on phone. She is yet to respond to text messages seeking update on the probe the commission said it commenced in 2012.

Also in 2012, Kenya missed about $67 million supposed grant for fighting Aids, malaria and TB because of fraud and mismanagement of Global Funds money, according to Daily Nation.

Even though African governments indicted of fraud have not made progress in bringing culprits to book, Global Fund appears to be appeased once refunds of misused funds are made.

Amidst allegation of abuse of TB grant detailed in the 2018 audit which is still unclear how it was resolved, Nigeria last month received a fresh $29million grant for TB interventions.

Refunding stolen funds and allowing people who looted the fund to walk free is not a solution, said Mr Musa, the Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC). It is deception!

At Transparency International, we did a whole report on health and corruption and we have found a lot of public officials mismanaging this global health fund in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the government has not made any bold step to arrest and make those people account for the money they have actually embezzled. In Africa, we allow impunity to thrive.

Lanre Suraju, another anti-corruption campaigner, gave a different view. He said even the so-called funders and international NGOs may also be culpable of fraud.

It can be easy for them to easily accuse countries that are already in the toga of corruption and get away with it.

Ngozi Okonjo Iwela (Nigerias former finance minister) refunded money bags to GAVI then in her capacity as a minister only for her to leave office and become board chairman at GAVI. So you can see some elements of payback for job well done and conflict of interest.

These organisations in most cases are not the original owners of the money so it is important they maintain high level of accountability and transparency even before looking into the operations of the beneficiaries.

Ripple Effects

Mr Suraju, the chairman of Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), described the effect of fragrant abuse and continuous reliance on aid money by African countries as dire.

The implication is very dire for those who usually rely on such for funds for survival.

Sadly, some of these funds create corruption because irresponsible governments will take advantage of those aids to abdicate their primary responsibility which is to provide for the welfare and security of their people.

HIV, TB and malaria victims are already suffering. The monies that are naturally available within the system are being mismanaged and they (government) sit and wait for aid to take care by large extent, the welfare of their people.

Beyond looted funds, the OIG report noted that doctoring and or inflating of health figures, statistics and surveys by corrupt officials have made programmes geared towards combating several diseases in the continent more or less, a mirage.

The Millennium Development Goal 6 had three targets: To halt by 2015 and start to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS; To achieve global access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for those who need it by 2010; To have ceased and started reversal of the incidence of malaria, Tuberculosis and other major diseases by 2015.

Though significant progress were made, these goals were never met as Africa still bears the highest burden despite billions of aid money it received for intervention.

Globally, 36.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2017, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

African region remains most severely affected, with nearly 1 in every 25 adults living with HIV and accounting for nearly two-thirds of the people living with HIV worldwide.

According to the latest World malaria report, released last November by WHO, there were 219 million cases of malaria in 2017 with the African Region carrying a disproportionately high share of the burden.

In 2017, 10 million people fell ill with TB, and 1.6 million died, WHO reports.

Until there is a transparent management and intervention plan, Africa will still be dogged with these challenges, said Mr Suraju.

The fact that we have irreconcilable number of health burden such as HIV and malaria more than the rest of the world should challenge the governments. There is nothing like no money. The ones embezzled daily in these African regimes and sent overseas is far more than the foreign aid received.

We should start thinking of how to reduce dependency on aid money.

The Way Forward?

I think the way forward is to have a proper monitoring mechanism that will involve none state actors to monitor the spending allocation and distribution of the support, Mr Musa also known as Rafsanjani said. Without that, politicians will continue to use their cronies to syphon these funds.

We must also make sure the relevant health committees in the national assembly and parliaments in Africa play a very active role in the management of this grant.

We have to make sure the national planning commission plays a major role especially in assessing grant recipients.

There must be regular report presented to the general public on these grants.

Walla Garba, a Nigerian Anti-Corruption activist, said Global Fund should partner with independent anti-corruption organisations and agencies and the media from start to end of a grant gestation.

It is the absence of accountability that results to this kind of wastages in African countries. Its the absence of those who will follow the money, put their eyes on these resources and ensure that justice is done to the funds, Mr Garba, the chairman of Citizens Action to Take Back Nigeria (CATBAN) noted.

Global fund should know it is not just about giving countries money and doing audit reports and investigations. They should bring in some of these organisations that are actually responsible for monitoring government agencies, insisting on getting value for money.

Even before they give money there should be some assessment of the countries. During such stages they should bring in these anti-corruption agencies to be part of that process from the beginning so they will be able to study various fund recipients and know what are the expectations and capacities they have.

All information and documents about each grant and intervention should be made public before it commences. Journalist should also be involved because there is need for awareness and transparency.

Mr Walla and his team recently launched Anti-Corruption Africa, an initiative for tracking, investigating and exposing abuse of foreign grants in Africa.
Several families in Abonnema in Akuku Toru Local Government Area of Rivers State started fleeing their homes on Sunday over fear Nigerian Army could attack their town after gunmen killed two soldiers there on Saturday night.

Multiple sources among the locals confirmed the disturbing development to PREMIUM TIMES, a week after several persons were killed by soldiers retaliating the killing of a colleague by armed hoodlums in Abonnema, Akuku Toru LGA of Rivers State.

That is true, said Omoni Nnamdi, spokesperson for the police in Rivers State. Everybody is aware of that (that residents were fleeing following the killing of soldiers).

Mr Nnamdi, however, said it was an army business and explained the police could not make an official statement before the army.

This paper understands the police in Rivers are wary of speaking on the matter as the 6 Division of the Nigerian Army based in Port Harcourt is yet to react.

Two soldiers killed at checkpoint

Gunmen, reportedly wearing army camouflage according to security sources, attacked a military checkpoint called Samson Jack Checkpoint along Obonoma-Abonnema Road Saturday night.

In the wake of the attack, two soldiers were left dead and the gunmen allegedly made away with army rifles. Other soldiers fled and sustained injuries as they were hit by surprise.

The deadly attack on the soldiers compelled families to leave their homes for safety somewhere else on Sunday morning.

The Saturday attack came just a week after the bloody election day incident involving hoodlums and soldiers in the town.

The army confirmed they killed six persons whom they called hoodlums as a reprisal carried out after a soldier was killed in an ambush.

But residents said more than six persons were killed.

Therefore, when two soldiers were again killed by gunmen, fear of reprisal by the army engulfed the land, forcing a mass exit Sunday morning.

We could not get the army to speak on this report. The spokesperson for the army formation in Port Harcourt, Aminu Iliyasu, did not answer calls. He also did not reply to a text seeking his comment.

The election day violence forced the Independent National Electoral Commission to declare no voting exercise in Akuku Toru LGA. Five other LGAs also were not included in the final results from Rivers State in last Saturdays presidential election due to violence.

Before the elections, tension had peaked between the army formation in Port Harcourt and the Rivers State Government.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Ezenwo Wike addressing journalists

But since after the elections, the atmosphere in Rivers has remained tense and both the army and the government continue to trade accusations.

As the army comes under heavy allegations of interference with the elections, it accuses Governor Nyesom Wike of masterminding violence and compromising security agencies.

The army paraded two Rivers officials, Reason Onya and Lokpobiri Wanaka, last Tuesday, as suspects linked to Mr Wike as well as electoral violence and malpractices in the state.

On Sunday evening, a coalition of 15 political parties led by Warigbani Zebulum of APDA commended the army for coming to the rescue of defenceless Rivers people especially those in Abonnema held hostage by hoodlums and thugs loyal to PDP.

The coalition also denied involvement in the reported endorsement of Mr Wike for a second term by 58 parties two days ago.

Rivers APC candidates will not participate in the governorship and state legislative elections next Saturday based on a Supreme Court ruling. This could make it easy for Mr Wike and other PDP candidates as APC is the main opposition party in the state.
Less than three years after his appointment, the Executive Secretary of the National Christian Pilgrims Commission, Tor Ujah, is under probe over a series of alleged fraud, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

The federal government decided to investigate Mr Ujah, who was appointed in 2016, over multiple allegations of diversion of funds at the agency on his watch.

According to documents seen by this newspaper, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) in October 2018 gave instructions for the investigation of the allegations.

The secretary to the government of the federation is in receipt of a report, alluding to the fact that the funds of the Nigeria Christian Pilgrims Commission are being mismanaged, a document signed by the SGFs legal adviser, Emmanuel Akissa, said.

It added that following the information, the SGF would investigate 10 different payment vouchers issued between 2017 and 2018, on behalf of the commission.

Multiple sources within the commission told this newspaper that the office of the SGF had instituted a panel which was made up of eight people, headed by the chairman of the NCPCs board, Yomi Kasali, to conduct the investigation.

The sources told PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Ujah is being investigated for allegedly diverting $229,000 meant ensuring pilgrims visit to Israel, Greece and Rome in July 2017, among other allegations.

The ES is also suspected to have diverted $103,000 in 2018. Concerning that money, the ES had explained that it was used for hiring of a hall during the bidders education workshop, which held in Israel last year.

The irony of this claim is that, while the ES is claiming that the money was used for hiring the hall, it is a fact that the workshop was held inside the hall of the Nigerian Embassy in Tel-Aviv, a place where the ES could not have made any such payment, the source who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

According to another source, N1 billion meant for the commissions local budget was also transferred to the commissions offshore account between 2016 and 2017.

The ES has not been able to submit the annual pilgrimage report to the SGF and the Vice President since he assumed office, said another top source within the commission. The infractions are more than what any single one of us can tell you, the source added.

When PREMIUM TIMES approached the office of the SGF, its spokesperson, Willie Bassey, confirmed the investigation in a telephone interview.

Yes, the investigation is ongoing and we will make the findings public in due time, Mr Bassey said, after consulting with his permanent secretary. He, however, declined further comments on the matter.

Mr Ujah gave certain conditions for speaking with this newspaper.

According to the ES, he could only speak if copies of the document provided by our sources are made available to him.

How do I know that you are not just trying to blackmail me? If you are not going to let me see the documents you claim to have, then I cannot say anything about what I am not aware of, Mr Ujah said after an initial appointment to speak with this newspaper.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may redeploy the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Akwa Ibom State, Mike Igini, before the forthcoming governorship and house of assembly elections across the country, top sources in the commission have told PREMIUM TIMES.

An official in the commission told PREMIUM TIMES on Monday afternoon that the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu, has been under pressure from the federal government to redeploy Mr Igini from Akwa Ibom.

The official, who did not want his name mentioned in the report, told this newspaper that Mr Yakubu has already succumbed to the pressure.

He (Mr Yakubu) is working on the (redeployment) plan, he said. The announcement will be out few days to the governorship election.

People in the office (INEC headquarters) are surprised, and are worried at the same time why the chairman could give in to such pressure when he knows the consequences it could have on the commissions image and on the remaining elections, he said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has been campaigning for Mr Iginis transfer from Akwa Ibom, weeks before the just concluded presidential and national assembly elections.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is the ruling party in Akwa Ibom, won the presidential and all the national assembly seats in the state.

The APC has been accusing Mr Igini of being biased, in favour of the PDP in the state.

APC national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, has repeatedly demanded Mr Iginis removal from office and restated his position at an APC meeting attended by President Muhammadu Buhari last week.

Apart from Mr Igini denying the accusation, the PDP in Akwa Ibom said the APC was frustrated with the commissioner because he refused to help them rig the elections.

Mr Igini is generally regarded as a forthright and respectable public officer within and outside INEC.

Besides Mr Igini, PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the INEC chairman, Mr Yakubu, was also under pressure to redeploy resident electoral commissioners in Rivers, Imo, Benue, and Plateau states.

The APC lost the presidential election in all five states including Akwa Ibom. The ruling partys dilemma in Imo is worse as its governor, Rochas Okorocha, is supporting a separate party for the governorship election and has been suspended by the APC.

Another source close to the INEC chairman in Abuja lamented the pressure being mounted on him by the federal government.

The problem is that while he is a good man, he does not have the conviction of a Jega (Attahiru, ex-INEC chairman), one source said. He appears to be caving in.

But INEC, however, says there is no such plan.

Its not true. It is just speculation, Rotimi Oyekanmi, the spokesperson to the INEC chairman told PREMIUM TIMES.

The INEC chairman has not told me of any pressure, and I dont see any pressure on his face, except for the normal pressure of planning for the general elections as we all know, but not pressure from anybody to transfer anybody.

There is no such plan to redeploy any of the RECs before the elections, Mr Oyekanmi said.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has scheduled an emergency expanded caucus meeting on Monday.

The meeting, scheduled for 12 noon, was yet to commence by 1p.m.

The meeting is expected to be centered on the partys decision to seek redress in court over the outcome of the presidential election.

The presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, rejected the result of the poll as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

INEC declared President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the election.

Mr Buhari, according to the electoral body, scored 15,191,847 votes while Mr Abubakar garnered 11,262,978 votes to finish as runner-up.

More details of the meeting will be made available shortly.
The Nigeria Intervention Movement (NIM) has accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of concocting votes for the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) at the February 23 elections to undermine the prospects of the Third Force political group.

A group of parties last year proposed to team up as the Third Force to present Nigerian voters an alternative to the APC and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The proposal, however, came unstuck as the parties went to the presidential and National Assembly elections separately and performed poorly.

But NIM accused INEC of fraud and subversion of the will of the electorate in the elections.

According to a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, signed by its spokesperson, Debo Adeniyi, the coalition said it would embark on a nationwide protest against the alleged falsification of results and manipulations of votes.

Mr Adeniyi said the protest would be led by a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba

The NIM spokesperson said INEC deliberately fetched votes for political parties that had already stepped down from the race to the two major parties.

He alleged that INEC was sympathetic to the ruling party in most states where elections were conducted or were not conducted.

From the reports of our allied field vigilantes, credible news media and some INEC officials, it is abundantly clear that there was strategic collusion among state agents, political gladiators and some unscrupulous officials of INEC to subvert the will of the electorate by manipulating, doctoring, concocting, manufacturing and allocating imaginary votes and figures to parties, contrary to the actual votes cast in the various constituencies where elections were held or even were not held during the presidential election in Nigeria.

It is also quite worrisome to note that the pattern of votes allocations and contortions of figures in the elections has been very ridiculous in most cases; as parties without any presence and serious membership but sympathetic to the ruling government in most states have been allocated votes higher than established third force parties with visible structures and membership, which were viciously allotted zero votes.

Mr Adeniyi also said a report from one of its Third Force party Situation Room showed that INEC recorded high voter turnout in states such as Borno, Zamfara, and Yobe that have suffered attacks from insurgency and banditry than states that were relatively peaceful.

He said the development has pushed the NIM to align with the new Orange (O toge) Movement to upturn the election.

Furthermore, the Situation Room of our ally, Alliance for Defence of Democracy (ADD) noted that some Boko Haram and criminal banditry ravaged states like Borno, Zamfara, and Yobe were declared strangely by INEC to have recorded higher voters turnout more than relatively peaceful states like Lagos, Oyo, etc. with higher registered voters.

This has also raised suspicion and made mockery of the results announced by INEC for the 2019 elections, such that we of the Third Force movement in alliance with other patriotic political fronts such as the New Orange Movement is compelled to resist and confront the foisting of falsified results in the 2019 elections with serious political action and mass protests in the succeeding days.

Again, in Oyo North Senatorial district, agents of Hon Mulikat Akande -Adeola, the senatorial candidate of the PDP under Oyo North Senatorial District, sent a strong report to our Situation Room that the senatorial election was marred with a lot of manipulations of results, violence and non-adherence to the electoral law and guidelines issued by INEC with serious evidences that APC results were falsified, particularly at Iseyin and Saki west local government areas of the Senatorial District and the Returning officers did the bidding of the APC and prevented some of their collation agents from participating in the collation exercise e.g at Saki west and Iseyin local governments.

He also identified the discrepancy between the number of registered voters in Nasarawa State announced by the state collation officer, Azubuike Nwankwo

In Nasarawa State, for instance, there is a clear discrepancy in the Presidential Result announced by Prof Azubuike as stated below:

Registered voters: 1,401,895

Accredited voters: 489,482

Valid votes: 580,778

Rejected votes: 18,621

Total votes cast: 599,399

Party Scores:

APC  289,903

PDP  283,847, in which case APC+PDP votes alone without adding that of the third force parties is 573,750.
An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court on Monday terminated the charges filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against the late former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh.

Mr Badeh was killed by gunmen last year when returning from his farm in Nasarawa State.

The court presided over by Okon Abang in its judgement found Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, the company which is standing trial with Mr Badeh, guilty of the charges.

It ordered that all properties of the company in line with the 10-count amended charge be forfeited to the federal government through the EFCC.

He also ordered that the Corporate Affairs Commission should be notified of the ruling.

Having regard to the plea bargain and plea duly taken, I hereby find the defendant Iyalikam Nigeria limited guilty.

The defendant is hereby wound up and this judgement shall be served on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) for necessary action.

All properties in line with the 10-count charge are hereby forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

In view of the fact that the first defendant in the original charge is reported dead, all charges against the first defendant are hereby terminated, Mr Abang said.

During the court session on Monday, the prosecution counsel, O A. Atolagbe, told the court that the matter was adjourned for the hearing of defence of the second defendant (Iyalikam Nig Ltd).

This case was adjourned to today for the continuation of hearing, in particular to defence of the 2nd def, since the 1st def is deceased.

However, there is a development, the 2nd defendant and the prosecution have met and they have been able to reach an agreement and we have filed a further amended charge dated March 1 and filed March 4.

We also filed a plea bargain agreement dated March 4 pursuant to section 279 of ACJA, 2015.

According to Mr Atolagbe, In view of the two processes, we urge my lord to make an order of amendment of the charge before the court stating further that there is a provision under ACJA section 216 which deals with amendment but section 218(2) which deals with the process if amendment and we have provided the note specified by section 218(2)at the end of the amended charge.

The first defendants counsel, Akin Olujimi, and second defendants counsel, Samuel Ologunorisa, did not object to the application of the prosecution.

Mr Abang, then said, Since there has not been objection to the prosecution application, the further amendment charge filed today is deemed properly filed and served.

Following the short ruling, Mr Atolagbe said, I further urge My Lord allow the charge to be read and plea bargain entered as in the plea bargain agreement.

Responding, Mr Olujimi said, It is most unnecessary to go over the reading of charges again, there is before the court a plea bargain agreement executed by the prosecution. It would have been a different situation if there was no plea bargain.

Mr Ologunorisa told the court he shared the same view with Mr Olujimi.

Again, the prosecution reiterated that the amended 10-count charge be read to the court.

I humbly urge the court to let the charge be read in the open court by the registrar.

When the judge asked if there is a section that supports that, Mr Atolagbe said: Section 478 of ACJA, 2015 states that there must be a call to plea hence, what is left is for the charge to be read and a plea entered by the court.

In his ruling, Mr Abang said, Having heard the learned senior counsel representing the defendant and the prosecution counsel, it is hereby ordered as prayed that the further amended charge be read in open court and a plea entered.

The amended 10-count charge was read and the plea was accordingly taken.

After that Mr Atolagbe told the court that, In view of the plea of guilty entered by the court, I urge my lord to enter judgement based on the content of plea bargain agreement for the avoidance of doubt, I particularly urge my lord to order as part of the sentence the final forfeiture of all the properties affected by count 1 to 10 in the further amended charge, the defendant convicted and wound up base on the plea bargain agreement and section 19 of the money laundering Act.

In his response, Mr Olujimi said, I dont think I can be heard again on this amended charge but will only urge your lordship to make an order terminating the proceedings against the first defendant, who is now deceased.

On the part of the second defendant, we abide by the plea bargain agreement duly executed by the parties, Mr Ologunorisa said.
An Ikeja Special Offences Court on Monday acquitted a teacher, Ebele Mbanugo, charged with stealing $110,267 from a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) belonging to Onari Duke, wife of a former governor of Cross-River State.

The police charged Mr Mbanugo, who was a Vice Principal at the American International School Lagos (AISL), with defrauding the Child Survival and Development Organisation of Nigeria, Mrs Dukes NGO, of the funds between 2009 and 2011.

Delivering judgment, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo held that the prosecution failed to prove that Mrs Mbanugo stole the money.

The prosecution had accused the defendant of misappropriating the money raised for the purpose of purchasing mammogram machines for the detection of breast cancer.

She held that the criminal suit stemmed from a serious and disruptive rivalry between the defendant and Mrs Duke on the ownership of the fundraising initiative.

The prosecution failed to prove that the money misappropriated belongs to Mrs Duke. Mrs Duke was not called to testify in this case.

The testimony of the defendant showed how three mammogram machines were bought from General Electric for 133,000 dollars which is a sum higher than the sum allegedly misappropriated by the defendant.

The prosecution failed to prove the source of the funds or that the defendant fraudulently converted it to her own use.

The defendant had shown various brochures, pictures and documents highlighting her passion for fighting breast cancer as her mother and two aunts were diagnosed with the disease and she had said how early detection had saved her mother.

It is unfortunate that such a laudable initiative could be marred by conflict between Mrs Duke and the defendant over ownership of the foundation,

The defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted and found not guilty of the three-count charge.

Upon hearing the verdict, a visibly relieved Mrs Mbanugo burst into tears while profusely thanking the judge.

NAN reports that the prosecution led by K. O Sarumi had arraigned Mrs Mbanugo on October 8, 2014, on a three-count charge of stealing and fraudulent conversion.

The defendant between 2009 and 2011 at American International School, Victoria Island, Lagos, in the fraudulently misappropriated the sum of $110,267.57 property of Child Survival and Development Organisation.

The prosecution alleged that between September and October 2012 the former AISL Vice-Principal stole and fraudulently converted to her personal use, a mammogram machine belonging to the NGO.

The offences contravene Sections 265(7) and 278(1) (b) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2011.

Mrs Mbanugo, however, during her testimony before the court denied the allegations. She said that in 2009 she had established an NGO called Run For Cure Africa to raise funds to purchase mammogram machines.

She said she had got acquainted with Mrs Duke because she taught her daughter at AISL and had approached the former Cross-River first lady to use her influence to aid with fundraising for Run For Cure Africa.

Mrs Mbanugo said that various Run for Cure Africa fundraising races were held in the premises of AISL from 2009 to 2011 with dignitaries such as Mrs Duke, Abimbola Fashola, former first lady of Lagos and various Consul-Generals.

The former AISL vice-principal had told the court that from the funds raised, Mrs Duke had received a cheque of N7.4million.

She noted that three mammogram machines were bought which were donated to the Calabar Women and Childrens Hospital, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and a branch of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG).

She said a dispute, however, arose between her and Mrs Duke over ownership of the initiative leading to the criminal suit being filed in court. (NAN)
Twelve presidential candidates in the February 23 election on Monday in Abuja, congratulated President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC), on his re-election.

Acting under the aegis of Forum of Presidential Candidates and Political Parties for Good Governance, the group said at a news conference in Abuja, that the victory was deserved.

Chairman of the forum, Shittu Kabir, said we are indeed not oblivious of the fact that only one candidate will emerge as president.

Now that the candidate of the APC, President Buhari has been re-elected, we have no qualms accepting his victory.

Permit this opportunity to congratulate President Buhari on his well-deserved victory at the polls.

The pattern of voting, the large turn-out and country-wide endorsement of Buhari attests to the fact that Nigerians are pleased with him, his style of leadership and performance in the last three and half years.

Mr Kabir, who is a member of Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA), appealed to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate in the election, Abubakar Atiku, not to contest Buharis victory in court.

He advised Mr Abubakar to put Nigeria above primordial sentiment at this crucial time by respecting the verdict of the citizens, who gave their votes to support Mr Buharis re-election.

We urge the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to disregard the advice of those asking him to challenge the outcome of the election in court.

To borrow the popular adage in Africa, two litigants cannot resolve their differences in court and return to the same house as brothers. President Buhari and Alhaji Abubakar are brothers.

We strongly urge Alhaji Abubakar to drop the legal option in expressing his grievances. This is consistent with the counsel of many well-meaning Nigerians, including Chief Olisa Agbakoba and General Ibrahim Babangida.

We also believe that the former Vice President has made a mark among Nigerians of means who have positively impacted their communities.

We think he has a lot more to contribute to developing humanity and promoting peace and progress in our nation, even without holding any political office.

At his age, he should now avoid any action and utterances capable of fanning the embers of discord, disagreement and violent conduct. Nigeria is greater than any personal or class interest, he said.

The chairman called on Buhari to include everyone in his government, including those who did not vote for him.

He said with the right investment environment, the government had put measures in place to attract investment into Nigeria in the next three years.

He pledged the groups continuous support and cooperation to the government and look forward to collaborating in areas of mutual interest in the task of the nation-building.

Mr Kabir commended Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for conducting a credible, free and fair election, in spite of obvious lapses bothering on human error and isolated cases of thuggery and intolerance.

He charged the commission to improve on its operational logistics in Saturdays elections and ensure that all Nigerians would be able to exercise their mandate without hindrance.

The same advice goes to all security agencies, especially security personnel directly involved in election-related duties, he said.

Twelve presidential candidates of other political parties had before the poll, endorsed Buhari, according to a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina.

The candidates included Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliances Shittu Kabiru, Independent Democrats Edozie Madu, Danjuma Mohammed of Movement for Restoration and Defence of Democracy, Mamman Naptali of Allied Peoples Movement and Save Nigeria Partys Ahmed Buhari.

They said they decided to support Mr Buhari because of advances made in security, economy, fighting corruption, infrastructure development and agricultural revolution.

(NAN)
A Federal High Court in Minna on Monday, dismissed a case of alleged certificate forgery filed against Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State.

The Peoples Democratic party (PDP) had gone to the court, seeking Mr Bellos disqualification from the governorship election in Niger.

The party accused Mr Bello, candidate of the All progressives Congress (APC), of presenting a forged certificate of statutory declaration of age to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

The PDP further accused the governor of making false declarations while completing INECs form CF001 for the purpose of the governorship election.

Another ground upon which the PDP sought to Mr Bellos disqualification was an allegation that he submitted a forged National Examination Council certificate of his running mate, Ahmed Ketso, to INEC.

Delivering judgment, Justice Aminu Aliyu, held that the suit was filed out time thereby negating Section 285 (9) of Nigerias constitution.

Mr Aliyu further held that the plaintiffs case lacked merit and could not establish that Bello presented forged certificate to INEC.

He dismissed the matter and awarded a cost of N500, 000 to Mr Bello and APC.

Reacting to the judgment, counsel to the plaintiff, Aliyu Lemu, expressed dissatisfaction with the judgment, saying that his clients would appeal.

Also reacting, Jibril Okutepa (SAN), Yunus Usman (SAN) and Johnson Usman, counsel to Mr Bello and APC, said the judgment was further proof that the judiciary was the last hope of the common man.

(NAN)
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said supplementary polls would be conducted in 106 polling units in four Local Government Area of Plateau.

This followed the outcome of Plateau South Senatorial District and Jos North/Bassa Federal constituency in Plateau where elections were declared inconclusive,

Osaretin Imahiyereobo, Head, Voter Education and Publicity of the Commission in the state stated this in a statement on Monday in Jos.

According to him, the supplementary polls will be conducted alongside the governorship and House of Assembly elections slated for March 9.

Mr Imahiyereobo explained that the election would hold in six polling units in Shendam, eight in Wase, 27 in QuaPan, and 65 in Jos North Local Government Areas.

Similarly, Mr Imahiyereobo said 24 political parties would be fielding candidates for the governorship elections in the state.

He added that 312 candidates from different parties would jostle for the 24 house of assembly seats in the state.

He stated that elections for the house of assembly would take place in 2,631 polling units across the 17 LGAs of the state.

The official assured that the commission would ensure timely deployment of INEC personnel and materials to ensure early commencement of the exercise.

He explained that the batching and deployment of sensitive materials to the 17 LGAs would be done on March 6, and would be subsequently delivered to the various registration area centres by March 8.

He noted that the commission has taken steps to ensure the use of smart card readers during the polls, adding that non-compliance in any polling units would lead to the cancelation of results from such units.

Mr Imahiyereobo called on residents of the state to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner, to enable the commission conduct a free, fair and credible elections.

(NAN)
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says All Progressives Congress (APC) will win the Saturdays Governorship and State Assembly elections in Kwara State with higher margin than the Presidential and National Assembly polls.

The minister, who is the leader of APC in the state, said this on Monday after a meeting with the party leaders from the 16 local government areas in the state.

He said the meeting reviewed the past elections and strategised on how to garner more votes in the Saturdays governorship and state assembly polls.

Mr Mohammed told voters in the state to ignore the threat by the opposition to disrupt the Saturdays poll, assuring them that the government would provide adequate security to protect them.

He said he got the information that the opposition was planning to unleash political thugs to attack and intimidate voters during the Saturdays polls.

We have been hearing a lot of things that they have imported a lot of thugs to Kwara to disrupt the Saturdays elections.

If anyone does so, he or she will be risking his or her life.

We are appealing to our people that the Federal Government is going to provide adequate security for all, he said.

The APC won the Presidential, all the three senatorial and six House of Representatives seats in Kwara in the February 23 elections.

The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, lost his bid for re-election into the Senate from Kwara Central on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party.

Mr Saraki lost to Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the All Progressives Congress, in the senatorial election.

Mr Oloriegbe polled 123,808 votes to defeat the Mr Saraki, who scored 68,994 votes in the four local governments of Kwara Central Senatorial District.

(NAN)
He told me that if I insist on stopping him from sucking my breast, I should go and bury a live goat in my compound.

Those were the words of a 30-year-old former student of the Benue State Polytechnic, who narrated a conversation she allegedly had with a suspended lecturer of the institution, Andrew Ogbuja, to PREMIUM TIMES in a telephone interview.

This newspaper contacted the woman, along with other students, who opened up on various encounters with Mr Ogbuja, after the case of his alleged involvement in serial rape of a 13-year-old girl, Ochanya Ogbanje, broke out.

In a tone suggesting disgust, the woman who is now a member of the National Youth Service Corps said: Ogbuja told me that either that or I should give up the thought of graduating.

The lady who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity told this newspaper that she was confronted with such threats after Mr Ogbuja tried without success to rape her.

He was my class adviser at the time and had called me into his office, under the guise of trying to settle a score between my project supervisor and myself, because there was a misunderstanding between me and the project supervisor at the time.

Within minutes, Mr Ogbuja began telling me that the project supervisor liked me and that I am not different from other girls. I tried to talk him down on his proposals, but my efforts appeared futile, she said.

According to the lady, Mr Ogbuja soon became very daring and scary.

After he made that threat, I became very worried. I started praying seriously about my studies. I prayed and fasted for days. Thank God, I did not have any problems with my result, said the young lady.

Poor Prosecution

Mr Ogbuja is currently facing trial for allegedly raping 13-year-old Ochanya Ogbanje repeatedly till the young girl became infected with the Vesicovaginal Fistula (VVF).

This development resulted in her untimely death in October 2018.

Mr Ogbuja and his son, Victor, are suspected of having raped the child for several years before her death.

Activists say six months after security operatives arrested Mr Ogbuja, the case has not progressed speedily as expected.

While Mr Ogbujas son remains at large, the suspended lecturer has cited the prosecutions unnecessary delay in amending the charge as grounds for seeking his release on bail.

After writing the court on January 10 and stating that a prima facie case of culpable homicide had been established against the suspects, the Benue State Ministry of Justice prosecuting the matter failed to amend the charge to include the details, over a month after.

According to section 341 of the criminal procedure code, which guides the justice system in Benue State; a suspect accused of culpable homicide; punishable by death, shall not be granted bail.

Unless the case against the suspended lecturer and knight of the Catholic Church is amended to include alleged homicide, Mr Ogbuja may soon regain his freedom.

More Students Open Up

Another woman, a Benue Polytechnic student, told PREMIUM TIMES that her encounter with Mr Ogbuja had haunted her for the past seven years.

Benue State Polytechnic (source-Campus NG)

Because of that man, I had to leave my result, after graduating from the hotel and catering department in 2012.

The lady, who explained that Mr Ogbuja was regarded more as a close friend and an uncle alleged that her mistake was trusting Mr Ogbuja, despite repeated advances made towards her.

According to the 29-year-old woman, who resides now in Abuja with her family, the problem began after she got married during her school days and returned to school.

When I came back, he confronted me with a question seeking to know if I was married. And I told him I was. He then asked why I married someone else when he said he liked me. I thought it was a joke and asked him why he did not indicate interest in time.

After I got pregnant, towards the end of our time in school, I left and gave my SIWES logbook to him to help me submit.

I never knew that was a grave mistake. I just gave the logbook to him, without any evidence. Mr Ogbuja later denied; saying I did not give anything to him. He, however, confided in a friend saying he did that to get back at me for turning down his romantic advances. He added that the only way to get the logbook back is if I agreed to get intimate with him.

And the department was clear in its directive, that we would not get our result, without the logbook. At that point, I got frustrated and decided just to let the result be, the woman added.

A male student who asked that his name be protected, also spoke about Mr Ogbuja.

The first time he was arrested, we were happy that he had been apprehended, but when he returned, he was mad and tormented our lives than in school. He has connections with people in the high places, said the student who added that he was close enough to frequently visit Mr Ogbujas family home.

When discovered that we are related to a girl whom he wants to date, and she does not agree with him, he takes us as his enemies, he said.

The young man, who said he held an official position on behalf of his classmates added that Mr Ogbuja was always careful not to confront his male targets directly, but punished them by tampering with their exam scores.

According to the student, Mr Ogbuja had such a firm grip of the department that prevented students from daring him.

In yet another interview, another student who said she had lived in Mr Ogbujas family home a few years ago, and added that the senior lecturer is capable of doing what he is currently accused of and many more.

Ochanyas grave, she was sexually abused by Mr Ogbuja

All I can say concerning Ochanyas case is that I know Mr Ogbuja. He is capable of doing such a thing. I have stayed in his house, and at nights he will come, making sexual advances towards me. You know he is a caterer, he gets students to come to his house to work, and then he sleeps with them. I see that man as a beast; a two-sided coin who; when he says one thing, he means another.

The student, who was also afraid of victimisation, spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, on the condition of anonymity.

She described as unfortunate her failure to recognise the late victims pains, during her stay at the Ogbujas house.

PREMIUM TIMES could not independently substantiate these allegations. The newspaper could not also get reactions from the suspect as he is presently in police detention.

Dismal Trend

According to Ronke Ojeikere, the South-south zonal coordinator, National Council of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria, the attitude of the society towards rape victims, especially children has become a major problem.

She added that the situation had forced women of all ages to remain silent, in a manner that requires urgent attention.

Ronke Ojiekere: South-south zonal coordinator, National Council of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria.

As far as we are concerned, children are to be seen and not heard. Children have voices. Until we start to respect the voices of our children, things will continue to happen. In many rape cases, when the child is taken to the police station and the police is talking to the child: they will suggest that; the child does not know; even when the child is giving you a vivid description of what has happened, they will regard it as a figment of the childs imagination, Mrs Ojeikere said.

In 2017, the United States of America, known to have one of the worlds largest population of vocal women, experienced a remarkable outburst from victims of sexual abuse following the introduction of the Me too hashtag.

The hashtag was introduced by American actress, Alyssa Milano, to encourage women like her to speak out against renowned movie producer, Hervey Weinstein who had been involved in several allegations of rape.

Alyssa Milano began the campaign for women to speak up after decades of sexual abuse by renowned movie producer, Harvey Weinstein.

According to American newspaper, The Guardian, 4.7 million people around the world, joined the #Me too conversation, within 24 hours after it was launched in October 2017.

The figure included over 50 women like British actress Lysette Anthony who told the police, following the outcry, that she was raped by Mr Weinstein in 1982.

Many of the affected women like Ms Anthony did not report their cases to respective authorities before the social media campaign.

Another factor is the socio-economic situation of the country, which has resulted in many parents entrusting their children to wards, like in the case of late Ochanya.

The late Miss Ogbanje journeyed to the Ogbujas in search of a qualitative education.

Friendly Enemies

According to a survey conducted by the UNICEF in 2015, the major perpetrators of violence against children of Ochanyas age include parents and biological relatives.

Interestingly, the survey found the second most prevalent perpetrators of violence against children are mothers of such children with 41 per cent involvement in such violations, while the stepfathers were found to be the most prevalent perpetrator, with 58. 8 per cent prevalence rate of cases reported.

Equally interesting is the fact that 50 per cent of the sexually abused children within that age, were raped at the homes of their perpetrators.

Also, over 70 per cent of these victims reported the cases only to their families, while only three per cent of sexual abuse cases made it to formal or professional service providers from female children and five per cent from males, according to the report.

Even where some cases are reported, a controversial agreement is sometimes reached between parents and culprits, forcing an abrupt end to the case in court.

But according to Ngozi Ikenga, Chairperson of the International Federation of women Lawyer; FIDA, Abuja chapter: Neither the parents nor the police has a right to talk about out of court settlements. It is an offence against the state.
Dunamis churches operating in Kaduna State are doing so illegally as their properties lack proper titles and violate various aspects of the states building codes, an agency of the state government has said.

The Kaduna State Urban Planning and Development Agency (KASUPDA) recently wrote to individuals, businesses and religious organisations in the state, asking them to provide title documents of their properties.

Among the religious organisations written to was Dunamis. Acting General Manager of KASUPDA, Fatima Bambale, made the request in a letter with reference number PS/14/PP/ZIII/20,624/VOL I/0. The letter was titled Update of Religious Institutions within the state.

I am directed to request you to furnish the agency with details(of title documents and approvals) through the attached form, Ms Bambale wrote.

However, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that instead of the church furnishing the government with the requested details, it reported the government to the Kaduna branch of the Christian Association of Nigeria.

The state secretary of CAN, Sunday Ibrahim, then wrote the urban planning agency saying the organisation should have channelled its enquiries through the Christian body, warning that it finds KASUPDAs letter offensive.

In a letter dated February 7, 2019, excerpts of which were published by a national daily, Mr Ibrahim expressed CANs disaffection with the content of your(KASUPDAs) letter and to remind the agency that it is a government agency and not (an) individual establishment.

According to CAN, Where a government, through the agency, finds it necessary to update religious institutions within the state, we strongly believe that the agency knows well enough the proper channel to follow, which is through CAN or Interfaith.

Mr Ibrahim said Dunamis had contacted CAN after receiving KASUPDAs letter, adding that the Christian body finds the letter offensive and it suspects that it is  ill-conceived and inappropriate that the agency should write the individual church directly, disregarding CAN.

The CAN Secretary further said that the letter provokes in us a sense of suspicion that it is an attempt at using KASUPDA , which is a government agency, as a tool to persecute the Dunamis International Gospel Centre Churches in Kaduna state.

However, a letter from KASUPDA seen by PREMIUM TIMES shows that the agency notified the Kaduna State Geographic Information Service(KADGIS) that Dunamis Church at Farin Gida ward, which is located around Mando area, is a rented house which has no title and planning permission approval.

Similarly, the letter noted that the Dunamis Church at Command Junction in Kaduna metropolis merely submitted an application for approval at its Sabon Tasha area office on January 14, 2019.

The letter, which was signed by Bello Ibrahim, Acting Director of Development Control, also stated that Dunamis Church at Gonin Gora is a rented property from Mr Eromosele Emmanuel, who applied for church development on 8th October 2012 and was requested to bring the following: evidence of processing state government Certificate of Occupancy and Tax Clearance Certificate on 8th November 2012. He is yet to respond.

According to the letter, dated February 8, 2019, with reference number PS/14/PP/ZIII/20,624/VOL I/016, the Dunamis Church at Mararaban Rido has no title and planning permission approval.

Efforts to get comments from Dunamis Church were unsuccessful. Multiple calls over three days to three telephone numbers provided on both the Facebook page and website of the church did not connect. An email to the official address provided was also not replied to as at the time of publishing this story.

PREMIUM TIMES asked the Chairman of the Kaduna State chapter of CAN, Joseph Hayab, why his organisation is getting involved in the matter rather than allow Dunamis provide its property documents to the authorities.

The issue of Dunamis Church and the Kaduna state government is just politics and I dont want to join the government in heating up the polity at this time, Mr Hayab said.

How come the government did not write to all churches or even Dunamis headquarters but just the local one at Farin Gida? There is also a Bureau of Religious interfaith in this state, why not go through them?

Contacted over the matter, the spokesperson for KASUPDA, Nuhu Garba, said it was unacceptable for CAN to dabble into its agencys role of getting property owners to validate their titles.

I know for a fact that recertification has been going on since 2015 and the letter you mentioned was given to many other Churches and Mosques.

I also know that most have responded individually and not through any association they belong to

As a journalist now if the government wants to get details regarding a property you own, do they have to go through the NUJ? he said.
Godswill Akpabio, a senator from Akwa Ibom State, says he would feel bad if he discovers that his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has a hand in his current political travails.

Mr Akpabio, former governor of the state, failed to secure his re-election in Akwa Ibom North-West District for a second term.

His opponent, Chris Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of the state, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the result announced by the returning officer, Peter Oban, a professor, Mr Akpabio scored 83,158 votes, while Mr Ekpenyong scored 118,215 votes.

But Mr Akpabio, who is claiming victory in the election, has been accusing the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Mike Igini, of tampering with the polls figures midway, during the announcement of result.

Mr Igini has denied the allegation.

Mr Akpabio reiterated his accusation against Mr Igini in an interview with Channels TV, aired on Sunday.

The centre where these announcements were being made, once in a while that centre is also the centre-in-charge of Ikot Ekpene local government area. But it also operates as the senatorial headquarters. So, at the senatorial declaration of the result, I wasnt present, and there was no problem at all. It was very peaceful and people were clapping hands. And they had finished nine (local government areas), and they were about to do the last one and then now pronounce me as the winner when suddenly one of them disappeared to Uyo  the police report is available, the senator said in the Channels TV interview.

After waiting for about four to five hours, they had to adjourn and said the next day they would declare my victory.

And so, surprisingly at Uyo, in the resident electoral commissioners office, mutilations (of result) occurred, the senator added.

The senator said he has evidence to back his claim.

The Channels TV reporter, Seun Okinbaloye, then asked Mr Akpabio if he was aware that some people within the APC may be responsible for his travails.

I wont say so, the senator responded.

He then added, But why would a party that I believe so much in and work so hard for now turned to give contrary instruction?

Continuing, Mr Akpabio said, No matter where it is coming from, I think justice is justice. I believe, just like we say that hunger has no colour, justice is blind. Let them give me justice. That is all I am asking for.

Let them direct that they should get back to the senatorial district, that one local government area that was left should be announced. And in fact, because it has already been collated, the result should be released and then I should be declared the winner, and that is all.

The reporter asked the senator how he would feel if he were to discover that his trouble was caused by people within APC because of his alleged ambition to become Senate president.

I will feel bad in the sense that I have not shown any interest to be Senate president, the senator responded.

Mr Akpabio on Friday had obtained an ex parte order from an Abuja high court, restraining INEC from issuing a certificate of return to his opponent, Mr Ekpenyong.

Such order is unsual in Nigeria as the legally allowed place for complaints from election results is the election petition tribunal. The tribunals for Akwa Ibom and other states have been inaugurated by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria but yet to commence sitting.
The Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator, Amnesty Programme, Charles Dokubo, has vowed that the federal government will unmask and prosecute the perpetrators as well as sponsors of the mindless looting of empowerment starter-packs meant for distribution to impacted communities in the Niger Delta.

Speaking on Monday in Abuja at the inauguration of a Special Investigative Panel to probe the invasion and looting at the central warehouse of the Presidential Amnesty Programme Vocational Training Centre in Kaiama, Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, Mr Dokubo gave assurance that perpetrators of the nefarious act who also vandalised property at the training facility about three weeks ago, deserve severe punishment in accordance with the nations laws.

He expressed shock at the conduct of the army of invaders who overwhelmed the military and other security personnel on guard and brazenly embarked in an orgy of looting of items meant for distribution to residents of communities impacted during the Niger Delta crises, on the eve of the commissioning of the world-class facility.

Mr Dokubo noted that but for an instruction passed by the authorities to the security forces against shooting at the invaders; several lives would have been lost, giving the opposition an opportunity for incitement of communities in the Niger Delta to violence a few days to the presidential and national assembly elections.

As I eventually gathered, there were almost 3000 persons gathered at the place at any particular time for three days. So even if the soldiers and other security forces deployed had decided to shoot at the persons involved in this wanton looting, how many people would they have killed or how many persons would have survived?

I leave it to the Special Investigative Panel to truly appraise the roles played by the military and other security agencies in Kaiama on that day. On my part, I was not sent to the Presidential Amnesty Office by Mr President to kill Niger Deltans. I do not regret not asking the soldiers, police and other security agencies deployed to Kaiama to shoot at sight persons seen or caught looting. But I want the perpetrators of this nefarious act severely punished according to laid down laws of our great nation, Dokubo emphasized.

He dismissed the conspiracy speculations making the rounds on the incident, expressing optimism that the Special Investigative Panel which was set up after due consultations with the highest level of the nations security services, would unravel the truth and identify the perpetrators and their sponsors.

I have even read a report on an online platform that curiously suggested that I orchestrated the looting of assets that were so dear to me and a facility that I had invited very important personalities to attend the commissioning the next day. This claim, I dare say is not only preposterous but mischievous.

The Special Investigative Panel is chaired by S. A Songonuga, a retired brigadier-general, and has Dodoye Aripko (DSS), Paddy Ogon (Police); Ene Ogbe, and a pastor, Reuben Wilson, as members. Unyime Eyo will serve as secretary.

Its terms of reference includes but not limited to ascertaining the remote and immediate causes of the incident and identifying persons remotely and directly connected with the looting and vandalisation of the facility.

The panel will also ascertain the exact cost of training equipment, empowerment start-up packs and other looted items, as well as appraise the security situation in the training centre prior to the looting, and ascertain if the incident could have been prevented.

Others are: to ascertain culpability or otherwise of security personnel, staff of the Amnesty Office or contractors in the looting of the facility; prescribe requisite punishments or sanctions for persons found culpable in the criminal act.

Mr Dokubo assured members of the panel which has seven working days to submit its report, of his support and approval to request for and be given any official file or document that would enable it do a thorough investigation of the incident.

He said pursuant to the assignment, the panel also has his approval to invite and question any management staff at the Amnesty Office or reintegration consultants, and as well invite for questioning contractors or service providers who might have supplied training equipment or empowerment start-up packs that were domiciled in the Kaiama VTC prior to the looting and vandalisation.

MURPHY GANAGANA

Special Assistant (Media)
Reginald Dei, a Photo-Journalist attached to Bayelsa Government House, who was shot during the February 23 Presidential and National Assembly elections, is dead.

Mr Dei was shot along with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader in Oweikorogha, Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Seidougha Taribi, while in the latters residence waiting for the outcome of the elections in the ward.

Mr Taribi died on the spot, but Mr Dei, who was taken for dead by the gunmen, allegedly in military uniform, survived and was rushed to the hospital, where he reportedly died on Sunday night.

Mr Deis demise was confirmed in a statement in Yenagoa, the state capital on Monday, by the Director, Corporate Communications, Governors Office, Nathan Egba-Ologo.

According to him, the photographer died after battling to survive the lethal wounds from the gunshots in a Yenagoa hospital.

Mr Egba-Ologo called on relevant security agencies to investigate the activities of various security agencies and bring the culprits of the dastard act to book.

He said the state was mourning the unfortunate murder of Messrs Taribi and Dei as a result of the brigandage that rocked the parts of the state during the elections.

He called on authorities of the Nigerian Army and other security agencies to prevent brigandage and a breakdown of law and order in the area ahead of Saturdays Governorship and House of Assembly polls.

Mr Egba-Ologo urged the agencies to adhere to their constitutional responsibility of ensuring that there was adequate security for lives and property in the country at all times.

Governor Seriake Dickson had on February 24, alleged that Mr Dei and the PDP stalwart were shot dead by the military.

Mr Dickson alleged that the military colluded with some politicians to perpetrate the violence, which he said, characterised the previous days elections in the state.

But, Spokesperson of 16 Brigade, Nigerian Army, Yenagoa, Jonah Danjuma, a major denied the allegation and said that the army was not responsible for the incident.

He explained that troops of the brigade had conducted an operation in Ikebiri community, in Southern Ijaw, different from where the photo-journalist and party chieftain were reportedly shot.

We had no such incident; troops of 5 Battalion, 16 Brigade, Nigerian Army, on the election day, arrested 15 armed men suspected to be political thugs at Ikebiri 1 in Southern Ijaw LGA.

It was a successful operation that led to the recovery of large cache of arms, ammunition and other items.

This feat was achieved as a direct response by vigilant troops in Operation SAFE CONDUCT 2019 in 16 Brigade Area of Responsibility. Danjuma had said.

Also Spokesperson of the Joint Military Task Force deployed to Niger Delta, Abdullahi Ibrahim, a major said the command neither deployed men to the community nor had operations at Oweikorogha.

(NAN)
The Director General of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Osita Okechukwu, has said no serious campaign is going on by the party in Enugu State.

He said this while answering questions in Enugu from journalists about his suspension by the APC. Mr Okechukwu sent his response to PREMIUM TIMES by email.

Help me to inform Comrade Oshiohmole that there is no vigorous campaign going on at Enugu by Senator Ayogu Eze, he said.

Mr Eze is the governorship candidate of the APC in Enugu.

Mr Okechukwu was recently suspended alongside two APC governors and a minister for alleged anti-party activities. In the case of Mr Okechukwu, he was accused of working against the interest of the APC in Enugu since he lost at the primaries.

He lost the Enugu West senatorial ticket to Juliet Ibekaku, the Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Justice Reform.

Mrs Ibekaku, however, the main election to Ike Ekweremadu of the PDP, the governing party in the state. Mr Okechukwu attributed the loss to lack of vigorous campaign saying she depended on federal might to help her win.

Juliet Ibekaku lost the senatorial seat he (Oshiomhole) allocated to her. He made me a scapegoat. Little did Comrade agree that Juliet is a dark horse, and to compound matters, did not campaign vigorously.

She hoped to use federal might to write results, not reckoning with the ubiquitous card reader? This assumption made her to lose in Egede her ward and in the 80 wards of Enugu West Senatorial District.

The party in its statement said the suspended party members were responsible for their candidates poor performance in the presidential and National Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, Mr Okechukwu said Mr Oshiomhole needs to be aware of the state of things in the state before he accuses me again if the party fails.

This information is important because he may accuse me unduly, if APC loses, he said.
An Igbosere High Court, Lagos, on Monday ordered that a former staff of a Lagos-based nursery school, Rukayat Amisu, accused of negligently killing a three-year-old girl, be remanded in prison custody.

The police charged Ms Amisu, whose residential address was not given, with manslaughter before Justice Adedayo Akintoye.

Justice Akintoye, adjourned the case until March 11, for hearing in the bail application.

Earlier, the Lagos State Prosecution Counsel, Babatunde Sunmonu, told the court that the defendant committed the alleged offence on October 21, 2015, at 10 am at Olab Private School, at No. 11, Idowu Street, Lagos Island.

He said that the defendant negligently allowed the girl to sit on a container containing hot water.

According to him, the offence contravened the provisions of Section 227 of the Criminal Law Lagos State, 2011.

She pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The defendants Counsel, A. O. Ladipo, told the court that he has filed a bail application.

(NAN)
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambodes former commissioner for energy, Wale Oluwo, has assured the people of Epe that the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Jimi Agbaje, would continue the developmental strides begun by his former boss in the town.

Mr Oluwo also assured the gathering that the scandalous land acquisitions in the Epe and Lekki-Ajah axis would be reviewed in the peoples favour should PDP win the Lagos governorship.

Mr Oluwo, an Epe indigene, told the thousands of citizens who gathered for Mr Agbajes rally in the Marina beach area of the town that the infrastructural constructions begun by the incumbent governor embarked upon would not be abandoned under Mr Agbaje.

Agbaje and his deputy have assured me that they will continue the good work that Ambode began in Epe but has not been allowed to finish, Mr Oluwo said.

Echoing Mr Oluwos words, Mr Agbajes running mate, Haleemat Busari, whose paternal roots are in Epe, also assured her kinsmen that there would be no abandoned projects in the town.

On the massive pilfering of land in the area, Mr Oluwo said: All our land that they forcefully acquired, JK will review. Those that can be returned will be returned. Owners of those that cannot be retrieved will receive adequate compensation.

According to Mr Oluwo, the PDP government would provide the people with roads, potable water and electricity.

The former commissioner recalled the circumstances that led him to quit the government.

His words: I resigned from the government when they began doing the nonsense they wanted to do. They say that in Nigeria it is difficult for a public official to resign, but I resigned on my own.

Mrs Busari encouraged the people not to feel intimidated but to go out and vote on Saturday, saying, God was on their side.

Epe-born Mrs Busari assured her kinsmen that, I cannot get to Alausa and forget Epe. Jimi and I belong to you. We have based our campaign on the Economy, Livability and the Future. Obafemi Awolowo and Lateef Jakande achieved much in the South-West and in Lagos with their unforgettable records in education and other sectors. Our programme shall be based on education, with the welfare of teachers paramount.

She said that 10 per cent of the contracts would be allocated to women, as a foundation for boosting the states economy.

Mrs Busari said that their government had an eye towards developing Lagos for the welfare of the youths.

She said: When we corruptly spend today the resources that should enhance our future, what shall be left for our children? We shall not behave that way, we will project programmes with our children in mind.

Mr Agbaje told the gathering that his regime would prioritise human capital and infrastructural development in Lagos State.

He accused the current political powers in Lagos of massive corruption and impunity.

They are even claiming now that they are not doing government work but they are so rich that bullion vans loaded with cash can be driven into their private compound. Where did all their money come from? We remember when they came in 1998, they had no money then. Now 20 years after, they have become richer than Lagos! Agbaje said.

According to the PDP candidate, Saturdays elections were about freedom, not for Jimi Agbaje, but the for the people of Lagos State.

He urged Lagosians to go out and vote for PDP and to wait for their votes to be counted because the law allowed voters to know the results of their voting.

Mr Agbaje is the major opposition candidate to Babajide Sanwo-Olu of the governing All Progressives Congress.

Mr Sanwo-Olu defeated Mr Ambode in the controversial Lagos APC primaries.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday arraigned a businessman, Olumuyiwa Williams, before a Special Offences Court in Ikeja, Lagos, for allegedly stealing 165.2million from an oil company, Equitorial Energy Company Ltd.

Mr Williams and his company  Manhattan Corporate Essentials Ltd  were arraigned on a three-count charge of conspiracy and stealing.

According to the charge, the defendant and his company committed the offences in 2017 alongside five accomplices who are now at large.

The defendants alongside Rotimi Ogundairo, Captain Edward Williams, Olayinka Iduda, Atlantic Finaplux Ltd and Jodaf Investment Ltd who are all at large in January 2017 conspired to steal money belonging to Equitorial Energy Company Ltd.

Between Jan. 9 and Feb. 9, 2017, the defendants and their accomplices with a dishonest intent, stole another cumulative sum of N41.2 million belonging to the complainant.

Between Jan. 26 and Feb. 10, 2017, the defendants and their accomplices stole a cumulative sum of N125million belonging to the oil company, he said.

The offences were stated to contravene Sections 285(1)and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011.

Following his plea of not guilty, Tunde Busari, the defendants counsel in an application dated February 6 asked the court to grant the defendant bail in the most liberal terms saying the defendants medical challenges require urgent intensive medical check-up.

Anselm Ozioko, counsel to the EFCC, objected to Mr Busaris submission, noting that the defendant is a flight risk and should be remanded in custody.

In her ruling, Olusola Williams, said the defendant does not pose a flight risk based on evidence before her.

I am satisfied that the defendant is not a flight risk, he should be admitted to bail for many practical reasons, one of which is the decongestion of prisons, the judge said.

He is admitted to 10 million bail with three sureties in like sum, the defendant should provide details of his residential address within jurisdiction and enter an undertaking that he would not change addresses without notifying the court.

The defendant shall be remanded in EFCC custody for up to seven days till the perfection of his bail and if he fails to do so within that time, he shall be moved to the Ikoyi Prisons, the judge said.

Mrs Williams adjourned the case until March 25 and April 30 for trial.
For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




NORWICH, England, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Innovative Norwich-based digital media company BizClik Media has published its latest edition of Business Chief Canada .

The March edition of the magazine addresses digital transformations within the cybersecurity, packaging and non-profit sectors, featuring in-depth interviews with leading executives from Canada's most disruptive executives and more.

This month's cover story features Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain at Emmerson Packaging, who believes the supply chain management function of Emmerson Packaging is the 'WD40' of the business.

"We're like a machine, and as long as we're well oiled, everything works and the business can continue to be successful," he says. Our exclusive interview with Corriveau explores the ways in which Emmerson is pursuing innovation within its supply chain in order to help its customers achieve their sustainability goals.

Business Chief also speaks with Serge Corriveau, Vice President of Supply Chain at Emmerson Packaging, who explores the ways in which Emmerson is pursuing innovation within its supply chain in order to help its customers achieve their sustainability goals.

Editor in Chief Harry Menear talks to two thought leaders in the fields of administrative technology transformation, Helen Wetherley Knight, CIO of the Calgary Drop-In & Rehab Centre, and Paul Twigg of Sierra Systems/NTT Data about their four-year, bottom to top technology transformation.

"I'm here to take away busy work and pain," says Knight, who has partnered with Twigg to bring a transformation ranging from mass email rollouts to cutting edge medical biometrics to one of Calgary's largest non-profits.

This month Business Chief is also talking business with Carlos Trivino, Director of IT at Traffix, as well as taking a look at the ways in which the indigenous population of Kitchener, Ontario is embracing new initiatives and business opportunities aimed at bringing inclusivity and diversity to the city's economy in the City Focus.

About Business Chief

Business Chief is a media brand fit for the digital age, providing cutting-edge content tailored for company executives, business pioneers and industry thinkers.

Divided into eight separate regional titles, Business Chief tells the stories that matter to business leaders and professionals on their way to the top. Through our expertly-crafted digital magazines, websites, videos and social media, those stories reach the right people. Our flagship features are the Leadership Showcases; exclusive interviews with key decision-makers at some of the biggest companies on the globe, documenting their journeys to business transformation and the lessons they've learned along the way.

With further themes focused on technology, talent and sustainability, Business Chief has insight on the trends that matter to C and V-level executives, while also delivering consumer-friendly lifestyle content to reflect their interests and wider ambitions. On top of all that and more, Business Chief showcases in-depth digital reports on companies every month, ensuring it covers every angle in the world of business.

About BizClik Media:

BizClik Media is a dynamic and disruptive global digital media company aimed at bringing business and industry executives up to date with the latest news, information and digital reports looking at the technology and digital transformations of the world leading companies and executive decision makers.

Media Contact:

Harry Menear

Editor in Chief

Business Chief North America

Email: [email protected]

Phone: Tel: +44-(0)-1603-217-576

Web: https://www.bizclikmedia.com/

SOURCE BizClik Media
RENO, Nev., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- BlackRidge Technology International Inc. (OTCQB: BRTI), a leading provider of next-generation cyber defense solutions, has joined Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative open-source project at The Linux Foundation. The project brings together automakers, suppliers and technology companies to accelerate the development and adoption of a fully open software stack for the connected car.

Bill Joll, BlackRidge's head of worldwide sales, and Rolf Lumpe, vice president of business development, will deliver a keynote presentation at AGL's All Member Meeting in Tokyo on March 5, addressing how cybersecurity lessons from the U.S. Department of Defense can be applied to the automotive industry. AGL's All Member Meeting is for members only.

BlackRidge originated from a Department of Defense contract to cloak critical internet connected assets used in the Afghanistan war. The principle behind the original technology  you can't attack what you can't see  continues to underlie the company's identity-based authentication and access control technology. Today, this technology shields enterprise networks, critical infrastructure and internet of things (IoT) connected devices.

Like other critical connected devices, whether sensors in power plants or monitors in hospitals, the entire connected car ecosystem must be protected against cyberattacks. Automotive cybercrime has been accelerating in recent years, with attacks on vehicles' control units, onboard software, Wi-Fi and infotainment systems as well as electric charging stations and manufacturers' mobile apps and data centers. As automobiles begin communicating with each other and with the road infrastructure, the attack surface will continue to expand.

All three layers of the connected car ecosystem are vulnerable to attack  the vehicle layer (telematics, communications module, infotainment system, key), the network layer (cellular network, satellite communications, grid infrastructure) and the application layer (telematic service providers, public and private clouds, data intermediaries).

BlackRidge's patented First Packet Authentication technology authenticates identity and enforces security policy on the first packet of a network session, before a connection is established. It is applicable across the entire ecosystem and can be embedded as the infrastructure for connected cars is built. The technology can block or redirect network traffic, control access, and enable network microsegmentation and segregation.

"Big data means big risk," said Joll, "and when vehicles are involved, the risk is not just potential loss of personal data or intellectual property but loss of life. BlackRidge security solutions can enforce end-to-end trust for connected cars by enabling identity-based networking in a zero-trust security model that is independent of network topology and protects every asset, regardless of age or vendor."

Institutional investors or research analysts who would like to schedule a one-on-one meeting with BlackRidge Technology management, please email your request to [email protected] or call Chris Tyson at MZ Group, the company's investor relations firm, at +1 949-491-8235. For press and other inquiries, please email [email protected].

About BlackRidge Technology

BlackRidge Technology enables our customers and partners to deliver more secure and resilient business services in today's rapidly evolving cyber threat environments. The BlackRidge adaptive cyber defense solution authenticates identity before allowing network connections to proactively isolate cloud services, protect servers and IoT devices, and segment networks. Our patented technology authenticates user or device identity and enforces security policy on the first packet of a network session. This zero-trust network model blocks or redirects unidentified and unauthorized traffic to stop port scanning, cyberattacks and unauthorized access. BlackRidge was founded in 2010 to commercialize its military-grade and patented network security technologies. For more information, visit www.blackridge.us.

Forward-looking Statements

Statements made in this release include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "plan," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," or comparable terminology. While management has based any forward-looking statements included in this release on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, as may be supplemented or amended by our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and other public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which can be found on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Media Contact:

LANE, A Finn Partners Company

Lisa Heathman

+1-503-546-7871

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact:

MZ North America

Chris Tyson

+1-949-491-8235

[email protected]

SOURCE BlackRidge Technology International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.blackridge.us


CAMBRIDGE, England, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Cambridge Quantum Computing ("CQC"), a leader in quantum computing technologies, will be demonstrating "IronBridge" - the world's first commercially available certifiable Quantum Cryptographic Device - in booth # 1847C at this year's RSA Conference in San Francisco.

Visitors to the CQC booth will be able to learn how and why IronBridge provides a fundamentally different approach to cyber security and why quantum technologies are not simply disruptive but entirely distinctive. Built around an innovative and ground-breaking single-purpose photonic 4-qubit quantum processor, IronBridge can generate keys that are not merely "secure" but are truly un-hackable. IronBridge thus provides absolute security in today's most hostile environments as well as being post-quantum secure.

IronBridge addresses major security challenges and vulnerabilities in today's infrastructure and has important structural implications for cyber security and quantum cryptography on a global scale. This practical solution allows governments and businesses around the world to attain unparalleled levels of quantum-enhanced encryption and security relating to much of the technology that underpins daily digital interactions including IoT, big data, cloud infrastructure, networks and communications. By slotting neatly into existing network configurations, IronBridge provides a solution that works today whilst simultaneously protecting against the threats of tomorrow.

IronBridge will be commercially available in limited quantities from mid-2019 with a full-scale launch by the end of 2019. The launch will include cloud delivery of a variety of quantum-safe cryptographic applications including RSA compliant certificates, AES tokens, as well as un-hackable protocols for everyday digital interactions that involve encryption procedures that depend upon Single Key Session ("SKS" interactions and critical dependency on computationally "lite" sensors such as those in autonomous vehicles. Other applications, including maximally random entropy for sophisticated Monte Carlo simulations and securing blockchain development, will also be available.

IronBridge has been designed, developed and built in the United Kingdom at CQC's facility in Chessington. A full demonstration, including extensive disclosure about the inner workings of the platform, will be showcased during RSA 2019 in the U.K. Department for International Trade's exposition.

Visit CQC at booth #1847C, South Expo, RSA Conference, Moscone Center, San Francisco, March 4-7 to discover IronBridge and learn more about CQC.

About Cambridge Quantum Computing

Established in 2014, Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) is a world leading independent quantum computing company that builds tools for the commercialisation of quantum technologies whose long-term impact will be profound. CQC design solutions that will benefit from quantum computing even in its earliest forms and allow the most effective access to these solutions for the widest variety of corporate and government users.

CQC combines expertise in Quantum Information Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Chemistry, Optimisation as well as a globally leading position in quantum technologies for encryption purposes. CQC's t|ket> is the world's leading platform agnostic full quantum software stack incorporating the best performing quantum compiling and qubit routing protocols that allow users to gain the maximum advantage from quantum applications and working seamlessly with machine architectures ranging from superconducting qubits to ion-trap based processors.

For more information about CQC, visit http://www.cambridgequantum.com

Contacts:

John Pickeral, Managing Director

Direct telephone: +1-703-402-3204

[email protected]

David Worrall, Head of Security and Encryption

Direct telephone: +44-7711-221-427

[email protected]

SOURCE Cambridge Quantum Computing Limited

Related Links

https://cambridgequantum.com/


TULSA, Okla., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Registration is open for a five-day, in-depth GPSA Engineering Data Book training course scheduled for March 25-29 in Denver. For more than 7 decades, the book has helped midstream engineers determine operating and design parameters for gas gathering and processing facilities. The course targets midstream engineers, operators, plant personnel and technical sales personnel.

Now on its 14th edition, the GPSA Engineering Data Book serves as a guide to accepted engineering practices for estimating, feasibility studies, preliminary design, and for making operating decisions, and this particular course helps professionals put the book to practical use in their day-to-day tasks.

"The caliber of instructors combined with the information presented rivals any of the top training providers out there," said GPA Midstream Director of Technical Services Martin Erne. "Our intention is to provide practical, hands-on and industry-specific education developed by subject matter experts who use the GPSA Engineering Data Book daily.

Denver is a great host city for this course because it has a strong midstream technical personnel presence, and those best suited for this course often have to seek out similar training options outside of Colorado."

But the course isn't limited to those in the Centennial State, nor to association members only. It's open to all but limited to 25 students and available on a first-come, first-served basis. The registration cost is $2,500 for GPA Midstream and GPSA members and $3,500 for non-members.

"Companies that initially send one or two employees to this course almost always send more to subsequent courses," Erne said. "Some have even contacted us about bringing this course to their headquarters for a group of their employees alone. GPA Midstream introduced this course as a response to our members' requests for quality, affordable training, and we continue to host courses in energy-rich areas as a service to our members and the midstream industry."

For more information about the training course, including how to register, visit https://gpamidstream.org/training/data-book.

GPA Midstream Association represents more than 80 corporate members of all sizes; most are U.S.-based companies, but the organization does have members across the globe as well. GPA Midstream members are engaged in the gathering and processing of natural gas into saleable pipeline gas, which are commonly referred to as "midstream" activities in the energy industry. As the primary advocates for the midstream industry, the association enhances the viability of natural gas, natural gas liquids and crude oil through research, technical, environmental, safety and advocacy activities. For more information, visit www.GPAmidstream.org.

GPSA is GPA Midstream's affiliated association representing more than 440 companies engaged in meeting the service and supply needs of the midstream industry; it publishes the Data Book as a service to the industry. An elected board of directors establishes policies and directs GPSA activities. The association shares a small staff within GPA Midstream's office in Tulsa, Okla. For more information, visit GPSAmidstreamsuppliers.org.

SOURCE GPA Midstream Association
RICHLAND, S.C., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Recognized for outstanding service to his business, team, and country as a combat veteran, Marco's Pizza multi-unit franchise owner Joe Walker was recently announced the winner of the Veteran Entrepreneurship Award Category for the 2019 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference and Magazine Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards.

The Multi-Unit Franchisee Conference and Magazine MVP Awards honor the best and the brightest multi-unit franchisees - the power operators, the innovators, the creative thinkers who have demonstrated outstanding performance in growing both their organizations and their brands. The Veteran Entrepreneurship Award is earned by a veteran and top performing multi-unit franchise owner who has paved the way to success for their business. As the owner of 19 Marco's Pizza locations across South Carolina, Walker's smart and aggressive leadership exemplified the qualities of this recognition.

"Deciding to enlist in the U.S Army made me the leader I am today," Walker stated. "Serving alongside some of America's finest for over eight years, I learned how to manage a team to protect lives and represent the best values of the United States. It was with this experience I have been able to lead an amazing team within my business and move the Marco's brand toward success."

Walker's dedication to his country and his community also played a large role in receiving the award. Most recently, he went above and beyond for a Marco's Pizza customer and donated $10,000 to go towards a hypertension implant. Walker has also shut down one of his stores for multiple days to make over 2,000 pizzas for families in need throughout his community.

Walker's dedication to the Marco's brand is matched by his dedication to the Unites States, another reason why Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine wanted to award recognition. Walker's served in the U.S Army from 2004 to 2008 and in the U.S Army National Guard from 2008 to 2012. In addition to leading operations in the hot spots of Iraq, Walker received many awards and citations for his leadership and management skills and earned a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his bravery.

Marco's Pizza is committed to supporting military veterans and offers a discount on the franchise fee to veterans' candidates. The brand has also developed a special outreach program to facilitate passionate, disciplined leaders' entry into the Marco's management and apprenticeship pipeline. Military veterans can enter at general manager level and receive extensive training for Marco's Pizza locations nationwide.

"The Marco's Pizza family has always welcomed U.S. Veterans with open arms to let them achieve their greatest entrepreneurial ambitions," stated Tony Libardi, President and Chief Operating Officer of Marco's Pizza. "As a veteran myself, it is always incredible to see fellow soldiers like Joe Walker get the recognition they deserve. Marco's Pizza truly sees the value in hiring veterans as they bring a unique skill set of leadership, accountability, teamwork and self-discipline. Veterans understand the importance of structured operating systems as it is ingrained in them to do so from day one in the military. We believe there is a direct correlation to success in the military and success at Marco's Pizza."

Opening a new store every three to four days, Marco's Pizza is committed to increasing that pace significantly in 2019, and aims to have 1,500 locations open by late 2020. As the only national pizza franchise chain founded by a native Italian, Marco's Pizza has carved out a niche in the industry for authentic Italian quality pizza, known for its fresh dough made daily onsite, a proprietary cheese blend that is fresh, never-frozen, and a secret original pizza sauce recipe from its founder Pat Giammarco.

Those interested in employment opportunities, becoming a franchisee or entering the apprenticeship program should visit www.marcosfranchising.com or marcos.com and look for "Career Opportunities."

ABOUT MARCO'S PIZZA

Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza companies in the United States. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives by making authentic Italian quality pizza with fresh ingredients. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate 900 plus stores in over 34 states and in three countries. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 5 in Forbes "Best Franchises to Buy" 2018 Study/Medium Investment, and No. 39 on Entrepreneur's 2019 Franchise 500 ranking. Other recent accolades include ranking No. 2 on Entrepreneur's 2018 Top 200 Food and Restaurant Franchises in the pizza segment, and No. 8 on the Military Times Best: Franchises 2018 list.

SOURCE Marcos Pizza

Related Links

http://www.marcos.com


"This patent allowance marks another advancement in safety for CRISPR-enabled therapeutics, as it covers technology that improves CRISPR's ability to fix diseased genes while not affecting healthy ones," said Udit Batra, CEO, MilliporeSigma. "MilliporeSigma has been at the forefront of genome-editing innovation for 15 years and this allowance further expands our foundational CRISPR cutting and integration intellectual property to help scientists advance gene therapy research."

CRISPR technology is a core competency for MilliporeSigma. As both a user and supplier of genome-editing technology, MilliporeSigma supports research with genome editing under careful consideration of ethical and legal standards. Its parent company, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, has established an independent, external Bioethics Advisory Panel to provide guidance for research in which its businesses are involved, including research on or using genome editing, and has defined a clear operational position taking into account scientific and societal issues to inform promising therapeutic approaches for use in research and applications.

This Canadian patent marks MilliporeSigma's second in Canada and the 13th worldwide. Similar patents were granted in Australia and Europe in late 2018. This latest patent covers paired nickases, which drive specificity through a highly flexible and efficient approach to reduce off-target effects.

Paired nickases are two CRISPR nickases targeted to a common gene target that work together by nicking or cleaving opposite strands of a chromosomal sequence to create a double-stranded break. This process can include an exogenous or donor sequence for insertion in the same manner as MilliporeSigma's CRISPR integration technology. The requirement of two CRISPR binding events greatly reduces the chances of off-target cutting at other locations in the genome.

MilliporeSigma's CRISPR integration patent portfolio includes granted patents in Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Israel, Singapore and South Korea. These CRISPR patents are for chromosomal integration or cutting of the sequence of eukaryotic cells and insertion of a DNA sequence, to make a desired genomic change.

MilliporeSigma is licensing its entire patent portfolio for all fields of use.

MilliporeSigma was the first to offer custom biomolecules for genome editing globally (TargeTron RNA-guided group II introns and CompoZr zinc finger nucleases), driving adoption of these techniques by researchers all over the world. MilliporeSigma was also the first to manufacture arrayed CRISPR libraries covering the entire human genome, accelerating disease cures by allowing scientists to explore more questions about root causes.

In addition to basic genome-editing research, MilliporeSigma supports development of gene- and cell-based therapeutics and manufactures viral vectors. MilliporeSigma has a dedicated genome-editing group aimed at advancing research in novel modalities  from genome editing to gene medicine manufacturing  further solidifying the company's commitment to the field.

Follow MilliporeSigma on Twitter @MilliporeSigma, on Facebook @MilliporeSigma and on LinkedIn.

All Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany news releases are distributed by email at the same time they become available on the EMD Group website. In case you are a resident of the U.S. or Canada please go to www.emdgroup.com/subscribe to register again for your online subscription of this service as our newly introduced geo-targeting requires new links in the email. You may later change your selection or discontinue this service.

About the Life Science Business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

The Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, which operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada, has 20,000 employees and 60 manufacturing sites worldwide, with a portfolio of more than 300,000 products enabling scientific discovery. Udit Batra is the global chief executive officer of MilliporeSigma.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany completed its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich in November 2015, creating a leader in the $125 billion global life science industry.

Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, a leading science and technology company, operates across healthcare, life science and performance materials. Around 51,000 employees work to make a positive difference to millions of people's lives every day by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live. From advancing gene-editing technologies and discovering unique ways to treat the most challenging diseases to enabling the intelligence of devices  the company is everywhere. In 2017, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany generated sales of 15.3 billion in 66 countries.

The company holds the global rights to the name and trademark "Merck" internationally. The only exceptions are the United States and Canada, where the business sectors of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operate as EMD Serono in healthcare, MilliporeSigma in life science, and EMD Performance Materials. Since its founding 1668, scientific exploration and responsible entrepreneurship have been key to the company's technological and scientific advances. To this day, the founding family remains the majority owner of the publicly listed company. For more information about Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, visit www.emdgroup.com.

SOURCE MilliporeSigma
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Procter & Gamble Company has announced the launch of its first new retail hair care brand globally in four years. The new WATERL from P&G Beauty will launch in Cape Town, exclusively at select Clicks stores, one of South Africa's leading retailers.

The range is designed to cater to the different hair care needs of all women without the need to use a drop of water and includes: an ultra-lightweight Foam Dry Shampoo, a residue-free Dry Shampoo spray, Dry Conditioners and alcohol-free Hair Refreshers.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, only 3% of the world's water is fresh water and by 2025 two-thirds of the world's population may face water shortages. Leading market research firm, Mintel, has also found that 27% of consumers are trying to reduce their water usage.

The new WATERL Marc Pritchard, during the World Economic Forum in Davos as part of P&G's new "innovation agenda", the 50L Home, which will bring together companies, policy makers, and communities to develop scalable innovations for the home that help solve the urban water crisis.

"At P&G Beauty, our goal is to be both a force for good and a force for growth. We remain committed to providing every woman with products that work for her unique hair care needs. Water is a precious commodity that is under great stress, and we believe that we can play a role in helping people achieve the end result they desire despite water shortages through insightful and meaningful innovation," said Alex Keith, CEO, P&G Beauty.

"With South Africa battling severe climate change, we are excited to partner with P&G Beauty to provide consumers with this world-first innovation in water-less haircare that will not only help them reduce their impact on the environment, but change the way they look at hair maintenance," said Jamie Lane, Head of Trade at Clicks.

Additionally, the WATERL The Nature Conservancy to champion water preservation by supporting The Greater Cape Town Water Fund's effort to return 50 billion liters of water to the region's supply system, in order to address the issue of long-term water security concerns while tackling immediate social and ecological priorities.

SOURCE P&G Beauty
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board (PLCB) is holding its first-ever Rare Vintage and Specialty Product Auction offering two exceptional bottles of Macallan Fine and Rare Series scotch whisky up for bid.

Sealed bids will be accepted through 4:00 PM ET Friday, April 5, for the following products, both part of Macallan's Fine and Rare Series:

The Macallan 1949 Cask No. 935 Single Malt Scotch Highland 52 Year Old (750 mL)

The Macallan 1989 Cask No. 3247 Single Malt Scotch Highland 21 Year Old (750 mL)

"The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is pleased and proud to offer this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to scotch lovers seeking to add a Scottish jewel to their collections," said PLCB Chairman Tim Holden. "We were extremely fortunate to receive these highly sought-after products, which are very difficult to find across the world, let alone in the U.S., and we look forward to making one or two scotch enthusiasts very, very happy."

Details on the sealed bid process are available on a web page designated for the auction. To participate, bidders must:

Set up an account at FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com;

Read the product auction terms and conditions;

Complete a bid sheet, available on the web page;

Obtain a $2,500 cashier's check or money order as bid surety; and

cashier's check or money order as bid surety; and Mail or hand deliver the bid packet, including a fully completed bid sheet and surety, to the PLCB by 4:00 PM ET on Friday , April 5.

Each Fine and Rare Series Macallan in this inaugural product auction has a minimum bid: $25,000 for the 1949 and $9,000 for the 1989. Additionally, an undisclosed reserve amount above the minimum bid has been set for each product and must be met in order for the PLCB to sell the rare scotches to top bidders.

Auction participants may submit multiple bids for one or more products, but each bid must be submitted on a separate bid sheet. A separate bid surety must be included for each product for which a bid is submitted. Bids must be in whole dollar amounts, clearly written on the bid sheet, and must meet or exceed the minimum bid amount established for each product.

According to The Macallan Fine and Rare timeline, The Macallan 1949 Cask No. 935 Single Malt Scotch Highland 52 Year Old (82 Proof) was distilled in 1949 and spent the next 52 years aging until it was bottled in 2002. Cask No. 935 provided 228 bottle equivalents. The Macallan 1949 has a rich rosewood color (tint 45) and a nose of tropical and citrus fruits with peaty, Islay-like notes. The palate is fruity and peaty, with light vanilla toffee and hints of wood and spice. It finishes with complex fruits, peaty dryness, and light malted cereal. It was bottled at natural cask strength.

The Macallan 1989 Cask No. 3247 Single Malt Scotch Highland 21 Year Old (110 Proof) was distilled in 1989, then spent 21 years aging until it was bottled in 2010. Cask No. 3247 provided 338 bottle equivalents. The Macallan 1989 has a dark elm burr color (tint 60) and a nose of rich dried fruits, orange grove, and chocolate with hints of nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon. There is also a lingering burnished oak nose. Initially, the palate is of resinous oak, leading to wild forest fruits with hints of creme caramel. It finishes in soft oak wood spices and dried fruits, especially of date and fig. It was bottled at natural cask strength. Again, product description courtesy of The Macallan Fine and Rare timeline.

Questions regarding the product auction may be submitted to [email protected] until March 8. Answers to questions received will be posted to the auction webpage by March 15.

This product auction is open to individual consumers and active retail licensees. Given the extremely limited availability of these rare, world-class scotches, this auction is not limited to Pennsylvania residents, although winning bidders must select a Fine Wine & Good Spirits store of their choice at which to pick up the bottle, once full payment is received.

The highest eligible bidder for each product will have 15 days to remit full bid payment (less the $2,500 surety) by ACH debit, once notified they are the highest bidder in early to mid-April. Non-winning bidders will be notified at the conclusion of the auction by the return of each non-winning bidder's surety.

Pennsylvania law strictly prohibits the resale of alcoholic beverages without a license.

The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide, and licenses 20,000 alcohol producers, retailers, and handlers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups, and licensees. Taxes and store profits  totaling $16.5 billion since the agency's inception  are returned to Pennsylvania's General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania's schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies, and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit lcb.pa.gov.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn M. Kelly, 717.783.8864

Editor's Note: Click here for digital images, audio files and video footage related to the product auction and these Fine and Rare Series Macallan scotches.

SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Related Links

https://www.lcb.pa.gov


Two-day auction attracts bidders from 87 countries; 77% of assets sold to out-of-country buyers

MOERDIJK, The Netherlands, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Last week Ritchie Bros. conducted its first Moerdijk, The Netherlands auction of 2019, selling more than 2,600 equipment items and trucks for 37+ million (US$42+ million).

The two-day (February 28  March 1, 2019) unreserved public auction attracted close to 1,900 bidders from 87 countries, including 1,300+ online bidders. Approximately 77 percent of the equipment was sold to out-of-country buyers from as far away as Nigeria, Australia, and the United States. Thirty-nine percent of the assets were sold to online buyers.

"Our auction last week was a great way to start the year in Moerdijk, with a record crowd for this time of year," said Diederick van Haselen, Regional Sales Manager, Ritchie Bros. "We saw very active bidding from both onsite and online bidders, helping us achieve solid pricing on the great selection of construction, transportation, and other assets sold in the auction. Consignments are already coming in for our next Moerdijk sale, which takes place in April, right after the world-famous bauma tradeshow in Munich, Germany."

More than 320 owners consigned equipment to the Moerdijk auction, including ATF, a family-owned earthmoving company founded in 1960 in Belgium.

"We've known Ritchie Bros. for some time and now decided to work with them for the first time," said Tim Vercauteren, Head of Technical Services at ATF. "They're known for their international marketing power and getting great returns. We're pleased with the guidance Ritchie Bros. provided and the results of the sale were above expectation."

Equipment highlights in the Moerdijk auction included 215+ excavators, 125+ compactors, 85+ loaders, 10+ dozers, 20+ articulated dump trucks, 355+ aerial work platforms, and 230+ trucks and vans. Specific sales highlights included:

Five 2017 Caterpillar 349D2L hydraulic excavators that sold for a combined 885,000

Two 2017 Caterpillar 730C2 6x6 articulated dump trucks that sold for a combined 435,000

Three 2016 Caterpillar 120M VHP Plus motor graders that sold for a combined 346,000

VHP Plus motor graders that sold for a combined 346,000 A 2017 Komatsu D155AX-6 bulldozer that sold for 200,000

An unused 2017 Manitou MRT2550 privilege 4x4x4 telescopic forklift that sold for 150,000

Two Mercedes-Benz Actros 3348 6x4 combination trucks w/ Nooteboom lowboy trailers that sold for a combined 357,500

AUCTION QUICK FACTS: MOERDIJK, THE NETHERLANDS (February 28  March 1, 2019)

Total gross transactional value  37+ million (US$42+ million)

37+ million (US$42+ million) Amount sold to online bidders  14+ million (US$16+ million)

14+ million (US$16+ million) Total registered bidders (in person and online)  Close to 1,900

Close to 1,900 Registered online bidders  1,300+

1,300+ Total lots sold  2,600+

2,600+ Number of sellers  320+

Ritchie Bros. currently has more than 55,000 equipment items, trucks, and other assets listed for sale through its auctions and marketplaces. For a complete list of upcoming auctions and equipment available, visit rbauction.com and ironplanet.com

About Ritchie Bros.:

Established in 1958, Ritchie Bros. (NYSE and TSX: RBA) is a global asset management and disposition company, offering customers end-to-end solutions for buying and selling used heavy equipment, trucks and other assets. Operating in a number of sectors, including construction, transportation, agriculture, energy, oil and gas, mining, and forestry, the company's selling channels include: Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, the world's largest industrial auctioneer offers live auction events with online bidding; IronPlanet, an online marketplace with featured weekly auctions and providing the exclusive IronClad Assurance equipment condition certification; Marketplace-E, a controlled marketplace offering multiple price and timing options; Mascus, a leading European online equipment listing service; and Ritchie Bros. Private Treaty, offering privately negotiated sales. The company's suite of multichannel sales solutions also includes RB Asset Solutions, a complete end-to-end asset management and disposition system. Ritchie Bros. also offers sector-specific solutions including GovPlanet, TruckPlanet, and Kruse Energy Auctioneers, plus equipment financing and leasing through Ritchie Bros. Financial Services. For more information about Ritchie Bros., visit RitchieBros.com.

Photos and video for embedding in media stories are available at rbauction.com/media.

SOURCE Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers

Related Links

http://www.rbauction.com


BOSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Where China leads, global markets follow  and the path ahead for its pulp and paper industry is uncertain. China's GDP expansion slowed markedly in 2018, pulp prices have moderated following the third-longest price runup in recent history, and new trade restrictions threaten to stifle demand for wood fiber and finished goods. Still, China's fundamentals will sustain growth in key segments over the next decade, finds Developments in the China Pulp Market: A Comprehensive Analysis and Outlook, a new Special Study from Fastmarkets RISI.

"The entire industry is asking whether it faces a pause in Chinese growth, or if the market is at the precipice of the next global recession and a collapse in demand," said David Fortin, Fastmarkets RISI Vice President for Fiber Markets and co-author of the study. "Our base case forecast assumes growth will resume, but many risks remain."

"Tissue and the grades used in hygiene products will be bright spots for demand over the next decade," said Fortin. "Meanwhile, production of graphic paper and other paper and paperboard could slow or even reverse, in some cases. This shifting end-use demand profile for pulp will reverberate throughout global pulp markets."

After a decades-long boom, China leads the world in both its consumption of market pulp and output of paper and board products. On the supply side, imported recovered paper (RCP) has been an essential input for Chinese manufacturers. Starting in late 2016, government restrictions on these imports shook the entire global supply chain for wood fiber.

"China has become increasingly reliant on imported pulp, due to the limited availability of economically viable fiber for domestic production. As a result, much of the country's fiber needs are met from RCP imports which the new import policies have restricted. This has created increased volatility within China and altered global trade flows of pulp and paper."

Learn more at risi.com/chinapulp

About Fastmarkets RISI

Fastmarkets is the leading price reporting, analytics and events organization for global commodities markets, including the forest products sector, as Fastmarkets RISI. Businesses working in the pulp and paper, packaging, wood products, timber, biomass, tissue, and nonwovens markets use Fastmarkets RISI data and insights to benchmark prices, settle contracts and inform their strategies worldwide. Along with objective price reporting and industry data, Fastmarkets RISI provides forecasts, analysis, conferences and consulting services to stakeholders throughout the forest products supply chain.

About Fastmarkets

Fastmarkets is the leading price reporting, analytics and events organization for the global metals, mining and forest products markets. Fastmarkets' core activity in pricing drives transactions in commodities markets around the world and is complemented by news, industry data, analysis, conferences and insight services. Fastmarkets includes brands such as Fastmarkets MB, Fastmarkets AMM, Fastmarkets RISI and Fastmarkets FOEX (previously known as RISI and FOEX, respectively). Its main offices are in London, New York, Boston, Brussels, Helsinki, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore. Fastmarkets is a part of Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, a listed company on the London Stock Exchange. Euromoney is a leading international business-to-business information group focused primarily on the global commodities, banking, and asset management markets.

For Press Enquiries, please contact:

Alan Petrillo

Marketing Communications

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Fastmarkets RISI
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Washington Area Hyundai Dealers, The Washington Auto Show, Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Children's National are teaming up to help fight pediatric cancer through the Hyundai Hands-On Contest at the 2019 Washington Auto Show. A longtime staple of The Washington Auto Show, the Hyundai Hands-On Contest requires hearty contestants to remain in constant contact with a Hyundai vehicle over multiple days (with a few breaks), all with the hope of driving away in a brand-new 2019 Hyundai Kona SEL.

This year's contest is called "Hands on Hope: 50 Hours for $50,000." Contestants will compete for a brand new 2019 Hyundai Kona SEL over the 50-hour contest period. What is new about the contest in 2019 is that this year's six contestants will be selected from a pool of employees from Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National three contestants will form "Team Georgetown Lombardi" and three will form "Team Children's National." As part of this contest, the institute where the winning contestant works will receive a $50,000 research grant to move us ever closer to a cure for pediatric cancer.

The announcement of the new program was made today by Washington Auto Show President and CEO John O'Donnell and Kevin Reilly, owner of Alexandria Hyundai, and representative of the Washington Area Hyundai Dealers.

"The Hyundai Hands-On Contest has long been a hallmark event at our show," O'Donnell said. "We are proud to be able to use this competition to showcase the important work that our local medical centers do to help the most vulnerable among us in their greatest time of need."

"Hyundai has a long history of supporting the fight against pediatric cancer and now the Hyundai Hands- On contest will contribute to that fight, benefiting two innovators in this field, Georgetown Lombardi and Children's National," Reilly said. "The Washington Area Hyundai dealers are proud to support the this great work, and excited that one of their employees will drive away in a brand-new 2019 Hyundai Kona SEL."

Contestants will still be required to remain in contact with the Hyundai Kona at all times during the 50- hour long competition, with only 15-minute breaks every three hours. The contest winner will receive a brand-new 2019 Hyundai Kona, one of the hottest CUVs on the market (and winner of the 2019 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year) from the Washington Area Hyundai Dealers.

If more than one person is still in contact with the vehicle at the end of the 50 hours, all remaining contestants will select a Hyundai key from a bowl. One of the keys will start the vehicle and the contestant with that key will win both the Hyundai Kona for themselves, and the $50,000 pediatric cancer research grant for their medical center. The institute that does not have the winning employee on their team will receive a pediatric cancer research grant for $10,000. Auto Show attendees will be able to observe the contest while it is ongoing during public show hours, as in past years.

"In addition to awarding a brand new Hyundai Kona to the contest winner, as well as awarding $60,000 in pediatric research grants collectively to local researchers, the Washington Area Hyundai Dealers look to bring awareness to the need to increase funding for pediatric cancer research," Reilly said.

Hyundai dealers in the Washington, D.C. area, as well as throughout the United States, support Hyundai Hope on Wheels, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is committed to finding a cure for pediatric cancer. Hyundai Hope on Wheels is one of the largest non-profit funders of pediatric cancer research in the country, and primary funding for Hyundai Hope on Wheels comes from Hyundai Motor America and its more than 835 U.S. dealers, including the 19 Hyundai dealers that comprise the Washington Area Hyundai Dealers.

To date, Hyundai Hope on Wheels has provided over $3 million in grants collectively to Children's National and Georgetown Lombardi (over $1.6 million in grants to Children's National and over $1.4 million in grants to Georgetown Lombardi). Since its inception in 1998, Hyundai Hope on Wheels has contributed over $145 million to the fight against pediatric cancer.

"Hyundai Hope On Wheels has fueled some of the most promising cancer research projects underway at Children's National," said Jeffrey Dome, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children's National. "We are grateful to Hyundai Hope on Wheels  and all of the dealerships here and around the country  for their partnership and generous support for research in pediatric oncology."

Jeffery Toretsky, MD, a pediatric oncologist and researcher at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and past recipient of grant funding from Hyundai says such awards allow him and his lab to be more imaginative, even if approaches fail.

"If we, pediatric oncologists, don't aggressively go after novel approaches to creating drugs that are most important for targeting childhood cancer, nobody will. Our work targeting the 'undruggable' has led to a current clinical trial in Ewing sarcoma. Hyundai Hope on Wheels has provided resources for my team to search outside the box in order to achieve new ways to treat cancer in both children and young adults," Toretsky said.

The Washington Auto Show takes place at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW, Washington, D.C.

The Washington Auto Show

The 2019 Washington Auto Show opens to the public on Friday, April 5 and runs through Sunday, April 14. It is one of the five top auto shows in the United States and is the largest indoor consumer event in the District of Columbia. The show is being held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where more than 35 automakers will display over 600 vehicles.

For more information on The Washington Auto Show please visit: www.washingtonautoshow.com.

Also:

Twitter: @WashAutoShow

Facebook: @WashAutoShow

Twitter: @MobilityTalks

Facebook: @MobilityTalks

Twitter @LombardiCancer

Facebook: /GeorgetownLombardi

SOURCE Washington Auto Show

Related Links

https://www.washingtonautoshow.com


Multifamily clients in Canada can now utilize artificial intelligence and international records to evaluate applicants

SANTA BARBARA, California, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Yardi Resident Screening clients in Canada now have access to the largest risk-relevant database in the world with data from Certn informing their screening process. Yardi Resident Screening is part of the Yardi Multifamily Suite, a single connected software platform for comprehensive multifamily property management.

Certn uses data from thousands of publicly available records and incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to evaluate prospects. Data includes criminal and court records from 240 countries, 350 Canadian court boards and tribunals, adverse media, eviction records, watch lists and social media profiles.

Yardi Resident Screening leverages Certn's data and ranking system to compliantly select quality residents with a history of paying rent on time.

"Certn is excited about making its technology available to Yardi Resident Screening clients. Yardi is an industry leader that continually expands its offerings to better serve property owners and managers, and that includes holistic applicant screening. There are undesirable tenants with acceptable credit, so going beyond a credit rating using Certn can help determine the exact type of renter you are leasing to," said Andrew McLeod, C3O at Certn.

"Our clients will gain a greater competitive advantage, and minimize their risk, when they use Yardi Resident Screening as part of their Yardi platform to quickly and easily choose quality residents. Ultimately, this enhances their bottom line," said Peter Altobelli, vice president and general manager at Yardi Canada.

Learn how a single connected solution for multifamily property management can help your business thrive. See how clients are achieving success with Yardi Resident Screening.

About Certn

Certn is a platform that uses data points from thousands of sources to not only look at the past, but for the first time, leverage data science to predict the future. Using machine learning and artificial intelligence, Certn attempts to create the most comprehensive and predictive applicant profiles available. This allows customers to effectively and compliantly validate identity and make better risk decisions. For more information, visit certn.co.

About Yardi

Yardi develops and supports industry-leading investment and property management software for all types and sizes of real estate companies. Established in 1984, Yardi is based in Santa Barbara, California, and serves clients worldwide. For more information on how Yardi is Energized for Tomorrow, visit yardi.com.

SOURCE Yardi

Related Links

https://www.yardi.com/


(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/830148/Kailash_Satyarthi_Childrens_Foundation.jpg )



The joint letter has been submitted to the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan as well as the Permanent Representatives of both countries to the United Nations.

This is the first time ever such a large number of Nobel Laureates ranging from peace laureates to those from the fields of economics, chemistry, physics and medicine have come together with a joint appeal to call attention to the lives and future of more than half a billion children in India and Pakistan that are at stake.

The platform Laureates and Leaders for Children founded in 2016 has evolved to be one of the highest moral collectives to build a sense of urgency, shared responsibility and a strong global voice to galvanise political will to protect the children of the world.

Talking about this joint appeal, Mr. Kailash Satyarthi said, "I reiterate that children are the worst sufferers of terrorism and war. The very fact that so many Nobel Laureates from different fields have come together demanding safety of children for the first time ever shows the urgency of the situation at hand. I sincerely hope that the voice of the global moral leaders will be heard by the Prime Ministers and citizens of both India and Pakistan and immediate steps will be taken to defuse the tension between the two countries."

Some of the 66 Nobel Laureates who have signed the appeal so far are Mdm Leymah Gbowee, Mdm Shirin Ebadi, Mdm Tawakkol Karman, Ms. Malala Yousafzai, Professor Muhammad Yunus, His Excellency Jose Ramos-Horta in the Peace Category. Professor Edvard Ingjald Moser and Professor May-Britt Moser have been the signatories in the Medicine Category. Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan signed in Chemistry Category; Professor Alvin Roth signed in Economics Category while Professor Takaaki Kajita and Professor Oliver D. Hart signed in Physics Category among several others across various fields globally.

For more information, visit: https://satyarthi.org.in/

SOURCE Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Adagene, Inc., an innovative antibody discovery and engineering company, today announced a multi-target platform evaluation with Celgene Corporation. Under the terms of the agreement, Adagene will use its Dynamic Precision Library, to discover antibodies against targets chosen by Celgene. Additional details and financial terms of the agreement are not disclosed.

"Adagene's Dynamic Precision Library has continuously showcased its power to identify functional antibodies against difficult targets where traditional methods have failed," said Dr. Peter Luo, CEO of Adagene. "We look forward to partnering with Celgene to identify novel antibodies against challenging targets."

"The Dynamic Precision Library is designed for broad epitope coverage while keeping the developability of those candidates in mind," said Dr. Felix Du, Head of Technology Development at Adagene. "There are quality control checks throughout the process to ensure fidelity. As a result, we can move very quickly to engineer therapeutic leads with tailor-made product profiles that directly translate into clinical candidates of value to our clients."

About Adagene

Adagene (Suzhou, China and San Francisco, California) is a clinical stage biotech company with innovative antibody discovery and engineering technologies. By utilizing its proprietary Dynamic Precision Library Platform (DPL), Adagene is showcasing its exceptional antibody engineering capabilities by building franchises of products that are second and third-generation antibodies.

The company's management team is composed of industry veterans with proven track records in therapeutic antibody R&D. Adagene is backed by top notch global venture funds such as F-Prime Capital Partners, Eight Roads Ventures, Wuxi Pharmatech Healthcare Fund I L.P., GP Healthcare Capital, New World TMT Ltd and Sequoia China. The company has raised over $85 million through its series A to C financing.

Related Links: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/adagene-announces-collaboration-for-discovery-of-novel-car-t-with-the-national-heart-lung-and-blood-institute-at-the-national-institute-of-health-nih-300773566.html

SOURCE Adagene
EXTON, Pa., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Almirall S.A. (ALM) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Celling Biosciences, based in Austin (Texas), to divest ThermiGen for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is expected to close before or on March 29th, 2019.

In 2018, Thermi generated $18 MM of net sales and had 94 employees, based in Dallas (Texas). Thermi has an installed base of more than 2,000 users with a strong presence across the U.S.

Peter Guenter, Chief Executive Officer of Almirall S.A., said: "Almirall continues to refocus its business towards medical dermatology. With this divestment, Almirall completes its strategic realignment and puts Thermi business in very good hands to capture the potential of the new Arvati innovative platform".

Kevin Dunworth, Celling Biosciences CEO, explained: "We are excited about the acquisition announced today and the expansion of our portfolio with ThermiGen's leading energy-based technology. Acquiring this technology will allow Celling to combine their unique cellular therapy devices with the existing ThermiGen technology to offer physicians a unique scientific approach to treat their patience".

About Thermi

Thermi, an Almirall Company, is a leading global manufacturer of temperature controlled radiofrequency technology. The company's flagship product is ThermiRF, a platform technology that uses temperature as an endpoint for various minimally and non-invasive applications (ThermiTight, ThermiRase, ThermiSmooth Face, ThermiVa, etc.). Thermi also offers the Thermi250 device as the newest innovative RF for body. Founded in 2012, Thermi is a US based company with its headquarters in Irving, Texas and R&D in Boston, MA.

For more information, please visit www.thermi.com

About Celling Biosciences

Celling Biosciences is a biotech company focused on the science, research and development of autologous cellular therapy. Celling developed the first system on the market that allows users to regulate and select a desired cell type through a patented collection window and integrated ultra-filtration system. Celling is a transformative leader innovating cellular therapy by integrating excellence in research, medical education, advocacy, and product development.

For more information, please visit www.cellingbiosciences.com/

About Almirall

Almirall is a leading skin-health focused global pharmaceutical company that partners with healthcare professionals, applying Science to provide medical solutions to patients and future generations. Our efforts are focused on fighting against skin health diseases and helping people feel and look their best. We support healthcare professionals by continuous improvement, bringing our innovative solutions where they are needed.

The company, founded almost 75 years ago with headquarters in Barcelona, is listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange (ticker: ALM). Almirall has been key in value creation to society according to its commitment with to major shareholders and through its decision to help others, to understand their challenges and to use Science to provide solutions for real life. Total revenues in 2017 were 755.8 million euros. More than 1,800 employees are devoted to Science.

For more information, please visit almirall.us.

Corporate Communications Contact:

Almirall U.S.

Sam Widdicombe

[email protected]

Tel.: 949-331-0269

Disclaimer

This document includes only summary information and does not intend to be comprehensive. Facts, figures and opinions contained herein, other than historical, are "forward-looking statements". These statements are based on currently available information and on best estimates and assumptions believed to be reasonable by the Company. These statements involve risks and uncertainties beyond the Company's control. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from those stated by such forward-looking statements. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to review or update any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this document to reflect any change in the assumptions, events or circumstances on which such forward-looking statements are based unless so required by applicable law.

SOURCE Almirall

Related Links

https://www.almirall.com/en


ANAHEIM, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Amtrak Pacific Surfliner has brought back its popular "take the train and save" promotion with limited-time savings for Southern California Residents on train travel and Disneyland Resort Theme Park admission through May 20, 2019. The Pacific Surfliner train travels to Southern California's top destinations including Anaheim, the gateway to the Happiest Place on Earth.

The following offers will be available on Pacific Surfliner travel and Disneyland Resort Theme Park admission:

Amtrak Pacific Surfliner Offers Savings on Train Travel and Disneyland Resort Theme Park Admission

Save 5% on Disneyland  Resort Theme Park admission

Resort Theme Park admission Kids ride free on Pacific Surfliner to the Disneyland Resort with a paid adult

"We are excited to offer savings not only on train travel, but also on a quintessential SoCal experience," said Jennifer L. Bergener, Managing Director of the Los Angeles  San Diego  San Luis Obispo Rail Corridor Agency, which oversees the Pacific Surfliner service. "By partnering with the Disneyland Resort, we hope to enhance the journey for those traveling to the theme parks, while also providing added value to Disney fans and Pacific Surfliner customers."

Anaheim Resort Transportation (ART) provides a convenient connection from the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC) to the Disneyland Resort, free when you present a valid Pacific Surfliner train ticket. Passengers can travel to ARTIC on the Pacific Surfliner from multiple points throughout Southern California, including San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

Program details:

Visit PacificSurfliner.com/Disney and use your train reservation number from a recent or upcoming trip to unlock a 5% savings on the SoCal Resident Ticket Offer:

- 3-day, 1 Park Per Day $170 (savings of $9)

- 3-day Park Hopper $222 (savings of $12)

Non-SoCal Residents: You can also save 5% on regular theme park admission. Prices vary by date, starting at $104/day.

Kids ride free to Anaheim : Book your train travel to Anaheim , CA and for each adult ticket purchased, receive one child ticket free (ages 2-12). To redeem, select one "Adult" and one "Child" as passenger types, and enter promo code V786.

For more information and for complete offer details visit PacificSurfliner.com/Disney.

About the Pacific Surfliner

The Pacific Surfliner travels along a 351-mile coastal rail route through San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, serving 27 stations. It is the busiest state-supported intercity passenger rail route in the United States with 24 daily trains and annual ridership of nearly 3 million. To learn more and plan a trip, visit PacificSurfliner.com.

About the LOSSAN Rail Corridor Agency

The Los Angeles  San Diego  San Luis Obispo (LOSSAN) Rail Corridor Agency manages the Pacific Surfliner service in close coordination with its member agencies, Amtrak and Caltrans.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Geena Russo, The ACE Agency, [email protected]

For More Information: Michael Litschi, LOSSAN Agency - (714) 560-5581

SOURCE Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

Related Links

http://PacificSurfliner.com


Adding Iconic Organic Certified Premium Cannabis Brand

TSX: ACB |NYSE: ACB

EDMONTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Aurora Cannabis Inc. ("Aurora" or the "Company") (TSX: ACB) (NYSE: ACB) (Frankfurt: 21P; WKN: A1C4WM) announced today that the Company has completed the acquisition of all the issued and outstanding shares of privately held Whistler Medical Marijuana Corporation ("Whistler"), in an all-share transaction (the "Transaction"), pursuant to the terms of an amalgamation agreement dated January 31, 2019 among Whistler, Aurora, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Aurora (the "Agreement").

Located in Whistler, British Columbia, Whistler has developed one of Canada's most iconic cannabis brands, built on quality, award-winning, organic certified BC bud. The Transaction provides Aurora with a premium and differentiated organic certified product suite, expanding both its medical and consumer offerings, and reinforcing Aurora's presence in the well-established west coast cannabis market.

Strategic Rationale

Whistler has developed a strong reputation with patients and consumers alike for providing premium quality cannabis products. Founded in 2013, Whistler is one of Canada's original ten licensed producers, and was the first licensed producer to obtain organic certification and sell a full suite of organic certified cannabis products.

Whistler operates two indoor licensed production facilities, the first located in Whistler, British Columbia, and the second, a recently licensed, purpose-built facility located a 20-minute drive from the Whistler facility in Pemberton, British Columbia. Once the Pemberton facility reaches full capacity (anticipated for Summer 2019), the facilities are anticipated to have a combined production capacity of over 5,000 kg per year, expandable to well over 15,000 kg through future expansion at the Pemberton site.

Aurora intends to leverage its expertise in completing EU GMP compliant facilities to accelerate certification of the new Pemberton facility, ensuring the Company can leverage the Whistler brand on a global scale. Through integration with certain of Aurora's organic compliant grow technologies, the Company anticipates increasing productivity at both of the Whistler facilities and increase product offerings for both domestic and global markets. Whistler currently sells medical cannabis derivatives internationally to both Australia and the Cayman Islands.

Additional transaction highlights:

History of profitability driven by industry-leading pricing : Whistler has achieved positive cash flow since 2015, with EBITDA margins in excess of 30%. By ensuring consistency, quality, and maintaining its organic commitment, Whistler has achieved average selling prices exceeding 50% more than the average Canadian medical market, and maintains a similar premium to provinces for consumer use.

: has achieved positive cash flow since 2015, with EBITDA margins in excess of 30%. By ensuring consistency, quality, and maintaining its organic commitment, has achieved average selling prices exceeding 50% more than the average Canadian medical market, and maintains a similar premium to provinces for consumer use. Organic Certified EU GMP compliant production : Whistler is certified by the Fraser Valley Organic Producers Association ("FVOPA") and conforms to International Organic Growing Standards. Whistler's second facility is constructed to be in compliance with EU GMP standards which, upon certification, will enable the Company to supply organic certified cannabis products to the European market through our existing distribution channels.

: is certified by the Fraser Valley Organic Producers Association ("FVOPA") and conforms to International Organic Growing Standards. second facility is constructed to be in compliance with EU GMP standards which, upon certification, will enable the Company to supply organic certified cannabis products to the European market through our existing distribution channels. Iconic Whistler brand: Through the premium quality of its products, as well as the location association with Whistler, British Columbia , which receives over 2.7 million visitors annually and consistently ranks as one of the top global travel destinations, Whistler has established an iconic brand that resonates strongly across Canada and international markets.

Through the premium quality of its products, as well as the location association with , which receives over 2.7 million visitors annually and consistently ranks as one of the top global travel destinations, has established an iconic brand that resonates strongly across and international markets. Broad product portfolio : Whistler has commercialized more than 30 flower varieties and strain-specific oil products, from an extensive genetics bank of over 150 strains.

: has commercialized more than 30 flower varieties and strain-specific oil products, from an extensive genetics bank of over 150 strains. Further strengthens presence in Western Canada : Already one of the strongest performing companies in the Western Canadian consumer markets alongside Aurora, AltaVie and San Rafael '71 brands, Whistler will further add a premium organic certified brand with exceptional traction and visibility in British Columbia, Canada's third most populous province.

Already one of the strongest performing companies in the Western Canadian consumer markets alongside Aurora, AltaVie and San Rafael '71 brands, will further add a premium organic certified brand with exceptional traction and visibility in third most populous province. Whistler's growing domestic footprint: In addition to its existing supply arrangements in Ontario , British Columbia , Saskatchewan and the Yukon , Whistler has received product requests from Alberta and Manitoba .

In addition to its existing supply arrangements in , , and the , has received product requests from and . Organic certified large-scale extraction: Whistler has differentiated large-scale cold-water extraction technology and processes, creating a full suite of organic certified oil products (including THCA, CBG, and high CBD oils).

Management Commentary

"Now that this transaction is complete, we intend to accelerate development of Whistler and leverage its iconic brand globally," said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora. "Applying certain of our best practices to the Whistler cultivation protocols, we anticipate an increase in capacity of the Pemberton facility beyond the stated 5,000 kg annual production target. Furthermore, in pursuing EU GMP certification, we expect, once certified, to offer Whistler's premium organic flower and derivative products in the much higher margin EU medical cannabis market, further increasing the accretive nature of this transaction. Whistler and Aurora are very much aligned with respect to cannabis culture and community. We expect a swift and successful integration with Whistler, our latest partner."

Christopher Pelz, CEO and Founder of Whistler, added, "Aurora represents an ideal partner for Whistler, enabling us to maintain our unique craft identity while leveraging the vast resources of Aurora's large international footprint to rapidly scale our growth and margin profile. We look forward to integrating with the impressive organization that Aurora has developed to continue to produce the highest quality, organic certified cannabis for our medical and consumer markets."

Transaction

In consideration of the first tranche of the Transaction, Aurora has issued 13,667,933 common shares in the capital of Aurora ("Aurora Shares") to Whistler shareholders. Two milestone payments in the amounts of $30,000,000 (the "First Milestone Payment") and $10,000,000 (the "Second Milestone Payment") are also payable by Aurora to the shareholders of Whistler, in Aurora Shares at the volume weighted average trading price of Aurora Shares in the five trading days immediately prior to the date of issuance. The First Milestone Payment will be issuable upon satisfactory licensing of Whistler's Pemberton facility. The Second Milestone Payment will be issued on the earlier of March 1, 2020 and the date on which Whistler achieves full production in accordance with the terms of the Agreement.

About Aurora

Headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with funded capacity in excess of 500,000 kg per annum and sales and operations in 24 countries across five continents, Aurora is one of the world's largest and leading cannabis companies. Aurora is vertically integrated and horizontally diversified across every key segment of the value chain, from facility engineering and design to cannabis breeding and genetics research, cannabis and hemp production, derivatives, high value-add product development, home cultivation, wholesale and retail distribution.

Highly differentiated from its peers, Aurora has established a uniquely advanced, consistent and efficient production strategy, based on purpose-built facilities that integrate leading-edge technologies across all processes, defined by extensive automation and customization, resulting in the massive scale production of high quality product at low cost. Intended to be replicable and scalable globally, our production facilities are designed to produce cannabis of significant scale, with high quality, industry-leading yields, and low per gram production costs. Each of Aurora's facilities is built to meet EU GMP standards, and its first production facility, the recently acquired MedReleaf Markham facility, and its wholly owned European medical cannabis distributor Aurora Deutschland have achieved this level of certification.

In addition to the Company's rapid organic growth and strong execution on strategic M&A, which to date includes 16 wholly owned subsidiary companies  MedReleaf, CanvasRX, Peloton Pharmaceutical, Aurora Deutschland, H2 Biopharma, Urban Cultivator, BC Northern Lights, Larssen Greenhouses, CanniMed Therapeutics, Anandia Labs, HotHouse Consulting, MED Colombia, Agropro, Borela, ICC Labs and Whistler  Aurora is distinguished by its reputation as a partner and employer of choice in the global cannabis sector, having invested in and established strategic partnerships with a range of leading innovators, including: Radient Technologies Inc. (TSXV: RTI), Hempco Food and Fiber Inc. (TSXV: HEMP), Cann Group Ltd. (ASX: CAN), Micron Waste Technologies Inc. (CSE: MWM), Choom Holdings Inc. (CSE: CHOO), Capcium Inc. (private), Evio Beauty Group (private), Wagner Dimas (private), CTT Pharmaceuticals (OTCC: CTTH), Alcanna Inc. (TSX: CLIQ) and High Tide Inc. (CSE:HITI).

Aurora's Common Shares trade on the TSX and NYSE under the symbol "ACB", and are a constituent of the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

For more information about Aurora, please visit our investor website, investor.auroramj.com

Neither the TSX, NYSE nor their Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX and NYSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Terry Booth, CEO

Aurora Cannabis Inc.

Forward looking statements

This news release includes statements containing certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur and include, but are not limited to the completion of definitive agreements and closing of the Transaction. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are 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 projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

SOURCE Aurora Cannabis Inc.

Related Links

https://auroramj.com/


DALLAS, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) the leading non-profit organization connecting individuals from underserved populations with transformative career opportunitieshas joined forces with the Automobile Club of Southern California (Auto Club), the largest member of the AAA Federation of motor clubs. Through the WOS Talent Acquisition Program (TAP), WOS is spearheading the recruitment, training, and onboarding of nine post-9/11 veterans for the Auto Club's AAA Texas administrative office in Coppell, Texas. Upon completion of the academic training program, these veterans will fill roles as entry-level Mainframe/COBOL computer programming professionals.

Learn more at wforce.org

Currently, the program participants are completing the academic training component of the program, administered in partnership with Collin College . After 25 weeks of academics (12 weeks of full-time academics and 13 weeks of academics paired with part-time work), they will transition into a full-time consultancy phase at AAA Texas, gaining hands-on experience while still employed by WOS. After a period of 39 weeks as a consultant, they will be eligible to be hired by AAA Texas in its Coppell office.

"The Auto Club is a service-oriented organization continually seeking qualified staff that will fit into our culture and brand," said Jim Philipp, vice president of human resources. "Through WOS we have the opportunity to help veterans and identify qualified candidates who have received the type of education and training we believe will fill the Club's needs. We are excited to see this cohort of veterans complete their training and begin working with the team."

"WOS is thrilled to work with the Auto Club, a like-minded organization with a deep commitment to supporting its community, while enabling WOS to contribute to the safety of those on our nation's roads," says Dr. Art Langer, Founder and Chairman of WOS. "We look forward to watching these nine veterans succeed in their roles as well as deepening our relationship with the Auto Club and helping them solve their talent needs."

Interviews available.

About Workforce Opportunity Services

Founded in 2005, Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS) is a leading 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to developing the skills of untapped talent from underserved and veteran communities through partnerships with organizations dedicated to diversifying their workforce. Utilizing a scientifically-based model derived from research conducted at Columbia University, we recruit, educate, train, and place high-potential candidates with leading organizations around the world. To date, WOS has served 4,000+ individuals through partnerships with more than 65 corporations in 40+ locations worldwide. For more information, visit wforce.org .

About Automobile Club of Southern California

The Automobile Club of Southern California, the largest member of the AAA federation of motor clubs, has been serving members since 1900. Today, the Auto Club's members benefit from its legendary roadside assistance, insurance products and services, travel agency, financial products, automotive pricing and buying programs, automotive testing and analysis, trip planning services and highway and transportation safety programs. Information about these products and services is available on the Auto Club's website at www.AAA.com and on the AAA mobile app.

Additional Links

WOS on Twitter ( www.twitter.com/wforceorg )

WOS on Facebook ( www.facebook.com/wforceorg/ )

WOS on LinkedIn ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/workforce-opportunity-services/ )

WOS on Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/wforceorg/ )

Contact:

Laura Friedman

2128702241

[email protected]

SOURCE Workforce Opportunity Services

Related Links

http://wforce.org


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- McKool Smith Principal Robin Cohen has been named "Insurance Lawyer of the Year" for the third straight year at the 2019 Benchmark Litigation awards reception in New York City on February 28. In addition, Benchmark Litigation honored McKool Smith as "Texas Law Firm of the Year" and presented the firm with the "Impact Case of the Year" award for winning a $145 million patent infringement verdict on behalf WiLAN Inc. against Apple, Inc.

As a leader in the field of insurance recovery litigation, Robin Cohen works with an elite group of trial lawyers across offices in New York, California, and Texas. Over the past year, she has notched several important victories for McKool Smith's clients, including a unanimous Delaware Supreme Court order affirming a decision for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America and other related entities, securing over $40 million in coverage from three insurance companies.

Ms. Cohen also served as counsel to Apex Parks Group, which won a $10 million verdict against Protective Life Insurance Company. Jurors in an Alabama state court found that Protective unjustifiably breached its contract with Apex when it refused to pay death benefits owed under a key man insurance policy issued on the life of Apex's Chief Executive Officer, Alexander "Al" Weber, Jr., after his untimely death.

McKool Smith's major litigation wins over the last year included obtaining an order reinstating a $75 million patent infringement verdict for Ericsson Inc. and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson against TCL Communications Technology Holdings Ltd. The order also awarded Ericsson an additional $35 million, including approximately $10.2 million in prejudgment interest and $25 million in enhanced damages due to TCL's willful infringement. The firm also secured a $10.6 million patent infringement verdict for Optis Wireless Technology, LLC and PanOptis Patent Management LLC against Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. and Huawei Device USA, Inc.

With 165 trial lawyers across offices in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Marshall, New York, and Washington, D.C., McKool Smith has established a reputation as one of America's leading trial firms. Since 2006, the firm has secured 10 nine-figure jury verdicts and 12 eight-figure jury verdicts. The firm has also won more VerdictSearch and The National Law Journal "Top 100 Verdicts" over the last 10 years than any other law firm in the country. Courtroom successes like these have earned McKool Smith critical acclaim and helped the firm become what The Wall Street Journal describes as "one of the biggest law firm success stories of the past decade." McKool Smith represents clients in complex commercial litigation, intellectual property, bankruptcy, and white collar defense matters.

SOURCE McKool Smith

Related Links

http://www.mckoolsmith.com


Carlos Carreras, CEO of Blue Ridge Spirits & Wine Marketing states, "I am very excited to partner with Rebecca Creek Distillery, and we look forward to building on the success they've already achieved as we help them expand across the country."

Steve Ison, founder of Rebecca Creek Distillery, echoed his excitement for the new partnership saying, "Partnering with Blue Ridge is a great match for our team to grow our brands around the country."

About Rebecca Creek

Steve Ison founded Rebecca Creek Distillery in 2009 with a vision and passion for high quality spirits. Located in San Antonio, TX the distillery uses a blend of old distilling traditions and new technology to produce its vodkas and whiskeys. Rebecca Creek Distillery has become one of the largest artisan spirits producers in the Southwest with its spirits available in 11 states. For more information check out www.rebeccacreekdistillery.com

About Blue Ridge Spirits & Wine Marketing

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Blue Ridge Spirits & Wine Marketing (BRSWM) is an American sales and marketing company that focuses primarily on premium spirit and wine brands. It provides a strong sales force with established distributor and retailer relationships. Carlos Carreras added: "Our team has over a century of combined experience in the industry and is committed to fostering and promoting quality brand building nationwide. Blue Ridge aims to grow brands and build legacies." www.blueridgespirits.com

SOURCE Blue Ridge Spirits & Wine Marketing

Related Links

https://www.blueridgespirits.com


LOD, Israel, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Panaxia in collaboration with the Israeli Pharmaceutical company "Rafa", has begun a clinical research of medical cannabis concentrates for inhalation. This new method of delivery will increase accessibility mainly in cancer patients treated with long-term pharmaceutical cannabis (such as sublingual tablets), and suffering from acute cancer pain who prefer to avoid smoking cannabis. The research has currently begun, and the products are due for distribution in pharmacies during 2019 under Rafa's medical cannabis brand.

The Israeli pharmaceutical company Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries, has announced a clinical trial for registration purposes at the Ministry of Health, to examine the biological availability of delivering medical cannabis via a metered-dose inhaler.

The inhaler includes an attached vaporizer to which the patient adds the measured dose of cannabis extract for inhalation. The cannabis extract includes a precise dose of active ingredients.

Panaxia's advanced medical cannabis products, marketed by Rafa Pharmaceuticals, will be tested as part of the clinical trial and its registration will revolutionize the way medical cannabis is used for treating patients. The great potential of cannabis, delivered via a metered-dose inhaler, is its designation for palliative cancer patients, which are eligible for treatment with medical cannabis and suffer from symptoms of cancer pain (BTcP).

According to Dr. Itay Gur-Aryeh, M.D, Director of the Pain Unit at Sheba Hospital, Tel Hashomer, "Every clinical research that helps manage treatment using medical cannabis is important. Delivering treatment via inhalation is characterized by a quicker response time than oral or sublingual tablets."

According to Dr. Dadi Segal, Panaxia CEO, "The clinical trial is performed as part of the registration procedure of the new products which we are about to launch in Israel this year, in collaboration with Rafa. Through access to cannabis inhalers, and subject to a medical specialist's recommendation, we strive to help more patients suffering from acute pain. The inhaler will provide patients that are unable or unwilling to smoke, the right to be treated consistently and precisely."

Anat Savion, Rafa CEO, adds, "This innovative product is an additional method of delivery of medical cannabis products which we are intending to launch. The future of treatment with medical cannabis is the ability to match treatment to each patient in the best possible way."

About Panaxia Israel

Panaxia Israel is part of the pharmaceutical group of the Segal family, operating for over four decades, and manufacturing over 600 different pharmaceutical products, which it distributes in over 30 countries. Panaxia was founded by Dr. Dadi Segal, Dr.Eran Goldberg and Assi Rotbart, LL.b, and constitutes the Group's cannabis division. In addition, the sister-division of North America manufactures over 60 pharmaceutical products based on medical cannabis, including sublingual tablets, oral tablets, oils, inhalers, and more, intended to treat conditions such as post-traumatic stress, cancer, chronic pains, epilepsy, anorexia, burns, and many other medical conditions. Panaxia employs around 90 employees and all clinical experiments are conducted by the company.

For further info: Steve Levy, Email  [email protected]/ Tel (305) 933-4646

Panaxia.co.il/

SOURCE Panaxia Pharmaceutical Industries

Related Links

https://panaxia.co.il/


LONDON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Brytlyt, the fastest and most advanced GPU database in the world, has been massively upgraded in version 3.0 that includes enhancements to core products; Brytlyt (based on PostgreSQL) and SpotLyt, the analytics workbench.

Brytlyt introduces a new 4th generation GPU Manager enabling significant performance improvements and a greater ability to scale across multiple machines and GPUs, allowing far increased intelligence within the GPU Manager.

SpotLyt is a GPU-accelerated visualization and collaboration workbench that can be used as a stand-alone solution or as an add-on to a company's current visualization technology. SpotLyt allows data scientists and analysts to collaborate and interactively analyze billion row data sets in real-time, helping them discover correlations and anomalies in ways previously thought impossible. Using Brytlyt's advanced GPU-accelerated rendering engine, SpotLyt can render billions of data points onto a map in milliseconds.

SpotLyt sees fantastic improvements to include beautiful real-time mapping and a full SQL editor. Richard Heyns, CEO of Brytlyt comments ''our increased functionality within our SQL editor really is a step change in what is possible in managing data assets".

Version 3.0 for the first time includes BrytMind, with support for running AI workloads directly against the database. Typically in AI workloads, data has to be extracted from the database first and then uploaded to the AI system. Using Brytlyt, everything remains in the same place with a seamless switch between database and AI operations. Brytlyt is the first vendor to combine database and AI in this way.

Brytlyt spent the autumn of 2018 carrying out housekeeping; adding new data types (numeric and timestamp) and carrying out bug fixing which has greatly improved the user experience.

Now available with hardware rental by the hour on Amazon Web Services (AWS) as an AMI. Everything is installed and ready to use. With everything up and running users can access the database directly, run all commands and load data; offering a far superior and more streamlined approach.

Brytlyt are delighted with the huge improvements to the user experience ensuring their offering is more interactive, responsive and immersive than previously.

Brytlyt sets itself apart from its competitors with its integration with PostgreSQL allowing users to build analytics solutions, connect to external data sources and use external third-party visualization tools. These features really set their proposition apart from others.

Watch this space because Version 3.1 is scheduled for release in May, which will see improvements to the performance for networking for distributed computing & improvements for concurrent workloads. Brytlyt will also be releasing their cloud version of SpotLyt in the coming weeks.

About Brytlyt

Founded in 2013, Brytlyt's GPU database acceleration technology, with its patent-pending IP, features:

Astonishing Performance: Brytlyt's GPU-accelerated database technology is transforming the way businesses use data. With Brytlyt, companies can query multi-billion row datasets in milliseconds.

Brytlyt's GPU-accelerated database technology is transforming the way businesses use data. With Brytlyt, companies can query multi-billion row datasets in milliseconds. Easy integration with existing systems: There's no need for businesses to give up their current investments in code, analytics, and visualization. Instead, they can accelerate them with Brytlyt with little to no effort.

There's no need for businesses to give up their current investments in code, analytics, and visualization. Instead, they can accelerate them with Brytlyt with little to no effort. Smooth scalability: Businesses can add and remove GPU resources at will, scaling their processing capability to suit their needs, ensuring they can massively reduce data processing costs.

Businesses can add and remove GPU resources at will, scaling their processing capability to suit their needs, ensuring they can massively reduce data processing costs. Functionality-rich and easy to use: Brytlyt is built on PostgreSQL, and its deep functionality is complimented by outstanding ease of use.

Brytlyt is an out-the-box solution for any company looking to get immediate performance gains and actionable insight from their data.

For more information, visit www.brytlyt.com

Or contact Brytlyt at [email protected]

For the latest Brytlyt news:

Check out Brytlyt blog: www.brytlyt.com/blog

Follow Brytlyt on Twitter: @brytlytDB

Brytlyt's independent benchmark in 2017 catapulted them to the top of the table, and still remains unbeaten for speed.

Brytlyt works in partnership with Nvidia, Dell and IBM. Headquarters are in London with offices in Warsaw.

SOURCE Brytlyt
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today urged the FBI to take seriously an alleged public threat to assassinate Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

FBI officials say they are looking into the threat "Assassinate Ilhan Omar" scrawled on a bathroom stall in Minnesota and posted on social media. The FBI is in the "initial stages" of looking into the alleged threat but appears not to have opened a case file on the incident. CAIR will continue to monitor the case.

SEE: FBI Looking Into Graffiti Death Threat Against U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar

https://www.twincities.com/2019/03/04/fbi-graffiti-death-threat-ilhan-omar/

Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, have faced constant rhetorical attacks since seeking public office.

SEE: Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Show Muslim Women Don't Need Saving

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-show-muslim-women-don-saving-190226123014224.html

"The unrelenting rhetorical attacks on Representative Omar have the potential to result in violence and threats of violence, as in this incident," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We urge state and federal law enforcement authorities to take this apparent threat seriously, thereby sending the message that threats or violence targeting elected officials will not be tolerated."

He added that CAIR recently called on West Virginia Governor Jim Justice and the state and National Republican Party to repudiate an anti-Muslim display with an image of Omar in the rotunda of the West Virginia House of Delegates.

The display featured a meme with two photos, the top one showing planes crashing into the Twin Towers on September 11, with the text "'Never Forget' - You Said. . .", and the bottom one showing a photo of U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-MN), with the text "I Am the Proof  You Have Forgotten." While the discussion over the display was taking place, Sergeant at Arms Anne Lieberman allegedly called all Muslims "terrorists."

SEE: CAIR Calls on W. Va. Governor, State and National GOP to Repudiate Anti-Muslim Display in State Legislature

https://bit.ly/2HfUzKM

Awad noted that during that same week, two government officials across the country engaged in anti-Muslim bigotry.

An Idaho state legislator brought an anti-Islam pastor to the statehouse to give a presentation in which he portrayed all Muslims as radicals and a Pennsylvania school board president and Republican state representative apologized for a string of anti-Muslim Facebook posts.

CAIR-Pennsylvania Calls for Resignation of Local School Board Official Over Anti-Muslim Posts

https://bit.ly/2VD6ia5

Rep. Heather Scott Brings Anti-Islam Pastor to Statehouse

https://www.idahopress.com/news/local/rep-heather-scott-brings-anti-islam-pastor-to-statehouse/article_a9e2446c-9f09-5dbc-bfbb-f632994d9dec.html

Just today, CAIR called on the GOP to drop notorious anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Chris Gaubatz as a speaker at an event in Texas.

SEE: CAIR-DFW Calls on Texas GOP to Disinvite Anti-Muslim Conspiracy Theorist John Guandolo

https://bit.ly/2IQXThy

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.

La mision de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprension del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.

CONTACT: CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-999-8292, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Related Links

http://www.cair.com


NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Captain D's, the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant, announced today the opening of its newest franchised location in Pooler, Georgia. Located at 161 Tanger Outlet Drive, the Pooler restaurant sets Captain D's at more than 100 locations in the Peach state. The franchisee leading the Savannah suburb expansion is Shawn Eby, an experienced industry veteran who previously acted as VP of Operations for Taco John's. In addition to opening his first-ever Captain D's location, Shawn will continue to own and operate his restaurant locations with Dairy Queen, Dog Haus Biergarten, and Church's.

"When looking to boost my ownership portfolio, Captain D's made my decision to partner with the brand easy due to their unwavering support for franchisees and recent success in targeted growth," says Eby. "The company's track record in Georgia proves their presence in the state is impactful and positions my location for a prosperous future. As a result, I'm not only excited, but also confident in opening four additional Southeastern locations throughout the upcoming year, and am looking forward to helping further the franchise's footprint throughout my community."

Captain D's continued growth in Georgia comes as a result of their recent development efforts across the Southeast and the company's strategy to enter new operating territories. The brand has set out to remain dedicated to optimizing customer experience and perfecting their expertise in their unique niche industry while accelerating their presence in new markets.

Captain D's has achieved outstanding success over the past several years, which has fueled a surge in franchise and corporate development. Throughout the past year, the company has opened more than a dozen new locations and inked numerous franchise development agreements to open new restaurants in states like Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, North Carolina, Illinois, Michigan and Oklahoma. With more than 530 restaurants in 22 states, Captain D's is the fast-casual seafood leader and number one seafood franchise in America ranked by average unit volume.

Coupled with its ongoing menu innovation, Captain D's credits its new restaurant beach design with contributing to the brand's ongoing strong performance. To date, nearly 80 percent of all restaurants have been reimaged to the brand's new vibrant, coastal design. With these efforts, Captain D's has remained true to what it does best  serving high-quality seafood with warm hospitality at an affordable price in a welcoming atmosphere.

The company is currently seeking multi-unit operators to join in the brand's rapid expansion. For more information about franchise opportunities, visit http://www.captaindsfranchising.com or call 800-314-4819.

ABOUT CAPTAIN D'S

Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., Captain D's has more than 530 restaurants in 22 states. Captain D's is the nation's leading fast casual seafood restaurant and was named the #1 seafood chain in the QSR 50, ranked by AUV. Founded in 1969, Captain D's has been offering its customers high-quality seafood at reasonable prices in a welcoming atmosphere for 50 years. Captain D's serves a wide variety of seafood that includes freshly prepared entrees and the company's signature batter dipped fish. The restaurants also offer premium-quality, grilled items such as shrimp, tilapia and salmon, as well as hushpuppies, desserts and freshly brewed, Southern-style sweet tea, a Captain D's favorite. For more information, please visit www.captainds.com.

Contact:

Shana Rosenthal

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Captain D's

Related Links

http://www.captainds.com


AUBURN, Ala., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chicken Salad Chick, the nation's only southern inspired, fast casual chicken salad restaurant concept, announced today it will be expanding in Alabama with its newest company-owned restaurant in Trussville. Since debuting in Auburn in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick has spread its made from scratch chicken salad to 22 cities across its home state with additional restaurants slated to open in Oxford and Florence later this year. The Trussville restaurant is located at 2050 Gadsden Highway and will celebrate its grand opening on March 13th with four days of giveaways including free chicken salad for a year to the first 150 guests.

"Alabama is really special to us, as we've called it home for over ten years. From the early days when Chicken Salad Chick was a home business out of founder Stacy Brown's kitchen to where we stand now with 110 locations, Alabama continues to show us unwavering support as we accelerate the brand's growth within the state and beyond," said Scott Deviney, CEO of Chicken Salad Chick. "We are proud of the legacy we continue to build here and are thrilled to share our unique menu items and welcoming dining experience with the residents in Trussville. We have no doubt that they will be loyal guests for years to come."

During grand opening week, guests will experience the southern hospitality that Chicken Salad Chick is known for, with giveaways and specials that include:

Wednesday, March 13  Free Chicken Salad for a year  The first 10 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 140 guests receive a free large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month. * Any guest not part of the first 150 in line can make a purchase and enter to win free chicken salad for a year. **

 Free Chicken Salad for a year  The first 10 guests will receive one large Quick Chick of chicken salad per week for an entire year; the next 140 guests receive a free large Quick Chick of chicken salad per month. * Any guest not part of the first 150 in line can make a purchase and enter to win free chicken salad for a year. ** Thursday, March 14  Chicken Salad of the Month Club  The first 50 guests at opening and the first 50 guests at 6p.m. to purchase a Chick Special will be automatically enrolled in the Free Chicken Salad of the Month Club. Each guest will receive one free scoop of chicken salad per month for a year.***

 Chicken Salad of the Month Club  The first 50 guests at opening and the first 50 guests at to purchase a Chick Special will be automatically enrolled in the Free Chicken Salad of the Month Club. Each guest will receive one free scoop of chicken salad per month for a year.*** Friday, March 15  The first 50 guests at opening and the first 50 guests at 6p.m. to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free 32oz. RTIC Chick tumbler.

 The first 50 guests at opening and the first 50 guests at to purchase a Chick Trio will receive a free 32oz. RTIC Chick tumbler. Saturday, March 16  The first 100 guests to purchase two large Quick Chicks will receive a free large Chick cooler.

The Chicken Salad Chick concept was established in 2008 by founder, Stacy Brown. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu offers a variety of options suitable for any guest. In 2015, Eagle Merchant Partners purchased a majority stake in Chicken Salad Chick, and under the leadership of CEO Scott Deviney and team, the company now has more than 105 restaurants currently open in 13 states and remains a standout brand within the fast casual segment.

Chicken Salad Chick in Trussville will be open Monday  Saturday from 10a.m.  8p.m. For more information, visit http://www.chickensaladchick.com or call (205)-537-1171. Follow Chicken Salad Chick on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for the latest news and trends.

*Eligible winners must purchase the Chick Special, be over 16 years of age and are required to download the Craving Credits app. Redemption will start 3/18.

**Eligible winners must purchase the Chick Special, be over 16 years of age and are required to download the Craving Credits app. 10 winners will be drawn at the end of the day. Redemption will start 3/18.

***Eligible winners must be over 16 years of age, purchase a Chick Special and are required to download the Craving Credits app. Redemption will start 3/18.

For more information on giveaways and specials, visit www.facebook.com/chickensaladchicktrussville/

About Chicken Salad Chick

Founded in Auburn, Alabama, in 2008, Chicken Salad Chick serves full-flavored, Southern-style chicken salad made from scratch and served from the heart. With more than a dozen original chicken salad flavors as well as fresh side salads, gourmet soups, signature sandwiches and delicious desserts, Chicken Salad Chick's robust menu is a perfect fit for any guest. Today, the brand has more than 105 restaurants in 13 states and is continuing its rapid expansion with both franchise and company locations. Chicken Salad Chick has received numerous accolades including rankings in Franchise Times' Fast & Serious in 2019, Fast Casual.com's top Movers and Shakers, Nation's Restaurant News' Next 20 in 2017 and Inc.'s list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the U.S. in 2016. See www.chickensaladchick.com for additional information.

Contact:

Nikki Rode

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Chicken Salad Chick

Related Links

http://www.chickensaladchick.com


PORTLAND, Oregon, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research published a report, titled, "Cholera Vaccine Market by Product (Dukoral, Shanchol, Vaxchora, Euvichol & Euvichol-Plus, and others) and End User (Hospitals & Clinics, Research & Academic Laboratories, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20182025." The report provides a detailed analysis on changing market trends, drivers & opportunities, key segments, market size & estimations, and competitive scenario. According to the report, the global cholera vaccine market contributed nearly $65 million in 2017 and is expected to reach $207 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 15.6% from 2018 to 2025.

Lack of proper sanitation, increase in awareness regarding preventive care for cholera, and development of innovative approaches for cholera vaccine drive the growth in the market. However, time taken for regulatory approvals and risks related to adverse effects restrain the market growth. On the other hand, opportunities in emerging economies create new pathways in the industry.

Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/5177

Dukoral to maintain its dominant share by 2025

Dukoral contributed the highest market share of nearly half of the total market in 2017 and is expected to maintain its dominant share by 2025. This is due to the established pile of the oral cholera vaccine by the World Health Organization (WHO) and rise in the number of travelers to the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, Vaxchora is expected to register the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 17.2% from 2018 to 2025, owing to its benefits such as single dose immunization, reduction in adverse effects, and high efficacy rate for prevention of cholera.

Hospitals and clinics to maintain its lead status throughout the forecast period

Hospitals and clinics accounted for nearly three-fifths of the total market share in 2017 and will maintain its lead status throughout the forecast period. This is due to increase in the incidences of cholera, demand for immunization, the availability of highly-skilled and qualified professionals in the hospitals, and preference of patients. However, the research & academic laboratories segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.4% during the forecast period, owing to surge in demand for cholera vaccine across the globe for more effective and cost efficient cholera vaccines.

For Purchase Enquiry: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/5177

North America to grow fastest

North America is expected to grow at the highest growth rate, with a CAGR of 15.4% from 2018 to 2025, owing to the launch of Vaxchora, the first and only oral cholera vaccine in the U.S. and the increase in immunization. However, Asia-Pacific contributed nearly two-fifths of the total market share in 2017 and will lead throughout the forecast period. This is due to rise in prevalence of cholera disease in low-and middle-income countries leading to the increase in importance of immunization, surge in healthcare spending, and upsurge in awareness regarding cholera preventive care.

Frontrunners in the industry

Leading market players discussed in the research include Valneva SE, Astellas Pharma, Inc., Emergent BioSolutions, Inc. (PaxVax, Inc.), Eubiologics Co., Ltd., Sanofi (Shantha Biotechnics Private Limited), Johnson & Johnson (Crucell), and Celldex Therapeutics, Inc.

Access KNOWLEDGE TREE (Premium on-demand, subscription-based pricing model) at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/knowledgetree

Knowledge tree is a cloud-based intelligence platform that offers more than 2,000 selective, off-the-shelf reports on niche markets to enable our clients gain deep insights on the latest trends, dynamic technologies, and emerging application areas.

Similar Reports:

Cancer Vaccines Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023

Vaccines Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2017-2023

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.

Contact:

David Correa

5933 NE Win Sivers Drive

#205, Portland, OR 97220

United States

USA/Canada (Toll Free):

+1-800-792-5285, +1-503-894-6022, +1-503-446-1141

UK: +44-845-528-1300

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Fax: +1(855)550-5975

[email protected]

Web: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com

SOURCE Allied Market Research
BETHESDA, MD, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - WealthEngine (WE), the leading provider of predictive marketing, analytics and audience development services, announced it has entered into a credit financing agreement for $6.5 million in growth capital from CIBC Innovation Banking.

With this new funding WealthEngine will continue to expand its offering of innovative analytics tools, enabling companies in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors to access powerful insights to target, segment and engage with their customers and donors.

"The combined growth capital and working capital provided by CIBC Innovation Banking will help us continue to scale our company and to introduce new solutions to the global wealth management and fundraising industries," said PV Boccasam, CEO, WealthEngine Inc.

"We are excited to work with WealthEngine as we deploy creative financing solutions to help further accelerate the company's growth," said Paul Gibson, Managing Director, CIBC Innovation Banking, Virginia. "WealthEngine's unique analytics platform offers tremendous value for the for-profit and non-profit sectors, and we look forward to working with this innovative, rapidly growing organization."

WealthEngine's investors include Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Signatures Capital and Streamlined Ventures.

CIBC Innovation Banking delivers strategic advice and funding to North American technology and innovation clients at each stage of their business cycle, from start up to IPO and beyond. The team has extensive experience and a strong, collaborative approach that extends across CIBC's commercial banking and capital markets businesses in Canada and the U.S.

About WealthEngine

WealthEngine works with more than 3,000 industry leading financial services, higher education, healthcare systems, advocacy, and high-end hospitality organizations to deeply understand their current and prospective donors and customers. Our cloud-based prospect engagement platform contains WE Profiles for 250M adults in the U.S., enriched with demographics, lifestyle and affinity, charitable/political giving history, real-estate and other wealth signals. WealthEngine also is an ardent supporter of its local community and a member of the 1% Pledge movement. To learn more visit WealthEngine.com.

SOURCE WealthEngine
DENVER, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than a billion plaintext passwords from third-party breaches are freely available over the internet. Let that sink in, especially if you are one of the 59% of users who still use the same password everywhere.

These numbers are particularly sobering when considered in the context of the highly regulated clinical research arena. As clinical research becomes more mobile, sponsors and CROs are being pressured to provide tighter security measures to protect against unauthorized access to clinical data.

Biometric authentication allows technology platforms to replace passwords with physical validation of who the person is by using identifiers such as a fingerprint or facial recognition. Currently, 62% of all companies use biometric authentication and an additional 24% plan to incorporate the technology in the next two years.

ClinOne now brings biometric authentication through fingerprint and facial recognition to its iOS and Android mobile applications. This provides a significant improvement in security over using a password, stopping instances where a password is borrowed, sold, or stolen.

Biometric authentication paired with ClinOne's two-factor authentication (2FA) drastically decreases the risk of a data breach. It also favorably adheres to data protection laws, such as HIPAA and the EU's GDPR.

"Passwords are no longer considered enough in protecting sensitive data within clinical research. ClinOne's biometric and multi-factor authentication capabilities significantly increase security and privacy controls around accessing clinical data in the virtual environment," says Eric Schraufnagel, CTO and co-founder of ClinOne.

About Us

ClinOne offers a complete suite of mobile and web applications to enhance patient, caregiver and site engagement. Currently, our solutions help support close to 3,000 clinical studies, across 1,900 research sites in over 50 countries. If you're interested in learning more or scheduling a demo, contact us. Visit www.clinone.com for more information.

SOURCE ClinOne, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.clinone.com


PARIS and BOSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Shift Technology , a provider of AI-native solutions for the global insurance industry, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with CNA Financial Corporation, one of the largest commercial property and casualty insurance companies in the United States, to automate the carrier's fraud detection capabilities. CNA is the first commercial insurer based in the United States to partner with Shift Technology to take advantage of FORCE , the company's AI-native, SaaS-based fraud detection solution.

"CNA continues to focus on, and invest in, technology and analytics to advance claims," said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President of Claim Analytics, Finance and Operations for CNA's Worldwide P&C Claim unit. "By partnering with Shift Technology, CNA will optimize its special investigations efforts by focusing on the most suspicious cases with pre-identified paths for investigation."

FORCE uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and data science to not only detect potentially fraudulent claims but also provide contextual guidance for investigation and resolution. Unlike other technologies which rely heavily on the use of static business rules to identify those claims which may be non-meritorious, FORCE uses AI to analyze vast amounts of data from multiple sources. The result is a dynamically generated fraud score for each claim that indicates how suspicious the claim is, contributing factors, and how the claim could be investigated.

"Forward thinking insurers, like CNA, are consistently exploring how new technology can significantly improve the customer experience by making their processes more efficient," stated Jeremy Jawish, CEO and co-founder, Shift Technology. "By delivering deep insight into the claims our clients are processing and making the connections that would otherwise not be made, we're offering a powerful tool that is changing how potential fraud is identified and investigated."

About Shift Technology

Shift Technology delivers the only AI-native fraud detection and claims automation solutions built specifically for the global insurance industry. Our SaaS solutions identify individual and network fraud with double the accuracy of competing offerings, and provide contextual guidance to help insurers achieve faster, more accurate claim resolutions. Shift has analyzed hundreds of millions of claims to date, and was named by CB Insights to the 2018 Global AI Top 100. For more information please visit www.shift-technology.com.

Contact:

Shift Technology

Rob Morton

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

617-416-9216

SOURCE Shift Technology

Related Links

https://www.shift-technology.com


CHAPEL HILL, N.C., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- College Consensus (https://www.collegeconsensus.com), a unique new college ratings website that aggregates publisher rankings and student reviews, has published their ranking of the Top 25 Most Innovative Online Colleges for 2019 at https://collegeconsensus.com/rankings/innovative-online-schools/.

Online education has been around for more than two decades, and it has made incredible strides from its early years, when online learning was viewed as a novelty at best, and a travesty at worst. But the colleges and universities of the 21st century are still pushing online education forward, with innovations in technology, in student support, in variety, and in vision. Those are the institutions highlighted by the College Consensus Most Innovative ranking - the ones shaping the future face of higher education on a daily basis.

The institutions in the running for Most Innovative were selected after extensive research by College Consensus editors for local and national media coverage of colleges and universities revolutionizing online education.

Schools in the Most Innovative Online Colleges ranking have been ranked by their College Consensus score (which combines published academic rankings and real student reviews). The full top 25 (in alphabetical order) are:

Arizona State University

Boston University

Brenau University

Brescia University

Campbellsville University

Central Michigan University

Champlain College

Drexel University Online

Eastern Illinois University

Eastern Kentucky University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide

Florida Institute of Technology

Northern Arizona University

Old Dominion University

Oregon State University ECampus

Robert Morris University (PA)

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rowan University Global

University of Illinois at Springfield

University of Massachusetts - UMass Online

University of Minnesota - Crookston

University of Missouri - Mizzou Online

University of North Dakota

University of Texas - Arlington

Washington State University

"Innovation is a funny thing," College Consensus editors write; "if an innovation really works, it becomes widespread, smoothed out, and conventional. A good innovation stops being an innovation once everyone adopts it." As the editors note, "Online college degree programs were an innovation just two decades ago," but today "experts can talk about 'traditional online delivery' without a hint of irony." That is the burden of being an innovator, but "the things that make the most innovative online colleges innovative today, if they're truly useful, will one day be an accepted way of doing things." But it's a challenge that the colleges and universities on the Consensus Most Innovative Online Colleges ranking are proud to take on.

For the Most Innovative ranking, College Consensus admits to having their work cut out for them. "The best accredited online colleges may not necessarily be the most innovative, if they play it safe and do an exceedingly excellent job providing a totally conventional online education," but on the other hand, "innovation that doesn't get results isn't a real innovation." College Consensus focuses on the innovations that make a difference in students' education and lives. That means "establishing new online course design best practices," or "building a spectacular virtual support system for online students." In many cases, the most innovative online colleges are "using the reach of distance education to serve underrepresented students, making diversity, social mobility, and community engagement central to education." College Consensus celebrates the colleges and universities using online education for good, not just for profit.

College Consensus is a new approach to college rankings. We combine the latest results from the most respected college ranking systems with thousands of real student review scores. Learn more about the College Consensus rankings methodology at https://www.collegeconsensus.com/about/.

Contact:

Carrie Sealey-Morris

Managing Editor, College Consensus

[email protected]

(512) 710-9901

http://www.collegeconsensus.com/

https://www.facebook.com/collegeconsensus/

TW: @CollegeConsens

IG: @CollegeConsensus

SOURCE College Consensus

Related Links

https://www.collegeconsensus.com


SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CompTIA, the leading trade association for the global technology industry, and Immersive Labs, creator of the world's most advanced cyber skills development platform, are challenging cybersecurity professionals in the United States and United Kingdom to test their penetration testing skills this month.

The two organizations today launched the pen test challenge on the opening day of RSA Conference 2019, the world's leading information security event taking place here this week. Representatives of both CompTIA and Immersive Labs are on site this week at RSA.

"Penetration testing, if done right, is a proven and valuable activity that all organizations should engage in," said Dr. James Stanger, chief technology evangelist at CompTIA. "Unfortunately pen tests are too often done by rote simply to check a box on a compliance form.

"The true value of a pen test occurs when the testers have adequate skills, and when additional security teams use the pen test results to improve procedures and security controls," Stanger continued. "Our challenge is designed to provide cybersecurity pros with a chance to hone their pen testing skills and have some fun at the same time."

"It's great to partner with a such a respected training and global certification provider," said James Hadley, CEO of Immersive Labs. "We want our gamified and intelligence powered labs to inspire the continuous development of cyber security professionals."

The CompTIA / Immersive Labs Pen Test Challenge is open to anyone over the age of 18 residing in the U.S. or UK. To enter the competition visit https://immersivelabs.com/comptia-competition. You'll receive a verification email with instructions on how to log in to the Immersive Labs platform to begin the challenge.

Once registered, all participants are automatically entered into a prize drawing. Two winners will be selected by random draw performed by a computer process after the close of the competition on Friday, March 24.

Winners will have their choice of:

The CompTIA Pentest+ Bundle, including CertMaster Learn, a comprehensive, self-paced eLearning program for exam preparation that uses videos, assessment and performance-based questions; CertMaster Practice, and adaptive knowledge assessment that determines what you've already mastered and what you still need to learn to improve confidence and increase retention before taking an exam; and an exam voucher, or

A CompTIA Certification Exam Voucher for the certification of their choice.

Winners will be notified by email. Prizes are non-exchangeable, no-transferable and no cash alternate is offered.

CompTIA PenTest+ certification is designed for cybersecurity professionals tasked with penetration testing and vulnerability management. The CompTIA PenTest+ exam is unique in its use of both hands-on, performance-based questions and multiple-choice questions, ensuring that each candidate possesses the skills, knowledge and ability to perform tasks on systems. The exam also includes management skills used to plan, scope, and manage weaknesses, not just exploit them.

About CompTIA

The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a leading voice and advocate for the $5 trillion global information technology ecosystem; and the more than 50 million industry and tech professionals who design, implement, manage, and safeguard the technology that powers the world's economy. Through education, training, certifications, advocacy, philanthropy, and market research, CompTIA is the hub for advancing the tech industry and its workforce. www.comptia.org.

About Immersive Labs

Founder James Hadley had the initial idea after instructing GCHQ's Cyber Summer School, teaching 18-25-year-old students everything from evasion to penetration testing over a ten-week period. He noticed the classes with the highest success rate were the ethical hacking challenges featuring games, which enabled students to solve problems, as opposed to sitting passively in a classroom. Just two years later, the company has grown from just two people to 65 globally. Immersive Labs has offices in Bristol, London and New York. For more information on Immersive Labs' offering, please visit https://www.immersivelabs.com/.

Contact:

Steven Ostrowski

CompTIA

+1 (630) 678-8468

[email protected]

SOURCE CompTIA

Related Links

http://www.comptia.org


ATLANTA, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported operating performance for February 2019. The company carried 13.3 million customers across its broad global network, a record for the month of February.

Monthly highlights include:

Celebrating the commitment and hard work of the Delta people through $1.3 billion in profit sharing, the second largest profit sharing pool in the airline's history

in profit sharing, the second largest profit sharing pool in the airline's history Introducing a paid day of service for all 80,000 employees to volunteer, allowing employees to invest further in the communities and charitable organizations of their choice

Welcoming customers on the inaugural flights of Delta's state-of-the-art A220, debuting from Delta's New York-LaGuardia hub to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Boston

and Recognized as one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Worldwide for the second consecutive year for our ongoing advancements in customer experience through new technology

Ranking among Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" for the third consecutive year based on survey feedback from employees

The company's operating performance is detailed in the table below.

About Delta

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the U.S. global airline leader in products, services, innovation, reliability and customer experience. Powered by its 80,000 people around the world, Delta continues to invest billions in its people, improving the air travel experience and generating industry-leading shareholder returns.

Delta serves nearly 200 million people every year, taking customers across its industry-leading global network to more than 300 destinations in over 50 countries.

Headquartered in Atlanta , Delta offers more than 5,000 daily departures and as many as 15,000 affiliated departures including the premier SkyTeam alliance, of which Delta is a founding member.

, Delta offers more than 5,000 daily departures and as many as 15,000 affiliated departures including the premier SkyTeam alliance, of which Delta is a founding member. Through its innovative alliances with Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, China Eastern , GOL, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and WestJet, Delta is bringing more choice and competition to customers worldwide.

, GOL, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and WestJet, Delta is bringing more choice and competition to customers worldwide. Delta operates significant hubs and key markets at airports in Amsterdam , Atlanta , Boston , Detroit , Los Angeles , Mexico City , Minneapolis/St. Paul , New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London - Heathrow , Paris-Charles de Gaulle , Salt Lake City , Sao Paulo, Seattle , Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo - Narita .

, , , , , , , New York-JFK and LaGuardia, - , , , Sao Paulo, , Seoul-Incheon and - . Delta has been recognized as a Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the eighth time in nine years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented eight consecutive years and named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Worldwide for two consecutive years.

As an employer, Delta has been regularly awarded top honors from organizations like Glassdoor and recognized as a top workplace for women and members of the military. Delta CEO Ed Bastian was named among the "World's Greatest Leaders" by Fortune magazine in 2018.

was named among the "World's Greatest Leaders" by Fortune magazine in 2018. More about Delta can be found on the Delta News Hub as well as delta.com, via @DeltaNewsHub on Twitter and Facebook.com/delta.



Monthly Traffic Results

Year to Date Traffic Results

Feb 2019 Feb 2018 Change

Feb 2019 Feb 2018 Change RPMs (000):













Domestic 9,825,937 9,538,775 3.0%

20,268,310 19,246,740 5.3% International 5,288,838 5,148,182 2.7%

11,407,755 11,082,609 2.9% Latin America 1,746,123 1,785,131 (2.2%)

3,720,604 3,751,357 (0.8%) Atlantic 2,137,754 1,949,864 9.6%

4,583,290 4,291,148 6.8% Pacific 1,404,961 1,413,187 (0.6%)

3,103,861 3,040,104 2.1% Total System 15,114,775 14,686,957 2.9%

31,676,065 30,329,349 4.4%















ASMs (000):













Domestic 11,969,911 11,586,288 3.3%

25,193,205 23,868,997 5.5% International 6,675,244 6,442,695 3.6%

14,237,649 13,779,674 3.3% Latin America 2,109,113 2,112,545 (0.2%)

4,447,620 4,458,197 (0.2%) Atlantic 2,862,143 2,677,181 6.9%

6,114,025 5,743,352 6.5% Pacific 1,703,988 1,652,969 3.1%

3,676,004 3,578,125 2.7% Total System 18,645,156 18,028,983 3.4%

39,430,854 37,648,671 4.7%















Load Factor:













Domestic 82.1% 82.3% (0.2) Pts

80.5% 80.6% (0.1) Pts International 79.2% 79.9% (0.7) Pts

80.1% 80.4% (0.3) Pts Latin America 82.8% 84.5% (1.7) Pts

83.7% 84.1% (0.4) Pts Atlantic 74.7% 72.8% 1.9 Pts

75.0% 74.7% 0.3 Pts Pacific 82.5% 85.5% (3.0) Pts

84.4% 85.0% (0.6) Pts Total System 81.1% 81.5% (0.4) Pts

80.3% 80.6% (0.3) Pts















Mainline Completion Factor 99.92 99.91 0.01 Pts























Mainline On-time Performance 81.6 87.9 (6.3) Pts







(preliminary DOT A14)





























Passengers Boarded 13,317,687 13,001,838 2.4%

27,445,507 26,304,705 4.3%















Cargo Ton Miles (000): 154,825 160,278 (3.4%)

309,351 315,094 (1.8%)

SOURCE Delta Air Lines

Related Links

http://www.delta.com


EMERYVILLE, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Demetrix, Inc., a company with world-class expertise in producing nature's ingredients using fermentation, today announced entry into an exclusive licensing agreement with University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). The license provides access to a breakthrough technology that removes bottlenecks from the production of high-purity cannabinoids using fermentation, making the process more cost-effective. The technology was recently highlighted in the February 27, 2019 issue of Nature.

Cannabinoids are the active compounds found in the cannabis plant and have demonstrated therapeutic benefits, launching a growing, multibillion-dollar industry. There are over 113 unique cannabinoids, the most common being THC and CBD. By integrating this technology into its proprietary platform, Demetrix will be able to produce cannabinoids that will soon be lower than plant-derived cannabinoid pricing.

"I am delighted that UC Berkeley and Demetrix have entered into this important agreement," said the corresponding author of the Nature article and lead of the lab that did the work, Jay Keasling, Ph.D., Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley. "The team at Demetrix is one of the world's most experienced at developing and commercializing fermentation products."1 Keasling is also a co-founder of and consultant to Demetrix.

Demetrix is focused on building a portfolio of cannabinoids for research use, with all work performed in compliance with U.S. Federal and California State laws for controlled substances. Over the next several months, Demetrix expects to close Series A funding and will continue towards commercialization under the appropriate regulations. "We see a promising future where even the rarest cannabinoid is commercially accessible for promoting human and animal health," said Jeff Ubersax, CEO of Demetrix. "Licensing the UC Berkeley technology provides a significant leap forward in our progress towards providing access to these valuable molecules."

About Demetrix

Demetrix, Inc. works with nature to make rare ingredients readily accessible to promote healthier and happier lives. By using microorganisms such as baker's yeast and fermentation combined with the most advanced biotechnology, data science and automation, Demetrix can produce complex, sustainable ingredients at high purity and low cost. Founded in 2015, Demetrix has raised over $11 million in seed funding led by Horizons Ventures. For more information, see www.demetrixbio.com.

CONTACT: Cynthia Bryant, 919-324-4740

1 The University of California, Berkeley does not endorse a specific commercial product or service.

SOURCE Demetrix, Inc.

Related Links

https://demetrixbio.com/


SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 8,000,000 shares of 5.850% Series K Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock with a liquidation preference of $25.00 per share for gross proceeds of $200 million. The company has also granted the underwriters a 30day option to purchase from the company up to an additional 1,200,000 shares solely to cover over-allotments.

The preferred stock offering is expected to close on March 13, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions.

The company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering of the preferred stock to repay borrowings outstanding under the operating partnership's global revolving credit facility, acquire additional properties or businesses, fund development opportunities, and to provide for working capital and other general corporate purposes, including potentially for the repayment of other debt or the repurchase, redemption, or retirement of outstanding debt securities or preferred stock, or a combination of the foregoing.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC are the joint book-running managers for the preferred stock offering.

The preferred stock offering was made under an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A copy of the prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus relating to the offering of the preferred stock will be filed with the SEC and will be available by visiting the EDGAR database on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or by contacting:

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated

Attn: Prospectus Department

200 North College Street

NC1-004-03-43

Charlotte, NC 28255

(800) 294-1322

[email protected]

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC

1585 Broadway, 29th Floor

New York, NY 10036

(866) 718-1649

[email protected]



Wells Fargo Securities, LLC

Attn: WFS Customer Service 608 2nd Avenue South

Minneapolis, MN 55402

(800) 645-3751

[email protected]

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the preferred stock or any other securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of preferred stock or any other securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Digital Realty

Digital Realty supports the data center, colocation and interconnection strategies of more than 2,300 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia. Digital Realty's clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from cloud and information technology services, social networking and communications to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and consumer products.

For Additional Information:

Andrew P. Power

Chief Financial Officer

Digital Realty

(415) 738-6500



Investor Relations

John J. Stewart / Maria S. Lukens

Digital Realty

(415) 738-6500

[email protected]

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the timing and consummation of the offering of the preferred stock and the expected use of the net proceeds. The Company can provide no assurances that it will be able to complete the offering on the anticipated terms, or at all. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the company's reports and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018. Digital Realty disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Digital Realty
"This is an incredible milestone for Domino's, and I am beyond excited it is happening in Cheektowaga," said Ritch Allison, Domino's president and CEO. "We've grown our total global store count by nearly 4,800 stores in the past five years, and we couldn't be more thrilled to commemorate our 16,000th store in the world, right here in New York."

The commemorative 16,000th store, located at 4395 Union Rd., will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Allison, COO & President of the Americas Russell Weiner, Cheektowaga, Domino's franchise owner Allan Erwin and other key company executives on Monday, March 4 at 11 a.m. Erwin will also present a $16,000 donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Western New York Chapter, in honor of the 16,000th store.

"Having the Cheektowaga community be a part of this milestone is very meaningful to me, as does being able to give back to the community," said Erwin. "The Domino's team and I are honored to support a great local organization that helps cure cystic fibrosis and provides all people with the disease the opportunity to lead full, productive lives by funding research and drug development, promoting individualized treatment, and ensuring access to high-quality, specialized care.

Erwin began his career with Domino's in 1993 as a delivery driver. He purchased his first store in 1998  just five years after joining the company. He now owns 37 stores throughout New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. He is not alone  more than 90 percent of Domino's U.S. franchise owners began their careers as delivery drivers or pizza makers in Domino's stores.

About Domino's Pizza

Founded in 1960, Domino's Pizza is the largest pizza company in the world based on retail sales, with a significant business in both delivery and carryout pizza. It ranks among the world's top public restaurant brands with a global enterprise of more than 15,900 stores in over 85 markets. Domino's had global retail sales of over $13.5 billion in 2018, with nearly $6.6 billion in the U.S. and more than $6.9 billion internationally. In the fourth quarter of 2018, Domino's had global retail sales of over $4.2 billion, with nearly $2.1 billion in the U.S. and more than $2.1 billion internationally. Its system is comprised of independent franchise owners who accounted for 98% of Domino's stores as of the fourth quarter of 2018. Emphasis on technology innovation helped Domino's achieve more than half of all global retail sales in 2018 from digital channels, primarily online ordering and mobile applications. In the U.S., Domino's generates over 65% of sales via digital channels and has produced several innovative ordering platforms, including Google Home, Facebook Messenger, Apple Watch, Amazon Echo, Twitter and text message using a pizza emoji. In late 2017, Domino's began an industry-first test of self-driving vehicle delivery with Ford Motor Company  and in April 2018, launched Domino's HotSpots, featuring over 200,000 non-traditional delivery locations including parks, beaches, local landmarks and other unique gathering spots.

Order  dominos.com

AnyWare Ordering  anyware.dominos.com

Company Info  biz.dominos.com

Twitter  twitter.com/dominos

Facebook  facebook.com/dominos

Instagram  instagram.com/dominos

YouTube  youtube.com/dominos

Please visit our Investor Relations website at biz.dominos.com to view news, announcements, earnings releases and conference webcasts.

SOURCE Domino's Pizza

Related Links

http://www.dominos.com


HEMET, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Veeravat Taecharvongphairoj, MD is recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Pinnacle Professional in the field of Medicine for his role as Hospice and Palliative Medicine Physician at the Hemet Valley Medical Center and the Menifee Valley Medical Center.

With a combined 100 years in operation, both the Hemet Valley Medical Center and the Menifee Valley Medical Centers are among the premier medical facilities in all of California. They provide a wide array of inpatient and outpatient programs in their pursuit to provide the highest quality of healthcare for all patients who walk through their doors.



A vital part of both medical centers, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj uses his 16 years' worth of experience in order to provide elite Hospice and Palliative medical services for patients throughout the country. Truly dedicated to his craft, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj expresses that accommodating his patients' needs is his top priority, as he states, "My goal is to make people comfortable and alleviate their suffering." He indicates that the key to his success is that, "I always try to do better and better." In giving advice to those entering the field, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj says that all doctors should, "Always see the patient as a human being and keep the passion going."



Prior to venturing into the world of professional medicine, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj found a great amount of success in his academic pursuits. He received his Medical Degree from Faculty of Medicine Ramathibodi Hospital Mahidol University in Thailand. After receiving his degree, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj completed his residency training with Hatyai Hospital and the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. Finally, he completed his Hospital and Palliative Care fellowship with Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.



In order to enhance his professional development, Dr. Taecharvongphairoj is a member of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.



Dr. Taecharvongphairoj dedicates this recognition to Dr. Daniel Fischburg and to the faculties at Cedars-Sinai.



For more information, visit www.hemetvalleymedicalcenter.com and www.menifeevalleymedicalcenter.com

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who

Related Links

http://www.continentalwhoswho.com


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Dream Baby Sleep, a top-rated company of certified sleep experts, will host a massive consumer giveaway and live simulcasts on March 15, 2019 at 1pm (ET) to celebrate World Sleep Day. World Sleep Day is an internationally recognized awareness event bringing researchers, health professionals and patients together to recognize sleep and its important impact on our health. The team at Dream Baby Sleep aims to teach families with young children how to create and maintain healthy sleep.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE SLEEP AWARENESS GIVEAWAY

https://landing.dreambabysleep.com/world-sleep-day

Carolynne J. Harvey, an official U.S. delegate of World Sleep Day & Dream Baby Sleep founder, will be hosting the simulcasts and organized the consumer giveaway in partnership with iconic brands.



"As a full-time working mom, I personally understand how vital sleep is for a healthy life. We work with families Nationwide to help them develop and maintain positive sleep habits for the whole family. We are thrilled to partner with the World Sleep Society to raise awareness of this critical issue," Harvey said.

The consumer giveaway and dual simulcast Facebook LIVE and Instagram LIVE will kick off on 3/15/19 at 1pm (ET). The giveaway will include the following:

Dream Baby Sleep has partnered with First Candle, a 501c3 dedicated to preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) to provide safe sleep guidelines to all giveaway participants. And most importantly a portion of Dream Baby Sleep annual proceeds will go to First Candle.

For more information about the live event or to join the partnership, please contact [email protected].

About Dream Baby Sleep

Dream Baby Sleep is a loving group of certified experts who are successfully teaching families how to create and maintain healthy sleep. Our diverse education and team dynamic empower us to customize a plan catered to your family's personal needs. By studying the temperament of your baby, parenting style and family dynamic we're able to draw from all sleep training methods available to create success.

About World Sleep Day

World Sleep Day is an annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving. It is organized by the World Sleep Day Committee of World Sleep Society (founded by WASM and WSF) and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders.

Contact

Carolynne J. Harvey

Dream Baby Sleep

[email protected]

SOURCE Dream Baby Sleep
NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Finn Partners, America's fourth largest independent global public relations firm, names Jessica Berk Ross, Managing Partner, Public Affairs Practice Leader. In her new role, Ross will serve as the leading policy and public affairs information source to all U.S. offices, lead new-business efforts and provide strategic input for public affairs programs across the company.

Jessica Berk Ross, managing partner, FINN Partners, takes on new dual role: maintaining her current position heading public affairs in Washington D.C. and also leading public affairs activities across the U.S.

According to Richard Funess, FINN senior managing partner, Ross will play a dual role in the agency, maintaining her current position heading Public Affairs in Washington D.C. responsible for that group's P&L, while also leading public affairs activities across the U.S.

"With the current policy environment, a strong focus on public affairs is essential. Jess's leadership, depth of experience and high-profile contacts position her well to oversee our DC public affairs group, and adroitly shift gears to direct major national programs, working with other offices and practice groups to pursue joint opportunities." Funess added, "Through that collaborative spirit, Jess will evolve FINN's overall public affairs practice and stimulate new business wins for increased bottom line growth."

Ross has created multi-faceted public affairs campaigns for many clients over the years, including the Jamaica Tourist Board, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea, and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Her issues management experience is extensive, from media relations and public affairs outreach ensuring balanced and fair coverage, to crisis communications planning and response, brand management and rebuilding.

FINN's public affairs clients reflect national and international scope and a partial list of clients include: Allianz Global; 2019 Commemoration, American Evolution; Fairfax County Econ/Dev; Japan Prize Foundation; The Recording Academy; and U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

About Finn Partners, Inc.

Founded in late 2011 on the core principles of innovation and collaborative partnership, Finn Partners has quadrupled in size in seven years, becoming one of the fastest growing independent public relations agencies in the world. The full-service marketing and communications company's record setting pace is a result of organic growth and integrating new companies and new people into the FINN world through a common philosophy. With almost 700 professionals, FINN provides its clients with global access and capabilities in the U.S., Europe and Asia, in addition to PROI Worldwide. Headquartered in New York, FINN's other offices are located in: Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Jerusalem, London, Los Angeles, Munich, Nashville, Orange County, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Washington D.C. Find us at finnpartners.com and follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @finnpartners.

Contact:

Renee Martin, Partner

[email protected]

212.715.1600

SOURCE Finn Partners

Related Links

http://www.finnpartners.com


LOS ANGELES, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Democracy requires transparency. Do current laws provide enough public access? Learn what the government must disclose to citizens, what it can keep secret and why. Hear experts discuss how the law balances the right to privacy against the public good.

Los Angeles County Inspector General Max Huntsman, Prof. Aaron Caplan, Loyola Law School, Dan Laidman and Kelly Aviles discuss "How Open Should Government Be?" Topics include:

Personnel records of police officers involved in shootings or accused of misconduct; When high-level documents can be shielded from disclosure by "executive privilege"; Why investigations (like the one into Russian election interference) are kept under wraps, and how information from them can be made public; and How can the current systems of ensuring open government be improved?

This session is one of several free programs provided by LA Law Library, 301 W. 1st. Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 in honor of National Freedom of Information Day. Learn how to make your own requests for court or other government records. Call 213.785.2516 or go to lawdays.lalawlibrary.org for more information.

About LA Law Library: The Los Angeles County Law Library (dba: LA Law Library) is the second largest public law library in the United States, a vibrant community education center and a leader in providing public access to legal information. For additional information on LA Law Library, please visit www.lalawlibrary.org or call 213.785.2529.

SOURCE LA Law Library

Related Links

http://www.lalawlibrary.org


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- This week New York City's Commission on Human Rights (NYCCHR) released new guidelines prohibiting discrimination based on hair, hair types and hair styles. The new guidelines under the New York City Human Rights Law (NYCHRL) provides legal options to people who are discriminated against because of hair, style and length associated with race, culture or cultural identity. Beleza Natural, named one of NYC's top hair salons specializing in curly hair, is leading the charge in the empowerment of women by helping them embrace their natural curls and firmly stands with the new NYC guidelines that people should not be discriminated against based on their curl pattern.

Trusted "Curl Masters" and highly renowned entrepreneurs Zica Assis and Leila Velez built the first Beleza Natural Salon in Rio de Janeiro in 1993 to combat the racism and stigma faced in the workplace as Afro-Brazilian women with natural, curly hair. Spurred into action by the lack of effective hair products for their curly and kinky hair types, the pair of business mavens filled an evident gap in Brazilian hair care by creating products and treatments to transform the way women care for their naturally curly hair.

"At Beleza Natural, all curls, coils and kinks are welcome! It's unfair to tell a person that his or her hair is unacceptable and penalize them professionally and financially for it." says Leila Velez, co-founder of Beleza Natural. "We are very proud to be contributing to the natural hair movement in NYC helping people to embrace their curly and textured hair without fear. Hair is identity and should be respected."

In 2018, Assis and Velez, debuted its first U.S. Beleza Natural Salon in the heart of Harlem, New York City. A longstanding champion of haircare, the salon stands out for its unique cocktail of natural hair treatments and styling services, product research and development, and customer care. The new location is not only a salon, but a completely integrated experience of self-love and empowerment through beauty education -- staff and clientele come together to celebrate natural hair and customers leave feeling beautiful, but empowered through knowledge to better care for their hair.

For more information on Beleza Natural, please visit www.belezanatural.com.

SOURCE Beleza Natural

Related Links

http://www.belezanatural.com


DUBLIN, March 04, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Point Of Care/POC/Rapid Diagnostic Market By Test, Platform, Mode, End User - Global Forecast To 2024" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global point of care (POC) diagnostics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% from 2018 to reach $30.9 billion by 2024

Factors such as high prevalence of infectious diseases, rising incidence of target diseases, need for rapid diagnostics, skilled staff shortages in diagnostic labs, growing preference for home healthcare/self-testing, and favorable government initiatives for the adoption of POC testing products are expected to fuel the growth of point of care diagnostics market during the forecast period.



Despite the significant advances in sanitation and medicine, infectious diseases still annually claim in excess of more than 15 million lives in recent years. Infectious diseases are now emerging or re-emerging almost every year; thus, accurate diagnostics play a critical role in clinical decision making, and in disease control, and prevention. Therefore, POC tests for infectious diseases are expected to witness the highest growth among all POC products during the forecast period.



The Lateral Flow Immunoassay (LFIA) technology is the most simple and successful rapid diagnostics testing platform. The development of LFIA tests for use in developing countries has been focused majorly on infectious diseases including HIV, Strep A/B, legionella, malaria, respiratory viruses, influenza, meningitis, filariasis, tuberculosis, measles, mumps, rubella, chlamydia, and gonorrhea. LFIA platforms have significantly impacted on the treatment of cardiac diagnosis as well. Therefore, based on platform, LFIA dominates the POC market and will continue to play an important role during the forecast period owing to the increasing prevalence of infectious diseases and growing adoption of lateral flow POC diagnostics as compared to lab tests.



Based on end user, home care/self-testing commanded the largest share of the global point of care diagnostics market. This segment is also expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to the mounting inclination for at home healthcare, growing focus on continuous and remote monitoring, and expanding need for rapid tests among home care users.



North America commanded the largest share of the global POC market, followed by Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. However, APAC is estimated to be the fastest growing region due to presence of significant patient pool especially in rural/remote areas with limited healthcare access, aging population, rising burden of chronic diseases and infectious diseases. In APAC, China provides lucrative growth opportunities for the point of care diagnostics market players.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Introduction

1.1. Currency and Limitations



2. Research Methodology

2.1. Research Process



3. Executive Summary



4. Market Insights

4.1. Introduction

4.1.1. Drivers

4.1.1.1. Increasing Prevalence of Infectious Diseases

4.1.1.2. Growing Incidence of Target Diseases

4.1.1.3. Technological Advancements and New Products Launches

4.1.1.4. Rising Number of CLIA-Waived PoC Tests

4.1.1.5. Shortage of Skilled Laboratory Technicians

4.1.1.6. Increasing Funding/Investments For the Development of PoC Products

4.1.2. Restraints

4.1.2.1. Presence of Stringent Regulatory Policies

4.1.2.2. Pricing Pressures Owing to Reimbursement Cuts and Budget Constraints

4.1.3. Opportunities

4.1.3.1. Increasing Number of Conferences and Events

4.1.3.2. Growth Opportunities in Emerging Markets

4.1.3.3. PoC Tests with Multiplexing Capabilities

4.1.3.4. Healthcare Transition Converting Lab Tests to PoC Tests

4.1.4. Challenges

4.1.4.1. Lack of Knowledge About the Use of PoC Devices

4.1.4.2. High Cost of PoC Devices

4.2. Regulatory Analysis

4.2.1. North America

4.2.2. Europe

4.2.3. Asia-Pacific

4.2.4. Latin America, Middle East & Africa

4.3. Supply Chain Analysis

4.4. Pricing Analysis

4.5. Market Share Analysis



5. Point of Care Diagnostics Market, by Product

5.1. Introduction

5.2. Blood Glucose Monitoring Testing Products

5.2.1. Strips

5.2.2. Meters

5.2.3. Lancets & Lancing Devices

5.3. Cardiac Metabolism Monitoring Testing Products

5.3.1. Blood Gas/Electrolytes Testing Products

5.3.2. Cardiac Markers

5.3.3. Hba1c Testing Products

5.4. Infectious Disease Testing Products

5.4.1. Influenza Testing Products

5.4.2. HIV Testing Products

5.4.3. Hepatitis C Testing Products

5.4.4. Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Testing Products

5.4.5. Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) Testing Products

5.4.6. Respiratory Infection Testing Products

5.4.7. Tropical Disease Testing Products

5.4.8. Other Infectious Disease Testing Products

5.5. Coagulation Monitoring Products

5.5.1. Prothrombin Time (PT/INR) Testing Products

5.5.2. Activated Clotting Time (ACT/aPTT) Testing Products

5.6. Pregnancy and Fertility Testing Products

5.6.1. Pregnancy Testing Products

5.6.2. Fertility Testing Products

5.7. Fecal Occult Testing Products

5.8. Hematology Testing Products

5.9. Tumor/Cancer Markers Testing Products

5.10. Drugs of Abuse Testing Products

5.11. Urinalysis Testing Products

5.12. Cholesterol Testing Products

5.13. Other PoC Testing Products



6. Point of Care Diagnostics Market, by Platform

6.1. Introduction

6.2. Lateral Flow Assays (Immunochromatography Tests/Lateral Flow Immunoassays)

6.3. Dipsticks

6.4. Microfluidics

6.5. Molecular Diagnostics



7. Point of Care Diagnostics Market, by Mode

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Prescription-Based Testing Products

7.3. Over-the-Counter (OTC) Testing Products



8. Point of Care Diagnostics Market, by End User

8.1. Introduction

8.2. Home Care/Self Testing

8.3. Physician offices & Outpatient/Ambulatory Care Settings

8.4. Hospitals

8.5. Research Laboratories



9. Point of Care Diagnostics Market, by Geography

9.1. Introduction

9.2. North America

9.2.1. U.S.

9.2.2. Canada

9.3. Europe

9.3.1. Germany

9.3.2. Italy

9.3.3. France

9.3.4. U.K.

9.3.5. Spain

9.3.6. RoE

9.4. Asia-Pacific

9.4.1. Japan

9.4.2. China

9.4.3. India

9.4.4. RoAPAC

9.5. RoW

9.5.1. Latin America

9.5.2. Middle East & Africa



10. Company Profiles (Business Overview, Financial Overview, Products Portfolio, Strategic Developments)

10.1. Abbott Laboratories

10.2. AccuBioTech Co., Ltd.

10.3. Becton, Dickinson, and Company (BD)

10.4. Chembio Diagnostic Systems, Inc.

10.5. Danaher Corporation

10.6. EKF Diagnostics Holdings plc

10.7. WerfenLife, S.A.

10.8. Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc.

10.9. Nova Biomedical

10.10. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

10.11. Sekisui Chemical Co. Ltd.

10.12. Quidel Corporation

10.13. Siemens AG

10.14. Trinity Biotech



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w4j427/global_point_of?w=5



Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



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SOURCE Research and Markets

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- GoZone WiFi (GoZone) today announced the hire of industry and channel veteran Wayne Newton as the company's new VP of Channel Partnerships, further solidifying the company's position as the leading US -based WiFi analytics, marketing and advertising provider.

Newton's hiring comes as GoZone launches an unprecedented channel initiative including new White Label and Reseller Programs. "I'm thrilled to join the GoZone team at a time when the demand for our services and solutions is at an all-time high," Newton said. "GoZone's continued success is dependent on our ability to reach customers more deeply and broadly, and we're doing this through new partnership models with hardware vendors and key channel participants."

GoZone's new channel initiative is founded on four years of successful market penetration and partner feedback. "We've learned a lot working with a variety of partners who have unique needs, goals, and opportunities. These programs are designed to meet the demands of those partners  from a regional MSP to a global enterprise carrier, and anyone in between," said Todd Myers, GoZone's CEO. "Wayne brings the expertise needed to successfully launch these new programs," he said.

The new partner programs give service providers, solution providers and value-added resellers the opportunity to leverage GoZone's platforms through AP-based and session-based pricing models. Prospective partners can choose to enroll in the turnkey Reseller Program or the completely customizable White Label Program, offering a wholesale pricing model. Added partner benefits include multiple discount tiers, deal registration, marketing and sales support, lead generation, and expert training and tech support.

Heading up GoZone's new partner programs, Newton brings over 25 years of experience in hardware and software services, deep channel relationships, and a track record of success in building teams and accelerating businesses. He came to GoZone after 6 years at Linksys and having identified GoZone as an extremely valuable partner for many of his channel clients.

"As we continue to invest in our platforms, we're also investing in our partnerships and in programs that help them succeed," Newton said of GoZone. "One of many examples is the new reseller program, which gives channel partners the ability to easily add our offerings to their portfolio at very approachable prices and scalability." In his new role, Newton is responsible for channel strategy development, scaling and leading the channel partnership team, and executing the sales and business development plan for the company. GoZone's comprehensive channel strategy marks a continued commitment to work with key hardware and reseller partners globally.

GoZone WiFi helps businesses build better customer relationships by using WiFi networks to deliver branded content, provide location analytics, and display advertising. GoZone's Smart WiFi Suite of products enables WiFi monetization through rich location data, marketing engagements, and third-party sponsorships. With access to detailed presence analytics, brick-and-mortar venues can strategically refine operations, bridging the gap between online and offline business. These analytics power omni-channel marketing messages and brand engagements, well beyond the WiFi network. Interested reseller partners can learn more and apply here.

SOURCE GoZone WiFi

Related Links

https://www.gozonewifi.com/


ST. LOUIS, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Graybar, a leading distributor of electrical, communications and data networking products and provider of related supply chain management and logistics services, was recently listed as a Top Workplace by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This marks the sixth consecutive year Graybar has appeared on the list.

"We are extremely proud to once again be named as a Top Workplace in Atlanta," said Atlanta District Vice President David Bender. "As Graybar celebrates its 150th anniversary and 90 years of employee ownership in 2019, we look forward to continuing our tradition of investing in our employees' growth and long-term success."

The Top Workplaces are determined based solely on employee feedback collected through a third-party survey conducted by Energage, LLC, a leading research and consulting firm. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection.

To learn more about Atlanta's Top Workplaces, visit https://www.ajc.com/top-workplaces/. To learn more about career opportunities at Graybar, visit www.graybar.com/careers.

Graybar, a Fortune 500 corporation and one of the largest employee-owned companies in North America, is a leader in the distribution of high quality electrical, communications and data networking products, and specializes in related supply chain management and logistics services. Through its network of nearly 290 North American distribution facilities, it stocks and sells products from thousands of manufacturers, helping its customers power, network and secure their facilities with speed, intelligence and efficiency. For more information, visit www.graybar.com or call 1-800-GRAYBAR.

Media Contact:

Tim Sommer

(314) 578-7672

[email protected]

Alex Vietor

(314) 573-5108

[email protected]

SOURCE Graybar

Related Links

http://www.Graybar.com


HOUSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hicks Thomas LLP is pleased to announce that four of the firm's lawyers have earned selection to the 2019 Texas Rising Stars list of top young lawyers.

Senior Counsel Abbie Sprague, Nicholas Zugaro, Leah Graham and Kasi Chadwick are among the top 2.5 percent of Texas lawyers chosen for recognition. To be eligible attorneys must be 40 or younger, or in practice for 10 years or less.

Ms. Sprague is being honored for her general litigation work for the fourth year in a row. She focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation involving disputes in construction, real estate, employment and bankruptcy. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center.

Mr. Zugaro earned recognition from Rising Stars for his business litigation work for the third year. He advises clients on a broad range of litigation matters, including bankruptcy, business and real estate issues. His clients include Fortune 500 companies, small businesses and individuals. He is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center.

Also honored for business litigation is Ms. Graham, an attorney who focuses her practice on commercial arbitration, securities litigation, trade secrets, labor and employment, and construction litigation. She first made the Rising Stars list last year. She is a graduate of Baylor Law School.

Ms. Chadwick earned recognition from Rising Stars for her employment litigation work. She represents employers in pre-litigation investigations before governmental bodies, as well as a variety of litigation and post-judgment and appellate matters. This is her first year on the Texas Rising Stars list. She is a graduate of the University of Houston Law Center.

The Rising Stars list is compiled through peer nominations and attorney-led research by Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters. The complete listing of this year's Texas Rising Stars will appear in the April 2019 issue of Super Lawyers magazine, https://www.superlawyers.com/.

Founded in 1997, Texas-based Hicks Thomas LLP is a premier litigation firm representing plaintiffs and defendants across the nation. With offices in Houston, Austin, Beaumont, Amarillo, and Sacramento, California, the firm provides in-depth experience in cases involving oil and gas, environmental, complex commercial, toxic tort, construction, products liability, corporate governance, securities, banking, insurance coverage, transportation, trade secrets, and business litigation. Visit the firm at https://www.hicks-thomas.com.

SOURCE Hicks Thomas LLP

Related Links

https://www.hicks-thomas.com


New GrowHealthy location will serve Lake Worth community

LAKE WORTH, FL, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. ("iAnthus"), (CSE: IAN) (OTCQX: ITHUF), which owns, operates, and partners with best-in-class regulated cannabis operations across the United States, is pleased to announce the grand opening of its third Florida dispensary, located in the City of Lake Worth. The dispensary will operate as "GrowHealthy Lake Worth" under iAnthus' "GrowHealthy" Florida dispensary brand. The company will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for members of the media at the Lake Worth dispensary on Thursday, March 7, at 9:30 a.m.

Located at 5614 S. State Road 7, Lake Worth, Fla., 33449, on the highway's Northbound side, the new location will be the first dispensary in the west Lake Worth/Wellington area, bringing service to a market corridor along Rt. 44. GrowHealthy plans to open 17 additional dispensaries in 2019.

"We're pleased to open up a GrowHealthy location in Lake Worth, which we feel has been underserved in terms of access to cannabis treatment up until this point," said Frank Quattrone, Vice President of Operations at GrowHealthy. "Lake Worth is a successful and creative community, and we're happy to serve the robust market that exists in and around the city."

At the new Lake Worth location, GrowHealthy's range of vaporizer cartridges, oral cannabis tinctures, oil syringes, and topical salves will be available for purchase. All GrowHealthy products are quality controlled to the highest degree, tested for heavy metals, solvents, and microbiological contaminants.

"A dispensary shouldn't just be a store where you walk in, buy cannabis, and walk out," said Don Moxley, Director of Applied Science and Brand Development at GrowHealthy. "Our patient care representatives provide the information customers need to have a healthy relationship with cannabis. They're highly trained in customer service and exceptionally knowledgeable when it comes to cannabis varietals. At GrowHealthy, we're always happy to listen, share what we know, and help anyone find a cannabis treatment that's exactly right for anyone's needs."

In honor of the grand opening, first-time patients will receive a 25% discount on all products. The location is also offering a 40% discount to all veterans March 8-10, and special "buy one, get one half-off" deals throughout the weekend. The store will operate seven days a week, 8 a.m. through 9 p.m. ET.

"Whether you're a cannabis connoisseur or you've never experienced its benefits, there's something for you at GrowHealthy," said Moxley. "The team here is experienced and judgement-free, which is how all things surrounding cannabis should be."

For more information about GrowHealthy or to place an order, please visit www.growhealthy.com.

About iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc. owns and operates best-in-class licensed cannabis cultivation, processing and dispensary facilities throughout the United States, providing investors diversified exposure to the U.S. regulated cannabis industry. Founded by entrepreneurs with decades of experience in operations, investment banking, corporate finance, law and health care services, iAnthus provides a unique combination of capital and hands-on operating and management expertise. iAnthus currently has operations in 11 states, and operates 21 dispensaries (AZ-4, MA-1, MD-3, FL-3, NY-2, CO-1, VT-1 and NM-6 where iAnthus has minority ownership). For more information, visit www.iAnthusCapital.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this news release that are forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties concerning the specific factors disclosed here and elsewhere in iAnthus' periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. When used in this news release, words such as "will, could, plan, estimate, expect, intend, may, potential, believe, should, our vision" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements including dispensary locations, facility build-outs, and other statements of fact.

Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date of this release. iAnthus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and iAnthus does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved or disapproved the content of this news release.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

SOURCE iAnthus Capital Holdings, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.ianthuscapital.com/


ZURICH, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Chubb Limited (NYSE: CB) today announced that it has received approval from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission to increase the company's ownership in Huatai Insurance Group Company Limited to 26.2% from its current 20%, effective February 27, 2019. With the increased Chubb stake, Huatai Group becomes the first domestic Chinese financial services holding company to convert to a Sino-foreign equity joint venture.

Huatai Insurance Group is the holding company of Huatai P&C Insurance Company, Huatai Life Insurance Company, Huatai Asset Management Company, Huatai Baoxing Fund Management Company, among other subsidiaries. Huatai Group's insurance operations have more than 600 branches and 11 million customers.

"We made our first investment in Huatai in 2002 and became the company's largest shareholder. This increased ownership is an important milestone towards our goal of majority and beyond ownership," said Evan G. Greenberg, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Chubb. "Chubb's continuous investment in China over the past 17 years, including our wholly owned Chubb China subsidiary, demonstrates our long-term commitment to the development of a strong Chinese financial services industry and the important role it plays in serving Chinese society and the welfare of its people."

About Chubb in China

Chubb's history in China dates back to 1792 when a legacy company  the Insurance Company of North America (INA)  began providing protection to the pioneers of trade between the United States and China. In 1897, INA appointed an agent in Shanghai and started to officially conduct business in China. Today, Chubb is proud to have participated in over 200 years of U.S.-China relations and views China as one of its greatest long-term opportunities. The company looks forward to expanding its presence in China and making further contributions to the development of its insurance industry.

About Chubb

Chubb is the world's largest publicly traded property and casualty insurance company. With operations in 54 countries and territories, Chubb provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. As an underwriting company, we assess, assume and manage risk with insight and discipline. We service and pay our claims fairly and promptly. The company is also defined by its extensive product and service offerings, broad distribution capabilities, exceptional financial strength and local operations globally. Parent company Chubb Limited is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CB) and is a component of the S&P 500 index. Chubb maintains executive offices in Zurich, New York, London, Paris and other locations, and employs more than 30,000 people worldwide. Additional information can be found at: www.chubb.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

Forward-looking statements made in this press release, such as statements regarding Chubb's investment in Huatai, reflect the company's current views with respect to future events and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from as set forth in these statements. Additional information regarding factors that could cause differences from these forward-looking statements appears in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made.

SOURCE Chubb Limited

Related Links

http://new.chubb.com


Every ONEPWR TM battery is fully compatible with every product in the new HOOVER  ONEPWR TM Cordless Cleaning System. These compact, removable batteries can be easily swapped from product to product giving consumers the ultimate versatility to complete their cleaning routines with greater speed and ease. ONEPWR lithium ion batteries provide fade-free power across a variety of cleaning applications. And, with additional batteries, consumers have virtually limitless runtime.

Of this new product line, Gary Scott, President of TTI Floor Care North America, explains, "As we lead the transformation to cordless cleaning, our expertise in lithium ion battery technology is fueling our iconic HOOVER brand." Moreover, according to Scott, "Exceptional cordless innovations like HOOVER ONEPWRTM strengthen our portfolio of consumer-friendly products while providing consumers with the ability to clean in and around the home in a way that suits their on-demand, anytime, cleaning needs. Our leading battery technology makes it possible for us to give consumers more power and greater freedom to tackle their cleaning challenges."

Leading the new HOOVER ONEPWRTM family of cord-free cleaning products are the HOOVER ONEPWRTM FloorMate JETTM, which is designed for vacuuming and washing hard floors in one easy step, and the new HOOVER ONEPWRTM BladeTM stick vacuum, a powerhouse in cordless cleaning. These are complemented by six additional must-have products including a spot cleaner for stains and spills, a high-powered hand vacuum, two wet/dry utility vacuums, and two high-velocity blowers that are perfect for clearing debris on hard surfaces around the homeall using the same powerful ONEPWRTM battery.

The full HOOVER ONEPWRTM System will be available for pre-order on Hoover.com beginning April 1, 2019. During this limited time pre-order event, which ends May 1, consumers can take advantage of 50 percent savings on additional ONEPWRTM batteries. The HOOVER ONEPWRTM System will be available in additional retail outlets in June 2019.

"At TTI we are driving the cordless revolution in cleaning by delivering leading battery technology and consumer-driven product innovation to enhance the user experience and improve productivity," says Scott. "Consumers will embrace the versatility of the HOOVER ONEPWRTM family of products that offer fast and easy cleaning from hard floors and carpets to upholstery, patios, and more."

For more details and to pre-order the HOOVER ONEPWR System, visit www.hoover.com.

About HOOVER

For more than 100 years, HOOVER has designed powerful, easy-to-use products that clean the entire home from floor to ceiling. The comprehensive line of products includes cordless stick vacuums, uprights, carpet cleaners, hard floor cleaners, and cleaning solutions. HOOVER is a brand of TTI Floor Care North America, whose portfolio of leading brands also includes Oreck, Dirt Devil and HOOVER Commercial. TTI Floor Care North America is a subsidiary of Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd., which is a fast-growing world leader in power tools, accessories, hand tools, outdoor equipment, and floor care appliances. The company is accelerating the transformation of these industries through cordless technology. For more information, visit www.hoover.com.

SOURCE TTI Floor Care North America

Related Links

http://www.ttifloorcare.com


SHANGHAI, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. (the "Company," or "JinkoSolar") (NYSE: JKS), a reputable solar module manufacturer in the world, today announced that Mr. Zhiqun Xu has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Xu, who currently serves as the Company's Vice President and General Manager of the wafer division, will assume his new role and responsibilities immediately.

Prior to joining the Company in December 2008, Mr. Xu held a variety of roles ranging from technology to production throughout the silicon industry over the previous decades. Among others, he worked for Saint Gobain Quartz (Jinzhou) Co., Ltd. and Shanghai General Silicon Material Co., Ltd. Mr. Xu received a bachelor's degree in science from Jilin University in 1990.

"Mr. Xu has greatly contributed to JinkoSolar's vertical integration and operational improvements over the past ten years," commented Mr. Kangping Chen, Chief Executive Officer of JinkoSolar. "With deep experience and demonstrated execution abilities, Mr. Xu has been able to efficiently help JinkoSolar quickly vertically integrate our production process to meet the ever evolving market demand for diversified products. He brings to his new job a depth of operational leadership experience that will help the Company execute its strategy."

About JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

JinkoSolar (NYSE: JKS) is one of the world's largest and foremost solar module manufacturers. JinkoSolar distributes its solar products and sells its solutions and services to a diversified international utility, commercial and residential customer base in China, the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Chile, South Africa, India, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and other countries and regions. JinkoSolar has built a vertically integrated solar product value chain, with an integrated annual capacity of 9.2 GW for silicon wafers, 6.5 GW for solar cells, and 10.0 GW for solar modules, as of September 30, 2018.

JinkoSolar has over 12,000 employees across its 6 productions facilities globally, 15 oversea subsidiaries in Japan (2), Singapore, India, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Australia and United Arab Emirates, and global sales teams in United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and Argentina.

To find out more, please see: www.jinkosolar.com.

Safe-Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends, "plans," "believes," "estimates" and similar statements. Among other things, the quotations from management in this press release and the Company's operations and business outlook, contain forward-looking statements. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks is included in JinkoSolar's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 20-F. Except as required by law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

Sebastian Liu

JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Tel: +86 21-5183-3056

Email: [email protected]

Christian Arnell

Christensen

Tel: +86-10-5900-2940

Email: [email protected]

In the U.S.:

Ms. Linda Bergkamp

Christensen

Tel: +1-480-614-3004

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd.

Related Links

http://www.jinkosolar.com


VERONA, N.J., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Legal-Bay, the Pre Settlement Funding Company, announced today that their staff is preparing for a busy winter due to the icy conditions of roads and sidewalks this season. Sadly, motor vehicle accidents and personal injuries are prevalent this time of year, bringing more clients looking for pre-settlement funding.

The recent cold snap has been responsible for an excess of car accidents in the New Jersey area where two states of emergency have already been declared. Pedestrians in New York City are also at risk, as slips and falls commonly occur on sidewalks outside of apartment buildings and businesses.

Legal-Bay is one of the leading lawsuit funding companies in the industry, and the company's experience allows them to be the best when it comes to servicing their clients' needs. Their pre-settlement funding programs are not a "lawsuit loan" or "lawsuit loans" as many clients may think; none of the funds need to be paid back if the case is lost.

Chris Janish, CEO of Legal-Bay, says, "We have seen a substantial influx of new cases this year in our local NJ and NY markets due to timing of the storms. Often in many of these cases, insurance is not available to cover medical treatment. Therefore, we have been providing cash advances as well as surgical funding options to plaintiffs and law firms."

Legal-Bay urges clients who need cash now not to wait to the last minute and apply online at: http://lawsuitssettlementfunding.com

Legal-Bay focuses on prompt service for their clients. Car and semi-truck accidents cases are typically approved within 24 hours. However, Legal-Bay handles all cases including personal injury, slip and falls, premise liability, medical malpractice, construction accidents, wrongful termination or discrimination and sexual harassment, along with many others.

The non-recourse cash advance is not a lawsuit loan, lawsuit loans, settlement loan, settlement loans, pre-settlement loan, or pre-settlement loans. To apply now for settlement funding go to the company's website at: http://lawsuitssettlementfunding.com or call the company's toll-free intake line at: 877.571.0405 where agents are standing by.

SOURCE Legal-Bay LLC
MONTREAL, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- LGC Capital Ltd. (TSXV: LG) (OTCQB: LGGCF) ("LGC") is pleased to announce it has received approval to begin trading Monday, March 4th, 2019 on the OTCQB Exchange. The OTC marketplace, OTCQB an operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. LGC Capital Ltd will begin trading today under the symbol LGGCF. Investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time level 2 quotes for the Company on www.otcmarkets.com . LGC will also continue to trade on its primary exchange, the TSX Venture Exchange.

John McMullen, CEO of LGC Capital stated: "This genesis has brought us closer in generating investments to deliver a transformative impact on company liquidity and share holder value. We are confident that our compelling brand portfolio will drive our mission of bringing safe and enjoyable products to people who use cannabis as part of a healthy, fulfilling lifestyle."

About LGC Capital Ltd. ( http://www.lgc-capital.com/ )

LGC Capital is a leading cannabis investment firm with a focus on the Legal Global Cannabis market. Through its growing portfolio of investment companies, LGC is building a transversal integrated organization of interconnected legal cannabis companies with cultivation, processing and distribution in Australia, Jamaica, Switzerland, Italy, and Canada serving domestic and export markets. LGC Capital Ltd. is a Canadian incorporated public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: LG).

Through its partners and assuming pending transactions under review by the TSXV are approved, LGC presently will have interests in over 450,000 square feet of planted cannabis in Jamaica, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia. That is expected to increase to over 2,100,000 square feet by 2021, as its portfolio companies execute their expansion plans, in addition to the anticipated licensing of Tricho-Med's operations in Quebec, Canada.

LGC partners currently sell cannabis products in over 1,000 points of sale across Switzerland and Italy under the ONE Premium Cannabis and EasyJoint brands as well as medical cannabis oils in Australia under the Little Green Pharma brand. LGC's partners' branded products are available in a variety of formats including dry cannabis flower, tinctures, oils, seeds, and beverages.

Caution Regarding Press Releases

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.

Chief Executive Officer

John McMullen

+1-416-803-0698

[email protected]

Chief Financial Officer

Anthony Samaha

+44-20-7440-0640

[email protected]

Investor Relations

Dave Burwell

+1-403-221-0915

[email protected]

SOURCE LGC Capital Ltd.
HONG KONG, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Litecoin Creator, Charlie Lee, is set to co-host Asia's inaugural Litecoin meetup with Alexander Tkachenko, Founder and CEO of VNX Exchange, a new digital asset marketplace, on March 14, in the city of Hong Kong. The meetup, expected to welcome over 200 community members and enthusiasts from around the globe, will explore topics from mass adoption to democratizing financial markets. This event also includes an all-star panel discussion including Charlie Lee, Creator of Litecoin; Alexander Tkachenko, CEO and Founder of VNX Exchange; William Peets, Chief Investment Officer of Passport Digital Holdings; Cristian Gil, Co-founder of GSR; and Chris Lee, CFO of Huobi Group.

Charlie Lee, Creator of Litecoin, said: "Given the tremendous support that we have received from Asia, we are looking forward to hosting an engaging community gathering to thank our supporters and give attendees a firsthand view into Litecoin's future plans. Our goal of becoming the preeminent payments coin would not be possible without the strong community support that we continue to receive. That is why meetups like these are crucial as we continue to develop new ways of community engagement, such as the launch of our global volunteer network that we are announcing."

Alexander Tkachenko, CEO and Founder of VNX Exchange, said: "Hosting alongside one of the leading projects in the ecosystem is something we are very much looking forward to. Not only will attendees have the chance to listen to an insightful panel discussing an array of topics from the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and blockchain to democratizing financial markets but there will also be an opportunity to hear industry developments first hand from one of the true pioneers in the crypto payments industry."

Charlie Lee will also be the keynote speaker at this year's TOKEN2049, the premier crypto conference in Asia where he will host an intimate fireside chat. During this discussion, Charlie will share insights about the past, present, and future of Litecoin, one of the world's top cryptocurrencies, as well as his take on the state of the overall ecosystem. Also at TOKEN2049, Alexander Tkachenko will be sharing his insights on how security tokens can unlock significant pools of capital from illiquid assets including the progress VNX Exchange has made in tokenizing venture capital portfolios.

The Litecoin meetup is free to attend and will take place at 5.30 PM on 14 March 2019 at TOKEN2049 in the Kerry Hotel, Hong Kong.

For more information and to register please visit: https://www.token2049.com/litecoinmeetup

SOURCE TOKEN2049
VANCOUVER, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Mawson Resources Limited ("Mawson") or (the "Company") (TSX:MAW) (Frankfurt:MXR) (PINKSHEETS: MWSNF) announces results from the first six diamond drill holes reported from the 2019 winter program at the Company's 100% owned Rajapalot Project in Northern Finland.

Eighteen holes (PAL0159PAL0176) for a total of 6,003 metres (two short holes abandoned) of a planned 15,000 metre winter program have been drilled. The drill program is focused on expanding gold-cobalt resources at Raja and South Palokas, and testing less drilled prospect areas including Terry's Hammer and Rumajarvi (Figure 1). Gold-only assay results from the first 6 holes are reported (PAL0159 - PAL0161, PAL0163, PAL0164 and PAL0173), with multi-element including cobalt assays awaited.

Highlights:

At the South Palokas prospect, drill hole PAL0173 intersected 17 metres @ 3.0 g/t gold from 264 metres, including 5 metres @ 4.9 g/t gold from 264 metres and 5 metres @ 4.6 g/t Au from 276 metres (Tables 1-3, Figures 1-2);

intersected gold from 264 metres, including from 264 metres and from 276 metres (Tables 1-3, Figures 1-2); The hole was targeted into a recently defined electromagnetic ("TEM") conductive plate below the resource reported in December 2018 .

.

This is the best intersection as well as the deepest hole drilled at South Palokas, and opens up the undrilled extensions of the TEM conductor, which extends 450 metres down plunge and forms an excellent target for continued drilling.

At the Raja prospect, drill hole PAL0161 intersected 4.0 metres @ 2.9 g/t gold from 345 metres and PAL0159 intersected 3.0 metres @ 2.3 g/t gold from 434 metres and 3.5 metres @ 2.4 g/t from 452 metres (Figures 3-4);

intersected from 345 metres and intersected from 434 metres and from 452 metres (Figures 3-4); PAL0159 extended mineralization 130 metres down plunge from the resource reported in December 2018 . Further infill drilling is planned.

. Further infill drilling is planned. New TEM surveys at both the Palokas and South Palokas projects have defined plunging conductors approximately 450 metres long and 100 metres wide below the resource reported in December 2018 . Both conductors at Palokas and South Palokas remain undrilled and will be a focus of future drilling (Figure 1);

. Both conductors at Palokas and South Palokas remain undrilled and will be a focus of future drilling (Figure 1); Drilling with four rigs continues 24/7 with additional TEM to be conducted over the Rumajarvi area commencing in the next week;

Mr. Hudson, Chairman and CEO, states, "This is a solid start to our winter drilling with down-plunge extensions of mineralization defined at both the South Palokas and Raja resource areas. These drill hits targeted TEM conductors, giving strong encouragement that new conductors at Palokas and South Palokas, will be associated with further mineralization. We welcome all to Mawson's PDAC booth #2941 from 3rd to 6th March and at the Core Shack #3104B (5th to 6th March), to discuss our work programs and view representative samples of drill core. Come and see if you can spot some visible gold in our new drill holes!"

PAL0173, which intersected 17 metres @ 3.0 g/t gold from 264 metres at South Palokas extended mineralization 60 metres down plunge from PAL0016 (8.4 metres @ 5.9 g/t AuEQ from 206 metres) (Figure 2). Mineralization was encountered from 232 metres to 405 metres (170m down hole width) and is one of the thickest intersections on the property to date. The hole was targeted into the upper margin of a strong linear electromagnetic conductor which extends 450 metres down plunge and forms an excellent target for continued drilling.

At the Raja prospect, drill hole PAL0161 intersected 4.0 metres @ 2.9 g/t gold from 345 metres to extend mineralization 25 metres east from previous drilling. PAL0159 intersected 3.0 metres @ 2.3 g/t gold from 434 metres and 3.5 metres @ 2.4 g/t from 452 metres (Figures 3-4) and extended mineralization 130 metres down plunge from the resource reported in December 2018. Further infill drilling is planned. Additional lower grade gold was intersected on this section (PAL0164: 2.0 metres @ 1.1 g/t gold from 407 metres) demonstrating the continuity of mineralization below the resource. Further infill drilling is now planned.

New ground electromagnetic (TEM) surveys at both Palokas and South Palokas have defined plunging conductors with the same dimensions as the Raja prospect conductor (450 metres long and 100 metres wide) below the resource areas. Both the deeper extension of the conductors at Palokas and South Palokas are undrilled and will be the focus of future drilling (Figure 1).

A plan view of the completed drill holes and the locations of the electromagnetic conductors is provided in Figure 1. Cross and longitudinal sectional views are included in Figures 2-4. Tables 1-3 include all relevant collar and assay information. Assuming a predominant stratabound control, the true thickness of the mineralized interval is interpreted to be approximately 90% of the sampled thickness. Visible gold was noted in drill hole PAL0173 between 267 and 268 metres with a strong association with scheelite. Cobalt data will be provided when multi-element assays are reported by the laboratory. Quality control duplicates for all holes show good repeatability of gold assays. Intersections are reported with a lower-cut of 0.5g/t gold over 1 metre lower cut, except PAL0173 264.0-281.0 metres. No upper cut-off was applied.

The hosts rocks to the gold and cobalt mineralization comprise sulphide (pyrrhotite>>pyrite), biotite, muscovite, chlorite, Mg-Fe amphibole hydrothermal mineral assemblages within and adjacent to predominately grey albitites. Textures range from veined albitic granofels through fractured and brecciated to locally schistose. Veining and fracture fill minerals include pyrrhotite, magnetite and magnetite-pyrrhotite (+/- quartz, tourmaline). Retrograde chlorite after biotite, generations of secondary muscovite ("sericite") and vein-controlled chlorite+/- tourmaline and magnetite are also present. Preliminary hand-held XRF analysis confirms the presence of associated scheelite and molybdenite, the former visible under UV light as tiny veinlets and disseminations. The alteration is clearly post-metamorphic, reduced, and most likely driven by granitoid intrusions. Chlorite and fine muscovite are regarded as the lowest temperature silicate minerals with gold, structurally controlled in apparent spatial association with quartz and/or K-feldspar veins. Altered rocks enclosing the mineralized package contain locally abundant talc and tourmaline.

Technical and Environmental Background

Four diamond drill rigs (K3 & K8) from the Arctic Drilling Company OY ("ADC"), Kati OY ("Kati") and MK Core Drilling OY ("MK"), all with water recirculation and drill cuttings collection systems were used for the drill program. Core diameter is NQ2 (50.7 mm). Core recoveries were excellent and average close to 100% in fresh rock. After photographing and logging in Mawson's Rovaniemi facilities, core intervals averaging 1 metre for mineralized samples and 2 metres for barren samples were cut in half at the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) core facilities in Rovaniemi, Finland. The remaining half core is retained for verification and reference purposes. Analytical samples were transported by Mawson personnel or commercial transport from site to the CRS Minlab Oy facility in Kempele, Finland. Samples were prepared and analyzed for gold using the PAL1000 technique which involves grinding the sample in steel pots with abrasive media in the presence of cyanide, followed by measuring the gold in solution with flame AAS equipment. The QA/QC program of Mawson consists of the systematic insertion of certified standards of known gold content, duplicate samples by quartering the core, and blanks the within interpreted mineralized rock. In addition, CRS inserts blanks and standards into the analytical process.

The qualified person for Mawson's Finnish projects, Dr. Nick Cook, President for Mawson and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining Metallurgy has reviewed and verified the contents of this release.

NI 43-101 Technical Report:

On December 19, 2018, Mawson filed an independent National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report") on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Raja and Palokas Prospects, at the 100% owned Rajapalot Project in Finland, (the "NI 43-101 Technical Report"), in support of the Company's news release dated December 17, 2018 . The NI 43-101 Technical Report was authorized by Mr. Rod Webster of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd ("AMC") of Melbourne, Australia, and Dr. Kurt Simon Forrester of Arn Perspective of Surrey, England. Each of Mr. Webster and Dr. Forrester are independent "qualified persons" as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The NI 43-101 Technical Report may be found on the Company's website at www.mawsonresources.com or under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The gold equivalent ("AuEq") value was calculated using the following formula: AuEq g/t = Au g/t + (Co ppm/608) with assumed prices of Co $30/lb; and Au $1,250/oz. AuEq varies with Au and Co prices.

About Mawson Resources Limited (TSX:MAW, FRANKFURT:MXR, PINKSHEETS:MWSNF)

Mawson Resources Limited is an exploration and development company. Mawson has distinguished itself as a leading Nordic Arctic exploration company with a focus on the flagship Rajapalot gold project in Finland.

On behalf of the Board,

"Michael Hudson"

Michael Hudson, Chairman & CEO

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). All statements herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. Although Mawson believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate, and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Mawson cautions investors that any forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, capital and other costs varying significantly from estimates, changes in world metal markets, changes in equity markets, planned drill programs and results varying from expectations, delays in obtaining results, equipment failure, unexpected geological conditions, local community relations, dealings with non-governmental organizations, delays in operations due to permit grants, environmental and safety risks, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mawson's most recent Annual Information Form filed on www.sedar.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Mawson disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Table 1: Collar Information from 2019 Winter drilling at the Rajapalot Project (Finnish Grid, Projection KKJ3)

HoleID East North Azimuth Dip RL Depth Prospect Comment PAL0159 3408545.8 7372603.5 56 -71 179.162 473.8 Raja Reported Here PAL0160 3408485.8 7372581.1 67 -79 177.865 447 Raja Results Awaited PAL0161 3408696.1 7372556.6 57 -75 179.24 405.8 Raja Reported Here PAL0162 3408446.4 7372648.4 46 -84.5 180.158 482.9 Raja Reported Here PAL0163 3408487.0 7372587.9 65 -73.5 178.218 470.05 Raja Reported Here PAL0164 3408545.4 7372603.2 61.1 -75.6 178.586 441.7 Raja Results Awaited PAL0165 3408612.7 7372312.2 60 -79 176.25 167.9 Raja Reported Here PAL0166 3408897.7 7372385.3 240 -83 170.452 238.6 Raja Results Awaited PAL0167 3408486.0 7372587.0 96 -85 178 398.6 Raja Reported Here PAL0168 3408554.5 7372806.4 233 -83 173.987 45.6 Raja Abandoned hole PAL0169 3408553.5 7372806.4 233 -83 173.987 545.8 Raja Results Awaited PAL0170 3408713.0 7372255.4 60 -79 172.803 200.2 Raja Results Awaited PAL0171 3408603.8 7372636.0 58 -73 179.753 497.6 Raja Results Awaited PAL0172 3408447.4 7372648.4 47 -79.5 180.158 491.9 Raja Results Awaited PAL0173 3408255.8 7373707.9 116 -56 173.48 427.9 South Palokas Reported Here PAL0174 3408255.8 7373707.9 116 -69.5 173.48 8.3 South Palokas Abandoned hole PAL0175 3408830.5 7372237.5 60 -74 172.071 120.1 Raja Results Awaited PAL0176 3408937.3 7372300.3 240 -79.5 173.012 140.0 Raja Results Awaited

Table 2: Better intersections from the 2019 Winter Drill Program.

Intersections are reported with a lower cut of 0.5g/t gold over 1 metre lower cut, except PAL0173 264.0-281.0. No upper cut-off was applied.

Prospect hole_id From

(m) To (m) width

(m) Au g/t Raja PAL0159 425.0 426.0 1.0 0.7 Raja PAL0159 434.0 437.0 3.0 2.3 Raja PAL0159 453.0 455.5 2.5 2.2 Raja PAL0161 336.0 338.0 2.0 2.1 Raja PAL0161 345.0 349.0 4.0 2.9 Raja PAL0164 407.0 409.0 2.0 1.1 South Palokas PAL0173 232.8 233.7 0.8 0.5 South Palokas PAL0173 264.0 281.0 17.0 3.4

including 264.0 269.0 5.0 4.9

including 276.1 281.0 4.9 4.6 South Palokas PAL0173 380.0 381.1 1.1 0.8 South Palokas PAL0173 384.8 385.8 1.0 2.0

Table 3: Individual assay data from drill holes PAL0159, PAL0161, PAL0164 and PAL0173. No significant assays were recorded in PAL0160 and PAL0163.

hole_id From

(m) To (m) Width

(m) Au g/t PAL0159 425.0 426.0 1.0 0.7 PAL0159 434.0 435.0 1.0 0.6 PAL0159 435.0 436.0 1.0 5.4 PAL0159 436.0 437.0 1.0 0.9 PAL0159 452.0 453.0 1.0 3.0 PAL0159 453.0 454.0 1.0 4.4 PAL0159 454.0 455.5 1.5 0.7 PAL0161 336.0 337.0 1.0 1.1 PAL0161 337.0 338.0 1.0 3.0 PAL0161 345.0 346.0 1.0 1.0 PAL0161 346.0 347.0 1.0 4.4 PAL0161 347.0 348.0 1.0 2.0 PAL0161 348.0 349.0 1.0 4.0 PAL0164 406.0 407.0 1.0 0.5 PAL0164 407.0 408.0 1.0 0.8 PAL0164 408.0 409.0 1.0 1.4 PAL0173 264.0 265.0 1.0 1.8 PAL0173 265.0 266.0 1.0 1.0 PAL0173 266.0 267.0 1.0 2.0 PAL0173 267.0 268.0 1.0 19.9 PAL0173 268.0 269.0 1.1 0.7 PAL0173 269.0 270.0 1.0 0.5 PAL0173 270.0 271.0 1.0 0.2 PAL0173 271.0 272.0 1.0 0.1 PAL0173 272.0 273.0 1.0 0.3 PAL0173 273.0 274.0 1.0 0.2 PAL0173 274.0 275.0 1.0 1.1 PAL0173 275.0 276.1 1.1 0.4 PAL0173 276.1 277.0 1.0 8.6 PAL0173 277.0 278.0 1.0 8.7 PAL0173 278.0 279.0 1.0 1.4 PAL0173 279.0 280.0 1.0 1.1 PAL0173 280.0 281.0 1.1 3.4 PAL0173 380.0 381.1 1.1 0.8 PAL0173 384.8 385.8 1.0 2.0

SOURCE Mawson Resources Ltd.

Related Links

www.mawsonresources.com


SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Metromile, the company transforming car insurance, today announced the appointment of four new hires to its executive bench: Jeff Briglia as Chief Insurance Officer (CIO), Bhanu Pullela as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO), Jason Altieri as General Counsel, and Debra Jack as V.P. of Communications.

Briglia is Metromile's first-ever Chief Insurance Officer. He oversees the company's well-established actuarial, insurance product management, and underwriting teams across Tempe, AZ and San Francisco, and will be growing these teams in the coming months. He'll also work closely with the in-house team behind AVA, the first of its kind, AI-based claims assistant, which is involved in about one fourth of Metromile's claims and quickly evolving into an end-to-end virtual experience.

Briglia joins Metromile with nearly two decades of insurance experience, having held senior positions at Progressive, Allstate, and Mercury. Throughout his fourteen years at Progressive, he held a number of leadership roles. Most recently, he led its Special Lines Division portfolio, which insured more than four million customers and generated well over $1 billion in premium. At Allstate, he helped transform the company's claims operation model, generating significant benefits for the company.

"Following our $90 million Series E last August, we've accelerated our growth in a number of areas. Most notably, we've deepened market share for our core consumer auto insurance product and built a strong foundation for our emerging enterprise business, which licenses Metromile's technology to other insurers," said Dan Preston, CEO of Metromile.

"Our new executives join an existing strong bench; together, we've created a powerful, unmatched team across tech, insurance and financial services," he continued. "We're comprised of veterans from Progressive and Liberty Mutual alongside Atlassian, Lending Club, Roofstock, Schwab and SoFi. We're as equally focused on loss ratios and profitability as we are on customer experience and technology innovation. You can't find that elsewhere."

As CMO, Pullela leads the company's marketing organization, sets strategy for scaling growth, and builds the brand to reflect Metromile's values. He joins from Wells Fargo, where he served as SVP of acquisition marketing for its credit card business. A seasoned marketing professional, he's brought together customer insights, cutting edge machine learning/big data targeting strategies, and integrated marketing campaigns to drive business growth at leading consumer financial services companies including Capital One, Citibank and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

As General Counsel, Altieri oversees the company's legal, government affairs and compliance departments. He joins Metromile with 20 years of extensive legal, compliance and operational expertise in the fintech sector. Previous positions include serving as chief legal officer, chief compliance officer, and head of operations for Roofstock, Inc., as well as general counsel and chief compliance officer at Lending Club, which he helped take public in 2014. He's been recognized as a "Best Corporate Counsel, Private Companies" by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and San Francisco Business Times.

As V.P. of Communications, Jack oversees Metromile's corporate, consumer and internal communications. She has more than 20 years of experience working with high growth consumer companies. Serving as Metromile's first senior head of communications, she's held similar roles at SoFi and LendUp, two fintechs recognized for creating well-loved, disruptor brands. Prior, she was SVP of corporate communications for Bank of the West, an $89 billion bank owned by BNP Paribas. Before moving in-house, Jack spent more than a decade at Edelman, the world's largest privately held communications agency.

Metromile is currently available in Ariz., Calif., Ill., N.J., Ore., Pa., Va., and Wash., and plans for state expansion. Through the company's Enterprise Business group, Metromile licenses its innovative Customer Experience, Fraud Detection, and AI platform to insurers around the globe. For more information, visit metromile.com or follow Metromile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Metromile

Metromile is the leading pay-per-mile car insurance company in the U.S. Powered by data science and machine learning, we're disrupting a $250 billion auto insurance category. We're building a loyal community of drivers who come for the savings and stay for the experience. In August, 2018 we secured a $90 million Series E investment led by Tokio Marine and Intact.

AVA, Metromile's AI-driven claims system, is designed to speed up the process of verifying and paying out insurance claims. Using Metromile Pulse sensor data, AVA can reconstruct the scene of an accident to instantly determine if claim details are accurate. When the claim is verified, Metromile is able to automatically approve payments within seconds.

SOURCE Metromile

Related Links

http://metromile.com


ORLANDO, Fla., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 1,500 cancer care professionals are meeting in Orlando, Florida, March 21-23, for the NCCN 2019 Annual Conference, presented by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN)an alliance of 28 leading cancer centers. The conference offers more than 25 sessions presenting the latest treatment recommendations for lung, breast, prostate, colon, and other cancers, including new and emerging therapies. Other key topics include coordination of care, pain management during an opioid crisis, biosimilars, cancer-associated distress, biomarkers, genetic testing, and appropriate transition to end-of-life care. The keynote session highlights the benefits and challenges of treatment with new and innovative therapies (e.g. CAR T-cell) from the perspective of the patient and the clinicians caring for them.

"Cancer treatment is becoming more complex every day," said Robert W. Carlson, MD, Chief Executive Officer, NCCN. "It's increasingly important and valuable for clinicians to stay up-to-date on any new research. The NCCN 2019 Annual Conference focuses on the practical management of patients with cancer, provides updates on NCCN Guidelines, and includes other educational sessions on new treatments, therapies, and trends, and their application in patient care. Clinicians who attend will come away with a better understanding of how their patients can have the best possible outcomes in terms of health, emotional well-being, and overall experience."

The NCCN 2019 Annual Conference includes learning opportunities for the entire health care team. There is a session titled NCCN Nursing Program: Advancing Oncology Nursing on March 20, which includes clinical updates as well as best practices for managing malnutrition and immunotherapy symptom management and patient education. On March 24, the NCCN 2019 Oncology Fellows Program: New Horizons in Quality Cancer Care presents treatment considerations for adolescents and young adults with cancer, strategies to promote wellness and prevent burnout, and the latest recommendations for cancer treatments.

The NCCN Oncology Research Program (ORP) will showcase 145 poster presentations on subjects like best practices, pre-clinical oncology, clinical oncology, correlative/genomic, epidemiology/risks, outcomes and health services research, quality improvements, and bioinformatics/IT. The NCCN ORP will also present Young Investigator Awards, with support from the NCCN Foundation, to some of the most promising early-career researchers in the country.

The exhibition hall features more than 20 advocacy groups representing a range of cancer types and supportive care services. It also includes a reimbursement resource section and a health information technology corner.

The keynote discussion regarding the patient experience with innovative therapies will be moderated by Frederick L. Locke, MD, Moffitt Cancer Center and will feature Jeffrey Backer, MD, FACEP, Emergency Physician and Cancer Survivor and Alix Beaupierre, BSN, RN, OCN, Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. Locke will then be joined for an emerging issues roundtable that also includes Stefanie Joho, Survivor, Health Advocate, and Consultant; Jennifer Malin, MD, PhD, UnitedHealth Group; John W. Sweetenham, MD, Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah; and Lalan S. Wilfong, MD, Texas Oncology.

There will also be an invited presentation on the NCCN Harmonized Guidelines for Sub-Saharan Africa by Abubakar M. Bello, MD, of the National Hospital Abuja (Nigeria).

Additional faculty presenters include:

Visit NCCN.org/conference for the complete, timed agenda. Join the conversation online with the hashtag #NCCNac19.

About the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) is a not-for-profit alliance of 28 leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. By defining and advancing high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers around the world.

The NCCN Member Institutions are: Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center, Omaha, NE; Case Comprehensive Cancer Center/University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland, OH; City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA; Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center | Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, Boston, MA; Duke Cancer Institute, Durham, NC; Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA; Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, Seattle, WA; The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD; Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, IL; Mayo Clinic Cancer Center, Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ, Jacksonville, FL, and Rochester, MN; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY; Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL; The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, Columbus, OH; Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY; Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital/The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford, CA; University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Cancer Center, Birmingham, AL; UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, La Jolla, CA; UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, San Francisco, CA; University of Colorado Cancer Center, Aurora, CO; University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI; The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX; University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center, Madison, WI; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Nashville, TN; and Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, New Haven, CT.

Clinicians, visit NCCN.org. Patients and caregivers, visit NCCN.org/patients. Media, visit NCCN.org/news. Follow NCCN on Twitter @NCCNnews and Facebook @National.Comprehensive.Cancer.Network.

Media Contact:

Rachel Darwin

267-622-6624

[email protected]

SOURCE National Comprehensive Cancer Network

Related Links

http://www.nccn.org


CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The David's Bridal Board of Directors today announced executive leadership changes and the appointment of a Strategic Advisor to position the Company for the next phase of its growth and development.

The Board announced that Tom Lynch has been appointed interim Chief Executive Officer and Curt Kroll has been appointed as interim Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Lynch and Mr. Kroll succeed former CEO Scott Key and former CFO Joan Hilson, who have stepped down from their roles at the Company. Jeffrey Zelenko has joined the Company as a Strategic Advisor.

Mr. Lynch and Mr. Kroll are experienced executives with significant retail experience. Mr. Lynch served as the Chairman and CEO of Frederick's of Hollywood, a publicly traded specialty retailer, where he put the company on a strong path to growth. Mr. Kroll was most recently interim Chief Revenue Officer and CFO at National Stores, and has held executive leadership and financial roles in the retail and manufacturing industry.

"We are pleased to welcome Tom and Curt to David's Bridal," said Christine Pope, Board Chair of David's Bridal and a Senior Vice President at Oaktree Capital Management. "Tom and Curt both have significant experience and valuable skills leading transformations and positioning retail and other businesses for growth. We look forward to their contributions to this extraordinary Company and team of committed individuals."

"I am thrilled to take on this important role alongside the talented and driven team at David's Bridal," said Lynch. "With the oversight and support of our world-class Board of Directors, David's Bridal is beginning an exciting chapter of transformation, and I look forward to leveraging my experience to return this iconic business to its position as the clear leader in the bridal industry."

Mr. Kroll said, "David's Bridal is the premier bridal retailer in the U.S., and I am delighted to have the opportunity to work alongside Tom and the rest of the team to further strengthen the financial foundation of this business as we drive a transition focused on long-term growth and success for the Company."

Jeffrey Zelenko has over 20 years of experience in the bridal industry and as a Strategic Advisor will provide in-depth advice and insights to the management team and the Board of the Company.

David's Bridal Board of Directors

David's Bridal also today provided an update on its Board of Directors, which is now comprised of six new members, all of whom are professionals with significant experience across specialty and omni-channel retail, finance and branding.

The Board is comprised of Christine Pope, Board Chair of David's Bridal and Senior Vice President at Oaktree Capital; Christine Barton, Senior Partner & Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group; Venita Fields, Partner of Pelham S2K and a member of the Pelham S2K Investment Committee; Jeff Kuster, Group President, North America at Ralph Lauren Corp.; Katherine Rice, a senior executive in the consumer and omni-channel retail industries; and Ilana Stern, an entrepreneur, lecturer in entrepreneurship at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the founder and former-CEO of Weddington Way.

About David's Bridal

With more than 60 years of experience dressing women for all of life's special occasions, David's Bridal is built on the ideal that every woman deserves to have the dress of her dreams regardless of her style preference, shape, size or budget. We believe in inclusivity, authenticity and empowerment and it is our mission to help every woman find the bridal gown that will allow her to be the best, most genuine version of herself on her wedding day. David's Bridal is dedicated to helping each customer find her perfect dress with the assistance of online planning tools, knowledgeable stylists, and expert seamstresses who will guide her through her entire dress buying journey. With more than 300 stores located across the US, Canada, UK, and franchise locations in Mexico, we offer the convenience of one-stop shopping for the bride and her entire bridal party. To learn more about David's Bridal, visit http://www.davidsbridal.com and connect on social media through Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contact:

David's Bridal

[email protected]

Sard Verbinnen & Co

John Christiansen/David Millar

(415) 618-8750; (212) 687-8080

SOURCE David's Bridal
As the industry ushers in a new upsurge, NEX China will take place in Hall E4-E5 of Shanghai New International Expo Centre on June 18-20, 2019. The exhibition will be expanded to 20,000m 2 this year and gather over 600 Chinese and overseas quality suppliers, with the industry development opportunities and resource superiority of China in the animal and plant extract area. Also to comply with the latest trend of big health, the organizer will hold plenty of match making and visiting group events for Chinese and overseas buyers of dietary supplements on site, to help enterprises forge ahead at the forefront of big health and build the future together.

Quality suppliers to be showcased, together with the leading-edge products and technologies

Moving ahead with the Chinese natural extract industry for 10 years, NEX China keeps an eye on the industry dynamics, continues to enrich the scope of exhibit, and guides numerous natural extract companies towards the international stage, which is recognized by top companies of the industry.

A large number of top companies of the industry will appear on the NEX China 2019 site, including Guilin Layn, Shaanxi Huike, Xi'an Yuensun, Acetar, Shaanxi Jiahe, Hunan Huacheng, Chenguang Biotech, Chongqing Joywin, Yuwang Pharmaceutical, and Angel Yeast. With their more diversified innovative products and technologies: the yeast beta-glucans extracted from yeast cell walls by Angel Yeast can significantly enhance immune activity, improve blood lipids and intestinal tract, and resist radiation, with the production and application technologies granted with many Chinese and overseas patents. The vegetarian soft capsule developed by Weihai Baihe is a capsule shell made from protein, and as the company has passed MUI Halal Certification, it can process the vegetarian soft capsules for pure oils, such as DHA algal oil capsules, flaxseed oil capsules and fish oil capsules. The phycocyanin extracted by Binmei Biotechnology from spirulina appears blue and has been recognized by the U.S. FDA, EU, and China's GB2760 food additive list as natural food coloring, and it is also a nutritious protein itself and can also serve as a raw material for medicines, health products and cosmetics and as biochemical reagent. The joining of these industry leaders further proves that NEX China has become the platform of choice for quality enterprises of the industry to display brands, booster trades and make information exchanges.

Focusing on Healthy China and connecting the health food industry

In the context of the Healthy China, NEX China, the weather vane of the natural extract industry, has led Chinese natural extract companies to successfully connect the nutrition and health food industry through its commerce and trade strength in the industry. Many hi-level match making and grouping events for nutrition and health product buyers will be held on the 2019 exhibition site, wherein, the host will hold 2019 Health Product Buyer Matching Meeting jointly with the HNC 2019, to achieve maximum resource integration, promote all-win, and jointly help the big health industry achieve development, and transformation and upgrading. Furthermore, the host will also invite overseas buyers for cooperation together with industry-leading overseas media, so as to better satisfy the demand of Chinese enterprises to develop overseas markets and expand international business. There have been nearly 100 buyers from the Europe and North America who have registered and will talk face-to-face with exhibitors on site. Enterprises will access a direct and convenient channel to display innovative products and core technologies on the international stage, thereby rapidly establishing cooperation.

Alongside the matchmaking events, the China-US Pharmacopeia Forum hosted by the Chinese Pharmacopoeia Commission (ChP) and United States Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) and organized by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products (CCCMHPIE) will take place in China for the first time during the period of NEX China. The Forum will focus on the quality safety of natural plant products, provisions on heavy metal and pesticide residue, along with plant product international standards and trade regulations, and plans to invite experts from ChP, USP and officials from the National Medical Products Administration of China and the U.S. FDA to jointly discuss the development scenario for the plant extract and health industries. The host will also launch China-World Natural Ingredient Conference 2019, to gather authoritative experts from the Chinese and overseas governments, focus on customs code classification, international market trend, and global regulation changes relating to extracts, feel the pulse for industry development, and guide the development for enterprises. The topics of the Conference will include principles for customs classification of plant extracts, analysis of hot sale overseas varieties, influences of the U.S. FSVP on the export of the Chinese plant extracts, information sharing of innovative plant extract products, and overview of the export of plant extracts in the first half of 2019, etc.

The exhibition host: CCCMHPIE, an authoritative certification body for quality plant extracts in the industry, will also continue to introduce quality plant extract suppliers and quality products and launch awards of the innovative plant extract products of the year in China for the first time, to promote Chinese plant extract enterprises to build brand competitiveness. The certified exhibitors and products will be centrally displayed during the exhibition.

Want to talk face to face with the industry giants, obtain the exclusive industry analysis report, and see the latest products and technologies? Register now to save RMB100 ticket fee. Visit the exhibition website www.cphi-china.cn/nex/en now to join the annual event of the natural extract industry!

SOURCE Shanghai UBM Sinoexpo
In addition, Rebecca Kujawa, executive vice president, finance and chief financial officer of NextEra Energy, and chief financial officer of NextEra Energy Partners, is scheduled to participate in a panel presentation at the 2019 Morgan Stanley Global Energy & Power Conference in New York City on March 5, 2019, at 2 p.m. ET. A live audio webcast and a copy of the presentation materials will be available at www.NextEraEnergy.com/investors or www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com. For those unable to listen to the live webcast, a replay will be available for 90 days by accessing the links listed above.

NextEra Energy, Inc.

NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE) is a leading clean energy company headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida. NextEra Energy owns two electric companies in Florida: Florida Power & Light Company, which serves more than 5 million customer accounts in Florida and is the largest rate-regulated electric utility in the United States as measured by retail electricity produced and sold; and Gulf Power Company, which serves more than 460,000 customers in eight counties throughout northwest Florida. NextEra Energy also owns a competitive energy business, NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. Through its subsidiaries, NextEra Energy generates clean, emissions-free electricity from eight commercial nuclear power units in Florida, New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin. A Fortune 200 company and included in the S&P 100 index, NextEra Energy has been recognized often by third parties for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry on Fortune's 2019 list of "World's Most Admired Companies" and ranked among the top 25 on Fortune's 2018 list of companies that "Change the World." For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.GulfPower.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.

NextEra Energy Partners, LP

NextEra Energy Partners, LP (NYSE: NEP) is a growth-oriented limited partnership formed by NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). NextEra Energy Partners acquires, manages and owns contracted clean energy projects with stable, long-term cash flows. Headquartered in Juno Beach, Florida, NextEra Energy Partners owns interests in wind and solar projects in the U.S., as well as natural gas infrastructure assets in Texas. The renewable energy projects are contracted, use industry-leading technology and are located in regions that are favorable for generating energy from the wind and sun. The seven natural gas pipelines in the portfolio are all strategically located, serving power producers and municipalities in South Texas, processing plants and producers in the Eagle Ford Shale, and commercial and industrial customers in the Houston area. The NET Mexico Pipeline, the largest pipeline in the portfolio, provides a critical source of natural gas transportation for low-cost, U.S.-sourced shale gas to Mexico. For more information about NextEra Energy Partners, please visit: www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com.

SOURCE NextEra Energy, Inc.; NextEra Energy Partners, LP

Related Links

http://www.NextEraEnergyPartners.com


HOUSTON and ATLANTA, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In a highly anticipated ruling with national impact for the oil and gas industry, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals late Thursday concluded that directional drilling engineers can be classified as independent contractors and not employees. This ruling sets binding precedent in the Fifth Circuit for decided, pending and future wage and hour cases, validating the oil and gas industry's use of contract workers and protecting companies against future litigation. Annette Idalski, a Chamberlain Hrdlicka shareholder and chair of the firm's national labor and employment group, was lead counsel for Premier Directional Drilling. Chamberlain shareholders, employment attorney Peter Hall and appellate attorney Steven Knight, also played a significant role in the case.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled in 2017 that Premier misclassified its directional drillers as independent contractors. In making its ruling in Parrish v. Premier Directional Drilling (No. 17-51089), the Fifth Circuit unanimously vacated the 15-month old District Court summary judgment order and rendered in favor of Premier.

"This case is particularly important to the oil industry, where the use of highly compensated independent contractors is essential and commonplace. We are thankful for the Fifth Circuit's thoughtful review of the matter and hope this news reaches our industry colleagues who may be affected," stated Michael Kennedy, president of Premier Directional Drilling.

"The impact of this decision cannot be overstated, as the prior court's order was crippling the oil and gas industry while enabling a wave of financially devastating litigation. Oil and gas companies can now maintain contract classification for workers and preserve their business model without fear," stated Annette Idalski.

ABOUT PREMIER DIRECTIONAL DRILLING

Premier Directional Drilling is a full-service directional drilling company headquartered in Houston. As one of the most comprehensive oilfield service companies, Premier provides expertise in directional planning, directional drilling, downhole performance motors, directional surveying, Pulse MWD, EM MWD and rotary steerable services. Founded in 2012, Premier is committed to providing services to enhance and optimize performance and is dedicated to safe and environmentally responsible operations. For more information, visit: www.premierdirectionaldrilling.com.

ABOUT CHAMBERLAIN HRDLICKA

Chamberlain Hrdlicka is a diversified business law firm with offices in Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and San Antonio. The firm represents both public and private companies, as well as individuals and family-owned businesses across the nation. The firm offers counsel in tax planning and tax controversy, corporate, securities and finance, employment law and employee benefits, energy law, estate planning and administration, intellectual property, international and immigration law, commercial and business litigation, real estate and construction law. For more information, visit: www.chamberlainlaw.com.

SOURCE Chamberlain Hrdlicka
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- One Call, the nation's leading provider of specialized healthcare solutions for the workers' compensation industry, announced today that it has finalized a financial transaction resulting in an additional $150 million of liquidity over the next five years.

"We ended 2018 with over $40 million of liquidity and a business plan focused on growth while improving the patient, provider and customer experience," said Fred Pensotti, One Call CFO. "We started the year with a business plan to continue making the types of strategic investments necessary to realize the One Call vision. The transaction we completed last week generates additional financial flexibility and capacity to execute our investment plans."

"One Call is dedicated to the creation and delivery of customer value as we execute on our business plan," said Rone Baldwin, President and CEO of One Call. "We understand our clients' desire to streamline work flows and efficiently access One Call's high quality provider network. We have taken our clients' interest to heart and are actively implementing transformative business technologies, such as Polaris."

The company has invested nearly $50 million in new technologies, with plans for another $20 million in technology investment in 2019. These technologies make it easier for One Call to deliver improved service and cost savings to customers and providers, and improved outcomes for patients. So far, One Call has migrated customers representing approximately 20% of annual revenue to the Polaris platform with plans to transition the majority of its revenue by the end of 2019. Exciting new features to the industry-leading platform will be added regularly based on customer feedback.

In 2019, One Call customers will benefit from patient-centric product innovations rooted in clinical excellence and delivered through highly efficient service networks. Baldwin added, "Our holistic view of the patient will continue to drive our innovation and product delivery such as our recently launched Pain PathwaySM, a unique injury-focused approach to pain management."

One Call will continue to roll out its already successful RelayRIDESM product into both the workers' compensation space as well as the group health market. In 2018, customers using RelayRIDESM saw an 80 percent reduction in patient no-show rates and more than 350,000 rides have been completed with an average user approval rate of 4.9 out of 5 stars.

Baldwin said, "We are committed to delivering an exceptional customer experience and we are taking measures to align service delivery models with the unique needs of our customers. This approach may require reorganizing some of our teams from time to time, consolidation of some functions to different office locations and remote arrangements where it makes sense." Baldwin continued, "Our biggest asset is our nearly 3,000 employees and we are committed to providing them with development and growth opportunities to meet the needs of our complex business. We are extremely excited about the achievements that lie ahead for One Call in 2019. Our unique ability to continue to innovate and launch transformative products and leading-edge technologies will continue to reinforce our dedication to the patient, provider and customer experience."

About One Call

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, One Call is the nation's leading provider of specialized healthcare solutions for the workers' compensation industry. We provide patients with convenient, efficient and cost-effective healthcare so they can get back to work and life faster. From diagnostics and medical equipment to home healthcare, physical therapy and transportation, we're proud to offer a complete suite of innovative products and services with a focus on patient needs throughout the continuum of care. For more information and the latest news, visit us at onecallcm.com, LinkedIn (One Call) and Twitter (@onecallcm). If you'd like to learn more about One Call and keep updated on company developments, visit our blog and subscribe.

Media Contacts: Jessica Taft

One Call, Vice President, Marketing and Branding

[email protected]

SOURCE One Call

Related Links

www.onecallcm.com


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Constantine Metal Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: CEMOTCQX: CNSNF), a mineral exploration company, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Constantine upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market.

Constantine begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "CNSNF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"Congratulations to Constantine on upgrading to the OTCQX Best Market," said Jason Paltrowitz, Director of OTC Markets Group International Ltd. and EVP of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "OTCQX provides innovative companies with a transparent, cost-effective public market to build visibility and engage its U.S. shareholder base. We look forward to supporting Constantine and the company's shareholders."

"Moving to the OTCQX Best Market from the OTCQB Venture Market represents another growth milestone for Constantine Metals," commented Constantine President & CEO Garfield MacVeigh. "At this stage of the company's evolution, Constantine is following a marketing strategy that puts additional emphasis on bringing US investors into the stock. Based on the advice of those potential investors, we believe this move to OTCQX will facilitate their participation in our continued growth and increasing value."

Berns and Berns acted as the company's OTCQX Sponsor.

About Constantine Metal Resources Ltd.

Constantine is a mineral exploration company led by a proven technical team with a focus on premier North American mining environments. In addition to the Company's flagship copper-zinc-silver-gold Palmer Joint Venture Project in Alaska, Constantine also controls a portfolio of high quality, 100% owned, gold projects in the Timmins camp, Ontario including the large, well-located Golden Mile Property and the Munro Croesus Gold Property, which is renowned for its exceptionally high-grade past production. Management is committed to providing shareholder value through discovery, meaningful community engagement, environmental stewardship, and responsible mineral exploration and development activities that support local jobs and businesses.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are SEC regulated ATSs, operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE: OUT) announced today that Matthew Siegel, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, is scheduled to present at the Deutsche Bank Media, Internet & Telecom Conference in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, March 11, 2019 at 2:20 p.m. Eastern Time. A live and replay audio webcast will be available on the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.OUTFRONTmedia.com.

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its ON Smart Media platform, OUTFRONT is implementing digital technology that will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

SOURCE OUTFRONT Media Inc.

Related Links

http://www.outfrontmedia.com


With the goal of encouraging consumers to make healthier eating choices, Metro Buses in D.C. are showcasing celebrities and athletes, including Steph Curry and Regina Hall, a native of Washington, D.C., and more, choosing fruits and vegetables as their go-to snack. OUTFRONT Media's premium transit assets reaches target audiences, as well as multiple touchpoints throughout a consumer's day. Beginning February 11, 2019, FNV creative can be seen on MetroBus exteriors in wards seven and eight.

"We created the FNV campaign to change the way children and young adults think about fruits and vegetables," said Savannah Knell, Campaign Manager at Partnership for a Healthier America. "By partnering with OUTFRONT Media we were able to amplify this effort and meet our target audience right where they live and operate, where our message could make the highest impact."

"OUTFRONT is always looking for opportunities to support communities, whether that is through bold content, bright illustrations or important messages, and we immediately connected with Partnership for a Healthier America's goal of raising awareness around childhood obesity," said Aaron Bronson, General Manager of OUTFRONT Washington, DC. "Buses serve as 'rolling billboards' traveling in and around densely-populated city streets, leaving a lasting impact on pedestrians, motorists and passengers, making them the natural choice for such an important message."

OUTFRONT offers multiple outdoor advertising options in the Washington, D.C. metro area including WMATA's Metro system of rail, buses, commuter buses, street furniture and wall media.

About OUTFRONT Media Inc.

OUTFRONT leverages the power of technology, location and creativity to connect brands with consumers outside of their homes through one of the largest and most diverse sets of billboard, transit, and mobile assets in North America. Through its ON Smart Media platform, OUTFRONT is implementing digital technology that will fundamentally change the ways advertisers engage audiences on-the-go.

SOURCE OUTFRONT Media Inc.

Related Links

http://www.outfrontmedia.com


CHICAGO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Path of Life, known for their plant-based gourmet quinoa and veggie blend side dishes, is gearing up to debut their exciting new look at this year's Natural Products Expo West Booth 120.

Path of Life's Southwest Mango Quinoa Blend

Made with simple, all-natural ingredients, Path of Life's savory sides have upgraded their packaging after a complete rebrand to include bright colors, funny catchphrases, and tasty recipes. The fresh design will also now include the gluten-free, Non-GMO Project Verified seal for the entire line-up, staying true to their core mission: "Live simple Grown simple  simple ingredients, simple preservation and simple to prepare."

"We're growing up!" said Audrea Fulton, vice president of sales for Path of Life. "We've been in the market for 3 years  now we're ready to take the brand to the next level. Our new look and messaging set the stage for new line extensions later this fall. With the changes made to the brand, we feel consumers will resonate with our live simple messaging."

Aiming to dispel the notion that healthy food doesn't taste good, Fulton shared how Path of Life places great importance on making sure each item they put out into the market has great taste and flavor.

The attention-grabbing rebrand aims to attract family-friendly Millennial shoppers who are short on time but crave a healthy, home-cooked meal. All Path of Life sides are gluten-free, non-GMO, ready in 6 minutes or less and made with plant-based ingredients.

"The new look has attitude and brings our brand to life," explained Fulton. "It's fun, it's edgy and more informative so consumers don't have to wonder how to use and apply the dishes  making meal prepping a breeze."

Come check out and taste the flavorful sides for yourself at Booth 120. To join the fun and vote #TeamQuinoa or #TeamCauli, follow @pathoflifebrand on social with the hashtag #celebratesides.

Natural Products Expo West, the leading trade show in the natural, organic and healthy products industry, will be held from March 5-9, 2019 at the Anaheim Convention Center located at 800 West Katella Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92802. For more information, please visit www.expowest.com.

About Path of Life

As one of the fastest growing all-natural frozen plant-based brands, Path of Life is a family owned, natural and organic food company based in Chicago, Illinois. Created with the desire to make eating better, flavorful and easy for the entire family, Path of Life products are simply good, clean food.

www.pathoflifebrand.com

Media Contact:

Ashley Thomas

[email protected]

224-234-5232

SOURCE Path of Life Brand

Related Links

https://www.pathoflifebrand.com


BELLEVUE, Wash., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Paul Gauguin Cruises (www.pgcruises.com), operator of the highest-rated and longest continually sailing luxury cruise ship in the South Pacific, the m/s Paul Gauguin, announces a Two-Week Sale on select 2019 and 2020 Tahiti, French Polynesia, and South Pacific voyages.

Paul Gauguin Cruises is offering savings of up to $3,000* per person off select luxury voyages aboard The Gauguin when booked between March 4 and 16, 2019. Roundtrip airfare between Los Angeles or San Francisco and Papeete, Tahiti, is also included. On board, guests will enjoy the highest standards of luxury, quality, and all-inclusive value sailing to South Pacific destinations that are the cruise line's specialty. Qualifying voyages are:

Society Islands & Tahiti Iti (7 nights):

May 18 ; June 1, 2019  now from only $4,895 per person

;  now from only per person July 27 ; August 31, 2019  now from only $4,995 per person

;  now from only per person October 19, 2019  now from only $4,645 per person

 now from only per person December 14, 2019  now from only $3,895 per person

 now from only per person January 4, 2020  now from only $4,245 per person

Tahiti & the Society Islands (7 nights):

October 26, 2019  now from only $4,645 per person

 now from only per person February 22, 2020  now from only $4,795 per person

On The Gauguin, nearly 70% of suites and staterooms offer balconies. Dining experiences include L'Etoile, which showcases an array of culinary creations expertly prepared each evening. The ship's other two dining venues, La Veranda and Le Grill, serve breakfast and lunch. At night, signature dishes designed by French celebrity chef Jean-Pierre Vigato are offered in La Veranda, and Polynesian specialties are served poolside at Le Grill.

Les Gauguines and Les Gauguinsour exclusive troupe of Tahitian entertainersprovide enriching experiences of the destinations throughout each voyage. The Gauguin features expert lecturers on each voyage, and special guests on select sailings conduct presentations on topics ranging from the history of the South Pacific to conservation, culture, marine life, and the wonders of coral reefs. A luxurious spa, fitness center, watersports marina, and expansive outdoor decks with chaise lounges and a pool are also available aboard The Gauguin.

One of the highlights of each sailing is exclusive access to Motu Mahana, the cruise line's private islet off the coast of Taha'a where guests can enjoy sunbathing, swimming, snorkeling, kayaking, Polynesian activities, a full-service bar, a floating lagoon bar, and a delicious barbecue. In Bora Bora, guests can enjoy complimentary access to a private, white-sand beach with beach volleyball, sunbathing, snorkeling, paddleboarding, and refreshments.

For more information or reservations, contact a professional travel agent, call 1-800-848-6172, or visit www.pgcruises.com.

*All fares are in US dollars, per person, based on double occupancy in lowest stateroom category, and reflect promotional savings, are for new bookings only, are subject to availability, and must be booked by March 16, 2019. Offer may be combined with applicable 3rd guest in stateroom offer but may not be combined with other offers. Port, security, and handling charges of $149-$159 per person are additional. Additional terms and conditions may apply. Call for details. For full terms and conditions, visit www.pgcruises.com.

About Paul Gauguin Cruises

Owned by Pacific Beachcomber S.C., French Polynesia's leading luxury hotel and cruise operator, Paul Gauguin Cruises operates the 5+-star cruise ship, the 332-guest m/s Paul Gauguin, providing a deluxe cruise experience tailored to the unparalleled wonders of Tahiti, French Polynesia, and the South Pacific. Paul Gauguin Cruises has been recognized by notable publications in travel and lifestyle and was voted "#2 Midsize-Ship Ocean Cruise Line" by readers in the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2018**. The line was also recognized as one of the "Top Small Cruise Lines" in the Conde Nast Traveler 2018 Readers' Choice Awards and is honored on the publication's 2018 "Gold List." Paul Gauguin Cruises was also selected as "Best Small-Ship Cruise Line" in Global Traveler's Leisure Lifestyle Awards in 2016, 2017, and 2018, and received top honors as the "#1 Cruise Line for Honeymooners" in BRIDES Magazine's 2017 Honeymoon Awards and was listed in the publication's "Top All-Inclusives" in the 2018 Honeymoon Awards.

Media Contact:

Vanessa Bloy

Paul Gauguin Cruises

Director of Public Relations

(425) 440-6255

[email protected]pgcruises.com

**From Travel + Leisure Magazine, August 2018  Time Inc. Affluent Media Group. Used under license. Travel + Leisure and Time Inc. Affluent Media Group are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, Paul Gauguin Cruises.

SOURCE Paul Gauguin Cruises

Related Links

http://www.pgcruises.com


PHILADELPHIA, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters Local 502 will kick off the creation of a new scholarship fund with a gala event at the recently revamped Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House next month to raise money to help fund post-secondary educational opportunities for children of members as well as Philadelphia public school students.

Local 502, also known as the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators (CASA), is hosting the April 4th event as a way of celebrating three decades of Teamster involvement in the city's public school system. CASA represents more than 550 school administrators who work in the School District of Philadelphia.

"The purpose of the scholarship fund is to promote the union's support of public education as well as to the sons and daughters of our Teamster members," said Dr. Robin Cooper, President of Local 502/CASA. "Improving educational opportunities, especially for inner-city students, is paramount."

Tickets for the event are $75. There are also program advertising and donation opportunities available. The first scholarships will be handed out later this year. More details will be forthcoming at a later date.

Contact:

Don Anticoli, (215) 858-8507

[email protected]

SOURCE Teamsters Local 502
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) management will meet with analysts and investors this week on the East Coast and in the Midwest.

During the meetings, management is expected to affirm the company's 2019 consolidated earnings guidance of $2.10 to $2.18 per diluted share. Presentation materials are available on the company's website at http://www.pnmresources.com/investors/events.cfm.

Background:

PNM Resources (NYSE: PNM) is an energy holding company based in Albuquerque, N.M., with 2018 consolidated operating revenues of $1.4 billion. Through its regulated utilities, PNM and TNMP, PNM Resources has approximately 2,661 megawatts of generation capacity and provides electricity to more than 781,000 homes and businesses in New Mexico and Texas. For more information, visit the company's website at www.PNMResources.com.

CONTACTS:

Analysts Media Lisa Goodman Ray Sandoval (505) 241-2160 (505) 241-2782

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

Statements made in this news release for PNM Resources, Inc. ("PNMR"), Public Service Company of New Mexico ("PNM"), or Texas-New Mexico Power Company ("TNMP") (collectively, the "Company") that relate to future events or expectations, projections, estimates, intentions, goals, targets, and strategies are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Readers are cautioned that all forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations and estimates. PNMR, PNM, and TNMP assume no obligation to update this information. Because actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements, PNMR, PNM, and TNMP caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements. PNMR's, PNM's, and TNMP's business, financial condition, cash flow, and operating results are influenced by many factors, which are often beyond their control, that can cause actual results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of risk factors and other important factors affecting forward-looking statements, please see the Company's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which factors are specifically incorporated by reference herein.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

GAAP refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the U.S. Ongoing earnings is a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes the impact of net unrealized mark-to-market gains and losses on economic hedges, the net change in unrealized gains and losses on investment securities, pension expense related to previously disposed of gas distribution business, and certain non-recurring, infrequent, and other items that are not indicative of fundamental changes in the earnings capacity of the Company's operations. The Company uses ongoing earnings and ongoing earnings per diluted share (or ongoing diluted earnings per share) to evaluate the operations of the Company and to establish goals, including those used for certain aspects of incentive compensation, for management and employees. While the Company believes these financial measures are appropriate and useful for investors, they are not measures presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not intend for these measures, or any piece of these measures, to represent any financial measure as defined by GAAP. Furthermore, the Company's calculations of these measures as presented may or may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. The Company uses ongoing earnings guidance to provide investors with management's expectations of ongoing financial performance over the period presented. While the Company believes ongoing earnings guidance is an appropriate measure, it is not a measure presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company does not intend for ongoing earnings guidance to represent an expectation of net earnings as defined by GAAP. Since the future differences between GAAP and ongoing earnings are frequently outside the control of the Company, management is generally not able to estimate the impact of the reconciling items between forecasted GAAP net earnings and ongoing earnings guidance, nor their probable impact on GAAP net earnings without unreasonable effort, therefore, management is generally not able to provide a corresponding GAAP equivalent for ongoing earnings guidance. Reconciliations between GAAP and ongoing earnings are contained in schedules 1-4.

SOURCE PNM Resources, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.pnmresources.com


ALBANY, New York, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (TMR) notes that the global polyester staple fiber market is categorized by the presence of several large and small players operating in it. Thus, the competitive landscape of the market has underwent successive fragmentation in the coming years. The rivalry between the potential players is likely to increase as they aim at delivering quality product along with maintaining the price of the product.

Out of the various strategic alliances adopted by players in the global polyester staple fiber market to stay ahead of the competitors, bolstering product development and expanding product portfolio have paid off the most. The global polyester staple fiber market is expected to grow steadily due to the existence of potentially large players who are capitalizing on their brand value for establishing their credibility in the market. Such leading vendors are also banking on their ability for innovative offerings to gain a competitive edge in the market. Some of the leading players in the global polyester staple fiber market are China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, Alpek S.A.B de C.V, and Reliance Industries Limited.

Request a Sample of Global Polyester Staple Fiber Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=2727

The TMR report projects the global polyester staple fiber market to register an impressive CAGR of 4.10% from 2017 to 2025. The market stood at US$23.167bn in 2017. By the end of 2025, the market will be worth US$34.546 bn, predicts the report.

Among various end-users, automotive accounts for a leading share in the market. This is expected to fuel demand in the polyester staple fiber market due to their cost effectiveness, durability, and extensive application in making car fabrics. Region wise, Asia Pacific is expected to contribute the largest share in the global polyester staple fiber market in the coming years. This is attributed to increasing commercial construction activities and rapid urbanization in the region.

Request For Multiple Chapters: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=MC&rep_id=2727

Flourishing Construction Sectors Augments Demand in Polyester Staple Fiber Market

Polyester staple fiber is a coherent part of rising textile industry worldwide. It is one of the versatile man-made fibers which possess various unique properties. These further supplement the fibers' demand in numerous applications areas. Polyester staple fiber is widely used in automotive, fiber filling, filtration, textiles, and home furnishing. The demand for polyester staple fiber is increasing due to its excellent qualities, thereby propelling the market growth. Apart from these, growing demand for polyester staple fiber for manufacturing several types of apparels, and increasing need for personal care products are also fueling demand in the global polyester staple fiber market.

Request For Discount On This Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=D&rep_id=2727

Furthermore, increasing construction activities in developing economies, and rising demand for polyester staple fibers in home furnishings are also boosting the global polyester staple fiber market. Along with these, growing residential constructions, rising disposable income of consumers, and rapid urbanization are also anticipated to encourage growth in the global polyester staple fiber market.

Usage of Harmful Polyester Staple Fiber Hinders Market Growth

Some of the challenges hindering the growth of the global polyester staple fiber market are fluctuation in raw material prices, and strict government norms against the usage of harmful polyester fibers. Nonetheless, rising investments in research and development for producing less hazardous fibers is believed to help industry players overcome these challenges in the near future.

Browse Press Release: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/polyester-staple-fiber.htm

The review is based on a market research report by TMR, titled, "Polyester Staple Fiber Market (Type - Solid (Semi-dull Optical White, Bright Optical White, Black Dope Dyed, Colored Dope White, Others Semi-dull, and Others Bright) and Hollow; Origin - Virgin, Recycled, and Blend of Virgin and Recycled; End User - Apparel, Automotive, Home Furnishing, Filtration, Construction, and Personal Care and Hygiene) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017  2025".

The segmentation of global polyester staple fiber market is based on:

Type

- Solid

o Semi-dull Optical White

o Bright Optical White

o Black Dope Dyed

o Colored Dope Dyed

o Others Semi-dull

o Others Bright

- Hollow

Origin

Virgin

Recycled

Blend of Virgin & Recycled

End-user

Apparel

Automotive

Home Furnishing

Filtration

Construction

Personal Care & Hygiene

Others

Browse Chemical and Materials Market Research Reports

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Polyester Coatings Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polyester-coatings-market.html

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Polyester Fiber Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polyester-fiber-market.html

Polyester Hot Melt Adhesives Market: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/polyester-hot-melt-adhesives-market.html

About Us

Transparency Market Research is a global 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. Our experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information.

Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

Contact

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Transparency Market Research

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United States

Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com

Research Blog: https://cmfenews.com/

SOURCE Transparency Market Research
NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network  it's easy and free. Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

Tax and Estate Planning Tips for 2019 and Beyond

Shutdown Wake-Up Call: 4 Tips to Boost Savings

Will Your Business Survive the Next Recession?

Experts, Here's What the Media Really Wants

MEDIA JOBS

Enterprising Tech Reporter  Warren Communications / Communications Daily (DC)

Editor, Technology  The Wall Street Journal (CA)

Financial News Editor  MT Newswires (Remote / MD)

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

Marketing Your New Book: How to Get Started

Get Organized in 2019: Tools and Apps to Help Journalists and Bloggers

Blogger Conferences: Top Events to Attend in March

-------------------------------------------------------------------

EXPERT ALERTS

Tax and Estate Planning Tips for 2019 and Beyond

Cal Brown

Financial Advisor

Savant Capital Management

Washington, D.C.

With the new tax law in mind, Cal Brown has five tips for tax and estate planning: "This is the first tax filing season under the tax law passed in 2018. A lot has changed. What can you do? 1. Pay off Home Equity Lines of Credit; 2. Combine or 'bunch' charitable contributions; 3. Maximize Retirement Plan and Health Savings Account contributions; 4. Maximize 529 Plan contributions; and 5. Retirees should optimize withdrawals from taxable and pre-tax accounts in order to manage AGI."

Brown is the author of "When Life Strikes: Weathering Financial Storms", giving general guidance and specific financial tips to cope with unexpected tragedies, learning how to prepare for them, and looking ahead for the sake of your spouse, children, and personal future. He is also an adjunct professor in the master of science in taxation (MST) program at American University. Brown is a member and past chairman of the Financial Planning Association-National Capital Area (FPA-NCA), and was named one of the top financial planners in the greater Washington, D.C. metro area by Washingtonian and Northern Virginia magazines.

Website: www.savantcapital.com

Contact: Catherine Povalitis, [email protected]

Shutdown Wake-Up Call: 4 Tips to Boost Savings

Pamela Yellen

President

Bank On Yourself

"After missing just one or two paychecks, we heard so many heart-breaking stories from government workers who weren't being paid or were furloughed. The key is to get started building your emergency fund today -- before you need it. 1) Audit your credit card and checking account statements for the last three months to weed out charges for services you rarely use or don't need. 2) Get clear on the difference between 'wants' and 'needs' and put the brakes on impulse buying. One way to do this: wait at least 24 hours before buying anything that is not a necessity, and at least seven days before making any large purchase. Another is to try paying with cash for one month (studies show you'll spend 20 percent less on average). 3) Take a hard look at your daily habits. Grabbing lunch at fast-food or other restaurant adds up. So does buying that $5 (plus tip) Starbucks coffee every day. Have trouble letting go of such expenses? Consider the reasons you need a healthy rainy day fund. If you don't have a sizeable emergency fund, you can't afford it. 4) Beware of 'Parkinson's Law,' which warns that 'expenses rise to equal income,' to avoid spending all the money you'll be saving."

Yellen is a financial investigator and the author of two New York Times best-selling books, including her latest, "The Bank on Yourself Revolution: Fire Your Banker, Bypass Wall Street, and Take Control of Your Own Financial Future." She investigated more than 450 financial strategies seeking an alternative to the risk and volatility of stocks and other investments, which led her to a time-tested, predictable method of growing wealth now used by more than 500,000 Americans.

Online Press Kit: http://pamelayellen.onlinepresskit247.com

Website: https://www.bankonyourself.com

Contact: Jennifer Thomas, [email protected]



Will Your Business Survive the Next Recession?

Allison Maslan

CEO, Founder

Pinnacle Global Network

"We are stepping into an interesting time -- an interesting time politically and an interesting time economically. We've really got to be honest with ourselves about what is approaching. We don't know if it's next year, we don't know if it's the year after, but based on what history tells us, we've got a recession looming. So, what does that mean? Does it mean business owners should freak out? No. It means get prepared. Have your eyes open. Actually, a down economy is a time when savvy, creative business owners make their big money. That's where the big growth happens. But you've got to be prepared. You need to do things strategically. Then, there are so many benefits. Lots of Fortune 100 companies had their biggest growth in a down economy."

Maslan is the CEO and founder of Pinnacle Global Network, offering business mentorship and mastermind programs to established business owners who want to accelerate their growth, capitalize on their success, and balance it all with a meaningful life. She is also the author of two books: Amazon #1 bestseller "Blast Off!: The Surefire Success Plan to Launch Your Dreams into Reality" and her newest book "Scale or Fail: How to Build Your Dream Team, Explode Your Growth, and Let Your Business Soar" (October 2018, Wiley), which hit #1 on Amazon even before its release. For further high-impact support, watch Maslan's free video series for business owners, "The Scale Blueprint" for Established Companies That Want to Multiply Their Growth.

Online Press Kit: http://allisonmaslan.onlinepresskit247.com

Website: www.AllisonMaslan.com

Contact: Klaudia Simon, [email protected]



Experts, Here's What the Media Really Wants

Drew Gerber

CEO

Wasabi Publicity, Inc.

"Journalists aren't really looking for household names. They're looking for the people, the individuals who can really bring something unique, something fresh to their audience -- something that makes a difference. If you are that person, you need to get out there and share that message. But first, you need to get clarity on what the value is that you actually bring. What makes you unique? What makes you different? That's what needs to be pitched to the media."

Gerber is on a mission to change global conversations and challenge industry conventions. He lives to spark "aha" moments, helping people discover new ways of thinking to create positive change. He and his business partner Michelle Tennant Nicholson founded Wasabi Publicity to highlight businesses, entrepreneurs, and organizations working for good in the world. An early adopter of the freedom and opportunity afforded by the global web economy, Gerber runs the company from his homes in Budapest, Hungary, and the Serbian village of Stara Moravica, where he started an IT training center and employs local people as part of Wasabi's international team. Recognized by PR Week and Good Morning America for its innovative business practices and growth, Wasabi Publicity helps clients expand their impact through top media placements such as Dr. Phil, Oprah, Anderson Cooper, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Forbes, Entrepreneur, and other top media. A serial entrepreneur, Gerber created Online PressKit 24/7, one of the first platforms to allow individuals, companies, and organizations to put all their media materials online for journalists to access anytime, anywhere. With three decades of PR, entrepreneurial, and human development experience, Gerber is a thought leader on the changing media landscape, and a go-to person for those seeking to expand their impact. He is the author of "Destination Aha! Becoming Unstuck in Life and Business," and a member of Forbes Agency Council, an invitation-only organization for senior-level executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative, and advertising agencies.

Online Press Kit: https://drewgerber.onlinepresskit247.com

Websites: www.WasabiPublicity.com and www.DestinationAha.com

Contact: Contact: Michelle Tennant, [email protected]

****************

MEDIA JOBS

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://www.cisionjobs.com/jobs/united-states/

Enterprising Tech Reporter  Warren Communications / Communications Daily (DC)

Editor, Technology  The Wall Street Journal (CA)

Financial News Editor  MT Newswires (Remote / MD)

*****************

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line at [email protected]

MARKETING YOUR NEW BOOK: HOW TO GET STARTED. You have a book, and now it's time to market it. Where to begin? (fourth in a four-part series): https://prn.to/bookmarketing

GET ORGANIZED IN 2019: TOOLS AND APPS TO HELP JOURNALISTS AND BLOGGERS. Looking to simplify your work day? These organization tools are perfect for writers: https://prn.to/2019journtools

BLOGGER CONFERENCES: TOP EVENTS TO ATTEND IN MARCH. Bloggers, we've got some conferences that should be on your radar: https://prn.to/marchblogevents19

****************

PROFNET is an exclusive service of PR Newswire.

To contact ProfNet: [email protected] or 800-776-3638, ext. 1

SOURCE ProfNet

Related Links

http://www.profnet.com


SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- MINDBODY, Inc., the leading technology platform for the fitness, beauty and wellness services industries, today announced that Rachel Hollis will serve as the opening keynote speaker at the company's annual conference, BOLD. The premier conference for businesses and professionals within the wellness services industry will be held August 13-15 in Anaheim, California.

As a bestselling author and successful lifestyle influencer, Hollis is among the most sought-after motivational speakers in the country. Her high-energy and personal style delivers enlightened messaging on how everyone can cultivate a mindset for success.

"We are thrilled to have Rachel Hollis and her positive energy light up the stage at BOLD 2019," said Rick Stollmeyer, MINDBODY CEO and co-founder. "Her insights on how to use perception to your advantage will empower our customers to better serve their clients."

Hollis' most recent work, Girl, Wash Your Face, spent considerable time on the New York Times bestseller list and was the second most popular book on Amazon.com last year. Her follow up, Girl, Stop Apologizing, comes out on Tuesday, March 5.

The BOLD conference offers educational sessions on a range of topics including marketing, social media and customer retention, as well as a variety of networking opportunities and unique wellness experiences. Registration for BOLD 2019 is now open, with early pricing available through Friday, March 8, 2019. Learn more at www.mindbodybold.com.

About MINDBODY

MINDBODY, Inc. is the leading technology platform for the fitness, beauty and wellness services industries. Local entrepreneurs worldwide use MINDBODY's integrated software and payments platform to run, market and grow their businesses. Consumers use MINDBODY to more easily find, engage and transact with fitness, wellness and beauty providers in their local communities. For more information on how MINDBODY is helping people lead healthier, happier lives by connecting the world to fitness, beauty and wellness, visit mindbodyonline.com.

 2019 MINDBODY, Inc. All rights reserved. MINDBODY, BOLD, FitMetrix, Frederick, the Enso logo, the Booker logo and Connecting the World to Wellness are trademarks or registered trademarks of MINDBODY Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

SOURCE MINDBODY, Inc.

Related Links

https://www.mindbodyonline.com


DULLES, Va., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) will provide advanced surveillance towers to a Middle Eastern nation to help protect that nation's borders and military installations.

"Raytheon provides a full range of advanced border security solutions, from system architecture to smart fences and 24/7 surveillance systems, to customers around the world. We've delivered more than 500 surveillance towers to the U.S. and other countries," said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "We'll deliver this surveillance system and the related technologies our ally needs to maintain the sovereignty of their borders and help protect their armed forces."

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon IIS the contract to provide persistent surveillance using an electro-optical/infrared camera elevated on a semi-stationary platform.

Raytheon is a global leader in developing border and critical infrastructure security systems and has provided similar surveillance solutions to U.S. and allied nations to secure borders and military installations. Raytheon has deployed these systems to 24 different countries, protecting more than 6,000 miles of land and maritime borders. In addition to deploying internally developed systems, Raytheon integrates a wide range of security technologies developed by other companies, including radars, sensors, tower systems and surveillance systems.

Raytheon IIS recently completed the final phase of work to design, develop and deploy an integrated border security system to defend and secure a separate Middle Eastern nation. Under this program, awarded in 2015, Raytheon built a layered security system that includes radars, electro-optical/infrared cameras, unattended ground sensors and physical barriers. Raytheon also supports nations in their defense of maritime borders; the company developed and implemented a surveillance and communications system to help a Southeast Asian nation deter, detect and interdict illicit weapons and materials entering their protected waterways.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2018 sales of $27 billion and 67,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 97 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter.

Media Contact

Raytheon

Chris Johnson

571-250-3418

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Company

Related Links

http://www.raytheon.com


SOUTHLAKE, Texas, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sabre Corporation (NASDAQ: SABR) is leading a collaborative effort to define and deliver a next generation retailing experience to airline customers from personalized NDC-enabled offers to a fresh, innovative approach to shopping, comparing and booking.

Sabre is pleased to announce Delta Air Lines as the newest addition to its Beyond NDC program, a cross-industry group working to accelerate the development, integration and testing of end-to-end NDC capabilities. In addition, Sabre has been working with Delta and other major carriers along with ATPCO to develop and test a new approach to shopping based on the next generation storefront (NGS) standards currently under development.

"Delivering a modern-day retail experience in third party channels requires changes across the distribution ecosystem. Sabre's Beyond NDC initiative is a great platform for cross-industry collaboration, which we see as an opportunity to deliver the benefits of NDC at scale, while minimizing disruption to our agencies and customers," said Jeff Lobl, managing director  distribution strategy at Delta. "We also applaud Sabre's commitment to Next Generation Storefront and the greatly improved shopping experience that it will provide."

Powered by its latest air shopping API, Sabre's NGS solution categorizes airline offerings by product attributes and normalizes the data for easy comparison shopping. This solution will deliver initial shopping results that include carriers' complete product lines, ensuring Sabre-connected travel agencies, online travel agencies and other third parties can provide better information to help travelers choose the offer that is right for them. In the second quarter, Sabre will collaborate with its Beyond NDC agency partners to test its Proof of Concept within Sabre Red 360.

"As content becomes more complex due to branded fares, a la carte ancillaries, bundling, and soon dynamic NDC offers, the industry faces another challenge - how to display the diverse offers in an easily comparable way," said Brett Burgess, senior vice president of product, for Sabre Travel Network. "Our solution provides the built-in flexibility needed to compare and integrate multiple attributes, and to evolve with our customers' needs."

ATPCO is inviting interested parties to join its NGS working group of airlines, sales channels and technology providers including Sabre and Delta, to provide ongoing governance over the developing standards.

"The Next Generation Storefront will drive a more effective approach to shopping and a dramatic shift in how travelers think about overall value when buying flights," said Jonathan Savitch, chief commercial officer at ATPCO. "We're delighted to see Sabre's innovations in this industry effort to modernize flight shopping through NGS and look forward to building on this foundation with Sabre and the industry at large."

About Sabre Corporation

Sabre Corporation is the leading technology provider to the global travel industry. Sabre's software, data, mobile and distribution solutions are used by hundreds of airlines and thousands of hotel properties to manage critical operations, including passenger and guest reservations, revenue management, flight, network and crew management. Sabre also operates a leading global travel marketplace, which processes more than US$120 billion of global travel spend annually by connecting travel buyers and suppliers. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, USA, Sabre serves customers in more than 160 countries around the world.

SABR-F

Media Contact:

Heidi Castle

Sabre

682-682-4290

[email protected]

SOURCE Sabre Corporation

Related Links

http://www.sabre.com


QUOTES: "For more than 150 years, Girls Inc. has supported the development of girls and young woman, encouraging them to be all they can be in every facet of life," said Sara Griffin, Vice President, Marketing and Digital, Saks OFF 5TH. "Saks OFF 5TH also believes in the power of women, and in order for women to lead tomorrow, we need to start with girls today. We're proud to partner with Girls Inc. and donate 100 percent of net proceeds from the sale of our 'Every Day is Women's Day' t-shirt to the nonprofit organization, further propelling our goal of female empowerment, education and beyond."

"Girls Inc. is thrilled to partner with Saks OFF 5TH for Women's History Month and in celebration of the many achievements of women past and present who have paved the way for girls. As we recognize the contributions of women over time, we reaffirm for girls that they too can achieve at the highest levels," said Judy Vredenburgh, Girls Inc. President & CEO.

DIRECT URL: CLICK HERE

SOCIAL: @saksoff5th @girlsinc

WHEN: March 4 through March 29, 2019

WHERE: Select Saks OFF 5TH locations in the U.S. and on saksoff5th.com

[Stores include, but not limited to, New York 57th Street, Beverly Connection (CA), Somerset Shoppes and Town Center Aventura (FL), Washington D.C., The Shops at Park Lane and Gateway Shopping Centers (TX)]

VIDEO: CLICK HERE to view the Girls Inc. 30 second mission video

ABOUT GIRLS INC.

Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold through direct service and advocacy. Our comprehensive approach to whole girl development equips girls to navigate gender, economic, and social barriers and grow up healthy, educated, and independent. These positive outcomes are achieved through mentoring relationships, girls-only safe spaces, and research-based programming. Informed by girls and their families, we also advocate for legislation and policies to increase opportunities for all girls. Join us at girlsinc.org.

ABOUT SAKS OFF 5TH

As part of the Hudson's Bay Company brand portfolio, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH is a world-class destination for top designer brands at extraordinary value. The retailer's 133 stores and e-commerce division, saksoff5th.com, combine the two great joys of shopping: the delight of discovering the best in luxury and the thrill of finding a deal. A modern shopping experience of carefully curated off-the-runway trends, exceptional service, and savings on the biggest names in fashion, Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH leads the market as the premier luxury-value destination.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Katie Majeski

570.362.2474

[email protected]

SOURCE Saks OFF 5TH
SYDNEY, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced that Salesforce Ventures, the company's global corporate investment group, has launched the Australia Trailblazer Fund, a new $50 million fund to empower Australian startups in the Salesforce ecosystem. With this new fund, Salesforce Ventures deepens its commitment to the region by investing in local innovation and inspiring Australian entrepreneurs to create next generation technology that drives customer success across industries.

There is a phenomenal market opportunity to enable world-class startups across the country. According to Startup Muster 1, nearly half of Australian startups are actively trying to raise funds, and 45 percent identify as delivering Software as a Service (SaaS) products. If these startups can secure financing and scale, 25 percent of the Australian economy is likely to be directly impacted by software by 2025, which equates to $524 billion of GDP, according to StartupAUS 2.

Since 2012, Salesforce Ventures has been investing in innovative startups in Australia, such as Arxxus, Autopilot, Bugcrowd, Practifi, Socialsuite and Sqware Peg.

Arxxus : A leading innovative and independent Salesforce services partner with a focus on APAC, Arxxus leverages a cloud-first agile delivery methodology to ensure customer success on every engagement. They specialise in industry-leading Salesforce solutions across a range of verticals including: government, real estate and Not For Profit.

: A leading innovative and independent Salesforce services partner with a focus on APAC, Arxxus leverages a cloud-first agile delivery methodology to ensure customer success on every engagement. They specialise in industry-leading Salesforce solutions across a range of verticals including: government, real estate and Not For Profit. Bugcrowd : A leading crowdsourced security company with an award-winning platform that combines actionable, contextual intelligence to help leading organizations solve security challenges, protect customers, and make the digitally connected world a safer place.

: A leading crowdsourced security company with an award-winning platform that combines actionable, contextual intelligence to help leading organizations solve security challenges, protect customers, and make the digitally connected world a safer place. Sqware Peg: One of Australia's first Salesforce partners and an established leader in advisory across all Salesforce solutions. Recently acquired by Simplus, a Platinum Salesforce Partner and a leader in Quote-to-Cash implementations, these two key portfolio companies have come together to create a multi-regional consultancy to support Salesforce customers.

Comments on the News:

"Digital transformation is impacting businesses around the world and companies need to innovate faster and smarter to meet customer expectations today," said John Somorjai, EVP of Corporate Development and Salesforce Ventures. "Salesforce Ventures recognises the incredible opportunity to invest in Australian entrepreneurs to create world-class startups that will grow the opportunity within the Salesforce ecosystem and deliver customer success."

"Initiatives such as Salesforce Ventures' new $50 million Australia Trailblazer Fund provide the valuable support and investment needed for startups to scale, employ Australians, and see their great ideas become great businesses," said Simon Birmingham, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. "I congratulate Salesforce on its commitment to Australia with the launch of this new fund, and look forward to seeing the home grown startups it supports scale and succeed at home and internationally."

"It fills me with pride to see Salesforce stepping up into my home country like this. The establishment of Salesforce Ventures in Australia speaks volumes of the calibre of Australian entrepreneurs, as well as their forward-looking attitude," said Casey Ellis, Chairman, Founder & CTO of Bugcrowd. "Salesforce Ventures was an early investor in Bugcrowd, and is continuing to take to the global market. Alongside the capital, this move will deepen the availability of Salesforce's considerable technical and partnership resources to Australian entrepreneurs, which will help fuel the process of supporting Australia's talent and accelerate local innovations into the global market."

"We're excited by the opportunity to fuel Australia's startup ecosystem. We see significant opportunity through Salesforce Ventures to help Australia's smartest entrepreneurs and best business ideas succeed here and on the world stage," said Miguel Milano, President, International at Salesforce.

Driving Customer Success and Innovation with World Tour Sydney

The unveiling of the Australia Trailblazer Fund fund kicks off Salesforce World Tour Sydney , taking place tomorrow at The Sydney International Convention Centre. The Salesforce World Tour is a global roadshow where Trailblazers share how they are using the Customer Success Platform to create connected customer experiences, learn new skills, innovate at their companies and shape the future. World Tour Sydney will see Telstra and President and Chief Product Officer Bret Taylor featured in the keynote, with specialised breakout sessions for every role and industry and live demos of cutting-edge cloud-based technologies.

Additional Information:

Join Salesforce, alongside thousands of customer Trailblazers, at World Tour Sydney tomorrow live: https://www.salesforce.com/au/video/4776748

To learn more about Salesforce Ventures, please visit: www.salesforce.com/company/ventures/

Like Salesforce on Facebook http://facebook.com/salesforce

Follow @salesforceapac and @SalesforceVC on Twitter

About Salesforce

Salesforce, the global CRM leader, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. For more information about Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), visit: www.salesforce.com .

Any unreleased services or features referenced in this or other press releases or public statements are not currently available and may not be delivered on time or at all. Customers who purchase Salesforce applications should make their purchase decisions based upon features that are currently available. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "CRM." For more information please visit https://www.salesforce.com , or call 1-800-NO-SOFTWARE.

About Salesforce Ventures

Salesforce Ventures  the company's corporate investment group  invests in the next generation of enterprise technology that extends the power of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Portfolio companies receive funding, access to the world's largest cloud ecosystem and guidance from Salesforce's innovators and executives. With Salesforce Ventures, portfolio companies can also leverage Salesforce's expertise in corporate philanthropy by joining Pledge 1% to make giving back part of their business model. Salesforce Ventures has invested in more than 300 enterprise cloud startups in 20 countries since 2009. For more information, please visit www.salesforce.com/ventures.

1 Startup Muster Annual Report; provides an annual snapshot of the Australian startup ecosystem. Startup Muster , August 2018

2 Crossroads report, StartupAus, December 2018

SOURCE Salesforce

Related Links

http://www.salesforce.com


An experienced venture capitalist and investor, Ms. Johnson has been a member of the Strategic Committee of Iris Capital for the past decade and until recently has served as President of the European Business Angel Network, now President Emeritus. Ms. Johnson serves and has served on the boards of a number of emerging space leaders including NorthStar Earth and Space and Kacific. She is also the founding president of the VATM, the Association of Private Telecom Operators, co-founder of the Global Telecom Women's Network (GTWN) and co-founder of the Middle East and North Africa Business Angel Network (MBAN) and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN).

In her role as Chair of the Seraphim Space Global Advisory Board Ms. Johnson will preside over the committee including corporate backers from the industry including Airbus, Telespazio and SES along with representatives from European Space Agency and the Satellite Applications Catapult. A broad range of additional corporates from the space industry will also join once Seraphim concludes its new Global Space Fund.

"I am delighted to be joining peers from around the world to fuel not only 'New Space' but also a 'New Era in Space'," commented Ms. Johnson on her appointment. "The world has never needed so much connectivity, so much interconnectivity and so much interactivity. Space ventures play a critical role in providing the necessary infrastructures, services, and applications. This "New Era in Space" is bringing together governments, corporations, and entrepreneurs to realise visions of creating a better life on earth through the utilisation and exploration of space and space-enabled data."

"We are proud to have a global icon like Candace Johnson joining the team. She is one of the most experienced and globally active "New Space" entrepreneurs and investors in the world," said Mark Boggett, CEO of Seraphim. "SES has grown to become one of the world's most successful space businesses, now with a market cap of 8bn. We can think of no one better to give us the thought leadership necessary to support existing activities alongside the raising and deployment of the new Seraphim Space Global Fund."

Candace joins a strong line-up of other partners at Seraphim who have successfully founded and scaled giant international space-related businesses including Michael Jones, co-founder of Google Earth and Matt O'Connell co-founder of earth observation leader GeoEye sold to Digital Global for $1.3bn.

About Seraphim Capital

The world's leading space-venture firm Seraphim Capital manages Seraphim Space Fund which is funded by a range of multi-national corporates including Airbus, SES, Telespazio, E2V Teledyne and Rolta. Seraphim also operates their Space Camp Accelerator which is backed Inmarsat, Rolls Royce, Cyient, DSTL along with the UK and European Space Agencies. Seraphim Managing Partners include Silicon Valley based Michael Jones (founder of Google Earth), New York based Matt O'Connell (co-founder GeoEye, ex CEO of One Web). Alongside Space Tech Angels Seraphim has built a portfolio of over 30 spacetech and dronetech startups including Spire Global, Iceye and LeoLabs. The firm is currently raising the Seraphim Space Global Fund which will include a broad range of additional space, aerospace and drone related multinational corporates.

About Ms. Johnson

In addition to the activities mentioned above, Ms. Johnson is currently Vice Chair of NorthStar Earth and Space, Co-Founder/Member of the Board of OWNSAT (Oceania Women's Network Satellite), co-founder of EBAN Space and has mentored and invested in numerous "New Space" start-ups throughout the years. In addition to her space-related activities, Ms. Johnson is President Emeritus of EBAN, Strategic Committee Member of Iris Capital, and President/Co-founder of numerous angel investment funds. She is also a member of the Board of Store Electronics Systems- Imagotag (SESL - Paris Next) and EDHEC, a leading French business school. She has been a member of the International Advisory Boards of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Sabanci University (Istanbul) and KACST International Innovation and Entrepreneurial Advisory Board (Riyadh). Among other distinctions, Ms. Johnson has been decorated with the Commander of the Order of Merit and the Officer of the Oak Leaf Crown from Luxembourg as well as the Officer of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany and has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the World Telecommunications Awards and Women in Aerospace Europe and an honorary doctorate from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

SOURCE Seraphim Capital
Longworth most recently served as global chief marketing officer and senior vice president Intuit Small Business and Self-Employed Group (QuickBooks), where he launched the 2018 "Backing You" campaign. It was the first integrated global marketing campaign that significantly accelerated customer and online revenue growth. Prior to Intuit, Longworth was senior vice president of marketing for Sony PlayStation, where his team was responsible for the 2013 launch of the PlayStation 4, which was the most successful gaming console launch in history.

"I could not be more excited to be joining the outstanding team at ServiceTitan that is solving so many important problems that are faced by the hard working men and women who provide invaluable service to homes across the USA and Canada," Longworth said. "ServiceTitan is a remarkable platform for them and offers extraordinary value to its customers. This team has built such an important, mission-driven business, and I look forward to joining them to write the next chapter of success for ServiceTitan."

2018 has been a milestone year for ServiceTitan. The company raised more than $200 million in two rounds of venture financing, including the largest venture round of an SaaS company in the history of Southern California ($165 million Series D) led by Index Ventures, with participation from Dragoneer and T. Rowe Price and existing investors Battery Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners and ICONIQ Capital. ServiceTitan was also named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. for the second year in a row and the Forbes Cloud 100 list of the world's best private cloud computing companies.

"Guy has a deep background in building mission-driven businesses and brands," said Ara Mahdessian, CEO and co-founder of ServiceTitan. "During his time at Intuit and Sony PlayStation, the companies enjoyed spectacular growth in customer acquisition, revenue and profit. He's bringing that experience and expertise in growing businesses and brands to ServiceTitan at a pivotal time for the company. His insights and leadership will be integral to ServiceTitan as we build on the success we've had in 2018 and continue to offer our customers the highest level of convenience and customer experience in the home services industry."

In addition to his experience at Intuit and Sony PlayStation, Guy has enjoyed a successful career, including serving as CMO for Kellogg U.K. and Ireland. He earned a B.S. honors degree in management sciences from Manchester University.

ServiceTitan was founded by Mahdessian and Vahe Kuzoyan in 2012 when they discovered there were few software options to recommend to their fathers, both of whom were tradesmen. ServiceTitan now has more than 600 employees in Los Angeles and Atlanta and more than 2,500 client businesses throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.servicetitan.com.

About ServiceTitan

ServiceTitan is a mobile, cloud-based software platform that helps home service companies streamline operations, improve customer service, and increase sales. The platform's end-to-end solution for the multi-billion dollar residential home services industry includes CRM, intelligent dispatch, custom reporting, marketing automation, a mobile solution for field techs, and accounting integrations with Sage Intacct and QuickBooks. The company also brings a fully operational, modern SaaS infrastructure to an industry traditionally underserved by the tech sector. That is why ServiceTitan is the preferred software for the world's most successful plumbing, HVAC, and electrical companies. For more information about ServiceTitan, visit https://servicetitan.com/.

Media Contact:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE ServiceTitan

Related Links

http://www.servicetitan.com


PARIS and BOSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Shift Technology , a provider of AI-native solutions for the global insurance industry, today announced the company has closed a C-round investment of $60 million, bringing total investment in the company to $100 million. Bessemer Venture Partners led the round and was joined by previous investors including Accel, General Catalyst and Iris Capital. The investment will support the company's expansion, bolstering Shift's existing global presence, particularly in the US and Japanese markets, as well as R&D and new product development.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Shift team. They have built a powerful AI platform that is transforming the insurance market and we are confident that they are just getting started," explained Charles Birnbaum, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. "The Shift team has already had a great deal of success with carriers all over the world and we are excited to support their next phase of growth as they help their customers navigate the digital transformation that is now in full swing in this industry."

Since its founding in 2014, Shift Technology has experienced exceptional global growth. The company's more than 200 employees serve clients across Europe, Asia and the Americas from its headquarters in Paris and offices in Boston, Tokyo, Toronto, London, Hong Kong, Madrid, Singapore and Zurich.

FORCE, Shift's fraud detection solution, is in use by insurers around the world across all lines of business. The solution has analyzed hundreds of millions of claims to identify potential fraud, giving fraud handlers a powerful decision-making platform specically designed to scale their capacity and add greater efficiency to claims processing.

This new funding will support continued evolution of Shift's fraud detection solutions and enable the company to accelerate product development focused on automating the entire claims process for carriers and their customers. Shift will provide a claims automation solution that mitigates the increased fraud risks and other unique challenges of highvolume, low-touch claims analysis. This will enable carriers to provide an exceptional customer experience by confidently delivering straight through processing at greater scale than previously possible. AXA Spain, a long-time Shift client and early adopter of the company's solutions, is already benefiting from Shift's innovations in the claim automation space.

In addition to supporting new product innovation, this latest funding round will be used to drive go-to-market strategies in key geographies. The company is expanding its US headquarters in Boston and its offices in Tokyo, and plans to hire for positions including data scientists, developers, and sales and marketing professionals. In just over four years, the company counts many of the world's leading insurance brands as clients. These notable companies include AG2R LA MONDIALE, CNA Financial Corporation, Credit Agricole Pacifica & Spirica, Covea, Harmonie Mutuelle Groupe VYV, Liberty Mutual, MACIF, MS&AD Insurance Group, P&V Group, and the General Insurance Association of Singapore and the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers, among more than 70 clients in over 25 countries.

"I'm incredibly proud of what our team  with the support of an amazing board of directors  has been able to accomplish in a relatively short time," stated Jeremy Jawish, CEO and co-founder, Shift Technology. "Our AI-native technology is helping the world's leading insurance companies inject greater efficiency and accuracy into their systems. We're supporting their digital transformation strategies and helping them improve customer satisfaction. We strongly believe that AI can benefit so many more aspects of the claims process and of the insurance policy lifecycle overall. With this investment, we're well positioned for our next phase of growth and development."

About Shift Technology

Shift Technology delivers the only AI-native fraud detection and claims automation solutions built specifically for the global insurance industry. Our SaaS solutions identify individual and network fraud with double the accuracy of competing offerings, and provide contextual guidance to help insurers achieve faster, more accurate claim resolutions. Shift has analyzed hundreds of millions of claims to date and was named by CB Insights to the 2018 Global AI Top 100. For more information please visit www.shift-technology.com .

About Bessemer Venture Partners

Bessemer Venture Partners is the world's most experienced early-stage venture capital firm. With a portfolio of more than 200 companies, Bessemer helps visionary entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to create companies that matter, and supports them through every stage of their growth. The firm has backed more than 120 IPOs, including Shopify, Yelp, LinkedIn, Skype, LifeLock, Twilio, SendGrid, DocuSign, Wix, and MindBody. Bessemer's 15 partners operate from offices in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York City, Boston, Israel, and India. For more information, please visit www.bvp.com.

Contact:

Shift Technology

Rob Morton

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

617-416-9216

SOURCE Shift Technology

Related Links

https://www.shift-technology.com


DUBAI, UAE, March 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SimplePay, an electronic payments innovator headquartered in Sydney, Australia, has secured an initial $5m USD from Fluce Capital and Versatile Group. This initial amount is part of a private placement round to raise growth capital to continue to accelerate SimplePay's business model, where they already work with over 500+ cities around the world.

SimplePay a fast growing technology business provides a unified payment layer that connects payments infrastructure that enables concise, connected & intelligent multi step payment journeys, that delivers key data insight that gives a city commercial pulse. The first step towards full Smart City integration.

"This investment round will give us sufficient growth capital to scale our operations and implement our solutions globally," mentions Shadi Haddad Founder SimplePay Group. "We have an efficient business model where we are embedded into the retail, global transit & hospitality sectors with our infrastructure partners, delivering customer centric payment journeys using our unified payment and revenue assurance solutions."

The investment supports a growth trajectory that has seen SimplePay establish a foothold in the payments sector, and provide services to government and private operators in Australia, New Zealand, Europe & America. Since it was co-founded by Shadi Haddad in 2012, SimplePay has connected more than 14,000 locations onto its Smart City infrastructure.

"I often see retailers treat payments as a necessity, rather than an opportunity. I am excited to be a part of the journey with SimplePay as they innovate the payments sector," explains Marco Fahd, CEO Versatile Group.

SimplePay's cloud-based payments platform reduces the need for consumers to repeatedly present payment instruments and identity documentation at each step in their journey. The technology is capable of providing deep data insight to government and for managing a cities infrastructure across multi payment journeys - private parking, transit and hospitality (hotel) operators connected into existing ticketing hardware and booking engines.

"Traditional payment systems are built around 60-year old technology that no longer caters for a modern Smart City's requirements," said Chris Hicks, CEO. "We've developed a fast and easy to deploy solution tailored for residents & visitors of Smart Cities that enhances their experience, delivering real time data insight for those who plan and manage the cities commercial needs and business flows."

This investment round will enable SimplePay to increase its coverage to over 40,000 locations within the next 24 months, covert the current long pipeline and allow for a stronger entrance into the EMEA, GCC and Asian markets.

In a recent article, "The Pulse of a City" technology and Blockchain evangelist Nick Ayton CEO Chainstarter Group made the following comment about SimplePay's technology as it relates to mass mobility as a Unified Payments Journey, "As people arrive in the city they reveal themselves, what their intentions are, what they are up to, via airline and hotel booking systems, taxis and UBER accounts, ticketing at stations and metros, restaurants and places of attraction (zoos, conferences, hospitals, museums, shows), carparks, shops and malls, any place that takes payment, which is pretty much everywhere. With SimplePay it is possible to know when they are coming, for the city to prepare for their journey ahead of time."

About SimplePay

SimplePay is an emerging leader in the payments sector, offering clear customer-centric payment experiences across all channels providing tremendous insights to government and private operators in the Parking, Transit, Specialty Retail & Hospitality industries.

About Fluce Capital

Fluce Capital is the world's first ethical crypto currency managed wealth fund is managed by Abdul Helou. The multimillion-dollar investment from Fluce Capital comes from Fluce's Innovation Fund located in Madrid and is designed to help grow and foster innovation in the payments and wealth management sectors. www.flucecapital.com

About Versatile Group

Versatile Group is the leading end to end solution for the construction industry, our construction services are horizontally integrated and we pride ourselves on having this breadth without compromising safety, quality and project delivery. Having partnered Australia's largest tier one construction projects allows us to have incomparable insight. As a leader in our industry we believe it is up to the group to continually innovate and develop new technologies. Versatile Group is committed to working with innovative and emerging technology companies. Versatile take pride in supporting the ideas that will help shape our tomorrow. www.versatile.com.au

Contact:

AU: +61-477-633-733

UK: +44-750-776-2154

SOURCE SIMPLEPAY
Slyce, which currently powers visual search for 60 retailers, announced that multiple grocery retailers are licensing its mobile SDK to power a list-building experience in their apps. Using Slyce's "batch capture" mode, a consumer can build a list by scanning barcodes, product labels, or taking photos of foods without barcodes (such as fruits and vegetables). Retailers are leveraging visual search to help customers build shopping lists and order from home, as well as enable "Scan and Go" self-checkout in store. The most recent partner is ALDI Sud, the German supermarket chain with more than 9,000 locations, which picked Slyce to help re-invent the in-store customer shopping experience.

Slyce also announced the acquisition of the software assets of Hiku, an innovative startup that created a voice-enabled handheld scanner for building shopping lists at home  Hiku was the forerunner to the Alexa-enabled Amazon Dash Wand. While Hiku initially sold devices direct to consumer, Slyce acquired the software assets and intends to shift to offering a white-label solution for grocery retailerswho can utilize the technology inside a mobile app, or as part of a white-labeled device provided directly to their loyalty customers.

"Supermarkets are the next frontier for visual search," said Slyce CEO Ted Mann. "Populating shopping lists on your smartphone is difficult and time consuming. With visual search, we can reduce the time required for a customer's first mobile order from 20 minutes to less than 1."

Mobile barcode scanning is one of the grocery problem sets that Slyce is also tackling. "One thing that impressed us about Hiku was that their barcode recognition and matching was flawless," said Slyce CEO Ted Mann. "We tested dozens of grocery retailer apps, and those that have barcode scanning tended to match products less than 50% of the time. It's not a matter of the barcode detection failing, but rather the ability to find an exact or similar match in the retailer's database. It's a huge problem, and Hiku nailed the solution." Mann confirmed that the Hiku barcode tech, currently utilized by online grocery-ordering service Shipt, yields a 97% match rate for in-store scanning  2-6x the rate of all grocery apps that were tested.

Slyce will be demonstrating the new grocery and list-building capabilities at Shoptalk in Las Vegas (booth # 4133).

About Slyce

Slyce is the market leader in image recognition for retail, powering visual search in apps for retailers such as Home Depot, Tommy Hilfiger, JCPenney, Neiman Marcus, and Macy's. The service can identify virtually any product from an image and enable customers to snap a photo to buy something, add it to a wishlist, find it in store, or create another retail moment. For image download and further company information please click for the Slyce Media Kit: https://slyce.it/media-kit.

About Hiku

Founded in 2012, Hiku is now the leading connected device shopping platform on the planet, with e-commerce partners in the UK, France, Australia, and the US. Hiku recognizes millions of products, making it the only shopping button you will ever need.

CONTACT

Rob Haralson for Slyce

[email protected], (202) 674-6679

SOURCE Slyce
SAUSALITO, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Smart Meetings, the leading media company and most trusted resource for meeting professionals, is proud to announce the winners of the fourth annual Smart Women in Meetings Awards. This prestigious awards platform has come to serve as a celebrated benchmark for women who are making significant impacts on the meetings industry worldwide.

Females make up the majority of the workforce in the meetings and events industry and yet, most critical leadership roles are filled by men. Through this awards platform, Smart Meetings recognizes women who apply their natural leadership skills in all levels of their careers to elevate the meetings industry.

These women are not only the faces of the industry, but the backbone and spirit of it, as well. The awards recognize the industry's top female meeting professionals in seven prestigious categories including Hall of Fame, Visionaries, Industry Leaders, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, Stellar Performers and Rising Stars. These award winners were distinguished by thousands of nominations from their industry peers and colleagues, and evaluated against hundreds of remarkable, qualified meeting candidates. They earned top honors for their commitment and significant contributions to the meetings industry.

"As the leader of a Woman Owned business under the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), I am honored to promote such a worthy cause for my fellow women in meetings to celebrate our industry, and support and salute each other's goals and accomplishments," said Smart Meetings founder and CEO Marin Bright. "The Smart Women in Meetings Awards are especially close to my heart. I am proud to provide a platform for all the women in our industry who drive change and celebrate our progress together as one united community."

2019 Smart Women in Meetings Awards Winners

Smart Women in Meetings Award winners will be featured in the March issue of Smart Meetings magazine and will receive on-stage honors at the fourth annual Smart Women in Meetings Awards gala on May 8 at the Smart Woman Summit in Las Vegas.

The Smart Woman Summit

The 2019 Smart Woman Summit will be held at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and Paris Las Vegas Hotel on May 7-8. Everyone (women and men) in the meetings industry are welcome to attend this educational and professional development conference. The Smart Woman Summit will feature educational workshops, thought-leading keynote speakers, dynamic networking opportunities and will culminate with the Smart Women in Meetings Awards gala.

About Smart Meetings:

Smart Meetings is the leading media company and the most trusted resource for meeting professionals. Providing best-in-class service, Smart Meetings publishes cutting-edge meetings content in print and digital magazines, hosts world-class hosted-buyer networking events, provides CEU-accredited webinars and offers myriad digital resources.

CONTACT:

Jennifer Harrington

Director of Marketing

[email protected]

SOURCE Smart Meetings

Related Links

http://smartmeetings.com


"In Wisconsin, suicide is the 2 nd leading cause of death for ages 15-34. Our state currently ranks 42 out of 51 in access to mental health care for children. This has to change - we have to do better! We hope that by meeting with lawmakers we can increase awareness and resources for suicide to save lives in Wisconsin," said Gena Orlando, AFSP Wisconsin Chapter Board Chair.

The first annual AFSP Wisconsin State Capitol Day is a special day for all who have a connection with or a personal story around the topic of suicide. Volunteers will meet with their state legislators and share their stories about why they participate in this advocacy effort, giving a human face to this important health problem. Advocates hope that by sharing their stories, they will help legislators understand that state investments in mental health and suicide prevention can save lives.

AFSP Wisconsin advocates are part of a larger national movement of AFSP volunteer advocates who will be visiting over 40 state capitols across the United States in 2019 to bring best practices in suicide prevention to state legislators and their staff. To learn more about AFSP's advocacy efforts, visit here: https://afsp.org/our-work/advocacy/.

On average, one hundred twenty-nine (129) Americans died by suicide each day in 2017, and 90% of those individuals had a diagnosable mental health condition at the time of their death. AFSP volunteers will urge state lawmakers to be the voice for the thousands of Wisconsin residents affected by suicide each year.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that's smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. Led by CEO Robert Gebbia and headquartered in New York, with a Public Policy Office in Washington, D.C. AFSP has local chapters in all 50 states with programs and events nationwide. Learn more about AFSP in its latest Annual Report, and join the conversation on suicide prevention by following AFSP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

SOURCE American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Related Links

http://www.afsp.org


"As we continue to grow and bring Sweetfin to more cities in the U.S., it's great to have a partner like Postmates who helps us provide a consistent dining experience to wherever our customers are," said Seth Cohen, founder, Sweetfin. "Postmates large delivery footprint in Southern California, as well as their strong brand, are just some of the reasons that we decided to work with them exclusively."

"We are thrilled to be exclusive partners with Sweetfin, a clear category leader, and work closely with them to continue to drive growth," said Dan Mosher, SVP, Merchant Lead, Postmates. "Poke is one of Postmates' top items ordered in Southern California and we are excited to offer a fast growing and taste making brand like Sweetfin only on Postmates."

Sweetfin currently has 10 locations in Southern California and has plans to continue to expand in 2019. Postmates delivers in nearly 3,000 cities nationally today, serving 67% of the US population. Postmates maintains a leadership position in LA and the southwest where we hold #1 market share -- nearly 80% more market share than the next largest competitor, according to Second Measure."

To order from Sweetfin, visit Postmates.com or download Postmates on iOS or Android . Delivery fees start at $1.99; however, customers can pay zero delivery fees when they subscribe to Postmates subscription service, Unlimited, $7.99 per month, when paid annually.

To get more information about being a merchant on the Postmates platform, please visit https://postmates.com/partner .

About Postmates

Postmates helps people unlock the best of their cities  and their lives, with the reliable on-demand "anything" network. Launched in 2011, Postmates pioneered the on-demand delivery movement in the U.S. by offering delivery from restaurants and stores previously only available offline. The company now operates in 2,940 U.S. cities, as well as Mexico, and provides access to over 200,000 merchants. Postmates is headquartered in San Francisco and has more than 800 employees. Learn more: www.postmates.com .

About Sweetfin

Sweetfin reimagines Hawaii's traditional "soul food" with its delicious, healthful, California inspired poke bowls. With nine locations in Southern California, the fresh fast-casual restaurant serves up both customizable and Signature Bowls from a menu created by former Top Chef Chef Dakota Weiss. After visiting the islands, founders Alan Nathan, Seth Cohen, and Brett Nestadt were inspired to bring the authentic Hawaiian dish to Los Angeles but with an added Californian twist. Their first store opened in Santa Monica in April of 2015. ( www.sweetfin.com ) The brand continues to rapidly grow beyond L.A. as it focuses on the San Diego market and beyond.

SOURCE Postmates

Related Links

http://www.postmates.com


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is hosting a free interactive webinar on "The Biology of Addiction" on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, from 2pm to 3pm EST. Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Ph.D., Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Friedman Brain Institute at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, will discuss drugs of abuse that corrupt brain regions and circuits. During this Webinar, Dr. Nestler will describe the molecular, cellular, and circuit actions of drugs of abuse and how knowledge gained from this work can be used to develop more effective treatments of addiction. Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., President and CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation and host of the public television show "Healthy Minds," will be the moderator. Join by phone or on the web at bbrf.org/marchwebinar.

This is the second in a series of free monthly "Meet the Scientist" webinars on the latest developments in psychiatry offered by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation.

BBRF awards research grants to develop improved treatments, cures, and methods of prevention for mental illness. These illnesses include addiction, ADHD, anxiety, autism, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, depression, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, and schizophrenia. Since 1987, the Foundation has awarded more than $394 million to fund more than 4,700 leading scientists around the world, which has led to over $3.9 billion in additional funding. 100% of every dollar donated for research is invested in our research grants. The Foundation's operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants.

SOURCE Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Related Links

http://www.bbrfoundation.org


NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Monoclonal Antibodies, Cytokines & Immunomodulators, Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cell Therapy, Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy, Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Melanoma, Prostate Cancer, Head & Neck Cancer, Hospitals, Cancer Research Centres, Clinics



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05748384



The world cancer immunotherapy market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.4% in the second half of the forecast period. The market reached $63bn in 2018, dominated by the monoclonal antibody segment which held 66% share of the market.



How this report will benefit you

Read on to discover how you can exploit the future business opportunities emerging in this sector.

In this brand new 194-page report you will receive 110 tables and 93 figures all unavailable elsewhere.

The 194-page report provides clear detailed insight into the global cancer-treating drugs market. Discover the key drivers and challenges affecting the market.

By ordering and reading our brand-new report today you stay better informed and ready to act.



Report Scope

 Global cancer immunotherapy market forecasts from 2019-2029



This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the global cancer immunotherapy market by Technology:

 Monoclonal Antibodies

 Cytokines & immunomodulators

 Others (Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, Cell Therapy, Oncolytic Virus Immunotherapy)



Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW.



This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the global cancer immunotherapy market by Application:

 Lung Cancer

 Breast Cancer

 Colorectal cancer

 Melanoma Cancer

 Prostate Cancer

 Head & Neck Cancer,

 Others (Renal Cell Carcinoma, Cervical, Gastric, Lymphoma)



Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW.



This report also breaks down the revenue forecast for the world cancer immunotherapy market by End-User:

 Hospitals

 Cancer Research Centers

 Clinics



Each submarket is further broken down by region: North America, South America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and ROW.



This report provides individual revenue forecasts to 2029 for these regional and national markets:

 North America: US, Canada, Mexico

 South America: Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Rest of South America

 Europe: The UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Rest of Europe

 Asia-Pacific: China, Japan, India, Australia, Thailand, Rest of Asia-Pacific

 Rest of World: Middle East, Africa, Other Countries



Each regional market is further broken down by technology, application and end-user.

 This report discusses trends in the industry and assesses drivers and restraints, as well as opportunities and threats. It also includes porters' five force analysis; threat of new entrants, power of suppliers, power of buyers, rivalry among competitors and threat of substituents.



Our study discusses the selected leading companies that are the major players in the cancer immunotherapy market:

 Adaxic Inc

 AstraZeneca

 Bayer

 Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)

 Eli Lilly and Co.

 Medtronic Plc

 Merck & Co., Inc. (Merck)

 Novartis

 Pfizer

 Roche



The report provides overviews of the companies, financial information, product portfolio, pipeline products and recent developments.



Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05748384



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


PLANTATION, Fla., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- TradeStation, a Monex Group company and award-winning* broker-dealer and futures commission merchant, has been ranked one of America's "Top 5" online brokers overall and "Top 5" in "Best for Day Trading" in Investopedia's annual survey of online brokers.

"TradeStation's focus on high-quality market data, trade executions and their commitment to superior customer service makes them a good choice for the active trader," Investopedia wrote in its review. "Their systems are stable and remain available during market surges."

"Technical analysis and statistical modeling of trading strategies is another strength of the TradeStation platform," Investopedia noted. "You can develop your own automatic trading system using the analysis tools and strategy back-testing. You can also generate income through the fully paid stock lending program and enhance your trading skills with the extensive educational offerings."

Investopedia further cited TradeStation's "excellent charting and technical analysis tools," the platform's Portfolio Maestro feature that "analyzes performance in a variety of ways" and trading education content that "is top notch." The review likewise touched on TradeStation's future ambitions, including plans "to launch a digital asset trading platform [through its new subsidiary, TradeStation Crypto, Inc.] and an updated futures options platform later this year."

According to its website, Investopedia "user-tested and reviewed more than 70 online brokers, examining every critical feature, considering their product offerings, fee structures, trading technology, research, education, and customer service."

"We're honored to be recognized by Investopedia as one of America's top five online brokers," said John Bartleman, President of TradeStation Group, Inc. "From advanced trading tools and technology to excellent education and customer service, we're committed to providing both experienced traders and aspiring investors with an overall brokerage experience that is second to none in the industry."

To speak with an account executive to learn more about TradeStation or to open an account, call 1.800.808.9336 or visit TradeStation.com.

About TradeStation Group, Inc.

For more than 30 years, the TradeStation Group companies have been pioneering leaders in the online trading industry, committed to delivering the best trading technology, brokerage services, trading education and support to individual and institutional traders. TradeStation's award-winning trading and analysis platforms offer access to equities, options and futures trading at the major U.S. equities and options exchanges and market centers, as well as the major futures exchanges. TradeStation's clients have access to the powerful tools needed to design, test, optimize, monitor and automate custom trading strategies, and its mobile and web trading apps allow clients to take the power of the TradeStation trading experience on the go. TradeStation also provides a vast array of educational offerings to help beginning and advanced clients learn online trading and investing skills to help them meet their trading and investment objectives.

* Visit TradeStation.com/Awards for more information.

SOURCE TradeStation Group, Inc.

Related Links

http://TradeStation.com


WASHINGTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- VMLY&R is proud to support the U.S. Census Bureau in the development of the 2020 Census Integrated Communications Campaign under the creative platform "Shape your future. START HERE." announced by the Census Bureau today.

Mandated by the U.S. Constitution, the decennial census takes place every 10 years. The 2020 Census will determine any changes in the number of congressional seats per state and help determine state legislative and school district boundaries. Responses to the 2020 Census will also inform how more than $675 billion in federal funding is distributed to local communities, including decisions about how public funds are spent on critical public services such as schools, fire and emergency services, and healthcare.

"The 2020 Census is intended to count every person and it is critical that our communications strategy reach and inspire a wide variety of audiences," said Alex Hughes, VMLY&R Executive Director. "This platform reflects more than 18 months of extensive research with tens of thousands of individuals who represent a wide diversity of people across America. 'Shape your future' performed strongly in testing and was found to be aspirational, informative, and relatable."

VMLY&R (formerly Y&R) secured the Integrated Communications Contract for the 2020 Census campaign in August of 2016. As the contract's primary agency of record, VMLY&R created an integrated team for this project, Team Y&R, which includes PSB, Wavemaker, Carol H. Williams Advertising, Culture ONE World, G+G Advertising, The Kalaimoku Group, TDW+Co., VMLY&R Puerto Rico, Wavemaker Puerto Rico, Reingold, BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe), DCG, and Guidehouse.

The "Shape your future. START HERE." campaign platform was informed by the 2020 Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Study, an online survey of 50,000 individuals conducted by the Census Bureau in 2018. The online survey was supplemented with qualitative focus groups to uncover knowledge and attitudes among small demographic groups and those difficult to reach online.

The qualitative and quantitative data indicate that, although there are important differences across demographic groups, funding for public services is a key motivator across most demographics. Focus groups, in particular, showed that participants might be persuaded of the importance of census participation if they make the connection between completing a census form and the possibility of an increase in funding or support for their community in the future. Subsequent online testing of creative concepts led to the final development of the "Shape your future. START HERE." platform.

Multicultural agencies helped conduct the platform research, shape the direction of the creative concept, and consult representatives within the communities they target for validation of the concept. The following statements were made by leadership of these agencies:

Tim Wang , Founder of Asian American audience partner TDW+Co. , said, "We believe that through the 2020 Census, Asian American communities have an opportunity to play an active role in shaping the future by being counted, and this platform will remind them of that opportunity. Our participation matters, and this campaign hopes to inform, educate, and inspire the need for action."

, said, "We believe that through the 2020 Census, Asian American communities have an opportunity to play an active role in shaping the future by being counted, and this platform will remind them of that opportunity. Our participation matters, and this campaign hopes to inform, educate, and inspire the need for action." Duly Fernandez, a founder of the campaign's Hispanic audience partner Culture ONE World , said, "The 'Shape your future' platform provides an opportunity to create and deliver important messages to the Hispanic audience. We're looking forward to bringing the concept to life with paid advertising creative, in social media platforms, and through public partnerships and events."

, said, "The 'Shape your future' platform provides an opportunity to create and deliver important messages to the Hispanic audience. We're looking forward to bringing the concept to life with paid advertising creative, in social media platforms, and through public partnerships and events." Michael Gray , President and CEO of the campaign's American Indian and Native Alaskan audience partner G&G , said, "We respect the fact that the 2020 Census platform encompasses the next generation. Native Americans are a people who continue to look ahead and overcome the past. This campaign platform represents more than just the now moment. It is about our future."

, said, "We respect the fact that the 2020 Census platform encompasses the next generation. Native Americans are a people who continue to look ahead and overcome the past. This campaign platform represents more than just the now moment. It is about our future." Carol H. Williams , CEO, President, and Chief Creative Officer of the campaign's African American audience partner Carol H. Williams Advertising , said, "We all love our communities, especially the ones we grew up in. They helped to mold us and gave us inspiration to succeed. That's why we appreciate 'Shape your future.' It's an authentic, strong message. Through this integrated campaign we strive to get a full count from the Black/African American communities in the 2020 Census to drive positive change."

, said, "We all love our communities, especially the ones we grew up in. They helped to mold us and gave us inspiration to succeed. That's why we appreciate 'Shape your future.' It's an authentic, strong message. Through this integrated campaign we strive to get a full count from the Black/African American communities in the 2020 Census to drive positive change." John K.S. Aeto, founder of the campaign's Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) audience partner The Kalaimoku Group , said, "This is a monumental census for the NHPI community and we feel confident the 'Shape your future' platform will be a compelling message. We look forward with great optimism and confidence to an accurate and complete count of all Americans, especially the NHPI community.

, said, "This is a monumental census for the NHPI community and we feel confident the 'Shape your future' platform will be a compelling message. We look forward with great optimism and confidence to an accurate and complete count of all Americans, especially the NHPI community. Carlos Carbonell , Strategic Planning Director of VML Y&R Puerto Rico, said, "The creative platform 'Shape your future' is all about the hope of making things better through active participation. It's all about doing a small thing that can have a huge positive effect on each individual and on the whole community. We believe this message will help the Puerto Rican community understand why the census is important, how easy it is to respond, and how urgent it is that we fill out the questionnaire on time."

About VMLY&R

VMLY&R is a global marketing agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands. The agency is made up of nearly 7,000 employees worldwide with principal offices in Kansas City, London, New York, Washington D.C, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Sydney. VMLY&R works with client partners including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Electrolux/Fridgidaire, Ford, Office Depot, Pfizer, and Wendy's.

For PR Inquiries

Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE VMLY&R

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LONDON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CleanEquity is an annual invitation-only event hosted by Innovator Capital, the London based specialist investment bank. The conference provides an intimate and collegiate setting for inventors and entrepreneurs to share their stories with delegates - key decision makers looking to assist them with reaching their commercial and strategic goals.

Other partners and sponsors include Prince Albert II of Monaco's Foundation, Cision, Covington & Burling, Cranfield, Hobbs & Towne, Monaco Economic Board, Parkview International and Reliance Industries.

Valori Transnational Limited has been identified by an expert panel as one of the world's most innovative sustainable technology companies and has been selected to present to selected sovereign, corporate, family and professional investors & acquires, policy makers, end users and international trade media.

About Valori

Valori are passionate about technologies that have the potential to solve world's greatest challenges - climate change, energy demand and waste management. Valori sees the alarming rise in waste generation with inadequate treatment and disposal methods as an exigent issue with adverse impact on environment and society as a whole. A recent report from World Bank estimates 2 billion tons of waste is generated every year. Inadequate waste collection, uncontrolled dumping, and burning of waste accounts for about 5% of total global GHG emissions.

In Valori's quest for comprehensive solution for waste management, Valori identified Reliance Catalytic Hydrothermal Liquefaction - 'RCAT-HTL' as the most promising and sustainable technology for waste valorisation. The technology has been developed by Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) as a spin-off development of RIL's Algae to Oil initiative. RCAT-HTL overcomes limitations of existing waste treatment technologies by utilising water in waste as a reactant, eliminating drying and recovering fertiliser-rich water. Valori's objective is to set up multiple RCAT-HTL commercial plants to convert organic biomass and waste to renewable drop-in crude capable of being refined into transportation fuels including Sustainable Aviation Fuel, thereby ensuring a safe and sustainable environment.

Valori Contact Details

Valori Regional office in United Kingdom is located at 4, Belle Vue Road, Paignton, UK. TQ4 6ER with Africa Regional office located at 5A Akanbi Disu Street, Off Providence Street, Lekki Phase I, Lagos, Nigeria.

Website: www.valoritrans.com,

Email: [email protected] and [email protected]

About Innovator Capital

Innovator Capital, established in 2003, is a specialist investment bank advising emerging technology companies on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions. Its expertise includes intellectual property and multinational strategic partnering.

SOURCE Innovator Capital
SAN FRANCISCO, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The global veterinary pain management market size is expected to reach USD 1.73 billion by 2026, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to register a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period. Growing companion adoption and incidence of veterinary diseases is expected to boost the growth. Moreover, increasing income in the developing countries is another growth driver. For instance, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) in 2017, around 46% household had multiple types of pets in U.S.

Key suggestions from the report:

NSAIDs accounted for the largest market share in terms of revenue in 2018, owing to the increasing incidence of chronic diseases

Companion animal segment is expected to exhibit lucrative growth over the forecast period owing to rise in pet adoption and expenditure for better pet care

Osteoarthritis (OA) segment is expected to hold the largest market share in terms of revenue due to increasing incidence of obesity which propels the risk for OA

Post-operative pain segment is expected to exhibit lucrative growth over the forecast period due to the increasing number of surgeries for chronic disorders

Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness lucrative growth due to rise in pet adoption and expendable income, especially in Japan and India

Some of the key companies operating in the veterinary pain management market are Zoetis, CEVA, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Bayer, Merck, and Elanco.

Read 100 page research report with TOC on "Veterinary Pain Management Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Product (NSAIDs, Anesthetics), By Indication, By Animal Type (Companion, Livestock), By End Use, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 - 2026" at: https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/veterinary-pain-management-market

North America held the dominant share of the veterinary pain management market in 2018, due to the favorable pet insurance policies and strategic initiatives adopted by various companies operating in the region. For instance, in August 2018, Zoetis Inc. acquired Abaxis in a probe to expand its veterinary products portfolio.

Increasing number of veterinary practitioners are anticipated to create growth opportunities in the market. High prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and osteoarthritis among others. These factors are projected to propel the market in the forthcoming years.

Furthermore, key players are implementing newer strategies such as product launch, merger and acquisitions, regional expansions etc. for increasing their foothold in the market. For instance, in March 2016, Dechra Pharmaceuticals acquired Putney in order to improve its animal product portfolio. In October 2018, Boehringer Ingelheim invested USD 80 million for R&D pertinent to veterinary vaccines in France. Moreover, increasing pet insurance coverage are further fueling the market growth.

Grand View Research has segmented the global veterinary pain management market on the basis of product, indication, animal type, end use, and region:

Veterinary Pain Management Product Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

NSAIDs



Anesthetics



Opioids



Others

Veterinary Pain Management Indication Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

Osteoarthritis



Post-operative pain



Others

Veterinary Pain Management Animal Type Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014  2026

Livestock animal



Companion Animal

Veterinary Pain Management End Use Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

Hospitals & Clinics



Others

Veterinary Pain Management Regional Outlook (Revenue, USD Million, 2014 - 2026)

North America



U.S.





Canada



Europe



U.K.





Germany





France





Italy





Spain



Asia Pacific



Japan





China





India



Latin America



Brazil





Mexico



Middle East & Africa

&

South Africa

Find more research reports on Pharmaceuticals Industry, by Grand View Research:

Companion Animal Health Market  Global companion animal health market size was valued at USD 15.91 billion in 2018 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 6.1% over the forecast period

Global companion animal health market size was valued at in 2018 and is expected to witness a CAGR of 6.1% over the forecast period Hemophilia Market  Global hemophilia market was valued at USD 11.1 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period

Global hemophilia market was valued at in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2% over the forecast period Anti-aging Services Market  Global anti-aging services market size was valued at USD 23.45 billion in 2018. It is poised to expand at a CAGR of 5.3% over the forecast period

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About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, U.S.-based market research and consulting company, provides syndicated as well as customized research reports and consulting services. Registered in California and headquartered in San Francisco, the company comprises over 425 analysts and consultants, adding more than 1200 market research reports to its vast database each year. These reports offer in-depth analysis on 46 industries across 25 major countries worldwide. With the help of an interactive market intelligence platform, Grand View Research helps Fortune 500 companies and renowned academic institutes understand the global and regional business environment and gauge the opportunities that lie ahead.

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ALBANY, New York, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Transparency Market Research (TMR) has published a new report titled 'Wheelchairs Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 20182026.' According to the report, the global wheelchairs market was valued at US$ 3,708.7 Mn in 2017. The market is anticipated to reach a value of US$ 6,253.6 Mn by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period. Rise in osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis and other lifestyle diseases, increase in disabled population, and rise in geriatric population are expected to augment the global market from 2018 to 2026. The global wheelchairs market is projected to expand, owing to acceptance and rise in the demand for technological advanced products and better reimbursement policies.

Get PDF Brochure for Research Insights at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=60672

Rise in disabled population worldwide is propelling the global wheelchairs market

The global wheelchairs market is expanding at a high growth rate, driven by an increase in the disabled population coupled with a rise in the demand for mobility devices. According to the Wheelchair Foundation data of 2017, in 34 developing countries around 10,000,000 people, which is 1% of the total population, were in need of wheelchairs, while there were 121,800,000 people, about 2% of the total population in developed countries were in need of wheelchairs. Moreover, around 131,800,000 people, which is 1.85% of the global population, require wheelchairs. These statistics indicate that the rising disabled population is at utmost need of mobility aids and wheelchair products, which help them performing their daily activities.

Request a Sample of Report at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=60672

Increase in the global geriatric population is driving the need for assistive devices like wheelchairs

Rising geriatric population globally is driving the demand for wheelchairs in order to carry out their daily routine. The geriatric population often suffers from walking or movement difficulties and sometimes, certain chronic diseases affect their mobility so their dependency on wheelchairs helps improve the quality of their life. Rise in the geriatric population demands better treatment options, which in turn, is likely to provide opportunities to companies that operate in the global wheelchairs market. According to the United Nations, the geriatric population or people above the age of 60, is expected to double by 2050, and triple by 2100. It is projected to rise from 962 million in 2017 to 2.1 billion by 2050 and reach 3.1 billion by 2100. Globally, the geriatric population is the rising at a rapid pace than the population growth rate of the younger age group.

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North America dominates the global wheelchairs market owing to rise in awareness, technological advancements, and aging baby boomers

North America dominates the global wheelchairs market, owing to the availability of advanced wheelchairs, awareness of different powered wheelchairs, and high spending capacity in the region. Demand for wheelchairs is rising at a steady pace owing to their long lifespan, as these product aren't perishable. Moreover, aging baby boomers create a demand for personal mobility aids including wheelchairs to help them lead a comfortable life. According to the, U.S. Census Bureau, in September 2018, all baby boomers are expected to be older than the age of 65 by the year 2030.

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Development of Self-driving wheelchairs is an innovative approach, and pneumatic waterproof powered wheelchair offers significant opportunities to boost the market

Development of wheelchairs that feature innovative technologies is a boon for the disabled population that would help lead a quality life. Development of self-driving wheelchair is a beneficial technology for people with mobility challenges. It is expected offer significant opportunities to several companies investing into this new technology. These wheelchairs are also beneficial for the geriatric people residing in old age homes, where self-driving wheelchairs would help improve their mobility. The development of pneumatic powered wheelchairs also offers an opportunity to improve the life of patients, thus helps in reduction in the prices of wheelchairs for manufacturers as well as customers. Integration of pneumatic technology with the powered wheelchairs enables patients to utilize a lighter and safe wheelchair.

Browse Press Release - https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/wheelchairs-market.htm

Investments and mergers & acquisitions by key players are driving the wheelchairs market

Key players dominating the global wheelchairs market are Invacare Corporation, Sunrise Medical LLC, Ottobock, Permobil, Pride Mobility Products Corp, Drive Medical, GF Health Products Inc., 21st century Scientific Inc., Karman Healthcare, and Hoveround. Major players are focusing on mergers and acquisitions and are investing the development of advanced wheelchairs that are cost-effective for users.

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TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.

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SOURCE Transparency Market Research
WASHINGTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Break rooms across America display signs imploring staff to clean up after themselves. They read: "Your mother doesn't work here." The National Museum of American History's new exhibit, "All Work, No Pay: A History of Women's Invisible Labor" examines just that: the implied expectation that women will take care of the housework. Opening March 4, this case display shows that despite advances in the paid labor force, women continue to be responsible for most of the unpaid work at home.

The display explores the theme of unpaid work in three sections: "Separating Home and Work," which identifies the changing perspectives of gender roles and work in early America; "Making Unpaid into Paid Work," which contrasts gains in the paid workforce against the continuation of unpaid work in the home from the 1890s to 1940s; and "The Second Shift," in which the unspoken expectation of housekeeping continues despite progress in women's rights from the 1960s through the 1990s.

"There is a historical relationship between unpaid work and the lower wages that women often receive in the workplace," said Kathleen Franz, chair and curator, Division of Work and Industry, who co-curated the exhibition alongside guest curator Kate Haulman, associate professor of history at American University. An infographic at the display points to a statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor based on the 2013 U.S. Census that women on average earn 80 cents to every dollar men make.

Pockets, aprons and housedresses meant for domestic work are among the featured objects. "Work wear" pieces from each time period serve to both underscore the enduring nature of housework over three centuries but also the ways in which women tailored their clothing to make that work easier on the body. In the 1700s and early 1800s, short gowns were garments owned by most women and highlight how they shared similar tasks across race and class despite the complicated dynamics and inequalities between them. These short gowns allowed for freedom of movement and were often complemented by "pockets" which could be tied on and used to carry small tools such as scissors and thimbles.

By the 20th century, there was a healthy retail market for ready-to-wear housedresses. Although new technologies, such as electric irons, promised to make women more efficient domestic laborers, they did little to lighten the load. Seeing an opportunity, entrepreneur Nell Donnelly Reed designed cheerful, stylish garments that made her a millionaire. Even during the Great Depression, her factory employed thousands of women to manufacture Nelly Don dresses. Finally, the exhibit features today's version of the contemporary housedress: yoga pants.

Many of the costumes on view represent the type of women's clothing that is rarely seen outside of the home and thus are representative of the invisibility of women's labor over time. "All Work, No Pay" draws on the deep collection of the museum's domestic clothing costumes, many of which have never been on view.

This display is part of the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative, #BecauseOfHerStory. The initiative is one of the country's most ambitious undertakings to research, collect, document, display and share the compelling story of women. It will deepen understanding of women's contributions to the nation and the world. More information about the initiative is available at https://womenshistory.si.edu.

"All Work, No Pay" is meant to stimulate intergenerational conversations about the association of gender and labor and will have a space adjacent to the display where visitors are invited to sit and share stories about who did the work in their mother or grandmother's houses to build an archive of housework. Curators plan to staff the conversation table on occasion in order to enter into a dialogue about the topic and to record and preserve oral histories about housework for the museum's permanent collection.

Through incomparable collections, rigorous research and dynamic public outreach, the National Museum of American History explores the infinite richness and complexity of American history. It helps people understand the past in order to make sense of the present and shape a more humane future. The museum is located on Constitution Avenue N.W., between 12th and 14th streets, and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For more information, visit http://americanhistory.si.edu. For Smithsonian information, the public may call (202) 633-1000.

SOURCE Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Related Links

www.mnh.si.edu


Washington, March 4 : A committee of the US House of Representatives is seeking documents alleging obstruction of justice, corruption and abuse of power by President Donald Trump and his aides.

Judiciary committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told ABC news that 60 individuals and entities would be receiving requests from Monday, the BBC reported on Sunday.

Nadler said he believed Trump had obstructed justice.

But any impeachment move would depend on the results of the inquiry.

President Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing and accused Democrats of a witch hunt.

On Saturday, he launched a furious attack on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, railing against the inquiry he is leading into alleged collusion between his campaign and Russia.

Mueller is expected to hand in his report to the attorney general shortly.

Targeting Mueller repeatedly -- as well as firing the former FBI chief over the Russia inquiry -- were among the issues Nadler cited as "clear" cases of obstruction of justice by President Trump.

But the Democratic congressman said "we do not have the evidence" to start an impeachment procedure against the president.

"Impeachment is a long way down the road, we don't have the facts yet, but we're going to initiate proper investigations," Nadler told This Week.

"Tomorrow (Monday), we will be issuing document requests to over 60 different people and individuals from the White House to the Department of Justice," he said.

Among those receiving the requests would be Donald Trump Junior.

Democrats are now in control of the House of Representatives, with Republicans holding the Senate.
Washington, March 4 : US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has condemned a poster linking her to the 9/11 attacks displayed at a Republican stall in the West Virginia legislature.

She said the "anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist" encouraged threats of violence against her, the BBC reported on Monday West Virginia Republicans said they did not support hate speech and had told the exhibitor to remove the poster.

Omar was elected last November, one of the first two Muslim women to have been elected to the US Congress.

The poster at Friday's West Virginia Republican Day in the state legislature in the town of Charleston showed her and the burning twin towers in New York alongside the words: "Never forget - you said. I am the proof - you have forgotten."

In response, Omar said the image showed why she was the target of threats.

"No wonder I am on the 'hitlist' of a domestic terrorist and 'Assassinate Ilhan Omar' is written on my local gas stations," she said.

"Look no further, the GOP's (Republican) anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them."

Omar's mention of a hitlist appears to refer to an alleged plot by a self-proclaimed white nationalist. Christopher Paul Hasson had a cache of weapons and a list of targets including Ms Omar and other prominent Democratic politicians.

The poster of Omar was next to a poster for ACT for America, West Virginia Public Broadcasting reported.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a rights group, lists ACT for America as "an anti-Muslim hate group".

However, ACT said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the poster of Omar and had a "zero-tolerance policy towards discrimination".

West Virginia House of Delegates member Anne Lieberman later resigned after she was accused in the House of making an Islamophobic remark.

Democratic Delegate Michael Angelucci said that during the row over the poster Anne Lieberman said all Muslims were terrorists.

Lieberman declined to comment when contacted by a media outlet.

Last month, Omar apologised for tweets implying US lawmakers only supported Israel because of lobby money.

"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," she said.
Washington, March 4 : A dual US-Saudi citizen who has been detained in Saudi Arabia reportedly has been beaten and tortured, a media report said.

The US State Department has confirmed Walid Fitaihi's detainment in Saudi Arabia and that it has raised his case with the Riyadh government.

"We can confirm that US citizen Walid Fitaihi is detained in Saudi Arabia, we are providing him consular services, and we have raised his case with the Government of Saudi Arabia," a Department spokesperson said told CNN on Sunday.

"We take all allegations of abuse and torture extremely seriously. "

Fitaihi is a physician who came to the US in the 1980s for education and then worked here.

He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2006 to start a hospital, which his family built. Fitaihi would periodically come back to the US for business.

He was detained in November 2017 at the Ritz Carlton hotel along with other prominent Saudis and without explanation, he was transferred to a Saudi prison where he has been held for nearly a year, according to his attorney Howard Cooper.

"It is believed that Fitaihi has been and is tortured at least psychologically during his imprisonment."

His family has been able to visit him occasionally as well as talk to him on the phone and said "he has physically deteriorated" and that he appears to be "emotionally broken", Cooper told CNN on Sunday.

"He has been held without any process whatsoever," the lawyer added.

The family is now going public on Fitaihi's behalf and is calling on President Donald Trump and senior presidential adviser Jared Kushner to insist on Fitaihi's release.

Meanwhile, a Saudi spokesman in a statement to The New York Times denied any mistreatment of detainees.

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes any and all allegations of ill treatment of defendants awaiting trial of prisoners serving their sentences very seriously," an embassy spokesman told the Times.

National Security Adviser John Bolton told CNN on Sunday that "as of this moment, my understanding is we have had what's called 'consular access', meaning American diplomats in Saudi Arabia have visited with him. Beyond that, we don't really have any additional information at this point".
Patna, March 4 : After the father of a slain CRPF trooper expressed anguish and anger over National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders for not paying homage to his dead son, Janata Dal-United (JDU) national Vice President Prashant Kishor has apologised to him.

"We are sorry for the error of judgement on part of those of us who should have been there with you in this hour of grief," Kishor said in a tweet on Sunday.

Pintu Singh, a resident of Begusarai district, was killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara district on Friday during an anti-terrorist operation.

After none of the NDA leaders or Bihar ministers were present at the Patna airport when his body was brought in on Sunday, his father Chakradhar Singh said: "Ministers are only concerned about remaining in power. It shows how concerned they are about the soldiers.

"NDA leaders were more concern about Sankalp rally of (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi. They have neglected to pay homage to a brave soldier who was killed for the country."
United Nations, March 4 : Members of the Indian community and international supporters have held a protest outside the UN headquarters demanding that the international organisation act against Pakistani leaders abetting terrorism and impose an arms embargo on Islamabad.

The protest on Sunday by about 400 people also included concerned citizens from the US, Bangladesh, Caribbean countries, Sri Lanka and Israel, as well as from Pakistan's Balochistan province.

The protesters held up signs listing various terrorist attacks around the world linked to Pakistan -- from Pulwama to New York's Times Square, and from Mumbai to London, and the Pakistani military's atrocities during Bangladesh's War of Independence.

Their posters also listed terrorist organisations like the Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Haqqani Network, Taliban, Laskshar-e-Omar, Sipah-e-Sahaba that are based in Pakistan and operate internationally.

A memorandum from the protesters to the UN said the world body should declare Pakistan a global terrorist state and JeM leader Masood Azhar an international terrorist and impose sanctions on them.

As a member of the Security Council, China has been protecting Azhar and has vetoed efforts by other members to add him to the list of global terrorists so he would face international sanctions.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 which killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

The memorandum also asked the UN to impose an arms embargo on Islamabad and financial and travel sanctions on Pakistani political and military leaders involved in protecting and aiding terrorist organisations.

Overseas Friends of BJP President Krishna Reddy Anugula said that they would send the memorandum to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Chennai March 4 : The DMK and VCK on Monday inked an electoral pact by which the latter will contest from two seats in Tamil Nadu in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The two parties reached the agreement after talks.

Speaking to the media, VCK leader Thirumavalavan said the two constituencies will be decided later.

According to Thirumavalavan, the DMK-led alliance will win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats -- 39 in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat.

He said the party would decide on whether to contest under its own symbol or under DMK's Rising Sun symbol.

The DMK has signed electoral alliance pacts with Congress (nine seats in Tamil Nadu and the lone Puducherry seat), IUML and KDMK (one seat each).

The DMK is also holding talks with the two communist parties, MDMK and others like DMDK.

The DMDK founded by A. Vijayakant has called a meeting of its party senior officials on Tuesday probably to decide on whom to align with.
Kochi, March 4 : Federal Bank on Monday launched two schemes for the welfare of the families of armed forces personnel.

From the academic year 2019-20 onwards, the bank will be giving a scholarship of up to Rs 1 lakh per year to the children of martyred armed forces personnel for pursuing higher studies, said a press release.

The other scheme offers scholarships to 100 meritorious students in the general category (and children of security personnel) who have secured admission in government-aided and self-financing colleges for MBBS, Engineering, BSc Nursing, BSc Agriculture including BSc (Hons) Co-operation and Banking with Agriculture Sciences, conducted by Agriculture Universities, and MBA.

In addition, a standing quota of 25 scholarships has been created for the benefit of the dependent children of armed forces personnel.

"The bank has decided to make a contribution out of its own sources to Armed Forces Welfare Fund. The bank will contribute an amount equal to the number of online transactions done by the customers in the month of March 2019 to Army Welfare Fund.

"With a considerable number of transactions in the bank happening online and a fast growing client base, the bank expects that the contribution envisioned will be sizeable," said the release.
Amsterdam, March 4 : Designer Tommy Hilfiger says actress Zendaya is passionate about causes that are close to her heart, and he is happy that she uses her platform to inspire millions of fans around the world.

"Zendaya is passionate about causes that are close to her heart. She uses her platform to inspire millions of fans around the world," Hilfiger said in a statement.

The designer got a chance to work with the actress on the Tommy x Zendaya capsule collection.

"Her strong set of values and incredible style truly speak to the spirit of the brand and comes out across the TommyXZendaya collaborative collection," Hilfiger added.

Hilfiger travelled to Paris with Zendaya to celebrate their collaboration inspired by 1970s icons and the 1973 Battle of Versailles fashion show. The TommyNow runway show took place last week, showcasing the Spring 2019 TommyXZendaya collaborative collection at the Theatre des Champs-Elysees.

The event built on the success of Tommy Hilfiger's signature "See Now, Buy Now" format, and runway looks were immediately available across an ecosystem of shoppable channels in more than 70 countries.

Opening up about her mantra as a designer, Zendaya said: "I've learned about what it really takes to make a garment. Even something as simple as a plain white tee takes so much more time...every job is crucial."
Coimbatore, March 4 : Amidst a raging controversy over the damage inflicted on the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror camp in Balakot, IAF chief B.S. Dhanoa on Monday said his force does not count human casualties but the airstrike had hit the "target".

"The Indian Air Force is not in a position to clarify the number of casualties. The government will clarify that. We don't count human casualties. We do not count how many people were dead. We count what targets we have hit or not. We hit our target. The air force doesn't calculate casualty numbers. The government does that," he told the media here.

"The target has been clearly amplified by the Foreign Secretary in a statement. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise why would he (Pakistan Prime Minister) have responded. If we dropped bombs in the jungles why would he respond," Dhanoa said in his first public remarks on the February 26 air force operation as a consequence of the February 14 Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

There has been a controversy over the number of people killed in the attack on the JeM camp in Balakot. While officially no figures have been given, BJP President Amit Shah claimed in Ahmedabad on Sunday that more than 250 terrorists were killed in that airstrike.

Union Minister S.S. Ahluwalia had said that the Balakot strike was to convey a message that India has the capacity to strike deep inside enemy lines and was not intended to inflict any human casualties.

Dhanoa said the bomb damage assessment was a different aspect and it was difficult for the IAF to confirm casualties. How many people were inside the targets cannot be said.

He also defended the use of the vintage MiG-21 Bison in the aerial engagement with a large package of intruding Pakistan Air Force (PAF) fighters on the Line of Control (LoC).

"One is a planned operation in which you plan and carry out. But when an adversary does a strike on you, every available aircraft goes in, irrespective of which aircraft it is. All aircraft are capable of fighting the enemy.

"The Mig-21 Bison is a capable aircraft, it has been upgraded, it has better radar, air-to air missiles and better weapons system," he said.

Refusing to get drawn into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that the outcome would have been different had Rafale jets joined the service, Dhanoa said that after the upgradation, the Bison is 3.5 generation with a range of missiles and avionics.

He said it has all the systems like chaffs, flares and other features.

The IAF chief also said that the first Rafale should come to India by September.

Amidst various reports in the international media questioning the veracity of the Indian claim of shooting down a PAF F-16, Dhanoa said it is confirmed that the American jets were used.

On the question of the US objecting to Pakistan using F-16s in a combat role against India, the IAF chief said he was not aware what is the end-user agreement between Washington and Islamabad over F-16s.

"I don't know about the end-user agreement between Pakistan and the US."

He said India has got the evidence of F-16 fighter planes being used by Pakistan in its attack on India as a part of the AMRAAM missile was recovered from the Indian soil.

Talking about Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman getting back into his squadron, Dhanoa said it will depend on his medical condition and how fast he recovers to get back into a fighter cockpit.

"Abhinandan flying again depends on his medical fitness. If he is fit to fly a fighter plane then he will go back to the same unit."

Elaborating on the IAF's future inductions, he said final price negotiations for 83 LCAs will be finalised soon.

The IAF is awaiting LCA mk 1a and LCA mk 2, still on the drawing board, to replace Jaguars, Mig-29s, and Mirages leading to the fifth generation Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA).
Cairo, March 4 : An award-winning Egyptian photojournalist was freed on Monday after serving more than five years in prison on charges of attending an Islamist protest in 2013.

Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as Shawkan, had been in custody since August 14, 2013, when he was arrested while covering the Muslim Brotherhood sit-in at Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya Square, reports Efe bews.

"Shawkan is free," according to a post on the Freedom for Shawkan Facebook page.

Abu Zeid also posted an image celebrating his release on his Twitter account.

The photojournalist's lawyer Taher Abu al-Nasr told Efe that Shawkan was released at around 6 a.m. from a police station in the district of al-Haram, Giza.

Shawkan won the 2018 Unesco/Guillermo Cano Press Freedom Prize, which was announced in Ghana on World Press Freedom Day on May 2, 2018.

His lawyer told Efe that the photojournalist would be placed on probation for another five years, meaning he will need to report to a police station each night after sunset, although those restrictions could still be adjusted by the Ministry of Interior.

Several human rights organisations such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International have condemned Shawkan's arrest.

Hundreds of people were killed during the 2013 sit-in, which came after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the ouster of Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi, of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
New Delhi, March 4 : An exhibition of installations and sculptures which aims to bring Indian art and aesthetics to the fore while promoting public arts, will begin here on Tuesday.

The group exhibition "Sculpt for Delhi II", organised by the Delhi Art Society and curated by Naresh Kapuria, will present the works of 16 sculptors with different styles, but all with an inherent 'Indianness' to their works.

"We are demanding a master plan for public arts in Delhi. Delhi as a city is not getting its share of public arts of India. We have the examples of Ajanta and Ellora, which are great works of art and our history. But what needs to be seen is where have we come from there," the society's president Neeraj Gupta told IANS.

"Indian art should have an Indian aesthetic sensibility," he added.

The participating artists include Bipasha Sen Gupta, Anjali Khosa Kaul, Farhat Jamshed, and Gupta and Kapuria themselves, among others.

The exhibition would be inaugurated by Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal at the India International Centre's (IIC) Gandhi King Plaza here, the organisers said.

It will culminate on March 19.
New Delhi, March 3 : The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in consultation with the Finance Ministry plans to split the initial public offering involving 25 per cent stake in telecom engineering and consultancy firm Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd (TCIL) into parts.

This will involve TCIL raising funds by issuing 10 per cent fresh equity shares and the government divesting 15 per cent of its equity in the company.

Sources said the 10 per cent IPO may mobilize Rs 600 crore required to fund TCIL's own expansion plans and for its US subsidiary. The government share sale may fetch around Rs 1,000 crore.

As per the initial plan, the TCIL issue may come up around the July-September quarter. DIPAM will also shortly call for a meeting on the appointment of a merchant banker for the proposed IPO.

The market offer of the tecom consultancy firm is part of listing plan for six Central Public Sector Enterprises.

Sources said that DoT will soon move a cabinet note proposing the 25 per cent stake sale. This stake sale will also involve the company issuing fresh equity shares to mobilize resources for its own requirement as TCIL is undertaking many telecom and IT projects in India.

TCIL will use a provisie.

Anil said it is a great feeling to watch the audience love the comedy film.

"It's a film we all had a blast working on and it is filled with fun. As long as we are making you laugh, it is a good day. I hope the film continues to rise for the coming days as well," Anil said.

"Total Dhamaal", directed by Inder Kumar, is the third film in the comedy entertainer franchise "Dhamaal". The second was "Double Dhamaal".

The film also stars Ajay Devgn, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Riteish Deshmukh, Arshad Warsi and Jaaved Jaaferi. It is jointly produced by Inder Kumar, Ashok Thakeria and Ajay.
San Francisco, March 4 : A global cyber espionage campaign, known as Operation Sharpshooter, started a year earlier than previously thought and is still ongoing, say security researchers, adding that a group linked to North Korea could be behind the campaign.

The findings were revealed after researchers at US-headquartered global cybersecurity firm McAfee got a rare opportunity to examine the code and data from a command-and-control server responsible for the management of the operations, tools and tradecraft behind this global cyber espionage campaign.

McAfee on Sunday said the command-and-control server code was provided by a government entity.

"Access to the adversary's command-and-control server code is a rare opportunity. These systems provide insights into the inner workings of cyberattack infrastructure, are typically seized by law enforcement, and only rarely made available to private sector researchers," Christiaan Beek, McAfee Senior Principal Engineer and Lead Scientist, said in a statement.

McAfee first uncovered Operation Sharpshooter in December 2018.

The new analysis suggests that the campaign began as early as September 2017 -- approximately a year earlier than previously evidenced -- and is still ongoing.

Analysis of the new evidence has exposed striking similarities between the techniques used in the Sharpshooter attacks and aspects of multiple other groups of attacks attributed by the industry to the Lazarus Group, McAfee said.

The Lazarus Group is linked to North Korea which was blamed for the 2016 Sony hack and the WannaCry ransomware outbreak in 2017 among other attacks on global businesses.

The Sharpshooter attacks appear to now focus primarily on financial services, government and critical infrastructure, McAfee said, adding that the largest number of recent attacks primarily target Germany, Turkey, Britain and the US.

Previous attacks focused on telecommunications, government and financial sectors, primarily in the US, Switzerland, Israel and others, it added.
Jamnagar : , March 4 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asserted that the defence situation in the country would have been different if the Indian Air Force had Rafale fighter jets. "Not one this side would have gone and no one on the other would have survived," he added.

Addressing a rally here, the prime minister called upon the Opposition, without naming it, to use "common sense" when it speaks about the Rafale jets.

"If the Indian Air Force had the Rafale today, the situation would have been different, but some people do not have it in them to understand this," Modi said, adding "When I say this, they question the Air Force strikes."

The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to his home state, went on, "The nation agrees that the disease of terrorism has to be eliminated. I want to ask you, don't you trust what our armed forces say?

"Should or should not everyone, including me, believe in our armed forces without raising questions? We should be proud of our armed forces."

Modi was addressing the rally after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe and PG hostel of the Guru Gobind Singh Hospital here.

He also laid the foundation stones of various development projects in the Saurashtra region.

The prime minister will reach Ahmedabad later in the day to inaugurate the first phase of the six-km-long Metro rail service.

He will also lay the foundation stone of the Patidar community's Umiya Mata Temple Complex in the city.
New Delhi, March 3 : Facebook Vice-President Joel Kaplan (Global Public Policy) will appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Information Technology (IT), here on March 6, to elucidate what it and its subsidiaries WhatsApp and Instagram are doing to safeguard the citizen rights across platforms.

"Senior Facebook officials will appear on March 6 before a parliamentary panel to outline the specific measures taken to ensure safety of users on its platform," sources told IANS on Sunday.

Ajit Mohan, Vice-President and Managing Director of Facebook India, and Ankhi Das, Director (Public, Policy and Programmes) will accompany Kaplan, sources said.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg or COO Sheryl Sandberg are not travelling to India for the hearing.

The Facebook officials' presentation will follow appearance of Colin Crowell, Global Vice-President (Public Policy) of Twitter, before the Anurag Thakur-led panel on February 25. Crowell had spoken about how the microblogging site would help address issues like political bias and manipulation on its platform.

Twitter was also asked to reply to some of the unanswered queries within 10 days.

In his tweeet last month, Thakur said: "The Parliamentary Committee will now examine the issue of 'safeguarding citizen rights on social/online news media platforms'. The following will present their positions: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram."

As India gears up for general elections, global social media platforms are discussing how to curb misinformation and fake news in a country where mobile penetration has helped Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram reach millions of users.

Facebook has close to 300 million users and WhatsApp over 200 million. According to statista.com, Instagram has nearly 75 million users in India.

In the runup to the Lok Sabha polls, Facebook has introduced a new tool to bring transparency to ads related to politics.

Anyone who runs ads related to politics will have to reveal their identity and location to pass the authorisation process and have a "Published by" or "Paid for by" label.

"The tool comes with some India-specific features," Shivnath Thukral, Facebook's Public Policy Director for India and South Asia, told IANS recently.

"The law of the land does not require us to make the 'Paid for by' label mandatory in India," Thukral said.

Another India-first feature that Facebook has introduced is that advertisers can begin the authorisations on their mobile phones itself instead of logging in to a desktop.

For registered political parties in India, Facebook has also introduced an option to upload media certification and monitoring committee certificate from the Election Commission of India.

"In our conversation with Election Commission, we learnt it is essential to give political parties the option to upload the certificate," Thukral said.
Thiruvananthapuram, March 4 : Kerala Agriculture Minister V.S. Sunil Kumar on Monday asked banks in the state to adopt a more humane approach, especially towards farmers.

In the aftermath of last year's floods, the worst ever to hit Kerala in a century, banks in the state have been using the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Securities Interest Act, 2002, (also known as the SARFAESI Act) to recover loans from farmers.

As part of this recovery process, notices are being sent to auction residential or commercial properties of those who default.

Close to 15,000 farmers in Idukki district alone have received recovery notices from both commercial and cooperative banks, with reports of this leading to about half-a-dozen suicides over the past two months.

According to official statistics, the floods damaged around 11,000 hectares of agricultural land in Idukki leaving almost 35,000 farmers in distress.

Asked about the situation, the State Agriculture Minister said: "The situation today is such that panic spreads the moment someone receives a recovery notice from a bank. But farmers need not panic at all.

"The state cabinet is having a special meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter. The Chief Minister has also called a meeting of the State Bankers Committee on Wednesday. It is high time banks in Kerala adopt a more humane approach," said Kumar.

In the Cabinet meeting due on Tuesday, the state government is expected to ask the State Banker's Committee for a moratorium on recovery of all agricultural loans taken in the flood-affected districts.

State Cooperative Minister Kadakampally Surendran told the media: "Yesterday, we directed all cooperative banks in the state not to send any more recovery notices. I am meeting officials of the Reserve Bank of India and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development on March 12 to discuss the issue."
New Delhi, March 4 : Accusing the BJP of politicising post-Pulwama developments, the CPI-M on Monday said it was turning a united India's battle against terrorism into one against Kashmiris and Muslims to deepen communal polarisation.

After the Pulwama attack, in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers died, a united India rose against terrorism, it said, adding that "instead of strengthening this, the post-Pulwama developments are seeing an orchestrated effort by the BJP and the Sangh Parivar outfits to rouse jingoistic nationalism".

"The targeting of Kashmiris in various parts of the country, the calls for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A are all turning this battle of Indians against terrorism into battles against Kashmiris and Muslims to further deepen the communal polarization," the Communist Party of India-Marxist said in a statement after the meeting of its Central Committee.

"It is Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and BJP leaders who are politicising this issue and disrupting the united fight of Indians against terrorism for their partisan electoral benefit," it said, said while denouncing such efforts.

It added that India must step up its diplomatic efforts to exercise international pressure on Pakistan to purge terror outfits and cross-border terrorist activities.

Criticising Prime Minister Modi's "failed" Jammu and Kashmir policy, the party said during his reign, the number of terrorist incidents saw a rise of 176 per cent and the number of security personnel and civilians killed in such attacks had grown.

"The number of security personnel killed saw a rise of 93 per cent. On an average, 11 terrorists infiltrated every month between 2014 and 2018. More dangerous trend has been the sharp rise in local Kashmiri youth joining terrorist groups from 16 in 2013 to 164 in 2018.

"This deepening alienation of Kashmiri youth is a consequence of the Modi government reneging on its promises to initiate a political process of dialogue with all the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of confidence building measures. Clearly, the terrorist strikes continued and intensified even after the surgical strikes carried out by the Indian Air Force after the terrorist attack on army units in Uri in September 2016," it said.

The party also attacked the changed methodology adopted by the government for GDP calculations and said the 2018-19 GDP growth at 7 per cent was the lowest in the last five years.

"2018 last quarter growth rate was even lower at 6.6 per cent. This means that the economy is loosing further steam leading to a sharper growth in unemployment and a further deterioration in the living conditions of the vast majority of our people," the CPI-M said.

It also accused the Modi government of crony capitalism, questioning why it "has handed over five major public airports to the Adani group" by bypassing the consideration of experience in managing airports.

It also called upon the President not to sanction the ordinance passed by the Union Cabinet which allows private corporates to use the Aadhar data base "for profits in the absence of a data protection law".

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Washington, March 4 : An Indian-origin man in the US has been sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $2,618,000 in restitution for being convicted of mail fraud and embezzlement, authorities said.

Dinesh Shankar, 41, San Jose, California, was sentenced last week for embezzling from a medical device company, US Attorney David L. Anderson and Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent in charge John F. Bennett said.

In addition to the prison sentence and restitution, Shankar was also ordered to serve a three-year term of supervised release. He will begin serving the sentence on May 1, the Justice Department said.

According to the plea agreement, from March 2013 until January 2018 Shankar was an employee of an Emeryville-based medical device company. Beginning July 2013 until December 2017, he submitted false expense reports and invoices to the finance department, making the company pay more than half a million dollars.

In addition, Shankar admitted creating false invoices that appeared to be issued by six different entities. The entities were actually fictitious business names for entities that he controlled.

Shankar prepared the false invoices to make it appear the entities had provided testing and quality assurance services to his employer when, in fact, they had not provided the services. Shankar, according to the statement, admitted he caused $2,576,384 loss to the company.

A federal grand jury indicted Shankar in April 2018, charging him with six counts of mail fraud. He pleaded guilty to one count in November and the remaining were dismissed.
Hyderabad, March 4 : The Telangana High Court here on Monday dismissed a habeas corpus petition, filed by the CEO of Hyderabad-based IT Grids (India) Pvt. Ltd, in an alleged data theft case after four employees of the company informed the court they had not been arrested by the police.

A Division Bench of Justice R.S. Chauhan and Justice Shamim Akhtar dismissed the plea after Regonda Bhaskar, Phani Kaduluri, Gurudu Chandra Sekhar and Vikram Goud Rebbala told the court they were not in the police custody and that they had only been served notices to cooperate in investigations.

The court had on Sunday directed Cyberabad police to produce Bhaskar, Kaduluri, Chandra Sekhar and Rebbala before it after IT Grids CEO D. Ashok filed the plea alleging four of his colleagues had been illegally detained.

With Monday being a holiday on account of Maha Shivaratri, the employees were produced before Justice Chauhan at his residence.

IT Grids, which provides IT services to Andhra Pradesh's ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is facing allegations of stealing data of 3.70 crore voters from the state government database.

Cyberabad police had on Saturday registered a case against the company on a petition by whistleblower T. Lokeshwar Reddy, who alleged the TDP had provided it data of Andhra Pradesh voters, including their Aadhaar details, colour photographs and mobile numbers.

The complainant alleged IT Grids integrated this voter data with reports of surveys done by the party and uploaded it on Sevamitra, an app for TDP cadres.

Reddy claimed the data was being misused for voter profiling and deleting names of non-TDP voters to further the prospects of the party in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The searches conducted by Cyberabad police at IT Grids office sparked a row between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Cyberabad police also served notice to Ashok asking him to make himself available for investigations. The company CEO is yet to come forward to record his statement.

Meanwhile, a fresh data theft case was registered at the SR Nagar police station against IT Grids on a complaint by Ranga Reddy of the IT cell of the YSR Congress.

The YSR Congress alleged the TDP was caught red-handed while stealing the voter data. The TDP, however, has denied allegations and termed the action against IT Grids a conspiracy by the YSR Congress and Telangana's ruling party Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for the second consecutive day on Monday held a meeting with Advocate General D. Srinivas and Director General of Police R.P. Thakur to discuss developments in the case and the legal action to be taken.
London, March 4 : British luxury clothing retail brand Ted Baker's founder and CEO Ray Kelvin has resigned amidst an investigation into allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards staff.

In a statement on Monday, the company said that Kelvin has left with immediate effect. He had been on a voluntary leave of absence since last December following allegations of harassment, including "forced hugging" of staff members, reported CNN.

Complaints over Kelvin's behaviour first emerged late last year.

Thousands of people, including members of staff and customers, signed an online petition demanding an end to the hugging practice and a better system for reporting harassment allegations at the firm.

The petition included accusations of "inappropriate touching" by Kelvin and "a culture that leaves harassment unchallenged."

Kelvin has denied all claims that he acted inappropriately towards employees.

A third-party investigation into the allegations against him and into Ted Baker's policy on handling sexual harassment complaints is due to wrap up before the end of June.

"In light of the allegations made against him, Ray has decided that it is in the best interests of the company for him to resign so that the business can move forward under new leadership," Executive Chairman David Bernstein said in the statement.

Kelvin founded the high-end fashion chain in 1988 with a single store in the UK city of Glasgow. It now has more than 500 outlets worldwide.

Kelvin was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), an honour one rank below a knighthood, in 2011 for services to the fashion industry.
Mumbai, March 4 : Actors Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor along with director Ayan Mukerji have left for Prayagraj to unveil the first official material from their upcoming film "Brahmastra" on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.

Alia took to Instagram to share the update. "Hi guys, we are on the plane and we are on our way to Kumbh 2019," she said in an Instagram story.

At one point in the video, Alia asked "why do you think we are going to Kumbh Mela?" and Ranbir joked "to leave you there".

On a serious note, the actress said: "It is a special day and it is a supremely special plan from the team of 'Brahmastra'. We are excited about it."

Teasing Ranbir, Alia said: "Give a nice smile with a dimple."

Filmmaker Karan Johar also tweeted: "Tonight, the Kumbh Mela is going to be a lot more magical."

The team will "unveil the logo of the film in a spectacular way", a source in the know told IANS.

"Brahmastra" is a fantasy adventure trilogy. The film by Fox Star Studios also stars Amitabh Bachchan and Nagarjuna.

The unveiling will be held later in the evening.
New Delhi, March 4 : Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Juel Oram and other senior party leaders.

Panda, a four-time member of Parliament, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kendrapara constituency of Odisha in 2014. He was suspended from the BJD for "anti-party activities" on January 24, 2018.

Having been at loggerheads with Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik for months, Panda finally quit the party on May 28 last year, two weeks after he tendered his resignation as the Lok Sabha member.

He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2009 from Kendrapara parliamentary constituency. Earlier, he twice represented his state in the Rajya Sabha between 2000 and 2006.

One of the founding members of the BJD, Panda worked in the corporate sector before joining politics.
Amritsar, March 4 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional war.

Pointing out that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers, he said it was not in either country's interest to use the weapons of mass destruction but Islamabad could indulge in such a misadventure, if faced with defeat in other battles.

In an informal chat with reporters here, Amarinder Singh said that the Indian Air Force air strikes had proven India's resolve to deal with the problem in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, but refused to comment on the number of terrorists killed in the strikes.

"Whether it was one killed or 100, the message has gone out loud and clear that India will not let the killing of its soldiers and citizens go unpunished," he said.

Pointed out that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess and had been going around with a begging bowl and surviving on doles from other Islamic nations, Amarinder Singh said they could ill-afford a full-fledged war with India.

And though both were nuke powered countries, Pakistan could act out of desperation to use its nuclear weapons if they found themselves cornered, he warned.

On the Aam Aadmi Party's decision to ally with the Shiromani Akali Dal-Taksali for the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, the Chief Minister said it was their prerogative, but as far as the Congress was concerned, it did not need any alliance.

Dismissing the AAP-SAD-Taksali coalition as of no consequence, he said the Congress in the state was fully ready for the polls and was well placed to win on its own.
New Delhi, March 4 : As organisations get better at detecting data breaches, hackers have become increasingly persistent, retargeting the firms they earlier broke into, US-based cyber security firm FireEye said on Monday.

The financial services sector was seen to have the largest number of retargeted victims in 2018, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, revealed the "FireEye 2019 Mandiant M-Trends Report".

This trend is particularly relevant for the Indian market, given last year's cyber attack incidents at Cosmos Bank and State Bank of Mauritius.

"I encourage Indian firms to reassess their security posture and determine whether they can quickly detect and respond to intrusions," said Steve Ledzian, Vice President and APAC CTO, FireEye.

Global data from last year found that 64 per cent of all FireEye-managed detection and response customers were targeted again by the same or similarly motivated attack group -- up from 56 per cent in 2017.

The Indian businesses must also determine whether "they know who is likely to attack them and how, and whether they have tested their security against human attackers in a red team scenario to try to spot weaknesses before their real world adversaries do," Ledzian said in a statement.

In the meantime, organisations appear to be getting better at discovering breaches internally, rather than being notified by an outside source such as law enforcement.

"Over the past eight years, dwell times (information retrieval) have decreased significantly. The median dwell time across APAC was 204 days, indicating improvement over the previous year's statistic of 498 days, but more comparable to the 172 days in 2016," the report noted.

While organisations are detecting breaches faster, the fight against undetected compromises in the Asia Pacific region has not yet been won, said the report.

"In 2018, we saw an increase in similarly motivated attack groups retargeting victim organisations and this trend is particularly significant in Asia Pacific," the findings showed.
Kolkata, March 4 : West Bengal BJP leader Mukul Roy here on Monday said those who were raising questions about the air strikes on a terror camp in Balakot, Pakistan, were insulting the country's armed forces and acting like anti-nationals.

"Those who are questioning the IAF air strikes are insulting the Indian Army and the Air Force. Some people from the country and Bengal are questioning the honesty of the Indian Army. They are acting like anti-nationals," Roy said at the state BJP headquarters.

They should apologise to the Indian Army and the Air Force for doubting their honesty, he added.

"People of India and Bengal will not forgive them. Those who could not take such steps before are now trying to malign the armed forces to hide their failures. We demand those who are raising such questions, must apologise to the Indian Army," said Roy, who joined the BJP from Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress last year.

"When the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks happened, the Indian Army wanted to retaliate, but the then government did not give them the permission," he said in a veiled reference to the erstwhile Congress government at the Centre.

Roy's comments came after IAF Chief B.S. Dhanoa on Monday asserted the Indian fighter jets "bombed" the target it intended to in Balakot across the Line of Control (LoC). However, he said it is not IAF's duty to count human casualties in the attack.

Referring to an audio message of Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar's brother Maulana Ammar, Roy said the JeM leader has admitted that the terror outfit suffered heavy damage in the attack.

"Masood's brother is saying that their training camp has been demolished in the Indian attack and many of their members have been killed. But still some politicians are raising questions about success of the air strikes," he said.

When asked about the party candidate list from Bengal for the Lok Sabha elections, Roy said it would be decided by the party central parliamentary committee.

"I do not have the authority to nominate any candidate for Lok Sabha elections. The BJP's state unit cannot nominate any person for LS tickets. I am only the in-charge of the party's election management committee here," he said.
Seoul, March 4 : South Korea on Monday proposed trilateral dialogue with the US and North Korea after denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang collapsed in Hanoi last week.

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said the government in Seoul, to get the nuclear talks back on track, would seek semi-official meetings called "track 1.5" in a multilateral format, which would include representatives from the three countries and civilian experts.

Kang said the proposal to hold dialogue in the new format was mooted during a National Security Council (NSC) meeting here on Monday chaired by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, according to Efe news.

The three countries held three-way talks in Sweden just before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, which ended abruptly without any agreement over the regime's denuclearisation process.

The NSC meeting, the first to be held in Seoul in nine months, was convened to discuss the reasons of failure in Hanoi and how to begin the initiative afresh.

Moon at the meeting defended his conviction that North Korea and the US will eventually reach an agreement on denuclearising the peninsula and lift sanctions that Washington imposed on Pyongyang over its atomic weapons testing, the report said.

Moon, in a statement at the end of the meeting, urged both sides to resume working meetings as soon as possible to dissolve the deadlock.

Pyongyang and Washington aired their own versions of events at the Hanoi summit, but the disagreements between the two sides were primarily on dismantling of the number of facilities and assets of the North Korean nuclear programme along with volume of international sanctions that the North Korean regime wanted the US to remove.

Moon said Washington and Pyongyang avoided hostile posturing following the lack of agreement in Hanoi, which was an indication that there would be progress in the future and the two sides would eventually reach an agreement.

Moon, who has played a pivotal role in mediating between the US government and the North Korean regime, said Seoul's intermediary role would now be more important.

He urged his cabinet to accurately identify the differences that prevented both sides from reaching an agreement and find a way to reduce them.
Mumbai, March 4 : The directors of the embattled IL&FS Group ignored its own credit risk management team's advice and went on extending loans worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore to companies facing acute financial stress, an audit report has said.

In a damning interim report, audit firm Grant Thornton has found that group's financial sector subsidiary, IL&FS Financial Services Ltd (IFIN), gave loans to about 16 stressed entities in complete disregard of its own credit risk committee observations. This not only resulted in Rs 2,000 crore worth of loans turning bad but also forced IFIN to write off debts given to seven entities.

Interestingly, IFIN offered to clear loans to third parties even though its own financial condition was under stress.

"In spite of the financial stress in IFIN and negative assessment by the CRMG (Credit & Risk Management Group) team, loans were lent to these companies who were in financial stress themselves," the Thornton interim report said.

A quick study of list of beneficiary entities of IFIN largesse reveals that it includes who's who of stressed entities in the infrastructure and real estate space. They are Electrosteel Steels Ltd, Best and Crompton Engineering Ltd, Parsvnath Developers, Skil Infrastructure and Gayatri Projects. Some of these entities were also taken to bankruptcy courts and thus had also functioned under a changed management now.

Thornton was engaged by the new government-appointed Board of Directors (BoD) of IL&FS to conduct a special audit for all high-value transactions undertaken by IL&FS Ltd and few of its group companies for the period commencing from April 1, 2013 to September 30, 2018.

The report said that during the review period, loans sanctioned by the Committee of Directors (CoD) "appears to be unusual" as it was highlighted by the risk team of IL&FS that recipient companies were under stress.

The CRMG team provided negatives remarks or recommendations in the credit approval memorandum (CAM) based on their assessment of the risk profile of the borrowers. "However, even after the negative remarks or recommendations, the loans were sanctioned to the said parties, basis the approval provided by the CoD," it said.

Regarding the loans provided to Dev Rishabh Real Estate Pvt Ltd (Era Group), the report quoted the CAM for the realty player that said the recipient was facing liquidity issues. Further, there were various legal cases and winding up petitions against the group, it added.

Similarly, Shiva Shelters and Construction Pvt Ltd (Siva Group) was "going through tough times which has resulted in liquidity constraints and impacted the servicing of its outstanding".

On top of it, as per an RBI report, it had been recommended to provide 100 per cent provisioning to Siva Group's exposure.

The extent of the callousness could be understood from the fact that IL&FS had written off seven out of 18 cases mentioned in the report. This at a time when the IFIN itself faced financial stress has surprised many. An earlier, Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) report had pointed fingers on the then management of IL&FS for the mess that the group funds itself now.

The mess at IL&FS came to light last year when a sudden default by few group companies enlivened threat of a complete collapse of the infrastructure conglomerate.

Last year, the Central government superseded the management of the beleaguered company via a National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order and appointed a six-member board led by Uday Kotak, MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, to restore its financial solvency.

Key public sector lenders and undertakings, such as the LIC and the SBI have a 25.34 per cent and 6.42 per cent stake, respectively, in the firm which has around Rs 91,000 crore in long-term debt. The credit crunch has led a few of the company's subsidiaries to default in servicing some inter-corporate deposits.

Consequent to defaults, significant impact was felt in the capital market. This also triggered what is now known as the NBFC crisis.

(Ravi Dutta Mishra can be contacted at ravidutta.m@ians.in and Subhash Narayan at subhash.n@ians.in)
Dehradun, March 4 : Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday said that all arrears of 'one rank one pension (OROP)' have been cleared, and that the Centre would shortly review the scheme to remove anomalies, if any.

"The OROP is completing three years this year. We will review it and remove shortcomings, if any," an official statement quoted Sitharaman as saying.

She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi not only approved the OROP but also released the necessary budget of Rs 35,000 crore for the scheme. Onward, a budget of Rs 8,000 crore will also be released every year, she said.

She said the country did not have a national war memorial for decades despite fighting four major wars since independence. "Our government dedicated a national war memorial to the country last month. We did what could not be done in 70 years," she said.

The Centre was sensitive to problems faced by armed forces personnel, the Defence Minister said, adding that it has been decided to give women permanent commission in the Army, Navy and the Air Force just like their male counterparts.

Three 200-bed multi-specialty hospitals would also be opened under the ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS), she said, adding the minimum pension for retired armed forces personnel has been revised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000.

She said her ministry had also decided not to go in appeal if the Armed Forces Tribunal certified disability of a soldier.

The defence minister honoured 15 war widows and mothers, offering them a shawl and a bouquet.

Earlier, she said the Centre was taking all steps for the welfare of armed forces and that the government stood firmly with them.

"We are doing everything for their welfare. If you have any doubts, ask us and we will clear them," Sitharaman said at a function here to honour war widows and mothers.

She said lies were being spread through social media to mislead the armed forces about Centre's welfare schemes, and that if people have any doubt about a scheme, they should ask her directly.
New Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda with BJP leaders Amit Shah and Dharmendra Pradhan after joining BJP in New Delhi on March 4, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda with BJP leaders Amit Shah and Dharmendra Pradhan after joining BJP in New Delhi on March 4, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on March 4, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi: Former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda who joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with party chief Amit Shah in New Delhi on March 4, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

New Delhi, March 4 : Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, former Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Baijayant Jay Panda on Monday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here in the presence of Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Juel Oram and other senior party leaders.

"I welcome my friend Baijayant Jay Panda into the BJP family. His popularity and connect with the Odia youth will further strengthen the surge of the BJP in Odisha," Pradhan said after Panda officially joined the saffron party.

Panda, who later met BJP President Amit Shah at the party headquarters, said he joined the party after nine months of introspection and widespread consultations with colleagues and public.

"I have decided to join BJP and work under the leadership of Narendra Modi to serve Odisha and India to the best of my ability," he said.

Panda hit out at the BJD government in Odisha saying the governance under Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has deteriorated sharply in the state.

Panda, a four-time member of Parliament, was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kendrapara constituency of Odisha in 2014. He was suspended from the BJD for "anti-party activities" on January 24, 2018.

Having been at loggerheads with Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik for months, Panda finally quit the party on May 28 last year, two weeks after he tendered his resignation as the Lok Sabha member.

He was also elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2009 from Kendrapara parliamentary constituency. Earlier, he twice represented his state in the Rajya Sabha between 2000 and 2006.

One of the founding members of the BJD, Panda worked in the corporate sector before joining politics.

In 2014, out of the 21 seats in Odisha, the BJP was on second position in 10 seats and won one, while the ruling BJD won 20 seats.

The BJP has been making an extra effort in Odisha where it wants to make a direct contest with the BJD by cornering the Congress.
New Delhi, March 4 : Deputy National Security Adviser and Prime Minister's special envoy for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, is arriving in Dimapur and would travel to Kohima over the next two days to conclude the protracted Naga peace talks, sources said.

Government sources said with the Naga groups expected to reciprocate with "pragmatic flexibility", the final agreement could be signed any day.

Sources say the government is ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the "Naga Constitution".

Seven Naga groups are on board over the peace talks, sources added.
Ranchi, March 4 : Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das here on Monday handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to pilgrims from the state to Kailash Mansarovar.

As a token gesture, 15 people were handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each at a programme organised at the Chief Minister's residence.

According to Rahul Sharma, Secretary, Tourism Department, 75 people had applied for the grant for undertaking the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The remaining applicants will be handed over cheques after proper verification.

Speaking on the occasion, Das said: "The Jharkhand government is sending people to religious places under the 'Mukhyamantri Teerth Darshan Yojana'. Under the scheme, Rs 1 lakh each is given to economically weak people to travel to Kailsh Mansarovar".

"More than 5,000 people have been benefited by the scheme," Das said.

"The state government is also developing tourist places in Jharkhand. The state would soon be recognised for its tourism sector at the international level," the Chief Minister said.

Das also greeted the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri.
New Delhi, March 4 : The "sole" agenda of the Centre's ban on Jamaat-e-Islami (J&K) is to curb separatism in Jammu and Kashmir as the organisation has been the "brain" behind the All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) which, the investigating agencies claim, has been ideologically supporting Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, said sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Sources said the JeI (J&K) has been "instrumental behind the APHC's role in terror activities, especially in the Valley, with the support of Pakistan for the last three decades."

"The ban on JeI (J&K) is to ensure complete non-functioning of the APHC as it has been the brain behind the separatist group," said a Home Ministry official.

The ban would help the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and other agencies take action against the JeI (J&K), which has been providing "logistic support" and feeding "new ideas" to the APHC for spreading terrorism in the Valley, under the provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said the official.

The UAPA is aimed at prevention of unlawful activities and associations in the country.

Normally, the official said, the probe agencies or the police would have to go through legal documentations and collect "more strong evidence" to prove the illegal activities of any organisation.

The APHC, the official said, is a conglomerate of organisations with "separatist and terrorist leanings" and has been instrumental in "stone pelting" and "recruiting youth to join terrorism through radicalisation" in the Valley. The NIA has already registered a case against it besides arresting several separatist leaders.

The Home Ministry's decision to ban the JeI (J&K) came after it received inputs that the Hurriyat has become active to increase the "overground workers" support on the JeI's instructions for enhancing terrorist activities, not only in J&K but across the country, said the official.

Asked about the number of "overground workers," another senior Home Ministry official told IANS it was not "as small" as it could be ignored and not "as big" as it couldn't be controlled.

The JeI, banned on February 28 for five years for indulging in activities prejudicial to internal security and public order with the potential to disrupt the unity and integrity of the country, was proscribed first time in 1975 for two years by the J&K government. It was again banned by the central government in 1990, which continued till December 1993.

The official said after the ban on JeI, the government now has full authority to check the "balance sheets, account details, activities and supporting figures" of the organisation. It can paralyse the Hurriyat Conference.

The Home Ministry sources said a sizeable section of JeI cadres have overtly worked for militant organisations, especially the Hizbul Muzahideen (HM), one of the biggest terror groups active in J&K.

The HM is one of the main organisations responsible for propagation of separatist and radical ideology in the Valley.

A ministry document, however, has clarified that the JeI has nothing to do with Jamaat-e-Islami. "In 1953, the JeI enacted its own constitution. It is responsible for formation of the HM. It has been providing all kinds of support to the HM in terms of recruitment, funding, shelter and logistics. In a way, the HM is the militant wing of JeI (J&K)."

"The HM, with the support of Pakistan, is spearheading terrorist activities in Kashmir and JeI is largely responsible for HM's secessionist activities. The JeI is opposed to the democratic electoral process and has been pursuing the agenda of setting up an independent theocratic Islamic state by destabilising the government establishment," said the document.

The HM's strong presence in the JeI's areas of influence was a clear reflection of the separatist and radical ideology of the group, it said. The JeI was collecting funds in the name of religious activities and using it for anti-national separatist activities, it added.

(Rajnish Singh can be contacted at rajnish.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, March 4 : Deputy National Security Adviser and Prime Minister's special envoy for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, is arriving in Dimapur and would travel to Kohima over the next two days to conclude the protracted Naga peace talks, sources said.

Government sources said with the Naga groups expected to reciprocate with "pragmatic flexibility", the final agreement could be signed "any day".

Sources say the government is ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the "Naga Constitution".

Seven Naga groups are on board over the peace talks, sources added.

In a recent interview to the Nagaland Post, Ravi had said that Naga Peace Talks were at the "concluding stage".

"Political principles of settlement, substantive issue of competencies and structural issues of governance have all been mutually agreed. The peace process has become truly inclusive with the seven Naga groups coming onboard. We have mutual understanding with NSCN (I-M) that they would not oppose constructive cooperation in the peace process and their participation in the final agreement. The peace process can conclude any day," he said.

Asked if he is saying that the talks are in the final stage, Ravi said Naga political issue is a very old and complex one and in the last four years, the negotiating parties have made significant continuous progress by resolving several facets of it.

"(These are) like political parameters of settlement and the specifics of various competencies to be shared between the Naga people and the government of India. All issues have been mutually understood and agreed upon.

"However, a few issues mainly a flag and a constitution are sticky. On these issues, the two sides have differing positions. We will sign the agreement as soon as these are resolved," he told the newspaper.

On what is holding the negotiating parties in solving the flag and constitution issue, Ravi said the government was aware of Naga people's sentiment over the flag which must be respected.

"Our position is that the Naga flag should be located in the Pan Naga cultural body, which would be a common platform of all the Nagas. Similarly, the final agreement, which would have to be duly incorporated in the Constitution of India, could be the Naga "Yehzabo". However, the Naga negotiators are not agreeing to it," he said.

Asked about differences on these issues with both NSCN (I-M) and Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), Ravi said both of them have insisted on recognition of the Naga flag.

"On the issue of 'Yehzabo', we are trying to reach a common position with NSCN (I-M)," he said.

Speaking to IANS on Monday, Ravi said: "My interview to the Nagaland Post covered every aspect (of the peace talks). Everything is clarified. I have already answered what is 'flag' (in the context of Naga peace talks" and our position on it," he said.
Kolkata, March 4 : E-commerce company MSTC Ltd, a mini-Ratna under the Ministry of Steel, on Monday said it has got approval for its IPO from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The MSTCAIPO comprises an offer for sale of 17,600,000 equity shares equivalent to 25 per cent of the post-offer paid-up equity share capital of the company, it said in a statement.

Currently, the government holds 89.85 per cent stake in MSTC and the divestment would bring down its holding to 64.85 per cent.

Equirus Capital Private Ltd is the sole Book Running Lead Manager to the offer and Alankit Assignments Ltd the registrar.

The equity shares of the company are proposed to be listed on BSE and NSE, the statement said.
Kolkata, March 4 : Two lawyers of the Barrackpore Court in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district have been suspended for six months for allegedly sharing an "anti-India post" on their social media profiles, a senior member of the state's bar council said on Monday.

Lawyer Wais Goni and his junior practitioner Ananya Mukherjee allegedly shared an Urdu post on their respective Facebook accounts, which contained alleged derogatory remarks about the country's armed forces.

The post allegedly contained disparaging remarks against Abhinandan Varthaman, the Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot who was captured by the Pakistan Army after his fighter jet crashed in the Pakistan territory during a dogfight on February 27. Varthaman was released from captivity on March 1.

"Goni had received a link in Urdu on the day Varthaman was captured. His junior Mukherjee shared the link on Facebook from Goni's profile," Rabindra Nath Bhattacharya, President of the Barrackpore Bar Council, told IANS.

"After translating the Urdu post into Bengali, it was found the post contained derogatory remarks about India and its armed forces. This was brought to the notice of the bar council. Both of them have been suspended for six months," Bhattacharya said.

He said both Goni and Mukherjee have apologised for sharing the post, saying it was done "by mistake" and that neither of them knew Urdu.

"They said they did not know what the content meant as none of them knew Urdu. But the bar council felt both of them should have been more responsible and refrained from sharing something, which can be considered anti-national in nature. That's why they have been suspended," Bhattacharya added.
Amaravati, March 4 : Reacting sharply over the alleged data theft case, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Monday warned the Telangana government that if it files one case, he will respond with four cases.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) President said that he would not keep quiet if raids were conducted in the name of data theft.

Alleging that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government was stealing the TDP data and passing it on to YSR Congress for misuse in the coming elections, he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and YSR Congress leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy were working together in a conspiracy to damage the TDP.

Naidu's reaction came after police in Hyderabad registered a case against IT Grids, a firm providing IT services to the TDP, for alleged data theft.

Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said on Monday that the Hyderabad-based company had access to personal and sensitive data of Andhra Pradesh people and it was using this for 'Sevamitra', an app developed by the firm for the TDP. Police suspect that the data is being misused for voter profiling to delete names of "anti-TDP" voters.

Stating that police would not spare the accused, irrespective of the positions they were holding, the Police Commissioner did not rule out booking more people in the case.

The TDP chief, however, alleged that it was a conspiracy to steal TDP's data.

Naidu pointed out that his party has been storing the data from 1984. He claimed that he was the first Chief Minister in the country to use computer technology.

Stating that TRS was playing a drama by kidnapping the IT employees, he warned that if it continues to do this, not a single IT company will remain in Hyderabad.

He also reminded the TRS that Hyderabad is a common capital for 10 years.

Naidu wondered how Telangana can register a case about Andhra Pradesh data on a complaint by some individual.

"If anybody is stealing our government data, will Hyderabad police protect it," he asked.

Naidu also came down heavily on election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor, saying a man from Bihar was behind the conspiracy to delete eligible voters from the voters list.

He said the government would deal firmly with the conspiracy to delete the names of voters and warned that those indulging in cyber crimes would be jailed.

The TDP leader alleged that 8 lakh votes were deleted by using Form-7. "It looks as if they will remove my vote too," he remarked.
New Delhi, March 4 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was unable to handle Pakistan and advised him to focus on the neighbouring country and leave the city to its elected government.

The Aam Aadmi Party leader said Delhi Police was under the central government's control and it seldom paid heed to the common man's plight. The common man normally approaches an MLA in a situation of crisis, but the police are not even ready to listen to the MLAs, Kejriwal said.

He said if Delhi gets full statehood then the police officers would listen to MLAs and the common people.

"In the past four years, I have tried to meet the Prime Minister several times. But he didn't meet me. Will he meet a crime victim since the police are under him? Where will the people of Delhi go in case of a crisis?

"I have asked the Prime Minister to give us the charge of Delhi Police but he (Modi) says he will take care of it. If the Prime Minister is not able to handle Pakistan, how can he manage the Delhi Police," Kejriwal said at a public rally in Burari.

The Chief Minister said even the British did not exploit Delhi the way the Centre has been doing.

"All the other states have obtained full statehood, but for Delhi. Delhi is the only half state. What crime did the people of Delhi commit? They (central governments) have sucked blood from the people of Delhi for 70 years. Even the British didn't exploit Delhi so much.

"The city will not tolerate this any more. There are so many issues the city is facing, which can only be solved if Delhi is granted full statehood," Kejriwal said.

"In the last four years, we have improved the condition of schools and hospitals. If given the authority, we will also improve the police system," Kejriwal said.
New Delhi, March 4 : India has not given any evidence to establish link between Pulwama terror attack and an organisation based in Pakistan, said Pakistan's former High Commissioner to India Ashraf Jehangir Qazi and insisted that the new government under Prime Minister Imran Khan has been taking action against terror outfits in the country.

"As far as Pulwama thing (terror attack) is concerned, India's attempt to link Pakistan seems to have completely flopped, a complete failure. It was a suicide bomber. What is the authenticity of the video, in which he claims to be a member of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)? There is absolutely no evidence which can link any organisation based in Pakistan or Azad Kashmir (Pakistan-administered Kashmir) with this incident," Qazi said in an interview to Tiranga TV programme "Upfront" aired on Sunday.

He said Pakistan had, however, started taking measures against all extremist organisations.

"We have taken measures with regard to closing down their offices, stopping their finances. There are a whole lot of measures under consideration... We now have a new government with a new determination to do kind of things which might not have happened before," said Qazi, also former Ambassador to the United States, China and Russia.

On JeM spokesperson Muhammad Hassan identifying the suicide bomber soon after the Pulwama attack, Qazi said: "Even if he made such a statement, that is not an evidence. People make statements all the time."

He said India claimed it had "incontrovertible evidence".

"Show the evidence. Of course that will be considered. And you have distributed the evidence all over the world. If there is a credible evidence, they will come back," he said.

Qazi refused to accept that the attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir, which led to the death of 40 troopers, was an act of terror.

"It was an attack on them, which led to the unfortunate loss of life. It does not automatically meet the requirements of the definition of terror. It is resistance...armed resistance," he said.

"US General Assembly resolution defines terrorism. There is as yet no UN definition of terror, but there are existing UN General Assembly resolutions which legitimise armed resistance to oppression, which denies the exercise of acknowledged rights of the community, who then take arms on behalf of those. This is not terror."

Qazi said the Pulwama crisis would give way to more peaceful interaction, including the possibility of the top leadership of the two countries meeting each other.

"After all they will be meeting for the very first time since Imran became Prime Minister and to try and chart a way forward.

"The primary commitment of Imran is to build new Pakistan, corruption-free Pakistan, with deep structural reforms, all of which need a peaceful neighbourhood. Major reduction in tension with neighbours primarily includes India. If we are able to step on to that path together, I do think he will have space to build that Pakistan. Then we can try and see whether we can transform our mutual narratives to be more inclusive and include more positive elements..."

Qazi said the F-16 fighter jet did not cross the LoC but said the Americans said they wanted to have an investigation.

"We have agreements with the American on use of F-16. They are used for defence purpose on our territory. The negative narrative...is partially based on inventive and fake evidence."

He said let the US Embassy in Pakistan complete the investigation and then see what came out of it.
New Delhi/Guwhati, March 4 : Deputy National Security Adviser and Prime Minister's special envoy for the Naga peace talks, R.N. Ravi, is arriving in Dimapur and would travel to Kohima over the next two days to conclude the protracted Naga peace talks, sources said.

Government sources said with the Naga groups expected to reciprocate with "pragmatic flexibility", the final agreement could be signed "any day".

Home Minister Rajnath Singh is visiting Assam on Tuesday and there could be some forward movement in the talks.

Sources say the government is ready to consider a Naga flag for a pan-Naga cultural body and to term the final agreement as the "Naga Constitution".

A source said that there has been an apparent understanding on the Naga flag and on opening autonomous cultural centres in states adjoining Nagaland with Naga population.

In a recent interview to the Nagaland Post, Ravi had said that Naga peace talks were at the "concluding stage".

"Political principles of settlement, substantive issue of competencies and structural issues of governance have all been mutually agreed. The peace process has become truly inclusive with the seven Naga groups coming onboard. We have mutual understanding with NSCN (I-M) that they would not oppose constructive cooperation in the peace process and their participation in the final agreement. The peace process can conclude any day," he said.

Asked if he is saying that the talks are in the final stage, Ravi said the Naga political issue is a very old and complex one and in the last four years, the negotiating parties have made significant continuous progress by resolving several facets of it.

"(These are) like political parameters of settlement and the specifics of various competencies to be shared between the Naga people and the government of India. All issues have been mutually understood and agreed upon.

"However, a few issues mainly a flag and a constitution are sticky. On these issues, the two sides have differing positions. We will sign the agreement as soon as these are resolved," he told the newspaper.

On what is holding the negotiating parties in solving the flag and constitution issue, Ravi said the government was aware of Naga people's sentiment over the flag which must be respected.

"Our position is that the Naga flag should be located in the Pan Naga cultural body, which would be a common platform of all the Nagas. Similarly, the final agreement, which would have to be duly incorporated in the Constitution of India, could be the Naga 'Yehzabo'. However, the Naga negotiators are not agreeing to it," he said.

Asked about differences on these issues with both NSCN (I-M) and Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), Ravi said both of them have insisted on recognition of the Naga flag.

"On the issue of 'Yehzabo', we are trying to reach a common position with NSCN (I-M)," he said.

Speaking to IANS on Monday, Ravi said: "My interview to the Nagaland Post covered every aspect (of the peace talks). Everything is clarified. I have already answered what is 'flag' (in the context of Naga peace talks" and our position on it."

Some stakeholders had, however, last week boycotted their scheduled meetings with Ravi, citing "insincerity" on the part of the Central government. They included the Naha Hoho, the Naga Mothers' Association and Naga Students' Federation.
Los Angeles, March 5 : Actor Luke Perry, known for roles in "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Riverdale", died on Monday, just days after suffering a massive stroke. He was 52.

Perry suffered a stroke on February 27.

"He was surrounded by his children Jack and Sophie, fiance Wendy Madison Bauer, ex-wife Minnie Sharp, mother Ann Bennett, step-father Steve Bennett, brother Tom Perry, sister Amy Coder, and other close family and friends," Perry's publicist Arnold Robinson told Fox News.

"The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning," Robinson added.

Last week, Perry was admitted to a hospital for "observation".

According to TMZ, paramedics responded to a call at the star's home in Sherman Oaks, California, on February 27 morning.
Kolkata, March 5 : Giving a guarded response to the CPI-M's announcement that it would avoid a mutual contest in the six West Bengal Lok Sabha seats currently held by it and the Congress, the state Congress on Monday said while it saw no reason to "discourage" them, there were practical hurdles which needed to be sorted out first.

Former state Congress chief Pradip Bhattacharya, who has been playing a key role in the ongoing seat adjustment discussions with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), hoped that a further round of discussions would help the two parties to come to some decision.

"I know what the CPI-M has said. I see no reason to discourage the CPI-M. But there are difficulties we are facing in coming to an adjustment. These practical hurdles needed to be removed first," Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha member, told IANS.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress won four and the Left Front major CPI-M bagged two of the 42 seats in the state.

Ever since the two parties began seat-sharing talks for the coming general elections, a major problem has been the two seats - Raiganj and Murshidabad - which were won by the CPI-M five years back.

The Congress, which considers Raiganj as its pocket borough, having won it six times out of the last nine polls, has been adamant on contesting it.

Moreover, Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi, who won the seat in 2009 but lost out narrowly to CPI-M's Mohammed Salim in 2014, has been keen on trying her luck again from the constituency.

Similarly, former state Congress chief and Murshidabad district stalwart Adhir Chowdhury wants the party to put up a candidate for the Murshidabad seat, which his party had won in 2004 and 2009.

The CPI-M, on the other hand, from the start of the negotiations has been harping on the formula of the two parties putting up candidates in the seats they won last time.

The Marxists thus were ready to back the Congress in Baharampur, Jangipur, North Malda and South Malda - from where it won in 2014, though North Malda MP Mousam Noor switched to the Trinamool Congress a few days back.

In fact, the CPI-M persuaded Left Front partner Revolutionary Socialist Party to opt out of the contest from its traditional constituency Baharampur, which has been electing Chowdhury since 1999.

State Congress president Somen Mitra said both Congress and the Left Front need to come together.

"Both need the alliance. Unless they join hands with the Congress, the Left Front will not be able to open their account in the state this time."

Mitra conceded that Murshidabad and Raiganj were the problem seats.

He said the Congress has made it clear to the Marxists that they wanted to fight from both the seats. "But they have not agreed to far."

Late in the night, the state Congress came out with a statement saying it had "started discussion with great hope with the Left parties regarding seat adjustment for the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies of West Bengal."

However, the statement mentioned that "constituency issues are involved while we are in discussion.

"Certain geographies have been historically Congress bastions and we find it difficult to ignore our supporters in such constituencies. As a result we are yet to arrive at a conclusion."

The party said it had "taken note" of the statement by the CPI-M Central Committee, and said "after further negotiation," the final recommendation would be submitted to AICC and the Congress President shortly.
Like Alia Bhatt in "Raazi", John Abraham is air-dropped into Pakistan (don't miss those fluttering green flags with moon crescents) by a gravelly-voiced intelligence officer Jackie Shroff who reminds Dear John that country comes first.

John looks all clenched-jawed and determined. His only condition? Please look after my Ammi, no matter what happens.

Ammi is fine. But what about our spy hero's love interest? Slinking in the shadows is Mouni Roy. Clearly she has no say in what goes across the border.

RAW (Romeo Akbar Walter) is the story of an Indian intelligence officer spying in Pakistan. It seems to be yet another effort after "Parmanu" for John Abraham to grab some of the patriotic space from Akshay Kumar.

This film could have easily starred Akshay (for the record it was started with Sushant Singh Rajput but ended with our strong-and-silent Mr. Abraham).

From the trailer, there are two things that emerge clearly from the dark whispering waves of espionage during times of stressful peek into the "biryani bartan" in the neighbour's kitchen.

My fear, from watching the trailer, is that there may be an excessive dependence on John's limited acting abilities in a script that has been written to aggrandize the leading man's fan base. John enjoys getting into the shoes of a hair-lipped Everyman who will blend into the enemy country.

I liked the played-down jingoism in the presentation which was also the USP of "Uri" which saw that film become a blockbuster. I am sure the makers of "RAW" are hoping to cash in on the current climate of aggressive infiltration into the enemy territory to become another "Uri". But the thing about "Uri" was that it didn't aspire to be a flag-waving homage to the cinema of Manoj Kumar and J.P. Dutta.

The trailer of "RAW" is somehow not the dizzying espionage thriller we would like it to be. It seems restricted in its thematic resonance and also delimited by a cramped spatial disharmony evident in the hemmed-in places where stealth secrecy and suspense is attempted to be created.

All this may just not matter because Indians want to see Pakistan being brought down to its knees. Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW) falls right in the category of topical films. What I liked was the projection of John not as an action hero but a 'reaction' hero. He is shown holding back his spleen opting for understatement instead of extravagant aggression.

But then I may be wrong. The restraint we see in the trailer of "RAW" could be a budgetary consideration. But then it could also be a freedom of aspiration that comes to a director who has nothing to lose (in this case Robbie Garewal who hasn't seen much success) and a leading man who has just convinced himself he could be as successful as Akshay Kumar provided the patriotic card is played well.
KANDAHAR, March 3, 2019 (Xinhua) -- A military helicopter carries local people during an evacuation operation after a flood in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 2, 2019 . At least 20 people were killed and many others went missing after flash flo Image Source: IANS News

KANDAHAR, March 3, 2019 (Xinhua) -- An Afghan security force member rescues children during an evacuation operation after a flood in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, March 2, 2019 . At least 20 people were killed and many others went missing after fla Image Source: IANS News

Kabul, March 5 : At least 59 people were killed and another 143 injured as flash floods struck Afghanistan following heavy rains in the country, officials said on Monday.

Kandahar and Helmand provinces were the most affected by the floods that hit the country following heavy rains last Saturday.

"In the past three days, 59 people were killed and another 143 people injured in flash floods and heavy rains in nine out of the 17 provinces in deferent parts of the country," the operations chief for the State Ministry for Disaster Management, Ahmad Khan Nafi, told Efe news.

Nafi said the number of casualties could change as communication systems had been disrupted in many parts of the country.

At least 2,000 houses were destroyed in floods, besides, schools and hospitals, Hashmat Khan Bahaduri, spokesman for the State Ministry for Disaster Management said.

Bahaduri said hundreds of trapped people have been rescued and taken to temporary camps by the Afghan security forces.

He said about 8,000 families have been provided food and other assistance.

Although the rain has stopped and water receded, displaced people were still staying at temporary camps.
A Banora Point, NSW land parcel has been sold by the mortgagee at a $120,000 loss.

Jasob Abbott of PRD Nationwide held the listing.

The holding sold for $210,000 on February 27.

It is a 777 square metre plot of land.

Situated at 5/36 Old Ferry Road, it is located 10 minutes from the Coolangatta airport.

The holding is positioned 15 minutes from the beaches of Kingscliff.

Last sold in 2016, the home traded for $330,000.

The median price for a home in Banora Point is $620,000 according to CoreLogic.
Foreign investor interest in Australia remains strong, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) chair David Irvine suggests.

But the latest FIRB report revealed a strong shift with the United States stepping up its investment in the 2017-18 period accompanied by declining Chinese investment easing into second place.

The United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada, the Netherlands and France make up the top seven.

The latest report on foreign investment showed the US recorded a $10 billion increase in approved investment to $36 billion in 2017-18, with significant increases in real estate and the manufacturing, electricity and gas sectors.

China was the second largest source country with a $15 billion decrease in approved proposed investment to $23 billion.

The reduction in approved Chinese investment was due to falls across all investment sectors but especially property. Chinese proposed investment peaked at $47.3 billion in 201516.

Chinese investment in real estate dropped to $12.7 billion in 2017-18 from $15.3 billion the year before, though still accounted for a quarter of foreign real estate investment.

Victoria gets the greatest share of Chinese residential investment with 46% of all approvals, with NSW in a distant second with 23% followed by Queensland's 17%.

The data doesn't track people who don't need to request approval, which means NSW might be actually getting more investment.

But it seems Melbourne retains advantages over Sydney in terms of prices and taxes.

Chinese buying is being impacted by several factors, local and international.

There's been the unexpected cancelling of promised mortgage loans by Australian banks, plus the higher foreign stamp duty taxes, along with Chinese government capital controls making it more difficult to move money from China, suggests Carrie Law, the boss of the Chinese property portal Juwai.

"We expect Chinese buying to be flat in 2019," Law thinks.

I don't think we ought regard the recent trend as permanent given tailwinds that will support Chinese buying including the still-strong Chinese wealth growth.

There is the desire to get a bargain while the market is soft. Plus, Law suggest there is a lack of investment opportunities in China, along with a possible shift in investment from the U.S. to Australia due to any emerging trade war.

Additionally the yuans weakness is not holding back investment in property as there is an advantage in currency rates in favour of Australia compared to other major countries.

The Chinese also lack appealing alternative investments at home.

Interestingly, the Federal Government's crackdown on residential properties held by foreigners in breach of the foreign investment rules uncovered just 131 now-sold illegally held properties in 2017-2018.

No nationalities were advised in the figure which was up slightly from the 96 ordered forced sales in 2016-17.

There were other breaches that did not see any forced divestment.

More than half the breaches identified were residential property in Victoria, while 20% related to property in New South Wales after the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) completed around 1,400 residential real estate investigations during the year.

ATO data matching analysis is increasingly important in compliance investigations.

Data matching made up 63% of the 1,700 cases investigated in 201718.

Although information received from the community is a source of intelligence, only a small proportion actually involved a breach of the Act.

The report noted that in most cases the owners of the properties reported by community members were found to be Australian citizens or permanent residents.

That suggests we might a little too quick to judge our new neighbours.
The emerging national estate agency The Agency has reported it expects its core business units to be profitable within the next 12 months.

The network has expanded to 300 sales representatives across Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast (across nine offices, following the closure of Coogee premises). The company now has 4209 properties under management, 1394 listings and a mortgage book of over A$1.2 billion. The Agency East Coast recorded 402 residential sales (with a combined value of A$805 million), along with a property management portfolio in excess of 3,300 properties, having a team of 117 sales agents. Commenting on the results, The Agency managing director Paul Niardone said with a reduced cash burn rate, the expectations are its WA operations (real estate, mortgage, and settlement businesses) will be cash flow positive from the start of the 2019.

It reported its national net revenue from continuing operations of $10,479,073 for the six-month period ending 31 December 2018, representing a 52 per cent increase on the previous comparative period 31 December 2017 revenue (HY2017: $6,877,278).

Its commissions for the six-month period totalled $7,011,868, representing a 46 per cent increase on the previous comparative period 31 December 2017 revenue (HY2017: $4,798,945).

It reported a loss before tax of $2.11 million which was lower that the prior period. (Dec 2017: $2,148,445 loss).

Some $615,000 were one-off costs associated with legal expenses and corporate advisory incurred in relation to the acquisition of Top Level Pty Ltd, the Matt Lahood lead Bondi Beach based agency.

The reported to shareholders noted revenue and commission growth "will be maintained during the upcoming period and significantly enhanced as a result of the acquisition of Top Level Real Estate Pty Ltd which settled post 31 December on 11 January 2019."

On 17 January 2019, The Agency completed its acquisition and settlement of Top Level Pty Ltd (Top Level), by The Agencys wholly-owned subsidiary Ausnet Real Estate Services Pty Ltd, after all conditions precedent to the transaction were satisfied. The total cost of the acquisition was $5,000,000.

As announced on 12 February 2018, the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Ausnet Real Estate Services Pty Ltd, entered into an amended and restated option agreement with Top Level Real Estate Pty Ltd and Top Levels majority shareholders for Ausnet to acquire all of the Top Level Shares held by the majority shareholders and offer to acquire all of the Top Level Shares held by the minority shareholders.

The total cost of the acquisition was $5,000,000.

As part of the post-acquisition settlement process, the company has re-negotiated the existing Top Level Macquarie Bank financing, with a new debt facility executed, for a term extending from 17 January 2019 to July 2019.

It advised the Macquarie Bank debt facilities total $12.65 million.

It reported it had also re-negotiated an extension of the repayment date on an existing $1,350,000 loan until June 2019The Agency also completed the acquisition of Vicus Residential - the residential sales and management division of The Vicus Property Group  in January 2019 with settlement of 2,666,667 shares and a $75,000 cash payment as payment for all of Vicus Residentials issued shares.

The total acquisition cost was $875,000.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing approval numbers for January 2019 show a collapse in apartment approvals in Victoria and NSW.

The ABS January 2019 housing data indicates a fall in apartment approvals in Victoria of 55 per cent and in NSW of 41 percent over the last year.

Detached home approvals have remained steady but apartment approvals have dropped dramatically across Australia but particularly in NSW and Victoria.

In January 2018 Victoria had 3362 apartment approvals but this has dropped to only 1,500 in January 2019.

NSW had 3,359 approvals in January 2018 and this has dropped to 1,987 a year later in January 2019.

The drop in apartment approvals in NSW is even more dramatic when measured against the high point of 3,814 approvals in September 2017.

This is a drop of 1,827 from the peak which is a 48 per cent drop.

Drops in the order of 50 percent over a year are highly unusual and it does not look as though the drop is slowing.

Over the last year house approvals dropped from 2,556 in January 2018 to 2,425 in January 2019 which is only a 5 per cent drop.

Clearly the investor market is on hold in the major cities as housing prices fall and this impacts on apartment sales.

The message from the development industry is that pre commitment sales have tapered off dramatically in Sydney so even those apartments that have been approved may not proceed.

The supply chain of new apartments is looking to be very low in the years ahead.

The collapse in approvals for new apartments has been fuelled by negative attitudes about apartment development from politicians and media in the build up to the NSW election on 23 March, the slow -down in funds from China, the falling dwelling prices in the market and a general lack of confidence by investors, owner occupiers and the development industry in new residential property.

Which ever party wins the NSW election will need to address the confidence issue quickly as there are around 300,000 direct jobs in residential development and if half the number of apartments will be built in coming years then half the number of jobs will be needed.

The Urban Taskforce is developing a series of actions that the next NSW government can take to minimise unemployment in the industry.

CHRIS JOHNSON is the Urban Taskforce CEO
EXPERT OBSERVER

Mortgage rates in Australia have fallen sharply from around 8 to 10 per cent since 2008.

So it's reasonable to expect that housing rental yields would be considerably lower too.

At the nadir, though, gross rental yields across the combined capital cities had sunk to below 3 per cent, which is clearly far too low (and that's a gross figure).

Here's an interesting chart from CoreLogic today, showing combined capital city yields tracking back quite quickly towards a rather more sustainable 4 per cent.

Sydney has done some of that lifting, but with more pressure on its rental market the main driver has been Melbourne, with gross rental yields rising from near-record lows of 3.1 per cent in February 2018 to 3.6 per cent.

Click here to enlarge

(Source: CoreLogic)

There has been a wide variation of results across markets, with demand largely coming from the bottom up thanks to first home buyer stimulus, but the upper quartile of the market seeing far fewer transactions on tight lending standards.



Negative equity hasn't featured too much in Australian housing in recent years, but with tighter credit holding down markets in Perth, Darwin, and some other regions, this is starting to become a factor of concern, especially as some borrowers are forced off interest-only mortgages.



Noted CoreLogic on the second wind for the Perth and Darwin downturn:



'This renewed downwards pressure on home values coincides with a softening in labour market conditions, with weaker housing market results likely compounded by credit scarcity.'
EXPERT OBSERVER

The property markets of Hobart and Tasmania lead the nation. Homes sell faster here than anywhere else in Australia and there are locations with double-digit annual price growth throughout the state.

The key drivers are a strong state economy and affordable prices. Research from realestate.com.au indicates that buyers out of Melbourne are providing a lot of impetus to Tasmanian markets.

The number of growth locations (those where demand, as measured by sales volumes, is rising), is lower than the peak but remains strong and steady.

The outstanding feature of Tasmanias markets is the strength of prices. Virtually every location of substance across the state has recorded annual price growth above 5% in the past year, and most have delivered better than 10%. Its almost impossible to find a market where the median price has dropped  and in this regard Tasmania is probably unique in Australia.

In conducting our quarterly location-by-location research on demand levels across Australia, Hotspotting also examines patterns with prices. We record suburbs and towns where the median price has increased more than 5% in the past year, those which have grown between 1% and 5%, and those where prices have declined more than 5%. (We disregard locations with fewer than 30 annual sales, because the sales sample is too small to provide accurate and meaningful price trends.)

In Hobart, we can find no suburbs with falling prices and none with minor growth. All have increased by more than 5% in the past 12 months  and 80% of them are up at least 10%. A key feature is most have recorded rises in the latest quarter, which indicates prices are still growing.

The standout markets have grown more than 20%, including the house markets in Bellerive (21%), Carlton (22%), Gagebrook (22%), Howrah (23%), Moonah (20%), Risdon Vale (26%) and Warrane (21%)

The Bellerive and West Moonah unit markets are both up 29%.

But the leading markets on price growth are Clarendon Vale houses and Lindisfarne units, both up 32%.

A standout precinct in the Hobart metro area is the Clarence LGA, where Bellerive, Clarendon Vale, Geilston Bay, Howrah, Lauderdale, Lindisfarne, Oakdowns, Risdon Vale, Rokeby and Warrane have all recorded double-digit growth in their median prices.

Our Autumn survey for The Price Predictor Index, like the previous Summer survey, provides further evidence that the Hobart market is beyond its peak in terms of sales demand. In early 2018 we saw the first hint of a moderation in sales activity in Hobart and this was confirmed by later reports. But the drop in demand has been gradual, there are still growth markets, and prices continue to rise.

the Clarence, Glenorchy, Kingborough and Sorell LGAs all have growth suburbs, but they are outnumbered by plateau markets (those where sales demand has settled on solid levels but below the peak).

The suburb of Rokeby in the Clarence LGA has recorded quarterly sales of 17, 22, 22, 26 and 29  and its median price has risen 12% to $285,000 in the past 12 months.

The Brighton LGA on the northern fringe of Hobart is a growth market, both in terms of rising demand and rising prices. In the suburb of Bridgewater, quarterly sales have been 14, 15, 22, 18, 26, 34 and 31  and the median house price has increased 15% to $235,000 in the past year.

Its clear from these figures that the locations with the strongest growth dynamics are mainly the ones that offer affordability.

Regional Tasmania is further back in the cycle than Hobart and continues to show strong activity and rising prices.

Launceston and neighbouring LGAs like West Tamar and Meander Valley have multiple suburbs with rising demand, including Kings Meadows, Norwood, Prospect, South Launceston, Waverley, Hadspen and Riverside.

This precinct is also delivering rising prices. Suburbs with double-digit annual growth in house prices include Hadspen, Invermay, Kings Meadow, Mowbray, Newnham, Prospect, Ravenswood, South Launceston, Summerhill, Waverley and West Launceston. Two unit markets with notable growth include Newnham (up 27% to $220,000) and Riverside (up 27% to $325,000).

Many of these suburbs have median house prices below $300,000 and others are in the mid low-$300,000s, continuing the state-wide theme of growth in affordable markets.

But the Tasmanian location with the strongest growth is the town of Richmond, about 25km north-east of Hobart. Its median house price is up 44% to $630,000, but based on a smallish sample of 34 sales in the past year.

Another town just outside Hobart which is doing well is New Norfolk. Sales demand is rising here and median prices are up 18% to $245,000 for houses and 12% to $225,000 for units.

Terry Ryder is the founder of hotspotting.com.au

[email protected]

twitter.com/hotspotting
Ondine Biomedical Inc. announced that its antimicrobial Photodisinfection technology was recommended for routine use of surgical site infection prevention due to its efficacy and cost effectiveness. This recommendation was made as a result of analysis of data collected from Vancouver General Hospital and UBC Hospital during 2009-2017 for spine surgeries.

Findings were presented at the 2019 Canadian Spine Society Annual Conference in Toronto, in an abstract titled "Efficacy and Cost-Effectiveness of Photodynamic Therapy in Prevention of Surgical Site Infections". The study team led by Drs. John Street, Titus Wong, Daniel Banaszek, Tom Inglis and Vancouver Spine Institute program surgeons, analyzed data from an 8-year evaluation of Ondines nasal photodisinfection technology in complex and high-risk spine surgery patients. Deployment of a universal pre-surgical bundle including nasal decolonization resulted in reduction of spine surgical site infection rates from 7.2% to 1.6% (78% reduction, p<0.01, NNT=18). Study authors estimated 53 infections were avoided per year, at an annual cost savings of $4.24 million. Use of nasal photodisinfection was not associated with any adverse events.

This study reaffirms our original findings showing a significant reduction in surgical site infections in spine patients. This new data demonstrates that the efficacy is greatest in complex and high-risk patients, stated Dr. John Street, a Director of the Complex Spine Program, Vancouver Coastal Health. The combined pre-operative therapy of nasal photodisinfection and chlorhexidine skin decolonization is a cost-effective component of our overall risk reduction strategy, helping us to provide the best evidence-based patient care.

We are extremely pleased with these results and abstract conclusions. It is rewarding to know that our antimicrobial Photodisinfection technology helped to prevent so many life-threatening surgical site infections, for patients of the Vancouver Coastal Healthcare system, stated Jason Hickok, VP, Clinical & Medical Affairs. The recommendation to adopt routine use of nasal Photodisinfection for prevention of surgical site infections demonstrates the highest level of confidence in our technology.

About Ondines Nasal Photodisinfection Therapy

Ondines Health Canada-approved nasal photodisinfection therapy is a patented, first-in-class, light-activated antimicrobial therapy developed to eradicate a broad spectrum of nasal pathogens without promoting antibiotic resistance, including the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), fungi and viruses.

About Post-Surgical Site Infections

Surgical site infections (SSIs) account for 15% of all hospital acquired infections and contribute substantially to morbidity and mortality each year. Up to 5% of all surgical patients will develop an SSI in hospital, often resulting from Staphylococcus aureus infection. In many cases this virulent pathogen exhibits multidrug resistance making treatment increasingly difficult. The evolution of antimicrobial resistance stems from the widespread use of antibiotics including inappropriate use in viral and non-susceptible infections. Existing approaches to eliminating nasal bacteria rely on expensive testing prior to surgery and/or prolonged antibiotic therapies. Ondines photodisinfection therapy requires only minutes to deploy, does not induce antibiotic resistance and minimizes the need for patient compliance.

About Ondine Biomedical Inc.

Ondine Biomedical Inc. is dedicated to the development of non-antibiotic, anti-infective therapies for a broad-spectrum of bacterial, viral and fungal infections. Ondines antimicrobial program utilizes a platform technology called photodisinfection, a light-activated approach developed to provide rapid antimicrobial efficacy and reduced risk of antibiotic resistance. Over 70 patents in 21 patent families have been granted or are pending covering various aspects of the technology. Ondines flagship nasal photodisinfection system has been deployed in Canada for several years. Other applications of the photodisinfection platform are under development, including Sinuwave (TM) for treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, and Exelume (TM), designed to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

About Vancouver Coastal Health

Vancouver Coastal Health is a world-class innovator in medical care, research, and teaching. Delivering healthcare services to more than one million BC residents, VCH operates in Vancouver, Vancouvers North Shore, Richmond, the Sea-to-Sky area, Sunshine Coast, Bella Bella, and Bella Coola.

Contact Ondine Biomedical Inc.

http://www.ondinebio.com

Angelika Vance | 1.604.838.2702 | avance@ondinebio.com
Aaron Miranda, M.D., joins Physician Partners of America in Carrollton, Texas, as an interventional pain management specialist. To see people improve on a regular basis is gratifying to me, the patients and their families.

Physician Partners of America is pleased to welcome Aaron Miranda, M.D., to its Carrollton, Texas pain clinic as an interventional pain management specialist. he begins seeing patients this week.

Dr. Miranda specializes in treating all chronic pain conditions with epidural steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation, spinal cord stimulator placement, Botox and nerve blocks for migraine and trigger point injections, among other modalities.

He is double board-certified in pain management and physical medicine and rehabilitation.

Dr. Miranda, a second-generation physician, earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Texas Christian University, and his medical degree from the American University of the Caribbean. He completed is residency at the Nassau University Medical Center in New York, and elected chief resident of the pain management and rehabilitation department.

He then served as co-chief fellow during an ACGME-accredited interventional pain fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

Dr. Miranda chose pain management to help patients improve their quality of life and physical function. To see them improve on a regular basis is gratifying to me, the patients and their families, he says. Comprehensive pain management makes that possible.

Dr. Aaron Miranda is a member of the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. A native of El Paso who grew up in Tulsa, he speaks English and Spanish.

To make an appointment, patients can call (469) 298-1439. The office is located at 4100 Fairway Court, Carrollton, TX 75010.

About Physician Partners of America

Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., Physician Partners of America (PPOA) is a fast-growing national healthcare company committed to fighting the opioid epidemic through interventional pain management and cutting-edge treatment modalities. It manages operations of a wide range of medical practices and ancillary services. These include pain management, minimally invasive laser spine surgery, orthopedics, primary care, psychological services, personal injury and Workers Compensation. It also operates AAAHC-accredited ambulatory surgery centers and procedure suites. For more information, please visit PPOAMedical.com.
Mr. Ross W. Albers Craig is among the best, most experience criminal defense attorneys around. We're excited he's joining our team.

The Law Offices of Ross W. Albers is very pleased to announce the addition of accomplished criminal defense attorney, Craig A. Ross to the firm as a Senior Attorney as of February 15, 2019. Previously with the Office of the Public Defender - Baltimore County Mr. Ross is licensed in Maryland.

Mr. Ross has been defending the rights of the accused since 1999 in both Baltimore City and Baltimore County where he has experience with numerous matters ranging from juvenile to serious felony cases.

I am excited to announce this experienced addition to our Criminal Defense team. When you want to be recognized as a top criminal defense firm, you must recruit the most experienced, and talented attorneys. Craig is among the best, and we're excited he's part of our team." - Ross W. Albers, CEO of The Law Offices of Ross W. Albers. He continues We are kicking off 2019 with a bang! Were very happy with Craig's arrival. Growth is good, and were moving in a very positive direction..

About The Law Offices of Ross W. Albers

The Law Offices of Ross W. Albers are located in both Carroll, Howard, Frederick, and Baltimore Counties. The four offices represent clients in Maryland DUI/DWI, personal injury, Estate Planning, and criminal matters throughout Maryland. The Law Offices of Ross W. Albers take a personal interest in each client. You need an attorney that will listen to you and understand your unique situation, whether it be a criminal arrest, complex divorce and custody case, drunk driving charges, or an injury caused by an automobile accident. For more information visit http://www.rossalbers.com/

About Growth Solutions Team

The Growth Solutions Team is a leading provider of Business Consulting Services including, Strategic HR, CFO Advisory, Sales & Customer Service Training, and Small Business Advisory services. Our team assists companies with growth in sales, profitability, and improved cash flows. For more information visit the website at https://growthsolutionsteam.com
ALOM's 2019 SDCE Supply Chain Pros to Know: Hannah Kain, President and CEO; and Lisa Dolan, Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy. We are proud to represent the collective expertise of the entire global team of ALOM supply chain operations and technology professionals whose talent and dedication make our customers growth and success possible." -- Lisa Dolan, ALOM VP, Supply Chain Strategy

ALOM, a global leader in supply chain management, has been recognized for its strategic industry knowledge and technical expertise by Supply & Demand Chain Executive with the naming of two executives as 2019 Supply Chain Pros to Know: Hannah Kain, President and CEO; and Lisa Dolan, Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy. This is the fifth year for Kain, and the fourth year for Dolan, to receive this honor.

The 19th annual listing of the 2019 SDCE Pros to Know Awards recognizes supply chain practitioners and providers who enable their supply chain customers and suppliers to meet the significant challenges of todays global business climate.

Lisa Dolans exceptional expertise spanning supply chain order management technology and manufacturing process optimization, helps solve her customers biggest challenges today, such as aligning their physical and digital supply chains, or creating long term strategies to protect against marketplace fluctuations. Key to her success is her deep understanding of technology application, both current and emerging, and her ability to build trusted relationships, said Kain.

Hannah and I are proud to represent the collective expertise of the entire global team of ALOM supply chain operations and technology professionals whose talent and dedication make our customers growth and success possible, added Dolan.

As the ALOM visionary leader, Kain has built a global footprint of 19 facilities enabling its Fortune 500 customers to source, produce, and fulfill orders near major word markets, reducing costs and transportation distances while maintaining Six Sigma quality levels. In 2018, Kain positioned the company for continued long-term growth with investments in technology, staff expertise, supplier relationships, and industry advocacy. She further expanded the companys global presence opening its EMEA headquarters in Amsterdam and a new 110,000-square-foot addition to its US global headquarters in Fremont, California now totaling 260,000 square feet.

Lisa Dolan positions ALOM customers for success and opportunity amidst an increasingly complex and fast-changing technology landscape. For example, she strategizes with customers to proactively address how to utilize technology to protect their supply chains from disruption and significant cost increases in an uncertain trade environment. She also advises customers on how to embed rapidly updated technology in their supply chains as their products develop and evolve.

In an era when many industries are defined by and compete with their technology, ALOM uses its own proprietary solutions to manage and scale complex programs for companies spanning automotive, medical device, technology, and energy/utility sectors. As an example, seamless integration and analysis of data enable companies to generate predictive data, meet global demand and assure regulatory compliance. At the same time ALOM enables companies to digitally connect with customers, suppliers, service providers, and product developers.

We commend ALOM for its achievements in the supply chain and for paving the way for the next generation of exceptional supply chain leaders, said John Yuva, editor of Supply & Demand Chain Executive. They embody the commitment to transformative supply chain tools and processes, earning these individuals a rightful place in this years Pros to Know listing.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive received more than 500 entries for the 2019 Pros to Know Awards.

About Supply & Demand Chain Executive

Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the executive's user manual for successful supply and demand chain transformation, utilizing hard-hitting analysis, viewpoints and unbiased case studies to steer executives and supply management professionals through the complicated, yet critical, world of supply and demand chain enablement to gain competitive advantage. Visit us on the web at http://www.SDCExec.com.

About ALOM:

ALOM is a global supply chain management services and solutions provider serving as a partner to its Fortune 500 customers in the technology, automotive, government, medical, telecommunications, and utility/energy sectors. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, its expert team of strategists, technology engineers, and supply chain specialists operate globally from 19 locations. ALOM supply chain service offerings include procurement, ecommerce, inventory, assembly, digital media duplication, print management, fulfillment, IT and visibility tools, logistics management, and operations. ALOM is proud to deliver its customers products and services impeccably, enrich the end-user experience, and uphold their brand reputations. http://www.alom.com


Aprio, LLP, a nationally-recognized, CPA-led business advisory firm, has been named a 2019 Top Workplace by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) in the midsize companies category (150-499 employees) for the third year in a row.

Since last years recognition, Aprio has continued to improve its team member experience rolling out an employee engagement tool to measure real-time team member satisfaction by obtaining feedback to further enhance Aprios culture and work environment. In response to feedback, Aprio launched Discretionary Time Off and flexible work policies in 2019 that will better allow for life/work fulfillment for Aprio team members. In addition, in 2019, Aprio announced an expanded maternity leave policy in which primary caregivers receive 12 weeks of paid leave and secondary caregivers receive 6 weeks.

Delivering an extraordinary team member experience is a pillar of the firm and we strive to create an environment and culture where all team members can grow and thrive in their careers, said Richard Kopelman, managing partner and CEO at Aprio. We are honored to be named a Top Workplace in Atlanta for the third year in a row. This could not have been achieved without the passion, commitment and continuous feedback from Aprio team members.

In 2018, Aprio successfully conducted three business combinations, adding another office in Metro Atlanta and launching the firms second largest office, Aprio Cloud, that includes 60 team members located in 22 states across the U.S.

The AJC Top Workplaces award recognizes 150 Atlanta businesses annually. Recognition as a Top Workplace is based on employee feedback in an anonymous survey that measures several aspects of workplace culture. For more information about the Top Workplaces list, please visit https://www.topworkplaces.com.

For more information about Aprio, visit http://www.aprio.com.

About Aprio

Aprio is a premier full-service, CPA-led business advisory firm based in Atlanta, Georgia, that advises clients and associates on how to achieve whats next. Aprios associates work as integrated teams across advisory, assurance, tax, cloud accounting solutions and private client services, bringing the best thinking and personal commitment to each client. Across practices, Aprio brings together proven expertise, deep understanding and strategic foresight for industries including Manufacturing and Distribution; Non-Profit and Education; Professional Services; Real Estate and Construction; Retail, Franchise and Hospitality; and Technology and Biosciences. In 65 years, Aprio has grown to 450 employees. To serve clients wherever life or business may take them, Aprios teams speak more than 25 languages and work with clients in over 40 countries. In addition to its Atlanta headquarters, Aprio also operates in New York; Birmingham, Ala.; and Sarasota, Fla. For more, visit https://www.aprio.com.


BankruptcyData's Industry Best Awards 2019 finalists in alphabetical order, by category. Given the US business environment today, with its backdrop of unprecedented levels of corporate debt (now approaching 800 Trillion USD), its arguably more important than ever to take the measure of the firms that participate in the bankruptcy and restructuring industry.

New Generation Researchpublisher of BankruptcyData, The Turnaround Letter and other bankruptcy/restructuring and distressed securities-related content and data platformsannounced finalists for its 2019 Industry Best Awards. (See a list of last years winners and finalists).

BankruptcyDatas second annual Industry Best Awards identify the leading firms in each of the following categories: Investment Bankers, Law Firms, Financial Advisors and Claims Agents. This year's finalists, in their respective categories and listed alphabetically, include:

Investment Bankers: Evercore, Houlihan Lokey, Jefferies & Co., PJT Partners

Law Firms: Kirkland & Ellis, Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor

Financial Advisors: Alvarez & Marsal, Berkeley Research Group, FTI Consulting

Claims Agents: Epiq Systems, Kurtzman Carson Consultants, Prime Clerk

BankruptcyData's Chief Executive Officer, James Hammond, will announce the winners in each category at the American Bankruptcy Institute's (ABI) Annual Spring Meeting in Washington, D.C. on April 14.

Widely recognized as the most important industry event of the year, this years meeting marks ABI's 37th Annual Spring Meetingwith judges, trustees, attorneys, CPAs, lenders and other turnaround specialists hailing from 500+ companies in 45 states slated to attend.

Of the Awards, New Generation Research founder George Putnam says, "Given the US business environment today, with its backdrop of unprecedented levels of corporate debt (now approaching 800 Trillion USD), its arguably more important than ever to take the measure of the firms that participate in the bankruptcy and restructuring industry.

Of this years crop of finalists, NGR Chief Operations Officer Ben Schlafman notes, There are new names at the top of our league tables this year. While a general sense is building that there is a lot of restructuring business just around the corner, it remains a competitive market. And no one can rest on their laurels. We congratulate these finalists for their excellent work in 2018, and we look forward to announcing the winners at the ABI Annual Spring Meeting.

About BankruptcyDatas Industry Best Awards

Through its BankruptcyData division, New Generation Research has served as the reliable chronicler of record for the bankruptcy and restructuring industry for 33 years. Now in its second year, the BankruptcyDatas Industry Best Awards list furnishes a carefully sourced, reliable snapshot of firms that lead the industry. Rankings are based on quantitative and qualitative criteria, focused primarily on our internal data and league table analysis. U.S. Bankruptcy Court sourced retention data mattersillustrating the firms that market participants think will deliver the best outcomes. Our team of seasoned restructuring researchers and analysts reviews all contenders, and editorial discretion is applied when retention data delivers a draw.

Now in its 29th edition, the Bankruptcy Yearbook, Almanac & Directory is the definitive guide and catalog of record of the most important facts relevant to bankruptcy and restructuring industry practitioners. Our yearly almanac collects and synthesizes countless statistics and data points, all monitored and updated in real time at BankruptcyData.com.

About New Generation Researchs BankruptcyData

Boston-based New Generation Research, Inc. (NGR), is a leading provider of corporate bankruptcy and distressed securities publications, products and services. Founded in 1986 by George Putnam, III, NGR has established itself as the preeminent source for in-depth information on Turnaround investing, corporate bankruptcy data, and distressed companies.

BankruptcyData is a division of NGR. BankruptcyData hosts the industry's most comprehensive business bankruptcy database housing 30+ years of corporate bankruptcy statistics and analysisoffering an invaluable resource to monitor and research historic and real-time U.S. Bankruptcy Court activity. The site's companion publications, Bankruptcy Daily and Bankruptcy Week, offer comprehensive, timely and reliable reporting and analytics on U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceedings. For additional information on corporate bankruptcies, visit http://www.bankruptcydata.com.

For additional information on BankruptcyData's Industry Best Awards, visit BankruptcyData. For further details on New Generation Research's full range of product offerings and research services, contact New Generation Research, Inc. 88 Broad Street, Second Floor; Boston, MA 02110 (617) 573-9550 CustomerSupport@BankruptcyData.com.
CorpWriting is a multinational content writing company based in the US and in the UK, which provides its services to clients worldwide.

A few of their unique services include:



Blog Posts

Articles

Newsletters Content

Webpage Copies

White Paper

Executive Summaries

Business Plans

Reports/Case Studies

Presentations (PPT)

Proposals

Corporate Profiles

Press Releases

eBooks

Infographs

Editing/Proof Reading

Video Script Writing

CorpWriting has made a commendable name for themselves by catering to diverse clients from all around the world. Besides the writing services that they provide, they also offer search engine optimization (SEO) services, which can help people increase their engagement and visibility online.

CorpWriting has now partnered with FQD Solutions, a company that is known for providing clients optimal bespoke web design and development services. This means that alongside their content writing services, they will now be offering design related services as well, in collaboration with FQD.

FQD Solutions is an award-winning company that is set out to provide businesses with the ultimate solutions for all their digital designing and development needs.

I had been waiting for an opportunity for a collaboration such as this. So, when we got into talks with a company as prestigious as FQD Solutions, we just knew we had to go for it. Our teams work beautifully together, creating magnificent web solutions for clients who really want more traction on online platforms. Our specializations are allowing us to provide our clients with more comprehensive services, and that is benefitting us, FQD and our clients alike. We always strive to provide our clients with the best of all worlds, so this alliance is a dream come true, says the CEO.

CorpWriting is hopeful that this alliance will bring about a lot of prosperity and innovation in what they do and how they service customers.

About CorpWriting

CorpWriting is a company that provides high-quality custom content for individuals and businesses both big and small. Their expertise is concentrated on creating plagiarism free, original content that is SEO optimized.

Contact Information

To contact CorpWriting visit https://www.corpwriting.com. You can also call them on their toll free number: 1(855) 848-1999 or email them at info@corpwriting.com.
Cryptshare QUICK Technology solves the age-old problem of exchanging passwords used to protect encrypted files. It eliminates the need to exchange one-time, single-use passwords between sender and receiver each time a transfer is made, or to rely on static key pairs.

Cryptshare, the German developer of data security and privacy solutions for the exchange of business-critical information, today announced the general release schedule of Cryptshare QUICK Technology. QUICK is a tangible IT-security solution that provides a permanent, secure connection for encrypted data transmission that everyone can use from anywhere at any time. The innovative, patent-pending technology will be available in Europe immediately, with U.S. distribution scheduled for early April. Cryptshare will demo the technology at the RSA Conference, March 4-8 in San Francisco, where the company is a co-exhibitor with TeleTrusT in the German Pavilion, booth 5671-23.

Password misuse and mismanagement is a primary cause of many data breaches, said Mark Forrest, CEO of Cryptshare. Cryptshare QUICK Technology solves the age-old problem of exchanging passwords used to protect encrypted files. It eliminates the need to exchange one-time, single-use passwords between sender and receiver each time a transfer is made, or to rely on static key pairs, which can be eternally vulnerable.

QUICK uses an individual key for transmitter and receiver, which is combined with a common, dynamic key. After the first use by a sender and recipient, all future use is protected by a permanent secure communication between them, suitable for securely sharing files of any size or kind.

Furthermore, QUICK saves time and money by removing the need for shared infrastructure, federated key agreements or key stores. And, by eliminating the need for users to create and constantly retain passwords, a more secure environment  one that normal people can use  is achieved.

Aside from making emails and files safer, QUICK can be used with a simple-to-implement JAVA and .NET API, facilitating secure communications between applications such as ERP and HR. QUICK can also be used by OEMs to enable secure machine-to-machine communications between IoT devices in security-conscious environments from healthcare to finance and manufacturing.

How QUICK Works

During the first transfer between two participants, an individual key is exchanged automatically, which is used to generate a unique, one-time, use-forever password to establish a permanent secure connection for all future data or file transfers between the sender and receiver. The recipient side can automatically derive and apply this password without having to exchange it with the sender, and each transaction is protected by a unique key. Unlike widely used Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) solutions, the sender does not need to set up or impose any infrastructure to manage or maintain encryption keys. As a result, costs are dramatically reduced, implementation is quick and easy, the user experience is seamless, and the enterprise is more secure.

The reason you need QUICK is that once you have established a secure connection with another person, application or machine, you do not need to remember or use passwords in the future, making the safekeeping of data in transit as simple as it can possibly get, concluded Forrest.

About Cryptshare and Befine Solutions

Founded in 2000, owner-managed Befine Solutions AG develops and supplies software solutions that help companies support, optimize and secure their email processes, important data transmissions and large file handling. Today, more than four million users in 2000+ companies across 80 countries rely upon its leading security technology, Cryptshare, for the safe exchange of their business sensitive information. Already their success has been underlined by the award of the Cybersecurity Excellence Award 2017 and the Infosecurity Products Guide Global Excellence Awards. The company is headquartered in Freiburg, Germany, and operates sales offices in the UK and the Netherlands. Cryptshare, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Befine Solutions AG from its U.S. office in Boston, Mass. To learn more, visit: http://www.cryptshare.com.

Media Contact (U.S.):

Kelly DeAses

Michael Mackenzie Communications

kellyd@michaelmackenzie.com

404.445.1842 ext. 107

Media Contact (International):

Oliver Gang  Chief Marketing Officer

Befine Solutions AG  The Cryptshare Company

oliver.gaeng@cryptshare.com

+49 761 389130
CSIOS Honored with Three 2019 InfoSec Awards To be recognized by Cyber Defense Magazine with three 2019 InfoSec Awards is simply extraordinary. We are thrilled about receiving such prestigious awards; congratulate all winners and participants; and thank everyone who participated, mentored, judged, and supported this event.

CSIOS Corporation was honored by Cyber Defense Magazine with three 2019 Cyber InfoSec Awards including: Next Gen Chief Executive of the Year, Hot Company Cybersecurity Service Provider, and Most Innovative Insider Threat Detection. This year, the InfoSec Awards ceremony took place at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, California during the RSA Conference 2019. This is Cyber Defense Magazines seventh year honoring the most innovative and valuable cyber defense companies from around the globe.

With over 3,000 cyber defense companies boasting their best executives, teams, and InfoSec products and services, we are pleased to be recognized as one of the winners of the coveted InfoSec Award for 2019. said Cesar Pie, President and CEO of CSIOS Corporation. Mr. Pie added, To be recognized by Cyber Defense Magazine with three 2019 InfoSec Awards is simply extraordinary. We are thrilled about receiving such prestigious awards; congratulate all winners and participants; and thank everyone who participated, mentored, judged, and supported this event.

Details about the InfoSec Awards and the list of 2019 winners are available at http://www.cyberdefenseawards.com.
"With an unmatched reputation and propensity for thoughtful, effective outcomes for their patients, Drs. Nelson and Steuer have assembled a talented team of the very best dental professionals in Colorado. We are proud to welcome them to the DCA Family," stated David Pegg, Chief Development Officer.

Dental Care Alliance (DCA) is delighted to welcome Colorado Springs Oral Surgery to its growing network of world-class affiliate practices. With two thriving oral surgery centers in the picturesque northern and southern regions of Colorado Springs, and a third location in the growing suburb of Pueblo, the practice provides exceptional, accessible care to patients in the community.

Dental Care Alliance was created by dentists, for dentists. All of our affiliated dentists are free to focus on patient care without the hassles of business management or large capital investments. DCA practices enjoy growing patient bases, increased new patient flow, continuing education, a complete benefits package, potential equity opportunities without sacrificing autonomy or clinical independence.

Colorado Springs Oral Surgery offers an extensive array of complex dental care treatments, ranging from common wisdom teeth removal and implants, to advanced jaw repositioning and pediatric surgery. Dr. Tyler Nelson and Dr. Matthew Steuer lead the practice; and, interestingly, both began their undergraduate years studying international language at Brigham Young University, before realizing their respective, unique passions for dentistry and oral surgery. They have successfully blended the arts of language, business and dentistry, to build the fastest-growing specialty practice in Colorado Springs.

Our new partners at Colorado Springs Oral Surgery have an unmatched reputation for quality, compassionate care and a propensity for thoughtful, effective outcomes for patients in need, stated David Pegg, Chief Development Officer for Dental Care Alliance. Dr. Nelson and Dr. Steuer have assembled a talented and compassionate team of the very best dental professionals in Colorado Springs, and we are proud to welcome them to the DCA Family.

Founded in 1991 and headquartered in Sarasota, FL, Dental Care Alliance supports more than 300 affiliated dental practices in 19 states, making it one of the largest multi-branded dental support organizations in the country. DCA-affiliated practices provide a full suite of dental services, including general dentistry, hygiene, pediatric dentistry, orthodontics, endodontics, periodontics and oral surgery. DCAs mission is to improve the practice of dentistry by partnering with and supporting dental professionals, so they can create a lifetime of healthy smiles for their patients.
Alan Hubbard presenting at the United Nations International Day of Disability Event for Boston. "It is time to accelerate the diversification of the call center workforce. Using individuals with disabilities through remote work is a key component to this solution. Managers need to know this." -Alan Hubbard

The 2019 Remote Working Summit from Customer Contact Strategies will be held in Dallas, TX March 4-6. Industry professionals will gather to discuss best strategies and practices for remote employee success. Over 30% of the worlds workforce does at least some work from home, with the U.S. having the highest number of at-home workers.

Alan Hubbard, COO of NTI, will present at the Remote Working Summit. For more than 20 years, NTI has partnered with businesses interested in the benefits of inclusion and an at-home workforce. NTI works exclusively with Americans with disabilities who need to work from home. When asked about his involvement at the summit, Hubbard responded, With unemployment at an all-time low, it is imperative that call center managers find quality resources for retention and growth without sacrificing quality. It is time to accelerate the diversification of the call center workforce. Using individuals with disabilities through remote work is a key component to this solution. Managers need to know this."

Hubbard will share how NTIs unique business model employs altruism and Americans with disabilities to benefit the bottom line of the modern contact center. Hubbards presentation will include information about how and why NTI trained agents have attrition rates up to 35% lower than average. In addition, he will touch on the benefits of a nationwide employee base and flexible scheduling, both available through NTIs services.

To learn more about NTI, visit them online at http://www.nticentral.org or call Michael Sanders at 857-772-7614.

About NTI: National Telecommuting Institute. Inc (NTI) is a 501 (c)(3) (http://www.nticentral.org) non- profit organization with headquarters in Boston, MA. NTI has been supporting Americans with disabilities since 1995. NTI provides training and job services in work at home positions across the U.S. through the NTI@Home and LandAjob.org programs. NTI pioneered staffing virtual call centers with Americans with Disabilities, including Disabled Veterans, who work from home.

About Customer Contact Strategies: Founded by customer care executive Michele Rowan in 2009, CCS facilitates public conferences and workshops on remote working strategies and best practices for contact centers and support functions. They offer consulting on design and expansion of work at home programs.
To obtain accurate car insurance quotes, drivers should provide accurate, honest information when filing the online questionnaires, said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company.

Compare-autoinsurance.org has launched a new blog post that explains what advantages are gained by using free online car insurance quotes.

For more info, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/tips-getting-accurate-car-insurance-quotes/

Drivers are recommended to check the insurance market every time a major event happens in their lives. Certain events like getting married, or moving to a new neighborhood can have an impact on the premiums paid by a policyholder. The best way to check the insurance market is by using online car insurance quotes.

To obtain accurate online car insurance quotes, drivers should follow the next tips:



Check the insurance needs. Drivers should first know what they are looking for. Some drivers own old cars and they consider dropping coverage. In this case, drivers should obtain car quotes and see if full coverage is still worth it. Other drivers own new cars and consider adding extra coverages like new car replacement coverage or gap insurance. It all depends on the drivers.

Check the budget. Drivers should not opt for high coverage levels if they cant afford it. To see what they can really afford, drivers can use online quotes to simulate different insurance plans with different coverage levels and options. This will help drivers find an affordable policy that suits them.

Policyholders should provide accurate data. When filing an online questionnaire, is important to keep the documents nearby. Online questionnaires will ask data like the car model, installed safety features and other relevant data about the vehicle the policyholder wants to insure.

Be honest with the insurance companies. It's common for drivers to lie their insurers in order to obtain better insurance rates. However, insurance companies do their own research before granting coverage. Drivers that are caught lying can have their premiums increased or their coverage applications rejected.

Check for discounts. Some online questionnaires will ask things like mileage, number of claims and accidents in the past years, and so on in order to provide the policyholders with discounts.

For additional info, money-saving tips and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.org/

Compare-autoinsurance.org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc.
This round of funding will help immensely in accelerating our mission.

Emmersion Learning announced today that it has closed $2.4 million in equity funding led by Imagen Capital Partners, a Seattle-based venture capital firm. Additional major existing investors also participated.

This round of funding will help immensely in accelerating our mission, shared Joe Tomco, CEO and co-founder of Emmersion Learning. The industry has been anxiously awaiting a reliable automated language assessment platform. The support from Imagen will allow us to scale to a full suite of automated and adaptive language assessments to be used worldwide.

Emmersion became pioneers in the industry of reliable language assessment technology with the release of its newest product, the TrueNorth Test, in June 2017. This fully-automated speaking test allows users to get immediate results from their speaking assessments through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence. Emmersion has since experienced dramatic growth with its Spanish and English assessments, which have been taken by several Fortune 500 companies and numerous major universities in over 30 countries worldwide. Ten additional languages including Japanese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic are set to release soon.

Emmersion has developed a unique and innovative solution, which is well positioned to be a driving force in global language learning assessments, said Chris Barrow, Imagen Capital Partners Managing Director. We look forward to working more closely with the management team as they continue to build a dynamic and scalable platform to address this demand throughout the growing EdTech industry.

About Emmersion Learning

Founded in 2015, Emmersion Learning is a rapidly-growing EdTech company located on the Silicon Slopes of Lehi, Utah. With a mission to close the global communication gap, the company focuses on helping organizations be smarter with their global language strategy by leveraging powerful data captured through an adaptive and automated assessment system. This goal is founded in the belief that language learning is most effective when it is personalized and customized to the learner on an individual level. Learn more at http://www.emmersionlearning.com.

About Imagen Capital Partners

Imagen Capital Partners is a Seattle-based, seed and early-stage venture firm focused on investments in software/SaaS, data and technology-enabled concerns. Led by former technology operators, the firm seeks to create collaborative relationships with entrepreneurs beyond the investment process to innovate, challenge, and transform the dynamics of new and existing markets. Learn more at http://www.imagencap.com.
Farm Boy Chooses EnterWorks for Product Information, Master Data and Digital Asset Management to Support its Industry-Leading Grocery Business Todays grocery customer is embracing the same kind of personalized product experience often found in many non-food product categories. Farm Boy is riding the digital wave in enhancing its leading grocery business, including for its own label prepared and fresh foods."

EnterWorks, a leading provider of Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) solutions, today announced Farm Boy, Ontarios fastest growing fresh food retailer, as a customer. Farm Boy is implementing the EnterWorks Enable PIM and Digital Asset Management (DAM) to enhance digital product experience in conjunction with its planned omnichannel commerce initiatives. In future phases, Farm Boy will implement EnterWorks Vendor Portal, Vendor MDM and Print products to optimize vendor management and marketing/promotional item development and is exploring EnterWorks Recipe Management.

Todays grocery customer is embracing the same kind of personalized product experience often found in many non-food product categories. Farm Boy is riding the digital wave in enhancing its leading grocery business, including for its own label prepared and fresh foods, said Rick Chavie, CEO of EnterWorks. Their innovative digital strategy is founded on greater personalization of consumer offers, which, in turn requires a mastery of complex product information and experiences. This has led the grocer to EnterWorks suite of PIM, DAM and content solutions.

With 28 stores in Ontario, Farm Boy specializes in local fresh produce and meat and serves up a wide range of ready-to-eat foods prepared in-store. In June 2018, the company announced it was updating its digital initiatives by creating an app for its customers. It was later announced in September that the Ottawa-based fresh grocer is being acquired by Empire Company Ltd.

Farm Boys investment in EnterWorks suite of products continues the MDM and PIM solution providers momentum, experience and solution strength in the food, grocery, consumer product goods and retail categories. The EnterWorks Enable Solution will allow Farm Boy to provide its employees and customers a single view of all products, register and on-board product as well as other master data from vendors, optimize the development of marketing/promotional items, organize store information, and much more.

EnterWorks will meet Farm Boys specific requirements through the companys ability to handle product data complexity; support omnichannel operations, including digital content management; and provide for master data management, including product, vendor, store and digital asset information. EnterWorks and its various solutions provide the single view that enterprises need to acquire, manage, and syndicate all their product information, plus the automated workflow that powers collaboration between every person and system in the product information lifecycle.

About EnterWorks, a Winshuttle LLC Company

EnterWorks Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) solution enables companies to acquire, manage and transform product information into persuasive content that drives higher sales and new competitive strengths through e-commerce Web, mobile, print and various electronic channels. Services offered include: Master Data Management, Product Information Management, Dynamic Data Modeling, Workflow & Collaboration, Syndication & Publishing, Digital Asset Management, Geographic Localization, Portal Content Exchange, and Digital Channel Accelerators.

EnterWorks is highly ranked by various research analysts and used by industry leaders such as: Ariens, Big Rock Sports, CPO Commerce, Creative Converting, Darigold, Fender Musical Instruments, Guthy-Renker, Hearth & Home Technologies, HON Furniture, HP Hood, Interline Brands, Johnstone Supply, Mary Kay, Mercer, Orgill, Publishers Clearing House, Restoration Hardware, Strategic Market Alliance, US Foods, and W.B. Mason. Learn more at http://www.enterworks.com.

About Farm Boy

Selected as one of Canadas 50 Best Managed Companies, Eastern Ontario based Farm Boy provides a unique and friendly, fresh-market shopping experience. Featuring their signature farm-fresh produce and organic, natural and locally sourced foods, plus their popular store brands and wholesome fresh prepared meals, made from scratch in the Farm Boy Kitchen. With legions of loyal customers, Farm Boy has grown from a small produce stand starting in Cornwall in 1981 to 26 stores located across Ontario, with the Leslie and Lake Shore and Oakville locations opening this winter. The company plans to continue its fresh market expansion across Ontario. Learn more at http://www.FarmBoy.ca.
Im always proud when one of our associates is recognized for ongoing commitment to the industry. Day-in and day-out Erin exemplifies the core values of FirstService Residential, said Michael Mendillo, president, FirstService Residential.

FirstService Residential, the leading property management company in North America, announced that the New Jersey chapter of the Community Association Institute (CAI) presented the Committee Chair of the Year award to its very own Erin OReilly, Regional Director. The award was presented at the chapters annual awards dinner on February 28. OReilly is the chair of the managers committee.

This recognition is awarded to the committee chair that has assisted the chapter the most in attaining its goals for the previous year. The winner of this award is selected through a nomination process that is judged by outside reviewers from other CAI chapters.

Im always proud when one of our associates is recognized for ongoing commitment to the industry. Day-in and day-out Erin exemplifies the core values of FirstService Residential, said Michael Mendillo, president, FirstService Residential. She consistently goes above and beyond in establishing best practices for the company, as well as the industry.

OReilly was recently promoted to Regional Director for FirstService Residential in the New Jersey high-rise division. She joined the company in January 2014 and has been the Community Manager at Dixon Mills in Jersey City for the past three years. OReilly currently holds her CMCA, PCAM and AMS from CAI. Over the past year, she has participated as a speaker and author for CAI-NJ to help increase manager knowledge. She has also participated in various committees and is currently a CAI mediator. OReilly strives to raise the bar in providing manager education by teaching the CAI-NJ Coffee and Cram and publishing the Managers Minutes.

~ http://www.fsresidential.com ~

About FirstService Residential

FirstService Residential is North America's largest manager of residential communities and the preferred partner of HOAs, community associations and strata corporations in the U.S. and Canada. FirstService Residential's managed communities include low-, mid- and high-rise condominiums and cooperatives, single-family homes, master-planned, lifestyle and active adult communities, and rental and commercial properties.

With an unmatched combination of deep industry experience, local market expertise and personalized attention, FirstService Residential delivers proven solutions and exceptional service that add value, enhance lifestyles and make a difference, every day, for every resident and community it manages. FirstService Residential is a subsidiary of FirstService Corporation, a North American leader in the property services sector. For more information, visit http://www.fsresidential.com.
With our new Association Benefit Manager suite, we are defining how Association Health and Benefit Plans are administered, maintained and reported on, said Dave Greenberg, Vice President of Market Development.

FormFire LLC announces Association Benefit Manager, their enhanced technology, service and data management suite designed to manage the benefits related to Association Health Plans. This new integrated product suite provides Association, Chamber and MEWA plans with more efficient ways to manage benefits at scale, all while staying compliant and organized.

Association Benefit Manager is an end-to-end offering built upon FormFires industry-leading technology designed to digitally connect Associations, Chambers, Brokers, Carriers and the governing board  all within one integrated ecosystem. From member management and secure document storage, to compliance reporting and ROI analysis, Association Benefit Manager will help you manage the multitude of tasks that are required of you. A variety of Assisted Service offerings as well as Marketing Campaign management are also a part of the product suite.

With our new Association Benefit Manager suite, we are defining how Association Health and Benefit Plans are administered, maintained and reported on, said Dave Greenberg, Vice President of Market Development. We are excited to bring our many years worth of expertise in this area to the exploding number of plans that are being created every day.

FormFire has more Association Health Plan experience than any other vendor in the industry and can share their best practices with your team. Whether you manage a new or already established plan, FormFires broad offering has solutions that can help you succeed.

For more information please visit http://www.formfire.com/Associations.

###

About FormFire, LLC

FormFire, LLC, based in Cleveland, Ohio, is the market-leading technology provider for the small group and Association benefits industry. Its Quote, Sell, Enroll private exchange platform enables group benefit consultants and insurance carriers to easily and securely gather employee and group data for benefits pricing, plan selection, and enrollment. For more information about FormFire LLC, please visit https://www.formfire.com.
Friday Night Car Cruises on Main Street

Cruising Downtown Duncan

On March 22nd, the Main Street Duncan organization will begin the Friday Night Car Cruises in downtown Duncan, after the Duncan Swap Meet, from 5-10 PM.

The Main Street organization in Duncan, Oklahoma hosts car cruises throughout the year to be able to assist the downtown business owners through programs such as Team Up to Clean Up, the signage grant, and others. The first cruise is always in March in conjunction with Stephens Countys largest swap meet The Duncan Swap Meet. Event directors from Main Street Duncan, Inc. and the Duncan Swap Meet coordinate on this event since both appeals to so many car enthusiasts in one location at one time. According to the Main Street Duncan office, over 200 participants attended the March car cruise in 2018, mostly due to the Duncan Swap Meets long running and widely known meet.

Hosting this event in conjunction with the swap meet has been a smart move for Main Street, said Duncan Swap Meet Coordinator, Kevin Hammack, its been a win, win.

The Main Street Duncan merchants will keep the stores open late, offering specials, and some will have door prizes. The Palace Theater will show a movie; Boomarang will offer an all-you-can-eat catfish basket special till 9 PM. A variety of food trucks will be on-site for something for everyone to enjoy. Both Wall Street and the Company Men bar and lounge will offer specials after the cruise has concluded. Additionally, some of the Main Street merchants will offer sidewalk sales and offer in-store specials for those shopping.

Car enthusiasts and admirers enjoy the cruises downtown, said Main Street Duncan Promotion Chairperson, Kristen Arrington and the variety of cars, trucks, and motorcycles is quite a display.

To register for the car cruise, please bring proof of liability insurance and a valid drivers license the northwest parking lot of 10th and Main Street. Registration is $10 per vehicle. Only street legal and registered vehicles will be allowed to cruise. No burnouts will be offered at this cruise. The March cruise route runs from 7th Street to 10th Street on Main and Walnut. Designated car club parking is available upon request by calling the Main Street Duncan office at 580.252.8696.

Main Street Duncan is a 501(c)3 charity and all donations are fully tax-deductible to the extent of federal and state tax laws; the program has been affiliated with the Oklahoma Main Street Center and nationally accredited through the National Trust for Historical Preservation since 1986.
We take safety very seriously and feel that our next step in managing pipeline safety is implementing the elements of API RP 1173. Weve worked with G2-IS on several projects previously and feel they are the right organization to help us improve our safety programs.

G2 Integrated Solutions (G2-IS) announced today that Glacier Oil and Gas awarded a Pipeline Safety Management System Gap Analysis Project to G2-IS. Glacier Oil and Gas joins industry leaders in the commitment of continual improvement as a respectable employer, dependable supplier, and good neighbor. G2-IS will conduct a third-party review of Glacier Oil and Gas existing systems and assess their degree of conformance with American Petroleum Institute Recommended Practice 1173.

We are excited about the opportunity to support Glacier Oil and Gas in their continued efforts to identify, manage, and reduce risks, beginning with implementation of API RP 1173 Pipeline Safety Management Systems, commented Shawn Altizer, G2-IS CEO. G2-IS understands the challenges of approaching the API RP 1173 framework and will work with Glacier Oil and Gas to optimize the roadmap to implementation while reinforcing a culture of continuous improvement.

Glacier Oil and Gas Asset Integrity & Pipeline Superintendent, Robert Tindall also commented:  We take safety very seriously and feel that our next step in managing pipeline safety is implementing the elements of API RP 1173. Weve worked with G2-IS on several projects previously and feel they are the right organization to help us improve our safety programs.

About Glacier Oil and Gas

Glacier Oil & Gas is a privately-held, independent oil & gas company solely focused on the exploration and production of oil and gas resources in the State of Alaska. From the North Slope to the Cook Inlet, theyre working to develop resources in Alaska for the benefit of the capital-providers and communities they serve, the people they employ, and the State in which they live. Partnering with local businesses, regional stakeholders and State leaders -- Glacier Oil & Gas is investing in Alaska's future.

About G2 Integrated Solutions

G2 Integrated Solutions (G2-IS) delivers expertise to pipeline operators, utility companies and other energy stakeholders in nine specialized service disciplines  Asset Integrity, Pipeline Safety Management Systems, Risk Management, Engineering, Geospatial Systems and Services, Regulatory, Field Services, Technology Services and Strategic Consulting. We provide end-to-end solutions that help manage risk, assure compliance and optimize performance.

Our commitment is to implement innovative, cost-effective solutions that align specifically with our customers needs. In order to accomplish this, we have built an organization that is robust in talent and experience. G2-IS has offices located in Houston, Texas (Corporate Headquarters), Angleton, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada, and Concord, California.

For more details on the spectrum of services G2-IS offers, please visit our website at http://www.g2-is.com.


Resilinc Resilinc EventWatch issued a total of 2,629 event alertsmore than seven per day, on average, and an increase of 36% year over year

For corporations managing complex supply chains, 2018 provided many familiar challenges such as factory fires, extreme weather events, earthquakes and mergers and acquisitions. Resilincs newly released 2018 EventWatch Report reveals that not only have global risks increased overall, but volatile and uncertain geopolitical conflictsincluding the U.S.-China trade conflicts and Brexitpose some of the most potentially costly and disruptive supply chain impacts.

Supply chain, sourcing, and procurement professionals are on the front lines of managing global trade risks for their companies, said Bindiya Vakil, Resilinc CEO. 2018 challenged them in new ways, and 2019 is shaping up to present continued uncertainty as long-standing trade relationships are reconfigured.

Along with Brexit and the U.S.-China trade conflicts, organizations have to anticipate how other major changes in trade relationships could affect their procurement strategiesfrom NAFTA 2.0 to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which already spans a trading bloc of about 500 million people and may soon expand to include more countries, said Vakil. Theres also the new EU-Japan trade agreement to evaluate and the UKs bilateral negotiations with the U.S., Japan and other countries. As our team has been recommending for years, a key strategy to manage such highly fluid situations is scenario planning and preparation.

Throughout the year, Resilinc EventWatch issued a total of 2,629 event alertsmore than seven per day, on average, and an increase of 36% year over year. Of these, the firm classified 907 events as those impacting its customers mapped supplier sites, and therefore requiring an impact assessment. Across the globe, Resilincs event data showed that 21,152 suppliers and 58,191 supplier sites producing 552,950 parts across multiple tiers in the supply chain were potentially affected during 2018.

One critically important insight emerging from the 2018 EventWatch data points to potential vulnerabilities in a significant percentage of global supply chains. Data showed that 66% of the sites flagged as potentially impacted by a supply chain event were manufacturers; and of these, only 12% had identified an alternate manufacturing site to meet customer needs in the event of disruption to the primary manufacturing site.

With the global supply chain so fraught with uncertainty and instability, supply chain professionals should be examining where sole-source manufacturing suppliers make their supply chains vulnerable and how they can work with suppliers to identify and qualify alternate manufacturing sites, said Vakil. This is just one example of the opportunities to reduce risks of disruption and improve the overall resiliency of the supply chain systems that are at the heart of companies performance and profitability.

EventWatch data for 2018 also captured a 640% increase year-on-year in Regulatory Change events and a 370% increase in Protest/Riot events. While some of the increase in both event categories can be attributed to a refinement in Resilincs criteria, the dramatic growth of these types of events clearly speaks to growing political turmoil globally.

To be sure, there were plenty of more immediately disruptive events in 2018. The top five most significant events were all natural disasters: four extreme weather events and the February 2018 Taiwan Earthquake. In combination, these natural disasters impacted more than 24,000 supplier sites with an average time to recovery of between 19 and 25 weeks.

The five types of events that occurred most frequently in 2018 were: Mergers & Acquisitions; Factory Fires/Explosions; Reorganization/Management Change; Business Sale or Spin-off; and Factory Shutdown/Disruption.

Highlighted datapoints from the report:



Resilinc EventWatch issued 2,696 event notices for a 36% increase year over year which averages about seven per day. Of these, Resilinc classified 907 events as those impacting its customers mapped supplier sites, and therefore requiring an impact assessment.

Illustrating that many global supply chains may not be adequately prepared when adverse impacts do occur, Resilincs data showed that of the 12,558 manufacturing supplier sites that were in the zones of impact of potentially disruptive events, only 12% had an alternate manufacturing site available. In Life Sciences, only 4% had an alternate site available; in Food & Beverage, 3%; and in Aerospace & Defense, 0.4%.

Reflecting the geopolitical turmoil of 2018, Regulatory Change events grew by 640%, while Protests/Riots increased 370%.

The top 5 most reported events were: Mergers & Acquisitions; Factory Fire/Explosion; Reorganization/Management Change; Business Sale or Spinoff; and Factory/Shutdown Disruption.

Changes in ownership, management or business structure (reflected in the event types: Mergers & Acquisitions; Reorganization/Management Change; and Business Sale or Spinoff) accounted for 30% of 2018 events. Such events often have impacts that do not manifest immediately but can eventually lead to serious disruptions and even a total loss of supply as strategic decisions are made around exiting non-core business lines or selling business units.

2018s top 5 most destructive natural disasters were: the January North American Blizzard (also known as the bomb cyclone); Taiwans 6.4-magnitude earthquake in February; Hurricanes Florence (U.S.) and Typhoon Mangkut (Philippines, Taiwan, China), which both occurred in September; and Octobers Hurricane Michael in the U.S.

For more information

An electronic version of the annual report is available at https://info.resilinc.com/eventwatch-2018-annual-report

Attend webinar discussing report findings here: https://resilinc-events.webex.com/resilinc-events/onstage/g.php?MTID=ecd429ee9436f185bbca3021607f0582d

Qualified organizations can sign up for a free trial of EventWatch.

Check out how leaders save millions in inventory by using data differently. How do you compare? Get your benchmarking report

About EventWatch

EventWatch is Resilincs 24x7 global event monitoring, alert and analysis service. EventWatch monitors more than 100,000 news sources in 53 different languages, providing real-time actionable intelligence to more than 15,000 Resilinc customer users. In 2018, EventWatch was upgraded to cover more news and information sources, including social media, blog posts, company websites and obscure local news sites. Enhanced machine learning and AI were incorporated to more effectively filter out irrelevant information and provide customers with the alerts and news that truly matter.

About Resilinc

Resilinc is the leading provider of supply chain visibility data-as-a-service and cognitive risk analytics solutions. Over 100 of the worlds leading brands rely on Resilincs AI-powered global disruption monitoring service to keep track of millions of parts as they make their way around the globe, touching hundreds of thousands of nodes.

Resilinc is the only company to consistently achieve success in mapping the supply chain multiple tiers deep, all the way down to part and site levels, and exposing hidden failure points and bottlenecks deep in the sub-tiers. Resilincs patented advanced risk quantification algorithms and easy-to-use supplier assessment solutions have established a new standard for measuring supplier risk. Companies use Resilincs cognitive sourcing and risk protection learning systems to realize millions of dollars in savings on expediting raw materials or freight and lowering inventory levels while keeping their supply chain operating with greater agility and resiliency. For more information, visit http://www.resilinc.com.
Our team is committed to understanding and meeting our clients needs as well as providing a responsive and helpful approach to ensure those needs are met, said Steven Cowins, a shareholder in the firms London office.

The European Fund Formation team at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP was recently announced as Law Firm of the Year for Fund Formation in PERE magazines 2018 Global Awards.

According to the leading publication for the worlds private equity real estate markets, the PERE Global Awards recognise the firms, individuals, and deals that best represent the private equity real estate asset class in the past year. After accepting nominations in November, PERE evaluated the forms alongside research from the most active capital providers, managers, and advisors before choosing the nominees and opening voting in December.

Greenberg Traurigs European Fund Formation team is comprised of more than 60 fund formation specialists providing clients a true sector focused legal offering. Our team is committed to understanding and meeting our clients needs as well as providing a responsive and helpful approach to ensure those needs are met, said Steven Cowins, a shareholder in the firms London office. This award demonstrates our teams standing in the market which is driven by our commitment to client service.

The integrated private equity real estate team is part of a 400 plus global network of real estate sector specialists advising asset managers around the world, serving clients from key markets in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Latin America and Asia. In Europe, the group has been recognised as Top Tier in Legal 500 UK and Germany, as Law Firm of the Year in Real Estate in Germany by JUVE Magazine, as the Most Innovative Law Firm of the Year 2018 in Poland by IFLR, and was recently shortlisted in the 2018 PIE European Property Investor Awards for Law Firm of the Year in Fund Formation, Transactional, and Overall.

Greenberg Traurigs vast global network allows our European Real Estate Fund Formation team to strengthen our client offerings in this key real estate market, with a particular emphasis on value add and opportunistic funds, but with core plus and debt funds being huge growth areas, said Real Estate Practice Co-Chairs Robert J. Ivanhoe, Corey E. Light, and Richard J. Giusto. We are proud of the groups work and continued trust of our clients.

About Greenberg Traurig's Real Estate Practice: The Greenberg Traurig Real Estate Practice is a cornerstone of the firm and recognised leader in the industry. The firms real estate attorneys deliver diversified and comprehensive counsel for property acquisition and investment, development, management and leasing, financing, restructuring, and disposition of all asset classes of real estate. The team draws upon the knowledge and experience of more than 400 real estate lawyers from around the world, serving clients from key markets in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America and Asia. The groups clientele includes a broad range of property developers, lenders, investment managers, private equity funds, REITs, and private owners. The firms Real Estate team advises clients on a variety of matters across a broad spectrum of commercial, recreational, and residential real estate, including structured equity and debt and the hybrids.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.
The Northern Virginia Womens Initiative of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP and Washington Womens Leadership Initiative, will host a networking luncheon titled, Living a Life of Service and Advocacy, with Dr. Ximena Hartsock, founder and president of Phone2Action, a venture-backed, award-winning civic engagement and communications technology company. The luncheon will be held on March 6 from 11:30 a.m.  2:00 p.m. at Greenberg Traurigs Northern Virginia office. Hartsock will share her experience immigrating to the United States, serving the District of Columbia as a cabinet member in Mayor Adrian M. Fentys administration, and then founding a technology firm that is at the forefront of advocacy.

Hartsocks company, Phone2Action, is a leading software platform for civic engagement in the United States. Prior to founding Phone2Action, Hartsock served in the Fenty administration as the Director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, and later as the Chief of Staff of the City Administration. Before serving as Parks Director, Hartsock was Deputy Chief for Teaching and Learning for D.C. Public Schools under the education overhaul led by Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty. In that role, she led key reforms, including the expansion of online learning, the International Baccalaureate program, STEM education, foreign language programs, and the implementation of a comprehensive Out of School Time curriculum that served students after school, on weekends, and in the summer. She also led the implementation of a credit recovery program for students at risk of dropping out. These efforts were key in improving Washington, D.C.s historically low high school graduation rates.

To register for the networking luncheon, please click here.

About Washington Womens Leadership Initiative: WWLI.org, a 501(c)3, is a cross-industry, multi-discipline, non-partisan, non-competitive professional education and networking organization for executive level women. Our exclusive events offer affiliates unique opportunities to meet and learn from some of the most influential and inspiring women leaders from around the globe.

About Greenberg Traurigs Womens Initiative: Greenberg Traurig is committed to its women lawyers success, which includes a firmwide womens affinity group encompassing recruiting, retention, and business development. The firm regularly collaborates with like-minded organizations to address these issues on a broader scale in a variety of industries and communities. Greenberg Traurig also takes thoughtful action to address issues such as maintaining a healthy work-life balance, breaking the glass ceiling, mentoring, creating and maintaining healthy lifestyles, and giving back to the community.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.


I am honored to be recognized by ONYX Magazine as a Woman on the Move and to share this honor with so many influential women in Florida, said Simon, who is based in Greenberg Traurigs Miami office.

Nikki Lewis Simon, a shareholder and chief diversity officer for global law firm Greenberg Traurig, P.A., was recognized today as a 2019 Woman on the Move by ONYX Magazine during a luncheon at the Alfond Inn in Winter Park, Florida.

For the fourth consecutive year, ONYX Magazine and its sponsors recognized some of Floridas most influential women of color in business, education, government, media, and nonprofit. According to the magazine, Women on the Move celebrates trailblazers who have made a difference in their communities.

I am honored to be recognized by ONYX Magazine as a Woman on the Move and to share this honor with so many influential women in Florida, said Simon, who is based in Greenberg Traurigs Miami office. Throughout my career, I have been committed to the mission of helping to advance women in their professional and personal growth, and giving back to our communities.

Simon has been recognized in the South Florida Legal Guide, "Top Up and Comer," Florida Trend's "Legal Elite" and in Diversity Journals "Women Worth Watching." She received a law degree, cum laude, from University of Miami, and a Bachelors of Print Journalism, cum laude, from Florida A&M University.

As Greenberg Traurigs Chief Diversity Officer, Simon works to strategically align the firms diversity and inclusion programming and initiatives with client needs, thereby serving as an integral component of the business development function on a global scale. Prior to assuming primary responsibilities on the business side of the firm, she represented her cross-industry clients business objectives by protecting their capital, whether human, intellectual, or financial, against claims of wrongdoing in complex commercial and class action litigation matters.

About Greenberg Traurig, LLP: Greenberg Traurig, LLP (GT) has more than 2,000 attorneys in 39 offices in the United States, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. GT has been recognized for its philanthropic giving, diversity, and innovation, and is consistently among the largest firms in the U.S. on the Law360 400 and among the Top 20 on the Am Law Global 100. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com Twitter: @GT_Law.


GroGuru has developed a game changing technology that allows for the permanent installation of soil sensors allowing farmers to save water and money while, at the same time, increasing crop yield, even in the massive field crop market.

GroGuru will be presenting at Venture Summit West 2019 in Burlingame, CA on March 6 and 7, 2019. We will be joined by an exclusive community of over 1,000 top-tier VC investors and leading startup founders. There are already over 140 venture capital firms confirmed for the event.

We are excited to have GroGuru present in the clean-tech track at our upcoming Venture Summit West 2019 Conference, said Joe Benjamin, CEO of YoungStartUp Ventures. We see the innovative wireless underground soil sensor technology that saves water and improves crop yield in the agriculture space as an important sustainable technology for our audience of angel investors and venture capitalists.

GroGuru will be presenting in the Innovator Showcase to a group of investors interested in Clean-Tech and Agri-Tech. GroGuru has developed a breakthrough wireless underground system that allows for the permanent installation of soil sensors without the need for the typical annual installation and removal cycle of alternative sensor technologies.

We are looking forward to the opportunity to present the GroGuru story and vision to such a large and prestigious group of prospective investors at Venture Summit West, said Patrick Henry, president and CEO of GroGuru. GroGuru has developed a game changing technology that allows for the permanent installation of soil sensors allowing farmers to save water and money while, at the same time, increasing crop yield, even in the massive field crop market. We do this without the expensive and cumbersome process of annual installation and removal of sensors to accommodate seeding and harvest.

The event will be at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport at 1333 Old Bayshore Highway, Burlingame, CA. You can find-out more about this conference at https://youngstartup.com/west2019/.

About GroGuru

GroGuru, Inc. is a privately held company based in San Diego, CA that provides precision soil and irrigation monitoring systems to the commercial agriculture industry. GroGuru is focused on enabling farmers to optimally use water and fertilizer with an innovative hardware-enabled Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. GroGuru GroGurus 100 percent wireless underground technology enables a permanent installation of sensors, even in annual field crops. GroGuru is a portfolio company at the EvoNexus technology incubator, the premier technology incubator in Southern California. For more information, visit the GroGuru website at https://www.groguru.com.
Judges during 5StarWines 2018, Verona, Italy Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International: 'Our panel of judges is mostly international as we want our Italian producers to sell abroad. If we want our wines to please palates outside Italy, one of the optimal ways is to get international and authoritative experts to taste them'.

5StarWines is the perfect promotional tool for wine producers to enhance the value of their products and acknowledge the work behind each label. From April 3rd to 5th in Verona, 5StarWines has prepared a line-up of internationally-renowned judges with qualifications such as Master of Wine and Master Sommelier who will assess the quality of each wine enrolled in the blind tasting. The event will be the perfect opportunity to strengthen wineries international visibility as well as their commercial network.

Every year in April, Verona becomes the world capital of wine for its Vinitaly expo as well as numerous wine trade events leading-up to the fair. In addition to buyers and winery representatives who gather in the city, other professional figures also play a leading role: Masters of Wine, Master Sommeliers, WSET Diploma holders, Vinitaly International Academy Italian Wine Experts and Ambassadors, oenologists, and wine journalists. These highly-skilled, international wine professionals will also be the protagonists at 5StarWines 2019 and will lend their expertise to taste samples from all over the world sent to Verona for the occasion.

In particular, the Master of Wine and Master of Sommelier titles are the highest international titles to be achieved in the wine business. If the importance of the critic that evaluates wines partly reflects their value, participating in 5StarWines and making the selection are guarantees of quality.

Pedro Ballesteros Torres MW, wine educator, editor, and judge at several wine competitions, states: 5StarWines is a powerful tool for Italian wine producers as it gives them the chance to gather feedback from experts coming from all over the world. Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly International, adds: Our panel of judges is mostly international as we want our Italian producers to sell abroad. If we want our wines to please palates outside Italy, one of the optimal ways is to get international and authoritative experts to taste them.

After the judges review, another tool for internationalization that 5StarWines offers is its guide, 5StarWines  The Book. The guide gathers selected wines from the tasting that have obtained a score of at least 90/100. In the guide, each wine label is included with a dedicated page featuring photographs, information on the winery, score, and the panels tasting notes.

Published in both print and digital formats, the guide is distributed in Italy and abroad during trade fairs, B2B meetings, and various other business events in key foreign markets, thus making the publication an asset for producers business.

One of the most significant opportunities for the selected 5StarWines producers is to travel abroad with Vinitaly International during the Vinitaly Tour becoming part of a series of masterclasses featuring 5StarWines labels. This initiative has proved very effective, increasing both producers and buyers opportunities of cross promotion.

Commenting on the outcomes of Vinitaly Russia last November, Stevie Kim explained that the interaction among producers in these occasions has been very productive for the purpose of making Italian wines grow in foreign markets: Some international judges of 5StarWines also stay in Verona after the tasting and during the Vinitaly exhibition also join the Incoming program sponsored by ICE  Italian Trade Agency. 5StarWines is therefore part of a wider promotional project which unfolds throughout the year.

In this promotional project, increasing wineries online visibility is essential. Since 2018 5StarWines has partnered up with Wine Searcher, the most famous online search engine and e-commerce for wine with a database including over 6 million of entries and constantly being updated. Thanks to this partnership, 5StarWines labels will again be included in the dedicated Wine Critics & Wine Scores section of Wine Searcher. In it, 5StarWines brands are published with their producers details, vintage, average price, and the score given during the event.

Millions of users access the portal every day not only to purchase wines but also to learn more about these wines through news features, information on wine regions, grape varieties, and more. Wine Searcher is also available in its app version in several languages.

Another important way in which 5StarWines boosts wineries online visibility is the fact that during Vinitaly, users of the Vinitaly App on their smartphone will receive a notification about the selected 5StarWines labels along with notification of their position on the fairgrounds.

5StarWines blind tasting will take place on April 3rd, 4th, and 5th, with part of April 3rd also devoted to Wine Without Walls, the section exclusively dedicated to natural, biodynamic, and low-sulfites wines. Wineries interested in participating can submit their samples before March 15th. Queries about logistics and special offers available for wineries can be addressed by writing to the 5StarWines team at italia5star@vinitalytour.com.

5StarWines  the Book is the annual wine selection organised by Vinitaly. Held in the lead-up to the biggest Italian wine fair in the world, the event is now at its third edition. 5StarWines is a three-day tasting aiming at shedding light on wineries investing in the improvement of their products. During the event, a highly qualified panel of wine professionals tastes and gives score on a 100-point scale to the participating wines. In the last edition, over 2700 bottles took part in the selection and 625 were selected, making it on the 5StarWines  the Book. The guide is a useful tool both on the promotional and commercial side. It introduces the international buyer and wine lover from all over the world to new wine products of great value. It guarantees quality for the wines and it maintains and certifies their value at an international level.
Dr. Constance M Chen It's important to understand what we can and cannot determine from genetic testing, which women should have the test, and what can be done to reduce the risk for those who have inherited a mutated gene.

The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are being a woman and growing older. Among women in the general population, about one in eight (12%) will develop breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. However, among women who inherit a specific mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, the risk is significantly higher. Genetic testing can identify women who carry the harmful mutations, says plastic surgeon and breast reconstruction specialist Dr. Constance M. Chen, but these mutations are relatively rare in the general population and not every woman needs testing. It's important to understand what we can and cannot determine from genetic testing, which women should have the test, and what can be done to reduce the risk for those who have inherited a mutated gene.

What are BRCA genes? How do they affect breast cancer risk?

The BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes produce proteins that help suppress tumors. These proteins play a role in repairing damaged DNA and maintaining the genetic stability of cells. When the genes mutate or are altered so they fail to produce the proteins or don't function properly, damaged DNA may not be repaired and cells are more likely to undergo further changes that can cause cancer. Specific inherited mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are associated with increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer and play a role in other cancers as well, such as pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, and melanoma. The child of a parent whose mother or father carries the mutated gene has a one in two chance of inheriting it. Estimates are that 72% of women who inherit the BRCA1 mutation and 69% of those who inherit the BRCA2 mutation will develop breast cancer by the age of 80. In some cases, the risk for developing breast cancer can be over 86%.(1)

Who should be tested for BRCA mutations?

Compared to 12% of women overall who will have breast cancer, the increased risk associated with BRCA mutations is very substantial, says Dr. Chen. Given the risk, it's natural to ask if all women should be tested. However, only about 1 in 400 people in the United States carry a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation.(2) Thus, only people whose personal or family history is associated with greater likelihood of carrying the mutation are typically tested. Indicators of a possible genetic mutation include a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, breast cancer diagnosed before age 50, male breast cancer, and cancer in both breasts. An additional risk factor is ethnicity; the BRCA mutation has a higher prevalence in women of Ashkenazi Jewish, Norwegian, Dutch, and Icelandic descent.

If I've already had breast cancer, is there any reason for me to be tested?

Yes. If your personal or family history or ethnicity point to the likelihood of high risk of hereditary breast cancer, the results of genetic testing can help you be aware of your risk for other cancers, like ovarian cancer, and are important in helping other members of your family assess their risk.

If I test negative for harmful BRCA mutations, am I home free? Can I stop worrying about breast cancer?

If only it were so, says Dr. Chen. About 90% of women who have breast cancer have no family history of the disease and no known genetic mutation to account for it. In the vast majority of cases, cancer is caused by spontaneous mutation, the aging process, or environmental factors, so a negative test for BRCA mutation is no guarantee that you will not develop breast cancer. All women should continue to have regular breast exams and mammograms.

If I test positive for a harmful BRCA mutation, does that mean I will get cancer? What should I do?

A positive result significantly increases the risk of developing breast cancer. Many women in this position explore options for reducing their risk, the most effective of which is bilateral prophylactic mastectomy  the preventive removal of both breasts. According to the National Cancer Institute, women with harmful BRCA mutations who undergo prophylactic mastectomy can reduce their risk of developing breast cancer by 95%.The risk reduction statistics are compelling, says Dr. Chen, but the decision to undergo prophylactic mastectomy is a difficult one. Those who are faced with this decision must weigh various medical and personal factors, including the breast reconstruction options that are available to them.

Are there any other gene mutations that I should be aware of?

There are other genetic mutations like CHEK2, Lynch syndrome, PALB2, ATM, BRIP1, and others, which can also increase the risk of breast cancer. Talk with your doctor or genetic counselor about your individual circumstance.

Testing for BRCA and other genetic mutations has come a long way in the twenty or so years that it has been available, Dr. Chen concludes. In combination with genetic counseling, it provides valuable information that can guide key decisions for women and their families. However, the test can only help assess risk. Neither positive nor negative results provide definitive answers about who will or will not get cancer. Women and their doctors must consider test results along with other personal and medical factors to determine their best course of action.

(1) Kuchenbaecker KB, Hopper JL, Barnes DR, et al. Risks of breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancer for BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. JAMA 2017; 317(23):2402-2416.

(2) National Cancer Institute. Genetics of breast and gynecologic cancers (PDQ) - health professional version. https://www.cancer.gov/types/breast/hp/breast-ovarian-genetics-pdq#link/_113_toc, 2018.

Constance M. Chen, MD, is a board-certified plastic surgeon with special expertise in the use of innovative natural techniques to optimize medical and cosmetic outcomes for women undergoing breast reconstruction. She is Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery (Plastic Surgery) at Weill Cornell Medical College and Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery (Plastic Surgery) at Tulane University School of Medicine. http://www.constancechenmd.com
Franchising opportunities are growing due to the rapid increase in demand for home care, according to Home Instead Senior Care. There are nearly 50 million people in the U.S. age 65 or older. While older adults have traditionally been cared for by family members, todays shifting demographics mean families are more geographically spread out and less able to provide care for aging loved ones.

Whats more, Home Instead Senior Care franchises report spikes in inquiries for new service following seasonal moments throughout the year when families visit aging loved ones for holidays or family events and notice changes that might indicate a need for home care.

No matter how far apart families might be geographically, Home Instead can help provide care for loved ones, said Jeff Huber president and CEO at Home Instead, Inc. We are looking for people who possess an entrepreneurial spirit and have the heart, soul and passion to serve older adults and their families. With the demand we are experiencing from the growing senior population and trends in long-distance caregiving, there are numerous business opportunities.

With a global network of nearly 1,200 franchises, Home Instead Senior Care serves 70,000 older adults each day. In 2018, Home Instead saw its highest rate of growth in five years, with even more expected in 2019.

Entrepreneurs interested in becoming part of the Home Instead Senior Care network should consider the following:



Brand Reputation. The home care industry is unique. Home Instead franchisees work directly with older adults and their families and truly make a difference in their lives. When choosing a franchise partner, its important to have the right fit to ensure the company aligns with personal goals and values that will guide the way the business operates.

Strong Sense of Community. Franchisors set the tone for the brand, but franchisees are the ones connecting with the community and living out the values every day. Home Instead helps its franchise owners learn the importance of dedicating time to their communities, seeking out business opportunities that fill core community needs. Connecting with and building community spirit helps other business leaders gain confidence in franchise owners who are just getting started.

Corporate Support. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of opening a franchise is the resources provided by the home office. Joining a franchise network gives franchisees access to many resources, such as marketing, training and development opportunities. Franchisors, like Home Instead, Inc., offer ongoing training opportunities to ensure franchisees are set up to succeed.

Networking. The energy and drive of other franchise owners can be great motivation. At Home Instead, franchise owners are part of a team, giving peers the advice, support and resources they need to succeed. Networking and collaborating with other franchisees offers great insights into the business and the importance of maintaining an effective work/life balance.

Team Building. A career as a Home Instead franchise owner also sharpens skills for developing leaders who genuinely care about employees and their goals. Its important to have the know-how to find employees who are smart and passionate about their business and its customers. No matter how big the business, a well-built team of reliable people helps shoulder the load and keep things moving.

Innovation. The success of Home Instead can also be attributed to its commitment to innovative programs that help enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. In fact, Home Instead Senior Care was honored by Franchise Business Review, an independent franchisee research firm, as one of its 2018 Top 100 Innovative Franchises based on overall satisfaction with the brand and the likelihood to recommend it to others.

Opportunities in the home care industry will only continue to grow as the population ages and older adults choose to remain at home. However, it will be key for franchisees to choose the right partner to truly succeed and make a difference in the lives of the families they support.

For more information on joining the Home Instead Senior Care network, visit: https://franchises.homeinstead.com/Pages/default.aspx

 United States Census Bureau

ABOUT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE

Founded in 1994 in Omaha, Nebraska, the Home Instead Senior Care franchise network provides personalized care, support and education to enhance the lives of aging adults and their families. Today, the network is the world's leading provider of in-home care services for seniors, with more than 1,200 independently owned and operated franchises that provide more than 70 million hours of care annually throughout the United States and 11 other countries. Local Home Instead Senior Care offices employ approximately 80,000 CAREGivers worldwide who provide basic support services that enable seniors to live safely and comfortably in their own homes for as long as possible. Home Instead Senior Care franchise owners partner with clients and their family members to help meet varied individual needs. Services span the care continuum  from providing personal care to specialized Alzheimers care and hospice support. Also available are family caregiver education and support resources.

Visit HomeInstead.com. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.
Stuart Long, CEO of InfoBionic, stresses the significance of accurate and complete cardiac monitoring of patients. To cardiologists, each beat is critical, and they should not settle for minimal reporting by solutions that do not include sections of beats.

On average a patient will have 115,000 heart beats in a day or 1.6M heartbeats in 14 days.[1] Recently, the standard technology for remote cardiac monitoring of patients measured the hearts rate and rhythm while the patient went about a daily routine for a period between 2 days and 30 days. Technologists looked only at the data identified as an event and discarded 99.9% of the full data collected. The technology presented a limited number of snapshots of cardiac activity over a period of time, but only a fraction of the data was reviewed. Cardiologists could miss critical data in periods that are not reviewed or included on the final report. Without access to full disclosure beat-to-beat cardiologists are settling for an incomplete picture.[2] To cardiologists, each beat is critical, and they should not settle for minimal reporting by solutions that do not include sections of beats notes Stuart Long, CEO of digital health technology company InfoBionic.

Also called ambulatory electrocardiography, patients who wear remote cardiac monitors have a twice greater probability of survival of cardiac events than those without.[3] Remote heart monitoring by battery-operated portable devices are worn by a patient for a period of time during which the hearts activity is recorded for diagnostic use.

Full disclosure refers to recording every part of the heart beat from onset to outset and making 100% of that data available to the interpreting physician. To accurately detect, diagnose and report a cardiac arrythmia, the monitor must record 100% of the heart beats 100% of the time and make information available to the cardiologist at any time. A snapshot could miss important clinical information either before or after an arrhythmia and not provide the full picture when making a diagnosis. New technology uses algorithms that note key cardiac events and allow doctors to sort through large amounts of data. The exact and surrounding points of the arrhythmia is evident to the cardiologist, Long points out, viewing through the physicians perspective. He or she can then have confidence that they arent missing anything in the technology on behalf of the patient.

Stoneham, MA Electrophysiologist and Cardiologist, Michael Mazzini, put a MoMe Kardia monitor on a patient on a Friday. It picked up ten 14-second asystolic events the following morning. I was able to get a pacemaker in him that morning. No hospital telemetry stay. No emergency visit, no unnecessary workups, no delay in diagnosis due to third party handling, plus full disclosure data otherwise not available to clinicians with traditional IDTF (Independent Diagnostic Testing Facility) type MCT (mobile cardiac telemetry). Dr. Mazzini further points out its benefit. Thats tremendous value to patients, clinicians, hospitals, and payers.[4]

InfoBionic infuses all the forward-reaching technology possible to redefine the standard of care for patients by providing physicians its full disclosure remote cardiac arrythmia monitoring platform. Says Long, Cardiologists should not have to work with incomplete data when the lives of patients are at risk.

About InfoBionic

InfoBionic is a digital health company transforming the efficiency and economics of ambulatory remote patient monitoring processes by optimizing clinical and real-world utility for the users that need it most  physicians and their patients. The Massachusetts-based team of seasoned entrepreneurs have had successful careers in healthcare, IT, medical devices and mobile technology, and bring specific expertise in remote monitoring and cardiology. They have seen first-hand the complexities of traditional cardiac arrhythmia detection and monitoring processes and designed the transformative MoMe Kardia platform to remove the roadblocks hindering faster, more effective diagnosis and decision-making. Frost & Sullivan bestowed the 2019 North American Remote Cardiac Monitoring Technology Leadership Award upon InfoBionic. For more information visit http://www.infobionic.com

Sources

1. Staff writer. How Many Times Does the Heart Beat in a Year? Sharecare. Web.

2. Fornell, Dave. Real-Time vs. Post-Monitoring Review Approaches to Holter, Event Recording. 06 June 2018. DiCardiology.com. Web.

3. CIS Staff. Exploring the Benefits of Remote Cardiac Monitoring. Cardiovascular Institute of the South. 30 July 2018. Web.

4. Elrod, Jodie. New Options in Wireless Remote Patient Monitoring: Interview with Michael Mazzini, MD. EP Lab Digest. May 2017. Web.


Inspired eLearning Demonstrates Industrys First Virtual Reality-Based Security Awareness Training at RSA Conference 2019 Virtual Reality used in training better simulates actual memories for the learner, as if the virtual experience was their own and creates stronger emotional reactions than with traditional training, all of which increases retention of the information, said John Trest, Chief Learning Officer.

Inspired eLearning, the worlds most effective security awareness platform, today announced that the company will unveil a new VR training demonstration at RSA Conference 2019, March 4-8 in San Francisco, CA.

The demo will take tradeshow visitors through a variety of virtual security and compliance scenarios, based on Inspired eLearnings best-in-class security awareness content.

VR in training better simulates actual memories for the learner, as if the virtual experience was their own and creates stronger emotional reactions than with traditional training, all of which increases retention of the information, said John Trest, Chief Learning Officer. Its also a great way to break up the standard eLearning course experience to help increase interest and motivate learners.

Virtual Reality-based training has been proven to create better engagement resulting in better retention. Inspired eLearning is leading the security awareness market by offering this technology as a new way for companies to train their employees.

Were incredibly excited to unveil this new age of security awareness technology to the audience at RSA, said Kyle Metcalf, Inspired eLearning CEO. I cant say enough about the great work that our team is doing and their commitment to our mission of delivering best-in-class content, which includes finding new ways our customers can increase the effectiveness of training and retention.

In addition to the VR technology demo, Inspired eLearning will also demo their flagship product, Security First Solutions (SFS)  available in 14 languages right out of the box  which was recently awarded two Silver Awards at the 2019 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards for Security Education and Security Education Platform. As part of the Security First Solutions platform, Inspired eLearning will also demonstrate its PhishProof solution, the industrys only anti-phishing simulation tool capable of training employees to recognize the full spectrum of phishing attempts, all from one platform:



Phishing (email)

Vishing (voice/phone)

SMiShing (SMS text)

USB baiting

Inspired eLearning continues to reinforce its reputation for innovation within the industry, in addition to being the most awarded security awareness company of 2018, taking home 39 Industry Awards.

To experience the VR demo at RSA, schedule a meeting with an Inspired eLearning Security Awareness Expert, or stop by North Expo booth #4234.


Intrinsic ID Intrinsic IDs innovative PUF IP fits into the NXP microcontroller strategy of delivering root-of-trust in IoT applications where product authentication and cloning protection is essential." - Joe Yu, NXP

Intrinsic ID, the worlds leading provider of digital authentication technology for Internet of Things security, today announced that NXP Semiconductors has integrated Intrinsic IDs IoT security technology in its LPC55Sxx family of secure microcontrollers. NXP leverages Intrinsic IDs SRAM PUF (physical unclonable function) based products to incorporate hardware root of trust IP in its high-volume, low-power microcontrollers and crossover processors.

The integration of Intrinsic IDs IoT security technology with NXPs LPC55Sxx family of low-power microcontrollers, followed by the i.MX RT600 high-performance crossover processor, extends Intrinsic IDs relationship with NXP as part of a strategic collaboration between the companies. This enables NXP to deploy Intrinsic ID technology to authenticate IoT devices by creating secure root key generation, anchoring device-to-cloud authentication, software IP protection, and end-to-end encryption across its entire microcontroller portfolio.

Intrinsic IDs innovative PUF IP fits into the NXP microcontroller strategy of delivering root-of-trust in IoT applications where product authentication and cloning protection is essential, said Joe Yu, vice president of the microcontroller business at NXP. Integrating Intrinsic IDs SRAM PUF IPs in our microcontrollers enables easy-to-use provision tools to make security deployment and product management simple for our customers.

Intrinsic IDs hardware IP product, QuiddiKey, replaces traditional OTP-plus-key-injection approaches to IoT security, delivering advantages in security robustness, reduced total cost of ownership and ease of provisioning.

I am very pleased about our wide-reaching engagement with NXP, said Pim Tuyls, chief executive officer of Intrinsic ID. We value NXPs many years of technical and business collaboration to elevate security robustness and reliability for high-volume markets. We look forward to helping NXP expand its leadership position as the secure MCU provider for the IoT with deployment of Intrinsic ID technology across a broad spectrum of IoT verticals.

About Intrinsic ID

Intrinsic ID is the worlds leading digital authentication company, providing the Internet of Things with hardware-based root-of-trust security via unclonable identities for any IoT-connected device. Based on Intrinsic IDs patented SRAM PUF technology, the companys security solutions can be implemented in hardware or software. Intrinsic ID security, which can be deployed at any stage of a products lifecycle, is used to validate payment systems, secure connectivity, authenticate sensors, and protect sensitive government and military systems. Intrinsic ID technology has been deployed in more than 125 million devices. Award recognition includes the IoT Breakthrough Award, the IoT Security Excellence Award, the Frost & Sullivan Technology Leadership Award and the EU Innovation Radar Prize. Intrinsic ID security has been proven in millions of devices certified by Common Criteria, EMVCo, Visa and multiple governments. Intrinsic IDs mission: Authenticate Everything. Visit Intrinsic ID online at http://www.Intrinsic-ID.com.

Intrinsic ID, the Intrinsic ID logo, QuiddiKey and Authenticate Everything are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intrinsic ID, Inc., and are protected by trademark laws of the United States and other jurisdictions. All other product and company names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
The Threefold Historian: A Primer for Believers: an in-depth account that tackles insightful ideas about faith that bring wisdom to believers. The Threefold Historian: A Primer for Believers is the creation of published author, Ken Rhodes, a native and resident of Erie, Pennsylvania; and a teacher of American, European, world, and ecclesiastical studies.

Rhodes shares, The Threefold Historian is a faith-oriented introduction to the discipline of history for high school or freshman college students, as well as for any general reader interested in the essential relatedness of faith and fact. The fundamentals of history, historiography, and historical methods are introduced to prepare the reader to think about how a historical narrative is created. A survey of the history of historical writing in the United States identifies and discusses the multiple groups which have over the centuries shaped our perceptions of Americas sometimes contested past, and provides a context for understanding the current state of American historical endeavor.

The title of the booklet is drawn from the third and primary section, which details a Christian theological basis for the study of history. The study of the past, the author argues, is inherent in the Biblical office of prophet, priest, and king. Each of these three designations is explained as to its original meaning and explored with an eye toward its application to the historical discipline: A prophet cares about the truth, a priest appreciates the spiritual and theological aspects of an individual or an event, and a king brings a particular quality of background and discernment to bear on a problem or circumstance. The book concludes with a page of questions that invite further consideration either from an individual reader or a group working on a scholastic assignment.

The Threefold Historian offers either the academic pupil or the casually interested layperson opportunity to learn how believing historians practice their craft in everyday life while honoring the timeless truths of their Christian faith.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Ken Rhodess new book is a powerful tool that exemplifies the truth behind the Christian faith by delving into its history and nature

This book purports as a redoubtable guide for those who seek to understand their godly conviction and better honor the sagacity Christianity.

View a synopsis of The Threefold Historian: A Primer for Believers on YouTube.

Consumers can purchaseThe Threefold Historian: A Primer for Believers at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about The Threefold Historian: A Primer for Believers, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


Cyber Defense Magazine Award Winner 2019 Were excited to win these unexpected awards from Cyber Defense Magazine. We work hard to ensure that our security awareness training materials are always fresh and meet the current and future demands of cybersecurity professionals. -Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4

KnowBe4, the provider of the worlds largest security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, today announced that it has won two awards from Cyber Defense Magazines InfoSec Awards  the Editors Choice Anti-Phishing award and the Next Gen Security Training award.

This is Cyber Defense Magazines seventh year of honoring infosec innovators with the Cyber Defense Awards. Submission requirements are for any startup, early stage, later stage or public companies in the infosec space who believe they have a unique and compelling value proposition for their product or service.

Were excited to win these unexpected awards from Cyber Defense Magazine, said Stu Sjouwerman, CEO, KnowBe4. We work hard to ensure that our security awareness training materials are always fresh and meet the current and future demands of cybersecurity professionals. The editors choice award is another real win for us because it shows that the editors recognize the immense value that KnowBe4 brings to the security awareness training and phishing market.

Isnt it time to stop the breaches and get one step ahead of the next threat? KnowBe4 has won the Editors Choice Anti-Phishing and Next Gen Security Training awards from our magazine because they are an innovator that might actually help you reach this goal and defeat the next generation of exploiters, said Gary S. Miliefsky, CEO, Cyber Defense Media Group which is in its 7th year of publishing Cyber Defense Magazine and running these independent and prestigious awards.

For more information on KnowBe4, visit http://www.knowbe4.com. For more information on Cyber Defense Magazine, visit http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com/.

About KnowBe4

KnowBe4, the world's most popular integrated security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, is used by more than 23,000 organizations around the globe. Founded by IT and data security specialist Stu Sjouwerman, KnowBe4 helps organizations address the human element of security by raising awareness about ransomware, CEO fraud and other social engineering tactics through a new-school approach to awareness training on security. Kevin Mitnick, an internationally recognized cybersecurity specialist and KnowBe4's Chief Hacking Officer, helped design the KnowBe4 training based on his well-documented social engineering tactics. Thousands of organizations rely on KnowBe4 to mobilize their end users as the last line of defense.

Number 96 on the list Inc. 500 of 2018, number 34 on 2018s Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, and 2nd place in Cybersecurity Ventures Cybersecurity 500, KnowBe4 is headquartered in Tampa Bay, Florida, with offices in England, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa and Singapore.

About the Judging

The judges are CISSP, FMDHS, CEH, certified security professionals who voted based on their independent review of the company submitted materials on the website of each submission including but not limited to data sheets, white papers, product literature and other market variables. CDM has a flexible philosophy to find more innovative players with new and unique technologies, than the one with the most customers or money in the bank. CDM is always asking Whats Next? so we are looking for Next Generation InfoSec Solutions.

About Cyber Defense Magazine

With over 1.4 Million annual readers and growing, and over 7,000 pages of searchable online infosec content, Cyber Defense Magazine is the premier source of IT Security information. We are managed and published by and for ethical, honest, passionate information security professionals. Our mission is to share cutting-edge knowledge, real-world stories and awards on the best ideas, products and services in the information technology industry. We deliver electronic magazines every month online for free, and limited print editions exclusively for the RSA conferences and our paid subscribers. CDM is a proud member of the Cyber Defense Media Group. Learn more about us at http://www.cyberdefensemagazine.com and visit http://www.cyberdefensetv.com and http://www.cyberdefenseradio.com to see and hear some of the most informative interviews of many of these winning company executives.
Kolitch Romano, an intellectual property law firm based in Portland, Oregon, has added Amber Sun as a partner. Amber joins partners Dave Bourgeau, Shawn Kolitch and Thomas (T.J.) Romano to expand the Kolitch Romano firm only five months after its formation in October 2018.

A member of the Oregon State Bar and a registered Patent Attorney with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Amber has 15 years of experience securing, protecting, and defending patents and trademarks across several industries, including automotive, semiconductor, mechanical, and software. In addition, Amber is a native Chinese speaker, and previously worked in Shanghai for four years as Head IP counsel at a joint-venture automotive company. Amber also is the President-elect of the Oregon Patent Law Association for 2019.

I wanted to join a firm that shares my values in hard work and excellence, as well as having a true commitment to diversity and teamwork, Amber explains. Im honored to join Kolitch Romanos team as a partner. The team here prioritizes customer service and they also are genuinely caring people who respect and support each other.

As a native Chinese speaker, Amber will expand Kolitch Romanos intellectual property expertise in China. She will be attending industry events in Asia, including meetings for the Asian Patent Attorneys Association. Amber brings several significant clients with her to Kolitch Romano.

Amber was one of the most outstanding students Ive had in my IP classes, says John McCormack, who was Ambers patent law professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and is also of-counsel at Kolitch Romano. Ive been watching her career with interest; its always gratifying as a professor to see your students succeed and its especially rewarding to have her join the Kolitch Romano team as a partner in the early days of the firm.

While in law school, Amber received the Diversity Excellence Scholarship from University of Oregon and the prestigious Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholarship from the American Intellectual Property Law Association (AIPLA).

Were very fortunate to have Amber Sun join Kolitch Romano as our newest partner, says Dave Bourgeau, partner at Kolitch Romano. "As Kolitch Romano grows, we continue to develop strategic expertise in emerging and established Asian markets, including China. Ambers unique skillset and experience will add an important perspective to our leadership team and can only be a huge benefit to our clients.

About Kolitch Romano

Kolitch Romano is an intellectual property law firm based in Portland, Oregon, dedicated to protecting and defending patent, trademark, copyright, and trade secret rights in a wide array of technology areas and industries both domestically and internationally. Kolitch Romanos team of attorneys at law are all licensed as patent attorneys to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The firm assists clients ranging in size from small and startup businesses to large, publicly traded companies, giving each client individual attention and strategic counseling tailored to its respective business needs. Kolitch Romano is committed to creating a work environment that values all team members contributions in the workplace and in their communities and families.

To learn more please visit http://www.kolitchromano.com and follow @kolitchromano on Twitter.
The conference Financial Planning for Public Company Executives & Directors is a must-attend event for financial, tax, and legal advisors with clients who have stock compensation Packed with information and lessons for advisors to apply in their practices.

The annual one-day conference Financial Planning for Public Company Executives & Directors (http://www.myStockOptions.com/conference) is a must-attend event for professionals working with or seeking to advise executives, directors, and high-net-worth employees who have stock compensation and holdings of company stock. To be held by myStockOptions.com in the San FranciscoSilicon Valley area on June 18, 2019, this unique conference is being sponsored by some of the leaders in the financial-planning industry, including Fidelity Charitable, Charles Schwab, Columbia Threadneedle Investments, StockShield, and StockOpter.

The 2019 conference follows the sold-out success of the 2018 conference, held in Boston. "The [2018] conference was excellentpacked with information and lessons for advisors to apply in their practices," said William Baldwin of Argent Wealth Management (Waltham, MA), a past national chair of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA). "In many other conferences I attend, the presenters only scratch the surface of their topics," said Aaron R. Petersen of Capital Group Private Client Services (Los Angeles, CA), another 2018 attendee. "It was refreshing to see that many of the presenters went the next step or two deeper into their topics."

Organized by myStockOptions.com, the 2019 one-day financial-planning conference will be held on June 18, 2019, at the Hilton San Francisco Airport Bayfront, conveniently located near the San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Rooms at a specially discounted rate have been reserved for June 1620 at the hotel, which offers free airport shuttle transportation.

Diverse Agenda And Expert Speakers On Crucial Financial-Planning Topics

With a fresh range of topics, the talks and panel discussions of the 2019 conference will feature a distinguished speaker lineup of top industry experts. Many are leading advisors involved with financial, tax, and legal planning for stock compensation and holdings of company shares. The conference agenda comprises the following sessions:



Leading Financial Advisor Reflects On His Career Working With Executives: Tim Kochis, Founder and CEO of Kochis Global (former CEO of Aspiriant)

Tax Myths And Facts With Equity Compensation

Trends In Stock And Executive Compensation: What Stock Plan Participants Need And Want, And How Advisors Can Help

Important SEC Rules And Legal Developments Impacting Financial Planning For Stock And Executive Compensation

Attracting And Retaining Individuals Who Receive Company Stock And/Or Options

Planning Strategies For Stock Options, Restricted Stock/RSUs, Performance Shares, And Company Stock Holdings

Estate Planning And Charitable Giving With Company Stock And Equity Comp

Rule 10b5-1 Trading Plans: Cornerstone Of Legal Protection For Stock Diversification

Strategies For Concentrated Positions In Company Stock

Stock Grant, Employment, And Severance Agreements: Key Documents For Advisors To Understand And How To Help Clients Avoid Big Mistakes

Donor Advised Funds Versus Charitable Foundations: Whats Best For Your Client

Nonqualified Deferred Compensation: What Advisors Must Know To Advise Executives

Pre-IPO Company Financial Planning

Continuing education credits will be available, including CE credits for Certified Financial Planner (CFP) professionals and Certified Equity Professionals (CEPs).

"This is the only conference addressing and focused solely on financial planning for executives and directors," says Kent T. Hickey of Legacy Planning Partners (Allentown, PA). "My practice significantly changed as a result of the valuable information shared by industry leaders. Since I returned from the 2018 conference, fellow planners and clients have sought my input on executive compensation. Already looking forward to the next conference!"

"Excellent content," adds Madeline Van Hoorickx of UBS Financial Services (San Jose, CA). "I havent come across anything else that is geared toward advisors like this."

Limited Space For This Day Of Learning And Networking

"The sold-out success of our 2018 conference shows the need for this type of specialized, exclusive conference and education for advisors," explains Bruce Brumberg, the editor-in-chief of myStockOptions.com, the creator and organizer of the conference.

He encourages attendees to register as soon as possible. "It's the truth, not a mere marketing ploy, when we say that space is limited and filling quickly!"

About myStockOptions.com

With exclusive articles, 800+ FAQs, podcasts, videos, the Tax Center, interactive quizzes, the Learning Center with courses for CE credit, the Global Tax Guide, an extensive glossary, a smartphone app for iOS and Android devices, and dynamic patented tools, myStockOptions.com is the premier online resource of educational content and tools on stock options, restricted stock, restricted stock units, performance shares, stock appreciation rights, and employee stock purchase plans. myStockOptions.com is written and managed by leading experts in equity compensation, and is produced by a company with a long history of successful publications explaining complex legal and financial subjects in plain English.

The accounting journal CPA Wealth Provider selected myStockOptions.com among companies "that have taken the lead through innovation, efficiency, initiative, or growth in the financial-planning area." The Specialized Information Publishers' Foundation honored MSO Pro with one of its Editorial Excellence Awards in the category of Best Interactive Content among niche publishers. The influential consumer magazine PC World has ranked myStockOptions.com among "the most useful sites ever" that "deliver top-notch information, support, and services."

myStockOptions.com has also received extensive favorable coverage in the media, including BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, and The Boston Globe, and on CNN, National Public Radio, PBS, Money.com, and MarketWatch.com.

myStockOptions.com has a related site on nonqualified deferred compensation at http://www.myNQDC.com. The staff also created the successful insider trading prevention video series Think Twice, available at http://www.insidertradingvideos.com.
MIAMI Chairman of the Board Jose Maria Chepe Serrano The MIAMI Realtors Showcase features South Florida as one of the worlds top destinations for business and investment"

The MIAMI Association of Realtors (MIAMI) will once again have an expanded presence at the worlds largest real estate event, MIPIM, from March 12-15 in Cannes, France. For the second consecutive year, MIAMI will have its own expanded exhibit space (stand P-1.J62) in addition to sponsoring the National Association of Realtors (NAR) USA pavilion. MIAMIs major presence at this elite event further enhances Miami and South Floridas worldwide exposure.

MIAMI has exhibited at MIPIM for five consecutive years to promote South Florida real estate and MIAMI members. MIAMI, which also features Broward, Jupiter and Martin counties, will tout Miamis position as a premier global city, work to attract more commercial and residential investment for South Florida and emphasize the advantages of doing business with MIAMI members.

The MIAMI Realtors Showcase features South Florida as one of the worlds top destinations for business and investment, MIAMI Chairman of the Board Jose Maria Chepe Serrano said. Participating in the worlds No. 1 property event attracts investment that will generate real estate activity for our MIAMI members and result in economic expansion for years to come.

For the second year, MIAMI will host a VIP reception in honor of FIABCI (International Real Estate Federation) and its worldwide chapters.

Six MIAMI leaders and two MIAMI executives will represent MIAMI at the MIPIM exhibit. Participating MIAMI leaders are: Chairman Jose Maria Chepe Serrano of New Miami Realty Corp.; 2018 Commercial President Brian Sharpe of Sharpe Properties Group; MIAMI Commercial President Jennifer Wollmann of EWM Realty International, 2019 Residential President Ines Hegedus-Garcia of Related/ISG International Realty, 2018 Residential President and 2020 Chairman Jorge L. Guerra, Jr. of Real Estate Sales Force and Broward-MIAMI President Jonathan Keith of Compass Florida, LLC.

MIAMI Chief Executive Officer Teresa King Kinney and Miami Chief of Communications & International Lynda Fernandez will also participate.

100 Countries Represented at MIPIM

More than 26,000 investors, CEOs, chairmen and political leaders from 100 countries will be in France for the leading business-to-business real estate event in the world.

About the MIAMI Association of Realtors

The MIAMI Association of Realtors was chartered by the National Association of Realtors in 1920 and is celebrating 99 years of service to Realtors, the buying and selling public, and the communities in South Florida. Comprised of six organizations, the Residential Association, the Realtors Commercial Alliance, the Broward-MIAMI Association of Realtors, the Jupiter Tequesta Hobe Sound (JTHS-MIAMI) Council, the Young Professionals Network (YPN) Council and the award-winning International Council, it represents 47,000 real estate professionals in all aspects of real estate sales, marketing, and brokerage. It is the largest local Realtor association in the U.S. and has official partnerships with 207 international organizations worldwide. MIAMIs official website is http://www.MiamiRealtors.com
Monarch Dental Team

In Partnership with the Smiles for Everyone Foundation, Monarch Dental will provide free dental services for low-income, underinsured individuals at its Plano, TX office on March 30th.

Dental services provided include same-day procedures such as exams and x-rays, fillings, cleanings and extractions. For more information, please visit the Monarch Dental website.

About Monarch Dental

Monarch Dental provides general dentistry, childrens dentistry and specialty care services such as orthodontics, oral surgery, periodontics and endodontics at 89 locations throughout Texas, Arkansas and Utah. Monarch Dental affiliated practices make it easy and affordable for individuals and families to get the dental care they need with convenient locations, extended hours and same-day appointments. The Monarch Dental mission is to create healthier smiles by making dental visits easy and enjoyable. Learn more at http://www.monarchdental.com.

About the Smiles For Everyone Foundation

The Smiles for Everyone Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with the mission of delivering smiles for everyone by providing free dental care for those in need, both at home in the U.S. and around the world. Since 2011, the Smiles for Everyone Foundation has delivered over 19,000 smiles and $14.5 million in donated dentistry. The foundation currently supports programs which provide free dental care to those in need in Cambodia, Ghana, Laos, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Thailand, and the United States. For more information or to make a donation, visit http://www.smilesforeveryone.org.

Contacts:

Monarch Dental

Jody Martin

PR(at)smilebrands.com

714.427.1299

Smiles for Everyone Foundation

Crystal Strait

crystal.strait(at)smilesforeveryone.org

714.824.5037
Morphisec Logo Our companys growth has only accelerated over the last year with increasing enterprise demand for Morphisecs Moving Target Defense as a solution to advanced attacks that are evading traditional protection technology.

Morphisec, the leader in Moving Target Defense, today announced a series of investor presentations its executives will deliver in March on the companys momentum. The company has announced over 1500% growth in year-over-year revenue growth.

Morphisec executives will be presenting the companys rapid growth and differentiation at the 16th Annual Montgomery Summit, AGCs 15th West Coast Information Security & Broader Technology Growth Conference and the OurCrowd Global Investor Summit.

The three events connect leading investors, M&A executives and industry luminaries with private technology companies as they look to identify investment targets and discover breakthrough innovations. Morphisec will be presenting business and financial milestones such as achieving 1620% Year-over-year growth and surpassing 2.5 million endpoints deployed in 2018. To date, the company has raised $22M in funding from leading institutional investors including JVP, GE, Deutsche Telecom and Orange Telecom.

"Our companys growth has only accelerated over the last year with increasing enterprise demand for Morphisecs Moving Target Defense as a solution to advanced attacks that are evading traditional protection technology, said Ronen Yehoshua, Morphisec's chief executive officer. Our expanding enterprise customer list and strategic investors understand the unique ROI Morphisec brings to the cybersecurity stack in mitigating the risk of these evasive attacks, and were excited to provide an overview of how it is positively impacting our financials to attendees of these well-regarded events.

Morphisec's growth has also been fueled in part by its expanding global technical and partner ecosystem. The company has announced agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, RSA Security, and SECOM Singapore in 2018. In addition, the company recently appointed former RSA Development Director Andrew Homer as its Vice President of Business Development and it is positioned to add new partners to its ecosystem in the coming months.

Join Morphisec executives to hear more about the companys growth at these events:



AGC Partners 2019 Information Security & Broader Technology Growth Conference: Ronen Yehoshua, Morphisec's CEO, will be presenting 3:30 - 3:45 pm PST on Monday, March 4, 2019, at the Hilton Union Square, San Francisco, California in Parlor 3.

The Montgomery Summit: Tom Bain, Morphisecs VP of Marketing and Security Strategy, will be presenting on the Growth Companies track at 8:30 a.m. PST on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Wilshire II within the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, California.

OurCrowd Global Investor Summit: Nirit Efraty-Nekave, Morphisec's EMEA/APAC Marketing Manager, will be presenting during the Meet the Startup session at 12:10 p.m. IST on Thursday, March 7, 2019, in Oren 3 Hall within the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel.

About Morphisec

Morphisec delivers an entirely new level of innovation to customers with its patented Moving Target Defense technology - placing defenders in a prevent-first posture against the most advanced threats to the enterprise, including APTs, zero-days, ransomware, evasive fileless attacks and web-borne exploits. Morphisec provides a crucial, small-footprint memory-defense layer that easily deploys into a companys existing security infrastructure to form a simple, highly effective, cost-efficient prevention stack that is truly disruptive to todays existing cybersecurity model.
My parents founded MSI on a beautiful ideal: create jobs and help everyone make their dreams a reality. This applies not only to our suppliers and end-consumers, but also to our employees.

MSI, North Americas Leading Supplier of Premium Surfaces, has been awarded a 2018 Top Workplaces honor by The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The award is based solely on employee feedback on several aspects including workplace culture, alignment, execution, and connection, just to name a few.

Founded as a natural stone business approximately 45 years ago, MSI has grown into a complete surfacings company with over $1 billion in annual revenues and more than 2,000 employees worldwide.

Raj Shah, President of MSI, comments, My parents founded MSI on a beautiful ideal: create jobs and help everyone make their dreams a reality. This applies not only to our suppliers and end-consumers, but also to our employees. Shah adds, Being named a Top Workplace is truly an honorespecially because the judges were our own people. We are a family business and continue to build the culture of family within our company.

Top Workplaces is more than just recognition, said Doug Claffey, CEO of Energage. Our research shows organizations that earn the award attract better talent, experience lower turnover, and are better equipped to deliver bottom-line results. Their leaders prioritize and carefully craft a healthy workplace culture that supports employee engagement.

Learn more about MSI, its company culture, and career opportunities

Founded in 1975, MSI is the leading supplier of premium surfaces in the U.S. - including flooring, countertops, decorative mosaics and wall tile, and hardscaping products. The company offers an extensive selection of quartz, natural stone, porcelain, ceramic, luxury vinyl tile and glass among other materials. Headquartered in Orange, California, MSI has distribution centers across the United States and Canada and maintains over 150 million square feet of inventory, imported from over 36 different countries on six continents. For more information on MSI, visit msisurfaces.com
Im overjoyed to join Year Up, which I believe is uniquely positioned to improve the outcomes for young adults without college degrees, an underserved and under-addressed population, said Turner.

Continuing to expand its proven workforce development program for young adults, the nonprofit Year Up announced today that it has appointed Cyril Turner as its new President, effective March 4, 2019.

Previously, Turner served as a Senior Vice President of Delta Air Lines, Inc. He was President of Delta Global Services (DGS) and Delta Private Jets (DPJ), where he led the successful turnaround of both subsidiaries. He also oversaw Delta Connection, overseeing six regional airlines for Delta, including Compass, ExpressJet, GoJet, Republic and SkyWest, as well as Deltas wholly owned subsidiary, Endeavor Air.

Cyrils leadership, innovative thinking and strong history of driving growth in the private sector will be critical as we continue to grow Year Up and build more partnerships with top companies across the U.S., said Gerald Chertavian, Year Up Founder and CEO. His experience in scaling large organizations will enable us to provide more talented, motivated young people with access to meaningful careers and higher education.

As President of Year Up, Turner will report to Chertavian, and will be accountable for driving performance in all aspects of the organization and managing its overall P&L.

Im overjoyed to join Year Up, which I believe is uniquely positioned to improve the outcomes for young adults without college degrees, an underserved and under-addressed population, said Turner. Helping to close the Opportunity Divide  and ensure more young adults can gain the skills and experience they need to succeed in the workplace  is the most meaningful work I can do and Year Up provides a great platform for me do this work.

During his tenure at Delta, Turners team more than quadrupled the number of employees at Delta Global Services and oversaw its expansion to 180 locations. His team doubled profits at Delta Private Jets for two consecutive years and increased its market share, expanding the company from five owned jets to more than 75 leased private jets. Prior to Delta, Turner held numerous leadership roles at Coca-Cola Enterprises, as well as at Frito-Lay and Deloitte & Touche.

Turner is based in Atlanta, Georgia, where he serves on a number of community boards. He is currently a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), a board member of CHRIS 180, and is an executive board member of Junior Achievement of Georgia. He also serves on the advisory board of the Future Foundation.

Turner simultaneously earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Morehouse College and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his Masters of Business Administration in Finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and also studied at Harvard Business School and the London Business School.

Founded in Boston in 2000, Year Up now serves more than 4,500 young adults every year, connecting them with meaningful wage careers in business and IT at hundreds of top companies across the country. A recent federally-sponsored evaluation of Year Up showed a 53% increase in initial earnings for young adults randomly assigned to Year Up compared with similar young adults in a control groupthe largest impacts on earnings reported to date for a workforce program tested in a randomized controlled trial. Ninety percent of Year Up graduates are employed and/or enrolled in postsecondary education within four months of completing the program, with employed graduates earning an average starting salary of $40,000 per year.

About Year Up

Year Up is an award-winning, national 501(c)3 organization that enables motivated young adults, ages 18-24, to move from minimum wage to meaningful careers in just one year, by providing the skills, experience, and support they need to reach their full potential. Through a one-year, intensive program, Year Up utilizes a high-expectations, high-support model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, coursework eligible for college credit, and corporate internships at more than 250 top companies. Its holistic approach focuses on students' professional and personal development to enable young adults with a viable path to economic self-sufficiency and meaningful careers. Year Up has served more than 24,000 young adults since its founding in 2000, and will serve more than 4,700 young adults in 2019 across 25 U.S. cities including Arizona, Baltimore, Bay Area, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Greater Atlanta, Greater Boston, Greater Philadelphia, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, the National Capital Region, New York City, Puget Sound, Rhode Island, South Florida, Tampa Bay, and Wilmington. Year Up has been voted one of the Best Non-Profits to Work For by The NonProfit Times for eight consecutive years, and rated a 4-star charity by Charity Navigator for twelve consecutive years, placing them in the top 1% of tracked organizations.

To learn more, visit http://www.yearup.org, and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.
New Next Level Urgent Care Onsite Employee Wellness Clinic Opens in Brazoria County The onsite health and wellness clinics are a win-win. It provides employees with convenient, quality care and life-enhancing wellness programs at no additional cost to them, and it improves the overall health quality of the workforce, said Breeze.

Next Level Urgent Care, LLC, opens an onsite employee health and wellness clinic for Brazoria county employees and their families, providing onsite urgent care and primary care services.

The Brazoria County Employee Health and Wellness Clinic, provides Brazoria county employees and family members under the county insurance plan a range of urgent care and primary care services, including annual physical examinations, care for chronic health conditions such as diabetes, as well as acute illness or injuries, weight loss counseling, smoking cessation, biometric testing, health risk assessments and more.

Open Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for labs and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for clinic visits, the onsite employee wellness clinic is provided by Brazoria County at its Angleton location and open to all Brazoria County employees and their covered family members either by scheduling an appointment or walk-in.

The new onsite employee clinic operated under the Next Level Health and Wellness branch of Next Level Urgent Care is the 3rd location since owner Juliet Breeze, MD began expanding the successful business model of her urgent care clinics to employer funded onsite health and wellness clinics for their employees.

According to Breeze, the onsite employee health and wellness clinics are designed to provide county employees with greater accessibility to healthcare, preventative care and wellness programs, ensuring a healthier more productive workforce and reduced lost time from work and more expensive crisis care.

The onsite health and wellness clinics are a win-win. It provides employees with convenient, quality care and life-enhancing wellness programs at no additional cost to them, and it improves the overall health quality of the workforce, said Breeze.

Physician run Next Level Urgent Care employs providers procedurally trained to handle a broad range of acute urgent medical conditions that are not life-threatening. The company has been recognized as one of the best urgent care centers in Houston by Living Magazine Peoples Choice Awards and is scheduled to open three new urgent care clinics this year  Next Level Cypress, Next Level Kingsland and Next Level Baytown.

The companys onsite employee health and wellness clinics represent an expanded service offering, which includes primary care and preventative wellness services in addition to its award-winning urgent care. The clinics are paid for directly by the employer outside of traditional health insurance. Next Level accepts a flat monthly fee for managing the staffing, equipping and reporting for the clinics  pricing is dependent on hours of operation, staffing requirements and scope.

To learn more about these clinics or the virtual clinic option, CareXtend, which provides employee healthcare services for employee groups not quite large enough to support a full onsite clinic or is geographically dispersed, call 281.201.0657.

To schedule an appointment or learn more about the new Brazoria County Health and Wellness Clinic call 979-849-5497. Employees can also schedule an appointment by downloading the Next Level app, simply text NLUCAPP to 313131.

About Next Level Urgent Care

The largest and fastest growing woman-owned Urgent Care organization in Houston, Next Level Urgent Care, LLC and its family of 13 urgent care and three onsite employee health and wellness clinics are the vision of Juliet Breeze, MD, a primary care physician and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in healthcare. Among the first organizations in Texas to achieve Urgent Care Center Accreditation through the American Academy of Urgent Care Medicine (AAUCM) and one of the few physician-owned urgent care organizations in Houston, Next Level Urgent Care represents a new type of urgent care organization.

The organization is focused on the customer experience with quality and consistency of care, delivered using proprietary systems, organizational designs and next level clinical and business processes. On-staff providers are procedurally trained to handle acute urgent medical conditions and are part of an established referral network and collaborative effort to facilitate continuation of care and other specialized medical services. The clinics offer extended hours seven days a week and on holidays, at a fraction of the price of hospital emergency room or ER clinic visits.
I know that buying a home is the largest investment anyone will make. It is my duty to inform my clients and give them 100% of my attention and guide them through the entire mortgage process, from start to finish.

NJ Lenders Corp. is proud to announce that their very own Senior Loan Officer, Sandy Davis, was recognized as one of National Mortgage News Top Producers for 2018. Out of 500,000 licensed Mortgage Loan Originators in the nation, only 400 made the list, with Davis being one of them.

I know that buying a home is the largest investment anyone will make. It is my duty to inform my clients and give them 100% of my attention and guide them through the entire mortgage process, from start to finish, said Davis.

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Top Producers program which ranks mortgage loan officers and mortgage brokers who work at depository, nonbank and mortgage brokerage firms in the United States. Theyre ranked by their dollar volume for the year, but are also recognized for the number of loans they closed.

National Mortgage News compiles the list based on information thats supplied from the 2017 loan production. The people who submitted data for the survey range from loan officers all the way to company president, while banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers, and mortgage brokerages are all represented.

With over 13 years of experience in home financing, Sandy Davis has also been recognized as a Five Star Mortgage Professional for 2015 and 2014. Sandy has also been awarded the Top 1% Mortgage Originator in America by Mortgage Executive Magazine consistently year after year since 2011. In addition to running a successful business, Sandy is a proud mom of six wonderful children!

If you want to learn more about Sandy Davis, or if youre thinking about purchasing or refinancing, you can contact her through her website http://www.sandy.njlenders.com or call her directly at 973-670-9702.

About NJ Lenders Corp.

Founded in 1991, NJ Lenders is a leading NJ-based residential mortgage banker that is privately owned and licensed. The company currently originates first mortgage loans in NJ, NY, CT, PA, VA, MD, and FL. With 11 offices and over $25 billion in closed mortgage loans, many of their Mortgage Loan Originators are recognized nationally as the best in their field. The company has competitive rates and fees with a wide variety of mortgage programs to select from.
John Kearney, CEO of Advanced Training Systems, discusses how reformed felons are an untapped resource of employment within the trucking industry. Formerly incarcerated people, who currently have a 27% unemployment rate, are a largely untapped resource that could help the U.S. trucking industry fill its urgent need for new drivers.

According to the American Trucking Association, this countrys long-haul trucking industry needs about 51,000 more drivers than it currently has to meet demand for shipping capacity from companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart.[1] Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 4.0% in January, its lowest point in a decade and less than half of its recession-era level of October 2008.[2] At the same time, says John Kearney, CEO, Advanced Training Systems LLC, there is a segment of the population looking eagerly for employment. Kearney, whose company is a leading designer and manufacturer of virtual simulators for driver training, among other applications, adds, Formerly incarcerated people, who currently have a 27% unemployment rate[3], are a largely untapped resource that could help the U.S. trucking industry fill its urgent need for new drivers.

A frequently raised objection to hiring ex-offenders is the recidivism issue. More than half a million people are released from federal and state jails and prisons in the United States each year, and of those, according to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, about two-thirds will be rearrested within three years.[4] A joint study by America Works and the Manhattan Institute, however, notes Kearney, showed that recidivism rates dropped significantly for nonviolent offenders who became employed shortly after leaving prison. In prison-to-work programs in six cities across the country, in fact, in states with overall recidivism rates ranging from about 31% to 70%, the rates for those placed in jobs shortly after their release ranged from 3.3% to 8%.[5]

While a criminal record was once considered a knockout factor in evaluating a prospective employee in many jurisdictions, there is now a wide range of state and local regulations regarding the use of criminal records in offering or refusing employment. The practice of removing the criminal record question from employment applications is commonly called Ban the Box. In some places, Ban the Box regulations are applicable where the employee lives, and in others where they work is performed. Never, says industry consultant Lana Batts, do they apply to where the employer is domiciled. The very nature of trucking, says Batts, makes compliance with a diverse grab-bag of Ban the Box rules a significant challenge; the trucking in industry, which keenly understands the costs of the driver shortage, needs a national Ban the Box solution applicable wherever a driver might find himself or herself in the course of completing a shipment.[6]

Another important factor in integrating ex-offenders into the driving workforce, notes Kearney, is a reasonably streamlined training process. One important component of streamlining is the use of computerized simulation to familiarize new drivers with the proper way to handle situations too dangerous to attempt in conventional behind-the-wheel training.

As with the shortage of school bus drivers, says ATSs Kearney, also a growing source of concern[7], advanced training simulators offer an economical and highly effective approach to increasing the available supply of long-haul truckers. The technology can both reduce the cost of training and produce better, safer drivers.

About Advanced Training Systems LLC:

Advanced Training Systems (ATS) is a high-tech simulator technology and engineering firm that has revolutionized the design and manufacture of advanced training systems to improve training and create safer drivers. ATS, the holder of multiple patents in high-tech training simulation, has as its mission to provide this cutting-edge adaptive training to all involved in the transportation industry at an affordable cost, resulting in safer drivers/operators. For more information, visit http://www.atstrainingsystems.com

1. Long, Heather, America has a massive truck driver shortage. Heres why few want an $80,000 job, Washington Post, May 28, 2018.

2. National Employment Monthly Update, National Council of State Legislatures, February 1, 2019.

3. Straight, Brian, In search of truck drivers, are felons the answer? FreightWaves, October 24, 2018.

4. Recidivism Rates Unacceptably High, says Sessions, The Crime Report, April 9, 2018.

5. Cove, Peter and Bose, Lee, Immediate Access to Employment Reduces Recidivism, Real Clear Politics, June 11, 2015.

6. Batts, Lana, Opinion: Trucking Industry Needs Ban the Box Solution, Transport Topics, August 25, 2017.

7. Osunsami, Steve, School-bus driver shortage across US sparks growing concern, ABC News, August 15, 2017.


The global services industry enjoyed a fourth consecutive quarter of growth in Q4 2018, with digital services activity continuing its upward trend,

The global sourcing industry posted healthy numbers for Q4 2018, marked by an 8 percent increase in outsourcing transactions and a 13 percent increase in Global In-house Center (GIC) setups and expansions over the previous quarter, according to Everest Group.

Digital services continued to dominate the outsourcing activity in Q4, with 74 percent of all outsourcing transactions comprising digital-focused services as compared to 26 percent of transactions focused on pure traditional services. Cloud services were included in 44 percent of all digital-focused transactions for the year.



The majority (55 percent) of offshore and nearshore service delivery centers set up in Q4 were focused on digital services. Fifty-six percent of new centers established in Q4 supported automation and 33 percent included analytics services.

GICs were increasingly leveraged for digital services in Q4, with 59 percent of GIC setups and expansions including digital services in their scope. Automation continued to account for the maximum share (63 percent) of the total digital-based GIC setups during Q4, reflecting the significant degree to which enterprises are seeking to leverage automation to improve efficiency, deliver business value and reduce cost beyond traditional means.

The global services industry enjoyed a fourth consecutive quarter of growth in Q4 2018, with digital services activity continuing its upward trend, said H. Karthik, partner at Everest Group. Two key areas of service provider activity in Q4 demonstrate this strong emphasis on digital services. First, service providers such as Accenture, DXC Technology and TCS announced acquisitions of startups to enhance their interactive digital content capabilities. Secondly, several service providers announced innovative partnerships with educational institutions in their attempts to bridge the digital skills gap. For example, Accenture announced a partnership with Georgia Institute of Technology, IBM is teaming up with IIT Delhi, and Infosys is joining forces with Cornell. We will continue to see service providers investing in acquisition and partnership strategies to strengthen their digital services capabilities in the year ahead.

Everest Group discusses these and other fourth-quarter developments in its recently released Market Vista: Q1 2019 report. The quarterly report highlights the trends in the fast-evolving global sourcing market, exploring the key developments across outsourcing transactions and Global In-house Centers (GICs), as well as location risks and opportunities, and service provider developments.

Additional highlights from the Market Vista: Q4 2018 report:



Themes such as design, customer experience, automation and cloud were prominent in Q4 2018.

The uptick in outsourcing activity was led by the Banking, Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) sector.

Q4 saw substantial growth in adoption of GICs by small enterprises, with a particular focus on specific services rather than multi-functional centers.

The Asia Pacific region witnessed a significant rise in research and development (R&D) GIC setups by manufacturing enterprises, demonstrating a preference to insource next-generation engineering services.

To build niche capabilities, service providers focused on the acquisition of startups as opposed to partnerships. As many as 70 percent of acquisitions in Q4 were startups compared to 50 percent in Q3.

Key location risk/opportunity trends identified for Q4 2018 include South Africa announcing a new GBS incentive scheme to improve the countrys value proposition; Lithuania attracting a multitude of players looking to innovate and deliver FinTech services, increasing competition from service providers for engineering services sourcing, and significant investment from the Canadian government, likely to boost attractiveness of British Columbia for digital services delivery.

Learn More



Download a complimentary 16-page abstract of the report findings here.

In the recent webinar, The 5 Most Important Global Services Trends for 2019, Everest Group experts shared the context for many of the highlights of the Market Vista: Q1 2019 report as well other key market trends. Watch the replay or download the webinar deck here.

About Everest Group

Everest Group is a consulting and research firm focused on strategic IT, business services, engineering services, and sourcing. We are trusted advisors to senior executives of leading enterprises, providers, and investors. Our firm helps clients improve operational and financial performance through a hands-on process that supports them in making well-informed decisions that deliver high-impact results and achieve sustained value. Our insight and guidance empowers clients to improve organizational efficiency, effectiveness, agility and responsiveness. What sets Everest Group apart is the integration of deep sourcing knowledge, problem-solving skills and original research. Details and in-depth content are available at http://www.everestgrp.com.

###

Contact:

Andrea M. Riffle, Everest Group

andrea.riffle@everestgrp.com

Jennifer Fowler, Cathey Communications for Everest Group

+1-865-405-6380

jennifer@cathey.co
Linda D. Kennedy We are very pleased that Linda has joined our firm," said Bill Panagos. "Lindas background in litigation, IP transactions and government contracts brings added dimension to our team.

Panagos Law Group - a law firm serving businesses throughout Michigan and around the world - has recently expanded by adding partner Linda D. Kennedy and changing its name to Panagos Kennedy. Panagos Kennedy continues to advise clients on intellectual property (IP), business, and technology issues. Because of the firms experience in the automotive industry and the aerospace and defense industry, the firm is uniquely positioned to help automotive suppliers grow their business with the US Department of Defense.

"We are very pleased that Linda has joined our firm," said Bill Panagos. "Lindas background in litigation, IP transactions and government contracts brings added dimension to our team."

Bill C. Panagos, founder and managing partner, advises executives in all IP related business matters. As a former Chief IP Counsel with a Fortune 500 auto supplier, Bill understands how to design and execute a strategically aligned and cost effective global IP strategy tailored to each client. Bill has extensive experience in litigation, commercial transactions, and working with the US Army and its contractors. He is especially versed in navigating the intricacies of the FARs and DFARs.

Linda D. Kennedy, partner, recently joined the firm from a Fortune 500 aerospace and defense company. She counsels clients on assessing and mitigating IP risks. She develops strategies to maximize protection of key technologies through patents, trade secrets, copyrights and related contracts. In additional to IP portfolio management and agreement work, Linda brings substantial state and federal court litigation experience to the firm.

Daniel J. Checkowsky, partner, practices all aspects of IP law, with a focus on foreign and domestic patent prosecution. Dans technical breadth includes complex systems for autonomous vehicles, internal combustion engines, turbines, transmissions and control systems. He is also an experienced litigator in state and federal court and before administrative tribunals.

About Panagos Kennedy:

Panagos Kennedy attorneys broke away from the rigid and expensive big law firm model. The firm is agile and efficient. Its attorneys continue to offer the business and legal judgment formed through their large company and law firm experiences. They understand convention. They also understand when to depart from the old rules. And they continue to advise clients on a host of sophisticated international business and legal issues involving autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, combat vehicle survivability, IoT, and open source software. Contact Panagos Kennedy to develop creative solutions to complex problems. Visit: http://www.paniplaw.com
Kelli Schutrop, Director of Sales and Marketing Kelli has over a decade of marketing, branding, public relations, and communications experience with a strong specialization in the staffing industry.

Parqa, a digital marketing agency specializing in the staffing and recruiting industry, has promoted Kelli Schutrop to Director of Sales and Marketing. The role was created to build Parqas brand and influence throughout the staffing industry across the country and provide strategic digital marketing consulting to staffing firm leaders who have a goal to build their brand, gain online visibility, and generate leads.

Kelli has over a decade of experience in marketing, branding, public relations, and communications, with a strong specialization in the staffing and recruiting industry. Prior to her previous role with Parqa as a Sr. Client Services Manager, Kelli held a variety of marketing management positions within executive search and consulting firms including Parqas sister company, Versique Search & Consulting.

I am passionate about helping staffing and recruiting firm owners grow their businesses through digital marketing, said Schutrop. There are unique nuances within the industry that require highly customized marketing strategies. Having spent seven years managing in-house marketing for staffing and recruiting firms, I am thankful to bring a digital marketing perspective through the lens of this industry to our clients business goals.

Parqa was created to champion staffing and recruiting firm growth throughout North America. The spark for the agency originally began when the team successfully drove 50% of annual revenue from digital marketing sources to sister company Versique Search & Consulting. Versique is now leading the industry with inbound marketing strategies to attract clients and candidates.

Kelli has been a valuable addition to our family of companies since she joined us in 2012. Her ability to partner with visionaries like myself and drive the implementation of a plan to completion has enabled us to build our brand and expand on revenue-driving initiatives, said Tony Sorensen, CEO of Parqa and Versique Search & Consulting.

Parqa partners with industry-leading staffing and recruiting organizations including TechServe Alliance, National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS), EMinfo, Ohio Recruiters Association, and New York Staffing Association to offer digital marketing thought leadership to companies ranging from boutique executive search firms to rapidly growing staffing firms.

About Parqa

Parqa is a digital marketing agency that serves staffing and recruiting firms throughout North America. Parqa was founded to serve the needs of its sister company, Versique Search & Consulting. Due to the success Versique had with their digital marketing efforts, the Parqa team realized they could help other staffing and recruiting firms do the same if they replicated their proven process. First, Parqa focuses on helping companies build their brand credibility through website design, development, and social media platform optimization. Second, Parqa helps companies gain online visibility through ongoing SEO implementation, social media management, and content marketing. Lastly, Parqa assists clients with lead generation through paid advertising management, email management, and marketing automation. Parqas client success is dedicated to the combination of these three critical elements  brand credibility, online visibility and lead generation  which drives business growth in the digital age. For more information, please visit parqamarketing.com.
Spine surgeons Drs. James St. Louis and Phillip Kravetz can accommodate displaced Laser Spine Institute patients. We welcome these patients and can put them on our schedule immediately, and can offer workers a new home in a strong and stable company."

Physician Partners of America (PPOA) will open its doors to hundreds of chronic pain patients left in the lurch after Laser Spine Institute shut down operations suddenly on March 1. Some of those patients had traveled to LSIs flagship clinic in Tampa from other states.

PPOA is also helping displaced employees, who were blindsided by the closure, to find work at PPOA, beginning with a job fair on March 6 at its Tampa headquarters building.

We are pleased to offer to perform minimally invasive laser spine procedures on patients who were scheduled for those procedures at Laser Spine Institute in Tampa, said Josh Helms, PPOA Chief Operating Officer. We welcome these patients and can put them on our schedule immediately. PPOA accepts Medicare and most insurances for minimally invasive and laser spine procedures. The cost to patients is typically much lower than Laser Spine Institute.

Displaced patients may make appointments with Dr. St Louis in Florida or Dr. Phillip Kravetz in Texas at 1-855-25-LASER.

Physician Partners of America, headquartered a few miles from LSI in Tampa, will also see LSI patients for consultations.

Dr. James St. Louis, chief of PPOAs Minimally Invasive Spine Division since January 2018, was the surgical founder of Laser Spine Institute.

Laser Spine Institute - What's Next?

PPOA leadership expressed extreme sadness to hear that Laser Spine Institute shut down operations citing insurmountable financial difficulties. It had closed three surgical centers as a cost-cutting measure in recent years at the same time PPOA entered a period of dramatic expansion.

PPOA operates more than 30 pain management clinics, two laser spine operations, and six outpatient surgery centers in Florida and Texas.

Laser Spine Institute has brought name recognition to the community in Tampa and other cities and its an unfortunate situation, said Helms. At Physician Partners of America, we take comfort in hiring many of the displaced LSI workers and our ability to care for those patients in need.

Help for Displaced Laser Spine Institute Employees

Helms added that given PPOAs expansion and commitment to the Tampa Bay community, it is in a good position to hire some of the 500 employees who lost their jobs at LSI.

We have many open positions for the type of experienced healthcare workers that contributed so much to the culture at LSI, Helms said. We can offer them a new home in a strong and stable company.

Displaced Laser Spine Institute employees are invited to a career fair at Physician Partners Institute from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Wednesday, March 6 in its headquarters building, 550 N. Reo St. Tampa 33609. PPOA is hiring for 70-plus open positions across departments.

For information, they may contact hrdept@physicianpartnersoa.com or go to our Careers page.
Last year cybersecurity startup PolySwarm raised over $26 million, and there is a good reason for that: Its threat detection marketplace re-envisions the traditional way of detecting malware. The platform enables security experts to make money for correctly detecting threats via their scanning engines, while businesses charged with safeguarding their organizations get instant answers and intelligence on potentially sketchy files.

After partnering with over 25 antivirus companies and security experts, PolySwarm today announces that its two-sided marketplace is now open to enterprises and Managed Service Security Providers (MSSPs) who are invited to try the service free.

Currently, incident response teams in organizations primarily use VirusTotal as the go-to database to determine whether a suspicious file or artifact is malicious, but our platform is more effective for a number of reasons, says PolySwarm CEO and Founder Steve Bassi. PolySwarm is differentiated by economic incentives to increase quality and effectiveness of threat identification. Scanning engines in PolySwarm are rewarded for accurate determinations in their fields of expertise, which means enterprises using our subscription service benefit from broader coverage and increased accuracy.

Bassi knows what he is talking about; he has been involved in threat detection and intelligence for over 20 years. His prior company, Narf Industries, was awarded a grant by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to build and implement a blockchain security identity program and built encryption projects on behalf of DARPA. Bassi would find that the custom tools he and his team built to detect threats would sit on a shelf and collect dust. With PolySwarm, security experts can monetize their tools while enterprises and MSSPs have access to a real-time crowdsourced network of specialized scanning engines.

Security analysts and large companies that need to detect threats and keep them out of their networks benefit from the combined wisdom of detection tools from around the world - rather than the limited protection provided by a single security vendor, says Bassi.

Companies can schedule a time to meet with the PolySwarm founders at RSA, a cybersecurity conference in San Francisco Calif., March 4 - 8, 2019, and discuss the by-invitation trial. Visit http://www.signup.polyswarm.io/rsa to schedule a meeting.

Enterprises and MSSPs interested in the free trial program can also learn more at http://www.polyswarm.io/enterprise_clients/

About PolySwarm: PolySwarm is the first malware detection marketplace where security experts and antivirus companies compete and get paid to detect threats. PolySwarm is the natural replacement to VirusTotal, with a better model for detecting and sharing malware to protect users. By combining protection from all participating anti-malware engines with diverse domains of expertise, economically rewarding accuracy of threat detection and providing transparency, PolySwarm provides broader, more accurate and up-to-date protection. For more information, please visit PolySwarm.io.
I have been searching for something like this since my state started accepting marijuana applications. It's so great to just enter a few pieces of key information about my company and have the rest of the wording written for you.

Los Angeles, California-based business to entrepreneur company Weed Stop Club has launched its self-service, document creation tool for those individuals and businesses trying to apply for their Marijuana Licenses.

The content you submit to any State Department for your marijuana license is serious business. You're competing for the attention of government employees who are receiving pitches by many other potential licensees at the same time. To succeed, your State response should be informative, mutually equitable to the Department of Health, and completely transparent.

Thats where the Weed Stop Club can help. The Clubs offering is clear and concise, create customize documents for your marijuana license application at a fraction of the price it would cost through a traditional lawyer. Answer a few plain-English questions, and we'll create your cannabis license document for you. Enough said!

I have been searching for something like this since my States Bureau of Cannabis started accepting marijuana license applications. It's so great to just enter a few pieces of key information about my company and have the rest of the wording written for me.

First you select your document or form. Then answer simple questions about your company that are required for that specific document. Within a few steps, youll have a completed document thats ready for submission.

Completing a marijuana license application is no small feat. It requires detailed operations plans, procedures and company policies for at least 20 different areas of business! A significant amount of time will be spent writing, organizing and working with consults to get it done. Luckily, Weed Stop Club can do the heavy lifting for you, while giving you the freedom you need to brand the document with your own content (ie. Name, Address, Product Offering, et cetera). In the end, what youll get is complete, professional content to present to your State Department.

When a State Department of Health evaluates a company for a marijuana license, they are looking for the best microbusiness who can be compliant with all of their regulations, rules and policies.

The Clubs documents & letters gives license evaluators the proper context around why your business came into existence and who you are before reading about the services you intend to offer patients or patrons.

Available now are prewritten, ready to use:

1. Business Plans

2. Security & Surveillance Procedures

3. Sanitation & Waste Disposal Policies

4. Tracking and Receiving Inventory Plans

5. Transporting Marijuana Practices

6. Marijuana Product Packaging & Labeling Guidelines.

You can customize by adding your company information and then print or share any of the documents they offer. Its really that simple!

The Club organizes the documents into different sections, such as policies, procedures, plans, personnel, technology, et cetera. This makes it easy for the license evaluator to understand the different parts of your application and the different operation plans you plan to utilize.

We don't just dive right into the strategy and the processes. We set expectations up front and entice the evaluator to read more, says Ms. Cheryl Mahoney, senior editor.

Weed Stop Club knows exactly how to structure the response to the government. Thats why the content focuses more on your State Departments need to check all the boxes, rather than on your own companys product offerings. But the prewritten documents do include professional proof that illustrates your companys professionalism and ability to understand and mitigate their particular statewide issues.

This spring, the Club is releasing state and business type specific documents and forms. In their pipeline are documents that relate specifically to:



Growers

Cultivators

Producers

Retailers

Dispensaries

Distributors

Testing Labs

Microbusinesses

Non-Profit Organizations

Remember, the responses to the State are competitive in nature. This puts an added pressure on creativity and detail in composing your response. Getting it right the first time, should get your dispensary or microbusiness licensed quicker. And using Weed Stop Clubs fill-in-the-blank documents can definitely save you a lot on preparation costs.
Qgiv, a Lakeland-based technology company providing digital fundraising tools for nonprofits, is bringing its signature Fundraising Lab event to its hometown.

Qgivs Fundraising Lab events are exclusively dedicated to providing nonprofits with information about fundraising best practices and fundraising technologies. The April 16th Fundraising Lab that will be hosted in Lakeland at Haus 820 is expected to draw hundreds of nonprofit professionals from all over the state of Florida. Each of the events features networking opportunities and speakers from a variety of fundraising backgrounds. Qgiv staff and guest speakers will lead seminars and workshops on innovative fundraising methods as well as tried-and-true best practices. Attendees also receive information about Qgivs fundraising tools, demonstrations, and updates on upcoming features and enhancements.

Jennifer Mansfield, Vice President of Customer Experience at Qgiv, says, I am beyond thrilled to be able to offer these free events to our clients  to not only get to meet them in person, but also to invest in them as fundraisers! There is such complexity in fundraising and online giving, and I'm passionate about making it as easy as possible for our clients and ALL nonprofits to expand their ability to serve their donors by serving them!

While past events in cities like Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, and others have been successful, Qgiv is most excited about their upcoming event in Lakeland, Florida.

The Fundraising Lab series is intended to give nonprofit fundraising staff access to tools and best practices that will make them successful, said Qgiv CEO and Co-Founder Todd Baylis. And, while were proud of the Fundraising Labs weve done in other parts of the country, were particularly excited about hosting one of these events in our own hometown.

At the Lakeland event, attendees will hear from three-time nonprofit CEO and fundraising expert Ian Adair, who will present on how nonprofits can win donor attention and how it contributes to fundraising success. They can also expect a panel discussion from nonprofit professionals entitled, Small Yet Mighty: Tips & Tricks for Doing More with Less, a workshop on building fundraising appeals, and sneak peeks at upcoming Qgiv products. The all-day event will also include, breakfast, lunch, and a networking reception.

Qgivs Fundraising Lab is free to nonprofit professionals, and the event in Polk County is expected to draw attendees from all over Central Florida who are interested in learning more about fundraising technologies and best practices. To learn more or to register, please visit qgiv.com/fundraisinglab.

Media Inquiries

Sarah Sebastian

Director of Brand Communications

media@qgiv.com
The Financial Times recognizes RTB House as one of the fastest growing companies in Europe It is a great honor to be listed once again amongst the fastest growing companies in Europe. It is very important for us as a tech company, which strives to develop and set the bar for the whole of global e-commerce. - Daniel Surmacz, COO of RTB House

RTB House, a global company that provides state-of-the-art marketing technologies has been ranked 24th in the technology sector in the Financial Times 1000: Europes Fastest Growing Companies 2019. RTB House has made it onto the list for the second time in a row.

The Financial Times, in cooperation with Statista, once again reviewed and analyzed Europes most innovative and fast-growing companies  publishing the list of the 1,000 companies that have achieved the highest growth in revenues between 2014 and 2017.

RTB House reached revenue growth of 721 percent, which amounted to 43,6M EUR (U.S. $38,368,000) in 2017. Over four years, the number of employees nearly tripled from 92 to 271.

It is a great honor to be listed once again amongst the fastest growing companies in Europe. It is very important for us as a tech company, which strives to develop and set the bar for the whole of global e-commerce. We will continue this course of continuously innovating and upgrading our products for our clients worldwide, says Daniel Surmacz, COO of RTB House. Were now looking to the future, to expand our knowledge, technology, and resources to new areas in order to develop another best-in-class solution. For example, last year we opened the AI Marketing Lab and this year, the Creatives Lab.

Since it was founded, RTB House has helped change the industry. Its deep-learning platform is seen as a real game changer. After successfully deploying deep-learning algorithms throughout all of its campaigns, RTB House once again challenged itself and the advertising industry through its creation of the AI Marketing Lab, a division focused on research and development in the broad marketing arena. This is separate from the main R&D department, which is dedicated to personalized retargeting. RTB House recently opened a Creatives Lab. The unit will develop solutions to offer clients a wider range of better performing dynamic banners for both display and video, which will also be better suited to clients' branding needs.

More information about FT1000 can be found here: [https://on.ft.com/2BVYEAk.

About RTB House:

RTB House is a global company that provides state-of-the-art retargeting technology for top brands worldwide. With its proprietary ad buying engine, powered entirely by deep learning algorithms, RTB House helps advertisers multiply sales to reach their short, mid and long-term goals.

Founded in 2012, RTB House serves over 1,500 clients in over 70 countries in EMEA, APAC and the Americas regions with main locations in New York, London, Tokyo, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Moscow, Istanbul, Dubai and Warsaw. The team consists of more than 400 professionals and growing. In 2018, after successfully deploying deep learning into 100 percent of its algorithms, RTB House launched AI Marketing Lab. The new division is focused on creating an environment for inventing and developing new martech solutions.

Learn more at http://www.rtbhouse.com.
Whether it is a travel icon, master chef, or unique travel destination, we want to welcome both old and new faces to the largest travel show in the country. The San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show provides its visitors with the ultimate destination to find, plan and book their next vacation.

The San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show, scheduled to return to the Santa Clara Convention Center (5001 Great America Pkwy) March 23-24, is thrilled to announce its full schedule for 2019 programming. The programming includes a variety of brand new interactive experiences, celebrity speakers, and first-time exhibitors that will be sure to elevate and expand the range of opportunities available for the 9th Annual San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show.

Press accreditation is still open. To apply for credentials, click here.

The San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show provides its visitors with the ultimate destination to find, plan and book their next vacation. Thousands of destinations will be represented for guests to explore, with free on-site experiences including the Discover Yosemite Virtual Reality Activity Pavilion and a Green Screen Photo Booth sponsored by Arizona allowing you to see yourself in the states most picturesque locations. Fans of CBS Survivor can look forward to meeting Adam Klein, the winner of Survivor Season 33, who will be on-site for a meet and greet as well as an open casting call for the series upcoming season.

Some of the worlds top travel experts and celebrities including Rick Steves, Cheryl Strayed, Patricia Schultz, Peter Greenberg and Johnny Jet will be present to answer questions on all things travel. Guests will also interact one-on-one with many of these celebrities at the show!

A unique element of what makes this show so engaging each year is the convergence of cultural experience and expertise together in one room, says Travel & Adventure Show CEO John Golicz. Whether it is a travel icon, master chef, or unique travel destination, we want to welcome both old and new faces to the largest travel show in the country.

MSC Cruises and Switzerland Tourism, both new for 2019, are Major Sponsors. Supporting Sponsors include Rick Steves Europe, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, Tourism Fiji, and Discover Yosemite. Cruise Planners, an American Express Travel Representative, is the events Contributing Sponsor, while Arizona is both the Featured Destination and Photo Booth Sponsor. The Virtual Reality Activity Pavilion is sponsored by Discover Yosemite, while the Global Beats Theater Sponsor is World Heritage Cultural Center.

Other exhibitors of note include Cook Islands, Taiwan, Baja Norte, Alaska Land & Sea Adventures, Tourism Fiji, and more. The full list of exhibitors can be found at the Travel & Adventure Show website.

The San Francisco Travel & Adventure Show will run from Saturday, March 23  Sunday, March 24 with timing as follows:

Saturday, March 23



9:30 a.m.  5 p.m. for media and travel professionals

10 a.m.  5 p.m. for the general public

Sunday, March 24



10 a.m.  5 p.m. for all attendees

Attendees can (for a limited time) purchase tickets online now for the discounted rate with promo code: SFPR19:



Single day: $11

Two-day: $18

On-site tickets can be purchased with cash only at the rate of:



Single day: $15

Two-day: $22

*Children 16 and under are free. For tickets and event information, visit https://travelshows.com/shows/san-francisco-bay-area/

About Unicomm, LLC and the Travel & Adventure Show Series

UNICOMM LLC is an independent business-to-business communications company specializing in originating and managing world-class trade shows and conferences. Unicomms properties include the nations largest and longest running series of travel events, the Travel & Adventure Show in Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco/Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Philadelphia and Dallas.

For more information on attending or exhibiting at the event, please visit https://travelshows.com/shows/san-francisco-bay-area/
By integrating the FHIR model, we are delivering client-centric, measures-based enhanced functionality on the leading-edge of value-based care

SpectraMedix, a leader in providing healthcare performance improvement and risk management solutions, announced today that The SpectraMedix Platform has earned Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Certified Measures status from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

SpectraMedix Certified for 45 HEDIS MEASURES

Certification of 45 HEDIS measures validates SpectraMedixs commitment to providing solutions for payers and providers across the country to improve their quality outcomes. SpectraMedix's application was submitted and certified ahead of NCQAs application deadline and the measures are ready for use by Medicare Advantage and other value-based payment plans.

CEO Raj Lakhanpal, MD, noted, The SpectraMedix team is proud of this accomplishment. It underscores our commitment to helping payers and providers measure and improve performance as they move along the value-based care continuum.

HL7 FHIR Interoperability Standard Employed

SpectraMedix used the HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard during the certification process. Interoperability is key to continued improvement in the delivery of healthcare. By integrating the FHIR model, we are delivering client-centric, measures-based enhanced functionality on the leading-edge of value-based care, said Dr. Lakhanpal. Our team sees certification as a confirmation of the accuracy of our platforms capabilities as we cultivate solutions for healthcare organizations requiring excellent results. The company also developed scenario modeling for quality assurance across multiple HEDIS measures.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of healthcare organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQAs website (http://www.ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more informed healthcare choices.

About SpectraMedix

The advanced analytics, measurement and reporting capabilities of The SpectraMedix Platform provide healthcare organizations care gap resolution, prospective risk analysis, contract analytics and an Enterprise Master Patient Index delivered in a secure, cloud-based environment. The companys eCQM measures framework is ONC-certified. Additionally, The SpectraMedix Platform satisfies all MIPS categories, and all 243 registry measures and 2019 QCDR custom measures. SpectraMedix is among the top vendors for Medicaid reform initiatives in New York State and is the engine behind L. A. Care Health Plans multimillion-dollar California Medicaid practice transformation project. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Star Refrigeration supports National Apprenticeship Week and Scottish Apprenticeship Week As employers its imperative that we see the potential and value in our young people. Our vision is to secure a better, sustainable future and to do that we need dedicated, hard working apprentices to be the next leaders.

As the 12th annual National Apprenticeship Week gets underway, Star Refrigeration is celebrating its apprenticeship scheme which has been running since 1973. The company additionally supports Scottish Apprenticeship Week which also runs from 4th to 8th March 2019.

9% of Stars total workforce are apprentices, and progression within the company is impressive as 23% of the current management team joined Star as an apprentice.

The engineering apprenticeship scheme offered by Star Refrigeration is 80% work-based learning with the remaining 20% spent at college. The four year course prepares apprentices for a long and stable career in the refrigeration engineering industry, and 99% of students are offered permanent positions on completion of their training.

Dave Bartlett, Operations Training Manager of Star Refrigeration said, We are proud to deliver one of the most successful apprenticeship schemes for aspiring engineers in the UK. For 46 years Star has understood the importance of apprentices, and as a result the company has benefitted significantly while offering exceptional opportunities for young people. Apprenticeships are a fantastic way to start a career and as such are increasing in popularity  National Apprenticeship Week and Scottish Apprenticeship Week are a great opportunity to find out more.

In recent years, many Star Refrigeration apprentices have been blazing their own trail and earning national recognition for their hard work. Sam Gills, an apprentice engineer based in Newcastle, was named ACR Apprentice of the Year in 2017 at the prestigious Trainee of the Year Awards and last year received the bronze medal award at the WorldSkills UK competition. Tom Woolston who joined Star as an apprentice in Bristol, has had a very exciting career to date. He won a silver prize for Student of the Year at the RAC Cooling Awards, and then received the ACR Apprentice of the Year accolade in 2018.

Throughout the week, Star Refrigeration will be promoting the benefits apprentices across all 9 UK branches bring to the business. From refrigeration engineering to business administration apprentices, from project management to manufacturing apprentices, all their stories will be shared across the business' social media platforms.

Star Refrigeration has been training industrial engineers of the future for 46 years and continues to attract the highest calibre of apprentices. One of the companys core values is to Develop Young People, and its apprenticeship training scheme is one of the most sought after because of Stars commitment to young talent.

Dave Bartlett added, As employers its imperative that we see the potential and value in our young people. Our vision is to secure a better, sustainable future and to do that we need dedicated, hard working apprentices to be the next leaders.

For more information about the National Apprenticeship Week 2019 visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/national-apprenticeship-week-2019

For more information about the Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2019 visit: https://www.apprenticeships.scot/

To find out more about Star Refrigerations apprentice scheme go to: http://www.star-ref.co.uk/apprenticeships.aspx
RAF Brize Norton Hosts Inaugural UK-Germany Defence Ministerial Council



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Ryan Reyes, joins Stoneweg US, LLC as Director of Acquisitions "Ryan will bring valuable knowledge and experience in not only acquisitions, but also development, which is an area of focus for us in 2019 and moving forward," says Patrick Richard, Principal of Stoneweg US, LLC.

St. Petersburg, FL: Stoneweg US, LLC, a real estate investment and asset management Company based in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg announced the hiring of Ryan Reyes on February 27, 2019. Ryan joins the executive team as the Director of Acquisitions and will lead all efforts for the Companys new property acquisitions including: sourcing, due diligence, underwriting, negotiating and closings. He will also be responsible for implementing a disposition strategy

for all fully matured assets in the Stoneweg US, LLC 56-property portfolio. By managing both Acquisitions and Dispositions for Stoneweg US, LLC Ryans efforts will tie in directly to protecting the portfolios equity and building greater value

for all investors.

"Ryan will bring valuable knowledge and experience in not only acquisitions, but also development, which is an area of focus for us in 2019 and moving forward says Patrick Richard, Principal of Stoneweg US, LLC., He, along with all of our new hires, gives us a strong advantage in our industry and brings the Companys goals that much closer to fruition."

Ryans onboarding completes the Companys aggressive corporate growth strategy for 2019, representing the fourth new hire in Q1.

Ryan joins Tampa native Jon Orebaugh, Director of Construction and Developmenta newly created position that will oversee all construction projects for existing properties and rehab projects. Jons responsibilities will also encompass identifying new Development opportunities for the Company, an area the company will look to expand in 2019, which will broaden the Companys offerings and provide more diverse investment opportunities for existing and new investors.

Brad Bartlett and Gina Osborn, responsible for the Southeast and Midwest regions of the portfolio respectively, joined the Company as Senior Asset Managers in January. With over 20 years of combined industry experience, both will add tremendous value to the team. In addition to managing properties, Brad and Gina will focus on enhancing property operations, maximizing occupancy and increasing overall ROI. Ana Gonzalez, who also joined the Company as a Senior Accountant last month, will assist with portfolio analytics, as well as financial reporting to the leadership and asset management teams, as well as investors.

Following a milestone year which saw the company reach 10,000 units under management, and the successful sale of Pine Ridge Apartments in Bremerton, WA, these additions to the team mark a pivotal point in the Companys narrative.

Stoneweg US, LLC is a real estate investment and asset management company located in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg. It specializes in low to medium income multifamily real estate, investing in tertiary and secondary US markets. The Company invests in workforce housing properties positioned for growth and focuses on bringing stronger value to those properties, communities, and investors by implementing a variety of repositioning and value-add strategies. For more information, please visit http://www.stoneweg.us.
Whether its GDPR, CCPA, or another data privacy regulation, we now have the means to provide our customers with the appropriate configuration options to deliver on their data privacy requirements.

RSA Conference, Moscone Center--Teramind Inc., a leading global provider of employee monitoring, insider threat and data loss prevention (DLP) solutions, today announced the availability of its privacy-friendly software solutions to assist organizations to comply with the ever-changing data privacy requirements while implementing employee monitoring for insider threat detection and DLP.

With over 2,000 customers worldwide, many of them in the UK and continental Europe, Teramind saw the clear need to provide a platform that ensured data privacy requirements are met, while providing a best-of-breed employee monitoring platform for insider threat detection and data loss prevention, said Isaac Kohen, founder and CTO at Teramind. Whether its GDPR, CCPA, or another data privacy regulation, we now have the means to provide our customers with the appropriate configuration options to deliver on their data privacy requirements.

Teraminds award-winning employee monitoring and DLP platform can be configured according to each customers data privacy requirements, with highly granular configuration settings for monitoring and user session recording down to each application and web site, providing a flexible framework for organizations to ensure data security without compromise.

In addition, Teramind is available in a number of deployment options, allowing organizations to retain and control all their data, ensuring their security, privacy and data residency requirements are met. Specifically, Teramind offers the following deployment options:



On-premise - control the Teramind implementation in its entirety, stay off-cloud if thats your companys operational model, leverage groups and users to identify which users and groups to apply which policies and rules to.

Private Cloud - use your own secure, scalable private cloud implementation including AWS, Microsoft Azure and more.

Teramind Cloud - trust us with the management of the Teramind deployment and infrastructure. Only install Teramind Agents on the machines you want to monitor and set up your users, policies and rules and let us take care of the rest.

Teramind is showcasing its award-winning platform at RSA 2019, booth #1947 in the South Hall.

About Teramind

Founded in 2014, Teramind is a leading, global provider of employee monitoring, insider threat detection, and data loss prevention solutions. Over 2,000 organizations in finance, retail, manufacturing, energy, technology, healthcare and government verticals across the globe trust Teraminds award-winning platform to detect, record, and prevent malicious user behavior in addition to helping teams drive productivity and efficiency. The platform is available in both cloud-based and on-premise deployment options to meet any organizations requirements. Teramind is headquartered in Miami, Florida. For more information, visit http://www.teramind.co. Follow Teramind on Twitter @teramindco. Visit IT Security Central at https://itsecuritycentral.teramind.co/ for the latest security news and insight.
The Hub at Metuchen will celebrate its Ribbon Cutting Ceremony next month. We are so excited to formally unveil this commuter-friendly project that boasts urban conveniences and caters to residents with active lifestyles, said Robert Adinolfi, Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Properties.

The Hub at Metuchen a new one- and two-bedroom apartment community from Renaissance Properties and Blue Star Group, will make its official Ribbon Cutting debut on March 7. We are so excited to formally unveil this commuter-friendly project that boasts urban conveniences and caters to residents with active lifestyles, said Robert Adinolfi, Chief Operating Officer at Renaissance Properties. The community has embraced The Hub and we are looking forward to welcoming new residents over the coming months.

Nestled in Metuchens revitalized downtown retail district, The Hub at Metuchen offers one- and two-bedroom apartment floorplans to choose from in a bike-friendly atmosphere with walkability to local shops, restaurants and the Metuchen train station.

Apartments feature luxurious interiors with stainless steel appliances (including a gas stove); a washer and dryer in every unit (full sized, front load and digital); espresso colored wood cabinetry and quartz countertops in all kitchens and bathrooms; designer bathroom tile work; window blinds, and large or Juliet balconies (per plan). There is also a Smart Lock Apartment Entry System, which include two systems: ButterflyMX (secure, convenient property access from smartphones with video, audio and text messaging) and Latch Locks  M Series (the ability to open and manage all doors to your home from your smartphone).

The pet-friendly community also offers the following lifestyle amenities: A 24-hour concierge system for packages; a 24-hour Lifestyle Center, Fitness Center and Yoga Studio with Fitness-On-Demand; complimentary WiFi in the Lifestyle Center, Fitness Center and Yoga Studio; Onsite parking permits included (uncovered spots); assigned covered parking and storage available for an extra fee; indoor bike storage; a Pet Spa; onsite retail shops and 24-hour emergency maintenance.

The Hub at Metuchen is located in a bike-friendly atmosphere at the center of Metuchens downtown retail district. With a walkability score of 82, future residents will be able to walk to local shops, restaurants and the new Whole Foods Market, directly across the street. The Middlesex Greenway is also just steps away from The Hub, allowing residents to enjoy miles of green trails for walking, jogging or biking. The Metuchen Train Station is just a 10-minute walk away, and New York City is easily accessible by car in just 45 minutes.

The Hub at Metuchen is located at 658 Middlesex Avenue, Metuchen, NJ 08840. Apartment applications can be submitted online or in person at the leasing office. Those interested are encouraged to call 732-970-1033 to tour the communitys decorated models and newly completed lifestyle center.

To learn more, email thehub.metuchen(at)renaprop.com or visit http://www.TheHubAtMetuchen.com.

About Renaissance Properties

Since its creation nearly 30 years ago, Renaissance Properties has evolved from a small real estate brokerage company to a multi-faceted real estate development firm and home builder with over 1,000 new homes and nearly 800,000 square feet of commercial space to its credit. The dedicated team at Renaissance Properties works tirelessly to ensure quality, integrity and customer satisfaction in all its endeavors. With distinctive designs and accommodating layouts, new home buyers and tenants alike are delighted with the product offered by Renaissance Properties. To learn more, visit http://www.RenaissanceProp.com.

About Blue Star Group

With over 80 years of combined experience in home building excellence and customer satisfaction, the Blue Star Group, LLC is recognized as one of Staten Islands foremost builders. Since its inception in 1976, Blue Star has received continual acclaim both from homebuyers and respected industry associations. Blue Stars standards are set at the highest levels of home design, building materials and craftsmanship to consistently deliver on its promise of bringing the best value to its deserving customers.
The Tea Spot As an organically-certified manufacturing facility  and the only tea company with industrial, pyramid tea bag manufacturing capabilities in Colorado  we are at the forefront of partnership opportunities for brands looking to develop their own private label organic teas, including CBD teas.

The Tea Spot is exhibiting at Natural Products Expo West in booth No. 955, March 6-9 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., to showcase its innovative tea products, wares and services, as well as its OEM and private label capabilities to support organic-focused brands and companies exploring tea product and CBD tea opportunities. Expo West is the world's largest natural, organic and healthy products event. The Tea Spot works to advance healthier living through the everyday enjoyment of whole leaf tea.

To demonstrate its overall OEM and private label capabilities, The Tea Spot will share an Expo West booth with Sky & Wyatt. Sky & Wyatt recently partnered with The Tea Spot to help launch its line of Colorado-grown CBD hemp teas, which are blended with organic, all-natural herbs. The Tea Spot handles sourcing, blending and manufacturing of the Sky & Wyatt teas. CBD, or cannabidiol, is the non-psychoactive counterpart found in the cannabis plant. CBD product offerings are gaining popularity in the health and wellness marketplace, as the therapeutic health benefits of CBD consumption become more prevalent and widely-accepted.

With the help of The Tea Spot, we have brought to market one of the first hemp-based herbal teas in the CBD category with by far the finest ingredients and consumer experience of any option out there today, said James Michaelis, vice president of operations at Sky & Wyatt. The Tea Spot has played an instrumental role in the quality of our product, and were looking forward to presenting our line of teas at Expo West while sharing about our experience working with The Tea Spot.

In addition to offering hemp CBD tea co-packing capabilities  as in the case of Sky & Wyatt  The Tea Spot offers new OEM and private label support for brands that would like to offer their own tea line or tea wares. The Tea Spots services include raw material sourcing, R&D skills, production, packaging and supply chain management. The company also offers tea sachet manufacturing capabilities, as well as individually-wrapped pyramid tea bags for foodservice.

Maria Uspenski, founder and CEO of The Tea Spot and author of Cancer Hates Tea, said, As an organically-certified manufacturing facility  and the only tea company with industrial, pyramid tea bag manufacturing capabilities in Colorado  The Tea Spot has positioned itself to be at the forefront of partnership opportunities for brands that are looking to develop their own private label organic teas, including CBD teas. By expanding our offerings beyond the traditional tea packaging options and incorporating customizable solutions for partners  such as branded tags, overwrap packaging and biodegradable sachet materials  we set up our partners for long-term success.

To learn more about The Tea Spot, visit https://theteaspot.com. Wholesale, OEM/private label, corporate gifting and co-branding options are available to organizations and brands, including grocers, specialty and health and wellness retailers, hotels and spas, among others. Email: sales@theteaspot.com

ABOUT SKY & WYATT

After learning about the countless applications and benefits of the hemp plant, Jacob Sky and Andrew Wyatt set out on a mission to promote the ethical and environmental benefits of one of humanitys oldest cultivated crops. Committed to enriching the lives of their community with all natural and delicious CBD and hemp products, Sky & Wyatt CBD launched their line of herbal teas in 2018. Sky & Wyatt herbal teas are made from Colorado-grown hemp and blended with organic, all-natural herbs sourced and co-packed by The Tea Spot in Boulder, Colo. No extraction process and no solvents used means Sky & Wyatt teas are the most natural and authentic way to get your daily-dose of full-spectrum cannabinoids. Sky & Wyatt is committed to a vision of the world where hemp is recognized for its incredible therapeutic and even industrial properties  and that starts with delivering the best tasting CBD tea possible. To learn more, visit https://skywyatthemp.com.

ABOUT THE TEA SPOT, INC.

The Tea Spot, Inc. is a leading producer of handcrafted whole leaf teas and creator of Steepwarethe housewares tools that make loose tea easy. Its vision to modernize the loose leaf tea experience has held steadfast since the for-profit philanthropic company was founded by Maria Uspenski in 2004, a cancer survivor drawn to the health benefits of leaf tea during her recovery. Her message is simple and powerful: Tea in its freshest form renders premium flavor, unmatched health benefits, and is eco-friendly. The company's model of social entrepreneurship incorporates its mission to foster health and wellness through loose leaf tea with its 10% Pledge. Ten percent of every sale made is donated in-kind to cancer and community wellness programs. The Tea Spot is a Boulder, Colorado-based woman owned and operated business. More at http://theteaspot.com.


This is an exciting opportunity to discuss female sexuality which plays a role in promoting female empowerment. I am thrilled that Dr. Gupta will be representing uBiome alongside industry leaders to challenge the status quo. - Dr. Jessica Richman, co-founder and CEO of uBiome.

uBiome Director of Medical Affairs Dr. Sarah Gupta, MD, will be speaking on how to market taboo topics, a challenge facing the womens health industry for decades. Additional panelists include Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson, Director & Innovation Space CEO at Procter & Gamble, Karen Long, Executive in Residence at KCK Group, and Rachel Braun Scherl, Managing Partner & Co-Founder at SPARK Solutions for Growth.

The Womens Health panel will be hosted on March 12 at 12:30 pm. Experts on the panel will discuss how to effectively market taboo topics and why its important for todays leaders and biggest brands to destigmatize pressing health concerns for women.

Over the years, Procter & Gambles campaigns have tackled menstruation taboos in India, destigmatized Chinese womens choice not to marry, and celebrated new freedoms for women in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, SPARK Solutions for Growth has helped their clients market female health products related to sexual arousal, yeast infections, and overactive bladder and incontinence.

uBiome has run successful campaigns to remove the stigma around Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), sexually transmitted infections, and cervical health as part of their inclusive vaginal health check, SmartJane.

This is an exciting opportunity to discuss female sexuality which plays a role in promoting female empowerment, said Dr. Jessica Richman, co-founder and CEO of uBiome. I am thrilled that Dr. Gupta will be representing uBiome alongside industry leaders to challenge the status quo.

SXSW is dedicated to helping creative people achieve their goals. Founded in 1987 in Austin, Texas, SXSW is best known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. An essential destination for global professionals, the event features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities.

For more information about uBiomes community engagements, please visit https://ubiome.com/science/#community.

_____

About uBiome

Founded in 2012, uBiome is the leader in microbial genomics. The Companys mission is to advance the science of the microbiome and make it useful to people. uBiome combines its patented proprietary precision sequencing with machine learning and artificial intelligence to develop wellness products, clinical tests, and therapeutic targets. uBiome has filed for over 250 patents on its technology, which includes sample preparation, computational analysis, molecular techniques, as well as diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

uBiomes commercial products include SmartGut, the worlds first sequencing-based clinical microbiome test, which identifies microbes in the gut for patients with chronic gut conditions such as IBD, IBS, Crohns Disease, and ulcerative colitis; SmartJane, the first sequencing-based womens health screening test, which genotypes all 19 clinically relevant strains of HPV, identifies four common STDs, and surveys more than 20 vaginal microbes associated with bacterial vaginosis and other conditions; SmartFlu, the worlds first sequencing-based clinical respiratory test, which identifies more than 20 clinically relevant targets for viruses and bacteria associated with the flu and common cold; and Explorer, a health and wellness product to understand the role that food and lifestyle can play in wellness.

uBiomes platform has been used by hundreds of thousands of consumers, patients, and doctors and more than 200 research institutions around the world, including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harvard University, Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California, San Francisco, Oxford University, and the University of Sydney.

Since its launch, the company has received widespread recognition including CNN 10: Startups to Watch, the IVY Technology Award, CNN Future 30, and was named one of Fast Companys Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare in 2016 and in Data Science in 2018, as well as a Technology Pioneer from the World Economic Forum in 2018. For more information, visit http://www.uBiome.com.
As our industry expands and diversifies to meet patient demands, it is increasingly important to educate our leaders and providers on the latest advancements and showcase opportunities for growth," said Dr. Sean McNeeley.

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) and College of Urgent Care Medicine (CUCM) will bring the on-demand healthcare industry together for Oceans of Opportunity, the 2019 Urgent Care Convention & Expo from April 7-10 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

At Oceans of Opportunity, top urgent care and healthcare thought leaders will engage participants in sessions about the latest industry trends  including developments in antibiotic stewardship, occupational medicine, pediatrics, telemedicine, payer trends, and the future of on-demand medicine  as the on-demand industry continues to grow and evolve in response to consumer needs and preferences. Attendees will participate in lectures and workshops designed to advance both the clinical and practice management aspects of delivering high-quality, on-demand care.

Several keynote speakers from all corners of the industry will share their insights on a variety of topics, including:



Alike van der Velden, PhD, Assistant Professor, University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands, to discuss a global perspective of antibiotic stewardship

Mitch Perry, SVP, Chief Financial Officer, Blue Cross NC, Jeff Alter, President, Arcturus One Consulting and former CEO of UnitedHealthcares Commercial Business, and Juan Vallarino, Strategic Advisor, CityMD, to discuss financial strategy and payer negotiations

Chester Robson, DO, MHCDS, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer, Clinical Programs and Quality, Walgreens, and Paul Smolke, Senior Director, Modern Workplace, Worldwide Health Microsoft Corporation, to discuss key trends and takeaways from the event

On Monday during the convention, UCA CEO Laurel Stoimenoff will officially launch the Gateway2Better Network, a disruptive new member benefit which seeks to provide direct-to-consumer and direct-to-employer strategies as an alternative to the commercial payer. Also taking place on Monday is the annual Foundation Celebration, an opportunity for the industry to celebrate its laureates and a major fundraising event benefiting the research and education programs offered by the Urgent Care Foundation.

The UCA Convention will aim to enhance the educational and networking opportunities for participants by connecting experts in the industry with clinicians and facility decision makers, said Dr. Sean McNeeley, UCA board president, medical director at University Hospital Urgent Care in Cleveland. As our industry expands and diversifies to meet patient demands, it is increasingly important to educate our leaders and providers on the latest advancements and showcase opportunities for growth.

Certified Urgent Care Management Professional (CUCMP) Program

Last year, UCA launched the Certified Urgent Care Management Professional (CUCMP) Program, building off its Urgent Care Management Certification (UCMC), for urgent care managers looking to demonstrate their expertise in running an on-demand care facility. At this years convention, participants can attend sessions that help meet the 62 credit hours required to achieve CUCMP certification, including:



Mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and co-branding

Cost of care transparency

Payer contracting

Mastering MACRA

Facility-wide quality improvement

The CUCMP program introduces coursework and practical management scenarios, many unique to the industry, designed to prepare participants for the ever-evolving, on-demand landscape, said Stoimenoff. The CUCMP program is a perfect opportunity for urgent care managers to advance their knowledge and distinguish themselves throughout the industry.

Pediatrics in Urgent Care

Attendees of the event will also enjoy a wider selection of pediatrics-focused sessions addressing common clinical and practice management issues seen in urgent care centers, including:



Chest pain in children and adolescents

Neonatal issues

Pediatric orthopedics

Recognizing and treating child abuse

Fevers in infants

Pediatric care is one area where urgent care centers are seeing immense growth, as more families seek immediate services for non-emergent situations, said Dr. McNeeley. This years pediatrics sessions offer fresh ideas and new perspectives on how best to treat infants and children while ensuring cost-effective delivery models.

Throughout the event, Oceans of Opportunity participants will be exposed to a myriad of advanced strategic approaches for enhancing their practices, including a new Skills2Scale track to provide managers with the skills they need to grow their business and advance professionally. Telemedicine, mobile marketing, antibiotic stewardship, concussions and artificial intelligence are just some of the many topics to be presented at the convention.

For more information about the 2019 Oceans of Opportunity Urgent Care Convention & Expo and to register for the event, please visit http://www.ucaoa.org/Convention.

About the Urgent Care Association

The Urgent Care Association (UCA) is a membership association of leaders, providers and suppliers in the field of on-demand, consumer-focused health care. UCA advances the industry and supports member success through advocacy, research, education, collaboration and high standards of care. The association maintains an active online presence and member community for daily exchange of best practices. For more information, visit http://www.ucaoa.org.
Walker Sands, an integrated PR and digital marketing agency for B2B technology and professional services companies, has promoted Andrew Cross from vice president to senior vice president of PR, in addition to three other PR leaders who have been named to the role of vice president. These elevations, along with an expanded Chicago office space will fuel another year of record-breaking growth for the firm.

Since joining the team eight years ago as employee number 13, Cross has been a critical leader at Walker Sands. He serves as an ambassador for Walker Sands to PROI Worldwide, the worlds largest network of independent PR agencies. For the last year, hes overseen all strategy and growth for the PR group based in Chicago. The Chicago PR group has grown significantly over the last several years, having added clients such as Barnes & Noble Education, Inc., Globant, Uberflip, Oak Street Health and Showpad. PR revenue across the organization grew 43 percent from 2017 to 2018.

In addition to Crosss expertise, Walker Sands will take its services to the next level with three dedicated and talented PR leaders who have proven to be experts in the space and masters of strategic communication. These team members have played a significant role in the success of Walker Sands within the Chicago community, as the company was a Chicago Innos 50 on Fire Blazer winner and Crains No. 13 Best Place to Work in Chicago this past year alone. Not only will their promotions support the growth of the agency, but will also enhance PR offerings and processes, and develop better management for integrated accounts. The team members recently promoted to vice president are:



Allison Ward - Ward has managed clients across many industries, with a specialization in fintech. She has also proven to be an effective leader in large integrated content marketing, web and video projects for PR clients. Ward is an active member of the Chicago community and sits on the board of the ITAs Women Influence Chicago initiative. Over the past year, Ward has been instrumental in developing Walker Sands new family leave policy to support working parents and build a better corporate culture.

Erin Jordan - Jordan joined Walker Sands in 2012 and today oversees the PR department's work in retail and marketing technology. She also leads Walker Sands annual Future of Retail report, now on its sixth year. Jordan has been a keynote speaker at industry events, including IRCE, is one of 12 leaders on PR Council's Next Shadow Board and has played a pivotal role in the success of some of Walker Sands largest accounts, including CloudCraze (since acquired by Salesforce) and Globant.

Robert Chilver - Since joining Walker Sands in 2010, Chilver has led programs for some of Walker Sands most technical clients in enterprise software and IT. Along with being a strong PR leader, Chilver has the distinction of leading Walker Sands' longest-standing client, BizBuySell, now entering its twelfth year with the company.

Leadership isnt the only thing expanding at Walker Sands. Since moving its Chicago headquarters to 55 W. Monroe Street in August 2014, Walker Sands has undergone three office expansion projects, the latest concluding in February 2019 in which the agency took over the 39th floor. The expansion includes five new private offices, four new conference rooms, a creative room, five new private phone rooms, 40 additional workstations and a new event space.

2019 is primed to be a great year for the Walker Sands team. Starting off by elevating our PR leadership team in Chicago is a huge testament to our growth and has been pivotal in elevating our communications strategy to the next level. Im looking forward to seeing these leaders continue to advance and make these roles their own, said Mike Santoro, president at Walker Sands. On top of that, taking over the 39th floor is a major milestone for us and one that weve been looking forward to for a while. Im excited to see how we will continue to fill out the new space in 2019 and beyond.

To learn more about Walker Sands public relations offerings and the elevated leadership team, visit http://www.walkersands.com.

About Walker Sands

Walker Sands is a public relations and digital marketing agency for business-to-business technology companies. With an integrated approach to creative services, Walker Sands helps clients build brand awareness, enhance credibility and drive new business. Walker Sands is a six-time Inc. 5000 honoree and regular recipient of some of the industrys most prestigious awards from organizations including Entrepreneur, Holmes Report and Hermes Creative. Walker Sands was founded in 2001 and has offices in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle. To learn more, visit walkersands.com or walkersandsdigital.com.
"When we established the Poll, sommeliers were becoming an increasingly influential force in the wine community" Josh Greene, Editor and Publisher of Wine and Spirits Magazine

The results of Wine & Spirits Magazines 30th Annual Restaurant Poll show a wine market in flux, pulled toward high-end tasting menus, value-priced Burgundy, natural wine debates and half-glass pours.

Over the course of 30 years, the poll has predicted two economic contractions: In 2000 and 2007, fewer sommeliers reported wine sales increasing as a percentage of their restaurants total sales, while more of them reported wine sales staying the same. This year, once again, fewer sommeliers reported that their wine sales increased, and more reported sales stayed the same. Is this contraction a preface to the next recession, or is it a function of Millennials choosing cocktails over wine? For now, sommeliers report that sales remain robust at the top of the market, as well as for less expensive bottles. That disparity may be strongest in San Francisco, where, according to Gianpaolo Paterlini, wine director at Acquerello, the middle has fallen out of the restaurant wine market.

Were seeing more extremes now, Paterlini told the editors at Wine & Spirits. Ten years ago, everyone would have a moderately priced wine on the table. Now were seeing a large number of guests who dont drink at all; people who drink a glass or a cheap bottle; and people who come in and spend $500 or more. The middle ground is gone.

Stability is no longer a given, with the classic California cabernet brands that long dominated the poll now sharing table space with Rioja, Sancerre, Barolo and a bevy of pinot noir growers. Fifteen years in, in 2004, sommeliers listed a total of 76 different varieties among the Most Popular wines at their restaurants. This years Poll showed that number has nearly doubled, to 143, with bottles of Georgian rkatsiteli and Piemontese timorasso earning sufficient mentions to rise onto the Most Popular wines listings.

Even so, a number of brands have sustained their place at the top of the list, with 11 brands in the Restaurant Top 50 also represented in the original Top 50 list. In 1989, the first year of the Poll: Sonoma-Cutrer was #1; Jordan was #3; Trefethen #5; Chateau Montelena #7; Duckhorn #17; Cakebread Cellars, Silver Oak Wine Cellars and Veuve Clicquot tied at #22; Marchesi Antinori, Ferrari-Carano and R. Lopez de Heredia tied at #35.

When we established the Poll, sommeliers were becoming an increasingly influential force in the wine community, says Joshua Greene, Editor & Publisher of Wine & Spirits Magazine. We rely on them to join our tasting panels and have from the inception of the magazine. Since its no secret in the wine trade that the taste preferences of sommeliers are often different from the taste of many of the diners they serve, our poll asks sommeliers what wines they are, in fact, selling. The results have become a fascinating barometer of consumer tastes, as seen through the gatekeepers at Americas most popular restaurants.

The 30th-Anniversary issue contains a synopsis of three decades of sommelier commentary, as well as this years Restaurant Top 50a list of the brands that received the most mentions from participating restaurants. This year, three ties brought 11 wineries into the Top Ten Most Popular Restaurant Wine List Brands of 2018:

1. Stags Leap Wine Cellars

2. Jordan Vineyard & Winery

R. Lopez de Heredia

4. Rombauer Vineyards

5. Cakebread Cellars

Kistler

7. Faust

8. Sonoma-Cutrer

9. Lucien Crochet

10. Duckhorn Vineyards

Silver Oak Wine Cellars

The Anniversary issue also includes a look back at pinot noirs from the 1990s and 2000s from three growers on the Sonoma Coast, many of their oldest vines first planted in 1989, and a look ahead at the top pinot noir growers of Central Otago, where the regions first commercial releasefrom Rippondates to 1989. It also features a roundup of the most exciting restaurants and bars in Los Angeles right now. The issue will be available at newsstands, bookstores, and in digital format on March 19, 2019.

Copies of Wine & Spirits April 2019 issue featuring the Poll results are available by mail for $9, including postage and handling. Members of the press interested in receiving the publication or scheduling an interview with Joshua Greene may contact Louise Nightingale (lnightingale(at)wineandspiritsmagazine(dot)com) or by phone at (213) 629-0200 ext. 101.
MetaVues multicolor extraction and smart spot technology is proven to increase customer satisfaction by producing better color matches on difficult-to-measure samples In the X-Rite booth, we will be demonstrating how imaging-enhanced color technology helps specify, communicate, formulate and control color quality across the entire manufacturing workflow to help speed production, improve efficiency and reduce waste.

X-Rite Incorporated, a global leader in color science and technology, and Pantone LLC, announces it will preview a new release of its Color iMatch formulation software at the European Coatings Show, March 19-21 in Nuremburg, Germany. The new Color iMatch release will feature a next-generation formulation engine that helps accelerate color development through better matches and fewer corrections. In Hall 5, Stand 5-448, attendees can see a full range of color management for the paint and coatings industry and the latest in color matching technology for retail paint. In addition, X-Rite will present a session on color and appearance control for effect finishes commonly used in automotive, plastics, coatings.

The demand for complex and visually appealing paint and coatings continues to grow, said Matthew Adby, Retail & Automotive Product Portfolio Manager, X-Rite. Manufacturers and suppliers need solutions that account for both color and appearance characteristics while streamlining the formulation process. In the X-Rite booth, we will be demonstrating how imaging-enhanced color technology helps specify, communicate, formulate and control color quality across the entire manufacturing workflow to help speed production, improve efficiency and reduce waste.

Color management solutions on display for coatings companies and manufacturers include:

Color iMatch Preview: This new release of X-Rites Color iMatch formulation software will feature a next generation match engine delivering better matches with fewer corrections; a new Search and Correct algorithm that more accurately identifies candidate formulas containing the most likely colorant combinations; workflow accelerating features such as colorant optimization and performance indicators; gamut mapping; integrated formulation rules; and more.

MetaVue VS3200: For use in the lab and quality control, MetaVue VS3200 is a non-contact imaging spectrophotometer ideal for measuring difficult samples such as small and non-planar items as well as liquids, pastes, powders and gels without contaminating the instrument. The instruments unmatched versatility and accuracy helps speed up color formulation, production color checks and quality control operations.

Ci7500 Benchtop Spectrophotometer: This reflectance sphere benchtop spectrophotometer delivers true process control for perfect color fidelity. This instrument brings the level of reliability, traceability and accuracy that customers expect in a more affordable model.

MA-T Family of Multi-Angle Imaging Spectrophotometers: The MA-T family of instruments combines color imaging and multi-angle spectral measurement to quantify color, sparkle and coarseness. This allows manufacturers and coating suppliers to more precisely define and control effect finishes in order to achieve a new level of consistency and harmony across adjacent parts.

PantoneLIVE Production  Plastic, Coatings and Textile: A cloud-based digital standard ecosystem, PantoneLIVE provides plastics, coatings and textile industries with the official spectral color data from the Pantone Matching System (PMS) for plastics and coatings. With full integration into Color iQC and Color iMatch, PantoneLIVE helps bridge the gap in digital color communication between brands/designers and their manufacturing supply chains.

In addition, X-Rite will demonstrate advanced color matching technology that helps retail paint counters reduce costs by producing the perfect paint match the first time. These include:

MetaVue: For retail and point of sale (POS) color matching, this non-contact imaging spectrophotometer delivers superior measurement performance across the broadest array of samples. MetaVues multicolor extraction and smart spot technology is proven to increase customer satisfaction by producing better color matches on difficult-to-measure samples like carpet, textiles, and patterned swatches.

ColorDesigner PLUS: Color matching software designed to help expedite and refine the paint selection process, eliminating wasted effort and needless formulation errors. ColorDesigner PLUS has the ability to connect to a wide variety of paint dispenser systems for fast and accurate delivery of paint color formulations.

X-Rite Color and Appearance Session Details:

Title: Complete Appearance Control for Effect Paint Systems from Design to Application

Speaker: Matthew Adby, Retail & Automotive Product Portfolio Manager

Date and Time: Monday, March 18 from 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

Location: Istanbul Room

For more information about X-Rites solutions for paint and coatings, visit https://www.xrite.com/industry-solutions/coatings.

About PantoneLIVE

PantoneLIVE is a cloud-based solution that enables the PANTONE Color language to be communicated and targeted for accurate color production across the entire supply chain  from design concept to final color production. The PantoneLIVE family includes PantoneLIVE Design, PantoneLIVE Production - Print & Packaging and PantoneLIVE Production  Plastic, Coatings and Textile. The different offerings are tailored to meet the specific needs of designers, color material suppliers and manufacturers working with paper, film, plastics, coatings and textiles. The PantoneLIVE family is supported by licensed hardware and software that enables each area of the packaging, plastic, coatings and textile supply chains to access spectral data for matching PANTONE Colors and specific brand palettes. This results in consistent and repeatable color across product families, for a cohesive brand approach regardless of material, media or print technology. For more information, please visit http://www.pantone.com/live.

About X-Rite

Founded in 1958, X-Rite Incorporated is a global leader in the science and technology of color and appearance. With Pantone, X-Rite employs more than 800 people in 11 countries. The companys corporate headquarters are located in Grand Rapids, Mich., with regional headquarters in Europe and Asia and service centers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and the Americas. X-Rite offers a full range of solutions used by manufacturers, retailers, printers, photographers and graphic design houses to achieve precise management and communication of color and appearance throughout their processes. X-Rite products and services are recognized standards in the printing, packaging, photography, graphic design, video, automotive, paints, plastics, textiles and medical industries. For further information, please visit http://www.xrite.com

About Pantone

Pantone provides the universal language of color that enables color-critical decisions through every stage of the workflow for brands and manufacturers. More than 10 million designers and producers around the world rely on Pantone products and services to help define, communicate and control color from inspiration to realization  leveraging advanced X-Rite technology to achieve color consistency across various materials and finishes for graphics, fashion and product design. Pantone Standards feature digital and physical color specification and workflow tools. The Pantone Color Institute provides customized color standards, brand identity and product color consulting as well as trend forecasting inclusive of Pantone Color of the Year, Fashion Runway Color Trend Reports, color psychology and more. Pantone B2B Licensing incorporates the Pantone Color System into different products and services, enabling licensees to communicate and reproduce certified Pantone values and improve efficiencies for their users. Pantone Lifestyle brings color and design together across apparel, home, and accessories. Learn more at http://www.pantone.com

# # #

2019 X-Rite, Inc. All rights reserved. X-Rite is a registered trademark of X-Rite, Inc. PANTONE, PantoneLIVE and other Pantone trademarks are the property of Pantone LLC. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Pantone is a wholly owned subsidiary of X-Rite, Incorporated. Licensed under Sun Chemical Corporation. Sun Chemicals patented technology enables the communication of a consistent, digital description of the desired appearance of a product.  U.S. Patent Nos. 7,034,960; 7,202,976; 7,268,918; 7,417,764; 7,738,149 and their foreign equivalents.  Pantone LLC, 2019. All rights reserved
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  A June workshop will provide Indiana's private woodland owners with the information and skills needed to implement management practices to benefit the wide range of wildlife species that call those forests home.

The Woodland Wildlife Steward workshop will be June 7-9 at Morgan-Monroe State Forest in Martinsville, Indiana. Purdue University Extension is hosting the program in collaboration with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry, and Fish and Wildlife; National Wild Turkey Federation; and Indiana Forestry Educational Foundation.

About 3.5 million acres  or 73 percent  of Indiana's forestland is privately owned by individuals, making the management of these areas important for wildlife, said Jarred Brooke, a Purdue Extension wildlife specialist and workshop organizer.

"Woodland owners attending this workshop will get an immersive wildlife experience that merges scientifically based information with hands-on experiences," Brooke said. "Attendees will come away not only with information to make them better stewards of their land, but also the ability to become ambassadors of forest and wildlife stewardship in their communities."

The workshop will cover various aspects of wildlife ecology and the relationship between wildlife and forest stewardship. Those attending will participate in indoor presentations and activities, outdoor field exercises, and site visits. There also will be opportunities to network with natural resource professionals and other landowners.

The Woodland Wildlife Steward workshop begins at noon Eastern time on June 7 and runs through 3 p.m. on June 9. It will take place at the Morgan-Monroe State Forest Training Center, 6220 Forest Road, Martinsville. Workshop enrollment is limited to 30 landowners, and limited lodging for participants is available on site.

All workshop fees include electronic copies of course materials and transportation to and from field sites. Meals included in the workshop fee are breakfast and lunch on June 8 and June 9, and dinner on June 7 and June 8.

Workshop fees are as follows:

* Traveler, $150. In addition to workshop materials and meals, this fee includes lodging at Morgan-Monroe State Forest that consists of rooms with one set of bunk beds, a communal kitchen area, and shower and restroom facilities.

* Local, $100.

* Family member, $50. One additional family member may attend at this rate with another registered participant. The fee includes all workshop materials and meals, as well as lodging if attending the workshop with someone registered as a traveler.

The deadline to compete a workshop application is May 1, and those accepted will be notified on or shortly after the deadline. Workshop information and a link to apply are available at https://www.purdue.edu/fnr/extension/calendar/woodland-wildlife-steward/. Those with additional questions can contact Brooke at 765-494-8459 or jmbrooke@purdue.edu.

Media contact: Maureen Manier, Purdue Agricultural Communication, mmanier@purdue.edu

Source: Jarred Brooke, 765-494-8459, jmbrooke@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415;

Maureen Manier, Department Head, mmanier@purdue.edu

Agriculture News Page
CHESTER  City and county drug investigators confiscated bulk heroin valued at more than $16,000 in street sales, and cocaine valued at more than $10,000, after searching the residence of a city man now behind bars on drug and related offenses.

A tip spurred an investigation and subsequent search of the home of 46-year-old Clarence Womack, according to city authorities.

Womack was at home in the 1300 block of Martin Luther King Mall when city Officer John Benozic, and other members of the Chester Narcotics Unit and Delaware County Drug Task Force arrived on the morning of Feb. 21, armed with a search warrant.

According to a release issued by Chester Police Chief James Nolan IV, Womack was in the front bedroom on the second floor, already out of bed. Womack, identified by Nolan as the target of the investigation, was immediately secured while city Officer William Murphy and his K-9 partner, Chase, began searching for suspected narcotics.

Chase gave a positive indication in the kitchen and in the basement laundry area, the release states.

A black plastic bag containing a mason jar with four black plastic bags was found in the basement, in a cinder block in the laundry room near the ceiling, the release states. Three of the bags contained varying amounts of bulk cocaine, and one bag contained suspected heroin, the release states

According to the release, located inside the cinder box next to the cocaine and heroin packages was a string that when pulled up, revealed a black plastic bag holding a clear zip-top freezer bag containing marijuana, and a green drawstring bag holding one handgun magazine for a .45-caliber firearm that was loaded with ammunition. A box of 12-gauge shotgun ammunition was also located in the basement, behind a couch.

During a search of the first floor, a police radio on a charger was located in the kitchen, on top of the refrigerator. The radio was later found to be stolen from the City of Chester, according to the release.

During a search of a bedroom at the top of the stairs on the second floor was a safe containing various sizes of ammunition and two pieces of mail for Clarence Womack at the Martin Luther King Mall residence.

In Womacks bedroom, searchers recovered a box of 12-gauge ammunition on a piece of furniture to the right of the bed, a Stevens 12-gauge shotgun with six live rounds in a closet to the right of the bed, $374 in denominations of five $20 bills, 15 $10 bills, 21 $5 bills and 19 $1 bills in a pair of pants on the bedroom floor.

A further search revealed a clear freezer bag with five clear Apple stamp bags containing baggies consistent with packaging marijuana, found in a truck tool box. Also recovered was a clear mason jar with marijuana residue and an exterior security camera.

Back at police headquarters, all located narcotics were field tested with a positive reaction for marijuana, cocaine and heroin, the release states.

Charges filed against Womack include possession of a prohibited firearm; receiving stolen property; possession of a controlled substance; possession with the intent to manufacture or deliver; and use or possession of drug paraphernalia.

Contacted Friday night, defense attorney Clinton L. Johnson said of his client, Hes going to vigorously defend the charges.

Womack is being held at the county prison in lieu of posting bail, which was set at 10 percent of $200,000. A preliminary hearing is listed for March 7 before Magisterial District Judge Walter Sonny Strohl whose court in Middletown is designated as the county drug court.

 ROSE QUINN
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.  In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing and the 150th anniversary of Purdue University, Purdue University Galleries has invited three artists to explore and find inspiration in Purdues Barron Hilton Flight and Space Exploration Archives. Their work, along with archival material from the Neil A. Armstrong collection, will be on display in the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in Stewart Center. This exhibition will open March 25 and runs through May 11, with a reception and panel talk in the gallery at 5:30 p.m. April 4.

For this exhibition, titled Return to Entry, the artists challenge was to bring art, engineering and science together to imagine new horizons informed by archival documents and artifacts contained in the Neil A. Armstrong Papers and the papers of other astronauts and engineers. This exhibition will feature work by Frances Gallardo, Michael Oatman and Jennifer Scheuer. It is presented in collaboration with Purdue University Libraries Archives and Special Collections.

Gallardo received a Master of Fine Arts in studio art from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and humanities from the University of Puerto Rico, and has exhibited internationally. Her work can be found at http://www.francesgallardo.com/.

Oatman received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design and his Master of Fine Arts from the University at Albany. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Vermont, the University of Albany St. Michaels College and Vermont College. He is currently a faculty member in the School of Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His work can be viewed at https://www.arch.rpi.edu/2011/10/oatman-michael/.

Scheuer is a visiting assistant professor at Purdue University, teaching printmaking as well as serving as the foundations drawing coordinator. Scheuer received her Master of Fine Arts in studio arts and printmaking at the University of Tennessee, and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Minnesota State University. Her work can be found at https://jenniferscheuer.com/.

Ringel Gallery is located in Stewart Center, 128 Memorial Mall, West Lafayette, and is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. All Purdue Galleries exhibits and events are free and open to the public. For class and group visits, contact Erika Kvam at Purdue Galleries at 765-494-3061. For more information, visit http://www.purdue.edu/galleries or follow @PurdueGalleries on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Purdue News Service: Joe Paul, 765-494-9541, paul102@purdue.edu

Source: Erika Kvam, Visitor Services & Program Coordinator for Purdue Galleries, 765-494-3061, ekvam@purdue.edu
Srbija Kargo has taken delivery of the first two of a total of 16 Siemens Vectron locomotives it has ordered in two batches, supported with financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development.
AFRICA: The first UIC African Rail Digital Summit which was held in Cape Town on February 25-27 set out an agenda for the digital transformation of railways across the continent. Taking as its theme Africa: the continent of the digital future for rail, the event was organised by the ...
Responsible for leading the companys international sales operation, Tim Gerhartz has been hired as the SVP of global sales for scripted, formats and factual show distributor of Red Arrow Studios.





Gerhartz joins from international music licensing agency Audio Network where he held the position of head of sales and business development for Germany, Austria and Switzerland where he headed up the regions sales team, driving new business while raising the companys profile. Prior to this, he had held the position of VP sales and acquisitions at Red Arrow and was responsible for the UK, Nordic, Benelux and Italy markets.I am thrilled to be returning to Red Arrow Studios International at this very exciting time of growth, Gerhartz commented. As the company continues to build on its position as a leading global studio and distributor, I look forward to working closely with Bo and the fantastic team to maximise sales opportunities across the companys impressive slate of internationally successful scripted, factual and format content.Effective immediately, in his new role Gerhartz will report to Red Arrow Studios International president Bo Stehmeier and will be based in the companys Munich office. Were delighted to be welcoming Tim back to the Red Arrow Studios International team,  Stehmeier remarked. His wealth of sales experience paired with his enthusiastic, tenacious approach and talent for building excellent relationships, makes him the ideal candidate as we continue to drive our business forward and identify new areas of growth for our expanding catalogue.
Yellowstone chronicles the Dutton family, led by John Dutton (Kevin Costner), who controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States. Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect  the ranch is in constant conflict with those it borders  an expanding town, an Indian reservation, and Americas first national park. The critically-acclaimed original drama is co-produced and co-financed by 101 Studios and as starring Oscar and Emmy Award-winning actor Costner, it features Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White, Danny Huston and Gil Birmingham.Yellowstone is being distributed internationally by 101 Studios and Endeavor Content and in its expansion, it will roll out in the Nordics, Hungary and Poland in spring 2019, followed by UK, Latin America, Spain and Italy, and will also be available on the Paramount+ on-demand service in select territories.Were excited to bring this riveting dramatic story to Paramounts international audiences, noted Jill Offman, executive vice president of Paramount Network International. Coming off its tremendous success in the US, as last summers most watched series on cable, Yellowstone will complement the outstanding line-up on Paramounts international channels.
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After being sworn in as the 37th President of the United States, Richard Nixon called for a time of national renewal and reunification, hoping to heal the wounds wrought by the divisiveness of the 1960s, which  between President Lyndon Johnsons withdrawal speech, Martin Luther King Jr.s and Robert F. Kennedys assassinations, and the chaotic Democratic National Convention  had found its ultimate expression in the election of 1968.

Though Nixon handily defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey and Independent George Wallace in the Electoral College (30119146), he only won 0.7 percent more of the popular vote than Humphrey. Clearly, the countrys divisions ran deep, but not as deep as they might have run, had it not been for the restraint of President Johnson.

On Oct. 17, 1968, just a few weeks before the election, Johnson began hearing reports that the Nixon campaign had engaged in secret negotiations with the South Vietnamese government, through lobbyist Anna Chennault. The administration had struggled to bring all parties of the Vietnam conflict to the negotiating table since late March. On the other hand, Nixons cronies had worked against the peace talks since April. They discouraged the South Vietnamese from joining the negotiations, promising that they would receive a better deal from the as-yet-unelected Nixon administration.

This interference with official U.S. diplomatic initiatives violated the Logan Act (1799), which outlawed unauthorized contacts between private citizens and foreign powers.

Johnson received confirmation of Republican duplicity on Oct. 30, just one day before he announced a full bombing halt in North Vietnam (a prerequisite to negotiations). On Oct. 31, only an hour before all four parties to the talks (North Vietnam, the National Liberation Front, the United States, and South Vietnam) planned to announce that negotiations would commence, South Vietnam announced that it was uncomfortable with the NLFs presence in the negotiations, and therefore would not attend. The president was furious.

Two days later, Johnson called his old friend, senior Republican Senator and Nixon ally Everett Dirksen, to inform him that the administration was aware of the Nixon campaigns meddling. After summarizing the course of events, Johnson explained that Im reading their hand, Everett. I dont want to get this in the campaign.  And they oughtnt to be doing this. This is treason. He told Dirksen to make sure Nixon knew that the administration was onto him.

True to his word, the president refrained from exposing Nixons role in what came to be known as the Chennault Affair, to the point of declining to comment for a Christian Science Monitor report on the diplomatic duplicity. Johnsons restraint allowed Nixon to win the election.

President Johnson did not expose Nixon for several reasons. First, while he knew that the Nixon campaign was complicit, it was not yet clear whether Nixon himself had a hand in the subterfuge (he did). Second, as Johnson biographer Robert Dallek writes, revealing Nixons intransigence would have opened [Nixon] to possible indictment and prosecution, thereby precipitat[ing] an unprecedented constitutional crisis.

Even if Nixon survived such a crisis, it would likely hobble his legislative and executive efforts. Furthermore, Johnson was fearful that Nixon would retaliate against him and his advisers after taking office, and when Vice President Hubert Humphrey (Nixon's opponent) was briefed on the situation on Nov. 1, he also decided not to act on it, given the lack of proof that Nixon himself was directly involved.

Not only did Johnson not expose Nixon, but, as he promised before the election, he also worked intensively with the president-elect throughout the transition period. Having realized that he would leave office before the Vietnam negotiations ended, Johnson instructed his advisers to cooperate fully with the incoming administration. As Secretary of State Dean Rusk later wrote, we thought the new president should make his own decisions for the future since he had been chosen by the American people to do just that.

By leaving the major decisions of the negotiations to the president-elect, Johnson both respected the will of the voters and left Nixon a full deck of cards, as it were. Rather than shortchanging Nixon and letting him deal with any negative ramifications from agreements made during negotiations before he even took office, LBJ graciously gave Nixon the full power to make his own decisions in discussions with the Vietnamese Communists. As White House correspondent Drew Pearson wrote to Johnson during the transition period, you have been extremely cooperative with the incoming president-elect  more so than any previous that I know ofand he owes you more than any previous president-elect.

Lyndon B. Johnson clearly demonstrated his patriotism in his handling of the Chennault Affair and the transition period between his presidency and Nixons. While of course part of his reasoning for not exposing the Republican was the lack of evidence directly connecting Nixon to the interference, Johnson's nobler, patriotic side clearly won out over his political cynicism. As far as the transition period is concerned, Johnson had next to nothing to gain from cooperating with the incoming administration; indeed, he was hardly pleased with Nixon. The only viable explanation for his gracious attitude during the transition period is that he wanted Nixon to succeed, not for Nixons sake, but for the sake of the country.

Further Reading:

Berman, Larry. Lyndon Johnsons War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1989.

Dallek, Robert. Flawed Giant: Lyndon Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Farrell, John A. Richard Nixon: The Life. New York, NY: Doubleday Press, 2017.

Hughes, Ken, ed. Presidential Recordings Digital Edition. Chasing Shadows Series.

Hughes, Ken. Chasing Shadows: The Nixon Tapes, the Chennault Affair, and the Origins of Watergate. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2014.

Johnstone, Andrew and Andrew Priest, eds. US Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy: Candidates, Campaigns, and Global Politics from FDR to Bill Clinton. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2017.

Rusk, Dean and Richard Rusk. As I Saw It. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1991.

Simpson, Connor. Newly Released Secret Tapes Reveal LBJ Knew but Never Spoke Out About Nixon's Treason. The Atlantic. Last modified March 16, 2013.

Taylor, David. The Lyndon Johnson tapes: Richard Nixons treason. BBC. Last modified March 22, 2013. .

Vandiver, Frank E. Shadows of Vietnam: Lyndon Johnsons Wars. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
Young love, virtue, weddings, and a little bit of villainy are woven through both of Canyon Crest Academys spring shows: Much Ado About Nothing and Oklahoma!

Canyon Crest Academy (CCA) Envision Theatre Arts will present Much Ado About Nothing in the intimate 100-seat Black Box Theatre March 14  29 and Oklahoma! in the 430-seat Proscenium Theatre March 15  30.

In Much Ado About Nothing, directed by CCA Guest Artist Steve Lipinsky, young lovers Hero and Claudio pass the time leading up to their wedding by conspiring with Don Pedro to set a lovers trap for Benedick, an arrogant confirmed bachelor, and Beatrice, his favorite sparing partner. Meanwhile, the evil Don Jon conspires to break up their engagement by accusing Hero of infidelity. Will deception and betrayal result in two romances on the rocks, or is much ado being made out of nothing? Come see for yourself!

In Rodgers and Hammersteins Oklahoma! - directed by CCA Envision Theatre Arts Coordinator Jeannine Marquie  two young cowboys, Curly and Will, vie with a violent ranch hand, Jud, and a travelling peddler, Ali, for the hearts of the women they love: Laurey and Ado Annie. A high-spirited rivalry between farmers and cowboys in early 1900s,Oklahoma territory provides a colorful background against which romance, competition, stubbornness, and riding in a Surrey with the Fringe on Top play out. CCAs production of this classic musical features set pieces and props from the 1993 London tour, including the surrey Hugh Jackman (Curly) used; special thanks to local San Diego company The Music and Theatre Company for making CCAs use of these pieces possible. With Musical Direction by CCA Guest Artist Leigh Scarritt and Choreography by CCA Guest Artist Shirley Johnston, you can expect to leave this show singing, dancing, and smiling!

Both shows are produced with support from the CCA Foundation and Envision along with parent volunteers and show sponsors.

For tickets, show dates and times:

Much Ado About Nothing: bit.ly/2SIQEwP

Oklahoma: bit.ly/2T1QkIR

General: ww.cca-envision.org/events/

Location: Canyon Crest Academy Black Box Theater, 5951 Village Center Loop Rd., Carmel Valley, 92130. Phone: (858) 350-0253.
Two days after then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe formally put President Trump under criminal investigation in May 2017, bureau officials reached out to the author of the controversial "Steele dossier" for more information, even though they had fired him for misconduct six months earlier.

Christopher Steele, dismissed by the FBI as untrustworthy, nevertheless was re-engaged by the "Russia team" of then-acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, top photo, after the firing of Director James Comey.

Text messages and congressional testimony transcripts reveal that McCabes Russia team re-established direct contact with ex-British spy Christopher Steele to build a case against the president for espionage and obstruction of justice after Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey on May 9, 2017.

Comey had previously described the dossier  opposition research alleging Trump-Russia ties that was paid for by the Clinton campaign  as salacious and unverified. The FBI had severed ties with Steele in November 2016 due to behavior that convinced his handlers he was not a trustworthy source.

Former federal prosecutors and investigators described the move to RealClearInvestigations as "desperate." They also said the FBIs decision to suddenly re-engage with a discredited confidential source raises fresh questions about the evidentiary grounds on which the FBI opened an unprecedented probe targeting the president.

It suggests that McCabe lacked evidence to make an espionage case against Trump and was desperate to find it  even if that meant going back to the same unreliable source of still-unverified dossier dirt, former federal prosecutor Solomon L. Wisenberg said.

President Trump fired James Comey on May 9, 2017. Days later, the FBI sought to reconnect with its old informant Christopher Steele, compiler of the Trump-Russia dossier.

While noting that there are not only Justice Department rules but also federal laws against opening groundless investigations, they warned that if the nations top police force can investigate and spy on a president without hard evidence of criminal behavior, they can do it to anyone. Its pretty clear that Comeys firing is what prompted McCabes fury," Wisenberg said.

McCabe, who ran the FBI after the president fired Comey, maintains he had sufficient grounds to authorize two investigations of the president himself  including whether he was personally acting on behalf of the Russian government and whether he was impeding the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

In a series of recent television interviews promoting his new book, "The Threat," McCabe said his decision to investigate Trump as a Russian asset was based on public information, not secret intelligence or any smoking-gun evidence tying Trump to the Kremlin.

Prosecutors and investigators interviewed by RCI said none of the information made public should have been enough to launch an FBI probe. But the Comey firing reportedly will be part of an obstruction-of-justice and corruption inquiry announced on Sunday by the new Democratic House Judiciary Committee Chairman, Jerrold Nadler, which could result in Trump's impeachment.

In the days following Comeys firing, McCabe quickly assembled his Russia team of investigators, led by Peter Strzok, who was accused of anti-Trump bias when he was later fired by the bureau. McCabe says his team recommended he order a full investigation of the president, which he says he approved on May 10.

On May 12, two days later, the FBI sought to reconnect with its old informant Steele.

Bruce Ohr, center, arrives for a closed hearing last August, when House investigators learned of the FBI's re-engaging with Steele. Ohr's testimony was only recently released.

The overture was made through senior Justice Department official Bruce Ohr, whose wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm paid by the Clinton campaign to dig up dirt on Trump. Fusion GPS, in turn, had paid Steele, a former British spy, to create the dossier. Ohr had served as a steady go-between channeling anti-Trump research from Fusion GPS and Steele to the FBI throughout the presidential campaign and the first year of the Trump presidency. Republican Rep. Mark Meadows asked Ohr about these contacts during a closed-door congressional hearing last August, transcripts of which were released late last month.

"Did the FBI ever encourage you to reach out to try to get additional information from Chris Steele? Meadows asked Ohr.

"Yes, there was one occasion, Ohr replied. "On one of the occasions when I talked to the FBI to tell them I got a call from Chris Steele, they said, Oh, next time you talk with him, can you ask him if hes willing to meet with us? And I conveyed that back to Chris Steele."

The request was made on Friday May 12, when Ohr met with Strzoks deputy on the Russia team  special FBI agent Joe Pientka  according to FBI documents. The next day Ohr passed the request on to Steele. Ohr and Pientka met again for an interview the following Monday, May 15. In a text message to Ohr sent that same day, Steele agreed to re-engage with the FBI.

Steele: "B[ruce], having now consulted my wife and business partner about the question we discussed on Saturday, Im pleased to say yes, we should go ahead with it. Best C[hris]"

Ohr: "Thanks! I will let them know and we will follow up."

At the congressional hearing, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) questioned Ohr about the May 15 text to Steele: So you have asked him will he re-engage with the FBI? And Ohr responded: Yes.

Ohr continued to debrief Steele on behalf of the FBI through late November 2017, transmitting his information to Pientka and other agents, even though Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to take over the Russia collusion case on May 17, 2017. At some point during 2017, Chris Steele did speak with somebody from the FBI, Ohr testified. Muellers investigators have also interviewed Steele.

Law enforcement sources described the FBIs move as a "Hail Mary" attempt to collect more information on Trump to help justify making him a formal suspect in the Russia investigation. Steele had provided the foundation, tenuous as it was, for earlier investigations of Trump campaign advisers.

The FBI struggled to identify Steeles anonymous sources and sub-sources and corroborate their sensational accusations, and still had not succeeded in doing so at the time McCabe opened the case on Trump. In fact, internal FBI documents show the bureau graded the credibility of the Steele dossier as low.

Michael Biasello, a 25-year veteran of the FBI who spent 10 years in counterintelligence, agreed that McCabe lacked a case against Trump. "What McCabe did is outrageous, he said, "and McCabe as a lawyer should have known better.

Biasello noted that two months after ordering the probe of Trump, McCabe also signed an application to renew a surveillance warrant to electronically spy on a former foreign policy adviser of Trump. The July 2017 warrant to surveil Carter Page, which may have collected incidental" communications with White House aides, relied heavily on information provided by Steele, which the FBI failed to tell the secret FISA court was uncorroborated and paid for by the Clinton campaign.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, with whom Andrew McCabe discussed "wiring the president."

McCabe has testified that without the dossier, the original FISA warrant could not have been obtained by the FBI in October 2016. Ohr testified he first warned McCabe of Steeles anti-Trump bias during an August 2016 meeting in the then-deputy director's office. In British court papers, Steele himself confessed that his dossier was unverifiable and could never be used in a court of law.

McCabe appears to have violated the law to obtain evidence as part of an effort to subvert a sitting president, Biasello asserted, adding that he may have also engaged in a "criminal conspiracy" to remove the president from office. On May 16, 2017, McCabe discussed trying to oust Trump via the 25th Amendment with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The two also talked about "wiring the president" -- secretly tape-recording his conversations. (Rosenstein has confirmed the exchange, but says he was being sarcastic -- as a way of showing how absurd he found the conversation.)

The FBI did not respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for McCabe also did not answer requests seeking comment.

An irony is that McCabe was later fired for much the same offenses as Steele's: leaking and lying about it. Steele was dismissed Nov. 1, 2016 for unauthorized disclosures to the media, including Mother Jones and Yahoo News, and found to have concealed and lied to the FBI about them. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe last March after the Justice Departments inspector general found he had repeatedly lied under oath to investigators about leaking information to the press regarding the ongoing Clinton Foundation case.

McCabe, now under federal criminal investigation for those alleged offenses, has insisted he made the decision to investigate the president based on facts, not politics, and that Rosenstein and the Justice Department accepted his reasons for commencing an investigation.

We had an articulable basis to believe that a crime may have been committed or a threat to national security might exist [from the president himself], McCabe told CNN.

Under FBI and Justice Department guidelines for opening a full investigation, agents have to first establish an articulable factual basis," which means facts must be specified and verified. And investigators have to have a "reasonable suspicion, as opposed to mere speculation, that a suspect committed a crime.

Former FBI special agent Mark Wauck doubts his old agency met that standard of proof: The predication for the full investigation -- the articulable factual basis  had almost certainly been the Steele dossier, now known to be unverified. McCabes team would have had to spell out the legal basis for opening their probes of Trump in an electronic communication, or EC. And the EC, which establishes the investigative case file, would have had to assert that there were specific, verified facts indicating the president was a "threat to national security."

Judicial Watch, a government watchdog group, does not believe McCabe had the factual and legal grounds to target the president, and is pressing the Justice Department to release the ECs and other records detailing the legal justification for the FBI's momentous investigations.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton maintains that McCabes targeting of Trump without proper evidence was an abuse of power, and may also have been illegal.

Mr. McCabe had zero good-faith basis to initiate any investigation of President Trump, Fitton said. "And his authorization of a secret counter-intelligence investigation of a sitting president is an astonishing violation of the Constitution, as the Justice Department is not its own branch of the government.

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page conceded the possibility of "literally nothing to connect Trump with Russia.

Fitton said he does not buy McCabes argument that Trumps firing of his boss was evidence that the president was trying to obstruct the Russia investigation. "McCabes suggesting he only began investigating President Trump because of the perfectly reasonable Comey firing is bull, he said. "The Justice Department and FBI had been spying on and lawlessly investigating Trump" -- through his aides -- "for at least a year prior to Comeys firing.

McCabes own top investigators expressed skepticism that Trump conspired with the Kremlin at the time McCabe ordered the investigations of the president.

In a May 19, 2017, text message to McCabes counsel Lisa Page, Strzok remarked, My gut sense and concern is theres no big there, there regarding collusion. Page admitted during a private 2018 congressional interview that when McCabe opened the probes, We still couldnt answer the question [of whether Trump conspired with the Kremlin].  It still existed in the scope of possibility that there would be literally nothing to connect Trump with Russia.
A chunk of a Denisovan skull has been identified for the first timea dramatic contribution to the handful of known samples from one of the most obscure branches of the hominin family tree. Paleoanthropologist Bence Viola from the University of Toronto will discuss the as-yet-unpublished discovery at the upcoming meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Cleveland, Ohio, at the end of March.

Very little is known about the Denisovans, an extinct branch of hominins that was a sister group to Neanderthals. Only four individual Denisovans had been identified previously, all from one cave in Siberia. The first Denisovan was described in 2010 from the fragment of a pinky finger bone, and three more were identified from teeth. This skull piece, excavated about three years ago in that same Siberian cave, represents a fifth individual.

Its very nice that we finally have fragments like this, says Viola. Its not a full skull, but its a piece of a skull. It gives us more. Compared to the finger and the teeth, its nice to have. But, he adds, its hardly a full skeleton. Were always greedy, he laughs. We want more.

The new discovery consists of two connecting fragments from the back, left-hand side of the parietal bone, which forms the sides and roof of the skull. Together, they measure about 8 cm by 5 cm. DNA analysis proves that the piece is Denisovan, though its too old to date with radiocarbon techniques. Viola and colleagues have compared the fragments to the remains of modern humans and Neanderthals, according to the conference abstract, although Viola is unwilling to discuss the details of what they learned until the work is published.

This is exciting, says Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London, U.K., who wasnt involved with the work but will be presenting in the same upcoming conference session about Denisovans. But, of course, it is only a small fragment. Its as important in raising hopes that yet more complete material will be recovered.

Sadly, the newfound piece is not large enough to use to identify other skulls found elsewhere as Denisovan without genetic information to back the diagnosis up. Researchers are still waiting for a find like that, which would likely help to boost their collection and understanding of Denisovans. Researchers think the extinct hominins once roamed widely across Asia, but since most fossils arent well enough preserved to allow for genetic analysis, it has been hard to identify Denisovans elsewhere.

In 2017, some researchers wondered whether two partial skulls found in China might be Denisovan, but this remains unconfirmed. It should be possible to see how well this [new find] matches with Chinese fossils such as those from Xuchang, which people like me have speculated might be Denisovans, says Stringer.

Nicola Jones is a freelance science journalist living in Pemberton, British Columbia.

This work first appeared on SAPIENS under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license. Read the original here.
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Julianne Hough and Gabrielle Union have joined the "America's Got Talent" judges table in a new photo for Season 14 of the competition series.

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Hough and Union, who are replacing Heidi Klum and Mel B, pose with returning judges Simon Cowell and Howie Mandel alongside new host Terry Crews

"The new #AGT fam is in the house! Give some love to the new judges, @itsgabrielleu and @juliannehough," the offcial "America's Got Talent" Twitter page captioned the image on Sunday.

"America's Got Talent" returns with Season 14 in the summer.

Crews made his debut as host during spinoff series "America's Got Talent: The Champions." The show was previously hosted by Tyra Banks.

Magician Shin Lim won "America's Got Talent: The Champions" in February after winning Season 13 of "America's Got Talent" in September.

The sleight of hand artist defeated previous "America's Got Talent" winners including Darci Lynne Farmer, Kseniya Simonova, Cristina Ramos and Preacher Lawson.
NeNe Leakes is weighing in on Peter Thomas' recent arrest.

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The 51-year-old responded on Sunday's episode of "Watch What Happens Live" to news Thomas, her "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" co-star Cynthia Bailey 's ex-husband, was arrested on fraud charges.

"I've been out of the country, honey, so I don't get the news," Leakes coyly told host Andy Cohen.

"You were in Canada, sweetie, they get the news," Cohen responded.

"Now that you are telling me, my reaction is, wow. Amazing," Leakes said.

TMZ reported Friday Thomas was taken into police custody after arriving at Miami International Airport. He is being held without bond on a warrant from Louisiana for allegedly writing fake checks.

Cohen said Leakes saw Thomas in Miami in January when she appeared at an event for him on New Year's Eve.

"Oh my God, you spill all the tea, Andy," Leakes said. "I did. I love Peter."

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Thomas and Bailey finalized their divorce in March 2017 after splitting in 2016 after six years of marriage.

"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" returned for an 11th season in November.
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Porterville, CA (93257)

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Clear skies during the evening will give way to low clouds and fog after midnight. Low 41F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Clear skies during the evening will give way to low clouds and fog after midnight. Low 41F. Winds light and variable.
During the 2018 midterm elections, under particular scrutiny were Georgias polling machines, which are 16 years old. November saw breakdowns of these machines, as well as battery depletion and a lack of power chords. Not only that, but these outdated machines were proven to be hackable and left no sort of paper trail.

House Bill 316 looks to address these problems by implementing new voting machines in the state.
Thanks to the increased thrust on cow protection, the enforcement of the ban on cow slaughter and the relentless crusade by cow vigilantes, the agrarian ecosystem from Haryana to Uttar Pradesh has been irrevocably altered.

There's a huge spike in the number of stray cattle roaming the countryside, destroying crops.

Ten cows/bulls take barely an hour to eat and destroy a bigha of crop land.

Scythe in hand, a young labourer in a village in Panipat, Haryana, chases stray cows away from the paddy field shes working in.

My employer has told me to hit, cut or maim any stray cow trying to ruin his crop, she says.

Over 650 km away in Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, Chandrashekhar Patel, a farmer, is installing a blade wire fence around his fields to ward off stray cows.

It costs Rs 70,000 and is so deadly that it rips open the skin of any animal that brushes against it, he says.

But I have to do it before cows destroy my crops.

Meanwhile, Lucknows government-run cow shelter Kanha Upvan now houses 9,000 cows, up from 5,000 cows barely seven months ago.

About 100 cows arrive at the shelter every day.

The growth in stray cattle in Indias cow belt has resulted in a crisis of unprecedented proportions.

At last count, there were 5.2 million stray and abandoned bovines in the country.

Estimates suggest this number may have doubled by now.

Thanks to the increased thrust on cow protection, the enforcement of the ban on cow slaughter and the relentless crusade by cow vigilantes, the regions agrarian ecosystem has been irrevocably altered.

A large part of the problem is due to Indias thriving dairy industry, growing at over 15 per cent every year.

Milch cows are bred in both the organised and ad hoc dairies across the country, but cash-strapped farmers cant afford to keep non-milk producing male calves and bulls.

Traders wont buy them as the ancillary leather and meat industries are no longer viable and gaushalas are filled to several times their capacity.

The result is a huge spike in the number of stray cattle roaming the countryside, destroying crops.

The interim budget has proposed an outlay of Rs 750 crore on bovine protection.

Ironically, though the government has saved countless bovine lives by banning cattle slaughter, it has been less than successful in ensuring the actual wellbeing of the animal many Hindus consider sacred.

A fate worse than death

Animal welfare activists say almost every stray cow in India has plastic, medical waste and worse, choking its intestines.

We recently conducted surgeries on five rescued cows and found their rumens clogged with plastic bags, syringes, and even blades, says Anjali Gopalan, founder, All Creatures Great and Small, a sanctuary for old, sick, and abandoned animals in Faridabad.

The plastic in their system causes the cows to die painful deaths despite best of care.

Cows also die of injuries incurred in traffic accidents or beatings at the hands of farmers whose fields they stray into.

Shree Gaushala Societys privately-run shelter for about 1,500 bovines on GT Road in Panipat houses about 50 injured cows.

We spend up to Rs 200,000 a month on medicines, says one of the gaushalas trustees, requesting anonymity.

But mortality rates among stray cows are high.

In December 2018 alone, the gaushala lost 32 cows.

Their ambulance picks up dozens of injured animals each week.

Pranjal Sahay of Lucknow Animal Welfare Forum avers that every day he sees at least four cows injured by blade wire and speeding cars.

Activists also say farmers do not care about the plight of these stray animals.

Some time ago, we rescued a blind cow with a deep head wound crawling with maggots, says Anurag Mishra, who runs a private gaushala in Lucknow.

Locals reported it only when the cow, maddened with pain, became dangerously agitated.

The state of stray and abandoned cattle is worse in rural areas.

In Bundelkhand, stray cows starve to death in winter and die of thirst during droughts, says Abhinav Srihan of Delhi-based Fauna Police.

From Mata to Menace

So how did the cow go from being revered as a divine mother to being reviled as a pest?

Farmers in the village of Nardahi estimate that they have lost about 50 bighas of crops to stray cows.

Ten cows/bulls take barely an hour to eat and destroy a bigha of crop land, they say.

Consequently, all through this winter, they were forced to patrol their fields at night.

I missed going on patrol one night, and a herd of cows came and destroyed my entire wheat crop, says Chandrashekhar Patel.

Overnight, I had to replace the crop with mustard to recoup at least some of my losses.

It costs about Rs 40,000 to fence one acre of land.

Most of these farmers who have landholdings of under two bighas cannot easily afford to spend this money.

Even so, it remains their best option.

They know that blade wire causes severe injuries to stray cattle, but protecting their crop takes precedence over animal welfare.

Moreover, at Rs 80 per kilo, blade wire is cheaper than barbed wire (Rs 112 per kilo).

Many whisper that trucks still come at the dead of night to take stray cattle to illegal slaughterhouses. Most farmers turn a blind eye to it.

The Gaurakshak cuts a lonely figure

Thanks to the stray cow menace, gaurakshaks now get very little support from farmers.

Virendra Yadav, a farmer in Panipat district, recalls the last time they caught cattle smugglers.

They had stuffed 16 heavily drugged animals into a truck and were driving through the Panipat-Hardwar highway, he says.

We thrashed them and turned them over to the police.

The gaurakshak, however, gets no money for protecting cows.

And neither does he seem to get much love.

When a sect from Mathura came to Haidargarh to preach cow love some time ago, they were chased out of the village within minutes.

Were Hindu, the cow is our mother, but this daily depredation to our crops will kill us, says Tej Narain, a farmer.

The government needs to find a solution to the stray cow problem before it destroys our livelihoods, he says.

If not, they might find that the holy cow has eaten up their votes!

Photograph: Himanshu Sharma/Reuters
OXSIGHT, founded in 2016 to create wearable technology devices based on how the brain manages visual information, began conducting trials in India two years ago in partnership with leading eye hospitals and clinics.

It is now in the process of setting up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India to make the devices, which are aimed at innovative solutions for sight degeneration, more widely available.

IMAGE: The OXSIGHT smart glass being tried out. Photograph: Courtesy, oxsight.co.uk

A UK-based Indian-origin entrepreneur is in the process of setting up a base in India for the launch of a range of smart glasses for people with sight loss, devised by an OxfordUniversity research spin-off start-up.

Rakesh Roshan is the CEO of OXSIGHT, a company founded in 2016 to create wearable technology devices based on research into how the brain manages visual information.

The company began conducting trials in India two years ago in partnership with leading eye hospitals and clinics and is now in the process of setting up a 100 per cent subsidiary in India to make the devices, which are aimed at innovative solutions for sight degeneration, more widely available.

"In the first phase, we have appointed a distributor in India, who will import the devices and sell it directly to our customers who have already gone through the product trials," Roshan, left, said at a global launch event for OXSIGHT in London earlier this week.

"In the second phase, we will sign a few more distributors as India is a large country. Our India office will continue to work with distributors, manufacture in India, run the R&D centre, and operate our customer care centre in various languages," he said.

The company has eight product testing centres in India, including in Kolkata and Hyderabad, with Sushant OXSIGHT Low Vision Centre of Excellence at Ansal University in Delhi as its central clinic.

A small team also runs mobile clinics at other hospitals and clinics, with plans for its wider adoption across the country over the years.

"Like any other technologies and continued R&D focus, we expect the prices to come down and also with increased volume the economy of scale kicks in," said Roshan.

Globally, it is estimated that around 1.3 billion people live with some form of visual impairment. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 188.5 million have mild visual impairment, 217 million have moderate to severe visual impairment and 36 million people are blind.

"There is very little awareness in India about low vision and a lot more government support is required in the area," said Professor Monica Chaudhary, director of the School of Health Sciences at Ansal University, who is one of the Indian experts working with OXSIGHT.

Experts believe that the new technology will help address the lack of distinction between low vision and complete blindness. Peripheral vision loss is commonly caused by degenerative sight loss conditions such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa.

The founding members of OXSIGHT began their research at the University of Oxford in 2010, working closely with the low vision community in the UK. The aim was to develop this knowledge into innovative solutions for sight degeneration that have a balance of style, functionality and intuitive technology.

The first device, OXSIGHT Prism smart glasses, was launched last year, and the company is in the process of developing clinical partnerships with a number of opticians across the UK and Europe.

At present, the company is providing trials, fitting and clinical support at their clinics in London, Oxford and Greater Manchester Area through several clinical partners.

OXSIGHT partnered with Epson to develop their smart glasses to help people with peripheral vision loss, also known as "tunnel vision".

The smart glasses use augmented reality and image interpretation technology to enhance users' remaining vision.

They are controlled via a hand-held console and fitted with a camera which streams a live-feed into two high-resolution video displays.

These screens are placed directly in front of the wearer's eyes and the images produced are manipulated to fit into the user's area of useable vision.

"The OXSIGHT Prism is worth it for me because it allows me to make the most of my remaining sight. One of the best things was that when I first tried the Prism device on, I found that I could see my wife's eyes, which I haven't been able to see for at least 10 years," said David Quigley, one of the first people in the UK to get an OXSIGHT Prism device.

The OXSIGHT glasses have seven modes, with features including: increased image contrast, super colour mode, text mode, edge enhancement, inverted colour and a digital zoom to allow users to magnify objects and obstacles.

These features have been shown to enhance the remaining vision of people with peripheral vision loss.
'The intensity with which we are focussed on Pakistan, particularly our government and our media, ultimately harms us and reduces our greatness,' argues Aakar Patel.

IMAGE: Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the Line of Control, February 22, 2019. Photograph: www.ispr.gov.pk

I am apparently one of the few Indians not excited or moved by the events of last week. I am referring to our attack on Pakistan, and then their response the next day, and then the drama with the air force pilot for two days after that, ending with his release on Friday night.

There are several reasons and some of them you may disagree with.

First, I do not hate Pakistan. I have been to that country a few times and I know many people from there. I think that their governments have done some terrible things, but I do not blame the population for that.

If we were able to get our act together in our home, particularly in Kashmir, whatever else their government would do to us would not affect our country in the way that it has.

That brings me to the second reason. Under Narendra Damodardas Modi's hard rule in Kashmir, the number of deaths there have gone from 189 in 2014 to 267 in 2016 to 357 in 2017 and then 451 last year.

The number of our soldiers killed there has gone from 47 to 91.

Is this a good record and is this good for India to sacrifice so many of our warriors for no particular reason?

My answer is no, and if I am to look at our government's performance and policies then I cannot look away from the data and the numbers.

We are failing in Kashmir and are substituting performance with drama and spectacle.

The third reason is that I do not see any benefit from the actions of the Indian government in striking Pakistan.

To be clear, I can understand what Modi's argument is, but I think he is wrong. The arguments in favour of military action of the sort we saw last week are as follows: 1. Pakistan harms us, so we have to harm them in some way; 2. If we attack them hard, then they will think twice about doing so in future; 3. This attack will help put pressure on Pakistan to shut down its terror infrastructure.

I do not have any particular objection to any of these points. I just do not think they are effective and I find that the negatives that they produce, which endanger the lives of more Indians, outweigh the positives.

Fourth reason: Such actions strengthen the already strong argument that we should spend more on our military and on equipment like fighter planes. Our total spend on security is Rs 4 lakh crore a year.

This is money that is diverted away from health and education in one of the poorest nations in the world. It becomes difficult for people in politics to oppose further spending for the army when there is such intense focus on the military.

The fifth reason is that governments use this to distract. Last week also brought the news that the economy has slowed and growth has fallen. Unemployment is at over 7%, at the highest levels of over 40 years. There is little or no focus on such things because we are forced to look at other things.

The sixth reason is my disgust with my own profession of journalism. The manner in which we are being enthusiastically led into a war is sickening.

Readers will not know that all of the positions that news channels take are determined by money. Deliberately damaging our country for money is treason and they should be called out.

The seventh and last and most important reason is this. I think of India as a nation and a culture that has to contribute to mankind and the whole planet. We have reduced ourselves and our country over the last few years primarily into the rival of one other small South Asian nation.

As long as we fix Pakistan in some way we are happy. We have not really fixed them, but that is a separate matter.

Our ambition and our vision has become very small. We do not have anything to offer to compete with America, Western Europe or China. We do not even think about any real rivalry with them.

Our great goal is to get the better of Pakistan. To be that is too small and too minor and too negative an ambition for this great nation.

We are bigger than this and capable of contributing to the world in a much more significant and meaningful way than we think.

The intensity with which we are focussed on Pakistan, particularly our government and our media, ultimately harms us and reduces our greatness.

Aakar Patel -- winner of the 2018 Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting -- is Executive Director, Amnesty International India. The views expressed here are his own.
'Traditionally, the US tried to tamp down tensions whenever a crisis situation arose and deputed officials from Washington to travel to Delhi to counsel restraint.'

'This time around, no US envoy flew down to Delhi -- not even when tensions spiked and a flashpoint was reached last week,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.

IMAGE: United States President Donald John Trump, accompanied by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at a news conference in Hanoi, February 28, 2019, following talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Pool/Reuters

With the India-Pakistan standoff somewhat waning, the time is ripe to put under the scanner the stance taken by the Trump administration through the crisis situation developing since the February 14 terrorist attack in Pulwama.

On the face of it, Washington was strongly supportive of India. United States National Security Advisor John Bolton reportedly rushed to contact his Indian counterpart Ajit Kumar Doval twice in the immediate aftermath of the Pulwama attack.

The US also made its oft-repeated call to Pakistan to shut down terrorist camps.

But a highlight was that Bolton publicly upheld India's right to 'self-defence' following Pulwama.

This is a standard US formulation that Washington routinely reserves for its ally Israel in anticipation of the inevitable Israeli military reaction to any provocation by the Palestinians or Hezbollah -- and, more recently, in the situation surrounding the Syrian conflict.

However, Bolton's exuberance remains an enigma. Bolton has been accused of being a maverick, an inveterate hawk and as Israel's sidekick. But he is an intelligent man. Didn't he know that Israel exercises its 'right to self-defence' selectively against hapless weak targets, whereas India's adversary is a Nuclear Weapon State with proven capability to retaliate?

Did Bolton have any inkling that an Indian escalation was in the making days or weeks ahead? Or, did he make that intriguing remark by way of winking at India and prodding it to go for some sort of action against Pakistan?

Importantly, did he have Israeli inputs? After all, Bolton is wired into the Israeli political establishment -- and vice versa. He secured his White House job with Israeli help and he is mindful of that at all times.

This is important because the Indian security establishment and ruling elite too has close links with Israel. The well-known Middle East analyst and author Robert Fisk, who is immensely experienced in the Islamist insurgency, wrote recently that the Indian security operations in J&K lately bear striking similarity to the methods practised by the Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank to bludgeon the Palestinians into abject submission. He estimated that India is virtually copying Israeli methods to quell mass unrest.

At any rate, Bolton's reaction was exceptional insofar as traditionally, the US tried to tamp down tensions whenever a crisis situation arose and even used to depute officials from Washington to travel to Delhi to counsel restraint.

This time around, however, no US envoy flew down to Delhi -- not even when tensions spiked and a flashpoint was reached last week.

Of course, the US knows Pakistan cared two hoots for any exhortations/demands by Washington in the past to clamp down on terrorist groups operating from its soil and there is no likelihood of Pakistan listening today.

If anything, today the US capacity to leverage Pakistan is at an all-time low.

Yet, Washington made loud noises in that direction at various levels, including by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

What did the US hope to achieve? One possibility is that it suited Washington if India increased its pressure on Pakistan at a juncture when the US-Taliban negotiations are at a critical stage and Islamabad's cooperation becomes vital.

On the other hand, it is known now that US CENTCOM chief General Joseph Votel was in touch with Pakistani army chief General Qamar Bajwa. (Other Western military leaders also contacted Bajwa.) In sum, Washington kept a sharp eye on the India-Pakistan tensions and probably assessed that the chance of tensions cascading uncontrollably was remote.

In fact, President Trump was the first person to give the good news that the tensions were coming under check when he made a suo moto statement to that effect right at his press conference in Hanoi on February 28. Trump said, according to the White House transcript:

'We have, I think, reasonably attractive news from Pakistan and India. They've been going at it, and we've been involved in trying to have them stop. And we have some reasonably decent news.'

' I think, hopefully, that's going to be coming to an end. It's been going on for a long time -- decades and decades. There's a lot of dislike, unfortunately. So we've been in the middle, trying to help them both out and see if we can get some organisation and some peace.'

'And I think, probably, that's going to be happening.'

It was extraordinary that Trump began the press conference with the above 'breaking news'. In all likelihood, he wanted to distract attention from the dismal failure of his summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un by flagging a success story and, typically, to claim personal credit for it.

Of course, his remarks must have caused some disquiet in Delhi -- namely, by virtually boasting about US mediation ('We've been in the middle, trying to help them both out'); by eschewing any of the previous criticism of Pakistan and on the contrary adopting a strictly neutral position without attributing blame for tensions to either Delhi or Islamabad; and, by making India (and Pakistan) look small and lacking in maturity ('They've been going at it, and we've been involved in trying to have them stop.')

Having said that, the most important point made by Trump was that the present tensions went back in time to a distant past ('It's been going on for a long time -- decades and decades.')

This reference is extremely worrisome -- especially, since Trump also touched on US mediation. True, Trump avoided using the 'K' word outright, but he all but implied that the present tensions are to be traced to the unresolved seven-decade-old Kashmir problem.

In retrospect, did the US really play an effective mediatory role in easing the tensions last week?

It is hard to say because there was no overt diplomacy on its part (which is, by the way, very uncharacteristic of American diplomacy in such situations when an opportunity presents itself to project the US as the indispensable world leader).

One thing is for sure. Increasingly, through thick fog that still surrounds the dramatic happenings last week, it seems that there was something highly contrived about the India-Pakistan tensions.

A well-informed correspondent of the Indian Express has quoted 'top government sources' admitting that:

The limitations of technical intelligence and lack of ground intelligence at this point make any assessment of terrorists killed in the attack on Balakot last Tuesday 'purely speculative'; and,

The IAF was keen on crossing the LoC to bomb the target last Tuesday, but it was decided that it should only fire the PGM (precision-guided munitions) 'from Indian side of LoC' and, therefore, no IAF aircraft crossed the LoC and as per radar data reviewed by the IAF, the closest Pakistani aircraft was at a distance of about 120 km.

Simply put, while the US tried to milk propaganda mileage out of the crisis, the highly sophisticated American spy satellites in place over the subcontinent would have given the White House an accurate account of what really was happening on the ground.

The crux of the matter is that the US patently 'outsourced' the denouement to this brawl to its allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

It could only have been Bolton's brainwave (at Israeli suggestion) to bring in the sheikhs who are the US's key allies in his pet project to encircle and destroy Iran.

The US calculation is that with the Saudi and Emirati crown princes having virtually cemented Pakistan's induction into the 'Arab NATO' in the recent months, a golden opportunity was at hand to co-opt India as well.

In the final analysis, if Delhi can be progressively weaned away from its relationship with Tehran, that will make the encirclement of Iran complete and Bolton's Iran project takes a great leap forward.






South Africa's poultry sector calls for suspension of poultry imports



South Africa could create more than 30,000 jobs, if it chooses to go protectionist - that is, by blocking chicken imports, the South African Poultry Association (SAPA) claimed.

According to Sunday Tribune, the impact of imports on the country's chicken production industry was best illustrated in 2017, when RCL, the company that owns Rainbow Chicken, sold 15 of its 25 farms in Hammarsdale, KwaZulu-Natal, and retrenched 1,350 workers.

Other major companies, namely Country Bird and Mike's Chickens, had let go 1,500 and 1,000 workers, respectively.

Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of SAPA's broiler organisation, blamed imports for job losses, arguing that 30,000 jobs could be created "by replacing imports, which were worth R6 billion (US$421 million)" in 2018.

"Chicken imports [in 2018] totalled 538434 tonnes, up from the previous high of 528108 tonnes imported in 2016," he said. He also voiced his grievances over what appears to be the government's lax attitude towards the wholesale dumping of imported chicken in the country.



In fact, South Africa is known to be a top chicken producer in terms of cost and quality.



"The [Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy] report showed that we were the fifth most competitive producer of poultry in the world. The chicken industry in countries that ranked higher than us, like the US and Brazil, were subsidised by their respective governments," Breitenbach pointed out.

"They receive subsidies for maize and soya feed in those countries; after all, feed represents 70% of the input cost to raise chicken. South Africa is a semi-desert country. Therefore, it is more expensive to produce maize and soya, which affects production costs."

Breitenbach said equipment used in the chicken industry in Brazil is also subsidised.

That Brazil was the largest exporter of chicken to South Africa was another concern for Breitenbach, as one of Brazil's biggest food producers, BFR SA, recently recalled almost 500 tonnes of chicken due to possible salmonella contamination.

According to Breitenbach, 55 containers of poultry enter South Africa daily and are then sold at very cheap prices. 60.5% of these imports originated from Brazil - with 348155 tonnes of chicken coming from that country.

Breitenbach claimed that port authorities' inability to "physically test all of the containers of chicken" is a weakness that exporters have exploited, delivering meat along those that may be contaminated.

It is this problem that prompted Breitenbach to call on the country's Department of Agriculture to suspend all Brazilian imports. "[The] government needs to step in and protect the local industry and the thousands of jobs at stake," he said.

Breitenbach is not alone in expressing negative sentiments towards imports.

"We're not scared if whole chicken carcasses come into the country; we could compete. We cannot compete with the prices that leg quarters are being dumped in South Africa for," said Marthinus Stander, chairperson of Country Bird, one of the top three chicken producers in South Africa.

Chicken thighs and drumsticks are referred to as "brown meat" in the industry and are not the preferred cuts of consumers, especially in Europe. They prefer "white meat" (breast portions), which results in unwanted brown meat being dumped in third world countries.

Stander believed that stopping imports will allow the South African economy to grow.

"At present, only the middle men (importers) are benefiting and the [South African] industry is dying," he remarked.

- Sunday Tribune
'We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed.'

'The message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.'

'The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.'

'We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.'

Ambassador Gautam Bambawale is one of India's most accomplished and cerebral diplomats.

As India's high commissioner in Islamabad in 2016-2017, he dealt with Pakistan during three turbulent crises -- the aftermath of the Pathankot terror attack, Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav's arrest and after the Uri attack/surgical strike.

The ministry of external affairs then assigned the China specialist to Beijing where he served as our ambassador till he retired from the Indian Foreign Service last year.

His assessment -- 'India-China Relations: Doklam to Wuhan and Beyond' -- which Rediff.com proudly published on Saturday is a MUST READ.

What are India's diplomatic options after last week's air strikes?

Can India isolate Pakistan on the global stage?

Will China consent to supporting India's resolution at the United Nations to outlaw the Jaish e Mohammad's Masood Azhar a global terrorist?

To secure his insights on these and other foreign policy issues vis-a-vis Pakistan, Rediff.com's Archana Masih spoke to Ambassador Bambawale. A rare and exclusive interview.

Now that the cannons have hopefully gone silent for a while, what are the diplomatic steps you believe India should take on the Pakistan front?

The first thing we have to keep in mind is the reason for the spurt of activity that happened over the last few days -- and the reason for that was the terrorist attack in Pulwama in J&K.

The basic point that we are still pressing on Pakistan is to give up State sponsored terrorism which is aimed at India.

So until Pakistan stops providing support and financing to terrorists who are aimed at India, we will have cycles of what we have seen.

The key takeaway is that Pakistan must see the light of day and stop aiding and abetting terrorism across the border aimed at us.

I think there will have to be a combination of diplomatic and non-diplomatic steps.

The first diplomatic step is that we must continue with the efforts that are being made to put Masood Azhar on the UN's 1267 sanctions list.

Secondly, understand that terrorism is not going to end by undertaking the air strikes in 2019.

This is going to continue -- we need to have better intelligence and we need to prepare ourselves better for facing such attacks in the future too.

Do you think China will ever allow the UN resolution declaring Masood Azhar a global terrorist to go through? You dealt with the Chinese on this aspect -- how do you account for their reluctance to support India on this issue?

On this question, we need to be a little bit transactional with China.

What I mean is that if you just think back a little, last year we did manage to convince China to let the grey listing of Pakistan in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to move ahead.

They let the grey listing move ahead and we in return did something that they would have liked us and wanted us to do for them.

We need to find a kind of deal that we can do with China where China's own national interests are met. Then I feel they would let this listing of Masood Azhar move ahead in the UN.

IMAGE: Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Prime Minister Imran Khan. Photograph: @pid_gov/Twitter

Prime Minister Imran Khan has spoken about a dialogue with India. Do you believe that talks will have to wait till after the general election and a new government is in place in New Delhi?

Even if a government in New Delhi were to consider a dialogue with Pakistan, it won't be possible till July or August, if not later.

How then do we keep the peace in the region?

That's a very good question. I would like to give Imran Khan, the current Pakistan prime minister, the benefit of the doubt. I would like to assume that he means what he says.

Unfortunately, the reality in Pakistan as we all know is that the India policy is run by the military authorities or by the Pakistan army.

I think it is a question of how much Prime Minister Imran Khan can convince the Pakistan army to walk the talk. To do everything that he has promised to do.

I will give you an example: When the Pulwama attack happened, the prime minister (Imran Khan) suggested that India hand over all the evidence that we have that Jaish-e-Mohammad was involved in this attack to them.

Since then, we have done that. What I would like to point out is that on the face of it, it seems like a very balanced and a logical thing to ask.

But when you look back, we have seen that previous prime ministers of Pakistan have asked for evidence. We have given them enough evidence after the Mumbai attacks on 26/11, especially the evidence provided to us by Ajmal Kasab.

More recently in 2016, we allowed their special investigation team to actually visit Pathankot after the Jaish attack on the air force base. But all that evidence and information that we have given has come to nought.

If you look at it in the long term perspective, you can understand why India is not convinced when Prime Minister Imran Khan or Pakistan once again says give more evidence about this particular attack.

We are not convinced that it will go anywhere or move anywhere.

That is why I keep saying that Imran Khan may be well meaning, but the question is can he walk the talk?

There is talk that India must isolate Pakistan on the world stage. Do you think it is possible to isolate Pakistan that has an all weather friend like China?

You are absolutely right when you say that they have an all weather friend like China. There is a strategic partnership between China and Pakistan because of which they stay close together.

Pakistan has also other friends in the Middle East whether it is Saudi Arabia or Turkey.

When we say we want to isolate them, we don't mean that each and every country and all countries should not have anything to do with them.

But there should be a general feeling amongst the international community that Pakistan is the source of terrorism at least aimed at India -- and in some cases aimed at other countries also.

Iran and Afghanistan are complaining about the same thing.

As India's high commissioner in Pakistan, you dealt with the Pakistani foreign ministry at difficult times -- Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav's arrest and after the Uri attack. How difficult is it to deal with the Pakistanis?

You are absolutely right, I went through those two experiences. In our interactions with Pakistan, we always talked to the ministry of foreign affairs.

If and when required, I could always request for a meeting with the foreign secretary or even higher up if necessary.

But the question which arises once again was that the foreign ministry was not in full control of many unfolding events.

The control lay somewhere else and by somewhere else I mean the Pakistan army.

Therefore, in my interactions with Pakistan, not just the civilian government, but also with the military authorities, I used to very often tell them, that when we have diplomatic interaction between the embassy and the authorities in Pakistan, why don't you have a military person around too?

So that the person would be able to provide many more answers than were available to the civilian authorities.

If and when we sit across the table, maybe the Pakistan army should also be represented. They need not do the negotiations, but they can provide their own side of what are the facts and what are the red lines they do not want crossed.

Does the Pakistan foreign ministry give the same treatment to other countries also?

No. I think this happens with some of the major countries. For example, the diplomats from the United States used to tell us that very often the civilian authorities of Pakistan are not aware of certain things.

But in their case, they are also in touch with the Pakistan army. Wherein in our case, we are only in touch with the civilians. We do not really get access or have interactions with them (the Pakistan army).

So that is the difference.

How different is it dealing with Chinese diplomats?

In China, the Chinese foreign ministry works very closely with other parts of the government including the military. They are fully aware of issues and of recent events and developments.

So when you interact with the foreign ministry of China they have all the answers. They know everything what is happening on a particular subject.

What do you think of China's reaction after the air strikes?

I think the reaction that we have seen by the Chinese foreign minister (Wang Yi) when the External Affairs Minister, Madam Sushma Swaraj, was in Wuzhen for the India-Russia-China trilateral meeting is a step forward.

He has very clearly articulated China's position that the breeding ground of terror should be attacked and should not be left by itself.

China's position is that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is a bad thing. In the western part of China, especially the Muslim majority Xinjiang province, there are issues of terrorism.

So I felt that the position that the Chinese foreign minister took was a forward movement than the position taken earlier.

But having said that, you are abosultely right, I don't think that means that they will allow the Masood Azhar listing to move ahead easily unless we are able to persuade them and do a deal or some kind of bargain with them.

There has been no official communication about the damage assessment and there are conflicting reports on number of terrorists killed in Balakot. Why do you think so?

The way I look at it is as follows -- there is very little doubt that an air strike did take place at Balakot and there is damage to some of the facilities available.

We could quibble with each other whether there were 25 terrorists killed or 250 killed. Sure, that's a question that we can argue about.

I think the message is more that India undertook such an aerial attack and this attack has actually changed the paradigm.

The change in paradigm is that India has shown by the surgical strike in 2016 and the aerial strike of 2019 that we will not just sit back and tolerate terrorism which killed so many of our people.

We will hit back and by hitting back we will raise the costs of such activities.

What do you make of United States National Security Adviser John Bolton's statement that India has a right to defend itself? Would it indicate that the US understood India's need for retaliation for the Pulwama massacre?

More than John Bolton and the United States, many other countries have implicitly said the same things.

When you look at the statement put out by the foreign secretary (Vijay Keshav Gokhale) about the aerial attack of Balakot, he said very clearly that we had credible intelligence that Jaish-e-Mohammad was planning further fidayeen attacks in India. Not just in J&K, but across India.

In such a situation, it is incumbent on the government to take pre-emptive action and that is exactly what was done.

India has the right and responsibility to protect Indian citizens from attacks about which we have credible intelligence. That is exactly what has happened and that is exactly what we have undertaken.

The US and other countries like France, UK, Australia have all agreed that India has the right to protect its citizens. Especially when it has actionable intelligence about possible further terror attacks.

In this case, I think the US did see that it was imperative for India to act in the interest of its citizens and I am happy about it.

There is a belief that peace in Afghanistan will bring the barbarians to India's gates, encourage Islamic terrorists to foment trouble not only in Kashmir, but perhaps in the rest of India. What are the security challenges India must be prepared for in the months to come?

We only have to look back at what happened when the Taliban was in office between 1996-2001. There was an upsurge in terrorist activity across the region.

If this was to happen again, there is very little doubt amongst all of us who study that region that there will be a similar kind of upsurge in terrorism across the region and perhaps across the world.

This possibility of a withdrawal and leaving Afghanistan to these kind of forces would be bad for all of us who live in this region.

What are the challenges that confront Indian diplomats who serve in Islamabad?

Serving in Islamabad always has its pressures. You have to be very careful about how you live and work in Islamabad. That is something that every person assigned to our high commission in Islamabad is trained for and prepared for.

You have to prepare yourself mentally and otherwise for an assignment there, but we very willingly have been able to serve in Islamabad and very happy to go there if our country asks for it.

In the course of his duties, Wing Commander Abhinandan ejected on the other side and we know that is a casualty that can happen. Similar for us diplomats.

We know that we have signed on to serve India anywhere in the world and when we are posted to Islamabad it is an honour to serve our country.
Cong MLA Umesh Jadhav resigns from assembly

Dealing a blow to the ruling coalition in Karnataka, rebel Congress MLA Umesh Jadhav on Monday submitted his resignation from the state assembly to Speaker Ramesh Kumar, amid reports that he might join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Jadhav, who sided with the rebel faction led by Ramesh Jarkiholi which threatened to topple the JD(S)-Congress coalition government recently, is a two-time MLA from Chincholi in Kalburagi district, a bastion of senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge.

The MLA met the Speaker and submitted his resignation, secretariat sources said.

Sources close to Jadhav told PTI he intends to join the BJP on Wednesday.

Jadhav is reportedly being considered by the BJP to be fielded against Congress veteran Kharge from Kalaburgi constituency in the Lok Sabha polls.

The MLA was reportedly unhappy with the 'autocratic' style of Social Welfare Minister Priyank Kharge, son of Mallikarjun Kharge.

Jadhav was among the four MLAs -- Ramesh Jarkiholi, B Nagendra and Mahesh Kumathali -- who were reported to be in touch with the BJP, which was accused of trying to poach the MLAs to bring down the JD(S)-Congress government recently.

The four lawmakers, who had gone missing for several weeks amid political turmoil, had surfaced in Bengaluru on February 13, two days after the party recommended their disqualification to the assembly Speaker.

The four MLAs had kept the party on tenterhooks for several weeks, defying its whip twice to attend the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meetings on January 18 and February 8 and had been skipping the assembly Budget Session.

After the MLAs refused to fall in line, the Congress had petitioned Speaker to disqualify them under the Anti-Defection Law.

Commenting on Jadhav's resignation, Dinesh Gundu Rao said he was enacting a 'drama' by promising to remain loyal to the party.

"He shouldn't forget that whatever he's today is because of Congress. Anyone can come and go but the party will remain forever," Rao told reporters.

He asserted that the other Congress MLAs will remain with the party.

KPCC working president Eshwar Khandre said Jadhav had 'ruined his career' by quitting the party as the Speaker is yet to take a decision on his disqualification.

"Once disqualified, he cannot contest elections," Khandre said.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated sharply after India carried out air strikes in Pakistans Balakot area targetting the Jaish-e-Mohammed's terror camps last week, and with Pakistan violating India's air space the very next day a small-scale conflict seemed very real before both countries pulled back.

Amid the tensions, here is how the two countries stack up militarily, according to a report in AlJazeera.com.

BUDGETS

IMAGE: India's military accounted for 9.1 per cent of the government spending whereas Pakistan spent a whopping 16 per cent on its armed forces. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, India in 2018 allocated Rs 4 trillion rupees ($58 billion), or 2.1 per cent to support its 1.4 million active troops.

Pakistan, on the other hand, spent 1.26 trillion Pakistani rupees ($11 billion), about 3.6 per cent of its GDP, on its 653,800 troops. It also received $100 million in foreign military assistance in 2018.

Additionally, estimates from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute showed that the Pakistani military accounted for 16.7 per cent of government spending in 2017. In comparison, Indias spending as a percentage of its government expenditure was 9.1 per cent for the same period.

MISSILES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS

IMAGE: India has a sizeable arsenal of missiles, which also includes the Agni. Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters

India has nine types of operational missiles, including the Agni-3 with a range of 3,000 km to 5,000 km. Pakistan's missile programme, which has been built with Chinese assistance, includes mobile short-and medium-range weapons that can reach any part of India.

Both countries are nuclear-capable, with India having 130-140 warheads whereas Pakistan has 140 to 150.

ARMY



IMAGE: The Indian Army is 1.2 million strong. Pakistan's is comparably smaller, with 5,60,000 troops. Photograph: Akhtar Soomro/Reuters

The Indian Army is 1.2 million strong. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Indian Army also has in its arsenal 3,565 battle tanks, 3,100 infantry fighting vehicles, 336 armoured personnel carriers and 9,719 pieces of artillery.

With 5,60,000 troops, the Pakistani army is smaller in size and is backed by 2,496 tanks, 1,605 armoured personnel carriers, and 4,472 artillery guns, including 375 self-propelled howitzers.

AIR FORCE

IMAGE: India's Air Force fighter fleet is bigger than Pakistan's. However, it has several older jets such as the Sukhoi-30. Many experts state that India needs to revamp its combat jet fleet to be more efficient. Photograph: B Mathur/Reuters

The Indian Air Force consists of 1,27,200 personnel and 814 combat jets. Pakistan, on the other hand, has 425 combat aircraft.

However, there are serious concerns about India's fighter jet fleet -- which still has older Russian jets such as the MiG-21, the one flown by Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman when he was shot down last week.

Pakistan's fleet consists of Chinese-origin F-7PG and American F-16 Fighting Falcon jets.

The IISS also noted that Pakistan has seven airborne early warning and control aircraft, three more than India.

NAVY

IMAGE: Indian Navy's warship INS Kolkata is lined up with other warships. Photograph: Shailesh Andrade/Reuters

When it comes to naval power, India is much stronger. It has 16 submarines, 14 destroyers, 13 frigates, 106 patrol and coastal combatant vessels, and 75 combat-capable aircraft.

Compare this to Pakistan which has 9 frigates, 8 submarines, 17 patrol and coastal vessels, and 8 combat-capable aircraft.
The Mirage 2000 aircraft 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.

The Indian Air Force's massive, planned day-night exercise in Rajasthan's Pokhran desert close to the Pakistan border on February 16 underwent certain changes in its format following the Pulwama attack after the government considered an air strike option across the Line of Control which was carried out 10 days later, official sources said on Monday.

The exercise 'Vayu Shakti' involving over 140 fighter jets, military helicopters as well as a variety of missiles demonstrated the capability for short notice missions with pinpoint accuracy.

Though it was a pre-scheduled exercise, the IAF top brass knew the government was considering using the air power to avenge the Pulwama attack on February 14, making the drill a dress rehearsal for aerial strike to target Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, top government sources said on Monday.

They said the IAF even incorporated certain changes in the format of the exercise after receiving an indication from the government about a possible role for the force to carry out a strike across the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

10 days later, in a well coordinated operation, a fleet of 12 Mirage 2000 aircraft supported by other platforms struck inside Pakistan, targeting the biggest terrorist training camp of JeM, which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack in which 41 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed.

The IAF got the indication that the government may likely task the air force for a precision strike targeting a Pakistan-based terror outfit, the sources said.

In his address at the inauguration of the exercise, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa had said the IAF was ever prepared to deliver 'appropriate response' as assigned by India's political leadership.

From his speech, it was not clear, then, whether IAF was considering such a strike on Pakistani soil.

At the exercise, a fleet of Mirage 2000 aircraft had demonstrated its capability to smash enemy assets.

The Mirage 2000 aircraft used in the strike on JeM terror 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.

The IAF hit the JeM training facility using S-2000 precision-guided bombs fired from the Mirage-2000 fighter jets.

The sources said the strike produced intended results.
Indias most wanted terrorist and Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar is alive, a Pakistani media report said, quoting unnamed sources close to his family.

The media reports claiming that JeM leader is dead are false, Geo Urdu News reported.

The report came amid speculation on social media that JeM founder has died.

However, there was no official confirmation.

Quoting unnamed sources close to the family of the JeM chief, the channel said Azhar is alive, without elaborating on his health condition.

There was no official word on Azhars fate from the Pakistan government.

I dont know anything at this moment, Pakistans Federal Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, when asked about media reports claiming death of Azhar.

A resident of Bahawalpur in Pakistans Punjab province, Azhar formed the Jaish-e-Mohammed in 2000.

The 50-year-old Azhar, who was released by the National Democratic Alliance government in 1999 in exchange of hostages of the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814, has been accused of being the mastermind of the 2001 Parliament attack, suicide attack on Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, attack on Pathankot Indian Air Force base and the latest Pulwama terror strike.

Meanwhile, Intelligence agencies in New Delhi were trying to ascertain reports on the social media about the death of Azhar in Pakistan.

The Indian officials said they had no information other than that Azhar was undergoing treatment at an army hospital after suffering renal failure.

Jaish terror groups Balakot camp, where training was imparted to recruits to carry out suicide attacks, was targeted by the IAF in an air strike last week, following the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.

The Indian government has claimed that it achieved a spectacular success by destroying the facility.

In an interview to CNN, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi earlier admitted that the JeM chief is in his country and is very unwell, but said the government can act against him only if India presents solid and inalienable evidence that can stand in a court of law.

He is in Pakistan, according to my information. He is unwell to the extent that he cant leave his house, because hes really unwell, Qureshi said.

The United States, the United Kingdom and France last week moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The proposal was moved on Wednesday by the three permanent veto-wielding members of the 15-nation Security Council. The Security Council Sanctions Committee will have 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three permanent members.
Former union minster and Congress leader Salman Khurshid said Indian Air Force pilot Abhinandan Varthaman earned his flying badge in 2004 and matured as a fighter pilot during the United Progressive Alliance rule, remarks which attracted criticism on the social media.

Many kudos for Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, the face of Indias resistance to enemy aggression. Great poise and confidence in face of adversity. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA, Khurshid tweeted on Saturday.

After attracting criticism on the social media for taking credit, Khurshid on Sunday said that he had only stated the truth.

I had said that he (the pilot) joined the IAF during our tenure. I had only stated the truth, he told reporters.

After being held in captivity for nearly 60 hours, Wing Commander Abhinandan was released by Pakistan and handed over to India at the Attari-Wagah border on Friday night.

Days after Pulwama attack of February 14, which left 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel dead, the Indian Air Force carried out an air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp inside Pakistan.

Pakistan retaliated by attempting to bomb Indian military installations on Wednesday morning. The attempt was foiled by the Indian Air Force. In an ensuing dogfight, Varthamans MiG-21 was shot down after he brought down a Pakistani F-16 fighter jet.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday hinted that his country may not oppose a joint move by France, Britain and the United States in the United Nations Security Council to list Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"Time has come for Pakistan to decide in its own interests. We will do what's in Pakistan's interests," Qureshi told Geo TV in an interview.

Last week, the US, the United Kingdom and France moved a fresh proposal in the UN Security Council to designate Azhar as a global terrorist, a listing that will subject him to global travel ban, asset freeze and arms embargo.

The Security Council Sanctions Committee has 10 working days to consider the fresh proposal submitted by the three members. It is the fourth such bid at the UN in the last 10 years to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

When asked whether Pakistan will request its close ally China to veto the resolution once again in the UNSC, Qureshi said his government will try to build a consensus among all parties and do what's in Pakistan's interests.

"We have some global commitments...We will have to take action which doesn't harm our global reputation," he said, without elaborating.

Describing the situation following the Pulwama terror attack as a 'defining moment' for Pakistan, he said Pakistan doesn't want to go for a war with India.

"We want peace. Our people want jobs, they want reforms in institutions, they want us to crackdown on corruption...," he added.

In 2009, India moved a proposal to designate Azhar, whose UN-proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the suicide attack against Indian security forces in Pulwama on February 14 in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed.

In 2016 again, India moved the proposal with the P3 -- the US, the UK and France in the UN's 1267 Sanctions Committee to ban Azhar, also the mastermind of the attack on the air base in Pathankot in January, 2016.

In 2017, the P3 nations moved a similar proposal again. However, on all occasions, China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, blocked India's proposal from being adopted by the Sanctions Committee.

It remains to be seen how China will vote on the proposal this time.

India has strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including Azhar, as designated terrorists under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

Tensions between India and Pakistan flared up after a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based JeM killed 41 CRPF personnel in Kashmir on February 14. India Wednesday handed over to Pakistan a dossier on "specific details" of involvement of JeM in the attack.

When asked about the dossier on JeM handed over by India, Qureshi said, "We are examining it and we will respond accordingly."

According to a top government source here, Pakistan has decided to launch a crackdown on terror outfits, including JeM and its chief Azhar, in order to de-escalate the tensions with India and the action is 'expected any time soon'.

Pakistan Monday promulgated a law to streamline the procedure for the implementation of the UN sanctions against individuals and organisations, amid mounting pressure from the global community to rein in the terror groups operating on its soil and curb their financing.
There were 66 women members of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha, i.e. 12.45 per cent of the Lok Sabha MPs were women.

In India, there is a wide gender gap in politics and powerful women political personalities can be counted on fingers.

In 2014 parliamentary elections, for 543 constituencies 661 women contested, out of which 144 were from national parties, 150 from state parties, 163 from unrecognised parties and the remaining 204 women contested independently.

Out of the 144 contesting on a national parties' tickets, only 35 won.

Out of 150 contesting on state parties' tickets, only 23 won the seats.

Likewise, out of 163 women contesting from unrecognised parties, only three won, while none of the Independents could secure a seat in the Lok Sabha and also forfeited their deposits.

Party-wise women candidates

The chart above shows the number of women contesting from various national and state parties.

The highest number of candidates were from the Indian National Congress, with a total of 59 women contesting out of whom four won, 31 lost and 24 forfeited deposits.

The highest number of successful candidates were from the Bharathiya Janata Party, where 29 out of 37 contestants won their seats.

Constituency-wise vote share of women candidates

The above map shows the vote share secured by all the women contesting in each constituency.

For each constituency, we have added the vote share secured by all the women candidates contesting the election.

Also, the status of candidate securing the largest vote share has been shown.

Vote share of successful women candidates

The above map shows the vote share secured by successful women candidates in the 2014 elections.

With 76.67 per cent, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, BJP candidate from Surat, recorded the largest vote share.

She was followed by BJP's Sushma Swaraj (Vidisha) and Sumitra Mahajan (Indore) with a vote share of 67.21 per cent and 65.22 per cent respectively.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi claimed the fourth place with 64.22 per cent vote share in her stronghold Rae Bereli.

For more data-related stories, go to REDIFF LABS
IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a public rally in Jamnagar on Monday.. Photograph: ANI Photo

Asking opposition parties to use common sense, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday slammed them for questioning his statement that the presence of Rafale fighter jets would have given greater firepower to the Indian Air Force during the February 27 aerial engagement with Pakistan.

As the political dogfight over Modi's remarks escalated with the Congress demanding an apology from him for trying to portray the Indian Air Force as being weaker without Rafale, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa declined to comment on the statement that the French jets would have made a difference.

Mind occupied with Pak: PM after 'Karachi-Kochi' mix-up Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday got 'Kochi' in Kerala and 'Karachi' in Pakistan mixed up in a slip of the tongue but quickly covered it up by saying that his mind these days is preoccupied with the neighbouring country. Extolling the virtues of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, Modi said it allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country, be it 'Kolkata' or 'Karachi'. Almost in the same breath, the PM set things right by telling the gathering he meant 'Kochi' and not 'Karachi'. "Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if a resident of Jamangar has gone to Bhopal and falls sick, he need not come back to Jamnagar for treatment. If he shows his (Ayushman Bharat) beneficiary card, he will get free treatment even in Kolkata and even in Karachi," Modi told a gathering in Jamnagar. He, however, added, "Not Karachi but Kochi. Nowadays my mind is preoccupied with the thoughts of the neighbouring country." "But that (air strike in Pakistan) was also necessary. Should that be done or not?" he posed to the crowd which replied its assent with a round of applause.

"I said if Rafale was acquired in time it would have made a difference (during the February 27 dogfight), but they (opposition parties) say Modi is questioning our air force strike," Modi said, addressing a gathering in Jamnagar in Gujarat.

"Please use common sense. What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added.

India lost one MiG 21 jet during the fierce dogfight in which one F-16 warplane of Pakistan Air Force(PAF) was also shot down.

"If they(opposition) don't understand me what can I do. They have their own limitations," he told the audience during his 40-minute speech rendered in Gujarati.

Congress spokesperson R P N Singh accused the prime minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leadership of politicising the air strikes and said Modi should apologise to the country for trying to portray the IAF as being weaker without Rafale.

"Here is the prime minister, who says that the Air Force would have been much stronger if we had Rafale (fighter jets). We would like the prime minister to apologize for saying that.....

"The prime minister has tried to show that the Air Force is weaker because it does not have Rafale. We would like him to apologise for saying so because the Indian Air Force has always protected our skies and given a befitting reply, whenever it has been attacked by the Pakistanis," Singh told reporters in Delhi.

The Congress on Sunday claimed that Modi has himself 'questioned' the anti-terror air strike in Balakot in Pakistan on February 26 by his remarks that the country is feeling the absence of Rafale jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"The prime minister has himself questioned the air strike. He said had the Rafale jets been there (with the IAF), the results would have been different. What is the meaning of this?" Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told a press conference in Delhi.

Modi had on Saturday hit out at the opposition for doubting the armed forces on the anti-terror air strike in Pakistan and said the country was feeling the absence of Rafale fighter jets as the results could have been different if India had these aircraft.

"India is feeling the absence of Rafale. The entire country is saying in one voice today, if we had Rafale probably the result would have been different. The country has suffered a lot due to selfish interests earlier and now politics over Rafale," he had said at the India Today Conclave.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa told reporters in Coimbatore that the Rafale fighters should come into India's inventory by September.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."

Eventually, Jaguar, MiG-29, and Mirage 2000 aircraft will be replaced by Tejas Mk-2 and then the 'next step' will be on Advanced Medium Combat Aircrafts, he said.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable.

"It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," said the IAF chief.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati attacked Modi for his remarks on Rafale jets, asking why the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre did not induct even one of these fighters into the IAF during its tenure.

'Rafale fighter could have proven useful in fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government's tenure. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of country's safety and security?' Mayawati said in a tweet.

The Centre and the Opposition are locked in a massive political row over the deal for procurement of 36 Rafale jets from France.

Lashing out at statements from opposition party leaders who demanded proof of the February 26 air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, Modi said his objective was to end terror while that of the opposition was to remove him.

"The root of terrorism disease is in the neighbouring country, should we not cure the disease from its roots," he said.

"Even if mentors of those seeking to destroy India are outside, this country won't sit quietly," he said in his address after inaugurating an annexe building of Guru Govind Singh hospital and various other development works.

Modi also flagged off the Bandra-Jamnagar Humsafar Express and launched development projects, including the 51-km pipeline from Aaji-3 to Khijadia.

He said structural and long-term measures are required to overcome the challenges faced by the country, instead of poorly thought out short term ones.

Hospitals that have come up in the past few years in Gujarat will greatly benefit the poor, he said. The Ayushman Bharat scheme rolled out by the Union Government will ensure affordable and quality healthcare for the poor, he added.

Modi lauded water conservation measures adopted by the Gujarat government. The government has big plans to provide water to people by establishing big desalination plants, he said.

Slamming the Congress, Modi said the party's programme was to announce farm loan waiver every ten years and collect votes by fooling people.

"Our government will give direct financial assistance to farmers every year. When Rs 75,000 crore will go to rural economy every year it will have a positive impact," Modi said.

Modi also said he will find out those responsible for terror acts in India 'even if they hide in the bowels of the earth'.

He asked the opposition not to malign India's armed forces.

"What our opposition leaders say become headlines in Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said.

In a veiled reference to India's air strike in Pakistan, Modi said, "If one work gets over, our government doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another."

"We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and bitter decisions," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at Ahmedabad civil hospital, Modi said, "Should not those sitting in Delhi at that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."
Photograph: / Rediff.com IMAGE: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the launch of a Kalashnikov rifles manufacturing facility in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Narendra Modi government has been able to resolve vexed issues related to the welfare of the armed forces because it believes in real action rather than mere tokenism.

"Issues like one rank one pension (OROP) or a national war memorial which had been hanging fire for decades were picked up and resolved at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi because we believe in real action and not in mere tokenism like previous governments," Sitharaman said addressing ex-servicemen and family members of soldiers who had died fighting for the country.

As announced by Union Minister Piyush Goel in Parliament, while Rs 35,000 crore have already been paid to the beneficiaries under OROP, an annual budgetry provision of Rs 8,000 crore has been made for payments under OROP in the interim budget, she said adding 'this is what happens when real action replaces mere tokenism'.

"It was a huge task which was accomplished despite all odds in two years. So far all arrears under OROP have been paid in four instalments," she said.

Alleging that lies are being spread through social media platforms to mislead the armed forces about welfare measures related to them, she said if they have any doubt about a scheme, they should ask her directly through email or their MPs.

Citing another example to buttress her argument about the government being serious about issues pending for decades, she said the country did not have a national war memorial despite fighting four major wars since independence.

"The Modi government dedicated a national war memorial to the country last month. What could not happen in 70 years, has been done in five years," she said.

Claiming that the Centre was sensitive to problems faced by armed forces personnel, the Defence Minister said it has been decided to give women permanent commission in the Army, Navy and the Air Force like their male counterparts.

Three 200-bed multi-speciality hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Sciences are going to be opened under the ex-servicemen contributory health scheme (ECHS) while the minimum pension for retired armed forces personnel has been revised from Rs 10,000 to Rs 18,000.

She said her ministry had also decided not to go in appeal if the Armed Forces Tribunal certified disability of a soldier.

"Those busy spreading myths on the social media platforms about schemes related to the armed forces should look straight into our eyes if they have the guts and ask us what is it that we did not do," she said.

The Minister also said coming to Uttarakhand is always a great experience for her as it is the land of brave soldiers who don't hesitate in laying down their lives for the sake of their country.

"I derive great motivation from the people of Uttarakhand. It has such a character. Not only its men but its women too are equally brave. Its women fought for statehood while its men guarded the country's frontiers," she said.

The defence minister honoured 15 wives and mothers of deceased soldiers.

She also laid the foundation stone of a drinking water project in Clement Town.






Aviagen SweChick hosts two-day conference in Sweden

On February 14-15, Aviagen SweChick hosted a two-day conference that focused on the latest techniques and developments in flock management.

Taking place in Helsingborg, Sweden, the event welcomed parent stock customers from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland. Delegates were offered a wide variety of presentations and workshops on the various aspects of flock management from Aviagen experts and guest speakers.



"This is a bi-annual event aimed at networking and sharing ideas so as to achieve top performance," said Thomas Carlson, Aviagen SweChick's general manager.



"Pooling experiences at a conference such as this is invaluable for driving our continuous improvement and development. It also gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our loyalty and dedication to customers."

The conference attracted 54 delegates representing nine Aviagen SweChick PS customers, with delegates coming from hatcheries and farms throughout Scandinavia to participate in talks and workshops on a variety of flock management subjects. The subjects included the latest on-farm technologies, egg storage, lighting, gut health and nutrition.

"On the second day of the event, we presented individual hatchery and farming sessions to dedicated groups with a special interest in each subject," said Carlson. "Feedback from delegates indicated that this tailor-made approach to the conference was invaluable in answering delegates' specific needs."

Paulina Wahlgren of SweHatch commented: "The reason for my attendance at this event was to gain knowledge to enhance production results for my company and to network with fellow Aviagen SweChick customers so (that) we can share ideas and experience. It was really helpful to get a more in-depth understanding of GP production results in Sweden and how our supplier deals with challenges and overcomes them successfully."

- Aviagen
Sidestepping a raging debate on the number of casualties in the Balakot strike, Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa on Monday said it is for the government to provide details on the terrorists killed and the Air Force only sees if a target has been hit or not.

The Air Force doesn't count human casualties, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said as the figure of how many terrorists were killed in the February 26 attack on a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Balakot in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province remained unclear.

Government sources said up to 350 terrorists were killed, BJP president Amit Shah put the toll at 250, some media reports indicated the damage was minimal and opposition leaders clamoured for clarity. But there has been no official statement so far.

"We don't count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said in his first comments since the events of last week, when escalating India-Pakistan tensions led to aerial combat and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman being in captivity in Pakistan for almost three days.

WATCH: Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa on Mig-21 Bison

The air chief told reporters the IAF pilot would fly a fighter jet if he was fit.

"We don't take chances with the medical fitness of a pilot," he said at a press conference.

Wing Commander Varthaman, who ejected from his MiG 21 Bison on February 27, was captured by Pakistan and released on March 1.

Discussing the Balakot strike, 12 days after the February 14 attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Pulwama in which 41 soldiers were killed, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said the Air Force is not in a position to clarify how many people were inside.

The bomb damage assessment that is done post a mission only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, the air chief noted.

We can't count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, adding that a statement on the number of terrorists killed will be made by the government.

Asked about reports suggesting that the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said, "Our report says otherwise."

Referring to Pakistan using F-16 aircraft in its offensive against India last week, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, "I don't know what is the end-user agreement between America and Pakistan. If the end-user agreement was that they will not use it for offensive purposes, then I think they have violated that end-user agreement."

India, he said, has pieces of the AMRAAM missile which it displayed.

"Obviously, I think they have lost a F-16 aircraft in that combat. So, obviously, they have been using that aircraft against us," he added.

According to him, had the IAF dropped bombs in a jungle at Balakot there would have been no need for Pakistan to respond.

"The target has been clearly amplified by the foreign secretary in his statement. And, of course, if we plan to hit the target, we hit the target. Otherwise, why would he (Pakistan) have responded," he said.

The Rafale jet should come into India's inventory by September, the Air Force chief said.

"Yes, we have a plan for inducting new aircraft and that is why we have signed contract for 36 Rafale jets."

Eventually, Jaguar, MiG29, and Mirage 2000 aircraft will be replaced by Tejas Mk-2 and then the next step will be on Advanced Medium Combat Aircrafts, he said.

Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa declined to comment on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that Rafale jets would have a made a difference.

When an adversary attacks you, every aircraft is used, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, adding that the MiG 21 jet used in the dog fight with Pakistan is an upgraded aircraft with advanced weapons system.

"The MiG 21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it?...I will not comment on the ongoing operation because they are still ongoing. MIG-21 Bison is capable. It has been upgraded... It has got a better weapons system, better radars, better air-to-air missiles... whatever it takes to make it from third generation to 3.5 generation (aircraft) or so," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa told reporters.

Though he could not comment on the politics, he said he was happy Abhinandan was home, he said.

"Whether he flies again or not depends on his medical fitness. That is why post ejection, he has undergone a medical check. Thereafter, whatever treatment is required, we have given to him. Once he gets his medical fitness, then only will he get into a fighter cockpit," Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said.

The Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa said, has to get its act together and find out what caused the mid-air clash ahead of the opening of the Bengaluru air show on February 19 and helicopter crash in Kashmir last week.

The lack of clarity over the Balakot issue is rapidly snowballing into a political issue with opposition leaders, including from the Congress, asking for a statement.

On Sunday, Shah said at a rally in Ahmedabad, "After Pulwama attack, everyone was thinking that we can't do surgical strike so what will happen...But Narendra Modi government, on the 13th day (after the attack), conducted air strikes and killed more than 250 terrorists."
'The Air Force rules the skies.'

Wing Commander K Dinesh (retd) recounts an encounter at Mumbai airport.

IMAGE: Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman with Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman at the Air Force Central Medical Establishment, March 2, 2019.

On Sunday, March 3, morning, I experienced first hand a proud moment at Mumbai airport.

I was on my way to Coimbatore to attend a ceremony where the President of India was to award colours to my past IAF unit -- 5 Base Repair Depot -- on Monday morning.

While scanning my carry on luggage, the CISF staff saw on his screen the scanned image of my chest medals in my bag. I was carrying my medals and uniform items to wear at the Presidential function.

He walked up to me and with a sense of pride said, "Saab, maine scan mein dekha ki bahut sare medal hain aap ke paas, aap Army se hain? (I saw a lot of medals when I was scanning your luggage. Are you from the army?)".

I said "Mein Bharatiya Vayu Sena ka Wing Commander hoon (I am a Wing Commander from the Indian Air Force)".

His chest swelled up and his facial expression changed.

I could see his elevated and absolute sense of pride when he said "Air Force to cha gayi hai Sir. Wing Commander Abhinandan ne to Air Force aur desh ka naam roshan kar diya (The Air Force rules the skies. Wing Commander Abhinandan has made the Air Force and the Nation proud)."

For me, it is a matter of great pride to hear these word from personnel of yet another combat force like the CISF.

IAF rocks! Our Armed Forces rocks!! Our Paramilitary forces also rocks!!! Our police forces Rock .... and to top it all ...Bharat rocks !!!!*

Rediff.com featured Wing Commander K Dinesh here.

His wife Indu Nair was from the second batch of lady pilots to join the Indian Air Force and flew during the Kargil War.
'Rajan epitomised the best of his generation -- veneration for knowledge, for old fashioned morality of honesty and modesty.'

Economist Devaki Jain, Padma Bhushan, salutes her brother who passed into the ages last week.

IMAGE: M S Rajan, right.

My elder brother Rajan passed away last week.

He was 97 years old and an exemplar.

A civil servant, he demonstrated a complex of virtues -- often invisible, neglected -- setting the moral code for what can be called the 'good' life.

Currently, the 'good life' is associated with life styles of comfortable living, mostly consumer goods levels, incomes.

But as philosophers might say, a good life is one lived with impeccable honesty, resistance to incentives, opportunities to engage in injustices for personal satisfaction.

He lived it all.

And in the midst of being a Tamil Brahmin -- a much abused derided social group, the ugly Tam brahm, to use colloquial terminology -- went deep into Sanskrit texts, and churned them, drawing the essence of its values, not practices.

In revitalising the Sanskrit academy in Melkote, Thirunarayanapuram, in Mandya district, Karnataka, he brought out the reasoning, the logician's grammar, not religion.

One up on Aristotle.

He had always been drawn to Sanskrit, a language he had to study for his civil service exam, and also earlier in school.

So after retirement he gave his skills and his intellectual power to revive the Sanskrit Academy in Melkote, Thirunarayanapuram, as it was called.

He was attracted by the fact that it had a treasure trove of documents, books written by scholars, mainly on Tarka Shastra, logical argumentation.

Our great grandfather, Anandalwarswamy, was supposed to have been a master of this Shastra, a vidwan as they were called.

I think if genetics as described by that modern genius, Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of the brilliant book The Gene: An Intimate History, is to be believed, it was in our genes and Rajan inherited it.

He moved away from religion and its rituals and ideas to logic and philosophy more into the Upanishad type concerns and ideas.

But when he found the atmosphere at the academy polluted by the ambitiousness of the administrator, he moved out.

His partner was in full sync with him in his rejection of ritual and ensured that when he died, he was just quietly taken to a crematorium.

No puja, no mantras, no 'wake', as they call post death events.

So how did Rajan fly over or subsume this stereotyping, and draw on what can be called the essential moral code of integrity, quietness, dutiful -- picking on ancient texts as knowledge, not scriptures -- as guidelines for life and death?

He was known to be stubborn, whether as a bureaucrat or as a civilian, unyielding to suggestions to step out of line from the moral code.

Inducements to civil servants usually are from their ministers or from senior family members to use their powers to what would not come naturally, in due process.

As our mother used to say -- both admiringly as well as sometimes impatiently -- "His stubborn manner is really an irritant to your father."

But there is a kind of moroseness that being different brings.

He was different from his other three brothers, the only intellectually gifted son.

Thus, he was also in some sense lonely as he was not part of what would have been a fitting profession for him -- a teacher, a scholar, located in a university.

In the milieu in which he found himself, bureaucracy and traditional family ties, his, perhaps unspoken desires did not find an avenue for expression.

IMAGE: Devaki Jain, second from left, middle row, with journalists at the Press Club of Bangalore. Her nieces, writers Gita Aravamudan, second from right, and M D Riti, left, top, are also seen.

An MSc in physics and mathematics, Rajan joined the Mysore Civil Service, the MCS as it was called, with a second rank in the examination.

Our father M A Sreenivasan had also taken that exam some two decades earlier with a first rank.

He went through the usual ladder, of postings and promotions, transfers, as for example to be the joint secretary in the central government's ministry of information and broadcasting when Indira Gandhi was the minister for information and broadcasting (1964 to 1966).

He used to recall how interesting and stimulating it was to work with her as she carved out the design and programmes for the Republic Day celebrations which were initiated during her tenure.

He explained to me how the time table of preparations, called the drill these days, started as early as November for the event in January.

The idea of folk dances and so many other features of Republic Day celebrations, he recalled were crafted by her.

Then the usual course of professional life for a civil servant -- postings as, for example, the chief executive of the public sector enterprise, Hindustan Photo Films, located in Ooty in the Nilgiris... then deputy director of the Administrative Training Institute in Shimla... revenue commissioner, government of Karnataka.

During his tenure as revenue commissioner he pulled together three volumes on land reforms. So full of the original records and ideas, it could be called the Anatomy of Land Revenue in India.

Rajan epitomised the best of his generation -- veneration for knowledge, for old fashioned morality of honesty and modesty.

He left behind not only the bureaucracy but also institutions. He epitomised the best of traditional values, now in retreat.

His understanding of education was responsible for my being a graduate. As otherwise, the idea was to get me married, pre-puberty as was done to my immediate elder sister. The first step to my emancipation and who I am today.

I will miss you, my brother...


By WND , March . 03, 2019





The international delivery company UPS will no long deliver packages in a Muslim-majority neighborhood in Malmo, Sweden, for security reasons.





The Swedish daily newspaper Sydsvenskan reported a customer in the Rosengard district of Malmo received notice from UPS that the company no longer delivers to private addresses there because of the risk of being exposed to robbery or other crimes.

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Northwest Connecticuts Chamber of Commerce will join the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and other chambers from across the state at Connecticut Business Day on March 20 at the Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol. We invite all of our members to join us at this annual event and share your business story with lawmakers.

Legislators need to hear from the business community as they look to help employers grow the economy and create more jobs.

Check-in and networking begins at 7:30 a.m. The program will take place between 9 and 11 a.m. followed by the opportunity to meet with legislators from

Northwest Connecticut to share your successes and challenges.

There is no fee to attend. Please visit www.cbia.com to make your reservation or call the Chamber at 860-482-6586.



Job Fair coming up

Northwest CTs Chamber of Commerce is hosting the 15th annual Job Fair on Thursday, March 28, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at Torrington City Hall Auditorium, located at 140 Main Street. The fair is free and open to the public.

The goal of the Job Fair is to help job seekers and employers connect. It provides an outlet for potential workers to meet employers, employers to gather resumes, and employers to network with each other. Attendees are encouraged to bring multiple copies of their resume.

This years Job Fair will feature over 30 employers representing a wide range of industries. Companies representing opportunities in manufacturing, finance, transportation, healthcare, insurance, education and more will be exhibiting.

The Job Fair is sponsored by the City of Torrington, the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board, FM 97.3 WZBG, Connecticut Department of Labor, The Register Citizen, Republican-American, and ctjobs.com.

For more information and the list of employers, please visit the Chambers website at http://nwctchamberofcommerce.org/events-programs/job-fair/ or call the Chamber at 860-482-6586.



Check out our website at www.nwctchamberofcommerce.org for more Chamber happenings. *This institution is an equal opportunity provider*
SALISBURY  Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms by Stephanie Plunkett, Deputy Director/Chief Curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum, begins March 23 and continues on Saturdays until April 6. For informaiton and registration, go to scovillelibrary.org.

The notion of the Four Freedoms has inspired dozens of national constitutions across the globe, yet Franklin D. Roosevelts declaration that the United States was willing to fight for Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, and Freedom from Fear  now considered a sublime moment in rhetorical history  did not turn out to be the immediate triumph envisioned by the president.

As the nation found itself sliding ever closer to direct involvement in World War II, the underlying meaning of his words captured surprisingly little attention among Americans. Following his January 1941, Annual Message to Congress, government surveys showed that only half of Americans were aware of FDRs Four Freedoms and that less than a quarter could identify them correctly. Many had no clear idea why the United States was being called upon to enter the war.

It would take the continuous efforts of the White House, the Office of War Information, and scores of patriotic artists to give the Four Freedoms new life. Most prominent among those was Norman Rockwell, whose interpretations became a national sensation in early 1943 when they were first published in The Saturday Evening Post. Roosevelts words and Rockwells artworks soon became inseparable in the public consciousness, with millions of reproductions bringing the Four Freedoms directly into American homes and workplaces. When Eleanor Roosevelt convinced United Nations delegates to include these ideals in the new organizations postwar statement of human rights, FDRs wordsnow forever entwined with Rockwells imagesachieved immortality.

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett is the Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Norman Rockwell Museum. The curator of many exhibitions relating to the art of illustration includingEnduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms;

Inventing America: Rockwell and Warhol; Rockwell and Realism in an Abstract World The Unknown Hopper: Edward Hopper as Illustrator. She has held positions at Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Children's Museum, and the Heckscher Museum of Art. She leads the Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies, the first scholarly institute devoted to the study of illustration art. Expert Tips from the Golden Age of Illustration is her most recent publication.

United Way offers income tax assistance

TORRINGTON  The United Way of Northwest Connecticut is once again offering the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA, program to the public for the upcoming tax season.

The VITA program offers free tax preparation services to individuals and families with a total household income of $54,000 or less, in addition to offering service to individuals with disabilities or limited English-speaking abilities. IRS-certified volunteers will work with families and individuals in need of assistance, including help with filing tax returns, claiming refunds, and utilizing additional tax credits to benefit those filing.

Those seeking to use the program must first meet the following qualifications: a total household income of $54,000 or less; must file either 1040EZ or 1040-A tax form; cannot own a small business; cannot have itemized return; cannot complete prior years tax returns at this appointment. Anyone who has income between up to $64,000 and does not meet the above qualifications can visit MyFreeTaxes.com. This site is a partnership between H&R Block and United Way. For additional information on the VITA program or My Free Taxes, call 860-489-4131.

At the time of an appointment, an individual should bring with them: valid picture ID; copies of all W-2, 1098, 1099, and 1095B forms and the amount of other income received; tax identification number (SSN) for yourself, spouse, and anyone else listed on tax return; providers address and tax identification number for child/dependent care credit; and a copy of prior years tax return (if possible).

Appointments are available on Wednesday evenings, 5-8 p.m.through tax season at the United Way of Northwest Connecticut, 333 Kennedy Drive in Torrington. Call 860-489-4131 to schedule an appointment.

The United Way has expanded coverage this year to include the Salvation Army in Winsted and the Winsted Senior Center. Call the United Way at 860-489-4131 and they will schedule an appointment in those two locations.

The service is provided by VITA trained volunteers, as a United Way of Northwest CT Community Impact Service and is free to qualifying individuals and families. A savings initiative, SaverLife, is provided by the Connecticut United Ways and EARN.org as a part of the ALICE Saves Campaign.

Nominations sought for alumnus award

TORRINGTON  Nominations are now being accepted for the annual Torrington High School Distinguished Alumnus Award.

The Torrington High School Distinguished Alumnus Award acknowledges and honors a THS graduate who exhibits integrity in their adult life and has made significant contributions to their community, state or nation through educational achievements, professional practice, or public service.

To be eligible, the nominee must have graduated from THS at least 10 years ago.

Nominee may not be a current employee of the Torrington Board of Education. Nominee also may not be a Torrington elected/appointed official who is directly or indirectly involved in the selection process. Nominee must be able to be present to receive the award at the THS Scholarship Awards Ceremony in June.

Nomination forms must be completed and submitted to the Superintendents Office by March 15, 2019. Late submissions will not be considered for this year but will be put in the file for review next year. Nomination forms may be submitted via email to lsolianicroci@torrington.org or by mail to Torrington Board of Education, Attention: Superintendent's Office, 355 Migeon Avenue, Torrington, CT 06790.

The Board of Educations School Improvement and Community Relations Committee will review and select a recipient. The recipient will be contacted by May 1st of the award year. The award will be given at the THS Scholarship Awards Night at the end of May or early June. Nominations that are not awarded will remain under consideration for the next 3 award cycles following their submission. Forms can be downloaded online at torrington.org and choosing the schools tab.
While its no surprise that non-resident buyers comprise a substantial portion of British Columbias housing market, a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation representative elucidated just numerous they are, and questioned when society at large should be concerned.

The data shows that 4.8%so lets say 5%of residential properties in Metro Vancouver are owned by people who dont live or work here, so theyre non-residents, Eric Bond, CMHCs market analysis principal, said during a CMBA-BC panel earlier this week in Vancouver. In general, these properties have much higher assessment values and also tend to be newer, so this has been a growing phenomenon in the region the last couple of years.

Speaking at the Canadian Mortgage Brokers Association-British Columbia conference last week, Bond revealed starker numbers when analyzing the condominium market throughout the Greater Vancouver Area.

For condominium apartments, non-resident ownership is higher. Its 10% for Metro Vancouver as a whole, and for condominium apartments built in the last two years, the share of the stock owned by non-residents is 15%, said Bond.

Its 20% in the City of Vancouver, and it increases to 25% in Richmond and Coquitlam. So if every one in five to one in six new condominium apartments are owned by people who dont live or work here, non-residents are an important component of housing demand, and the question for society, then, becomes whether this matters and whether we want to do anything about it.

Bond did not proffer to the audience an opinion on whether or non-resident buyers are a deleterious force with respect to domestic buyers, but he did say that their impact should be studied further. In particular, he wonders if people who dont live, work and pay taxes in the region are distorting housing prices?

Most of the concern is around whether demand from non-residents is creating a distortion and shutting others out of the housing market, he said. So theres an element of equity, and that could impose costs on other parts of the economy, but we dont, unfortunately, have data to answer that question.
China is facing huge losses and unrecoverable costs as unneeded coal-fired power plants gradually give way to renewable energy, experts say.

Hundreds of coal-fired generators are expected to be sidelined or shuttered before the end of their useful lives if China's government follows through on plans to meet air quality and climate goals with wind, solar, hydroelectric and nuclear power.

In the latest study that may raise concerns about the consequences of coal power cutbacks, oil major BP said last month in its annual Energy Outlook report that the pace of growth in renewables, led by China, is unprecedented.

"Renewables will penetrate the energy system quicker than any other fuel ever," said BP's chief economist, Spencer Dale, as quoted by Reuters.

Last year, China's renewable power capacity including wind, solar, hydro, and biomass sources rose 12 percent to 728 gigawatts (GW). Non-fossil power accounted for 38.3 percent of total installed generating capacity, a gain of 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said.

Preliminary data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) tracked similar trends.

In its statistical communique for 2018, the NBS said that coal's share of total energy use fell to 59 percent, down 1.4 percentage points from 2017, although coal consumption rose 1 percent.

The share of "clean energy consumption," including natural gas, hydro, nuclear and wind power, rose 1.3 percentage points to 22.1 percent, the bureau said.

In coming decades, the shrinking share of coal in China's energy sourcing could be dramatic.

Under its main scenario, BP estimates that coal's share in the country's primary energy mix will plunge from 60 percent in 2017 to around 35 percent in 2040.

The finding is in line with studies that have been warning for years that China's coal-fired power sector is already burdened with serious overcapacity and underutilization, even as the country continues to develop more coal plants.

In 2016, Greenpeace East Asia said in a study that up to 1.4 trillion yuan (U.S. $207 billion) could be wasted on surplus capacity by 2020 because of failure to halt new coal-fired projects.

In an earlier study, Greenpeace blamed a wave of unnecessary coal power projects on the central government's decision in 2013 to transfer approval authority to China's provinces as a way to speed development by cutting red tape.

Push for coal-fired plants

Years later, much has changed in the development of renewable energy sources and the cost estimates of overcapacity, but little has changed in the push for more coal-fired plants.

As China's economic growth slows, the demand for electricity seems bound to weaken, magnifying the problem of excess coal plants. The shift from heavy industry to the less energy-intensive service sector may curb the role of coal even more.

But a study in September by the environmental research group CoalSwarm found that unneeded coal-fired generating projects with 259 GW of capacity remain under development despite central government efforts to stop them.

Provincial authorities have taken advantage of exceptions and loopholes in government restrictions to pursue the projects. The study cited satellite photos as evidence that some projects were continuing in apparent defiance of government policies.

The extra capacity, which is nearly equal to that of all U.S. coal-fired plants, would increase China's coal generation total by 25 percent, the study said.

The new plants would also equal 13.6 percent of China's current total of installed capacity, according to the NEA figures released in January.

Starting in 2016, China's top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), tried to head off the surplus projects. But the permitting restrictions left loopholes, like those for combined heat and power plants, which allowed many to go ahead.

Some industrial plants have also dodged restrictions by building coal-fired generators for their own electricity needs. The "captive" generators were unregulated until 2015, and many received clearance after operating illegally, CoalSwarm said.

The study, published at endcoal.org, said that the 259 GW of continuing coal projects are "wildly out of line" with commitments to control greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris climate accord. Cancelling the projects would save U.S. $210 billion (1.4 trillion yuan) in capital spending, the study said.

China's rate of growth for renewables and the declining coal share by 2040 are critical to the losses that can be expected from investment in the new plants, which could otherwise operate for 40 years or more.

Declining demand, environmental enforcement and the rise of renewables will leave the surplus coal-fired generators without a way to recoup their investments, turning them into "stranded assets" that will have to be written off.

A man rides a bike past a coal-fired power plant operated by China's Shanghai Waigaoqiao Electric Power Generating Company Ltd. in Shanghai, March 22, 2016. Credit: AFP Scale of the challenge is significant

Philip Andrews-Speed, a China energy expert at the National University of Singapore, said the costs from early retirements of coal-fired generators will be "significant."

Andrews-Speed pointed to a 2017 paper by the University of Oxford Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, which cites staggering sums.

The paper warns that impacts of obsolescence will not be confined to the excess generation units.

"It is not just physical assets (e.g., power stations, coal processing facilities, and coal mines) that will become stranded, but also financial assets (e.g., equities, debt, and derivatives), natural assets (e.g., water reserves) and labor assets connected to the coal industry," it said.

While the total impact has not been estimated, the paper noted that 14 percent of China's gross domestic product in 2013 came from 80 coal-based resource cities. It concluded that the "potential scale of the challenge is significant."

It may well be profound.

Considering the coal power plants alone, the Oxford paper estimated the value of assets that would be stranded by shutdowns over five-year to 20-year periods, starting from a baseline in 2016.

The results were separated into categories for plants already operating and those either planned or under construction.

If all the planned or partially-built plants were halted in 2021, the losses would reach nearly 4.5 trillion yuan (U.S. $655 billion at current rates). In 2036, the write- downs would still top 2.2 trillion yuan (U.S. $332 billion), the paper said.

Higher costs were estimated for closing all coal-fired plants, including those already operating. If the shutdowns took place in five years, the cost of stranded assets would reach 7.2 trillion yuan (U.S. $1 trillion). If the closures were delayed for 20 years, the losses would still total 3 trillion yuan (U.S. $456 billion), the analysis said.

In the five-year time frame, the losses would fall most heavily on the provinces and regions of Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, Shanxi, Guizhou and Jiangsu. But the costs would be major for the entire economy, ranging from 4.1 percent to 9.5 percent of China's GDP in 2015, the paper said.

The estimates give a glimpse of the costs that will have to be paid for continuing to build coal-fired power plants in an industry that already suffers from overcapacity.

But it also raises the question of who will pay when the time of reckoning eventually comes.

Investors in the projects at the provincial level would appear to have a primary risk and responsibility.

But Andrews-Speed said that governments in some form will probably get stuck with the bills.

"Who will pay? The state in its various guises as shareholder at the central or local government levels, as banker and social security provider for the unemployed," he said.
China on Monday said detained Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor had acted together to "steal state secrets," a move by China that followed hard on the heels of an announcement allowing the extradition process for detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to proceed.



Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. investigators, has also filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government, alleging procedural errors by officers who arrested her.



The U.S. wants to extradite her to face charges of bank fraud linked to the breach of sanctions against Iran. Canada said on Friday the extradition hearing could proceed, while Meng is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start.



The case could take many months to resolve, and Meng is living under house arrest at her Vancouver home in the meantime.



Chinese political commentator Chen Daoyin said Meng was clearly hoping to stall the extradition procedure by attacking her arrest on procedural grounds.



"I think Meng is hoping to invalidate the extradition process on the grounds that there were procedural irregularities," Chen said. "In the Western legal system, the material facts of the case become meaningless if procedures are defective."



Meng filed her lawsuit in British Columbia's Supreme Court on Friday, seeking damages against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA), and the federal government for breaching her civil rights.



She says border officers held, searched, and questioned her at the airport under false pretenses, and "intentionally failed to advise her of the true reasons for her detention, her right to counsel, and her right to silence".



Kovrig and Spavor were arrested on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as a retaliatory move following Meng's arrest, which has damaged ties between Beijing and Ottawa.



State news agency Xinhua reported that former Canadian diplomat Kovrig had spied on China with the help of Spavor. There had been no previous link made between the two cases.



"China ... will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security," Xinhua said.



Call for release



Meanwhile Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang accused Canada and the U.S. of abusing their bilateral extradition treaty, demanding that Washington withdraw its accusations against Meng.



China called on Canada to "immediately release Ms. Meng Wanzhou and let her return to China in safety," Lu told a regular news briefing in Beijing.



At least 13 Canadians were detained after Chinese officials vowed to retaliate for Meng's arrest.



While at least eight have since been released, a court in the northeastern city of Dalian on Dec. 29 handed down the death penalty to Canadian national Robert Schellenberg, who was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug smuggling last November.



Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and consultant Michael Spavor remain in detention on suspicion of "endangering national security."



Kovrig is a diplomat on leave who was working for the International Crisis Group think tank at the time of his detention, while Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.



The International Crisis Group rejected the allegations against Kovrig in a statement on Monday.



"Michael's work for Crisis Group has been entirely transparent and in the open as all who follow his work can attest," spokesman Hugh Pope said. "Vague and unsubstantiated accusations against him are unwarranted and unfair."



Security risks



A Chinese government spokesman took issue Monday with U.S. claims that Huawei poses a security threat to countries where it does business.



Spokesman Zhang Yesui said U.S. officials were "playing up the so-called security risks" associated with Chinese companies.



"This kind of behavior is interference into economic activities by political means and is against World Trade Organization rules. It disrupts an international market order that is built on fair competition," Zhang told reporters on Monday. "This is a typical case of double standards that is neither fair nor ethical."



The U.S. Department of Justice has accused Huawei of hiding behind a linked company, Skycom, to mask its operations in Iran and accused Meng of repeatedly lying to Huaweis banking partners about the relationship with Skycom, which they described as a "partner."



"Huawei orchestrated the 2007 sale [of Skycom] to appear as an arms length transaction between two unrelated parties, when in fact Huawei actually controlled the company that purchased Skycom," it said in a summary of the January 2019 indictment.



On Jan. 24, national security researchers at George Mason University published a report warning that Huawei should be regarded as a potential security threat as governments around the world begin tendering for next-generation 5G mobile network infrastructure, given a 2017 Chinese law requiring Chinese companies and citizens to comply with spying requests from the government.



Huawei has repeatedly insisted that it is a private company with no ties to the state.



Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Liu Fei for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Henan have allowed prominent human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong to return to his parents' home, three days after his release at the end of a two-year jail term.



Jiang had been scheduled for release from Henan's Xinxiang No. 2 Prison on Thursday, at the end of his incarceration for "incitement to subvert state power."



But his family and supporters were told that "he has already been taken away by someone else" by prison authorities when they went to meet him outside the prison gates.



State security police escorted him to his parents' home to be reunited with his family at around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, his U.S.-based wife Jin Bianling told RFA.



In a video clip recorded from a call to his sister, Jiang hints at continued restrictions on him following his release, however.



"I am very grateful to everyone for their concern," Jiang says in the video. I know you have all been very worried."



"I'm doing OK," he says. "But I am still stripped of my political rights now that I am at home."



Human rights attorney Lin Qilei said the concept of "deprivation of political rights" is only vaguely defined in Chinese law.



"There is no clear indication in the law to say that you can be prevented from leaving the country, or coming and going, or told where to go," Lin said. "We need to realize that the authorities are likely to just disappear him again after allowing him to show his face in public."



"The international media needs to keep watching this," he said.



Jin, who recently spoke to Jiang on a video call, said concerns remain about her husband's health, even though he has been allowed to go home for the time being.



"He looked thinner to me, and a little sallow," she said. "He told me that he remains stripped of his political rights."



"I was excited to talk to Jiang Tianyong today, but I am still very worried that he could disappear again, so I hope the international community will continue to pay attention."



'Speculating, inciting, and stirring up'



Jiang, who pleaded guilty to "incitement to subvert state power" at the Intermediate People's Court in the provincial capital Changsha on Aug. 22, was sentenced in November 2017.



His sentence was based on his setting up of a campaign group in support of rights lawyers detained in a nationwide police operation targeting the profession since July 2015, the court said at the time.



He was accused of "speculating" on politically sensitive cases and "inciting others to illegally gather in public places" and "stirring up" public opinion, the indictment said.



Rights lawyer Xie Yang, who was among more than 300 human rights lawyers, activists and law firm staff detained, questioned and placed under restrictions since July 2015, said Jiang's reappearance at his family home didn't mean he was fully free, however.



"The fact that he is home and has been able to speak with his wife doesn't mean he is fully free," Xie told RFA. "He could just be paying a visit under the supervision of the state security police."



Rights activist Wang Qiaoling, who is also the wife of detained rights lawyer Li Heping, had been taken in for questioning and prevented from visiting Jiang when she showed up at his parents' home on Saturday, he said.



"If Jiang Tianyong were completely at liberty, then Wang Qiaoling going to visit his parents wouldn't have had the local police on alert," Xie said. "This happened to me as well; in a totalitarian system, the authorities don't take the law seriously."



'Another crackdown phase'



The New York-based group Human Rights in China (HRIC) called on the international community to speak out on Jiang's behalf.



"The international community must not accept the totalitarian project underway in China as just another crackdown phase," HRIC executive director Sharon Hom said in a statement.



"Only in a lawless regime that continues to trample on human rights and human dignity can someone be imprisoned for legitimate exercise of rights, and serve his full sentence only to be disappeared into a larger prison outside," Hom said.



Despite his home visit, Jiang won't be allowed to move back to his hometown in Xinyang or to Beijing, where he was living before his arrest, HRIC said.



During his sentence, Jiang's family learned that he was forced to take unidentified medication in prison.



"During one prison visit, his father saw him sitting on a metal chair with manacles attached," HRIC said.



Jiang's family members had earlier warned that he might not regain all of his freedom, following notification from state security police that he wouldn't be allowed to return to them.



State security police said they would be taking him instead to the provincial capital Zhengzhou, where they would find him a place to live and a job, his family members said.



Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Wang Yun for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Chinese authorities in the Tibetan regional capital Lhasa are closely questioning Tibetan pilgrims visiting the city and watching the movements of Tibetan businessmen during the run-up to politically sensitive anniversaries in March, Tibetan sources say.



With the approach of March 10 and 14, China has intensified its surveillance of Tibetan pilgrims coming to Lhasa from the areas of Kham and Amdo, a Lhasa resident told RFAs Tibetan Service, using traditional names for the eastern and northeastern regions of historical Tibet, now part of Chinas Sichuan and Qinghai provinces.



These pilgrims are being thoroughly interrogated about the reasons for their visits during this month, RFAs source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.



Questions include enquiries into the proposed length of their stay in Lhasa, a major pilgrimage site for devout Buddhists, and about the names and addresses of their hosts in the city, the source said.



They are also being asked to keep their mobile phones switched on at all times, and are being reminded to strictly abide by the law and not to become involved in any activities considered to be harmful to [Chinas] national security, he said.



Many Tibetans doing business in Lhasa but coming from other areas are now temporarily returning home, RFAs source said, adding They fear being wrongly accused by China of taking part in any protests that may take place to mark the anniversaries.



All the areas around the Barkor city center and the Potala Palace [residence of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama] are now heavily guarded by both uniformed and plainclothes Chinese security personnel, he said.



Sensitive anniversaries



China regularly tightens security in Lhasa and restricts travel to the city by Tibetans living in western Chinese provinces during important political gatherings in Beijing and especially in March, a month of politically sensitive anniversaries.



On March 10, 1959, Tibetans in Lhasa rose up in protest of Beijings tightening political and military control of the formerly self-governing Tibetan region, sparking a rebellion in which thousands were killed.



And on March 14, 2008, a riot in Lhasa followed the suppression by Chinese police of four days of peaceful Tibetan protests and led to the destruction of Han Chinese shops in the city and deadly attacks on Han Chinese residents.



The riot then sparked a wave of mostly peaceful protests against Chinese rule that spread across Tibet and into Tibetan-populated regions of western Chinese provinces.



Hundreds of Tibetans were detained, beaten, or shot as Chinese security forces quelled the protests, sources said in earlier reports.



Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFAs Tibetan Service. Translated by Rigdhen Dolma and Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
The government of Afghanistan has contributed $1 million to the main United Nations agency that supports Palestinian refugees.



In a ceremony in Istanbul on March 3, Abdul Rahim Sayed Jan, Afghanistan's ambassador to Turkey, handed the donation to Pierre Kraehenbuehl, commissioner of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).



Turkey's foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, praised Kabul for the donation and said that despite the hardships suffered by the Afghan people, their country has shown "the most beautiful example of international brotherhood with its noble act."



The United States in August 2018 announced it will cut all funding for the UN agency.



The State Department at the time said the U.S. administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA."



It added that UNRWA's business model and fiscal practices were an "irredeemably flawed operation."



At the time, the decision was denounced by Palestinian leaders, with President Mahmud Abbas calling it a "flagrant assault" on the Palestinian people.



UNRWA said the agency was "disappointed" with the U.S. decision but that it would seek to fill the gap with extra funding from supporters in Europe, Asia, and the Persian Gulf.



UNRWA says it provides services to about 5 million Palestinian refugees. Most are descendants from individuals who fled Palestine in the 1948 war that led to the creation of the state of Israel.



Its annual budget is around $925 million, funded through international donations.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, dpa, and MENAFN
At least 32 people have been killed in flash floods in Afghanistan.



Six people were killed in Helmand's Nawa district and six others in Lashkar Gah, a spokesman for the provincial governor, Omar Zwak, told media. Eight others were injured.



The flash floods caused by heavy rains also damaged or destroyed more than 2,000 homes, Zwak said.





Flash floods in neighboring Kandahar Province left 20 people dead and some 2,000 houses destroyed, said the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).



At least 10 people from five districts were still missing, OCHA said.



Afghanistan has seen an increased amount of snow and rain across the country in the past several days.

Based on reporting by dpa and Tolo News
British Prime Minister Theresa May has visited Salisbury a year after a nerve-agent attack against a former Russian spy in the English city.

During her March 4 visit, May called the anniversary "an important milestone for Salisbury as it emerges from the shadow cast by the use of chemical weapons."

She also praised the "spirit and resolve" of people in the city.

Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were discovered collapsed on a bench in the city on March 4, 2018.

British authorities have determined that they were poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok developed by the Soviet military.

The Skripals survived after weeks in critical condition, but Dawn Sturgess, a woman who the authorities said came in contact with the poison after her boyfriend found a fake perfume bottle containing it, died in July 2018.

British authorities have charged two Russian men identified as agents of Russia's GRU intelligence service with carrying out the poisoning.

Moscow has denied it had any involvement in the poisoning, which led to a series of sanctions against Russia by the West and tit-for-tat diplomatic actions.

The Russian Embassy in London marked the March 4 anniversary by publishing a list of what it said were "unanswered questions" about the poisoning.

It also reiterated Moscow's denial that Russia was the source of the nerve agent, and accused British authorities of "secretiveness and lack of clarity" about the attack.

In a press conference in New York marking the anniversary, Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, renewed calls for Moscow to have consular access to the Skripals, .

Yulia Skripal declined assistance from the Russian Consulate in London in a statement issued on her behalf by British authorities last year.

With reporting by AP and dpa
The opposition liberal Reform Party has scored a victory over the ruling center-left Center Party of Prime Minister Juri Ratas, according to final results of the March 3 election in which the far right also emerged with increased support.



The Baltic nations election commission reported early on March 4 that the pro-Western Reform Party took 28.8 percent of the vote, winning 34 seats in the 101-seat parliament, known as the Riigikogu.



The party had 30 seats in the previous parliament.



The Center Party took 23.9 percent for 26 seats, down from 27 in 2014.



The nationalist, far-right Estonian Conservative People's Party, also known as EKRE, was third with 17.8 percent and 19 seats.



The percentage more than doubled the partys 8.1 percent showing in the previous election and was an increase of 12 seats in parliament.



Two parties in the governing coalition, Isamaa and the Social Democrats, took 11.4 percent of the votes (12 seats) and 9.8 percent (10 seats), respectively.



The results could be considered a mild upset. Preelection surveys had indicated Center would win in a tight race over Reform.



The potential for a coalition appears to be wide open.



Isamaa and the Social Democrats could again team up with Center or switch to Reform. Or Center and Reform could choose to govern together in an effort to reduce EKREs influence.



Election officials said turnout was 61 percent, with 562,000 of the countrys nearly 1 million eligible voters casting ballots. About one-quarter of eligible voters cast their ballots online.



Reform held the prime minister's post from 2005-16. The party is led by 41-year-old Kaja Kallas, the daughter of party founder and former Prime Minister Siim Kallas. She is a member of the European Parliament and an outspoken Europhile.



"Now the real work begins to put together the government and start running the country with common sense," Kallas told broadcaster ETV/ERR.



Saying that "EKRE is not a choice for us," Kallas said her party would "keep all coalition options on the table" while noting her party had "strong differences" with the rival Center party.



Ratas said "of course" when asked if Center would consider joining a coalition with Reform as a junior partner, but he did not elaborate.



Center has supporters among the ethnic Russians who make up 25 percent of the population.



In 2016, Ratas took over as party leader and established a three-party coalition government that took office in November 2016.



Center signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party in 2004. Ratas has said the deal is "frozen," but he has refused to rip it up.



Russia has kept close watch on the military and security affairs of Estonia and Baltic neighbors Latvia and Lithuania since they became NATO members in 2004, just 13 years after breaking free from the collapsing U.S.S.R.



The United States never recognized the Baltic states as Soviet republics.



NATO placed a multinational battalion in Estonia in 2017 as it beefed up its presence near Russia's borders after the Baltic state expressed concerns over Moscow's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP
An almost $9 billion global money-laundering scheme allegedly set up and run by Russia's largest private investment bank and having close ties to the country's ruling elite has been uncovered by the Sarajevo-based Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

An OCCRP investigation published on March 4 alleges that the $8.89 billion scheme, dubbed the Troika Laundromat, allowed corrupt politicians and organized-crime figures to launder funds, evade taxes, hide assets abroad, and carry out other illegal activities.

The investigation singles out Sergei Roldugin, the Russian cellist who is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's oldest friends, as one of the main beneficiaries of the scheme.

The OCCRP, a group that has previously exposed two other such schemes, known as the Russian and the Azerbaijani laundromats, says the investigation was made possible by one of the largest leaks of banking transactions ever, obtained together with Lithuanian news site 15min.lt.

The leak, which was compiled from multiple sources, involved more than $470 billion sent in 1.3 million transactions from over 238,000 companies and people.

Paul Radu, OCCRP co-founder and project coordinator, told RFE/RL via Skype from Bucharest that the scheme was just the "tip of the iceberg."

"The reality is that there are many 'laundromats' out there, and these are not just 'laundromats' that help the elite in Azerbaijan and in Russia, and in these former Soviet countries. There are 'laundromats' that serve criminal groups -- large criminal groups, like drug groups from Mexico."

The OCCRP says that together with its 22 partners from around the world, it was able not only to identify the Troika Laundromat's beneficiaries, but also to expose the entity responsible for establishing and operating it.

The entity was identified as private investment bank Troika Dialog, once Russia's largest, run by Russian-Armenian investment banker Ruben Vardanyan.

The OCCRP says that the Troika Laundromat, which functioned from 2006 to early 2013, was formed by at least 75 interconnected offshore companies, with at least 35 of them opening accounts at Ukio Bankas, a troubled Lithuanian bank that closed in 2013.

"Under the direction of Troika Dialog, billions of dollars from Russia flowed into these Ukio accounts," the OCCRP investigation says.

"The money was broken up and transferred among the Laundromat companies before being sent onward to various recipients, known and unknown. The transactions were mostly bogus, supported by fake paperwork describing the trade of nonexistent goods. On its way out of the system, the money passed through correspondent bank accounts in the West, typically through Austrian and German banks."

At the time, Vardanyan, considered by many a pro-Western, progressive figure, was Troika Dialog's president and chief executive officer.

But the OCCRP says that whether he knew of the scheme is "not clear," adding, "There is no definitive evidence that he did."

The group quoted Vardanyan as saying in an interview that his bank did nothing wrong and that it acted as other investment banks did at the time.

Vardanyan also said that he couldn't have known about every deal his bank facilitated for his clients.

The investigation says Roldugin obtained $69 million through the Troika Laundromat.

It is not the first time that Roldugin's name has been connected with a money-laundering investigation. In 2016 his name was mentioned in the so-called Panama Papers, where he appears as as owning a network of offshore firms that have handled billions of dollars and have had business ties to wealthy tycoons seen as close to Putin. Roldugin has denied any wrongdoing.

According to the OCCRP investigation, the Troika Laundromat was more than just a money-laundering scheme, being used also as "a hidden investment vehicle, a slush fund, a tax-evasion scheme, and much more."

The investigation discovered that portions of the money came from high-level financial frauds, such as the Magnitsky case, which led to the death in 2009 of financial-fraud lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Russian jail after he exposed a scheme in which officials allegedly defrauded the Russian state of $230 million.

It also cites the Sheremetyevo Airport fuel fraud of 2012, when a network of ghost firms and proxies sold fuel to Moscow's main airport at inflated prices.

The Troika Laundromat allowed members of Russia's business and political elite to secretly acquire shares in state-owned companies, or to buy real estate both in Russia and abroad, while in the official documents, the owners of the offshore companies that made this possible were Armenian farmers living in rural areas, the OCCRP investigation has found.

In a statement, Transparency International said that the OCCRP investigation showed the "glaring shortcomings" in anti-money-laundering systems in Europe, and made the case for an EU-wide anti-money-laundering supervisory authority.

"The European banking system should be a firewall that stops corrupt money from Russia and elsewhere being siphoned out of these countries' economies. Instead, we see time and again how easy it is to launder and hide the proceeds of corruption, tax evasion, or other criminal activities in Europe," the Berlin-based corruption watchdog said.
The Netherlands' foreign minister says he has recalled the country's ambassador to Iran for "consultations" after Tehran expelled two Dutch diplomats amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a March 4 letter to lawmakers that he had told Iran's ambassador in The Hague last month that the expulsions of the two diplomats from the Dutch Embassy were "unacceptable" and "negative for the bilateral relationship" between the two countries.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi confirmed the expulsion of the two Dutch diplomats in what he called a "retaliatory" move, after the Dutch government last year expelled two Iranian citizens.

"Two of the diplomats of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran were considered undesirable elements in the framework of a retaliatory measure," Qasemi said on the ministry's Telegram channel.

No explanation was offered at the time for the expulsions of the two Iranians, but the Dutch government this year accused Iran of likely involvement in the killings of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin in 2015 and 2017. Both were opponents of the Iranian regime.

In January, the European Union approved fresh sanctions on Iran's intelligence services and two Iranian nationals, accusing them of attempting -- or carrying out -- attacks against Iranian government opponents on Dutch, Danish, and French soil.

In October, Denmark accused Iranian authorities of planning to carry out attacks on its soil on Iranian exiles belonging to an Iranian opposition group, while France blamed Tehran for a foiled bombing attack that targeted a rally organized by another banned group near Paris in June.

Tehran denied the accusations, saying they were aimed at damaging relations between Iran and the EU.

The alleged plots in Europe have strained relations between Tehran and the EU, which has been working to preserve the 2015 nuclear deal after the United States pulled out of the accord aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear bomb.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
When one of Russia's most prestigious universities announced that it would invite the men suspected of poisoning a Russian double agent on English soil to a lecture series marking the anniversary of the incident, many took it as another example of dark humor.

"I hope this is a joke," one user wrote on Twitter. "Outstanding trolling," wrote another.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were hospitalized for weeks following the poisoning believed to have been carried out in Salisbury on March 4, 2018, by Russian military intelligence officers later identified as Anatoly Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin. One British civilian later died after coming into contact with Novichok, the nerve agent used in the attack.

In the 12 months since the incident, which led to international condemnation and accusations of Kremlin involvement by Britain, the Skripal poisoning has entered Russian popular folklore. Businesses now peddle "Novichok" olive oil, a board game titled Our Guys In Salisbury, and various merchandise playing on memes and phrases made famous by media coverage of the event.

So news that Moscow State University would host a conference series dubbed the Skripal Readings, devoted to discussing the West's alleged "information war" on Russia, was quickly dismissed by some as the latest instance of Russian posturing. Then Andrei Manoylo, a political-science professor and the event's organizer, said he'd sent invitations to the two suspects and that he planned to hold a second conference session inside Salisbury Cathedral.

Was it just another case of trolling?

On March 4, the university's press service appeared to confirm as much -- it retracted Manoylo's statement and told Interfax that the professor often "sails close to the wind with his jokes."

But in an interview with RFE/RL, Manoylo sowed more confusion. The claim that Chepiga and Mishkin had been invited was not a joke, he said, using the pseudonyms under which British investigators believe the men travelled to the U.K. Manoylo said he had indeed reached out to the two men "through private channels," and was waiting for a response. He doubted they would turn up, he admitted, as "no one's seen them for a long time."

The Skripal Readings are an extension of the interdisciplinary course Technologies Of Information War that Manoylo has taught at Moscow State University since 2016. He has ambitious plans for the conference series, which he hopes will take place alternately in Britain and Russia and will involve "specialists in information war" from many countries.

Manoylo said the date of the first session at Moscow State University had yet to be announced, but would most likely take place next week.

'It's Not Funny Anymore'

It's unclear whether a cameo from Chepiga and Mishkin will be forthcoming. But if claims they'd been invited were mere trolling, as some suspect, they would fit into a familiar pattern.

State-funded international news channel RT, which aired an interview with the suspected assailants following the release of photos showing them walking the streets of Salisbury, has made a modest business out of its role as the main mouthpiece for the Russian counternarrative.

On December 21, it launched an online store that sells merchandise making light of the deadly incident. Days later, officials in Salisbury blasted the channel after news emerged it had sent chocolate models of the city's cathedral, complete with ribbons and the channel's green logo, as a festive gift to Russian opposition media.

In January, Moscow-based Russian toymaker Igroland released a board game titled Our Guys In Salisbury, featuring the cities Chepiga and Mishkin are alleged to have visited en route to their arrival in Salisbury last year. The English city, the final location on the board, is decorated with images of its famous cathedral and two figures in hazmat suits.

It was "our answer to Western media: enough already," Mikhail Bober of Igroland, who came up with the idea, told The Guardian. "To us, it's not funny anymore. It's sad. This needs to stop." He suggested that Western coverage of the incident and allegations of Russian complicity had gone too far. And in this he's not alone.

When asked in an October 2018 survey by the independent Russian pollster Levada Center who was responsible for the poisoning in Salisbury, only 3 percent of respondents implicated the Russian secret services. Twenty-eight percent blamed British authorities, and 56 percent responded that "it could have been anyone." Many in Russia doubt the poisoning took place at all.

In Britain a thorough investigation led first to the publication of CCTV images showing the two alleged assailants, then to a concerted and successful campaign to rally international support for the denunciation of Russian involvement, and finally to the expulsions of Russian diplomats from a host of European states, including Great Britain.

Moscow has long accused the West of waging an information war aimed at destabilizing Russia, and both officials and media reports have portrayed British claims of Russian involvement in Salisbury as an extension of that campaign.

For Manoylo, the incident and the unified Western response serve as a perfect case study of what he portrays to his students as the West's information war against Russia. "The Skripal case is the longest and most extensive campaign of information war currently taking place," he told RFE/RL.
An Indian pilot captured by Pakistani forces on February 27 after his warplane was shot down in the disputed region of Kashmir has returned to India after being freed by Islamabad in a "peace gesture." Pakistani PTV television footage showed Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman crossing into India at the Wagah crossing point on March 1. The aerial confrontation came after India on February 26 struck what it said was a militant camp in northeastern Pakistan in retaliation for a suicide bombing that killed at least 41 Indian troops in the India-controlled part of Kashmir.
The Kremlin says President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in a key Cold War-era nuclear arms-control agreement with the United States.

The Russian move, announced on March 4, mirrored a step by the United States, which accuses Moscow of violating the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, and launched a six-month process of withdrawal from the pact in early February.

The bilateral INF Treaty, the first of its kind to eliminate an entire class of missiles, banned both countries from developing, producing, and deploying ground-launched cruise or ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

But Washington and NATO have repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the accord by developing the 9M729 cruise missile, also known as the SSC-8.

Russia has denied that, and accused the United States of breaking the accord itself, allegations rejected by Washington.

According to the text of his decree placed on the Kremlin's website, Putin ordered the INF Treaty be suspended until Washington stops violating the accord and told the Foreign Ministry to inform signatories to the accord of Moscow's move.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia should return to compliance with the INF Treaty, which he called a "cornerstone for European security for decades."

The bilateral INF Treaty, the first of its kind to eliminate an entire class of missiles, banned both countries from developing, producing, and deploying ground-launched cruise or ballistic missiles with ranges between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.

Washington and NATO have repeatedly accused Moscow of violating the accord by developing the 9M729 cruise missile, also known as the SSC-8.

Moscow has accused the United States in turn that it wanted to abandon the pact so it can start a new arms race.

The 9M729 missiles that Russia has deployed were in "clear and blatant violation" of the INF Treaty, Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

"We will take our time, we will be measured, we will be united and coordinated," he said of NATO's response, adding that the Western military alliance has no "intention of deploying new ground-launched nuclear weapons in Europe."

Putin's order came as U.S. General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia's General Staff, met in Vienna.

Calling the talks "constructive," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the two generals had discussed issues related to missile defense and arms-control treaties.

Gerasimov and Dunford also exchanged views on the situation in Syria, and stressed the importance of "continued interaction on incident prevention," it said.

Relations between the United States and Russia are strained over a variety of other issues, including Moscows aggression in Ukraine, its alleged meddling in the U.S. presidential election, and its involvement in Syria's civil war.

Russia has provided crucial support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's seven-year civil war, while the United States supports rebel groups.

However, the two countries' militaries have warned each other of planned air operations in Syria to avoid contact, and Dunford and Gerasimov have met periodically as the sides attempted to ease tensions and restore communications. Their previous meeting took place in June.

Besides Syria, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs said that Dunford and Gerasimov "exchanged views on the state of U.S.-Russia military relations and the current international security situation in Europe and other key topics."

The two military leaders also discussed "efforts to improve operational safety and strategic stability between the U.S. and Russian militaries," the spokesman, Colonel Patrick Ryder, said in a statement.

He added that both generals "recognize the importance of maintaining regular communication to avoid miscalculation and to promote transparency and deconfliction in areas where our militaries are operating in close proximity."

With reporting by dpa
Human Rights Watch says a prominent Tajik opposition activist was kidnapped, beaten, and tortured in Russia and Tajikistan before he was allowed to return to the Netherlands, where he has refugee status.



HRW's Central Asia researcher, Steve Swerdlow, told RFE/RL on February 4 that Sharofiddin Gadoev, a leading member of the opposition Group 24 movement, was kidnapped in Moscow last month by police and members of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and handed over to Tajik authorities, who flew him to Tajikistan's capital, Dushanbe.



"Now, we know that there was so much violence used against him that when he arrived in Dushanbe [from Moscow] his clothes were soaked with blood," Swerdlow said, adding that Gadoev also told him that when he tried to call for help at a Moscow airport, Tajik security officers severely beat him and taped his mouth.

Gadoev resurfaced in Dushanbe last month from self-imposed exile in the Netherlands and Tajik authorities announced that he returned in Tajikistan on his own will, a claim that Gadoev's colleagues and supporters abroad rejected, saying he was kidnapped.



On March 2, Gadoev appeared on a video live-streamed on a Europe-based Tajik opposition groups Facebook account and said that he was back in Europe.

The National Alliance of Tajikistan that shared the video said it was live-streamed from Germany's Frankfurt Airport.

Gadoev could not immediately be located for comment.

Tajik authorities insist Gadoev, 33, returned voluntarily on February 15. They shared a video that shows Gadoev criticizing the opposition and urging other activists to follow suit and return to Tajikistan.



But on February 19, Gadoevs colleagues published a video recorded earlier by Gadoev in which he said he was traveling to Moscow to meet with officials from Russias Security Council to discuss some problems that have occurred in Tajikistan [and] the situation of Tajik labor migrants."



If I suddenly appear on the Tajik television or some YouTube channel, saying that I have returned on my own accord -- you must not believe it, he warned in the footage.

"I am not planning to go to Tajikistan willingly. Never," he added.



The Interior Ministry announced initially that Gadoev has been charged with possession of contraband and forgery.



Swerdlow said that HRW "is happy that Gadoev managed to get back to his loved ones in the Netherlands," adding that it became possible thanks to "timely efforts" by human rights groups, Gadoev's colleagues in exile, the German Embassy in Dushanbe, and the Dutch Foreign Ministry.



According to Swerdlow, Gadoev's release from Tajik custody and safe return to the Netherlands also became possible most likely because he has refugee status in the European Union member state.



"This story, these two crazy weeks in the life of Sharofiddin Gadoev, will continue to resonate. We continue to investigate what happened to him. His rights were violated by different entities, namely by the FSB, GRU (Russian military intelligence), and Interior Ministry in Russia, as well as Alfa (special security forces), OMON (police special forces), and the Interior Ministry in Tajikistan," Swerdlow said.



President Emomali Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, has been repeatedly criticized for cracking down on dissenters.

Group 24 was labeled as extremist in October 2014 and banned after it called for antigovernment protests in Dushanbe and other cities.



Its founder, Umarali Quvatov, was assassinated in Istanbul in March, 2015.
VOSTOCHNY, Russia -- A Tatar activist from the Russian republic of Tatarstan has been released from prison on March 4 after the article on extremism in the Russian Criminal Code was partially decriminalized.



Danis Safargali's wife and other relatives met him at the prison gates in the Kirov region in the Volga Federal District on March 4.



Last month, a local court canceled Safargali's conviction on extremism due to the amendment to the extremism-related article in the Criminal Code.



In late December, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that removed punishment by prison for first-time offenders found to have incited ethnic, religious, and other forms of hatred and discord in public, including in the media or on the Internet.



Safargali, the leader of the Tatar patriotic movement Altyn Urda (The Golden Horde), was arrested in October 2016.



He was sentenced in 2017 to three years in prison after a court in Tatarstan found him guilty of inciting hatred on the Internet, inflicting bodily harm, and hooliganism -- charges which rights groups say are fabricated. He has denied all charges.



Memorial, a Moscow-based human rights center, has called Safargali a political prisoner.
Few have ever questioned the generosity of Russian-Armenian businessman Ruben Vardanyan, who has given away hundreds of millions of dollars in charitable donations and social investments since emerging as a leading post-Soviet entrepreneur in the 1990s.

But open-source journalists allege in a new investigative report that "employees" at the multibillion-dollar investment bank co-founded and led by Vardanyan used "bogus" trades and a complex network of offshore companies starting in 2006 to help launder billions of dollars originating in Russia, evade taxes, hide assets, and fool international oversight bodies.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) says in the March 4 report that Vardanyan's Troika Dialog was at the heart of an $8.89 billion global money-laundering system that it dubbed the "Troika Laundromat."

The OCCRP pointed out that Vardanyan "was Troika's president, chief executive officer, and principal partner" at the time and "enjoyed a reputation as a Western-friendly representative of Russian capitalism."

The OCCRP says there is no "definitive evidence" Vardanyan knew of the scheme, but that his signature was on one document in which he purportedly gave a loan to a company that was part of a network of the operation.

"Whether [Vardanyan] knew of the scheme being run by his bank is not clear," the OCCRP said in statements accompanying the report. "There is no direct evidence that he did."

WATCH: OCCRP co-founder and coordinator Paul Radu says that the scheme is just the "tip of the iceberg."

Vardanyan received more than $3.2 million from so-called Laundromat companies to pay his credit card and tuition for his children's school, the OCCRP report says.

Vardanyan was quoted by the OCCRP as denying any wrongdoing by his bank and noting that it operated much as other investment banks did at the time. But he also said he "couldn't possibly know" about every transaction undertaken by his bank on behalf of clients.

"We always acted according to the rules of the world financial market of that time," Vardanyan added.

Vardanyan and his partners sold Troika for more than $1 billion in 2012, after it had become Russia's largest private investment bank, to state-owned Sberbank.

"Understand, I'm no angel," he told the OCCRP in an interview. "In Russia, you have three paths: Be a revolutionary, leave the country, or be a conformist. So I'm a conformist. But I have my own internal restraints: I never participated in tax auctions, I never worked with criminals, I'm not a member of any political party. That's why, even in the '90s, I went around with no security guards.... I'm trying to preserve myself and my principles."

With an international education spanning from Moscow to Harvard Business School in the United States, Vardanyan ran Troika for more than a decade after its founding.

He then helped found the investment boutique Vardanyan, Broitman, and Partners, but has become known as much for his philanthropy as for his business acumen.

In an October 2018 interview with the Financial Times, he said he and his wife, Veronika Zonabend, had agreed to give away more than 80 percent of their wealth.

He has co-founded several educational and humanitarian initiatives, including the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, which annually awards a $1.1 million prize to honor individuals or organizations for humanitarian work.

He has also brushed elbows with British royalty through the launch of a collaborative program with the Dumfries House Estate educational center in Scotland, which is under the patronage of Prince Charles.

Vardanyan also helped finance the rejuvenation of the Tatev Monastery in the country of his birth, Armenia.

His foundation helped finance a nearly 6-kilometer-long cable car to reach the monastery as part of a plan to spur local economic development around the ninth-century Armenian Apostolic monastery, located in the southeast of the country.
The United States says it has restored the European Union's mission in Washington to its former status, calling the bloc one of "its most valuable partners."



The U.S. State Department late last year lowered the EU mission's diplomatic status from member state to international organization -- a move seen as a further blow to transatlantic ties.



"The Department of State will again recognize the European Union's representation in Washington as equivalent to that of a bilateral mission in the Diplomatic Corps Order of Precedence," Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, said in a statement.



"The European Union is a uniquely important organization, and one of America's most valuable partners in ensuring global security and prosperity," Sondland said.



"Europe's security and success are inextricably linked to that of the United States, and this level of engagement and cooperation should be recognized appropriately in all settings."

Under U.S. President Donald Trump, Europe's once solid ties with the Washington have deteriorated. Washington last year put tariffs on steel and aluminium from the EU and other partners.



The EU in January confirmed it was holding talks with U.S. officials about the mission's status after German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) reported the downgrade.



DW said it only came to light when the EU ambassador in Washington did not receive an invitation to the funeral of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in December.

Based on reporting by AFP and DW
Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko is serving a 10-year sentence in Russia on terror charges that human rights groups say are politically motivated. He was convicted in 2015 alongside Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea. During a visit by an observation mission, Kolchenko described the time he's spent in an isolation cell, as well as the letters of support he's received from inside and outside Russia.
800 kilos of cocaine seized off coast of Acapulco

Acapulco, Guerrero  More than 800 kilos of drugs have been seized by the Mexican Navy off the coast of Acapulco.

The report comes from la Secretaria de Marina-Armada de Mexico who say navy personnel from la Octava Region Naval at Acapulco have seized 816 kilos of drugs that included cocaine and marijuana.

In a press release, the navy says that during routine aerial surveillance patrols, a vessel was sighted with suspicious cargo. In a joint operation with helicopters and ships, the vessel was intercepted by marine corps who made the find.

Photo: la Secretaria de Marina-Armada de Mexico

In total, personnel found 816 kilograms of illicit cargo of cocaine, two containers of marijuana and 21 drums of fuel totaling 1,050 liters, in addition to a smaller boat with high power engines. From the find, three crew members were taken into custody.

The cargo, fuel and vessel, as well as the detainees, were placed at the disposal of the Agent of the Public Ministry of the Federation of Acapulco, Guerrero.

The Navy of Mexico says that already this year, they have seized more than 13 tons of drugs including cocaine, marijuana and synthetic drugs, thus removing those vessels from circulation and preventing the drugs from arriving at their final destination.
American deported back to US on drug, firearm charges

Delicias, Chihuahua  A man wanted for drug and firearm charges in the United States has been arrested and deported from Mexico.

The American man identified by la Fiscalia General de la Republica as Nelson R., was detained by Federal Ministerial Police in the city of Delicias, Chihuahua. Nelson R. was wanted by Interpol for drug and firearm crimes in the United States.

In a public statement, the Attorney General of the Republic reported that the arrest was made in compliance with an extradition request by the Government of the United States of America by a district judge.
Police commander shot, killed outside Playa del Carmen home

Playa del Carmen, Q.R.  A police commander of Solidaridad was shot and killed early Saturday morning outside his home in Playa del Carmen.

The shooting was reported at 9:00 a.m. when commander of seguridad publica municipal, Jose del Carmen Rodriguez Madrazo, was shot along with his wife outside their home in the residential area of Plamas I.

Witness reports say that two men on a motorcycle were responsible for the shooting that killed the commander and seriously injured his wife who was rushed to hospital but later died that evening.

In a public message, the secretary general of City Council, Alfredo Paz Cetina along with the director general of Public Safety and Transit, Martin Estrada Sanchez and accompanying commanders, condemned the assassination of Rodriguez Madrazo and affirmed that the crime will not go unpunished.

Photo: Policia Municipal

On Sunday, the commander was laid to rest. During the funeral, Commander Martin Estrada said It is a very sad day for all of us. The blue blood companions are in mourning. I met Commander Jose del Carmen Rodriguez Madrazo 17 years ago. He was a dedicated man, worker, a good friend, active in all arrests. We are sad but this makes us stronger.

He also made an appeal to all elements of the corporation. We are going to do synergy, to unite so that this does not go unpunished. We will continue fighting those who have done so much damage to Mexico.

Today, Jose del Carmen Rodriguez Madrazo leaves us, but we are going to work hard in his name.

Rodriguez Madrazo was the commander of the Motorized Police and was the one who led the arrest of the seven subjects in the Colonia Nueva Creacion / 28 de Julio last week.

This attack is allegedly due to the latest arrests made by the municipal police of Solidaridad together with the seizures of drugs and the permanent surveillance they have in the neighborhoods.
Capt Amarinder at Durgiana Temple

AMRITSAR, MARCH 4: Exhorting people to celebrate the festival in the true spirit of brotherhood and religious harmony, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday performed Kar Sewa at the sacred pool (Sarovar) in the holy Durgiana Temple on the auspicious occasion of Maha Shivratri. Notably, this is the third Kar Sewa to clean the Sarovar, in which lakhs of devotees from around the world are expected to participate. The earlier ones were held in 1975 and 1999.

Addressing the devotees who had gathered at his holy shrine to participate in the Kar Sewa, Captain Amarinder announced a grant of Rs 1 crore for the temples development and assured the management that their demand for additional land for expansion of the holy preccincts would be looked into by his government.

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Capt Amarinder Performs Kar Sewa

The Chief Minister expressed himself to be happy to be part of this pious task. Recalling that his government had waived off its 50% share in Langar GST at the temple immediately on taking over the states reins, which led the Centre also to follow suit, the Chief Minister hoped the temple continues to bless more and more people with Langar at Durgiana.

Expressing concern over the divisive forces rearing their heads in a bid to destroy the states hard-earned peace and harmony, the Chief Minister said his government would not allow such forces to be nurtured, but would continue to work towards universal brotherhood and tolerance.

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Earlier, Captain Amarinder Singh paid obeisance at the sanctum-sanctorum of Shree Durgiana Temple and offered prayers for the peace, harmony and overall development of the state, besides the welfare of all sections of the society. The Durgiana Temple was built in 1921 in the architectural style of the Golden Temple for which funds were raised by Guru Harsai Mal Kapoor.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya laid the foundation of the temple on the occasion of Dussehra in 1925. The chief deity is Goddess Durga and the temple complex also has other historic subsidiary temples such as Sita Mata and Bara Hanuman. The Temple is managed by Shree Durgiana Committee (SDC) headed by Ramesh Chandra.
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh

Amritsar, March 4: Even as he asserted that neither country could afford a full-scale war, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday warned that Pakistan would not hesitate to use its nuclear arsenal if it felt it was losing out against India in a conventional war. Pointing out that both India and Pakistan were nuclear powers, Captain Amarinder said it was not in either countrys interest to use the weapons of destruction but Islamabad could indulge in such a misadventure if faced with defeat in other battles.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) air strikes had proven Indias resolve to deal with the problem in the wake of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy, said the Chief Minister in an informal chat with mediapersons. He, however, refused to comment on the number of terrorists killed in the strikes, saying, whether it was one killed or 100, the message had gone out loud and clear  that India will not let the killing of its innocent soldiers and citizens go unpunished.

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Pak Wont Hesitate to Nuke India if Faced with Defeat

Pointed out that Pakistan was in a huge economic mess and had been going around with a begging bowl and surviving on doles from other Islamic nations, Captain Amarinder said they could ill-afford a full-fledged war with India. And though both were nuke powered countries, Pakistan could act out of desperation to use its nuclear weapons if they found themselves cornered, he warned.

Asked to comment on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decision to ally with SAD (Taksali) for the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab, the Chief Minister said it was theirp prerogative, but as far as the Congress was concerned, it did not need any alliance. Dismissing the AAP-SAD (Taksali) coalition as of no consequence, he said the Congress in Punjab was fully ready for the polls and was well placed to win on its own, thus making it clear that he was not in favour of an alliance for the party. In a democracy, it is the performance of the government that matters and people vote for those whom they see working for their welfare, said the Chief Minister.
A new study, recently published in Nature Communications, has looked at infections in Danish youth with CF over a period of 10 years. This is the largest longitudinal study to date of the evolution -- both involving traits and genes -- of the disease-causing microbes that persistently infect young CF-patients.

CF-patients have a genetic defect which results in dehydrated sticky mucous in the lungs, leading to severe and persistent lung infections often caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The research shows that within the first two to three years after infection with P. aeruginosa, the bacteria are already adapting rapidly to the environment, growing slower and optimizing their fitness to survive.

"Across all of our patients within the first three years, the bacteria on average slow their growth rates significantly and they reduce their susceptibility to ciprofloxacin, a first line drug in treatment of CF-patients. This means that one should pay extra close attention in this period of time to avoid the infection becoming persistent," says Jennifer Bartell, Postdoc at The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability (DTU Biosustain) and co-first author.

Looking beyond antibiotic resistance

Clinicians usually focus on detecting antibiotic resistance during infections, and this appears to be an effective way to follow the development of short-term acute infections.

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Antibiotic resistant bacteria are identified by their ability to survive above a specific concentration of an antibiotic. The researchers saw a rapid increase in the concentration of antibiotics that the bacteria could tolerate. But at the same time, few bacteria achieved detectable antibiotic resistance in the early infection period of CF. The researchers suspect this pre-resistance adaptation to be an underused marker of progression in the infection. This pre-resistance adaptation likely occurs in other persistent infections, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Besides looking for antibiotic resistance, clinicians also monitor bacterial mucoidity -- a trait where bacteria produce a protective, slimy coating, as a marker of a chronic infection.

But according to the new study, bacteria can become persistent and resilient to treatment regardless of the appearance of mucoidity. Other bacterial traits such as the ability to attach to surfaces and aggregate in biofilms -- hefty structured layers of adherent cells -- evolve more consistently in these persisting infections than mucoidity and may serve as a better sign of early chronic infection.

"We can see which traits might actually be valuable for the clinicians to monitor in addition to antibiotic resistance," says Lea Sommer, Postdoc at Rigshospitalet and co-first author.

Potential for new diagnostic tools

The researchers identified these important evolving traits of P. aeruginosa by screening 443 isolates from 39 young cystic fibrosis (CF) patients over a ten-year period and mapping traits adapting in tandem using statistical modeling approaches. Usually, studies focus on bacterial isolates collected from older CF-patients with chronic infections, who have become multi-drug resistant and already have adapted to the human lungs.

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These results emphasize that trait evolution measurements are important and should not be neglected, even though genomic tests are advancing.

"In this early phase, the bacteria change a lot and become much more robust, but the doctors do not necessarily see this with current clinical measurements," says Lea Sommer.

Going forward, the researchers wish to find out how the adapting bacteria respond to a larger panel of antibiotics that are used to treat patients. Armed with this comprehensive map of evolutionary pathways, clinicians would have a much better chance of categorizing the infection and, hence, take the necessary precautionary steps.

"In the clinic, doctors would potentially be able to take a single patient's bacterial screening data and analyze how this patient responds to the current treatment. As we gain experience with more patients, it will be easier to assess what can be done to stop the transition to chronic infection, "says Jennifer Bartell.

Thus, this could pave the way for developing more fine-tuned personalized treatments for all patients suffering from continuous persisting infections, such as CF, COPD, and perhaps diabetics with chronically infected wounds.
Even among cancers, pancreatic cancer is an especially sinister form of disease. The one-year survival rate is extremely low, and treatment progress has lagged behind that of many other malignancies.

A study published today in the journal Nature Medicine led by researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah (U of U) describes a new therapeutic approach with potential for patients with pancreatic cancer. These researchers discovered a combination drug therapy that may effectively combat the disease. HCI researchers first observed anti-cancer impacts in a laboratory setting and, subsequently, in its first use in a human patient.

The study has already progressed to a clinical trial that is now open at HCI and will soon be open at other sites in the United States. Details about the clinical trial, called THREAD, are available under National Clinical Trial Number 03825289. The combination therapy uses two drugs already approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration for other diseases, including cancer. The new drug combination is administered through pills taken orally.

Pancreatic tumors are characterized by mutations in a gene called KRAS. When KRAS is mutated in this way, it sends constant signals that promote abnormal cell division and growth in cancer cells. As a result, tumors grow out of control. At the same time, like all cells, pancreatic cancer cells must recycle their components to provide building blocks for new growth in an essential cell function known as autophagy. Previous studies to combat pancreatic cancer that were focused either on the role of KRAS or on impacting autophagy were not effective.

The new HCI study, using an approach that simultaneously targets both abnormal KRAS signaling and the autophagy process, shows a strong response in mouse models and may be a promising therapy for patients with pancreatic cancer. Conan Kinsey, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist at Huntsman Cancer Institute and the Department of Internal Medicine at the U of U and Martin McMahon, PhD, a cancer researcher at HCI and Professor of Dermatology at the U of U, led the study.

"We were able to observe that the combination of these two drugs -- which, when used individually, don't have much of an impact on the disease -- appears to have a very potent impact on the growth of pancreatic cancer," says McMahon. "We have observed this in the lab in petri dishes, then in mouse models, and now in a pancreatic cancer patient on a compassionate use basis. Indeed, we proceeded from a petri dish to a patient in less than two years -- a timeline that is rarely seen in medical science."

The HCI-led research is bolstered by a separate study published in the same issue of the journal. This study outlines complementary findings regarding the effects of autophagy in pancreatic cancer in the laboratory setting and was led by Channing Der, PhD, Sarah Graham Kenan, PhD, and Kirsten Bryant, PhD, at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. McMahon and Der learned about the parallel nature of their research programs at a scientific meeting one year ago. Given the critical need for advances in pancreatic cancer therapies and the promise of their collective findings, they worked together to push their studies forward on a companion basis.

"In our paper, we show the response of a pancreatic cancer patient who had received surgery and multiple lines of chemotherapy prior to this combination," said Kinsey, who was also the patient's physician. "This patient, who has since succumbed to the disease, nevertheless had a remarkable response to these drugs for several months. We need to carefully evaluate this new combination therapy in the context of clinical trials to better understand if good responses might be seen in multiple patients. We also need to identify the specific features of any patient who may benefit, before any recommendation can be made about use on a larger scale."

These preliminary findings are being rigorously scrutinized in clinical trials to observe and understand whether the combination of these drugs is safe and effective for pancreatic cancer patients. The trial is underway at HCI and is underway or planned at the University of California, San Francisco, and Columbia University in New York.
Fossilised bones that appear to have been digested by crocodiles in the Cayman Islands have revealed three new species and subspecies of mammal that roamed the island more than 300 years ago.

An expert team led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London), the American Museum of Natural History, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History studied the bones from collections in British and American museums including the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida. The bones had been previously collected from caves, sinkholes and peat deposits on the Cayman Islands between the 1930s and 1990s.

Published in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History today (March 4, 2019), the team describe two new large rodents (Capromys pilorides lewisi and Geocapromys caymanensis), as well as a small shrew-like mammal named Nesophontes hemicingulus. Fossil remains of the land mammal have been previously reported from the Cayman Islands, but have not been scientifically described until now.

The three mammals were unique to the Cayman Islands, existing nowhere else in the world. The scientists calculated that they would have probably become extinct around the 1700s, likely due to the arrival of European settlers and introduced mammals such as rats, cats and dogs.

Professor Samuel Turvey, Senior Research Fellow at ZSL's Institute of Zoology, and co-author of the paper, said: "Humans are almost certainly to blame for the extinction of these newly described mammals, and this represents just the tip of the iceberg for mammal extinctions in the Caribbean. Nearly all the mammal species that used to live on these tropical islands, including all of the native Caribbean sloths and monkeys, have recently disappeared.

"It's vitally important to understand the factors responsible for past extinctions of island species, as many threatened species today are found on islands. The handful of Caribbean mammals that still exist today are the last survivors of a unique vanished world and represent some of the world's top conservation priorities."

Animals described as "coneys" and "little beasts like cats," which were probably the now-extinct rodents Capromys or Geocapromys, were seen and recorded by Sir Francis Drake when he visited the Cayman Islands in 1586. Despite the major marine barrier separating the Cayman Islands from other Caribbean lands, the extinct mammals described in this study are similar to those on Cuba, and other subspecies of Capromys pilorides still survive on Cuba today. The Cayman Islands may have originally been colonised by mammals carried across from Cuba on floating rafts of vegetation, which in some cases have been documented to float as far as 100 kilometres in less than a week.

Professor Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History's Mammalogy Department, a co-author of the study, said: "Although one would think that the greatest days of biological field discoveries are long over, that's very far from the case. With only one possible sighting early in the course of European expansion into the New World, these small mammals from the Cayman Islands were complete unknowns until their fossils were discovered. Their closest relatives are Cuban; how and when did they manage a 250-km journey over open water?"

The Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands consist of three islands (Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac) in the north-western Caribbean Sea, separated by significant deeps of nearly 2000m of water for more than 20 million years.

Though it is rare that islands are successfully colonised by mammals other than bats, this is not the case for the West Indies -- or the islands of the Caribbean Basin. During the late Quaternary record (i.e., 0.5-1.0 million years ago) the islands comprised of nearly 130 different species, including sloths, insect eating mammals, ancient mysterious monkeys, rodents and bats.

However, due to the arrival of European humans, only 13 endemic mammal species now survive in the West Indies, along with 60 species of bat. Calculations from the study indicate that several species might have survived into present day if they had not suffered at the hands of man -- altering their habitat and introducing exotic creatures over the last 500 years.
A compound used to make car bumpers strong and protect wood decks could prevent return visits to the dentist's office.

A team of researchers with the OHSU School of Dentistry in Portland, Oregon, have created a filling material that's two times more resistant to breakage than standard fillings, according to a study published by the journal Scientific Reports. The new filling uses the additive thiourethane, which is also in protective coatings for cars and decks.

The team also has developed an adhesive that's 30 percent stronger after six months in use than adhesives that are currently used to keep fillings in place. This new adhesive was described in a recent study published in the journal Dental Materials.

Combined, the new adhesive and the composite are designed to make longer-lasting dental restorations.

"Today's dental restorations typically only last seven to 10 years before they fail," said Carmem Pfeifer, D.D.S., Ph.D., corresponding author of the studies published in Scientific Reports and Dental Materials. Pfeifer is an associate professor of restorative dentistry (biomaterials and biomechanics) in the OHSU School of Dentistry.

"They crack under the pressure of chewing, or have gaps form between the filling and the tooth, which allow bacteria to seep in and a new cavity to form," Pfeifer said. "Every time this happens, the tooth under the restorations becomes weaker and weaker, and what starts as a small cavity may end up with root canal damage, a lost tooth or even life-threatening infections.

"Stronger dental materials mean patients won't have to get fillings repaired or replaced nearly as often," she said. "This not only saves them money and hassle, but also prevents more serious problems and more extensive treatment."

The adhesive described in the Dental Materials study uses a specific kind of polymer -- known as (meth)acrylamides -- that is much more resistant to damage in water, bacteria and enzymes in the mouth than standard adhesives currently used in dentistry. The composite material described in Scientific Reports uses thiourethane, which holds up much better to chewing.

Pfeifer and Jack Ferracane, Ph.D., chair and professor of restorative dentistry, led the materials' development.

The study published in Dental Materials was supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, grants K02 DE025280, R01 DE026113, and U01 DE023756. The study published in Scientific Reports was supported by NIDCR grants 1R15-DE023211-01A1, 1U01-DE02756-01 and K02 DE025280.
The $32 trillion push to disrupt the entire oil industry



By Cyril Widdershoven

Global oil and gas companies are increasingly facing an uphill battle as global warming policies are taking their toll. Most analysts and market watchers are focusing on peak oil demand scenarios, but the reality could be much darker. International oil companies (IOCs) are likely to face a Black Swan scenario, which could end up being a boon for state-owned oil companies (NOCs).



Increased shareholder activism, combined with global warming policies of institutional investors and NGOs, are pushing IOCs in a corner, constricting financing options for oil companies.



The first signs of a green revolution in the shareholder-investors universe are there, as investors have forced Dutch oil and gas major Shell to officially change its strategy, investing in more renewable energy and energy storage. The Dutch IOC wasnt forced by to do so because of mismanagement or a lack of reserves but due to a well-orchestrated investor/stakeholder offensive. Several other peers, such as BP, ENI or Total, are expected to experience comparable situations.



And it has become clear that not only oil and gas giants are being targeted, after one of the worlds largest mining and commodity trading companies, Glencore, decided to put a limit on its thermal coal investment. The group stated that this was done after it was confronted by a largely unknown shareholder network called Climate Action 100+, which claims to be backed by more than 300 investors, managing assets of around $32 trillion. The group was founded a little over a year ago but has already forced oil majors boardrooms to take radical decisions.



The above shows that international hydrocarbon and mining sectors are facing a new obstacle, being confronted by large groups of socially and environmentally engaged shareholders, which are no longer looking at commercial value only. A combination of activist institutional investors, international pension funds and NGOs, is a new force to be dealt with. Stock-exchanged listed companies will need to address the will of their shareholders, especially with regards to climate change policies or decarbonization of the economy. After decades of having focused on creating maximum shareholder returns, things have changed dramatically, but maybe not for the better.



For Climate Action 100+, which includes investors such as Calpers, Allianz SE, and HSBC Global Asset Management, making profitable investments remains a top priority, but they will no longer look accept a passive stance towards climate change. Without complying with the demands of NGOs and socially engaged investors, access to new capital for new oil and gas upstream projects will be reduced. Some even expect that the role of Western IOCs could decline in the next couple of years, due to political shareholder engagement policies. To force IOCs, such as Shell or BP, to comply with policies that would halve their net carbon footprint by 2050 could result in a death-wish for these companies in the long-run.



The demise of IOCs, as we know them right now, could come sooner than many may expect. This will, of course, come at a cost for energy-hungry regions or consumers. With a net demand growth for oil and gas in the coming years, the world will need all hands on deck to support upstream investments to bring the hard-needed oil and gas reserves and volumes to the market. With less financing options for IOCs, and also oilfield services, the already existing investment gap in upstream investment worldwide will only grow wider. In contrast to what some media sources are suggesting, oil and gas demand will not diminish, on the contrary, oil and gas prices will rise due to a lack of supply.



That this picture is not a future nightmare scenario but is already the reality, is shown by the fact that a growing amount of smaller oil and gas companies have become insolvent. The latter is partly caused by global warming constraints and lower oil prices in general. The first casualties are falling in Europe, mainly the UK, where 16 companies went bankrupt in 2018, in comparison to zero in 2012. British accountancy firm Moore Stephenson stated that lower prices were the main cause. At the same time, increased costs (North Sea decommissioning) and lower oil price expectations are doing the rest. If the international financial markets are going to take over the doomsday scenarios presented by pressure groups and NGOs, independent oil and gas companies are going to be hit extremely hard. No investor is willing to invest in a sector or company that looks to hit rock-bottom in the next decade. Stranded reserves reports, as presented by the Bank of England and others, are not helping at all to change perceptions.



Western consumers and politicians, however, should not already start to cheer a green revolution and the end of the oil era. The future is different and could be even less positive than currently is assessed. Financial pressure on IOCs is opening up a Pandoras Box. By removing market-oriented oil and gas giants from global markets, the only way to gain access to oil and gas will be the national oil companies (NOCs). Not only are they the real owners of the overwhelming majority of hydrocarbon reserves in the world, but NOCs are also not constrained by shareholder activism or NGO pressure.



The main driver for NOCs is to support the sustainable economic growth of their home country or government. In stark contrast to IOCs, which are fully focused on shareholder value and profits, NOCs have a long-term national approach, in which other factors are playing a role. Saudi Aramco and its peers are not only the sole owner of the reserves but also of most of the value chain. The ongoing downstream focus of NOCs can be seen as a push to gain control of the entire value chain, from exploration to sales.



This position is still of value to institutional investors and national financial institutions, as the combination of long-term access, ownership and extensive value chain control, is very attractive. The Fitch AA+ rating of Abu Dhabis ADNOC shows that NOCs have become very attractive, even more than IOCs at present.



Mainstream investors, hedge- and pension funds, are and will be interested in financing NOCs, as long as demand and profits are there. Western consumers and the industry should however also realize that a transformation of power to NOCs will also mean that market fundamentals will change, and possible unexpected hiccups in supply will occur at the will of governments, not due to market fundamentals. NOCs are still controlled and owned by national governments.



Supply risks will increase if IOCs see their influence in the hydrocarbon sector diminish. Destruction of knowledge, technical capabilities and additional financing, could constrain the hard-needed push for new oil and gas production.

Political and environmental pressure groups should realize that pushing too hard for change could produce a boomerang effect of unwanted-order. To force IOCs to change their investment strategies, and abandon highly profitable upstream projects, while investing in renewables, could be more destabilizing than anticipated. Between 2014 and 2018, upstream oil and gas investments have been hit hard, leaving a $1 trillion investment gap. This development will impact the market within the next 24 months. Lower oil supply will push up prices if demand continues to grow. Cyril Widdershoven is a writer for Oilprice.com where this originally appeared. Home
On March 1, 2019, a federal district court entered a final consent judgment against a broker who was charged with defrauding customers by making unsuitable and unauthorized trades and churning customers' accounts that enriched the broker at the customers' expense.

The SEC's complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, alleges that from July 2012 to August 2014, William C. Gennity recommended to four customers a pattern of high-cost, in-and-out trading without any reasonable basis to believe that his customers could make a profit. Gennity's recommendations resulted in losses for the customers and gains for Gennity. Gennity allegedly also lied to his customers about the potential for the accounts to profit. The complaint also alleges that Gennity engaged in unauthorized trading and churning.

The final judgment permanently enjoins Gennity from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and orders Gennity to pay $302,483, consisting of $127,686 in disgorgement, $14,797 in prejudgment interest and a civil penalty of $160,000. Separately, the SEC instituted settled administrative proceedings against Gennity in which, without admitting or denying the findings, Gennity consented to a Commission order barring him from the securities industry and penny stock trading.

Gennity was formerly associated with Alexander Capital L.P., a New York-based broker-dealer. In June 2018, the SEC filed settled charges against the broker-dealer and two of its managers, including Gennity's former supervisor.

Since 2017, the SEC has filed five enforcement actions against brokers for excessive and unsuitable trading, and the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and Broker-Dealer Task Force has issued an Investor Alert about excessive trading in brokerage accounts.

The SEC's investigation has been conducted by David Oliwenstein, David Stoelting, Roseann Daniello, and Steven G. Rawlings, and supervised by Sanjay Wadhwa.
On March 1, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered a consent judgment against corporate deal advisor Rong Chen, who was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading.

In September 2018, the SEC charged Chen, a United States citizen residing in China, with illegally trading the securities of two companies based on confidential information regarding impending acquisitions learned in the course of advising the acquiring companies. According to the complaint, in 2013, when Chen was Vice President of Investments for Tsinghua Unigroup Limited, he learned of the impending acquisition of RDA Microelectronics Inc. The SEC's complaint alleges that, shortly before the deal was made public, Chen opened a brokerage account in his wife's name and used it to make a series of purchases of RDA securities, generating more than $75,000 in illicit profits. The complaint further alleges that, in 2015, when Chen was a Managing Director at a Hong Kong-based investment banking firm that was advising 58.com Inc. on its acquisition of rival ganji.com, he again used his wife's brokerage account to buy out-of-the-money 58.com call options, which he sold after news of the acquisition became public, for illicit profits of more than $90,000.

Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC's complaint, Chen consented to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. Chen also agreed to pay disgorgement of $167,092, prejudgment interest of $26,356, and a $167,092 civil penalty. Following Chen's agreement to disgorge his ill-gotten gains, the SEC will voluntarily dismiss its claim against Chen's Wife, Yuehong Wang, whom the SEC sued as a relief defendant.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Marcus Fruchter and Amy Flaherty Hartman of the SEC's Cyber Unit in the Chicago Regional Office and David Makol and John Rymas of the Market Abuse Unit's Analysis and Detection Center. The case was supervised by Joseph Sansone, Chief of the Market Abuse Unit, and Kathryn Pyszka, an Associate Regional Director in the Chicago Regional Office. The litigation was led by Benjamin Hanauer and Mr. Fruchter. The SEC appreciates the assistance of FINRA.
The failure of the Canadian Right (Part One) By Mark Wegierski

It could be argued that, over the last five-and-a-half decades, the Canadian Right has conclusively failed to articulate a counter-ethic to the now-prevalent Liberal idea of Canada and is now on the fast track to extinction in the Canadian polity. The origins of the decline of the Canadian Right can be traced to the battles from 1963 to 1968 between Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson and the staunch Tory John Diefenbaker (who was Prime Minister from 1957 to 1963), and the initial burst of Trudeaumania in 1968 to 1972. It was in those years that a more traditional Canada was fundamentally overturned, especially as symbolized by the adoption of the new flag, dubbed the Pearson Pennant, in 1965  and the attendant, vast social engineering initiatives. The culmination of the Trudeau revolution was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982). The social framework of Canada had been changed so drastically by that time, that Brian Mulroneys Progressive Conservative majorities of 1984 and 1988 ended up being a defeat in victory  or a false dawn. The Canadian Right tried to regroup through the launching of the Reform Party in 1987. The Reform Party faced a climate of unrelenting media and institutional hostility -- especially in the 1996 controversy over the extension of anti-discrimination protections to gays and lesbians. It could be argued that part of the Liberal Partys strategy in the 1990s (in the wake of the collapse of Soviet Communism) to draw the sting of Reform Party criticism was to adopt so-called fiscal or economic conservatism. The extent of the Liberal austerity measures against the mass of ordinary Canadians included: not rescinding the Goods and Services Tax, as they had explicitly promised to do; the Unemployment Insurance reforms, which drastically reduced benefits; the Canada Pension Plan reforms which substantially raised the amount of contributions that have to be paid into the program; and the Old Age Pension and Old Age tax-exemption clawbacks  which kick in at a relatively modest income threshold. It could also be argued that the Liberal Party, especially in the 1990s, has colluded with big banks, big insurance companies, and other major corporations, to the disfavour of the broad Canadian public. Preston Manning launched the United Alternative initiative in 1998. This culminated in the creation of the Canadian Alliance  whose full, official name was the Canadian Reform-Conservative Alliance. The initiative failed to achieve its ultimate goal  a merger with the federal Progressive Conservative party  largely because of the intransigence of one man  federal P.C. leader Joe Clark. In 2000, Stockwell Day was selected leader of the Canadian Alliance. Although he began well, he was increasingly sandbagged by the accusation that he represented Christian fundamentalist extremism. The November 2000 election was full of various mendacious accusations by the Liberal Party. In 2001, Stockwell Day was essentially destroyed by a concerted campaign of the media, the Liberal Party, and dissidents in his own caucus. The ensuing Canadian Alliance leadership selection process of 2002 was won by Stephen Harper. The merger between the Canadian Alliance (under Stephen Harper) and the federal Progressive Conservatives (under the leadership of Peter MacKay), was formally announced on October 16, 2003, and finalized by December 2003. This move, coming after decades of negativity for the Canadian Right, appeared to be a bright way forward. In March 2004, Stephen Harper was selected leader of the reconstituted Conservative Party.



The June 2004 election was perhaps one of the most critical in Canadian history, and was supposed to represent the culmination of the Canadian Rights attempt to regain the political initiative. Nevertheless, Stephen Harper essentially flopped  considering that the Liberals were highly vulnerable, especially over the financial scandal where over $100 million (Canadian) of federal government money went to the personal coffers of prominent Quebec Liberals. The Liberals won a minority government (a plurality of seats in the federal Parliament) in 2004. The Liberal government was finally voted down in the federal Parliament in November 2005. In the ensuing January 2006 federal election, Harper won a minority government. By sticking to centrist policies, Harper continued in power until 2008, when he called an election himself. He won a strengthened mandate, but the majority still eluded him. Finally, the Conservative government was voted down in the federal Parliament in 2011. However, Harper was finally able to win a majority in the May 2011 election. But the Conservative majority government continued with centrist policies. In the October 2015 federal election, Justin Trudeau (Pierre Elliott Trudeaus son) won a strong majority. This was a signal to sweep away whatever fragmentary conservative measures Stephen Harper might have been able to introduce in 2011-2015. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
When the small Oakland private school received the donation of four Chinese paintings, valued at $2.8 million, administrators were gobsmacked.

After relying on bake sales to stay fiscally afloat for the past two decades, the Pacific Boychoir Academy and its elite after-school music program were sitting on a relative fortune.

The New York donor, an art collector who inherited the pieces, had been a boys choir participant in his youth and had wanted to help such a program. Appraisers valued one of the pieces, an ink and color on paper of a waterfall by 20th century Chinese artist Li Keran, at $2 million alone, and the other three combined at just over $800,000.

The possibilities for the school were super exciting, said admissions director Janelle Geistlinger. We took this asset and were able to lean into some security for the first time as a community.

The paintings arrived about a year ago, but unable to immediately sell them because of IRS rules, school officials borrowed $400,000 against the imminent windfall to boost staff and build their program. An admissions director was added. So was a web designer, and a Latin teacher.

Then came the shocking news. In February, as school officials readied to sell, they took the art to Bonhams auction house in San Francisco, where Asian art experts evaluated the paintings.

The paintings were fake. Copies. Reproductions of original works by Li Keran, Fu Baoshi, Zhang Daqian and Shi Tao.

And definitely not worth $2.8 million, the experts said. They were basically worthless. Other experts agreed.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

It was unreal, said Summer Dittmer, a math teacher who also is performing the tasks of head of school.

The donor, who school officials declined to identify, was devastated  he had no idea the pieces werent real, she added.

The school was just getting by when the paintings arrived. The loans have put it in deep financial trouble, making it unable to cover $270,000 in operating costs through the end of the year.

The schools board has laid off the head of school and the new admissions director among others, and forced teachers to take a 20 percent pay cut.

Its not enough.

The school might close, said Dittmer, who voluntarily took on the head of school duties for now. What are we going to do if we dont have money to pay paychecks in April?

The Pacific Boychoir includes a music-rich private school, which currently serves about 24 boys in grades four through eight, as well as an after-school choir program and a premier concert and touring choir.

It is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

The school has small classes and two hours of music a day. Sixth-graders are doing ninth-grade math curriculum, Dittmer said. And, she said, the site is open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no charge for after-school care.

Tuition is $24,000.

Every person that walks onto campus wants to enroll, she said.

Now, its unclear whether there will be a campus through June.

The school has started an online fundraising campaign and individual supporters have sent a few checks, but the effort is falling short of the goal.

Were trying not to freak everybody out, Dittmer said. Fiscally, we cant keep going.

Due diligence had been done, or so everyone believed.

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There was absolutely nothing but good intention and good faith, said Geistlinger, the admissions director.

Courtesy Pacific Boychoir Academy

But Chinese paintings can be tricky, experts said. The art of masters is often copied, which is more of an homage than forgery.

It is extremely difficult to ascertain with real certainty and consensus the attribution of any Chinese painting, said New York Asian art dealer J.J. Lally, who wasnt involved in the appraisals. It certainly is not the first time theres been a dispute over a Chinese painting. Sometimes you ask five experts, you get six opinions.

The sad part, school officials said, is that the school was already reaping the benefits of the additional staff, with the enrollment of the school expected to nearly double next year.

Imagine, they added, what they could have done with an endowment  with a stable flow of funds  for the foreseeable future.

Its such a bummer, said Johanna Ortis, development director. I know thats an understatement.

There is one tiny ray of hope outside the fundraising effort, Ortis said. Before realizing the four pieces were fake, the donor had given the school three additional pieces from the same collection. This week, one of the New York appraisers who had appraised the first set, valued them at a combined $500,000.

Well see, Ortis said.

Were not holding our breath, she said. Were not cashing checks.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
On a long-neglected stretch of East Oakland, bulldozers are tearing gullies in the asphalt, clearing the path for a bus system that could breathe new life into the strip of auto body shops, taquerias and splashy murals.

If all goes as planned, the new fleet will arrive as soon as December: long, elegant, low-floored buses, big enough to carry dozens of passengers but light enough to glide quietly past the bridal shops and fruit stands on International Boulevard. Whipping by every seven minutes, theyll shuttle people from the deep flatlands to office jobs downtown, pick children up from school and bring more business to the small shops.

AC Transit touts the $216 million system as a renaissance in public transit. But it would also be a hard-fought victory for the bus agency, after 20 years of painstaking community outreach and political standoffs. Those fights continue to flare up, even as workers lay concrete and repair drainage systems along the northern segment of the bus route.

This is a story of why its so hard to deliver effective, problem-solving transportation, even on a corridor with good ridership and good density, said Randy Rentschler, legislative director of the regional Metropolitan Transportation Commission.

To him, AC Transits decades-long struggle is emblematic of larger dysfunction in the Bay Area: It seems that every community group, city council member and store owner has a say in how a big project turns out. Ambitious ideas get shipwrecked on the rocks of local control.

Officials at the East Bay agency are more optimistic. For them, the end is near: In the coming months, 21 canopied platforms will sprout from the middle of International Boulevard, allowing riders to board a hybrid electric-diesel bus that zips along in its own dedicated lane  a stylish replacement for AC Transits puttering 1 line. Equipped with technology to help them breeze through traffic signals, the buses will function as subway trains on tires, reducing passenger waits from the current 12-minute average to about seven minutes.

Some see the rail-like bus  known as BRT, for bus rapid transit  as transformative for an area where merchants ache for foot traffic and residents desperately need a quick connection to downtown. Others say it will attract new development and hasten gentrification, if the construction doesnt kill off the mom and pops first.

Theyre going to put me out of business, said Jose Espinoza, owner of the Playa Azul seafood restaurant, which he said has lost half its income since the street work started in 2016. The owners of a nearby wig shop and a store that sells sequined quinceanera gowns had similar fears.

If this takes away parking, it will be more difficult for me, said Enriqueta Soriano, owner El Palacio, the gown store.

These concerns are warranted, said AC Transit board Director H.E. Christian Peeples, noting that the agency has tried to minimize the disruption to businesses by reshuffling parking spaces and digging up the street in segments. Still, the project requires trade-offs: It will eliminate parking spaces and shave traffic lanes while altering the look and feel of the street.

Fury over these roadway changes has dogged the project for years. The original route was supposed to stretch from UC Berkeley to Bay Fair, but AC Transit chopped it back in the face of community opposition. Berkeley dropped out altogether in 2011, after merchants and residents warned that the bus system would ruin Telegraph Avenue. San Leandro lopped off the south end of the route when neighborhood groups balked at the idea of sharing the road with buses.

Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle

As a community we were saying, This is already a busy street, and then were going to take out a lane in each direction and give it to buses  and what happens when people want to parallel-park? asked San Leandro Mayor Pauline Cutter, who ran her first City Council race in 2010 as neighbors tussled with AC Transit over the bus rapid transit vision. She said she now supports the project and hopes it will eventually zoom through San Leandro and farther south, to Fremont.

To Peeples, the fights that vexed bus rapid transit show how hard it is to bring in a transit system that might force a change in habits. Though transit experts hail the new technology as fairly cheap and easy to build, politics have stalled bus rapid transit projects throughout the Bay Area.

Even through the Bay Area is the home of revolution and good consciousness and that kind of thing, most people still drive, Peeples said. They get really freaked out if their ability to go everywhere they want to go is limited. The idea that youre gonna take away a lane on a street makes people crazy.

Santa Clara County opened a bus rapid transit system in 2017, a 7-mile line through San Joses Alum Rock neighborhood, connecting the east side of the city to downtown. Yet plans to build a similar system along the countys busiest corridor, El Camino Real, have stumbled amid opposition to 10-mile transit-only lines from Santa Clara to Mountain View.

In San Francisco, a bus rapid transit project on Van Ness Avenue is limping along six years behind schedule: when the Municipal Transportation Agency wrapped up environmental reviews in 2011, it anticipated a 2015 opening date; thats now pushed to 2021. Meanwhile, perpetual construction has forced businesses to close down as work crews dig under the street, striking pipes and utilities that arent marked on maps.

Michael Short / Special to The Chronicle

A long-anticipated bus rapid transit line on Geary Boulevard hit resistance from neighbors who dragged out the environmental review process, demanding changes in the design to preserve parking spaces. Now construction is humming along on the first segment from Market to Stanyan streets, and the bus line is expected to start service in 2021.

Transit-hungry Oakland is an exception  its reluctant neighbors notwithstanding. At the time its bus rapid transit plans began gestating, development was sparse in the area south of Lake Merritt and below Interstate 580. Residents living in that grid desperately needed transportation to jobs and grocery stores; the communitys appetite for a better bus system outstripped any concerns about displacing small businesses or preserving neighborhood character.

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Twenty years later, bus rapid transit has become a symbol of Oaklands economic boom.

For the long haul, this is going to be extremely promising for the whole presentation of International, said City Councilman Noel Gallo, whose district spreads through Fruitvale. He noted that workers will replace old, decaying sewer lines and repave the entire rutted artery of International to make way for the bus.

Yet the specter of major new infrastructure has caused fears to well up. Well-functioning transit, coupled with dense housing and retail, is essential to help a city thrive. But tearing up a street is complicated and painful, and some mom-and-pop businesses wont stick around to see the change. Espinoza plans on selling the Playa Azul building, including six apartments he owns upstairs.

Any investment, regardless of the outcome, is seen with trepidation because people are feeling so under siege with this exploding economy, said Joel Ramos, an early supporter of bus rapid transit who in the 1990s lived next to BARTs Fruitvale Station, in the middle of the planned route.

For people whove spent up to 25 minutes marooned at a bus stop when the 1 line gets caught in a jam, bus rapid transit would be a major improvement.

Well, that would be nice, said a man who identified himself as Steven W who waiting at a bus stop near 23rd Avenue on a recent morning.

Usually, if I have to be somewhere on time, I get up early to catch the bus, because you never know whats going to happen, he said.

Minutes later, a bus approached. Its side doors wheezed open, and he got on.

The bus continued northward, winding past a bulldozed section of roadway surrounded by orange traffic barriers. The neighborhoods future is taking shape in those pits of shredded asphalt and gravel, where the first rapid buses will roll out soon.

Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan
San Franciscos newest homeless Navigation Center could come with one of the best views in the city.

City officials are hoping to persuade the Port Commission to bring what would be San Franciscos largest Navigation Center to the Embarcadero, just south of the Bay Bridge.

Mayor London Breed has signed off on a plan to erect a 24-hour, 200-bed Navigation Center on Seawall Lot 330  a 2.3-acre parcel across from Piers 30-32. Its been a target for development for years.

Unlike traditional homeless shelters, Navigation Centers provide more intensive health and housing services, allow round-the-clock stays, and permit people to bring their pets and partners with them.

The parcel, which is now a parking lot, is port property, which means the Port Commission will have to sign off on the idea. The commissioners are expected to discuss the proposal and take suggestions from the community at their next meeting March 12. A vote to allow the city to build the center on the lot would probably come in April.

If the Port Commission signs off, the mayor wants to have the shelter open by the summer. Like most Navigation Centers, the facility will be temporary: Officials expect it to operate for four years. The hope is that by then the city will have gotten a handle on some of the systemic causes of homelessness in San Francisco.

The proposal at Seawall Lot 330 is largely designed to address the needs of the growing homeless population in waterfront neighborhoods such as Rincon Hill and South Beach.

We all want to see homelessness addressed, and the only way were going to be able to address it is if we have places for people to go, Breed said. Here, we identified a viable location, and we need to move quickly. That means that every part of San Francisco has to share in really making sure that we are providing these spaces in places that make the most sense.

Breed has set a goal of creating 1,000 new shelter beds by 2020. To help meet that objective, she introduced legislation in January that would allow the city to shave months off the time it takes to open a shelter. Two ordinances, which the Board of Supervisors could vote on this month, would exempt shelters and Navigation Centers from the building permitting process and expedite the hiring of contractors to manage the facilities.

Its not the first time the Port Commission has considered a proposal to locate homeless services on its land. The commission voted in 2016 to lease a parcel on 25th Street to build the Dogpatch Navigation Center, which is widely considered to be a success. At the time, the commission received considerable resistance from some waterfront residents.

Elaine Forbes, the ports executive director, said the Seawall Lot 330 Navigation Center plan would inspire another round of intense public discussion.

The commission is likely to support the mayors proposal, but has a strong track record of engaging with the community, she said. Weve seen more homeless folks on the waterfront, sleeping inside of pier sheds that are vacant. More people are showing signs of needing care and shelter. We, like the rest of the city, have been experiencing more homelessness issues, and we want to find real solutions to address this humanitarian crisis.

Leah Millis / The Chronicle 2014

Forbes said the lot was physically ready for a Navigation Center, apart from water and sewer hookups.

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The center would reside within District Six, which is represented by Supervisor Matt Haney. He supports it but emphasized the need for other districts to host homeless shelters. To date, most homelessness services are clustered in Districts Six, Nine and 10, all in the southeastern quadrant of the city.

This neighborhood needs this, Haney said. Theres an urgent and growing homeless challenge there, and I will work with the mayor and with neighbors to make this happen.

But I really want to see other neighborhoods building shelters as well. What about the west side? What about the Castro and the Marina? If this is the most urgent priority our city is facing, we should see the entire city being part of the solution, he said.

Breeds proposal comes days after a bruising supervisors committee hearing Thursday that turned into a heated discussion on the citys work around homelessness.

Several supervisors condemned what they saw as a chronic lack of progress in combatting the crisis. Supervisor Aaron Peskin said after the hearing that Jeff Kositsky, director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, should step down. Peskin has no direct authority to force a department head to resign.

The derision for her staff rankled Breed, who said the citys homelessness problem is too important to play politics. Theres real work that needs to be done. These people are sleeping on the streets and suffering. Theyre the ones we need to be focused on, not playing politics.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
The family of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old unarmed black man killed by Sacramento police in March of last year, asked all California residents to join them in fighting for justice a day after Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert announced she would not prosecute two police officers who shot at Clark more than 20 times.

Protestors demonstrating against the district attorneys decision shut down the Arden Fair mall Sunday, the Sacramento Bee reported. About 10 people occupied the malls central atrium and camped there overnight, apparently with the intent to talk to shoppers about racial justice.

Anticipating that more demonstrators would arrive, the malls operators closed the building for the day out of safety concerns.

While Clarks family pursues a $20 million wrongful-death lawsuit against Sacramento and the officers involved in the shooting, they urged the public to speak out against police killings of people of color and to support AB392, a state bill introduced last month that would change police use-of-force procedures.

The bill would also require police to attempt de-escalation before resorting to lethal force.

Stephon is already gone, but to prevent this from happening to another young, African American male  or anybody  Im all for it, said Stevonte Clark, Stephons older brother. At a news conference Sunday, he also called on the state Attorney Generals Office to prosecute the officers who killed Stephon.

Schubert said Saturday that Sacramento police Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet reasonably believed Clark was armed and that they were in imminent danger when they confronted him on March 18, 2018, while pursuing reports of vandals in the area.

Body camera footage confirmed the officers believed Clark was armed, she said. An autopsy revealed that Clark had been hit eight times, including six times in the back.

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Clark was shot dead in his grandmothers backyard and was found to be holding only a cell phone. The family has called Clarks death a murder and an execution, alleging that the officers used excessive force and racially profiled Clark.

Clarks death sparked large demonstrations in Sacramento last year and garnered national attention as part of a wave of protest over police treatment of communities of color.

Clarks family also implored Californians to vote in every single election as a way to catalyze change around police reform.

The way you get change done is by changing the laws, Stevonte Clark said.

Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
Amazon will open its third cashierless San Francisco store as it expands further into brick and mortar locations.

The Seattle retail giant said it soon will open a 1,750-square-foot Amazon Go store at 575 Market St. near the BARTs Montgomery Street Station. The 40-story building was one of two towers that made up Chevrons headquarters from 1965 to 2001, until it moved to San Ramon. It is on the same block as Amazons main San Francisco office at 525 Market St.

Amazon Go shoppers can grab items and pay automatically through smartphones while skipping checkout lines.

All three San Francisco Amazon Go stores are near major job and tourism hubs. The first opened in October in the Financial District at 300 California St. A second store opened in December at 98 Post St. near Union Square. Pre-made and packaged food and drinks make up the majority of products.

The company also has four Amazon Go stores in its Seattle hometown and four in Chicago.

Amazon Go could grow to be a $4 billion business by 2021, Mark Mahaney, an analyst at investment bank RBC Capital Markets, wrote in a January research note. He estimated annual sales of $1.5 million per Amazon Go store and average annual sales of $853 per square foot, higher than sales of $570 per square foot for traditional convenience stores. Amazon Go is a threat to urban convenience stores like Walgreens, as well as quick-service restaurants like Subway, but a lesser threat to suburban businesses, Mahaney wrote.

Bloomberg reported in September that Amazon may open up to 3,000 Amazon Go outlets by 2021, but the company has not confirmed that report.

Amazon is said to be growing even further in traditional retail.

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The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the company is planning a new grocery store brand that is separate from Whole Foods, which it bought in 2017. Los Angeles will get the first Amazon grocery store by the end of the year, and additional stores are planned in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, the Journal reported.

Amazon also operates bookstores and 4-star stores with some of its most popular products around the Bay Area and country. San Franciscos largest Whole Foods is set to open in 2021 at Trinity Place in Mid-Market.

Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandli
Slack, the fast-growing software company whose work messaging app has more than 10 million users, is in talks to lease an additional San Francisco office as it plans to go public.

The company is close to a lease of 150,000 square feet at 45 Fremont St. in the Transbay area, according to three real estate professionals who are aware of market interest in the building but werent authorized to speak publicly.

The potential new office, which would have space for 1,000 employees, is about three blocks from Slacks headquarters at 500 Howard St. In late 2016, the company leased 230,000 square feet in that building, which overlooks the currently shuttered transit center.

Slack said in February it had filed to go public, joining a wave of other San Francisco tech companies that may begin trading on the stock market this year, including Uber, Airbnb and Pinterest. Lyft filed documents for its stock offering Friday.

Slacks potential expansion is emblematic of San Franciscos maturing tech sector. Ample venture capital funding has boosted many rapidly growing tech tenants headquartered in San Francisco, and companies like Slack are benefiting from rapid user growth and revenue streams, said Jesse Gundersheim, market economist at the real estate research firm CoStar, in an email.

Slack was valued at $7.1 billion in a funding round last year, and it has raised over $1 billion in venture capital. The company plans a direct listing, which doesnt seek to raise money from new investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Spotify went public through a direct listing last year.

Slack grew from 8 million users to 10 million users in the past year. The company said in January that it has 85,000 paying customers, including 65 of the Fortune 100 companies.

Slacks website lists other offices at 22 Fourth St. in San Francisco, and in New York, Denver, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland and Japan.

Slack and Shorenstein Properties, which owns 45 Fremont St. with partner Blackstone, declined to comment.

The nearly 600,000-square-foot 45 Fremont building has been home to some of San Franciscos largest companies.

The 34-story tower was built in 1979 by Bechtel, the construction giant that was headquartered a block away at 50 Beale St. until the end of last year. Bechtel, which had $5.5 billion in federal government contracts in 2017, moved to Virginia, citing its proximity to clients.

Barclays Global Investors, an investment fund company, later called 45 Fremont its headquarters. The company, which was renamed iShares after BlackRock bought it, now has headquarters at nearby 400 Howard St.

Current 45 Fremont tenants include Wells Fargo and Gensler, the worlds largest architecture firm.

Bay Area tech boom Some of the world's largest tech companies have been growing substantially throughout the region. Google leased 300,000 square feet at the Landmark at One Market, and 190,000 square feet at One Maritime Plaza in late 2018. Salesforce leased 325,000 square feet at 550 Howard St., a tower that isn't built or approved yet, in November. Square leased 356,000 square feet at Uptown Station in Oakland in December, after expanding by 104,135 square feet at its 1455 Market St. headquarters in San Francisco earlier in 2018. Facebook leased 756,000 square feet at Park Tower in May, and made deals in Burlingame, Fremont, Mountain View and Sunnyvale last year. GM's Cruise division leased 375,000 square feet at 301, 333 and 345 Brannan St. last summer. Source: Chronicle research See More Collapse

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Last year, Salesforce was eyeing space in the building, but it instead leased 325,000 square feet at 550 Howard St., an unbuilt Transbay tower nearby.

Nearly half of 45 Fremont, 282,057 square feet, is now available for lease, including a 151,104-square-foot space from floors 19 to 27, according to CoStar.

Office building owners have already benefited from the demand these (tech) companies generated in the market. However, from a risk perspective, it would be safer if the citys job growth and office absorption was more heavily generated by companies with proven business models and lengthy public records of profitability, Gundersheim said.

Roland Li is a Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf
The San Francisco police union is seeking to block the release of information from officers personnel files, joining a growing number of California law enforcement agencies and labor groups working to blunt the impact of a new transparency law.

Senate Bill 1421 opens up previously sealed peace officer records if they involve serious uses of force or sustained findings of dishonesty or sexual assault.

At issue is whether the law, which took effect Jan. 1, applies to records created before then. A number of unions representing city police officers and county sheriffs deputies across the state have filed lawsuits against their respective jurisdictions, arguing the law cannot be applied retroactively.

Civil rights organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union, as well as bill author Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, say the law targets all records maintained by city, county and state agencies, regardless of when they were created.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in San Francisco County Superior Court, attorneys for the San Francisco Police Officers Association said they will ask a judge to block the city from releasing records from before Jan. 1.

The Chronicle and other news agencies have requested San Francisco records under SB1421, and officials had planned to begin releasing the files Friday, before agreeing to hold off while the lawsuit is considered. City attorneys maintain the law was intended to unseal all responsive documents, and they agreed to delay the release in exchange for a prompt hearing.

Theres nothing in this law that limits it only to future records, said John Cote, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera. We are going to proudly defend the publics right to transparency in their government.

San Francisco police union representatives did not respond Monday to requests for comment.

Several other efforts to block the release of pre-2019 records are still making their way through courts, though to date theyve seen little success.

The California Supreme Court declined to weigh in after the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Employees Benefit Association took the matter to the high court.

A Contra Costa County Superior Court judge last month denied a request by six peace officer unions in the county to prevent the release of records.

However, Judge Charles Treat also ordered the cities and county to refrain from releasing the records to allow time for the unions to appeal his ruling, which they did.

The court of appeals then issued an extension on the restraining order pending further briefings, according to the unions attorney, Jacob Kalinski.

A Los Angeles judge also rejected an argument lodged by local police and sheriffs deputy groups. The police officers union chose not to appeal the ruling, and the deputies have not yet filed an appeal, said Melanie Ochoa, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.

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The Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs Association scored a tentative courtroom victory to continue blocking the release of records, but only until a higher court issues a ruling.

I think its clear that the courts are rejecting the police unions attempt to delay and impede access to the public for records of police misconduct, Ochoa said.

But the unions have found a champion in California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whose office is only releasing records beginning in 2019 while lawsuits work their way through court.

Becerra also threatened Bay Area journalists with prosecution if they refused to destroy a list of officers convicted of crimes, which his office claims was improperly released after a public records request.

The matter of retroactivity could come before the California Supreme Court again if lower courts issue differing rulings, or if unions fight an unfavorable decision by the Court of Appeal.

I think that, from the perspective of my clients, we would appreciate direction from the Supreme Court, said Kalinski, who represents several unions throughout the state.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
When prisoners entered Alcatraz in the mid-1900s, they were handed a booklet that included an exhaustive list of their rights behind bars:

You are entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention, the statement read. Anything else that you get is a privilege.

In California lockups, then and now, one privilege is a night of uninterrupted sleep. And with security checks, maintenance work and 3 a.m. pill calls, even a five-hour stretch of shut-eye can be a pipe dream.

But a group of female inmates at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin is challenging whats become an accepted reality of incarceration in a federal class action lawsuit against Alameda County and the Sheriffs Office.

The level of sleep deprivation at the jail, they say, has crossed the line into cruel and unusual punishment. And the women may have found a sympathetic ear in U.S. District Judge James Donato, who signaled a willingness Thursday to question the status quo.

Describing himself as very sleep-deprivation sensitive, Donato seemed unimpressed with the county attorneys rationale for dead-of-night wake-ups.

I do not see why people are poked and probed at three in the morning, Donato said at a preliminary hearing in San Francisco federal court.

The lawsuit, filed late last year, outlines what the women say are near-hourly interruptions to their slumber. State law requires safety checks on inmates at least every hour, but rather than visual observations inmates report flashlights beaming into their eyes, guards yelling their names or banging on metal doors with keys.

This comes in addition to vacuuming and repairs outside their cells, booming calls for inmates medication and new-hire job trainings during the graveyard shift.

Its driving people crazy, said Dennis Cunningham, the plaintiffs attorney.

Among the lead plaintiffs in the case is Tikisha Upshaw, who has been in jail for more than 700 days while awaiting a murder trial, and Tyreka Stewart, whos been at Santa Rita Jail for more than 500 days on charges of evading an officer and robbery.

While the women are theoretically allowed at least five hours of sleep per night, plaintiffs attorneys say this is a near-impossible feat as lights go out at 11 p.m. and breakfast begins as early as 4 a.m.

Attorneys for Upshaw say her sleep deprivation amplified a short temper and led to solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. Stewart, they say, has lost her ability to meaningfully assist in her defense.

The case is a follow-up to a broader suit filed more than a year ago by the same defendants, which alleged a range of mistreatment to female inmates  and pregnant ones, in particular.

When Donato asked why this case was the first reference to sleep complaints, plaintiffs attorney Yolanda Huang said the inmates didnt initially recognize fault.

This is considered the norm, she said.

County attorney Gregory Thomas argued that many of the disruptions were necessary for safety or logistics.

Some patients, like diabetics, need to take medications at 3 a.m., and it wouldnt be reasonable to separate them from other inmates, he said. He noted that the first breakfast call was at 4 a.m. because the jail needs time to transport inmates as far away as San Jose.

Donato grilled Thomas on these answers, and at times suggested his own solutions. The judge calculated drive times from Dublin to San Jose and asked why the jail couldnt consider sleep masks and ear plugs, in addition to questioning the pill calls.

Drought Map Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area Check the water shortage status of your area, plus see reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts.

What Im trying to express to you is my profound skepticism that many prescriptions need to be taken at 3 in the morning, he said.

Donato didnt rule on the case Thursday, and he suggested the plaintiffs attorneys consider folding it into the broader suit.

I think its kind of presumptive, Donato said. Youve got to get some sleep. Its just like eating, drinking or breathing.

Biggest crime news of the past week

 San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer was caught on video dragging his wife out of a chair and causing her to fall to the ground. Police are investigating.

 An Oakland man was sentenced to more than 15 years in prison after announcing a plot to carry out an Islamic State-inspired attack on the Bay Area.

 Two people were charged with the grisly torture and murder of a man whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase and floating in the San Francisco Bay.

 San Mateo prosecutors declined to file charges against sheriffs deputies who fatally tased an unarmed black man in October.

 A former internal affairs investigator for Oakland police is suing her employer for what she calls scapegoating and coverup in an infamous police sex abuse scandal.

Megan Cassidy and Gwendolyn Wu are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com, gwendolyn.wu@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy, @gwendolynawu
Americas Frankenstein culture By Dr. Robert Owens

Remember the big flap when the undercover video from Project Veritas showed the leaders of Planned Parenthood callously talking about selling parts of aborted children? This was exposed several times. One federal judge even ruled that the videos were authentic and not deceptively edited. Altogether Project Veritas released a dozen videos exposing this monstrous evil. After the initial shock of the videos the Corporations Once Known as the Mainstream Media or as they are also known: the Propaganda Arm of the Democrat Party went on a rampage attacking the videos and those who made them. And surprise, surprise, surprise an exhaustive investigation by Planned Parenthood found that despite all the video evidence there were no sales of fetal tissue by Planned Parenthood even though their own executives were the people on the videos talking about selling fetal tissue. Of course the manufactured results of the cover-up received more exposure than the videos. Now comes this soul wrenching mind-numbing headline from the best government money can buy, HHS Extends Contract to Make Humanized Mice With Aborted Baby Parts for Another 90 Days. Thats right those baby parts that arent being sold are being purchased by the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) to conduct experiments funded by our tax dollars. Which, according to the Hyde Amendment, cannot be used to fund abortion. What are humanized mice any sane person might ask? These creatures are made by implanting mice with human tissues taken from late-term aborted babies. What is this all about? According to CNSNews.com, The HHS's multi-million-dollar contract with UCSF that requires the construction of these humanized mice creates a demand--driven by federal tax dollars--for tissue taken from late-term aborted babies. According to an estimate it has published on its website, the National Institutes of Health (which is a division of HHS) will spend $95 million this fiscal year alone on research that--like UCSF's "humanized mouse" contract--uses human fetal tissue. The contract specifically requires researchers at UCSF to make two different types of humanized mice both of which are engrafted with human fetal liver and thymus. After the Allies conquered Germany and liberated the demonic system of concentration and death camps the Nazi insanity used to kill millions many German citizens denied any knowledge that the Final Solution had been implemented by their own government. They must have thought this lack of knowledge absolved them of any responsibility for what their government had done. Allied troops forced German citizens to tour the camps and to view the results of their governments policies. After that they could no longer say they didnt know. The videos of Project Veritas serve the same purpose for Americans. We can no longer say we dont know that children are being slaughtered and their body parts sold. Has the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave morphed into the Land of the Sleaze and the Home of the Knave? Have the industry of death and its networks of abortion mills so permeated our society that we can calmly accept them and these Frankenstein laboratories killing babies and perverting Gods creation for profit? If we do not rise up and demand that this evil stop we become the silent tax paying sheep who not only allow it but also fund it. Lets write our Representative in Congress. Write our Senator. Write the President. Demand that this slaughter of the innocents ends. Demand that the unspeakable evil of selling pieces of aborted children be branded as what it is  a crime against humanity  and that those who profit by this evil are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We need to speak up now or our silence will bear witness against us. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. Dr. Robert Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com  2019 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens Home
Joshua Roberts / Getty Images

The House passed its most ambitious gun legislation in decades last week. That is a measure not only of the bills import but also of how little has been done to address the national toll of gun violence.

Sponsored by Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena and passed largely by his fellow Democrats in the new majority, one of the bills would expand background checks beyond licensed gun dealers to include gun show, online and other purchases that allow about a fifth of firearms to be sold without background checks. A second bill passed Thursday would extend the period allowed for vetting purchasers from three to as many as 20 days.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle 2004

The doubts about Kevin Coopers guilt in a 1983 killing in Southern California would justify re-examining his conviction even if his life werent at stake. That Cooper faces the death penalty makes thorough reconsideration even more crucial.

Gov. Gavin Newsom noted as much in a recent executive order requiring additional DNA testing of the evidence against Cooper, who was nearly executed in 2004. Especially in cases where the government seeks to impose the ultimate punishment of death, Newsoms order says, I need to be satisfied that all relevant evidence is carefully and fairly examined. Its an imperative that California officials have been too slow to recognize.
The U.S. Green Partys crusade against Israel By Amb. Alan Baker

Anyone who cursorily peruses the website of the U.S. Green Party or any component of the global Green movement would naturally expect to read about the worthy and noble aims of a movement devoted to such key values as ecological wisdom and environment protection. We naturally expect that such basic, natural, and literally green issues would be of interest and concern to the entire spectrum of humanity, crossing all political, social and demographic lines. Such issues touch upon the very sustainability and integrity of our existence on the planet and should logically override partisan, political issues, whether internal or external. They touch all of us. In the interest of wide public support, any serious, self-respecting, and genuine Green movement should choose to steer clear of divisive, partisan political issues that could prejudice the bonafides and integrity of the movement and pollute its overall world vision and aims by introducing elements of bias and double standards. A self-respecting Green movement, in seeking to protect the worlds environment from pollution and destruction, should avoid taking sides in current political conflicts that are, by definition, replete with conflicting, partisan, national, economic and legal interests. A Green movement should prefer to leave such issues to the respective governmental agencies involved in such issues, as well as those international political bodies such as the United Nations and its specialized agencies whose purpose is to deal with them. In a world that is plagued by environmental and ecological catastrophes and that faces continuing and ongoing moral and humanitarian crises such as willful bombing and wholesale killing of civilians, mass murders, mass expulsions, denial of basic social, cultural and religious rights and freedoms, assaults on immigrants and others, it is curious that the U.S. Green Party has chosen to concentrate most of its efforts on hounding Israel. This is even more astounding because Israel is one of the only states that excels in the very values treasured by the Green movement  innovative ways to protect the environment, reduce pollution, purify wastewater, desalinate seawater, reforest, and protect natural resources. The U.S. Green Partys Hostility to Israel It is all the more curious that the U.S. Green Party, as a matter of policy, considers itself sufficiently credible and authoritative as to advocate dismantling the State of Israel and replacing it with the creation of one secular, democratic state for Palestinians and Israelis on the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan. It buys, lock-stock-and-barrel, into the BDS boycott and sanctions campaign aimed at undermining Israels very existence, naively believing that BDS can become the most effective nonviolent means for achieving justice and genuine peace between Palestinians and Israelis. In this manner, it supports the hostile and irresponsible propaganda propagated by elements seeking the destruction and delegitimation of Israel. It is strange and even sad that the foreign policy of the U.S. Green Party demonstratively supports terror organizations and rogue regimes intent, inter alia, on undermining Israels very existence. The U.S. Green Party appears to sideline the many moral crises that exist in the world, such as the slaughter in Yemen, the imprisonment of perhaps a million Uighurs in China, the continuing depredations in the Congo and Sudan, Russias annexations in the Ukraine, the plight of Muslims in Kashmir, and assaults on immigrants and others seeking refuge in North America and Europe. It appears that the U.S. Green Party cannot find genuine environmental and ecological green issues with which to concern itself, and prefers to concentrate its efforts with its illogical fixation with, and crusade against Israel. U.S. Green Party Petition to the International Criminal Court In a recent letter, dated September 12, 2018, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, the U.S. Green Party cries out in unison with all people of conscience and compassion for the ICC to use its momentous authority to establish and preserve peace and justice throughout the world, most urgently for the oppressed and besieged people of Palestine peacefully protesting on a weekly basis for their Right of Return. The letter claims that these people have defended themselves mostly with rocks, burning kites, balloons and tires, homemade rockets and starkly tragic human suicide bombers in the face of the heavily blockaded Gaza border where IDF snipers have used live fire and tear gas. The letter accuses Israel of committing crimes against humanity, including genocide. It also requests the ICC to investigate the issue of Israeli settlements. U.S. Green Partys Official Anti-Israel Policy This petition to the International Criminal Court basically corresponds to the U.S. Green Partys curious policy document entitled, ironically: Grassroots Diplomacy  A Real Road to Peace in the Middle East, in which it states: Palestinian resistance to ongoing dispossession has mainly been nonviolent, including its most basic formremaining in their homes, on their land; and that while Palestinian armed resistance is legitimate under international law when directed at non-civilian targets, we believe that only nonviolent resistance will maintain the humanity of Palestinian society, elicit the greatest solidarity from others, and maximize the chance for future reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Simply put, such a policy, based on false and misleading information and fraught with double standards and acute bias, whitewashes and justifies Palestinian violence and terror: It ignores the ongoing and active terror and violence against Israel, its citizens, and its towns and villages, emanating from Palestinian terror groups in Gaza and the West Bank;

It ignores and even legitimizes the thousands of rockets directed against Israeli towns and villages;

It ignores the extensive construction of terror tunnels from Gaza burrowing into and under Israel to enable terrorists to target Israels civilian population;

It ignores the holding of Israelis and dead bodies as hostages.

It ignores the willful use by the Palestinians of children as human shields forced to the forefront of the violent demonstrations and attacks on the border fence to conceal the presence of Hamas terrorists and induce international sympathy;

It ignores the grave Palestinian violations of some of the most basic and important ecological and environmental principles that should surely constitute the backbone of any genuine Green party, including deliberate pollution of the air through the massive burning of tires, the deliberate arson of agricultural produce through the use of explosive kites and balloons, and the deliberate pollution of groundwater resources. Such deliberate disregard by the U.S. Green Party for the serious and brazen international humanitarian, environmental, and ecological crimes committed by Hamas and supported by the Palestinian leadership seriously prejudices any bonafide and credibility that the U.S. Green Party might otherwise enjoy. The international crimes committed by the Palestinians to which the U.S. Green Party is deliberately ignoring, thereby supporting, and encouraging such violations include the following: Environmental Pollution The deliberate stockpiling and burning of thousands of tires creates mass pollution of the border area with caustic carbon fumes polluting the environment and damaging the health of the Palestinians themselves as well as the residents of Israeli communities in the vicinity of the border. The pumping of polluted sewage from Gaza into the Israeli side of the border is another blatant environmental violation that renders the lives of the residents a living nightmare. The massive piles of garbage that have accumulated in the border area after three giant landfills were set up along the border fence have left the Israeli residents of the border area to cope with a putrid and toxic smell being carried by the wind across the border. Such willful and deliberate ground, air, and water pollution is in utter disregard of major concerns of the international community, in general, and the Green Movement, in particular, for environmental protection and international anti-pollution conventions and resolutions. Agricultural Terror In dispatching incendiary kites and balloons to ignite vast swathes of agricultural land in Israel, destroy crops, terrorize and injure residents of towns and villages in Israel, and arming kites and balloons with explosive and incendiary devices, the Palestinians are willfully violating a major counter-terror convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings (1997). This convention criminalizes intentional delivery, discharging, or detonating of an explosive or other lethal device against a place of public use, to cause extensive destruction of such a place and economic loss. None of this appears to be of any concern to the U.S. Green Party Violating Childrens Rights Dispatching children to serve as human shields at the forefront of the violent demonstrations and attacks on the border fence to conceal the presence of Hamas terrorists is a cynical and cruel violation and abuse of such children. Encouraging and inciting children to build, arm and fly incendiary kites and balloons over Israeli territory, in addition to violating the above-noted environmental norms and conventions, is a violation of international humanitarian law regarding the protection of children from involvement in hostilities. These activities violate treaties prohibiting involvement of children in warfare, principally, the 1989 International Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Palestinians have become party, prohibits the use of children under 15 from direct involvement in hostilities. Also, the 1977 Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, and the Statute of the International Criminal Court list such abuse of children as serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflict. The fact that Hamas proudly advertises images of thousands of child soldiers trained in camps and graduation ceremonies that include attacking mock Israeli bases and kidnapping and stabbing soldiers, evidently is not seen by the U.S. Green Party as violating its basic principles. The fact that the U.S. Green Party chooses to turn a blind eye to such flagrant abuse of basic international norms, and prefers to whitewash and justify it as non-violent opposition, and at the same time, accuse Israel of war crimes, renders the U.S. Green Party to be utterly hypocritical and lacking any credibility. The importance of protecting the environment is a central element of the Palestinian undertakings in the Oslo Accords in which they committed to protect the environment and prevent environmental risks, hazards and nuisances including all kinds of soil, water and air pollution as well as to respond to events or accidents which may generate environmental pollution, damage or hazards. By encouraging, organizing and openly supporting caustic air pollution and the burning of Israels agricultural infrastructure, the Palestinian leadership, together with Hamas, are violating the Oslo Accords. The U.S. Green Party, in sympathizing with, supporting, and encouraging such violations, prefers to disregard these Palestinian violations, and rather to accuse Israel. Instructively, such an acute bias and fixation against Israel runs against some of the basic principles of the Green movement. Regarding Ecological Wisdom, heralded by the Green Party as one of its ten key values: Human societies must function with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end, we must practice agriculture that replenishes the soil, move to an energy-efficient economy, and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems. The U.S. Green Party appears to overlook this key value when the ecology and environment of Israel are violated by the Palestinians. Another key value of the Green movement is Non-Violence, to which the Green Party acknowledges the importance of developing effective alternatives to societys current patterns of violence. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace. Conclusion By unabashedly adopting and advocating radical and extremist political policies, the U.S. Green Party is sadly abusing the bona fides of those elements within the general public that genuinely believe that a green party is concerned with the environment and with protecting nature and humanity. Under the guise of green principles, it is manipulating and misleading the general public into identifying with extreme, biased propaganda singling out Israel to the exclusion of genuine, mass-violators of humanitarian and environmental norms. This is malicious, offensive, and hypocritical, to say the least, and undermines the very basis of the Green movement. Amb. Alan Baker is Director of the Institute for Contemporary Affairs at the Jerusalem Center and the head of the Global Law Forum. He participated in the negotiation and drafting of the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, as well as agreements and peace treaties with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. He served as legal adviser and deputy director-general of Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Israels ambassador to Canada. Home
Regarding No-cash cappuccino (Business, March 1): Shwanika Narayans article serves as an important reminder that elitism and gentrification in San Francisco are increasing at an alarming rate.

If this continues, the City of St. Francis will soon be known as Plastic Town, with credit cards and cash cards as the only form of acceptable payment as the unbanked are increasingly asked to take their business elsewhere or just leave. Already multinational firms including Blue Bottle, Joe & the Juice and others are refusing to accept cash payment, claiming credit card transactions are smoother. Smoother for whom?

Certainly not for the thousands of under-banked San Franciscans for whom credit cards (and other electronic payments) are simply not an option. San Francisco Supervisor Vallie Browns proposal requiring businesses in the city to accept cash sends a strong message to these and other merchants: If you want to do business in San Francisco, you accept all San Franciscans (and of course the citys tourists) whether they choose to pay with an American Express Platinum card or a wrinkled-up sawbuck.

Bob Wynne, San Francisco

Exploited girl, not sex worker

Regarding Oakland cop alleges sex-scandal cover-up (Bay Area, March 1): I am appalled that the article refers to the underage girl as a sex worker when as a minor she did not have the legal capacity to consent to becoming a sex worker and was sexually exploited, and that the article also referred to Celeste Guap by her real first name.

The fact that at some point she turned 18 did not magically change her internal psychology as an exploited female and should not morally exonerate the despicable officers who continued to exploit her.

Valerie Winemiller, Oakland

Cohens testimony believable

It is completely understandable that people would find it hard to believe anything that Michael Cohen says. And it is natural to wonder whether his lying is pathological (as one Republican congressman suggested) or if he just does not understand the difference between fact and fiction. I wonder about this with regard to almost everyone in President Trumps inner circle. But I am inclined to believe the vast majority of what Cohen said in his testimony, not only because it seemed completely consistent with what we already know about Trump and his way of conducting his business, but also because if there is anyone who understands that the truth eventually comes out and lies are eventually revealed for what they are  it is Michael Cohen.

To suggest, as some did last week, that he might be lying to Congress now to mitigate his legal troubles from the last time he committed perjury seems ridiculous to me. Id like for one of those Republican congressmen to explain how that would work.

Brad Kennison, San Rafael

City still has the magic

Regarding Get over yourself, and go to the Wharf (Datebook, Feb. 28): Thanks to Beth Spotswood for relieving some feelings of guilt when I as a San Francisco native go to the tourist spots she mentions. The Musee Mecanique especially hits a nerve with anyone who remembers it from the Cliff House days, and being in the presence of Laffing Sal even for a moment brings a memory flood. It is true as the article stated: just as ridiculous as you remember. San Francisco still has the magic.

Tim Carmody, San Francisco

GOP cant have it both ways

In his testimony to Congress last week, Michael Cohen projected a sincere, credible man seeking redemption for protecting his boss at all costs. He admitted his culpability, and he is indeed going to prison for lying to Congress and for other crimes.

But Republican members of the House Oversight Committee, with the exception of Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, were uniform in expressing their contempt for Cohen because he is an admitted liar, based on his original congressional testimony. Republicans seemed not to be aware of the irony that in that first hearing, Cohen admits he was lying in an effort to protect President Trump from potentially criminal misdeeds. It looks like theres a binary choice here: Either Cohen was lying in his initial testimony exonerating Trump, something hes admitted and for which he is going to prison, or he is lying now in testimony that implicates Trump in criminal misdeeds.

If Cohens original testimony was indeed a lie, then can we conclude that its opposite is the truth  that Trump is guilty of potentially criminal misdeeds? The Republicans cannot have it both ways.

Anne Peyton Poirier, Berkeley
During the mid-February wind and rainstorm, we lost power at my home for 37 hours and so did about 84,000 other people. A few weeks earlier, during another storm when we went without power for 19 hours, a PG&E representative said that 80,000 people were without power. Power failures affecting many people throughout Northern California are routine for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Californias largest public utility, which recently entered bankruptcy for the second time. And its not just loss of power that bedevils the utilitys customers. Since 2014, PG&Es equipment has been blamed for causing more than 1,500 Northern California wildfires.

PG&E invariably blames the blackouts on the weather and the wildfires on climate change. Ducking responsibility represents a frequently successful attempt to absolve the company from having to pay any damages.

PG&E customers suffer from power failures and wildfires because the utility has not done what it should to put its electrical lines underground.

Research going back decades finds that companies often engage in self-serving attributions for performance, with management taking credit for good outcomes and blaming unfavorable results on external and uncontrollable factors. A study of public utilities found that management took credit for good outcomes and shifted blame for the bad, but that this behavior was associated with less earnings per share growth than in utilities where management engaged in less self-serving behavior. Another study found that companies that made self-serving attributions for performance problems had statistically significantly lower stock prices one year later. The causal logic: Managers come to believe their own rhetoric, and thinking that poor performance is outside of their control, rationally do not make much effort to remedy the situation. If things are truly uncontrollable, why try?

Even as PG&E tries to shift blame for its many problems to uncontrollable external factors, few people seem to ask what to me seems like an obvious question: Why does bad weather cause so many blackouts for the company? One plausible explanation is because the utility has so many of its power lines above ground.

Underground power lines dont start wildfires. Underground power lines arent susceptible to being knocked down by falling trees or blown over by the wind during storms. Moreover, most people dont find utility poles particularly attractive. Thats why people prefer underground utilities.

The facts about PG&E and undergrounding show that the utility is responsible for power failures. For instance, between 2007 and 2017, PG&E spent only 68.4 percent of the small amount it budgeted for placing power lines underground. In not one year during that time did the company spend its full undergrounding budget. Moreover, while another California utility, San Diego Gas and Electric has almost 65 percent of its lines now underground, PG&E has buried less than 25 percent.

To explore these issues, I recently spoke with Dr. Michael Potter, a co-founder of the nonprofit Geeks Without Frontiers and a telecom business and social entrepreneur who has advised the Federal Communications Commissions Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. Among the initiatives sponsored by the organization is one aptly called, Dig Once The premise is almost painfully common sense: When utilities repair gas lines, when municipalities repair roads in short, when any significant excavation or trenching is getting done  use that opportunity to lay conduit and put not just fiber-optic cable and phone lines underground but also power lines. Digging once is an idea with tremendous appeal because, by some estimates, 85 percent of the cost of putting utility infrastructure underground is the expense of digging trenches and then repairing what was disturbed in the process.

Potter described in frustrating detail how difficult it is to get utilities to work together or to embrace the idea of making utility infrastructure more resistant to natural disasters. Again, PG&E provides the perfect illustration. When it repaired gas lines damaged by the Santa Rosa fires by trenching, it nonetheless replaced the damaged electrical infrastructure in some neighborhoods by once again stringing overhead wires on poles.

Potters point: The estimated costs of putting power or other utilities such as telephone lines underground are tremendously overstated. Yes, it costs a small fortune to dig a trench. But every day all over Northern California, roads are being dug up and repaired, gas lines are being replaced, water mains are being upgraded, cable is being laid, and so forth. If municipalities forced utilities to coordinate and, to use a phrase, dig once and enhance infrastructure resilience in a coordinated fashion, the total cost would be substantially less than repairing, replacing and undergrounding utilities one at a time.

The citizens of California would enjoy more robust and modern infrastructure less susceptible to natural disasters.

All that would be required to have better utility service is a little common sense and coordination, things that seem to be in short supply these days.

Jeffrey Pfeffer is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Late last year, the late San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi and one of my staff contacted me separately to share knowledge of alleged employee misconduct at one of San Franciscos county jails. I was deeply disturbed by the claims. I did not know who or how many people were involved; I just knew we had to get to the bottom of these allegations as soon as possible.

I immediately launched an internal investigation. I took steps to ensure a thorough investigation and fair treatment of everyone involved. We also made some personnel moves as well as assigned additional supervisory support to ensure the integrity of this investigation.

Today, I am turning over this investigation to the San Francisco Department of Police Accountability.

Let me tell you why.

I have tremendous respect for my staff, who have ensured this investigation is free from conflict of interest, bias, prejudice or self-interest. They have interviewed inmates, staff and witnesses; they have reviewed incident reports as well as search use-of-force logs; and they have been studying all available video evidence.

We were making good progress, but something else nagged at me. It was the thing I knew after almost four decades of working in law enforcement. It was the thing I knew when I became San Franciscos sheriff and ordered an audit of how our department investigates misconduct.

What was nagging at me is this: Even when law enforcement does a good job of investigating ourselves, many members of the public still feel they cant trust the result of the investigation. By turning over these cases to the Department of Police Accountability, Im taking a big step toward ensuring trust and transparency in my agency.

The right thing to do is rarely the easy thing to do  and that has been true here. This change will be hard, but it will make our department stronger.

When I started with the San Francisco Sheriffs Department in 1975, I didnt receive a uniform, equipment or formal training. The deputy on the previous shift simply handed me the keys, turned over the jail, and told me to cover the swing shift.

Im happy to say weve come a long way since then.

We have one of the most progressive sheriffs departments in the country, with a low incarceration rate and a comprehensive portfolio of inmate re-entry services to help prisoners end the cycle of incarceration. These range from an award-winning charter high school to addiction-treatment programs and intensive, focused behavioral health services.

One thing that hasnt changed  until now  is how we investigate allegations of employee misconduct.

The Department of Police Accountability has 49 employees. The Sheriffs Departments Internal Affairs unit has nine. I have been seeking greater investment in this unit since becoming sheriff in 2016. Securing oversight in these cases will help me maintain the integrity of the investigations and obtain a just outcome.

We will continue to evaluate the San Francisco Sheriffs Department and look to do better wherever and whenever we can  because that is who we are. San Francisco deputy sheriffs signed up to do a tough job and serve the most vulnerable among us, including the inmates under our charge.

Where there is misconduct, we will root it out and hold those deputies accountable. When deputies are doing the right thing and serving their community well, we will lift them up and praise their service.

I ran for office because I know that San Francisco wants a Sheriffs Department that holds itself accountable; one which we can be proud of; and one that holds itself to a higher standard. I am choosing to bring in outside, independent investigations of civilian complaints. It is what is needed to restore trust in the profession to which Ive devoted my life.

Weve come a long way, but there is more to do. Choosing to bring in independent investigations of misconduct will help us get there.

Vicki Hennessy is the sheriff of San Francisco.
Upcoming political events in the Bay Area.

TUESDAY

Political polling: Pollster Peter Hart discusses the challenges and changes in political polling heading into the 2020 election. Free. 4 p.m., Social Science Matrix Conference Room, eighth floor of Barrows Hall, UC Berkeley. More information is here.

WEDNESDAY

Mayors for Peace: An evening with Yasuyoshi Komizo, chair of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation and secretary general of Mayors for Peace. The organization, led by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is working for a world without nuclear weapons. Free. 6 p.m., Western Institute for Social Research, 2930 Shattuck Ave., Room 300, Berkeley. More information is here.

THURSDAY

Palestinian journalist: Palestinian journalist and refugee Ahmed Abu Artema, one of the original organizers of the Gaza Great March of Return, discusses his experiences and the future of nonviolent actions in Palestine. Benefit for projects in Gaza. $15-$50. 7 p.m., St. Johns Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave., Berkeley. More information is here.

FRIDAY

International Womens Day: Presentations on women fighters of the past and present, at home and abroad. Sponsored by San Francisco Party for Socialism and Liberation. $10-$3. 7 p.m., 2969 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SATURDAY

International Womens Day: Members of GABRIELA Oakland hold a rally and march to commemorate International Working Women's Day, in honor of the first women strikers in 1908. 11 a.m., Fruitvale Village, International Boulevard & 34th Avenue, Oakland. More information is here.

Justice for women: An International Womens Day program on equal justice for women in the U.S. and abroad. Sponsored by the United Nations Association of the United States of America and American Legion Post 315. $10 for nonmembers, free for students. 2 p.m., War Memorial Veterans Building, 401 Van Ness Ave., Room 210, San Francisco. More information is here.

Venezuela rally: March and rally against the Trump administrations campaign against the Maduro government in Venezuela. Sponsored by the ANSWER coalition. Noon, Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco. More information is here.

SUNDAY

Black Panthers: Panel discussion on the Black Power movement and its lasting impact on Oakland's arts. $20, $16 for Oakland Museum members. 2 p.m., Oakland Museum, 1000 Oak St., Oakland. More information is here.

MONDAY

Podcast Club: The Ballot holds its Podcast Club, a monthly series discussing several podcasts on a particular topic. This months subject is women and the media. Free. 6:30 p.m., Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. Podcasts and more information here.

MARCH 12

Youth-police roundtable: The San Francisco Youth Commission Transformative Justice Committee invites youths ages 12 to 24 to a roundtable with police to come up with community-oriented solutions to issues plaguing the justice system. 5 p.m., San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Room A, 100 Larkin St. More information is here.

MARCH 13

Andrew McCabe: Former FBI deputy director speaks at the Commonwealth Club. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. Noon, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

Robert Reich: UC Berkeley public policy professor and former labor secretary discusses free speech in angry times. Free. Pauley Ballroom, ASUC Student Union, UC Berkeley. More information is here.

New citizen voting: Democracy Action volunteers will register new citizens to vote following swearing-in ceremonies. Two sessions, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here.

MARCH 14

Naila and the Uprising: Screening of the film chronicling women on the front lines of the first Palestinian intifada of the late 1980s. Benefit for Middle East Children Alliance. $15-$50. 7 p.m., Berkeley City College 2050 Center St., Berkeley. More information is here.

Morality of capitalism: Yaron Brook, chairman of Ayn Rand Institute, discusses the morality of finance, free markets, savings, insurance and using debt to fund consumption. Free; registration encouraged. 5:30 p.m., UC Berkeley, location TBA. More information is here.

MARCH 15

Andrew Yang: Democratic presidential contender Andrew Yang discusses universal basic income and other issues. 6 p.m., Spark Social S.F., 601 Mission Bay Blvd. North, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 16

Rep. Jackie Speier town hall: San Mateo Democrat meets with constituents. 10:30 a.m., Chetcuti Room, 450 Poplar Ave., Millbrae. More information is here.

MARCH 18

John Lanchester, Michael Lewis: Lanchester, author of The Wall, and Lewis, author of The Fifth Risk, in conversation at the Commonwealth Club. 6:30 p.m. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 21

Two Koreas: Harry Harris, U.S. ambassador to South Korea, and Cho Yoon-je, South Korean ambassador to the U.S., discuss the future of relations between the two Koreas as well as U.S. relations with the countries. $25 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $10 for students. Noon, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 22

Heather Booth: Democracy Labs hosts a screening of Heather Booth: Changing the World, and a talk with the longtime organizer and activist. $10, students free. 6:30 p.m., Mannys 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 24

Latino Democratic Club: Monthly meeting. Free. 6 p.m., 362 Capp St., San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 28

Jerry and Anne Gust Brown: An evening with the former governor and states former first lady at the Commonwealth Club. $40 for nonmembers, $15 for students. 6:30 p.m., Marines Memorial Theatre, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Indigenous resistance: Nick Estes, author of Our History is the Future, traces iIndigenous resistance from the days of the Indian Wars through the campaign for indigenous rights at the United Nations. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here.

APRIL 3

Honduran coup aftermath: Author and UC Santa Cruz Professor Dana Frank discusses the 2009 coup in Honduras, its fallout and the resistance movement. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., St. Johns Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave., Berkeley. More information is here.

Drinking water crisis: A discussion with people working to provide safe and affordable drinking water to more than 1 million Californians who lack it. Sponsored by the Community Water Center, Sierra Club California, and the David Brower Center. Free. 6 p.m., 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley. More information is here.

APRIL 6

Newsom chief of staff: Gov. Gavin Newsoms chief of staff, Ann OLeary, discusses her job and goals. $15. 7:30 p.m., Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. More information is here.

APRIL 11

Valerie Jarrett: Former adviser to President Barack Obama discusses her book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward, in a Commonwealth Club event. $35 for nommembers, $10 for students. Noon, Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here.

APRIL 17

William Burns: Former deputy secretary of state and former ambassador to Russia in conversation at the Commonwealth Club with ex-Rep. Ellen Tauscher. $25 for members, $10 for students. 6:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

APRIL 18

Lawrence Lessig: Harvard legal scholar gives a TED+Salon talk on the future of democracy. Comedian Will Durst opens. $32.50 and up. 7:30 p.m., Angelico Hall, Dominican University, 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael. More information is here.

To list an event, email Politics Editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com
State Auditor Elaine Howle is on the recruiting trail, looking for California voters interested in a job thats almost guaranteed to make them no friends at all.

Once again, Howle is responsible for picking the 14 people who will form the state Citizens Redistricting Commission, the group that will redraw Californias political maps after the 2020 census.

Its a strange gig for a certified public accountant who for 18 years has led a team of green-eyeshade types who spend their days digging into the underbelly of state government, looking for problems and trying to find ways to make California run more efficiently.

Howle didnt volunteer for the job, but the good-government groups that put together 2008s Proposition 11, which created the redistricting commission, called for the auditors office to choose commission members who can fairly represent all of California.

I was surprised to see us put in Prop. 11, since its not typical of what the office does, Howle said. But the commissions supporters looked at us as people who could be nonpartisan.

A two-hour launch event Friday in Sacramento focused mainly on proposed outreach efforts to encourage applications not only from a wide range of racial and ethnic groups, but also from people from every part of the state.

It seems like were starting early, since no one can even submit an application until June 10, Howle said. But we need to begin an outreach campaign and remind people what the commission does.

The commission is designed to take the politics out of what has traditionally been the most partisan job in the political world. The lines for the states 53 congressional seats, 80 Assembly seats, 40 state Senate seats and four Board of Equalization districts can determine who can  and who cant  get elected.

Thats why for years the redistricting required after every 10-year census was done by the politicians most affected, with the majority leaders in the Legislature drawing district lines that worked out best for their party and its supporters.

It was, in the words of former GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, an undemocratic system that allowed politicians to pick the voters rather than the voters picking the politicians.

Despite opposition from both major parties, Prop. 11 passed on a 51- to-49 percent vote, and the new commission drew the lines after the 2010 census.

That first commission fought off not only lawsuits but also endless complaints from politicians and communities upset with the proposed lines.

Ultimately, however, the commission was so effective that states across the country now look to California as a template for their own redistricting efforts.

There was a lot of skepticism in advance, but overall it worked really well, Howle said. Now were benefiting from the lessons we learned by getting started early and reaching out to different groups.

There are plenty of rules about who can serve on the commission and how they are selected.

The 14 commission members are divided into three groups: five Democrats, five Republicans and four members who are registered with other parties or as no- political-preference voters. It takes three members of each group to approve the new district lines.

Commission members have to have been registered in their party  or to no party  since July 1, 2015, and must have voted in at least two of the past three statewide elections. The law also bars partisan elected officials, former candidates for partisan office, paid party workers and consultants, and registered lobbyists from the commission.

After the 2010 census, we had 30,000 people fill out the initial application and almost 5,000 completed the more detailed application, which requires letters of recommendation and a deeper dive into each candidates background, Howle said.

Details of the application process, along with the online application itself, will be available on the offices website from June 10 until Aug. 9. While those finally selected will serve in the part-time positions for 10 years, most of their work will take place before Aug. 15, 2021, when the new maps have to be approved. They are paid $300 for every day they work on the task.

Preparing the ground for the states redistricting is a lot of work thats outside the state auditors regular duties, but its a job that has to be done, Howle said.

Were going to do our best, because its so important to the state, she said.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
When San Francisco District Five Supervisor Vallie Brown was appointed in July, she had a lot to figure out, particularly how to balance the demands of city governance while keeping her grassroots ties to her neighborhood.

Now, nine months later, shes facing a different task: fighting for re-election against a formidable opponent, Dean Preston. Hes a well-known, progressive activist with the campaign experience that Brown lacks  he lost the seat in 2016 to London Breed, Browns predecessor, by only 1,800 votes out of 41,000.

And this time, hes determined to win.

There are still nine months until the November election, but Preston already has a full staff and campaign posters in windows around the district, and hes raised more than $100,000. His aggressive, early entry into the race has jump-started a district campaign that normally wouldnt ramp up for another few months.

Prestons decision to run as a democratic socialist has put Brown in a tricky position: While she calls herself a progressive, she is often tightly associated with moderate Mayor Breed, who appointed her to the seat Breed had occupied. But now, as the campaign ramps up, Brown is scrambling to prove both her aptitude for the job and her independence from the mayor.

It is what it is, Brown said, as she shrugged her shoulders and smiled on a recent afternoon. Its off to the races.

District Five is a diverse collection of neighborhoods with myriad problems. Over the years residents have grown increasingly weary of rising home prices, tent camps, discarded needles, street trash and car break-ins. There are copious store vacancies on Haight Street and constant turnover of expensive storefronts on Hayes Street. Meanwhile, the Fillmore and the rest of the Western Addition are struggling to maintain and rebuild their dwindling African American populations.

There was a third candidate, City College trustee Shanell Williams, but she dropped out last week, citing personal reasons. She had raised only about $4,500, according to the latest Ethics Commission filing. Brown has raised about $93,000.

Brown and Preston say they are a good fit for the position because they come from a background of neighborhood activism.

James Tensuan / Special to The Chronicle

Preston wrote Proposition F, the June ballot measure that gives tenants facing eviction the right to a lawyer, and is the founder of Tenants Together, a statewide renters rights group. Brown got her start in the neighborhood by picking up trash from Lower Haight sidewalks on her own accord. She served as a legislative aide for several years, first to former Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi and then to Breed when she was a supervisor.

But which candidacy will thrive in the largely progressive district? A man who brands himself a democratic socialist or a woman who worked in City Hall for years a legislative aide and then as a supervisor?

The broad ideological issues in this race will be less important than the core neighborhood issues, like vacant storefronts and bike lanes, said Jim Ross, a longtime political consultant. How each candidates deals with all those issues and how they present them will have more of an impact.

Preston, who moved to the district more than 20 years ago, said he has a better shot this time because hes not running against Breed.

The times have changed, Preston said over coffee in a Hayes Valley cafe. With Breed, we had to make the case of not just why vote for me, but why not vote for the incumbent. And I dont think that appointed supervisors have earned that level of deference.

He said his decision to run as a democratic socialist  a buzzy political ideology that supports initiatives such as Medicare for All, tuition-free college and the Green New Deal  is a way to show that he would prioritize the community over corporations.

But thats also a risky association. While Democratic Socialists of America membership surged around the country after President Trumps election, the organization is sometimes regarded as polarizing. Its also not an automatic buy-in for progressive support.

Being part of the DSA doesnt earn you an automatic endorsement of working families any more than being part of the Democratic Party does, said Rudy Gonzalez, executive director of the San Francisco Labor Council, which did not endorse Preston in 2016. What earns people the endorsement from working families is where they stand on important issues, like access to affordable health care and living wages.

Still, Prestons focus on progressive politics will probably make Browns association with the mayor a major point of contention during the campaign.

Head start on cash Months before the November election, the District Five supervisor's campaign is off to a pricey - and early - start. Here are contributions raised from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2018: Dean Preston: $102,732 Vallie Brown: $93,228 Source: San Francisco Ethics Commission See More Collapse

Since Vallie was appointed by the mayor, that is something that people who dont feel as comfortable with London Breed will focus on, said Tes Welborn, treasurer of the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, who is supporting Preston. And that will probably shade her one way or the other. People who like London will probably support Vallie. And vice versa.

Brown said she has an amicable relationship with the mayor and is also independent from her.

Are we aligned on a lot of social justice issues? Yeah, we are, Brown said. But Breed knew we had a lot of differences. She could have appointed someone who could have aligned with her on every step of the way, but she really wanted to make sure that the district had someone who knew it and would take care of it.

In a statement, Breed said Brown has been committed to the district for decades.

In all her years working in City Hall, she has always put the needs of residents before anything else, she said. That is why I thought she was the right person to be appointed to serve.

While Brown is not considered part of the boards core progressive faction, she has demonstrated some independence from the mayor. She supported Proposition C, a November ballot measure that Breed opposed, which would raise $300 million in taxes from the citys largest businesses to fund homeless services. Brown also withheld her support from the mayors plan to spend all of the windfall money on homelessness and housing. Instead, she sided with her board colleagues on a proposal that added funds for teacher salaries.

Browns colleagues describe her as affable and pragmatic, someone who cares more about the neighborhood than backroom politics. Her few pieces of legislation include increasing the affordability requirements on the Fillmore Street and Divisadero Street neighborhood commercial transit districts.

Another proposal would create a Vehicular Navigation Center pilot program to provide people living in their cars or RVs with a safe place to park overnight. Meanwhile, she said she is working on securing a spot for a Navigation Center on Haight Street.

But Ross, the political consultant, said she has yet to produce any splashy legislative accomplishments that will gain widespread attention from voters. And her time is running out.

There is a window that kind of closes for her in June or July, where she then wont be able to do anything without it being seen in a very political way, Ross said.

Browns supporters, however, say she is above fray and focuses on helping the community rather than making big political wins.

She doesnt come off as someone who wants to run for the next thing, and the next thing and the next thing, said Corey Smith, co-founder of Haight Ashbury Neighbors for Density, who supports Brown. She also has no desire to deal with the political bulls at the expense of getting things done.

But even with her accolades as a supervisor and friendly neighbor, Browns most enthusiastic supporters are worried about the strength of Prestons campaign. He already has several endorsements from Browns colleagues: Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Matt Haney, Hillary Ronen and Rafael Mandelman.

And in 2016, he really didnt lose by that much.

Its going to be a coin flip, Smith said.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
John Shafer, Napa Valley philanthropist and founder of the influential Shafer Vineyards, died on March 2. He was 94 years old.

He was a great farmer, a great father, a great grandfather, said his son Doug Shafer. And his mission for the last 25 year was really the philanthropy thing. Thats what hed be proudest of, even more so than the winery.

Shafer was an early visionary for Napa Valley hillside vineyards  now widely considered among the most desirable areas for grape-growing. His estate helped define the course of the Napa wine industrys meteoric rise throughout the 1980s and 90s, and during that era the Shafer Vineyards Hillside Select became one of Napas icon Cabernet Sauvignons.

John Shafer was born in 1924 and grew up in the Chicago suburbs. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, piloting a B-24 bomber plane over Germany, and subsequently earned an engineering degree from Cornell University.

He became a vice president at educational publishing house Scott, Foresman & Co. in Chicago. His role was in long-range planning, to read the tea leaves, Doug Shafer said. But he became frustrated by the companys unwillingness to invest in new technologies, and in the meantime he kept reading about the pending wine boom in California.

Intrigued by wine as an investment prospect, John Shafer came out to scout for land. At the time, starting a wine business was not an obvious path to success. He went down to Paso Robles looking for vineyard land, Doug Shafer said. Some guys there said, You want wine grapes, go to Napa. He said, Wheres Napa?

In whats now the Stags Leap District, at the base of Napas Vaca Mountains, Shafer found a property that had been on the market for 5 years, with 30 acres of ailing grape vines. It had potential for more hillside grape plantings, which made it undesirable to many prospective buyers: Hillside vineyards were too expensive, too labor-intensive, compared with the efficient, flat valley floor. But Shafer had read that the great vineyards of France were planted on hillsides, and he decided he was up for the challenge.

Craig Lee / The Chronicle 2005

The plan was to be an absentee owner for 8 to 10 years and then retire, be a grape grower, a kind of gentleman farmer, Doug Shafer explained. But within six months, Shafer decided to abandon the publishing career, move his family out to Napa and begin the winegrowing enterprise in earnest. He was 48 years old, and his defining career achievement still lay ahead of him.

Rediscovering a love of farm work, which hed done as a teenager in Illinois, Shafer set to work revitalizing the property, replanting the existing 30 acres of grape vines and adding more. He made his first vintage of estate wine in 1978.

The tea leaves had been correct: Shafer had arrived in Napa Valley on the eve of a monumental shift. A new crop of vintners was arriving at just the same time as Shafer, and together they would elevate the sleepy farming town into a world-renowned wine region. Wineries including Chateau Montelena, Stags Leap Wine Cellars, Diamond Creek Vineyards and Caymus all released their first wines in the early 1970s. All aspired to make great Cabernet Sauvignon.

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In homage to the steep slopes of its estate, Shafer called his flagship Cabernet Hillside Select.

Shafers son Doug joined Shafer Vineyards in 1983 as winemaker, and in 1984 assistant winemaker Elias Fernandez came on board. A decade later, Doug Shafer was named the winerys president and Fernandez head winemaker  positions both men continue to hold.

Among Shafers many philanthropic interests was the health center Clinic Ole, on whose board he served for many years. He helped found the Napa Valley Vintners Community Health Center, a holistic services provider for low-income Napa residents. He supported VOICES, a nonprofit that serves foster youth, and donated a portion of the Shafer Vineyards land to a wildlife rehabilitation site.

John Shafer is survived by his children Libby Shafer, Doug Shafer and Brad Shafer, 13 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Esther Mobley is The San Francisco Chronicles wine critic. Email: emobley@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Esther_mobley Instagram: @esthermob
A well-known sprint car racer was injured in a fiery, four-vehicle crash on northbound Highway 99 in Modesto early Monday morning.

Tanner Thorson, 22, was driving a pickup truck hauling sprint cars when he crashed into a milk truck around 4 a.m. near Hatch Road, the California Highway Patrol said. Two other vehicles were also involved in the crash.

The CHP said Thorson, who is from Carson City, didn't slow down in time upon entering a construction zone.

Thorson's car erupted in flames. He suffered broken bones in the crash, but is expected to survive.

A passenger in the milk truck suffered minor injuries.

ALSO: 21-year-old tow truck driver rescues CHP officer being stabbed

The CHP said Thorson was drowsy, which may have contributed to the crash.

Thorson's racing team is based in Sacramento.

No other details have been released.

This story originally appeared on KCRA.
Northern California serial killer Juan Corona, who murdered at least 25 men before police apprehended him in 1971, is dead.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced Monday that Corona died of natural causes in a hospital outside Corcoran State Prison, where he had been incarcerated. He was 85.

Corona immigrated to California in the 1950s, where he witnessed the deadly flooding along the Yuba River in 1955. Coupled with what doctors would later diagnose as schizophrenia, Corona's severe stress reaction to the tragedy manifested in the belief that everyone he encountered was dead, merely ghosts wandering through the valley.

"He believed that everyone in this area has drowned in the flood," his brother Natividad wrote in a 1956 petition for Juan's institutionalization. "He reads the Bible and writes all the time."

Corona was committed to a mental institution in Auburn in 1956. There, he underwent dozens of shock therapy treatments and was released after doctors deemed him "cured." After his release, he returned to farm work in the Yuba City area. By the early 1970s, Corona was contracting migrant workers for farms around the region. From this group, he picked his targets: single men who were unlikely to have close family to notice their absence.

Corona raped and stabbed his victims, sometimes also using a machete to hack the men's heads.

In 1971, the first body was found, buried in a shallow grave in a peach orchard along the Feather River. Twenty-five more dead men were eventually found, buried in and around orchards where Corona had been working. Along with the bodies, police found several receipts and bank deposit slips signed by Corona.

He was arrested at his Yuba City home and convicted of all 25 murders in 1973. He was sentenced to 25 concurrent life sentences for 25 counts of first-degree murder. Corona was denied parole eight times; his next hearing was set for 2021.

His victims were:

John J. Haluka

Warren Jerome Kelley

Sigurd Beirman

John Smallwood

Mark Shields

Joe Carriveau

Raymond Muchache

Kenneth Whiteacre

Melford Sample

Charles Fleming

Donald Smith

William Kamp

Elbert Riley

Paul Buel Allen

William Henry Kemp

Clarence Hocking

Edward Martin Cupp

John Henry Jackson

Lloyd Wallace Wenzel

Sam Bondafide

Joseph Maczak

Four bodies were never identified.
Regionalism and nationalism in Canada  another reassessment (Part Five) By Mark Wegierski

Stephen Harpers Conservatives won minority governments (a plurality of seats in Parliament) in Ottawa in 2006 and 2008, and a majority government in 2011. Stephen Harper is often considered to be emphatically a Western Canadian. He has also certainly been a person of great political skill  who did not lack what are considered the major attributes for the Prime Ministership in Canada (such as being fluently bilingual, and being friendly to Quebec). Although Joe Clark was geographically from Western Canada, most Western Canadians increasingly came to view him as playing the role of a collaborator with the Eastern elites. In Western Canada, the terms Eastern or Easterner or Eastern Canada refer mainly to Ontario and Quebec. Such terms frequently have a pejorative feel. In Ontario, the terms Eastern Canada or from the East, are usually a reference to the Atlantic provinces. They are not considered pejorative. Perhaps Western Canadian alienation will now reach a boiling point again, as it could be seen that in the 2015 federal election, that Stephen Harper has been done in by the hostile, Eastern media and intellectual elites. Western Canada has waited for a very long time for a so-called place at the table in Ottawa, and if there are widespread feelings in the West that Harper has been unfairly savaged, it will indeed be the hour of fury in Western Canada, and especially in Alberta. Once a large portion of the federal Conservative caucus was elected from Ontario seats (which obviously was a precondition for Harper winning a parliamentary majority in 2011), the influence and representation of Western Canada in the Conservative Party  it could be argued  diminished somewhat. But it was substantially more than under the current Justin Trudeau Liberals. It may also be unfortunate that Harper delivered so little of what so-called small-c conservatives might have expected from a big-C Conservative majority government. Harper continued with policies that were, in many cases, not substantially different from those of the more centrist Liberals. Indeed, were it not for the various penumbra of longstanding, inflamed partisanship, and longstanding historical voting patterns, it could be argued that probably close to eighty percent of Canadians could have supported Harpers rather moderate and centrist policies. The Wildrose Alliance was a more decidedly right-wing party (that existed only at the provincial level in Alberta), that indeed achieved considerable electoral successes. However, the NDP has, amazingly, recently won a majority government in Alberta. Now, however, the Wildrose Alliance and the provincial Progressive Conservative party have merged, forming the United Conservative Party. However, an upstart Freedom Conservative Party has now also emerged. To be continued. Mark Wegierski is a Canadian writer and historical researcher. Home
This article, 'Momo is dead,' says artist who created creepy big-eyed sculpture, originally appeared on CNET.com.

The supposed "Momo Challenge" made headlines recently, with representatives of YouTube saying the company has seen no recent evidence of videos promoting harmful and dangerous challenges on its site.

But when stories about the alleged challenge made headlines, they were almost always accompanied by an unnerving image of a dark-haired creature with enormous eyes and a huge mouth. Now the artist who created that sculpture says he's destroyed the creation.

Japanese sculptor Keisuke Aiso didn't respond to CNET's request for comment, but the artist told British tabloid newspaper The Sun he's thrown it out.

"The children can be reassured Momo is dead," he told The Sun. "She doesn't exist and the curse is gone."

The original sculpture, called Mother Bird, shows a human-style head with long dark hair spread sparsely over the creature's forehead, enormous round eyes, an oversized mouth and a flattened nose. The naked creature has the feet of a bird and not much of a torso. It was built in 2016 and displayed at Vanilla Gallery in Tokyo.

The Sun gives the artist's name as Keisuke Aiso, but the original gallery link lists it as Keisuke Aisawa.

The artist confirmed to The Sun that he was inspired by the Japanese legend of Ubume, a woman who dies in childbirth and returns in changed form to haunt the living.

Only one eye remains of the rubber model, and he plans to recycle that eye in another work.

"(The sculpture) doesn't exist anymore, it was never meant to last," he told The Sun. "It was rotten and I threw it away."

The supposed Momo Challenge reportedly originated on the WhatsApp messaging platform in 2018, and recently there were reports it had resurfaced on YouTube in the UK, allegedly hidden inside videos that appeal to kids. Aiso's creature is supposedly shown as the face of a character named Momo who issues a series of challenges, including harming themselves and others.

Although UK police and schools issued warnings about the challenge, YouTube said it has no evidence the challenge has been hidden in videos.

Aiso said he intended the character to be scary but never intended it should be used to hurt anyone.

"It is a ghoul, about the death of a woman in childbirth, in a way its reason for being is to scare children, but it wasn't supposed to be used in the way it has," he said. "It was never meant to be used to make children harm themselves or cause any physical harm."

He also said the creation was rotting and "looked even more terrifying" when he threw it out, and that he's received threatening messages from those who think he was somehow involved in the challenge.

"I have no regrets that it is gone," he said.
Take Sanders's 2020 campaign seriously and literally

By Mark Alexander



We are 11 months from the Iowa caucuses, but 10 Democrats have already declared their 2020 presidential candidacies for the latest perpetual presidential campaign cycle.

Most notable among them are Elizabeth "Honest Injun" Warren, Kamala "The Toker" Harris, Amy "Staff Slayer" Klobuchar, Cory "Spartacus" Booker, Kirsten "Flip-Flop" Gillibrand and, of course, Bernie "Feel the Bern" Sanders.

Lesser known among the announced are Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former HUD Secretary Julian Castro, Maryland Rep. John Delaney, and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

In waiting are Barack Obama's former VP, Joe Biden, and his corrupt former attorney general, Eric Holder. Other likely candidates are Clintonista bag man and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown.

That's a whopping 17 potential candidates  the same number the GOP had in 2016.

But contemporary presidential primary strategy now dictates that the opposition party should field a lot of candidates with the objective of rallying their respective constituencies, ultimately folding them all into one massive leftist "constituency of dunces" to defeat the sitting president.

Recall that in 2016, the GOP's contentious infighting between the primary losers and the unexpected victor, Donald Trump, prevented the successful merging of many of their respective constituencies. That notwithstanding, shockingly and thankfully, Trump narrowly defeated his leftist opponent, Hillary Clinton, with the help of his legions of "deplorables."

But a major reason Trump won in 2016, despite the absence of many "Never Trump" voters from his primary competitors' camps, was because Clinton and the DNC sandbagged Bernie Sanders, alienating many of his Millennial supporters. They protested at Clinton's convention: "Hell no, DNC, we won't vote for Hillary." And, fortunately for our nation, many of them didn't.

That contentious Clinton/Sanders battle is ongoing, as is the desire of many Sanders supporters for "justice." This week, Sanders's former presidential campaign spokesman, Michael Briggs, blamed Clinton cronies for leaking news that Sanders spent more than $350,000 for discounted private luxury-jet commutes. "You can see why [Clinton is] one of the most disliked politicians in America," Briggs said. "She's not nice. Her people are not nice. ... They're some of the biggest aholes in American politics."

Most likely the reason Clinton and Sanders lock horns is because they're so much alike  both socialists  although only Sanders has the integrity to admit it.

Currently, the Vegas odds favor Kamala Harris to win the 2020 Demo primary, and there's a conventional wisdom among some GOP armchair strategists that "The Bern" constituency is burned out.

But the naysayers are wrong. Sanders is leading a significant ideological shift in the Democrat Party.

In 2016, columnist Salena Zito wrote that Trump supporters "take him seriously, but not literally." However, when it comes to Bernie Sanders, I highly recommend that his opponents take him seriously and literally.

Since announcing his candidacy, Sanders is crushing his opponents' fundraising efforts, and his campaign has already signed up more than a million collectivist volunteers.

In his 2019 State of the Union Address earlier this month, President Trump singled out the populist drift toward socialism, declaring, "Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country."

This was directed most notably at Sanders and his rising-star protege, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Ocasio-Cortez is the author of the latest iteration of the "Red Old Deal" supported by Democrats in the last century, which she's recycled into the "Green New Deal" for this century. It's a $93 trillion socialist scheme to bankrupt America.

Trump had good reason to use his SOTU platform to call out Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and the growing ranks of socialists in Congress: According to the latest Public Opinion Strategies survey, 77% of Democrats believe "the country would be better off if our political and economic systems were more socialist."

Overall, 45% of voters hold that belief, while 51% do not. That's a perilously narrow margin of voters who still embrace American Liberty. However, it should be noted that the vast majority of voters are bound not by deep ideological beliefs but by the winds of populist rhetoric, and that is what most polls reflect  what I call the "Pollaganda Effect."

Offending all logic and reason, we have in our midst a new generation of unapologetic socialism deniers. They're advocating the failed socialist policies of the past, which have created the urban poverty plantations that now, effectively, enslave tens of millions of poor Americans.

The once-noble Democrat Party platform is no longer one for the oppressed but one for the depressed, and that depression is now epidemic derangement.

Notably, Trump also affirmed our nation's support for the people of a regional neighbor whose tyrannical socialist regime has left the nation in ruins: "We stand with the Venezuelan people in their noble quest for freedom  and we condemn the brutality of the Maduro regime, whose socialist policies have turned that nation from being the wealthiest in South America into a state of abject poverty and despair."

But Sanders and his sidekick are not retreating from their devotion to socialism and to Nicolas Maduro, even as he blocks humanitarian aid to the Venezuelan people.

Sanders was asked by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer, "Why have you stopped short of calling Maduro of Venezuela a dictator?" He replied, "There are still democratic operations taking place in that country," and then went on to condemn U.S. assistance there, saying, "The United States has a long history of inappropriately intervening in Latin American countries. We must not go down that road again." But Sanders refused to tag Maduro as a "dictator."

For her part, Ocasio-Cortez insists, "The U.S. should not anoint the leader of the opposition in Venezuela during an internal, polarized conflict." Especially when you adore the current socialist dictator.

Looking toward 2020, when asked about a running mate, Sanders said: "I think we would look for somebody who is maybe not of the same gender that I am, and maybe someone who might be a couple of years younger than me, and somebody who can take the progressive banner as vice president and carry it all over this county to help us with our agenda, and help us to rally the American people." (Kamala Harris, check your Twitter feed.)

In the meantime, he'll team up with young Ocasio-Cortez and tour the primary circuits, larding his campaign with "useful idiots" of all ages and priming her as his socialist successor when she's of age.

Bottom line: Sanders will be a significant factor in the 2020 election cycle. Last time around, Clinton lost to Trump in large measure because she lost so many of Sanders's constituents. But in 2020, he'll bring a big base into the primary.

Despite the Trump administration's accumulation of a long list of MAGA accomplishments, the post-primary Democrat constituencies will combine around a unifying theme  "Hate Trump"  and on that, they can all agree.

And they'll be backed by the Socialist Billionaire Club, which includes Jeff Bezos, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and Tom Steyer. And, of course, they'll have the full support of Leftmedia propagandists hell-bent on ensuring Trump's defeat.

Should be another fun-filled election cycle!

Mark Alexander is the executive editor of the Patriot Post.
BEAUREGARD, Ala.  A tornado roared into southeast Alabama on Sunday, killing at least 22 people as a severe storm system caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

We are at 22 right now. Unfortunately, I feel like that number may rise yet again, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said of the death toll.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. An intense ground search will resume Monday.

Jones said the twister traveled straight down a major local artery in Beauregard and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least a half mile wide. He said many homes were obliterated.

Coroner Bill Harris said he had to call in help from the state, because there were more bodies than his four-person office could handle.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating and a track at least half a mile wide caused the deadly destruction in Alabama.

Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in hard-hit Lee County after the tornado touched down Sunday afternoon, unleashed by a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriffs vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places.

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to aid efforts to search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday as the storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region.

In rural Talbotton, Ga., 80 miles south of Atlanta, several people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes.

Kim Chandler is an Associated Press writer.
WASHINGTON  Nearly 20 years after he left the White House, Bill Clinton is still sought after for advice by some Democrats running for president. But the names on his dance card in recent months underscore how much his standing in the party has changed.

So far, none of the partys early front-runners has had a formal meeting with Clinton. Nor have the women who are running in the historically diverse primary field.

Instead, Clinton has spoken mostly with male candidates who are considered longshots for the Democratic nomination, including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Housing secretary Julian Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

Clinton remains one of most successful Democrats of the past half-century and one of its strongest messengers on the economy. Yet the party has shifted considerably to the left since his two terms in White House, and his personal baggage  as well as lingering hostilities from his wife Hillary Clintons failed 2016 campaign  make him an awkward adviser for some in his partys next class of presidential hopefuls.

Tensions run particularly deep between the Clintons and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has launched another bid for the White House. The Clintons blame Sanders for damaging Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary. And as they assess the 2020 field, the Clintons dont believe Sanders is capable of beating Trump, according to those who have spoken with them.

Bill Clinton has offered advice to a handful of candidates, sometimes meeting them at his New York office or speaking to them by phone. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was meeting with Hillary Clinton at the couples Chappaqua, N.Y., home when the former president stopped by and sat in on the rest of the meeting.

Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said he spoke with Clinton in January and got some good advice, though he wouldnt elaborate on what they discussed. Others discussed meetings with Clinton on the condition of anonymity in order to speak about the private conversations.

Clintons friends say he still relishes the political debate and is closely monitoring early developments in the primary. While he doesnt have much of a relationship with some of the younger White House hopefuls, like Beto ORourke, some of his contemporaries are considering running, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden. Neither has had a formal meeting with Clinton about the campaign, but theyve talked politics with him for years.

The famously verbose Clinton does dive deep into policy and offers advice on how to appeal to the same economic anxiety that drove some white, working-class voters to side with Trump over his wife.

Clintons focus on white, working-class voters became something of a joke within his wifes 2016 campaign, with aides privately mocking his insistence on plunging more energy and resources into states like Michigan and Wisconsin. Top campaign advisers believed they didnt need to invest heavily in those reliably Democratic states, then watched Trump narrowly edge Clinton out in the upper Midwest on his way to the presidency.

Julie Pace is an Associated Press writer.
SACRAMENTO  California sued the Trump administration Monday over new restrictions on federal funding for organizations that perform abortions or consult with women on how to obtain them.

The administration adopted a rule last month banning doctors who refer patients to abortion providers from receiving money through a family planning program known as Title X. The rule also requires clinics that perform abortions to do so in a separate building from where they conduct the rest of their services.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote in its rule that the changes were necessary to eliminate the possibility that Title X funding could be used for abortion services, which is prohibited by federal law. But critics have denounced the regulations as an attack on Planned Parenthood, the largest recipient of Title X funding nationwide, and as an effort to shift government money to faith-based family planning organizations.

State Attorney General Xavier announced the lawsuit  Californias 47th against the Trump administration  in a news conference at the Capitol. He was joined by Gov. Gavin Newsoms wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom; 20 Democratic women in the Assembly and Senate; and representatives of the group Essential Access Health, which distributes Title X funding in California and is pursuing its own lawsuit against the administration over the new rule.

Somehow in 2019, American women are still fighting for the right to determine the fate of their lives, our own bodies and our own destinies, Siebel Newsom said. What the president is really attacking here is gender equality and female autonomy.

More than 360 clinics in California receive federal family planning funding to provide birth control, cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and other health care services for primarily low-income patients. Their programs serve about 1 million people a year, more than a quarter of the Title X patients in the country.

Julie Rabinovitz, president and CEO of Essential Access Health, said many of those clinics intend to give up the funding rather than comply with the new rule when it takes effect in May. That would force hundreds of staff layoffs across the state, she said, leading to longer wait times for patients and possible clinic closures.

We cannot and will not allow the Trump-Pence administration to create a two-tier health system that dictates a different, lower standard of care for low-income and uninsured individuals, Rabinovitz said.

The Reagan administration adopted a similar rule in 1988, prohibiting recipients of Title X funding from counseling patients about or referring them for abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rule in 1991, but it was delayed by further legal action, and then-President Bill Clinton reversed it shortly after taking office two years later.

Becerra said the legal landscape has changed since the high courts ruling. His lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, points to a provision from the Affordable Care Act, signed by President Barack Obama in 2010, that forbids any regulation that interferes with communications regarding a full range of treatment options between the patient and provider.

The facts are different. The law is different, Becerra said. Everyone gets their day in court.

Another 20 states and Washington, D.C. are expected to sue over the rule on Tuesday in Oregon. A spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Alexei Koseff is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: alexei.koseff@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @akoseff
As Oakland Unified School District classes resumed with most teachers back to work on Monday, hundreds of students as well as many teachers flooded the school board meeting to protest $21.75 million in cuts needed to balance the budget and help pay for the staff raises.

The board voted four to three to adopt the cuts despite a three-hour public hearing that included only speakers opposed to the cuts.

Many students lambasted the board over reductions in spending to libraries, restorative justice and foster youth case management programs.

The students swarmed to the front of the gym where the meeting was held following the vote, calling for board members to resign and for the students to participate in a districtwide strike.

During the public hearing, teacher and parents urged the board to reject the proposed closure of two dozen schools, which state and district officials say is needed given enrollment declines over the past decade.

How is cutting our programs going to benefit anybody? said Glenda Serrano, a student at Life Learning Academy. Why were the students sacrificed?

The crowd booed the board several times, disrupting the meeting as board President Aimee Eng threatened to continue the meeting in a separate room and without the public present.

Tempers ran high and students cried after the vote.

This strike was painful, said board member Roseann Torres, who voted against the cuts to student programs. Everyone is feeling that pain and we havent recovered.

The school board scheduled the meeting for 10:30 a.m. Monday, after protesters shut down a scheduled vote on Friday afternoon.

The district and the Oakland Education Association reached a new contract deal on Friday and teachers voted to ratify it on Sunday, ending a weeklong strike.

Before and after the vote, students threatened to organize a citywide strike to protest the cuts to the programs.

Teachers and parents also chastised the board, calling them incompetent and uncaring as well as more vitriolic descriptions.

Yeah the strike is over, but theres still a lot of things going on, said parent Julene Freitas, who attended the meeting with her ninth grade daughter, who skipped school to attend. Its just awful.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel said the district was working to fund the student programs despite the cuts using other funding sources from the city and state and was confident restorative justice and other support services would continue.

Mayor Libby Schaaf, for example, vowed during the contract negotiations to put up to $1 million in her proposed budget to fund the districts restorative justice program.

Ive participated in restorative justice circles and know first-hand how powerful a tool it is to teach healing, she said Monday. Its important work that is a priority for our community.

The district faces a $9 million deficit this year, $6 million next year and $15.7 million the following year, according to an independent analysis by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, released Friday.

Those numbers dont include the costs associated with the 11 percent teachers raise or comparable wage increases expected for other district workers, said Mike Fine, FCMATs chief financial officer.

Several community members Monday questioned the existence of the deficit and said the board doesnt need to make any cuts.

Thats not going to work, Fine said. They will be broke without budget cuts.

State, county and local reports have detailed the districts budget shortfall, including deficit spending in special education programs.

With the settlement (pending school board approval), the amount of deficit spending in OUSD will increase over the course of the contract and there must be efforts to offset those increases with deficit-reduction measures, said Michelle Smith McDonald, spokeswoman for the Alameda County Department of Education.

The board was expected to make the cuts by Mar. 1 to ensure the Oakland Unified qualified for additional state funding available, under Assembly Bill 1840, to districts that are paying back state loans following previous fiscal insolvency.

While the board missed the deadline, the district will still qualify for the money after Fines organization issued the necessary report on the districts fiscal status anyway Friday, saying FCMAT will amend the document following Mondays vote.

The cuts included $11.9 million in central administrative costs, including 90 positions eliminated, as well as $3.75 in cuts to central services to school sites; $1.47 in reductions to contracts; and another $1.6 million in operational cost savings.
OAKLAND (BCN)



A 54-year-old man was sentenced Monday to three years' felony probation for stealing an iPhone from a woman while she was riding her bike from her job in Emeryville to her home in West Oakland two years ago.



Alameda County prosecutors said Jesse Williams was in his car and then pursued the woman while she was crossing through the intersection of Mandela Parkway and Horton Street near the East Bay Bridge shopping center in Emeryville on Jan. 27, 2017.



Williams then hit the victim with his car, a 1997 Mercury Grand Marquis, flinging her off her bike and onto her back, prosecutors said.



Williams confronted the woman while she was on the ground, hit her on her head and snatched the iPhone from her hand. During her interaction with Williams, the victim noticed what she believed to be a pistol grip protruding from his pants, prosecutors said.



When Williams drove away from the scene, he pointed what turned out to be a pellet gun at the woman and threatened her life. He was later arrested in the 950 block of 12th Street in West Oakland and the woman's iPhone was recovered by law enforcement, according to prosecutors.



Although jurors found Williams guilty of second-degree robbery in their verdict on Jan. 31, they found him not guilty of a felony assault with a deadly weapon charge.



Williams' attorney Brie Jefferson told Alameda County Superior Court Judge C. Don Clay in a sentencing memo that Williams has already spent 524 days in custody, which she said is almost three times as much time as prosecutors offered him in a plea deal that he rejected because he wanted to stand trial.



Jefferson said she raised doubts about Williams' mental capacity shortly after she began representing him, and prosecutors and judges who handled his case went to trial "very quickly understood that this was not the typical case and Mr. Williams was not a typical defendant."



Jefferson said, "For these reasons they worked diligently to help Mr. Williams have the chance for a brighter future and essentially get out of his own way."



The defense attorney wrote that Williams "was essentially keeping himself in jail unless we intervened."



Jefferson said, "It is unclear if he failed to take advantage of (plea) offers because he just could not admit to himself what he had done or if he had a desire to stay incarcerated longer or what exactly his end game was."



Jefferson wrote, "I truly believe Mr. Williams will not be a threat to society just as he abstained from being a threat to society for 54 years."



Most of Williams's prior convictions were for misdemeanor conduct, such as trespassing, she said.



The victim wasn't injured and Williams wasn't armed with an actual firearm, according to the defense attorney.



Williams has lived in Houston for most of his life and moved to the Bay Area to visit and stay with family members shortly before the crime, Jefferson said.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



An Oakland man has pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges, federal prosecutors said.



Kenneth Taylor entered the pleas Friday to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to filing a false federal income tax return.



Between 2009 and 2012, Taylor conspired with co-defendants to generate and transmit to banks fraudulent standby letters of credit and proof of funds statements, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.



The fraudulent financial instruments were issued by Success Bullion USA LLC, an entity that was falsely advertised as the U.S. subsidiary of a large financial institution based out of Hong Kong.



Prosecutors said Taylor admitted to posing as a fictional Hong Kong-based attorney of the company, and another company he controlled, Centerlink LLC, transmitted fraudulent instruments to banks in a format that rendered them unenforceable.



He reportedly earned at least $550,000 from the scheme.



Taylor also filed false 2019 and 2010 federal income tax returns that underreported his income and did not file returns in 2011 through 2015, though he received significant income in those years.



He was indicted on April 3, 2017, and faces a maximum sentence 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiring to commit wire fraud and three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for subscribing false tax returns.



He is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 30.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A new 200-bed homeless shelter along the San Francisco waterfront could open its doors by the end of the summer, according to city officials.



The shelter is part of Mayor London Breed's plan to add 1,000 new beds for the homeless by 2020, with half of those built by the summer, according to the mayor's office.



The city has added 212 new beds since the mayor's plan was announced in October.



"The waterfront has a number of challenges around homelessness, and by bringing this SAFE Navigation Center to the area, we can work to address these challenges and get our unsheltered residents on a path to housing and stability," Breed said in a news release.



The new center is proposed on what is now a parking lot across the Embarcadero from Piers 30 to 32 in the city's South Beach neighborhood.



The city has proposed that the center remain at that location for four years "while the Port works with the community on the long-term development of this site," according to the mayor's office.



The San Francisco Port Commission will hold a hearing to discuss the proposal on March 12 and, in cooperation with the city's Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, will host community meetings on the proposal.



The Port Commission will then vote on the plan at its April 23 meeting, according to port spokesman Randy Quezada.



The SAFE Navigation Center is intended to provide temporary shelter and services and will incorporate the "best practices" from existing navigation centers, including allowing people to bring their partners, pets and belongings into the shelter.



The cost of construction and operation of the center will come from the Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund, a source of city funding usually reserved for education unless, as is the case for San Francisco, the fund has a surplus. The surplus funds can be spent on other city projects and services.





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A woman was killed and two other people suffered major injuries Sunday morning when their SUV veered off U.S. Highway 101 south of Cloverdale and crashed into a tree, the California Highway Patrol said.



CHP Officer David deRutte said that at about 8:25 a.m. Sunday, a 2011 Honda Pilot driven by a 47-year-old man from Talmage, in Mendocino County, was headed north on 101 near Asti Road, about two miles south of Cloverdale in unincorporated Sonoma County, when the van veered off the right side of the freeway, down a wooded embankment and into a tree.



The woman who died was in the front passenger seat of the Pilot, deRutte said. Her age and city of residence was not immediately available.



The driver and a 12-year-old boy in the back seat suffered serious injuries, deRutte said, and were taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment. A 67-year-old woman sitting in the back seat suffered minor injuries and was also taken to the hospital.



Preliminary investigation indicates the driver lost control, deRutte said, but more information about the accident's cause is expected as the CHP investigation continues.





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By Bay City News



Southwest Airlines will begin flying people to Hawaii from Oakland later this month and from San Jose in May.



Starting March 17, the airline will launch its first-ever direct flights from Oakland International Airport to Honolulu, Oahu, and starting April 7 it will begin flights from Oakland to Maui.



The airline will fly to the islands twice a day, at least initially.



"Oakland was the site of the very first successful trans-Pacific flight from the mainland to the Hawaiian Islands 91 years ago," Bryant Francis, director of aviation at the Port of Oakland, said in a news release. "And is again at the forefront by serving as the inaugural mainland U.S. airport for these long-awaited flights."



In announcing the new flights, the airline also offered $49 one-way fares to Hawaii, but those seats appeared to sell out quickly.



Southwest will also soon start flying directly to Honolulu and Maui from Mineta San Jose International Airport. Flights to Honolulu will begin May 5 and to Maui on May 26.



Southwest also has eventual plans to launch Hawaii flights from San Diego and Sacramento, according to airline spokesman Dan Landson.





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Officers on the lookout for organized theft crews operating out of the East Bay arrested two women suspected of stealing $2,500 in clothing from a Petaluma outlet store on Saturday, police said.



Leimani Lee-Barker, 18, of Hayward and Erynn Chavis, 18, of Antioch were taken into custody in connection with the theft, reported at 4:27 p.m. at the Tommy Hilfiger store in Petaluma Village Premium Outlets, according to Petaluma police.



When police responded to the store, the suspects had fled but officers were given a description of the women and their vehicle, said Petaluma police Sgt. Lance Novello.



Because there have been similar recent thefts in Sonoma and Marin counties -- and investigations have suggested organized theft crews are operating out of the East Bay -- an officer was posted to watch U.S. Highway 101 at East Washington Street.



Within seconds, the officer spotted the suspects' vehicle traveling southbound on state Highway 101, obtained the license plate, and attempted to stop it, Novello said.



The vehicle reached speeds of 85 mph and police pursued the car. Due to rainy conditions, traffic, and the suspect's unsafe driving, however, the chase was terminated after the officer lost sight of the vehicle when it exited San Marin Drive in Novato.



Shortly thereafter, a Novato officer spotted the abandoned vehicle parked near where it was last seen. Two women, identified as Lee-Barker and Chavis, matching the suspects' descriptions were located nearby and arrested, police said.







Four people were in stable condition after being shot early Sunday inside an establishment in downtown Oakland, according to Oakland police.



The victims, two men and two women, were shot shortly after 12:30 a.m. at a business in the 300 block of 14th Street, according to a Twitter post from Oakland police.



A man was arrested in connection with the shooting, according to police.



No information was immediately available from police about what led to the shooting.







Police in Watsonville on Friday took a man into custody following a vehicle pursuit that led to a crash.



Loreto Arizpe, 33, was wanted in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties for being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to the Watsonville Police Department.



Police said Arizpe, a known gang member, led officers on a pursuit through the city to Manresa State Beach, where he crashed into several parked cars.



The pursuit started when officers saw him on Alta Vista Avenue, and he sped away in a black SUV, police said.



He eventually lost control of the SUV, crashed and was transported to the hospital with minor injuries.



There were no other reported injuries during the pursuit.



Police said they believe Arizpa could be connected to several armed robberies in Watsonville and across Santa Cruz County.







The Chabot Space and Science Center will receive a moon rock from NASA on Sunday to be put on public display in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 9 moon mission.



Apollo 9 astronaut Russell Schweickart and Chabot Executive Director Adam Tobin will lead a dedication ceremony at 2 p.m.



The moon rock was collected on the Descartes Highlands on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 16 Moon Mission in 1972.



The moon rock will be on loan from NASA's Johnson Space Center and presented on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and Schweickart.



For more information, visit www.chabotspace.org.







San Mateo County officials are bracing for up to 915 human services employees to go out on strike Tuesday and Wednesday.



During the strike, the county plans to maintain essential services but may close some locations and centralize services, according to a press release from the San Mateo County Manager's Office.



It's not known how many employees will take part in the strike or how many facilities may be affected. County officials said they are still hopeful that an agreement can be reached and a strike averted.



Information and updates on impacts from the strike will be posted at news.smcgov.org .



The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 829 represents 11 units of county employees.



The county and the union reached an agreement last month on a new three-year contract. Ten of the 11 units ratified the new contract.



The union has notified the county that the remaining unit, the Human Services Unit, will be striking on Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said.



The Human Services Unit represents 915 employees in departments that include the Human Services Agency, health, the sheriff's office and district attorney's office.







A Salinas man convicted of premeditated attempted murder and armed robbery was sentenced last week to 45 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.



A jury convicted Mark P. Morris, 27, last fall in connection with a 2017 holdup at a Salinas store and subsequent shootout that injured a man nearby who was hit by a stray bullet.



Prosecutors said Morris walked into the Quality Market at 201 Williams Road on Jan. 3, 2017 about 7:35 p.m., wearing a blue bandana on his face, a beanie and a hoodie covering his head.



He pulled out a large revolver, pointed it at the 63-year-old owner of the store, demanding money from the cash registers, authorities said.



Morris also waved the gun at a clerk and threatened to kill them both. After taking about $1,000 in cash, Morris walked out of the store and then waited for the owner outside, hiding behind a partition, prosecutors said.



The owner followed, carrying a semi-automatic handgun, and Morris fired at the store owner twice, intending to kill him, prosecutors said.



Morris then fled and a shootout ensued as the owner ran after him. One of the rounds fired by Morris pierced a nearby residential trailer, wounding a man inside who was watching TV.



Within minutes of the robbery, Salinas police officers arrived at the market, where one of the store clerks who saw the robbery found a single car key on a key fob that Morris dropped, prosecutors said.



An officer located a gray 2002 Toyota Camry, registered to Morris' mother, parked around the corner from the store. Apparently because Morris dropped his key during the robbery, he could not use his getaway car, prosecutors said.



A jury convicted Morris in November 2018 of willful and premeditated attempted murder using a firearm, including robbery at gunpoint, shooting at an inhabited dwelling causing great bodily injury, intimidation of witnesses and possession of a firearm and ammunition as a felon.



Morris was sentenced Thursday by Judge Carrie M. Panetta in Monterey County Superior Court.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



Teachers and students at Oakland public schools are heading back to classes Monday morning after teachers voted Sunday to ratify an agreement that gives them a salary increase and reduces class sizes.



The new overall agreement provides for an 11 percent teacher salary increase over four years, a one-time 3 percent bonus; a one-student reduction in class size at high-needs schools starting next year, and a one-student reduction in class sizes across all district schools in 2021-22; a five-month pause on school closures and consolidations; a moratorium on new charter schools; and more counselors, psychologists, speech pathologists and support staff for "newcomer" students; and a new salary schedule to support nurse recruitment.



The teachers, members of the Oakland Education Association, cast their ballots at the Paramount Theater in downtown Oakland Sunday to today and voted to approve the two tentative agreements that comprise the new contract.



The vote was not an overwhelming approval. The first tentative agreement, which deals mostly with the 3 percent retroactive bonus for 2017-18, was approved by a vote of 64 percent yes, 36 percent no, or 1,269 to 701. There were five abstentions.



The second tentative agreement was for the rest of the contract, including salary increases, for the 2018-19 and 2020-21 school years. It was approved by a 58 percent "yes" vote, 1,141 yes votes to 832 no votes, with four abstentions.



Each of the tentative agreements required a simple majority vote for passage.



Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association, said in a statement Sunday night that the main terms of the agreement are a significant improvement over what the Oakland Unified School District first offered.



The teachers' union sought a 12 percent pay raise over three years and the district initially offered a 5 percent raise over three years but gradually increased its offer the last two weeks.



"We look forward to being in our classrooms again after having to strike to bring our Oakland students some of the resources and supports they should have had in the first place," Brown said. "This victory, accomplished through our collective strength on the picket lines with Oakland parents and students, sends the message that educators will no longer let this school district starve our neighborhood schools of resources."



Sunday's vote ends a seven-day strike that left the Oakland Unified district scrambling last week.



The Oakland Education Association, which represents 3,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and other staff, announced results of the vote at about 8 p.m. Sunday, about four hours after voting was to have concluded.



The teachers' strike began Feb. 21 after two years of failed negotiations between the union and the school district.



The full agreement can be found at https://oaklandea.org/updates/oea-reaches-tentative-agreement-with-ousd/



Brown said Sunday night that the contract vote isn't the end.



"Our fight is not over, though. Oakland educators spoke clearly today at our ratification vote that this agreement will not be the end of our struggle, and we will continue to fight in Oakland and Sacramento for the schools our students deserve."





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OAKLAND (BCN)



A federal judge in Oakland on Monday struck down the use of money bail for people who are arrested in San Francisco on suspicion of crimes but haven't yet been arraigned.



U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said a bail schedule set by San Francisco Superior Court "bears no relation to the government's interests in enhancing public safety and ensuring court appearance" and "significantly denies plaintiffs their fundamental right to liberty."



"It merely provides a 'Get Out of Jail' card for anyone with sufficient means to afford it," the judge wrote.



She ruled in a civil rights lawsuit filed in 2015 by two women who were arrested on charges of grand theft and assault, held in jail for one or two days because they couldn't pay bail and then released after the district attorney decided not to file charges. One of them lost her job.



Former detainees Riana Buffin and Crystal Patterson argued money bail was unfair because wealthy arrestees could pay their way out of jail.



Gonzalez Rogers said in a 41-page decision that the plaintiffs' suggested alternative of an individualized risk assessment would be "at least as effective and less restrictive."



Although the decision applies only to pre-arraignment detainees in San Francisco, the women's lawyer, Phil Trefelyan of Equal Justice Under Law, said the ruling could serve as a precedent in other cases.



"We're very pleased at the thoughtfulness with which the judge reached the right decision," Trefelyan said.



The bail system was defended by the California Bail Agents Association, which stepped in to the case after San Francisco Sheriff Vicky Hennessy and City Attorney Dennis Herrera declined to defend it.



The association's attorney, Harmeet Dhillon, said the group is evaluating whether to file an appeal.



She said, "We are disappointed and believe the ruling is inconsistent with existing case law."



Gonzalez Rogers said she will issue an injunction barring the San Francisco Sheriff's Department from using the bail schedule. She instructed both sides to file proposed wording within five days and will hold a hearing on the language of the injunction on March 21.



The federal lawsuit is one of several efforts to reform the money bail system in California.



Last year, the state Legislature enacted and Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law replacing money bail with a risk assessment system. But a referendum sponsored by bail industry groups has put the new law on hold until the November 2020 election. Until then, an existing law requiring superior courts to set bail schedules remains in effect.



In the state court system, the California Supreme Court is currently reviewing a Court of Appeal decision that required judges to consider a criminal defendant's financial situation and non-monetary alternatives when considering release on bail. The challenge in that case was filed by San Francisco robbery defendant Kenneth Humphrey.



In San Francisco, pre-arraignment detainees can now apply for reduced bail or release on their own recognizance. But Gonzalez Rogers said evidence shows that people who can post bail gain release more quickly and sometimes are accused of more serious crimes than those who aren't released.



Dhillon said by eliminating money bail, "The ruling eliminates one of several choices that arrestees have. We view this as liberty-diminishing rather than liberty-enhancing.



"We hope that ultimately the Supreme Court will take up the issue," she said.





Copyright  2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



A wrong-way driver headed north Sunday night in the southbound lanes of Interstate Highway 280 near the Daly City-San Francisco border was injured and subsequently arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The wrong-way driver, a man in his 30s, sideswiped an Acura SUV headed south on I-280, leaving that driver and his 7-year-old son with minor injuries, before his own car crashed a short distance north, said CHP Officer Bert Diaz.



The CHP got the first report of the wrong-way driver in a Mazda sedan at 8:49 p.m. Sunday, as he passed northbound under John Daly Boulevard on southbound I-280, Diaz said. The Mazda sideswiped the SUV near where State Highway 1 breaks off from I-280, and the Mazda crashed into the center divider of Highway 1 near the Alemany Boulevard overcrossing, Diaz said.



The wrong-way driver suffered serious cuts on his head, and was taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital for treatment. He was also arrested on suspicion of DUI, Diaz said.



The father and son in the Acura complained of pain but were not hospitalized, Diaz said.



It wasn't clear how far the Mazda had been driving in the wrong direction before reaching John Daly Boulevard, said Diaz, adding that the outcome could have been far worse.



"Anytime there's a wrong-way driver, there are never good things happening," he said. "These calls are often fatal, and there were no fatalities tonight."





Copyright  2019 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.
RedBeat Ventures, the digital venture capital arm of AirAsia, a low-cost carrier, services an extensive network of over 140 destinations across Asia Pacific, is establishing a global fund.

Based in San Francisco, RedBeat Capital is designed to support post-seed stage startups, investing in scalable startups seeking to enter or expand their presence in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on:

 Travel and lifestyle

 Logistics

 Financial technology

Led by CEO and AirAsia Group Deputy CEO (Technology and Digital) Aireen Omar, the fund will also invest in digital enablers to support these verticals such as:

 artificial intelligence,

 the internet of things, and

 cybersecurity.

RedBeat Ventures, which also announced a strategic partnership with 500 Startups, gaining access to its deal flow, currently operates a number of digital-related businesses, including:

BIGLIFE (AirAsia BIG Loyalty, travel360.com and Vidi),

ROKKI,

BigPay,

RedCargo Logistics, and now

RedBeat Capital.

FinSMEs

04/03/2019
TravelSkills on SFGate is brought to you by Visa

The moment is here: Southwest Airlines announced Monday it will begin flying its highly anticipated flights to the Hawaiian islands on March 17. Tickets are on sale today, and these introductory fares (the Wanna Get Away fares) have run as low as $49 per person one-way between California and the islands. Inter-island fares are as low as $29 each way.

UPDATE March 5: Airlines drop fares in response to Southwest Hawaii bombshell

Also today, Southwest announced the routes it will operate between California and Hawaii along with a number of inter-island flights that will shuttle fliers within the Aloha State.

Here's the schedule of service:

>Oakland to Honolulu begins once daily on March 17; Honolulu to Oakland begins once daily on March 18; the route will be flown twice daily in each direction as of March 24. (Note that Southwest currently does not have plans to fly to Hawaii from San Francisco International.)

>Oakland to Kahului begins once daily on April 7; Kahului to Oakland begins once daily on April 8; the route will be flown twice daily in each direction as of April 10.

>Interisland service four times daily in each direction between Honolulu and Kahului begins April 28.

>San Jose to Honolulu service begins May 5, once daily in each direction.

>Interisland service four times daily in each direction between Honolulu and Kona begins May 12.

San Jose to Kahului service begins May 26, once daily in each direction.

>Sacramento and San Diego routes were not yet posted Monday morning. Southwest will also operate to Lihue, Kauai, but that service is "coming soon."

ALSO: Follow the latest flight news on SFGATE Travel Skills

In Honolulu, Southwest has set up a pretty sizable operation with several gates at Honolulu International Airport's Diamond Head Concourse. There will be no jetways so flights will board through air stairs through the front and the rear doors (like Southwest flights do in Burbank and other airports.) Fliers can expect similar setups at the other airports in Hawaii  few of which have jetways.

How much are fares?

Wanna Get Away roundtrip fares for spring flights are running anywhere from $99 to $199 for non-stop flights between Oakland and San Jose on the mainland and Honolulu and Maui on the islands. These seats appear to be selling very quickly as of Monday morning-- and the deals are only good if book on March 4 or 5.

Note: These fares were available on Monday morning, but by about 9:20 am PST, nearly all $49 one-way fares sold out leaving most roundtrips in the $200-$300 range. Keep in mind that a "cheap" fare to Hawaii is anything less than $300 roundtrip, so these are still decent.

Fares are higher for more popular summer flights; the cheapest seats in July are in the $380 roundtrip range- still a very good deal for peak season. But not $100.

Currently, the biggest fare drops are on nonstops from California only. Connecting fares from other cities are quite high, but that could change.

Today's announcement was long awaited by Southwest loyalists, fliers with a hefty stash of Rapid Rewards points, and competing airlines  many of which fear the "Southwest effect" taking hold in Hawaii which has historically been a lucrative and high-yielding market for them.

Don't miss a shred of important travel news! Sign up for our free TravelSkills email updates here.

Fares between the U.S. west coast and Hawaii have plummeted ever since Southwest announced its intention of serving Hawaii last year. This month, we found round-trip mid-week fares in the neighborhood of just $327. More about that here.

Alaska, Delta, Hawaiian, United and soon, Sun Country, operate non-stop flights between the San Francisco Bay Area and Hawaii-- we'll be watching their fares closely and updating this post with any matching so come back!

FARE UPDATES: 11 am: American appears to be first responder to SWA with $275 roundtrip, basic economy fares between Calif and Hawaii. Noon: Alaska Airlines is now offering $198-$278 roundtrip fares between the Bay Area and Hawaii. 3 PM: the lowest fares are now on Alaska Airlines at around $278 roundtrip. Nearly all of Southwest's nonstops in March, April and May are sold out.

Southwest fares are available at Southwest.com

Rapid Rewards Redemption Rates & Companion Pass Rules

As of Monday morning, we found some one-way flights as low as 1,950 Rapid Rewards points. High demand flights (those operating Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays) will set you back 5,848 Rapid Rewards points each way. Southwest said there will be no blackout dates for using Rapid Rewards points to book Hawaii flights.

MORE: Calls for renaming John Wayne Airport after old interview surfaces

Southwest fliers with its popular Companion Pass can use it to book two-for-one tickets on these Hawaii flights  there are no restrictions preventing you from doing so. The airline's Companion Pass allows fliers to book a fare, and purchase a second one for a designated companion on the same flights for the cost of taxes and fees (which typically amount to $5.60 for mainland U.S. flights).

Baggage and On-board Service Changes

The airline's generous baggage policy which allows passengers to check two bags for free will not change on its Hawaii flights. Neither will Southwest's lenient flight change policy where the airline does not charge a change fee when passengers want to switch flights -- just the difference in the price of a fare.

In addition to those tiny bags of pretzels in-flight, Southwest intends to increase the snack selection on Hawaii flights to include Wheat Thins, cheese spread and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, according to online reports. Longtime Southwest fliers will remember when the airline served up snack boxes with similar items on some of its longer flights a few years ago, and the carrier says it intends to hand out items with a bit more substance than the tiny pretzel packs. See: Southwest's video about Hawaii service.

Drinks too will take on a Hawaiian flair to give passengers a taste of the islands on the way over, according to those reports. Southwest will begin serving Minute Maid pineapple orange juice, Blue Chair Bay coconut spiced rum and Kona Longboard Island Lager.

Getting Approval

Southwest had originally planned to begin Hawaii flights in late-2018, but a series of delays pushed the start date back by months. In mid-December 2018, the airline received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin the final two phases of Extended Twin Engine Operating Performance Standards (ETOPS) certification: table-top demonstrations and proving flights.

Then the more than month-long federal government shutdown happened, and FAA inspectors responsible for certifying the airline were furloughed, putting an unexpected stop to the ETOPS process. The shutdown delayed a series of validation flights with FAA inspectors by more than a month.

The carrier operated its first ETOPS proving flight on February 5 between Oakland and Honolulu. We counted at least six validation flights between the U.S. and the islands, including a simulated mid-air decompression where the flight had to divert to Hilo on the Big Island. The final validation flight left Maui for Dallas-Love Field on February 19.

The federal government certified Southwest for ETOPS flights on February 27, the airline announced.

Please note that all fares mentioned in this post were available at time of publication, but change rapidly.

Were you able to score a cheap seat to Hawaii on Southwest or another carrier? How much did you pay? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Read all recent TravelSkills posts here

Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here

Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.
CARACAS, Venezuela  A defiant Juan Guaido returned home to Venezuela on Monday despite concerns the opposition leader might be detained and urged supporters at a rally to intensify their campaign to topple the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The 35-year-old leader of Venezuelas National Assembly showed off his passport before climbing onto scaffolding and pumping his fist during the demonstration in Caracas, delighting euphoric followers whose efforts to oust Maduro have fallen short in a nation gripped by a humanitarian crisis.

There were few security forces nearby and no immediate comment from Maduros government. While thousands of Venezuelans heeded Guaidos call for protests coinciding with his return, many wonder whether he can maintain momentum against a government that, while under extreme pressure itself, has relentlessly cracked down on opponents in the past, jailing or driving into exile top opposition leaders.

We know the risks that we face. Thats never stopped us, Guaido said after arriving at Venezuelas main airport and going through immigration checks. He was greeted by top diplomats from the United States, Germany, Spain and other countries who possibly hoped to head off any move to detain Guaido by bearing witness to his return.

We hope there wont be any escalation and that parliamentary immunity is respected, said Spanish Ambassador Jesus Silva Fernandez.

The United States and some 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, arguing that Maduros re-election last year was invalid because popular opposition candidates were barred from running.

At the demonstration, Guaido called for massive protests on Saturday and said he would meet Tuesday with public employee unions controlled by the government of Maduro, who retains the support of military generals despite the desertion of hundreds of lower-ranking military personnel.

The regime must understand, the dictatorship must understand ... that were stronger than ever. Well continue protesting, well continue mobilizing, said Guaido, who had ignored an official ban on foreign travel to leave Venezuela last month.

Guaido visited Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador over the past week  all countries that support his claim to be Venezuelas interim president.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton tweeted that threats or action by Maduros government against Guaido will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community.

Maduro has said he is the target of a U.S.-backed coup plot after the Trump administration joined dozens of other countries in backing Guaido. The United States also has imposed oil sanctions on Venezuela, holder of the worlds largest oil reserves.

The Maduro government has in the past jailed and driven into exile some of Venezuelas most prominent opposition leaders.

Christopher Torchia is an Associated Press writer.
Research provides insight on survivability of rare Wyoming plant

A rare plant found only at two sites in central Wyoming has persisted, in part, because it can recover from relatively low densities and grows at different rates within each location, according to new research led by a University of Wyoming scientist.

The desert yellowhead, which grows on fewer than 55 acres in the Beaver Rim area of Fremont County, has been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act since 2002. The new research, published by lead author Reilly Dibner, a postdoctoral researcher formerly at UW's Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, provides insights into how the plant has managed to survive in small, stable numbers. But the scientists say its long-term future is difficult to predict because of increasingly variable rainfall patterns and warming.

The research paper appears today in Ecological Monographs, a scientific journal of the Ecological Society of America. Other authors are from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Duke University.

"A small, isolated population like this generally is thought to have a high probability for extinction, but several mechanisms have allowed the desert yellowhead to persist so far," says Dibner, who received her Ph.D. from UW's Program in Ecology. "While this plant has shown remarkable stability over its short known history, we lack the ability to confidently predict its future chances of survival."

The plant, also known as "yermo" -- which comes from its scientific name, Yermo xanthocephalus -- was discovered in 1990 by botanist Robert Dorn in the Sand Draw area southeast of Riverton. That population was monitored closely for a decade by Central Wyoming College faculty member Richard Scott and his wife, Beverly, along with other volunteers. In 2010, as a result of extensive searches by UW's Natural Diversity Database and the Bureau of Land Management, a second, smaller population of desert yellowhead was discovered by UW scientists Bonnie Heidel and Joy Handley about five miles away at Cedar Rim.

The desert yellowhead has attracted attention because of its unusual geographic distribution, uniqueness and extreme rarity. It's not known if the desert yellowhead has always had such a limited range or if it once was distributed more broadly.

Dibner and the other researchers used detailed population data collected by the Scotts, along with five years of data from their own study, to assess the factors that allow the desert yellowhead to survive in such small numbers. They concluded that several mechanisms are in place to keep the plant from disappearing.

The research found that despite the low density of the desert yellowhead -- there are fewer than 15,000 individual plants scattered across the 55 acres -- these populations survive partly because of a principle called negative density dependence. This means that the populations tend to grow fastest when at low numbers, allowing them to bounce back from low numbers.

"In particular, negative density dependence is an important mechanism allowing subpopulations to recover from unfavorable environmental conditions," the researchers wrote.

Additionally, diversity in the plant's responses to precipitation, soils and other environmental factors has served as a stabilizing mechanism for the desert yellowhead. For example, some of the plants growing below steep slopes respond relatively poorly during wet years, while dry years are harder on plants located in flatter areas. That makes the desert yellowhead more likely to persist in a variable climate, the scientists say.

The researchers used computer simulations to attempt to predict the future population of the desert yellowhead. Simulations based on historical numbers estimated a substantially greater chance of long-term survival than simulations based on the more recent five-year study, but the scientists say that's likely because of drier-than-average climate conditions during the more recent study.

"We found that longer-term census data gave more realistic, higher estimates of population stability than did our shorter-term demographic study," they wrote.

"What remains unclear is whether or not central Wyoming will face wetter or drier conditions with climate change, or how increasing temperatures will mediate effects of moisture for yermo," they added. "Thus, as with most other species, we still lack the ability to predict confidently the dynamics with changing abiotic (nonbiological) conditions."

###

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Uganda is considering petitioning the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat in Arusha, Tanzania, to challenge what it perceives as Rwandas economic sabotage in breach of the regional blocs guidelines, a minister said Sunday.

Mr Philemon Mateke, the state minister for regional cooperation, told Uganda's Daily Monitor Sunday evening that he would confer with his senior line minister, Mr Kirunda Kivejinja, on the petition because interfering with cross-border trade by Rwanda violates the East African Community guidelines yet it (Rwanda) is the chair of the community.

President Kagame, the immediate past African Union chairman, succeeded President Museveni as EAC chair last month amid rising tension and long-standing counter-accusations, including claims that either government is propping up subversive elements against the other.

Rwandas ambassador to Uganda, Maj Gen Frank Mugambage, Sundayy said he was engaged and unable to speak on Kampalas latest charges.

Kigali at the end of last month abruptly stopped vehicles from Uganda from entering Rwanda through Katuna, citing ongoing construction works at Gatuna side of the frontier.

Suspicious

A senior official familiar with the goings-on between the countries, but who asked not to be named due to sensitivity of the matter, said Rwandas last-minute notification about closing Gatuna border post was suspicious because road works are planned in advance, and was not likely to have informed its sudden decision.

Rwandas foreign minister Richard Sezibera followed with a tweet on March 1 in which he warned Rwandans against crossing to Uganda, claiming Rwandans were being targeted in ongoing arrests, torture and harassment.

This is for their own security. Ugandans in Rwanda or travelling through Rwanda are safe, he tweeted.

In an interview published last month by The East African, a sister publication, President Kagame responded to the question, "Do you think things are getting worse or improving between Uganda and Rwanda?" thus:

There is a good foundation from which we should be building a very good relationship...it is very intriguing to find that we have something like this (tension) going on. And it goes on every day, even as we speak.

The matter, he noted, must be resolved because the alternative is not something that we should even be thinking about, or entertaining; that we can stand in the way of our own progress or the progress of all East Africans.

Baseless

After days of quiet, Uganda opened up, with Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo dismissing the allegations by Kigali against Uganda, including of indiscriminate incarceration of its nationals, as baseless.

At the time, Rwanda shared on social media what it said was a list containing particulars of 40 Rwandan citizens taken into custody by the Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (CMI), according to Rwandas State Foreign Affairs Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe.

He claimed that more than 800 other Rwandans had either been deported or refused entry to Uganda since January 2018. The Monitor could not independently confirm the allegation that Kampala has since rubbished.

Mr Opondo noted in a tweet that contrary to Mr Nduhungirehes assertion, some of the individuals named on the impugned list were duly charged in courts while some held refugee status and cards but regularly criss-crossed to Rwanda, raising suspicion.

Others entered Uganda as [Congolese] nationals seeking asylum and some are Ugandan citizens with passports, he tweeted, adding:

Theres no witch hunt [of] Rwandese in Uganda. We would like to send a clear message to Rwanda that theres no one Uganda is harassing from Rwanda or has in custody.

The Ugandan ambassador to Rwanda, Ms Oliver Wonekha, Sunday wondered why the Rwandan government has advised its nationals not to enter Uganda without official communication.

Border post

Rwanda has diverted long-haulage vehicles from Uganda to Mirama Hills border post, an alternative route to Kigali which is 110km longer and more expensive on fuel and auxiliary costs.

About 37 trucks cleared by Ugandan officials at Katuna customs point four days ago, by Sunday evening remained holed up at no-mans land and Mr Emmanuel Bamanya, a Ugandan customs official, said recalling the trucks to ply through Mirama would require special arrangement because they, by official record, have exited Uganda.

There is no way I can return to Uganda to pass through Mirama Hills border in Ntungamo District. I will remain here in the no-mans land until the situation normalises, one driver said, asking not be named.

Traders trucking perishables have dipped in the red, and costs have piled for the transporters from parking levies to feeding and accommodation.

Mr Sam Sserwanga, who chairs the association of clearing agents at Katuna border town, asked Rwanda to allow vehicles already cleared through Katuna prior to Rwandas restrictions to proceed to Kigali.

Uganda earnings

Uganda earns multiple times more in exports to Rwanda, which is its third largest East African trading partner after Kenya and South Sudan, than the forex earning Kigali picks from Kampala.

In normal times, 300 to 400 vehicles ply to Rwanda via Katuna/Gatuna border, carrying household items, food, minerals, beverages, construction materials, and other manufactured goods.

Uganda last year raked in $197m from exports to Rwanda, lower than the $254m peak earning three years, but still ten-fold higher than $20m worth of Rwandan exports to Uganda.

Mr Milton Rahuka, the officer in-charge customs for western region, said traffic through Mirama Hills border point was normal from last Friday and that they had cleared 181 cargo trucks to exit to Rwanda.

Katuna Town mayor Nelson Nshangabasheija said he suspected the problems between Uganda and Rwanda were bigger than the official tiff over border access and alleged arrests.

The problem looks more complicated and it requires the urgent attention of the two heads of states, he said.

The traders chairman at Cyanika border town in Kisoro District, Mr Geoffrey Barore Nombe, at the weekend said the border there had been closed for four days yet there was no construction going on the Rwandan side.

All Rwandan nationals that have been crossing to Uganda through Cyanika border have been stopped. As business community, we are worried, Mr Nombe said.

This border post clears about 70 cargo vehicles crossing to Rwanda during normal business, Mr Rogers Beingana, its head, said. He also said about 20 trucks were stuck there.

Mr William Kiwarabye, a truck driver transporting fish, said he has been stuck at Cyanika border town for three days and the fish had started decomposing after he was denied entry into Rwanda.

Uganda's Prime Minister, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, last Friday appealed for calm, saying the Uganda-Rwanda problems would soon be resolved, but gave no timeline or specifics of the problems.

---

What leaders say

Richard Sezibera, Rwanda Foreign Minister: As explained to many journalists, all Rwandas borders are open. Trucks and heavy vehicles are advised to use Kagitumba due to ongoing construction at Gatuna. Rwandans are strongly advised NOT to travel to Uganda due to ongoing arrests, harassment, torture.

Ofwono Opondo, executive director, Uganda Media Centre: Theres no witchhunt for Rwandese in Uganda. Theres also nobody from Rwanda being held by the Ugandan authorities for any reason. We would like to send a clear message to Rwanda that theres no one Uganda is harassing from Rwanda or has in custody.

Mr Olivier Nduhungirehe,Rwandas State Minister for Foreign Affairs/Regional Cooperation: This (Ofwono Opondo) statement is factually and demonstrably incorrect. There are more than 40 #Rwanda-n citizens languishing in cells of Ugandas Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence (#CMI) and more than 800 Rwandans who were deported from or refused entry to #Uganda since January 2018.

EAC protocal says

Article 104 of the East African Treaty on free movement of persons, labour, services, right of establishment and residence reads that: The Partner States agree to adopt measures to achieve the free movement of persons, labour and services and to ensure the enjoyment of the right of establishment and residence of their citizens within the community.

---

Uganda-Rwanda relations
Lee Countys sheriff is saying 23 people are dead amid catastrophic damage there following a possible tornado this afternoon.

And more people are missing as crews search through wreckage and debris.

Sundays death toll is more than double the number of people killed by tornadoes nationwide in all of 2018. Last year, 10 people died in tornadoes across the U.S., a record low.

Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV on Sunday that damage followed a path several miles long and appeared up to a fourth of a mile wide. He said Sunday night that families in the area had lost everything they ever had.

At a late news conference , Jones said crews were still working as of 9:30 p.m. to secure the areas hit by the storm.

Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Brian Hastings confirmed the death toll on social media, saying search and rescue operations are ongoing.

The devastation prompted President Trump to tweet:

To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

Lee County was only one of several areas across Alabama hit by severe weather, as damage was reported in at least six counties.

Shortly after the storm hit Lee County, a possible tornado struck near Eufaulas Weedon Field Airport, according to reports. David Logan, Barbour County EMA director, said much of the damage was confined to the area around U.S. 431. The storm destroyed a fire station and a chicken hatchery, as well as inflicting damage on a few homes.

There were reports of other storms in Washington, Macon, Autauga and Houston counties.

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said first responders were on the scene in two different areas of the county. Smith said she could confirm multiple fatalities but that officials were still trying to gather information, and multiple search and rescue operations were underway.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris at 8 p.m. said victim ages range from children to 80s.

Were still got people being pulled out of rubble, he said. Were going to be here all night.

East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika stated at 6 p.m. that it had received more than 40 patients as a result of the tornado, with some sent to surrounding hospitals. As a result, the hospital is cancelling elective procedures for Monday morning.

Lee County EMA said a tornado warning was issued at 2:38 p.m. Several reports are centered around the Smith Station area near Phenix City and the Alabama/Georgia line. Other reports came from the Beauregard area. EMA told residents that Smith Station Volunteer Fire Department Station #1 was where citizens affected by the storms should seek assistance with sheltering or unmet needs.

Other storm warnings were issued this afternoon in south Alabama and the Wiregrass area.

Alabama Power stated this afternoon that more than 10,000 customers were without power.

The National Weather Service said it would send three survey teams out tomorrow. They will assess damage in Autauga, Macon, Lee and Barbour Counties.

Gov. Kay Ivey said in a tweet that state EMA officials are working with local officials. She is extending the states state of emergency, issued Feb. 23, to deal with flooding.

Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today. Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected, Ivey said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Due to Sunday's storm all Lee County Schools will be closed tomorrow 3/4/19 https://t.co/rqqxJLP7Av  Lee County Schools (@LeeCoSchools) March 3, 2019

Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today. Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected. Officials from @AlabamaEma & other agencies are quickly working to provide assistance.  Governor Kay Ivey (@GovernorKayIvey) March 3, 2019

A @GoPro frame grab of the Lee County, AL tornado earlier today from @ScottPeakeWX pic.twitter.com/wwnl3G8xS8  SevereStudios (@severestudios) March 3, 2019

I need prayers tornado just destroyed my house pic.twitter.com/7jbyNqMmmD  Evan (@zSmithii) March 3, 2019

Lee County Road 240 west of Smiths Station blocked by downed trees photos from Krista Blanchard pic.twitter.com/y08btP4OgX  James Spann (@spann) March 3, 2019

@JoshWeather @EricSnitilWx @LeeWSFA @spann @NWSBirmingham here is a picture of the funnel cloud coming through Hope Hull that finally went into Lee County. Photo from Paul Bowden. pic.twitter.com/aT7bFNs7Qm  AL Storm Spotter (@SapperFoxtrot) March 3, 2019

CELL TOWER BROUGHT Down by the Tornado in Smith Station pic.twitter.com/Oz6r68Iy6z  Brandon Copic (@BrandonCopicWx) March 3, 2019

@spann Tornado moving across Smiths Station Alabama pic.twitter.com/VVlFuBiS7k  Chris Cannon (@CCannonforAU) March 3, 2019

Devastated to hear about the lives lost in Lee County, a place close to my heart. Wishing strength and healing for all those affected by todays tornadoes.  Tim Cook (@tim_cook) March 4, 2019
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Department of Education attempted to terminate a former assistant principal who was convicted of misdemeanor assault for attacking a man who allegedly had an affair with his wife in 2017, according to a DOE spokesman.

Vincent Scotto, a resident of Great Kills and the former assistant principal for PS 22 in Graniteville, was accused of stabbing John Carosella multiple times with a razor blade attached to a stick, cutting the victims chest, arm and right hand in 2016, the Advance previously reported.

The victim received medical treatment, including stitches and staples to his chest and arms and stitches to his right hand, according to a criminal complaint.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said that Scottos behavior was considered deeply disturbing by the DOE.

The DOE attempted to fire Mr. Scotto. An independent arbitrator issued a suspension without pay that was already served, the spokesman added.

Scottos lawyer, Anthony Varbero, said that a Department of Education hearing was held following the incident. While the matters discussed during the hearing are confidential, Varbero said that it was his understanding that the overall determination of the hearings found that the incident that occurred did not raise to the level of termination.

Varbero said that Scotto has served in multiple schools since being reinstated.

The DOE spokesman said that Scotto was suspended without pay from March 2017 until August 2018. His salary is $124,678 annually.

During Scottos original arraignment in Criminal Court after his arrest, prosecutors said the victim and the defendants wife were having a romantic relationship," the Advance previously reported.

Scotto initially pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree assault, a felony, and third-degree assault, a misdemeanor; however, under a revised plea offer, Scotto had his felony plea vacated and was sentenced to a conditional discharge on the misdemeanor after being placed on an interim-supervision probation for a year.

Scotto is currently working at PS 31 in New Brighton.
Were highlighting some of the activities Staten Island students are engaged in -- both inside and outside the classroom.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- To celebrate the Year of the Pig, the Staten Island Chinese School held a celebration at Rocco Laurie Intermediate School (I.S. 72) in New Springville last month.

The event was held to celebrate the Chinese New Year, which began Feb. 5. The event started with the traditional Lion Dance led by Rev. Sifu Paulo Wong and performed by the Tak Wah Kung-Fu Club, Shaolin Temple of Manhattan.

Almost 300 people fed the lions red envelopes to thank them for bringing peace and good luck. Class performances included dances, singing, recitals, games and riddles.

Principal Julie Tam received Chinese zodiac lanterns from the Taiwan Cultural Center to give out to students. She thanked board members, teachers and volunteers for working efficiently and diligently to bring the event together.

The Staten Island Chinese School is the only Chinese school on Staten Island that provides Mandarin, Cantonese and adult Mandarin using traditional and simplified fonts of Chinese characters.

View the photos above for scenes from the celebration.

As part of our education column, In Class, we are highlighting some of the activities Staten Island students are engaged in -- both inside and outside the classroom.

Heres a look at some additional recent education-related happenings.

STEM ACTIVITIES

A Staten Island child care program invited families to engage in indoor interactive STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) activities in January.

Kiddie Academy of Staten Island-Great Kills, which is part of the national provider Kiddie Academy Educational Child Care, offered several different STEM activities for the free weekend-long event.

The event was designed to introduce kids of all ages and their families into the world of STEM through age-appropriate and fun activities, according to Alex Berard, owner of Kiddie Academy of Staten Island-Great Kills.

We want our local families to see for themselves all the ways in which Kiddie Academys Life Essentials curriculum taps into our childrens natural sense of wonder and discovery as they explore the laws that govern the world around them, he explained.

Some space-related activities included: making moon sand; creating craters and lunar volcanoes; using force to move rockets; making mini-constellations and shooting stars, and communicating in space.

RIBBON-CUTTING

The Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School, St. George, celebrated four of their programs during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in January.

The school highlighted three programs that recently began, including Digital Marking, Electrical Installation and Software Engineering, and one program that doubled in size, Graphic Arts.

Borough President James Oddo and members of his office, the Department of Education (DOE) and business partners of McKee attended the event, which was held on Jan. 24.

The borough presidents office funded the renovation of five physical spaces within the school, in addition to hardware and software for the four programs.

Ralph R. McKee Career and Technical Education High School, St. George, celebrated four programs that have opened or expanded in the last several years. From bottom left: Raymond Bell, Sarah Anees, Gurkan Yigit, Borough President Oddo, Juan Barba, Justin Valdez. From top left: Mohamad Hossain, Paul Presti, Laura Timoney, Isai Serrano, Deputy Borough President Ed Burke, Marie LaFransesca, Sharon Henry, John Jastremski, Agron Velija, Jakub Zagroba, Craig Cannizzaro, Dennis OConnell, Jeff Pedersen, and Contessa McNulty. (Courtesy of McKee High School)

Do you have a story idea for the In Class education column? Email education reporter Annalise Knudson at aknudson@siadvance.com.

FOLLOW ANNALISE KNUDSON ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER.
CITY HALL -- As the deadline to extend the temporary status for thousands of Liberians approaches, Island lawmakers are urging the federal government to extend their status to prevent them from being deported.

Staten Island is home to one of the largest Liberian populations outside of Africa.

If the Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) program is not extended beyond the March 31 deadline, many will face deportation.

It sickens me that these men and women have lawfully lived here and contributed to our communities for years and years, yet are now at risk of being torn apart from their families and deported, said Congressman Max Rose said (D-Staten Island). The decision to end this program was based on politics, and not the reality on the ground. I hope the Administration listens to our calls and reverses course before its too late.

Rose and about 50 other members of Congress sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to reinstate DED and prevent thousands of Liberians from being deported.

MEETING SET FOR TUESDAY

Councilwoman Debi Rose (D-North Shore) and Liberian American organizations will hold a public meeting Tuesday at P.S. 57 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. to discuss the upcoming deadline.

Since 1991, certain Liberian nationals have been eligible for Temporary Protected Status or DED, which has allowed them to remain in the United States, according to the White House.

Their immigration status has been extended by both Republican and Democratic administrations beginning since 1991. However, last year, President Trump terminated DED for Liberian beneficiaries and set a March 31, 2019 deadline.

FOLLOW SYDNEY KASHIWAGI ON TWITTER.
Apply now to become a Rovaniemi Summer Ambassador 2020

social media influencers

Arctic summer light makes Lapland photographers dream destination. Its time to add the white nights to your bucket list, says Sanna Karkkainen, Managing Director of Visit Rovaniemi.

Apply now  just do it!

I want you to visit Finland  and here is another way to making that a reality!The capital of Lapland, and the Official Hometown of Santa Claus, Rovaniemi , is looking for 15ambassadors to spend three nightless nights in Rovaniemi this summer. Why nightless? The sun shines all night long during summer.Rovaniemi tourism tells the accommodation is a photogenic Christmas themed summer cabin in the middle of the city, and you can expect to do activities like visiting the Lappish nature to experience the freshness and greenness of the Arctic. Of course, you will also dive into Lappish culture and cuisine during the stay. Think of berries, fresh fish, and even reindeer dishes! Ive only visited Lapland during winter, but hope to make it up North during summer sometime too. Even here in Southern Finland the summer light is just something magical, I can imagine how gorgeous it is in Lapland. Visit Rovaniemi is taking applications now until 13th March 2020 at VisitRovaniemi.fi .Who can become a Rovaniemi Summer Ambassador? The opportunity is available for 15 social media & new media persons and for journalists. 3 nights accommodation in a summer cabin in the middle of the city by Arctic Light Hotel.  Culture pass to museum & science center Arktikum, art museum Korundi and science center Pilke.  Meeting with Santa Claus.  Midnight Sun Experience by Lapland Safaris (riverboat cruise, outdoor dinner on beautiful island Kotisaari).  Midnight Sun Floating by Safartica.  Photography excursion to capture the most iconic landscapes of Rovaniemi by Beyond Arctic.  Husky experience by Bearhill Husky.  Meet reindeer and reindeer herders with Santa Claus Reindeer.  Summer fat biking tour by Roll Outdoors.And of course  if you will visit Helsinki during your trip  you will get to have coffee and cinnamon buns with me in Helsinki :) Let me know if you applied! Photos via Visit Rovaniemi and the last years ambassadors @estercuni and @cheeserland
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T he co-op party game where you pilot an interstellar spaceship while keeping your passengers happy has a brand new online multiplayer demo during Xboxs Winter Fest!
ANZ Bank chairman David Gonski has rejected the idea of capping chief executives' pay, and pushed back against changing the laws to give directors wider obligations than their current duty to shareholders.

After an investor backlash over executive remuneration at major banks last year, including ANZ, Mr Gonski admitted there had not been accountability within the bank, and that it had also been too short term.

ANZ Bank chairman David Gonski. Credit:Louie Douvis

His comments came as Australian Super chair Heather Ridout said CEO pay often lacked transparency, singling out attempts by companies to combine long and short-term bonuses.

Amid sluggish wage growth and concerns about executive pay, Labor has said that if it wins government it will force companies to report CEO pay compared to the pay of typical workers, and Mr Gonski on Monday said he was "open" to the calculation, which could already be worked out easily under current disclosure rules.
Politicians selling free trade deals such as the one Australia has just signed with Indonesia often boast about the markets they will open up for exporters. But the real test of this deal should be about more than trade figures.

To be sure, the deal cuts tariff barriers for farm exports and makes life easier for Australian healthcare providers and universities in Indonesia. It should prevent the cancellations of import licences by Indonesian authorities that have caused cattle exporters so much anxiety over the past few years.

Export gains should however not be the only criterion for assessing this deal. For one thing the numbers are not that big for now because Indonesia is a second-tier economic partner. While Indonesia's economy is growing at 5 per cent a year its population of 260 million is still mostly poor. meaning it only rates as Australia's 13th biggest trading partner. Australia's exports to Indonesia are just 6 per cent of the value of exports to China.

The real value of the Australian Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership lies in the opportunity it provides to build an enduring friendship between two countries that are geographically close but have a chequered history. Australia and Indonesia were virtually at war in Borneo in the 1960s during the period of "konfrontasi." More recently there have been disputes over East Timor, boat turnbacks and capital punishment. Indonesia recalled its ambassador in 2013 after reports Australia bugged the phone of the wife of former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The fifth-largest bank in the world says Australias lack of an energy policy is not stopping a wall of investment into Australian renewable energy sector despite industry claims of slowing interest.

The energy sector has said the inability of multiple federal governments to craft a long-lasting energy policy, as demonstrated by the collapse of the government's National Energy Guarantee policy, has put a handbrake on investment in new power generation in the country.

The energy industry says a lack of stable government policy is forcing them to reconsider investments but major banks say money is pouring in globally into the Australian renewables space. Credit:Ararat Wind Farm

However, Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Groups Australian head of advisory Rob Ward said an uncertain policy environment isnt reducing interest at all, with renewables investment booming despite potential regulatory risks.

This flies in the face of industry leaders such as EnergyAustralia chief executive Cath Tanna, who believe the sector was cutting long-term power investments in the wake of a policy paralysis.
Gunfire hit three homes during a shooting in Theodore that left residents fearing for their safety on Saturday night.

Detective Acting Superintendent Matthew Reynolds speaking about the shooting that left a man with a gunshot injury in Freda Gibson Circuit, Theodore on Saturday. Credit:Doug Dingwall

Residents were home in two of the buildings hit by indiscriminate gunfire during the outbreak of violence on Freda Gibson Circuit in Canberra's south at 10pm.

Police investigating the episode are yet to receive any information pointing to bikie gang violence, however detectives are looking into links to outlaw motorcycle gangs and other parties.

Detective Acting Superintendent Matthew Reynolds on Monday said a targeted attack left a man hospitalised with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg.
The writers of one of Australia's biggest pop hits, Love Is In The Air, never consented to the lyrics being changed including when a hair-care company proposed a Hair Is In The Air advertisement, a judge has been told.

Barrister Michael Hall SC said the songwriters, Harry Vanda and George Young, had refused lucrative offers involving changing the lyrics to their late-70s hit which was featured in the Australian movie Strictly Ballroom.

Producer and multi-instrumentalist of music duo Glass Candy, Johnny Padgett leaves the Federal Court Credit:AAP

Mr Vanda, the estate of the late Mr Young, Boomerang Investments and two Australian copyright bodies have launched a copyright breach lawsuit in the Federal Court in Sydney.

Their barrister, Mr Hall, on Monday opened their case against American duo Glass Candy, its songwriters Johnny Padgett and Lori Monahan, Kobalt Music Publishing and Air France.
$587,000 raid: big C.I.B. hunt

Detectives late last night raided underworld haunts in the city and the Western Suburbs in the search for the three armed men who yesterday grabbed $587,890 from a Mayne Nickless Ltd. security van. They interrogated dozens of known criminals, especially those believed to have been concerned in bank and other armed robberies. The robbers struck while the van's three-man crew was finishing lunch in the Guildford shopping centre car park.

Question on university

The Minister for Education and Science, Mr C. B. Cutler , said he would ask what action the Sydney University Senate proposed to take over a move to cancel lectures during the planned Vietnam moratorium. In the Legislative Assembly, Mr W. P. Coleman (Lib., Fuller) asked Mr Cutler if he was aware of the meeting to be held at the university tonight to discuss the possibility of cancelling lectures and tutorials so discussions on Vietnam could take place.

Hundreds mourn Sir Edward

Hundreds of people packed St Andrew's Cathedral for the funeral of Sir Edward Hallstrom. Sir Edward, millionaire philanthropist and chairman of the Taronga Zoological Park Trust for many years, died on Friday, aged 83. Outside the cathedral were hundreds of wreaths, from life-saving clubs, Government Ministers, Macquarie Street surgeons, family and friends. The Archdeacon of Sydney described Sir Edward as "a self-made man and a self-confident man."
Pioneering pilot Nancy-Bird Walton is an "absolutely inspiring choice" as the name for western Sydney's new airport, according to Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

Known as the "Angel of the Outback", Ms Walton took her pilot's licence at the age of 18 in 1933, bought her own plane and set off on a tour of regional NSW.

Pilot Nancy-Bird Walton died in 2009. She was named a National Living Treasure in 1997.

She began transporting the sick from isolated regions around the country, helped set up the Royal Far West Children's Health Scheme, and was an early pilot for the Royal Flying Doctors' Service.

"Nancy-Bird Walton was a pioneer not just for women but for anybody," Ms Berejiklian said at the site of the airport in Badgerys Creek on Monday.
A member of the Nomads outlaw motorcycle gang has been charged after allegedly having sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old girl he met at a train station in Sydney's south-west.

Police will allege in court the pair spoke at a railway station and while on the train, before the 27-year-old man led the girl to a home in Chester Hill and sexually assaulted her on February 14.

Following inquiries, detectives attended a Chester Hill home in the early hours of February 28, where the man was arrested after a violent struggle. One officer broke their hand and another received leg injuries during the altercation, police said.

The man was taken to Bankstown Police Station, where he was treated by paramedics for a head injury before being taken to hospital for further treatment.

Police charged the man with having sexual intercourse with a child aged between 10 and 14, and resisting or hindering a police officer in execution of their duty.
Two police officers were allegedly assaulted in the early hours of Sunday morning in Liverpool after reports of up to 20 people brawling near the VIP Karaoke bar.

One of the officers was allegedly put in a headlock and hit, but did not require hospitalisation. A police spokeswoman said the other officer did not suffer significant injuries.

Low note: VIP Karaoke bar, outside which a group of men allegedly assaulted two police officers. Credit:Nine News

A statement from police said when they arrived around 1:30am, most of the people dispersed, but one man became violent as he was being restrained.

According to police, several other men then became violent, and a senior constable was put into a headlock. He sustained cuts and bruises before additional officers arrived and arrested the four men.
Health authorities are warning Sydneysiders and passengers who were on a Qantas flight from Bali to be on the lookout for measles symptoms after a woman and baby were diagnosed with the highly contagious condition.

Passengers on a flight from Bali to Australia have been warned to look out for symptoms of measles

The new cases bring the total number of measles diagnoses in NSW to 19 since Christmas.

The infant was too young to receive their routine measles vaccine and developed measles within days of returning home to Sydney from the Philippines, NSW Health reported on Monday.

The woman in her 20s developed a measles rash a few days after arriving from Bali, NSW Health reported.
For a decade, whenever anyone asked where Baden Bond was, the boy's parents said they didn't know as they had given him to relatives.

The truth was his father, Shane Arthur Simpson, thought the 22-month-old was trouble and had abandoned him in a park by a boat ramp in Logan, south of Brisbane.

When Baden's siblings, government agencies and later police had questioned his parents about his whereabouts they told multiple lies.

Baden's body has never been found and there is no known cause of death.

His difficult life began in 2005 when he was born to Dina Colleen Bond with methamphetamine in his system in an attempted home birth.
A Gold Coast woman has denied paying for her ex-husband to be murdered in an alleged plot that failed because the hired hitman took the money and ran.

Theresa Dalton has pleaded not guilty to attempting to procure the commission of a criminal act over the alleged plan to kill Malcolm Stewart in early 2010.

Theresa Dalton is seen in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday. Credit:AAP

Her Brisbane Supreme Court trial on Monday heard their 24-year marriage broke down about 2007.

There was a "very bitter and hostile battle over property" in which she feared Mr Stewart would take a home gifted by her parents.
Police are on the hunt for a man who abducted a 26-year-old woman on the Gold Coast on Monday evening.

The man, believed to be in his 40s or 50s, forced his way into the woman's car, which she had parked at the Robina Town Centre.

The man ordered her to drive north on the M1, towards Brisbane.

She was able to pull the car off the motorway near exit 66 at Gaven, and the man fled.
"Unless you've got a really, really good reason to be there - please just stay away from fire affected areas." Fires were bearing down on the town of Dargo, in East Gippsland, but an emergency warning was downgraded about 5.30pm, allaying fears two fires near the town would merge into one large blaze. Firefighters were braced for a severe thunderstorm that could roll over Gippsland and produce more lightning and spark new blazes. At least seven properties have been destroyed in the huge Bunyip State Park blaze, and at least another two lost to the Yinnar bushfire.

Fortunately, warnings for the two fires were also downgraded on Monday. But authorities are expecting to uncover many more property losses once they are able to better access the burnt areas on Tuesday. The Bunyip fire rolled south through more than 12,000 hectares over the weekend and through several hamlets including Tonimbuk, destroying several homes. On Sunday night, a wind change pushed the fire north and back on itself.

Other major fires burning in the state included a 17,000-hectare blaze in Licola, in the state's east, where embers and ash were blowing around the hamlet. In Wilsons Promontory, south-east of Melbourne, 3000 people have been evacuated. The popular national park will be closed to campers for the upcoming Labour Day long weekend due to a growing bushfire in the hills. A fire burning out of control at Wilsons Promontory. Credit:Parks Victoria

Dozens of schools and childcare centres across the state's east were closed on Monday, with many due to remain shut on Tuesday. Health alerts have also been issued, with smoke from the bushfires contributing to poor air quality in Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley. Air quality in Morwell South and Churchill was classified "unhealthy for all groups". More than 500 people visited five emergency relief centres, with many people sleeping on blow-up mattresses as they waited for updates about their homes and properties. Both Mayor Graeme Moore and Andrew Clarke, owner of Jinks Creek Winery, said they believed the fire's ferocity was due to the government's failure to sufficiently backburn the Bunyip State Park. Mr Clarke said he had been "on the government's back for ages" to burn nearby land. Cr Moore said state and federal planning overlays prevented the council from doing it themselves

A Forest Fire Management Victoria spokesman said the department was "burning smarter, rather than focusing on a number of hectares target. In some areas, this may mean less planned burns  in other areas it may mean more". However, the organisation admitted that no planned burns had been done recently due to "unfavourable weather conditions". Elke Frank's home after it was engulfed by fire. Police confirmed the worst for teacher Elke Frank. Her family's 32-year-old home was destroyed by the Yinnar South blaze. Ms Frank was able to grab a bag pre-packed with videos, photo albums and documents on her way out on Saturday night, but she didnt think it would be the last time she would see her house.

Later that night, Ms Frank's son saw photos on Facebook showing their home had been gutted. "It was a shock," Ms Frank said. "Its just a pile of black rubble Theres nothing there." Police then called on Sunday afternoon confirming the loss. Elke Frank and Steve Koczwara's Yinnar South home before the fire. Ms Frank said it was heartbreaking for her, her partner and her three children to lose decades' worth of memories and belongings.
The mother of a 26-year-old driver who died after a fiery crash at an Albany racing car event says her son lost his life doing what he loved.

Brody Ford was competing in 'Racewars' at Albany Airport on Sunday when his car failed to stop after the finish line and slammed into a fence, before igniting in flames.

Brody Ford. Credit:Facebook

He was pulled from the charred car wreck and airlifted to Royal Perth Hospital with critical injuries where he later died about 10pm.

Brody's mother Lynda Ford on Monday told Nine News his family were waiting for answers as to what happened but didn't blame the event organisers.
People in the warning area are advised that they should seek alternative accommodation due to expected unpredictable severe fire weather.

If the way is clear, leave now for a safer place

Do not wait and see, leaving at the last minute is deadly

If your plan is to stay and actively defend, do not rely on mains water pressure as it may be affected. If you have access to a water tank and plan to defend your home, start patrolling with your hose and put out spot fires

If you cannot leave, you need to get ready to shelter in your home and actively defend it

If you are not at home, it is too dangerous now to return

Close all doors and windows and turn off evaporative air conditioners, but keep water running through the system if possible Mr Newman confirmed homes in the Shady Hills Estate were still under threat on Tuesday morning, and strong north-easterly winds were likely to cause extreme fire behaviour throughout the day. "We've got an east-north-east fluctuation in the wind with some complexities about interaction with the valley," he said. "There could be breakouts to the west along the river, or down in the south west corner of the fires ... parallel to the river." A bushfire emergency warning is in place for an area near Bullsbrook. Credit:DFES

Currently about 90 hectares have been burnt, and emergency services have warned locals to keep an eye out for burning embers that are likely to be blown around their homes. Where to go Emergency services said the safest option for some Bullsbrook residents was to go stay with friends and family until the fire passed. Some residents also spent the night in a temporary evacuation centre set up by the Department of Communities at the Beechboro Community Hub, the Old Altone Park Recreation Centre, 332 Benara Road, Beechboro. The evacuation centre remains open but those who seek shelter are reminded no animals or alcohol is allowed.

A community meeting will be held at 5pm at the Ethel Warren Bullsbrook Community Centre at 3 Maroubra Avenue, Bullsbrook. Community members who have remained in the emergency warning area can attend the meeting and will be permitted to return to their properties, subject to registering with a restricted access permit agent. The safest route to leave the area bounded by the alert is to head north via Taylor Road, left on Smith Road, left on Chittering Road to Great Northern Highway. What firefighters are doing "We have firefighters constructing earth breaks on the south west corner of the river using hand tools due to the lack of access for machinery and we have consolidation occurring around the remainder of the fire area," Mr Newman said about Tuesday's efforts.

About 100 firefighters are on scene battling the blaze. Two water bombers, two helitaks and air intelligence have also been called in to help with the fire, with no reports of homes lost on Monday morning. WA Police, Western Power, St John Ambulance, State Emergency Service, Salvation Army, the Department of Communities and the City of Swan are all monitoring the scene. Closures Taylor Road and Clarkson Road, Taylor Road and Foaling Ridge and Ewing Road and Clenton Road have been closed.

Vehicles will not be granted access to the area. Motorists are asked to avoid the area, reduce speed and drive carefully due to smoke. The Walyunga National Park is also closed. Restricted access permits Residents and business owners impacted by the fire can apply for a restricted access permit to enter designated areas.

A restricted access permit issuing unit has been established at the Ethel Warren Bullsbrook Community Centre at 3 Maroubdra Avenue Bullsbrook. Please bring along valid identity documents including a driver's licence or passport, and proof of the affected address. Due to the ever changing conditions, the issuing of restricted access permits may temporarily stop and your patience is appreciated. Ongoing warnings A bushfire watch and act alert has been issued for people west of the Shady Hills Estate, west of the Avon River, north of Walyunga Road and east of Great Northern Highway in south eastern parts of Bullsbrook and north western parts of Walyunga National Park in the City of Swan.

"There is a possible threat to lives and homes as a fire is approaching in the area and conditions are changing," the alert reads. "You need to leave or get ready to actively defend." WHAT TO DO: If you are not prepared or you plan to leave, leave now if the way is clear.

If you are well prepared and plan to actively defend your home, make final preparations now.

If you are not at home, do not try to return as conditions in the area could be very dangerous.

Close all doors and windows and turn off evaporative air conditioners, but keep water running through the system if possible. Houses in the Shady Hill Estate are under threat from the blaze. Credit:9 News Perth

A bushfire advice alert has been issued for south western parts of Bullsbrook in the City of Swan. "There is no threat to lives or homes," the alert reads. "Although there is no immediate danger you need to be aware and keep up to date in case the situation changes." WHAT TO DO: Stay alert and monitor your surroundings.

Watch for signs of a bushfire, especially smoke and flames.

Close all doors and windows, and turn off evaporative air conditioners but keep water running through the system if possible.

Read through your bushfire survival plan.

If you do not have a plan decide what you will do if the situation gets worse.
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.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott has defended his decision to stand by George Pell after the Cardinal's conviction for child sex offences, but says he does not recall whether he was asked to provide a character reference.

Mr Abbott, who phoned Pell last Tuesday when the guilty verdict became public, told Sydney shock jock Ray Hadley on Monday morning that the Cardinal "has been a friend of mine for a long time, and at a time like this you've got to feel for people".

Ray Hadley has condemned John Howard and Tony Abbott for 'gross errors of judgment' Credit:Suppplied

"You've got to feel for the victims, who have been dreadfully betrayed by an institution they should have been able to trust, you've got to feel for the people who are dismayed at this verdict against someone they put up on a pedestal," he said.
Beijing: China's annual political season opens on Tuesday and will be closely watched for clues to how the world's second-largest economy reacts to economic growth slowing amid a trade war, worsening strategic rivalry with the United States, and a push-back against Chinese technology by Western democracies.

The National People's Congress, which sits for a fortnight to approve policy already vetted by the Communist Party hierarchy, last year voted to remove terms limits on the President, a major constitutional change that tightened President Xi Jinping's grip on power.

Bus ushers react as they pose for a selfie during a meeting one day ahead of the opening session of China's National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Credit:AP

This year, a new foreign investment law that seeks to appease US President Donald Trump's complaints about Chinese trade protectionism, will be the most closely watched legislative change.

Domestically, a tax cut package worth more than 1.3 trillion yuan ($274 billion) has been promised to stimulate China's slowing economy and help private companies, China Daily reported.
Baghouz: Islamic State militants are desperately fighting to hang on to the last tiny piece of territory they hold on the riverside in eastern Syria, deploying snipers, guided missiles and surprise tunnel attacks. The resistance prompted a fierce pounding on Sunday by the US-led coalition and its ground allies in their final push to end the extremist group's territorial hold.

Rings of black smoke billowed over the besieged speck of land still controlled by the group in the village of Baghouz, after airstrikes hit several targets.

Columns of black smoke billow from the last small piece of territory held by Islamic State militants as US backed fighters pounded the area with artillery fire and occasional airstrikes in Baghouz, Syria, on Sunday. Credit:AP

Mortar rounds from a hill overlooking a tent encampment where the militants are still holed up rang into the night.

The US-backed force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces resumed an offensive to recapture the area in Baghouz on Friday night, after a two-week pause to allow for the evacuation of civilians from the area. Retaking the sliver of land would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to end IS' self-proclaimed Islamic caliphate that once straddled vast territory across Syria and Iraq.
PHILIPSBURG:--- NV GEBE recently announced that substantial emphasis has been placed on the repair of community street lights since Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever commends NV GEBE Supervisory Board, Management and Staff in connection with prioritizing the repair of street lights whereby the latter provides a number of important benefits for the Sint Maarten community.



NV GEBEs primary focus has been the main roads followed by secondary roads and has already repaired 2400 street lights over the past 17-months. Another 1800 are left to be repaired within the next 16-months.



NV GEBE has also formed a partnership with the Police Force of Sint Maarten and Ministry VROMI regarding the placement of LED street lights equipped with cameras.



Street lights promote security in our communities and neighborhoods thereby contributing to the quality of life and wellbeing. Street lights from a safety perspective improve safety for pedestrians, drivers and those riding their bikes.



NV GEBE along with our Police Force are in the process of creating Smart Street Lights that are LED street lights equipped with cameras.



This is all part of the global trend of the Internet of Things connected tech. Street light cameras will further increase security and lead to the apprehension of those caught in the act of breaking the law.



We are in the process of making use of emerging technologies where public safety and security are concerned, Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever said on Sunday.
Preparing for the Future

PHILIPSBURG  Every academic school year, many students typically in their last two years of school start to ponder what they will be doing next. In some cases, students who have recently graduated have no idea what they want to do or how to go forward.

Career Guidance Counselors at the Student Support Services Division (SSSD) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport see many of the abovementioned cases on a regular basis. Consequently, SSSD is once again organizing an interactive workshop entitled Choosing a Career or Study on March 19, 2019, geared mainly at the abovementioned individuals. This free workshop will be held at SSSDs offices from 5:00 PM 6:30 PM.

Choosing a career path, overcoming being undecided about a major or study at college/university, exploring various career options, and not overlooking other career options are the main areas that will be addressed during this workshop.

During the workshop participants will be given tips on how to explore what their interests may be, what skills they may enjoy using, and how these interests and skills (amongst other factors) can tie into choosing a career or study, says SSSD officials. The next SSSD workshop in April will be geared at parents and how they can help their children with career choices.

Persons interested in attending the Choosing a Career and Study workshop on March 19, 2019, are encouraged to register early for this workshop. Students are also encouraged to be on time. Students are also urged to contact the career guidance counselors, Ms. Robin or Mr. Chance, at 543-1235 for more information.

The SSSD office is located in the Amigo Building across from the Police Station and next to the WIB. SSSD provides many services to students. Some services include psychological services, counseling services, speech-language pathology services, social work services, educational diagnostic services, career services, and parental workshop.
Foresee Foundations latest project aims to unite organizations under a community network

PHILIPSBURG:--- Representatives of Sint Maartens strongest and most active non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NPOs and NGOs) attended a World NGO Day celebration hosted at Divi Little Bay Resorts Seabreeze Restaurant on Wednesday, February 27th.

The organizations in attendance also witnessed the official launch of Foresee Foundations latest project, NPOwer, an initiative which aims to unite all of SXMs NGOs and NPOs into a community network in order to collaborate and further strengthen an already powerful stakeholder in St. Maarten society.

Foresee (4C) Foundation is a local non-profit organization with a board consisting mainly of young St. Maarten professionals who returned to St. Maarten after obtaining their degrees in the USA and Europe. The education-oriented foundation launched their first project known widely as DigiKidz in 2014, where three primary schools were equipped with state-of-the-art technology infrastructure and devices. This was followed by among others the construction of the medialab in Philipsburg Jubilee library, DigiTeenz at Milton Peters College and St. Maarten Academy, two educational conferences for 1,000 educators and a US$ 150,000 post-Irma relief grant for educational organizations early 2018.

In early 2017, the foundation shifted its gears to focus on the support of NPOs, seeking to assist in capacity strengthening and other means of support. Following Hurricane Irma, it was clearly evident that non-profits took the lead in giving immediate relief to those in need. Many NGOs/NPOs served as the beating heart of the community after the devastation and many international relief organizations came to the island looking to partner with strong local organizations. Foresee Foundation received a grant from the Dutch Disaster fund who acknowledged the need for the implementation of this initiative.

Nevertheless, the lack of a practical, up-to-date database of active NGOs/NPOs, in many ways hampered the recovery after Irma, which is still being felt today over 1 year after the hurricane. Because there was no central databank of information with an overview of which organizations were doing what, when, where, and how. Much time and energy were lost trying to make connections.

With over 75 attendees representing 40+ organizations at the World NGO Day event, Foresee and NPOwer sought to compliment SXMs organizations on their hard work and for being a powerful force in the community with a relaxed mixer. A collaborative technology-centered game served as an icebreaker at the start of the evening, followed by a presentation by Project Managers Melanie Choisy and Allison Deher, two young persons who are no strangers to the non-profit world of St. Maarten.

Funded by the Dutch Disaster Fund, NPOwers objectives include being able to establish a complete online database of all active NGOs and NPOs on the island as well as introducing a number of interactive workshops aimed at supporting foundations and their missions. Information was gathered at the end of the event with a quick Needs Assessment survey, which NPOwer would like any organizations that werent able to attend to fill out at: surveymonkey.com/r/npower

Further information about the NPOwer project may be obtained by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by reaching out via their Facebook page: facebook.com/npowersxm.
~Sarah played on emotions when it comes to New General Hospital Project.~

PHILIPSBURG:--- Members of Parliament quizzed Minister of VSA Emil Lee on Monday afternoon on the New General Hospital that is to be constructed by now-bankrupt Italian Construction Company INSO.

Member of Parliament Jurendy Doran asked the Minister to provide clarity on several statements he made in several news articles. These statements Doran said was made between December 2018 to present. MP Doran wants the Minister to tell parliament exactly why he went to Italy and he should also explain parliament why he is so deeply involved in the New General Hospital project. Doran said the Ministers involvement creates a conflict of interest and one has to wonder the Inspectorate of Health would conduct their jobs if the Minister is so deeply involved.

Apart from the Ministers involvement in every level, Doran wants the Minister to give parliament a full rundown on the exact cost to construct the New General Hospital.

MP Ardwell told the Minister he was transparency and truth when it comes to the NGH project he said that most hospitals that were built supersede its initial costs.

He asked the Minister about the increase in tariffs and wants to know if the Minister could not find a structural way to increase the tariffs.

Ardwell wants to know the exact position of the lenders regarding INSO. He asked for more information on the lenders and how would the New General Hospital be financed; what role would NIB bank play are they going to be the facilitator for the lenders? How was NIB selected was there a bidding process for the facilitator? And how will they be compensated?

Will SZV pre-finance the New General Hospital, what is the maximum amount can SZV invest on pre-financing.

MP Christopher Emmanuel asked the Minister for information on the structure of St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC), especially regarding the management board. Is there a Chief Financial Officer at SMMC? If there is Emmanuel wants to know the origin of those persons. The Member of Parliament wants to know what is the real construction cost of the New General Hospital? Also, what is the miscellaneous cost in the event of overruns. How many beds are there at SMMC and how many beds will there be in the New General Hospital Emmanuel gave example as to what is currently taking place in Curacao with the construction of their hospital.

He asked how many government-owned companies and or subsidiaries participated in the financing of the hospital. How much would APS be investing? How much money the pension funds in Curacao be investing and how will St. Maarten (SMMC) repay these lenders.

Emmanuel said he wants to see facts such as budget and plans, he questions the role of Condotte, Italys 3rd largest construction company, however, they lost the railroad project in Norway. Will this company have a guarantee for projects being done outside of Italy.

Minister said in his presentation that INSO is looking for a buyer and if that is the case then why are they looking for a buyer? Emmanuel asked. Emmanuel made clear that INSO cannot survive on their own and certainly they cannot enjoy the 190M lone to them by the European Union. Wants to know how long the Minister know INSO facing financial problems and why he did not make his findings public.

MP Rolando Brison asked for more information on the tariff increase, why was the increase not spread over a few years instead of the drastic increase. Asked if everyone within the business community decides to follow the Minister by increasing the cost of their services to meet their cost. Brison questioned the double standard with the World Bank was so quick to help SMMC with $25M. Has the World Bank being apprised of the current situation with Condotte/ INSO and what feedback did the World Bank give, the MP asked. He said it's time to eliminate the tunnel vision that the Minister is portraying. What are the other companies that participated in the bidding process and what were there level compared to INSO. Has anyone reached out to VAMED recently or did they reach out to government or SZV since the INSO financial situation arises Brison asked? He said VAMED was paid $1M Euros to settle their court case, has the Minister consider bringing back VAMED to the table and renegotiate with them. How long does the Minister intend to wait at the mercy of the Italian Government?

He further asked if SMMC has been audited for financials and is there an appraisal report. Can Parliament be provided with financial statements including profit and loss?

MP Luc Mercelina said the Minister is working on the hospital project based on a business plan which he said is to accommodate the construction of the hospital. He said constructing a hospital should be based on the level of care that could be provided to the community. Mercelina also expressed concerns about the tariff increase which he said was done on a business perspective but asked the Minister about the premiums that have to be increased to sustain the National General Insurance. He asked the Minister to explain parliament how he will tackle the increase in premiums.

Mercelina also lamented on the type of contract INSO would be getting, he said INSO cannot meet its obligation to construct the NGH and wants to know what assurance can the Minister give parliament on the maintenance contract. Can you tell Parliament that INSO will be around in the next 10- 15 years to comply with maintenance. Asked for the detailed settlement on INSO, how much has been invested thus far in preparation of the New General Hospital. Who has been shouldering the cost thus far?

The Chairlady of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams certainly saw that Members of Parliament were not at all convinced with the way the Minister is handling the project thus she threw a curve ball by asking the Minister to provide the answers to the questions quickly and most of all the Minister must place focus on the quality of care currently being provided at SMMC and the working conditions the staff of SMMC has to endure to provide healthcare services.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs Stuart Johnson says the cooperation between the national statistical offices of Aruba, Curacao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten, will only further enhance the exchange of information on statistics and promoting technical cooperation.

The Sint Maarten Department of Statistics (STAT) falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT).

The four offices are working together in the Dutch Caribbean Statistical System (DCSS) which recently released their first joint publication, namely, a comparative review of the labour force on the Dutch Caribbean islands.

The accumulated range of experience, know-how, and knowledge between the statistical offices involved relating to the development of statistics and statistical systems can only lead to upgrading and enhancing our own statistical systems.

Accurate statistical information and data are very important for a country. It is an instrument that provides a current and past overview of areas of national development, whether its economic, labour, housing, population etc. This information becomes very important for decision-makers in assessing and taking policy-related decisions.



Data is also important for international organizations that fall under the umbrella of the United Nations in connection with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as for the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with respect to monitoring economic performance.



The application of statistical data is wide and pertinent to any nations national development. The cooperation by the four offices can only further enhance and develop sustainable and reliable statistical systems capable of producing statistics that are in compliance with international standards, Minister of Tourism & Economic Affairs Stuart Johnson said on Monday.



The first joint publication offers a wealth of information for business leaders and potential investors as well as economists.



The report is available at Sint Maarten Department of Statistics website www.stat.gov.sxand from the websites of the other three statistical offices.
The city received confirmation of the case on Monday, officials said, the same day Los Angeles County reported its second and third cases.
4 smart ways to use security to power the business of the future

In the new era of work, our relationship with the workplace is defined by flexibility and mobility. Employees are working across the home, office, and blended spaces more than ever before, as well as working varied hours to suit the modern work schedule. This new hybrid workforce model holds the potential for more diverse talent and better productivity, but it also comes with its challenges  one being how to ensure security, health, and safety in the workplace. Strong and smart security ecosystem While nearly one-third of companies report that theyve implemented a hybrid model, according to a recent survey by STANLEY Security, many still have much to do to prepare their office for the future. Building a strong  and smart  security ecosystem is crucial in preparing for the future. As such, businesses should consider technologies that help protect their people, as well as safeguard their assets, optimise their operations, and secure their network. 1)Protect your people Implementation of a security ecosystem combines health, safety, and security hardware and software solutions seamlessly Nearly 60% of mid-market and enterprise businesses across the UK and US report that the health and safety of their employees and customers are a primary concern when implementing modern and hybrid working models. This begs the question: How can businesses create a safe and healthy work environment when 59% are planning to bring employees back on-site in some capacity within the next 18 months? The answer lies, in part, in the implementation of a security ecosystem that combines various health, safety, and security hardware and software solutions seamlessly. Integrating platform Nearly half (46%) of business decision-makers say they are interested in adopting an integrated platform such as this. This means integrating traditional and digital security solutions, then leveraging the data and insights they produce to further enhance the workplace experience. Take this example: With employees and visitors moving in and out of the office at different times, a business may lack oversight of occupancy or density levels, people flow, workspace scheduling, visitor check-in processes, and more. However, with visitor management, access control, and other building/business systems integrated, employees can reserve a workspace for a specific date and time and be granted access to the building. Leveraging AI and machine learning Visitors can pre-register, answer a health screening questionnaire, and receive a mobile credential before arriving. Once the visitor arrives on-site, the system can alert the respective department  all without the close contact typically required for traditional visitor check-in processes. When layering artificial intelligence and machine learning on top of the data, a business may identify trends in people flow and opportunities to optimise congested areas. They may also see that certain rooms within the building get more use than others and leverage these insights to manage their space more effectively. All of this is powered by a security ecosystem that can help a business better protect its people while realising other benefits in the process. 2) Safeguard your assets Businesses are concerned about the security of their assets when it comes to the hybrid workforce model Even more, businesses are concerned about the security of their assets when it comes to the hybrid workforce model. About 72% of leaders say this is, in fact, their primary concern with the hybrid approach. This figure isnt surprising when you consider the impact of the pandemic, which left many businesses closed either temporarily or permanently, with few people allowed on-site to manage facility operations. As a result of the pandemic, we saw tech adoption accelerate at an astonishing rate  simply because businesses had to implement cloud and remote technologies to survive during a time when buildings were closed indefinitely. Remote management and visibility This was particularly true for security solutions, such as cloud video surveillance and cloud access control solutions like wireless IoT-connected locks. Nine out of 10 businesses (91%) report that they have already implemented cloud security technology; of those, nearly half (48%) stated that this was due to the pandemic. These technologies allow for remote management and provide visibility into business operations at the same time. In a retail setting, for example, cloud video surveillance allows businesses to identify and track not only criminal activity, but also foot traffic patterns, peak operating hours, staff shortages, and more. Loss prevention strategy When integrated with the retailers point-of-sale (POS) system, businesses can gain greater insights into their traffic counts, end cap effectiveness, loyalty card activity, and a variety of POS exceptions, such as high-dollar transactions, repeated transactions, excessive returns, employee discounts, and more. For retailers especially, a security ecosystem means a more efficient loss prevention strategy that helps safeguard assets and profits. 3) Optimise your operations The future of work is still very much a work in progress, but one thing is clear: Businesses are looking for ways to increase efficiencies, drive cost savings, and, ultimately, optimise their operations  especially now with the challenges posed by price inflation. A relatively untapped opportunity for businesses to achieve these goals lies within their security infrastructure. Security technology and solutions gather incredibly rich data which, when unlocked, can help businesses understand how their buildings are being used, when the busiest times are, where there are highly trafficked areas, and more. Leveraging cloud video surveillance systems, businesses could identify emerging staff training needs Cloud video surveillance systems For example, by leveraging the insights produced by cloud video surveillance systems, businesses could identify emerging staff training needs, which could ultimately result in improved employee satisfaction and reduced attrition. However, much of this data sits untouched within the infrastructure, leaving businesses unaware of the opportunities in front of them. 44% of businesses that currently use a cloud security system for its primary use say they want to know how else this technology can be utilised, and an additional 20% arent even aware that it could be used in other ways. AI and analytics The interest in adoption is promising for the office of the future, especially when we see that the majority of businesses (78%) would consider using AI and analytics technologies to optimise their operations, helping their business to operate more effectively and efficiently. The increase in adoption of cloud technology  paired with the rise in interest in AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics  could make it possible for businesses to uncover invaluable insights from their security infrastructure and leverage them to adapt and build business resilience. 4) Secure your network Advanced technology help businesses improve their cybersecurity, making it harder for hackers to gain entry With cyber threats becoming more prevalent, businesses are increasingly looking to secure their networks and protect their data. More than half (54%) of those surveyed expressed interest in using AI, machine learning, and advanced analytics to secure their network by identifying and eliminating cybersecurity threats. Advanced and automated technology can help businesses improve their cybersecurity, making it harder for hackers to gain entry to the larger corporate network. Modern cybersecurity tools that use AI and machine learning can detect anomalies in network traffic or alert and act on suspicious behaviour. Cybersecurity software For example, if an IoT device suddenly begins broadcasting and establishing connections with multiple devices, cybersecurity software could detect this abnormal behaviour, send an alert, and suspend traffic or quarantine an endpoint immediately  saving precious time during a potential breach. A single data breach could result in widespread distrust from workers and customers, potentially leading to decreased business as well as litigation issues. As such, businesses need to take action to update and strengthen their defences so that they can avoid downtime and continue to operate with peace of mind. Prepare your business for the future Businesses will continue to look for more ways to extract value out of their existing infrastructure, including their security technology. For many, the tools to do so are already in place, its just a matter of unlocking the insights with a security ecosystem. With such an ecosystem  one that helps protect a business people, assets, and network, while optimising operations  companies can better safeguard the future of their workspaces and usher in the new era of work with confidence.
Georgetown, SC (29440)

Today

Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional rain late. Low around 50F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 70%.
People on Earth who've gotten sunburns are familiar with the sun's powerful rays  but the moon suffers from sunburn, too.

Some regions of the lunar surface exhibit a distinctive pattern of darker and lighter swirls. Using NASA's ARTEMIS mission  which stands for Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun  astronomers have revealed new clues about the origin of these swirls.

The sun releases a constant flow of charged particles known as solar wind into space. While Earth's natural magnetic field deflects solar-wind particles, the moon has a weaker magnetic field, leaving some areas of the lunar surface exposed to the sun's damaging radiation, according to a statement from NASA.

Related: This NASA Video Tour of the Moon in 4K Is Simply Breathtaking

Unlike Earth, the moon doesn't have a global magnetic field . Rather, magnetized rocks near the lunar surface create small, localized magnetic fields that extend only a short distance, according to the statement.

"The magnetic fields in some regions [of the moon] are locally acting as this magnetic sunscreen," Andrew Poppe, a scientist at the University of California, Berkeley, said in the statement .

The Reiner Gamma lunar swirl photographed by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is an example of the moon's "sunburn." (Image credit: NASA LRO WAC science team)

These small "bubbles" of protection deflect some of the damaging solar-wind particles. As a result, light-colored swirls form in the shielded areas. However, the bordering areas become noticeably darker.

"You know, sometimes you put on sunscreen and you miss a tiny little bit and then you have a really bright red spot on you your skin where you missed it," Poppe said in a NASA video explaining the discovery. "That's, in some ways, the analogy for the region of the moon that is extra exposed."

The team hopes the findings will help protect astronauts from the harmful effects of radiation during future missions to the moon . Although the moon's crustal magnetic fields may not be strong enough alone to protect astronauts, it may be possible to create a stronger magnetic field artificially, Poppe said in the video.
A distant alien world that was potentially on its way into exile in interstellar space was rescued by the gravitational pull of a passing pair of stars, a new study argues.

These findings support arguments that close stellar misses help sculpt planetary systems, the researchers said.

Although Earth and most of its sibling planets have relatively circular orbits around the sun's equator, Pluto and many other dwarf planets have more elongated, tilted orbits. Previous research suggested these distorted features are potentially due to a close approach from another star during the solar system's infancy whose gravitational pull hurled things helter-skelter.

Related: When Will We Find Planet Nine?

"Some of the most distant objects in our solar system , such as comets and the hypothetical Planet Nine, may have been influenced by passing stars too," senior study author Paul Kalas, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley, told Space.com.

If stellar flybys could wreak havoc on our solar system , researchers suspected that similar near-misses could reshape other planetary systems as well.

"One of the mysteries arising from the study of exoplanets is that we see systems where the planets are misaligned, even though they are born in a flat, circular disk," Kalas said in a statement . "Maybe a cosmic tsunami hit these systems and rearranged everything about them, but we haven't had proof."

Now Kalas and his co-author think they have proof that stellar flybys can not only help sling planets away from their stars, but also help keep them from drifting into interstellar space.

The scientists focused on a pair of yellow-white dwarf stars known collectively as HD 106906, located about 300 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Crux. This binary is very young, at only about 15 million years old. (In comparison, our solar system is about 4.6 billion years old.)

Kalas investigates newly formed planetary systems to better understand what happened in the early days of the solar system. He first focused on HD 106906 in 2015 after he and his colleagues discovered it sported a giant planet with an oddly tilted orbit. This world, dubbed HD 106906 b , is about 11 times the mass of Jupiter and is located at least 738 times the distance between Earth and the sun from its stars. Its orbit is tilted about 21 degrees with respect to the disk holding all the other matter around its parent binary.

The 2015 study also found that HD 106906 possessed a lopsided comet belt and an asymmetrical disk of dust. These findings, in combination with HD 106906 b's skewed orbit, suggested that the binary system had experienced major growing pains.

Prior work suggested HD 106906 b was lobbed into an eccentric orbit after passing dangerously close to its parent stars. However, the new paper argues that the gravitational pull of a passing binary system then helped rescue the planet by nudging it back around its parents.

The HD 106906 stars and the stars that scientists believe nudged a runaway planet back into orbit, as seen in their modern locations. (Image credit: Paul Kalas, UC Berkeley)

"Stellar flybys have been used to explain the evolution of our own solar system ," Kalas said. "HD 106906 offers a rare example where such a flyby happened recently and may have perturbed its distant giant planet."

To hunt down evidence of this flyby, the scientists analyzed data from the European Space Agency's Gaia space observatory , which is creating a 3D map of more than a billion stars across the galaxy with unprecedented precision. The researchers, who could use that data for 461 stars in the same cluster as HD 106906 to deduce their positions backward in time based on their current velocities, discovered a binary system that might have approached HD 106906 close enough 3 million years ago to gravitationally influence its worlds.

"Stars need to pass very close to a planetary system to have significant effect," Kalas told Space.com. "Our calculations show that the flyby stars gave HD 106906 b a gentle gravitational tug rather than a strong one."

Examining the HD 106906 planetary system "is like going back in time to watch the Oort cloud of comets forming around our young sun," Kalas said in the statement. "Our own giant planets gravitationally kicked countless comets outward to large distances. Many were ejected completely, becoming interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua, but others were influenced by passing stars. That second kick by a stellar flyby can detach a comet's orbit from any further encounters with the planets, saving it from the prospect of ejection. This chain of events preserved the most primitive solar system material in a deep freeze far from the sun for billions of years."

In the future, "more accurate measurements for the motions of stars will tell us if the flyby stars had a stronger interaction with the planet," Kalas told Space.com. "We just started a collaboration with a French group to obtain the measurements we need."

The research is described in a paper published Feb. 28 in the Astronomical Journal.
Scientists found valleys and channels carved into the depths of Martian craters, and according to the European Space Agency (ESA), these formations provide the first evidence of a vast groundwater system in the planet's past.

Researchers also spotted signs of special minerals linked to the emergence of life on Earth in Martian basins.

Mars is a prime target for the cosmically geared imagination, from the story " War of the Worlds " to the last 20 years of robotic exploration on the Red Planet's surface. If a world just a monthslong journey away from Earth could have hosted water, maybe extraterrestrial life once resided at cosmic arms' length from our planet.

Related: Missions to Mars: A Robot Red Planet Invasion History (Infographic)

The red dots in this image mark a number of deep craters recently explored as part of a study exploring groundwater on Mars. The reds and oranges indicate lower elevations, and the blues and greens show higher ground. (Image credit: Topography: NASA/MGS/MOLA; Crater distribution: F. Salese et al. (2019).)

"Findings like this are hugely important; they help us to identify the regions of Mars that are the most promising for finding signs of past life," Dmitri Titov, ESA's Mars Express project scientist, said in an agency statement Feb. 28 about the recent findings.

ESA's Mars Express orbiter, which has been circling the planet since 2003, found the first geological evidence of an ancient interconnected system of lakes linked by branching channels deep beneath the planet's surface, ESA officials said.

"Early Mars was a watery world," Francesco Salese of Utrecht University in the Netherlands said in the statement. "But as the planet's climate changed, this water retreated below the surface to form pools and 'groundwater.' We traced this water in our study, as its scale and role is a matter of debate, and we found the first geological evidence of a planet-wide groundwater system on Mars."

This diagram shows a model of how crater basins on Mars evolved over time and how they once held water. Images from the context camera onboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show examples of the different features observed in the basins. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS; Diagram adapted from F. Salese et al. (2019).)

Over the last few years, research has pointed to the existence of a warmer Mars in the past  possible thanks to a thicker atmosphere in the planet's history  that supported the flow of water on the ground. Now, there's physical evidence to further support existing models.

Salese led a team that used Mars Express to explore 24 enclosed craters in Mars' northern hemisphere. The crater floors analyzed by the team were at depths of about 2.5 miles (4,000 meters) below Martian sea level, ESA officials said. (Since Mars does not have an existing sea, a "sea level" is approximated by deriving an arbitrary point based on atmospheric pressure and elevation.)

"We think that this ocean may have connected to a system of underground lakes that spread across the entire planet," co-author Gian Gabriele Ori, director of the Universita D'Annunzio's International Research School of Planetary Sciences in Italy, said in the statement. "These lakes would have existed around 3.5 billion years ago, so [they] may have been contemporaries of a Martian ocean."

Topographic view of dried-out river-valley network (center) on Mars, as seen by the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The rippled, snake-like feature is a dendritic formation. (Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/ CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO . )

Five of the deepest craters showed signs of carbonates, silicates and several kinds of clay, according to ESA. These minerals provide further supporting evidence that the ingredients for life were present long ago on Mars.

Last week, ESA released Mars Express imagery of the planet's southern highlands region with rocks up to 4 billion years old. The area photographed by the mission lies east of the Huygens impact crater and north of the impact basin Hellas, according to the agency. While the land has gone through heavy erosion since it first formed, some valleys retain tree-like shapes called dendritic structures. Riverbeds on Earth also bend in these ways, offering more evidence for a wet Mars.
Defence with plastic balls a flop : Bonns royal couple storm the Old Town Hall

Geschafft! Der Prinz hat den Rathaus-Schlussel. Foto: Barbara Frommann

Bonn Bonns royal couple, Prinz Thomas I and Bonna Anne-Christin I conquered Bonns Town Hall on Sunday afternoon. Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharans lines of defence had  as ever  no chance.

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After the loss of the Old Town Hall, Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan sulked and withdrew with his wife Petra to the family home to lick the wounds inflicted by Bonns Carnival Prince and Princess, according to well-informed reveller circles.

Sridharan had given it his all. During the war of words with the revellers, the Lord Mayor turned out to be a quick-witted defender. The Bonn Capitals team supported the defenders of the Town Hall. However, it soon became clear that their bats and balls were only made of plastic. The City Soldiers discovered the trick, sounded the charge and conquered the Old Town Hall with Prince Thomas I and Bonna Anne-Christin I. At 3.15pm, the Carnival royal couples flag was waving on the roof of the town hall and the Lord Mayor capitulated: I surrender. My army has lost again. Here you have the key to the Town Hall. Then they inspected the line of City Soldiers together.

The Lord Mayor then gave the commanding officer two promises to keep the whole corps peaceful: he will go with them to a Bonn Capitals home game and he will spend a day during the Putzchens Markt fair selling pea soup for a good cause at the City Soldiers stand.

The Guard of Honour pampered guests for six hours with food and drink as well as good music. The Guard of Honours writer, Wolfgang Stablein, had engaged the Funky Marys and the Cologne band Eldorado to make appearances on the stage in the Marktplatz. The Cadette Corps also danced for the last time in this Carnival session.

Commanding officer Thomas Janicke was not entirely satisfied with the level of visitor interest. There are simply too many events in the city area on Carnival Sunday. The Likura Parade, storming of the Town Hall and the parade in Bad Godesberg as well as the parades in Endenich and Poppelsdorf are stiff competition for us. All those involved should think carefully again about whether Carnival Sunday is the right day for the storming of the town hall in Bonn. Janicke thinks a possible alternative date is Carnival Saturday, but then in the morning.
Some nights, the moon may look close enough to touch , but only a handful of teams have succeeded in reaching the lunar surface. The USSR did it in 1966 and the U.S. followed just four months later. China pulled it off in 2013 and again just recently , in January 2019. In April 2019, an Israeli nonprofit organization called SpaceIL tried to become the first Israeli entity to land a spacecraft on the surface of the moon, but it failed to stick the landing.

Israel and SpaceIL aren't throwing in the towel just yet. Just days after the failed attempt, Morris Kahn, the billionaire businessman, philanthropist and SpaceIL president, confirmed that the SpaceIL team had already scheduled meetings to begin planning the Beresheet 2.0 mission.

"We're going to actually build a new halalit  a new spacecraft," Kahn said in a video statement posted on Twitter by SpaceIL. "We're going to put it on the moon, and we're going to complete the mission."

SpaceIL's lunar lander, Beresheet, launched from Cape Canaveral on a used SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 21, 2019, along with an Indonesian communications satellite and a U.S. Air Force satellite. Over nearly two months, the craft maneuvered into successively longer loops around the planet until reached the moon. Beresheet carried a time capsule of digital records and an instrument to study the moon's magnetic field. Although the spacecraft failed to touch down safely, it was the first attempted moon landing for Israel and the first for a privately funded organization from anywhere.

While previous moonshots culminated from years of concerted governmental effort, SpaceIL operates more like a startup company. Inspired by the Google Lunar X Prize , an international competition to land a probe on the moon, computer engineer Yariv Bash launched the endeavor in 2010. Bash started with a web domain and a Facebook post asking, "Who wants to go to the moon," according to SpaceIL educational volunteers manager Hili Shapiro.

Initially, Bash and his two co-founders hoped to land a water bottle-size probe on the moon by the end of 2012 to win the $20 million purse. In addition to research, the team's early efforts focused on securing funding and finding rocket scientists. "You can't build a spacecraft with only three people," Shapiro told Space.com.

Over the course of the project, SpaceIL managed to raise at least $100 million from major donors and recruit scores of volunteers; Shapiro estimates that roughly 80 percent of the nearly 200-person organization consists of volunteers, including some engineers.

After building the company, SpaceIL had to build the spacecraft. Engineering began in earnest after the team secured a launch contract with SpaceX in 2015 and determined how much volume would be available on the rocket. And it wasn't a lot.

To keep costs low, SpaceIL agreed to share a rocket with two other satellites. The shared launch would bring the craft only to Earth orbit, from which point the lunar lander would have to fly itself all the way to the moon. The added fuel requirements of this approach killed plans for the water-bottle-size probe, so blueprints for a 1,314-lb. (596 kilograms), smart-car-size, four-legged lander took their place. [ Israel's 1st Moon Lander: The SpaceIL Beresheet Lunar Mission in Pictures ]

The Beresheet spacecraft captured this "selfie" during its landing maneuver on April 11, 2019. (Image credit: SpaceIL/IAI)

The cramped rocket didn't allow room for Beresheet to include backup systems, such as an extra computer to test code or run updates. Any major system failure would doom the craft, according to flight software developer Shai Yehezkel; however, mission control made minor tweaks to adapt on the fly, such as configuring the craft to reject faulty star readings that unexpectedly cropped up when Earth blocked part of the craft's field of view. "The best engineering work was made from the limited budget," Yehezkel told Space.com. "We know how to improvise."

The X Prize expired unclaimed in 2018, but SpaceIL's outreach-driven mission has kept the company going. Shapiro estimates that the company's volunteers lecture 20,000 students each month, and cereal boxes across Israel recently featured cardboard cutouts of Beresheet, which means "in the beginning," or "genesis," in Hebrew.

"We are not just saying to dream big," Shapiro said. "We are actually showing them that we are doing it."

Beresheet made three orbits around Earth, each longer than the last, until the craft crossed paths with the moon. The original goal was to loop around the moon twice before touching down in the Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity, on April 11, 2019, at the end of a two-week long lunar night, the flight team expected. The early morning light of the subsequent two-week lunar day gave the probe the energy it needed to record the local magnetic field, an experiment run in collaboration with NASA.

But even it had landed successfully, the same sunlight would have soon spelled Beresheet's demise, overheating the lander's electronics. Now, the vehicle has become a monument . It's also an archive, as it carried a DVD-sized digital-analog hybrid disks bearing copies of the Bible, drawings from Israeli schoolchildren, English Wikipedia and 30 million pages of records representing a "backup" of humanity's knowledge. SpaceIL hopes future moonwalkers might decode the time capsule and learn about Earth in 2019. "We are throwing them a challenge," Yehezkel said.

Despite Beresheet's disappointing crash-landing, the SpaceIL team remains dedicated to their goal of successfully landing an Israeli spacecraft on the moon.

Israel Aerospace Industries, the contractor who built the craft, has signed an agreement with a German firm to build similar landers for the European Space Agency in the future.

SpaceIL plans to continue its educational activities and seeks an Israeli " Apollo effect " to inspire the next generation of space enthusiasts, Shapiro said. "We hope our story will begin more stories."

Additional resources:

This article was updated April 15, 2019 by Space.com Reference Editor Kimberly Hickok.
Berlin, March 3, 2019 (SPS) - At the invitation of the Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Western Sahara, Horst Kohler, the Sahrawi negotiating delegation will hold consultations with Mr. Koehler in German capital Berlin from Monday to Tuesday.



The consultations come in the context of Mr. Koehler's efforts aimed at activating the United Nations-sponsored political process in Western Sahara. In his briefing to the Security Council on 29 January, the UN Secretary-General Personal Envoy of had announced his intention to invite the parties to the conflict, the POLISARIO Front and Morocco, to hold private consultations with him to discuss several issues related to the political process and to prepare for the second round of talks in Geneva this month.



The POLISARIO Front had assured through its representative to the United Nations, Dr. Sidi Mohamed Omar, of its strong and continued support for Mr. Kohler's endeavors and its constant readiness to engage in a constructive and serious spirit in the negotiating process under the auspices of the United Nations with a view to achieving a peaceful, just and lasting solution that will guarantee the Sahrawi people their inalienable and inalienable right to self-determination and independence in line with relevant Security Council and General Assembly resolutions. (SPS)



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STAMFORD  Purdue Pharma has asked a court to throw out Massachusetts lawsuit against the company, a complaint whose extensive allegations of deceptive opioid marketing have attracted nationwide attention.

Filed last Friday in state Superior Court, Purdues motion to dismiss asserts that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healeys litigation creates a misleading narrative that mischaracterizes internal company emails and documents. Many of those records involve members of the Sackler family  the Purdue owners who are accused of stoking the states opioid crisis by orchestrating the fraudulent promotion of pain drugs such as OxyContin, while using the revenues to personally make billions of dollars.

If the Commonwealth (of Massachusetts) had facts to support its narrative, it would have included them, Purdue wrote, in part, in its motion. It is telling that the attorney generals office chose instead to resort to selective (and misleading) citation of Purdues internal business documents to attract media focus.

Healeys office would oppose the motion, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Dispute over allegations

Last June, Massachusetts filed its original lawsuit against Purdue. In January, it submitted an amended and unredacted 275-page version that outlined a panoply of new, detailed allegations.

It said that eight family members, who control a majority of the companys board seats, have driven a concerted campaign to push sales of Purdue opioids. Massachusetts and Connecticut  which sued last December  are the first two states to not only take legal action against Purdue as a company, but also name Sackler family members as defendants.

At a launch party for OxyContin  which went on the market in 1996  Richard Sackler predicted a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition, according to the complaint. In addition to his board membership, he was a Purdue senior vice president at that time and later served as the companys CEO.

The Sacklers then allegedly directed thousands of sales-representative visits to doctors that distorted the drugs risks and benefits and encouraged dangerous dosages.

OxyContin generates most of Purdues annual sales, which have been estimated at more than $3 billion in recent years. The Sackler defendants have paid themselves and their family billions of dollars from those opioid revenues, the lawsuit said.

Purdue disputes those allegations and how Massachusetts presents related documentation. It also challenges the lawsuits overarching accusation that it was responsible for a decade-long course of misconduct in Massachusetts that involved hundreds of deaths.

The amended complaint ignores this crucial context  that the opioid-abuse crisis is a complex, multifactorial societal issue and instead sets forth a misleading narrative in an attempt to litigate this case in the court of public opinion, the motion said, in part.

Purdues motion references a Connecticut Superior Court judges dismissal in January of a similar group of lawsuits that included complaints filed by the municipal governments of Bridgeport, New Haven, New Britain and Waterbury. Bridgeport, New Haven and Waterbury are challenging the decision in the states Appellate Court.

Some of the arguments Purdue is making are similar to those made in the Connecticut case  specifically that the plaintiffs cannot prove sufficient causation to survive a motion to dismiss, said Robert Bird, a professor of business law at the University of Connecticut. The probability that the case is dismissed is difficult to determine, but Purdue is leveraging that the Connecticut case was dismissed.

The company also said that U.S. Food and Drug Administration had already addressed many of the same criticisms leveled by the Commonwealth (of Massachusetts), and concluded that no modification to OxyContins labeling was necessary.

A message left Monday for the FDA was not immediately returned.

More than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed by cities, counties and states against Purdue. The company denies their allegations.

The litigation list includes about three-dozen complaints submitted by states attorneys generals. Connecticuts lawsuit is entirely separate from Massachusetts complaint, but Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has expressed his support for Healeys strategy.

What it shows is the evidence is very compelling, Tong said in an interview last month. The named defendants are responsible, and theyll be held to account. This is as serious as it can be, and the scale of the damages and liability is enormous.

About three-dozen Connecticut cities and towns have taken legal action against Purdue. Stamfords local government has not sued the company, which is headquartered in the citys downtown, at 201 Tresser Blvd.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott
Ridgefield Playhouse / Contributed photo

Bernard Ilsley: The London Medium, who offers guidance for the future or peace from a recent loss, will be appearing at the Ridgefield Playhouse Tuesday, March 19.

Ilsley, a third-generation psychic, makes contact with loved ones, ancient spirits and angels, the playhouse said. He also, by means of tapping into your subconscious mind, can reveal your past lives.
HARTFORD-Families, friends and well-wishers will fill the William A. ONeill Armory Tuesday bid adieu to 120 members of the 643rd Military Police Co. of the Connecticut National Guard as they prepare for deployment to Cuba.

This marks the first deployment of state guardsmen this year, said Major General Fran Evon, the Adjutant General and commanding officer of the Connecticut National Guard.

"It may be the unit's first deployment in over a decade, but the Guardsmen of the 643rd Military Police Company are well trained and well prepared for this mission," Evon said. "I also want to recognize the families and employers of our Guardsmen, who play a key role in making their training and deployment possible. Thank you for everything you do to support our men and women in uniform."

The send-off will take place at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Armory located at 360 Broad Street in Hartford.

It also marks the first time the 643rd Military Police Company will be sent to Cuba where they will be responsible for the Guantanamo Bays detainee operations as part of the continuing Operating Enduring Freedom. The company will work under the command of Capt. Robin Felder. The last time the unit was deployed on an overseas mission was in 2006 when it spent more than a year in Germany..

While this is the first Guantanamo Bay assignment for the 643rd, it is not the first for a Connecticut National Guard unit. In 2015, members of the 192nd Military Police Battalion was sent there on a similar mission..

The 643rd unit is expected to leave Connecticut in mid-March. They will travel to an active duty U.S. Army post in Texas for additional training prior to deploying to Guantanamo Bay. This deployment brings the total number of Connecticut National Guardsmen serving in support of operations worldwide to over 300.

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Two more state charter schools are being recommended for renewals shorter than the five-year maximum when they go before the state Board of Education on Wednesday.

Great Oaks Charter School in Bridgeport and Stamford Academy Charter School both will get two-year renewals if the board follows staff recommendations.

The meeting starts at 9:30 a.m. at 450 Columbus Blvd. in Hartford.

Stamford Academy, which opened in 2004, is coming off a one-year probation because of low student performance, chronic student absenteeism and high student suspensions. The school enrolls 159 high school students who enter the program undercredited and with below grade level achievement.

Great Oaks opened five years ago and serves 400 students in Grades 6 through 9. Its student achievement in 2018 was below Bridgeports proficiency in both math and reading. Its student suspension rate of 26 percent is three times the state average of 6.8 percent and its turnover rate last year was about 25 percent.

Charter Schools are state-funded schools that run independent of local control. There are two dozen in the state including six in Bridgeport and three in Stamford. In recent years, the state Department of Education has placed closer attention to the performance of students who attend the schools. One school, Path Academy in Windham, surrendered its charter last July before the state could force its closure.

Last year, Stamford Academy was one of two charters put on probation.

At Great Oaks, the student achievement rate in language arts has declined over the last two years. In math, its gone up the last two years but is consistently below the state and host district levels.

Great Oaks Charter School must focus on providing increased explicit instruction in development of foundational skills in reading and math, the renewal report says.

Other recommendations are that the school schedule be adjusted to give extra help to the neediest students and submit a plan to the state by April 5 to bring its staff into certification compliance.

As of Feb. 1, only 14 of 34 teachers were certified for the positions they held  41 percent. Of the rest, eight have certification applications under review and 12 are said to be in the mail. State law requires at least 50 percent of educators hold a valid certificate.

The state also wants a corrective action plan from the school on improving discipline without resorting to student suspensions and to improve chronic absenteeism. A student who is out more than 10 percent of the time for any reason is chronically absent.

Great Oaks Principal John Scalice, on Monday, called the state report fair.

We look forward to working with them in the years to come as we work to improve our school, Scalice said.

Stamford Academy is returning to the board, after having been given a one-year probation last May.

In his report, Robert E. Kelly, the states charter school program manager, tells the state board Stamford Academy did develop a 16-point corrective action plan to address student achievement, chronic absenteeism and student suspensions.

The school has made a series of improvements and is beginning to see minimal signs of improvement, Kelly says in the report.

Craig Baker, chief education officer for Domus, the charter management firm that runs Stamford Academy, called the report fair and allowed the school in a short amount of time to do several things differently to address state concerns.

The school, he said, added a math and a reading interventionist to work with students one on one or in small groups. It put an SAT prep course into the schedule since the SAT now acts as the states standardized test in junior year. And it created a comprehensive attendance plan using an outside consultant.

Based on concerted efforts and the type of students the school services, the state is recommending a two-year renewal with conditions.

The academy would have to report bimonthly to the state on its progress in monitored areas, submit to quarterly site visits by the state, and submit an updated corrective action plan by April.

lclambeck@ctpost.com; twitter/lclambeck
A grandmother allegedly drowned her hours-old grandson and buried him in the backyard of a California home to "prevent family shame," according to court documents.

Beant Kaur Dhillon, 43, has plead not guilty to all charges. Beant Kaur Dhillon is scheduled to be back in court on March 13.

According to court documents, on November 12, 2018, Beant Kaur Dhillon allegedly found her 15-year-old daughter had given birth to a baby boy in the bathroom of their family home, located in Southwest Bakersfield.

Dhillon allegedly admitted to police that she then drowned the baby to "prevent family shame."

According to court documents, hours later, Dhillon and her nephew, 23-year-old Bakhshinderpal Singh Mann, allegedly worked together to dig a hole in the backyard of the home. Mann and Dhillon then allegedly placed the baby into the hole, placed salt in the hole, and buried the baby.

Court documents say 47-year-old Jagsir Singh, the father of the 15-year-old, was allegedly summoned back to the residence after his wife had allegedly killed the baby and placed him in a garbage bag. Court documents say Singh allegedly allowed the baby to be buried in the yard in order to hide its existence and the pregnancy. Singh allegedly made no attempt to inform police of the birth or death and allegedly did not seek medical treatment for his daughter.

Police have yet to release information on the father of the child.

According to court documents, in the following months, Dhillon allegedly neglected to seek medical treatment for her daughter.

Dhillon was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, felony assault of a child with force likely to cause great bodily injury, resulting in death, and felony child abuse.

Singh was arrested and charged with felony accessory to murder and felony child abuse.

According to the Kern County Central Receiving Facility, where Singh was being held, Singh posted bail and was released Wednesday.

Mann is wanted by the BPD for his involvement in the murder. The BPD says Mann has an outstanding arrest warrant for conspiracy and acting as an accessory to a felony after the fact. According to the Kern County District Attorney's Office, Mann has been charged with felony accessory to murder.

Court documents also say that Mann has removed a U.S. government applied GPS device and as of now has yet to be contacted.

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Planned speed trap in Bad Godesberg : FDP wants speed limit of 50 instead of speed camera on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee

Bonn Starting this summer there is to be a new speed camera on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee near the Caesar research centre. The FDP in Bad Godesberg thinks reducing the speed limit from 70 to 50 makes more sense.

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It is shortly before Christmas. Police have a speed trap on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee and catch a driver travelling at 101 kilometres per hour instead of the permitted 50. Within two hours, a further 19 cars are too fast. Driving too fast at specific locations is a reason for the city to set up speed cameras there. As reported, this will also be the case near the Caesar research centre from the summer. However, the FDP in Bad Godesberg wants to prevent this and is instead suggesting a continuous speed limit.

The Bad Godesberg district council will address the proposal in its March meeting. District councillor Wolfgang Heedt has in mind the 765 metre long, two lane section from the Rheinaue car park to the South Bridge, where the speed limit is 70. However, traffic is not unrestricted here as the section is also interrupted by a traffic light. In this section there is also the exit to the Rheinaue restaurant, so you always need to take account of cars turning off slowly or merging here, argues Heedt. He thinks a speed camera is unnecessary, if these few metres are changed to a speed limit of 50.

The administration told the GA when asked that it was sticking with the decision to set up a speed camera. Evaluations of several traffic counts had shown that on Ludwig-Erhard-Allee the speed limit of 50 kilometres per hour was exceeded with above-average frequency. Should the FDP proposal nevertheless be agreed to, the administration will carry out the desired examination, said Andrea Schulte from the press office.

Currently six permanent speed cameras in operation in Bonn

At its most recent meeting, the Construction and Procurement Committee deferred the purchase of the speed monitoring system for Ludwig-Erhard-Allee. In view of the FDPs proposal, the politicians said Bad Godesberg district council will first be heard. The Hardtberg district council has already agreed to the purchase of a second speed camera to be placed on Konrad-Adenauer-Damm in Hardtberg. However, the committee has also not yet made a decision on this. The administration pointed out that both speed cameras would be purchased at the same time.

There are eight permanent speed cameras in Bonn: in both directions on Reichstrae in Uckesdorf, on Mainzer Strae at the railway bridge between Rungsdorf and Pennenfeld as well as in the Bad Godesberg tunnel, where one tunnel is currently closed and so only two of the four speed cameras are working. Currently there are also two speed camera trailers, one of which has been on the B9 outside the Bundeskunsthalle for more than two years. The same model has been on Remagener Strae (B9) in Mehlem since the start of the year.
Authorities say a hiker was killed when a large boulder rolled onto her at Utahs Stansbury Island.

Tooele County Sheriffs Office officials say the body of the 37-year-old victim was recovered Saturday night.

They say she was from the Salt Lake City area but her name is being withheld until her family can be notified.

Sheriffs officials say the woman was with her husband and friend when the accident occurred about 3 p.m. Saturday about a mile from the trailhead.

She reportedly was hiking down a trail and was on the boulder when it moved and trapped her.

Sheriffs officials say the woman then fell forward and the boulder somehow rolled on top of her.

They were on their way back down the mountain to the Stansbury trailhead, Lt. Travis Scharmann told Fox 13. She stepped on the rock, this rock started moving, her foot got caught, she fell over in front of the rock and the rock slid over on top of her."

The search-and-rescue crew hiked through the snow about a half-mile straight up a mountain" and declared her dead, the Salt Lake Tribune reports.

Its way too heavy, theyve had three or four people try to move it off of her at one time and they couldnt budge it, Scharmann said.

Officials said the area is known to have unstable soil. They say slick conditions made the steep terrain more dangerous at the time of the accident.
GA English on Sunday : News in brief from Bonn and the region

Bonn/Cologne Although some adjustments have been made due to the weather, the Bonn Rose Monday Parade has been given the go ahead. Meanwhile, the Beethoven Hall renovations prove problematic and a young motorist races through Cologne past undercover police.

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Bonn Rose Monday Parade gets go ahead

BONN. Director of the Bonn Rose Monday Parade has said to GA that he is now assuming the parade will start right on time at 12 noon. Late Sunday afternoon, all the responsible people from the Bonn Carnival Festival Committee met again to have meteorologist Karsten Brandt from Bonn explain the current weather forecast for Monday. Rain showers are possible from time to time and stormy winds are expected but it does not look hopeless. Wolf said that for safety reasons, they would adapt to the weather conditions by not having any horses in the parade, using cars instead. "Should further restrictions become necessary for the Rose Monday procession, we will announce this in due time on Monday morning," Wolf explained. Orig. text: Holger Willcke, Richard Bongartz Translation:Carol Kloeppel

Dark clouds loom over Beethoven Hall renovations

BONN. The problems with the renovation of the Beethoven Hall are more serious than previously thought. The city and its project controllers have apparently lost control of the building project at times. As a confidential analysis from Drees & Sommer (project controllers) shows, they suspect that some companies who were to be involved in the renovations have not even started their work. The crux of the matter seems to be the implementation plans for each individual project on the construction site. Because the city administration and council were determined to renovate the hall by the time Beethoven celebrated its anniversary in 2020, the plans were not yet complete when construction began at the end of 2016. According to the report, there was a lack of implementation planning for work on the facade, roof, dry construction and concrete floors, for example. The work is now expected to go on until at least 2022. Orig. text: Andreas Baumann Translation: Carol Kloeppel

25-year-old races through Cologne at 190 kph
STAMfORD  Police fished an elderly boater out of the water next to John J. Boccuzzi Park in Waterside early Saturday afternoon.

At about 1 p.m. police officers responded with lights and siren to a call for help about a man falling into the water at TGM Anchor Marina. Within minutes, officers Jonathan Gale, Matthew Romano and Erik Soderholm were on scene pulling the 80-year-old Waterbury man out of the water, Lt. Michael Noto said in a release.

The man told the officers he was helping a friend clean up his boat for a potential buyer. When the man went to get onto the boat, he slipped into the water between the boat and the dock.

The man said he could not pull himself out and wasnt sure how much longer he would have been able to cling to the rope of a fender slung between the boat and dock while waiting for the officers.

Gale said he was at West Avenue and Selleck Street when he heard the call and raced down Selleck to Soundview Avenue. Because he lived for a couple of years at the residential complex right next to the marina, he knew exactly how to get in and arrived just after Soderholm.

A man with a baby carriage called police and knew the key code to the normally locked gate, allowing the officers onto the gangplank leading to the dock. Gale said the boat-owning friend of the man in the water did not have a cell phone and was in shock.

Once down on the dock, the officers were told by the man in the water that he could not feel anything, that he was completely numb.

Gale grabbed one arm and Solderholm grabbed the other.

He was just dead weight, Gale said.

After Romano got onto the boat, he got a hold of the back of the mans jacket and they all lifted at once and put him onto the dock. They then got him out of some of his wet clothes and carried him up the gangplank to an arriving ambulance.

Gale said he and the other officers went by the hospital to see the man.

He was so thankful. He said he was in the water for 10 minutes and he was ready to go under, Gale said.

Gale said it is nice being able to save people in the town he grew up in.

Its crazy because I am from Stamford and being able to do something like that sure is a good accomplishment, Gale said.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Canada may currently be home for Maurice Tulloch but his roots are in Scotland. The new Aviva chief was born north of the border in 1969 before his parents emigrated to the land of the maple leaf in 1973.

The keen golfer, who has two children in high school in Canada, will move to London over the next few weeks having previously lived here when he ran the UK general insurance division in 2012.

While Mark Wilsons favourite pastime was rugby, Tullochs sport is ice hockey. He supports the Toronto Maple Leafs. But hes no glory hunter  the team hasnt won top trophy the Stanley Cup since 1967.
T he UK will take years to re-establish its reputation after Brexit, the City of Londons most senior policymaker said on Monday.

The City of London Corporation policy chair Catherine McGuinnesss warning came with less than four weeks before the UK potentially crashes out of the European Union without a deal.

McGuinness remains confident about the longer term, but worried about the short term, and told the Standard that: I certainly think investment has been deterred by the uncertainty.

She added: How are we going to regain our credibility? When I go to India, when I go to China, people do ask about our political stability, although on the other hand they also ask with great interest about the opportunities. I think its going to take us years to re-establish our reputation.

Although temporary arrangements are in place giving London-based clearing houses licences to carry on doing business with European-based customers over the next 12 months even in a no-deal scenario, the corporation is still concerned over the lack of certainty on contract continuity, cross-border data transfers and uncleared derivatives. There is a potential for an awful lot of disruption depending on how fiercely the regulations are enforced. Thats the worry. I dont think it is in anybodys interest to risk it, she said.

So far job departures from the City are at the lower end of a wide range estimated by consultants Oliver Wyman, which forecast between 3000-4000 and 75,000 job losses depending on the UKs level of access. McGuinness added: It is only day one I am concerned this is not the end of the story but that it is just the start.
F ALLEN Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosns new lawyer  nicknamed the Razor  today raised the prospect that the car industry titan could be freed in the near future.

Ghosn, who has been held in a Tokyo jail since the end of November, faces charges of financial misconduct including under-reporting his Nissan pay for nearly a decade and transferring some personal losses onto Nissans books.

But Junichiro Hironaka, who has earned his moniker in Japan for his successful defence of several high-profile cases, said he had a new legal strategy for the case. A fresh bail application includes further measures such as more surveillance that could help free the executive from his lengthy pre-trial detention. I believe its possible he could be released in the near future, he said.

Hironaka has also argued the allegations should have been handled as an internal company matter and blasted the judicial system for keeping his client in jail.
M etro Bank chairman Vernon Hill on Monday won the backing of a key investor as he tries to persuade shareholders to cough up 350 million to fill a hole in the accounts.

Last week Metro Bank said it wanted to raise the cash after admitting a batch of property loans had been wrongly recorded in the accounts and are riskier than it had been reporting.

That cash call was the second in a few months, putting pressure on Hill and chief executive Craig Donaldson.

Metro Banks early backers include hedge fund king Steve Cohen and luxury homebuilder Bruce Toll.

Toll, who controls 3% of the shares, told Bloomberg that he backs Hill. Ive known him for years and Ive complete faith in him, thats all I can say.
D o not despair, you former industrial towns of England! You may feel left behind by globalisation and feel all the action has moved to the cities but help is at hand.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has launched the Stronger Towns Fund . That alone is surely a big enough bribe to persuade Labour MPs such as John Mann, Lisa Nandy and Caroline Flint to ditch their objections to the Prime Ministers Brexit deal and join the Tories in their economic suicide pact? If it is, they are bigger dopes than we thought.

Lets take a closer look at this Fund. First, its just 1.6 billion spread over six years  much less than 300 million a year, which is about enough to pay for two town bypasses a year for the entire country.

Second, its unlikely to be new money. We havent seen the details but it doesnt look like the overall Government budget has been increased specifically. We suspect that existing communities funds of various kinds will be raided and reorganised.

Finally, the way its structured, with both a needs formula and a challenge fund, looks designed so that ministers can make sure every constituency gets something. Handing out small sums of money to lots of towns so they can improve the municipal flowerbeds, or resurface the roads, is not a bad thing. But nor is it a big strategic response to the real challenge of how to breathe life back into tired towns and suburban centres which have lost their raison detre.

Often the big local employer, such as a factory or coal mine, closed long ago  or the original reason for the town, like domestic seaside tourism, disappeared when cheap travel meant people could travel to warmer climes.

These towns have missed out on the cluster benefits you get in bigger cities, where the presence of growing universities, flagship arts project and a flourishing nightlife have regenerated the centres, seen new jobs created and got people moving back to live there.

The answer for these towns cant easily be generalised, but imaginative local government, stripping away restrictive planning rules that freeze abandoned high streets in aspic, fast broadband and wireless connection to encourage new businesses looking for cheaper rents, and investment in better commuter links to cities can all help repopulate communities.

One thing guaranteed to make all that more difficult is Brexit. The official estimates endorsed by the Government itself show that regions like the North West and East Midlands will be hit much harder than the more prosperous South, as investment is deterred and trade is diminished outside the EUs single market and customs union.

No Stronger Towns Fund can make good a weaker relationship with our neighbours.

Knife crime: its urgent

The Home Office minister Victoria Atkins, responding to the killing of Jodie Chesney , 17, in Harold Hill on Friday and a spate of youth stabbings tells us this isnt simply about arresting our way out of this. We need to stop young people from carrying knives in the first place and stop them from causing this terrible, terrible harm.

Well, some arrests of suspects would be a useful start, but Ms Atkins is right that the problems are deep-seated.

The Evening Standard has supported the Mayors belated adoption of a public health approach to the problem, as in Glasgow, but there hasnt been much evidence of it in action yet.

This scourge needs far greater urgency on the part of the Mayor and ministers.

The future is female

Today, the Evening Standard launches a new podcast: Women Tech Charge.

The London technology scene is booming, and at the heart of it are some extraordinary women.

The podcast will draw attention to the innovators who are changing the world through technology, from entrepreneurs to spies.

Our host Anne-Marie Imafidon will listen to their stories.

You can listen to the first episode right here, and it is available on all podcast platforms (including those in the list below)  its unmissable.
M any of those who were shocked by the Home Secretarys decision to bar Shamima Begum  who ran away from this country to join Islamic State  from returning to the UK are the same people who have vehemently opposed the Governments Prevent strategy since its launch in 2003. But we cannot have our cake and eat it.

Blind opposition to the Governments approach is a luxury we can no longer afford. If we want the hundreds of returning British IS fighters to be reintegrated into society we must support and work towards a strengthened and reinvigorated de-radicalisation strategy.

Government-commissioned independent reviews of Prevent show that the criticism is not unjustified. The strategy can be clumsily implemented, relying on ordinary citizens such as teachers and nursery staff to look out for signs of radicalisation  sometimes leaving perfectly innocent British Muslims open to suspicion and discrimination.

Most critics of Prevent are main-stream British Muslims. They are understandably worried about their childs description of the familys terraced house being misheard as terrorist by an overzealous primary school teacher.

Such examples give ammunition to more vocal anti-Prevent ideologues who want the whole programme scrapped.

A government counter-radicalisation strategy is absolutely critical to succeed in the repatriation, prosecution and eventual rehabilitation of IS returnees. Many British Muslims now realise they need Prevent more than anyone  because the Begum case has shown us the alternative: expulsion.

The reaction of British Muslims is not driven by sympathy for Begum. Those I have spoken to are insulted by her behaviour and enraged by her unrepentant support for IS terror. They want her brought to justice.

They remind me of an inescapable fact: Shamima Begum is our problem. She may have committed her crimes in Syria (and against, let us not forget, the Syrian people) but she was made in Britain. We must understand why an English upbringing resulted in an IS adolescence.

That is why the Governments new Prevent review is welcome. If we want people like Begum to come home we need a robust de-radicalisation programme. But it can only work if communities engage with government to help make it work.

Of course Sajid Javids audience may have been Middle England but the Home Secretarys grand gesture is exactly what IS wants: reminding all its recruits who want to go home that they are stuck with the caliphate, even if the caliphate itself is long gone.
A YESHA Hazarika rightly highlights a stunning lack of talent and ability across Parliament [February 27]. Without material increases in the remuneration packages of MPs, Parliament will be a closed shop excluding talented individuals up and down the country who lead successful lives, can connect with people, solve problems and display effectiveness and humility. How can a GP in Nottingham, or a headteacher in Newcastle with talent and family commitments take a significant pay cut to become an MP?

There are undoubtedly some talented individuals in Parliament, but a huge section of society is financially locked out from increasing those numbers. Dont expect the quality to increase any time soon.

Andy Muir

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Andy

IM AFRAID I disagree. Every age believes its politicians are pygmies compared to the giants of the past, but I see no evidence that the current crop of MPs are worse or better than those of previous generations.

Nor is the pay a deterrent. There was a big increase a couple of years ago, after an assessment by an independent body of whats a fair salary for what is a part of the public sector. Thankfully, all the protests at the time were ignored  as should the recent calls to cancel the automatic annual increases.

Those who want the Commons to step in are the very same people who a couple of years ago said it was an outrage that MPs voted on their own pay. We certainly dont want to return to that system, when MPs won cheap applause by freezing their salaries and privately bumping up their expenses instead.

George Osborne, Editor

Meghans spending is her own affair

I DISAGREE with the increasingly hostile attacks on the Duchess of Sussex. Friends of Meghan Markle in America arranged a baby shower for her  at no cost to the British public purse  which has resulted in an avalanche of opprobrium in the press over the extravagance of the private event.

In any case, the cost of Meghans trip to New York is dwarfed by the amount of income that she and Prince Harry generate for charities and good causes.

People are entitled to do whatever they like with their own money.

Robert Readman

Lets have an EU vote based on facts

I HOPE Jeremy Corbyn secures a second EU referendum. But this time can we please be given the facts about being in the EU and not bamboozled by Project Fear  where Remainers peddled nightmare predictions of economic decline  or by Project Promise, where Brexiteers peddled a utopia based only on blind hope?

Both sides dissembled. Give us the facts about the benefits of being in the EU and explain its shortcomings so the Great British public can make a sensible decision about the future of the country.

James Holyfield

Lammy is so wrong on Comic Relief

DAVID Lammy MPs attack on Stacey Dooleys visit to Uganda for Comic Relief as being the arrogance of a white saviour is an unfair presumption based on joyful images [White Saviour Stacey hits back, February 28]. This is reverse racism.
T he National Army Museum has agreed to return a lock of hair cut from the head of an Ethiopian emperor in its collection.

The hair was taken from the body of Tewodros II who killed himself when the British invaded in 1868.

The Ethiopian government wants to bury the hair with the rest of the body which was laid to rest in a monastery in the north of the country.

The museum, based in Chelsea, is the latest institution to agree to repatriate sensitive objects from its collection.

Last year, the V&A offered items including a crown and a royal wedding dress to the African country on long-term loan after its government appealed for their return.

Other collections, including at the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, have been presented with requests to return items.

A report commissioned last year by French President Emmanuel Macron said thousands of African items held by museums in France should be returned to their countries of origin. A spokeswoman for the National Army Museum, which was given the hair in 1959 by the family of artist Captain Cornelius Francis James who painted the emperor on his deathbed, said it was accepted in good faith for its historical connection to a major and unique campaign fought by the British Army.

But its governing council, which includes former senior army officers, agreed to the Ethiopian governments request. Terri Dendy, head of collections standards and care at the museum, said: Having spent considerable time researching the provenance and cultural sensitivities around this matter, we believe the Ethiopian government claim to repatriate is reasonable and we are pleased to be able to assist.

A spokeswoman for the Ethiopian embassy said the move signified the dawn of a new level of shared understanding in our complex history.

She said: For Ethiopians everywhere, as the locks of hair represent the remains of one of the countrys most revered and beloved leaders, a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when it is returned to its rightful home in Ethiopia.
E xpecting a baby can be a daunting time. As new mothers and fathers wrestle with fluctuating hormones, increasingly regular hospital appointments and an endless barrage of dos and don'ts, sometimes you just need a little straightforward advice.

One of source of anxiety in the third trimester can be how to best to approach buying the essentials for a new arrival. There is a wealth of information out there on the Internet recommending this product over another version but what becomes clear is that new parents just want a clear equipment list that would cover all the essentials for when the baby first arrives.

While the below is not exhaustive, it is a good starting point. From the rise of the new gen baby cots  such as the Snuzpod and Moba Basket  to great urban buggy options, there is something for all budgets and needs.

There are one or two notable omissions (namely baby fashion  any new mother or father will tell you that newborns grow alarmingly quickly, so investing in the basics might prove more cost effective than designer garms), but there is addition of Fourth Trimester Comforts. An indulgence, perhaps, but do not underestimate the effect of a mood boosting massage or super comfy nursing chair.

THE HOSPITAL BAG

John Lewis + Partners Long Sleeve Cotton Bodysuit (pack of five)

Youll be surprised how many outfit changes a new arrival can get through in a day. These cotton bodysuits make for a great starter pack.

John Lewis

11 | John Lewis | Buy it now

Marie Chantal Unisex Baby Essentials Kit

From the doyenne of luxury babywear comes this baby essentials kit, with the iconic Angel Wings velour onesies to keep baby cosy. The Kardashian clan (and their every-growing brood) are fans.

Marie Chantal

312 | Marie Chantal | Buy it now

Kit & Kin Eco Nappy Bundle

This eco nappy brand  co-founded by Baby Spice herself, Emma Bunton  uses plant-based materials to up its sustainability credentials but each is still super absorbent and hypoallergenic.

(Kit & Kin) / Kit & Kin

2.50 | Kit & Kin | Buy it here

Marks and Spencer Scratch Mitt Set

Newborns can sometimes have surprisingly sharp nails, so a scratch mitt set in your hospital bag will prove invaluable to avoid red cheeks.

Marks and Spencer

6 | Marks and Spencer | Buy it here

Caramel Down Filled Pram Suit in Soft Grey

An early spring arrival means layering up for the inclement weather. This Caramel pram suit might have a hefty price tag but the down filling will keep baby toasty and is stylish to boot.

Caramel

340 | Caramel | Buy it here

Bugaboo Bee 5 Classic

Navigating the world of prams can feel overwhelming. The Bugaboo brand is well established but what sets the Bee apart is that its ideal for those who want something sturdy enough for baby but is easily collapsible and wont take up too much space.

(Bugaboo Bee ) / Bugaboo Bee

685 | Bugaboo | Buy it now

Skin Cotton Blend travel set

Padding around in hospital-issued garms feels a little grim post-partum. This New York brand does a fine line in jersey basics that wont take up too much space in your overnight bag.

Skin

366 | goop | Buy it now

OVH Lila Zebedee Pyjamas

A pair of front-opening pyjamas will come in handy if you are breastfeeding. None are more luxurious than Olivia Von Halles  the Zebedee set is as fun as it is functional.

OVH

395 | Olivia Von Halle | But it now

Drunk Elephant The Littles Kit

Drunk Elephant is a cult beauty brand that landed in the UK last year to great fanfare. This travel kit has all the bestsellers and will cover all your skincare needs (were big fans of the Vitamin C serum).

Drunk Elephant

71 | Drunk Elephant | Buy it now

Soho Home Hammam Towel

Bring the house to the hospital? Yes really. These Soho Home towels are developed by Italian textile specialists Frette and come in a lightweight cotton thats easy to transport.

Soho Home

35 | Soho Home | Buy it now

Mulberry Clipper in Natural leather

You have all the hospital kit but nothing to put it in. This Mulberry weekend bag  made of natural leather  should do the trick.

Mulberry

1,350 | Mulberry | Buy it now

Feeding

Elvie Breast Pump (double pack), 449

Look to Elvie for the Rolls Royce of breast pumps. It slips easily into your bra cup, is lightweight and operates silently. A game changer.

Elvie

449 | Elvie | Buy it now

Phillips Avent 3-in-1 Electric Steam steriliser

A nice alternative to the microwave version, this six-minute steriliser from Phillips Avent can accommodate a variety of bottle sizes as well as soothers and breast pumps.

70 | Philips | Buy it now

Dr Browns Newborn Gift Set

The design of the natural flow Dr Browns standard bottles is rather clever. Its inbuilt ventilation system can alleviate colic symptoms, burping or wind.

Dr Browns

59 | Dr Brown's | Buy it now

Dream Genii Breastfeeding pillow

This feeding pillow has the benefit of doubling up as a sleep aid from the second trimester onwards. Its also a godsend if youve had a c-section, easing pressure on the abdomen when nursing.

47.99 | John Lewis | Buy it now

aden + anais Muslins, from 19.95

Swaddling a newborn doesnt have to be a fine art, especially when you have the right kit. The Aden and Anais muslins dont just look good  they are super versatile and suitable for use as burp cloths, changing mat covers or in the pram. As any new mum will tell you, you can never have too many.

es magazine one time use only / aden and anais

19.95 | aden and anais | Buy it now

HATCH nipple and lip balm, 28

Sore or cracked nipples need TLC if breastfeeding. A nipple balm or oil can soothe any discomfort (many beauty editors recommend that you start using pre-birth for improved elasticity and health). This balm from HATCH smells good too.

Hatch

28 | goop | Buy it now

CHANGING

The White Company Scattered Stars Changing Mat and topper, 20 and 99

Gender neutral nurseries and accessories continue to rise in popularity this year. Try this universally cute changing mat and topper from the White Company out for size.

The White Company

Tommi Tippi Nappy System

Ping-ponging between changing station and the bin with dirty nappies can be such a bore. Look to the Tommi Tippi sangenic system: it provides clean and sealed disposal and holds up to 28 nappies at a time.

Tommi Tippi

39.99 | John Lewis | But it now

FERM LIVING pear braided storage

Avoid drowning in a mountain of laundry with this sweet pear basket from Ferm Living. Its the perfect tidy away for all those bibs and bodysuits.

Ferm Living

90 | Ferm Living | Buy it now

SLEEPING

Sebra Cot Bed In Forest Lake

This Scandi cot design dates back to the 1940s but has been updated by the clever folks at Sebra in three neutral colour ways. It's an investment piece but as it can be adapted into a bed for your little one, it is well worth the spend.

699 | Sebra | Buy it now

SnuzPod 3

This bedside crib has an ingenious zip down side which helps with night time feeds, while the entire unit can be securely attached to the side of your bed. Added bonuses include a gentle rocking function and detachable bassinet.

199 | Snuz | Buy it now

Moba Basket Bundl

The Moba basket is a modern take on the Moses basket and feels much more hygienic than straw versions. If bought in a bundle, it comes with its own frame, and has been endorsed by the Lullaby Society for its safety.

Moba

130 | Moba | Buy it now

Sleepyhead Deluxe + Pod with La Vie En Rose cover

These pods are versatile enough to sit in cots or be used as a portable pillow for baba around the home, especially when it comes to tummy time.

Mothercare

150 | Mothecare | Buy it now

NEST Cam 2 pack, 314 and NEST Thermostat

Its not a traditional baby monitor system but the NEST cam can double up as a home security system too and syncs nicely to your phone via the mobile app. As an add-on consider the NEST thermostat too, allowing you to heat up the home and keep it toasty remotely for baby or preset a schedule (up in the morning, down in the evening) according to your habits.

199 | Nest | Buy it now

GroEgg thermometer

This smart thermometer changes colour to reflect the temperature of your room or nursery. The design is also pleasingly tactile and some maximise use of it as a nightlight too.

GroEgg

14.99 | Gro Store | Buy it now

Mori Sleep suits

These zip up sleep suits are made of organic breathable cotton and have ringing endorsements from the likes of fashion blogger Susie Bubble, VOGUES Sarah Harris and Kim Kardashian. We like the add-on scratch mitts for babies under 6m.

(Mori ) / Mori

32.50 | Mori | Buy it now

Mr Maria XL night light

Now a design classic, the original XL Miffy Lamp from Mr Maria is totally charming. With an adjustable dimmer switch, its a statement light for any nursery.

Mr Maria

199 | Mr Maria | Buy it now

Baby Bjorn Bouncer Bliss In 3D Jersey

Their baby carriers are iconic but Baby Bjorn also do a fine line in bouncers. The latest iteration comes in a super soft 3D jersey to keep baby extra cosy.

Baby Bjorn | 145 | Buy it now

TRAVEL

Baby Zen YoYo+

This travel pram is famously a stroller thats super easy to take with you on flights as cabin luggage. The ability to fold and unfurl it with one hand (holding baby in the other) is impressive.

Babyzen

369 | Harrods | Buy it now

Anya Hindmarch Baby Bag

Trust Anya Hindmarch to come up with one of the chicest baby bags in town. The black nylon number has four external pockets for easy access to all your nappy kit essentials, as well as a changing mat. Need something a little lighter? The Emergency kit is a great add on.

Anya Hindmarch

595 | Anya Hindmarch | Buy it now

Maxi Cosi Rock car seat, 165, with base, 199

Maxi Cosi has cornered the market in car seats thanks to a great price point and simple, yet effective, design. What recommends the Rock over other models, such as the Pebble, is that it is a little lighter to transport. You can also order a nifty adapter for it to click directly into your existing pram frame.

Maxi Cosi

165 with base 199 | Maxi Cosi | Buy it now

Baby Bjorn Baby Carrier One Air

The Baby Bjorn carrier system has long been the most popular baby sling on the market  and with good reason. It can carry children from being a newborn up to the age of three and comes in a breathable material that dries rapidly.

159 | Baby Bjorn | Buy it now

Dr Barbara Sturm Bum Cream

Anything Dr Barbara Sturm turns her hand to is sure to be a success. So little wonder that her baby skincare line is as sought after as her products for adults. Our favourite is this bum cream with its marigold and zinc extracts to promote skin healing and soothe irritation.

Dr Barbara Sturm

30 | Dr Barbara Sturm | Buy it now

Burts Bees Baby Bee Cream-To-Powder

Ditch the messy talc for this tube of wonder from Burts Baby Bee range. With naturally derived ingredients, it is paraben free and absorbs wetness quickly.

Burts Bees

9.50 | Burt's Bees | Buy it now

BATHING

Stokke Flexi Bath Bundle

Stokkes flexi bath is  you guessed it  fully collapsible, meaning it doesnt take up too much space in your small London flat and comes in a zingy White / Aqua colourway that makes bath time fun.

Stokke

53 | Stokke | Buy it now

Neals Yard Remedies Mother & Baby Collection

Post-partum, both mother and baby need soothing bath care. Neals Yard has you covered with this all-organic pack containing bath oils and balms for you both as well as a soft cotton flannel.

Neals Yard Remedies

45 | Neal's Yard Remedies | Buy it now

Sophie La Girafe Hair Brush and shampoo set

Baby haircare doesnt get any cuter than this adorable set from the Sophie La Girafe range. We love the super soft bristle hair brush in particular.

27 | Sophie La Girafe | Buy it now

Sophie La Giraffe

FridaBaby Bug Bundle of Joy Kit

Dubbed mother of all gift kits, dont be fooled by the oh-so-cute branding. This grooming and baby care kit has it all  a snot sucker, iThermometer that syncs with your phone, nail clippers and files, gas relief tubes and a Fridet for new mums. So handy.

Aurelia La Woodland kit

Much like the line for mamas, Aurelias bio-organic products for babies are some of the best on the market. This sweet Woodland set comes with all the favourites  top-to-toe bath wash and cream, a sleep-time pillow mist (yes really) and a hardback book for story time.

(Aurelia ) / Aurelia

150 | Fortnum and Mason | Buy it now

THE FOURTH TRIMESTER COMFORTS

La Mer Reparative Body Lotion

After nine months of using babycentric products, its nice to get back to using skincare thats just for you. Infused with La Mers signature miracle broth, this reparative body lotion is heaven on the skin.

La Mer

140 | La Mer | Buy it now

Cowshed Ultimately Udderly Gorgeous

You feel and look like youve come out of the trenches after those first few weeks back at home. No better time to indulge, then, in a properly spoiling spa treatment at Cowshed. The Ultimately Udderly gorgeous treatment offers full body care (exfoliation, massage) using their udderly gorgeous range, a facial and a speedy mani-pedi. Best enjoyed at their brilliant Soho Farmhouse spa.

Cowshed

250 | Cowshed | Buy it now

Cloud Twelve Membership, from 2,000 per annum

Notting Hills most buzzworthy members club that focusses on wellness and health for families. Superstar acupuncturist Ross Barr is but one of their health gurus on site, along with a rebalancing spa treatments and a creche for the little one.

Cloud Twelve

2,000 per annum | Cloud twelve | Buy it here

Johnstons of Elgin Cashmere Tracksuit

A cashmere tracksuit might seem like an unnecessary luxury but for those sleep deprived new parents, something totally indulgent can be the lift you need. These cashmere joggers and jumper also come from Scottish cashmere specialists Johnstons of Elgin

Johnston's of Elgin Cashmere

480 | Johnston's of Elgin | Buy it now

THE NURSERY

GRAHAM AND GREEN LINA ARMCHAIR

Add a punchy colour accent to your nursery with G&Gs Mexican inspired armchair. Ideal for nursing with your Dream Genii pillow and then for occasional use in your home when baby grows up.

Graham and Green

495 | Graham and green | Buy it now

REBEL WALLS Jungle Land Vintage

These customisable wall murals will help add a little more character to any drab nursery space. This one takes inspiration from jungle motifs to create a lush forestscape.

Rebel Walls

33 | Rebel Walls | Buy it now

Anglepoise Type 75 Giant Floor Edition

The classic Type 75 gets the supersize treatment courtesy of Paul Smith. We love the fun retro colours and adjustable lamp angle.

Anglepoise

3, 450 | Anglepoise | Buy it now

LOAF Kipster day bed

We love this Kipster for its minimal Scandi design and that it extends to a double without any unsightly metal legs beneath. For sleep deprived parents theres also the bonus of it coming pre-assembled so no fiddling around for drillbits and screws.

Loaf

1145 | Loaf | Buy it now

MAX MADE ME DO IT, personalised letter print

These handmade wall prints can be customised to your babys initial and are hand illustrated by the super talented London-based designer Carol Maxwell / @maxmademedoit. Check out her Instagram for stylish interiors inspo too.

28 | Max Made Me Do It | Buy it now

Kast Van Een Huis Amsterdam Bell gable house

Not all nursery furniture needs to be saccharine. Take the architecturally inspired Kast Van Een Huis Amsterdam range, which draws inspiration from the gabled houses that line Dutch canals for these unique wardrobes and cabinets.

Kast van ees Huis

995 | Kast van een Huis | Buy it now

FERM LIVING Fruiticana tufted rug

Made of New Zealand wool, this fruity rug with its pineapple motif has a durable weave but is soft enough for playtime.

Ferm Living

269 | Ferm Living | Buy it now

Allplants meal delivery service

The boys behind Allplants have been fuelling a plant-based revolution for two years now. Let them fuel you through those first weeks. Deliveries come with six comforting meals for two, which can be frozen, and are perfect for when you are too exhausted to cook.

allplants
I t's almost Pancake Day, which means we now officially have an excuse to eat as many pancakes as we want.

Shrove Tuesday, as it's more formally known, is the perfect reason to get your friends and family round for stacks of delicious pancakes.

Whilst some people's pancake flipping skills are better than others, any pancake fanatic knows no matter what they taste like, it's all about the toppings.

Some people like to go fancy with fresh berries and cream or keep it simple with lemon and sugar.

Whatever your pancake preference, what could be better than an entire day dedicated to them?

Here's everything you need to know about Pancake Day, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday:

When is Pancake Day?

Every year the city of London turns into a pancake haven with restaurants and homes cooking up delightful variations of the highly addictive batter cakes and crepes. However, given that this day changes date every year according to Easter, it can be hard to remember when it is, and why exactly we celebrate it.

This year, Shrove Tuesday falls on 5 March.

How to make vegan pancakes

Why do we celebrate Pancake Day?

For Christians, Shrove Tuesday marks the last day before Lent, traditionally a period of abstinence, associated with clearing your cupboards of goods such as sugar, fats and eggs.

Traditionally, pancakes were eaten on this day to use up these foods before the 40-day fasting season of Lent began. Some believe the four ingredients used in pancakes may actually represent the four pillars of the Christian faith - flour as the staff of life, eggs as creation, milk as purity and salt as wholesomeness.

Although the day is important in Christian tradition, Pancake Day is widely celebrated by those outside of the faith.

How to make Espresso Martini pancakes

What does Shrove Tuesday mean?

The word 'shrove' derives from the English word 'shrive', which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of confession and penance. The day gets its unique name from the custom for Christians to be 'shriven' before the start of Lent. They would be called to confession by the ring of a bell which came to be known as the 'pancake bell' and it is still rung in some churches today.

Why do we flip pancakes?

The pancake has a very long history and is featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. The tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old. According to legend, the tradition was born in the 15th century when a woman in Buckinghamshire rushed to church to confess her sins while mid-way through making pancakes.

Need some Pancake Day inspiration?

Check out these varied foodstagrams...
A re you giving up anything for Lent this year?

And if so, how much do you know about Ash Wednesday - the day that marks the official beginning of this repentant period in the Christian calendar?

Ash Wednesday is observed by many sectors of Western Christianity - including Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Methodists - and the traditions associated with the day span back centuries.

Here we explain everything that you need to know about Ash Wednesday.

Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent / Pixabay

What date is Ash Wednesday?

Ash Wednesday is today (Wednesday, February 26).

It always occurs 46 days before Easter Sunday, which marks the end of Lent. Because Easter is a moveable feast, the date of Ash Wednesday also shifts annually.

Easter Sunday itself falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after Spring Equinox, which this year will fall on April 12.

Ash Wednesday, on the other hand, always falls on the day immediately following Shrove Tuesday - or Pancake Day, as it is more commonly known.

What is the history of the day?

Whilst Shrove Tuesday entails the eating up of rich foods - like sugar, eggs and butter - in time for Lent, Ash Wednesday marks the official beginning of this 40-day period of abstinence.

Christians traditionally abstain from foods such as meat and dairy over Lent, although this has now extended into people giving up some of their favourite things like chocolate, or trying to give up bad habits.

These sacrifices are meant to reflect the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent fasting in the Judean Desert, as according to the Bible.

How is it marked in Christianity?

Palm Crosses / Pixabay

Christians often have ash crosses drawn on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday. Sometimes ash is also sprinkled over their heads during church services, but both practices are a sign of repentance.

The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are made up of the palm leaves used in the previous year's Palm Sunday service.

Palm Sunday itself is celebrated on the Sunday before Easter, and comemorates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem before his crucifixion. Palm leaves are used in the service becuase it is claimed that people laid palm branches on the ground in front of Jesus as he rode into the city.

The ash used on Ash Wednesday is made by burning these palm leaves and mixing them with either Holy Water or olive oil.

The mixture is then painted onto the heads of worshippers whilst a member of the clergy says either: "Remember that you are guest, and to dust you shall return", or "Repent and believe in the gospel".
H ome Secretary Sajid Javid will meet police chiefs to discuss violent crime amid a series of brutal stabbings around the country.

Mr Javid will chair the Chief Constables roundtable following the high-profile deaths of two 17-year-olds.

The event on Wednesday will include police chiefs from parts of the UK worst affected by knife crime.

It comes after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney in an east London park on Friday night.

A police forensic officer at the scene near St Neot's Road in Harold Hill / PA

Her family have since branded the Harold Hill stabbing a "totally random and unprovoked attack".

Her death was the 18th murder in the capital in 2019, two more deaths brought the total to 20 by the end of the weekend.

Stab victim: Jodie Chesney outside 10 Downing Street in her scouts uniform in November last year

A 17-year-old boy who was stabbed to death in the village of Hale Barns, near Altrincham, in Greater Manchester, on Saturday night was named by police as Yousef Ghaleb Makki.

Also over the weekend, a man was charged with murder over the fatal stabbing of Che Morrison, 20, outside an east London railway station on Tuesday.

A man was arrested in connection with two stabbings in central London late on Saturday night and early on Sunday that left two people with life-threatening injuries.

And police named a man who is fighting for his life after a "horrific attack" when he was stabbed in Enfield, north London, on Tuesday.

Dominic Alexander, 25, who remains in a critical condition after a stabbing in Enfield / PA

The incidents follow three teenagers dying in knife attacks in two weeks in Birmingham, leading to West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson branding it a "national emergency".

Hazrat Umar, 17, was killed in Bordesley Green on Monday; Abdullah Muhammad, 16, died in Small Heath the previous week, and seven days earlier Sidali Mohamed, 16, was stabbed outside a college in Highgate.

A 16-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Small Heath / PA

Ahead of Wednesday's meeting, Mr Javid said: "Young people are being murdered across the country and it can't go on.

"We're taking action on many fronts and I'll be meeting police chiefs this week to hear what more can be done.

"It is vital that we unite to stop this senseless violence."

Home Secretary Sajid Javid / Getty Images

The Home Office said it set out a range of actions to tackle violent crime in October including a 200 million youth endowment fund.

It also consulted on a new legal duty to underpin a public health approach to tackling serious violence, and an independent review of drug misuse.

An extra 970 million in police funding is proposed in the funding settlement for 2019-20, the Home Office said.

It added that the Offensive Weapons Bill currently before Parliament will introduce new offences to tackle knife crime and acid attacks.

The Home Office also said the serious violence taskforce, chaired by the Home Secretary and including other ministers, MPs, police leaders and the London Mayor, meets regularly to oversee and drive delivery of the serious violence strategy.
T he father and uncle of murdered toddler James Bulger have failed in their legal bid to have information about killer Jon Venables made public.

An order made in 2001 has allowed Venables to live under a cloak of anonymity since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of the two-year-old in February 1993.

Lawyers for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger argued that certain details about the killer and his life are "common knowledge" and easily accessible online.

They asked the President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane to vary the order so that it does not cover this information at the High Court today.

But, in a ruling on Monday, the judge refused to change the terms of the order in the way requested by the Bulgers.

The court previously heard the information includes details of Venables's identities and former addresses up to 2017 and the prisons where he has been detained.

Anyone sharing such information under the order could face prosecution for contempt of court.

The toddler was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, who were both aged 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

They were both granted lifelong anonymity by a High Court judge and have lived under new identities since their release from custody.
A police chief says officers still do not have any idea why 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was fatally stabbed amid rumours it was linked to a gang initiation.

Ms Chesney was approached by two males and knifed in the back while she listened to music with friends near a children's playground on Harold Hill.

Detective Chief Superintendent Shabnam Chaudhri, leading the police response to the murder in the east London community, said: "We still don't have any idea [why Jodie was attacked]."

Ms Chaudhri refused to speculate on whether the attack could have been some form of gang initiation after people on social media, including some commenting on the victims grandmothers Facebook, suggested it could be.

People lay floral tributes near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed / REUTERS

She added investigators were "focusing totally" on a witness appeal to try and track down the suspects.

At 9.25pm on Friday police were called to the park where Miss Chesney was killed and she was pronounced dead just over an hour later.

The suspect who attacked Jodie is described as a black male aged in his late teens, according to Scotland Yard.

Tributes laid in Harold Hill after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesneyon / PA

There was no description provided of the other male who approached Jodie and her five teenage friends.

The group were aware of the two males being in the park and saw them leave at around 9pm before they returned around 30 minutes later and walked towards the group, police said.

It was then one of them stabbed Ms Chesney in the back before they both fled in the direction of Romford Road, according to Met Police.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, previously appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Family of stabbed teenager Jodie Chesney appeal for witnesses

He said: Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene - or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious.

I need those people to call me."

The Met has also asked anyone who may have CCTV or dash cam footage between 7pm and 11pm in the area of the stabbing on March 1 to make contact.

A post-mortem was carried out on Sunday and established the cause of Jodie's death was trauma and haemorrhage.

Ms Chesney was a keen Explorer Scout who appeared on the BBC at the Festival of Remembrance, just months before her death.

Forensics have been investigating the scene / REUTERS

In November 2018 the teen had been filmed standing side-by-side her fellow Scouts at the Royal Albert Hall for the commemoration.

Her uncle Dave Chesney told ITV News on Sunday the family had lost a beautiful, lovely and quirky" girl.

Mr Chesney, who said Jodie was the daughter of his youngest brother Pete, added: "We value your support and prayers at this time especially for our brother Pete, his wife Jo and Jodie's sister Lucy.

Also for the friends that were with her at the time."

Jodie Chesney appears on the BBC months before she was tragically killed

Her grandmother Debbie Chesney, writing on Facebook on Saturday, said too many young people were having their lives cut short by needless violence".

Two school friends said they were "disgusted" by the killing and one said: "Jodie had no enemies, she was the nicest person."

Thousands of pounds have been donated towards her funeral and has nearly hit its goal of 5,000 just a day after it was started.

The Met's Violent Crime Taskforce had been deployed in the Havering area as well as additional patrols in the boroughs of Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham and Havering following Miss Chesneys killing, which was one of a number of knife attacks over the weekend.

The spate of knife crime in London and further afield has sparked a fierce national debate and Theresa May has pledged a cross-government response to the issue focusing on its causes.

Mrs May said the main focus should be the issues "underpinning" knife crime.
A teenage boy was stabbed and another man was fighting for life in hospital after linked stabbings in the West End during another weekend of knife carnage.

A man in his thirties was arrested in connection with both attacks, which happened in Soho and Bloomsbury yesterday morning.

In the first, a 37-year-old was knifed in Romilly Street at about 6am. He was taken to hospital where he was in a critical condition.

At just after 11.30am police were called to University Street in Bloomsbury to reports that a 16-year-old boy had been stabbed. Scotland Yard today said his injuries were not life-threatening.

A man was arrested near the scene of the second stabbing, and later further held on suspicion of attempted murder over the earlier attack. He told officers he had swallowed a quantity of drugs and was taken to hospital, Scotland Yard said. On Saturday, Elize Stevens, 50, was found dead from knife wounds at flats in Hendon. Ian Levy, 54, was due to appear today at Willesden magistrates court charged with murder.

The crime scene in Soho in London's West End / NIGEL HOWARD 

A 25-year-old was also fighting for life after an horrific attack in Enfield. Dominic Alexander was found outside a pub in Green Street by police called to reports of a fight at 12.40am last Tuesday. Three men, aged 24, 26 and 27, were held on suspicion of attempted murder and bailed.

Detectives today said that Florent Okende, 20, had been charged with the murder of 20-year-old Che Morrison outside Ilford station on Tuesday. Okende was due to appear before magistrates in Croydon today.

Meanwhile, a 40-year-old woman from Croydon was appearing before Bromley magistrates after being charged with murder following the death of a three-month-old girl.
T his is the shocking moment the former head of the Met Police force came face to face with a masked gang member carrying a blade.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, who was Scotland Yard's commissioner between 2011 and 2017, met up with two teenagers while filming a TV documentary about Britain's knife crime crisis.

The youngsters gave false names and wore masks so they could not be identified.

A 19-year-old, calling himself Jackson, revealed he became a gang member when he was just 12 years old.

Bernard Hogan-Howe spoke to one gang member who revealed he was armed with a knife / Dispatches

"We would do whatever to be honest, sell drugs, to make money," he said. "There was a lot of violence, a lot of it."

When asked if he was carrying a blade, he told Mr Hogan-Howe: "I've got a knife now.

"I don't want to pull it out though. I don't pull it out. You would never see me pulling it out and showing it off. It's unnecessary.

"If you come at me with a knife, I'm going to pull my one out."

The Channel 4 documentary investigates Britain's knife crime epidemic / Dispatches

A 15-year-old boy who gave his name as Freddie and was interviewed alongside Jackson, said he had witnessed terrible violence.

He claimed he had seen stabbing victims who had suffered "critical damage". One victim was stabbed repeatedly in the "face, chest, arms and legs," he said.

The Dispatches documentary is being aired on Monday night, after two 17-year-olds were stabbed to death in London and Manchester over the weekend.

Jodie Chesney was killed on Friday night in Harold Hill, east London, in what her family branded a "totally random and unprovoked attack".

Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park in east London

On Saturday night, 17-year-old Yousef Ghaleb Makki was stabbed to death in Hale Barns, Greater Manchester.

There has been a 93 per cent rise in the number of children aged 16 and under being injured in knife attacks in Britain in the last five years, the investigation found.

Last year, 76 people are believed to have been stabbed to death in London, 306 in the UK as a whole. 23 children were among those killed in stabbings throughout the country.

Comparing 2016 to 2018, among people aged under 18, murder and manslaughter using a knife rose by 77 per cent, rape and sexual assault using a knife rose by 38 per cent and teens suspected of robbery offences with a knife rose by more than 50 per cent.

Bernard Hogan-Howe is the former commissioner of the Met Police / Lucy Young

Publicly available figures on recorded knife crime was also analysed and despite London knife crime being in the spotlight, figures showed there is almost twice as much outside the capital.

New data obtained by Dispatches from the NHS reveals over two thirds of knife-related injuries treated in hospitals in England happened outside London.

Mr Hogan-Howe said: Its important to focus attention on the exploitation of children in socially deprived areas.

"We need to increase police numbers in these areas and reduce the drug supply into the UK and its distribution including by county lines. Something law enforcement and government have failed to do.

He also spoke to Nick Hurd MP Minister for Policing about Dispatches findings.

Mr Hurd said: This is a massive challenge for our policing system and therefore a big priority for me as policing minister to make sure that our police system has the resources to invest in upgrading our technology.

One of the big challenges underpinning is the reality that for too many young people, particularly in our big cities, carrying a knife now feels normal.

This year theres 460 million pounds more of public money going into the police system.

The additional money is going to lead to the recruitment of at least another 2,500 police officers.
A soldier who carries out ceremonial duties for the Queen has admitted a series of robberies.

Grenadier Guards troop Dillon Sharpe pleaded guilty on Monday to three robberies and four attempted robberies after previously admitting a string of convenience store raids.

The 22-year-old also pleaded guilty to seven counts of possession of an imitation firearm during the hearing at Kingston Crown Court.

The offences Sharpe admitted on Monday all happened during a spree between July 24 and 26 last year.

He was first arrested along with fellow soldier Elnur Bracegirdle, 20, from the same regiment after a convenience store in Brixton was targeted on January 10.

Both admitted carrying out that robbery at an earlier hearing.

Sharpe, of Dulwich, south-east London, has also pleaded guilty to possessing a stun gun disguised as a torch and Bracegirdle admitted carrying a knife at the time of the offence.

Bracegirdle, of Preston, Lancashire, denied possessing a prohibited weapon, while Sharpe pleaded not guilty to having a bladed article on the same date.

Sharpe previously admitted two counts of robbery, two of attempted robbery and four of possession of an imitation firearm.

They relate to four convenience store raids across south London over four days in February last year.

The charges state he stole or tried to steal money and scratch cards.

The July offences are alleged to have been committed with a third soldier, Kristopher James-Merrill, 19, of Brixton, who denies the charges against him.

Sharpe, who appeared via video link from HMP Wandsworth, was remanded in custody ahead of a two-week trial starting on July 1 on the remaining charges the three soldiers are facing.

All the soldiers are in the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards and are believed to have been based at the Lille Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Soldiers from the Grenadier Guards, one of the Army's most senior regiments, are recognised by the scarlet tunic and bearskin uniforms they wear while on ceremonial duty at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.
T housands of pounds has been raised following the stabbing of teenager Jodie Chesney who was knifed to death in a London park.

A fundraising campaign to raise 5,000 towards her funeral has nearly smashed its goal just a day after it was started.

Charity Smile London-Essex launched a GoFundMe page on Sunday to raise money for her funeral.

Jodie's family released this photo of her after she was named by police as the deceased (Met Police) / Metropolitan Police

By Monday morning, more than 4,000 had been donated amid an outpouring of support for the teenager.

Stab victim: Jodie Chesney outside 10 Downing Street in her Scout uniform in November last year

The page reads: The whole community are still trying to come to terms with this shocking event.

We are in contact with the immediate family and have agreed to support them with the cost of the funeral arrangements.

Hundreds of people posted on the page to pay tribute to Ms Chesney, who was a Scout.

Police said she was playing music with friends in a park close to St Neots Road, in Harold Hill, before they were approached by two unknown males.

People lay floral tributes near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed / REUTERS

The group were aware of the two males being in the park and saw them leave at around 9pm, officers said.

"Around 30 minutes later the pair returned to the park and walked straight towards the group, where one of the males stabbed Jodie once in the back," Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

"Nothing was said by the two suspects, who ran off in the direction of Retford Road," it added.

One of the suspects was described as being a black male in his late teens.

Jodie Chesney was attacked and stabbed in a park in Harold's Hill on Friday night

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, appealed for witnesses to come forward.

He said: "Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene - or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious.

"I need those people to call me."

Friends and family pay tribute near to the scene of a fatal stabbing that left Jodie Chesney dead / REUTERS

Ms Chesney was pronounced dead at 10.25pm on Friday. Police confirmed the cause of death as trauma and haemorrhage.

Ms Chesney was a keen Explorer Scout who appeared on the BBC at the Festival of Remembrance months before her death.

The teen had been filmed standing side-by-side her fellow Scouts at the Royal Albert Hall for the commemoration in November 2018.

Jodie's uncle Dave Chesney told ITV News on Sunday that the family had lost a "beautiful, lovely and quirky" girl.

Mr Chesney said Jodie was the daughter of his youngest brother Pete, adding: "We value your support and prayers at this time especially for our brother Pete, his wife Jo and Jodie's sister Lucy.

"Also for the friends that were with her at the time."

Posting on Facebook on Saturday, Jodie's grandmother Debbie Chesney said too many young people were having their lives "cut short by needless violence".
A giant hedgehog, one of the last buildings to be designed by acclaimed architect Will Alsop, opens today as part of a mission to get London schoolchildren interested in science.

The 2 million Neuron Pod is meant to replicate a nerve cell and comes alive when it is illuminated in vibrant colour at night.

The informal science learning centre was designed to sit alongside the Blizard Institute, which Professor Alsop also designed, on the Whitechapel campus of Queen Mary University of London.

The 75ft-long, 32ft-high, three-legged steel structure will create a second space for QMULs Centre of the Cell to host science workshops and events, including for visiting schoolchildren.

It will be available for community and corporate use in the evening.

Neuron Pod offers a space to host science workshops for schoolchildren / CDS_ES_Images

Professor Alsop, who died last May, attended the start of construction last April. He said: I feel proud to have the opportunity to contribute to this amazing institution. Their work in encouraging young people is extraordinary.

Professor Fran Balkwill, director of Centre of the Cell, said: Amazingly it looks just like the plans, especially at night when its lights are all on. Its what we hoped and dreamed about. Its iconic, controversial, fun and extremely practical. Its about raising aspirations. Many of the children who come and see us will be the first generation of their family going to university. We are never going to turn all our visitors into scientists but its about lighting the spark in some of them.

The 25-tonne charity-funded pod was cast in 13 sections in Littlehampton and transported to Whitechapel for assembly. Some large pieces required a police escort through the Dartford tunnel. Todays launch saw pupils from Christ Church primary, in Brick Lane, being taught about the biology of snot, sick and scabs.

The aim is to increase the number of visitors to Centre of the Cell. About 180,000 have participated in its activities since it opened a decade ago. Asked if she thought it was likely to be named The Hedgehog, Professor Balkwill said: You could possibly say that ... We call it the Neuron Pod and we are happy with that. Will was not without a sense of humour. The way it sticks its rear out into Newark Street is hilarious.

I still get a shock when I walk round the corner and there it is. Its enticing people in. They wonder, What is this, and why is it here?
B oris Johnson could appear in court after a crowdfunded legal case filed an application for a summons against him for misconduct in a public office.

Marcus Ball, the private prosecutor leading the BrexitJustice campaign, said this morning they have spent over two and a half years collecting evidence, finding witnesses.

The application submitted contains a lot more information than you would need to make it clear were very serious.

A district judges decision on the case could be made as soon as within a month, The Londoner understands. Ball was careful to stress they have no expectations as to the date.

BrexitJustice alleges that Johnson (left) has committed three counts of misconduct in public office, specifically statements concerning the cost of European Union membership, which were false, misleading and which abused public trust.

If Johnson were summoned, Ball or a colleague will be tasked with serving him with a summons in person and Johnson will be compelled to turn up to court.

At the time of going to press the campaign has reached only 31 per cent of its 500,000 target. I am concerned about the lack of funding we currently have, Ball conceded, adding hed been working way over 65-hour weeks for comparatively little pay. But if the news from court was good, I think there will be a large amount of money coming in. He continued: Im trying to make a big change to the way politics and the legal system work.

His aim is to make it harder for politicians to mislead in public office. You need a lot of evidence. In the case were dealing with, we have evidence which exceeds 100 instances [of] things hes said. Were trying to analyse what he said honestly and what he did not.

Ball was also keen to stress that Johnson was innocent until proven guilty and also that it was not the intention of this prosecution to stop or delay Brexit on 29th March 2019.

The Londoner approached Mr Johnsons representatives this morning but they declined to comment.

When Tony failed to strike a chord

Tony Blairs hopes of being a rock star ended in the early 1970s when a bandmate in Ugly Rumours gave him this very blunt assessment: Ive got to be honest with you, your problem is basically talent, or the lack of it.

Your singings not very good and your guitar playing is actually genuinely substandard.

Blair  who relates this to James OBriens podcast  says the fellow musician went on: Whats more, Ive actually watched you trying ... and I dont think any amount of practice is going to improve you.

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Defence minister Tobias Ellwood accuses the European Research Group of seeking to dominate the Tory broad church, taking over the pulpit, the choir stalls, and indeed the bell tower as well. Many other ministers agree, he told Nick Robinsons podcast, adding: Has any one group within a political party had so much influence? Reaching for a comparison, he references the hard-Right Tea Party in the United States.

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Paul Masterton, Tory MP for East Renfrewshire, says now its March its time to check in on how my New Years resolution is going. He posted a screenshot of his average weekly activity. Runs: 0. Time: 0h. Distance: 0km.

Layton in the pink at stage awards

Layton Williams and Jamie Campbell(Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images

The title of musical Everybodys Talking About Jamie has proved prescient: the show, about a schoolboy who wants to be a drag queen, debuted in 2017 and has gone on to become a West End favourite. Last night Layton Williams, the latest actor to play Jamie, walked the red carpet with the shows real-life inspiration, Jamie Campbell. The pair stepped out at the annual the WhatsOnStage awards at the Prince of Wales Theatre, where they accepted the gong for best original cast recording.

Hamilton was the big winner of the evening, with Jamael Westman picking up best actor in a musical and Jason Pennycooke taking best supporting actor in the same category. Poldarks Aidan Turner took best actor in a play for his role in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Patti LuPone was named best supporting actress in a musical for her role in Company, and Vanessa Redgrave was honoured with the best supporting actress in a play for her part in The Inheritance.

Other guests included Cassidy Janson, who is currently in rehearsals for a revival of Man of La Mancha alongside Kelsey Grammer.

SW1A

Labours Rupa Huq (below) was the target of racist abuse over the weekend. The MP and sister of ex-Blue Peter host Konnie Huq received an email calling her a miserable, stinking, filthy EU whore and telling her to return to Bangladesh. Huq replied that she will continue to fight for a #peoplesvote and wont be taking advice on returning to somewhere Ive only holidayed to, adding: [Ive] been to the Isle of Wight more often.

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Alex Burghart MP recalls a 15th-century recipe for gout relief: Take an owl, and pluck it clean; and open it clean, and salt it; and put it in a new pot, and cover it with a stone; and put it in an oven and let it stand till it be burnt; and then stamp it with boars grease, and anoint the gout therewith. Simon Hoare MP declares: It works!

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Too much time in Parliament? Jess Phillips kids were just talking over each other and I found myself instinctively making the gutteral noise the Speaker makes to shut up MPs.

Corbyn trolls target peacemaker Angela

Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner praised Tony Blairs call for a more united Labour yesterday, but instantly attracted nasty and divisive comments from self-described Corbyn fans.

The trolling Ive had today is typical of the toxic political landscape we are in, says an exasperated Rayner. If there is no room for people like me in our party then we will never get Jeremy into No 10.

Rayner was once considered a post-Corbyn leadership contender. Now she posts screenshots of the abuse with one saying: What the f*** is happening to you, Angela? Go join TIG.

Quote of the day
A London MP used a House of Commons speech to list all the people stabbed to death in the capital so far this year as she labelled the bloodshed an emergency".

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy called on home secretary Sajid Javid, who appeared before the Commons to answer an urgent question on knife crime, to do more to tackle the issue.

Labours Ms Creasy opened her speech by saying: Jodie Chesney. Charlotte Huggins. Tudor Simionov. Nedim Bilgin. Lejean Richards. Dennis Anderson. Aliny Mendes. Simbiso Aretha Moula. Sarah Ashraf. Asma Begum. Kamil Malysz. Bright Akinleye. Glendon Spence. Che Morrison. David Lopez-Fernandez. Kamali Gabbidon-Lynck. Brian Wieland. Jaden Moodie.

"I'm not sure that is a complete list of everyone who has been killed by a knife in London this year alone, but I can tell the home secretary that the taskforces, the consultations, the reports - isn't working.

Stella Creasy listed fatal stab victims in London so far in 2019 / parliamentlive.tv

"What on earth will it take for him to recognise this is an emergency that requires an emergency response?"

Ms Creasy didnt mention Elize Stevens, who was found stabbed to death in a property in Hendon, north-west London, on Saturday.

Sajid Javid addresses knife crime in the Commons

Mr Javid responded: She reminds this House that it's such a tragic loss of life.

"Shes absolutely right to highlight this. But as I say, I really wish, standing here, there was just one simple answer. One single thing that could be done. We require action across multiple fronts and the best way to achieve that is for all us to recognise that and to work together to deliver it."

Mr Javid, who called for a cross-party approach towards dealing with knife crime across the country, earlier referenced Home Office plans to raise police funding by 970 million.
A man has been charged with assault after Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was egged during a visit to a north London mosque.

Scotland Yard said John Murphy, 31, from Barnet, was charged in the early hours of Monday with assault by beating and will appear at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, March 19.

The Islington MP continued with his planned programme of constituency events following the incident.

Mr Corbyn was taking part in the firth annual Visit My Mosque with shadow home secretary Diane Abbott to the Finsbury Park Mosque and Muslim Welfare House.

Mr Corbyn had been sitting and chatting with community leaders when a man came from behind and smacked him over the head with an egg.

The alleged attacker was quickly surrounded by people in the room and police called.

Mr Corbyn is believed to have left with a police escort at around 6.30pm.

Mr Corbyn attended alongside Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and had been given flowers while in attendance.
P olice are investigating after Labours Rupa Huq was targeted by racist abuse over her stance on Brexit.

The MP received an email which branded her a miserable, stinking, filthy EU whore and told her to return to Bangladesh to ponder your life if you do not come to your senses over Brexit.

Ms Huq, sister of former-Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq, was told to not obstruct a no-deal exit, before being told: Otherwise you might potentially be killed in a civil war in which many would die.

Hitting back at the emails author, who identified himself as John, Ms Huq said she would continue to fight for a Peoples Vote, saying democracy did not end the day Britain voted to leave.

The MP, who was last year targeted by a "Punish a Muslim" letter, added: I won't be taking advice on returning to somewhere I've only holidayed to (been to Isle of Wight more often.)

Scotland Yard said officers received an allegation of malicious communication on Monday which "relates to an email communication received by a female MP".
S adiq Khan was today criticised by a senior Cabinet minister for jetting off on a mini-break to Morocco less than a day after the murder of Jodie Chesney.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was surprised the Mayor had not cancelled the trip with his wife Saadiya to oversee the response to the 17-year-olds fatal stabbing on Friday night.

Asked his view of the Mayor going on holiday, Mr Hancock told LBC radio: To tell you the truth, Im pretty surprised. Politicians do need to have holidays, that is true. There are also moments of crisis when if you are in a big job with key responsibilities, there are times when you need to be there. I think there is an awful lot that Sadiq Khan needs to be doing with knife crime here in London to keep people safe.

We should see it first and foremost as a matter of criminality. If you try to say its a public health issue, that implies its nobodys fault. The criminals are the murderers. Its their fault. That has got to be the starting point. You have got to start from the point of the perpetrator being brought to justice.

Matt Hancock said he was 'surprised' the London Mayor had taken a trip after the murder / PA

A spokesman for Mr Khan said he would be back at work tomorrow. Sadiq is on a short break with his wife and is in touch with Met Police Commissioner and City Hall at all times, the spokesman said.

Former Met commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe today backed Mr Khans decision to go on holiday.
Senior police officers and politicians have spoken out to warn that Britons are losing faith in the governments ability to put an end to the violence.

The backlash comes after two 17-year-olds were stabbed to death in separate incidents in London and Greater Manchester at the weekend.

Mrs May had said there "was no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers".

Jodie Chesney was stabbed to death in a park in east London

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Monday that Mrs May "must start listening" to police chiefs over the impact of cutting 21,000 officers, adding: "You cannot keep people safe on the cheap."

His comments came as Richard Cooke, the chairman of the West Midlands Police Federation, accused the Government of "responsibility dodging" and called for more staff with greater stop and search powers.

"How can they ignore what is obvious to most of us - that the violence is out of control partly because there are simply not enough bobbies on the beat?" he wrote in the Daily Telegraph.

Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor in Greater Manchester whose 17-year-old relative was recently stabbed to death in Birmingham, also criticised Mrs May for claiming there "was no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers".

Forensic officers near the scene of the fatal stabbing in east London / REUTERS

"I am aghast at what the Prime Minister had to say about police numbers - that there is no correlation between the number of police and the amount of crime. Of course there is otherwise why would we have police at all," he told BBC2's Newsnight.

"When you reduce police numbers by 21,000 - hundreds in pretty much every city - there isn't the intelligence any more, there isn't the neighbourhood policing any more, people don't know where to go."

Former Metropolitan Police commissioner Lord Hogan-Howe called for policing numbers to return to their former figure as he demanded that ministers "get a grip on the crisis".

Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty also indicated that extra officers did make a difference in tackling the problem.

Yousef Ghaleb Makki, 17, was stabbed to death in Hale Barns on Saturday / PA

The body that represents rank-and-file officers said the Prime Minister was "delusional".

John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: "Policing has been stripped to the bone and the consequences are clear, splashed across newspaper front pages and TV news bulletins - children being murdered on our streets.

"This is the true cost of austerity that we warned of, but were ridiculed for doing so."

Mark Burns-Williamson, chairman of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said cuts to police numbers nationwide and cuts to youth services have created a toxic mix.

Home Secretary addresses urgent question on knife crime in Parliament

Speaking to the Guardian, Mr Burns-Williamson said: If we had more police officers and resources, which have been cut over the last eight to nine years, we would be in a better position.

I wouldnt put it all down to police numbers, but police forces across the country are struggling to meet the demands of this kind of violent crime.

It comes after Prime Minister Mrs May pledged a cross-government response to knife crime focusing on its causes and insisted there was "no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers".

"The increased police presence has made a difference, with officers conducting more than 2,500 stop and searches in the last three days alone."

Mrs May's home secretary Sajid Javid also referenced plans to raise police funding by almost 1 billion to "combat serious violence".

But Mrs May, a former home secretary herself, insisted the main focus should be the issues "underpinning" knife crime.

The Prime Minister said: What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.

"But what also matters is, as a government, that we look at the issues which underpin, that underlie, this use of knives and that we act on those.

"That's a cross-government approach, it's not just about the police, it's about the whole of government and it's the whole of government that's responding."

She said "a lot of this is gang-related, some of it will be drugs-related, there are a wide variety of issues that need to be addressed here and that's what the government is doing".

Home Secretary Sajid Javid / Getty Images

Police forces across the nation have been cut, with officer numbers in London at the lowest level per head  3.3 per 1,000  in 20 years.

Labours shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: Over 20,000 police officers have been axed by Tory governments since 2010. All of these have contributed to the rise in violent crime, and undermined the police's ability to tackle it."

And John Sutherland, a retired Met chief, said of Mrs May's comments: "I take no pleasure in saying it, but this is simply not correct. To suggest that there is no correlation between police numbers and crime numbers is to deny both common sense and the professional experience of thousands of police officers, my own included."

Mr Javid, meanwhile, will chair a meeting of police chiefs on Wednesday, including chief constables from the areas most affected by knife crime.

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons on Monday, he said: "We must ensure police have resources to combat serious violence.

"I am raising police funding to record levels next year: up to 970 million including council tax."

It comes after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney in Harold Hill, east London, on Friday night in what her family branded a "totally random and unprovoked attack".
T heresa May has denied claims that police cuts are linked to the latest wave of fatal stabbings in London and the UK.

Mrs May, as she pledged a cross-government response to knife crime focusing on its causes, insisted there was "no direct correlation between certain crimes and police numbers".

But Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty appeared to make a thinly-veiled plea for more officers.

In a statement outside the Met Police headquarters on Monday afternoon, he said extra police officers did make a difference in tackling the problem.

Met Police on violent crime: One death is one too many

"In advance of the weekend just passed, we had arranged for more officers from our Violent Crime Taskforce to be on duty and we have extended their shifts to raise visibility across London.

"The increased police presence has made a difference, with officers conducting more than 2,500 stop and searches in the last three days alone."

Mrs May's home secretary Sajid Javid also referenced, while speaking in the Commons, plans to raise police funding by almost 1 billion to "combat serious violence".

Sajid Javid addresses knife crime in the Commons

But Mrs May, a former home secretary herself, insisted the main focus should be the issues "underpinning" knife crime.

The Prime Minister said on Monday: What matters is how we ensure that police are responding to these criminal acts when they take place, that people are brought to justice.

"But what also matters is, as a government, that we look at the issues which underpin, that underlie, this use of knives and that we act on those.

Theresa May pictured in Salisbury on Monday / EPA

"That's a cross-government approach, it's not just about the police, it's about the whole of government and it's the whole of government that's responding."

She said "a lot of this is gang-related, some of it will be drugs-related, there are a wide variety of issues that need to be addressed here and that's what the government is doing".

Police forces across the nation have been cut, with officer numbers in London at the lowest level per head  3.3 per 1,000  in 20 years.

40 knife crimes in London every day, official figures show

Labours shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: Over 20,000 police officers have been axed by Tory governments since 2010. All of these have contributed to the rise in violent crime, and undermined the police's ability to tackle it."

And John Sutherland, a retired Met chief, said of Mrs May's comments: "I take no pleasure in saying it, but this is simply not correct. To suggest that there is no correlation between police numbers and crime numbers is to deny both common sense and the professional experience of thousands of police officers, my own included."

Mr Javid, meanwhile, will chair a meeting of police chiefs on Wednesday, including chief constables from the areas most affected by knife crime.

Sajid Javid addresses knife crime in the Commons on Monday / PA

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons on Monday, he said: "We must ensure police have resources to combat serious violence.

"I am raising police funding to record levels next year: up to 970 million including council tax."

It comes after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney in Harold Hill, east London, on Friday night in what her family branded a "totally random and unprovoked attack".
B ritain is facing a terrible, terrible crisis over knife crime, a Home Office minister admitted today as emotional tributes continued to pour in for the latest London stab victim Jodie Chesney.

Victoria Atkins, whose Home Office responsibilities include overseeing the fight against knife crime, insisted that ministers were working every single day on trying to stem the surge in fatalities and that there were small signs of progress being achieved.

But she admitted that her words would sound hollow to bereaved families and warned that the scale of the problem meant that it would take us time for action to succeed.

Ms Atkins words follow the murder of 17-year-old Scout Jodie on Friday when she stabbed in the back by a young man while playing music with five other teenagers at a park in Harold Hill and the killing of another teenager, Yousef Makki, 17, in Cheshire on Saturday.

Tributes laid in Harold Hill after the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney / PA

The deaths - which are the latest in a succession of fatal stabbings to hit the capital and other parts of the country - have prompted renewed pressure for more intensive action.

Former Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe has called for more police and the appointment of a new knife crime supremo to coordinate a national campaign against the the problem.

People lay floral tributes near to where 17-year-old Jodie Chesney was killed / REUTERS

Labour MPs also accused the government and Prime Minister Theresa May of not doing enough, as the pain felt by those who knew Jodie was reflected in statements from her Scout leader, Anna Skipworth, and the Mayor of Havering Dilip Patel.

Ms Skipworth said Jodie had blossomed into an amazing young woman and was a delight to have as a member of her Scout group.

She added: She always had a smile on her face, supporting the younger members where she could. She was funny, intelligent and a joy to work with. She was simply outstanding in every way.

Mr Patel said that he had known Jodie for a couple of months but had known her boyfriend Eddie since he was little and that the pair had looked absolutely smitten - like love birds when he saw them recently.

They were normal teenagers living their life they said they were going for dinner in Romford. They seemed very much in love. She was very grown up in her way, a very kind, loving and a community minded person.

Giving her response to the latest deaths, Home Office minister Ms Atkins insisted that the government was taking knife crime very, very seriously and had implemented both long term and short term measures to tackle it.

These included action against the county lines drug gangs, which police and ministers blame for fuelling much of the violence, as well as the introduction of new knife crime prevention orders, under which children as young as 12 suspected of carrying knives will face curbs on their activities designed to divert them away from getting dragged into offending.

The minister also insisted that Met had begun to see some turnaround in the knife crime figures, but conceded that the scale of the violence amounted to a crisis.

Its a terrible, terrible crisis for every family affected by knife crime. We take it very, very seriously, Ms Atkins said. Im a mum. We all cant begin to imagine the pain that their parents are going through.

But weve been working now for the last year on tackling serious violence and have both short term and long term measures to tackle this. This isnt simply about arresting our way out of this. We need to stop young people from carrying knives in the first place and stop them from causing this terrible, terrible harm.

Ms Atkins said that a review of school exclusions was underway because of the number of expelled children who were being picked up by gangs but rejected claims that cuts to police numbers were to blame for the surge in violence.

We had a knife crime spike in the 2000s where police numbers were far higher, she said. We know also that in other developed economies they are seeing increases in violent crime themselves.

Drugs is the main driver as far as we are concerned of this serious violence which is why we are very keen to ensure that the laws in relation to illegal drugs remain as tough as they are.

Meanwhile, former Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan Howe said that 20,000 more officers were needed as well as a new national leader to oversee the battle against knife crime.

Too many people are getting stabbed and too many people are dying, he said. It needs a leader, someone who day after day is going to say, what are the police doing, what are the other agencies doing, how can you get the charities to work together, because if its not treated as a crisis it will take another two years before we see action.

Something has to change. A start has been made, but its not at the pace at which the problem has developed.

Meanwhile, police investigating Jodies death at the park in St Neots Road, Harold Hill, appealed for witnesses who had seen the young black man who killed Jodie and the friend who was with him to contact them.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading the investigation, added: Although the description of the suspect is limited, I am certain that people will have seen the two males hanging around the park or running away from the scene - or will otherwise have noticed something suspicious. I need those people to call me.

Friends say the killing may have been a case of mistaken identity and Jodie had no connection to any local gangs.

They said the killer had been in the park with another man earlier in the evening, before returning at 9.30pm and stabbing Jodie in the back.

Jodie was an enthusiastic Scout Explorer who had visited Downing Street in November and had also been selected to honour the Chelsea Pensioners at the Royal Albert Hall.

A fundraising page set up to cover the costs of Jodies funeral today neared the 5,000 mark.

No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police incident room on 020 8345 3775, tweet @MetCC or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
O fficials at No10 have been left-red faced after they posted a picture of the city of Bath instead of Salisbury on the anniversary of the Skripals poisoning.

The embarrassing mistake on Twitter showed an image of St Johns Church in Bath, rather than Salisbury Cathedral which was at the centre of the Russian Novichok poison plot.

The gaffe was spotted by eagle-eyed social media users before it was quickly removed.

Kevin Turvey said: "Should've got a Russian guide book.

David Warwick added: "Doesn't that just sum her up. Error after error."

Richard Neilson commented: "The incompetence knows no bounds."

The picture accompanied a statement from Theresa May a year on from the poisonings, in which she paid tribute to the victims, family and friends of last years incidents in Salisbury and Amesbury ahead of her paying a visit to Salisbury.

She added: Today is also an opportunity to reflect on the work of so many people who have played a part in the recovery effort, from all of the dedicated emergency service workers, council staff and public servants, to the skilful and brave men and women of our armed forces who have led the unprecedented clean-up operation.

A spokeswoman at No10 said: "The tweet was posted in human error and taken down quickly.
P rince Harry has met with the families of the British victims of the 2015 Tunisia terrorist attack at a memorial service.

The Duke of Sussex dedicated a memorial to the victims during a ceremony at Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park.

The memorial will be a focus of remembrance for those killed in two separate attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis on March 18, and a hotel beach resort in Sousse on June 26.

Addressing an audience of about 200 family and friends of those who died, Prince Harry said: "In memory of all those who lost their lives.

Prince Harry pays tribute to the victims of the Tunisia terror attacks. / AFP/Getty Images

"And to the families whose lives were changed forever by these events.

"I would like to pay my deepest respects to you and officially dedicated this memorial to your loved ones."

Holding a single white rose, he then turned and walked to the memorial's centre-piece, where he laid the flower.

The Duke of Sussex dedicates a new memorial to the victims of the Tunisia terror attack. / AFP/Getty Images

At Sousse, 30 British tourists staying at the Hotel Rui Imperial Marhaba complex in Port el Kantaoui were among 38 killed, with dozens more injured.

Sally Adey, a 57-year-old solicitor from Caynton near Shifnal, Shropshire, was the sole British victim of the deadly museum attack, which left 22 dead.

The Sousse terrorist attack was the deadliest on British citizens since the July 7/7 London bombings in 2005.

Islamic State claimed at the time that it was behind the attack by Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgui.

Prince Harry met with the families of victims of the Tunisia terrorist attacks. / PA

Among those killed were three members of the same family; Charles Patrick Evans, 78; his son Adrian Evans, 49, and grandson Joel Richards, 19.

Joel's brother Owen Richards, then 16, survived and was later praised for his bravery at the scene by a coroner at inquests into the deaths.

After the attacks, he and his mother Suzanne Richards set up the Smile for Joel Charity, providing support for other victims of terrorism.

Speaking after the ceremony, Mrs Richards said: "We're looking forward to seeing the memorial being officially unveiled. We had a sneaky peak yesterday and it was beautiful.

Prince Harry paid tribute to victims of the Tunisia terrorist attacks. / EPA

"It's lovely to think people can actually come and see all the names of those killed and reflect on what happened.

"It is very difficult and also today is my Dad's (Charles') birthday."

Owen Richards, now 19 and studying at university, said: "It's really important not just for the families but also generally for the wider public to take an interest and be able to remember what happened, and not forget it.

From the side, the memorial takes the shape of a dove of peace taking flight. / PA

"Because there were things that should have been learned from that day and by remembering it hopefully those lessons (will be learned) and it will stop it happening again."

He added: "It's a bit of a hectic, intense day.

"It's Grandad's birthday today which is kind of nice but obviously makes it a little bit harder."

The memorial sculpture titled Infinite Wave is made up of 31 individual streams, each one representing the British nationals who lost their lives / PA

Seven people were sentenced to life in prison in Tunisia, in February, in connection with both attacks.

The park site was selected in consultation with the families due to its central location, its "seclusion and tranquillity" and as "being a place of public prominence", the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said previously.

The memorial has been designed by George King Architects and overlooks the park's boating lake.

The Duke of Sussex arrives at Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, to officially open a memorial dedicated to victims of the 2015 terror attacks in Tunisia. / PA

The centrepiece of the memorial is a sculpture titled 'Infinite Wave' made up of 31 individual stainless steel rods, each representing the Britons who lost their lives.

From the side, the memorial also takes the shape of a dove of peace taking flight, while concentric rings of stone and turf ripple outwards.

The FCO developed the memorial, consulting with families on the design and location.
M ilitary assaults on the Islamic States last stronghold in Syria forced more than 500 people including 150 ISIS fighters to surrender and flee.

A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) official said some 500 people had fled the village of Baghouz and its surrounding areas with 200 more set to follow.

Around 150 of these are said to have been IS fighters and SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali said the battle to retake Baghouz was "going to be over soon."

An offensive on Baghouz resumed by the US-backed group last Friday after a two-week break to allow for the evacuation of civilians.

A member of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stands guard on top of a building during shelling on the Islamic State group's last holdout of Baghouz / AFP/Getty Images

The evacuations come despite the attacks being reduced due to a number of civilians held as human shields, Mr Bali said.

A statement from the Kurdish-led forces said: "In order not to harm them, we are advancing slowly but we assert that the battle of Baghouz will end in a short period of time.

Retaking the land in Syria would be a milestone in the devastating four-year campaign to end IS' self-proclaimed "caliphate".

The SDF shelled the area of Baghouz on Sunday / AFP/Getty Images

This once straddled a vast territory across both Syria and Iraq and the extremist group continues to be a threat.

It has sleeper cells in scattered desert pockets along the porous border between the two countries.

IS militants have been battling to their last piece of land in eastern Syria, deploying snipers and guided missiles as well as using dug-out tunnels for surprise attacks.

Those left in the IS-held area on Monday are thought to include people from Bosnia, Turkestan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Syria and a man who claims he's French
A t least 23 people including two children have died after a series of vicious tornadoes battered the US state of Alabama.

At least a dozen tornadoes hit Alabama and its neighbouring state of Georgia on Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Homes in dozens of counties have suffered significant damage and emergency services are working to assist in the search for injured people inside their homes.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said the damage appeared as if someone had taken a blade and just scraped the ground.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey extended the state of emergency issued on February 23 due to tornadoes and severe weather.

She tweeted: Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today.

Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or business were affected. Officials from @AlabamEma and other agencies are quickly working to provide assistance.

Tornado watches were expected to remain in place for parts of Georgia and South Carolina through 11 pm ET on Sunday, according to CNN Meteorologist Gene Norman.

Where are the tornadoes?

Two tornadoes were confirmed within an hour of each other late Sunday evening in Lee County, Alabama.

The worst-hit area appears to be Alabamas state capital of Montgomery, where the tornado struck at about 2pm (20:00 GMT) on Sunday.

How strong are the tornadoes?

A series of powerful tornadoes hit the US states of Alabama and Georgia / Getty

The first tornado was said to be at least an EF-3 in strength  meaning winds up to 165mph  and half a mile wide, according to NWS.

An official storm survey to determine the tornados strength will be conducted on Monday.

How are tornadoes formed?

Tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday / AP

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that extends between the Earths surface and a cloud.

Although every tornado is different, there are certain conditions that need to be present for one to form.

Most tornadoes emerge from what are called supercell thunderstorms. As warm and moist air meets cool and dry air, it creates instability in the atmosphere.

A supercell is characterised by winds that increase in strength and change direction with height. As the supercell rises high in the air, it typically leads to the formation of a tornado below it.

Tornadoes kill an average of 60 people a year in the US, according to figures published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

When is Tornado season in the US?

Alabama tornado 1 /17 Alabama tornado A tornado strikes Dothan, Alabama AFP/Getty Images Debris and a damaged house seen following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama Scott Fillmer Fallen trees lie across a road following a tornado in Beauregard, Alabama, Scott Fillmer Lieutenant Ethan Parrish and Engineer Corey Crozier of the Eufaula Fire Department were inside the station when the tornado passed Jack Tibbs/Facebook The tornado ravaged the Alabama landscape Scott Fillmer At least 23 people have died Scott Fillmer Mayor Jack Tibbs of Eufaula, Alabama, posted these photos of the Eufala Fire Department Jack Tibbs/Facebook The Eufaula airport and northern industrial park after the city was hit with a tornado Jack Tibbs/Facebook Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina AP Damage at a saloon in Alabama AP A vehicle is caught under downed trees along Lee Road 11 in Beauregard, Alabama AP Emergency responders work in the scene amid debris in Lee County, Alabama AP A couple hugs as they walk past debris caused by the storm AP Scott Fillmer posted photos and videos of the tornado damage in Beauregard scottfillmer/Twitter Homes in parts of Alabama were completely destroyed Scott Fillmer People look on as debris is cleared along a road following the tornado in Beauregard, Alabama Scott Fillmer A fallen cell tower lies across U.S. Route 280 highway in Lee County, Alabama AP

The US is most severely hit by tornadoes in between April and June, seeing an average of 1,225 annually between 1997 and 2016.

May is the most common month for tornadoes to hit, averaging 275 over the same period, according to the Weather Channel.

Is it safe to travel to Alabama and Georgia?

The Foreign Office has not issued any travel warnings for Alabama.

Whilst no further tornadoes are expected to hit Alabama in the coming days, the state is expecting some near-freezing temperatures.

AccuWeather Meteorologist said: In the areas hit by the devastating tornadoes, drier weather is expected to return for storm cleanup on Monday, but it will be cooler than normal with highs in the lower to middle 50s and temperatures plummeting down to near freezing at night. Highs in the middle 60s are more typical.
F our Americans and their Kenyan pilot have been killed in a helicopter crash in a national park in north-west Kenya.

Officials said on Monday the helicopter crashed shortly after taking off from a remote island in Lake Turkana, in Central Island National Park.

The accident occurred at about 8pm local time on Sunday.

The United States Embassy confirmed the deaths of the four Americans and the names of three of them: Anders Asher Jesiah Burke, Brandon Howe Stapper and Kyle John Forti.

Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said two helicopters took off from the island on Sunday night heading for Lobolo Camp on the mainland..

Rescuers found the wreckage early on Monday morning, Gilbert Kibe, director general of the KCAA, said in a statement.

"Shortly after take-off, unfortunately one of the helicopters, a Bell 505, registration 5YKDL, lost contact and crashed on the island," Mr Kibe said.

The police report does not say what caused the crash.
T he chief financial officer of Chinas tech giant Huawei is suing Canada over her high-profile arrest.

Meng Wanzhou was held in December at Vancouver airport, at the request of the US, on suspicion of fraud and breaching American sanctions on Iran.

Meng, the daughter of Huaweis founder, is now suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, for serious breaches of her civil rights, it emerged today.

She claims they detained, searched and interrogated her before telling her she was under arrest.

Meng, who is on bail in Vancouver, is wanted on fraud charges that she misled banks about the companys business dealings in Iran.

China has attacked her detention as a political incident. She denies all the charges against her.

The lawsuit, filed on Friday, came on the same day that Canada officially launched her extradition process to the US.

The suit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, authorities interrogated Meng under the guise of a routine customs examination and used the opportunity to compel her to provide evidence and information.

The claim states: This case concerns a deliberate and premeditated effort on the part of the defendant officers to obtain evidence and information from the plaintiff in a manner which they knew constituted serious violations of the plaintiffs rights.

She is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for her extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved.

Mengs arrest set off a diplomatic furore and severely strained Canadian relations with China, with former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Spavor detained on December 10 in an apparent attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng.
Pakistan to tackle militant groups

Pakistan plans to take action against militant groups operating on its soil, a minister said on Monday, amid global pressure to act after a suicide bomber killed 40 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir last month.

But Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry denied Indian accusations that Pakistan was involved in the February 14 attack, which led to a sharp rise in hostilities, saying it "had nothing to do with us."

Chaudhry said the decision to act was taken at a meeting of the National Security Committee before the suicide bombing, claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), in Kashmir.

He said: "A full-fledged strategy is now in place.
A Londoner who made history by becoming the first non-Brazilian lead dancer at Rio Carnival is set to do it again - while pregnant with her first child.

Samantha Flores, 38, became the first foreigner to headline the festival in its 78-year history when she was selected as the top dancer on the lead float, the Imperio da Tijuca samba school.

The dancer, who moved to Rio from Kentish Town in 2006, has now been chosen to lead the carnival for the second year running, and will take on the job while four months pregnant.

She said: My first question to the doctor was Can I still do the parade?. The doctor gave me the green light so I was very happy.

Samantha Flores at last year's carnival

I have to be a little bit calmer than I would normally - not sambaing like a complete maniac.

The former public relations executive moved to Brazil after falling in love with the country while on holiday with friends. She first paraded at the carnival in 2011, dressed as a canary.

She also runs a company called Experience Carnival which organises a holiday for people who want to attend the carnival and take part in the parade.

The week-long Rio festival, which officially started on Friday, attracts five million people, including 1.5 million tourists.
P akistan's prime minister Imran Khan has rejected calls to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after a flare-up in tensions with neighbouring India.

Tensions ramped up between the two countries last week in a series of military clashes in which Pakistan admitted gunning down an Indian jet after it crossed the Line of Control in disputed Kashmir.

But the hashtag #NobelPeacePrizeForImranKhan trended on Twitter in Pakistan last Thursday after the PM made what he said was a "peace gesture" to release captured pilot Abhinandan Varthaman.

The move is widely thought to have eased the flare-up, although international observers are still worried about the ongoing fractious relationship between the two nuclear-armed countries.

Mr Khan responded to petitions started this weekend by fans to give him the Nobel Prize, saying he was "not worthy" of the plaudit.

He wrote: "I am not worthy of the Nobel Peace prize. The person worthy of this would be the one who solves the Kashmir dispute according to the wishes of the Kashmiri people and paves the way for peace & human development in the subcontinent."

The most recent tit-for-tat military escalations began after India carried out what it called a pre-emptive strike against a group blamed for a suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops on February 14.

A Pakistani soldier stands guard near the wreckage of the Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan military / AP

Pakistan retaliated and shot down a MiG-21 fighter jet last Wednesday then detained the pilot who was later released in the goodwill gesture.

The fighting has led thousands of residents to flee to safer areas to escape shelling along the frontier.

The violence marked the most serious escalation of the conflict since 1999, a year that saw Pakistan's military sent a ground force into Indian-controlled Kashmir at Kargil, while an Indian fighter jet also shot down a Pakistani naval aircraft killing all 16 on board.
A British mountaineer and his Italian climbing companion are feared dead after helicopters searching the mountain they disappeared on failed to locate them.

Tom Ballard and Daniele Nardi were scaling Nanga Parbat in Pakistan, nicknamed Killer Mountain. They have not been in contact for the last week.

Two military helicopters took off from the northern town of Skarduto to look for the lost pair, with four Spanish rescuers onboard on Monday.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Spaniard Alex Txikon and three colleagues joined Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara to conduct the mission.

Mr Haidri previously said: "It's very difficult to survive in that condition and it's a big challenge for a mountaineer to climb in winter."

Later on Monday he said: "Unfortunately, no sign of climbers or a camp site was found during the aerial reconnaissance."

Previous searches for the climbers had been called off due to bad weather as well as issues due to tensions between India and Pakistan.

Mr Ballard has not been heard from since Sunday / Tom Ballard/Instagram

Rescuers are also planning to use a drone in their search efforts amid the harsh weather.

The Italian ambassador to Pakistan, speaking at the time of a previous search, said he was hoping "for a miracle".

A Pakistani climber who had been with the pair has quit at an earlier point to communications being cut off, the Guardian reported.

Mr Nardi had told a Russian website that the mountaineer withdrew due to concerns over conditions and said: "I dont want to lose my life on this mountain.

On Thursday a member of the rescue effort had seen a snow-covered tent in the region the pair had been climbing.

Friends of the climbers have raised more than 109,682 towards the search effort in two days through a GoFundMe page.

The target of the fundraiser is 150,000 euros which is roughly 128,500.

Despite its ominous nickname credited to its dangerous conditions the summit of Nanga Parbat has long drawn climbers.

Located in Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan area, it is the ninth highest mountain in the world at 8,126 metres (26,660 feet).

Mr Nardi and Mr Ballard set out on the climb on February 22 and had made it to the fourth base camp by the following day.

The pair last made contact on February 24, from an elevation of nearly 20,700 feet.

Mr Ballard is the son of Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to climb Everest unaided who died on K2 aged 33 just months after that feat.

Mr Ballard was born in Derbyshire but moved to the Scottish Highlands in 1995.

Mr Nardi, 42, from near Rome, has attempted the Nanga Parbat summit in winter several times in the past.
Death toll likely to rise after tornado hits Alabama

At least 22 people have been killed and several others injured after a tornado roared across south-east Alabama.

The area has been hit by severe storms and the tornado itself left a path of destruction at least half-a-mile wide in Lee County.

Rescuers had to halt their search for survivors late on Sunday due to dangerous conditions and local Sheriff Jay Jones said he feared the death toll will rise.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region.

Home Secretary demands action over stabbings

Sajid Javid will meet police chiefs on Wednesday to discuss violent crime amid a series of brutal stabbings.

The Home Secretary said the spate of young people being murdered across the country had to stop following the high-profile deaths of two 17-year-olds.

The fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Jodie Chesney in an east London park on Friday night was the 18th homicide in the capital this year and two more people were subsequently killed by the end of the weekend.

An investigation by the Dispatches programme has also found the number of children and young people linked to murders and manslaughters using knives has risen by more than 75 per cent over three years.

May's 1.6bn for run down communities branded a 'Brexit bribe'

Theresa May has been accused of offering Labour MPs "Brexit bribe" funds for run down towns amid reports the Government has abandoned attempts to put a time limit on the Irish backstop.

As the Prime Minister promised a 1.6 billion package for "left behind" communities in predominately Leave areas, hardline Brexiteers continued to insist on major concessions from Brussels in order to back Mrs May's deal.

However, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox has dropped attempts to secure key Brexiteer demands for a unilateral exit mechanism from the backstop, or an end date to it, according to the Daily Telegraph.

The DUP and the Tory European Research Group have made it clear they will not support the PM's Withdrawal Agreement in crunch Commons votes without such legally binding measures.

Court ruling over Bulger killer due today

The father and uncle of murdered toddler James Bulger are to find out today if they have succeeded in their bid to have information about killer Jon Venables made public.

A worldwide order made in 2001 has allowed Venables to live under a cloak of anonymity since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of the two-year-old in February 1993.

Lawyers for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger argue certain details about him are "common knowledge" and easily accessible online.

They have asked the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, to vary the order so that it does not cover this information.

On this day

1789: The first Congress of the United States was held in New York.

1824: The Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded.

1890: The 1,710-foot Forth Bridge was officially opened by the Prince of Wales.

1924: Happy Birthday To You was published by Clayton F Summy.

1946: Housewives' Choice, presented by Robert McDermott, began on BBC radio.

1967: North Sea gas was first piped ashore near Durham.

1969: At the Old Bailey, gangland twins Ronald and Reginald Kray were found guilty of murder and given life sentences.

1974: After the general election, Edward Heath failed to persuade the Liberals to join a coalition and resigned. Harold Wilson became Prime Minister of a minority administration, which lasted for eight months until fresh elections secured a Labour majority.
J enna Coleman has told how she doesnt feel pressure to have children, despite being surrounded by friends who are mothers.

The British actress, who has been widely praised for her role as Queen Victoria in hit ITV drama Victoria, told how she wants to see the world before settling down.

Appearing on the cover of Harpers Baazar, Coleman said: Half of my friends have babies, and half dont, so it doesnt feel like a pressure. I want to take my time.

Theres a whole lot more of the world for me to see first. Id love to have children one day. But not nine of them [like Queen Victoria]. I can tell you that as a fact.

Regal: Coleman has been praised for her role as Queen Victoria / David Slijper/Harpers Bazaar UK

Speaking about her regal role, Coleman said she wasnt given any notes by the royal advisor before she began filming.

She said: What Ive learned about playing power is, you dont have to. We had a royal advisor in for a few days, and he didnt give any notes to me.

"He just said to the others, You have to imagine theres an aura round this person. Thats the only way you can ever capture it, I suppose.

No rush: Coleman feels no pressure to rush and have children / David Slijper/Harpers Bazaar UK

The 32-year-old also opened up on how she felt it was very wise to keep her private life quiet, after she sparked speculation she got engaged to Victoria co-star Tom Hughes in 2017.

Coleman is gearing up to take on a new role as supporting actress in Arthur Millers play, All My Sons, admitting she has a good fear ahead of her performance.

Regal: Coleman is looking forward to her upcoming projects / David Slijper/Harpers Bazaar UK

She added: I went for the part because of the nuance. Things appear a certain way, but underneath, there are politics, and family dynamics and push and pull.

Victoria is set to return to screens later this year.
K atie Prices son Harveys Instagram page has mysteriously disappeared, hours after she defended showing him off in a good light.

The former model came under fire earlier this year after making the 16-year-old an account on the social media website, posting pictures and videos of him on the public page.

But now the page appears to have disappeared from the website, despite photos remaining on Prices Instagram page linking to her sons account.

Representatives for Price told The Sun that it has not been deleted and that they arent sure why it has suddenly disappeared from view.

Mother and son: Katie Price with her teenage son Harvey / SplashNews.com

Were trying to figure it out ourselves. We dont know if its been hacked or that Instagram have removed it, they said.

Earlier on Monday, Price explained her decision to show Harvey off, although not specifically mentioning the Instagram, during a chat on Good Morning Britain.

The 40-year-old said: Ive always been his sole carer and when I show Harvey I always show him in a good light.

Harvey prepares for Good Morning Britain

I never show what hes like with his bad behaviour or when he kicks off, smashing things around my house.

Price added that she thinks people would be like oh my god youve done so well to handle him if she posted the negative behaviour as well.

Hes not like a seal, I want to show him off in a good way. Im proud of him and Im proud how far hes come, Price finished.

Katie Price on Good Morning Britain

Price was heavily criticised by fans when she set up an account for Harvey, with some claiming that it was setting him up to be trolled.

Most recently, she was accused of giving trolls ammunition when she showed off Harvey  who has Prader-Willi syndrome  in comedy glasses and a big bow tie.

Other posts on his page had included uploads of Harvey swimming, reading and drawing.

Standard Online has contacted representatives for Price for further comment.
T he Chemical Brothers Ed Simons led the tributes to Keith Flint after the original firestarter was found dead at his Essex home.

Tributes poured in for the Prodigy frontman, who died aged 49, on Monday morning.

Simons hailed him a great man while radio DJ Jo Whiley described him as an absolute sweetheart.

Simons tweeted: Oh gosh, so sad to hear about Keith Flint, he was always great fun to be around and very kind to Tom and I when we first started doing shows together great man.

Icon: Keith Flint was the frontman of The Prodigy / PA

Whiley wrote: Oh this is sad news. The death of Keith Flint. Whenever our paths crossed he was an absolute sweetheart. Really lovely. Incredible iconic frontman with a soft centre. #RIPKeithFlint.

Beverley Knight told fans she has been left heartbroken by the news while actress Amanda Abbington said he will be f****** missed.

Flint's death was announced on Monday morning, with a spokesman for the police telling The Sun: We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at just after 8.10am on Monday.

We attended and sadly, a 49-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed.

Prodigy front man Keith Flint has died at the age of 49

The death is not being treated as suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.

Standard Online has contacted a representative for Flint.

Flint, who was famed for his punk hairstyles and full-on live performances, was originally The Prodigy's dancer before providing lead vocals on their hit 1996 singles Firestarter and Breathe, both of which charted at number one. The band also went on to release six number one albums.
A nne-Marie Imafidon, founder of social enterprise STEMettes, keynote speaker, and host of the Evening Standards new podcast, Women Tech Charge, thinks that the technology industry inspires an unnecessary degree of hero worship.

Its not this big scary thing you have to be a genius to come into, she shrugs. I think often in our portrayal of the industry, we miss out on that. Portrayals give you Einstein  these are human beings, normal people.

Granted, on paper, Imafidon, 28, does not sound like the right woman to challenge this misconception. She passed GCSEs in mathematics and ICT aged 10 while at school in Walthamstow  I didnt have to do washing up for a week and my Dad got me McDonalds  then did an A-level in computing at 11, before going to Oxford at 17 to read maths and computer science to masters level, graduating when she was 20.

My route was not very typical, she admits with a twinkle.

Imafidon then worked in the technology divisions at Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard and Deutsche Bank, before co-founding STEMettes  an initiative to help women under 21 access STEM careers [science, technology, engineering and mathematics]  in 2013. She has presented at SXSW Festival, given a TEDx Talk in Barcelona, and was awarded an MBE for services to young women and the STEM sector in the 2017 New Year honours list.

People expect me to be a certain way, she says. but Im just me. I go to Nandos and watch TV.

As the anchor of Women Tech Charge, which launches today, Imafidon will interview 12 whip-smart women from across the technology industry. Guests include Michelle Kennedy, founder of Peanut, a social network for mothers; Louise Broni-Mensah, founder of ticketing website Shoobs; Isabel Garvey, MD of Abbey Road Studios; and Manon Lagreve, the Great British Bake Off contestant and software project manager.

The first episode is with a woman known as B from GCHQ. Imafidons eyes light up. Its so fascinating: what they do at GCHQ and how it all fits together. She was cool.

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The podcast is about celebrating the women in tech. These women just like you, just like anybody else. Theyre solving problems. Some people are more junior, some more senior, some from a technical background, some not. Some are entrepreneurs, some arent. Different background, different races, everything different. She hopes it will inspire. Its easy for you to dip into the podcast and glean a broad appreciation of these women in the industry. Its a call to take charge, a call to action.

Its a diverse cast of role models she wants for her STEMettes  to show them the different women that have been before them. The organisation, which has just moved into sleek new digs in Bethnal Green, runs coding days with brands including ASOS and EDF Training, and emphasises that technology careers are a feat of bold imagination.

Perhaps because of our school experiences, none of us frame science or technology as creative or altruistic, Imafidon says. Whereas English and music and the arts are all about create, create, create. Technology is actually also all about create, create, create. Plus, its accessible. Everything we do is free for the girls, and theres always food. Everyone loves free food.

Matt Writtle

Technology is a literacy, she continues. Youre not learning technology because you want to be a genius, or because you want to be running your own mega-tech company. You might, but youre actually learning it the same way you learned maths  not because you are going to be a mathematician, but because when you go to the shop you want know theyre not screwing you over.

STEMettes inverts the myth that STEM is for the boys, a notion which Imafidon says is still peddled by teachers, peers and parents. It translates to disparities: only 14 per cent of those working in STEM careers are women  despite the fact that women make up half of the UK workforce  and a study for the Department for Education, published in February, found that girls are less likely to pursue STEM at A-level (especially engineering, where they make up 14 per cent of the cohort). But the Royal Society of Edinburgh estimates that increasing women in STEM careers could increase the UKs economy by as much as 2 billion.

Imafidon says her story is what good looks like. I never realised I was a girl, she explains. Me and tech, we just get each other. I never noticed that in maybe 70 per cent of my maths A-level exams I was the only girl. Even when I started working, even though I was one of very few women on the floor, there was a level of respect. I got promoted. Which is why I run STEMettes. Its like, come and join the party.

The STEMettes office in Bethnal Green is a short trip from her home in Stratford, and she spends half the week there, and half on trains shuttling back and forth across the country to deliver keynote addresses.

The Institute for the Future of Work is another organisation she collaborates with. Technology is changing so many things, so what does that mean for our work? What does good look work like? Against the backdrop of the, robots are going to take our jobs and marry our children narrative. Imafidon laughs. Which I reckon wont happen for another 100 years.

She admits to a very unhealthy relationship with my devices. Im always on my phone. For me, it plays less with my head than other people. Im acutely aware that Instagram is highlights. I dont follow celebrities, I follow funny meme accounts. Im happy with my relationship with technology. Its the way you use the tool, not the tool itself.

She also makes sure she watches at least 30 minutes of television a day. Anything. Property shows  I watch a lot of those. This morning I watched Love It or List It. I watch Say Yes to the Dress a fair amount. Certainly, its not how youd imagine Einstein spending his downtime  despite the child prodigy label she is undeniably a good ambassador for demystifying the mythology of tech.
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PSD President Liviu Dragnea said on Monday that he finds "quite strange the vexation" generated by the Special Section for Magistrates' Investigation, given that he did not see any protests when there were thousands of files "opened ex officio against magistrates".

"I do not know if we are the ones to defend a section of a Prosecutor's Office, but I also find quite strange the vexation generated by this section. I did not see any protests, I did not see any worries, I did not see any reactions (...) when there were three thousand cases opened against magistrates ex officio. I did not see this concern back then. Why this concern now because this section is not an invention? The reason why the section was established and for which it received a constitutional opinion with justification from the Constitutional Court was that the prosecutor of a court session should not be part of the Prosecutor's Office which can investigate the respective judges and let us not pretend we do not understand that. Cases opened ex officio by a particular Prosecutor's Office could put pressure on judges when the same Prosecutor's Office had a case opened against the respective judges," Dragnea said, in Parliament.

Asked about the fact that in the CVM report the European Commission demanded the dissolution of this section, Dragnea replied: "What are the reasons [for the European Commission's criticism?]" I did not see any reports referring to those thousands of cases in which pressure was put on judges".

"From what I have seen happening in the European Parliament, I believe it does not matter anymore who will be European prosecutor, as they will no longer have legitimacy. A European prosecutor resulting from very tough political negotiations and with a lot of passion, I do not see what legitimacy that person would have. If we were to put in the Romanian legislation, as Serban Nicolae said, that prosecutors be voted by Parliament, everyone would say this cannot be," added Dragnea.
Three Romanians are among the ship crew members gone missing after an incident on Sunday in the Togolese territorial waters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to a request from AGERPRES.

According to the cited source, the Foreign Ministry has activated the crisis cell.

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Romanian Embassy in Abuja, is carefully monitoring developments related to the incident occurred on March 3 in the territorial waters of Togo, involving a ship under Malta flag. Representatives of the diplomatic mission have taken urgent steps with the local authorities in order to obtain information on whether there are Romanian citizens among the persons affected," the Foreign Ministry said.

Preliminary data confirmed that three Romanians are among the missing crew members.

"The Foreign Ministry's crisis cell has been activated at the order of the Foreign Minister. The Foreign Ministry's crisis cell, through the Romanian Embassy in Abuja, is carefully monitoring the situation as a priority and is in constant contact with the local authorities, the owner of the ship and the Romanian authorities with competence in the field," the Foreign Ministry said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Melescanu and his counterparts from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Georgia signed on Monday a declaration on Romania's commitment to a freight route linking the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The Romanian top diplomat remarked in this context the "special emphasis the European Union sets on connectivity", which alongside the "impressive developments across the region in the area of freight connectivity and the modernization of port facilities" defines the backdrop the initiative was presented against.

He pointed out that the initialled declaration also expresses the common commitment to "rendering this project operational as soon as possible".

The Black Sea - Caspian Sea freight corridor is a project launched by Turkmenistan and Romania aimed at creating an intermodal maritime, river, rail and road transport route between Central and Northern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia, with a perspective to connect to the Asia-Pacific region, Melescanu said.

He explained that the route is based "on the geographic continuity of Romania, Georgia, the Republic of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, the facilities Romania's Constanta Port, Georgia's Port of Poti, the Baku Port of Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan's Port of Turkmenbashi have to offer, and on the direct connection between the Port of Constanta and the Danube and subsequently the water courses and internal channels on the European continent, which is favorable to transporting goods from Central and Northern Europe."

The ForMin also spoke of Romania's support for the EU's Strategy for Central Asia, due to be adopted in June this year, during the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

In his turn, Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov said that the new format of interaction has good prospects.

Turkmenistan is developing its interaction with the EU in the transport sector. (...) The strategic goal of our country is to create a multimodal system of Euro-Asian transport corridors. We consider the Caspian Sea - Black Sea route to be an important segment thereof, the Turkmen official said.

Azeri Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov spoke about the role of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in promoting this project.

I think that reference to the Presidency of the EU Council and Romania's EU membership will turn this project attractive to other EU member states, so that they use this freight corridor, he emphasized.

Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani, spoke about the geostrategic position of his country.

Georgia has already proven to be a reliable partner and an active participant in regional projects aimed at East - West transport. We want to strengthen Georgia's role as a transport and logistics hub, to efficiently use Georgia's geostrategic position, Zalkaliani pointed out.

Starting from the political support expressed in the Joint Declaration, the ministries in charge and the national agencies of the four states will set up an expert working group tasked with identifying and addressing all technical issues.

On the sidelines of the quadrilateral meeting, the Romanian Foreign Minister had bilateral meetings with his three counterparts, with the sides reviewing on the occasion the stage of relations, including in the light of Romania's holding the six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Industrial production prices increased in January by 0.4 percent in Eurozone and by 0.3 percent in the EU compared to the previous month, the according to data published on Monday by Eurostat.

In January, the highest increases of industrial production prices were recorded in the Netherlands (2 percent), Estonia (1.2 percent), Greece (1.1 percent), the Czech Republic (1 percent), Sweden and Romania (both 0.9 percent) and the only declines were recorded in Cyprus ( minus 1.1 percent), Belgium (minus 1 percent), Finland and the United Kingdom (both minus 0.1 percent).

According to Eurostat data, in January, industrial production prices rose by 3 percent in the Eurozone and by 2.9 percent in the EU compared to the same period of 2018.

Most countries reported increases in industrial production prices in January, with most significant advances being recorded in Estonia (7.4 percent), Denmark (6.8 percent), Latvia (6.2 percent), Cyprus (6.1 percent), Hungary (6 percent), Sweden (5.5 percent), Belgium (5.4 percent) and Romania (5.3 percent), with the only decline being recorded in Ireland (minus 0.1 percent).
Chamber of Deputies' Liberal floor leader Raluca Turcan called on Monday on Premier Viorica Dancila in the Lower House plenary to reject Emergency Ordinance No. 114/2018; during Turcan's speech, several Liberal MPs joined her on the podium wearing white armbands in sign solidarity with the magistrates' protest.

Speaking at the Prime Minister's Question Hour, Turcan said that PM Viorica Dancila had failed several tests, including the first college admission exam, and this shows in every decision the Premier takes.

"You failed the first college admission examination. You will certainly say this does not matter, that we are being spiteful and do not seek consensus. The answer is that it matters a lot. Unfortunately we have a Premier who holds this position despite having failed these exams. It does matter a lot, because these failures show in every meeting you have with a foreign official, they show in every statement you make in Parliament, in every decision you make, in every explanation you must provide in connection with the toxic decisions you make. The failure of these exams may also be related to your having signed this infamous ordinance that has turned the life of the Romanians into a nightmare," Turcan said.

She told the PM that she has "lied" from the very first day of her term.

"Mrs. Viorica Dancila, Prime Minister, the following statement is yours: 'As long as I will I be in office as Prime Minister I will not introduce any new tax in Romania', period. This is your statement, made at the moment you were invested in office. Today we can say that you have lied from the very first day of your term. You signed Ordinance No. 114, the so called 'greed ordinance', the brainchild of the group led by the Dragnea-Valcov duo, which imposes new taxes, raises hindrances to the pension pillar, forces local governments to raise taxes and dues, you adopted this ordinance three days before the end of the year without any debate, you fired without notice and zeroed in on everyone: companies, investors, public administrations, citizens," Turcan argued.

She went on to say that "if the group led by Dragnea and Valcov" has determined Dancila to sign this ordinance, this does not mean that she is blameless. "The legal and political accountability is first and foremost the Prime Minister's, not of the advisors," Turcan said.

She called on the Prime Minister to reject this ordinance.

"Mrs. Dancila, just show a shred of honor and reject this ordinance, get out of this dirty game and, as you have reached the brink of the political abyss, try not to drive the economy of Romania into the chasm," Turcan said.

She announced that the Liberal MPs are wearing a white armband in sign of solidarity with "those who defend the law and do not favor corruption".
President of the Senate Calin Popescu-Tariceanu stated that President Klaus Iohannis sent the budget to the Constitutional Court (CCR) in order "to tease" the Government and argued that the CCR cannot favour the head of state on this matter according to Agerpres.

"There are very important economic and social measures in the budget. What did the President choose to do? You've seen, it's an obvious chicanery of the Government. I don't recall any President in the past to have sent the budget to the Constitutional Court because the budget is predominantly a prerogative of the Executive and Parliament and it doesn't contain elements of constitutionality or unconstitutionality as a different law," Tariceanu told Romania TV private television station.

He argued that the President sent the budget to the CCR in order "tease" the Government."I believe he has mistaken a lot. The President positioned himself (...) to be the leader of the opposition and this is a standpoint. Certainly, you're no longer the President of the country, you've left the constitutional core, the constitutional prerogatives and play this role. It's not alright. Undoubtedly. But, this is what the president thinks he should do. I believe that it's bad for Romania. Namely, instead of being the president of all Romanians, he chose this stance. I believe that it is a major mistake," Tariceanu mentioned.He underscored that the CCR decision of 6 March cannot favour the president."On 6 March the CCR decision will be issued, therefore, things will unblock, this is what I believe, that the CCR cannot favour the president on this matter, it would be a new posture in which, besides the Government and Parliament, we would have a player on the budget who doesn't have this constitutional role.
English French

Barcelona, March 4, 2019 - Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, and Ooredoo, the regions leading enabler of digital business innovation, announced at Mobile World Congress a partnership for enterprises to accelerate their digital business competitiveness.

Thanks to this new partnership, Ooredoos customers can now benefit from Atos industry leading experiences and solutions in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Cloud Transformation and also cybersecurity services.

Atos solutions cover Big Data, security, infrastructure and data management, business and platform solutions, unified communication and collaboration, and digital payments.

Were thrilled to become Ooredoos trusted digital partner. This new partnership means that Ooredoo will now be able to leverage our unique digital services portfolio and our extensive expertise and experience in ICT, Cloud and cybersecurity in order to offer its customers new enhanced services. Supported by our wide partner network, we are confident that Ooredoo now has the additional skills and experience to meet its customers demands and create further new business opportunities said Eric Grall, Senior Executive Vice-President and Head of Global Operations at Atos.

As Qatars organisations digitally transform, boardrooms need to modernise their technology infrastructure and information security. Mobile World Congress is an ideal event to announce Ooredoos partnership with Atos to provide our Qatar business customers with industry-leading solutions which can enhance businesses, and the daily lives of customers and citizens said Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, Chief Business Officer at Ooredoo.

Business customers adopting Ooredoos infrastructure as a service can move from a capex to opex model to optimise costs, redeploy IT staff to focus on business innovation, and access future-proof technologies. Ooredoos Security Services portfolio of cloud-based solutions provides comprehensive security monitoring, including Security Operations Centre, managed firewall, malware protection, email security, and DDoS mitigation.

In the near future, Ooredoo and Atos will examine potential collaboration in solutions across cybersecurity, virtual desktop services, application management, and operations, and Big Data and Analytics.

Business customers can leverage the Ooredoo Advantage, making Ooredoo Best for Business, thanks to its breadth and depth of talent, best fixed and mobile networks, broadest portfolio of ICT services and solutions, and trusted partner for 60 years.

***

About Atos

Atos is a global leader in digital transformation with 120,000 employees in 73 countries and annual revenue of  13 billion. European number one in Cloud, Cybersecurity and High-Performance Computing, the Group provides end-to-end Orchestrated Hybrid Cloud, Big Data, Business Applications and Digital Workplace solutions through its Digital Transformation Factory, as well as transactional services through Worldline, the European leader in the payment industry. With its cutting-edge technologies and industry knowledge, Atos supports the digital transformation of its clients across all business sectors. The Group is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic & Paralympic Games and operates under the brands Atos, Atos Syntel, Unify and Worldline. Atos is listed on the CAC40 Paris stock index.

Press contact:

Lucie Duchateau | lucie.duchateau@atos.net | +33 7 62 85 35 10

About Ooredoo

Ooredoo is Qatars leading communications company, delivering mobile, fixed, broadband internet and corporate managed services tailored to the needs of consumers and businesses. As a community-focused company, Ooredoo is guided by its vision of enriching peoples lives and its belief that it can stimulate human growth by leveraging communications to help people achieve their full potential.

For full details of all corporate plans, pricing and offers, ring the Ooredoo business team on 800 8000 or see ooredoo.qa/business.

Press contact:

Rita Yared | rita.yared@wallispr.com | +974 6656 9190

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Mannedorf, Switzerland, March 4, 2019  The Tecan Group (SIX Swiss Exchange: TECN) will hold an Analyst and Media Conference to discuss the full-year 2018 financial results on Monday, March 11, 2019 at 09:00 am CET in Zurich. The press release with the 2018 full-year financial results and a preprint of the Financial Report 2018 will be published on March 11, 2019 at 6:30 am CET.

The conference will be audio-webcast with synchronized presentation slides. A link to the webcast will be made available in the "Investor Relations" section of Tecan's website www.tecan.com immediately prior to the event.

Interested parties can also listen to the conference by phone.



The dial-in numbers for the call are as follows:

Participants from Europe: +41 58 310 50 00 or +44 207 107 0613 (UK)

Participants from the U.S.: +1 631 570 5613

Participants should if possible dial in 15 minutes before the start of the event.

A replay of the webcast will be available after the presentation on the website www.tecan.com for a period of 90 days. An iPad app for Financial Reports of the Tecan Group is also available from the App Store.





About Tecan

Tecan (www.tecan.com) is a leading global provider of laboratory instruments and solutions in biopharmaceuticals, forensics and clinical diagnostics. The company specializes in the development, production and distribution of automated workflow solutions for laboratories in the life sciences sector. Its clients include pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, university research departments, forensic and diagnostic laboratories. As an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), Tecan is also a leader in developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components that are then distributed by partner companies. Founded in Switzerland in 1980, the company has manufacturing, research and development sites in both Europe and North America and maintains a sales and service network in 52 countries. In 2017, Tecan generated sales of CHF 548 million (USD 560 million; EUR 494 million). Registered shares of Tecan Group are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (TECN; ISIN CH0012100191).





For further information:

Tecan Group

Martin Braendle

Vice President, Communications & Investor Relations

Tel. +41 (0) 44 922 84 30

Fax +41 (0) 44 922 88 89

investor@tecan.com

www.tecan.com

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What should we make of Senator Marco Rubios astonishing Twitter message threatening President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela with the same fate of torture-murder by broken bottle inserted into the anal cavity as suffered by Muammar Gaddafi, ruler of Libya for 43 years, in 2011?

We should make a great deal of it.

First, even by the anything-goes public obscenities and sheer, unlimited crassness of late 20th and 21th century American political culture, Rubios public threat is unprecedented.

Nazis behaved this way. Torturers and gangsters when they seize power on the small or enormous scale sometimes behave this way. Often, even they do not. The public excesses and brutalities of Al Capone, Dutch Schultz and Albert Anastasia from the 1920s to the 1950s were so great that even the other National Crime Syndicate bosses across America eventually washed their hands of them.

It is now clear that characters such as Lucky Luciano, the great mastermind of prostitution and heroin smuggling into America from the 1920s through the 1950s and Frank Costello, the so-called Prime Minister of the Underworld had more taste and restraint than the entire current membership of the United States Senate.

Luciano and Costello frowned on such behavior in public and actively restrained it, often by making lethal and permanent examples of perpetrators. Yet not a single current US senator has come out and condemned Rubio for making such a disgusting boastful public exhibition before the whole world.

Second, Rubio has revealed himself to be an ugly little bully. But he cannot be excluded by any means as a future national leader.

Rubio, who is intensely ambitious, ran for the presidency in 2016. He was vainly promoted by the mainstream American media or MSM as a credible candidate. Republican voters to their credit  even in his home state of Florida  did not buy it. Despite abundant funding, his campaign got nowhere. But it is by no means inconceivable that he could end up in the White House yet. At the very least, he could be a future vice presidential candidate. Just because he has revealed himself as contemptible before the entire world does not mean we should not take him seriously.

Thirdly, Rubio is not just an ugly little bully: He is also a tongue-tied coward. This is usually the case with bullies. Truly strong and formidable leaders often talk softly and soberly like Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan in the United States and Vladimir Putin in Russia. Motor mouth bullies like Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany before World War I and Italys Benito Mussolini in World War II invariably panic and fall apart when their blusters and bluff catch up with them.

We have already had a foreshadowing of this with Rubio. In the fall of 2015, in an early debate among Republican presidential candidates broadcast nationally, he was called out and reduced to incoherent blubbering and panic. Eventual Republican candidate Donald Trump did not have to do this. It was then governor of New Jersey Chris Christie who reduced Rubio to incoherence.

It is easy to make fun of Rubio, but the damage he is doing to the reputation of his own country around the world and to the crucial cause of world peace cannot be exaggerated.

In his vile Tweet, Rubio was seeking to establish a standing precedent not just of bullying but of threatening murder as a basic staple of US foreign policy.

Rubio probably did not even realize what he was doing, he has always been a cheap and superficial opportunist, eager to seize on the latest cliches and hysteria of the day to boost his visibility and win cheap popularity. Still, he seized on the murder of Gaddafi more than seven years ago and tried to use it to establish a precedent with which to threaten President Maduro today.

If Rubio were ever to end up as president or vice president of the United States, as secretary of state or US ambassador to the United Nations, all other world leaders would have real reason to fear US policy had escalated into regime change by assassination as a general principle.

If that were to happen, what had been routine policy disagreements between major nations on most issues would automatically become threats to existential survival. The danger of global war would escalate uncontrollably.

Far from joining forces to confront major global criminal and terrorist organizations, even the leading thermonuclear powers would be lining up to make alliances with such entities against their neighbors.

In fact, the United States was the great global pioneer in this too, when the OSS and then the CIA during and after World War II forged their enduring practical alliance with the Sicilian Mafia and the Neapolitan Camorra against revolutionary communism.

Rubio, it can be confidently concluded is entirely ignorant of all such concerns. Nothing matters for him but the applause of the moment and that he should be associated with a great foreign policy success: the toppling of the government of Venezuela. Any consideration of decency or restraint, let alone world peace is utterly alien to him.

The great German playwright Bertolt Brecht, who died more than 60 years ago in 1956, would have understood Rubio all too well. As Brecht asked, Why be a man when you can be a success?
President Trump has recently flown out of Hanoi, having failed to reach any sort of agreement in negotiations with President Kim of North Korea, who went back home by train, with his tail up and wagging  having laid a wreath at the mausoleum commemorating Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader who led his countrys fight for independence for so many years.

Trumps aerial departure from Hanoi wasnt on the same lines as Americas well-publicised flight from Vietnam in April 1975, when the last frantic evacuees were helicoptered out to sea from the US Embassy roof and President Gerald Ford told the American people and the world that after twenty years of hideous conflict, the Vietnam War was finished as far as America is concerned.

The exit from Vietnam was a departure of defeat, to be sure, but at least it signalled the end of US wars for a while, at least until Washingtons muscles flexed in 1983 and it invaded the Island of Grenada (population 90,000) because it didnt like its government and wanted, in the words of President Reagan, to restore order and democracy. The UN called the attack a flagrant violation of international law and the Security Council tried to stop it, but Washington used its veto to get out of that and then invaded Panama (population 2.3 million) in 1989, with President GHW Bush saying the main reason was The Panamanian people want democracy, peace, and the chance for a better life in dignity and freedom.

Americas invasive commitment to democracy and freedom has been reiterated over the years, before and during other wars, notably the catastrophes in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, and has been eerily echoed by President Trumps declaration that he stands with the people of Venezuela as they demand democracy, human rights, and prosperity denied to them by Maduro the president who is likely to die like other leaders in the unfortunate countries invaded by the freedom-loving military-industrial state in Washington.

We cant tell for sure if Donald Trump likes wars quite as much as his predecessors, because as with every other important policy matter he flicks from side to side, leaps backwards and forwards, and thoroughly confuses his country and the rest of the world about his intentions.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump was asked in a TV interview Have we wasted too much money over the past decade fighting wars? Has that been one of the biggest whereupon he interrupted and replied I don't mind fighting, but you have got to win and number one, we don't win wars, we just fight, we just fight. It's like a big  like you're vomiting, just fight, fight, fight [laughter from audience]. We don't win anything. I mean, if you're going to fight, you win and you get back to rebuilding the country. We don't win. Its really a terrible thing. I mean, our country used to win all the time. We don't win at all anymore.

The fact that he was voted into power after that piece of aggressive vulgarity is astonishing, but unfortunately it has to be taken seriously, because his statement seems to mean that he would like to show that under his presidency the Washington-Pentagon nexus will have his full backing to win all the time.

At the 55th Munich Security Conference, on 16-18 February, the Trump message to the world was not delivered directly, because he was at that time declaring a national emergency back home, stating We fight wars that are 6,000 miles away, wars that we should have never been in in many cases, but we dont control our own border. So we are going to confront the national-security crisis on our southern border. His speech then descended into rambling baloney, but the message was that he couldnt build a wall along the Mexican border because Congress would not allocate money, so he sent 6,000 troops to the border and announced that the situation merited declaration of a National Emergency. Little wonder that when his vice president told his Munich audience that Trump was a great man, there was a degree of shock. As the Washington Post reported, German Chancellor Merkel was followed to the podium by Vice President Pence, who was met with only tepid applause  and some incredulous looks  when he proclaimed Trump the leader of the free world.

Governments rolled their collective eyes at Pences Cold War reference to free world, but the declaration was even more bizarre than being old-fashioned malevolent jab at Russia, because many of Washingtons closest allies could not possibly be referred to as free. At the time of the Trump and Pence performances a UK Parliamentary panel was reported as stating that Female activists in Saudi Arabia are being detained in cruel and inhumane conditions that could be classified as torture under both international and Saudi law, a few days after Human Rights Watch observed that Saudi Arabia stands out for its extraordinarily high levels of repression.

But President Trump will not invade Saudi Arabia over human rights or anything else. Unfortunately he might decide to commit troops elsewhere, like Iran or Venezuela, if only to overcome his failure at the Hanoi talks and his puerile tomfoolery concerning the State of Emergency. Like all narcissists he craves approval and, above all, admiration. It is essential for him that his malevolence and arrogance are recognised as superiority, and there are few better means for a political leader to do this than by demonstrating military virility.

Trumps pronouncement that We fight wars that are 6,000 miles away, wars that we should have never been in in many cases is compelling in some ways, not the least being the mention of distance, as Venezuela is only 1300 miles from Miami . But his reasons for withdrawing from these conflicts are not based on international law or concern for human rights  hes doing it because he thinks it proves him to be a better leader than his presidential predecessors.

The only reason Trump would not engage in yet another catastrophic war is that such action might reflect badly on him. If he imagines there would be instant acclamation, gales of approving publicity, and an opportunity to strut the world stage as a knight in shining armour, then there will be a war somewhere.

On March 2, he gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, and was reported as having basked in adulation when he said You know Im totally off script right now and this is how I got elected, by being off script. And if we dont go off script, our countrys in big trouble, folks, because we have to get it back.

The President of the United States likes being off script which means he prefers to make up speeches as he goes along (as was painfully obvious during his ludicrous national emergency harangue) but his public avowal to continue being off-script goes further than that, because it means his actions and not just his words will continue to be unplanned.

Trump is not only narcissistic, blustering and foul-mouthed, he is a malevolent, poisonous posturer with a sense of neither decency nor moderation. War, to him, is merely another international venture whose success is gauged by his approval ratings.

The whole word, and not just Iran and Venezuela, should be prepared for the next erratic foray, because there is little doubt that the world is closer to war with Trump in the White House.
Are we Rome? The question has weighed heavily on the minds of American conservatives, libertarians and Catholics at their various conferences. Is America headed the way of the Roman empire? Bureaucratic decay, massive public debt, an overstretched military, a political system seemingly incapable of responding to challenges  the late Roman empire suffered these maladies, and so, some fear, does contemporary America, notes The American Conservative, a journal which has been pursuing this line diligently, and with a growing constituency, over a number of years. (Note that this is not the constituency of Vice-President Pence who represents an Evangelical, fundamentalist, literal insistence on imminent Redemption, with its Rapture politics).

The American Conservative rather warns:

If libertarians on the Right worry about structural collapse  cultural and religious conservatives add a moral and spiritual dimension to the debate. Rising hedonism, waning religious observance, ongoing break-up of the family, and a general loss of cultural coherence  to traditionalists, these are signs of a possible Dark Age ahead.

And this is their narrative in response to these fears: Around the year 500 (CE), a generation after the Franks deposed the last Roman Emperor, a young Umbrian man (i.e. hailing from a rural province in Italy), was sent to Rome by his wealthy parents to complete his education. However, disgusted at Romes decadence, he fled to the forest, to pray as a hermit.

His name was Benedict. And he went on to found a dozen monastic communities, and wrote his famous rules which are credited with having helped an earlier culture and its values survive in needy times. Professor Russell Hittinger summed up Benedicts lesson to the Dark Ages like this: How to live life as a whole. Not a life of worldly success, so much as one of human success.

And just how might a medieval monk be somehow relevant to our secular epoque? Because, says the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre, they show that it is possible to construct new forms of community within which the moral life could be sustained during a Dark Age  including perhaps, an age like our own.

MacIntyre offers the "disquieting suggestion" that the tenor of todays moral debate (its shrillness and its interminability) is the direct outcome of a catastrophe in our past: a catastrophe so great, that moral inquiry was very nearly obliterated from our culture and its vocabulary exorcised from our language. He refers to the European Enlightenment. What we possess today, he argues, are nothing more than fragments of an older tradition. And as a result, our moral discourse, which uses terms like good, and justice, and duty, has been robbed of the context that makes it intelligible.

For MacIntyre, Rod Dreher, the author of The Benedict Option writes: we too are living through a Fall of Rome-like catastrophe, one that is concealed by our liberty and prosperit. Dreher continues, In his influential 1981 book, After Virtue, MacIntyre argued that the Enlightenment project cut Western man off from his roots in tradition, but failed to produce a binding morality based on Reason alone. Plus, the Enlightenment extolled the autonomous individual. Consequently, we live in a culture of moral chaos and fragmentation in which many questions are simply impossible to settle. MacIntyre says that our contemporary world is a dark wood, and that finding our way back to the straight path will require establishing new forms of community.

The Benedict Option thus refers to [those] in contemporary America who cease to identify the continuation of civility and moral community with the maintenance of American Empire, and who therefore are keen to construct local forms of community as loci of Christian resistance against what the Empire represents. Put less grandly, the Benedict Option  or Ben Op  is an umbrella term for Christians [and American conservatives], who accept MacIntyres critique of modernity.

The Ben Op is no call to monasticism. It is envisaged, as it were, as a more practical way for this American constituency to manage being in, but not of, todays modernity. And where have we heard something like this before? Well  in Italian political philosopher, Julius Evolas post-war, reflections of a radical traditionalist  Men Among the Ruins  in which he argues for a defence and a resistance against the disorder of our age. It was the writings of Evola, and others of a similar ilk, who sustained Russian intellectuals through their dark ages of late communism and then, of full-blown neo-liberalism. Similar broad impulses helped impel the concept of Eurasianism (though its roots extend back to the 1920s in Russia).

The latter reflects the contemporary trend, manifested most particularly by Russia, but which reaches well beyond Russia, towards the endorsement of pluralism (the main plank in contemporary populism); or in other words, the diversity that precisely privileges ones culture, narratives, religiosity, and ties of blood, land and language. This notion comports exactly with MacIntyre's point that it is cultural tradition alone which provides sense to terms such as good, justice and telos. In the absence of traditions, moral debate is out of joint and becomes a theatre of illusions in which simple indignation and mere protest occupy centre stage.

The idea here, rather, is of a grouping of nations and communities, each reaching back to its primordial cultures and identities  i.e. America being American in its own American (or Russian, in its own) cultural way  and not permitting itself to be coerced into succumbing to the coercion of a diversity-shorn, cosmopolitan empire.

Clearly this sits ill at ease with the mainstream Americannotion of a compliant, rules-based globalist order. It is a clear rejection too, of the idea that melting pot cosmopolitanism can procreate any true identity, or any moral grounding. For, without the notion of telos (directionality, and purposiveness to human life) serving as a means for moral triangulation, moral value judgments lost their factual character. And, of course, if values become factless, then no appeal to facts can ever settle disagreements over values.

Dreher is explicit about this radical opposition. He says of Ben Op, you might even say that its a story about the progressive possibilities of tradition, and a return to roots  in defiance of a rootless age.

And just to be clear, US conservatives who think they have found an easy ally in MacIntyre, fail to attend to his understanding of the kind of politics necessary to sustain the virtues [any quality that is required for discharging one's path in life].

MacIntyre makes clear that his problem with most forms of contemporary conservatism is that conservatives mirror the fundamental characteristics of liberalism. The conservative commitment to a way of life structured by a free market results in an individualism, and in particular a moral psychology, that is as antithetical to the tradition of the virtues as is liberalism. Conservatives and liberals, moreover, both try to employ the power of the modern state to support their positions in a manner alien to MacIntyres understanding of the social practices necessary for the common good.

What is so interesting to an outsider, is how the Ben Ops author, Dreher, situates it within the US political context:

Many of us on the Right who have been dismayed by the Trumpening (sic), and have been hard hit by the Kavanaugh debacle, have concluded that [nonetheless], we have no choice but to vote Republican this November  if only out of self-defense. (He refers to November 2018) But let me quote two passages from The Benedict Option: The cultural Leftwhich is to say, the American mainstream has no intention of living in post-war peace. It is pressing forward with a harsh, relentless occupation, one that is aided by the cluelessness of Christians [i.e. those mirroring liberalism], who dont understand whats happening. Dont be fooled: the upset presidential victory of Donald Trump has at best given us a bit more time to prepare for the inevitable (emphasis added). [Those] who believe that politics alone will be sufficient  are not going to be prepared for whats going to come when the Republicans lose the White House and/or Congress, which is inevitable. Our politics have become so sulfurous that there will be a vicious backlash, and that backlash will fall primarily on social and religious conservatives. When the Democrats regain power, conservative Christians are going to be in very bad shape.

The Ben Op, in other words, is another important window into what Professor Mike Vlahos has described as the gathering, next chapter to Americas unresolved civil war: America today fissuring into two visions of the nations future way of life: Red virtue imagines a continuity of family and community within a publicly affirmed national community. Blue virtue imagines personally chosen communities mediated through the individuals relationship with the state. So, even though these two divided visions of America have been opposed for decades, and so far have controlled the urge to violence, there is in their bitter contest [of today] a sense of gathering movement toward an ultimate decision.

Today, two righteous paths are gridlocked in opposition  Red and Blue already represent an irreparable religious schism, deeper in doctrinal terms even than the 16th-century Catholic-Protestant schism. The war here, is over which faction successfully captures the (social media) flag, as true inheritor of American virtue. Both perceive themselves as champions of national renewal, of cleansing corrupted ideals, and of truly fulfilling Americas promise. Both fervently believe that they alone  own virtue.

We might conclude that this Ben Op is just a uniquely American manifestation, of little wider import to the world at large. But if we did, we would wrong. Firstly, Macintyre traces the moral tradition from its origin in Traditionalist Homeric literature (i.e. to its Pre-socratic roots) and to this heroic society becoming the repository for moral stories about eternal values: Narratives that have the peculiar ability of becoming embodied in the life of the community that cherishes them. And seeing community per seas a character of sorts, in an historically-extended, moral narrative.

In other words, Ben Op is not founded exclusively in Christianity at all. Rather, MacIntyre suggests that narrative provides a better explanation for the unity of a particular human life. The self has continuity because it has played the single and central character in a particular story: the narrative of a person's life. He puts it this way: "In occupying these roles we simultaneously become subplots in the stories of others' lives, just as they have become subplots in ours. In this way, the life stories of members of a community are enmeshed and intertwined. This entanglement of our stories is the fabric of communal life  For the story of my life is always embedded in the story of those communities from which I derive my identity". Here, we are being directly returned to Homer.

But secondly, we would be missing something essential which links the Ben Op impulse to the wider push-back against todays millenarian globalists who root their redemption in a teleological process of melting away cultural identity, of making ethnicity and gender matters of personal choice (and therefore never definitive).

This critique, coming from an important American conservative constituency which votes Trump yet is aware of his drawbacks, is one that may resonate more widely with other non-American constituencies. But as Rod Dreher, who initiated this campaign as far back as 2006 notes, its members in fact already comprehend its wider import. Dreher says:
Danish English

ANNOUNCEMENT

A.P. Mller - Mrsk A/S  Proposal for election of new members for the Board of Directors

At the ordinary Annual General Meeting which will be held on 2 April 2019, Dorothee Blessing, Niels Bjrn Christiansen and Arne Karlsson will stand down from the Board of Directors.

Furthermore, Robert Routs and Jan Leschly will stand down from the Board of Directors.

The Board proposes re-election of Dorothee Blessing, Niels Bjrn Christiansen and Arne Karlsson.

Furthermore, the Board of Directors proposes that Bernard L. Bot and Marc Engel are elected as new members of the Board of Directors.

Bernard L. Bot (born 1966) is a Dutch national and holds a MSc in Economics from Erasmus University, Rotterdam and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business, USA. Since 2016, Bernard Bot has held the position as CFO of Travelport Worldwide Ltd., headquartered in the United Kingdom. Prior to 2016, Bernard Bot has held CFO positions at Aer Lingus Plc, TNT Express NV and TNT NV. From 1992-2005 he was at McKinsey & Company, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, latterly as partner.

Marc Engel (born 1966) is a Dutch national and holds a MSc in Applied Physics from Groningen University, Groningen, the Netherlands. Since 2016, Marc Engel has held the position as Chief Supply Chain Officer and member of the Unilever Leadership Executive, Unilever Plc, UK. Prior to his current position, Marc Engel had an executive leadership role in Unilevers East Africa business where he was responsible for laying the foundations for accelerated growth. From 2008 to 2014, Marc Engel held the position as Chief Procurement Officer in Unilever. In addition to his current position, Marc Engel is Non-Executive Director in PostNL N.V. and Advisory Board Member in AndGreen Fund.

I am delighted to welcome Bernard Bot and Marc Engel to the Board of Directors of A. P. Mller - Mrsk. Bernard and Marc add critical capabilities to the board in line with our strategic priorities to become the global integrator of container logistics, says Jim Hagemann Snabe, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Bernard L. Bot will contribute with an international outlook and experience within the transport and logistics sector and global business-to-business technology enterprises as well as financial expertise.

Marc Engel brings experience in supply-chain operations, procurement, logistics, finance and strategy development.

Copenhagen, 4 March 2019.

Contact person:

Executive Vice President, Lars-Erik Brene, tel. +45 3363 3607

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In most of Iraq, especially Baghdad, the last four months have been the most peaceful since early 2014. There is still Islamic terrorism activity in Anbar province and other areas near the Syrian border but that has not, as in the past, spread to major cities like Baghdad and Basra. There are still regular public protests in Basra over the lack of infrastructure and basic services (like collecting garbage on a regular basis and basic police services). The federal budget still concentrates on salaries for a lot more government employees than are needed and fringe benefits for corrupt politicians. Moreover maintaining that budget is dependent on oil prices remaining above $55 a barrel and production being close to four million barrels a day. Meanwhile, Iraq is desperate for foreign help for reconstruction.

Foreign aid for reconstruction is only available in token amounts because the government is still unable to halt the massive theft of foreign aid. What is available continues to face blatant and often violent attempts to steal the aid. Neighbors are willing to provide large investments, which are not free and can be protected by diplomatic and other threats. Thus Turkey is pledging $5 billion in investments that can be protected via the usual military and economic threats. That tends to persuade the corrupt Iraqi officials to look elsewhere for something to plunder. Jordan and Saudi Arabia are increasing trade connections. Jordan is perpetually broke but can provide low tariffs and transit fees for Iraqi goods. Saudi Arabia has a lot more cash and has promised investment and trade. To that end, the Saudis are building a new border crossing and restoring major access for the first time since 1990 (when Saddam Hussein seized Kuwait and threatened to move into Saudi Arabia as well). The Saudis are seeking to provide Iraq with an economic alternative to Iran, which took advantage of the closed Saudi border after 2003 and greatly increased trade with Iraq (both legal and illegal). Many Iraqis, including most Shia Arabs, prefer that. The new border crossing will also include a hospital and university, to provide health and educational aid to Iraq.

No one is sure how many ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) members have fled to Iraq during the last six months as ISIL controlled territory in eastern Syria shrank to a small part of a border town that is surrounded by Kurdish SDF rebels. Iraq believes that as many as a thousand ISIL members have made it across the border since late 2018. This information was obtained from those who were killed or captured during the crossing. That intel indicates that these ISIL survivors included a lot of senior personnel and apparently a large quantity of cash and other valuables (gold and other portable high-value loot). There have been more ISIL attacks on civilians in Anbar Province and between Anbar and Mosul. There have been more energetic security efforts by local militias to defend their towns and villages, especially with ISIL using more suicide bomber attacks in addition to the kidnappings and assassinations.

The local militias are also part of an effort to defend Sunni Arabs from Iran backed PMF (Peoples Mobilization Forces) who serve as security forces in most of the Sunni Arab parts of Iraq that the PMF helped free of ISIL control. The United States is demanding that the Iraqi government disband or discipline armed pro-Iran groups in Iraq (especially if they are PMF) that use violence against Iraqi civilians and threaten to do the same to foreign troops. The NATO forces, particularly the Americans, can defend themselves from PMF violence but the Sunni Arab civilians being policed by PMF militias have less attractive options. The best way these civilians can fight back is to form armed militias and tolerate continued ISIL recruiting and operations in their neighborhoods if those ISIL groups leave civilians alone. The new arrivals from Syria are inclined to terrorize local civilians into cooperating with ISIL.

This is why ISIL continues to operate in Anbar and Kirkuk even though the local Sunni Arab tribes led the fight against ISIL in Anbar and Kirkuk was free of ISIL problems when the Kurds ran local security. That ended in late 2017 when the government used PMF as well as regular troops to drive the Kurds out of Kirkuk province and replace them with pro-Iran PMF. The Kurds are still better at keeping ISIL out of Kurdish controlled areas. That means ISIL concentrates more effort on terrorizing areas where there is no Kurdish security in charge.

Iran backed PMF militias are also having trust issues. A growing number of PMF members are losing belief in the superiority of the Iranian Shia religious dictatorship. Over a year of increasing popular protests against the Iranian government has not gone unnoticed. Iran has ordered that the Iraqi PMF units purge their ranks of members who appear to have lost their willingness to do whatever they are ordered to do (like trying to overthrow the Iraqi government or attack Iraqi or foreign troops). This includes attacks on PMF units that were never (or no longer) controlled by Iranian advisors or reliable Iraqi Shia Arabs.

The Anbar Treasure Hunt

In Anbar, there is also something of a treasure hunt for the rumored ISIL cash and valuables moved out of Syria. There is supposed to be over $100 million worth of this stuff but so far it is only a rumor. None of this loot has yet been found or if it has no one is admitting it. If there is a lot of ISIL treasure in Anbar it is not being made available to recent ISIL arrivals from Syria. These armed refugees quickly turned to banditry to sustain themselves. Kidnapping for ransom has long been a staple of Islamic terrorist financing. The downside is if this kidnapping threat does not terrorize the locals (as intended) it is energizing local resistance. This is what is happening in Anbar and is turning an armed Sunni Arab population against ISIL in a lethal (for ISIL) fashion.

The local Sunni Arab tribes in Anbar would rather be fighting the Iran backed Shia PMF. Those PMF units have other problems. Iranian efforts to get all foreign (especially Turks in the north and NATO, especially American, all over) out of the country are running into a lot of resistance from Shia Arabs. A majority of Iranian Shia Arabs always opposed Iranian domination of Iraq and now that majority is growing and preparing to a possible civil war with Iraqi Shia Arabs who support Iranian domination even to the extent of establishing a religious dictatorship like Iran has had since the 1980s. Iran is at a disadvantage here because back in Iran a growing number of Iranians are calling for the end of the Iranian religious dictatorship. At the same time, that same Iranian government continues to persecute its own Arab minority, as it has done for centuries. The true treasure of Anbar may be a decisive defeat of pro-Iran PMF forces there.

February 25, 2019: In the west (Anbar province), the local government admitted that it had paid ISIL $300,000 ransom to free 30 civilians the Islamic terrorists had kidnapped for ransom. The security forces tried and failed to find and rescue the captives and ISIL threatened to start killing the captives if the cash was not delivered. ISIL has already carried out the death threat in other recent kidnapping cases. The largely Sunni Arab population of Anbar resents the pro-Iran Shia militias that are supposed to be fighting ISIL but seem to spend a lot of time terrorizing the local Sunni Arabs, especially the tribal militias that are fighting ISIL.

February 24, 2019: In eastern Syria, the Kurdish SDF has captured some 500 Iraqi ISIL members. At least the SDF believes they are Iraqi (based on accent, mainly) and is seeking to get Iraq to take all of them and prosecute. The U.S. is helping with this effort by providing biometric identification equipment that generates ID data compatible with what the U.S. and Iraqis have on known ISIL members. So far 280 of these SDF ISIL members have been confirmed as wanted for terrorist activity and Iraq is willing to take and prosecute them. This is not an attractive prospect for these ISIL captives because Iraq will execute ISIL members found guilty of murder and other serious crimes. NATO nations are also seeking to have Iraq prosecute ISIL prisoners who came from NATO countries (including the U.S.) and committed crimes that Iraq knows about. Iraq is willing to do this because they know that European courts will be much easier on ISIL members. That often means a short jail sentence and then these killers are back on the street again and may well return to Iraq. France recently persuaded Iraq to accept and prosecute 13 Frenchmen who had joined ISIL. Iraq already has hundreds of ISIL captives from foreign countries and is prosecuting all of them, including some ISIL wives who also committed atrocities. Meanwhile, Iraqi security forces are arresting a lot more suspected ISIL members near the Syrian border, especially in Mosul, which is still seen as a good hideout for ISIL men who know their way around the city. Many of the ISIL members now fleeing Syria had fled to Syria in late 2018 as Iraqi forces followed up on the liberation of Mosul from ISIL rune in 2017. The returnees include many notorious ISIL leaders who responsible for a lot of death and destruction in Iraq. These are sought and often found among the new faces showing up in Mosul and surrounding areas.

February 22, 2019: The United States has agreed to keep a small (a few hundred) force of peacekeepers in Syria after most of the current 2,000 advisors and Special Forces troops are withdrawn. The peacekeepers would make it more difficult for Iranian or Turkish forces to misbehave without risking intervention by American forces in neighboring countries. This is a relief to Iraqi Kurds, who still have plenty of such American assistance in northern Iraq and have been told that there will always be some American troops in northern Iraq as long as it is necessary.

February 20, 2019: In the west (Anbar province), American troops continue to occupy positions just across the border in Syria at the Tanf border crossing. This key crossing is near the Jordan border. With the American forces present, there is a 55 kilometers deconfliction zone on the Syrian side maintained by American forces. Any unwelcome military forces (Russian, Syrian and Iranian) are banned from entering this zone without permission and occasional violations have all been met with lethal force. The unwelcome are unhappy about this and have expressed their feelings by not allowing supplies to reach the American run refugee camp within the zone. Most of the 50,000 Syrian refugees are women and children and the U.S. has to bring in all the supplied from Iraq.

February 11, 2019: In southern Syria (Golan Heights), Israeli tank fire destroyed what turned out to be an Iranian observation post near the Israeli border. Two Iranians died in that attack. Apparently as a result of this attack and several recent airstrikes on Iranian bases in Syria Iran has pulled back its forces from the Israeli border. These forces are being moved to bases closer to the Iraq border, making it easier to move them into Iraq if necessary. If Iran sets up missile launchers in Iraq aimed at Israel the Israelis would bomb them and the Iraqis now it do not want to get involved in that sort of thing. Syrian army forces could be seen coming in to replace the departed Iranian troops. The official Iraqi policy is to oppose such Israeli airstrikes against Iranian bases but the reality is they would have plenty of incentive to not do so.

February 4, 2019: In the north (Duhok province), Turkey reopened a key border crossing it had closed for 13 days because of an upsurge of PKK activity in the area.
TICKERS: NUAG; NUPMF

Source: Streetwise Reports (3/4/19)

The company reported 190 out of 195 drill holes have shown near-surface silver mineralization.



We are barely into the third month of the year, but New Pacific Metals Corp. (NUAG:TSX.V; NUPMF:OTCQX) has been moving nonstop, announcing major land expansion news and off-the-charts drill results.

In January, the company announced a major land expansion of its Silver Sand project in Bolivia though an agreement with Corporacion Minera de Bolivia (COMIBOL) granting New Pacific the right to carry out exploration, mining and production on lands adjoining Silver Sand.

The Mining Production Contract (MPC) is for a total of 56.9 square kilometers, a many-fold increase from the original 3 square kilometer Silver Sand land package.

"Silver Sand is a significant discovery." - Joe Reagor, ROTH Capital Partners



"It was the most significant mining transaction Bolivia has concluded in more than 10 years," Gordon Neal, president of New Pacific Metals, told Streetwise Reports. "The MPC is a first of its kind agreement between a public resource company and the Bolivian government."

New Pacific released drill results from Silver Sand. It has drilled 55,000 meters in 195 holes and has released assay results in stages. The first release covered 98 holes, and mineralization was found in 94 of the 98. This news was followed by the release of the remaining 97 holes; near-surface mineralization was found in 190 of the total 195 holes.

"The results have been impressive," Neal stated. "Mineralization starts near surface; the average width of the mineralized intercepts is about 60 meters, which is enormous, and if you average all the grade and use a cut off of 40 g/t silver, it's about 100 g/t silver. It's a recipe for a very large bulk-minable situation; it essentially starts at surface and goes down 300 to 350 meters."

The company has budgeted $10 million to drill another 50,000 meters this year on the core Silver Sand property. It noted in the Feb. 20 press release, "Assay results of surface sampling of hundreds of artisanal mining dumps and continuous chip-sampling from artisanal underground mining tunnels reveal the silver mineralized fracture zones could extend at least by 3,000m to the north and 500m to the west and the east, as well as extending up to 1,000 m to the south of the areas drilled in 2018. These newly identified extensions of the mineralized fracture zones will be the targets of the continuing drilling program in 2019 once the rainy season ends by the end of March."

"These were exceptional results that argue for a massive silver resource." - Brien Lundin, Gold Newsletter



In addition, New Pacific "will be drilling on the COMIBOL land also this year. We have to spent $6 million on exploration on that land over the next five years; our plan is to spend about $2 million this year. We've already begun to do fieldwork and sampling on that land." Neal stated.

The company noted that it is applying for permits on the COMIBOL land and that drill program "will commence once the drilling permits are granted by local authorities in two to three months."

Although the land is fairly remote, Neal explained that there are secondary roads and the government has indicated that it has plans to build a new road close to Silver Sand. "If we want to build a mill, there is power and water for that; in fact, there is tin mine about 3 km away and it's fully powered up."

New Pacific has found the Bolivian government supportive of its mining efforts. "I have worked in the highest levels of government, in the Prime Minister's office in Canada, under the old Trudeau, and I have never worked with a government that is so determined to prove that it is open for mining investment," Neal relayed.

Industry observers have their eye on New Pacific. Analyst Joe Reagor of ROTH Capital Partners wrote on Jan. 22, after the release of the first drill results, "We believe the results confirmed our expectations that the company has a significant silver discovery in Bolivia. We believe the company will take the next step to pursue an initial resource estimate while simultaneously targeting additional zones on the property in 2019."

And after the second release of assay results, in a Feb. 20 report, Reagor stated, "NUAG released its final 97 drill holes from its 2018 drill campaign at Silver Sand. Grades and thicknesses were consistent with the averages seen in the first 98 drill holes released in January, which we believe supports our view that Silver Sand is a significant discovery. . . Average grade and interval length add support to our resource expectations."

ROTH capital maintains a Buy rating and CA$3 target price on New Pacific. Shares are currently trading at around CA$2.28.

Brien Lundin, in the February issue of Gold Newsletter, noted that the drill results "were well worth the wait. . . These assays give a sense of the tremendous scope of the Silver Sand project. Company founder Rui Feng is not one to pursue small projects, and this one is no exception. These were exceptional results that argue for a massive silver resource."

Rui Feng is chairman and CEO of Silvercorp Metals Inc., in addition to being CEO and a director of New Pacific.

New Pacific Metals has about 132 million shares issued and outstanding and about 146 million shares fully diluted. In November 2017, Pan American Silver Corp. and Silvercorp Metals Inc. made a strategic investment in New Pacific of $27 million.

"It's steady ahead now for New Pacific," Neal stated. "We are cashed up. We are going to keep drilling and I suspect that we're going to put out a resource by early next year."

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

1) Patrice Fusillo compiled this article for Streetwise Reports LLC and provides services to Streetwise Reports as an employee. She or members of her household own securities of the following companies mentioned in the article: None. She or members of her household are paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: None. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Comments and opinions expressed are those of the specific experts and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

4) The article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of New Pacific Mining, a company mentioned in this article.

Additional Disclosures

Disclosures from ROTH Capital Partners, New Pacific Metals Corp., Company Note, February 20, 2019

Regulation Analyst Certification ("Reg AC"): The research analyst primarily responsible for the content of this report certifies the following under Reg AC: I hereby certify that all views expressed in this report accurately reflect my personal views about the subject company or companies and its or their securities. I also certify that no part of my compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly, related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this report.

An Associated Person owns debt or equity securities of New Pacific Metals Corp.

Shares of New Pacific Metals Corp. and Silvercorp Metals Inc. may be subject to the Securities and Exchange Commission's Penny Stock Rules, which may set forth sales practice requirements for certain low-priced securities.

ROTH makes a market in shares of Silvercorp Metals Inc. and as such, buys and sells from customers on a principal basis.

ROTH Capital Partners, LLC expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking or other business relationships with the covered companies mentioned in this report in the next three months.

Gold Newsletter Disclosures: The publisher and its affiliates, officers, directors and owner actively trade in investments discussed in this newsletter. They may have positions in the securities recommended and may increase or decrease such positions without notice. The publisher is not a registered investment advisor. Authors of articles or special reports are sometimes compensated for their services.
TICKERS: LIO; LOMLF

Source: Clive Maund for Streetwise Reports (3/4/19)

Technical analyst Clive Maund explains why he believes both the fundamental and technical outlooks for this company look strong.



Lion One Metals Ltd. (LIO:TSX.V; LOMLF:OTCQX) is certainly showing signs that it is turning up here, and so it should given the company's steadily improving fundamentals and the brightening outlook for the sector, notwithstanding any modest near-term correction. Links to articles about the company's improving fundamental situation will be added to this article later, but notable developments include the company undertaking its own drilling operations, thus saving money, performing assay work locally on Fiji and setting up a solar power facility to power its operations.

BREAKING NEWS: QUINTON HENNIGH TO BECOME LION ONE TECHNICAL ADVISOR. Hennigh was the driving force behind Novo Resources, which as we know turned out to be a spectacular investment for early buyers.

On the latest 6-month chart we can see that "something is going on" because Lion One broke sharply higher on good volume in January and has since been consolidating in what looks like a bull Flag that has allowed the earlier overbought condition to partially unwind and the 50-day moving average to close up the gap with the price somewhat and with the falling 200-day moving averagethis is thus a setup that will lead to a bullish cross of the moving averages on the next upleg, the so-called "Golden Cross," which normally marks the start of a new bull market.



The 3-year is useful and interesting as it enables us to see in its entirety the grueling downtrend that started in AugustSeptember of 2016 and has persisted to this day, so it has been going on now for well over two and a half years, and the odd thing about this is that the company has been making great strides towards its objectives during this period, but you wouldn't think so to look at the chart.

We therefore have a situation now that is explosively bullishand the good news for buyers here is that even after the sharp rally in January, the stock still hasn't broken out of this downtrend, so the news that Quinton Hennigh is getting involved should really light a fire under it. Here we should recall that many stocks had a big run-up during the first half of 2016, only to slope off into a long downtrend after the summer, but the difference between Lion One and many of them is the improvement in its fundamental situation that include the construction of an assay lab on Fiji which is nearing completion, the construction of a hybrid solar-diesel power plant to power the company's operations and the purchase of drilling equipment to facilitate further exploration at the company's properties.



The long-term 18-year chart is also interesting as it shows us that Lion One has had a long build-up to its soon to be enviable situation with its stock having made no net gain over the yearsa situation that we can expect to change very much for the better going forward, and a breakout by gold into a major new bull market soon, as looks likely, will be the "cherry on the cake."



Lion One website.

Lion One Metals, LIO.V, LOMLF on OTC, closed at C$0.50, $0.386 on 28th February 19.

Clive Maund has been president of www.clivemaund.com, a successful resource sector website, since its inception in 2003. He has 30 years' experience in technical analysis and has worked for banks, commodity brokers and stockbrokers in the City of London. He holds a Diploma in Technical Analysis from the UK Society of Technical Analysts.

[NLINSERT]

Disclosure:

1) Clive Maund: I, or members of my immediate household or family, own shares of the following companies mentioned in this article: None. I personally am, or members of my immediate household or family are, paid by the following companies mentioned in this article: None. My company has a financial relationship with the following companies mentioned in this article: None. CliveMaund.com disclosures below. I determined which companies would be included in this article based on my research and understanding of the sector.

2) The following companies mentioned in this article are billboard sponsors of Streetwise Reports: Lion One. Click here for important disclosures about sponsor fees.

3) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of the author and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. The author is wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. The author was not paid by Streetwise Reports for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article. The information provided above is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports requires contributing authors to disclose any shareholdings in, or economic relationships with, companies that they write about. Streetwise Reports relies upon the authors to accurately provide this information and Streetwise Reports has no means of verifying its accuracy.

4) This article does not constitute investment advice. Each reader is encouraged to consult with his or her individual financial professional and any action a reader takes as a result of information presented here is his or her own responsibility. By opening this page, each reader accepts and agrees to Streetwise Reports' terms of use and full legal disclaimer. This article is not a solicitation for investment. Streetwise Reports does not render general or specific investment advice and the information on Streetwise Reports should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Streetwise Reports does not endorse or recommend the business, products, services or securities of any company mentioned on Streetwise Reports.

5) From time to time, Streetwise Reports LLC and its directors, officers, employees or members of their families, as well as persons interviewed for articles and interviews on the site, may have a long or short position in securities mentioned. Directors, officers, employees or members of their immediate families are prohibited from making purchases and/or sales of those securities in the open market or otherwise from the time of the interview or the decision to write an article until three business days after the publication of the interview or article. The foregoing prohibition does not apply to articles that in substance only restate previously published company releases.

Charts provided by the author.

CliveMaund.com Disclosure:

The above represents the opinion and analysis of Mr Maund, based on data available to him, at the time of writing. Mr. Maund's opinions are his own, and are not a recommendation or an offer to buy or sell securities. Mr. Maund is an independent analyst who receives no compensation of any kind from any groups, individuals or corporations mentioned in his reports. As trading and investing in any financial markets may involve serious risk of loss, Mr. Maund recommends that you consult with a qualified investment advisor, one licensed by appropriate regulatory agencies in your legal jurisdiction and do your own due diligence and research when making any kind of a transaction with financial ramifications. Although a qualified and experienced stock market analyst, Clive Maund is not a Registered Securities Advisor. Therefore Mr. Maund's opinions on the market and stocks can only be construed as a solicitation to buy and sell securities when they are subject to the prior approval and endorsement of a Registered Securities Advisor operating in accordance with the appropriate regulations in your area of jurisdiction.
Bay of Plenty

We are looking for a storeman with an OSH forklift license. You will need to be physically for as the job is about 70% forklift...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz
The Government plans to stop the practice of ticket scalping.

Measures planned include a price cap on resale tickets, enforcing rules around information that needs to be disclosed to better inform consumers, and banning ticket-buying bots, says Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The Commerce Commission received more than 400 complaints since 2017 about Viagogo alone, making it the most complained about trader during that time.

We all know people who have bought tickets to the big concerts, sporting events and festivals who have not been able to attend because the tickets were fake or were duplicates.

Its not just big international events that are the issue  these practices also affect our local cultural sector. Ive heard that the Upper Hutt Musical Theatres production of Blood Brothers had tickets on Viagogo advertised for $135  thats $105 more than what the original ticket price.

Its fundamentally unfair that people are profiting while our arts and culture sector is short-changed and consumers are being scammed."

Consumer Affairs Minister Kris Faafoi says he's also concerned about professional scalpers using ticket bots to buy up large quantities of tickets online and then reselling them at hugely inflated prices.

Concern about this practice has already resulted in bots being banned in the United States, the United Kingdom and in New South Wales, Australia  so it seems entirely appropriate we should also be looking to end this practice in New Zealand.

While misleading and deceptive behaviour is already prohibited under the Fair Trading Act, I am concerned that this doesnt go far enough towards protecting consumers, says Kris.
Madison School district staffers do not need copious hours of training to be able to carry concealed weapons in school, according to Butler County Judge Charles Pater.Both sides in the case asked Pater to interpret two laws governing guns in schools."The plaintiff's proposed reading of the statute is untenable based upon the context of the statute," Pater wrote in his decision. "The phrase at issue, 'a position in which such person goes armed while on duty' in context, must refer to 'persons otherwise privately employed in a police capacity.'... Clearly teachers, administrators, administrative assistants and custodians, along with most, if not all, other school employees are not employed by educational institutions in such capacity, unlike someone such as a school resource officer who is."At issue is the number of hours the armed teachers and staffers would have to train, the 27 in the district's policy or the more than 728 required of peace officers. The parents also sought all documentation -- and were successful in getting -- associated with the gun policy.When asked about an appeal, Rachel Bloomekatz, a Columbus-based attorney with Gupta Wessler PLLC, who serves as co-counsel along with Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, said "we're considering all our options.""We're pleased the court recognized that Madison parents have a right to critical details about the district's program that the board had tried to keep secret from parents, like the terms of the policy itself and how it is being implemented. Much of what we learned is that the board is not following what it told the public," Bloomekatz said. "At the same time, we respectfully disagree with the court's ruling, which means that under state law, teachers and other staff can go armed all day, every day at school with Ohio's kids after having completed as little as eight hours of training -- six of which can be completed online... As Governor DeWine has said, it is clear that teachers should have more than concealed carry training before bringing guns to school."A statement by the school district says they are grateful for the judge's decision and all along they have had the community's best interests in mind."The board respects that the plaintiffs who brought this lawsuit might hold different opinions, but hopes that they will pursue other avenues than litigation to effect change in the future," the statement reads. "The board will continue doing what we believe is in the best interest of our community. Our primary concern has been and continues to be the safety of our students, and what works for our community may not work for others. While this policy has received a substantial amount of attention, it is just one of many steps that have been taken to ensure student safety."
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - We just spent the last three weeks searching for the best fish fry served at a restaurant in Central New York.

But were not done with you yet, fish fry.

During the 40 days of Lent, which starts Wednesday, fire departments, churches, civic centers and other organizations across Central New York will open their doors to the public for Friday fish fries.

Important note: For this search, were looking only for pop-up fish fry dinners served at community centersnot restaurants, supermarkets or seafood stores. Unlike our usual Best of CNY searches, there will not be a judges choice winner. This contest will be entirely decided by your votes. Fish fries for the people, decided by the people.

Nominate your favorite fish fry spot in the comment section or on our Facebook page. You can also tweet us @syracusedotcom, using the #BestOfCNY hashtag. We are not accepting nominations by email, phone, letter or Facebook message.

Please be sure to include the name and location of your favorite fish fry.

Only places in Onondaga, Oneida, Oswego, Cayuga, Seneca, Cortland, Tompkins and Madison counties are eligible to be nominated.

You have until Sunday, March 10 at 11:59 p.m. to nominate your favorite. The four community fish fries with the most nominations advance to the finals. The readers choice winner will be crowned later this month.

Add your nominations in the comments!
CORTLANDVILLE, N.Y. -- A 68-year-old man died early Monday morning in a Cortland County crash involving a TLC ambulance, according to the New York State police.

A TLC ambulance was heading south on I-81 this morning with its emergency lights activated, heading to an emergency call. It slowed to make a U-turn near Exit 10.

At the time, the 68-year-old man from Lysander was driving a 2019 Nissan Rogue in the left lane and struck the ambulance on its drivers side door.

After the impact, the ambulance crew immediately checked on the man, who was unresponsive, and began trying to treat him until another ambulance arrived, police said.

The man was taken to the Cortland Regional Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead, according to State Police.

State police arrived at the scene around 6:43 a.m.

Police said the investigation is pending.

The victims name has not been released. No tickets have been issued at the moment, police said.

Editors note: The article originally said the man who died was from Baldwinsville. He was from Lysander, state police said.
RICHLAND, N.Y. -- An Oswego County man was arrested Sunday after a state police received a medical report showing the mans German Shepherd had starved to death.

Troopers found the dead dog outside in a garbage bag when they responded Feb. 20 for a report of possible animal abuse, according to a state police news release.

The dogs owner, Anthony M. Scott, told the troopers the German Shepherd had stopped eating and had died two days earlier. Scott explained that he was financially unable to bring the dog to a veterinarian, state police said.

The troopers and a town of Albion animal control officer say they also found three other dogs alive inside the home, each housed in a small crate covered in their own feces, state police said. Scott agreed to turn those dogs over to the custody of Paws Across Oswego County.

Scott, 30, of 899 county Route 48, Richland, is now facing four counts of the New York Agriculture and Markets Law accusing him of over-driving, torturing and injuring animals, and failure to provide proper sustenance, all misdemeanors.

A local veterinarian from North Country Veterinary Services released a medical report on Friday about the German Shepherd who had died. The report stated the dog had no food in its stomach and had died due to starvation, state police said.

Scott was arrested on animal cruelty charges Sunday. He was issued an appearance ticket and is scheduled to appear at 6 p.m. April 1 in Albion Town Court.
Franklin Graham, the 66-year-old son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, is coming to the St. Josephs Health Amphitheater at Lakeview in Geddes in May.

Graham will be in the Syracuse area for a one-night prayer and evangelism event at 7:30 p.m. May 30 as part of a seven-city tour in the Northeast, which runs May 19-30, according to the evangelists website.

Organizers of the Franklin Graham Decision America Northeast Tour are holding a local kick-off meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the Sheraton Syracuse University. The kickoff event is let people meet fellow believers and learn how they can get involved, organizers said.

The Decision America Tour started in 2016 and is taking Graham to all 50 states. The tour has included speeches in support of Donald Trump and the Republican candidates for Congress.

Graham has said Trump supports the Christian faith and has been a changed person since he took office.

Graham became chief executive officer of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association in 2000 and president of the group in 2001. Billy Graham died in February 2018. As the eldest son of Billy Graham, Franklin Graham is carrying on his fathers legacy.

As a speaker and author, he regularly calls on his listeners to stand up for Biblical values.

Franklin Graham has been in the news recently after he praised the United Methodist Church for its recent vote upholding its position that homosexual relations are "incompatible with Christian teaching and its ban on LGBT clergy. He said he hopes other churches will be encouraged by this action.
Slipknot is returning to Upstate New York this summer.

The alternative rock and heavy metal group will perform at SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center) on Aug. 21 and Darien Lake Amphitheater on Aug. 25. Volbeat, Gojira and Behemoth will open both shows at 5:30 p.m.

Tickets go on sale Friday, March 8 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Prices range from $39.50 to $129.50, plus fees.

According to Billboard, each pair of tickets purchased online includes a a digital copy of Slipknots upcoming album due in August. Further instructions will be available upon purchase.

Slipknot previously performed in Syracuse in 2016, balancing music with macabre spectacle.

Musically, Slipknot is a powerhouse, our review said. Watching and listening to drummer Jay Weinberg land a sweet, polyrhythmic fill is a musical experience all its own. Lead vocalist Corey Taylor, fresh off spinal surgery (Who the f*** just has to have spinal surgery? he reflected), gave an unfazed and exceptional performance in a subtle neck brace. After 17 years of fronting Slipknot, Taylor is clearly well-trained. His transitions from screams to clean vocals felt seamless, accentuating the bands career-long knack for balancing heaviness with melody. Taylor sounded remarkable on the anthemic 'Before I Forget and Psychosocial.

SLIPKNOT SUMMER HEADLINE DATES:

Jul 26  Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre

Jul 27  San Bernardino, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater

Aug 1 - Salt Lake City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre

Aug 3 - Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater

Aug 4 - Phoenix, AZ @ Ak-Chin Pavilion

Aug 6 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center

Aug 8 - Lincoln, NE @ Pinnacle Bank Arena

Aug 10 - Des Moines, IA @ Iowa State Fairgrounds

Aug 11 - Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Aug 12 - Clarkston, MI @ DTE Energy Music Theatre

Aug 14 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater

Aug 16 - Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center

Aug 17 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Providence Medical Center Amphitheater

Aug 18 - St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre

Aug 20 - Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage

Aug 21 - Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Aug 23 - Burgettstown, PA @ KeyBank Pavilion

Aug 24 - Scranton, PA @ The Pavilion at Montage Mountain

Aug 25 - Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater

Aug 27 - Mansfield, MA @ The Xfinity Center

Aug 28 - Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater

Aug 30 - Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center

Aug 31 - Camden, NJ @ BB&T Pavilion

Sep 1 - Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live

Sep 3 - Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre

Sep 4 - Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre

Sep 6 - Austin, TX @ Austin360 Amphitheater at Circuit of The Americas

Sep 7 - Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion

Sep 8 - The Woodlands, TX @ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman
NAPLES, NY -- John Brahm III, co-founder and winemaker at Arbor Hill Grapery & Winery in South Bristol, died Saturday after an apparent accident at his home in nearby Naples.

Brahm was found trapped between a minivan and his garage, according to the Ontario County Sheriffs Department, which is investigating the incident. Brahm was 76.

His death is being mourned throughout the Finger Lakes wine community.

What a wonderful man! wrote Peter Becraft, chief winemaker at Anthony Road Wine Cellars on Seneca Lake, in a Facebook post. Very sad to hear. Yet another pioneer of the region who will leave a lasting legacy. A glass of Traminette will be raised in his honor.

Brahms family operated a farm in the South Bristol area at the south end of Canandaigua Lake for four generations. He worked 23 years at Widmer Wine Cellars in Canandaigua before he and his wife, Katie, founded Arbor Hill in 1987. They have operated the business with their daughter, Sherry Brahm, and her husband, John French.

Arbor Hill is a multi-faceted destination in the Finger Lakes region, combining a winery, restaurant and gourmet food business.

The gourmet side started with Brahms Wine Syrups, and now offers 53 products, ranging from candies and grape pies to sauces, dressings and syrups. The Brew & Brats restaurant is adjacent to the winery and tasting room. There is also a gift shop.

Arbor Hill is best known for its Traminette wine, made from a hybrid grape developed through Cornell University that is a cross between Gewurtztraminer and other grapes. Arbor Hill helped introduce Traminette in 1996.

Brahm loved every part of being winemaker, from growing grapes to pouring the wine, his son-in-law, John French, told the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Sunday.

To put in 18-hour days was not atypical for him because he loved what he did, French told the D&C. He embodied the phrase If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.

John Brahm III, a man who devoted his life to his family, his friends, his community, and his business has left us suddenly, Arbor Hill posted on its Facebook page Sunday. "Over his 76 years, John has touched numerous lives and created a legacy that will last for decades to come. He will be missed dearly."

The family is planning a celebration of life, with details to ome, the Facebook post said.

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
TOWN OF WEBB, N.Y. -- An Oneida County man was killed Sunday morning while snowmobiling on Woodhull Lake in the Herkimer County town of Webb, state police said.

Michael K. Gosson, 59, of Rome, was riding a 2019 Polaris snowmobile east on Woodhull Lake when he struck a large rock protruding through the ice, troopers said.

The snowmobile became airborne and Gosson was thrown from the snowmobile, state police said. Two people riding with Gosson found him and called 911.

Gosson was pronounced dead at the scene. The Old Forge Fire Department assisted state police at the scene.

This was the second deadly snowmobile crash in Herkimer County in the last two days.

At 11:10 p.m. Friday, 36-year-old Ryan Crawford, of Middleville in Herkimer County, was riding his snowmobile south through a curved portion of New York State Trail C-4 when he lost control and crashed into two trees, state police said.

Crawford was transported to Little Falls Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

State police say they are continuing to investigate both fatal snowmobile crashes.
The City of Syracuse is appealing a $1.5 million verdict awarded by a jury last year to the family of a man beaten by police.

Syracuse taxpayers are currently on the hook for more than $2.2 million in the case of Alonzo Grant, who was bloodied by two police officers when they arrested him in June 2014. The jury awarded Grant and his wife $1.5 million. A judge ordered the city to pay more than $600,000 in fees and expenses to Grants legal team.

Grant was arrested on June 28, 2014 after he called 911 for help with a family dispute. Officers Damon Lockett and Paul Montalto said Grant was highly agitated when they arrived at the home. They said Grants behaviors justified what became a violent arrest, in which Grant was punched multiple times and struck by the officers knees.

Grant was charged at the time with disorderly conduct, but District Attorney William Fitzpatrick dropped the charges, publicly announcing that Grant had done nothing wrong. Fitzpatrick testified on Grants behalf at trial.

Grant, 58, sued for wrongful arrest and excessive force. The jury sided with him after a nine-day trial in which 28 witnesses testified.

The legal bills could continue to add up for the City of Syracuse as it pursues an appeal.

Grants legal team, led by Charles Bonner, who is based in Sausalito, Calif., have already billed for more than $22,000 for post-trial work. If the city is unsuccessful in its appeal, it would likely have to pay some or all of those costs.

Syracuse was billed $88,838 by its own outside attorney, John Powers of Hancock Estabrook, who represented the city at trial. The city said he charged a discounted rate of $240 per hour. So far, just in-house city lawyer Todd Long is handling the appeal, according to court papers.

The city is fighting the verdict and the legal bills. It appealed the case to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals last week.

The city argues that U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd erred in allowing the jury to hear evidence of how Syracuses Citizen Review Board handled allegations pertaining to the case.

The Citizen Review Board is a city agency that investigates allegations of police misconduct, made up of appointees by the mayor and city council. The CRB reviewed Grants case prior to the lawsuit. Evidence of the review, and what the city did with the CRBs recommendations, was introduced at trial. The City of Syracuse argues this was a miscarriage of justice that prejudiced the jury.

The city has also contested Grants legal bills.

A jury found that Damon Lockett and Paul Montalto used excessive force and wrongly arrested a Syracuse man at his home in June 2014.

Bonner and two attorneys working with him requested more than $1.5 million in legal fees and expenses. The city argued it should not have to pay for things like flights, hotels and meals that included a $400 victory lunch with bottles of wine, oysters, clams and lobster.

Judge Hurd agreed in part, lowering the bill to $639,226.50. Hurd noted that Bonner was a highly-regarded lawyer with expertise in representing plaintiffs in civil rights cases. He also noted it was unreasonable to bill the city for $400-plus meals and other superfluous costs. He determined Bonner should be paid $350 per hour, a standard rate for attorneys who work on federal cases in the Upstate New York region.

The City of Syracuse has asked a judge to stay the case during the appeals process. The city is asking that it not have to pay Grant and his attorneys until the appeal is decided. Syracuse would likely have to issue a bond to cover the expense of the award and attorneys fees, according to court papers.

It would cost the City of Syracuse about $33,000 to purchase a $2,219,226 bond through its insurance broker Haylor, Freyer & Coon Inc., court papers said. That cost could not be recovered if the city was successful in its appeal.

Public Affairs Reporter Julie McMahon covers courts, government and other issues affecting taxpayers. She can be reached anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-412-1992
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- The small city of Watertown in New Yorks North Country is the least politically prejudiced place in America, according to a nine-month project from The Atlantic magazine that was published online Monday morning.

The study used Census data, voter registration information and predictive modeling to track political tolerance in every county in the United States. Jefferson County, home of Fort Drum, was found to be the most politically tolerant among counties with more than 100,000 people, while Suffolk County, Massachusetts -- home to Boston -- was the least tolerant.

The Atlantic contracted with PredictWise, a polling start-up, to survey Americans regarding their political tolerance. The company surveyed 2,000 people with questions about whether theyd be upset if a family member married someone from another political party or what words they would use to describe the other side.

The study built a model for which characteristics make for the most politically judgmental people. The most partisan people tend to be white, urban, older, highly educated, politically engaged and politically segregated, according to the pollster. Gender appeared to have no impact.

Amanda Ripley, an Atlantic contributor who spent the better part of a year working on the story, said Monday she was somewhat surprised by the results.

I had this sinking realization that its kind of describing me, but I also knew thats kind of right," she said. "I know a lot of people who are very liberal and highly educated, and theyve gotten so angry and despairing about Trump that theyre making really sweeping generalizations about big parts of the country they dont understand. Thats happening in other places too, and its certainly not just liberals.

She noted that the study isnt perfect and she was skeptical of some aspects. But she hoped the results provide a starting point for a conversation on political tribalism.

Ripley, who lives in Washington, D.C., made several trips to Watertown. Most people she talked to, she said, werent surprised by the studys results.

She met with people at churches and restaurants and the Watertown Daily Times newspaper. She attended a lasagna dinner on Election Day last year, where she said people were more interested in the lasagna than the politics. She found a pair of women, both named Ann, who are close friends despite each being a fierce advocate on opposing sides of abortion rights.

I tried to talk to as many people as I could who really knew the place," she said. "Almost every single one felt strongly that our ranking was right...There were people who were friends with people who think different and you dont see that as much where I live.

In addition to the story, a team of digital producers at The Atlantic generated a series of heat maps showing the level of political tolerance in every county in America. They parsed data to show where Democrats were most hostile toward Republicans and vice versa.

While the North Country was one of the most politically tolerant places in America, the states population centers tended to be less so.

Ripley said she hoped people would look up their county on the interactive map and share thoughts or experiences with The Atlantic, via letters or Tweets.

I am definitely more hopeful than when I started, she said. I think political comity is under threat even in Watertown. I dont think any place is safe. But its important to be aware of the traps we all fall into and shift the norms of whats acceptable, normal healthy behavior.

Heres the full piece from The Atlantic and heres the accompanying data and maps, including interactive maps where you can look at the results for every county nationwide. Check it out for yourself.
To the Editor:

Just read Rick Moriartys article in the Post-Standard, bemoaning the lack of a $15/hour minimum wage (New York adopted a $15 minimum wage in 2016: Wheres my pay raise?, Feb. 25, 2019).

Hmm, $15 an hour minimum wage, it sounds great, if you say it fast.

Unfortunately, Moriarty failed to detail the impact on businesses forced to increase wages without any benefit to their bottom line except to lay off workers or increases prices.

In the wonderful world of politics run by career politicians, who never held a real job or run a real business, logic and reason means little when spinning emotions.

In reality, the facts do not support the $15 minimum wage. Ask the former employees of now-closed Tim Horton doughnut shops in Central New York, or the missing employees at McDonalds replaced by kiosks.

To provide a single example:

The Jordan Memorial Pool in 2018 spent nearly two-thirds of its budget on salaries and salary-related expenses. The current increase to minimum wage will add 7 percent to the costs of employees without any visible benefit.

Image your heating bill increasing over night from $600 to $650 or you grocery bill from $100 to $110 by the stroke of a politicians pen.

For the typical household and the pool operating at break even, at best, the impact is catastrophic.

This year, for the first time, Jordan Memorial Pool discussed not opening because of the forced impact of the cost of doing business. The decision to open with increased gate prices is a risk to be taken to serve the local community.

The population served by the Jordan Pool is one of the least affluent areas in Onondaga County. The pool may be pricing itself of business, where families cannot afford to attend. The potential still exists that the pool may close with the loss of 18 part-time summer jobs as a result of this colossal vote getting boondoggle.

This is the same for other marginal businesses, nonprofits, schools and local governments. This certainly jeopardize jobs where entry level, non-skilled workers are employed.

Mr. Moriarty do your homework, be a reporter. Tell us just what is the real impact of the forced increase in salaries locally and across the state.

Dick Strauss

Member

Jordan Pool Committee

Jordan
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) this week said he was pro-vaccination and vowed not to sign any bills passed by the state legislature that could decrease vaccinations, saying his state is pro-vaccination.Traditionally I dont comment on bills that are moving through the Legislature, Ducey told reporters on Wednesday, according to The Arizona Republic. "But because this involves public health, I think it's important for people to know that we are pro-vaccination in the state of Arizona. Vaccinations are good for our kids and helpful for public health."His comments came after the Arizona House Health and Human Services Committee approved three bills last week to expand exemptions from mandatory vaccinations.Ducey did not publicly comment on the specifics of the bills said he would veto any legislation that would jeopardize public health, the newspaper noted. He said he would not sign anything that does not promote vaccinations."I'm pro-vaccination, I'm anti-measles. I want to see fewer people being exposed to measles and the other things that we've spent decades, through research and development in the medical industry and health care, making our country a better place and safer place to live," Ducey said.
Cornelius B. Murphy Jr., Ph.D., is Senior Fellow for Sustainable and Environmental Systems at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, in Syracuse.

By Cornelius B. Murphy Jr. | Special to Syracuse.com

There is reason to be optimistic that we will make progress in reducing humankinds impact on our climate.

Consider the following recent developments:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates that coal consumption in the electric power industry declined by 4 percent in 2018, despite a 4 percent increase in electric power generation. This clearly shows an increasing production of electric power from both natural gas and renewable energy sources. And even more important, coal production in 2019 and 2020 is projected to further decline by 3 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Approximately 12.5 gigawatts of coal plant generating capacity is scheduled for retirement this year.

There are 11 new members of Congress who have backgrounds in medicine, science and engineering. They are committed to educating their colleagues about the reality of climate change and changing the culture of Congress. Think about the impact of people who have a sound knowledge of mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology helping to shape public policy. There is reason to be hopeful that technical topics will be debated and decisions made on the basis of evidence and facts, instead of bias and misinformation.

Six new electric vehicles will be available in the 2019 market year. General Motors and Volkswagen have announced that they will begin to make the shift from manufacturing internal combustion-powered vehicles to developing zero-emission vehicles.

Today in Norway, more than 50 percent of all registered vehicles are powered by electricity. Israel and Denmark have both announced they will not allow gas- and petroleum-fueled cars to be sold within their borders after 2030. The city of Madrid has banned internal combustion-powered vehicles from the center of the city in an effort to improve poor air quality.

Renewable energy production capacity has dominated the U.S. power sectors new generating capacity for the last decade, with renewables accounting for 62 percent of that new capacity. At the same time, the price for clean energy has continued to decrease as capacity has increased with U.S. solar power purchase agreements at approximately $20 per megawatt-hour and wind at approximately $17 per megawatt-hour.

I am also optimistic that the Green New Deal proposed by columnist Thomas Friedman in 2007 will receive new attention. You may remember that the Green New Deal is aimed at addressing climate change and economic inequality. We have seen this recently proposed on the federal level, by several states and by the United Nations. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the Green New Deal in his 2019 Executive Budget. The plan outlines a bold path to a clean energy future, expands the green economy and provides new employment opportunities for New Yorkers in the green economy.

Think about the governors vision:

$1.5 billion to be invested in 20 large-scale, renewable-energy projects;

Phase out coal-generated power by 2020;

Generate 50 percent of our power from renewable energy by 2030;

Generate 100 percent clean power by 2040;

Develop an Implementation plan to make New York state carbon neutral

It is energizing to hear the aspiration to make New York state the national leader in the fight against climate change and to integrate this aspiration into the new economy to engage us all. Gov. Cuomo, thank you for your vision and leadership.

We have a lot of the pieces coming together. We must get past the political drama that buries our newsfeeds in counterproductive bickering and get to work to prepare the future for all of our children and grandchildren. I am increasingly confident that this will happen.
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Like many of you I was fascinated by the Michael Cohen testimony last week in what was more performance art than fact-finding. It tends to be fascinating to watch disgruntled ex-employees testify, but they often arent the most reliable witnesses. The personal nature of their termination tends to push them toward exaggeration, and many were fired for legitimate reasons.

However, Im a tech analyst, and Im always thinking about how I would make something better. In this case, there were several ways you could define better  more helpful to my own political party, more entertaining (thus holding more viewers), or more likely to drive real change.

Im about real change, and what would have been helpful to most of us would have been something that told us, with acceptable confidence, two things. The first is obvious: whether he was lying. The second isnt as clear: whether what he said was true.

That may seem like a weird distinction, but Ill explain how deep learning artificial intelligence could perform both tasks with acceptable levels of confidence. Ill close with my product of the week, HoloLens 2 from Microsoft  an offering that is taking us closer to true magic.

What Is Truth?

We often focus on the wrong thing. In the movie Minority Report, the fictional tool that was used to predict crime used people with precognitive capability to identify a likely crime so the future criminal could be incarcerated without damage being done.

The focus was on incarceration rather than preventing the crime, and that is why the service failed. Had it instead focused on warning both the victim and the future criminal, the problem with it being less than 100 percent accurate would have been mitigated. The actual goal, preventing the crime, would have been more sustainable.

I put this in the context of Cohens testimony, because the supposed goal is to get the truth. Yet if you watched the hearing, you saw that Republicans were far more focused on discrediting Cohen (and they didnt defend Trump at all  seeming to suggest Trump may not be defensible).

You would think that in most cases the truth and lying would be aligned, but often they arent. Many make compellingly arguments that are wrong, but they arent lying. Their beliefs are out of line with reality.

Id argue that, generally, knowing if what is being said is true is more important than knowing whether the speaker is lying. A charismatic believer who is also unhinged with respect to the truth can be far more dangerous than a simple liar.

I use Minority Report as an example because one of the powers of a deep learning AI is that it has the potential to be highly predictive  with increasing accuracy based on timing and the quality and amount of information.

If you have a system that could predict the future with high accuracy, you also have enough information to make the two important determinations I mentioned: whether what is being said is true; and whether the speaker is lying.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

In theory, we should care about the truth more, but during the Michael Cohen testimony the Democrats focused on making the anti-Trump testimony more powerful, and the Republicans focused on arguing Cohen was a liar. Neither side really spent that much time validating the testimony, even though Cohen did supply corroborating documents.

This isnt uncommon at all. In a trial, the experts on your side are believed absolutely while the experts on the other side are believed to be dishonest crooks. The poor judge  at one time I wanted to be one  who generally isnt a subject matter expert, then must figure out which expert to believe.

Qualcomm vs. FTC

I attended parts of the Qualcomm FTC trial, and it was clear the FTC expert was unreliable. He was one of those folks who takes a position, then does the work to validate it, and then uses the defense that he is the smartest person in the room and everyone who disagrees with his position is an idiot.

That kind of expert is dangerous. You should start with the evidence and then form your position, not the other way around, or confirmation bias is likely to cause you to reach the wrong conclusion.

The FTC expert testified for the DoJ in a prior trial involving a different case  AT&Ts Time Warner Merger I believe  and the judge tore into him with a passion, basically saying his theory was crap.

This questionable expert was the FTCs pivotal witness. A strong argument can be made that the FTC wasted a massive amount of money, as did Qualcomm, presenting and then defending against an invalid theory. Had the FTC known that the experts theory had been discredited, it may have avoided both a likely loss in court and the unnecessary expenditure of resources to prosecute a nonexistent crime.

Deep Learning AI Fix

Deep learning AIs are new. What makes them so incredibly powerful compared to their earlier machine learning counterparts is that they train themselves at computer speeds. Machine learning required humans to teach the machines, but deep learning systems, for the most part, learn independently. Given the right framework, they will churn through massive amounts of information to become ever more capable of making autonomous decisions.

This means they could look at a case like Qualcomms, for instance, and determine not only if a crime was committed, but also whether it would be worthwhile to prosecute it.

For instance, lets say someone grabs a small child out of traffic, and the police want to know whether the child is safe at home. There might be a case for child endangerment, but if the situation were something like the mother dropping some groceries and the child using the distraction to make a mistake, that would be viewed far differently than if the mother had an attention deficit problem that resulted in the child not being supervised adequately.

The AI would look at the pool of available information on both the child and the parent and, within seconds, provide high quality advice on whether the child should be returned to the parent with a light warning or put into some protective service. The main goal would remain pristine as well  in this case to protect the child, not to punish the parent.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Even if the recommendation were to act against the parent, the deep learning AI could determine, based on what was known about the parents personality and history, what remedy would fix the problem. It could be removing the child from the parents care  or it could be getting the parent help to better focus on the childs well being.

Michael Cohens Testimony

With respect to Michael Cohens testimony, neither side optimized the opportunity presented, because of the lack of focus on truth. The Republicans likely are the most at risk, though, because Cohen did have supporting documents, suggesting what he was saying largely was true. (There were some huge holes, particularly regarding his working at the White House, but in general he was well supported.)

So, if the president is impeached, which seems increasingly likely, videos of legislators pounding on Cohen probably will hurt their re-election chances severely. On the other hand, the Democrats should have played off each other more and built a case for impeachment. (Its ironic that the youngest committee member was the only one to seem to get that memo.) Their goal is to impeach, but they still need to build a compelling, simple case.

Now introduce an AI that could report which parts of Cohens testimony were backed up  both by the facts he brought and third-party testimony  and the parts that werent. The Republicans then would focus on tearing into the unsupported elements of the testimony, and the Democrats could avoid them.

Both efforts would be more likely to succeed (and look good during subsequent election efforts, regardless of what happened to Trump. Underneath, both efforts would be focused more tightly on the truth. The result should be more truthful testimony overall, because it quickly would become clear that false testimony, at best, would be a waste of time  and at worst, result in criminal charges and jail time.

In short, there would be an increasing realization that lying would have no upside. The U.S. just went from a president (Obama) who clearly had issues with the truth, to one who probably cant spell the word. I dont think that is a good trend at all, and I dont think this will end well for Trump or the country  but that ending is still avoidable.

I think we all would appreciate a little more truth from our leaders. More importantly, we at least want them to know what the truth is. Otherwise, the decisions they make likely will drift toward catastrophically bad way too often. They, and we, need a reliably accurate detector of the truth. We also need to know which of our leaders simply are unable to see the truth, regardless of who presents it.

Wrapping Up: Deep Learning Lie Detector

I think we are on the cusp of creating a deep learning lie detector  a tool that in real time could, with increasing accuracy, tell us not only whether the person speaking is lying but also whether the person was conveying real facts vs. unsupported beliefs or delusions. This last part is important, because we have climate change deniers and vaccination unbelievers who are on a path to making humans extinct. Some of these folks are in positions of power, or will be.

With this technology we could make fake news obsolete, eventually. That alone would be a good thing.

As a side note, how many of you want to see President Trumps school grades now?

I was a big fan of the original HoloLens. Developed with the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, it moved from huge science experiment to become a nicely designed offering that looked like something Porsches design group would create. It was sleek, self-contained and impressive, for something that arguably wasnt out of beta test yet.

The Microsoft HoloLens 2 pulled back from the design-forward concept into something far more consistent with a commercial product. Improvements are targeted largely at removing the complaints from the first generation.

It has twice the viewable area, and it is better balanced, putting less strain on your neck. You can raise the visor rather than having to take it off. It is easier to fit; it authenticates the user with biometrics; it does eye tracking better; it generally will be less expensive (US$3,500); and it is surrounded by a far richer set of tools, helping firms create content and put the device into service.

One huge change is the ability to use your hands as hands, and simply grasp virtual objects in order to interact with them. (Im guessing haptic gloves will be a future accessory.) Or, put simply, it is out of beta and now it is ready to deploy  and viable.

At some future point, well be able to change dynamically how we see the world around us, and well likely look back at HoloLens as part of the critical path we took to getting there. To me, HoloLens  and the technology it represents  is the closest thing to a path to real magic. Therefore, HoloLens 2 is my product of the week.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ECT News Network.
In context: In response to the United States' ban on their devices at the federal level, Huawei intends to file a lawsuit, calling the ban unconstitutional. Huawei has come under fire for violating trade sanctions placed on Iran, and the US suspects that their devices may be sending intelligence back to the Chinese government.

Last August, President Trump signed into law the Defense Authorization Act, which prohibited all US government agencies from using tech from ZTE, Huawei and others. This was in response to ZTE's failure to properly take measures to punish those involved in selling US-made technology to Iran.

The ban included Huawei for the same intellectual property violations in Iran, but also due to the suspicion that Huawei was using its devices to send intelligence back to the Chinese government.

Things came to a head in December when Huawei CFO Meng Wandzhou was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States. Just days ago, the Canadian government agreed to extradite Wanzhou to the US to face charges of intellectual property theft and the violation of trade sanctions imposed on Iran.

In response to the rising tensions and actions by the American government, Huawei is preparing to sue the US for the ban on their devices. Huawei has been very outspoken regarding the charges levied against them, with executives speaking out and marketing campaigns being aimed at restoring faith in their products. The lawsuit is expected to be filed in the Eastern District of Texas, which is where Huawei has its US headquarters, and will be formally announced next week.

While it's not clear what exactly the lawsuit entails, it's likely going to also seek retribution for the damage done to the Chinese giant's reputation. The US offered their allies incentives to ban Huawei equipment, warning telecom companies in Europe and elsewhere that the Chinese phones present a cybersecurity risk. While Huawei has continued to see strong sales growth in their largest Asian markets, the financial impact of the US' campaign against them is likely to be significant.

This isn't the first time a tech company has sued the US. In 2017, federal agencies banned the use of Kaspersky software due to suspicion that it was sending intelligence back to the Russian government. A subsequent lawsuit by Kaspersky was dismissed, with the judge stating that banning Kaspersky was a "prophylactic, not punitive" measure, and called it a "reasonable and balanced response." Given the similar circumstances, it's possible Huawei's lawsuit will suffer the same fate.

Second image courtesy enzozo via Shutterstock
Forward-looking: Most characterize the performance of a quantum computer with how many qubits it has. Not entirely satisfied, IBM has developed what it believes is a metric that paints a more vivid overall picture of full-system performance.

Quantum Volume is a metric that takes into account gate and measurement errors and circuit software compiler efficiency plus device cross talk and connectivity. Its this metric that IBM is using to chart a path forward towards its goal of achieving what it calls Quantum Advantage in the 2020s.

IBM designates Quantum Advantage as a significant performance advantage over todays classical computers. The term significant is defined as either a quantum computation that is hundreds or thousands of times faster than a classical computation, one that needs a smaller fraction of memory required by a classical computer or one that makes something possible that simply isnt possible today with a classical computer.

IBM Q 5 Tenerife, a five-qubit device, has a Quantum Volume of four while the IBM Q 20 Tokyo, with 20 qubits, has a Quantum Volume of eight. Results from the IBM Q System One, unveiled earlier this year at CES, indicate its Quantum Volume is just north of 16. This means that IBM has been able to double Quantum Volume each year since 2017.

IBM concedes that while Quantum Volume is useful as a single number benchmark, additional data such as measuring how entangled qubits are on a device can be used to gauge even more information about system performance.

IBM will be presenting its latest quantum research at the American Physical Society meeting this week in Boston.

Lead image courtesy plotplot via Shutterstock
The Opioid Epidemic's Role

Responding to Outbreaks

America nearly eradicated congenital syphilis around 2000, but since 2012, the number of babies born with the disease has been on the rise. In some places, the outbreaks have reached crisis levels.Public health experts largely blame the opioid epidemic for the disease's return, and unless the government gets both issues under control, they say President Trump will never realize his stated goal of eradicating HIV.Congenital syphilis refers to the disease having been passed down from a mother to her fetus. Syphilis can cause miscarriages and stillbirth. For newborns, it can result in brain and nerve problems, bone deformities, meningitis and death in infancy.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cases of congenital syphilis jumped 44 percent from 2016 to 2017 (the latest numbers available) and 133 percent from 2013 to 2017.In Arizona last year, 53 babies were born with congenital syphilis, and 10 of them died -- the most deaths the state has recorded for the disease.Kansas City is also facing an outbreak, with cases jumping 71 percent in one year. There, the disease's comeback follows four years of significant federal, state and local budget cuts for the health department.With fewer funds, the department hasnt been able to fill a couple of positions that would have helped manage the outbreak, according to Tiffany Wilkerson, manager of the city health departments division of communicable disease prevention.Health officials askedKansas City leaders to declare a public health emergency , which would allocate additional resources. They are still waiting on final word from the city. Federal STD funding has seen a 40 percent decrease in purchasing power since 2003," according to a 2018 report from the National Academy of Public Administration. Most city and state health departments rely entirely or mostly on federal funding, says Matthew Prior, communications director for the National Coalition of STD Directors.Every case of congenital syphilis is a public health failure, Prior says. Its treatable, and its easy to diagnose.Women can contract syphilis through sex or needles that have been used by people with the disease. Experts say needle transmissions have become more common as opioid use has risen to epidemic levels.In addition to causing many congenital syphilis cases, experts say the opioid epidemic has limited health departments' ability to respond to them because there are so many resources being spent on the drug crisis. The federal government spent $500 million on the opioid epidemic in 2018 and around $120 million on STD prevention There are often competing priorities in public health, and STDs havent risen to importance for decisionmakers in allocating resources, says Prior.In his State of the Union address this year, President Trump pledged to end HIV in the next decade. But Prior says that will be nearly impossible if more resources arent allocated to preventing the spread of other STDs, such as syphilis.We cant end HIV in the next 10 years if we dont get a handle on the skyrocketing cases of STDs, he says.Kansas City's Wilkerson echoes that concern.Our gonorrhea and chlamydia are also above normal. We could be looking at additional HIV cases if we cant get a handle on these diseases. We are stretched so thin, I hope we can maintain the services we do have.Alabama has made some progress against congenital syphilis. After the state's cases tripled in 2016, the health department quickly expanded its education and outreach efforts, testing every single pregnant woman who came into the office and strengthening the interview process for people with syphilis to help officials notify anyone the person might have come into contact with.That person might come in for one service, but we dont want to miss an opportunity. We routinely work across county lines to draw resources from a county that might have more resources, says Karen Landers, medical director for communicable diseases at the Alabama Department of Public Health.Though syphilis numbers are still gradually moving up in Alabama, mirroring national trends, they have slowed down since the 2016 outbreak.
In context: Activision Blizzard has been in the process of restructuring to meet financial expectations. However, its recent decision to reduce its workforce by eight percent may not be having the desired effect that shareholders had hoped. The company's annual 10-K filed with the SEC indicates that employee attrition and morale could disrupt business.

In its 10-K report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Activision Blizzard felt the need to warn investors that its recent restructuring efforts may hurt operations.

We may not realize the expected financial and operational benefits of our recently announced restructuring plan, and its implementation may negatively impact our business, the filing reads.

Last month the company announced it would be laying off nearly 800 staff members. The company is primarily concerned that its plans will not meet expected timelines due to local labor regulations and operational requirements among other things.

However, it also voiced concerns that the cuts may bring low employee morale and the loss of talented staff.

The implementation of this restructuring plan may also be costly and disruptive to our business or have other negative consequences, such as attrition beyond our planned reduction in workforce or negative impacts on employee morale and productivity, or on our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees. Any of these consequences could negatively impact our business.

The publishing giant's troubles first began to manifest in December of last year when it began offering some employees the option to leave the company voluntarily with a substantial severance package. Then in January, it lost two CFOs practically back-to-back. Activision CFO Spencer Neumann was poached by Netflix, and Amrita Ahuja, the financial chief for Blizzard left for a position with Square.

The job cuts are just the most recent sign of internal strife within the company. Of its approximately 9,900 employees, Activision Blizzard is looking to let go about 775. The move is somewhat surprising considering the company posted record profits in 2018 mostly thanks to its shift to a microtransactional focus.
Google has refused to remove a controversial app by a Saudi government that allows men to track women and control their travels, saying it doesn't violate their Play Store policies.

The app, called Absher, was reviewed by Google and concluded that it meets all the company's terms and conditions, and thus, it can remain on the Play Store.

As Business Insider reports, Google confirmed the decision to the office of democrat representative Jackie Speier, who, along with other members of the U.S. Congress, demanded last week that the app be removed from Google's digital store.

Google has yet to offer a word on its decision not to remove the app.

Controversial App Absher

Absher made headlines last month after it was discovered that it had features that allow Saudi men to either grant or rescind travel permission for women. Another feature lets them set up SMS alerts when women use their passports.

Speier and 13 other representatives in Congress wrote to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook on Feb. 21, encouraging them to have the app removed. Continuing to hosting the app means that Apple and Google are "accomplices in the oppression of Saudi Arabian women," the representatives wrote in the letter.

Apple told Spier that it's still in the process of reviewing Absher. The Cupertino company has yet to comment about the issue, however.

Deeply Unsatisfactory

The responses received thus far from both companies have been "deeply unsatisfactory," said Spier, as Business Insider reports. Spier told the publication that Apple and Google can easily remove the app, much like when they pulled Living Hope Ministries, an app which encouraged users to convert LGBTQ people. That app was removed on the basis that it could cause harm. Absher, Spier argues, has the potential to cause harm as well.

"Facilitating the detention of women seeking asylum and fleeing abuse and control unequivocally causes harm."

Terms And Conditions

Google Play Store policies state that the platform doesn't lend to apps that encourage violence, or trigger hatred against individuals or people based on race, ethnic origin, religious beliefs, disability, age, nationality, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity, or any other characteristic associated with systemic discrimination or marginalization."

If more pushback occurs going forward, the app will likely disappear from both platforms. Make sure to check back with Tech Times as we learn more about Google's and Apple's plans with Absher.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Since Louisiana moved 15 years ago to overhaul a juvenile justice system notorious for its brutal treatment of youth, legislative victories and policy changes have transformed the system  significantly reducing the number locked up and providing a more therapeutic environment for those in custody.

While moving further in that direction remains the goal of the Office of Juvenile Justice, youth advocates and leaders say they believe the state's juvenile prisons remain too dangerous and too full, issues exacerbated by outdated and unnecessarily large facilities they worry continue to operate with little outside oversight.

As the state on Friday began implementing its 'Raise the Age' law, which phases 17-year-olds out of the adult criminal justice system, advocates are voicing concerns about the system supposed to care for this additional population.

+8 How will Louisiana's Raise the Age law affect juvenile system? Officials brace for 'growing pains' After an almost one-year delay of the Louisiana bill that raises the age of criminal responsibility to 18, the first stage of the landmark law

The state's two largest lockups for juveniles  one outside of New Orleans and the other in Monroe  are structurally unfit to carry out the 'Missouri Model' of care Louisiana adopted for its juvenile secure custody facilities in the early 2000s. The model is based on treatment instead of punishment, as well as small, dorm-like housing instead of cells. At both of the state's secure facilities, the population size remains well above what experts consider to be ideal, and fights and violence are ongoing issues.

But advocates say they are hopeful those challenges can be addressed with comprehensive oversight and adequate funding.

"Although we have come a long way in the past two decades, numerous recent public accounts of violence in secure care facilities raise concerns about the safety of the youth and staff in those facilities," reported the state's Task Force on Secure Care Standards and Auditing in February.

The task force, commissioned by the legislature in 2017, determined there was a glaring gap in oversight of Louisianas secure care facilities," and recommended last month that the state contract for regular reviews of these lockups, to ensure the Office of Juvenile Justice meets certain standards of safety, treatment and structure.

"Louisiana cannot afford, nor should it wish to risk returning to, the days when children were routinely brutalized while held in state custody," the report says.

While advocates see secure juvenile lockups as something to be used sparingly, they say they prefer such facilities over confining youths in adult jails or prisons, as had been the case for 17-year-olds accused of serious crimes.

+4 With new governor, a debate brews about the future of Louisianas juvenile justice system Several recent Louisiana governors have pledged to revamp and change how the state deals with juvenile lawbreakers, with successive administra

"Despite their problems, juvenile facilities are still safer for kids than adult jails and prisons," said Rachel Gassert, policy director for the Louisiana Center on Children's Rights, who chaired the task force. Gassert and fellow proponents are optimistic the current OJJ administration is open to adopting proposed changes, and think the agencys recent progress is a positive sign for what could come next.

"Were very encouraged by the willingness of the new administration to do some self reflection and self regulation, said Meredith Angelson, a senior staff attorney at the Southern Poverty Law Center based in New Orleans, who focuses on juvenile justice.

In mid-2016, months before James Bueche was named OJJ's deputy secretary, there were almost 400 children in the state's three juvenile lockups, which the agency refers to as secure care facilities.

As of last week, there were about 215 children locked up, an almost 50 percent reduction in two-and-a-half years, according to OJJ data. And while that seems significant, some still say it still doesnt go far enough, especially when the secure facilities still have so many institutional challenges.

Were putting way too much of our money into secure, deep-end confinement," said Marcy Mistrett, the CEO of the Campaign for Youth Justice, a national nonprofit that advocates to keep children out of the adult criminal justice system. "There are alternative ways that keep kids connected to their parents and communities, while they are held accountable.

Safety concerns

The concerns that surround Louisiana's juvenile lockups today remain a far cry from the system in the 1990s, which brought a federal crackdown over the atrocities in juvenile jails, particularly two privately-run facilities that were later shuttered.

Then, revelations of institutionalized violence and inhumane treatment bred a groundswell of support for sweeping changes to the juvenile system, culminating in a 2003 reform package. The new laws focused on decreasing the number of youth in secure custody and transforming the detention model to be more youth-friendly.

But how effective the changes have been remain open to debate.

Violence, 'frequent fighters' spiking in Louisiana's understaffed juvenile lockups, audit finds The prevalence of violence has increased inside Louisiana's juvenile prisons in recent years, even as the number of teens behind bars has fall

Violence at Louisiana's two largest secure facilities  Swanson Center for Youth at Monroe, which has the capacity for 124 juveniles, and Bridge City Center for Youth, which can accommodate 94 youth  has been an ongoing issue, drawing recent concern after a scathing legislative auditor's report in June that found spikes in fighting. The report said that inadequate staffing of the facilities contributed to the violence.

In 2018, there were more than 500 reports of violence at Swanson in Monroe, including youth-on-youth assaults or attempted assaults and youth attempted or actual assaults on staff, according to OJJ records. At Bridge City there were just under 430 such reports of violence last year.

At Swanson Center for Youth at Columbia, which has capacity to house 48 juveniles, there were about 150 such reports of violence  about a third of the numbers from the two larger facilities.

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And while youth advocates agree children are bound to act out, especially those dealing with trauma, they also note that smaller, updated facilities meeting proper standards, like Swanson at Columbia, will provide better outcomes.

"Bridge City and Swanson-Monroe are also not conducive to OJJs therapeutic model," the 2018 legislative auditor's report says. "According to the National Institute of Corrections, the physical structure and environment of juvenile confinement facilities has a significant impact on the youth behavior and the likelihood of violence."

OJJ plans to open the Acadiana Center for Youth this month, a new facility built in accordance with the 'Missouri Model,' which Bueche said will provide them a second facility that meets their preferred standard of care. However, he expects the new facility will only help accommodate the additional placements they expect from Raise the Age, which means they'll have to keep open older facilities he'd prefer to close.

Bueche said OJJ has been working on a plan to fund new facilities to replace Swanson at Monroe and Bridge City, which are both aging and unable to support their new model of care, even with renovations.

Its crazy we continue to put that much money  into facilities and we never are going to get that return," Bueche said.

+2 Judge orders two youths removed from unsafe, violent Bridge City detention center A judge has ordered state corrections officials to remove two youths from a troubled detention center in Jefferson Parish, declaring condition

On top of physical deficiencies of the two largest OJJ lockups, which serve youth adjudicated by a juvenile court, the 2003 reforms also planned to regionalize these facilities to keep children closer to their communities. But that idea has all but been abandoned amid budget cuts and funding challenges. Bueche said he hopes the Acadiana Center for Youth can help keep some children closer to home, but that placements depend on the programs children need.

None of the data provided to The Advocate through a public records request included information on the Ware Youth Center in Coushatta, which houses all OJJ females in secure custody, because OJJ does not directly run that facility. Rather, it operates through a contract with a nonprofit.

Yet Ware is a facility with continuing challenges. In February, the facility reported two suicides within days, events that advocates called deeply troubling and completely preventable.

"The safety of youth and staff in our juvenile prisons is always a concern," Gassert said. "The best way to increase safety is to keep the population as low as possible, which makes facilities more manageable and easier to staff appropriately. We should always use alternatives to incarceration when at all possible, as we know children are safer and more successful in their homes and communities, rather than in institutions."

More oversight

The task force that studied the workings of the state's juvenile justice system called for more outside oversight of its juvenile facilities to help keep them safe and ensure their programming is effective.

Unlike other state-run or contracted facilities housing children, there is currently no independent oversight mechanism for secure care facilities," the task force reported.

They recommended OJJ appoint an independent contractor to monitor these facilities that the state entrusts to house and rehabilitate some of the most vulnerable youth.

Bueche said he is currently reviewing the task force's recommendations and is open to their suggestions.

But growing concern also surrounds how OJJ will continue to improve without a driving force with authority.

The reform package the legislature approved in 2003 included setting up a Juvenile Justice Reform Act Implementation Commission to see to the "continued reform of the state's juvenile justice system." But that commission has not met since 2016.

Weve been pressing the committee to meet," said Sonji Hart, a deputy director of the nonprofit Families and Friends of Louisiana's Incarcerated Children, whose director has been appointed to that commission. "The commission has a responsibility to our children. You need to meet, you need to have these meetings, we need to approach (reform) in a holistic way."

After years of delays, juvenile prison in Acadiana finally set to open in March A state-of-the-art juvenile prison in Avoyelles Parish has finally received state funding to open its doors  a long-awaited milestone for a L

The recent task force recommendations also pointed out this additional gap in oversight, and recommended passing a state law to require the implementation commission meet twice a year, in addition to one public meeting.

These immediate changes in oversight will be key to addressing pervasive issues in the juvenile justice system, especially at its secure lockups, but Hart noted there are many challenges she hopes Louisiana will not neglect.

The system continues to disproportionately affect African American children and outcomes for delinquent youth often depend on their geographical location. Also, funding for indigent defense in the state remains inadequate and schools too often turn to the justice system for discipline.

We notice that theres a lot of disconnect between a lot of the players," Hart said. Were trying to start things on the front end, instead of working back to forward."
Until a few months ago, Courtney Henderson was a full-time mom raising five children.

Now she is part of a pilot project aimed at trimming the staggering number of adults in Louisiana 18 years and older with a high school diploma or less  nearly 1 of every 2 adults.

Henderson, 32, is on scholarship at Baton Rouge Community College, where she is studying business management in hopes of eventually opening her own hair salon. "I am going to do whatever I have to do to succeed," she said.

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Henderson is taking 12 credit hours, spends four days a week on campus and hitches a ride to and from classes.

"I am not giving up," she said.

Higher education leaders hope the pilot program benefiting Henderson and a few hundred other students soon turns into a state-funded program that could someday help transform the state's economy.

"They are there because they know this is going to be life changing for them," Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said.

+9 Louisiana's new higher education leader starts job early to help head off potential budget cuts Louisiana's new higher education chief Kim Hunter Reed started her job three weeks early to help head off another round of crippling cuts for 

The scholarships are aimed at helping adults often working two or three jobs, supporting a family and struggling to get ahead in the 21st century world.

It is an age-old problem in Louisiana, which has suffered from low education attainment for generations.

"We still have 1.7 million people with a high school diploma or less," said Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System and one of key players in launching the pilots.

Southern, LCTCS leaders call for more need-based college aid The leaders of the Southern University and Louisiana Community and Technical College systems said Wednesday the state needs to spend more on n

"The real story is, how do you survive economically with a high school diploma or less?" Sullivan said.

The program stems from a 2018 proposal that started big  state-funded college scholarships for adults.

"We felt like the data made the case that we have an adult problem, but we are spending the primary financial aid dollars for young people," Sullivan said. "We have to focus some of our resources on adults."

The initial proposal quickly died amid recurring state budget troubles.

"The problem was the $5 million price tag," Sullivan said.

What ultimately won final approval was House Resolution No. 12, which directed LCTCS officials to launch a pilot project, with private money.

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Sullivan and others did just that, raising $175,000 initially from community foundations, businesses and others to fund scholarships.

That allowed 112 students who met the requirements, including Henderson, to enroll in colleges last fall.

Louisiana community colleges too costly, state's higher education chief says Louisiana students are paying more than the regional and national averages to attend community colleges and the issue needs to be addressed, H

The average age was 27.

Another $200,000 raised allowed 146 students to sign up for the spring semester.

The adult students outperformed those on traditional state scholarships  2.82 GPA compared to 2.72  and returned for the fall semester at a rate nearly 50 percent higher than other students.

"When you create the pathway for individuals they will take you up on it," Sullivan said. "Adults perform in the classroom at least as well as the recent high school graduates."

Sullivan has long decried Louisiana's huge number of adults with a high school diploma or less, and how it drives up the rate of Medicaid recipients, those who rely on other government benefits, and the state's bulging prison population. "This is an opportunity to produce taxpayers," he said.

"That language, I don't like it," Sullivan added. "But those folks in that building like it," he said, a reference to the State Capitol and the 144-member Legislature.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Dan "Blade" Morrish, R-Jennings, one of the sponsors of the legislation that sparked the pilots, said the program stands to benefit students, employers and the state.

"It's just a great opportunity for them to improve their lives and to actually have a skill that they can market," said Morrish.

House Education Committee Chairwoman Nancy Landry, R-Lafayette, said the program will allow the state to tap into a huge potential workforce that lands quality jobs. "It is a benefit to the state and very cost effective," Landry said.

Louisiana's community and technical colleges are celebrating their 20th anniversary with roughly 150,000 students.

They cater to students much different, and oftentimes more serious, than those at four-year schools.

"When someone shows up on campus you have one shot," Sullivan said. "They have one shot. You better have something to offer them that day."

For $1,500 that could mean training for a commercial driver's license, and eventually a $50,000 per year salary, double the state's average income.

"The question becomes twofold," he said. "How do I find $1,500, and how do I pay the bills during the program?

"The program we are talking about here is how to solve part of the problem for them," Sullivan said.

Reed said the scholarships, and the hope they become permanent, also addresses a larger issue.

"We have said for so long, This is the way,  she said. "But we don't say how do you get there, how do you pay for it."

Other states have launched similar efforts, including one in Tennessee that enrolls about 6,000 students.

Any push to make the scholarships a permanent part of state government is likely a year away, in part because 2019 is an election year.

"We have to find a way to capture that adult market," Sullivan said.
Advocate staff photo by RUSTY COSTANZA -- Officer Paul Mills sports his body camera during a training session hosted by Taser International on how to use the cameras.
From left, New Orleans' Aniu White Wolf holds a Native American medicine wheel sign, as St. James resident Eve Butler and New Orleans' Rebecca King and Susan Prevost hold a banner showing an idyllic cypress and water scene with power generating solar panels and wind turbines serving as alternatives to oil-based energy, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2017.

Environmental activists demonstrated outside the Governor's Mansion and the Louisiana Capitol Thursday in opposition to the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

Hoisting signs with slogans like "If you love it, protect it," about 20 people called on the state government to slow down work in deference to South Louisiana's wetlands and waterways.

If she had John Bel Edwards's ear, demonstrator Cherri Foytlin would ask the governor to perform an environmental impact study and investigate Energy Transfer Partners, the company petitioning to build the oil line. The proposal still requires approval from the state Department of Environmental Quality.

The pipeline will cross the Atchafalaya Basin, where crawfishermen are already struggling to haul in a catch, and conclude in the River Parishes, where it poses a risk to locals' drinking water said Foytlin, of the conservation group Bold Louisiana.

"(Edwards) needs to figure out who his allegience is to," she said.

Environmental activists demonstrated outside the Governor's Mansion and the Louisiana Capitol Thursday in opposition to the proposed Bayou Bridge Pipeline.

Hoisting signs with slogans like "If you love it, protect it," about 20 people called on the state government to slow down work in deference to South Louisiana's wetlands and waterways.

If she had John Bel Edwards's ear, demonstrator Cherri Foytlin would ask the governor to perform an environmental impact study and investigate Energy Transfer Partners, the company petitioning to build the oil line. The proposal still requires state approval.

The pipeline will cross the Atchafalaya Basin, where crawfishermen are already struggling to haul in a catch, and conclude in the River Parishes, where it poses a risk to locals' drinking water said Foytlin, of the conservation group Bold Louisiana.

"(Edwards) needs to figure out who his allegience is to," she said.
When Maegan Adkins-Barras watched a video of a fight that happened at Acadiana High School, she instantly felt sick to her stomach.
Suing a reporter at The Advocate in order to protect Pat Magee

Advising his employees on how to get around Covid rules in schools

Hosting an alligator hunt political fundraiser while 200,000 people were still without power after Ida

Warning parents to watch out for edibles being given to kids at Halloween (which is highly unlikely)

There are still a few weeks left in 2021, so Landry might outdo himself

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Theres a lot to explore at Espiritu Mezcaleria, beginning with chapulines.

The crunchy grasshoppers arrive in a petite ceramic ramekin alongside a Mexico City-style guacamole topped with grilled onions, fruity roasted tomatillos and crunchy pork chicharron. The insects add a woodsy, earthy flavor to the dish, as well as an extra layer of texture, but may not suit squeamish diners.

The restaurant and bar opened late last year in a space near Lafayette Square formerly occupied by Capdeville. The new spots namesake is a nod to owners Amanda Sesser and Jason Mitzens favorite spirit, mezcal, tequilas cousin, also made from the agave plant.

Espiritu offers a variety of mezcals and cocktails featuring the spirit. In the slightly sweet Carta de Amor, its mixed with sweet plantain, walnuts, cherries and lime. Mezcal con Pepino is a refreshing quaff blending mezcal, cucumber, serrano peppers, agave and lime juice.

Leading the kitchen is chef Nanyo Dominguez Cervantes, a protege of chef Aaron Sanchez. Dominguez most recently worked at Uptown Peruvian restaurant Titos Ceviche & Pisco. The menu at Espiritu feels modern and creative, drawing inspiration from various Mexican regional cuisines.

A trio of salsas includes the bright marigold Yucateca habanero version, which delivers a sweet and fiery kick. Its joined by two milder salsas made with guajillo roasted tomato and creamy chile de arbol and garlic.

Dining here seems best suited to drinking and snacking from a selection of appetizers, small plates and tacos. Crawfish queso dip was velvety and addictive and looks to the Gulf South as much as south of the border. The epazote quesadilla (which looks like an empanada) is filled with roasted poblano peppers and onions and huitlacoche, a corn fungus, adds earthy flavor.

Tacos are served on small flour tortillas, which are chewy and delicious. A Baja-style fried fish version is topped with creamy Napa slaw and chipotle aioli. Espiritus version of an al pastor taco is packed with soft, fatty pork and grilled pineapple. A unique and delicious vegetarian taco features crunchy cauliflower and tangy pickled beets topped with a habanero cashew crema.

Some dishes beg for more brightness and dimension. An avocado stuffed with chorizo and octopus delivered plenty of smoky flavor, but the crispy garbanzo beans advertised on the menu were lost in the mix. Jicama slaw topping a blackened Gulf fish taco lacked crunch and zing.

For dessert, look to the cocktail menu for an Ososito, a creamy and potent drink made with aged mezcal, coconut milk, sweet plantain and a coffee ice cube.

Its convenient to sample items at Espiritus weekday happy hours and occasional mezcal tastings, and theres much to explore on the creative food menu, whether diners have the nerve to try a chapulin or not.

what

Espiritu Mezcaleria

where

520 Capdeville St., (504) 267-4975; www.espiritunola.com

when

lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat.

how much

moderate

what works

mezcal cocktail menu, Baja fish taco, crawfish queso

what doesnt

stuffed avocado

check, please

Mezcal and a creative regional Mexican menu highlight Lafayette Square spot
The newly elected Florida House Speaker said he was just trying to use medical terminology when he repeatedly referred to pregnant women as the "host body."Jose Oliva, a Republican politician from Miami Lakes, trotted out the phrase five times during an interview late last week while discussing abortion law."Well the challenge there is that there are two lives involved," Oliva said on CBS Miami."So, where I believe that we should stay out of people's lives, I don't believe that people's lives should be taken. It's a complex issue because one has to think, well there's a host body and that host body has to have a certain amount of rights because at the end of the day it is that body that that carries this entire other body to term. But there is an additional life there."The phrase, which took all humanity out of the mother, was met with immediate backlash from Florida Democrats and activists."You'd expect to hear this offensive language in the 'Handmaid's Tale' -- not from the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives," Florida Democratic Party chair Terrie Rizzo said in a statement, calling the comments "hurtful, dehumanizing and misogynistic."A day later, Oliva apologized for his controversial comments."It was an attempt to use terminology found in medical ethics writings with the purpose of keeping the discussion dispassionate," he said in a statement."The reaction undoubtedly shows it had the exact opposite effect. I apologize for having caused offense, my aim was the contrary. This is and will continue to be our societies greatest challenge. I strongly believe both mother and child have rights and the extent and balance of those rights remain in question. I regret my wording has distracted from the issue. My apologies to all."While Republicans have filed several bills testing the newly conservative state Supreme Court, including one that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be heard, abortion is not expected to be a major legislative issue this session, which begins Tuesday.
Twenty years ago, Bruce Sunpie Barnes reluctantly became a skeleton.

He was coaxed into it by Albert Morris, a rail-thin charmer from the Treme neighborhood. Al rode up on me on his bicycle and asked if Id ever thought of masking skeleton, Barnes said. I told him, No, indeed. 

Barnes, 55, an Arkansas-born musician who moved to the city in the 1990s, had debated masking as a Mardi Gras Indian, because he was close friends with Donald Harrison Sr., big chief of the Guardians of the Flame tribe.

By the late 1990s, however, the skeleton tradition had nearly died out. It wasnt even on Barnes radar. Soon, it would become a chief passion for Barnes, who on Tuesday will mark two big anniversaries: his 20th, and his gangs 200th.

On Mardi Gras morning in 1999, Barnes first donned a big papier-mache skull and hit the streets as second chief to the persuasive Morris, the last remaining member of the North Side Skull and Bone Gang.

Two centuries of bonemen

Years ago, Morris told Barnes about the bone gangs origins, in 1819.

The story goes that the merchant marine brought the tradition into the city and that he started masking in what we now call Treme, which was on the north side of what was considered the city then  basically the French Quarter, Barnes said.

The merchant marines origins are unknown. But during that period, the city took in throngs of people from Haiti, Cuba, and other parts of the United States. So each tribe member has his own theory.

I believe that image traveled out of the Caribbean to the port city of New Orleans, Ronald Lewis said. Zohar Israel sees both Caribbean and African roots. During Barnes recent travels to Africa, he saw skeletonlike spirits and voodoo markets. That gave him a greater sense of the traditions African roots and supplied him with an animal skull that hes incorporated into this years mask.

Whats clear is that, for generations, skeletons and Indians both roamed the streets of African-American communities on Mardi Gras Day, part of community-masking customs that centered more on neighborhoods than on the grand pageantry of Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue, where black citizens werent welcome.

In archival research, jazz historian John McCusker has found references to skeletons dating back to 1875. On February 10, 1875, a Times-Picayune article referred to a Mardi Gras fight involving skeletons. In 1902, another local paper, the Times-Democrat, wrote about Mardi Gras in the 6th and 7th wards and described African-American revelers including youngsters dressed up like skeletons who packed North Claiborne Avenue and North Robertson and Annette streets.

When Morris learned the tradition from his own big chief, Big Arthur Regis, he was taught to pass it along. He felt proud that hed risen to the challenge, he said not long before he died in 2011. I feel a certain peace, knowing that North Side will live on, he said.

New members, new neighbors

With each new North Side member came a new history.

Lewis, 67, brought memories of bonemen who ran around with those bloody bones from childhood visits to the 6th Ward on Mardi Gras.

A self-made historian who runs the House of Dance & Feathers in the Lower 9th Ward, Lewis said he felt a sense of clout when he roamed the streets on Mardi Gras morning, waking up neighbors.

You know why I feel powerful? Lewis said. Because Im part of history.

Another new skeleton, filmmaker Royce Osborn, also remembered skeletons, from a childhood spent in the 7th Ward, and he arrived with a papier-mache skull made for him by a former skeleton, Big Chief Tootie Montana, who by then was being touted as the prettiest Indian in town.

In 2003, Osborns PBS documentary, All on a Mardi Gras Day, prompted a wave of new interest in Indians and some then-waning black Carnival traditions, including skeletons and baby dolls.

Skeleton Michael Crutcher, 49, remembers seeing a resurgence after Osborns documentary aired. New baby dolls hit the street, WWOZ broadcast live from Treme, and the North Side Skull and Bone Gang woke up the neighborhood with a gang that had grown to about a half-dozen.

During that time, Barnes worked with Morris to augment the tradition with African drummers, a mystical skeleton stilt-walker and skeleton-specific songs like Too Late and Ashes to Ashes. He also recruited children to mask skeleton, so the tradition could be carried into the next generation.

In 2010, with Morris ailing, Barnes moved into the chiefs position and put Israel, 66, in the second chiefs position, in charge of moving everyone into action by about 4:30 a.m.

We never let daylight catch us without being on the street, Israel said. Thats the rules.

Topped with massive paper skulls or frightening headpieces made of bone, the North Side gang tromps through the streets of old Treme and the 7th Ward, calling out their catch phrase, You Next! alternated with an occasional The End is Near!

As they walk, they call on the spirits of New Orleans and Africa, Israel said. Were death angels, warning people before they begin their big day  If you do too much of what youre out there doing, youre going to come see us.

The first blocks can seem solitary, said Crutcher, who gains courage with a few shots of rum. Before long, he gets caught up in the momentum, as faces begin to peep out of windows and doors crack open, revealing families with kids in pajamas, hiding behind a housecoat.

Yet in recent years, the walk has changed, as predominantly black blocks of Treme and the 7th Ward have shifted to become predominantly white.

Used to be, when we came through Treme, all the black kids knew who we were  someone had warned them about us, Israel said. The people now, theyre good people, but theyre drinking their coffee, and they have their dog with them at the door. They dont seem to feel in a deep way what the bone gang is all about.

That visceral effect is particularly important with skeletons, which arent visually fantastic like the baby dolls or Indians, Crutcher said. In recent years, hes seen revelers outside of the tradition create similar skeleton costumes.

They look good, with their shiny, perfect papier-mache heads and their clothes painted so exactly that you can see every metatarsal and metacarpal, he said. But thats not really what the traditions about.

Morris had a degree in art, so he could have crafted bonemen outfits in exquisite detail or used material much more elaborate than baling wire, flour, water, paper and housepaint, Barnes said. But he didnt.

Al stuck with tradition, Barnes said.

For every aspect of his suit, Morris chose inexpensive, practical applications, Crutcher said.

Al painted his bones on the fuzzy side of a sweatshirt. That was so he could wear the sweatshirt during the year and then turn it inside-out on Mardi Gras, when he wanted to be a skeleton, Crutcher said. He taught us that this tradition is not fancy. Its certainly not about being the prettiest.
Sex sells  apparently even when it involves teenage necrophilia, as composer Richard Strauss discovered following the 1905 premiere of his infamous opera, Salome.

On opening night, a whopping 38 curtain calls were demanded by an audience whipped into a frenzy by an unthinkable taboo: an adolescent girl filled with yearning for a severed head. The production was an overnight sensation.

Lise Lindstrom plays the final, shocking scene in Opera Australia's Salome. Credit:Prudence Upton

This was a watershed moment for Strauss, cementing his place as a visionary artist who could define the style and substance of music in the new century (not to mention making him a rich man in the process).

But the barnstorming reception received by Salome was by no means a certainty. In fact, by most indications, it was just as likely to be met by riots as it was raptures.
A dating app for teenagers. What could go wrong?

Dubbed by some as Tinder for Teens, Yubo is a free, location-based app for finding, swiping, chatting, and video streaming.

According to its listing on the app store, Yubo is a platform for making friends, with an age rating of 17+. But Yubo appears to have about as much interest in verifying users age and intentions as the NSA has in privacy.

Yubo is a dating app which is popular with teenage users. Credit:Shutterstock

It took me about three minutes to set up a fake  and unverified  profile on Yubo. I was then presented with images of teens who seemed to have interests other than getting to know my wit and charming personality.
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.

At the funeral for one of George Pell's victims, a young man approached the grieving father and asked if he could get a copy of the choral music being played. The music was of significance, the young man said, because he also sang in the St Patrick's Cathedral choir.

The father said yes and meant to get a phone number, but the service started and details were never exchanged.

Soon after, in 2015, the young man approached other people about St Patrick's. This time it was police, to report that George Pell sexually abused him and a friend in the cathedral in 1996 when they were 13.
North Korea publicly painted a nuclear target on Australia in April 2017. Kim Jong-un's regime seized on the fact that a contingent of US marines is now in a permanent, rotating deployment in the Northern Territory.

Specifically, the regime's main mouthpiece, the official party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, said: If Australia persists in following the US moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] and remains a shock brigade of the US master, this will be a suicidal act of coming within the range of the nuclear strike of the strategic force of the DPRK.

With all the excited talk of Donald Trump's two meetings with Kim in June and again last week, has anything changed?

Give Trump credit for two things. First, he said plainly what everyone could see but the US government had never actually admitted. That all earlier US attempts to deal with North Korea's nuclear weapons program had failed. The Obama administration's policy of so-called "strategic patience" was merely strategic inaction. Documents on the policy should have been stripped of the government logo featuring the American eagle and badged with an ostrich instead. Trump tried something different.
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.

A man who claims he was sexually abused by George Pell in a Ballarat swimming pool in the 1970s is suing the senior cleric and Catholic Church for damages.

The alleged victim, who was due to give evidence in the cardinal's now cancelled second trial, is seeking damages for psychiatric injury, loss of wages and medical expenses.

That trial, dubbed the "swimmers trial", is no longer going ahead due to issues with evidence.

The plaintiff, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a ward of the state at the St Josephs Boys Home in Ballarat at the time of the alleged incident.
I recently moved out to regional Victoria with my wife and child. We wanted to flee the rat race and get a house that didnt cost an arm and a leg and a kidney (in monthly repayments alone).

Orchard jobs should be among the best in the country.

At first, we found our new area peaceful, beautiful. The tree change was everything wed hoped for.

It wasn't long, though, before the two-hour daily commute to my job in the city became a grind. One day I stopped by the office of one of the nearby orchards. I'd read the horror stories about the low pay and poor conditions in the fruit picking industry, but I was finding that employment in regional Victoria is hard to come by. The manager of the operation, a convivial older man, was impressed with my background and offered me a supervisor's role - casual employment with super - for the season that runs from November to May.

I was happy. I was working a few kilometres from home, and while the money wasn't much more than bar wages, away from Melbourne it was liveable. The lush rolling hills were stunning, and immediately I was getting fit and knocking off a new audio-book every other day. Why didnt more locals do this, I thought? Why were just 10 per cent of the staff Australians when this job was so damn good?
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg is being targeted by a new campaign to drive him from Parliament in a powerful bid by the Greens, who are running veteran barrister Julian Burnside QC as their candidate for Kooyong at the May election.

Mr Burnside will announce his campaign on Tuesday in a move that throws open the contest for the prize Liberal electorate, escalating the threat to Mr Frydenberg in a seat the Morrison government cannot afford to lose.

Julian Burnside will run as the Greens candidate in the seat of Kooyong against Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Credit:Jason South

A longstanding advocate for human rights and asylum seekers, Mr Burnside is going back on his previous vow to stay out of politics after decades of involvement in the law.

"I've always said I wouldn't go into politics. 'Don't wrestle with a pig,' the saying goes, 'because you both get covered in mud and the pig loves it'," he writes in an explanation for his decision.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has ramped up his warnings of an economic downturn under a Labor government, declaring it the truth to tell voters of the risk of recession under the opposition's policies.

Im saying the economy will be weaker under Labor  thats exactly what Im saying, because theyre going to put $200 billion worth of taxes and take Australias industrial relations system back to the times when we had recessions in this country, Mr Morrison said at a business summit in Sydney.

Im being very clear with Australians. No use on the other side going oh, I didnt really realise that it would have that impact. It will have that impact.

Mr Morrison was careful when asked if he was actually saying Australia could go into recession under Labor, saying this came down to the scale of the impact of the Labor policies.
Election officials in some states and cities are planning to replace their insecure voting machines with technology that is still vulnerable to hacking.The machines that Georgia, Delaware, Philadelphia and perhaps many other jurisdictions will buy before 2020 are an improvement over the totally paperless devices that have generated controversy for more than 15 years, election security experts and voting integrity advocates say. But they warn that these new machines still pose unacceptable risks in an election that U.S. intelligence officials expect to be a prime target for disruption by countries such as Russia and China.The new machines, like the ones theyre replacing, allow voters to use a touchscreen to select their choices. But they also print out a slip of paper with the vote both displayed in plain text and embedded in a barcode  a hard copy that, in theory, would make it harder for hackers to silently manipulate the results.Security experts warn, however, that hackers could still manipulate the barcodes without voters noticing. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has also warned against trusting the barcode-based devices without more research, saying they raise security and verifiability concerns.That hasnt stopped some states from forging ahead, however, as they face pressure to retire their outdated paperless machines before the next presidential race.The replacements, known as ballot-marking devices, are a relatively new and untested technology, said J. Alex Halderman, a voting security expert who teaches at the University of Michigan. And its concerning that jurisdictions are rushing to purchase them before even basic questions have been answered.
US-backed Kurds who are fighting the disintegrating Islamic State terror group in Syria have pleaded with the Morrison government to repatriate and prosecute captured Australian jihadists.

But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton's office has indicated this is not the government's preference, saying it remains "determined to deal with these people as far from our shores as possible".

A member of Islamic State waves an IS flag in Raqqa, Syria. Credit:Reuters

The discussion about what to do with captured "foreign fighters" among the terrorist outfit's ranks is made more precarious by the fact Washington has publicly called on other countries to take their citizens back, including directly via Twitter in the case of US President Donald Trump.

A spokesman for the Kurdish "people's protection units" or YPG, which leads the coalition fighting Islamic State, confirmed the forces had Australian former IS fighters in their custody and indicated the YPG was trying to negotiate with the Morrison government to secure the jihadists' return.
When Steve Jobs strode across a stage to unveil the world's first iPhone back in 2007, he boasted that it would put the internet into the pockets of millions of people.

These days, that launch event is viewed as both a pivotal moment in the history of Apple and the birth of a global smartphone boom it unleashed.

Apple again faces being late to the party. Credit:Bloomberg

But an often forgotten fact about the first iPhone is that it was almost impossible to access the internet while on the move. The device did not support the third-generation mobile networks, 3G, meaning iPhone users were stuck with domestic Wi-Fi signals.

Now, over a decade later, Apple again faces being late to the party. So-called 5G services, due to come online this year, promise download speeds up to 100 times faster than existing networks. Mobile operators are scrambling to get their own 5G networks running. EE, the UK's largest operator, has said it will be in 16 cities. America's Verizon will launch in 30.
Mimicking an infrared remote to control your household appliances from afar, the B.One Eazy offers a simple way to give your home a smart overhaul.

Last year, Australian-backed Blaze Automation unveiled the ambitious $550 B.One Hub which is designed to control practically any smart or dumb appliance around your home. Now it's back with the stripped-down $88 B.One Eazy, which acts like a universal remote for less-complex smart homes.

The B.One Eazy is small, but needs line of sight to the IR devices you want to control.

The palm-sized Eazy is small enough to tuck away out of sight and even comes with a wall mount. Keep in mind it still needs power via microUSB, as well as line of sight with any device you want to control via IR; such as your aircon, television, set-top box or sound system.

The Eazy works with most split systems, which typically come with an infrared remote, but not with central heating/cooling as these systems tend to rely on a wall controller rather than a handheld remote.
Toronto: An executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, saying they detained, searched and interrogated her before telling her she was under arrest.

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou arrives at a parole office with a security guard in Vancouver in December. Credit:Canadian Press/AP

Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou said on Sunday they filed a notice of civil claim in the British Columbia Supreme Court. Canada arrested Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, at the request of the US on December 1 at Vancouver's airport.

She is wanted on fraud charges that she misled banks about the company's business dealings in Iran.

The suit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, authorities interrogated Meng "under the guise of a routine customs" examination and used the opportunity to "compel her to provide evidence and information."
Delhi: India's air chief has refused to confirm the death toll from last week's strike on an alleged terrorist training camp in Pakistan, fuelling doubts over the success of a raid in which it was initially claimed 250 militants died.

A Pakistani soldier stands guard near the wreckage of an Indian plane shot down by the Pakistan military. Credit:AP

"The Indian Air Force (IAF) does not count human casualties," said Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa of the Feb 27 offensive. "We count what targets we have hit or not."

Asked how many militants had been eliminated in the strike, he said: "It's for the government to answer that question."

The government, however, has declined to comment.
London: British Prime Minister Theresa May praised the "spirit and resolve" of people in Salisbury, England as the city on Monday marked a year since a nerve agent attack on a Russian ex-spy.

The poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, represented the first use of a nerve agent on British soil. The March 4, 2018 attack triggered a diplomatic freeze and raised tensions between Britain and Russia to levels unseen since the Cold War.

Theresa May greets local residents during a visit to Salisbury. Credit:EPA

It also hammered businesses in the city, which draws tourists to its medieval cathedral and the nearby Stonehenge monument. It was not until last week that police declared that decontamination efforts in Salisbury were complete.

"What I have seen today here in Salisbury is the tremendous spirit and resolve of the people of Salisbury," May said.
Wellington: A New Zealander fighting for ISIS who encouraged terrorist attacks in Australia has been captured in Syria, according to reports.

New Zealander Mark Taylor, 42, was placed on a United States terror watchlist after he "used social media, including appearing in a 2015 ISIS propaganda video, to encourage terrorist attacks in Australia and New Zealand", according to the US State Department.

New Zealander Mark Taylor inadvertently gave away Islamic State's position when tweeting about his adventures. He is reportedly being held in a Kurdish jail.

He had been in Syria with ISIS since 2014.

The ABC reports Taylor is now in a Kurdish prison after fleeing Islamic State in December over poor conditions and surrendering himself.
The district attorney will not prosecute the two police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Stephon Clark, the unarmed 22-year-old who was killed in his grandmother's backyard nearly a year ago.Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a news conference Saturday that Sacramento police Officers Terrence Mercadal and Jared Robinet reasonably believed Clark was armed with a firearm and that they were in imminent danger."When we look at all of these facts and circumstances, we look at all of it. Everything," Schubert said. "As a result, we will not charge these officers with any criminal liability related to the shooting death and use of force on Stephon Clark."I think it is quite clear that Mr. Clark was in a state of despair, and he was impaired and it's very sad," she added.SeQuette Clark, his mother, told the Associated Press she refused to agree with the district attorney's decision not to prosecute the officers."They executed my son," she said. "It's not right."Shortly after the decision was announced, Clark's grandmother Sequita Thompson was rushed to the hospital after experiencing chest pain, said Jamilia Land, a family friend."There is no justice here," Land said. "And it is just hard. This is hard to continuously watch."Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement calling for "systematic reforms that reduce inequities, increase community confidence in our criminal justice system and that reinforce the sanctity of human life.""But most of all, we need to acknowledge the hard truth -- our criminal justice system treats young black and Latino men and women differently than their white counterparts," he said. "That must change."A 61-page report released by Schubert's office describes details of the chaotic events that led up to the police shooting that night on March 18, 2018.Just two days before the shooting, the police were called to the home of Salena Manni, Clark's girlfriend and mother to his two young sons, for a domestic violence incident.Manni told officers that Clark had punched and slapped her and called her derogatory names. He also shoved her head into the wall, leaving a 3-inch hole in the wall. A warrant was issued for Clark's arrest, according to the district attorney's report.In the subsequent 12 hours, Clark, who was on probation for domestic violence charges involving Manni, called Manni 76 times. He also called his probation officer and drafted an email to law enforcement reading, "I'm pretty scared, I'm going to be put in jail."He also traded text messages with his girlfriend, saying "that he is going to be locked up for the rest of his life, that he is never going to be able to see his children again," Schubert said.After sending the texts, Schubert said Clark searched more than two dozen sites on how to commit suicide, focusing primarily on drug ingestion. His last text message to his girlfriend was a photo of 10 Xanax in the palm of his hand with the message, "Let's fix our family or I'm taking all of these."A toxicology report from the night of the shooting determined that Clark had marijuana, Xanax, alcohol, codeine, hydrocodone and cocaine metabolite in his system.Manni, Clark's girlfriend, repeatedly broke down in tears and had to pause to collect herself at a Sacramento church Saturday evening as she delivered a brief statement about the decision. She said Schubert had wrongly focused on the events leading up to the night Clark was shot."They murdered Stephon Clark," Manni said. "That's what this is about. It's not about anything that happened before that. It's about the officers who murdered him, murdered him because he had a cell phone in his hand. And now he'll never come back to us."On March 18, a 911 caller confronted Clark with a bat after reporting him to police, Schubert said. Investigators determined the car break-in suspect was Clark based on the clothing description and evidence left at the scene."There was no evidence that anything was stolen or taken from these cars," she said.The shooting occurred in his grandmother's backyard after Mercadal and Robinet said they thought he had a gun. Clark was unarmed and holding a cell phone at the time of his death.But Schubert said the reason she didn't file charges is that evidence showed the officers "honestly, without hesitation, believed he had a gun."Her decision was based on the officers' "spontaneous statements," which included commands for Clark to show his hands and asking one another if they were hit by gunfire after firing their weapons.Schubert did not investigate the officers' state of mind before the shooting, their personal lives or toxicology.The shooting sparked protests in Sacramento and gained national attention as part of a wave of rallies over police treatment of communities of color. Sacramento police tactics and the decision to shoot were also called into question and led the California Justice Department to publish 49 recommendations for reforming use-of-force policies and training.Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said Saturday that the district attorney's decision was not a surprise and that Clark's death "must be the catalyst for the kind of change that people will look back upon and say out of the depths of pain and anger and injustice came hope peace and real equity for our people."About 80 people gathered outside the Sacramento Police Department to protest the decision. Sonia Lewis, a leader in Black Lives Matter Sacramento and mother of six sons, said she did not want to see one more young black man die at the hands of police without Schubert holding them responsible."What I didn't expect was her blatant disregard and disrespect for his life. It felt like slander," she said. "That was the outrage."Clark's family, including his two sons, his parents and his grandparents filed a wrongful death lawsuit in January seeking more than $20 million from the city, Mercadal and Robinet. The family alleged that the officers used excessive force and racially profiled Clark.
Jerusalem: The United States has closed its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the US Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over US diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement last year of the proposal to move the consulate by US Secretary of State MIke Pompeo angered Palestinians. Credit:AP

"This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said. "It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip."
Washington: Democrats in Congress unleashed a slew of demands in their investigations of President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking information about his communications with Russian President Vladimir Putin and documents from 81 sources in an obstruction probe.

The chairmen of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees wrote to the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo seeking documents and interviews with personnel about Trump's conversations with Putin.

The lawmakers expressed concern about media reports that Trump seized notes on at least one meeting with the Russian leader and tried to destroy records about those talks.

"These allegations, if true, raise profound national security, counterintelligence, and foreign policy concerns, especially in light of Russia's ongoing active measures campaign to improperly influence American elections," Chairmen Adam Schiff, Elliot Engel and Elijah Cummings wrote in their letter.
Facilitating sharing, collaboration, innovation and knowledge transfer among members in state government.

Facilitating interaction and collective cooperation between state, federal, and local government entities.

Developing and encouraging standards adoption.

Developing and supporting best practices.

Working toward solutions to issues identified as priorities of the members or within the field.

Speaking as a community  with one voice.

Established a partnership with an academic institution.

Established a series of guiding principles.

Held monthly video conferences.

Held a half-day virtual summit.

Established an electronic communication and collaboration channel.

Provided recommendations on the Federal Data Strategy.

Established a relationship with the National Governors Association.

Data is a strategic asset and, if missing or unavailable, severely limits the ability of government to deliver results and services the public expects, create effective policy and operate efficiently. To ensure the well-being of this critical asset, many governments, including several U.S. states, have hired chief data officers (CDOs) who are dedicated to the responsible management and utilization of government data, especially through warehousing, analysis and mining.While CDOs are leading crucial work for states around the country, the position is new so theres no definitive blueprint for how to be successful. Many CDOs are the first person to do the job in their state. Since the best way to learn, support one another in this new endeavor, and develop best practices is peers, a network of state CDOs has emerged. This network began to take shape in 2016 thanks to the efforts of Liz Rowe (former New Jersey CDO) and Ed Kelly from Texas, who began to reach out to state CDOs and begin setting up conference calls. Doing this is not a trivial task, and they established a solid foundation for what has become the State Chief Data Officer Network.The network is a voluntary collaboration of the executive leadership for information and data in state government. Today, approximately 25 states have established a CDO or comparable role, and virtually all of them participate in the State CDO Network. With this level of demand and an expected increase in the number of states hiring CDOs, work is underway to formalize this network.State data programs are seeking to leverage data as a strategic asset. CDOs understand that the data states collect has value beyond the purpose for which its collected. However, there are persistent challenges that all states face when attempting to effectively leverage data. These challenges can be legal, cultural and technological, among many others. The network serves primarily as a way for states to share their own experiences and how they are addressing these issues. Its primary objectives include:States often compete with one another, typically for jobs or federal grants. Yet, theres a tremendous spirit of cooperation among state CDOs. Indiana, with its highly regarded Management and Performance Hub, may not get much benefit from participating in the network, yet CDO Darshan Shah consistently participates and shares lessons from Indianas data journey. Floridas relatively new CDO Burt Walsh has shared his states data inventory process, which was tremendously valuable to Connecticut, which recently was required to undertake such an inventory.For now, the State Chief Data Officers Network activities generally consist of a monthly video conference with topics that range from open data, state legislation, data governance, analytics, and staffing, to name a few. With no financial support and a very modest amount of institutional support from an academic partner, the network has been able to grow and coalesce around some common issues. To date the network has:Over the next year and hopefully beyond, the network will continue to grow with an emphasis on peer networking, knowledge sharing and forming additional partnerships. We are creating smaller focus groups around topics such as open data, to allow CDOs to dig deeper into areas of particular interest to their state. Additionally, the network will seek to do some smaller things, such as establish a Web presence, so new state CDOs and others know who we are and how to reach us. The network must also begin pursuit of philanthropic support in order to scale the impact of the network.The Civic Analytics Network, the city equivalent of the State CDO Network, has demonstrated that with modest financial support, they can have a significant impact. Additionally, many state programs and the data they collect and are responsible for are either funded by the federal government or impacted by federal laws and policy. The state CDOs intend to make our collective voices heard when it comes to federal data policy and its impact on states.State CDOs will ultimately need support to scale this network, not only to grow peer-to-peer knowledge sharing but to allow deeper research and educational opportunities. State laws, policies and programs have significant implications for health care, justice, education, child welfare, transportation, and economic opportunity, along with myriad other important issues. Each of these areas can be improved on a national scale when states leverage data positively.
17-Year-Old Student Publicly Accuses Art Teacher of Sexually Abusing Her for Years

A 17-year-old female high school student in China has publicly accused her art teacher of not only physical abuse and rape, but also blackmailing her about it.

The girl, given the pseudonym Grace, said in an interview with Shaanxi Television on Feb. 28, that she was a victim of sexual abuse for four years. The accused, a 42-year-old teacher, last name Ni, worked at the Chenggu Number Four Middle School in northwestern Chinas Shaanxi province.

Grace said she did not previously expose Ni because she was terrified by his threats of violence and blackmail, which included his recordings of the sexual abuse against her. She did not tell her parents, and attempted suicide several times.

A week prior to the report, passers-by saw Grace being beaten by Ni on a country road. They stopped him and called the police, who began an investigation against Ni.

Alleged Attacks

Grace claims the attacks began in 2015, Shaanxi Television reported. She said Ni texted her, asking her to come to the art classroom to teach her to draw.

When I went in the room, he grabbed me from behind, Grace said in the interview.

I was screaming the whole time, and then he covered my mouth.

Though she struggled, her eventually removed her clothing, and proceeded to rape her.

She was 13-years-old at the time.

Grace said that the second time it happened, Ni recorded the assault. He used these videos as blackmail against her.

The sexual abuse and physical assaults went on for four years, Grace said.

The girls mother said that she could tell her daughter was having emotional difficulties.

Ni also sent many gifts to the girl, according to her mother. At first, the girl would give everything back to him, but later accepted the gifts out of fear of angering Ni.

Ni sent more shocking things as well. He sent videos of himself over the phone to the girl, and told her to study, implying to sketch, his genitals.

The girl decided it was time to end the abuse, so she invited Ni out to tell him to delete the videos he had taken. When he heard this, he went into a rage.

He started beating me, Grace said. He slapped my face and choked me. He got out of the car and pressed me onto the ground, he sat on me and kept beating me.

When people passing by noticed a man beating a teenage girl, they stopped him and called the police, according to the report.

Sexual Abuse in China

At the beginning of 2018, Chinese women began speaking out against sexual abuse.

On Jan. 1, 2018, a woman named Luo Qianqian described how she was assaulted 12 years prior by a teaching assistant while she studied in at her university.

His continued harassment drove Luo into depression.

She later immigrated to the United States, and upon hearing from other female classmates who had studied with the same assistant, she decided to make her experience public. She even included recordings of conversations, which she said would prove him guilty.

This caused more women to step forward about the abuse their suffered while in higher education.

One of the highest ranking monks in the Chinese Communist Party-sanctioned Buddhist Association of China quit his job after female disciples outed him. He was accused of sexual harassment and psychological manipulation.

A major TV personality at state-run CCTV was also accused of indecent behavior by a 25-year-old intern. The case is now playing out in court.
57-Year-Old Woman Imprisoned, Tortured for Her Faith Files Appeal

Seven years ago, Tian Xiaoping was imprisoned for her faith in China. Shortly after, Tian was subjected to a brutal round of torture aimed at forcing her to give up her spiritual beliefs.

The torture broke Tian and she relented to the prison guards demands.

But earlier this year, Tian decided that she would refuse to accept how she was treated, leading the 57-year-old to file an appeal of her case.

In 2012, Tian had been sentenced to 14-years in prison for practicing Falun Gong, according to Minghui.org, a U.S.-based website that serves as a clearinghouse for records of persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice consisting of meditation exercises and a set of teachings centered around the tenets of truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance. As a result of the practices immense popularity in China, the Chinese communist regime banned the discipline in 1999, launching a sweeping crackdown that persists to the present day. According to estimates cities by Western media, around 70 to 100 million were practicing by the end of the 1990s.

Arrest

In November 2011, Tian was arrested in Harbin city, in northern Chinas Heilongjiang province, along with more than 40 practitioners after they visited the home of a late practitioner, Qin Yueming, who had been persecuted to death, according to the site. The practitioners were there to listen to Qins wife and daughter recount their struggles in seeking justice for his wrongful death.

When the meeting ended, more then 100 police stormed into the room, and used tear gas and electric batons to subdue the practitioners. Each practitioner was restrained by at least two police officers.

Tian was hit and sustained cuts to the forehead, and her clothes were torn during the melee. The tear gas caused her eyes to become red and swollen for ten days following the arrest.

Interrogation

Before her trial, three police officers tortured Tian during an interrogation in an attempt to get her to admit to practicing Falun Gong.

As part of the communist regimes persecution of Falun Gong, state organs were directed by then-leader of the party Jiang Zemin to ruin their reputations, bankrupt them financially, and destroy them physically. Police stations are reportedly subject to quotas for arrests of Falun Gong practitioners, and officers are threatened with dismissal if these quotas are not met.

The officers tied Tian to a chair with her hands behind her back, and used high-intensity light to burn her face. Tians lips cracked due to the heat from the spot light.

One police officer kicked Tians knees while he interrogated her. Mentally and physically weakened from the torture, Tian ultimately signed the papers given to her by the police.

She complained to the public prosecutor about what had happened to her during the interrogation. While the prosecutor said they would investigate, Tian never heard back.

Trial

Tian was charged with sabotaging law enforcement. She was tried in Shuangcheng City Court in May 2012 with five other practitioners who had also been arrested on the same day from Harbin.

The practitioners all denied the charge. Their defense lawyers argued for their release on the grounds that Chinese people have the right to freedom of belief and religion, as guaranteed by Chinas constitution.

The lawyers also contended that their clients had been tortured by the police. The judge refused the lawyers request to call the accused police officers to give evidence, and later ordered for the guards to remove the lawyers from the courtroom. The lawyers personal computers were also confiscated by the court.

In August that year, Tian was sentenced to 14-years imprisonment despite the public prosecutor recommending prison terms of three to five years. Two of the other practitioners on trial were also handed heavy sentences of 13 and 11 years.

Torture

Tian was sent to Heilongjiang Womens Prison. There, prison guards beat her, stripped her, and poured freezing cold water on her.

She was also bound with her hands tied behind her back, and forced to sit on a small stool for up to 17 hours a day without moving. This caused her buttocks to become ulcerous and festered.

On one occasion, Tian passed out from being denied sleep for three days. Upon waking up, she was made to write a statement saying she would stop practicing Falun Gong.

As a result of the torture, Tian developed high blood pressure, diabetes, and depression.

When Tians family visited her less than a year later, they found that she could not walk without assistance and struggled to speak coherently. Her body was also trembling uncontrollably.

Tian suffered through her torture-induced condition for years before she decided to resume the practice while in prison. After doing the meditation exercises, she saw improvements to her health. Slowly she was able to walk again without help and take care of herself.

Finding renewed hope, Tian decided to file a motion to reconsider her case.

Rather than being tortured to death by you in the prison, Id rather persevere in my faith with dignity, Tian told the guards.

As long Im still breathing, I wont give up my faith again.
Demonstrators gather near the Monument to the Republic during a protest against Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika seeking a fifth term in a presidential election set in Paris, France, on Mar. 3, 2019. (Christian Hartmann/Reuters)

Algerias Bouteflika Offers to Leave Within One Year If Re-elected

ALGIERSAlgerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, facing mass protests over his 20 years in power, will run in Aprils elections with an offer to step down after a year if he is re-elected, his campaign manager said on Mar. 3.

The announcement read out by Abdelghani Zaalane on Bouteflikas behalf was aimed at appeasing those who had taken to the streets this weekend to protest against the 82-year-olds plans to remain in office.

The comments were Bouteflikas first since the biggest displays of dissent in Algeria since the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that unseated rulers in neighboring countries.

Tens of thousands of protesters had been rallying throughout the day in cities around Algeria, calling on Bouteflika not to submit election papers for the April 18 polls, the deadline for which was Mar. 3.

Zaalane arrived to submit the documents on late on Mar. 3, but there was no sign of Bouteflika, who Swiss television said remained at a hospital in Geneva. The president has rarely been seen in public since he suffered a stroke in 2013 and has for years communicated via letters read out by aides.

His opponents say he is no longer fit to lead, citing his health and what they call chronic corruption and a lack of economic reforms to tackle high unemployment, which exceeds 25 percent among people under the age of 30.

Analysts say the protesters, who began hitting the streets 10 days ago, lack leadership and organization in a country still dominated by veterans of the 1954-62 independence war against France, including Bouteflika.

But traditionally weak and divided opposition and civic groups have called for protests to go on should Bouteflika continue to pursue re-election.

The government has played on fears among many Algerians of a return of bloodshed seen in the 1990s, when an estimated 200,000 people were killed after Islamists took up arms when the military canceled elections they were poised to win.

But the new series of protests have been generally peaceful, apart from scuffles with police on Friday, leaving 183 people injured.

Students gathered in their thousands on Sunday at university faculties, one of them near the Constitutional Council where presidential candidates have to file their papers. Students chanted: No to a fifth term! and A free and democratic Algeria!

Further Protests

Thousands later marched through the city center. A diplomatic source estimated that as many as 70,000 people had massed in Algiers, including a rally at Bab Ezzouar university, the countrys biggest.

We will not stop until we get rid of this system, said Aicha, a 23-year-old student, summing up the mood on the streets.

According to witnesses and local television footage, protesters also turned out in their thousands in cities including Oran, Constantine, Annaba, Batna, Blida, Skikda, and Bouira. Some 6,000 also protested in central Paris, where many Algerians live.

By late Mar. 3, seven candidates had registered to run against Bouteflika. Opposition groups failed to agree on one candidate, making any campaign an uphill challenge in a country dominated by one partythe FLNsince independence.

Many Algerians eschewed public political activity for years, for fear of trouble from the pervasive security apparatus or out of disillusionment with the lack of change in the leadership.

After the decade-long Islamist insurgency that Bouteflika crushed early in his rule, Algerians generally tolerated a political system leaving little room for dissent as a price to pay for relative peace and stability.

By Lamine Chikhi & Hamid Ould Ahmed
This photo provided by Greg Martin shows a funnel cloud in Byron, Ga., Mar. 3, 2019. (Greg Martin via AP)

At Least 14 Dead as Storms, Possible Tornados Hit Deep South

A sheriff confirmed at least 14 people were killed by a possible tornado in Alabama on Mar. 3 as severe storms destroyed mobile homes, snapped trees and left a trial of destruction and weather warnings extending into Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

Dozens of emergency responders rushed in to assist in Lee County, Alabama, after what appeared to be a large tornado struck Sunday afternoon as part of a powerful storm system raking the Southeast.

I can say that at this time we have 14 confirmed fatalities, Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV. And again the search continues. We still have some people that are reported missing.

JUST IN: At least 14 dead after possible tornado hits Alabama https://t.co/Sqy9pM2DCO pic.twitter.com/3uNgu6h2Q4  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 4, 2019

Authorities warned that the death toll could rise further as search efforts continued in the small community of Beauregard and surrounding areas. Jones said the storms path of destruction stretched for miles through his rural county, and in places was about a fourth of a mile wide. He didnt have an immediate account of how many were believed missing.

Several people in Lee County were taken to hospitals, some of them with very serious injuries, Jones said.

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders were assisting in the storms aftermath.

Multiple homes were destroyed or damaged in Beauregard, about 60 miles east of Montgomery, Smith said.

Weve still got people being pulled out of rubble, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told Al.com on Sunday evening. Were going to be here all night.

The sheriff and coroner did not immediately return phone messages from The Associated Press.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham, Alabama, office of the National Weather Service.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.

The last check I had was between six and eight injuries, Ereheim said in a phone interview. From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken.

Tornado kills at least 10 people in Alabama, report says https://t.co/ckNKKpra9b (via NBC) pic.twitter.com/aGgcyQP6Bj  Channel 3 Weather (@wkycweather) March 4, 2019

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon.

A portion of Interstate 10 on the Florida Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

Theres a squall line moving through the area, Harrigan told AP. And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. Its a favorable environment for tornados.

The threat of severe weather was expected to continue into Sunday evening. A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.
Lauderdale County

Caring for roads, bridges

(TNS)  From city firefighters to county business systems to caring for infrastructure, technology is advancing for local government agencies.For the Meridian Fire Department, new technology reduces risks, making the department safer for firefighters and Meridian residents alike.Tools include masks for firefighters, who have their own camera feed in the lower righthand corner. Unlike normal cameras, this camera can be programed to detect hot or cold spots, giving firefighters visuals they need.Ricky Leister, the citys fire chief, explained that the hot spot could help firefighters pinpoint the source of the fire or the most dangerous parts of the building.I used to tell them to paint the picture using their hands, Leister said, demonstrating the training technique hed used for years. So if they find a window they know if things get bad they have an escape.During a rescue mission, a firefighter could use cold spots to identify people trapped inside the home because, during a fire, a person will be the coldest part of a room, Leister said.I may not see (someone) clearly because theyre under the covers, Leister said. But with the cold spot tracker, I can see that somethings there and dial in on that.The department currently has 64 of the advanced masks for its 84-person department, buying small batches of masks to spread out costs and turnover.They can walk in and theyve got the use of their hands, Leister said.The newest line of masks has the ability to broadcast the video feed to an outside monitor and could possibly include a rechargeable version.A handheld version gives more detail, which firefighters outside can use to pinpoint a fire from the exterior.It helps us see the fire without having to tear out the walls, Deputy Chief Jason Collier said.Another exciting tool for the department almost looks like an early-model cell phone with a small screen endlessly updating several groups of numbers.Despite its appearance, the five gas detectors must be routinely calibrated and cared for to ensure accurate readings. Beyond measuring oxygen, hydrogen sulfide or carbon monoxide, the device operates as a photo ionization detector that detects volatile organic compounds and measures the lower explosive limit of the surrounding air.This will be useful if were called to a house where people are getting sick, Collier said. We had a call about an underground gas tank next to a house where the underground storage tank was leaking and leaking vapors up into the house this would have detected that.The departments two detectors have a pump that cycles air and can add a hose to measure air elsewhere. If the oxygen level goes below 19.5 percent, the device will buzz and flash to alert investigators about the air quality.We are continuing to push for the latest technology that we can get, Leister said. This is cutting edge.Leister, with nearly three decades of experience, said that even the attitudes of firefighters had changed, making safety a bigger priority.You used to be looked down on for wearing an air pack, Leister said. Now you dont come off of the truck without one.For the next big purchase, Leister said he wanted to expand the departments ability to use thermal imaging to assess a fire before entry.The next big thing I want to get into is drones, Leister said. We like to do a 360 (view) before we plan an attack or enter a home with a drone, we can see all of it.Seeing the entire building, including walk-out basements or unknown hazards, would go a long way to safer, more precise entries.Funding remains the biggest obstacle.For any of us, its not a lack of want, Leister said. Our job when were working is inherently dangerous.To reduce that risk, each fire apparatus has its own thermal imaging camera, in addition to the helmets.I think most of the guys have really bought in with the direction we want to go, Leister said. These are just some of the things (Collier) and I have been up to.Many improvements introduced for Lauderdale County have fine tuned decades-old processes, including a new time clock system, mandatory direct deposit and online bidding.A lot of things were bringing to the table are how the business community has been doing things for a long time, Chris Lafferty, the county administrator, said.While state code requires that counties advertise for bids in the local newspaper, Lauderdale County has also started listing open bids online and sending materials electronically.Which also allows the vendor to be more efficient, Lafferty said. And weve implemented a policy where we encourage vendors to allow us to pay them electronically its making our process more efficient in how we pay our bills.Having an online time clock eases the process for administrators who calculate hours worked toward a certain grant, such as county law enforcement officers whose pay is supplemented by a DUI grant or some with the emergency management agency working on a natural disaster, Lafferty said.Its just making us more effective and efficient, Lafferty said. And it cuts down on administrative labor.Future technology for the county could include a push alert to cellphones for weather warnings that are Lauderdale County specific and come from the Lauderdale Emergency Management Agency, Lafferty said.One program Lafferty highlighted included Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) improvements, anticipated to roll out later this year. Updates to the program will allow law enforcement officers in the county and city to look up address information and licenses plates from their car.Some programs, already offered by the county, just need better exposure, such as paying a car tag fee online or Justice Court fines, Lafferty said.One county investment has changed years of processes, revolutionizing the way the government cares for the hundreds of miles of roads.(Civil Link) took an assessment of all our roads and the road conditions and ultimately ranked those on a scale from one to ten, Rush Mayatt, the county road manager, said. With that they also provided a cost estimate and recommended surface treatment to correct those issues.Mayatt said that counties used to have a reactive road protocol, fixing only the worst roads after a few calls from concerned residents.For the longest time, county government  really statewide  has used the mentality that we overlay to fix it, Mayatt said. A lot of times, roads dont need that and maybe, simply, it can just be saved to protect it and increase the life of the road.Overlay can be very costly, Mayatt said. Alternative fixes, such as sealing, can be a way to improve road conditions for a period of time at a lower cost.Thats the main focus: cost savings and to provide better roads for all of Lauderdale County, Mayatt said.Rather than focusing solely on roads in the worst conditions, Mayatt said that improving decent roads, or even bridges, can stretch county money for longer periods of time.For a long time, we took care of the (bridges) that failed, Mayatt said. There were no preventative measures put in place and thats the wrong mentality.The system, implemented last year, hasnt yet been analyzed for cost savings, but Mayatt said that other Mississippi counties have already calculated their savings.Rankin County is one of the few other counties that implemented this, they adopted a five-year plan on top of it, Mayatt said. And they went from being able to treat around 39 miles of road to over 100 miles of road with the same amount of money. Nothing changed with the amount of money that the road and bridge department was taking it was just a better use of the funds.Mayatt said that he wanted to make the data from Civil Link publicly available, so residents could see road conditions across the county.Its very difficult for citizens to look at the bigger picture. Its just human nature, myself included. The most important road is the one that I traveled on or that I live on, Mayatt said. Everyone wants to know when their road is going to get overlay and well, the truth is, your road might not even be in that bad of a condition.
Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita (R) and his Australian couterpart Simon Birmingham (L) hold documents after signing a trade deal in Jakarta on Mar. 4, 2019. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)

Australia Inks Indonesia Free Trade Deal

A trade deal between Indonesia and Australia has been hailed as sending a timely signal to the world about the importance of free trade.

As the Indonesian and Australian trade ministers signed the agreement in Jakarta on Mar. 4, Labor leader Bill Shorten promised to study the detail as his party weighed up whether to lend parliamentary support.

The opposition leader says Labor is positively disposed towards the trade pact, which must be ratified by parliament after its formal tabling, and an inquiry by the treaties committee.

Well have to study the detail, as you always dowe want to make sure that Australian jobs are prioritisedbut were very positive from what weve seen so far, Shorten told reporters in Melbourne.

Both countries are in the worlds top 20 economies but not each others top 10 trading partners.

This is Indonesias first major agreement of its type and will allow Australian-owned universities to operate in the country.

Australian frozen meats, live cattle, feed grains, dairy, citrus, and steel will also receive favourable treatment.

Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said the deal would eliminate tariffs in relation to 94 per cent of tariff lines.

That covers 99 per cent of Australias current trade with Indonesia, he said in Jakarta.

The Business Council of Australia and National Farmers Federation are both celebrating the trade deal.

This is an important agreement for a large developing country like Indonesia, and it demonstrates both Australias and Indonesias commitment to rules-based global trade at a time when the voices against freer and more liberal trade are increasingly loud, Business Council chief Jennifer Westacott said.

Unions fear it will hurt Australian jobs by opening the floodgates to exploited Indonesian workers and undermine national sovereignty by allowing international rulings on investment disputes.

The ACTU has branded it a dodgy deal that favours temporary visa holders, while the head of the manufacturing workers union says theres no substantive evidence the deal will benefit Australian workers.

Shorten said the unions were entitled to their views, but he would look at the total national interest.

Labor has supported a string of recent free trade deals signed by the coalition.

Even still, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that the opposition is the only thing standing in the way of the latest agreement.

The Labor Party has often baulked on these arrangements in the past, so that would be the only risk to it as far as I can see, he told reporters in Sydney.

The trade deal was meant to be signed last year but was delayed when the prime minister floated the idea of moving Australias embassy in Israel.

Key Outcomes of Indonesia Free Trade Deal

Indonesia has a population of 270 million people and is expected to be the worlds fifth-largest economy by 2030

Both countries are in the worlds top 20 economies but not in each others top 10 list of trading partners

It is Indonesias first major free trade agreement

Whats in it for Australia?

The deal will allow 99 per cent of Australian goods to enter Indonesia duty free or under significantly better preferential arrangements

Import licences are a major frustration for Australian exporters into Indonesia

Grains, meat, citrus, and horticultural products will be granted automatic import permits under the deal

Rolled steel, copper, and plastic exports are also expected to benefit

Australian-owned universities will be able to operate in Indonesia

Australians will be able to command greater stakes in vocational training, tourism, health, and mining companies that operate in Indonesia

Whats in it for Indonesia?
(L) Prime Minister Scott Morrison at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on Feb. 13, 2019. (R) Foreign Minister Marise Payne in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 1, 2019. (Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

Australia Praises Trump for North Korea Summit

Scott Morrison has heaped praise on U.S. President Donald Trump for trying to strike a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

After the two leaders failed to reach an agreement during a summit in Vietnam last week, the prime minister said achieving denuclearisation in North Korea was a difficult task.

His determination to keep pressing forwardthere will be frustrationsbut I really commend his heartfelt commitment to try and make some progress in this area, Morrison told reporters in Sydney on Mar. 4.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the two-day talks continued a path in the right direction.

Aussie PM Scott Morrison along side Foreign Minister Marise Payne speak to media at Parliament House in Canberra pic.twitter.com/ZRg9DJRkir  HV Kaltenborn21st century edition (@crunchtimelover) October 31, 2018

These are very complex matters, Senator Payne said.

We know that they were never going to be resolved overnight, and I commend both the president of the United States and Kim Jong Un for the engagement they have had during these sessions.

The federal opposition is similarly upbeat about the Vietnam summit, with Labor senator Penny Wong saying the only thing worse than no deal is a bad deal, and it was positive the two leaders were talking.

Australia needs to follow other countries APAC lead and ramp up influence in Pacific Islands, Penny Wong says https://t.co/IXD5lhwqcm pic.twitter.com/9vzbdCW2JD  ABC News (@abcnews) July 18, 2018

I Am Always Prepared to Walk

President Donald Trumps decision to walk away from the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without a deal sent a clear message to Beijing that he has a strong card to play in trade talks.

Trump met the North Korean leader for a second summit last week, in Vietnams capital, Hanoi, where both sides failed to reach a deal on denuclearization because of a dispute over lifting economic sanctions in exchange for partial steps toward denuclearization.

I am always prepared to walk, Trump said on Feb. 28 at a press conference in Hanoi. Im never afraid to walk from a deal. And I would do that with China, too, if it didnt work out.

Gordon Chang, an expert on China and North Korea, told Fox News that when Trump walked away in Hanoi, he showed Beijing he wasnt afraid to leave a bad deal. I think China has to reassess their approach to trade talks, Chang said.

Trump announced in February that he would meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in hopes of finalizing a trade deal. Washington and Beijing are now discussing a late March meeting.

On Feb. 24, Trump announced in a tweet that he held off implementing a planned tariff increase on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese imports, due to the progress made in the last round of trade talks in Washington.



I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.) based on the fact that we are moving along nicely with Trade discussions.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2019

He said that the United States had made substantial progress in negotiations with China on important structural issues, including protection of intellectual property and an end to forced technology transfers.

Tariffs had been planned to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on March 1. But Trump agreed to postpone that increase in hopes of finalizing a deal during a summit with Xi at his Florida resort.

In a recent tweet, Trump also asked China to immediately remove all tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods, including beef and pork, since both sides were moving along nicely with trade talks.

This is very important for our great farmers and me, he wrote.

The Trump administration believes Beijing has reasons to compromise as economic woes continue to put pressure on the Chinese regime. Economists predict that Beijing could soon implement more extensive stimulus measures to counter the weak economy.

Our stock market is almost at its all-time high. Our economy is incredible, Trump said at the press conference. And with China, theyre having some difficulty, as you know. But I think that a lot of the difficulty is because of the tariffs that theyre having.

Under the weight of U.S. tariffs, the Chinese economy weakened further last year. The growth of the worlds second-largest economy slowed to its weakest pace in nearly three decades. If both sides fail to reach a deal at Mar-a-Lago and trade tensions resume, Chinas troubles will deepen, according to analysts.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Mar. 3 that Washington and Beijing are close to a trade deal and a formal agreement could be reached at the TrumpXi summit around March 27, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Epoch Times reporter Emel Akan and the Australian Associated Press contributed to this article
Australia Is Rejecting Visa Applications From Domestic Violence Offenders

Foreign visa applicants found guilty of domestic violence in any country will be refused entry at the border due to new rules introduced by the Australian government.

The federal government issued a Ministerial Direction in December 2018 to visa decision-makers under s499 of the Migration Act 1958, meaning anyone known to be convicted of violent crimes against woman and children in any part of the world will not be allowed to enter Australia.

The government used the changes, which took effect on Feb. 28, 2019, to warn domestic violence perpetrators they are no longer welcome in Australia, regardless of the country in which they committed the offence or what sentence was handed down.

Australia has no tolerance for perpetrators of violence against women and children, Federal Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs David Coleman said in a public statement. The message is clear: if youve been convicted of a violent crime against women or children, you are not welcome in this country, wherever the offence occurred, whatever the sentence.

Visitors to Australia can be refused entry or kicked out if they have been convicted of domestic violence, under a new federal government directive.https://t.co/UfjcpYk85u  FECCA (@iFECCA) March 4, 2019

The new direction gives decision-makers from the federal Department of Home Affairs and Administrative Appeals Tribunal the power to stop someone from entering Australia, especially while considering whether to revoke a mandatory cancellation of a visa, or just to cancel or refuse to grant a visa under the Migration Act.

This means when considering a case, the decision-maker or AAT member must consider all crimes against woman and children as serious and abhorrent crimes, regardless of the length of sentence imposed by the courts, the statement said. The direction further specifies that in these circumstances, individuals should generally expect to be denied the privilege of coming to, or to forfeit the privilege of staying in Australia.

The tighter rules come after the government introduced mandatory cancellation powers in s501 of the Migration Act, which require a persons visa to be cancelled if they have been sentenced to 12 months or more in prison.

Coleman said the government is now considering more ways it can lower domestic violence-related crime.

By cancelling the visas of criminals, we have made Australia a safer place, he said. These crimes inflict long-lasting trauma on the victims and their friends and family, and foreign criminals who commit them are not welcome in our country.

In the five years between 2009 and 2013, the left-leaning Labor government cancelled 582 visas under character provisions in the Migration Act. Since 2014 the centre-right Liberal Coalition government has cancelled more than 4,150 visas of foreign criminalsseven times more than the previous period.

In February, Prime Minister Scott Morrison promised a $60 million (US$42.5 million) grants program for eligible organisations to provide new or expanded emergency accommodation for people experiencing domestic and family violence. Morrison also promised $18 million (US$12.8 million) to construct up to 450 safe places and help up to 6,500 people a year through the existing Keeping Women Safe in their Homes program.

According to the government, the program has helped more than 5,200 women since 2015-16, providing security upgrades and safety planning so women and children can remain in their own homes if safe to do so.

In comparison, federal opposition leader Bill Shorten has promised to provide $60 million (US$42.5 million) in emergency funds to pay rent and buy furniture to Australians who are found to be fleeing domestic violence, if Labor wins the next federal general election in May.

Shorten promises the money will be used to pay for about 20,000 flexible support packages for up to four years, which will help women who no longer have a safe place to live provide a safe home for their children and themselves while they attempt to resolve the family issues. The packages will also be available to youth, temporary visa holders, and more.

These packages are about helping people keep their life together in the most difficult of circumstances, Shorten said in a public statement to the Australian Associated Press. [Theyre about] keeping the kids in the school they know, keeping the family doctor, being able to stay in work and study.

We need to invest in more support for women fleeing violence at home  so that financial barriers arent the reason victims are trapped in a violent relationship.https://t.co/VUrMbiz4uk  Bill Shorten (@billshortenmp) March 3, 2019

Brilliant to be with @billshortenmp and the team to announce that Labors Banking Fairness Fund will provide $60m to support women and children fleeing domestic violence. The banks do very well out of Australians. Labor will ask them to give back a bit more to our community. pic.twitter.com/X3Zrzus9xH  Clare ONeil MP (@ClareONeilMP) March 4, 2019

Shortens package has used Victoria as its model, where flexible support packages have been offered since 2016. Since July 2018, the Victorian government has spent $64 million on more than 19,000 packages and it has plans to expand the program even further.
Beluga XL Might Be the Cutest Airplane Ever

The Airbus Beluga XL, described by some as the cutest airplane, finally completed a key round of testing.

According to CNN last month, its testers carried out testing at Hawarden Airport in Wales.

The plane is slated to enter service later in 2019. The XL is the successor to the Beluga, or the Airbus A300-600ST, which has been in operation since 1995.

Cuteness overload  Posted by UNILAD on Saturday, 2 March 2019

The plane, however, isnt available for passenger flights and will only be used to transport cargo.

The Beluga XL successfully completed its maiden flight in July 2018.

Following the first flight, the BelugaXL will undergo some 600 hours of flight test over 10 months to achieve Type Certification and entry into service later in 2019, Airbus said last year.

It added: Based on an A330-200 Freighter, the BelugaXL is powered by Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines. The lowered cockpit, the cargo bay structure and the rear-end and tail were newly developed jointly with suppliers, giving the aircraft its distinctive look.

Regarding the cute design of the plane, it was first called the flying whale due to its bulbous shape, CNN reported.

The face design was chosen after 20,000 Airbus employees were given six options and were asked to choose the best one. About 40 percent, the current face design was the winner.

We used to say that in Toulouse or in Hamburg, the kids recognize the Beluga, Bertrand George, head of the Beluga XL program, told CNN. They love this very special plane.

Because the world always needs more belugas  Posted by The Dodo on Friday, 1 March 2019

Officials, however, said the design is functional.

The cargo bay is gigantic and can carry two A350 wings at a time, whereas the old Belugas design could account for one.

The whale-like nose makes the plane more aerodynamic.

Flying in the air is a little bit like swimming in the sea, George explained.

It's almost here.One of the aviation world's most hotly anticipated planes, the Airbus Beluga XL, has just completed a Posted by Aviation In Asia on Wednesday, 20 February 2019

Despite the planes odd appearance, he added, for the pilots, this is really an A330. Our pilots will be trained on the A330 and then they will get a Delta qualification to enable them to fly the Beluga XL.

The drag is about the same, he told the network. What changes really is the behavior of the aircraft at the rear, at the bottom of the cargo bay.

George continued: This is why we have lifted the vertical tail plane by more than two meters to get it out of the flow behind the cargo bay and we have also the special acceleration on the horizontal tail plane to give stability to the aircraft.

Airbus to Scrap A380 Production

Airbus is scrapping production of the A380 superjumbo, with lackluster sales forcing it to abandon a dream of dominating the skies with a 21st century cruiseliner, Reuters reported.

The worlds largest airliner, with two decks of spacious cabins and room for 544 people in standard layout, was designed to challenge Boeings legendary 747 but failed to take hold as airlines backed a new generation of smaller, more nimble jets. Confirming a shake-up first reported by Reuters, Airbus said on Feb. 14 the last A380 would be delivered in 2021.

The move comes after Emiratesthe largest A380 customerwas forced to reduce its orders for the iconic superjumbo after an engine dispute and a broader fleet review, opting to order a total of 70 of the smaller A350 and A330neo instead. Without the anticipated level of demand from the Gulf heavyweight, Airbus said its assembly lines would dry up.

This was a joint decision. We cannot run after illusions and we have to take the only sensible decision and stop this program, Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders said.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, has been accused by the Chinese regime of stealing state secrets. (International Crisis Group)

China Accuses Detained Canadians Kovrig, Spavor of Stealing State Secrets

TORONTOChina has accused detained Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor of acting together to steal state secrets, an announcement that comes just days after Canada said it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request against a Huawei executive.

In a statement online, the Chinese Communist Partys Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (PLAC) accused Spavor of passing on intelligence to Kovrig. They allege Kovrig used a regular passport and business visas to enter China for stealing and spying on sensitive Chinese information and intelligence via a contact in China.

They allege that Spavor was Kovrigs main contact, and provided him with intelligencelinking their cases for the first time. The information was published by PLAC and two state-run media.

Canada continues to call for the immediate release of Spavor and Kovrig, Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Guillaume Berube said in an email. Speaking today with reporters in Charlottetown, P.E.I., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he is very concerned about Chinas accusations and reiterated that the two men have been detained arbitrarily.

It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions, Trudeau said. We will continue to stand up for these Canadians.

Chinese authorities detained the two Canadians in early December 2018, shortly after Canadas arrest of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces allegations of fraud in the United States.

Spavor is a businessman who has worked extensively in North Korea. A former Canadian diplomat, Kovrig works for the International Crisis Group, a think tank that focuses on conflict resolution. He has denied any involvement in espionage.

Michaels work for Crisis Group has been entirely transparent and in the open, as all who follow his work can attest, said Crisis Group spokesperson Karim Lebhour. Vague and unsubstantiated accusations against him are unwarranted and unfair.

Canadian consular officials in China have been allowed to see the men at least four times each since their detention began. However, sources familiar with the case have said the men havent been allowed access to lawyers or family members. Kovrig is reportedly undergoing multiple interrogation sessions throughout the day, and is kept in a cell in which the lights are kept on at all times, making it difficult for him to sleep. Fewer details are known about Spavors conditions in custody.

Beijings detention of the two Canadians is widely regarded as an attempt by the regime to pressure Canada over Mengs case.

The regime has repeatedly demanded that Meng be released. Its foreign ministry reacted angrily last week when the Canadian government approved an extradition hearing for Meng, calling her detention a serious political incident.

David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said the allegations against Kovrig and Spavor are a response to Mengs extradition hearing being approved.

Every step in the process will be matched by a step by China. The desire is to raise the pressure to extent that we simply give in, Mulroney told the Associated Press.

Canadian authorities arrested Meng at the request of the United States on Dec. 1, 2018, as she was changing planes in Vancouver. U.S. authorities have filed charges against both Meng and telecom giant Huawei; Meng is accused of bank and wire fraud that violated U.S. sanctions against Iran.

Meng, who is currently under house arrest after being freed on bail, denies the charges against her. She has filed a civil lawsuit against the Canadian government, the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Reuters contributed to this article.
A mobile phone chip by Chinese firm Huahong is seen during the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2018 in Shanghai on Sept. 17, 2018. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinas Chipmaking Ambitions Threaten Global Markets, Report Says

Semiconductor chips power everything from smartphones to missiles. Beijing has already set a goal to become the global leader in the manufacturing of these chips.

But a new think tank report warns that the Chinese regimes aggressive moves to achieve its ambitions are having a negative effect on global industries, and the impact will likely be further exacerbated if trends continued.

The report, published by Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on Feb. 27, was drafted by James Andrew Lewis, the think tanks senior vice president and a former foreign service officer at the departments of State and Commerce.

There is concern that if China achieved a dominant position in semiconductors, it might attempt to squeeze foreign competitors out of the market or use its lead as a coercive tool by denying or limiting sales, Lewis wrote.

He explained how Chinas actions are different from competition in the free market.

While the efforts of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan raised competitiveness and trade concerns in the United States, they did not raise strategic or military concerns. These countries are partners. China is not, he said.

Aside from the United States, those three Asian countries are the worlds semiconductor powerhouses. According to U.S.-based semiconductor research company IC Insights, the top 15 semiconductor sales leaders in the first half of 2018 comprised of seven U.S. companies, three European companies, two South Korean companies, two Taiwanese companies, and one Japanese company; South Korean tech conglomerate Samsung ranked first followed by Intel.

According to the report, China currently only produces about 16 percent of its semiconductor needs, relying heavily on foreign imports. In 2017, China imported $260 billion worth of semiconductors, more than its total value of crude oil imports, according to Reuters.

The report warns that if China succeeds in gaining dominance over world markets, it will use it for intelligence, military, commercial, and political advantage by manipulating the semiconductor supply chains that Western economies and militaries depend upon.

It gave the example of telecom giant Huawei as an indicator of what a state-backed semiconductor industry could do: having received subsidies and investments from Beijing, while using industrial espionage to steal know-how from Western tech firms, Huawei flourished because it could make quality products at low costs.

Furthermore, the company benefits the Chinese regime; access to telecommunications infrastructure can provide significant intelligence advantage, the report stated.

State-Led Approach

The Chinese regime announced its semiconductor ambitions early on. In June 2014, Chinas State Council announced the National Integrated Circuit Industry Development Guidelines, which set up a central-level state fund to boost Chinas IC (integrated circuit) industry, while encouraging regional governments to set up their own funds.

About a year later, Beijing announced its Made in China 2025 plan, which set out the goal for China to fulfill 40 percent of its domestic semiconductor needs. By 2025, the goal was to increase the rate to 70 percent.

According to the report, Chinas semiconductor industry is currently supported by over $58 billion in different kinds of central government semiconductor investment funds and buttressed by pledges of another $60 billion in 30 additional semiconductor funds created by local governments.

Such subsidized expansion of Chinas industry will eventually squeeze out producers in other countries as workers there see a shrink in their income and their firms spend less on further research and development, the report predicted. Ultimately, that would weaken the global industry and the pace of semiconductor innovation.

Beijing also resorts to intellectual property theft to boost its own semiconductor sector, including by recruiting Chinese workers from U.S. firms, and pressuring Western firms to transfer their technology in exchange for access to the Chinese market, the report said.

China Lags Behind

But Chinas semiconductor technology advancements are still very limited at the moment.

Of all the different kind of chipslogic, memory, sensors, power, signal, and analogChina has had success with making memory chips that store data, which require a less complicated manufacturing process. On the contrary, it is not capable of producing high-end logic chips, such as CPUs (central processing unit) that function as the main engine of computers.

Chinas challenge is that it lacks know-how, or knowledge and skills built up with years of experience, according to the report, despite the fact that 19 new semiconductor fabrication facilities (fabs) have been built since 2017.

It is precisely this disadvantage that has led China to try acquiring American chip makers, such as Lattice, Micron Technology, and Western Digital Corporation.

In 2016, Unisplendour, a unit of Chinas state-backed chipmaker Tsinghua Unigroup, attempted to acquire a 15 percent stake in U.S. manufacturer Western Digital, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Chinese company abandoned the plan after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States decided to investigate the deal.

In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump blocked Canyon Bridge Capital, a China-backed private equity firm, from acquiring Oregon-based Lattice Semiconductor Corp, according to Reuters.

In the case of Micron, the firm rejected the deal in 2015, reasoning that U.S. regulators would never greenlight it.

Between 2015 and 2017, Chinese investors offered over $30 billion in bids for American and European semiconductor companies, according to the report, citing The Wall Street Journal.
Li Rui talks about his former boss Mao Zedong during an interview in Beijing on Sept. 5, 2006. (GOH CHAI HIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Regime Stays Silent on Funeral for Former Mao Secretary

The Chinese regime typically posts an official obituary for high-level officials no later than the date of the funeral.

In the case of the recently deceased Li Rui, though, his obituary came eight days after his funeraland with no mention of Lis role as personal secretary to former regime leader Mao Zedong in 1958.

The Beijing regime is afraid that people would debate the legitimacy of the Mao era and even the Chinese Communist Partys rule [by reviewing Lis life], so it has been low-key about Lis death, said Wu Te, a China commentator in an interview with the Chinese-language Epoch Times on March 1. Li is a highly sensitive topic because he personally experienced the Partys crimes as someone within the system.

Li Rui died on Feb. 16 at the age of 101. Li joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1937 but was denounced multiple times amid the Partys political purges.

Li was arrested and detained twice because of his political opinions in 1943 and 1959. Then in 1967, he was sent to the countryside to be reformed.

Following Maos death, Li stood out as one of his biggest critics.

In 1989, Li was appointed deputy minister of the Organization Department, an agency that controls staffing positions within the Party. He asked the Party leadership not to impose martial law or open fire on the students who participated in democracy protests at Tiananmen Square that June.

But Lis words angered Deng Xiaoping, then-Party leader, who wanted to crack down heavily on the students. Li was subsequently ousted.

Following his retirement in 1995, Li worked to support the democratization of China.

On Feb. 28, state-run media Xinhua belatedly posted a 513-word obituary. According to Party tradition, it was supposed to be posted by the day of Lis funeral, on Feb. 20.

Notably, the obituary only included Lis rough resume, including his birthdate and some of his positions within the CCP.

Typically, the Party gives the deceased official a series of honorary titles, then gives a long introduction about the officials contributions to the Party.

For example, Xinhua posted a 2,073-word obituary on Qiao Shi on June 14, 2015, the day he died. Qiao was forced to retire from the chairman position of the National Peoples Congress, the Partys rubber-stamp legislature, in 1998 after he angered then-Party secretary Jiang Zemin. In his obituary, the Party called him an outstanding revolutionist, politician, and excellent national leader.

Chinese authorities organized Lis funeral at the Babaoshan cemetery on Feb. 20, an honor reserved for high officialsthough Li had refused the offer prior to his death, according to his family.

Chinese state media did not report on the funeral. A journalist with an overseas media outlet who was on the premises told the Chinese-language Epoch Times that Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, and several other Party leaders sent wreaths.

The reporter was not allowed to enter the funeral hall. When he wanted to step closer to see the couplets written on the wreaths, the security guard told him: You are not allowed to see them. You should go look at other things [than the wreaths].

Wang Tiancheng, president of the Princeton, New Jersey-based Institute for Chinas Democratic Transition, gave his analysis on why the Party was so secretive about Lis funeral. We can deduce that the Party was not sure how to deal with Lis death from the beginning, he told the Chinese-language Epoch Times in an interview.

The Party likely had differing opinions, with some elite officials supporting not to report on Lis death at all, while others thought the Party was obligated to post an obituary.

Lis daughter Li Nanyang told media that her father had a habit of recording his daily life in diaries. She told the Chinese-language BBC on Feb. 19 that she would donate all of Lis diaries from 1935 to 2018 to the Hoover Institution at Stanford University before Lis 102nd birthday on April 13.

His diary can reflect many things. For example, Chinas so-called reform and opening [policies] did not lead to a market economy, but a state-controlled economy. Whatever the leaders say [determines the economy], Li had said.
Cohen Hearing May Have Led to Breakdown in North Korea Talks, Trump Says

President Donald Trump ripped into Democrats on March 4, saying that the timing of the Michael Cohen hearing may have contributed to the president walking away from a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

House Democrats scheduled testimony by Cohen for the same day Trump was to have his second meeting with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, to negotiate the denuclearization of the communist regime. Cohen used the hearing to slander Trump, drawing attention away from the historic summit.

For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame! Trump wrote on Twitter.

For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the walk. Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

Cohen, Trumps former personal attorney, testified before the House committee on government oversight on Feb. 27. Cohen is scheduled to begin a three-year term in prison for lying to Congress and financial fraud.

As Cohen testified, Trump was meeting with Kim in Hanoi. While the two leaders were optimistic about securing a deal heading into the talks, Trump walked away from the negotiating table after the North Koreans made unacceptable demands.

The United States and South Korea scaled back military exercises in the wake of the Hanoi summit. Trump wrote on Twitter that the move will save U.S. taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.

That was my position long before I became President, Trump wrote. Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!

The reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed. That was my position long before I became President. Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 3, 2019

Establishment media outlets, which overwhelmingly cover Trump in a negative light, devoted more time to the Cohen hearing than the summit. The New York Times positioned its article on the Cohen testimony above its coverage of the Trump-Kim summit.

House Democrats scheduled the Cohen testimony after both the House and Senate intelligence committees concluded that there is no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Special counsel Robert Mueller, who is also investigating the same allegations, is also expected to not accuse any Trump campaign associates of colluding with Russia in his forthcoming report.

As no proof of collusion is expected to surface in the Mueller report, Democrats and establishment media outlets seized on the Cohen testimony as an opportunity to sustain the collusion narrative. Meanwhile, Cohen testified that there is no evidence of collusion.

The Cohen hearing is one of several efforts by House Democrats to scrutinize the president, a tactic that Trump calls presidential harassment.

Presidential harassment by crazed Democrats at the highest level in the history of our country. Likewise, the most vicious and corrupt Mainstream Media that any president has ever had to endure, Trump wrote on Twitter.

Yet the most successful first two years for any President. We are WINNING big, the envy of the WORLD, but just think what it could be?

Presidential Harassment by crazed Democrats at the highest level in the history of our Country. Likewise, the most vicious and corrupt Mainstream Media that any president has ever had to endure  Yet the most successful first two years for any  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

.President. We are WINNING big, the envy of the WORLD, but just think what it could be?  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

South Korean officials are looking for ways to restart talks with North Korea. South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said she would push for a fresh round of three-way talks with North Korean and U.S. officials, built on a January gathering in Stockholm.

Reuters contributed to this report.
A caiman (Caiman yacare) rests on one of the banks of the Paraguay River, in Caceres, Brazil, the gateway to the Pantanal, on Aug. 26, 2014. (Nelson Almeida/AFP/Getty Images)

Feds Charge 75 Over Puerto Rico Drug Gang That Fed Victims to Pet Caimans

Federal prosecutors have charged 75 people who they said belonged to a multimillion drug trafficking ring that controlled the streets in Puerto Rico with barricades and control barriers, and fed rival gang members to their pet caimans.

U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez announced on Feb. 27 that 75 members of Las FARC had been charged with possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of, controlled substances from 2006.

The gang, which operated in the capital San Juan, brought in controlled substances, mainly cocaine, which they distributed to the continental United States.

According to the Department of Justice, the gangs leaders would routinely authorize sellers to provide free samples of narcotics to promote the sales of specific drugsincluding crack, heroin, cocaine, marihuana, Oxycodone (commonly known as Percocet) and Alprazolam (commonly known as Xanax).

The drugs were distributed in housing projects and within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds.

Las FARC, translated as The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cantera, was a violent gang that aimed to maintain control of all the drug trafficking activities with the in Santurce area by the use of force, threats, violence, and intimidation, according to Justice Department Statement.

They would often abduct and assault rival drug traffickers as well as members of their own drug trafficking organization.

We learned that they would throw their victims, and the bodies of those they had murdered, to their caiman, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez told reporters at a press conference, reported NPR.

They had [the caimans] as a domestic animal in their homes, Rodriguez said, adding that the investigation by federal agents was called Operation Crocodile.

Caimans are small alligator-like reptiles found in South America. There are six species, most of which grow to a maximum of about 7 feet in length. The largest species, the black caiman can reach 16 feet in length.

According to prosecutor Alberto Lopez, the group is linked to more than a dozen killings, although he didnt say how many of these were fed to the caimans.

Streets Controlled With Barricades

According to the Justice Department, the gang protected its territory with barriers and barricades of large water tanks, access control barriers, and steel gate poles. These barriers would stop the entry of law enforcement agents and/or members of rival gangs, said the statement.

The organization ran like a business, said prosecutors, providing free samples to create demand among local addicts.

DEA Caribbean Division Special Agent in Charge A.J. Collazo stated, This organization was responsible for placing crack, heroin, and marijuana in the hands of lives who later suffered addiction, death, and other situations, none of them positive for them, their families, nor society.

According to ABC, the organization had amassed nearly $76 million, which according to the prosecutors was spent on real estate properties, nightclubs, motor vehicles, vessels, hotel accommodations, and private parties.

All the defendants are facing a narcotics forfeiture allegation of $75,949,040 and four other properties listed in the indictment.

The laundering of illegal drug profits is as important and essential to drug traffickers as the very distribution of their illegal drugs, said Collazo. Without these ill-gotten gains, the traffickers cannot finance their organizations.

The gangs influence reached far beyond the housing projects where they distributed drugs, however.

A lot of the [cocaine] that was coming in from South America was ending up in the continental United States, said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez stopped short of saying that the indictments were a fatal wound for Las FARC but said it represents a significant blow.

All defendants face a minimum of 10 years in prison, she said.

Twenty-seven defendants are also charged with possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
Food Stamp Enrollment Declines Under Trump, Saving Taxpayers Billions

Nearly 3.9 million Americans have nixed food stamp benefits since President Donald Trump took office, saving taxpayers more than $10 billion.

Some 38.2 million people collected payments in November 2018, according to the last available data, down from about 42.1 million in February 2017the first full month Trump was in office.

Food stampsrenamed to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2008 to fight stigmaprovides on average about $250 per household a month for grocery shopping.

Each state has different rules for eligibility, but in general, participants have to have low income. The benefit is also restricted for childless able-bodied adults between age 18 and 49, who can usually only collect it for three months every three years unless they work or train for a job at least 20 hours a week. States can waive the work requirements in areas with high unemployment or a job shortage.

Savings

Over Trumps first 22 months, the government paid out more than $112 billion for SNAP, which was nearly $10.4 billion less than in the last 22 months of the Obama presidency. Trump would have saved even more if not for more than $2 billionlikely an unprecedented sumsent in 2017 to hurricane-stricken Texas, Florida, Georgia, and the Virgin Islands, SNAP data indicates.

The SNAP enrollment reached its record high in December 2012, with close to 47.8 million people and nearly one in five households collecting the benefits. Its been decreasing ever since, but decreased at a much slower pace under President Barack Obama than under Trump.

In the last 22 months of Obamas term, the enrollment dropped by over 2.7 million, but that included a sudden drop of more than 770,000 in April 2016, when work requirements for able-bodied adults came into effect. Prior to that, the requirements were waived by most states, due to the 2008 recession.

Incentive to Work

The Trump administration has been trying to overhaul SNAP and other welfare programs to nudge enrollees toward finding jobs.

Bringing people back to the workforce was one of Trumps campaign promises when he announced his candidacy on June 16, 2015.

We have people that arent working. We have people that have no incentive to work, he said in his announcement speech at Trump Tower. But theyre going to have an incentive to work, because the greatest social program is a job.

Trump sought to expand the work requirements to all able-bodied adults up to the age of 59, but the measure died in the Senate, where a slim Republican majority couldnt rally enough Democrat votes to overcome a filibuster.

New Rule

Instead, the Agriculture Department proposed to tighten rules for the work requirement waivers, including cutting out more prosperous regions from the waived areas, limiting the waivers duration to one year, and only allowing local area waivers where the unemployment rate exceeds 7 percent. Currently, a local area can be considered to have not sufficient jobs with an unemployment rate as low as 5 percent.

We think  the purpose is to help people move to independency, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told Congress on Feb. 28. We should help people when they are down but that should not be interminably.

The comment period on the rule opened Feb. 1 and closes April 2.

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly calculated SNAP benefit costs in the last 22 months of the Obama presidency. The Epoch Times regrets the error.

Update: The article has been updated with information on SNAP aid to disaster areas in 2017.
Robert Kubica says he is only 20 per cent ready for his return to F1 in 2019.

Having failed to get its new car ready on time for Barcelona testing, the Williams team's rookie driver George Russell admitted: "I would be lying if I said that we are not the slowest team right now."

Not just that, the end of the British team's Barcelona programme was also affected by a lack of spare parts.

"If you already have problems finishing the car then you also have problems with the spare parts," Kubica said.

"In the end we got the maximum we could from it, but the maximum is not enough.

"I know maybe 20 per cent of what I should know. Everything else is unclear," he added.

And so Kubica said Australia, his first grand prix since 2010, will be little more than an "extended test".

"It's going to be difficult to do my first race eight years after my last race without any reasonable testing, but I can only try to prepare myself as best I can," he said.

"We are going to Australia blind, but that is the reality. I cannot change the situation."

(GMM)
Venezuelan interim President Juan Guaido greets supporters during a rally against illegitimate socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro's government in Caracas on March 4, 2019. (Manaure Quintero/Reuters)

Guaido Returns to Venezuela as Crowds Flood the Streets to Protest Socialist Regime

Venezuelan interim president Juan Guaido cleared customs and returned to his country on March 4, in defiance of the threat of arrest by the regime of illegitimate socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro.

Already in our beloved land! Venezuela, we have just passed migration and we will mobilize where our people are! Guaido wrote in Spanish on Twitter. We enter Venezuela as free citizens, no one tells us otherwise.

Guaido, who is recognized by more than 50 nations as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, kept the details of his return under wraps. He had called on Venezuelans to take to the streets and protest the Maduro regime on March 4 and 5, and is expected to attend the protests.

Senior U.S. administration officials warned Maduro against harming Guaido or preventing him from re-entering Venezuela.

Guaidos safe return to Venezuela is of the highest importance to the U.S., Vice President Mike Pence wrote on Twitter, minutes before Guaido announced his return to Venezuela. Any threats, violence, or intimidation against him will not be tolerated & will be met with swift response. The world is watching.

White House national security adviser John Bolton also sent out a warning.

Any threats or acts against his safe return will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community, he wrote on Twitter.

Guaido had called on Venezuelans to take to the streets at 11 a.m. on March 4 to increase internal pressure on Maduro to surrender control of the government.

Guaido landed at 12:20 p.m. on March 4 at the Simon Bolivar International airport in La Guaira, less than an hours drive from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. Video footage from the scene shows a crowd of supporters greeting Guaido as he walks to his car.

Guaido wrote on Twitter that he plans to return directly to Caracas after visiting supporters on the coast. Minutes later, images posted on social media showed Guaido greeting supporters on a beach.

In Caracas, crowds of Guaido supporters flooded the streets ahead of his arrival.

According to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the Maduro regime had blocked a major highway connecting Caracas to the airport.

Guaido left Venezuela for Colombia last month to help convoys of international aid cross into his country. The aid was met with blockades, violence, tear gas, and even bullets. Maduros security forces killed six people during the clashes.

According to witnesses, operatives aligned with Maduro set fire to at least two trucks loaded with food and medicine destined for impoverished Venezuelans.

Maduro, whose socialist policies have crippled the once oil-rich nation, denies there is a crisis. Nine out of 10 Venezuelans live in poverty, while more than half go hungry every day. Faced with images of people eating scraps from the back of a garbage truck last week, Maduro cut short an interview with journalist Jose Ramos, detained the crew, and seized recording equipment and cellphones.

Only a handful of current and former communist regimes continue to back Maduro, including China, Russia, North Korea, and Cuba; U.S. officials continue to point out that Maduro is a puppet for the communist regime in Cuba. More than 90,000 Cuban proxies work in Venezuelan government and state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, more than 20,000 Cuban security force personnel aid the police state in Venezuela.

Cubas role in usurping democracy and fomenting repression in Venezuela is clear, Bolton said. Thats why the U.S. will continue to tighten financial restrictions on Cubas military and intel services. The regions democracies should condemn the Cuba regime.

After the Maduros forces blocked the aid convoys, Guaido proposed that all options be kept open to topple Maduro.

President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today, Bolton said on Twitter. The United States fully supports Guaido and the National Assembly. His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching.

Maduros regime has jailed dozens of opposition leaders and activists for seeking to overthrow Maduro through violent street demonstrations in 2014 and 2017, including Guaidos mentor, Leopoldo Lopez, who remains under house arrest.

On March 3, Guaido said the transition to a new government would be a long and difficult process.

He has offered future amnesties to state officials and soldiers, though the military has largely remained loyal to Maduro, despite Colombias migration agency reporting several hundred desertions since Feb. 23.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Cristhian Bahena Rivera wears headphones during his arraignment where he pleaded not guilty to the charge of first-degree murder in the death of Mollie Tibbetts at the Poweshiek County Courthouse in Montezuma, Iowa., on Sept. 19, 2018. (Kelsey Kremer/Des Moines Register via AP)

Iowa Student Death Suspect Wants Trial Moved for Diversity

MONTEZUMA, IowaThe former farmhand charged with first-degree murder in the abduction and stabbing death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts in Iowa wants to have his trial moved to a more diverse county.

The Des Moines Register reports that 24-year-old Cristhian Bahena Riveras lawyers filed the motion Friday, March 1. They argue the Mexican national should be tried outside Poweshiek County to allow for more minority representation in the jury pool.

Rivera is accused of killing Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student who disappeared while out for a run July 18 in Brooklyn, Iowa. Investigators recovered her body a month later.

Two law enforcement sources told Fox News that Tibbettss body was found in a cornfield in Iowa. A medical examiner has said Tibbetts was stabbed to death.

Rivera also is accused of being in the country illegally. He worked at a dairy farm a few miles from where Tibbetts disappeared.

Rivera admitted to investigators he spotted Tibbetts jogging on July 18 and started jogging behind her, then alongside her after pulling over and exiting a vehicle he was driving.

Tibbetts noticed Rivera and became scared. She told Rivera Im gonna call the police and grabbed her phone, Rivera told investigators, according to a probable cause statement.

Rivera said he then panicked and got mad and that he then blocked his memory which is what he does when he gets very upset, investigators stated. Next thing he knew, he was back in his car and Tibbetts body was in his trunk. He dumped her body in a remote cornfield.

More Details

Tibbetts, a University of Iowa student, was last seen in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18. She was reported missing by her family the next day after she didnt show up for work at a day camp for children.

Tibbetts disappearance set off a massive search involving dozens of officers from the FBI, as well as state and local agencies. They focused much of their efforts in and around Brooklyn, searching farm fields, ponds, and homes. Investigators asked anyone who was around five locations, including a car wash, a truck stop and a farm south of town, to report if they saw anything suspicious on July 18.

Its unclear whether she returned to the home where she was dog-sitting for her boyfriend and her boyfriends brother, who have said they were both out of town. She was reported missing by her family the next day after she didnt show up for work at a day camp for children.

Last week, on Aug. 15, Vice President Mike Pence said he met with the family of Tibbetts, according to the Des Moines Register. I just want Mollies family to know: Youre on the hearts of every American, he told the paper. And we will continue to work and we will continue to pray for Mollies safe return.

Her father said that his familys meeting with Pence was touching and genuine, and the vice president was just another father that was just hurt and bewildered by Mollies story, Fox reported. He just expressed in a very private way his compassion. It was very genuine and it was real. It was very touching, Rob Tibbetts added.

I got the sense that it was not a politician at all, it was just another father that was just hurt and bewildered by Mollies story just like everybody else in America, Tibbetts added.

The Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
ISIS Faces Final Territorial Defeat in Eastern Syria Battle

OUTSKIRTS OF BAGHOUZ, SyriaThe ISIS terrorists group faces final territorial defeat as the U.S.-backed Syrian force battling the jihadists said on Saturday, March 3, it was closing in on the jihadists last bastion near the Iraqi border, capping four years of efforts to roll back the group.

While the fall of Baghouz, an eastern Syrian village on the bank of the Euphrates River, would mark a milestone in a global campaign against ISIS, they remain a threat, using guerrilla tactics and holding some desolate land further west.

An array of enemies, both local and international, confronted ISIS after it declared a modern-day caliphate in 2014 across large swathes of territory it had seized in lightning offensives in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

ISIS lost its twin capitals of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017. As its territory shrunk, thousands of terrorists, followers and civilians retreated to Baghouz. Over the last few weeks, they have poured out of the tiny cluster of hamlets and farmlands in Deir al-Zor province, holding up the final assault.

On Friday evening, March 1, the SDF said the remaining civilians had been removed and it was resuming its assault until the jihadists were defeated.

We expect it to be over soon, Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told Reuters shortly after sunrise as the SDF advanced on two fronts using medium and heavy weaponry.

Yet clashes continued past sunset, with occasional heavy bombing from warplanes that hovered in the sky, the SDF media office said. ISIS responded with drones and rockets, and seven SDF fighters have been wounded so far, said commander Adnan Afrin.

The SDF has previously estimated several hundred terroristsbelieved mostly to be foreignersto be still in Baghouz, and the U.S.-led international coalition has described them as the most hardened terrorists.

The SDFs final advance was slowed for weeks by the jihadists extensive use of tunnels and human shields. It has not ruled out the possibility that some have crept out, hidden among civilians.

Complicated Situation

A spokesman for the coalition, which supports the Kurdish-led SDF, said it was too early to assess the battles progress as it is a complicated situation with many variables.

The SDF commander-in-chief said on Thursday that his force would declare victory within a week.

The United States has about 2,000 troops in Syria, mainly to support the SDF in fighting ISIS. Trump announced in December that he would withdraw U.S. troops with the imminent fall of the extremist group. It said last month that some 400 troops would remain in the region to ensure that ISIS would not be able to regroup.

Some 40,000 people bearing various nationalities have left the jihadists diminishing territory in the last three months as the SDF sought to oust the terrorists from remaining pockets.

The number of evacuees streaming out of Baghouz surpassed initial estimates of how many were inside. Afrin told Reuters on Thursday that many of the people leaving the enclave had been sheltering underground in caves and tunnels.

Among the civilians were scores of children. Some had been conscripted or enslaved by the jihadists, while others were foreigners brought by their parents to be raised under ISIS.

A 27-year-old Indonesian widow who emerged on Friday said she would have liked to stay in ISIS territory but conceded that conditions had become untenable.

I have no money, I have no food for my baby, no medicine, nothing for my baby, so I must go out, she told Reuters.

By Ellen Francis
Man Captures Glowing Figure in the Clouds Near Italy

An Italian man captured an image over the sea, and some claim its a famed religious figure.

Alfredo Lo Brutto, from Agropoli, Italy, captured the figure above the sea. Some say that it looks like the renowned Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

I was enchanted by the view. I dont often share pictures on social media, but when I took this one, I instantly felt like I wanted other people to see it, because it was so beautiful, he said, reported the Daily Mail.

Man Sees Image of Jesus Christ Burst Through Clouds In Italy  https://t.co/dCxx01pZdH  Peter Palumbo (@PeterPalumbo1) March 24, 2019

He captured it over the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The Christ the Redeemer statue is 125 feet tall, located on a rock near Rio.

Construction started on the famed figure in 1922.

Blimey!!! Terrific shot!

Alfredo Lo Brutto, from Agropoli, Italy, captured the incredible pictures of the glowing figure standing above the sea while at his home on Friday. pic.twitter.com/hovJ16HXFt  Pippa Ettore (@pettore) March 4, 2019

He didnt provide any other details.

Oggi a @vitaindiretta abbiamo parlato della foto che ha fatto il giro del mondo sul web. Per Alfredo Lo Brutto e il Cristo Redentore che cammina sulle acque di Agropoli.

Voi cosa ci vedete in questo scatto? #LaVitaInDiretta pic.twitter.com/xQNs9gxeMe  barbara di palma (@barbaradipalma) March 4, 2019

Firefall Goes Viral

Firefall, an illusion created by sunlight on a waterfall in Yosemite National Park, California.

The natural phenomenon that makes it appear that fire or lava is flowing over a cliff. It only lasted a few days.

Firefall is only visible for a short time in February and draws a number of tourists and photographers each year.

Vache Geyoghlian, a photographer from Fresno, California shot several photos of it on Feb. 18.

My reaction was complete amazement, he said, reported CNN. I was overwhelmed with excitement to finally get to see it in person AND get some good shots of it too.

My friend and I got to that specific spot at about 2:00-2:30 p.m. and we were the first ones there, Geyoghlian added. That didnt last long as the entire area filled with hundreds of people looking to witness/photograph the Firefall.'

We have a designated parking area at Yosemite Lodge and visitors walk from there to the viewing areas, said National Park Service spokesman Scott Gediman.

With the snow and storm activity recently, it has been hit or miss, he added.

The park does have a 24-hour hotline with information about it. You can call 209-372-0200.
Man Indicted for Snapchat Shooting Threat That Panicked Ohio School

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View of television screens inside a newsroom as they air live Michael Cohen's testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Feb. 27, 2019. (EVA HAMBACH/AFP/Getty Images)

Media Is Being Forced Into Writing Mueller Fan Fiction

Commentary

President Donald Trumps former lawyer, Michael Cohen, may possibly be the dumbest person to have ever passed the bar exam.

This entire televised spectacle of his testimony before the House Oversight and Reform Committee was absurd. The now-Democratic-run panel brought back a disbarred lawyeralready convicted of perjuring himself before Congressto commit more perjury under oath.

Eager to testify before Congress about what he supposedly knew of extensive Trump-related criminal activity in the hope of getting his three-year prison sentence reduced, Cohen instead managed to get himself hit with fresh perjury accusations.

Its not just that Cohen decided to perjure himself yet again under oath before Congressits that he decided to perjure himself on such easily provable lies.

He claimed vociferously that he never wanted or sought a job in the Trump White House, something that is laughable on its face, considering the number of people he hounded for just such a job and interviews that he gave shortly after the election, some of which are on video.

Michael Cohen testifies before the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on Feb. 27, 2019. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Even before Cohen testified, the DNC media complex was in full spin mode, regaling its ever-shrinking audience with tales of all the huge bombshells Cohen would testify to in front of congressional lawmakers.

The actual televised hearing was an unmitigated disaster. Before it was over, Cohen had dropped two crucial bombshellsjust not the ones the anti-Trump media wanted:

Trump never directed him to lie to Congress He had never been to Prague

Each of these admissions is problematic for the anti-Trump narratives in its own way.

BuzzFeed Blues

BuzzFeed and its defenders were still forlornly hoping that Cohen would somehow manage to vindicate the fake news article the site had published, claiming the Mueller special counsel team had been given documentary evidence from Cohen proving Trump had ordered him to lie about a real estate deal to build a new Trump Tower in Moscow.

As I wrote in an earlier column, this article from BuzzFeed was so disastrously wrong that the special counsels office took the highly unusual step of releasing a public statement that pointedly asserted that BuzzFeeds story was false.

Far from tossing BuzzFeed a life preserver in his latest testimony, Cohen stated under oath that Trump didnt order or direct him to lie to Congress. Not once during his testimony did he mention any documentation he is claimed to have given to the special counsel that would prove Trump ordered or directed him to perjure himself.

Recall that BuzzFeed reporter and serial fabulist Jason Leopold asserted during an interview that he had personally seen the documents that supposedly were in the possession of the special counsel. The other reporter for the BuzzFeed story, Anthony Cormier, stated in a different interview that hed seen no documents whatsoever. Oops!

Steele Dossier Shenanigans

The entire TrumpRussia Election Collusion narrative hinges on Cohen having been in Prague in 2016 because that is a central assertion of the Steele dossierand if that central claim turns out to be false, the entire house of cards collapses.

Leaving aside that the Steele dossier itself is an amalgamation of unverified stories told to Christopher Steele by shady unknown Russianswho are still anonymous to this dayand that it was Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee who paid Steele to collect these fanciful tales from these anonymous Russians, the Cohen in Prague claim contained in the dossier was one of the first to be conclusively debunked.

And yet, over the past two years, there have been repeated attempts to rehabilitate both Steele and his dossiers unverified claims.

The last such attempt was in December 2018, when McClatchy News attempted to resurrect the Cohen in Prague dossier allegation by publishing a story about Cohens cell phone being pinged in the Prague area in 2016. Completely trustworthy anonymous sources assured McClatchys Peter Stone and Greg Gordon that European intelligence agencies had the records to prove this. The reporters themselves saw no such records, so the report was dubious at best.

Now, Cohen has explicitly stated under oath on live television before the entire country the same thing hes been saying for two years: Hes never been to Prague, never been to the Czech Republic, and hes never been to Russia, either.

It remains to be seen if theres some enterprising news outlet out there that will have another try at rehabilitating the Cohen in Prague claim. My guess is probably not.

If Mueller had any evidence whatsoever that Cohen had traveled to Prague to pay people for having engaged in the crime of hacking in order to steal emails, youd have seen that long ago. Collusion may not be a crime, but paying people for committing criminal acts certainly is.

In case you are wondering how the DNC media complex coped with this utter debunking of the Steele dossier and its claims, the answer is that they started moving the goalposts without skipping a beat.

CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti quickly rushed out a piece in Time Magazine explaining why it was never really the job of the special counsel to prove collusion. Instead, Mueller will nail Trumps scalp to the wall based on evidence Cohen supposedly testified to that allegedly proves Trump engaged in obstruction of justice and violated campaign-finance laws.

This isnt journalism or news reporting. This is wishcasting and fan fiction presented as news analysis. This is why the story keeps changing as you see them drop the collusion narrative they pushed for over two years to suddenly begin hyping up obstruction of justice and campaign-finance violations.

Anything real against Trump that Mueller had would have been leaked long ago, and yet still, at this late stage, media outlets are desperately hoping that somehow Mueller has an ace hidden up his sleeve that hes about to toss onto the table.

Brian Cates is a political pundit and writer based in southern Texas and the author of Nobody Asked For My Opinion  But Here It Is Anyway! He can be reached on Twitter at @drawandstrike

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Millennials Beware of the Dead Hand of Socialism Says Aussie Writer

A well-known Australian writer has warned young people about the perils of preferring socialism to capitalism in response to a recent survey showing millennials are mostly positive about that style of government.

News Limited columnist Chris Mitchell cautioned the millennial generation, born between the years 1980 and 2000, against having false illusions about the realities of life in a socialist system.

Millennials need to be careful what they wish for lest they discover how hard life was without the growth neo-liberalism has generated, he said in an opinion piece published in The Australian, on March 4. They could try to find out why Scandinavians have abandoned the dead hand of state socialism  and they could ponder how their grandparents and great grandparents coped as young people with two world wars, the Great Depression, the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Mitchell made the remark in response to an opinion piece penned by Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) Director Tom Switzer who was unhappy about mainstream media ignoring a June 2018 report, expressing concern about most millennials having a favourable view of socialism as an ideology.

He claimed less than a third of millennials surveyed knew Australia spends a lot more on health and education than 10 years ago and more than half falsely believed spending on these two sectors has fallen.

An even greater percentage believe workers are worse off now than they were 40 years ago, Switzer said in a public statement. This fundamental misunderstanding of Australias economic and fiscal position is deeply concerning.

The CIS/YouGov Galaxy poll found 73 percent of millennials had heard of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler but only 21 percent knew about Chinese Communist Party founder Mao Zedong.

Adding Socialism to Curriculum

Switzer suggested adding the history of communism and socialism to state educational curriculum could help address the lack of public awareness, which seems to be prompting millennials to think socialism is not so bad after all.

Millennials have a limited knowledge of the 20th centurys bloody and botched experiments with socialism, Switzer said. It is important to educate people on its brutal history, in order that socialisms flawed promises of wealth redistribution and equality are not confused with its horrific practical shortcomings  communism and socialism were responsible for the deaths of up to 100 million people in the 20th centuryas many as both world war combined.

Mitchell supports Switzers view that better education would help remove any false views people may have about the realities of socialism.

To my mind, favourable attitudes to socialism among the young reflect the dominance of left-wing thought in school education, he said. Rigorous education, hard work, saving, and personal responsibility rather than government-imposed socialism lifted them from poverty.

He accuses leftist supporters, including teacher union officials, teacher educators, and politicians, of propagating the lefts social agenda through the education system.

He gave the example of former Victorian Premier Joan Kirner, and minister of education, who admitted education has to be reshaped so it is part of the socialist struggle for equality  rather than an instrument of the capitalist system.

Mitchell also pointed to former Griffith University lecturer in the school of education Gregory Martins comment that a major task for leftist academics is  to connect education with community struggles for social justice.

Since there has been such severe influencing of the education system Mitchell believes it will take a lot of work before the system can return to how it used to be. He referred to former Australian Education Union federal President Pat Byrnes 2005 comment, We have succeeded in influencing curriculum development  conservatives have a lot of work to do to undo the progressive curriculum.

Mitchell questioned the necessity of teaching techniques of literary deconstruction in primary and high schools and suggested they could instead be reserved for university literature courses. [This is because] texts must be analysed in terms of their role in reinforcing capitalist hegemony over the disempowered and disadvantaged, such as women, migrants and the poor, according to Australian Catholic University senior research fellow Kevin Donnelly.

Former federal Minister for Education David Kemp separately complained the national curriculum placed too much emphasis on Aboriginal history and spirituality and not enough on Western civilisation and traditional economic and personal liberalism, which received almost no mention in the Australian National Curriculum said his new book, The Land of Dreams: How Australians Won Their Freedom.

Teachers and educators rightly say the world is changing, old curricula derived from the UK no longer take account of the increasing importance of East Asia, and that in an age swamped by mass media children need to be taught how to think for themselves rather than what to think, Mitchell said.

All true, but the best education systems privilege traditional rigour and the role of teachers. International studies confirm this and point to Singapore, Japan, Finland and Shanghai for their success, while Australian students slip on international comparisons.
An Airbus A380 performs during a demonstration flight at the 49th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, east of Paris, on June 26, 2011. (Francois Mori/AP)

Mom Hands Out 200 Earplugs on Plane so Passengers Dont Have to Hear Crying Baby

A South Korean woman reportedly handed out more than 200 earplugs, candy, and a note to passengers on a trans-Pacific flight to San Francisco, California.

The earplugs were distributed in case the baby cries.

Today, I am going to the U.S. with my mom and grandma to see my aunt, the note said, according to a Facebook post. The note was written from the point-of-view of the baby.

On a Ten hour flight from Seoul Korea to San Francisco, a mother handed out more than 200 goodie bags filled with candy Posted by Dave Corona on Tuesday, 12 February 2019

It said, Im a little bit nervous and scary (sic) because its my first flight in my life, which means that I may cry or make too much noise. I will try to go quietly, though I cant make any promises Please excuse me.

Photos posted on Facebook by KGO-TV cameraman Dave Corona show the mom and her infant. He said the child didnt cry once on the flight.

On a Ten-hour flight from Seoul Korea to San Francisco, a mother handed out more than 200 goodie bags filled with candy and ear plugs, in case her 4 month old child cried during the flight. A very touching gesture by the mother but as you know when you have kids expect the unexpected. Not a peep out of the kid, he wrote on Facebook.

Her thoughtful gift has sparked quite the Internet debate. Posted by Travel + Leisure on Friday, 1 March 2019

Some users said the gesture was nice but others said passengers should be more accepting of parents and small children.

That was a nice gesture, wrote one Facebook user, according to SFGate. But I think people need to be more understanding on flights and not make parents and their children feel so unwelcome on flights. We were all babies at one point in life.

Another person said, Some people have classsome have a sense of entitlement. Very nice gesture, according to Travel and Leisure.

This is hilarious- a mom on an overseas flight handed out gift bags (with treats and earplugs) to an ENTIRE flight, to Posted by ABC13-Ilona Carson on Monday, 25 February 2019

Not necessary, most people understand the stress of traveling with children, added another commenter.

And some parents wrote that the gesture creates unrealistic expectations for parents and kids on a flight, KTRK reported.

How to Fly With Kids

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics Healthy Children website, here are a few tips for traveling with children on a plane:

Allow your family extra time to get through security, especially when traveling with younger children, it says. Have children wear shoes and outer layers of clothing that are easy to take off for security screening. Children younger than 12 years are not required to remove their shoes for routine screening.

It also notes that strollers can be brought through security to make travel easier.

Arrange to have a car seat at your destination or bring your own along. Airlines will typically allow families to bring a childs car safety seat as an extra luggage item with no additional luggage expense. Check the airlines website ahead of time so you know their policy before you arrive at the airport, according to the website.

Parents and kid should also wash their hands frequently, and parents should bring hand-washing gel and disinfectant wipes.

Regarding the security screening process, Let them know that bags (backpack, dolls, etc.) must be put in the Xray machine and will come out the other end and be returned to them, the organization writes.

Discuss the fact that its against the law to make threats such as; I have a bomb in my bag. Threats made jokingly (even by a child) can delay the entire family and could result in fines, it adds.
In a photo taken on May 29, 2018 rockets are displayed at a memorial ground of the Baengmagoji, or White Horse, battlefield in Cheorwon near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea. (ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)

North Korea, China Leave Us Little Choice but to Build More Missiles

Commentary

Following the failed United StatesNorth Korea summit in Hanoi, it is now crucial that Washington increases its strategic leverage in Asia by building a new force of ballistic and cruise missiles to deter both North Korean and Chinese nuclear blackmail and aggression.

President Donald Trump deserves great credit for walking away from his finely orchestrated summit because North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, like his father Kim Jong Il, wasnt ready to truly give up his nuclear missiles.

Trump deployed his personality and the prestige of the office of the president as none of his predecessors had to make clear the essential choice for Kim: If you give up your nuclear weapons and missiles, we can help you follow the success of summit host Vietnam, still a communist dictatorship but far more prosperous.

Trumps summit parade contrasted sharply with former President Bill Clintons October 2000 dispatch of his Secretary of State Madeline Albright for the then highest-level official visit to North Korea, which turned out to be Kim Jong Ils parade and an utter waste of U.S. prestige.

Trump kept his cool, parting with Kim on cordial terms, hoping to sustain the limited gains of the latters suspension of nuclear weapons and missile testing. But now that Kim has made a strong play for the dismantling of the U.S.South Korea alliance that deters Pyongyang, we can also expect that Kim will also resume pressure tactics, such as testing his missiles that have remained under vigorous development.

Missile Development

It shouldnt be a surprise that future tests of the 13,000-km (about 8,100 miles)-range Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) may demonstrate a new multiple nuclear warhead capability. Pakistan, Pyongyangs missile partner, could have already transferred multiple warhead technologies tested on its Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile in January 2017.

Kim has likely sustained production of his 10,000-km-range Hwasong-14 ICBM and his 4,000-km-range Hwasong-10 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which threatens Japan and may be able to reach U.S. military forces on Guam.

These are liquid fuel missiles that require sophisticated transporter-erector-launchers (TELs), or many-wheeled trucks, to rapidly move these missiles to launch positions without causing damage to sensitive missile components. North Koreas large 16-wheel and 18-wheel TELs are made by the Sanjiang Space Group, a subsidiary of the larger China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (CASIC).

According to Japanese press reports, U.S. intelligence services have been monitoring the transfer of CASIC TELs to North Korea since the summer of 2011. Washingtons failure to sanction CASIC has only emboldened China; in 2013, China allowed its Sinotruk Corp. to set up a joint venture in North Korea, which is now making truck-based TELs for North Korea.

Truck-based TELs made from Sinotruk parts would be more suited to North Koreas expected production of slightly less-sensitive solid-fuel IRBM and ICBM. In its April 2017 military parade, North Korea displayed one of its CASIC trucks with a large tube consistent with a solid-fueled ICBM.

China has repeatedly denied that it has assisted North Koreas missiles and has shown no willingness to take back its TELs. There have also been recent suggestions that China might hold North Koreas missiles as a step toward a larger settlement, and though fraught with risks, this only underscores Chinas missile relationship with Pyongyang. Perhaps its now time to sanction CASIC and Sinotruk and call on China to take back its missile trucks.

US Pressure

Given the dangers of war, Trumps leadership engaging Kim to seek rapid nuclear disarmament has been a necessary diplomatic risk. But while remaining committed to negotiations, its necessary to find additional means to pressure Kim into making real concessions.

Perhaps the most effective means for building such pressure would be to use the U.S. departure from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia to rebuild U.S. theater nuclear missile forces and introduce new missile-defense capabilities. The United States should now accelerate the development and production of new medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles, and new intermediate-range missiles.

The U.S. Navy should reverse the 2010 Obama administration decision to dismantle its tactical nuclear warhead-armed Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missiles, restoring this weapon as soon as possible.

U.S. Army programs to develop new ground-based ballistic missiles should be accelerated, while programs which could arm U.S. Air Force and Navy missiles with hypersonic maneuvering warheads should also be accelerated.

Simultaneously, missile-defense programs that would develop longer-range versions of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense missile interceptor, and programs to defeat multiple warhead missiles, require greater funding.

Missile defense also requires the rapid formation of the Space Force division of the U.S. Air Force, to much better defend the many satellites required for the success of defensive and offensive missile operations.

Ally Support

Pyongyangs refusal to dismantle its nuclear and missile weapons should also prompt Washington to approach its allies in South Korea, Japan, and Australia to offer new offensive and defensive missile capabilities that could both deter and defend against North Korean and Chinese aggression.

The same offer should be made to Taiwan, which must deter Chinas growing threat of invasion and its thousands of ballistic and cruise missiles aimed at the island democracy. In the event of a new Korean War, new Taiwanese missiles could help deter China from the temptation to start hostilities against Taiwan.

A larger U.S. and allied offensive and defensive missile force will better deter North Korean and Chinese aggression, while providing pressure to increase their interest in verifiable missile reductions.

Richard D. Fisher Jr. is a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center and is author of Chinas Military Modernization: Building for Regional and Global Reach, Stanford, 2010.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A city employee clears a sidewalk after an overnight snowstorm dropped nearly a foot of snow in Marlborough, Mass.,on March 4, 2019.(AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

Northeast Digs Out After Storm Closes Schools, Slows Commute

NEW YORKA late winter storm dropped more than a foot of snow on parts of the northeastern United States overnightprompting school closures across the region, knocking out power to thousands and slowing the Monday morning commute to a crawl.

The storm, which hit the hardest in the early morning hours of Monday, March 4, dumped more than a foot of fresh snow on a large swath of New England, hitting some areas that had gotten off relatively unscathed for most of the winter.

The National Weather Services Boston-area office says as of Monday morning, areas to the west and south of the city received the most snow, with 16 inches in Sharon, more than 15 inches in Weymouth and Foxborough, and 14 inches in Framingham and Natick, according to unofficial measurements.

Pomfret, Connecticut, had 16  inches and Burrillville, Rhode Island, got 17 inches.

A late winter storm dropped more than a foot of snow on parts of the northeastern U.S. overnight  prompting school closures across the region and knocking out power to thousands https://t.co/qAmBbIQhz6 #10TV  10TV.com (@10TV) March 4, 2019

A slushy snow totaling 5 inches fell in New York Citys Central Park, on the low end of what was forecast, but enough for Mayor Bill de Blasio to close schools and suspend alternate-side street parking rules.

Hundreds of schools throughout the country were closed or delayed because of the storm. In parts of Nebraska, dangerously cold temperatures prompted school and business closures as wind chill temperatures as low as 40 below zero are expected Monday. A weather service wind chill warning extends through 11 a.m.

As of early Monday morning, thousands of people were also without power due to the heavy, wet snow including nearly 60,000 customers throughout New England.

The storm may have contributed to the death of two teens in a single-car accident about 30 miles north of Philadelphia Sunday evening. The driver, a 17-year-old, was hospitalized.
An illustration of Christopher Reed at Bar Goto. Photo: Daisy Dudley

If youve been known to wile away nights at Bar Goto, you have almost certainly had a conversation or two with Christopher Reed. As gregarious as he is tall, Reed has been the bars floor server most nights, helping make the Lower East Side spot feel like one of the citys most fun, easygoing bars. What many patrons may not know is that last May, Reed was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease ALS, and his condition has rapidly deteriorated since.

In order to help Reed pay his medical bills, Bar Gotos owner, Kenta Goto, and his staff, have started a GoFundMe that has already raised over $30,000. (However, thats only out of a total $250,000 that Reed needs.) On that page, theyve included some words from Reed, who somehow manages to be heartwarmingly cheerful and charming despite his situation. He introduces himself as a chatterbox by nature and someone who is lucky, blessed and proud to be a bartender at Bar Goto in New York City. As a result of the condition, he now walks and talks like Im drunk, wearing leg braces and walking with a cane. Its likely hell be in a wheelchair by this May, his doctors tell him, and his life expectancy has been estimated at three more years. However, he says, Im going down swinging, but swinging costs a lot of money.

The issue for Reed is that he hasnt had any luck with western medicine (two drugs his doctors gave him only made him feel worse, he says), so hes looking for other solutions. But those solutions arent covered by insurance, and the bills are racking up. (Along with B12 shots two times a week, hes taking various supplements hes found through his other doctors and others who have lived with ALS long-term.) That Reed cant work as much as he used to, and eventually wont be able to at all, only makes this more financially difficult. In the meantime, he says, hes going to keep working at Bar Goto for as long as he can, and hang out with his wife, their four cats, and loved ones. If youre inclined to donate, you can do so here.

Some of Reeds colleagues in the hospitality industry have taken to social media to show their support:
Dawn Casale in her shop in the Dumbo neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York on Feb. 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NYC Proposal for Paid Vacation Prompts Debate

NEW YORK A debate over whether New York City should make a pioneering move to require paid vacation has both sides saying, Give me a break.

Mayor Bill de Blasio wants New York to become the first place in the 50 states to make private businesses provide time off with pay. He casts the idea, which is awaiting City Council action, as a next frontier in workers rights.

His plan resonates with people like Barbara Vasquez, a former Manhattan retail worker who says shes struggled with health problems that exhausted any sick leave she accrued as a part-timer.

The 25-year-old likes working and needed the money, but she said she quit after a little over a year to nurture her health.

Paid vacations would have helped, said Vasquez. I actually think I would have been a much better employee because I wouldnt have been so burned out.

But some city-based small-business owners say paid vacation would pile on pressures after minimum wage increases and a paid sick leave requirement in recent years. Under the Democratic mayors proposal, most businesses would have to give full-time workers at least 10 paid vacation days a year, pro-rated for part-timers, besides sick time.

I would love to be able to provide vacation time to my employees  but the reality of it is not whether or not we want to give itits whether we can give it, said Dawn Casale, the founder of One Girl Cookies, a Brooklyn bakery with three retail shops and about 40 employees. They get paid time off after five years, or if theyre managers; others can arrange unpaid vacation, she said.

Casale says shes not against the mayors proposal but feels the city needs to help small businesses make ends meet, perhaps by helping them negotiate health insurance as a group.

You cant weather every storm, said Casale, adding that she stopped searching for a fourth location because she doesnt find the city conducive to expanding her business.

Many countries require paid vacation, as does the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. But labor law experts arent aware of any similar laws within U.S. states.

Still, about three-quarters of private-sector workers had the benefit as of 2017, the latest federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data show. Federal employees and most state and local government workers also get paid time off.

By Jennifer Peltz
Officials: Family Staged Baltimore Woman Jacquelyn Smiths Killing by Alleged Panhandler

Several months after a Baltimore woman was allegedly killed while giving money to a panhandler in an attack that shocked the community, her husband and daughter were arrested in connection with her death. Police said that the panhandler story was totally made up.

Keith Smith and his daughter, Valeria Smith, were arrested in the slaying of Jacquelyn Smith, WBAL reported.

Both are being charged with first-degree murder, officials said.

Baltimore police charge a man and his daughter in the killing of his wife, saying they staged the murder by blaming a panhandler >> https://bit.ly/2GYSgMx Posted by WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore on Sunday, 3 March 2019

Keith Smith and Valeria Smith were arrested on March 3 in Harlingen, Texas, near the Mexico border, Acting Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said.

Reports in early December said that Jacquelyn was stabbed after giving money to a panhandler holding a baby. When she handed over some money, a man reached into her car, grabbed her wallet, stabbed her, and ran away. She later died at a nearby hospital.

But the information and the evidence points to it was not a panhandler, Harrison said. People took advantage of Baltimore.

BREAKING: The husband and stepdaughter of a woman who was allegedly stabbed to death by a panhandler in Baltimore last Posted by Fox 5 DC on Sunday, 3 March 2019

In this particular case, oftentimes we have these negative depictions about our city, and its rather unfortunate when people take advantage of these negative perceptions, Baltimore City States Attorney Marilyn Mosby told WBAL.

Harrison didnt elaborate on a motive in the killing.

During the course of our investigation, we have developed evidence that Mr. Smith was leaving Maryland, so we made appropriate national notifications, and the Texas State Police arrested him this morning (Sunday), Harrison said.

Unbelievable follow up to a story from a few months ago. A husband and step daughter have been arrested for the death of a woman in Baltimore. months after they claimed she was stabbed to death by a panhandler. https://t.co/BXx3ZlnlpU  Devin Bartolotta (@WJZDevin) March 4, 2019

All of our investigators for both Keith and Valeria Smith, outlining the evidence in this case to a judge, who reviewed and signed the warrants for first-degree murder, he added.

On March 3, the Baltimore mayors office released a statement, saying it was senseless.

Like everyone in our city, state and across this nation, we mourned the senseless killing of Jacquelyn Smith. To now learn that family members staged this brutal killing is beyond belief and represents a double tragedy, the office wrote.

It added: They were responsible for taking Jacquelyns life with unconscionable cruelty and contrived to do so in our city under the guise of random violence, exploiting the legitimate fears of our residents. I commend our homicide detectives for their expert and tireless work in bringing those truly responsible to justice in this very troubling and sad case.

More Details

Keith Smith, during a news conference, claimed she was stabbed on Dec. 1 at 12:30 a.m.

Snatched her necklace, and before I knew it, the girl snatched the little pocketbook from the seat and they both ran, Keith said, CBS Baltimore reported. I jumped out the car to run, but I heard my wife screaming, so I came back to the car.

Jacquelyn Smith's husband said she was stabbed while rolling down their car window to give money to a panhandler. Now he and his daughter have been charged in Smith's death. Posted by The Baltimore Sun on Sunday, 3 March 2019

Valeria Smith also spoke at the news conference following her mothers death.

Her brother Marcel Trisvan told the Baltimore Sun on March 3, I already know its Keith.

All the questioning has been specific to Keith. That kind of sums it right there, he added. It never made sense. I told [detectives] from the very beginning there are no suspects out there.

Other details about the case were not provided.
Pictured: 6-Year-Old Child Among 23 Dead in Tornado Outbreak

A 6-year-old child was among 23 killed in a tornado outbreak across Georgia and Alabama on March 3.

Armando Hernandez, known as AJ, became separated from his mother when the tornado hit Beauregard, Alabama.

His mother, Kayla Melton, posted on Facebook about finding her son.

Armando Hernandez, six-years-old, has been identified as the youngest victim of the Alabama and Georgia tornado that Posted by COED on Monday, 4 March 2019

Please look for my baby, hes six years old, his name is Armando Hernandez, he goes by AJ. Last seen on Lee Road 38. Anyone in the area please help me find him please! she wrote, reported The Guardian.

His death was later confirmed by others on social media.

Little AJ didnt make it. He was found but he didnt survive He was always eager to give hugs and loved his family, Tina Melton, a relative, wrote on Facebook. They are headed to the childrens hospital with his brother. They also lost their home in the tornado with all belongings. Fly high AJ. You have your wings, the Daily Mail reported.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said that the death toll will likely rise. Earlier, he described the devastation wrought by the tornado as catastrophic. He said, Unfortunately, we anticipate the number of fatalities may rise as the day goes on.

Weve done everything we feel like we can do this evening. The area is just very, very hazardous to put anybody in to at this point in time  debris everywhere and its justjust some mass damage to structures and residences in the area, Jones told WSFA, adding that more people are missing.

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said the victims range in age from children to adults, the report said.

Family members confirmed the death of an 8-year-old girl following the tornado outbreak.

The tornadoes ripped through the states Lee County on Sunday with winds of at least 150 miles per hour, at the midpoint of the five-step Enhanced Fujita scale, which meteorologists use to measure tornado strength, Reuters reported.

More than 50 people were reported injured and the death toll is expected to rise, authorities said, which could make the storms deadlier than the tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma, in 2013, killing 24 people.

It looks almost as if someone took a giant knife and just scraped the ground. There are slabs where homes formerly stood, debris everywhere, trees are snapped, Jones elaborated. Ive not seen this level of destruction ever in my experience in Lee County.

FEMA has been told directly by me to give the A Plus treatment to the Great State of Alabama and the wonderful people who have been so devastated by the Tornadoes. @GovIvey, one of the best in our Country, has been so informed. She is working closely with FEMA (and me!).  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2019

On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted: To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. Tornadoes and storms were truly violent and more could be coming. To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!

And the next day, the president tweeted that he personally told FEMA to give A Plus treatment to victims of the Alabama tornado outbreak.

Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the Lee County emergency management agency, told the Guardian: Weve got about 150 first responders out there. They are doing a phenomenal job.

About 40,000 people in Georgia and Alabama were left without power in the wake of the storms.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Reports: 4-Year-Old Boy Critically Injured in Utah Dog Attack

Warning: Graphic details

A 4-year-old child in Layton, Utah, was attacked by a dog after reportedly sticking his hand through a chain-link fence.

According to Salt Lake City station KUTV, the unnamed boy was playing in his backyard when he approached a fence that separated his yard from a neighbor who had two huskies.

The boy had stuck his hand through the fence when one of the animals bit him in the mid-forearm. The boy apparently lost his arm and hand in the attack, it was reported.

Breaking news in Layton: Dog bites four-year-old boy, severing his hand above wrist. Stay tuned for updates. Posted by Fox 13 News on Sunday, 3 March 2019

He was taken to the hospital in stable condition, according to the report.

Hes managing the event pretty well, considering his age and trauma hes gone through, Jason Cook of the Layton City Fire Department told the Gephardt Daily.

The dog was located about an hour after the incident.

The patient had reached through a fence attempting to play with the dogs when the bite & subsequent amputation occurred.  LaytonFire (@Layton_Fire) March 3, 2019

Davis Animal Control took both dogs and quarantined them while an investigation is underway, reported Fox13.

The dogs owners said the animals have not bitten anyone in the past, reported the Deseret News.

I spoke with the Animal Control officer just a minute ago, Layton added to the Gephardt Daily, and she confirmed that there has never been a problem here.

LFD EMS & UofU AirMed have transported a pediatric dog bite patient to Primary Childrens Hospital. Patient is stable but will require surgical intervention. @UofUAirMed @LaytonFYI pic.twitter.com/Hf7B76fgi9  LaytonFire (@Layton_Fire) March 3, 2019

The boys parents were home and administered aid before paramedics arrived.

Other details were not provided about the attack.

Dog Bite Statistics

DogsBite.org says that each day, about 1,000 U.S. citizens require emergency care treatment for serious dog bite injuries. Annually, about 9,500 citizens are hospitalized due to dog bite injuries.

In a 13-year analysis, the website says that of 433 fatal dog attacks in the United States, pit bulls contributed to 66 percent, or 284 deaths.

Rottweilers, the second on the list, inflicted 10 percent of attacks that resulted in human death, the report says.

German shepherds accounted for 4.6 percent of fatal attacks.

Mixed-breed dogs accounted for 3.9 percent and the American bulldog was next at 3.5 percent, the report said.

The Mastiff and Bullmastiff accounted for 3.2 percent of deaths.

Last on the list were huskies, which accounted for 3 percent of fatal attacks.

The report compiled fatal dog attacks between 2005 and 2017, showing that 48 percent of the victims were children aged 9 or younger.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in a 1997 reportthe last of its kindcompiled attacks between 1979 through 1994.

From 1979 through 1994, attacks by dogs resulted in 279 deaths of humans in the United States, it says.  Such attacks have prompted widespread review of existing local and state dangerous-dog laws, including proposals for adoption of breed-specific restrictions to prevent such episodes.

In the CDCs report, pit bulls accounted for 60 of the 279 deaths in that period.
San Francisco Mayoral Candidate Vows Against Cannabis and Rent Control

SAN FRANCISCOWhile some people are starting off the year at ease, one woman is already doing battle with San Franciscos City Hall. Ellen Lee Zhou has promised to solve problems with drug abuse and rent control if she is elected mayor.

On Jan. 14, Zhou sent two emails to the citys Board of Supervisors opposing the proposed plans to open more cannabis retail stores and impose stricter rent control.

The city is planning to convert areas with medical cannabis dispensaries into retail stores for cannabis.

Zhou said businesses are impacted because of the limited space available, which the city is reserving for more cannabis stores.

In my opinion, thats enough, said Zhou. Theres no need for any more physical, recreational, or any cannabis store at all, because we can do delivery.

Zhou said she met with a staff member from the Office of Cannabis on Jan. 14. He told her that there are currently more than 50 cannabis stores in operation, over 260 applications, and 400 permits pending.

Zhou said it is mainly because of cannabis operators that the city is allowing more stores to open.

They donate money to the mayor campaign, donate to [the] Board of Supervisors campaign, said Zhou. They are the mafia. They are the ones controlling our city.

Since Proposition 64 legalizing marijuana was passed with 57 percent in favor in 2016, some of those who opposed it have to cope with it daily. Many Asian Americans are strongly against usage of the drug.

Zhou said more drugs would attract more homeless people. This means the city would have to spend more to look after the homeless population.

According to a report released by the San Francisco Department of Public Health, people who are both long-term homeless and rely heavily on urgent medical, psychological, and substance use system services account for 570 out of 9,975 total adult homeless people. The annual cost for such services averages $88,000 each year for individuals in this population group.

Zhou said the citys government is not really protecting the people and is actually wasting the publics money.

In their heads [theyre] thinking about helping the homeless or people who have lost their homes, but the money does not go [to] the homeless. If the city spends $6,000 a person, then we should not see homeless people dying on the streets, she said.

A Greater Housing Crisis?

The city government is also planning to have more control over the housing crisis by taxing landlords for empty units.

There are more renters than property owners in San Francisco. Therefore, the majority of the vote is from renters, so politicians are more likely to create regulations in favor of tenants. Zhou calls this relationship a gaining system, a game where politicians get both tenants and landlords where they want them to be.

Evil people create the same failing policies to make people suffer. Homeless suffer because they dont have a place to be; [the] working class suffers because they are not able to have an affordable place, she said.

Zhou sent her second email to the citys Board of Supervisors on Jan. 14, stating that she and the community oppose the unfair housing regulations.

We [had] no housing problem until the government created all these unfair housing policies that killed the housing market, wrote Zhou. Our housing crisis [was] created by the left, one-side, one-party government.  The more regulations you continue to create, the more housing crisis we see.

She said the Asian community is impacted especially hard because many neither speak the language nor understand the law. When the laws are passed to be in favor of tenants, landlords are taken advantage of.

The tenants know they can get free lawyers and legal consultation, she said.

Thats how a lot of people have been sued, said Zhou.

Zhou said these services that favor tenants are causing landlords to be afraid to rent out because they can be easily sued.

According to the 2017 U.S. Census data on housing occupancy, there are about 31,000 vacant housing units out of the total 390,000 in San Francisco.

Many who have been sued do not have evidence of any written agreement. Zhou thinks that having any list is useless because the new regulations are not landlord or business-friendly.

Her Solutions

Zhou officially joined the citys mayoral race in early January. When asked what she would do differently, she replied that she would improve regulation.

She suggested having a designated building for cannabis only, like a shopping mall.

That will regulate the peoples complaints, she said. More regulation and better educating the people and [telling] them to stay away from drugs.

With regard to the housing crisis, she plans to open a main office that documents all cases of abuse. It will find out which tenants have been receiving free legal services.

According to Zhou, tenants are basically receiving millions of dollars to sue property owners through legal battles. In the end, the settlement will come from the property owners insurance. Therefore, the insurance industry goes bankrupt, too.

When I become a mayor, they will be having central offices to document who sues what, and the people who are victims will be receiving services, legal help for them as victims too. Many of the property ownersIm talking about small property ownersthey are not fancy people; theyre just regular people owning a home and rent it out, and they should be getting legal help just like the tenants, because we are talking about equality, she said.

Sources:

https://officeofcannabis.sfgov.org/retail

Map: http://sfplanninggis.org/cannabisretail/

Homeless stats: https://www.sfdph.org/dph/hc/HCAgen/HCAgen2017/April%2018/2017AprilWPCOverviewISCv041017handoutofpresentation.pdf

Housing Crisis:

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml?src=bkmk

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF

http://default.sfplanning.org/publications_reports/Housing-Needs-and-Trends-Report-2018.pdf

https://sfpublicpress.org/news/2018-08/housingsolutions2018/cities-sic-taxman-on-vacant-ghost-homes

$14 million sued: https://realestateforums.net/t/tenants-seeking-14m-damage-from-landlord/4505
People attend the Denver 420 Rally, the world's largest celebration of both the legalization of cannabis and cannabis culture in Denver, Colorado, on May 21, 2016. (JASON CONNOLLY/AFP/Getty Images)

Sen. Booker Hides Behind Pots Smoke Screen

Commentary

See through the smoke screen.

In September 2018, Daniel Lopez, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was self-medicating with marijuana, stabbed his brother Thomas to death.

On Feb. 28, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), a Democratic candidate for president of the United States, rolled out the Marijuana Justice Act, which would legalize pot nationwide.

No matter where you stand on this issue, this is a bad idea.

Heres why.

Specifically, the bill would remove marijuana from the U.S. list of controlled substances, legalizing it on the federal level. It also would retroactively expunge criminal records of those charged with marijuana possession. Finally, it would allow those serving time for possession to petition for re-sentencing and provide them with resources like job training.

This is not the first time Booker has experimented with drug legalization. Two years ago, when he introduced a so-called racial justice bill, he put marijuana legalization at its center.

Bookers prior measure would have penalized states with racially-disparate arrest or incarceration rates for marijuana-related crimes, even if offenders were in fact racially disparate.

At the time, Kevin Sabet of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a group opposed to pot legalization, argued, Given the opioid epidemic, [Bookers] legislative energy would be much better spent implementing solutions to that crisis. But the Big Marijuana lobbyists are probably very happy.

Overdoses

Last year, the number of Americans who died from drug overdoses topped 70,000 for the first time, a nearly 10 percent increase over the previous year, driven by the opioid epidemic.

In particular, the Center for Disease Controls National Center for Health Statistics reported a 45 percent spike in deaths from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and tramadol in particular.

Coupled with a soaring suicide ratemore on that belowsuch overdoses lowered U.S. life expectancy for the second year in a row.

Though pot enthusiasts claim legalization is a way to reduce such deaths, Keith Humphreys wrote in The Washington Post that studies of individuals show that using medical cannabis is correlated with higher rates of using and misusing opioids.

For instance, according to a 2018 study, those who used marijuana were almost three times as likely to use opiates three years later.

Likewise, a JAMA Internal Medicine study found that states legalizing marijuana had 55 percent higher overdose rates. Data associated with the study demonstrate that an avalanche of deaths in legalizing states buried early findings that marijuana legalization might slightly help with opioid overdoses.

Legalization and Teen Use

While marijuana advocates tout studies finding legalization does not lead to increased teen marijuana use, a 2018 study found a 26 percent increase in frequency of use for teens who were already marijuana users.

Marijuana legalization leads to a loss of awareness of its risks, according to one study of perceptions of pot among eighth- and 10th-graders following recreational marijuana legalization in Washington state.

Beginning in the mid-2000s, the percentage of high schoolers who reported having smoked marijuana began to increase, accompanied by a sharp decrease in the percentage of 10th- and 12th-graders who view regular marijuana use as risky.

In fact, Colorado, an early adopter of legal marijuana, is now the No. 1 state in America for marijuana use among both pre-teens and those 12 to 17 years old.

The Colorado Department of Education likewise found that drug-related school suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals increased dramatically from 2008 through 2011.

Its not just Colorado. One national addiction treatment network reported, 90 percent of adolescents seeking treatment are admitted with marijuana being their primary drug of choice.

Such adolescent use of marijuana is linked to use of alcohol and cocainewhich together all help predict opioid addictionas well as mental health problems, risky sexual behaviors, and poor school performance.

In fact, according to one expert, teen use can cause a permanent IQ drop of six points, similar to the consequences of lead poisoning.

A 2012 study found that the most persistent adolescent-onset cannabis users evidenced an average 8-point IQ decline from childhood to adulthood, and shows persistent use beyond adolescence is associated with an IQ drop of as much as 10 points.

Pot Use Exploding

It gets worse.

According to Alex Berenson, former New York Times reporter and author of the new book Tell Your Children: The Truth About Marijuana, Mental Illness, and Violence, almost everything you think you know about the health effects of cannabis, almost everything advocates and the media have told you for a generation, is wrong.

Berenson reported that marijuana and its active ingredient THC are most commonly prescribed for pain relief, but in July 2018, a large four-year study of patients with chronic pain in Australia showed cannabis use was associated with greater pain over time.

In fact, even Rob Kampia, the co-founder of the Marijuana Policy Project, acknowledged to Berenson he always viewed medical marijuana laws primarily as a way to protect recreational users.

Yet, as legalization measures like Bookers proliferate, and the disinformation campaign in which he participates takes hold, the number of heavy pot smokers is exploding.

Berenson reports the number of Americans who smoked marijuana at least 300 times a year, the definition of daily use, nearly tripled from 2006 to 2017, approaching the number who drink alcohol every day.

Mental Illness

Contrary to drug dealer deceptions, there is such a thing as marijuana abuse or addiction. Its technical name is diagnosable cannabis use disorder, and from 2006 to 2014 it tripled. It accounts for 11 percent of all psychosis cases in emergency rooms, reaching 90,000 cases, about 250 a day.

One potential reason: The potency of the drug has exploded as well. Between the 1970s and today, as farming and cloning technologies evolve, marijuanas THC content has increased about 10-fold.

Which leads to even worse news: Berenson found a mountain of peer-reviewed research in top medical journals shows marijuana can cause or worsen mental illness.

For example, teens who smoke marijuana regularly approximately triple their risk of schizophrenia.

More generally, the National Academy of Medicine in 2017 reported that cannabis use is likely to increase the risk of developing schizophrenia and other psychoses; the higher the use, the greater the risk.

Likewise, a 2010 study found a towering 27 percent of schizophrenics had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder.

Violence

And on average, along with mental illness comes violence.

In a 2017 speech that called for legalizing pot, Booker claimed states that have done so are seeing decreases in violent crime.

Well, actually, no.

The first four states to legalize marijuana for recreational use saw a five-year increase of 37 percent for murders and 25 percent for aggravated assaults, far greater than the national increase.

This is not a surprise. For instance, Berenson reported that a 2013 journal article studying 1,600 psychiatric patients in southern Italy found marijuana use was associated with a 10-fold increase in violence.

Likewise, a 2007 study of defendants who had committed homicide during psychotic episodes found almost two-thirds reported misusing marijuanamore than alcohol and amphetamines combined.

Theres more.

According to a 2012 study in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence of more than 9,000 adolescents, marijuana use was associated with a doubling of domestic violence.

One in 2017 found that drug use, nearly always being marijuana, translated into a five-fold increase in violence, Berenson said.

The deaths are not always deliberate. Marijuana is associated with more child deaths from abuse and neglect than alcohol, and more than cocaine, methamphetamines, and opioids combined according to reports from Texas, one of the rare states that tracks perpetrators drug use.

Berenson dug up a 2009 study by an Oxford University psychiatrist and epidemiologist finding that schizophrenics in particular are five times as likely to commit violent crimes as healthy people, and almost 20 times as likely to commit homicide.

Not only are schizophrenics 20 times more likely to kill you, they are also more likely to kill themselves.

For instance, a 2006 study found that after the first release for a schizophrenic episode, not taking any regular antipsychotic medication was associated with a 12-fold increase in the relative risk of all-cause death and a worrying 37-fold increase in death by suicide.

Another study found schizophrenics lifetime suicide risk is 4.9 percent, 350 times Americas overall age-adjusted suicide rate in 2017.

And to reiterate: Teens who smoke pot about tripled their risk of schizophrenia in one study, and 27 percent of schizophrenics had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder in another.

In sum: More marijuana, more mental illness, more murder.

Drug Dealers

Booker claimed, The war on drugs has not been a war on drugs, its been a war on people.

Actually, the war on drugs has been a war on drug dealers.

And even when states legalize drug dealers, the evidence suggests that drug dealers are not only still drugging people, but statistically speaking, still killing them as well.

Now they want to kill many, many more, not to mention ruining lives and burning away intellect.

Remember Daniel Lopez, and his brother Thomas, whom they helped kill.

As recently as 2015, Booker declined to support marijuana legalization in a Vox interview.

He was right then, and hes wrong now.

See through his smoke screen.

Christopher C. Hull holds a doctorate in government from Georgetown University. He is president of Issue Management Inc., distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, senior fellow at Americans for Intelligence Reform, and author of Grassroots Rules (Stanford, 2007).

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
A group of unaccompanied minors seeks out Border Patrol after illegally crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico into the United States in Hidalgo County, Texas, on May 26, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)

Smugglers Force Thousands of Child Migrants Into Prostitution

WASHINGTONHundreds of thousands of people head to the United States every year in search of a better life, many by paying a smuggler thousands of dollars to get them in the back dooracross the southwest border illegally. Others, as in the recent bust of a sex-trafficking ring in Florida, are lured by temporary work visas and then forced into servitude.

A smuggler often promises a better life in the United States, a job, or maybe even a love interest, said Greg Nevano, assistant director of ICE Homeland Security Investigations investigative programs.

Many times, youll see parents [who] want their children to have a better life  send their child along with a friend, a cousin, he said.

And along the routewhich is a long journey to the United Statesthe smugglers will then exploit the children. Theyll say, if you dont pay us additional money, or if you do not perform these types of activitiessome of which are sexual activity, some of them could be forced laborwe will kill your family back home.

The scope of the problem is mind-boggling, going by a recent estimate by expert Timothy Ballard.

Ballard, founder of the anti-trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad, said that as many as 10,000 children are trafficked into the United States every year to be used as sex slaves. Nevano concurs with Ballards estimate.

Previously, Ballard spent more than 12 years working as a special agent for Homeland Security Investigations in its child trafficking unit.

He recounted a story of a 13-year-old girl from Central America who was kidnapped from her village, then trafficked into the United States across an unpatrolled part of the southwest border.

She was taken to New York City. This little girland this is very typicalwas raped for money every day, 30 to 40 times a day, Ballard said during a White House roundtable on Feb. 1.

Last year, the number of Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border almost hit 400,000. This year, its on track to pass 600,000 illegal crossers. The vast majority hail from Central America.

More than 48,000 unaccompanied minors were apprehended by Border Patrol in fiscal year 2018. Almost half were from Guatemala, and the rest were from Honduras, Mexico, and El Salvador.

Marlene Castro, a former supervisory Border Patrol agent in the Rio Grande Valley sector in Texas, said no one crosses the Rio Grande into the United States without paying something.

It could be cash, it could be jewelry, some possession of yours, or whatever, but youre going to pay, Castro said in a 2017 interview.

They hire this smuggler, someone they dont even know, and they trust him on this 800-, 1,000-mile journey. Even if theyre paid with cash upfront or whatever, lots of times these people risk being assaulted, beaten, robbed by these people.

There are cases where the womenwith the expectation of getting rapedprepare themselves by getting on birth control, or taking birth control, for the purpose of the journey.

Young Victims

Alma Tucker has seen the devastation that victims of sex-trafficking endure. She is the founder and president of International Network of Hearts, an organization dedicated to helping children recover from human trafficking.

But it was while she worked as the Mexican consul general in San Diego that her life was impacted forever.

[The girl] was only 14 years old, and the smugglerthe parents paid the smuggler to bring her undocumented to the mountains, to this country. But the smuggler told her that her parents didnt pay a full amount for her transportation, and she had to pay, Tucker said at the White House on Feb. 1.

She had to pay with her own body, and have sex with all the people in the group. Then go through this journey. And they forced her to have sex 20, 30 times until Border Patrol rescued her, and they transferred her our way to the hospital. And I was there; they called me.

Tucker said she stayed with the girl through everything: the medical examinations, the interviews, and the search for her parents.

Close Call

The problem isnt new, and it happens many different ways. Nevano shared a story from two decades ago, when he was an airport customs inspection agent. He encountered an 18-year-old attempting to enter from China on someone elses passport.

At the time, we had more challenges with technology. There wasnt biometrics, Nevano said. He finally admitted to me the truthhis family paid $40,000 for that U.S. passport in 1996, and they sold everything that they had to have their child come to the United States for a better life. The challenge was, they only made a down payment of like $10,000, so this individual owed $30,000.

We know what would have happened to that individual.  He would have been trafficked, prostitution; he could have been involved in gangs; he could have been involved in the sale of narcoticsall to repay his smuggling debt.

Instead, Nevano said the man claimed political asylum and still lives in the United States.

We have seen cases where children have been posed as family members coming in a familial relationship, he said. And it turns out that person is trafficking that child to the United States and bringing them for the illicit purposes of human trafficking.

Community Approach

The National Human Trafficking hotline has received reports of 45,308 human-trafficking cases since 2007. California, Texas, and Florida are identified as the worst three states for human trafficking.

ICE made 1,588 human-trafficking arrests in fiscal year 2018almost all for sex traffickingand saved 308 victims who were trafficked to the United States.

Nevano said traffickers use all means of coercion and false promises to control their victims.

They beat the children, the women, if they dont continue to perform, if they dont earn money, if they try to flee, he said. If theyre here undocumented, they take their documentation. They basically will extort them by saying that if you dont perform these acts, we will call ICE, and ICE will come and arrest you.

Nevano said despite sex trafficking being so pervasive in American society, finding and investigating cases is challenging.

But a community approach would make a bigger impact.

Dr. Jordan Greenbaum, medical director of the Child Protection Center at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta, said the medical community is on the front line.

Greenbaum said in one study of adults and adolescent girls who were sex-trafficking survivors, 88 percent said they had seen a health care provider while they were being exploited, yet none of them had been identified in the health care setting.

What does that say to us? It says that victims are coming to get health care, but were not recognizing them, she said last year. We have yet to see a victim come in and say, My chief complaint, my concern, is human trafficking. They dont self-disclose spontaneously.

Nevano said that deportation protection is available for those victims who are in the United States illegally.

We need to make the victims aware that were here to help them. We also have to be able to help them, getting them the services that they need: the NGO assistance, clothing, food, shelter, he said. At the same token, we also want to prosecute the traffickers who are involved in this heinous act.

For Help

The National Human Trafficking Hotline is confidential, toll-free, and available 24/7 in more than 200 languages.

Call: 1-888-3737-888

Text: Help or Info to 233733

Chat: humantraffickinghotline.org
Some Red Flag Laws Are Unconstitutionaland Could Kill More People Than They Save

Commentary

Mass shootings by mentally disturbed gunmen have encouraged the adoption of state statutes called red flag laws. They permit police or citizens to begin legal proceedings to confiscate firearms from people who allegedly pose a danger to themselves or others.

Such laws can be useful if carefully and narrowly drafted. But some arent carefully nor narrowly drafted. Within the past few weeks, both Colorado and New York state have adopted or are about to adopt red flag bills that violate protections in our Bill of Rights. Poorly drafted laws may prove useless in practiceand might even increase crime.

Red flag laws authorize two kinds of confiscation orders. The first removes firearms without notice from their owner for a few days or weeks, until a hearing can be held. After the hearing, the judge may grant a more permanent order, perhaps for a year. Or the judge may deny the more permanent order and vacate the temporary one.

The greatest potential for abuse arises when the police or a citizen (the petitioner) seeks a temporary order without informing the gun owner. Guns are property, and the Fifth and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution provide that people may not be deprived of property without due process of law. The Supreme Court has ruled that before the government can confiscate or infringe upon property, the owner is entitled to an opportunity to defend himself or herself. He or she is entitled to have a lawyer, cross-examine, and take advantage of other procedural benefits afforded by our Anglo-American legal tradition.

Accordingly, courts rarely grant protective orders without notice. If you want such an order, you have to show an immediate emergency. Specifically, you have to show you are in imminent danger, and that a protective order is the only remedy.

Mere allegations are not enough. Usually, you must meet a demanding level of proof (clear and convincing evidence of imminent harm). Further, you may have to post a bond to protect the defendant against damage in case your accusations prove false or exaggerated.

Once issued, orders without notice typically last only a few days. Rather than make any changes, most simply protect the status quo. For example, an order may restrain the defendant from harassing the petitioner before a hearing or from hiding or destroying assets that might be used to pay a debt.

Some red flag laws ignore those traditional safeguards. Instead of requiring proof of imminent danger, the pending Colorado law requires only a significant risk of damage in the indefinite future. In New York, the standard of proof is only probable cause, and in Colorado, a fair preponderance of the evidence. Neither states law requires the petitioner to post bond, even if he or she can afford to do so.

Most importantly, these temporary orders go far beyond maintaining the status quo. They are orders of confiscation, which police can enforce by invasion, search, and seizure.

In 1969, the Supreme Court held that even freezing property (much less removing it) without a prior hearing violates due process.

Violating Amendments

Some red flag laws may violate other constitutional rights in addition to due process. They may run afoul of the Fifth Amendments rule against taking of property without compensation. They may threaten the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

The Sixth Amendment mandates certain protections for defendants in criminal prosecutions. Red flag procedures arent criminal prosecutions, but they can lead to harsher punishments than some criminal convictions. So its fair to test them by Sixth Amendment standards.

Among the protections in the Sixth Amendment is the right to  trial, by an impartial jury. Red flag laws generally dont provide jury trials. Even in the hearing for a permanent order, a single judge decides everything.

The Sixth Amendment also protects the right of a defendant to be confronted with the witnesses against him. But the Colorado red flag statute doesnt require the petitioner or his witnesses to show up for the hearing. Instead, the court may hold the hearing by telephone. This can make it much harder to assess the credibility of those testifying. Even worse, the Colorado law doesnt even require live testimony. The petitioner can present all of his or her evidence by affidavit, where it cannot be cross-examined.

So much for your right to be confronted with the witnesses against you!

You might ask, Isnt a judge likely to be skeptical of the petitioners case if the petitioner testifies only by affidavit? Certainly, a judge should be. But petitioners can often come up with suitable excuses for not showing up in person. And many judges today are products of an elite legal culture hostile to firearms ownership, and may have an unconscious bias against a gun owner.

Practical Dangers

The Constitutions procedural rights are not mere technicalities. They are literally the product of centuries of experience, both in America and in England. They embody not just what is fair, but also what works.

Consider the practical dangers when someone can obtain a temporary confiscation order against another without notice and on relatively weak evidence. Many peopleparticularly women, the elderly, and the poorrely on their firearms for self-defense. This is especially true in cities with rampant crime, where the police are overwhelmed. An abusive, estranged husband could have his wife disarmed without prior notice, and then attack before a full hearing corrects the injustice. Or a family member could claim that Granny is senile and shouldnt have a gun, preparatory to robbing her.

Laws like this are likely to sow suspicion and distrust among many, inducing some to shoot rather than give up their weapons.

Red flag laws must be drafted to protect constitutional rights. Otherwise, even if the Supreme Court doesnt void them, they may cause more deaths than they prevent.

Rob Natelson served as a law professor for 25 years at three universities. He taught constitutional law, and is now senior fellow in Constitutional Jurisprudence at the Independence Institute in Denver. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Original Constitution: What It Actually Said and Meant.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Terry Crews attends The 2019 MAKERS Conference at Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California on Feb. 8, 2019. (Getty Images)

Terry Crews Defends Fatherhood, Traditional Family in a Series of TweetsSome Progressives Are Left Fuming

Actor Terry Crews chimed in with his thoughts on fatherhood, family values and the the womens rights movement during a lengthy series of tweets over the weekend.

Fatherhood is not toxic https://t.co/guhYZVH6nt  terry crews (@terrycrews) March 2, 2019

The Everybody Hates Chris star initially said that children who grow up in single-parent households are malnourished, something he later apologized for, saying that his initial tweet was poorly worded.

However, Crews continued to drive home his point about the importance of fatherhood while fighting back against charges of homophobia and transphobia.

Crews also touched on fatherhood in the black community.

So all the Black kids growing up without dads or paternal love are just fine? So we just let all these dads off the hook? Crews said. Just because women can do it all alone and they have done an amazing job does that mean they should?

Crews tweets were met with a fierce progressive backlash, with some accusing the actor of bigotry.

You apparently thought I was your puppet. But I have a mind of my own, and can see and think very clearly. The phobic tag is the most feared public tag next to racist. I dont fear it because I am neither. Bullies come in all shapes and sizes. https://t.co/wuBRM2SdEo  terry crews (@terrycrews) March 2, 2019

Crews is a devout Christian who has spoken publicly about his faith and his battle with porn addiction.

Crews has also been open about being the victim of an alleged sexual assault in Hollywood by a prominent male executive at a party in 2016. Crews was part of a group of people named TIMEs person of the year in 2017, sharing the honor with others who claim to be survivors of sexual assault.

By William Davis

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Texas Anti-Abortion Heartbeat Bill Gains Momentum

A Texas bill that would mostly ban abortion in the state after the point when the unborn babys heartbeat can be detected has been signed by more than 50 lawmakers, nudging it toward possibly passing the Republican-controlled legislature.

The bill would prohibit abortion under felony charges in cases where the medical practitioner detects a heartbeat in the fetus, or fails to check for a heartbeat, which can be found as early as the sixth week of pregnancyas early as four weeks after conception and less than two weeks after the pregnant woman misses her period.

The bill (pdf) makes an exception for abortions performed due to medical emergencies.

It ensures that unborn Texans exhibiting a heartbeat will be protected from an abortion, said state Rep. Briscoe Cain, who introduced the bill on Feb. 7, in a tweet that day. Texas should be the safest place in America for the unborn!

Since then, 56 other representatives joined him as authors and coauthorsall Republicans, who hold an 8763 majority in the State House and 1912 majority in the state Senate.

The bill was denounced by abortion proponents as an attempt to ban abortion altogether.

The Lone Star State has been beaten to the punch on the issue by Mississippi, which has already passed a similar bill. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant has vowed to sign it into law.

At least eight other states have similar bills underway at different stages in their legislatures. All the bills, including those in Texas and Mississippi, would likely be ruled unconstitutional by federal courts in light of the precedent set by the Supreme Courts 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which hamstrung states ability to restrict abortion.

Now that President Donald Trump has appointed two conservative justices to the Supreme CourtNeil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaughstates may try to escalate legal challenges to abortion restrictions to the Supreme Court in the hope that the 54 conservative majority bench will reconsider Roe v. Wade.

Abortion is back in the media spotlight as several states controlled by Democrats push bills that would allow abortions all the way to birth, with limited constraints for very late-term abortionsan apparent effort to preserve easy access to abortion even if Roe v. Wade is overturned. New York already passed one such bill, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law on Jan. 22.

A similar law was proposed by Virginia state lawmaker Kathy Tran, causing a backlash, especially after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, responded by suggesting that parents should have the right to have their baby killed even after delivery in cases when the baby has severe fetal abnormalities or is deemed nonviable.

Americans appear to have shifted away from supporting abortion, especially younger Americans and Democrats. A Feb. 1217 Marist Poll found that 47 percent of Americans identified as pro-life, meaning generally anti-abortion, while 47 percent identified as pro-choice, meaning generally pro-abortion. Just a month before, the poll showed pro-choice identification prevailing 55 to 38 percent.
Drama. Photo: Getty Images

This weekend, the food world was treated to the unexpected surprise of a very spicy, very public food fight. Like turned milk, the drama spilled out over the internet after Food Network person Cat Cora took to Instagram to call out Chicagos Alinea for, apparently, not fulfilling her reservation and rudely turning her away. Except Alineas co-owner Nick Kokonas said, Heey, no so fast! In his own very public response, he claims Cora didnt provide the whole picture. After first sharing a still frame from what he says is footage of Cora flipping off his staff, Kokonas published a lengthy, detailed post on Medium explaining Alineas side of the story.

Just so my comments can have some context, here is @catcora 's instagram post that forced the response. That's the crazy thing about the internet -- there is no delete button. pic.twitter.com/GlluETaS1S  nick kokonas (@nickkokonas) March 3, 2019

In the since-deleted Instagram post, Cora singled out Alineas GM for nonchalantly telling her they couldnt accommodate her, its chef Grant Achatz for not coming out to kiss the ring, and a general lack of hospitality. Claiming she was just there to support Achatz, one of the worlds famous chefs, she admonished him by writing, You should take a lesson on this from your mentor and my friend #charlietrotterRIP or even some of our other fine colleagues. She then to tagged a bunch of fine colleagues including Anne Sophie Pic, David Chang, Jose Andres, and Dominique Crenn. Presumably these chefs would be disgusted by Alineas treatment of her?

Only, is this what really happened? Put on your detective hat and buckle up! In his Medium post, Kokonas claims that Coras story is bogus and that she was, simply, being an entitled sort-of-celebrity. After negging her by writing, I love the original Japanese version of Iron Chef, Kokonas claims the chef intentionally arrived 24 hours and 15 minutes late. The restaurateur says Cora made accusations of sexism, said, Fuck you, fuck Grant, fuck Alinea, on her way out, and threatened to take the incident public through social media and a new show.

According to Kokonass timeline, Coras assistant Veronica Van Sant emailed Alinea on the night of February 27 asking for a reservation. Alinea confirmed one the next day for Friday at 5 p.m., sent an invoice, and then  Cora didnt show up. While Van Sant then agreed on Friday to rebook the dinner for 9 p.m., she wrote later that night that the chef couldnt make it at that time. Kokonas says he himself reached out to say there were no earlier slots available, and Van Sant told him to reach out if an earlier table became available. After offering a refund and not getting a response to two emails, Kokonas called Van Sant, who told him Cora wasnt responding and might show up at 5 p.m. anyway. Van Sant asked Kokonas if Achatz could reach out, because the two chefs apparently know each other, but Achatz told Kokonas that wasnt the case. And then Cora showed up at Alinea at 5 p.m. expecting a table.

From Kokonass perspective, Cora believed that she deserved a table at Alinea despite no-showing on Friday. He also tsk-tsks her for feeling so self-important as to take this public, deciding to lecture them on hospitality, and tagging many of our friends. While Coras Instagram post has been deleted, Kokonas has kept up his Medium post with a few redactions for privacy concerns. Those redactions include, as Twitter user and Chicago resident Ed Fisher points out, an email from Van Sant asking for a Saturday reservation. A screenshot of Coras post shows a subject line of Re: Iron Chef Cat Cora Visits This Saturday, and some argue there was some miscommunication on Alineas part. Which only adds another layer to this drama.

Speaking of layers: In a statement emailed to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cora says that her post was originally put up to start a conversation about what hospitality means to people. The resulting digital kerfuffle was, apparently, what she wanted, as she says, We took our post down. We accomplished what we wanted: a conversation.

Indeed.
Treasury Board President Philpott Joins Jody Wilson-Raybould in Resigning From Cabinet Over SNC-Lavalin

OTTAWATreasury Board president Jane Philpott has resigned from the federal cabinet, saying shes lost confidence in the way the Trudeau government has dealt with the SNC-Lavalin affair.

A minister must always be prepared to defend other ministers publicly, and must speak in support of the government and its policies, her resignation letter says. Given this convention and the current circumstances, it is untenable for me to continue to serve as a cabinet minister.

Philpotts resignation comes just less than a month after former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould resigned from cabinet amid allegations that the Prime Ministers Office had improperly pressured her to stop a criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.

Like Wilson-Raybould, Philpott says shes staying on as a Liberal MPfor Markham-Stouffville outside Toronto, in her case.

She has been widely seen as one of Trudeaus most capable ministers. As minister of health, she concluded health-funding agreements with provincial governments one at a time after they and the federal government had been unable to reach a sweeping national accord. As minister of Indigenous services, she oversaw drastic reductions in the number of long-term advisories on water safety on First Nations reserves.

Treasury Board is a less visible ministry concerned with the nuts and bolts of government operations but its also ripe for scandals if it fails in its responsibility for overseeing federal spending. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau named Philpott to Treasury Board in mid-January, after Scott Brison left the post and retired from politics.

Philpott is good friends with Wilson-Raybould, who delivered bombshell testimony last week accusing officials of relentlessly pressuring her and even issuing veiled threats to try to get her to co-operate in helping SNC-Lavalin, a pillar of Montreals business community and a major player in infrastructure projects both in Canada and globally, avoid a criminal prosecution.

Philpott says she has serious concerns about evidence of inappropriate interference in the attorney generals prosecutorial discretion in criminal cases.
Trump Signs Executive Order on Transition of Troops Into Merchant Marines

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 4 to aid the transition of active-duty service members and military veterans into the United States Merchant Marine.

Peter Navarro, assistant to the president and director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, told reporters in a conference call before the signing that one of the broad themes behind the order relates to the national security strategy of 2017where economic security is national security.

The executive order has two clear benefits, according to Navarro.

The first is that it makes it easier for sea service veterans to find skill-specific jobs by waiving government-issued licensing fees. The second is that it credits military training in the National Maritime Center credentialing system. Navarro said these benefits incentivize experienced seaman to enter the Merchant Marine, sometimes referred to as the nations fourth arm of defense.

Trump will always have the backs of veterans from their days in uniform to their years in the civilian workforce, he said. Were working on many fronts to make sure that our veterans and their spouses are able to seamlessly transition into the civilian workforce in a way which provides them with good-paying jobs that benefit themselves and this country.

The Merchant Marine includes civilian men and women who pilot and carry imports and exports during peacetime periods. During wartime conflicts, the mariners transport military goods such as tanks, helicopters, or even troopsoften in hostile waters and at great personal risk. Navarro warned that the United States currently faces a shortfall of merchant mariners that may have serious national security implications.

The number of merchant mariners with unlimited ocean-going credentials who have sailed in the last 18 months have dropped below 12,000. According to estimates from the U.S. Department of Transportation, if the United States at this point entered into a large scale conflict that required military mobilization, the nation would likely fall short of the number of mariners needed to sustain contingency operations.

In other words, after just six months, the most powerful country in the world could find itself challenged to supply its overseas military personnel, Navarro said.

In World War II alone, nearly 10,000 merchant mariners were killed by enemy fire; their casualty rate was higher than any other branch of the U.S. military. Navarro said their willingness to serve and their sacrifice continue to play a vital role in our national defense.

Navarro said average water transportation workers earn $65,720 per year, which is above the national occupational average of $50,620. He added that workers in the Merchant Marine categories routinely earn even more.

The executive order is called Supporting the Transition of Active Duty Service Members and Military Veterans into the Merchant Marine. It was coordinated through the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, which worked closely with Ivanka Trump and the Department of Labor.
President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference following his second summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Feb. 28, 2019. Tuan Mark/Getty Images

Trumps North Korea Move Sends Message to China

WASHINGTONPresident Donald Trumps decision to walk away from the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without a deal sent a clear message to Beijing that he has a strong card to play in trade talks.

Trump met the North Korean leader for a second summit last week, in Vietnams capital, Hanoi, where both sides failed to reach a deal on denuclearization because of a dispute over lifting economic sanctions in exchange for partial steps toward denuclearization.

I am always prepared to walk, Trump said on Feb. 28 at a press conference in Hanoi. Im never afraid to walk from a deal. And I would do that with China, too, if it didnt work out.

Gordon Chang, an expert on China and North Korea, told Fox News that when Trump walked away in Hanoi, he showed Beijing he wasnt afraid to leave a bad deal. I think China has to reassess their approach to trade talks, Chang said.

Trump announced in February that he would meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in hopes of finalizing a trade deal. Washington and Beijing are now discussing a late March meeting.

On Feb. 24, Trump announced in a tweet that he held off implementing a planned tariff increase on hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese imports, due to the progress made in the last round of trade talks in Washington.

I have asked China to immediately remove all Tariffs on our agricultural products (including beef, pork, etc.) based on the fact that we are moving along nicely with Trade discussions.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2019

He said that the United States had made substantial progress in negotiations with China on important structural issues, including protection of intellectual property and an end to forced technology transfers.

Tariffs had been planned to increase to 25 percent from 10 percent on March 1. But Trump agreed to postpone that increase in hopes of finalizing a deal during a summit with Xi at his Florida resort.

In a recent tweet, Trump also asked China to immediately remove all tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods, including beef and pork, since both sides were moving along nicely with trade talks.

This is very important for our great farmers and me, he wrote.

The Trump administration believes Beijing has reasons to compromise as economic woes continue to put pressure on the Chinese regime. Economists predict that Beijing could soon implement more extensive stimulus measures to counter the weak economy.

Our stock market is almost at its all-time high. Our economy is incredible, Trump said at the press conference. And with China, theyre having some difficulty, as you know. But I think that a lot of the difficulty is because of the tariffs that theyre having.

Under the weight of U.S. tariffs, the Chinese economy weakened further last year. The growth of the worlds second-largest economy slowed to its weakest pace in nearly three decades. If both sides fail to reach a deal at Mar-a-Lago and trade tensions resume, Chinas troubles will deepen, according to analysts.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Mar. 3 that Washington and Beijing are close to a trade deal and a formal agreement could be reached at the TrumpXi summit around March 27, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Chinas North Korea Card

It isnt clear whether China will make concessions to the United States, but one wild card in the trade talks is the leverage Beijing has on North Korean leader Kim.

China is always the X-factor when it comes to the North Korea challenge, said Harry Kazianis, director of Korea Studies at the Center for the National Interest, a foreign policy think tank. Beijing could clearly use North Korea as the ultimate weapon against Washington, specifically if trade talks collapse.

The Trump administration launched in 2017 a maximum pressure campaign through economic sanctions to end Pyongyangs illicit missile and nuclear activity. The sanctions were almost entirely enforced with the help of Beijing.

Trump has frequently praised China and Chinese leader Xi for playing a crucial role in containing the North Korean regime. At the press conference in Hanoi, Trump touted China again.

China has been a big helpbigger than most people know, he said. On the border, as you know, 93 percent of the goods coming into North Korea come through China. So, theres a great power there.

China is North Koreas biggest trading partner and the main source of food and energy; hence, Beijing has the most leverage on Kims regime. Before the summit, North Korea warned that it was facing a food crisis, blaming a bad harvest and economic sanctions.

Chinas trade with North Korea fell almost 53 percent year-on-year in the period from January to November last year, according to Reuters. Imports from North Korea fell about 89 percent in the same period, while exports to North Korea fell 33 percent.

As a result of economic sanctions, Pyongyang stopped testing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and was forced to the negotiating table last year.

Trump now faces a challenge, according to Kazianis, as the maximum pressure strategy is entirely dependent on Beijings goodwill.

Imagine a situation where President Xi cant secure a trade deal it feels is fair and wants to push back against the United States, he said. The easiest way to do that is to weaken the sanctions regime to such an extent that Kim feels no need to negotiate with Trump anymore.

Trump repeatedly said that he was in no rush for a deal with Kim. The United States and North Korea will continue to work together, but didnt set any date for the next summit.
A life-size test dummy along with a toy floats in the Dragon capsule as the capsule made orbit on March 2, 2019. (SpaceX via AP)

US-Built Capsule With a Dummy Aboard Docks at Space Station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.A sleek new American-built capsule with just a test dummy aboard docked smoothly with the International Space Station on March 3, bringing the United States a big step closer to getting back in the business of launching astronauts.

The white, bullet-shaped Dragon capsule, developed by Elon Musks SpaceX company under contract to NASA, closed in on the orbiting station nearly 260 miles above the Pacific Ocean and, flying autonomously, linked up on its own, without the help of the robotic arm normally used to guide spacecraft into position.

Dragons arrival marked the first time in eight years that an American-made spacecraft capable of carrying humans has flown to the space station.

If this six-day test flight goes well, a Dragon capsule could take two NASA astronauts to the orbiting outpost this summer.

A new generation of space flight starts now with the arrival of @SpaceXs Crew Dragon to the @Space_Station, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted. Congratulations to all for this historic achievement getting us closer to flying American Astronauts on American rockets.

Ever since NASA retired the space shuttle in 2011, the United States has been hitching rides to and from the space station aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft. In the meantime, NASA is paying two companiesSpaceX and Boeingto build and operate Americas next generation of rocket ships.

Proximity docking sequence underway. Dragon shadow visible on on @Space_Station solar arrays. pic.twitter.com/ELsxgLIvf0  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2019

SpaceXs 27-foot-long capsule rocketed into orbit early Saturday from NASAs Kennedy Space Center with a mannequin strapped into one of its four seats in a dashing, white-and-black, form-fitting SpaceX spacesuit. The test dummy was nicknamed Ripley after the main character in the Alien movies.

Ripley and the capsule are rigged with sensors to measure noise, vibration, and stresses and monitor the life-support, propulsion, and other critical systems.

As the capsule closed in on the space station, its nose cap was wide open like a dragons mouth to expose the docking mechanism. In a docking with a crew aboard, the capsule would likewise operate autonomously, though the astronauts might push a button or two and would be able to intervene if necessary.

The three United States, Canadian and Russian crew members aboard the space station watched the rendezvous via TV cameras. Within hours, the capsules hatch swung open and the three astronauts floated inside to remove supplies and take air samples, wearing oxygen masks and hoods until they got the all-clear.

Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques pronounced the docking flawless and called it a beautiful thing to see.

Welcome to the new era in spaceflight, he said.

Dragon will remain at the space station until Friday when it will undock for an old-school, Right Stuff-style splashdown in the Atlantic, a few hundred miles off Florida.

As part of Sundays shakedown, the space station astronauts sent commands for Dragon to retreat and then move forward again before the capsule closed in for good. SpaceX employees at company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, cheered the docking, then burst into applause again when the Dragons latches were secured.

This morning, I monitored the first time ever approach and automated docking of Crew #Dragon to the ISS. The dawn of a new era in human spaceflight! #daretoexplore pic.twitter.com/Vs4niNvv2T  David Saint-Jacques (@Astro_DavidS) March 3, 2019

The two astronauts set to fly aboard Dragon as early as July, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, witnessed the Florida liftoff, then rushed to Southern California to watch Sundays maneuver.

Just super excited to see it, Behnken said minutes after the linkup. Just one more milestone that gets us ready for our flight coming up here.

Next up, though, is Boeing, which is looking to launch its Starliner capsule without a crew as early as April and with a crew possibly in August.

SpaceX already has made 16 trips to the space station using cargo Dragons. The version designed for humans is slightly bigger and safer.

It can carry as many as seven people and has three windows, emergency-abort engines that can pull the capsule to safety, and streamlined controls, with just 30 buttons and touch screens, compared with the space shuttle cockpits 2,000 switches and circuit breakers.
A 5G sign is displayed at a stand at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona on Feb. 25, 2019. (Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)

US Senators Raise Concerns About Beijings Involvement in Setting 5G Technical Standards

U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) have jointly penned a letter calling for a public report on the possible threats facing U.S companies due to Beijings participation in 5G international standard-setting organizations.

The Feb. 27 letter, addressed to Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, called for a detailed and unclassified report from the U.S. intelligence community, given that Chinese influence in international standard-setting bodies (ISSBs) for the next-generation of 5G wireless technology is not fully appreciated.

The senators made a list of issues that would need be addressed in the hypothetical report, including: Specific examples and case studies of attempts by China and other foreign adversaries to exert pressure or political influence within the ISSBs or at major telecommunication conferences to secure standards that are favorable to Chinese companies and patent holders, or that might introduce deficiencies into 5G networks.

Setting Standards

5G standards are currently being decided by international bodies such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), which unites seven telecommunications standards development organizations. Another example is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an agency under the United Nations that is responsible for coordinating global telecommunication operations and services.

The senators wished to know what the implications would be for U.S. economic and security interests should China lead in setting 5G standards.

Currently, Chinese tech giant Huawei and its domestic competitor, ZTE, own roughly 10 percent of the 1,450 5G patents filed, compared to U.S. tech firm Qualcomms 15 percent, Nokias 11 percent, and Ericssons 8 percent, according to a 2018 report by the U.S.China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), which is tasked to monitor the national security implications of SinoU.S. trade.

Experts have previously noted that by becoming the international standard, Chinese companies could pocket lucrative licensing fees from mobile service providers and governments that use their 5G technology.

The senators also noted that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligencewhere Warner is the vice chairman and Rubio is a memberhad heard anecdotal concerns that China is attempting to exert pressure or political influence in the ISSB.

The U.S. think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies released a December 2018 report in which it detailed several examples of such pressure.

On one occasion, the Chinese regime pressured Chinese companies to back a type of technology for which Huawei holds most of the core patentsknown as polar codesinstead of more mature competing technologies pioneered by Qualcomm and other Western firms. A standoff ensued, which ultimately ended with the majority of companies voting in favor of polar codes. This means all 5G mobile cellular technology will employ the polar codes.

In another instance, Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo voted in favor of a proposed standard from Qualcomm at the 3GPP, instead of one proposed by Huawei. As a result, the firm faced intense criticism in China, the report said.

China has politicized the standards-making process, the report concluded.

The senators ended their letter by calling on the U.S. administration to work with its allies, including the European Union, UK, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, to collectively strengthen 5G security standards.

Beijing-Backed

In an effort to secure 5G technologies and standards, Beijing established the IMT-2020, a nonprofit group promoting 5G cooperation around the world, in February 2013. The group, which includes Chinese telecoms operators, universities, and research institutes as its members, was established jointly by several central governmental agencies: the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, National Development and Reform Commission, and Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

In June 2017, the MOST together with two other central agencies, issued a Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) for the development of Chinese technical standards in science and technology, including in the field of 5G.

Under the plan, the government would take a guiding role in implementing the developed standards, while pushing them for adoption in other countries through projects and partnerships under the One Belt, One Road initiative.

The Chinese regime announced One Belt, One Road in 2013 as a project to build geopolitical influence by financing infrastructure projects in more than 60 countries.

The plan also includes financial subsidy and government purchase programs to support the effort.

The Chinese Communist Partys mouthpiece Peoples Daily, made clear its ambitions in a May 2018 editorial, defining telecommunication standard-setting as competitions between countries based on their political, economic, and technological prowess. Thus, only powerful nations have the right to speak, the editorial read.

It added that China was in the position to push forward its 5G standards globally because it has the second-biggest economy in the world, and has made big technological advances.

Outside China

Many Chinese nationals, as well as companies and research institutes, have since taken up important positions at international 5G standard-setting bodies.

The USCC wrote in its annual report in 2018 that, Huawei, along with Chinas state-run telecoms provider China Mobile, served as chair and vice chairtwo out of five leadership positionsat a 5G focus group within ITU from 2015 to 2016.

Additionally, Chinese firms and government research institutes accounted for the largest number of chairs or vice chairs in 5G standard-setting groups within the ITU, holding eight of the 39 available leadership positions, as of September 2018. South Korea came in second holding 6 leadership positions, while Verizon was the only leadership representative for the United States.

Currently, Zhao Houlin, a former official at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (a precursor to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), serves as the ITUs secretary general. Also, Richard Li, a chief internet scientist at Huawei, is the chairman of an ITU focus group that examines how emerging technologies can integrate with 5G.

USCC member Michael Wessel expressed his concerns about Chinas 5G standards while speaking at a Commission public hearing in March 2018.

We cant forget that Chinas leaders are tightening their grip on their economy and their people. Technology is used to advance the Partys and the states interests. Many of their interests are in direct conflict with our own goals and ideals, Wessel said.
The Radumilo couple at the last Shen Yun performance at the BFM in Geneva on March 3, 2019. (NTD Television)

GENEVAComing from Lausanne, the Radumilo family traveled to Geneva to attend Shen Yuns last performance on Sunday, March 3, 2019.

Tina, a molecular biologist, and her husband Slobodan, Vice President and General Manager of Diabetes Care EMEA, a global medical technology company, were at the Batiment des Forces Motrices (BFM) in Geneva with their three sons.

Mr. Radumilo found New York-based Shen Yun fantastic and tried to understand the reasons for such success.

You have three ingredients well used together. One of them is simply that each piece has a story, and with two hours of showtime, were able to perceive the true beauty of the Chinese culture and history, Mr. Radumilo said.

The second is that the costumes are very beautiful and the lighting was fantastic, he said.

Then, the artistic performance was really phenomenal. I think the skills of each dancer and each performer were fantastic, Mr. Radumilo said.

Indeed, each dance tells a story: an excerpt from a great novel of Chinese literature or a Chinese legend, the daily life of one of the many ethnic groups which populated China, or a story based on real events in contemporary China.

The costumes, each handmade, shimmer in the light with brilliant colors and otherworldly fabrics. They recreate the dress of the imperial Tang Dynasty courts, of celestial beings, the Mongolian peoples, and so on.

But it is also the skills of Shen Yun dancers, the worlds foremost trained artists of classical Chinese dance, that make the difference. Classical Chinese dance is a complete dance system that is thousands of years old, and has been enriched over the years by the dynasties.

Mrs. Radumilo described many of the ethnic and folk dances presented by Shen Yun, which show the wide diversity of China. She pointed out the Mongolian horseback riders in the steppes, a piece with all male dancers, and the graceful women of the Yi, spinning in their brilliantly colored skirts.

The story, the joy of life, the colors, the energy too, the male dance was really manly, and the women are really womanly! said Mrs. Radumilo.

Mrs. Radumilo said she was particularly moved by one piece set in the modern day, which touched had a scene with everyone on their phones. The stark contrast made her think about the addictive effect of technology and mobile phones.

I really liked it because I have the same problem in my family. So I think we need to start thinking a little differently, she said.

As a mother of three boys, Mrs. Radumilo was particularly delighted with the attention her children were able to give to the performance.

They are young but they managed to spend two hours watching the show  They are 7, 11, and 13 years old, they were very attentive, she said. They had fun and they were laughing, it was incredible, incredible! So I think that says a lot about the show too!

With reporting by NTD Television.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.
Woman Has 17 Abortions in 6 Years, May Never Be Able to Have Children

A Chinese woman has had her 17th abortion in a six-year period, according to a Feb. 23 report from the Shiyan Evening News.

The woman, given the pseudonym Julie, from central Chinas Hubei province, is now 27-years-old. She had her first abortion when she was 21.

She has also been with her boyfriend for six years.

Every time, she pays for the most expensive operations, Dr. Zhao told the Shiyan Evening News. But she didnt realize that paying more wont make up for the damage done to her body from the operation.

Zhao is the medical director of the gynecology department at Shiyan Maternal and Child Health Hospital. Julie had come to Zhao requesting her 17th abortion. As Zhao went over Julies medical history, Julies was reportedly more focused on her smartphone than the questions about previous abortions.

The inside of Julies body was severely damaged from the repeated operations, Zhao said.

Its as thin as paper and scarred everywhere, he said.

Zhao even told Julie that if she went ahead with this abortion, there was a strong chance that she would have no way to have a baby in the future.

Julie didnt acknowledge Zhaos advice, and went ahead with the 17th abortion.

Abortion Culture

Zhao suggested that many young adults in China are opting for abortions over using contraceptives.

Chinas previous years of enforcing the one-child policy made abortions not only commonplace but easy to obtain.

Abortion advertisements could be seen on street corner signs, the sides of buses, and even on taxis.

One such advertisements main slogan reads: accidental pregnancy, relaxed termination.

Other points the advertisements promote to Chinese women include painless techniques, ultra-sound viewing, intimate service, safety guarantees, and non-invasive procedures.

The advertisements often included how safe and painless their procedures are. Some offer to resolve your accidental pregnancy in 3 minutes.

Another abortion advertisement suggested to women that by using their services, You will know how deeply he loves you!

Another ad, which targets female college students, offered installation payments limited only to students.

The high frequency of abortions in China has also led to a huge disparity in baby girls and boys. Millions of men will never have a chance to marry in China, due to the number of girls who were aborted in the past in favor of having a son.

Forced Abortion

Many abortions performed in the past in China were forced. Along with abortions, many women were forcibly sterilized as punishment for having more than one child.

When Chinas one-child-policy was still being enforced, a large number of forced abortions occurred. The only alternative to not having an abortion at that time was to pay large fines, which many could not afford.

Many of those performing the operations were also untrained. The result was a great deal of danger to the women involved.

One woman named Wei Linrong was injected with a poison that killed her child, according to a National Public Radio (NPR) report.

After 16 hours of labor, her baby finally emerged, dead. The babys poisoned body was thrown away like a piece of trash, according to NPR. Wei was seven months pregnant at the time.

Due to the low-level of skill of those performing the operation, many women were emotionally and physically damaged by the process. Some committed suicide as a result.

In 2009, the China Daily, a state-run mouthpiece, reported that while there had been 20 million live births across the country, there had also been 13 million abortions performed.

Two-Child Policy

After three decades of strictly enforcing the one-child policy, China has switched to encouraging families to have two children.

Despite this push, birth rates are still flagging while the population ages, leading the country to the brink of a possible demographic crisis.
NORWALK  The Police Department wants to beef up its community outreach unit.

The department is in the process of purchasing and upfitting a Community Outreach Vehicle that will be used to provide information, a variety of resources and an avenue for the public to communicate with the officers, according to Deputy Chief Susan Zecca.

Well park it in the community, well have officers there to provide interaction, she told the Health, Welfare and Public Safety committee of the Common Council recently.

The committee approved the departments request to use up to $45,000 from the Choice Neighborhood Initiative Grant, which is administered by the Norwalk Housing Authority, to upfit the base van to include items like storage, countertops, a generator and an awning.

Committee members questioned how the vehicle would be utilized.

Is this going to be an approachable vehicle or is it going to be a tactical police vehicle? Councilman Nicholas Sacchinelli, the committee chair, asked.

Zecca assured them that it would be used as a service to the community.

This is a very approachable vehicle, she said. The whole idea is community-oriented. Well probably put a wrap on the vehicle  we havent determined the design yet but very, very community-oriented. The idea is to bring community in and be able to park it and kind of like a little mobile precinct.

Zecca said that it would be run out of the departments Community Policing Unit and would eventually look to replace some of the older units in the department, like the Mobile Community Outreach Police Substation (MCOPS) Vehicle.

Its not running very well any more, its also a very large vehicle, she said about the MCOPS vehicle. This is a much scaled down version of that.

Councilman Ernie Dumas said that he hopes the new vehicle would provide many of the services the MCOPS vehicle did.

We did quite a few things with that van, he said.

Zecca told the committee that the plan was to use the vehicle mostly in the Washington Village area of town and to utilize it more frequently than just taking it out a few times a year for events.

The officer in the area can park that in the area  people can come in and talk, you can use that as a base of operations, she said.

Zecca estimated that it would be about eight months from when they purchased the base van to when it would be in use.

Once it was in use, however, she told the committee that the department planned to use it as much as possible.

kelly.kultys@hearstmediact.com
A Tennessee school district has issued an apology for a social studies assignment that asked students to pretend to be slaveowners and brainstorm expectations for their slaves.

The Tennessean reported Thursday that Williamson County Schools and Sunset Middle School apologized for the assignment, saying it was inappropriate. The homework also assigned other tasks, including the creation of a political cartoon depicting immigrant labor in the U.S. and writing a public service announcement about the hazards of living in urban areas.
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Linkedin Hipolitus Yolisandry Ringgi Wangge (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019

Efforts have been made and policies have been formulated to deal with the complex problems of Papua, yet there has been scant progress under the current regime.

President Joko Jokowi Widodos policies on Indonesias easternmost area still use a welfare-oriented approach. Hopefully, protests in Papua will decrease following efforts to develop the area through the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) and the Healthy Indonesia Card (KIS); the construction of infrastructure such as roads, ports, airports and bridges to connect isolated areas in Papua and West Papua; and the one fuel price policy in both provinces.

However, a high number of protests, entailing massive civilian arrests from 2015 to 2017 and many unlawful killings of indigenous Papuans by police and military officers, have been recorded by various human rights organizations.

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Linkedin Arasy Pradana A. Azis (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 15:34 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807527f 3 Opinion #2019GeneralElections,2019-elections,legislative-candidates,legislative-body,democracy,regional-administrations,DPRD Free

A political system can be said to generate sufficient political representation if it can accommodate different political preferences of the constituents to the maximum. The one man one vote supposedly enables differences between individual characteristics to be properly reflected.

But at the national level, in a country as vast as Indonesia, those ideals of democracy are difficult, if not impossible, to realize. For this reason, the state needs an electoral law that at least can bring about results that represent intersections of as many preferences as possible.

However, requirements for representations sometimes go too far. For example, the presidential threshold is set so high that political parties have to coalesce to propose candidates. As a result, the choices for the people are limited, that we face just two presidential candidates, both in the 2014 the upcoming April general elections.

The presidential election will just be a rematch between the two candidates. But there are many significant differences between the two after five years have passed.

Today Joko Jokowi Widodo, as the incumbent, can be judged by many indicators of his sectoral program success or failure, depending on ones judgment

On the other hand his challenger, Prabowo Subianto, has a checkered past and his supporting parties platform raises doubts. Abstention, or golput, has become a popular movement, again.

The problem of insufficient political representation also risks the legislative election producing an illegitimate legislature. With the higher parliamentary threshold, more parties may be kicked out of the House of Representatives. A survey by Kompas revealed that only 5 or 6 of 16 political parties contesting the April election would beat the 4 percent threshold. That means millions of votes for 10 to 11 eliminated parties will not be taken into account.

The legislative elections were actually designed to strengthen the presidential system. With less parties making it to the House, there are fewer interests that need to be accommodated in the policy-making and law-making process, which is by no means ideal for our highly diverse nation-state.

Fortunately, insufficient representation seems to only occur at the national level. Elections for regional legislature members were designed to be less complicated than the election for House members, providing all political parties contesting the election have access to the seat distribution mechanism after the vote count.

This simple model is expected to be able to accommodate the distinctive interests of the people in each region. The election of provincial and regency/municipal councils also takes into account the individual capacity of candidates. A more capable candidate does not depend on the success of his or her party in gaining votes. Thus local legislative elections have the potential to produce more benefits for the people, since the representatives and voters have closest access to each other, in efforts to fulfill people's welfare.

Indonesia as "a unitary state with wide regional autonomy" contains the constitutional mandate allowing considerable autonomy to regions except for national defense and security, national monetary and fiscal issues, religion, the national judiciary and foreign investment.

Thus instead of spending all focus on national election contestations that are often unreachable, civil society movements also need to make local legislative elections a concern. It is important for us to invest in it. We should be able to allocate resources to candidates who have a good track record and help finance their political costs. Thus, the opportunity to intervene in the technical and local policy-making process is more likely to happen.

This strategy has been tried by various civil movement organizations. For example, the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN) helped to send 157 legislative candidates in the 2019 election, where 109 people are contesting the regental and municipal level while 25 others are fighting at the provincial level. Thus, the interests of indigenous peoples, the subject of AMAN's movement, can take part in the law-making discourse at the regional level, especially related to the recognition of indigenous peoples rights which require relevant regional regulations.

The results may not yet be seen, but collaboration at the regional level like this is a step forward to realizing local peoples interests. Good candidates for local legislatures would be a huge boost to the politics of regional budgets, especially in the fulfillment of basic rights of the community such as education and health. These things are often inaccessible by the national government and national legislature, so spending all the focus only on national representatives is ineffective for voters and peoples movements.

***

The writer is the head of law and human rights department on the national board of Indonesian Association of Gorontalo Students (HPMIG), and is a Master graduate in constitutional law from Universitas Indonesia (UI).

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Joe Kaeser (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 09:15 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee805d1c2 3 Opinion economy,industry,globalization,partnership,Asia,Trade Free

Is it the beginning of the Asian Century? Yes, it is. There is no doubt that the balance of power is shifting.

The United States is still the worlds largest economy. Yet, while it was once the strongest proponent of free trade, America first, with a tendency toward America only, now applies at the center of power. That is reflected by the tonality with which the US asserts its interests.

Europe is struggling with internal challenges and essentially has no uniform foreign economic policy. Given the different horizons of the large and small member states and the chaotic state of the Brexit proceedings, improvement cannot be expected without fundamental reforms.

In contrast, Asia  above all burgeoning China  has developed tremendous economic momentum and self-confidence. Since the 1990s, Asias gross domestic product (GDP) has more than tripled; Chinas GDP has even grown ninefold. This boom has lifted many millions of people out of poverty and enabled them to join the middle class  an accomplishment that rarely receives the recognition it deserves in Europe.

Asia is also rapidly catching up in the area of technology, as the landing of a Chinese rover on the far side of the moon demonstrates. To date, no other nation has accomplished such a feat. In telecommunications, China has long since outpaced the West. And its only a matter of time until this pattern repeats itself in the consumer-oriented platform economy.

With the New Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative, China is enabling the construction of infrastructure that will reach 65 percent of the worlds population. This Initiative has the potential to become the largest investment program of all time.

The strategies pursued by other Asian countries also speak a clear language. India is implementing Make in India, an ambitious industrialization strategy.

The industrial policies of Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia also aim for growth and progress. And Japan and South Korea are already among the worlds leading economies, although they face challenges similar to those confronting Europes leading industrial countries.

How can we best manage this change? By withdrawing into isolation or even by imposing legal restrictions on Asian companies investments in Europe? Well, export-oriented countries like Germany should at least carefully weigh such steps.

I see three important points: First, reciprocity creates common ground. This is about a healthy balance between give and take, about win-win relationships. Germany and German companies have much to offer Asian countries and companies: leading technologies, investment, jobs through localization and training. Germanys dual education system, which combines vocational training with on-the-job experience, is highly regarded around the world. Access to markets and protection of investments and intellectual property  in other words, fair competition  must become common ground.

The free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union paves the way. Now we need a free trade agreement with China. Its high time for an open and constructive dialogue. Thus, government and business must collaborate closely. As in the past, the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA) will play a role here.

Second, adaptability is the future. The world is becoming more complex, the pace of change is accelerating, geopolitics is increasingly influencing geo-economics, and many are overwhelmed by digitalization. Asias nations face huge challenges  from climate change to urbanization. And this is exactly where German companies, with their years of experience and their innovation power, can help.

Third, unity makes us strong. In recent decades, German companies have been highly successful in Asia. Thanks in part to the work of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business, they are well networked in the region and familiar with the local markets and their requirements. Made in Germany enjoys an excellent reputation. Yet, none of this guarantees future success. German Chancellor Angela Merkel made the point very clearly at the Munich Security Conference: No matter how industrious, how great, how super we may be  it wont help much if powerful trade partners do not support fair competition.

Until the EU establishes a coordinated approach to foreign trade policy, German business should at least adopt a common position to assert its interests.

For German companies, the Asian Century is both an opportunity and a challenge. We can build on our innovation and our good reputation. But we must also be able to forge partnerships of equals and recognize that globalization is not a one-way street. Here, reciprocity is the formula for success.

***

The writer is the president and chief executive officer of Siemens AG and the new chairman of the Asia Pacific Committee of German Business (APA).

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Agnes Pedrero (Agence France-Presse) Meyrin, Switzerland  Mon, March 4, 2019 11:01 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee806044f 2 Science & Tech CERN,world-wide-web,Internet Free

Thirty years ago this month, a young British physician working at a lab near Geneva invented a system for scientists to share information that would ultimately change humanity.

But three decades after he invented the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee has warned that his creation has been "hijacked by crooks" that may spell its destruction.

Berner-Lee's old office at Europe's physics lab CERN now looks no different than the others lining the long, nondescript corridor within the expansive compound.

The only indication that history was made here is a small commemorative plaque and a page from an old CERN directory hung on the door, with "MOMENTARILY OUT OF OFFICE!" written in jest next to Berners-Lee's name.

"Tim worked a lot," said technician Francois Fluckiger, who took charge of the web team after Berners-Lee left for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1994.

"The lights were always on in his office," Fluckiger told AFP.

History in the making

Berners-Lee was responsible for CERN's internal directory but was interested in ways to allow the thousands of scientists around the world who cooperated with the lab to more easily share their work.

His vision for "a decentralised information management system" soon gave birth to the web.

Primitive forms of the internet -- a network linking computers -- had previously existed, but it was the World Wide Web that allowed web pages to be collected and accessed with a browser.

"Very early on, we had the feeling that history was in the making," Fluckiger said.

In 1990, Belgian scientist Robert Cailliau came onboard to help promote the invention, which used Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML, as a standard to create webpages.

They created the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, which allows users to access resources by clicking on hyperlinks, and also Uniform Resource Locators, or URLs, as a website address system.

At the end of 1990, Berners-Lee set CERN's first web navigator server into action.

Read also: Worldwide web inventor wants new 'contract' to make web safe

The browser was released outside of CERN in early 1991, first to other research institutions and later to the public.

Fluckiger, now retired, hailed the web as one of three major inventions in the 20th century that enabled the digital society, alongside the Internet Protocol (IP) and Google's search algorithms.

But he lamented the "online bullying, fake news, and mass hysteria" that flourish online as well as threats to privacy.

"One has to ask oneself if we did not, in the end, create a completely out-of-control monster."

'Crooks and trolls'

Berners-Lee has launched his own campaign to "save the web".

At the Web Summit in Lisbon last November, he called for a new "Contract for the Web", based on access for all and the fundamental right to privacy, among other things.

"The web has been hijacked by crooks and trolls who have used it to manipulate people all over the world," Berners-Lee warned in a New York Times op-ed in December, citing threats ranging from the dark web, to cyber crime, fake news and personal data theft.

In January, the man dubbed the "father of the web" urged the global elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos to join the fight against the "polarisation" of online debates.

He called for discussion platforms that connect people with different opinions and backgrounds, contrary to today's common practice of creating online ghettos, filter bubbles and feedback loops where people rarely encounter opinions different from their own.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres also voiced concerns at Davos over the direction the web was taking.

He warned of the impact "of the dark web and the deep web and all the problems of cyber security", and called for the creation of "soft mechanisms" to help rein in countries using this technology to violate human rights.

Open source

Back in 1989, no one could have foreseen the importance of the emerging web.

CERN has held onto only a few souvenirs from the early days: the first memo that Berners-Lee drafted about his invention, his black NeXT computer station and his keyboard.

But while CERN may not have preserved many keepsakes to memorialise the historic invention, it has strived to prevent the web from falling into the wrong hands.

In 1993, the organisation announced it was putting the web software into the public domain, which could have allowed any individual or business to claim it as their own and control its development.

But destiny, with a little help from Fluckiger, helped avert potential disaster.

After discussions with CERN's legal service, Fluckiger decided in 1994 to launch a new open source version of the web.

That proved a crucial move that allowed CERN to retain the intellectual property rights to the invention while giving access to anyone to use and modify the web freely and without cost.

In 1995, the intellectual property rights were transferred to a consortium set up by Berners-Lee based out of MIT, called W3C.

"We were lucky that during those 18 months, no one seized the web," Fluckiger said.

"Otherwise, there might not have been a web today."
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Linkedin Maggy Donaldson (Agence France-Presse) New York, United States  Mon, March 4, 2019 11:33 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8062282 2 Entertainment Leaving-Neverland,documentary,Michael-Jackson Free

An unflinching new documentary on pedophilia accusations against Michael Jackson has shattered the glittering veneer around the late King of Pop, presenting in lurid detail the stories of two men who say he sexually abused them for years as minors.

"Leaving Neverland," a four-hour film by British director Dan Reed, is considered so potentially devastating that counseling was made available at its Sundance Film Festival premiere in January.

US cable network HBO will air it in two parts, starting Sunday.

Reed said he tried to include "sexual detail in a very measured way, so it wasn't done for shock value."

"We tried to make it graphic enough to be eye-opening and for people to be confronted with what it means for a little child to be seduced and raped by an adult pedophile," Reed told AFP.

"Of course it's shocking. It's a very serious crime. And it shouldn't be glossed over."

It's not the first public airing of abuse claims against Jackson but the release marks the scandal's first major explosion since his fatal overdose at age 50, almost 10 years ago.

The documentary centers on James Safechuck, 41, and Wade Robson, 36, who recount separate but consistent accounts of how their idol molested them as boys.

Both describe the childlike Jackson wooing them: inviting them into his fairytale existence, gaining their families' trust and manipulating them into keeping their sexual relations secret.

"You and I were brought together by God," Robson said Jackson told him.

Their mothers also offer narratives of seduction into the cult of Jackson -- and the ensuing guilt that haunts them.

Robson first met Jackson as a five-year-old after winning a dance competition.

The megastar invited the boy to his Neverland Ranch, where Robson, by then seven, said the abuse began.

He describes how their sexual relationship "escalated rapidly," with Jackson telling him: "This is us showing each other that we love each other."

Safechuck, who said his abuse began at age 10, tells a similar tale, saying Jackson told him if anyone found out their lives "would be over."

- Decades of denial -

Jackson's estate has vehemently defended the late star, suing HBO for $100 million over a "posthumous character assassination" it says breaches an agreement made not to disparage the icon, a condition for airing one of his concerts.

Jackson faced accusations in 1993 of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy and settled out of court, with Robson and Safechuck saying at the time that Jackson hadn't touched them.

In 2003 more accusations triggered a dramatic trial: that time, Safechuck kept a distance, but Robson testified for Jackson, who was acquitted.

Neither man reversed their stories until recently, after becoming fathers themselves. Both filed their own lawsuits that were dismissed over statutes of limitations.

Read also: Michael Jackson estate sues HBO over documentary

"You loved him in a lot of ways. And then you know Michael does these things to you that are not healthy," Safechuck said.

"It's really hard to have those two feelings together. I still, today, am grappling with that."

'Prolific pedophile'

"Leaving Neverland" comes in the wake of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's downfall, and as R&B superstar R. Kelly faces a fresh legal reckoning for his own questionable history with underage girls.

For pop culture scholar Robert Thompson of Syracuse University, the release in today's #MeToo context is key: Jackson's trial was relatively recent, but "in so many ways, consciousnesses have been raised."

"A documentary this far out could completely change his legacy," Thompson said.

Reed said the timing of the film's release with #MeToo was unplanned but fortuitous.

"The #MeToo movement has done a lot of groundwork," he said, because the normal response now is to listen to alleged victims, not "slime them."

Jackson's sprawling California homestead is back on the market for $31 million -- some 70 percent less than the asking price four years ago, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Diane Dimond, who covered the Jackson saga for years and has penned a book on it, said she expects more men will come forward.

"He was a prolific pedophile, that did what he did right under our noses because he knew he was so adored that he could get away with it," she said.

'Ripples of impact'

But the fans, Dimond said, "will forever think that he was like Jesus."

"Jackson somehow strikes a chord, even today, in the very soul of people," she added.

Thompson agrees, saying there's little chance of erasing Jackson's artistic legacy, even if his reputation is tarnished.

"In any sense of rational history, we cannot retroactively say that no, Michael Jackson didn't change the history of global pop -- because he did change the history of global pop," Thompson said.

"The ripples of impact that he sent out were not ripples; they were tsunamis."

For Safechuck, whose trembling hands in the film betray his struggle for calm, it's a statement that rings all too true.

"They say time heals all wounds," Safechuck said. "But I don't think time heals this one. It just gets worse."
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Linkedin Mark Heyward (The Jakarta Post) Baratan, North Kalimantan  Mon, March 4, 2019 16:55 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807a2f9 1 Environment #education,#school,#elementary-school,#NorthKalimantan,#Tanjung-Selor,#teaching,#innovasi-program,#Australia Free

The drive to Baratan in North Kalimantan takes around one hour. From the provincial capital of Tanjung Selor, the road skirts the mighty Kayan River, winding through tall jungle and scattered villages.

Not so long ago, the river provided the only transport. It still serves as a thoroughfare linking the coastal Malay settlements to the inland Dayak communities.

The village school, SD 8 Baratan state elementary school, appears beside a stream, two rows of terraced classrooms form a neat L shape, flanking a grassy playground. Like every other building in this remote corner of Indonesia, the school is constructed of timber clapboard, cut from the surrounding jungle.

Welcome dance: Teacher Kuleh Lenjau performs a Dayak dance at SD 8 Baratan state elementary school in Baratan, North Kalimantan. (Courtesy of Erix Hutasoit/-)

The visitors are met with traditional dances. It is immediately clear there is something different, something special about this school and its community.

The dancers, children elaborately dressed in traditional Dayak costume  cured bark, leopard skin, feather headdresses and the swirling motif of the Kayan Dayak  are led by two teachers.

To the beat of a gong and accompanied by whoops and hollers, Kuleh Lenjau leads the boys in a wild stylized war dance, while his wife, Yohana Agustina, leads the girls with graceful movements suggesting the flight of a hornbill.

The Dayak welcome is followed by an Islamic dance, another group of girls and boys dressed in satin Malay costumes. Here both traditions are honored. Both exist side by side.

Into the rhythm: Children perform a dance to welcome guests. (Courtesy of Erix Hutasoit/-)

But it is in the classroom that the real change is evident. Kuleh Lenjau is teaching grade one. The classroom is brightly decorated with childrens artwork; a linoleum mat designates the reading corner where well-stocked bookshelves welcome young readers.

At the front of the room, the children sit on a mat. Pak Kuleh is reading a book to the class. Now dressed in regular clothing, his Dayak outfit, shield and sword are stacked in the corner behind him.

The childrens faces say it all; smiles and rapt attention as Pak Kuleh tells the story, every so often stopping to ask a question, to stimulate the childrens thinking, to stir their imaginations, sometimes drawing their attention to the colorful illustrations or key words on the page.

This is a far cry from the often dry and boring lessons with children seated silently in individual desks attempting to make sense of a text book. This is the basis of what educationalists call literacy and higher order thinking skills.

After the lesson, Kuleh Lenjau explains how it all came about. The 59-year-old teacher was born in 1960 in the Dayak Bakung village of Long Metun. Back then, it took 15 days to travel from Tanjung Selor to Long Metun in the isolated upper reaches of the Kayan River.

The trip, paddling against the current in a dugout canoe and walking up and down hills, was hard. It is easier these days with an outboard motor, but still takes about a week.

Pak Kuleh began his education in Long Metun in 1969. He had to cross the big river to attend the larger school in Long Peso for grades 5 and 6. He completed junior secondary schooling in Peso and senior secondary at a teacher training high school (SPG) in faraway Tanjung Selor.

Speaking quietly, Pak Kuleh explains why he decided to be a teacher. The experience in Long Metun made a deep impression. His village school had only two teachers. The children came from neighboring villages that didnt have schools. To get to school, these children had to row a canoe. They had to wade through a wide river. Their spirit to learn was high.

"I wanted to go back to Long Metun as a teacher, he explains. I wanted to help the teachers there when I completed my teacher training.

But Pak Kuleh's plan to serve his hometown never materialized. After graduating from SPG in 1982, he was accepted as a government teacher and assigned to a school near Tanjung Selor. At that time, the area still lacked teachers; 36 years later he is still at the same school, SD 8 Baratan. He is due to retire next year.

In 2018, Pak Kuleh joined the 49-million-dollar Australian government-funded Innovation for Indonesias School Children (INOVASI) program. The program, which began in 2016, works with teachers and administrators in West and East Nusa Tenggara, North Kalimantan and East Java.

The aim is to explore new ways of teaching and learning  to find out what works  so that policy and practice can be improved in schools, districts, as well as at provincial and national level.

In the middle of his first INOVASI workshop, Pak Kuleh asked if he could leave. "Honestly, I felt that my brain was too old, that I could no longer absorb new ideas," he says. But his colleagues persuaded him to stay and he hasnt looked back since.

Most children here cant read when they enter grade one, he explains. They can only recognize the first letters when they start.

I used to teach reading using textbooks, writing on the board and explaining to the children. But they didnt pay much attention to what I taught. They quickly became bored. And because they were tired of learning, these children couldnt read. It took a really long time for them to get to know letters.

Story time: Kuleh Lenjau reads a story to the class; a favorite time in the school day (Courtesy of Erix Hutasoit/-)

After attending various workshops, Pak Kuleh has begun to change his teaching approach. He now uses a variety of learning media that he collects from around the school.

He uses guava fruit, for example, to teach simple counting. Sometimes he uses seashells to invite children to play a word choosing game.

The children are now used to working in groups. The classroom looks different too, with media and learning resources displayed on the walls.

The change is not confined to one classroom. Other teachers have also changed their practice. Every Saturday morning they get together for a professional learning activity.

Each class has a reading corner, and the children read every day. The principal is more active in the classrooms and parents are getting involved.

In 2017, INOVASI surveyed children in the region and found that around 85 percent love to read. The problem was not motivation. It was that they didnt have access to attractive and appropriate childrens books. And the teachers didnt know how to teach reading. This is all changing.

Bulungan district is now providing training in school clusters to all primary teachers. The district has also passed regulations to make good childrens books available in all schools  and villages are setting up community reading centers in places where people gather, like shelters beside the river in Tanjung Selor.

Even the governors wife has got behind the campaign, and is now known as Bunda Baca (Reading Mother). The great thing is that its all being paid for by the district, the schools, the communities and the teachers themselves.

Pak Kuleh says the changes have had a positive impact on his pupils. They are more eager to learn and their learning outcomes have improved.

The children are happier, more active in learning, because the use of media means they learn while playing. They compete to do assignments if given tasks with the media. Besides that, the material taught is easier to understand. (ste)
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Linkedin Sohn Ji-young (The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)  Mon, March 4, 2019 14:06 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee80726fc 2 Entertainment hallyu,South-Korea,K-pop,#KPop Free

South Korea logged a record-high balance of payments surplus for Hallyu-related products and services last year, owing to the global success of Korea-made video games and K-pop, statistics from the Bank of Korea showed Sunday.

Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, refers to the proliferation of Korean cultural content overseas, including K-pop, food, TV programs and movies as well as PC and mobile games produced by Korean firms.

According to the Bank of Korea Economic Statistics System, Koreas BOP surplus for Hallyu products and services surged 73 percent on-year to $2.43 billion in 2018. The growth was attributed to the rising popularity of Korean games and music abroad.

The balance of payments, or BOP, is an economic indicator that represents the difference between all the money a country earns from exports and the money it spends on imports during a given period. A surplus means exports exceed imports, while a deficit means imports exceed exports.

Koreas Hallyu-related BOP marked a surplus for the first time in 2012 and hit a record high of $1.51 billion in 2016. However, the surplus dropped to $1.4 billion the next year, when Korea decided to deploy an advanced US missile-defense system and China retaliated with a ban on Hallyu content.

Read also: New report shows boost in number of 'hallyu' fans, partly because of BTS

Strong exports of Korea-made games were the main factor in the recovery of the countrys Hallyu-related BOP surplus last year.

The countrys BOP surplus for the communications, computer and information services sector, which includes game downloads and purchases from overseas locations, stood at $2.11 billion in 2018 -- nearly double the 2017 figure of $1.13 billion.

The BOP surplus for music, video and related services was $320 million last year, as compared with $277 million the previous year. That growth was achieved on the heels of the explosive popularity of K-pop boy group BTS.

The music and video content-related BOP surplus doubled from $245 million in 2015 to $520 million in 2016. But the figure nearly halved on-year in 2017 due to Chinas Hallyu ban.

Topics :

This article appeared on The Korea Herald newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 17:56 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807df89 4 Business coal-miner-bukit-asam,LPG-substitute,ignasius-jonan,downstream-business Free

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan has called on state-owned coal miner PT Bukit Asam (PTBA) to begin development of a downstream coal gasification industry to support efforts to reduce the countrys imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The minister directed PTBA president director Arviyan Arifin to turn solid coal into dimethyl ether (DME) and polypropylene, which can be used as a substitute for LPG.

Pak Arviyan is smart. If it was only mining coal, thats not Pak Arviyans job, Jonan said in Jakarta as quoted by kontan.co.id on Monday, adding that the government had issued a regulation to support the downstream coal industry.

We are waiting for Pak Arviyan to become a pioneer in the development of the downstream industry.

He explained that the country imported 4.5 million to 4.7 million tons of LPG annually, which cost Rp 40 trillion (US$2.82 billion) to Rp 50 trillion.

Jonan called on state-owned oil and gas holding company Pertamina to set a target to reduce LPG imports by at least 1 million tons, as the country had large reserves of coal.

Jonan challenged PTBA to turn all the coal it extracted, which totaled 26 million tons last year, into DME to help the country cut its LPG imports. He also said he would be ready to issue additional regulations to support the downstream coal industry. (bbn)
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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan and Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post) Medan and Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 19:42 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee808283c 1 National Batang-Toru-dam,batang-toru-ecosystem,Tapanuli-orangutan,Walhi,Bank-of-China,Xi-Jinping,OBOR Free

The Medan State Administrative Court in North Sumatra has rejected a lawsuit filed by environmental group the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) against North Sumatra administrations decision to issue permits for a hydropower project in the Batang Toru ecosystem.

Environmentalists and activists have urged that the project, which is costing Rp 22 trillion (US$1.5 billion), be scrapped because of its potential impact on the environment, especially on the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutans that live in and around the ecosystem.

The judges said the issuance of the permit, as well as a revised environmental impact analysis (amdal) document for the project, had passed the proper legal procedures and were in line with existing regulations.

The judges reject every part of the plaintiffs lawsuit, presiding judge Jimmy C. Pardede said, reading the ruling during Mondays hearing.

In the lawsuit, Walhi argued that the permit issuance was problematic given the lack of discussion and participation from locals, as well as potential ecological problems caused by the hydropower dam. The location of the site is also prone to earthquakes, the group argued.

During previous hearings, local residents testified in the courtroom that the company had never informed them about the project.

Judge Selvie Ruthyaroodh, however, said during Mondays hearing that the bench regarded such testimonies as irrelevant to the case, because the residents lived in Batang Toru district rather than Marancar district, where the dam would be constructed.

Walhi lawyer Padian Adi Siregar lamented the judges ruling. The residents who testified, he said, would also be affected by the project, as they lived downstream of the river used by the Batang Toru hydropower plant.

The court also rejected expert testimony submitted by the plaintiff that the location of the project is on an active tectonic fault. The judges argued there were no restrictions on building a structure in the area.

Selvie added that the bench believed there had been sufficient studies on the projects effects on animals living around the dam, including the Tapanuli orangutan, and it was satisfied mitigation measures were in place.

Walhi, however, questioned this assertion as the company had not provided such studies as evidence during the hearings.

The Tapanuli orangutans, whose frizzier coats differentiate them from their Bornean and Sumatran counterparts, are threatened by poaching and illegal logging. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has included the species on its red list, classing it "critically endangered" as scientists have only recorded 800 of the species living in nature.

We will file an appeal and take any other remaining legal measures available, Walhis North Sumatra office director, Dana Prima Tarigan, said. He added that the verdict did not reflect justice or fairness for the environment.

Apart from the lawsuit, Walhi was also involved in a protest on March 1 with an international network of activists against Bank of China, one of several international banks funding the project. The environmental group demanded the bank take concrete action by stopping its funding of the project because of its potential threat to the environment.

Walhi believes this project is not in line with Chinas Belt and Road Initiative promoted by President Xi Jinping, as the project wont provide mutual benefit as promised by the Chinese government, the group wrote in a statement.

PT NSHE senior executive for external relations, Firman Taufick, lauded the court verdict, saying the company could now focus more on the construction of the power plant. The project, which will produce 510 megawatts of electricity for North Sumatra, has been touted as environmentally friendly.

PT NSHE asks for every element [of society] to support the construction of the power plant as it will provide clean electricity for the province, Firman said in a press briefing in Medan on Monday. He also asked all experts and academics to work together with the company to draft tangible programs to conserve the Batang Toru ecosystem.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 18:14 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807f297 1 City dengue-fever,victims,fatalities,jakarta Free

A total of 2,282 people in Jakarta have been diagnosed with dengue fever in January this year, with one confirmed death, an official has said.

Jakarta Health Agency head Widyastuti said on Monday that the three areas with the highest prevalence of dengue were West Jakarta, East Jakarta and South Jakarta.

As of Sunday afternoon, the highest rates of incidence were in Kalideres [West Jakarta], Pasar Rebo, Cipayung, Matraman [in East Jakarta] and Jagakarsa [in South Jakarta]," she said as quoted by kompas.com, adding that the rates in each area were relatively equal.

To stop the disease from spreading further, she urged residents to actively check for mosquito larvae nests, while the agency would deploy larvae controllers to households as part of a government-sponsored mosquito nest eradication campaign program. (fac)
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Linkedin Stefanno Reinard Sulaiman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 12:11 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee806c542 1 Business clean-energy,renewable-energy,green-energy,power-plants,energy-and-mineral-resources-ministry,explainer,#PostScript Free

Indonesia once had policies that supported the development of clean energy, but regulatory changes in the last 10 years seem to be the root of the problem of why abundant sources of renewable power in the country have been left mostly untouched after more than seven decades after the countrys independence.

Based on an interview with an industry insider, The Jakarta Post discovered that Indonesia had met the expectations of all stakeholders at least once in clean energy development  or reached a win-win situation.

However, at least in the last five years, the growth of renewable energy in Indonesia has fallen behind that of other Southeast Asian countries. Indonesias own regulator, the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, was even pessimistic about reaching the development target.

Reminiscing on the good old days

Nanang Hamdani Basnawi, director of local hydro-based power plant developer Bumiloka and a member of the Indonesian Renewable Energy Society (METI), told the Post that it was a mystery to clean energy players that renewable energy policies had turned unfavorable  and even vanished  in just several years.

He added that 10 years ago, the sector had Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No. 31/2009 on new and renewable energy development.

The regulation was like a dream come true for clean energy developers as it accommodated their wishes, such as stipulations on a feed-in tariff scheme and assurance that state-owned electricity company PLN would buy the electricity they produced in a long-term contract.

In the feed-in tariff scheme, the price of electricity for renewable energy developers remains unchanged until the end of a contract.

A solar panel is seen in this picture. Renewable energy progress in Indonesia to date has been underwhelming and related policy and regulations remain uncertain. (Shutterstock/File)

The regulation also stipulated a direct appointment scheme, which omits the auction phase to jump-start the development of renewable energy projects.

"The scheme means that anyone who has the potential [to develop a renewable energy plant] can be appointed directly [by PLN] to start the project," Nanang said.

He recalled that a renewable energy power plant in Java at the time received a flat tariff of Rp 656 (4 US cents) per kilowatt hours, especially for hydro-based power plants.

About three years later, the government adjusted the electricity tariff generated from renewable energy plants to Rp 850 per kwh (6 US cents) to make it more economically feasible for some developers.

"That's why you can see a lot of PLTAs [hydro-based power plants] in remote regions that are untouched by PLNs power system," he said.

Then came Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No. 19/2015, which increased the tariff to 12 US cents per kwh.

The revised regulation, Nanang said, was comprehensive for all types of renewable energy and set out a clear procedure for electricity sales and purchase agreements.

However, he said, the tariff was too expensive for PLN, which then adjusted the rate to 7 US cents per kwh by itself. The new rate, nevertheless, was still favorable for the developers, he said.

The downturn of renewable energy development

The good times in renewable energy development then came to an end when the ministry issued Energy and Mineral Resources Ministerial Regulation No. 50/2017 on renewable energy for electricity, which was criticized as a disincentive policy.

Renewable energy players raised three key concerns regarding the regulation: uncertainty in the cost of electricity purchases, use of the Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) scheme and shifting the process of determining a project develop from direct appointment to auctions.

An offshore wind farm is seen in this picture. (Shutterstock/File)

Since last year, industry players have been pushing the government to revise an article that causes uncertainty in the cost of electricity purchases. The article stipulates that a maximum price ceiling is set at only 85 percent of the areas electricity supply cost (BPP), which would make it difficult for renewable energy projects to apply for bank loans.

The 85-percent ceiling was also recently criticized by the European Business Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (EuroCham), who pointed out it was too ambiguous and too risky for investment.

The word maximum means that we dont know exactly how much [electricity price] we could get from PLN. It is crucial for us to calculate our investment in the project, Thomas Wagner, EuroCham head for energy working group, told the Post.

Meanwhile, the BOOT scheme, which requires investors to transfer their renewable projects to PLN at the end of their power purchase agreements (PPAs), had made banks reluctant to accept projects as collateral for loans, according to Association of Micro-Hydro Power Plants (APLTMH) chairman Riza Husni.

Lastly, it is widely considered that the change in how qualified renewable energy developers are determined has brought a number of projects to a halt in the past two years.

According to recent government data, 30 of all 75 renewable energy PPAs with a total capacity of 1,581 megawatts, most of which were signed in 2017, still failed to obtain funding.

Just go back to regulation 19/2015, which all stakeholders agree on, and we can determine a win-win electricity price, said Nanang of METI. Because look at whats happening now: I have yet to see an auction for renewable energy projects after PLN issued the DPT [list of selected providers].

Environmentally friendly -- The Dieng geothermal power plant (pictured) in Central Java is one of the main sources of renewable energy in Indonesia. (Tempo/Aris Andrianto)

Regulation No. 50/2017 stipulates that independent power producers (IPP) should be shortlisted in the DPT before proposing to operate renewable energy projects.

Nanang said that since its issuance, eight out of 12 hydro-based power plant projects under the management of his association with a total capacity of 48 MW had been put on hold since 2017.

Ive secured all the land permits and even the financing, but they had to be terminated due to the regulation, he said. So, now we have to survive amid regulatory uncertainty.

The governments stance

Andy N. Sommeng, then-director general of electricity at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, neither agreed nor disagreed on the criticism, saying that concerns over Regulation No. 50/2017 hampered renewable energy development were merely a matter of difference of opinion.

My view is that our current electricity system is not ready to handle the technical aspects [of renewable energy], said Andy, who has now retired from his position.

One example is the photovoltaic power plant, which needs to be complemented by other energy sources when the sun goes down.

As for the stipulation that the direct appointment scheme could be replaced with auctions in determining renewable energy developers, Andy said that this was merely a mitigation effort to minimize the chances of graft, including bribery.

Other than issues on technicalities, why do we have to hurry [to develop renewable energy power plants]? The demand isnt there yet. PLN has to invest more to realize [the program] and we have an abundance of coal [as a major source of energy], he said.

While acknowledging that future energy demand would be for renewable sources, Andy believed that shifting directly to clean energy power plants would only widen Indonesias current account deficit due to higher imports of renewable energy facilities or machinery.

We are not lagging in [renewable energy development]. We have to consider the supply and demand [of electricity]. Renewable energy is good, but whats the point if it does not bring added value to our country and instead forces our country to consume more [imported goods]? he said.

Zulfikar Manggau, head of PLNs new and renewable energy division, recently told the Post that the electricity firm would only start auctioning renewable energy projects after the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister approved its new electricity procurement business plan (RUPTL) for the 2019-2028 period.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 17:16 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807b0fa 1 National Mount-Anak-Krakatau,PVMBG,fishermen,volcanic-activity,Volcano,alert-status Free

The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) has called on fisherfolk to stay alert and maintain a safe distance from Anak Krakatau (Child of Krakatau) in Lampung after an increase in eruptive activity was recorded in late February.

The PVMBG recorded that there were plumes of volcanic ash at Anak Krakatau that rose 500 meters in height on Feb. 23.

Six volcanic earthquakes and one tectonic earthquake were recorded on Feb. 26. Two days later, there were 18 volcanic earthquakes and 11 tectonic earthquakes.

We advise local fishermen to be more alert. They should stay at least 5 kilometers away from the mountain for their safety, an officer of the Mount Anak Krakatau observation post, Deni Mardiono, said as quoted by state news agency Antara.

In December last year, an eruption at Anak Krakatau caused part of the mountain to collapse, creating a deadly tsunami that hit the shores of Banten. As a result, the volcano shrank to almost a third its original height, from 338 meters to 110 m. Eruptive activity at the mountain had subsided since then, before picking up again in mid-February. (das)
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Linkedin Dan Williams (Reuters) Jerusalem  Mon, March 4, 2019 23:11 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8085c20 2 World #USA,#Palestine,US,Palestinian-mission,Jerusalem,closure Free

The United States lowered the flag on Monday at the Jerusalem consulate that had served as its diplomatic channel to the Palestinians, merging the mission with the new US Embassy to Israel in the contested city.

The Palestinians, who have boycotted the Trump administration since it shifted long-standing US policy in December 2017 by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, voiced anger at what they see as Washington's latest move against them.

Whereas previously the consulate reported on Palestinian matters directly to Washington, its staff have now been repurposed in the embassy as a "Palestinian Affairs Unit" under the US ambassador to Israel, David Friedman.

"This is the last nail in the coffin" of peacemaking, veteran Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Twitter.

Israeli-Palestinian talks collapsed in 2014 and the White House says it intends to present a new peace plan after a national election in Israel in April.

Israel deems all of Jerusalem, including the eastern sector it captured in the 1967 Middle East War and annexed in a move not recognized internationally, as its undivided capital.

Washington has avoided such language, however, signalling that the final status of the city should be negotiated by the sides.

Palestinians want to make East Jerusalem the capital of a state they seek in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The European Union's latest report on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, released last month, said continued expansion had made the chances of a two-state solution with Jerusalam as the capital of both "increasingly unattainable".

Building of new houses had continued at an unprecedented rate in the second half of 2018, opening the way for more Israelis to move in, the report said.

LOW KEY

At the ornate consulate on Agron Street in downtown Jerusalem, the flag ceremony was kept low key under grey winter skies. Friedman, who helped spearhead May's relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to a different converted consular building in south Jerusalem, was not present.

US officials said the Stars and Stripes banner was taken down and presented to departing consul Karen Sasahara as a farewell gift, in keeping with foreign service custom, after which another US flag was run up.

The US State Department said the merger was driven by operational efficiency and did not signal any change in policy.

"Our work and our team will continue to work on reaching peace in this land," Sasahara said on YouTube.

US officials told Reuters last month that the Agron street building, immediately upon consulate operations ending, would serve as the ambassador's official residence.

But that plan appeared to have slowed. On Monday, the consulate plaque had been removed from the building facade, leaving a blank space.

The US consulate in Jerusalem had dated back 175 years, to when the city - holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims - was under Ottoman rule.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Montreal, Canada  Mon, March 4, 2019 07:37 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee805bbf0 2 World #Canada,#Huawei,Meng-Wang-Zhou,lawsuit,Canada,arrest,violation,constitutional-rights Free

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has filed suit against Canadian authorities for violating her constitutional rights when she was arrested in Vancouver, her lawyers said Sunday.

As she suffered "serious breaches of her constitutional rights," she is "seeking damages for misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment" when detained at Vancouver International Airport on December 1, attorneys Howard Mickelson and Allan Doolittle said in a statement.

The 47-year-old businesswoman was changing planes in Vancouver when she was detained at Washington's request on suspicion of violating US sanctions on Iran -- sparking arrests of Canadians in China that were seen as retaliatory.

Her lawyers charge impropriety in the conditions under which Meng was interrogated for three hours by the customs officers, officially as part of a routine inspection, before being served with her official arrest.

During those three hours, the customs officers searched her phones and computers as well as her luggage, in violation of her rights, the lawyers said.

The complaint was lodged Friday, the same day that Canadian justice officially launched Meng Wanzhou's extradition process to the United States.

The US Justice Department accuses Huawei and its chief financial officer of circumventing US sanctions against Iran, but also, via two affiliates, stealing trade secrets from US telecommunications group T-Mobile.

The daughter of Huawei's founder, Meng was released on parole in mid-December in Vancouver, where she owns two residences, on a bond deposit of C$10 million ($6.6 million), wearing an electronic bracelet and handing over her passports.

She is scheduled to appear before a Vancouver judge next Wednesday "to confirm that a writ of court has been issued and to schedule a date for the extradition hearing," the Canadian court has explained.

The extradition procedure can take months or even years because of the many appeal possibilities.

China is furious over the US charges against Meng, saying they are the product of "strong political motivations" and an attempt to undermine its flagship telecoms company.

Huawei has strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
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Linkedin Vela Andapita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 11:10 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8060e27 1 City traditional-market,photography,community,human,faces Free

It was pouring rain at 8 a.m. on Sunday. While most Jakartans chose to stay under the warmth of their blankets, some 30 young men gathered in Senen Market in Central Jakarta and blended in with the trading there.

Each of them was equipped with various kinds of cameras, from phone cameras to professional cameras that cost millions of rupiah. Some randomly took pictures of any interesting activity that caught their attention; some chose to first mingle and chat with merchants, workers or buyers.

They were from Hunting Pasar Jakarta (HPJ), a photography society that mainly hunts for photos in traditional markets.

HPJ head KAM Darwis said that, while quoting the founder of Hunting Pasar, Yogyakartan Bagoes Kresnawan, a traditional market is a public space where everything that is worth capturing happens.

As we develop our skills in photography, we also learn to humanize humans, he told The Jakarta Post.

Were not photographers who selfishly explore peoples activities, expressions and feelings in the name of art. We smile, talk and make them comfortable with our presence. The challenge is far more than about the photographic techniques, he added.

HPJ was established soon after Bagoes founded Hunting Pasar in Yogyakarta on Jan. 7, 2018. Darwis and two of his friends and fellow photographers, Dhandut and Jian Wibowo, then introduced the society to the capital.

Since then, Hunting Pasar has expanded to 44 places across the country: from the big cities like Surabaya in East Java and Makassar in South Sulawesi, to small islands like Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

HPJ itself has had more than 400 members. Every hunting session is attended by at least 30 people. This makes us the most active branch, compared to the others, the 24-year-old Darwis said.

HPJ has held 39 hunting sessions in a number of traditional markets throughout Jakarta. Some markets left them with unforgettable memories that made them return more than once, such as Minggu Market and Kebayoran Lama Market in South Jakarta, Palmerah Market in West Jakarta and Kramat Jati Market in East Jakarta.

People there are very friendly. Weve even made friends with some of them, 21-year-old Dhandut said.

However, Jian, who is the coordinator of HPJ's hunting activities, said that some markets are better avoided. We once went hunting in Asemka Market [in West Jakarta]. The merchants didnt seem to be happy with us coming and the security officers approached us and asked us to leave, Jian said.

The experience, Jian added, had taught them to plan their photo hunting better by notifying city-owned market operator PD Pasar Jaya a week prior to the hunting day.

During their first hunting session, most of the merchants in markets they visited welcomed them with "stink eyes" and cold shoulders.

They thought we were from media. They shared an assumption that identifies reporters with the governments eviction plans. Hence, its challenging yet fulfilling to be able to gain their trust so they tell us their stories and smile into our cameras, the Depok, West Java, resident said.

Among the members that Sunday morning was Bekasi resident Febrian Zulkarnaen. He joined the society last year in an effort to find escape from his mundane daily job in the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry.

He said that he has no problem approaching his subjects because of his past experience as a camera operator for a private TV station. He is used to interacting with people he would like to film.

I like my photos to tell stories. I like to take pictures as close as possible, or as far as possible. Different angles give the pictures different feels, he said.

HPJ encourages its members to submit the best pictures they have taken that day for the societys committee to choose the best photo of the week and grant the photographer a souvenir. Febrian has won the title three times.

One of his photos was of a worker who was carrying a huge sack of rice on his back, put there by another worker who unloaded it from a truck. He captured the workers grimace as he endured the pain from the weight of the heavy burden.

In the future, HPJ plans to publish a photo book and hold more photo exhibitions.
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Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 13:21 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee806e798 1 World #Indonesia,Indonesia,Australia,#Australia,trade-agreement,#Trade,IA-CEPA,#IA-CEPA,Indonesia-Australia,#Indonesia-Australia,bilateral-ties,#bilateral Free

Indonesia and Australia signed a long-awaited trade deal on Monday, marking a new chapter of cooperation between the neighbors.

Indonesian Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and his counterpart Simon Birmingham inked the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) in Jakarta on Monday after months of diplomatic tensions over Australias plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

In a joint press briefing after the signing, Birmingham said the agreement would take Australian and Indonesian relations to a new level.

One in which economic relations will be much deeper, stronger and richer for both our nations, and in doing so will ensure our people-to-people ties, cultural diplomacy and understanding of one another will be reached, thanks to that enhanced business cooperation and trade activity, he said.

The IA-CEPA will include improved access for Australian cattle and sheep farmers to Indonesias market of 260 million people. Meanwhile, greater access to the Australian market is expected to spur Indonesias automotive and textile industries and boost exports of timber, electronics and pharmaceuticals.

Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth US$8.6 billion last year.

Talks on the IA-CEPA began in 2010, however were stalled owing to diplomatic tensions until they were revived in March 2016.

The IA-CEPA was due to be signed last November but was once again postponed after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison proposed the relocation of the countrys embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

The relocation plan had sparked strong criticism from Jakarta, with Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi reportedly telling her Australian counterpart Marise Payne that it was a slap in Indonesias face".

After the signing on Monday, Jakarta is now aiming for the trade deal to come into force next year, pending ratification by the Indonesian House of Representatives and Australian Parliament, Enggartiasto said.

"We have to follow procedures and go to the legislatures, and hopefully by the end of this year [the agreement will] be ratified. It means that it [...] will enter into force [by] the end of this year or early next year," he said. (ipa)
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Linkedin Sausan Atika (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 16:40 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8078908 1 City Jakarta-deputy-governor,Jakarta-council,letter,Jakarta-administration Free

Some progress has been made in the Jakarta deputy governor saga, as the city administration submitted a letter to the Jakarta Council on Monday concerning two names proposed to fill the position.

City Council secretary Muhammad Yuliadi told The Jakarta Post on Monday that he had received the letter at around 8 a.m.

"I received [the letter] at 8 a.m. directly delivered by Jakarta Regional Head and Foreign Cooperation Bureau chief Mawardi," he said.

Yuliadi went on to say that he had informed Jakarta Council speaker Prasetio Edi Marsudi about the letter.

The council speaker will talk with the council's Consultative Body about the code of conduct and to arrange a plenary meeting to appoint one of the two candidates.

After several delays and a prolonged tug-of-war, the two political parties that backed Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and his deputy Sandiaga Uno during the 2017 gubernatorial election -- the Gerindra Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) -- submitted the two names as recommendations to the governor on Friday.

The two names are Agung Yulianto, 49, currently serving as PKS Jakarta secretary and Ahmad Syaikhu, 54, now PKS West Java head. Both nominated by the PKS.

The back-and-forth on the issue was a result of Gerindra wanting the position, which it believed should have been reserved for one of its members.

Sandiaga was a member of Gerindra, while Anies is non-partisan.

The PKS, however, insisted that the post be given to one of its members as Gerindra decided to pair its leader Prabowo Subianto with Sandiaga and not a PKS leader for the presidential election.

The post has been vacant since August last year following the resignation of Sandiaga.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 14:06 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807228b 1 Business Kadin,IA-CEPA,signing-ceremony,Simon-Birmingham,Enggartiasto-Lukita,rosan-roeslani,comments Free

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) welcomed the signing of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) on Monday.

Kadins chairman, Rosan P Roeslani, said the agreement was not only important to boost trade between the two countries, but it was expected to increase investment in various sectors such as education, health, tourism and human resources development.

It is important for Indonesia to immediately conduct economic reform as part of the efforts to fulfill the commitment stipulated in the IA-CEPA, said Rosan in a statement received by The Jakarta Post.

Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita and Australian Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Simon Birmingham signed the IA-CEPA document on Monday in Jakarta after it was delayed several times.

Initially, it was planned to be signed in late 2017 but it was delayed because the negotiators of both countries needed to resolve a number of issues. The document was then earmarked to be signed late last year, but it was again delayed.

Meanwhile, Kadin deputy chairman Shinta W Kamdani said under the agreement, Indonesia and Australia have to support each other when facing global challenges and competing with other countries. The IA-CEPA is not merely for now, but it should be seen as how we see world economic challenges in the future, she added.

Indonesia is Australias ninth trade partner with a total trade value of US$8.53 billion in 2017, when Indonesia had a large deficit. Indonesian exports to Australia reached $2.53 billion, while imports were recorded at $6 billion.

Meanwhile, Australias total investment in Indonesia was recorded at $513.9 million in 2017. (bbn)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 13:01 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee806df42 1 National #KPK,#GraftCase,KPK,freezing,company,bank-accounts Free

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has reportedly frozen the bank account, which contains Rp 60 billion (US$4.25 million), of PT Merial Esa (ME), a company named a graft suspect by the antigraft body.

The graft case involves the procurement of sea surveillance satellite systems at the Maritime Security Agency (Bakamla).

This is part of our efforts to retrieve the profits that PT ME gained from the project, the KPK said in a statement on Monday, adding that the money would be returned to the state.

Before naming the corporation a suspect last Friday, the KPK had previously named seven individual suspects in the case, which came to light in December 2016.

One of the seven suspects was PT ME director Fahri Darmawansyah who paid Bakamla deputy chief Eko Susilo Hadi a bribe of Rp 2 billion to win the tender, which was worth Rp 222 billion. Fahri was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, while Eko was imprisoned for four years and three months for accepting the kickback.

Golkar Party legislator Fayakhun Andriadi was also found guilty of accepting bribes to ensure that the satellite project would be included in the revised 2016 state budget.

PT ME is the fifth corporation named a suspect by the KPK while three other companies have been named as suspects in graft cases and one in a money-laundering case. (vny)
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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4 2019

Civil society organizations and activists have strongly rejected the governments plan to assign military officers to some civilian posts, saying it could be dangerous for civilians and the military itself.

Usman Hamid, Amnesty International Indonesia director and activist who played a role in toppling the New Order regime in 1998, called the decision a setback from the mandates of reformasi (Reform Era), including to completely drive out the military from civilian affairs, especially politics. He further argued that the Indonesian Militarys (TNI) involvement in civilian affairs would distract it from its main mandate as a state defense apparatus.

The military must remain at the barracks and do their job to practice, conduct exercises, practice and conduct exercises again until we have a strong and powerful military to help leverage Indonesian politics across the region, Usman told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

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Linkedin Karina M. Tehusijarana (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 21:04 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8084f31 1 Politics Jokowi-Maruf,Prabowo-Sandiaga,2019-elections,pollsters Free

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo maintains a comfortable lead over Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto coming into the final stretch of the 2019 presidential election, recent polls have indicated.



Since the presidential tickets were officially announced in August 2018, most polls have put Jokowi at an electability rate of around 53 to 60 percent, while Prabowo has languished in the mid-30s.



Jokowi won the 2014 election by 6.2 percentage points, but his lead over Prabowo has seemingly increased significantly since then. December surveys conducted by Jakarta-based pollsters Indikator Politik Indonesia and Charta Politika have Jokowi up by 20.1 and 19.1 percentage points, respectively.



The most recent poll, released by Australian market research company Roy Morgan on Friday, found that the Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin pair was leading at 58 percent while the Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno pair was at 42 percent.



The strong performance of the Indonesian economy over the last five years and the exceptional confidence expressed by everyday Indonesians over the last year are certainly strong pointers to the success of President Jokowis political leadership heading toward the April presidential election," Roy Morgan chief executive officer Michele Levine said in a press statement.



Levine added that Jokowi was particularly strong in rural areas in Central Java, East Java, and Bali, as well as northern Sumatra.



Several polls also indicate that the Jokowi-Ma'ruf ticket has made inroads in Prabowo strongholds such as Banten and West Java, which the former general won by 19.6 and 14.2 percentage points in 2014, respectively.



Jokowi campaign chairman Erick Thohir said he was confident the President would win West Java and keep it close in Banten.



Charta Politika executive director Yunarto Wijaya said Jokowi's choice of Muslim cleric Ma'ruf Amin as a running mate had been effective in countering the perception that Jokowi was "anti-Islam" in the two provinces, which are considered among the most religiously conservative in the country.



"Although Ma'ruf doesn't provide much of an electoral incentive, his presence does help in minimizing the attacks against Jokowi," he told The Jakarta Post recently.



He added that the Jokowi team as a whole had also been more aggressive in fighting back against "hoaxes" and attacks that cast aspersions on his Muslim credentials.



Jokowi-Ma'ruf campaign team secretary Hasto Kristiyanto said the ticket's electability spiked after the second presidential debate last month.



Jokowi campaign spokesperson and Indonesia Solidarity Party (PSI) secretary-general Raja Juli Antoni said the campaign was happy about the survey results but that it would not be complacent in the lead-up to election day.



"We hope that Pak Jokowi's supporters do not become overly confident and get caught off-guard," he told the Post on Monday. "In these last 40 days, it's time for everyone to band together and ensure that Jokowi-Ma'ruf wins at every polling station across Indonesia."



He added that the campaign was also looking at several swing provinces.



Fellow Jokowi campaign spokesperson and PSI legislative hopeful Rian Ernest said the ticket's lead was the result of Jokowi's "optimism, experience and proven work".



"Everyone must go into the field and make blusukan [impromptu visits] to convince people to elect a good person as the next president," he said.



The Prabowo-Sandiaga campaign team, however, contested the accuracy of the survey results, saying that its own internal polls indicated the race was much closer.



"Our internal surveys show that Jokowi-Ma'ruf's electability is trending downward while Prabowo-Sandi is trending upward due largely to Pak Sandiaga's campaigning," Prabowo campaign spokesperson and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) executive Suhud Aliyudin told the Post. "The difference is not too large and the race will likely be decided by swing voters."



Gerindra politician and fellow Prabowo campaign spokesperson Andre Rosiade echoed Suhud's comments, suggesting that the Jokowi team should just stop campaigning if they were confident the gap was so large.



"We can only laugh [at the poll results]," he said. "We have our own numbers and we are not worried. We will ramp up our door-to-door campaigning in these last few days and, God willing, Prabowo-Sandiaga will win on April 17," Andre said.
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4 2019

Big prize: Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) president Sheikh Ahmad Al Falah Al Sabah (left) hands an award to Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI) chief Erick Thohir at the 72nd OCA executive board meeting in Bangkok on Saturday.(Courtesy of KOI)

The widely praised 2018 Asian Games that were jointly held by Jakarta and Palembang, South Sumatra, impressed the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), with the body praising Indonesia hosting of the second-biggest multisport event on the planet after the Olympics.

OCA president Sheikh Ahmad Al Falah Al Sabah offered the praise during an award ceremony at the 72nd OCA executive board meeting in Bangkok on Saturday. The OCA award was given to Erick Thohir, chief of the Indonesian Olympic Committee (IOC).

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 15:11 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807467b 4 Business small-banks,BOOK-I-II-banks,Competition,BOOK-IV-banks,growth,slowdown Free

The profits of small banks, which are known as Book I and II banks, have grown slowly since 2015 because they cannot compete with large lenders.

According to Indonesia Banking Statistics, Book I banks only booked profits of Rp 700 billion (US$49.59 million) last year from Rp 116 billion in 2017, Rp 861 trillion in 2016 and Rp 1.57 trillion in 2015. Similarly, the profits of Book II banks declined to Rp 9.18 trillion last year from Rp 10.28 trillion in 2017, Rp 10.32 trillion in 2016 and Rp 9.94 trillion in 2015.

Bank Maspion president director Herman Halim said the shareholders of small banks would likely help their banks survive as long as they were in a healthy condition.

There are many bank owners who defend their banks [amid the tough competition], Herman said on Sunday as quoted by kontan.co.id, adding that as long as banks were in a healthy condition they could be maintained.

He said Bank Maspion booked Rp 70.01 billion in profit last year or a growth of 2.18 percent compared to 2017.

Meanwhile, Bank Kesejahteraan Ekonomi (BKE) president director Sasmaya Tahuleley confirmed that competition between small and large banks in recent years had become tougher. The Financial Service Authority has advised [small banks] to carry out consolidations, said Sasmaya, referring to the possible acquisition of small banks by large ones.

BKE booked Rp 18.23 billion in profit last year, a growth of 27.39 percent compared to 2017.

Sasmaya said the bank planned to hold an initial public offering (IPO) this year in the hope that it could be upgraded to a Book II bank. (bbn)
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Linkedin Ni Komang Erviani (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar  Mon, March 4, 2019 19:33 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8081e8c 1 National Melasti,Nyepi,hindu,bali,ritual Free

Dressed in simple predominantly white attire, thousands of Balinese Hindus flocked to the beaches across the Island of the Gods on Monday for the sacred Melasti purification ritual.

The ceremony to clean the stains of the universe and wash away the dirtiness of nature was held ahead of the national holiday of Nyepi (Day of Silence) that will fall on March 7.

The Hindus escorted sacred effigies of gods and goddesses and ritual paraphernalia from their village temples to the beach.

"It is very hot here. But we have no choice except to enjoy it. This is a special ceremony for the gods and goddesses. We enjoy the ceremony every year," said Made Ayu Ratna Pratiwi, 39, a resident of Buduk village who participated in the ceremony with her husband and son under the scorching sun at Pererenan Beach in Canggu, North Kuta.

Participating in the procession was special for Kadek Novi Febriani. "It makes me feel relieved. It feels like we perform a complete prayer as we escort the gods and goddesses," said Febriani, who attended the ceremony on Legian Beach.

Chairman of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hindu Religious Councils (PHDI) IGN Sudiana said the celebrants carried effigies of the gods and goddesses to the beach to get tirta amerta [holy water].

The celebrants then took the holy water back to their villages and sprinkled it on every resident, as well around their houses and rice fields. "We believe that tirta amerta is everlasting holy water, the water of life," Sudiana said.

The purification ritual is performed every year prior to Nyepi. "So, we observe Nyepi with a positive energy," Sudiana added.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 13:30 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee8070492 4 Business toll-road,land-acquisition,payment,government Free

Investors want the government to now repay the funds they had spent to acquire land for toll road projects.

Herwidiakto, president director of developer PT Waskita Toll Road, a subsidiary of state-owned construction company PT Waskita Karta, said the company had spent Rp 6.3 trillion (US$445.41 million) for land acquisition, Rp 1.7 trillion of which was to acquire land for governments projects.

He said the funds that had been spent by the company had been audited by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), but the company had not received payment from the State Assets Management Institute (LMAN), which is responsible for the reimbursements.

To get repaid, toll road developers are required to submit documentation to the Toll Road Authority Body (BPJT), which would verify the relevant documents before submitting them to the BPKP for auditing.

Herwidiakto expressed the hope that the government would soon repay the company because the sluggish payment process had disrupted the companys cash flow. It certainly troubles us because in the early period of toll road operation, we suffer financial shortages, he said in Jakarta on Sunday as reported by kontan.co.id.

In late January, the BPJT had sent a letter to the LMAN to seek payment of the Rp 5.03 trillion spent to acquire 7,934 plots of land between Oct. 13, 2018 and Jan. 18 of this year.

State-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga corporate secretary Mohamad Agus Setiawan similarly called on the government to immediately repay the funds the company had spent. He admitted that some of its subsidiaries were repaid in stages.

Meanwhile, LMAN president director Rahayu Puspasari has asked toll road business players not to worry about the payments because the institution had adequate funds to repay them. She said from 2016 to 2018, LMAN received Rp 59.39 trillion from the government, while it only needed Rp 36.35 trillion.

She said payments were delayed only if the documents submitted by the relevant parties were incomplete. (bbn)
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Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 16:59 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807a720 1 Politics Yogyakarta,house-of-representatives,legislative-candidates,disability,disability-equality,disabled-people,disabled-workers,disabled-voters,minority-rights,Women,Catholic,#2019GeneralElections,#2019-elections,2019-legislative-election Free

Anggiasari Puji Aryatie, 39, carries a remarkable spirit as a triple-minority legislative candidate who has no political leverage or much money for her campaign. She is a person with a disability, a Catholic and a woman, a minority gender in politics, yet she gets a lot of support from people who believe in her.

During her campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives, she went from kampung to kampung in her electoral district in Yogyakarta, not to give money or promises but to share her knowledge about many things, among them disaster mitigation.

In a function hall in Bausasran, Anggi, a candidate from the NasDem Party, stood in front of 25 women to share basic knowledge about minimizing the risk of disaster. She stood before the audience, her laptop put close to the edge of the table to make it easy for her, a 90-centimeter-tall woman, to reach it.

Anggi has achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that causes her legs and arms to be shorter than most people's. Her condition led to seven years of activism for the rights of disabled people and, later, to her foray into politics.

In Bausasran, she said it was important to be prepared for disasters because they could make you impoverished or disabled. She also shared her knowledge about saving disabled people during a disaster.

Someone has to be in charge to save the disabled people, she said.

She ended her presentation with an expression of hope: If you decide to trust me, I ask for your support, she said.

She bade the audience goodbye and the women, wearing Muslim headscarfs, hugged Anggi. She did not give any money or use religion to attract votes.

As she visits many places in Yogyakarta for her campaign she gets so tired that her legs sometimes become blue because she cannot stand or sit too long.

She said NasDem approached her and she said yes because she wanted to fight for the rights of disabled people. Indonesia has a 2016 law on disabled people but in reality they still face discrimination of all kinds, especially in work and education, she said.



With good education and jobs, disabled people will be more dignified and be less vulnerable, she said.



According to a 2015 survey by Statistics Indonesia (BPS), an estimated 8.56 percent of the population, which at that time was about 250 million, had some kind of disability. It means there were about 21.4 million disabled people in Indonesia. Anggi said the number was increasing because of traffic accidents and natural disasters.



She said she is sure that she would become a better representative for people with disabilities, compared to someone without one, because she herself knew and experienced the bad treatment disabled people suffered. She had been treated badly during job searches, bullied at school and was even sexually harassed in public.

Sexual harassment is a painful reality, she said.

Such experiences made her an avid spokesperson for a bill on the eradication of sexual violence. With several women activists, Anggi attended an event to campaign for the bill at the State Islamic University Sunan Kali Jaga.



Mothers role



After Anggi graduated from high school, her mother told her to continue studying. My mother said if I was not smart, people would always look down on me, she said. So she studied French literature at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), English literature at Foreign Language High Education LIA and theology at the Christian University of Duta Wacana, all in Yogyakarta. She then worked for several NGOs, some dealing with disabilities.

Anggiasari Puji Aryatie, 39, a NasDem Party legislative candidate, gives a presentation about disaster risks in kampung Bausasran in Yogyakarta. (JP /Bambang Muryanto)

Arya Mahdi, one of Anggis campaign team members, said her fight to get a legislative seat at the national level was tremendous. She had to compete with dozens of other candidates to get one of the eight seats for Yogyakarta in the House of Representatives.



Arya said if she gets elected, Anggi could become the mother of disabled people. Anggis mother took care of her; now she could be the mother of the countrys disabled people, he said.

If she got elected, Arya said, she would be the first disabled person to sit in the House. Apart from being a representative of disabled people, Arya also touted Anggi as an inspiration to show that a good, regular person could become a legislative candidate. Most legislative candidates usually entered the House because they were already famous, for example, as TV celebrities, politically wired people, or rich from business.



Arya said the team ran Anggis campaign without much money. The money they had was from individuals who contributed because they believed in Anggi.

A renowned photographer takes her pictures without getting paid. His usual fee is Rp 20 million, Arya said.

Anggi also got a contribution from a businessman who loaned her a camera. He also allowed Anggi to use his outdoor ad facility for a month. Many have offered her expertise or money and she has support from a UGM student community.

Even if she doesnt get elected, what is more important is this campaign period could be the stage for Anggi to campaign about disability rights, Arya went on.



An activist for disability rights from SIGAB, Joni Yulianto, said it was time for disabled people to sit in the House.



Representation for disabled people can have an impact on decision making and can voice the aspirations of the disabled, he said.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 17:40 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee807d94f 1 City TNI,TNI-AD,drugs,CrystalMethamphetamine Free

Members of a joint team comprising the Jakarta Military Police, the National Police and Customs and Excise arrested two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel on Saturday for allegedly possessing drugs, a top military official has said.

The two military personnel are identified only as HJS and H, who are both members of the Indonesian Army.

Based on the information we gathered, the joint team arrested two personnel at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for allegedly carrying drugs, Jakarta Military Command spokesperson Col. Kristomei Sianturi said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

The two were allegedly carrying a total of 48.97 grams of sabu-sabu (crystal methamphetamine).

After carrying out further investigation, the team arrested a civilian linked to the case identified as A.

A was arrested in Bogor, West Java. He was alleged to have ordered [the drugs]. From him, we also confiscated two packages of meth weighing 0.7 grams, Kristomei said, adding that the three were still being questioned. (fac)
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Linkedin Shah Suraj Bharat (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, March 5 2019

President Joko Jokowi Widodos Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) is far more than just a maritime policy: It is a grand strategy that encompasses economic, foreign policy and security statecraft. The emphasis has shifted according to reverberations between domestic and international priorities.

When the GMF was launched at the 2014 East Asian Summit in Myanmar, at its core was a narrative of development. The GMF targeted to build infrastructure and connect the country through the development of jalan tol laut (maritime highways) and 24 ports, including five deep sea ports.

Indeed, for the worlds largest archipelagic nation, Indonesia has underdeveloped maritime infrastructure. According to the World Economic Forums 2017 Global Competitiveness Report on port infrastructure quality, Indonesia scored 4.0, behind Malaysia at 5.4, Singapore at 6.7 and Thailand at 4.3.

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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Tue, March 5 2019

The Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA), which was signed on Monday, provides more opportunities for businesses in both countries to expand their economic cooperation.

This is because compared to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, which covers only trade in goods and services, the IA-CEPA also provides preferential treatment for investment in various areas.

The immediate benefits that will be felt immediately after the agreement is ratified by both countries will certainly be in the trade sector. Bilateral trade between Indonesia and Australia, which was estimated at US$12 billion last year, will be able to expand significantly as the two countries will exempt duties for virtually all goods traded between them.

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On Collegiate Day of Prayer, Thursday, Feb. 28, Ronnie Floyd encouraged and commissioned college students across America to change the world through prayer.

"I am here tonight to bridge the generations," said Floyd, who pastors Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas and is president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

"We must make a difference together - all generations. But this must happen through prayer. No great movement of God has ever occurred without being preceded by the extraordinary prayer of God's people,"

Floyd was speaking at UNITE, a worship and prayer simulcast event at the Student Union Theatre at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The event was the national observance of the Collegiate Day of Prayer, an annual observance held in university campuses across the country on the last Thursday of February. On Feb. 28, an estimated 100,000 students participated in prayer gatherings across nearly 5,000 colleges and universities.

Evangelist Nick Hall and musician Sean Curran joined Pastor Floyd in leading the evening service.

"Besides being a powerful time of worship and prayer, UNITE was a special event because it brought my generation and the next generation together," Pastor Floyd said. "Too often have college students been overlooked by the older generations, but we need to remember that God has often used young men and women who have a passion for prayer and for his work to change the world."

Pastor Floyd also encouraged students to participate on the upcoming National Day of Prayer, on Thursday, May 2. Created by a joint resolution of Congress and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman, the National Day of Prayer brings together on the first Thursday of May millions of Americans across all 50 states for public prayer for America.

Referencing this year's National Day of Prayer theme, "Love One Another," Pastor Floyd called students to help create a movement of love for one's neighbor.

"Jesus began the greatest diversity movement in the history of the world," Pastor Floyd said.

"Jesus did not say we would be known by our creeds, songs, doctrinal statements, achievements or the color of our skin. He said you are only known by his love, and his love through you."

Ronnie Floyd is the senior pastor of Cross Church and president of the National Day of Prayer, which each year mobilizes millions of Americans to unified public prayer for the United States. He's the immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Follow him on Twitter @ronniefloyd.

The National Day of Prayer was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the amended law designating the first Thursday of May as a day of national prayer. Every year, millions of Americans, in tens of thousands of meetings across all 50 states, come together for unified public prayer for America. Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.

Website | www.nationaldayofprayer.org Facebook | National Day of Prayer

Tags : ronnie floyd ronnie floyd news ronnie floyd interview Ronnie Floyd prayer Collegiate Day of Prayer
Malaysia plans to halt all expansion of oil palm plantations this year as it seeks to dispel the oils reputation as a driver of deforestation.

The worlds second-largest producer will cap the area at around 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres), Minister of Primary Industries Teresa Kok said in an interview Friday. Thats up from 5.85 million hectares at the end of last year, which will give some leeway to growers who are in the middle of replanting or who have already bought land, she said.

The move comes as producers intensify their fight against simmering anti-palm oil sentiment and allegations that the crop destroys tropical rain forests that are home to endangered animals such as the orangutans. While the negative sentiment against palm oil has existed for decades, it worsened when growers expanded plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Now we are responding to a lot of accusations and rectifying it, Kok said.

The proposal, which will be put to the cabinet for discussion by March, will require commitment and cooperation from state governments as certain land issues are under their jurisdiction, Kok said at her office in Putrajaya. Malaysia will focus on boosting productivity and yields of existing palm trees, she said. Palm oil futures in Kuala Lumpur added as much as 1.3 percent on Monday after jumping 3.2 percent on Friday.

Threat to Palm

The European Union Commission last month submitted a delegated act that classifies palm oil from large plantations as unsustainable, and suggests that the oil be excluded from the blocs biofuels target. That could hurt top producers in Indonesia and Malaysia that are struggling to improve demand for the controversial oil used in everything from soap to chocolate.

Malaysia has called the draft law discriminatory and potentially detrimental toward palm oil. The country is gearing up for a long battle as theres risk that the end game in EU is to completely ban palm oil, Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said last month. The bill is open for comment until March 8.

The worlds largest growers are joining forces. The Council of Palm Oil Producing Countries, whose members Indonesia, Malaysia and Colombia produce about 90 percent of global supply, will jointly challenge the bill through bilateral consultations, as well as through the World Trade Organization and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The council said the law uses a scientifically flawed concept that targets palm oil and makes no attempt to include broader environmental concerns linked to other vegetable oils.

Slash and Burn

Some environmentalists link palm oil to slashing and burning of rainforests in Southeast Asia and laud the EUs plan to snub it, but there are critics who say it could have the opposite effect. Turning away from palm oil could push consumers toward other vegetable oils that produce less yield per hectare, according to Bloomberg Law.

The series of discriminatory policies on palm oil taken by the EU is unfair. I think the whole world can see that, Kok said. They are just trying to use the environment as a farce to discriminate against palm oil.

Malaysia will send a team of scientists to challenge the methodology that shaped the draft law, she said.

Love at Home

Kok is also looking to gather support at home. She has a launched a yearlong Love My Palm Oil campaign to support the industry, roped in the private sector to place billboards promoting palm oil, and encouraged tour guides to bring tourists to plantations.

Malaysia is set to have all of its palm estates certified as sustainable by the end of this year, with the government helping smallholders to do so. Its all about working together and spreading the word from home, Kok said.

Its no more a one-woman or one-ministry show, she said. The nation should come together.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 07:02 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee805bb14 4 News Jember-Fashion-Carnaval,Jember-Fashion-Carnival,Jember,fashion,#fashion,tourism,#tourism,Tourist,travel,#travel Free

The annual Jember Fashion Carnival (JFC) will take place in Jember, East Java, from July 31 to Aug. 4.

Themed Tribal Grandeur, the upcoming event will involve over 6,000 participants, kompas.com reported.

The carnival's president, Dynand Fariz, said the event, with all its creativity, could attract foreign visitors.

Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Arief Yahya praised the carnival, saying it was the source of inspiration for similar parades that had taken place throughout the country.

He said the Jember Fashion Carnival was Asias best carnival and among the worlds top three carnivals.

The JFC has been listed as one of the top ten [events] on the Calendar of Events for three consecutive years, Arief said.

Read also: Pets strut the street catwalk of Jember Fashion Carnival

Arief said each event included in the Calendar of Events needed to meet five requirements in terms of creative value, commercial value, communication value, CEO commitment and consistency. This year's Jember event, he explained, was not only expected to have great content, such as music, choreographed performances and traditional outfits, but it also had to directly help local residents.

Jember Deputy Regent A. Muqit Arief also praised the carnival, but said it would be overwhelming to host tourists throughout the event.

He said that due to the large number of tourists that were expected to visit Jember, houses in the regency were turned into temporary homestays, and some tourists would stay in neighboring regencies.

I thanked [Arief Yahya] who has helped make the JFC possible and supported Jember tourism, he said. (jes/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, March 4, 2019 09:03 1010 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee805d0d3 4 News Pangandaran,puskesmas,health-care,health-center,Tourist,health Free

The puskesmas (community health center) in the popular tourist destination of Pangandaran regency, West Java, has introduced a new English-language service to cater to foreign tourists.

Puskesmas Pangandaran is the only community health center in town.

Read also: New railway route opened from Jakarta to southern West Java

Puskesmas Pangandaran head Aris Rismawan recently told tempo.co that the center had launched its new language service after receiving the highest Health Ministry accreditation in early February.

We want to be different than the rest, Aris said of the service, which was called TBC Konci Inggris (able to converse in English).

Aris said that although the centers staff were not fully fluent in the language, they could converse well in English.

The English-language service is available on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while it provides Sundanese and Javanese language services on Wednesdays.

Situated on West Javas southern coast, Pangandaran is known for its beautiful beaches. (wng)
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Linkedin Brian K. Sullivan (Bloomberg)  Mon, March 4, 2019 16:07 1009 dcc1aefb9780f102b77c720ee80780bd 2 News New-York-City,snow,travel,winter,weather Free

Theres a big storm moving up the East Coast thats already caused more than 1,000 flights to be canceled and Amtrak to drop some trains in Pennsylvania. New York City public schools will be closed Monday, the Department of Education said in a tweet.

National Weather Service said New York could get as much as 5 to 8 inches (13 to 20 centimeters), up from 4 to 6 inches earlier, when the storm arrives between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. before ending early Monday. Philadelphia could get about the same and Boston might get as much as 9 inches. Winter storm warnings stretch from West Virginia to Massachusetts.

The forecast was a bit tricky because computer models werent clear on where the rain-snow line would end up and that determines accumulations.

The models are honing in, said Brian Hurley, senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. It is a very decent system. The heaviest will be overnight, which isnt bad because it is Sunday when the commute isnt that big a deal.

Central Park has already picked up 5.4 inches since Friday from an earlier storm that ended Saturday, the weather service said.

Delta Air Lines Inc. canceled 140 flights, according to a company statement. As of 4:15 p.m. 1,246 flights were scrubbed through Monday with the majority of those in and out of New York, Boston and Newark, according to FlightAware, a Houston-based airline tracking company. Amtrak canceled Pennsylvania trains on Sunday and Monday running between New York and Pittsburgh, as well as nine Keystone Service trains, the federally-funded railroad said in a statement.

The snow will mainly stop falling by 4 a.m. Monday so New York commuters wont be heading to work in a swirl of flakes, but the heaviest fall is forecast to the west and north.

Read also: Exploring New York City off the beaten path

Rain-snow line

The rain-snow line for the storm is a very tight gradient between those cities that receive many inches of snow and those that get nothing at all, said Rich Otto at the Weather Prediction Center. The line between rain and snow will hover roughly along the coastline between Philadelphia and Boston, and therell be a sharp cutoff on accumulation just to the south. Totals on Long Island could vary quite a bit as the rain and snow battle it out.

For instance, Philadelphia could get 8 inches of snow while Atlantic City about 60 miles to the southeast is forecast to get nothing, Otto said. Theres a similar puzzle in Delaware -- Wilmington could end up with 7 inches, while Dover 50 miles south could get just an inch.

Get your coat

The other factor is the storms speed.

By 1 a.m., the different pieces of the storm will be coalescing just off the Delmarva Peninsula. At 7 a.m., it will be near the Massachusetts island of Marthas Vineyard, and by noon, it will be nearing Nova Scotia, Hurley said.

The snow is being chased across the central U.S. by a blast of frigid air descending from Canada that may set low temperature records across the Great Plains Sunday and Monday, he said. Some of the cold air will seep toward New York with lows falling to 16 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 9 Celsius) by late Wednesday. Boston could drop to 10 degrees.
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Worship leader Tasha Layton has teamed up with Jesus Culture's Chris McClarney for their latest single"Sound of Heaven." The song is written by Christy Nockels, Jason Mizelle together with Layton and McClarney.

Tasha Layton is the newest signing to Seattle-based label BEC Recordings, joining the likes of 7eventh Time Down, David Dunn, River Valley Worship, London Gatch, and many more. She is thrilled to not only join the BEC family but to share her debut single with the world. She recently shared the meaning behind her debut single, "Belonging to God isn't just about the fact that He created you. To belong to God means He takes care of you like a good father would. He protects you, provides for you, and is proud of you... hands in the air He's cheering you on! Scripture says nothing can separate you from the love of God, and His love accepts you and will never let you down. I hope this song reminds you of who you belong to!"

Singing since she was a young teen growing up in South Carolina, Tasha Layton's voice has taken her all around the world. From appearing on American Idol to singing backup on tour with Katy Perry for four years, Layton is more than ready to be on her own sharing her solo music. She already has fans in artists such as Jesus Culture's Chris McClarney, Colton Dixon and Rend Collective, to name just a few, and they've shared the following words about her music and ministry:



"Tasha is a friend and the only thing bigger than her voice is her heart! [I am] excited for the rest of the world to not only discover and experience her talent, but more importantly her genuine love for people and God!" - Chris McClarney (Jesus Culture)



"I'm so excited for Tasha! She not only brings a fresh sound for Christian music but a fresh spirit as well." - Colton Dixon



"Tasha has not only an amazing voice but her worshipful heart is undeniable." - Gareth Gilkeson of Rend Collective



For more information about Tasha Layton, please visit her website, TashaLayton.com, and on her social links below.

Tags : tasha layton Jesus Culture chris mcclarney tasha layton new single Tasha Layton & Jesus Culture's Chris McClarney "Sound of Heaven"
Whenever you travel abroad, I hope you take the opportunity to taste as many different kinds of foods as possible - it's a wonderful way to learn, not only about the countrys cuisine, but also about its culture and its history.

Not long ago, our own editorial director of food, Sarah Carey, and our director of food development, Thomas Joseph, traveled to Israel for a "Celebrity Chefs Birthright" trip. The excursion was organized by culinary producer and entrepreneur Herb Karlitz, who wanted to expose some American chefs to the latest developments in the Israel food scene  new restaurants, flavorful wines, and of course, all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Sarah and Thomas joined other notable chefs, such as baker and restaurateur, Nancy Silverton, chef and TV personality, Marc Murphy, chef and restaurateur, Jonathan Waxman, chef and Chopped judge, Amanda Freitag, and chef and food writer, Ruth Reichl. It was a first time trip to Israel for many, and an amazing week-long experience for all.

Here is a selection of photos taken by Sarah and Thomas - enjoy. And visit their Instagram pages @sarahcarey1 and @tojo827 for more great food photos.
40 rare baby leatherback turtles hatch in Phang Nga

PHANG NGA: Forty rare leatherback turtles emerged from their shells and headed out to the Andaman Sea off Phang Nga on Saturday (Mar 2) under the protective gaze of marine officials.

marineanimalspollutionenvironment

By Bangkok Post

Monday 4 March 2019, 09:45AM

Baby leatherback turtles are seen on Khuk Khak beach in Takua Pa district of Phang Nga after they emerged from their shells on Saturday (Mar 2). Photo: Marine and Coastal Resources Department.

Chatuporn Buruspat, the Marine and Coastal Resources Department director-general, said on Sunday that officials had successfully released 40 baby turtles to the sea on Takua Pa districts Khuk Khan beach at 7.30pm on Saturday evening.

Four other baby turtles are being tended to by officials to make sure they are healthy enough for their voyage into the unknown, the official added. Seven others died shortly after hatching.

The baby turtles were born in one of three nests found in this southern province  the first time for five years that turtles returned to lay eggs here.

The first nest was found on Dec 17. More turtles returned to lay eggs on Thai Muang beach on Dec 26.

The first nest produced 48 baby turtles, and the second another 35.

Departmental authorities set up teams to monitor the turtles after the first nest was found in December.

They watered and used coconut leaves to shade the third nest after the first baby hatched at 11am on Saturday, but succumbed to the daytime heat.

A total of 127 baby turtles have now hatched successfully, including four under care at a marine biological centre.

Leatherback turtles are named for their shells  softer than most other turtles  and are the largest sea turtle species. They are also one of the most migratory, and sometimes cross both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. They are classed as a vulnerable species with a declining population.

Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine scientist at Kasetsart University, on Saturday used his Facebook page to urge the public to safeguard the marine environment by keeping the beaches and the sea clean so that leatherback turtles will return to lay eggs again.

We have to teach our children to do that because when they grow up, they could see baby leatherback turtles again, he wrote.
Authorities raid e-cigarette vendors following backlash over deported Frenchwoman

BANGKOK: Police arrested 23 people and seized 2,856 hookahs, e-cigarettes and vaping solution, worth more than B900,000, in recent raids in greater Bangkok.

policecrime

By Bangkok Post

Monday 4 March 2019, 01:51PM

Immigration police chief Pol Lt-Gen Surachate Hakparn, centre, gives details of the raids on hookah and e-cigarette providers at a night market near the Ram Intra expressway Bang Khen district, Bangkok, on Sunday night. (Photo supplied)

Police first targetted nine shops in Khlong Thom market in Pomprap Sattruphai district on Thursday Feb 28), Pol Lt-Gen Surachat Hakparn, chief of immigration police, told a news conference on Sunday night. Police arrested three Thais and two Lao nationals in possession of 1,729 bottles of liquid nicotine solution, 113 e-cigarettes and hookahs and 198 accessories, worth about B500,000 in total. On Sunday police raided another 21 shops at night markets and arrested 16 Thais and two Myanmar nationals, seizing 1,127 bottles of liquid nicotine solution, 81 e-cigarettes and hookahs and 752 accessories, worth about B425,000. The detainees were charged with possessing and providing contraband products, and violating the tobacco control law and migrant workers law. These offences carry maximum jail terms of five years and/or fines of up to B600,000. The raids come after an international media backlash over the imprisonment and deportation of a French tourist in February who was caught with an e-cigarette in Phuket. (See story here.) See original story here.
Banyan Tree Phuket announces two strategic hires to lead the sales and marketing team

PHUKET: Banyan Tree Phuket has announced the dual appointments of Chatuporn Srisoi as Director of Events and Filipa Carvalho De Sousa as Director of Marketing Communications.



By The Phuket News

Monday 4 March 2019, 10:59AM

Chatuporn Eve Srisoi (left), Director of Events, and Filipa Carvalho De Sousa, Director of Marketing Communications, at Banyan Tree Phuket.

Chatuporn Eve Srisoi is no stranger to the island of Phuket and the Laguna area, having previously worked at Splash Beach Resort. With a 10-year background in sales and reservations, Ms Chatuporn possesses extensive knowledge of the Phuket market. Her unbridled energy and experience will lead the Banyan Tree Phuket Events team toward new heights, said a release announcing her appointment. Also joining the Banyan Tree management team is its new Director of Marketing Communications, Filipa Carvalho De Sousa. Arriving from the UAE with eight years experience in the luxury hospitality industry, Ms De Sousa previously served as Director of Communications at Rosewood Abu Dhabi. Her passion for people, digital marketing and social media will find plenty of expression as Banyan Tree Phuket expands its active online presence, the announcement read. Ms De Sousa will oversee the resorts new digital marketing and social media strategy for Banyan Tree Phuket, generating excitement for another lively year filled with special promotions and events, the announcement added.
Chinese tourist drowns at Patong Beach after entering water drunk, despite warnings

PHUKET: A 30-year-old Chinese tourist drowned at Patong Beach early Saturday morning (Mar 2) after ignoring warnings to not enter the water while drunk.

tourismChinesemarineaccidentsalcoholdeathpolicepatong

By Waranya Prompinpiras

Monday 4 March 2019, 01:28PM

Rescue workers arrived and rushed Mr Lu to Patong Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival. Photo: Patong Baywatch

Supat Tiangnoi, head of Patong Baywatch*, told The Phuket News this morning (Mar 4) that the incident happened while he and other Baywatch members were patrolling Patong Beach by ATV at about 4am.

Mr Supat said he saw a group of about nine Chinese tourists drinking alcohol together on the beach in front of Loma Park.

The tourists were drunk, and I warned them that they should not play in the sea. I advised them that if they wanted to go into the water that they must not go any deeper than knee-level, Mr Supat explained.

Mr Supat added that after warning the group, he moved on to patrol other areas of the beach.

At about 4:20am, some of the tourists came running up to him, calling for assistance, he said.

They said that four Chinese male friends had gone into the sea, and that some of them had came back, but one man had disappeared, Mr Supat said.

The missing man was later identified as Lu Meng Yang.

We rushed into the water and found Mr Lu after about 15 minutes. He was face down in water about 200 meters from the beach, Mr Supat said.

Mr Lu was brought ashore and emergency first aid was provided until rescue workers arrived and rushed him to Patong Hospital, but he was pronounced dead on arrival, Mr Supat explained.

Lt Chanat Hongsitthichaikul of the Patong Police told The Phuket News this morning that the cause of death had been confirmed as drowning.

"Chinese consular officials have been notified of the incident, he said.

Mr Lus body remains at Patong Hospital awaiting his relatives to arrive from China, he added.

* The Patong Baywatch team is a group of seven people, including former lifeguards, who patrol Patong Beach for safety. The team was created and remains funded by the Patong Development Foundation, which was founded by local businessman Preechavude Prab Keesin, a son of long-time former Patong Mayor Pian Keesin.
Doodler dream: Stickers are a serious business at Line

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but perhaps this classic idiom needs an update. Lets go with, a Line sticker is worth a thousand words and some cash too if you know how to make them. Mouthful, I know, but read on and all will become clear.

Technology

By Bangkok Post

Monday 4 March 2019, 10:00AM

As stickers become the new universal language, an industry built around them provides an opportunity for aspiring illustrators to make it big on local and international scales. You may not think of stickers as a serious business but insider information suggests otherwise.

We recently visited the Line office in Shinjuku, Japan, along with 10 Thai winners of the fourth Line Creators Market Sticker Contest 2018, to find out how big the sticker industry is and what makes a sticker, well, stick.

The numbers speak for themselves

I sat down with three Line executives  two from Japan and the other from Thailand  to gain some insight into the sticker market.

Japan, Thailand and Taiwan are the top countries in the world when it comes to Line stickers usage, while usage of Line stickers continues to increase worldwide, according to Naotomo Watanabe of Line Corp.s Sticker Planning Team.

As of May 2018, there were 1.5 million registered creators. In Thailand, the growth in the number of paid stickers downloaded in Q1 of 2018 increased by 52% compared to the same period in 2017, while the number of paid sticker users increased by 28% in Q1 of 2018 compared to Q1 of 2017.

Moreover, the number of Thai creators reached 340,000 and counting, a jump of 204% from May 2017 to May 2018, while the number of creators stickers soared by 700% during the same period. Thailand comes out on top in terms of growth in sticker section.

A lot of big numbers, I know, but they point to a very fast-growing industry with opportunities that Thai doodlers can tap into.

What makes stickers stick?



Trends of popular stickers in different countries were also discussed during the visit. On the basis of this information, creators can choose markets where their stickers are available via the Line Creators Market. Thus, your made-in-Thailand stickers can go international.

According to Yung Ai-Chen, Line Corporations Global Sticker Manager, Indonesian users prefer humorous, less-text and American-style stickers in their everyday communication. Cute characters in white and stickers related to seasons are popular among Japanese users, while the Taiwanese dig designs based on local festivals or big fonts surrounded by cute frames. For the Thai market, characters like little girls and play-on-word stickers are among the best-sellers. The rule of thumb for sticker design is cute and easy-to-use.

Interestingly, females between the ages of 25-29 make up the biggest group of sticker buyers.



Creators can further improve their stickers by developing new sets of an existing popular character or, now that the sticker approval period is around a week, incorporating whats currently relevant into their stickers.

Watanabe added that religion also plays a role in sticker usage; in Islamic countries, for example, stickers with animal characters arent popular.

Support for Thai creators

Kanop Supamanop, Line Thailands Director of Stickers Business Office, aims to make sticker creating a new and legitimate career in Thailand, enabling creators to live off their stickers.

Creators often tell me that people doubt what they do as a real career, he said.

Not only does Kanop believe sticker creation is a great opportunity for university students and first-jobbers to make extra cash but also a potential life-changing opportunity.



We have had several people who quit their jobs to become sticker creators full-time.



To make sticker creation a legitimate career, Line Thailand organises year-round activities. Sticker creating workshops are held to drum up interest among potential creators in different provinces before Line Creators Market Sticker Contest accepts applications. Selected winners will get to make their sticker dream come true and enjoy a trip to Japan as an educational bonus. Connect Days are held so fellow creators can mingle, learn from top creators and be updated on trends.

Top creators are recognised at the Line Sticker Awards. The fourth Line Creators Market Sticker Contest last year saw 2,200 entries, up from 800. Every month, a top best-selling creator receives B50,000 to turn their creation into merchandise and a chance to become official stickers. Line matches them up with a manufacturer but the creative control is with the rising star creator, who gets to sell their merchandise via the Line Gift Shop for free. Pop-up stores where creators can sell their merchandise is in the pipeline for this year, too.

Pro tips

Kanop says, Perseverance is important. You never know which set will be a hit. I always tell creators that if you hit it big with your debut set, youre lucky, but if not, that doesnt mean you fail. Think of stickers as content. It doesnt resonate with everyone.

You should know who you make your stickers for. Know your target and know what they like. Be creative. Play-on-word stickers are unique to the Thai market. Text-driven stickers can top the best-selling charts too so long as youre creative about it. You dont need to be the best drawer. It certainly helps but that alone doesnt make your stickers stick.



Also, think about how people would communicate with your stickers in real situations. Stickers with phrases that are often used in daily situations like thank you, good night and 555 tend to do well. Not all minute details will be obvious because of the screen size so your sticker should be able to communicate clearly at a glance.

Koranan Place Chuenpichai, illustrator and creator of six sticker sets, says, Theres no fixed ways to succeed, it seems. Some creators follow trends while some do what they love. I think it really comes down to keep trying.

Sticker making is my passion project as I dreamt of seeing my stickers on Line since they first introduced creators stickers. I like it when people use my designs and get some joy out of them.

My latest set [Animal Addict] is inspired by people complaining about traffic jams but I turn vehicles into different animals and add catchphrases to make it more fun. You can be creative with something thats unpleasant.

Mueanfun Pink Sap-anake, illustrator at Plan for Kids, says, My main job is illustrating childrens books but personally I like to create something more edgy and fun. I thought about things in everyday life first, especially things that come in pairs.

At first, I wanted to make a rabbit and a fox, but after browsing through the sticker market I realised there are so many cute animals out there already. I thought cuteness alone doesnt cut it so I opted for something no one else does in order to stand out. I arrived at a female electronic socket and a male plug and thus Plug & Pudgy was born. They come with catchphrases based on office life.

Pomprom Aum Ruksasirikuk, graphic animator, says, I submitted my first animated sticker last year but its my second sticker set. At first I went back and forth between following examples of what sells well or following my gut. After doing stickers for a while, I found myself in need of a new direction. I met a Japanese creator who does what she loves and believes in. And thats enough to make her creations stand out.

With Hard Life, I make fun of mistakes or mishaps in real life like running out of tissue while in the toilet or not having enough cash to pay for things at the cashier. I think you should put yourself into your designs.

I would love some day to make stickers full-time but first you need to make your characters memorable. Stickers can be a platform to make your characters well-known and thats a starting point. If you want to try your hand at sticker making, just do it. You only gain from it.

 Pornchai Sereemongkonpol
Expert speakers at AustCham event to highlight Doing business in Asean

PHUKET: AustCham Thailand, together with partner Chambers and the Australian Alumni, invite members to attend a panel discussion on Doing business in Asean: What does it really mean?



By The Phuket News

Monday 4 March 2019, 05:52PM

The event, to be held at the Angsana Laguna Phuket resort, will have three key business people whose roles place them in the middle of the Asean business environment and can provide insights into the what, how and why of doing business in Asean.

The event, to be held at the Angsana Laguna Phuket resort, will have three key business people whose roles place them in the middle of the Asean business environment and can provide insights into the what, how and why of doing business in Asean.

Andy Coop, Regional Commercial Director for Linfox International Group, will be speaking on three issues:

Thailand as the Asean hub, connecting to the Mekong and China One Road;

Safety, security and compliance is an issue in Asean; and

Doing business the Linfox way and what Asean means to the family

Mr Coop, a Senior Executive Supply Chain leader, will be drawing on his more than 23 years in executive roles in various regions including Europe, the Middle East, APAC and the Australasia region.

We operate in a difficult environment, Linfox values are based on safety, brand protection and compliance across borders throughout Asean, Mr Coop explained.

Aga Manhao, CEO of Home Stay Care and Founder of Futuris Solutions (Singapore), will be focusing his presentation on the vision of Asean connectivity 2025: To achieve a seamless and comprehensive connected and integrated Asean that will promote competitiveness, inclusiveness, and a great sense of community.

Therefore, Ill be talking about the need to have a technology infrastructure that allows all Asean countries to connect and what possibilities this could mean to the Asean region, Mr Manhao explained.

This would impact all micro businesses in the region by giving them access to the internet and possible markets outside of their city/village etc, he added.

Mr Manhao is an executive with extensive experience running global businesses. He started his career as an accountant in Australia and has over 20 years experience running global multinational businesses and sales teams in Japan, Singapore, Australia, London and Switzerland.

The third speaker, Stephen Higgins; Managing Partner of Mekong Strategic Partners (Cambodia), will be explaining opportunities available in Cambodia.

Mr Higgins is a founder and Managing Partner of Mekong Strategic Partners (MSP), bringing to MSP two decades of experience in banking and financial services, communications, leadership, and strategy. Prior to this, Stephen worked for ANZ Banking Group for 18 years, most recently as CEO of ANZ Royal Bank.

Cambodia is often quite misunderstood. Its high growth, with a remarkably pro-business environment thats almost completely open to foreign investment, and its very welcoming to Australians and foreigners in general, Mr Higgins explains.

Cambodia is developing its coastal and island tourist destinations, and the likes of Phuket and Samui serve as a model for what Cambodia would like to achieve.

Thailand is Cambodias biggest trading partner, and there are now 28 flights per day between Thailand and Cambodia, he notes.

The Panel Discussion will be held at the Anchan room from 4:30pm to 5:30pm. Attendance is free for AustCham members, partner Chambers members, and Australian Alumni Members.

Sundowners open to all

AustCham Thailand, in collaboration with Australian Alumni, The American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand (AMCHAM) , British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT), German-Thai Chamber of Commerce (GTCC) and the Netherlands-Thai Chamber of Commerce (NTCC) is inviting members and guests from AustCham and partner chambers to join the Phuket Sundowners to be held at the Angsana Laguna Phuket from 6pm to 9pm..

Angsana Laguna Phuket is set along the shores of Phukets Bang Tao Bay in the islands northwest. A highlight of the venue is the 300+ metres of free-form pool that flows through the resort, providing a perfect setting for networking with old and new friends in the business community, AustCham noted in a release announcing the event.

Attendance is B500 for AustCham members, partner Chambers' members, and Australian Alumni Members, and B900 for non-members (includes cocktail-style food, and free-flow beer, wine, soft drinks).

For more information contact Kattika 'Joy' Songkrasin at Kattika@austchamthailand.com. The Phuket News and Live89.5 are proud media sponsors for the AustCham Phuket Sundowners and associated events.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 38F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Thunder possible. Low 38F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 100%.
(Bloomberg) Sometimes machines are only as smartor dumbas the humans who program them. Hedge fund investors learned that the hard way last year when data-crunching computers that invest $220 billion based on historical price trends did worse than most other managers, robot or human. The losses were so bad that investors pulled billions of dollars out of an investment strategy that for years had, paradoxically, been regarded as a great way to protect portfolios from downside risks.

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Philip Morris International Inc. cut its 2019 profit outlook following a Quebec court ruling thats seen threatening the tobacco industrys existence in Canada. The company and British American Tobacco Plc plan to challenge the decision.

The Canadian units of BAT, Philip Morris and Japan Tobacco Inc. were ordered Friday to pay damages of about $17 billion (Canadian) after losing an appeal of class actions filed by Quebec smokers.

If Big Tobacco loses this battle, cigarette makers will probably need to put their Canadian units into administration, according to Adam Spielman, an analyst at Citigroup. The companies face even more possible penalties as Canadas 10 provinces are also suing the tobacco industry to recover health care costs, he said.

The Quebec Court of Appeal upheld a lower-court decision with minor changes, according to the ruling released Friday. The lawsuits were in favour of smokers seeking damages for addiction and smoking-related diseases, who argued they were never warned of the risks.

Disappointing Judgement

Philip Morris reduced its 2019 profit forecast by 9 cents, citing the decision. The company also warned that the ultimate liability may differ significantly from the amount in the ruling, because of a significant lack of clarity on the number of claimants and how their claims are being processed.

Todays judgment is disappointing, said Eric Gagnon, the head of corporate and regulatory affairs for BATs Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd. unit, which plans to bring the case to the countrys Supreme Court. The risks associated with smoking have been known in Canada for decades. Consumers were aware and thats why we think we shouldnt be held responsible.

Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc., the Canadian unit of Philip Morris, also said it plans to appeal. Japan Tobacco said JTI-MacDonald Corp., the other defendant in the cases, is considering all options.

In the 2015 ruling, Imperial Tobacco Canada was ordered to pay about $10.5 billion, while Rothmans and JTI-MacDonald faced $3.1 billion and $2 billion fines respectively. BAT has made a $758 million payment in escrow.

The federal government may eventually need to step in to negotiate a settlement, because if legal cigarette manufacturers go under, the country would face the risk of a boom in illicit tobacco, Citigroups Spielman said. BAT traded 0.4 per cent higher at 2:44 p.m. in London, erasing an earlier drop of as much as 1 per cent.

U.S. Ruling

The decision comes a week after the U.S. Supreme Court turned away the tobacco industrys effort to derail lawsuits by thousands of Florida smokers. Tobacco companies have been undergoing a major shift as they try to lower their reliance on traditional cigarettes, seeking a future with alternative products as smoking demand wanes and countries tighten regulations.

In the U.S. Supreme Court case, the tobacco companies said they face another 2,300 pending suits. The companies argue that smokers shouldnt be able to rely on a jurys factual findings in a class-action case against the industry 20 years ago. Lower courts have said many of those findings, including the conclusion that the companies conspired to conceal the dangers of smoking, can serve as the starting point for individual suits.

The Quebec cases stem from lawsuits originally filed in 1998 and involved the first damages against the industry in Canada. The decision comes four years after the ruling against the companies by a trial court in Quebec. The original damages were set at about $15.5 billion, though that has risen to about $17 billion with interest charges, according to estimates from the Canadian Cancer Society.

Disease, Death

This is a complete and resounding defeat for the tobacco industry, said Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst for the Ottawa-based cancer group. The industry has engaged in decades of wrongful behaviour resulting in vast suffering, disease and death.

The legal battle will probably continue for many years as itll probably be up to the Canadian Supreme Court to decide, Finance Director Ben Stevens said on a results call Thursday when asked to comment on the imminent decision.

Japan Tobacco shares fell 1.1 per cent in Tokyo. Philip Morris stock was little changed in U.S. trading.

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A coalition of billionaires led by Bill Gates has thrown its financial weight behind a startup hoping to build a Google Maps for the earths crust to hunt for new sources of cobalt.

The startup, Kobold Metals, is using data-crunching algorithms to scour the globe for cobalt, in a bet that there may still be significant undiscovered sources of the metal that has become one of the worlds hot commodities thanks to its use in electric vehicle batteries.

The company has raised money from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a fund backed by Gates and a dozen other tycoons including Jeff Bezos, Ray Dalio and Michael Bloomberg, owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

Kobold Metals is betting it will be able to find new sources of the metal using what it calls machine prospecting. The company is building a database of geological data that it then feeds into an algorithm, hunting for signals that indicate the likelihood of increased concentration of cobalt.

What were building is basically Google Maps for the earths crust and below, said Connie Chan, partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

Kurt House, the chief executive officer of Kobold Metals, says the approach could succeed because mining companies have traditionally not focused on looking for cobalt.

The metal is a byproduct of copper or nickel mining in all but one of the worlds cobalt mines, and more than two thirds of global supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

People just havent looked for the stuff, said House. Theres very limited history of exploration at all outside of piggybacking on nickel and copper deposits.

Kobold Metals, based in Berkeley, California has already acquired several properties in North America where it hopes to explore for cobalt, he said, and plans to have around a dozen such prospective sites by the end of the year.

House wouldnt disclose how much money the company had raised or at what valuation, saying only that Kobold Metals has well over four years of capital right now.

The San Francisco Bay Area-based company is not alone in hoping to capitalize on growth in cobalt demand driven by the electric vehicles revolution. The price of the metal more than quadrupled from 2016 to last year, spurring a wave of new supply from miners like Glencore Plc and Eurasian Resources Group Sarl, as well as small-scale diggers in Congo.

As a result, prices have fallen 64 per cent in the past 10 months. In the longer term, Darton Commodities, a trading house that compiles data on the sector, says there are over 50 cobalt exploration projects, mostly in Australia and Canada.

And battery makers are working to reduce the amount of cobalt in their batteries or eliminate it altogether.

House said he was unfazed by those efforts, arguing that cobalts physical properties mean that if his company can contribute to ensuring plentiful, low-cost supplies, it could help persuade battery makers not to substitute the metal.

You can absolutely make batteries that are really good without cobalt  no question you can, he said. But a little bit of cobalt will always be good.

While big mining companies are already experimenting with large-scale data crunching, House said their efforts are principally aimed at improving operations. For example, Barrick Gold Corp. in 2016 partnered with Cisco Systems Inc. to analyze real-time data from its mines in a push to improve efficiency.

House said the company would look to bring in other investors  potentially including its current backers  on a deposit-by-deposit basis once it has identified an interesting project. We dont intend to be a mine operator ever, he said.

Ian Pearce, a director of Kobold Metals who is the former head of nickel at Xstrata Plc, said that the company was using the technology in a different way from established mining companies.

You hear a lot of chatter in the mining space about data and the digital age, he said. When I looked at some of the ways these data scientists are looking at the data and assembling models, I havent seen anything like it before.

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SASKATOON - Federated Co-operatives is reporting that 2018 was a record year for earnings, saying it made nearly $1.1 billion from nearly $10.7 billion in sales.

CEO Scott Banda says profits from Co-ops refinery in Regina were a big contributor to the record year, noting Co-op spent a lot of time at their refinery to improve their processes, safety and management of expenses.

Banda did not, however, know about the exact impact a strike in Saskatchewan has had on the greater Co-op brand throughout Western Canada.

Close to 900 unionized Co-op workers in Saskatoon have been on strike since Nov. 1 over a dispute thats focused on the companys push for a second-tier wage scale for new employees.

Banda says Federated Co-operatives is committed to supporting all their co-ops across the Prairies and British Columbia.

In 2018, FCL returned $789 million dollars to 170 local co-operative associations.

He says all the earnings will remain in Western Canada and that over the past 10 years, FCL has shared $4.7 billion of its profits with local Co-ops.

Banda says that in 10 years, he expects Co-ops presence in western Canada will continue to grow and that theyll remain in communities where other businesses have decided to leave.

(CJWW)
Barrick Gold Corp. plans to proceed with a formal takeover offer for Newmont Mining Corp., undeterred by a rebuff from the target company.

Newmonts board unanimously rejected Barricks $17.8 billion (U.S.) unsolicited proposal, saying it would not be better than Newmonts previously announced takeover of Goldcorp Inc. Instead, Newmont submitted a joint venture proposal to Barrick that would encompass the two companies Nevada operations, saying it would pursue that as well as its Goldcorp takeover.

Barrick is definitely not going to withdraw its hostile bid, chief executive officer Mark Bristow said Monday in response to the statement and letter Newmont released earlier in the day. Barrick will take its offer to Newmont shareholders, and at the same time will try to advance talks about the possibility of a Nevada joint venture, Bristow said.

Time is of the essence, he said in a telephone interview, adding that Barrick plans to speak to Newmont ASAP.

In response, Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara said by email that we look forward to hearing back from Barrick on our letter and joint venture proposal.

Newmont had raised serious doubts about Toronto-based Barricks full merger proposal  a hostile all-share no-premium bid  from the day it was made public Feb. 25. The Barrick bid also led to a round of acrimony from both sides. Goldberg characterized Barricks bid as desperate and bizarre. On the same day, Bristow said his team could run Newmont better than Goldbergs managers: I have spent a lot of time in Nevada, and I have no doubt that I can do a better job than Newmont.

State of Transformation

The top end of the gold industry has been in a state of transformation for five months. In September, industry leader Barrick agreed to buy Randgold Resources Ltd. for $5.4 billion. Three months later, Newmont announced its plan to purchase Goldcorp for $10 billion, which would leapfrog it into the leading gold-producer spot.

Amid the push and pull on the full Barrick-Newmont merger proposal, both sides showed willingness Monday to discuss the idea of a Nevada tie-up. Newmont proposed to give Barrick a 55 per cent stake in a joint venture, the Colorado-based miner said in its statement.

But even on the JV issue, there was tension. While giving Barrick the larger share of a deal is progress, Bristow said in the interview, he said he would need to run the joint venture. Bristow also questioned whether Newmont is really committed to co-operation, or merely trying to block Barricks merger proposal.

Newmonts shares rose 1.9 per cent to close at $34.45 in New York Monday, while Barrick gained 1.6 per cent to $12.51.

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One of the first things on Vinessa Antoines agenda while filming the new series Diggstown in Halifax was to ride a ferry named after civil rights activist Viola Desmond.

Desmond challenged segregation at a cinema in New Glasgow, N.S., in 1946, helping start the modern civil rights movement in Canada.

Unlike Desmond, Antoine may not find her face on a $10 bill anytime soon. But she is also making history of a different kind, as the first Black Canadian woman to helm a prime-time drama in Canada.

Growing up in Toronto, seeing faces on television like your own was virtually non-existent, the 35-year-old actress said in an interview in Toronto. But if a young person turns on the television in the future and thinks that they are being represented, that there is a possibility out there for me, then hopefully things will change.

In the CBC drama debuting Wednesday at 8 p.m., Antoine plays Marcie Diggs, a corporate lawyer who goes through an existential crisis after her aunt commits suicide because of a malicious prosecution. Diggs decides to work in legal aid in Halifax finding justice for a diverse range of clients.

The show also stars Natasha Henstridge (Species), C. David Johnson (Street Legal) and Stacey Farber (Grace and Frankie), and was created by former media lawyer Floyd Kane.

Marcie Diggs is a woman struggling with the messy in her own life, Antoine said. There are issues of guilt and family, and the question of whether the justice system actually works in Canada. That will be a question that will continue to plague her. She is constantly asking if shes doing the right thing.

The series will also look at an under-represented segment of Canada, the historic Black community of Nova Scotia, which at one point represented 37 per cent of the countrys total Black population. Antoine said growing up in Toronto with Trinidad-born parents, she didnt realize the rich history of the Black community in eastern Canada, a community that she now represents on TV.

They were so welcoming. There is such an incredible history with so many stories that are finally being told; it was really overwhelming, Antoine said. You can really feel the beauty and the grit and the reality of the area that not a lot of Canadians know about.

According to producer Kane, about 50 actresses were auditioned before Antoine got the coveted role.

This is huge for me. This is something I really didnt learn about Black history in school, Antoine said. There is a huge community with a rich history in Nova Scotia that is finally going to be spotlighted and I think its time for their stories to be told.

Canada is finally catching up to the United States: Kerry Washington made history in the Shonda Rhimes-created drama Scandal in 2012 as the first Black American to lead a prime-time network drama in four decades. It wasnt the first to feature a Black female star. That distinction belongs to Teresa Graves in Get Christie Love!, which aired for one season in 1974.

Black Canadian actresses have starred in shows such as the Vision TV limited series Soul with Keshia Chante (also produced by Kane) and Globals half-hour comedy Da Kink in My Hair, but a prime-time network drama remains the gold standard.

General Hospital fans, meanwhile, are still steamed that Antoine left the show for her CBC series, although her boyfriend and fellow GH co-star Anthony Montgomery was able to join her on set in Nova Scotia.

On GH, Antoine played former DEA agent Jordan Ashford, who was supposed to get married to her fiance on the show. That didnt happen.

General Hospital was a huge part of my life. And soap opera fans are really incredible, they stick with you no matter what. So hopefully they will follow Marcies journey and come along with me, said Antoine.

More importantly, Antoines relocation back home has given her time to reflect on what she wants out of her career and her own developing identity.

Growing up I think I had a bit of an identity crisis. I didnt see myself here. And I actually had to leave my own country to find who I was, she said. When in fact, all the identity that is me was right here at home all along. I didnt know that. But it just took me a little longer to find it.

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OTTAWAThe federal government is hoping to lock down a new location for a promised national memorial for the war in Afghanistan after the Canadian War Museum opposed a previous proposal, leaving the five-year-old project in limbo.

A source in the Veterans Affairs Department tells The Canadian Press that the new site is across the street to the east of the Canadian War Museum and behind the National Holocaust Monument, near where the Ottawa River separates Ontario from Quebec.

A group of veterans recently toured the site with officials from Veterans Affairs, which asked the National Capital Commission in September 2017 to approve a location immediately west of the museum.

The commission refused to sign off on that location after the museum and its architect objected, saying the museum intentionally avoids emphasizing any one conflict and that the memorial would detract from the building.

Veterans Affairs is now expected to ask the NCC to approve the new site in the coming weeks and, if its approved, the government will begin consultations with Afghan veterans and others on a design for the $5-million memorial.

The plan to erect a memorial to Canadas war in Afghanistan was first announced by Stephen Harpers government in May 2014 following the end of the 13-year mission, in which more than 160 Canadians were killed.

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HALIFAXConstruction industry groups are holding back efforts to include residential sprinklers in the National Building Code, according to an association of fire chiefs thats been fighting to make the life-saving devices mandatory for more than a decade.

Sean Tracey, who co-chairs the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs building codes committee, said modern homes and their contents burn faster, hotter and more toxic than they did 20 years ago.

We just do not have the time that we think we have in fires, and residential sprinklers will suppress those fires, or contain them until the fire department can come in and make sure the fire is fully extinguished, Tracey said.

Heat-activated sprinklers are not currently required in single-family dwellings under the National Building Code, but the deaths of seven children last month have renewed debate ahead of the codes 2020 revision.

Kawthar and Ebraheim Barho lost their children in a fire that destroyed their home in the Halifax suburb of Spryfield on Feb. 19. Four days later, Kawthar attended the public funeral for Ahmed, 15, Rola, 12, Mohammed, 10, Ghala, 8, Hala, 4, Rana, 3, and Abdullah, four months. Ebraheim, who suffered severe burns, is still in hospital in Halifax in stable but critical condition.

Duncan Rydall, a fire prevention chief in Ontario, told the Star that sprinklers potentially would have saved everybody.

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Its like having a firefighter waiting in every single room in your house, Rydall said.

While Tracey wouldnt speak to the specifics of the Barho fire, as its causes are still unknown, he said its been a constant uphill battle over the last decade as the association pushes for sprinkler systems in all newly constructed homes.

Whats holding them back, he said, is pushback from Canadas residential construction industry.

We are working against well-funded groups such as the Canadian Home Builders Association, who are resistant to have any impediment put in place that would delay the construction of housing or increase costs of housing, said Tracey.

We are not resourced as well as these groups in trying to see the changes put forward.

Reached for comment, the Canadian Home Builders Association (CHBA) declined an interview.

Unfortunately, until the Fire Marshals report on this tragic event is completed and released, and all of the circumstances are properly understood, CHBA is not able to offer any comments, spokesperson David Foster said in an email.

He also refused to comment on the building code more generally or clarify the associations position on mandated residential sprinklers.

According to the Canadian Automatic Sprinkler Association, a group that promotes the devices, home fire sprinkler systems add 1 to 1.5 per cent to the total cost of building a new home.

But Tracey said the cost should be secondary when lives are on the line.

That has been our issue, and how you define the cost-benefit of sprinklers, he said, adding that sprinklers not only protect the lives of the residents but also the firefighters who respond to emergencies.

According to the U.S.-based National Fire Prevention Association, residential sprinklers can reduce the risk of dying from fires by 80 per cent.

Tracey said there are jurisdictions throughout Canada and the United States that have had mandated home sprinklers for decades, including multiple municipalities in British Columbia.

You could probably count on one hand the number of fatal fires that have occurred in sprinkler-protected properties in North America, he said.

Sprinklers, time after time, have proven their worth and value in reducing fire fatalities.

Phil Rizcallah with the National Research Council of Canada, which oversees the development of the National Building Code, said the councils commission on building and fire codes has examined the possibility of mandating sprinklers in the past but has not found sufficient evidence to justify them.

Rizcallah, director for construction research and development with the council, said the commission spoke with a number of stakeholder groups  including the Canadian Home Builders Association and the Canadian Automatic Sprinkler Association  in making that decision.

The result was that the recommendation for residential sprinklers in single-family homes was not accepted, he said.

He noted that sprinkler systems are required in apartment buildings and senior care facilities.

Rizcallah said building codes in recent years have upgraded fire-safety measures for smoke alarms, like requiring battery backups for them and requiring them in every bedroom and on every level of a home.

If you have X amount of resources allocated to the building of a home, and you can put either smoke alarms or a sprinkler system, the committee looked at it and said, We prefer to put smoke alarms, he said, adding that smoke alarms can help people detect danger before a fire actually breaks out.

There was a lot of other measures put in the code, and the committee at that time felt there were so many other measures, we couldnt justify putting sprinklers on top of all the other measures were putting in.

The National Building Code is updated every five years to keep up with new technology and safety standards.

The Canadian Commission on Building and Fire Codes opened a public review on the National Building Code from November 2018 to January 2019, and residential fire sprinklers were singled out for debate.

According to the National Research Council of Canada website, the commission is considering the recent feedback before another public review opens this fall. Any accepted changes to the building code will be finalized in 2020.

Rizcallah said the organization plans to study reports into the Barho fire in detail once theyre available.

In an email, Halifax Regional Municipality spokesperson Brendan Elliott said Monday that the fire department has no estimate on when we will have an update on the investigation.

We appreciate the patience of the community as we take time to conduct a thorough investigation, Elliott said.

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Akava on Monday unveiled its objectives for the upcoming electoral term, calling particularly for lower threshold taxes as the tax progression is targeted too heavily at middle-income earners.

FINLAND , as a welfare society founded on expertise, must ensure it offers sufficient incentives to support highly skilled employment and economic growth, emphasises the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland (Akava).

When did it become acceptable that employees get to keep less than half of their subsidiary earnings? asked Pasi Sorjonen, the chief economist at Akava. For example, employees with [monthly] earnings of 3,000 euros get to pocket roughly 50 euros of 100 euros in subsidiary income.

Harsh income taxes do not promote the creation of skills-based jobs quickly enough. The taxation of added value created by expertise and know-how is too high, he declared.

Akava on Monday also urged the next government to take action to raise the employment rate to a minimum of 75 per cent and promote employment-based immigration in 20192023.

We can succeed in the competition for skilled labour if our labour taxes are not substantially harsher than in other countries, told Sorjonen.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Source: Uusi Suomi
For the first time in a century, Ontarios animal welfare agency will no longer investigate and enforce animal cruelty laws.

In a letter Monday to Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it will not sign a new contract with the province after the current one expires at the end of March.

The current model is just simply not working, CEO Kate MacDonald told The Canadian Press in an interview. This is a very significant shift in who we are and what we do.

The letter, obtained by The Canadian Press, said the OSPCA will offer a three-month transition phase, by way of contract, until June 28.

During the transition period, we will not be accepting complaints or cases dealing with livestock, said the letter signed by MacDonald and Catherine MacNeill, the chair of the OSPCAs board of directors.

MacDonald said the organization will shift into a support role in animal cruelty investigations, providing animal shelter, forensic evidence collection and veterinary services.

She said the OSPCA would like to see a model similar to that in New York, where the NYPD has an animal cruelty squad that leads investigations and works with the American SPCA, which handles similar support services.

We expect to continue to be involved as a support to law enforcement agencies, MacDonald said. Theyre going to need help and were the logical choice.

The minister of community safety said the government is actively reviewing the implications of the OSPCA decision.

We are committed to ensuring no animals fall through the cracks as a result of todays announcement, Jones said in a statement.

The OSPCA has police powers  it can enforce both provincial and Criminal Code animal cruelty laws  under the OSPCA Act that became law in 1919.

Its role came into question in early January when an Ontario court found the OSPCAs powers to be unconstitutional and gave the government a year to remedy the situation. The judge said the province erred when it gave police powers to a private organization without imposing accountability and transparency standards on the agency. The province appealed the decision.

MacDonald said the courts ruling was the catalyst in its move away from animal cruelty investigations.

The recent decision has helped us to see, truly, that enforcement is a function of government, she said, adding that community members concerned about animal cruelty should contact their local police force or animal control units.

MacDonald said the agencys 65 enforcement officers will be offered jobs on the organizations expanding animal rescue arm.

A scathing 2016 report by Kendra Coulter, a labour studies professor at Brock University, found that the majority of the OSPCA officers were poorly paid, worked in the field alone often facing dangerous circumstances, and were responsible for extremely large geographic regions.

Coulter said Monday that there are many reasons a government should fund and operate animal welfare law enforcement, including transparency and accountability.

But the government has not yet shown any leadership on this issue, she said. We are in a time of troubling uncertainty. We need clarity from the government, promptly.

The Ontario Provincial Police said animal cruelty enforcement is not a core function of policing and municipalities are the ones responsible for animal control.

If theres criminality, we can look after that  we will not ignore complaints of animal cruelty, said OPP spokesman Bill Dickson.

Coulter said the NYPD-American SPCA model is a good one to aspire to, but noted that it required plenty of planning, including a four-month pilot project and significant resources from both sides.

There is no plan in place, no public announcements, theres been little to no communication with stakeholders, she said of the situation in Ontario.

Some animal rights groups applauded the move by the OSPCA.

Law enforcement by private charities is no longer appropriate in 2019, and vulnerable animals in Ontario deserve a robust, well-resourced public system, said Camille Labchuk, executive director of Animal Justice.

Lynn Perrier, the founder of Reform Advocates for Animal Welfare, said she wasnt surprised at the news.

They havent been doing their job for ages  at least its official now, she said. They have now made an easy path for the government to restructure the animal welfare system in Ontario so our animals will be protected. Lets hope they dont have to wait long.

The OSPCA first talked about transforming its operations about a year ago. In October, management told front line officers it planned to pull out of investigating cruelty complaints involving horses and large farm animals, trying to farm those out to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Frontline officers were also told they would no longer euthanize dogs involved in attacks as required by law.

The province gives the OSPCA $5.75 million annually, but the organization has long complained the funding is not enough to carry out enforcement duties.
Ontarios police watchdog has filed charges against a Kingston police officer who allegedly caused serious injuries to a cyclist after attempting to pull him over.

Tony Loparco, Director of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), said the agency has reasonable grounds to believe the officer committed criminal offences after a 39-year-old man was injured last fall.

In a news release, the SIU said a man was cycling south on Portsmouth Ave. on Sept. 19 when an officer pulled up beside him and ordered him to stop. The man did not stop.

The police cruiser then struck the cyclist, resulting in him being ejected from the bicycle, the news release said.

Const. Daniel Attwood is facing five charges, one count each of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon, attempt to obstruct justice and breach of trust.

Attwood was arrested by members of the SIU and later released. He is next scheduled to appear in court on March 21.

Ilya Banares is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Stars radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @ilyaoverseas

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VANCOUVERWhile timing and opportunity are the likeliest reasons Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada rather than Mexico, icy relations between Mexico and the U.S. and rhetoric around the migrant caravan may have sealed Canadas fate, according to analysts.

The high-profile tech executive was captured by law enforcement in Vancouver International Airport on her way to Mexico in December. At the time, U.S. authorities had been seeking her arrest for months, said Joseph V. Moreno, a former prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice, now a partner with Cadwalader in Wash., D.C.

Most likely authorities leapt at this first chance they had to request Canadian authorities take her into custody, Moreno told the Star Vancouver in an email. Odds are it was first and foremost a matter of timing and opportunity.

The decision to request Mengs extradition has catapulted Canada into an escalating dispute with an outraged Beijing. After her arrest on Dec. 1, Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were arrested in China, apparently in retaliation. A third Canadian, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, was handed a death sentence in January after a one-day retrial on drug-related offences for which hed already been tried and sentenced to prison.

Meng, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit against the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and Government of Canada on Friday, alleging her rights had been violated during the course of her arrest in December.

Moreno said its also possible U.S. authorities had a backup plan to make an extradition request to their Mexican counterparts in the event Meng eluded Canadian law enforcement. The U.S. and Mexico maintain an extradition treaty very similar in form and language to the bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Canada.

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But Canadas deep historical ties to the U.S., both in terms of security goals and intelligence-sharing, virtually assured an extradition through the Canadian system was preferable for U.S authorities, said Christian Leuprecht, professor of political science at Queens University and the Royal Military College of Canada.

If youre going to pick the path of least resistance, where youre likely going to have the best chance of a successful outcome, then Canada would have been the next best jurisdiction if (the U.S.) cant detain the individual on U.S. jurisdiction itself, he told the Star Vancouver.

Since the establishment of the Permanent Joint Board on Defence in 1940, the security, intelligence and defence partnership between Canada and the U.S. has been extremely intimate, Leuprecht said. And not only does the Canadian judiciary represent a consistent and predictable mechanism for the treatment of extradition, Ottawa and the White House have a very close, trusted relationship.

Such trust, he added, is essential to an extradition case surrounding a figure as high-profile as Meng, whose arrest Leuprecht said is a little bit like arresting the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

Even outside of the pressures particular to Mengs case, extradition is an extraordinarily sensitive, time-consuming and resource-intensive undertaking, he said. Simply sharing an arrest warrant with another country risks a tip-off being leaked to the person of interest  or in Mengs case, to Huawei or Beijing.

So, I think the other issue that played into this is that the Americans knew they could trust the Canadian intelligence law enforcement and political executive system that this arrest warrant would not become public, and the Chinese would not get wind of it, Leuprecht said.

Theres simply not the trust with Mexico, I think, to share that kind of high-level intelligence if you have the option of sharing it with Canada.

But the domestic political landscape within Mexico leading up to Mengs arrest may very well have cemented the American decision to lean on its bilateral agreement with Canada, rather than Mexico, said Emily Edmonds-Poli, associate professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was inaugurated on Dec. 1  the same day Meng was arrested, Edmonds-Poli pointed out. And leading up to his election, Lopez Obrador had played the nationalist card heavily, she said, which may have unsettled U.S. authorities, given the tension already simmering between the U.S. and Mexico following the election of President Donald Trump.

In many ways, I think people thought (Lopez Obrador) was going to be this attack dog that used the anti-Trump, anti-American rhetoric as a basis for drumming up electoral support, Edmonds-Poli told the Star Vancouver.

And that really didnt happen on the level that people were expecting, especially given his rhetoric before the campaign.

The so-called migrant caravan was also being mobilized as a political device in the U.S. in the weeks and months leading up to Mengs arrest, she said. And a changing Mexican administration may have spurred further uncertainty as to whether Mexico would assist the U.S. in keeping asylum seekers on the south side of the border.

Moreno, the former federal prosecutor, agreed turmoil between the White House and Mexico City could have influenced the U.S. plan for Mengs arrest.

Were ... at a time when our U.S. relations with Mexico are a little strained, because of the immigration issue at the southern border, he told the Star Vancouver in a second telephone interview. So its certainly possible that these were strategic decisions made by the (U.S.) Justice Department as to which foreign country to work with to try to apprehend her.

Edmonds-Poli noted that in Mexico, although extradition is nominally granted by the foreign minister, its the president who truly makes the final call.

So theres a lot of discretion that comes from the executive office, and they can essentially instruct their foreign ministers to go ahead or to block things at any point, she added.

Amidst all the political and operational ambiguity roiling between the U.S. and Mexico, Mengs arrest in Canada likely not only represented a bird in hand, she said, but a procedure with far fewer unknowns surrounding it.

Edmonds-Poli also noted that extradition between the U.S. and Canada or Mexico is primarily used for drug offences such as trafficking. But for cases between the U.S. and Mexico, the second most common reason for extradition requests is violent crimes, such as homicide and human trafficking.

White collar crimes, on the other hand  such as the charges which have been levelled against Meng and Huawei  are a more common motivation for the U.S. in seeking extradition from Canada, she said.

In other words, it could be that the processes for handling white collar crime ... are just better established between the United States and Canada.

Whether Meng is ultimately committed to extradition by the courts  and whether the extradition request is ultimately granted by Canadas Justice Minster David Lametti  remains to be seen. Meng is due back in court in Vancouver on March 6, at which point the judge is expected to set future hearing dates.

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VANCOUVERAccusations of espionage against two Canadians detained in China are almost certainly a response to Fridays approval of extradition proceedings against Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, say analysts.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua cited anonymous authorities in a Monday article claiming diplomat-on-leave Michael Kovrig stands accused of spying while on Chinese soil and stealing state secrets with the help of entrepreneur Michael Spavor, publicly linking their cases for the first time.

The announcement  which likewise appeared on the official news website of the Chinese Communist Partys Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission  comes just days after Canadian Minister of Justice David Lametti gave the green light to extradition proceedings for Meng.

The announcement seems too closely timed to Canadas announcement of (its) decision to proceed with Ms. Mengs extradition hearing to be a simple coincidence, said Charles Burton, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institutes Centre for Advancing Canadas Interests Abroad.

Meng was arrested by Canadian law enforcement at the behest of U.S. authorities during a flight transfer at Vancouver International Airport on Dec. 1. The arrest hurled Canada headlong into a diplomatic conflict with an incensed Beijing. Less than two weeks after Mengs arrest, Kovrig and Spavor were detained on suspicion of threatening Chinese national security  a move observers called an extralegal action intended to pressure Canada into releasing Meng.

Meng is being sought for extradition to the U.S. to face fraud charges related to violations of trade sanctions against Iran.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, seen here in February speaking to the media in Ottawa, has dismissed reported accusations of spying levelled by Beijing against a pair of Canadians detained in China.





Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday its unfortunate China continues to push forward with the detentions of Kovrig and Spavor, who have been jailed without formal charges being laid and without access to a lawyer since December. Canada is a rule of law country and will act as such, Trudeau told reporters in Prince Edward Island.

According to Donald C. Clarke, a professor specializing in Chinese law at the George Washington University Law School in Wash, D.C., Mondays announcement via Xinhua was intended to put Canada firmly in its place.

I think its very clearly designed to be a response to remind Canada that Kovrig and Spavor are hostages, Clarke said in an email.

The announcement stops short of detailing the accusations in any meaningful way, he noted, nor does it represent a formal laying of charges.

So why make the announcement at all? Its got to be more than coincidence.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang dismissed suggestions there was any contradiction in decrying Mengs mistreatment on one hand while continuing to imprison a pair of Canadians without charges on the other.

China has strictly observed its obligations as per the China-Canada Consular Agreement, Lu said, according to a translation of his remarks posted to the Chinese Foreign Ministrys website. Kovrig and Spavor have been permitted visits from Canadian officials roughly once a month.

Lu said measures taken against the pair were compulsory given the threat theyre suspected of posing to Chinas national security  a narrative Beijing has aggressively advanced since the mens arrest.

I believe you are well aware that it is common practice for all countries in the world to deal with cases concerning national security in this way, said Lu.

Mengs treatment by Canada, meanwhile, constitutes a grave violation of her legitimate rights and interests and also constitutes a serious political incident, Lu said.

Meng has been out on bail since Dec. 11 and is currently living in her familys multimillion-dollar home in the Dunbar neighbourhood of Vancouver pending extradition proceedings in the B.C. Supreme Court.

A Sunday statement from her lawyers confirmed she had filed a civil suit against the RCMP, Canadian government and Canada Border Services Agency alleging her rights were violated during the course of her arrest.

Mengs claims of mistreatment during her arrest  while potentially legitimate  are likely part of a larger legal strategy to affect the outcome of her extradition proceedings, legal experts told The Star on Sunday.

In a Monday morning statement, a spokesperson for International Crisis Group  the think tank for which Kovrig works  said staff are aware of the Xinhua report but have received no notice of formal charges against Kovrig.

Michaels work for Crisis Group has been entirely transparent and in the open, as all who follow his work can attest, said Karim Lebhour, Crisis Group spokesperson. Vague and unsubstantiated accusations against him are unwarranted and unfair.

Former Canadian ambassadors to China David Mulroney and Guy Saint-Jacques said Monday the reported accusations against Kovrig and Spavor are a clear attempt to amplify pressure on the Canadian government toward Mengs release.

Saint-Jacques previously told the Star that the Chinese judiciary is a far cry from the independent institution Canadians understand their own courts to be. When facing charges in Chinese courts, he said, 99.9 per cent of the time, youre found guilty.

Burton of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute noted that Lu, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, had urged Canada to release Meng and avoid making more mistakes. A statement from the Chinese government, meanwhile, suggested further steps in Kovrig and Spavors prosecution will be taken at an appropriate time.

This suggests that their case continues to be regarded as a bargaining chip for Mengs release by the Chinese authorities, Burton said.

Tragically, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig could be heading for life imprisonment in China, or even for one or both a sentence of death, depending on the outcome of Meng Wanzhous extradition process.

Meng is scheduled to appear in court in Vancouver on Wednesday in relation to her extradition proceedings.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Biker Frank (Cisco) Lenti says hes not looking over his shoulder or losing any sleep even though police still havent caught whoever appeared on his Vaughan driveway two winters ago and fired a bullet at his head.

He was aiming right at my face, Lenti, 71, said in an exclusive interview at a York Region cafe. He grazed my collar.

Lenti sounded upbeat as he discussed the latest attempt on his life, his on-again, off-again, on-again relationship with the Hells Angels, prison life, local mobsters he has known and the dangers of eating too many eggs.

Times have changed for the longtime biker, whos looking back on an outlaw life that wont let him go quite yet.

Ten years ago, Lenti was adjusting to prison life after killing a Hells Angel. He was also upset his association with outlaw biker clubs had kept his son from the military.

Now, Lenti can finally see the day when he leaves the biker club life behind  although he cant imagine ever parting with his all-black, 1999 Harley Road King with a sidecar.

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Im going to retire soon, he says  but hell only leave his current club, the Loners, when he wants to, not because hes scared.

He said he didnt recognize the 20-something would-be hitman in a heavy green coat, whose gun jammed after the first shot on Dec. 20, 2016.

Lenti said he swore loudly and made a move, as to reach for a gun. The hooded attacker appeared to panic and sprinted away, he says.

He was running like a robot. I cant run.

Lenti says hes more worried nowadays about a slip on the ice than a return of the would-be killer, who he suspects was hired by an associate.

The day I worry about bad guys is the day I f---ing kill myself, he says.

The attack wasnt the first  or second  time there has been an attempt on his life.

You cant ever let your guard down, he says.

Lenti has walked with a cane since he survived a 1995 car bombing outside his former Woodbridge home, across the street from a primary school and half a block from his old Loners Motorcycle Club clubhouse.

No arrest was ever made for that attack  which left him a bit wary about icy sidewalks.

I didnt want to slip and hurt my f---ing hip, Lenti says.

He said he doesnt suspect the Hells Angels were behind that recent murder bid, even though he has had numerous run-ins with them during his stints with the Loners, Satans Choice, Bandidos, Diablos and Outlaws motorcycle clubs.

He says the recent murder attempt wasnt the style of the Hells Angels.

Im positive, he says. Usually they come in pairs.

He said he hasnt had any problems with local Hells Angels since he got out of prison in 2014 on parole after serving six years of a 10-year manslaughter sentence.

He pleaded guilty to killing David (Dred) Buchanan, a high-ranking member of the West Toronto Hells Angels, at a strip club near Hwy. 7 and Jane St. after midnight on Dec. 2, 2006.

Lenti, whos no longer on parole, also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting Carlo Verrilli and Dana (Boomer) Carnegie, both also connected to the West Toronto Hells Angels.

It was kill-or-be-killed, Lenti says, when Buchanan became the first Ontario Hells Angel member slain since the club moved into Ontario in 2000.

At Lentis trial, court heard the Hells Angels decided to murder him leave his body on public display after he spurned their offer to quit the rival Bandidos and join them at a June 2006 meeting.

Three members of the Hells Angels were assigned to carry out the slaying, according to the agreed statement of fact.

Lenti couldnt just disappear; he had to be found to prove a point, the agreed statement said.

On the morning of the shootings, Buchanan yelled at Lenti about the Bandidos, and then struck him in the face, giving him a black eye, according to the agreed statement.

Seconds later, Lenti drew a handgun from his belt and opened fire on the bikers. A security video recorded him firing seven shots in six seconds.

I could have killed them all, but I didnt, he says.

While serving time in Millhaven and Warkworth penitentiaries, Lenti said he peacefully co-existed with Hells Angels.

I talked to a few. We became good friends, actually.

He said he also made other friends while playing in a drum circle with Indigenous inmates.

I had my own little crew in there  lifers.

Lenti said he also got along well with Hells Angels in Europe , after he bolted for Italy in 1982, when his old Satans Choice clubmate Cecil Kirby became a police witness and testified against York Region mobsters.

Me and Kirby used to be together a lot. When he started singing I said, Id better go take a tour.

He said he has often bumped shoulders with the Mob in southern Ontario, but never wanted to actually join.

Everyone was my friend.

He says Hamilton mobster Domenic Musitano, who died in 1995, used to give him free auto parts from his scrapyard and pastries from his bakery.

And Montreal Mob boss Vito Rizzuto, who died in 2013, used to occasionally drop by the strip club where Lenti worked, he says.

Rizzuto supporter Juan Ramon (Raymond) Fernandez once tried to recruit Lenti into his crew when he pushed into the Toronto area from Montreal in the 1990s, Lenti says.

He said, From now on youre with me. I said, Im a biker. If I wanted to be a mafioso I would have been one long ago.

We just stayed friends.

Fernandez, 56, was murdered in Sicily in 2013, alongside Mississauga man Fernando Pimentel, 36.

Lenti says he thinks he has sorted things out  verbally  with the man he suspects of sending the gunman to his door.

He jokes that his friends sometime warn him about the dangers of cholesterol, since he starts each day with six scrambled eggs in olive oil, with salt, pepper and no cheese.

He used to have the big egg breakfast in prison, he says  I was like The Egg Man there. I knew the guys in the kitchen.

Lenti wore a black nylon jacket with the word Criminal on the left chest area to the interview. He says it was a gift from American Hells Angels years ago.

I dont like wearing leather no more. You look like a hoodlum.
The lives of more than 400 low-income Ontarians receiving a basic income under the provinces three-year pilot project were showing significant improvements before the Ford government killed the experiment last summer, according to a new report.

Participants reported less stress and depression, fewer health problems and a greater ability to work, buy healthy food, upgrade their education and secure stable housing, says the report being released Monday by the Basic Income Canada Network.

Many respondents talked about working hard their whole lives, often at multiple jobs, but never really having a life  until basic income made that possible, says the report, which tries to gauge the impact of the ill-fated anti-poverty initiative in the absence of official government research.

The Ontario experiment was the largest, longest-running pilot of basic income in North America, but its potential to yield valuable data was lost when the project was cancelled, said network chair Sheila Regehr.

The networks report, based on an online survey of 424 basic income recipients conducted from mid-December 2018 to mid-January 2019, is designed to partially compensate for this very unfortunate missed opportunity, she said.

Read more:

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Hamilton couple with newborn prepares for wind-down of basic income

Although not scientifically valid, survey results are clear and compelling indicators, or signposts of success, that basic income leads us on a much better path than the one we are currently following, the report says.

For survey respondent Krystal Miller, 36, who was on social assistance for almost three years after her former employer went bankrupt in 2015, basic income allowed her to enrol in a three-year debt repayment program, make plans to go back to school and start her own business.

With the extra money, I was able to afford rent and food and pay bills, said Miller, one of 4,500 participants in the projects three test sites of Hamilton-Brantford, Lindsay and Thunder Bay.

Basic income helped me stabilize my life and make plans for the future, said the Hamilton single mother of a 6-year-old daughter, who began receiving payments in March 2018. I havent been to a food bank in a year.

As with most participants who responded to the survey, Miller said the projects demise has been very, very stressful. After all this, now its back to the food bank.

Under the pilot project, launched by the former Liberal government in April 2017, single people such as Miller have been receiving annual payments of up to $16,989, while couples have been getting up to $24,027. Those with disabilities got a $6,000 top-up. Payments are reduced by 50 cents for every dollar earned until incomes reach $34,000 for singles and about $48,000 for couples.

Participants receive their last payment at the end of March  barely 18 months after most began receiving the extra money  and before the government was able to do any followup studies. The projects goal was to determine whether regular, unconditional payments improve housing, health, education, employment and social outcomes for people living on social assistance or low-wage jobs in an efficient and non-stigmatizing way.

Responses (from the survey) show that the pilot was working  enabling women and men to get and keep jobs, pursue education and training, overcome barriers and improve health and well-being for themselves and their families, said Regehr, whose non-profit network has been advocating for a national basic income for more than a decade.

The network identified survey participants through an online petition to save the pilot project last summer. Of 30,000 people who signed, 1,500 indicated they were getting the basic income and would be open to further advocacy.

The networks 22-question survey asked participants how the extra money was impacting their employment, education, food security, finances, plans for the future, mobility, health and social inclusion.

When they enrolled in the project, most participants said they were experiencing stress, struggling to pay rent and having trouble affording healthy food, according to an intake survey, the only official data collected before the project was cancelled.

The networks followup poll found basic income eased those pressures for most respondents.

For example, about 88 per cent reported experiencing less stress and 73 per cent said they suffered less depression. That compares to 81 per cent at the start of the project who told government researchers they were suffering from moderate to severe psychological stress, Regehr said.

More than 74 per cent who responded to the networks survey said basic income allowed them to make healthier food choices, compared to almost half who were experiencing severe food insecurity when the project began.

Although the survey is not a randomized sample of participants, the results will be useful for future research, said University of Manitoba professor Evelyn Forget.

Forgets groundbreaking 2011 research on a mid-1970s federal-provincial trial of basic income in rural Dauphin, Man., found hospital use dropped and the high school completion rate increased when low-income households received unconditional cash payments.

The purpose of a basic income is to give people more control over their lives and the opportunity to plan for the future, Forget said. One of the things we can see from the results (of the networks Ontario survey) is when given the opportunity, people do tend to use their money in pretty reasonable ways to improve their quality of life.

Although Forget fears interest in basic income has waned in Canada, she said the networks report will help other jurisdictions, particularly in the United States, where several large cities are about to announce projects.

The cancellation of Ontarios experiment is a blow to international researchers in the field, said Lauren Burns-Coady, a Canadian working in New York City for the Jain Family Institute, a non-profit research organization that provides research and design advice for several U.S. basic income initiatives.

But the networks survey tries to capture at least some information about what happened in the lives of some people who received this money.

It paints such a vivid picture of how people made their decisions, how they spent their money  and how quickly they made some pretty significant changes in their lives, she said.

One participant got a drivers licence, another bought brushes and rollers to start a painting business. Someone else bought new clothes for a job interview.

Some used the money for recreation classes for themselves or their children, while others said it allowed them to visit family and friends.

These fine-grained details help us hone in on the kind of outcomes we want to look at in other studies, Burns-Coady said.

Seniors and children in Canada have been receiving forms of basic income for years, Regehr said. Our report shows the potential of a basic income for everyone.

Note - March 4, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version to update a photo caption.

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Toronto police have arrested a man following an investigation into a string of sexual assaults near York University in North York, including two incidents involving girls under 18.

Police say the man sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl on Aug. 8 at a residence in the area of Four Winds Dr. and Keele St.

A couple months later, on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, police allege the man also sexually assaulted a 21-year-old woman at a residence in the area of Sentinel and Cook Rds.

The latest incident involved at 17-year-old girl, who police say was sexually assaulted by the man in the area of Finch Ave. W. and Tobermory Dr. on Feb. 24.

None of the three alleged assaults took place on York University campus.

Lamar Anthony Howe, 21, of Toronto, was arrested on February 28.

He was charged with two counts of sexual assault; two counts of assault; one count each of sexual interference, assault with a weapon and mischief; and twelve counts of failing to comply with a probation order.

He appeared in court on Friday.
Hours after a five-alarm fire killed one person and caused extensive damage to a pair of downtown buildings, Joseph Cohen stood across the street, just staring pensively at the scene.

The worst. Just awful, said Cohen, who is a regular customer at one landmark neighbourhood business  Corrados Barbershop.

Fire crews responded to a call at a residential building at Bathurst St. and Richmond St. W. at 5:30 a.m. Monday. By mid-morning, smoke and flames could be seen pouring out of two side-by-side addresses at 160 and 162 Bathurst St., which contains the famous barbershop.

Toronto Fire Capt. Adrian Ratushniak confirmed that two people were pulled from the fire  one with life-threatening injuries and the other with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, according to paramedics. One of the two people later succumbed to the injuries, Ratushniak confirmed.

By noon, the smoke had cleared and the fire appeared to be completely out, revealing broken windows and blackened interiors in both 160 and 162 Bathurst.

As fire crews and police officers combed through the area and continued investigations, neighbours expressed sympathy and concern for victims families. Several families of the two lowrise buildings and those in adjacent apartments had to be evacuated and seek temporary refuge with friends and families.

For Cohen, this fire meant more than just a regular accident. This was the only place he can remember going for his haircut in a long time.

The barber is a young man. I know him by his face. So bad that this is happening to him, he said, noting the barbershop had brought a stronger sense of community. I want him to come back. We need him. I hope he doesnt look for a new location.

Longtime barber Corrado Accaputo, who first started working at the location in 1957, told reporters at the scene he owns both affected addresses. He said tenants told him about the fire early Monday morning.

His shop, which had walls filled with several decades worth of memorabilia, appeared gutted by the fire.

Edward Bareford, who said he used to live in an apartment in one of two buildings, said he was at the barbershop about two days ago and was planning to get a haircut there one of these days.

Walking in there always felt great, he told the Star while standing on the porch at a nearby house.

Just old-school. None of the fancy stuff and loud music. Real people, chit-chatting and having a laugh.

Many people in the area opened their doors and welcomed those who were evacuated by the fire  a testament to how closely tight residents feel about each other, said Sean Galvan, who lives just steps from the scene.

This is one of a few residential areas left around here, he said. Its very sad that somebody lost their life.

In the aftermath, neighbours also created a GoFundMe page to support those displaced residents. The page had raised $4,000 by late afternoon.

Jason Wydra, who lives in an apartment next door to the fire, said he and other residents in his building were told to evacuate immediately and were sheltered in waiting buses outside.

He later went to his apartment to pick up his two cats, which were unharmed.

Look at all the broken windows. he said. These buildings are like 100 years old but I never thought Id see anything like this.

At the scene, fire investigator Capt. Marc Dunn said the fire appears to have started in the basement of 160 Bathurst, but its still too early to know the cause.

The roof right now is unstable and it has to be looked at by an engineer before our crews can go in to fully investigate, he said.

We will probably be here for a couple of days.

Four apartments above the popular pub next door, Football Factory, have also been evacuated due to water damage from the firefighting efforts. Pub co-owner Chrissy Whittick said she expects the pub to be closed down for a few more days.

This has been 12 years of our life and watching it get very smoky was a big concern, especially for tenants in the building, she said, noting some of the residents in the affected buildings are or have been employed at the pub.

This is a neighbourhood with wonderful people and we all come together and like to take care of each other.

Ratushniak said about 17 fire trucks and 65 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

At various times during the day police had to close down Bathurst St. between Queen St. W. and Richmond St. W. The 511 Bathurst streetcar was detouring due to the fire, as well as the 145 Downtown/Humber Bay Express bus, according to the TTC.

With files from Ilya Banares
NEW DELHIIt was an inauspicious moment for a military the United States is banking on to help keep an expanding China in check.

An Indian air force pilot found himself in a dogfight last week with a warplane from the Pakistani air force, and ended up a prisoner behind enemy lines for a brief time.

The pilot made it home in one piece, however bruised and shaken, but the plane, an aging Soviet-era MiG-21, was less lucky.

The aerial clash, the first by the South Asian rivals in nearly five decades, was a rare test for the Indian military  and it left observers a bit dumbfounded. While the challenges faced by Indias armed forces are no secret, its loss of a plane last week to a country whose military is about half the size and receives a quarter of the funding was still telling.

Indias armed forces are in alarming shape.

If intense warfare broke out tomorrow, India could supply its troops with only 10 days of ammunition, according to government estimates. And 68 per cent of the armys equipment is so old, it is officially considered vintage.

Our troops lack modern equipment, but they have to conduct 21st-century military operations, said Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker and member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defense.

Read more:

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U.S. officials tasked with strengthening the alliance talk about their mission with frustration: a swollen bureaucracy makes arms sales and joint training exercises cumbersome; Indian forces are vastly underfunded; and the countrys navy, army and air force tend to compete rather than work together.

Whatever the problems, the United States is determined to make the country a key ally in the coming years to hedge against Chinas growing regional ambition.

Last year, when Defense Secretary Jim Mattis announced that the Pentagon was renaming its Pacific Command  to Indo-Pacific  he emphasized Indias importance in a shifting world order.

It is our primary combatant command, said Mattis, who left the Pentagon at the end of the year. Its standing watch and intimately engaged with over half of the earths surface and its diverse populations, from Hollywood to Bollywood.

The U.S. military began prioritizing its alliance with India as its close relationship with Pakistan soured over the last two decades. U.S. officials are concerned that Pakistan is not doing enough to fight terrorism, a charge the country denies.

In just a decade, U.S. arms sales to India have gone from nearly zero to $15 billion (U.S.). But Pakistan can still draw on a powerful U.S.-supplied arsenal.

Indian officials say Pakistan used one of its F-16 fighter jets to down its MiG-21 last week. Islamabad rejected the claim, but on Sunday the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad said the United States was looking into the report. The offensive use of an F-16 warplane against its neighbour might have been a violation of the sales agreement.

We are aware of these reports and are seeking more information, the embassy said in a statement. We take all allegations of misuse of defence articles very seriously.

However troubled its military, India holds an obvious strategic appeal to the United States by virtue of both its location and its size.

India will soon become the worlds most populous country, on track to surpass China by 2024. It shares a long border with southern and western China and controls important territorial waters Beijing needs for its maritime trade routes.

All that can help the United States try to box in its rival.

Indias sheer demographics, its long-term military potential, its geographic expanse  it makes India worth waiting for, said Jeff Smith, a research fellow for South Asia at the Heritage Foundation in Washington and the author of Cold Peace: China-India Rivalry in the 21st Century.

As China rises and the United States fights to keep its dominance, it will need a swing state to tip the balance of power in the 21st century, Smith said. And that swing state is India. The United States knows this and is willing to be patient.

For Indias military, funding remains the biggest challenge.

In 2018, India announced a military budget of some $45 billion. By comparison, Chinas military budget that year was $175 billion. Last month, Delhi announced another $45 billion budget.

It is not just a question of how much India spends on its military, but how it spends it.

The majority of the money goes to salaries for its 1.2 million active duty troops, as well as pensions. Only $14 billion will be used to buy new hardware.

At a time when modern armies are investing hugely on upgrading their intelligence and technical capabilities, we need to be doing the same, said Gogoi, the Parliament member.

Unlike China, where an authoritarian government is free to set military policy as it wishes, India is a democracy, with all the messiness that can entail.

Cutting troop levels so the military can spend the money on buying modern equipment is not so simple. Indias military has long been a source of jobs for a country struggling with chronic underemployment. That is likely to be a big issue in elections scheduled for later this spring.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won elections in 2014 promising to reform the economy and provide the 1 million jobs needed each month to satisfy its growing workforce. But with elections around the corner, Modi has shelved promises of economic reform and embraced the usual populist measures.

The thrust of this government is to focus more on economic development, which has to precede military strength, said Amit Cowshish, a former Defense Ministry financial adviser for military acquisitions. That was what China did  they focused on developing their economy and then focused on acquiring their current military stature. The difference is that China started 20 or 30 years ahead of us in terms of economic liberalization.

Government officials in New Delhi say they are struggling to improve the lives of their citizens in the most basic of ways  dealing with high illiteracy rates and poor sanitation infrastructure, as just two examples  making it hard to funnel more money toward the military at a time when China is making incursions into Indias backyard by land and sea.

China has significantly outpaced its rival, creating a robust and taxable middle class. Chinas economic boom has allowed it to invest aggressively in buying top military hardware and producing it at home.

As the worlds conflicts are increasingly fought with state-of-the-art weaponry rather than the large invading armies of the past, India is falling behind. Despite being the fifth-largest military spender, only about a quarter of its military budget this year will purchase new equipment.

Although the purchase of military hardware is a slow-moving process in most countries, in India it moves even more sluggishly amid a swollen bureaucracy.

There are also concerns about corruption.

Modi is being grilled by the opposition over a murky $8.9 billion deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter planes from France. His political opponents have cast the agreement as corrupt in an effort to discredit him before elections.

The purchase will help India replace its aging fleet of MiG-21s and other jets. And on Saturday, the prime minister tried to turn the tables on the opposition, saying India would have fared better in its skirmish with Pakistan last week if it had had the Rafale jets.

The country has felt the shortage of Rafale, Modi said.

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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - Two locks of hair belonging to widely revered Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros will be repatriated after a request from Addis Ababa, the National Army Museum in Britain announced Monday, as more African countries seek to reclaim heritage they say was taken decades, even centuries, ago.

An outcry erupted last year among some Ethiopians over an exhibit by another institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, on the 1868 British expedition to what was then called Abyssinia. During that campaign, in which 13,000 troops were deployed to free several British hostages, the emperor killed himself and his fortress was captured and looted.

Ethiopias government at the time said it would use whatever legal and diplomatic instruments to secure the return of related items including an intricate golden crown.

That another British museum, the National Army Museum, held locks of the emperors hair was seen as particularly sensitive. Displaying human parts in websites and museums is inhumane, Ethiopias minister for culture and tourism, Hirut Woldemariam, told The Associated Press last year.

That museum has said the hair was donated in 1959 by relatives of an artist who painted the emperor on his deathbed.

Our decision to repatriate is very much based on the desire to inter the hair within the tomb alongside the emperor at a monastery in northern Ethiopia, Terri Dendy, the National Army Museums head of collections standards and care, said in a statement.

It was not clear when the formal handover would occur. The Ethiopian Embassy in London said it would hold talks with the museum on Thursday about the repatriation, which comes at the end of a yearlong commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the confrontation known as the Battle of Maqdala.

The embassy in a statement commended the museums decision as an exemplary gesture of goodwill, adding that a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when (the hair) is returned to its rightful home.

Now Ethiopians say they seek the return of the bones of the emperors son, Prince Alemayehu, who was taken to Britain and died there at age 18. He was buried at St. Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle.

The decision to return the emperors hair is a great start, both in encouraging the British toward looking into the possibilities of returning our looted antiquities and also the Ethiopian stakeholders whose decades-long, painstaking efforts actually can bear fruit, Yonas Desta, director-general of Ethiopias Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, told the AP.

The bulk of what was taken, however, remains in the hands of the descendants of the British soldiers, according to Alula Pankhurst, a former professor at Addis Ababa University and an expert on Ethiopian studies.

Some items in private collections have already been returned but the bulk of the items are in public collections within the UK and those cannot be restituted without an act of Parliament, and that is something that requires a big change in popular opinion and a bill has to be presented by members of Parliament, he said last year. This is something that cannot be done overnight.

Some in Africa expect the momentum to grow in repatriating heritage from institutions overseas.

Late last year, a study by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, recommended that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them.

That could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit. The experts estimated that up to 90 per cent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts.

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This version corrects by removing reference to the hair being displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

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Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
RIO DE JANEIRO - Samba competition is taking on a political edge in Brazil, with one of Rios top samba schools and other groups paying tribute to Marielle Franco, an activist for gays and Afro-Brazilian rights who was slain almost a year ago.

Mangueira, one of the oldest samba schools in Rio, included the former city councilwoman in its parade early Tuesday honouring Brazils hidden heroes, those who history books often forget or choose not to mention.

Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, were shot to death in their car while driving in downtown Rio on March 14, 2018. The killings shocked Brazilians and set off a wave of national demonstrations, but police have never named suspects.

It has been a year since the incident, Luyara Franco, Marielles daughter, told The Associated Press hours before Mangueira was to perform. This Carnival full of tributes stresses we are still in this fight. The case has not been solved.

Several flags with Francos face in green and pink, the Mangueira colours, appeared both in the parade and on the stands.

One giant green flag on the stands also with Francos face seemed to send a message to far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who won last years elections with a pro-gun message.

Our weapon is education, the flag in tribute to Franco read.

Francos partner, Monica Benicio, took part in the samba schools parade in the wee hours of Tuesday at Rios Sambadrome wearing a shirt that read fight like Marielle.

Marielle was a woman, a fighter, from the favela, who overcame inequality, went to university, was elected councilwoman, fought for minorities, denounced and investigated public power, said Deivid Domenico, who co-wrote Mangueiras samba anthem for this years Carnival.

For the composer, the need to write about the slain councilwoman and Brazils forgotten history was all the more important this year as Brazilians recently elected a far-right president who has repeatedly praised the 1964-1985 dictatorship.

Franco grew up in Rios Mare favela and was black and homosexual - a rarity in Brazils overwhelmingly white and male political spectrum.

Franco was not only a human being, it was an idea, a force, Domenico said. She became a fighting flag.

Thomaz Miranda, one of the authors of Mangueiras samba, also said in his social network channels that the lyrics are for the memory of Marielle and all the struggle that is yet to come.

While progressives hail Franco as a hero, Rio state lawmaker Rodrigo Amorim, who last year showed off a street sign honouring Franco that he and another candidate had broken, told the newspaper O Globo that he was disappointed the samba school included the councilwoman in its parade.

Just as universities are absolutely dominated by this cultural dictatorship that the left is trying to impose, unfortunately it has also reached the samba school, said Amorim, who belongs to Bolsonaros PSL party.

During the parade at the sambadrome, Amorim told journalists he was not singing Mangueiras samba despite being a supporter because he couldnt memorize the lyrics. Thousands of revelers in the stands, however, found Mangueiras tune very easy to sing and favoured the green and pink samba school to win this years parade.

This is the champion, they chanted after Mangueiras performance.

Standing outside a Rio subway station with a sign reading Who killed Marielle?, Adelaide Rezende argued that Brazilians needed to keep up the pressure.

If we dont forget and keep asking, we might get some answers, Rezende said, noting that authorities have said they believe the killing was orchestrated by militias, paramilitary-type groups that have close ties to local politicians.

The left-wing local politician was widely commemorated Sunday during Carnival street parties, known in Brazil as blocos.

A Sao Paulo-based samba school, Vai-Vai, paraded with Francos sister and daughter, while carrying a large photo mosaic of Franco along with the slogan Marielle present!

Benicio, Francos partner, attended a bloco in Rio wearing a shirt reading Who killed Marielle? She also carried a rainbow flag around the Toco-Xona bloco with the face of the murdered councilwoman.

The Ilu Oba de Min bloco in Sao Paulo, which promotes Afro-Brazilian culture, also remembered the councilwoman. They are not going to silence us! the female-only bloco sang Sunday.

At Sao Paulos Vai Quem Quer bloco, 3,000 people danced as street signs with Francos name rose close to the speakers.

Rodrigo Rodrigues, an internet technology student who was one of the revelers, said the bow to Franco comes from her example and from her being a symbol of resistance to the new president.

Marielle is also a counterpoint to this narrative that Brazil is narrow-minded and hating of minorities. She is celebrated because she is pro-LGBT rights, because she is black and because she comes from a favela, Rodrigues said. We are not merely teasing the conservatives that dislike her politics, we are giving praise to a woman that was killed by reactionaries.
CARACAS, Venezuela - Appearing a day after his rival returned home to a tumultuous welcome, President Nicolas Maduro denounced his opponents in a speech Tuesday at a military ceremony but did not refer by name to opposition leader Juan Guaido. The man who says he is the rightful president, meanwhile, escalated his campaign to topple Maduro with an appeal for support from state unions, long reliant on government handouts.

The dueling scenes, evidence of the rift in a country in crisis, came as Venezuelans and the world awaited the next moves of two adversaries manoeuvring for an edge in what could be a protracted struggle. The Maduro governments decision not to move against Guaido upon his return to Venezuela on Monday reflects the intense pressure Maduro faces and, possibly, a calculation that restraint is the best tactic for now.

Still, Maduro was defiant during a ceremony marking the sixth anniversary of the death of his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez, belittling a minority of opportunists and cowards. He said government supporters would hold a rally on Saturday, a day of anti-imperialism in his words, and a counter to U.S.-backed Guaidos plans to hold nationwide protests the same day.

Maduro also pinned medals on members of the security forces involved in a crackdown on Guaidos failed Feb. 23 attempt to bring humanitarian aid into Venezuela from Brazil and Colombia. Maduro has described the attempt, backed by the U.S. and its allies, as part of a plot to overthrow his government.

Hours earlier, Guaido said police officials were among those at a meeting that he held with leaders of public employee unions, which rely heavily on subsidies from Maduros government to get by in a country suffering from hyperinflation and shortages of food and other necessities.

Were not going to collaborate any longer with the dictatorship, Guaido said after a meeting at the offices of an engineers association in Caracas. He urged state workers to prepare for a strike, though no date was given and he said an immediate priority will be to promote a law guaranteeing rights for public workers.

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido delivers a speech after meeting with Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno in Salinas, Ecuador on March 2, 2019.















































The 35-year-old leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly said he would call a meeting of the legislature on Wednesday to craft the law.

Guaido and his backers say Maduros re-election last year was invalid, making the legislative leader interim president. At least one pro-Maduro Supreme Court judge has accused Guaido of illegally usurping power, putting him at risk of arrest.

Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido delivers a speech after meeting with Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno in Salinas, Ecuador on March 2, 2019.















































Guaido had shrouded the route and timing of his return Monday in secrecy amid concerns he might be detained. Yet he breezed through airport immigration checks after a commercial flight from Panama and brazenly called for Maduros downfall at a rally where the presence of security forces was minimal.

The United States and other countries had warned Maduro not to move against his adversary, and he possibly realized arresting his foe could generate more street protests.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, an influential voice in advocating U.S measures against Maduro, warned that the Venezuelan government could still act against Guaido in ways that it has refined against other opposition voices.

Issue a standing arrest warrant from a rubber stamp court. Then at a time of their choosing, arrest him late at night with no media, diplomats or supporters around, Rubio warned in a tweet.

While Guaidos presence is likely to add at least short-term momentum to his campaign for political change, Maduro has proven resilient and still controls the organs of state, including the critical loyalty of top military officers. Some analysts speculate the two sides might consider behind-the-scenes negotiations as a way to end the standoff.

The U.S. envoy for Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, said in Washington that Maduro had presided over economic decline and human rights violations in Venezuela.

In every democratic transition in Latin America there are negotiations, but I just would say it is extremely difficult to see how he could play a positive role in a democratic election, Abrams said.

Venezuela is gripped by a humanitarian crisis that is expected to worsen as U.S. oil sanctions designed to put more pressure on Maduro take their toll.

The United States and some 50 other countries have recognized Guaido as the legitimate leader of Venezuela and have urged Maduro, who is backed by Russia, to resign so the country can prepare for elections. Guaido left Venezuela last month despite a court order banning him from foreign travel and visited Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador.

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Associated Press journalist Luis Alonso contributed to this report from Washington.

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Follow Christopher Torchia on Twitter at www.twitter.com/torchiachris
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia and Australia signed a free trade agreement Monday that will eliminate many tariffs, allow Australian-owned hospitals to be set up in the giant Southeast Asian country and increase work visas for young Indonesians.

Trade ministers from the two countries signed the agreement, negotiations for which first began in 2010, at a Jakarta hotel with Indonesias Vice-President Jusuf Kalla looking on. It is subject to ratification in both countries.

Annual trade between Australia and Indonesia is valued at $11.6 billion. Though they are neighbours, their trade is relatively small with Indonesias exports to Australia just 1.5 per cent of its total exports.

Major details of the agreement were announced by Australia last September after leaders of the two countries said negotiations had been completed. The text of the agreement is expected to be released after the signing.

Australia says 99 per cent of its exports to Indonesia will be tariff free or have improved preferential access by 2020, up from 85 per cent under an existing trade agreement between Australia, New Zealand and 10 Southeast Asian countries. Indonesia already enjoys substantially tariff-free access to the Australian market under that agreement.

The Australia-Indonesia agreement will allow Australian companies to have majority ownership of investments in various industries in Indonesia including healthcare, telecommunications, energy, mining and aged care.

Separately, Indonesia is considering allowing foreign companies to invest in higher education, which along with hospitals, is an area the country is lagging far behind international standards.

Australias live cattle exports are set to increase under the agreement with tariffs to be eliminated and the number of animal exported to Indonesia allowed to increase 4 per cent a year until reaching 700,000.

Australian working holiday visas for young Indonesians will be increased to 6,000 a year from the current 1,000 over six years.
BEIJING - Chinese official media on Monday accused two Canadians detained in China of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

The Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing Chinese state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor.

Both Canadians were arrested on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Chinese executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Canada said last Friday that it will allow a U.S. extradition request for Meng to proceed. Meng is chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei and the daughter of its founder. The U.S. is seeking Mengs extradition to face charges she misled banks about the companys business with Iran.

Xinhua accused Kovrig of often entering China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquiring information from his main contact, Spavor.

Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security, Xinhua said.

The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Partys Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think-tank . Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un, with whom he has been photographed shaking hands and laughing.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The Netherlands foreign minister said Monday that he has recalled his countrys ambassador to Iran after Tehran expelled two diplomats from the Dutch embassy amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to lawmakers that he told Irans ambassador in The Hague last month that the expulsions were unacceptable and negative for the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

The Dutch government last year expelled two Iranians due to suspicions that Tehran was involved in the assassinations in the Netherlands of two Dutch-Iranian citizens.

At the time, no reason was given for those expulsions, but the Dutch government explained them early this year amid a co-ordinated European Union response to alleged covert Iranian activities in Europe.

In January, the E.U. put an Iranian intelligence service and two senior officials on its terror list over suspicions they were involved in assassinations and plots to kill opposition activists in Denmark, France and the Netherlands.

As part of that announcement, the Dutch government said it considered it likely that Iran had a hand in the preparation or commission of assassinations and attacks on EU territory, including the killing of two Dutch nationals of Iranian origin in the cities of Almere in 2015 and in The Hague in 2017. Iran has denied involvement.
JERUSALEM - The United States has officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the U.S. Embassy to Israel.

For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

The symbolic shift hands authority over U.S. diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

The announcement from the State Department came early Monday in Jerusalem, the merger effective that day.

This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations, State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip.

In a farewell video addressed to the consulates Palestinian partners, Consul General Karen Sasahara, who is leaving her post as the unofficial U.S. ambassador to the Palestinians and will not be replaced, maintains that new Palestinian unit at the embassy will carry forward the mission of the consulate, in support of the strengthening of American-Palestinian ties, to boost economic opportunities for the Palestinians and facilitate cultural and educational exchanges.

When first announced by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the U.S. was recognizing Israeli control over east Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move the final nail in the coffin for the U.S. role in peacemaking.

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the U.S. administrations role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

Last year the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israels capital and relocated its embassy there, upending U.S. policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut funding to the U.N. agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the U.S. has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious Deal of the Century to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trumps son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the U.S. would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the U.S. of bias toward Israel.

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AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
JERUSALEM - The Israeli military said a Palestinian vehicle targeted Israeli soldiers on a highway in the West Bank before dawn on Monday, prompting troops to open fire, killing two Palestinians inside.

An Israeli officer and border policeman were injured when the Palestinian car rammed into a group of Israeli troops, running them over on a road outside a village near the city of Ramallah, the military said.

The officer was seriously injured and hospitalized. A third Palestinian inside the car was wounded and taken into custody, it said.

Later Monday, another military statement said an initial inquiry indicates that the incident was a terror attack, adding that the Palestinian suspects had also thrown firebombs at a nearby highway earlier in the night.

A Palestinian official disputed that account. Khaldoun al-Deek, the mayor of the Palestinian village of Nima near where the incident occurred, told The Associated Press that it took place at a sharp curve in the road, leading him to believe it was a road accident, not a ramming attack.

The Palestinian health ministry identified the two killed Palestinians as Amir Daraj and Yusuf Anqawi, both 20 years old and residents of villages near Ramallah.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, addressing journalists in the Gaza Strip on Monday, praised the two slain Palestinians, referring to them as heroes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the military to expedite the demolition of the suspected Palestinian attackers homes. Israel demolishes Palestinian attackers homes as a policy aimed at deterring future attacks.

We are determined to continue our vigorous struggle against the murderers and against terrorism, Netanyahu said during a meeting with visiting Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Malielegaoi.

Since 2015, Palestinians have killed over 50 Israelis in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks, and Israeli forces have killed more than 260 Palestinians in that same period.

Israel has described most of the Palestinians killed as attackers, but occasional clashes between protesters and soldiers have also turned deadly.

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Associated Press writers Fares Akram in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, and Mohammad Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed to this report.
DAHUK, Iraq - Baseh Hammo was 38 when she was enslaved by militants of the Islamic State group. Raped and abused, she was sold 17 times among members of the so-called caliphate, and moved from city to city across a vast stretch of territory IS once controlled in northern Iraq and Syria.

Her ordeal came to an end in January in the Syrian village of Baghouz, when an IS member took pity on her as the final battle loomed with U.S.-led Syrian Kurdish forces. He put her on a truck with his own family and allowed them to leave the village. She was picked up by Syrian Kurdish forces and reunited with her two daughters in Iraq a few days later.

Yet many Yazidis, followers of a minority faith, are still missing, five years after IS militants stormed Yazidi towns and villages in Iraqs Sinjar region and abducted women and children. Women were forced into sexual slavery, and boys were taken to be indoctrinated in jihadi ideology.

Hopes surged last month during a two-week pause in the U.S.-led coalitions assault on Baghouz that some of the estimated 3,000 Yazidis still unaccounted for would emerge.

But few turned up among the thousands who streamed out of the tiny village. Hussein Karo, who heads the Yazidi Rescue Bureau in Iraqs regional Kurdish government, said only 47 Yazidis were rescued.

Now, as U.S.-backed forces resume their final assault on Baghouz, Hammo and Farha Farman, another rescued Yazidi woman, told The Associated Press they fear many may never return home and that the offensive endangers Yazidis who are still in the village.

The two said some are refusing to leave their children behind with their IS fathers while others are staying out of conviction, having adopted the jihadi ideology. Many are simply too terrified to flee.

Hammo said her days as a slave were consumed with loneliness and violence.

She was sold 17 times. One of her owners, a Swede, would lock her in the home for days without food while he went to fight. Another man, an Albanian, stomped on her hands in his military boots, after she scolded him for buying a 9-year-old slave girl.

In the Syrian town of Raqqa, once the seat of the caliphate, her nephews, 12 and 13 years old, carried guns and served as guards to a German IS fighter. When she invited them to eat with her, they refused, saying she was an infidel. She snapped back at them, Youre one of us. Youre infidels, too.

Hammos final months in captivity were especially trying as hunger gripped what was left of the caliphate. Bread grew scarce, and she began making dough for herself out of chicken feed. By the time she was brought to Baghouz, she was eating grass and leaves.

I cannot even look at anything the colour green anymore, said a frail Hammo, her face gaunt, and her hands scarred from the abuse. She had heard there were still 1,000 Yazidis inside Baghouz, including 130 boys training to become jihadis.

Farman, 21, who arrived in Iraq in early February, feared for her sister and nine young male relatives still missing after being abducted five years ago.

Both Farman and Hammo, now staying in bleak camps for the displaced in Iraq, said international airstrikes had killed some Yazidis living as slaves in the caliphate.

Hammo said she had urged a Yazidi woman married to an Uzbek IS fighter to leave Baghouz with her, but the woman, who has had two children with the man, refused.

She said shed blow herself up first, said Hammo.

Another Yazidi woman in Bahgouz, who had been married off to a Saudi man, was forced to give up two of her boys to be trained as IS fighters. She said she couldnt leave without them, Hammo said.

In 2014, when the Islamic State group was at the height of its power and its self-styled caliphate spanned a third of both Syria and Iraq, IS militants stormed Yazidi communities in Iraqs Sinjar region. The extremists, who consider the Kurdish-speaking religious minority to be heretics, enslaved, raped and killed thousands of Yazidis. Close to 200,000 members of the minority fled their homes.

Farman was 17 when she was abducted by IS from Sinjar. She was sold to a Syrian man who went on to carry out a suicide operation for IS. His family then sold her to a Saudi man who beat her savagely for trying to escape  twice.

The first time she tried to flee, she slipped out with a group of other Yazidi women to the countryside. But we couldnt get anywhere, so we gave ourselves up, she said, speaking to the AP in a tent she is staying in with her aunt. She said she is haunted by nightmares that keep her from sleeping.

IS jailed her for a week after her first escape attempt, then turned her over to her captor who beat her savagely with cables and hoses.

The second time she tried to escape, her parents sent a paid smuggler to bring her to safety, but he was caught and gave up her name under IS interrogation. The Saudi man again punished Farman.

All the while, the militants were losing territory against advancing Syrian government and Syrian Kurdish forces, and she moved from city to city with her abuser along the Euphrates River, until they were finally trapped in Baghouz.

I got to see half of Syria, she said, ironically.

Finally, the Saudi man asked if she would flee with him to Turkey. She refused, so he sold her to a smuggler for $10,000, money arranged by the Yazidi community in exile, to help her leave on her own.

Farman made it out, but the Saudi man did not. He was caught by the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces outside Baghouz, and has not been heard of since, she said.

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Associated Press writer Salar Salim in Dahuk, Iraq, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON - The family of a dual Saudi-U.S. citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for more than a year are claiming that he has been subjected to routine torture and is on the verge of an emotional breakdown.

After months of quietly trying to secure his release, the family of Dr. Walid Fitaihi is now seeking to publicly pressure both the Saudi government and the Trump administration on the issue.

There is an American citizen being tortured in a Saudi prison, said Howard Cooper, a lawyer working with the Fitaihi family. He has been not only psychologically tortured but physically tortured and he cant hold out much longer.

In seeking to publicize the issue, Cooper and the Fitaihi family will have to contend with the extremely tight public relationship between President Donald Trump and powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, popularly referred to as MBS.

Fitaihi gained his American citizenship while studying and working in the U.S. for years. He received undergraduate and medical degrees from George Washington University and a masters in public health from Harvard, said Cooper a Boston-based attorney who has known Fitaihi for more than 10 years.

He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2006 to help found a hospital built by his family and also became a popular motivational speaker on television. In November 2017, Fitaihi was one of about 200 prominent Saudis detained in a mass roundup and held prisoner in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton hotel.

The Saudi government described the mass arrests as a crackdown on corruption; critics, however, decried it as a move to consolidate power by Prince Mohammed and claimed the detainees were being tortured.

Most of those detainees were eventually released after agreeing to pay massive financial penalties, but Fitaihi and a small handful of others were instead transferred to a prison in Riyadh. Cooper said Fitaihi was recently moved to a different prison in the coastal city of Jeddah and that he was now in the prison hospital after suffering an emotional breakdown after months of physical and psychological torture.

Trumps relationship with Saudi Arabia has already been tested by last years grisly murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Trump however stood firmly by Prince Mohammed; in the face of widespread international skepticism, Trump repeatedly backed the official Saudi explanation that the murder was a rogue operation that took place without the crown princes knowledge.

Despite the Kashoggi controversy, the relationship remains strong and the Trump administration continues to depend on Prince Mohammed as a key regional ally. Trumps son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner met with Prince Mohammed last week to discuss Kushners plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

National Security Adviser John Bolton was briefly asked about Fitaihis case during a Sunday interview on CNNs State of the Union. Bolton said he knew only that American diplomats had recently met with him in prison.

Beyond that, we dont really have any additional information at this point, Bolton said.

In response to an Associated Press query, the State Department released a statement confirming that U.S. diplomatic representatives have met with Fitaihi and have raised his case with the Saudi government.

We take all allegations of abuse and torture extremely seriously. We urge the Government of Saudi Arabia, and all governments, to ensure fair trial guarantees, freedom from arbitrary and extrajudicial detention, transparency, and rule of law, the statement said. We also call on the Government of Saudi Arabia, and all governments, to treat prisoners and detainees humanely, and to ensure that allegations of abuse are investigated quickly and thoroughly.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
WASHINGTON - Nearly 20 years after he left the White House, Bill Clinton is still sought after for advice by some Democrats running for president. But the names on his dance card in recent months underscore how much his standing in the party has changed.

So far, none of the partys early front-runners has had a formal meeting with Clinton. Nor have the women who are running in the historically diverse primary field.

Instead, Clinton has spoken mostly with male candidates who are considered longshots for the Democratic nomination, including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Housing secretary Julian Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

Clinton remains one of Democrats most successful politicians of the last half-century and one of its strongest messengers on the economy. Yet the party has shifted considerably to the left since his two terms in White House, and his personal baggage  as well as lingering hostilities from his wife Hillary Clintons failed 2016 campaign  make him an awkward adviser for some in his partys next class of presidential hopefuls.

Tensions run particularly deep between the Clintons and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has launched another bid for the White House. The Clintons blame Sanders for damaging Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary. And as they assess the 2020 field, the Clintons dont believe Sanders is capable of beating Trump, according to those who have spoken with them.

I think that at some point bygones can be bygones, but what you cant get around is the electability question, said David Brock, a longtime Clinton ally.

Neither side tried to mask the tensions in the days since Sanders launched his 2020 campaign. When asked Friday on ABCs The View whether he would seek campaign advice from Hillary Clinton, Sanders said: I think not.

There was not much warmth between Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Sunday when the two were in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 54th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday clash.

Bill Clinton has offered advice to a handful of candidates, sometimes meeting them at his New York office or speaking to them by phone. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was meeting with Hillary Clinton at the couples Chappaqua, New York, home when the former president stopped by and sat in on the rest of the meeting.

Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said he spoke with Clinton in January and got some good advice, though he wouldnt elaborate on what they discussed. Others discussed meetings with Clinton on the condition of anonymity in order to speak about the private conversations.

Clintons friends say he still relishes the political debate and is closely monitoring early developments in the primary. While he doesnt have much of a relationship with some of the younger White House hopefuls, like Beto ORourke, some of his contemporaries are considering running, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice-President Joe Biden. Neither has had a formal meeting with Clinton about the campaign, but theyve talked politics with him for years.

The 72-year-old former president rarely offers tactical advice about how to structure a campaign, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. Hes said to be well-aware that technology and campaign tactics have significantly evolved since he was last on the ballot in 1996.

But the famously verbose Clinton does dive deep into policy and offers advice on how to appeal to the same economic anxiety that drove some white, working-class voters to side with Trump over his wife.

Clintons focus on white, working-class voters became something of a joke within his wifes 2016 campaign, with aides privately mocking his insistence on plunging more energy and resources into states like Michigan and Wisconsin. Top campaign advisers believed they didnt need to invest heavily in those reliably Democratic states, then watched Trump narrowly edge Clinton out in the upper Midwest on his way to the presidency.

Some progressives say that while they agree Democrats cant turn their backs on white, working-class voters, they see Clintons more centrist approach to winning back those voters as a throwback to an era  and a party  that no longer exists.

Times have changed, said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The centre of gravity within the Democratic Party and the electorate overall has moved massively in a more populist direction.

Indeed, some of Clintons signature policies  including the North America Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 crime bill  are out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Clinton himself has acknowledged that the crime bill worsened the problem of mass incarcerations, particularly among black men.

Its Clintons personal baggage that has created another uncomfortable dynamic with Democrats running for the White House.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who had been backed by the couple throughout her political career, said Clinton should have resigned from office because of his affair with a White House intern. The former president has tried to publicly brush off the comment, saying Gillibrand  a leading Senate voice on sexual harassment and assault  is living in a different context. But Clinton allies say the couples anger at Gillibrand runs deep and their relationship may be irreparable.

Other women seeking the Democratic nomination also havent met with Clinton, including Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke with Clinton briefly at last months funeral for John Dingell, the retired Democratic congressman.

2020 wouldnt be the first time Clinton has been sidelined in part because of his personal transgressions. His own vice-president, Al Gore, distanced himself from Clinton during the 2000 campaign, a move some Democrats still see as a mistake. But views on Clinton shifted, and by 2012, he was considered one of the strongest surrogates for Barack Obamas re-election campaign.

In a shot at those who see Clinton as an albatross this time around, one ally of the former president referenced Gore and said the track record isnt good for candidates who distance themselves from Clinton.

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Associated Press writers Brian Slodysko in Washington, Nicholas Riccardi in Denver, Errin Haines Whack in Selma, Alabama, and Michelle Price in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

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Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
Twelve-year-old rapper Corey J (also known as Lil C-Note) was arrested last October for allegedly selling CDs at a Georgia mall, sparking outrage across social media.





According to CBS 46, Corey  who once appeared on The Ellen Show  showed up at a Cobb County courthouse on Tuesday (February 26) to face charges of disorderly conduct with violence, criminal trespassing and an obstruction felony.





The boys attorney, Mawuli Davis, denied all charges.





When he was there, he was not selling any CDs or doing anything that would have been prohibited he was there meeting other artists, Davis said.





Corey J was in Georgia visiting family when he was arrested in the malls food court. Police say he was told twice to stop selling his mixtapes before he was ultimately arrested. His aunt filmed the entire interaction and the video quickly went viral.





The story caught national attention with many people accusing the officer of treating Corey like a rag doll. In a subsequent Instagram post, Corey and his family described the incident in detail.









Tha fact that he snatched me & was trying to drag me around like Im sum criminal thats stealing, robbing or killing or sum is #Crazy, the caption read. But tha worst part is he trying to charging me with a #felony putting my hands on a #PoliceOfficer he say I tried to brake his fingers, he say I cussed him & he say I pushed him! Where in this video do it show I did anything but tell him I know my rights & then when he proceeded to try and drag me.





my auntie stepped in & got in between us to get tha #Police off me, cause he was treating me like uh lil rag dog he can sling around. All #Police is not bad, a lot are good friends of mines. But its some of you that do not deserve to be in a #PoliceUniform & this guy is clearly 1!!! Right is Right / Wrong is Wrong!! #CobbCounty #Police We must get to tha bottom of this Im just a kid out here standing for tha right & Motivating other kids in a positive way. Why try to destroy & bring me down!?!?





Last month, Corey addressed the case with CBS 46 and explained he didnt know he was doing anything wrong at the time.





Davis hopes to get all of the charges thrown out. If not, the case will go to trial.









source: State Vs Us




ORANGE, Calif. - A California man was arrested for a spa bombing that killed his ex-girlfriend last year after a painstaking analysis linked explosive remnants to the suspect, his home and car, federal prosecutors said Monday.

Stephen Beal, 59, had been arrested shortly after the bombing last year, but explosives charges were dropped and he was freed when prosecutors questioned whether material found at his home constituted a destructive device. Further testing and investigation led to Beals arrest Sunday on suspicion of malicious destruction of a building that included a death, a charge that can carry a life sentence.

The May 15 bombing killed Ildiko Krajnyak, 48, and seriously wounded two female clients when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion at the spa in the city of Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) south of Los Angeles.

This was a horrific intentional attack that killed an innocent woman and severely injured two others, U.S. Attorney Nick Hanna said at a news conference.

Krajnyak had told friends she was afraid of Beal after he made threats following their breakup. Beal told investigators he felt betrayed when she told him she was in a relationship with another man, Hanna said.

Authorities suspect Beal, a partner in the salon, delivered the bomb to the business while Krajnyak was visiting family in Hungary.

Krajnyak had returned from that trip and had just finished treating a mother and daughter, who were at the front desk when she opened a cardboard box that exploded.

The blast knocked the two customers off their feet and the older woman told police it lit everything on fire.

First responders thought they were dealing with a car bombing or gas main rupture, said Paul Delacourt, the FBIs assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles office.

The explosion blew out a big hunk of the building and body parts were found in the parking lot.

Investigators found two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive material during a search Beal allowed of his Long Beach house following the blast.

Beal, a model rocket hobbyist, denied making bombs and said then he did not have material for an explosion as powerful as the one he saw on television, according to court records.

Over nine months, investigators were able to make the case by piecing together fragments from the bomb they could connect to Beal, including a battery, a wire and boxes similar to the one that contained the deadly bomb.

While the victim had expressed fears about Mr. Beal and he possessed material that could be used to manufacture a bomb, it was forensic evidence collected at the scene, analyzed and pieced together into a coherent whole that allowed us to file this case, Hanna said.

Delacourt detailed how investigators and personnel at the agencys Quantico, Virginia, lab were able to connect Beal to internal components of a battery found 10 days after the blast.

The battery part was traced to a specific shipment that arrived in the U.S. from China and ended up in a store near Beals home. Video showed Beal paying cash for that type of battery. Investigators were able to eliminate others who bought those batteries from suspicion.

This was the exhaustiveness of the effort, Delacourt said.

Beal was ordered detained after a brief appearance in Santa Ana federal court.

He did not enter a plea and is scheduled for arraignment March 25. His lawyer declined to comment.

Outside court, Irene White, a friend of Krajnyaks family, said they continue to grieve her death and hope a conviction brings justice.

In Beals neighbourhood, Steve Young said he did not think his friend was capable of harming anyone.

I dont feel that hes the type of person that would do this sort of thing, he said

Beal and Krajnyak split up, but remained business partners at the spa where she was a licensed cosmetologist.

An affidavit in support of the arrest said during a voluntary interview Beal said the romance cooled in early 2018.

Beal stated he took a trip with Krajnyak to Portugal during which Krajnyak admitted to Beal that she was in an intimate relationship with another man from Northern California, the affidavit said Beal stated he was hurt and betrayed when Krajnyak told him this.

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Melley reported from Los Angeles. Amanda Lee Myers and John Antczak in Los Angeles, and Michael Balsamo in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.
ST. LOUIS - A prosecutor says there has been no grand jury decision on whether to charge a St. Louis police officer accused of killing a female colleague while playing a variation of Russian roulette.

Judge Thomas McCarthy asked during a hearing Monday if there was a grand jury indictment against Officer Nathaniel Hendren in the Jan. 24 fatal shooting of Officer Katlyn Alix. Told no by an assistant prosecutor, McCarthy scheduled a follow-up hearing for April 29.

Prosecutors say Hendren and Alix had been drinking and took turns pointing a gun loaded with one bullet at each other and pulling the trigger. Alix died of a chest wound.

Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner charged Hendren with involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action, but significant St. Louis cases typically go to grand juries to decide whether charges are warranted. However, grand jury proceedings are secret, so its unknown whether one is even considering the case.

A spokeswoman for Gardner declined comment. Hendrens attorney did not return an email message.
NEW YORK - Investor hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal pushed stocks broadly higher in early trading Monday.

The worlds two largest economies have pulled back from an immediate escalation of their damaging trade war since they started negotiating last month. President Donald Trump postponed a deadline for raising tariffs on more Chinese goods, citing progress in a series of talks. Now, media reports say the nations could strike a deal this month.

The main sticking point for the U.S. is Chinas technological ambitions. The U.S. has accused China of stealing technology and forcing companies to turn over technology in order to do business.

Tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by both nations have raised prices on a variety of goods. China could be close to a deal that would cut tariffs on U.S. farm, auto and other products and the U.S. is considering removing most sanctions on imports, according to media reports.

Investors are also watching this weeks session of Chinas ceremonial national legislature for policy announcements on currency, trade, industrial development and possible economic stimulus. The legislature is due to endorse a law that would address one portion of foreign complaints about Beijings regulation system by discouraging officials from pressuring companies to hand over technology.

Technology stocks, industrial and internet companies were among the biggest gainers in early trading.

KEEPING SCORE: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 68 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 26,092 as of 10 a.m. The S&P 500 index rose 0.4 per cent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.6 per cent.

ZOMBIE COMPETITION: Childrens clothing retailer Childrens Place gave investors a dismal forecast after reporting a disappointing fourth quarter. The stock fell 10 per cent.

The main issue is competition from dying competitors holding liquidation sales. Rivals Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores have been in the process of shutting down, which means liquidation sales and better deals for shoppers.

We have never experienced a total liquidation of a direct competitor of the size and proximity of Gymboree, Childrens Place CEO Jane Elfers said in a prepared statement.

BIOTECH BUMP: Gene therapy developer Nightstar Therapeutics surged 66 per cent after biotech giant Biogen offered to buy it for $877 million in cash. Nightstar is developing treatments for rare eye conditions.

Biogen and other large drug developers have been trying to expand their portfolios to include gene therapy and treatments for rare conditions. Those treatments are expensive to develop, but command better prices if they make it to market.
SHANGHAIThe Chinese electronics giant Huawei is preparing to sue the U.S. government for banning federal agencies from using the companys products, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The lawsuit is due to be filed in the Eastern District of Texas, where Huawei has its U.S. headquarters, according to the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential plans. The company plans to announce the suit later this week.

The move could be aimed at forcing the U.S. government to more publicly make its case against the Chinese equipment-maker. It is part of a broad push by Huawei to defend itself against a campaign led by the United States to undermine the company, which Washington sees as a security threat. Executives have spoken out strongly against the United States actions, and new marketing campaigns have been aimed at mending the companys image among consumers.

For many years, U.S. officials have said that Huaweis telecommunication equipment could be used by Beijing to spy and disrupt communication networks. The company has denied the allegations, but major wireless carriers such as AT&T and Verizon have effectively been prevented from using Huaweis equipment as a result.

Over the past year, Washington has ramped up its pressure on the firm, which is preparing to take a major role in the construction of next-generation wireless networks around the world. U.S. officials have urged other governments to ban the use of Huaweis products. Earlier this year, the Justice Department filed criminal charges against the company and its chief financial officer in connection with evading U.S. sanctions on Iran.

A hearing is set to begin this week in Canada that will determine whether the companys finance chief, Meng Wanzhou, will be extradited to the United States to face charges. Mengs lawyers have sued the Canadian government and police, arguing that the circumstances of her arrest and detention in December violated her rights.

The lawsuit that Huawei is preparing to file in the United States is expected to challenge a section of a military spending authorization law that was approved last year. The provision blocks executive agencies from using telecom equipment made by Huawei and another Chinese company, ZTE.

According to one of the people familiar with the matter, Huaweis lawsuit is likely to argue that the provision is a bill of attainder, or a legislative act that singles out a person or group for punishment without trial. The Constitution forbids Congress from passing such bills.

Huaweis plans are not final. It could still decide to change course, or to not file a lawsuit at all.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A call placed outside business hours to the U.S. Courthouse in Plano, Texas, where Huaweis U.S. headquarters are located, was not answered.

In many ways, the Huawei case echoes that of another company that has aroused security concerns in the United States: the Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab.

Around two years ago, U.S. officials began expressing worries that the companys software could be used by Moscow to gather intelligence. The company denied the allegations. But in September 2017, the Department of Homeland Security directed federal agencies to begin removing the companys products from government systems. Congress then codified the ban in a spending law.

Kaspersky filed two lawsuits in response, arguing that the prohibition amounted to a bill of attainder. In May, a judge in Washington dismissed the suits, ruling that Congress was motivated by the legitimate desire to protect government computer networks against Russian intrusion. The judge also said that Kasperskys sales to the U.S. government were such a small fraction of the companys business that the ban was not especially harsh.

An appeals court upheld the ruling a few months later. Banning Kaspersky was a prophylactic, not punitive measure, the judge in the appeal, David S. Tatel, wrote.

Given the not insignificant probability that Kasperskys products could have compromised federal systems and the magnitude of the harm such an intrusion could have wrought, Congresss decision to remove Kaspersky from federal networks represents a reasonable and balanced response, Tatel wrote.

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TULSA, Okla. - Lake Frances, a once idyllic spot that deteriorated into a decades-long nightmare on the Illinois River, could return to glory as a top Oklahoma outdoor recreation destination.

The Grand River Dam Authority, in a public-private partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, plans to develop Lake Frances Whitewater Park, a state-of-the-art water feature park off the Upper Illinois River. Construction cost is estimated at $15 million, the Tulsa World reported.

The site is at the old lake spillway, about 1.5 miles north of Watts, off U.S. 59. It also happens to be about eight river miles downstream from a similar park on the river, operated by the city of Siloam Springs, Arkansas. That park served as inspiration for the planned facility, according to Ed Fite, GRDA vice-president of scenic rivers and water quality.

The new public park, to be operated under the GRDAs Scenic Rivers oversight, would cover roughly 25-30 acres, including parking, roads and landscaped paths, based on draft outlines compared to Google Earth. The main attraction would be a 1,000-foot long, 50-foot-wide side channel off the river with seven drop-features to provide wave action for kayakers, surfers and tubers.

This is going to clean up what many folks have known as an eyesore and environmental issue, and if it comes off as we envision, it would not only correct the deficiencies but lend itself to adding to a robust economy in Adair and Delaware counties, Fite said.

The Walton Family Foundation offered in a statement, A whitewater park would provide residents of northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas with a national-calibre quality of life amenity that also has the potential to attract visitors. Improving access to the rivers natural scenic beauty would also give the community a vested interest in water quality.

A Clean Water Act permit required to begin the project is in the midst of a standard review process that could take months or more, as with any project, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District spokesman Brannen Parrish.

The permit was filed in July 2018 with public comment completed in August. When and if the permit is approved and construction begins, it could take two to three years to complete the project, depending largely on weather and water levels, Fite said.

We are excited to partner with the Walton Family Foundation to make this project a reality, said Dan Sullivan, GRDA chief executive officer. This project encompasses two of GRDAs core commitments  pursuing economic development opportunities and being good environmental stewards. Over the years, this new waterpark will attract thousands of visitors to Oklahoma and provide a significant positive economic impact to a rural region.

The water park could draw 85,000 annual visitors each year with an estimated annual economic impact of approximately $900,000, according to GRDA.

Tourism is a key industry and is vital to moving our state forward, said Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell. Governor Stitt and I have a strong commitment to promoting and expanding all the great attractions provided by Oklahomas natural resources. We greatly appreciate the vision, support and investment by the Walton Family Foundation and look forward to working together during the construction and opening of the waterpark.

The heyday for Lake Frances was many decades ago, according to Tulsa World archives.

Tulsa industrialist James W. Sloan built an earthen dam across the river to widen an existing stretch to create the lake, named for his daughter, Frances.

He added a power station at the dam and built a hotel and swank cabins and cottages. The lake was a weekend getaway for thousands from throughout the region until World War II, a dam collapse and before many more reservoirs were built across Oklahoma.

The city of Siloam Springs built a levee and the lake was tapped as a water source for that city, as well as Watts and West Siloam Springs, in 1954. But the lake eventually silted in and the wide spot in the river became a collection point for pollutants, including heavy metals, a back-road dumping spot for trash and drug activity. An 8-foot section of the dam came off the top during a flood in May 1990, Fite said. Siloam Springs still pulls water from the river but it goes to an off-site storage facility, he said.

There has been a lot of discussion about what to do with it since that time, Fite said.

When the city of Siloam Springs began building its water park, Fite said he and then-city administrator David Cameron had pretty intense discussions about a similar possibility for Lake Frances. It started gathering speed at that point but, yes, this idea has been in the works for about eight or nine years, he said. It would be wonderful to see it move forward.

The work in the park will by necessity include improvements around the existing dam and creation of a stair-step feature to both reinforce the existing structure and maintain the water supply for Siloam Springs but also to make the area around the dam safer by eliminating dangerous currents, he said.

Creation of the water park also will, for the first time in decades, create a path for fish to move upstream. Its not designed as a fish ladder but would essentially work like one, he said.

Since March 2018, GRDA has been working with initial funding from the foundation with engineering firm Merrick & Company/McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group to create to design and plan for the area. In October, GRDA selected Crossland Construction Co. as the eventual builder.

Right now we are really doing our due diligence in the planning and permitting phase, Fite said. Weve got to wait until we get that permit, and then we will be ready to move ahead.

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Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com

An AP Member Exchange shared by the Tulsa World.
LANSING, Mich. - New Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who campaigned on a bold promise to fix the damn roads in the capital of the U.S. auto industry, will propose nearly tripling the states per-gallon fuel tax, her office said Monday.

The Democrats budget proposal, which will be a tough sell in the Republican-led Legislature, would boost the 26-cent gasoline and diesel tax by 45 cents by October 2020. The tax hikes would coincide with relief to help offset the cost to peoples pocketbooks, which Whitmer will discuss further when she presents her spending plan Tuesday, said spokeswoman Tiffany Brown.

Whitmer also will outline a proposed $500 million increase to state K-12 classroom spending, including a $180 boost in the minimum per-student grant and substantial funding hikes to teach low-income, vocational and special education students.

She wants to boost the 26-cent gasoline and diesel taxes by 15 cents in October, an additional 15 cents in April 2020 and 15 more cents in October 2020. That would generate an additional $2 billion annually. She has said drivers already are paying a road tax because Michigans pothole-ridden roadways are forcing them to pay hundreds of dollars a year on vehicle repairs.

A top GOP lawmaker, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, did not rule out a tax hike to better fund roads and bridges but said his initial priority is lowering the high cost of car insurance in the state.

Hed first like the governor to work with him and his caucus to save families money by reforming car insurance, said spokeswoman Amber McCann. Then he would entertain having a discussion about new revenue for roads.

Higher fuel and vehicle registration fees took effect two years ago as part of Republican-enacted laws to gradually pump $1.2 billion more annually into transportation  following a failed legislator-proposed ballot initiative  but many agree it is not enough new spending. Four former legislative leaders from both parties have said fuel taxes should be increased by 47 cents over nine years.

Business Leaders for Michigan, a group of the states top executives, on Monday urged legislators to act. President and CEO Doug Rothwell stopped short of backing a specific proposal but said the roads are an embarrassment, are getting worse and becoming more expensive to fix.

We are not an organization ... that likes to talk about raising taxes, and we dont take that lightly at all, he said. But were on record saying that we need to make a significant increase in investment in our infrastructure, and that we believe user fees  which could be a gas tax  is the best and fairest way to do it.

The state Republican Party criticized Whitmer, however, saying her proposal would break many Michiganders budgets.

Michigan drivers pay some of the countrys highest taxes at the pump, but not all of the revenue goes to the transportation budget. The sales tax on fuel mostly goes to schools and local governments under the state constitution.

Whitmer also will call for new weighted K-12 funding formula to factor in higher costs for certain students, according to details first reported by The Associated Press. The plan includes $235 million in additional base aid  a 2.5 per cent bump  along with $120 million more for special education, an extra $102 million for economically disadvantaged and other at-risk students, and $50 million more for career and technical education students.

Whitmers administration is billing it as the largest increase in classroom spending in 18 years, if state payments for retirement costs are not counted. It was not immediately clear how she will propose paying for the plan, though she has previously called for stopping the practice of shifting K-12 funds to universities and community colleges.

The minimum per-student allowance  which most districts receive, including charters  would increase from $7, 871 to $8,051, a $180 increase. Districts at the higher end would get $8,529, or $120 more than the current $8,409 allotment.

Her plan was applauded by the Michigan Education Association, the states largest teachers union, which called it a huge step toward addressing how education has become underfunded over decades .

It doesnt cost the same amount of money to educate every student, and this budget proposal reflects that reality, said president Paula Herbart. Additional funding for at-risk, special education and career/technical education puts additional funds where theyre needed most to help all students achieve.

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Follow Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
BOSTON - With the official start of spring weeks away, a winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of the northeastern U.S. overnight Monday, prompting school closures, power outages and a messy morning commute.

Temperatures were then expected to plunge into the teens overnight and linger there for the most of the week, raising the risk of dangerously icy conditions, officials and meteorologists warned.

Well, we finally got a good one. Weve been waiting a whole winter and it finally came, said Michael Raab as he used a snow blower to clear his driveway in the Boston suburb of Arlington, Massachusetts, on Monday. The kids were happy there is a snow day. I hope we wont have too many more of these since were looking forward to the spring.

But, at least in New England, the snowy weather isnt completely done: more could be on the way Friday or Saturday. That storm is still too early to predict, but it shouldnt be as significant, said Bryce Williams, a Boston-area meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Mondays storm, which started Sunday night but hit the hardest in the early morning hours, was the largest storm parts of New England have seen in a relatively quiet winter.

Boston saw about 10 inches of snow, but parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts saw up to 16 inches (41 centimetres), according to the National Weather Service. The Boston-area has now registered about 26 inches (66 centimetres) of snowfall this season, still below the regions average of over 35 inches (90 centimetres).

Snow covers the Spanish-American War Memorial after an overnight snowstorm dropped nearly a foot of snow, Monday, March 4, 2019, in Marlborough, Mass.

















It just takes one storm and were up back close to where we typically are this time of year, said Williams. We caught up quite a bit with this one system.

New Englanders have grown accustomed in recent years to seeing winter start slowly and linger past its welcome.

Were kind of used to it by now, said Tracy Scatterday as she shovelled snow and her two daughters played outside their house in Arlington. I feel like March is our month now for snow.

Meanwhile, just 5 inches (13 centimetres) of slushy snow fell in New York City and quickly began to melt Monday.

The modest totals were still enough for Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio to close schools, as did hundreds of other communities throughout the country impacted by the storm.

In parts of Nebraska, dangerously cold temperatures prompted closures as wind chill temperatures registered as low as 40 below zero (minus 40 Celsius) Monday morning.

In the Philadelphia-area, the storm appears to have contributed to the death of two teens in a single-car accident about 30 miles (48 kilometres) Sunday evening. The driver, a 17-year-old, was hospitalized.

And in New England, nearly 60,000 customers were without power at the storms peak, though many of those had their power restored by the afternoon.

In the Boston suburb of Needham, a snowplow struck a gas meter at an assisted living complex, triggering a gas leak and forcing more than 100 elderly residents to evacuate. No injuries were reported and residents were able to return after a few hours.

In northern Maine, a small regional jet carrying 28 passengers and three crew members slid off a runway at Presque Island International Airport.

The pilot and three passengers suffered minor injuries, and part of the planes landing gear appeared to have been torn away as it came to rest in deep snow Monday morning.
LOS ANGELES - Juan Corona, who gained the nickname The Machete Murderer for hacking to death dozens of migrant farm labourers in California in the early 1970s, has died. He was 85.

Corona died Monday at an undisclosed hospital, Vicky Waters of the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported. He had been serving a life sentence in state prison.

A labour contractor who hired thousands of fruit and vegetable workers for Northern California farmers, Corona killed 25 of them, according to authorities who arrested him in 1971.

The bodies were buried in shallow graves on farms and orchards along the Feather River north of Sacramento. Most had been brutally hacked to death and dismembered, possibly with a machete or meat cleaver. One was shot in the head.

It was a gruesome manner of killing. He hacked these people to death, Sutter County District Attorney Amanda Hopper told The Associated Press after attending the last of Coronas eight unsuccessful parole hearings in 2016.

He was arrested after a peach farmer who had contracted with him for hired pickers became suspicious upon finding a hole that had been freshly dug, then filled in. Authorities found the body of a man whose head had been cleaved open and his torso riddled with stab wounds.

Nine more bodies were recovered in another orchard five days later, along with receipts made out to Corona, who was immediately arrested.

When authorities searched his truck and house they found a machete, axe, meat cleaver and post-hole digger among other items. They also recovered a ledger containing the names of dozens of labourers Corona had found jobs for, including eight of the victims.

He was convicted of 25 counts of murder in 1973, the most until John Wayne Gacy of Chicago was convicted of 33 in 1980.

An appeals court overturned Coronas conviction in 1978, ruling he had received incompetent representation from his attorney who called no rebuttal witnesses to the states 119 prosecution witnesses.

He remained incarcerated while he went on trial again, this time with a new attorney who argued it was actually Coronas late brother who, driven by rage, committed the murders.

Corona was again convicted on all 25 counts.

The evidence presented at his trials was circumstantial and why Corona committed the killings has remained largely a mystery.

He testified at his second trial, denying he killed anyone, but prosecutors said he admitted the crimes at a 2011 parole hearing, adding that they were justified because the victims were winos who had trespassed.

At his final parole hearing in 2016 Corona said he couldnt recall killing anyone.

Juan Corona was born in the Mexican state of Jalisco on Feb. 7, 1934, and followed his older brothers to the United States in 1950 to pick crops in California.

According to an academic study by Virginias Radford University that was titled The Machete Murderer, Corona originally crossed the border illegally, but after returning to Mexico some years later he came back in 1956 with a green card and remained as a legal resident.

Family members and others said he was traumatized by a deadly flood that struck Northern California in the mid-1950s. Soon after he reported seeing the ghosts of those killed. He was committed to an Auburn, California, mental hospital where he would undergo numerous shock treatments.

By the mid-1960s he had become a successful labour contractor, but complained to friends and acquaintances that he often still felt unwell.

Corona was divorced while in prison and information on survivors was not immediately available.
NEW YORK - Pharrell is heading home to Virginia Beach to launch a new music and culture festival.

The Grammy-winning superstar announced Monday SOMETHING IN THE WATER, a multi-day event hes calling a cultural experience that will debut April 26-28. He will perform on a stage set on the beach; other performers include Missy Elliott, Travis Scott, Migos, Dave Matthews Band, Janelle Monae, Diplo, SZA, Lil Uzi Vert and Pusha T.

Tickets go on sale Friday.

Pharrell said in an interview with The Associated Press that he created the festival to give back to the community that raised him and helped him achieve his goals and dreams.

Virginians are taste-makers, he said, naming famous folks from the state, from Ella Fitzgerald to Allen Iverson to Missy Elliott.

Virginia has been home to some of the most gifted artists, athletes, and scientists to ever live. And it makes sense  the people of Virginia are one-of-a-kind: uniquely gritty, bold, and brilliant, Pharrell said. Virginia needs this right now and the world will see what we Virginians have known all along: there really is Something in the Water.

The festival wont just focus on music: The film The Burial of Kojo  acquired by Ava DuVernays ARRAY company  will be screened, followed by a discussion. The film will premiere on Netflix on March 31.

SOMETHING IN THE WATER will also include a pop-up church service, karaoke featuring trap music as well as moments with wellness expert Deepak Chopra and Geoffrey Canada, the president of the Harlem Childrens Zone whose work has transformed the lives of thousands of inner-city youth.

Other musicians set to perform include Jaden Smith, Anderson .Paak, Kaytranada, Ferg, Jhene Aiko, Rosalia, Leikeli47, Maggie Rogers, Mac DeMarco, Masego, Virgil Abloh and John-Robert.

Its been fun curating the artist-performers, said the Oscar-nominated Pharrell, who has produced hits for everyone from Jay-Z to Britney Spears.

Virginia Beach Mayor Robert Bobby Dyer said the festival is going to be a transformative event for our city.

We are absolutely thrilled with the plans Pharrell and his team have for this year. There will be no doubt that what is in the water around Virginia Beach is something very special, he said.

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Online:

https://www.somethinginthewater.com
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Prosecutors say a man has tried to enlist the power of voodoo against the judge in his North Carolina murder trial.

The Charlotte Observer reports Rayquan Borum is charged with killing a fellow protester during civil unrest that followed a 2016 police shooting in Charlotte.

His trial halted Wednesday after prosecutors said Borum appeared to threaten Superior Court Judge Gregory Hayes in a Feb. 20 call, saying, I need him gone.

But prosecutor Glenn Cole said Friday that Borum apparently had asked his mother to contact a Florida spiritualist to pray against Hayes and others. Cole also said Borum had tried to raise money to pay a voodoo healer in Raleigh.

Hayes said he will continue presiding over the trial, and defence lawyers dropped their motion to replace him Friday.

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotteobserver.com
DALLAS - Houston-area prosecutors are expanding a probe into past criminal cases to include more than 2,000 linked to two city police officers involved in a deadly January drug raid.

The Harris County District Attorneys Office announced Monday that it will review more than 800 cases involving Officer Steven Bryant, who was relieved of duty after the raid on a home that left five officers injured and two residents dead. Thirty of the cases are pending before a court.

These are in addition to more than 1,400 cases already under review and represent broadening fallout from the raid that has also prompted an internal police investigation and an FBI probe.

We have a duty to the people of Harris County to pursue justice in every instance, no matter how many cases this involves, District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement. We are going to thoroughly review each of these cases to ensure that the arrests and convictions were proper.

Prosecutors launched the initial review of cases involving Officer Gerald Goines after the Houston police chief accused the narcotics veteran of lying in an affidavit justifying the raid. At least two of the pending cases tied to Goines have been dismissed .

Ogg said it is too soon to know how many cases will ultimately be included in the review. A spokesman for the district attorneys office declined to say what specifically led them start looking at Bryants cases.

A Houston police spokesman, however, said the department had already begun its own review of the same cases.

The DAs actions that were announced today were anticipated and are welcome, said Kese Smith.

Smith declined to say whether the department is reviewing the cases of other officers involved in the raid.

A lawyer for Bryant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WASHINGTON - Senators left a closed-door briefing with Trump administration officials Monday deeply frustrated by the lack of new information on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with some raising the prospect of placing new sanctions on the government of Saudi Arabia.

Lawmakers had instructed President Donald Trump to order an investigation into Khashoggis killing by invoking the Global Magnitsky Act. The request was made in October, which gave the president 120 days to respond. But the White House declined to submit a report by the deadline, angering members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the panel, called the briefing a farce and said Trump still needs to give Congress an answer.

The laws very clear, there needed to be a determination, Menendez said.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said the briefing Monday contained zero new information. He criticized the lack of an intelligence official among the briefers, a move he described as purposeful.

They dont want us to have a conversation about the intelligence, he said, referring to the White House. These folks had no new information and were not permitted to give us any new information.

Khashoggi, a writer for The Washington Post, was killed in a Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul last year by Saudi agents. The Saudi government said the slaying was carried out by rogue operatives and denied Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had any involvement.

Lawmakers have said they believe the Saudi crown prince ordered the killing, but Trump has been reluctant to place blame.

Absent a determination from Trump, Menendez said the Senate has to do something, unless it is willing to accept the death of a U.S. resident, a journalist.

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, another member of the committee, said, The Senate will have to decide if its going to impose its own sanctions

The dispute over Khashoggis death comes at a point of rising tensions between the White House and Congress over the U.S.-Saudi relationship, fueled in part by the Trump administrations involvement in Yemens civil war. With U.S. weapons and logistical support, Saudi Arabia is fighting a protracted war in the country, creating the worlds worst humanitarian crisis.

After Khashoggis death last year, the Senate passed a resolution with an overwhelming majority calling for the U.S. to end its support for the Yemen campaign, though that resolution did not pass the House. The Senate is expected to take up the issue again in the coming weeks, reviving the debate.

While its unclear if the Yemen resolution can again pass the Senate, members of both parties made clear they arent moving on from Khashoggi. Sen. Jim Risch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement pledging the investigation would continue.

We will not let it go, he said.

The Global Magnitsky Act of 2016 makes it possible to impose entry bans and targeted sanctions on individuals for committing human rights violations or acts of significant corruption.
LOS ANGELES - The Latest on the arrest of a California man for an explosion that killed his ex-girlfriend and injured two others last year (all times local):

3:01 p.m.

A California man arrested in a deadly spa explosion that killed his ex-girlfriend has been ordered detained after a court appearance.

Stephen Beal was charged Monday in federal court with malicious destruction of a building that included a death. Conviction of the crime could lead to a life sentence.

Authorities say Beal was linked to the killing of Ildiko Krajnyak by investigators who found materials at the bomb site that were similar to those found in Beals house and car.

Beal has previously denied involvement in the blast that also seriously injured two spa customers.

He did not enter a plea during the hearing and was scheduled to be arraigned March 25.

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10:12 a.m.

Federal authorities say they arrested a California man in a spa explosion that killed his ex-girlfriend last year after similar explosive materials and chemicals were found in his home and car.

The FBI and federal prosecutors on Monday said that Stephen Beal faces a charge of malicious destruction of a building that included a death.

Beal is charged in the May 15 bombing that killed 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak in her Orange County spa. The charge carries a possible life sentence.

Beal had been arrested on suspicion of having explosives last year but prosecutors dropped it soon after and he was freed.

Beals lawyer declined to comment.

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9:22 p.m.

The FBI is set to release details about the arrest of a California man in an explosion that killed his ex-girlfriend and injured two others last year.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Sunday that 59-year-old Stephen Beal was arrested and his home south of Los Angeles was searched.

Eimiller declined to detail the charges but says theyre in connection with the May 15 bombing that killed 48-year-old Ildiko Krajnyak in her Orange County spa. She said more information would be released at a news conference on Monday.

Beal had been arrested on suspicion of having explosives last year but prosecutors dropped it soon after and he was freed.

Beal had not been named a suspect in the blast.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Latest on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska (all times local):

12:10 p.m.

A French musher has taken the lead in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race that goes across Alaska.

Nicolas Petit was the first musher to arrive Monday in Rainy Pass, a community of two people and a lodge thats open year-round.

Petit stayed at the checkpoint for eight minutes before heading back out on the trail.

Pete Kaiser is the only other musher who has departed Rainy Pass. He left 11 minutes after Petit.

Petit is a native of Frances Normandy region and now lives south of Anchorage.

He was leading last years race before but got lost in a blizzard and was passed by eventual champion Joar Ulsom of Norway.

The next checkpoint is a cabin built in the 1930s in the uninhabited community of Rohn.

Mushers must take a 24-hour layover during the race, and many take it in Rohn before heading out onto the dangerous stretch called Farewell Burn, an area littered with tree stumps and rocks that was the site of a large 1970s Alaska forest fire.

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9:52 a.m.

A longtime musher from southwestern Alaska is in the lead of the early stages of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

Pete Kaiser was the first musher to leave the checkpoint at Finger Lake. He is a 31-year-old running in his 10th Iditarod,

Kaiser stayed only five minutes Monday morning after arriving at the checkpoint about 125 miles (201 kilometres) into the nearly 1,000 mile (1,600 kilometre) race.

He left with a two-minute lead on Ryan Redington, a grandson of late race founder Joe Redington Sr.

Other mushers who have left the Finger Lake checkpoint include Matt Hall, Jessie Holmes and Wade Marrs. All are about 90 minutes or more behind Kaiser.

Fifty-two mushers started the race Sunday in Willow, Alaska.

The winner is expected in Nome sometime next week.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - A student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks suffered serious injuries in a fall from the seventh floor of a dormitory.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports the student fell from a window in Moore Hall.

Campus police received a report of a student acting erratically shortly after 12:30 a.m. Friday.

Chancellor Dan White in a statement says that when police arrived, they learned the student had fallen.

The student was taken to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and medically evacuated to an Anchorage hospital for treatment.

University police say they do not believe the fall was a suicide attempt.

The name of the student and his hometown were not immediately released.

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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - A federal judge and two lawyers in North Carolina have apologized for posing with Confederate flags in college yearbook photos in the 1980s.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports U.S. District Court Judge Frank Whitney appeared in a 1982 Wake Forest University yearbook photo with the Kappa Alpha fraternity in front of the Confederate flag, while Murray C. Tripp Greason III and J. McLain Wallace Jr. appeared in a 1984 Confederate flag photo with the same fraternity.

All three expressed regret about the photos.

The apologies follow one late last month by Wake Forest Dean of Admissions Martha Allman, who appeared in the same photo as Whitney.

National Kappa Alpha spokesman Jesse Lyons says the fraternity banned Confederate flag displays in 2001, and further restricted Civil War themes in 2010 and 2016.

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Information from: Winston-Salem Journal, http://www.journalnow.com
WASHINGTON - An Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State lost a first round on Monday in a legal fight to return to the U.S. with her toddler son, even as a judge seemed to support at least one argument made by her lawyer for her U.S. citizenship.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton denied a request for expedited proceedings for Hoda Muthana, whose lawyers sought to have her lawsuit litigated on an emergency schedule so she could get out of a refugee camp in Syria and back to the U.S.

Walton said Muthanas lawyers failed to establish that the woman and her 18-month-old son face imminent danger in allied custody as the U.S. prepares to withdraw most of its forces from the fight against the Islamic State in Syria.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a radio interview that she is not a citizen, and it would be a risk to let her back into the United States.

In fact, shes a terrorist, and we shouldnt bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America, Pompeo said in an interview with WOC Radio in Iowa.

Muthana, who married three Islamic State fighters during her time with the group, says she now regrets joining and wants to return to the U.S. for the sake of her child, even if that means facing criminal charges.

The U.S. has determined that the 24-year-old Muthana isnt a citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat to the United Nations when she was born in New Jersey. Children of diplomats are not entitled to birthright citizenship because they and their parents arent subject to U.S. law.

Her lawyers argue that her fathers diplomatic status ended before her birth in October 1994 and, therefore, she was automatically a citizen. The U.S. says it wasnt notified that his status had changed until February 1995, apparently because of a delay in reporting it by the U.N., and therefore he was still a diplomat.

The government determined her U.S. passport was issued by mistake and revoked it while she was abroad in January 2016, under President Barack Obama.

Attorney Charles Swift told Walton that diplomatic status should end when a country decides it has ended, not when the U.S. gets around to recognizing it. Otherwise it would create a scenario in which a person could commit a crime and be protected by diplomatic immunity even after the sponsoring country had revoked the status. He suggested a hostile country could use this uncertainty to commit espionage.

The judge called this a valid argument, but did not indicate how he would rule on overall question of her citizenship.

Swift later told reporters he was very encouraged by this response and expects a decision in the case as early as this summer. The judges comments certainly foreshadow the ultimate outcome of this case, he said.
Its hard to imagine why a government that was forward-thinking enough to legalize the use of cannabis last October is now refusing to erase the records of Canadians convicted of simple pot possession.

Instead, legislation that Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale introduced last week will simply make it much easier for those convicted of cannabis possession to obtain a pardon.

Its true that the proposed law, Bill C-93, allows for no-cost, expedited pardons that will eliminate the current $631 fee and the normal 5- to 10-year waiting period.

But this is still disappointing news for the estimated 500,000 Canadians who have criminal pot possession convictions on the books.

Theres a vast difference between a pardon and the erasing  known as an expungement  of records, a difference that could drastically affect their lives.

A pardon, for example, does not erase a past offence. It merely sets the conviction aside and keeps any record of it out of the main national police database. But anyone asked on a form whether they have been convicted of a criminal offence must still answer yes.

On the other hand, when a record is expunged its as if the conviction never happened.

As NDP MP Murray Rankin, who introduced a private members bill last year that would expunge criminal records for pot possession, said: Canadians deserve freedom, not forgiveness.

Indeed, the governments rationale to pardon past offenders rather than expunge their records does not hold water.

Goodale argues that expungement is valid only in cases where there is a profound historical injustice that needs to be corrected, and says that test does not apply to cannabis possession.

For example, he pointed to Bill C-66, legislation passed last year, which automatically expunged the records of men who were criminally convicted when homosexual acts were a crime.

The laws with respect to cannabis . . . are not of the same nature as the historic, social injustice that was imposed in relation to the LGBTQ2 community, he said last October.

Still, tell that to those who have been convicted of simple pot possession, especially Indigenous, Black and poor people who, Goodale acknowledges, were more likely than white people to be targeted by police and caught carrying. As Tiffany Gooch wrote in the Star last year: This is a race issue.

Which begs the question: Is Goodale arguing, then, that people who were targeted because of the colour of their skin have not faced an historic, social injustice and been disadvantaged by how cannabis convictions were meted out?

These convictions, after all, have had profoundly negative effects on their ability to get housing, obtain a job, volunteer or enter another country.

That would seem to us to constitute an historic, social injustice  not just for minorities but for everyone convicted under the prohibition.

Its true that it would be a challenge to mine the RCMP database in a way that effectively isolates and expunges charges relating strictly to cannabis possession, as opposed to other drug charges.

But thats no reason for the government to shy away from the task.

It bears repeating that by legalizing cannabis the government admitted that nearly a century of prohibition of the drug in this country was at the very least wrong-headed, if not a grave injustice perpetrated against hundreds of thousands of people.

So it would seem that expungement, rather than a simple pardon, is required to undo the harms they suffered. Half-measures that will leave the convicted vulnerable to ongoing potential negative consequences are unacceptable.

Its not too late for the Trudeau government to rethink this issue and choose expungement over pardons. It should do so.
The deputy OPP commissioner who blew the whistle on Premier Doug Fords push for a customized van has been fired, fuelling controversy over the hiring of Ford friend Ron Taverner as head of the provincial police force.

Brad Blair was terminated Monday with the Progressive Conservative government denying any political role in the decision as an independent ethics investigation continues into political interference in Taverners appointment, on hold pending results of the probe.

The dramatic dismissal also follows a complaint last week from the Ontario Provincial Police union about the release of an internal police email  contained in a Blair court filing on his bid to scupper Taverners hiring  on the premiers profane tirade about unfamiliar faces on his security detail.

Community Safety Minister Sylvia Jones said the decision to fire Blair over the release of confidential private information for his own personal gain was made by her deputy minister Mario Di Tommaso and approved by the provincial public service commission.

Did I initiate any kind of request? No, she told a hastily arranged news conference. I was not asked for permission. I was not asked for advice.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath insisted Blairs ouster has strong political overtones.

Lets not forget Mr. Di Tommaso was on the hiring process (for Taverner) as well and has a relationship with the Fords and with Mr. Taverner, she told reporters, a reference to Di Tommasos former role as Taverners boss at Toronto police.

This is yet another example of Mr. Ford just taking out his revenge on people who stand up to him, she added. This thing reeks and every day the stench gets stronger.

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The path to the firing began taking shape last week.

OPP Association president Rob Jamieson wrote Di Tommaso on Thursday criticizing Blair for releasing an internal email from Ford bodyguard Sgt. Terry Murphy. It flagged to superiors that Ford was using the f-word to complain about his rotating protection detail. Jamieson said the officer has since been unfairly removed from that duty.

We can only assume that this action is the direct result of his name being mentioned in multiple media reports surrounding the filing of documents with the court, states the letter of complaint from Jamieson, demanding Murphy be reinstated because he did nothing wrong.

Last Friday, Di Tommaso wrote Jones recommending that Blair be fired as the only acceptable recourse and noted the OPP veteran had been warned in late December about releasing any more internal police information in violation of civil service oath of secrecy.

Blairs court case with lawyer Julian Falconer is aimed at forcing Ontario Ombudsman Paul Dube to investigate the Taverner hiring, saying it puts the OPPs independence at risk. Ford has accused Blair of sour grapes after being passed over for the top OPP job and accused him of breaking the Police Services Act by releasing confidential information.

Falconer did not reply to a request for comment.

An employment lawyer not connected to the case told the Star that Blair faced a higher threshold of confidentiality in his senior police position but its an open question whether the information released as part of his court case is enough to justify termination for cause.

I wouldnt say its a slam dunk one way or the other, said Joseph Cohen-Lyons. The government is positioning itself to justify its position.

Liberal MPP Nathalie Des Rosiers called on the government to force Di Tommaso to testify before the legislatures justice committee on Thursday to ask questions like did he speak to the premiers office?

She said the Blair firing complicates the investigation by independent provincial integrity commissioner J. David Wake into the hiring of Taverner, 72, a long-time Toronto police superintendent.

Taverner was appointed in November after the qualifications for the post leading Canadas second-largest police force were lowered two days after the posting went public, making him eligible to apply.

The hiring raised concerns about the independence of the OPP given the forces high-profile investigation of a previous Liberal government over deleted documents in the wake of the gas-plants scandal. The top aide for former premier Dalton McGuinty was criminally charged, convicted and served a jail term for his role.

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VANCOUVERThe lawsuit brought by embattled Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou against the Canadian government and law enforcement may be part of a larger legal strategy to affect extradition proceedings and a possible future criminal case stateside, say legal experts.

Meng filed a notice of civil claim on Friday alleging her rights were violated by authorities during her arrest on Dec. 1 at the Vancouver International Airport.

While the lawsuit itself is on solid footing and refers to established Supreme Court precedent, awards in civil claims like the one brought by Meng are generally only in the thousands of dollars, said Kyla Lee, a Vancouver-based criminal lawyer with Acumen Law Corporation.

Mengs extraordinary wealth suggests the likely motivation for the lawsuit is its use as a tool in her longer-term bid to avoid extradition to the United States to face criminal charges, she said.

On its face, this appears to be part of an overall legal strategy, because there is no financial incentive for her to bring this lawsuit, and what shes claiming is financial damages, Lee told the Star Vancouver in an interview.

Shes a billionaire. She has no need for these financial damages.

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A spokesperson for Gudmundseth Mickelson LLP, Mengs law firm in the case, declined to comment.

The U.S. is seeking Mengs extradition for allegedly violating trade sanctions against Iran.

A judgment in her favour on the question of whether her rights were violated during the course of her arrest could have a significant impact on how those extradition proceedings play out in Canada, Lee said. It could also potentially affect whether the extradition request is ultimately granted by Canadas justice minister.

Even if Meng is ultimately sent to the U.S. to face charges in the Eastern District of New York, a ruling that her rights were breached in Canada could play well for her in an American court, Lee said.

Their cases proceed by jury trial ... so American lawyers can argue all sorts of things you wouldnt really get away with in front of a judge (in Canada), she said of the range of evidence permitted in such cases in the U.S.

American citizens are also accustomed to seeing much larger financial awards for damages in civil cases, Lee added. So should Meng receive only a few thousand dollars  as previous judgments suggest would likely be the case  the award itself would fit neatly into a narrative of Mengs mistreatment at the hands of Canadian authorities.

This narrative, Lee said, is in line with ongoing depictions  advanced aggressively by both Huawei and the Chinese Communist Party  of Meng as a victim.

Charles Burton, associate professor of political science at Brock University and a China expert, agreed that the case furthers a propaganda narrative for the Chinese government.

China has maintained Canada is playing a role in the political persecution of Huawei under direction from the U.S., Burton said, by suggesting the Canada Border Services Agency takes direction from Washington.

That does seem to build that narrative in terms of the propaganda aspect, and this has nothing to do with Canadian law and is simply due to pressure the United States has exerted on Canada to deliver Ms. Meng to the United States, he said. Our suggestion has been Ms. Meng has been arrested in accordance with our extradition treaty with the United States.

Burton stressed that with Meng in the formal extradition process, Beijing must realize she cannot simply be released, and continuing to hold Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig or following through with a death sentence for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg will only worsen relations with Canada.

Schellenbergs 15-year prison sentence in China for drug smuggling was changed to a death sentence after a one-day retrial, while both Kovrig and Spavor have been detained by Chinese officials since December, when the saga began.

Immigration lawyer Richard Kurland, meanwhile, said he believes the purpose of Mengs lawsuit is to look for a silver bullet capable of ensuring extradition attempts fail.

There is a lethal charter dart that can terminate extradition, thats what they want, Kurland said. If they can establish charter violations that bring the administration of justice into disrepute, the entire extradition case is closed.

He said the civil case enables Mengs lawyers to search for such information because it offers a wider range of legal tools, such as the ability to subpoena the arresting officers and their files. Kurland said loose, hanging threads could be found and used by Meng in her attempt to quash extradition.

Lee said Meng has little to lose if her suit is unsuccessful. The steepest penalty she could face would likely set her back no more than roughly $20,000, and would only result from a finding that there was absolutely no basis and that the claim was clearly frivolous and vexatious, Lee said.

A central theme at Mengs bail hearing, Lee pointed out, was the question of whether Mengs extraordinary financial means made her an increased flight risk.

Meng is currently on the hook for thousands of dollars in daily security costs to maintain in-person and electronic monitoring services to ensure she doesnt break her bail conditions, Lee said, suggesting she has little need for any award that might be forthcoming from her suit.

Mengs wealth, Lee added, is also arguably the only reason her civil suit was even possible in the first place.

She doesnt have to make the decisions that other people facing extradition have to make insofar as, Can I afford to make these strategic decisions? she said.

A person as rich as Meng has the power to hire the best lawyers, bring every possible legal argument to bear in service of her cause and maximize every angle of our justice system, and then  potentially, if shes extradited  every angle of the U.S. justice system to her advantage.

Meng is scheduled to appear in court in relation to her extradition case on Wednesday.

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Ray Kelvin, chief executive of the high-end British fashion line Ted Baker, resigned on Monday, months after allegations that he made sexually suggestive comments toward employees and was prone to inappropriate hugging and touching at work.

Kelvin took a voluntary leave of absence in December after more than 200 employees released a petition saying Ted Baker's human resources department ignored earlier reports of harassment. The allegations spurred an independent committee to investigate. Kelvin has consistently denied any allegations of sexual harassment or other misconduct at work.

Employees said Kelvin made "sexual innuendos at staff," stroked people's necks, took off his shirt and openly talked about his sex life. When the petition - which quickly drew thousands of signatures - first circulated, the company said Kelvin often greeted shareholders, investors, customers and colleagues with hugs. The company also said it had "clear and robust" HR policies in place, including a 24-hour helpline for confidential and anonymous tips.

David Bernstein, Ted Baker's executive chairman, said that since Kelvin started the company, he has been the "driving force" behind the global brand. Kelvin opened the first Ted Baker store in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1988. Last year, the Tatler estimated Kelvin's worth at more than $660 million.

"We are determined to learn lessons from what has happened and from what our employees have told us and to ensure that, while the many positive and unique aspects of Ted's culture are maintained, appropriate changes are made," Bernstein said in a statement.

Lindsay Page, who has served as the company's acting chief executive, will continue to lead the company.

In a statement, Kelvin said he had decided to step away from the company "so it can face 2019 with fresh energy and renewed spirit." He wrote that the past few months have been "deeply distressing" and that he would be taking time privately with his family to consider what the future may include.

Ted Baker responded with a two-pronged approach, said Timothy Coombs, a crisis communication expert at Texas A&M University. In addition to Kelvin stepping down, the company said it would specifically work to improve a company culture tainted by the allegations against him. That second step, Coombs said, is essential if Ted Baker wants to show investors that it is taking lessons away from Kelvin's downfall.

Customers are less likely to shop elsewhere based on Kelvin's alleged misconduct, Coombs said. But investors may be wary of whether a new leadership team could make for a bumpy transition or affect the brand's worth. Midday Monday, Ted Baker's stock was up nearly 3 percent.

"That's what investors are worried about: If there's a big shake-up, is this going to be a problem?" Coombs said. "Is this going to cause a loss of stock value?"

Over the past few years, several retail executives have been accused of sexual harassment or misconduct at work. Last year, model and actress Kate Upton accused Guess co-founder Paul Marciano of sexual harassment. An investigation looked into broader allegations, including inappropriate comments and texts, as well as unwanted kissing and groping. Marciano eventually resigned.

In 2017, Mark Light, the chief executive of Signet Jewelers, said he was retiring for health reasons. At the time, Light was the subject of a class-action arbitration in which 69,000 women who worked at Sterling Jewelers, a company subsidiary, said they received unequal pay and promotions.

And in 2014, Dov Charney was ousted from the top of American Apparel over sexual misconduct allegations and misuse of company money. A decade earlier, a writer for Jane said Charney engaged in oral sex and masturbated in front of her. Charney was also reported to have worn only underwear in front of employees.

Chief executives who were also founders often have an "outsize shadow" on the companies they run, said Kirthi Kalyanam, director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University in California. Those founders can dominate company culture, Kalyanam said, which can make overhauling that culture all the more complicated.

Any investigation into Kelvin's conduct should also look into whether other executives knew about these allegations and hid them, Kalyanam said. He pointed to reports that casino managers around magnate Steve Wynn concealed allegations about him for decades.

"If it's not just [Kelvin], was there a broader culture?" Kalyanam said of Ted Baker. "All of that needs to get cleaned out to help the company stay on course."
The Wall

By John Lanchester

W.W. Norton. 288 pp. $25.95

---

John Lanchester's new novel, "The Wall," sounds like the best-timed book of the year. It arrives smack dab in the heat of a constitutional crisis over President Trump's determination to build a barrier along our southern border - Congress be damned.

Lanchester, who lives in London, is well-equipped to write about this confrontation tearing up America. Not only is he one of the best financial journalists, he's also a novelist with a keen eye for how politics and money corral ordinary people's lives.

But Lanchester doesn't mention Trump or his wall in "The Wall." He doesn't mention the United States or Britain, where Brexit has arisen from a similar hostility toward immigrants. Instead, he abandons the sharp realism of his previous novels, such as "The Debt to Pleasure" and "Capital," and gives us a (BEGIN ITAL)fable(END ITAL) about a wall.

This is not so much a departure from Trump's rhetoric as an attempt to make it concrete. After all, the president has been spinning fables about his "beautiful wall" for years. Lanchester merely imagines such a structure completed on a colossal scale, and then he speculates about the paranoid society that would develop behind it.

"The Wall" opens in a grim future - not too far off - after the Change. We don't get much explanation, but it seems clear that climate change has dramatically raised the world's oceans, destroyed whole countries and precipitated a massive immigration crisis - pretty much what scientists have told us lies ahead if we don't reverse the GOP's suicide pact.

The novel takes place in an island nation, something like England, that is now entirely surrounded by a thick wall designed to repel hordes of desperate refugees, called the Others. "It's cold on the wall," the book begins. "That's the first thing everybody tells you, and the first thing you notice when you're sent there, and it's the thing you think about all the time you're on it." And it's the thing Lanchester's narrator spends an awful lot of time repeating. "It's cold on the wall." Got it.

That's the voice of Kavanagh, a young man just beginning his stint as a Defender. So urgent is this national work that everybody in the country serves two years on the Wall - except members of the elite, who live in unimaginable luxury. Kavanagh, our Everyman, describes his fellow Defenders, the sweet camaraderie that develops among them, and the dull work of standing on this 6,000-mile wall and staring out at the dark sea for 12 hours at a time. Aside from random inspections from their captain, only one thing keeps these men and women awake: If any Others manage to enter the country on their watch, the Defenders at fault are thrown over the wall and set adrift.

As a parable, this is all highly relevant. As a novel, it's fairly dull. Boredom is a hard state to portray effectively without succumbing to it. And Lanchester doesn't have the chilling style of, say, Cormac McCarthy or the wry satire of Margaret Atwood, which could have charged this apocalyptic vision. We're stuck in Kavanagh's equitable mind as he struggles to acclimate to the Wall, begins dating one of his fellow Defenders and dreams vaguely of a better future.

There are moments of excitement - incursions from those mysterious Others - but what the story really needs is a richer sense of this complex society. Lanchester hints, for instance, at a sharp generational conflict between "the olds," who ruined the planet, and the new generation, which must now live in this hellhole. "The life advice, the knowing better, the back-in-our-day wisdom which, according to books and films, was a big part of the whole deal between parents and children, just doesn't work," Kavanagh says. That sounds like the 1960s with twice as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and it's definitely a future possibility worth exploring, but the point is only glancingly developed.

In a similar way, we never really get to see those Others, though the novel is largely about how cruel and artificial such demarcations are. To a large extent this limitation stems from the restraints that Lanchester has set upon his form. Floating somewhere between realism and fabulism, "The Wall" doesn't fully harness the benefits of either mode. It's not a haunting allegory like Jose Saramago's "The Stone Raft" nor a moving work of social realism like T.C. Boyle's "The Tortilla Curtain."

Which is a shame because Lanchester knows how societies function and fail to function. He understands class conflicts on a profound level. All his previous insight about the way different groups of people live together and contend for resources could have illuminated this dystopia with real fire.

But once again, as with so much contemporary political fiction, Trump's America has outstripped a fine novelist's imaginative power. Bleak as the drowned world of "The Wall" is, it can't compete with those newspaper images of immigrant children stored in chain-link pens, the president's xenophobic rants or the EPA's rejection of scientific evidence.

As the seas rise and nations pull up their drawbridges in fear, we deserve novels commensurate to that emergency. Anything else just feels lukewarm.
Dario Lupianez is the author of dense scientific papers with titles including "Breaking TADs: How alterations of chromatin domains result in disease." Now he, as one member of an international team of molecular biologists, is also a co-author of a paper on the extraordinary genetics of celebrity cat Lil Bub.

Lil Bub is a kitten-size cat with 2 million Instagram followers, a talk show, a stage production, an album and a book. The new study reveals the weird DNA behind what is often described as her magical appeal.

"We can definitely say she's magical," said Lupianez, who lives in Berlin and who, like his colleagues, has never actually met Lil Bub in person. "I remember the moment when we first saw her on the Skype video and we were just like, 'Uhhhhh.' "

In some respects, Lupianez and his partners in this project, fellow Berlin resident Daniel Ibrahim and University of Pennsylvania's Orsolya Symmons, now know Lil Bub more intimately than pretty much anyone. They spent four years crowdfunding money to sequence the cat's genome, creating whimsical videos and a blog to demystify a complicated process, and analyzing Bub's genetic material to discover what makes her so very unusual.

It helps to know what Lil Bub looks like to understand why they did this. The cat has a short snout, enormous green eyes and a pink tongue that hangs from her stunted jaw like an errant piece of bubble gum. She never developed teeth, and she stopped growing around four pounds. Each of her paws boasts an extra toe, for a total of 22. (Six on the front paws, five on the back.)

When Ibrahim first learned about Lil Bub a few years on a video about celebrity cats - "I had 40 minutes," he explains - a lightbulb went off. He and Lupianez were both working in a genetics lab that studied bone disorders and limb malformations, and "this was similar to what we see in patients, except this was a cat," Ibrahim recalled. He dashed to Lupianez's office, where they began musing about gene mutations.

Soon they were drafting an email to Lil Bub's owner in Indiana, inquiring whether they might be allowed to sequence the genome of this feline sensation. Mike Bridavsky, who refers to himself as Bub's dude, said he did not hesitate to send a blood sample, though he jokes that the results were a tad disappointing.

"She's quite literally one in infinity, you could say, as far as a genetic anomaly," Bridavsky said of the cat he found in a tool shed shortly after her birth in 2011. "I personally was convinced that they would find that her DNA was not from our planet, which is what I was hoping for, or there was some crazy prehistoric DNA - that she was part dinosaur."

Lupianez and Ibrahim, for their part, wondered whether the cat's two already-diagnosed conditions - polydactyly, the term for her extra digits, and the rare bone-hardening disorder osteopetrosis - might be the result of one gene mutation, which would be an important finding.

Instead, they found in an initial test that Lil Bub's polydactyly resulted from the same gene mutation that causes it in Ernest Hemingway's famous six-toed cats, generations of which have lived at the writer's former home in Key West, Florida. That mutation is different from those that cause polydactyly in cats outside North America, which means Bub is somehow related to the Hemingway cats.

"This is pretty cool," said Lupianez, who heads a lab at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine. "Lil Bub is an orphan cat . . . but actually her DNA encodes information about her past."

With that settled, they knew that "everything else that makes Bub so unique - the cute little face, the osteopetrosis, the tiny body size - is probably due to another mutation," said Ibrahim, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics.

First, they compared her genome with that of a reference cat, then they focused on genes that control bodily functions. Finally, they asked a colleague who specializes in bone disorders which of those are known to cause osteopetrosis.

That led them to a mutation in a gene called RANK/TNFRSF11A, which has been found in about 15 humans and one mouse - all of whom, the researchers said, share physical similarities with Lil Bub. In X-rays, their bones look deformed and bright white, with little to no marrow cavity. The mouse, like Lil Bub, also was missing teeth, because they can't erupt through bone that hardens too quickly. (Bub can eat just fine, and she runs and jumps thanks to a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy.)

What it all adds up to, the researchers said, is a new case study for an extremely rare disorder - another example of how it can manifest itself and progress. Which means that Lil Bub, viral internet cat, could help doctors better treat human patients whose osteopetrosis stems from the same gene mutation.

The researchers said they plan to publish their results in a peer-reviewed journal but decided to first place them, and the complete data set, in the open-access journal bioRxiv, in the hope other scientists might make other Lil Bub-related discoveries, such as the cat's breeds.

After having long seen his friends "immediately fall asleep because they don't care," when hearing about his work, Lupianez said he's most proud that the project got regular people excited about genetics - with the help of a feline superstar, of course.

Bridavsky, who is credited as the paper's lead author, said it's all another notch on the figurative little belt of Lil Bub.

"I think Bub is here for a reason, and I thought that something could come out of sequencing her DNA for medical research and for science," he said. "And that's exactly what happened."
EL PASO, Texas - In a dusty lot along the U.S.-Mexico border fence, a single Border Patrol agent was stuck with few options and falling temperatures.

A group of 64 parents and children had waded through a shallow bend in the Rio Grande to turn themselves in to the agent on the U.S. side. He radioed for a van driver, but there were none available. By 2 a.m., the temperature was 44 degrees.

The agent handed out plastic space blankets. The group would have to wait.

Mothers and fathers swaddled their families in the silvery, crinkling sheets and clustered with them on the ground, shushing the children. They shivered in the cold wind, and the sound of crying carried on, like a broken alarm.

Groups like this arrived again and again in February, one of the coldest and busiest months along the southern border in years. U.S. authorities detained more than 70,000 migrants last month, according to preliminary figures, up from 58,000 in January. The majority were Central American parents with children who arrived, again, in unprecedented numbers.

During a month when the border debate was dominated by the fight over President Donald Trump's push for a wall, unauthorized migration in fiscal 2019 is on pace to reach its highest level in a decade. Department of Homeland Security officials say they expect the influx to swell in March and April, months that historically see large increases in illegal crossings as U.S. seasonal labor demand rises.

The number of migrants taken into custody last year jumped 39 percent from February to March, and a similar increase this month would push levels to 100,000 detentions or more.

It was a surge in the border numbers in March 2018 that infuriated Trump and launched his administration's attempt to deter families by separating children from their parents. Trump stopped the separations six weeks later to quell public outrage. But the controversy the policy generated - and its widely publicized reversal - is now viewed by U.S. agents as the moment that opened the floodgates of family migration even wider, worsening the problem it was meant to fix.

While arrests along the border fell in recent years to their lowest levels in half a century, they are now returning to levels not seen since the George W. Bush administration, driven by the record surge in the arrival of Central American families.

For U.S. border agents, the strain has grown more acute, as they struggle to care for children using an enforcement infrastructure made in an era when the vast majority of migrants were Mexican adults who could be quickly booked and deported. The Central American families - called "give-ups" because they surrender instead of trying to sneak in - have left frustrated U.S. agents viewing their own role as little more than the facilitators for the last stage of the migrants' journey. They are rescuing families with small children from river currents, irrigation canals, medical emergencies and freezing winter temperatures.

"We're so cold," said Marlen Moya, who had left Guatemala with her sons six weeks earlier and crossed the Rio Grande with the group of 64.

Moya's son Gael, 6, was sick with a fever and moaning, his face streaked with tears. "In Juarez, we were shoved and yelled at," she said, looking back across the river to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. "We slept on the street."

Asked why she didn't cross during the day, when temperatures were mild, Moya said she worried that Mexican police would stop them. "We've already come this far," she said.

Much of the attention last fall was focused on caravan groups, mostly from Honduras, as they reached Tijuana, Mexico, not far from San Diego. Then concern shifted to Arizona and New Mexico, where groups of rural Guatemalan families began showing up at remote border outposts. Two Guatemalan children died in December after being taken into U.S. custody, as Homeland Security officials declared a humanitarian and national security crisis.

The border deal Trump and Democrats reached last month includes $415 million to improve detention conditions for migrant families, including funds to potentially open a new processing center in El Paso. But in the meantime, families continue to arrive in groups large and small, in faraway rural areas and right in downtown El Paso.

"The numbers are staggering, and we're incredibly worried that we will see another huge increase in March," said a Homeland Security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the unpublished figures.

The group by the river had landed on the no man's land between the Rio Grande and the tall, steel American fencing. They were on U.S. soil, a place that already has a border wall.

The lone U.S. agent with the group was the only one available along that span. Drug smugglers have been using the groups as a diversion, so the agent couldn't leave the riverbank.

No vans or buses arrived to pick up the families. Other agents were busy at the nearby processing center because so many groups had arrived in El Paso that night, and still others were at the hospital, where they were helping parents and children receive treatment for severe flu symptoms.

Homeland Security officials have been urging lawmakers to grant them broader powers to detain and quickly deport families in a search for deterrent measures. Their attempts to crack down using executive actions have been blocked repeatedly in federal court.

The Trump administration has begun sending some asylum-seeking Central Americans back to Mexico to wait while their claims are processed, but so far that experiment has been limited to California's San Ysidro port of entry.

About 150 migrants were sent back across the border in February, according to Mexican authorities, but that is a small fraction of the more than 2,000 unauthorized migrants coming into U.S. custody on an average day.

Homeland Security officials said Friday that the pilot program, which they call Migrant Protection Protocols, will expand to El Paso and potentially other locations in coming weeks, predicting that the number of Central Americans sent back would grow "exponentially." Some of the cities where they will wait are among the most dangerous in Mexico.

Mexican officials are cooperating by providing general assistance and job placement for those sent back to wait, but privately they have warned the Americans that their capacity to take parents with children is extremely limited, especially families that need welfare assistance and enrollment in already-crowded public schools.

- - -

U.S. court restrictions on the government's ability to keep children in immigration jails - and the sheer volume of people arriving - have left Homeland Security agencies defaulting increasingly to the overflow model Trump deplores as "catch-and-release."

Volunteer workers from religious charities were visible at the El Paso airport last month, guiding newly arrived Central American families through the terminal, directing them like a tour group.

The adults wore GPS monitors on their ankles and carried manila envelopes with instructions telling them when to appear in court for their asylum claims. Some were traveling in premium seats, the only last-minute tickets available when their families arranged the flights.

It was the first time many of the migrants had been on an airplane. For Dionel Martinez, it was the second.

The 48-year-old Guatemalan came to the United States three decades earlier, working as a landscaper until he was deported - his only other time on a plane.

"We're going to Pennsylvania," he said. A friend had arranged a job at a pizzeria there.

With the savings from his first stint in the United States as a young man, Martinez was able to buy some land in his home country and start a family. But a drought this year had left them hungry.

"There was no harvest," he said. "Not one grain of corn."

His son Darwin, 13, came with him to the United States this time. The boy fainted during the journey, his father said, when they had to stand for hours in the back of a cattle truck.

Martinez said he paid 30,000 Guatemalan quetzals, about $2,500, to a "coyote" smuggling guide. It was a cheap rate, but it meant that he and his son traveled through Mexico in trucks, like cargo.

Across rural Guatemala, Martinez said, word has spread that those who travel with a child can expect to be released from U.S. custody. Smugglers were offering two-for-one pricing, knowing they just needed to deliver clients to the border - not across it - for an easy surrender to U.S. agents.

"If this continues, I don't think there will be anyone left in Guatemala," Martinez joked. The men from his village near the town of Chiquimula were all leaving, he said, bringing a child with them.

Martinez said he used the family home as collateral. He had four months to pay off the $2,500. "I need a way to feed my family, and this is it," he said.

Not all Central American families are economic migrants. Others, especially from Honduras, arrive with stories of gang threats and violent attacks. After crossing the border, a U.S. asylum officer performs a preliminary screening to determine whether their fears of persecution are credible enough to deserve a hearing with an immigration judge.

The problem, Homeland Security officials say, is that a growing portion of those who pass the initial screening never appear in court. They know asylum standards are tightening. Or, like Martinez, they have a prior deportation from the United States that all but disqualifies them from getting asylum.

Once released into the U.S. interior, some shed their monitoring bracelets and slip into the shadows to remain in the United States, a country where wages are 10 times higher than in Central America.

The saturation at the border means that it matters little whether a parent's story of persecution is sufficiently credible; the United States has just three detention facilities appropriate for families, with about 3,000 beds, and those are full. The pipeline backs up into Border Patrol stations that were never designed for long-term detention, let alone children, many of whom arrive sick after days in cramped quarters.

- - -

The tiny, remote Antelope Wells, New Mexico, border crossing, where 8-year-old Jakelin Caal arrived in December before falling fatally ill, is now staffed with a team of medically trained Border Patrol agents. But that crossing has gone quiet in recent weeks, as more large groups turn up on El Paso's riverbanks.

For families too poor to hire a smuggler, it was the only place to cross, converging with others who sought safety in numbers. Carlos Guevara, 35, said he and his son had wandered the streets of Juarez with nowhere to sleep, then spotted the crowd heading for the river.

"I want to give my son a better life," he said. Guevara said he earned about $6 a day for farm labor in Honduras, and left a month earlier with, Carlitos, 7, en route to Michigan. "I can't stand being poor anymore."

Swathed in plastic, his son approached the headlights of an agent's Border Patrol truck, its idling engine offering some warmth. Other children in the group were still crying and calling out.

Ramiro Cordero, a Border Patrol official assigned to accompany reporters, called on the radio, and said he would go back to the nearest station and get a van himself.

"This is what's happening on a daily basis," Cordero said. "You've got to understand that we have to take care of everyone that comes across. And this requires transportation and a lot of logistical support."

"Hopefully the vans can get here to transport them to one of the processing facilities," he said. "But for right now, this is where we stay."

He lined up the parents and children to issue bracelets to each one with a number corresponding to their arrival group. "They will be provided with basic needs, whether it's water, juices, warm meals," Cordero said. They would also get a medical screening.

Two blue-uniformed customs officers, summoned to help the Border Patrol agents, arrived with a van after 3 a.m.

The agents loaded the families into the vehicle, needing three trips to transport the entire group. The crying had stopped. On the radio, a dispatcher said there were already 607 migrants in custody at the processing center where they were headed, more than twice its capacity.
BLOOMINGTON, Illinois  Edwardsville High School graduate and current Illinois Wesleyan University student Spencer Burbach has taken his musical talents on tour.

As a member of the universitys Collegiate Choir, Burbach has recently started touring with the group to perform in Michigan, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Toronto and Montreal in Canada. The tour began Saturday with performances scheduled until March 19. Last year, Burbach said, the choir did a short tour around Illinois, but this year will be much bigger.

There are 25 to 30 of us in the choir, Burbach said. In addition to singing with the Collegiate Choir, he sings in the male acapella group at the university. He also has a job singing at a local church on Sundays and Wednesdays. The group also tours over spring break and sings classical music, as well as gospel and modern pieces.

Burbach had to audition for the Collegiate Choir, which is the top choir at the liberal arts university in Bloomington, Illinois. Before leaving Edwardsville for college, he attended Trinity Lutheran School and then EHS.

It was definitely hard to get used to the fact that youll see the same people every day, he said. You will know everyone here.

Burbach is a former member of EHSs Chamber Choir and the mens acapella group. He also did some theater in high school  some with EHS and some with community theater groups. He credits his voice teacher, Audrey Deeran, and the choral program at EHS for preparing him for college.

Ms. Ottwein is one of lifes gems, he said of EHS choir director Emily Ottwein.

I met Spencer when he was Winthrop in Music Man at SIUE, Ottwein said. He was so young, but so talented. I was delighted to start at Edwardsville and find him in the choir a few years later. He truly has one of the most beautiful voices and truly feels the music he sings. He sang a solo in Loch Lomond which I will never forget. It was so beautiful.

This is not the only tour the group has planned. This summer, the same ensemble will go to Poland for a very prestigious choral festival, he said. While there, they will sing with Andrea Bocelli.

Academically, Burbach said the school is challenging but, EHS did a phenomenal job of preparing me. I went into all my classes with the preparation I needed.

Burbach is the son of Rodney and Linda Burbach of Edwardsville and he is a sophomore majoring in music and is also on a pre-med track.

There are a certain amount of courses required for my music major, so I can only take one class per semester for pre-med, he said. I may not be able to complete all the pre-med courses in four years. If he cant, he said, he will take a year before medical school to complete his classes.

Burbach said he chose Illinois Wesleyan  an institution with approximately 2,000 students  because he wanted a school with a good music department. The entire school of music is phenomenal, he said. And the pre-med department is top-notch.

I absolutely love the small size, Burbach said. I initially thought I wanted a big school in a big city, but I came to Wesleyan and thought This is it.

According to the university, the choir is composed of student musicians and is dedicated to the performance of the finest sacred and secular choral music spanning six centuries and a variety of languages. Members maintain a rigorous rehearsal schedule in preparation for their concert tour and other engagements throughout the year.
The students' families hail from Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and other Spanish-speaking countries, findout out about Key Elementary School in Northern Virginia by word of mouth. They follow a reputation that travels through informal networks of friends and co-workers and more-established channels such as embassies.

Inside the suburban Virginia school that is dwarfed by high-rise apartment and office buildings, secretaries greet parents in Spanish. Books in English and Spanish fill the Arlington County school's library. Math, science and language arts are taught in both languages, and pupusas are as common as pizza at school potlucks.

Carla Toro moved her family from Annandale, Virginia, because of Key School, drawn to the Lyon Village campus because it would tether her daughters to their first language as they progressed through school.

"I don't want them to lose the Spanish," Toro said. "It doesn't limit them. It opens up their future."

But parents are battling for the school's future after Arlington Public Schools surprised them with a plan to relocate Key, an announcement that animated larger questions about race, class and the purpose of bilingual education.

The school district has backed off those plans but has not ruled out moving the program in the future, which officials say could be necessary so it can manage ballooning enrollment, reduce transportation costs and bring the bilingual program to other Spanish-speaking families.

"Relocating the elementary immersion program could be necessary due to significant growth . . . and the desire to sustainand potentially grow the dual-language immersion model and broaden access to this program," said Lisa Stengle, director of planning and evaluation for Arlington Public Schools.

But the uncertainty has fueled an urgent campaign by parents at Key who view the school as a bedrock for the nearby Hispanic community, which has clung to the school even as the neighborhood gentrified.

The tension has stirred mistrust and complaints of discrimination from some Key parents, who accuse the school systemof treating them differently because they are not wealthy and do not speak fluent English.

They have aligned themselves with more-affluent parents at the school, launching a website to showcase their opposition. They also have denounced school system leaders in public meetings and planted signs on front lawns saying: "ALTO CONTRA EL CAMBIO" - "high against the change" - followed in English by "STOP THE SWAP."

- - -

Rapid transformation

The neighborhood around Francis Scott Key Elementary School was changing.

It was the 1980s, and families from Central America and Vietnam were settling in northern Arlington, said Marjorie Myers, who retired last year after 23 years as Key's principal.

Students from around the world spilled into Key as white families left, dramatically altering its demographics.

Between 1990 and 2000, Arlington County's Hispanic population grew to 19 percent of residents, county data shows. That was a 52.7 percent increase.

For decades, most students at Key were white. But it rapidly transformed, becoming one of the "most diverse schools in Arlington," Myers said.

A federal mandate requiring language instruction for English-language learners led administrators to visit a bilingual school in Connecticut, recalled Emma Violand-Sanchez, one of the school's first bilingual teachers and a former school board member.

Key drew inspiration from that trip, accepting its first class of students for a partial dual-language program in 1986. At the time, Violand-Sanchez said 70 percent of the school's population was constituted of Spanish speakers from low-income families.

The campus evolved into a full-fledged bilingual school in 1995, the year Myers became Key's principal.

It was just one of a few Arlington schools that passed state standardized tests four years later, an achievement Myers celebrated in front of news cameras with school district officials. The feat, she recalled, awakened a desire for bilingual education in parents who may once have been averse to the concept.

"That was an eye-opener - that, in fact, kids learning two languages could be successful," she said.

Enrollment climbed. A sign declaring "Escuela Key" - Key School in Spanish - was placed outside the building. Demand for Spanish immersion surged, spurring the creation of an identical program at an elementary school in southern Arlington, Myers said.

Parents and school district officials say Key's success confirms research showing that dual-language education bolsters students' achievement.

And the school has grown to mean something more for immigrant parents such as Ruth Janeiro.

"I left my whole family behind in my country," said Janeiro, who learned about the school from the Embassy of Spain. "Key School is my family. My children have their friends. I have my friends. And it's a family because we can communicate in the same language."

Even as Key remains a fulcrum in northern Arlington's Spanish-speaking community, higher housing costs have driven working-class Hispanic families to other neighborhoods, longtime residents say.

That is reflected at Key, where fewer students in the 2018-2019 kindergarten class are native Spanish speakers. The school, which relies on an even split between native Spanish speakers and native English speakers, received 165 applications from non-Spanish-speaking students for the class, compared with 67 Spanish-speaking students, district figures show.

Stengle, the school system's planning director, said several other neighborhoods in Arlington have larger Spanish-speaking populations that could benefit from an immersion program closer to their homes.

"We need to look at options for where immersion should go," she said.

- - -

'Ethnic gerrymandering'

The Woodbury Park apartments, a collection of tidy, three- and four-story brick and beige buildings in the Court House neighborhood, remains a locus for the Hispanic community near Key.

The nearly 15-minute walk to the school is paved with wide sidewalks and hemmed by office buildings and shops. Parents without cars can reach the school by bus or Metro rail.

Those families, parents say, could not travel easily in an emergency or poor weather elsewhere in the county - including to Arlington Science Focus Elementary. That's where officials had planned to relocate Key before they reconsidered.

A move would put the immersion program out of reach for many low-income Hispanic families who rely on the Spanish spoken in the school to participate in their children's education, said Ruth Rivero, a leader in Padres Latinos Unidos, a parent group within Key's PTA.

Instead, she said, they would send their children to the nearest school.

"It's going to close opportunities for those families and those children," Rivero said.

Arlington Superintendent Patrick Murphy said in August that he planned to move the school by September 2021, arguing that he has the authority to make such a change.

Courtney Sullivan, an attorney hired by a Key parent, sent a letter to Murphy in November, threatening a court challenge. Moving the school without public comment or school board approval, she argued, violated state law.

"Closer examination of data might reveal a notable economic and demographic impact that, though not intended, results in ethnic gerrymandering - possibly creating classrooms even less diverse than the neighborhoods in which students live," Sullivan wrote.

The school system decided in January to delay the swap as it continued to evaluate a location for the immersion program.

Schools officials say a change could be necessary to contend with ballooning enrollment - 1,000 more students are expected next year in the Arlington system, and the district is planning to redraw more school boundaries, said Stengle. Faced with a tight budget, she said, the school district is focusing on efficiency, and moving Key could result in transportation savings.

Key parents say the school system hasn't considered their point of view or the damage relocating the dual-language program would cause.

"Hispanics are not being respected or treated like they deserve to be treated or respected," Rivero said. "I feel like I'm discriminated against and, to them, Hispanics have no value."

The school, Violand-Sanchez added, has doubled as a sanctuary for Hispanic families - a place where their culture is celebrated when so often they feel "attacked for who we are."

"As Latinos, we feel persecuted. We feel that, from the top down," she said. "Knowing that they can go to a school where they can continue to learn the language. . . . It is such a difference."

The school system said it hasn't heard from parents who feel shut out by the process and noted that it has given families information online and at a PTA meeting.

"The principal and staff have provided information to our community members in both English and Spanish," Stengle said. "Neither the principal nor staff have heard from Hispanic parents that they feel ignored and discriminated against."

Wealthier parents at the school, many who are white, native English speakers, have united with Hispanic parents, standing alongside them to translate during school board meetings, designing posters and a website as part of a well-oiled campaign to keep Key where it is.

Michelle Posner, the parent of a third-grade student who has helped parents translate speeches in front of the school board, said, "It seems like it's discrimination against these low-income Spanish-speaking families."

Parent Erin Freas-Smith said her children are zoned to attend a predominantly white school but chose Key, in part, for its socioeconomic diversity.

"I don't want my child growing up just outside Washington, D.C., to not understand what it is to know people and to normalize people who are different from ourselves," she said.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois is poised to provide greater access to reproductive health care and abortion procedures than any other state in the country.

Proponents and opponents agree passage of the Reproductive Health Act, repealing and replacing current abortion law, is a near certainty. It would fulfill a promise by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to turn the Prairie State into the most progressive state in the nation for access to reproductive health care.

It would also, detractors say, create a series of unintended, undesirable consequences.

There seems little doubt Democrats will have a legislative victory in the matter. The party holds a supermajority in both chambers of the 101st General Assembly, with 29 more seats than Republicans in the House and 21 seats more in the Senate.

Right now, this bill is passing, said Peter Breen, vice president and senior counsel for the Thomas More Society, a conservative, pro-life law firm.

The House version has more than 40 sponsors. The Senate version has nine.

Leading the push in the House are Reps. Kelly Cassidy and Emanuel Chris Welsh. The Senates main sponsors are Sens. Melinda Bush and Elgie Sims, Jr.

The measure will not be successful without a philosophical fight initiated by those on the right; or, likely, without Illinois being thrust into the national political spotlight  much like New York was after its state legislature approved an controversial bill with a name identical to the one Illinois General Assembly will consider.

Breen said the Thomas More Society will likely challenge some aspect of it in court, and it is probable other conservative legal groups will as well.

CURRENT LAW

Illinois current abortion statute was passed into law in 1975. Legislators wrote their objective was to reasonably regulate abortion procedures to adhere with the U.S. Supreme Courts decision in Roe v. Wade.

Since then, though, courts have struck down several aspects of the Abortion Law, such as a ban on fetal experimentation, a prohibition on sex-selective abortion procedures, and a provision allowing the husband of a woman seeking the procedure to receive a court order barring her from doing so.

Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has also pointed out that the states law includes a provision allowing doctors to be jailed for performing an abortion procedure.

According to a memo prepared by the Thomas More Society, the Reproductive Health Act goes much further than bringing the states law up-to-date.

A bill intended to repeal only unconstitutional provisions of Illinois law would have been half a page long, not 120 pages, the memos author wrote.

The Society is challenging a measure former Gov. Bruce Rauner signed two years ago, allowing tax dollars to be spent on abortion procedures through Illinois Medicaid and state employee health insurance programs, in court. Most recently, it filed paperwork asking the states Supreme Court to take up the case.

WHATS IN THE REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH ACT

This new legislation would repeal current abortion law and replace it with language enshrining reproductive health as a fundamental right.

As is written in the measure, This Act sets forth the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about ones own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.

The time for such a change is now, ACLU attorney Amy Meek said, because of the national landscape.

We have a president who has said that women should be punished for having an abortion and a majority of Supreme Court justices and courts who are hostile to Roe v. Wade and signaled that their goal is to outlaw abortion and to put it out of reach for women at any stage of pregnancy, she said.

The Reproductive Health Act is filed as twin pieces of legislation in both chambers of the General Assembly.

The push for House Bill 2495 is being led by Cassidy, from Chicago, and Welch, from Hillside.

This is modernization; this is clean-up; this is not breaking much, if any, new ground, Cassidy said. We are making clear what the state of our law is  once and for all, we are making clear that health care decisions are made between a medical professional and a woman.

Senate Bill 1942 is sponsored by Bush, from Grayslake, and Sims, from Chicago.

The Reproductive Health Act prohibits the state from intruding in a womans reproductive health care decision-making, whether that be choosing to carry a pregnancy to term or opting for an abortion procedure. It creates an avenue for a woman to bring a lawsuit should she feel this right was violated.

It also allows local governments to write ordinances strengthening reproductive health care, but bars them from weakening access to such procedures as abortion.

The proposed legislation additionally requires health care professionals to file a report with the Department of Public Health of each abortion procedure they perform. This requirement, though, is less specific than current statute, which mandates the type of information to be collected and reported.

The Act exempts these reports from Freedom of Information requests.

Criminal penalties for doctors who perform abortions are removed from the proposal. Colleen Connell, executive director of the states chapter of the ACLU, said that part of existing law was dangerous.

The reason doctors arent going to prison today for providing abortions and prescribing certain forms of birth control is because the ACLU has gone to court time and again and secured more than 14 injunctions blocking the enforcement of these dangerous laws, she said at a news event in Chicago earlier this month.

Among other statutes, the measure repeals the Partial-birth Abortion Ban Act, which was struck down as unconstitutional, the Abortion Performance Refusal Act and part of the Ambulatory Surgical Treatment Center Act.

At the end of the day, this is treating abortion care as health care, which it is, and removing it from the criminal code, said Julie Lynn, manager of External Affairs for Planned Parenthood of Illinois.

THE OPPOSITION

The Thomas More Society released a 13-page analysis of Illinois abortion law overhaul last week. It includes what its attorneys say will be legal repercussions.

The Reproductive Health Act is an extreme bill that would basically enshrine abortion as a positive good in Illinois law, according to the memo from the conservative pro-life law firm based in Chicago.

The Society takes issue with a mandate that private insurance companies operating in Illinois would have to cover abortion procedures if they also provide pregnancy-related benefits.

This would cause two problems, according to the memo. One is that groups that oppose abortion for religious, moral or other reasons but purchase insurance policies would be forced to provide coverage for the procedure. The other is that all those who participate in the policy  the insurance company, employers, employees  have no way to opt out.

A related issue is that the proposal would repeal sections of at least three statutes that give legal protections for health care workers and providers who refuse to take part in or perform abortion procedures.

One law, the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, would remain on the books. The memo, though, makes a case that a legal challenge could render it ineffective because a health care worker could be hindering a womans newly-created fundamental right to reproductive health care.

Taken together, Breen said it looks as if the Reproductive Health Act would enshrine that right as stronger than that of those in the U.S. Constitutions First Amendment.

It is a concern shared by the Catholic Conference of Illinois, a group representing the states six bishops.

These bills taken together crowds us out. For people who have moral objections, they basically are saying we dont have any rights, Robert Gilligan, executive director, said earlier this month. Thats whats going on, that people with First Amendment rights are being crowded out of protections under the law.

Another statute might additionally be made obsolete should the Reproductive Health Act successfully become law, according to the Societys memo.

There are twin measures in both chambers of the General Assembly that would repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act, which requires a minor to consult with her parent or guardian before terminating a pregnancy. Both bills are sponsored by Democrats.

The House version has four supporters, and the Senate version has eight sponsors. It is unclear what level of legislative success they will have.

Even if the measures do not pass, the memos author wrote, the Reproductive Health Act says the government would not be allowed to impede a womans ability to decide what to do in her pregnancy. The Act does not differentiate between an adult and a minor.

Because the Parental Notification of Abortion Act of 1995 requires a pregnant minor to notify one of her parents (or guardians) only of her intention to obtain an abortion, but not of her intention to give birth, the notice requirement could also be said to discriminate against her based upon her choice to undergo an abortion, according to the memo.

The Societys document also makes an argument that one line in the Reproductive Health Act could unintentionally undermine homicide cases.

The sentence in question  A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State  appears in a section of the legislation outlining reproductive health as fundamental rights.

Heres part of the problem: If we treat the unborn child as if its just a clump of cells, then how do you say that someone has wrongfully killed a human being, Breen said. You start to undermine the logic of a variety of laws that we have.

For example, he said, in Illinois, someone can be convicted of first-degree murder for intentionally killing an unborn child. If this proposal were to become law, a wily attorney could argue his or her client should be charged with a lesser crime, and therefore a lesser sentence.

The Societys analysis raises several other issues, such as the merits of allowing physician assistants to perform abortion procedures, eliminating restrictions on where the procedure can occur and removing reporting requirements to the government after the procedure.

Generally, though, Breen said the Reproductive Health Act would be bad for Illinois.

Pritzker and his Democratic supermajorities would convert the Land of Lincoln into the Abortion Capital of America, he said in a news release.

WHATS NEXT

Although Democrats do not need Republican support to send the Reproductive Health Act to Pritzkers desk, where he will likely sign it into law, Cassidy and Sims both indicated they would like to achieve a bipartisan vote.

I dont think Ive ever passed a bill without Republican support  I hope this doesnt break my streak, Cassidy said at a news event in Chicago when the four chief sponsors of the legislation announced their intention to file this legislation.

Sims added he wants to have an honest dialogue with his conservative counterparts, even though he knows doing so about this particular subject will be difficult.

I understand there are some folks who are adamantly opposed to the exercise of reproductive health  I get it, he said. But I also get that you cannot pick and choose which rights you believe are fundamental to an individual.

Amy Meek, the ACLU attorney, said the opposition is a smokescreen to cover the real objective of abortion opponents, Which is to push abortion out of reach, to shut down clinics and to punish women for seeking out reproductive health care.

The Reproductive Health Act exists as two identical measurers in the House and Senate. House Bill 2495 has a hearing with the Human Services Committee at 8:30 a.m. March 6. The Senate Version, Bill 1942, has not yet been assigned to a substantive committee.

The two bills repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion Act are House Bill 2467, which will be heard at the same committee meeting as House Bill 2495, and Senate Bill 1594.

Reach reporter Rebecca Anzel at ranzel@capitolnewsillinois.com
EDWARDSVILLE  A Livingston mans eczema defense and pleas to the public failed him, as a jury Wednesday took just 27 minutes to convict him of aggravated battery to a child.

Eric Duane Hurley, 32, took the witness stand in his own behalf Wednesday, and insisted the circular wounds, described by the victim and her doctor as burns, were sudden outbursts of eczema, an allergic skin rash. The child had bouts of eczema, but doctors testified that the skin rash did not resemble the round wounds seen in pictures shown to the jury.

Hurley was arrested and charged in October 2010, about two weeks after the child reported to her biological father that Mr. Eric had burned her with a cigarette because she would not stop crying.

Hurley and the childs mother appeared on the Dr. Phil Show in August 2012. The child had just turned 3 when she was burned and is now 6.

The father took her to a Litchfield emergency room, and hospital personnel called the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which conducted an investigation. Shortly after that, the mother gave up custody, and the child was placed in custody of the father.

The father took the child to her pediatrician, Dr. Chris Wangard, who examined her. The doctor, a board certified pediatrician, testified this week that the marks were intentionally inflicted wounds, consistent with cigarette burns. He told the jury he had treated the child for eczema, and the burn marks did not look like the allergic skin rash.

Hurleys own witness, Dr. Barry Zeffren, a board certified allergist, testified that eczema has non-specific borders, contrary to the round marks created by the cigarette burns. The doctor saw the child almost a year before the burning incident and confirmed that she suffered from eczema.

Defense attorney Steve Griffin, in his closing argument, also advanced the eczema theory, but offered an alternative theory, that the mother burned the child.

I dont believe they were burns, at all, Hurley testified. He vigorously denied burning the child.

Hurley and the victims mother appeared on the Dr. Phil Show in 2012 to deny burning the 3-year-old child, and apparently Hurley posted comments on The Telegraphs Facebook page Tuesday evening claiming that the story of the burns was made up by the childs biological father in the midst of a custody battle.

Others apparently close to the family posted remarks that the case had nothing to do with a custody and that the mother had voluntarily given up custody.

The story touched off a rash of posts on The Telegraph Facebook page, with dozens of people taking both sides on the issue.

A Facebook account apparently belonging to Hurley posted a remark that he insisted on the polygraph test, which he passed. Others posted comments on the fact that polygraph tests are not reliable, and that is why they are not allowed in court.

In addition to the Dr. Wangard testifying that the child related that Mr. Eric burned her, the jury also hear testimony from the victim, who repeated those same words. The childs father also related the same story from the child, and the jury saw and heard a recording in which the child said Mr. Eric burned me with a cigarette, and Mom beat him.

The victim told you and everyone else who would listen that the defendant burned her, Assistant States Attorney Crystal Uhe said in her closing argument.

The mother was also charged with aggravated battery to a child, but the charges were dropped. Hurley testified Wednesday that, as far as he knows, she is living in New Mexico.

Uhe and First Assistant States Attorney Jennifer Vucich said the speedy verdict is indicative of the strength of their case.

I am happy to finally, after four years, bring justice to (the victim), Uhe said.

Child abuse will never be tolerated in Madison County, and Crystal Uhe worked hard to prevent it, Vucich said.

Sanford Schmidt can be contacted at sschmidt@civitasmedia.com.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in praised North Korea's offer to dismantle a key nuclear production complex as an "irreversible" step to undercut its weapons program, breaking with the Trump administration.

In a meeting to discuss the summit last week in Hanoi between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, Moon on Monday lauded North Korea's offer to dismantle the Yongbyon nuclear complex. He also called for pushing ahead with inter-Korean projects currently hindered by sanctions and said the two sides discussed the "partial" lifting of sanctions -- backing North Korea's version of events.

"It would represent an irreversible stage in North Korea's denuclearization if the Yongbyon nuclear complex including its plutonium reprocessing facilities and uramium enrichment facilities are completely dismantled," Moon told senior aides Monday at a National Security Council meeting discussing the summit.

Trump and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said they couldn't accept the proposal from North Korea to shut down the Yongbyon complex in return for complete sanctions relief because the regime still had hidden production facilities and missiles elsewhere that could threaten the U.S.

"That facility, while very big, it wasn't enough to do what we were doing," Trump said last week in Hanoi, referring to Yongbyon.

Moon has endeavored to serve as a bridge between Trump and Kim, and has staked political capital on bringing peace to the divided peninsula.

Yongbyon, long at the heart of the reclusive state's nuclear program, has seen its importance drop in recent years as North Korea turned to other secret facilities to produce fissile material for bombs and missiles that could carry a warhead to the U.S. mainland.

Trump said he was impressed that Kim was willing to lose a "very big" facility. But after the Hanoi talks broke down, he also said he had pressed Kim on other nuclear sites uncovered by American intelligence.

Trump also said in his closing press conference that Kim had insisted that sanctions be completely lifted. North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho later disputed Trump's claim, saying Pyongyang only asked that United Nations sanctions imposed during 2016 and 2017 be lifted. A U.S. official later countered that those represent the most serious sanctions on the regime.

"We hope the two countries would continue dialogue and the two leaders would meet again soon to reach an agreement that has been delayed this time," Moon said at the meeting on Monday.

Moon also again asked his staff and ministers to speed up agreed-to inter-Korean projects. A day after the summit, he said in a speech that South Korea will negotiate with the U.S. on ways to restart the frozen joint projects north of the border -- a mountain resort and a factory park where South Korean firms used North Korean labor to produce goods.

The facilities produce hard currency for North Korea's cash-starved economy and need approval from various bodies including the U.S. Treasury and United Nations Security Council to open up again.
The Telegraph This drawing shows Monks Mound from an 1882 publication from W.R. Brink & Co., History of Madison County, Illinois.

COLLINSVILLE  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 the close examination of ancient human poop.

Published Feb. 25 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study provides a direct link between changes in Cahokias 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 WisconsinMadison Professor of Anthropology Sissel Schroeder  showed they could detect signatures of human waste in lake core sediments collected from Horseshoe Lake, not far from Cahokias 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 did their businesses, some of the waste 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 Cahokias 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, Cahokias 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 UWMadison graduate student in geography 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.

Whites 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 havent really been able to do, says White, now a PhD student at UC Berkeley.

Using Munozs 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 Cahokias 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 dont think climate has anything to do with it, but its 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 the face of climate change but resilience doesnt 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.
The Illinois Department of Human Services is launching a statewide website to provide resources for those impacted by a gambling disorder.

WeKnowtheFeeling.org, in addition to the 1-800-GAMBLER hotline, will be a place to get help or information about gambling addictions.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump said Sunday that the congressional testimony of Michael Cohen, his former personal lawyer and fixer, was in part responsible for the collapse in negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program last week - continuing to vent about the investigations encircling him and his associates.

During seven hours of testimony Wednesday, Cohen said that Trump manipulated financial records and that Trump knew in advance about WikiLeaks' efforts to release damaging information about his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, during the 2016 campaign, among other allegations.

The testimony unfolded as Trump had traveled to Hanoi, Vietnam, to try to forge a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over curbing the North Korean nuclear program.

While in Vietnam, the president said he walked away from the summit with Kim because of a disagreement about economic sanctions on North Korea. But he gave another explanation for the failure of the talks on Twitter on Sunday evening.

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar & fraudster, at the same time as the very important Nuclear Summit with North Korea, is perhaps a new low in American politics and may have contributed to the 'walk,' " he tweeted. "Never done when a president is overseas. Shame!"

Lanny Davis, Cohen's attorney, declined to comment on Trump's tweet Sunday night.

The House Oversight and Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., had gone through multiple dates for its highly anticipated hearing with Cohen, who has been called to appear before several congressional panels and is scheduled to go to prison in May.

Cohen had been slated to appear publicly before the Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 but canceled, citing potential threats against his family. On Feb. 20, the committee said that it had rescheduled Cohen's testimony for Wednesday. The president had announced the dates for his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.

Some of Trump's closest allies similarly criticized Democrats for holding a hearing with Cohen while the president was overseas. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called the scheduling a "new low" and accused Democrats' "hatred of Trump" of undercutting the nuclear talks.

A spokeswoman for the Oversight Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday night.

Trump has repeatedly complained about the Cohen testimony and the escalating investigations of him since he returned from Hanoi without an agreement with Kim. He derided "bull----" investigations and mocked the "collusion delusion" in a long-winded speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington on Saturday afternoon.

Earlier Sunday evening, he tweeted - as he has done many times before - about "Presidential Harassment" from "crazed" Democrats, calling it at the "highest level in the history of our Country."
RICHMOND, Va. - Attorney General Mark Herring on Monday said he demanded Gov. Ralph's Northam's resignation last month not because the governor had worn blackface decades earlier, but because Northam flip-flopped on the subject in a way that undermined his ability to lead.

Breaking a month of silence since acknowledging that he, too, had dressed in blackface as a young man, Herring took pains to differentiate his situation from Northam's. Both Herring and Northam are Democrats.

"The governor had said he was in the [blackface] photo, apologized for it," Herring said during an interview on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi show. "The next day, the governor came out with a different and contradictory account, and that was when there was an erosion of trust. That was what my [resignation] statement was about. . . . It was really about the public trust. I would hold myself to the same standard."

The attorney general said that after Northam's revelations, he "agonized" about whether to disclose that he dressed in blackface for a party as a 19-year-old student at the University of Virginia. He said ultimately decided to do so on his own, dismissing the idea that his hand was forced by questions from the media.

"Sure, we had gotten some press inquires, but this was something I needed to bring forward," he said.

Herring, who announced in December his intention to run for governor in 2021, declined to say whether he will still run. "That's the last thing I'm thinking about right now," Herring said. "What I am focused on is what has happened in Virginia over the last month and what I can do to repair the damage."

Herring's critics have called him a hypocrite for calling on Northam to step down despite his own blackface episode. Several times during the 36-minute interview on WAMU's Kojo Nnamdi Show, Herring contended that in his view, Northam needed to leave office not because of the blackface, but because of his shifting account of it.

Northam has been under fire since Feb. 1, when a photo came to light from his 1984 medical school yearbook page that depicted one person in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes. Northam initially took responsibility for the picture; at a news conference a day later, he said he wasn't in the photo but admitted that he put shoe polish on his cheeks to imitate Michael Jackson in a dance contest later that same year.

While many state and national Democrats immediately called on Northam to resign, Herring stopped just short of that in a statement issued late on the night of Feb. 1.

But the next day, after Northam's turnabout during his news conference, Herring called on Northam to step down and expressed his support for the man who would succeed him, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, also a Democrat.

"It is no longer possible for Governor Northam to lead our Commonwealth and it is time for him to step down," Herring's statement said. "I have spoken with Lieutenant Governor Fairfax and assured him that, should he ascend to the governorship, he will have my complete support and commitment to ensuring his success and the success of our Commonwealth."

Days later, Fairfax was swept up in a scandal of his own, as two women accused him of sexually assault dating from 2000 and 2004 - charges that Fairfax has vigorously denied.

Around 11 a.,m. on Feb. 6, Herring met with members of Virginia's Legislative Black Caucus to admit that he darkened his skin to dress as rapper Kurtis Blow for a college party.

Hours earlier, an Associated Press reporter informed Herring spokesman Michael Kelly that someone had given him a detailed description of a photo of Herring in blackface, pressing Kelly for a response.

A little after 11:30 a.m., after Black Caucus members left their briefing from Herring, Kelly issued Herring's statement about his use of blackface.

In a brief phone interview with The Washington Post Monday after the radio show, Herring said the AP's inquiries had nothing to do with his disclosure.

"No, no," he said. "This was something I had been thinking a lot about over that weekend and really wrestling with the additional pain, and also knowing if I was to maintain that credibility, that's what I needed [to do]."

On the radio, Herring said that he is not sure if any photos of him in costume existed. "I have spoken to some college friends to see if they remembered the event," he said. "They did remember. They did not have a photo. I don't know if there was a photo."

In his interview with The Washington Post, Herring said that he reached out to college friends about the incident "a few months ago" - before Northam's scandal broke.

"I spoke with a couple college friends to see if they remember," he said. "I asked if they had a photo. They didn't. That, to me, seems beside the point. I know what I did. I know why it was wrong."

He said he spoke to college friends again immediately after Northam's blackface history came out, as he weighed whether to disclose his own.

"I really wrestled with the amount of additional pain that this would have on Virginians," he said. "But ultimately I talked lot of my family, talked to college friends. ... I kept thinking about it and ultimately just concluded I needed to come forward about this."

The accusations against Fairfax are "different but a very difficult situation," Herring said. The women who say they were sexually assaulted by the lieutenant governor "deserve to be heard, they deserve respect," he said.

"What needs to happen is some type of impartial situation so we can get to the facts," he said. "In the current situation, it's hard to see how that takes place. It's an excruciating situation to be in."
When Jaim Foster began teaching nearly two decades ago in Nebraska, he said he was discouraged from being an openly gay educator. He had championed LGBT causes at his liberal arts college but suddenly found himself switching pronouns when telling students about his boyfriends.

"I was told I had to stop being that advocate, and I had to go back into the closet because it wasn't really safe," the teacher recalled. "You could be fired."

On Thursday, Foster reflected on how far the country has progressed, he said, as dozens of kindergarten students sat cross-legged in his classroom at Ashlawn Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia, listening as an advocate for transgender rights paged through a children's picture book about a transgender girl.

"I have a girl brain but a boy body. This is called transgender. I was born this way," the advocate, Sarah McBride, read to the students from the storybook "I Am Jazz."

McBride, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign, who drew national attention when she came out as transgender the day after her term as American University's student body president ended, wanted to relay a message of tolerance on a national day of reading led by the country's largest teachers union.

"For young people, being kind and being respectful is quite simple," she said. "LGBTQ young people are their classmates, their friends. They may be LGBTQ themselves. And so, this just makes sense. No one's ever too young to learn to be nice."

Students throughout the country were expected to participate in the National Education Association's annual Read Across America Day. It was the first time the union partnered with the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group for LGBT civil rights.

Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the union, said the support was especially urgent because the Trump administration has reversed guidance intended to protect transgender students.

"We have seen a complete, literal rollback of the protections for students, especially transgender students," said Garcia, who also read to students. "The Trump administration has been openly hostile, whether or not you're a transgender soldier or a transgender little boy or little girl. It is more important than ever before that we speak out."

Shortly after President Donald Trump took office, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Jeff Sessions, who was attorney general at the time, rescinded Obama-era guidance that directed schools to allow students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity. Some parents and students fear privacy and safety are endangered by accommodating transgender students in school restrooms.

DeVos said states and individual schools should decide how to address transgender students' needs - a position that runs counter to the Obama administration's stance that barring students from bathrooms that align with their gender identity violates federal law forbidding discrimination on the basis of sex.

The reversal changed the course of a landmark lawsuit filed by transgender teen Gavin Grimm, who was a sophomore when he sued his Virginia high school for prohibiting him from using the boys' restroom. The case was scheduled to go in front of the Supreme Court, but the justices, citing the withdrawal of federal support for Grimm, now 19, returned the matter to a lower court.

Schools vary widely on how they educate children on LGBT issues. School systems in Seattle and San Francisco, for example, have built a robust curriculum around sexual orientation and gender identity. But in some conservative states, teachers are prohibited by law from speaking positively about relationships that are not heterosexual.

Arlington does not have a curriculum that specifies how students should be taught about sexual orientation or gender identity, Foster said. But he shares experiences about his spouse with the children and stocks his classroom library with picture books such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "My Princess Boy."

"We talk about it all the time, in one way or another, of accepting families and differences," he said.

After her reading, McBride told the children, "I'm like Jazz. When I was born, the doctors and my parents, they all thought that I was a boy."

"Why?" asked a girl in a blue sweater and ponytail.

"Because society, people around them told them that was the case," McBride said. "It took me getting a little bit older to be able to say that in my heart and in my mind, I knew I was really a girl."

The kids began discussing hair.

"Can some girls have short hair?" McBride asked. "And can some boys have long hair?"

Yes, the youngsters seemed to agree, answering in unison.

"Anyone can be anything," one girl chimed in.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the New York Democrat who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, has demanded documents from scores of people related to President Donald Trump and his businesses. As Nadler puts it, this is necessary because Trump has been "directly implicated" in "various crimes," including some allegedly committed while president.

Yet Nadler is aggressively downplaying the notion that Democrats are moving toward impeachment. He told ABC News that "we don't have the facts yet," and so "impeachment is a long way down the road."

But make no mistake: In taking this step, Nadler, is, in fact, taking a big step toward launching formal impeachment hearings.

Whether Democrats will ultimately go forward with an impeachment inquiry remains unknown. As detailed below, Democrats are imposing a misguided constraint on themselves in this regard. But you can view this step as functionally the first stage in the impeachment process. And it could take on a life of its own that makes it harder for Democrats to resist initiating that inquiry.

As Nadler put it, the goal is to begin "to present the case to the American people about obstruction of justice, corruption, and the abuse of power."

The savvy smart money in Washington predicts that special counsel Robert Mueller 's findings will be a dud - that there won't be charges for criminal conspiracy with Russia, and that the Justice Department will release limited information about his findings.

But once again, an enormous amount of very serious misconduct and wrongdoing by Trump and his top aides (and in their case, criminality as well) has already been documented. Whatever Mueller concludes, House Democrats still have an obligation to go forward with their own inquiries - especially if we learn little about Mueller's findings.

Mueller is examining Russian electoral interference and any related crimes he uncovers. By contrast, congressional Democrats will be focused - as per their institutional role - on learning as much as possible about Trump's misconduct and abuses of power, and on informing the public about them.

Thus, even if Mueller does not conclude that Trump committed criminal obstruction of justice - or does not indict due to regulations protecting sitting presidents - Democrats will develop the fullest possible picture of Trump's efforts to derail the investigation.

Indeed, asked on ABC whether he thought Trump has obstructed justice, Nadler replied: "Yes, I do." He cited Trump's firing of James Comey as FBI director and Trump's pressure on Comey to back off his national security adviser. That Nadler is seeking documentation from the Justice Department shows an interest in filling out this story.

Nadler also said Trump's decision to grant security clearance to son-in-law Jared Kushner over intelligence agency objections constitutes an "abuse of power." Nadler added that Trump's reimbursement of hush money payments - which we learned of from former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen's testimony - could constitute "sabotage" of a "fair election" and thus "an impeachable offense."

And Jane Mayer reports for the New Yorker that Trump ordered top economic adviser Gary Cohn to pressure the Justice Department to file a lawsuit to block the AT&T-Time Warner merger, in apparent retaliation against CNN. Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., a Judiciary Committee member, already predicts this will be looked into as well.

The point is that whatever the truth about "collusion," we have already seen an extraordinary litany of Trumpian misconduct and abuses. Whether or not criminality occurred, the public has the right to the fullest possible picture of all those abuses.

There's precedent for this leading to impeachment hearings

The Watergate precedent is instructive. There were many months of congressional hearings into Richard Nixon's myriad abuses well before a formal impeachment inquiry was launched.

"Congress brought key players to the public to talk about not only the break-in but all the other abuses of power in the Nixon White House," historian Julian Zelizer, the co-author of the book "Fault Lines," told me. In so doing, Zelizer noted, Congress "set that up" as the foundation for the official vote to launch formal impeachment hearings in 1974.

"I think that's what Nadler is doing right now," Zelizer said. "I don't know if he will ultimately trigger the impeachment investigation. But this is what comes first. Congress has to create the political conditions to move forward. Nadler is looking into multiple parts of the story and trying to bring them together."

Listen carefully to Nadler, and you'll see he confirmed this - to a point. He said that before moving forward with impeachment, Americans must believe it's merited - i.e., he's building a public case. But he also said an unspecified percentage of "opposition party voters" must be persuaded that this isn't merely an effort to nullify the election.

Yet this self-imposed constraint, while reasonable, does not reckon with a unique advantage Trump has that Nixon did not - an enormous propaganda apparatus, including Fox News, that will bombard Trump voters with disinformation painting any and all inquiry into Trump as illegitimate. Democrats must decide whether this disinformation apparatus should be granted veto power in the event that they conclude that impeachment hearings are merited on the substance.

In an important essay for the Atlantic, Yoni Appelbaum detailed that the process of impeachment inquiry, as distinct from the final impeachment vote, is about preserving our democracy. It creates a "rule-bound procedure for investigating a president" that includes "considering evidence" and "formulating charges," an institutional framework for the grave task of weighing what the sum total of a president's abuses has inflicted on "the political health of the country."

Whether the current push from Democrats will lead to such a formal inquiry remains to be seen. But in a sense, this process is already underway. And it may take on a momentum that will make such an outcome harder to resist.
A Mexican company is developing the foods of the future - products designed to provide humans with the nutrients necessary for survival in a world plagued by crop failures caused by climate change.

Quinasa hopes to have these nutritious food products on the market by 2030, when humans may have to start dealing with the problem of crop failures.

Some of the products being developed by Quinasa take the form of tablets, while others resemble delicious chocolate bonbons.

Quinasas products do not look appetizing at first glance, but in a world dealing with climate change and food security problems, survival may trump appearances when it comes to eating.

The Mexican companys products contain ingredients such as mango, prickly pear cactus, avocado and oats.

Quinasa chief Dimas Jimenez described himself in an interview with EFE as a visionary who was ahead of his time.

Jimenez has created several machines for making the companys food tablets, but the most fascinating is Astron, a robot that performs a variety of tasks, including making the portable nutrient capsules.

Astron has metallic hands, a helmeted head and eyes like those of a human, thanks to an iPad.

The robot hears through the magic of artificial intelligence and can convert dehydrated fruit into nutritious tablets.

Astron - whose name was inspired by the astronauts who eat dehydrated food in space - can answer questions while preparing the foods that may save humanity.

Jimenez came up with the idea for Astron many years ago while pondering the effects of climate change.

Those of us who remain alive will have to survive, were going to have to eat. What foods are we going to have if there are no large farms, if there are going to be problems with agriculture, if there are going to be problems with cattle? Jimenez asked.

The Quinasa chief said the answer was clear to him.

We have to create tablets, Jimenez said, noting that NASA had already done this for astronauts.

Nutrition tablets are already being using in some places, such as Dubai, where the products are used to feed camels, and in the United States, where long-haul truckers eat them.

They contain all the nutrients that the human body needs to survive 60 days without having to eat anything else but the tablets, the biochemical engineer said.

In the world that is coming, crops in low-lying areas will likely be wiped out by sea level rise caused by climate change, Jimenez said.

The coasts will all be completely destroyed, as well as whats around the coast, Jimenez said, citing studies that concluded that hurricanes will be more frequent and powerful due to climate change.

I believe that everything thats grown in higher regions, such as apples, pears, avocados, all the fruits and vegetables that grow at higher altitudes, will be the foundation of what we can use (to feed ourselves), the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) researcher said.

Meat production as we know it will drop and cattle and hogs will likely also be converted into food tablets, Jimenez said.
The EUs airport security rules regarding hand baggage and liquids have been in force for years but with tens of thousands litres of liquids and gels being confiscated at airports each day, this is not only stressful for passengers but just adds to the delays.

READ ALSO: Important news about carrying laptops through security

Danny Van Goethem, Head of Security at Brussels Airport says:

This is a pity on more than one level. Firstly, no passenger likes to be deprived of their drinks or toilet articles. Secondly, processing the many hundreds of bottles and containers is an immense task for our security services. Finally this leads to longer waiting queues at the security screening points, which again is bad news for the travellers.

So, in order to clarify what you can and cant take through, we have answered here, some of the many questions travellers are asking:

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Each bag will be given a security tag and luggage is also fully insured (up to 2200 per bag in London, 2500 in Copenhagen and $3000 in New York) to ensure safety and piece of mind. Customers can book in advance or on the day of travel. You will only pay for the hours you use, and you can pick up your luggage at any time. Just make sure you check the opening hours of your chosen storage venue!

Find out more about LuggageHero

Q: How many of items of hand luggage can I take through airport security?

A: From 7 January 2008 the one item restriction was abandoned at certain airports. However, some airlines such as easyJet, regardless of airport rules, still apply the one bag rule diligently and may even refuse boarding even if your other bag is your handbag. Ryanair allow one small personal bag on board which must fit under the seat in front of you. This means it cannot be larger than 40cmx 20cm x 25cm and it can be handbag, laptop bag or a small backpack.

Make sure you find out in advance the rules of the airport you are travelling from and also of the airline that will be carrying you. These can differ greatly.

Our Advice: Make life easy, just plan for one piece of hand luggage per person.

Q: Can I take a drink through Security?

A: No

Q: Liquids are not allowed in, but can I carry through a bottle of water I am drinking at the time?

A: No you cannot. This will be confiscated whether you are still drinking it, or is unopened regardless if this is a bottle or can. This includes coffee or other hot drinks, and any other cold drink you are supping.

Our Advice: Finish your drink before you get to security

Q: Im still not entirely sure about what liquids I can take through?

A: You can take through various liquids  such as perfume  in different containers, but the container itself should not be able to hold more than 100ml. The limit is 1 litre so the maximum 100ml containers is 10.

These should be carried through the airport in a single transparent re-sealable plastic bag  like a freezer bag. The bag itself should not carry more than 1 litre (20cm x 20cm).

All the containers should fit comfortably and the bag should be sealed. Inside there should be no more than 10 containers of 100ml bringing the combined volume to no more than one litre. Plus, you are allowed only one bag per person and this should be carried separately for easy examination.

Our Advice: Do you really need to carry all those toiletries in hand-luggage? Anything more than 100ml will be confiscated anyway. So, if you have checked-in luggage, pack it. Alternatively, buy them at the airport once you have gone through security.

Q: Okay, but what is a liquid? Is my mascara a liquid?

A: Yes, your mascara and other make-up items like foundation, are considered liquids. So are your creams, lotions, oils and perfumes. Toiletries such as sprays and pressurized containers including shaving foam and spray deodorants, all types of pastes, including toothpaste, gels, including hair and shower gel and any other solution of similar consistency are all to be treated as liquids.

Our Advice: If in doubt, treat it as a liquid. If its more than 100ml, pack it. Or buy it once you have passed through security.

Q: What about my medicines?

A: You can take this, but only as much as you need for the duration of the trip, even if this exceeds the 100ml limit. But you will be required to prove the need. You will need prior agreement from the airline you are travelling with and bring a doctors note.

Q: I need to feed my baby, surely I can carry baby food?

A: You can take as much liquid baby food or sterilised water required for the journey itself. You may be asked to taste it. You can top up by buying more from the shops on the other side of security or at your destination.

Individual containers of breast milk must hold no more than 2,000ml and you cannot take frozen breast milk.

Q: Can I take nail scissors and tweezers in my hand luggage?

A: No, these items will be confiscated. But you can pack these items into your checked-in luggage.

Q: Can I take hair straighteners through airport security in my hand luggage.

A: Yes, you can.

Q: Can I take my phone and iPod through security?

A: Yes you can. You will be asked to remove these from your pocket or bag and place it in a separate container along with any change and keys so that it can be scanned.

Q: Can I take my camera in my had luggage?

A: Yes you can.

Q. I have now arrived at my destination but dont want to spend the day dragging my luggage around with me. What can I do?

A: If youre travelling to London, New York or Copenhagen, you can store your luggage at over 300 locations using the web app, LuggageHero. Prices start at just 1/1/$1 per hour and your luggage is fully insured to ensure piece of mind.

A Word About Prohibited Products

It is a sad fact that todays travellers do face security threats and it makes sense that security measures are taken at the airport. Apply a generous dollop of common sense to decide what you think can be reasonably taken through security and on board.

There are some items which cannot be carried in hand luggage or onto the plane and some that can be packed into check-in luggage. Here is a round up of those items:

Items NOT allowed in hand luggage but CAN be packed into check-in luggage:

Scissors (except where both blades are round-ended)

Toy guns

Razor blades

Liquids

Items NOT allowed in hand or check-in luggage:

Explosives: e.g. Fireworks, flares, ammunition, party poppers

Gases: e.g. Propane camping gas, compressed gas cylinders

Flammable Liquids: e.g. Lighter fluid, thinners, petrol

Flammable Solids: e.g. Fire lighters, Magnesium

Oxidisers: e.g. Bleaches, car body repair kits

Toxic/Infectious Substances: e.g. Weed killer, infected blood samples, insecticides

Radioactive Materials: e.g. Medical or industrial sources

Corrosives: e.g. Dry ice, magnetised material, Mercury

This article was sponsored by LuggageHero
The Bible Society ofUganda is a registered Christian non-governmental organization, which servesChurches and the general public by making the Holy Scriptures available inlanguages and media that communicate effectively to the people.
The Bible Society ofUganda is a Christian organization whose main objective is to provideaffordable Holy Scriptures in languages and media that communicate effectivelyto the people.
The UN World FoodProgramme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency against world hunger. Itis the largest and longest serving humanitarian agency in Uganda. Currently WFPfocuses on three priority areas: Saving lives in Emergencies; BuildingResilience through Predictable Safety Nets; Improving Nutrition &Mother-and Child Health; and Supporting Small Holder Farmers to Access Markets.WFP has operations in various parts of the Country.
The IT Executive will be responsible formaintaining the integrity of all computer workstations, printers, networkhardware, CCTV cameras and associated hardware & software within theorganization. The IT Technician will also be the main point of contact foremployees who are experiencing computer issues.
Touched by the compassion of the nurses who tended to her...
Behind the elaborate and colorful masks that thousands of dancers wear for different dances during Bolivias Carnival season are the artisans, who begin working on their creations months in advance of the celebration.

An exhibit in La Paz pays tribute to one of these folk artists.

The idea behind the exposition featuring the work of La Paz artist Alejandro Paz, who has been pursuing his career for more than 40 years, is to reassess the work of the mask-makers in Bolivia who use plaster of Paris to produce their iconic creations.

Reinaldo Chavez, the cultural adviser for the Carnival dance troupes in La Paz, told EFE about the value of the exhibit.

Via about 30 masks for typical Carnival dances such as the diablada, llamerada and morenada, or for iconic Carnival characters such as Pepino - all of which are on display at the capitals Local Customs Museum - organizers are intending to make the public more aware of the little-known world of mask-making, which requires a great deal of creativity and talent.

We have to appreciate the Bolivian artists who provide the spirit for these festivities with their colors and their talent, Chavez said.

Each plaster of Paris mask takes more than a month to make, with the entire process being done by hand from making the molds to creating the specific features of different characters in the countrys typical dances on each of the masks.

After making each basic mask, the artists polish it and add coats of paint to create textures and ensure that it best resembles the character it is designed to represent, Chavez said.

The key is to take into account the tiniest details and also to use other materials like sequins, mirrors, pearls and even synthetic hair to make the masks more lifelike.

Among the masks on display is one for the llamerada dance used by men and with the features of somebody who is whistling, an allusion to the shepherds of the Bolivian altiplano.

The llamas are herded along by the sound of their whistling, and thats why the mask has that expression, Chavez said.

Another mask is the one of the devil used in the diablada dance, and this one is very colorful, with horns, snakes, two bulging eyes and big teeth.

In addition, there are about 10 masks of Pepino - the iconic character of Bolivias Carnival - in different colors with assorted features showing the great creativity of the artisans who produced them.

The masks, Chavez said, are works of art and are everywhere at the Carnival celebrations in La Paz and in Oruro, which UNESCO has declared part of humanitys Intangible World Heritage.

Its work that is slow and little valued, he said.

Chavez said that many do not know the extent of the labor behind each mask, despite the fact that they are important parts of the Carnival dance costumes and represent the satire and exaggeration that is part and parcel of the celebrations.

Nowadays, he said, many masks are no longer made of plaster of Paris, due to the weight of that substance, but rather are fashioned of fiberglass and resin.

The mask-making technique has been handed down from generation to generation by the artisans, but now there are few remaining, Chavez said, and the big concern is over who will continue the time-honored practice.
Former BJD lawmaker Baijyant 'Jay' Panda joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, giving a boost to the party in Odisha, where it is looking to improve its tally in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The Assembly poll in the state is likely to be held along with the parliamentary elections, and the party hopes that the presence of Panda will brighten its prospects, especially in coastal Odisha.

Panda met BJP chief Amit Shah and joined the party at its office in the national capital.

Panda, who owns an influential media empire in the state, had been a leading parliamentarian of Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik-led Biju Janata Dal before he fell out with its leadership.

Amid his perceived proximity with the BJP, the BJD suspended him last year for "anti-party" activities.

He then resigned from the BJD and also the Lok Sabha, where he represented Kendrapara constituency twice. He has also represented the state in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJD had accused him of "anti-party activities" to justify his suspension. It later alleged that he was involved in money laundering as it sought a probe.

Panda had denied the charge.

Odisha has 21 parliamentary constituencies and the BJD had won 20 of them in 2014. The BJP had won only one seatSundargarh, represented by Union minister for tribal affairs Jual Oram.

The BJP has identified Odisha as one of the priority states ahead of the polls. In the 2017 state rural elections, the BJP emerged as the second largest party, pushing the Congress to the third spot.
Is Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge bracing himself for a fiery contest in Kalburgi in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls? With rebel Congress MLA from Chincholi Dr Umesh Jadhav submitting his resignation to Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar on Monday morning, Mallikarjun's worst fears have come true.

Ending months of speculation over his crossing over to the BJP, Jadhavwho also identified with the 'rebel' camp led by Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholimet the speaker at his residence two days prior to the BJP rally in Kalburgi (on Wednesday), which will be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Insiders hint that Jadhav is likely to join the BJP in the presence of Modi and as state BJP president B.S. Yeddyurappa has already signalled, he would be contesting against Mallikarjun Kharge in the Kalburgi Lok Sabha constituency on a BJP ticket.

Jadhav, who was facing disqualification under the anti-defection law following a complaint filed by the Congress legislature party leader Siddaramaiah for skipping CLP meetings, had turned up for the budget session to evade disqualification. However, the Congress's biggest worry now is the rival camp growing stronger, with Jadhav, too, choosing to quit the party at a crucial time.

Mallikarjun, who has remained undefeated in any election, has won the Gurmitkal and Chitapur (reserved) assembly constituencies eight times. In 2009, Mallikarjun, the sitting MLA from Chitapur, contested the Kalburgi Lok Sabha seat for the first time and won. His son, Priyank Kharge, lost Chitapur in the ensuing bypoll.

Mallikarjun, who served as the Union labour minister, repeated his feat in Kalburgi in 2014. Mallikarjun won with a huge margin of 74,700 votes. This time, Mallikarjun will face stiff competition from Jadhav, as major caste leaders, who once supported him and the Congress, are now in the BJP.

Former ministers and backward class leadersMalikayya Guttedar (Ediga) from Afzalpur and Baburao Chinchansur (Koli) from Gurmitkalquit the Congress, upset over Priyank, a first-time MLA, being inducted into the Siddaramaiah cabinet in 2018. Jadhav, who is tipped to be the BJP candidate from Kalburgi (SC reserved) Lok Sabha seat, belongs to the strong Banjara (Lambani) community.

Mallikarjun's dominance and promotion of his son upset senior leaders in the district, who quit the Congress. Like Guttedar, Jadhav openly revolted against district in-charge minister Priyank, alleging interference in his constituency. The minister has vehemently denied it time and again.

Priyank is scuttling development of my constituency to curtail my political growth, says Jadhav, who also holds Priyank responsible for the recent protests outside his house to condemn Operation Kamala.

"Jadhav had every opportunity to air his grievances before the party leadership. But he has quit the party with a definite purpose of contesting the Lok Sabha polls. This move is part of the larger design of the BJP and Modi, who is desperate to win Kalburgi, said Priyank, while speaking to a private channel.

A visibly upset Karnataka state Congress chief Dinesh Gundurao slammed Jadhav for quitting the party, saying, "He (Jadhav) has no ethics. He got everything from the party, but he chose to quit and join the BJP. We always knew he would.

Two days ago, when Mallikarjun Kharge was addressing a public gathering at Sedam, he made an emotional appeal to the people. The people of Kalburgi have elected me in the last 11 elections I contested. This time too, I am confident they will elect me. This will be my last election, said Mallikarjun. His appeal, however, drew criticism from his detractors, who dubbed it as a bid to garner sympathy votes.
Flooding at the intersection of Northwest Hill Road and Petersburg Road in 2013 is seen in this photo from the town of Williamstown.

Williamstown Seeks Input on Hazard Mitigation Plan

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The town is looking for residents' input on a draft hazard mitigation plan that has been prepared at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Town Manager Jason Hoch announced last week the start of a four-week period for public comment on the 143-page document available in PDF format through the town's website.

Hoch explained that the document was prepared in cooperation with personnel at the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission and in consultation with key Town Hall staff, but it is appropriate to solicit public comment to make sure any potential hazards are addressed.

"One of the reasons to have it reviewed more generally is there may be something we don't see or don't know," Hoch said in the Select Board meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, Willinet. "You might have something localized in your neighborhood or where you work.

"If you have the same drainage issue every day, you might say, 'Hey, they haven't talked about this.' That's fair. Similarly, you could say, 'I've read through this section, and I don't know if it means what I think it means."

Select Board member Jeffrey Thomas asked what specific hazards people should think about as they dive into the lengthy document.

"Does it look like we thought about the kind of issues that might impact the community, from ice storms, tornadoes, wind ... for instance," Hoch said, drawing chuckles for his reference to the latter threat, which earlier in the day knocked out power to much of the community, including the middle-high school. "Does it look like we were thoughtful.

"This is not: Do we have the answers to everything? It's to say: Have we identified the issues?"

Hoch described the plans, done about every seven years and formerly at the county level, as more of a risk assessment than an outline to remedies to potential hazards.

"At one point, this document could have identified the Spruces, as inhabited, as a risk element," he said. "It's the awareness that the community knew of the issue, not to say it's all fixed."

The former Spruces mobile home park ended up closing with the help of a FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant after Tropical Storm Irene caused severe flooding on the site in 2011.

"The two main reasons to have a document like this is, first, to think about potential risks and think about what kinds of actions we can take ourselves," Hoch said. "But the reason to do it with FEMA is once you have a document, if there are proactive things that we can do that require funding beyond our local capacity, we become eligible for funding from FEMA."

Hoch said that after the four-year review period, the draft document will be submitted to FEMA for its review.

The main item of business on the board's agenda Monday was its procedural vote to move forward proposed zoning bylaw amendments that the Planning Board is developing to put to town meeting in May.

Although the zoning warrant articles -- which need a two-thirds supermajority vote of town meeting -- are the domain of the Planning Board, state law requires that body to submit the draft amendment to the Select Board, which then refers it back to the Planning Board to schedule a public hearing.

Planning Board Chair Amy Jeschawitz walked the board through the highlights of the proposals, which would allow for greater flexibility in the creation of accessory dwelling units on residential properties.

While the Select Board's role in the process is largely pro forma, several residents who have been consistent critics of the Planning Board's proposals at its meeting, asked to address the Select Board on the issue, reiterating arguments familiar to those who have been following the Planning Board process for the last eight months.

Select Board Chair Anne O'Connor allowed the discussion from the floor, limiting each speaker to two minutes. A couple of the commenters accused the Planning Board of not taking input from "the town" into consideration in its deliberations and asked the Select Board to take the unusual step of refusing to refer the warrant articles back to the planners.

In the end, the Select Board voted 5-0 to refer the articles back, keeping them on track for a public hearing at the Planning Board's next monthly meeting on March 12.

In other business on Monday, Hoch briefed the Select Board on the highlights of the town's fiscal year 2020 spending plan, currently under review by the town's Finance Committee

Hoch emphasized that the budget is still under development, in part because the town has received no budget numbers from the Mount Greylock Regional School District, which is scheduled to present to the Finance Comm on March 20.

"These are good numbers, but they're not set in stone," Hoch said.

The bottom line is that he is expecting to present a budget to town meeting that will require a 2.5 percent property tax increase to account for increased expenditures on the town side of the ledger.

"When we turn it into non-percentages, we're looking at about, right now, a 24-cent increase on the town-only part of your tax bill," Hoch said. "I'm showing about a 38-cent increase attributable to expenses, but 14 cents of that will be offset by [non-property tax] revenue. I expect by the time we're done, the town side will come down from that 24 cents."

Thomas closed the meeting by discussing a bylaw that he is considering pushing to get on the warrant for May's town meeting.

After hearing a presentation from a proposed second marijuana shop in town, Thomas decided that the town may want to consider limiting the number of licenses for such establishments.

"We limit the number of stores that can sell beer and wine to seven, and only two of those can sell liquor," he said. "We don't know enough to know whether we need more marijuana stores in town than we have stores that can sell liquor."

Thomas proposed that the town limit the number of pot shops to two for the next two years and then re-evaluate the number that could potentially be allowed after the retail marijuana market is more established.

He said it was noteworthy that despite having 2 percent of the commonwealth's population, Berkshire County has been the scene of 11 percent of retail marijuana applications to the state's Cannabis Control Commission. Of course, Berkshire County is the only part of the commonwealth that borders New York, where marijuana is still criminalized.

Thomas said he worries that the market may not be able to support all of the shops that are looking to locate in the area, and when they struggle, those stores would "become aggressive with their marketing."

He said Hoch is helping him draft a bylaw but noted that the town manager disagrees with the idea and pressed Hoch to share his counterarguments with the rest of the Select Board.

"Bylaws are statements of what the community is and isn't," Hoch said. "Bylaws should be statements of what we want our community to be. This, to me, sadly feels like a statement of our fears."

Hoch noted that such a temporary limit on the number of shops would keep the town in a "Groundhog Day-type conversation" about the issue, and he said he did not know what new information would be available in 2021 that the town does not have now.

As for Thomas' concerns about oversaturation of marijuana shops, Hoch said that it is not the place of town government to control the free market.

"We shouldn't substitute our hasty judgment for what the market will correct on its own," Hoch said. "We limit the number of liquor licenses to seven and the number of tobacco licenses to seven. If we're going to limit this, why pick two? Why not pick seven?

"I'm sensitive to the suggestion. I'm wondering if we're chasing a problem that is going to work itself out [without a bylaw]."
Modi's remarks prompt speculation over post-air strike action

Ahmedabad, Mar 5 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Monday said he will find out those responsible for terror acts

in India "even if they hide in the bowels of the earth".

Modi also asked the opposition not to malign India's

armed forces.

"What our opposition leaders say become headlines in

Pakistan newspaper today," Modi said, addressing a gathering

here.

In a veiled reference to India's air strike in

Pakistan, Modi said, "If one work gets over, our government

doesn't sleep, but gets ready for another."

"We won't lag behind when it comes to taking big and

bitter decisions," he said.

Referring to the 2008 attack at Ahmedabad civil

hospital, Modi said, "should not those sitting in Delhi at

that time have taught those sitting in Pakistan a lesson."

Minutes after his Pakistan counterpart Imran Khan said

last week that captured IAF pilot Abhinandan Varthaman will be

repatriated to India as a gesture of peace, Modi had said;

Abhi abhi ek pilot project pura ho gaya. Abhi real karna hai,

pehle toh practice thi.

Modi appeared to be making a reference to India's air

strikes on terror camps in Pakistan when he said a "pilot

project" was recently carried out and now the "real one" has

to be done as the earlier exercise was a practice. PTI PJT PD

VT

VT VT
Jaipur, Mar 4 (PTI) The Rajasthan government Monday notified Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Facilitation of Establishment and Operation Ordinance, 2019, allowing entrepreneurs to start business by filling self declaration form.

The ordinance proposes exemption from approval and inspection from various departments for three years, besides various legal and administrative difficulties.

The entrepreneurs will be able to present declaration of intent electronically or physically to the nodal agency, which will issue acknowledgement certificate, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot was quoted as saying in a statement.

The enterprises will be exempted from approvals and inspections for three years, but they will have to work as per the laws, he said.

After the completion of three years period, the enterprises would have to secure all the necessary approvals from the concerned department within six months.

The ordinance will save time and allow entrepreneurs to focus on industrial expansion and production, Gehlot said. It will also create a conducive environment for industrial investment in the state.

The Bureau of Investment Promotion and District Industrial Centres will be the nodal agency for implementation of the ordinance at the state and district level, respectively. PTI AG RVK

RVK
Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI) John Abraham says if actors are aware of the political situation in the country, they must voice their opinion but should not do that for effect or to "trend".

The actor's comments come a day after Kangana Ranaut blasted Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt calling them "irresponsible" for their apolitical stand on issues concerning national interest.

Asked if he believes actors are obliged to make a political comment, John told reporters, "Yes, if they are politically aware. Kangana is very politically aware and she has got a voice. I think you must take a stand if you are politically aware."

The actor said one should refrain from commenting on politics if they know nothing about the country.

"But you shouldn't be stupidly talented. You can't be an idiot, who knows nothing about which country lies where. If you don't know what's happening from Bihar to Syria, then you should shut up and smile and show your mug that you have done so much work on. Don't talk," he said.

John was speaking at the trailer launch of his upcoming espionage thriller "Romeo Akbar Walter (RAW)". The film, directed by Robbie Grewal, also features Mouni Roy, Jackie Shroff and Sikander Kher.

The 46-year-old actor said everyone who worked on the film knew what is happening in the country.

"We have shot in Kashmir for the film and we know about the grassroots problems there. When you know a situation, you can make a statement.

"But again, making a statement at the right time is important. It shouldn't be for the effect. The statement shouldn't be made to trend. I am not in the business of trending. I don't want to trend," he added.

The film is scheduled to be released on April 5. PTI JUR RDS BK

BK
Dhaka, Mar 4 (PTI) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought the help of a leading Indian cardiac surgeon in determining the treatment of her ailing senior Cabinet colleague.

Hasina called the Bengaluru-based Dr Devi Shetty on Sunday evening and requested him to come to Dhaka to examine the health condition of Bangladesh minister for Road, Transport and Bridge, Obaidul Quader.

Quader, who is also the General Secretary of ruling Awami League, was on Sunday admitted to the Dhaka's Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) after being diagnosed with three blockages in his coronary artery.

He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit at first and then moved to Critical Care Unit as his condition deteriorated, the Daily Star reported.

He had also uncontrolled diabetes and electrolyte imbalance.

President Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Hasina and Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury and many Cabinet members and lawmakers visited him at the hospital, the paper said.

Shetty, who is the chairman of Narayana group of hospitals, arrived at the Dhaka airport on Monday afternoon from where he directly went to the BSMMU, where Quader was on life support.

"I received call from the Bangladesh Prime Minister last evening and was requested to examine the health of the minister. I was told that the condition of the minister was serious," Shetty told PTI over the phone.

He examined the Awami League leader and spoke with the other doctors.

Shetty said that the minister will get a better treatment in Singapore.

"I examined Quader's health closely and have asked BSMMU doctors to shift him to Singapore where he will get better medical facility," Shetty.

The decision to transfer him to Singapore was made shortly afterwards, the bdnews24.com reported. PTI RUP AKJ

RUP

RUP
The Hague, Mar 4 (AFP) The Netherlands said Monday it had recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in an dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.

Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the EU slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government "has decided to recall the Netherlands' ambassador to Tehran for consultations" over the row.

Iran's decision to expel the Dutch officials -- which was not previously announced in public -- was "not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship," Blok said.

He said Iran's move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands' expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 "due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin."

Iran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.

The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.

Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017. (AFP) ZH

ZH
Three arrested for attacking ex-army officer's son in pub

Mumbai, Mar 4 (PTI)Three persons were arrested for

allegedly attacking the 22-year-old son of a decorated former

Army officer at a pub here, police said Monday.

The pub is located in the western suburb of Bandra and

the incident took place in early hours of Saturday, said an

official.

Gurnihal Singh, the college-going son of Shaurya

Chakra awardee, Captain (retd) Bikramjit Singh, and his friend

Saksham Jatia were attacked by a group of persons at the pub

following an argument when the duo took to the dance floor, he

said.

The fight started when one of the men in the group

began punching Jatia, the official said.

When Gurnihal Singh and his friends tried to

intervene, they were also attacked by the group members, he

said.

One of the attackers broke a liquor bottle and slashed

Gurnihal Singh's throat with it, causing serious injuries to

him, the official said.

Gurnihal Singh was rushed to a hospital, where his

condition is stated to be stable now, he said.

A case was registered at the Bandra police station.

Three alleged attackers were arrested separately

Sunday and Monday and charged with attempt to murder, among

other offences, the official said.

The police were also investigating whether more

persons were involved in the attack, he said. PTI DC

RSY RSY
Ahmedabad, Mar 4 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday met his nonagenarian mother Hiraba in Raisan village near here after addressing a gathering in Ahmedabad late in the evening.

Hiraba Modi lives with the PM's younger brother Pankaj Modi in the village located close to the state capital Gandhinagar.

The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit of his home state, spent around 30 minutes with his mother and other family members.

Before calling on his mother, Modi visited the famous Dholeshwar Mahadev temple near Raisan and offered prayers on the occasion of Mahashivratri.

Modi will attend two programmes in the state on Tuesday. PTI PJT PD RSY RHL
The owner of the former textile mill on Hoosac Street is asking to take down a 9,000-square-foot section that is considered structurally compromised.

Developer to Demolish Portion of Former Waverly Mill



The vacant mill was purchased nearly five years ago with plans to turn it into housing. ADAMS, Mass.  The Conservation Commission last week tabled a request for determination to demolish part of the 7 Hoosac St. Mill.

The commission on Thursday heard from Emily Stockman, a wetlands scientist, representing developer Spinning Mill LLC that wants to knock down a structurally compromised portion of the historic mill.

"They want the demolition now because the caretaker on the property noticed collapsing roofs and other issues," Stockman said. "We think this needs to happen sooner than later."

South County developer Jeffrey Cohen purchased the 214,000-square-foot mill in 2014 with plans to install affordable workforce apartments. Waverly-Schumacher mill No. 4 was shuttered in 1991, putting 400 people out of work.

As of today, no major construction has begun and the mill is on the market for $2.85 million. Cohen is currently working on a $60 million renovation of the Eagle Mill in Lee into housing as part of a multi-use development around the mill.

Stockman said the flood control chute is to the east of the Adams mill and there is a tributary to the west.

The plan is to demolish the nearly 9,000-square-foot portion of the mill on the south side and remove the impervious degraded area, which will be converted to a vegetative area with erosion control set prior to work.

She said this work is away from the river.

"The demolition before you would all take place on the paved areas," she said. "We have designated a stockpile area that is out of jurisdiction and as you can see it is all west of the building a ways from the river."

Stockman said there are a few smaller areas disconnected from the main structure that will also be part of the demolition and that the structure has been cleared of asbestos.

She asked that Spinning Mill LLC receive credit for this 9,000 square feet that could go toward future mitigation work on the site.

"What we are asking the commission is for the credit for the square footage we are going to demolish and the reason for that is any future projects would be considered redevelopment," she said. "We ask that you take into account the existing degraded area because the developer does not want to lose credit."

The commission had no immediate concerns about the credit but just wanted to be sure that this credit could not be sold or used on another site.

Stockman said this is not allowed in Massachusetts.

Commissioner Thomas Robinson was concerned about the actual flood control chute and said although the demolition project would likely not affect the area, future construction could affect the flood control.

"This building probably is as close to the flood chute as any building project we have ever had before this board and I am very concerned about the integrity of the walls," he said. "One side is 2 feet from the wall and the other is less than 50 feet."

Robinson suggested that the company take out a bond prior to work.

Commissioner James Fassell agreed and noted that flood control is critical to the town and the chutes cannot be compromised.

"These walls get a bad rap in town but without those walls, the town does not exist," he said.

Stockman said temporary access will be needed along the flood control for this project but it will be clear that vehicles have to stay away from the wall. She added that she would convey this concern to the developers.

Even though the commissioners were familiar with the site, Fassell asked that they visit it before making a determination at a meeting later this month.

Stockman did add that Spinning Mill plans to come before the commission for the full Notice of Intention once it is ready to go forward with the project.

In other business, the commission also approved a negative request for determination for upcoming construction on Russell Field on behalf of the town of Admas.

The town has applied for funds to overhaul the park and playing fields.

The commission did place a few mandates on the town and asked that they clean debris from the stream bed, designate a ten foot wide no mowing area along the stream, and phase the project.

There was a fear that if heavy rains hit the town during the regrading and reseeding the park would turn into a mud pit.
Kolkata, Mar 4 (PTI) West Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Monday met Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi and discussed various aspects on the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) in the state.

The meeting between Chowdhury and Congress president Rahul Gandhi came amid an ongoing impasse between the Congress and the Left party over the issue.

Gandhi has enquired about the positives and negatives of the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) in Bengal, according to Congress sources.

Chowdhury has briefed Gandhi about all the aspects of the proposed seat sharing with the CPI(M) and the hurdles.

"During the meeting Adhir Chowdhury also said that the Congress workers in Bengal are of opinion that the Congress should either go alone or go for seat sharing with the Left.

"But under no circumstances should the party align with the TMC in Bengal as it would be a severe jolt to the organisation in the state," a senior Congress leader, privy to the development, said.

The CPI(M) on Monday proposed "no mutual contest" for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in six seats currently held by Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal, indicating its willingness for an understanding between the two political blocks in the state to consolidate anti-BJP votes.

The state Congress leadership said there will be no compromise on two parliamentary seats- Raiganj and Murshidabad - and if needed, the party is ready to go it alone.

Though Raiganj and Murshidabad are

traditionally Congress bastions, they are represented by CPI(M) leaders. Both the seats were earlier held by the Congress.

The other four seats were won by the Congress. There were several rounds of talks between the two blocks on seat sharing but Raiganj and Murshidabad have remained the bone of contention.

On the proposal by the CPI(M), the Congress has not made any decision officially, but a senior leader privy to the

seat sharing discussions with CPI(M) told PTI that the party will not compromise on the two constituencies. PTI PNT ANB

ANB
(Eds: Recasts intro, adds quotes and background)

Patna, Mar 4 (PTI) The JD(U) Monday strongly objected to fresh hankering in some quarters to abrogate Articles 35A and 370 of the Constitution, warning that any "tinkering" with these provisions for Jammu and Kashmir would be "detrimental to the national unity and integrity."

The Janata Dal (United), which is headed by Bihar

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and is a key NDA ally, also

deplored the "aggressive posturing" on building a Ram temple in Ayodhya, asserting that "the Supreme Court, and only the Supreme Court, can now settle the matter."

A statement to this effect was made by the party's

national general secretary and chief spokesman K C Tyagi, who said these issues "figured prominently" in deliberations at the JD(U) national executive meeting held Monday in the presence of Nitish Kumar.

Despite an alliance with the BJP, the JD(U), since its earlier avatar as Samata Party, has held a distinct stance on three issues - Ayodhya dispute, Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code, Tyagi told reporters.

This has been underscored by Nitish Kumar many times, he said, adding this was reiterated again at the national

executive meet.

"In the aftermath of the recent events in Jammu and

Kashmir, we see a fresh demand for abrogating Articles 370 and 35A. We hold the view that these Constitutional provisions must stay. Tinkering with them could be detrimental to the national unity and integrity," said Tyagi.

His comments come amid a clamour for abolishing the special status enjoyed by the restive northern state in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack and the subsequent escalation of tensions with Pakistan.

"On the Ayodhya issue, we see a lot of aggressive

posturing. This is not good. The JD(U) has always held that the vexed issue be solved either through a consensus among the affected parties or through a court order. Attempts to solve the tangle outside the court through talks were made

during the reign of V P Singh, Chandrashekhar, P V Narasimha

Rao and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. None of these efforts bore fruit," Tyagi said.

"We must, therefore, wait for and honour the judgement of the Supreme Court before which the title suit is pending. In the party's view, under the present circumstances the Supreme Court, and only the Supreme Court, can now settle this matter," he asserted.

In an oblique reference to the controversy over the

Triple talaq bill, Tyagi said our national president has made

clear the party's stand on the issue of Uniform Civil Code a

number of times.

The JD(U) president had even written to the Law Commission elucidating the same, he said.

"Our MPs had also raised questions in the Rajya Sabha as to whether the communities affected by the legislation had been made a part of decision making process," he added. Tyagi was speaking in the presence of party's senior

leaders, including national general secretaries Pavan Varma

and Ram Chandra Prasad Singh.

He also expressed confidence that the three NDA

constituents in Bihar, JD(U), BJP and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP,

which have already finalised a seat-sharing formula, would

soon decide which seat would go to which party and the candidate for the Lok Sabha polls.

He also said his party's alliance with the BJP was "confined only to Bihar" and the JD(U) was looking forward

to fielding candidates "outside the state".

A three-member committee comprising Tyagi, the party's

national vice president Prashant Kishor and RCP Singh has been set up with the mandate to hold discussions with state units on this issue, said the JD(U) general secretary-cum- spokesperson. PTI AR NAC RG RAX

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) Two days after Union Minister S S Ahluwalia said neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of Balakot air strikes, the Congress Monday asked the Prime Minister to come out with the truth on the number of terrorists killed.

"Modi-ji, your central government ministers are stating that TV channels' news is fake, stating that the prime minister never stated that 300 terrorists were killed during the Balakot air strike. Is this true? If no, the prime minister should tell the truth. Regards, citizens of country," said Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala in a tweet Monday.

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, S S Ahluwalia, said Saturday in Siliguri that neither Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty of air strikes.

Rather, the Indian media and social media users were circulating an unconfirmed figure of terrorists killed, he said.

"I have seen reports in Indian media and international media and also what Modi-ji had said. After the air strike, there was a rally by Modi-ji and he didn't say anything on the casualty figures. I want to ask if Modi-ji, or any government spokesperson, or our party president Amit Shah has given any figure?" he asked reporters in Siliguri on Saturday.

The Darjeeling BJP MP's comments come in the wake of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee questioning the Modi government over the air strike.

Banerjee on Thursday demanded evidence of the pre-emptive strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed training camps by the Indian Air Force. She also said the opposition parties want to know the details of the operation. PTI DSP DSP IND

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) There has been an "orchestrated effort" by the BJP and the RSS to rouse "jingoistic nationalism" after the Pulwama terror attack and the government has turned the battle against terrorism into one against Muslims and Kashmiris, the CPI(M) alleged Monday.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said the government must step up diplomatic efforts to present an united India against terrorism in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack of February 14, in which 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

"A united India rose against terrorism. Instead of strengthening this, the post-Pulwama developments are seeing an orchestrated effort by the BJP and Sangh Parivar outfits to rouse jingoistic nationalism.

"The targeting of Kashmiris in various parts of the country, the calls for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A are all turning this battle of Indians against terrorism into battles against Kashmiris and Muslims to further deepen the communal polarisation," he said.

He said the present situation in Jammu and Kashmir was the result of failed policies in the state and claimed that during the course of the present government, terror incidents saw a rise of 176 per cent.

The number of security personnel killed saw a rise of 93 per cent. On an average, eleven terrorists infiltrated every month between 2014 and 2018, he claimed.

Yechury said that what was more dangerous was the sharp rise in local Kashmiri youths joining terror groups, from 16 such cases in 2013 to 164 in 2018.

"This deepening alienation of Kashmiri youth is a consequence of the Modi government reneging on its promises to initiate a political process of dialogue with all the stakeholders in Jammu and Kashmir and the implementation of confidence building measures," he said.

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP leaders of "politicising" the issue, he said they were disrupting the united fight of Indians against terrorism for their "partisan electoral benefit". PTI ASG ASG SOM

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) India will collaborate with Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia to increase the population of three species of Asian rhinos, including the Greater one-horned rhinoceros found in the Indian sub-continent.

The five rhino range nations signed a declaration 'The New Delhi Declaration on Asian Rhinos 2019' for the conservation and protection of the species at the recently held Second Asian Rhino Range Countries meeting here.

During the meet, Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan affirmed India's commitment towards rhino conservation.

The declaration was signed to conserve and review the population of the Greater one-horned, Javan and Sumatran rhinos every four years to reassess the need for joint actions to secure their future.

"The national strategy will pave the path for long term conservation of the Greater one-horned rhinos in India. I also wish the range country of critically endangered Javan and Sumatra rhinos success in their endeavour to secure the future of the two critically endangered rhinos in Asia," Vardhan said.

The declaration includes undertaking studies on health issues of the rhinos, their potential diseases and taking necessary steps; collaborating and strengthening wildlife forensics for the purpose of investigation and strengthening of transboundary collaboration among India, Nepal and Bhutan for the conservation and protection of the Greater one-horned rhino.

The meet was organised by the environment, forest and climate change ministry in collaboration with IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group, WWF- India and Aaranyak.

It was attended by NGOs such as US-based International Rhino Foundation and Global Wildlife Conservation; Zoological Society of London  Nepal Office and the WWF's US, India, Indonesia and Nepal chapters.

The Wildlife Conservation Nepal, National Trust for Nature Conservation of Nepal, Yayasan Badak of Indonesia and Freeland Foundation of Thailand also participated in the meeting. PTI AG AG ANB

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Chennai, Mar 4 (PTI) The Madras High Court Monday set aside a month-long jail term awarded to an AIDS patient in a nearly three-decades old funds misappropriation case on humanitarian grounds.

Justice M V Muralidharan allowed a revision petition filed by the convict considering his health condition.

The judge, however, increased the fine amount imposed on the petitioner from Rs 500 each in the two cases to Rs 5,000 each.

"I am of the view that the punishment of imprisonment for a period of one month has to be modified due to the nature of the disease and the sufferings of the petitioner/accused, on humanitarian grounds," the judge said in his order.

The petitioner, while working as secretary-in-charge of the Primary Agricultural Co-operative Bank in Vellore district in 1991, had misappropriated funds running into several lakhs of rupees.

The trial courts in 2010 and 2013 awarded one year imprisonment to him in each case and a fine of Rs 500 each.

Challenging this, he had moved the lower appellate courts, which considering his health condition, had reduced the sentence to one month rigorous imprisonment each.

The courts were moved by the petitioner's submission that he was in his last days.

They were also worried that his confinement in prison may further deteriorate his health.

Allowing the revision petition, the judge noted that the government advocate too had not disputed the fact that the petitioner was suffering from AIDS. PTI CORR VS RHL
AIADMK govt rolls out scheme to provide spl assistance to BPL

families; DMK petitions EC

Chennai, Mar 4 (PTI): The AIAMDK government in Tamil Nadu

Monday rolled out the scheme of providing a special assistance

of Rs 2,000 each to about 60 lakh Below Poverty Line families

across the state, even as the DMK petitioned the Election

Commission and dubbed it as an 'inducement' of voters ahead of

the coming Lok Sabha polls.

The DMK, in its petition to the Election Commission of

India (EC) Monday, alleged that the ruling AIADMK was "against

a level playing field" in the Lok sabha polls and sought

action.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami launched the scheme here by

giving away the certificates to 32 beneficiaries, in line with

an announcement he had made in the state assembly earlier.

Palaniswami had informed the House on February 11 that

the proposal was part of the state government's efforts to

ensure inclusive growth.

"Considering the impact of Gaja cyclone (in November

2018) in many districts, as well as the drought, the special

assistance was being provided," he had said.

The beneficiaries would be the urban and rural poor,

including farm labourers, workers in the fireworks industry,

powerloom and handloom sector, salt pans and construction

workers, among others.

Palaniswami had then said a total of 60 lakh BPL families

will benefit from the move, with an allocation of about Rs

1,200 crore.

Gaja cyclone had hit the coast near Vedaranyam in

Nagapattinam district in November 2018, leaving a trail of

destruction in over 10 southern districts.

Some districts are facing drought due to deficit

rainfall.

The DMK, however, alleged that the scheme was being

misused for the benefit of AIADMK workers and office bearers.

"Our party is not against financial assistance to below

poverty line families, (but) is concerned that the amount is

now being misused for the benefit of AIADMK workers and

office-bearers," DMK Organising Secretary and party's Rajya

Sabha MP R S Bharathi, said in a petition to the EC.

He claimed that an AIADMK spokesperson, also a former

Minister, had said the scheme was "being given to nearly three

crore voters, of which two crore would definitely cast their

votes in favour" of the ruling party and ensure it 'swept' the

polls by winning all 40 Lok Sabha seats, 39 in Tamil Nadu and

one Puducherry.

Bharathi recalled that some political parties, social

activists and people had objected to the scheme soon after it

was announced.

"It is clear that the payment of Rs 2,000 is nothing but

an inducement to voters to cast votes in favour of the ruling

AIADMK, which is against level playing field in the

forthcoming General Election to the Parliament."

Therefore the scheme will not benefit BPL families, he

said.

Bharathi requested the EC "to check the illegalities and

take immediate action."

"The Chief Secretary is called upon to follow the

existing guidelines framed by the state government and Central

government and to identify the families of Below Poverty line

by adopting transparent process, including publication of

names of BPL families in the government website and then

distribute the financial assistance," he said.

Any distribution of forms for this scheme through AIADMK

office-bearers should also be not done, he added. PTI SA APR

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TRS hits back at Cong over defection of 2 MLAs in T'gana

(Eds: adding Congress reaction)

Hyderabad, Mar 4 (PTI) Ahead of the Legislative

Council elections in Telangana, the ruling TRS and the

Congress were engaged in a bitter war of words on Monday over

two opposition party MLAs deciding to join the TRS.

A day after the Congress announced that it would wage

a full-scale Constitutional battle against Chief Minister K

Chandrasekhar Rao, accusing him of "engineering" the defection

of two party MLAs, TRS working president K T Rama Rao hit

back, asking whether the instances of other public

representatives joining the Congress was also a "purchase".

TRS working president K T Rama Rao, who responded to

the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N

Uttam Kumar Reddy's allegation that the TRS has "purchased"

two of its MLAs, referred to various instances of lawmakers

joining the Congress.

Two Congress MLAs -- Rega Kantha Rao (Pinapaka) and

Atram Sakku (Asifabad) -- announced on Saturday night they had

decided to join the ruling TRS in the interest of welfare and

development of STs, especially Adivasis.

Rama Rao referred to media reports of a sitting BJP MP

in Uttar Pradesh joining the Congress in the presence of its

president Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi

Vadra on Sunday.

"One sitting BJP MP in Uttar Pradesh joined the

Congress in the presence of your (Congress) president and

general secretary. Have you followed the same policy there?"

Rama Rao said.

He also cited instances in the past when MLAs and

other public representatives joined the Congress.

He referred to the reported comments of a Congress MLA

that the party's leadership "lacked effectiveness".

Rama Rao said the TRS has the strength for five

candidates to win in the Council election.

"I had said...we already have the number of MLAs to

win all the five in the Legislative Council election. We

automatically have the win with second preference (voting). We

don't have to invite anyone afresh for this election," he

said.

The switch-over of the two Congress MLAs to the TRS is

seen as a setback to the Congress for the March 12 Legislative

Council elections (MLAs quota).

In the election to fill five vacancies in the Council,

the TRS has fielded four candidates, leaving one seat to its

ally MIM.

The strength of the TRS in the assembly is 88 and two

other MLAs (an independent and MLA of AIFB) have also

announced support to the ruling party.

On Sunday, TDP MLA Sandra Venkata Veeraiah announced

his decision to join the TRS. The TDP's strength in the

assembly is two and it would be left with only one MLA when

Veeraiah joins the ruling party.

The Congress' strength was 19 and it was banking on

the support of two TDP members.

However, its chances have been seriously dented with

the decision of two Congress MLAs and the TDP MLA to join the

TRS.

The Congress' strength would be reduced to 17 with the

two MLAs leaving the party.

The two Congress MLAs, Rega Kantha Rao and Atram Sakku

who announced their decision to quit the party, hit out at the

Congress for alleging that they were "purchased" to join the

TRS.

Saying that they are joining the TRS in the interest

of development and welfare of STs, especially Adivasis, they

reiterated that they are ready to quit membership of the

assembly if necessary.

Meanwhile, the congress flayed Monday flaye Rama Rao for

'defending' the defection of two Congress MLAs to that party.

Congress candidate in MLC polls and party treasurer in

Telangana Gudur Narayana, in a statement, referred to Rao's

comments that the MLAs decided to join TRS in the interest of

development of their region and welfare of Adivasis and

pointed out that they had won the assembly elections less than

100 days ago by criticising the TRS.

The congfress also said that the dharnas proposed to be

organised on March 5 and 6 in protest against the two MLAs

joining TRS would be held only at Pinapaka and Asifabad and

not in all district headquarters. PTI SJR RS SS APR

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LS polls: Congress, JDS hold 2nd round of talks on seat

sharing

(Eds; rpting after deleting name of state Congress

working president Eshwar Khandre in 6th para)

Bengaluru, Mar 4 (PTI) The Congress-JD(S) ruling

coalition in Karnataka Monday held the second round of talks

on the tricky issue of seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha

polls, with Congress saying they were moving "in the right

direction."

The two parties had begun formal talks last week with

the JDS insisting that 12 of the total 28 Lok Sabha seats be

conceded to it, but party supremo and former Prime Minister H

D Deve Gowda indicated Sunday that they were ready to

compromise.

The two allies, who had formed the government after

striking a post-poll alliance as the May 2018 assembly

elections threw up a hung verdict, had announced earlier that

they would fight the Lok Sabha elections together.

The Congress-JD(S) coalition coordination committee

chairman and former chief minister Siddaramaiah told reporters

they had a good detailed discussion about every constituency.

"We are moving in the right direction," Siddaramaiah

said after the coordination committee meeting here.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, JD(S) secretary

general Danish Ali, KPCC chief Dinesh Gundu Rao attended the

meeting.

JDS has put forth its demand with a list of

candidates to contest for 12 seats.

"We have not given a final shape to it. We will give

it in the coming days," Siddaramaiah said.

He added that the leaders were zeroing in on who can

win and from where. Discussions have not been completed yet,

but there was good progress, he said.

"I hope that we will give a final shape in three-four

days before March 10," Siddaramaiah added.

The Mandya Lok Sabha seat has become a bone of

contention between the two parties with JD(S) deciding to

field Kumarasawmy's son and Deve Gowda's grand son Nikhil

Kumaraswamy.

The JD(S) leadership, dominated by Vokkaligas, treats

Mandya as its bastion, as the constituency has a substantial

Vokkaliga population.

On the other hand, multi-lingual film actor

Sumalatha, widow of noted Kannada film star Ambarish, has also

evinced interest in contesting from there on Congress ticket.

Asked about the JD(S) hinting that Nikhil Kumaraswamy

would contest from Mandya even before the list got finalised,

Siddaramaiah said, "Can we say no to a candidate who has

winnability there?"

Ali said some more discussions were needed, but the

final meeting would take place between Deve Gowda and Congress

president Rahul Gandhi.

Seat sharing will be a major test for both parties as

the JD(S), banking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in

ministry formation and allocation of boards and corporations,

has demanded 12 seats out of the total of 28.

The Congress is opposed to this, maintaining that

sharing of seats will be based on "merit".

Also, there is pressure from within Congress not to

cede too many seats to JD(S), especially the 10 seats where

the party has sitting MPs.

Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region is expected

to be an acid test for both parties, as the JD(S) considers it

as its bastion, and the Congress has its sitting members from

most of the seats there. PTI GMS RA APR

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New Delhi, Mar 4 (PTI) To address parking woes, a fully-automated puzzle car parking is being built in the busy Adhchini area in south Delhi, the SDMC said Monday, claiming that it will be the "first" such facility in the city.

and the BJP-led SDMC has claimed that it will be city's "first" such facility.

The foundation stone of the project was laid on Monday by BJP's national vice-president Shyam Jaju, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) said.

Puzzle parking is a fully-automated system featuring a combination pallets that enable horizontal and vertical movement of parking spots just like a puzzle to park and retrieve cars.

"Delhi's first fully-automated puzzle car parking at Adhchini village will be commissioned in the next six months. This will have an attractive modular design with a canopy.

"A pilot (operator) will be deployed there to park and retrieve cars; and the entire process will be fast and smooth," the SDMC said in a statement.

The retrieval time will be less than three minutes, it said.

"The parking facility being developed at a village area is suitable for the both rural and urban areas as it can function from a small area," Jaju said, adding that it will go a long way in mitigating parking woes of different areas under the south corporation.

South Delhi Mayor Narender Chawla presided over the function, which was also attended by New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, Chairperson Standing Committee Shikha Rai, Municipal Commissioner Punit Kumar Goel and other senior officers.

"The puzzle parking is being constructed over an area of 310 sqm at a cost of Rs 7.55 cr. It will accommodate 56 cars. It is being developed in two modules with six levels each.

"It will be eco-friendly, allow faster parking and retrieval with lifts, offer customised parking solution, comprehensive fire safety, and be fully safe," the SDMC statement said.

Compared to a conventional parking, its operation and maintenance cost will be much lower and the puzzle parking facility requires just one person to operate it, the SDMC said.

It added that the retrieval time of a vehicle in the tower parking will be just three minutes in comparison to 15 minutes in a conventional parking.

New parking sites once commissioned will be able to contain air pollution as consumption of fuel during a long search for parking will be over and users will be able to make use of the parking sites at various localities, South Delhi Mayor Chawla said.

Municipal Commissioner Goel said the SDMC will commission the new parking sites with full precision and quality.

The SDMC has a plan to commission more puzzle and tower parking sites under its jurisdiction. The new automated parking sites will definitely provide relief to car owners who generally face difficulties in finding a safe place to park, Lekhi said. PTI KND



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Hamas, Hezbollah Hide Missiles in Childrens Rooms

The Fellowship | March 4, 2019 Embed from Getty Images

As younger generations of Israels enemies grow up, they continue the violence against the Jewish state and her people. Its little wonder, when the terrorists use childrens bedrooms as hiding places for their weapons of terror. JNS Yaakov Lappin interviews a retired IDF officer who is speaking to Americans about these dastardly tactics used by those who seek Israels destruction:

Q: A great change has occurred on the Middle Easts battlefields. With traditional state armies less in the picture and terrorist entities taking their place, can you describe what Israel is facing? How do Israels current adversaries try to level the playing field with the IDF?

A: They feel that they are out of the international state game and are therefore free from its dictates. They do not feel obligated by international law. This is clearly visible in their activities, in how they engage with us, and in how they deal with their own civilians.

One example of this is the principle of distinction in international law, which holds that there must be a separation between combatants and civilians. Our adversaries do exactly the opposite. They deliberately disguise their combatants as civilians and launch attacks using human shields to protect their combatants. This gives them greater freedom of operation, and it is also an attempt to get us to harm their civilians, which then gives them points against us in the court of global public opinion. This is how they try to cut down our military advantage. Only an organization that does not care about the lives of its civilians can act this way.

Hamas turned private homes into command and control centers. It hid weapons in homes. They had no problem hiding missiles in the basements and rooms of homes with children inside. This is their modus operandi. We know this also exists in Lebanon.

Hezbollahs arsenal of approximately 120,000 to 130,000 rockets and missiles is mostly concealed in civilian residential buildings in Lebanon, as well as in sites like medical clinics, meaning that any future war will place Israel in a very difficult situation.

We need to protect the Israeli civilian population, and we will do that. On the other hand, we need to conduct operations in a way that minimizes harm to civilians on the other side. This is very hard to do when the enemy uses its civilians to protect their weapons. We use our weapons to protect our civilians; they do the opposite.

Such tactics also have an effect on the principle of proportionality in international law. Proportionality holds that the extent of collateral damage from a military strike should not be excessive in relation to the military gain. Of course, as soon as you mix civilians and military targets, it becomes very hard to distinguish that, and we go to unbelievable lengths to make sure we are both successful in accomplishing our military mission, and at the same time, are carrying out only clearly lawful attacks on military targets.

Q: What does the IDF do in the face of such complex challenges?

A: The IDF has developed a range of methods avoid harming noncombatants. We have developed an advanced system for alerting civilians of imminent strikes, giving them a chance to evacuate. When feasible, we also use roof knockingthe practice of dropping empty or low munitions on the roofs of structures, giving civilians who did not heed those warnings a second chance to escape before a strike. It saves lives. Sometimes, we also cancel attacks even after a missile is in the air when circumstances on the ground change, and we see civilians approach targets. We invest a lot in precision intelligence to achieve this. These techniques allow us to hit the enemy without hitting civilians, despite the fact that the enemy wants us to hit their civilians.

In situations where enemy targets are surrounded by large numbers of civilians to an extent where the collateral damage might be excessive, the IDF will not strike. Operation Protective Edge resulted in some 2,000 casualties on the Palestinian side, half of which were combatants and the other half were civilians. Every loss of civilian life is tragic. But this ratio is far lower than other civilian-to-combatant ratios in the world. There were more than 6,000 air attacks in that conflict and thousands more from ground platforms.

The IDF is always investing more in thislearning, improving intelligence and developing technology for accurate strikes. I travel the world and speak with colleagues in other militaries. I can say with full confidence that we have nothing to be ashamed of in this field. We have at the very least the same standard as other modern militaries, and in many ways, we are ahead of them. Delegations that visit us have people telling us, Why have you raised the bar so high? It will be hard to match it
Jalna, Mar 4 (PTI) A video has surfaced on social media purportedly showing Maharashtra BJP president and Jalna MP Raosaheb Danve telling a public meeting that he would give money in lieu of support to get elected again.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP is also heard saying "all thieves" have united against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and him.

"I will give you money to support me in the election... My opponents do not have money.... Will you support me?" he was purportedly heard saying in the clip that surfaced on social media on March 2 when the public meeting was held.

"All thieves are now united against Prime Minister Narendra Modi while in Jalna, too, thieves have ganged up against me," he added.

Danve was not available for comment.

Recently, local MLA and Shiv Sena minister Arjun Khotkar announced that he would contest against Danve to tame the "arrogance" of the BJP.

Danve's statement against his opponents has come at a time when his party is trying to dissuade Khotkar from contesting against the state BJP chief.

The Sena and the BJP last month announced a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra assembly elections. The state polls are due in the second half of 2019.

Senior BJP minister Subhash Deshmukh Monday held a meeting with Khotkar and Danve to sort out differences between them.

Not new to controversy, Danve had triggered a row in 2017 when he reportedly said farmers continued to complain despite the state government doling out sops to bail out tur growers.

Danve has been winning the Jalna Lok Sabha seat since 1999. PTI COR NSK RSY RHL
Volvo has announced that it will speed limit all cars it makes from 2020 in one of the biggest steps made by a vehicle manufacturer to improve road safety.

The Scandinavian brand wants to cement its reputation as a worldwide leader in safety by restricting all new models built from next year to a top speed of 112mph.

It's part of Volvo's optimistic target for zero individuals to be killed or seriously injured in one of its cars from 2020.

Limited: Every new Volvo made from 2020 will have an electronically restricted top speed of 112mph, the Swedish brand has confirmed this week

The Swedish brand - which is now owned by Chinese firm Geely - admits the objective to have zero casualties from next year is 'one of the most ambitious safety visions in the automotive industry'.

It said speeding is one of the most prominent reasons for road accidents, and the introduction of a built-in speed limits will help curb the number of deaths caused by drivers going too fast.

It means a car like the flagship XC90 SUV will have its current top speed trimmed by 20mph.

Speed limiters are set to become standardised across all car manufacturers in by 2022.

It was confirmed earlier this year that it will be mandatory for all car brands to fit a speed limiter to their vehicles in the next three years, under proposals from the European Transport Safety Council that received approval by MEPs.

These systems - also known as Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) technology - use GPS data and traffic sign recognition cameras to determine what the speed limit is on the the road the car is travelling on.

The ISA identifies the speed limit and automatically limits the top speed to match it.

However, drivers will be able to override the system by pushing hard on the throttle - just in case they're overtaking another motorist who has decided to put their foot down.

Only Volvo models used by the police will have the 112mph electronically restricted speed limiters deactivated, a spokesman told This is Money

Volvo's system will be different, though.

It will electronically limit the top speed to 112mph at all times - which is 42mph faster than motorway restrictions in the UK.

The only time this will not be the case is if the vehicle is being used by the police, when the limiter will be deactivated, a spokesman confirmed to This is Money.

Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive at the car maker said: 'Volvo is a leader in safety: we always have been and we always will be.

'Because of our research we know where the problem areas are when it comes to ending serious injuries and fatalities in our cars. And while a speed limitation is not a cure-all, its worth doing if we can even save one life.'

Hakan Samuelsson, Volvo Cars president and chief executive, announced the use of speed limiters as part of the brand's Vision 2020 plan

As well as limiting top speeds, the company is also investigating how a combination of smart speed control and geofencing technology could automatically limit speeds around schools and hospitals in the future.

'We want to start a conversation about whether car makers have the right or maybe even an obligation to install technology in cars that changes their drivers behaviour, to tackle things like speeding, intoxication or distraction,' Mr. Samuelsson added.

'We dont have a firm answer to this question, but believe we should take leadership in the discussion and be a pioneer.'

Volvo says that while vehicles are safer and more protecting than they've ever been before, the problem with speeding is that it prevents existing in-car technology from being able to intervene quickly enough to prevent severe injuries and fatalities in the event of an accident.

However, people simply do not recognise the danger involved with speed, according to Jan Ivarsson, one of Volvo leading safety experts.

'As humans, we all understand the dangers with snakes, spiders and heights. With speeds, not so much,' he explained.

'People often drive too fast in a given traffic situation and have poor speed adaption in relation to that traffic situation and their own capabilities as a driver.

'We need to support better behaviour and help people realise and understand that speeding is dangerous.'

Volvo says it will also introduce new technology to defeat two other major causes of accidents - intoxication and distraction - which it will reveal later this month

Volvo says it is already working on introducing new technology to defeat the two other major causes of accidents - intoxication and distraction - which it will reveal later this month.

This could include built-in breathalysers (as already hinted by Seat) and functionality to prevent motorists being able to use their phones at the wheel.

Volvo Cars will present these ideas at a special safety event in Gothenburg, Sweden on March 20.
My sister and I have inherited agricultural land in Frankfurt in Germany.

It took us years to obtain the Erbschein (certificate of heirship) but now that this has been finalised we want to find a buyer for the property.

As I am based in the UK and my sister in South Africa we wont have the time it takes to maintain the property or the funds to fly out there on a regular basis.

We dont know much about the German property market so wed like to find out how we go about valuing the land in Germany and what type of estate agency fees we can expect?

Or is it perhaps best to deal with an estate agent here in the UK that also has a branch in Germany  or would we get charged more for this?

Weve also heard that it may be more viable to sell the property via auction.

What are the pros and cons of doing this?

And if the auction process is the way to go, which reputable companies should we go with and what are the typical fees?

There is lots of agricultural land surrounding Frankfurt in Germany

Sarah Davidson, of This is Money, replies: It's not that unusual for UK residents and citizens to inherit land or property located in another country - especially because Britons have a passion for moving abroad to enjoy their retirements in sunnier climes.

But owning property abroad comes with a financial burden, not just looking after the property, but letting and managing it (if you decide to) and understanding the tax, insurance and legal situation.

There is also the cost of visiting the property reasonably regularly to check that what you're paying for is still there and being used as you wish.

Many countries in Europe - and further afield - have complex inheritance laws that demand property is left in equal part to all direct descendants.

This can really complicate things where one sibling wants to sell and another doesn't, for example.

But even in your situation, where you both agree you want to sell, knowing where to start and who to trust to help you can be tricky.

To help you on your way we have asked solicitors Alexander Krieger and Dragan Jeftic of law firm Krieger, a member of Expatland Global Network, to share their advice. Here's what they said.

There are large areas of agricultural land in the Frankfurt city area around Sindlingen, Zeilsheim and Nieder-Erlenbach.

In addition, there are also areas in which a small-scale and structurally rich cultural landscape of field shrubs and orchards has been preserved, especially in Sossenheim or Seckbach.

There are roughly 90 farms in Frankfurt, including large farms that cultivate sugar beet and grain and small mixed farms that tend to work traditionally.

We have divided our response to the query into its main elements in an attempt to fully address this complex issue.

How to value land in Germany

The following aspects, among others, play an important role in the valuation of the property:

Where is the property located, what is the layout and condition of the property and how large is it?

Is it probable that the land will be subject to a change of use in the foreseeable future and will therefore be shown as building land?

The market value of the property is best determined by a sworn real estate valuer. They have official purchase price collections and comparative values at their disposal. This expert can be selected via the Real Estate Federation Germany.

However, a professional real estate agent is also able to value the property and document this transparently, which will be sufficient depending on the size and price of the property.

How do we sell property in Germany?

Estate agency fees are a lot higher in Germany at around 5 per cent compared to the UK where it's common to pay between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent of the sale price

There is a series of steps you need to take. A reputable broker can take control of this entire process.

Hire agent who will look after photos, valuation, listing and agree a fee

Short List (LOI, financing confirmation by credit institution)

Notary selection (notary draws up draft purchase agreement)

Exchange of draft purchase contract

Notarial certification of the purchase contract

Transfer of benefits and encumbrances (closing), priority notice of conveyance in the land register against payment obligation from purchase price

Payment of real estate transfer tax (Buyers obligation)

What estate agency fees can we expect in Germany?

The performance-related brokerage fee paid by the buyer amounts to 5 per cent of the net sale price plus VAT in the Frankfurt area.

In principle, the higher the sale volume, the lower the brokerage fee and the more willing the broker is to negotiate.

In Germany, VAT is defined by EU rules on VAT compliance. Germany is still free to set its own standard (upper) VAT rate, but standard VAT is 19 per cent.

Land transaction tax - the equivalent to stamp duty - is paid by the buyer.

Should we deal with an estate agent here in the UK?

Depending on the size of the property, it may make sense to hire an international consultancy firm based in the UK to sell the property.

Companies such as CBRE and JLL have a corporate real estate department that manages European business from London. In the first instance, we recommend inviting tenders from the largest brokerage houses for the purpose of awarding contracts.

If the property is smaller and therefore unprofitable for the international broker houses, a smaller, locally resident and English-speaking broker house is the next best option.

It is important that a conceptual sales process is carried out and that you choose a broker that you trust. The rights and obligations of both parties must be clearly defined.

A real estate agent can be engaged either by the owner or the buyer. In this case, the seller would have to hire an agent.

Please consult the Real Estate Federation Germany, which is a Federal association of the real estate consultants, brokers, administrators and experts registered association.

The selection of the real estate agents can be managed from the UK. It makes sense to get to know the real estate agent personally before commissioning, depending on the sales price volume.

The disadvantage of using several estate agents is that the property is offered uncontrolled on the market and 'pulled over the market' as a result. You would also be responsible for co-ordinating the separate teams.

Is legal representation required?

No lawyer is required for the first stage. If you would like advice on drawing up the sales contract, then you can certainly get a lawyer recommended by the German Bar Association.

In Germany, a notary is also involved in the sale of the property as a controlling authority. This notary can also advise in general terms.

Selling the property via auction

Auction sales are unusual in Germany. On the other hand, if a brokerage house were commissioned, it would be conceivable to conduct an open bidding process.

As such, an open bidding procedure is clearly defined and transparent, but unpopular with many market participants.

Transferring money internationally

A German bank account is not required. The purchase price can easily be transferred abroad by the financing bank.

The seller must confirm receipt of the purchase price.

With regard to the anti-money laundering regulation, the seller has nothing to observe. Here, for example, the financing bank ensures that the buyer's money (equity share) actually comes from his bank account.

Liability for withholding tax must be checked in detail and on a case-by-case basis.
Sorting travel insurance for an upcoming trip can often be the dullest, anti-holiday vibe part of the whole process - but it is also likely to be the most crucial.

When there is so much choice on the market, it can be difficult to know which travel insurance policy to choose and level of cover needed for each category - and what the categories even mean.

Although having options is good, it can be tricky to distinguish the important features - especially when running details through comparison websites.

To help holidaymakers decide what travel insurance to opt for, This is Money, with help from financial information company, Defaqto, have collated information about the type of cover travellers need when heading to different countries.

Cover: Those travelling abroad will have to consider what sort of insurance they will need

We have identified the type of cover someone travelling on holiday to Spain would need, along with those heading to the US and Bali, to highlight the differences.

Included in the data is a Defaqto star rating level. These tend to be 3-5 stars for European cover and five stars for the worldwide and USA visits.

When customers opt for lower rated products  often because they are cheaper  they will need to be aware that they will be giving up some of the benefits that come with having a five star cover.

There are many things to consider when choosing a policy and travellers are advised to take their time when deciding and avoid opting for the cheapest cover.

Consumers should check the insurance they opt for covers everything they need and the breakdowns of the categories below help identify why they are important.

The results below are based on what each individual person would need and not a travelling party as a whole.

Cancellation/curtailment

If you cancel your holiday because of illness or a domestic problem like a burglary, you will need compensation for any costs you can't get back.

Those travelling to Spain need less cover in terms of both medical treatment and cancellation costs as it is a European destination which is why it is recommended that 1,000 should be enough.

However, for further afield destinations, like the US, you will need a higher amount with 2,000 being the recommended amount.

For exotic locations like Bali, you will need the highest amount of cover - 2,500 should be adequate, according to Defaqto.

You should also ensure you are covered for curtailment which is if you have to return home unexpectedly. Having this cover means you will get a refund for the part of your holiday you have missed.

WHAT LEVEL EACH PERSON SHOULD HAVE WHEN TRAVELLING Traveller Type Spain USA Bali Cancellation and Curtailment 1,000 2,000 2,500 Missed international connection 0 500 750 Medical Treatment 1,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 Personal Belongings 1,000 1,500 1,500 Money - total 300 500 500 Cash 200 250 250 Loss of documents (Passport, driving licence) 300 500 500 Personal Liability cover 2,000,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 Travel disruption (e.g. closed airspace) No Yes Yes Medical Excess with EHIC 0 N/A N/A Medical Excess max 100 150 150 Multiple Excesses Per person Per person Per person Typical Defaqto Star Rating 4 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars Source: Defaqto

Missed International Connection

Flights to Spain will usually be direct, so this cover is less likely to be needed and isn't essential.

If you're travelling further afield, and are booking tickets independently, this cover is for the cost of replacement flights if you arrive too late for an onward connection at an international airport.

This is a particular risk if you are flying with more than one airline  such as one airline to Amsterdam then a different airline to Asia, for example.

People travelling to the US are recommended to have cover up to 500.

However, those going to Bali will need a higher cover, as holidaymakers are likely to have connecting flights which could be missed if there are any delays, with cover of 750 per person suggested as the best option.

Medical Treatment

In the EU you have some protection if you have an EHIC card (while they still exist for UK nationals), but this only provides cover in EU countries, and excludes the cost of repatriation if needed.

For those travelling to Spain, 1million of medical cover should be more than sufficient but for the US and Bali you will need a much higher limit - 2million should be sufficient for any potential claim.

Those travelling with a family may also want to make sure they have plenty of cover when it comes to medical treatment.

Having sufficient insurance to cover your personal belongings is important when travelling

Baggage/personal belongings

The cover provided in travel insurance for baggage and personal belongings is usually very low even though the total limits might appear adequate.

Customers are usually much better off protecting their belongings under their home insurance policy, by taking cover for 'personal belongings away from the home'.

There is still one benefit of travel insurance baggage cover though which is delayed baggage cover.

If your bags are delayed arriving at your destination this will allow you to claim for the cost of having to buy clothes and toiletries until your bags arrive.

Travellers to Spain are recommended to have a cover worth 1,000 whilst those travelling further afield to the US and Bali are advised to have 1,500.

Money

The definition of money includes cash, travellers' cheques, travel tickets, postal and money orders, and sometimes credit and debit cards.

With easy-access to banks and cash machines travellers usually need lower cover limits than in the past, particularly in Europe, where cash machines and banks are commonplace.

Holidaymakers heading to Spain are advised to have cover totalling 300 whilst travellers to the US and Bali are advised to have 500 each.

Those who are heading abroad with their family are advised to pay for sufficient medical cover

Cash

Although hopefully you wouldn't need to claim for money, if you have cash stolen when abroad, this will cover you so you are not left without.

Those travelling to Spain are perhaps more likely to use cash so they are advised to have cover of up to 200.

However, in some destinations, UK cards might not be accepted so it's useful to have cash in local currency.

In the US and Bali the nearest cash machine might be some distance away, so travellers might be carrying more cash, which will need to be insured. It is advised they have at least 250 of cover for this.

Loss of documents

Theft or loss of a passport while abroad, or a driving licence if you are on a fly-drive holiday, can be quite challenging.

You will usually need to travel to the nearest British Consulate and get them to arrange for emergency documentation to be provided.

This will usually involve travelling some distance, and at least one overnight stay while the documentation is arranged.

In Spain this is probably less challenging, because of the country size, so only 300 of cover is recommended.

In the US or Bali, however, the travel distances could be considerable, depending on where you are at the time of the loss, hence why it is recommended they have a higher limit - 500 is the advised amount.

Travel disruption cover is important if you are going further afield, for example, Bali or USA

Personal liability

No matter where you travel you should always have personal liability cover, which will help with legal costs and compensation in case someone gets injured by your negligence, for example, dropping a suitcase on someone's foot, or causing them to stumble and fall down stairs.

If you have home insurance you might already have personal liability cover for temporary visits abroad.

However, all travellers are advised to have limits of 2million or more.

Travel disruption cover

This cover is really only relevant to customers who book independently.

If for any reason they are delayed on their return home due to catastrophes such as airspace closure, earthquake, tsunamis etc, there will be additional costs of rearranged flights and additional accommodation.

This will be less of an issue in Spain, so this cover is advised to be unnecessary.

For both Bali and the US, it would be advisable to have adequate travel disruption cover as they both suffer from natural disasters which has left tourists trapped there for a short while.

Medical excess with EHIC card

This is only relevant for those travelling to Spain as many insurers will not charge an excess for any medical claims made in EU countries provided the customer is in possession of a valid EHIC card.

This is because the insurer can recover all their expenses through the reciprocal health arrangements.

If you travel to Spain without an EHIC and make a medical expenses claim insurers will charge excesses of anywhere from 0 to 250 or more. The average excess is around 100.

Multiple excesses

Covers such as cancellation, medical, baggage and money are usually in different 'sections' of a policy. If you make a claim, travel insurers usually charge one excess for each section of the policy being claimed under.

For instance if you fell over and injured yourself, then when you arrived at hospital you discovered your handbag and purse were missing, you would claim for personal injury, lost baggage and lost money.

Insurers would charge one excess for each of those three parts of the claim  costing you potentially 300 or more.

The best policies are those with no excesses, but these typically are ones where you paid a higher premium for that benefit.

The next best policies charge on excess per claim, no matter how many policy sections or customers are claiming  these policies are rare.

Independent travel

Irrespective of the destination, customers who book their tickets and accommodation direct, rather than using a travel agent, risk not being able to get refunds if things go wrong with their airline or pre-booked accommodation.

They need to ensure that their travel insurance includes cover for 'scheduled airline failure' and 'financial failure of accommodation provider'  so if their airline goes bust they will be able to have alternative travel arrangements paid for.

So if you're flying business class, or staying in five star hotels, you might need even higher limits.
The chief executive of Brazilian mining giant Vale, Fabio Schvartsman

The chief executive of Brazilian mining giant Vale has temporarily stepped down after one of its dams collapsed in January, killing 186 people.

More than 120 people are still missing after the accident in the town of Brumadinho.

Fabio Schvartsman and several other executives offered to temporarily resign over the weekend after Brazilian prosecutors recommended their dismissal on Friday.

Vale said that its executive director of base metals, Eduardo Bartolomeo, had been appointed as its new interim head.

The company did not say how long the executives would be out of their posts.
Two IDF Soldiers Wounded in Car-Ramming Attack

The Fellowship | March 4, 2019

Terror struck the Holy Land early Monday morning when two Palestinian terrorists carried out a ramming attack on IDF soldiers in the West Bank. The Times of Israels Judah Ari Gross reports that the terrorists were shot, but only after wounding two IDF soldiers, one of them seriously:

Two Israeli soldiers were wounded in a predawn car-ramming attack in the northern West Bank on Monday, one of them seriously, the army said. The force opened fire on the three occupants of the vehicle, killing two and wounding the third.

The ramming occurred at approximately 3:30 a.m. near the village of Nima, northwest of Ramallah. The army said that from an initial investigation it appears to have been an attack.

Terrorists rammed their vehicle into a number of soldiers who had stopped by the side of the road at the entrance to the village, the Israel Defense Forces said

The troops opened fire on the terrorists. Two of them were neutralized and the third terrorist was lightly injured, the IDF said, adding that reinforcements were sent to the area

The Israeli military said the three young Palestinian men had earlier thrown firebombs at a nearby highway.

In the car in which the terrorists carried out the attack, additional Molotov cocktails were found, the army said.
Anya Hindmarch (pictured), founded her eponymous label in 1987

Anya Hindmarch, the luxury handbag brand favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge, has been put up for sale by the Qatari royal family's investment fund.

A source close to the firm said the decision was a mutual one between fashion designer Hindmarch (pictured), who founded her eponymous label in 1987, and the Qataris, who bought a 27 million controlling stake in 2012.

Hindmarch, 51, is expected to stay on as chief creative officer.

In 2017, the latest year for which there are publicly available accounts, the London-based brand lost 28.2 million and reported a 10 per cent decline in revenue, at 37.2 million.

But it is understood to have reduced losses since then by slashing costs and putting more of an emphasis on online sales.

In 2016, Anya Hindmarch expanded its accessories range into the menswear market.

The source said the company's cash position has now 'stabilised' and it has 'materially reduced losses', putting it on better footing.

Private equity firms and rival brands are understood to be interested in buying the company, which has more than 30 stores.
City heavyweight Aviva has finally named Maurice Tulloch as its new chief executive after the abrupt departure of Mark Wilson now nearly five months ago following a disagreement.

Tulloch, who has headed up Aviva's international arm since January 2017, will take up the post with immediate effect, the insurance giant said.

Wilson was ousted in October last year when his decision to take up a position on the board of rival asset manager BlackRock angered some shareholders.

New boss: Maurice Tulloch has been working for Aviva since 1992

Tulloch joined Aviva in 1992 and was appointed to its board in June 2017. Before taking on Aviva's international arm, he was ran Aviva UK and Ireland general insurance.

Chairman Adrian Montague, who has been acting as chief executive since Wilson's exit, said Tulloch knows Aviva 'inside out' and is 'exceptionally well qualified to re-energise' the firm.

He said: 'Maurice will be an outstanding chief executive of Aviva. Maurice knows our strengths, knows where we need to improve and has a deep understanding of insurance and customers' needs.'

Tulloch will receive a basic salary of 975,000 and will be eligible for an annual bonus that pays out up to 200 per cent of that figure.

He will also be eligible for an award under Aviva's long-term incentive plan for 2019, which typically pays out 300 per cent of base salary.

The new boss will pocket pension contributions of 14 per cent of salary too, as well as 250,000 to assist with his relocation from Canada.

He said there is a 'clear opportunity' to realise Aviva's 'significant but untapped potential'.

'Aviva is financially strong, we have a well-known brand and excellent businesses. But there is more to do to improve returns for shareholders,' he added.

Aviva share price was flat at 431.65p in morning trading.

The firm, which makes most of its profits in life insurance, is expected to report a 1 per cent increase in profits to 3.1billion when it unveils final results on Thursday.

Former boss Mark Wilson was ousted in October last year after his decision to take up a position on the board of rival asset manager BlackRock angered some shareholders

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Tulloch will be under pressure to reduce debt, which could mean lower dividends for shareholders.

He added: He will also have to address criticisms about Avivas perceived lack of earnings growth. Yet even that may have to take a backseat until the new boss has right-sized the business for the future, with asset sales no doubt on the agenda.

'Aviva has significantly lagged its peers on the stock market meaning Tulloch has his work cut out in terms of pacifying shareholders, getting the business in better shape and carving out a path for the future.
Lord Browne was revered as a visionary leader at BP

On a wall in Lord Browne's office in Mayfair is a series of black and white pictures by the American photographer Aaron Siskind called The Pleasures And Terrors Of Levitation, showing a man frozen in mid air.

In the images, which date from the 1950s, it's impossible to tell whether the man is about to soar joyfully skywards, or whether the photographer has captured him on the point of an anguished plunge to earth.

Lord Browne's career has encompassed similar extremes and ambiguities. A couple of decades ago, he was revered as a visionary leader at BP, lauded as the Sun King of the oil industry and the most successful British executive of his generation.

Then in 2007, came the Icarus-like fall from grace. After decades of living a precarious double life where he went to great lengths to conceal his sexuality, he was outed by an ex-boyfriend, a former escort named Jeff Chevalier.

About to turn 60, he resigned from the company where he had worked for four decades after telling an untruth in court about how he and Chevalier had met. He was forced to build a new career and a new life after years of hiding his true self. More than a decade on, it is clear that the trauma of that exposure, painful though it was, has opened a fruitful new chapter for Browne personally and professionally.

Now aged 71 he is happily ensconced in a 12-year relationship. He is also executive chairman of L1 Energy, a large independent oil and gas company, as well as serving as chairman of the UK subsidiary of Chinese tech company Huawei, among other roles.

Art has been a lifelong passion and in the past a coded form of self-expression. As well as the series of photographs, he has in his office prints by Italian Renaissance painter Veronese, Venetian glass work and a water colour of the oilfields of Iran, where he lived for part of his childhood when his father also worked for BP.

He began collecting in 1969 when he bought a David Hockney lithograph that cost 'every penny I had' from a dealer in Paddington, west London.

Browne added: 'I adored it because he was a gay icon and I was so firmly in the closet then that it was a nice way of expressing myself,' he says.

'I have met Hockney. He is my hero. He is a great guy. I haven't a lot of his work because it is gigantically expensive  just a few pieces, mostly works on paper.'

Browne, an only child, was born in Hamburg in 1948. His father Edmund died in 1980. His mother Paula, who was of Jewish descent, had survived the horrors of Auschwitz, though most of her family were murdered in the camps. She was a huge influence on her son's life but died in 2000.

'Of course I miss her still. When you are an adult orphan, it doesn't matter how old you are, you miss your parents,' he says.

His belief for most of his life that he had to keep his sexuality secret stemmed directly from her wartime experiences.

'My mother would drill into me never tell anyone a secret as it will be used against you, never be a visible member of a minority because you always get hurt when the going gets tough.

As a young man, Browne, who read physics at St John's College, Cambridge and graduated with a First, wanted to be a professor of geophysics but his father told him to get a 'real job' in the oil industry

'Plus, there were so many conversations around me about 'shirt-lifters' and people who like pink. I think she knew I was gay but she didn't want to engage with it,' he says.

Although it was a strain to keep such a secret for so long, he believes it may have helped him in his professional dealings, by keeping him in a state of hyper-alertness.

As a young man, Browne, who read physics at St John's College, Cambridge and graduated with a First, wanted to be a professor of geophysics but his father told him to get a 'real job' in the oil industry.

It turned out to be wise advice as his son rose to be the youngest ever chief executive of BP in 1995.

Three years later in 1998, he masterminded a $110 billion merger with American giant Amoco, which is still arguably the most significant deal in BP's history. His main job is at L1 Energy, where he has been chairman since 2015. It is part of the Letter One Group, which owns a wide range of assets including health food chain Holland & Barrett. He got the job through his friend Mikhail Fridman, a Russian oligarch who is one of the founders.

My mother would drill into me never be a visible member of a minority because you always get hurt when the going gets tough

Browne met Fridman when the pair, along with two tycoons, Len Blavatnik and Viktor Vekselberg, did a deal to create TNK-BP, a huge Russian oil venture in 2003. It was bought by Russian oil giant Rosneft a decade later.

'Mikhail rang and said, 'Could you set me up an oil and gas company and make some money?' Browne says.

L1 Energy owns the German oil and gas producer DEA, which is in the process of merging with German rival Wintershall.

'Now DEA produces 120,000 barrels a day and is growing very quickly,' he says.

Letter One and German chemical giant BASF are merging their oil and gas interests to create a new company, called Wintershall DEA, which will be the largest independent European exploration and production company. The merger is expected to complete later this year.

'By the early 2020s Wintershall DEA will be producing 800,000 barrels a day. The big thing about this company is it is 70pc gas, which is beautiful. Oil is not beautiful. Gas has less carbon, it is much more environmentally friendly and has lots of different uses.'

The plan is to float, probably on the Frankfurt stock exchange. As to timing, 'it all depends because the market is a bit unpredictable at the moment'.

Browne adds: 'It certainly won't be as big as BP but I believe we can deliver a good return.'

He has a flourishing sideline as an author and has just finished writing his fifth book, due to be published at the end of May, called Make, Think, Imagine: Engineering The Future Of Civilisation.

His previous tomes include The Glass Closet: Why Coming Out Is Good Business and Beyond Business, the story of how he built BP from a two-pipeline company to a global giant. Browne was one of the first oil industry bosses to address, head on, the issue of climate change, in a landmark speech in 1997 at Stanford University in California.

'Energy is what everyone needs, but no one wants to know where it comes from,' he says. 'Most people think electricity comes from behind the wall.

'We could eliminate carbon but the cost would be astronomic and it would have to be top priority around the world. I can't see it. On the one hand it is absolutely the right thing to do, technically we can do it but practically we probably won't.

'We have left it a bit late. If we had started deploying the technology back when I made my speech then we would have been in a much better place by now.'

Does he miss BP? 'The nice thing was it happened and it is part of my history. I liked the past but I am more interested in the future.'

One thing he does deeply regret, however, is feeling he could not be open about being gay, though in his early years homosexuality was not just socially unacceptable but a criminal offence.

'My own head was tuned the wrong way, partly because of all the years and years and years when actually to come out would have been a disaster. Not just career suicide, it would have been a human suicide in some cases.'

He says: 'I got into that mode of believing if I came out people would think I was useless, to be ignored, and so I hid it away.

'I just think what it did was make me a colder person. People say I smile a lot more now.'

Could there be a chief executive of BP now who was openly gay?

'Yes,' he answers, 'that would be fine,' before adding: 'It is not wholly straightforward though. Boards are very conservative and mostly male. A lot of people even now are openly gay at university and they go straight back into the closet when they go into business or finance.'

He has been in a relationship for 12 years with his boyfriend Nghi Nguyen, a restaurateur.

'Life is very different,' he says with a smile. Will they marry?

'My partner is very unconventional and doesn't approve of these conventional activities. Who knows? I think as a practical matter at some stage we should, just in case something happens.'

His mother, he thinks, would be proud of him now.

'She changed her views according to the times. I took her to the Holocaust museum in Washington DC, she laid some flowers and I burst out crying. She said, 'What's wrong with you  it's only a museum', and that was the end of the matter. What does that tell you? It tells you about moving on.'
Swiss Re AG is a wholesale provider of reinsurance, insurance and other insurance-based forms of risk transfer. The Company operates in four segments: Property&Casualty Reinsurance, Life&Health Reinsurance, Corporate Solutions and Life Capital. Its Reinsurance Unit provides premiums and fee income through Property&Casualty and Life&Health segments. Its Corporate Solutions segment is engaged in serving mid-sized and large corporations, with product offerings ranging from traditional property and casualty insurance to customized solutions. Its Admin Re segment provides risk and capital management solutions by which the Company acquires closed books of in-force life and health insurance business, entire lines of business, or the entire capital stock of life insurance companies. Its open and closed life insurance books, including Admin Re, are managed under a unit called Life Capital.

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Ltd., Marazzi Middle East FZ LLC, Marazzi Schweiz S.A.G.L., Marazzi UK Ltd., Mohawk Assurance Services Inc., Mohawk Australia Pty Ltd, Mohawk Canada Corporation, Mohawk Capital Finance S.A., Mohawk Capital Luxembourg SA, Mohawk Carpet Distribution Inc., Mohawk Carpet Foundation Inc., Mohawk Carpet LLC, Mohawk Carpet Transportation Of Georgia LLC, Mohawk Commercial Inc., Mohawk ESV Inc., Mohawk Europe BVBA, Mohawk Factoring II Inc., Mohawk Factoring LLC, Mohawk Finance S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Acquisitions S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Funding S.a.r.l, Mohawk Foreign Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Foreign Investments Inc., Mohawk Global Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Holdings International B.V., Mohawk Industries Inc., Mohawk International (Europe) S.a r.l., Mohawk International (Hong Kong) Limited, Mohawk International Capital N.V., Mohawk International Financing S.a.r.l, Mohawk International Holdings (DE) LLC, Mohawk International Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk International Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk International Netherlands B.V., Mohawk International Services BVBA, Mohawk KAI Luxembourg Holding S.a r.l., Mohawk KAI Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Capital S.A., Mohawk Luxembourg Financing S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Luxembourg Pacific S.a r.l., Mohawk Marazzi International BV, Mohawk Marazzi Russia BV, Mohawk New Zealand Limited, Mohawk Operaciones Mexicali S. de R.L. de C.V., Mohawk Operations Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk Pacific Investments S.a r.l., Mohawk Resources LLC, Mohawk Servicing LLC, Mohawk Singapore Private Limited, Mohawk Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Mohawk Unilin Luxembourg S.a r.l., Mohawk United Finance B.V., Mohawk United International B.V., Mohawk Vinyl Financing S.a r.l., Molber Beheer B.V., Monarch Ceramic Tile Inc., P.F. Onroerend Goed B.V., PF Beheer B.V., Pergo, Pergo (Europe) AB, Pergo Holding BV, Pergo India Pvt Ltd, Polcolorit S.A., Premium Floors Australia Pty Limited, RR Apex LLC, Rata International Pty Ltd, Recubrimientos Interceramica S. de R.L. de C.V., Riverside Textiles Pty Ltd, S.C. KAI Ceramics SRL, Sibir Kerama OOO, SimpleSolutions USA LLC, Soft Step (Australia) Pty Ltd, Spano Group, Spano Invest BVBA, Spano NV, Stroyagromekhzapchast ChaO, Stroytrans OAO Orelstroy, Summit Wool Spinners Ltd, The Flooring Federation Ltd, Tiles Co OOD, Unilin (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., Unilin ApS, Unilin Arauco Pisos Ltda., Unilin BVBA, Unilin Beheer BV, Unilin Distribution Ltd., Unilin Distribution Ukraine LLC, Unilin Finland OY, Unilin Flooring India Private Limited, Unilin Flooring SAS, Unilin GmbH, Unilin Holding BVBA, Unilin Insulation BV, Unilin Insulation SAS, Unilin Insulation Sury SAS, Unilin Italia S.R.L., Unilin North America LLC, Unilin Norway AS, Unilin OOO, Unilin Panels SAS, Unilin Poland Sp.Z.o.o., Unilin SAS, Unilin Spain SL, Unilin Swiss GmbH, Unilin s.r.o., World International Inc., Xtratherm, Xtratherm Limited, Xtratherm S.A., and Xtratherm UK Limited.
State Senator Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware) on Thursday hosted his ninth annual Good Government Seminar. The event was open to high school students in the 17th Senatorial District and it employed a mock Senate format to help teach students Pennsylvanias legislative process.

I always look forward to seeing what ideas students come up with at my annual Good Government Seminar, Leach said. This is one of my favorite events, it gives students the opportunity to experience the legislative process, discuss relevant issues, and understand how legislation is passed.

During the seminar, students interacted with elected officials, advocates, and government affairs representatives as they debated and voted on bills in the mock Senate.

This year, the majority of the mock Senate passed a bill that replaces Pennsylvanias current opt-in voting registration system with an opt-out system. The mock Senate also approved a bill that would provide for establishment of safe injection sites in Pennsylvania and another bill that prohibits a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Members also considered a bill to ban retailers from distributing single-use plastic straws, but ultimately voted to oppose that legislation.

Participating facilitators were Magisterial District Judge Michael Sam Quinn, Cyndi Ricards of Narberth Borough Council, Mike Bettinger from Montgomery County Community Colleges Government Relations team, Maria Dispenziere from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, Dylan Lindberg from the office of State Representative Mary Jo Daley, Larry Healy from the office of State Representative Jennifer OMara, Courtenay Harris Bond  Freelance Journalist/Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism, and Micah Mahjoubian and J. Desmond McKinson from the office of State Senator Sharif Street.

Participating schools included Upper Merion High School, Haverford High School, Valley Forge Military Academy, Roosevelt Alternative School, The Shipley School, Sacred Heart Academy, and the Agnes Irwin School.

The photos attached may be published and attributed to the Office of Senator Daylin Leach.

Senator Daylin Leach represents the 17th Senatorial District, which includes parts of Montgomery County and Delaware County. For more information visit www.senatorleach.com/newsroom.
WASHINGTON  The new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives used the last week of February to end the years-long drought of gun safety bills on Capitol Hill.

With the Senate and the White House in Republican control, advocates and lawmakers concede ultimate passage of any new gun law remains a heavy lift  but they insist the wins in the House last week are a harbinger of things to come.

Action on gun legislation in Washington and Albany in recent was another result of Democratic wins in November. After the state Senate went under Democratic control in January, New York is close to enacting legislation that would extend the gun purchase waiting period from three to 30 days if an FBI background check has not been completed.

That proposed state measure parallels the federal Enhanced Background Check Act of 2019, which passed the House by a 228-198 vote last week.

Under New York's 2013 SAFE Act, the state requires background checks for transactions between private sellers  the subject of another recent House bill, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, that passed on a vote of 240-190.

Regional representatives voted along party lines on both measures: Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted no, while Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, and Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, voted to support them.

Even if they pass the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate  an uncertain prospect at best  the two gun bills passed by the House last week will have little if any impact on New York as the state continues to strengthen its gun laws.

But as a historical marker of how the politics of guns has changed after the Democrats' takeover of the House, the votes are significant  and New York lawmakers who once decried the lack of action under Republican control on Capitol Hill were rejoicing.

The tide is turning, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. Make no mistake about it: A strong majority of the American people support these policies now.

Gun control advocates upstate similarly praised the House actions in Washington.

Its good to see Congress stepping up to the plate and taking it on, said Pat Tuz, Albany coordinator for New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. They know its a serious problem; Im very proud of them.

After a succession of mass shootings that galvanized the nation  in Newtown, Conn., Orlando, Fla., Las Vegas, and last year at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida  House Republican leaders refused to bring gun control legislation up for a vote. With Democrats in the majority, the change was visible quickly.

The gun lobby has too long had a stronghold over Congress, Delgado said after the vote on the Bipartisan Background Checks Act, which much like the SAFE Act requires background checks even for transactions deemed private, including those that take place at gun shows. He called the vote "a big step forward in breaking that status quo and keeping our communities safe.

Even with House approval, the future of these two bills in the GOP-controlled Senate is cloudy. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., may choose not to bring them up at all.

With 22 Republican senators running for re-election in 2020, McConnell could well decide the shifting ground on guns is uncertain  even in reliable pro-Second Amendment red states  and that votes on either bill would be too risky.

Schumer, as leader of the Senate minority Democrats, will try to leverage momentum in the House to recruit wavering, possibly fearful Republican senators.

The pressure will build on the Senate to take up these reasonable, common-sense gun safety measures, Schumer said. And I hope my colleagues will join us.

If the Senate passes one or both measures, there's yet another wild card: President Donald J. Trump.

Trump has called for strengthening background checks and telling Republican lawmakers theres nothing to be afraid of in threatened retribution from the National Rifle Association.

While the NRA is in a financial crisis of sorts and has been forced to answer embarrassing questions about its dealings with alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, the nations premier gun-rights group remains formidable.

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Stefanik, whose North Country district is thick with hunters, said the background-check bill infringes on the constitutional right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms, with little to no effect on deterring criminals, she said.

Capital Region gun store owner Brian Olesen said the House bills "have scared the American public to such a degree that they've made more Second Amendment advocates out of non-gun-owners."

Olesen, who runs the Capital Gun Group with nine outlets in the greater Capital Region, says the bills were a Democratic "shell game to get Trump off the wall  a reference to to the controversial national emergency the president declared in order to build his long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall without Congressional approval.

He said the bills have "zero chance of success in the Senate.

Undaunted, gun control advocates and friendly lawmakers are looking at other major pieces of the checklist to put forward. Among them are a national Red Flag statute similar to the state measure just signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The new state law sets up procedures for family, friends or professionals such as school officials to petition judges to temporarily take guns away from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others.

Other measures on the runway involve limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines to 10 rounds  comparable to New Yorks limit, as passed by legislation that amended the SAFE Act's initial seven-round maximum, which was found to be unworkable.

While Democrats in suburban and rural districts traditionally attempted to side-step gun legislation for fear of arousing the NRAs deep-pocketed wrath, the 2018 election showed signs that conditions might be shifting.

While dismay over Trump fueled the Democratic victory in the House, public outrage over the nation's seemingly unending mass shootings was also a factor. Advocates for gun control point to the election of Democrat Lucy McBath in a Georgia House district once represented by arch-conservatives Newt Gingrich and Tom Price.

McBaths son was shot to death in 2012 in Florida by Michael Dunn during a dispute over the volume of music coming from the car the young man was riding in. While Dunn claimed self-defense under Floridas stand your ground law, he was convicted and is serving a life term. McBath is a former flight attendant who devoted herself to gun control activism after her son's murder.

After last week's votes, Tonko said the pressure for change would continue to build.

After every deadly tragedy in the past, Congress looked for any excuse to ignore the millions of Americans calling for common-sense gun safety reforms, Tonko said. That stops now.
Colonie

The state has fined the town of Colonie and the operator of its landfill near the Mohawk River nearly $40,000 for environmental violations stemming from a controversial expansion.

Last month, the state Department of Environmental Conservation reached agreements with both the town and Capital Region Landfills Inc., which has operated the dump since 2011, over violations of stormwater rules.

After expansion of the dump started in July 2018, over the objections of town officials across the Mohawk in Waterford and Halfmoon, DEC inspectors later found stormwater from the construction site was improperly draining into the river on five different occasions between August and November.

In the November instance, a DEC inspector saw stormwater "coming into contact with solid waste" and then draining into a part of the seven-acre expansion site, where it was being pumped out by landfill crews into retention basins that then drained into the Mohawk.

"As part of our ongoing oversight and monitoring of the landfill, DEC took enforcement action to address turbidity, effluent, and other permit violations," according to an agency statement.

Matt McGarry, the town's public works engineer at the landfill, said the problems stemmed from construction of the first phase of the 93-acre landfill expansion, which is now finished. Some problems stemmed from heavy rains, said McGarry, adding that any discharges from the landfill into the river were "minutely contaminated."

The expansion can begin accepting waste once DEC certifies that the site was properly built, added McGarry.

In addition to fining the town $19,125, DEC also fined Capital Region Landfills $20,000 for stormwater violations at the expansion site on August and September 2018, as well as December 2017 violations for releases of treated landfill liquids that exceeded standards for turbidity and zinc.

DEC agreed to suspend and additional $11,350 fine against the company if it agreed to stabilize the site to prevent further stormwater issues, create plans to prevent the problems from recurring and resolve the turbidity and zinc issues.

In January, a state judge ruled that the towns of Waterford and Halfmoon, as well as a dozen local residents, weren't legally entitled to file a lawsuit when they sued DEC, Colonie, and Region Landfills in May 2018.

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The towns have announced their intentions to appeal the ruling. The lawsuit claims that DEC ignored risks in approving a 93-acre expansion of the landfill, and illegally denied the towns an opportunity to make their case before a DEC administrative judge.

Opponents also claim that DEC underplayed the potential threat that was posed by the town piling up more trash atop an unlined 50-acre portion of the landfill that contains hazardous waste, and largely ignored recent tests that found levels of the hazardous chemical perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, in river water near the landfill.

PFOA, a chemical used in making nonstick surfaces, was added to the state's list of hazardous chemicals in 2016 after it was found to have polluted the water supply of Hoosick Falls in Rensselaer County.

DEC accepted a town environmental report that found no evidence that unsafe levels of hazardous chemicals are leaking into the river, and that the expansion would not impair continued monitoring to detect any potential changes to the buried hazardous waste.

The lawsuit claims that there are about 85,000 tons of industrial waste from such companies as Bendix Corp., Ford Motor Co., Norton Co., and the Watervliet Arsenal. An engineer hired by Waterford told DEC the extra weight of additional garbage being piled atop this waste would press chemical contamination through the ground and "ultimately into the (Mohawk) river."

DEC said that risk could be addressed by a plan to inject chemical hardening agents underground in the area of the hazardous waste to better support the weight of the new, additional trash.




When "Captain Marvel" opens Friday, it will be a moment of great satisfaction mixed with lingering frustration.

The film, which stars Brie Larson as that spacefaring comic-book superhero, is the 21st entry in the interconnected Marvel movie franchise since it began in 2008 but only the first to focus principally on a woman.

By now, audiences have grown accustomed to superhero movies that put women in the spotlight. In 2017, "Wonder Woman," based on DC Comics' Amazonian warrior, was a worldwide hit for Warner Bros.

Marvel has built its own fortunes on a decades-old supply of costumed adventurers that doesn't lack for women. And the studio has been criticized for its slowness to create movies emphasizing its female characters.

So what took Marvel as long as it did to reach this point? And will "Captain Marvel" be the movie that makes good on this long unfulfilled potential?

The answer to the first question, at least, lies in a tangle of social, cultural and economic factors. They parallel similar issues that Marvel has faced in making strides toward female representation in its comic books over the past 60 years  efforts that gradually helped bring Captain Marvel to prominence in the publisher's pantheon and make the movie more likely.

The people behind "Captain Marvel"  the movie as well as the comic books that inspired it  acknowledge the problematic history that led to these more welcome developments. They also see opportunities for women to have an equal place on the page and on the screen, and for the Captain Marvel character to grow as an icon of female representation and empowerment.

"What Captain Marvel needed to be when she debuted in the 1960s is very different than what she needs to be in 2019, when she's anchoring a major film," said Kelly Thompson, the current author of the Captain Marvel comic book series. "The film has her poised to be more important to more people than ever, and comics gets to be the proving ground for the character."

Marvel, the Disney-owned home of the Avengers superteam, has become an important bellwether of diversity in Hollywood. The studio has broken ground with films like "Black Panther," its 2018 blockbuster with a black director, screenwriters and leading actors.

In recent years Marvel has also gained a reputation for giving opportunities to filmmakers who don't have a background in tentpole action movies. That category "Captain Marvel" directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who are better known for low-budget offerings like "Mississippi Grind" and "It's Kind of a Funny Story."

Recalling an early meeting with Marvel, Boden said they told the studio, "All we have is the character stuff. And they said, 'We know how to explode things  we need directors who can tell a story.'"

("Captain Marvel," written by Boden, Fleck and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, is also the first Marvel movie to have a female director and only the second, after 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy," to credit women as screenwriters.)

Larson, an Academy Award winner for the 2015 drama "Room," said she was initially wary when she was approached for "Captain Marvel" and unsure if she wanted to take on such a high-profile role. But the actress, who has called for greater participation by women and people of color in the film industry and in the media covering it, said the global rollout of "Captain Marvel" could help bring her advocacy to a wider audience.

She said she felt invested in the moral lessons of her smaller films like "Short Term 12." But when it came to "Captain Marvel," Larson said she asked herself, "Could I still do the same thing of caring about the content and making sure it has a message while also playing all over the world? Being able to shape the conversation is what female leadership looks like."

In Captain Marvel's favor, Larson said that while other Marvel heroes are weak and lowly at the start of their origin stories, "she was a badass before she got her powers." A former Air Force test pilot named Carol Danvers, she gains superhuman abilities from an alien race, and Boden described the movie as a mystery of sorts in which Danvers must investigate her own past.

"As she gets to know herself and embrace what makes her her, she really achieves her true power," Boden said. "Part of that means rejecting the voices of people who tell her she's not strong enough and doesn't belong. I feel like a lot of people will be able to relate to that, particularly women."

The character of Carol Danvers has been on a journey of her own since Marvel introduced her in the comics in 1968. At the time, she was not much more than a Lois Lane-type love interest for a male hero (an extraterrestrial soldier who was the publisher's original Captain Marvel).

In the 1970s and '80s, Marvel put out its first solo female superhero comics and introduced Spider-Woman and She-Hulk, gender-swapped versions of its best-known characters. In a nod to the growing feminist movement, Marvel transformed Danvers into Ms. Marvel, giving her a solo series in which she battled intergalactic villains and wore a navel-baring costume.

The character would go in and out of vogue over the years, a period when many women would drift away from comics.

"In the '80s and '90s, we made comics that were actively insulting to women," writer Kelly Sue DeConnick said. "Women left in droves. Because why are you going to read stuff that's actively insulting to you, that you have to get at a specialty store where you're not always welcome?"

DeConnick sought to counteract this when she reintroduced Carol Danvers in a 2012 series in which the character finally assumed the title of Captain Marvel and donned a jumpsuit more appropriate to her military background.
Washington

Declaring it's "very clear" that President Donald Trump obstructed justice, the chairman of the House committee that would be in charge of impeachment says the panel is requesting documents Monday from more than 60 people from Trump's administration, family and business as part of a rapidly expanding Russia investigation.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said the House Judiciary Committee wants to review documents from the Justice Department, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. and Trump Organization chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg. Former White House chief of staff John Kelly and former White House counsel Don McGahn also are likely targets, he said.

"We are going to initiate investigations into abuses of power, into corruption and into obstruction of justice," Nadler said. "We will do everything we can to get that evidence."

Asked if he believed Trump obstructed justice, Nadler said, "Yes, I do."

Nadler isn't calling the inquiry an impeachment investigation, but said House Democrats, now in the majority, are simply doing "our job to protect the rule of law" after Republicans spent the first two years of Trump's term "shielding the president from any proper accountability."

"We're far from making decisions" about impeachment, he said.

In a tweet on Sunday, Trump blasted anew the Russia investigation, calling it a partisan probe unfairly aimed at discrediting his win in the 2016 presidential election. "I am an innocent man being persecuted by some very bad, conflicted & corrupt people in a Witch Hunt that is illegal & should never have been allowed to start  And only because I won the Election!" he wrote.

Nadler's comments follow a bad political week for Trump. He emerged empty-handed from a high-profile summit with North Korea leader Kim Jong Un on denuclearization; and Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, in three days of congressional testimony, publicly characterized the president as a "con man" and "cheat."

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Newly empowered House Democrats are flexing their strength with blossoming investigations. A half-dozen House committees are now probing alleged coordination between Trump associates and Russia's efforts to sway the 2016 election, Trump's tax returns and possible conflicts of interest involving the Trump family business and policy-making. The House Oversight Committee, for instance, has set a Monday deadline for the White House to turn over documents related to security clearances after The New York Times reported that the president ordered officials to grant his son-in-law Jared Kushner's clearance over the objections of national security officials.

Nadler's added lines of inquiry also come as special counsel Robert Mueller is believed to be wrapping up his work into possible questions of Trump campaign collusion and obstruction in Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. In his testimony, Cohen acknowledged he did not witness or know directly of collusion between Trump aides and Russia but had his "suspicions."

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Sunday accused House Democrats of prejudging Trump as part of a query based purely on partisan politics.

"I think Congressman Nadler decided to impeach the president the day the president won the election," McCarthy said. "Listen to exactly what he said. He talks about impeachment before he even became chairman and then he says, 'You've got to persuade people to get there.' There's nothing that the president did wrong."
ALBANY  Attorneys for Prestige Limousine claim the deaths that occurred in October's devastating Schoharie wreck could have been caused by anything from an act of god or an as-yet-unidentified third party to the passengers' failure to wear seat belts.

The arguments were raised in a court filing by lawyers for Prestige owner Shahed Hussain and his son, Nauman, as their initial response to a civil suit filed by the family of 29-year-old Amanda Rivenburg, one of the 20 people killed when the company's 2001 stretch Ford Excursion barreled through a stop sign and a parking lot before crashing into a ditch.

The answer to the wrongful death suit was filed Feb. 27 by the Albany law firm Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker, which is representing the Hussains in the civil matter.

Mikhail Shah, the attorney representing Rivenburg's parents, characterized the filing as "boilerplate," a kitchen-sink effort in which alternate scenarios are provided in order to keep open every possible defense strategy.

But Shah said considering the horrific nature of the crash  in which the apparently out-of-control limo killed two bystanders, as well as the driver and all 17 passengers on board  he believes some of the standard defenses offered in the filing should have been modified to exclude some of the accusations of passenger culpability.

"Those affirmative defenses are to preserve their rights; they can always withdraw those affirmative defenses," Shah said. But "sometimes you have to be careful in certain types of cases when you practice to be mindful of your audience."

The autopsies conducted immediately after the incident found that all the victims died of "multiple severe traumatic blunt force injuries."

In the filing, the Hussains' attorneys state that victims' injuries "are attributable in whole or in part to the culpable conduct of plaintiffs," who "willingly and voluntarily assumed all such risks, hazards, defects and dangers" when they climbed into the limo.

Another defense offered is that the plaintiff's death could have been caused "in whole or in part by a pre-existing medical and/or health condition."

Elizabeth Grogan, the attorney who filed the defense's answer, could not immediately be reached for comment.

State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board have not released any conclusions about what caused the Oct. 6 crash, the deadliest U.S. transportation accident in almost a decade. The tragedy impacted thousands in the Capital Region; the fatalities included four sisters and their husbands, as well as other relatives and close friends.

A preliminary NTSB report released last month provided little new detail on the crash, saying the limo went through the intersection of Route 30 and Route 30A at what one witness said was a high rate of speed. Speeding into the parking of the Apple Barrel Country Store, it struck an SUV that hit two bystanders. The limo finally slammed into an earthen embankment.

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But Times Union investigations have revealed that the limo failed two state inspections in the months that preceded the crash. Inspectors cited problems with the vehicle's brakes and its lack of proper state and federal documentation.

One defense included in the Hussain's filing last week, however, does touch one of the many questions that remain unanswered: Were any of the limo's passengers wearing seat belts?

The preliminary NTSB report said the vehicle's seats were equipped with lap belts, but did not say if anyone was wearing them. There is no state law that requires back-seat riders in any vehicle to wear seat belts, though Gov. Andrew Cuomo's state budget proposal includes language extending the requirement to all passengers.

The federal agency "continues to gather information on the modifications and mechanical condition of the vehicle, the seat belt usage and survivability of the passengers, and the oversight of the passenger-carrying operation by the New York State Department of Transportation and New York State Department of Motor Vehicles," the NTSB's preliminary report said.

Nauman Hussain, who ran Saratoga County-based Prestige when his father was out of the country, was charged days after the crash with one count of criminally negligent homicide. There has been no grand jury indictment yet in the criminal case. The younger Hussain, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Oct. 10, is free on bail.

On Monday, the first of four advertisements appeared in the Times Union to satisfy serving Shahed Hussain with the Rivenburg's civil complaint "by publication." Nauman Hussain's criminal defense attorneys have said the defendant's father is in Pakistan.

Shah, the Rivenburg's attorney, said the Schoharie County district attorney's office has said they believe Shahed Hussain is in Dubai.
Albany Police are investigating a Sunday afternoon shooting, according to Albany Police spokesman Officer Steve Smith.

A 27-year-old male from Albany is being treated at Albany Medical Center for what appears to be a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg, Smith said on Twitter.
ALBANY - Ulysses Walls, one of the three men accused of a role in the violent robbery of a bank in North Greenbush last Tuesday, is being investigated for his possible involvement in other recent bank robberies, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office disclosed an investigation into the 25-year-old's possible connection to other bank robberies during a detention hearing for Walls on Monday in federal court in Albany.

Judge Magistrate Christian Hummel denied Walls' request for bail stating that the Albany man was a flight risk and a "danger to society."

Walls was the first of the three men to have a bail hearing in connection with Tuesday's robbery of M&T Bank.

Walls and Christopher Cohn, 25, were both charged with bank robbery.

The third man, alleged getaway driver Quardel Valentine, 28, of Albany, was charged with conspiracy.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rosenthal said following the investigation there may be additional charges against Walls.

Monday's court disclosure was the first time authorities said at least one of the men is being investigated for more bank robberies. FBI had disclosed in last week's criminal complaint that Cohn had told Valentine that "he and Walls had previously robbed other banks successfully."

The robbery occurred late Tuesday morning. Cohn and Walls entered the M&T Bank at 313 North Greenbush Road wearing ski masks, carrying guns and demanding money, according to the criminal complaint.

While inside, for seven minutes, Cohn and Walls repeatedly threatened to kill the staff if they didn't comply, assaulting them at times, police said.

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At Monday's detention hearing, Rosenthal said Walls at one point threw an employee over the teller counter.

During the robbery. police said Cohn, who was carrying a pistol, fired a shot in the air. Walls was also carrying a firearm. One bullet grazed the arm of a teller, who was treated for minor injuries. Officials are unsure who fired the shot that struck the teller.

"They put the life of many people, in the bank, at risk," Rosenthal said.

The men fled with more than $10,000. But were later tracked to Motel 6, 100 Watervliet Ave., in Albany thanks to a GPS tracking device that was placed with the money by a bank employee.

The men were taken into custody at the motel within a couple of hours.

Cohn and Valentine will have bail hearings later this week.
At least 22 people in Alabama were killed after tornadoes touched down in the southeast on Sunday, leaving a trail of devastation, an official said.

The tornadoes were part of a series of storms that moved east through Alabama, Georgia and Florida. They uprooted trees and blasted through homes, video footage and photographs posted on Twitter showed.

In Lee County, Alabama, where some of the worst damage was reported, more than 150 people were conducting search-and-rescue operations near the communities of Smiths Station and Beauregard, which is about 60 miles east of Montgomery, said Rita Smith, a spokeswoman for the county's emergency management agency.

Sheriff Jay Jones of Lee County said that 22 people were killed. Lee County's state mortuary response team had been activated, a spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency said.

The team will help recover and identify human remains at the disaster site, especially in areas where the local coroner was lacking resources, said Roy A. Goodson, president of the Alabama Funeral Directors and Morticians Association.

The East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika had received more than 40 patients and expected more, said John Atkinson, a spokesman for the center. He said the conditions of the patients varied.

Chief Byron Prather of the Opelika Fire Department told television station WSFA 12 that several mobile homes and houses were destroyed in Lee County.

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"There's debris laying everywhere," he said. "There was a mobile home frame in the middle of the road at one time. There's personal belongings in the trees. There's insulation, there's building material in the trees."

Meredith Wyatt, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Ala., said the strong line of storms moved quickly across the area Sunday afternoon.

She said it was unclear how many tornadoes touched down but said the service issued at least six warnings Sunday afternoon.

The service will send teams on Monday to survey the damage to determine the path of the tornadoes, their intensity and how long they stayed on the ground.
Seoul, South Korea

South Korea and the U.S. are eliminating their massive springtime military drills and replacing them with smaller exercises in what they call an effort to support diplomacy aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis.

The decision announced by both countries Sunday came after President Donald Trump complained about the cost of joint drills even as his high-stakes second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un collapsed last week.

The drills' cancellation is an olive branch to North Korea, which has viewed them as an invasion rehearsal. But some experts say it will likely weaken the allies' military readiness amid worries that tensions erupt again in the wake of the failed nuclear summit in Vietnam.

The Pentagon said in a release that the U.S. and South Korean defense chiefs decided to conclude the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises. It said the allies agreed to maintain firm military readiness through newly designed command post exercises and revised field training programs.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo "made clear that the alliance decision to adapt our training program reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner," the statement said.

Seoul's Defense Ministry released a similar statement.

Jeong expressed his regrets at the lack of agreement at the Trump-Kim summit but still hopes that Washington and Pyongyang will continue negotiations, the South Korean statement said.

The new training, dubbed "Dong Maeng," which means "alliance" in English, starts Monday and runs through March 12. It will focus on "strategic operational and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula," South Korea's military and the U.S.-South Korean combined forces command said in a joint statement.

According to U.S. officials, the new training will be done in smaller drills, tabletop exercises and simulations, and will involve smaller units such as battalions and companies rather than massive formations involving thousands of troops, as they had in the past.

Officials said the Pentagon would focus on smaller exercises and mission essential tasks, which include the ability to integrate airstrikes and the use of other weapons systems, drones, surveillance assets, logistics and communications.

In November, a month before he resigned as defense secretary, Jim Mattis disclosed that the U.S. and South Korea would scale back and tone down the spring exercises. He said the aim was to avoid setting back diplomacy over North Korea's nuclear weapons. He described it as a reorganization of the exercises, not an end to maneuvers on the peninsula.

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Trump has long complained about the cost of military drills with South Korea.

After his second summit with Kim ended without any agreement in Hanoi on Thursday, Trump spoke again about the cost of annual military drills. "It's a very, very expensive thing and we do have to think about that, too," Trump told reporters.

Following his first summit with Kim in Singapore last June, Trump caught many in the United States and South Korea by surprise by suspending the allies' summertime military drills. He called joint drills "very provocative" and "massively expensive."

The United States and South Korea also have since suspended a few other smaller joint drills.

Trump has also pushed South Korea to increase its financial contribution for the cost of the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the country as deterrence against North Korea. He previously threatened to withdraw troops from South Korea and Japan if those countries refused to pay more.

The end of the springtime war games will benefit North Korea, which has responded with its own costly military exercises and weapons tests, including firing a new intermediate-range missile over Japan in 2017.
ALBANY  Proponents of criminal justice reforms that would overhaul laws governing bail and pre-trial discovery are pushing progressive prosecutors in the District Attorneys Association of New York to back the initiatives that are pending in the Legislature.

Members of Citizen Action and other groups last week sent letters to five prosecutors urging them to withdraw from DAASNY and disavow what they describe as the prosecutorial group's "dog-whistle tactics."

"Prosecutors are telling senators they need to wait, that they need to be more 'thoughtful' about pretrial reforms," said Erin George, criminal justice campaign director for Citizen Action of NY. "These are excuses for them to buy time and crush the bills that our communities have worked tirelessly to bring to the brink of passage."

None of the targeted district attorneys  including Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez, Manhattan's Cy Vance, and Erie County's John Flynn  said they intend to leave the group. But several have met with activists or are working with bills' sponsors to find consensus.

Amid reports that the legislative package was slated to be voted on in February, DAASNY argued that proposals to end the cash bail for many criminal offenses and require open discovery posed threats to public safety.

The state's 62 district attorneys are members of DAASNY, but in Queens County, where a seven-way race to fill the role of the top prosecutor is underway, at least two candidates have publicly opposed the organization's lobbying efforts and vowed not to join.

Albany County District Attorney and DAASNY President David Soares said the advocates "are absolutely out of bounds in blaming the district attorneys association for any impasse. We are not a lobbying group, we are a trade organization and we also happen to be criminal and penal law experts."

The historically conservative DAASNY was less active in lobbying state government in past years when Republicans controlled the Senate and blocked most criminal justice reform measures.

But the organization and its members are also more reform-minded than they've ever been, according to Soares.

"This is the first time in the history of the association that there is so much agreement," said Soares, who considers himself a progressive prosecutor and last year instituted a policy to cease prosecuting low-level marijuana offenses.

Proponents of reform says prosecutors' objections amount to scare tactics and stem from a desire to maintain leverage in criminal proceedings.

But criticism from activists and prosecutors may be premature as the Assembly, Senate and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo have yet to agree on what the final legislation package will look like.

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A measure ending cash bail for many criminal offenses  proponents say bail creates a two-tiered justice system that favors the rich over the poor  has sparked a debate in the Democratic Assembly conference, and several versions are under consideration, according to Assemblyman Joe Lentol, D-Brooklyn, who chairs the Codes Committee.

"There is no meeting of the minds on any real proposal," Lentol said."There will be criminal justice reform. I just don't know how fast it will get done."

Open discovery has also proved controversial, though lawmakers say concerns about witness protection are addressed in the bill language.

"I wouldn't say we are miles apart, but conversations are ongoing," said Sen. Jamaal T. Bailey, the legislation's sponsor.

A number of district attorneys' offices have self-imposed open discovery rules, which enable defense attorneys and their clients to have access to witnesses and evidence before negotiating plea deals.

The pending proposal would require prosecutors to release evidence, including the names of witnesses, to the defense within 15 days of arraignment unless an order of protection is obtained.

Most judges will grant an order of protection for a witness if a prosecutor requests one, lawmakers contend. Prosecutors have countered that court orders may not prevent a defendant or someone else from targeting a witness or victim, which could imperil ongoing investigations.

Currently, 36 states have open discovery laws similar to the proposed legislation.
In August 1965, 64 men and women who loved the peregrine falcon gathered at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, to devise a way to save one of the world's most fascinating birds from extinction.

These experts knew that peregrine falcons were vanishing, they thought the pesticide DDT might be the cause, and they were running out of time. Nearly 55 years later, the gathering known now simply as "the 1965 Madison conference" has the status of the Marshall Plan in the annals of wildlife biology.

Included in the conference was a young biologist from Syracuse University named Tom Cade, who was only in his 30s but was already well known for his expertise on birds of prey. And it was to Cade that his fellow experts assigned a daunting task: Figure out how to keep the peregrine falcon from going extinct. Against the odds, he did just that.

Cade died Feb. 6 at age 91. He was never as well known outside of the bird world as he should have been, because he shunned publicity, but he saved the peregrine falcon. His work began at Cornell University, which hired him shortly after the Madison conference, and it was at Cornell that Cade got the notoriously fussy peregrine falcon to dependably breed in captivity, expanding upon techniques first tried by the late Professor Heinz Meng at the State University's New Paltz College.

Cade and his research team began releasing young peregrines in 1974, following the banning of DDT in the United States in 1972. The experiment that even some of Cade's colleagues had doubted would work would instead be a soaring success.

One highlight was the restoration of peregrines to the Adirondacks, where nesting sites that may have been occupied for more than 1,000 years had fallen silent during the DDT era. Today, people routinely also see Peregrines in Albany, New York City and other urban areas.

Far less well known is the role that Cade and his Cornell team played in New York's storied rescue of the bald eagle, which also almost went extinct due to eggshell thinning from DDT, habitat loss and deliberate killing. Cade was a consultant to the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation in the mid-1970s, as the two biologists assigned to the bald eagle recovery project, Peter Nye and the late Mike Allen, learned how to apply to eaglets the techniques that had worked with peregrines.

The raptor recovery and research organization that Cade founded, The Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho, continues his work with at-risk raptor species around the globe. When I visited The Peregrine Fund in 2008, I saw young California condors being readied for release; they had been hatched in a sophisticated version of the captive breeding program Cade had used decades earlier.

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It was on that visit that I asked Cade about the future of birds on Earth, and, by extension, the future of all life on Earth in the face of the onslaught we were imposing on the planet through climate change and overpopulated urban centers.

A decade later, his answer sounds a warning that all of us should heed. The United States has an obligation to lead the rest of the world in finding a balance between devastation and responsible use of the planet, he said, but he doubted that we would do so. Everything is connected, he told me; what we do in one part of the world has ripple effects that fan out through the waterways, the food chain and the atmosphere. He saw that with DDT; he saw it a half-century later with climate change.

"We're the most extravagant people on Earth," he said. "Everyone wants to be like us. There's no way the Earth can sustain our rate of consumption, if everyone wants it."

Darryl McGrath is the author of "Flight Paths: A Field Journal of Hope, Heartbreak, and Miracles with New York's Bird People," which chronicles the recovery projects that saved the peregrine falcon and bald eagle from extinction.
[March 04, 2019] 5Star Life Insurance Co. Appoints Joseph Fox to its Board

The 5Star Life Insurance Company announced today that Joseph Fox has been appointed to its Board of Directors effective March 1, 2019. "I am pleased to welcome Joseph Fox to the 5Star Life board of directors. As an esteemed law enforcement leader, his knowledge will be invaluable as we serve the first responders who serve this great nation," said General Ed Eberhart, USAF (Ret.), Chairman of 5Star Life. Mark Singleton, President of 5Star Life added, "We have experienced tremendous growth in the first responder market over the last five years, and Chief Fox will be instrumental in ensuring this growth continues." Fox enjoyed a long and honorable 37-year career in law enforcement. He joined the New York City Police Department in 1981, beginning as a patrol officer in Brooklyn's 70th precinct and ascending throgh the ranks to become a three-star Chief. Before retiring in 2018, he served for six years as the head of the NYPD's Transit Bureau leading the team of 2,600 men and women that secures the nation's busiest metropolitan rail system. Currently, he is the Chief of Staff at SEAL Security, a full-service global security firm based in New York and London. He is also a renowned public speaker, translating the power of personal loss into purposeful messages that inspire others.



"I am pleased to join the 5Star Life Board of Directors and look forward to working with the management team of this organization that so proudly serves our first responders," said Joseph Fox. About 5Star Life

5Star Life Insurance Company (5Star Life) is the primary underwriter of the Armed Forces Benefit Association (AFBA) member policies and is also a growing provider of group and worksite voluntary products. Its business model enables 5Star Life to serve the needs of a diverse clientele as an insurance advisor to individuals and organizations, and as a trusted partner to brokers. Headquartered in Alexandria, VA, 5Star Life is currently licensed in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and American Samoa. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005938/en/

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[March 04, 2019] App Ape, Flagship Product of Fuller Inc., Will Exhibit at the Trade Show of SXSW 2019!

CHIBA, Japan, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Fuller, Inc., Japanese leading provider of analytics platform and market insights on mobile app, is pleased to announce that App Ape will exhibit at the Trade Show of the SXSW (South by Southwest) 2019 in Austin (Texas, USA) from March 10th to 13th at the booth 1024. After the exhibition of 2016, during which Fuller, Inc. exhibited as one of the companies part of the Japanese Pavilion, it is now heading back to the SXSW under the banner of its mobile apps analytics tool, App Ape. "We are greatly pleased to participate in SXSW again in the 6th year since the App Ape launch," remarks Shuta Shibuya, Founder and CEO of Fuller, Inc. "We will do our best to increase App Ape brand awareness and inform SXSW participants regarding how App Ape can help their mobile app business succeed and contribute to give a boost to the fast growing mobile app industry." App Ape is a mobile apps analytics service developed to help entrepreneurs and businesses to analyze their competitors' main KPIs and latest mobile trends. This marketing tool lets users monitor mobile usage indicators such as active users number (monthly/weekly/daily and even hourly), demographics (gender/age ratio) and mutual apps concerning any iOS/Android app. In addition, App Ape's dashboard also supports mobile devices meaning you can easily check the data on the go. App Ape currently covers mobile usage data from 7 countries : USA, Japan, South Korea, India, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia. Moreover, more than 5,000 local and global companies are listed as clients with a proven track record. SXSW Trade Show Floor plan : App Ape Booth

Learn more about App Ape : Website





Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn About SXSW

The South By Southwest (SXSW) is well-known for its conference and festivals that celebrate the convergence of the interactive, film, and music industries. A major event for global professionals, SXSW features sessions, showcases, screenings, exhibitions, and a variety of networking opportunities. The Trade Show is the epicenter of business and also the biggest exhibition of the SXSW, hosting a diverse range of forward-thinking exhibitors ranging from promising startups to established industry leaders. In 2018, there were 735 Trade Show spaces from 27 different countries, with over 75,000 people in attendance. Schedule:

March 10-11-12 : 11:00am - 6:00pm

March 13: 11:00am - 2:00pm Venue:

Austin Convention Center

Trade Show - Exhibit Halls 2, 3, 4 & 5 at Level 1

500 E Cesar Chavez, Austin TX 78701, USA Learn more about SXSW Trade show : Website About Fuller Fuller is the Japanese leading provider of analytics platform and market insights on mobile app, founded in 2011 by Shuta Shibuya, who was selected as Forbes' "30 Under 30 Asia 2016", and Hiroki Sakurai. Fuller primarily offers 2 main services - Fuller's flagship product which is "App Analysis Support Service" through "Ape Ape", and "Smartphone App Development Service" providing planning, developing, operating, and analyzing customer's app business. Fuller has currently offices in 2 countries - Japan (Chiba, Tokyo, Nigata, Tsukuba) and South Korea. Also, the company has successfully raised funds of approximately $12.8 million ( 1.45 billion/$ 1= 113) in total. Contact Julian Jeanneau

[email protected]

+81-4-7197-6535 View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/app-ape-flagship-product-of-fuller-inc-will-exhibit-at-the-trade-show-of-sxsw-2019-300805834.html SOURCE Fuller, Inc.

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[March 04, 2019] AVIO Consulting Provides Real-time Connectivity Solutions for SRS Distribution

DALLAS, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- AVIO Consulting , a technology consulting company, offers digital transformation consulting, utilizing MuleSoft and API led enablement for some of the world's most influential companies and organizations. Whether in the financial services, manufacturing, telecommunication, healthcare or high tech/software industry sectors, AVIO Consulting provides the answer for application implementation needs through the MuleSoft AnyPoint platform, which enables users to operate their business the way they want instead of being limited by what their IT systems do. SRS Distribution, a Texas-based roofing distribution holding company that serves more than 250 locations in 44 states, utilizes AVIO Consulting to implement MuleSoft's AnyPoint platform to create a more adaptive and efficient contractor integration operating system that ensures greater reliability. "Our vision of the connected contractor begins with our CRM partner integrations. We are launching this program with a strong foundation from which to build out even greater capabilities," said Patrick Garcia, vice president of Innovation and Technology Adoption for SRS Distribution. "Eventually, we expect many of our customers will estimate, price, order and track deliveries digitally. At SRS, we want to facilitate that process by seamlessly connecting our systems to our clients' application of choice." AVIO Consulting enables oganizations to be agile and responsive to new or changing business dynamics through strategy and implementation, based on the MuleSoft managed services platform.



"It is exciting to have played a significant part in delivering SRS' new mobile and API capabilities," said AVIO Consulting president, Brandon Dean. "They are now well positioned to drive new capabilities and customer experiences as their market changes. And by leveraging AVIO's managed services, SRS can focus on continue to deliver industry-leading capabilities." Earlier last year, AVIO Consulting was awarded the MuleSoft Solution Partner of the Year: North America for its Application Reporting and Monitoring Service ("ARMS") managed services offering.

AVIO's ARMS provides organizations a fully managed platform to support the development, deployment, and monitoring of applications arranged within the MuleSoft AnyPoint platform so organizations can deliver business value instead of managing their MuleSoft environments. About SRS Distribution

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in McKinney, TX, SRS is one of the largest and fastest growing building products distributors in the United States. Since our inception, we have established a differentiated growth strategy and entrepreneurial culture that is focused on serving our customers, partnering with our suppliers, and attracting the industry's best talent. We currently operate under a family of 28 distinct local brands encompassing more than 250 locations across 44 states. SRS Distribution is a portfolio company of Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. and Berkshire Partners LLC. About AVIO Consulting

Since 2007, AVIO Consulting has focused on enabling clients to transform their business. AVIO'S singular focus on digital transformation has enabled AVIO to build an unmatched level of expertise. AVIO's client-first approach and deep technical knowledge have resulted in AVIO being recognized as one of the most respected names in digital consulting. AVIO's reputation is built upon their legacy of assisting clients in defining a vision, delivering innovative projects, and enabling business growth. AVIO's projects have spanned the globe as a result of their reputation for delivering success. Visit www.avioconsulting.com for more information. Media Contact

Kelly Hardwick

TruePoint Communications

[email protected]

972-388-5526 View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/avio-consulting-provides-real-time-connectivity-solutions-for-srs-distribution-300805293.html SOURCE AVIO Consulting

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[March 04, 2019] CarteNAV and Sentient Vision Collaborate on PAL Aerospace Winning Bid for Government of Canada Aerial Surveillance Contract

HALIFAX, Canada and MELBOURNE, Australia, March 4, 2019 /CNW/ - CarteNav and Sentient Vision are pleased to announce their valuable contribution to PAL Aerospace's winning bid to provide the Government of Canada with aerial surveillance capability for Canada's inland, coastal and offshore waters. The contract, delivered on behalf of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, covers an initial five-year period and includes opportunities for PAL Aerospace to earn contract extensions that increase the total life of the agreement to ten years. As part of the winning bid, PAL aircraft will operate a specially configured Visual Detection and Ranging (ViDAR) array within the CarteNav AIMS mission system. The seamless incorporation of this world leading ViDAR technology into the AIMS system is a meaningful complement to the capability of the PAL aircraft that will serve this contract. ViDAR is a wide area optical search system capable of operation unaffected by environmental marine obstacles, such as whitecaps, which detrimentally affect traditional technologies. The system is unique in its ability to detect objects as small as fishing buoys and people in the water over significant areas, allowing aircraft operators to map vast swaths of the ocean in real time. ViDAR autonomously locates objects on the surface of the water, transmits a thumnail and location coordinate back to the AIMS mission system and prompts the operator to investigate further.



"Sentient was excited to work with CarteNav on the integration of ViDAR into the AIMS mission system to support this important contract," said Simon Olsen, Sentient's Director of Business Development, Strategy and Partnerships. "Blending these leading edge technologies into a combined offering marks a significant step forward and will now provide a game changing ocean surface search solution to the Government of Canada." Both ViDAR and AIMS have extensive records of accomplishment and are in operation on multiple continents across multiple environments in both military and civilian application.

"CarteNav has worked successfully with Sentient for many years, originally on the implementation of the Kestrel Moving Target Indicator (MTI) feature into AIMS, and most recently on integrating ViDAR," said CarteNav COO Carl Daniels. "AIMS provides an intuitive interface from which operators can take advantage of the capabilities of the ViDAR persistent wide-area maritime search. The addition of ViDAR reaffirms our focus on operator workflow and mission delivery which has established CarteNav as a leader in mission system solutions." CarteNav's collaboration with Sentient and valued contribution to the winning PAL bid demonstrates a significant combined operating capacity to deliver leading edge services to customers for a variety of maritime surveillance applications. The successful execution of this contract on behalf of the Government of Canada fortifies CarteNav and Sentient's shared credentials in this area and should open the door to capture additional, mutually beneficial opportunities in the future. About CarteNav Solutions CarteNav is an ISO 9001:2015-certified company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. From its founding in August 2002, CarteNav has become a recognised leader in mission system software that enhances situational awareness and improves mission effectiveness on airborne, land-based, and maritime platforms. The software is operational on civil, government, military, and paramilitary deployments in over 40 countries across 6 continents. Following its acquisition in 2016, CarteNav is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Provincial Aerospace Ltd. and is part of the Exchange Income Corporation (EIC) group of companies. About Sentient Vision Systems Sentient Vision Systems develops and deploys computer vision solutions for defense and civil applications. Since 1999 Sentient has specialized in video analytics with a primary focus on the development of automated detection software for full motion video. With over 1,700 systems deployed, Sentient's solutions enhance the performance of EO/IR operations for many agencies and forces worldwide. For more information, please visit www.sentientvision.com SOURCE CarteNav Solutions

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[March 04, 2019] CEMEX unveils new low-emission, high-efficiency locomotive at Victorville Cement Plant in California

HOUSTON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CEMEX USA unveiled a new low-emission, high-efficiency locomotive at our Victorville, Calif., Cement Plant, last week as part of our continued commitment to sustainability and to enhance air quality in a community where we have operated for more than 100 years. The locomotive, developed by Knoxville Locomotive Works and equipped with an MTU-4000 Series engine designed to reduce emissions by more than 80% and fuel consumption by 25%, was opened for local dignitaries to tour on Tuesday. The new locomotive, which will be used to transport clinker at the operation, can provide more than 3,200 horsepower from an ultra-low emitting single engine designed to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board Tier 4 Emissions requirements. The locomotive is expected to reduce emissions by 34 tons per year. "Sustainability is embedded in our DNA at CEMEX, and this new locomotive illustrates that," said Carlos Uruchurtu, CEMEX USA Vice President Cement ManufacturingWest Region. "Throughout our history at Victorville, we have made great strides in reducing our environmental fotprint with increased reliance on renewable resources, and this new locomotive furthers our efforts to reduce CO 2 emissions."



CEMEX's Victorville Cement Plant has other initiatives on site promoting sustainability and conservation. The plant is home to four wind turbines that offset thousands of tons of emissions each year while fulfilling approximately 6% of the operation's energy needs. The plant has received the EPA's ENERGY STAR certification for seven consecutive years, and it is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and landfill waste by replacing 20% of traditional fuels with alternative and renewable resources. "CEMEX continuously evaluates our operations and technologies to further our commitment to sustainability as we strive to be a good neighbor in our communities," said Dr. Hugo Bolio, CEMEX USA Executive Vice President of Cement Operations and Technology. "The commitment extends across all our operations, and our Victorville Cement Plant is an example of what can be done when businesses and communities work together."

A portion of the cost of the new locomotive was covered by a federal grant secured with the assistance of the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District. "We are honored to partner with a company whose facility has been a mainstay in the Victor Valley Community for more than 100 years," said Brad Poiriez, Executive Director of the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District. "To see a company with such history embrace the future and the environment through this emission-reducing technology is very gratifying. We hope other local organizations follow suit." CEMEX is a global building materials company that provides high quality products and reliable service to customers and communities in more than 50 countries throughout the world. Its U.S. network includes 11 cement plants, more than 50 strategically- located distribution terminals, 50 aggregate quarries and nearly 270 ready-mix concrete plants. View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cemex-unveils-new-low-emission-high-efficiency-locomotive-at-victorville-cement-plant-in-california-300806109.html SOURCE CEMEX

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[March 04, 2019] Davenport University, TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants Partner on Corporate Education Scholarship

Davenport University announced today that it has developed a partnership with Michigan-based TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants (TSFR) to offer a Corporate Education Scholarship of $250,000. The scholarship will offset the costs of degree programs for TSFR employees through Davenport University. The Corporate Education Scholarship is an initiative between Davenport University and the Michigan Chamber of Commerce that creates opportunities for leading in-state companies to provide educational benefits to their employees. As a continued contribution to the Reinvent Michigan campaign, the resulting Corporate Education Scholarship ensures that top businesses in Michigan can make education accessible and affordable for their workforce. "With Michigan's growing economy, our state is facing an insatiable demand for strong talent within our expanding workforce," said Davenport University President Dr. Richard Pappas. "With this program, we'll be able to empower employers to tackle this issue head-on by leveraging one of their most invaluable resources - their employees." The Corporate Education Scholarship, offered to qualifying Michigan Chamber of Commerce member companies, provides scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $5,000 per employee. These funds are made available to up to 50 employees and participation is renewable for up to four years. "Our people are a key component of our core vales at TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants and, we remain committed to investing in training and development programs that allow our more than 5,000 employees to succeed both personally and professionally," said Mark Schostak, executive chairman of TSFR. "As we continue to lead the way in our state, this partnership with Davenport University is not only an investment in our employees and our organization, but also an investment in our state as we look to foster successful men and women to be tomorrow's leaders."



A division of Schostak Family Enterprises, which has been operating in Michigan for nearly 100 years, TSFR is a family-owned restaurant group with an expansive portfolio of more than 100 casual dining, quick service, fast casual and family dining restaurants throughout the state. TSFR's portfolio includes Applebee's, Olga's Kitchen, MOD Pizza and Del Taco restaurants. About Davenport University:

Founded in 1866, Davenport is a private, non-profit university serving about 7,500 students at campuses across Michigan and online. With tuition among the lowest of all private universities in the state, Davenport provides high academic quality, small class sizes, conveniently located campuses, faculty with real-world experience and more than 60 dynamic undergraduate and graduate programs. www.davenport.edu. About TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants: Livonia, Mich.-based TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants is a family-owned restaurant group with an expansive portfolio of casual dining, quick service and family dining restaurants throughout the state of Michigan. With a commitment to quality operations, TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants is an industry leader in attracting, developing and retaining the most talented work force that proudly delights its guests and sets an unmatched standard of excellence. www.teamschostak.com View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005964/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Digerati Technologies Seeks Acquisitions to Double Revenue

SAN ANTONIO, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Digerati Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: DTGI ) ("Digerati" or the "Company"), a provider of cloud services specializing in UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solutions for the business market, announced today that Chief Executive Officer Art Smith was recently interviewed by Proactive Investors. Proactive Investors is a UK-based online investor services company that provides analytics, market reports, and company and industry profiles.

During the interview, Mr. Smith discusses how the Company is growing rapidly in Texas after acquiring Synergy Telecom and doubling its revenues over approximately eight months. After establishing a solid operational base in Florida through the Companys acquisition of T3 Communications in 2018, Smith says other acquisitions are in the works with a continued focus on the 2nd and 4th largest state economies in the U.S. TO ACCESS THE VIDEO INTERVIEW

Please visit Proactive Investors site: https://www.proactiveinestors.com/companies/stocktube/12366/digerati-technologies--aggressive-acquisition-strategy-doubles-revenue-12366.html

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFrSYkF77Ww



About Digerati Technologies, Inc .

Digerati Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: DTGI ) is a provider of cloud services specializing in UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) solutions for the business market. Through its subsidiaries Synergy Telecom and T3 Communications, the Company is meeting the global needs of businesses seeking simple, flexible, reliable, and cost-effective communication and network solutions, including cloud PBX, cloud mobile, Internet broadband, SD-WAN, SIP trunking, and customized VoIP services, all delivered on its carrier-grade network and Only in the Cloud. For more information about Digerati Technologies, please visit www.digerati-inc.com . Forward-Looking Statements

The information in this news release includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements related to the future financial performance of the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, successful execution of growth strategies, product development and acceptance, the impact of competitive services and pricing, general economic conditions, and other risks and uncertainties described in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investors:

Hayden IR

[email protected]

(917) 658-7878 The Eversull Group

Jack Eversull

[email protected]

(972) 571-1624

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[March 04, 2019] Health New England Announces Second Year of Where Health Matters Grant Opportunities

Health New England announced the second year of its Where Health Matters grant program as part of its Community Benefits Program. The Where Health Matters grant program is designed to advance the health and wellbeing of vulnerable population groups living in Central and Western Massachusetts. Health New England has increased the number of grants to be awarded this year to five, from four in 2018. It will award five $50,000 grants to community nonprofit organizations, with an annual grant total of $250,000. The Where Health Matters grant program targets four focus areas: chronic diseases, food and/or housing insecurities, infant and maternal health, and mental health and/or substance use disorder. "We are pleased to expand our Grant Program to five organizations this year and acknowledge the importance of giving back to the community to help support the health needs of our most vulnerable community members," said Jody Gross, interim president and CEO of Health New England. "We look forward to partnering with five local organizations that have strong connections to the community in order to improve the health outcomes of our at-risk resdents."



The Where Health Matters grant program will award one-year grants to eligible nonprofit organizations, with current IRS-designated 501(c)(3) status, that manage innovative community-based programs benefiting underserved residents of Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, or Worchester counties, with a particular focus on Greater Springfield. Of the five grants to be awarded to eligible nonprofit organizations, one grant will be awarded in each of the four focus areas, a fifth grant will be awarded to one of the four focus areas. Health New England's Where Health Matters Grant application process begins with a Letter of Intent. Organizations meeting the RFP criteria are encouraged to submit a Letter of Intent online by March 25, 2019 at 4 pm. Complete Grant RFP applications are due by April 29, 2019 at 4 pm. Please refer to our website for additional information at healthnewengland.org/community/grantprogram.

Based in Springfield, Massachusetts, Health New England is a nonprofit health plan serving members in Massachusetts and Connecticut. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Baystate Health, Health New England offers a range of health care plans in the commercial, Medicaid and Medicare markets. Visit www.healthnewengland.org for more information. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005067/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Kingston to Highlight Encrypted USB Drives, Enterprise SSDs and Server Premier Memory at RSA Conference 2019

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions, today announced it will showcase its line of encrypted USB drives, including the award-winning IronKey brand, as well as its enterprise SSDs and Server Premier memory products at RSA Conference 2019 (North Expo Booth #4615), one of the world's leading information security conferences and expositions. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005201/en/ Kingston encrypted USB drives are designed to protect data outside the network firewall that requires high security, promote and maintain a productive and efficient mobile workforce, and serve as an additional element in complying with strict regulations. (Photo: Business Wire) Kingston will show off the following at RSA (News - Alert) Conference 2019: Encrypted USB Drives Kingston encrypted USB drives are designed to protect data outside the network firewall that requires high security, promote and maintain a productive and efficient mobile workforce, and serve as an additional element in complying with the strict EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and other data privacy regulations. These drives are ideal for government and corporate use to help meet specific agency directives such as Data Encryption, TAA and FIPS certification, as well as other compliance reulations including HIPAA and SOX.



Since 2016, Kingston has been the proud owner of the entire USB technology and assets of IronKey (News - Alert), one of the most iconic brands in encrypted USB Flash drive history. Kingston's IronKey products deliver FIPS 140-2 Level 3 certified solutions for customers who need the highest level of military-grade encryption and security. With the IronKey and DataTraveler brand, Kingston offers a comprehensive portfolio of products, further demonstrating the company's commitment to be the global leader in trusted encrypted solutions for mobile data. Enterprise Solid-State Drives (SSD)

Kingston enterprise SATA and U.2 NVMe SSDs offer reliability and power-loss protection features to keep mission-critical environments up and running 24/7. Applications include: Server Virtualization - Kingston SSDs are the ideal storage accelerator solution for virtualized workloads and contribute to a fundamental goal of virtualization by doing more with less.

Cloud Computing - Fast-retrieving capabilities of Kingston SSDs enable Cloud services to operate at peak efficiency for each type of data being processed.

IT Applications - Kingston SATA 3.0 Enterprise SSDs may be used as direct-attached storage replacements for traditional hard-disk drives in a server or reside in external arrays to speed up storage-bound applications. Kingston Server Premier Memory Server Premier modules are manufactured using a locked Bill of Materials (BOM), which is ideal for those who use or build white-box systems and require a consistent brand and revision of DRAM. Server Premier, like all Kingston memory, undergo rigorous testing and are qualified on leading server motherboard / system manufacturers. "A firewall is essential in protecting organizations against data security threats from known, unknown, and non-trusted networks," said Richard Kanadjian, encrypted USB manager, Kingston. "Encrypted protection, both inside and outside the firewall is key to a successful data-security plan. Inside the firewall, Kingston SSDs with hardware-based encryption are ideal for protecting company and personal data. While outside the firewall, Kingston encrypted USB drives are powerful tools in closing security gaps and help ensure security and regulation compliance. We are proud to present our suite of solutions to attendees of RSA Conference 2019." For more information, visit kingston.com. Kingston can be found on:

YouTube (News - Alert): http://www.youtube.com/kingstontechmemory

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kingstontechnology

Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/KingstonTech

Instagram: https://instagram.com/kingstontechnology/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/kingston About Kingston Digital, Inc. Kingston Digital, Inc. ("KDI") is the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., a world leader in memory products and technology solutions. Established in 2008, KDI is headquartered in Fountain Valley, California, USA. For more information, please call 877-546-4786 or visit www.kingston.com. Editor's Note: For additional information, evaluation units or executive interviews, please contact David Leong, Kingston Digital, Inc. 17600 Newhope Street, Fountain Valley, CA (News - Alert) USA 92708, 714-438-1817 (Voice). Press images can be found in Kingston's press room here. Kingston and the Kingston logo are registered trademarks of Kingston Technology Corporation. IronKey is a registered trademark of Kingston Digital, Inc. All rights reserved. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005201/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Kymeta Brings Hybrid Network Connectivity to TEPSA Buses in Peru for Airbus and World Bank Program

Kymeta-the communications company that is completing the connectivity fabric for everything, everywhere-demonstrated the power and importance of its hybrid, one-source connectivity platform during a recent pilot program throughout Peru. Kymeta, with the help of its partners Intelsat (News - Alert), Cubic Telecom, and Cradlepoint, worked with Airbus to create SmartBus, an innovative project, in partnership with the World Bank and with the support of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Peru (MTC), which aims to gather data on road safety and other statistics to improve Peru's transportation while connecting people in difficult geographical areas of Peru. Buses owned by TEPSA, a pioneering interprovincial bus line, were outfitted with Kymeta satellite terminals that leveraged satellite capacity from Intelsat, cellular coverage from Cubic Telecom (News - Alert), and a software-defined wireless WAN solution from Cradlepoint. This enabled information to be gathered and transmitted in real time across a 742 km route through urban and rural parts of Peru. Kymeta demonstrated a similar solution featuring this unique hybrid network approach at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February 25-28, 2019. Utilizing Kymeta's hybrid satellite-cellular solution, the SmartBus is enabling uninterrupted connectivity in the country's most rugged and isolated terrain, while gathering and transmitting essential data with unprecedented precision. This will accelerate research into new technologies to provide connectivity to remote areas, along with satellite images provided by the Peruvian Space Agency (CONIDA). The project will collect information about the state-of-the-road network between Lima and several cities at the edge of the jungle, and enable communications in rural areas, which are easily iolated in the event of a natural disaster.



"This project is making a tangible contribution to development by connecting people in an extremely difficult geographical region of Peru," said Alberto Rodriguez, Director of the World Bank for Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. "The critical insights we unearth from this trial will be used by research centers, universities and leading technology companies, helping them to identify problems and possible solutions relating to road safety, meteorology and transport logistics." "Kymeta has strong partnerships that, collectively, have provided Airbus with a one-source connectivity solution: cellular and satellite access, a platform for integration, plus solution management. This is the complete hybrid network services offering we needed to make this project a success," said Emmanuel Sauzay, SmartBus Project Manager within Airbus Defense and Space.

The SmartBus pilot lays the foundation for a variety of industry applications for Kymeta's ubiquitous mobile connectivity platform, including commercial agriculture, fleet management, public transportation, and critical access for first responders. Each use case requires uninterrupted connectivity and reliable access, data collection, and communication. Kymeta highlighted the hybrid network solution at Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) using their new satellite and cellular connected vehicle, featuring a fully embedded Kymeta terminal. "Kymeta's resilient cellular and satellite hybrid solution goes beyond simply providing a connection," said Benjamin Posthuma, Connectivity Solutions Manager at Kymeta. "With the help of our trusted partners, we are an end-to-end services provider with reliable mobile connectivity that also captures mission-critical data for a variety of industries. With Kymeta, users no longer need to choose between satellite and cellular - they are just connected." Kymeta also announced the release of its whitepaper, A Hybrid Network Solution for Reliable, Wide-Coverage First Responder Communications. Accidents, disasters, and emergencies often cause physical damage to cell sites or network congestion, inhibiting first responders from access when it's needed most. The whitepaper highlights two field trials and features the solution for resilient and protected networks, and rapidly deployed infrastructure that can make a difference in life or death. About Kymeta Kymeta is unlocking the potential of satellite connectivity, combined with cellular networks, to satisfy the overwhelming demand for global ubiquitous mobile connectivity. The company's flat-panel satellite antenna, the first of its kind, and Kymeta KALO connectivity services provide revolutionary mobile connectivity on satellite and hybrid satellite-cellular networks to customers around the world. Backed by U.S. and international patents and licenses, the Kymeta terminal addresses the need for lightweight, slim, and high-throughput communication systems that do not require mechanical components to steer toward a satellite. Kymeta makes connecting easy - for any vehicle, vessel, or fixed platform. Kymeta is a privately held company based in Redmond, Washington. For more information, visit kymetacorp.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005187/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Privia Health Announces First Partnership with Health System

Privia Health ("Privia") announced today that it entered into a partnership with Health First, the largest provider organization and initial health system to join Privia. Privia and Health First will collaborate to reduce healthcare costs, achieve better outcomes, and improve the health of patients in the community. "Privia unites innovative leaders whose growth strategies embrace our evolving healthcare landscape," said Shawn Morris, CEO, Privia Health. "This unique partnership with such a progressive health system expands Privia into Florida's growing market. We will work together with Health First and local physicians to continue improving upon the exceptional care that is delivered throughout the region while transforming the healthcare delivery experience." Privia's national physician organization brings expertise that bolsters Health First's initiatives to keep people healthy, prevent disease, and improve care coordination both in and outside the doctor's ofice. Privia is proud to deliver its proprietary technology and innovative approach to patient engagement to lessen the administrative burden on physicians and deliver an enhanced experience for patients and families.



"We're focused on expanding our state-of-the-art clinical care delivery while creating healthier patient populations," said Frank Letherby, CEO, Health First Medical Group. "Privia's wealth of tools, technology, and expertise serve the needs of our patients and providers, and will positively impact the quality and continuity of care we provide." About Privia Health

Privia Health is a national physician organization meeting providers where they are to transform the healthcare delivery experience. Through high-performance physician groups, accountable care organizations, and population health management programs, Privia works in partnership with health plans, health systems and employers to better align reimbursements to quality and outcomes. Our physician-led model, scalable systems and proprietary technology reduce unnecessary healthcare costs, achieve better outcomes, and improve the health of patients we serve. For more information: www.priviahealth.com. @PriviaHealth About Health First Founded in 1995, Health First is Brevard County's not-for-profit, community healthcare system. The fully integrated delivery network (IDN) includes health insurance plans, hospitals, a multi-specialty medical group and outpatient and wellness services. As a locally owned, not-for-profit organization, Health First is committed to investing in our community. In 2017, Health First provided more than $159 million in community support. To learn more about Health First and how we're giving back to our community, please visit HFgivesback.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005054/en/

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[March 04, 2019] SL Green Expands The Carlyle Group to 128,000 Square Feet at One Vanderbilt

SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE:SLG), New York City's largest office landlord, today announced that The Carlyle Group, a global investment firm, has expanded its 15-year lease to occupy an additional 32,592 square feet on the entire 35th floor at One Vanderbilt, the 1,401-foot office tower in East Midtown set to redefine the New York City skyline. The Carlyle Group will now lease 127,744 square feet across floors 35 through 38. A sign of its successful leasing and construction progress, the building is now 54-percent leased ahead of its planned 2020 opening. Since breaking ground in 2016, the super structure has reached the 73rd floor, which is the tower's top office floor below the planned observatory deck. Construction of the observatory deck will begin later this month. "Global business leaders like The Carlyle Group see the advantage of One Vanderbilt's world-class tenant and amenity experience, state-of-the-art office design and direct access to public transportation, all attributes that make East Midtown the center of commerce in New York," said Marc Holliday, Chief Executive Officer of SL Green. The Carlyle Group is part of a distinguished roster of top-tier financial, banking and legal firms that have committed to relocating to One Vanderbilt. Other tenants previously announced at the building include: TD Securities and TD Bank, a leading banking and investment group that provides a wide range of capital markets products and services; one of the nation's largest law firms, Greenberg Traurig; leading international law firm McDermott Will & Emery; global German financial firms DZ and DVB Banks; publicly traded real estate investment trust MFA (News - Alert) Financial Inc.; and SL Green Realty Corp. Award-winning chef Daniel Boulud has partnered with SL Green to create a signature restaurant experience in the building.



The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recognized One Vanderbilt and its architecture firm, Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) Associates, with the prestigious 2018 AIA NY Merit Award in Urban Design. Encompassing an entire city block, the building is bounded by Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues to the west and east, and East 43rd and East 42nd Streets to the north and south. Expected to achieve both LEED Gold under version 4.0 and WELL certification, the trophy tower will feature floor-to-ceiling slab heights ranging from 14'6" to 24', column-free floor plates, stunning 360-degree views through floor-to-ceiling windows and best-in-class infrastructure. Anchoring the modernization of East Midtown, One Vanderbilt will provide tenants with a combination of amenities unrivaled in New York City, including a 30,000-square-foot tenant-only amenity floor with large format meeting spaces, club style lounge and extraordinary outdoor terrace. Immediately adjacent to Grand Central Terminal, the building will create direct connections to the surrounding transit network. SL Green is investing an unprecedented $220 million in private funds to upgrade the transit system. Steven Rotter, Joseph Messina, Greg Lubar, Steven Spartin, Jessica Berkey and Andrew Lutzer of JLL represented The Carlyle Group. Robert Alexander, Ryan Alexander, Emily Jones and Alex D'Amario of CBRE represented the landlord.

About SL Green Realty Corp. SL Green Realty Corp., an S&P 500 company and New York City's largest office landlord, is a fully integrated real estate investment trust, or REIT, that is focused primarily on acquiring, managing and maximizing value of Manhattan commercial properties. As of December 31, 2018, SL Green held interests in 101 Manhattan buildings totaling 46.0 million square feet. This included ownership interests in 27.8 million square feet of Manhattan buildings and 18.2 million square feet of buildings securing debt and preferred equity investments. In addition, SL Green held ownership interests in 7 suburban properties comprised of 15 suburban buildings totaling 2.3 million square feet in Brooklyn, Westchester County, and Connecticut. SLG-LEAS View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005498/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Spiceworks Study Shows On-Premises Server Infrastructure Remains Vital to the Workplace

AUSTIN, Texas, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Spiceworks, the marketplace that connects the IT industry, today announced the 2019 State of Servers report that examines on-premises server infrastructure in the workplace, including purchase plans, brand prevalence and perceptions, and emerging trends in businesses across North America and Europe. The results show that 98 percent of businesses currently run on-premises servers, and 72 percent of businesses plan to purchase new server hardware within the next three years. Enterprises with more than 1,000 employees are most likely to purchase new servers this year: 68 percent of enterprises plan to buy servers within the next 12 months, compared to 34 percent of mid-size companies with 100 to 999 employees, and 30 percent of small businesses with less than 100 employees. According to Spiceworks State of IT Budgets report, across all company sizes, servers account for 12 percent of businesses' hardware budgets for 2019. "While many workloads are shifting to the cloud, on-premises server hardware continues to be vital to the workplace, and the vast majority of businesses plan to buy servers for the foreseeable future, even if they're also taking advantage of the cloud," said Peter Tsai, senior technology analyst at Spiceworks. "Additionally, thanks to competition in the market, businesses can expect continued advancements and access to a wealth of server infrastructure and component options." Server OS end of life prompts nearly one-third of businesses to consider new server purchases The top factors driving businesses to purchase new server hardware include company growth, performance degradation of existing infrastructure, maintenance costs associated with aging hardware, and reliability issues. Additionally, nearly one-third of organizations said OS end of life, such as the January 2020 Windows Server 2008 end of service date, is also a purchase driver of new server hardware. When comparing company sizes, the results show enterprises are more likely to purchase new servers on a schedule outlined in a corporate technology replacement policy, while small businesses are more likely to wait until hardware failure. When purchasing new servers, 48 percent of organizations plan to buy direct throug the manufacturer, 38 percent plan to buy through a value-added reseller (VAR), 26 percent plan to purchase through an online reseller, and 18 percent plan to go through a managed services provider (MSP).



Dell Technologies most widely used server brand in SMBs; HPE leads among enterprises

Across all company sizes, 68 percent of organizations reported using on-premises servers from Dell Technologies, while 46 percent reported using Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). Additionally, 15 percent of organizations are using Cisco servers, 12 percent are using IBM servers, and 9 percent are using Lenovo servers. However, adoption varies by company size. For example, 65 percent of enterprises are currently using HPE servers, compared to 45 percent of mid-size businesses, and 41 percent of small businesses. Conversely, 66 percent of small businesses and 71 percent of mid-size businesses are currently using Dell Technologies servers, compared to 60 percent of enterprises.

Dell Technologies ranks highest across range of attributes; IBM most associated with reliability

Spiceworks also examined the attributes IT buyers associate with the server brands their business is using or planning to use. Dell Technologies ranks the highest for value for money, quality support, and ease of management  three of the most important attributes according to respondents. IBM was most frequently associated with reliability, the most important server attribute according to survey respondents. Of note, one-third of IT professionals did not associate any server brand with security, making it a potential point of differentiation for server providers. Server component technologies expected to shift in the coming years In the 2019 State of Servers report, Spiceworks also examined emerging trends, including the shift of core server technologies and the emergence of hyperconverged infrastructure. Top emerging trends include: AMD gains ground in the server processor space: Intel remains the most commonly used CPU manufacturer with 93 percent of businesses currently using Intel processors in their servers. However, 16 percent of respondents are currently using AMD processors in their servers, and usage is expected to increase to 21 percent by 2020.





Intel remains the most commonly used CPU manufacturer with 93 percent of businesses currently using Intel processors in their servers. However, 16 percent of respondents are currently using AMD processors in their servers, and usage is expected to increase to 21 percent by 2020. Adoption of SSDs in servers soars : 62 percent of businesses use SSDs in their on-premises servers today, and usage is expected to increase to 72 percent by 2020. Currently, 51 percent are using SATA SSDs, 34 percent are using SAS SSDs, and 13 percent are using NVMe SSDs.





: 62 percent of businesses use SSDs in their on-premises servers today, and usage is expected to increase to 72 percent by 2020. Currently, 51 percent are using SATA SSDs, 34 percent are using SAS SSDs, and 13 percent are using NVMe SSDs. Hyperconverged infrastructure poised to go mainstream: 46 percent of organizations plan to use hyperconverged infrastructure solutions by 2020, up from 38 percent using one or more solutions today. Currently, 27 percent of respondents are using Dell EMC VxRail or VxRack, compared to 3 percent using HPE SimpliVity, Nutanix, and Cisco HyperFlex, respectively, while 2 percent are currently using Scale Computing. Methodology

The Spiceworks survey was conducted in February 2019 and included 530 IT buyers from organizations across North America and Europe. Respondents represent a variety of company sizes, including small-to-medium-sized businesses and enterprises, and a variety of industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofits, education, government, and finance. For more information and a complete list of survey results, visit https://community.spiceworks.com/blog/3182-the-2019-state-of-servers. About Spiceworks

Spiceworks is the marketplace that connects the IT industry to help technology buyers and sellers get their jobs done, every day. The company helps people in the world's businesses find, adopt, and manage the latest technologies while also helping IT brands build, market, and support better products and services. Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks empowers people to use technology to make their organizations, their communities, and the world better. For more information, visit http://www.spiceworks.com. Connect with Spiceworks on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Spiceworks and follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/spiceworks. Spiceworks is a registered trademark of Spiceworks, Inc. All other names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Media Contact:

Risa Kleen

Spiceworks

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/spiceworks-study-shows-on-premises-server-infrastructure-remains-vital-to-the-workplace-300805532.html SOURCE Spiceworks

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[March 04, 2019] VinTech to Open its First Office Overseas

DEAGU, South Korea, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- On 4th, March 2019, Vingroup has officially debuted VinTech Korea Research in the City of Deagu, Korea to research applied IoT technologies, artificial intelligence, robotics, smart manufacturing plants and to develop products and solutions for vehicles and transportation. This is also one of the technology transfer facilities, quality accreditation and attraction of high quality human resources, meeting diversified business activities for Vingroup in the future. Located in Daegu -- a city famous for their electronics industry, VinTech Korea (VKR) is a part of VinTech Technology Development., JSC with an investment of 11 million USD. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Mr. Vo Quang Hue  Deputy CEO of Vingroup, said:

"Vingroup chose Korea to open our first overseas office in the global VinTech Research Network because of Korea's "Creative index" is among the leading countries on the list, with experience in research and development. We expect that investment and cooperation in Korea will help build and develop resources for high-quality technology research and development activities, aiming to make Vingroup a technology conglomerate with the ability to compete internationally.



The main research areas of VinTech Korea are Industrial Robots, Monitoring & Control, LCD and Battery Technology. In the first phase, VKR will research, develop and design the electronic controller units for cars (VCU) and battery control systems (BMS). In the future, VKR aims to excel in manufacturing electrical-electronic car components, industrial robots, LCDs for automotive products, phones and other household electronics. Besides research and production functions, VKR will check the quality of VinTech products through 7 National Quality Control Centers in Korea. Especially, VKR will also attract experienced engineers and employees for VinTech as well as for other branches of Vingroup.

To reach our goals, VinTech in Korea signed a cooperation agreement with AJINEXTEK (AXT) -- a Korean company with more than 100 chipset patents in the field of Robots and Automation. VinTech and AXT are committed to supporting and creating the best environment to promote technology research and development. During the opening ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between VinTech Technology Development JSC, VinFast Production and Trading Co.,Ltd., Deagu Municipal Government, Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone Authority and AJINEXTEK. Accordingly, VinFast will cooperate with Daegu city and Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone Authority to provide information and support in the logistical and administrative work. VinTech will contribute to the establishment of the Asian Regional Research and Development Center with local partners in Daegu. AXT will launch a line of robots to promote the local economy and create jobs. Another Memorandum of Understanding was signed between VinTech Technology Development JSC. and the Province of Gyeongsangbuk (where Deagu city is situated) on the basis of mutual trust to work towards regional economic development and business promotion. Daegu and Daegu-Gyeongbuk Free Economic Zone Authority, Gyeongsangbuk province, will support VinFast and VinTech to deploy and achieve according to plan, and to reach our targets and fulfill our promises. It is expected that after Korea, Vingroup will continue to expand VinTech Research Network in countries with strong suits of technology and innovation, such as the US, Japan, Israel, China, Russia. These countries are home to many technology startups, experts, industry-leading research groups, where the most sophisticated laboratories and testing centers are housed. With the global VinTech network, Vingroup will have access to the most advanced technologies, high-quality human resources and the latest technology trends to meet the ever-growing development needs of Vingroup. Previously, in July 2018, VinFast Production and Trading Co. Ltd, a member of Vingroup, opened an office in Frankfurt, Germany meanwhile taking the final steps to open new offices in Shanghai, China and Seoul, Korea. With the presence of the first VinTech office in a foreign country, Vingroup continued to affirm its global vision and ability to deploy in the 10-year journey to become a world-class competitor in Technology - Industry - Service. About Vingroup Vingroup is the largest private enterprise in Vietnam and is among the businesses that have the most positive impact on the national socio-economic development. Vingroup operates in core business areas, including: Real Estate, Hospitality and Entertainment, Retail, Health, Education, Agriculture, Industry and Technology. In addition, Vingroup also invests in areas of social development such as Vietnam Football Talent Development Investment Fund, VCCA Contemporary Art Center and VinTaTa Animation Studio. Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190304/2390443-1 SOURCE Vintech

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[March 04, 2019] Which Colleges Have the Fattest Tuesday?

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mardi Gras is upon us and while students around the country might be indulging in a little extra partying, new research from Course Hero , an online learning platform curating over 25 million course-specific study resources, finds that students in New Orleans are 19 times more likely to drop their homework in favor of hurricanes. "Course Hero's vision is for every student to graduate confident and prepared," said Course Hero cofounder and CEO Andrew Grauer. "A big part of being able to support students is understanding their lifestyles and study habits. Our Fat Tuesday findings provide unique insight into the very profound impact that social events have on studying." How big is the delta down by The Delta

To understand the impact of Fat Tuesday, researchers compared students' study sessions on Course Hero on two consecutive Tuesdays in February 2018, the latter of which was Fat Tuesday. Nationally, traffic dipped a modest 3 percent but it crashed a whopping 51 percent in Louisiana. Southern University at New Orleans puts up the biggest drop

Southern University at New Orleans took the biggest hit, dropping 70 percent. They were followed by University of Louisiana at Lafayette (69 percent) and Louisiana State University (66 percent). The Louisiana State University at Shreveport bucked the trend, dropping only 12%. It's a state-wide phenomenon

Course Hero took a deeper dive to understand if the dip was directly proportional to a school's proximity to Bourbon Street. The data showed that the Fat Tuesday drop is a state-wide issue. Schools in New Orleans on average dropped 53 percent, while the overall Louisiaa average (excluding those same New Orleans schools) dropped 51 percent.



Public universities swept the top 10

Nearly every Louisiana school examined for this report showed a drop in study traffic. Moreover, nearly all showed significant, double-digit drops. However, when the schools were ranked by drop off size, all of the top ten spots were occupied by public universities. UCLA spikes double digit drops

The national average was a three percent drop across a random sample of colleges and universities using Course Hero in 2018. Among the colleges reviewed outside of Louisiana, University of California, Los Angeles, was among the schools that saw the largest impact, with a 13 percent drop in traffic on Fat Tuesday in 2018.

Tulane takes top honors for bouncing back

Tulane University showed the fastest bounce-back rate. Though it experienced a 44 percent drop on Fat Tuesday, students rebounded 120% from its Mardi Gras average within 24 hours. Other schools took far longer to regain normal study levels. Methodology

Research compares students' study sessions on Course Hero for users in Louisiana on two consecutive Tuesdays in February 2018. All traffic data was summarized by college/university; only those schools with a minimum sample size were selected (>50 study sessions per school on 2/6/18). National average based on a random sample of student study sessions at colleges and universities across the country. About Course Hero

Course Hero is an online learning platform where members can access over 25 million course-specific study resources contributed by a community of students and educators. The platform includes practice problems, study guides, videos, class notes, and step-by-step explanations to help with every college classfrom mathematics to literature, biology to history, accounting to psychology, and everything in between. Course Hero has been recognized as one of the 2017 Technology Fast 500 by Deloitte and named a 2018 Best Place to Work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times and Silicon Valley Business Journal. Connect with Course Hero at www.coursehero.com or on LinkedIn , Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , or Pinterest . For more information, contact:

Grayling PR for Course Hero

[email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/which-colleges-have-the-fattest-tuesday-300805973.html SOURCE Course Hero

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[March 04, 2019] Wipro and RiskLens Partner to Offer Cyber Risk Quantification Solutions to Clients Worldwide

SPOKANE, Wash. and BANGALORE, India, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT, BSE: 507685, NSE: WIPRO), a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company, and RiskLens, the leading provider of cyber risk quantification (CRQ) software and cyber risk management solutions, today announced a partnership to deliver quantitative cyber risk assessments to enterprise customers and government organizations.

As part of the agreement, Wipro will leverage RiskLens' CRQ platform to perform quantitative risk analysis, measure the effectiveness of cybersecurity controls and provide the rationale for adequate cybersecurity investments. The RiskLens CRQ platform is the only application based on the Factor Analysis of Information Risk (FAIR) model, the international standard for cyber risk quantification. Wipros Cybersecurity & Risk Service (CRS) division will offer FAIR methodology based risk analysis through the RiskLens platform and aid organizations in the development of cyber risk quantification programs along with its extensive practice in risk intelligence, integrated threat management and security management services. Several members of the Wipro CRS team will be trained and certified as FAIR risk analysts through the FAIR Institute, the non-profit expert organization that promotes education on FAIR and sharing of best practices. Nick Sanna, CEO, RiskLens commented that, After many devastating cybersecurity attacks on global companies, the realization that cyber risk equals business risk has been brought home to senior management and boards of directors, who are now demanding a quantitative accounting of the loss exposure their companies face. FAIR analysis and the RiskLens CRQ platform answer their questions in definitive terms. For Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and their teams, this cyber risk quantification enables better decision making from the strategic to day-to-day levels and finally aligns security operations to the needs of the business. Our partnership with Wipro expands our reach across the world, and we are delighted to work with a company of such stature and global reach to spread the benefits of cyber risk quantification through the RiskLens CRQ platform." Sheetal Mehta, Senior Vice President and Global Hed, Cybersecurity & Risk Services, Wipro Limited, added, Wipro strives to deliver value and derive the most for our clients with regard to their security investments. Through this partnership, we look forward to maximum risk reduction for our clients through informed decision-making.



About RiskLens RiskLens is the leading provider of cyber risk quantification software. Its platform is recognized as a mission-critical business application for cybersecurity and risk teams across the Fortune 1,000. RiskLens empowers large enterprises and government organizations to manage cyber risk from the business perspective by quantifying that risk in monetary terms. Clients depend on RiskLens solutions to better understand and decipher their cyber risk exposure in financial terms, prioritize their risk mitigations, measure the ROI of their security investments, and optimize their cyber insurance coverage. RiskLens is the only cyber risk quantification software purpose-built on FAIR, the standard quantitative model for information security and operational risk. For more information visit the RiskLens website at www.risklens.com .

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. Wipro Media Contact: Purnima Burman Wipro Limited [email protected] 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 companys 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.

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[March 03, 2019] KKR Appoints Kate Richdale as Member and Head of Strategy & Business Development in Asia Pacific

Leading global investment firm KKR today announced the appointment of Kate Richdale as Member and Head of Strategy & Business Development in Asia Pacific. In this role, Ms. Richdale will work with KKR's senior leadership team in Asia to help the Firm expand its platform across business and new investment strategies. She will also work with KKR's Asia investing businesses to assist in advancing the deal origination pipeline and to get involved at a strategic level with the Firm's key client relationships across the region. Ms. Richdale's appointment builds on KKR's significant investment in its Asia franchise. Over the past year, KKR has hired two additional Members, John Pattar and David Luboff, to head KKR's Real Estate and Infrastructure investing platforms, respectively. In addition, Brian Dillard relocated from KKR's New York office to Hong Kong to lead the Firm's Credit business. Joseph Y. Bae, Co-President of KKR, said, "Asia Pacific holds enormous opportunity for investment and partnership and is an integral part of KKR's global growth strategy. Given our market position and commitment to building out our platform, now is the right time to bring in a talented executive like Kate Richdale. Kate has an unparalleled quarter-century record of serving clients with strategic advice. We warmly welcome Kate to KKR in a role that will help us advance our market position and be the leading Asia Pacific provider of alternative investment strategies to companies and our investors." Ming Lu, Member & Head of KKR Asi, said, "Since we started investing in Asia nearly 15 years ago, KKR has grown from a private equity investor to a diversified alternative solutions provider spanning credit, capital markets, real estate and infrastructure. Our first phase of growth has focused on scaling our private equity business, and now we have the great opportunity to meet the growing needs of Asian businesses and entrepreneurs. Appointing Kate as our Head of Strategy & Business Development will accelerate our growth in Asia."



Ms. Richdale joins KKR from Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, where she was Chairman of investment banking in Asia Ex-Japan. Prior to that, she was the Co-Head of the firm's Investment Banking Division in Asia Ex-Japan. While at Goldman Sachs, she helped the firm achieve the number-one ranking in Asia across equity and in M&A for 2018. She was previously the Head of Investment Banking for Asia Pacific at Morgan Stanley. "I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked at a world-class organization like Goldman Sachs and I am proud of the business we've built and the success we've achieved over the past six years. After 25 years in investment banking, I'm excited to take this next logical step in my career at a firm like KKR," said Ms. Richdale. "KKR is a true investment leader in Asia Pacific with a unique business model predicated on its deeply local teams, global network, diverse expertise, and a culture steeped in heritage. I'm thrilled to join the KKR team and seek out new opportunities for business growth at this exciting time for the region."

About KKR KKR is a leading global investment firm that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate and credit, with strategic partners that manage hedge funds. KKR aims to generate attractive investment returns for its fund investors by following a patient and disciplined investment approach, employing world-class people, and driving growth and value creation with KKR portfolio companies. KKR invests its own capital alongside the capital it manages for fund investors and provides financing solutions and investment opportunities through its capital markets business. References to KKR's investments may include the activities of its sponsored funds. For additional information about KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR), please visit KKR's website at www.kkr.com and on Twitter (News - Alert) @KKR_Co. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190303005046/en/

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[March 03, 2019] CGI Named CAST-Certified Global Partner for Software Quality and Function Point Measurement Services

BANGALORE, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- CGI (NYSE: GIB) (TSX: GIB.A) announced its Software Quality Center of Excellence within its Asia Pacific Global Delivery Centers has been certified as a CAST Global Partner for integrating software intelligence into its application management services. The certification confirms alignment to best practices in delivering the highest level of quality for clients through the continuous improvement of services and deliverables using the latest industry standards, such as the Consortium for IT Software Quality (CISQ). As a CAST Global Partner, CGI is able to provide its clients software intelligence to better understand, control and modernize their complex software systems. The adoption of CAST technology demonstrates CGI's commitment to structural quality insights and function point-based sizing as an integral part of delivering application management services to clients. "CAST and CGI have a long-standing commitment to the delivery and maintenance of state-of-the-art software, and we are pleased to recognize the company's commitment with this certification," said Marc Zablit, EVP of Business Development at CAST. "As organizations seek competitive advantage in the digital marketplace, software intelligence provides the ultimate transparency into eliminating application complexities and roadblocks to achieve successful modernisation." "Our clients rely on us to run their mission-critical infrastructure and applications. Our cerification by CAST is a testament to our ability to leverage a leading-edge toolset to improve the stability, performance and security of their applications and helps them provide a seamless digital experience to their customers in fast-changing markets," said President of CGI's Asia Pacific Global Delivery Centers of Excellence, George Mattackal.



In addition to driving software quality improvement with software intelligence, CGI delivers value for clients through innovative methodologies and technologies that lead to continuous improvement. These include AS Optimization Program (ASOP), CGI's end-to-end framework for the delivery of application services, along with emerging technologies in DevOps, automated test design and execution, proactive monitoring and problem resolution through CGI's Intelligent Automation Platform. CGI in India employs 14,000 consultants across major cities in India who provide global delivery support to over 200 clients around the globe, ensuring close collaboration, accountability, flexibility, superior service and, most importantly, expected business results.

About CAST CAST is the market leader in Software Intelligence, achieving for software what MRI has for medicine: unprecedented visibility. Backed by almost $200 million in R&D, CAST technology drives IT automation at the world's largest systems integrators and generates insight into complex systems by scanning and understanding software structure, architecture and composition. Customers rely on CAST to make fact-based decisions, see their architectures, detect security threats and ensure the safety and soundness of business applications and software products. Learn more at http://www.castsoftware.com. About CGI Founded in 1976, CGI is among the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world. With approximately 74,000 professionals across the globe, CGI delivers an end-to-end portfolio of capabilities, from IT and business consulting to systems integration, outsourcing services and intellectual property solutions. CGI works with clients through a local relationship model complemented by a global delivery network that helps clients digitally transform their organizations and accelerate results. With annual revenue of C$11.5 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB). Learn more at cgi.com. Media Contact:

Lindsay Ang

[email protected]

+91-80-4194-0000

Communications Director, CGI





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[March 03, 2019] ANXONE launches Hong Kong's next-generation professional digital asset exchange as market shows robust signs of growth

HONG KONG, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- ANXONE, a member of BC Group (00863.HK), today launched its next-generation digital asset exchange for professional traders, a first for the Hong Kong market. The launch comes amid increasingly positive sentiment in the rapidly maturing digital asset market. "The digital asset economy is in the early stages of a strong rebound based on professionalization of the asset class," explained Dave Chapman, CEO of ANXONE. "2018 was a year of muted sentiment following the realisation that a large number of initial coin offerings (ICOs) were not supported by fundamentals." "But so far in 2019 we have seen consolidation of key digital assets and a shift in focus to stable coins and an expected upswell in security token offerings. Resurgent sentiment has also been supported by the increasing number of jurisdictions taking steps to regulate the sector, which we consider a pre-condition for the full professionalization of the asset class." The market has been further strengthened by several leading global banks taking steps toward launching new digital assets and news that at least one is looking to introduce digital asset investment funds. At the same time, a number of large institutional traders have added digital asset exposure to their portfolios. Professional traders require a professional exchange As professional traders -- including high-net-worth individuals, hedge funds, investment banks, family offices and digital asset funds -- play an increasingly large role in the resurgent digital asset market, the need for a professional exchange has become increasingly clear. According to Chapman, "In order to meet their regulatory and fiduciary duties, professional traders require a digital asset exchange to simultaneously deliver high standards of performance, security, liquidity and compliance. We launched ANXONE because we saw that no existing platform in the market delivers on all four criteria." ANXONE concentrates on the following four pillars: Performance -- A best-in-class matching engine to rapidly process high order volumes and support future growth. The matching engine was developed by the same company behind some of the leading traditional asset exchanges globally.

Security -- Multi-layer security protocols that span hardware, software and a support team of more than 60 engineers and security technologists.

Liquidity -- Shared order book technology that connects traders to counterparts across global markets, delivering deep pools of liquidity.

Compliance -- The highest transparency and accountability in the digital asset space, making it the first exchange to facilitate robust risk management via a compliance suite that includes know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) standards. The exchange is further set apart from peers by bespoke, live client service via committed relationship managers who offer dedicated "white-glove service". ANXONE's security and stability is delivered by an industry leading trading platform. Chapman explained, "The ANXONE exchange is a professional platform in every sense of the word. It is capable of handling volumes on par with the largest equity markets on earth in a secure and frictionless manner and has built-in pre-trade risk controls and market surveillance tools to help identify and eliminate bad actors, such as those attempting wash trades." ANXONE is also led by a management team of digital asset industry pioneers with decades of combined experience in the industry and a track record of securely managing client funds. "These characteristics create an unparalleled digital asset trading venue for professional traders," said Chapman. "ANXONE's technical capability supplies traders the necessary tools to participate in an environment where various types of tokens can be listed and traded subject to stringent legal and compliance examination. "ANXONE's flexibility have been recognized, and due to that, we've been receiving multiple inquiries from global players looking to provide the same offering to their clients. In light of this, we are prepared to offer our technology as a white label solution to cater to the demands of these institutions. This deliberate decision holistically supports further development of the token economy," said Chapman. ANXONE's exchange is live and on-boarding professional digital asset traders. To celebrate the launch of ANXONE, all verified accounts can trade for free up to 100 days between March 11th and June 18th. Media contacts







Yuri van der Leest Christy Pun Teneo Teneo [email protected] [email protected] +852 3655 0504 +852 3655 0511

About ANXONE ANXONE, a member of BC Group (00863.HK), is a digital asset technology company providing an institutional-grade digital asset trading platform for professional traders. ANXONE sets the industry standard for client service via dedicated relationship managers; technology enabled by a best-in-class matching engine, industry leading security and market monitoring; unparalleled liquidity via shared-order-book technology and risk management based on a comprehensive compliance suite that includes know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) protocols. ANXONE offers its trading platform as a white label solution that delivers best-in-class trading infrastructure to asset managers, private banks, investment banks and investment funds. For more information, please visit the website: https://anxone.io/ Logo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20190131/2362074-1logo SOURCE ANXONE

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[March 04, 2019] Egon Zehnder Finds Generation, Not Gender, Determines Attitudes at Work

An international study of business executives highlights the growing challenge facing businesses as they accommodate the personal and professional priorities of younger generations. The findings challenge traditional gender stereotypes; showing women and men have strikingly similar attitudes on leadership and diversity in the workplace. Egon Zehnder, the world's leadership advisory firm, conducted a study of more than 2,500 executives across seven countries. The study uncovered a significant gap in attitudes and priorities between generations, particularly regarding diversity, leadership qualities, and career development. "Leadership expectations are changing," said Cynthia Soledad, Egon Zehnder consultant and co-leader of the firm's Global Diversity Council. "To be responsive to younger generations, today's leaders must emphasize humility, ethical behavior and strategic thinking." Results of the study are released as Egon Zehnder prepares to host Leaders & Daughters: Power Moves events in over 30 cities worldwide, bringing together leaders across generations to discuss the opportunities and challenges women face in the professional world. 2019 marks the fifth anniversary of the initiative, which over its tenure has convened more than 6,000 leaders, daughters, and mentees through 85 events around the world. "Diverse organizations are more sustainable organizations, but we still have a long way to go before biases are extinct and both genders are given equal opportunities. The leaders, daughters and mentees we have brought together over the five years of Leaders & Daughters all have a part to play in helping women fulfill their potential," stated Karoline Vinsrygg, Partner and co-leader of Egon Zehnder's Global Diversity Council. This year's events focus on how an emerging generation is shifting the traditional expectations and dynamics in the workplace. In addition to the events, leaders from around the world pen personal letters of wisdom to their daughters and mentees through the To My Daughter campaign. Key survey findings Diversity A diverse workplace is most important to younger generations: Millennials (65%) and Gen Xers (61%) said it was very important, compared with boomers (51%). A diverse workplace, say 62 percent of millennials, is also very important to the success of the organization.

When it came to equal opportunities at work, a majority believed there were equal opportunities for all, though female Gen Xers were the least likely to believe that they had equal access to equal opportunities (57% said they did) compared to female millennials (63% said they did).



Expectations of leaders When asked the most important qualities a great leader should embody, those under 35 rate humility the highest - a preference even more pronounced among men, with 55 percent of male millennials saying this is important versus just 32 percent of male baby boomers.

Boomers are more likely to value resilience in a leader, with 35 percent citing it as an important quality, compared with 21 percent of millennials.

When asked if their leaders modeled the desired qualities, millennials were much more likely than other generations to say their leaders always exhibit the key leadership qualities they expected (38%), while only 22 percent of boomers and 26 percent of Gen Xers concurred. Career development

The vast majority of respondents (86%) experienced some type of barrier during their career journeys - though a third of male boomers claimed they had faced no barriers to success at all.

Millennials show a strong desire for mentoring and sponsorship. When asked about factors that have limited their opportunities at work, more than twice as many millennials than boomers (35% vs. 17%) claimed that a lack of mentors or sponsors has been a barrier to their own career success.

While leadership ambitions have nearly evened out between men and women (27% of women and 31% of men aim to reach the C-suite), women may have a more difficult path ahead. Egon Zehnder's 2018 Global Board Diversity Tracker shows women make up just 3.7 percent of CEOs and 12.2 percent of CFOs globally. Career priorities and motivations Millennials are more likely to agree that their work-life balance is about right, with 87 percent agreeing, versus 80 percent of Gen Xers and 78 percent of baby boomers.

Men and women gave almost identical answers on personal and professional priorities, with 27 percent claiming their professional identify is their top priority, 17 percent saying their personal or family life is their priority, and 56 percent saying they balance the two. Further information To explore the complete findings of this year's survey, visit https://www.egonzehnder.com/leaders-and-daughters/explore-the-data. For more information on the Leaders & Daughters initiative, visit https://www.egonzehnder.com/leaders-and-daughters. NOTES TO EDITORS About the 2019 Leaders & Daughters Survey The 2019 Leaders & Daughters Global Survey explores findings from more than 2,500 people in management and leadership positions in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, India and the U.K. Fieldwork was conducted in January and early February 2019. About the Leaders & Daughters 2019 events series Egon Zehnder introduced the Leaders & Daughters event series in 2016 to mark International Women's Day and bring generations of leaders together. This year's theme, Power Moves, explores how the priorities of tomorrow's leaders will reshape the workplace. About Egon Zehnder Egon Zehnder is the world's leadership advisory firm, sharing one goal: To transform people, organizations and the world through great leadership. We know what great leaders can do and are passionate about delivering the best leadership services for our clients. As One Firm, our more than 470 consultants in 68 offices and 40 countries globally bring our individual strengths to form one powerful collaborative team. We partner closely with public and private corporations, family-owned enterprises and non-profit and government agencies to provide board advisory services, CEO search and succession, executive search, executive assessment, leadership development and cultural and organizational transformation. We share a commitment and pride in doing work that contributes to shaping successful leaders, stronger companies, and a better world. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190303005013/en/

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Echodyne Radars Offer Unprecedented Detection on the Ground and in the Air, Bolstering Advancements in Perimeter Security

Echodyne, the manufacturer of innovative, high-performance small electronically scanned array (ESA) radars for government and commercial markets, announced today that it will be showcasing its groundbreaking Metamaterial Electronically Scanning Array (MESA) radar at the Security Counter & Terror Expo in London on March 5-6, 2019. The Company will be exhibiting its EchoGuard radar in Stand F20.

Echodyne radars offer an unprecedented degree of 3-D situational awareness by accurately detecting and tracking ground and air intrusions. Echodyne is the first to offer a high-performance ESA radar in a compact ize, making it commercially affordable and scalable for the largest facilities.







"We are excited to demonstrate how Echodyne is reinventing radar at SCTX," said Eben Frankenberg, CEO.

Echodyne radars have received international recognition for deployments in government and base security, public safety, and border applications. Recently, the US Department of Homeland Security transitioned Echodyne's radar technology to U.S. Customs and Border Protection operations.

To learn more about Echodyne or schedule a meeting at SCTX, contact [email protected] or visit www.echodyne.com.

About Echodyne

Echodyne's innovative high-performance software-defined radar sensors are built on patented MESA technology and provide high-resolution 3-D situational awareness data for autonomous vehicles, unmanned aircraft systems, critical infrastructure security, and smart cities. A unique blend of agile hardware and intelligent software provides unprecedented perception, safety, and reliability for machines in the autonomous age. Privately held, the company is based in Kirkland, Washington, and is backed by Bill Gates (News - Alert), NEA, Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, and Lux Capital among others.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005095/en/
[March 04, 2019] Internet Marketing Firm, fishbat, Offers 3 Tips on Growing Your Law Firm's Social Media Accounts to Increase Awareness

NEW YORK, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of their commitment to teach companies how to self-promote across social media channels, internet marketing firm, fishbat, shares 3 tips on growing your law firm's social media accounts to increase awareness. Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter reaching record numbers of monthly users, making it more important than ever to incorporate social sharing into your law firm's comprehensive marketing plan. Social media is no longer just a networking tool for students; it's a viable avenue to promote your brand. Consumers are increasingly turning to social media for recommendations on products and services, making it essential to be an active part of these online discussions, thereby growing awareness of your law firm, and client base as well. Keep reading for tips essential for building awareness of your law firm through its social media accounts. Be Creative with Your Content

It is not enough to establish social media accounts for your law firm. Utilizing your social accounts means just that, and the best way to make great use of your social media presence is to share relevant content with your followers. An easy way to get started is by creating a blog for your law firm where you can publish original articles and content that is relevant to your area of expertise. While you can use the blog to explain basic legal concepts, truly engagin content will go beyond the basics of law school. Content that hits the sweet spot of trending topics and legal issues is perfect for sharing. Check out Twitter's trending section for ideas. If any of the most buzzed-about topics have legal ramifications, write about it and share your firm's viewpoints across its social media accounts. Sharing creative, original content will not only drive traffic to your law firm's website, it will also establish your firm as an authoritative figure and industry leader to current and future clients.



Don't Forget the Visuals

Visuals can be a unique, captivating technique to inform your followers. The most shared posts on social media are frequently images and videos. Creating, producing and editing a series of videos might occupy more time and resources than your law firm can dedicate to social media promotion, but creating compelling images is an easier way to capture likes, shares and follows. Brightly colored infographics rich with relevant data and statistics can be produced in a relatively short amount of time and are shareable across social media channels. Even if your law firm lacks the resources to conduct market research studies and surveys, you still have access to a wealth of data from credible sources such as local and federal government agencies.

Think both in terms of your law firm's specialty and your clients' interest. For example, if your firm specializes in DUI cases, consult your local Department of Transportation for relevant statistics to create a visual image of the data. If your area of expertise is in Criminal Defense, look to the Department of Justice for the statistics on sentencing for common offenses. Pay to Promote

Your law firm's advertising and marketing budget is incomplete if it doesn't allocate some resources to social media promotion. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter all have the option to promote posts to a targeted audience  take advantage of it. Paid promotion will extend your law firm's reach on social media to more prospective clients. One major caveat: Promote your firm's social media content, not its services. Social media users can be doubtful of paid advertising but are more likely to embrace content when it's relevant. About fishbat

fishbat internet marketing company is a full-service digital marketing firm that takes a holistic business approach to their clients' digital marketing programs. The fishbat team understands the importance of business principles just as well as the nuances of the latest digital technologies. fishbat offers every digital marketing service available from digital marketing research and planning to brand development to website and asset creation through social media management and search engine optimization programs - all custom calibrated for both B2B and B2C businesses. Press Contact: Scott Darrohn, fishbat Media, 855-347-4228, [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/internet-marketing-firm-fishbat-offers-3-tips-on-growing-your-law-firms-social-media-accounts-to-increase-awareness-300775337.html SOURCE fishbat

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[March 04, 2019] Aldevron Announces Expansion of Antibody Development Facility

Aldevron announced today from the floor of the Festival of Biologics in San Diego, its expansion plans for its Freiburg, Germany facility. The Freiburg location houses the GENOVAC antibody development platform and became the second site for Aldevron in 2004. Founding partner and CEO, Michael Chambers, cites the need for space and capacity to support the company's steady growth in providing world class genetic immunization strategies with high-quality antibody generation to customers across the globe as the major reason. "We have seen a marked increase in demand, and this is an investment to better serve our clients," said Chambers. "We have been providing transformative antibody development solutions for all target types for more than 15 years. By expanding and enhancing our service offerings, we will be better able to respond to the industry that is continuing to grow and provide the solutions to some of the world's biggest health challenges." The expansion plan adds approximately 4,00 square feet of laboratory and production space to the current facility. The space provides immediate room for growth in personnel and equipment for increased cell culture, fusion, production and sequencing capacity while also providing space for new services to be launched later in 2019.



About Aldevron Aldevron Freiburg provides industry leading genetic immunization strategies and monoclonal antibody development services in support of the biotechnology industry at the former GENOVAC facility in Freiburg, Germany.

Aldevron serves the biotechnology industry with custom production of nucleic acids, proteins, and antibodies. Thousands of clients use Aldevron-produced plasmids, RNA and gene editing enzymes for projects ranging from discovery research to clinical trials to commercial applications. These products are critical raw materials and key components in commercially available drugs and medical devices. Aldevron specializes in GMP manufacturing and is known for inventing the GMP-Source (News - Alert)TM quality system. Company headquarters, plasmid manufacturing, and GMP/GMPs facilities are in Fargo, North Dakota; protein process development and production facility in Madison, Wisconsin; and antibody development facility in Freiburg, Germany. To learn more, visit www.aldevron.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005332/en/

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[March 04, 2019] PCS Edventures! Announces Winners of the "How Would You Drone? Drones for Good" Video Contest

BOISE, Idaho, March 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PCS Edventures!, Inc., (PCSV), a leading provider of K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) programs, today announced the winners of the How Would You Drone? Drones for Good Video Contest. With student video entries detailing how learners would use drones to better themselves, their communities and society as a whole, PCS Edventures is pleased to announce the selection of five outstanding participants who will receive their share of over $15,000 worth of educational drones, equipment, accompanying curriculum and more.

The winners are: Grand Prize: Ammel M. - Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology, Michigan

Ammel M. - Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology, Michigan 1 st Prize: Pablo V. - New Canaan High School, Connecticut

Pablo V. - New Canaan High School, Connecticut 2 nd Prize: Madeline G. - Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology, Michigan

Madeline G. - Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology, Michigan 3 rd Prize: Nick P. - Kentucky School for the Deaf, Kentucky

Nick P. - Kentucky School for the Deaf, Kentucky 4th Prize: Joseph M. - Dayton High School, Kentucky By submitting a 60-90 second video answering the question, how would you use drones for good? students ages 13-18 had a chance to win a personal drone and a Discover Drones learning solution for their school. A total of 64 student videos were submitted. After an initial round of public voting with 14,096 ballots cast, the top 15 contestants moved into a final round where a panel of STEM and drone judges from PCS Edventures, Thrust-UAV, Fat Shark RC Vision Systems, Kodak, and rSky scrutinized each entry on Originality, Solution, Creativity, and Quality, choosing the five student videos that ultimately provided the best drone solution.



The Grand Prize winner, Ammel M., a student at the Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology in Michigan walked away with a personal Riot 250R Pro sport drone and a Discover Drones Classroom Package for their school. Tooba Mansoor, the science teacher assisting with the Grand Prize entry had this to say about the contest, I am humbled to receive the Grand prize and 2nd prize from PCS Edventures for Dearborn Center for Math, Science, and Technology of Dearborn Public Schools. When preparing for this contest, my students and I focused on important current global issues and came up with solutions using Drones. The contest provided an opportunity for students to generate creative ideas and use critical thinking and reasoning skills to solve problems. I am very excited to integrate a Discover Drones Classroom Pack in Honors Biology, AP Environmental Science, and other Science course curriculums. I also plan to share these prizes with other teachers. This will help impact more students to apply their knowledge using drones and make connections between concepts across different disciplinary boundaries. As a stand-alone unit, Discover Drones prepares students for the drone needs of the future, providing them with hands-on experiences as they build, configure, train and take to the skies, says Cynthia Hernandez, Director of Sales & Marketing at PCS Edventures. This contest and its incredible success was a unique opportunity to put drones directly in the hands of todays learners, allowing them to be active participants in the enormous drone landscape, preparing them to shape the future of UAVs as we know them.

For more information about the contest or to view the winning video submissions, visit https://edventures.com/blogs/stempower/the-how-would-you-drone-drones-for-good-video-contest-results About PCS Edventures! PCS Edventures!, Inc. (OTCPK: PCSV) is a Boise, Idaho company that designs and delivers technology-rich products and services for the K-12 market that develop 21st-century skills. PCS programs emphasize experiential learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM). https://www.edventures.com . This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934; actual results could differ materially from such statements.

Contact Investor Contact: Mike Bledsoe 1.800.429.3110, [email protected]

Investor Relations Web Site: pcsv.global

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[March 04, 2019] Battelle Shares Expertise on the Front Lines in the Fight Against Ebola in Africa

While Ebola might not be in the news at the level it was in 2014, it is still a significant health issue in Africa. In fact, the second deadliest Ebola outbreak in history is actively ongoing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo now. Battelle continues to support the fight against the disease by providing training in-country. Recently, two Battelle employees traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo for 16 days, representing the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). During the trip, they provided training at the Institut National de Recherche Biomedicale in Kinshasa, the nation's capital. Battelle staff taught Congolese researchers how to conduct serologic assays to detect immne response to Ebola virus in vaccinated and exposed individuals, as well as disease survivors.



The team also led trainings for local response workers who may deploy to multiple field laboratories near the outbreak on the eastern side of the country, close to the Ugandan border. These trainings covered use of containment laboratory personal protective equipment and mobile containment units for laboratory support of the first ever randomized controlled trial to evaluate medical countermeasures in the treatment of Ebola virus disease. While this trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo adds a new country to Battelle's portfolio of experience, providing on-site support in Africa has been a part of Battelle's work for several years. The 10 Battelle employees on the NIAID Integrated Research (News - Alert) Facility (IRF) response team regularly deploy for up to a month at a time to various countries, including Liberia, Guinea, Mali and Angola.

In each of these countries, they provide a suite of trainings to local African staff on how to respond to outbreak scenarios. The training gives participants the opportunity to practice with instruments and procedures they'll use in an outbreak setting, building capacity locally. This work has been effective in preparing and equipping local staff in these countries to take on greater responsibilities during their own health response activities. Since their first deployments during the West African Ebola virus disease outbreak, the team has continuously supported National Institutes of Health's Partnership for Research on Ebola Virus in Liberia (PREVAIL) clinical trials and the establishment of a research laboratory in Liberia. Battelle employees have trained Liberian staff in all aspects of running a research laboratory, with emphasis on safety practices. Liberians and Americans have worked together to conduct laboratory testing evaluating the efficacy of Ebola virus vaccines and monitoring survivors of Ebola virus disease and their close contacts. Local staff are now responsible for operating many aspects of the laboratory independently. When the Battelle team is in the United States, they continue to fight Ebola from the IRF at Fort Detrick in Maryland. Conducting research in the IRF's Biosafety Level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory, the team develops field laboratory diagnostics for high consequence pathogens, in preparation for future disease outbreaks. Working alongside fellow IRF researchers who conduct studies to characterize pathogens and evaluate countermeasures, the team is able to meet real-world clinical needs. About Battelle Every day, the people of Battelle apply science and technology to solving what matters most. At major technology centers and national laboratories around the world, Battelle conducts research and development, designs and manufactures products, and delivers critical services for government and commercial customers. Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio since its founding in 1929, Battelle serves the national security, health and life sciences, and energy and environmental industries. For more information, visit www.battelle.org. Media Contacts For more information contact Katy Delaney at (614) 424-7208 or at [email protected] or contact T.R. Massey at (614) 424-5544 or at [email protected]. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005593/en/

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[March 04, 2019] Telecom Holding 3 AS Commences Recommended Voluntary Cash Offer to Acquire the Entire Issued Share Capital of NextGenTel Holding ASA

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO AUSTRALIA, JAPAN OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH THE DISTRIBUTION OR RELEASE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL OSLO, Norway, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Reference is made to the stock exchange notice dated 15 February 2019. The offer period under Telecom 3 Holding AS' recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire the entire issued share capital of NextGenTel Holding ASA ("NextGenTel") for NOK 14.00 per share (the "Offer") will start on 5 March 2019 and will end on 17:00 CET on 25 March 2019 (subject to extension). The board of directors of NextGenTel has unanimously decided to recommend to the shareholders of NextGenTel that they accept the Offer. Telecom Holding 3 AS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Kistefos AS, a private Norwegian investment company wholly-owned by Christen Sveaas. The Kistefos group currently holds 5,824,667 shares in NextGenTel, equal to approximately 25% of the total number of shares. The shares are held under a forwards contract with Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB. Shareholders representing approximately 19% of the total share capital of NextGenTel, including among others Hortulan AS, Tigerstaden AS, Middelborg Invest AS, Datum AS and Eirik Lunde, have already given their pre-acceptances to the offer, subject to customary conditions. All shareholders who have been requested to provide pre-acceptances of the offer have done so. The Kistefos group's ownership and obtained pre-acceptances account for approximately 44% of the total number of shares on a combined basis. The completion of the Offer remains subject to satisfaction of the closing conditions, including a minimum acceptance of more than 90% of the shares on a fully diluted basis as further described in the offer document. The offer document, containing the complete terms and conditions of the Offer, was published today by Telecom Hoding 3 AS. Subject to restrictions under applicable securities laws, the offer document will be distributed to all registered shareholders of NextGenTel and will also be available at www.dnb.no/emisjoner.



ABG Sundal Collier ASA is acting as financial adviser to NextGenTel. DNB Markets, a part of DNB Bank ASA, is acting as financial adviser to Telecom Holding 3 AS in connection with the offer. Advokatfirmaet Wiersholm AS is acting as Norwegian legal adviser to Telecom Holding 3 AS and Advokatfirmaet Schjdt AS is acting as Norwegian legal adviser to NextGenTel. For further information, please contact:

DNB Markets

Telephone: 23-26-81-01

E-mail: [email protected] Important Notice: The offer and the distribution of this announcement and other information in connection with the offer may be restricted by law in certain jurisdictions. Telecom Holding 3 AS and NextGenTel assume no responsibility in the event there is a violation by any person of such restrictions. Persons into whose possession this announcement or such other information should come are required to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. THE OFFER WILL NOT BE MADE IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH MAKING OF THE OFFER WOULD NOT BE IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAWS OF SUCH JURISDICITON. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT DOES NOT IN ITSELF CONSTITUTE AND OFFER. THE OFFER WILL ONLY BE MADE ON THE BASIS OF THE OFFER DOCUMENT AND CAN ONLY BE ACCEPTED PURSUANT TO THE TERMS OF SUCH DOCUMENT The offer is being made for the securities of NextGenTel Holding ASA, a company incorporated under the laws of the Kingdom of Norway, and is being made in the United States in compliance with, and reliance on, Section 14(e) of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Regulation 14E thereunder. The offer will be made in the United States by Telecom Holding 3 AS and no one else. The offer is subject to disclosure and procedural requirements of the Kingdom of Norway which are different from those in the United States. In addition, the payment and settlement procedures with respect to the Offer will comply with the relevant Norwegian rules, which differ from United States payment and settlement procedures. CONTACT: NextGenTel Holding ASA

Harbitzalleen 2A 0275 Oslo

http://nextgentelholding.com

[email protected] This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com https://news.cision.com/nextgentel-holding-asa/r/telecom-holding-3-as-commences-recommended-voluntary-cash-offer-to-acquire-the-entire-issued-share-c,c2756168

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[March 04, 2019] AmerisourceBergen Foundation Donates to 30+ Organizations to Address Opioid Education

The AmerisourceBergen Foundation today announced further progress in its commitment to partner with community-based organizations to help prevent opioid misuse and promote safe disposal. Through its Opioid Resource Grant Program, the Foundation awarded more than 30 organizations demonstrating community leadership with grants to provide critically needed youth, provider and community education around preventing and addressing prescription medication misuse. "Education is an invaluable tool in combatting the opioid crisis. The Foundation is committed to working to support organizations embedded in their efforts to raise awareness of the intricacies of the issue and put into place harm-reduction strategies through educating citizens," said Gina Clark, President of the AmerisourceBergen Foundation. "These grants enable many diverse organizations to bring evidence-based education programs to our young people and the providers who care for all of us. We believe these organizations, along with the education programs they provide, can drive sustained positive impact around the issue of opioid misuse for years to come." Youth-based education programs around opioids can help to mitigate risk factors that make youth vulnerable to engaging in dangerous behaviors. Under the guidance and leadership of the External Advisory Committee (EAC), several youth-focused organizations were selected to receive funding toward education, which will bolster existing programs that provide mentorships, implement evidence-based substance abuse school programs, such as training on the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), and deliver prevention tools such as drug refusal skills and safe disposal practices. These programs help children understand the importance of caring for their mental health, the risk of addiction and the crucial role young people can play in solvng the crisis within their communities. Some of these organizations included:



Boys & Girls Club in Tennessee

National Recreation and Park Association

Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) Additional grants were awarded to institutions focused on provider education, which has proven to have an impact on prescription accuracy, improved confidence in guideline-based prescribing and increased supervision by physicians on their patients. These organizations use online and in-person training programs to enhance prevention education among providers, promote responsible prescribing practices and policies, reduce illicit acquisitions and diversions of opioids, as well as provide safe and secure drug take back locations. They include: Overdose Lifeline

University of Idaho

Public Health Solutions Finally, several grants support the implementation of community-level education programs and campaigns. Education of the general community such as parents, neighbors, veterans and others can serve as the primary line of defense in preventing drug abuse if they are aware of warning signs and ways to help. These programs are designed to enhance prevention and safe disposal, combat the stigma associated with opioid misuse and provide support for veterans with chronic pain and others negatively affected by opioid use. For these efforts, the Foundation is supporting organizations such as:

NDRI-USA

Montgomery Aids Outreach dba Medical Advocacy & Outreach

Drug Prevention Resources This marks the Foundation's first giving cycle for fiscal year 2019. Grants for the second giving cycle of fiscal year 2019, chosen by the EAC, will be determined in late Spring. For more information about the AmerisourceBergen Foundation and its approach to end controlled substance misuse, please visit www.amerisourcebergenfoundation.org. About the AmerisourceBergen Foundation The AmerisourceBergen Foundation is an independent not-for-profit charitable giving organization established by AmerisourceBergen Corporation to support health-related causes that enrich that global community. The Foundation aims to improve the health and well-being of its patient populations - both human and animal - by investing in its communities. Through strategic partnerships and community collaboration, the Foundation works to expand access to quality healthcare and provide resources to ensure prescription drug safety. For more information, visit www.amerisourcebergenfoundation.org. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190304005759/en/

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The PlayStation Vita, Sony's underappreciated handheld console, has now officially ceased production.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

The eight-year-old console was the successor to the popular PlayStation Portable (PSP), but only sold around an estimated 16 million units during its lifespan, compared to the PSPs 76 million over nine years.

The blame for the devices poor performance can be laid at the rise of mobile gaming on smartphones and tablets, which took off around the same time as the Vitas release.

Its a shame, as the Vita had some interesting features, including an OLED touchscreen and a rear touch pad, which later found its way onto the front of the DualShock 4 controller for the PlayStation 4. It was also able to control and display PS4 games via its Remote Play function, similar to what we saw on Nintendos Wii U, which was released a year later.

MORE: The 9 Best Games of March 2019

Games are still being produced for the Vita, but according to The Verge and Polygon, that too will come to an end on Mar. 31. The Vitas library featured a few notable titles, such as Wipeout 2048, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Tearaway and Gravity Rush. Fortunately for players without Vitas, many of these games later were ported to the main PlayStation consoles.

Sony has said it isnt planning on creating a successor to the Vita. Considering the Nintendo Switch occupies a similar space as a high-fidelity portable gaming experience, and has already sold more than the Vita did in just two years, its not surprising theyre reluctant to try and recapture this part of the market.

If you are interested in purchasing one of the last Vitas to be produced and getting in on some of the unique experiences of the platform, have a look at the reasons why its still worth buying this expiring console.
(Image credit: Peter Stein/Shutterstock)

Huawei is feeling litigious. Chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is suing the Canadian government for her arrest in December 2018, and reports claim Huawei itself plans to sue the U.S. government, ostensibly for banning federal agencies from buying its products.

There's a lot to unpack there. We'll start with Wanzhou. She was arrested by Canadian authorities at the U.S. government's request, accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of helping Huawei skirt economic sanctions on Iran. The hearing to determine if she'll be extradited to the U.S. is on March 6. In addition to being Huawei's chief financial officer, Wanzhou is Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei's daughter, which means the company's pretty invested in her case.

As reported by Bloomberg on Sunday, the CFO is now suing the Canadian government, police and border agency for alleged "false imprisonment." She claims she was interrogated "under the guise of a routine customs" search, Bloomberg wrote. It's not clear if the lawsuit will delay any decision to extradite Wanzhou to the U.S. or, potentially, force the Canadian government to release her.

On to Huawei suing the U.S. government. Both The New York Times and Reuters reported today Huawei wants to challenge the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2018. The NDAA barred federal agencies from buying Huawei and ZTE products over concerns that the Chinese government could use them for espionage.

News of a potential lawsuit against the U.S. federal government follow rumors that U.S. President Donald Trump was planning to ban Huawei's technology from America's 5G wireless networks in February. Huawei's already been banned from 5G infrastructure in Australia and New Zealand. Germany and the European Union at large are said to be considering similar bans.

All of this has put Huawei on the defensive. The company warned employees that layoffs are probably imminent, and it's reportedly invited media outlets to its Shenzhen headquarters in an attempt to manage its reputation. We'll see if it decides to take the fight to the court room as well.
From the EditorFriday Reflections The Tree of Life The Quantum Mechanics of a Melting Pot Tweet



March 1, 2019

My mother and her parents emigrated from Scotland to Detroit in 1923. I first lived with my parents and two older siblings in an upstairs bedroom of my grandparents' house. A 1940 census of our neighborhood records that most of our neighbors were immigrants from places like Czechoslovakia, French Canada, Greece, Italy, Poland, Russia, or Scotland.

What brought them all to Detroit from so many countries? Many took plentiful and well-paying jobs in the factories of automakers like Henry Ford, Walter Chrysler, the Dodge Brothers, William Durant, founder of General Motors, feeding off the new demand for automobiles.

But Detroit was mass-producing not only automobiles; it was making Americans. In 1908, the same year of the Model T, Israel Zangwell, British author and son of Jewish immigrants, wrote a play called "The Melting Pot." Performed in the United States for audiences that included President Theodore Roosevelt, it proclaimed:

America is God's Crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of Europe are melting and reforming... Germans and Frenchmen, Irishmen and Englishmen, Jews and Russians - into the Crucible with you all! God is making the American.

The American was allegedly a new kind of man. Henry Ford imagined that he, too, was helping God "make Americans." To integrate the growing numbers of foreign workers, in 1914 he established the Ford English School. On Independence Day, 1916:

Graduates of Ford's English School wearing their "native dress" descended into a large pot labeled "The American Melting Pot." After going through a virtual smelting process, the immigrant's identity was boiled away, leaving a new citizen to emerge from the pot wearing American clothes and waving American flags....

But Ford's Melting Pot lacked a key element; his was an industrialized version of one that initially appeared in an agrarian context:

The first use in American literature of the concept of immigrants "melting" into the receiving culture are found in the writings of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur. In his Letters from an American Farmer (1782) Crevecoeur writes, "Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men..."

What was the catalyst for the blending of cultures? Marriage. While not emphasized, it is hiding right here in plain sight:

"...whence came all these people? They are a mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes... What, then, is the American, this new man? He is either an European or the descendant of an European; hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations. He is an American...." (emphasis added)

Exactly. On January 31, 1942, Slavic and Scottish immigrants celebrated together in my grandparents' living room at the wedding of my parents. Their shared happiness was deeper than the laughter of neighbors watching a comedy at a movie house. They were celebrating the creation of a family.

This was the endowment shared by all our ethnic neighbors: Family. This family force is imprinted in us; it predates society and the state.

Societies, like chemical compounds, may come in many varieties. You can have a tribal society, for example, or a communist, capitalist, socialist, fascist, totalitarian, imperial, colonial, feudal, theocratic, egalitarian, or democratic society. You would have to explain to any outsider how each society works. Its nature cannot be assumed.

But the family is universal. Individuals meeting from different cultures do not have to explain to each other what a family is. The family lies at the quantum level of human society.

Family life is deeply rooted in an area of mystery we do not fully understand. Like a tree, it is living, rooted and nourished by the soil of the past and reaching up into the future. It is not manufactured. Although socially reinforced, it is not "socially constructed." It is a precious Gift.

Yours for Christ, Creed & Culture,



James M. Kushiner

Executive Director, The Fellowship of St. James

James M. Kushiner is Executive Editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, and Executive Director of The Fellowship of St. James.




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As Mexicos airports experience strong year-over-year growth, Airports Council International (ACI) World today emphasized the importance of collaboration between industry and government in sustaining the countrys air service demand.

As Mexicos airports experience strong year-over-year growth, Airports Council International (ACI) World today emphasized the importance of collaboration between industry and government in sustaining the countrys air service demand.

Speaking this week at the International Air Transport Associations Global Aviation Summit in Mexico City, ACI World Director General Angela Gittens reminded the audience that aviation is an ecosystem and the infrastructure must be balanced between the airspace, the airfield and the terminal and ground access facilities. Looking at the capacity of just one of those does not necessarily gain the needed capacity of the system.

ACIs preliminary data indicates that Mexican passenger traffic has grown by 8.4% in 2018, outperforming both global and Latin-American and the Caribbean growth (estimated at 6% and 5% respectively). With the impetus provided by a strong economy, several of the countrys largest airports saw domestic passenger traffic post double-digit growth. The three largest airports  Mexico City, Cancun and Guadalajara  saw total passenger traffic rise by 6.6%, 6.7% and 12% respectively.

Sustaining this growth is the challenge. The recent cancellation of the new Mexico City airport project has brought the scale of this challenge into stark focus and ACI has welcomed the willingness of Mexicos Secretary of Communications and Transportation Javier Jimenez Espriu to accept input from industry as the country seeks to move forward without the new airport.

Mexicos success story has contributed to the national economy, particularly through the promotion of the tourisms sector, has heightened the socio-economic benefits that aviation brings to our communities, and has well-served the end user, the travelling public, said Angela Gittens Director General ACI World.

Like in many parts of the world, is the onus to ensure that we can accommodate the growing demand for air services  can we accommodate tomorrows travellers and, in Mexico Citys case, can we accommodate demand today?

In the short- to medium-term, Mexico will have to make the most of its existing airport infrastructure including optimizing slot allocation, and leveraging processes and technology to improve operations, throughput and the passenger experience.

ACIs advocacy and programmes will help airports to do this but longer-term investment decisions need to be taken on a large scale.

Collaboration  whether it be with our industry partners and stakeholders or between governments and industry  is key and this should be done from the very beginning. This includes involving surrounding communities, on which airports license to construct, operate and grow depends upon.

Daily News Delivery Join your colleagues and stay up to date on the latest Travel industry news and trends. Subscribe

 2021 Travel Industry Wire
(TRAVPR.COM) Mumbai, February 8th 2019: Cox & Kings Ltd., the oldest and leading tour operator with operations across continents has announced exciting offers on international holidays for summer 2019. The offers include 50% off on select tours and international holiday free on booking of select international holidays. Besides this there are several offers such as GST free, Child Travel free, Travel gift vouchers and Holiday on EMI depending on the tour you choose. The customers can avail 10% extra cashback on the bookings done using SBI card. Similarly, they can get flat 5000 cashback on Bajaj Finserve Wallet.



Guaranteed Departures, Experienced & Qualified Tour Managers, Insurance Protection Plans for customers and excellent Hotels are the USPs of Cox & Kings summer holidays. This year Cox & Kings has also expanded its horizon for summer holidays by introducing new group tours to Cambodia, Turkey, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Japan and Morocco starting from 79,999. Astounding options available for popular group holidays across the world including Far East (Starting from 58,110), Middle East (Starting from 67,499), Europe (Starting from 84,475), North America (Starting from 1,19,999), Asia (Starting from 1,29,999), Africa (Starting from 1,49,999), Australia & New Zealand (Starting from 1,64,582) and South America (Starting from 3,06,999).



Amhi Travelkar Holidays with Marathi speaking tour manager gives you over 21 tour option from 5 days to 17 days. Similarly, Pure Veg and Jain Tours available under 'Gaurav Yatra start from 1,42,684 wherein 12 different tour options are provided from 7 days to 24 days. Tailor-made Holidays, Cruise Holidays and Speciality Holidays for women, adventure, culinary, luxury & senior citizens are also available.



To book your dream package, call us on 1800 209 0400 or SMS CNK260 to 5757567. For more information visit www.coxandkings.com



ABOUT COX AND KINGS LTD.: (BSE: 533144 | NSE: COX&KINGS)

Cox & Kings Ltd. ('C&K') is the oldest travel company in the world and also one of the leading leisure travel groups with operations across continents. It is one of the most experienced travel company in the world, having been in operation since 1758. Headquartered in India, C&K has over the last three decades transformed itself into a diversified, multinational travel conglomerate with a focus on the new-age global consumer.

C&K operates in two key verticals; Leisure and Hybrid Hotels.

Leisure-India is best known by the ubiquitous Cox & Kings brand in India, where we are an integrated travel enterprise, offering the best and widest range of travel options to individuals, groups and businesses in the fastest growing major economy in the world. www.coxandkings.com



Leisure-International operates in multiple countries, mainly under the Cox & Kings brand, with a greater focus on premium-end travel. www.coxandkings.co.uk and www.coxandkingsusa.com



Meininger currently operates more than 12,662 beds across 24 hotels in 14 European cities. The unique hybrid concept of Meininger combines the service and comfort of a hotel with the uncomplicated nature of a hostel; top locations, high-quality amenities, flexible room structure and reasonable prices. www.meininger-hotels.com

Cox & Kings is one of the founding members of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and also a member of premier industry associations across the world. Over the years the company has won many awards which stand testimony to its excellence in service.

Cox & Kings has been the recipient of various accolades both in India and internationally. It has been winning the prestigious World Travel Award in different categories since 2013. The title of Asia's Leading Luxury Tour Operator was retained for the 4th time in 2018. It won the title of India's Leading Tour Operator in the year 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and India's Leading Travel Agency for the 6th Consecutive time. In 2018, Cox & Kings bagged the title of 'Best Outbound Tour Operator at the Zee Business Travel Awards. The India Travel Awards - West and its North edition announced Cox & Kings as a winner in the categories - Best Experiential Tour Operator and Best MICE Operator Domestic in 2018. It also emerged victorious in the Asia Pacific region at the prestigious PATA Gold Awards. Cox & Kings commitment to sustainability was celebrated at the Global Responsible Business Leadership Awards in Malaysia where it bagged the title of 'Sustainable Travel and Tour Operator of 2018.

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This travel guide, which includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi takes you through travel activities, experiences and tips for travelers considering this region on their bucket list either in private tours or small group travel programs.



(TRAVPR.COM) GERMANY - March 3rd, 2019 - This travel guide, which includes Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi takes you through travel activities, experiences and tips for travelers considering this region on their bucket list either in private tours or small group travel programs.Beside the great animals migration in Tanzania and Kenya, gorilla trekking in Uganda and Rwanda, attracting most of visitors, there is always much to see and do in this great and diverse region for a well-advised visitor.

Led by a local guide, a photography tour can be a fun activity, creative and educational experience, providing you fantastic memories and others positive impressions on traveled destinations and your vacation. Roam around the fascinating and picturesque streets leading to a succession of markets, shops, bazaars, monuments, ancient buildings around Nairobi, Kampala, Kigali, Dar es Salaam, the spice island of Zanzibar, Bujumbura, white sand beaches around the Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria, Lake Kivu and Lake Tanganyika not to mention paying tribute to people who lost their lives in the Rwanda Genocide.

Hiking And Mountain Climbing

It is time now for mountain hiking Kilimanjaro being the Africas top one, beside Mount Kenya, Mount Rwenzori, Mount Karisimbi, Mount Muhabura and Mount Heha, some of them being UNESCO world heritage sites. Having a conservation area around them, those mountains include plant life, amazing waterfalls with a unique mountainous vegetation.

Games Drive In The Amazing East African Savannah

It is worth noting that no nation has a monopoly on wildlife which makes this region an interesting destination. Hold your camera for the wildebeest migration in Masai Mara, spot birds, elephants, lions, buffalos, wild dogs and black rhinos, chimpanzees, monkeys, gorillas in protected areas, national parks with varied habitats. Plains, forests, rivers and lakes home to hippos, various fish species makes it clear that the region offers more to experience.

A Few Recommendations Among Others

Visit East Africaon an overland safari preferably starting from Kenya to continuing to Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and ending in Burundi. Experience the breathtaking mountains and forests, villages and cities, a unique way that will guarantee you fantastic memories and very positive impressions on each country you travel into. Follow the great wildebeest migration, a stunning migration of animals in their millions in vast plains, natures beauty and fresh grass lands. Discover Tanzanias Kilimanjaro, the Africas tallest mountains- trek up to the summit. Set out for a face-to-face encounter with the mountain gorillas in the Rwandas Volcanoes national park or Ugandas Bwindi impenetrable national park. Spend your holiday nights at the shores of Lake Tanganyika coupled with trips to Karera waterfalls and Gishora drum sanctuary.

A Few Tips To Consider

Greet people with a friendly smile, if possible,in their language or use Jambo ,the equivalent of Hi generally understood across the whole east Africa. While a sense of humor is well accepted, avoid delicate subjects like politics. Hey, there are so many interesting things to talk and laugh about:)

When To Go To East Africa

June- September is absolutely the coolest time to travel to East Africa. This is a peak season and busiest period for hotels, lodges and tour operators.Having said that, it doesnt mean March-May (main rainy season) and the rest of the months is a bad period for travel, there might simply be difficulties with certain roads.

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TRENTON  A former Trenton cop who is being investigated by the FBI is being accused of launching into an unprovoked physical assault on a former city man two years ago.

Saalam Felton, who now lives in St. Charles, Missouri, says in a lawsuit filed late last month that he was a victim of former Trenton Police officer Anthony Villanueva, who was fired from the department in June.

Villanueva is being examined by federal authorities as part of an excessive force investigation.

The status of the probe is unknown at this time as the feds have refused to even confirm the existence of it.

The lawsuit also names Trenton officer ShQuanah Lopez, and former police director Ernest Parrey Jr., along with his right-hand-man, Capt. Stephen Varn.

But the lawsuit focuses in on Villaneuvas actions during the March 2017 arrest of Felton in the area of Gladstone and Cleveland avenues.

The arrest was captured by on Villanuevas body-camera, a copy of which was obtained by NJ.com under the state Open Public Records Act.

The footage showed Villanueva chasing down and tackling Felton from behind. Villanueva then hits Felton with at least two blows to the head.

The stunned suspect responds: What are you punching me for, yo?

Felton was accused of scaling fences and dashing through alleys as he led cops on a foot chase, allegedly ditching a gun in the 300 block of Cleveland Avenue.

Villanueva was caught on tape describing the foot pursuit in a phone call with a colleague.

He didnt see coming through the other alleyway. He took off his hoodie. When he threw his hoodie, I came from behind. He didnt even see me. He started walking. He thought he got away. I snuck up from behind and punched him. He just fell.

Then Villanueva appeared to mock Felton: You aint gotta punch me, man.

The lawsuit claims Felton never attempted to fight back or resist arrest as he was bludgeoned by the alleged overzealous cop who caused him serious bodily injury, which includes, but is not limited to, head injury; blood on the brain.

The lawsuit, filed jointly by attorneys Clifford Bidlingmaier III and Robin Lord, alleged that Lopez saw a portion of the vicious assault and goes on to accuse TPD upper brass of not doing anything about the alleged out-of-control officers conduct.

Lord also represents another of Villanuevas accusers, Quaree Singletary, who says he spoke to the feds after he was beat up by the TPD cop inside police lockup.

Villanueva was assigned to TPD lockup after he was pulled off the streets following a separate altercation with suspect Chanzie Washington, which was also captured by body camera.

Villanueva was shown decking a muddied and wet Washington in the face after he appeared to surrender to cops, putting his hands in the air from behind a chained-link fence.

Villanueva had been suspended without pay at the time The Trentonian reported last March that he was under investigation.

Villanueva no longer shows up among active contributors in state pension records, and a city spokesman confirmed he was cut loose last summer.

Villanuevas attorney, George Dougherty, in a previous interview last year attempted to paint his client as the fall guy in the Washington case, saying it was troubling the actions of other cops involved in the arrest werent be scrutinized the same way.

He was referring in part to cop Drew Inman, the son of a Hamilton cop Daniel Inman. The younger Inman was caught on body cam bragging about beating the living shi out of Washington.

Dougherty did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

As it relates to Villanueva, Feltons lawsuit says department brass knew he was an alleged hot head and, instead of stopping him in his tracks, invited and encouraged and promoted a variety of policies and practices that resulted in his repeated instances of excessive force.

The Trentonian previously reported Villanueva filed 14 use-of-force reports in a two-year period. Statewide average over a five year period is 4.1 use-of-force reports per officer, according to NJ.coms reporting on statewide use-of-force records.
Shiv Visvanathan

Shiv Visvanathan

Academic associated with Compost Heap

THE aftermath of the Pulwama attack is evolving like an action-packed serial, each day bringing a different train of events. The narrative can move towards peace or war. As one watches Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Imran Khan, one senses a difference in the body language and scripts. After the Balakot air strike, Imran seems to have thawed out, desperately wanting India to come to the negotiation table. The release of the IAF pilot, Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman, has to be seen with generosity.

Yet, Imran has to be read twice  a man who thinks of peace on the one hand and launches F-16 jets across the border on the other. If Modi is caught between machismo and democracy, Imran is caught between militarism and fundamentalist Islam. It is almost as if the attitudes to peace and war capture the schizophrenic levels of each society. The Jekyll and Hyde in each society must confront its own double before it confronts the other across the border. At one level, Modi can claim that it is Pakistans attitude to terrorism that creates the current impasse.

However, Modi stands unmoved, content with the air strike. A Prime Minister needs to be more open. One senses that his silence is not even tactical. If his silence evokes an indifference to the cause of peace, it is even more worrying. Modi and his Cabinet sound like a group content with the Balakot bombing, which they dub a preemptive strike. They behave as if the bombing, as a communicative act, has said enough.

Like Imran, Modi must realise that though he is battling the enemy beyond the border, he is also contending with the demonology within. He has to realise that Muslim minorities have become the enemy within. One needs a desperate exorcism of this demonology. Modi talking to Imran then becomes a hope against the terror within. Each country exorcises itself to face the enemy without. Peace almost becomes a choreography of the unconscious as each nation searches for a self it can live with and which is liveable to the other.

There is a danger that Modis studied silence may be misread. One needs speech even to clarify one's action to oneself. Words like clinical strike, surgical strike and preemptive strike are comic-book science. Modi needs to talk, listen and communicate. One is not denying the tactical power of the bombing, but peace needs warmth and concern. The last thing we need is this alleged machismo of indifferent silence. It looks like a good strategy, but appears more and more like bad wisdom. One knows he said the possibility for negotiations is over. He should realise now that communication should be open for the possibility of peace to survive. Both Modi and Imran must transform their politics into statesmanship. Peace is always an overreaching of the self as it struggles with the other.

One has to examine what India needs to exorcise within itself to be ready to wage peace. In this context, a photograph of the Cabinet meeting on the crisis intrigued one, but not for the conventional reasons. Among the gaggle of predictable men, from Rajnath Singh to Piyush Goyal, are two women  Nirmala Sitharaman and Sushma Swaraj. Two seasoned politicians with competent records and a powerful presence, mature and responsible, yet what one wished to ask is were they mere professionals, party members or did they respond as women to the question of war. I do not think this is a facetious or light-hearted question because there is a sense of tragedy, an almost Greek tragedy haunting these two countries.

When I first heard about the air strike, the story of three women came to my mind. A friend of mine said her mother froze into sadness. The very logic of war demanded meaningless deaths. The second asked me: Is peace so impossible for you men? The third, a student, said, Any death like this is demeaning. Why cant India and Pakistan talk peace? The women in the two countries must be tired of war. One wonders whether such thoughts entered the minds of Sitharaman or Swaraj. One was reminded of the Greek play, Lysistrata, in which the protagonist plans to end the Peloponnesian War by mobilising all women to force men to sign a treaty. The power of women as an anti-war constituency dreaming the dreams of peace needs to the understood. A great woman activist once told me, tweaking the UNESCO declaration, If war began in the minds of men, then the defences of peace must be constructed in the minds of women. It is women and children who suffer. In private conversations, they articulate the need for a Lysistrata-like inventiveness and courage. I want to contrast the power of such a concern and message with the banality of a response.

BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa recently claimed that the air strike would easily guarantee 22 votes for the party in Karnataka. The obscenity of this claim is stark. It commodifies the elections and instrumentalises death as if death is an investment in electoral politics. One problem that has haunted the BJP is the way its leaders still act as if they are overthrowing the Mughal rule.

This reaction brings me to a populism that I find depressing. Whenever war starts and India makes a strike, we celebrate with sweets. I would like to salute our soldiers who often show more restraint and responsibility than many of our civilian experts who abstractly bomb cities with an elan that is almost genocidal. Celebrating war as a part of the machismo of our time is no longer acceptable. Modi as a leader has to respond to these spiraling domains of violence. Assuring the country that their security is in safe hands is not enough.

A battle of demonology hardly creates peace. As a concept, security has been bloodied over time. Security seems a masculine, technocratic term. It says little about safety, less about peace. It speaks the power of violence containing violence, a balance of power as a balance of militarism versus terror. One needs to think of peace as a paradigm beyond security, which often becomes elliptical to peace. Modi has to grasp this as he responds to Imran. India has to understand both the manipulative Imran and the desperate Imran. It has to see Imran as a transition to a democracy yet to come into being. It has to address a Pakistan where a new civil society has to respond. Indian democracy must have the courage and imagination to respond, and respond with confidence and trust. An invitation to speech, to conversation begins an initiation to civility and friendship. There must be some sense of that echo in Pakistan. It is time the first notes of the symphony of peace are played out. The notes might be tentative, but these will be universally welcome.

Peace is a hypothesis we have to reinvent again and again. India, with its Gandhian roots, must be proactive, often as a nation of Muslims, an Islamic imagination of peace that neither Pakistan or Saudi Arabia can dream of. It is time for India to show the power of its Islamic thought, while it reworks the Gandhian imagination to confront the nuclear age.
Shyam Saran

Shyam Saran

Former foreign secy and senior fellow, centre for policy research

The good news we were all waiting for has come. IAF officer Abhinandan Varthaman has returned to India after being held by Pakistan since his aircraft was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani aircraft at the LoC a few days ago. His return to freedom is a matter of great relief not only for his family, but also for the nation. Pakistan PM Imran Khan projected the decision to return him as a gesture of peace. The narrative on the Indian side is that Pakistan was compelled to do this because of intense international pressure and the tough stand taken by India. Some of our hyperventilating TV channels have even described it as a huge victory for India. Whatever be the motivation for this Pakistani action, it is to be welcomed because the return of one of our brave young pilots is a matter of celebration. It helps wind down the acute tension between the two countries. The situation could have become more tense and even dangerous if he had continued in Pakistani custody. The government having yielded to the temptation of triumphalism would have found it difficult to resist demands for further punishment of Pakistan, climbing up another notch on the escalatory ladder. When countries get locked into an action and reaction process it is difficult to control escalation. We should use the release of our airman to wind down from the competitive war-mongering that has begun to take hold.

India cannot but condemn Pakistan-sponsored cross-border terrorism, and in this case, it is the perpetrator, Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed responsibility for the Pulwama outrage. A swift and robust response was justified, and in that context, the air operation against the JeM facility at Balakot was carefully calibrated. It was described as a non-military preemptive action against a terrorist facility and not against any military target or endangering civilians. It was the Foreign Secretary, rather than a representative of the IAF or the Defence Ministry, who briefed the media on the operation. It was also conveyed that India did not intend to escalate the situation. If the hope was that this portrayal would dissuade Pakistan from retaliating with its own air power, it was a miscalculation. The use of the Air Force was a deliberate raising of the military threshold by India. Furthermore, this was an attack against a target beyond the LoC and deep in Pakistani sovereign territory. The use of the term preemptive conveyed an intention to strike in future without waiting for a terrorist act to occur. Failure to retaliate, and retaliate with air power, would have signalled Pakistani inability to challenge the intended asymmetry sought by India. There is partial asymmetry because while India attacked a target beyond PoK, Pakistani retaliation stayed within the confines of Kashmir territory on the Indian side of the LoC. After this tit-for-tat air battle, are we confident that Pakistan has been successfully dissuaded from pursuing cross-border terrorism as an instrument of State policy? Unlikely. While India may have established that Pakistan will have to pay a higher price than hitherto for its indulgence in terrorism, this is not sufficient to change the strategic calculus in Islamabad. The capacity of Pakistan to inflict reciprocal damage on the Indian side in its retaliation reinforces, rather than alters, its current behaviour pattern. If this assessment is correct, military options alone may not suffice.

There is satisfaction that India has been able to mobilise international public opinion against Pakistan and impose diplomatic isolation on it. There is no doubt that there are few sympathisers that Pakistan can rely upon these days. The Balakot action did not invite international opprobrium against India. The fact that our External Affairs Minister was the chief guest on the foreign ministers panel at the recent OIC conference, despite Pakistani objections, was a setback for Pakistan. However, China continues to be a powerful patron and the US is back to acknowledging that Pakistans role is indispensable in Afghanistan. While India must keep up pressure on Pakistan using all available diplomatic channels, it must also accept that this has limits in the real world. There is a downside to this strategy. The more preoccupied India is with seeking condemnation of Pakistan, the more it advertises its inability to manage Pakistan. It generates a heightened anxiety about two nuclear-armed adversaries slipping into a nuclear confrontation. This opens the door to third-party mediation and international intervention in the subcontinent, which is an anathema to India but welcome to Pakistan.

Since Pakistans terror activity is centred on Kashmir, heightened India-Pakistan tensions inevitably draw international attention to Kashmir, and more so if the situation in the Valley deteriorates, as is happening currently. We should not have to return to a situation where Indian diplomats are constantly battling international intervention on the Kashmir issue. We may be heading back towards India-Pakistan hyphenation rather than gaining traction as an emerging regional and global power. Our real challenge is the growing influence of China. It would suit China fine if India is kept tethered to the subcontinent. Countries concerned about China look to India as a power capable of countervailing China, but India-Pakistan confrontation limits Indias credibility in that role.

We need a broader and longer-term perspective in which we seek to manage an adversarial relationship with Pakistan without losing sight of the bigger challenge of China. Nor should our Pakistan policy retard our emergence as a substantial regional and global power and instead expose our country to external intervention. Pakistan must not become entangled in Indias domestic politics nor serve as a proxy to target Muslims and Kashmiris. This makes it impossible to treat Pakistan as just another State, the policy towards which must be subject to cold calculations of national and security interests. Hopefully, when the dust settles on the latest events, we can begin to think on these issues afresh.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

New York, March 4

Braving wintry weather, a large number of Indian-Americans held a protest in front of the United Nations headquarters here against the Pulwama attack and demanded that Pakistan take action against terror groups operating on its soil.

On February 14, a terrorist of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

The protesters from across this city gathered at the UN headquarters on Sunday, holding placards and raising slogans against the terror machinery operating on Pakistani soil and demanded swift action against the JeM and its leader Masood Azhar.

Jagdish Sewhani, president of The American India Public Affairs Committee and one of the organisers of the event, told PTI that Indian-Americans, including professionals and students, were expressing their anger at the continued state sponsorship of terrorism by Pakistan across the world.

The protesters raised slogans against all major terrorist attacks originating from Pakistan such as the 2008 Mumbai 26/11 attack, the Uri attack and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack among others.

The message to Pakistan is that enough is enough. This time we will not forgive and we will not forget, Sewhani said.

Pakistan is still shielding terrorists and is refusing to crack down on them. The Pakistan Army continues to support terrorist outfits such as al-Qaeda, Lakshar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, Haqqani network, he said, adding that time has come to give a befitting reply to Pakistan in a language it understands.

Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party-USA president Krishna Reddy Anugula said the Indian community in the US strongly condemned the dastardly attacks.

We are demanding that the perpetrators of the attack should be brought to justice and the terror infrastructure based in Pakistan has to be dismantled, he said, adding that JeM chief Azhar Masood should be handed over to India to face a trial.

We are protesting against Pakistans cross-border terrorism in India and Afghanistan and sponsorship of global terrorism that has affected many countries around the world, Anugula said.

Several people from other South Asian nations such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal also joined the protest.

Richard Benkin, a Jewish-American at the protest, said the international community stood in solidarity with India, noting that Pakistans support for terrorism would not go unquestioned any longer.

The crowd raised slogans and held placards with messages reading Hand over Masood Azhar--Global Terrorist, Pakistan Stop Harbouring Terrorists and Pakistan Export Goods, not Terrorism.

Protesters also spoke about the high casualties resulting from terrorism supported and launched from the Pakistani soil. They demanded that the UN make Pakistan accountable for the Pulwama, Mumbai and other terror attacks.

They also demanded that Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav be set free.

The protesting organisations also plan to send a memorandum of their demands to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Pramod Bhagat, president of India World Foundation USA, said there was a need to reach out to the US lawmakers. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Pradeep Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 3

With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) failing to reach an agreement on seat-sharing in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Haryana is bracing for a multi-cornered contest in this years parliamentary and state Assembly elections.

In fact, AAPs announcement  that it would go it alone in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections in the state  is set to alter political permutations and combinations in the state in the run-up to the twin polls.

Following AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwals assertions that the party was favourably inclined to a tie-up with the JJP, it was widely believed that the two parties would enter into an alliance to take on the mainstream parties, including the BJP and Congress.

Conceding that talks with the JJP for a pact had reached a dead end, AAP Haryana chief Naveen Jaihind rued that the JJP was ready to concede only two of the 10 Haryana Lok Sabha seats to AAP which could have benefitted the ruling BJP.

Besides, the JJP had also demanded a Lok Sabha seat in Delhi. Now, AAP will fight on its own strength on all 10 Lok Sabha and 90 Assembly seats, he said.

The Aam Aadmi Party had already tested political waters in Haryana in the 2014 parliamentary elections without any success. On the other hand, it will be the first Lok Sabha elections for the JJP. The JJP was placed second after the BJP in the recent Jind byelection.

Observers said with AAP and JJP failing to enter into an alliance, the Opposition votes would be further divided. That is likely to benefit the ruling BJP which will be faced with anti-incumbency in the twin elections.

The multi-cornered contest will be among the BJP, Congress, INLD, AAP, JJP and the Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) alliance. The BSP recently entered into an alliance with Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Sainis LSP after parting ways with the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

Recently, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala had hinted at an alliance with the BJP to which the saffron party has not responded as yet. OP Chautalas assertion is apparently aimed at finding a reliable alliance partner for the INLD after the split in the party that resulted in the birth of the JJP.

On the other hand, the rampant factionalism in the Congress is set to hit its poll prospects in both elections. In case the Opposition parties fail to work out a joint poll strategy, the ruling BJP could be in an advantageous position in the run-up to the General Election.

No alliance
When Leila Champion went to a Harvard University summer school program last year, between her junior and senior years at Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School, she started thinking about minority students like herself who have the mindset that Ivy League schools are out of reach. What changed her perspective was actually being on campus, a feat in itself that escapes many minority students.

So in August 2018, Champion, along with some of her summer school peers from around the country, started The Champion Project, which is raising money to pay for a week-long trip for minority students in eighth through 11th grades to visit five Ivy League schools: Yale University, Princeton University, Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. The goal is to raise $17,000 for the trip taking place March 31-April 4. Champion said that amount would send 25 students. The group has raised about $2,500 on its GoFundMe page.

While anyone could quickly find information on a schools website, Champion said its especially important for minority students to get on these campuses and experience it firsthand.

So they can expand their mindset and dont limit themselves, she said. They can see people on these campuses who look like them.  Seeing is believing.

Champion said the group has reached out to Black student unions so they can meet while on campus and share their experiences. Many minority students dont think beyond state schools and historically Black colleges and universities, Champion said, because the cost and academic standards at Ivy League schools can be intimidating. Champions goal is to show those students the reality of whats possible, and shes trying to knock down as many obstacles as she can. The group estimates the trip will cost about $650 per student, not including meals, and it has looked for hotel deals wherever possible to keep the cost down.

Ivy League schools are already highly selective  Stanford accepted 4.3 percent of applicants in the class of 2022  but minority enrollment in many Ivy League schools is actually going up. At Harvard, Yale and Princeton, for example, U.S. minority students in all classes grew by 17 percent between 2010 and 2015, outpacing overall enrollment growth.

Champion, who has applied to Harvard and is waiting to hear back, said the plan is to turn The Champion Project into a nonprofit when she turns 18 in August, allowing the groups mission to continue.

Contact staff writer Tyler Fenwick at 317-762-7853. Follow him on Twitter @Ty_Fenwick.

DONATE TO CHAMPION PROJECT

The Champion Project is trying to raise $17,000 by March 15 to send minority students on Ivy League college tours.

Donate: champion-project.com

Leila Champion
editorial@tribune.com

Vishal Joshi

Tribune News Service

Kurukshetra, March 3

Haryana is believed to have an interesting and lesser-known connection with a small place in Israel. According to Col Yogander Singh (retd), a military historian, the area of Yanuh and Jat villages is named after soldiers from the 125th Napiers Rifles, an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. The regiment had fought in Palestine, presently divided between Israel, Jordan and Gaza.

In September 1918, the British government launched an offensive under the command of Gen Edmund Allenby. He led the Expeditionary Force Egypt, about 80 per cent of whom were Indians with Haryanvis being the largest in terms of numbers. The area of Yanuh and Jat villages had very heavy fighting between Indian and Turkish soldiers and the area was given the name after brave Jat soldiers, he said.

Colonel Singh said the 125th Napiers Rifles, later clubbed into the Rajputana Rifles, composed mainly Haryanvis, who gave an impressive account and broke through the defence of Turkish forces. He is part of an ambitious project initiated by the Kurukshetra-based Haryana Academy of History and Culture (HAHC) of compiling Haryanas heritage in the national defence sector.

He said the role of Haryanvi soldiers during the British period in Israel, Afghanistan and other places abroad, besides in India, had been ignored. He said thousands of Haryanvi youths had fought in the two world wars for their British rulers, but their contribution had largely been missing from public records. We are gathering information about Haryanvi martyrs since 1800. According to an estimate, about 1.8 lakh residents of Haryana had made the supreme sacrifice in about two centuries. We are collecting information from Army archives to trace the roots of Haryanvi martyrs, said Colonel Singh. Hailing from Jhajjar district, he had served in the Dogra Regiment.

According to Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar, HAHC director and historian, historical accounts said kings had a preference for frontline fighters from the northern region, including present-day Haryana, during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. He said historical details were either presented as part of undivided Punjab or Delhi.

The HAHC is taking a maiden initiative to compile details of Haryanvi martyrs. We are working on a comprehensive account of soldiers who were accorded gallantry awards and a chronological order of their role in various battles and wars, he said.
editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

UNA, March 3

A Jan Manch programme was organized today at Khad village of Haroli segment in Una district. Food and Civil Supplies Minster Kishan Kapoor presided over the function in which 160 complaints and representations were received.

According to an official press release, all complaints were addressed. Two ration cards and 20 different certificates were also issued on the spot. Health checkup of 392 persons was conducted during a health camp organized by the Health Department.

Speaking on the occasion, Kapoor informed that about 25,000 representations were settled at various Kan Manch programmes throughout the state. He condemned the Opposition remarks against the programme, saying that Jan Manch had not only reduced the gap between the common man and the government, but has also strengthened democracy.

The minister later visited the family members of injured Army Jawan Devinder Kumar of Ispur village in Haroli segment. Devinder Kumar was part of the operation against Pulwama attack masterminds Gazi and Kamran. Both, along with another of their accomplice were killed in the operation.

135 cases settled in Kangra

Kangra: Industries and Technical Education Minister Bikram Thakur today said the Jan Manch programme was proving to be a tool for better and direct communication between people and the government.

Thakur was speaking while presiding over the progrmme at Shantala in this district. People from different panchayats, including Shantla, Peer Sulhee Alooh, Punnani, Katooh Tikkar, Gurdhara Chapla, Bharoli Jadeed, Kolapur, Chooli, Kuhana, Rakkar and other panchayats raised different issues for the redressal.

He said 252 complaints were received and 135 cases were sorted out on the spot.
editorial@tribune.com

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, March 3

The Congress will organise a rally of AICC president Rahul Gandhi on the Chambi ground in Shahpur on March 7.

HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore said this while talking to The Tribune here on Sunday.

Rathore, who was here to hold a meeting regarding the arrangements for the rally, said the BJP had organised three rallies, including one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here. The last rally organised by the party on the ground was on February 24 which was addressed by Union Minister for Surface Transport Nitin Gadkari. In the rally, the government misused official machinery to bring in workers from all over the state. Government funds were misused. However, the Congress despite in the Opposition would try to break the record of the BJP gathering, Rathore said.

The rally would mark the launch of the Congress campaign for the coming elections. The party would aim to win all four LSseats, Rathore said. When asked who are the probables of the Congress from Kangra, Rathore said the screening committee for parliamentary poll was holding a meeting on March 7. After that, the names of the probable candidates would be sent to the party high command. The party would declare its candidates early and winnability would be main criteria, he said.

Most of the prestigious projects announced for the state, including IIT, IIM, Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) and AIIMS were announced by the UPA-II government.

He alleged that the unplanned demonetisation and GST had adversely affected the economy of the country. As per the national statistical survey of India, about 1.1 crore jobs had been lost post-demonetisation. The government was now trying cover up. Small and medium enterprises that were the backbone of the economy had been hit hard, he said.

Screening panel to meet the same day
editorial@tribune.com

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 3

Lakhs of domestic consumers in 56 towns of the state are up in arms against the recent notification of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd (HPSEBL) to charge Rs 7.94 per unit and Rs 220 as fixed monthly bill for the temporary electricity connection.

Mostly students, working women and lower-middle class families staying as tenants in unauthorised houses in these towns will be hit by the notification.

The Shimla Upnagary Samanvya Sangharsh Samiti, Citizen Councils and HPSEBL Employees Union have joined hands against the notification. They demanded reduction in rates from the notified Rs 7.94 per unit to Rs 5 per unit and fixed monthly meter rent of Rs 80 for the domestic consumers.

Sources in the Power Department said that it would generate revenue of nearly Rs 200 crore per month.

Consumers said that domestic electricity and water consumers living in unauthorised colonies and slums in Delhi were getting first 100 units of electricity and 20,000 litre of water almost for free and at nominal charges. But in Himachal Pradesh, which is a power surplus state, the government has decided to charge Rs 7.94 per unit from the domestic consumers and Rs 220 as fixed monthly bill, resented the consumers. The high tariff would have cascading effect as house owners would charge extra money from tenants, said Govind Chatranta, coordinator of samanva samiti.

We will take up the matter with the Power Minister and the State Regulator to reduce the tariff to the lowest possible level, said HL Verma, general secretary, HPSEBL Employees Union.

The State Regulator had also directed the HPSEBL and the government to give temporary electricity connections to the domestic and industrial consumers without NOC.

Power Minister Anil Sharma did not respond to the queries. However, HPSEBL MD JP Kalta said the tariff was decided by the State Regulator and the board was only implementing the orders. The board is charging Rs 1.25 per unit from the regularised houses, he added.

State to earn Rs 200cr
laxmi@tribune.com

THE Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) is best known for its data on childrens reading and arithmetic skills. What is lesser known is that ASER is also a repository of information about kids. In the past two years, two northern states  Punjab and Himachal Pradesh  have added a pre-primary class to their government primary schools. An analysis of ASER data shows why this is not only an appropriate and much-needed step for these states, but also a good example of how the outcome can be effectively used in making decisions for policies and programmes.

For the past decade or so, even in rural India, children have had several choices regarding what they can do before entering formal schooling in Class I, although these choices may be constrained by the location and economic circumstances. Children can attend anganwadis run by the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) Department or enter LKG and UKG (kindergarten) in private schools. Despite these options, of course, in many states, there are still some children in each pre-school age group who are not enrolled anywhere and go directly to Class I.

Across the country, private schools usually take in children well before they can be enrolled in Class I. But in most states, the first step into formal education, at least in the government sector, is Class I. An analysis of ASER data points to three reasons why it makes sense to think about including a pre-primary class in primary schools.

Where are young children enrolled? Enrolment data, analysed by age, shows that for Punjab, among three-year-olds, the proportion of kids not enrolled in any kind of pre-school or early childhood centre increased from 24.8 per cent in 2010 to 32.4 per cent in 2016. These figures are much lower for four-year-olds  11.3 per cent (2010) and 13.3 per cent (2016). The numbers indicate that there is substantial scope in Punjab for anganwadis to reach out to three-year-olds.

However, the proportion of children going to LKG/UKG (which are usually in private schools) has increased considerably in this period for both age groups in Punjab; for three-year-olds from 15.4 per cent in 2010 to 32.8 per cent in 2016, and for four-year-olds from 38 per cent (2010) to 65.3 per cent in 2016. The increasing migration in these age groups to pre-school classes of private schools has been accompanied by a matching decline in anganwadi enrolment, which dropped from 59.8 per cent for three-year-olds in 2010 to 34.8 per cent in 2016. For four-year-olds, this enrolment decreased from 50.7 per cent in 2010 to 21.4 per cent in 2016. As the Punjab trend illustrates, the movement into private schools happens largely well before children reach Class I.

How old are children in Class I? Policy documents in India, including the Right to Education Act, mention six years as the age at which they start formal schooling. However, in many states, including Punjab, the data for age by grade shows that a substantial number of children are in Class I well before they turn six. The age-grade distribution is distinctly different in government schools as compared to the private ones. For example, the age-grade distribution of children in Class I in government schools in Punjab shows that the proportion of children who are underage or below six increased from 35.2 per cent in 2010 to almost 41 per cent in 2016. In private schools, the trend is exactly the opposite. The proportion of underage children was low to begin with at 20.8 per cent in 2010 and it has come down to 15.1 per cent by 2016.

Does the ability to read or do basic arithmetic vary by age in the same grade? Older children in the same grade have an advantage as far as learning is concerned. This is because older children are developmentally more advanced. Older children who have been enrolled in educational institutions have also been exposed to schooling stimuli for a longer duration. Reading and arithmetic data for Class I from ASER shows that until 2016, a much higher proportion of underage children were going to Class I less ready for learning than their older counterparts in Class I in private or government schools.

The decades-long push for universal elementary education has led to a huge demand for schooling even among parents who may not have had much schooling themselves. Until recently, pre-schooling (as opposed to early childhood development centres) was available only in private schools, which offer LKG and UKG as stepping stones to Class I. But private schools could only be accessed by those who had the means to afford the same. With no other options available, poorer families would admit their children in Class I even if they were not yet six. Entering school too early is not an advantage. Typically, the curriculum for Class I has been designed keeping six-year-olds in mind. But by entering school early, underage children are immediately at risk of falling behind academically. With not many mechanisms available within the school system for remedial education or a catch-up, a child who falls behind in Class I is likely to lag throughout his or her entire educational career. Hence, providing the opportunity for pre-school in the primary school itself is potentially an effective instrument for giving a head start to children from economically disadvantaged families and thus levelling the educational playing field. Governments like those in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh must be commended for taking this first and important step towards building a strong base for learning early in the educational life of a child.

Both in terms of policy and practice, a strong partnership between the ICDS Department and the School Education Department is ideal in terms of providing a seamless transition from a holistic child development experience at the age of three and four in an anganwadi to a school-readiness phase at the age of five in the pre-primary class in the government school. Data for three-year-olds and four-year-olds indicates that there is still considerable scope for expanding outreach and enrolment in anganwadis, particularly if that is the first step before entering pre-primary in school. The need of the hour is that the government should ensure and sustain on-site, ongoing mentoring and monitoring outreach to schools, in particular for the newly instituted pre-primary grade, besides strong administrative and political support to the anganwadi and primary school system. If these can be ensured for the next few years, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab are poised to show the country how a strong foundation can be built in the early years of a childs life that can propel him or her successfully through subsequent years of schooling and learning.

The writer is CEO, Pratham Education Foundation
editorial@tribune.com

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 3

Even as there was a war-like situation on the Line of Control (LoC) after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack and Pakistan resorted to heavy shelling, the Indian Army didnt face a single casualty in the fresh round of hostilities.

Only eight soldiers were injured in the last 17 days when Pakistan violated the truce agreement over 100 times.

The credit of minimising the casualties has gone to the Indian Army on the ground for upgrading its systems and mechanisms which allow them to inform the soldiers of the threat perception and the area under attack from across the border. These standard operating procedures (SOPs) are followed strictly and any leniency is dealt with strictly.

Sources told The Tribune that on a regular basis exercises are held and practices are followed which have helped in minimising the casualties. Firstly, whenever there is shelling from across the LoC, soldiers are alerted which is called air raids. Hooters are blown and information is passed on to the post which comes under attack, said a source.

There are specific people in every area who are dedicated to communicate with soldiers in forward posts and areas along the LoC at the time of truce violation. They set the locations and give specific information to the soldiers whenever they feel something is coming from across the border, he informed.

The Indian Army has raised accommodation accordingly all along the 740-km-long LoC in the state from where soldiers can retaliate to the aggression from the Pakistan side and remain safe as well.

They are briefed every now and then about the SOPs, and measures and any leniency in this regard is dealt with strongly. Responsibility is fixed on people who let their guard down and action is taken against them, the source added.

During his visit to White Knight Corps headquarters at Nagrota yesterday, the Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat appreciated these measures and SOPs instituted by the units and formations to minimise casualties.

Meanwhile, four civilians died and 12 people were injured in heavy shelling from across the LoC since February 14, but the Army didnt face a single casualty.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Jammu, March 4

Pakistani troops on Monday violated ceasefire by targeting forward posts and villages along the Line of Control in Akhnoor sector here, breaking a two-day lull in cross-border skirmishes, officials said.

The firing from across the border started around 0300 hours and stopped at 0630 hours, a defence spokesman said.

He said Pakistan initiated the unprovoked ceasefire violation by firing mortar shells and small arms on forward posts and villages.

The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively, the spokesman said adding there was no report of any casualty on Indian side.

Barring a two-hour cross-border firing in Nowshera sector of Rajouri district Saturday afternoon, the guns had fallen silent all along the LoC since Friday night.

The lull in the cross-border firing had come as a major relief to the border residents, especially in the twin districts of Poonch and Rajouri, where Pakistan had violated ceasefire for over 50 times, killing four persons including three members of a family and injuring several others.

The ceasefire violations by Pakistan witnessed a spurt after India's air strike at Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Feb 26 in a "preemptive" action following the terrorist group's Feb 14 suicide bombing in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel was killed.

Amid heightened tensions, Army chief Gen Bipin Rawat visited Jammu-based White Knight Corps on Saturday and reviewed the operational preparedness of the forces in the Corps Zone in view of the current situation along the LoC and the International Border.

Gen Rawat visited various forward locations of Samba and Ratnuchak along the IB in Jammu region again on Sunday. He expressed complete confidence in Indian Army capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of enemies of the country and handle any situation.

The Army chief also praised the high state of morale and preparedness of the troops. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Shyam Sood

Rajouri, March 3

The Rajouri Deputy Commissioner has ordered an FIR against an unidentified person for circulating wrong information about the killing of eight Indian soldiers from a fake Twitter account in the name of the medical superintendent (MS) of District Hospital here.

Claiming to be one Dr Rajiv Tripathi, MS, District Hospital, the fake account holder had tweeted that eight bodies of soldiers and several injured had reached the hospital.

In his one update, the fake account operator said, So far, we have received eight bodies of soldiers, including that of a Captain, and 32 injured who belong to the military and paramilitary forces.

In another tweet, he wrote, Media is not allowed inside the hospital and we need blood donors. A few soldiers donated blood earlier but that was not enough.

These and other screenshots of the tweet went viral on the social media and created a chaos as people across the country started inquiring about the incident.

The district administration and security forces immediately started an investigation. Later, Deputy Commissioner MA Asad tweeted, Let me put it straight. No such person with the name Dr Rajiv Tripathi works as the MS of District Hospital. Entirely fake news, rumour-mongering, false propaganda from a fake profile. I have ordered lodging of an FIR against the Twitter handle.

Dr Suresh Gupta is the medical superintendent of the hospital. The police have started investigation after the DCs directions. However, no FIR had been lodged till the filing of the report.

The police have started an initial investigation related to the fake Twitter handle. An FIR will be lodged soon after the completion of the initial investigation, said Yougal Manhas, Senior Superintendent of Police.
editorial@tribune.com

ibune News Service

Jammu, March 3

Chief of Army Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Sunday visited various Army forward locations of Samba and Ratnuchak in the Jammu region to review the operational deployment and preparedness. On Saturday, he had visited the 16 Corps headquarters.

The area falls under the Western Command of the Army.

Giving details, a defence spokesman said the Army Chief was briefed about the situation and preparedness by General Officer Commanding, Rising Star Corps (9 Corps), Lt Gen JS Nain.

The Army Chief interacted with the troops at forward locations and expressed complete confidence in the Armys capabilities to thwart any nefarious design of enemies of our country and handle any situation, he said.

General Rawat also praised the high state of morale and preparedness of the troops, he added.

His visit to the state is considered crucial with respect to the current ground situation after the Indian Air Force conducted airstrikes deep inside Pakistan. Since the Pulwama attack on February 14, the hostility between India and Pakistan has increased.

The Rising Star Corps is managing the second line of defence on the 198-km International Border whereas the BSF is at the forefront. On several occasions, Army installations of this corps have been targeted by terrorists after infiltrating from across the border. Being close to the border, the alertness of Army in the area has to be high to thwart any aggression of Pakistan.
editorial@tribune.com

Amir Karim Tantray

Tribune News Service

Jammu, March 3

Even as India and Pakistan are up in arms against each other after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, people living on the Line of Control (LoC) are bearing the brunt of the hostility between the two countries.

They are facing bullets as well as shelling from across the LoC and cant even leave their homes in search of safer areas.

Not a single person has left his home in three tehsils of Poonch district, namely Mankote, Balakote and Mendhar, which are the most affected areas due to heavy shelling from the Pakistani side.

So far, four persons have lost their lives in the fresh round of truce violation since February 14 in Poonch district whereas six have been injured. There has been damage to property as well as livestock. Around 1.5 lakh people are living within the radius of zero to five km on the 225-km LoC in the Jammu region which begins at the Chicken Neck area in Akhnoor and goes up to Anganpathri area of Poonch. Most of the population here is affected by truce violation.

There has been no support from the administration in arranging alternative accommodations for people at the time of distress.

Even after heavy shelling, the administration hasnt come to the rescue of people. Not a single relief camp has been established anywhere in all three tehsils of Poonch district. People have been forced to suffer in the war zone, Nadeem Khan, a youth leader of Mendhar, told The Tribune.

Poonch Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav said: We have not evacuated any person. The administration is aware of the situation and will provide help whenever needed.
Without Saying a Word, Israeli Troops Beat Up a Blind Man in His Bed

By Gideon Levy

March 02, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Hes lying on the living room sofa, next to the gas stove, trying to warm his broken body. When we visited him this week, he had just returned from the hospital and was worn out from the dialysis treatment he has been undergoing three times a week for the 11 years since his kidneys stopped functioning, as a consequence of severe diabetes.

Before that, 15 years ago, he started to lose his sight, and for the past few years he has been completely blind. Also, over the course of the last six years, he has gradually had to have toes amputated, operation after operation. His face is sallow from the dialysis.

Physically shattered, he lies there, barely able to move. He needs help getting up; hes incapable of doing anything on his own. Every few months, he travels to Jordan for the catheterization of the blood vessels in his legs, which are becoming blocked.

So yes, Munzer Mizhar, 47, is a very sick man. Still, last week, that didnt stop Israeli soldiers from pummeling him mercilessly, even after the neighbors had warned them that he was sick. Nor was his wife, an eyewitness to the attack, able to prevent the abuse of her husband despite her shouts that he was blind, too.

Nothing helped. The fists landed on his face  the blue marks are still visible, particularly below his dead eyes, now blood-red. He also has wounds on his shoulders and both hands  from his attempts to ward off the brutal assault.

It all happened while he was in his bed after 4 A.M. on February 20.

A medical technician, Mizhar was employed in a laboratory belonging to the Palestinian Authority but had to take early retirement because of his deteriorating health. He speaks good English. He and his wife Iman have four sons, the oldest 18 and triplets of 16. Iman, who is 45, has cancer, for which shes treated at Augusta Victoria Hospital in East Jerusalem, and in Jordan.

Her condition is good. She joined the conversation in their house this week but grew pale as it proceeded and had to lie down several times, eyes closed, tears welling up. The trauma of her husbands beating is still vivid, painful and hard for her to bear, perhaps even more than for him. Family members say she cowers in fright whenever the horrors of that night are recalled. They live in a well-kept home in the town of Dawha near Bethlehem.

That Wednesday, Munzer was awakened at about 4:45 A.M. by the sound of footsteps in the house. He woke his wife. He thought that maybe his sons were wandering about in the dark.

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His wife opened her eyes and screamed. He didnt understand what was going on. At first they thought burglars had broken in. But Iman saw shadowy figures who had entered their room, while red laser beams sliced through the darkness toward their bed.

The specters moved without sound. Later it would emerge that the troops had silently broken down the door. After an instant, Iman realized that the intruders were soldiers. They were masked, five or six of them in the bedroom, aiming their rifles at the couple. More troops waited outside.

Iman got out of the bed, her hair exposed to the eyes of the men who had invaded her room  a very sensitive matter for them, which Munzer refers to with pain. One soldier approached the bed and without a word punched Munzer in the face. Munzer is convinced that the assailant wore brass knuckles. His face began to bleed, with a lot of blood streaming from his nose, as well as from the wounds on his hands, which ultimately failed to protect his face. He saw nothing, of course.

The West Bank town of Dawha, near Bethlehem. Alex Levac

Iman, standing next to the bed, went on shouting, but the soldiers blocked her from defending her husband. She tried to explain that he was blind and sick, but it was useless. Probably none of the soldiers understood Arabic. The soldier held Munzers head with one hand and hit him relentlessly with the other, she says. The others just stood there. The beating went on for at least five minutes.

A light in the bathroom scattered a little light into the room. Outside it was still dark, and the soldiers didnt turn on the lights inside. Maybe thats why they didnt notice that the person being abused was helpless, blind and sick. Munzer asked the soldiers who they were. He got no reply. Iman told them she wanted to talk with the officer in charge. No one responded. Finally the blows ceased.

Iman sat Munzer up in the bed. He asked her where the children were. Then she helped him get up and led him toward a chair in the room. At first the soldiers wouldnt allow Munzer, his face streaked with blood, to sit down. They didnt ask him to identify himself and didnt say who they were looking for.

Before this his eldest son, Talal, had awoken and heard his parents shouting that there were burglars in the house. Then, from the doorway, he saw his father bleeding. His brothers also woke up. The soldiers refused to let them enter their parents room and ordered them to raise their hands. One of the sons was overcome with dizziness and fell to the floor.

The soldiers were in the house for about 20 minutes. They didnt search for anything. None of them thought to offer the wounded Munzer medical attention. Munzer says the worst thing is that a blind person doesnt know when the next blow is coming.

Why did they hit him?

You dont know why? his sister Maysoun, a bitter smile on her lips, asks us. Im afraid to talk because youre Jews. They beat us all. The occupation beats us all. We are under occupation. This isnt the first time they beat someone for no reason, and its not the last. Whats new about it is that this time they beat a blind person.

One of the boys suggests a different explanation: Maybe they struck his father because he has a beard? True, not a full beard, but still a small beard that raises suspicion.

Munzer Mizhar with his wife, Iman, and his sister, at home in the West Bank town of Dawha. Alex Levac

Maysoun is concerned that now her brother wont be allowed to travel to Jordan in June for his regular medical treatments. We tried to reassure her  after all, he didnt do anything.

In any case, back on that Wednesday morning, the soldiers ordered the four boys to get on their knees, faces pressed to the floor, and not to move. Then they left the house.

Munzer was taken to Hussein Hospital in Beit Jala. Since the event, he has suffered from pains in his jaw and has difficulty eating solid food. To see him lying on the sofa totally helpless, trying to find a comfortable position, the remnants of his feet bandaged, occasionally closing his eyes, is to understand what the soldiers wrought.

The next day the family learned that the soldiers had been looking for Fadi Hilweh, 20, whos wanted by the army and the Shin Bet security service, though its not clear why. He lives on the floor above. The soldiers went there first, and when they didnt find him, a Shin Bet agent known as Capt. Nidal ordered Hilwehs mother to contact him and have him come home.

In the meantime, the soldiers went downstairs to the Mizhars. The neighbors say that they too warned the soldiers that Munzer was blind and sick, but no one was interested. Munzer wants to know why they didnt knock on the door instead of invading the house. He would have opened the door and they could have seen for themselves that Hilweh wasnt there.

Hilweh eventually came home and was arrested. Did the soldiers think that Munzer was the wanted person, so they beat him? Even in the dark, no one could mistake a sick, blind man of 47 for a 20-year-old. Maybe they thought [the wanted man] was Munzer, and maybe theyre just violent criminals, Maysoun says. Musa Abu Hashhash, a field researcher for the BTselem human rights group, says quietly, This is the most shocking case Ive ever documented.

The IDF Spokesmans Office made the following statement to Haaretz: During an operation to apprehend a wanted individual in Bethlehem, information was received that the wanted person was inside a particular building, and a search was undertaken there. During the search, a Palestinian woman tried to prevent one of the fighters from reaching a Palestinian man in the room that the fighter wanted to inspect. The fighter tried to check the Palestinian man, who reacted by grabbing at his body and his weapon, and shouted and acted disruptively. The fighter pushed the Palestinian aggressively, trying to get him under control, and as a result the man was injured. At this stage the fighter realized that the man was blind, and was not the wanted person, and tried to calm him down while allowing the mans wife to attend to him immediately. The incident was investigated and appropriate conclusions were drawn.

Iman has been in a state of depression and constant fear since that night. The boys ask whether the soldiers will come back. The family has added an extra lock to the front door. Munzer can only focus on his illness and his pain. He wakes up each every night imagining that he hears footsteps in the dark. Hes certain that the soldiers are returning to give him another thrashing.

This article was originally published by

"

Haaretz

" -
Col HP Singh (retd)

Col HP Singh (retd)

THE nation is full of praise for the defence forces following the air strike on our belligerent neighbour. The forces have always risen to the occasion whenever the country has demanded. With sabre-rattling and war-mongering is gaining ground, TRPs of various channels are being steered by stories, discussions and episodes of everything connected with the uniformed community.

I am reminded of a similar situation years ago. It was during a Christmas Eve bash when we learnt that our Junior Command Course had been cancelled and mobilisation ordered following a terrorist attack on Parliament. Within hours we were in military special trains, taking precedence for movement even over Rajdhani and Shatabdi expresses. The families were to be shed en route at the nearest railway station to our home towns while we were to carry on to join our paltans closer to the border/LoC. Patriotic crowds greeted us at stations carrying fruits, eatables, tea and cans of milk, serving us with abundant love and respect. The media, politicians and the local administration turned up to assure us that they stood with us in this national crisis. A few requested me to be photographed with them in my camouflage fatigues, holding my year-old daughter in my arms and my wife smiling at the camera, concealing her anxiety.

On arrival, we got ready for the mission, prepared the equipment, topped up the fuel tanks and awaited orders to advance westwards. The orders never came and the hysteria soon died down. After months of deployment, we returned from the forgotten front without any media glare or heart-warming receptions. Life was back to normal with the struggle for accommodation, railway reservation and school admission necessitated due to mid-session transfers.

Today, it is deja vu again, when one witnesses patriotic sloganeering and expressions of solidarity with soldiers. A soldier will never let his countrymen down and will be ever ready to risk his life whenever the nation demands. Once the war clouds are over, he will humbly continue with his life without any expectation of recognition. He knows that public memory is short. He will nevertheless remain hopeful that promises made to him will be fulfilled and he wont need to justify the few perks he got for his routine job. He will, however, yearn for honour and glory which he carries with him to the grave.

A soldier values the cheering, eulogies, sweets, fruits and cans of milk, but he would be indebted if we stand by his family if he is maimed or martyred and not force his kin to stage a demonstration to earn their rightful emoluments. It is time to prove Rudyard Kipling wrong: In times of war and not before, Gods and soldiers we adore. But in times of peace and all things righted, God is forgotten and the soldier slighted.
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

Three key operatives, including a Pakistan spy agency ISI Colonel, were killed in the February 26 Indian Air Force strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp at Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, sources have said.

There are also unconfirmed reports of JeM founder Masood Azhars death due to injuries. However, a Pakistan TV channel, quoting sources close to the family of the JeM chief, said Azhar is alive, without elaborating on his health condition.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had yesterday said Azhar was being treated at a hospital.

Inter-Services Intelligence Colonel Salim Qari, JeM trainer Maulana Moeen and the handler of Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Dar were among those killed in the IAF assault.

Colonel Qari was the trainer for almost three generations of suicide bombers and had carried out covert operations in India and Afghanistan. The ISI officer used to stay at the JeM camp.

There is credible human and technical intelligence to suggest Moeen, a bomb maker, was killed along with Dars handler. Sources said the number of terrorists killed in the Balakot strike was nearly 30 and not 250-300.

The airstrikes hit all terror safe houses, except the main building, located on a hilltop at Balakot where a sprawling 4.5-acre campus exists.

Though the Balakot terror camp usually holds 250-300 trainee terrorists, Pakistan had moved out most of them apprehending a strike. That night (February 26), no more than 80-100 terrorists were there, the sources said.

Neither the Indian Government nor the IAF had claimed 300 casualties, as was being reported by the media based on the usual average strength of the terror camp.

Data and imagery with the government indicate the Popeye air-to-surface missiles fired from Mirage 2000 fighter jets had hit the designated targets.

India also has inputs that its embassy in Afghanistan capital Kabul and consulates in Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif may be targeted by the JeM in retaliation, with the terror outfit now under pressure from Pakistan not to hit targets inside India.

ISI colonel, Pulwama handler eliminated

ISI Colonel Salim Qari, JeM trainer Maulana Moeen and Pulwama suicide bombers handler among those killed

All terror safe houses, except the main building on the 4.5-acre JeM camp, destroyed by IAF missiles

Only 80-100 terrorists present at time of strike. Pak moved out most of 250-300 trainee terrorists fearing strike

Indian Kabul embassy and two consulates in Afghanistan on alert as these may be targeted by JeM in retaliation

Hurting national interest

"Cong-led UPA from 2004 to 2014 ran a terrible government. From 2014 to 2019, it was even a more terrible Opposition. Their statements have hurt Indias national interest. They give smiles to Pakistan to discredit India"Arun Jaitley, FM

Aim was to send message

"The purpose of the airstrikes was not to cause human casualty but to send out the message that India is capable of hitting deep inside enemy lines. Neither PM Modi nor any government spokesperson had given any figure on the casualty. The media and social media did that"SS Ahluwalia, Union Minister

Why question those asking

"Calling those who question veracity of strikes anti-national is baffling. Opposition should not fall into trap of changing entire poll discourse from pressing issues... How does it help the enemies? Only puts govt in tight spot." Mehbooba Mufti, PDP chief
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, March 3

One of Jammu and Kashmirs longest anti-militancy operations in recent times concluded with the killing of two militants, including a Pakistan national, in the frontier Kupwara district this morning.

The 60-hour operation in Babagund area claimed the lives of five security men, including a CRPF Inspector and two policemen. A civilian was also killed in clashes that erupted near the site on Friday.

The police said the operation in the congested village posed considerable difficulties to security forces due to the topography. The area where the terrorists were hiding was congested and civilians in adjoining houses had to be evacuated to safer places, a police spokesperson said.

Swayam Prakash Pani, IGP, Kashmir, said the material recovered from the scene suggested they were Lashkar-e-Toiba militants. While one is Pakistani terrorist Kalimullah, the other is being identified, said Pani.

Sources said the holed-up militants were battle-hardened as they kept shifting their location within the cordoned village. After a cordon and search operation was launched late on Thursday, the first contact with the hiding militants was established around 1 am on Friday.

In the first four hours of the gunfight, security forces believed they had eliminated militants hiding in a house, which was razed to the ground. As they were combing the debris on Friday afternoon after a lull of hours, a militant hiding in a nearby area opened fire, killing four security men and injuring six others, including a CRPF Commandant.

An injured CRPF jawan, Head Constable SN Yadav, 48, a resident of Ghazipur, UP, succumbed to the injuries on Sunday morning.

After the initial setback, joint teams of security forces, including Special Forces commandos, painstakingly carried out the operation across a 2-km radius to avert further casualties. Early today, they launched a final assault and killed both holed-up militants.

At least five structures, including three houses, were blown up during the operation.
editorial@tribune.com

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 3

Amid the prevailing India-Pakistan situation in the run-up to the General Election, political parties continue to play politics over the issue, accusing each other of hurting the nations interest by indulging in such lowly act.

Even as Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman undergoes medical examination following his release, political heat is rising over fixing responsibility for delay in procurement of Rafale fighter jets, which would have served him better.

While the BJP is using its Vijay Sankalp rallies to drive home the point of it being the best party to lead India, its rivals are working hard to prove otherwise. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who today slammed those voicing opinions that hurt Indias interests, said what disappointed him the most, apart from what TMC leader Mamata Banerjee said and the joint statement of Opposition parties, was this brief but a highly objectionable statement of former Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh.

Jaitley said while receiving the PV Narasimha Rao Award for lifetime achievement, Manmohan Singh said he was disturbed with the mad rush of mutual self-destruction by the two nations and further went on to argue that poverty, ignorance and disease were the real problems in the two countries and that saner counsel on both sides needed to think on the issue.

The former PM elevated himself to the status of a neutral third party rather than being concerned about Indias interest and further developed a theory of parity and equivalence between both India and Pakistan. The perpetrator and the victim of terrorism are both on par according to him, Jaitley said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also critcised those questioning the Indian Air Forces recent preemptive strikes against militant camps in Pakistan. But that did not stop him from projecting the BJP as a better option to manage New India. At a time when our armed forces are fighting enemies across border and within India, some people are making statements to please Pakistan, he said.

The Congress, meanwhile, claimed Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is a friend of Pakistan PM Imran Khan, played a role in the release. Congress leader Manish Tewari blamed Modi for the Pulwama attacks, while Salman Khurshid, commending Abhinandan for his bravery, said he became a fighter pilot during UPA years. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh too demanded proof of IAFs Balakot strikes.

At another rally in MP, BJP chief Amit Shah questioned, When Sonia-Manmohan Singh were in power, did they launch a counter operation following a strike? Clearly, the Balakot strike will remain the thrust of political campaign along with delay in procurement of Rafael jets.

Ex-PM Manmohan Singh elevated himself to the status of a neutral third party. The perpetrator and the victim of terrorism are both on par according to him. Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister

Wg Cdr Abhinandan Varthaman became a fighter pilot during UPA years. We are proud that he received his wings in 2004 and matured as fighter pilot during UPA . Salman Khurshid, Congress Leader
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

New Delhi, March 3

Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman today underwent debriefings by security agencies even as his medical check-up continued for the second day at a military hospital here, officials said.

A number of senior Indian Air Force officials also met Varthaman, who was brought to Delhi after he returned to India from Pakistan through the Attari-Wagah border late Friday night.

Wing Commander Vartha-man was debriefed by the security agencies and it will continue for the next couple of days. He also underwent several medical tests as part of a cooling down process, the officials said.

The efforts have been to ensure that he returns to the cockpit soon, a military official said. The IAF pilot was captured by the Pakistani army on Wednesday after his MiG-21 Bison jet was shot down in a dogfight with Pakistani jets. He downed an F-16 fighter of Pakistan before his plane was hit.  PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

United Nations, March 4

France, which assumed the March Presidency of the United Nations Security Council, has reiterated its support for India as the permanent member of the powerful UN organ, saying the UNSCs enlargement is the first crucial part towards its reform.

India has been calling for the reform of the UN Security Council along with Brazil, Germany and Japan for long, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.

France, a veto-wielding permanent member of the 15-nation Security Council, last month moved a fresh proposal in the UNSC along with the US and the UK to designate Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

Reiterating its support for India, Germany and Japan as permanent members of an expanded Council, France said that enlargement of the powerful UN organ in both permanent and non-permanent categories is the first crucial part towards UNSC reform.

We want enlargement of the Security Council in the two categories of non-permanent and permanent categories--India, Brazil, Germany and Japan--and equitable representation of Africans and so that is the first crucial part of it, French Permanent Representative to the UN Francois Delattre told reporters here on Friday.

Delattre, at a joint press briefing with the German envoy to the UN Christoph Heusgen, said the key to UN reform is openness through three different areas--the openness of the Security Council that entails expansion of the 15-nation, partnership and openness to civil society.

Germany will take over the Presidency in April.

That is a strategic aim that France has and I do believe it is Germanys strategic aim as well...If we believe in the UN and the representative nature of the Security Council, we need to ensure that enlargement (of UNSC) be a success sooner rather than later, Delattre said.

He stressed that the UN could not be recognised as a centre of gravity for multilateralism throughout the world unless it could step up partnerships and focus should also be made on openness to civil society, business world, NGOs and trade unions, which are all stakeholders that breathe life into the UN.

The reform of the Security Council through its enlargement is one of the key areas and key priorities of our diplomacy, Delattre said.

The German Ambassador pointed out that the Security Council, in its present composition, did not reflect the realities of this world.

France and Germany spoke with one voice in this and we need to have reforms, Heusgen said, adding, If you dont reform the Security Council, it will lose legitimacy and, therefore, I think we should really work forward.

France has maintained that if the crisis of recent times has confirmed the centrality of the UN, they have also reinforced the need to make the organisation more effective and more representative of the current balances in the world.

That is why France pushes for the expansion of the Security Council by supporting the accession to a permanent seat of Germany, Brazil, India, Japan, as well as a greater presence of African countries, according to the Permanent Mission of France.

India is at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reforms of the Security Council.

Last week, Indias Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said on the issue of Categories of Membership, a total of 113 member states out of the 122 which submitted their positions in the Framework Document, supported expansion in both of the existing categories specified in the Charter.

In short, more than 90 per cent of the written submissions in the document are in favour of expansion in both categories of membership specified in the Charter, he said during the informal meeting of the plenary on the inter-governmental negotiations on the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the UNSC.

Earlier, Akbaruddin had said that while reform at the UN is a process rather than an event, there is no process known to us here that has traversed winding pathways in the manner as this process of the Reform of the Security Council.

In terms of inertia too, it has no peer. While the world is not what it was when we began the process, the objections to moving forward remain the same.

While the global challenges of the 21st century have multiplied, we remain divided even about the process to adopt in order to move forward, he had said. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, March 4

IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa today avoided the ongoing political controversy, saying the IAF does not count casualties but the airstrike at Balakot had hit the target.

The IAF had struck a terror camp of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pakistan on February 26 and since then neither the IAF nor the government has listed the number of casualties. However, the media has been saying that nearly 300 terrorists were killed.

EDIT: Going ballistic over Balakot

The IAF Chief was speaking at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu for the first time since the attack at Balakot in Pakistans Khyber Paktunkhwa province. We dont count human casualties. We count what targets we have hit or not hit, the IAF Chief said.

The bomb damage assessment only calculates the target that has been hit or not hit, he said, adding: We cant count how many people have died. That depends on how many people were there. He said a statement on the number of terrorists killed would be made by the government.

On reports suggesting the bombs were dropped away from the target, he said: Had the IAF dropped bombs in a jungle, there would have been no need for Pakistan to respond. If we plan to hit the target, we hit the target.

On the MiG-21 still being used, the IAF Chief said: The MiG-21 Bison is in our inventory, why not use it? It has been upgraded. It has got a better weapons system, better radars and better air-to-air missiles. The IAF Chief refused to be drawn into a commentary on what difference the Rafale could have made, saying: The Prime Minister has made a statement. I will not comment on that.

Needlessly targeted by Oppn

If this (airstrike) is done for polls, were there polls when we carried out the first surgical strikes (in 2016)? My objective is to end terror, while that of the Opposition is to remove me.  Narendra Modi, Prime Minister

Move to deepen divide

The targeting of Kashmiris, calls for abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A are turning this battle against terrorism into battles against Kashmiris and Muslims to deepen communal divide.  Sitaram Yechury, CPM

No faith in jumla jodi

We all believe the armed forces. Are proud of them. We don't believe the Jumla Jodi. Are U sending our soldiers to die without a plan? Or purpose?... Or is your purpose only to win an election (sic)?  Derek OBrien, TMC

Was it election gimmick?

300 terrorists dead, Yes or No? What was the purpose then? Were you uprooting terrorists or trees? Was it an election gimmick? Deceit possesses our land in guise of fighting a foreign enemy.  Navjot Sidhu, Punjab minister

PM must apologise

We have clearly stated our stand. From where this figure of 250-300-350 is coming, including that by Amit Shah... The PM says IAF would have been stronger if we had Rafale. He must apologise...  RPN Singh, Cong
amansharma@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, March 4

A fighter jet of the Indian Air Force on Monday shot down a Pakistani military drone in Bikaner sector of the Indo-Pak border using an air-to-air missile, government sources said.

The Pakistani drone was shot down by a Sukhoi-30 aircraft at around 11.30 am, minutes after a ground-based radar station detected the flying machine, they said.

It was the second unsuccessful attempt by Pakistan to send a spy drone inside India in the last six days.

The radar station in the area detected the enemy drone following which one of the fighter jets deployed in the area shot it down, they said.

The downing of the drone came in the midst of heightened tension between India and Pakistan after IAF struck a terrorist training camp in Pakistans Balakot and subsequent retaliation by Islamabad.

A Pakistani drone was shot down by India on February 27 along Indo-Pak border in Kutch in Gujarat.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, March 3

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammads audacious terrorist strikes, part of its Ghazwa-e-Hind (Holy War Against India), have turned it into one of the most deadly terror groups and brought India and Pakistan on the brink of war twice in two decades, officials said.

India and Pakistan were almost on the brink of war in 2001 when the JeM attacked the Indian Parliament, and again now after the February 14 suicide attack on a CRPF bus in Pulwama, which killed 40 jawans.

The terrorist group, with close links with al-Qaida, had resolved at a conference held in Okara district in Pakistan on November 27, 2017, that it would continue its Ghazwa-e-Hind irrespective of the Indo-Pak ties, the official said.

The JeM, which had close links with slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, was formed after the release of terror mastermind Masood Azhar from an Indian jail on December 31, 1999, after the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked on December 24, 1999.

When bin Laden was cornered in Tora Bora and the Pakistani army was forced to hold one side of the cordon of these vast caves, the JeM became the conduit to bring fighters and their families from Afghanistan into safe havens in Pakistan, run by JeM and another deadly terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, the official said.

It is widely believed that to help bin Laden flee Tora Bora, JeM carried out the attack on Parliament in New Delhi, leading to a war-like situation between India and Pakistan after Indian armed forces were mobilised along the countrys western border, another official said. This provided a pretext to the Pakistani army to withdraw much of its forces from its western border, which were in cordon of the Tora Bora caves, thus helping the escape of bin Laden to Pakistan.  PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Jamnagar, March 4

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday got Kochi in Kerala and Karachi in Pakistan mixed up in a slip of the tongue but quickly covered it up by saying that his mind these days is preoccupied with the neighbouring country.

Extolling the virtues of the Ayushman Bharat health scheme, Modi said it allowed a resident of Jamnagar to avail treatment anywhere in the country, be it Kolkata or Karachi.

Almost in the same breath, the PM set things right by telling the gathering he meant Kochi and not Karachi.

Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if a resident of Jamangar has gone to Bhopal and falls sick, he need not come back to Jamnagar for treatment. If he shows his (Ayushman Bharat) beneficiary card, he will get free treatment even in Kolkata and even in Karachi, Modi told a gathering here.

He, however, added, Not Karachi but Kochi. Nowadays my mind is preoccupied with the thoughts of the neighbouring country.

But that (air strike in Pakistan) was also necessary.

Should that be done or not? he posed to the crowd which replied its assent with a round of applause.

Modi was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a 750-bed annexe building of Guru Govind Singh Hospital here.  PTI
By Ray McGovern

VIPSers Binney & Johnson use the forensics that the FBI avoided doing.

http://theduran.com/why-the-dnc-was-not-hacked-by-the-russians/?mc_cid=ed71b42640&mc_eid=913e2dde99

March 02, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Thinking back, President Barack Obama dropped a huge hint two days before he left office, using his last press conference to point out that the conclusions of the intelligence community regarding how WikiLeaks received the DNC emails were inconclusive. The nerve! Daring to say that just 13 days after the U.S. intelligence Gang of Four briefed Obama up and down on their evidence-free assessment that WikiLeaks got the DNC emails via a Russian hack.

This was one time Obama summoned the courage to face down James (the-Russians-are-almost-genetically-driven-to-deceive) Clapper and other intelligence chiefs. After all, Obama is a lawyer. He does evidence. In contrast, ex-CIA Director John Brennan, told Congress that he does not do evidence.

Back in the day, the intelligence community did evidence. As soon as the evidence-impoverished Intelligence Community Assessment was published on January 6, 2017, members of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) smelled a rat. That same day, former NSA Technical Director William Binney and Ray published The Dubious Case on Russian Hacking,

[ https://consortiumnews.com/2017/01/06/the-dubious-case-on-russian-hacking/ ].

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Then came The Gaping Holes of Russia-gate,

[ https://consortiumnews.com/2017/05/20/the-gaping-holes-of-russia-gate/ ], and in July 2017 VIPS published their key forensic-based study Intel Vets Challenge Russian Hack Evidence,

[ https://consortiumnews.com/2017/07/24/intel-vets-challenge-russia-hack-evidence/ ], followed by More Holes in the Russia-gate Narrative.

[ https://consortiumnews.com/2017/09/20/more-holes-in-russia-gate-narrative/ ], by Binney and Ray.

Even Michael Cohen admitted yesterday that he had no direct evidence that Mr. Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. But, he added, I have my suspicions. We intelligence analysts, back in the day, did not do suspicions.

There are 1,001 other reasons to impeach President Donald Trump, if Nancy Pelosi had the courage. But politics, not the Constitution, reigns supreme in the peoples House to which Founders bestowed an orderly political process to get rid of such a president. Shame on them all.

Ray came to Washington from his native Bronx in the early Sixties as an Army infantry/intelligence officer and then served as a CIA analyst for 27 years, from the administration of John F. Kennedy to that of George H. W. Bush. Rays duties included chairing National Intelligence Estimates and preparing the

This article was originally published by " Information Clearing House " -
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Lucknow, March 3

Notwithstanding his differences with the BJP, Shatrughan Sinha said on Sunday he would not change his constituency in the coming Lok Sabha elections whatever the situation, making clear he would contest again from Patna Sahib, irrespective of the party decision.

Situation kuchh bhi ho, location wahi hogi (Whatever the situation, location will be the same), he said over the phone from Ranchi. The sitting Patna Sahib MP has been at loggerheads with the BJP leadership since the 2015 Bihar elections.He has often taken a stance at variance with the official party line, demonetisation and GST included, and shared the stage with Opposition leaders at an anti-BJP rally in Kolkata in January, where he was projected as the star speaker.

On a recent visit to Lucknow, he had met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, giving rise to speculation that his wife Poonam Sinha may enter active politics from the Uttar Pradesh capital, that is currently represented by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Asked about it, the actor-turned-politician said he would neither confirm nor deny this. Poonam Sinha has been busy with social work for long. She is liked by all. People want her to contest but whether this will happen or not only time will tell, Shatrughan Sinha, 72, said.

Following his meeting with Yadav, there was also a talk that Sinha could contest the General Election, which must be held by May, on a Samajwadi Party ticket.

He had also visited the Samajwadi Party headquarters and joined Yadav on Jai Prakash Jayanti programme with Yashwant Sinha.  PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Bengaluru, March 4

Former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah on Monday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his purported political potshot at Congress president Rahul Gandhi while answering a question by a student on dyslexia.

Targeting Modi, Siddaramaiah tweeted: Just came across a video of our @narendramodi taking political potshots using the name of dyslexic people. Shame on you Modi!! You just cant go below this. Your insensitivity cant be washed away by dipping in any river. They may be slow in learning but not heartless like you.

Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao also hit out at Modi for the reported jibe.

Posting a video of the Prime Minister making that comment, Rao tweeted on Sunday, If there was ever a classless crude Prime Minister India has seen, heres one. Yuck!

During a video interaction, a girl on Sunday sought to know from Modi the measures taken by the government to benefit dyslexic children.

Before she even finished her question, the Prime Minister made a comment purported to be a political jibe at Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Modi asked the student whether the scheme for dyslexic people she was talking about would benefit a 40- or 50-year-old child. He then said the mother of such children would be very much happy. PTI
sanjiv@tribunemail.com

Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has formed a 12-member committee on Sunday to chart modalities on election campaign in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the partys secretary general Partha Chatterjee said. The panel would look into the applications by aspiring candidates to fight the elections and forward those to the party supremo Mamata Banerjee, Chatterjee said. Out of 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, TMC won 34 seats, the Congress got four and the BJP and CPM won two each in the 2014 General Election. PTI

Kumaraswamys son from Mandya LS seat?

Bengaluru: Asserting that the JD(S) would contest from Mandya constituency, its bastion, in the coming Lok Sabha election, the party leadership on Sunday indicated CM HD Kumaraswamys son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is likely to be the candidate. Nikhils candidature will mark the entry of former PM HD Deve Gowdas second grandson into electoral politics, as the JD(S) patriarch has already indicated that Prajwal Revanna is likely to be the party candidate from Hassan. The assertion to claim Mandya came as the Congress and the JD(S) have decided to fight Lok Sabha elections together. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Lucknow, March 4

Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for saying Rafale jets could have given better results for India in hitting a Jaish camp in Pakistan, BSP chief Mayawati on Monday asked the BJP government at the Centre why not a single Rafale fighter was inducted in the IAF during its rule.

Rafale fighter could have prove useful in fight against Pakistan, claims PM Modi in his rallies. Even then not a single Rafale inducted into IAF fleet during his government. Better explain people why this kind of lapse and neglect even by the BJP on the issue of countrys safety and security? Mayawati said in a tweet.

Last week after the Indian Air Force struck a Jaish-e-Mohammad camp in Balakot, about 80 km from the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Modi said, Rafale fighters could have delivered even better results.

His reference was apparently to the stealth of Rafale, an air-dominance aircraft.

The Indian Air Force had deployed a dozen Mirage-2000 aircraft to hit the target.

A Jaish terrorist camp was destroyed and up to 350 terrorists were killed in the air strike on February 26, officials sources have said.

On Sunday, BJP president Amit Shah said more than 250 terrorists were killed.

Modi had also said the Rafale jet deal was not finalised by the previous government for vested interests and now an effort is on to hamper it for political reasons.

The first of the 36 Rafale fighters purchased from France is expected to arrive in India by September this year. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Aman Sood

Tribune News Service

Patiala, March 4

A week after The Tribune highlighted the VIP treatment being given to an arrested police IG, the jail department on Monday suspended the Patiala jail superintendent and demanded senior jail staffs explanation.

Jails Minister Sukhjinder Randhawa said that based on the report in The Tribune he got a probe conducted that established that the jail staff was at fault. We have suspended the jail superintendent and called for an explanation from senior jail officials, he said.

It was reported that the IPS officer, Paramraj Umranangal, accused in the unprovoked police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan in October 2015, was getting VIP treatment in the Patiala jail, where he is lodged.

The Jails department has allowed two of his personal security gunmen, attached with the IG before his arrest, in the Central Jail against the Punjab Jail Manual.

Already a high-security prison, secured by jail and district police, it is covered by CCTV cameras and no extra security is allowed to any high-profile inmate. The jail department has gone out of its way and allowed two personal security gunmen of Punjab Police in the jail barracks, sources said.

According to the jail manual, no inmate is allowed personal security and only jail guards and officials are allowed near the barracks. The manual says no visitors are allowed near the barracks and even jail officials can access the area only while on duty.

Sources say at least two of the three gunmen drawn from Punjab Police were shifted to the jail within a day in the name of tightening jail security. These policemen were allowed to stay in the jail the entire night. The gunmen are repeatedly allowed in and out of the jail, they allege.

Jails department senior officials said the IG was given the additional facility as the jail had 30 to 35 gangsters and the tempers are already running high in the unprovoked police firing at Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan.

Jail Superintendent Jaspal Singh had admitted that the IG had been given the additional security owing to the threat perception to his life in the wake of the case in which he was arrested.

We had sounded Punjab Police that provided us three gunmen who were already attached with the IG and they have been attached with the jail security now. Besides that no VIP treatment is being given to him, he claimed.

Former Moga SSP Charanjit Singh Sharma, another accused in the case of killing two Sikh protesters in the wake of the protest against sacrilege incidents, is also lodged in the same jail.

Sharma had appealed to the court not to send him to Faridkot or Ferozepur jails as he had worked as Moga SSP in 2014-15, and many criminals nabbed during his stint there were currently lodged in these jails. The Jails department had shifted him from Faridkot to the Patiala jail on February 7.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 3

In a major pre-election haul, the Jalandhar (rural) police today busted a gang of inter-state liquor peddlers with the arrests of three persons along with 885 cartons of illegal liquor being smuggled into Punjab from Chandigarh.

SSP Navjot Mahal said the police had arrested Jalandhar Singh, resident of Tarn Taran, Gagandeep Singh of Ludhaina and Amandeep Dhiman of Phillaur. An FIR under Section 61 of the Excise Act has been registered at the Phillaur police station.

The SSP said they got a tip-off that liquor would be smuggled into Punjab in the wake of the ensuing elections. He said police sources divulged that Babbu, who was heading a gang of interstate smugglers, was trying to send illegal liquor from other states to Punjab. He said there was information that the liquor would be smuggled in a truck being driven by Jalandhar Singh of Tarn Taran.

Subsequently, the checking of vehicles was done near the Sutlej bridge in Phillaur. During this, a truck coming from Ludhiana was intercepted and during the checking, 750 cartons of illegal liquor with the label Rajdhani Whiskey  for sale in Chandigarh only were recovered.

The SSP said the cops also intercepted a Bolero vehicle in which 135 cartons of whisky were found, all bearing the label for sale in Chandigarh only.

NCB nabs two drug peddlers

Chandigarh: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has recovered 495.2 kg of poppy husk and 2.65 kg of opium from two smugglers who were taking these from Madhya Pradesh to Ludhiana. Assistant Director, Narcotics Control Bureau, Mohinderjit Singh Boparai said an NCB team had caught the smugglers near the Lehra toll plaza on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road on Saturday night from a truck. The drugs were for local consumption, he said. He said the NCB team intercepted a truck and a TATA Indica car in which the smugglers came to receive the delivery. The drugs were kept amid solar setting panels and machinery parts in the truck. Three persons have been arrested. They belong to Ludhiana district. Further investigation is going on. TNS
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, March 3

A day after the video of two Ladhuwal toll plaza employees torturing an eight-year-old boy went viral, the Council of RTI Activists today filed a complaint to the Punjab State Human Rights Commission, Chandigarh, seeking registration of an FIR against the employees and officials of the plaza.

Toll plaza manager Chanchal Singh said the employees  Rahul and Pawanhad been sacked.

Arvind Sharma, Secretary of the Council of RTI Activists, in his complaint, alleged, Two employees maltreated the boy, who reportedly begging at the plaza, by tying him to a tree. The boy had suffered injuries on his hands. He said the toll plaza officials were also responsible for the incident as the duo was working under their guidance. He said the Chairman of Punjab Child Rights Commission has also been apprised of the incident and a request has been made to direct the police to register an FIR in the case.

ASI Sandeep Sharma said the employees had dissuaded the boy, living in a nearby shanty, from begging to avoid an accident on the busy road. But the boy was adamant. The duo, who had tied the boy to a tree, was about to inform his parents when a commuter shot a video and raised the alarm. He said the parents had not sought any action against the employees so far.

Maltreated, boy hurt

Two employees maltreated the boy, who reportedly begging at the plaza, by tying him to a tree. The boy had suffered injuries on his hands  Arvind Sharma, Secretary, Council of RTI Activists
editorial@tribune.com

Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 3

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal has called a meeting of the screening panel on March 10 in New Delhi to examine the candidature of short-listed candidates for the 13 Lok Sabha seats of the state.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, state in-charge Asha Kumari and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Sunil Jakhar will attend the meeting. The screening panel will recommend the names of three candidates per seat to the central election committee, which will take a final call.

PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar said the exercise to shortlist candidates has been done and the screening committee would examine their candidature before sending its recommendations to the central election committee.

However, the partys state election committee is learnt to have recommended re-nomination of the four sitting MPs  Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, Chaudhary Santokh Singh from Jalandhar, Ravneet Bittu from Ludhiana and Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur. Capt Amarinder Singhs wife Preneet Kaur is most likely to contest the Pataiala seat.

Not only the Delhi unit, Punjab leaders have also opposed any alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Any alliance between AAP and Akali Dal (Takasli) would eat into the vote share of the Akalis, benefiting the Congress, a senior party leader said. On the Anandpur Sahib seat, senior leaders hinted that senior leader Ambika Soni would take the final call. If not her son, Anoop Soni, a nominee of her choice will contest the seat, a party leader said.

Likely candidates

The state election committee of the Congress is learnt to have recommended re-nomination of four sitting MPs - Gurjit Aujla from Amritsar, Chaudhary Santokh Singh from Jalandhar, Ravneet Bittu from Ludhiana and Sunil Jakhar from Gurdaspur. Capt Amarinder Singh's wife Preneet Kaur is most likely to contest the Pataiala seat.
editorial@tribune.com

Our Correspondent

Fazilka, March 3

Amid rumours of party MP from Ferozepur Sher Singh Ghubaya joining the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal today visited several pockets of rural areas of his Jalalabad Assembly constituency.

Lashing out at the Congress government, he alleged that the Jalalabad residents were being harassed as the names of 16,000 persons had been deleted from the Atta-Dal beneficiary list, besides being denied old-age pension and shagun benefits.

Addressing the media after party workers meet in Jalalabad and Arniwala sub-tehsil, he said the development works had come to a halt and even Sewa Kendras had been shut down.

He alleged that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had failed to keep the promise of waiving loans of all farmers and provide job to every household.
Can an American Presidential Candidate Truly Be Anti-War? Tulsi Gabbard Is About to Find Out By Shane Ryan March 03, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Bernie Sanders has spoken out repeatedly against a potential war of regime change in Venezuela, as youd expect from the democratic-socialist who represents the greatest presidential hope of the American left, but in recent days, he has softened his stance with rhetoric that hews closely to the state departments line on Nicolas Maduro: The people of Venezuela are enduring a serious humanitarian crisis. The Maduro government must put the needs of its people first, allow humanitarian aid into the country, and refrain from violence against protesters.  Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) February 23, 2019 Anyone who has followed U.S. foreign policy knows how quickly humanitarian aid can turn into overt material support for far-right rebels seeking regime change, especially when the aid efforts are led by neocon ghouls like Elliott Abrams. It's a familiar playbook, and despite his broad anti-war stance, Sanders' reference to humanitarian aid and his anti-Maduro warning give a tacit nod to those in the Trump administration who want the Venezuelan president out by any means necessary. It also left just one presidential hopeful who stood firmly for unapologetic anti-interventionism: Hawaiian congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Tulsi Gabbard: The US should not be in the business of intervening in Venezuela and picking who should lead the country. And we certainly should not be threatening military action. The US needs to stay out of Venezuela and let the Venezuelan people determine their own future. pic.twitter.com/v5wW7lPdL3  Sarah Abdallah (@sahouraxo) February 4, 2019 Her logic makes senseif you believe that its not Americas job to police the world, and that, in fact, our attempts at intervention and regime change have uniformly ended in disaster for our enemies and ourselves, from central America to Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan and Libya, you simply cannot support a war of intervention. As she said in the video above, theres no justification. Period. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter To put it more simply, its imperative to ask these two questions about any potential war: 1. Can America win? 2. If America wins, will the other country or America itself be better off in the aftermath? If the answer to either question is no, then the war is a bad idea from a practical and ethical perspective. And as weve seen, time and time again, the answer to question two is always no. The juice is never worth the squeeze. Gabbard has served for 15 years in the Hawaii National Guard, and was deployed to Iraq for a 12-month tour in 2004 as part of a field medical unit, and again to Kuwait in 2008. Her firsthand experience with war has informed her foreign policy worldview, but this worldview is in direct conflict with the so-called blobthe Washington D.C. foreign policy establishment, in conjunction with the military-industrial complex, which encompasses powerful figures from both parties and generally believes in, and advocates for, war. Those who depart from the ruling doctrine of profit by aggression are deemed either fundamentally unserious or so serious as to be dangerous, and the pressure and influence exerted by the blob can be seen in how few so-called liberal candidates ever take a strong anti-war stance, and how some of those who doeven avowed progressives like Bernie Sanderscan be subtly bullied into echoing the power structure. Gabbard remains stubbornly opposed, and has faced a disproportionate number of attacks as a resulta clear indication that despite a relatively marginal status in the Democratic primary, her anti-war stance (in combination with her service history and her charisma) makes her a feared figure. The criticism from the establishment right is almost too obvious to discussthey make lots of money from war, are generally bellicose on foreign policy, and have shown an avowed refusal to learn from Americas litany of historical mistakes. Its the criticism from the left that raises an eyebrow, and much of it concerns the fact that Gabbards anti-interventionism echoes a different section of the political rightthe hard right, which is represented by the likes of Steve Bannon, and which is, despite Trumps drain-the-swamp campaign rhetoric, still utterly powerless. Heres Eoin Higgins, who has written critically on Gabbard for Paste, drawing the connection in New York last year: But a steady drumbeat of criticism from progressives claims that Gabbard also has sympathies with Steve Bannon-style nationalists on the hard right, whose foreign-policy view is also fundamentally anti-interventionist. Her detractors argue that her policy overlap with the hard right is consistent and substantive enough that it ought to undermine her credibility as someone who could represent consensus progressive values in the White House. If Gabbardism is a foreign-policy school of thought, it is perhaps best captured by her own words. In short, when it comes to the war against terrorists, Im a hawk, Gabbard told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald in 2016. When it comes to counterproductive wars of regime change, Im a dove. Its a sentiment that wouldnt be out of place in Ron Pauls 2008 presidential campaign  or in Pat Buchanans in 1992. Its easy to see the circular argument of the Gabbard detractors that Higgins references here: If theres a segment of the right that opposes wars of intervention, then its bad for anyone to oppose wars of intervention since the anti-interventionist right is bad. It divorces the issue from debateare wars of intervention good?and places it squarely in the realm of ideology by association. In this sense, theres no way for anyone on the left to justifiably oppose regime change in places like Iraq or Venezuela, and its a subtly effective way for the center-left and center-right to narrow the spectrum of acceptable opinion, to quote Noam Chomsky. What Gabbard represents, then, is an attempt to broaden that Overton Window, and that represents a direct threat to the Blob. Its no wonder that she has become such a massive target despite trailing almost everyone in the (admittedly early) polls. Which isnt to say that there are no legitimate foreign policy criticisms of Gabbard from the left. The criticism shes faced for her 2016 quote on being a hawk in matters of terrorism feels like thin grueltheres literally no Democratic candidate who will paint themselves as anything but tough on terrorism, whatever that actually meansand painting her as a nationalist because Steve Bannon said a few positive words for her and landed her a meeting at Trump Tower strikes me as equally unconvincing, since Gabbard never had a chance to influence a Trump administration and Bannon himself was soon whisked out for his foreign policy views when it became clear the swamp would not be drained. Nor does it seem especially troubling that, when pressed, she questioned the Trump administrations line on Syria at a time when it looked like an alleged chemical attack might be the basis of another regime change warquestioning such motives became fundamental and necessary after the WMD fiasco in Iraq (or the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam, or), even if she turned out to be wrong, and the fact that she made an enemy of Neera Tanden in the process is practically a badge of honor. And, at the risk of beating a dead horse, it all reverts to the same position anyway: Wars of intervention are a bad idea, regardless of the justification. Unsurprisingly, it turns out that many of Gabbards most vociferous critics on the left are those who support specific wars on moral grounds, with very little concern for the likely consequences, and treat her broader anti-war position as a policy of cruelty to the suffering people of the world. That said, Gabbard did support a punitive 2015 bill that would have made it extremely difficult for war refugees from Iraq and Syria to come to America, and she took a longer than expected timeuntil May 2017to stop accepting money from the defense sector. Then theres her affiliation with Hindu nationalists which have led many to suspect that a strain of Islamophobia runs through Gabbards politics (though, somewhat confusingly, she has also been accused of anti-Semitism due to an Arab-American group that paid for her to visit Assad in Syria). In addition, her appearance on Tucker Carlsons show Thursday night to tout her anti-war campaign is sure to frustrate and annoy the usual left-wing critics: Still, its no departureas she demonstrated by meeting with both Assad and Trump, and proved yet again with Tucker Carlson, Gabbard does not adhere to the usual line that simply talking with a reviled figure is the same as boosting that persons legitimacy. Ideas are paramount, and their dissemination critical. To her, there is little to be lost from talking, as she noted when she met Assad: I think we should be ready to meet with anyone if theres a chance it can bring about an end to this war, which is causing the Syrian people so much suffering. As she veers from doctrinaire thinking on this front, so she diverges on war. The Democratic primary is still young, but its already clear that Gabbard is the only candidate with the courage to stake out a hard, unwavering anti-war position. Whether she finds her constituency over the course of the campaign, or whether she remains near the bottom of the pack, the simple act of expressing that worldview will make her plenty of enemies among the rich and powerfulin America, criticizing war is tantamount to criticizing business and profit, and that simply wont stand. This article was originally published by " Paste Media " - Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Tulsi Gabbard Claims Anti-War Credentials After Accepting Over $100,000 From Arms Dealers ==See Also== Tulsi Gabbard is more of an anti-war candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat from Hawaii, is more of an anti-war candidate than Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or any other presidential candidate who has announced so far. She opposes regime change wars on principle, which no other high-profile politician has been willing to say since Rep. Ron Paul left Congress. Such wars, as she pointed out in the interview, have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and enormous suffering to ordinary people in the Middle East and elsewhere without making Americans safer or better off. Ending regime change wars would be a big change for the better, but it wouldnt necessarily mean giving up the U.S. empire of bases and cutting back the U.S. military mission to defense of the homeland and fulfilling treaty obligations to allies. If you really want to crush Al Qaedas successors and imitators, the first step would be to stop arming them to so as to bring about regime change. Most of the commentary on Gabbards announcement ignored all of this. Instead it focused on her opposition to gay rights moe than 15 years ago.. She is one of a number of people who was raised as a social conservative, and changed their minds over a period of years. I can understand this, because my own opinions, including on LGBT issues, have changed in the past 15 years. But some commentators think this will sink her campaign before it gets started. Gabbard comes from an unusual background. According to her Wikipedia page, her father is part Samoan and a Catholic; her mother is a convert to Hinduism. She was elected to the Hawaii state legislature at the age of 21, then was deployed to Iraq as a member of the Hawaii National Guard. She is now serving her fourth term in Congress. In 2016, she resigned from the Democratic National Committee in order to support Bernie Sanders campaign for president. The video of of an interview with Joe Rogan gives a good overview of what she believes. It runs an hour and 43 minutes, a little long to watch on a small screen. Here are starting points of the highlights: 7mn. Why North Korea has nuclear weapons

9mn. Regime change wars (the key segment)

22mn. Authorizing war with Iran

30mn. Russian troll farms.

32mn. Why she supported Bernie Sanders

49mn. Paper ballots and electronic voting

1hr4mn Pros and cons of universal basic income

1hr13mn Affordable higher education and health care

1hr22mn Threats to civil liberties

1hr33mn Legalizing marijuana I agree with everything she said in the Joe Rogan interview and most of her views as given on her Wikipedia page. My main concern about her is her praise of the authoritarian nationalist government of President Narendra Modi of India and her alignment with Hindu nationalists in the Indian-American community, which is reportedly a large source of her funding. I also object to her statement in a 2014 interview that torture may be justified under certain circumstances. Aside from this, Im favorably impressed with her, not only because I think she is right on policy, but because of her calm, self-assured and well-informed way of answering questions. Also, that she was not afraid to say I dont know. Win or lose, she will force the Democrats to debate war and peace issues on a more fundamental level than before. ===== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
editorial@tribune.com

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 3

Three months after the National Green Tribunal (NGT) asked the Punjab Government to pay Rs 50 crore for polluting state rivers, the latter has failed to ensure the same. Besides, it hasnt even penalised the officials responsible for the huge discharge of toxic effluents into the Sutlej and Beas rivers.

In the aftermath of the Beas molasses spill, noting continued discharge of effluents in the state rivers, the NGT recently had also asked the state government to mark the erring officials failure to act in their annual confidential reports. The NGT had stated in its previous order that the payment was to be ensured within two weeks.

The NGT also appointed Justice Pritam Pal, the head of the committee monitoring pollution in the Ghaggar river, the head of the monitoring panel looking into the pollution in the Sutlej and Beas.

With a majority of the officials of the regulating bodies themselves being members of the monitoring committee, sources said the state is reluctant to act against those causing river pollution.

The NGT had, in August last year, appointed environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal one of the members of the monitoring committee. He too conceded that officials of the PPCB (or the respective corporations responsible for running STPs to cleanse rivers) had failed to take any stringent measures. While the environmentalist in the recent hearing had expressed reservations regarding the report submitted to the government, he is also, ironically, one of the signatories of the same report.

Despite the NGT observing that the lack of action is leading to a water crisis in Punjab, the state government has also failed to ensure that the non-functional (33 of the 34) STPs  along the Buddha Nullah and Kala Sanghian drain  were made functional again. Sources said, While the bureaucracy is keen to point fingers at the PPCB over the issue, the latter is merely a regulatory body. The fault lies with the local body. So far the government has not even listed the names of officials who are to be penalised for non-functional STPs and continued pollution in rivers.

Pawan Garg, member secretary, PPCB, said, An action plan is being prepared on pollution is these rivers. Reports have to come in from various departments so it will take some time. A Venu Prasad, Principal Secretary, Local Government, said, We have formed task forces to ensure cleaning of the Buddha Nullah and are also establishing new STPs at several places. He said the department was working on penalising officials.
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Jerusalem, March 4

Palestinians drove a car into several Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank on Monday and the three attackers were shot by troops, the military said.

Two of the assailants were "neutralised" after they "ran over a number of soldiers" and the third was slightly injured, the military said in a statement. Israeli media reports said two of the attackers were dead.

The military did not immediately comment on the condition of the soldiers hit by the vehicle, some 10 km (six miles) northwest of the Palestinian city of Ramallah.

Palestinians, many of them individuals without known associations with militant groups, carried out a wave of car-ramming attacks in the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016, but the frequency of such incidents has since decreased.

Israel captured the West Bank in a 1967 Middle East war.

Palestinians seek to establish a state there and in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014. Reuters
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Beijing, March 4

China suspects detained former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig of spying and stealing state secrets, state media reported Monday, amid tensions between Ottawa and Beijing over the possible extradition of a top Huawei executive.

Another Canadian in detentionbusinessman Michael Spavorwas one of Kovrig's main sources of intelligence, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing Chinese authorities.  AFP
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Oxon Hill (US), March 3

In a slashing speech packed with braggadocio and grievance, President Donald Trump denounced Democrats as the party of the socialist nightmare, relitigated his crowd sizes back to the inauguration and took on sick, lunatic and dirty foes at every turn, earning him the unvarnished adoration of cheering conservatives.

After a trying week of tumult and setbacks, Trump delivered a stemwinder Saturday that extended beyond two hours and hardly left him winded.

Trump let loose against House Democrats, who are broadening their investigations of him, predicted he would win re-election by a greater margin than his 2016 victory, taunted his potential White House challengers and sounded themes that are staples of his rallies.

He complained often of getting no credit for his achievements as he proudly drifted off script at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

His remarks capped a week that saw his nuclear summit with North Koreas leader collapse without an agreement, his former lawyer deliver damaging congressional testimony about his character and business practices and Congress take action to nullify his emergency declaration to secure money for the border wall that lawmakers have denied him.  AP

Wants reciprocal tax on India

"When we send a motorcycle to India, its a 100% tariff. They charge 100%; when India sends a motorcycle to us, we brilliantly charge them nothing. So, I want a reciprocal tax or at least... Its called the mirror tax, but its reciprocal." Donald Trump, US President
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Tallinn, March 4

Estonias opposition liberal Reform party won Sundays general election, outpacing centre-left Prime Minister Juri Ratass party and a surging far-right buoyed by a backlash from mostly rural voters in the Baltic eurozone state.

Led by former MEP Kaja Kallas, Reform garnered 28.8 per cent of the votes, well ahead of Ratass Centre party on 23 per cent, with the far-right EKRE more than doubling its previous election score at 17.8 per cent, according to full results on Estonias official state elections website.

Two other parties in the race which currently govern in coalition with Ratas, the Social Democrats and conservative Isamaa, respectively took 9.8 per cent and 11.4 per cent of the votes.

Both could team up with Reform for a 56-seat majority in the 101-member parliament, or holding a combined 60 seats, arch-rivals Reform and Centre could govern together as they have done in the past.

Now the real work begins to put together the government and start running the country with common sense, Kallas told public broadcaster ETV/ERR.

Insisting that the EKRE is not a choice for us, Kallas said Reform would keep all coalition options on the table, adding that her party had strong differences with Centre in three areas: taxation, citizenship, and education. As for Ratas, when asked if Centre would consider becoming a junior coalition partner, he said of course, but declined to elaborate.

EKRE leader Mart Helme raised the idea of a Centre-EKRE-Isamaa coalition commanding a 57-seat majority, according to ETV/ERR.

Bread-and-butter issues like taxation and public spending had dominated the lacklustre campaign, along with tensions over Russian-language education for Estonias sizeable Russian minority and the rural-urban divide.

The far-right EKRE captured support promising to slash income and excise taxes and pushing anti-immigration rhetoric.

Turnout clocked in at 63.1 per cent of eligible voters, the state election commission said.

Traditional rivals, Centre and Reform have alternated in government and even governed together over the nearly three decades since Estonia broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union.

Both strongly support Estonias EU and NATO membership and have favoured austerity to keep spending in check, giving the country the eurozones lowest debt-to-GDP ratio.

Centre has vowed to hike pensions by 8.4 per cent and to replace Estonias 20 per cent flat income tax and 21 per cent corporate tax with a progressive system to boost state revenue.

Nixing a progressive tax, business-friendly Reform instead wants to raise the tax-free monthly minimum exemption and lower unemployment insurance premiums to aid job creation.

Joblessness hovers at just under five per cent while economic growth is expected to slow to 2.7 per cent this year, from 3.9 per cent in 2018.

For Lauri, an advertising specialist who declined to reveal his family name, the isolationist and conservative foreign and social policy proposed by parties like the EKRE is cause for concern.

Theres a trend in Western Europe right now, if we look at the Netherlands, at England, maybe even France. I dont support such populism myself, he told AFP.

While it won just seven seats in the 2015 election, the EKRE is now a close third behind the mainstream parties.

Staunchly eurosceptic, it called for an Estxit referendum on Estonias EU membership, although the move would fail in the overwhelmingly pro-EU country.

The partys suspicion of Moscow translates into strong support for NATO membership and the multinational battalion the alliance installed in Estonia in 2017 as a tripwire against possible Russian adventurism.

Tonis Saarts, a Tallinn University political scientist, describes the EKREs position on liberal democracy, including civic and human rights, rule of law and the separation of powers, as very ambiguous and compares it to similar parties that have recently gained support across Europe.

The partys appeal is largely rooted in the misgivings of rural Estonians, who feel left behind after years of austerity under Centre and Reform.

These people see few economic prospects and feel the mainstream parties dont care much about their problems, Saarts told AFP.

The Centre party has long been favoured by the Russian minority, comprising around a quarter of the Baltic states population of 1.3 million.

To avoid losing voters suspicious of Russia, Ratas insists that a 2004 cooperation deal with Vladimir Putins United Russia party is frozen. But out of fear of losing the Russian vote, he has refused to rip it up.

The minority counts on Centre to save the existing education system comprising Estonian and Russian-language schools rooted in Soviet times, while Reform and EKRE want to scrap Russian-language teaching.  AFP
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Kathmandu, March 3

Former Deputy Prime Minister and senior Communist leader of Nepal Bharat Mohan Adhikari (83) has passed away. Adhikari, who also served as Finance Minister, died while undergoing treatment at Hams Hospital in Kathmandu on Saturday, according to party sources. He was admitted to the hospital for treatment three weeks ago following problems in chest and lungs.

Earlier on Saturday evening, the hospital had issued a statement saying Adhikari had developed symptoms of multiple-organ failure.

A three-time minister, Adhikari also led the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management and Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affair once each.

Adhikari was deputy prime minister in the coalition government, which was thrown out in a coup by then King Gyanendra Shah in 2005.

He is remembered for his first stint as finance minister in the first Communist-led government in 1995 led by Man Mohan Adhikari, his elder brother. Born in 1936 at Bhawarpurna VDC, he joined Communist politics during his student life, though he wasnt a full time cadre.  PTI
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

New York, March 4

The New York Times said in a report that migrant women were victims of sexual assaults on the US-Mexico border that most often go "unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted".

According to the report on Sunday, undocumented women making their way into American border towns have been beaten for disobeying smugglers, impregnated by strangers, coerced into prostitution, shackled to beds and trees and, in at least a handful of cases, bound with duct tape, rope or handcuffs.

The New York Times found dozens of documented cases through interviews with law enforcement officials, prosecutors, federal judges and immigrant advocates around the country, and a review of police reports and court records in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

The report showed over 100 documented reports of sexual assault of undocumented women along the border in the past two decades, a number that most likely only skims the surface, law enforcement officials and advocates have said.

The New York Times report said that last July, a 23-year-old Honduran woman told the authorities that she was sexually assaulted in a bedroom closet by a smuggler who had helped her and her sister cross into the South Texas city of Mission.

The following month, a sheriff's deputy in San Antonio was charged with sexually assaulting the four-year-old daughter of an undocumented Guatemalan woman and threatening to have her deported if she reported the abuse.

In 2017, a guide leading a group of migrants through the Tohono O'odham Nation's reservation in Arizona raped a woman from El Salvador twice during a seven-day desert hike, threatening to leave her stranded if she resisted.

In 2016, a migrant woman fled a stash house in the South Texas city of Edinburg, where she said she had been raped by a smuggler who brandished a machete.

At least five of the women who were assaulted were attacked not by migrant smugglers, who are often the perpetrators, but by on-duty Border Patrol agents and Customs officers, the report said.

Meanwhile, the federal government over a recent four-year period has received more than 4,500 complaints about the sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention facilities.

But experts told The New York Times that the actual number of sexual assaults was almost certainly much higher because most attacks are never reported.

IANS
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Seoul, March 4

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that Seoul will actively try to get the nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang quickly back on track.

Moon made the comments as he led a National Security Council meeting in Seoul to discuss South Korea's diplomatic strategy following the breakdown of a high-stakes summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last week in Vietnam, which placed the pressure on Moon to broker progress once again.

Moon lobbied hard for the revival of nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang following the tensions of 2017 over the North's missile and nuclear tests and Trump's threats to bring down "fire and fury" on the North.

But some experts say the breakdown of the Trump-Kim meeting in Hanoi has raised further doubts about Moon's claim that Kim is genuinely interested in dealing away his nukes and about Moon's role as mediator.

"We hope that both countries will continue their dialogue and that their leaders meet again quickly to reach an agreement that was held off this time," Moon said in a Blue House meeting that was attended by his prime minister, spy chief and ministers of foreign affairs, defense and inter-Korean affairs.

"In the process, our role has become important once again," Moon said. "While I believe the United States-North Korea negotiations will eventually reach an agreement, it's never desirable for a vacuum in dialogue or stalemate to prolong," he said, urging South Korean officials to find ways so that Washington and Pyongyang can narrow their differences.

Moon said Seoul will continue to push ahead with inter-Korean engagement within the boundaries of US-led international sanctions against the North. Moon has prioritised stabilizing bilateral relations with the North amid the larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang, saying inter-Korean reconciliation will drive nuclear progress.

But his call for partial sanctions relief to induce nuclear disarmament steps from the North has caused disagreements with Washington, which sees economic pressure as its main leverage with Pyongyang.

Moon helped set up the first meeting between Trump and Kim last June when they agreed to a vague aspirational statement about a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing how and when it would occur. Trump and Kim's second summit last week collapsed over what the Americans saw as excessive North Korean demands for sanctions relief in exchange for limited disarmament steps.

Still, Washington and Seoul are committed to keeping an atmosphere of dialogue alive and announced on Sunday that they would be eliminating their massive springtime military drills and replacing them with smaller exercises in what they call an effort to support diplomacy with Pyongyang.

The allies on Monday began a new training, a computer-simulated exercise dubbed "Dong Maeng," the Korean word for "alliance," which runs until next Tuesday.  AP
People Have Been Deceived Regarding Our Countries Image Around the World

By Eric Zuesse

March 03, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Gallup issued on February 28th its 2019 Rating World Leaders report, subtitled The US vs. Germany, China and Russia, and said that The world still frowned on US leadership more than the leadership of any other country asked about in 2018. All four of the countries leaderships received approval-ratings from people worldwide in only the 30-39% range, and this low score for the US leadership (which was approved by merely 31% of people sampled worldwide during 2018) represented an enormous decline for the United States, which during the Obama years had received scores ranging from 41% to 49% approval. However, a Gallup report which had been issued only three days earlier, on February 25th, indicated that the American people are blissfully ignorant of any of this reality, and instead believe that the global approval-rating of the United States itself is high and is rising, not, as it actually is, low and declining.

In fact, on January 18th of just a year back, 2018, Gallup had headlined World's Approval of US Leadership Drops to New Low , and this plunge in the global rating of Americas leadership could reasonably cause a person to expect a decline in the American publics view of Americas national image in foreign countries, but its not showing up, at all. The exact contrary is being displayed in the recent data. On February 25th of 2019, Gallup bannered, Americans' Perceptions of US World Image Best Since 2003 , and reported that 58% say US rates very or somewhat favorably in world's eyes. This disparity between reality and the publics view of reality, is clear in the data despite all of these polls having altogether ignored almost all of the Islamic-majority nations, where there has long been a very negative view prevailing both of the United States and of US leadership. (The US regime prefers its pollsters to sample mainly favorable countries regarding its public image around the world, and so that is what is done.)

The last time that Gallup surveyed Americas global public image (and this isnt the worlds approval of US leadership, but approval of the US itself, such as was measured and reported by Gallups report issued on 25 February 2019) was in "1991 Feb 28-Mar 2 , and the global public image of the United States was overwhelmingly favorable at that time  95% favorable versus only 3% unfavorable  by far the highest of any country rated at that time, though today a few countries are nearly as high as that: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, UK (Great Britain), Japan, and Norway, all show nearly as high in Gallups global polling now , as America did then. Gallup's surveys never mentioned any other of the Scandinavian countries than Norway, nor mentioned Switzerland nor Netherlands, so those countries (which might even lead the ratings if they had been included) might likewise have been close to what Americas sky-high global approval-rating had been, at the time of the Cold Wars supposed end, in 1991. ( Secretly, the US Government actually continued the Cold War even though Russia was unaware of the fact, and this one-sided and secret, purely aggressive, continuation was and is kept secret from both the American and global publics. )

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However, Pew has been polling this matter  the global image of the US itself  ever since, in 2008, Pew started taking it over from the Office of Research of the US Department of State .

When Pew introduced their 2018 report concerning this matter, of America's global image, on 2 October 2018 at the CSIS or Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the first question raised after the presentation was about Americas overall public image, and the presenter, with apparent reluctance, summed it up by acknowledging, at 29:05, The US is definitely seen in a much more negative light than it was a few years ago.  People [worldwide] are much less likely to express a favorable opinion of the US  By and large on the questions we asked at least, we see much more negative views around the globe.

One would reasonably expect this fact to be showing up in the American publics view of how foreigners see America, but its not showing up, at all; and, in fact, the exact opposite is being displayed in the data. Obviously, then, the major news-media that over 95% of the US public receive their news from have been hiding from the public the realities which are causing this steep plunge in Americas (the American nations) global approval-ratings. Whereas the approval-rating of the US went down, the American public thinks it has instead gone up, and only the countrys major news-media can be to blame for that extreme US fantasy-world, which is being displayed in the data. Its the very same fantasy-world  and for the very same reasons  which overwhelming majorities of the American people believed in 2002 and 2003, when the US regime imposed the fraud that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and that he supported Al Qaeda. All of the US mainstream, and virtually all of its minor, news-media were stenographically pumping these ( even the most blatant ) lies to the public, and therefore theyre co-responsible along with the US dictators for Americas having destroyed Iraq . That couldnt have happened without the propaganda-operations compliance. And America has the same national press now as it did then, though some of the corporate names have changed since 2002. The ownership and control of Americas major news-media are obviously being very wrongly determined, and America cannot even possibly become again a functioning even partial democracy unless and until that situation  the system for determining the control of the corporations that constitute the US news-reporting oligopoly  is fundamentally and permanently (perhaps even Constitutionally) amended. Americas stenographic press merely uncritically reports the Governments bipartisan lies (not the Democratic or the Republican Partys lies, which can and do become exposed, but instead the lies that both Parties spout  the bipartisan lies which reflect the US regime. These are lies such as that WMD existed in Iraq in 2002, and that Russia and not the US is the worlds aggressor-nation seeking global conquest, and that America protects peace around the world, instead of its being the worlds top perpetrator of coups and of military invasions, by far the worlds biggest aggressor ). America cannot become a functioning, actual, democracy , at all, unless and until the ownership and control of its major news-media has become ripped away from the present controllers and also becomes legally fully accountable in honest courts for any propaganda (regime-pumped lies) that it issues. Neither domestic policy nor international policy can be democratic in such a nation . Americas major news-media are obviously not trustworthy. Consequently, America isnt a democracy . (Consequently, this news-report, which is exposing Americas major news-media as being instead national propaganda-media, is going to be rejected  not published  by all of them, though its being submitted to all of them, as well as to most other US international-news reporting sites.)

The full written 2018 report from Pew is online as Americas International Image Continues to Suffer. It opens by saying: A year after global opinion of the United States dropped precipitously , favorable views of the US remain at historic lows in many countries polled. In addition, more say bilateral relations with the US have worsened, rather than improved, over the past year.

The following highlights are taken from Pews verbal presentation to the CSIS :

[19:56] 70% say no to US takes into account the interests of other countries. 28% say yes to that.

[21:53] Fewer Now Say US Takes into Account Their Interests. The change (which is since the end of Obamas Presidency) is -31% in Germany, -23 South Africa, -22 Brazil, -19 Mexico, -17 France, -16 Kenya, -16 Italy, -13 Indonesia, -13 UK, -13 Canada, -12 South Korea, -11 Philippines, -10 Japan, and -8 Spain. In Russia, 15% said yes to that question at the end of Obamas Presidency, and that figure then soared to 41% in 2017, but it declined to only 26% in 2018. Perhaps now its again around 15%, as more and more Russians come to recognize that the US regime is set upon conquering Russia  recognize that anti-communism (prior to 1991, when the Soviet Union ended) was only an excuse for building Americas global control, an empire controlling the entire world, and that America, after the death of FDR and increasingly since then, is fascist, no authentic democracy at all . This fascism certainly explains Iraq 2003, Libya 2011, Syria 2011-2018, Yemen 2015-now, Ukraine 2014 (a US coup in February 2014 that the regime instead calls a Russian invasion, which occurred thereafter in response and was no invasion at all, but defensive for Russia, against a fascist regime on its doorstep ), and Venezuela 2017-now.

[22:51] US Perceived to Be Less Involved in Tackling Global Issues. Percentages saying less involved, as opposed to more involved, were found in every EU country that was surveyed, except that its equal (= percentages), 22% saying US is both less and more involved, in Poland  but nowhere else that Pew was polling in Europe. Basically, Trumps rejections of the Paris Climate Agreement and of the nuclear agreement with Iran, and his outlawing refugees from Syria and some other nations the US bombed, and his determination to wall-off the US from Mexico, have cemented the global publics view of America as being a hostile country. But nonetheless, Gallup was able to headline on February 25th, Americans' Perceptions of US World Image Best Since 2003 .

Gallups findings regarding not the worlds favorability toward the US but the American publics estimation of how favorably the world views the US, were reported there, and opened:

Fifty-eight percent of Americans believe the US rates "very" or "somewhat favorably" in the world's eyes. Though the current figure is up just slightly from the 55% recorded last year, it represents the highest figure Gallup has found since 2003. The increase in the overall figure is the result of an increase in the percentage of political independents saying the US is rated favorably abroad, up eight percentage points, from 50% to 58%. Meanwhile, the views of Americans identifying as Republican or Democratic haven't changed.

So: Americas non-aligned or independent voters are even more deceived about this matter  especially about the stark decline in the publics approval of America  than Americas partisan voters are.

This Gallup report furthermore says:

At the same time, Americans are fairly upbeat about the country's global image, the percentage satisfied with the position of the US in the world today is also at a relatively high ebb.

Whereas in 2019 Gallup finds that 58% of Americans think the world views America favorably, versus 41% unfavorably, and in 2018 these figures were almost as high, 55% favorably and 45% unfavorably, the figures in the very first month of Trumps being in the White House were the reverse, 42% favorably versus 57% unfavorably; and, back in 2016 they were 54% favorably versus 45% unfavorably  almost but not quite as high as today. In fact, the current 58% favorably versus only 41% unfavorably is the rosiest view that Americans have displayed in these Gallup polls regarding how they think foreigners view the US, extending all the way back to Gallups polling on 14-16 April of 2003  61% at that time thinking the world viewed the US favorably, versus 37% unfavorably, and this was just a month after the US had invaded and destroyed Iraq.

So: Ever since Americas Government destroyed Iraq on 20 March 2003, Americans havent had a rosier view of foreigners opinions of the United States.

Such a deceived nations public is, obviously, a reflection of that nations ruling regime, both its Government and its stenographic mainstream news-media, which wont publish reports such as the present one, because such reports, as this one, would be exposing the deceived public that results from Americas fraudulent and highly controlled (by Americas 585 billionaires ) mainstream press. This reality of the press-problem in America is not what they call fake news media, but its instead the mainstream media themselves that present to their public actually false news, real lies (that are the official government lies, bipartisan lies), to such a huge extent as to achieve this enormous disparity between the reality and the publics warped view of that reality, regarding Americas international image. Whats important here is not this particular news-item itself, nearly so much as it is what that news-item means  what it indicates. What it indicates is enormous.

This news-report is therefore being offered free of charge to all US media to publish, so as to help rectify the rabidly false impression that exists. Obviously, any news-media that arent publishing this report are trying to hide this reality  they evidently, and quite clearly, want to continue this particular deception of the public. But the sites that publish this are honest  as any reader here can easily verify by clicking onto this articles links.

Eric Zuesse: American writer and investigative historian

This article was originally published by " Strategic Culture Foundation " -
The re-opening of beaches in Tobago is one of the first items of business that a Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP)-dominated Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will address.

And PDP political leader Watson Duke has declared that the PDP is in charge in Tobago and will not take orders from Trinidad.
Home Search ICH The Propaganda Multiplier:How Global News Agencies and Western Media Report on Geopolitics



By Swiss Propaganda Research It is one of the most important aspects of our media system  and yet hardly known to the public: most of the international news coverage in Western media is provided by only three global news agencies based in New York, London and Paris. The key role played by these agencies means that Western media often report on the same topics, even using the same wording. In addition, governments, military and intelligence services use these global news agencies as multipliers to spread their messages around the world. A study of the Syria war coverage by nine leading European newspapers clearly illustrates these issues: 78% of all articles are based in whole or in part on agency reports, yet 0% on investigative research. Moreover, 82% of all opinion pieces and interviews are in favor of the US and NATO intervention, while propaganda is attributed exclusively to the opposite side. Introduction: Something strange March 03, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - June 2016 - "How does the newspaper know what it knows? The answer to this question is likely to surprise some newspaper readers: The main source of information is stories from news agencies. The almost anonymously operating news agencies are in a way the key to world events. So what are the names of these agencies, how do they work and who finances them? To judge how well one is informed about events in East and West, one should know the answers to these questions. (Hohne 1977, p. 11) A Swiss media researcher points out: The news agencies are the most important suppliers of material to mass media. No daily media outlet can manage without them. () So the news agencies influence our image of the world; above all, we get to know what they have selected. (Blum 1995, p. 9) In view of their essential importance, it is all the more astonishing that these agencies are hardly known to the public: A large part of society is unaware that news agencies exist at all  In fact, they play an enormously important role in the media market. But despite this great importance, little attention has been paid to them in the past. (Schulten-Jaspers 2013, p. 13) Even the head of a news agency noted: There is something strange about news agencies. They are little known to the public. Unlike a newspaper, their activity is not so much in the spotlight, yet they can always be found at the source of the story. (Segbers 2007, p. 9) Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter The Invisible Nerve Center of the Media System So what are the names of these agencies that are always at the source of the story? There are now only three global agencies left: The American Associated Press (AP) with over 4000 employees worldwide. The AP belongs to US media companies and has its main editorial office in New York. AP news is used by around 12,000 international media outlets, reaching more than half of the worlds population every day. The quasi-governmental French Agence France-Presse (AFP) based in Paris and with around 4000 employees. The AFP sends over 3000 stories and photos every day to media all over the world. The British agency Reuters in London, which is privately owned and employs just over 3000 people. Reuters was acquired in 2008 by Canadian media entrepreneur Thomson  one of the 25 richest people in the world  and merged into Thomson Reuters, headquartered in New York. In addition, many countries run their own news agencies. However, when it comes to international news, these usually rely on the three global agencies and simply copy and translate their reports. The three global news agencies Reuters, AFP and AP, and the three national agencies of the German-speaking countries of Austria (APA), Germany (DPA) and Switzerland (SDA).Wolfgang Vyslozil, former managing director of the Austrian APA, described the key role of news agencies with these words: News agencies are rarely in the public eye. Yet they are one of the most influential and at the same time one of the least known media types. They are key institutions of substantial importance to any media system. They are the invisible nerve center that connects all parts of this system. (Segbers 2007, p.10) Small abbreviation, great effect However, there is a simple reason why the global agencies, despite their importance, are virtually unknown to the general public. To quote a Swiss media professor: Radio and television usually do not name their sources, and only specialists can decipher references in magazines. (Blum 1995, P. 9) The motive for this discretion, however, should be clear: news outlets are not particularly keen to let readers know that they havent researched most their contributions themselves. The following figure shows some examples of source tagging in popular German-language newspapers. Next to the agency abbreviations we find the initials of editors who have edited the respective agency report. News agencies as sources in newspaper articlesOccasionally, newspapers use agency material but do not label it at all. A study in 2011 from the Swiss Research Institute for the Public Sphere and Society at the University of Zurich came to the following conclusions (FOEG 2011): Agency contributions are exploited integrally without labeling them, or they are partially rewritten to make them appear as an editorial contribution. In addition, there is a practice of spicing up agency reports with little effort; for example, visualization techniques are used: unpublished agency reports are enriched with images and graphics and presented as comprehensive reports. The agencies play a prominent role not only in the press, but also in private and public broadcasting. This is confirmed by Volker Braeutigam, who worked for the German state broadcaster ARD for ten years and views the dominance of these agencies critically: One fundamental problem is that the newsroom at ARD sources its information mainly from three sources: the news agencies DPA/AP, Reuters and AFP: one German/American, one British and one French. () The editor working on a news topic only needs to select a few text passages on the screen that he considers essential, rearrange them and glue them together with a few flourishes. Swiss Radio and Television (SRF), too, largely bases itself on reports from these agencies. Asked by viewers why a peace march in Ukraine was not reported, the editors said: To date, we have not received a single report of this march from the independent agencies Reuters, AP and AFP. In fact, not only the text, but also the images, sound and video recordings that we encounter in our media every day, are mostly from the very same agencies. What the uninitiated audience might think of as contributions from their local newspaper or TV station, are actually copied reports from New York, London and Paris. Some media have even gone a step further and have, for lack of resources, outsourced their entire foreign editorial office to an agency. Moreover, it is well known that many news portals on the internet mostly publish agency reports (see e.g., Paterson 2007, Johnston 2011, MacGregor 2013). In the end, this dependency on the global agencies creates a striking similarity in international reporting: from Vienna to Washington, our media often report the same topics, using many of the same phrases  a phenomenon that would otherwise rather be associated with controlled media in authoritarian states. The following graphic shows some examples from German and international publications. As you can see, despite the claimed objectivity, a slight (geo-)political bias sometimes creeps in. Putin threatens, Iran provokes, NATO concerned, Assad stronghold: Similarities in content and wording due to reports by global news agencies. The role of correspondents Much of our media does not have own foreign correspondents, so they have no choice but to rely completely on global agencies for foreign news. But what about the big daily newspapers and TV stations that have their own international correspondents? In German-speaking countries, for example, these include newspapers such NZZ, FAZ, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Welt, and public broadcasters. First of all, the size ratios should be kept in mind: while the global agencies have several thousand employees worldwide, even the Swiss newspaper NZZ, known for its international reporting, maintains only 35 foreign correspondents (including their business correspondents). In huge countries such as China or India, only one correspondent is stationed; all of South America is covered by only two journalists, while in even larger Africa no-one is on the ground permanently. Moreover, in war zones, correspondents rarely venture out. On the Syria war, for example, many journalists reported from cities such as Istanbul, Beirut, Cairo or even from Cyprus. In addition, many journalists lack the language skills to understand local people and media. How do correspondents under such circumstances know what the news is in their region of the world? The main answer is once again: from global agencies. The Dutch Middle East correspondent Joris Luyendijk has impressively described how correspondents work and how they depend on the world agencies in his book People Like Us: Misrepresenting the Middle East: Id imagined correspondents to be historians-of-the-moment. When something important happened, theyd go after it, find out what was going on, and report on it. But I didnt go off to find out what was going on; that had been done long before. I went along to present an on-the-spot report. The editors in the Netherlands called when something happened, they faxed or emailed the press releases, and Id retell them in my own words on the radio, or rework them into an article for the newspaper. This was the reason my editors found it more important that I could be reached in the place itself than that I knew what was going on. The news agencies provided enough information for you to be able to write or talk you way through any crisis or summit meeting. Thats why you often come across the same images and stories if you leaf through a few different newspapers or click the news channels. Our men and women in London, Paris, Berlin and Washington bureaus  all thought that wrong topics were dominating the news and that we were following the standards of the news agencies too slavishly. The common idea about correspondents is that they have the story, but the reality is that the news is a conveyor belt in a bread factory. The correspondents stand at the end of the conveyor belt, pretending weve baked that white loaf ourselves, while in fact all weve done is put it in its wrapping. Afterwards, a friend asked me how Id managed to answer all the questions during those cross-talks, every hour and without hesitation. When I told him that, like on the TV-news, you knew all the questions in advance, his e-mailed response came packed with expletives. My friend had relalized that, for decades, what hed been watching and listening to on the news was pure theatre. (Luyendjik 2009, p. 20-22, 76, 189) In other words, the typical correspondent is in general not able to do independent research, but rather deals with and reinforces those topics that are already prescribed by the news agencies  the notorious mainstream effect. In addition, for cost-saving reasons many media outlets nowadays have to share their few foreign correspondents, and within individual media groups, foreign reports are often used by several publications  none of which contributes to diversity in reporting. What the agency does not report, does not take place The central role of news agencies also explains why, in geopolitical conflicts, most media use the same original sources. In the Syrian war, for example, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights  a dubious one-man organization based in London  featured prominently. The media rarely inquired directly at this Observatory, as its operator was in fact difficult to reach, even for journalists. Rather, the Observatory delivered its stories to global agencies, which then forwarded them to thousands of media outlets, which in turn informed hundreds of millions of readers and viewers worldwide. The reason why the agencies, of all places, referred to this strange Observatory in their reporting  and who really financed it  is a question that was rarely asked. The former chief editor of the German news agency DPA, Manfred Steffens, therefore states in his book The Business of News: A news story does not become more correct simply because one is able to provide a source for it. It is indeed rather questionable to trust a news story more just because a source is cited. () Behind the protective shield such a source means for a news story, some people are quite inclined to spread rather adventurous things, even if they themselves have legitimate doubts about their correctness; the responsibility, at least morally, can always be attributed to the cited source. (Steffens 1969, p. 106) Dependence on global agencies is also a major reason why media coverage of geopolitical conflicts is often superficial and erratic, while historic relationships and background are fragmented or altogether absent. As put by Steffens: News agencies receive their impulses almost exclusively from current events and are therefore by their very nature ahistoric. They are reluctant to add any more context than is strictly required. (Steffens 1969, p. 32) Finally, the dominance of global agencies explains why certain geopolitical issues and events  which often do not fit very well into the US/NATO narrative or are too unimportant  are not mentioned in our media at all: if the agencies do not report on something, then most Western media will not be aware of it. As pointed out on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the German DPA: What the agency does not report, does not take place. (Wilke 2000, p. 1) Adding questionable stories While some topics do not appear at all in our media, other topics are very prominent  even though they shouldnt actually be: Often the mass media do not report on reality, but on a constructed or staged reality. () Several studies have shown that the mass media are predominantly determined by PR activities and that passive, receptive attitudes outweigh active-researching ones. (Blum 1995, p. 16) In fact, due to the rather low journalistic performance of our media and their high dependence on a few news agencies, it is easy for interested parties to spread propaganda and disinformation in a supposedly respectable format to a worldwide audience. DPA editor Steffens warned of this danger: The critical sense gets more lulled the more respected the news agency or newspaper is. Someone who wants to introduce a questionable story into the world press only needs to try to put his story in a reasonably reputable agency, to be sure that it then appears a little later in the others. Sometimes it happens that a hoax passes from agency to agency and becomes ever more credible. (Steffens 1969, p. 234) Among the most active actors in injecting questionable geopolitical news are the military and defense ministries. For example, in 2009, the head of the American news agency AP, Tom Curley, made public that the Pentagon employs more than 27,000 PR specialists who, with a budget of nearly $ 5 billion a year, are working the media and circulating targeted manipulations. In addition, high-ranking US generals had threatened that they would ruin the AP and him if the journalists reported too critically on the US military. Despite  or because of?  such threats our media regularly publish dubious stories sourced to some unnamed informants from US defense circles. Ulrich Tilgner, a veteran Middle East correspondent for German and Swiss television, warned in 2003, shortly after the Iraq war, of acts of deception by the military and the role played by the media: With the help of the media, the military determine the public perception and use it for their plans. They manage to stir expectations and spread scenarios and deceptions. In this new kind of war, the PR strategists of the US administration fulfill a similar function as the bomber pilots. The special departments for public relations in the Pentagon and in the secret services have become combatants in the information war. () The US military specifically uses the lack of transparency in media coverage for their deception maneuvers. The way they spread information, which is then picked up and distributed by newspapers and broadcasters, makes it impossible for readers, listeners or viewers to trace the original source. Thus, the audience will fail to recognize the actual intention of the military. (Tilgner 2003, p. 132) What is known to the US military, would not be foreign to US intelligence services. In a remarkable report by British Channel 4, former CIA officials and a Reuters correspondent spoke candidly about the systematic dissemination of propaganda and misinformation in reporting on geopolitical conflicts: Former CIA officer and whistleblower John Stockwell said of his work in the Angolan war, The basic theme was to make it look like an [enemy] aggression in Angola. So any kind of story that you could write and get into the media anywhere in the world, that pushed that line, we did. One third of my staff in this task force were covert action, were propagandists, whose professional career job was to make up stories and finding ways of getting them into the press. The editors in most Western newspapers are not too skeptical of messages that conform to general views and prejudices. So we came up with another story, and it was kept going for weeks. [But] it was all fiction. Fred Bridgland looked back on his work as a war correspondent for the Reuters agency: We based our reports on official communications. It was not until years later that I learned a little CIA disinformation expert had sat in the US embassy, in Lusaka and composed that communique, and it bore no relation at all to truth. Basically, and to put it very crudely, you can publish any old crap and it will get newspaper room. And former CIA analyst David MacMichael described his work in the Contra War in Nicaragua with these words: They said our intelligence of Nicaragua was so good that we could even register when someone flushed a toilet. But I had the feeling that the stories we were giving to the press came straight out of the toilet. (Hird 1985) Of course, the intelligence services also have a large number of direct contacts in our media, which can be leaked information to if necessary. But without the central role of the global news agencies, the worldwide synchronization of propaganda and disinformation would never be so efficient. Through this propaganda multiplier, dubious stories from PR experts working for governments, military and intelligence services reach the general public more or less unchecked and unfiltered. The journalists refer to the news agencies and the news agencies refer to their sources. Although they often attempt to point out uncertainties with terms such as apparent, alleged and the like  by then the rumor has long been spread to the world and its effect taken place. The Propaganda Multiplier: Governments, military and intelligence services using global news agencies to disseminate their messages to a worldwide audience.

As the New York Times reported ... In addition to global news agencies, there is another source that is often used by media outlets around the world to report on geopolitical conflicts, namely the major publications in Great Britain and the US. For example, news outlets like the New York Times or BBC have up to 100 foreign correspondents and other external employees. However, Middle East correspondent Luyendijk points out: Dutch news teams, me included, fed on the selection of news made by quality media like CNN, the BBC, and the New York Times. We did that on the assumption that their correspondents understood the Arab world and commanded a view of it  but many of them turned out not to speak Arabic, or at least not enough to be able to have a conversation in it or to follow the local media. Many of the top dogs at CNN, the BBC, the Independent, the Guardian, the New Yorker, and the NYT were more often than not dependent on assistants and translators. (Luyendijk p. 47) In addition, the sources of these media outlets are often not easy to verify (military circles, anonymous government officials, intelligence officials and the like) and can therefore also be used for the dissemination of propaganda. In any case, the widespread orientation towards the Anglo-Saxon publications leads to a further convergence in the geopolitical coverage in our media. The following figure shows some examples of such citation based on the Syria coverage of the largest daily newspaper in Switzerland, Tages-Anzeiger. The articles are all from the first days of October 2015, when Russia for the first time intervened directly in the Syrian war (US/UK sources are highlighted): Frequent citation of British and US media, exemplified by the Syria war coverage of Swiss daily newspaper Tages-Anzeiger in October 2015. The desired narrative But why do journalists in our media not simply try to research and report independently of the global agencies and the Anglo-Saxon media? Middle East correspondent Luyendijk describes his experiences: You might suggest that I should have looked for sources I could trust. I did try, but whenever I wanted to write a story without using news agencies, the main Anglo-Saxon media, or talking heads, it fell apart. Obviously I, as a correspondent, could tell very different stories about one and the same situation. But the media could only present one of them, and often enough, that was exactly the story that confirmed the prevailing image. (Luyendijk p.54ff) Media researcher Noam Chomsky has described this effect in his essay What makes the mainstream media mainstream as follows: If you leave the official line, if you produce dissenting reports, then you will soon feel this. There are many ways to get you back in line quickly. If you dont follow the guidelines, you will not keep your job long. This system works pretty well, and it reflects established power structures. (Chomsky 1997) Nevertheless, some of the leading journalists continue to believe that nobody can tell them what to write. How does this add up? Media researcher Chomsky clarifies the apparent contradiction: [T]he point is that they wouldnt be there unless they had already demonstrated that nobody has to tell them what to write because they are going say the right thing. If they had started off at the Metro desk, or something, and had pursued the wrong kind of stories, they never would have made it to the positions where they can now say anything they like. They have been through the socialization system. (Chomsky 1997) Ultimately, this socialization process leads to a journalism that generally no longer independently researches and critically reports on geopolitical conflicts (and some other topics), but seeks to consolidate the desired narrative through appropriate editorials, commentary, and interviewees. Conclusion: The First Law of Journalism Former AP journalist Herbert Altschull called it the First Law of Journalism: In all press systems, the news media are instruments of those who exercise political and economic power. Newspapers, periodicals, radio and television stations do not act independently, although they have the possibility of independent exercise of power. (Altschull 1984/1995, p. 298) In that sense, it is logical that our traditional media  which are predominantly financed by advertising or the state  represent the geopolitical interests of the transatlantic alliance, given that both the advertising corporations as well as the states themselves are dependent on the US dominated transatlantic economic and security architecture. In addition, our leading media and their key people are  in the spirit of Chomskys socialization  often themselves part of the networks of the transatlantic elite. Some of the most important institutions in this regard include the US Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the Bilderberg Group, and the Trilateral Commission (see in-depth study of these networks). Indeed, most well-known publications basically may be seen as establishment media. This is because, in the past, the freedom of the press was rather theoretical, given significant entry barriers such as broadcasting licenses, frequency slots, requirements for financing and technical infrastructure, limited sales channels, dependence on advertising, and other restrictions. It was only due to the Internet that Altschulls First Law has been broken to some extent. Thus, in recent years a high-quality, reader-funded journalism has emerged, often outperforming traditional media in terms of critical reporting. Some of these alternative publications already reach a very large audience, showing that the mass does not have to be a problem for the quality of a media outlet. Nevertheless, up to now the traditional media has been able to attract a solid majority of online visitors, too. This, in turn, is closely linked to the hidden role of news agencies, whose up-to-the-minute reports form the backbone of most news portals. Will political and economic power, according to Altschulls Law, retain control over the news, or will uncontrolled news change the political and economic power structure? The coming years will show. Case study: Syria war coverage As part of a case study, the Syria war coverage of nine leading daily newspapers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland were examined for plurality of viewpoints and reliance on news agencies. The following newspapers were selected: For Germany: Die Welt, Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)

Die Welt, Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) For Switzerland: Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ), Tagesanzeiger (TA), and Basler Zeitung (BaZ)

Neue Zurcher Zeitung (NZZ), Tagesanzeiger (TA), and Basler Zeitung (BaZ) For Austria: Standard, Kurier, and Die Presse The investigation period was defined as October 1 to 15, 2015, i.e. the first two weeks after Russias direct intervention in the Syrian conflict. The entire print and online coverage of these newspapers was taken into account. Any Sunday editions were not taken into account, as not all of the newspapers examined have such. In total, 381 newspaper articles met the stated criteria. In a first step, the articles were classified according to their properties into the following groups: Agencies: Reports from news agencies (with agency code) Mixed: Simple reports (with author names) that are based in whole or in part on agency reports Reports: Editorial background reports and analyzes Opinions/Comments: Opinions and guest comments Interviews: interviews with experts, politicians etc. Investigative: Investigative research that reveals new information or context The following Figure 1 shows the composition of the articles for the nine newspapers analyzed in total. As can be seen, 55% of articles were news agency reports; 23% editorial reports based on agency material; 9% background reports; 10% opinions and guest comments; 2% interviews; and 0% based on investigative research. Figure 1: Types of articles (total; n=381) The pure agency texts  from short notices to the detailed reports  were mostly on the Internet pages of the daily newspapers: on the one hand, the pressure for breaking news is higher than in the printed edition, on the other hand, there are no space restrictions. Most other types of articles were found in both the online and printed editions; some exclusive interviews and background reports were found only in the printed editions. All items were collected only once for the investigation. The following Figure 2 shows the same classification on a per newspaper basis. During the observation period (two weeks), most newspapers published between 40 and 50 articles on the Syrian conflict (print and online). In the German newspaper Die Welt there were more (58), in the Basler Zeitung and the Austrian Kurier, however, significantly less (29 or 33). Depending on which newspaper, the share of agency reports is almost 50% (Welt, Suddeutsche, NZZ, Basler Zeitung), just under 60% (FAZ, Tagesanzeiger), and 60 to 70% (Presse, Standard, Kurier). Together with the agency-based reports, the proportion in most newspapers is between approx. 70% and 80%. These proportions are consistent with previous media studies (e.g., Blum 1995, Johnston 2011, MacGregor 2013, Paterson 2007). In the background reports, the Swiss newspapers were leading (five to six pieces), followed by Welt, Suddeutsche and Standard (four each) and the other newspapers (one to three). The background reports and analyzes were in particular devoted to the situation and development in the Middle East, as well as to the motives and interests of individual actors (for example Russia, Turkey, the Islamic State). However, most of the commentaries were to be found in the German newspapers (seven comments each), followed by Standard (five), NZZ and Tagesanzeiger (four each). Basler Zeitung did not publish any commentaries during the observation period, but two interviews. Other interviews were conducted by Standard (three) and Kurier and Presse (one each). Investigative research, however, could not be found in any of the newspapers. In particular, in the case of the three German newspapers, a journalistically problematic blending of opinion pieces and reports was noted. Reports contained strong expressions of opinion even though they were not marked as commentary. The present study was in any case based on the article labeling by the newspaper. Figure 2: Types of articles per newspaper

The following Figure 3 shows the breakdown of agency stories (by agency abbreviation) for each news agency, in total and per country. The 211 agency reports carried a total of 277 agency codes (a story may consist of material from more than one agency). In total, 24% of agency reports came from the AFP; about 20% each by the DPA, APA and Reuters; 9% of the SDA; 6% of the AP; and 11% were unknown (no labeling or blanket term agencies). In Germany, the DPA, AFP and Reuters each have a share of about one third of the news stories. In Switzerland, the SDA and the AFP are in the lead, and in Austria, the APA and Reuters. In fact, the shares of the global agencies AFP, AP and Reuters are likely to be even higher, as the Swiss SDA and the Austrian APA obtain their international reports mainly from the global agencies and the German DPA cooperates closely with the American AP. It should also be noted that, for historical reasons, the global agencies are represented differently in different regions of the world. For events in Asia, Ukraine or Africa, the share of each agency will therefore be different than from events in the Middle East. Figure 3: Share of news agencies, total (n=277) and per country In the next step, central statements were used to rate the orientation of editorial opinions (28), guest comments (10) and interview partners (7) (a total of 45 articles). As Figure 4 shows, 82% of the contributions were generally US/NATO friendly, 16% neutral or balanced, and 2% predominantly US/NATO critical. The only predominantly US/NATO-critical contribution was an op-ed in the Austrian Standard on October 2, 2015, titled: The strategy of regime change has failed. A distinction between good and bad terrorist groups in Syria makes the Western policy untrustworthy. Figure 4: Orientation of editorial opinions, guest comments, and interviewees (total; n=45). The following Figure 5 shows the orientation of the contributions, guest comments and interviewees, in turn broken down by individual newspapers. As can be seen, Welt, Suddeutsche Zeitung, NZZ, Zurcher Tagesanzeiger and the Austrian newspaper Kurier presented exclusively US/NATO-friendly opinion and guest contributions; this goes for FAZ too, with the exception of one neutral/balanced contribution. The Standard brought four US/NATO friendly, three balanced/neutral, as well as the already mentioned US/NATO critical opinion contributions. Presse was the only one of the examined newspapers to predominantly publish neutral/balanced opinions and guest contributions. The Basler Zeitung published one US/NATO-friendly and one balanced contribution. Shortly after the observation period (October 16, 2015), Basler Zeitung also published an interview with the President of the Russian Parliament. This would of course have been counted as a contribution critical of the US/NATO. Figure 5: Basic orientation of opinion pieces and interviewees per newspaper In a further analysis, a full-text keyword search for propaganda (and word combinations thereof) was used to investigate in which cases the newspapers themselves identified propaganda in one of the two geopolitical conflict sides, USA/NATO or Russia (the participant IS/ISIS was not considered). In total, twenty such cases were identified. Figure 6 shows the result: in 85% of the cases, propaganda was identified on the Russian side of the conflict, in 15% the identification was neutral or unstated, and in 0% of the cases propaganda was identified on the USA/NATO side of the conflict. It should be noted that about half of the cases (nine) were in the Swiss NZZ, which spoke of Russian propaganda quite frequently (Kremlin propaganda, Moscow propaganda machine, propaganda stories, Russian propaganda apparatus etc.), followed by German FAZ (three), Welt and Suddeutsche Zeitung (two each) and the Austrian newspaper Kurier (one). The other newspapers did not mention propaganda, or only in a neutral context (or in the context of IS). Figure 6: Attribution of propaganda to conflict parties (total; n=20). Conclusion In this case study, the geopolitical coverage in nine leading daily newspapers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland was examined for diversity and journalistic performance using the example of the Syrian war. The results confirm the high dependence on the global news agencies (63 to 90%, excluding commentaries and interviews) and the lack of own investigative research, as well as the rather biased commenting on events in favor of the US/NATO side (82% positive; 2% negative), whose stories were not checked by the newspapers for any propaganda. About the authors: Swiss Propaganda Research (SPR) is an independent research group investigating geopolitical propaganda in Swiss and international media. You can contact us here. English translation provided by Terje Maloy. - Languages: German, French, Norwegian Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here Literature Altschull, Herbert J. (1984/1995): Agents of power. The media and public policy. Longman, New York. Becker, Jorg (2015): Medien im Krieg  Krieg in den Medien. Springer Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. Blum, Roger et al. (Hrsg.) (1995): Die AktualiTater. Nachrichtenagenturen in der Schweiz. Verlag Paul Haupt, Bern. Chomsky, Noam (1997): What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream. Z Magazine, MA. (PDF) Forschungsinstitut fur Offentlichkeit und Gesellschaft der Universitat Zurich (FOEG) (2011): Jahrbuch Qualitat der Medien, Ausgabe 2011. Schwabe, Basel. Gritsch, Kurt (2010): Inszenierung eines gerechten Krieges? Intellektuelle, Medien und der Kosovo-Krieg 1999. Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim. Hird, Christopher (1985): Standard Techniques. Diverse Reports, Channel 4 TV. 30. Oktober 1985. (Link) Hohne, Hansjoachim (1977): Report uber Nachrichtenagenturen. Band 1: Die Situation auf den Nachrichtenmarkten der Welt. Band 2: Die Geschichte der Nachricht und ihrer Verbreiter. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden. Johnston, Jane & Forde, Susan (2011): The Silent Partner: News Agencies and 21st Century News. International Journal of Communication 5 (2011), p. 195214. (PDF) Kruger, Uwe (2013): Meinungsmacht. Der Einfluss von Eliten auf Leitmedien und Alpha-Journalisten  eine kritische Netzwerkanalyse. Herbert von Halem Verlag, Koln. Luyendijk, Joris (2015): Von Bildern und Lugen in Zeiten des Krieges: Aus dem Leben eines Kriegsberichterstatters  Aktualisierte Neuausgabe. Tropen, Stuttgart. MacGregor, Phil (2013): International News Agencies. Global eyes that never blink. In: Fowler-Watt/Allan (ed.): Journalism: New Challenges. Centre for Journalism & Communication Research, Bournemouth University. (PDF) Mukke, Lutz (2014): Korrespondenten im Kalten Krieg. Zwischen Propaganda und Selbstbehauptung. Herbert von Halem Verlag, Koln. Paterson, Chris (2007): International news on the internet. The International Journal of Communication Ethics. Vol 4, No 1/2 2007. (PDF) Queval, Jean (1945): Premiere page, Cinquieme colonne. Artheme Fayard, Paris. Schulten-Jaspers, Yasmin (2013): Zukunft der Nachrichtenagenturen. Situation, Entwicklung, Prognosen. Nomos, Baden-Baden. Segbers, Michael (2007): Die Ware Nachricht. Wie Nachrichtenagenturen ticken. UVK, Konstanz. Steffens, Manfred [Ziegler, Stefan] (1969): Das Geschaft mit der Nachricht. Agenturen, Redaktionen, Journalisten. Hoffmann und Campe, Hamburg. Tilgner, Ulrich (2003): Der inszenierte Krieg  Tauschung und Wahrheit beim Sturz Saddam Husseins. Rowohlt, Reinbek. Wilke, Jurgen (Hrsg.) (2000): Von der Agentur zur Redaktion. Bohlau, Koln. ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
When a friend sent me a graphic on Thursday announcing a news conference by the PM at 1 p.m. on Friday, I was a bit sceptical. For one thing, the time was a bit unusual.

There was no topic, and it wasnt a regular Covid news conference day. So, I asked my friend what is this about. I also checked the PMs Office website and Facebook page.
- Residents of Nebbi Municipality have been struggling with acute shortage of water since their former MP destroyed boreholes he built for them

- Patrick Okumu-Ringa dismantled the boreholes he built for the community while in office after they repeatedly voted him out

- The MP claimed he drilled the boreholes and educated children from the community and they still voted him out

Life has not been easy for the residents of Nebbi Municipality in northern Uganda since the MP they rejected at the ballot dismantled all the boreholes he built for the community while in office.

The poverty-stricken region has been struggling with acute shortage of drinking water after a disappointed politician, Patrick Okumu-Ringa, destroyed the boreholes he drilled after he was voted out in the July 2018 by-election.

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READ ALSO: MP under fire for telling men to streamline their wives through beating

The residents of Nebbi Municipality in Northern Uganda tapping water from one of the boreholes that were recently dismantled by former MP. Photo: CNN.

Source: UGC

READ ALSO: Kenyans demonstrate raw hatred for Waiguru after being featured on True Love magazine as an inspirational figure

The disgruntled former lawmaker told local news outlets the reason why he dismantled the boreholes, which were the main source of clean water for the people, was because he felt the people did not appreciate the developments he brought to them.

"All I ever wanted from them (the residents of Nebbi Municipality) was their support in terms of votes. I built them boreholes and educated so many children, but all they tell me is I have done nothing," Okumu-Ringa protested as quoted by the Uganda's New Vision and others.

READ ALSO: Heroic welcome for expelled rebel ODM MP Aisha Jumwa

The MP, who claimed he also educated many children during his reign as MP, told the affected community to find themselves another source of clean water since they were not interested in the boreholes he drilled for them.

This comes at a time more than 20 million of Ugandans are said to lack access to fresh drinking water and proper sanitation.

READ ALSO: ODM top organ recommends removal of MPs Aisha Jumwa, Suleiman Dori for disloyalty

TUKO.co.ke understands Patrick Okumu-Ringa was previously the state minister for public service.

He, however, lost his seat in 2006 and is said to have been desperately trying to make his way back to Parliament.

The former lawmaker was hoping the people of Nebbi Municipality would reconsider him but clearly he was wrong.

Okumu-Ringa who was a member of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party reportedly suffered his first defeat at the party primaries, after which he decided to run as an independent candidate and lost again.

He made another attempt in a by-election poll conducted in July 2018 and lost yet again.

Do you have a life-changing story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenyans react to Uhuru's Cabinet reshuffle - On Tuko TV

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Corbyn calls for UK to condemn Israels targeting of Palestinians

By Middle East Monitor

March 03, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Head of the British Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn has called for the UK government to condemn Israels killing of Palestinians as well as to freeze arms sales to the occupation state.

His remarks came in the wake of a UN report which found that Israel might have committed war crimes against Palestinians.

On Twitter , Corbyn wrote: The UN says Israels killings of demonstrators in Gaza  including children, paramedics and journalists  may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.

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The UK government must unequivocally condemn the killings and freeze arms sales to Israel.

The UN report, published earlier this week, said: The Israeli security forces killed and maimed Palestinian demonstrators who did not pose an imminent threat of death or serious injury to others when they were shot, nor were they directly participating in hostilities, adding that the protests had been civilian in nature.

This article was originally published by " Middle East Monitor " -
How (And How Not) To Beat A Smear Campaign

By Caitlin Johnstone

March 03, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Anyone who opposes western interventionism or thinks the poor are human beings is a Russian antisemite. If you disagree, its because you are a Russian antisemite, too.

Narrative is a funny thing. You can do everything right, cross all your Ts and dot all your Is and color within all the official lines, but if you offend the powerful they can still rearrange the dominant narrative underneath you to kill your public influence.

In Venezuela right now some guy named Juan is being elevated to the leadership of the nation simply by the governments of other nations referring to him as President Guaido and denying the legitimacy of the actual guy who is running the Venezuelan government. The funny thing about that is if enough people believe it, it can theoretically work; the only thing keeping leaders in place is the agreed-upon narrative that theyre the leaders. If you can replace that narrative with a different one, as powerful people are currently attempting to do, in theory it is possible to effect a coup by pure narrative. You couldnt ask for a more perfect illustration of the power of narrative control.

Smear campaigns work in the same way. Anyone challenging authorized narratives and the status quo of oligarchic hegemony can have their reputations destroyed by the lackeys of the plutocratic class which exerts massive influence over the political/media class, thereby neutralizing their ability to influence the public. If the public distrusts someone, they arent going to believe the narratives that that person is putting forward, even if those narratives are as sane as protecting the poor, opposing senseless warmongering, or defending Palestinian rights. In todays political climate where smearing someone as a socialist or communist is increasingly ignored, the most effective smear campaigns are currently those which paint the target as a servant of the Kremlin or a hater of Jews.

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Really important video which spells out the vile and destructive nature of antisemitic conspiracy theories. https://t.co/Nm9xc8j7Vc  @jeremycorbyn

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyns populist leftism and support for Palestinian rights has gotten him targeted by an amazingly virulent smear campaign which journalist Jonathan Cook describes as a perfect, self-rationalising system of incrimination  denying the victim a voice, even in their own defence. A narrative has been promulgated with extreme aggression by the UK media that a horrifying epidemic of antisemitism has somehow overtaken the Labour Party under Corbyns leadership, and that Corbyn himself is (despite a lifetime of opposition to all forms of racism and bigotry) a closet antisemite as well.

Corbyn has responded to this fact-free smear campaign with capitulation after capitulation, most recently with the suspension of MP Chris Williamson on baseless accusations of antisemitism and a Twitter post yesterday of a video warning about antisemitic conspiracy theories. There is nothing inherently wrong with warning people about antisemitic conspiracy theories (which are toxic for a whole host of reasons), but the video Corbyn chose to share explicitly cited criticism of Zionism as an example of one such conspiracy theory. Zionism is the racist ideology supporting the continued existence of a Jewish ethnostate (much like the white ethnostate sought by American white nationalists like Richard Spencer), and it is the driving force behind the oppression and persecution of the Palestinian people today.

Validating this conflation of anti-Zionism with hatred of Jews is a capitulation to the demands of those who have been advancing this smear campaign, and it is the wrong way to fight it. It will never work, because the goal has never been to fight antisemitism, the goal has been to destroy Corbyn. It wouldnt matter if Corbyn did everything everyone demanded of him and then posted a video of himself being whipped while screaming Lord have mercy on this wicked Nazi Jew-hater! on his knees  no amount of capitulation will end this campaign to eliminate him. The target is not antisemitism, the target is Corbyn. And the goal is not to tell the truth but to advance a narrative.

We are seeing the same type of smear campaign advanced against Congresswoman Ilhan Omar in response to her support for Palestinian rights, criticism of the US Israel lobby, and opposition to US regime change interventionism in nations like Venezuela. Currently she is again being smeared as an antisemite for making the demonstrably true claim that influential Americans push for allegiance to Israel, even while the GOP is taking a much smaller amount of flack for putting up a poster which literally depicts her as having ties to the 9/11 attacks. The fact that this brazen Islamophobia is receiving far less establishment media attention than fact-free accusations of antisemitism tells you that this smear campaign has nothing to do with fact and everything to do with narrative.

Yet still we see Omar attempting to appease these unappeasable smearmongers by publicly apologizing for perfectly truthful and accurate statements. The campaign to kill her influence will continue for as long as she continues to disrupt the official narratives of the US-centralized empire, so no amount of apologizing or sensitivity to concern trolling about antisemitism will ever stop the smears.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has also been subject to the same narrative control subversion for her opposition to US interventionism in Syria, Venezuela and Iran, her criticisms of disastrous US interventionism in the past in Iraq and Libya, and her calls to end the new cold war against Russia. American mass media has been flipping the fuck out ever since she announced her candidacy for the presidency and working overtime to smear her as a friend of the Kremlin and of Syrias President Bashar al-Assad. During a recent guest appearance on The View, the Hawaii Representative was told by the ditzy daughter of late bloodthirsty psychopath John McCain that When I hear the name Tulsi Gabbard, I think of Assad apologist.

Gabbards response? Contributing to the war machines propaganda narratives about Syria.

There is no disputing the fact that Bashar al-Assad in Syria is a brutal dictator, Gabbard said. There is no disputing the fact that he has used chemical weapons and other weapons against his people.

Again, Gabbard is not being targeted by establishment mouthpieces like John McCains hellspawn because there is an actual concern that she holds some weird kind of loyalty to a random Middle Eastern leader on the other side of the world. Yet Gabbard capitulated to narratives she knows damn well are highly questionable in a vain attempt to appease her smearers.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard says "there's no disputing the fact" that Bashar Al-Assad is a "brutal dictator" who "has used chemical weapons" against his people, but adds that amid the US's "regime-change war," the "lives of the Syrian people have not been improved" https://t.co/Y6QetTrzFB https://t.co/s3a0OfJe7T  @TheView

This is not how you beat these creeps. The way to beat them is to attack the smear directly.

Ive been the target of smear campaigns myself, and Ive had blunders and successes in dealing with them. The fact that Im still here speaking to a large readership without my influence having been killed off means Ive picked up a clue or two about dealing with attempts to manipulate the public narrative about me, so Im just going to share what Ive learned here in case its useful to anybody.

Anyone who attempts to control the dominant narrative about who you are and what you stand for is trying to control you and your voice. It is a direct attack on your ability to influence your world, and if it succeeds you will necessarily be rendered impotent. It is therefore necessary to fight a smear campaign about you as directly and aggressively as any other attempt to rob you of your faculties or capabilities. This means not ignoring your smearers, nor capitulating to their demands, but engaging their smears loudly and publicly in a way that fully exposes what they are attempting to do to you.

If you are being lied about by someone attempting to influence public opinion about you, debunk that lie and loudly draw attention to it. If your position is being misrepresented by someone attempting to influence public opinion about you, correct that misrepresentation and call attention to how manipulative and dishonest your smearer is being. Explain their real motives for coming after you and dismiss their false stated reasons for the bogus justifications that they are.

Julian Assange started a leak outlet on the premise that corrupt power can be fought with truth. Corrupt power responded by detaining, silencing and smearing him. The persecution of Assange has proved him absolutely right about everything.  @caitoz

They are trying to control the narrative about you, so the idea is to take back that control of your narrative. You dont need to convince everyone that youre right, you just need to prevent their malicious narrative about you from becoming the one everyone accepts as true because thats what everyone else is saying. Most people believe things not because of facts and evidence, but because other people in their life believe those things. If you can create enough doubt in the malicious narratives being circulated about you and enough trust in your own, you can punch through that dynamic of unanimous consensus and keep your influence from being killed.

When you see it for what it actually is, a smear campaign is actually really gross to look at. People have a natural revulsion to manipulation and deception once theyve seen it, especially when its done in the service of the powerful against the interests of the disempowered. All you need to do, then, is forcefully draw attention to what theyre doing to the point where their engagement in the smear campaign makes them look worse than theyre trying to make you look. This will kill their ability to manipulate public perception of you.

It sucks to have to do this. It feels really gross to keep having to wade into the muck and fight your smearers on their level, but the alternative is letting them control the narrative about you, which is the same as handing them control over your voice and, to an extent, your life. Because you can be one hundred percent certain that they will not cease working to kill public trust in you and your words if you just ignore them or be nice to them hoping that they will stop. Remember, they are not actually concerned about you being a Nazi/antisemite/Putin-lover/Assadist; they dont actually care about fighting antisemitism in the way you or any healthy adult does. They have one simple goal, and that is to kill off your influence over the herd. Keep putting out your own message as well; dont let fighting smears become the majority of your output, but dont give them a single inch of control over the public narrative about you, either.

If you see someone smearing Corbyn, Omar, Gabbard, or any other target of establishment smear campaigns like Julian Assange, the best way to help them continue to disrupt the narrative matrix is to (A) refute the smear, then (B) aggressively expose the smearer for what they are and what theyre about. Whoever controls the narrative controls the world, and whoever controls the narrative about a particular thing controls that thing. If that particular thing is something or someone you care about, dont let them control the narrative about it. Never treat an argument made in bad faith like its an argument made in good faith. Expose their lies and force a conversation about the despicable tactic that they are employing.

Caitlin's articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking her on Facebook , following her antics on Twitter , checking out her podcast , throwing some money into her hat on Patreon or Paypal , or buying her book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers . https://caitlinjohnstone.com
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has shared that he wont be handing over to another Speaker until June because the tenue of the present honourable members still has three months.

Speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs, Mr Turaki Hassan, he said he is not bothered about who becomes the next Speaker of the country as his administration still has pending issues to look into.
Russian occupation forces launched nine attacks, using weapons banned under the Minsk agreements and firing a total of 100 mortars, on positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbas over the past day.

In the zone of action of tactical force East, invaders used 120mm and 82mm mortars to shell Ukrainian positions near Vodiane (94km south of Donetsk); 82mm mortars and heavy machine guns  outside Hnutove (20km north-east of Mariupol), the press center of the JFO Headquarters reports.

In the zone of action of tactical force North, the enemy fired 120mm mortars on Ukrainian defenders near Novooleksandrivka (65km west of Luhansk), Novozvanivka (70km west of Luhansk) and Vilne (70km south-west of Donetsk); 120mm mortars and automatic mounted grenade launchers  near Novoluhanske (53km north-east of Donetsk); 120mm and 82mm mortars, weapons on infantry fighting vehicles and heavy machine guns  in the area of Popasna (69km west of Luhansk); 82mm mortars and heavy machine guns - near Lobacheve (17km north-west of Luhansk); automatic mounted grenade launchers and small arms  outside Krymske (42km north-west of Luhansk).

One Ukrainian serviceman was wounded in shelling in last day.

Today, the enemy has already opened fire from 120mm mortars near Lebedynske (16km east of Mariupol) and Vodiane (94km south of Donetsk). No casualties among Ukrainian defenders have been reported.

According to the intelligence, two invaders were killed and another one was wounded. In addition, one enemys Orlan-10 AUV was downed, the JFO Headquarters reports.

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Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Takashi Kurai have discussed the issues of cooperation between Ukraine and Japan in the security sector and the reform of the Ukrainian defense-industrial complex, according to the NSDC press service.

"The parties discussed the deepening of cooperation between Ukraine and Japan in the security sector. Special attention was paid to the reform of the domestic defense-industrial complex and possibilities for deepening and enhancing the bilateral cooperation in this area, the statement says.

During the meeting, the situation in eastern Ukraine in the context of hybrid aggression of the Russian Federation was also discussed. Turchynov stressed the importance of maintaining sanction pressure on the Russian Federation and coordinating at the international level the counteraction to Russian aggression.

In turn, Takashi Kurai reaffirmed Japan's unwavering position on non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and the support for Ukraines sovereignty and territorial integrity. The ambassador stressed that Japan is interested in deepening the bilateral cooperation with Ukraine at all levels, the NSDC press service reported.

As Ukrinform reported, new Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan Takashi Kurai has begun his diplomatic mission in Ukraine in January 2019.

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Wizz Air launched four new flights from Ukraine on March 1-3, in particular, from Kyiv to Bremen (Germany), Billund (Denmark) and Riga (Latvia) and from Lviv to Copenhagen (Denmark), the company's press service has told Ukrinform.

According to the report, Wizz Air performed its first flights from Kyiv to Bremen, Billund and Riga, as well as from Lviv to Copenhagen during March 1-3.

It also notes that Ukrainian passengers can already plan their next trip and book tickets at wizzair.com or through the WIZZ mobile app.

With the launch of new flights, Wizz Air connects Kyiv with 25 destinations in Europe and Lviv with ten cities. The airline currently conducts 44 flights to 13 countries from three Ukrainian airports - Kyiv, Lviv, and Kharkiv. Wizz Air transported more than 300,000 passengers during the first months of 2019.

In addition, WIZZ will deploy the fourth Airbus A320 at its base in Kyiv in March.

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Hungary's low cost airline Wizz Air started to operate flights on Kyiv-Bremen, Kyiv-Riga and Kyiv-Billund routes.

As the Centre for Transport Strategies reports, the first flight to Bremen took off from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv International Airport (Zhuliany) at 11:08 on March 2 and arrived in the German city at 12:38 local time. The return flight took off from Bremen at 13:24 and arrived in the capital of Ukraine at 16:24.

In March, the flights will be operated on Mondays and Fridays, and starting from April - on Tuesdays and Saturdays (twice a week).

Flight to Riga is performed by Airbus A320. It arrives in Riga at 12:35, a return flight lands in Kyiv at 14:45.

Kyiv-Riga flights will be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In addition, in March, July and August, the flights will be also performed on Thursdays every week. In other months, the flights on Thursdays will be performed 1-2 times per month. Starting from October, there are no flights on Thursdays in the schedule.

Moreover, Wizz Air also launches flights from Kyiv to Billund. This Danish city is known for the Legoland amusement park.

The first flight to Billund is scheduled for 15:30. The return flight arrives in Kyiv at 21:00. The flights to Billund will be operated on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

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Ukraine's sole brand "Ukraine Now" has been recognized as the winner in the nomination "Rebranding of the Year: Change or Go Home" according to X-Ray Marketing Awards 2018.

In addition, the brand took second place in the nomination "The Revolution of Communications," the government portal reported.

According to Roksolana Stadnyk, the head of the department of information and communications of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, "Ukraine Now" is a successful campaign on popularizing Ukraine, which is highly appreciated by experts both in Ukraine and abroad. She is convinced that the brand will get many new victories.

X-Ray Marketing Award is an annual prize where the best marketing teams and campaigns of Ukraine are determined by voting. This year's short-list was formed on the basis of the most popular materials and the most notable campaigns launched last year. The 2018 voting was held in the following nominations: "Communication Strategy of the Year," "Opening of the Year," "Rebranding of the Year," "Failure of the Year," "Blitz of the Year," "Ambiguity of the Year," "Marketing Director of the Year," "CEO/Owner of a Market-Oriented Business."

Earlier, the brand "Ukraine Now" received one of the most prestigious design awards - the Red Dot Design Award - in the Corporate Identity category.
Congolese expelled from Angola push a rented bicycle to transport their children and belongings to Tshikapa, near the border with Angola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Reuters/Giulia Paravicini

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is concerned by a fast-developing humanitarian situation in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo sparked by mass returns from Angola over the last two weeks.

Congolese government officials estimate that some 200,000 nationals have arrived in Kasai Province alone, with more arrivals reported in neighbouring Kasai Central Province. Their arrivals follow an expulsion order by the authorities in Angola targeting migrants. The Congolese were working in the informal mining sector, in the northeast of Angola, before being asked to leave.

UNHCR is appealing to the governments of Angola and the DRC to work together to ensure a safe and orderly population movement. Mass expulsions are contrary to obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights and we ask both sides to respect the human rights of those affected. Without such cooperation the returns could easily create a humanitarian crisis in the already fragile Kasai region.

There have been reports of violent clashes in some areas of Angola as law enforcement agents have attempted to enforce the leave order. The deadline for compliance with this order expired yesterday (Monday 15 October 2018).

With the deadline having passed, thousands of returnees are on the Congolese side of the border. More were seen walking towards the DRC border or arriving by cars, bus, minibuses or trucks on the Angola side of the border from where they walk to cross taking their belongings with them.

People have been arriving in DRC through different border points with whatever belongings they can bring. We have heard complaints of violence, including sexual violence and harassment, bodily frisking and theft of belongings, at the hands of security forces on both sides of the border.

The Congolese are returning to a desperate situation, looking for safety and aid. With more arriving every day, thousands are reported to be stuck at and near the border, with limited means to travel onwards to their home places. In addition, many are likely to face difficulties due to destruction caused by recent conflict in the area. Ethnic tensions still run high since the Kasai conflict in 2016 and 2017.

The town of Kamako in Kasai Province, on the border with Angola, is over-crowded with people staying overnight outdoors, in host families, church compounds, and on streets.

UNHCR teams are currently working with UN and other partners in the region to assess humanitarian needs, trying to ensure those most at risk  including unaccompanied children  are taken care of. New arrivals need food, water, shelter and other basic services both at the border and once they arrive in their villages of origin. A primary need raised by new arrivals is transport to their homes. Local authorities in the region have requested international assistance.

UNHCR is also concerned on the reports that the new arrivals may have included a small number of refugees, caught up in the mass movement and forced to return to the DRC. We are working to verify these reports. UNHCR is screening returnees at the border, working closely with the Government of Angola, to prevent forced refugee returns.

Angola currently hosts some 68,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, primarily from DRC.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
Pope Francis greets Diana, from Colombia, and Omar, from Venezuela, after an audience at the Vatican, February 20.  UNHCR/Vatican Media

VATICAN CITY STATE - Its not every day that a person around the world gets to meet the Pope.

For four refugees living in Argentina - Okba, from Syria; Diana, from Colombia; Omar, from Venezuela; and Ndathie, from Senegal - this became a reality lon 20 February when they participated in a public audience with Pope Francisco (Francis).

They travelled to the Vatican as part of a committee of migrants and refugees, representatives from different immigrant communities that reside in Argentina, accompanied by the Argentine Human Rights and Cultural Pluralism Secretary Claudio Avruj, a group of government officials and UNHCR and IOM officers, with the mission of promoting dialogue, respect and diversity.

It was a really emotional moment, says Ndathie. Just seeing the Pope is something really important. And listening to him speak about love, about migrants and refugees, about human life and many sensitive issues... It was a moment that one can never forget.

For Diana, greeting the Pope was also a unique experience: He is one of the voices that, at a global level, has stood up to defend the human right to migrate and the right to international protection.

The encounter was also an opportunity to promote refugees' participation and to forge connections between the members of different immigrant communities.

Being part of this delegation is really important, because Im not just representing myself  Im representing thousands if not millions of persons who need to be present in a place and event that has the attention of the whole world, says Okba.

He is one of the voices that, at a global level, has stood up to defend ... the right to international protection.

Having such close contact with so many immigrant communities and exchanging experiences was very valuable, says Omar. To be able to understand our differences and agree on the things that will help us contribute to Argentine society, that is the most important takeaway, he adds.

Renata Dubini, UNHCR Director for the Americas, joined the group of refugees that attended the public audience with the Pope, who has expressed his concern over the plight of refugees and migrants around the world and called for solidarity with these vulnerable populations in several opportunities.

I accompanied the Argentine delegation that brought together different representatives of those (groups that) who found a new home in Argentina over the past decades. I am confident that this tradition of welcoming (immigrants) extends to newly arrived refugees, such as those who joined us during the visit, who can find both in Argentina as well as in the rest of Latin America integration opportunities, recover their dignity and contribute to the developments of our communities, she said.

For Okba, Diana, Omar and Mustafa this was not only the first time meeting the Pope and visiting Rome, but also an opportunity to share their experiences of integration in Argentina.

My experience of integration was not easy at first, because of the language barrier. But after a while, when I learned Spanish communicating with people became really easy, I made friends, says Okba, who arrived to Argentina in 2017 through the community sponsorship Syria Program. When I started working, that helped me integrate. Because Im not in Argentina for a while: Im in Argentina to have a life.

Diana, who works as a teacher, arrived in Argentina 10 years ago. I travelled by land during three months from Colombia. I left in the context of socio-political violence, she says. In Buenos Aires, her sister, who was married to an Argentine man and had an Argentine daughter, was waiting for her. I found affection and solidarity in a very difficult time of my life, Diana says.

At first, I didnt understand anything of how the country worked. Ive never been away from home for so long, says Omar, who arrived in Argentina in 2016. After getting settled, he founded Latin Vox Machine, an orchestra that gathers musicians from Venezuela and other Latin American countries. It has played in some of the biggest theatres of Buenos Aires City and it also functions as a space of integration.

Ndathie arrived to Argentina from Senegal in 2007, when he was 22 years old, looking forward to starting a new life. He requested asylum when he got to the country, and after working as a street vendor and studying to improve his Spanish, he got a job and became an Argentine citizen. Today, he works as an administrator at the National Refugee Commission, and he is attending law school. I want to get better at my job and to be able to help those who need it, he says.

During the three-day visit to Rome, the delegation also visited historical sites, met with a senator of Argentine origin and visited a reception center for refugees.

About 137.000 people of concern to UNHCR live in Argentina, where the UN Refugee agency has been supporting this population through protection and durable solutions programs since 1965.
In their latest statements, the Russian Orthodox Church didn't even mention the formal head of what was formerly known as UOC-MP, Metropolitan Onufriy.

Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epifaniy has explained why the former Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) is a structural part of the Russian Orthodox Church rather than an independent entity they claim they are.

"They are not an independent church but a metropolia of the Russian Orthodox Church, as in Belarus. Perhaps, they have more rights than the Belarusian Orthodox Church, but in general, if you open the Charter of the Russian Orthodox Church, there is a section 'Ukrainian Orthodox Church.' So is it an independent autocephalous church, or is it autonomous if its primate is the first permanent member of the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church?" Epifaniy said in an interview with the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.

Epifaniy added that in their latest statements, the Russian Orthodox Church didn't even mention the formal head of what was formerly known as UOC-MP, Metropolitan Onufriy, which indicates that Moscow 'no longer even cares about the role of Metropolitan Onufriy,' so statements are drafted without him being aware, without his participation.

Read alsoUkraine Church leader: Invaders in Donbas set to "confiscate" temples, deport priests

"This indicates they are fully dependent on the Russian Orthodox Church," Epifaniy said, noting that the church's decision-making center is in Moscow.

"If Metropolitan Onufriy was present at the Synod, being the first member of the Synod, what does this mean? I am not a member of the Holy Synod of the Church of Constantinople. We have a tomos, a real document, where it is stated that we are an independent autocephalous local Orthodox Church," Epifaniy pointed out.
When making a decision on whether to unleash a war against Ukraine, Putin strongly considered a church factor.

Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine, head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine Epifaniy has said there is no state intervention in the church's affairs in Ukraine, unlike in Russia.

"[Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church] Kirill doesn't make any decisions on his own, let's say, with regard to Ukraine or foreign issues. They are subordinated to the Russian government. In Ukraine, there is no such thing," he said in an interview with the Ukrainian news outlet Ukrayinska Pravda.

Epifaniy said the Orthodox Church of Ukraine has good relations with the government because it contributed to the Orthodox churches uniting into one and because this is about religious security of the state.

Read alsoUkraine Church leader: "Moscow Patriarchate" in Ukraine fully dependent on Russia

"I think that Putin, when he made a decision whether to unleash a war with Ukraine or not, paid a lot of attention to the church factor. Patriarch Kirill had come to Ukraine several times, convening certain people. However, sometimes they were 'photoshopped in'. And, apparently, Putin got the impression that he has absolute support here and will be greeted with flowers. The Ukrainian people showed him a completely different picture. However, in the so-called Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate there was, and still is, real support of Russia," Epifaniy said.
Ukraine is calling on the Russian Federation to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular, the 1949 Geneva Convention.

Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova says Ukrainian sailors have been in Russian captivity for 100 days.

"Today is 100 days since the Ukrainian sailors are in Russian captivity. Ukraine, along with all civilized countries, is calling on the Russian Federation to comply with the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the norms of the 1949 Geneva Convention. Our guys are prisoners of war, and the Russian Federation must free them!" she wrote on Facebook.

Denisova also published a video of relatives of Ukrainian prisoners of war who make an appeal "Freedom to Ukrainian sailors!"

"These are important words! Everyone who is not indifferent to the fate of 24 prisoners of war held in Russia for three months should hear and repeat them. I emphasized and will continue to stress that we will not step back until our heroes return home!" she said.

Read alsoUkraine Ombudsperson at UN: Ukrainian political prisoners Bekirov and Hryb in critical condition

UNIAN memo. On the morning of November 25, Russia blocked the passage to the Kerch Strait for the Ukrainian tugboat "Yany Kapu" and two armored naval boats "Berdyansk" and "Nikopol," which were on a scheduled re-deployment from the Black Sea port of Odesa to the Azov Sea port of Mariupol.

The Ukraine Navy Command noted that the Russian side had been informed of the plans to re-deploy the vessels in advance in accordance with international standards to ensure the safety of navigation. The Russian coast guard ship "Don" rammed the Ukrainian tugboat, damaging the Ukrainian vessel. As the Ukrainian boats were heading back in the Odesa direction after being rejected passage via the Kerch Strait, Russian coast guards opened aimed fire on them.

All 24 crew members on board were captured and later remanded in custody for two months, being charged with "illegal border crossing" (the sailors are facing up to six years in prison).

Read alsoNATO says militarization of Crimea, Azov and Black seas by Russia threat to Ukraine sovereignty

Three crewmen were wounded in the attack.

Russian-controlled "courts" in occupied Crimea ruled that all 24 detainees should be remanded in custody, after which they were transferred to the Moscow-based Lefortovo and Matrosskaya Tishina detention centers. Moscow's Lefortovo district court in the middle of January 2019 ruled to keep the Ukrainian sailors in remand until the end of April 2019.
Nasir El-rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State on Monday, March 5, 2019, disclosed how he deals with hate speeches that he comes across on a daily basis.

El-rufai revealed how he avoids hatred on Twitter while responding to a commendation by a twitter user on the way he deals with people.

Read his tweet below;
The official was also removed from the post of chairman of the interdepartmental commission of military-technical cooperation and export control.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has signed a decree to dismiss First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky.

"This morning, before flying to Mykolayiv, I signed a decree to dismiss Oleh Hladkovsky from the post of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine," Poroshenko said at a meeting of the Regional Development Council of Mykolayiv region, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

According to the president, Hladkovsky was also removed from the post of chairman of the interdepartmental commission of military-technical cooperation and export control.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian investigative journalists on February 25 released a report claiming that Ihor Hladkovsky, the son of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky, is involved in large-scale embezzlement of budget funds in the defense sector.

Read alsoThose involved in embezzlement in defense to receive suspicion notices next week, Prosecutor General vows

It is alleged that Hladkovsky Jr. and his partners conspired with defense officials to procure military spare parts from Russian smugglers, as well as from Ukrainian Army warehouses. Prices for spare parts, which journalists say often failed to meet quality standards, were hiked significantly. Then, the journalists reported, the perpetrators would sell these goods to defense plants in conspiracy with top managers of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's state-owned Defense Concern.

The group allegedly earned from Ukroboronprom at least UAH 250 million in kickbacks.

The journalists consider Oleh Hladkovsky to be Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's ally set to informally "supervise" the country's defense industry.

On February 26, Poroshenko suspended Oleh Hladkovsky from office, pending a criminal investigation.
Government, parliamentary and public control over Ukraine's defense sector should be expanded, the president believes.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov to convene a Council meeting on Wednesday on reforming the country's defense giant, Ukroboronprom.

"We have long planned a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine with an agenda of reforming Ukroboronprom and increasing transparency of its operations," Poroshenko said at a meeting of the Regional Development Council of Mykolayiv region, an UNIAN correspondent reports.

According to Poroshenko, government, parliamentary and public control over the defense sector should be expanded.

"This morning, I instructed Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksandr Turchynov to prepare this meeting, tentatively to be scheduled on Wednesday, to hold consultations required with our foreign partners," the president added.

Read alsoPoroshenko dismisses senior NSDC official amid probe into corruption in defense procurement

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian investigative journalists on February 25 released a report claiming that Ihor Hladkovsky, the son of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleh Hladkovsky, is involved in large-scale embezzlement of budget funds in the defense sector.

It is alleged that Hladkovsky Jr. and his partners conspired with defense officials to procure military spare parts from Russian smugglers, as well as from Ukrainian Army warehouses. Prices for spare parts, which journalists say often failed to meet quality standards, were hiked significantly. Then, the journalists reported, the perpetrators would sell these goods to defense plants in conspiracy with top managers of Ukroboronprom, Ukraine's state-owned Defense Concern.

The group allegedly earned from Ukroboronprom at least UAH 250 million in kickbacks.

The journalists consider Oleh Hladkovsky to be Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's ally set to informally "supervise" the country's defense industry.

On February 26, Poroshenko suspended Oleh Hladkovsky from office, pending a criminal investigation.

Today, March 4, Poroshenko signed a decree to dismiss Hladkovsky from the post of First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine on February 26 declared unconstitutional Article No. 368-2 of the Criminal Code, which provides for liability for illegal enrichment.

The Group of Seven (G7) countries and the World Bank consider the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) to abolish responsibility for illegal enrichment a serious setback in the fight against corruption and called on Ukraine to criminalize the illicit enrichment.

"The recent elimination of the illicit enrichment offence from the criminal code is a serious setback in the fight against corruption in Ukraine. This has weakened the impact of the whole anti-corruption rule on a significant number of illicit enrichment cases, and the ability of the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine [NABU] to investigate high-level corruption," the G7 and the World Bank said in a joint statement on the Constitutional Court decision on illicit enrichment

It is noted that the ongoing investigations and prosecutions for illicit enrichment held the promise of bringing to accountability for those that had used their official position for personal gain.

"Illicit enrichment is not a new offence. In 2010, there were more than 40 countries that criminalized illicit enrichment, and since then many other jurisdictions have included the offence in their criminal law. Courts around the world have recognized that criminalization of illicit enrichment is a powerful tool in the fight against corruption, while at the same time respecting fundamental human rights and constitutional principles such as presumption of innocence, protection against self-incrimination and legal certainty," reads the statement.

Read alsoAll criminal cases on illegal enrichment to be closed following Constitutional Court's "political" move  NABU

G7 and the World Bank called on Ukrainian authorities to step up efforts for safeguarding the effectiveness of anti-corruption legal tools and institutions, including by reinstating criminal liability for illicit enrichment in line with UN, OECD and ECHR principles and finding a way to continue the dozens of investigations and prosecutions threatened by this ruling.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine on February 26 declared unconstitutional Article No. 368-2 of the Criminal Code, which provides for liability for illegal enrichment.

The conclusion declares that "Article 368-2 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code loses its force from the date of the adoption of this conclusion by the Constitutional Court," the ruling said.

On February 27, the NABU stated that due to the court's decision, all proceedings against corrupt officials would be closed.

Read alsoPoroshenko submits to Rada new bill on punishment for illegal enrichment

On February 28, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declared that he had tabled in the Verkhovna Rada a new bill on punishment for illegal enrichment.

On March 1, the National Agency for Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) said that the CCU's decision on the unconstitutionality of Article 368-2 of the Criminal Code made it impossible to establish signs of illegal enrichment in declarations for 2015-2018.

According to the international organization for the fight against corruption, Transparency International, Ukraine may lose its visa-free regime with the European Union because of its Constitutional Court's ruling.
The legal acts will be published in the Official Journal on March 5, 2019.

The Council of the European Union has prolonged EU sanctions against ex-President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and 11 allies for one year.

"The Council extended until March 6, 2020 the asset freezes directed against 12 persons identified as responsible for the misappropriation of Ukrainian state funds or for the abuse of office causing a loss to Ukrainian public funds," the Council said on its website.

This restrictive measures regime has been in place since March 5, 2014, and has been extended on a yearly basis since then.

Read alsoViktor Yanukovych used Swedbank in suspected bribery affair  Sweden's TV

The restrictive measures against one person were not extended. "This decision is based on the annual review of the measures," the Council said.

According to unofficial reports, this is Andriy Klyuyev, who headed Yanukovych's administration.

The legal acts will be published in the Official Journal on March 5, 2019.

UNIAN memo. The EU on March 6, 2014, froze assets of former Ukrainian officials in office during Yanukovych's presidency for misuse of public funds and human rights violations. On the sanction list are Viktor Yanukovych, his son Oleksandr Yanukovych, ex-prime minister Mykola Azarov, former interior minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko, former prosecutor general Viktor Pshonka and his son Artem Pshonka. Subject to the EU sanctions are also former deputy interior minister Viktor Ratushniak, former first vice prime minister Serhiy Arbuzov, former tax minister Oleksandr Klymenko, former energy minister Eduard Stavytskiy, former education minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, and energy tycoon Serhiy Kurchenko.

Former justice minister Olena Lukash and Andriy Klyuyev's brother, former MP Serhiy Klyuyev, were deleted from the sanctions list a year ago.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

U.S. President Donald Trump has extended several packages of sanctions imposed on the Russian Federation by the Barack Obama administration over the Russian occupation of Crimea.

The sanctions were extended for another year, until March 2020, according to a statement posted on the White House's website on March 4, 2019.

On March 6, 2014, by Executive Order 13660, the president declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of persons that undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets.

Read alsoCouncil prolongs EU sanctions against Yanukovych and 11 allies for one year

On March 16, 2014, the president issued Executive Order 13661, which expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660, and found that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation with respect to Ukraine undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets.

On March 20, 2014, the president issued Executive Order 13662, which further expanded the scope of the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660, as expanded in scope in Executive Order 13661, and found that the actions and policies of the Government of the Russian Federation, including its purported annexation of Crimea and its use of force in Ukraine, continue to undermine democratic processes and institutions in Ukraine; threaten its peace, security, stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and contribute to the misappropriation of its assets.

On December 19, 2014, the president issued Executive Order 13685, to take additional steps to address the Russian occupation of the Crimea region of Ukraine.

On September 20, 2018, the president issued Executive Order 13849, to take additional steps to implement certain statutory sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation.

The actions and policies addressed in these Executive Orders continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on March 6, 2014, and the measures adopted on that date, on March 16, 2014, on March 20, 2014, on December 19, 2014, and on September 20, 2018, to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond March 6, 2019. "Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency declared in Executive Order 13660," Trump said.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.
According to intelligence reports, two enemy troops were killed in action and another one was wounded.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted nine attacks on Ukraine Joint Forces' positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action.

"One Ukrainian soldier was wounded in the past day. According to intelligence reports, two invaders were killed and another one was wounded," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on March 4, 2019.

Also, Ukrainian troops successfully downed an enemy UAV.

Read alsoOSCE observers spot 22 Grads in occupied Donbas

Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from 82mm and 120mm mortars, weapons installed on infantry fighting vehicles, grenade launchers of various types, heavy machine guns and small arms to attack the Ukrainian defenders of the town of Popasna, and the villages of Vodiane, Hnutove, Novozvanivka, Novo-Oleksandrivka, Khutir Vilniy, Novoluhanske, Lobacheve, and Krymske.

"Since Monday midnight, Russian-led forces have attacked Ukrainian positions twice near the villages of Lebedynske and Vodiane, using 120mm mortars," the report said.
The casings were seen on Putylivska Roshcha Street and on Ananchenka Street in Donetsk.

Monitors of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine have spotted casings of multiple launch rocket systems in the Russia-occupied city of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine.

"On Putylivska Roshcha Street in Donetsk city, about 3.5km north-east of Donetsk central railway station, the SMM spotted an object lying on the side of the street which it assessed as a casing of a multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) (a Grad type) rocket," the OSCE said in its March 4 update based on information received as of 19:30 Kyiv time on March 3, 2019.

Read alsoOSCE observers spot 22 Grads in occupied Donbas

"On March 2, on Ananchenka Street in the Trudivski area of the Petrovskyi district of Donetsk city (non-government-controlled, 15km south-west of Donetsk city centre), about 10m from nearest inhabited residential houses, the Mission saw an object embedded in the asphalt in the middle of the street which it assessed as a casing of an MLRS rocket," it said.
One Ukrainian soldier was killed in action on that day.

Russia-led forces' tanks on Monday, March 4, attacked Ukrainian positions in Donbas, eastern Ukraine, for the first time since the beginning of the year.

"The occupation forces used proscribed weapons in eight attacks, having fired ninety-nine 125mm, 122mm, 120mm and 82mm shells. Enemy tanks opened fire for the first time since the beginning of the year," the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said on Facebook in an evening update for the period from 00:00 to 18:00 Kyiv time on Monday, March 4.

Read alsoOSCE monitors spot casings of multiple launch rocket systems in Russia-occupied Donetsk

In particular, the enemy used 122mm artillery systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, anti-tank missile launchers to shell Ukrainian positions.

JFO forces deployed near the following villages were under attack: Lebedynske, Vodiane, Shyrokyne, Pisky, and Zaitseve.

"One Ukrainian defender was killed in action. Our units fired back. There is no report about enemy casualties yet," the JFO said.

The killed soldier was 20 years old.
General Gerasimov said Russias armed forces must maintain both classical and asymmetrical potential, using jargon for the mix of combat, intelligence and propaganda tools that the Kremlin has deployed in conflicts such as Syria and Ukraine.

The chief of Russias armed forces endorsed on Saturday the kind of tactics used by his country to intervene abroad, repeating a philosophy of so-called hybrid war that has earned him notoriety in the West, especially among American officials who have accused Russia of election meddling in 2016.

At a conference on the future of Russian military strategy, Gen. Valery V. Gerasimov, the chief of the general staff, said countries bring a blend of political, economic and military power to bear against adversaries, according to The New York Times.

General Gerasimov said Russias armed forces must maintain both classical and asymmetrical potential, using jargon for the mix of combat, intelligence and propaganda tools that the Kremlin has deployed in conflicts such as Syria and Ukraine.

And he cited the Syrian civil war as an example of successful Russian intervention abroad. The combination of a small expeditionary force with information operations had provided lessons that could be expanded to defend and advance national interests beyond the borders of Russia, he said.

Read alsoUkraine's Foreign Intel Service: Russia to spend US$350 mln for meddling in Ukraine elections

The speech was noteworthy for echoing themes General Gerasimov laid out in an article published in 2013 in The Military-Industrial Courier, a Russian army journal, and which many now see as a foreshadowing of the countrys embrace of hybrid war in Ukraine.

Though definitions of the term vary, some analysts see a progression from the blend of subversion and propaganda used in Ukraine to the tactics later directed against Western nations, including the United States, where Russias military intelligence agency hacked into Democratic Party computers during the 2016 election. Russia denies interfering in the election.

An American interagency report on the Russian election meddling blamed the intelligence agency, known as the GRU and at least formally subordinate to General Gerasimov, for hacking the Democratic National Committee servers and releasing documents to damage the campaign of Hillary Clinton and support her opponent, Donald J. Trump.

Read alsoRussian special services preparing fake exit polls in Ukraine  OSINT group

In the 2013 article, General Gerasimov wrote that there were no clear borders between war and peace in the modern world. Militaries fight in peacetime, he said, and political and economic means are deployed in war.

The article and speech may also have a message for rivals at home. Pavel Felgenhauer, a military analyst and columnist in Moscow for the newspaper Novaya Gazeta, said military hard-liners often promote the idea of Russia being in a limbo between war and peace because it helps them in internal government disputes, giving them greater sway over foreign policy.

Promoting the idea is also consistent, he said, with using the GRU to target Western countries. The message, he said, is we dont care what the West thinks, we are enemies.
The Democratic Party of Moldova were runners-up.

The Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova, supporting the country's president Igor Dodon and the restoration of relations with Russia, won the elections to the Moldovan parliament, according to the final data presented by the Central Electoral Commission (CEC).

According to the data released, Socialists will receive 35 mandates in the 101-seat parliament. They are followed by the ruling Democratic Party of Moldova with 30 mandates, and the pro-European opposition bloc Acum in third place with 26 mandates, according to TASS.

Read alsoMoldova Parliament Speaker accuses Russia of election meddling

Sor Party is fourth with a result of 7 mandates, independent deputies will receive three mandates. The other parties failed to overcome the 6% electoral barrier.

At the same time, the outcome of the elections sets the stage for coalition talks or possibly new elections, according to Reuters.

Adding to the uncertainty, opposition leaders threatened street protests after raising suspicions of vote-buying.
A Lagos High Court has issued a warrant of arrest for talented Nollywood actress, Monalisa Chinda, over a six-year tax evasion allegation. The court issued the warrant of arrest after it was alleged that the actress had failed to honour court summons over the case previously.

More details later
Vanguard

THE Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, senatorial candidate for Bayelsa East Ipigansi Izagara and the House of Representatives candidate for Brass/Nembe Federal Constituency, Mrs Marie Ebikake, have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to order a rerun in Nembe Bassambiri where there was no election but results were announced.

Thisday

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said the suspension of Governors Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun State) and Rochas Okorocha (Imo State) by the All Progressives Congress (APC) has no bearing on their fresh status as senators-elect, saying the disciplinary action was an internal party affair

The Sun

Few days to the governorship election, one of the governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna State, Mohammed Sani Sidi, has dumped the party for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Daily Times

Men of Ogun State Police Command have arrested a 3-man one chance robbery gang in Atan-Ota area of Ado-Odo Ota Local Government area of the State.

Daily Trust

An opinion poll has predicted outright victory for Governors Abdullahi Ganduje, Nyesom Wike and Aminu Tambuwal of Kano, Rivers and Sokoto states respectively ahead of Saturdays governorship election.

The Nation

President Muhammadu Buhari is off to Akwa Ibom, Delta and Imo states today to boost his partys battle for governor.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has terminated the charges filed against the late former Chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) today.

The court ruled that all Properties in line with the charges be forfeited to the Federal Republic of Nigeria through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC).

The former Service Chief

Court terminates charges against Alex Badeh

was killed by gunmen last year when returning from his farm in Nasarawa State.

Consequently, Nigerians have taken to their Twitter handle to react.

Reactions:

Mercy after death  Demi Tubors (@johntubor) March 4, 2019

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Mercy after death  Ekeoba Jay (@ekejo) March 4, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Really? Anyway. Of wat use is it again wen he has been silenced by murder ? God rest his soul.  Brighton MacDaniels (@Danosophe) March 4, 2019

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

his family will now enjoy the loot  sesu-josep (@joseph_sesugh) March 4, 2019

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March 4 2019

7N Architects have fleshed out their plans for a new neighbourhood on Edinburghs neglected waterfront with the submission of detailed plans for Western Harbour.

A collaboration between Forth Ports and Rettie the project will deliver 938 homes as well as shops, commercial space, a health centre and primary school  all centred on a huge new park incorporating play areas, meadows and woodland.

Designed in tandem with landscape architects Rankin Fraser the new community will encourage residents to take ownership of their streets by prioritising pedestrians over vehicles and delivering high quality public realm.

Ben Watson, project leader at 7N Architects said: Western Harbour presents an unprecedented opportunity to create a new neighbourhood in our historic city that can begin to address Edinburghs housing needs and can act as a catalyst for the wider regeneration of the citys waterfront.

Subject to the necessary consents construction ought to commence on site by the end of the year.
March 4 2019

The Scottish Design Awards are back in business with a brand-new website ushering in the 2019 awards programme as Urban Realm renews its hunt for the best in architecture and design.

The entry window for this years event opens on 4 March, with all submissions to be received no later than 20 April.

Urban Realm editor John Glenday said: We are excited to show off our bold new look which will provide a much more fitting digital presence, encouraging more entries by minimising barriers between the best work and a successful nomination.



Nominations should be filed online ahead of the all-important cut off by downloading and returning the entry form in good time. The full judging panel for both architecture and design panels will be announced in due course.

You can keep abreast of ongoing awards news as it happens by following @scottishdesign on Twitter or contacting kasia@urbanrealm.com (01413565333) to find out more.
March 4 2019

An Aberdeenshire bothy conversion has been named the winner of the 2018 Velux Roof Window Award following a nationwide contest.

Nether Cowieswells, Crawton, by Hyve Architects saw existing interiors better illuminated and ventilated through the installation of new roof lights within the gable of the original structure.

Former RIBA president Jane Duncan described the conversion as the, Most simple and elegant of remodelling projects which subtly introduces the wonderful local light through Velux roof windows to enhance the clarity of the spaces.

Special mentions were given to three further projects from the 130 submissions; Spring Cottage by Covell Matthews Architects; The Steading, also by Hyve and 48 Milverton Road by T2 Architects.
(@FahadShabbir)

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2019) The decision to extend the TurkStream through Bulgaria has not yet been made and depends on the specific actions of the two countries' governments, since Russia needs guarantees that the European Union would not interfere with gas deliveries via the new pipeline, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview.

"The decision to extend the TurkStream pipeline across Bulgaria depends on whether Sofia can get firm guarantees that the EU will not obstruct the plans for gas supplies via the new gas pipeline," Medvedev told the Bulgarian newspaper Trud.

The new line should not suffer the fate of South Stream, he stressed, adding that Russia sees that Bulgaria is interested in the project.

"We are already seeing progress in Bulgaria. Bulgartransgaz has recently completed the open season procedure - the collection of binding bids to reserve future gas transmission capacities. Also, Bulgartransgaz has made the final investment decision on the project to develop and expand its gas transmission system. The road to beginning construction work is all clear," the head of the Russian government said.

The pipeline project is beneficial for all sides, Medvedev noted.

"We are confident that cooperation on natural gas meets the interests of our economies - not only the Russian and Bulgarian economies, but the overall European economy, too," he said.

Moscow believes that the construction of another gas corridor will further enhance energy security in Europe, he stressed.

"With the current policy of liberalising the gas market, it will be possible to use the existing infrastructure more flexibly depending on obligations, market conditions, transportation costs and other market factors," Medvedev explained.

The option to extend the second branch of the TurkStream to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary is currently being worked out, the prime minister added.

"Which extension option for TurkStream is ultimately chosen will largely depend on the availability of gas transport infrastructure. That, in turn, depends on the involvement and concrete actions of the governments in the respective countries," he said.

The TurkStream pipeline will have two legs, each with the capacity to deliver 15.7 billion cubic meters (554 billion cubic feet) of gas per year. The first leg is set to bring gas across the Black Sea directly to Turkey, while the other one will run across the country to its western border, transporting natural gas to states in southern and southeastern Europe. The pipeline is expected to be launched by the end of 2019.

Several EU countries said they wanted to be part of the project. Gazprom is considering options for continuing the TurkStream either through Bulgaria and Serbia, or through Greece and Italy.

In 2014, Russia halted the implementation of the South Stream pipeline, which was intended to traverse the Black Sea to deliver Russian natural gas through Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovenia to Italy and Austria to bypass the territory of Ukraine. Moscow gave up the project as the European Commission opposed it over alleged breaches of EU energy legislation.
SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Monday extended invitation to Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) to participate in one day conference Role of Chambers in Strengthening Regional Economic Integration scheduled to be held at Kathmandu, Nepal on March 16

LAHORE (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / NNI - 04th March, 2019) SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) Monday extended invitation to Pakistan Furniture Council (PFC) to participate in one day conference Role of Chambers in Strengthening Regional Economic Integration scheduled to be held at Kathmandu, Nepal on March 16.PFC Chief Executive Mian Kashif Ashfaq disclosed this while chairing a meeting of board of directors here today.

He said social political dialogues among the member states are indispensable to unleash the socio-economic potential of South Asia. He further said that the government and private sector must come forward joining hands together for working integration of the region and if all tangible steps are taken, only furniture market in the region would reach to colossal figure of $5.4 billion by 2020.

Remedial measures may push the regional trade to as high as $170 billion within two years, he added.He said increased regional economic connectivity within South Asia, as well as with other parts of Asia, can bolster economic growth, reduce poverty and enhance regional stability and security.

He said the rising disposable incomes, improving consumer lifestyles and a significant increase in the GDPs largely supplement the growth of the market in the South Asian region. Further, the growth is also supplemented by the ongoing developments in the real estate sector in the region, which largely boost the adoption of luxury furniture by both domestic as well as commercial users.

Mian Kashif said Pakistan is still lagging behind in this sector even compared to its neighboring countries India and China.

He further said Pakistans share in the world market for furniture is negligible, despite the fact that it has a valuable record of craftsmanship and innovation in this sector. He further said the leadership of South Asian countries should sit together and devise a formula of restoration of peace so that trade should be flourished instead of terrorism and extremism.He underscored that South Asia needs to overcome the bitter legacies of the past, in order to create an enabling environment for peace and stability, which is critical to unleash the synergies necessary for economic progress.

Unless bilateral disputes are resolved, through peaceful dialogue, sustainable peace and security in the region would remain elusive, he added.PFC chief directed all the stakeholders of furniture sector to chalk out a comprehensive plan to boost mutual furniture trade among the member states and extend invitations to their counterparts in the conference to visit Pakistan and invest in furniture sector.

NNI
SANTIAGO, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 03rd Mar, 2019) Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Jarwan, President of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, met with officials in Chile to discuss how to spread peace and tolerance throughout the world.

During his visit to Chile, Al Jarwan and his delegation met with Carlos Montes, Speaker of the Chilean Parliament, Andres Chadwick, Chilean Minister of Interior and Public Security, and Carolina Valdivia Torres, Chilean Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs.

The Chilean officials welcomed the visit of the delegation, and its international efforts to spread tolerance.

Montes called on the council to open an office in Chile and sign a cooperation agreement, while praising Al Jarwans role in heading the council, as well as the councils achievements. He also affirmed the Chilean Parliaments support for the council and its goals.

Al Jarwan praised the social fabric of Chile, which is spreading the values of tolerance and peace among its communities.

He also explained the work of the council and the related efforts of the International Parliament for Tolerance and Peace, while highlighting the importance of the cooperation between relevant bodies, whether governments, parliaments, universities or individuals, in spreading tolerance, to achieve global peace.

Al Jarwan and his delegation also met with the Director of the Inter-Religious Dialogue Council of Chile, while affirming his support for the Chilean councils initiatives to spread the true image of religions that call for tolerance and coexistence.

The delegation then visited the headquarters of the Palestino Club, which showcases the Palestinian communitys coexistence with the Chilean people, while praising Chiles liberty, tolerance and peace.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

Reem Al Hashemy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Kamissa Camara, Mali's Minister of Foreign Affairs, have discussed ways to further develop cooperation between the two countries

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 04th Mar, 2019) Reem Al Hashemy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, and Kamissa Camara, Mali's Minister of Foreign Affairs, have discussed ways to further develop cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the 46th session of Council of Foreign Minister of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Abu Dhabi, addressed prospects for widening bilateral relations across various fronts.
According to reports, a bench warrant for her has been issued by a Lagos High Court in Igbosere. The actress is said to have evaded tax payment for 6-years now.

Justice Adedayo Akintoye, gave the order after an application was filed by the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, alleging that the actress Monalisa Chinda had on countless occasions failed to honour court summons.
Kazakhstan suggests that the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) be used as a platform to settle the recently escalated Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov told Sputnik Monday

ASTANA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2019) Kazakhstan suggests that the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) be used as a platform to settle the recently escalated Kashmir conflict between India and Pakistan, Kazakh Foreign Ministry Spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov told Sputnik Monday.

"Kazakhstan proposes to use the CICA platform to settle the situation," the spokesman said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's trip to Bagdad will play a crucial role in fostering ties between Iran and Iraq, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Monday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2019) Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's trip to Bagdad will play a crucial role in fostering ties between Iran and Iraq , Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said Monday.

Rouhani is expected to go to Iraq on March 11, which will be a "turning point in the two countries' relations," Qassemi was cited as saying at a daily press briefing by the Mehr news agency.

A number of high-ranking Iranian officials have traveled to Iraq in the past weeks to prepare the president's visit.

Iran has taken efforts to reinforce its ties with countries in the middle East and beyond since the United States brought back sanctions on Tehran that were waivered under the 2015 nuclear pact.
Luxembourg could become a mediator between Russia and the European Union in an effort to improve their bilateral relationship and promote a dialogue, Ambassador of Luxembourg to Russia Jean-Claude Kne Russia Jean-Claude Knebelerbeler told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2019) Luxembourg could become a mediator between Russia and the European Union in an effort to improve their bilateral relationship and promote a dialogue, Ambassador of Luxembourg to Russia Jean-Claude Knebeler told Sputnik in an interview.

The ambassador recalled that Luxembourg had always been historically and geographically located between two spheres of influence  France and Germany.

"We speak both languages, we understand both cultures. I think we have an understanding that whenever two strong countries argue it is very dangerous to be in the middle. That is why even in the European Union, where we are co-founders, we always took the role of mediator. And we try to ... understand one's position and go to the other. This is also what my prime minister is trying to do," Knebeler said.

According to the diplomat, there is a wide spectrum of positions toward Russia in the European Union.

"You have those, who are very very open and friendly to Russia ... The spectrum is very wide. We try to be somewhat in the middle and work in a constructive way in order to manage this relationship," he said.

Knebeler said that Luxembourg supported the new EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine but believed that these measures could not, in itself, be the goal.

In February, the European Union agreed to extend individual sanctions against Russia for six months as well as add eight more Names to the list over the country's alleged meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs.

"Russia did something, the annexation of Crimea, that Luxembourg, as a small country that has been annexed and occupied twice over the last 100 years, cannot accept ... We support the reaction of the European Union," the ambassador said.

In 2014, relations between Russia and the West deteriorated over Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukraine conflict and Crimea's reunification with Russia. The European Union imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia's energy, banking, and defense sectors, among others, as well as on a number of Russian officials. Russia has denied the accusations and introduced a set of countermeasures in response to the West's restrictions.

The recent incident in the Kerch Strait between Russia and Ukraine, when three Ukrainian ships were detained after illegally crossing Russian border in November 2018, has further deteriorated the relationship between Moscow and the European Union.
Many people find that SUI gets in the way of their daily and social activities, and INNOVO is a breakthrough treatment option that can provide relief for millions of women who are living with the burden of incontinence," said Gordie Nye, Chairman of Atlantic Therapeutics.

San Francisco, CA USA (UroToday.com) -- Atlantic Therapeutics, a global manufacturer of innovative, garment-based pelvic floor muscle strengthening and nerve stimulation products, announced positive quality of life data from two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the INNOVO device were presented at the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction Winter Meeting in Miami, Florida.The data showed that INNOVO demonstrated significant improvement in Incontinence Quality of Life (I-QOL) scores in the two trials reported. INNOVOis a novel wearable device, that may be prescribed as a front-line therapy to those suffering stress urinary incontinence (SUI), or as a second line therapy to those that have previously failed physical therapy (in the form of supervised or unsupervised pelvic floor exercises, also known as Kegel exercises).The first RCT, a non-inferiority trial, evaluated external versus intravaginal electrical stimulation for the treatment of SUI in 180 women. In this trial, quality of life improved in both active and comparator groups during the study and the mean changes in I-QOL score (INNOVO 13.42) were more than double the minimal clinically importance different for this measure (6 points) after 12 weeks. In the second RCT, researchers evaluated the safety and performance of INNOVO compared to a sham device. There was a numerical trend for a greater improvement in the INNOVO group over the control group.INNOVOwas approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 13, 2018 and is the first ever transcutaneous electrical stimulator cleared by the FDA, offering US women a safe, clinically effective and non-invasive choice to treat stress urinary incontinence. In its pivotal multi-center randomized controlled clinical trial, 87% of INNOVOusers were dry or almost dry after a 12-week treatment period, with 80% of patients experiencing improvement in just 4 weeks.Using a hand-held controller that is attached to a wearable pair of shorts, INNOVO delivers 180 perfectly targeted impulses in every 30-minute session to strengthen the muscles of the entire pelvic floor and re-educate the muscles that control bladder function. For best results, it is recommended that patients use INNOVO for 30 minutes, 5 days a week for 12 weeks. INNOVO has an excellent safety record to date, with over 1.8 million therapy sessions delivered by INNOVO in Europe and no reported device related complications.
The owner of a betting company, NairaBet, Otunba Akin Alabi has reacted to the merger between former Governor of Oyo state, Alao Akala, and the ruling Al Progressive Party(APC) ahead of the Gubernatorial election scheduled for March 9th.

Akala who was running for governor on the platform of the Action Democratic Party(ADP) made this announcement a few days after meeting with the National Leader of APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Reacting via his Twitter handle, Akin Alabi who emerged as Egbeda /Ona-Ara Federal Constituency House of Representative Member in the last elections under APC lauded Tinubu for bringing people with electoral value into the APC in Oyo.

He said:
Kevin Vazquez-Teran Killed in Phoenix Motorcycle Accident

Phoenix, ArizonaKevin Vazquez-Teran, age 20, was killed yesterday when a vehicle collided with his motorcycle at the intersection of 40th Street and Cactus Road.

According to accident investigators with the Phoenix Police Department, Mr. Vazquez-Teran was operating his motorcycle westbound on Cactus Road when the driver of a Nissan Altima proceeding eastbound on Cactus turned left in front of him to continue onto 40th Street. Mr. Vazquez-Teran was thrown from his motorcycle and died at a hospital. There were five occupants in the vehicle and one was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures.

Authorities do not believe that impairment was a factor in the deadly collision.

We extend our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Vazquez-Teran over this tragic loss.
Mercedes Durham Hit and Killed in Phoenix Crosswalk

Phoenix, ArizonaMercedes Durham, age 18, was hit and killed as she attempted to cross Butler Drive at 7th Street in a marked crosswalk.

Accident investigators with the Phoenix Poolice Department reported that Ms. Durham was crossing Butler Drive at the east crosswalk when she was struck by a Ford F-150 pickup truck. The driver of the pickup truck was stopped at the intersection of Butler Drive and 7th Street and was waiting for northbound traffic to clear in order to execute a right turn onto 7th Street.

We offer our deepest condolences to Ms. Durham's family and friends over this tragic loss.
Pope Francis addresses the Pontifical Commission for Latin America after their intensive training seminar on the theme of "Social Doctrine of the Church and Political Commitment in Latin America - For a New Generation of Latin American Catholics in Politics".

By Francesca Merlo

Pope Francis begins his address to the Pontifical Commission for Latican America by stating that politics is a vocation in favour of the Common good. The Christian vocation, and in particular that of politicians stems from community. The first sign of a community, continues the Pope is the friendship that grows amongst the members. These friends find each other through the incarnation of Christ, who, the Pope says has taught us to transform a fearsome and at times selfish I into a we.

Pope Francis specifies that being a Catholic involved in politics does not mean being part of a group or of an organization. It means being part of a community.

Politics for the common good

The political involvement of the Christian comes from the desire to build upon the common good. Pope Francis underlines this by quoting Saint Oscar Romero, who he says, spoke so that the lay faithful could be free.

Listen to our report

The Christian involved in politics can bring politics into the light of the Gospel, and therefore make sure it is the people who are acting as the main protagonists of their own stories.

Change

Pope Francis goes on to highlight the fact that the whole world is going through a change of era, this, he says, requires a change in language, in signs and in methods. By change, the Pope specifies that he does not mean a simple marketing tool but the application of that very same method God picked for us: Incarnation.

The three main factors that are most vital to the future and loyalty of Latin American identity, according to Pope Francis are women, youth and the poor.

Church, the spouse of Christ

Women, because The future of Latin America has a female face. Young people, because in them lies the nonconformity and rebellion necessary to promote real changes. And, the poor because through them, the Church portrays its loyalty as the spouse of Christ.

Finally, Pope Francis urges all Christians involved in politics to express their most authentic fights, to be present in the political sphere and to never stop fighting for the common good, through politics in all its forms.
Venezuelans are gathering in several cities to wait for the return of Guaido (ANSA)

Venezuela`s opposition leader Juan Guadio, is calling for mass protests throughout the country starting at 11pm local time on Monday. This comes as the Government faces yet another challenge.

By James Blears

In spite of a travel ban slapped by Venezuela`s Supreme Court upon Oppostion leader Juan Guaido, since January, when he declared himself Interim President, he`s defied and ignored it, slipping over the Border into Colombia on February 24th.

He`s since had meetings with US Vice President Mike Pence, Brazil`s President Jair Bolsonaro, plus Equador`s President Lenin Moreno. More than fifty countries including, the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Spain, now officially recognize Guaido as interim President. While Russia, China, Mexico, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia support Nicolas Maduro, who was re-elected in a hotly disputed Election, that the Opposition declared fraudulent and biased, so they refused to participate.

Listen to James Blears' report

The pressing question now is where Guaido is going to attempt to re-enter Venezuela, and whether he`ll be detained, for disobeying the Supreme Court`s ruling. The Venezuelan Military which is still loyal and following orders from President Maduro, is NOT allowing in desperately needed US and international aid. Maduro says this is a camouflaged lure and a prelude to invasion, warning the Military to remain on maximum alert.

Arrest and detention of Guaido would prove a major escalation and friction of a situation already reaching crisis levels. Today`s expected mass demonstrations will further ratchet up that pressure.
1,500 runners joined KILO RUN HANOI 2019

Taking place on March 3, the organising board planned the route of the running event through the most beautiful landmarks of Hanoi so that participants can enjoy the eight most delicious authentic local dishes.

The event consisted of two activities, one is the KM (Breakfast Run) category with three routes for a total of 19.7 kilometres passing by Ly Thai To Statue, Hoan Kiem lake, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, and Phan Dinh Phung Street, among others.

The second part is the KG category (dinner run) where participants can run while enjoying delicious food, including chicken noodle, steam rice rolls, and barbecued pork with rice vermicelli, among others.

With its distinctive culture, delicious local foods, comfortable travel at affordable cost, KILO RUN HANOI had a good impression on all participants, especially foreign tourists who love to enjoy new activities.

The runners getting ready for the race

Hanoi is considered the most popular destination among Thai tourists, who visit at ever growing numbers every year. KILO RUN HANOI 2019 will be full of joy and happiness to all travellers who are seeking new travel destinations. In addition, Thai AirAsia Airline also brings its employees and numerous celebrities from Thailand to join this event, such as Doo-Sanya Kunakorn, Than-Thanwa Suriyajak. There will also be booths and games and we are the co-sponsor of the prizes to the winners of each category that include two round-trip Bangkok-Hanoi tickets on AirAsia and one Mascot doll Bao Wiw, said Witchunee Kuntapeng, head of guest service at AirAsia Thailand.

A runner posing for a photo before the race

The success of the event in Hanoi will be followed by another race in Thailand in May 2019.

The next event is planned to be held in Thailand where KM Run will take runners around the Rattanakosin Island in Bangkok, retracing the fascinating history of Bangkok by visiting historical landmarks like the Grand Place and the City Pillar Shrine and other iconic temples, said Kreingkrai Kanjanapokin, founder and chief executive officer of Index Creative Village Plc.

Index Creative Village Plc. is the leading integrated and creative marketing firm in the ASEAN region, and the 7th global creative event firm (ranked by Special Events Magazine, the US).
A single ticket is priced at 15,000VND (65 US cent) for the whole metro line and 8,000 VND for each stop.(Source: bizlive.vn)

A single ticket is priced at 15,000 VND (65 US cent) per person traveling the whole metro line and 8,000 VND for travel from one stop to the next. A daily ticket is 30,000 VND (1.3 USD), including an unlimited number of trips. A monthly ticket will cost 200,000 VND (8.62 USD).

The proposed prices will apply during the pilot period and would then be adjusted. However, the duration of the pilot period has not been confirmed.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong line runs 13.5km with 12 stations, including Cat Linh, La Thanh, Thai Ha, Lang, Thuong Dinh, Ring Road 3, Phung Khoang, Van Quan, Ha Dong, La Khe, Van Khe and Yen Nghia.

The track is designed for speeds up to 80km/h and trains would run every 3-5 minutes.

The 886 million USD project was originally slated to begin operation in 2016 but multiple setbacks pushed the date back to the end of the first quarter of 2019.
The liquidity on the derivatives market has shown signs of improvement and stabilising in the past two weeks, beating previous projection that the new trading fees may discourage them from derivative trading.- Photo doanhnhan.net

On February 15, investors were charged three new fees when making derivative trades, which are the derivative trading fee (paid to the stock exchange) and derivative position management and collateral management fees (paid to the Vietnam Securities Depository).

All three fees are collected by brokerage firms. Among them, the position management fee must be paid to the Vietnam Securities Depository (VSD) when investors trade overnight open interest (OI). The collateral management fee is paid when investors deposit their margin-lending money at VSD.

The fees range from VND400,000 (US$17) to VND2 million per month.

In the first five trading days after the new fees were applied on February 15, liquidity on the derivatives market slightly declined. According to securities firms, investors were discouraged from the market trading as the fees seemed unjustified and unnecessary.

In the week between February 15 and February 21, an average of 87,600 contracts was traded in each session, down 21.6 per cent from the average figure of the four days prior to February 15.

But between February 22 and March 1, liquidity increased sharply with average 136,770 contracts being traded in each session.

Market experts and securities companies have agreed that Viet Nams new derivative fees help regulate and select cash flow in the underlying stock market.

Huynh Minh Tuan, business director of VNDirect Securities Company, told news site ndh.vn that the application of the new fees after one year free of charge was a necessity.

However, Tuan said collateral management fees paid to the VSD were not appropriate and should not be collected, though the derivative trading fee and derivative position management fee were reasonable, he said.

Many neighbouring markets in the region are applying these fees to stimulate short-term transactions during the day. He also suggested reducing the derivative position management fee.

He said the imposition of the new fees led to the increases in investment costs and reduces transaction volume.

From the perspective of the Government and management agencies, now is appropriate to charge fees. The underlying stock market has an important position and needs to be strengthened to promote equitisation and divestment.

Meanwhile, the derivative market has attracted many speculators and put pressure on the underlying market.

Tuan said the derivative fees would help limit the cash flow of speculators in the derivatives market and direct them back to the underlying market, reducing bad impacts when the market performs poorly.

Agreeing, Nguyen Hong Diep, director of Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Company (SHS)s HCM City branch, said imposing derivative fees is a move to regulate cash flow.

Diep said derivatives were not a market but a risk-hedging product. However, derivatives were gradually rising as a profit-making tool rather than risk-hedging. Therefore, cash poured into derivatives was not small and this would affect the underlying market.

Truong Hien Phuong, director of KIS Vietnam Securities Corporation, said charging derivative fees was reasonable.

He said fee collection helped management agencies re-invest into the market and also forced investors to be more careful when making derivative transactions.

Currently, many securities companies offer derivative transactions for free to entice investors to open accounts. However, this had negative impacts and reduced the service quality of businesses, he said.

Former head of IVS Securities Cos analysis department Nguyen Huu Binh said management agencies had studied carefully before applying the new fees.

The fees might be expensive for individual investors but this may be the purpose of the management agencies in order to direct institutional investors to derivatives, he said.
Bali Safari Marine Park Tour

This information was released by Masriati Lita S. Pratama, Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs, the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, at the Tourism Networking Event last week. Accordingly, Vietjet Air will operate the route and tickets will be sold in two months. On March 25, Vietjets representative will officially announce this route at the Indonesia Sales Mission and Networking Dinner. Besides, Vietjet is also planning to open routes connecting Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi with Jakarta. I hope that this will solve the biggest challenge of tourism relation between the two countries and boost the number of tourists from both sides with competitive tours, Lita told VIR.

According to Lita, in 2018, the number of Vietnamese tourists to Indonesia was 75,632, while the number of Indonesian tourists to Vietnam was 87,941.

These numbers are small compared to the total outbound traveler volumes of the two countries and too small compared to their population. We target to welcome 100,000 Vietnamese tourists in 2019, Lita said.

To reach the target and make use of direct flights, in 2019, the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism has promoted 10 more destinations besides Bali, the land for honeymoons, including Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple in Central Java, and Toba Lake in North Sumatra, a large natural lake occupying the caldera of a supervolcano with the length of about 100 kilometres, width of 30 kilometres, and depth of 505 metres.

We also promote all these destinations at Vietnam International Travel Mart 2019 (VITM) which will take place March 27 to 30, with attractive tours and prices, Lita added.

As one of more than 30 representatives of travel agencies participating in the event, Pham Tien Dung, general director of Golden Tour, shared that although Indonesia was very attractive with diverse culture and landscapes, the market was higher than other destinations.

Now we provide tours to Bali at the price of nearly VND14 million (around $600). This is the best price in Vietnam now, but it is still higher than tours to South Korea, Dung said. He also hoped that with the direct flights, his company can provide cheaper tours to Indonesia in general and Bali in particular.

Vietnam and Indonesia are aiming to reach the bilateral trade turnover of $10 billion by 2020. The development of the two countries relations in tourism will partly contribute to reaching this target.
Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP, Atiku Abubakar has criticised the continued detention of his son in-law and lawyer by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.

According to the former vice president, the only reason why they are being held is because they supported him, adding that government should pursue justice and peace for everyone and not only for those who support them.

His words: My son in law and lawyer have been detained, one for 3 weeks and the other recently. They are paying the price for supporting me. I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a governments mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them.

However, Lauretta Onochie, President Muhammadu Buharis aide on social media, has accused the former vice president of selling the idea of allowing people who have committed crimes to walk free because they are related to him.

She notes further that there are laws in Nigeria, which hold those that break them liable and that Nigerians are glad that he didnt win, if not hed have taken them back to the days of impunity.

His words: Its sad that you are selling the idea that when people commit crimes, they should be allowed to walk free, simply because they are related to you

Nigeria has laws which go after and apprehend those who break them

Nigerians must be thankful that you cant take us back to impunity.
M&A activities remain robust in Ho Chi Minh City

According to a report by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in January 2019, Ho Chi Minh City continued to attract the largest volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country. Specifically, the city attracted $745.7 million, accounting for 39.1 per cent of the total investment.

According to a report by the municipal Peoples Committee, 68 FDI projects were granted new investment registration certificates with a total investment capital of $32.72 million in January, increasing by 36 per cent in number and making up 33.7 per cent of the investment capital attracted last year. Another 11 projects increased investment capital by $4.07 million.

The city has also licensed 191 foreign investors to contribute capital to and/or buy shares worth a total of $452.71 million in the city, up 1.6 per cent in the number of cases and 3.7 per cent in investment capital.

According to Le Thanh Liem, deputy chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the city attracted $7 billion in FDI capital last year, $6 billion of which came through capital contribution and share acquisition deals.

He noted that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activities have picked up momentum in recent years. M&A capital in the city increased from $1.5 billion in 2016 to $3.68 billion in 2017. Since 1988, foreign investors have been licensed to pump over $10 billion into Ho Chi Minh City via M&A deals, accounting for 22 per cent of the total FDI in the city.

According to experts, foreign investors prefer investment through capital contribution and share acquisition as the current procedures for these deals are favourable. Accordingly, investors can register with regulatory bodies instead of applying for investment licenses when contributing capital to and/or buying shares at local companies.

However, local authorities are cautious about investment via M&A. According to a representative of the citys Department of Planning and Investment, this form of investment may help foreign investors avoid some issues related to the state management of investment.

Foreign investors do not need to set up investment projects and apply for investment certificates if they acquire 100 per cent of a local company. When acquiring a property project from local firms, foreign investors do not need to deal with procedures of project transfer.

Despite being an important channel to attract foreign capital, the form of investment remains a headache to regulatory bodies, he said, noting that it needs legal documents guiding the management of this capital flow.
Opportunities were presented at the seminar titled "Portuguese Golden Visa  The Gateway to Europe" held in Ho Chi Minh City

Portugals Golden Visa is one of the most competitive investor visas in Europe. The Golden Visa not only allows the holder to live and work in Portugal, but also affords one the right to visa-free travel throughout the European Schengen Area. Through the Portuguese residency programme, applicants can apply for permanent residence or citizenship after five years.

Vietnamese investors can obtain the Golden Visa by purchasing property with a value equal to or above 500,000 ($568,325) or investing 1 million ($1.14 million) in a Portuguese company. Applicants can also invest 350,000 ($397,830) in Investment Funds or in Venture Capital Funds with the purpose of capitalising companies, and where at least 60 per cent of the investment is realised in commercial companies with head offices in Portuguese territory.

Portugal is an open door to a market of 500 million people in Europe and another door to 250 million people in Portuguese-speaking countries. Portugal signed a double-taxation agreement with Vietnam in June 2015, which took effect at the end of 2016. In addition, the upcoming valid EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will create a strong driving force for fostering trade and investment activities between two countries. Therefore, the Portuguese Golden Visa will open up new opportunities for Vietnamese seeking to invest and settle in Europe.
SpaceX's Dragon capsule docked on the International Space Station 27 hours after its launch from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida. (Photo: AFP/Jim Watson)

The docking of the capsule, which has only a dummy on board, was concluded at 1051 GMT, nearly 400 kilometres over the surface of the Earth, NASA and SpaceX confirmed during a live broadcast of the mission.

A little over two hours later, the space station's three crew members - American Anne McClain, Canadian David Saint-Jacques and Russian Oleg Kononenko - opened the hatch of the space capsule and, for the first time, penetrated its interior in space.

There they found the dummy, Ripley, strapped to a seat, and an untethered plush toy in the form of the blue planet, which SpaceX had jokingly placed there as a "super high-tech zero-g indicator."

"Welcome to the new era in spaceflight," McClain said from inside Dragon.

Saint-Jacques tweeted about the experience monitoring Crew Dragon's "first-ever approach and docking" to the space station, hailing it as "the dawn of a new era in human spaceflight!"

NASA chief Jim Bridenstine tweeted his congratulations on "this historic achievement," which brings the United States a big step closer to its goal of again flying astronauts into space on American rockets.

NASA has relied on Russia to ferry its astronauts to the space station since the end of the US space shuttle program in 2011 after a 30-year run.

The capsule, also called Dragon or Dragon 2, approached the space station very gradually, carefully synchronising its speed and trajectory.

Contact appeared to be made very slowly, but in actuality both spacecraft were orbiting the Earth at more than 27,000 kilometres per hour.

From blast-off at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Saturday to contact on Sunday, the flight took 27 hours. Dragon will detach itself from the space station next Friday and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean, its descent slowed by four parachutes.

The mission is a dress rehearsal, without anyone on board, for Dragon's first manned mission, which should take place this year. The test run sought to demonstrate that the vehicle is reliable and safe, so that NASA can resume manned flights from US soil this year.

'NASA 'ROCKING' AGAIN'

Founded by billionaire Elon Musk, SpaceX has made the trip to the ISS a dozen times since 2012, but only to bring cargo to the station.

Transporting people is a more complex task, requiring seats, a pressurized cabin with breathable air, temperature regulation and emergency escape systems.

In 2014, the US space agency awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to take over the task of ferrying astronauts to the space station. In SpaceX's case, NASA has agreed to pay US$2.6 billion for six round trips.

The switch from NASA owning spacecraft to paying private firms for a service was initiated under former president Barack Obama - but due to development delays, has come to fruition under US President Donald Trump.

"We've got NASA 'rocking' again. Great activity and success. Congrats to SPACEX and all!" Trump tweeted on Saturday evening.

RETURN TO THE MOON

Since 2017, one of NASA's official missions has been to return to the Moon. Congress has been generous with the space agency, providing overall funding of US$21.5 billion in the 2019 budget.

Bridenstine has explained that NASA wants to reduce costs in low orbit to devote resources to getting back to the Moon and assembling a small space station in lunar orbit in the 2020s.

"As a country, we're looking forward to being one customer of many customers, in a robust commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit, so that we can drive down costs and increase access in ways that historically have not been possible," he said on Saturday following Dragon's launch.

But Musk has admitted that marketing travel in the Dragon capsule is not a priority - and he is more interested in distant exploration of the solar system.

At the post-launch press conference on Saturday, he reiterated his dream for a permanent Moon base - and sending people to Mars.

Musk has already locked in his first private customer to fly around the Moon: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. But it won't happen before 2023 at the earliest - with the rocket, far more powerful than that used for the Dragon mission, still in development.
SwanCity and KinderWorld signing the agreement

Real estate developer SwanCity and leading education group in Vietnam KinderWorld recently signed an agreement to develop a Singapore-standard education system at the formers projects.

Accordingly, the construction of the first school will be implemented at SwanBay in Dong Nai province.

KinderWorld is the largest owner-operator of foreign-invested international schools in Vietnam with a market share amongst multi-level operators of 22.4-28.6 per cent based on market value. It has been in Vietnam since the commencement of its first KinderWorld International Kindergarten in Ho Chi Minh City in 2000 and currently provides education services for students from 18 months to 18 years of age through three main brands  KinderWorld International Kindergarten, Singapore International School, and Singapore Vietnam International School.

It offers three different programmes  International Programme, Integrated Programme, and Premium Vietnamese Education Programme  each providing different certifications and catering to the different needs of students.
I was writing this article while in transit to Hong Kong to give a speech to a group of professionals and fellow alumni of the University of Hawaii about whether Vietnam is a short-term positive story or the next Asian Tiger.

Coincidentally, President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un completed their Hanoi, Vietnam Summit held over the past 36 hours to discuss a path forward towards peace, security, stability, and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula. There was hope that this summit might achieve a formal end to the Korean War which has been in a state of armistice for the past 65 years.

The organisers of the Hong Kong event indicate that participants are very interested in learning more about Vietnam as a trade and investment destination, however, I am confident there will be an increase in interest due to the significant publicity Vietnam has received in the lead-up to the Hanoi Summit.

Vietnam has received its share of positive global publicity over the past few years, especially with its successful hosting of the APEC, however, the publicity surrounding the DPRK-US Summit has been different and more beneficial because the world was anxious to know which country would host such a significant event. When Vietnam was announced, it was like winning a beauty contest or an award show. Next, people wanted to know why Vietnam? Certainly, its geographical location and current friendliness with both countries played into the decision. However, people learned that Vietnam provides a fantastic example of tremendous economic growth and success over the past 25 years, providing lessons and paths forward for the DPRK.

Over the past month in the lead-up to the summit, the world read in many newspapers and business journals how Vietnam transitioned from major levels of poverty to essentially eradicating it within the last 30 years. They learned that Vietnam has very quickly evolved from a poor country to a middle income country. They marvel at how Vietnam has sustained GDP growth of nearly 7 per cent for many years. They watch on the nightly newscasts reports of the summit with the Vietnamese urban skylines in the background resembling the most iconic cityscapes in the world. They see that Vietnam is both a leader and facilitator of peace. Most importantly, they were able to see the warmth, positivity, beauty, and generosity of the Vietnamese people.

As I watched the closing news reports of the summit, initial reports indicated a constructive and useful dialogue between President Trump and Chairman Kim. However, they were unable to reach any formal agreements. With this in mind, it seems to me that the biggest winner of this summit was clearly Vietnam.

As an American businessperson who has lived and worked in Vietnam for more than eight years, I am very proud of this country. I believe there are many lessons Vietnam has to offer to the DPRK situation beyond its economic successes. Lessons such as how to navigate co-operation and discussions with the US over sensitive war legacy issues. I also believe Vietnam provides an additional example through its progress towards protecting human rights and religious freedoms viewed from a long-term lens.

That said, it is my sincere hope that Vietnam will fully take advantage of this unique opportunity to showcase its many successes to the world by continuing to take further steps and achieve greater results.

The conclusion of my Hong Kong speech to professionals interested in trade and investment with Vietnam will be that Vietnam is not merely a short-term positive story. Vietnam has already demonstrated a strong track record and will continue to reach further heights. Maybe, it can even be considered another Asian Tiger in the future like Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan or Singapore? To reach that level of success, it is very important that Vietnam continue to learn from these Tiger countries journeys (both success and failure) much like it would benefit the DPRK to learn from Vietnams journey.

Economists and historians note that some of the themes of these Asian Tigers successes include: good governance; a supportive business environment; a smart and strong regulatory environment; anti-corruption measures; carefully managed public debt alongside large reserves/savings; and an emphasis on developing modern and next generation industries.

I would like to congratulate Vietnam for very effectively hosting the summit and showcasing its success story to the world. I am confident that Vietnam will see increased foreign visitors, investment interest, and global prestige in the days, months, and years ahead. The bright story of Vietnams achievements will certainly continue.
Prime Minister Hun Sen has dismissed concerns that Cambodia is becoming a Chinese vassal state after criticism over the countrys pivot to Beijing amid souring relations with the west over human rights and democratic decline.

Speaking at the opening of a $50 million China-funded hospital in Tbong Khmum province late last month, Hun Sen said China had no intention of trying to control countries in the region.

I want to make it clear ... I will not permit Chinese control and I know clearly about Chinese policy, meaning they dont want to control anybody, he said.

He added that Cambodia would continue to support the One China policy by acknowledging Taiwan as part of China.

Hun Sen has repeatedly said that Cambodia is an independent and neutral country and has accused the former opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party of working with the United States to unseat Hun Sen.

But after his Cambodian Peoples Party jailed the CNRP president, Kem Sokha, and banned the CNRP ahead of elections held in July last year, relations with the United States and European powers have rapidly deteriorated. Meanwhile, China has stepped in to fill the gap, becoming by far the most important financial and political backer of Hun Sens government.

The US and EU have imposed limited sanctions on Phnom Penh and are considering removing Cambodia from preferential trading arrangements, a move that could have a significant impact on Cambodias economic competitiveness.

China recently pledged $600 million in grants and loans to Cambodia and increased its rice import quota to 400,000 tons. Observers say that in return for Chinese support Cambodia has backed its claims to the South China Sea, though Cambodia insists it remains neutral in the dispute.

Meas Ny, a political commentator, questioned how independent Cambodia could remain in the face of vast inflows of the Chinese capital.

He claimed Cambodia would become a victim of power races between superpowers as in previous decades.

China has concentrated on providing finance for the development of infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has absorbed projects from western-aligned financial institutions such as the World Bank.
Two Sihanoukville officials have been fired and are being investigated by police and anti-corruption officials over their alleged role in a violent crackdown on land rights protesters in January.

Srun Sroan and Phay Bun Vannak, deputy governors of Preah Sihanouk province, were fired on Friday, according to a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Hun Sen wrote on his Facebook page that he had to remove the sand and rock from my shoes so I can keep walking, adding that he had educated them [Sroan and Bun Vannak] many times already.

Phay Siphan, a government spokesman, said on Friday that the two officers were fired in direct connection with the role they played in the land dispute in January, in which security forces shot a protester.

Not only were they fired but they are also facing the law for what they have done, such as abuse of power, abusing peoples trust, and corruption, he added.

In January a court ruled that 70 hectares of land in Sihanoukville would be distributed between nine families despite several hundred families claiming the land. It was suspected that powerful local landowners connected to the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party may have been the true beneficiaries of the land, sparking the protests.

Bun Vannak said the outcome was normal for government officials.

Sometimes, if we do something wrong, there will be changes, he said.

Sroan and Yun Min, the provincial governor, could not be reached for comment.

Khieu Sopheak, an interior ministry spokesman, said he strongly supported the decision, but declined to comment on the ongoing investigations against the officials.

Meas Ny, a political commentator, said the move was a sign of positive progress, but cautioned that it should be part of a wider move towards transparency.

Last month, Hun Sen removed another provincial official, Kim Reaksmey, the Ratanakkiri provincial police chief, after it was revealed he had gifted $500,000 to his children.

Siphan said the removals were part of an anti-corruption drive by the authorities.

We clean our society, keeping officials within boundaries. Those with positions have to follow the law and serve our citizens, not cause them harm, he said.
Artist Zsudayka Nzinga Terrell vividly recalls the day in elementary school when an assignment about family history made the impossibility of answering the questions Who am I? and Where did I come from? clear.

These white kids were able to get out and talk about hundreds of years of their background. And it was me and one of the black kids in the class who could go back to a plantation in Virginia and thats it.

My people were brought here on a bottom of a ship, she says. They were sold and they were re-named. My dads side of the family took the last name of the job they had, which is Butler. My moms side of the family took the last name of the plantation that owned them. So Im not just Nigerian now, Im not just Ghanaian. Im a combination of things.

Today, she and her husband, artist James Terrell, explore that identity in their work. Their new exhibit of acrylic paintings at the Center for the Arts in Manassas, Virginia, is called Born at the Bottom of the Ship and reflects their quest.

New culture, new tribe

Over the generations, Africans became African Americans with a new culture, and Nzinga Terrell incorporates various elements of that in her art.

Youll see a lot of things that remind people of the African print and African textiles. But youll also see things that are reminiscent of the American culture and American print and textile, she says.

An example is Hope and Grace, a painting of two women wearing colorful dresses with distinctive African patterns. They have these big afros, she adds. They have different skin tones as well as different hair texture. It could be in 1960; it could be in 2018. I feel like there is an embodiment in them of all of the different cultures. I love the strength of them and their poses. They both look very sure of themselves. Both are very unapologetically black.

James Terrells style is more abstract. Mami Wata, the first piece visitors see in the new exhibit, shows a woman rising from the ocean, created with white lines on a black background.

Mami Wata is the goddess of the sea," Terrell says. "The line work, I tried to make it indicative of the tribal aspect, but also shown as a dark time, dark period. There is no light going through it; theres not a lot of color seen, as opposed to the other ones. So, its just showing the time of the slaves being brought to America.

But the artist says he also likes to play with color. There was a color theorist named Josef Albers who was really into a color theory that had layers of colors and how to lay colors next to each other. So, growing up in a church that was into stained glass windows and how light comes through the windows, how colors vibrate, how they layered against each other. Then, the line in the middle, which separates the stain glass windows.

Terrells works reflect how he sees himself as an African American.

Trying to be uplifting, uplifting poses and not bowed down, he says. The figures he paints "are standing firm, standing strong. The lines are symbolizing the fact that people say that our race has been broken, but I say that weve been put back together. And were stronger as people. The different colors represent the fact that we were coming from different backgrounds, we all come together, and were still together to form a particular person or a particular feeling.

As a husband and wife team, togetherness seems to impact their work in a positive way. Id say its a healthy competition, Terrell says. We give each other good advice. We can talk in terms of, Well, should I put this color here or should I put this line here, what you think?'

Delightful and inspirational

Jordan Exum, gallery director at the Center for the Arts, says exhibit goers relate to artists identity exploration.

Ive found that people enjoy this exhibit; its a diverse group of people, she notes. Its not just one culture, ethnicity thats impacted by the message of the exhibit, which is exploring who African Americans are today. A lot of us in America, immigration is part of a lot of families histories and stories. So, I do think its a relevant theme. Its a universal theme. I dont think it only relates to the African American community.

That was true for photographer Theresa Coates Ellis, who says she found Born at the Bottom of the Ship both intellectually and visually engaging.

As I walked in the main door, it was just an ah! experience, she said, trying to describe how surprised she felt. But when the lights were turned to blue, it was a whole different experience. Everything popped. You see colors you didnt even really recognize during the actual natural lighting.

Another visitor, Kevin Seiger-Cottoms, saw himself in these works.

When I first walked in, the colors and the shapes hit me first because Im a mathematician and I love the geometry of the shapes and how they fit together, he says. Many things in this country are drawn from a European perspective, which I have nothing against, but its nice to be able to walk in and see my aunt, my cousin, my mom, my dad -- to see different people that I relate to."

The artists hope to take their exhibit on tour across America and around the world.
More than 100 migrants broke into the dock area of the port of Calais in France late Saturday and at least 50 of them attempted to race onboard a cross-Channel ferry that had arrived from Dover, England.

According to official sources, at least 48 of the refugees were apprehended, dashing their hopes of reaching England on the vessel's return trip. The French news agency (AFP) put the number of arrests at 63.

French law enforcement took the detained migrants by bus to Calais police headquarters.

Two of the migrants fell into the water, but were quickly rescued.

Maritime officials say ferry traffic was delayed for more than 12 hours as police searched the ship.

AFP reported that police were continuing to look Sunday morning for at least four more migrants the police believed were still hiding out on the same ship where the other migrants had been apprehended.






Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and a former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has said his arrested son in-law, is paying the price for supporting him.

Atiku, who lost the February 23rd presidential election to incumbent president, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has vowed to contest the outcome of the election in court  no matter what.

However, just a few days after the election result was announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Atikus son in-law was arrested and detained by officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. EFCC for allegations bordering on fraud.

In his reaction to the continued detention of his son in-law, Atiku says that the present administration must know that it has a duty to pursue peace and justice for all and not to only those who support them.

His words: My son in law and lawyer have been detained, one for 3 weeks and the other recently. They are paying the price for supporting me. I urge those now persecuting them to remember that a governments mandate is to pursue peace and justice for all, and not just those who support them.
Two locks of hair belonging to widely revered Ethiopian Emperor Tewodros will be repatriated after a request from Addis Ababa, the National Army Museum in Britain announced Monday, as more African countries seek to reclaim heritage they say was taken decades, even centuries, ago.

An outcry erupted last year among some Ethiopians over an exhibit by another institution, the Victoria and Albert Museum, on the 1868 British expedition to what was then called Abyssinia. During that campaign, in which 13,000 troops were deployed to free several British hostages, the emperor killed himself and his fortress was captured and looted.



Ethiopia's government at the time said it would use "whatever legal and diplomatic instruments" to secure the return of related items including an intricate golden crown.



That another British museum, the National Army Museum, held locks of the emperor's hair was seen as particularly sensitive. "Displaying human parts in websites and museums is inhumane," Ethiopia's minister for culture and tourism, Hirut Woldemariam, told The Associated Press last year.



That museum has said the hair was donated in 1959 by relatives of an artist who painted the emperor on his deathbed.



"Our decision to repatriate is very much based on the desire to inter the hair within the tomb alongside the emperor" at a monastery in northern Ethiopia, Terri Dendy, the National Army Museum's head of collections standards and care, said in a statement.



It was not clear when the formal handover would occur. The Ethiopian Embassy in London said it would hold talks with the museum on Thursday about the repatriation, which comes at the end of a yearlong commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the confrontation known as the Battle of Maqdala.



The embassy in a statement commended the museum's decision as an "exemplary gesture of goodwill," adding that "a display of jubilant euphoria is to be expected when [the hair] is returned to its rightful home."



Now Ethiopians say they seek the return of the bones of the emperor's son, Prince Alemayehu, who was taken to Britain and died there at age 18. He was buried at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.



The decision to return the emperor's hair is "a great start, both in encouraging the British toward looking into the possibilities of returning our looted antiquities and also the Ethiopian stakeholders whose decades-long, painstaking efforts actually can bear fruit," Yonas Desta, director-general of Ethiopia's Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, told the AP.



The bulk of what was taken, however, remains in the hands of the descendants of the British soldiers, according to Alula Pankhurst, a former professor at Addis Ababa University and an expert on Ethiopian studies.



"Some items in private collections have already been returned but the bulk of the items are in public collections within the UK and those cannot be restituted without an act of Parliament, and that is something that requires a big change in popular opinion and a bill has to be presented by members of Parliament," he said last year. "This is something that cannot be done overnight."



Some in Africa expect the momentum to grow in repatriating heritage from institutions overseas.



Late last year, a study by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron, recommended that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them.



That could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit. The experts estimated that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts.


As the global race to gain the lead in next generation tech heats up, China is stepping up its efforts, recently announcing a long-awaited plan to link up its southern Pearl River Delta into a massive hub of technology, research finance and innovation.

The possibilities and challenges of the project are both equally challenging and promising, analysts say.

Some describe the plan as an attempt to create a mega-city to rival Silicon Valley, the U.S. technology powerhouse that is home to companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple.

But while Silicon Valley has a population of 3.1 million and covers an area 121.4 square kilometers, the Greater Bay Area will link up nine cities together with Hong Kong and Macau and cover an area of 56,000 square kilometers. The area will have a population of about 70 million and the economic heft, state media argues, to drive the Chinese economy, let alone the world.

According to the plan, which was announced recently and is expected to be a prominent topic during high-level political meetings this month in Beijing, each city will focus on an area of strength. For example, Hong Kong will focus on finance, Macau tourism, Shenzhen, innovation and technology, Guangzhou will be a gateway and logistic hub and so on.

The plan is not necessarily new. Chinas opening up to the world more than four decades ago began in the south and the Pearl River Delta has long been home to some of the countrys leading companies from telecommunications  such as Huawei to Internet giant Tencent and host of other technology and manufacturing enterprises.

Its (the plan) a natural evolution of economic growth and the growth engine, said Adam Xu, partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants. If you really look at history in China, a lot of top down plans always have some bottom up support. A lot of economic activity has already happened there, then you have a grand plan to first officially recognize, then to promote and to further accelerate.

Xu said that as labor costs rise in China, the country is looking to move up the industrial value chain and the program seeks to do just that to push the region on to the next wave, be it the manufacturing of electric cars, financial services or telecommunications.

It also aims to drive investment to the area at a time when foreign funds flowing into the country are sagging.

Challenges

One key challenge, Xu adds, will be execution. The plan will tie together three different legal jurisdictions and that makes the plan unique compared to the two other major mega-city projects in China  the Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin merger and the Yangtze River Delta integration plan near Shanghai.

We dont know how effective the top down grand plan will (be in) guiding the many independent growing forces at the city level to coordinate and be successful, Xu said. This part will be quite an important challenge.

China has long had deep pockets when it comes to making investments that push forward technological advances. In many cases, however, that has led to overlaps in development and spending on technology and in turn oversupply.

Looking at the grand scheme each city doesnt have anything new, said C.Y. Huang, partner of FCC Partners. The biggest challenge and the biggest beauty - if they can pull it off - will be linking all of these together.

One way the plan could do that is not just by lifting physical barriers, but the flow of people, information and money.

China has already taken major strides to overcome some of the physical obstacles such as linking Hong Kong with Guangzhou and Shenzhou by high-speed rail and its recent opening of the 55-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

But other barriers may prove to be a bigger challenge.

I think it is really the barriers in systems that is the challenge. If they can really pull that off that will be a tremendous benefit and synergy in the long term, Huang said.

At the same time, he added, we shouldnt underestimate the social and political aspect of the challenges because we are talking about people.

One is a communist country, and the other is a free society. Although they talk about one country two systems, still it is different, Huang said.
As Uganda's population increases, many young people are having trouble finding jobs that pay well. A government directive to introduce the teaching of Mandarin Chinese in schools may lead to better employment opportunities.

China is a major trade partner and investor in Africa, and many countries are encouraging their citizens to learn what is considered by many to be the language of the future.

Last year, Uganda's Ministry of Education named 35 schools countrywide where the Chinese language would be taught.

The decision was driven by ties between the countries, says Grace Baguma, director of the national Curriculum Development Center.

WATCH: Students in Uganda Learn Chinese

"There is a lot of economic activity, infrastructure development, medical, [you] name it, that China is working with Uganda," Baguma said. "And many of our people, the Ugandans, are trading with China. So, China has become a country that we need to get to know and get into it. And the only way we can do it is also through the languages."

Kinene Charles, one of the students learning Mandarin at Everest College in Luwero district, thinks the language will open up job opportunities.

"I am interested in learning Chinese because it can help me to be employed in Chinese companies. And if I have a friend who knows Chinese, he can get a job and invite me to act as an interpreter in Chinese anniversaries," he said.

For the last four years, the Confucius Institute at Makerere University has been instructing students in Chinese. The students are now being assigned to different schools in the country to teach the language.

Namisi Moses Apollo says that he was a poor student in his regular schooling, and he worried about finding employment. But he says learning Chinese was easy, and upon graduation he was asked to start teaching in a pilot class in Luwero.

According to Namisi, there are vast opportunities in Uganda for people who can teach Chinese, though he notes that in most cases, it's the Chinese government paying the salaries, and one has to be very professional.

"The market is vast, open, but you also have to be, I would say, a titan at negotiations to get the best out of it," he said. "You need to give it your best. You need to play your ace at last. That is how you can be able to get the job. So, you not only have to be good at Chinese language, but also at the culture and the communication skill."

Visiting Chinese officials have over the years emphasized what they call the template of Africa-China cooperation.

China has funded many large infrastructure projects in Uganda, including the 600-megawatt Karuma Hydro Power Project, with a price tag of $1.8 billion, and a highway between Kampala and Entebbe, which cost $350 million.

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Human rights advocates are calling for an end to the discrimination that denies children with disabilities the same right to an equal education and other opportunities available to other children in society. The U.N. Human Rights Council is holding a special session in Geneva on the empowerment of children with disabilities.



In keeping with the theme of the day, the U.N. has made the Council chamber wheelchair-accessible, has hired a sign interpreter for the hearing impaired, and has embossed some oral statements in Braille.

With these accommodations to children with disabilities, the U.N. is sending a message that it practices what it preaches. It is saying children with disabilities will be able to lead a full and fulfilling life on a par with other children if certain adaptations are made to their needs.

However, the United Nations reports the sad reality is that 93 million children with disabilities around the world are likely to have their rights violated from the moment they are born. It says millions of these children are torn from their families and placed in institutions where they are at risk of violence, abuse and neglect.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, is a medical doctor and a pediatrician. In her practice, she says she quickly learned the voices of disabled children too often go unheard.

While preparing for today, I was remembering when I just started to be a pediatrician how people will leave the situation of children with disabilities. It was much more complicated. People denied, people hide those children. They will put them sort of in boxes so they will not really be able to develop. They will speak  even doctors in front of the children  like either they did not hear or that they did not exist.

Experts debating the issue agree children with disabilities must be provided with an education on an equal basis with all children. They consider this a crucial step toward their empowerment and the realization of other key rights.

They say the empowerment of children with disabilities also depends upon the implementation of laws, policies and measures to tackle harmful social norms and protect them from discrimination, stigma and abuse.

High Commissioner Bachelet says children with disabilities are among the most likely to be left behind and the least likely to be heard. She says they have the right to raise their voices and to be heard in decisions affecting their lives.
The Netherlands said Monday it has recalled its ambassador from Tehran after Iran expelled two Dutch diplomats in a dispute over an alleged plot to assassinate regime opponents.

Dutch authorities accused Iran in January of involvement in the murder of two dissidents on Dutch soil in 2015 and 2017, and the European Union slapped sanctions on Tehran over the killings.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok said in a letter to parliament that the government "has decided to recall the Netherlands' ambassador to Tehran for consultations" over the row.

Iran's decision to expel the Dutch officials -- which was not previously announced in public -- was "not acceptable and is negative for the development of the bilateral relationship," Blok said.

He said Iran's move was itself a tit-for-tat response to the Netherlands' expulsion of two Iranian embassy workers in June 2018 "due to strong indications from (Dutch intelligence) that Iran has been involved in the liquidations on Dutch territory of two Dutch people of Iranian origin."

Tehran had informed Dutch authorities of the decision to expel the two diplomats on February 20 and they were deported back to the Netherlands on Sunday, Blok said.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi confirmed the expulsion of the two Dutch diplomats in what he called a "retaliatory" move.

"Two of the diplomats of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran were considered undesirable elements in the framework of a retaliatory measure and were asked to leave the country" on March 3 and 4, he said on the ministry's Telegram channel.

The Dutch had also summoned the Iranian ambassador over the issue, Blok said.

Dutch police have previously named the two murder victims as Ali Motamed, 56, who was killed in the central city of Almere in 2015, and Ahmad Molla Nissi, 52, murdered in The Hague in 2017.
After five years of imprisonment, prominent Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zaid was released and returned to his family Monday.

Zaid, popularly known as "Shawkan," said he would continue his work as a journalist, despite harsh conditions to his release. Shawkan will remain under "police observation" for the next five years, required to check in with police every day at sunset and will be prohibited from managing his financial assets and properties during those five years.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, welcomed his release but condemned the conditions.

"We are relieved to hear that Shawkan is finally free after spending over five years in jail and call on authorities to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release," said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa Program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Shawkan was one of hundreds of people arrested after Egyptian security forces stormed two Muslim Brotherhood sit-in camps in August 2013, several months after the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi after weeks of protests against him.

In September, an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against 75 of the over 700 defendants in the original mass trial. Shawkan, who was taking photos outside the sit-in camps in 2013, was given five years in prison  a term he had already served.

Last April, the United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO awarded Shawkan the World Press Freedom Prize.

The mass trial and Shawkan's imprisonment have elicited widespread criticism on the lack of press freedom in Egypt.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranks Egypt 161st out of 180 countries on its press freedom index. Over 30 journalists remain in Egyptian prisons, according to the rights group.
Nearly 20 years after he left the White House, Bill Clinton is still sought after for advice by some Democrats running for president. But the names on his dance card in recent months underscore how much his standing in the party has changed.

So far, none of the party's early front-runners has had a formal meeting with Clinton. Nor have the women who are running in the historically diverse primary field.

Instead, Clinton has spoken mostly with male candidates who are considered longshots for the Democratic nomination, including Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Housing secretary Julian Castro and former Maryland Rep. John Delaney.

Clinton remains one of Democrats' most successful politicians of the last half-century and one of its strongest messengers on the economy. Yet the party has shifted considerably to the left since his two terms in White House, and his personal baggage - as well as lingering hostilities from his wife Hillary Clinton's failed 2016 campaign - make him an awkward adviser for some in his party's next class of presidential hopefuls.

Tensions run particularly deep between the Clintons and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has launched another bid for the White House. The Clintons blame Sanders for damaging Hillary Clinton during the 2016 primary. And as they assess the 2020 field, the Clintons don't believe Sanders is capable of beating Trump, according to those who have spoken with them.

"I think that at some point bygones can be bygones, but what you can't get around is the electability question,'' said David Brock, a longtime Clinton ally.

Neither side tried to mask the tensions in the days since Sanders launched his 2020 campaign. When asked Friday on ABC's "The View'' whether he would seek campaign advice from Hillary Clinton, Sanders said: "I think not.''

There was not much warmth between Sanders and Hillary Clinton on Sunday when the two were in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 54th anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday'' clash.

Bill Clinton has offered advice to a handful of candidates, sometimes meeting them at his New York office or speaking to them by phone. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper was meeting with Hillary Clinton at the couple's Chappaqua, New York, home when the former president stopped by and sat in on the rest of the meeting.

Castro, the former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said he spoke with Clinton in January and "got some good advice,'' though he wouldn't elaborate on what they discussed. Others discussed meetings with Clinton on the condition of anonymity in order to speak about the private conversations.

Clinton's friends say he still relishes the political debate and is closely monitoring early developments in the primary. While he doesn't have much of a relationship with some of the younger White House hopefuls, like Beto O'Rourke, some of his contemporaries are considering running, including former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Vice President Joe Biden. Neither has had a formal meeting with Clinton about the campaign, but they've talked politics with him for years.

The 72-year-old former president rarely offers tactical advice about how to structure a campaign, according to people with knowledge of the conversations. He's said to be well-aware that technology and campaign tactics have significantly evolved since he was last on the ballot in 1996.

But the famously verbose Clinton does dive deep into policy and offers advice on how to appeal to the same economic anxiety that drove some white, working-class voters to side with Trump over his wife.

Clinton's focus on white, working-class voters became something of a joke within his wife's 2016 campaign, with aides privately mocking his insistence on plunging more energy and resources into states like Michigan and Wisconsin. Top campaign advisers believed they didn't need to invest heavily in those reliably Democratic states, then watched Trump narrowly edge Clinton out in the upper Midwest on his way to the presidency.

Some progressives say that while they agree Democrats can't turn their backs on white, working-class voters, they see Clinton's more centrist approach to winning back those voters as a throwback to an era - and a party - that no longer exists.

"Times have changed,'' said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group that has endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. "The center of gravity within the Democratic Party and the electorate overall has moved massively in a more populist direction.''

Indeed, some of Clinton's signature policies - including the North America Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 crime bill - are out of step with the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Clinton himself has acknowledged that the crime bill worsened the problem of mass incarcerations, particularly among black men.

It's Clinton's personal baggage that has created another uncomfortable dynamic with Democrats running for the White House.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who had been backed by the couple throughout her political career, said Clinton should have resigned from office because of his affair with a White House intern. The former president has tried to publicly brush off the comment, saying Gillibrand - a leading Senate voice on sexual harassment and assault - is "living in a different context.'' But Clinton allies say the couple's anger at Gillibrand runs deep and their relationship may be irreparable.

Other women seeking the Democratic nomination also haven't met with Clinton, including Warren and California Sen. Kamala Harris. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar spoke with Clinton briefly at last month's funeral for John Dingell, the retired Democratic congressman.

2020 wouldn't be the first time Clinton has been sidelined in part because of his personal transgressions. His own vice president, Al Gore, distanced himself from Clinton during the 2000 campaign, a move some Democrats still see as a mistake. But views on Clinton shifted, and by 2012, he was considered one of the strongest surrogates for Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

In a shot at those who see Clinton as an albatross this time around, one ally of the former president referenced Gore and said the track record isn't good for candidates who distance themselves from Clinton.
The European Union executive accused Hungary's nationalist government on Monday of distorting the truth about immigration into the bloc, marking a further deterioration in their troubled relationship ahead of European Parliament elections in May.

The EU has long been critical of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's stance on migrants and his record on democratic freedoms. Orban says the EU has imperiled Europe's Christian civilization by allowing mass immigration.

Orban has recently stepped up his anti-immigration campaign with billboards and inserts in state media that vilify European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker and Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire George Soros, accusing them of being in cahoots to bring large numbers of Muslim immigrants into Europe.

"The Commission has been unambiguous about our opinion of the Hungarian government campaign that distorts the truth and seeks to paint a dark picture of a secret plot to drive more migration to Europe, allegedly," European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a news briefing.

The Hungarian campaign has triggered renewed calls to expel Orban's ruling Fidesz party from the biggest group in the European Parliament, the center-right European People's Party (EPP). The EPP will discuss the issue March 20.

The EPP's candidate to head the next European Commission, senior German lawmaker Manfred Weber, has said he no longer rules out expelling Fidesz.

"Viktor Orban has severely damaged the EPP with his statements and poster campaign," Weber told the German weekly Spiegel in a weekend interview. "That's why I expect him to apologize and end the action."

'Useful idiots'

But Orban, speaking to the German Welt am Sonntag weekly, dismissed seeking the expulsion of Fidesz as "useful idiots" who played into the hands of the EPP's left-wing rivals.

"We can chalk it up to the start of the European Parliament campaign," Zoltan Novak of the Centre for Fair Political Analysis, a Hungarian think-tank, said of Orban's tactics. "He wants to be the antithesis to the mainstream elite."

"He wants to embody another Europe, one that rejects immigration ... federalization and further EU integration."

The EPP currently has 217 lawmakers in the 750-strong EU legislature, 12 of them from Fidesz. The EPP is expected to remain the biggest faction in the new European Parliament but will most likely be weakened, surveys show.

The EU has been largely unsuccessful in taming Orban. A probe launched in 2018 against Budapest for weakening the rule of law in the ex-communist country has proven largely ineffective beyond causing Hungary reputational damage.

Brussels is considering making access to EU budget funds from 2021 conditional on respecting democratic principles.

Hungary and most other ex-communist EU members receive large sums from the budget for infrastructure and other projects.
The bombing of a barracks housing 250 Spanish soldiers in Mali was narrowly averted last week when vans containing about a ton of explosives were stopped short of the gates by guards firing machine guns.

If the truck bomb had gone off inside the compound, it would have been a catastrophe, said the commander of the Spanish light infantry battalion, Lt. Col. Jose Leyra.

The incident highlights how Spain's increasing role in European efforts to stabilize the Sahel  a primary route for African migrants attempting to reach Europe  is exposing its personnel and assets to attacks by Islamist militants and tribally based insurgents.

The Spanish unit is one of many conducting EU security missions in Sahel countries used as travel routes by African migrants from war-torn areas such as Somalia and Burkina Faso, where a Spanish priest working on relief programs was assassinated last week.

EU analysts say that further deterioration of the security situation in the Sahel, which is Africas poorest region, could increase illegal migration to Europe and destabilize wealthier countries in western and northern Africa.

On Friday, Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Borrel announced plans for EU investment in Africa, which he said presents more opportunities than risks." But an EU threat assessment seen by VOA says that criminal and militant groups could undermine development projects in the sparsely populated Saharan countries that were once Spanish and French colonies.

Crisis and conflicts in Africa are provoking mass migration that could seriously affect Spain, which is the EU country closest to Africa, said Raimundo Robredo, a senior official in Spain's Foreign Ministry's Africa desk. Strengthening the capacity of local governments to manage the migrant flow and control vast territorial frontiers is a priority for Spain and other southern European nations, he said.

Italy's closure of ports to ships carrying migrants from Libya has shifted migrant routes westward to Spain, where illegal immigration has grown 170 percent over the past year. Spain is easily reached by small boats launched from the coasts of Morocco and Algeria.

To reach the coasts, however, migrants must travel through thousands of miles of desert, through Algeria, Mali and Mauritania.

A Spanish Civil Guard general, Francisco Espinosa, heads a $45 million EU project to train company-sized Rapid Intervention Surveillance and Investigation Groups (GARSI) in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Senegal.

Their mission is to bolster frontier controls and target human trafficking, organized crime and terrorist networks that currently control parts of the region.

Select African recruits learn precision shooting and methods of locating and disposing of IEDs, as well as communications and mobility techniques, according to officials managing the program at its center in Madrid.

Until now, frontier controls in the Sahel were largely limited to static border posts. GARSI is trained to improvise zone controls as migrant routes shift around, according to a senior officer of the Civil Guard, who requested his name not be used.

GARSI information systems are enhanced with satellite links, and the teams are also trained in investigative methods to identify and break up human trafficking crime gangs, according to a Spanish officer who has coordinated support for the program with other European security services.

Italys Carabinieri, Portugals Republican Guard and Frances National Gendarmerie are also mentoring GARSI teams. Special operations units such as the French GIGN have been deployed on the ground, according to EU official reports that point to an expanding European security presence throughout the Sahel.

Spanish security officials say that effective cooperation is going on with security services in Senegal and Mauritania, which have made progress in controlling migration. But the situation shows signs of deteriorating in other countries, according to EU reports.

Leyra said in an interview for El Pais newspaper that there are grave structural problems in the way, including the presence of al-Qaida and interethnic conflicts, which make it enormously costly to make the slightest progress."

Massive anti-government protests that broke out in Algeria last week may create yet another source of instability.
The House Judiciary Committee on Monday requested documents from 81 people and organizations as part of an investigation into alleged obstruction of justice and other abuses by President Donald Trump and others.

Among those on the list are familiar names like former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who will be sentenced this month for lobbying and fraud violations; former lawyer Michael Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and breaking campaign finance laws; and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Other key figures who received document requests:

Trump family

Donald Trump Jr. - Trump's oldest son is a top surrogate for his father in conservative circles and helps run his business. During the 2016 campaign, he set up a meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer who promised damaging information on Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Eric Trump - Trump's second-oldest son helps oversee his business, including the Trump International Hotel in Washington.

Jared Kushner - Trump's son-in-law is a top White House adviser who formerly ran Kushner Companies, his family's real estate business.

White House and outside advisers

Don McGahn - The former White House legal counsel was intimately involved in a wide range of administration decisions. He is now back in private practice.

Jeff Sessions - A longtime U.S. senator from Alabama, Sessions served as a top campaign aide and Trump's first attorney general. Trump fired him in November 2018 after frequently expressing anger that Sessions removed himself from the department's investigation of possible ties between the campaign and Russia.

Jay Sekulow - The Washington lawyer is helping Trump respond to the various investigations as part of his legal team. Cohen told Congress last week that Sekulow had helped him craft a misleading statement about efforts to build a Trump tower in Moscow.

Reince Priebus - The Wisconsin lawyer headed the Republican National Committee during the 2016 election and served as Trump's first chief of staff.

K.T. McFarland - The former Fox News analyst was Trump's deputy national security adviser under Flynn but was asked to resign by Flynn's successor, H.R. McMaster.

Sean Spicer - Trump's first White House press secretary sometimes struggled to explain his boss's positions to an often-adversarial press corps.

Steve Bannon - Bannon encouraged Trump's nationalist instincts as the campaign's chief executive officer and served as his chief strategist at the White House until he left in August 2017.

Hope Hicks - She was a Trump Organization employee who was one of the first staff members of Trump's campaign and worked in the White House, specializing in communications, until March 2018.

Trump Organization

Allen Weisselberg - As chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, he has been intimately involved with the business for decades. Federal prosecutors have granted him immunity.

Alan Garten - The top lawyer at the Trump Organization.

Sheri Dillon - A tax lawyer, Dillon helped Trump deal with the IRS's audit of his tax returns and signed off on a conflict-of-interest plan before Trump took office that let him retain ownership of his business empire.

Rhona Graff - A longtime executive assistant at the Trump Organization.

Felix Sater - A convicted felon and Russian-American businessman, Sater worked with Cohen to try to build a Trump-branded tower in Moscow during the campaign. He is due to testify before the House Intelligence Committee this month.

Trump campaign

Brad Parscale - The digital-media director for Trump's 2016 campaign is now heading up his 2020 re-election effort.

Corey Lewandowski - Trump's first campaign manager.

Michael Caputo - A communications adviser for Trump's campaign.

Carter Page - The FBI concluded during the campaign that Page, a foreign-policy adviser, was probably an agent for the Russian government.

George Papadopoulos - The junior foreign-policy adviser tried to set up a meeting between the Kremlin and top campaign officials. He pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI and served 14 days in prison.

Others

David Pecker - The head of tabloid publisher American Media pursued "catch and kill" agreements with women who claimed to have slept with Trump in an attempt to buy their silence.

Erik Prince - The former head of military contractor Blackwater USA worked informally with Trump's transition team after the election. He is the brother of U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

Julian Assange - The head of WikiLeaks oversaw efforts to release internal emails from the Clinton campaign during the election.

Organizations

Justice Department - The committee is seeking documents on a wide range of subjects, including Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey; Trump's firing of Sessions in November 2018; and communications between Trump and Matthew Whitaker, who served as acting attorney general after Sessions left.

FBI - The committee is asking similar questions of the FBI.

General Services Administration - The agency responsible for managing federal property decided after Trump's 2016 election that he could maintain his lease on the Old Post Office Building, a showcase property blocks from the White House that Trump has transformed into a hotel. The agency's internal watchdog said in January that the arrangement might violate the U.S. Constitution.

Trump 2016 presidential campaign

Trump Organization - The committee is seeking documents relating to foreign governments, payments to Cohen and American Media, and financial arrangements with Russian businesses or individuals, among other topics.

Trump Transition - The organization responsible for setting up his administration after the November 2016 election.

Trump Foundation - Trump's charity, which shut down in December amid an investigation by the New York attorney general, who accused it of serving as a checkbook to further Trump's business and political interests.

National Rifle Association - The gun-rights group, a major player in conservative U.S. political circles, has attracted scrutiny for possible ties to Russian figures.
Barely six days to the much anticipated March 9 Gubernatorial election in Rivers state, Political Parties have heightened their preparations towards the exercise. It is in lieu of this that a hashtag has been treaded social media WikeMustGo.

Whereas the hashtag is aimed at sensitizing Rivers residents to vote against the candidature of Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) candidate, Nysom Wike, Nigerians have said otherwise.

Reactions:

#WikeMustGo where? Just don't let this Hooligans fool you, with WIKE Rivers is a peaceful state and we must say no to Evil. #Stand4wike .  GameFace (@LawrenceOcar4) March 4, 2019

This #WikeMustGo is nonsense! Wike has performed quite well judging by the standards presently obtainable in the country. The man has his flaws but who doesnt! #WikeMUsTStay  HeBookOon (@HeBooKn) March 4, 2019

APC Rivers can never achieve #WikeMustGo its like expecting Jimi Agbaje to unseat APC in Lagos. The people who will vote love Wike and as far as I am concerned elections are popularity contests. PDP and Wike is the most popular right now #Wike42ndterm.  HeBookOon (@HeBooKn) March 4, 2019
Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper joined the growing field of Democratic presidential candidates on Monday, hoping to position himself as a centrist and an experienced officeholder who is best poised to defeat Republican President Donald Trump in 2020.

Hickenlooper, 67, will tout his business background and two terms in office, during which Colorado's economy soared and the state expanded healthcare and passed a gun control law.

"I've proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver," he said in a statement announcing his campaign on Monday, adding "we ... need to get things done."

He is the second governor to enter the Democratic race, following Washington Governor Jay Inslee, and joins a slew of sitting U.S. senators who have already begun campaigns.

The field of Democratic candidates has grown to more than a dozen, with additional contenders still expected to join the field.

Hickenlooper will hold a campaign launch in Denver on Thursday and then travel to Iowa, the state which holds the first nominating contest, for the weekend.

The former governor, who left office in January, refused to air negative ads during his two gubernatorial campaigns, a position his aides insist he will carry into his presidential bid.

"There's no profit margin in making enemies," Hickenlooper says frequently to describe his political philosophy.

But staying positive will be harder to do in a presidential campaign expected to draw a large slate of Democratic hopefuls and against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee who won in 2016 after a race replete with personal attacks on his opponents.

In announcing his bid, Hickenlooper did poke fun at himself. "As a skinny kid with Coke-bottle glasses and a funny last name, I've stood up to my fair share of bullies," Hickenlooper said in a video launching his campaign. "Standing tall when it matters is really what drives me."

Hickenlooper is jumping straight into a debate within the Democratic Party about the best path to beating Trump in 2020. He joins those in his party who believe an establishment figure who can appeal to centrist voters is the way to win back the White House. Others believe a fresh face, and particularly a diverse one, is needed to energize the party's increasingly left-leaning base.

Hickenlooper has so far refused to take corporate money for the political action committee, named Giddy Up PAC, he formed to allow him to raise and spend federal funds helping other candidates  a position he is expected to continue in his presidential bid.

Over the past two years, he has actively sought to bolster his bipartisan credentials.

In 2017, he asked then-Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, to join him in advocating for compromise over the future of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The two held a series of national events touting the ability to reach bipartisan agreement.

The tour generated speculation that Kasich and Hickenlooper could mount a third-party bid for president and vice president together, rumors both camps denied.

Hickenlooper often speaks of his personal biography. After getting laid off from work as a geologist in the 1980s, he opened a brewery and pub. He frequently talks about the risk of opening his own business  a point he makes to argue he understands the needs of the economy.

He was elected mayor of Denver in 2007 and governor of Colorado in 2010.

In 2012, the state's residents voted to legalize marijuana. At the time, Hickenlooper called legalization a bad idea but agreed to implement the will of the voters. He has since said he believes legalization and the oversight system created in the state worked.
Venezuelan opposition leader and U.S.-recognized interim President Juan Guaido returned safely to Caracas on Monday, despite concerns he would be arrested for violating a travel ban imposed by the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

On Feb. 23, Guaido secretly left Venezuela for Colombia, in violation of a Supreme Court order, to coordinate efforts to send humanitarian aid into Venezuela to alleviate widespread shortages of food and medicine.

He also visited Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Ecuador, neighbors that are among the U.S. and 50 other countries that recognize him as the interim leader of Venezuela. They also denounced Maduro's re-election last year as illegitimate after the socialist and increasingly authoritarian leader banned major opposition parties from running.

Massive rally

Maduro has called Guaido a coup-mongering U.S. puppet and said the opposition leader could face arrest upon return to Venezuela.

"He will have to face justice and justice prohibited him from leaving the country," said Maduro in an interview with ABC News.

However, the defiant opposition leader was not detained when he arrived at the airport. Instead, he was met by crowds of cheering supporters. Guaido then led a massive rally in downtown Caracas, where he said that the Maduro government's tactics of intimidation and repression will not stop the opposition from seeking democratic change.

"Their threats will not hold us back. We are here and we're more strongly united than ever. We are here and are stronger than ever," said Guaido to several thousand people gathered in the Las Mercedes neighborhood in the Venezuelan capital.

The opposition leader also called for continued public demonstrations to force Maduro's removal from office and to schedule new elections.

There was no immediate comment from Maduro's government about Guaido's return.

Stalled momentum

Guaido's return also comes amid concerns that the recent surge of economic and diplomatic pressure imposed on Venezuela has so far failed to persuade the country's military leadership to abandon Maduro, despite increased repression and poverty in a country with the world's largest oil reserves.

In January, President Donald Trump imposed sanctions seizing Venezuela's oil assets in the U.S. Venezuela had depended on U.S. oil sales for 90 percent of its hard currency income.

Guaido has also offered limited amnesty for military forces that defect.

Last week, the Trump administration imposed targeted sanctions on six high-ranking members of the Venezuelan security forces in response to the Maduro government's mostly successful efforts to block humanitarian aid convoys from entering the country.

The United States also warned Maduro there would be severe consequences if Guaido is arrested.

On Monday the White House National Security Advisor John Bolton on Twitter said, "the world is watching."

"President Guaido safely returned to Venezuela today to continue his strong push for a democratic future for the people of his country. The United States fully supports Guaido and the National Assembly. His safety must be guaranteed. The world is watching," said Bolton on Twitter.

Analyst view

The Trump administration has said the use of U.S. military force remains a possible option, but some U.S. allies in the region and in Europe oppose any military intervention in Venezuela.

"I think the model is at this point, working with other countries, multilateral diplomacy and appealing to people's concerns about the humanitarian crises going on," said Roger Noreiga, a Latin America political analyst with the American Enterprise Institute.

There are also concerns that the often fractured opposition in Venezuela will not stay unified, and that diplomatic pressure may waver, if the political standoff continues into the indefinite future.

Secretary-General of the Organization of American States Luis Almagro suggested a possible negotiated settlement that would allow Maduro to run in a new election that was open to all opposition parties. He has previously supported opposition calls for Maduro's immediate ouster.

But the U.S. and the Venezuelan opposition are against any negotiated settlement that would allow Maduro to remain in office.
China on Monday accused two Canadians of stealing state secrets, days after Canada said it would hold a hearing this week on a U.S. request to extradite a Chinese tech executive accused of violating U.S. trade sanctions against Iran.

In what China called a "major development" in the case, it accused former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig, who was detained in December, of gathering and stealing "sensitive information and other intelligence" in China since 2017.

Businessman and entrepreneur Michael Spavor was accused of providing intelligence to Kovrig.

China described Spavor as an "important contact" for Kovrig.

In the past, Spavor has had contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.

A Chinese statement said, "Kovrig's alleged behavior of gathering and stealing secrets and other intelligence for a foreign power has seriously violated Chinese laws."

Both Canadians were detained shortly after Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of China's giant Huawei technology company, was apprehended in Vancouver at the request of the United States.

A Canadian court is holding an extradition hearing on Wednesday. She could be sent to the U.S. to face the Iran sanctions charges, but with appeals of a decision, it may be months before the case is resolved.

The U.S. has been lobbying its allies to shun Huawei products on national security grounds, contending that China requires the company to give the government intelligence it recovers from use of its products, an allegation China rejects.

The arrest of Meng and detention of the two Canadians have strained Chinese-Canadian relations. The tensions heightened in January when in a sudden retrial of drug trafficking charges, a Chinese court sentenced Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg to death, overturning an earlier 15-year prison term.

At the time of his arrest, Kovrig was the northeast Asia senior adviser to the International Crisis Group, which aims to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts. China's official Xinhua news agency said he often entered the country using an ordinary passport and business visas.

The news agency said, "Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security."

It said further judicial proceedings would "take place based on the case's progress."

A spokesman for the International Crisis Group said, "We are aware of the Xinhua report of 4 March but have heard nothing official about any charges being laid against our colleague, Michael Kovrig. Michael's work for Crisis Group has been entirely transparent and in the open, as all who follow his work can attest. Vague and unsubstantiated accusations against him are unwarranted and unfair."

While the charges were announced against Kovrig and Spavor, China's Foreign Ministry urged Canada to "immediately release Ms. Meng Wanzhou and let her return to China in safety while ensuring her legitimate and justifiable rights and interests and not repeat [Canada's] mistakes."

Meanwhile, Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, sued the Canadian government, its border security agency and the national police force for rights violations, claiming she was detained, searched and questioned for hours before being told she was under arrest and allowed access to counsel.

She is under house arrest in Canada, living on a property she owns in Vancouver.
The chief financial officer for China tech giant Huawei is suing the Canadian government, its border security agency and the national police force for rights violations.



Lawyers for Meng Wanzhou have filed a civil suit, claiming "misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment."



The suit says Meng, the daughter of Huawei's founder, was detained, searched and questioned for hours before being told she was under arrest and allowed access to counsel.



Meng was arrested at the request of the United States as she changed planes in Vancouver in December. She is wanted by Washington on charges that she conspired to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran.



"This case concerns a deliberate and premeditated effort on the part of the defendant officers to obtain evidence and information from the plaintiff in a manner which they knew constituted serious violations of the plaintiff's rights,'' the suit says.

Lawyers for Meng said she maintains her innocence. She is out on bail.



On Friday, the the Canadian justice department said Meng would appear in a Vancouver court on Wednesday to set a date for her extradition hearing.



The Chinese Embassy in Canada said it was "utterly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes" the decision to allow the case to proceed.



The case has soured China's relationship with Canada. After Meng's detention, China arrested two Canadians on national security grounds, and a Chinese court sentenced to death a Canadian man who previously had only been jailed for drug smuggling.



China has repeatedly called on Canada to release Meng, but Canada has refused, saying the case is a legal matter, not a political one.

It could be months, or even years, before Meng, who is under house arrest in Canada, is ever sent to the United States, since the Canadian justice system allows many of its legal decisions to be appealed.



U.S. President Donald Trump suggested last year the United States could cut a deal with China to secure Meng's release. However, since then the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed its indictment against Meng and Huawei, and Trump has played down the idea of dropping the charges.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expressing optimism that trade talks with China aimed at ending tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of products will be successful.

"It's never over till it's over, but they've made a lot of progress, and so I'm very hopeful that in the coming days and weeks, there'll be a significant announcement," said Pompeo on Monday in an interview in Des Moines, Iowa.

The top U.S. diplomat is in Iowa to discuss diplomatic efforts to promote American economic interests and American exports.

Iowa's Farmers have been hit hard by the U.S.-China trade feud.

"President Trump has been determined to get Iowa farmers a fair shake, to stop the Chinese from stealing their intellectual property and denying them the ability to compete by selling products into China," said Pompeo in another radio interview.

China's agricultural imports from the U.S. have slumped since Beijing imposed tariffs on American agricultural products last year. Among the biggest losses for American farmers: oilseeds and grains exports, which are top agricultural products that Iowa farmers send to China.

Slamming Chinas protectionism, rule-breaking and state subsidies, Pompeo called on China to embrace free-market principles and fair competition.

In his remarks to the Iowa Farm Bureau Monday evening, the chief American diplomat said: China denies American companies access to its market through tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, and deny us the ability to compete on a fair and reciprocal basis.

In Beijing, ahead of the so-called Twin Sessions" -- the annual meetings of the national legislature and the top political advisory body -- Chinese officials defended Beijings economic policies for facilitating the countrys growth and opening up in recent years.



Zhang Yesui, a spokesperson for the second session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC), dismissed Washingtons criticism as a double-standard.



Some U.S. government officials have been hyping up the so-called security risks associated with the products of certain Chinese companies, said Zhang, referring to the U.S. campaign to block Chinese telecommunication company Huawei over security concerns.



This is political interference in economic activities. It violates the WTO rules and disrupts the international market order that is built on fair competition, Zhang said.

Pompeos visit comes days after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded China instantly eliminate tariffs on American agricultural goods.

In a tweet on March 1, Trump said trade talks were progressing well and he had asked China to immediately end tariffs on U.S. agricultural products while delaying his own plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. Trump had set a March 1 deadline to increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent.

Trump had forecast a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to finalize details in a bilateral trade agreement to tackle deeper issues, including greater transparency around subsidies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from China, addressing U.S. concerns over forced technology transfer, and intellectual property protection.

The Wall Street Journal reported a summit between Trump and Xi could occur around March 27.

The London-based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said the possible deal "could be substantial enough to allow the U.S. to claim victory in the negotiations, allowing Mr. Trump to save face politically after a damaging fight over border security and wall funding."

"For China, any such agreement would be politically challenging, but would provide a welcome respite from mounting economic pressures," said EIU.

Nick Marro from the Economist Intelligence Unit argues while President Trump's decision to delay a tariff increase on Chinese products is an important step to prevent the escalation of a trade war, these moves were a concession to the Beijing government, who Marro says has yielded little in its negotiating stance.

"Although we expect both sides to come to a deal around purchases of U.S. commodities, this will not be enough to prevent structural issues from worsening economic ties further," he added.

"If the deal involves that President Xi agrees to purchase much of American commodities, and agreed to lowers certain tariffs," according to the Cato Institute's Director of Trade Policy Studies Daniel Ikenson, "there could be more progress, but if they just agreed to purchase these products and not address these major issues, I don't see the very large deal."



"I think the United States and China are going to continue to be in this sort of standoff for a number of years until there's an adequate resolution," Ikenson told VOA's Mandarin service.

Pompeos visit comes after Chinas controversial attempts to influence public opinion in Iowa and sway support for Trump.



Last September, The Des Moines Register published an advertising insert paid for by China Daily, an official publication of the Chinese government.



The four-page section in Iowas largest newspaper featured articles including one outlining how the trade dispute is forcing Chinese importers to turn to South America instead of the U.S. for soybeans.



On Monday, Pompeo pushed back on Chinas state-led economic practices, blasting the prevalence of corruption and weak enforcement, saying the Chinese people deserve better.
Protests are continuing in Algeria against another term for ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika  and despite reports hes promised not to serve his full time if reelected in April. Demonstrations mobilized tens of thousands across Algeria  as well as Algerias diaspora in former colonial power France.

Roughly 6,000 people crammed the Place de la Republique in downtown Paris on Sunday, chanting and brandishing signs like basta!  or enough  and president not found  in reference to 82-year-old President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who is confined to a wheelchair and rarely seen in public.

Algerian Houda Omerani said Bouteflika has served his time. Five terms is too much. Its time for change.

Her friend Yasmine Bouaouiche said Algerians arent just protesting another presidential run. The whole power system has to change. But people dont want to return to the bloodshed and violence of 1991.

The popular protests in Algeria, some of the biggest in decades, have taken both the government and experts by surprise. And they have been largely peaceful. Nobody wants a repeat of the 1990s civil war that began with a 1991 legislative election in which an Islamist party won.

Theres another difference. Like other recent uprisings, this one is largely driven by social media.

All the calls for the protests were on social media. And also social media played a main role to keep it peaceful, because people are spreading this message and enforcing (it)," said Algerian blogger Kamel Labid.

Labid traveled from London to join the Paris demonstrations. Like others, he agrees there are few existing alternatives to Algerias current government. The political opposition is aging and weak.

But Algeria has 40 million people. So we can get younger people, people who can lead the country, he said.

That may include some among Algerias sizable diaspora in France, estimated at between one and two-million people. French Algerian Madjid Messaoudene is a municipal councilor in the Paris suburb of Saint Denis.

Messaoudene said hes proud to be both French and Algerian. It gives him hope to see the massive mobilization in his parents homeland  with a single objective, he says: to topple the system.
Qatars foreign minister Monday appeared upbeat about "a successful" conclusion of negotiations his country is hosting between the United States and the Taliban to help find a political settlement to the war in Afghanistan.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told a joint news conference with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Doha will continue to play its role in "coordination and consultation" with international partners to achieve Afghan peace.

"At the end, the result and peace cannot be brought by force or war. It has to be brought by talks and Qatar is continuing its role as a mediator We hope that well have a successful outcome very soon," noted al-Thani.

This is the first time a top Qatari official has publicly commented since the U.S.-initiated peace dialogue with the Afghan insurgent group began late last summer in the Gulf nation, which also hosts Talibans informal political office.

Taliban and American officials have for the past several days held marathon meetings in Doha, including one Monday, in their bid to finalize a draft agreement on a potential foreign troop withdrawal from Afghanistan conditioned on insurgent guarantees that it would prevent terrorists from using Afghan soil for attacks against the U.S.

"We appreciate everyone involved in building peace and stability into Afghanistan because we believe this is to the benefit of everybody," said the Qatari foreign minister.

Lavrov, who is in Doha on the first stop of a Gulf tour, reiterated Moscows backing for the Afghan peace effort.

"We do follow, we do monitor the talks between the United States and the Taliban," said the Russian foreign minister.

He added that Moscow is playing its role in mobilizing the international community, especially neighbors of Afghanistan, to help launch an Afghan political process. Lavrov noted that Moscow and Washington are in "a good contact" with each other over the Afghan peace process.

"I think this is very useful instead of being rivals and having this kind of artificial competition. We should work together  we can all help the people of Afghanistan to launch this national dialogue which alone can resolve and stop this conflict," Lavrov emphasized.

'Steady progress'

The Taliban announced last week the talks with the U.S. were making "a steady progress" and vowed to remain engaged in the process until achieving results. But media reports have speculated about a stalemate in the talks, prompting a Taliban spokesman to try to dismiss the speculation through a statement he issued to media late Sunday.

"The current round of talks in Doha are advancing on a step-by-step basis. As the issue at hand is immensely crucial and delicate, its progression is taking place with that much care and vigilance," Zabihullah Mujahid explained.

Mujahid emphasized again the two sides primarily have focused on fleshing out "the details and nature" of the U.S. troop withdrawal in exchange for Talibans counterterrorism guarantees.

"It should be mentioned that no understanding has so far been reached about any agreement or document," the spokesman said.

The U.S. special envoy for peace in Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has repeatedly stated in recent weeks that before reaching a final agreement he would want a Taliban ceasefire and the opening of direct talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government. The Taliban refuses any direct engagement with Kabul until it secures a troop withdrawal deal with Washington.

The U.S. has not made any fresh comments about the talks but Khalilzad last week, in a series of tweets, described his ongoing meetings with Taliban negotiators as productive.

The peace effort comes as Taliban insurgents continue to stage major attacks, including one over the weekend at a military air base in southern Helmand province. That assault killed dozens of Afghan security forces but a U.S. military spokesman rejected as false Taliban claims that American soldiers, who are also stationed at the base, were among the casualties.
U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has become the fourth Republican to vow to oppose President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, likely giving the Senate enough votes to pass a resolution blocking it.



"I can't vote to give the president the power to spend money that hasn't been appropriated by Congress,'' Paul told guests at a GOP dinner at Western Kentucky University, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.



Paul joins Republicans senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina in his opposition. If all 47 Senate Democrats vote as expected, the Senate has enough votes to pass a resolution with 51 votes.

Thirteen Republicans in the House joined Democrats last week to pass a resolution to block Trump's emergency declaration. If it passes the Senate, the resolution will go to the president, who has promised to veto it.



Neither chamber has enough votes to overturn a veto by Trump -- two-thirds of each chamber is needed to overturn a veto.



Trump made the declaration in February after Congress approved just $1.375 billion for border security, far short of the $5.7 billion he had sought.



He plans to divert about $6.2 billion to build his long-promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. He is seeking to use $3.6 billion from military construction, $2.5 billion from a Defense Department drug interdiction program, and $600 million from a Treasury Department drug forfeiture program, in addition to the money from Congress.



"We're being invaded by drugs, by people, by criminals, and we have to stop it,"Trump has said in justifying the action.

While some Republicans support the action, others have rejected it.



"What we see happening along the border  the amount of drugs, the amount of deaths in America, the human trafficking that's coming across, the overwhelming problem there. So the president has the authority to do it," Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy said.



But Senator Collins calls the president's move "ill-advised precisely because it attempts to shortcut the process of checks and balances by usurping Congress' authority."



VOA's Michael Bowman contributed to this report.
The United States and China are close to reaching a trade deal that could see both sides ending the tit-for-tat war of tariffs that has been escalating since last year, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.



News of the deal buoyed markets in Asia early Monday as the Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could meet to sign a deal as early as the end of March, after Xi ends a tour of Europe.

The report said China has agreed to lower tariffs and ease restrictions on American goods, including farm, auto and chemical products. In return, the U.S. would lift the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods last year.



China has also agreed to Trump's demand that Beijing lower the trade gap between the two nations. It has agreed to buy more American products, including a possible multibillion-dollar purchase of natural gas.



The report quoted people on both sides, who cautioned that not all hurdles have been crossed.
Saudi Arabia said on Monday it believes Canada will go ahead with a multibillion-dollar arms deal with the kingdom despite remarks by the Canadian prime minister that Ottawa was looking for a way out of the agreement.

"Regarding the Canada arms deal, we see the Canadian government going ahead with the deal, so the statements are for domestic consumption," Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh.

He did not elaborate.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in December he was looking for a way out of the $13 billion deal for armored vehicles made by the Canadian unit of General Dynamics Corp . The firm warned later that month that the federal government would incur "billions of dollars of liability" by unilaterally scrapping the agreement.

Political opponents, citing the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia's involvement in the Yemen war, insist Trudeau should scrap the pact negotiated by the previous Conservative government.

Relations between Ottawa and Riyadh have been tense since a diplomatic dispute over human rights last year. Ottawa says it has been consulting allies on what steps to take after Khashoggi was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Germany, also concerned about Riyadh's role in the Yemen war and Khashoggi's killing, last year banned future arms sales to the Gulf Arab state.

The Saudi public prosecutor's spokesman has said that 11 Saudis had been indicted and referred for trial over the murder, with authorities seeking the death penalty for five.
Even as China and the United States are working to finalize a trade agreement, Beijing is grappling with the challenge of building political consensus about implementing and enforcing the deal on the ground.

The challenge for the Xi Jinping-led government is both economic and political at a time when the annual political congress has just begun in Beijing.

Delegates to the meetings include the heads of major Chinese corporations both private and state-owned.

The deal may hit State Owned Enterprises hard, an important Communist Party base, as they stand to lose subsidies and monopoly status. SOEs employ millions of people in key sectors like energy, mining, banking and manufacturing.

The Chinese government will face resistance from SOEs and coastal provinces with dynamic trade with the US and other countries, said Zhiqun Zhu, chair of the department of international relations at Bucknell University.

During the political sessions, President Xi will be closely watched in China and the world over as he deals with issues like the trade deal, the Huawei controversy and an increasingly slowing economy. The two-week sessions will be attended by around 5,000 delegates from around the country.



The US is not just asking China to buy more American goods, it is demanding structural changes from Chinese industry, which enjoy preferential treatment compared to foreign investors in many sectors. The deal could mean an end to government subsidies and monopoly status for SOEs in several markets.

Structural reforms will be more difficult [for China] due to vested interests of SOEs and local governments and businesses with extensive trade, Zhiqun said.

Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University's Guanghua School of Management said, Trade policy changes always have winners and losers. Expect opposition from the losers.

Nature of challenge

The resistance will be internal, voiced in closed-door discussions of small groups of legislators and not during televised discussions of the National Peoples Congress and the China Peoples Political Consultative Conference, the two bodies that are part of the so-called "Twin Sessions."

In the main sessions, which are televised live, no one speaks out of turn and without his or her speech vetted by senior leaders in advance, sources said.

"We have our system which is centralized. Once the President gives a directive, the delegates will not say no," said Shen Dingli, a Shanghai based international relations specialist.

The Twin Sessions will follow the leaders view. The leader wants reform while making sure there is no pre-mature reform because that would be result in weakening China, he said.

Under the surface, provincial leaders from more developed provinces and cities like Shanghai, Guangzhou are expressing concern about the negative fallout on the local economy if the deal is implemented.

Heads of several state owned corporations are already asking the government that their performance must be evaluated differently once the deal is implemented, informed sources said. They expect to take a hit on their profitability as the deal will give a bigger role to foreign competitors.

At the end of the day, it is up to the central government and President Xi. If they are really determined to carry out structural reforms, they can, despite challenges and resistance, Zhiqun said. Chinas former Premier Zhu Rongji faced a lot of resistance when he carried out structural reforms in the 1990s but he still succeeded in his mission, he said.

Taking the hit

On the other hand, some analysts believe that the giant state-owned corporations are quite capable of handling the new challenge that will emanate from the trade deal with the US.

They will face tougher competition in China from further opening up and reduction of state support, but I think they can handle that, Gillis said. He was referring to the expected increase in the role of foreign companies once the deal is implemented in China.

The SOEs have been facing competition from foreign players since 2001 when China became a member of the World Trade Organization, he said. This time the competition will be more intense as restrictions on foreign firms will be reduced.

The competition seems to have made many of these companies stronger, Gillis said.

Chinese experts said the US should not expect China to restructure its economy as soon as the ink dries on the contract. Beijing was moving towards market based economy for its own reasons before the trade war and is now ready to hasten the process.

The question is: Can China stop all subsidies to state owned enterprises? In some cases, China is not ready now, it needs a few years. Its better if the US accepts a time bound commitment from China, Shen said.

The US and China look at the situation differently, he said. The US believes that the presence of several competing players in the market is good for the customer. The Chinese think national competitiveness can be enhanced quickly if the government steps in to mobilize national resources to create and nurture a few gigantic national SOEs, he said.
The Kremlin had hoped that by fomenting a separatist insurgency in east Ukraines Donbas region, Ukraine could be snapped back into the Russian orbit, but the strategy appears to have backfired, say analysts.

The debate over whether Ukraine should look west and align with the European Union or east towards Moscow appears to be over  at least for now.

This months presidential election appears to many as another major stage in Ukraines journey to break free of Russia and carve out an independent future for itself free of constraints imposed by the Kremlin.

It is the first, they say, since the Soviet era that has not been dominated by debate about whether Ukraines best prospects rest with the West or Russia. Being labeled Russia-friendly is a liability for any candidate in an election thats featuring 43 hopefuls.

And in his bid to secure re-election, incumbent president Petro Poroshenko, who is trailing according to opinion polls in third place, has not been shy to label his two main rivals: popular TV comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the upstart frontrunner, and veteran politician Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister now campaigning as a recast Ukrainian nationalist, as agents of the Kremlin.

Pro-Moscow is out

The top openly pro-Russian candidate, Yuriy Boyko, a former deputy prime minister and ally of ousted authoritarian president Viktor Yanukovych, who was driven from office by the popular Maidan uprising in 2014, is languishing in fourth place.

In the opinion polls he is stuck at around 10 percent of the vote. And there are few signs he will be able to break out from his electoral stronghold of the south-east and improve his position before polling in the first round of voting on Mar. 31.

He has Russian President Vladimir Putin to thank for that, says Tetiana Popova, media expert and former deputy minister for information policy. Russias annexation of Crimea and its violent occupation of the Donbas regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, has in effect deprived Boyko of a huge pool of pro-Russian voters.

Voters in the Donbas and the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea traditionally back candidates who promote close ties to Russia, but in this election they have all but been disenfranchised inadvertently by Putin. They face steep obstacles if they want to cast a ballot in the presidential race, having either to go to consulates overseas or travel to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government.

Losing pro-Russian voters in Crimea and Donbas means the electorate has become even more pro-Europe  you can see it in the ratings, says Popova.

And Russias intervention in the east, a reaction to the pro-Moscow Yanukovychs ouster and part of a strategy, say Western diplomats, aimed at disrupting Ukraine and exerting pressure on it, is deeply angering Ukrainians. An estimated 13,000 people have died in the Donbas conflict. As a result, two-thirds of Ukrainians view Russia as an aggressor country, fueling pro-West sentiment and public support for the country to join NATO.

Russia's intervention in the east, where pro-Moscow separatists enjoy Russias full support, has backfired  it is just making Ukrainians more pro-Western, says a U.S. diplomat. It isnt for nothing that people here say, Putin may have got Crimea for a while, but he has lost Ukraine, he adds.

Debate not over, really

But some warn Russia should not be written out of the picture yet, noting that Ukraine has switched between East and West and back again before.

Writing in Foreign Affairs magazine, Ukrainian commentator Konstantin Skorkin noted that while for the first time since Ukraines independence, national elections will not feature a powerful, pro-Russian force capable of winning, the Kremlin will likely continue to play a long game to try to snap Ukraine back into the Russian orbit.

Elections later this year for the Verkhovna Rada, or parliament, could well be seized on by the Kremlin as an opportunity to change the political course in Kyiv, he fears. Viktor Medvedchuk, a well-known pro-Russian politician closely associated with Putin, has already announced plans to create a pro-Russia political coalition.

And the Kremlin will likely try to enact its will by manipulating information and fomenting propaganda narratives that stoke division within Ukrainian society, Skorkin cautions.

Some say thats already happening.

Russian influence

There are fears that Russian special services with the help of local proxies are preparing to spread false exit-poll data to set the grounds for the Kremlin to claim the results are fake and the election illegitimate.

And Poroshenko has accused Russia of launching cyberattacks against Ukraines Central Election Commission. And Ukraine's State Security Service, SBU, say cyber-hackers have been targeting campaign staffs personal computers.

On Thursday, SBU deputy head Viktor Kononenko told reporters a group of Russian citizens and Ukrainian collaborators had used financial bribes to set up a network of people ready to vote for a certain candidate and to influence public opinion. He did not indicate which candidate.

Adrian Karatnycky, an analyst at the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, has raised the possibility the Kremlin may have had a hand in the doctoring of data for an explosive media expose last week implicating the son of a Poroshenko associate in the embezzlement of millions of dollars from state defense enterprises.

The scheme, involving the smuggling of used parts from Russia and then the selling of them to Ukrainian defense companies at inflated prices, has been seized on by Poroshenkos challengers.

Poroshenko has not been directly implicated in any accusations of wrongdoing, and his aides point out that the expose was based on leaked documents of an ongoing probe into the scheme by the government, an illustration, they say, of the incumbents commitment to fighting corruption.

Whatever the ultimate truth of the allegations [and even the journalists say only that the evidence is most likely true] voters should be skeptical until the facts have been ascertained, says Karatnycky. Given Putins aim to destroy any Ukrainian President who defies him, a Russian intelligence hand in this cannot be excluded.

The fallout from the expose appears to be helping the upstart Zelenskiy.

Poroshenko is widely seen as the Kremlins least preferred candidate. He has pushed reforms to help Ukraine integrate with Europe and has responded robustly to Russian intervention in the east, say analysts.

Zelenskiy, whos turned the race upside down by capitalizing on economic hardship and public fatigue with falling living standards, has promised to engage with the Kremlin to end the conflict in the Donbas. Poroshenko supporters say Zelenskiy is ill-equipped and too inexperienced to deal with the wily Putin.
Luke Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210," died Monday after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52.



Perry was surrounded by family and friends when he died, publicist Arnold Robinson said. The actor had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, after a 911 call summoned medical help to his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles.



"The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning," Robinson said in a statement. Those at Perry's bedside included his children, Jake and Sophie; fiancee Wendy Madison Bauer; former wife, Minnie Sharp, and mother Ann Bennett.



Perry had played construction company owner Fred Andrews, father of main character Archie Andrews, for three seasons on "Riverdale," the CW series that gives a dark take on "Archie" comics. A fourth season has been slated.



"90210" co-star Ian Ziering paid tribute to his co-star on Twitter, where fans and celebrities shared their memories of Perry and mourned him . "I will forever bask in the loving memories we've shared over the last thirty years," Ziering said. "May your journey forward be enriched by the magnificent souls who have passed before you, just like you have done here, for those you leave behind."



Born and raised in rural Fredericktown, Ohio, Perry gained fame on "Beverly Hills, 90210," which ran from 1990 to 2000. In a 2006 interview with The Associated Press, he recounted being partly inspired to pursue acting by a photo of Paul Newman his mother kept on her mirror.



He played out the memory of hearing his mother say, "He's the most beautiful man in the world, honey ... he's a movie star."



"I thought, 'OK, that's cool.' I watched him and, 'Yeah, man, who didn't want to be Paul Newman!'"



But Perry expanded his interests far beyond acting, identifying history as a passion and family a priority.



"When you are younger you can have only work, and I did for a long time," he told the AP in 2006. "But it doesn't command my attention that way anymore. A lot of the mysteries and the questions I had about it I've figured out, but life offers up mysteries every day."



He had roles in a handful of films, including "The Fifth Element," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "8 Seconds" and "American Strays," appeared in HBO's prison drama "Oz" as a televangelist convicted of fraud, and voiced cartoons including "The Incredible Hulk" and "Mortal Kombat."



The actor's next big screen role will be in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood," which is slated for release in July.



He made his Broadway musical debut as Brad in the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and starred on London's West End in another stage adaptation of a film, "When Harry Met Sally." In recent years he starred in the series "Ties That Bind" and "Body of Proof."



The same day he was hospitalized, Fox TV announced that it would be running a six-episode return of "90210" featuring most of the original cast, but Perry was not among those announced.



On the original series, Perry's character went from loner to part of a close-knit circle that included twins Brenda and Brandon Walsh (Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley), but also endured a string of romantic, family and other setbacks, including drug addiction. Perry left the series in 1995 to pursue other roles, returning in 1998 for the rest of the show's run as a guest star.



In a 2011 interview with the AP, Perry said he and his male co-stars were a "really good strong core group" while the show aired and maintained close ties. The friendship and trust he shared with Priestley created a sort of "shorthand" when it came to filming, Perry said.
The United States is shutting down its consulate in Jerusalem, which served the Palestinians, and will merge its entire diplomatic mission to the new embassy starting Monday.



"It does not signal a change of U.S. policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip," the State Department said in a statement released Sunday. "This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations."



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move in October. It infuriated the Palestinians who see closing the office that served them and moving it to the embassy as another sign of the Trump administration's pro-Israel bias.



Senior Palestinian Saab Ekekat called the decision "the final nail in the coffin" for the U.S. as a Middle East peacemaker.



But, as the State Department said, the move changes nothing and said the "efficiency and effectiveness" of its critical work helping all in Israel will be enhanced by a larger team of diplomats.



Palestinians were outraged when the U.S. moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling it a recognition of the city as the capital of a Jewish state.



The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. They say Jerusalem's status should be determined by peace talks.



The State Department said President Donald Trump takes no position on final status issues and remains fully committed to efforts toward a lasting peace between Jews and Palestinians.
The United States says it used its allies across the world, particularly those in the Gulf, to help defuse tensions between India and Pakistan, after military skirmishes between the nuclear-armed neighbors last week raised fears of a war.

We instructed numerous embassies, including in the Gulf, to weigh in on both sides, a senior administration official told VOA on condition of anonymity.

I think the Saudis were particularly helpful, the official added, as Pakistani officials acknowledged the role of Middle Eastern countries in resolving the crisis. Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Hussain Chaudhry told the Saudi-based Arab News that the crown princes of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates played a commendable role during the crisis, adding that other Muslim countries had also been a great help.

Multiple other countries and international organizations, including the United Nations and the European Union, also worked to calm the situation after India and Pakistan appeared to be inching toward a military conflict.

The South Asian neighbors, once united as British India, have already fought three wars since their independence in 1947. Two of those wars were fought over the disputed Kashmir region that both sides claim. The U.N. considers the area disputed territory, the fate of which should be decided by locals through a plebiscite. Until the dispute is resolved, both India and Pakistan control a part of Kashmir, with a Line of Control, or LoC, running through the middle as the de-facto border.

The latest crisis started after Pakistan-based group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, at a place called Pulwama, that killed more than 40 security personnel. Pakistan denied involvement in the attack and offered cooperation in investigating the incident.

India, however, accused Pakistan of harboring terrorist groups that frequently target India. Last Tuesday, Indian fighter planes entered Pakistani territory to target what they said were JeM training camps in a strike India called non-military and preemptive against future attacks.

Pakistan denied any camps existed at the site. Locals dismissed Indian claims of killing hundreds of militants and said only one man was wounded.

A day later, Pakistan responded to what it said was a violation of its air space. Pakistani military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor said Pakistani fighter planes locked onto Indian military targets, but deliberately avoided them and fired on open ground instead, in order to avoid an escalation of tensions but also to send a message to India to not violate Pakistani territory again.

In an aerial dogfight that ensued, an Indian MiG-21 jet took a hit and the pilot was captured by Pakistani forces.

The pilot was later returned to India in what Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said was a gesture of peace, helping to de-escalate the situation.

The international community welcomed the act but continued to press Pakistan to take meaningful action against militants operating on its soil.

On Monday, Pakistani Information Minister Chaudhry told the Reuters news agency the country was going to take such action. Pakistani media also reported through its sources that action against militant outfits seemed imminent.

Chaudhry, however, maintained that his country had nothing to do with the Pulwama attack and the decision to take action against these groups had been made well before the incident.

Prime Minister Khan says Pakistan is already taking action against any militant outfits to comply with the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force, an international body that monitors terrorism funding. The FATF has Pakistan on its watch list. In its last report issued in February, the task force said Pakistan has improved but needed further steps to curb funding for terrorism-related activities.

Pakistan's government has issued a new order that a foreign office press release said will "streamline the procedure for implementation of Security Council Sanctions against designated individuals and entities."
President Donald Trump says Democrats' decision to question his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, while he was overseas may be a reason his talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed.

"For the Democrats to interview in open hearings a convicted liar and fraudster at the same time the very important nuclear summit with North Korea is perhaps a new low in America politics and may have contributed to the walk," Trump tweeted late Sunday.

He was referring to his decision to leave Hanoi without making any deals with Kim over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Cohen, who was Trump's lawyer for a decade, called the president a liar, crook and racist during his testimony to Congress. He strongly implied Trump committed crimes while president, leading Democrats to call for more investigations.

Although Trump did not say exactly how the Cohen hearings affected the summit, he said, "Such things are never done when a president is overseas. Shame."

But U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton appeared on several Sunday morning talk shows to say last week's summit between Trump and Kim was not a failure, even though talks fell apart with no agreements.

"He's not desperate for a deal -- not with North Korea, not with anybody if it's contrary to American national interests," Bolton told Fox News Sunday. He also told CBS's Face the Nation, "The president held firm to his view. He deepened his relationship with Kim Jong Un. I don't view it as a failure at all when American national interests are protected."

Bolton said Kim was willing to make "a very limited concession" to dismantle its Yongbyon nuclear weapons complex in exchange for "substantial" sanctions relief.

Bolton described Yongbyon as "an aging nuclear reactor" and said Kim was unwilling to make a "big deal" with Trump.

"It was the sanctions that brought the North Koreans to the table. It's the sanctions they want relief from and relief they can get if they denuclearize," Bolton said

Bolton conceded that North Korea is continuing to produce nuclear fuel and said while "there is no expiration date" on further talks, future negotiations with North Korea are in limbo.

Bolton also appeared on CNN's State of the Union, where he defended Trump who said he took Kim "at his word" when the North Korean leader claimed he knew nothing about the alleged torture of imprisoned U.S. student Otto Warmbier.

The Ohio student fell into a coma in a North Korean prison and died shortly after he was sent home two years ago.

Bolton said while Trump accepts what Kim said, it does not mean he accepts it as reality.

"The president's been very clear he viewed what happened to Otto Warmbier as barbaric and unacceptable and I think the best thing North Korea could do right now would be to come up with a full explanation of exactly what happened to him," Bolton said on CNN.

The Democratic head of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff called the entire summit a "spectacular failure" and said Trump made things worse with his comments about Otto Warmbier.

"This the result of a president who is not prepared for these kind of negotiations, a staff that is not well-prepared and that is essentially flying by the seat of its pants," Schiff said on Face the Nation.

Also Sunday, Trump says the reason he canceled large-scale springtime military drills with South Korea is to save "hundreds of millions of dollars" for which the U.S. is never reimbursed.

"That was my position long before I became president," Trump tweeted Sunday while adding "reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing."

Pentagon officials say instead of the massive war games, the U.S. and South Korea will hold a series of small-scale exercises.

Washington and Seoul have traditionally held the exercises every spring to test military readiness in case tensions with North Korea should boil over.

The war games have always angered the North, which denounces the U.S.-South Korea joint exercises as aggressive provocation and rehearsals for war.
The United States and South Korea announced the cancelation of two annual large-scale military drills in an effort to "achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

Its a decision that Robert Manning, a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, calls "one of a number of mistakes that have been made that really erode the US position in Northeast Asia."

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and South Korea Minister of National Defense Jeong Kyeong-doo decided to end the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle series of exercises during a phone call Saturday, according to a Pentagon statement.

The Pentagon statement also added that "Both the Minister and Secretary agreed that close coordination between the military activities of the United States and Republic of Korea will continue to support diplomatic efforts."

Shanahan further tweeted he and Jeong "agreed to maintain strong military readiness through newly designed Command Post exercises & revised field training programs. Together we are ready to meet any security challenge."

U.S. President Donald Trump has long complained about the cost of large-scale drills.

"The reason I do not want military drills with South Korea is to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the U.S. for which we are not reimbursed. That was my position long before I became President. Also, reducing tensions with North Korea at this time is a good thing!" he wrote on Twitter.

Cancellation impact

It is unclear if the announcement to end the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises was related to the inability of President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reach a deal on denuclearization when they met last week in Hanoi.

Trump added in another tweet Monday that he did not talk about the military drills with Kim. He called reports that he had mentioned the war games "fake news."

Robert Manning of the Atlantic Council calls the timing "coincidental."

"You may recall that after the first summit last June, President Trump without telling anybody, including his secretary of defense or the commander of U.S. forces in Korea [President Trump] unilaterally decided that we were going to suspend exercises without getting anything for it," he said.

North Korea has long called for joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea to be suspended. Historically, Pyongyang characterized such drills as a precursor to invasion.

Therefore, Manning views the cancellation of the exercises as a major concession to North Korea, "because alliances are based on the ability to fight together, [if] you don't exercise together, you don't fight together. So it really erodes the [US-ROK] Alliance."

Park Won Gon, Dean of International Affairs at Handong Global University told VOA the cancellations will have an effect on regional security.

Park explains thats because Key Resolve consisted of two stages, "first defeat [the enemy] and second, mount a counterattack cutting the exercise to a week in length, means it drops the counterattack portion from the whole process."

Because Foal Eagle is a field training exercise, the amended operation plan reduces the number of troops involved. Park asserts the replacement exercise may not be able to "cover the potential situations should war occur on the Korean peninsula."

He said that while canceling land-based drills may affect the combined forces ability to effectively practice with one another, it was more important for exercises with the Air Forces to continue.

"If they are not having exercises such as Max Thunder or Vigilant ACE, then it means they give up the joint military readiness posture," said Park.

Replacement exercises

As the cancellation announcement about Key Resolve and Foal Eagle was made, the Republic of Korea and the United States Combined Forces Command said it will conduct the exercise "Dong Maeng" March 4-12 as a replacement for the two.

In a press release, the Combined Forces Command (CFC) characterized the exercise as one that highlights the longstanding and enduring partnership and friendship between the two nations and their commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and regional stability.

The statement went on further to announce the exercise had been modified from the previously held spring exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle and will focus on focus on strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula.

"Exercise Dong Maeng provides us the opportunity to train and rehearse with our Republic of Korea, United States, and United Nations Sending State Partners," said the South Korean Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Park Han-Ki and CFC Commander, Gen. Robert B. Abrams in the release.

"It is important for professional armies to train and maintain to a standard of readiness. These exercises are crucial in sustaining and strengthening the alliance," the statement concluded.

Lee Ju-hyun and Ira Mellman contributed to this report.
London and Washington are beginning exploratory talks over a trade deal after Britain leaves the European Union  which both sides say could deliver huge economic benefits. But already sharp differences have emerged over what might be included, as Britain resists U.S. demands to open its markets to agricultural products currently banned under EU law. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
Sharp differences have emerged between the United States and Britain over farming standards and practices in any post-Brexit trade deal.



The trans-Atlantic allies have already begun exploratory talks on a trade agreement after Britains EU exit, which is scheduled for March 29. Britain, however, is resisting U.S. demands to open its markets to agricultural products currently banned under EU law.



The most widely-cited example is Europes import ban on American "chlorinated chicken"  carcasses that have been washed using chlorine to remove harmful bacteria like E. coli and salmonella. Europe says an over-reliance on chlorine lowers overall production and hygiene standards in poultry farming, a claim the United States disputes.



The EU has also banned the import of beef from American cattle that have been treated with artificial growth hormones. The bloc says that one commonly used hormone may cause cancer and concludes there is not enough scientific data on the other hormones to approve their use for public consumption.

Washington has made it clear any trade deal with Britain after Brexit must see these measures dropped.



U.S. President Donald Trumps pick to lead the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, former Republican Congressman Darrell Issa, said recently that the millions of Britons visiting the United States every year enjoy perfectly safe food.



Wed like to have that arrangement being one in which in Britain you can choose to have American chicken, American beef, or other agricultural products just as you could when you come to the United States," he told VOA. "It is a key lynchpin of an agreement. Financial, manufacturing and agriculture has to be free and fair.



Issa added that President Trump is committed to sealing a trade deal with Britain after Brexit, and that it could be the next NAFTA, referring to the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.



Writing in Britains The Telegraph newspaper Saturday, Americas ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, attacked what he called "myths" over U.S. farming and alleged they are part of a protectionist agenda.



Britain has repeatedly pledged that it will not lower food standards after Brexit. Responding to Ambassador Johnsons comments, Britains international trade minister, Liam Fox, said London would hold its ground.



Will we accept things that we believe are against the interests of our consumers or our producers? No we won't. It's a negotiation, Fox told the BBCs Andrew Marr show Sunday.



The dispute over American beef and poultry is also influencing debate over the Irish border, a key stumbling block in Britains attempt to secure an EU exit deal.



Britain and Europe want to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. Irelands prime minister, Leo Varadkar, recently expressed fears that the border could open a back door into the EU.



If at some point in the future the United Kingdom were to allow chlorinated chicken or beef with hormones into their markets, we wouldn't want that coming into our markets or the European Union as well, Varadkar told reporters.



The United States says a trade deal would deliver huge benefits in sectors like financial services. Britain, meanwhile, is keen to bolster its post-Brexit credentials as a global trading power.



Far away from the skyscrapers of New York or London, it is farming that could prove the biggest barrier to any agreement.
A Zimbabwean lawmaker appeared in court Monday facing charges of attempting to overthrow President Emmerson Mnangagwas government.

Twenty-five year old Joanna Mamombe of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Nelson Chamisa allegedly urged party supporters to engage in anti-government protests sometime in January, which were quashed by state security agents that shot dead at least 12 civilians and arrested more than 1,000 people.

Mamombe, who was arrested Saturday and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted, is currently locked up at Chikurubi Prison, a few kilometers east of Zimbabwes capital, Harare.

Her attorney, Jeremiah Bhamu, who is affiliated to the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, says the state should drop the charges due to the mysterious circumstances in which Mamombe was arrested and failure by the police to bring her to court as per the stipulated 48-hour period.

Bhamu says there are serious inconsistences in Mamombes case.

 She was not informed of the reasons for her arrest, upon arrest. In court today the arresting detail struggled to tell the courts the reason why she arrested her. If he struggled in that manner again it would automatically follow that even at the time of arrest he did not know why he was placing her under arrest. He was just acting on instructions from we do not know who.

Mamombe is facing a charge of subverting a constitutional government. In essence they are saying she tried to overthrow the government.

State prosecutors were not available for comment.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in January over the high cost of living following President Mnangagwas announcement of fuel price increases of up to 150 percent.
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UPDATE:

Christopher Wayne Madison, 33, has been arrested and charged with capital murder. The sheriff's office said he is being held at the DeKalb County Jail without bond.

Christopher Wayne Madison

Amberly Barnett Amberly Barnett Christopher Wayne Madison

Strangulation is the cause of death, and the body was found in a wooded area about 200 yards behind the defendants home. According to the warrant issued on Monday for Madison's arrest, authorities believe Amberly Barnett was murdered on Friday, March 1.

"The road to justice for this sweet, innocent little girl is too important to release anything to jeopardize this investigation," said Sheriff Nick Welden, in a statement released Monday.

Our sources say Madison is the brother-in-law of Barnett's aunt, who she was living with when she went missing. WAAY 31 spoke with a family friend about how she will remember the little girl.

Bright, happy, fun little girl. She loved track, she loved animals, she loved her family. She has a little brother and they were best friends, said Amanda Adams, a friend of Amberlys family.

She said shes shocked that anyone could hurt, much less kill, an innocent child.

Just devastated and floored that weve got someone this evil in our community, and this happened just ten minutes from where I live, Adams said. This is the devil walking around...

Adams is a mother herself and said she cant imagine what the 11-year-old's mother is going through.

We, as a community, love our kids enough to let any predator know we will not stand for this. All of us will do everything we can to make sure you get the justice you deserve. We wouldnt push for time in jail ... I believe he deserves nothing less than the death penalty, Adams said.

In the meantime, she is asking the community to keep Barnett's family in their thoughts and prayers.

"She was a sweet little girl, and she did not deserve this. I want her to be remembered for the innocence that she was, the beautiful little girl that she was, and not this, Adams said.

-----

From earlier:

The DeKalb County Sheriff's Office is holding a press conference Monday at 3 p.m. to discuss the Amberly Barnett death investigation after searchers found the 11-year-old's body Saturday morning.

Barnett disappeared from the Mt. Vernon area of DeKalb County on Friday, and deputies were dispatched to County Road 822 in Mt. Vernon. The search expanded from DeKalb County into Cherokee County as well as part of Georgia.

WAAY 31 will livestream the conference at 3 p.m.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released this information Monday:

An investigation by Special Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has resulted in the arrest of an Alabama man, on charges stemming from a July 2018 incident involving a vehicle pursuit that started in Alabama and continued into Tennessee.

At the request of 22nd District Attorney General Brent Cooper, on July 9, 2018, TBI Agents began investigating an incident of reckless endangerment and evading arrest that had occurred in Wayne County the day before. The investigation revealed that on July 8th, a police officer with the St. Florian Police Department in Alabama attempted to make a traffic stop, when the subject fled. The pursuit continued through part of northern Alabama and into Tennessee.

During the course of the investigation, Agents learned that while the pursuit was in Wayne County, the officer exited his vehicle along Little Cypress Road and gave orders to the driver to stop. The driver, identified as Kyle Jones of Florence, AL, swerved in the direction of the officer, at which time the officer fired a shot, striking the still-moving vehicle.

Agents learned that the driver continue to evade Alabama law enforcement officers until the vehicle ran out of gas while in Tennessee. At that time, Jones was taken into custody and charged by Alabama authorities.

On February 11th, the Wayne County Grand Jury returned indictments charging Kyle Lee Jones (DOB 10/26/1992) with one count of Felony Reckless Endangerment and one count of Felony Evading Arrest. Jones was arrested Saturday and booked into the Wayne County Jail on a $20,000 bond.
Jocelyn Jackson, Rudisang Motshubi and Blayne Stone present their research on To be invisible or not: Understanding experiences of underrepresented students in STEM. The 19th Thomas L. Hill Iowa State Conference on Race and Ethnicity (ISCORE) was held in the Memorial Union Friday. The event focuses on issues of race and ethnicity on a local and national scale.
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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
The ensemble of 10 includes Maboud Ebrahimzadeh as emissaries (in different eras) from the United States and Libya, Tuyet Thi Pham in a similar role from China, Christopher McLinden as an entitled British officer and Sarah Corey as an Iraqi friend of Amys, with actors speaking convincing Farsi, Arabic and Mandarin as required. The costumes by Michael Krass and Robert Croghan guide us across years and cultures, teaming with Colin K. Billss lights to suggest the essence of living conditions. The 2016 play arrives here as conversation grows around a Green New Deal, and the relevance of Hicksons entertaining, unnerving portrait wont burn out for quite some time.
For now, the men of Wild Divers Oyster are riding high on the adrenaline of pushing their bodies to hand-select oysters, but these entrepreneurs also have supporting their young families in mind, so theyre diversifying their business, buying wholesale oysters collected from other gear types, and even an account or two from oyster farmers to build their company into one that can act as a Chesapeake Bay oyster hub. The oysters are kept sorted by type and location, and priced accordingly, with the diver-collected oyster still being their star product. In the summer, they collect peelers or soft-shell crabs, so they are also buffeting that harvest with plans to employ a shedding tank for this years crab haul.
For faster flying citrus, head 600 miles south to Ivrea, Italy. Nearly 10,000 fighters participate in the Battle of the Oranges, which commemorates the overthrow of a 13th-century tyrant. Anyone who doesnt want to get smacked must wear a special red hat. It looks like a long, red sock, says Stefano Ampollini, the festivals chief of communications and a veteran orange fighter, who got his start at age 8. (This year, for the first time, theres an official kids-only area to keep them safe.) Participants take their job seriously, he says, but after everyones face drips with pulp, they remove their protective gear and compliment each other.
I never imagined we wouldnt find them, said Shaun King, the journalist and Black Lives Matter activist who organized an online campaign that identified three of the attackers. They were the Forrest Gumps of the rally. They were everywhere. But now, theyre an enigma. Even if they are being protected by white supremacist groups, hell, this is a long time without getting caught. How are they not out and about, and nobodys seen them?
As the Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, you have the authority and responsibility to ensure that the integrity of the body is maintained, and that those who engage in ethically suspect behavior are fairly investigated and held accountable, the letter said. Failure to uphold this responsibility reflects poorly on all who serve the people of the District of Columbia in this body. It also diminishes confidence in our government as a whole.
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I believe that the standard for voting against a nominee, particularly for a nominee for chancellor, is and should be very high, Grosso said at the committee vote last week. The mayor has a responsibility to pick her team. In the case of the chancellor, the mayor has the added responsibility to ensure that the nominee is highly qualified and can build coalitions. I believe Dr. Ferebee meets that criteria.
Apple has made a name for itself for a variety of reasons over the years. Top-tier devices and software. Burgeoning services. And also being ridiculously tough behind-the-scenes.

Apple executives have been known to be very tough in negotiations. And thats certainly not new, as Apples demand for a 50-50 revenue split with its incoming subscription News service has reportedly made some (but not all) publishers balk at the new platform. Apple executives have a plan in sight, and the general rule of thumb is the company will try to achieve it no matter what. That has been seen as an issue when it comes to its own proprietary software and hardware.

So of course its going to be an issue when you start producing original TV and film.

A new report out this week from The NY Post aims to shed some light on Apples own issues when it comes to launching original content. We know that Apple sees its incoming streaming platform as a lucrative business, and it very well could be! There have been so many new projects announced for this service it can be hard to keep track. Just to name two: A TV drama about a morning show starring Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston. And then theres the incoming project from Sofia Coppola, On The Rocks, starring Bill Murray.

On a purely hype scale, some of these projects sound pretty exciting. However, it sounds like Apples executives are more than willing to jump in and lay down the law, so to speak. Agents have described the higher-ups at Apple as being very involved with some of the projects. With others, the executives are aiming to guide the content itself. Apple reportedly wants to avoid controversial topics, including potentially negative impacts of technology. (Think Black Mirror on Netflix.)

Apples CEO, Tim Cook, has reportedly dropped by the set of an incoming sci-fi thriller entitled See to gauge whats going on there. Cook has even dropped by the set of the aforementioned morning show drama. Apples interference with these projects has reportedly led to various delays. So much so that the platform may only launch with a handful of shows later this year. (Apple is rumored to unveil the service on March 25.) And the report indicates that some of the content is not as good as some would have liked.

Apple wants to be a production company, and thats fine. To be honest, as someone who really loves TV and film, this is one of the more exciting elements Apple has worked on in years. Especially with the content coming down the pipe. However, if Apple wants to be a production company then it needs to get out of its own way.

Now, weve heard rumors dating back to 2017 that Apple wants original content it can showcase in its Apple Stores. Basically, family-friendly stuff. However, in December of last year we heard that Apple was in advanced talks to land a reworked version of the hyper-violent series Nevelot, which would star Richard Gere. This is a company that needs to understand that it doesnt have to show off all of the original content in its retail stores, but of course the executives already know this.

Production companies, like A24 and others, choose the content they want to help distribute. Apple is no different here. But, to make matters a bit more difficult, this is also Apples own platform. In this, Apple has an absolute right to decide whats available on the service. Just like Disney is not going to put overtly-violent/potentially sensitive material on its upcoming Disney+ service, Apple can do the same thing.

However, Disney can choose to keep that sort of content off Disney+ because it has other options. Up until recently it was using Netflix to handle the more sensitive material (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the other Marvel shows). Now it will rely on Hulu to handle that content, including a brand new Howard the Duck animated series. If Disney+ didnt have those outlets? Well, it would either skip that content entirely or make a dedicated section within Disney+ to gate-keep it.

Apple doesnt have those other options, but it needs as much content as possible. Apple should be helping to promote original stories and smaller indie voices that might not make the big Hollywood cut. But those stories can be controversial and deal with real-world topics that actually matter. The fact that Apple Music has a variety of explicit content available on it should be why Apples streaming platform has the same mentality.

Apple is no stranger to parental guides and restrictions. Roll them out for original TV and film.

More than anything else, though, Apple has to let these directors and writers, and other producers for that matter, tell these stories. Apple can cull the stories themselves  thats perfectly fine. But once youve green-lit a project, and you know what youre getting? Get out of the way. Heavy-handed production notes from the companies very, very rarely ever mean positive output and results.
Stone goes on to allege in the book that Muellers Russian investigation has tried to implicate me by saying I had direct knowledge of plans by WikiLeaks to release information damaging to Hillary Clintons campaign. It says, There is no evidence whatsoever to support this claim, even after at least twelve of my current and former associates have been browbeaten by the FBI and at least six of them were dragged before Muellers grand jury.
This is a woman who went online and tried to kill young men and women of the United States of America, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday in a radio interview in Kansas. She advocated for jihad, for people to drive vans across streets here in the United States and kill Americans. Shes not a U.S. citizen. She has no claim of U.S. citizenship. In fact, shes a terrorist, and we shouldnt bring back foreign terrorists to the United States of America.
The threats came two weeks after the bodies of three slain civil rights workers were discovered near Leake County, buried under an earthen dam not far from their burned-out station wagon. The men  James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner  had been registering black voters and were found to have been murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in what came to be known as the Mississippi Burning case.
Within a week, the bodies of 25 men had been exhumed. All but one had been slashed in the head with a machete or a knife, and many had been stabbed in the upper body. One victim had been shot. All of the victims had been hired through Mr. Coronas labor contracting business or had been seen with him.
Mr. Perry returned to Beverly Hills, 90210 for its final three seasons but did not appear in the shows revival, which featured the shortened title 90210 and ran on the CW from 2008 to 2013. According to USA Today, Mr. Perry also did not sign on for a six-part Beverly Hills, 90210 reboot scheduled for this summer. The series was announced by Fox on Wednesday.
Although a primary allegiance was to science and to knowledge, Dr. Alferov also served in the Russian parliament. His aim there, he said, was to protect the interests of science. His name appeared on the Communist Partys slate, but he was said not to have been a party member.
Weve got a facility that was built a half-century ago. It is not serving our city and is not serving our residents who are going to be detained there, Allen said. He added: The jail was built at a time when our thinking was simply, How do we store people in little cages and let them out when their time is done?
AAA Mid-Atlantic reported last month that about half a million insurance claims are filed every year related to potholes. Almost as many members of the motoring organization summoned roadside assistance for flat tires, which had been caused by potholes and other things, because they also lacked a spare tire. To save fuel, a growing number of new vehicles no longer come equipped with spare tires. Instead, they have inflator kits or run-flat tires, which are designed to travel about 100 miles more until the driver can make a repair and write an angry letter or email in whatever jurisdiction the pothole was encountered.
In 2017, Qualcomm filed a patent lawsuit against Apple for infringing on three of its patents in iPhones that featured an Intel modem. The move came as retaliation to Apple suing Qualcomm. Two years, later, the case is finally headed to trial in the San Diego federal court.

The six patents relate to GPU architecture and battery power conversation techniques like envelope tracking and quickly reducing power consumption of the baseband while playing games.

The proceedings are expected to last for two weeks. If Qualcomm ends up winning the case, it would mean Apple would have to pay it billions of dollars. Qualcomm is asking for $1.41 in damages per iPhone unit sold featuring an Intel chip between mid-2017 and fall 2018. Apple has not disclosed yet as to how many iPhones it has sold during this period featuring an Intel modem.

In a separate case, the U.S. International Trade Commission has already found Apple guilty of violating one of the said patents. However, that decision is unlikely to affect this case in any manner whatsoever

For its part, Apple argues that Qualcomms licensing rates for its patent portfolio are unfair and monopolistic in nature. The feud between the two companies has led to Apple completely switching to Intel for its baseband requirements in its devices.

This legal trial starts ahead of a major antitrust case from Apple going to trial in April. In the case, Apple alleges that Qualcomms business practices are unfair and monopolistic in nature thereby blocking competition.

Our Take

The legal battle between the two companies started after Apple complained to the FTC about Qualcomms unfair business practices and sued it for withholding $1 billion in royalty rebates. Since then, both companies have sued them in multiple countries, with Qualcomm managing to win a sales ban on selected iPhone models in China and Germany. However, the win came using other software patents related to the UI/UX behavior.

The real battle between the two companies will start from now as this patent trial will decide the value of Qualcomms patents and technological innovations, something which the San Diego chipmaker has been shouting about for a long time.
The governor had said he was in the [blackface] photo, apologized for it, Herring said during an interview on WAMUs Kojo Nnamdi Show. The next day, the governor came out with a different and contradictory account, and that was when there was an erosion of trust. That was what my [resignation] statement was about. . . . It was really about the public trust. I would hold myself to the same standard.
The analysis found that a majority of the countrys more than 250 coal plants have unsafe levels of at least four potentially toxic substances, including arsenic, which the EPA has classified as a human carcinogen. In addition, the report found that few coal ash waste ponds have waterproof liners to prevent harmful substances from leeching into groundwater, and more than half are built beneath the local water table or within five feet of it.
The suit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, authorities interrogated Meng under the guise of a routine customs examination and used the opportunity to compel her to provide evidence and information. The suit alleges that Canada Border Services Agency agents seized her electronic devices, obtained passwords and unlawfully viewed the contents, and intentionally failed to advise her of the true reasons for her detention.
On January 24, 2019, Nepals Department of Labor and Occupational Safety under the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security issued a directive, asking employers to provide the total number of Indian nationals working in their companies and ensure that the workers have a valid legal work permit to work in Nepal.





As per this directive, the government of Nepal has mandated employers in Nepal that while inspecting the institutions the number of Indian workers would be updated and if they dont have a work permit then inform the institution to take the work permit is directed hereby. The directive comes as a surprise to India as, under the special relations arrangement between the two countries, workers from either country can cross the open border without a visa and work without a permit.





After the directive was posted on the government of Nepals Twitter handle, India registered its strong opposition, stating that it violated the very foundation of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship signed with Nepal in 1950. The head of the Indian mission to Nepal reportedly met with Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to discuss the issue. Soon after the meeting, the government of Nepal had taken a step to clear the air, saying that the directive was issued due to a misunderstanding by the digital cell of the government of Nepal (#HellowSarkar) which is responsible for uploading copies of the governments notifications on digital platforms.





While the government of Nepal is attempting damage control, India has taken a serious note of the directive. With mounting pressure from New Delhi, Nepals Labor Ministry issued a clarification that Nepal and India have historical ties and there are many treaties between the two countries to address such issues, so there is no reason for making work permit compulsory for Indian nationals. Meanwhile, the meeting of the Indian ambassador with Nepals Prime Minister in itself is self-evident of the unease at the diplomatic level between India and Nepal.





In the last five years, the equation between New Delhi and Kathmandu has reached an all-time low. It began with the implementation of a new democratic republican constitution by Nepal in 2015 where India had noted rather than welcomed. In a panic move, New Delhi sent its Foreign Secretary as the special envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kathmandu to convey Indias security concerns at the India-Nepal open border. There had been ongoing protests in the Madhesh region (southern belt) against the provisions of citizenship and the demarcation of the federal boundaries within the country. India was concerned about the spillover effects of the mass protests on its states, especially Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that share border with Nepal. The last-minute suggestions to Nepal to accommodate the demands of the Madeshis in the new constitution were not only turned down, but the Nepalese envoy had also accused India of micromanaging the internal matters of Nepal at the United Nations which had not gone well with India. As a result, unofficial blockade at the India-Nepal border continued for a period of three months.





In the aftermath of the alleged border blockade, attempts have been made at the diplomatic level in bettering the relationship. However, the delicate political environment in Nepal and rigidness of the policymakers in India has slowed down the process of cooperation between New Delhi and Kathmandu. Noteworthily, it had been seventeen years since an Indian Prime Minister had taken a trip to Nepal. In 2014, the new government led by Modi prioritized neighbors in Indias foreign policy, especially the Himalayan neighbors  Nepal and Bhutan. Since 2014, Modi has visited Nepal on three different occasions. Meanwhile, the erstwhile welcoming space in Nepal has turned into a hostile space for India after the 2015 border blockade.





The long-standing shadow of India on the policy-making process in Nepal began to receive strong resentment soon after the political transition of Nepal in 2008.



Further, in December 2018, in a significant monetary decision, Nepal Rashtra Bank banned the circulation of Indian currency in Nepal. The Indian currency, which is openly circulated in Nepal, remains strictly under an informal understanding between the two countries.

Considering the amount of tourists and the informal sector trade passing through the open border, the note ban has affected the Nepalese tourism industry. Furthermore, the 2016 policy on the demonetization of the INR 100, 500 and 1000 currency notes in India led to a severe financial challenge for Nepal. A massive chunk of demonetized currency was stuck in Nepal, and no arrangement has been worked out till date to exchange the notes. India has indicated that since Nepal is a gateway to fake currency flowing into India through an open border, it needs to ascertain the exact numbers of demonetized notes that might be available in Nepal.

It is estimated that around 0.6 million Indians work in Nepal and about 6 million Nepalese work in India. The numbers are approximate since none of the governments maintains a formal record of the people crossing in and out of the border. For both nationals, the visa-free regime and open border provides an economical and easy opportunity for employment. The mechanism also cuts short the paperwork and qualification requirements process and the arrival of workers remain economical due to the openness of the border. However, Nepalese working in India outnumbers Indians working in Nepal and any stringent response on Indias part concerning Nepalese workers in India will have a severe impact on the Nepalese economy as remittances contribute approximately 30 pe cent of Nepals GDP. Hence, with the permit system for Indian workers becoming a reality, it will adversely affect the India-Nepal relations, especially for Nepal.

In 1987, in a similar act, the Nepal government introduced permits for Indian workers after an angry New Delhi asked Nepalese settlers in India to move back to Nepal. India was annoyed over Nepals arms purchase from China which was seen as a violation of the provisions of the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship. For New Delhi, these developments were seen as deliberate attempts by the government of Nepal to jeopardize Indias security. Later, after a series of discussions at the government and people to people levels, the government of Nepal assured New Delhi about any future arms deals with any third country including China and the relations improved.

In the present context, going by the strong objections from India, the Nepal government claims to be unaware of any such directive. However, it is noteworthy that till date, the directive remains on the official Twitter handle of the Government of Nepal and no other official response has been communicated to the government of India on the issue.

To conclude, it is worth noting that following the establishment of democracy in Nepal, the country has been steadfast in conveying its quest for ensuring sovereignty. The long-standing shadow of India on the policy-making process in Nepal began to receive strong resentment soon after the political transition of Nepal in 2008. Despite several attempts by Nepal to update the provisions of the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, it was only in 2016 that India agreed to appoint a committee to look into the matter. The recommendations of the committee remain in limbo. Hence, present Nepal does not represent the political and diplomatic environments of the 1990s. With regards to the work permit directive and several recent diplomatic acts of Nepal, India needs to understand that Nepal is pushing for a regulated border and wants to formalize the incoming workforce from India into Nepal. Indeed, the effect of such acts will have serious implications for Nepal, but the country seems to be readying for a challenge.
Purdue is making arguments that it has used in the slew of state and federal lawsuits filed against it in recent years, including that it controls just 2 to 3 percent of the market for opioid drugs. The company also says it is not responsible for overdose deaths from heroin and illicit fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid made overseas that has killed tens of thousands of people in recent years.
My hunch (and hope) is that those preferring single-payer health care will come to see that, if their goal is ever to be realized, it will not pass in one big bang. Rather, it will be achieved in steps that would leave a private insurance system in place for some time. But in the short term, theres a lot of shouting.
It was not the first time Booker has heard that kind of skepticism. I know that some people might think this messaging is a risk. I had a friend of mine this morning send me some social science data about how outrage is so much more motivating than a message of love. They literally sent me social science stuff, he told me. But I do not believe you can campaign wrong and then hope to govern right.
If, on the other hand, you assembled the world leaders he has insulted, you would have an entirely different kind of meeting: Justin Trudeau of Canada, whom he called very dishonest and weak; Theresa May of Britain, whom he said is mishandling Brexit and had the effrontery not to follow his advice; and, above all, Angela Merkel of Germany, for whom he has shown unbridled contempt. He criticized her immigration policy and, in an act of sheer schoolroom disrespect, tossed some Starburst candy at her at a Group of Sevenmeeting. Dont say I never give you anything, he reportedly said.
Britain and other countries have tried when possible to offload the fighters to third countries where they might have dual citizenship. Thats also not likely to work in many instances. Countries are ultimately responsible for their own citizens, even when those citizens are a danger. It is likely to be expensive, difficult and politically unpopular for European nations and the United States (from which only a relative handful of former Islamic State militants originate) to repatriate and prosecute the fighters. Those who cannot be convicted and go free will also impose a burden on intelligence and domestic security agencies. Unfortunately, theres no better option.
Last year, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by Richs parents, Joel and Mary Rich, against Fox News over a May 2017 story that falsely claimed investigators had evidence that Seth Rich had leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks. There is no evidence that Rich was the source of the leak; the U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Russia was responsible for the DNC hack and email dump.
McGahn first joined Jones Day as a partner in 2014, after a five-year stint at the Federal Election Commission, where he served as chairman, often controversially, because of his push to weaken campaign finance regulations. He also was counsel to the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was succeeded by White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Since October, McGahn has spent time with his family and made a handful of public appearances, including lectures at law schools, Oxford University and Ronald Reagans presidential library.
Cohen had been slated to appear publicly before the Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 but canceled, citing potential threats against his family. On Feb. 20, the committee said that it had rescheduled Cohens testimony for last Wednesday. The president had announced the dates for his second summit with Kim during his State of the Union address on Feb. 5.
But rather than a targeted approach, Mondays request was broad, reaching current and former campaign staffers, top Trump Organization officials, even documents and communications of the National Rifle Association and the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. The inquiry touched on a wide array of matters, from the presidents business dealings with Russia to the firing of former FBI director James B. Comey to hush payments made to women. Many of those issues are already being examined by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York  not to mention other committees in the House.
John Hickenlooper, who served two terms as governor of Colorado, announced Monday that he is running for president, touting his accomplishments in a state that moved to the left during his time in office.

As governor, Hickenlooper presided over steady economic growth, the legalization of marijuana  which he initially opposed  and a surge that put Democrats in full control of a once-conservative state.

Im running for president because we need dreamers in Washington, but we also need to get things done, Hickenlooper said in a video announcing his candidacy. Ive proven again and again I can bring people together to produce the progressive change Washington has failed to deliver.

Aides said Hickenlooper plans a kickoff rally in Denver on Thursday before heading to Iowa, the first presidential nominating state, this weekend.

He joins a field of 13 other Democrats who have announced White House bids or exploratory committees.

[Who is hoping to challenge Trump for president in 2020?]

Until recently, Hickenlooper said, he saw little path to the presidency.

I am so moderate I would be a difficult candidate to imagine succeeding anywhere, Hickenlooper told the Associated Press in 2012.

Asked about that description during an appearance Monday on ABCs Good Morning America, Hickenlooper said, I dont think voters are interested in labels anymore.

The most successful candidate will be the person who can get people to put down their weapons and collaborate to the point that they get a real progressive change, he said.

Hickenlooper said the United States is in probably the worst period of division that weve had in this country since the civil war.

[Former attorney general Eric Holder says he wont run for president in 2020]

Hickenlooper, 67, spent the first 50 years of his life far from politics. Born in the suburbs of Philadelphia, he earned a geology degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and traveled to Colorado to work in the oil industry. Laid off at age 36, he co-founded a microbrewery in a distressed Denver neighborhood  the first in a state that would become known for its craft beers. Within a few years, Hickenlooper was a rich man, though he encountered setbacks as his team bought up more restaurants and brewpubs.

We learned the hard way how critical it is to have the right team and a strong structure, Hickenlooper wrote in a 2016 memoir. We learned that when you make a mistake, you admit it.

In 1999, Hickenlooper entered Denver politics as a leader in a coalition to prevent Mile High Stadium from being purchased and re-branded by a corporate owner. After that victory, he was encouraged to run for mayor, winning easily in 2003 and encountering almost no opposition in 2007 as the city boomed. While the mayoralty was a nonpartisan office, Hickenlooper identified as Democrat and helped bring the 2008 Democratic National Convention to the city.

The independent-minded, pro-business, pro-environment, collaborative spirit of the West represents the future of American politics, Hickenlooper said in his address to the convention.

Two years later, Democrats persuaded Hickenlooper to run for governor, hoping his popularity and discursive, anti-politician style could get them past a national backlash against the party. Hickenlooper won, helped by a memorable ad in which he entered a shower, fully clothed, to dramatize how much he hated negative campaigning.

Pitting one group against another doesnt help anyone, Hickenlooper said in the ad as he toweled off. Besides, we need the water.

Hickenlooper took office with Republicans in control of the state legislature and the state still grappling with the end of the recession. He signed off on austere budgets that attracted bipartisan support; he allied with Republicans to boost natural-gas exploration and with Democrats to legalize civil unions. In 2012, when a man shot and killed 12 people in a suburban-Denver movie theater, Hickenlooper began to advocate for a ban on extended magazines, and he has criticized the United States gun laws more robustly since then.

Were terrorizing ourselves, Hickenlooper told NPR in 2018. If you were trying to harm this country, what better thing could you do than to create a context where kids were too scared to go to school, or, when they got to school, they were too scared to learn?

After surviving a close reelection battle in 2014, Hickenlooper grew more involved in national politics. In 2017, he and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) led a bipartisan group of governors to oppose Republican efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. That led to speculation of Kasich and Hickenlooper seeking the presidency on a unity ticket, though the two governors disagreements on social issues made it unlikely.

Kasich-Hickenlooper  first of all, you couldnt pronounce it, [and] second, you couldnt fit it on a bumper sticker, Kasich joked in a 2017 Meet the Press interview.

Yet few Democrats with 2020 ambitions have touted these kinds of team-ups with Republicans, and few have tangled as much with their partys left. In 2018, Hickenlooper threatened to call a special legislative session to undo a ballot measure targeting the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, of natural gas; he backed down after the measure failed before voters.

Read more at PowerPost
Kovrig and Spavor, meanwhile, have been detained in Beijing and Dandong, on the North Korean border, respectively. They have been denied access to their families and to lawyers, and have been kept in cells with the lights on round the clock. Consular officials, however, have been permitted to make several short visits to both men.
But his supporters say that those portrayals are unjust and that he worked behind the scenes to help Jews. The Rev. Peter Gumpel, a Vatican official who has advocated for Pius XIIs sainthood and explored portions of the Vaticans paperwork on the pontiff, said Pius XIIs actions to help Jews may have been kept off the books.
We are relieved to hear that Shawkan is finally free after spending over five years in jail and call on authorities to end their shameful treatment of this photojournalist by removing any conditions to his release, Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said in a statement. The Egyptian government should take steps immediately to improve its image, which has been badly tarnished by this unjust imprisonment  and it can start by releasing all journalists jailed in relation to their work.
In the meantime, the prime minister has slipped to second place in opinion polls, trailing a joint ticket of former military chief of staff Benny Gantz and Netanyahus longtime rival Yair Lapid. In a concerning turn for the prime minister, the polls now also indicate that Netanyahus right-wing bloc may struggle to win enough seats in the parliament, or Knesset, to form a governing coalition, even if he prevails in the election.
Organizations that work with the United Nations to resettle Salvadoran refugees in the United States say they have found more and more police officers arriving unannounced at their offices. In addition to the 21 asylum seekers and refugees identified by The Post, several others have recently arrived in Spain and Mexico, according to news reports, applying for humanitarian visas or other forms of protection. Lawyers for police officers and many officers themselves say that far more officers are preparing to flee.
The Australian Ambassador to Ireland Richard Andrews and Saovanee Andrews have visited Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT)'s Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG) as part of a trade mission to explore business opportunities and areas for collaboration between Australia and Ireland, particularly in the area of agriculture-technology.

Speaking during his visit, Mr Andrews said that he was delighted to make his second visit to Waterford as Australia's Ambassador to Ireland in order to further improve the agri-tech industry in both countries. Agri-tech is an area in which both Australia and Ireland have strong expertise, and one where we would expect the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement currently under negotiation to open up new opportunities."

This was his second time visiting WIT. Visits such as these are important to remind Australian businesses of the opportunities available to them in Ireland, particularly in the area of agri-tech," said director of innovation at TSSG Kevin Doolin.

The Australian Ambassadors visit came ahead of the first official meeting of the SmartAgriHubs consortium, which takes place in Prague this week.

As the co-ordinator for the UK and Ireland regional cluster, WIT -which has developed smart agri expertise through TSSG - will be the central point of contact for farmers, advisors, agri-tech and agri-food companies who want to apply technology solutions from across Europe to farming and business problems.

Im very keen to explore new areas for cooperation. Countries like Australia and Ireland will have an important role to play in solving the problem of feeding a growing global population sustainably, and it will be important for our farmers and our agri-tech sectors to work closely together," Mr Andrews said.

He also met with members of the team at WITs ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre, established in 2005 to support entrepreneurship in the South East. "We are delighted to welcome the Australian Ambassador to ArcLabs. Increasingly, we see our client companies creating real impact in Australia. For example, in 2016 Kyckr successfully listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. We look forward to continuing to work with strategic partners in Australia and expand our reach there," ArcLabs manager Dr Aisling O'Neill added.
Speculators or struggling home buyers are trying to offload four in every 10 land lots listed for sale in Melbournes fringe housing estates, new analysis shows.

The large spike in speculators attempting to flip land lots purchased at the peak of the residential market in March last year explains a similarly sharp hike in buyer default rates, which land developers fear are yet to fully wash through the market.

Analysis by RPM Real Estate Groups Q4 Residential Market Review shows 8 per cent of buyers are defaulting on contracts across Melbourne and Geelongs housing estates, well below the alarming one in four figure reported by the country's largest private land developer, Satterley Property Group.

Banks have sandwiched mum-and-dad buyers by tightening lending standards. Credit:Penny Stephens

RPM oversees about a quarter of all sales in Melbournes land market.
Behind every great restaurant theres a great chef  and someone taking a financial gamble.

It could be the entrepreneur staking their life savings or betting their house to secure a bank loan. Some young chefs turn to crowd funding or use pop-up restaurants to keep costs down and stay independent.

But many of the up and comers in Sydneys hospitality scene are increasingly backed by investors.

Sarah Doyle, restaurateur and investor, upstairs at Continental Deli in Newtown. Credit:Nic Walker

There are a few large hospitality groups that are well-known  think the Hemmes familys Merivale Group, which owns more than 70 pubs and restaurants including Ivy and the Coogee Pavilion, or Solotel, the company behind nearly 30 venues from high-end restaurant Aria to grungy Newtown pub The Courthouse.
Graduate nurse Jack Barr says his last night shift at the the hospital was just one of those nights.

Patients were declining medical treatment and there were lots of medical emergencies. But he was pleased with the way he gelled with the medical team.

As his graduate nursing year draws to a close, he recognises how much more confident he is becoming.

Jack Barr at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne

At the start, you tend to freak out in those emergency medical situations, so being confident in one of those situations a year down the track felt like a big milestone, Barr says.
You might have missed it in your junk mail, but Uber is encouraging its Australian customers to start tipping its drivers.

Its useful that servers have flagged these emails as spam, because thats where this idea belongs  in the bin.

The fact that US tipping culture has crept its way into Australia is bad enough. But a US company trying to impose its policy of global wage suppression onto its Australian workforce has to be called out.

One of the worlds worst employers is not only asking Aussies to turn a blind eye to its underpayments  but asking us to pick up the tab on its wages bill.
Cairo: The family and lawyer of a prominent Egyptian photo-journalist say he has been released after five years in prison.

Mahmoud Abu Zaid, a photo-journalist known as "Shawkan", was convicted for involvement in a 2013 sit-in protest by Islamists that was broken up by security forces in an operation that left hundreds dead.

His lawyer, Taher Abuel-Naser, says he was released from a police station in the Giza neighbourhood in Cairo on Monday morning. His family confirmed his release.

Egyptian photo-journalist Mahmoud Abou Zeid, known by his nickname Shawkan and pictured in 2015, was cleared for release in September after five years in jail, although his freedom was delayed because of 'processing'. Credit:AP

Egypt under general-turned-president Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has launched an unprecedented assault on journalists in recent years, imprisoning dozens and occasionally expelling some foreign journalists.
Sacrificing the climate for reelections

In business as well as international politics, the best and ideal agreement is one that is credible and expected to be complied with. Compliance often necessitates trade sanctions or other sufficiently severe consequences for those parties that do not comply as promised.

So what explains the logic behind why most existing international environmental agreements are weak and without sufficiently strong sanctions? As an example, countries that emitted excessively under the 1997 Kyoto Protocol were asked to compensate by cutting emissions more in the future but faced no additional sanctions if they didn't. And in late December 2018, negotiators met in Katowice, Poland, to discuss the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change but failed to take advantage of the possibility to introduce sanctions on noncompliers.

Why does this continue to happen? A new political economy analysis forthcoming in the Journal of Political Economy shows that domestic policymakers may not have sufficient incentives to negotiate efficient treaties. In "The Political Economy of Weak Treaties," authors Marco Battaglini and Bard Harstad explain that: "When a treaty is weak and not fully enforced, voters are uncertain whether the obligations will be met and they forecast that compliance hinges on whether they elect the incumbent or a political challenger." The political incumbent can always turn this contingency to their advantage, they show.

When the treaty is weak, a relatively "green" party with more environmentally friendly preferences than the median voter may prefer to comply, while a relatively "brown" party will not. Thus, a green incumbent prefers to negotiate a weak treaty that is attractive to the median voter, but not to the brown challenger, so that the voters must reelect the incumbent to see the treaty being implemented. Likewise, a brown incumbent prefers a treaty so weak and so costly that the median voter prefers to elect the brown party, which will not comply, rather than the more environmentally friendly green party, who would comply regardless. In either case, the incumbent improves the reelection chances by negotiating some kind of weak treaty, because only weak treaties differentiate the competing candidates.

This reasoning implies that state leaders who face elections (in contrast to dictators) prefer to sign many treaties as long as the treaties are likely to be weak and essentially ineffective. The study finds that democratic countries do sign more treaties but the effect of a treaty on emission cuts is smaller than for other countries.

When American Vice President Al Gore negotiated ambitious emission cuts on behalf of the US in the late 1990s, the commitments were not strongly enforced and the next president could easily walk away from the treaty, which he did. The authors explore similar stories from Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. "In many of these cases, sacrificing the climate can have been motivated by reelection concerns," the authors note.

###

This story has been published on: 2019-03-04. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Were very fortunate to have secured an exclusive license agreement with Alpha Architect out of Philadelphia, Heard said. Wes Gray and Jack Vogel, the PhD holders behind the firm, saw a significant opportunity from Canadas $1.53 trillion in actively managed mutual funds.

The Philadelphia firms mandate is to deliver so-called Affordable Alpha from highly differentiated investment strategies at lower costs. Pledging to carry out that commitment on behalf of Canadian small investors, SmartBe created its flagship multi-factor ETF strategy: the SmartBe Global Value Momentum Trend Index ETF. Alpha Architect runs the quant strategy for the fund, while SmartBe handles the fund and the portfolio management side of things. Its portfolio is approximately equal exposure to Canadian, US, and international equities, and it is invested based on a series of value, momentum, and trend-following screens.

Were actually the second ETF to come out of Alberta, and the first quant fund to come out of the Alberta Securities Commission, Heard said. We worked closely with our legal in Ontario because of the experience the Ontario Securities Commission has with launching these types of funds. Its amazing the complexity that has to take place in the back office in order to bring a fund thats easy to invest in to life.

Distribution is another formidable wall. Heard noted that Canadas investment-product market, both for mutual funds and ETFs, is dominated by the Big Five banks. Educating advisors on the unique and differentiated aspects of a product and convincing them that it will create long-term benefits for clients can be problematic for small, independent players in a crowded, oligopolistic space. SmartBes multi-factor ETF was recently launched on the Aequitas NEO Exchange under the ticker SBEA, and the firm is now working hard to shout its message from the rooftops.

It might very well be time for investors to listen. With volatility simmering in the markets today, some may be convinced to try for outperformance through well-timed trades. But Heard pointed to a body of historical evidence that market timing is a mugs game, and simply getting into the market and holding exposure to stocks is the most important thing.
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Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted.
WSU Historical Lecture Examines How Ogden Became the Junction City

March 4, 2019

OGDEN, Utah  To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad, Weber State University welcomes author and historian Val Holley to speak about the influence of the railroad on the development of Ogden as part of the Weber Historical Society Lecture Series, March 11 at 7 p.m. in the Hurst Center Dumke Legacy Hall.

Holley will present How Ogden Became the Junction City and Why Salt Lake Never Forgave Us. Holley will give the presentation again March 12 at 7 p.m. at the Weber County Library Southwest Branch (2039 W. 4000 S., Roy) as part of the Whistle Stop Tour sponsored by Weber State University, the Weber County Library and Union Station.

Holley will explain why the railroad went around the north end of the Great Salt Lake, bypassing Salt Lake City; the experiences of Ogden men who worked as graders for the railroad; what led to Ogdens designation as the junction; and Salt Lake Citys attitude toward Ogden after being bypassed.

While several outstanding histories of the Transcontinental Railroad have been written, none have focused on Ogden itself, Holley said. I will discuss how the railroad boosted Ogdens growth, economy and relations with the outside world.

Holley is the author of 25th Street Confidential: Drama, Decadence, and Dissipation along Ogden's Rowdiest Road.

The presentation is sponsored by the WSU Alumni Association, the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences, the Department of History, Stewart Library and the Weber Historical Society.

Visit weber.edu/history/historicalsociety for more information about the Weber Historical Society Spring Lecture Series.

More information about the Whistle Stop Tour can be found here.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
WESTON  With a starter thats been in consistent use for over 100 years, one has to figure these pancakes are good.

Emmanuel Episcopal Church hosted its annual Shrove Sunday community pancake breakfast this weekend, featuring a hand-me-down buttermilk recipe and starter thats been in Dan Wilder of Westons family for a good long time.
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Apply as per details in job advertisement. In some cases, you may apply online at vacancies after registering at https://www.jobz.pk online.

Note: Beware of Fraudulent Recruiting Activities. If an employer asks to pay money for any purpose, do not pay at all and report us at contact us form. Apply as per instuctions & dates mentioned in official job ad. Govt jobs may not be applied online here. Human typing error is possible. Error & omissions excepted.
WESTPORT  The sometimes solitary, and at times even lonely, nature of being a writer may be an assumed expectation of the journey, but with the opening of the Fairfield County Story Lab on Friday, it no longer has to be a requirement.

Its just a resource where we can share our knowledge, our experiences, and its a place where we can all come together, said co-founder Carol Dannhauser, a journalist and writing teacher who has led the Fairfield County Writers Studio.

Located on the fourth floor at 21 Charles Street, with views over Saugatuck, the concept is to have a shared space where member writers can come and work side by side, use a conference room to schedule meetings, or just commune with fellow pen people who are on the same journey.

We needed it, L.J. Wilks, of Westport, said of the lab. I think this is a place where writers need to come. They need to be in a community.

I think weve lost the sense of creativity in Westport over the last 10 years or so, she said, and this provides an opportunity to have that shared focus on their art.

Its just tremendous to have a facility like this that celebrates writers, said First Selectman Jim Marpe, who took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, along with Matthew Mandell, chamber of commerce president.

This is just another dimension of Westports artistic heritage and culture, Marpe said. The art of writing, performing arts, visual arts  it all fits together.

In order to sustain the facility, there are four levels of membership, from $25 for a community membership to $275 monthly for all-access to the facility, which is open seven days a week from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m. There is also special pricing for commuters.

The lab also offers some more engaging activities geared toward community, such as a monthly game night that will feature literary-themed games.

I like the community aspect, said Evan Pagano, of Darien. Thats one of the things that attracts me to the shared writers space.

Dannhauser said her work on a new book about space sharing  Sharing 2.0  prompted her to think of the idea. She then enlisted the help of longtime friend Diane Salerno, a commercial real estate developer, who helped make the dream a reality.

An amateur writer herself, co-founder Salerno said she has heard many stories of people who write in random places at home just to find privacy, including their bathtub, and consistently struggle with interruptions.

This gives them a chance to carve out their time and just focus on their writing, she said.

Further, she said, in between the time spent with pencil in hand  or fingers dancing over the keyboard  these same writers often thirst for interim company that understands what theyre about.

Its a lonely business, but you dont feel so alone when youre sharing space, she said.

Its a great resource and a great community to be part of, said Tessa Smith-McGovern, of Westport. A lot of people dont realize what a slog it is for a writer. It takes time and it can get lonely.

The people here will get it, Dannhauser said. Theyll know what youre trying to do and honor that.

Its another great draw for the Saugatuck area, Mandell said. Now its not just food and retail, its writing and the arts.
LOS ANGELES - Luke Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210," died Monday after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2018, file photo, Luke Perry poses for a portrait during the 2018 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. A publicist for Perry says the "Riverdale" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" star has died. He was 52. Publicist Arnold Robinson said that Perry died Monday, March 4, 2019, after suffering a massive stroke. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES - Luke Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210," died Monday after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52.

Perry was surrounded by family and friends when he died, publicist Arnold Robinson said. The actor had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, after a 911 call summoned medical help to his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles.

FILE - In this June 29, 2001 file photo, actor Luke Perry poses during an interview in New York. A publicist for Perry says the "Riverdale" and "Beverly Hills, 90210" star has died. He was 52. Publicist Arnold Robinson said that Perry died Monday, March 4, 2019, after suffering a massive stroke. (AP Photo/Leslie Hassler, File)

"The family appreciates the outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Luke from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning," Robinson said in a statement. Those at Perry's bedside included his children, Jake and Sophie; fiancee Wendy Madison Bauer; former wife, Minnie Sharp, and mother Ann Bennett.

Although Perry was best-known for his role as McKay, he enjoyed a prolific film and television career. Most recently, he played construction company owner Fred Andrews, father of main character Archie Andrews, for three seasons on "Riverdale," the CW series that gives a dark take on "Archie" comics. A fourth season has been slated.

The actor's next big screen role will be in Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood," which is slated for release in July.

"90210" co-star Ian Ziering paid tribute to his co-star on Twitter , where fans and celebrities shared their memories of Perry and mourned him . "I will forever bask in the loving memories we've shared over the last thirty years," Ziering said. "May your journey forward be enriched by the magnificent souls who have passed before you, just like you have done here, for those you leave behind."

Born and raised in rural Fredericktown, Ohio, Perry gained fame on "Beverly Hills, 90210," which ran from 1990 to 2000. In a 2006 interview with The Associated Press, he recounted being partly inspired to pursue acting by a photo of Paul Newman his mother kept on her mirror.

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2011 file photo, actor Luke Perry poses for a portrait in New York. Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210," died Monday, March 4, 2019, after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52. (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen, File)

He played out the memory of hearing his mother say, "He's the most beautiful man in the world, honey ... he's a movie star."

"I thought, 'OK, that's cool.' I watched him and, 'Yeah, man, who didn't want to be Paul Newman!'"

But Perry expanded his interests far beyond acting, identifying history as a passion and family a priority.

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"When you are younger you can have only work, and I did for a long time," he told the AP in 2006. "But it doesn't command my attention that way anymore. A lot of the mysteries and the questions I had about it I've figured out, but life offers up mysteries every day."

He had roles in a handful of films, including "The Fifth Element," ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer," ''8 Seconds" and "American Strays," appeared in HBO's prison drama "Oz" as a televangelist convicted of fraud, and voiced cartoons including "The Incredible Hulk" and "Mortal Kombat."

He made his Broadway musical debut as Brad in the "The Rocky Horror Picture Show," and starred on London's West End in another stage adaptation of a film, "When Harry Met Sally." In recent years he starred in the series "Ties That Bind" and "Body of Proof."

The same day he was hospitalized, Fox TV announced that it would be running a six-episode return of "90210" featuring most of the original cast, but Perry was not among those announced.

On the original series, Perry's character went from loner to part of a close-knit circle that included twins Brenda and Brandon Walsh (Shannen Doherty, Jason Priestley), but also endured a string of romantic, family and other setbacks, including drug addiction. Perry left the series in 1995 to pursue other roles, returning in 1998 for the rest of the show's run as a guest star.

In a 2011 interview with the AP, Perry said he and his male co-stars were a "really good strong core group" while the show aired and maintained close ties. The friendship and trust he shared with Priestley created a sort of "shorthand" when it came to filming, Perry said.
The tight-knit family of Jaime Adao  a 17-year-old youth killed in a home invasion Sunday in Winnipegs West End  are struggling to come to terms with the senseless and violent end for their loved one.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The tight-knit family of Jaime Adao  a 17-year-old youth killed in a home invasion Sunday in Winnipegs West End  are struggling to come to terms with the senseless and violent end for their loved one.

Roxy Roy, a cousin who affectionately referred to Jaime as her nephew, said he was a kind and respectful young man with a strong faith in God, who planned to follow in his parents footsteps and take over the family food service business.

FACEBOOK Jaime Adao

One day after the violent attack which took Jaimes life, Roy said she gathered with his parents and grandmother to cry, pray and flip through family photos.

"I dont want to accept the fact this happened. I feel so empty. When I heard, I just cried. I cried to the point I got sick. I still havent been able to eat. I cant swallow the news right now. I cant believe this is real. I just want this to be a dream," Roy said, between tears.

"He will never be forgotten. He will always be loved. His parents want people to know what kind of a person Jaime is."

The home invasion that took Jaimes life was captured on a 911 call. While that call lasted just four minutes, the sounds of the homicide will forever haunt the minds of the emergency officials who heard the chilling recording.

"Ive been doing this for a number of years and there are few days I dont want to come in  this would be one of those mornings. The incident has affected not only the family, but also our entire service," Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Rob Carver said Monday.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Police at the scene of the home invasion on Monday.

"Our thoughts and condolences go out to the family for this tragic and senseless homicide."

Jaimes alleged killer  whose name has not been released, but who was said to be previously known to police  is in hospital in critical condition. One or more Winnipeg police officers reportedly shot the suspect to put an end to the attack, which is believed to have been random in nature.

Police said Jaime and his grandmother were alone in the family home on the 700 block of McGee Street, when the teen called 911 to report someone was trying to break in. Moments later, Jaime told the 911 operator a man had entered the house.

Two officers arrived at the home about four minutes after the 911 call started, Carver said. They entered the residence and found the teen being attacked by a man armed with an unspecified weapon.

Prior to listening to the 911 recording  which documented the attack and continued until officers arrived on scene and at least one opened fire  Carver said he was warned he would "never unhear it."

"I will never get over it," he said. "It will sit with me forever."

Tyrelle Piche, who lives across the street, said Monday he saw the alleged attacker attempting to break into the home, although he wasnt able to provide a description, as he only got a brief glimpse of the man. Shortly after, he saw police arrive.

"Two policemen jumped out of the vehicle and they ran and jumped over the neighbours fence. They went into the back. A couple of seconds later, two other police cars pulled out," Piche said.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS A lit candle is placed at a vigil for Adao Monday outside his family home.

"It was all really fast. Paramedics came and then I saw two people get pulled out on stretchers. When I found out later hed been killed, I just thought: why would you do that to a person? Damn, thats not right."

Jaimes grandmother was not injured.

Roy said the family gathered Monday to try to draw strength from one another during this difficult time. She said people had organized a vigil outside the home Monday night, although the family did not feel able to attend.

"Theyre devastated. Theyre heartbroken. Were just trying to come together as a family. Were going through memories, talking about memories with him, looking at pictures. There is not a bad memory with him at all  everything is happy," Roy said.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Family and friends gather outside 745 McGee St. at a vigil for Jamie Adao Monday.

"Weve just been praying. We just want justice for my nephew. Were super angry at this person. How selfish of him. He should have just let my nephew live."

Zane Tessler, civilian director of the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba, said the organization will probe the discharging of service weapons. Meanwhile, Winnipeg police continue to investigate the homicide.

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Police cruisers were parked on McGee Street, and in the back lane behind the home, to protect the scene Monday. The incident marks the fourth officer-involved shooting in Winnipeg in 2019.

Jim and Imelda Adao own two bakeries in Winnipeg, both called Jimels Bakery, one of which is located not far from the family home. Through Roy, they asked for privacy until they feel ready to speak about their sons death.

"He was just an innocent little boy that had his life ahead of him... He was supposed to graduate this year. He hasnt even turned 18 yet," said Roy, audibly upset.

"I just hope that man rots in hell and pays for hes done."

ryan.thorpe@freepress.mb.ca

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
TORONTO - China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

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FILE - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, the logos of Huawei are displayed at its retail shop window reflecting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing. Security experts say the U.S. government is likely exaggerating the threat it says the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei poses to the worldAos next-generation wireless networks. Critics say the U.S. case is short on specifics and glosses over the fact that China doesnAot need secret access to Huawei routers to infiltrate global networks. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

TORONTO - China accused two detained Canadians on Monday of acting together to steal state secrets, just days after Canada announced it will proceed with a U.S. extradition request for a senior Chinese tech executive.

China arrested the two Canadians on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1 at the request of U.S. authorities.

Meng's arrest set off a diplomatic furor and has severely strained Canadian relations with China.

The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei's founder, to face charges she misled banks about the company's business with Iran.

China's official Xinhua News Agency cited unidentified Chinese authorities as saying former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig violated Chinese laws by acting as a spy and stealing state secrets and intelligence with the help of Canadian businessman Michael Spavor. It was the first time the two men's cases have been linked.

It said Kovrig often entered China using an ordinary passport and business visas, and acquired information from Spavor, his "main contact."

"Authorities stressed that China is a country ruled by law and will firmly crack down on criminal acts that severely undermine national security," Xinhua said.

The same information was posted on the official news blog of the ruling Communist Party's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

No other details were given and Xinhua said further judicial proceedings would "take place based on the case's progress."

"We are obviously very concerned by this position that China has taken," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. "It is unfortunate that China continues to move forward on these arbitrary detentions."

Kovrig is a former diplomat who was working as an expert on Asia for the International Crisis Group think-tank . Spavor is an entrepreneur known for contacts with high-ranking North Korean officials, including leader Kim Jong Un.

Rob Malley, president of the InternationalCrisis Group, said the accusations against Kovrig are unsubstantiated and unfounded.

"Michael worked transparently and openly, keeping Chinese authorities informed of what he did and of his mandate: to advise all parties, Beijing included, on steps they could take to resolve and prevent deadly conflict around the world," Malley said.

"But false accusations aside, the reality is clear for all to see. The timing of Michael's detention and his citizenship leave little doubt as to why he is being arbitrarily detained. We continue to hope that China will do the right thing and release him so that he can be reunited with his family."

After Meng's arrest, a Chinese court also sentenced a Canadian to death in a sudden retrial, overturning a 15-year prison term handed down earlier. Kovrig and Spavor haven't had access to a lawyer or to their families since being arrested.

Canada said Friday that it will allow court hearings for the U.S. extradition request for Meng to proceed.

David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, said the new allegations against Kovrig and Spavor are a response to that action.

"Every step in the process will be matched by a step by China. The desire is to raise the raise the pressure to extent that we simply give in," Mulroney said.

Meng is due in court on Wednesday to set a date for the extradition proceedings to start. It could be several months or even years before her case is resolved

Guy Saint-Jacques, also a former Canadian ambassador to China, said Beijing is clearly putting additional pressure on Canada.

"It's a predicable escalation in the crisis," he said. "They are probably hoping it will convince the prime minister to free Meng."

Lawyers for Meng, who is staying at a property she owns in Vancouver after her release on bail, said Sunday she is suing the Canadian government, its border agency and the national police force, alleging she was detained, searched and interrogated before she was told she was under arrest.

Meng's lawsuit alleges that instead of immediately arresting her, they interrogated her "under the guise of a routine customs" examination and used the opportunity to "compel her to provide evidence and information."

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Also Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang accused Canada and the U.S. of abusing their bilateral extradition treaty. He reiterated Beijing's demand that Washington withdraw its accusations against Meng.

The U.S. has been lobbying its allies to shun Huawei's products on national security grounds, saying Chinese law requires the company to provide the government with intelligence on its foreign clients whenever requested.

A Chinese government spokesman took issue Monday with the U.S. claims that Huawei poses a threat to other countries' information security.

Spokesman Zhang Yesui said U.S. officials were taking China's national security law out of context and "playing up the so-called security risks" associated with Chinese companies.

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies reported this story in Toronto and AP writer Christopher Bodeen reported in Beijing.
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The tinted glass doors on the cosy electric shuttle slid open quietly.

"Welcome aboard," said Aaron Foster, a solutions engineer for Navya, the French maker of the 15-passenger, battery-powered vehicle that attracted a curious crowd in Lake Nona eager for a half-kilometre ride on the ballyhooed bus expected to be running this spring in southeast Orlando.

The emissionless vehicle had no driver, no steering wheel, no gas pedal and no brake pedal.

No kidding.

"If theres ever a situation thats unsafe, the vehicle will actually come to a stop on its own," Foster said last week, describing himself as the autonomous vehicles attendant, who is required by federal law to be in control of the bus.

"Just in case," he said, standing finger-ready at the helm of a side-mounted tablet.

Then, as if on cue  and it wasnt  the "Beep" jerked to a sudden stop to avoid bumping into a TV reporter, who stood in its programmed path to demonstrate how the multi-sensor technology allows the vehicle to interact with its environment.

Alerted by sensors, its horn also honked until the reporter got out of the way.

The vehicle, marked with decals that read "go-beep.com" and "MOVE NONA," is one of two slated to become the first-ever autonomous public-transit vehicles in central Florida, moving passengers in Orlandos Lake Nona neighbourhood, a mixed-use planned community developed by investment firm Tavistock Group.

The service is expected to be free.

Other Navya autonomous shuttles already operate in downtown Las Vegas and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, as well as internationally on public roads and private sites in Britain, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong.

"I would 100 per cent use it," said Omar Hickman, founder of digital media company Lake Nona Social, unconcerned his five-minute ride had been driverless. "Im very comfortable in the technology. I think, sometimes, its safer than actual humans."

He said the vehicle could help sell tech clients on what the future in Lake Nona holds.

"It was amazing. Nice and smooth," real estate broker Ernie Plaza said of his ride.

He noted the vehicle made a complete stop at a stop sign  something vehicles with drivers often dont do.

The short demo ride also impressed Scott Workman, owner of the Villages Transportation, which operates in a retirement community about 95 kilometres northwest of Orlando.

"Im in the bus business," he said of a shuttle service he operates in the community with a population of 125,000. "Theyve thought of every safety feature that I can think of on the vehicle."

He praised the panoramic view from inside the bus, a nice feature for riders.

Sanaa Raza described her ride as "smooth and very soothing, relaxing, very easy."

"It would be cool if it went a little faster," she said.

The top speed is 25 km/h  two km/h faster than the electric pedal-assist Lime bicycles available in Orlando.

Mark Reid, an executive at Lake Nona-based Beep, Navyas partner, said he hopes to ride the driverless shuttle from home to work when the vehicle progresses from a fixed-route schedule to an on-demand service such as Uber or Lyft.

As for the plodding pace of the vehicle, Reid said it was made to travel up to 45 km/h. He said as the vehicle proves safe and the controlling technology proves reliable, he expects laws to change allowing it to go a little faster.

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During demos, the vehicle repeated an undulating route, varying no more than a few centimetres.

Foster, the on-board monitor, boasted about its safety record.

"Weve moved well over 300,000 passengers safely in over 20 different countries," he said.

"The only incident we ever had was when our shuttle came to a complete stop because it sensed an oncoming vehicle and (the vehicle) backed into us."

The fender bender took place in November 2017, the day the company debuted its driverless shuttle in Las Vegas.

 Orlando Sentinel
KANATA, Ont. - The company that makes the Instant Pot kitchen appliance has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Corelle Brands LLC.

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KANATA, Ont. - The company that makes the Instant Pot kitchen appliance has signed a definitive agreement to merge with Corelle Brands LLC.

The Ottawa-based Instant Brands and Corelle did not disclose financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to be completed during the second quarter of this year.

Corelle's chief executive officer Ken Wilkes will serve as the top executive of the combined company.

Instant Brands's CEO Robert Wang will be the new company's chief innovation officer.

Instant Brands, which Wang founded in 2009, will retain its Ottawa headquarters.

Corelle, which is headquartered in Rosemont, Ill., manufactures and markets multiple houseware brands, including Pyrex.
LONDON - Britain's royal family warned Monday that it will block internet trolls posting offensive messages on its social media channels  and may report offenders to police.

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FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2018 file photo, Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive to attend the Christmas day service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham in Norfolk, England. BritainAos royal family is warning that it will block trolls posting offensive messages on its social media channels _ and may report offenders to the police. Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace issued new guidelines on Monday, March 4, 2019 spelling out the policy banning offensive, hateful and racist language.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

LONDON - Britain's royal family warned Monday that it will block internet trolls posting offensive messages on its social media channels  and may report offenders to police.

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Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace spelled out the policy banning offensive, hateful and racist language. The royal households say they reserve the right to determine who is violating their guidelines, and whether or not comments could be blocked.

"The aim of our social media channels is to create an environment where our community can engage safely in debate and is free to make comments, questions and suggestions," the guidelines said. "We ask that anyone engaging with our social media channels shows courtesy, kindness and respect for all other members of our social media communities."

The guidelines come amid concern about the online abuse aimed at the wives of Prince William and Prince Harry. Much of the social media abuse has centred around rival fans of the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton and the Duchess of Sussex, the former Meghan Markle.

The guidelines insist posts shouldn't "contain spam, be defamatory of any person, deceive others, be obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, inflammatory or promote sexually explicit material or violence" or "promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age."

The royals say guidelines were introduced to try to maintain a safe environment on their social media channels and calls for users to show "courtesy, kindness and respect."

The Royal Family site on Twitter has some 3.87 million followers.
The death of a beloved pet dog inspired Lloyd and Jo-Ann Camire to start volunteering.

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Opinion

The death of a beloved pet dog inspired Lloyd and Jo-Ann Camire to start volunteering.

The retired St. Vital couple builds doghouses and donates them to animal rescues. The rescues then distribute the doghouses to a variety of locations, including communities in northern Manitoba.

Since their dogs name was Shadow, the Camires do their work under the moniker Shadows Mission. Lloyd builds the houses and Jo-Ann helps by painting them.

They started in January 2012, after Shadow, a black and silver Pomeranian-Schnauzer cross, died of liver cancer.

"After Shadow passed away, we wanted to come up with some kind of an idea to honour her memory," Jo-Ann says.

"I like working with wood, so I thought I would start building doghouses," Lloyd adds.

Since then, Lloyd has built 219 doghouses. He uses donated lumber, insulation, linoleum, carpet and shingles to build them. "The people in the dog community know us, so the materials are all upcycled and reused," Jo-Ann says. "Were very lucky that way."

Occasionally, an organization will provide materials to the Camires in exchange for their labour. That was the case this past fall, when Lloyd built a number of houses for Earthdog Terrier Rescue of Manitoba.

Earthdog brought the houses to Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation (formerly Nelson House First Nation), where the organization was assisting the community in its efforts to safely manage its dog population.

The Camires enjoy building the houses because they know they are helping animals get shelter from the cold. "The houses that were building serve a good function, a good purpose," Jo-Ann says. "We know all this work will save a life, or several lives."

In addition to doghouses, Lloyd makes dog beds that the couple donates to animal-related organizations to auction off for fundraisers.

Almost all of the couples spare time is spent either building doghouses or going to dog-related events.

Jo-Ann praises the work that the provinces dog rescues do. "To us, dog rescues are very important," she says. "Its just the most amazing thing."

The Camires fondly recall the joy Shadow brought to their family. They adopted her as a puppy, and though she struggled with a variety of ailments throughout her 14-year life, she was a good, loyal dog.

Shadow knew 30 commands, and Jo-Ann would bring her to a local personal care home so she could display her tricks for the residents.

"She brought so much delight to these people," Jo-Ann says. "She was a brilliant little dog, just a remarkable animal."

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Today, the Camires own two dogs: Ginger and Louie.

"I cant imagine not having them," Jo-Ann says, adding that she appreciates the companionship that dogs provide. "The love they give you is never-ending."

After building more than 200 doghouses in Shadows honour, the Camires show no signs of stopping.

"Were just going to keep on building, keep on doing what we can," Jo-Ann says.

Anyone interested in learning more about Shadows Mission can visit facebook.com/ShadowsMission, call 204-256-9787 or email shadowsmission@gmail.com.

If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.
A Saskatchewan prosecutor is being brought in to handle the case of a former city police officer accused in a fatal hit-and-run.

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A Saskatchewan prosecutor is being brought in to handle the case of a former city police officer accused in a fatal hit-and-run.

Former Winnipeg Police Service officer Justin Holz is set to go to trial next January, and Manitoba's attorney general requested an out-of-province Crown attorney to prosecute the case. A preliminary inquiry had been set to begin Monday, but instead, Holz's new defence lawyer, Evan Roitenberg, asked for a 12-day trial to be set in provincial court.

A representative for William Burge, a senior Crown attorney from Saskatchewan, spoke in Winnipeg provincial court Monday, saying Burge is handling the case at the request of the Attorney General of Manitoba.

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Holz's trial is now set to begin Jan. 13, 2020. He left the police force after he was accused in the Oct. 10, 2017 fatal hit-and-run that killed 23-year-old Cody Severight. He has been charged with several offences related to the crash, including impaired driving causing death, failing to stop at the scene of a fatal accident, dangerous driving causing death and driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit. The province's Independent Investigation Unit (IIU) laid additional charges against Holz after the initial Winnipeg Police Service investigation into Severight's death.

Two other Winnipeg Police Service officers were under investigation after police chief Danny Smyth learned breath samples weren't taken from Holz until three to four hours after arresting officers formed the opinion Holz was impaired. The IIU decided not to recommend criminal charges against the other officers.

Severight was walking across Main Street near the Sutherland Hotel when he was hit by a car around 8 p.m. Oct. 10, 2017. Holz, an eight-year member of the police service who was reportedly drinking with other police officers at a downtown pub after work that day, was arrested about 30 minutes after the crash.

When a criminal charge is laid against a police officer or anyone with a direct connection to the justice system, Manitoba's prosecution service should consider bringing in an independent Crown attorney, according to provincial prosecution policies. Of the five Winnipeg city police officers to be charged with impaired-driving-related offences in 2017, Holz's case is the only one to prompt a request for an out-of-province senior prosecutor. The other cases involved no injuries and far less serious allegations. They were handled by Brandon Crown attorneys. Two officers were acquitted of impaired driving and two pleaded guilty.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Forty years ago, when the boat people fleeing Vietnam were in peril, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the federal government created a program to help resettle them in Canada. It was so successful it became the template for more than 100 groups in Canada to privately sponsor 300,000 refugees from around the world.

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Forty years ago, when the "boat people" fleeing Vietnam were in peril, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the federal government created a program to help resettle them in Canada. It was so successful it became the template for more than 100 groups in Canada to privately sponsor 300,000 refugees from around the world.

As the anniversary is marked, one of the programs creators remembers vividly the compassion and the compulsion to help.

"In the fall of 78, the daily news was filled with stories of people from Vietnam on the sea, heading to the neighbouring countries of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia," said Bill Janzen in Ottawa.

"It was heart-rending," said Janzen, who was the director of the Mennonite Central Committees Ottawa office at the time.

"Mennonites had a strong feeling that we had to do something."

The push came from church members whose families were chased out of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, and the MCCs close connection to Vietnam through the relief work it had been doing there since 1954.

"Those things affected the Mennonite mind in Canada," Janzen said.

He worked with the assistant deputy minister of immigration, Calbert Best, to come up with a plan to bring Vietnamese refugees to Canada. "We both wanted to move ahead quickly, so it didnt take too long," he said.

At that time, a group of five people could sponsor refugees, but they had to be willing to assume the full financial liability for the refugees, Janzen said. That was a daunting requirement for many people who wanted to help, but worried about taking on that much responsibility.

The MCC came up with a plan to take responsibility for the refugees if their sponsors couldnt.

"What we did as a national organization is we would assume the liability," Janzen said. The federal government agreed, and Canadas private refugee sponsorship program was born.

It allowed, for example, a Mennonite congregation that wanted to sponsor a family of Vietnamese refugees to seek authorization from the Winnipeg-based MCC, then ask Canadian officials at the nearest embassy  who had the final say  to process their refugee applications.

It worked across Canada for more than 100 faith groups and organizations that went on to privately sponsor 300,000 refugees.

"Its sometimes said that regulations or policies are drawn up in Ottawa, but dont always fit in other parts of the country," Janzen said.

"Here was an agreement that did work. It was simple enough and straightforward enough and, with enough goodwill, people really wanted to do this. I had a part in getting the mechanism needed for it to be done," said Janzen, who also helped sponsor refugees with his Mennonite church congregation in Ottawa.

"Most of us, we kind of hope at some point we could make a little difference for some people," said Janzen, 75.

The private refugee sponsorship agreement he helped create made a huge difference for Winnipegs Hoa Chau, who was among the first wave of Vietnamese boat people who came to Canada in 1979.

Chau and his wifes family fled Saigon on-board an overcrowded 18-metre-long boat for the three-day journey to Malaysia, where they spent nine months in a refugee camp. Chau and his wife and seven of their siblings and in-laws were sponsored by the Mennonite church in Lowe Farm and arrived there Aug. 25, 1979.

"They rented a little house at Lowe Farm for us, but it was big enough," recalled Chau, who was 26 at the time. "We were so happy."

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In the Malaysian refugee camp, the family was crammed in a single tent. There they learned Canada and its MCC sponsors were the only ones willing to take the whole family together, said Chau, who refused when Australia offered to take just him and his wife.

"Im glad we got to go together and we lived together," Chau said. He had a job within a week of arriving in southern Manitoba, working as a painter, and was soon supporting his family. He and his wife moved to Winnipeg and have children and grandchildren. Chau studied at Red River College and Bible college.

Now 65, hes retired from MacDon Industries and serves as the pastor of the Vietnamese Mennonite Church in downtown Winnipeg.

Chau holds services in English and Vietnamese every Sunday. Hes grateful to have survived and thrived and to be serving his congregation here in Canada.

"The church helped a lot."

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Karina Lawe knew being a student at Maples Met School would bring special experiences, but meeting former U.S. president Barack Obama was one she never imagined.

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Karina Lawe knew being a student at Maples Met School would bring special experiences, but meeting former U.S. president Barack Obama was one she never imagined.

Thats what she will be doing today, along with classmates Alexis Bez and Armaandeep Dhanoa, as well as school principal Ben Carr. The group will meet the former world leader in person as guests at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerces VIP reception, prior to Obamas appearance tonight at Bell MTS Place for "A Conversation with Barack Obama."

"Im very excited and I dont just feel lucky. I feel like Im definitely meant to go see him, and when I get there and talk to him, its going to hit me in a very positive way," said Karina, 16.

"Its really inspiring to be able to connect with someone that you might have thought you were worlds apart from.

"I was talking to my family about it the other night and what to call him. I dont want to call him Mr. Obama because that makes it sound like hes a teacher, but my dad said to call him Mr. President, because once youre president, youve got the president title forever."

While tickets for the event ranged in price from $89 to $499, before taxes and fees, admission to the VIP part is by invitation only.

Carr said the school is grateful to Johnston Group Inc. (a Winnipeg-based employee benefit solutions company) and its president, Dave Angus, who, through a partnership with the Met School, donated the four VIP invitations and four tickets to Obamas evening event.

"The chamber and the Johnston Group are organizations that are really an intricate part of the fabric of our education model that provide leadership and mentorship experiences for our students," Carr said, noting Obama is known to be a supporter of the Met Schools Big Picture Learning model, which combines academics with project-based learning and internships.

"There are only two Met Schools in Canada; theres over 200 in the world, many in the U.S., but other countries as well. But only two in Canada, both in Winnipeg, both in Seven Oaks (School Division) and both on Jefferson Avenue," Carr said.

Carr said Met School education is focused on the interests and passions of the student, in addition to academics.

"It doesnt matter what your academic performance has been. We are looking for people who want to be here," Carr said, noting the school has students who are academic scholarship winners and students living with special needs.

"We are a microcosm of society. We have kids of all backgrounds, of all academic strengths, of all different interests and passions and perspectives of the world. We are not a school that caters to one particular type of student and that goes back to our mantra, One student at a time."

Carr said the Met school is a publicly funded school that takes students from its middle-years feeder schools and does not have a grades-based entry. It has a special application process that requires a letter from the student explaining why they want to come to the school, a letter from a family member stating why they believe the school would be a good fit for the child, and an in-person interview with the child and their parents/guardians about what they see themselves doing in the school.

Alexis said she and the other students see "drastic differences" from Obamas presidency (2009-17) and the current climate in the United States.

"Im excited. Im interested in politics and I find hes one of the more well-spoken and kinder people in politics, and not too quick to judge people, which is kind of a problem lately in politics," said the 17-year-old.

"Even just seeing how the current president (Donald Trump) acts, being on student council, it makes me a lot more aware of how I want to represent and work with everyone and not being disrespectful and calling people names for no reason," she said.

"Obama was always very respectful, no matter who he was talking to, even if it was someone who made the nastiest comments about him. He was still very calm and respectful. The latest president is calling people idiots on Twitter."

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She said all three students will be doing some sort of project incorporating their experiences that night.

Armaandeep said Obamas words have already been impactful.

"I ran for Grade 9 representative, and all my speeches were based on Obamas ideas and the way he talks. Its really powerful. To see him in person is a dream come true," said the 14-year-old.

Carr, who has in his office a copy of the famous "hope" poster from Obamas 2008 campaign, said: "I hope this (experience) serves as an inspiration to these students, to get to be face to face with somebody who brought important positive change to the world and whose message continues to be about hope and continues to be about how we lift one another up and not put one another down."

The three students were selected with consideration given to their interests and energy, as well as school and community contributions. Seven other students and two teachers are attending the evening event on purchased tickets.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
A funny thing happened on the way to a very Sirius crisis in Canadian comedy.

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This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Editorial

A funny thing happened on the way to a very Sirius crisis in Canadian comedy.

Faced with an uprising from people who tell jokes for a living in this country, the worlds most powerful comedy festival and largest satellite radio conglomerate did a sudden about-face on a controversial decision that would have created financial chaos in Canadas comedy community.

Ryan Remiorz / The Canadian Press FILES Howie Mandel is a co-owner of Just For Laughs.

As a result, after a brief interlude of grim-faced tension and rumours of revolt last week, the laughter is back.

Comedians were up in arms over SiriusXM Canadas decision to rebrand a satellite radio channel that had long been a showcase for Canadian comedy. SiriusXMs Canada Laughs channel  which had, since 2005, aired exclusively Canadian standup, sketch, improv and musical comedy  was to be relaunched as Just For Laughs Radio, under a partnership between the satellite radio company and the Montreal-based comedy festival.

At issue was the revelation that rather than playing strictly Canadian content, the rebranded channel would air material from Just For Laughs extensive festival library. Canadian comedy performers would be heard far less frequently and, as a result, would lose the royalties which, for many, represent the difference between a full-time career and a day-job-and-night-gig existence.

"For some people, this is their primary source of income," comedian Sandra Battaglini, head of the two-year-old Canadian Association of Stand-up Comedians, told the Toronto Star.

Among the less-than-amusing ironies was the fact enormously successful Canadian-born comedian Howie Mandel is one of the owners of Just For Laughs (JFL). Mr. Mandel and the U.S.-based talent agency ICM Partners purchased JFL last year, later selling a partnership stake to Bell Media and Montreal-based Groupe CH.

Mr. Mandel last week defended the proposed rebranding in a Facebook Live video that drew derision from north-of-the-border comics. "If anything, this is going to strengthen the reach of Canadian comedy," he claimed.

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Not so fast, countered Canadian comedians who actually ply their less-than-lucrative trade in Canada. Their concern was that Just For Laughs Radio would be able to meet its mandated quota of homegrown content simply by drawing from the festivals extensive archives, because performances recorded at Just For Laughs would qualify as Canadian even if the performers featured in the segments were American or international.

"Lets be honest," Quebec comedian Derek Seguin warned while speaking to the Globe and Mail, "theyre not going to play me as much (if) they can play Jerry Seinfeld and Tim Allen."

Canadian comedy, like Canadian show business in general, is a difficult environment in which to earn a living. The country is vast, the distances travelled by road-touring performers are long and occasionally dangerous, and the modest pay most receive for one-night bookings or weeklong engagements in regional comedy clubs has not increased in decades.

Late Wednesday, however, SiriusXM and JFL issued a joint statement saying the decision had been reversed. The channel  which will now be rebranded Just For Laughs Canada  will continue to carry 100 per cent Canadian content and will also maintain royalties at the same rate as the existing service.

"It feels like, for the first time, our industry is actually listening to us and working with us  and showing us the respect, and honouring the work," Ms. Battaglini said.

Its an astonishing positive outcome in Canadian show business, which has historically been slow to celebrate its performers. And its a rare circumstance in which the content creators in Canadian culture actually get the last laugh.
BEAUREGARD, Ala. - A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

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This article was published 3/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BEAUREGARD, Ala. - A tornado roared into southeast Alabama and killed at least 23 people and injured several others Sunday, part of a severe storm system that caused catastrophic damage and unleashed other tornadoes around the Southeast.

"Unfortunately our toll, as far as fatalities, does stand at 23 at the current time," Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones told WRBL-TV of the death toll. He added that two people were in intensive care.

Drones flying overheard equipped with heat-seeking devices had scanned the area for survivors but the dangerous conditions halted the search late Sunday, Jones said. "The devastation is incredible," he said. An intense ground search would resume Monday morning.

Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jones said the twister travelled straight down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard and that the path of damage and destruction appeared at least a half mile wide. He said single-family homes and mobile homes were destroyed, adding some homes were reduced to slabs. He had told reporters earlier that several people were taken to hospitals, some with "very serious injuries."

Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told The Associated Press that he had to call in help from the state, because there were more bodies than his four-person office can handle.

The National Weather Service confirmed late Sunday a tornado with at least an F3 rating and a track at least half a mile (.8 kilometres) wide caused the deadly destruction in Alabama. Although the statement did not give exact wind estimates, F3 storms typically are gauged at wind speeds of between 158-206 mph (254-331 kilometres per hour).

Dozens of emergency responders rushed to join search and rescue efforts in hard-hit Lee County after what forecasters said they think was a large tornado touched down Sunday afternoon, unleashed by a powerful storm system that also slashed its way across parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

A fallen cell tower lies across U.S. Route 280 highway in Lee County, Ala., in the Smiths Station community after what appeared to be a tornado struck in the area Sunday, March 3, 2019. (Mike Haskey/Ledger-Enquirer via AP)

Radar and video evidence showed what looked like a large tornado crossing the area near Beauregard shortly after 2 p.m. on Sunday, said meteorologist Meredith Wyatt with the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service.

"It appears it stayed on the ground for at least a mile and maybe longer," Jones told the AP.

After nightfall Sunday, the rain had stopped and pieces of metal debris and tree branches littered roadways in Beauregard. Two sheriff's vehicles blocked reporters and others from reaching the worst-hit area. Power appeared to be out in many places.

President Donald Trump tweeted late Sunday, "To the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe. ... To the families and friends of the victims, and to the injured, God bless you all!"

Brittney Downs looks through the debris of a family member's destroyed home the day after a deadly tornado ravaged the area, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)

Rita Smith, spokeswoman for the Lee County Emergency Management Agency, said about 150 first responders had quickly jumped in to efforts to search the debris after the storm struck in Beauregard. At least one trained canine could be seen with search crews as numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles, lights flashing, converged on the area.

No deaths had been reported Sunday evening from storm-damaged Alabama counties outside Lee County, said Gregory Robinson, spokesman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency. But he said crews were still surveying damage in several counties in the southwestern part of the state.

Numerous tornado warnings were posted across parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina on Sunday afternoon as the powerful storm system raced across the region. Weather officials said they confirmed other tornadoes around the region by radar alone and would send teams out early Monday to assess those and other storms.

In rural Talbotton, Georgia, about 80 miles (130 kilometres) south of Atlanta, a handful of people were injured by either powerful straight-line winds or a tornado that destroyed several mobile homes and damaged other buildings, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, director of the Talbot County Emergency Management Agency.

This photo shows debris in Lee County, Ala., after what appeared to be a tornado struck in the area Sunday, March 3, 2019. Severe storms destroyed mobile homes, snapped trees and left a trail of destruction amid weather warnings extending into Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, authorities said. (WKRG-TV via AP)

Televised broadcast news footage showed smashed buildings with rooftops blown away, cars overturned and debris everywhere. Trees all around had been snapped bare of branches.

"The last check I had was between six and eight injuries," Erenheim said in a phone interview. "From what I understand it was minor injuries, though one fellow did say his leg might be broken."

She said searches of damaged homes and structures had turned up no serious injuries or deaths there.

Henry Wilson of the Peach County Emergency Management Agency near Macon in central Georgia said a barn had been destroyed and trees and power poles had been snapped, leaving many in the area without power.

Emergency personnel work the staging area at Sanford Middle School in Beauregard, Ala., Sunday, March 3, 2019, after tornados ravaged the area, causing multiple fatalities. (AP Photo/Julie Bennett)

Authorities in southwest Georgia are searching door-to-door in darkened neighbourhoods after a possible tornado touched down in the rural city of Cairo, about 33 miles (53 kilometres) north of Tallahassee, Florida, on Sunday evening. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

Authorities said a tornado was confirmed by radar in the Florida Panhandle late Sunday afternoon. A portion of Interstate 10 on the Panhandle was blocked in one direction for a time in Walton County in the aftermath, said Don Harrigan, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

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"There's a squall line moving through the area," Harrigan told AP. "And when you have a mature line of storms moving into an area where low level winds are very strong, you tend to have tornadoes developing. It's a favourable environment for tornados."

The threat of severe weather continued into the late-night hours. A tornado watch was in effect for much of eastern Georgia, including Athens, Augusta and Savannah. The tornado watch also covered a large area of South Carolina, including the cities of Charleston and Columbia.

___

Associated Press writers Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, Bill Cormier in Atlanta, and Ryan Kryska in New York contributed to this report.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the twister travelled down a county road in the rural community of Beauregard, not a main artery.
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in a nuclear arms treaty the Trump administration already decided to leave, alleging Monday that Washington and not Moscow was in violation of the 1987 pact.

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This article was published 4/3/2019 (1009 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gestures while speaking during the opening ceremony for the 29th Winter Universiade games at the Platinum Arena in Krasnoyarsk, Russia, Saturday, March 2, 2019. (Maxim Shemetov/Pool Photo via AP)

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin suspended Russia's participation in a nuclear arms treaty the Trump administration already decided to leave, alleging Monday that Washington and not Moscow was in violation of the 1987 pact.

In a decree, Putin suspended Russia's obligations under the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty and said hold would remain in place "until the U.S. ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates."

Putin's order came as Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military's General Staff, was in Vienna for talks on strategic stability with U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The INF treaty was one of the issues discussed in what the Russia's Defence Ministry described as "constructive" talks.

The U.S. gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the INF a month ago, setting the stage for it to terminate in six months unless Moscow returns to compliance. Russia has denied any breaches, and accused the U.S. of violating the pact.

The U.S. has accused Russia of developing and deploying a cruise missile that violates provisions of the pact that ban production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres (310 to 3,410 miles).

The move also reflected President Donald Trump's administration's view that the treaty was an obstacle to efforts needed to counter intermediate-range missiles deployed by China, which isn't part of the treaty.

Russia has charged that the U.S. has breached the pact by deploying missile defence facilities in eastern Europe that could fire cruise missiles instead of interceptors  a claim rejected by the U.S.

The collapse of the INF Treaty has stoked fears of a replay of a Cold War-era Europe missile crisis, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union both deployed intermediate-range missiles on the continent during the 1980s.

Such weapons take less time to reach their targets compared to intercontinental ballistic missiles. Their deployment was seen as particularly destabilizing, leaving no time for decision-makers and raising the likelihood of a global nuclear conflict over a false launch warning.

Last month, Putin ordered the development of new land-based intermediate-range weapons, but emphasized that Russia would not deploy them in the European part of the country unless it was in response to the U.S. taking the action against Russia.

The Russian leader has warned Washington against placing new missiles in Europe, promising that Moscow would retaliate by fielding new weapons that can reach targets more quickly.

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The treaty's demise "could actually trigger a possible missile crisis in Europe as it did in the 1980s," Moscow-based military expert Pavel Felgenhauer said. "The tensions between East and West are growing, and that means there is a possibility of a war. It's not imminent, but the possibility is there."

At the United Nations, spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres holds strong hope Moscow and Washington will be able to resolve their differences over the treaty in the coming months.

"The INF is a very important part of the international arms control architecture," Dujarric said.

"It has contributed tangibly to the maintenance of peace and stability, notably in Europe."

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
Stantec Inc. provides professional consulting services in the area of infrastructure and facilities in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company provides consulting services in engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, environmental sciences, project management, and project economics. It also offers water, transportation, and public works; transportation planning and traffic engineering; and resource assessment, mine development, reclamation, hydrology, and geotechnical and infrastructure engineering services, as well as urban planning, traffic assessments and optimization, environmental impact assessments, and public consultation services. In addition, the company provides structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and hydraulics engineering services. It serves urban regeneration, infrastructure, education, public and private sector, tourism and leisure, and waste and water sectors, as well as office and commercial, residential, and retail and town centers. The company was formerly known as Stanley Technology Group Inc. and changed its name to Stantec Inc. in October 1998. Stantec Inc. was founded in 1954 and is headquartered in Edmonton, Canada.

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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.
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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Vedanta Ltd. is a natural resource company, which engages in the exploration, extraction, and processing of minerals, oil, and gas properties. It operates through the following segments: Copper, Aluminum, Iron Ore, Power, and Oil & Gas. The Copper segment focuses in custom smelting and also include a copper smelter, a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant, a sulphuric acid plant, a copper rod plant, and three captive power plants. The Aluminum segment comprises refinery and a captive power plant at Lanjigarh and a smelter, a thermal coal based captive power facility at Jharsuguda both situated in the State of Odisha in India. The Iron Ore segment explores, mines, and processes iron ore, pig iron, and metallurgical coke. The Power segment consists 600 MW thermal coal-based commercial power facility at Jharsuguda in the State of Odisha in Eastern India. The Oil and Gas segment involves in the exploration and development and production of oil and gas. The company was founded by Dwarka Prasad Agarwal on June 25, 1965 and is headquartered in Mumbai, India.

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Invesco High Income Trust II is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Invesco Ltd. The fund is co-managed by Invesco Advisers, Inc, INVESCO Asset Management (Japan) Limited, INVESCO Asset Management Deutschland GmbH, INVESCO Asset Management Limited, Invesco Hong Kong Limited, INVESCO Senior Secured Management, Inc., and Invesco Canada Ltd. It invests in the fixed income markets. The fund seeks to invest in securities rated between BB and C by Standard and Poor's. It seeks to maintain an average duration of around three to four years for its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield 2% Issuer Cap Inde. It was formerly known as Invesco Van Kampen High Income Trust II. Invesco High Income Trust II was formed on April 28, 1989 and is domiciled in the United States.

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MFS California Municipal Fund is a close ended fixed income mutual fund launched and managed by Massachusetts Financial Services Company. The fund invests in fixed income markets of the United States. It primarily invests in debt securities the interest on which in the opinion of issuer counsel is exempt from federal regular income tax and California personal income tax. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against Barclays Municipal Bond Index. It was formerly known as the MFS California Insured Municipal Fund. MFS California Municipal Fund was formed on October 29, 1999 and is domiciled in United States.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Mueller Industries: ATCO Rubber Products, ATCO Rubber Products Inc., Aegis Oil and Gas Leasing Ltd., Amwest Exploration Company, Arava Exploration Company, Arava Natural Resources Company Inc., B & K Industries Inc., B&K Industries, B&K LLC (d/b/a BK Products), Bayard Mining Corp., Canco Oil & Gas Ltd., Carpentertown Coal & Coke Company, Changzhou Mueller Refrigerant Valve Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Climate Components LLC, DENO Holding Company Inc., DENO Investment Company II Inc., DENO Investment Company Inc., Die-Mold Tool Limited, Die-Mold Tool Limited, Extruded Metals, Extruded Metals Inc., Great Lakes Copper Ltd., Halstead Industries, HeatLink Group, Heatlink Group Inc., Heatlink Group USA LLC (Incorporated 2/7/2019), Howell Metal Company (d/b/a Precision Tube in VA 4/2019), Itawamba Industrial Gas Company Inc., Jungwoo Metal Ind. Co. LTD, Jungwoo Metal Ind. Co. Ltd., Kessler Sales & Distribution, Kessler Sales & Distribution LLC, King Coal Company, Leon Water Enterprises Inc., Lincoln Brass Works, Lincoln Brass Works Inc. (Assumed name: Mueller Gas Products), Linesets, Linesets Inc., MA Industrial Secured Lending LLC, MCTC LLC, MCTP LLC, MII Financial Corporation, MPC Foundry Inc., MPC Machine Shop Inc., Macomber Building and Land Corporation, Macomber Construction Company, Macomber Incorporated, Micro Gauge, Micro Gauge Inc., Microgauge Machining Inc., Mining Remedial Recovery Company, Mueller Advanced Connections LLC, Mueller Brass Co. (Assumed name: Mueller Brass Products), Mueller Brass Forging Company Inc., Mueller Brass Holding Company Inc., Mueller Canada Holding Co. Ltd., Mueller Casting Company Inc., Mueller Comercial de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Mueller Copper Tube Company Inc., Mueller Copper Tube Products Inc., Mueller East Inc., Mueller Europe Investment Company Ltd., Mueller Europe Limited, Mueller Fittings Company Inc., Mueller Fittings LLC, Mueller Formed Tube Company Inc., Mueller Impacts Company Inc., Mueller Industrial Realty Co., Mueller Industries Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Mueller LBHC Inc., Mueller Packaging LLC, Mueller Plastics Corporation Inc., Mueller Plastics Holding Company Inc., Mueller Press Company Inc., Mueller Refrigeration Holding Company Inc., Mueller Refrigeration LLC, Mueller Refrigeration Products Company Inc., Mueller Southeast Inc., Mueller Streamline China LLC, Mueller Streamline Co., Mueller Streamline Holding S.L.U., Mueller Streamline II LLC, Mueller Streamline Trading LLC, Mueller Tool and Machine Inc., Muellux Holding Company I SARL, Muellux Holding Company II SARL, Overstreet Hughes, Overstreet-Hughes Co. Inc. (Assumed name: Fabricated Tube Products), PexCor, Pexcor Manufacturing Co. Inc., Precision Tube Company LLC, Propipe Technologies, Propipe Technologies Inc. (Assumed name: Mueller Gas Products), Sherwood Valve LLC, Sherwood Valve Products Inc., Shoals Tubular, Shoals Tubular Inc., Southland Pipe Nipples Company Inc., Summit Systems Inc., Tecumseh Products Co., Tecumseh Products Holdings LLC, Tube Forming, Turbotec Products, Turbotec Products Inc., U.S.S. Lead Refinery Inc., USSRAM Exploration Company, United States Fuel Company, Vemco Brasscapri, WTC HoldCo I LLC, WTC HoldCo II LLC, WTC Holding Company, Washington Mining Company, Westermeyer Industries, Westermeyer Industries Inc., and White Knob Mining Company.
Nuveen Pennsylvania Quality Municipal Income Fund is a closed ended fixed income mutual fund launched by Nuveen Investments, Inc. The fund is co-managed by Nuveen Fund Advisors LLC and Nuveen Asset Management, LLC. It invests in the fixed income markets of Pennsylvania. The fund invests in tax exempt municipal bonds, with a rating of Baa/BBB or higher. It employs fundamental analysis, with bottom-up stock picking approach, to create its portfolio. The fund benchmarks the performance of its portfolio against the Standard & Poor's Pennsylvania Municipal Bond Index and Standard & Poor's National Municipal Bond Index. The fund was formerly known a Nuveen Pennsylvania Investment Quality Municipal Fund. Nuveen Pennsylvania Quality Municipal Income Fund was formed on December 20, 1990 and is domiciled in the United States.

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Salt Lake Potash Limited engages in the exploration and development of resource projects in Australia. The company explores for sulphate of potash deposits. It primarily owns 11 salt lakes covering an area of approximately 5,000 square kilometers in the Northern Goldfields region of Western Australia. The company was formerly known as Wildhorse Energy Limited and changed its name to Salt Lake Potash Limited in November 2015. Salt Lake Potash Limited was incorporated in 2005 and is based in Perth, Australia.

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Unum Group is engaged in providing financial protection benefits. It operates through the following segments: Unum US, Unum International, Colonial Life, Closed Block and Corporate. The Unum US segment comprises of group long-term and short-term disability insurance, group life and accidental death and dismemberment products, and supplemental and voluntary lines of business. The Unum International segment engages in the operations of UK business, which includes insurance for group long-term disability, group life, and supplemental lines of business that include dental, individual disability, and critical illness products; Poland business primarily includes insurance for individual and group life with accident and health riders. The Colonial Life segment includes insurance for accident, sickness, disability products, life products, and cancer and critical illness products. The Closed Block segment consists of individual disability, group and individual long-term care, and other insurance products no longer actively marketed. The Corporate segment refers to investment income on corporate assets and other corporate income and expenses not allocated to a line of business; and interest

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The following companies are subsidiares of WESCO International: 1502218 Alberta Ltd., ALLNET Technologies Pty. Ltd., AXE Distribution Solutions Trinidad Ltd., Accu-Tech Corporation, Anixter (Barbados) SRL, Anixter (CIS) LLC, Anixter (Switzerland) Sarl, Anixter (U.K.) Limited, Anixter Argentina S.A., Anixter Asia Holdings Limited, Anixter Australia Pty. Ltd., Anixter Austria GmbH, Anixter Bahamas Limited, Anixter Belgium B.V.B.A., Anixter Cables y Manufacturas S.A. de C.V., Anixter Canada Inc., Anixter Canadian Holdings ULC, Anixter Chile S.A., Anixter Colombia S.A.S., Anixter Communications (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Anixter Communications (Shanghai) Co. Limited, Anixter Costa Rica S.A., Anixter Czech a.s., Anixter Danmark A/S, Anixter Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Distribuidor de Soluciones Empresariales e Industriales S.A., Anixter Distribution Ireland Limited, Anixter Dominicana SRL, Anixter Egypt LLC, Anixter Espana S.L., Anixter Eurotwo Holdings B.V., Anixter Fasteners Deutschland GmbH, Anixter Financial Inc., Anixter France SARL, Anixter Guatemala y Compania Limitada, Anixter Holdings Inc., Anixter Holdings Mexico LLC, Anixter Hong Kong Limited, Anixter Iletisim Sistemleri Pazarlama ve Ticaret A.S., Anixter Inc., Anixter India Private Limited, Anixter Information Systems LLC, Anixter International, Anixter Italia S.r.l., Anixter Jamaica Limited, Anixter Japan KK, Anixter Jorvex S.A.C., Anixter Limited, Anixter Logistica do Brasil LTDA, Anixter Logistica y Servicios S.A. de C.V., Anixter Magyarorszag Elektronikus Halozati Rendszer Kereskedelmi es Szolgaltato Kft, Anixter Mid Holdings B.V., Anixter Middle East FZE, Anixter Morocco SARL AU, Anixter Nederland B.V., Anixter New Zealand Limited, Anixter Norge A.N.S., Anixter Operaciones y Logistica s De RL De CV, Anixter Panama S.A., Anixter Pension Scheme Trustees Limited, Anixter Pension Trustees Limited, Anixter Peru S.A.C., Anixter Philippines Inc., Anixter Poland Sp.z.o.o., Anixter Portugal S.A., Anixter Power Solutions Canada Inc., Anixter Power Solutions Inc., Anixter Procurement Corporation, Anixter Puerto Rico Inc., Anixter Real-Estate LLC, Anixter Receivables Corporation, Anixter Saudi Arabia Limited, Anixter Singapore Pte. Ltd., Anixter Slovakia s.r.o., Anixter Sub Holdings B.V, Anixter Sverige AB, Anixter Thailand Inc., Anixter U.S. LLC, Anixter Venezuela Inc., Anixter de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Anixter do Brasil Ltda, Atlanta Electrical Distributors, Atlanta Electrical Distributors LLC, Atlas Gentech (NZ) Limited, Avon Electrical Supplies, B.E.L. Corporation, Brews Supply, Brown Wholesale Electric, Bruckner Supply, CBC LP Holdings LLC, CDW Holdco LLC, Calvert Wire & Cable Corporation, Carlton-Bates Company, Carlton-Bates Company (CBC), Carlton-Bates Company de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Carlton-Bates Company of Texas GP Inc, Central Security Distribution Pty. Ltd, Communication Cables LLC, Communications Supply Corporation, Communications Supply Corporation, Conney Investment Holdings LLC, Conney Safety Products, Conney Safety Products LLC, Distribuidora Materiales Electricos E-Supply Limitada, EECOL Electric, EECOL Electric Bolivia Ltda, EECOL Electric Corp., EECOL Electric Peru S.A.C, EECOL Industrial Electric (SudAmerica) Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Ecuador Limitada, EECOL Industrial Electric Limitada, EECOL Power S.A., EECOL Properties Corp, Eurinvest B.V., Eurinvest Cooperatief U.A., Fastec Industrial, HMH Pension Trustees Limited, Hazmasters, Hazmasters Inc., Herning Underground Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply, Hi-Line Utility Supply Company LLC, Hill Country Electric Supply, Hill Country Electric Supply L.P., ICV GP Inc., Infast Group Limited, Inner Range Pty. Ltd, Itel Container Ventures Inc., Itel Corporation, Itel Rail Holdings Corporation, J-Mark Inc., LaPrairie, Liberty Wire & Cable Inc., Monti Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply, Needham Electric Supply LLC, Obras Y Servicios Sunpark S.A.C., PT Anixter Indonesia, Potelcom Supply, Pro Canadian Holdings I ULC, RECO LLC, RS Electronics, Reily Electrical Supply, SASK Alta Holdings S.A., Services Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Servicios Anixter S.A. de C.V., Signal Capital Corporation, Signal Capital Projects Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply GP Inc., Stone Eagle Electrical Supply Limited Partnership, TVC Communications, TVC Communications L.L.C., TVC Espana Distribucion y Venta De Equipos S.L., TVC International Holding L.L.C., TVC UK Holdings Limited, Tri-Ed Puerto Rico Ltd. Inc., Trydor Industries, Voice Video and Data Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., WDC Holding Inc., WDCH LP, WDCH US LP, WDI USVI LLC, WDI-Angola LDA, WDINESCO B.V., WDINESCO II B.V., WDINESCO III B.V., WEAS Company S. de R.L., WESCO (Suzhou) Trading Co. Ltd., WESCO Australia Pty Ltd, WESCO Canada GP Inc., WESCO Canada I LP, WESCO DC Holding I LP, WESCO DC Holding II LP, WESCO DC Holding III LP, WESCO DC Holding IV LP, WESCO Distribution Canada Co., WESCO Distribution Canada LP, WESCO Distribution HK Limited, WESCO Distribution II ULC, WESCO Distribution III ULC, WESCO Distribution IV Inc., WESCO Distribution Inc., WESCO Distribution Ireland Limited, WESCO Distribution NL B.V., WESCO Distribution Pte. Ltd., WESCO Distribution de Mexico S. de R.L., WESCO Distribution-International Limited, WESCO Enterprises Inc., WESCO Equity Corporation, WESCO Holdings LLC, WESCO Integrated Supply Inc., WESCO Integrated Supply Polska Spolka z o.o., WESCO Netherlands B.V., WESCO Nevada Ltd., WESCO Nigeria Inc., WESCO Procurement Canada ULC, WESCO Real Estate I LLC, WESCO Real Estate II LLC, WESCO Real Estate III LLC, WESCO Real Estate IV LLC, WESCO Receivables Corp., WESCO Services LLC, WESCO TLD Holdings Co. Ltd., WND Nigeria Limited, WireXpress Ltd., Xpress Connect Supply Hong Kong Limited, XpressConnect Holdings B.V., XpressConnect International B.V., XpressConnect Supply B.V.B.A., XpressConnect Supply Colombia S.A.S., XpressConnect Supply Inc., XpressConnect Supply Mexico S.A. de C.V., and XpressConnect Supply do Brasil Ltda.
A devastating series of tornadoes ripped through Alabama on Sunday, killing at least 22 people.

The victims including children, died in Lee County, said Sheriff Jay Jones. At least 12 of those deaths occurred in an area about 5 to 6 miles south of the city of Opelika, he said.

Jones initially reported 14 deaths, and when he updated it to 22 people later Sunday, he told CNN affiliate WRBL "that number may rise yet again."

Jones described massive damage that appeared "as if someone had taken a blade and just scraped the ground." He estimated a path of destruction about half a mile wide that stretched several miles to the east from where the tornado touched down.

It appeared that two tornadoes hit Lee County back-to-back within the span of an hour, CNN Meteorologist Gene Norman said. At least a dozen tornadoes touched down in Alabama and Georgia on Sunday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

The 22 deaths reported on Sunday marked what would be deadliest day for tornadoes in the state since the deadly Tuscaloosa-Birmingham tornado that killed more than 200 people in 2011.

Several people were transported to East Alabama Medical Center with serious injuries, Jones said. Authorities were prioritizing search and rescue efforts on Sunday evening, but were hampered by the dwindling light, he said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey extended the state of emergency that had been issued last month statewide due to tornadoes and severe weather.

"Our hearts go out to those who lost their lives in the storms that hit Lee County today," she tweeted. "Praying for their families & everyone whose homes or businesses were affected. Officials from @AlabamaEma & other agencies are quickly working to provide assistance."

President Donald Trump tweeted "to the great people of Alabama and surrounding areas: Please be careful and safe." He also said "to the families of the victims, and to the injured. God bless you all!"

Footage broadcast by CNN affiliate WRBL showed trees destroyed by the powerful winds and debris from leveled homes piled up on the side of the road.

Multiple homes suffered significant damage, Jones told WRBL, and multiple agencies are working to assist in the search for injured people inside their homes.

Norman said that according to the National Weather Service, an airport in Eufaula, Alabama, along the Alabama-Georgia border was destroyed, along with a fire station.

In Talbotton, Georgia, at least 15 structures were destroyed in a tornado on Sunday, including multiple homes and at least one apartment building, said Leigh Ann Erenheim, the emergency management director for Talbot County.

Six people suffered injuries, with the most severe being a possible broken leg, she said. Crews were checking on residents in the outer areas of town and working to open a shelter for people who have been displaced.

Tornado watches were expected to remain in place for parts of Georgia and South Carolina through 11 p.m. ET Sunday, Norman said.

The tornadoes are part of the same system that is expected to bring winter weather to much of the eastern United States this week, he said.
A storm dumped several inches of snow across the Northeast overnight Sunday into Monday, closing schools in New York City and Boston and leaving a slushy mess for the morning commute.

Manhattan's Central Park was hit with five inches of snow, its largest snowfall total of the winter so far. Boston's Logan Airport received nearly 10 inches of snow, while some areas around Boston were hit with more than a foot, the National Weather Service said.

As of mid-morning Monday, the storm had moved mostly off shore, clearing up visibility in the affected areas.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced he'll be deploying state resources, including thousands of plow trucks, specialized law enforcement vehicles and utility workers, to areas expected to be hit with snow.

"We have learned from experience that it is better to be over-prepared in these situations -- if you're not prepared before the storm, it is too late," he said in a statement.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is expecting the "biggest snow accumulation we've had all year."

"This is going to be a serious storm," he said Sunday. "People should be ready for really tough conditions in the morning."

He said all New York City public schools will be closed Monday and urged drivers to stay off the roads and take mass transit if they must go out.

Across the river, New Jersey also is expecting several inches of snow by Monday morning. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency, asking drivers to "stay off the roads so that we are able to deploy available resources to clean the snow."

Public schools in Jersey City and Boston will also be closed on Monday, the schools districts said.

Boston's City Hall is closed Monday "due to more than anticipated snow that came overnight, which has brought up to 14 (inches) of wet, heavy snow in parts of the city," a press release from the Office of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said.

The weather system that will blanket cities across the East Coast began developing Saturday, bringing snow to the Central Plains and putting millions of people under winter weather alerts from Colorado to Maine.

As the storm leaves the northern East Coast behind early Monday morning, the National Weather Service said it will be dropping snow at a rate of one inch per hour. Nearly 43 million people are under a winter weather warning, CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said.

Warnings in Colorado

The storm may well have departed from the Midwest but some severe weather conditions still linger. The main issue for most of the Midwest this week will be the cold, Shackelford said.

"There are up to 50 potential record cold highs for Monday," he said.

In Colorado -- parts of which saw nearly 4 inches of snow --- a warning has been extended to multiple mountain ranges as the snowfall created multiple dangerous avalanche conditions.

Late Sunday, an avalanche closed I-70 eastbound between Copper Mountain and Frisco, Colorado, according to Amy Ford, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Ford said it was the second avalanche on Sunday in the same general area.

She said the interstate was shut down while crews cleaned up. While there were cars in and around the avalanche, Ford said she didn't think anyone was injured. The highway has since reopened.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his fellow Democrats controlling the Legislature have been unable to agree on revenue estimates for the state budget that's due in less than a month.

The inability of Cuomo and the Assembly and Senate to reach a consensus means Democratic state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli must come up with an estimate by Tuesday. The governor and the leaders of both chambers will use DiNapoli's revenue estimate as the starting point to negotiate a final budget.

Cuomo has proposed a $175 billion spending plan for the state fiscal year that begins April 1.

Last month, the governor and DiNapoli announced tax revenues for the current budget were down $2.3 billion. The Democrats blame much of the shortfall on federal tax changes that started last year.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Venezuela's self-declared interim president, Juan Guaido, returned to the country on Monday, risking arrest for violating a travel ban in his bid to oust embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido was met by crowds of chanting supporters and several European diplomats after he touched down at Caracas airport on Monday, where he declared, "We are here in Venezuela. We are stronger than ever."

"We are going to achieve the end of the usurpation very soon in Venezuela," he said. Guaido added that despite the risks, "they won't be stopped."

He climbed on top of a car, waving the Venezuelan flag and shouting "Yes we can!" before heading to a plaza in the capital, where he was welcomed by huge crowds.

According to a senior aide, Guaido returned to the country on a commercial airline, Copa Airlines, from Panama City.

Guaido's homecoming has reignited the opposition and could become the next flashpoint in his struggle for power with Maduro, who is facing international pressure to step down amid a mounting humanitarian crisis. Most Western countries and regional neighbors now recognize Guaido as Venezuela's leader and have been working with him to bring aid into the country.

Thousands of Guaido's supporters gathered for a rally at Plaza Alfredo Sadel on Monday to hear the opposition leader speak.

Greeted by raucous cheers and applause, Guaido told demonstrators: "They threatened to throw me in jail, to kill me. It will not be through persecution or threat that they will detain us."

Calling those assembled his "brothers," Guaido encouraged people to take to streets in protest against Maduro's rule on Saturday, saying, "the dream of our future is to be able to recuperate our country."

The 35-year-old National Assembly leader calls Maduro a "usurper" and rejects his election last year as illegitimate. But the beleaguered president has remained defiant, denying that a humanitarian crisis exists in his country and suggesting that aid efforts are part of a US plot to orchestrate a coup.

Maduro still maintains control over the Venezuelan military, whose senior leaders appear to remain loyal to him.

Guaido left Venezuela for Colombia in late February to usher much-needed food and medical supplies across the border, in defiance of Maduro's wishes. A face-off over the humanitarian aid quickly turned violent, with hundreds hurt in clashes with the Venezuelan National Guard.

After his efforts were stymied, Guaido embarked on a South American tour, meeting the presidents of Colombia, Brazil, Paraguay and Ecuador, along with United States Vice President Mike Pence -- ignoring a travel ban imposed on him by his country's Supreme Court.

Earlier on Monday, Guaido announced his planned return to the crisis-stricken country in a tweet which included a SoundCloud audio message.

"We are stronger than ever. The usurper will try to repress us but we're stronger than ever," he said.

The office of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Monday congratulating Guaido on his "successful diplomatic efforts" and return to Venezuela.

"The international community must unite and push for the end of Maduro's brutal regime and the peaceful restoration of democracy in Venezuela," the statement said.

Guaido energized the movement against Maduro in January when he declared himself acting president of Venezuela, turning himself from an obscure politician to a global figure in weeks.

At least 50 countries oppose Maduro and support the opposition leader, but Guaido's return could also open the door to his arrest. Guaido told CNN last week that he had no doubt he would be arrested upon his return to Venezuela. His possible detention could serve to highlight Maduro's historic crackdown on political opponents and trigger even more stringent sanctions from the United States.

On Sunday, Guaido warned the Maduro's government that should anything happen to him, "it will be the last mistake they make."

The warning was backed by US National Security Adviser John Bolton, who tweeted that any threat to Guaido's return "will be met with a strong and significant response from the United States and the international community."
Airliner aborts take-off due to 'smoke' in cabin

Take-off was aborted and passengers evacuated

A Flybe flight was forced to abort take-off due to the cabin filling with "smoke" while it was accelerating along the runway at Exeter Airport.

The airline said one passenger suffered a suspected broken ankle during the subsequent evacuation, which involved inflatable slides.

There were 100 passengers and five crew on board the flight to Alicante, Spain, when the incident happened on Thursday morning.

Injuries

Footage of the evacuation shows one woman being carried away from the Embraer ERJ-195 jet by two men while another person tumbled forward after reaching the bottom of a slide.

Andy Feaver, 51, who was on the flight with his wife, told the Press Association: "As soon as I got on I smelled burning. As we were going along the runway to get ready to take off it stank of fuel.

"As they put the accelerator down to go, it filled up with smoke in the cabin. The pilot said 'evacuate, evacuate' and we all got out as quickly as we could.

"It was pretty scary. I'm not sure what caused it."

Mr Feaver, a company director from Newton Abbot, Devon, added: "Ten seconds later we could have been up in the air and that could have been a completely different story."

He paid tribute to the crew, saying they were "fantastic" in how they dealt with the emergency.

Five-hour delay

The airline said in a statement that flight BE4321 experienced "haze in the cabin just prior to take-off" and the crew took "the necessary precautionary measures".

It added: "One passenger was taken to hospital with a suspected broken ankle. Flybe have a representative with them at the hospital and are offering full support."

A replacement aircraft departed at 1pm, more than five hours after the original flight was due to take off.

Make sure you've secured comprehensive travel insurance before your next trip to give you peace of mind in guarding against the unexpected.
Maryland is a US state located in the country's Mid-Atlantic region. Incorporated into the Union on April 28, 1788, Maryland became the 7th US state and is named in honor of English queen, Henrietta Maria, who was referred to in England as Queen Mary. The state of Maryland has several nicknames including the "Free State", "Old Line State", and "Chesapeake Bay State." The capital city of Maryland is Annapolis. In addition to its flag, the state has several symbols, including a state bird (Baltimore oriole), state tree (white oak), and state horse (thoroughbred). Like all 50 US states, Maryland also has a state floral emblem. The state flower of Maryland is the black-eyed Susan, officially named Rudbeckia hirta.

State Flower of Maryland

Designated the official state flower in 1918, the black-eyed Susan is a common flower in Maryland and can be found growing almost everywhere in the state. It is particularly common along the roadside and in fields throughout the state. In some places, the plant bearing the beautiful flower is considered a weed and may be cleared away when preparing land for agriculture. However, the flowers are often adored and considered ornamental. Additionally, the presence of black-eyed Susans along roadsides are considered a symbol welcoming visitors to the state.

Selection Process

The choice for a state flower was inspired by the 1893 Worlds Fair, which was held in Chicago. The fair also motivated several other US states to select an official flower. A group of women from the Maryland Agricultural College led the campaign for the state to have a state flower. The public overwhelmingly supported their choice, the black-eyed Susan. A bill was presented to the General Assembly supporting the establishment of the flower as the state floral emblem. In 1918, the black-eyed Susan was officially designated Maryland's state flower.

Brief Description

The black-eyed Susan is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Asteraceae. Its botanical name, Rudbeckia hirta, was given in honor of Swedish botanist Olaus Rudbeck, a professor of botany at Sweden's University of Uppsala. The plant has several other nicknames including brown-eyed Susan, golden Jerusalem, yellow ox-eye daisy, and brown Betty. The plant flowers at the end of second growing season and forms a short disc flower in the center of the head. The black-eyed Susan is a rough hairy perennial coneflower. Its flowers are yellow rays circling a dark brown or black spherical center measuring approximately 3 inches in diameter. The flower blooms between May and August and has 13 petals. The plant itself can grow up to two feet tall and has narrow toothed leaves that are placed alternately on the stem. The colors of the black-eyed Susan, black/brown and yellow, also appear on Maryland's state flag.

Habitat

The black-eyed Susan grows easily with little attention. They often grow in abundance in the wild, making it a favorite flower of wildflower photographers. The plant thrives in areas with high temperatures and direct sunlight, and are common in meadows, pastures, and fields. The black-eyed Susan grows and thrives in undisturbed habitats, but can also survive under cultivation. In Maryland, the flower is commonly found along the roadside, and are placed on the winning horse of Baltimore Maryland's Preakness Stakes horse race.
Kansas is an American state located in the country's Midwest where it spans an area of 82,278 square miles making it the 15th largest state in the country. Archaeological evidence indicated that human communities have lived within the borders of Kansas for an extended period that stretches back to at least 7000 BCE. Despite the long history of human habitation in Kansas, most of the events that shaped its borders occurred after the arrival of the European in the region during the 16th century. In the modern era, Kansas shares its borders with four states: Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, and Colorado.

Kanas-Oklahoma Border

The bounder that separates Kansas from Oklahoma lies on the southern end of Kansas. There are several towns in Kansas located along the border with Oklahoma such as Liberal, Sedan, and Oswego. Some of the cities located on the Oklahoma side of the border include Manchester, Grainola, and Burlington. Manchester is one of the smallest towns in Oklahoma and it only covers an area of 0.2 square miles and was home to 103 people in 2010. Liberal is one of the major cities in Kansas as it is the seat of Seward County. In 2010 it was estimated that Liberal was home to 20,525 people.

Kansas-Missouri Border

Kansas and Missouri are separated by a border that is situated in the eastern edge of Kansas. The Missouri River and the Blue River are two of the major rivers which cross the boundary between the two states. There are several major cities located on the Kansas side of the border such as Columbus, Kansas City, and Fort Scott. Some of the major towns on the Missouri side of the border include Nevada, Butler, and Lamar. One of the largest metropolitan areas in the US, the Kansas City metro area, straddles the boundary between the two states. In 2015, it was estimated that the area was home to roughly 2,159,159 people.

During the 19th century, Missouri and Kansas had a tumultuous relationship that culminated in several disagreements along the border from 1854 to 1861. Several historians refer to the conflicts as Bleeding Kansas. The tension between the two states stemmed from ideological differences on the issue of slavery. At the time most of the residents of Missouri supported slavery and attempted to influence the decision of the people of Kansas. Some of them even went to Kansas where they voted illegally in support of slavery. Their actions angered the residents of Kansas who were against slavery. At first, the conflict was mainly political, but it soon involved the civilians in the two states who engaged in guerrilla warfare and gang violence. In 1856, some men from Missouri attacked the city of Lawrence and destroyed the offices of two newspapers which were against slavery. In response, some anti-slavery activists led by John Brown attacked and killed five pro-slavery activists. The residents of Kansas who were against slavery were successful and in 1861 it was admitted to the union as a free state. Despite the victory, clashes between the two groups continued to be experienced along the border. The events of this period significantly affected the relationship between Missouri and Kansas. In the 21st century, the central area of competition between Missouri and Kansas is in economics. In 2013, it was reported that as a result of tax cuts put in place by the governor of Kansas several businesses had moved from Missouri to Kansas which angered the leaders of Missouri.

Kansas-Nebraska Border

The boundary that separates Nebraska and Kansas is situated in the northern edge of Kansas. Some of the rivers that flow along the border between the two states include the Little Blue River, the Republican River, and the Big Blue River. The Republican River flows for a total of 453 miles and also passes through the state of Colorado.

The waters of the Republican River have been a major cause of contention between Nebraska and Kansas. In 1942, the three states that share the Republican River signed a pact detailing how they would share the waters of the river. However, during the 1980s, Kansas complained that Nebraska was violating the terms of the compact by allowing more groundwater development projects to be developed. The leaders of Nebraska, on the other hand, said that they were not violating the compact. In 1999, the issue was taken before the Supreme Court which decided to appoint a special master to arbitrate the issue. The issues remained resolved until 2008 when Kansas complained that Nebraska had overused the amount of water allocated to the state. Kansas once again presented the issue to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided that Nebraska had to pay Kansas $5.5 million of which $3.7 million was for damage to Kansas' farmers. The court also ruled that Nebraska could use the water that flowed into the Republican River from the Platte River.

Kansas-Colorado Border

Kansas and Colorado are separated by a border situated on the western edge of Kansas. Some of the major towns located on the Kansas side of the border include Syracuse, Goodland, and St Francis. The cities located along the Colorado side of the border include Wray, Lamar, and Springfield. Lama is one of the most important cities in Colorado because it is the seat of Prowers County. It is also the most populous city in the county and it was home to 7,804 people in 2010. Syracuse is an important city in Kansas and it is the seat of Hamilton County. In 2010, it was estimated that Syracuse was home to about 1,812 people. In the past, Syracuse used to be known as Hollidaysburg and was renamed Syracuse in 1873. One of the major rivers that cross the border between Kansas and Colorado is the Arkansas River which flows for a total of 1,469 miles. Another major river that flows across the border between the two states is the Beaver Creek which is a tributary of the Republican River.

The Importance of Kansas' Borders

The borders of Kansas are essential because they reflect part of the state's history. The most historic section of the border is considered the border with Missouri, and several monuments have been set up to commemorate the history of the area.
The Cologne Administrative Court has banned the Secret Service from publicly designating the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a test case, its lowest level of official scrutiny. This designation had a negative connotation for the public, the court found. Since there was no legal basis for such a designation, the court ruled it unlawful and disproportionate.

The judgement was in response to an emergency application by the AfD. The right-wing extremist party had filed a lawsuit after the chief of the intelligence agency, Thomas Haldenwang, publicly announced on January 15 that the Secret Service would treat the AfD as a test case.

Haldenwang pursued two goals with this public announcement: On the one hand, he sought to improve the damaged image of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, as Germanys domestic secret service is called, after his predecessor Hans-Georg Massen had to resign because of his proximity to the AfD and his partisan statements concerning a far-right demonstration in Chemnitz. On the other hand, his use of the term test case was to indicate that the secret service still did not classify the AfD as a far-right party and was merely testing whether there was a reason for doing so.

In the eyes of the Federal Office [secret service], the more harmless classification of the AfD as a test case should rather lead to exonerating the party, reported the Suddeutsche Zeitung, citing an internal dossier of the secret service. The logic behind it: With this designation, the Federal Office confirms that the party is less bad than expected by sections of the public.

But there can be no doubt about the right-wing extremist character of the AfD. Its officials are constantly agitating against refugees and migrants and playing down the crimes of the Nazi regime. Its chairman, Alexander Gauland, calls Hitler and the National Socialists [Nazis] a mere speck of bird shit in 1,000 years of successful German history.

The secret service is not only protecting the AfD, it is also closely linked with it. There is sympathy for the right-wing extremist party up to the highest levels within the secret service, as the case of Maassen has shown. The AfDs parliamentary deputies and functionaries include numerous intelligence agents, as well as police officers and soldiers.

The secret service is also closely linked in with the militant right-wing extremist scene, which it has helped to build up through hundreds of confidential informants and hundreds of thousands of euros in finance. There were at least two dozen confidential informants in the immediate periphery of the National Socialist Underground, a neo-Nazi terrorist group.

The official annual report on the secret service does not mention the AfD at all, while criticism of capitalism is sufficient for an organization to be denounced as left-wing extremist. In particular, the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP, Socialist Equality Party) is listed in the report as a left-wing extremist party, though it is not accused of breaking any law or of conducting violent activity. The naming of the SGP is based solely on its agitation against the capitalist order, imperialism and militarism. For this reason, the SGP is taking legal action against the secret service.

The Cologne court has expressly not dealt with the question of whether the AfD actually is a far-right party. The subject of the proceedings was solely the question of whether there is a legal basis for the action of the Federal Office [secret service]; the substantive evaluation of the positions of the AfD was not procedurally relevant, the court says in a press release.

The court bases its judgment on the fact that there is no legal foundation for the announcement that a party was being processed as a test case. Since this designation has a negative effect on the public, the public communication constituted an interference in the fundamental rights of the AfD as a party, the court said.

The judgment does not forbid the secret service from treating the AfD as a test case, but bars it from informing the public about this preliminary form of investigation. The public may only be informed when a suspected case exists, it says in the ruling, refer to the next-higher level of scrutiny. This designation required sufficiently important factual evidence and a strong degree of suspicion.

The investigation of two subdivisions of the AfD remains unaffected by the court ruling. The Young Alternative (JA) and the so-called wing, an internal AfD network linked to Thuringian AfD leader Bjorn Hocke, are being treated by the secret service as suspected cases. The Secret Service may continue to do so and inform the public about this.

Nevertheless, the AfD has celebrated the Cologne verdict as a complete success and interpreted it as giving it a political clean bill of health. With this years European elections and three state elections in the AfDs East German strongholds, it is using the court ruling to improve its image in public and pave the way for future participation in government.

The court has completely followed our line of reasoning, said party leader Alexander Gauland. There are still judges in the country, and this is a good day for the rule of law. Co-chairman Jorg Meuthen boasted that the politically motivated utilization of the secret service against the AfD [had] failed for the time being.

The conservative and right-wing press also welcomed the verdict.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), which usually does not tire of demanding the monitoring and suppression of left-wing organizations, described the courts decision as a success for the rule of law. The state must heed the equal opportunities of the parties and, precisely because the parties play such an important role within it, require special authorization to act against any of them.

The FAZ commentary closes with the call to leave the AfD alone and concentrate instead on the real opponents, who for the FAZ are always on the left: More than ever, it is important to focus on the really anti-constitutional endeavoursthere is enough to test in that areaand otherwise uphold free discourse.

The magazine Cicero published a guest post by the former naval admiral and chief of the military intelligence service MAD, Elmar Schmahling, who is outraged by the unofficial mass evaluation of the opinions of thousands of AfD members and staff by the secret service. The secret service was not the East German Stasi and did not have the natural right to collect everything, to snoop and evaluate what is said openly, written down somewhere or printed, he railed.

Schmahling too only expresses such scruples when those affected are on the right. He accuses the secret service of one-sided partisanship against the AfD and being the lackey of the democratic parties and thus contributing to re-establishing moral cowardice in Germany. This damage to our country was much greater than the electoral success of the AfD, he claims.

The SGP rejects the effort by the extreme right to exploit the judgment for its own purposes. At the same time, it is clear that the secret service itself is part of the right-wing conspiracy. In an early comment, we wrote that trying to fight the AfD using the secret service was like driving out demons with Beelzebub and meant strengthening the very organisation that plays a key role in building up the far-right.

All historical experience shows that strengthening the state apparatus under the pretext of the fight against the right-wing invariably serves to direct the state forces against socialist opponents of capitalism. The secret service should be abolished! The only way to stop the growth of the extreme right, is the mobilization of the working class on the basis of an international socialist programme.
Over the weekend, the Verdi union signed a sell-out contract with the Berlin authorities, ending a series of warning strikes and protests over low wages, poor working conditions and social cuts. The deal includes a 33-month ban on strikes. The WSWS will publish an article in English on Tuesday analysing the contract betrayal. The following is translated from an article posted last week on the German-language WSWS.

Last Wednesday, thousands of teachers and social workers in Berlin extended the protest strike begun Tuesday morning. More than half of the citys day care centres remained closed and thousands of classes were cancelled. On Wednesday morning, some 10,000 strikers marched from Potsdamer Platz to Alexanderplatz to express their anger at poor working conditions and low wages.

Demonstrators in Potsdamer Platz

At Alexanderplatz, they joined a rally of about 1,000 employees from district council offices, the state government administration, libraries, the police and the fire service, who had also been called on strike by the service-sector union Verdi, the GEW (Education and Science Union), the Police Union (GdP) and the construction union IG BAU.

The Berlin action was part of widespread protest strikes by state government workers throughout Germany. The unions are demanding a six percent wage increase, equivalent to a monthly increase of at least 200 euros. The employers, whose chief negotiator is Berlin State Finance Senator Matthias Kollatz, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), have not yet made an offer. A new round of negotiations began Thursday in Potsdam.

Verdi members marching

Nowhere were the demonstrations as large as in Berlin. In the nations capital, the so-called Red-Red coalition that controls the Senate, consisting of the Left Party, the SPD and the Greens, has brought the public sector to the brink of collapse. Many public-sector workers in Berlin receive significantly less than in the neighbouring state of Brandenburg and face the worst conditions of exploitation.

In particular, the day care centres are chronically understaffed because Berlin educators receive several hundred euros less than their counterparts elsewhere. For this reason, in addition to the percentage increase in salary, the workers in Berlin are calling for their pay to be aligned with the salary structure of the other federal states.

Among the workers participating in the demonstration, anger over intolerable working conditions was enormous. Educator Yvonne told the World Socialist Web Site that more and more temporary workers were being employed. These employees were not qualified and had to leave after nine months. Children face constantly changing staff and we are forced to work more and more overtime, she said.

The job just has to be made more attractive again, her colleague Tim added. Only that way can we solve the lack of staff. Instead, more and more jobs were being cut and work pressure increased. There was money available, it just needed to be redistributed, Tim added.

Daniel, who works at an after-school centre, complained about the unbearable staff shortages. As soon as sick leave absences increased in winter or a colleague had to take maternity leave, classes had to be merged, he said. Sometimes you're in a small room with over 50 kids. On occasion, entire classes would be handed off to young people serving their Voluntary Social Year.

Daniel and his colleague Jasmin

Daniel has been at the after-school centre for five years and seen how things have regressed since then. He said the educators had to look after more and more children for longer periods of time. This was his first strike and he was confident it could make a difference. Next year, there will be at least 30 new children due to the full-time care provisions for all first- and second-graders, but no more educators will be hired. Thats why Ive taken to the streets, hoping for the best.

Sofia, a teacher, explained that she has been driven to protest by sheer desperation. Working conditions have deteriorated from year to year.

Carmen and Sofia

We are assigned students with physical and mental disabilities, she said, but we do not have the conditions to deal with them. Instead of pedagogues who specialize in supporting the disabled, we get interns. This situation has been made even more difficult with the inclusion of often traumatized refugee children. Many other children cannot stand up to the growing pressure to perform and develop mental health problems, even attempting suicide.

That actually affects all social professions, interjected her colleague Carmen. Its even worse in the day care centres. Thats why we are here today, out of solidarity with the educators.

In general, she said, school was less and less a learning place that was fun, and more and more dominated by standardization and performance pressure. Everything is focused on functioning, but not on thinking for yourself.

Many participants in the march expressed scepticism over the unions. This was shown by the fact that of the more than 10,000 demonstrators, only a few hundred came to the rally at Alexanderplatz to follow the speeches of the union representatives.

Henning and Karl

Teachers Karl and Henning complained that the unions left out the political issues and focused exclusively on salary demands. We should be able to reach a certain standard in all schools, instead of always investing in elite education, Hennig said, whereupon Karl added, Im sure the average participant today is immediately confronted with less money. Education is a human right and, with the welfare state, forms the foundation of a healthy democracy.

Tim, a teacher, also addressed political questions. We always hear that there is no money, he said, but when we look around, its clear thats just not true. We just have to get hold of the moneyits in the pockets of the wealthy and the rich! Even more than 50 years ago, people see us as having enormous power.

Participants in the rally

Referring to the education strikes currently taking place in the United States, where teachers are increasingly organizing struggles independently of the unions, he noted that this could also be the future in Germany.

With a view to the strikes in the US, another teacher, Annike, said, I think the more the social situation here tips over, the more political these demos and strikes will become.

Sofia sent fighting greetings to her American colleagues and said, They have our solidarity. They are paid even worse than us and education in the US depends even more on money.

She was very critical of the last contract negotiated by the trade unions, Each time, the unequal payment of the various occupational groups is deepened, she said. Those with civil servant status always earn more than salaried teachers, and career changers least of all.

The anger with the union is enormous, said educator Andrea. After years of things getting worse, Verdi and GEW had negotiated only two percent more pay two years ago. Nobody agreed with that, but the strike was cancelled anyway. Finally, it turned out that the small salary increase was accompanied by 24 minutes additional work time. No wonder everyone is angry, she said.

Durdica, who works at a day care centre, is sceptical about the unions because in 2017 they had concealed the extra work provision and pushed through their sell-out contract. Like others, she hoped that it could be different this time.

Christoph Vandreier speaking to workers

Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality PartySGP) representatives distributed the partys European election statement, explaining that the experience with the unions was not accidental, but was related to the national and pro-capitalist nature of these organizations. The unions have become co-managers with the companies, enforcing social attacks against the workers, said SGP candidate in the European elections, Christoph Vandreier.

This had become particularly clear in Berlin, he said, where the Red-Red Senate, in close cooperation with Verdi and the GEW, had imposed a 10 percent wage cut and gutted the entire public service. It is therefore necessary for workers to establish their own action committees independent of the trade unions, to organize the strike themselves and expand it nationally and internationally, Vandreier said.
Over the last two weeks, Madrid has launched a judicial frame-up of Catalan nationalist politicians and leaders in a public show trial. Their prosecution on charges of rebellion, sedition and misuse of public funds for organising the 2017 independence referendum is groundless and reactionary.

Defendants include former Catalan regional ministers, the former speaker of the Catalan parliament and leaders of two pro-independence groups, the Catalan National Assembly (ANC) and Omnium Cultural. Nine of them have been in preventive custody for over 500 days and face up to 25 years in jail for organising a peaceful referendum on Catalan independence from Spain. The most serious charge they face is rebellion, i.e., violently and publicly trying to abrogate, suspend or modify the Constitution, either totally or partially.

The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) opposed the Catalan referendum, calling for a no vote on a proposal that would have divided workers in the Iberian peninsula by forming a Catalan state oriented to the reactionary European Union (EU). But Madrids charges against the defendants are lies. The Catalan separatists sought to obtain independence via a peaceful referendum and negotiations with Madrid, who cracked down brutally on pro-independence voters.

Now, the Spanish media and political establishment are whipping up a nationalist frenzy around distorted accounts of various events. One was the September 20, 2017 protest in Barcelona, 10 days before the referendum and the police crackdown that left over 1,000 people injured.

On September 20, paramilitary Civil Guards arrested top Catalan officials and searched state offices for evidence that the referendum had been illegally organized. The ANC and Omnium called rallies outside the offices. Later that night, as tensions rose, ANC leader Jordi Sanchez and Omnium President Jordi Cuixart tried to disperse the crowd. Two Civil Guards vehicles were vandalized, but no one was injured.

Last Thursday, Cuixart testified about these events. Under questioning by public prosecutors and the states attorneynamed by the Socialist Party (PSOE) governmenthe rejected claims that minor clashes constituted a continued assault on searches by the Civil Guards and a judicial team. Cuixart stated it was a legal protest. He also stated that he talked with the Civil Guards in charge of the operation, as shown on video, as well as Catalan interior security official Joaquim Forn (also accused of rebellion), and the head of the regional police force, the Mossos dEsquadra.

Despite trolling through Cuixarts emails and Tweets, prosecutors failed to show that he instigated violence.

Sanchez said the authorities requested help to open up a corridor through which the judicial team could pass, which was done: That this was a public order issue and it wasnt my responsibility. He said that at no point did he encourage a riotous uprising by ordinary people.

Charges that Catalan officials were guilty of misuse of public funds are also groundless. Former Spanish Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro, who imposed a draconian auditing regime on the Catalan government before the referendum to keep public funds from being used to hold it, testified that the Catalan government ... had no possibility to call the referendum using public money. In this, Montoro was repeating his public statements to the Spanish parliament.

Trying to maintain the credibility of the trial without perjuring himself, Montoro added a vague statement that we cannot exclude that there were fraudulent actions to organize the referendum.

The Spanish bourgeoisie is using the trial to legitimise its bloody crackdown on the referendum and move towards a fascistic dictatorship by rehabilitating the 20th century fascist regime of Francisco Franco. This is shown by the courts extraordinary handling of the new, pro-Francoite VOX party.

VOXs officials have publicly hailed Francos army in the 1936-1939 Civil War, which started when he launched a coup against an elected government and ended in a fascist victory and mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands of left-wing workers and youth.

VOX was also authorized to constitute itself as a plaintiff in the Catalan trial. When it demanded testimony from Candidatures of Popular Unity (CUP) party members Antonio Banos and Eulalia Reguant, they refused. Banos said, I wont respond due to democratic dignity and anti-fascism.

Remarkably, both were fined 2,500 for taking this position.

Last week, the three top officials of the right-wing Popular Party (PP) government that was in power during the referendum crisis all defended the crackdown on voters. Former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria and Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido all testified. They accused the Catalan nationalists of systematic violence in the autumn of 2017 and of using civilians as human shields to keep police away from voting stations. They also all denied they were in charge of the police crackdown.

VOX took this occasion to attack Rajoy for not using the referendum to impose martial law. Its general secretary, Javier Ortega Smith, asked Rajoy why he had not used Article 116 of the constitutionthe state of alarm, exception and siege, involving the use of the militarybut simply suspended Catalan self-rule, using Article 155 of the Constitution.

Rajoy, the chief architect of a battery of police state laws during his seven-year rule, cynically replied that he did not want to interfere with the individual liberties of the people.

The trial has also exposed the bankruptcy and impotence of the Catalan nationalists. Their plan throughout the crisis never went any further than striking a deal with Madrid involving the granting of increased Catalan regional powers. But Madrid offered them no such deal, instead taking their secessionist bluster as an opportunity to crush them and shift official politics far to the right.

Basque regional premier Inigo Urkullu, who during the crisis acted as an intermediary between Rajoy and Catalan regional premier Carles Puigdemont, told the Supreme Court that Puigdemont had no intention of declaring independence. Puigdemont implicitly threatened to do so when Rajoy refused to guarantee that he would not impose Article 155 if new elections were called.

Former parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell said former regional premier Carles Puigdemonts October 27 independence declaration, which he immediately suspended, was purely symbolic. She said they hoped for support from the EU, which backed Rajoys crackdown: Our movement has always been pro-European and we believe that self-determination is our right. The EU should support us, not for independence but for exercising our rights.

Former Catalan regional minister for business Santi Vila declared that It wasnt a referendum, but It was a major political mobilization.

These events constitute an urgent warning on the state of Spanish and European democracy. That such a blatant show trial can proceed without provoking the organisation of mass protests and universal condemnation is an indictment of the political system. It is yet another exposure of the impotence of Spains pseudo-left Podemos party: despite having won 5 million votes in the 2016 elections, it has organised no meaningful opposition.

The only force that can defend democratic rights is the working class, mobilised independently of and against the entire ruling class.

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The show trial of the Catalan nationalists and the far-right danger in Spain

[14 February 2019]
Former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers right-to-buy scheme for council house tenants was first launched in 1980. It continues to exercise destructive affects in Englands housing market, according to an analysis of Freedom of Information data.

After requests were sent by Inside Housing magazine to 111 English councils, it emerged that over 40 percent of council houses once sold under right-to-buy terms to their tenants are now being privately rented out.

In some cases, councils have been forced to buy back their own properties at more than six times the price for which they previously sold them, severely damaging their ability to help those who most need housing. Local authorities now pay private landlords to house homeless families in 2,333 right-to-buy properties and have spent 22 million yearly simply renting back the buildings they had once owned as temporary housing.

Some 466 companies or individuals now have leaseholds for at least five former council homes.

The media is full of reports on the devastation wrought by right-to buy, observing that rents take up half of tenants income, that the scheme benefits only the wealthiest of tenants, and that it has facilitated an enormous transfer of wealth from the public to private sector.

Homes lost under the scheme have not been replaced in any adequate number. The Resolution Foundation reports that English local authorities and housing associations have built only one home for every two sold under the scheme.

Following the Conservative election victory in 2010, the government stepped up sales of council houses, and by 2013 then Chancellor George Osborne raised the maximum discount available for renting a London Council house to 100,000.

Financial information group Moneyfacts found that the average rate on a two-year buy-to-let loan at a fixed rate had fallen from 5.23 percent in 2010 to 3.26 percent by 2015. Simultaneously, the number of fee-free deals available to landlords saw a huge rise. These policies have been labelled as asset stripping and vote buying.

By the end of 2017, seven local councilsMilton Keynes, Bolsover, Brighton and Hove, Canterbury, Chester West and Chester, Stevenage, and Nuneaton and Bedworthactually had letting levels of more than 50 percent of their own former council homes.

In London, where the crisis is worst, 2.3 million people by late 2017 (27 percent of all residents) lived in povertymost of them from working families. The homeless population reached 170,000, more than double that of just five years before.

In a report published in January by Labour London Assembly member Tom Copleycalling for the abolition of right-to-buy but only in Londonhe revealed that 54,540 households were living in temporary accommodation, including 87,310 children. Some 38 percent of this property is now being leased from the private sector.

Labour-run Ealing Council has bought back 516 properties they originally sold for a total of 16,230,470. They have spent 107,071,333 repurchasing themmore than six times the original selling price. Since 1998-99, 102,480 London council properties have been sold, but only 3,000 new ones built.

Local authorities which provided 30 percent of the total housing stock in 1980 now only furnish 8 percent. London council rents average 108 weekly, while private rents cost a whopping 359.

According to PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), the next few years will see further pressure on the rental market. Nearly 60 percent of 20- to 39-year-olds in England will rent homes by 2025, while only 26 percent will gain an initial foothold in housing ownership, down from 38 percent in 2013. The biggest change will be among the 25-34 age group, with two-thirds of all households in private rental accommodation by 2025, compared with 48 percent in 2013.

A third of all 35- to 44-year-olds will still be renting in 10 years, up from 24 percent in 2013. Many would-be home buyers will find it impossible to keep up with mortgage payments during a period where food and fuel prices surpass wage packets.

As well as being deprived of housing stock, councils are financially penalised by right-to-buy. Under council housing schemes, rent collected covers building costs in the long-term, eventually allowing for a profit by the local authority which can in turn reinvest. Under right-to-buy regulations, councils must remit part of the receipts of those sales to the government.

A Local Government Association report drawn up by Savills last year concluded that two-thirds of Englands councils will be unable to replace the same number of homes sold off under right-to-buy in five years time without significant restructuring of the scheme. Sales had peaked between 2015-17, reducing volumes, which was particularly true in London.

Prime Minister Theresa Mays government announced last August that it would press ahead on a new 200 million right-to-buy pilot scheme in the West Midlands. And despite Copleys belated call for right-to-buys abolition in London, the Labour Partywho control all the main urban local authorities in Britainhas been at the forefront of the social cleansing of working-class residents throughout the UK.

Campaigning for the Labour leadership in 2015, Jeremy Corbyn argued that the right-to-buy should be extended to include people living in privately rented properties. So why not go with right-to-buy, he suggested, adding, we need to go further and think of new ways to get more people into secure housing.

Corbyn dare not call for a massive programme of public house building because he wants to prove that Labour will be fiscally prudent. The housing charity Shelter says 3.1 million homes will have to be built by 2040 to meet shortfalls.

Corbyns suggestion was taken up the following year by Civitas, the pro-free-market think tank. They proposed that tenants be allowed discounts, but they should never be so high as to impose losses on the landlord and suggested that discounts be capped and landlords be protected by a capital gains tax concession.

With the total failure of right-to-buy, Labour now promises that it will suspend the right-to-buy policy to protect affordable homes for local people 

The party refuses to abolish the scheme, adding the caveat that councils will be able to resume sales if they can prove they have a plan to replace homes sold like-for-like.

After so many decades where this pipe dream has never occurred, there is no reason to believe that the intended replacements will ever see the light of day.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has presided over the sell-off of thousands of council properties, has failed to build replacement social housing. Last May, Khan, who is making housing the central plank of his re-election campaign, promised a woefully inadequate 10,000 new council homes in the next four years.

Such has been Khans shoddy record on social housing provision, as he has developed cosy relations with private property developers, that his likely Tory challenger, Shaun Bailey, was able to state, The Mayor came into office saying hed sort out Londons housing market; instead what hes overseen is an eye-watering drop of 20 percent in new build starts.

Access to decent affordable housing is a basic human right, but under capitalism it is increasingly unavailable. Only a socialist reorganisation of society can satisfy the desperate and growing need for decent housing for all. The never-ending austerity programme, which has plunged millions into poverty over the last decade, exacerbating the housing crisis, must be reversed and billions spent to provide decent-paying jobs, free and high-quality health care, housing, education and social services for all. The necessary wealth for this must be taken from the billionaires and used to meet essential social needs.
War tensions between India and Pakistan continue to escalate, posing the danger of an all-out military conflict involving nuclear weapons.

At least six civilians and two Pakistani soldiers were killed on Friday and Saturday as a result of cross-border shelling from both sides along the Line of Control (LoC), which separates the two parts of Kashmir ruled by India and Pakistan. Indian and Pakistani troops have attacked each others military posts and villages.

The Pakistani military said that two of its soldiers were killed by Indian firing over the LoC on Friday. The next day, two civilians were killed and two others injured by the resumption of shelling from the Indian side.

Umar Azam, a Pakistani government official, accused Indian troops of indiscriminately targeting border villagers using heavy weaponry along the LoC. Indian police said that Pakistani shelling on Friday killed a mother and two children, and critically wounded the father, in the Poonch region near the LoC.

Thousands of villagers on both sides of the LoC have fled to government-run shelters or relatives homes. Denouncing the cross-border fighting between the Pakistani and Indian militaries, a resident from Mendhar in Indian Kashmir told the media: These battles are being fought on our bodies, in our homes and fields, and we still dont have anything in our hands.

The current fighting erupted after 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack by Kashmir separatists on February 14. The Indian government immediately seized on the attack, which was carried out by the Pakistani-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), to launch a war-mongering campaign against Pakistan. Islamabad insisted it had no hand in the incident.

Last Tuesday morning Indian war planes launched a bombing raid deep inside Pakistan, the first such attack since the end of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. New Delhi claimed the raid destroyed a major JeM camp, killing hundreds of terrorists. Islamabad, however, declared that its air force had chased away the Indian planes, which dropped explosives in a forest area, and that there were no casualties.

On Wednesday, Pakistan retaliated sending its warplanes into airspace over the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. In the resulting dogfight the Pakistan air force shot down at least one Indian plane, which fell inside Pakistan territory. The pilot was captured.

On Friday night, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan released the Indian pilot as a peace gesture and called for talks with India. The Indian government declared that there would not be any talks with Pakistan until it ended all support for Kashmir separatists. Having dismissed Islamabads show of good will, it proceeded to parade the pilot as a national hero.

Indian Air Marshal C. Hari Kumar, who oversaw last Tuesdays air strike against Pakistan, told the Hindu on Saturday: Nobody wants war [but]  We cannot tolerate cross border terrorism. The message has to be sent that we cannot lose citizens, in uniform or otherwise. Our IAF [Indian Air Force] has the capability to hit anywhere.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the BBC on Saturday that although Islamabad never wanted a crisis it was ready to cooperate with India, but insisted, We are on high alert.

The seven-decade geo-political rivalry between India and Pakistan and the conflict over Kashmir is a product of the 1947 communal partition of British India into a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu-dominated India. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of Kashmir. The competing claims provoked a conflict shortly after partition that led to a divided state and continuing tensions that have repeatedly flared.

Both ruling elites use national chauvinism as a means of dividing the working class and oppressed masses between and within their countries. India has maintained its rule over Jammu and Kashmir through a brutal military occupation, which has led to the formation of various armed separatist groups.

While suppressing the basic democratic rights of the masses in the part of Kashmir that it rules, Islamabad cynically uses the Indian military repression in Jammu and Kashmir to promote separatism in Indian Kashmir and pursue its own reactionary geo-political interests in the region.

The decades-long rivalry between India and Pakistan, however, is now being intensified and fuelled by global geo-political tensions between the US and China.

Washingtons support for India as a key partner of its military-strategic offensive against China has encouraged New Delhi to adopt a more hawkish posture against Islamabad. Indias air strike inside Pakistan territory was given the green light by Washington, when it said that New Delhi had the right to self-defence.

Last Thursday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that he had been talking to his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, and Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi to encourage each country not to take any action that would escalate and create increased risk.

Washingtons claims that it wants to prevent an all-out war between India and Pakistan is not out of concern for the fate of millions of people, the victims of such a military conflict on the subcontinent, but flows from its geo-political and military agenda.

The US values its growing military-strategic partnership with India as a major component of its war drive against China. At the same time, it has enlisted Pakistan to pursue its strategic interests in Afghanistan, particularly to broker a negotiated settlement with the Taliban.

The US is therefore concerned that an open military conflict between India and Pakistan will cut across its geo-strategic interests. Irrespective of its intentions, US aggression in Asia against China have added further fuel to decades-long rivalry between India and Pakistan.

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India and Pakistan tobogganing toward a catastrophic war

[2 March 2019]
On Sunday night, the Oakland Education Association (OEA) declared an end to the seven-day strike by 3,000 teachers after claiming that its sellout deal with the school board had been ratified. The announcement came after a mass membership meeting in the afternoon where the union bargaining committee was repeatedly booed and hundreds of teachers denounced the deal, which includes a de facto cut in real wages, does nothing about overcrowded classes or chronic understaffing, particularly of nurses. Most damningly, the deal gives the district and the powerful school privatization forces behind it a green light to impose deep budget cuts, close up to a third of the districts schools and expand for-profit charter schools.

The OEA claimed that teachers had ratified the deal by a 5842 percent margin with 70 percent of the membership voting. The result was met with deep suspicion from teachers because of the underhanded and undemocratic fashion in which the OEA counted the ballots. During the meeting, the election committee suddenly announced that the union had not reserved the theater for a sufficient amount of time to count the ballots in front of the membership. Instead, they said they were taking ballots to the OEA headquarters where they would be counted in a room that rank-and-file teachers would be barred from.

Even if the unions dubious count is accepted, the abstention of 30 percent of the teachers means less than half of the striking teachers voted for what the union officials called a historic victory. Teachers who were feeling economic pressure after seven days on the picket lines with no union strike benefits, reluctantly voted for the deal because they knew the union would not bring back anything better.

OEA President Keith Brown, Vice President Ismael Armendariz and the bargaining team repeatedly told the assembled teachers that they should vote yes because there was no money available for anything better and that what the OEA had agreed to was as good as it was going to get.

The union rammed through the contract just in time for the school board to convene Monday morning to carry out $30 million in budget cuts and implement AB1840, which will place the financial trustee, Chris Learned, under the authority of Alameda County Superintendent Karen Monroe. Learned will have the power to veto any school board measure deemed fiscally irresponsible, including the pay raise in the new contract.

Twice in the past week, the school board attempted to convene to carry out these cuts, but the striking teachers, with the backing of parents and students, prevented the meetings from happening with mass pickets around the building. On Friday afternoon, as the school board attempted to meet for the second time, OEA sent out an announcement to its members declaring that they had reached a tentative agreement and that the picket lines should disperse. OEA President Brown rode to the site in a pickup truck and told the picketers to leave, but they defied his instructions and prevented the board from carrying out its cuts.

During a press conference on Friday evening, Brown admitted to a reporter that the budget cuts were effectively a quid pro quo to which the OEA had agreed in order to secure the tentative agreement.

During the mass meeting, the OEA nearly lost control of the situation. At one point, Brown hysterically denounced a fifth-grader for being in the meeting declaring she was not a union member. At another point, he cut off his own kindergarten teacher, a woman who had been teaching in Oakland since 1962, because she declared her opposition to the contract and called for a general strike before walking away from the microphone.

Members of the Oakland Rank-and-File Strike Committee, which was set up with the assistance of the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, won widespread support for denouncing the sellout and calling for teachers to spread the strike across the state and more broadly to defend the right of public education.

Teachers on Facebook Sunday evening expressed outrage at the announced results. One classified worker who engaged in a solidarity strike with the teachers wrote, I feel betrayed. I feel used. I stuck my neck out in solidarity and Keith Brown left us high and dry  Keith Brown, you used me. I risked my job to stand by you and OEA. I am deeply hurt.

Another wrote: 42% of the membership voted againstand among the yes votes many voted for it with a heavy heart. It is by no means a referendum. Another wrote: If this agreement is not a sellout then I dont know what is. 1 student per class reduction. What happened to the demand for what is best for the students?

The actions and statements of the OEA demonstrate once again that the unions do not represent teachers or any other section of workers but function as the direct agents of the corporate elite and political establishment in imposing austerity and looting public assets.

Over the past year of teachers struggles, each one isolated and shut down by the unions, there has emerged a familiar pattern. The union will announce that the district or the state simply does not have any money. They parade Democrats in front of teachers claiming they are friends of public education, and then shut down the strike on miserable terms, in order to prevent more than one section of teachers from being on strike at the same time.

The OEA and the California Teachers Association, and its parent union, the National Education Association, rushed to shut down the Oakland strike as teachers in Sacramento, Fremont and other districts are pressing for strike action against state Democrats that control the governors office and have a super-majority in both houses of the state legislature. The sellout in Oakland follows the union betrayal of the strike by 33,000 teachers in Los Angeles last month, which was followed by the announced plan to break up the countrys second largest school district in order to facilitate privatization.

The struggle in Oakland is far from over. There are already plans for teachers to organize sickouts to protest todays school board meeting. The efforts to implement draconian budget cuts and school closures will provoke popular opposition. Millions know that the claims by the Democrats and Republicans and the unions that there is no money is a cynical lie given the vast personal fortunes of the Silicon Valley moguls and the grotesque levels of social inequality that prevail in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After a record number of teacher strikes in 2018, over 70,000 teachers have already gone on strike in the US since the beginning of the year, part of a global rebellion of teachers and far broader sections of the working class against austerity and social inequality.

The betrayal of the Oakland strike, like all the rest before them, underscore that teachers have to build new organizations of struggle, rank-and-file committees, which are independent and opposed to the unions and both big business parties. Such committees must fight for what teachers and their students needfully funded public education, smaller class sizes, an end to punitive evaluation schemes, the removal of profit from education and the conversion of charter schools back into public schools.

Securing the funding for high-quality public schools will necessitate a frontal assault on the wealth, power and private fortunes of the super-rich. To fight for this, every section of the working class must be united, and preparations made for a general strike by all workers to defend public education and all the social rights of the working class. This must be combined with the building of a powerful political movement of the working class aimed at taking power and replacing capitalism with socialism.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders kicked off his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination with rallies on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York and on Sunday night in Chicago. At both rallies, he delivered speeches presenting a Sanders presidency as the most ambitious effort to reform American society since the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt, more than 80 years ago.

Sanders speech was an exercise in political demagogy, because there exists no relationship between even the limited reforms he envisages and any realistic strategy for their implementation.

Sanders promised to finally create an economy and a government which works for all of us not just the 1 percent. He continued, clearly referring to the presidency of Donald Trump, The underlying principle of our government will not be greed, hatred, and lies. It will not be tax breaks for billionaires, and efforts to throw millions off the health care that they currently have. This campaign is going to end all of that.

Sanders claimed that under his administration, We will no longer tolerate the greed of corporate America greed which has resulted in this country having more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth.

The candidate outlined a series of socioeconomic reforms, including guaranteed health care for all under a single-payer plan; a $15 an hour minimum wage; creating 13 million decent-paying jobs through a program to rebuild US infrastructure; quality, affordable childcare; tuition-free public colleges and universities and a reduction in student debt; raising Social Security benefits; and transforming the energy system away from fossil fuels as part of an effort to fight climate change.

These proposals will no doubt attract considerable popular support, just as Sanders did in the 2016 campaign, when he received more than 13 million votes in Democratic primaries and caucuses.

Missing from his speech were the words capitalism, private property, profit system, imperialism and the notorious S-word, "socialism."

Sanders invokes a political revolution. But this revolution will supposedly be achieved under the leadership of the Democrats, the oldest modern capitalist party, and will not touch the institution of private property that is the bedrock of capitalist inequality.

Revolutions, fundamentally, involve the transfer of political power from one class to another. However, Sanders does not call for the revolutionary overthrow of the capitalists. Instead, the septuagenarian will give speeches and the citadels of the ruling elite will presumably crumble like the walls of Jericho.

Does Sanders really believe that in America, the heart of world reaction, the worlds most ruthless capitalist oligarchy will simply give way to this political revolution and hand over trillions of dollars in social benefits to the working class, without a shot fired?

No, he does not. And therein lies his dishonesty. In New York, Sanders invoked his own biography, declaring, I know where I came from. By rights, he should have acknowledged where he has ended up: from humble beginnings, he has become an expert in demagogy and a purveyor of illusions.

Sanders appeals to the deeply-felt sentiments of hundreds of millions of workers and young people. He works to channel these sentiments into a political program that cannot achieve anything he promises.

In 2016, Sanders endorsed Hillary Clinton, who had been repeatedly exposed as a Wall Street stooge, betraying the aspirations of his supporters and setting the stage for the fascistic Donald Trump to become president.

Once again, as he begins his campaign for the presidential nomination in 2020, Sanders is attempting to divert all political opposition into the blind alley of the Democratic Party, even as this party itself opposes him and has no intention of implementing anything he proposes.

Sanders speech draws heavily on the Second Bill of Rights proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address in 1944. Seeking to appease the militancy of a working class that would not accept the return of Depression-era conditions when World War II came to an end, Roosevelt declared:

"We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. 'Necessitous men are not free men.' People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.

"In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for allregardless of station, race, or creed."

Roosevelt proposed a series of vaguely-defined economic reforms that included the "right" to "a useful and remunerative job," the "right to earn enough," the "right of every family to a decent home," the "right to a good education," and the "right to adequate medical care."

But, even at the zenith of the United States power, at the very end of World War II, Roosevelt's vision of a somewhat more humane version of American capitalism was dead in the water. Roosevelt died in April 1945, and the war was followed by a wave of political reaction that culminated in McCarthyism. Twenty years were to pass before, in the mid-1960s, President Lyndon Johnson's administration, under pressure from the mass civil rights movement and riots in major American cities, introduced his Great Society program. This was a heavily watered-down version of Roosevelt's "Second Bill of Rights," whose reforms fell far short of the social democratic measures that were commonplace in Western Europe.

In any event, the brief episode of capitalist reformism during the Kennedy-Johnson years soon gave way to the vicious social counterrevolution over which both Democratic and Republican presidents have presided for the past 40 years. The result has been the degeneration of the United States into an oligarchical society, characterized by staggering levels of wealth concentration in the richest 10 percent, while the remaining 90 percent experience economic hardship and outright poverty.

Sanders never gives a single explanation for how any of this came to pass. The policies he is denouncing are those that have been the stock-in-trade of the Democratic and Republican parties for decades. And these policies have been, and are, characteristic of capitalism throughout the world in a period of relentless assaults on the working class.

Sanders has no explanation for any of this because there is only one explanation: The one Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels gave in the Communist Manifesto: that capitalism impoverishes the masses for the enrichment of the capitalists. That capitalism is the cause of war, inequality and every social evil Sanders claims to oppose.

But Sanders does not support ending capitalism. He is appealing to the aspirations of his supporters only to betray them.

Socialism can be achieved only through the mass mobilization of the working class to conquer state power, as part of a revolutionary movement of the international working class, and to carry out the expropriation of the capitalist class and the establishment of public ownership over the means of production. This is the perspective that the Socialist Equality Party fights for.
25 years ago: Clinton on the defensive over Whitewater

Bill Clinton in 1994

On March 7, 1994, US President Bill Clinton was forced to open a press conference with the declaration that his wife, Hillary Clinton, was not a criminal, following a widening investigation, begun in January, into allegations about the Whitewater real estate investment in which the Clintons had lost money.

The same week, ten top aides in the Clinton administration were subpoenaed. White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, who submitted the original request for a special prosecutor in the Whitewater case to Attorney General Janet Reno, resigned. Nussbaum was replaced by Lloyd Cutlera millionaire corporate lawyer and former White House counsel under Jimmy Cartershortly after. Within hours after Nussbaum stepped down, White House officials had begun to use the phrase a Lloyd Cutler model to describe the ideal successor. But it became evident only late today that the description was intended as more than a metaphor, the New York Times noted on March 8, 1994.

The media speculated openly on whether or not the Whitewater scandal would lead to the impeachment of a sitting president, with the US evidently facing a political crisis not seen since Watergate.

The campaign against the Clintons was a byproduct of right-wing hostility over their proposed health care reform, tepid and conservative as it was, emanating from the Republican Party but embraced by sections of the liberal media, particularly the New York Times. While Whitewater itself proved a dry well, the independent counsel investigation into the Clintons ultimately triggered a political firestorm over Bill Clintons sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, leading to his impeachment in December 1998.

The International Workers Bulletin, a US forerunner of the World Socialist Web Site, wrote at the time: Whitewater is only the latest in two decades of political scandals which have been used to manipulate governments, dictate their policies or drive or force them from power. Each time the result is a further shift to the right in the whole framework of American politics 

Whether Clinton survives or not, the policies of the administration will be reshaped along the lines of big business  In the course of this process, the democratic forms in America have more and more eroded.

50 years ago: Scientists organize antiwar protest at MIT

Antiwar protest at MIT

On March 4, 1969, faculty and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were working on military projects began a work stoppage to protest the misuse of science and technology. The event marked the foundation of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS).

The group published a statement signed by 50 senior MIT faculty that outlined the objectives of the organization. They wrote: Misuse of science and technical knowledge presents a major threat to the existence of mankind. Through its actions in Vietnam our government has shaken our confidence in its ability to make wise and humane decisions. There is also disquieting evidence of an intention to enlarge further our immense destructive capability.

The war in Vietnam was beginning to radicalize a new section of the population as it had already done for many American youth. Just a few days later, on March 6, the US Department of Defense would report that 33,376 American had been killed since the start of the war.

The UCS members pledged to initiate a critical and continuing examination of government policy in areas where science and technology are of actual or potential significance, and to use research to find solutions to social and environmental problems as opposed to an emphasis on developing military technology.

The founding document of UCS called of all faculty and students at MIT and around the country to join the one-day strike and begin planning ways to carry out their goals. Another 28 universities participated in or had faculty that supported the protest. One of the largest actions was at the University of Washington in Seattle, where 200 staff members halted their work.

A central component of the UCS protest was to oppose the development of an Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defense system. The scientists argued that the implementation of such a system was not only a massive waste of resources but would greatly increase the potential for nuclear destruction of the Earth. While an ABM system is supposed to target and shoot down incoming ballistic missiles, the simple counter to it is to increase the scale of a nuclear warheads, making war that much more destructive.

75 years ago: Greek Stalinists form anti-fascist government

Greek anti-fascist guerrillas of EAM/ELAS

On March 10, 1944, the National Liberation Front (EAM), dominated politically by the Stalinist Communist Party of Greece, formed a Political Committee of National Liberation (PEAA). The Body, dubbed the mountain government, was conceived of as a rival to both the administration in Athens, which was collaborating with fascist German forces in World War II, and the royal government exiled in Cairo, Egypt, which was under British sponsorship.

Throughout 1943 the EAM had waged guerrilla warfare against the Athens regime and the occupying German forces. The organization played a major role in strikes and demonstrations in February and March 1943, aimed at preventing German plans to force Greek workers into labor camps. It also fought against Bulgarian and Italian troops which were allied with the Axis powers, and anti-communist nationalist organizations, including National and Social Liberation and the National Republican Greek League.

By early 1944 the EAM had succeeded in securing effective control over wide swathes of the Greek countryside. There was mass opposition to the crimes of the fascists and a growing militancy among workers and poor farmers. The Greek Stalinists responded by establishing the PEAA and declaring it a governing body.

The purpose was not to establish a revolutionary regime aimed at reorganizing society along socialist lines, but to leverage their own position as various bourgeois factions jockeyed for dominance amid the crisis of the German-backed regime. The PEAA included capitalist politicians, including some who had recently participated in right-wing groups. Its program was for national liberation and for the consolidation of the independence and integrity of our country, not for socialism or workers power.

This was in line with the nationalist policies of the Stalinist Soviet bureaucracy, which advocated a popular front with progressive sections of the ruling elite against fascism. In May 1944, the PEAA would be integrated into an Allied-backed government in exile headed by Georgios Papandreou. Ultimately Stalin would assign Greece to the British sphere of influence and betray the anti-fascist fighters in the civil war that followed World War II.

100 years ago: Arrest of nationalist leader sparks revolution in Egypt

Saad Zaghloul

On March 8, 1919, the British colonial regime in Egypt, which had occupied the country since 1882, arrested Saad Zaghloul and two other leaders of the Wafd (Delegation) Party, which was soon to become the leading bourgeois-nationalist organization in the country, for continuing to demand that Egyptians be allowed to send a delegation to the imperialist Paris Peace Conference. The three were deported to Malta the next day.

Over the following week, the British action sparked student demonstrations, strikes by workers and actions by peasants throughout Egypt in protest. Lawyers refused to go to court and taxi drivers refused fares. British soldiers were assassinated, and protests united all layers of the population, including both Christians and Muslims, and, for the first time, Egyptian women entered political life. The uprising continued into the summer with 800 dead, mostly Egyptians.

By the end of March, the British placed the country under the military dictatorship of Field Marshal Edmund Allenby. Allenby released Zaghloul in April and permitted his delegation to go to Paris, where the imperialist powers reaffirmed the British protectorate over Egypt. But by 1921, the British understood that Egypt was ungovernable and in 1922 unilaterally declared the independence of Egypt under the rule of a constitutional monarchy. The British kept control of the defense of Egypt against all foreign aggression or interference, direct or indirect, and the protection of foreign interests in Egypt as well as the region to the south of Egypt, known as the Sudan.
The 16th weekly protest of the yellow vests in France took place amid an international strike wave across the Maghreb. Protests are shaking Algeria, where hundreds of thousands are demonstrating against President Abdelaziz Bouteflikas attempt to run for a fifth term. And on the other side of the Mediterranean, 39,300 yellow vests, according to a police count, protested against President Emmanuel Macron, two weeks ahead of the major yellow vest protest called for March 16, to coincide with Macrons fraudulent great national debate.

An association of Policemen Whove Had Enough challenged the Interior Ministrys figures, saying that 200,000 yellow vests had protested; the yellow vests themselves claimed 92,000.

Clashes broke out from the beginning of the yellow vest protest in Nantes, where protesters from across the region had been asked to converge. Around 2 p.m., around 1,000 protesters marched together, but the police forces blocked them and fired heavy volleys of tear gas.

In Bordeaux, several thousand marchers demonstrated peacefully. The citys train station was briefly occupied by the protesters, who set up a banner proclaiming, On March 16, Aquitaine will invade Paris, ultimatum season 2.

In Toulouse, one of the cities which has seen the most yellow vest protests, after protesters marched peacefully for several hours, clashes later broke out with police. On large avenues around the historic centre of town, the police forces mobilized a water cannon after initially firing volleys of tear gas to disperse the protesters.

In Lyon, around 2,000 people took to the streets for a demonstration that organisers said would be region-wide, and which led to several clashes with the security forces. In Marseille, 2,000 people protested alongside members and officials of the Stalinist General Confederation of Labor (CGT) union.

While Macron had threatened to deploy the army to the island early on in the yellow vest movement, a hundred people demonstrated in Saint Paul on Reunion island, marching up the Chaussee Royale.

In Lille, a regional and international rally brought together yellow vests and protesters from other countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands. Press reports said that around 3:30 p.m. the police forces started firing heavy volleys of tear gas at the protesters. Women dressed as Marianne, the national symbol, topless with red vests and tape over their mouths, also attended the protests.

In Paris, 4,000 protesters left the Arc de Triomphe, the organisers of the Yellow Vest Week 16: Insurrection and Week 16, We Take over Paris called for blockading the Arc of Triumph square as long as possible in the west of the city. Shortly after 10 a.m., yellow vest protesters with signs began to gather on the Champs-Elysees. At the end of the afternoon, the police used water cannon to disperse the protesters.

The WSWS spoke to Anais and Vincent, who explained why they were yellow vests.

The increase in fuel costs, we really felt it," Vincent explained. "I spend three hours in my car to do the commute back and forth to work. In terms of voting rights and things like that, we have the presidential elections, but from my point of view that was pretty limited because we dont really have a choice anymore. We were literally stuck between Macron the free-marketeer or Le Pen, the neo-fascist candidate.

On police repression, Anais said: We are not going to give up protesting, there are clashes and excesses unfortunately, but we cant do anything about that. But above all we cannot give up or hand a victory to the state, because its still not clear whether theyve agreed to what we want. Macron tries to win time, but he doesnt listen to us. I think if the situation stays as is, the protests will continue, week after week. As long as there are no real solutions and just words, week after week we will continue to protest.

Vincent dismissed accusations in the media and the political establishment that the yellow vests are anti-Semitic: They are already setting up traps to try to discredit us. Its easier, to do what has been done for the last 40 years in France. If someone thinks differently you call him a Nazi, a nasty anti-Semite, or they will come up with a new insult in the next couple weeks. They seem to have toned down the anti-Semitism accusations over the last week, but then it will be homophobia or anti-Islam, or whatever. That is their game.

Anais also said that the unions are controlled by the state: Normally, we see many people who come with CGT armbands. But for a long time they have accepted the policy of the government, they say nothing, accept things, and stay in their comfortable position. There were a few times when there were debates between unions and the bosses to know if they could reach an agreement. But they didnt find one, so as if by coincidence, the government came in and now it will decide.

On the events in Algeria, Anais and Vincent said they support the demonstrators. They are stuck in a system where Bouteflika is 82 and things havent changed in 40 years," Anais said. "Of course, after a while, people want to lift up the veil and see whats under it. And they are right to want to fight. If that is what theyre fighting for, its right to do it.

WSWS reporters also met a man from Marseille who wanted to remain anonymous, but who said he had come in a personal capacity. He said, Im here because we have a president who doesnt listen, who was elected but with in fact a very small percentage of the French population voting for him. So, he tells himself he has legitimacy, but I dont think he has it today. Im there above all because prices are surging, so thats also an issue everyone is raising.

On Macrons proposals for a law banning opposition to Zionism in response to the yellow vest protests, he said: There are many people among us who are from the Jewish, Muslim communities and were here from the beginning. Its always to discredit the movement. They want that 

I find that the media today serve the interest of the government. Marine Le Pen is not behind us, there is no Jean-Luc Melenchon behind us either. It is an apolitical movement, today above all we want the government to leave.
VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) - A group dedicated to preserving the history of one South Georgia community is celebrating a big milestone.

The Lowndes County Historical Society marks its 50th anniversary Saturday. The organization operates a museum dedicated to local history in Valdosta, where it was founded in 1967.

The Valdosta Daily Times reports the historical society's Saturday celebration includes a toast with "Georgia champagne" - known more commonly as Coca-Cola. The toast will coincide with a presentation at the museum by Larry Jorgensen, author of the book "The Coca-Cola Trail: People and Places in the History of Coca-Cola."

Valdosta was an early bottling site for Coca-Cola.
TIFTON, Ga. (WTXL)  A Tifton school bus aide has been arrested after being seen on video punching a mentally handicapped child.

On Feb. 21, the Tifton Police Department Criminal Investigation Unit was requested by the Tift County Board of Education to investigate an incident involving a school bus aide and a mentally handicapped child.

The incident was reported to the Tift County Board of Education by the child's mother after the child came home with marks and bruising.

The investigation revealed, Judy Steverson, caused excessive physical pain to the child by hitting him with a closed fist causing marks and bruising on the child's arm.

The Tifton Police Department said video surveillance cameras on the school bus captured the incident.

Steverson was arrested on Feb. 27 and charged with first degree cruelty to children.

She was taken to the Tift County Jail.


As the Academy of Sciences (MTA) turns down the governments plan for the reform of scientific research while its counter-proposals have been rejected by the government, a pro-government author thinks the government should perform a political regime change in scientific institutions, while a liberal author thinks a rational reform could still be possible.

In Demokrata, Balazs Agoston accuses the Academy of Sciences of being highly politicised and of promoting partisan causes while framing its position as impartial and professional.

He recalls that Academy President mathematician Laszlo Lovasz opposes the governments stance on Soross Central European University; declares that immigration cannot be categorically rejected and called gender madness serious science.

Agoston also publishes an extensive list of topics studied at the MTA Institute of Sociology including LGBTQ and HIV issues to show that research there is heavily loaded with identity ideology.

A Christian Democrat government has the right and even the duty to decide what kind of research it is ready to finance  he concludes.

In Magyar Narancs, Istvan Elek, an associate professor of cartography would only find the idea of severing the scientific research institutes from the Academy of Sciences as planned by the government acceptable, if the research staff were to be integrated into the universities.

Hungarys universities are in fact underfunded and their academic staff are overburdened.

The average university lecturer can only devote two hours daily to research while the staff of the research institutes are full time researchers. A more equitable system would benefit both research and higher education, he believes.

Lets be naive, he writes, and believe that the decision-makers have realized the anomalies of the system and intend to correct them.

He outlines three options for them, including leaving things as they are but having the Academy reform itself; opening the research budget to all individuals and research communities, inviting them to submit their applications. But his favourite version would be to merge the research institutes with the universities.

This opinion does not necessarily represent the views of XpatLoop.com or the publisher. Your opinions are welcome too - for editorial review before possible publication online.

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President Janos Ader has set the date of the European parliamentary elections in Hungary for May 26, the presidents office said.

This is the fourth occasion Hungarians will decide on their parliamentary deputies in the EP.

In pursuance of my constitutional duty, in line with European Union regulations and the provisions of our Fundamental Law, I have set the date of the European parliamentary elections in Hungary for May 26, 2019, the president wrote.

Ader said the elections will give all Hungarians with voting rights the chance to influence the future of the European Union for the next five years.

Hungary will again send 21 deputies to the legislative body.



MTI Photo: Komka Peter
Prime Minister Viktor Orban has addressed Hungarian-German relations and his governments European Parliament election campaign focusing on migration in an interview to Welt am Sonntag.

Orban said the blot on otherwise excellent Hungarian-German relations was due to differences in their respective approaches to the issue of migration.

We insist on the right of nations to defend themselves, whereas Germany has a different philosophy, he told the conservative paper.

The European Commission should be stripped of migration as a policy area, the prime minister said. Instead, a new professional body under the authority of Schengen-zone interior ministers should take over that responsibility, he added.

Meanwhile, commenting on the governments current billboard campaign depicting European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and related criticism by the European Peoples Party, Orban said its northern members were closer to French President Emmanuel Macron than to the German Christian Democratic Union.

Sadly, [the issue of] migration has sharpened differences here, too. Orban insisted that the EPP, if it wanted to win in central Europe, must declare that Juncker is the past and Manfred Weber, the EPPs spitzenkandidat, the future.

The prime minister characterised Juncker as a nice man for whom he harboured no animosity, but any attempt to exclude Fidesz from EPP was his personal disloyalty, and no one can expect us to accept this disloyalty, even if it is the disloyalty of a kind man.

Orban also dismissed the suggestion that the governments poster campaign was anti-Semitic, saying: This seems like a German problem. Orban said a new phase of the governments billboard campaign would concentrate on First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, who is also the spitzenkandidat of the European Socialists.

Orban insisted that the attack against the governments billboard campaign had been launched by Europes left wing. The left wing always chooses someone as a target, Orban said, adding that its aim was to weaken the European Peoples Party, of which Fidesz is a member, with a view to assuming power in Europe, which he characterised as a power struggle rather than an ideological one.

Not everyone understands this, but in the political literature, Lenin refers to useful idiots who, while believing they are fighting an intellectual struggle, are actually serving the power interests of others and even opponents, Orban said.

Asked whether this was true of some EPP members, he said: They see division as good instead of unity and the unifying of forces.



MTI Photo: Szecsodi Balazs
This years Red Bull Air Race will be held in July in Zamardi, with the race taking place over Lake Balaton, organisers said.

The promoters wrote, "The race is moving from the traditional home above the Danube to the shores the resort city of Zamardi, on Lake Balaton.

Zamardi, a popular destination for holiday-makers from across Europe and beyond, is known for its stunning scenery, expansive beaches, and the surrounding wine-growing region. It also boasts a racing heritage with sailing and other watersports.

As an update to the race 4 location, the Lake Balaton battle is set to take place on the original 13-14 July date. Tickets on sale soon"



Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos recently said the capital would not issue a permit for the Red Bull Air Race, planned for July 13-14 of this year, because of inadequate conditions, prompting a search by local organiser Hungaroring Sport for an alternative venue.

Zamardi mayor Gyula Csakovics said earlier that visitors could watch the race from Zamardis 3km-long beach, while pilots could use nearby airports in Sarmellek, Siofok or Szentkiralyszabadja.

The town of Keszthely, on the south-west shore of Lake Balaton, had also vied for holding the race, partnering with the neighbouring spa town of Heviz.



MTI Photo: Szigetvary Zsolt
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 19F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 19F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Moving low-cost flights from Liszt Ferenc International to an alternative airport outside of the capital would be a tactical error and does not have the support of the tourism industry, the chairman of the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association (MSZESZ) told daily Magyar Nemzet.

Tamas Flesch told the paper the tourism industry is opposed to moving low-fare flights out of the capital, especially at a time when the sector is generating record turnover.

Forcing tourists to come to the capital from Gyor, Debrecen, Tokol or Kecskemet at additional costs would be a tactical error, he said. He argued that capacity should first be expanded at Liszt Ferenc, but also acknowledged the need to improve arrivals reception at the airport.

Budapest Mayor Istvan Tarlos recently proposed banning flights at Liszt Ferenc between midnight and 5:00 in the morning to ease noise pollution.

He also floated the idea of building a smaller airport for low-fare airlines or moving them to another airport outside of the capital.

Hungarian low-fare airline Wizz Air already operates flights from Debrecen, in the east of the country, and the government has allocated funding to convert an air base in Kecskemet, in central Hungary, into a joint civilian-military airport.

Debrecen is about two-and-a-half hours from Budapest by car. Kecskemet is about an hour away from the capital.

Magyar Nemzet learnt from a source in the government that moving low-cost airlines from the capital to an alternative airport is not on the agenda.
In the renovated Museum of Fine Arts, a show will be organised from Michelangelos works in spring 2019, and it will mount a large-scale exhibition in autumn with the title Rubens and His Age.



The Triumph of the Body: Michelangelo and 16th-Century Italian Drawing

6 April  30 June 2019

Following its Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition, from spring 2019 the Museum of Fine Arts will host a show of the drawings of Michelangelo, the other genius of the Italian Renaissance.

Drawing played a central role in the art of Michelangelo, who left behind an outstanding legacy mainly as a sculptor but also as a painter and architect. His drawings will allow an insight into the creative process of the masters celebrated works, while also attesting to his virtuoso handling of drawing techniques to achieve a wide range of artistic expression.

The depiction of the human body was pivotal to Michelangelos art.

The Budapest exhibition will display thirty of the masters nude studies, loaned from the worlds most prestigious collections, including the British Museum, the Uffizi, the Louvre, the Casa Buonarroti, the Albertina, the Teylers Museum and the Ashmolean Museum.

Michelangelos masterpieces, such as numerous drawings made for the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgement, will be shown in the constantly changing artistic environment of the 15th and 16th centuries, alongside drawings by his most talented contemporaries, including Leonardo, Raphael, Signorelli, Pontormo, Bronzino, Salviati and Rosso Fiorentino.

The Budapest exhibition comprising eighty drawings will be the first to bring Michelangelos unparalleled art to the Hungarian public.



Rubens And The Heyday Of Flemish Painting

26 October 2019  16 February 2020

The exhibition will be the fifth part in the series launched by the Department of Old Master Paintings (earlier called the Old Masters Gallery) presenting prominent art historical periods and outstanding national schools of painting.

The series debuted with a show spanning centuries of Spanish painting and continued with an exhibition of masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance (from Botticelli to Titian) and was followed by Italian sei- and settecento masters (from Caravaggio to Canaletto).

The last exhibition before the museums reconstruction showcased unparalleled paintings from the Dutch Golden Age and included works by Rembrandt, Vermeer van Delft and Frans Hals; the show attracted almost a quarter of a million visitors.

The new exhibition, planned to open in autumn this year, will focus on the 17th-century heyday of painting in Flanders, the other part of the Netherlands, hallmarked by Rubens, Van Dyck and Jordaens.

The exhibition is built on the Museum of Fine Arts rich Flemish material but it will also include loans from several renowned foreign collections, such as twenty outstanding masterpieces from The Liechtenstein Princely Collections in Vienna, including a piece (Decius Mus Relating His Dream) from Rubenss large-scale Decius Mus Cycle, which will be displayed alongside a special tapestry made after the painting and woven with gold and silver thread (Palacio Real, Madrid).

These two works will be presented together for the first time. The main goal of the exhibition is to highlight the absolute primacy and pivotal force of Peter Paul Rubenss artistic output through works in our own collections and the loaned pieces, while showcasing the versatile, stylistically and thematically rich 17th-century Flemish painting, which developed from and alongside Rubens.

Besides this, we want to draw attention to the significant activity of Flemish artists in Central Europe as well as the cultural ties between the two cultural regions, in which a key figure was Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria.

The museum loaned works for the show, comprising some 120 exhibits, from 50 or so prominent collections, including the Hermitage, El Prado, the Uffizi, as well as the national galleries of Washington and London. Apart from works by other masters, visitors will be able to see some thirty masterpieces by Rubens and more than ten by Van Dyck.

Source: mfab.hu
French Montana Remy Ma Fat Joe

Rapper French Montana, Remy Ma and Fat Joe are being accused of ripping off a struggling Florida rapper over their hit song, All The Way Up.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Florida rapper, Fly Havana, filed a federal lawsuit in New York claiming he created the hit in 2015.

brightcove-playlist id=5999387261001 player_id=rJxVAd06OZ muted=true]

Laying down the beats in just five hours, Havana claims his unfinished version of the track is identical to the released version, noting similarities in musical composition, lyrical composition, vocal melody, rhythmic flow and sound recording.

Havana says his co-producer, Infared, was friendly with Fat Joe and introduced him to the song before alleging Joe went silent after hearing the track. Havana claims he never heard back from Infared, and was shocked when Fat Joe released the song in 2016 with French Montana and Remy Ma.

The song peaked at #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 list and sold over 2 million copies in the U.S.

Havana now accuses Joe of promising payment and giving him the run around, and even claims Joe threatened him to keep quiet about the true origin of the song.

Havana claims he later did meet up with Joe and was given a check for $5,000, with alleged promises of more to come, but that never happened. Havana is now suing Joe, French and Remy, demanding his share of the profits.

The post French Montana, Remy Ma and Fat Joe Sued Over All The Way Up appeared first on The Blast.
Colton will jump the fence on tonight's episode of 'The Bachelor' originally appeared on goodmorningamerica.com

It's the episode fans of "The Bachelor" have been waiting for! Colton Underwood will finally jump the fence on Monday night's episode.

Three women remain in the fight to win his heart, and this week's episode is expected to be as dramatic as ever.

In this sneak peek, fans receive a clue as to why Underwood breaks down and does the infamous fence jump that fans have been anticipating all season.

Cassie's father travels to Portugal to surprise her and have a serious conversation about her doubts about Colton.

"It's great to see my daughter, but I came here because I have a concern with the potential engagement that might be around the corner," Cassie's father says in the clip.

"When I saw Cassie at our house last week, I can't say that I was convinced that she was in love, so I want to make sure that she's seeing with both eyes open," he adds.

(MORE: 'The Bachelor' sneak peek: Cassie's father questions her relationship with Colton)

In an emotional exchange, the father and daughter discussed her feelings regarding Colton's potential proposal.

When her father suggests that she might be conflicted, Cassie responds, "I wish I could just have more time. I don't want it to be over with him, but then it scares me getting to the end and accepting a proposal."

"There shouldn't be any hesitation in your mind when you meet somebody that you want to spend the rest of your life with," her father responds. "If you're not feeling it, the longer you let it go on is not doing you any service, not doing him any service."

(MORE: 'The Bachelor' sneak peek: Contestant faces bullying accusation)

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"You just need to be honest with yourself and with him," he adds. "Don't hesitate to follow where your heart is."

Could this be what sends Underwood over the edge?

In an interview with "Good Morning America," Chris Harrison spoke about the highly anticipated fence jump.

"I will reveal this: One, he was not happy. Two, I was about 10 yards behind trying to get him to stop and have a conversation. Three, he clearly didn't want to have that conversation to the point he was willing to launch himself over that wall," he shared.

Check out the clip above and an all-new episode of "The Bachelor" tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC.

Join the the Official Bachelor Fantasy League to compete with family, friends and the rest of #BachelorNation for a chance to win a Grand Prize trip. Set your own weekly lineup of Bachelorettes based on weekly categories ranging from who will get a rose to who kisses Colton. Click here to learn more.
Husband, daughter who claimed woman was killed after helping Baltimore panhandler are now charged with her murder originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

The killing of a Baltimore woman took a stunning twist Sunday when her husband and stepdaughter were arrested on murder charges, two months after they claimed a black man panhandling with a woman and a baby stabbed her when she gave them money.

Jacquelyn Smith, 54, was stabbed to death just after midnight on Dec. 1 in the Johnson Square neighborhood of East Baltimore, police said.

Her husband, Keith Smith, called 911 and later told police that he and his wife, along with his daughter, Valeria Smith, were driving when they saw a woman standing on the side of the road, carrying what looked like a baby wrapped in a blanket. They said she was holding a sign that read, "Help me feed my baby, God Bless."

(MORE: Husband of woman killed after helping panhandler speaks out: 'I want justice')

Keith Smith said they pulled over and his wife rolled down the window to hand the woman $10.

He told ABC News that he noticed a man standing next to the panhandling woman. But it never crossed his mind that he and his wife were being set up, he said in an interview after the killing.

(MORE: Baltimore woman's act of kindness ends in her death)

"She was trying to help someone out," Keith Smith told ABC News just days after he said his wife was stabbed in front of him and Valeria Smith, who were out with celebrating her 28th birthday when the tragedy unfolded.

PHOTO: Keith Smith of poses with his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death by a panhandler in Baltimore on Dec. 1, 2018. (Courtesy Keith Smith)

However, after a lengthy investigation, Baltimore Police allege it was Keith Smith, along with his daughter, who were responsible for Jacquelyn Smith's murder.

The pair was arrested near the U.S.-Mexico border in Harlingen, Texas, and now face charges of first-degree murder, police said at a news conference Sunday. Investigators learned Keith Smith was leaving Maryland and coordinated with the Texas State Police to take him into custody Sunday morning.

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"We're looking forward to this cruel act being brought to justice," Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh said.

Police would not comment on how they determined Keith and Valeria Smith were responsible for the death, citing an ongoing investigation.

Officials would not comment on a possible motive.

In an interview with ABC News shortly after his wife's death, Keith Smith described what he told police happened that day and how saddened he was that his wife's life was taken over a few dollars.

Jacquelyn Smith, her husband and daughter were driving home when Jacquelyn Smith spotted the woman standing in the drizzling, cold weather and holding what she thought was a baby, according to Keith Smith.

PHOTO: Keith Smith of poses with his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death by a panhandler in Baltimore on Dec. 1, 2018. (Courtesy Keith Smith)

The family pulled over to help, Keith Smith said.

(MORE: Husband of woman killed after helping panhandler speaks out: 'I want justice')

"As she was handing her the money, the guy came to say 'Thank you,' and the woman was saying 'God bless you. God bless you,'" Smith recalled. "While we're looking at her saying 'God bless you' and my wife was handing her the money, he came over to the car and said 'Thank you' and then he started stabbing my wife and snatched her necklace off and ran."

He said the female panhandler reached into the car, grabbed his wife's purse and scurried off into the darkness.

"For most people, the last thing you're going to think about is that this person is about to take your life for a few dollars," Keith Smith said.

"I think the reality is, we forget about the times that we're living in," he said. "You may have the best intentions on helping this person, but when you let a person get into your safe zone, you're actually opening yourself up to whatever this person has intended for you."

(MORE: Nashville police investigate whether spate of 'cold-blooded' killings are connected)

Two days after the fatal stabbing, Keith Smith and his daughter returned to the scene of the killing with then Baltimore interim Police Commissioner Gary Tuggle for a news conference, in which Tuggle asked the public to help investigators identify the two suspects.

PHOTO: Keith Smith of poses with his wife, Jacquelyn Smith, who was stabbed to death by a panhandler in Baltimore on Dec. 1, 2018. (Courtesy Keith Smith)

(MORE: 'He fooled us': Friends of man who allegedly killed pregnant wife, daughters speak out after shocking arrest)

At the time, Tuggle said it appeared the two panhandlers were working together.

"They're using this ruse as panhandlers to get the attention of their would-be victims," Tuggle said at the time. "We also want to caution the public about engaging with panhandlers in recognizing the fact not all of them have honest intent. Not all of them are in real need."

Jacquelyn Smith worked as an electrical engineer at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, an Army facility in Aberdeen, Maryland, her husband said. He said he and his wife were members of the Helping Hands Ministries Church in the Baltimore suburb of Churchville, where Jacquelyn's memorial service was held on Dec. 7.

ABC News' Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
At least 23 killed, including 3 children, as tornadoes devastate Alabama town: 'Like a bomb went off' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

At least 23 people were killed in an Alabama town when a slew of tornadoes ripped through Sunday, leaving behind "catastrophic" damage, said Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones.

This storm brought the highest tornado death toll in the United States since 2013, according to the National Weather Service. At least three children -- age 6, 9 and 10 -- were among the victims, according to the local coroner.

Those killed lived in roughly a one-square-mile area of the town of Beauregard, a resilient, community-oriented town of roughly 9,000, Jones said, and many miraculously escaped with their lives.

In this area, which has many mobile homes, houses were "completely destroyed, nothing left but the slabs -- concrete slabs that they existed on," Jones told "Good Morning America" Monday. Storm surveys were ongoing, but preliminary reports indicate the deadly twister reached an EF-4 category with winds estimated at 170 mph.

Jones said he has never seen this level of destruction.

PHOTO: Damage is seen from a tornado in Beauregard, Ala., March 4, 2019. (Tami Chappell /AFP/Getty Images)

PHOTO: Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew the building off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard, Ala., March 4, 2019. (David Goldman/AP)

PHOTO: A woman and her dog make their way through the wreckage of shattered homes, March 4, 2019, as rescue workers, residents and volunteers sift through the debris following a tornado, in Beauregard, Ala. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

(MORE: New Orleans woman survives tornado hiding in bathtub: 'I just started praying')

"This is a disaster," Beauregard resident Douglas Griffin, whose home was destroyed, told ABC News. He said it's "like a bomb went off."

Griffin was on his way to the store when a tornado struck. He said he thinks he would've been killed if he was home at the time.

"I'm blessed to be alive," Griffin said.

PHOTO: Damage from a tornado is seen as Lee county deputies secure the scene in Beauregard, Ala., March 4, 2019. (Tami ChappellAFP/Getty Images)

PHOTO: Tornadoes have struck parts of Alabama, near the Georgia state line, to Macon, Georgia, about 100 miles to the east. March 3, 2019. (Scott Fillmer)

At least 12 reported tornadoes were reported in Alabama while Georgia saw 16, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Residents in the Beauregard storm's path shared harrowing video on social media Sunday as winds ripped apart entire neighborhoods.

One person posted footage of what appeared to be an uprooted metal guardrail wrapped around a tree, while others shared videos of large poles and street lights twisting in the wind.

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BREAKING: Preliminary EF-4 Tornado Damage has been found along County Road 39 just east of Cave Mill Road in southwestern Lee County. Winds have been estimated at 170mph. Single family homes were completely destroyed. Photos are from those survey locations. #alwx pic.twitter.com/euYNfSDY11  NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) March 4, 2019

Picking up the pieces in Smith Station.... Volunteers tell me its bad in this area, but much worse a little farther south. @CharlesDanielWx @abc3340 pic.twitter.com/A6uRhQqbca  Ashley Gooden (@AshleyGoodenTV) March 3, 2019

"Debris is just everywhere," one Twitter user wrote. "Parts to people's houses, random mattress in our driveway, trees down everywhere I can look, power lines down everywhere."

Residents Kevin and Becky Boyd they were in their trailer when the tornado hit, rolling the trailer over.

(MORE: Man recalls terrifying tornado that took his wife's life)

Becky Boyd described it as "terrifying" and the "worst thing you could ever think of happening to you."

They feel lucky to have escaped alive, but Kevin Boyd told ABC News, "We lost everything. One day you got everything, next day you ain't got nothing."

PHOTO: Students, teachers and residents hold a prayer circle in the gymnasium of Beauregard High School for those in their community that lost their lives in a Sunday night tornado on Monday, March 4, 2019, in Beauregard, Ala. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

President Donald Trump said Monday, "Our whole nation mourns for the more than 20 lives lost and for the heartbroken families they leave behind."

"You look at the areas affected and probably nobody made it out of that path. That path was brutal," Trump said. "To the community of Lee County we grieve by your side and we pledge our unwavering support to help you rebuild from the very depths of this horrible tragedy."

PHOTO: A search and rescue team walk past damage from a tornado in Beauregard, Ala., March 4, 2019. (Tami Chappell/AFP/Getty Images)

(MORE: Storm kills married Arkansas couple, but infant survives)

"I've directed FEMA [the Federal Emergency Management Agency] to provide immediate assistance to the great state of Alabama," he said.

An average of 80 people die annually from tornadoes in the U.S., although just 10 died in 2018, according to data from the National Weather Service.

ABC News' Steve Osunsami, Rachel Katz, Melissa Griffin, Max Golembo, Alex Mallin, Joshua Hoyos and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.
Photo credit: Getty Images

From Town & Country

No one really knows what Anne Boleyn actually looked like. After she was executed in 1536 (for treason, incest, adultery-anything, really, that Henry VIII could think of to rid himself of her so he could marry Jane Seymour), all the portraits of Boleyn were destroyed.

Our idea of Henry VIIIs second wife comes largely from a 17th century portrait-thought to have been recreated from an earlier work-that hangs in Room 1 at the National Portrait Gallery in London. There she is a young and attractive woman, wearing a heavily embroidered bodice, and a significant amount of jewelry, most notably a pearl necklace with three drops from which suspends a golden initial B. And try as Henry VII might have to erase her from history, the legend of Anne Boleyn lives on-as does the mystery of her necklace.

It was the first thing I thought about when I saw the B charms hanging from heavy metal links on the models at the Balenciaga show in Paris yesterday. Did a scandalous 16th century British Queen inspire one of the most talked about shows in France? Doubtful-the initial necklace has influence far and wide-but that B (for Balenciaga, not Boleyn, to be clear) did send me down a jewelry mystery rabbit hole. Its one of the most intriguing of jewelry history questions: Where Is It Now?

Photo credit: Stock Montage - Getty Images

The simple answer: no one really knows. But that has never stopped a jewelry sleuth. And Henry and Annes whole courtship begins and ends on a jewel. One of Henry VIIIs first love letters to Anne came with a gold bracelet. There was a picture of him inside. During their marriage he lavished her with jewelry-several diamond and gold bracelets, rings and pendants with their entwined initials, and anything he could wrestle away from Catherine of Aragon, including, reportedly, a stash of legendary rubies.

Their love also ended on a jewel. Legend has it that Anne discovered Henrys affair with Jane Seymour when she spotted a locket around Janes neck at court. Inside? A picture of the King himself. Jane seemed to take pleasure in torturing Anne by opening and closing the locket repeatedly anytime they were in the room together.

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Photo credit: DEA / G. NIMATALLAH - Getty Images

But because of the portrait, and perhaps because of that gleaming golden initial, it is Anne Boleyns B necklaces fate that has most intrigued historians and Boleyn biographers. They have reported many theories, but have recovered no pearls.

It is believed, and hoped, that some of Boleyns jewelry was stashed away by loyalists and held for her daughter Elizabeth I. An A necklace in an early portrait of The Virgin Queen seems to support this claim. The majority of Annes treasures, however, are believed to have been melted down or sold off, as was custom.

There is a persistent rumor that a handful of the pearls from the B necklace remained with the Crown and that they now are among the stones in the Imperial State Crown, set innocently enough against the Black Princes Ruby and the Stuart Sapphire. Which would mean of course that, try as he might, Henry could not erase Boleyn from history: the Imperial State Crown anointed Elizabeth II at her coronation.

Photo credit: Robert Alexander - Getty Images

Though perhaps that was Henrys plan all along. There is strong evidence that he himself bought back several treasures associated with Annes court, several of which were adorned with jewels and emblazoned with their entwined initials. Its a side of Henry VII we dont often think about-perhaps there was inside of him some regret, or at least, a fond remembrance.

Or maybe he wanted the sapphires.

('You Might Also Like',)
Labrador retriever dog in the park.

Im Edward Crane and I am just an ordinary person. Im 62 years old, and for about the first 32 years of my life, I was healthy, active and on a great career trajectory. I studied engineering in the U.S. Merchant Marine and traveled the world. Then I worked as a field engineer in the insurance industry in New Jersey and New York, and for a decade, everything went well. In 1987 I experienced my first grand mal seizure and collapsed at a business meeting in Philadelphia. It was the onset of epilepsy, which changed my life forever.

I continued working for the next 14 years, but my seizures, which only happened a few times the first year, became more and more frequent. They began to occur monthly, then weekly, then daily over the years; eventually they took control of my life. In August 2001, I finally had to retire on disability from my 24-year career because of my medical condition. This was a profoundly sad moment in my life.

Related: Please Stop Telling Sick People How to Be Sick

A friend showed me a TV program featuring the nonprofit organization Canine Partners for Life (CPL). It detailed the wonderful work assistance dogs can do for disabled individuals, like retrieving objects out of a persons reach, opening and closing doors on command, turning light switches on and off, providing balance and support, providing stability on stairs, helping bed-dependent individuals move, assisting with dressing and undressing, taking purchases and wallets to a cashier, alerting people to imminent seizures and cardiac events, and much more. This got my attention and I contacted CPL and arranged an interview.

My process of seeking an assistance dog was interrupted in December 2002 when I had surgery on the left temporal lobe of my brain to reduce the frequency of my seizures. The procedure helped, but it also impaired my short-term memory. Fewer seizures were a step in the right direction, but life was still a major daily challenge for me and I needed help.

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Related: Dear Epilepsy, I Will Always Appreciate You

After recovering from surgery in 2003, I went back to CPL and they introduced me to a female black Labrador retriever named Charity, who would be my home companion dog with the ability to alert me of oncoming seizures. Amazingly, at our first meeting, she warned me of an oncoming seizure about 20 minutes in advance of its occurrence. I laid down on the floor and she waited the seizure out by my side. I knew at that moment my life had just changed for the better. It was a new beginning for me. Our relationship as a team was truly amazing. We were together for about eight years before she passed away in 2011. Again, my life took a step backwards without my special dog by my side assisting me.

In June of 2012, I was matched with my current assistance dog, a cream Labrador retriever named Alepo, who warns me of oncoming seizures with complete accuracy and reliability, quickly alerting me and getting me to react. He isnt satisfied until I lie down so he can place his front legs across my waist, and he wont let me up until my seizure is entirely over. Then he gets up and licks my face, signaling that its safe for me to slowly return to my feet. Life got back to normal for me again.

Related: The Comment I Don't Want to Hear About My Toddler's Walker

We have been together as a team for over six years now and I also frequently lose my balance without warning. But I keep a good grip on the harness he wears to provide me with the necessary support through these unexpected challenges. This prevents me from falling and spares me many possible injuries and broken bones.

Epilepsy is truly a battle in my life, between the seizures, physical injuries, chronic head pain, memory loss, frustration and depression. I am truly a blessed individual; I have family members and friends who have helped me and supported me in so many ways each and every day as I deal with my epilepsy. I am truly grateful to my sister and her hubby, whom I live with, for being there for me; may God bless them both. Also, my assistance dog is my canine partner who is with me 24 hours a day, everywhere I go and provides me all the support I need. He helps me fight this battle daily and has helped restore a level of normalcy in my life. I am truly grateful.

Having a service dog made such a difference in my life with my epilepsy and the lives of many people I know, that I founded a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization called My Assistance Dog Inc. several years ago. We do not raise or train assistance dogs, but spread the word to individuals, the community in general and corporate America about the need for and the benefit assistance dogs provide to disabled individuals and their families. We also hope to provide support in as many ways as possible to the assistance dog community. In our short existence, we have reached out to over one million people around the world spreading the word about these amazing dogs.

Our goal is to educate and spread the word to the disabled community about how these special dogs can positively change ones life for the better, promote awareness regarding assistance dogs, spread the word about their abilities and skills, protect and advance our rights with our dogs and celebrate the great work of assistance dogs and the wonderful organizations that raise and train them.

On a typical day, I begin my morning with a one mile walk in our neighborhood with my canine partner. My level of confidence is strong because I no longer have the fear of an oncoming seizure hitting me by surprise. It is a great way to start the day. I then spend the day on the internet and/or Facebook researching and preparing stories to feature regarding assistance dogs, plus answering questions people submit to us regarding assistance dogs.

My canine partner is always at my feet working, paying attention to me. Whenever he warns me of on oncoming seizure, I lay down on the floor and he places his front paws across my knees until the seizure ends. When he gets up, I know my seizure has passed and I get up and sit down to recover. Many days I also fight a battle with chronic severe head pain and I take the necessary medication, but my canine partner knows my condition and provides me support by staying at my side. I try to focus on him and not the pain and it helps.

In the evening I take that one mile walk again with my canine partner and it is truly relaxing for me. I sit down and review what took place in the day, I make some written notes (because of my memory loss), file them and plan for the next day and the future. I get a lot accomplished most days and I move forward in life.

In my life with epilepsy, I have learned that my family has been there for me, they help me deal with the biggest challenge I have ever faced in life and I am truly grateful for their love and support. But my assistance dog is a true miracle. My invisible disability will always be with me, but because of my canine partner Alepo, it no longer controls my life.

Read more stories like this on The Mighty:

When Things Don't Go as Expected Due to My Child's Medical Condition

When I Was Forced to Seek Out a New Doctor -- Several Times

10 Things I Wish People Understood About Service Dogs
It has long been believed that the chocolate chip cookie was invented by accident. As the legend goes, Ruth Graves Wakefield was whipping up a batch of chocolate cookies when her chocolate didn't fully melt, thus creating the chocolate chips within the cookie. In reality, it was no accident; Wakefield knew exactly what she was doing.

In 1924 - when Wakefield was 21 - she attended the Framingham State Normal School to study household arts. The Massachusetts school still exists, though it is now a university. It was there that she pursued her culinary interests. A few years later, she opened the Toll House Inn with her husband, Kenneth Donald Wakefield, in the small town of Whitman, MA. Together, they owned and operated the tourist lodge.

On a glorious day in 1938, according to The Great American Chocolate Chip Cookie Book, Wakefield was going to make her famous butterscotch cookies when she instead came up with a brilliant alternative. While there are several stories floating around, it is now commonly believed that she grabbed a Nestle chocolate bar and chopped it up into small pieces for her new recipe.

Related: The Only Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe You'll Need For the Rest of Your Life

Prior to her invention of the chocolate chip cookie, Wakefield had written a popular cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes. Following her breakthrough, she re-released the cookbook to include her recipe.

The cookie promptly became a popular treat outside of the Toll House Inn. A year later, Nestle bought the rights to the recipe, as well as the Toll House name. The price for one of the world's most beloved baked goods? A single dollar and a lifetime supply of chocolate. Reflecting on the exchange later, Wakefield said, "I was always brought up in college to think that a professional person doesn't enter the commercial world." She did, however, continue to consult for Nestle on recipes for years to come.

In 1966, the Wakefields decided to sell the inn. A decade later, she passed away from undisclosed causes. Her precision and craftsmanship is frequently noted in books and articles about her. This can be detected even in the foreword of her cookbook. On the inn, she wrote, "Our aim has always been to offer a restful atmosphere and, in expanding, never to sacrifice fine quality or the kind of service we all want in our own homes." What's more, her innovative chocolate chip cookie is a reflection of that "restful atmosphere" and the sheer effort she put into all aspects of her life. For Ruth Graves Wakefield, nothing great was ever an accident.
29 deported migrant parents return to the US, hoping to reunite with their children and seek asylum originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

This story is a part of an ongoing ABC News project called Borderline, documenting immigration at the US-Mexico border.

At a San Antonio airport one day last May, Jesus, an immigrant from Honduras, waited for his 6-year-old son, Ariel, from whom he had been separated days earlier when the pair was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents after crossing the Rio Grande.

Jesus, 31, was waiting for a reunion that would never happen.

I cried inconsolably, the father said.

The heartbroken dad was among a group of 29 migrant parents who said they were deported without their children and made the journey back to the United States in hopes of reuniting with their kids. They reached Californias Calexico Port of Entry on Saturday to reapply for asylum with the help of immigrant advocate attorneys.

PHOTO: Central American asylum seekers wait as U.S. Border Patrol agents take them into custody on June 12, 2018 near McAllen, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

When they arrived, the group was initially told by CBP agents at the U.S. border that they were at capacity and could not process these parents, according to the migrants' attorneys.

But after a 10-hour wait, during which volunteers brought stacks of pizzas, toys and coloring books for the children, CBP agents notified the group that they should gather their belongings in order to be processed. The families quickly followed the request, taking off belts and jewelry and pulling out all their documents to have them ready to present to officials.

As of Sunday, the parents were still waiting to reunite with their children.

For Jesus and the other parents, it was the latest frustrating step in a months-long journey to make their families whole again.

PHOTO: Jesus said he was separated and deported without his son, and is now seeking reunification and asylum. March 1, 2019. (ABC News)

The Honduran father and his son came to the U.S. last spring to seek asylum after being beaten and threatened by local gangs back home, he told ABC News.

(MORE: A grandmother's 2,700-mile journey to Tijuana's migrant shelter and her wait for a family reunion)

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In a declaration that Jesus plans to file with a new asylum application, Jesus wrote that an officer told him that by "putting one foot in the U.S., the government owns my son and they would do anything they wanted.

He wrote that he told the officer that he wouldnt allow it and that the officer tore my son from my arms and I was ordered to place my hands on the wall. When I turned around, I couldnt see my son, but I could hear his cries.

Jesus said he signed a document in English, a language he doesn't speak or write; he says he it thought was an asylum application, but it was actually a deportation agreement.

PHOTO: Over two dozen parents arrived at the Calexico Port of Entry in Calexico, Calif., seeking asylum and to be reunited with their separated children. (ABC News)

After I signed the documents, the officer laughed and said I had just signed my deportation, Jesus wrote, adding that when he asked the officer why he had done that, the officer said, "not to worry, that my child would be at the airport.

At the Texas airport that day, some nine months ago, Jesus waited for Ariel.

(MORE: Mexican man dies in Border Patrol custody after crossing US-Mexico border, third in as many months)

When it was time to board, he said he did not see his son and refused to get on the plane without him.

Jesus said he accused the officer of lying to him.

And Jesus said he felt like he was tricked again when the officer responded that Ariel was probably on his way or would be on his way a couple days after, because there was a special plane that would only take minors, he wrote in a filing.

Jesus ultimately boarded the plane without Ariel.

PHOTO: Jesus and his family in Tijuana, Mexico two weeks before presenting themselves at the U.S. border. (ABC News)

U.S. Custom and Border Protection did not respond to repeated requests by ABC News for comment.

In June, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration's position on separating children from migrant parents who cross the border illegally.

"If people dont want to be separated from their children, they should not bring them with them," Sessions said in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. "Weve got to get this message out. Youre not given immunity."

And in December, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said the immigration system has been "pushed to a breaking point," and lumped parents trying to cross the border with their children in with criminals.

"Smugglers, traffickers, and their own parents put these minors at risk by embarking on the dangerous and arduous journey north," she said in a statement in December.

The group of 29 migrant parents are among the approximately 430 migrant parents who were separated and deported without their children under the Trump administrations zero-tolerance policy, according to government data.

The government has identified a total of 2,816 children who were separated from their parents at the southern border last year. Of these children, 2,735 have been reunited with a parent, placed with a sponsor, or turned 18, according to a legal document filed last month by the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies.

These figures, however, only account for separated children who were in government custody on or after June 26, 2018, when a California federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop separating families, unless the parent was unfit or dangerous, and try to reunite them.

(MORE: Trump administration admits thousands more migrant families may have been separated than estimated)

Last month, government lawyers did not dispute findings by the Health and Human Services Inspector General's office that thousands more children may have been separated from their parents at the border than was previously known and that a "steep increase" of separations began in the summer of 2017, almost a year before the "zero-tolerance" policy was announced by Sessions last spring.

Some of the families who presented themselves at the U.S. border this weekend could be part of this previously unaccounted-for group. Lee Gelernt, lead attorney in the ongoing federal lawsuit that seeks to reunite separated families and deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project, told ABC News that he "hopes these previously-deported families will now be able to reunite with their children, like the other plaintiffs" in his lawsuit.

PHOTO: Over two dozen parents arrived at the Calexico Port of Entry in Calexico, Calif., seeking asylum and to be reunited with their separated children. (ABC News)

Another parent among the group of 29 families who made the trek back to the U.S. hoping to reunite with a child is Elmer, a former police officer from Honduras and the sole guardian of his 15-year-old daughter. He fled the country with his daughter in June and crossed the Rio Grande near Brownsville, Texas.

Elmers story has similarities to the one told by Jesus. He said he signed papers in English after arriving at a detention center he called hieleras, which means icebox in Spanish.

The official only laughed and told me not to worry about it, Elmer, who also asked for anonymity, wrote in a declaration. "Those were the only papers I ever signed. If I had known I was signing my own deportation, I never would have signed the papers.

PHOTO: Elmer married his fiancee Delcy near the Mexico-U.S. border March 1, 2019. (ABC News)

The following morning, he said his daughter woke up with a fever. Elmer said he begged the officials to help her before she was taken away. That was the last time he saw her, he said.

Amid the uncertainty and anxiety, Friday night was a mix of celebration and nerves for the migrant families staying at the Hotel del Norte, located just minutes from the U.S.-Mexico border. Elmer married his pregnant fiancee, Delsy, in a ceremony attended by 50 others.

(MORE: Fact Check: Trump's claims on undocumented immigrant crime rates. Here's what the numbers show.)

The partygoers described it as a brief moment of happiness in a long journey, and a reprieve from their worries.

(MORE: Rep. Steven King has 'been demonizing immigrants and brown people for a long time': Hispanic Caucus chairman)

And on Saturday, the migrant families, along with a team of lawyers and volunteers, hugged and cried as they officially entered the United States.

Beyond the joy of crossing the border, the parents must now wait.

Jesus' son, Ariel, is currently living with extended family in Washington, D.C., and has not seen his parents or sister since May, according to Jesus.

PHOTO: Ariel, age 6, separated from his father at the Southern border last spring, is living in Washington, D.C., with sponsors and Facetimes with his parents. March 3, 2019. (ABC News)

During that time, Jesus said he received gang threats again when he returned to Honduras. When he returned to the U.S. border on Saturday, he did so this time with the rest of his family -- his wife, Mira, and his daughter, Riccy.

PHOTO: Mira is hoping to reunify with son Ariel, age 6, and apply for asylum in the U.S. March 1, 2019. (ABC News)

Now that he's in the U.S., Jesus told ABC News that the first thing he wants to do is reunite with my son. His eyes teared up as he rested his head on his wifes shoulder.

Both Jesus and Elmer have now filed the initial paperwork to begin their asylum applications, according to their lawyer Erika Pinheiro, the litigation and policy director for Al Otro Lado.

This is a huge victory for these families, but this fight isnt over until theyre reunited with their kids, said Pinheiro. These parents are now going into the black hole of CBP custody. Some could be separated again. Some could go into ICE custody.

"But, we hope that CBP and ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] do the right thing and immediately release these parents and reunite them with their kids," she added. "If they dont, were ready to keep fighting for these families.
Algiers (AFP) - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's longest-serving president and a veteran of its independence war, is a political survivor battling to stay in power despite ailing health after two decades at the helm.

Bouteflika, who turned 82 on Saturday, has changed campaign manager and had his registration submitted at the 11th hour for the country's April 18 presidential poll from a hospital bed in Switzerland where he has been undergoing "routine medical tests".

The president, who uses a wheelchair, vowed in a letter read out on state television Sunday to organise a "national conference" if re-elected that would set a date for further polls which he would not contest.

"I pledge not to be a candidate in that election which will ensure I am succeeded in undeniable conditions of serenity, freedom and transparency," he wrote in the face of massive demonstrations against his candidacy for a fifth term in office.

Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013 that impaired his speech and forced him to use the wheelchair.

But even before his stroke, Bouteflika had repeatedly marked himself out as a wily political survivor.

When he came to power twenty years ago, with the support of an army battling Islamist guerrillas, nobody expected him to stay in office for so long.

But "Boutef", as many Algerians nickname him, was instrumental in fostering peace after a decade-long civil war in the 1990s.

"I am the whole of Algeria. I am the embodiment of the Algerian people," he said in 1999, the year he first became president.

He has had a long battle with illness and frequently flown to France or Switzerland for treatment.

Known for wearing a three-piece suit even in the stifling heat, he gained respect from many for his role in ending the civil war, which official figures say killed nearly 200,000 people.

But he has also faced criticism from rights groups and opponents who accuse him of being authoritarian.

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After his stroke, Bouteflika consolidated power in a country where the shadowy intelligence service has long been viewed as a "state within a state".

In early 2016, he dissolved the all-powerful DRS intelligence agency after dismissing its leader General Mohamed Mediene, known as "Toufik", who had clung to the post for a quarter of a century.

- Architect of peace -

Bouteflika was born in Morocco on March 2, 1937 to a family from western Algeria.

At the age of 19, he joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) in its struggle against the French colonial rulers.

When independence came in 1962, he was appointed minister of sport and tourism at the age of just 25, under Algeria's first post-independence president, Ahmed Ben Bella.

The following year he became foreign minister, a post he held for more than a decade.

But he was sidelined after the death of president Houari Boumediene in 1978 and went into self-imposed exile.

While he was abroad, the military-backed government cancelled 1991 elections which an Islamist party had been poised to win.

That sparked a decade of bloodletting.

Bouteflika returned from Switzerland in 1999 to stand for president, with the backing of the army, which saw him as a potential figure of reconciliation.

He proposed an amnesty for rebels who laid down their arms and twice secured public endorsement for "national reconciliation" through referendums.

The first, in September 1999, was a major gamble -- but it paid off, leading to a sharp decrease in violence that helped propel Bouteflika to a second term in 2004.

A constitutional amendment was required to allow him to stand for a third term, which he won in 2009.

When the Arab Spring erupted in January 2011, Bouteflika rode out the storm by lifting a 19-year state of emergency and using oil revenues to grant pay rises.

His supporters argue that under his stewardship, public and private investment has created millions of jobs and dramatically lowered unemployment.

But a lack of opportunities and high youth unemployment keep driving many Algerians to seek a better life abroad.

- Uncertain future -

In April 2013, the president was rushed to hospital in France after his stroke, and spent three months recovering.

He had already been hospitalised in Paris in 2005 because of intestinal problems, and in early 2006 spent a week undergoing post-operative medical tests at the same hospital.

Already back in 2014, Bouteflika's decision to seek a fourth mandate after 15 years in power sparked both criticism and derision from opponents, who questioned his ability to rule.

He did not even campaign, casting his vote from a wheelchair, but still officially won 81 percent of the vote.

There has been constant speculation over his health and his fourth mandate has been marred by falling oil prices, exposing the country's heavy dependence on hydrocarbons.

Critics argue that uncertainty over Bouteflika's fitness for a fifth term -- and speculation over possible successors -- has frozen the government.
Washington (AFP) - US Democratic lawmakers launched Monday their most ambitious investigation yet into alleged obstruction of justice and abuse of office by Donald Trump, targeting dozens of individuals in the president's inner circle.

With controversies swirling around Trump, the powerful House Judiciary Committee's chairman sent strongly worded letters to family members of the president -- including sons Don Jr and Eric -- as well as political confidantes and related entities.

The letters demanded documents that could shed light on possible wrongdoing by the administration and Trump himself.

Son-in-law Jared Kushner and the Trump Organization's longtime chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, were among the 81 people and organizations -- such as the National Rifle Association -- receiving letters from the panel's Democratic chairman Jerry Nadler.

They also include White House ex-aides Steve Bannon and Hope Hicks, current Trump personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, former attorney general Jeff Sessions, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The request is the most serious overt ramp-up of investigations into Trump since Democrats took control of the House of Representatives in early January, and seeks to uncover whether Trump or his administration participated in obstruction of justice or public corruption -- potentially impeachable offenses.

"This is a critical time for our nation, and we have a responsibility to investigate these matters and hold hearings for the public to have all the facts," Nadler said in a statement.

"Over the last several years, President Trump has evaded accountability for his near-daily attacks on our basic legal, ethical, and constitutional rules and norms," he added.

"Investigating these threats to the rule of law is an obligation of Congress."

- 'Political hoax'? -

Trump himself swatted away the probe as a "political hoax," but said he would cooperate.

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He later hardened his reaction, tweeting that any effort by the Democrats to probe new avenues of possible wrongdoing "will never work."

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders lambasted the probe as "disgraceful and abusive."

"Chairman Nadler and his fellow Democrats have embarked on this fishing expedition because they are terrified that their two-year false narrative of 'Russia collusion' is crumbling," she added.

"Their intimidation and abuse of American citizens is shameful. Democrats are harassing the president to distract from their radical agenda of making America a socialist country, killing babies after they're born, and pushing a 'green new deal' that would destroy jobs and bankrupt America."

The unusually strong statement further claimed that "the Democrats are not after the truth, they are after the president."

Conspicuously absent from the list of Nadler's targets -- who have two weeks to respond -- is the president's eldest daughter Ivanka Trump, a senior White House advisor married to Kushner.

The chairmen of three other House panels also joined the fray, demanding the White House produce details of communications between Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, after reports that such information was destroyed or hidden in the aftermath of their 2017 Helsinki summit.

The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election, and that Putin ordered the influence campaign as a way to help elect Trump. The US president has repeatedly cast doubt on the findings.

Nadler's broad investigation focuses on Trump's business dealings and obstruction of justice allegations, along with possible Russian collusion.

It also will address accusations of campaign finance law violations and potential violations of the US Constitution's ban on foreign emoluments.

Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, in explosive congressional testimony last week, implicated the president in illegal activities, including a scheme shortly before the 2016 election to pay hush money to two women who say they had affairs with Trump.

One of the women reportedly received the payoffs through American Media Inc, a company run by longtime Trump ally David Pecker.

Nadler demanded information from both Pecker and AMI about their involvement.

Letters to other key players include requests for information on the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower attended by Kushner, Trump Jr, now-jailed former campaign manager Paul Manafort and a Russian lawyer reportedly close to the Kremlin, and documents surrounding the termination of FBI director James Comey.

The expansive new probe could pave the way toward possible impeachment proceedings against Trump.

But Democratic congressional leaders, including Nadler and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have been reticent about pushing for the president's impeachment.

Nadler told ABC television's "This Week" that such action would be "a long way down the road."

However, he added, "it's very clear that the president obstructed justice."

In addition to the NRA, Nadler also sought documents from the White House, the Trump Organization, Trump's charity, the FBI and Cambridge Analytica -- a data company that worked with the Trump campaign and has been investigated by Congress in connection with Russia's election interference efforts.
By Mike Spector, Jessica DiNapoli and Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP is exploring filing for bankruptcy to address potentially significant liabilities from roughly 2,000 lawsuits alleging the drugmaker contributed to the deadly opioid crisis sweeping the United States, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

The potential move shows how Purdue and its wealthy owners, the Sackler family, are under pressure to respond to mounting litigation accusing the company of misleading doctors and patients about risks associated with prolonged use of its prescription opioids.

Purdue denies the allegations, arguing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved labels for its opioids carried warnings about the risk of abuse and misuse associated with the pain treatments.

Filing for Chapter 11 protection would halt the lawsuits and allow Purdue to negotiate legal claims with plaintiffs under the supervision of a U.S. bankruptcy judge, the sources said.

Shares of Endo International Plc and Insys Therapeutics Inc, two companies that like Purdue have been named in lawsuits related to the U.S. opioid epidemic, closed down 17 percent and more than 2 percent, respectively, on Monday.

More than 1,600 lawsuits accusing Purdue and other opioid manufacturers of using deceptive practices to push addictive drugs that led to fatal overdoses are consolidated in an Ohio federal court. Purdue has held discussions to resolve the litigation with plaintiffs' lawyers, who have often compared the cases to widespread lawsuits against the tobacco industry that resulted in a $246 billion settlement in 1998.

"We will oppose any attempt to avoid our claims, and will continue to vigorously and aggressively pursue our claims against Purdue and the Sackler family," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said. Connecticut has a case against Purdue and the Sacklers.

BANKRUPTCY FILING NOT CERTAIN

A Purdue bankruptcy filing is not certain, the sources said. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company has not made any final decisions and could instead continue fighting the lawsuits, they said.

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"As a privately-held company, it has been Purdue Pharmas longstanding policy not to comment on our financial or legal strategy," Purdue said in a statement.

"We are, however, committed to ensuring that our business remains strong and sustainable. We have ample liquidity and remain committed to meeting our obligations to the patients who benefit from our medicines, our suppliers and other business partners."

Purdue faces a May trial in a case brought by Oklahoma's attorney general that, like others, accuses the company of contributing to a wave of fatal overdoses by flooding the market with highly addictive opioids while falsely claiming the drugs were safe.

Last year, U.S. President Donald Trump also said he would like to sue drug companies over the nation's opioid crisis.

Opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, were involved in 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017, a sixfold increase from 1999, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Purdue hired law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP for restructuring advice, Reuters reported in August, fueling concerns among litigants, including Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, that the company might seek bankruptcy protection before the trial.

Companies facing widespread lawsuits sometimes seek bankruptcy protection to address liabilities in one court even when their financial condition is not dire. California utility PG&E Corp filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after deadly wildfires raised the prospect of large legal bills even though its stock remained worth billions of dollars.

DECEPTIVE MARKETING

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey in June became the first attorney general to sue not just Purdue but Sackler family members. Records in her case, which Purdue has asked a judge to dismiss, accused Sackler family members of directing deceptive marketing of opioids for years while enriching themselves to the tune of $4.2 billion.

Some other states have since also sued the Sacklers. The Sacklers are currently discussing creating a nonprofit backed by family financial contributions to combat addiction and drug abuse, a person familiar with their deliberations said.

The drugmaker downplayed the possibility of a bankruptcy filing in a Feb. 22 court filing in the Oklahoma case. "Purdue is still here - ready, willing and eager to prove in this Court that the State's claims are baseless," the company said in court papers.

Sales of OxyContin and other opioids have fallen amid public concern about their addictive nature, and as restrictions on opioid prescribing have been enacted. OxyContin generated $1.74 billion in sales in 2017, down from $2.6 billion five years earlier, according to the most recent data compiled by Symphony Health Solutions.

Purdue Chief Executive Officer Craig Landau has cut hundreds of jobs, stopped marketing opioids to physicians and moved the company toward developing medications for sleep disorders and cancer since taking the helm in 2017.

In July, Purdue appointed a new board chairman, Steve Miller, a restructuring veteran who previously held leadership positions at troubled companies including auto-parts giant Delphi and the once-teetering insurer American International Group Inc.

Mortimer D.A. Sackler no longer sits on Purdue's board, according to a filing the company made with the Connecticut secretary of state late Monday.

The Oklahoma case and other lawsuits seek damages from Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis. In addition to lawsuits consolidated in an Ohio federal court, more than 300 cases are pending in state courts, and dozens of state attorneys general have sued manufacturers, including Purdue.

Settlement discussions have not yet resulted in a deal.

Purdue and three executives in 2007 pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the misbranding of OxyContin and agreed to pay a total of $634.5 million in penalties, according to court records.

(Reporting by Mike Spector and Jessica DiNapoli in New York and Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Rep. Justin Amash, the Michigan Republican who broke with President Trump to vote to overturn his declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, said some of his colleagues are failing to uphold their duties to the Constitution.

Asked on CNNs State of the Union if he thinks that Republicans who are supporting this national emergency are abdicating their responsibilities to the Constitution, Amash responded I think so, yes.

He added: I don't think that they are all intending to do that.

Days after the vote, Amash explained his views when he tweeted, If you think my job is to support the president one hundred percent, then you dont understand what it means to be a representative in Congress. My job is to support the Constitution one hundred percent and to represent all the people of my district by protecting their rights.

Photo: Yuri Gripas/Reuters; screengrab via Twitter

The president is violating our constitutional system, said Amash on Sunday. He didnt directly address whether he believes the border situation amounts to a crisis, but said Trump shouldnt be making that call unilaterally.

Theres a fair debate that there are big problems on the border  some people would call it a crisis  but that has to go through Congress, said Amash. The president doesnt get to decide that he can override Congress simply because Congress doesnt do what he wants.

If there were an emergency in the sense that the president is describing, there would be a lot more consensus, continued Amash. When a house is on fire, nobodys debating whether they should go in to save people or whether they should put out the fire. Everyone understands thats an emergency.

He added: The fact that theres a debate going on here, theres not a consensus, indicates that its not an emergency in the sense that the president is describing, and he cant just go around Congress.

Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., followed by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leaving a closed-door strategy session in 2017. (Photo: J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Amash, a fifth-term representative from Grand Rapids, Mich., was one of 13 House Republicans in opposition to the national emergency, a resolution that now goes to the Senate, where the vote is expected to be close. If it does pass, Trump can veto the resolution, and an override is considered unlikely.

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Amash had another breakout moment this week when he questioned Trumps former attorney Michael Cohen at the House Oversight Committee hearing, where he, unlike most of the other Republicans on the panel, didnt use his time to attack the credibility of Cohen, a disbarred lawyer felon who had lied to Congress in earlier testimony.

As Amash put it, instead of just yelling at him or trying to grandstand or make political statements, he asked a question that stumped Cohen: What is the truth that you know President Trump fears the most?

Thats a tough question, sir, said Cohen. I dont have an answer for that one.

Reflecting on his questioning, Amash told State of the Union host Jake Tapper that Cohen deserves the opportunity to be believed.

Cohens testimony has kicked off renewed speculation about possible impeachment motions against Trump, but the head of the House Judiciary Committee said it was too soon to start the process.

Impeachment is a long way down the road, Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said Sunday on ABCs This Week with George Stephanopoulos." We dont have the facts yet, but were going to initiate proper investigations.

Tapper asked Amash about a possible challenge to Trump in 2020 on the Libertarian Party line. Amash said he hasnt ruled it out.

Thats not on my radar right now, but I think it is important that we have someone in there whos representing a vision for America that is different from what these two parties are presenting.

Everything has become, do you like President Trump or do you not like President Trump? continued Amash. We need to return to basic American principles... and try to move forward together rather than fighting each other all of the time.

_____

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Caracas (AFP) - Opposition supporters in Venezuela were set to take to the streets Monday after leader Juan Guaido called for mass protests against President Nicolas Maduro -- as the self-declared interim president prepared to return after a week touring Latin American allies.

Guaido's reappearance in Venezuela would pose an immediate challenge to the embattled Maduro, who will have to decide whether to arrest him for defying a travel ban -- thereby provoking strong international condemnation -- or allow him to enter unmolested, which would undermine his authority, analyst say.

"I'm announcing my return to the country. I am calling on the Venezuelan people to mobilize all over the country tomorrow at 11:00 am (1500 GMT)," Guaido wrote Sunday on Twitter.

Later, in a video with his wife shared on his social networks, he said if Maduro's government "tries to kidnap us ... it will be one of the last mistakes it makes."

Guaido, who has been recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's interim president, did not say how or when he would return, though speculation is rife that a flight from the Colombian capital Bogota to Caracas is the most likely route.

However, it is possible that he plans to slip across the border with Colombia in the same way he left Venezuela, claiming on that occasion that he had help from Maduro's military.

Guaido held talks in Salinas -- a coastal resort town west of Guayaquil -- on Saturday with President Lenin Moreno, and met with Venezuelan refugees.

On Sunday around noon he flew out of Salinas without revealing his destination.

- 'Must return to Venezuela' -

Defying a Venezuelan government travel ban, Guaido slipped across the border to Colombia on February 23 in an attempt to escort in truckloads of international humanitarian aid. While in Colombia he met with visiting US Vice President Mike Pence.

The 35-year-old political newcomer then traveled to Brazil, where he met the country's new right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, and on Friday traveled to Paraguay and Argentina.

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In a poke at Maduro during his trip, he said he was invited to visit Chile later this month.

Guaido, who heads the opposition-led National Assembly, stunned the world on January 23 when he proclaimed himself Venezuela's acting president after the legislature declared Maduro a usurper and illegitimate over his May 2017 re-election, which was widely criticized as fraudulent. Maduro's new term in office began on January 10.

Guaido wants to oust Maduro and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections.

Guaido "must return to Venezuela and continue to press internally, as the international support is enormous," Eufracio Infante, 64, a Venezuelan lawyer and history teacher, told AFP.

"We are facing a very delicate situation and every minute we are approaching an outcome we hope will not be catastrophic," he said.

Maduro -- who retains the support of Venezuela's powerful military -- enjoys strong support from Russia, which accuses Washington of interventionism, and China, which is concerned over the fate of billions of dollars in loans to Maduro's regime.

The socialist president warned last week that Guaido should "respect the law" and would have to "face justice" if he returns to the country.

Guaido said last week he intended to return to Venezuela "despite threats" to arrest him. The United States and other allies have expressed concern for his safety.

"The challenge has gone very far," political analyst Luis Salamanca told AFP. "If he comes in and they stop him, it will generate strong internal reaction as well as internationally. Maduro is at permanent risk."

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini warned on Saturday that any measure that would put at risk Guaido's "freedom, safety or personal integrity would represent a major escalation of tensions and meet the firm condemnation of international community."

"Guaido has grown so much politically that they haven't been able to touch him, in the traditional ways ... which is to put him in prison or force him to flee the country, harass him," said Salamanca.

Separately, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera sharply criticized UN rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet -- Chile's president 2006-2010 and 2014-2018 -- on Sunday for failing to condemn Maduro for human rights violations.

Pinera, a Chilean billionaire elected president for the second time in 2017, is a key supporter of Guaido, and joined the Venezuelan opposition leader in Cucuta, Colombia last weekend in a failed attempt to send international humanitarian aid into Venezuela.

Pinera said in an interview published in the El Mercurio newspaper that Bachelet's predecessor at the UN, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein of Jordan, "was much clearer, more categorical in condemning human rights abuses."
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas warned Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday against any military "adventure" in Gaza ahead of Israeli elections next month.

Netanyahu is currently battling for re-election for a fifth term, facing a tough challenge from a centrist political alliance as well as a planned indictment on corruption charges.

Israel and Hamas, which controls the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip, have fought three wars since 2008.

Many analysts, however, believe Netanyahu would want to avoid an escalation in Gaza with unpredictable results ahead of April 9 polls.

Asked about a potential Israeli military operation, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya told journalists: "If the (Israeli) occupation or Netanyahu think of an adventure, I think they will pay the price that will send them away."

"We do not fear any adventures from Netanyahu towards Gaza... The resistance has its eyes open," added Haniya, whose movement has a military wing.

He added that Hamas did not care who won the Israeli elections.

A centrist alliance headed by former military chief Benny Gantz has overtaken right-winger Netanyahu, who is dogged by corruption allegations, in a series of polls.

But it is unclear if Gantz would be able to assemble enough parties to form a coalition.

Gantz's emergence and comments about separating from the Palestinians have been welcomed by the secular Palestinian leadership, headed by president Mahmud Abbas.

But Hamas, which unlike the Abbas-led Palestine Liberation Organisation, has not recognised Israel, said the elections made no difference.

"We do not care who will come to rule in the occupation (state)," Haniya said.

He also accused Israel of breaching an informal truce agreement struck in November, under which the Jewish state would allow Qatari aid to enter Gaza in exchange for calm on the border.
By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Juan Corona, a serial killer found guilty of murdering 25 farmworkers whose bodies were found buried in Northern California orchards, died on Monday at the age of 85, state prison officials said.

Corona, who had been serving a life prison term since his 1973 conviction on 25 counts of first-degree murder, died of natural causes at an outside hospital, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement.

The number of murders were a U.S. record at the time and authorities have speculated that additional victims may have been slain and never discovered or tied to Corona.

Corona, who was born in Mexico, migrated to the United States as a teenager in the 1950s and suffered a mental breakdown following deadly floods along the Yuba River in 1955, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

He was committed to a California mental institution suffering from schizophrenia, but returned to agriculture in the Yuba City area following his release, where he began hiring farmworkers, the paper reported.

It was those men whom Corona was convicted of targeting, raping and stabbing, sometimes hacking at their heads with a machete.

In May 1971, a local farm owner found human remains buried in a peach orchard near the Feather River in Sutter County, California, leading ultimately to the discovery of two dozen more bodies.

The murders were linked to Corona through bank slips found with his name on them and because they had been hired through his labor contracting business.

Corona was found guilty of the murders in January 1971, but that conviction was later overturned by an appeals court. He was convicted again at a second trial in 1982. He was denied parole eight times and was next eligible in 2021.

In 1973, Corona survived a stabbing by another inmate, losing the sight in his left eye in the attack, according to the corrections department.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)
TALLIN, Estonia (AP)  Nearly a million people are eligible to vote Sunday to choose Estonia's 101-seat Riigikogu legislature, where the outgoing prime minister and his Center Party is pitted against the center-right opposition Reform Party.

Both want to keep at bay a nationalist, far-right party with an anti-immigration, xenophobic and euroskeptic agenda, which has increased its popularity since the last election in 2015.

WHO'S RUNNING

Ten political parties and 15 independents  totaling 1,099 candidates  are up for election.

The main contenders are the Center Party, whose backers include ethnic Russians who make up 25 percent of the population in this former Soviet republic; the center-right Reform Party that advocates liberal economic policies; and the Social Democrats, focusing on social and welfare issues.

Juri Ratas has been heading a coalition of his Center Party, the Social Democrats and the conservative Fatherland since November 2016, when the previous, center-right government collapsed after internal disputes and a lost confidence vote.

WORTH KEEPING AN EYE ON

Polls show the nationalist, far-right Estonian Conservative People's Party, known by its acronym EKRE, has gained in popularity in recent years. Led by father and son Mart and Martin Helme, it claims to represent true Estonian values. The party has harshly criticized the European Union's compulsory quotas for taking in refugees.

EKRE's rhetoric has led the main parties to say there's no place for the populists in the new government, no matter how well they do in the election.

THE MAIN ISSUES

Top of the list are economic and domestic issues such as taxation and health care, and how to lure back tens of thousands of people who have emigrated  particularly to neighboring Finland and Britain  leaving Estonia with a shortage of skilled workers.

A few thousand immigrants mainly from former Soviet states are making up for the labor shortage. The government is keeping a tight annual quota on workers from outside the EU  a particular irritation to the flourishing startup scene.

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All parties agree that Estonia is an active EU member and a staunch Washington ally, and that NATO is the cornerstone of the country's security policy. But Russia has maintained interest in the military and security affairs of Estonia and its Baltic neighbors since they joined NATO in 2004.

THE POLLS

A Feb. 25 poll commissioned by Estonia's public broadcaster ERR based on 4,700 respondents showed Ratas' Center Party could win 28 percent of the vote, up from 24.8 percent in 2015, with the Reform Party coming in second with 24 percent. EKRE is on 17 percent.

CAMPAIGNING AND VOTING ONLINE

One of Europe's most wired nations, Estonia in 2005 was the first country in the world to use online balloting for a national election. About 26 percent of voters had cast their ballot via a dedicated government website by the deadline of Feb. 27. No online voting takes place on the election day.

Candidates have been trained to secure their home pages in case of hacking, and Estonian authorities closely track fake news and disinformation.

Estonia's electoral committee has so far reported no attempts from Russia or elsewhere to interfere with the election, either through hacking, fake news or disinformation. Microsoft said last week that Estonia wasn't among countries targeted by a hacking group with alleged links to Russia before the EU parliamentary elections in May.
Cervical cancer survivor Cammie Yang and her husband Corey. (Photo: Courtesy of Cammie Yang)

When youre in your 20s and have a Pap test, you dont think much will come of it. At least, thats what Cammie Yang thought  and then she was diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Yang was 28 when she started having abnormal bleeding between periods and bleeding during sex. That made me worry, she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. So, she visited her ob-gyn, who did a pelvic exam and Pap test.

When my doctor did the checkup, she said it didnt look good, but she didnt mention cancer, Yang recalls. She just said that I might need some treatment. Her doctor was supposed to call with her test results in two weeks, but called a few days later and asked Yang to come into the office. I didnt know why they wanted to see me in person, but I was nervous, she says. Once Yang got there, she was told she had cervical cancer, a cancer of the lowest part of the uterus.

I didnt know what was going to happen to me, she says. I was really healthy. I was like, How did this happen?!

Yang had never been sick before and says she was shocked by her diagnosis. Her parents, who live in China, freaked out and came to the U.S. to be with her.

Cervical cancer doesnt usually cause symptoms in the early stages.

Thats why the American Cancer Society urges women to have regular screenings (including Pap tests) to look for abnormal cells. However, when women who do have symptoms, they tend to be the ones Yang experienced, such as bleeding or spotting between periods, bleeding after sex, and unusual discharge, which may contain blood, according to the American Cancer Society.

After Yang was diagnosed, she was referred to Moffitt Cancer Center, where she was given further testing to try to figure out what stage her cancer was in. Staging is done to determine how much cancer is in the body, according to the American Cancer Society. There are five stages, with stage 0 being the least severe and stage 4 being the most severe. At first, they told me it might be early stage, but when the test results came back, it was stage 2, she says.

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Yang underwent surgery known as an ovarian transposition, which moved her ovaries out of the way of the field of radiation treatments. The goal of the surgery is to lower the amount of radiation the ovaries are exposed to and preserve their function for the future.

I felt horrible.

After that, she underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which lasted for three months. I felt horrible, she says. I couldnt eat very well, and I had constant nausea and fatigue. Yang also had to take long-term leave from work. I couldnt work at the time because I felt so bad, she says. When I got home from the hospital after treatments, I just wanted to sleep.

Before her diagnosis, she had never had general anesthesia. But once she started undergoing radiation therapy, she had to be put to sleep weekly so that doctors could put a device inside her body to deliver the therapy.

Although Yang says she felt like the cancer treatments ruined my health at the time, she now feels better. And, at 30, shes cancer free. I feel happy and relieved, but at the same time Im still worried about it because the cancer can recur, she says. I dont know when it will recur or if it will recur. It constantly bothers me. Yang also says every time she feels like something is off with her health, she worries that its due to cancer.

She stresses the importance of getting the HPV vaccine (recommended for young women through age 26 and young men through age 21, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), which is designed to help protect against many strains of human papillomavirus that can lead to several forms of cancer, including cervical cancer. Yang is originally from China, but she went to college in the U.S. and says she had the opportunity to get vaccinated  she just didnt. Thats one thing I really regret, she says. I felt like I didnt need the vaccine [at the time] but, if I had, I probably wouldnt have had cancer.

Yang also wants women to speak up if they know something doesnt feel right healthwise. Go see a doctor if youre having weird symptoms, even if youre healthy and young, she says. Even if it is cancer, it doesnt mean things are hopeless.

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(Adds comments from Korea joint Chiefs of Staff and the Republic of Korea United States Combined Forces Command)

WASHINGTON/SEOUL, March 2 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that North Korea does not have any economic future with nuclear weapons as the Pentagon confirmed the United States and South Korea had agreed to end joint large scale spring military exercises.

"North Korea has an incredible, brilliant economic future if they make a deal, but they don't have any economic future if they have nuclear weapons," Trump said at a Conservative Political Action Conference.

He added that the relationship with North Korea seemed to be "very, very strong."

According to a statement, acting Pentagon Chief Patrick Shanahan spoke with his South Korea counterpart on Saturday and they agreed to adapt their training programs.

The two "made clear that the Alliance decision to adapt our training program reflected our desire to reduce tension and support our diplomatic efforts to achieve complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a final, fully verified manner," the Pentagon said.

South Korea's military issued a similar statement also confirming plans to end the spring joint military exercises.

Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Lee Do-hoon is planning to visit the United States in the coming week to meet U.S. officials to discuss the second U.S.-North Korea summit as well as the future agenda, according to a South Korean official.

The Pentagon said the U.S. and South Korea had agreed to "newly designed Command Post exercises and revised field training programs." U.S. officials have long said the scope of the spring exercises, known as Foal Eagle and Key Resolve, would be reduced.

Reuters and others reported on Friday that such an announcement would take place. To encourage talks, the United States and South Korea have suspended a number of military exercises since the first summit last year between Kim and Trump.

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South Korea's joint Chiefs of Staff and South Korea-United States Combined Forces Command said on Sunday that the two countries will conduct a military exercise from March 4 to 12.

The exercise,Dong Maeng, which means Alliance in English, has been modified from the previously held spring exercises Key Resolve and Foal Eagle and will focus on strategic, operational, and tactical aspects of general military operations on the Korean Peninsula.

"Exercise Dong Maeng provides us the opportunity to train and rehearse with our Republic of Korea, United States, and United Nations Sending State Partners," said the ROK Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Park Han-Ki and the CFC Commander, Gen. Robert B. Abe Abrams in a statement.

"It is important for professional armies to train and maintain to a standard of readiness. These exercises are crucial in sustaining and strengthening the alliance," the statement added.

In Vietnam this week, the second meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ended without a deal on sanctions relief North Korea would get in exchange for steps to give up its nuclear program.

Trump on Saturday addressed criticism from the parents of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died after 17 months in a North Korean prison. They had complained when Trump said at a Hanoi news conference that he believed Kim had nothing to do with Warmbier's death.

Trump said he was trying to maintain "a delicate balance" to coax the North Koreans into giving up their nuclear program.

The United States and North Korea have said they intend to continue talks, but have not specified when.

Some observers credited Trump for refusing to be drawn into a bad deal. Others criticized him for praising Kim's leadership and accepting his assertion that he had been unaware of Warmbier's treatment.

Analysts believe North Korea has 20 to 60 nuclear warheads which could threaten the U.S. mainland if fitted to its intercontinental ballistic missiles. The United Nations and the United States ratcheted up sanctions when North Korea conducted nuclear and ballistic missile tests in 2017.

Washington has demanded complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization before sanctions can be lifted, a position Pyongyang has denounced as "gangster like." (Reporting by Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, David Shepardson and Katanga Johnson in Washington and Heekyong Yang in Seoul; Editing by David Gregorio)
By Abu Arqam Naqash and Fayaz Bukhari MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan/SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - A top Indian minister said on Saturday the government would not share proof that "a very large number" of militants were killed in air strikes inside Pakistan this week, after doubts were raised there were any casualties in the attack that stoked tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals. The flare up appeared to be easing on Saturday after Pakistan handed back a captured Indian fighter pilot on Friday night, amid efforts by global powers to prevent another war between the arch enemies. However shelling across the Line of Control (LoC) that acts as a de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region, a frequent feature in recent weeks, continued, said military officials on both sides. Hostilities escalated rapidly following a suicide car bombing on Feb. 14 that killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India accuses Pakistan of harboring the Jaish-e Mohammad Islamist group that claimed the bombing. Indian warplanes carried out air strikes on Tuesday inside northeast Pakistan's Balakot on what New Delhi called militant camps. Islamabad denied any such camps existed, as did local villagers in the area when Reuters visited. Nevertheless, Pakistan retaliated on Wednesday with its own aerial mission. Pakistan said the Indian bombs hit a largely empty hillside without hurting anyone. Some Indian opposition leaders have asked the government to share evidence of the strikes. But India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's top lieutenants, said "no security agencies ever share operational details". "It's a very irresponsible stand," Jaitley said at a conference organized by the India Today media group. "The armed forces must have, and our security and intelligence agencies must have, a full leeway in dealing with situations, and if anybody wants operational details to be made public ... he certainly does not understand the system." Indian Air Force officials said earlier it was up to the political leaders to decide when and how to release evidence of the Balakot strike. Jaitley dismissed suggestions that the rapid escalation in tensions with Pakistan had anything to do with India's domestic politics ahead of a general election due by May. Pollsters expect the ruling party to benefit from the nationalistic passion sweeping the country. PILOT WALKS ACROSS THE BORDER Indian Air Force Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who became the face and symbol of the biggest clash between India and Pakistan in many years, walked across the border just before 9 p.m. (1600 GMT) on Friday in a high-profile handover shown on live television. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met him at a New Delhi defence hospital on Saturday, where he was seen in his air force jumpsuit. He will undergo medical checks before re-joining active duty, officials said. Pakistan's military said on Saturday its air force and navy "continue to be alert and vigilant", while two of its soldiers were killed after exchanging fire with Indian troops along the LoC. India's military said that Pakistan was firing mortar shells across the LoC. Pakistan touted Abhinandan's return as "as a goodwill gesture aimed at de-escalating rising tensions with India" after weeks of unease that threatened to spiral into war. Global powers, including China and the United States, have urged restraint to prevent another conflict between the neighbors who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Pakistani leaders say the ball is now in India's court to de-escalate the tensions, though the Pakistani army chief told top military leaders of the United States, Britain and Australia on Friday that his country would "surely respond to any aggression in self-defence". On a visit to Jammu and Kashmir state on Saturday, India's army chief asked soldiers to remain vigilant to "counter the nefarious designs of the enemy and anti-national elements". (Additional reporting by Saad Sayeed; Writing by Drazen Jorgic and Krishna N. Das; Editing by Kim Coghill, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Ros Russell)
By Katharine Jackson (Reuters) - Presidential hopeful Cory Booker told a service commemorating the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march, a turning point in the civil rights movement, that the United States is still failing many Americans, citing poverty and gun violence as constant threats. Booker, 49, a black second-term senator from New Jersey and former mayor of Newark, also lamented that clean water and affordable healthcare are still unavailable in many communities. "We live in a nation that is failing its moral obligations to its children, to its people," Booker said in a short speech at a church near the bridge in Selma, Alabama, where civil rights activists were attacked more than half a century ago. Nearly 600 activists marching for African-American voting rights were met on the Edmund Pettus bridge on March 7, 1965, by white state troopers who beat them with batons and sprayed them with tear gas. Images of the violence brought attention to the cause, and President Lyndon Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act that year. Every year, the "Bloody Sunday" anniversary is marked by demonstrators marching across the bridge, many of them singing "We Shall Overcome." Booker told the congregation he was proud to be in Selma to remember the history of the movement. "But I worry now that we are at a point in our country where we see a moral vandalism that is attacking our ideals and beliefs and eroding the dream of our nation," he said. Another Democratic candidate for the party's 2020 nomination who spoke at the church, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, said it was time for the current generation to demand an end to voter suppression in the United States. "And not only do we end voter suppression, but we make it easier for people to vote, not harder," Sanders said. The Democratic Party is looking at a crowded field of candidates aiming to win back the White House. At least six U.S. senators are vying to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee. Booker has made race relations a focal point of his campaign, aiming to appeal to young, diverse voters who twice elected former Democratic President Barack Obama. Booker announced his candidacy on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month, citing the impact of racial discrimination on his family and saying he would focus on creating good jobs and reforming the criminal justice system. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson in Washington; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)
ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss President Ueli Maurer did not speak to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido about freezing Swiss bank accounts belonging to the South American nation, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. "This information is not correct. There was no telephone contact between Mr. Gauido and President Maurer," the spokesman said by email in response to an enquiry. He was not immediately available to elaborate. "We are talking to the Swiss president," Guaido had said in an interview with Mexican network Televisa. He said they had spoken on Wednesday morning but did not mention Maurer, who is also finance minister, by name. (Reporting by Michael Shields, Editing by William Maclean)
Washington (AFP) - US President Donald Trump on Monday denied that he ordered an end to major US-South Korean military exercises as a concession to North Korea's totalitarian leader Kim Jong Un.

The previously annual, large-scale maneuvers -- meant to keep troops ready in case of conflict with North Korea -- were shelved shortly after Trump's summit last week with Kim in Hanoi.

Trump denied there was any link.

"The military drills, or war games as I call them, were never even discussed in my mtg w/ Kim Jong Un," he tweeted.

"I made that decision long ago because it costs the U.S. far too much money to have those 'games', especially since we are not reimbursed for the tremendous cost!" he said in the tweet.

There are close to 30,000 US troops stationed in South Korea, and their annual drills with tens of thousands of South Korean soldiers have angered North Korea, which claims they are rehearsals for invasion.

While Trump has ruled out withdrawing US troops, he has repeatedly complained about the cost of the exercises, describing them at a press conference in Hanoi as "very, very expensive."

Trump's summit with Kim ended with no progress toward Washington's goal of getting the isolated country to give up its nuclear weapons.
(This version of the Feb. 21st story corrects spelling to Hasson from Hassan in last paragraph)

By Katharine Jackson

GREENBELT, Md. (Reuters) - A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant accused of amassing a cache of weapons and plotting to attack Democratic politicians and journalists was ordered held for two weeks on Thursday while federal prosecutors consider charging him with more crimes.

Chris Hasson, 49, appeared in a burgundy jumpsuit but did not speak during a brief hearing in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Prosecutors said the charges already filed against him are "just the tip of the iceberg."

"There is an intent to murder innocent civilians," U.S. Attorney Jennifer Sykes told Judge Charles Day.

Hasson is described by federal prosecutors as a "domestic terrorist" and self-described white supremacist who had a list of potential targets including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and MSNBC television host Joe Scarborough.

Hassan also searched the internet for where members of Congress live, and which public figures had security details, prosecutors said.

Public defender Julie Stelzig, representing Hasson, pointed to his military service as evidence of his character. She said Hasson's gun collection was not extraordinarily large, and that he should not be held accountable for writing disturbing emails which he ultimately did not send.

"We are not yet a country that criminalizes people for their thoughts," Stelzig said.

In a draft email from June 2017 cited by prosecutors, Hasson wrote: "I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed/ Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something."

Hasson was assigned to the Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington and lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. He was arrested on Friday on weapons and drugs charges.

The Coast Guard has confirmed an active duty member was arrested after a probe by its own investigators, the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice, but said it was offering no further details because of the ongoing investigation.

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Prosecutors said 15 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition were found at Hasson's residence. They also said he studied a manifesto by Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik, who in July 2011 killed eight people in downtown Oslo with a car bomb and then shot dead 69 people, many of them teenagers, at a Labour Party camp.

According to prosecutors, Hasson had also been studying manifestos by "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski and Virginia Tech shooter Cho Seung-Hui.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James Dalgleish)
A University of Iowa student was found apparently frozen to death on campus as wind chills hit minus-51 degrees Fahrenheit  one of at least eight people to die as a result of the record-setting cold that had settled on the Midwest this week.

Authorities said the body of Gerald Belz, 18, was found by campus police just before 3 a.m. Wednesday behind an academic building. The pre-med student was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Officials believe his death was related to dangerously low temperatures, though they are yet to give a specific cause of death.

Doctors did not find alcohol in his system. No foul play was suspected, police said.

The father of Gerald Belz, the Univ. of Iowa student who died on campus early this morning, said his son was a good kid and has a lot of questions surrounding his son's death. https://t.co/SnBWmaA28k  KCRG (@KCRG) January 30, 2019

Saddened by the loss of a member of the Hawkeye family: pic.twitter.com/sMq4XRK1Ci  University of Iowa (@uiowa) January 30, 2019

According to the National Weather Service, temperatures in Iowa City dropped to minus-21 degrees late Tuesday and early Wednesday  with a wind-chill as low as minus-51 degrees.

Michael Belz, Geralds father, told KCRG his son was a quiet, tough guy. He was a semester ahead at the University of Iowa due to extra college courses. He was a good kid, Belz said.

In a tweet, Belzs old high school principle paid tribute, as well as offering counseling services to any distressed students.

Prayers go out to all affected by this tragedy. Rest In Peace, Gerald.



Kennedy students: we will have counselors available when we return to school for any support you may need. Please visit the counseling office to speak to any of our counselors. https://t.co/GtbLOSXbK1  Jason Kline (@CRKennedyHigh) January 30, 2019

On Tuesday, a 55-year-old man was found dead outside a garage in Milwaukee, having collapsed after shoveling snow; an 82-year-old in Pekin, Ill., died from hypothermia outside his home on the same day. A 75-year-old man was killed when he was struck by a snow plough near Chicago on Monday, and in northern Indiana, a young couple died after a their car was hit while driving on icy roads. Two others have died in Michigan. It is not the first time the severe cold has claimed a life on the University of Iowa campus. Last January, Paul J. Biagas, 24, was found dead in the snow outside the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center. At the time, the temperature in Iowa City was around 5 degrees, with a wind chill of minus-10 degrees.
Washington (AFP) - The United States on Monday backed away from a threat to allow Cuban exiles to file suit in US courts against foreign companies operating in Cuba, limiting such legal action to Cuban entities.

The 1996 Helms-Burton Act in theory permits Cuban exiles to pursue claims against companies that profit from assets nationalized after the 1959 Cuban revolution.

But a succession of US presidents have waived the clause every six months to avoid offending allies whose companies might become a target of such suits.

When the law was passed, the State Department estimated there were as many as 200,000 suits that could be filed if the Helms-Burton provision were activated.

President Donald Trump's administration has threatened in recent weeks to put the Helms-Burton provision in play as it takes aim at Cuba as part of a "troika of tyranny" with Venezuela and Nicaragua.

The European Union, the biggest source of foreign investment in Cuba, rose up in opposition, and State Department officials acknowledged its concerns were taken into account in reaching Monday's decision.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that some suits would be allowed for the first time under Helms-Burton, from March 19. But they would be limited to Cuban enterprises controlled at least in part by the military, the intelligence services or security forces.

Even in the case of joint ventures involving Cuban entities and foreign companies, "this is only allowing actions against Cuban entities," a senior State Department official said.

"It is not intended to affect European companies that are currently doing business in Cuba," the official said.

"You can sue the Cuban entity or the Cuban sub-entity. This action does not authorize the suit of a European, or Japanese or any other company in some other country," the official said.

The United States wants to maintain pressure on Cuba, which it accuses of supporting the regime of Nicolas Maduro at a time when Washington is pushing for his ouster.

The latest suspension of the Helms-Burton provision for all other suits is only for a month, until April 17, however, so that its impact can be assessed and changes made if necessary.
Jerusalem (AFP) - The United States has deployed its advanced THAAD missile defence system temporarily to Israel for a joint military exercise, the first of its kind, officials said Monday.

The two countries confirmed the deployment, with Israel's military stressing it was "not related to any specific current event".

It is the first such exercise in Israel, although the two allies hold regular joint war games. No dates have been announced for the manoeuvres.

Israel has its own missile defence system, but the exercise aims in part to examine how to incorporate THAAD so that "we are ready for any challenges in the future", military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said.

It will also allow the US military to practice the rapid deployment of THAAD across the globe, officials said.

"We see this as an opportunity to practice the integration of advanced American air defence systems into the Israeli air force air defence array," Conricus told journalists.

"The THAAD system is considered to be one of the most advanced of its kind in the world," the Israeli spokesman said.

The exercise with THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defence, involves more than 200 US military personnel and its components include radars and launching systems, Conricus said.

Components and personnel have come from the United States and Italy, Conricus said.

The THAAD will be deployed in southern Israel, but officials declined to say specifically where and for how long.

Israel's enemies in the region include Iran and Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah, both of which are supporting President Bashar al-Assad in neighbouring Syria.

THAAD is capable of destroying short, medium and intermediate-range missiles.

In 2017, the US government approved its sale to Saudi Arabia, providing Riyadh with state-of-the-art capabilities that could thwart an Iranian rocket attack.

It had already been supplied to Saudi Arabia's neighbours Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Its deployment by the US military in South Korea as defence against North Korean drew protests from Beijing, which feared its sensors would be capable of penetrating Chinese air space and upset the balance of power.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the joint exercise, calling it "additional testimony to the commitment of the US to the security of Israel".
Rome (AFP) - The Vatican may open a tomb to see if it holds the remains of a teenager who disappeared in 1983, in the latest twist in one of Italy's darkest mysteries, its spokesman said Monday.

Emanuela Orlandi was the daughter of a member of the Vatican's police, and was last seen leaving a music class aged 15.

Theories have circulated for decades about who took her and where her body lies.

In the latest anonymous tip-off, her family's lawyer was told to look inside the tomb, which lies in a German cemetery within the Vatican walls.

"I can confirm that the letter by Emanuela Orlandi's family has been received... and the requests it contains will be studied," Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said in a statement.

That followed the publication in Italy's Corriere della Sera daily on Monday of the request by lawyer Lauro Sgro.

Sgro received a note last year telling her to "look where the angel is pointing", along with a photograph of the tomb, it said.

The grave in question features a marble angel holding a tablet reading "Rest in Peace" in Latin, above a tombstone with an inscription dedicated to a German prince who was nominated archbishop by Pope Pio IX in 1857, and his wife.

Tests done on the tomb since the tip-off show that it has been opened at least once, and the date of the tablet is different to that of the tombstone, the Corriere said.

Sgro said she had also been able to "verify that some people knew there was a chance Emauela Orlandi's body had been hidden in the German cemetery," her letter to the Vatican read.

People had also been leaving flowers on the tomb, she said.

According to some theories, the teenager was snatched by an organised crime gang to put pressure on Vatican officials to recover a loan.

Another claim was that she was taken to force the release from prison of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate Pope Jean Paul II in 1981.

The family braced for a breakthrough in October when human remains were discovered on a Vatican property, only to be disappointed when tests showed the skeleton did not belong to a teenage girl.
An Israel Defense Forces officer was seriously wounded and a Border Policeman lightly hurt after three Palestinians drove a car into a group of Israeli troops, running them over on a road outside a village near the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, said the military on Monday.

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The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said the attack prompted the troops to open fire on the vehicle, killing two Palestinians inside. The military added that a third Palestinian inside the car was wounded and taken into custody. The Palestinian health ministry later identified the two killed as Amir Daraj and Yusuf Anqawi, both 20 years old and residents of villages near Ramallah.

Scene of the attack (Photo: Gil Yohanan, TPS)

Several Molotov cocktails were also found in the vehicle, which the military believes the Palestinians had hurled at a security checkpoint near Route 443 prior to the attack.

According to a preliminary investigation, the troops had stopped their vehicle at the roadside at night to help another group of IDF soldiers whose car had broken down, and were deliberately struck by the Palestinians.

Vehicle used by the Palestinians in the attack is being evacuated

The wounded troops were taken to the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Dr. Yoram Klein, the head of the hospitals trauma center, said the condition of the officer is serious but stable.

"After an initial evaluation and stabilization, the officer had undergone surgery. His life is not in danger and I hope he will recover without complications  hes suffering from wounds to his limbs and head, he said.

Scene of the car ramming attack in West Bank (:  )

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The Hamas terror organization welcomed the attack, saying in a statement that: "The death of the two martyrs near Ramallah proves that the Palestinian people are continuing their fight against the occupier until our land is liberated."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in response to the incident that he has already ordered the demolition of the attackers' homes. "This morning IDF soldiers acted quickly and eliminated the terrorists who threatened to run them over," said the prime minister. "We send our best wishes for a quick recovery to the officer who was wounded and will do everything to speed up the demolition of the homes of these murderers."

Palestinians, many of them individuals without known associations with militant groups, carried out a wave of car-rammings in the West Bank in late 2015 and 2016, but the frequency of such incidents has since decreased.
Hamas welcomed on Monday the car-ramming attack in the West Bank that left an Israeli officer seriously wounded and another soldier lightly hurt.

"The death of the two martyrs near Ramallah proves that the Palestinian people are continuing their fight against the occupier until our land is liberated," Hamas said in a statement.

The two Palestinian assailants were shot and killed by Israeli security forces.
US-backed forces are slowing down their offensive against the last Islamic State pocket in eastern Syria to protect civilians who remain there, a spokesman for a militia force said on Monday, adding that the battle would still "be over soon".
The United States on Monday officially shuttered its consulate in Jerusalem, downgrading the status of its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians by folding it into the US Embassy to Israel.

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For decades, the consulate functioned as a de facto embassy to the Palestinians. Now, that outreach will be handled by a Palestinian affairs unit, under the command of the embassy.

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman

The symbolic shift hands authority over US diplomatic channels with the West Bank and Gaza to ambassador David Friedman, a longtime supporter and fundraiser for the West Bank settler movement and fierce critic of the Palestinian leadership.

"This decision was driven by our global efforts to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of our diplomatic engagements and operations," State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said in a statement. "It does not signal a change of US policy on Jerusalem, the West Bank, or the Gaza Strip."

When first announced by US Secretary Mike Pompeo in October, the move infuriated Palestinians, fueling their suspicions that the US was recognizing Israeli control over East Jerusalem and the West Bank, territories that Palestinians seek for a future state.

Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called the move "the final nail in the coffin" for the US role in peacemaking.

US Embassy in Jerusalem (Photo: Reuters)

The downgrade is just the latest in a string of divisive decisions by the Trump administration that have backed Israel and alienated the Palestinians, who say they have lost faith in the US administration's role as a neutral arbiter in peace process.

Last year the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and relocated its embassy there, upending US policy toward one of the most explosive issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians in turn cut off most ties with the administration.

The administration also has slashed hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, including assistance to hospitals and peace-building programs. It has cut funding to the UN agency that provides aid to Palestinians classified as refugees. Last fall, it shut down the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington.

The Trump administration has cited the reluctance of Palestinian leaders to enter peace negotiations with Israel as the reason for such punitive measures, although the US has yet to present its much-anticipated but still mysterious "Deal of the Century" to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, announced last month that the US would unveil the deal after Israeli elections in April. The Palestinian Authority has preemptively rejected the plan, accusing the US of bias toward Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed on Monday the car-ramming attack in the West Bank, which saw an IDF officer seriously wounded and a Border Policeman lightly hurt.

"This morning IDF soldiers acted quickly and eliminated the terrorists who threatened to run them over. We send our best wishes for a quick recovery to the officer who was wounded and will do everything to speed up the demolition of the homes of these murderers ... I have ordered that the demolitions of these homes be speeded up in the context of the restrictions of the judicial system. We are determined to continue our vigorous struggle against the murderers and against terrorism everywhere," he said.
The US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system has been deployed over the past few days in Israel for the first time.

As part of a joint drill in which more than 200 Israeli and American troops took part, the system has been deployed in the Nevatim Airbase in the south.
Where and when did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's obsession with the media start? I know the answer to that question because I was there when said obsession was in its infancy. Months before the publication of the first issue of Israel Hayom (Israel Today)which unlike Yedioth Ahronoth is given out for freeI sat down for a talk with its proprietor, the American-Jewish billionaire, casino owner and enthusiastic Netanyahu supporter Sheldon Adelson.

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"I intend to start publishing Israel Hayom in order to destroy your newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, and to ensure Netanyahu's victory in the next elections so he can reign as premier for years to come," Adelson said (to the best of my recollection, since I didnt record the conversation).

"Don't try to stop me," he said. "I'm a billionaire with a lot of resources and an ideology about the Israeli media. I'm willing to invest a lot more than you and your publisher.

And he did exactly what he promised he would.

Sheldon Adelson and Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Reuters, AFP)

Adelson is not fluent in Hebrew or Israeli politics. It felt as though his words were being remotely spoken through him by Netanyahu himself, who at the time of the conversation was still the leader of the opposition, but who a year later became the prime minister.

In the 12 years of Israel Hayom's existence, Adelsonat Netanyahu's requestinvested over a billion shekels in order to crown Bibi and ensure his victory during every election campaign. To achieve that, he had to shift Israeli public opinion from a sane center to an extreme right, and to inflict severe economic damage on its strongest competitor, Yedioth Ahronoth.

Yedioth doesnt have the same resources as Adelson whose net worth is estimated to be around NIS 130 billion (approx. $36 billion) and to this day, the newspaper continues to wage a cruel war of survival. Its employees, meanwhile, pay the price, competing with a paper thats distributed for free to hundreds of thousands of readers without no consideration of cost-benefit and created solely to serve the interests of the prime minister and his inner circle.

Benjamin Netanyahu at cabinet meeting (Photo: Mark Israel Salem)

Although Netanyahu has been complaining about selective enforcement, what is truly surprising and outrageous is that this Likud party propaganda leaflet is not considered by the state comptroller as a violation of campaign finance laws and continues to endlessly disseminate election propaganda in 2019 as well.

Of course, no one is trying to justify the conduct of Yedioths ownerArnon Mozeswho is expected to be indicted by the attorney general in Case 2000, involved a quid-pro-quo deal where the prime minister asked for favorable coverage in return for regulatory benefits. Personally, I cannot understand how Mozes could have confided in Netanyahu, whose name precedes him as the epitome of dishonesty and lack of credibility.

My publisher, however, operated under the pressure of knowing that his outlet was under existential threat. He acted in the face of an aggressive and destructive opponent with no inhibitions and unlimited funds. Furthermore, as far as Yedioth Ahronoth was concerned, the talks between Mozes and Netanyahu did not bear any fruit.

The reports and opinion pieces of the Yedioth Ahronoth journalists were not swayed in any way (a statement corroborated by the indictment) and no line of communication was created between the Prime Minister's Office and the former editor-in-chief of the newspaper. There wasnt a semblance of Netanyahu having a foothold in the newspaper.

Arnon Mozes (Photo: Avi Moalem)

As I said two years ago, when the secret recordings between Netanyahu and Mozes were exposed, the latter was willing to suspend himself from from running the paper until the allegations were cleared.

Nonetheless, lets not forget that the source of corruption in the whole affair is sitting in a villa in Caesarea as well as in the distant and protected state of Nevada. In the democratic United States, for example, a publisher of a newspaper with a political agenda who is living in a foreign country must register as a foreign agent.

When the moderate center in Israeli politics tries to justify to itself the elections results over the past decadeand the transfer of a significant portion of its voting sector to the fanatical right-wingit ignores the crucial role that this shift had in the emergence of Israel Hayom.

Did the enormous scale of this political propaganda sheet  distributed daily free of charge and funded by a multi-billionaire who is jetting about somewhere from Singapore to Las Vegashave no effect on anyone in Israel? It chills me to the bone to know that it did.






By Lee Kyung-min



Japan retained the number one spot in the 2018 foreign investors' list in Vietnam, routing Korea for two consecutive years, data showed Sunday.



According to the National Assembly Budget Office, Japan's foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reached $8.6 billion (9.6 trillion won) last year, accounting for 24.2 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's total FDI.



The figure is well above Korea's FDI in Vietnam of $7.2 billion, which captured 20.3 percent.



The 2018 data indicates that the gap between the two neighboring nations in FDI has been widening.



In 2017, Japan accounted for 25.4 percent of the total FDI in Vietnam, compared to Korea's 23.7 percent.



Japan's increased investment in Vietnam over the past two years is part of efforts to reduce its heavy reliance on Thailand, thereby diversifying its overseas market base.



Tokyo, which has been the largest foreign investor of Thailand for the past decade, is seeking to establish another manufacturing base in another country to enhance risk management.



The move is expected to prompt Korea to come up with a corresponding measure to diversify its manufacturing base in case competition among foreign investors becomes intensified in Vietnam.



Vietnam is the third-largest trading partner of Korea following China and the U.S.



Trade volume between the two has increased over seven-fold to $68.2 billion in 2018 from $9.5 billion in 2009.



Korea's export of semiconductors to Vietnam jumped nearly four times to $11.2 billion in 2018 from $2.9 billion in 2013.



The sales of flat-panel display also soared to $3 billion from $800 million.



Over a 30-year span, Korea still remains the largest foreign investor in Vietnam, with FDI reaching $62.6 billion between 1988 and 2018. Japan invested a total of $57 billion over the same period.



Experts said that Korea should come up with measures to encourage Korean firms to diversify their production bases because competition with Japan is expected to further heat up in Vietnam.



They pointed out that Vietnam is very vulnerable to external shocks because of its high reliance on foreign-invested companies and rising labor costs.


LESBOS - "My whole life, all through my childhood in Syrian schools, I was taught that the Israelis are the enemy, and then the first thing I see when I approach the Greek coast is the Star of David on the shirts of Israelis who reach out and place me on the ground."

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The speaker is H., aged 20, from Aleppo in northwestern Syria. H. lives in a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos and, according to the United Nations, is one of 60,000 Syrian refugees in Greece, 14,000 of whom live on the Greek islands.





An aid worker reaches for a Syrian refugee on the coast of Lesbos (Photo: Reuters)

H. escaped the civil war in Syria without his family, and to this day has no idea what happened to them. After spending two years in Turkey, he decided, like hundreds of thousands of other refugees, to try his luck and cross the sea to Lesbos, just a few kilometers from the Turkish coastline. On the beach were waiting members of IsraAID, which since 2011 has been providing humanitarian aid at crisis points around the world, including Lesbos.

Healing the world

The concept of working to build a better world is now being adopted by a major Jewish organization in conjunction with the State of Israel.

The Jewish Agency is now working with the Mosaic United organization on a joint project that is expected to dramatically increase the number of young Jews involved in giving back to their local community. To American Jews, this is known as Tikkun Olam  or healing the world. This Jewish concept became a central tenet among the fourth generation descendants of Jewish immigrants to the United States.

The program is expected to dramatically increase the number of young Jews engaged in social activity, to redefine the term "Tikkun Olam" through working with disadvantaged populations. The projects will be implemented all over the world - from Puerto Rico and Greece to Nepal, Mexico, India and Ethiopia through organizations such as IsraAID, Project TEN, Tevel B'Tzedek and more.

"For the most part, the only thing that makes Jewish students around the world think about their Jewish identity is when there is a BDS (the anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement) demonstration on campus, or an anti-Semitic event somewhere around the world," says Rabbi Benji Levy, CEO of Mosaic United. "Such incidents distance them from the desire to be Jewish or associated with Israel."

Levy says the project was adopted by the Israeli government several years ago, under the auspices of the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs. "The government will invest $66 million, which is a third of the budget," he says.

According to UNHCR figures in 2018, more than 5.6 million Syrians have fled since the outbreak of the civil war and the uprising against the Assad regime. Most of them (some 3.3 million refugees) were absorbed by Turkey, and others have also reached neighboring countries such as Jordan (more than 655,000 Syrian refugees) and Lebanon (some 1 million refugees).

The objective is to reach Northern and Western Europe. Their main gateway is Greece, which they try to reach from the coast of Turkey, sailing in rickety boats. More than a million refugees crossed the sea this way in 2015 and at the start of 2016  going from Greece through the Balkans and Hungary en route to the wealthy countries of the European Union.





The world was shocked by images of 3-year-old Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach in southern Turkey (Photo: EPA)

One of the most significant and tragic events that brought the refugee crisis to the public's attention was the picture of the body of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, washed up on a beach in southern Turkey in September 2015. In 2017, the United Nations reported more than 2,700 missing people apparently drowned on their way from the Middle East and North Africa to European shores.

At the same time, there was growing criticism among some EU countries over Greece's absorption of refugees, and in 2016 the country was forced to close its northern border to the passage of refugees. The EU signed an agreement with Turkey to halt immigration, at which point the number of refugees arriving in the country began to fall, leaving just several dozen thousand on its territory.

H. is one of those who stayed. We meet at the school run by IsraAid and volunteers from Hashomer Hatzair, an international socialist and Zionist Jewish youth movement. He is employed as a teacher at the school, where he teaches his class of 25 students aged 6-9 in Arabic.

Israeli school for refugees on Lesbos

"I was the oldest student in the school, and they needed educational assistance in Arabic, so I became a teacher," he says. "Soon I will leave for Athens, now I have official authorization. I will very much miss the school and the children."

Several thousand refugees live on Lesbos. All of them are waiting for the same permit that H. has received, which allows them to leave the island for the mainland  and Athens in particular.

'Israel is no longer the enemy'

In the meantime. IsraAID and Hashomer Hatzair are trying to help those refugees who are in limbo. They arrived on the island alongside the largest wave of refugees in 2015, when thousands of people would arrive every day.

Today, the Israelis are the last organized body providing humanitarian aid on the island, alongside a solitary community center funded by the European Union and the Greek authorities.





In Lesbos, the Israeli aid workers set up the School of Peace, which had four classes in different languages: Arabic, Dari (a dialect of the Persian language common in Afghanistan), Kurdish and French, for the benefit of refugees from Ghana.

All of the teachers in the school are refugees from the community, and there is also a Greek coordinator who connects the school to the Greek educational system and teaches the language. Most children are expected to leave Greece for other European countries such as Germany, Austria and Sweden, which have more efficient refugee absorption systems, and so they are learning English.

The Israeli school includes students from Iran and Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, and the long-demonized Jewish state has a new image here. "How can I keep saying that you are the enemy?" asks H.

"I was only exposed to Israelis through television; they told us that Israel is the enemy, but reality has revealed a different truth," says N., a school coordinator and refugee from Iraq. "That's how it is in the Koran - we are cousins."





Staff at the Peace School in Lesbos (Photo: Angelos Zymaras)

Beyond language lessons, the children also learn mathematics and physical education. Husna, one of the young students from Afghanistan, tells us how she cannot wait to go to school, since she has never experienced an educational framework before. Fatimah, another student from Iran, says she is acquiring tools to help her in the future. Despite their harsh reality, these young students aspire to move ahead as much as they can. When they grow up, they want to be doctors, lawyers, police officers and politicians.

Ori Schnitzer, who runs the organization's projects in Lesbos and Sindos, says the main problem for the refugees is finding work, which they can only do after registering as refugees and receiving official approval.

The center on Lesbos has coordinators from Israel, Greece and among the refugees.

"We feel like a family," says Anastasia, the Greek coordinator. "We want to give everyone the opportunity to grow."

Anastasia says there are about 600 refugees in the local community in Sindos, 370 of whom have already taken part in activities at the center, where they receive aid, study and receive advice on hygiene and health. N., the refugee from Iraq, has been in Greece for a year now, including four months at the community center.

"They gave me a real opportunity to work here, and I'm happy about that," she says. "I have started the refugee absorption process in Greece and I want to stay here because this is a safe country for us. My whole family is still in Iraq, and I am not in contact with them because it is impossible."

'Other ways of expressing Judaism'

A., a refugee from Iran who has been working with IsraAID for a year, says he sees the center as a family. "Everyone comes from different backgrounds, with different knowledge and language."

We also meet Debbie and Batya, two Jewish designers from the United States, who came to volunteer to renovate the building used by the refugees. Deborah said the two planned to prepare the plan and leave its implementation to the refugees themselves, but the result was beyond anything they could have imagined.

And this is precisely the purpose of the new project - to increase the number of Jewish volunteers around the world.

"Many Jews feel that their connection to Judaism is expressed only in Sabbath observance, kashrut etc., but we want to show them that there are other ways to express ones Judaism," Rabbi Levy says. "One way is through showing kindness to others. We are actually saying to young Jews, 'You have the opportunity to be part of the (Jewish) people and even to lead a common Jewish destiny.' "





Rabbi Benji Levy at the Peace School (Photo: Angelos Zymaras)

Levy says that selecting the various organizations with which to work took serious research. "There are a lot of organizations that do not talk to each other, and are even in competition with one another," he says.

"We have the ability to see everything from the outside and we will create a strategic continuum and a connection between all the organizations."

According to Levy, "studies show that 72% of the young Jews in the world are involved in volunteer work, but just 18% do so in a Jewish or Israeli framework."

When he looks at the Jewish volunteers in the refugee camps in Greece, Levy says he dreams of a "global movement of volunteers from Israel and the Diaspora working to benefit the entire world."
The US Army has deployed its most advanced air and missile defense system to Israel for the first time, US and Israeli military officials said on Monday.

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As part of a joint drill involving more than 200 Israeli and American troops, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system was deployed at the Nevatim Airbase, and will soon be transported to an undisclosed location in southern Israel.

The deployment, which began in recent days, was intended to test the US military's ability to rapidly deploy such weapons around the world, said a spokeswoman for United States European Command.

THAAD missile defense system deployed in Israel (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Citing security reasons, she declined to say how long it took to move the THAAD system, which is built by Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, from its home base at Fort Bliss, Texas to Israel.

The move comes amid increased tensions between Israel and Iran over Israel's bombing campaign in Syria and comments in which Iran's foreign minister said he could not rule out the possibility of military conflict between the two countries.







The US military said the decision to rapidly move the THAAD system to Israel was intended "as a demonstration of the United States' continued commitment to Israel's regional security."

"THAAD is the most advanced integrated air and missile defense system in the world, and this deployment readiness exercise demonstrates that US forces are agile and can respond quickly and unpredictably to any threat, anywhere, at any time," the US European Command said.

THAAD arrives in Israel for the first time (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

As part of the deployment, US troops will be stationed in various locations in Europe, the United States and in Israel to operate the system in close cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces, it said.

Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said the deployment differs from previous simulated US-Israel joint military exercises and involves tactical coordination on the ground.

Israeli and American troops drill the deployment of THAAD (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

"The advantage from the Israeli point of view is that we have an opportunity to integrate it into our systems and simulate different scenarios," he said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the cooperation between the US and the Jewish state.

"Deployment of the American anti-missile system in Israel is additional testimony to the commitment of the US to the security of Israel," he said.

"The American THAAD system is considered one of the most advanced systems in the world, and together with our defensive systems we are even stronger in order to deal with near and distant threats from throughout the Middle East. The bond between the US and Israel has never been stronger. I welcome this joint exercise," Netanyahu said.
Scores of Islamic State fighters surrendered to U.S.-backed forces on Monday, a war monitor said, after a ferocious assault to overrun their last shred of territory in eastern Syria.

Islamic State faces defeat in Baghouz, the only remaining patch of land it still holds in the area straddling Iraq and Syria where it declared a caliphate in 2014, although it still has control in a few remote areas.

Early on Monday, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said they had slowed their assault on Islamic State because more civilians were trapped in the area, though it vowed to capture it soon.
The Jewish Agency announced Sunday it will offer a NIS 40,000 loan to employees seeking to have a child by a foreign surrogate, becoming the first state entity in Israel to give such grants to single parents and members of the LGBT community.

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At present, Israeli law does not allow gay men in a relationship or single men who wish to become fathers the opportunity to pursue surrogacy parenthood in Israel. Therefore, they must spend hundreds of thousands of shekels in order to complete the entire process abroad  usually in the US or in southeast Asia.

The 2018 pride parade in Jerusalem (Photo: AFP)

Announcing the plan, the Jewish Agency said it aimed to ease the financial burden employees face during the surrogacy process, and express our support of them during this complex ordeal.

The loan offered by the agency will help staff navigate the pricey bureaucratic and medical procedures before and during the pregnancy. Furthermore, the Jewish Agency declared all children born through surrogacy to embassy emissaries will receive all due rights that non-surrogate children receive.

The Jewish Agency employs 1,250 workers  of whom 450 are emissaries who hold positions around the globe, where they work to connect the Jewish Diaspora to Israel.

Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog, who initiated the decision, said it has a symbolic value, as it represents the organizations agenda of equal rights for all men and women who wish to fulfill their right to parenthood, regardless of their gender or sexual preference.

Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog (Photo: Amit Shabi)

The Jewish Agency is one big family, in which everyone is equal, he said.

In July 2018, Israel passed a surrogacy law that deliberately excluded gay men. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was criticized for voting against the proposed amendment to the law submitted by fellow Likud lawmaker Amir Ohana, which called for the inclusion of single fathers.

Etai Pinkas, a Tel Aviv City Council member who launched a court appeal to allow surrogacy for same-sex parents, said the Jewish Agencys decision preempts any state decision (on the matter), and we hope the Israeli government will follow in the agencys footsteps and allow the LGBT community its right to a family, love and equality.

Pinkas also thanked Herzog for his commitment to LGBT rights throughout his public career.

We are all awaiting the court ruling (about LGBT surrogacy rights), it should be any day now, said Pinkas.

Oz Parvin, head of the Gay Fathers organization, also praised the Jewish Agency and said he hoped more organizations would offer similar assistance to their staff.

Im happy and hopeful, I hope more Israeli public organizations will follow (this decision) and give loans to facilitate this extremely expensive process, in the same way that private sector organizations do. But most of all, I hope that the Israeli government will allow us to go through this procedure in Israel.
Crucial tests await Israels Beresheet spacecraft before it can successfully complete its historic mission, among them entering the moons orbit and then effecting a complex autonomous landing on the celestial bodys surface.

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Last week, the probe already ran into technical difficulties when its computer system unexpectedly rebooted, causing the craft to miss a scheduled maneuver to send it into an elliptical orbit around the Earth. While ground control eventually managed to set Beresheet back on course, Eran Schmidt, Deputy Project Manager of SpaceIL and Head of Ground Operations, conceded that other problems remain unresolved.

An artists rendition of the Beresheet spacecraft on the lunar surface. (Photo: SpaceIL)

Were getting measurements but we need to filter (out ones that are incorrect), Schmidt said. Were managing to work with this issue but it does present a small risk to the navigation".

Second, weve had several computer resets (which were likely) the result ofradiation. We are trying to find a way that even if this occurs before a maneuver, we will not have to abort.

Schmidt said that the major challenges still lie ahead of the April 11 scheduled landing, specifically a process known as lunar capture. During this phase, Beresheet will be pulled into the moons orbit by its gravity. This is expected to take place in early April and requires perfect timing and positioning roughly 250,000 miles away, according to Schmidt.

The landing itself is a huge, huge test, he said. We are going to send a command to the spacecraft to start (descending) and afterwards we will have 20 minutes when everything will work autonomously. So we need the sensor measurements to be good, the control system to act properly and we hope that we will not land in the middle of a crater on a rock. We are not in a position to forego the landing if we see something is not working correctly.

The Beresheet spacecraft during the launch in Florida (Photo: spaceX)

Tal Inbar, an Israeli space expert, also said lunar capture as a crucial technical test and agreed that other milestones must be surpassed.

Each part of a space mission has its own challenges and difficulties, Inbar told The Media Line. Each day that the space craft moves towards the moon, the dosage of radiation from the sun and from cosmic (sources) is higher and higher. After a successful landing, the main challenge will be the heat. The spacecraft wont (be operational) for long on the surface of the moon because it was not built to withstand the extreme temperatures there.

Beresheet (named after the first chapter of the Hebrew bible) was launched from the U.S. Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on the night of February 21. The four-legged robotic probe is roughly the size of a washing machine, weighs 1,100 lbs., and initially hitched a ride on a Falcon 9 rocket made by Elon Musks SpaceX company.

As we better understand Israels capabilities and the innovative work of its private industry, we know theyll be an even stronger international partner in the future, one vital to the success of extending commercial space to the Moon and eventually on to Mars and beyond, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a recent statement about Beresheets mission. There are terrific opportunities awaiting Israel and all of us in advancing the space frontier.

The Beresheet spacecraft during the launch in Florida (Photo: Reuters)

A joint venture between SpaceIL and the state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the $100 million probe was funded almost entirely through private donations from Jewish philanthropists. If successful, Israel will join the United States, the former Soviet Union and China as the only countries to land a craft on the moon.

Once achieved, the probe will collect scientific data, including measurements of the magnetic field that could help scientists better understand how the moon was created some 4.5 billion years ago.

Despite the ongoing technical issues, Schmidt says SpaceIL was born for this mission.

(Beforehand), I could not imagine everybody around the world looking at us as pioneers for private and commercial space companies, he concluded.

Article written by Maya Margit
Luke Perry, who gained instant heartthrob status as wealthy rebel Dylan McKay on "Beverly Hills, 90210," died Monday after suffering a massive stroke, his publicist said. He was 52.

Perry was surrounded by family and friends when he died, publicist Arnold Robinson said. The actor had been hospitalized since last Wednesday, after a 911 call summoned medical help to his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended his country's participation in a nuclear arms treaty the Trump administration already decided to leave, alleging Monday that Washington and not Moscow was in violation of the 1987 pact.

In a decree, Putin suspended Russia's obligations under the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty and said hold would remain in place "until the U.S. ends its violations of the treaty or until it terminates."

Putin's order came as Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the head of the Russian military's General Staff, was in Vienna for talks on strategic stability with U.S. Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The INF treaty was one of the issues discussed in what the Russia's Defense Ministry described as "constructive" talks.